Physical characteristics: short and stout; mid-back-length thinning, greying brunette hair; blue to blue-grey eyes with green rims. Hair is frequently worn in some variation of a French twist or a coil, but is occasionally worn loose.
Color glow (before/after faeries): before: greyish, turning greyish-pink when emotional; after: neon-green, turning brighter when emotional. This turned back to normal before War 10, and back to neon after the Seeking ritual to find MacHeather, and back to normal again after the Pagan Circle...
Spectacles/contact lenses? War 11: two pairs of spectacles: roundish "tortoise-shell" enameled black frames with black temples, and rectangular silver frames with speckled blue and purple temples.
Wars 9 and 10: large, squarish pewtery frames with speckled blue-and-purple enamel.
Wars 9-11: Clear and black plastic-framed sunglasses with polarized lenses (grey-green)
Makeup? War 11: SPF30 Neutrogena Healthy Defense Sheer foundation in 30 Blushing Ivory, SPF30 Neutrogena Healthy Defense pressed powder in "Light", assorted colors of eye shadow tending toward greens/olives and blues/indigos. Bourjois mascara in Vert Satin (preferred; matches rims of irises), Blue Soie (to go with blues), or Gris Perle (natural look). Lip color: SPF 20 Neutrogena Lip Plush in Blushing Tulip (mauvish satin), SPF15 Bath & Body Works See-Thru Lip Color in Twinkle (brownish-purple frost), SPF15 Sephora Lip Baume (glossy, colorless lip balm). When sunscreen is not an issue, Bourjois "Effets 3-D" lip gloss in "Brun Galactic" (brownish frost) or "Argent Numéric" (pale opalescent), applied to high gloss level.
War 10: SPF20 Neutrogena Healthy Skin foundation in a custom mix of 30 Blushing Ivory and 60 Rose Cream, assorted colors of eye shadow;
War 9: SPF15 Bath and Body Works' cream-to-powder makeup as a sunscreen.
Available/preferred clothes: for casual wear, chinos and silk-knit T-shirts or cotton tank tops in summer, jeans and silk-knit T-shirts or silk-and-cashmere T-shirts in winter. For standard city business attire, natural-fiber tailored suits with a bit of a flair to them. For dress, either form-fitting sheaths or full skirts and dresses with a Renaissance feel to them. Preferred footwear: athletic shoes, loafers, leather oxfords, sandals. "City pumps" (3/4" to 1-1/2" heel) for business; low-heeled dress shoes for dress. Cannot stand in heels higher than about 2-1/4". Colors are generally not an issue except when they clash with each other... and since Brenda was trained to have near-perfect color vision, she finds that happening all too often. On the other hand, she has been known to make absolutely unheard-of combinations work.
Fiendish Glow costume: Aboyne-styled outfit: intricately-embroidered cotton velveteen bodice with silver braid trim and lozenge buttons; aboyne-style skirt & plaide in Clan Bell tartan
Other costumes: Brenda is a costume maven... or at least she thinks she is! She has a number of Ren Faire costumes as well as a Merry Black Widow Spider and a Gypsy Moth she designed and created for Hallowe'en a number of years ago. Her costume closet includes a number of STAR TREKTM costumes as well as costumes from Junior High School and High School musical theatre productions. She has been known to show up for a Cinco de Mayo festival wearing an oversized lime-green peasant blouse, too-tight lime-green stretch jeans, lime green loafers, and a lime-green beret with the little stem sticking straight up, thinking that she'd look just like a big jalapeno pepper...
Available/preferred jewelry: cairngorm (smoky quartz) brooch; several sets of semiprecious stud earrings set in silver; amber earrings set in bamboo-look silver; long sterling-silver rose ring with amethyst center; dragon eye ring; sterling silver bear fetish worn as a necklace, Navajo watch (Wars 9-10), Celtic-Knot watch (War 11).
Other accessories: Irish crochet barrette; hair pins; bob pins; lots of hairspray needed to keep a coiffure in place; presentation notebook computer and accessories; portable color printer; portable CD writer (War 11 and onward); digital camera and accessories; large, heavy Coach handbag (shoulder bag can be swung as a weapon if needed...)
Ethnic Background: Scots, Hawai'ian, Galitzeanah (sp?), Greek Sephardic
Health: allergic to insect bites; has been allergic to a number of cosmetics; HIGHLY allergic to cigarette smoke; occasionally prone to sinus- and eyestrain- headaches; weak ankles; cannot drink coffee before breakfast, or milk with breakfast
History, or "How S/he Got to The Fiendish Glow": War 11: who knows? Probably the same as War 10. War 10: Faer Hibernian Foundation corporate jet. War 9: train to Buffalo; shuttle bus to Toronto.
Favorite Forever Knight character, and/or other FK affiliations: believes Nick's quests (for mortality and Nat) should be never-ending; other affiliations: Unholy Alliance, FK Pagans, Pit of Condemned Bimbos Survivalists
Real life: works for the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (Wars 9 and 10), Cambridge Scientific Abstracts (War 11) -- same job, different ownership; The Web Warren is the home business she runs with her significant other significant other, Frank Warren. She is an avid arctophile (teddy bear lover) and is rarely seen without some teddy bear or image of a bear about her (she always wears a bear fetish necklace); she has done some teddy bear design as well.
Her Vampbear appeared in War 10 and War 11. Like the tiger Hobbes is to Calvin, Brenda's vampbear is "real" and interactive and goes off on adventures of his own when people aren't looking. To anyone else, he appears to be a 23" tall vampire teddy bear with fangs. The Vampbear may or may not be capable of manipulating situations to appear like "normal accidents" when he is in fact moving of his own volition.
Personality traits: Brenda takes her coffee black, no sugar, and is a bit of a coffee (and wine) gourmet snob; she usually cannot remain sleeping once awakened to a sunny day. She tends to blow up quickly, but then recover and come back with a suggestion and compromise that can solve the problem. Online, she tends to hang back, look at all sides of the story, and come up with a solution that should work for everyone, except that nobody wants to listen...
Brenda is primarily left-handed, although she can do a number of things ambidextrously. This is usually not an issue with her except when it comes to sewing; dressmaker's shears are molded to the hand; right-handed shears cut into her left thumb and cause it to blister painfully. For some strange reason, though, she can only crochet right-handed.
Favorite alcoholic drinks: dry sparkling cider; extra dry Champagne or varietals; expensive Bordeaux and Burgognes; X. O. Cognac or Armagnac. Mixed drinks: Mimosa, Blue Hawaii, Cape Codder, Tanqueray and Tonic, Mai Tai, Glugg. Has been known to occasionally take anisette and ice water in hot weather, or a sip of someone else's beer (does not like beer, but conceeds that it is sometimes the appropriate beverage for the conditions).
Favorite music: Traditional Celtic (Irish, Scottish), traditional Amerindian, Indian Ragas, Greek and Arabic ethnic music, Japanese koto music, traditional Chinese music, Early Music...
What's your favorite type of cereal?
American Oatmeal (rolled-flatter-than-paper oats, not the whole-grain Scots-Irish stuff)
LaCroix: Evil or misunderstood?
Both
Do you have any phobias?
Diagnosed or undiagnosed?
List your three favorite albums/CDs.
The Chieftains/Fire in the Kitchen
The Boston Pops, Keith Lockhart/Runnin' Wild
Blackmore's Night/Under a Violet Moon (has since been replaced with: The Clancy Brothers & Tommy Makem/The Rising of the Moon: Irish Songs of Rebellion)
Name a musician/musical group whose popularity annoys you.
Can't think of any offhand...
Nick: Angsty or misunderstood?
Misunderstood
Name your favorite movie.
it's a toss-up between Excalibur, Highlander (the original movie), and The Three Musketeers/The Four Musketeers (originally filmed as a single movie during the 1970's, but distributed as two separate films)
Name your favorite civilization(current or historic)
don't have a *single* favorite... Scots, Hawai'ian, Lakota, "Arthurian", generic Celtic are all interesting...
Do you have Marmite in your refrigerator/pantry?
no
Has that jar of Marmite been there for more than a year?
not applicable
Natalie: Bitchy or misunderstood?
neither
Do you have Ribena in your refrigerator/pantry?
not currently
Has that bottle of Ribena been there for more than a year?
if I had one, it probably would have been
5) Handcuffs or rope?
depends on the end use, and the type of handcuff
Name your Personal Tranquility Device of choice.
the SO; Carlos Nakai CDs; teddy bears; mineral crystals; incense
Vachon: Slacker or misunderstood?
neither
If you had your own personal Fanfic Fairy, what would you name it?
Something unpronounceable, because magickal beings are generally not addressable by any spoken language.
List your top three FK faction leanings.
Celtic GlowWorms, FK Pagans, and either CaddyWhacks or Unholy Alliance
Describe your dream car.
(1) an SUV that would get me through the toughest winters of the Northeast
(2) a minivan customized to look like a STAR TREK shuttlecraft
(3) stretch limo, driven by (male) eye candy (think Peter Wingfield, Pierce Brosnan, Paul Johannsen, etc.)
Describe your actual car.
I own neither a car nor a driver's license.
Tracy: Perky or misunderstood?
Both
Name your three favorite TV shows other than FK.
Earth: Final Conflict
Andromeda
Ballykissangel
What color is your hair?
Greying brunette
What color are your eyes?
Blueish, ranging from bright aqua to greenish blue to blue-gray to gray, depending upon my mood, the lighting, what I'm wearing, and whether or not I've been wearing contact lenses
How tall are you?
about 5', maybe 5' 1" in stocking feet
Sidney: Hungry or misunderstood?
Feline.
Do you have tattoos or other distinguishing features?
No tattoos. Some scars -- most noticeably a long surgical scar on my left shin
Have you ever played a marching band instrument?
I've played the fife a little. Most of the instruments I've attempted to take up (violin, guitar, harmonica, piano) are either orchestral or folk instruments. I generally prefer to sing (second Alto) or to use the computer (Noteworthy Composer); I can compose a little.
Name your favorite author.
Lois McMaster Bujold. Tom Clancy is a very close second.
Do you have any funky habits? (Ex. Snoring, cork fetish, nail biting, buzz phrases)
I have learned to substitute non-words for cusswords (courtesy of working in a polyglot environment)... I think teddy bears are "real" and interact with them on a person-to-plush level...
Schanke: Ghost or misunderstood?
as like as not, reincarnated
Name an 11-letter word that starts with 'C.'
constabular
cacophanous
Californian
Christmassy
cornucopiae
curveaceous
catastrophe
crustaceans
celebration, celebratory
cruciferous
Did any of these hit your word-association list, or should I continue?
List your three favorite foods.
Jalapeno poppers
(vegetarian) kitchen-sink salad
vegetarian chili
List your three most disgusting foods.
The most disgusting foods I eat, or the foods I think are so disgusting that I won't touch them or even be in the same room with them if I can help myself?
Do you now, or have you ever, worn Birkenstocks?
No, but one of my teddy bears (not the Vampbear!) has a pair of "Bearkenstock" sandals.
Russell Crowe: Troublemaker or misunderstood?
No information on which to base an opinion
Do you scuba, swim or snorkel?
Barely swim, if pressed. Mostly splash.
Do you prefer to travel by plane, train, boat, automobile or spaceship?
Any or all, depending on the distance and how quickly I need to get there (and how much I have to carry).
Do you carry a phone on you?
Yes, and I can get the Web on it, too.
What are your three least favorite TV shows?
I don't watch enough TV to say firsthand, but Survivor is incredibly overhyped, and I couldn't care less about Who Wants to be a Millionaire...
Janette: Mortal or misunderstood?
Never was mortal; it was just a trick of the imagination
Would you, could you, karaoke?
Never tried it in real life, but have done it at the "Glow" in War time.
Do you have a motto or theme song?
Not one that I actively live by.
Describe your occupation.
Boiling down boring technical papers on engineering topics, written in multiple languages, down to 12 words apiece, trying to teach the computer-phobic and security-naive folk at work how to use a *real* operating system, and deploying and maintaining the computer systems and LAN...
