Name: Amanda Marie Gottlieb (Amanda means “deserving of love” and Gottlieb is German for “God love”…Marie is just a middle name I like. :3)
Nicknames: Rauch (It’s what she’s called through much of the story; Means "Smoke" in German)
Age: 20
Height: 5 feet 4 inches
Hair Color: Naturally blonde. Currently dyed red with white stripes in the front, but she likes to change it a lot.
Eye Color: Brown
Birthday: January 8th, 1994
Hobbies: smoking, styling hair, going for walks
Family: Father – Lukas Gottlieb
Mother – Michelle Gottlieb
- She’s known Lächeln all her life, so their kinda “sisters”
Friends: Lächeln, Kind
Love Interest: None as of now… (That may just change through the course of the story though. :3)
Current Residence: An apartment in downtown Chicago, Illinois
Birthplace: Chicago, Illinois
Current School: Aveda Institute of Chicago (Cosmetology school) (She takes night classes from 5pm – 10pm…although she often time skips classes or leaves early)
Likes: cigarettes, odd/weird/interesting hairstyles, long naps, what she considers cute clothes
Favorite Food: Crab (in general she has very expensive tastes)
Dislikes: Children, doctors, hospitals, gambling/games of chance, working, people prodding her about her past
Personality: (bullet points ‘cause it’s easier than reading a wall of text! :D)
- Very blunt and to the point; will say exactly what’s on her mind without taking into consideration what others may feel
- Doesn’t talk much unless she needs to
- Apathetic towards pretty much anything people do, but she positively hates people playing games of chance no matter how minor. She will get angry with people for playing them. It’s one of the few things that actually can get her angry.
- Doesn’t often share her opinion or let others know what she’s actually thinking
- Rather reclusive and doesn’t make an effort to be “nice” to people or make friends with them
- Doesn’t plan well and just lives day by day. She’s fine with her current place in the world and isn’t interested in moving up in life or bettering herself.
Relations to Other Characters:
-Lächeln: Lächeln has been Rauch's personal maid for her entire life. When younger, Rauch honestly viewed her as a sister and best friend. At the beginning of the story, she simply views her as a person in her life that she has no special attachment to. (There's a story behind it, but I don't feel like describing that right now. :3)
-Kind: She takes in this boy off the street and promptly names him Kind when he refuses to share his name in fear that she'll take him to the police and make him go home. She keeps him around mostly so that he'll clean and cook for her but otherwise she ignores him. If she was being honest with herself, she would admit that she's slightly interested in the story of a boy that left home with nothing but dreams and determination...of course, she's never honest with herself. XD
- Lukas Gottlieb (her father): She hasn't spoken with her father since she ran off to Europe when she was first diagnosed with her disease. She still loves him, but can't bring herself to get involved with him again.
- Michelle Gottlieb (her mother): Once more, she hasn't spoken with her mother since she ran off to Europe. Through the course of the story, something happens that causes Rauch to seek out her mother one more time...
Background:
So, Amanda is the daughter of a very wealthy couple. Her mother is a rather famous fashion designer and her father is the CEO of a large chain of high end department stores. Her mother was once a group of what she would refer to as the "common people" and so she forces the idea on to her daughter that she should work towards excelling in everything she does and hard work will always reward you with happiness.
Amanda worked her best to live up to this standard and as a result she excelled in school (She also attended the most prestigious private schools, of course). Her parents always praised her work, but did little more than that. Also, as she continues to grow, Amanda begins to understand the strain that is in her parent's marriage as a result of them both working obsessively. These two things lead Amanda to question weather hard work can truly give happiness and she intentionally fails a test. The backlash that comes as a result makes her promise herself to never fail again.
Things go fine for Amanda and she settles into normalcy until she reaches the summer of her senior year of high school. She graduates at the top of her class and she's accepted into a prestigious business school (I'm...not sure which yet. XD; I will have to look up good business schools). Suddenly, one day she starts running a fever that eventually escalates so she falls into a coma.
When she wakes up, she finds out that she has what is known as a "lottery disease". It’s a disease that lies dormant in an individual for an unknown amount of time until they suffer from an attack that comes suddenly and out of nowhere. The disease will then lie dormant for an undetermined amount of time (it’s different for each person that suffers from it) until the individual suffers a second attack at which point their health will rapidly deteriorate (like, within a day) until they die.
Shaken up by this news, Amanda's entire belief in "hard work gives you the rewards you deserve" quickly falls away. She begins to lash out at anyone that comes near her. In an attempt to control her, her father suggests that she spend time away from the house and has her shipped off to Europe along with her personal maid.
Amanda lives in Europe for a year and she becomes increasingly apathetic towards not only her own life, but everything around her. Eventually, after spending a year in Europe, she decides to return home to Chicago. She does this without telling her parents and instead she rents herself and apartment downtown. She enrolls herself in cosmetology school and begins taking classes...when she feels like it. It's also at this point that she starts calling herself Rauch and demands that everyone else call her by this name.
One day as she's walking home from ditching class, she finds a boy passed out in an alleyway near her house. On a whim, she decides to drag the boy up to her apartment...
Soooo, yup. That's Rauch for ya. ^^
I...STILL haven't thought up a name for the story...I was thinking something like "Chance of Happiness" or simply "Chance"...but who knows?
Oh, as a bonus, I was bored and filled out a character meme thingy-dingy for Rauch, so I'll include that. (This post is gonna be loooooooong! ^^;)
1. Name: Amanda “Rauch” Marie Gottlieb
2. Age: 20
3. Gender: Female
4. How tall is s/he? 5'4”
5. Describe their eyes: Brown, half-closed most of the time
6. Sexuality: Heterosexual
7. Race/Species: Human
8. Siblings? None, but she’s had a personal maid for her entire life so their close
9. Lover(s)? None
10. Any talents or abilities, even if these are included in your canon (i.e. they can fly, but they live with angels, so everyone can fly)? She can play guitar and piano because her parents paid for music lessons when she was younger
11. Any talents and abilities that are unusual in their canon (i.e. a psychic human in real life)? None
12. What’s their religion/belief system? Completely an atheist; was previously a “Catholic” because that’s what religion her parents raised her in
13. Have you ever renamed, redesigned, or reworked this person? How? Indeed I have. At first she was much more hot headed and ready to lash out at people. At this point, she’s kind of more numb and completely disconnected from the world around them.
14. Do they have an alternate form? Uhm…no?
15. Are they based on a real person? Not as far as I know.
16. Or another character? Noppers.
17. Do they go to school? Yup, she’s studying cosmetology at Aveda Institute in Chicago…but she skips class a lot.
18. How often do they spend in front of a mirror? She’ll use a mirror when she’s dying her hair or styling it in some way…so it varies, but she can spend quite some time. :)
19. If given a gun, what would they do? Stare at it blankly…then most likely give it back
20. What do they like wearing? Anything that fits her definition of “cute”, which is pretty much frilly yet practical clothing. She also follows the motto that if two things are cute, their doubly cute together.
21. Describe their hair: Red with it parted so it falls in front of her right eye with two white stripes in the front…at least that’s what it currently is…but she changes it often
22. Where does this character live? An apartment in downtown Chicago
23. Can they cook? Nope, she never had to cook for herself so she has no idea how to
24. Would they enjoy a surprise party thrown for them? Absolutely not. She is not a fan of surprises and parties make her uncomfortable (and remind her of her parents), especially if their large and she doesn’t know everyone there.
25. Have they ever killed someone? Who? Why? That she has not…although she did attack someone with scissors
26. Do they feel guilty about that killing/multiple killings? She…kind of isn’t sure on her feelings about the scissors deal. She knows that what she did could have killed the girl, but she felt extremely justified
27. Any secrets? She has a disease that can kill her at any time and she hasn’t told Kind that she’s basically run away from home
28. Do they have a tattoo? Do they want one? Nope and a’nope
29. What about piercings? Noooone.
30. Medical conditions? Yeah, it’s a disease known as lottery disease that can kill her at any time
31. Are they generally violent? She can get very violent when someone is playing a game of chance, no matter how minor
32. Are they shy or outgoing? Neither really…she’s not outgoing because she doesn’t want to get close to people, but it’s not like she’s shy.
33. Honest or deceitful? Deceitful on things about herself but painfully honest about pretty much everything else
34. Optimistic or Pessimistic? Suuuuuuuper pessimistic
35. Loving or distant? Definitely distant and most definitely done intentionally
36. Young or old? Is 20 old? (I kind of feel like it is since I’m turning 20 this year…)
37. Bad or good? …Such a deep philosophical question on a simple question sheet…I shall have to ponder this *mumbles to self*
38. Are they good at winning an argument? She doesn’t allow herself to get tied up in arguments in the first place, so…I guess she’s good at winning them by avoidance?
39. Name something unusual about them: Of all the characters I’ve created, she’s probably the one I feel I can relate the least to
40. Are they a virgin? Yup
41. Have they ever had sex with their own gender? No
42. Name some prejudices s/he has: None really but she has an unusual high amount of hatred towards games of chance and people that play them…so I guess she has a prejudice against gamblers
43. Give me something random about them: When she was younger she competed in children beauty pageants
44. Do they drink? Whenever Lächeln slips her booze, she’ll drink it, but she has a very low tolerance for anything besides wine
45. Smoke? Oooooh yeah, all the time
46. Do drugs? Nope, although she tried pot once
47. Are they addicted to anything? Smoking
48. What’s their impression on people at first glance? I guess they would think that she’s standoffish and uncaring
49. Is this true once they’re more well known to someone? Yup, pretty much…although if you get to know her REALLY well, you can see a little bit of the person she was before she was diagnosed with her disease
50. Name something that’s different about them now than when you first came up with them: Originally, she carried around a bat/dictionary and hit Kind with it a lot. She don’t do that no more. Also, she originally didn’t have her disease, but I kind of thought it would be interesting to have someone who did not handle the news of a disease well as a main character
51. Is there anything about this character that’s surprising to you? How much I’ve actually come to like her. :) Oh, and how I’ve decided to put more drama in her story, at first it was very much a comedy
52. How was their childhood? She was treated well and pampered, but she didn’t get much attention from her parents. She was also pushed to excel at everything, so she had no idea what it’s like to be second best
53. What’s one of their weaknesses? Her apathy about pretty much everything in her life? And I guess she still cares a lot for her parents which she personally views as a weakness
54. Their greatest strength? Uhm…she seems to do well at cosmetology school even though she skips a lot of her classes
55. Something they hate: Gambling, children, doctors, most people
56. Something they love: Smoking
57. How’s their self esteem? She doesn’t care enough about herself to even have it
58. One thing they hate about themselves: Her disease and the fact that she doesn’t know when it will kill her
59. One thing they love about themselves: She doesn’t care enough about herself…I’m tellin’ ya, suuuuuuper apathetic XD;
60. How’s their ego? Doesn’t really have one. If she receives a compliment, she doesn’t even respond to it
61. Describe their past: She was raised in a very rich family and she was raised with the mindset that she must excel at everything to be happy and if she puts effort into things she’ll be happy. She was very distant from her parents, but she still loved them dearly. Everything changed when she was diagnosed with her disease in the summer of her senior year of high school
62. How was their family life? She lives on her own and isn’t in contact with either of her parents, although she is currently living off of her parents money. In the course of the story, her parents divorce and she gets in contact with her mother once more before she leaves her life forever
63. Are they happy now? Why? Not really, ‘cause she has a disease that can kill her and the thing that annoys her the most is she never knows when it will happen
64. Do you like them? If I met a girl like her in real life, I probably wouldn’t like her…but somehow, I still like Rauch :3
65. Would you get along with them if you met them in real life? No. I care a lot about sctuff and her uncaring attitude would probably annoy the crap out of me
66. Would they like you? Most likely not. She doesn’t like most people though, so I don’t feel offended
67. Are they smart? She’s not naturally smart, but she studied enough (in the past) to make up for it and now she seems to just have a natural talent for styling hair
68. Are they tricky? Uhm…no? (I no get this question)
69. Do you know how they are going to die? Indeed I do
70. Do you plan on killing them off? Yuppers
71. Do they like to read? No, although she sometimes randomly decides to read a German-to-English dictionary
72. What’s their favorite… book? Her German-to-English Dictonary
73. Movie? Doesn’t really watch movies
74. Person? She wouldn’t admit to it, but probably Kind and Lächeln
75. Time of day? Late night
76. Animal? Uhm…a jaguar? Because their very solitary
77. Thing to do? Smoke a pack of cigarettes and ignore the world
78. Are you tired of this meme yet? Not really; it’s late and I’ve got noffin better to do :)
79. Has it helped you? It helped me think of different angles of Rauch that I haven’t thought of before
80. Will you do it for another character? Knowing me, I’ll get bored and end up doing it one day :D
