deerington app

[fayzedandconfused]

IN CHARACTER

Character Name: Brianna Berenson
Canon: Gone
Canon Point: After her death in the final book.

In-Game Tattoo Placement: On her right shoulder blade, high up.
Current Health/Status: She'll arrive having just died, with injuries to her face and chest, as well as more minor scarring on her arms and legs.
Age: 13
Species: Human "moof" (mutant)

History: Series wiki and character wiki pages. *CW for non-graphic description of violence against children below.

Brianna was born and grew up in southern California in an average, modern-day world. Her parents divorced when she was young and within a few years, her mom remarried and had twins with her new husband, which left Brianna on the outskirts of this new, happy family. She spent a lot of time by herself as a small child, didn’t get along with her stepfather, and wasn’t making the best grades. This led her parents (mainly her stepfather) to make the decision to send her to Coates Academy, a boarding school for rich, troubled children located on the California coast, near a town called Perdido Beach.

When Brianna was eleven, she and several other Coates students began to manifest strange, superhuman powers. Brianna’s was the ability to move much faster than a normal person. She and the other superpowered kids formed a secret club, meeting up at night to practice their new abilities and encourage each other. Little did they know that their superpowers were only the tip of the weirdness iceberg, however - and one weekday morning, every single person over the age of fourteen disappeared into thin air, instantaneously. The remaining kids found themselves trapped under a huge, impenetrable dome, 20 miles in diameter, which covered the private school, the nearby town of Perdido Beach, a section of ocean, and a section of desert.

With the kids left to fend for themselves, problems cropped up immediately as Caine, an older Coates student, quickly decided that he couldn’t trust Brianna and some of the other kids to help him in his violent takeover of the FAYZ (Fallout Alley Youth Zone, the mordant name the kids gave to the area inside the dome). Brianna and the other kids deemed threats to Caine’s plans had their hands encased in concrete, leaving them unable to use their powers, and were tied up behind the school to slowly starve to death.

Things could have ended there for Brianna, but luckily, Caine’s fraternal twin brother, Sam, arrived in time to rescue the kids who had been left to die. Sam asked them to join him in fighting Caine, and Brianna was one of the first to join up. From that moment on, she stayed firmly loyal to Sam, looking to him as both her “boss” and a big brother figure. Around this same time, she also started calling herself the Breeze and thinking of herself as a bona fide superhero.

Over the next year and a half, Brianna fought on Sam’s side, becoming one of his most useful and loyal soldiers and sticking by him as conditions inside the FAYZ became increasingly difficult - starvation, plague, the threat of mutated animals and other children, and most importantly, the emergence of an alien life form called the gaiaphage intent on devouring the entire world. Brianna was instrumental in helping to defeat the gaiaphage; however, during a battle in which she was still recovering from a previous injury, her shotgun fired a dud shell, and the gaiaphage was able to fire burning light through Brianna’s chest, killing her instantly.

Personality:
Brianna is a child soldier, and she embodies both words. On one hand, she’s a kid. She starts the series as an 11 year old, and when she’s killed, she’s only just turned 13. She daydreams about going home and showing off her powers, misses her family, and tries her best to look cool and unbothered by the terrible things happening to her. On the other hand, she very quickly proves herself to be one of the most dangerous mutants in the FAYZ, both by the nature of her power and by her willingness to do violence. The struggle between the two facets of her personality is the real crux of who she is as a person, even though she does her best to cover up the fact that underneath the bravado and reckless charm, she’s just a lonely kid who’s not really sure who she is or what she's good for.

From the very start of the series, Brianna is determined and wants to do the things that need to be done, even when that involves actions that would make many adults hesitate. Although Sam first makes Brianna a messenger due to her age, she asks over and over again to be given a gun and to be allowed to fight. She sees delivering messages as a useful way of exploiting her super speed, but believes that if she’s allowed to carry a weapon, she could be much more than a simple messenger. When Sam finally relents, bringing her in as one of the youngest kids in his army, Brianna begins to prove herself immediately. She quickly becomes widely acknowledged as one of the most dangerous mutants in the FAYZ, and as time passes, she comes more and more to not only accept but actually enjoy her role as a child soldier. She has a huge capacity for revenge, hates to lose, and doesn’t feel the fear that many of her peers do, which makes her nearly unstoppable when she sets her sights on something.

If she didn’t also have a heroic streak and the ultimate desire to do good and to help people, she could be a dangerous villain, but luckily for everyone, Brianna is a good person, if a little bit selfish. Although at one point she briefly thinks about how leaving a five year old behind would make things easier for her, the thought is never really an option for her. She even shares some of her very limited food supply with the boy. Then she carries him out of the mine shaft they’re both trying to escape and tries her best to keep his spirits up, even though she fully expects them both to be killed. In one of the earlier books, she sees a group of kids beating on and threatening another boy, and she uses her super speed to try and lure them away. Brianna’s altruism is perhaps not as much in the forefront as her desire to be seen as impressive and heroic, but it’s definitely there.

There’s a childish aspect to Brianna as well. She’s impulsive, not at all methodical, and tends to be oblivious to things that aren’t affecting her directly, which, in addition to the fact that she’s somewhat of a charming showoff, makes the older teenagers she fights with view her as a kind of “crazy thirteen-year-old daughter”—someone with a great deal of potential, but who needs to be reigned in and lectured. She sees herself as a superhero, calls herself the Breeze, and wants the other kids to view her as their own personal comic book character. She wants people to like her and respect her, not fear her.

Finally, underneath all of the fearlessness and determination and superhero daydreams is a kid who desperately wants approval from others. After being abandoned by her father and sent away by her mom and stepdad, then betrayed by other students from her boarding school, Brianna’s entire self-worth is wrapped up in whatever makes her useful to the people who do want her around. Brianna firmly believes that if she’s not able to use her powers, Sam will immediately discard her, not only as a soldier but as a person. This desperate need to be seen as useful and capable is directly responsible for most of the impulsive, stupid things she ends up doing. It makes her willing to sacrifice herself for Sam’s cause again and again, and it ultimately leads to her death. Just two days before her death, Brianna admits that she believes “she was nothing if she was not the Breeze.”

Brianna is ultimately a dichotomy, a kid who’s willing to fight and kill, who seems to enjoy violence, but who still misses her mom and cries when she thinks about never seeing her family again. She’s a kid who’s fine with physicality but to whom emotions are scary and embarrassing. She does her best to cover up the fact that she’s uncertain and lonely, and show others only the charming, heroic side of herself. But in the end, Brianna is still young and confused, not sure who she is or what she’s turning into, and trying to balance what feels like two opposing forces inside herself.

Abilities/Powers/Weaknesses & Warping: Brianna has super speed - her top speed is roughly the speed of sound - and will therefore suffer from serious ill effects if she tries to leave Deerington. Additionally, in canon, Brianna is already somewhat of a fragile speedster. She risks breaking bones if she falls or hits something when she's running, needs to take painkillers and ice her feet, and using her powers for very long makes her exhausted. She needs to eat a lot to make up the calories she's burning off, and if she gets sick, it hits her harder than it would a normal person.
Inventory:
→ A modified runner's backpack that can be used as a shotgun holster (but no shotgun - instead, inside the backpack are an extra pair of size six sneakers, a box of crackers, and a water bottle)
→ A picture of her family (mom, stepdad, little sisters)
→ A machete
→ A hammock
→ A long sleeved jean jacket with a lightning bolt patch on the left shoulder
→ A Sammy Sun (small floating orb of gently glowing light - can be moved, but will float in place when positioned - a sort of portable nightlight that will never go out)

Writing Samples:
TDM threads
More SOL-y from another game

OUT OF CHARACTER

Player Name: Lor
Player Age: Old af
Player Contact: errorchord

Other Characters In Game: None
In-Game Tag If Accepted: Brianna Berenson: Lor
Permissions for Character: Here
Are you comfortable with prominent elements of fourth-walling?: Yes
What themes of horror/psychological thrillers do you enjoy the most?: Bodysnatching, disease (think It Comes At Night), monsters that can't be fought or reasoned with (It Follows), not knowing who you can trust.
Is there anything in particular you absolutely need specific content warnings for?: N/A
Additional Information: