Welcome to Gaia! ::

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Name: Renna Anali Maddox

Nickname: None currently.

Age: 21

Birthday: May 5

Sign: Taurus

Gemstone: Emerald

Blood Type: AB+

Favorite Food: Shellfish, with a particular soft spot for blue crabs and mussels.

Hated Food: Anything with hot peppers or water chestnuts in it.

School: Currently not in school, homeschooled.

Hobbies:

Pop Culture Bonanza – Renna is obsessed with pop culture. She buys countless celebrity gossip rags and reads Perez Hilton every day. It is fun for her to look at the crazy lives of celebrities -- things that she would never do -- and then watch as they either rise or fall. She likes watching the struggles of other people from the comfort of her safe little no-risk life and is fast to compare a situation that any other character is going through to something from the life of a celebrity.

Dancing (badly) – Most people assume that black females have amazing rhythm and coordination. These people have never met Renna. She is not clumsy in her day to day life, but on a dance floor, she is a hot mess of the highest caliber. It usual takes some liquid courage to bring out the wannabe dirty dancer in her around strangers, but in the company of friends, Renna regularly embarrasses herself with some awkward popping and locking. It's a shame she loves it so much.

Journals, Blogs, Writing – Renna has a lot of thoughts and feelings, and she learned as a kid that it helped her to write them out. It began as something she did in class when a teacher or classmate was frustrating her. She started doing it at home when her parents or brothers or cousins were irritating her. As she grew into a teenager, Renna continued the tradition and maintains a strong presence online -- Twitter, Facebook, Livejournal, Blogspot -- where she can talk about what she thinks about everything.

Blue Crab Steam – Renna was born in South Africa and lived there until she was 14 years old. Then her parents got divorced, and she moved with her mother and two brothers to Maryland. It was a huge culture shock for her. One of the things that helped acclimate her to American culture was learning about their food. Specifically, she became obsessed with the Maryland tradition of a blue crab steam. Her neighborhood would have massive block parties filled with food and music and dancing, and now, she has made this a common occurrence in her own life. Become her friend, and you will earn an invitation.

Lifetime Movies – Simply put, she has an addiction.

Virtues:

She is 17, going on 40~ – Ever since she was little, Renna has been regarded as mature for her age. For her fifth birthday, she asked for her father to fashion some airbags and seatbelts for her Barbie car. When she was ten, she ate two handfuls of potato chips and then refused to get in the pool at her family's reunion until a full thirty minutes had passed. Renna always uses the cross walk. Renna obeys the rules of the road. In high school, she has never had embarrassing photos pop up on her Facebook because she finds it immature. While other friends her age might squander their time drinking and blowing off class, Renna would not. She can see the big picture. Renna is mature enough to understand that the things that she does in the present might not be the things that she wants to do, but they are the things that she should do for her future. This makes her very discerning for a 17-year-old and allows her to examine how to handle a situation from multiple angles without giving in to impulses. She can be a voice of a reason to steer others in the right direction, or at least the more sensible one.

Team Mom – Renna has brought the orange slices and juice boxes in her purse for the movie. Renna remembered your back pack for you, don't worry. Renna ironed your dress shirt because she knew you would forget. Renna knows it is your birthday and baked you two dozen cookies spelling out your full name in your favorite color of frosting. In short, Renna is the Mom. Capital M. She is the girl who will show up at 2AM to pick your drunk a** up from some stranger's house, and she will shoot you steely gazes in the rear view mirror in silence before inevitably telling you it was good that you called her instead of driving. She attracts needy personalities like a magnet in a room of paper clips, and that is just fine by her. Please, bring it on. She would like to mother you. It makes her complete. Renna is mature and responsible, and it is very important to her that those around her take care of themselves and make good choices. Now get in the van, it's time for soccer practice.

Protective Team Player – Renna believes that anything can be accomplished with a little elbow grease. She also believes that you don't have enough elbow grease on your own and could probably use some of her elbow grease to get the job done. Despite her tendency to worry about the affairs of others and all the things that could go wrong on a given day, Renna is happy to help anyone at any time – whether that is moving into their new apartment or kicking a nasty drug habit – because she believes that she is capable of creating great and significant change in people's lives. (It’s why she wants to be a guidance counselor... or celebrity blogger.) She may believe that the plan you are going to try is doomed to fail – and she will probably tell you so – but she will still go with you to make sure you are okay. Renna is a protective person who believes that 95% of the world is not nearly cautious enough. Rather than cast you out into the ocean to sink or swim, Renna will paddle alongside you, even if you both end up drowning. She will hold your hand when you go to tell your boyfriend off, even if she is squinting and murmuring awkwardly the whole time. Even if she thinks you are wrong, wrong, wrong, Renna would never abandon a friend, or leave them to suffer alone. On her own, Renna can be meek, but if one of her friends (or anyone, really) was unjustly threatened, Renna would not be able to stand idly by. She would be compelled to say something, or to do something, even at the risk of personal cost. This is especially the case when she believes someone is being picked on who is incapable of properly defending themself.

Serene Listener – Renna is a top notch listener. She can sit on a couch with a bag of potato chips and hear about your day at the veterinarian's office with the undivided attention of a nine-year-old watching Hannah Montana. Not only does she want to show how much she cares about your problems (and therefore, you), but these stories that people tell to her are like little Lifetime movies in themselves playing out for her entertainment. The more drama a person has in their life, the more Renna wants to be friends with them, or at least have a conversation. Renna lives vicariously through others on a daily basis, whether that is celebrities or movies or commercials, and her friends are not exempt from this. They do the things that she wishes she had the testicular fortitude to do, but because it is them and not her, Renna can see the outcome of the situation without having anything personally at stake. She is always willing to listen to the problems of others, no matter how long and complicated, and she is even more willing to tell them what she thinks about the situation, even if that advice is largely just warning them how their actions could backfire horribly.

Flaws:

Captain Rub-It-In – Renna is a responsible young lady who just wants everyone to do what is best for both themselves and others. And if they don't? She will “I told you so” all day and night until Princess Serenity comes back and asks her to stop. If someone makes a mistake, Renna is not the kind of person who will soften her opinion to make them feel better, even if she is trying to “be there” for them. She will never say pacifying things like, “Oh, it's okay. You will be a stronger person now.” No, she will stare at you flatly and say, “You shouldn't have done that. Now go deal with the consequences like a big girl.” After all, she told you so. Why are you upset? Perhaps you should have just listened. Perhaps you should have made a better decision. It isn't that she is cruel. Renna simply doesn't understand why people insist on doing stupid things when it is obvious that the outcome has a low chance of actually turning out the way that person wants. In her mind, a person will never learn if they don't feel really crappy about their mistake first – and that is what she wants: for everyone to learn to be more responsible. This can make her seem cold and unforgiving to others, and many friends will avoid coming to her in a time of need for fear that she will simply chastise them for failing and make them feel even worse.

Adverse to Adventure – Adventure is dangerous. Safaris are adventures. Lions are on safaris. Lions eat people. If I go on a safari, a lion might eat me. This is the kind of logic that makes Renna an unenthusiastic person when it comes to adventure. It doesn't matter if it is a roller coaster or a cage fight – Renna wants no part of it. She is a wet blanket when it comes to doing something a little zany, and if she goes, chances are she will be warning everyone at each turn that they should go back. The bottom line: Renna does not like to take risks. She wants the sure thing. If she was on a game show and she could have $100 or a chance at a brand new car, Renna would take the $100. A chance at brand new car is not actually a brand new car. She'd rather walk away with something rather than nothing. This characteristic makes it very hard to motivate her to do something risky, even if the reward for its success would be quite great. Others might view her as boring or uptight for this. If left to her own devices, Renna would just sit at home and read or watch a Lifetime movie.

Tightly Wound Worrywart – All of her life, Renna has been high strung. She might start hyperventilating if a teacher moved up a test date. She might obsess for days if a friend neglected to invite her to a party that she was certain she would be asked to attend. In a combat situation, Renna is not the Cool Cucumber. She is not smiling confidently as she sweet talks a room full of hostile senshi. She is the HOLY s**t I'M WORRIED. She is maybe peeing her pants a little. Renna will think about all the ways that something could go horribly, terribly, awfully wrong. Movies like Final Destination both terrify and fascinate her. The same responsibility that makes her so cautious and mature in her day-to-day life has created a Worst Case Scenario mentality in Renna that is hard to shake. That knowledge of what could happen almost paralyzes her. She doesn't want to see her friends go running into a situation where something double plus ungood could happen, and if she is going too, her palms will be greased up with her own sweat in less time than it takes a GQ to say, “Kill them all.” This excessive worrying drains her self-confidence, making her mentally weak in situations where danger is afoot.

I Can't Quit You – Renna has a need to fix things, especially people. She has advice to give, and it is good – so listen up! If Renna finds someone who she thinks is crying out for help, she will run to them and do all that she can to put their life in working order. Her past boyfriends have all been total losers: drop-outs, drug dealers, and assholes. She will stay with them for a year while they spend her money and cheat on her because she wants so desperately to make them better. (Older Hillworth boys, watch out. She will probably boyfriend shop in your hallways.) It is incredibly easy for those people to use Renna and take advantage of her willingness to help them. For some people, this level of determination would be a great thing, but in Renna's case, it is very destructive. She exhausts herself emotionally on people, and in the end, she is left with nothing to show for it except hurt and disappointment.

In most relationships, Renna is doing a lot to improve the other person's life, but very rarely does she get that same improvement back. She does not understand that a healthy relationship involves benefits on both sides. The worst part is Renna has probably given the opposite advice to some other girl, telling them to dump some loser, but in her own case, she cannot see the connection, insisting that it is different with her situation. Even in the case of the Negaverse, Renna will likely believe that the misguided senshi can be “fixed” (with her help!). This is very dangerous (and stupid), but it is the one area where Renna seems incapable of taking her own advice about making smart decisions.

PHYSICAL DESCRIPTION

Eyes: Highly-saturated, bright purple. Very large, thick with eyelashes.

Hair: Side sweep of bangs that nearly covers one eye, falls in waves to her lower back like this. I would like her to have her hair styled like that second example and a fancy headband with either beading or a feather. I'd like it so that at least one ear is visible to show off earrings.

Face: Angled chin, high cheekbones, very thick lips, wider nose. Renna is South African. She is black! So her skintone should be darker than, say, Alba/Alcyone but not so dark as the black Azure Academy civilian. The Meghan Good reference in the "hair" section (first link) is a good barometer.

Clothes: This one -- but with black high-heel boots, a thick black high-waisted belt, and large gold hoop earrings.

Thisone -- but maybe with a white shirt instead and a long silver chain with a bird charm at the end.

This top with skinny leg blue jeans and high wedge heels.

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mrgreen