✱ STRAIGHT FROM INTERCEPT: JONI BAKER ! — as written by mel ( any pronouns )
NAME : joan lorelei baker | GOES BY : joni | GENDER & PRONOUNS : cis woman ( she / her ) | D.O.B. : december 16th ( 26 ) | FACECLAIM : kristine froseth
known to be KIND-HEARTED, PATIENT, FRIENDLY, and APPROACHABLE, but also PEOPLE-PLEASING, NAIVE, GULLIBLE, and INDECISIVE, they have been in intercept FOR 13 YEARS, currently working as ADMIN STAFF at silver spur ranch.
Looking For Connections.
➥ a close friendgroup: small and close-knit, there is nothing she wouldn’t do for this group of people. joni is an incredibly loyal friend, and if you let her in, she will be your friend for life. she’s never once worried about talking too much or being a burden to them. ➥ her sisters ( 0/2 ): joni is the youngest, and with that comes a long-standing history of being babied. did her sisters contribute to it a bit? yes and no. they definately are a bit more protective and nervous about joni coming into her own than they need to be — but they couldn’t be more proud of her. these two are the two biggest stars in joni’s sky, and they are her entire universe.
Digging Deeper.
THIS BIO CONTAINS THE FOLLOWING TRIGGERS : parental death; aneurysm
born a wide-eyed, smiling little girl, joni baker was always told that she must have been hand-crafted by god out of sunshine. she was the kind of girl who would catch bugs and make sure they were let back outside safe and sound — and she was kind to everyone she came across. and yet, there was always a struggle of getting too attached, because joni was constantly moving for her father’s deployment. rarely did her family stay somewhere for more than a year, two if they were lucky. thus, no place in her young life ever truly felt like home — not even georgia, where she was born.
however, her father’s sudden passing changed everything when she was seven years old. her mother was told it was a sudden aneurysm, a striking of the universe with no true rhyme or reason. her mother tried to keep her from the pain as much as possible, trying to be strong for her daughter — when all she asked was when her father was coming home. then there were her two older sisters, who saw what their mother was attempting to do. it’s not that joni was ever sheltered; it was that they never wanted her spirit to be broken.
the women return to georgia to live with her grandparents in the aftermath of her father’s tragic loss, but it’s clear that her mother is still engulfed by it all. there are too many memories here. thus, when she’s offered an administrative position in a small town called intercept within their school district, she accepts. joni, now thirteen at this point, is irritable at first being moved at such a sensitive age, but things begin to make a bit more sense the more settled in she gets.
the one thing that’s never changed about joni? the smile on her face. gentle, patient and kind to everyone that she meets, she’s often been called too nice for her own good, too trusting. it's so much harder being mean. she’s become a bit more vigilant as she’s entered her twenties to not worry their mother or her sisters – that she’d be just fine making a life for herself on her own. she left the nest at twenty-four, partially out of her own fear of starting a life on her own, but also wondering if their mother needed someone there. by the time she left, she’d be an empty nester.
did joni get a job at the dairy farm just to be around animals all the time? maybe a little bit. she does enjoy any opportunity she can get to help people, make their lives easier, and even manages to find something to be passionate about when it comes to office busy work. she’s just happy she gets to spend quiet days surrounded by the farm, and has built quite the little corner of the universe for herself at her desk. she's deeply grateful to the silva family for their generosity, and certainly will make every attempt to show it.
what has always been joni’s first love — as much as a hopeless romantic as she’s always found herself to be? music. each of the baker siblings had their niche, and joni’s was found in the days when she spent hours fiddling with her grandfather’s well-loved guitar. although the instrument itself had certainly seen better days, she found herself stringing melodies together in her spare time, before beginning to put words to them. songwriting became her safe haven, and yet, she never quite found herself seeking out a career. maybe, deep down, she believed she wasn’t good enough. there were better voices, ones that were made for the stage, and she came to the conclusion that hers was not one of them. then there’s the fear of what could come of it, if music would stop being a love and more of an obligation. therefore, it’s just for her.
Extras.
sagittarius sun, pisces moon, taurus rising. joni innately believes the good in people. she’s kind, gentle, empathetic, and often get’s told that she’s too kind for her own good. while she expresses that she cares for her people through words, she’d drop anything to be there for them if they needed her. she’s dependable, patient and always has a smile on her face.
joni has taught herself how to play various instruments over the years that are in a similar family to the guitar such as the mandolin, banjo and the bass. she’s lived with sue, her best friend for as long as she can remember — but unpacking their relationship may take forever to explain.
when she’s not working, she can often be found catching a show somewhere on Intercept’s small music scene, showing rare evidence of a competitive side as a bowler, buying pastries for the ranch employees or writing on the couch with her dog, luna.
