STROGEN, cate elena

[/i][/color][/size][/font]
r e m i n d s m e o f y o u. s o m a n y t h i n g s i s h o u l d n 't h a v e m i s s e d. t h e m o r e t h a t i p u s h,
and the more you resist. it's easy to say it's for the best when you want more while you leave me with less.[/color][/font]

Full Name:

[/color] Elena Cate Strogen
Nicknames: Ellie, Ela, Eli, Elia, Lena. She doesn't really care.
Age: Seventeen.
Birthdate: August 3rd.
Sexuality: Bisexual.
Gender: Female.
Problem: Other.
Grade: Junior.
Clique(s): Loner, bit of a Nerd. She would be a music geek, but, well. She ruined her own chances at that.
Classes:

[/justify][/blockquote][/size]


i know you're fine, but what do i do ?[/i][/color][/size][/font]
i k n o w y o u 'r e f i n e, b u t w h a t d o i d o? i 'm a w a k e, a n d t r y i n g, w h i l e y o u 'r e s l e e p i n g
like a babe beside him. i'm on the ledge while you're so god damn polite and composed.[/color][/font]

Height:

[/color] Five feet, six inches.
Weight: 137 pounds.
Hair Color: Nearly black.
Eye Color: Grey.
Notable Features: Elena has no tattoos, but she does have her ears pierced twice each. She also has a large burn scar wrapping around from her lower back to her side.
Play-By: Katie McGrath.
General Description:Elena is of average height and weight, with long dark hair and gunmetal eyes. She's got a strong, aristocratic bone structure. Playing into her flair for dramatics, Elena favors old-fashioned, elaborate clothing that is often out of place. She doesn't like to dress in any way that is too plain. The way she wears her hair varies, and she is rarely seen without a sketchbook that she uses to write down messages to students that don't understand sign language.[/justify][/blockquote][/size]


and i know you see me, and you're making it ,[/i][/color][/size][/font]
l o o k s o e a s y. w h a t c o m e s a n d g o e s, i 'd g o w i t h o u t. i k n o w y o u 'r e f i n e b u t w h a t a b o u t
fallout , fallout , fallout, through the fallout. fallout, fallout, through the fallout. well now there's him,[/color][/font]

Likes:

[/color]
1. Music- Music was Elena's life before the explosion that ruined her hearing. She still loves it, though she can no longer hear it. Sometimes she can hear a little bit, just barely, in one ear, but it's nothing compared to the way she felt it before. She would swear that music rocked her in every single cell. Now she just has the memories of that experience. She can still feel the vibrations when music plays and therefore dance to it, but it's nowhere near the same. She used to play piano and violin, and she technically still can, but only from memory, and she's so scared that it doesn't sound the way she remembers that she no longer plays when people can hear her. The piano's safer; the keys are always in the same place. She still plays piano.
2. Flame- Even after what fire did to her, the sight of flame calms her. It's immersive. If there's a fireplace or a candle, Elena can be seen nearby. Sometimes she gets the urge to burn things, but most of all she just like to watch it.
3. The color blue- This is somewhat self-explanatory, really. She just enjoys the color, dark blue in particular.
4. Dance- She can still feel the vibrations of music, so it's actually fairly easy to close her eyes and just let it move her. She actually became more interested in dance after becoming deaf, as it was the only way she could regain some of her old connection to music. She moves well.
5. Singing- All Elena ever wanted was to be a singer, and she still does it. She just only does it in private. She can't hear it, so it doesn't matter much anymore.
6. Calligraphy- She doesn't do calligraphy herself, but she thinks it's beautiful. She's very interested in it stylistically.
7. Overcast days- She's more comfortable on cloudy days, particularly if there's wind. She just likes them more, and she's not happy when it's too hot out. She thinks an overcast, grey sky is beautiful.
8. Reading- Elena loves books, and reading is one of the few things that was not at all affected by the loss of her hearing. She's still transported when she reads in the same way, and she can almost remember how things sound when they're described in the lavish fashion she prefers. She typically has a book on her at all times.
9. Mythology- Elena finds the dynamics, themes, and classic stories that infuse mythology fascinating. Though she quite likes almost all kinds of books, she's never read a myth she didn't enjoy.
10. Rain- Rain, whether a slight drizzle or a torrential storm, is one of Elena's favorite things in the world. She used to fall asleep best to the sound wind and raindrops spattering against the roof of her room, but
11. Fairy tales- Though Elena finds the over-saturated Disney-style fairy tales too sugary sweet for her tastes, she loves the original Grimm Brothers and Hans Christen Anderson stories, largely because of their morbid overtures.
12. The ocean- If Elena bothers to go to the beach, she'll spend the whole time in the water. The ocean is soothing, and perhaps so much love for water is contradictory for someone so fascinated with fire, but she doesn't really care. As she lost her hearing, Elena has become invested in other kinds of sensation, and will enjoy anything that she can really feel, so that's an aspect of her love for the ocean.
Dislikes:
1. Irritating people- For the most part she dislikes ignorant questions, snobs, and those that think they can talk about her in front of her face because she's deaf. She can read lips, idiots.
2. Being reminded she can't sing- She technically can, but without being able to hear she has no idea of her pitch or tune. It's nowhere near the same. She'll only sing privately now, but she still sometimes has fits of jealousy toward people that can do what she loves without restriction. It just...hurts. She's still more prone to like someone who loves music the way she does, even if she's jealous of their ability to hear it, because they're the only ones that can truly understand what she's lost.
3. Limitations- She hates being restricted, or told she can't do something. If she wants to do it, she damn well will. Elena hates being doubted, and can never resist a dare.
4. Hot days- They make her lazy, and tired, and she doesn't really like the sensation. She far prefers cool days. The warmth of fire, to her, registers as entirely different from the heat of the sun.
5. Wind instruments- There's no real reason for her to dislike wind instruments, but she could never get the hand of them or really understand why someone would like them in particular. They seem trivial to her.
6. Small spaces- Elena's a tad claustrophobic. She just doesn't like being crammed in a space too small for comfort. She doesn't quite panic, but it's close, and she's prone to irritableness and impulsiveness even more than usual in such a situation.
7. Her stepmother- Grace, Elena's stepmother, is essentially a terrible person- or, at least, that's how Ela sees it. It was on her urging that Elena's mother sent her to St. Helena's, and while Grace really thought it was going to help, Elena saw it as a betrayal of the highest order. She's not sure if she can ever forgive Grace or her mom for sending her away right when she really could have used something steadying.
8. Carrots- THEY ARE TOO ORANGE TO BE NATURAL, OKAY.
9. Rudeness (Which is a bit hypocritical, as she's often rude.)- Elena is fine being rude to other people. They just shouldn't be rude to her. This isn't to say that she's always rude, or anything of the sort. She's quite often kind, and she knows this point of view is hypocritical. She just really hates being treated rudely, and never really mastered the whole "treat others as you want to be treated" thing.
10. People that assume because she's deaf she can't speak.- She isn't mute, Christ. Everyone always looks so surprised when she speaks out loud.
11. Boredom- Elena doesn't deal with boredom well. A lot of her fires have sprung out of being bored at the time. She gets restless, and gives in more easily to her more dangerous impulses.
12. Long waits- Once again, boring.
Strengths:
1. Her resolve- Elena does not give in, and if she wants to do something, she will try until it's absolutely impossible for her to do any more. She's determined and strong, and this is the only thing that kept her from destroying herself when her music was taken away.
2. Dancing- Dancing allows her to forget, to feel connected to who she was before, and make no mistake; she's good at it.
3. Intelligence- Elena's just sort of generally intelligent. She's clever, and can succeed in learning or memorizing most things pretty easily as long as she stays focused.
Weaknesses:
1. Impulse-control- Eli's impulse is often her downfall. It's when she gets in her impulsive, restless moods that she does the things that hurt her or others. When she's antsy and unoccupied, her fingers start twitching, and nothing good usually comes from that. She needs to keep herself busy.
2. Ennui- She sometimes falls into these moods of listless dissatisfaction. She's not always this way, but when she falls into it, it takes something exciting to rouse her from it. Her grip on the feeling needs to be shaken, and she will very easily tell her friends that they have to shock her if they want her back. She just sort of stops caring, becomes unresponsive and sometimes cruel, when pushed into a mood like that.
3. Taking emotional risks- Elena loves risks, as she feels she has nothing to lose, but that's exactly the problem here. She has issues putting herself on the line emotionally, or getting attached, as she believes she will always lose the person who she cares for.
Fears:
1. Nothingness
2. Boredom
3. Losing her motivation entirely
4. Loss
Disorders: Impulse control disorder, which leads to her pyromania. Depression, which comes and goes. She's been on and off medication for depression since she was thirteen, but it's not exactly a constant.
General Description: Elena is a bit of an enigma. Quiet and thoughtful, mostly because she can no longer hear the way she sounds, she tends to speak for the most part through sign language or a notebook she carries around. She definitively likes having connections to people and has no problem caring for them (in fact, she's sometimes over-emotional, and doesn't tend to do anything halfway) but she's at times scared to let anyone get too close, lest they desert her. She's kind for the most part, but when she has slipped into her listless or depressive states, she tends to turn cruel and jab purposefully at weak spots. She does this mostly because she feels very little in those states, and has to make other people feel things instead. She usually hopes to shock herself out of the feeling with the things she says. If you know her well, you'll probably realize not to believe anything she says when she's blank and hollow that way, but people who don't understand that are usually terribly offended or hurt, which Elena feels bad about afterward. She's fairly socially awkward, and isn't quite sure how to make gestures of friendship or affection. She tends to plan to do something of the sort, before getting too nervous and not going through with it. She's quietly intelligent, but tends to show off when she has the opportunity. She's determined, and a bit of a perfectionist when it comes to things she cares about. She tends to be entirely dismissive of other people's views of her; the only validation she needs is her own, and she's very hard to bring down or intimidate. She's generally kind and generous, and will do anything to help someone she loves.[/justify][/blockquote][/size]


and now there's me. the secrets you give ,[/i][/color][/size][/font]
a n d t h e s e c r e t s y o u k e e p. a n d n e v e r t h e l e s s, i t 's n e v e r y o u l e t. t h e m o r e t h a t i g i v e
and the less that i get. don't tell me to fight, to fight for you. after this long, i shouldn't have to[/color][/font]

Mother:

[/color] Emilia Strogen, 52
Father: Warren Whittoch-Strogen (deceased, died at 39)
Siblings: Jay Strogen- Younger half brother, 3
Pets: Beatrice- Cat, 8
Other: Grace Whittoch-Strogen- Step-mother, 49
History: Eli's father, Warren, died when she was only three years old. She barely remembers him at this point, but she does owe one very important thing to him; he was the one that started her on singing. He would make up silly, playful songs in the car and get her to sing along, and Elena loved nothing more than she did music. Her mother went through a mourning period and various attempts to date as Elena grew, but nothing was ever all that serious. Eli grew up singing, and she was known for having a real talent. She was in the school choir through elementary and middle school, and had her headphones in at almost all times when at home. Music was her escape when she began feeling listless, tired, and saddened for no particular reason. It soon became evident that clinical depression ran in the Strogen family, and Warren had passed it on to his daughter. She would become upset and hurt for no reason at all, and there were days when she just felt she couldn't get out of bed. When she was thirteen, her mother put her on medication meant to help, and it did change things, but she still sometimes had bouts of anxiety or ennui, exaggerated by the medicinal side-effects. When Elena was thirteen, her mother met Grace Whittoch, who became her best friend. Within the year, she became her wife. They used a surrogate and Emilia's eggs to have Jay, Elena's half-brother, when Elena was fourteen.

It was then when she discovered her second escape; fire. It started small, with a childhood fascination with turning a magnifying glass to the sun to burn leaves, but soon Ela was running her fingers through candles and carrying a lighter despite not smoking. Her first fire was small, out in an open area, and immensely satisfying. The desire got worse, and so did her fires. Her singing improved as well, and it was only when immersed in music that Elena lost her destructive impulses. When she was sixteen, she started a blaze in the chemistry classroom, having gone off her depression medication on a trial the week before. It may very well have happened whether or not she was on her medicine, but everyone blamed the lack. The fire reacted with chemicals lingering in the air, and Elena accidentally caused an explosion that hurt several people, including herself. She was the nearest to the flame when it combusted. The explosion knocked out her hearing and ruined her ears. The doctors tried to fix it, but the little she could hear soon faded to nothing. She couldn't hear a thing. Elena threw herself into learning sign language, and her family assumed it was fine. The lack of music, the one thing that kept her normal, her everything, festered under her skin like an infection.

Within several months of the initial explosion, Elena started a fire in her room that nearly killed her. Attempted suicide was suspected, but no one could prove anything and she wasn't going to admit to it. She got away alive, but with a set of burn scars on her lower back and side. After this, Grace convinced her mother to send her to St. Helena's, where she believed Elena could be helped. Emilia agreed. Elena refused to speak to them, even when they dropped her off at the institution.[/justify][/blockquote][/size]


i know you're fine, but what do i do? i know ,[/i][/color][/size][/font]
y o u 'r e f i n e, b u t w h a t d o i d o? i 'm a w a k e a n d t r y i n g w h i l e y o u 'r e s l e e p i n g l i k e a
babe beside him.i'm on the ledge while you're so god damn polite and composed.[/color][/font]

Alias:

[/color] Ariabela
Age: 17
Time Zone: Pacific time
Other Characters: None
Code Words: STOLEN.[/justify][/blockquote][/size]


this template was made by alice. it uses the lyrics
for "fallout" by marianas trench. do not steal,
alter, edit, or use without her permission or she will
send the evil monkey in her closet after you. you have
been warned.[/i][/center]