Story * Rules * Characters * Application * Information
Identification
Name: Riley-Sue Malkin
Pet Names: Riley-Sue has a habit of telling everyone that her name is merely 'Riley',
and therefore is usually only called by the first part of her name. Curle Green (her
little brother), however, has a distressing habit of calling her 'Ira' (for no
particular reason) which annoys her to no end. Besides that, she currently has no
nick/pet names.
Birthday: November 18
Age: 17
Gender: Female
Ethnicity: Munchkinlander
Religion: Unionist
Social Status: Somewhere between upper class and working class--perhaps slightly more
on the working class side.
Physical Traits
Hair: Riley's hair is black and semi-curly, going down to a little below her
shoulders. She has bangs that are cut strait across a tad above her eyebrows, which
she faithfully straitens and flips under every morning, so that they do not dissolve
into a mass of short curly things on her forehead. (as they do every night.) She very
rarely does anything with her hair, besides just brushing it and leaving it be, but
when she's in a particularly good mood she might put it in pigtails or braids or buns
or whatever she feels like at the moment.
Eyes: Riley's eyes are hazel--her brand being a pretty shade of greyish-green, with a
line of yellow and then a line of brown around the edge of the iris. The yellow line
also flecks inwards slightly, so her eyes often appear to have golden glitter bits
stuck in them. They are rather big and round, but not to the point that it looks like
anything strange.
Complexion: Her skin is a fairly pale shade of caucasian, and she has a few birthmarks
(meaning those round dots that aren't quite enough to be called moles) here and
there--on her chin, on her cheek, and a few on her arms, legs, and stomach. Also when
she goes into the sun for long periods of time, freckles start to pop out on the
bridge of her nose. This is the reason she avoids the sun. Because she avoids the sun
is why she is pale.
Build: Riley is quite short and a little plump, although not exactly to the point
where one would call her horribly overweight. "Chubby" or "big boned" are the
adjectives usually used. She doesn't particularly care, though, even if someone does
refer to her as 'fat'. Her attitude about her body is pretty much along the lines of
'yeah, and you're skinny, go fuck yourself'.
Height: 5 feet exactly
Weight: 120 pounds...perhaps 121, but 120 is close enough and suits her fine.
Quirks: Riley is supposed to wear glasses, however she very rarely does. When she is
forced to, however, (mainly when she's around her father, who is quite strict about
such things) the glasses she wears are black and rectangular framed, with medium sized
lenses.
Clothing: Riley goes through phases, and will every so often decide that she is a
'rebel', and refuse point blank to wear the colour blue...as that is the favourite
colour, in Munchkin Land. But besides that, her normal wardrobe consists of mid-shin
length 'fwooshy' skirts, in a wide variaty of colours and patterns, elbow-sleeve white
dress shirts (the kind with rounded collars and loose sleeves that tuck in at the
edge), wrist-sleeve black shirts, which she wears under the white shirts sometimes, a
small collection of swedish holiday reminisant dresses, a few black corsets, one or
two white aprons, a couple pairs of striped stockings/socks, and a pair of
pilgrim/leprachaun-looking black shoes with silver buckles.
Mental Traits
Personality: As mentioned above, Riley has a habit of going through phases. Sometimes
she'll decide she's going to be "rebellious", sometimes she's a "better-than-you"
snob, sometimes she acts incrediably innocent and cute. It all depends on her mood.
But above all, and no matter what part she's playing, Riley is, and has a passion for
being, maddenly sarcastic. She loves saying something truly and cleverly scathing, and
relishing over how witty it was later to Mopsi (her stuffed ragdoll cat, whom Riley
honestly believes is real, in it's own way. No, she's not crazy. Just a little kid at
heart). Because of this, she tends to come off as slightly sadistic and/or cruel, but
it's really just that she has a huge sense of humour and appreciates using it in the
best way possible--to piss of people she doesn't like. She's also generally pretty
loud, voice and actions-wise--she loves attention.
But around her friends, however few as they may be, Riley is alot quieter and much
nicer. She's very rarely mean to them at all, though she slips every so often. She
also gets this way when she's around someone she looks up to, or greatly admires.
Basically, she's afraid of loosing the people she loves or making a bad impression on
those she wants to love her.
Riley has a huge imagination and spends much of her free time talking to Mopsi about
how wonderful the world would be if she had more control and wasn't so young. She
makes up stories about it and tells them to Mopsi, pausing after each one to see if it
approves or not. The fact that she can tell whether or not her toy cat likes her ideas
is, in itself, proof of how fantastical she often is.
Also, Riley is pretty apathetic to both praise and critisism. If someone compliments
her she just brushes it off, and if someone insults her she laughs in their face. None
of it really affects her. When she was younger she got teased alot about her weight,
and has built up a lot of mental blocks to deal with things like that--but perhaps she
built up a tad too many. She's also very independant and pretty brave and
outgoing...but all in all, Riley doesn't particularly like herself that much. Not for
any particular reason, although every so often she can find some. She just...doesn't
like herself.
Talents: Riley is an outstanding cook, but often does not have the time to practise
her talent. However she has invented a small range of snacks, created from dinner
scraps, that she often makes before bed, in case she gets hungry in the middle of the
night. Sometimes she shares with her roommates. Not often.
She's also quite a good actor, and greatly enjoys performing for herself and for
others. (read: Mopsi.)
Likes: Chocolate, acting, cooking, science, math, wind, rain, anything aesthetically
pleasing, music, autumn, insulting people in a way that they don't realise it
immedietly (if at all), leaves
Dislikes: Stupidity, bad actors, Quadlings, Atheists, people who think they're good at
something when they're not, bad singing voices, extreme heat, insects (especially
mosquitos and cockroaches)
Strengths: Cooking and acting, as mentioned above. She's also really into science and
mathematics--the fact that everything has rules, can fit together, HAS to fit
together, and usually only has ONE answer, fascinates her.
Weaknesses: Writing and drawing are the two things she wishes the most she could do
properly. She tries with poems, and they come out all wrong. And she tries to follow
all the advise she's heard, and practice practice practice, but her drawings still
turn out lopsided and not at all how she imagined. She also has trouble with taking
compliments and has no sewing ability what-so-ever.
Failures: Above all things, Riley truly wishes she'd never let anyone know they'd
gotten to her, when she was younger. For when she was younger, Riley used to cry
extremely easily, and then whoever was being mean to her KNEW they'd reached their
goal and intent of making her upset. When she looks back on that she hates it, and
wishes she'd been more strong.
Achievements: Riley is immensely proud of her leaf collection, which is currently up
to 63 different kinds of leaves. She's also quite happy with several recipes she's
invented, as well as some of the things she's said.
Hobbies: Cooking, acting, coming up with new witty phrases and insults, collecting
dead leaves
Outer Identification
Family: Riley lives with her mother, Muggins, her father, Rabbit, her older (by one
year) sister, Gummy, her younger (by twelve and a half years) brother, Curle Green
(Curle [pronounced 'kur-lee'] or Gree Gree for short), and, of course, Mopsi the
rag-doll cat.
Hometown: Bright Lettins
History: When Riley was one, a Quadling woman was her nanny when her parents were
away. Said nanny took away Mopsi, once or twice, and made Riley cry.
When Riley was five, a visiting Quadling child teased her mercelessly about her big
eyes, curly hair, and weight.
When Riley was nine, a Quadling miner, passing through, yelled at her to hurry her fat
self up, crossing the road, and subsequently pissed her off.
When Riley was thirteen, a female Quadling her age, who'd recently moved to
Munchkinland, tore off one of Mopsi's arms during an argument. Even as Muggins
stitched it back on, Riley was screaming at the offending girl through the window,
stopped only by Gummy closing the shades.
When Riley was seventeen she went on her way to Shiz--Muggins and Rabbit both agreed
it would be good for her and were the ones who'd asked her to go in the first
place--hoping, ever so hoping, there wouldn't be any Quadlings around. Pity she was
wrong. :/
But in short, Riley does not like Quadlings much.
(She also doesn't particularly like Atheists, because she doesn't know how they can
look at all the beauty in the world and not believe in at least SOME kind of God.
However, Atheists have never done her personal injury, as Quadlings have, so she
dislikes them alot less.)
Other important events in her younger life include her seeing an elderly lady and
resolving to NEVER be or look like that. When she told her mother this, Muggins smiled
and said one was never truly old if they stayed young at heart. This is the main
reason Riley has a habit of acting very childish, at times, particularly when it comes
to Mopsi. And as mentioned in personality, her general apathy stems from the fact that
people used to tease her so much that she's built up large walls around her feelings,
so as not to let anyone affect her so much again.
Inspirations
Character Image Song: When I am Queen by Jack Off Jill
Image Quote: "Reader, imagine you are an idiot...now imagine you are a member of
congress...but I repeat myself." -- Mark Twain
Writing Sample
Riley stared, in a mixture of horror and disgust, at the largest, most grotesque
mosquito she'd ever seen. Almost a quarter of an inch long, brown-ish black, and
perched oh-so-casually on the side of her washbasin.
"Shoo, bug, please." she pleaded.
The mosquito didn't answer. It merely continued nosing at the side of the tub,
apparently engrossed in its quiet probing of the wood. Riley took this as a personal
insult.
"Bug, please, I have to wash before I leave." she tried again.
The mosquito continued to ignore her.
"Please?"
"Riley-Sue," (Riley-Sue was Riley's full name), "hurry up in there!" Muggins, her
mother, called from the other room.
"Yessum." Riley yelled back.
"Truly, Riley, You are going to be late."
Riley smiled slightly at her mother's habit of speaking so formally, then frowned as
she turned back to the offending insect.
"Please go away, bug."
The mosquito finally looked up, noticing that not only was there a large ammount of
food in the room, but also that the food was talking to it. It considered this for a
moment, then powered up its wings and flew at her.
With a screech of dismay, Riley grabbed her soap and ran from the washroom, past her
parents' and siblings' confused expressions, to the water pump outside. She'd conduct
her washings here! It was in the bushes, after all, and all she really had to clean
before leaving were her hair, underarms, and face--she wasn't THAT dirty, and didn't
smell--and she could always wash properly later, in a mosquito-free climate. (As she
assumed Shiz would be.)
With a bit of difficulty she managed to wash herself to a satisfactory degree, and
quietly reentered the house, wringing out her hair as she went. Curle Green tugged on
her skirt as she passed.
"Why'd you run out like that, Ira?"
"Nothin'." Riley muttered, freeing herself from her little brother and cautiously
peering into the washroom. Good, the mosquito was gone. She grabbed her hair iron and,
with a glance in the mirror, set to work on her bangs.
"You need to leave in five minutes." Riley's father, whose name was, by some strange
mishap or cruel joke, Rabbit, looked up from the book he had been pretending to read.
"Don't forget your glasses."
"I won't,"
"And remember to wear them."
"I will." Riley crossed her fingers, at an angle that her parents couldn't see. Curle
Green could, though, and giggled.
"I almost do not wish you to go after all, now that you are going." Muggins muttered,
as Riley finished her hair. "I will miss you very much."
"I'll miss you too, mum." Riley turned to her mother and smiled. "But I won't be gone
so long, and you have Gree Gree and Gummy for company, not to mention daddy."
"Yes, but we're not as interesting as you." Gummy laughed. Gummy was Riley's older
sister.
"I take offense to that." Rabbit put down his book. "Come and give me a hug,
Riley-Sue." Riley put down the iron, walked over to her father and did so, adding a
kiss on the cheek. She repeated this for the others in the room as well (pausing at
her brother and asking if he was clean, first), then ran to her room to get her pack
and her stuffed cat, Mopsi. She paused, looking around, and came back more slowly than
she'd left, realising for the first time, perhaps, that she was really going away.
"Bye mum. Bye daddy. Bye Gummy. Bye Gree Gree."
"Bye Riley-Sue!"
"Good luck!"
"I miss you Ira!"
"It's 'I WILL miss you', Gree Gree, she's not gone yet."
"Oh. I will miss you, then."
"Have fun."
"Bye everyone!" Riley smiled hugely and, with a toss of her curls, set on her way.
By way of the family donkey, then boat, then wagon, Riley ended up at Shiz University
two days later. She hugged Mopsi for comfort, who had been resting in Riley's apron
pocket but was now tightly wound in her arms, swallowed a little nervously, pursed her
lips, then nodded to herself (and to Mopsi) and headed to Crage hall.