InsaneJournal

out of character

name: Larissa
contact:cheekymonkeyxx80 / fabricatedemons@gmail.com
cdj: cheekymonkey
intended character journal: hothamwater



in character

basics
Character Name: Rachelle Pelham
Nicknames: Shelly
Age/Birthday: 16 / May 13th, 1996
Premade: Lindsay Funke: Arrested Development: The younger sister of THE GOB, the twin sister of THE MICHAEL BLUTH and the older sister of THE BUSTER BLUTH. Her father was recently imprisoned for money laundering, and therefore, the family has money troubles. Lindsay considers herself to be an "activist", but is rather superficial and vapid, only supporting causes because of the social status that would be attached to her. She has self-image issues, due to the many years of verbal abuse from her mother and boyfriend THE TOBIAS FUNKE's lack of interest in her.


schooling
Year At WFP: Junior
Room & Roommate: 314: Justina Underville
Email: rachelle.pelham@ willowfallsprep.edu
Classes:

Period 1: Geometry
Period 2: Food and You [her mother decided she needed to take this class]
Period 3: Contemporary Issues
Period 4: Junior English
Period 5: US History
Period 6: Drama Literature and Tech

Best Class: English, because she speaks it.
Worst Class: Contemporary Issues (She does not understand why she continues to do so poorly in this class. She totally gets it.)
Extracurriculars: Foodies Club (Yes, world, she’s bringing hot ham water to you shortly), Drama. She was previously in band but quit. This year she's trying Nature Club, too, because so many causes relate to nature even though it's totally a renewable resource.
Titles: Rachelle has run for various student government positions but her platforms are generally absurd and she's never won.
Special Achievements: Ha.

appearance
PB: Taylor Momsen
Defining Characteristics: Rachelle considers herself a fashionista. She pays attention to seasonal trends more than she pays attention to lessons and will do her very best to be one of the first people wearing whatever is featured in the latest fashion spreads. She has a very colorful and eclectic wardrobe (if not inappropriate) that she likes to expand when Shane isn't paying attention. Sometimes she steals pieces from Faux Pas. If Shane asks, she will make up some tale about how she found them. Or better yet, how she made them. It doesn’t matter that she doesn’t know how to sew on a button, much less a proper seam. She wears her school uniform during class hours, but she pushes the limits on occasion.

Although she doesn't exactly resemble her twin (or any of the Pelhams, for that matter), she thinks she fared well in the gene pool. No matter her mother's criticism of her appearance, Rachelle knows she's capable of turning heads. Hell, she's got great hair...probably the best hair in her year. She's 5'9 and thin ("You want your belt to buckle, not your chair") and will flash a beaming smile and bat her eyelashes whenever she thinks it will suit her. She is the self-proclaimed master of the come-hither pose (though it's affected and laughable) is under the impression that one's appearance is half the power of persuasion.

Oh, and yes -- she did have a nose job.

history
Place Of Birth: Bozeman, MT
Current Location: Bozeman, MT
Family:

Father: Carter Pelham Sr. Business tycoon and CEO of Pelham Company. Currently in prison for money laundering.
Mother: Lucille Pelham: Matriarch of the family, though not a very good mother figure. She's often verbally abusive towards Rachelle and enjoys the rich lifestyle in spite of current financial situations.
Brother:Carter "CAP" Pelham
Brother: Shane Pelham. Rachelle's "twin".
Brother: Joel Pelham

Uncle: Oscar Pelham. Carter Sr's twin. A war veteran, hippie, and pot smoker.
Cat: Purrhaps, who Rachelle assumes is at home, but is actually roaming the neighborhood and getting by on his own.

1. What was your character's childhood like? How did they get along with their siblings? Or what was it like being an only child? Did your character’s parents play a big part in shaping who they are today?
   Rachelle grew up in a household where everyone was judged rather harshly. Yes, they had a large house, memberships to the country club, people who did house work for them, and futures in the family business, but they also had parents whose social standings were more important than the children.
   
   Rachelle receives a lot of grief about her appearance. Even after the nose job - and her parents didn't like taking her out previous to that surgery - she constantly deals with her mother's comments about how much she eats. Lucille insinuates that Rachelle is overweight and lazy quite often. She was very much her father's little girl, which is why she's taking his imprisonment very roughly. Lucille's sharp tongue and Carter Senior's absence has sent Rachelle's attention seeking behavior to new highs. (Or lows, depending on one's perspective.)
   
   As for her brothers, Rachelle can always count on CAP to keep a secret when she has to do something of which Shane won't approve. She shares several of the more negative Pelham qualities with him, including laziness and the tendency to lie in order to avoid trouble. If there's an important family function and two Pelhams are missing, it will most likely be her and CAP. To be clear, she's not quite fond of his illusion stuff, but she will always attend his important shows.
   
   Shane is her "twin", and also the Pelham with whom she feels closest. Shane knows more about her true feelings than anyone else, and while she doesn't always appreciate his high and mighty judgment, she cares about what he thinks about her. She also recognizes that he's got an inherent drive to be the noble one of the family, his fated foible. His sense of right and wrong is very strong, and even when he tries to teach someone a lesson, it never works to his benefit. To be honest, Rachelle is perpetually amused by this, but she can't exactly tell him that. Well, sometimes she tells him that. Shane is someone she'll always make time for, and to be honest, she considers him one of her good friends. If she ever gets herself into a tight situation, she knows she can always count on him to help her out...after Mother refuses, of course.
   
   And then there's Joel, the youngest Pelham, and the one who's been most severely affected by their mother. He has more neuroses than any boy his age should, but Rachelle knows he's got a sweet disposition. She talks sternly to him when necessary and thinks it's important to keep him grounded, but there are some situations when it's just better to let him remain deluded. She hopes that he might crawl out from under Mother's thumb one day, but anticipates that that will take a while.
   
2. What is your character’s best childhood memory?
   When she was 10, Rachelle had a successful charity drive called H.O.G.S. (Health nuts Opposed to Girl Scouts), which protested the fact that Girl Scouts set up tables of cookies in front of grocery stores. In spite of her knowledge that these Girl Scouts were making donations to charities (including shelters) and sending cookies to troops overseas, Rachelle set up tables of fresh produce right next to them and encouraged people purchasing boxes of cookies to make healthier choices. (Occasionally this was accompanied by a comment like, "You should know Thin Mints don't make you thin!) After an altercation involving airborne tomatoes and a concussion caused by an onion, Rachelle and H.O.G.S. made the paper. The picture was fabulous and she became very well known in Bozeman afterwards. (Thankfully, the paper did not cover the fact that she'd bought three boxes of cookies after the food fight, hiding them under her bed to prevent her mother from finding them.
   
3. What is your character’s worst childhood memory?
   Undoubtedly, it would be one of the times her father decided to teach her and her brothers what he considered to be a "valuable life lesson". Carter Senior used a former employee who had the misfortune of losing an arm in a Pelham Company accident to stage various scenarios that would result in limb loss. Those life lessons were horrifying and Rachelle is still scarred, particularly about the potential to lose a body part after seemingly innocent mistakes.
   
4. What was your character like in school before attending Willow Falls Prep?
   Rachelle was much like she is at Willow Falls Prep. Her grades have never been phenomenal and she spent a great deal of time trying to cheat off of her brother, Shane. (At first she would try to convince him to let her see his work. When those attempts were unsuccessful, she began sneaking around and trying to grab his homework when he was out or otherwise occupied.) She joined various clubs and participated in fundraisers and charity events. She always strove for attention and acceptance, particularly from the richer, crueler groups of students (although she did not make any connection towards why this was, at the time). If and when they made fun of her (or used her in some way, which happened often enough), her self-esteem would drop even lower and she would devise more ridiculous ways to receive attention and praise.
   
5. Why is your character attending Willow Falls Prep?
   She is attending Willow Falls Prep because it is a status marker. The Pelhams would never attend a public school and associate with the children of their landscapers and house cleaners. Besides, the education is stellar, the extracurricular offerings are top notch, and Lucille's nemesis, Lucille (II), is a firm supporter of Roseworth Academy. They could never go there.
   
6. Where do you see your character in ten years?
   Settling in to an unfulfilled marriage to Shawn, who is still too wrapped up in himself to worry about Rachelle's needs and/or desires. By then, they might have a child to whom they both don't pay enough attention. Rachelle avoids her parents and brothers because she is embarrassed by what her life has become, and even more so by her inability to fix it. She never calls, she doesn't tell Shane when she's in town. And by then, she might even find out that she's not a biological Pelham at all, but someone who was adopted. It will absolutely cause more identity and self-esteem issues which she will try to solve by treating herself to the finer pleasures in life.

personality
Likes: Attention, social status, sleep, expensive beauty supplies and fashion, hired help, supporting ridiculous causes, having money, Shawn, boys, and her cat, Purrhaps (although she is a terrible pet owner)
Dislikes: Her mother, being ignored, responsibility, most domestic chores, being poor and on limited funds, her father's imprisonment, schedules, Shawn, and Shane’s lectures
Detailed:

Rachelle is a selective exhibitionist. Although she loves the limelight, very few people know the real Rachelle. She's very selective about the people she allows to get close to her, and even moreso, how much she reveals to them. Her extroverted nature makes it easy for her to conceal her innermost secrets and insecurities. In fact, the one person who knows her best is Shane, and she's not even sure he realizes it. She certainly doesn't go so far as to admit it. Yes, he probably finds her habits and hobbies bizarre, but he just doesn't get how very complex her life is. Truth be told, Rachelle would rather not tell him; she hates it when he's disappointed with her.

A large part of her behavior is due to the fact that she's the only girl in the family. She's the only girl, the prettiest girl, and Daddy's girl. She's used to quite a bit of attention (though Mother's attention is far from positive), and revels in it. She can be quite shallow, obliviously so at times, but when it comes down to it, she has a good heart. She sincerely does mean well. Shane might point out that her short attention span doesn't help convey her good intentions, but she's of the mindset that something is better than nothing.

In spite of her steady effort to maintain a prominent social position among her peers, she occasionally exhibits strange, socially inappropriate habits that most people don't understand. Because of this, some people may think she's desperate, and if she knew that, she'd be mortified. Rachelle doesn't want to be singled out for her actions and hates being judged. She'd rather think that everyone finds her original, provocative, and daring, no matter how much strain that puts on her relationships.

Rachelle is the self-proclaimed liberal of the Pelhams. She adopts causes regularly and organizes protests within the school. She does believe in what she's promoting...most of the time...but if she tells you that her motivations stem solely from concern for others' welfares, she's lying. Rachelle thoroughly enjoys organizing events to help a good cause, but she gets more wrapped up in the social aspect of it than anything else. Anyone familiar with her causes knows that they are short-lived. In fact, if you ask her about them months later, it may take her a few moments to recall what you're talking about.

It should be noted that Rachelle owns a cat (at home), Purrhaps, who is woefully neglected. She simply assumes that Purrhaps will do fine on his own, and ignores the cat's needs in order to fulfill her own self-interests. Because of her behavior, Purrhaps seeks attention elsewhere. Rachelle rarely notices.

Rachelle doesn't make close friends very easily. She's superficially nice and tries her charm out when it suits her, but she really doesn't do well sustaining long friendships. She can count her friends on one hand. She has a boyfriend, Shawn, who virtually ignores her and who she suspects might really be gay. She tries to make up for the lack of a really close relationship by flirting with other boys. It must be said that she is an awful flirt - literally awful. If she could manage to act normal around a boy, she'd probably fare better, but she usually comes off as forced, if not farcical. Luckily, she doesn't mind being objectified. It's pathetic.

samples
First Person: I realize that the filters would have to be separate, but for the ease of getting into character here, have laid it out in one example)


[Filtered to the Pelhams]

Mother is actually considering coming to Willow Falls for Parents’ weekend. She says she misses us, but I think we can all assume that she is suffering from some kind of insult withdrawal. I am letting you know in advance that I WILL NOT give her a tour of the campus. She already asked if I needed to let out my school uniform because it sounded like I was breathing heavy on the phone. When I told her Shawn was there she just laughed. There is no such thing as the third year thirty.

[Filtered to CAP and Shane]

I mean it. Joel can deal with her. He LIKES her. And please try to keep her away from Shawn, okay? She sounds so bored I think she’ll even bother him.

Foodies club is so enlightening. I mean, who knew that you could get so much satisfaction in the kitchen without a fryer that makes cornballs?


Third Person: I play Leigh Tharp, who starts out the log.