Post by Peregrine Christina Mellencamp on Aug 21, 2019 21:05:51 GMT -5
REGGIE CHRISTINA MELLENCAMP
FULL NAME: Peregrine Christina Mellencamp
NICKNAMES: Reggie or Perry
AGE: Thirty
GENDER: female
SEXUALITY: Straight.
STATUS: Single
GROUP: Citizen
GRADE: N/A
MAJOR: N/A.
JOB OCCUPATION: Child psychologist/Social worker at the Creative Collective (Not the actual name of the place but it's what she fondly calls it)HAIR: Dark brown hair cut in a bit of a rebel without a cause style
EYES: brown.
SCARS/BIRTHMARKS: a few. She doesn't talk about them unless she knows it'll help her patients
TATTOOS: None.
PIERCINGS: Her earlobes-both, twice, daith-right ear, tragus-left ear
PLAY-BY: Diane Guerrero!!!LIKES: sweet wine, her job, dancing, comedy specials, greasy takeaway, kickboxing, writing in a journal, DIY, helping people, painting (though she really sucks), reading everything, her balcony garden, intelligent conversation, cheesy pick up lines, classic rock music
DISLIKES: guys who won't take no for an answer, warm beer, jalapenos, construction noise, making a mistake, not listening to her gut, having to apologise for doing what she felt was right, EDM (something about the beats, she thinks), traffic, talking about her past, black coffee (is sugar a crime?), Having to use those kickboxing skills on someone
FEARS: being attacked in the park, losing her apartment, cockroaches
SECRETS: Reggie's life was no picnic. It was full of abuse and unbelievably vile and horrific times that still give her nightmares. She knows the only reason she survived was because she was meant to help other kids like her from going through the same things
PERSONALITY: The woman everyone sees everyday is a happy and beautiful soul who can see the good in people but she had a hard life before she'd found her peace. Perhaps it's because of her traumatic childhood that she's very hesitant to let people in. Her only real friend, Elara, snuck in and Reggie still isn't sure how the hell that happened! Perhaps it's because they're both two lost souls in search h of whatever comes next. For Reggie, she knows it's making sure she uses her life to help others in any possible way she can. The nightmares of her own life before she'd escaped still keep her up at night, fully aware she's an insomniac but still unwilling to do anything about it. She tried all the therapies and though she did come to terms with what happened to her, knowing and believing with everything she has in her that she is not the victim, it was actually the kickboxing classes that truly helped her. She was able to work out those aggressions and see the bright future ahead of her; as long as she didn't let those dark clouds win the war. Reggie is downright petrified of realising one day she's in love. It's not an emotion she had ever felt or had someone convey to her. It had always been nasty and vile, no love or affection in her life. For the most part, she'd been a punching bag, a paycheck and on more occasions than she'd like to remember, worse than that. She was and still is a fighter, though and she will fight for anyone in her life that needs her help. Her protective nature sees that she takes care of those who find themselves talking to her. She lost one child because she hadn't listened to her gut, she's not about to make the same mistake. Maybe one day, she'll be comfortable with the idea of love but for now, she's happy to continue on just as she is!MOTHER: No idea.
FATHER: Not a clue.
SIBLINGS: Pass?
OTHERS: Elara Gillespie, twenty-five & work friend.
And so many more she can't keep track.
PETS: Gremlin, Pomsky of three!
HOMETOWN: New York City, New York.
HISTORY: Reggie was thirteen when she ran away from her twenty-seventh foster home and never looked back. She had absolutely no recollection of what her life was like before she'd entered the system if there had even been a life before that. The story went that she was left at a fire station on a rainy spring night with a note that gave her name and the wish that someone would take good care of their little girl. At that tender age, she'd already seen too much, heard too much and done too much to ever be anything less than tainted. Or so she thought. She was used and abused and felt that way. She stayed in shelters, getting food and a cot whenever she could otherwise, she stuck to the streets for another two years, lying about her family life and where she lived to get a job at an all-night diner. She continued to live on the streets for a while but sat and completed her GED. She wanted simple things in life; a roof over her head and food in her belly. At eighteen, Reggie decided she needed to really start getting her life on track. She was able to find a terrible little studio apartment that she needed to put more locks on because the neighbourhood was just that bad but it was home. She found chairs and tables and things in the trash that she repurposed and called her own. She attended night school while still working at that diner during the day and when she was twenty-two years old, she was able to walk proudly across a stage in a cap and gown to receive a diploma in social services.
That was not the end of this fairy tale for Reggie. She wanted so much more than just the ability to help the kids that were in her position so they never found themselves in the same situations that she had. She continued her night school education and walked away a few years later with another degree, this one in child psychology. She knew from personal experience what they were going through but it wasn't always easy to talk to those kids; especially when you'd been there and been forced to do the same things they were being told to do now. It took many years in therapy herself to come to terms with every vile thing that had happened to her before she'd run away. Years of talking through it all to finally get it through her head that none of it was her fault, that she was technically a victim. She had never felt like one, would never say she was one but that was the label given to her during those sessions and it was something that she had needed to confront. Also at eighteen, she decided to change her name as part of that fresh start she was after. So when she started at night school, she was no longer the name she'd been given all those years ago and went into the next phase of her life with the name Peregrine "Reggie" Mellencamp. She'd been going through a bit of a phase at the time and John Mellencamp had been the soundtrack more often than not thanks to the radio station the diner chose to play. It could have just as easily been Petty or Nelson or Cash. Mellencamp had a nice feel to it and Reggie went with it.
She was twenty-eight when she met Elara. They were both caretakers of children's minds, Elara through paints and Reggie through words and attention, which gave them something in common, something to talk about when Reggie happened upon Elara's alternative group therapies. She had heard about a new youth center and had been meaning to find it, see if they were hiring when she and Elara started talking. Only thirty minutes into the conversation, Reggie asked if there was a need for a social worker in the building with a degree in child psychology. Some kids she knew, went to these alternative therapies but they also needed to have real conversations with people who understood what they were going through. Reggie didn't advertise her background, just told people as much as they needed to know. With the kids she spoke to, she told them more about what she'd gone through because it proved to them that they could talk to her about whatever they needed to. She was a safe harbour in a stormy sea. It was also about the same time that Reggie lost one of the kids that had been in her care. She had felt something was off the last time she'd spoken to the young girl but she had sworn up and down that nothing was wrong. Reggie was beating herself up over every little detail and decision she hadn't made.
She should have encouraged that sweet girl to talk to her, open up to her and make her understand that Reggie was there to make sure these things didn't happen to her. But Reggie left her follow up just a day too late and had been the one to find the young girl. Her foster family, a pair of useless people only in it for the money hadn't even noticed when she'd ignored breakfast and just allowed Reggie up to the room she'd shared with three other girls; none of whom had found it the least bit strange that their roommate had vanished. Reggie however, had known that the young girl liked to hide away in the wardrobe and pretend she was anywhere else. That young girl had found a bottle of prescription medications somewhere in the house, the name on the bottle was that of the so-called foster mother. Reggie didn't know how many pills were in the bottle when she'd gotten her hands on it but there were none left around the sweet but troubled young girl's body. Reggie checked for a pulse through tears and called the police about it, hanging up after making sure they knew it was a body recovery and that there was potential for abuse.
Reggie immediately got the rest of the children removed from the home, the foster parents were charged with the young girl's death and unfortunately, life moved on. Reggie couldn't quite handle the fact that she'd not been there for one of her charges even when she knew something had been up. So when she overheard her colleagues conversation, Reggie grabbed her bag and headed out there to see this place for herself. She met Elara Gillespie there and they got to talking. A short twenty minute conversation with that woman had made Reggie feel so much better about the whole situation. So much so, she asked if she had an office space available right then and there. She needed to feel like she was actually helping because back in her office, she was feeling completely useless. She needed to be a face and a voice kids could turn to, to talk to. She needed to have that level of communication that she'd not had before. It didn't seem to take much convincing and after the two weeks she'd given her other job, she made the switch to being a full-time counselor at The Creative Collective. She loved being around the place, having those kids who needed space come in and know without a doubt that their voices would be heard, their bellies would have food in them and there would be a roof if it was required. Reggie had left her previous position on good terms, though she had easily admitted that she was not cut out for what she'd been doing.
Reggie had offered each of her previous charges the information they'd need to find her if they ever needed to talk. She had been good at her job, talking to the kids and getting them what they needed; when they talked to her anyway. She wanted them to not be afraid of talking because Reggie was there to help them but now she had better resources to do just that. She might have had a better apartment than she'd found at eighteen but that didn't mean she spent every night there. There were plenty of nights she slept on the futon in her office just in case someone ran away from a bad situation and found themselves there because someone had mentioned her name or they'd heard from her that she could be found there. They left a phone by the door and her work mobile number right there next to it to make sure if they needed her, she could be reached. Her phone would ring and she would find herself walking through the doors a few minutes later with greasy takeaway and an understanding smile. She listened while they talked and then she offered up help by way of The Odyssey youth center. Her life revolved around those kids who found themselves in her care because she did not ever want a repeat of what happened with Rebecca.
YOUR ALIAS: Cali.
RULE WORDS: i've Got these
WHERE YOU FOUND US: At the bottom of a candle that smelled of Camp Fire. It was lovely.
SAMPLE:hell to the no!!!
