S054 - Briggs, Beatrice

[backslash]

Name: Beatrice Titania Briggs
Gender: Female
Age: 18
Grade: Senior
School: John Endecott Memorial Academy
Hobbies and Interests: Lacrosse, watching football, fantasy football, playing video games (Madden, MMORPGs and Pokemon), creating spreadsheets and lists

Appearance: Beatrice is a big girl at 6'2" and with a weight of 237lbs, comprised of a mix of muscle and fat. She is broad-shouldered with large, muscular arms and legs thanks to her playing lacrosse, along with a notably muscular back. She has a comparatively small bust for her size, with most of her fat distributed in her stomach and thighs instead. She is Caucasian, but has a light tan thanks to playing lacrosse. These attributes all point towards Beatrice casting a rather imposing presence, but in reality, her posture, gait, and facial expression are always relaxed and casual, making her a lot more approachable than others. Beatrice’s voice, when she does speak, is a lot softer and quieter than her size might suggest.

Beatrice has a round face shape with overall soft facial features, including soft cheeks and large, round, dark blue eyes. Her wide lips are frequently formed into a graceful, serene smile. She has a small, thin nose and similarly thin, dark eyebrows. Beatrice very rarely uses makeup outside of special family gatherings and occasions, and she has no piercings.

Beatrice’s hair is a soft-black colour and normally reaches down to around her shoulder blades. She is very rarely seen without it tied up in a high ponytail, however, a hairstyle that is both easier to play lacrosse with and that feels more comfortable on Beatrice’s upper back. While most of her hair is tied back, she keeps her bangs parted to frame her face with a pair of white, snap hair clips in her left bang.

Beatrice isn’t particularly fashion conscious and aims more for comfort and affordability in her dress over anything else. To that end, she prefers more traditionally masculine clothing over feminine, sticking to wearing jeans, cargo pants, and shorts, along with t-shirts and jackets. She’ll also frequently wear the training tops and shorts she owns, even when not exercising or practicing with the football team.

On abduction day, Beatrice was wearing a letterman jacket in the royal blue, white and gold colours of John Endecott Academy, over the top of a light green Adidas training top. She also wore a pair of navy blue jeans, white ankle socks, and a pair of black walking boots. Her hair was tied up with a simple black hair tie, and she had her traditional two white hair clips in her left bang. She also had a small pin, designed to look like the Pokemon Sewaddle, attached to her jacket.

Biography: Beatrice, who always goes by her full name and never by "Bea," is the third child of Arthur and Lucy Briggs, and their only daughter. Her older brothers, Marcus and Frederick, are in their third and first years of college respectively, while her younger brother Seth is two years her junior and also goes to John Endecott Academy. The family was originally located in Foxborough, Massachusetts, but moved to Salem, Massachusetts in order to be closer to Arthur’s mother. Lucy still commutes back to Foxborough daily for her job at a solicitor’s office there, while Arthur works a number of part-time jobs, including copy-editing work at home, as an assistant coach for a youth football team, and as a cashier in a grocery store.

Beatrice was diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder when she was five years old; Marcus had also been diagnosed with ASD, and her parents noticed that she exhibited several similar behaviours to him, in particular, a difficulty with verbal communication and an increased sensitivity to textures, both in terms of food and touch. Due to their experience with Marcus’ autism, Lucy and Arthur made sure to provide Beatrice with the support and care that she required, most notably taking her to speech therapy to help with her verbal communication issues. Although she is able to communicate verbally effectively, Beatrice still feels more comfortable with communicating via text the majority of the time and will semi-frequently have periods where she goes non-verbal if she feels overwhelmed or unable to articulate her thoughts properly. Because of her issues with verbal communication and preference for writing down what she wanted to say, Beatrice has an Individual Learning Plan (ILP) to help support her at school.

Due to her mother’s job taking up so much of her time, Beatrice’s formative years were spent surrounded by her father and brothers. Arthur was a huge football fanatic, having grown up close to the Foxboro Stadium, and was eager to share his love of the sport with his children. He would play catch in the backyard with Marcus and Frederick, using a ball he claimed to have come straight from a Patriots’ training session, along with trying to teach them football techniques and plays. At first, Beatrice would either preoccupy herself with drawing in her room, or simply watching them if she wanted to be outside, but eventually her curiosity got the better of her, and she asked if she could join in as well. Although her brothers were not particularly enthusiastic, Arthur was delighted to share his favourite hobby with his daughter, and eagerly brought her into the games they were playing. Beatrice was initially only interested in playing so that she could spend more time with her family, but she grew to enjoy the physical aspect of the sport, interested in all the different strategies and tactics her father taught her, and the adrenaline rush of throwing and running the ball, and tackling - and being tackled by - her brothers.

It didn’t take too long for the Briggs children to become just as invested in the sport as their father, with Seth also eager to join in as he grew older. Whenever any of them had any free time and wished to hang out with each other, they were guaranteed to end up doing something football related, whether that be watching a game on TV or playing Madden together. Super Bowl Sunday was, and still is to this day, a big occasion in the Briggs household, with a large number of friends and family visiting for the day. Although Lucy has no interest in football in the slightest, she appreciates it for how much it brings her family joy, and is also glad that her children have a hobby that allows them to spend time outside. The only minor strife that the sport brings the family is thanks to the teams they support; Beatrice, Arthur and Frederick all support the New England Patriots, while Marcus supports the Pittsburgh Steelers and Seth supports the Cincinnati Bengals.

Because she supported the same team as him, Beatrice ended up growing closer to Frederick than her other siblings. They would spend the most time together out of any of the Briggs children, and Beatrice particularly appreciated the fact that he would let her stay in his room to read or chat whenever she wanted company, even if he was busy with homework or other studying; he stated that she had a calming presence that helped him focus. Frederick played a lot of video games in his spare time, and Beatrice would frequently watch him play; the game that most piqued her interest was his copy of Pokemon Pearl. The art design and bright colours appealed to her, as did the core concept of collecting as many Pokemon as possible and travelling the in-game world with them. The two played through the entire game together, with Beatrice picking which Pokemon to use and what moves to learn. When Frederick got a new Nintendo DS for his birthday, he gave Beatrice his old one, along with a copy of Pokemon Black, something she still plays to this day, occasionally adding to a little notebook filled with information about where to catch each Pokemon and the moves they all learn.

Shortly before Beatrice was due to start high school, Arthur received news that his mother, who lived in Salem, had suffered a stroke and was currently in hospital. Knowing that his mother had a history of poor health, and wanting to spend as much time and be closer to her while he still could, Arthur and Lucy made the decision to move the family to Salem. The news of both the move and of the medical emergency came as a shock to the Briggs children, particularly to Beatrice, who was already struggling to deal with a new situation surrounded by unfamiliar people, with the shift from middle school to high school. The upheaval in her usual routine was a lot for her to take in, and she spent a few days in a very poor state, begging her parents not to move. While she was still upset and unhappy right up to the day of the move, and for around two weeks afterwards, this was tempered somewhat by the fact that she knew a handful of classmates who were also planning on moving to Salem, although not necessarily to John Endecott Academy. Additionally, she knew she would still be able to talk with her friends in Foxborough online or via text, something that she actually preferred in many ways due to her greater level of comfort with communication via textual mediums.

One thing that Beatrice was particularly excited about was the potential to join the football team at high school, as she thought she had enough love of the sport and skill to make a legitimate attempt for a place on the team. She was, of course, incredibly disappointed to discover how limited John Endecott Academy’s sporting facilities were, and the idea of joining a local team outside of school intimidated her far too much to even entertain the concept. This disappointment, combined with the general stress of starting at a new school in an unfamiliar city, affected Beatrice quite badly, and she went through a period where she spent long durations preferring to be non-verbal, and would get even more anxious and uncomfortable in stressful situations than usual.

Unable to actually play the sport she loved, Beatrice poured her attention into everything else football related that she enjoyed, continuing to run drills in the back garden with her brothers, playing Madden, and watching every Patriots game that she could. She also spent plenty of time online, talking to her friends from Foxborough on Facebook and Skype. Many of them were also football fans, like her, and so introduced her to fantasy football, something she had heard of before but which she had little knowledge as to what it was actually about. The idea immediately appealed to her, mostly due to it being centered around her biggest interest, but comparing the stats of players in the NFL and making predictions based upon the games each week proved to be relaxing and enjoyable for her. She participates in a seasonal fantasy football league with a group of her friends, and has even roped her family into it on occasion. She has no interest in competing in global leagues however, as the idea of playing against millions of people intimidates her, and she especially has no desire in competing for money.

Another portion of Beatrice’s group of online friends would play MMORPGs together with each other, particularly Final Fantasy XIV and World of Warcraft, and they often asked her if she wanted to join in with them. Beatrice was reluctant at first as the idea of playing on a server with hundreds of other people intimidated her, and she did not wish to talk to strangers if she could avoid it. However, she saw how much her friends were enjoying playing together and gushing about their experiences, and her interest was piqued enough for her to download Final Fantasy to try it out. At first, the interface confused her and put her off playing it for a couple of days, but she attempted it again with her friends helping her out and guiding her, and her second attempt proved a much more enjoyable experience. She enjoyed playing alongside her friends, completing tasks together, which also meant she did not have to interact with other strangers playing the game. She also enjoyed the methodical and rather repetitive nature of it, as she found that relaxing and enjoyable. A couple of her friends in her Free Company have streamed themselves whilst Beatrice has also been playing, and while she doesn’t mind appearing on stream, she will either say only a few words over the microphone, or stick to communicating entirely via text chat.

One hobby which carries across all of Beatrice’s interests is her habit of making spreadsheets based around them; she has a large number of Excel documents, filled with football stats, information on item drop rate and locations in Final Fantasy, and spreadsheets to plan out her Pokemon teams for each game she plays and where she can catch each of them. She greatly enjoys gathering information about each subject and transposing it into an easily accessible spreadsheet format; she finds the methodical nature of doing so relaxing, and enjoys the satisfaction of being able to use the information she herself has found in order to assist her when playing games, or participating in fantasy football.

Although she was unable to participate in football at John Endecott Academy, Beatrice grew more and more eager to play some form of team sport; although she still enjoyed playing football with her brothers, she wanted to participate in an actual organised competition and be part of an established team. With this in mind, she decided to join the school’s lacrosse team during freshman year. She was a perennial benchwarmer at first, as she struggled to learn the rules of the game, and had several difficulties in communicating with her teammates. However, she had natural fitness and strength as an asset, and she also took time to look up and study the rules of lacrosse, and practice some in her back garden. By sophomore year, it was clear that although Beatrice was still rough around the edges, she was incredibly enthusiastic and eager to succeed, and she began to get more and more game time as the year went on. She plays as a left defensive wing, as her stamina is her greatest asset, allowing her to run for long durations without tiring. Beatrice feels incredibly close to her teammates and feels very loyal and protective of them; she feels a real sense of camaraderie from them, enjoys spending time with them both on and off the field, and wants to make sure they are always doing all right.

For most of Beatrice’s life, her home and family situation has been very good, but there has been a bit of a rocky patch in recent years, centered almost entirely around Frederick and Marcus going to college. Both her parents experienced empty nest syndrome, but it hit Arthur particularly hard, as he had always been very close to his two eldest sons; he went through a period of depression after Marcus left home, and although he will still watch football with Beatrice and Seth, he will play it a lot less frequently in the back garden, and Beatrice feels as though a distance has opened up between him and the rest of the family in the past three years. Beatrice herself has been affected significantly by Frederick leaving home, as the two were always incredibly close, and although he still comes back to visit frequently and she sees him every summer and Christmas, she still misses his constant presence around the house quite a lot. On the other end of the spectrum, she feels as though her relationship with Marcus has gotten a lot worse, as he will act a lot more cold and snappish towards her whenever he returns home from college. For his part, Marcus feels bitter towards Beatrice, as he believes her autism was diagnosed and accommodated for a lot quicker and more effectively than his was, and has grown to believe there is a level of favouritism from their parents towards her.

In terms of her subjects at school, Beatrice does quite well overall, although she does get rather poor marks in those subjects she doesn’t enjoy or engage with. She struggles with more subjective classes, such as English or history, and much prefers classes which have definitive right answers that she can methodically work her way through to, such as maths. She also excels at PE, due to her love of football and time spent on the lacrosse team. The main thing that all of Beatrice’s teachers will comment about her is that she does not participate in class discussions very much, and will almost never raise her hand to answer questions, something that stems from her preference for text communication over verbal communication.

Beatrice is seen as rather intimidating by some people at John Endecott Academy, owing to her large stature and build, and the fact that she is so quiet, but anyone who gets to know her better will find that she is incredibly gentle, thoughtful and considerate to those around her, and that she simply prefers to listen than to talk most of the time. She has a number of friends at school, thanks to her interests in both sports and video games, and enjoys spending time with all of them, although there are frequently times when she is around a large number of people where her sensory issues get the better of her and she needs to take time to herself, or with just a couple of her closest friends. Beatrice will also stim when she is excited or happy and around people she is close to, which generally consists of her flapping her hands or sleeves. She considers herself aromantic but not asexual, and is currently uncertain as to her sexuality; she feels as though she is more attracted to girls, but she is unwilling to give herself any sort of label currently.

Beatrice isn't certain about her future after graduating. She has shown interest in going to college, but she doesn't know what she would want to study, and does not want to go just for the sake of going. She has considered taking a year off after graduating in order to better help make her decision, but she doesn't want to spend the whole year at a loose end, and she is also worried that spending such a prolonged period of time without the structure of a school system will be poor for her mental health. The one thing she is certain about is that, if she does end up going to college, she wants to go somewhere with much better sporting facilities than John Endecott Memorial does.

Advantages: Beatrice is very big and very strong, with plenty of stamina and physical prowess from years of playing football and lacrosse for the school team; she would do well in any form of melee fight, and there are a few people unfamiliar with her who are already intimidated by her height and build. She has a large number of friends who she can likely rely on as allies, particularly the other members of the lacrosse team, and her thoughtful and understanding nature would likely make it easy to get others to trust her, especially as it means she is unlikely to cause drama or strife within a group.
Disadvantages: Although she has physical strength on her side, Beatrice is a very gentle girl, and so is unlikely to want to resort to violence under most circumstances. She struggles with verbal communication, and may go non-verbal when under extreme duress, which would hinder any attempts at working with her classmates. Beatrice also suffers badly from sensory overload, particularly in regards to textures, but large amounts of loud noises will also affect her and stress her out a good deal.

Designated Number: Student No. 054

---

Designated Weapon: Broadaxe

Conclusion: So one of these bigger melee weapons goes to somebody physically able to use it for once, and it turns out she's a total wimp. Go figure. - Veronica Rai