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Application - Distant Skies
ABOUT YOU
Name: Blue
Are you 18 or over?: Yes
Other characters played: I'm switching her out for Miranda Lotto, who I've just dropped
CHARACTER
Name: Richelle Brinkley
Canon: Teen Power Inc
Age: 15
History:
Richelle was born in Raven Hill, New South Wales, Australia. She's lived there her entire life, and for the most part her life growing up was fairly ordinary. Her father owns a timberyard, and she has an older sister named Tiffany and a younger brother called Jason. She met her friend Liz Free in kindergarden, and even though they grew to be very different she continued to hang around with Liz. Over time, the two of them gained Sunny Chan, Nick Kontellis, and Tom Moysten as friends, and they all hang out together as a group.
One day while Richelle and her friends were sitting around bemoaning their lack of money, Liz had the idea to start a job agency for themselves to do odd jobs around Raven Hill. They call their group 'Teen Power Inc.', and decide to advertise in the Pen. They ended up getting a job delivering The Pen for Mr Zimmer every Thursday morning, where they are joined Mr Zimmer's son Elmo. Soon, they learned that The Pen is having money troubles, and rival newspaper The Star has been trying to force them to go under and agree to be bought out. The gang get involved, and they end up finding out that Mr Zimmer's friend Terry Bigge was purposefully helping Sheila Star sabotage the paper - because he knew that hidden in the paper's office was the will of Ruby Craigend, which would reveal to everyone that she hadn't really left the Glen to him. The gang helped reveal the truth, and save the paper. And after that, Elmo joined the gang and became a member of Teen Power Inc.
After that, the gang started doing all sorts of odd jobs around Raven Hill. And by luck or coincidence, a lot of those jobs let to the gang stumbling into all sorts of mysteries. Often the whole gang would end up getting involved, although not always.
In one of their early jobs, Richelle, Nick, Sunny, Liz and Elmo babysat Tarquin the Terrible, a 'creative' child that ended up driving Richelle and Nick to refuse to look after him.
Following that, they were employed as extras for a TV ad. But the star Cassandra Cass went missing amidst fears of a kidnapping. She'd actually left herself, to go undercover as a homeless girl to prove her worth as an actress - but the kidnapping story turned real when two guys pretended to be journalists and conned Cassie into coming with them. Richelle and Nick ended up hiding in the truck with her, after following Cassie and the false journalists after thinking that they were dealing drugs, so that they might find more evidence to give to the police. They witnessed Cassie's kidnap, and upon the van's return to Raven Hill and subsequent dumping, they helped the police to trace their steps and find Cassie.
While working at a pet store, they discovered that the man who worked there was highly unstable due to his abused childhood, and had started stealing cats from all around the neighborhood. When the gang stumbled across his house while looking for the cats, he locked them all in a cellar so they wouldn't tell anybody - but thanks to Sunny climbing out through a shaft, they all managed to escape.
By this point though, their work as Teen Power Inc had also inspired a bunch of older boys to start their own job agency - The Work Demons. But unlike Teen Power Inc, the Work Demons were a bunch of bullies, and were always irresponsible and didn't do their jobs properly. In fact, they tried to get their jobs by sabotaging Teen Power Inc, though it wasn't very effective.
Their next job involved handing out leaflets at the mall for a sweets shop. But it turned out that the owner of the shop, Ms Sweet, was working with the Wolf - a major criminal who ran a large crime network, but always managed to avoid being proven guilty. The gang found out that he was using the sweet shop to secretly pass messages on to the people working for him, and they nearly paid with their lives for finding that out, as Ms Sweet realised they knew and planned to kill them all in a fire. She was stopped by Sunny though, and both her and the Wolf were sent to jail.
They were then hired to house-sit for a friend of Nick's family, who was a jeweler. But, just before they were to start, some extremely valuable and uninsured uncut emeralds were stolen from the house. But while they were watching the house, it turned out that the thief hadn't gotten away with the emeralds at all - they were still in the house, and he had snuck back in to find them. Stuck inside with the thief, the gang managed to trick him into getting caught, and discovered where the emeralds had fallen.
A horror writer hired them to help him type up his new novel, but unknown to them they were being used as part of a publicity stunt where the author engineered strange occurrences that would happen to the gang. Richelle was particularly freaked out by this, and ended up running from the house.
While visiting Tom's dad to help him paint his studio, the gang unknowingly stumbled across a ring of drugs smugglers and the cops that were trying to spring them, ending up alone in the house after Tom's father was tricked into being called away. The gang had almost left themselves, leaving Tom behind, but when they decided to return they were able to rescue Tom from being drowned by the smugglers.
Then, the gang were hired to walk a large, unruly dog called Jock each day. To Richelle's embarrassment, the dog took a liking to her and she ended up being the only one that could control the dog. At the same time, there was a thief who was burgling houses all around Raven Hill. Her own mother had hidden away her jewellery before going off on holiday, but Richelle decided to go and wear her mother's jade ring (even though she had been told not to). But while walking Jock, she lost the ring. The gang's attempts to find it were unsuccessful.
On top of that Mrs Mac, Jock's owner, had a fall - and Jock was pinned with the blame. The gang kept walking him, but he was now at risk of being put down. They also soon realise that Mrs Mac had actually been burgled - and that that was probably when she had her fall, not because of Jock. Richelle also found out that one of the nurses at the hospital where Mrs Mac was at had found her mother's ring - but that she too had been burgled. All wasn't lost though, because the Richelle realised that Jock knew who the burglar was - and had been acting aggressively towards him all this time. She told him that she wouldn't call Jock off him unless he confessed, and so he was sent to hail - and her mother's ring was returned safely.
The next mystery involved a bunch of Poison Pen letters being sent to people in Raven Hill. Richelle herself ended up getting a letter, and the gang managed to realise that this was because she had needed to go to the optometrist - and the Poison Pen writer was the secretary. The gang exposed her as the Pen writer, and also managed to save her from one of the people she had sent a letter to - someone who she hadn't realised was in fact a criminal who had organised a bank robbery.
They then worked at a hotel, taking the guests their breakfasts. While their they managed to discover a man who was being held against his will in one of the rooms, and also that the hotel owner was attempting to cheat his friend out of his half of the money they had both won from a winning lottery ticket.
While working to help with a local fair (at which Richelle would help with a psychic's stall), the gang end up getting involved with the search to find a missing parrot, and end up discovering that a painting which was to be shown at the fair had been replaced with a forgery. But the stolen painting itself was a forgery, and with help of the now-discovered parrot they were able to identify the thieves.
For once not on a job, the gang go to the bush with their class as part of a school excursion. There, things end up going very wrong, as unbeknownst to them a pair of poachers have been attempting to drive off the group. The gang then stumble across the poachers' van before being captured by them and left in a cave, but thanks to Liz using the threads from her woolen tunic as a trail they were able to escape and expose the poachers.
They also get involved in a local toystore's promotional event - a hunt for plastic ravens. But it turns out that this was all a disguise, as the toystore were using kids to help them find two dozen lost ravens that held smuggled black pearls inside them.
Then while cleaning an old house for two ladies that was rumoured to be haunted, unexplained events start occurring. Richelle is convinced that the house really is haunted, and that the events are the work of an angry ghost - but they discovered that the property next door is actually the culprit, as they were attempting to drive the ladies out so that they could use the house for their own illegal activities.
Their next job involved helping an inventor known as Crazy Claude help test his inventions. But his assistant was sabotaging the inventions, because he had been stealing them for himself - and he wanted to get Teen Power Inc fired, because Nick could have recognised him as one of his father's associates.
But one of their next jobs was a dream come true for Richelle - a job selling clothes for a glamorous designer, Dee Dee, and putting on a fashion show. Dee Dee even promised to organise a fashion shoot for Richelle. But before that could happen - and before the gang were paid - Dee Dee vanished. They find out form the police that Dee Dee had been running a scam, and one she was very successful that. Determined to find her, Richelle and the others track her down. But, when Dee Dee nearly convinces the others to help her escape from two criminals from her past, Richelle manages to hide her from the criminals and trap her in a bathroom stall, where she would stay until the police could come. Escaping wasn't an option for Dee Dee, as Richelle had convinced her that they would swap clothes to allow Dee Dee to escape by pretending to be Richelle - and then didn't hand any clothes at all to Dee Dee, leaving her naked in the stall.
Raven Hill was then targeted by a bomber, who would send messages to The Pen that hinted as to where the bombs would go off. Richelle's own father's timberyard was targeted, but the gang managed to realise this before the bomb went off, and the timberyard was saved. The bomber was still at large though, and the gang were all nearly caught in another blast. But the gang managed to discover the bomber - a businessman who wanted to collect the insurance from the bombing, and had tried to hide that bombing within a series.
One day, they ran into a homeless girl while working for a rich old lady. Thinking that they ahd found out that she was really the long-lost daughter of the rich lady, they 'reunited' the pair. But, it turned out to all be part of the girl's plan to get into the old woman's will.
Tom managed to get all of the gang into trouble when he accidentally photographed a thief who had faked his own death for an art show.
The gang's next job is one that Richelle hopes will be a big opportunity for her - performing in a pantomime play of Little Red Riding Hood at the Raven Hill Playhouse. Richelle is cast in the lead as Red Riding Hood, and the despite the lack of time to rehearse, the gang are quickly able to work the show into something good. But, the Playhouse has been having money troubles ever since there was a fire that killed one half of a pair of twin sisters in the family who owned the theatre. Richelle is able to find out that the surviving sister, Maeve, has been pulling off one hell of a performance - she pretended to be her dead sister Elspeth (who she makes out has been pretending to be her ever since the fire), in order to throw off the people that she owed money too. But after first figuring out that Maeve was "Elspeth", Richelle then managed to realise that she'd been hoodwinked. She also discovered that the fire had in fact been lit by the owner of a rival theatre. After all that, the performance is a great success and the Raven Hill Playhouse is able to stay in business.
Then, when they are hired by Elmo's Great-Aunt to clean her country mansion, they find that she is being held hostage by a pair of criminals who trap Richelle, Nick, and Liz in a well. But Tom and Elmo (who the criminals thought were in there too) get them out, and they then discover that Elmo's "Aunt" wasn't his aunt at all - she was really one of the criminals pretending to be her. Elmo's real Aunt then shows up with Sunny in toe to help the gang.
When they are hired to pick apples in the country, the gang get caught up in the local garden competition (and the feud between two of the gardeners). The two gardeners were constantly blaming each other for acts of sabotage, and the gang were able to found out the real culprit - as well as solve a series of thefts.
Then, the Work Demons start making trouble for the gang again. They thought that with their leader moving away their troubles would be gone, but a new kid at school, Fox Bevan, instead takes over the gang after Teen Power Inc refuses to let him join them on Nick and Tom's objections. Richelle had wanted Fox to join the gang, making her unhappy with the others (even though Fox had turned nasty). Now with Fox as the leader of the Work Demons, he made them into an efficient team and started to sabotage the gang with malicious rumours and schemes to make Teen Power Inc. look unreliable. For a while it worked, but then the gang banded together to go on the attack. They found that Fox was cutting the Work Demons out of their money, and also found out that the car-wash the Work Demons were working at had been using the cars as getaway vehicles for robberies. Fox then moved away, but the Work Demon's old leader soon returned.
Next, it's their school assignment that gets them all into trouble. They are each given a topic to research, and Richelle is dismayed to find that hers is "doughnuts". Richelle fails to find anything on her topic, but she's soon distracted by other events - a trickster called the Phantom of the library who has been making amusing pranks suddenly turns nasty. Richelle herself is one of the first to fall victim, when a bucket of water falls on her head, giving her a nasty cut. The pranks culminate in a fire at the library, but Richelle and the gang are able to figure out the culprit - one of the staff members, who wasn't happy with his colleague getting praise when he didn't approve of her methods. Richelle is then finally able to complete her assignments when she actually admits to her 'embarrassing' topic, and the others help her out.
Following that, the gang find themselves hunting for a bushranger's treasure, being hired on a music video that turns disastrous and leads to them uncovering a celebrity blackmailing scheme.
Then, Richelle's father buys a holiday house with a friend in the Blue Mountains, where he intends to rent it out to tourists and hires the gang to clean it up. But, after a series of unlucky incidents the gang end up having to find their own way to the house, and mistakenly end up in a nearby abandoned house instead. Even worse, they've been snowed in there's a dangerous criminal known as the Hulk on the loose, who unbeknownst to them had been using the abandoned house. The gang end up threatened at gunpoint, but manage to get the drop on the Hulk and get to the police.
They also attend the wedding of Sunny's sister, where they mistakenly think that Sunny's future brother-in-law intends to murder her family.
But then, one of Teen Power Inc's enemies comes back to haunt them - the Wolf. He had hired six teenagers who had a resemblance to the gang, and used them to convince people in Raven Hill that they were committing acts of vandalism, and even beating up an old lady to steal her purse. The gang protested that they were innocent, but with eye witnesses even their families and the police who had worked with them before didn't believe them. Then, the members of the gang began disappearing, with people sighting them running away on buses and trains. First Tom, then Sunny, followed by Liz and Elmo. Then, Richelle herself disappeared - but she didn't run away. She was kidnapped by the Wolf's men, and kept in a dark room with the others. But when the last member of the gang - Nick - was taken, the Wolf's men had also stolen Mr Zimmer's new car, which had a GPS. Mr Zimmer was the one person who didn't believe that the gang had turned to crime, and he led the police straight to where they were being held - and where Nick had already rescued the others after escaping form the car. In fact, they were able to trap the Wolf and their doubles in the very same room they were kept in. When the police went in, the Wolf died of a heart attack, leaving the gang safe and now proven innocent.
It seemed like all would be well, but then Nick once again went missing, feared kidnapped. And this, along with all the trouble with the Wolf, was the final straw for Richelle and her friends' parents. They all put their foot down, and informed the gang that they were no longer allowed to work as Teen Power Inc. All of them were extremely disappointed at this - but they were even more worried about Nick, and they kept trying to find out what had happened to him. All of their searches came to a dead end though, until one day Nick returned all on his own. The police and the public were told that he had been kidnapped, but Nick told Richelle and the gang the truth - that he'd fallen through a window to another world.
Richelle thought that this world sounded like a lot of trouble, and decided that she would stay far far away from that window. Besides, she was hopeful that with Nick back, they could convince their parents to allow Teen Power Inc to start up again. Her parents wouldn't budge though, and in a huff she stormed off to the Glen to complain to the others. By accident, she took a wrong turn in the Glen, and ended up doing just what she had been determined not to do - fall through the window.
Point in canon:
After the end of the series - it has been about two months since the events of book 30, and since then Richelle's friend Nick had been missing for much of that time. She and everyone else had believed him kidnapped, but recently he returned, wielding a strange bladed key and talking about windows to other worlds. This all sounded like too much trouble to Richelle, so she wanted nothing to do with it - but then she took a wrong turn in the Glen, and accidentally ended up falling through the window anyway.
Window Location:
In the Glen at Raven Hill.
Universe:
0060
Abilities:
Richelle's abilities, for the most part, center around one thing: fashion and taking care of one's appearance. She takes create care to always know what's in style, and she does indeed have a good eye for identifying what would look good on a person. She does have her biases (she has a very strong preference for looking 'cool' and 'glamourous'), but if Richelle thinks your outfit looks completely horrible, it probably does.
She is also very observant when it comes to fashion and make-up. She'll take note of what you're wearing and remember it exactly, even in situations where you wouldn't expect someone to notice what someone's wearing at all. For example, when Jock the dog knocks someone over, Richelle notices the soles of his shoes (even though they're only visible for a moment). For the most part, Richelle sticks to applying her observational skills to fashion and make-up, but she can also be very good at picking up people's behaviours in the case of people she wants to emulate. She can remember small details, and notice inconstancies and discrepancies.
Richelle also has a talent for spotting the obvious, clear solution when other people are getting distracted by irrelevant details. When the rest of the gang are coming up with complicated theories, Richelle is often the one to point out the simple solution - and she's usually right. She has an uncomplicated worldview, and this often comes to her advantage.
Furthermore, despite Richelle's superficial and shallow nature, she is more intelligent than she appears. She rarely applies this intelligence, but it's nonetheless there and she's just as capable of figuring out mysteries as much as anyone else in the gang.
Skill wise, Richelle has been ballet lessons for most of her life. It doesn't always have practical applications, but she's managed to use a dance kick to knock out a guy, and she has excellent body memory. She's also a reasonable singer and has taken singing lessons. Most important though is her talent for acting - she's used this to "pretend" to be brave when in a scary situation, convince a criminal that she plans to help them when she plans to trap them in a bathroom stall, and perform in a stage plan in the leading role. And most of the time, it's by "acting" that Richelle will get herself through difficult situations.
And lastly, Richelle is lucky. Very lucky. She leads a rather charmed life, where boys with cars will appear out of nowhere and agree to drive her around on her weekly paper route, teachers will readily accept her vague excuses for why she didn't do her homework, and adults will often end up coming away with positive impressions of her despite the fact that she's completely shallow. Exactly what it is about her that causes this is unknown.
Possessions:
A "forget-me-not" blue blouse, jeans, and a handbag containing her purse, make-up, hairbrush, nail polish, and mirror.
Personality:
The most important thing about Richelle is that she is shallow. Very shallow. For Richelle, appearances are everything. Her entire life revolves around fashion, and her desire to be a famous actress or model (after all, as fame is the pinnacle of shallowness, it is naturally Richelle's greatest goal). In fact, to Richelle clothes are essentially the meaning of life. There is nothing more important to her, to the extent that she can't even really understand fully how other things are in fact much more important than appearances to other people.
This focus on appearances means that the kind of people Richelle looks up to are the glamourous and the sophisticated. These are the people that Richelle wants to be, and when she encounters someone like this she will typically end up studying them and trying to emulate them. Even if she doesn't actually like them (which is much more likely to occur if they are around Richelle's age and someone Richelle views as a competitor), she will still watch them and emulate them. She won't let something like disliking a person get in the way of her learning how to be more glamourous and sophisticated.
It's therefore no surprise that Richelle is entirely self-absorbed and selfish. She just doesn't consider the things that affect other people to be as important as the things that affect her. It just won't enter her mind, and even when someone points it out to her and tries to explain, she's still not likely to actually consider it more important. As far as she's concerned, if she breaks a nail it is infinitely worse than anyone else spraining an ankle or the like. She usually justifies this as her being more 'sensitive', and thus of course anything that affects her badly must naturally be automatically worse.
And while it's true that Richelle can be emotional and take things to heart (if you suggest that her hair's not perfect or that she might be gaining weight, she can fall into a real slump), when it comes to the suffering of other people, Richelle can be very cold. Unless you are close to her, she just won't care. Where everyone else will be sitting around thinking about how horrible it is that kittens could be killed for their fur, Richelle will be thinking about how kitten fur is actually really nice and soft. Richelle can in fact be very ruthless. And while for the most part Richelle goes through life in a bored, vague state that involves her putting in very little effort, when she gets motivated she can be very cunning. And a good way to motivate her is if you cross her - make a fool of her or promise her things you don't intend to keep, and it's personal.
For those people are are close to her though, Richelle does care a great deal for them. True, she'll still often spend a lot of time putting herself above her friends, but when her friends need her she'll do what she can to help her, even if it's not really what she wants to do. She won't abandon them even if things are getting scary and dangerous. She doesn't want them to get hurt, and she's always glad when her friends come out okay from dangerous situations. She often doesn't understand the things that are important to her friends, and she will always have that mentality of self-interest, but this does not mean that she disregards the things that are important to her friends entirely. She will help them out, in her own way, freely and voluntarily. It is odd that she has the friends she does (especially considering how shallow she is), but it's never really explained why she ended up with this particular set of friends. But she is, so there must be something there, and enough for Richelle to come to care about them.
She hates anything that's 'embarrassing'. She will avoid anything that might lead to embarrassing situations, and will also try to disassociate herself from her friends when they are being embarrassing (this tends to lead to her frequently edging away from Tom).
Richelle also believes that she is sensitive to the supernatural. Ghost, psychic mediums, mysterious occurrences - Richelle believes that she is much more in tune with all of these things, and is a firm believer in them. There's nothing to suggest that these things do in fact exist in her universe, and most likely her 'sensitivity' to the supernatural is just an extension of her own imagination and her own belief. The end result is that she can be easily spooked, and will often warn her friends about things like ghosts and hauntings.
Thread Sample:
Here.
Prose Sample:
Richelle had hoped that with Nick's return, her parents and her friends' parents would have finally seen sense, and allowed them to start doing Teen Power Inc. jobs again. It wasn't that Richelle really liked the jobs they did - they were always getting her dirty, or making her break a nail. And even worse, a lot of their jobs meant trouble. If there was one thing Richelle could do without, it was trouble.
But no work also meant no money, and Richelle's funds had been hopelessly low for ages now. At this rate, she was never going to be able to buy that beautiful green sundress she had on lay-buy, let alone the lovely blouse she'd just seen the other day. They were meant for her - and Nick would want her to have them, of course, now that he was back and had turned out to be perfectly okay. Richelle had been sure that her parents would have agreed with her, once she explained things properly to them.
Except that hadn't happened.
"Absolutely not, Richelle," her Mum said. "It's not safe. I'm sorry, but those jobs have just brought too much trouble."
Trouble. That was what Richelle had always called it. And yet now at the prospect of not being able to work to keep her out of trouble, she was feeling positively glum.
"I know you'll miss the money Princess, but keeping you safe is more important," her Dad said gently. "Your friends' parents agree. It's for the best."
"But Nick's fine," Richelle protested. "He's not hurt or anything!"
Her parents looked at each other, a silent look passing between them. "Nick might seem fine, but he's been through a lot. And it's not just Nick - you've all been through a lot. I'm sorry Richelle, but we have made our decision, and it's final."
Normally Richelle's parents were wrapped around her little finger. She could convince them to do anything, and they'd do it gladly. But on this, they wouldn't budge. "It's not fair!" she cried, before storming off to her room to sulk.
It wasn't fair. And the worst thing was, she knew they were right.
Plans: Richelle will mostly be sticking to her world, unless someone else drags her to other worlds. Or unless other worlds with access to lots of gorgeous clothes and fashion and no danger at all appear.
Notes:
Richelle will arrive already knowing about the windows and Cittàgazze, as Nick has told her about it.
DÆMON
Name: Glissant
Sex: Male
Form: Greater Flamingo
Additional notes: While flamingos' pink colour comes from their diet and Richelle's dæmon doesn't actually eat, he nonetheless maintains an attractive shade of pink anyway.
Why this form: The flamingo is a bird which is simultaneously beautiful and ridiculous. With their long legs and graceful movements, they're very reminiscent of Richelle's dancing and her own desires to be graceful and elegant. Furthermore, flamingos are known for their appearance - particularly their pink feathers. For Richelle appearance is everything, so it makes sense for the most marked feature of her daemon to be its appearance. Plus, those pink feathers and the tendency of flamingos to stand on one leg all the time make them look rather ridiculous - and Richelle certainly has great capacity to end up being utterly ridiculous while she's trying to be glamorous and sophisticated.
Richelle's dæmon is a Greater Flamingo specifically, as it is the largest of the flamingos. Richelle has a large ego, ergo her dæmon must be the largest kind of flamingo possible.
Name: Blue
Are you 18 or over?: Yes
Other characters played: I'm switching her out for Miranda Lotto, who I've just dropped
CHARACTER
Name: Richelle Brinkley
Canon: Teen Power Inc
Age: 15
History:
Richelle was born in Raven Hill, New South Wales, Australia. She's lived there her entire life, and for the most part her life growing up was fairly ordinary. Her father owns a timberyard, and she has an older sister named Tiffany and a younger brother called Jason. She met her friend Liz Free in kindergarden, and even though they grew to be very different she continued to hang around with Liz. Over time, the two of them gained Sunny Chan, Nick Kontellis, and Tom Moysten as friends, and they all hang out together as a group.
One day while Richelle and her friends were sitting around bemoaning their lack of money, Liz had the idea to start a job agency for themselves to do odd jobs around Raven Hill. They call their group 'Teen Power Inc.', and decide to advertise in the Pen. They ended up getting a job delivering The Pen for Mr Zimmer every Thursday morning, where they are joined Mr Zimmer's son Elmo. Soon, they learned that The Pen is having money troubles, and rival newspaper The Star has been trying to force them to go under and agree to be bought out. The gang get involved, and they end up finding out that Mr Zimmer's friend Terry Bigge was purposefully helping Sheila Star sabotage the paper - because he knew that hidden in the paper's office was the will of Ruby Craigend, which would reveal to everyone that she hadn't really left the Glen to him. The gang helped reveal the truth, and save the paper. And after that, Elmo joined the gang and became a member of Teen Power Inc.
After that, the gang started doing all sorts of odd jobs around Raven Hill. And by luck or coincidence, a lot of those jobs let to the gang stumbling into all sorts of mysteries. Often the whole gang would end up getting involved, although not always.
In one of their early jobs, Richelle, Nick, Sunny, Liz and Elmo babysat Tarquin the Terrible, a 'creative' child that ended up driving Richelle and Nick to refuse to look after him.
Following that, they were employed as extras for a TV ad. But the star Cassandra Cass went missing amidst fears of a kidnapping. She'd actually left herself, to go undercover as a homeless girl to prove her worth as an actress - but the kidnapping story turned real when two guys pretended to be journalists and conned Cassie into coming with them. Richelle and Nick ended up hiding in the truck with her, after following Cassie and the false journalists after thinking that they were dealing drugs, so that they might find more evidence to give to the police. They witnessed Cassie's kidnap, and upon the van's return to Raven Hill and subsequent dumping, they helped the police to trace their steps and find Cassie.
While working at a pet store, they discovered that the man who worked there was highly unstable due to his abused childhood, and had started stealing cats from all around the neighborhood. When the gang stumbled across his house while looking for the cats, he locked them all in a cellar so they wouldn't tell anybody - but thanks to Sunny climbing out through a shaft, they all managed to escape.
By this point though, their work as Teen Power Inc had also inspired a bunch of older boys to start their own job agency - The Work Demons. But unlike Teen Power Inc, the Work Demons were a bunch of bullies, and were always irresponsible and didn't do their jobs properly. In fact, they tried to get their jobs by sabotaging Teen Power Inc, though it wasn't very effective.
Their next job involved handing out leaflets at the mall for a sweets shop. But it turned out that the owner of the shop, Ms Sweet, was working with the Wolf - a major criminal who ran a large crime network, but always managed to avoid being proven guilty. The gang found out that he was using the sweet shop to secretly pass messages on to the people working for him, and they nearly paid with their lives for finding that out, as Ms Sweet realised they knew and planned to kill them all in a fire. She was stopped by Sunny though, and both her and the Wolf were sent to jail.
They were then hired to house-sit for a friend of Nick's family, who was a jeweler. But, just before they were to start, some extremely valuable and uninsured uncut emeralds were stolen from the house. But while they were watching the house, it turned out that the thief hadn't gotten away with the emeralds at all - they were still in the house, and he had snuck back in to find them. Stuck inside with the thief, the gang managed to trick him into getting caught, and discovered where the emeralds had fallen.
A horror writer hired them to help him type up his new novel, but unknown to them they were being used as part of a publicity stunt where the author engineered strange occurrences that would happen to the gang. Richelle was particularly freaked out by this, and ended up running from the house.
While visiting Tom's dad to help him paint his studio, the gang unknowingly stumbled across a ring of drugs smugglers and the cops that were trying to spring them, ending up alone in the house after Tom's father was tricked into being called away. The gang had almost left themselves, leaving Tom behind, but when they decided to return they were able to rescue Tom from being drowned by the smugglers.
Then, the gang were hired to walk a large, unruly dog called Jock each day. To Richelle's embarrassment, the dog took a liking to her and she ended up being the only one that could control the dog. At the same time, there was a thief who was burgling houses all around Raven Hill. Her own mother had hidden away her jewellery before going off on holiday, but Richelle decided to go and wear her mother's jade ring (even though she had been told not to). But while walking Jock, she lost the ring. The gang's attempts to find it were unsuccessful.
On top of that Mrs Mac, Jock's owner, had a fall - and Jock was pinned with the blame. The gang kept walking him, but he was now at risk of being put down. They also soon realise that Mrs Mac had actually been burgled - and that that was probably when she had her fall, not because of Jock. Richelle also found out that one of the nurses at the hospital where Mrs Mac was at had found her mother's ring - but that she too had been burgled. All wasn't lost though, because the Richelle realised that Jock knew who the burglar was - and had been acting aggressively towards him all this time. She told him that she wouldn't call Jock off him unless he confessed, and so he was sent to hail - and her mother's ring was returned safely.
The next mystery involved a bunch of Poison Pen letters being sent to people in Raven Hill. Richelle herself ended up getting a letter, and the gang managed to realise that this was because she had needed to go to the optometrist - and the Poison Pen writer was the secretary. The gang exposed her as the Pen writer, and also managed to save her from one of the people she had sent a letter to - someone who she hadn't realised was in fact a criminal who had organised a bank robbery.
They then worked at a hotel, taking the guests their breakfasts. While their they managed to discover a man who was being held against his will in one of the rooms, and also that the hotel owner was attempting to cheat his friend out of his half of the money they had both won from a winning lottery ticket.
While working to help with a local fair (at which Richelle would help with a psychic's stall), the gang end up getting involved with the search to find a missing parrot, and end up discovering that a painting which was to be shown at the fair had been replaced with a forgery. But the stolen painting itself was a forgery, and with help of the now-discovered parrot they were able to identify the thieves.
For once not on a job, the gang go to the bush with their class as part of a school excursion. There, things end up going very wrong, as unbeknownst to them a pair of poachers have been attempting to drive off the group. The gang then stumble across the poachers' van before being captured by them and left in a cave, but thanks to Liz using the threads from her woolen tunic as a trail they were able to escape and expose the poachers.
They also get involved in a local toystore's promotional event - a hunt for plastic ravens. But it turns out that this was all a disguise, as the toystore were using kids to help them find two dozen lost ravens that held smuggled black pearls inside them.
Then while cleaning an old house for two ladies that was rumoured to be haunted, unexplained events start occurring. Richelle is convinced that the house really is haunted, and that the events are the work of an angry ghost - but they discovered that the property next door is actually the culprit, as they were attempting to drive the ladies out so that they could use the house for their own illegal activities.
Their next job involved helping an inventor known as Crazy Claude help test his inventions. But his assistant was sabotaging the inventions, because he had been stealing them for himself - and he wanted to get Teen Power Inc fired, because Nick could have recognised him as one of his father's associates.
But one of their next jobs was a dream come true for Richelle - a job selling clothes for a glamorous designer, Dee Dee, and putting on a fashion show. Dee Dee even promised to organise a fashion shoot for Richelle. But before that could happen - and before the gang were paid - Dee Dee vanished. They find out form the police that Dee Dee had been running a scam, and one she was very successful that. Determined to find her, Richelle and the others track her down. But, when Dee Dee nearly convinces the others to help her escape from two criminals from her past, Richelle manages to hide her from the criminals and trap her in a bathroom stall, where she would stay until the police could come. Escaping wasn't an option for Dee Dee, as Richelle had convinced her that they would swap clothes to allow Dee Dee to escape by pretending to be Richelle - and then didn't hand any clothes at all to Dee Dee, leaving her naked in the stall.
Raven Hill was then targeted by a bomber, who would send messages to The Pen that hinted as to where the bombs would go off. Richelle's own father's timberyard was targeted, but the gang managed to realise this before the bomb went off, and the timberyard was saved. The bomber was still at large though, and the gang were all nearly caught in another blast. But the gang managed to discover the bomber - a businessman who wanted to collect the insurance from the bombing, and had tried to hide that bombing within a series.
One day, they ran into a homeless girl while working for a rich old lady. Thinking that they ahd found out that she was really the long-lost daughter of the rich lady, they 'reunited' the pair. But, it turned out to all be part of the girl's plan to get into the old woman's will.
Tom managed to get all of the gang into trouble when he accidentally photographed a thief who had faked his own death for an art show.
The gang's next job is one that Richelle hopes will be a big opportunity for her - performing in a pantomime play of Little Red Riding Hood at the Raven Hill Playhouse. Richelle is cast in the lead as Red Riding Hood, and the despite the lack of time to rehearse, the gang are quickly able to work the show into something good. But, the Playhouse has been having money troubles ever since there was a fire that killed one half of a pair of twin sisters in the family who owned the theatre. Richelle is able to find out that the surviving sister, Maeve, has been pulling off one hell of a performance - she pretended to be her dead sister Elspeth (who she makes out has been pretending to be her ever since the fire), in order to throw off the people that she owed money too. But after first figuring out that Maeve was "Elspeth", Richelle then managed to realise that she'd been hoodwinked. She also discovered that the fire had in fact been lit by the owner of a rival theatre. After all that, the performance is a great success and the Raven Hill Playhouse is able to stay in business.
Then, when they are hired by Elmo's Great-Aunt to clean her country mansion, they find that she is being held hostage by a pair of criminals who trap Richelle, Nick, and Liz in a well. But Tom and Elmo (who the criminals thought were in there too) get them out, and they then discover that Elmo's "Aunt" wasn't his aunt at all - she was really one of the criminals pretending to be her. Elmo's real Aunt then shows up with Sunny in toe to help the gang.
When they are hired to pick apples in the country, the gang get caught up in the local garden competition (and the feud between two of the gardeners). The two gardeners were constantly blaming each other for acts of sabotage, and the gang were able to found out the real culprit - as well as solve a series of thefts.
Then, the Work Demons start making trouble for the gang again. They thought that with their leader moving away their troubles would be gone, but a new kid at school, Fox Bevan, instead takes over the gang after Teen Power Inc refuses to let him join them on Nick and Tom's objections. Richelle had wanted Fox to join the gang, making her unhappy with the others (even though Fox had turned nasty). Now with Fox as the leader of the Work Demons, he made them into an efficient team and started to sabotage the gang with malicious rumours and schemes to make Teen Power Inc. look unreliable. For a while it worked, but then the gang banded together to go on the attack. They found that Fox was cutting the Work Demons out of their money, and also found out that the car-wash the Work Demons were working at had been using the cars as getaway vehicles for robberies. Fox then moved away, but the Work Demon's old leader soon returned.
Next, it's their school assignment that gets them all into trouble. They are each given a topic to research, and Richelle is dismayed to find that hers is "doughnuts". Richelle fails to find anything on her topic, but she's soon distracted by other events - a trickster called the Phantom of the library who has been making amusing pranks suddenly turns nasty. Richelle herself is one of the first to fall victim, when a bucket of water falls on her head, giving her a nasty cut. The pranks culminate in a fire at the library, but Richelle and the gang are able to figure out the culprit - one of the staff members, who wasn't happy with his colleague getting praise when he didn't approve of her methods. Richelle is then finally able to complete her assignments when she actually admits to her 'embarrassing' topic, and the others help her out.
Following that, the gang find themselves hunting for a bushranger's treasure, being hired on a music video that turns disastrous and leads to them uncovering a celebrity blackmailing scheme.
Then, Richelle's father buys a holiday house with a friend in the Blue Mountains, where he intends to rent it out to tourists and hires the gang to clean it up. But, after a series of unlucky incidents the gang end up having to find their own way to the house, and mistakenly end up in a nearby abandoned house instead. Even worse, they've been snowed in there's a dangerous criminal known as the Hulk on the loose, who unbeknownst to them had been using the abandoned house. The gang end up threatened at gunpoint, but manage to get the drop on the Hulk and get to the police.
They also attend the wedding of Sunny's sister, where they mistakenly think that Sunny's future brother-in-law intends to murder her family.
But then, one of Teen Power Inc's enemies comes back to haunt them - the Wolf. He had hired six teenagers who had a resemblance to the gang, and used them to convince people in Raven Hill that they were committing acts of vandalism, and even beating up an old lady to steal her purse. The gang protested that they were innocent, but with eye witnesses even their families and the police who had worked with them before didn't believe them. Then, the members of the gang began disappearing, with people sighting them running away on buses and trains. First Tom, then Sunny, followed by Liz and Elmo. Then, Richelle herself disappeared - but she didn't run away. She was kidnapped by the Wolf's men, and kept in a dark room with the others. But when the last member of the gang - Nick - was taken, the Wolf's men had also stolen Mr Zimmer's new car, which had a GPS. Mr Zimmer was the one person who didn't believe that the gang had turned to crime, and he led the police straight to where they were being held - and where Nick had already rescued the others after escaping form the car. In fact, they were able to trap the Wolf and their doubles in the very same room they were kept in. When the police went in, the Wolf died of a heart attack, leaving the gang safe and now proven innocent.
It seemed like all would be well, but then Nick once again went missing, feared kidnapped. And this, along with all the trouble with the Wolf, was the final straw for Richelle and her friends' parents. They all put their foot down, and informed the gang that they were no longer allowed to work as Teen Power Inc. All of them were extremely disappointed at this - but they were even more worried about Nick, and they kept trying to find out what had happened to him. All of their searches came to a dead end though, until one day Nick returned all on his own. The police and the public were told that he had been kidnapped, but Nick told Richelle and the gang the truth - that he'd fallen through a window to another world.
Richelle thought that this world sounded like a lot of trouble, and decided that she would stay far far away from that window. Besides, she was hopeful that with Nick back, they could convince their parents to allow Teen Power Inc to start up again. Her parents wouldn't budge though, and in a huff she stormed off to the Glen to complain to the others. By accident, she took a wrong turn in the Glen, and ended up doing just what she had been determined not to do - fall through the window.
Point in canon:
After the end of the series - it has been about two months since the events of book 30, and since then Richelle's friend Nick had been missing for much of that time. She and everyone else had believed him kidnapped, but recently he returned, wielding a strange bladed key and talking about windows to other worlds. This all sounded like too much trouble to Richelle, so she wanted nothing to do with it - but then she took a wrong turn in the Glen, and accidentally ended up falling through the window anyway.
Window Location:
In the Glen at Raven Hill.
Universe:
0060
Abilities:
Richelle's abilities, for the most part, center around one thing: fashion and taking care of one's appearance. She takes create care to always know what's in style, and she does indeed have a good eye for identifying what would look good on a person. She does have her biases (she has a very strong preference for looking 'cool' and 'glamourous'), but if Richelle thinks your outfit looks completely horrible, it probably does.
She is also very observant when it comes to fashion and make-up. She'll take note of what you're wearing and remember it exactly, even in situations where you wouldn't expect someone to notice what someone's wearing at all. For example, when Jock the dog knocks someone over, Richelle notices the soles of his shoes (even though they're only visible for a moment). For the most part, Richelle sticks to applying her observational skills to fashion and make-up, but she can also be very good at picking up people's behaviours in the case of people she wants to emulate. She can remember small details, and notice inconstancies and discrepancies.
Richelle also has a talent for spotting the obvious, clear solution when other people are getting distracted by irrelevant details. When the rest of the gang are coming up with complicated theories, Richelle is often the one to point out the simple solution - and she's usually right. She has an uncomplicated worldview, and this often comes to her advantage.
Furthermore, despite Richelle's superficial and shallow nature, she is more intelligent than she appears. She rarely applies this intelligence, but it's nonetheless there and she's just as capable of figuring out mysteries as much as anyone else in the gang.
Skill wise, Richelle has been ballet lessons for most of her life. It doesn't always have practical applications, but she's managed to use a dance kick to knock out a guy, and she has excellent body memory. She's also a reasonable singer and has taken singing lessons. Most important though is her talent for acting - she's used this to "pretend" to be brave when in a scary situation, convince a criminal that she plans to help them when she plans to trap them in a bathroom stall, and perform in a stage plan in the leading role. And most of the time, it's by "acting" that Richelle will get herself through difficult situations.
And lastly, Richelle is lucky. Very lucky. She leads a rather charmed life, where boys with cars will appear out of nowhere and agree to drive her around on her weekly paper route, teachers will readily accept her vague excuses for why she didn't do her homework, and adults will often end up coming away with positive impressions of her despite the fact that she's completely shallow. Exactly what it is about her that causes this is unknown.
Possessions:
A "forget-me-not" blue blouse, jeans, and a handbag containing her purse, make-up, hairbrush, nail polish, and mirror.
Personality:
The most important thing about Richelle is that she is shallow. Very shallow. For Richelle, appearances are everything. Her entire life revolves around fashion, and her desire to be a famous actress or model (after all, as fame is the pinnacle of shallowness, it is naturally Richelle's greatest goal). In fact, to Richelle clothes are essentially the meaning of life. There is nothing more important to her, to the extent that she can't even really understand fully how other things are in fact much more important than appearances to other people.
This focus on appearances means that the kind of people Richelle looks up to are the glamourous and the sophisticated. These are the people that Richelle wants to be, and when she encounters someone like this she will typically end up studying them and trying to emulate them. Even if she doesn't actually like them (which is much more likely to occur if they are around Richelle's age and someone Richelle views as a competitor), she will still watch them and emulate them. She won't let something like disliking a person get in the way of her learning how to be more glamourous and sophisticated.
It's therefore no surprise that Richelle is entirely self-absorbed and selfish. She just doesn't consider the things that affect other people to be as important as the things that affect her. It just won't enter her mind, and even when someone points it out to her and tries to explain, she's still not likely to actually consider it more important. As far as she's concerned, if she breaks a nail it is infinitely worse than anyone else spraining an ankle or the like. She usually justifies this as her being more 'sensitive', and thus of course anything that affects her badly must naturally be automatically worse.
And while it's true that Richelle can be emotional and take things to heart (if you suggest that her hair's not perfect or that she might be gaining weight, she can fall into a real slump), when it comes to the suffering of other people, Richelle can be very cold. Unless you are close to her, she just won't care. Where everyone else will be sitting around thinking about how horrible it is that kittens could be killed for their fur, Richelle will be thinking about how kitten fur is actually really nice and soft. Richelle can in fact be very ruthless. And while for the most part Richelle goes through life in a bored, vague state that involves her putting in very little effort, when she gets motivated she can be very cunning. And a good way to motivate her is if you cross her - make a fool of her or promise her things you don't intend to keep, and it's personal.
For those people are are close to her though, Richelle does care a great deal for them. True, she'll still often spend a lot of time putting herself above her friends, but when her friends need her she'll do what she can to help her, even if it's not really what she wants to do. She won't abandon them even if things are getting scary and dangerous. She doesn't want them to get hurt, and she's always glad when her friends come out okay from dangerous situations. She often doesn't understand the things that are important to her friends, and she will always have that mentality of self-interest, but this does not mean that she disregards the things that are important to her friends entirely. She will help them out, in her own way, freely and voluntarily. It is odd that she has the friends she does (especially considering how shallow she is), but it's never really explained why she ended up with this particular set of friends. But she is, so there must be something there, and enough for Richelle to come to care about them.
She hates anything that's 'embarrassing'. She will avoid anything that might lead to embarrassing situations, and will also try to disassociate herself from her friends when they are being embarrassing (this tends to lead to her frequently edging away from Tom).
Richelle also believes that she is sensitive to the supernatural. Ghost, psychic mediums, mysterious occurrences - Richelle believes that she is much more in tune with all of these things, and is a firm believer in them. There's nothing to suggest that these things do in fact exist in her universe, and most likely her 'sensitivity' to the supernatural is just an extension of her own imagination and her own belief. The end result is that she can be easily spooked, and will often warn her friends about things like ghosts and hauntings.
Thread Sample:
Here.
Prose Sample:
Richelle had hoped that with Nick's return, her parents and her friends' parents would have finally seen sense, and allowed them to start doing Teen Power Inc. jobs again. It wasn't that Richelle really liked the jobs they did - they were always getting her dirty, or making her break a nail. And even worse, a lot of their jobs meant trouble. If there was one thing Richelle could do without, it was trouble.
But no work also meant no money, and Richelle's funds had been hopelessly low for ages now. At this rate, she was never going to be able to buy that beautiful green sundress she had on lay-buy, let alone the lovely blouse she'd just seen the other day. They were meant for her - and Nick would want her to have them, of course, now that he was back and had turned out to be perfectly okay. Richelle had been sure that her parents would have agreed with her, once she explained things properly to them.
Except that hadn't happened.
"Absolutely not, Richelle," her Mum said. "It's not safe. I'm sorry, but those jobs have just brought too much trouble."
Trouble. That was what Richelle had always called it. And yet now at the prospect of not being able to work to keep her out of trouble, she was feeling positively glum.
"I know you'll miss the money Princess, but keeping you safe is more important," her Dad said gently. "Your friends' parents agree. It's for the best."
"But Nick's fine," Richelle protested. "He's not hurt or anything!"
Her parents looked at each other, a silent look passing between them. "Nick might seem fine, but he's been through a lot. And it's not just Nick - you've all been through a lot. I'm sorry Richelle, but we have made our decision, and it's final."
Normally Richelle's parents were wrapped around her little finger. She could convince them to do anything, and they'd do it gladly. But on this, they wouldn't budge. "It's not fair!" she cried, before storming off to her room to sulk.
It wasn't fair. And the worst thing was, she knew they were right.
Plans: Richelle will mostly be sticking to her world, unless someone else drags her to other worlds. Or unless other worlds with access to lots of gorgeous clothes and fashion and no danger at all appear.
Notes:
Richelle will arrive already knowing about the windows and Cittàgazze, as Nick has told her about it.
DÆMON
Name: Glissant
Sex: Male
Form: Greater Flamingo
Additional notes: While flamingos' pink colour comes from their diet and Richelle's dæmon doesn't actually eat, he nonetheless maintains an attractive shade of pink anyway.
Why this form: The flamingo is a bird which is simultaneously beautiful and ridiculous. With their long legs and graceful movements, they're very reminiscent of Richelle's dancing and her own desires to be graceful and elegant. Furthermore, flamingos are known for their appearance - particularly their pink feathers. For Richelle appearance is everything, so it makes sense for the most marked feature of her daemon to be its appearance. Plus, those pink feathers and the tendency of flamingos to stand on one leg all the time make them look rather ridiculous - and Richelle certainly has great capacity to end up being utterly ridiculous while she's trying to be glamorous and sophisticated.
Richelle's dæmon is a Greater Flamingo specifically, as it is the largest of the flamingos. Richelle has a large ego, ergo her dæmon must be the largest kind of flamingo possible.