Raelene Darrow

Basic Info

Age: 26

Height: 5'7

Ethnicity: African

Orientation: Cupioromantic (aro) lesbian

Gender: Cis woman

Pronouns: She/her

Appearance Notes: Raelene is not skinny, she is chubby. She tends to wear a lot of sweaters, cardigans, and other clothes that could be considered 'cozy' or 'classy'. She tends to wear marginally more 'feminine' styled clothes, with medium or longer length skirts. That said, she does have a more casual/spunky side to her fashion, often wearing patterned socks or tights, or printed t-shirts. Otherwise, she's usually pretty mild when it comes to accessories.

Raelene speaks in sign language, but she almost always has a pen and notebook or other writing equipment on her for when she has to talk to people who don't understand sign language. 

2 Cent Summary: A headstrong musician and mother chosen by a magic spirit to defend humanity from paranormal threats. She's in this to protect her family first and foremost, but she doesn't see why she can't enjoy it a bit along the way.

Character Lore

History 

Raelene was born to a lower middle class family with four siblings (she's the second eldest). Her older sibling left home early, often leaving Raelene to watch the younger three. She was always very responsible during the day, but would sneak out at night to pursue her own social life. Growing up mute, she had to make an extra effort to be paid attention to in school, and she often took extra electives or leadership roles to try and make her own unique network separate from her siblings. 

Raelene majored in digital photography, believing that her primary passion, music, wasn't a 'realistic' career for her. During college, she and a friend decided to co-parent a child together, despite otherwise being un-partnered. She currently lives with her second younger sibling, co-parent friend, and her five-year old daughter.

Raelene was chosen by the blue crystal spirit, Imelle, to help investigate and combat paranormal threats. Her daughter is especially sensitive to paranormal influences, which was a large motivating factor in her agreeing to work with the crystal spirits. Her magical alias is Carilon.

Personality

Raelene has a very take-charge personality, and is used to managing multiple responsibilities at once. She has a hard time not getting involved in things when she feels like she has something to contribute, even if it's a situation that maybe isn't really her business, but she usually means well with her efforts. Growing up mute and with so many siblings, Raelene has always strongly feared being left in the shadows and forgotten, and tries to do whatever she can to stand out. She's generally friendly and even-tempered, but can come across as too headstrong and stubborn. 

Raelene has a strong passion for music, and often when she was sneaking out of the house, it was to go to concerts and music stores. She taught herself music theory up to an intermediate level, and to play the piano and the alto flute. She loves how music can be expressive even without words, and pays close attention to the soundtracks in movies and video games. People also are usually at least casually fans of music, so she finds it easier to connect with people over that than by other ways. If she really likes someone, she'll compose pieces of music for them. 

Raelene agreed to use her powers readily, because she it was a way to protect her daughter from the supernatural, and pursues mastering them with a lot of zeal. However, she secretly feels quite insecure about the fact that, other than sound wave manipulation, most of her powers are related to the cold and darkness, frightening things that typically do more harm than good, when she would rather have powers that can make people feel safe. She tries to be as analytical about the usage of her powers as possible and find less aggressive ways to deal with paranormal threats, fearing that if she's too direct with them, she'll end up being seen more as a menace than a hero.

Relationships

• Cedar/Meadow Wisp: Raelene and Cedar take opposite approaches to similar problems. Both dislike how 'dark' their powers are, but while Cedar tries to limit how much she explores her powers, Raelene throws herself into mastering them. Cedar at first finds Raelene a bit overwhelming, but admires her decisiveness, and Raelene initially found Cedar hard to read, but came to admire her quiet bravery. Once they started to spend time together outside of their super forms, they bonded over their love music/musical theater, and from there began to open up more about their struggles and saw more of what they have in common. Cedar eventually came to have a crush on Raelene, and while Raelene didn't have any romantic feelings, she did think about being Cedar's partner/girlfriend. The two eventually work that out and begin dating, often going out to places together and  making music pieces with Cedar doing the vocals over Raelene's instrumentation.
• Clematis/Casuistra: Raelene and Clematis didn't initially think much of each other - Clematis seemed too 'unconcerned' and Raelene seemed too 'reckless' - but they wound up being good friends once they actually got to know each other. They both take a more analytical approach to their powers, and Raelene respects Clematis' dedication to being a good doctor a lot, while Clematis respects her determination to protect her family. They both struggle in with whether to prioritize broad humanitarianism or helping those who specifically rely on you or are close to you, or how to balance them with their work. They also both know they can trust the other to look out for them as a teammate and friend.
• Hadyn/Chromosphere: Raelene and Hadyn get along fairly well, both pursuing their powers with the most zeal on the team. The two of them share a somewhat similar sense of humor, and work together with relative ease. They also bond over being the two alloaro members on the team, and whenever one wants to make a flirtatious comment about anyone, they usually just say it to each other quietly (since it would upset Val and get nonplussed reactions from the other two usually). They sometimes mildly flirt with each other despite being wholly uninterested in each other pretty much just for the lulz, and because they know the other also only considers it lighthearted fun. 
• Valentine/Silver Gale: Raelene and Valentine consider each other good friends and teammates. Raelene wasn't super impressed by Val at first, and Val worried she was going to make stabilizing the early, dysfunctional team even harder, but they came around as they worked together more. Val came to respect and rely on Raelene, and Raelene came to understand Val more and want to help him grow into the leader role. Val eventually starts trying to learn sign language so he can communicate more easily with Raelene outside of work, and Raelene comes to have more fun with his sense of humor instead of judging him so much for not being more obviously responsible.
• Imelle: Raelene and Imelle are magically bound together.
• Anthea: Raelene and Anthea are enemies. Raelene and Anthea are similarly focused on defeating each other, but haven't had as many personal interactions.

Bonus Info

Trivia

• Her absolute favorite food is coffee cake with raspberries. (In general, she likes coffee, hot chocolate, and berries a lot)
• Her favorite season is winter.
• She hates pecans.
• She also hates soap bars - all other forms of soap are superior.
• Her birthday is April 19.