Name: Juniper Modnar (sometimes Juni, rarely June, never June-bug)

Gender: Female

Age: 18

Place of Birth: West Cliff, South Britain (11/17/1994)

Nationality: British

Hair Color: Brown

Eye Color: Brown

Ethnicity: Caucasian

Skin Tone: Ruddy white

Pubic Hair: Shaved

Distinguishing Features: Oral fixation, tend to chew things. Crass language. Tattoo on her right bicep and nipple piercings.

Height: 5'8"

Weight: 112 lbs

Bust: 34B

Waist: 24

Hips: 36

Background:
- Family: Juniper was the result of an empassioned tryst between a former-Soviet scientist and the woman who was charged with his safety as he settled into the British Isles. Both the scandal and the couple were swept under the rug by British Intelligence after Juniper's birth in West Ridge, relocating the family to Bristol and setting them up with new identities. Things were often tense around the household, her father Elijah isolated himself from the world trying to stay off the radar of Soviet remnants he was sure were still hunting for him, and as she aged the old man confided in he less and less, pouring all of his time into increasingly complex computer engineering projects which he sold to keep the family's coffers filled.

Juniper's mother was not much better. For her indiscretion, her security access was slashed and her payrate dropped to practically nothing. She was permanently assigned to Elijah Modnar's protection, a gesture that had begun as a favor to her but as the man's passions cooled she found herself mixing the joys of raising a child with the kind of paranoia constant vigilance tends to instill in people.

Juniper herself didn't make things any easier. A rambunctious and curious child surrounded by secrets. She'd inherited her father's sharp, analytical mind, and combined it with a sense of situational awareness she'd picked up from emulating their mother when the two of them were out on the town for whatever reason. Since the moment she found proof that her last name was Modnar and now the comparatively bland "Brown" , she was constantly probing her parents to see what else it was they were hiding from her. Given how many of those secrets were designed to protect her, it was no wonder that as she hit her teenaged years Juniper became argumentative and hostile towards her parents.

- Self (Social): By the time Juniper hit Junior High, it was no particular surprise that she was estranged from her parents. She spent more and more free time away from home, taking refuge in various clubs and afterschool activities at first, but eventually settling in with a group of disaffected youths who had family problems of their own. She learned that she could get the attention her parents didn't give her by being crass and confrontational, and picked up a sense of daring from the constant games of one-upsmanship that the gang indulged in to pass the time. Stunts like tagging, breaking and entering, and brawling in the streets dotted her social calendar for years.

That ended when her two best friends tried to draw her into their romantic relationship. Drunk at the time, Juniper had been drawn along, but when she came to the next morning she panicked. Outside of her comfort zone and uncertain of her friends' intentions, she snapped and said some hurtful things before storming out. When she publically rebuked their attempt to smooth things over later, she found herself out in the cold once more. She returned home and cleaned her appearance up, throwing herself into her schoolwork, the promise of college taking her away from all her mistakes driving her on.

It was then that Juniper discovered her talent for journalism. It had started simply enough, she still didn't want to spend her afternoons lounging around the house, the journalism club needed members and she liked to take pictures. Juniper that the skills she'd developed with her old posse and her willingness to bend the rules allowed her to hunt down real news, instead of the fluff pieces the school board passed to the paper. She jimmied locks, greased palms, tailed people, whatever it took to get a byline on the front page. It wasn't until she tried to submit a story revealing an affair one of the junior teachers had managed to keep under wraps that anyone realized exactly how far she was going. Something about the night vision lens and the pictures of her esteemed instructor caught mid-coitus. It didn't help that she responded to the editor's squashing the piece by anonymously mailing the pictures to the woman's husband.

- Self (Other/Freetime): When she was young, Juniper's mother had tried to curb the girl's rampant energy by signing her up to a variety of clubs. Mostly Juni resented her mother's eagerness to pass her off on strangers, but it did get her used to keeping a busy schedule instead of lazing around the house. Juniper has a long-time love of photography , whether she's shooting landscapes, candid shots, or artistic compositions.

While Juniper's primary artistic outlet is her photography, there are things in her head that she simply can't take pictures of. As such, she's also a freehand artist of some skill. She tends towards a more stylized style over lifedrawing, using exaggerated characters and bright colors, she keeps a sketchbook in her room where she experiments with patterns and character designs, though her medium of choice is painting. Though she has yet to grace the school with her work (the low population on the island dramatically increases the odds of her being caught), her skills translate well into graphitti art and she's a pretty good idea of what she can do quickly before the authorities come across her.

One of her few positive role models growing up was her high school track & field coach, a demanding a foul mouthed old man who nonetheless never gave up on his students. Juniper ran track for four years, despite her penchant for smoking cigarettes. Though not on Shokushu's team due to the lack of inter-school competitions, she keeps up her training, as being fit and quick on her feet saved her hash any number of times in the "bad old days".

Lastly, Juniper's love of journalism is alive and well. Where once she was a rebel without a cause, these days she has a justification and it's Truth. While she still enjoys flouting the rules for it's own sake, she prefers to snoop around and gather information, looking for the edges that separate accepted lies and uncomfortable truths, that she might drag the secrets out into the harsh light of day for review. And Shokushu certainly has it's fair share of secrets, the fate of graduates, the agendas of the monsters, the extent of NICE's resources, and every answer seems to bring with it knowledge of further layers of secrecy. She believes that if she can dig deep enough, perhaps, she can find the way to escape the fate handed to her. And, if not, at least she can leave behind an account for the next class to build upon.

- Self (Academic): Juniper's grades have mostly been average. Oh, she's sharp, and she tests extremely well, but she's always done just enough to get by. The last two years of Highschool she pulled herself up to the honor roll simply by virtue of actually handing in her homework and not skirting the maximum number of absenses she could have and still pass. If not for the scandal her senior year, she likely could've gone to any school she wanted, but as it was only Shokushu was willing to accept her scholarships.

Psychological Profile: Juniper is a confident and self-assured woman with a strongly defined sense of herself. When pushed, she hardens up and pushes right back. Unfortunately, this tendency to harden up has also lead to her repeatedly pushing away the people who get closest to her, trying to preserve the identity she's built up around herself instead of allowing other people's feelings to undermine her understanding of herself. That said, she still wants to belong, and has a strong desire to protect her peers as it allows her to reap their gratitude without requiring her to open herself up and become vulnerable. Some might say this desire to protect others borders on a martyr complex, that she puts herself in these situations in an attempt to atone for imagined failings in her past.

Personality: Most people who meet Juniper don't really see her. Over the years, she's developed a talent for showing people exactly what they expect to see, changing masks between meek, authorative, or simply bored as the situation demands. In a university where all the girls wear the same uniform, it's a simple thing for her to blend into the background. Most people move on before they have a chance to realize it's all an act.

Those who do see her on her own terms sometimes wish they hadn't. She's an earnest young girl who'd rather hear an ugly truth than live a pretty lie, a point of view she inflicts on everyone around her. Her language is coarse and she doesn't pull her punches either conversationally or in the heat of competition, but if someone can deal with that she can be refreshingly nonjudgemental. In her search for the truth, she often reevaluates her preconceptions, and tries to see the world the way it is rather than the way it "should" be.

Virgin: No.

Piercings or Tattoos: On Juniper's right bicep is a tattoo of an angel with a blindfold pulled tightly over her eyes. She's been forced down on both knees, clad in blue robes that around bound tightly to her body with thick, thorny vines. The barbs catch at and tug the cloth in places, and there are divits where they press into the bare flesh of the arms pulled over her head, though no blood. The artist went over the design with a few layers of darker colors to give the work a smoothly shaded, airbrushed look, the shading putting a flush of pink on the girl's cheeks to stand out from Juniper's natural flesh tone, and making her nipples stand out plainly against the cloth cinched over her chest. The angel's wings are unbound and spread wide, light blue shading used to give the impression of a whiteness that never would have held to skin. In an arc around the image is an unrolled scroll with tall, stilted letters "Justice is Held Captive In The Absence Of Truth."

Both of Juniper's nipples are pierced through, though she's traded out her old rings for a pair of steel barbells, intended simply to keep the channels open until she's back on the mainland.

Language: English, with a smattering of Russian curses

Likes: Classical music, cigarettes, strawberries, detective stories, dogs, and high places.

Miscellaneous: Juniper is pretty light fingered, an accomplished lockpick and an aspiring pickpocket in her own right. Though she has no formal training, her time with the wrong crowd did teach her to be mean and inventive in a scrap. In the ring, she'll lose to a practiced fighter every time, but out in the world she's a master at blinding siding an opponent from an unexpected quarter and she's not above cheap shots or sucker punches in the thick of things.

Magic: None

Hang Outs: Juniper tends to wake up early in the morning to beat most of the girls on her floor to the showers. She likes pick the lock to hang out on the roof top of the dormitory building, either standing in the accessway to watch tropical rain spatter over the tarmac, or standing out near the unfenced ledges to feel the sea breeze as she takes in the scenery surrounding the school. She also tends to violate curfew to skulk the grounds at night.

Now an offical welcome to the island.

Seems to be fine.

Welcome to Shokushu. ^.^

Well, if it's a really serious medical problem, they're taken to N.I.C.E. Labs for treatment, and it's accessable by fast boats so that can explain the lack of helicopters and the like.

Plus I imagine some investigations would draw the attentions of the head of security.

So, there's a boat you say . . . *Conspicuously makes a note*

Yeah, I figured that Shokushu would be one of those places where staring into the void means it looks right back through you. Given that 90% of students are spared in the name of verisimilitude, ignorance really is your first line of defense. Once you stumble onto the truth (or it stumbles onto you, whichever) you cease to be part the atmosphere and become part fo the game.

Quick question, what's the policy on computers on campus? Just wondering if I should be using a darkroom, or digital (and, if digital, if I have to log time in the school's computer lab, or if I'm likely to have a machine in my dorm).

Think computers are fine but since they are on another planet, connection to the internet is not possible.

I like to think there is a sort of local internet network so students can at least do research through proper (and monitored) sources.

But, I would wait for Madison's word on it. Technology can be an iffy thing to regulate. *nods nods*

Kanoe nailed it in one.

Though it's more "Intranet" vice "internet", given the nature of the internal network.

You and your fancy words. XD

I got finals soon, can't be doing that thinkin stuff to much.

Well enjoy your stay, Juniper. *waves*

Thanks, that's pretty much what I'd suspected.

Good luck on your finals Kanoe.

Welcome to the campus Juniper. I have to compliment the name, partially because of an interest in shrubbery on my part, and partly due to sheer uniqueness. Am I wrong, or do I detect a hint of Cthulhu Mythos in your character's overall theme?

Aww, thanks. Yeah, my grandfather had Juniper trees on his land. Originally I was going to shorten it down to "Juni" (bobcut reference), but as I worked with it I found that I liked the sound of Juniper just fine as it was.

I've never actually read a Mythos book, but I'll happily agree that I was largely inspired by people who lifted heavily from it, so you're not wrong. I thought it kind of appropriate to tap, given the nature of the university as an isolated but "normal" place with all manner of inhuman creatures and dark secrets lurking just out of sight.

Also the name Modnar was shamelessly ripped from "Snatcher", another game where hostile interlopers lurk with a human seeming. I kinda come from the "Steal from everything" school of creative writing.

Well judging from your RP so far you do a good job of it. My own writing borrows less heavily, but is bogged down by my own somewhat stilted prose style. I'm trying to adopt elements from the writing of other players here but so far I feel that there's a habit of mind which I simply haven't managed to pick up on. My vocabulary is decent, though not quite as accessible to me when I'm composing as I would like, which is my greatest advantage. But as far as vernacular and idiom goes I lack the touch. Still, Shokushu is a fun place to experiment with.

Heh, it seems I must thank you again. It's honestly gotten to the point where I think of them more as easter eggs than borrowing, just wondering who'll spot a reference and call me on it. I try not to take the top-shelf easy references where I can, so it's less obtrusive than it might be.

I wouldn't worry too much about prose styling, writing is like any other art, you refine it the more you do it. Back when I was more heavily into writing, I used to toss far and away too much detail into everything, couldn't even fire a gun without mentioning the flash of the muzzle, buck of the recoil, the sound of the report and the brass casing hitting the wall or floor, and the whiff of gunpowder. I scored praise for dedication to the craft, but I always felt that it made my work an unbearable slog compared to who I was playing with. My current focus is on finding a more elegant balance between immersion and pacing. I have faith you'll figure out how to incorporate the elements that intrigue but currently elude you. Judging from what little of your own work I've read so far, it's not as though you don't have a creative mind.

I appreciate the observation. I try to excuse my tangential rantings by blaming my various neuroticisms on the creativity itself. It's a convenient alibi to be sure. For one thing my attitude toward what I write is colored significantly by my mood when I write it and when I read it again. There is certainly a level of subjectivity in my responses that convinces me that many of my worries are absent in my readers. I do not know if other amateur writers feel the same irrational tensions but I suspect they are more or less universal, if idiosyncratic. Anyway, enough blabber from me. I have an essay to write.

Ahh! I didn't see you there...welcome!

She seems interesting enough. I can't tell how happy I am that more and more literary gems seem to be coming here to our fair school.