don't need to worry about me

❥ Character Information

Character Name: Rachel
Character Age: mid twenties
Character Species: human
Current Health: pretty good!
Outfit: a fashionable sundress which probably cost more than six months of her rent

Character Canon: The White Lotus season one, episode 6 (after her confrontation with Shane but before she goes to Belinda for advice)
Link to History: here
Canon Iteration: Original canon

❥ Folkmore Roles & Attributes

Skills: Rachel is a journalist, used to juggling frequent puff piece writing gigs at a time while trying to eke out a living in New York City
Canon Abilities: none, she's a baseline human
Role: Familiar
Role Qualities/Attributes: rabbit ears and tail, enhanced speed, and front teeth she'll constantly have to file down
Role Reasoning: Rachel can be described as awkward, skittish, and having little senses of self-esteem and self-worth. Those all remind me of wild rabbits, she'll either run or freeze when facing direct personal danger or an awkward conversation or a situation where either she sees someone's traumatic memory/past or her own. She's not sure what she's going to do about her marriage to the obscenely wealthy Shane Patton and that also reminds me of how rabbits can freeze in place when they feel like they're in danger. She tries to assert herself and defend her own value, but she's often steamrolled by a stronger, more confident personality such as her husband and her mother-in-law. She thinks that her marriage was a mistake, that she didn't think things though enough and she didn't know Shane well enough to marry him, but she's still undecided about what she's going to do given that should she choose to divorce or annul the marriage, she'd be left penniless and hustling to make a living again.

❥ Personality

Please choose one of the follow options for your personality section. Please clarify which option you have picked and, if option 2, which questions you are answering:

Option 1. Summarize your character's personality in general and what their full potential would look like to them and what they would be willing to go through to meet that potential and what gaining that potential would mean to them. 400-800 word requirement.

Option 2. Choose FOUR-FIVE of the following questions to answer and expand upon. You may choose a fifth question if you feel it is integral to your character's personality. Each answer has a 100-300 word requirement.

OPTION 2 QUESTIONS (PICK 4-5) 100-300 WORD LIMIT EACH:

What experience challenged your character's core beliefs? How did they handle this or change from it? The reality of being married to Shane Patton and the company she found herself in. Rachel started out as an average woman from an average background working an average at best job. Marrying Shane thrust her into a brand new reality where jet-setting vacations to Hawaii were as common enough as an average person would take a cheap roadtrip and she was submerged into a pool of wealth and privilege. While she'd had some exposure to that world while dating Shane given that she describes dating him as an experience where all of the doors in New York City opened, everyone had a table for them, and nothing was too expensive, living it versus dating it was an entirely different feeling. Dating it felt like the princesses of her childhood, a strange and sparkling new world where nothing was out of the question, but being married to it carried a price tag she was reluctant to pay. She wanted to continue to work as a journalist, but Shane shot that down and implied she was bad at it, then she wanted to work for a nonprofit, but her MIL objected, saying that her real work should be throwing parties. This wasn't what she wanted in life and it drove a wedge between Shane and herself. Rachel was made miserable by her new life's demands and the set of people who were a part of it and she began to seriously question herself and her decision making skills as a result.

What is a headcanon (or two) you feel strongly about and that you prefer playing your character with? How is this supported in canon and why do you think it benefits the character's story? Rachel is working class Ashkenazi Jewish of largely Ukrainian ancestry so she can 'pass' as a White Anglo-Saxon Protestant, even though she isn't. However, she utilized that ability to pass frequently after leaving High School given that she was embarrassed about her family's devotion to the old country, practice of Orthodox Judaism, and all of the rules and laws and expectations which came of that background. She had a bat mitzvah and went to Hebrew school, but broke from her family to become a High Holidays Jew in college, and stop observing entirely after college, submerging herself into secular culture and continuing to pass. I believe that finding out that Rachel was of Jewish descent was a surprise to Shane who pretty much exemplifies upper class WASP sensibilities and that he was 'pals' with the Kushners, but expected Rachel to follow his lead when it came to religion--largely the lack thereof. What Shane worshipped was money and it embarrassed her that her family had so little of it and she was stuck working paycheck to paycheck to afford a studio apartment in elsewhere in Queens. I think that the conflict between being expected to hide vast portions of her background and almost entirely her family would be another stressor on the marriage of Rachel and Shane and that it would provide greater depth to her barely referenced family and past..

What is your character's moral code? Do they have one? Why or why not? Rachel doesn't want to feel like a 'kept woman' or a trophy wife, but during the course of her honeymoon, she realized that that was what she was expected to be and she chafed at it greatly. She was initially thrilled to start dating Shane as he was introduced to her at the end of a 'bad relationship' and impressed at all he could do with a simple phone call, but during their time at the White Lotus, Shane engaged in behavior which went counter to what Rachel herself believed. Such as harassing the manager over not getting the hotel suite he wanted and felt entitled to, laughing at a family acquaintance who made his money writing mystery novels, and expecting Rachel to stop working so she could cater to him more easily. But Rachel grew up poor with a strong worth ethic, her juggling multiple puff or clickbait journalism jobs to provide for herself, she went to community college, and she was angry when Shane told her that her parents didn't have the money to come out and see Rachel at the resort, unlike his mother. The MIL's appearance only exacerbated things Rachel and Shane, the MIL flat out calling Rachel a trophy wife was something to be proud of and dismissed Rachel's aspirations for herself and her own future. By the time in canon she'd be taken from, what she thought she wanted and what she actually wanted were two very different things and her belief in herself was at an all time low.

What does your character feel like they struggle with still? Where could they improve? This could be physically, mentally, emotionally, or otherwise. Rachel needs to get better at asserting herself. During the course of the series, she'd tentatively try to stand up for herself or question her new role, only to have those attempts swatted aside with Rachel feeling likely even more insecure than she'd felt prior to the attempt. She wanted to prove herself as a whole person at Shane's side, not just as arm candy for him, and the idea of being a trophy wife seemed abhorrent to her. However, even at such points where she's clearly uncomfortable, she strains to find rationale for what she wants that's convincing to others. When Shane's privilege runs rampant, she tries to call him out on it but fails to get her point across. She tries to defend the manager who 'cheated' Shane out of what he saw as rightfully his, but Shane remains determined to get what he thinks he deserves. Finally, when Rachel is pushed to her breaking point, she tries again to make Shane see how his behavior is hurting her and hurting their marriage, she tells him that he's a manchild who depends on mommy to make everything better, but her voice is shaky and she herself is weepy while Shane immediately finds refuge in anger and threats she doesn't know how to counter other than removing herself from his presence as much as she can, effectively taking the coward's way out. The worst part is that Rachel knows she's failing. That her concerns aren't taken seriously. However, she can't find a way to get her point across convincingly and turns to yet another person, Belinda (the manager of the resort spa), to try and validate herself and her feelings because she's incapable of doing it herself.

Is your character capable of forgiveness or will they hold a grudge until they die? Would anything ever make them change their mind? One of the sad things about Rachel is that she's capable of forgiveness for just about anything. Even as she hates what she's expected to become as a result of her marriage to Shane, she holds herself entirely accountable for her own actions and her own lack of forethought before going through with the wedding. Rachel states that she was one of the kinds of girls who grew up imagining her wedding and that she liked to play with dolls and Barbies, so on some level she was doomed to fall into the trap she did. But even that, she forgives Shane for. She takes all of the blame for their rapidly floundering marriage unto herself and wants Shane to just listen to her for once rather than dismiss her fears and concerns. Kitty, her MIL, she has a harder time forgiving, if only because her MIL seems so complacent in her role as being part of the 1% and having no real regard for those under her 'station.' When Kitty tells her to take pride in being a trophy wife because trophies are made of gold and they shine brightly and they are envied by people who don't have them, Rachel timidly attempts to speak for herself and her own experiences and is swatted down yet again. However, Rachel lets Kitty hug her as Kitty is leaving and tries to take her advice to be happy to heart until Shane succeeds in getting his way once and for all.

What famous folklore, legend, or myth would you associate your character with? Are they literally inspired by Snow White? Do they have similar struggles or energy as Red Riding Hood? Cinderella. Except it's a Cinderella who's whisked away by the prince, only to discover that she'd left one bad situation for another one she wasn't sure she could live with. The story of Cinderella is of a downtrodden girl used as a servant by her stepfamily and that doesn't apply to Rachel, but the part where she's suddenly uplifted in status by marriage definitely is. Rachel's MIL tells her that many women tried to 'land' Shane, just like many women tried to catch the eye of the prince but in both cases, the prince/Shane chose Cinderella/Rachel. Cinderella's story ends there and the implication is that Cinderella will be blissfully happy with her prince and her new status, but Rachel's story is a deconstruction of that ending. What if after marrying the prince, Cinderella still wanted to do tasks for herself, like making tea or mending clothes or keeping in contact with people who weren't toxic who knew her before the marriage (mice and birds in the story)? Rachel tries to make it clear that she wants to earn her own money, if not as a journalist then as working, not volunteering as her MIL suggests, for a nonprofit. When Rachel nervously broaches the subject with her new family, they're both extremely dismissive, putting down Rachel's aspirations and therefore Rachel herself. She's mocked by others for going to community college instead of an Ivy. She's told she's a bad journalist by a woman she'd admired. Rachel is what happens when the fairy tale goes wrong.

❥ Player Information

Player Name: argustar
Pronouns: they/them
Are you over 18?: yes
Contact(s): argustar on plurk or discord, PM
Who Invited You?: Link please.
Current Characters: Constance, Madison, Alicent, Christine, Arashi, Ophelia, Rey, Dezba, Hawke, Ari, Susan, Mariane, Bella, Tinya, Lila
Permissions: Here
Writing Samples: here, here, here