Daraja Jones
They/them (generally)
In the 2220s, Daraja grew up in a small apartment in New York City. When they were four years old, their father died. Their mother spiraled into neglecting Daraja and their protective older brother, Clemens. When Daraja was eleven, they gained a kind stepfather who eventually helped Daraja and Clemens distance themselves from their mother. During their turbulent childhood, Daraja developed Dissociative Identity Disorder (DID).
As of "When Truth Cowers," Daraja's alters included the host Daraja (she/her), the protector—and introject of their brother—Clementine (he/him), the little Didi (she/her), and the gatekeeper and ex-persecutor Bridget (they/them).
In the events of "When Truth Cowers," Daraja lived in an apartment in New York City with Clemens. Daraja applied for game shows on the off chance of winning a lot of money for the two of them. When they were cast on the broadcast game show Truth or Dare, they befriended four players—Cai, Analisa, Lian, and Eric—during the game. They also begrudgingly allied with the older Sevyn, despite how suspicious they seemed. Although the round of Truth or Dare began as dramatically as usual, the players soon found themselves being killed one by one. As it was technically legal and the producers found a live murder mystery compelling, the players were forced to stay in the game until the end.
This section includes major spoilers about "When Truth Cowers." Please read the book first, unless you want the ending spoiled.
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Appearance
Daraja was born a human. They were a Black person with dark brown skin. Their recent ancestry was primarily Amalrican and Kenyan. At the beginning of "When Truth Cowers," they had a slightly plus-size body and wore long box braids. They tended to wear stylish, unisex clothing. They loved incorporating silver jewelry into their looks, including rings, earrings, hair cuffs, and a barbell eyebrow piercing in their right eyebrow. They wore minimal makeup.
Personality, Behavior, Et Cetera
As a whole, Daraja was inquisitive and curious. They worked many customer service jobs to make ends meet, including being a waiter, delivery person, call center agent, and service desk worker. They enjoyed singing and cutting hair, but their interests between alters tended to be so diverse that they were unsure what their ideal career would be if they had the choice to train/study more.
Daraja (the alter) was the host of the system. She was generally chill about everything, although preferred having context for things rather than being surprised. She enjoyed singing quite a bit and daydreamed about being an astronaut.
Clementine was a protector alter and an introject of Clemens. He was internally older than the body's age. He was quite protective of the other alters and tended to speak with a deeper voice.
Didi was a little—a child alter. She was internally about 9 years old. She enjoyed sleeping and feeling safe in a bunch of blankets. She especially enjoyed sweets like brownies, although she had to be sure to take medication so her lactose intolerance symptoms weren't severe.
Bridget was an ex-persecutor gatekeeper alter. They were asexual, ageless, and vegetarian. They used to self-harm, thinking that they deserved the pain.
Relationships
At the beginning of "When Truth Cowers," Daraja lived with their older brother, Clemens, in an apartment. The two were about seven years apart in age and they were protective of each other. Although Daraja didn't tell Clemens that they had DID, Clemens had overheard Daraja talking to themselves enough that he accepted it.
On the show Truth or Dare, Daraja befriended Cai, Analisa, Lian, and Eric. Despite distrusting Sevyn for a while, they slowly began to look up to Sevyn.
Trivia
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Daraja's birthday was October 30, 2219
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Daraja was the first character with DID I published! #OwnVoices
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The roles of the five alters in Daraja's system were kind of a condensed version of the roles in my system, since I wanted casual DID representation but knew there wouldn't be a lot of time to explain the different alters
