Name: Riley Sterling || FC: Blake Lively || Status: Role is Taken
Gender Identity & Sexuality: Female/Straight
Personality Traits (positive & negative): + enthusiastic, romantic, family orientated. - argumentative, slightly alcoholic, over-protective
Where in Turtle Cove does your character reside: Beachside House
Occupation: Pro-Bono/low charging Criminal Defense Lawyer / Law Firm owner
Riley’s Passions: From being a child, all Riley wanted to do was to help people. So when she had the opportunity to study law, most people expected her to rise to the top and earn the big dollars. However, when her younger brother was accused of rape in college, and no lawyer would take his case, Riley’s passion became something more - it became about helping the people who couldn’t afford the right counsel. From there, she took the money she’d earned doing corporate law and rented a small unit, gathered up some other helpful souls, and began her own pro-bono practice. It wasn’t long until she began gathering recognition from the local media and council, gaining funding from the government and helping anyone that needed it.
Family Dynamics: Riley is a very over-protective sister to two siblings - James and Nevaeh. She is the eldest, with her brother and sister being nineteen and sixteen, respectively. The Sterlings lost their mother early, with Nevaeh only being 3-years-old, and with their father was a working detective, their Aunt became their primary guardian when Dad wasn’t home. When Riley’s decision to become a criminal defense lawyer reached her father, the two exchanged heated words, but it was seeing her in action that determined her father’s opinion on her ability. Her Aunt, now semi-retired, was once a lawyer herself, however she only studied in construction law, never understood why Riley would want to get herself mixed up with criminals, and distanced herself from the family once they got older.
Now and Then: Personality wise, Riley had grown a lot more confident in herself, however in doing so she became overly used to the company of the opposite sex - usually the end of an alcohol infused evening. This would be the most traumatic change in Riley’s life, since when she was younger, and going through college and law school, she was always studious and remained sober throughout. Upon passing the bar and realizing the strain that being a lawyer can have, she turned to drink, starting slow and drinking socially before it turned into a bottle of wine after work, then vodka or whiskey. While she looks strung up and whole on the outside, on the inside she has lost all self worth.
