Post by sepia on Jun 24, 2010 2:33:12 GMT -6
Full Name: Jessica Mildred Brown
Nick Names: Jess (usually), Jessie(occasionally), Jay (very rarely).
Student or Staff: Student
Age: 13
Ethnicity: British
Gender: Female
Physical Description:
Hair: She keeps her light brown hair cut to slightly longer than shoulder-length, and usually has it tied up in a pony-tail or braided for convenience. She's been blessed with hair that doesn't require much work to keep it neat, which is lucky, as her interpretation of caring for one's hair is brushing it every morning and getting it cut every so often.
Eyes: Dark grey.
Build: Jess is quite short, about 142cm (a fact that continually annoys her - she's just hoping for a growth spurt) and slim, though not stick-like. For her height, in fact, she's fairly average - slim enough that she doesn't have to watch what she eats very carefully, but not so skinny she looks starved.
Tattoos/piercings: The ordinary hole in each ear for earrings, and nothing else. She suspects that her parents would totally flip i she got anymore and she's not too keen on needles, anyway.
Jess is one of those girls who likes to blend into the background and, luckily, her appearance helps her do that, being ordinary enough that she’s not noticeable in a crowd. She dresses to further this, preferring comfort over fashion any day, with practicality a close second. Thus, she can either be found in jodhpurs or jeans, and various layers of t-shirts and jumpers on top.
Personality:
Likes:
- Animals in general, and horses in particular.
- Riding. Jess doesn't mind if she's jumping, dressaging, or hacking out, she loves doing it. She hasn't been riding long enough to decide what she likes most about it, so she'll try pretty much anything (once she gets her nerve up, anyway).
- Reading. Always an avid reader, if you're not sure where she is, chances are she'll have her nose in a book. She'll read almost anything, but her favourites are science fiction and fantasy.
- Acorn. She absolutely adores her horse, and spends as much time as she can with him - if not riding, then just hanging around watching him.
- Being alone. Not all the time, but Jess is one of those who needs her time away from other people just doing her own thing.
- School. Perhaps she'll grow out of this liking, but at the moment, she enjoys learning. Okay, so she might not enjoy every minute of every lesson, and is as glad as the next person when it's the end of the day, but, overall, she likes learning new things (not least for her propensity to bringing out random facts at awkward points in conversation).
- History. Both ancient and modern (though her particular passion is Ancient Egypt) Jess is fascinated by the topic. Something about other cultures in other times draws her in.
- Travelling. Related to her liking of history, she likes to travel, partly so she can see the places where history was (one of her fondest memories is of her trip to Egypt her family took when she was ten) and partly so she can enjoy the differences of other places. It's fortunate that her parents shared this love, and so instead of buying furniture or renovating the house, went on holiday. The last year, though, ever since she got Acorn, has shown a decline in their travelling - having a horse does that to you - and now she's at boarding school... Well. They'll have to see.
- Weather. Be it bucketing down with rain, blowing a gale, or so sunny it hurts, she likes the weather. Perhaps it's more accurate to say she loves changes in the weather. Whatever the reason, she'll go outside in thunderstorms, snowstorms and gales just to experience a bit of weather. If she can't do that, then she'll find a window and watch it.
Dislikes:
- Large social events. Times when Jess has to stand around and talk to people she barely knows? Pure torture.
- Animal cruelty. This is one subject she can get very worked up about, so it’s probably best not to cross her on it.
- People destroying the environment. Jess frequently goes around turning lights off, and asking people whether they really need that fan on – she is considering going off and working for WWF or Greenpeace when she grows up.
- Appearances. She's the type of person that really doesn't care what she looks like, and gets annoyed when people tell her that she'd loom good if only she did this. She also gets slightly irritated at people who - to her mind - waste time on their clothes and make-up when they could be doing more useful things. Like riding, or reading.
- Heights. She doesn’t suffer from acute vertigo, but she’s not keen on them all the same.
- Needles. Jess absolutely hates the things, which is why it took her a mother a year of convincing to get here to get her ears pierced, and why she hates going for injections.
- Dentists. Perhaps it’s the way they smell, or the way that the chairs go up and down in a rather creepy fashion, but whatever the reason, Jess really dislikes them. She is firm in her belief that the only reason anyone would want to become a dentist is to inflict pain and suffering upon people.
Strengths:
- She's dedicated. Once she'd decided on doing something, it'll take a lot to get her to stop.
- Tied in with that, she's also pretty methodical, working her way carefully through facts and opinions before making her judgment. She'd not one to jump to instant opinions.
- Enthusiasm. Her love of horses is a good example of this - once she'd decided this was the sport for her, she threw herself into it (to the slight worry of her father, who'd wanted her to try several different sports before she got a one-track mind)..
- She doesn't mind going her own way, and is self contained, not needing people around her to keep focused, or to be happy.
- Jess is fairly intelligent, and works hard to back that up, though often gets completely paranoid about tests and homework and puts excessive amounts of effort into them.
Weaknesses:
- She's pretty shy, especially in situations with large groups of new people, and so often just retreats into the background, or makes highly awkward conversations composed mostly of ‘yes’ and ‘no’, and then retreats into the background. She’s especially bad with figures of authority, be they teachers or older students, and worries terribly about not making a good impression.
- Nerves are probably Jess' biggest weakness. She gets nervous about pretty much anything - maths tests, having to meet new people, being late, jumping bigger than what she's used to... She's doing her best to overcome her nerves, but still feels them acutely.
- She can be slow to make decisions - especially in times of stress - and prefers not to have to make the things at all.
- Though she's self-contained, she's likely to go along with the group if it means not creating an argument. She doesn't like fighting, and so is very likely to back down rather than stand up for herself, leading her to gain somewhat of a reputation as a push-over.
- She is also rather like the proverbial ostrich, in that if something bothers her or scares her, she’s likely to try to stick her head in the sand and ignore it, instead of actually doing something useful.
- She can be rather obsessive, concentrating on a single goal to the exclusion of almost everything else.
Aims:
- In the far, far future, she wants to be a vet. Or, possibly, work as a conservationist, she's not entirely sure, yet.
- More immediately, she wants to improve her riding. And, yes, that aim really is that vague.
- She also wants to make sure that she comes away from her first year at Blue Ridge having achieved something - whether that will be being able to go round part of the cross country course, or getting better at figuring out fractions, she isn't sure, but she doesn't want to feel she hasn't gotten anywhere.
- To compete in a show (she doesn't care what discipline) and win something (even if it’s only a Highly Commended rosette for having come in last).
To summarise Jess in a few words, you could go for 'unobtrusive, diligent and helpful.' Essentially, she likes to remain on the outskirts, watching but not necessarily taking part. She'll be friendly if approached, but not having the greatest people skills in the world means she's unlikely to gain a large group of friends. That suits her fine, though, and she'd much rather have a couple of close friends than large numbers of acquaintances.
Though shy, she won't run away from people if they try to talk to her, but she won't initiate conversation, either. Once you get her to open up, though, she can be a trifle hard to stop - especially if you get her going on one of her favourite subjects. Once you get her to open up even further, she'll display quite a dry sense of humour, and a liking for having fun.
Once friends with someone, she's incredibly loyal, and hates to see them unhappy. She prefers not to rock the boat, and if she disagrees with someone is unlikely to actually say so unless really pushed. Her general philosophy for life is 'live and let live', which serves her fairly well, though it can lead her to be somewhat cowardly in heated situations.
Tied in with her shyness, are both nerves and an eagerness to please. The latter is partly why she works hard at school - she doesn't like people disliking her, for any reason - while the former is something she is trying hard to combat. It's not really working, and so she tries to avoid things that make her nervous. Of course, in horseriding this doesn’t always work, and so she tends just to not say anything if asked to ride out of her comfort zone.
Background:
Mother: Susan Brown, nee Williams, 43, a primary school-teacher. It is probably from her mother that Jess' love of learning comes. They have a good relationship, tempered by the typical arguments a thirteen year old girl has with her mother. Susan was rather reluctant to send Jess off to boarding school, but her daughter's enthusiasm for the whole idea eventually convinced her.
Father: David Brown, 42, an ecologist. Jess views her father as the more fun side of her parents, and he is usually the one she goes to for help with Acorn, or to hang out with. He was the one who felt that boarding school was a good idea – ‘it never did me any harm, and it’s very character building’ – though somewhat regrets it now that the house is so empty, and he’s the one that has to walk to dog first thing in the morning.
Other Family Members: Jess keeps in pretty close contact with her grandparents (Anna and Edward Brown) on her father's side. They were the ones who originally got her into riding, so she sends them frequent letters rabbiting on about her horse and Blue Ridge. On her mother's side, there's two uncles (George and Michael Williams), three cousins (Lauren, Amber and Justin) as well as the grandmother (Mildred Williams) to keep up with. Jess does her best, but she has the closest ties to her cousin Amber, who's only three years older than herself, and also into horses.
Home Town; Manchester
History; Born on October 13th, at the North Manchester General Hospital, Jess was her mother's third pregnancy, and the only child to actually be carried to term. It is probably because of this that her parents are both protective, and supportive - they only narrowly managed one child, and certainly can't have another, so they put all of their energy into their only daughter.
Up until she was nine, horse never even entered the picture. The Brown’s went on holiday together, hiked, went to the theatre (Jess refused point blank to go to any circus, on account of her dislike of performing animals) and acquired a dog, Ramses, from the local SPCA.
When she was nine, though, her grandparents, who at that time lived on a farm in Surrey, put her atop a horse. It was a slippery slope from there on in. That week of riding Dusty, a Cob who was far too big for her, but old enough that he toddled round quite happily, had doomed her to a love of horses forever.
Once back home, she pestered her parents until they got her riding lessons at the local stables, which she enjoyed ever so much. It was only when she was approached (well, technically her parents were approached) with an offer to buy a very sensible pony that was looking for a good home, that Blue Ridge began to be on the cards. Living in the middle of Manchester, keeping a horse was an impossibility, and with Jess moving out of primary school anyway...
And then came the news that her father was being offered an exciting new job in the United Statees, and suddenly everything began to fall into place. They’d send Jess and Acorn off to boarding school before they moved, so as to make the transition easier, and the next time the holidays moved around, Jess would join her parents at their new home in New Hampshire.
Blue Ridge’s good record, extensive campus and Jess’ enthusiasm cemented the deal, and Acorn came into the picture. For the few months before Jess was packed off to boarding school, Acorn was housed at the riding stables, and she continued getting lessons from her old instructor. Now, though, the pair of them have moved countries, and Jess can only hope things work out.
Misc.: Owns and rides Acorn Heart
Face Claim/Playby: Saiorse Ronan
Threads:
It's all so big...
Drama Class
Early Lessons
English Class (1)
English Class (2)
History Class
German Class
English Lessons (Riding)
Dressage Class Placement
Weekend English Riding Courses
Horse Judging Class
Chasing Daisies
Just a few little herbs...(Continuation of 'Chasing Daisies')
Herbal Magick (Continuation of 'Just a few little herbs...')
Time For A Little Beauty
Auction Four
