Post by zzz - Caralyn Dale on Dec 28, 2011 23:18:41 GMT -5
Caralyn Dale
---- THE BASICS
Character's Full Name:
Caralyn Marie Dale
Nicknames and Aliases: She generally always goes by Cara
Age: 22
Species:Civilian/Human
Played By: Gemma Aterton
Appearance: Cara has always been called petite. Standing at 5'1'', with a slight build, a round face and noticeably tiny features. She has almond eyes the color of bright chestnuts, a slim nose and mysterious little smile, Cara can attract some attention if dressed right and carrying herself well enough. Her smooth brown hair used to be red, but faded to brown some years ago. Her hair is just growing out from when she hacked it off a four years ago, and now reaches her shoulders. It's generally thrown up into different styles though, which draw attention to the bangs that are occasionally swept aside, depending on her mood. She doesn't wear a lot of make-up, preferring to stay natural, and it draws attention to the tiny freckles she has dotted on her cheeks and nose. But she does
like eye-liner on her, and will occasionally be seen with a little too
much on. But that's just when she's in a hurry or in a bad mood.
Her clothing style is very well matching with her persona and
appearance. She can't afford all the best clothes, so a lot of her
stuff is bought from second-hand stores and altered by her own hand. She likes brighter colors, so will often sew literal patches of spare fabric where no patches are needed. She can't fit in adult jeans, so she shops in the kid's stores for jeans. She likes sundresses but she's not often seen in them because she doesn't like working in dresses.
Personality: Cara is a very upbeat kind of person. She isn't bouncy and giggly, but she knows what she's capable of, and she has a renewed vigor to survive this world herself. She will do anything to continue providing for herself and her brother, which makes her a strong individual with a level head in bad situations. Of course, this also makes her stubborn, and sometimes too independent, too determined, which leads to trouble occasionally. And doing just anything to provide for her brother has caused her to take on several tasks at once, which runs her down. She has a short temper, and she's surprisingly uneasy to be around when her temper is unleashed, despite her size. She has a very physical anger, so she'll yell AND throw things when she's mad, which resulted in her last break-up with a guy some years back.
She is talkative, and friendly and can hold a long conversation with someone she has just met off the street. She likes to treat people as if she's known them all her life, and loves making new friends. A bit of herself has fallen to the background lately in her attempts to be settled in a new life, caring for her brother and such. She manages to maintain her smiling attitude, though, pushing through bad days if only for her brother. Of course she can become discouraged, and when she's discouraged she will be irritable to others who may or may not want to help her. Mostly, though, she maintains a kind of hope for a new day, and is always pushing forward.
Powers and Strengths:
+ writing
+ talking (sociable)
+ trivia (she remembers random bits of information from most all subjects)
+ determined
+ intuition
+ upbeat attitude
+ piano (she's quite talented)
+ sewing and fashion (whereas she doesn't look it, she keeps up with all the latest fashion magazines)
Vulnerabilities and Weaknesses:
- she has a very physical temper (her family used to blame it on the red hair that has now dimmed closer to brown)
- Acrophobia (fear of heights)
- her brother (threaten, question, or taunt him at all, you'll face her wrath)
- her past (she doesn't stop to think about it)
- it scares her to be alone (no matter how much she denies it)
- She hates hearing piano music. She doesn't play anymore, and it brings on the rare waterworks when she hears it played.
- she likes to help people, so when she thinks she sees someone in need, she won't hesitate to drop everything and help in any way she can. This was often used against her a lot in high school.
---- HISTORY
The Dale family began in Winchester, Virginia. Cara's
parents –Hilary and Steven- started off rocky when she was born,
because neither of them were prepared for a child, even though they had gotten married ten months before hand. It was difficult for them to adjust, especially when the pregnancy was wrought with troubles that sent them to the hospital very often. Nevertheless, Cara was born healthy enough and after two more weeks spent in the hospital just in case, she was allowed to go home to her parents. The five years that followed, Hilary became pregnant several times, resulting in miscarriages each attempt. Then, amongst tears and a last-stitch effort, Elliot was born.
Cara was just old enough to understand the joys of having a new
brother. Hilary and Steven knew they probably couldn't get pregnant again, so they parented their children with renewed love. Hilary always wanted to have a big family, though, so she was never the same after receiving the news from her doctor to stop trying. She grew a bit distant to her children, which confused Cara. Then Steven sat his daughter down and told her very gently that it was because Elliot had been diagnosed with a particularly severe form of Paranoid schizophrenia . He was four years old. The family survived as well as it could. Steven taught Cara piano from an early age, and eventually put her through lessons. Elliot expressed his love for Cara and her music and would be at his happiest when she played. Steven was promoted to assistant to a CEO of a law-firm, Hilary promoted to manager at a store. But with Hilary's family background of depression the Dales began to separate in the struggle to keep on top of Elliot's medical bills. Cara, growing from nine to a thirteen, was constantly struggling to keep them intact, refusing to let things fail. But it was too late, Hilary decided one morning that she had had enough, and with Elliot wailing for her to come back, she pecked Cara on the forehead and told her to tell her father there was dinner in the fridge, and she would be back real soon. Cara never set eyes on her again.
Cara then took it upon herself to raise Elliot, to care for her worn
out father, and to teach herself all she needed to know to adapt and survive. Being an overly imaginative girl, she took a lot of her
information from books she had read. Robinson Crusoe on hunting (better known as shopping at the local market), Emma on seeing everyone else was alright, Elizabeth Bennet on caring for one's little siblings. Even so far as War of the Worlds to see how fast she could run. Figuratively. Away from the past and into the light where everything would be okay again. Elliot was the ray of sunshine in her life, he was so simple to please on their low income and rising bills. Cara struggled through high school, learned to cook, honed her skill of sewing, sold her piano, and finally was on top of things enough to breathe. Then, during the Summer following her high school graduation, her father was killed in an animal attack on his walk home from work. Simple as that, he was taken from Cara's life and she watched it
dwindle around her to the size of nothing. It was then she discovered her sometimes uncontrollable temper. She didn't cry but she pounded her bedroom wall so hard she could've sworn her hand broke. She hacked off her hair when it annoyed her one day, giving herself the most awkward “pixie cut” known to man. It was when she screamed at Elliot to calm down during one of his tantrums that she realized that this wouldn't do.
She packed her and Elliot up, put her childhood home on the market, and moved to an apartment, where she lived two years, struggling through jobs and rejected by those who required a college degree. This is when she found Mystic Falls, and didn't hesitate a moment when buying an apartment in the small town. Something drew her there, whether it be answers to her mother's disappearance, her father's death, or her own sanity. She has been living in Mystic for a little less than a year, holding down two jobs: at the library by day, a dishwasher in the back of Mystic Grill half the nights of the week.
---- ROLE PLAY SAMPLE
“Elliot!” Cara chimed through the apartment through the two hair pins in her teeth, dragging her hair into a messy bun at the crown of her head. Removing one of the pins, she pasted up the tiny hairs at the back of her neck and took the other to the side of her head, where an uneven layer reminded her of her mistake in the past.
“Elliot!” she called again, rolling her eyes as she dragged her bangs straight down, in the full forehead bangs mood today. “We hafta go, okay?” A thud and a chuckle answered and she huffed before switching off the light and seizing her shoulder bag beside the bathroom door. She rounded the corner and stalked down the hall, spotting Elliot just taking her clean t-shirt from the drying rack in the corner to the puddle of milk he had spilled from his cereal.
"Whoa! Elliot, no!" she bit her cheek and started forward as Elliot began shaking his head and muttering lectures to himself. "No, no, it's okay. Just-- use the rag from the sink next time. Alright? No harm done." she tossed her soiled t-shirt into the sink for later work and checked the clock. "Time to go, get your books."
Dropping Elliot off at Mary's took longer than usual because the warm-hearted elderly woman liked to talk. But Mary (a retired nurse) took care of her and Elliot, so Cara couldn't complain. By the time she made it out to the street, she knew full well she would be late. Checking her watch, she huffed and threw the strap of her bag over her head to make it more secure, running full tilt down the streets of the small town.
"Morning, Cara!" she heard a passing citizen call and she waved wildly back. She and Elliot had reached that point of residency that the citizens of Mystic Falls were deciding to accept her slowly but surely. That was a good feeling.
She tripped over the threshold of the library just as the head librarian was checking her watch. She looked Cara up and down with a surprised expression on her face. Cara's bang were blown back by the wind, the strap of her bag was half down her arm, she was panting desperately but beaming as if nothing in the world was wrong.
"M-morning!" she said cheerily as she seized the cart full of returned books that she knew she would spend all day returning ot their rightful places. Feeling like she wanted to collapse, she pushed it onward with a trilling laugh directed at the confused librarian. She would keep going like this. Even if every morning was exactly the same. She would continue to adapt and survive. That was her motto and she was sticking to it.
---- THE PLAYER
Alias: Gemma or BonBon
RP Experience: Four years or so...
Contact: PM would be gold! But if you'd like my IM must lemme know!
