" gonna need something stronger than coffee today, rosie. “ she slides into one of the chairs behind the bar counter, dropping her parchment paper and quills on the surface in front of her. rita likes doing research. she genuinely does. but she’s trying to catch up on nearly fifty years, and she has to admit that she has bit off a bit more than she can chew. especially when new things keep happening, too. so she gives rosmerta an exhausted smile, that never quite reaches her eyes. “ irish coffee would be fine. “ she pauses, seemingly forgetting herself. “ thank you, “ she adds, and her smile turns and shifts, becomes sweeter, realer. but at the same time, wasn’t the first smile more genuine? she shuffles her papers in front of her, sorts through them quickly, before stuffing them into her purse. organized chaos. “ you look good. “
@betratyal
( setting: a small bakery in muggle london.
date: september 5, 2029 ).
she’s in her element. a chewed up pencil rests comfortably between her fingers, a slight smile plays on her lips, and her hand is placed under her chin. reassurance and understanding radiates off her, a ploy at making her subject feel at ease. as if they aren’t a cat and a mouse, right now. as if she isn’t trying to wreck his life, one lie at a time. “ so, peter, “ she says. her voice is warm, like honey, the one she reserves for when she really, really wants something. rita is like a blood hound, and around peter pettigrew, she can smell something newsworthy ( which she finds.... odd, given that he is peter pettigrew, after all ) ---- and besides, she has spied enough on the people around him for the past couple of days to know that something is going on. “ have some tea, will you? you look like you could use something to take the edge off. “ at that, she breaks into a crooked grin, her eyes crinkling. she’s poking, prodding. trying to find a way in. “ how are you doing, pete? you settled in yet? in the future? this brave new world... “
QUEEN OF THE QUILLS.
rita alvera skeeter. twenty five.
creative. silver tongued. resourceful.
corrupt. cruel. vindictive. selfish.
reporter. columnist. gossip icon.
death eater collaborator.
too bad. so sad.
playlist
pinterest
soft betrayal, mom jeans and high heels, long nails tapping impatiently against paper, organized chaos, quietly humming while ruining yet another life ( piece by piece ), ancient typewriters, never getting your hands dirty ( but your hands are stained red, regardless ), the devil’s favorite weapon is a quill, coffee that burns your tongue, burying yourself in strangers, chasing stories, the sweet taste of destruction, heart shaped lollipops, sunkissed shoulders, blurred lines between right and wrong, dog eared pages, blowing bubbles, fake smiles, the color of dark oceans, running in high heels, slowly becoming an empty shell of a girl, sour ambition, ‘my heart will leave you blistered and stained’, roses tucked behind ears, revenge in a tea cup, backhanded compliments, writing and writing and writing until your heart bleeds, scribbled notes in margins, blood red lips..... and how you’re so afraid that you think it might just break you ( luckily, villains don’t break that easily ).
LINDSEY MORGAN? No, that’s actually RITA SKEETER from the MARAUDERS ERA. You know, the child of ADRIANNA VARGAS (NEE SKEETER) and DIEGO VARGAS? Only 25 years old, this SLYTHERIN alumni works as an REPORTER and is sided with THE NEUTRALS / HERSELF ONLY. SHE identifies as a CIS WOMAN and is a HALFBLOOD who is known to be VINDICTIVE, CRUEL, and CORRUPT but also SILVER TONGUED, CHARMING, and RESOURCEFUL. — &&. ( LIZ, GMT+2, SHE/HER, 22. )
+ creative, silver tongued, resourceful, charming and bright.
- two faced, cruel, vindictive, selfish and scheming.
age: 25.
date of birth: december 31.
zodiac: capricorn.
hometown: acapulco, mexico.
current location: lives across the street from the ministry in an apartment she can most definitively not afford.
gender: cis female.
pronouns: she/her.
orientation: bisexual.
allegiance: herself only. but she collaborates with the death eaters frequently, as she will write anything that they want.
spoken languages: spanish ( native language ), english ( fluently ), french ( sufficient ).
moral alignment: neutral evil.
- A neutral evil villain does whatever she can get away with. She is out for herself, pure and simple. She sheds no tears for those she kills, whether for profit, sport, or convenience (x).
element: water.
house: slytherin.
BACKGROUND & FAMILY.
so. margarita vargas was born as the youngest of five daughters. she grew up in the coastal city of acapulco, located in mexico, and her first few years were spent in absolute bliss. her father, a muggle man, was a famous - and later, infamous, televangelist. diego vargas was known all over mexico for his weekly broadcasted church service, and became very rich for it. what did he do with this wealth? well, for the most part, he spoiled his family rotten.
the vargas girls were the perfect daughters, as was expected of them. they grew up in the public eye, attending sermons, smiling pretty, posing for elaborately staged family portraits. and always, always saying the right things. like pretending that they were being sent off to a christian girl’s school every year, instead of attending illvermorny.
mr. vargas married adrianna vargas knowing full well that she was a witch, and intended to take full advantage of that. and adrianna was happy to make diego’s life easier, because she loved him. but more than anything, she loved him for his fame, his money, his success.
unfortunately for the vargas, everything came crumbling down when rita was eight. then, it became public knowledge that her father was heavily involved in financing and also collaborating with several corrupt political bodies which aimed to cause mayhem, destruction and terror within the country.
so the vargas fell from grace, and out of favor in the public eye. mr. vargas faced jail time, lost all of his sponsors, and suddenly didn’t seem so appealing to mrs vargas anymore. so adrianna packed up her bags, took her daughters, changed their names and moved to england. and so margarita vargas found herself with a new identity - rita skeeter.
after that, she would never see her father again. her mother never spoke of him ( like most things, in the skeeter household - problems were buried but never forgotten ), and refused to acknowledge his existence.
their new life was a sharp contrast to their past, which would come to seem like a blurry dream. while the vargas had bathed in luxury and money, the skeeters kinda struggled financially. her mother was fueled by fury - angry with a man that had humiliated her, taken advantage of her, left her with nothing. so she vowed to never be dependent on anyone else ever again. she found herself a job, and set up a new life for herself and her daughters, one that wasn’t focused on the saintly teachings of her ex-husband. instead, adrianna skeeter drilled into her daughters that success, power and glory was all that mattered. everything else, even family, comes second. you can only depend on yourself.
so, the skeeter girls became competitive. cut throat. dangerous. her sisters’ names can be read in the highest offices of britain, in politics, in the nicest corporate offices in london. but they also hardly ever speak to each other, anymore.
HOGWARTS YEARS.
she arrives at hogwarts ready to prove herself. show that she’s just as good as her sisters, if not better.
but she soon realizes that she falls painfully short — that she isn’t the brightest of the skeeter bunch, that she isn’t the most talented witch. hell, she doesn’t even place second.
so what does she do? she plays dumb. pretends that she’s just a pretty face. it’s just a fluke that she’s getting high grades - it’s not that she sits up all night studying. or that she manages to bribe and cheat her way into getting a time turner by her fourth year. she’s working herself into the ground, but refuses to let anyone know. it’s better, that way.
really though, pride isn’t the sin that will hang rita. she’s playing the long game, and comes to realize that no one doubts a pretty, senseless girl. so that is what she shall be.
she gets through hogwarts on dirty tricks and hard work, but makes it look effortless.
around hogwarts, she was known as quite the party girl, always looking to have a good time. maybe a little too good of a time, actually. her reputation always walked the line, on that one.
she acts drunker than she is, but is careful to always remain sharp. most people think of her as baby skeeter - fun, but harmless. for rita, secrets become a currency.
and so she moves through different social circles, shedding her personality like a snake sheds its skin, all to fit in with any crowd, any house. she loses herself somewhere along the way - at this point, rita doesn’t know who she is. but that’s just as well. rita skeeter has never let anyone in, and she never will.
a new name appears in the school paper around rita’s fourth year. bridget higgins writes the stories that are on everyone’s lips, but no one knows who she is. obviously it’s rita.
by her seventh year, rita manages to become an animagus, and a royal blue beetle begins its reign. miss higgins’ stories become more and more elaborate, more daring, more scandalous. by the end of her time at hogwarts, rita is already writing in blood, destroying lives through the flick of her quill.
AFTER HOGWARTS.
rita started interning at witch weekly during the summers after her fifth year at the school. she wrote short fluff pieces about fashion.
after graduating, rita started working as a columnist for witch weekly. she wrote a popular gossip column about popular famous witches and wizards, but also dipped her toes into the pool of wizard politics in britain.
eventually, she came to take on a second job at the daily prophet. she stretches herself too thin, but she makes it work. somehow.
at the daily prophet, she writes more political stories. zeroes in on the ministry. asks uncomfortable questions. shows up where she is definitively not allowed to be. she becomes a pain in the ass like no other, and writes exposés that become notorious for putting people in tight spots.
many at the ministry treat her like crap, like a bug that needs to be squashed. she realizes quickly that they have little respect for her, and she is quite happy to return the favor. if they treat her like she’s awful, she might as well be just that.
her stories aren’t entirely fabricated —- every story that she writes has a seed of truth in it. just enough to make it believable.
most of it is bullshit though, but to stir the pot, she every now and then drops something that is very accurate. sometimes she does it to help the order. sometimes she does it to help herself or the death eaters. but there is always a motive behind it.
eventually gets involved with the death eaters. didn’t actually mean to, but fucked with the wrong person at the ministry !!! now she’s under their thumb and it kinda sucks but she’s also not that mad about it because she gets some ~~~~carefully selected~~~ information in return. so she basically writes whatever the fuck the death eaters want her to write.
rita started out with the goal of doing good reporting, but realized quickly that those stories did not sell papers and gained little interest from the public. so she turns to sensationalism, doesn’t see the harm in spinning her stories a little further than necessary. which soon spiraled out of control.
RITA’S FUTURE ( 1998 and forward. )
rita skeeter goes missing in 1999 and is rumored to be laughing all the way to the bank because the biographies she wrote on harry potter, albus dumbledore and severus snape sold MILLIONS. new books by rita skeeter resurfaces every few years, but no one ever sees her again. conspiracy theorists are sure that she was murdered ( and her books are now penned by a ghost writer ), but others say that she’s off on an island somewhere.
THE TIME CLASH.
so ------ rita is pulled from her youth, straight into the future. it’s a bit of a shock, of course.
rita is a reporter first, everything else second. so what does she do? RESEARCH. looks around. tries her best to figure shit out. makes diligent notes of everything that has gone wrong, and everything that has gone right. she researches her future self. she researches everything her future self has written.
most of all, i think she adapts. to the muggle technology, mostly, but also to the new world order.
AS A PERSON.
holds a grudge like no other !!
other talents include backstabbing and lying!
lowkey mean. lol.
only does what serves her best : ~)
neutral evil thank u
never sleeps? runs on coffee and caffeine pills
has never done a selfless thing in her entire life
daddy issues 4 sure
super good at faking niceness!!! it’s a talent, really
most stubborn gal ever, try to change her mind
doesn’t actually realize that she’s the villain
always playing dirty
*sombra vc*: where’s the fun in playing fair?
has like three cents to her name at all times :/
always working a fucking angle and plays the long game.
loves attention!!!
cut throat, will drop u so fast !!!
very bi
loves hearing her own voice!!!
but also very observant and can shut up if she knows that’s more beneficial to her !!
the type of person to take and take and take until u are left with absolutely nothing
10000% her parents’ daughter !!! takes after them both.
very determined!!!
doesn’t really believe in what voldemort is doing, but also isn’t personally invested enough to properly care.
trust issues!!
not so much motivated by money ( she’s broke ) as she is by fame. could have something to do with her past idk.
possibly the most selfish girl on the planet?
FAVORITE CHARACTER TROPES.
THE DARK CHICK - good at reading emotions, resolving fights and weaponizing her strengths — all the while keeping an eye on what she considers to be the bigger picture.
FEMME FATALE - ‘first she turns you on, then she turns on you.’
INTREPID REPORTER - a troublemaker sort of journalist.
THEN LET ME BE EVIL - any sense of good reporting and morals gets broken down by being treated like crap by presumptuous forces of good for too long. aka everyone telling her she’s shit.
CONSUMMATE LIAR - a liar so good you never want to play poker with them because you’d go home without your underwear and short next week’s paycheck.
BITCH IN SHEEP’S CLOTHING - wears a thousand masks to hide her true colors.
THE POWER OF ACTING - a character who acts her way through life.
NO FACE UNDER THE MASK - does the real rita skeeter even exist? who is she? can she remember her true personality? probably not.
THE EVIL PRINCE - a character that knows they’re meant for greatness, but there are a lot of other… less great characters in their way. if only these characters could be “persuaded” to move, then nothing would stand in their way to the throne. ;)
CHRONIC BACKSTABBING DISORDER - someone who constantly and successfully betrays their allegiances. switches sides as frequently as she switches clothes. what is loyalty?
AMBIGUOUSLY EVIL - it’s never quite made clear what side she is truly on? sike, she’s playing for both teams !!!
HEEL / FACE REVOLVING DOOR - morality is grey, and this character switches sides so often that in the long run, they end up… just not having one.
THE CORRUPTER - the metaphorical devil on your shoulder.
THE CON ARTIST - selling lies so outrageous they can’t possibly be true, but still getting away with it.
CHARACTER INFLUENCES.
SOMBRA ( overwatch ) - always got another dirty trick up her sleeve, kinda selfish, always infiltrating something, out there manipulating those in power hell yeah
KELLY KAPOOR ( the office )- the narcissism, the many layers, the gossip, the jealousy, the drama, the lies, ‘i don’t talk trash, i talk smack. they’re totally different’.
CONNOR WALSH ( htgawm ) - wow i can’t believe rita skeeter is connor walsh?? either way. so sly, bit of a slut, utterly shameless, lies a lot, doesn’t care too much about other people, very confident, bit over emotional at times. gets whatever the fuck they set their mind on. the ends justify the means, always.
MARGAERY TYRELL ( game of thrones ) - the cleverness, the manipulation, the scheming.
HERA ( the goddess ) - the vengeance, the viciousness, the jealousy.
DEBBIE EAGAN ( glow ) - lowkey thinks the world revolves around her. bit manipulative. really ambitious. kinda cut throat. ready to throw anyone under the bus to get places.
JESSICA HAMBY ( true blood ) - the strict religious upbringing, the rebellion, the occasional softness.
ALISON DILAURENTIS ( pretty little liars ) - the bitchiness, the cruelty, the constantly shifting personas, the lies.
CHANEL OBERLIN ( scream queens ) - really ruthless, can be quite mean, bit narcissistic.
LIRA ( to kill a kingdom ) - the siren!!!! singing (aka writing) people to their undoings!!!! with little to no remorse!!! hell yeah
LAUREL CASTILLO ( htgawm ) - a snake that is good at hiding under the radar, kind of shady, highly manipulative, bounces back and forth between allegiances.
JACKIE BURKHART ( thats 70s show ) - the STYLE!!!!!!!! the narcissism! the manipulation! the greed!
MORTAL, ON THE GROUND, DRENCHED IN SWEAT AND TEARS: are you a nightmare? are you a dream?
APHRODITE, BARING HER TEETH, DRENCHED IN BLOOD AND ASH: I am everything inbetween.
