Arden Rose Elwaine (child)

[mericlecure]

::The Basics::

|| Name: Arden Rose Elwaine || Game: Eidolon City || Age & Sex: 12, Female || Career: 7th Grade Student || Character Type: Dreamer || Played By: Bella Thorne || Scenes: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10

::Appearance::
Although she's actually a couple months shy of 13, Arden looks a couple years older than her age. This is a fact that -- despite some perks -- usually makes her uncomfortable. She's got very pretty hazel eyes and straight hair that's a cross between strawberry blond and light, light brown. At 5'5" she's the tallest girl in her middle school -- a fact that's caused her more than enough grief.

Arden used to like dressing up and looking girly, but now she usually hates it. The styles for girls her age don't fit her right, and wearing the girly clothing of the age she looks makes her more aware of her body's changes... which just makes her feel awkward. Not to mention girly clothes aren't at all suited for her increasingly frequent daredevil adventures. She much prefers a tomboy style, consisting of pants and the like, and would dress in such a manner all the time... if it weren't for the fact that her father really doesn't like that. Arden's composure varies with her mood, situation, and the people she's with. When she's with her father, or in a place such as church, she usually comes off as a pleasantly polite -- if distant -- and perfectly behaved girl. If she's by herself and in a place she's labeled a 'sanctuary' of sorts (like the most unpopulated areas of the library), she's sullen and quiet. Otherwise, and most of the time, Arden carries herself with an incredibly defiant demeanor, a tip of the iceberg of the violent emotional tides beneath.



::Personality::
For Arden Rose Elwaine, moody and unstable doesn't begin to cover it. She's undergoing that from transition good little angel-girl to a hellish spitfire of a teenager. ...and that transition is anything but smooth and gradual. It's been rocky, turbulent, and all too exacerbated by the other issues going on in her life. For the most part, she's angry: whether it's churning in the back of her mind or hot and flashing on the surface. Some days she goes back to playing by the rules, other days she's reckless and just seems itching to get in a fight. When she's around her father though, she's on her best behavior.

Around anyone else other than her father Arden can be pretty much a brat, especially to adults. She can be spiteful and defiant and harbors an emerging devil-may-care recklessness. She does have a tendency for lashing out -- and friends and those she cares for aren't immune to that. But she's also very caring, protective, helpful, and self-sacrificing for those she considers friends. And Arden's moodiness means she's just as likely to go from Bitchy Brat to Pleasant and Fun as she is the other way around.

In Arden's mind, she's really only got one parent left and she doesn't want to upset or disappoint him. So she puts her effort -- and it does require a lot of it as time goes on -- into being the perfect child: smiling, pleasant, attentive, happy. It's easiest to do when they're in public and he's back to being the friendly, loving, wonderful dad she grew up with. But at home, where things seem to become more tense more often, it's harder. Because after her mother left her father's been more prone to irritability and occasionally slips into fits that worry, and sometimes scare, her. But Arden doesn't blame him for it, and when she does she chides herself for it, and gets hit with a wave of guilt afterward. He's never hit her, and Arden doesn't recall any domestic violence in her home. Of course, when her mom was there her father had a more-than-adequate target for abuse, and Arden's constant need to please her father gave him no need to hit her.

But lately, with her hodgepodge of issues and adolescence kicking in, Arden's been growing up and undergoing changes. And not all of them -- like her tendency towards a tomboy style and rebellious sparks and decreasing tendency to tell him everything -- are changes that Dad's cool with. Before, Arden would've denied herself anything to keep her father happy, but with the teenage years peaking over the horizon, she's starting realize that being daddy's perfect little girl isn't enough for her. Lately, Arden's been making some friends and picking up interests that she doesn't think she'd give up for anybody... not even her dad.



::History::
For the longest time Arden has come off as a daddy's girl, and she is one, but that's a result of manipulation than her actually leaning that way. Her father spoiled her, and when Arden did something out of line as a child it was her mother that brought the discipline. And, when you're a little child who doesn't know any better, it really doesn't take much for your father to convince you that Mommy was in the wrong for punishing you (even if an objective observer would say yes, you deserved it). Of course, Arden still views her father's indulgence as an act of love, and not the act of spite against her mother that it probably was. And even though she learned from an early age to take advantage of Dad always saying 'yes' even when Mom said 'no', that didn't mean she loved her mom any less. But when Mom walked out and hasn't visited, called, or even written a little over two years? Well, that kind of solidifies being in the Dad corner, doesn't it?

In Arden's mind, they were happy before. Sure, occasionally she'd come home and the mood the house just seemed... off, somehow. But her parents loved her, and she loved them, and her mom and dad got along... at least as far as she was aware of. So when her mom, out of the blue, up and sudden decides to leave and asked Arden to go with her? Well, that freaked her out. She didn't understand why her mom would want to leave and why she wanted to take them away; and Arden didn't want to leave the home she had been so happy in. Thinking he'd know what to do, and that he could talk to her mom to get her to stay, she told her dad. She figured if she showed her mom how much she wanted to stay here, then her mom wouldn't leave. ...Except it didn't work out that way.

Her mom left anyway, giving Arden her new address and telling her she could basically move there anytime. But Arden wouldn't consider it: she didn't want to move out with her mom, she wanted her mom to stay; and she wasn't going to settle for anything less. Arden was so used to getting her way, she didn't see why this should be any different. But when it really dawned on her that her mother had left, she got upset. She wanted to go see her and, after a crying fit, even brought out the paper with the address to get her father to take her. But her father, gently taking the paper from her hands, told her not worry. He said that any mother that loved their child would come back to stay, and that any loving mother would ask her family's forgiveness for leaving in the first place. Even though Arden was still upset, his words comforted her. Because she knew her mother loved her and would therefore come back. After all, no mother that loved her child would stay gone.

...Except she was wrong. Her mother didn't move back. In fact, her mother didn't contact them at all. For a while Arden held on to hope. And even as that started to dwindle she remembered the paper -- if not the address (she had been to upset to really commit it memory) -- that her father now had and she asked him about it. Unfortunately, her father had lost it. And before Arden could get properly upset with him for losing it, he said that he didn't think they'd need it because he thought Kess loved them and would come back. At first, Arden thought her father had to be mistaken when he said he or a friend spotted Kess at such-and-such place. Not willing to give up thinking her mother loved her, Arden figured she was hurt, or out of the country, or stuck in some situation where she couldn't contact her family. But one day, about a year ago, Arden did spot her mother: alive and well and not trapped in some foreign prison, but walking on a sidewalk here in Eidolon City.

And that was when Arden realized that she had to learn to accept the fact that no, her mother didn't love her. In fact, her mother obviously didn't care for her at all. All this time Kess had been in the same city and didn't even visit or write or anything! Arden would've talked to her father about it, but at home things had been tense. And it wasn't just being paranoid about letting him down and trying to be the perfect daughter that made it impossible to relax. He was moodier, and not always the happy and doting father he used to be. And over the past year since then both Arden and her father have gotten even more moodier. Her father has also been working more and more often -- a fact that both upsets and relieves the girl.

As if the adolescent hormones weren't enough, Arden was the first girl in her class to go through wonderful puberty one summer. The undergoing changes have made her feel awkward and also turned her into a target of mean jokes, rumors, and other such emotional abuse when the new school year started. Some days Arden comes to school with a defiant 'Fuck You All' attitude, but more and more she's taken up just not coming to school at all. For the longest time she had been one of the top students in class, but her ever-increasing skipping habit means her grades have begun to suffer.



::Special Abilities & Skills::
Despite her recently suffering grades, Arden is a pretty smart cookie - especially bookwise (she's starting to hone her street smarts). And for her small frame she's deceptively athletic; she won't be winning any fights against a big and muscled 18-year-old any time soon -- even though she won't think twice about getting in said fight.



::Personal Weaknesses::
Mother - it doesn't take a psychologist to tie the majority of Arden issues to her mother walking out on her (although it does require somebody with considerable patience and tough skin to get close enough to peel back the girl's layers). She figures her mom proved she doesn't give a damn about her; so, damnit, why should Arden care about a woman who couldn't care less? Although she'll profess she's unaffected and doesn't care one way or the other about her mother, the fact is that her mother's betrayal is one big, gaping, unhealed wound... and picking at it is just as likely to result in a fit of tears as it is to get your hand bitten off.

Father - his recent irritability takes turns scaring and angering her, although she tries really really hard not to show it. And the few times she slips and does show it? Or when she finds herself mentally blaming him for it? Then Arden feels incredibly guilty, and barks on what's become an ever-constant quest to make it up to him. Because she swears she doesn't remember him being this way before, and tells herself that it's not his fault. As far as Arden is concerned, her father was a happy and loving man before her mother left. She has no suspicion that his moodiness around her could be because the usual target for his abuse is gone. And she blames his recent changes and slips in behavior on his being upset with her mother's absence. Arden's already had one parent walk out on her, and she harbors and easily-exploitable fear of her father leaving too. Something that he'll subtly hint at doing when she does something to especially disappoint him. If Arden were to take a step back and asses the situation, she'd realize how very un-cool it is for him to do that. But the slightest hint of him walking out triggers her abandonment issues and puts her in too panicked 'don't leave me!' state to think clearly. Her father is an expert at manipulating her and has her mind all kinds of turned around, and she doesn't suspect any of it. Her father has subtly told her and hinted at so many things so many times that Arden can't recall the thoughts being anything other than her own to begin with. Sure, she has been more than bothered by something in his increasing irritability, but she still loves her dad and largely trusts him and isn't close to suspecting his mind-games.

Puberty - as if the other issues in her life aren't taxing enough, Puberty has made Arden its hormonal btich. Going through it at any time is annoying and painful enough, but being the first girl in the class to undergo Life's Changes isn't just straight up awkward -- it's awful. At a time of life when the slightest differences are viciously picked apart by one's peers, Arden's body has been making its way towards Womanhood and leaving her classmates behind. And her classmates have noticed, and none of them appreciate it. Starting the school year after summer vacation, she found herself the tallest kid in her class, and her body had begun to alter in a manner that made her look a couple years older than she was. Unfortunately, the boys haven't quite hit that age to appreciate girls; and her 'Giant' height and budding breasts have garnered more mockery than appraising looks from the middle school's male sector. And her female classmates? Well, they were the worst. Arden has been Target #1 for the schoolyard girl gossip: from the petty "So-and-so said she stuffs her bra" to the more hurtful whisperings about "she's really 15 but, being too stupid for her own age group, her parents held her back and lied about her age".

Little Miss Chip-on-the-Shoulder- Arden is carrying around a lot of anger. Even when she's laughing and on her best behavior and in a fairly pleasant mood, the anger's usually churning somewhere deep down. It doesn't take much for it to flare up at the surface, and she only puts in the effort to restrain it where her father's concerned. But otherwise she's got a bullishly defiant presence just daring you to try her.

Daredevil - That little chip on the shoulder means one of the things Arden's out to prove is that She's Not Scared or, even worse, Weak. And she'll do almost anything to show that, even if borders on or outright is self-destructive.

Abandonment issues - as far as Arden is concerned, her mother abandoned her when she was ten. There haven't been any visits or phone calls, and she hasn't received any letters from Kess since she left. And the feeling of having somebody else she cares about leave her is something Arden never wants to experience ever ever ever again.

Trust issues - her mother left her, and some days her father is a man Arden doesn't recognize. At school, it seems the group of friends she hung out (save for one or two) with were the ones to spread the earliest and the most vicious rumors about her. With all that, Arden is starting to adopt the viewpoint that trusting people is just giving them a free pass to let you down. Her trust issues kick into extreme gear with adults. But with her own age group, Arden's trust issues are (thus far) limited to the schoolyard.

Possessive - maybe it's tied to her abandonment issues, but Arden doesn't like the idea of 'Her' things leaving her or being taken. Whether it's a book or necklace, a desk or table she thinks she's claimed, or a person she cares about, Arden will consider them 'hers'. And of her possessions she's a jealous Keeper; but she's also a very protective one. Arden takes care of her things, she doesn't let them break or get ruined. And even though she's still very prone to lashing out at her people, Arden is protective of them and would bend over backwards or risk bodily harm to help them when in need.

Parental figures - Arden has an emotionally violent push-and-pull relationship with the adults that she projects a parental role onto, or adults who are particularly maternal or paternal themselves -- especially with mother figures. Deep down and beneath it all, she wants the Mother and the Father and the Happy Home... it is important to note that this is not the same thing as wanting things back the Way They Were, because something in Arden's subconscious realizes that despite the happy memories things just weren't quite right. But she certainly isn't finding the whole 'happy home' and 'loving family' thing anywhere near her house, so she's trying to find it and project her desires elsewhere. Unfortunately, Arden can't project those desires without projecting some of the issues with her actual parents also, which means she's just even more prone to lash out at those parental-types in addition to latching onto them. Of course, Arden doesn't has enough self-awareness to think of what she's doing in any such terms.

Moody - the combination of adolescent hormones, extreme stresses from school, tension at home, and the host of issues from her mom leaving have left Arden with a multitude of violently turbulent and flip-flopping emotions that she has incredible trouble controlling. It takes a lot of effort to to keep pleasant and polite and Arden conserves her strength do so for when she's around her father... and, lately, it's getting harder and harder to keep it up then.

Spoiled - Arden's dad has indulged just about her every whim since she was a very small child. Over the past two years, however, she's become aware that she has been quite spoiled, and that being spoiled probably wasn't the healthiest thing for her. Officially, that's the reason she gives herself for her attempting to rectify her spoiled nature. But an additional reason Arden won't admit to? She wonders if her being a spoiled brat had something to do with her mother leaving. Even though she's trying to make an effort in not being so demanding of material goods and such, and to scale back her spoiled nature, it's easier said than done. Getting her way all the time means Arden still doesn't handle being told 'no' very well, and not having things go the way she wanted or planned puts her in a poor temper that's more prone to lashing out than usual.



::Personal Strengths::
Friend - she isn't an easy friend to make, but for someone with the patience and fortitude to get there, Arden -- for all her faults -- makes an amazing one. She'll listen, and offer comfort when a friend is upset. She'll come running at any time day or night if she's asked for; and she'll bend over backwards or risk any danger to protect those she cares about.

Courage - the positive flipside of Arden's daredevil nature is that she's a pretty courageous kid. It isn't that she's not scared. It's just that, when need be, she's willing to face down her fears instead of running away. While she's got a bunch of emotional land mines she'd rather not step on, she won't give the slightest pause at physical scrapes.

Nobility - she lashes out and can be incredibly rude when's she's spiteful, but beneath it all Arden has a noble heart. If taking some beating, or teasing, or other type of abuse means she can spare someone who doesn't deserve it the trouble? Then Arden is going to put herself in harm's way. Hell, when placed in the moment, she just might make that gesture for somebody who does deserve the abuse.

Curiosity - yes curiosity killed the cat, but it was compliant and blissful ignorance that lead the lamb to the slaughter. Arden wasn't a particularly curious child, and largely accepted what she was told and what she was meant to see. But, over the past year or so, she isn't satisfied with just accepting what she's told, and is becoming more and more prone to look behind the wizard's curtain. Maybe it's because of her trust issues, maybe it's because she's becoming restless with her compliant existence, or maybe it's her emerging daredevil nature or just something else... whatever the reason, Arden's starting to question nearly everything before her. And the questioning occasionally spills over into her asking herself the Tough Questions: what does she want, where is she headed, where does she want to go...? And, sometimes, she'll even go as far as to question her father. At the moment however, she hasn't come anywhere close to questioning the way things were, or what her father's told her in the past. She's just starting to feel that, after her mother leaving, her father's increased irritability and moodiness may mean his Word isn't quite as foolproof as it once was.



::Family & Connections::
Kessler-Ann Phizackerley - Arden's mother. As far as Arden knows, Kess left her two years ago and hasn't bothered to contact her since. Her father has expertly twisted Arden's mind enough so that she view's Kess' long and silent absence as proof that her mother doesn't care for or love her. To hide the hurt she still feels, Arden responds to her mother's indifference with professed indifference of her own... although really that 'indifference' is the violent anger that churns within her.

Eugene Elwaine - Arden's father. As a child she was a Daddy's girl and still is. It's just that she's turning into a teenage girl and her father is becoming an irritable man and both factor into Arden no longer feeling as close to her father as she used to, and she's definitely not telling him everything the way she used to.

Street Kids - After coming back from summer vacation sporting considerable bodily changes, Arden started skipping school a month or so into the school year. And the kids she met when all the others were in school were the street kids. And, for the most part, hanging out with them has been one of the main bright spots in her recent life.

Library - while she's always been a good student, Arden didn't really start visiting the library until after her mother left -- books were a good way to escape when real life got sucky. And as real life got more sucky? Arden would spend more time there. When she's skipping school and it's raining and/or she can't track down one her new street pals, she'll head over to an unpopulated, quiet little area in the library: her own little 'sanctuary'.



::Other Information::
Handwriting: Mumsies



::Awards::