Erin "Riley" Emerson
-Unknown Riley EmersonErin Riley Emerson
Nicknames"Riley". She essentially forces others to call her this, she feels it's "tougher" and more masculine than her first name. People usually give in since it is her middle name, so it's not too "out there" to call her that.
Age17
Genderfemale
Sexual OrientationRiley is bisexual, but if you ask her, she'll tell you she's a lesbian. This is because attention from men makes her feel vulnerable, like she's walking naked down a city street in broad daylight. Her logic is that since women tend to be less aggressive in their advances, this way she can turn down guys while also avoiding having to date most girls.
Grade LevelJunior
AppearanceRiley is tall; about 5'9", lanky, and stick thin. She does have some notable curves in that her waist is smaller than her hips, but other than that she's an a cup and very proud of that, occasionally bragging to other girls about how she "doesn't even have to wear a bra". Her stomach is crisscrossed in red gashes, and I assume you can figure out why. No one but herself and her best friend from her home town knows of their existance. Her skin is pale and washed out on most parts of her body. She does enjoy fashion but it's usually very gender neutral clothing.
Here is an example of an outfit she might wear on an everyday basis.
"Hey nerd, Whatup?"Riley's "Big thing", the thing she thinks is most important, is being tough. Growing up in a house full of brothers with just her more-than-slightly misogynistic father to raise them, she had to grow a thick skin fast. She views femininity as a weakness in herself, and hides whatever aspect she finds girlish within her. She's not necessarily sexist to anyone else, in fact she's usually very protective of other girls. In her mind, they're like a young version of herself, and by keeping them safe she's protecting them from what happened to her.
Her idea of masculinity, though, is very basic. Riley is still very childish so to her, acting like you're "the big man on campus" is what being masculine means. She can be cruel when talking to boys, she likes to punch them on the arm and make "jokes" about them in order to appear cool. The truth is that she is in a lot of emotional pain, she lives with constant anxiety and deals with it by self harming. To her this is the "tough" way to deal with her problems because it involves pain. However you would never suspect that she was an anxious person, she has a very laid back persona she likes to push forward.
Riley does have aspects of herself that she hides, the ones she thinks are too delicate and fragile to be brought out into the light. She loves to draw, write poetry and paint. Her art is usually the only expression of her feelings that she allows herself, and she either burns them upon completion or stows them away somewhere no one will ever find them. Her favorite color really IS pink, but she wouldn't be caught dead with it. She also has a huge soft spot for cats, but feels that others think they are a “feminine” pet, so she'll tell you she loves dogs instead when in reality she is absolutely terrified of them.
Likes- Art
- Poetry
- Cheese fries
- Disney Princess movies (she watches these in absolute hiding)
- Animal Crossing (Also, of course, a secret)
- Dogs
- Brocolli
- People calling her “sweet heart”
- Football (Although she will watch hours of it just to prove that she likes it)
Vulnerability, falling in love, having someone see her stomach by accident, dogs, her father, her brothers, sex.
Strengths- Good in a crisis
- Supportive to close friends
- Brave in scary situations
- Cannot show her weakness under any circumstance
- refuses to become close with anyone
- can appear to be a bully
Riley grew up in a cozy, two bedroom house in a forest about ten miles out from the nearest town. There were no neighbors, but she had two older brothers to play with (Jackson, 2 years older and Richard Jr., 4 years older.) and they got along just fine at that point. Her father, however, was an alcoholic. He was pretty benign for the most part, but at age five, he lost his job at the factory in town. This caused her mother to go out looking for a part time position, and the stress on her father from feeling like a failure as a man for not keeping his woman at home caused him to drink ten times more.
He became mean, angry,and belligerent. Most of this was directed at her mother, who took it in stride. However 6 months into his unemployment she began to come home to marks on her children. When she confronted her husband he became extremely violent and threatened to kill her. She dealt with this, and the guilt for staying with him for another 3 months until she took her own life.
Riley didn't witness it; her mother did the deed at a bridge some three or four miles from her job, but from then on it was just her father and her brothers. Her father did eventually find another position, but if he was “benign” before, he wasn't any longer. Her brothers were treated like princes, since they were the physical embodiment of him. Her father transferred all of his pain, guilt and anger onto his now six year old daughter who bore a striking resemblance to her mother, and he encouraged her brothers to treat her poorly as well. Thus began Riley's transformation into something her brothers and father could respect. They never did.
Favorite memoryTo escape her family, Riley would explore the woods around her house. She had a running fantasy about it being a woodland kingdom with fairies and elves and invisible queens and princesses. Some of her favorite memories are there.
Least favorite memoryHer brothers and father finding her art and burning it in front of her to punish her for staying out too late.
Red Hot SummerRed Hot Summer is a clothing and lifestyle company that markets to alternative kids. They wanted someone active in the fashion and creative scene, and someone who placed well enough on tests to indicate that they had the brain power necessary. Riley, for about two years before this event, had been running a fashion blog on tumblr where she would post some of her original clothing designs and comment on new fashion coming out. It was more of a side thing for her; just a hobby to pass the time. However, a higher up from RHS was clued into it during their search and they felt it showed the dedication and creativity needed. A little digging showed that while Riley's average grades in school were disappointing, her placement on standardized tests was enough to push them towards choosing her. She personally was against coming to what she called a "rich bitch" school, but her father wanted her gone and she liked the idea that she could escape.
BirthdayNovember 3
Astrological SignScorpio
