queenbeejeweled

[PLAYER INFO]
NAME: Marie
AGE: Old enough that I read these in the late 80s in grade school.
JOURNAL: No personal DW
IM: seemarierun @ gmail DOT com
PLURK: seemarierun
E-MAIL: seemarierun @ gmail DOT com
RETURNING: 1, Joe Wilson

[CHARACTER INFO]
CHARACTER NAME: Lila Fowler | Princess
SERIES: Sweet Valley High
CHRONOLOGY: The end of the Sweet Valley High Series (
CLASS: Heiress. Princess. Socialite. Manipulative bitch. Borderline sociopath. Anti-hero?

BACKGROUND:
[A general warning: there is an attempted date rape in this bio. I'm sorry to include it, but it's affected the character more than anything else in the series. Also, I'm sorry that this is so TL;DR, but there are literally hundreds of appearances by this character. Final note: I know I glaze over a lot of the names, but that's for two reasons: 1. most of these idiots don't rate, as far as Lila's concerned and 2. the number of people that she knows in these books that appear once and never again is ridiculous.]

Lila's world is essentially the real SoCal of 1985 (albeit one with occasional ghosts, vampires, and evil doppelgangers), or as real as it gets when your family is absolutely, filthy rich and your only concern is how will you fit 1000 brushstrokes for the perfect sheen into your busy life. Her birthday bashes are at country clubs. There isn't really much to say about her overall life, because she's a background character in the World of Wakefields.

Her parents were divorced when she was an infant, and her mother was never in her life for her to miss. Her father is "in computers" - it's assumed that he is a Bill Gates/Steve Jobs type from their piles of money, mansions, cars, and servants. Not to mention the Fowler memorial hospital. She went to grade school and middle school (headcanon: she went to public schools in a failed attempt to keep her grounded), and now she's ruling her high school from a throne made out of frosted pink lipstick. Lila has very little adult supervision and throws extravagant parties on a monthly basis.

Lila never seems to miss her mother when the series begins, preferring to have what time her father has for family life (George Fowler is always busy with work). In fact, she actually sets out to break up his engagement because she doesn't like his fiancee and her daughter. The fiancee is giving George ideas about how Lila spends too much of his money while the daughter is helping her stuff to Lila's clothes and car. She discovers along the way that the daughter, who everyone else loves, is actually nastier than Lila is, and that the fiancee is a gold digger. Shit just got serious. Going all Mama Bear you will not do this to my family, Lila plants microphones in the dressing room the women are using before the ceremony, which are hooked up to the sound system in the ballroom. She confronts her father's fiancee, who cracks and spills the beans. Her father hugs her (oh, sweet rare parental affection), turns the reception into a party in her honor, and it's pretty much the happiest day of her life.

As she is seen largely through the eyes of the Wakefield twins, I'll use this section to recap her relationships with them. Her best friend is Jessica Wakefield. They have a topsy-turvy sort of friendship, taking turns being jealous of each other and causing shit. Lila, for example, steals from boutiques because she feels lonely and her daddy doesn't spend enough time with her (or that's what she tells everyone). When she gets caught, she almost lets Jessica take the blame for it.

She doesn't like Liz very much. Sure, Liz is pretty enough to be one of her friends, but she's so tremendously boring and straight-laced. Besides, Lila already has the token blonde in her clique, and she certainly doesn't want more competition in the looks department - especially when said competition will rat her out for having wine at parties. There are moments, however, when Lila can appreciate elements of Elizabeth. She seems to be surprised whenever Elizabeth flakes out.

In the first really Lila-heavy novel, Lila is in true love with Jack, a young employee of her father's, who is also dating Jessica unbeknownst to her. Jack proposes to Lila and suggests they keep it their own special secret. Lila accepts and agrees. Later, Jack turns out to be a knife-carrying, expelled from school, drug dealer who tries to kill Jessica and is never spoken of again. Headcanon: Jack is in prison, Lila acts like it all never happened and blames Jessica for all of it.

In another book that features her heavily, Lila sneakily starts up a rumor about a new SVH student, Susan, by dropping subtle clues to the two biggest gossips in the school. She claims Susan's mother is locked up in a prison for the criminally insane for murder, and the only reason she does this is because Susan has been invited to some fancy ball that Lila didn't get invitation for. This works out better than she had hoped, because Susan's boyfriend Gordon then invites Lila to go to the party! And he's rich! But wait, there's another turn of events, and it turns out Susan's father is famous. Lila catches him re-inviting Susan to the ball without uninviting her, and both girls dump him in front of everyone. The rumors are never traced back to Lila. HEADCANON: Then they go sit by her pool and become friends.

Next, she spends weeks creating an intricate plot to steal away the boy that she used to have a crush on, but was too busy to go after at the time. It's beautiful in how well crafted it is, and she basically uses word choice, people's natural insecurities, tendencies to gossip, etc against everyone as they all make Slam Books voting various members of the class to titles such as 'Best Future Couple.' At no point is she ever directly responsible for it. She breaks up not one, but two, couples in order to pulls this off and even makes a bet that seems like her natural vindictive self, which makes her look like she's going out with the guy as the result of losing the bet. Lila could rule the world, if she wanted too. Too bad most of it's so ugly. The only reason that this blows up with her is that she didn't edit her Slam Book properly, and so, she doesn't get the boy. That part doesn't bother her much, she uses them up like Kleenex anyway. The only real repercussion is that she gets voted Class Sneak.

In one of her next major appearances, Lila is a bitch to Jessica, which is something of a rarity. Namely, she gets Jess arrested for shoplifting on purpose. Jealous of Jessica being selected for a television news report, she teams up with classmate and fellow rich snob who she usually hates, Bruce Patman. She takes Jess to the mall for a new outfit for the interview, while he pretends to be a detective and calls in a shoplifting report. Later, exhilarated by the success of her devious scheme, she makes out with Bruce.

Then there is the major event for the character, an attempted date rape which is one of the few things in SVH to span more than one book and have a lasting effect on any character. Its aftermath and repercussions of this span the next 20 or so books.

Despite warnings to stay away from John Pfeifer, who has a dubious reputation with girls, Lila starts dating him. They go to a makeout point, and things get out of control. When she tells him to slow down, he doesn't listen, and she tries to get away from him. John kisses her roughly and bangs her head into the car window. Lila ends up stabbing him in the neck with car keys and fleeing, throwing the keys off a cliff.

She's left bruised, both physically and mentally. Lila thinks that it's somehow her fault, because she knows that she's a flirt. Clearly, she must have been asking for it somehow. She doesn't tell any of her friends about it and dismisses calling a teen helpline, because she thinks that no one will believe her. Worse, John turns up with a new girl at Lila's next party, terrifying her. When they go to leave, Lila shouts out not to go home with John and accuses him of the rape in front of everyone. John laughs and sleazily says that it wasn't rape. She runs away and hides for the rest of the party - in fact, for the next week, because she's humiliated and traumatized. Eventually, she confronts the douche in public with another of his attempted victims, and he becomes a social leper. But he doesn't go to jail. Lila soon starts getting counseling over this.

And she needs it, too, because the kids at school keep gossiping about it into the next book, making mention of how she wore a tight lycra mini on that date. She doesn't entirely give up boys (she thinks a prince is hot in the next book but... he's a prince), but she does turn down dates with perfectly suitable guys and attempting to get out of a blind date by staying home to watch Tarzan. It fails, and she has a miserable time, freaking out when he tries to put his arm around. Later, the boy (who was actually a nice kid) misreads her signals and tries to give her a good night kiss. Lila starts crying and runs into the house, wishing for the first time that her mother was around, because she still can't bring herself to tell her father about any of this.

Her therapist is a pretty good one who tries to put her at ease and make her feel more in control of her memories and life. Unfortunately, he's at the school when a riot breaks out at the junior prom, and he ushers a terrified Lila into an empty classroom and tells her that she's safe. She's basically in the middle of a flashback and thinks that he's going to rape her. He gets arrested, and Lila presses charges.

As a result, her father finally finds out at a meeting the school called with Mr. Fowler, Lila, the principal, and the counselor. Granted the man didn't do it, but good lord people, we do not put accused and victim in this scenario. After Mr. Fowler gets done trying to strangle the guy, he's like "I have no idea what to do here". Lila has fallen apart enough to stop eating and sleeping, but it isn't until she doesn't wash her hair for a week that Mr. Fowler figures out that his daughter is fucked in the head, because she's not taking pride in being pretty.

His solution is to call in her mother, who Lila has never met, and get her to fix it. [ This is the point in my canon review where I was like, damn, so. She'll be fine alone in the City - girl has obviously raised herself. No wonder she's such a bitch. ] Still, Lila cries with relief when she hears that Grace Fowler dropping everything to come to California.

Lila is confronted with new emotions like self doubt and insecurity leading up to her mother's arrival, critiquing everything about herself and wondering if she's a daughter that someone could love. Grace arrives, and Lila soon realizes this is only a short visit. When they finally begin to broach the topic, they're interrupted by her mother's lover, and her mother tries to put the discussion of her daughter's near rape on hold. Lila tells her mother off, saying that she hasn't been a mom this far, why start now. She treats herself to shopping therapy and returns to find her mother crying.

Her parents eventually get back together as a result of the increased time together, and Lila's okay with this. In fact, she helps safeguard it. Her mother's lover fondles one of Lila's friends, and Lila finds out about it, as her friend wants her to be on alert around him. She threatens him with exposure unless he returns to Paris without a word.

Let me just restate this for emphasis, because it's one of the most selfish, callous moments in the series. Lila Fowler, so traumatized by an attempted rape that she shows all signs of PTSD, knows that another underage girl is being molested and does nothing until it suits her needs.

Eleven books after the Pfeifer incident, Lila shows interest in dating again. Too bad the guy in question is also dating Jessica and another girl. After squabbling over him for a week, Lila and Jessica team up to humiliate him in epic fashion, crushing his expensive watch, cutting off most of his hair, and dying what's left of it purple.

A few more books, she is more like her old self, but some of the sharper corners have been rounded off. It has sunk through her head that there other important qualities in a person, besides appearance and money, although she manifests it in strange ways. She dumps a guy when she finds out he's poor, gets back with him because they have similar tastes and something of a real rapport (instead of him being her latest accessory), worries that he's dating her for her money and pretends that she's secretly a poor orphan that the Fowlers took in as a live-in maid. When he still likes her anyway, she tells him the truth, and they happily continue dating.

The west wing of her house then burns down, and Lila wakes up in the hospital from smoke inhalation. Lila is more concerned that all of her clothes burned up, at first, but then she goes home and finds that everything is ruined from the smoke and the fire. She tells herself that there are more important things than material goods to make herself feel better and thinks of fond memories of parties and growing up and actually cries. But then she thinks that it's worse than John the Attempted Date Rapist, so she needs to stop lying to herself because that shows her priorities right there.

Her parents are AFK for most of trilogy that this encompasses, despite her hospitalization and the cops suspicion that Lila is the arsonist due to monogrammed pajamas soaked in gasoline. Oh, and now she's dating the Wakefield's older brother Steven, who John the Rapist tries to "warn about Lila." Lila is arrested after she's found at the scene of another fire, with yet more evidence in her car. After Steven bails her out of jail (where are her parents? IDEK), Steven, Lila, and John the Rapist have a final confrontation with him going all crazypants and telling Lila now she knows how it feels, etc etc. He sets off a bomb. Lila and Steven escape, John the Rapist is dead.

Her parents finally turn back up, and they're all upset over what she's been through, which makes her think that they really love her as they're normally so composed. Then they're all look at you! You oversaw the rebuilding of the estate by yourself, we're so proud! Mr. and Mrs. Fowler explain that they take so many trips because they can see she loves her independence (which, yes, but this is ridiculous. Girl was in the hospital and in jail. Come home already.) They apologize and say that it leaves her vulnerable. Then they offer her cars, gowns, and jewelry to make it right. *HEADDESK* Lila says that she's not into material things anymore.

So, yeah, "anymore" means "for a few weeks." The next book kicks off with Jessica saying that Lila had been boring and depressed for a few weeks after the fire, but she's got her groove back now. Just in time for the four books that it takes to cover the prom (the second prom of this series, which supposedly fits entirely in their junior year, but. WHATEVER FRANCES PASCAL). There's not much to say about the prom: Lila throws the pre-game party and the morning after hangover brunch (not what she calls them, but, screw it, that's what they are). Lila doesn't have a date because she's pining over Steven Wakefield, who she promised Jessica she wouldn't date. She tries to make it up to herself by planning to steal someone else's date. Ugh, I'm over this biography section. Look, no one dies or riots at this prom, so it's a huge improvement on the last one.

And that's Lila's junior year!

PERSONALITY:

Lila is the quintessential mean girl. She is the queen bee and has been for as long as she can remember. She is generally in charge of THE clique, be it the Unicorn Club (No, really) or Pi Beta Alpha, the most popular sorority at her high school (since... whenever high schools had them. Think the Tri Delts).

She expects everyone to drop everything and do what she wants, and even then she's not happy. After dropping hints that someone else should throw her birthday party because she's tired of constantly planning parties, Lila gives the entire school the silent treatment when the party doesn't happen on her birthday. When she walks into it later, she complains that she isn't dressed for the party rather than thank everyone.

She is somewhat scared in terms of real sexuality, having been through an attempted date rape. She saw a therapist, who she then accused of trying to get in her pants. She's not scarred enough to prevent her from flirting with anyone that she finds worthy (attractive, rich, useful, etc) or that someone else wants. And it certainly doesn't stop her from throwing themed parties where everyone is to come stag, in costume, and have anonymous make-out sessions.

Girl has no ethics. She considers herself above the law, drinks and occasionally smokes, steals both material things and boyfriends. I still think that the shoplifting was due to everything being handed to her so easily, not family reasons. She did it for the thrill. She's also shown to be a racist, mocking Hispanics, telling a Hispanic girl who was pretending to be white that she won't spill the beans, and making negative comments about an interracial couple. She accuses everyone else of thinking the same thing and being too weak to admit it. The one thing that she seems to be adamantly against is hardcore drug use - she is legitimately moved when her classmate dies from a heroin overdose.

Speaking of family, hers is actually somewhat important to her. She doesn't talk to Bruce Patman much out of respect for the rivalry between the Patmans and and Fowlers, despite him being the only person at Sweet Valley High who is on her level. She'll also defend her friends, when boys aren't involved, going so far as to help them get revenge on a classmate by trying to get them fired by repeatedly acting like a horrible customer.

She's intelligent enough, with a good vocabulary (how many teenagers throw words like déclassé into their daily speech?), but Lila doesn't put much effort into studying. Surprisingly, her favorite book is Catcher in the Rye, and she actually gets it, miracle of miracles. She knows a lot about art, literature, wines, haute couture, and jewelry, and she can spot fakes a mile away.

She is phenomenal when it comes to social skills. As the mood strikes her, she knows how to present herself, how to be charming, how to zero in on the one soft spot to slip the dagger that will send someone crying to their room to write in their emo diary.

She relishes it when people like her. It's the driving motivation of her life: be popular. Even if she hates the person (like glasses-wearing Roger Barrett, a fellow student), she never does completely shut down the attention. Instead, she bats her eyelashes and convinces him to do things, and then - when it looks like he's suddenly become popular - she pulls a 180 and starts paying real attention in order to date the new It kid, writing him a poem because that's what besotted girls are supposed to do, isn't it? It's a terrible poem though, and she dumps him when she finds out his afterschool job is as a janitor. Burn in hell, Roger, for touching her with your mop hands.

She spreads rumors about people she doesn't like, doesn't know, knows, likes... really, just whenever it serves her purposes or amuses her. She has to do something to entertain herself when she's bored. She absolutely delights in chaos and other people's negative emotions (jealousy, sadness, pain). Often, there is a grain of truth in the rumor that she twists; lies based on truths make the rumor juicy so it spreads faster. God help you if she actually does know your secrets. Sees you meet an older man? Boom, everyone thinks you're dating a 40 year old. Finds out that you had a temporary personality switch after a car accident? Fifteen minutes later, several dozen people think that your parents are having you involuntarily committed to a mental institution.

She's confident to the point of arrogance and borderline delusion. She's competitive and a sore loser. She's not above blackmail either, but she's never done it for material gain.

When approached in the right way, Lila can be polite, even generous, giving extra party invitations so that Elizabeth can bring her out-of-town friend and pretty much permanently 'lending' clothes and high end electronics. She buys her friends (and people she wants to count as friends) extravagant gifts and downplays the expense. When she throws a party, almost the entire school is invited. She doesn't want to be perceived as shallow. It's calculated though, because she's on the record as knowing that you don't 'get ahead' in life by being generous and nice.

Still, don't ask for her help when you're only mildly inconvenienced. She's not sharing her umbrella and risking getting her new dress wet because you're unprepared. But she'll help you dumpster dive for that missing diamond earring because, well, diamonds.

She drops things like hot potatoes once she deems them uncool (like when she pretends to not remember the Unicorns, even though it was her club less than five years ago). She likes new clothes and beautiful things, but she doesn't take care of them (Lila uses Oriental rugs for beach blankets).

She has a severe aversion to the concept of working and expects to live off of her family's money forever. During a class project that simulated an adult life, she had a hissy fit when her assigned 'husband' was unemployed and her theoretical future self had a job as a short-order cook. When it came time to do a job that she volunteered for, Lila suddenly has a "sprained wrist", leaving her friend to get butt-punched and haul equipment alone. She has had a (presumably forced) internship at her father's company, which she said was more taxing than manual labor.

While Lila won lead soprano in the school choir, she gets screechy and shrill when she's annoyed.


POWER:
Lila has no superpowers in her world. I've specifically picked these powers to be a. funny and b. allow me to play Lila stripped of her money and connections, but remain a rich bitch walking tabloid.

Power Slots 1 & 2: Purse Pocket Dimension

In the city, she will quickly discover that, when she reaches into a purse, she has the ability to create a small dimensional void from which she can withdrawal one of two things at random. Mmm, Faustian power.

1. Designer shoes. These are by far the most common item that she comes up with, and she has no control over their design. All of them will fit her perfect size 7 feet, however.

2. Precious stones/jewelry. Again, there is no control over the specifics, and 90% of these pulls will be poor quality uncut stones that, to Lila, are pebbles, and she'll be throwing out thousands of them because they're "inferior." However, she can come up with near flawless cut gems, which she will pawn whenever she gets them (She isn't about to start working, omigod.) Extremely rarely, she will actually come up with a beautiful, set piece that's entirely to her tastes.

Power Slot 3: Precognition

This is not your standard precognition. While she is still seeing/knowing things before they happen, it's restricted solely to information that will cause a scandal. She won't know about that meteor that's about to hit the Earth. She will know that so-and-so is about to beat his wife (or at least has a chance to, she's obviously not going to divine everything that might happen in a City this size). Whether or not she gives two shits and does anything about it... enh, it's a 50/50 shot.


[CHARACTER SAMPLES]
COMMUNITY POST (VOICE) SAMPLE:

[OOC note: This will not be her first post, as that one will be accidental.]

[Video]

[ Shoes. There are shoes everywhere as the camera pans across the familiar basic set-up of a new room in the MAC. High heels, stilettos, strappy numbers, sensible pumps, cowboy boots - all footwear imaginable lie in a floor-swallowing jumble, piling up in shoe drifts against the furniture. The carpet is nowhere to be seen. The trashcan in the corner is over-flowing with small, colored stones. A young soprano voice is laughing heartily over this. ]

I have no idea what's going on, but this is outrageous.

[ The communicator is spun around, and a giggling Lila Fowler is sitting on her bed amidst several pairs of shoes rescued from the chaff. Her light-brown hair is loose and tousled, and her eyes are sparkling with tears from laughing so hard. But that's not the only thing twinkling in the feed. There is an intricate gold tiara atop that hair, with a single sapphire in it. She's holding up a black shoe with a rather iconic red sole. ]

I've never heard of Louboutin, but I think we're going to be good friends.

[She tosses the shoe over her shoulder for now, and it whumps of the headboard. The laughter finally stops, replaced by a tiny smile and a no-nonsense tone.]

Right. I'm getting out of this dump, and I mean now. Most of the shoes are staying - I am not a maid, this is not my apartment or my problem anymore. If anyone wants them, you're welcome to them, if you think can get your fat feet into them. I'll say which room they're in when I'm not.

[She turns the comm back around again, and the tips of her fingers can be seen as she fumbles to turn it off.]

Really, who wears cowboy boots?

[Snort. Click.]

LOGS POST (PROSE) SAMPLE:

As often as Lila drinks, she has never had the need nor the inclination to sneak into a bar. She can buy enough alcohol to get half of Sweet Valley High drunk on a regular basis, and the Fowler estate has an Olympic-sized swimming pool. Why go out and suffer the rabble of alcoholics and unemployed that frequent such establishments if she can put on a bikini, snap her fingers, and have the party come to her?

Still, her best friend owned the Tool Shed. When she found this out, Lila was slightly skeptical of it and its plebeian name. Jessica's money-making ideas were hit-or-miss. The hits usually required her assistance, but it piqued her curiosity. She allowed Jess to eventually wheedle her into a promise to check it out.

Thus, she spent the previous eight hours at the mall to find the perfect ensemble, a black leather miniskirt paired with a sequined silk tank top so thin and loose that she had to buy a coordinating bra. The style was all over the better stores, she didn't need the pushy salesgirl telling her it was amazing.

Determined to make an entrance, Lila was playing catch-up. Jessica had had two years to establish herself in the City. She's going to have to work the new girl angle to wedge herself back into the center of her best friend's circle.

She walks in as if its her bar and expects everyone to applaud her appearance. A few heads swivel to see the new arrival, and Lila's pleased at this, even if they look like Neanderthals who discovered fire as recently as this morning.

It's called a bouncer, people. Hire one. Now.

"And here's your barley wine." She looks towards the waitress' voice to see whose made this enlightened drink choice. Please, let him be a dreamboat. Her eyebrows knit together.

Oh. Oh no. They were serving barley wine in regular beer mugs. It was not to be endured.

Barley wine belongs in snifters.

Lila hitched up her purse and walked out. She checked it out. She's done.


FINAL NOTES:
The following is Lila's personal ad, from when Jessica convinced her that they needed to advertise for college-age boyfriends. I think it gives an accurate description of who she wants to be.

"Glamorous, sophisticated, mature high school girl looking for someone with the right stuff. I like fast cars, caviar, and the Caribbean. Don't talk to me about commitment — I'm looking for excitement, not a bridge partner. If you can keep up with me, I want you. Kids need not apply."


Also, I wanted to include more of her day-to-day behavior, because it's hilarious. Some of her nastier maneuvers that aren't mentioned above are:

* Finding out someone has a made-up boyfriend and teaming up with Jess to humiliate her by throwing said fake boyf a party.
* Responds to the news of an attempted suicide by putting on lip gloss.
* Bets term papers on whether Jess can break up a relationship in 12 days, so Lila is forced to write two papers. Hers receives a B-, and Jessica's gets a D. That's what you get when you make her do work. When you think you've won
* Ratting out Jess about her new bad boy boyfriend to her anal twin and, some time later, tells a new boyfriend that Jess is probably cheating on him. How dare you ignore her, Jessica Wakefield, for anyone.
* Legitimately thinks that the Wakefields have been kidnapped, forgets when she sees her boyfriend who she's mad at, bitches at ruining her new jacket while crawling on the ground commando style in the rescue attempt

And a precious few moments of warped niceness:
* Agreeing to stop chasing a boy that Elizabeth Wakefield likes, because Liz has no men and Lila has so many. Direct quote: "I really do have an outstanding social life."
* Looking for Jessica when she runs away.
* Realizing when people at her party need privacy to discuss serious issues and letting them use a more private room, without eavesdropping.
* Convincing her friend Cara to patch things up with her boyfriend, with no ulterior motive in sight.