...a very good place to start.

[heartlikesteel]

Your name: Sarah K.
Your personal LJ: douxquemiel
Who do you currently play at Tabula Rasa?: Josh Lyman, Seeley Booth, and Shepherd Book
Please list the dates of your participation requirement threads or posts for each pup for the previous calendar month:
Josh Lyman: Here.
Seeley Booth: here; here; and here.
Shepherd Book: Here.
Have you dropped any pup since your last application? If so, why did you feel the need to drop them? No.
What month and year is this application for?: June 2007

Your character's name: Ellen Harvelle
Your character's canon: Supernatural
What type of canon is it (Book series, film, etc.): Television
Your character's LJ: heartlikesteel
Is your character living or dead at their time of entry?: Living.

Does your character have any pre-existing disabilities of a medical, physical, or psychiatric nature?: (paralyzed or missing limbs, AIDS, barren, schizophrenia, etc.)
Ellen's biggest weakness is her love for her family. She loved her husband, and lost him to his job, and is scared that the same will happen to her daughter. She has done some hunting of her own, and has had a few broken bones and bruised ribs, but nothing long-term.

Your character's personality: (This should be between 150 and 400 words detailing the major aspects of your pup's personality. This is NOT the same as background information.)
Ellen is a real woman, a hunter, a bartender, a mother. She takes her roles and makes them part of herself, her identity. She is passionate and fierce, a Real Woman. She doesn't mess around or mince words. She is plainspoken, honest, and upfront. Subtlety and tact are used when she feels they are necessary, which doesn't exactly happen often. She values her privacy and her independence, and doesn't tie herself to anything except her family. She loves her work at the Roadhouse, and loves the friends and associates she has made. She is a hunter, though not as active as the ones she serves PBR to at her bar. She understands the life of her patrons, and she herself has the heart of a hunter.

Ellen is a mother, and is still a wife, though some might call her a widow. She loved her husband, and misses him dearly. She doesn't blame the job for what happened; every woman who loves a hunter knows he has one foot in the grave. She doesn't even blame John for what happened anymore; she wishes he had come back to the Roadhouse before he had died. Her one connection to her husband is Jo, her daughter. She sees her rebellion and understands the passion and drive to hunt inside her. She sees Jo has a hunter's heart, but she doesn't want to lose her. Jo is all Ellen has left, and without her, she would be lost. They fight because Ellen doesn't want to let her go, but she can't make her stay. Her relationship with Jo is the hardest thing she does everyday, and she wouldn't have it any other way.

Though she loved her husband, Ellen is a passionate woman with her own needs, and hasn't had a problem taking men to her bed on occasion. She is fierce, passionate, and independent, with a stubborn streak a mile long. She enjoys the company of hunters, and can hold her own in just about anything-drinking, arm wrestling, darts, poker, pool... She isn't the best, but she sure as hell won't be intimidated by some of the guys that roll through the door of the Roadhouse. She is dominant, skeptical, and independent, but she is a typical mother-- loving and always worried. She has both sides of her heart -hunter and mother--woven together by her family. From the lips of Samantha Ferris, the actress who portrays Ellen: "I would say Ellen [is] a gun-toting, bar-owning, broad. One of the boys."

[Word Count: 417]

Why do you want to play this character?: (This should be between 150 and 400 words detailing your character's general ability to contribute to the fictional community of Tabula Rasa.)
I've said it before, and I'll say it again: I'd love to have a female character. Right now, all the pups I'm playing are guys. I love them, but having a female character would be great (I played Evelyn Carnahan for about a minute, but her voice left me as quickly as it arrived). Where Evelyn was very, very different from me and difficult to get a grip on her voice, Ellen and I share a few qualities that create a space for her in my head. She and I both are no-nonsense, blunt, passionate women, and it would be an honor to play her.

Now that we have the Hub, Ellen thinks we need a Real Bartender. And Ellen will tell you that she knows how to handle a Real Bar. She can handle herself, a bar, and a bunch of drunken hunters looking for a fight. And if that isn't an asset to an island, than I don't know what is. Beyond bartending, she also wouldn't object to giving a hand around the school. She doesn't know what she'd teach, but she'd probably love to help.

Ellen is also a very direct woman. She doesn't mess around, she doesn't take any lip, and she's stubborn as hell. We have women on the island who range in age from children to middle age and beyond. We have women who are feminine and docile, and we have women who are aggressive and dominant. But there really are very few women like Ellen. She is a woman of power, attitude, and strength, and she's not some young hotshot with a nice ass. Having more women like her around is never a bad thing. There are a number of pregnant woman right now, and having another woman who has been there, done that, would be an asset.

[Word Count: 305]

Tell us about your character's background: (This should be between 150 and 400 words detailing your character's past and present. The future may be included, if relevant. Also be sure to include the point at which s/he is leaving canon)
Supernatural canon gives little to no information about Ellen's background. We know she is William Anthony Harvelle's widow, mother to Joanna Beth Harvelle, and that she now owns Harvelle's Roadhouse. We don't know anything about her background before marrying Bill or their life together; much of her history and background has to be inferred. Because the canon is ongoing, I will keep an open mind to new information and assimilate it as much as possible with the background for Ellen I have constructed. I would think that she grew up in a working-class family, and was the first one to apply to college. She had intended to go to the local state school, but instead she met Bill, fell in love, and got married, leaving school behind. She knew about his job and the dangers that go with it; it was part of Bill, and part of what she loved about him. We're not sure about her current age, but I would say around 40; Jo is about 18-20, and Ellen still looks pretty young.

Ellen knew John Winchester when he was still alive, but hadn't spoken in a number of years. Sam and Dean speculated they may have had a relationship at some point in their past, but it hasn't been confirmed (or denied, for that matter). Through the course of canon thus far, we learn that her husband's death was the result of a mistake made by John Winchester while they were working together on a hunt. Ellen admits that her husband's death wasn't John's fault, and she forgave him a long time ago, but that John may have never forgiven himself.

Ellen doesn't blame the brothers Winchester for her daughter's decision to become a hunter; she also doesn't let them get away with hiding from one another. She believes in family, and in true friends, and she cares for her daughter and the Winchester brothers with the same unselfish love. She treats them as equals, but she worries for them like any mother would, giving them what she can to help them on their way.

Ellen arrives at Tabula Rasa at the end of Season Two, midway through the episode All Hell Breaks Loose, Part 2.

[Word count: 363]

Your character's initial personal inventory: (This is a detailed list of everything on a person when they first arrive on the Island. It should include clothes, accessories, carried items, etc. Should your pup be in possession of a device that requires a battery, please include the power level of the battery/ies. This list cannot be too detailed!)

Ellen arrives on Tabula Rasa midway through the events of All Hell Breaks Loose, Part 2 with the following:

Wearing:

• Green canvas military coat with a notched collar and cargo pockets, military style, but styled for a woman.
  
• well-worn denim blue button-front, mother-of-pearl buttons
  
• navy camisole
  
• faded (but originally dark) Levi's 501 jeans; older than Jo (her daughter).
  
• brown leather belt
  
• brown leather Harley Davidson motorcycle boots
  
• string cotton bikini underwear, black
  
• cotton underwire bra, black
  
• cotton rag socks
  
• A small protective charm, to ward off possessions and evil, on a silver anklet.

In her wallet:

• her real drivers license, health card and credit card
  
• three fake drivers' licenses
  
• $50 cash
  
• miscellaneous receipts
  
• a small photo of Bill and Ellen a few years after they met
  
• a recent photo of Jo and Ellen, Jo is about 17 in the picture

In her jacket pockets:

• right inside pocket; folded up map of Wyoming, with five 'x' marks on it.
  
• Six 12 gauge shotgun shells for the Winchester shotgun.
  
• Eight .357 revolver shells.
  
• A well-used and early edition Palm Treo 600, 85% battery remaining.
  
• Six single-serve packets of salt.
  
• A three ounce bottle of holy water.

On her person:

• Winchester M1895 sawed off shotgun with a pistol-grip and shortened stock.
  
• Colt Python revolver with a Royal Blue finish.
  
• Combat knife with a 5 1/4" blade strapped to her ankle in a leather sheath.
  
• Miscellaneous keys to the Roadhouse (front door, back door, storage room, Ash's room, her room, Jo's room, hunter's cellar, etc) and the key to her 1970 Chevy truck on an old leather key fob.

Your character's entrance post: (This may be altered once you actually post your pup in, but our primary goal here is to ensure you have put a modicum of thought into how you will go about portraying your pup.)

Pretzels. She'd gone out for goddamn pretzels and everything had gone to hell. After Ash's phone call, she had headed straight home, already worried. She had seen the smoke a ways off and drove the last mile clutching the wheel with white knuckles, praying. The truck slid into what was left of the parking lot as the flames ate her home. She stumbled from the truck, staring at the blaze. She took a moment to grab the sawed-off from under the passenger seat, hearing Bill's voice in her ears. Don't go anywhere you don't trust without a weapon. Just don't. She already had her revolver where it always was, tucked in the back of her jeans, but you could never be too careful. She checked for shells and grabbed a couple extra, sliding them into her jacket pocket.

She blinked back tears and slid her jaw around, fighting tears. She felt guilty, taking a moment to say a little prayer of thanks that Jo wasn't living with her anymore. Small favors, the little stubborn mule. She circled the building and kicked through the back door, the only one not burning. The rest of the building was consumed, but ain't no way she wasn't going to try to find someone. "ASH!" She hollered into the blaze, her arm raised in front of her face to protect herself. "ASH!!" She was shrieking, nearly tripping over burnt bodies, stopping to take pulses where she thought they might have a chance. Not too many of those. Did anyone survive? She could hear the building shuddering under the heat, and she ran back outside, squinting from the dust and soot and smell, turning back to see the doorway cave in.

As fear and loss welled up inside her, Ash's final words echoed in her head-- "Check the safe." She headed down to the hidden cellar, out behind the bar. It had its own entrance, separated from the main building entirely; she always got irritated about how she had to leave the bar to get extra ammo, some of the older reference books or whatever else some hunter needed. As much as she complained, she had known in her gut that it made sense when Bill insisted on it years ago, but she didn't realize just how much. She fumbled in the darkness and tucked the shotgun under her arm. She opened the safe, sliding the contents into her inside jacket pocket before heading back into the night. She walked slowly back around the building, avoiding falling timbers and the pressing heat from the fire.

She leaned against the hood of her truck, watching it burn. Ash is gone. The Roadhouse --our roadhouse-- is gone. All those hunters... She swiped the back of her hand across her eyes, smearing a tear mixed with soot like a scar on her cheek. Damn smoke. It stung her eyes, she rationalized. She shook her head and pressed her lips together to bite in what she couldn't let out. No time for tears. Gotta figure out what the hell is going on. Her thoughts reeled, thinking one step ahead of the other, keeping on her toes, like Bill taught her. Gotta be something from Hell; they know what we do, how we operate. Why tonight? Why now? Could it be something with Sam and the other kids like him? For a split second, her heart skipped a beat as she thought of the Winchester boys. What if-- Her brow furrowed in thought, her keys jingling in her hand. Bobby. Gotta get to Bobby. Find out what's going on. She spun on her heel, headed for the truck. When she looked up, the truck was gone, the flaming wreckage of the Roadhouse gone. The night was cold, and she was alone.

She froze, keys still in one hand, the shotgun in the other. She tightened her grip on the latter, slipping her keys in her pocket and sliding her other hand to the barrel of the gun, steadying it in front of her. This... this could not be good.