Post by Deleted on Feb 17, 2014 22:48:54 GMT -8
Galiena Adelaide Barwick Never try to tell Galiena Barwick what is acceptable or not for her to do. She will run with the boys and beat them at their own game, all while sporting 3 inch heels with and dazzling smile full of a silent challenge. Her dreams lie in a dog-eat-dog world where a girl has to climb tooth and nail to become more than a pretty face with mindless words and she sure as hell will not settle for anything less than the top. |
CODE NAME: Hell in Heels |
Female | 25 | Pansexual |
German | Freelance Investigative Reporter/Blogger | Civillian |
Physical |
166 cm | 57 kg | White |
Sectoral heterochromia; pink to blue | Albino | Athletic, slender |
Personal |
Galiena does her best to leave a professional first impression on everyone she meets. In her line of work, anyone can turn out to be a potential source and it never hurts to stay in people's good graces. In professional settings, Galiena does her best to be respectful and pleasant, but her brutal honest and tenacious pursuit of her stories can rub people the wrong way. She doesn't take well with authority figures, thus her self employment status. She does not tolerate people talking down on her and especially does not let casual sexism slide. Call her a bitch or angry feminist if it makes you feel better, but she won't back down. When it comes to getting her stories, Galiena lies in the moral gray. There's very little she won't do to get her scoop. She has no problem bending the law or outright breaking it when it comes to trespassing or invading privacy. The people she investigates deserve it in her mind, so it's justified. When it comes to getting information, she is not above manipulating reluctant sources to bend to her will; be it sexual methods or not. When it comes to others actions, there is a lot she can excuse. It's to her benefit to have acquaintances in all aspects of life, but she will never willingly associate with or tolerate drug dealers (only drug exception being weed). Outside of a professional settings, Galiena lets her crass nature come out. She curses like a sailor in just casual speech, so the amount of expletives that come out of her mouth when excited or angry is staggering. She has a short fuse on topics she's passionate about, and combined with her unhealthy addiction to conflict leads to many a fights. For the most part, she is a good natured woman that enjoys having a laugh over several beers. She's easily amused and thrives off interacting with people, so those that are not off-put by her attitude find her easy to get along with. Despite being so sociable and outgoing, Galiena is a private person and keeps acquaintances at a distance until she can come to trust them. For those who make it past Galiena's initial walls into the status of friend, they have the privilege of getting to know her more childish side. When with friends, Galiena has an immature streak. She likes to make stupid jokes one would expect to come from a 14-year-old boy rather, and loves to relentlessly tease her friends (often taking it too far if left unchecked). She has no problem pouting and sulking when she doesn't get her way and will hold petty grudges. "You totally ditched me last week at the bar, why would I want to go out with you tonight now, huh?" Going along with her childish attitude, Galiena is extremely lazy when at home. She will procrastinate for as long as possible on washing dishes, doing laundry, cleaning up simple messes, and let everything pile up until she can't ignore it any longer (or Leyna deals with it for her). In her free time, she's rarely dressed in more than panties and a tank top, most of the time because she doesn't have any clean lounging clothes. Her work hours are sporadic, so it's not uncommon to find her sleeping at any hour of the day. Making food is also often too much work for her, so she is notorious for ordering out or living off microwaveable foods whenever Leyna doesn't cook for them. Hidden behind countless walls is a cesspool of insecurities and worries built up through her life that Galiena refuses to acknowledge to exist. She ignores her problems till she forgets about them and hopefully never has to deal with ever again (which is completely unrealistic). Every once and a while, when stress piles up and becomes too much to ignore, Galiena will shut down for a few days as everything packed away comes out for an airing. She has intimacy issues, uncomfortable with letting people past her walls and get to fully know her. And yet at the same time, she desires for close relationships where she can be open with her friends. The fear of losing these close connections after making them and then being stuck along is what keeps her in no man's land. Her biological mother and concerns for the future are also kept in the ignore box. Once Galiena is able to pack up all her issues once more and lock them away, she resumes her usual life as if she didn't drop off the face of the Earth for a few days, but they always remain, hiding deep beneath the surface. |
Likes | Dislikes |
Her looks: Sure, Galiena does a lot to be completely satisfied. She refuses to leave the house without some level of make up to save herself from looking like "some naked mole rat," her words. Due to her albinism all hair is impossibly white, so when combined with her zero melanin skin her eyebrows and eyelashes are nonexistent without some mascara and coloring in her eyebrows. And, yes all of her bras are push-up bras to get a little more 'oomph' out her chest and she almost always has some kind of heels to give herself more height, but what girl is pleased with herself without some modifications? Yet her (self-perceived) flaws are few and she sure as hell knows that fact. Galiena is an attractive woman and flaunts it as much as she wields it like a weapon. Her little sister: Sister complex? Perhaps maybe just a very small one… Leyna is extremely important to Galiena and there is no one she loves more than her angelic beauty of a sister. Leyna can do no wrong and is the embodiment of perfection in Galiena's eyes. She is always so proud of her sister and is ready to brag about her at any given moment. Galiena can be extremely protective of Leyna and loves babying her. Cute things: Galiena really loves stereotypically girly, cute things. She loves pink and stuffed animals and cute fluffy baby animals and babies and cute cakes and cute clothes, but keeps her adoration of all under the realm of cute under wraps best she can. It's hard enough being taken seriously as a professional journalist as it is, forget it if she went around toting the cute phones case, keychains, accessories, bags, clothes that she would so love to have. Cute does not mesh with her femme fatale, "I will crush you under my heel" look, which is why she keeps her stash locked up in her room. Only the most trusted of friends are allowed in her personal space where she keeps her stuffed animal collection. Do not ask how many she has. Just, don't ask. Children: While Galiena will do her best to keep her adoration of cute hidden, she will unashamedly and openly express her love of children. She loves talking and playing with kids of all ages. Galiena holds the highest respect for mothers and fathers, and hopes maybe one day she can have a family of her own… But she can't see it happening any time in the near future. For now she stays content with volunteering every once and a while at local orphanages. Drinking: Beer being her favorite of course, Galiena possesses a healthy love for alcohol. For a relatively petite woman, Galiena's alcohol tolerance is close to unnatural. She will match men twice her size drink by drink and still hold her own in bar fights. Even when she gets brazenly drunk, Galiena rarely looses her wits and, unless she's in an extremely foul mood, will know exactly when to stop drinking before she goes over her limits. However, she does not resort to alcohol to drown her problems often. Drinking is a social event for her and she loves going out with her drinking buddies, or making new buddies in a night out. Conflict: It is her business. There are no good stories without some kind of conflict to overcome. There is conflict everywhere in the world, and most of it is the result of injustices that Galiena wants to expose through her writing. Her love for conflict, however, tends to go a tad too far as she takes it on a personal level as well. She's extremely reckless and loves the thrill of getting in fights, be they verbal battle of wits online or in person, or physical brawls (more often than not at bars). Even more than the fight themselves, Galiena loves winning and she almost always wins, yet never unscathed. Her motocycle, Mathilde: A chrome and red-violet sports BMW motorcycle that Galiena has owned for the past several years. Mathilde is her main mode of transportation and the bike is her baby. Only Leyna is allowed to give it tune ups. The bike is named after German feminist writer and reporter Mathilde Franziska Anneke. Manga: Her guilty pleasure, but Galiena fell in love with Sailor Moon in her childhood, which expanded to a love of shoujo manga in general when she discovered the wonders of scanlations available online. She gets so pissed off at herself for getting so invested in the infuriating sappy and adorable love stories, but cannot get enough of them. Pop culture & media: Not as guilty of a pleasure as keeping up with her manga, Galiena stays up to date with popular fads and celebrity news. She also has a rather lengthy list of television shows she watches in her free time (and then criticizes the treatment of the female characters and gets angry, but refuses to stop watching). Games: Secretly a complete nerd, Galiena loves pretty much any game that involves fighting things and getting stronger. She really enjoys multi-player games so she can crush other players. It's not an uncommon sight on her lazy days to see her playing a MMPORG on her laptop while watching television, alternating between yelling at the people she's playing with and what is going on with her shows. Social media: Galiena shamelessly spams her Instagram with selfies, because hey she's looking hot and everyone should enjoy her good looks! In addition to her Instagram, Galiena runs several successful blogs to fund her reckless lifestyle and investigative tactics. Her most popular blog, Between the Cracks, is a human interest blog focused on the street life of London, interesting places and people and sharing their stories. She has a feminist blog to share and discuss current topics with her online friends, as well as post her vlog critiques of media outlets. Galiena also has a personal one to simply share her daily thoughts and experiences. While the blogs are distinctly separate, she has no problem sharing content from one with others if it is relevant. Meeting & talking with people: People are Galiena's craft. She is a firm believer of the journalistic saying "everyone has a story" and loves getting to know any and everyone she can. She makes a many connections as she can, because one can never have too many potential sources. Telling stories: As self absorbed and narcissistic as Galiena can come off as, she lives for telling the little man's story. Every single person has some victory, some struggle they're fighting to overcome, and they all have a life and keep on living, and that is amazing. She tells the stories of the forgotten and under appreciated, shares the light and joy from people you would least expect it from. In her own way, she wants to immortalize these people, give them a comfort that no matter what they will never be forgotten. But the real stories that Galiena lives for are the down and dirty pieces that expose corruption. Sunglasses: Due to her sensitivity to sunlight, Galiena has an extensive collection of sunglasses. She enjoys having a large variety to mix and match with her outfits. Exercise/Sparring: Galiena has been taking self defense classes since she was little and keeps a regular exercise schedule to uphold her strength and fighting skills. In the way she conducts her investigative work (and her tendency to instigate brawls at bars), it would be deadly for her to not be at the top of her game at all time. Horses: As a child, Galiena had the chance to have a pony to call her own that she rode almost every day. She kept up with horse back riding as a leisure hobby up through college at the same barn she grew up with. When she moved to London, she took some time to find a stable that fit her tastes, but she eventually did and tries her best to fit at least one ride a week. Music: The louder and angrier the music, the more Galiena loves it. She hates silence, and will always have some kind of tunes playing to match her mood. Her moods usually follow an angry and upbeat pattern, which dictates the majority of her music choice. But she honestly enjoys all genres. Women: Galiena loves girls of all kinds. Galiena loves loving women. She openly admires and flirts with any girl that catches her eye, and genuinely doesn't care if she gets turned down as long as she still gets to make a new friend with someone cute. She respects and will defend women of all corners of life, but holds a special place in her heart for mothers. Smack talk a hard working and loving mother and you will have a pissed off Galiena on your hands. Piercings & tattoos: They're hot, simple as that. Galiena has an attraction to the wild side and misses her tongue and lip piercings, but happily keeps her nose stud and belly button piercing. She also sports a few tattoos of her own; a flying sparrow on her left shoulder, an Iron Cross on the back of her neck, and along the right side of her ribs a calligraphic “News is what someone wants suppressed," an excerpt from Katharine Graham's quote “News is what someone wants suppressed. Everything else is advertising. The power is to set the agenda. What we print and what we don’t print matter a lot.” Baths: The best way to end a long day is to soak in a hot bath with a beer and the Internet. Galiena has an extensive collection of bath salts, bombs, and bubbles to complete her coveted bath time. Reporter bag: She will no leave the house without her reporter bag. It's a reasonable size leather bag with adjustable and detachable straps to use it as a purse, satchel, or she can strap it to her leg for a no-hands option. In it she keeps a notepad, pens and pencils, several small recording devices, lenses to enhance her phone's camera, portable battery chargers, and a wad of emergency cash. | Albinism: Galiena will jump down anyone's throat who tries to say anything along the lines of her being "lucky" to be albino, because no. Her "unique" eyes, "porcelain" skin, "snow white" hair; none of it is worth the problems that come with her condition. That is what it is: a genetic condition, not some "special" or "exotic" look. Her skin lacks melanin, resulting in her pale complexion, and leads to extreme sensitivity to ultraviolet radiation. She has to wear sunscreen or cover up whenever she goes outside, lest risk the chance of getting burnt. The pink-blue color in her iris is possible because it is her retina showing through the lack of pigment. Does that sound normal? It's not and it's endless grief for her because her eyes are just as sensitive as her skin to the sun, and honestly bright lights in general. Galiena also suffers from acute astigmatism, making reading anything difficult without her reading glasses. Reading glasses: Galiena's eyesight is shit and she can't tolerate contacts, so she suffers through slightly blurry vision throughout the day. The only times she can't get by without her glasses are when reading or writing. She doesn't like how she looks in glasses and finds wearing them troublesome. Belittlement: In a list of dislikes, there is honestly NOTHING that annoys Galiena more than being belittled. Most things that tick her off can be fixed with education, but belittlement is a deliberate action directed toward her, and in most cases with the intentions of "putting her in place." Do not disregard her passions. Do not scoff at her dreams. Do not say her anger is uncalled for. Do not laugh in the face of her threats. Galiena works hard for what she loves, has dedicated her whole life to achieving her dreams. She gets angry over real problems that should not go ignored. She can and will hurt people twice her size. The issue with belittlement, is the difficulty to defends oneself against it without fueling the belittler's argument. Getting angry just gives the other a false sense of superiority for 'keeping their cool,' but letting it slide just encourages the behavior. There's no way to win, so Galiena let's her anger reign in the face of belittlement, which has gotten her into a fair share of trouble. Being called cute: Goes in hand with belittlement. Other people are cute. Other girls are cute. Boys are cute. Animals are cute. Her sister is the cutest thing on the fact of the planet. Galiena refuses to be cute. She is an angry woman that gets what she wants, and will fight to achieve that. There is nothing cute about her and she feels as if the term when directed toward her behavior and actions undermines everything she does. She will tolerate, for the most part, when close friends call her cute coming from the best of intentions… And just maybe secretly likes it and in the deepest of secret wishes that will never see the light of day she contemplates just taking a break and letting herself just be a cute girl without a care. Being ignored: She's an attention grabbing kind of gal, so when she isn't the center of attention when she wants to be she gets slightly ticked. And tends to do ridiculous things to get that attention. (Most) Men (at first): Galiena is extremely critical of anyone male-identifying and their casual sexism. Her effort to always be hot is a wall, a test for her to screen through men she will hate. Sexist idiots will flirt with her seeing her as just another hot piece of ass and she knows how to deal with him, to string them along if she needs something from them, or just kick their ass if its some casual setting at the bar. Once a guy passes her first test, Galiena is slow to trust, but gladly accepts men as friends as long as they can accept her constant criticism and critiques of their behavior. This does not mean she will jump down a man's throat for being ignorant. Anyone open to learning to correct the errs in societal constructions has her respect. She will respect everyone with the same level of respect they give her. Sexism: It is such an every day occurrence that is woven into the fabric of modern society, to the point it is treated as the norm. But it shouldn't be. There should be no excuse for women being second class citizens, having to fear their every decision might lead to an assault they will be blamed for, having to keep silent about their struggles else be viewed as hysterical and paranoid. It's disgusting and frustrating and Galiena refuses to back down in the face of it. She will call out anyone, man or women, on it. Because women can be just as deluded to the every day of sexism of society. Being told what to do: She has serious issues with authority figures and is independent to a fault. Galiena will childishly do the exact opposite of what someone tells her to do simply to prove she can. If someone tells her to do something she is planning on getting to (simple things like cleaning or grocery shopping), she loses motivation and puts it off even longer. Losing stories and sources: When things go south with her leads or she loses a source, Galiena can't help but dwell on what she could have done differently to have kept everything together. She hates doubting herself, but when things go bad she can't help but wonder what she did wrong. Drugs: Her biological mother's lifelong struggle with addiction and the destruction it caused has instilled a deep hatred in Galiena for drugs and those that make a profit off them. Her scar: While Galiena wears the scar on her face like a badge and doesn't make an effort to hide it with her makeup, she hates the memories it represents. She hates people ask about it and she has a large collection of bullshit stories to explain it. Heels: Seems rather silly, for her to consider heels on her list of dislikes. She hates how they make her feet ache after a long day and hates what they represent. But most of all she hates how much she loves wearing them. They make her taller, they make her legs look fucking fantastic, and there's a lot of cute heels in the world. It's a struggle. |
Dreams | Fears |
Recognition for her writing: As monumental as getting a Pulitzer Prize would be, Galiena has even high sights in mind for her journalism. She wants to write that story, that big story that makes a difference. A story that open eyes to something in need of change, to incite people to demand that change to make the world more just. Have a family of her own one day: One day, far off. Galiena wants to achieve her goal of becoming a notable journalist and be able to have a more stable reliable life before having any children. She also needs to have some kind of stable relationship, maybe. Maybe she could just be a happy single mom on her own, she doesn't know. Whether there's someone else in the picture, Galiena knows that one day she will have a child to call her own. Just live a fulfilling and happy life: Galiena wants to be able to look back on her life when she's old and wrinkly without any regrets to weigh her down. She knows she can be reckless and immature for her age, but she does what she wants when she wants to, because who knows what the future may hold. | Being alone: It's a silly fear, one that Galiena has never voiced aloud to anyone, even herself. She tries to hard to pretend it is not a concern to her. She knows theoretically she will never be truly alone; her sister will always love her, her parents will always love her, and she does have a few friends she could trust with putting her faith in. But she has always had trouble connecting with people and opening up fully for them to know every aspect of herself. She's also never experienced being in love with anyone. While she doesn't feel any pressing need to find love, she does entertain the idea and hopes that it will be in her future some day in the future… Which is where her fear stems. What if she never finds someone to be her other half? Galiena knows she could survive without a significant other, but it's a saddening and lonely prospect that she fears is the inevitable. Another level to this fear is her paranoia of losing the connections she has. Galiena has very few people she has completely opened herself up to and doing so makes her feel vulnerable. She fears losing those close to her and what that kind of pain could do to her. Nature wins over nurture: This has perhaps been Galiena's longest standing fear. For as long as she had the understanding of concepts of nature vs nurture and how her biological mother was troubled, Galiena feared her genetics would lead her down the same path of destruction. Galiena has challenged this fear at every turn, rather than leading a to the book, safe life she has gone out, partied, acted recklessly. She has tempted the fates to send her spiraling down, and has come out unscathed. And yet even now, as she works so hard for her dreams, Galiena always has the nagging fears that she is going to do something wrong, mess up so bad to the point she follows her biological mother's footsteps. Not making anything of herself: Galiena knows she's still young, but she can't help but fear everything she has been doing will result in, well, nothing. To have dedicated ever fiber of her being into her work and passions only to have made nothing out of herself through it is a terrifying thought that looms over her when she's down. |
Background |
As the product of a reckless and poor decisions that led to a teenage pregnancy, Galiena's birth was not conventional to say the least. Adelaide Friedman realized her mistake too late in her pregnancy for an abortion, but was not about to put any child through the German foster care system she had to suffer through. She turned her hopes to her foster sister, two years older than her and recently married. Anke and Wilhelm Barwick had plans for starting a family in the near future when they were more secure and older, but Anke would never turn her back on her little sister. So the plans were made, Addy would carry the baby to term and she would go straight to the Barwicks. It was hardly a year after welcoming their daughter into their family that Anke was diagnosed with cancer. It was caught early enough before it became truly life threatening, but the chemo treatment made the possibility of conceiving a child of her own extremely low. Their unplanned bundle of joy was all the more important to the young couple. Galiena was a loved child that should have never entertained any doubt about her place in the family, but things never go as they should. She was three when she found old photos of Anke and Adelaide together when they were younger. It would have been easy to lie when Galiena questioned why the woman next to her mother looked just like she did, but Anke did not want a big secret hanging over their family. She explained best she could to the young girl that the pale woman in the pictures was the one that gave birth to Galiena, was her mother too. After some bullying and harassing her foster sister, Anke got a promise out of Adelaide to make an effort to be more than a stranger to her daughter. Then the miraculous happen. All the doctors swore the likelihood of Anke conceiving was close to nil, but somehow they defied the odds and the promise of another child loomed over little Galiena. Yeah, her Mutti promised that they loved her endlessly and it did not matter that she was not their biological child, but would that really remain the same once they did have a daughter of their own? In the logic of a mistaken young child, Galiena packed a little suitcase with the silent acceptance that her other mother would find her a new family once the baby was born, because there would be no room left for her. When Anke learned of her reasoning, she and Wilhelm tried their best to make Galiena understand they were not replacing her or giving her to anyone else. Not till Leyna was born did those doubts start to die. Rather than the resentment many older siblings feel toward the new addition to the family, Galiena instantly loved her angelic little sister. When those big blue eyes eyes turned to her for the first time, it was all downhill from there. She devoted herself to helping her Mutti take care of Leyna in any way possible and loved playing with her at any given chance. Childish concerns of not belonging melted away with the golden joy Leyna brought to her world. The start of school, however, only gave Galiena a new source of unease. Her albinism labeled her as a freak from the start; the dark sunglasses whenever they had recess, covering herself with sunscreen and clothing, her pale hair and multicolored eyes. She did not make friends easily and mostly kept to herself. It was fine, in her mind. The only friend she needed was he little sister after all. During her sober and lucid months, Adelaide would hold true to her promise and spend time with Galiena. They would go out for ice cream, to the movies, just spend time with the two of them. Galiena enjoyed the chances to get to know her other mom, but loved it even more when Adelaide would come to join the family and play with her and Leyna. As Adelaide's presence increased, adults of the town started to talk. They all knew the gossip of the train wreck of a girl that had once lived amongst them. It was not long before Galiena's classmates learned of her familial situation. School yard taunts gained a new level of malice with the weapon of "your real mom didn't even want you." The insults should not have gotten to her. They were stupid and ignorant taunts from kids that would not understand. Adelaide was not her real mom, just her biological one. Anke was her real mother and she very much did want and love her. And it was not like Adelaide hated her, she did love Galiena in her own way, but she was not suited for motherhood. She had too many problems and struggles of her own to properly take care of a child. And yet the doubt still settled in the depths of her heart. Why wasn't she good enough for Adelaide to try to clean up her act and be there for her? With age, bullying started mixing her appearance and Adelaide's rumored (and true) drug addictions. The final straw for the budding preteen were bullies trying to blame her albinism on her biological mother, that she was the perfect example of a crack baby with her freakishly pale skin and no eyebrows and white hair. Fine, she would show them a crack baby. At the ripe age of twelve, Galiena persuaded her mother to allow her to wear make up and get a whole new wardrobe. Galiena learned the methods of conventional beauty, modeled herself after the gorgeous women covering the magazines she read religiously into the night. She was not going to take people insulting her for something so easily fixable as her appearance. By the time Galiena started high school, she had managed to fight out of the trenches. She made friends with her former tormentors, joined the top of the social hierarchy as a fashionable, popular girl. It had been a hard fight, but she had won. She had won and was not satisfied. Her so called friends still directed veiled insults toward her, hidden behind false smiles and pretense of harmless jokes. The cruelty she experienced in her youth happened within her reach to stop it, but she was too conscious of her precarious standing on the top to make a move to defend those where she once stood. She shunned Adelaide during that time, not wanting to associate herself with the woman that had caused her so much trouble in school. Galiena was not happy with what she was doing. She hated herself for how she was acting, but was afraid of returning to how she once was. The stress of her warring conscious and fears took its toll as her grades started to slip and she lost her appetite. Anke intervened as the problem manifested into physical symptoms she could see and got the story out of her stubbornly independent daughter. If she was not happy, then she needed a change. If she was upset with herself for shunning Adelaide, then she simply needed to reconnect with her. And there was no such thing as going back to how she once was, there was only going forward and it was all up to Galiena to decide who her future self could be. It was all the advice Galiena needed to her. She said fuck it all. She went to the city and started her complete make over. All of her fashionable clothes went to second hand stores, the cash she used to amass a collection of leather jackets, band shirts, stressed and ripped jeans, dark skirts and garish accessories. Without a second thought she donated her silky long locks to get a buzz undercut and mohawk. And oh to put icing on the cake, she marched right on in to a piercing parlor and added to her traditional single ear piercings, as well as got herself a nose stud, labret, tongue and belly buttons piercings. She had years of angry boiling underneath her skin and she was ready to let it out with obscene comebacks and a glint in her smirk as she talked down anyone that tried to get in her way. Where she once denied any connections with Adelaide, Galiena started to challenge anyone to say a word against her biological mother. Some of the older teachers in her school remembered the foster sister pair, and expressed an initial confusion over Galiena's albinism and yet was Anke's daughter. Galiena all too gladly informed them that Adelaide was indeed her mother, as was Anke. She never voiced the challenge aloud, for it was all to clear what her stern look said. "Got a problem with it?" In her new punk look, Galiena discovered some people she could truly call friends. She discovered her love for clubbing through them and spent her weekends in the city with them. There was always a silent challenge issued to her parents to object to her new lifestyle choices, especially considering the path Adelaide had gone down in high school, but they only ever said two things: 1. As long as she was happy, they were happy and 2. If she did anything absolutely idiotic like Adelaide she would be grounded for the rest of her life. It was a good deal. Through her new social life, Galiena met a large array of different kinds of people. She discovered a love for learning people's stories and started volunteering for an acquaintance's local lifestyle magazine. It was also through her angry friends that Galiena was able to find an outlet for her frustrations experienced in school and become more versed in the issues that troubled her so greatly (i.e. sexism). The latter half of Galiena's high school days are remembered with great fondness, for they really were essential in her finding her life's purpose. Galiena had everything planned out for what she would do out of high school. She was going straight to university to get a communications degree, work as many internships as possible, get hired at some big name paper and write earth shattering, award winning articles that exposed the scum of the world and helped the average person. As she was finishing her senior year, her dad was promoted and with the promotion came a transfer to London. While she was going to miss her family, most specifically seeing her darling little sister through high school, she already had everything planned in Germany. So Galiena saw them off with a smile and promise to visit during her school breaks. While school and living on her own were not an issue, keeping an eye on Adelaide proved to be more of a job than she would have thought. Anke expressed her concerns leaving the country and her younger sister with no one to lean on, but Galiena assured her mother that it couldn't be that hard, she could take Anke's place as Adelaide's support system. She had not realized how much her mother had been doing for Adelaide. In and out of dysfunctional relationships, Adelaide would be on the streets most of the time if Anke and Wilhelm did not keep pay up on a small apartment for her. The flip side to Adelaide's clean, good months were her bad months of mindless addiction and destructive behavior. Anke had dealt with it all without giving any reason of concern for Galiena. She honestly thought Adelaide had gotten better through the years, but it seemed she had made no progress or effort at all to stay clean through the years. It was frustrating and disheartening, but Galiena refused to give up on on her. It was in her second year of university that Adelaide's bad months got really bad. She dropped off the map, more than likely off with a new boyfriend and returned more of a mess than she usually was. Galiena tried her best to make sure Adelaide stayed clean, but she was just one girl, bogged down with university worries to dedicate her time to a drug addict. She got a jumbled text from Adelaide one night. It was so tempting to just ignore the nonsense, but Galiena pulled herself from her studies and made her way to Adelaide's run down apartment. She found her barely conscious, barely breathing. It was the first time she ever saw her in such a state. It was terrifying and upsetting and she just could not understand why. Why did Adelaide always have to turn to drugs and abusive men and never tried harder to make things better for herself? Was there really nothing in her life worth bettering herself for? Did she really mean so little? While Adelaide was in the hospital recovering, Galiena tore through the dingy apartment. She threw away every form of intoxication she could find; all alcohol, over the counter drugs, illegal drugs, everything. She went through Adelaide's contacts, hunted down every single dealer she ever talked to and gathered dirt on them, threatened them that if they ever sold Adelaide anything ever again that she would expose them to the world. It was a dangerous game she was playing, but she was angry and something had to change. When Adelaide returned home, there were several days of calm as she still recovered. Galiena visited her every day to make sure she was well fed, well hydrated and not looking for a high. The calm ended as addiction's hold tightened and Adelaide realized all of her stashes were cleared out, that none of her dealers would agree to meet her. She lashed out at Galiena, who responded with the same level of anger. Their fight was loud and dirty and personal, both expressing their most hurtful thoughts of the other. Things started to get physical as Adelaide found a bottle of vodka Galiena had missed. They struggled over it, in the process it broke and as they grew more and more heated Adelaide lashed out, cutting deep into Galiena's cheek with the broken glass. The blood cooled them both and it was a wake up call Adelaide desperately needed. Her addiction led her to injure her daughter, to permanently mark her with a reminder of Adelaide's destruction. Adelaide gave a new effort to getting her shit together and make Galiena proud of her for once. She has stayed strong and has stayed clean to present, but the scar of Galiena's face is a constant reminder to them both. As Galiena completed her schooling, she dropped her punk style for a more professional look as she started doing more internships. She quickly realized that she was not cut out for the structure of major news outlets. She didn't want to waste her time starting from the bottom and climbing her way to the top. Galiena knew exactly what she wanted to write about, but all her employers called her too ambitious, too young to take on such in depth and dangerous stories of corruption and deceit in government and business. (It did not help that many an editor had the gall to suggest she try calmer, more feminine topics like fashion or lifestyle.) Well fuck them, she decided. It was almost a year after her graduation and a constant struggle of trying to find media outlets that could handle her reckless passions. No one wanted to deal with the rookie too full of herself. So when her parents expressed their concerns of leaving Leyna in London alone when they moved back to Germany, Galiena all too readily jumped at the chance to move. London was full of organized crime and spies. Spies! Sure, it was mostly rumors that the UK's M16 was even more hushush and integrated than the American CIA, but there was always a grain of truth to start rumors. So Galiena move to London with her camera and reporter's notebook with shining eyes, full of passion for her next big scoop. For the past three years Galiena has been gathering and writing stories on any and everything she digs her teeth in. She keeps up with several lifestyle blogs, but dedicates most of her time to investigating and gathering dirt in the city, selling her stories to any news outlet that will take it. |
Role-Play Sample |
Even with the the telephoto lens, Galiena's camera really was not that heavy. She lifted weights much heavier during her workouts, so it was not as if it was the camera's weight that made her arms ache, rather it was from holding her camera up in the same position for so long. Truthfully, it was not just her arms that were hurting. Her legs burned from the squatting position she had been in for the past hour. Her feet ached from her boots, sure they were not heel heeled boots, but the platform had enough of an arch to both her feet after too long. It was damn cold too. Why did these lowlifes have to have such awful punctuality? Galiena was on the trail of a politician involved with one of the local drug rings. She had gathered quite a bit of dirt on him, but had yet to get photographic proof of him physically interacting with dealers and handling the drugs and money. Her snooping landed her today's date and a time for a meeting between the politician and the leader of the drug ring. She had no idea if the politician himself would come or if just one of his lackeys would show, but she could not pass up the opportunity. She had arrived at the empty warehouse several hours before the projected meeting time to canvas the area and find the best view of the area, as well as establish an escape route if the need for a quick escape arose. It was always better to be safe than sorry. But she was sorry she had not dressed a little warmer for this stakeout. The warehouse was cold and the rain outside did nothing to help the temperatures. But honestly, who was this late to their own meeting? Galiena was starting to fear that perhaps it had been canceled or moved to another site, but she refused to call it quits until there was zero chance of the meeting occurring. It seemed her patience had paid off, as the main doors to the warehouse screeched to and open. As soon as the lights flickered on, Galiena had her camera trained on the men and was snapping away. The drug dealer and his men were the first to arrive, but the politician (she gave a mental cheer that he came in person) and several of his body guards were soon to follow. Their voices did not travel to the upper levels of the warehouse that Galiena hid, but the mics she set up while canvasing the area were busy recording the entire exchange to the transmitter in her bag, as well as sending a live feed to the earbud in her ear. This was more of a story than she had initial thought. Oh man, she could not wait to corner this man with questions concerning these plans. His face was going to be positively priceless. In her celebration, Galiena was slow to notice two lackeys had left the dealer's side. She realized her mistake as soon as she felt the vibrations of someone climbing up the metal walkway she perched on. Shit Galiena swiftly packed her camera away in her backpack and shoved the rest of her supplies in her bag on her leg. She was in the process of getting the backpack on and standing when a shout gave away her presence. Yeah she was going to have to come back in a couple of days to pick up her mics. Galiena took off at a run for her escape route to her motorcycle before the men could even comprehend how to respond to their unwanted guest. They started to pursue her, but she had gotten enough of a head start that she wasn't too concerned, especially considering she was able to drop out of view to the fire escape before they started firing their guns. She let out a gleeful whoop as she rode the fire escape ladder to the ground. The rain was chilling, but at least she had prepared for the wet. Her raincoat kept her from getting completely soaked as she jumped onto Mathilde and jammed her helmet on her head. The shouts and curses from the thugs on the top floor were music to her ears as she peeled out of the alley. Honestly, when would men learn to never underestimate a woman that can run in heels. |
OOC Information |
Jem~! |
Skype -> black.hayate13 |
Your mom is so fat she took a step and created the Grand Canyon yooooooooooooooo |
Ey beybey did you fall from the beautiful tree and hit every branch on the way down? |
made by CAPTAIN of BACK TO NEVERLAND |