Post by Isabelle Juliet Reneau on Mar 4, 2009 0:47:36 GMT -5
;; fundamentals
full name;; Isabelle Juliet Reneau
nickname;; Belle
birthday;; November 20th, 1905
age;; 18
sexual orientation;; Straight
job;; Courtesan
class;; Lower
Canon;; No
;; appearance
general;; Though Isabelle once could be described as beautiful, this beauty is now masked with the years of poverty, hard work, and the life of a courtesan. Her long, dark brown hair is usually worn up in whatever intricate hairstyle is the style of the day, and her pale creamy skin is buffed, polished, and washed until it shines. She keeps her appearance immaculate, conscious that she must always look her best. With her high cheekbones, softly curving jawline, and expressive dark eyes, Isabelle is a favorite with the frequent customers of the Moulin Rouge.
When she is not working, she wears her hair down or loosely tied up with a ribbon, and prefers simpler clothes and less makeup. When she is working, she has to cater to the preferences of her managers and the customers of the Moulin Rouge, and therefore has to wear a good deal of makeup, flashy jewelry, and fancy dresses. Isabelle often views herself as more pretty when she isn't made up for her job, as she looks quite different when not at the Moulin Rouge.
favorite;; Isabelle loves her hair. When she was younger her mother and older sisters used to brush it and braid it and generally make it pretty.
hate;; Her least favorite aspect of her appearance would be the fact that she is forced to look so made-up and gaudy at her job. Also, she's always been just a bit self-conscious about her eyebrows.
heritage;; French
ethnicity;; Caucasian
;; personality
general;; On the surface, Isabelle seems like a poised, confident, glamorous young woman. She is the toast of the Moulin Rouge, one of the most famous singers there, and a highly-demanded courtesan. Her customers pay her to be attentive, carefree, and flattering, but when she is off-duty, she's another person entirely. Deep down, Isabelle hates her life as a courtesan. She is a dreamer, and longs to be anywhere else but where she is. Quiet and introverted, Isabelle doesn't let people into her personal life very often. But those who do get to know her value her compassion, her kindness, and her warm nature.
Before she came to Paris, she was a very spunky, wild, headstrong girl, who loved to get her own way and was incredibly stubborn. But since being hurt and abandoned by her fiance, she has closed down. She rarely makes friends, prefers not to socialize with the other courtesans, and has no social circle outside of work. Erik is the only person she's allowed herself to form an emotional attachment with, and even then, it's a very reluctant and shaky bond.
hobbies;; + Singing- Isabelle has always loved to sing, and is good at it, but hates to sing in front of others.
+ Writing- Occasionally, at night when everyone else is asleep, Isabelle loves to write stories and poems. She once dreamt of making a living by her pen, but has since given up that dream.
+ Knitting- Just something to do to occupy her hands when she's bored.
+ Cooking- Back at home, Isabelle helped cook for their family, learning her mother's recipes and secret cooking tips.
dislikes;; + Being condescended to- but unfortunately, as she is a lower-class whore, it happens more often than she'd like.
+ Being objectified- though once again, it comes with the territory.
+ Pushy customers- they're just rude and quite frankly, annoying.
+ Birds- they freak her out and they're really loud.
+ Being a courtesan- yes, she gets fancy clothes, chocolate, and trips to the opera, but in the end she rather hates her job.
+ Her old fiance- he left her for dead in the streets of Paris... she could hardly be expected to like him.
+ Sharp objects- she's just accident-prone enough to hate being around them.
likes;; + Talking to Erik- though at first his insistence on only talking creeped her out, she now looks forward to the hours they spend just sitting and talking.
+ Music- she enjoys it when her patrons take her to the opera, and would even have auditioned for the opera instead of sing at the Moulin Rouge, if she'd had more courage.
+ Animals- she misses her dogs back home.
+ Her family- even though she's burned those bridges...
+ Reading- she loves to buy cheap books and stay up all night reading them by candlelight.
+ Chocolate- she would eat it every day if it didn't go straight to her waist.
+ Orchids- they're her favorite flowers.
Fears;; + Being out on the street- Isabelle lives in constant fear that she will lose her job at the Moulin Rouge and be back out on the street with no house and no food.
+ Dying- opportunities to die are frequent and around every corner when you're in Isabelle's line of work.
+ Being hurt by someone close to her- this is why she is reluctant to let people in.
+ Knives- or any sharp edges...
+ Being bound/kidnapped- this is a particularly intense phobia of Isabelle's.
Secrets;; + The hours she spends with Erik. Though he pays her for her time- as well as other services- she knows that her bosses might not approve.
+ The cat she has hidden in her small apartment.
+ The novel that she's working on writing but is afraid to tell anyone about.
;; origins
general;; Isabelle was born in a small village in the countryside of France in 1905 to Benjamin and Julie Reneau. Her family wasn't one of the richest in the village, but they didn't live in poverty either. Her mother and father owned a small bakery in the village, and it was always expected that she would follow in her older siblings' footsteps and work in the bakery when she was older. However, Isabelle proved to be a very strong-willed child, and resisted all her parents' plans for her. When she was fifteen, she fell in love with a young man from the village, Robert Rousseau. When they snuck away together late at night, he would promise her that he'd take her away from their small village and that they would go to Paris and make it big.
When she was sixteen, Robert proposed that they elope and run away to Paris. Since getting out of her small town was all she wanted, she agreed without hesitation. When they got to Paris, however, he began to come up with excuses why they should wait to get married, pawning her jewelry, and staying out til the early hours of the morning at bars and brothels. When she confronted him about it, he began hitting her until she blacked out. When she woke up, she was literally lying in the street with no money, no food, and nowhere to live.
It was after this that the kind owners of the Moulin Rouge came across her, noticed her beauty and her singing voice, and offered her a job as a singer in their establishment. After a few years, and some training, she became a courtesan. She didn't much enjoy her new life, but it kept her off the street and provided her with some money. Her most frequent customer was a mysterious man who called himself only Erik. Though he paid for his time with her, he never actually had sex with her, merely forced her to talk with him. She was never allowed to look at him, as he blindfolded her during all of their sessions. Though she has never seen this man's face, the hours of conversation she has with him are the one thing she looks forward to.
Often, Isabelle wonders about going back home to her family, but she is afraid that they wouldn't welcome her back. Instead, she stays in Paris, working and saving money so that one day she can quit working at the Moulin Rouge and find a more respectable job.
parents;; Benjamin and Julia Reneau
siblings;; older sister Katherine, 21; older brother Matthew, 20; younger sister Anne, 15.
other;; One kitten named Phillipe.
;; roleplaying
sample;; Fiyero lay awake in his uncomfortable dorm room bed, remembering with pangs of homesickness the soft down of his bed back at Kiamo Ko. It was a cold night, but nothing he wasn't used to- nights in the Vinkus dropped to low temperatures frequently. And yet the blanket he was clutching around himself barely seemed to warm him, the pajamas he was wearing barely seemed to keep out the oppressive cold... He hadn't been sleeping well since coming here to Shiz. Perhaps it had to do with the stressful week he'd spent trying to assimilate into Shiz society, perhaps it had to do with the difference in the atmosphere here as opposed to that of the Vinkus. Whatever the case, he'd spent the past few nights tossing and turning, sleeping for only an hour or so before it was time for classes the next day.
The thought of his classes made Fiyero's stomach church unpleasantly. Try as he might, he seemed to stand out amongst the rest of the students at Shiz, an unfortunate fact that seemed to be growing increasingly more important the longer he stayed here. His skin, his tattoos, his language... none of these had seemed important to him before now. And yet, to people like Avaric and the rest of his classmates, it seemed to make all the difference. Skin the color of crap... He looked at his hands, bathed in the pale glow of the moonlight drifting in from his window. He had never thought of his skin as crap-like, or any related descriptive terms.
Why do you even care? he asked himself angrily, pushing his blankets down and sitting up in the bed. Fiyero couldn't remember the last time he'd cared about what someone else had thought- he'd told himself life was easier when you didn't care, and after the childhood he'd had, it had become an important coping mechanism for him. Running his hands through his hair, he stood up and walked over to the window, gazing outside at the empty campus. How different the view was from the view from his window at home. The sprawling, immaculate, perfect campus of Shiz contrasted greatly with the sparse, barren landscape of Kiamo Ko. Most people didn't see the beauty of the Vinkus, but Fiyero did. There was beauty in its harshness, in its curves, in its severity. What appeal was there in the rigid, comformed perfection of Shiz?
No one else realized this, of course. For most, the Vinkus was a boring stretch of desert in the middle of nowhere, and Fiyero was just as outlandish and odd looking. Most weren't as vocal about it as Avaric, but when it came down to it they were all the same. All except that girl... the strange green girl who didn't fit in either, the one who'd stood up for him after Avaric and Boq had started talking. He hated pity, of course, so he wasn't going to give her his gratitude, if that's what she was looking for. And yet, he somehow doubted that pity or gratitude had played any part in her reasoning. She just didn't seem like that type of person.
Sighing, Fiyero turned away from the window and grabbed a jacket. Perhaps going for a walk would clear his mind and help him get some sleep. Padding quietly through the carpeted halls, Fiyero made his way out of the dormitory, closing the front door softly behind him. He didn't have a specific destination in mind- the only direction he cared about was "away from Shiz." His feet finally stopped moving as he arrived at a weeping willow across the campus. He was about to sit down when he saw a pair of legs sticking out from the other side of the tree, and instinctively he began to back up and retrace his steps. Then he saw that the legs were an odd shade of green- it was the girl who'd replied to Alvaric in class.
Fiyero wasn't sure what to do. If he turned and fled in the opposite direction, it might seem like he was purposely leaving because of her presence- but if he stayed, he might be considered rude for intruding on someone who might prefer to be alone. Damn it all, he thought angrily, leaning against the tree. He was beginning to hate how much he was thinking about other people's opinions lately.
Instead of turning around and heading back towards the dormitory, Fiyero stayed and walked around the other side of the tree. "Hello," he said quietly, the Ozian dialect feeling strange in his throat. "I'm sorry to intrude, but I didn't notice you were here. I take it you can't sleep either?"
;; behind the character
name;; Liz
age;; 20
gender;; Female
years roleplaying;; 4
location;; Washington
How You found us;; Monsieur le Fantome kept bugging me for like, a week. So I finally broke down and joined.
