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[ruthlessheroics]

OOC Information:
Name: Sani
Age: 24
AIM: tentenchan3172
E-MAIL: tentenchan3172@aol.com
Are you new? If not, list your current characters: Maka Albarn

IC Information:
Name: Rachel Berenson
Fandom: Animorphs (Book series)
Timeline: post book 43
Age: 16
Appearance:Rachel has been described as very pretty, almost model-like in looks. She has long blonde hair, blue eyes, and is physically fit thanks to her athleticism. She is also a little taller than average

Abilities: Rachel can turn into any animal (or person) whom she acquires the DNA of by touching them. She is able to evade most injuries received in her human form by morphing into something else and then morphing back to human since the morph is DNA based and thus any injuries are not copied over. She is also able to evade injuries received in morph through the same process, however if she is unable to or does not morph in either form, the injuries remain.
Her morphing is limited to two hours, after which she will become a Nothlit and remains stuck in that morph for the rest of her life. While in morph, she can use “mindspeak” that is, telepathic communication with anyone. Mindspeak is in no way reading minds, and she can only send her own thoughts out, privately or publicly) unless she is speaking to someone else also using mind speak (while in morph.)
The morphs she already has are the following:
-African elephant
-bald eagle
-shrew
-cat
-wolf
-trout
-dolphin
-seagull
-ant
-cockroach
-housefly
-great horned owl
-grizzly bear
-rat
-termite
-skunk
-bat
-hork bajir (note: The hork bajir are a peaceful alien race of herbivores that appear very menacing in appearance due to their extremely tall seven foot height, along with the blades that protrude from their wrists, arms, knees, and forehead. In actuality, these blades are used on their home world to cut into and feed on trees. However, both the yeerks and Rachel are able to use the blades as weapons while in hork bajir bodies.)
-horse
-parrot
-hammerhead shark
-mole
-mosquito
-flea
-anteater
-seal
-polar bear
-sperm whale
-giant squid
-chimpanzee
-eel
starfish
-squirrel
-cockatiel
-killer whale
-cheetah
-honey bee

Personality:
At first glance, Rachel is a stereotypical blonde beauty, enjoying shopping and looking at cute boys, and spending most of her free time at the mall. However, even before any of the events of the book series Rachel defies the stereotype of her appearance. Rachel is not only pretty but intelligent as well, doing very well in her classes and spending a good amount of time staying on top of her grades. Aside from her shopping hobby and studies, Rachel is also a gymnast, and a relatively good one at that. It’s my opinion that her love of gymnastics is one hint that the readers get about her love of danger and pushing herself to her physical and mental limits before the war even starts.

To say that the war changed Rachel would only be partially correct and it would be much more accurate to say that the war brought out an existing but hidden side of her that without the war, would likely have remained buried in her psyche. Throughout the series she becomes more and more aggressive, often in the later books making rash decisions that put her and her friends in danger. Rachel is a kill first, ask questions later type.

That isn’t to say that Rachel is a mindless killer. She is in fact a relatively kind and friendly person, so long as a person is friendly back and not a Yeerk of course. She cares deeply for her friends and loved ones, and even the war never strips her of that aspect of her personality.

As the war grows, so does her temper, and Rachel is the most likely to lash out. She often grows angry with the other five for making mistakes or for choosing a pacifist solution rather than one that could be more beneficial to their cause. She is the polar opposite of her pacifist best friend, Cassie, and at the beginning of the books the two balance each other out well, but by the end their friendship is barely intact. While they continue to care for each other, their different natures are only emphasized through the war. Cassie’s non-violent and often very risky solutions enrage Rachel, and Rachel’s seeming lack of any thread of compassion for the enemy horrifies and disgusts Cassie.

Rachel herself is aware of the way her personality begins to warp, and she fears the changes, on rare occasions expressing that fear to Jake (her cousin and fellow warrior) or Tobias (her boyfriend and another warrior.) There is a deep tragedy to the decimation of her morality when the reader begins to see that there is some part of her, however small a part that does not want to continue down the path she has chosen. Ironically, it is for two reasons Rachel does continue down that path, the first being that she enjoys losing herself to the thrill of battle and the power she can command, and the second is for love of her friends.

Of the six members of their team, Rachel’s confidence, aggression, and questionable moral compass often make her the only candidate for a job that needs to be done. If something dirty needs to be done, something that each of the characters find reprehensible, they will outwardly voice objections to committing the deed, but inwardly, specifically Jake will manipulate the situation so that Rachel has the freedom to take care of it. Jake allows and at times even coerces Rachel into being the monster they need to win the war, but at the same time, he is disgusted by that same monster. In turn, Rachel resents Jake for using her and keeping his own hands clean (only to judge her for the acts that they both knew needed to be done.) However, eventually Rachel comes to understand that she allows herself to be manipulated for the sake of the team and the war as well. If she gets her hands dirty, no one else has to. Her morality, and to an extent her humanity is a sacrificial lamb necessary not only to win the war, but to help her protect what little is left of the innocence of her friends. Even as she resents them for placing the burden on her, Rachel is unwilling to shift that burden.

Rachel is a fighter through and through, but that is not the only side to her, even if by the end of the series it is her most dominant side. The truth is that her aggression and recklessness are at their worst when she fears for the life of her friends. She is vengeful by nature, and prideful. It is vengeance that drives her to be willing to murder a human child their own age, an act that makes the rest of the team almost fear her and definitely fear for her, though in the end she doesn’t go through with it. It is her pride that keeps her from voicing her insecurities and vulnerabilities even when she is terrified of what she’s becoming.

At the opposite end of the spectrum is Rachel’s more normal side. Before the war, this was her default mode, but during the war it slowly becomes seen less and less. She likes to tease her friends, can take a joke well, and is confident and strong. Much of her recklessness originates from her incredibly brave and courageous nature. She stands up for what she believes is wrong, and does not back down.

She also does not love half-heartedly. This is seen most in her relationship with her best friend, despite their differences, and the relationship she has with her eventual boyfriend. This brings us to another of Rachel’s more complementary qualities and that is her loyalty. Her boyfriend is a red tailed hawk, that is a boy named Tobias who became a hawk permanently after overstaying the two hour time limit and become a Nothlit. It’s important to note that they developed feelings for eachother after Tobias became a hawk as they barely knew each other before. Despite the ridiculous obstacles of dating a hawk, Rachel decides to stay with him, even when presented with the opportunity to begin a normal relationship with someone else. She is unflinchingly loyal on a personal level, and fearsomely loyal to a cause she believes in.

Which brings us to the last aspect of her personality that drives her to make the decisions she makes. It’s hardly the first word people would think of when discussing Rachel, but Rachel is self-sacrificing. Her motives for the self sacrifice are not all selflessness by any means, but selflessness is part of it. As mentioned before, despite all of her anger and resentment for her friends Rachel sacrifices her morality and innocence to allow her friends to preserve their own.

History:
When the series begins, Rachel is a fairly normal thirteen year old girl attending junior high and involved in extracurricular activities. She lives with her mother and two sisters, seeing her dad only occasionally since her parents are divorced. Everything changes for Rachel and her friends one night when they’re walking home from the mall and decide to take a short-cut through an abandoned construction site. Through a series of events, Rachel, her best friend Cassie, Jake, (Rachel’s cousin) and his best friend Marco, along with a boy named Tobias that none of the other four are very familiar with, end up leaving the mall and deciding to walk home together. When the five take a short-cut through the abandoned construction site, they realize it isn't the brightest thing to do. Instead of running into any ax-murderers though, they run into a dying alien-an Andalite to be specific.

The alien known as Elfangor tells them about how an alien race called the Yeerks have decided to take over Earth. The Yeerks are a parasitic slug-like species that flatten themselves down and then slide into a person’s brain. Once inside, they control their ‘host body’ and have access to all of their hosts memories and knowledge. It is virtually impossible to detect a Yeerk inside of a host since they adopt the mannerisms and thoughts of the host captive within them. These Yeerk controlled humans and other aliens are known as ‘Controllers.’ Elfangor imparts this knowledge to them and then leaves them with a technology to fight the Yeerks, something called a ‘morphing cube.’ Once they have touched the morphing cube they gain the ability to morph into any animal (or person) whose DNA they absorb through touch.

Elfangor warns them that staying in any one morph for more than two hours without a break will result in them becoming a Nothlit and becoming forever stuck in that morph. Having explained as much as he could about the imminent Yeerk threat, and having given them a weapon to fight back and assured them that more Andalites will be on the way to help Earth, Elfangor urges the kids to leave him since he can not be saved. They reluctantly abandon him and hide only to witness his death at the hands of Visser three, (one of the Yeerks leading the invasion of Earth and the only known Andalite Controller) or rather at the mouth, as Visser three morphs a particularly large and vicious alien and proceeds to eat Elfangor.

Tobias is the first to try out the morphing ability by morphing into his pet cat. The five meet up to discuss what to do about morphing and begin to uncover who in their life has already been turned into a Controller. Among the Controllers are Jake’s older brother, Tom, and their school principal, Chapman (who is also the father of one of Rachel’s gymnastics friends). Chapman is the leader of a group called the Sharing, a YMCA type community organization that acts as a front for a Yeerk recruitment center.

Although not all of them like the idea, they decide to try and break into the Yeerk pool and rescue Jake’s brother. The Yeerk’s main weakness is that every three days they need to leave their host body to feed in the Yeerk pool, and the kids, now dubbed the ‘animorphs’ by Marco, aim to attack and rescue Tom while the Yeerk has left his body to feed. The attempt fails and Jake promises to continue fighting the Yeerks in order to rescue his brother. Tobias also stays in morph too long and becomes stuck as a red tailed hawk.

Each of the kids have their own motivation for choosing to fight the war rather than continue to go about their daily lives. For Rachel, the decision is an easy one to make. Fight to save and protect the world. Pretending the threat didn’t exist in order not to risk herself wasn’t something she considered. Having witnessed the horrors of the Yeerks herself, Rachel wants to fight to save Earth and set the already captive human Controllers free. Although the animorphs decide to fight the Yeerks, they are untrained, inexperienced, and young, without any real combat knowledge. As such, the war they fight is almost entirely a defensive one. In the earlier parts of the series, many of the battles and challenges the animorphs take on are due to dumb luck. Occasionally they overhear plans, or realize that the Sharing is up to something and go about collecting information and deciding what to do about whatever they learn. It’s also important to note that the Yeerks believe that the animorphs are Andalites with morph abilities. They do not suspect that they are humans, and this misinformation is absolutely vital to their ability to fight the Yeerks.

After only a little while of being animorphs, a few of the members begin to experience weird dreams, as if someone is calling to them. Following this strange voice, the animorphs meet up with a young Andalite warrior named Aximili, or Ax for short. Ax was on board the same ship as Elfangor who was in fact his older brother and is the sole survivor of the ship, his part of the ship having crash landed in the ocean. Ax is shocked to learn that Elfangor gave morphing technology to the small group of humans, and for the first time the animorphs get a hint that Elfangor had done something wrong and potentially dangerous in sharing that particular gift with them. With no one else to turn to, and no way to get home, Ax joins forces with the animorphs, becoming the last of the main six characters.

As the series progresses, it becomes clear that Rachel and Tobias have developed feelings for each other, and this ultimately culminates in the two of them dating, as much as a human and a red tailed hawk can date anyway. All of the characters grow much closer as a result of the shared secret they keep and the constant battles that they engage in. In the case of Cassie and Rachel however, their friendship begins to suffer as Cassie’s pacifist nature and Rachel’s combative nature more and more often are thrown against each other.

The war also becomes more personal for other members as the animorphs learn that Visser one is actually Marco’s mother who was believed to have died in a boating accident several years before the series. As it turns out, Marco’s mother, Eva, was the first human controller, taken by Visser one to begin instigating a secret takeover of Earth. Things begin to escalate as the Yeerks begin targeting significant politicians, and the level of danger increases dramatically as the animorphs take on much more difficult missions. As the danger level increases, so do the acts of violence against controllers committed by the animorphs themselves. Though in the beginning of the series they made several rules (including never morphing into something sentient without its permission, and only killing when faced with no other choice) in order to keep themselves in check, these rules slowly begin to break down. As the rules break down, the mental states of the characters begin to suffer as well. All of the characters suffer from nightmares, and they are all aware of the fact that any human-controller life they take is the killing of an innocent human. Even beyond the human-controllers, the other main force they often come against are those of the Hork-bajir, that is an entire peaceful sentient alien race that has been completely enslaved by the Yeerks. More and more, the characters realize that each hork-bajir-controller they kill, just like the human controllers-is a victim of the Yeerks.

On one occasion, Rachel’s father asks her to move out with him and Rachel struggles with the answer to her decision. She knows that moving out would be a way to escape the war, and at this point has already begun to see a hint of the changes that the war brings out of her. While she deliberates on her decision, the animorphs, herself included continue to fight the war. During a losing battle in which it seems they are all bound to die, something strange happens. Time freezes and they find themselves suddenly speaking to something that isn't Yeerk or human. This being introduces himself as the Ellimist and explains that he is watching their progress in the war and chose to interfere because for them to all die here and now would mean the loss of the war and the end of the human race. He explains that he is bound by rules that don’t often allow him to interfere, but one of the exceptions to that rule is to interfere when an entire species is at stake. Rather than simply save them, he tells them that the humans are bound to lose the war, and offers them the chance to escape with all of their family so that they might begin a human colony on another planet. They refuse the offer and immediately find themselves back in their near death position. However, thanks to the frozen time, they were able to discover a way out, and use it to get away.

The Ellimist continues to manipulate them, showing them what appears to be the future of the Earth won by the Yeerks. It’s a bleak alternate universe in which humans have lost and the animorphs themselves are Controllers. Eventually they escape the reality, but Rachel realizes that rather than trying to manipulate them into choosing to abandon Earth for a human colony, the Ellimist is manipulating the rules that bind him. He is not allowed to save them, but in freezing time the first time, they found a way to save themselves. In showing them the bleak future, Rachel is able to determine the location of a very significant Yeerk technology that the Yeerks need to live. It’s Rachel who realizes that the “human colony” is only the Ellimist’s excuse for being there without breaking his rules, but his real purpose is in fact to aid them in the war. When all is said and done, Rachel again reaffirms her commitment to the war, and turns her father’s offer to move down.

After destroying the kandrona ray, the technology that the Yeerks need to live that the Ellimist helped them to find, the animorphs expect to see dozens of human-controllers becoming freed from their Yeerks and are confused when nothing seems to occur. That is until one day while at the movies they see a man whose Yeerk is obviously dying. Excited to see what will happen, they are all then horrified to learn that any human-controller who has been freed of their Yeerk has been systematically found and murdered. They witness as a human-controller policeman kills the freed human, with the population none the wiser.

Most of the characters at the beginning of the series view the Yeerks as evil, but later they all begin to realize that the Yeerks have emotions and many Yeerks actually don’t want to be doing what they are ordered to do. This becomes a slowly building theme throughout the novels.

On top of questioning the Yeerk’s true nature, the animorphs, and to an extent even Ax, begin to question the true nature of the Andalites. The Andalites on more than one occasion have the chance to begin sending help to Earth, but rather than offer help, they are surprised that such a primitive species as humans has fought of the Yeerks for so long. They are also disgusted with Elfangor’s choice to give the humans morphing ability. Now the animorphs have learned that Elfangor’s sharing of the morphing cube was not just frowned upon, but considered treason and punishable by execution. The reason for this as they later learn is because the Yeerk’s entire existence as a threat to the universe was due to one Andalite’s decision to give the Yeerks Andalite technology. It also becomes clear that the Andalites view the Yeerks as a personal enemy, and are less concerned with the survival of Earth and more concerned with the destruction of the Yeerk race as a whole. The animorphs hold out hope that the Andalites are coming to help, but they have no idea when as it’s become clear that it isn’t a priority.

Aside from the Yeerks and Andalites, the animorphs come into contact with several other alien species, the other most notable one being the Chee. The Chee are basically robot dogs with ridiculous amounts of strength. They are peace loving and actually programmed not to do violence, even in self defense. Erek King, a Chee, is revealed to the animorphs and offers what help he can with spying and infiltration. (He has a Yeerk in his head but nothing for the Yeerk to control, so the Yeerk is captive inside of him instead of the other way around.) The animorphs are frustrated with the Chee’s great power but inability to be of much help, and Erek offers to rewrite his programming to help them in combat. After this is accomplished, the ensuing battle and carnage that Erek creates is so devastating, that he decides to rewrite his programming to ban violence once again, and after witnessing his capabilities, none of the animorphs protest. From then on, the Chee remain as friends and allies of the animorphs in only spy and information gathering capacities.

Once again the Ellimist interferes with them, but this time to save the hork-bajir. A pair of hork-bajir have escaped from the Yeerks, and as such there is now hope for their species once again. The Ellimist has the animorphs aid the hork-bajir in attaining their freedom, and once the two hork-bajir have escaped they form a hork-bajir colony in a hard to find mountain area. The colony continues to grow as the hork-bajir rescue more and more hork-bajir, and eventually they become a combative ally of the animorphs as well. It’s also during this time that Tobias, thanks to the Ellimist, regains the ability to morph and also acquires his human self as a morph. This means however that his human form is in fact a morph, and he still has the two hour limit. He could choose to overstay the limit and become permanently human, but that would mean losing the ability to morph forever, and having to stay out of the war. He chooses to stay a hawk for now with the idea that he will retain his human form permanently only after the war is over. As the books continue, it becomes more and more called into question whether or not he actually wants to return to his human form. He says he will return to human form for Rachel after the war, and it seems as though the decision to become human again has more to do with being with Rachel, than any desire to be human. This becomes something that causes trouble for them from time to time as Rachel wants him to be human again, and she also wants him to want it. It bothers her that there would even be a question about wanting to be human again.

The characters soon find out there’s a Yeerk peace movement of Yeerks working to thwart the takeover of Earth and the Yeerk peace movement becomes an ally.

A very important arc that acts as a changing point in the books, in my opinion at least, is the David arc. Essentially through a series of events, a human kid named David who the characters go to school with, gets his hands on the morphing cube. Because of this, he makes his family a target and the animorphs rescue him and the cube but aren't able to keep his parents from becoming Yeerks. Without any choice (David has seen them morph and now knows about Yeerks) they explain the war to him and then vote to allow him to become an animorph. David becomes the 6th animorph and the 7th member of their group. However as they take him on missions, David often acts with far too much violence, seeming to take pleasure in killing. When David’s arrogance and violent nature puts the animorphs at risk, Rachel goes out of her way to threaten him and make it clear that not only will they not tolerate it, but if he betrays them in any way, she’ll go after his family. Due to this conversation, David takes a special interest in Rachel and from that point on, views her as his enemy above all of the others.

When David decides to kill each of the animorphs and appears to succeed in murdering Tobias, Jake calls for Rachel to come and take care of it (which cause issues later between Jake and Rachel.) Ultimately, with David threatening to either kill them or betray them to the Yeerks, each one leading to the loss of the war, the animorphs are forced to trick David into becoming a nothlit, forever trapped in rat morph. Although the animorphs had killed in battle and incapacitated enemies on multiple occasions, they had never outright ended a regular human being’s life. Although they left David alive, they trapped him as a rat, to live out the rest of his (now very short) life in complete solitude, with the mind of a human. It was an act of self defense, but it was deplorable and incredibly messed up, and it’s a burden they all carry through the rest of the series.

Before David has been neutralized as a threat, in the time between battles, Rachel confronts Jake about why he called her rather than the whole group. At first he dodges the question or doesn’t seem to know what she means, but eventually it escalates into an argument with Jake admitting that he specifically called her because he knew she would do what had to be done Rachel is horrified and angry (she had suspected that was why but didn’t want to believe it completely) and Jake responds to her anger by admitting that she scares him. He admits that her willingness to do what has to be done disgusts him, but he recognizes that sometimes, it’s what they need. Although the argument is heated on both sides, with both fearing what they’re becoming (Rachel and her ability to do what needs to be done, and Jake with his willingness to use and manipulate his cousin like this) the conversation turns out for the better. Jake finally voicing what Rachel had been suspecting for some time actually helps Rachel to come to terms with it. She doesn’t like it, but she believes Jake is being a good leader when he asks her to do things he won’t ask the others (even if it’s at her own expense.) At the end of their discussion, Rachel hugs Jake, and he hugs her back, the first time in the series that the cousins are that openly affectionate with each other.

Later on Rachel is tempted by Crayak, the arch enemy of the Ellimist, that he will give her power if she’d kill Jake for him, and though she values the power, she refuses to hurt Jake. Crayak and his ally the Drode take a special interest in Rachel because of her violent nature, and it is not the last time he appears to tempt her.

When a morph goes wrong in one book, Rachel becomes split into two people. One a weak but kind girl who likes shopping and appears to be concerned more with her hair than the war, and the other, a bloodthirsty warrior intent on fighting the war every moment of every day. It turns out that both are facets of her personality. Interestingly enough the weaker Rachel hates the war and cries at the thought of violence, showing the reader that there is part of Rachel, however buried it is, that isn’t enjoying the fight as much as she appears to be. In the end she becomes whole again and embraces both of her halves, realizing they’re both necessary.

As the books continue, the war continues to escalate and the animorphs are still waiting for the Andalites help. They begin to doubt whether the Andalites will come at all, and although they have allies, their chances at winning the war begin to decrease and they begin to lose more ground. The number of human-controllers is bigger than ever, and the Yeerks are beginning to suspect that the team that keeps thwarting them is in fact a mostly human team, and the secret of their humanity is an absolute necessity to their survival. I am taking Rachel from after the 43rd books, after which they had almost died after being tricked into believing they were working with the Yeerk peace movement. They have now been fighting the war for approximately two and a half years.

Roleplay Sample - Log:
When she woke up, she was cold, and that was the first thing she noticed. The second thing she noticed was that she was naked, and that in itself was almost enough to make her go grizzly. Well, almost naked. Around her neck was some kind of collar, like she was someone’s pet.The realization didn’t help to calm her down, and she felt anger and adrenalin beginning to pump through her veins. Her skin had already begun to ripple with sprouting fur.

“Who the-” She cut herself off shortly, realizing that since she didn’t know where she was or how she’d gotten there, it was probably better not to alert anyone to her presence, (at least not yet) and with annoyed reluctance, she let the grizzly morph go. When she found out who was responsible for this though, they’d be dealing with one very angry, very powerful grizzly bear.

With a cat like grace, she lowered herself from the steel medical bed she’d been laying on, glancing at the other waking bodies around her only long enough to note that none of them were familiar.

This didn’t make any sense, but then again, none of her life really did these days. She’d been at home about to call Cassie to ask her to come along shopping with her one minute, and the next she was waking here. An icy fear gripped her insides as something started to piece itself together.

Hadn’t her mom been nearby as she’d reached for the phone? Maybe the Yeerks had learned their identities and infested her family. She couldn’t say positively if her mom had knocked her out or not.

Or. Or this was the Ellimist's doing.

He was always toying with their lives like this, wasn't he? That must have been it.

Rachel growled under her breath about stupid, non-interfering all powerful beings that couldn't ever leave them alone. Well fine, if she’d been sent here for a reason, then she was going to figure it out so she could get home already, but for now she wasn't going to take any chances running into anyone she didn't want to.

After backing herself into a corner where no one else could see her, she willed herself to fly morph.

Roleplay Sample - Journal:
Alright, I get that we don’t have a choice in being here, but does that mean we don’t have a choice in what we wear?

I guess no one uses money here, so shopping is out of the question, but how exactly does a girl go about getting new clothes? I know there’s got to be something you do because there’s no way everyone wears the same thing every single day. [She makes a face that clearly displays her disgust of that option.]

Anyway, I did a lot of exercise back home and could use a leotard to work with. Anyone have something like that? I wouldn't mind looking for a few new outfits either while I'm at it.

This game includes horrible mental and physical torture of your character. After reading the rules/faq for clarification, how do you expect your character to handle this and continue to function? Rachel is more than anything else, a fighter. Although she hasn’t experienced torture in the same sense, she has the toughened mind of a soldier thanks to the invasion of her planet and has suffered through dozens of fatal injuries that have been halted only by her morphing. On the plus side, in facility, she doesn’t have to worry that her actions will mean the downfall of her entire species, so as far as she’s concerned it’ll be a step up. In fact, the only thing that will likely get to her is the lack of tangible enemies to fight.

Questions? Comments? Crazed and creative statements? Those go here.