Survival Of The Fittest

Name: Madeleine Hillary Molliqaj
Gender: Female
Age: 18
Grade: 12th
School: John Endecott Memorial Academy
Hobbies and Interests: Balkan politics, model UN, hiking, shopping, swimming

Appearance: Madeleine is 5’11 and weighs around 155 lbs, leaving her taller than most of her female peers. She is slender and slim, with long, toned legs thanks to her interest in hiking. There is very little fat on her body, as she is thin, with most of it being stored in her thighs and abdomen. Her skin is free of any blemishes, and she has tan skin with golden undertones. She is of Kosovar Albanian descent, and takes after her father.

She has a circular face, with a Grecian nose, thin, patchy eyebrows (which she fills in with an eyebrow pencil) and upturned, deep set chocolate brown eyes. Her hair, a lighter shade of brown, is straight and long, currently ending halfway down her back. Often, Madeleine will add some kind of hair clip or decoration to her outfit in order to add something new and cute to it. Her teeth are straight thanks to the aid of braces when she was younger, and they are a pearly white colour. Her ears are small and rather prominent, but are covered by her hair.

Madeleine is into fashion and shopping, and has amassed a small wardrobe of clothes, both from respected brands like Gucci and Canada Goose, and smaller own-brand clothing and less-known brands. Like her mother, she values a good deal, frequenting thrift stores. On the day of the abduction, Madeleine was wearing a pink cypress down jacket from Canada Goose with a grey t-shirt underneath that has ‘Me Myself and Ibiza Forever’ written over a yellow depiction of the island of Ibiza on it, jeans and brown winter boots. In her hair, she was wearing a pink hair clip with a white cat face on the end of it.

Biography: Madeleine Hillary Molliqaj was born in Prizren, Kosovo on the 29th of May 2003 to Gezim Molliqaj and Mirjeta Molliqaj née Krasniqi. Her mother worked as a maid at a local hotel, while her father was an electrician. She has a brother, Klinton, born on the 1st of August 2005; he was named after Bill Clinton, and Madeleine herself is named after Madeleine Albright and Hillary Clinton.

Madeleine’s family, like many others in Kosovo, idolised the United Kingdom and United States for their role in ensuring the safety of its people during the Kosovo War. So to them, it made sense to name their two children after their political idols. Gezim and Mirjeta had been applying for a Diversity Immigrant Visa for the past several years, hoping to get the chance to immigrate to the United States, but so far they had little luck.

Their house was small, and Kosovo’s economy was struggling to pick up from the Kosovo War; Gezim could only find limited employment on construction sites, often having to travel to neighbouring cities and towns for work, and the hotel that Mirjeta worked at was struggling due to a lack of tourism and visitors. As such, they were very poor, barely scraping by on cheap meals. Their aspiration to immigrate to the United States was not just based on ideological grounds, but also economic grounds. Gezim believed in the American dream, and from conversations he had with American soldiers he had met several years prior, he was confident that he could build a better life for his family there.

Madeleine was a very quiet child, content to simply play with her toys and read on days with poor weather. In better weather, she would go out and play with the children in her street; she was personable when she wanted to be, although she wasn’t as loud as some of the children she played with. She tried to get them to be a little more quiet in turn, but this was often met with mocking. She eventually relented, making friends with some of them and encouraging them to be quieter now that they were friends, which was taken better.

From a young age, she was always very close to her mother, and they often went to one of the malls together, even if they were just going shopping for food, new clothing or simply just to look at any new stores. Sometimes they would take a bus up to Ferizaj, where they had a good view of Camp Bondsteel, an American military base; there, Mirjeta would explain to her daughter how the Americans had saved them. Madeleine didn’t understand it entirely, but she gathered quickly from her mother and father that the people in there were good. Mirjeta had an eye for good deals, and if they were lucky, they would walk out of the local mall with a good deal on food, clothing or simple luxuries.

She was enrolled into preprimary when she was five years old in preparation for going into primary school the following year; she had a small friends group, yet they were all very close with one another. Grade-wise, Madeleine was average. While she tried hard, the education system in Kosovo wasn’t great, with limited supplies and staff. Her parents tried to help as much as they could, explaining the basics and helping her with homework. and slowly Madeleine started to improve.

In early 2009, in the wake of Kosovo’s declaration of independence, her mother won a Diversity Immigrant Visa, and as soon as possible Gezim made plans to move to the United States. He applied for electrician jobs in the United States, eventually finding a job at a construction company in Salem, Massachusetts. In preparation he had his family take basic English lessons; he had learned the basics while helping build Camp Bondsteel and working with American and British engineers, and as such took more advanced lessons. Madeleine took poorly to it, and was the worst out of them at English, struggling to grasp the basics. Nevertheless, Gezim made her persist at it, and soon she had a passing knowledge of the basics.

In July they moved to their new home, a quiet family home in Salem. Madeleine’s uncle, who was working as an Albanian translator in Germany, having fled there from his home in northern Kosovo during the Kosovo War, paid for the first few months of rent, allowing his brother to get up on his feet. Madeleine struggled with her English initially, but the live exposure to English helped her learn quicker than the classes she took in Kosovo.

Initially, she missed her friends from preprimary and her street in Prizren, but she found it easy to make new friends in her new street; often they were inquisitive about where Madeleine had come from, asking her many questions about what it was like to live in Europe, what food she ate, and other questions that Madeleine was all too happy to answer. She was introduced to her favourite cartoons as a child by her new friends, which helped her gain a further grasp of the English language. She and Klinton would sit and watch whatever was on the TV for hours

Starting first grade, Madeleine was initially at a disadvantage due to the curriculum being much different from the Kosovo education system. Her mother, who was staying at home as a homemaker now that they had no need for two incomes with Gezim making much more money than he ever did in Kosovo, often spent time with her trying to help her with homework and understanding the material, but her grades were still low in that first year. She was enrolled in ESL classes, which she was annoyed about, as she saw it as taking away from any time she could spend with Klinton and her friends. Still, it helped her understanding of the English language increase.

With Gezim’s wages allowing them to afford luxuries that would be unattainable in Kosovo, Madeleine often tagged along to go shopping with her mother on weekends – she was amazed at the sheer amount of options on offer, from clothes to food to simple things like soap, matches and shampoo. In the first few shopping trips, they often came home with too much food or luxuries, excited to try all the food or see what the soaps and shampoos they had bought smelt like. While the rest of her family soon found their favourite products, Madeleine still enjoys trying new products.

Klinton, who was nicknamed Bill by his friends after his namesake, had adapted to American life easier than Madeleine, and he was doing well in kindergarten, being rather friendly and boisterous in contrast to his sister’s quiet demeanour. Having developed a new interest in American history, Gezim would take his children to the important sites of the American Revolution, explaining to them how America, just like Kosovo, had to fight off a tougher enemy with the assistance of a bigger nation to gain independence. This sparked a fascination with the American Revolution in Madeleine, who started loaning out books from her local library about the revolution and its events.

This fascination with the revolution helped her going into second grade, where she started to pull her grades up piece by piece. This slow yet steady increase continued throughout second and third grade, and by the middle of third grade, Madeleine’s grades were better; she wasn’t at the top of the class, but they were significantly higher than the ones she attained in first grade. She could speak English with ease at this point, having dropped ESL classes in second grade. To celebrate her newfound grades and grasp of English, her family went out to get food at an expensive restaurant, something that would become a habit whenever something good happened to the family.

She could also have more conversations with the kids in her class, and as such, she developed a few close friendships, which she preferred over a lot of friends who she barely talked to. She’d often go over to a friend’s house to hang out or sleepover, eating snacks and watching movies. Sometimes this would turn into them doing homework together before they went to bed, and Madeleine would often help her friend with their homework so they could both get it done in time. Often, this would consist of Madeleine giving tips to her friends, wanting them to work it out for themselves; most of the time, she would just end up telling them the answers, as it was getting late.

Around the same time, her family signed her up for swimming lessons with her school; while at first nervous around the water, Madeleine soon acclimated to it. Her favourite thing to do was float on her back with her ears in the water and enjoy the silence and peace, even if it was often interrupted by someone else splashing her or the swimming teacher telling her to get off her back and practice her strokes. Sometimes, her mother would take her to the local swimming pool, where she would do the same, trying not to get in the way of other people.

When she goes to the pool now, Madeleine tends to just swim up and down the pool until she gets tired, and then lets herself float like she did when she was younger, repeating the cycle whenever she gets enough energy back to swim. She enjoys the exercise, as well as the chance to just turn her brain off and focus on swimming and floating.

The rest of her time in elementary passed without incident, and soon she had moved onto middle school. Her grades had stabilised at this point, being mostly average with a few exceptions; she wasn’t good at maths, no matter how many times her parents tried to help her with homework or simple revision. Her brother had just entered the fourth grade, and had developed an interest in soccer, watching English football clubs play on the TV whenever he got the chance. Despite the sport not interesting her, Madeleine would feign interest and watch with her brother, so she could spend more time with him.

Around this time, her father received American citizenship through naturalisation, which also extended to his family. Madeleine was excited about the occasion, as her parents had been talking about citizenship for years, and now it had finally arrived. She excitedly talked about it to all her friends in school, her teachers, and anyone who would listen to her excitement. From what her parents had told her of Kosovo and what she remembered of growing up there, it seemed like America was a lot better than Kosovo. She had been reading news articles about Kosovo, which was currently undergoing a series of protests due to unemployment and a minister’s comments, and was struck by how different it seemed from her idyllic American life.

As she grew older, she began to read more about the situation in Kosovo, from a mixture of online articles, actual books and asking her parents about what it had been like growing up there. Their stories made her research the topics they brought up, which in turn led her to having a general interest in the political situation in the Balkans; particularly the issue of Kosovo’s declaration of independence and how NATO assisted in it, which helped her learn just why her parents were patriotic.

Nowadays, she follows the political situation in the Balkans closely; she has expanded her reach from just Serbia and Kosovo to other countries in the region, such as Bosnia and Bulgaria. Madeleine was somewhat surprised by the political corruption in the region at first, but has grown to accept that it’s a consistent thing across the region. Events in her home country interest her the most; she followed the events of Hashim Thaçi’s rise to power and his resignation due to being indicted for war crimes closely, being especially annoyed by the American envoy to that region’s meddling causing Thaçi’s rise to power.

In 7th grade, her middle school began offering a Model UN club, and Madeleine, interested in expanding her knowledge of the world and politics in general, joined it. She wasn’t a great debater at the beginning, but her enthusiasm and the amount of research she put into whatever role she was playing made up for it. Whenever she got the chance she preferred to represent the smaller, less powerful nations as opposed to the larger nations like Russia or America, as she found being smaller and having to make compromises much more interesting.

Her parents were straight down-ballot Democrats, and they were perfectly happy to explain what they knew about American politics to Madeleine, which helped her both with Model UN and understanding the 2016 election when it came around. Her parents naturally supported Massey, as she was in the same party as Clinton, and her loss was a huge blow to them. Nonetheless, they believed that 2020 would be a good year, and Madeleine shared this belief, preferring to be optimistic rather than pessimistic about the whole thing.

She isn’t politically active, however, not talking about it much in school and not participating in any rallies or protests, and mostly just follows politics via the news. She tends to have a positive outlook on things, and regards Kirby’s election as a good start to a post-Canon America.

Madeleine’s academic performance continued to be average throughout middle school; she was still bad at maths, but an interest in history and social studies helped even it out to average grades. She graduated from middle school without much else of interest happening, mostly spending her free time reading up about the Balkans and swimming. At her insistence, Gezim took her to Washington D.C for a weekend trip, where she explored the various museums, enjoying it immensely. She wanted to go so she could learn more about politics for Model UN, although once she got there that ambition was abandoned for tourism and exploring.

As soon as she could, she joined John Endecott Memorial’s Model UN, trying to make friends with most of her fellow delegates. She still preferred representing smaller countries, as there was a lot more nuance to the smaller, less notable countries compared to the larger ones. Her debating skills were a lot better thanks to her experience in middle school, and she enjoyed the sense of comradery and fun that she had with her fellow delegates.

In general, she did her best to be friendly towards her classmates, often offering to help her classmates out if they needed help with homework or generally trying to make sure other people felt included. Madeleine was easy to talk to, able to display an interest in whatever anyone else was doing. She made a lot of acquaintances and friends, but she only considered a few close friends. Parties weren’t really her thing, as she preferred more quiet hang-outs, but sometimes she would go just to socialise.

Around this time, she started to assemble herself a wardrobe of clothes that she though looked good or cute; she found most of her clothes at thrift stores, but she picked up a part-time job at a clothing store in a mall to help pay for some of the more expensive clothes that she couldn’t find at any thrift store. She enjoys helping customers find whatever clothes they want, but working in the stock room or at the till is boring to her. She doesn’t particularly gravitate to any specific style of brand of clothing, often mixing and matching whatever she can find to make good outfits.

In her junior year, Madeleine joined a peer aide class, thinking that it would be a good experience and wanting to help people in a slightly more official position. She had additionally offered her support to anyone else who wanted it; while few people accepted her offer, and she was only able to help them a little, she still enjoyed helping other people with their work and trying to get their grades up, both outside of school and in her role as a peer aide.

This was sometimes taken advantage of; on occasion, people would ask Madeleine for help with homework and get her to feed them the answers instead of actually working together with her on whatever work they were doing. Madeleine just assumed that they needed that much help, and was surprised when Klinton pointed out that they probably just wanted free answers. She casually mentioned his suspicion to one of them during a study session, and they admitted they did just want easy answers. This left her a little annoyed, as she could have been using that time to study herself or help other people who actually needed it.

During the COVID pandemic, Madeleine couldn’t go shopping or swim at her local pool, so apart from helping other people with their work or hanging out with Klinton, she joined her father on hikes around the countryside. Quickly she came to realise that she enjoyed hiking out in the countryside, something that they were discouraged from doing in Kosovo due to unmarked landmines and explosives. It came to the point where Madeleine was encouraging her father to come on a hike with her instead of the opposite.

On the weekends if Gezim has time, he and Madeleine will drive out to hiking trails and spend a few hours hiking, talking about whatever comes to mind. If he has time, Klinton will come along, although normally he has homework or soccer practice. Hiking has influenced Madeleine’s view on the environment further; she enjoys the natural sights of the forests they hike through, and she has become more vocal about environmentalism and climate change as a result.

Academically, not much has changed over Madeleine’s time in John Endecott Memorial, still largely retaining the same grades that she has had since middle school. She tends to enjoy her schoolwork, and puts effort into it, but most of her spare time is spent researching stuff for Model UN, leaving her to sometimes have to rush her homework. She has been working on better scheduling so she doesn’t have to rush it, although she tends to get caught up in research and forget about homework.

She is close to her family; she sometimes hangs out with Klinton in the park or goes shopping with him. He plays in an under-17 soccer club, and Madeleine always tries to make time to go watch him play as a goalkeeper. Her father, who she is very close to in general, often chats with her when she comes in from school, and she often asks him about what it was like growing up in Kosovo. Her mother, however, is a quiet person who enjoys having her own privacy, and while she and Madeleine are close, she doesn’t have the same rapport with Mirjeta as she does with her other family members.

Sexually, Madeleine considers herself straight; she has had a few crushes on guys before, but was too shy to act on any of them, and the opportunity slipped by. She currently has none, but she’s determined to act on the next guy she’s crushing on.

When Madeleine graduates from John Endecott Memorial, she has two ideas for her career; the first is studying International Relations at a university somewhere, and joining the U.S. State Department. The second is becoming a teacher; she enjoys helping the other people in her school learn, and she thinks it would be fun to make that a career. She’s not sure what one specifically she would like to do, but her parents are encouraging her to become a teacher, as they see it as a more stable career than politics.

Advantages: Madeleine regularly goes swimming and hiking, and is physically fit. Her friendly demeanour and willingness to help others in school also means that she’ll have a wide span of friends and acquaintances to ally with, in addition to her fellow delegates in Model UN. In addition, her positive outlook might help her stay cheerful on the island.
Disadvantages: Madeleine’s general positive outlook and morale is not well suited for Survival of the Fittest, as news of her friends killing and dying will demoralise her and weigh down on her. She also has a desire to help other people and is trusting and as a result, is easy to lie to or mislead.

Designated Number: Student No. 056

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Designated Weapon: Macuahuitl

Conclusion: Well S056, you're definitely doomed but just look at the cool piece of culture we gave you. It's good to broaden your horizons before someone, uh... shit, somebody help me make that into a disembowelment pun. Anybody? - Josh Baines