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Your Nickname: Sunny
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Are you over thirteen? Yes
How did you find us and decide to write with us? Other
If you have written other characters here: Yes
If Yes, list them all: Bethan Ellis, Annie Enright, Evelyn Grimlish, Kella Carmody
Is this a Primary or Secondary Character?: Primary

Full Character Name: Brynn Ellis
Character Birthday & Age: July 25th, 1983 – 26 years old
City & Country of Birth: Swansea, Wales
Blood Purity: Halfblood
Alma Mater: Hogwarts (Hufflepuff)
Job/Position: Case Worker on the Werewolf Wing of the DRCMC

Wand: Unyielding alder, 10 inches exactly, with a unicorn tail hair core

Physical Description:
 Brynn Ellis, the middle child in the Ellis brood, has always appeared to be a perfect blend of both of her parents, resembling neither one more than the other (unlike her siblings, who both favor their mother in appearance). Like her mother, Brynn has golden blonde hair, which she wears long - but, like her father, it's quite wavy and thicker than it appears at first glance, with a lot of body. She has her father's squat, slightly wide nose and her mother's soft, plump cupid's bow lips. Her heart-shaped face is much like her mother's in shape, but the little cleft in her chin is definitely from dad. Brynn does share the hazel eyes of the rest of her siblings, but that's the only feature all of the Ellis kids have in common, and hers are considerably darker, appearing nearly brown at times.

Brynn has always been a tall girl, currently standing slightly taller than average at about 5'6, but her weight tends to fluctuate fairly frequently. She goes through periods of high stress, which have the tendency to impact her eating habits in negative ways. Brynn is a food loving girl, so she's generally on the plumper side of average, which her mother always told her looked healthy – but there are times, sometimes for weeks on end, when she feels like ordering takeout is the only thing to possibly look forward to at the end of a long day. You can generally tell whether or not she is going through some kind of turmoil based on whether she's carrying a little extra weight – just please, please do not ask her if she's pregnant. She has never been pregnant, and most likely will not be becoming pregnant anytime soon. It is more likely that she is carrying a food baby. Either way, she's a rather shapely girl, with slightly voluptuous assets. Nothing about her is sharp or boney. This generally helps give off the appearance that she's extra maternal and approachable, which comes in handy in a helping profession – plus, it's true.

Brynn tends to dress a bit conservatively, both because she likes to 'dress for success' in neat, modest business casual attire, and because she is a little bit insecure about her figure. She tends to look very well put together when in public, even if her clothing choices aren't particularly creative. She is the type of person who is either dressed to the nines in her work attire or completely dressed down in pajamas – there's not much of an in-between. She's either on or she's off, but more often than not she is on. Her demeanor and manner are generally bright, and smiles are frequent visitors on her face.

Personality Description:
Brynn Ellis was your first girlfriend. You loved her because she built up your self-esteem, and she mothered you just a bit, and kissed you whenever you asked. Eventually you started feeling really great about yourself, so you dumped her.

 Brynn Ellis was the best friend you ever had. You told her all of your secrets, and she kept them. She remembered a lot of important little things, and told you what an amazing friend you were, and made you feel pretty cool, so you stopped talking to her and found some cooler friends.

Brynn Ellis is your older sister and favorite sibling, and spent most of her life watching as you got all of the attention for being loud mouthed and fragile, but still let you sleep in her bed, even though you kicked. She has always looked after you.  Now you both end up in a shouting match every time she comes home because you say she's too nosy.

That is Brynn Ellis in a nutshell: Perpetually heartbroken, perpetually cast aside, and too damned nice for her own good. Sometimes it seems like she enjoys being treated like a cast-off and, in fact, she became so very good at building people up to the point where they didn't need her anymore that she became a social worker – a social worker who takes in sad puppies, builds up their self esteem, helps them obtain some dignity, and hopes they don't need to come back and see her again. It is a story that plays out in her life over and over again. She cares about people more than she cares about herself. Every single person in the Ellis family is too passionate about something, and Brynn is no exception. Her mother wants to be the perfect housewife, her father and brother put their souls into their business, and her younger sister won't sleep until she's fighting bad guys. Brynn's passion is taking care of people, even though people don't always take care of her.

Despite how it sounds, Brynn isn't a pushover. She stands up for herself, though never as much as she stands up for her clients. She knows how to tell it like it is. She is a task master. She likes to think that she has things under control. Her office is organized. Her flat is organized. She knows what she likes and how she likes it, and she'll tell you so. Her assertiveness does not last forever, though. She gets worn down more quickly than others, and people have figured out that if they say 'no' enough then she will appear to back down. Having grown up as a middle child, however, Brynn is used to having to go through other avenues to accomplish things. She doesn't mind keeping some things a secret if it means she gets to accomplish something she feels is important – even when it means breaking the rules or doing things off the record. She gets a thrill out of being a little bit sneaky, and she's good at it.

People typically have no doubt that she can get a job done.  If anyone can, it's Brynn! Yay for Brynn, who stayed in the office all night! Yay for Brynn, who worked a twenty four hour shift on her day off! Can't do it? Ask Brynn! Brynn will do anything! The only person who doubts Brynn is Brynn herelf, because she knows she's not really as organized as she likes to claim – even though she has never lost anything. She knows she's not as attentive as she could be – even though nobody has ever accused her of inattentiveness. She knows she doesn't work as hard as she can – even though she works too hard. In essence, she is always convinced that there is something to better about herself, and constantly lives with the feeling that she's unqualified to be a person and is therefore deceiving everybody. They say 'once a Hufflepuff, always a Hufflepuff,' and the hardworking, caring, over-ambitious Brynn is clearly a badger for life.

At 26, Brynn is always seeking romance, but right now her longest relationship to date has been with her cat. She is married to her work. She is an excellent listener, snorts when she laughs, and isn't easily offended. She wants a family, but is fairly certain that she will be single for the rest of her life.


History:
 Brynn's mother had always wanted children but, more than that, she'd always wanted a little girl. When her first child, a little boy called Owen, was three, she finally got her wish. Not only was Brynn a girl, but she was a mellow baby – plus, she was being parented by the new, improved version of her parents, who'd already raised one infant and were parenting with a new confidence. Her home was a happy one from day one, and she thrived with attention from her parents. Her mother chose to stay home with the children until they were both of school age, but her father was having great success with his magical construction operation and they didn't miss the supplemental income as much as they'd thought they would. Being raised by two muggleborn parents meant that she was growing up in a magical household with a few muggle-ish extras. They had a television, for example, but only basic service. Having electricity at home made it much easier to baby proof the house, since lamps were much easier to deal with than open flames when mothering a new walker.

Things were fairly unremarkable for most of Brynn's early childhood. When she turned five she was sent to the same local Welsh language primary school that her brother attended, at the behest of her father's parents (known throughout her life as 'the Welsh grandparents'), and she did quite well there. Her family home wasn't so thoroughly infested with magical culture that she couldn't have friends over, so she tended to fit in very nicely at school despite her wizarding heritage. Her teachers were constantly bragging on how kind and helpful she was at school, and nobody was particularly surprised. She was a breath of fresh air compared to her higher spirited brother, who was more fond of jumping off playground apparatuses than making friends – the only phone calls from the school about Owen were from the school nurse and typically regarded bleeding gashes. As a result of their very different natures, Brynn frequently found herself begging for a baby sibling who was more like her. She was a very caring, easy going kid, and made friends easily, but she had built up the idea of a little sibling in her head to the point that nothing else would do. Her parents tried to break it to her that they weren't planning on having anymore children, and she resigned herself to life as the youngest in the family.

Needless to say, it was quite a grand surprise for everyone when her baby sister Bethan was born. Brynn was seven years old, and Bethan was a little mistake that quickly turned into the love of her life. She doted on that baby like nobody's business. If she could have taken the baby and run away forever to play house in the garden shed, she probably would have. Luckily for her parents, the help of a seven year old is actually somewhat useful, and they genuinely came to depend on Brynn's assistance on a day to day basis. Her sister was really too little to be the sort of best friend she'd dreamed of, but she was better. Everyone in the family quickly came to regard Beth lovingly as “Brynn's Baby.” Beth, however, was not a Brynn. She was not mellow. All of her favorite activities involved throwing things and shrieking like a baby chimpanzee, but she was the happiest creature anyone could have imagined, and her happiness was infectious. Owen went off to Hogwarts when Brynn was eight and Bethan was a year old, so they had a few years to bond as big sister and baby sister.

Brynn had to go off to Hogwarts eventually, however, and when the time came the whole family accompanied Brynn and Owen to the train. Being a social creature, Brynn was happy to go off to school and meet some new friends. She didn't know much about the rise of the dark wizard Voldemort, since she could be sensitive and her parents didn't want to scare her, so she couldn't have been much happier or more confident when she arrived at Hogwarts and took the boat ride across the lake for the first time. Her sorting was a no frills affair that put her in Hufflepuff house, where her industrious, caring nature made her right at home in the dungeons with her housemates. Her more outstanding traits made her well suited to life at a school like Hogwarts, where she was able to succeed in schoolwork and social affairs with finesse.

All was well at school, but not all was well at home. That first year away was the year that her beloved baby sister was critically injured in an attack of a dark nature while the family was visiting Diagon Alley. Her parents didn't want to sugarcoat things for their older daughter, but at the time there was definitely some doubt as to Bethan's prognosis. She was very young and very badly burned and, because the injuries were caused by runespoor venom, the healing process would be slow and laborious. Brynn was still young herself, and had never come close to losing anybody she was close to, so the situation caused a sudden change in perspective that had her looking at the world from a different and more mature point of view. When she returned home for the summer the baby was still quite poorly on and off, and it was difficult to see her vibrant, energetic little sister going through something that knocked so much of the life out of her. Brynn would prove to be a good nurse, however. She was as gentle with her sister as she'd been when she was a newborn, and Bethan seemed to appreciate having a friend around after months of being in hospital with healers and adults everywhere. Brynn turned twelve that summer, and didn't seem to mind too much that her birthday celebration was on the back burner in favor of dealing with the family crisis. When she returned to school that Fall she was the same sweet kid she'd always been, but a little older, a little wiser, and a little more compassionate – plus, she'd learned a little something about the world. It was hard not to, now that she knew she was living in a world where innocent babies could be used for target practice.

Defense Against the Dark Arts class in particular seemed to take on new meaning for her, and she attended to the content with a new fervor, even with the ever-changing staff lineup. Professor Moody was intense, but thorough, and she appreciated all she learned that year. It was a good thing that her education was thorough during her second year, because it would all go downhill during third year, when Dolores Umbridge reigned supreme. At that point Brynn was no longer quite so naοve when it came to her knowledge of the rumored rise of Voldemort. As her family had already been affected by dark magic, she was very concerned with all of the controversy and what it might mean for her. Some said he'd returned while others outright denied it. As the child of two muggleborns, the truth was of immediate concern to Brynn, who feared for her family.

The threat would become tangible when, just before she would have started her fourth year, Brynn was sent to stay with her mamgu and tadcu in Wales while her parents took the baby (who was nearly seven by that time, but still too young to really have the first clue what was going on) into hiding in rural Lancashire. Her brother, who was already seventeen, fled the country entirely. Brynn wouldn't find out until years later that her parents had gone through great lengths, not only to hide her and her siblings, but to fake their deaths so that they wouldn't be pursued and tortured. She would never again deny the value of being a good friend – friends, willing to help with the cover up, had saved her family.

 All things considered, Brynn's time in hiding was fairly idyllic. She had no connection to the wizarding world whatsoever during that time and was homeschooled in muggle subjects by her mamgu. It was Brynn, a mature, wand-carrying witch with the trace on her, who was in the most danger throughout the whole ordeal. Every day she spent bored and trapped with her grandparents was a day she survived life under a regime designed to persecute people exactly like her. It wasn't until Voldemort and the ministry fell and she was reunited with her parents that she learned just what she'd missed while tucked away in the valley with the sheep. 

Brynn would return to school in 1998 as a fifteen year old fourth year. She was extremely out of practice but, as always, hit the books with an impressive passion, determined to work hard in the wake of what her family had been through. Now she felt like she had something to prove, and she studied harder than ever before. Understandably, she developed an interest in social justice along with her preexisting interest in Defense Against the Dark arts which, over time, organically lead her to an interest in Werewolf Advocacy. While Muggleborns were no longer being openly persecuted in quite the same way as before, working with werewolves would provide her an opportunity to make a change for a population that was still undergoing an incredible level of discrimination every single day. When she finally finished up at Hogwarts with five NEWTs at the age of eighteen (going on nineteen), she had no trouble finding an internship at the ministry. The Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures seemed pleased to have a new grunt around. She did all she could to make a positive name for herself in the department, even when it meant working too hard with little recognition. She tried to be like a mosquito in the ears of the right people, letting them know that her interest was in advocacy and working directly with the population, not in filing.

It took her almost a year to obtain a normal salaried position with the Werewolf Registry, during which time she was able to move out of her parent's house and rent a miniscule flat in Cardiff. It was not her dream job by any means, but she was working with the population she was interested in, which satisfied her for the moment. All the while, she began compiling a ledger of resources, which became her secret pet project. It was, essentially, just a big list of people and businesses known to be werewolf friendly, from healers, to apothecaries, to barbers – anyone a werewolf might have to deal with on a regular basis. A lot of the entries in the ledger were based on tips she received from werewolves she met on the job, and many were happy to network with her when it came to getting accurate information for her project. Eventually she had, not only a list of werewolf friendly people and businesses, but a list of employers willing to hire and retain afflicted employees. It became apparent to her that there was a definite mental health crisis in the werewolf community, and that one key to controlling it was getting cursed individuals into the workforce and helping them to develop a sense of dignity. She spent a long time at that desk job, trying to develop her philosophy on how to help people, networking, and filling her ledger. She spent about three years working her desk job at the registry (in addition to her approximately one year as a department intern) before someone in power finally began to implement werewolf reform on a large scale and her dream job finally came to exist.

Like most individuals who work in human services, Brynn had to more or less learn on the job. She had good instincts, however, and enough experience with the population that the transition from paper pusher to case worker wasn't very difficult. She has held that position for about two years, and while she struggled a lot with caring too much, working too hard, and nearly burning herself out, it is still the thing she is most passionate about in the world. She isn't always treated like the most valuable employee, which makes it difficult to feel like she is making real change for the population she so desperately wants to help, but everyday she is getting better at her job, making new connections, and, she believes, coming closer to making a breakthrough.

Describe your job duties and how you go about them:
In essence, Brynn is a Werewolf Advocate, working on the werewolf wing of the DRCMC to help coordinate services for British citizens afflicted with the curse of lycanthropy. In this role she wears many hats. Some see her more as a counselor, others see her as a paper pusher, while still others see her as a sort of parole officer. She deals with a great deal of paperwork, as it's her job to understand any and all paperwork that clients are expected to fill out. She must be able to explain it, make sure that it gets translated into the relevant languages when necessary, make sure that it's filled out correctly, make sure that it gets to the right person or office, make sure it's processed, and ultimately make sure it's filed. Furthermore, she has to keep records of everything she does and make certain that those records are on file, too. She deals with a lot of parchment. Her favorite part of the job, however, is working directly with the afflicted population and their families.

Her hands on work begins when she's assigned a case, usually (but not always) at the time of registration, which, in some cases, is as early as the day after the individual is bitten. At that point she can be expected to counsel the individual and/or their parent or guardian through completing all of the documentation involved in registration. From that point on she's more or less a resource when it comes to helping those individuals and families follow the law and prevent further preventable tragedies or fatalities as a result of the curse. This process involves helping clients to find a safehouse or saferoom or putting them in touch with a ministry approved contractor in order to have one built. She is also responsible for conducting periodic safehouse inspections, mostly of the private facilities. In some cases she assists with issues involving access to wolfsbane, and follows up on post-transformation medical issues and concerns when necessary. When minors are involved, whether the afflicted party is a parent or a child, she is responsible for home visits, arranging childcare, and helping to counsel clients regarding their options for educating afflicted youth. She is also responsible for frequently checking in with any clients who have offended in some way and have mandated restrictions, generally meeting with them for counseling and helping them to continue to live productively.

Futhermore, Brynn is often tasked with serving as the leader of a few of the support groups run by the department, which rotate periodically and are often formed based on current interests. In those situations her job is to mediate and moderate conversations, usually on a theme, and help group members to relate to one another. It is not technically her job to provide the snacks for these groups, but she usually does – mostly because she wants to eat snacks, and she has found that snack tables are a great place to break the ice. Plus, the sound of chewing often breaks up the silence in an awkward, stiff conference room. Brynn more or less provides snacks for the entire department pretty much everyday, and sometimes she has to wonder if that's the only reason why she still has a job.

By far her least favorite part of the position is the bi-monthly sensitivity training that she has to conduct for new recruits to the WCU. She usually becomes the target of ridicule for at least a few weeks afterward, and there's nothing like hearing her sincerest philosophies mocked to make her feel great about herself. It is not a coincidence that the WCU's bi-monthly sensitivity training always falls on the day of Brynn Ellis's bi-monthly evening of excessive liquor consumption.

Although she works set hours and most of her work is done on the department itself, Brynn is also frequently on call for emergencies after her shift is done, and works a 24 hour shift every full moon. She occasionally takes her work outside of the office when she is required at St. Mungo's, safehouses, dispensaries, or clients' homes. Furthermore, her duties and responsibilities are never set in stone, and change based on where she's needed. She is the grunt of the department. If she's cleared to do a job or complete a task, she has probably done it in the past. If nobody claims responsibility for completing a necessary task, she'll usually find a way to get it done. In essence, she is an unsung, underpaid superhero who cares too much.

Elaborate on your expertise in your field:
Brynn started out interning for the department as soon as she finished school, having completed the relevant coursework and having passed an interview. She gained experience with her population of interest from her first day, and was eventually rewarded for her good work with a full-time entry level position at the registry. She was trained on the werewolf wing, and took a lot of initiative, whispering about her interests in advocacy in a lot of the right ears. At the time she was doing some of the work she does now, only with fewer responsibilities and a lot more frustration. When change finally came to the ministry in the form of new werewolf legislation, that was when Brynn's passion and experience paid off, and she was “promoted” to the position she holds now – a position which not everyone necessarily viewed as a promotion. In addition to her four years of experience in the department, Brynn's personality lent itself well to a position in human services, and her inherent passion for social justice made it far easier for her to learn on the job, as many human services professionals do. She has now held the position for just about two years.

Writing Sample:


Sum up your character in one paragraph:
Brynn Ellis is a long suffering, super maternal witch whose passion for finding social justice for werewolves has guaranteed that she spends much of her life stress eating and crying in bed to her cat. She likes nothing more than the feeling of having accomplished something for others, and, as a result, tends to work too hard. She is incredibly approachable, though her kind and caring nature is both her biggest strength and biggest weakness. She is convinced she has found her dream job, but also longs for a family and a relationship that won't end abruptly with “it's not you, it's me.”