Juniper Deroza

**Birth Year**: 1987

**Birthday**: December 7

**Hair Color**: Black

**Eye Color**: Brown

**Height**: 159cm (5ft 3in)

**Favorite Food**:

**Hobbies**:

**Likes**: Tabitha Siegneur

**Dislikes**: Ami Tanaka

## Early Life

Born on December 7 1987, Juniper Deroza was born to Federate father Antonio Deroza and Communal mother Delilah (Chung) Deroza. She was brought up in a home in Sartorius district where Antonio worked at as a farmer. Delilah brought Juniper up as a housewife. Her parents enjoyed a healthy marriage throughout her childhood with a few hiccups on the way.

Juniper grew up in Sartorius and studied in Halvenica Primary School. When her child was a bit older at the age of 8, Delilah took on a job as a clerk at a local law firm while Antonio remained a farmer. Juniper's grandparents would take care of her when the parents were out. Juniper's academic performance in primary school was average to say the least but she was an excellent public speaker.

With her Primary School Leaving Examination (PSLE) results, she managed to enrol into Sartorius Secondary School and pursue secondary education. Her passion in speaking led to her joining the debate club in Secondary 1. At the same time, Delilah had resigned from her 5-year old job to take care of Juniper.

## Turning Point

Somewhere halfway through Juniper's secondary education, Delilah and Antonio engaged in multiple fights and arguments. Delilah accused Antonio of adultery and having an affair with a farmhand in his fields. Over time, fights would increase in numbers and police officers would often be called in to separate the two. Antonio was once arrested after Delilah claimed that he physically harmed her and was let go after no evidence backed the claim.

Even despite the frequent presence of domestic disputes, Juniper managed to achieve above-average results in academia as well as an outstanding run as a Secondary 2 debate club member. She won the Best Speaker award in the National Debate Marathon 2001. She achieved the Silver grading for her National Physical Fitness Assesment (NAPFA) whilst being one of the few recipients of the Self-Discipline award that Sartorius Secondary gave out to students showing immeasurable amounts of self-discipline.

Despite lack of evidence supporting her claims, Delilah persisted that Antonio cheated on her for months. Unable to take anymore from his once beloved wife, Antonio Deroza filed for a divorce and appealed for the custody of Juniper. The appeal was denied however as her two parents proceeded with the divorce, ending a 15-year marriage. Juniper last saw her father at a bus interchange where he promised her that he will be back for her as long as she is in Sartorius. After the divorce, Delilah had been afflicted with an addiction to alcohol and moved herself and Juniper out of Sartorius to an apartment in Incursio. She enrolled into Malhaeba Secondary School, in which she dipped in performance, both academically and in debate. After school, Juniper would get berated or physically beaten by Delilah during her drunken episodes, resulting in bruises and marks. It was thought by her mother that it was because Juniper didn’t do enough to mend the relationship between Delilah and Antonio, hence causing her to lash out on Juniper on a nightly basis. Juniper’s domestic abuse was not unnoticed by teachers and schoolmate who decided to get social welfare workers to rescue the abused daughter of Delilah on 6 December 2001. After finding out that they were about to take away Juniper, Delilah punished Juniper for telling on authorities, resulting in a prolonged beating.

Unable to withstand any more abuse from her mother and scared of what was going to happen when social welfare arrives, Juniper decided to run away at night with only a backpack full of clothing, some money and mementos from her father. She took a bus out of Incursio to Sartorius, where her father had promised to fetch her in a promise he made long ago. Juniper remained in the bus interchange for four days cold, tired and almost penniless. She decided to venture back to her old Sartorius home. Seeing how it was empty, she presumed her father would not arrived and bunked down outside the house, which was by a street.

An SUV was traversing the same street and halted upon seeing the shivering girl. It contained then vice-Community Leader Maria Akeno who took the desolate street for security purposes. Hearing her story and observing visible signs of physical abuse, Maria took in Juniper on 10 December 2001. Akeno told Juniper that ‘she was not going to let a daughter of the Community suffer’ and hence sheltered and provided care for the young Deroza in Maria’s very own residence in Efferthalia. The vice-Community Leader had called for the arrest of Delilah Deroza and Juniper testified against her on court. The physically abusive mother received 50 years in prison without parole and is still serving time and receiving psychological help as of 2017.

Juniper enrolled in Perfory Secondary School for the last two years of her secondary school education. Maria paid for her education and took care of Juniper. The duo began to grow closer together with Juniper even referring to Maria as a ‘mother real than her biological one’. Maria would raise Juniper like her own child, even going as far as considering her a part of the Akenos. Juniper would then be doted on by her new aunts, uncles and cousins and the public even marked her as the vice-CL’s daughter. She achieved a GSCE O Level score of 14 in 2004 and went on to pursue a 3-year diploma in Human Resource Management with Psychology.

## Ascension to Politics

In 2005, Maria has publicly announced that she will be taking Juniper in as a mentee while she was in her first year in polytechnic. Soon after, Juniper dropped out of her diploma course to focus on training to be the next Community Leader under Maria’s tutelage. She was received warmly at the get-go due to Maria’s already established prestige. She began as a personal assistant to Maria. During her time as a PA, she helped handle visits from VIPs, collaborated with ministers and was even chosen as a representative for foreign events. She was asked to lead a social welfare initiative with the ministers and led to a substantial drop in unemployment in the year 2005.

Outside of work, she would be a caring daughter and a ‘niece’ to the Akenos as she took care of Aurora Deroza, a niece of Maria. She also used majority of her time to search for her father who has not made contact with her ever since her publicized delegation as Akeno’s new mentee. It was later found out that Antonio had moved out of the Community and migrated back to the USFederation after presuming that his daughter perished after years of searching. He succumbed to depression stemming from the loss of Juniper afterwards and committed suicide at the age of 52. Juniper had his body exhumed and buried in the Community.

She ran as a vice-Community Leader candidate with Maria. Their party managed to win in a landslide victory and Juniper was instated as the vice-Community Leader from 2006 to 2016. She continued to push for the growth and development of the Community’s social welfare and education. Her pro-LGBT and pro-abortion stances won over the support of many and thus her proposed programs were always well-received. Juniper’s schemes and initiatives also allowed for better social welfare, especially in foster care and familial management. Juniper would also see herself as an aide to Juniper’s new special operations group, the Black Nylons in 2006. This was where she met Tanaka Kiri, callsign Serrate. The two would later on get together in 2009 after a long period of dating. After being together for a period of 5 years, Tanaka Kiri would then propose to Juniper in 2014 and the pair would remain engaged till his death in 2016.

## Present Time

Juniper formed the DeroYilba Coalition with Lala Suyilba, a former personal assistant of the Maria Akeno administration. The coalition won the election, leading to Deroza’s new position as the Community Leader from 2017 to 2027. Under her administration, laws like the Posthumous Organ Donation Act were passed which allowed for mandatory organ donation upon death. She also had to manage the emergence of the last Communal royalty, Princess Tanaka Ami.

She mourned the death of her mother figure in May 2017. As of September 2017, Juniper has not chosen anyone as a mentee.