James-Kamea Brown

James-Kamea Brown is a character played by Hurnani.

Background
The idea of James-Kamea Brown was first sparked in Hurnani's mind during a college Creative Writing assignment. When applying for NoPixel, he finalized JB's personality and details such as his strong accent and trademark outfit.

Description
James-Kamea Brown was born in June of 1996. He is half Peruvian and half Tongan. Most people know him as James, but close friends like Arthur Morgan and Moonflower Opalchild dote him with nicknames like "Jam" or "Spanish Woody" based off his appearance. The "Kamea" in James's name is a Hawaiian female name which translates too "The One (and only)".

Originally hailing from Trujillo, Peru, James is a bartender by trade and former bar owner in his hometown. James fell in love with a married woman named Olivia at the bar he owned. As the story goes, he was serving her a Pisco Sour when they made eye contact. Soon after, James noticed she took her ring off. It is unknown how long they saw each other after that incident, but what is known is that Olivia's husband, one of the most powerful businessmen in Peru, found out about the love affair. Before James knew it, he was on the run and forced to hide at the port of Trujillo looking to escape. He hid in a random storage container that was labeled "Los Santos". Collapsing from exhaustion and finally accepting he had to leave Peru, James ended up at the docks of Los Santos after a week at sea. Despite the second chance at life, James constantly thinks of his bar, his hometown, and his true love Olivia. Unbeknownst to him, Olivia gave birth to a son sometime later but never disclosed anything to James despite sending each other letters.

James's social skills would be his strongest characteristic. A Master of Communication and building people up, he can match anyone's energy at any moment. James was originally proud of his clean record despite run ins with law enforcement, to which he credits his silver tongue being able to get him out of any situation. As the "yes man" of any group he is in, he often encourages following impulses.

James has a tendency to keep cool unless provoked, and even then knows when to pick and choose his battles. When his ego is inflated, though, his behavior can be unpredictable. If enraged or angered, James will burn the bridges that he has created at no hesitation. Being a sore loser, James will go out of his way to get what he wants if he doesn't get it the first time.

The First Day: Vision's of the Future
James woke up at the Russian docks after his long trip from Peru. With only $5000 dollars to his name, he went to the Alta apartments and asked the lady at the front desk if they had any rooms for rent. After getting an apartment for free due to the great American goverment of Los Santos, he moved what little possessions he had into the apartment. Afterwards, he went outside and met MoonFlower Opalchild, who unbeknownst to James is a bit stupid. Thinking she was a spiritual guru that could help James find a way home, he asked her for a tarot reading. Disappointed with the goofy reading, James asked Moon to tap into her spiritual powers and give him a vision of the life to come in Los Santos. As Moon made James repeat a bunch of gibberish, a sudden wave of sleepiness fell over James. In his sleep, James dreamt of himself high on an unknown mountain top. There was fog at first that covered the whole landscape but was soon lifted to reveal the beauty of nature that filled Los Santos. James could see the city from a distance as the birds sang their songs and as butterflies floated all around James. Predators and prey of the LS Valley could be seen living in harmony, and everything seemed to be at peace. Suddenly the dream took a turn for the worse and James found himself on a boat in the middle of the ocean. The sun was setting and masked men were all around him. 3 shots rang out and James was suddenly back to reality infront of the apartments. Distrubed but thankful, he thanked Moonflower and almost left her company, but decided it might be better to learn about the city with a friend. Moon took James on a tour of Los Santos in her beloved Magic Wagon RV where he was able to meet famous South Korean Pop Star Hung Jae Min, Jay, and a gringo named Cowboy. For the rest of the day, the crew ran around the city showing James around and teaching him about LS and its jobs, foods, and fun activities. Eventually, they ended up at the Casino where James was mistaken for celebrity Chris Brown by Ai "Bitch" Musor i. This caused a huge commotion and waves of embarrassment as Ai harassed James for photos and went around the Casino shouting "OH MY GOD ITS CHRIS BROWN!" After a long day in the city, James went to bed in his new apartment with a smile on his face ready for the next adventure to come.

The Vagos
Brown was introduced to Benji Ramos, the then Vice El Jefe of the Vagos when they ran into each other at the Little Seoul convenience store during Brown's first week. They were both looking for the store manager who was inside doing his morning duties. Ramos, knowing that it could be risky to rob in the middle of the city, proposed to James that if he were to rob the manager successfully, then he and James would split the money gained because Ramos had first dibs. James agreed but when he came back to the office the manager had a sudden heart attack and died with the combination to the safe. Brown came back to Ramos letting him know of the sudden shake up in the mission and the two didn't see or hear from each other until James contacted Ramos weeks later in the barrio as he needed help finding Jean Paul in order to figure out who to sell the stolen PD M4 James had acquired in their cop killing spree arc. James, having been culture shocked by the way of life in Los Santos, was thoroughly impressed with the sense of community and "home away from home" he felt when he visited the Vice Jefe in the barrio.

Over that same course of time, Brown started to feel like he was going nowhere in the city. He tried to constantly meet new people in the city and involve them in his schemes, but things often seemed to go wrong. Brown had no one to truly rely on and nothing consistent going on. He realized he did not have the same firepower or strength in numbers as others had in Los Santos did despite his best efforts. With his main partner in crime, Luka Dagashvili, being addicted to melatonin pills the government force fed him and his other criminal associates missing, James remembered and missed the strength and unity he felt in the Barrio. Truly at heart, James also missed his Hispanic roots from Peru. Brown decided he would try and build a relationship with some of the members in the Vagos, the first on the list being Mr. Ramos. Unbeknownst to James, Jean Paul had passed Brown's name along and recommended him to Ramos himself.

James decided to touch base with Ramos by picking him up from prison when he needed a ride. As James waited, 2 dark grey colored Dominators parked at the edge of the parking lot. James unfortunately did not sense the danger that was approaching. When he and Ramos walked to the bike James had pulled up on, both Dominators pulled up as well and 2-4 masked persons executed the pair mentioning the races while doing so. Ramos initially accused Brown of setting him up, but Brown fervently denied the accusation. Brown vowed for vengeance and saw this as an opportunity to earn Ramos's respect, but when he approached the Vice Jefe he said he didn't have an issue anymore. If Brown sought vengeance, then that would be up to him and Ramos would give no information to help him. James humbled himself and realized he got caught lackin' at BoilingBrook. He decided to instead ask if they had any room in the Familia, but Ramos informed James that it was probably one of the worst times to bring it up as the Vagos had just cut ties with Mari Posa.

Time went on and Brown grew impatient from not hearing from Ramos. After meeting and learning a fellow bartender at the Mirror Park Tavern named Natalia Omar was associated with the Vagos, James decided to get to know her. Surprisingly, James and Natalia got along really well together and spent a whole shift talking about their histories, interests, and dreams. Towards the end of their shift and with a Tsunami nigh, Natalia let James know she was going down to the Barrio and invited him along. There James Brown was able to meet Chino Gonzalez and Leonel Martinez. Chino sized James Brown up as soon as he inquired about becoming part of the Familia. "This life isn't for everyone ese, its a lot different than what people think. You sure you're about this life?" James was intimidated to say the least but answered honestly with Chino. JB conveyed he understood the dangers and the path he would have to take, but also conveyed about this feeling of "home away from home". James also informed Chino that he personally had bad blood with the GSF as he had been robbed and shot by them multiple times. Chino came around on his opinion on James and offered him his number in case James needed another body for a driveby against GSF.

A few days later, James decided he needed to finalize his involvement with the Vagos. He naively asked his sketchy bosses, Julio Thomas and Fiona Stewart at Mirror Park Tavern if they would be able to recommend him to the Vagos which they initially laughed at. James stood his ground until one of them called Leo and told him to come down to Mirror Park. The HOA bosses informed James that Leo was one of the Vagos's hardest bangers. JB started to regret saying anything but before he could come up with an excuse, Leo had already pulled up with Carlos Guzman and Carlos "Panda" Loco. The trio proceeded to intimidate JB who tried to keep his cool. In order to get a better feel of James and his sense of abilities, they forced James to rob two women around the Barrio, ordered James to kill Ballas on their own turf, and made James patrol the Barrio for most of the night solo. James did everything accordingly, but Leo admitted to James he still had a lot to learn but that it would come in time. James took that as a good sign as Leo had been pretty hard on him for most of the day. Leo asked that the next time he and Brown ran into each other that Brown would give him 10 pistols as well. JB agreed and was about to go to sleep in the apartments when he ran into Mr. Ramos. Brown gave him a rundown of the day's events and Ramos asked JB to tag along with him. As they were discussing the "Food" delivery truck job and making some money before the tsunami, the Vice Jefe received a phone call from Yuno Sykk. James laughed under his breath as he followed the conversation until Yuno was kidnapped while on the phone. James and the Vice Jefe proceeded to look for where Yuno had been taken until they learned that it was Dundee that had kidnapped Yuno for a bank heist in Paleto. Ramos and Brown then took a news reporter hostage and planned to exchange Yuno for the reporter because of the conflict of interest as Yuno was not supposed to be a hostage, but by the time they arrived in Paleto the robbery was over and Dundee was on the run. Ramos had James drive him, the reporter, and Yuno around for the rest of the day, and let James know that he was now a hangaround for the Vagos.

Weeks seemed like mere days as James assimilated into the Vagos. Every day was a new adventure of robbing and stealing, and James was able to bond with multiple members. He began to admire their leadership and individual skills, specifically from Santi, Pancho, KJ, Chino, and the Ortiz Brothers as they always seemed to have control of the situations they were in and commanded respect when needed. It didn't help that the Familia was starting to realize J.B. was an L criminal as well. As the weeks went by though, the Vagos leadership and mentality started to rub off on him and despite his mistakes, James was growing as a person and growing on the other Vagos.

JB was invited to the next big meeting at the Ranch where he learned of the slight insurrection within the ranks concerning Leo's death. JB honestly didn't have any issues with Leo despite the falling out he had with the familia, and was greatly saddend by his death. He kept this to himself as he was just a hangaround. For most of the meeting, he stayed silent despite a few random interjections until he was told to get into the middle of the circle. To his surprise, the Vice Jefe offered him a promotion to Prospect, but not before Arturo, Raymundo, and the Vice Jefe shared his biggest fuck ups within the past weeks. When asked if he wanted this promotion, JB almost said No as he thought he didn't deserve it but decided he wouldn't be a pussy and accepted the promotion.

James Brown's Unfortunate Demise
Time went on and things were going well for J.B. He was involved in multiple wars with the Ballas, BSK, and Chang Gang. Unfortunately, things took a turn for the worst. During the Great Vagos/Chang Gang War of 3.0, James-Kamea Brown was caught pushing weed baggies at the back of the Maze Bank Arena. Tired and ill equipped, he did not have a solid getaway plan. Officer T.J. Mack responded to a suspicious activity call and cornered J.B. with a drug dog and fellow cadet. J.B. tried to talk his way out of the situation saying he was just looking to audition for a show at the arena, but Officer Mack saw through the bullshit. Knowing that the car was stolen, he placed Bruno under arrest and searched the car to find his drugs. It wasn't much, but Mack could tell J.B. was inexperienced with talking to police. He bluffed and threatened a raid warrant. J.B. didn't see through his bluff and let himself get rolled by Mack. When Mack went to his 9s van, he found around 15 class 1 firearms that Franky had given J.B. the day before to hold onto for the war. Now facing Felony Possession charges for drugs, an explosive (Molotov) and a Gun Trafficking Charge, J.B. cracked under police pressure once Mack called Wrangler in to help deal with the case. The cops didn't care about the class 1s, but they were concerned about a class 2 Uzi that was in the van as well as the Molotov. James snitched on Irwin Dundee as the one who had sold him the class 2, and on Eugene Zuckerberg as the one who had sold him the Molotov. In exchange for his confession and helping the PD set up Eugene specifically, J.B. would be cleared of all his charges and even rewarded by the P.D. Exhausted, James agreed to the terms and was sent off to jail. When he got out, the guilt he had felt for fucking up and snitching to the P.D. weighed heavily on his mind. When Mike Smoore picked him up from Bolingbrook, he could tell something was off with his story on how he had got arrested. Later on, Franky was shocked to find out the Class 1s were gone from the van. J.B. offered a poor explanation there as well. As time went on, the guilt of lying to family weighed even heavier on James's mind. Eventually J.B. confessed to Franky about what had happened. Franky immediately called Benji as he was only a hangaround, and they held James hostage at the lumber mill. Benji and the high command of the Vagos tried to find a way for redemption for James, but unfortunately you cannot repair lying to familia. It was decided that James would be executed off the coast of Great Ocean Highway, and he chose Franky to be the one to put him to rest. Benji decided to keep this matter very quiet and told his gang members to never talk about the events that had transpired. J.B. had been Benji's personal prospect and was 1 week away from receiving his flag to be made a full member of the Vagos.

Quotes you just had to be there for:

 * "Hey Juicer...you need a ride? I mean--"
 * "So you have the balls to shoot...?"
 * "I'm sorry Franky..."