Serena Waters

[Salic]

Name: Serena Joane Waters
Gender: Female
Age: 18
Hobbies and Interests: Listening to music (particularly metal and punk), playing the bass guitar, singing, watching TV, left-wing politics

Appearance: Serena is rather short for her age, standing at 5'2" and weighing 125 lbs. She is Caucasian. She has a petite figure, normally standing straight with her hands behind her back, as it's a position she's comfortable in. She has a small round face, with a button nose, a narrow mouth and thin green eyes. Her hair is naturally light brown, with curls that reach down to her shoulders. She brushes her hair every day, so despite her curls, her hair is pretty tame and easy to manage. She regularly puts makeup on, although it's hard to tell, as she doesn't put a lot on and it's mainly used for her to hide pimples or other blemishes. She has no piercings.

Serena has recently been pushing personal boundaries when it comes to clothing, deliberately toeing the line of what her parents deem acceptable. What she wears though generally depends on where she's going and what the situation is; if she's going to school, then she normally wears inoffensive and plain clothes, usually in solid, muted colors. If she's simply going out with friends, she'll be a bit more relaxed and open with her clothing choices, going for more expressive clothing with text and pictures and brighter colors. On the day of the abduction, she opted for more relaxed clothing. Serena wore a crimson t-shirt with the text 'bombtrack' in white text and courier font and a pair of jeans with distressed knees and frayed edges. In addition, she wore black converses with white laces, white ankle socks, and an olive green Ridgeway cap.

Biography: Serena Joane Waters was born on May 21st, 2006 to Isabella and Silas Waters. Both of her parents are devout Pentecostals, having met each other while on mission in Nicaragua. Isabella Matthews was born in Minneapolis in an agnostic family, who studied religion in high school and converted to Christianity when she was in her teenage years. Silas was raised in St. Paul, Minnesota, to two Pentecostal parents. Silas worked as an insurance agent while Isabella was a computer systems analyst. When on the mission, they fell for one another and once the 18 month mission was over, Silas moved in with Isabella and they married a couple of months later. Serena was born two years after they married, and three years after that Jordan Waters, Serena's brother, was born. The family has had a firmly middle class life since.

Religion and school had no barrier during Serena's early years, as both Silas and Isabella decided that Serena should be homeschooled for a while. They did not have enough money to send Serena to a private religious school, but they wanted to instill Christian values in Serena from a young age, which public schools wouldn't do. During homeschool Serena learned how to read and write, basic math and English, and how to cook. This was also accompanied with scripture classes, in which Serena read from the Bible and learned about what it meant to be a Christian. At first Serena had no problem with being homeschooled as she felt it gave her more time with her parents, but over the years she saw more and more people her age hanging out and being friendly, and she felt excluded and isolated from her peers. After discussing this at length with her parents, they agreed to enroll her in a public school.

When Serena was in sixth grade, her parents decided to send her into the local middle school after they had a talk with her. They felt that she would be limited in interaction with others if she continued to be homeschooled and had noticed her behavior had grown more shy. She adjusted to the system rather well, and was able to get somewhat high grades on assignments and homework. A place where she struggled, however, was in the social area. Because Serena was homeschooled, she never really got the chance to talk to other girls her age outside of church and Sunday school. While she was generally paired up with other students in an attempt by the school to get new students to become friends with one another, she wasn't really able to fit in with whoever she was paired with. While she was able to be near people who went to church with her, she didn't really know what to talk about with them and mostly just stayed silent when around them.

It was around this time that Serena got her first long-term exposure to the internet. Always a curious person, she enjoyed reading Wikipedia articles during class downtime, which exposed her to numerous new ideas outside of her very limited worldview. In particular, political articles that explained viewpoints that were contrary to her family's Christian conservative outlook were shocking to her, as her family's views were the only ones she had known. While she initially remained loyal to her parents, the doubt in her mind kept growing as she learned more and more about other faiths, politics, and world history. Resentment began to brew as she felt that her parents had unfairly sheltered her when she was a child, not only socially, but intellectually as well. However, she kept quiet about her growing disdain; she feared the potential retribution from her parents if they ever found out that she was increasingly disloyal to conservatism and Christianity.

She also started watching TV at this point, in an attempt to fit in with some of her church buddies. She started watching shows that they would talk about during lunchtimes, and grew an interest in some of them. This grew into an interest for TV in general, more specifically, game shows. She likes these mostly because of the fact that there are real people on the show, and because she likes to root for these people to succeed or fail, depending on who they are and what they're like. Her favorite show currently on the air is Survivor, which she has watched since its thirty-seventh season. She mostly likes the show because of the combination of strategy and character development, and has tried to buy the DVD collections of past and present seasons for a collection.

In addition to game shows, she also began watching documentaries, particularly political and historical ones. Learning about the tragedies and atrocities that were committed across human history left her questioning why God would allow them. She questioned what kind of God would allow slavery, brutal warfare, and other monstrous acts to be carried out under their watch. Combined with her research on the internet, it only reinforced a sense of resentment for her parents keeping her sheltered from what the world was actually like. Over time, she came to the conclusion that if there was a deity, it was not a loving one that was worthy of worship. It was her first serious deviation from her parents; while she still attended church services regularly, she began to seriously question what her preacher was saying, and she began questioning the legitimacy of the authority figures she'd long taken for granted.

It was around this time that Serena's tastes in music began to change. She had grown up on Christian music, but her wavering belief in Christianity led her to disavow this genre. Her faltering loyalty to authority figures led her to the genres of punk rock and metal. Their themes of questioning authoritarianism, rebelling against the establishment, and general disobedience drew her in. She initially started with lighter bands, but over time she began to listen to heavier, more political bands like Rage Against the Machine and Sepultura. This also resulted in her becoming interested in music in general. Listening to music also prompted an interest in singing, which she follows a little bit. She's good at it, being able to keep on tune and rhythm with whatever she's singing. She tends to not sing in public, though. The only real public singing she actually does is during church, and she is currently in Aurora Bay's school choir. Other than that, she only sings when she's alone, when nobody else can really hear her. She is also careful in making sure her musical tastes are secret. She still listens to Christian music when family or church friends are over, but privately listens to her preferred music on YouTube when she's alone.

High school came for Serena around this point, and the adaptation to it was difficult. Upon entering high school, she felt isolated. While she still valued the friendships she'd made in church, her secret disagreements with their ideology and their way of life made her more uncomfortable around them. Serena also had a realization that she wasn't straight; she had developed a crush on her friend Olivia Fischer from church. This realization terrified her. Her immediate family were avid supporters of President Green and the Republican Party, and while they did not often talk about social issues, she knew that they felt disagreeably about the LGBTQ+ movement. Her sophomore year was miserable, as she felt she had no one to talk about her issues with and her friendships with her church friends began to feel disingenuous.

She began investing herself more and more into music to distract her from her crumbling emotional state. Serena realized that listening to heavier and heavier music provided a great outlet to vent her frustrations and anguish. As she listened, she found herself idly strumming along to the basslines in her music, since it was the most aurally pleasing part of her favorite songs. Figuring that learning an instrument could be another good way to use her free time, she asked her parents about purchasing a bass guitar for her to play. While they were initially skeptical, her passionate requests eventually persuaded them to purchase one for her. Serena started out by emulating the basslines from her favorite songs, and surprised herself by being naturally talented at playing the bass. She taught herself by watching YouTube tutorials and spent several hours every day practicing to become better. While she recognizes that she's good, she's very hesitant to play anything in front of other people, considering it to be a deeply personal and emotional hobby, and is afraid of getting criticized about it.

Serena's 11th grade year was when she finally found her niche in the school environment. She came upon a poster that advertised a left-wing meeting group that gathered during lunch. While Serena considered herself a leftist, she recognized that it was more out of a sense of rebellion towards her parents rather than an actual understanding of what leftist politics were about. She decided to attend a meeting to see if she enjoyed it, and quickly found herself being enamored by leftist rhetoric. When she got home, she began watching leftist commentary and analysis videos online and began reading leftist articles and ideological studies. What started out as mere interest quickly became radicalization; as she understood more of what communism was about, the more she agreed with it. In particular, the specific strain of Marxism-Leninism's hardline stance against the church and its anti-conservative, pro-LGBTQ+ rhetoric appealed to her as solutions to her deep-seated fears and insecurities. From then on, she became an avid communist in private and in the club. She did her level best to bury any evidence of her radicalization from her family and the student body at large, as she feared what being found out would do to her reputation.

It was finally in 12th grade that Serena began to open up socially to the student body at large. She began to speak up about her beliefs in her left-wing circle rather than settling for being a passive observer. It was at this point that she started to distance herself from her church friends and talk more openly with other people outside of her normal friend groups, though she did not abandon her church friends entirely. This move towards socializing with new people was spurred on by a general boost in confidence from joining her leftist circle. Now that she knew she had a safe group of friends who wouldn't ridicule or ostracize her for being radical or LGBTQ+, she felt more comfortable in speaking her mind to people. This socialization spree boosted her reputation from a virtual unknown outside of certain circles to a recognizable and generally positive face on campus. However, most of these people are mere acquaintances, as she has reservations about letting people into her personal life. Serena refuses to come out to anyone, and she does her best to keep her radical views hidden, though her association with more outspoken left-wing students has led some to wonder where her politics lie.

At school, Serena tends to get average to high grades, due to a good work ethic and study habits. She doesn't really have any worst subject, mostly because most of her grades are in the B range, but her best subject is easily music, mostly because of her outside experience with playing an instrument. In class, Serena is noted as an excellent but quiet student, focused and good at working under pressure, but who only really talks when told to and doesn't function well with group work.

Religion is an odd and testy subject with Serena, since she has become thoroughly disillusioned with it. While her stance on religion is well-known to her leftist circle of friends, she generally doesn't mention it when around others. While she goes to church with her family regularly, and socializes with the people there, she only does it to keep up appearances and to not disappoint or anger her family. She is not planning on going on a two year mission when she graduates high school, something that causes a small divide between her and her parents as they both met while on mission. Recently, her façade of caring about Christianity has been slipping, which is something her parents have taken notice of. While they are reluctant to question their daughter about it, since she's been devout for as long as they've raised her, they have agreed to talk to her if they see any more signs of apathy in Serena.

Her relationship towards her immediate family has slowly been drifting apart. While she and her brother are on good terms, Serena secretly resents him for agreeing with what their parents say and overall being a more faithful and obedient child. She also harbors deep resentment towards her parents, particularly her father. While her mother has always been more lenient and encouraging towards Serena, her father has been much more stringent about religion and is generally much more restrictive when it comes to hobbies and other personal interests. Serena's been secretly looking forward towards college and leaving the house, but is nervous to be out on her own with no supervision for the first time.

To strangers, Serena seems like a quiet person who normally doesn't talk to other people much. When she's with her friends, however, she's generally the most talkative person in the room. She's generally regarded as a friendly, outgoing person who is loyal to her friends and will help them whenever they're in need. She won't act coldly towards someone if they're not in her friendship group, but it'll be harder for her to connect with someone and become friends with them if they're not.

Serena is unsure about what to do after graduation. Her parents are pushing for her to join a private Christian college, something she is incredibly reluctant to do. She's still too afraid to reveal her true nature to them, however, and is trying to come up with a convincing argument as to why she should be allowed to join a normal, public university. She has applied for both types of college, specifically University of Wisconsin-Madison and Oral Roberts University. She's also thinking about taking a gap year and working so that she can build some kind of financial independence from her family.

Advantages: She's known for being friendly and loyal, which could make people less hostile towards her. She's also noted to be unlikely to start conflict with others, owing to her quiet nature, which could help her avoid it altogether. She is intelligent and good at keeping her composure under stress.
Disadvantages: She's shy towards people she's not friends with and can have problems forming alliances as a result. She is also not the kind of person to speak her mind or be assertive, meaning others can run roughshod over her and manipulate her more easily.

Original Profile: Serena Waters
Permission: Here (Ohm)

[MurderWeasel]

Hey, Salic! Serena's looking really good, just a little bit to go before she's ready!

"When on the mission, they bonded over one another" <- I think some words may be missing here, or maybe there are some extra ones?

What did Serena's parents do for a living? What was the family's economic situation?

The fifteenth season of Survivor aired in 2007, when Serena was only a year old. I'd suggest either picking a season that fits the timeline a bit better (Google says maybe season 36 or 37?) or else explaining a bit about why and when she went so far back.

Why did Serena gravitate towards the bass specifically?

What type of communist ideology was Serena following? Was she into more modern progressive movements/thinkers, or was she going back to Marx (or Lenin, Mao, etc.)?

Is Serena out to anyone (maybe her closest progressive friends), or is she closeted to everyone?

This late in the year, Serena would probably have applied to schools already (unless she's definitely taking a gap year). Did she maybe apply to both Christian and public schools?

Could I get one distinct trait of Serena's relationship with each of her parents as individuals, so they're not just operating as a unit? Similarly, I'd like to get a little more detail on her relationship with her brother—have they been close over the years? Is he at the same school as she is? What's their dynamic like?

Post when you've got that handled, and we'll give Serena another look. Thanks!

[Salic]

did you know that 'edited it' is just 'edit edit'
enough fun facts Serena's been edited

[MurderWeasel]

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