[hider=Ellen Pelham, Countess of Yarborough] [hr][hr][h1][b][i][color=DAA520][center]Ellen Pelham, Countess of Yarborough[/center][/color][/i][/b][/h1] [center][img]http://images.radiotimes.com/remote/images.atlas.metabroadcast.com/pressassociation.com/webANXrelichunters3.jpg?quality=60&mode=crop&width=700&height=422[/img][/center] [hr][hr][h3][b][i][color=DAA520][center]Character Summary[/center][/color][/i][/b][/h3] [b][color=DAA520]Name:[/color][/b] Ellen Pelham, Countess of Yarborough [b][color=DAA520]Aliases:[/color][/b] Elle [b][color=DAA520]Age:[/color][/b] 36 [b][color=DAA520]Nationality:[/color][/b] British [b][color=DAA520]Ethnicity:[/color][/b] Slavic [b][color=DAA520]Current Residence:[/color][/b] Brocklesby House, near Immingham, Lincolnshire, England. [b][color=DAA520]Gender:[/color][/b] Female [b][color=DAA520]Education:[/color][/b] Anthropology and Linguistic Anthropology [b][color=DAA520]Job:[/color][/b] Relic Hunter [b][color=DAA520]Role:[/color][/b] Tomb Raider/Relic Hunter [hr][hr][center][img]https://thumbs.gfycat.com/BreakableGaseousCob-size_restricted.gif[/img][/center] [h3][b][i][color=DAA520][center]Appearance[/center][/color][/i][/b][/h3] [b][color=DAA520]Height:[/color][/b] 5'7" [b][color=DAA520]Weight:[/color][/b] 140 lbs [b][color=DAA520]Build:[/color][/b] Athletic [b][color=DAA520]Eyes:[/color][/b] Brown [b][color=DAA520]Hair:[/color][/b] Brunette [b][color=DAA520]Skin Tone:[/color][/b] Tan [b][color=DAA520]Tattoos/Scars/Piercings:[/color][/b] She has some of all of those. [b][color=DAA520]Personal Style:[/color][/b] Despite her noble stature, El is all about comfort. Raised by a single father who took pride and joy in bringing his daughter with him on his adventures Elle adopted from early on a very unlady like style of dress. Leather britches and shirts, as well as her dad's worn pilot jacket. Not color blind per se, but definitely color challenged El usually sticks to easy color combinations and clothing articles in solid colors. Whenever her stature and position as Countess demands it, she does clean up nicely with the help of a few trusted family maids. Still, she feels very uncomfortable it any spiffy, fluffy female get up and would look to get out of it as soon as possible. I mean, seriously, have you ever worn a corset?! It's a torture device more than a clothing article. Even if it does perk the boobs up rather nicely! [center][img]http://images6.fanpop.com/image/photos/39400000/Relic-Hunter-Fan-Art-sydney-and-nigel-39444824-250-188.gif [/img][/center] [hr][hr][center][img]http://images6.fanpop.com/image/photos/39400000/Relic-Hunter-Fan-Art-sydney-and-nigel-39444827-250-188.gif[/img][/center] [h3][b][i][color=DAA520][center]Psychology[/center][/color][/i][/b][/h3] [i][color=DAA520][center]Straightforward * Loyal * Compassioned * Focused[/center][/color][/i] [center][img]https://im-01.gifer.com/89Mh.gif[/img][/center] [b][color=DAA520]Sexuality:[/color][/b] Elle has a distinct preference towards female companionship [b][color=DAA520]Relationship Status:[/color][/b] Single [b][color=DAA520]Personality:[/color][/b] The adopted daughter to the bachelor Earl of Yarborough, Ellen grew up to be a very adventurous and happy young girl. Even with her father’s constant attempts to spoil her rotten little El never forgot her first seven years spent in abject poverty in her home country. Knowing all too well what it meant to have nothing the little girl grew to respect what she’d been offered and given by her adoptive parent. Still as any child was capable of, she quickly put the harsh life she’d lived before meeting the Earl behind and embraced her new one full tilt. She enjoyed the home lessons she received from her dad and select tutors and quickly became fascinated with her new father’s passion – archeology. As a grown up Elle is a very straightforward no nonsense kind of person. She gets to the point fast and hard when necessary, but she is never heedlessly harsh or disrespectful. She is very loyal to those she loves and considers family or friends and can be very protective of those individuals. The harsher life of her early childhood and the consequent benevolence she enjoyed in the house of her adoptive parent all served to make El into a very compassioned individual. Sometimes she is empathic to the point of actual physical mimicry of others’ pains and sorrow. As a result she is very caring and will offer any aid she is capable of to help sooth a person’s ailment. In her profession and occupation Ellen is very driven and focused. She holds herself to higher standards than everybody else as she believes one should never stop improving. For if you stop bettering yourself, you inevitably begin stagnating. And El is not one to sit still. She is a very active individual and whenever she is not on the hunt for the next ancient location, she is training her body and mind. Elle is also a bit of a flirt. She’ll never lead the ladies on, but has learned that her roguish outlook is quite appealing to them and is not opposed to a bit of playful flirtation. However when it comes to romance and serious commitment, she is as dedicated and serious as she is with everything else in her life. [b][color=DAA520]Habits:[/color][/b] - Sticks her tongue out a fraction whenever she’s concentrating on a task - Runs the tops of her nails when she is lost in thought [b][color=DAA520]Hobbies:[/color][/b] Rock balancing [b][color=DAA520]Fears:[/color][/b] [list][*]Fear of falling – Elle doesn’t have fear of heights per se, but rather an almost uncontrollable fear of falling. It doesn’t make her job easy in certain circumstances. [*]Fear of puppets – an episode in Elle’s past, before she met the Earl made her terribly and irreversibly scared of any dolls and puppets, to the point of hysteria. It was hard on the Earl razing a young daughter he wanted to lavish attention without being able to buy her all the new dolls and whatnot. [*]Fear of chickens – yes, you read right. Elle becomes positively a madwoman if faced with the feathered birds.[/list] [b][color=DAA520]Likes:[/color][/b] [list][*]Meditating [*]Reading and writing [*]Dancing [*]Hiking [*]Horses and riding [*]Massages – giving and receiving them [*]Cuddling up near the fireplace[/list] [b][color=DAA520]Dislikes:[/color][/b] [list][*]Smoking [*]Excessive drinking [*]Rudeness [*]Any dish with dill in it [*]Riding sideways [*]Needless violence [*]Hypocrites[/list] [hr][hr][h3][b][i][color=DAA520][center]History[/center][/color][/i][/b][/h3] [b][color=DAA520]A Memory:[/color][/b] Elle woke up screaming in the huge soft bed, sweat plastering her long, mahogany hair to her pretty little girl face. Not soon after a soft wheezing could be heard from the corridor accompanied by hasty footfalls. Little El held her breath in fright for a moment before she remembered where she was. She released a sigh of relief just as the door opened slightly and the Earl poked his head in. “Elle, are you alright, baby girl?” The man asked, entering the room carefully. The little girl he’d adopted was still a bit bashful around him. Especially at times like this and he knew to tiptoe around her, until she settled down and became more comfortable. “I had a nightmare.” Elle sniffled and without hesitation snuggled up to the Earl, seeking comfort and protection. Richard held his breath in surprise and utter delight. It was the first time his adoptive daughter had sought his embrace so freely and without reservation. If he didn’t already love the little girl to bits, he would have fallen in love completely at this innocent gesture. “Was it a monster?” He inquired quietly, embracing the girl gently, sifting his fingers through her damp hair to calm her down. Her small head shook ‘no’ against him. “Your mum and dad?” The Earl asked, his voice catching on the emotion behind the question. Elle just shook with renewed sobs. Richard hugged the girl a little more tightly and started talking slowly and quietly, telling his daughter the story of the lost continent Atlantis. “El…” A voice called out at her. “El, baby girl…” At the familiar endearment Elle shook herself free of the memory and focused her dark gaze on her dad, Richard Pelham, Earl of Yarborough. “What is it, da?” She asked with a bright smile, her soul still warmed by the sweet childhood memory. The Earl grinned in response to his daughter’s happy countenance. “I asked you to tell me more about this Baron Carnock and his offer…” [hider=Phone call for you, milady!] Ellen was working an angle. She was on the hunt for information regarding a very controversial find. One almost shrouded in the mist of conspiracy theories. Word had reached her of a relic that was found in the rainforests of British Honduras. According to rumors it was a skull. But not just any skull. It was a skull made entirely out of crystal. From what she'd heard it's craftsmanship was near flawless. But apparently as soon as it was discovered, the skull had vanished into thin air. Everyone within the relevant circles of people was tight-lipped about it. But Elle had her sources and more importantly, she knew how and with what to entice each and every one of them. This one in particular! Viscountess Hailsham, the young widow to the elderly Viscount Hailsham, had inherited her husband's vast network of contacts and informants. And the little minx was putting it to a far better use than the late Viscount. Even if the old badger hadn't left the dainty young lass filthy rich on her inheritance, she would have been well enough off on the proceeds from her information trafficking. Fortunately for Elle, the Viscountess demanded a whole different form of recompense from her. Not that El couldn't afford the lady's fees. She could and with change to spare. But this way was so much more fun, the rogue relic hunter thought with her face buried in... "Phone call for you, milady!" The almost disinterested announcement was followed by an obligatory clearing of the throat. Elle squeezed her eyes in frustration while Viscountess Hailsham complained irritably. "I'm busy, Pennyworth!" She rolled her eyes for emphases and waited for the butler to excuse himself. When he didn't she peaked curiously at him. "It is not for you, milady. Tis for the Countess. On behalf of Baron Thomas Carnock." Pennyworth added pointedly, still completely disinterested in the position he'd caught his mistress in. It wasn't the first time and he knew it certainly wouldn't be the last.[/hider] [b][color=DAA520]History:[/color][/b] Richard Pelham, Earl of Yarborough, was the last of his line and due to certain personal proclivities unable to produce an heir to continue his family line. With his parents no longer on this earth he had no one to nag him to take up a wife and sire the next generation of Yarborough nobility. He also didn’t care much for continuing the family line. Sure enough he cared for the people and lands in his earldom. He took his responsibilities as an Earl quite seriously. But he could not and would not betray himself and lay with a woman only to beget an heir. Thus, the Earl threw himself in his work, even hampered by his health as he was, suffering from asthma from a very young age. He never allowed this to trample his spirit of adventure. When the Earl was twenty-nine years old he ventured into one of the smaller Eastern European countries that were none the less teaming with ancient history. It was there that he met the daughter he never dared dream of having. The girl had just lost her parents to poverty and famine and had not Richard taken her in, she would have probably suffered the same fate soon after. Thus began the new life of little Elena Docheva as Ellen Pelham, Countess of Yarborough. The Earl doted on his adoptive daughter, the bond between the two of them solidifying with every single day. Little El received everything she’d been missing in her earlier life. Opportunities on top of the basics like food, clothes and shelter. Richard spared no coin to give his daughter the education she wanted and deserved. And Elle was a bright child and took to her lessons with hunger and fiery enthusiasm. She was a healthy and active child and while the Earl regretted not being able to join in on her physical fun, he made sure Elle had tutors in all sorts of physical disciplines the child found interesting, like riding, swimming, fencing and even eastern martial arts. The Earl and his daughter grew closer and closer with the passing of time and Elle always travelled with Richard whenever he would venture out of his home country to his next adventure. So when the time came for El to receive her formal education, she already had a good amount of practical experience her peers in school lacked. The fact that she was nobility, even if adopted, helped grease the wheels of the patriarchal educational machine and Elle sailed through her higher education but still expending twice the effort any of the other students put in. [center][img]https://78.media.tumblr.com/0913d8826f9c9a6cb55fbac4493dee2f/tumblr_ov37tznTEV1qdhps7o2_400.gif[/img][/center] Even with her formal education in Anthropology and Linguistic Anthropology El was never really accepted by her male peers as a serious scientist and scholar, but they could not deny her her field work as she did not need their approval or funding to conduct that. Thus she became known as a Relic Hunter and Tomb raider more than an archeologist or anthropologist, regardless of the fact that her findings always found their way into museums whereas the findings of her esteemed colleagues tended to find their way more often than not into the hands of their filthy rich backers. Even more so when their discoveries originated in small and poor countries that didn’t have the political clout to fight for their historical heritage and were hungry for the bribe money. [center][img]https://78.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_m2j4hrYlRU1qf2qpko6_250.gif[/img][/center] Ellen didn’t mind her reputation if it meant history would not be lost in the private vaults of greedy old geezers who knew nothing of culture and ancient history but liked the status that came with owning treasures from long lost civilizations. To deny them their satisfaction El was prepared to undertake even to most dangerous and risky of adventures. [center][img]https://78.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_m2j4hrYlRU1qf2qpko1_250.gif[/img][/center] [/hider]