Post by Amélie Poulenc on Sept 9, 2013 3:02:24 GMT -5
Amélie Poulenc
Character Information
Full Name:Amélie Poulenc
Date of Birth: December 27, 1861
Original or Canon?: Mostly original however the character has been mentioned in the book, though not in this incarnation or by name.
Face Claim:Amy Nuttall
Physicality
Gender: Female
Age: Twenty-one
Hair:
Amélie's hair is a vivid red. It often is worn under her maid's cap so no one can see how messy it often gets. When worn down, which is only on the rarest occasion that she takes a day off, her hair is almost perfectly straight no matter how she tries to curl it or shape it in some other way. When she can manage it, Amélie believes her hair, which falls just past her shoulders, is her best feature.
Eyes:
Through years of training and working in service, Amélie has worked very hard to be able to suppress her emotion. Amélie's eyes, however, are never able to hide how she feels. They are hazel, though they tend a little more toward brown in most lights. When she is amused her eyes tend to be a little bit brighter and carry a little mischievous laughter. She also has a tendency to roll her eyes often despite her constant admonitions to herself not to do so.
Height:
Amélie is tall for her gender standing at five foot seven inches. She considers herself rather gangly.
Body Type:
Tall and thin with very slight curves. Amélie often is guilty of tying her apron a little tighter so that it looks like she has more curves than she really does.
Complexion:
Amélie's skin is a very pale cream. Her mother always described it as milky. It would almost be the perfect complexion except for the fact that she has a smattering of freckles. The freckles have lightened slightly thanks to years of treating her skin with lemons
Description: Despite her low station as a maid in the opera house, Amélie is very particular about her physical appearance. She would never shame herself or Carlotta by leaving the dressing room or the apartments in anything but a well pressed and perfectly starched uniform, a cap with all the hair that was showing perfectly combed into place, and a clean face. She takes great pride in looking professional and pretty- something she spends a great deal of free time doing alongside her friend and employer.
If it were up to Amélie, she would spend all of her time in the beautiful frocks of bright colors she made for her free time. She favors, when she can choose her wardrobe, dresses made of dark greens and light blues to favor her skin and hair. She tends to take dresses and amend them to include a great deal of crocheted laces and other simple embellishments that are not too high for her station. Given that most of her time she wears her formal attire as a maid, she spends most of her days in a simple light dress of either a shade of green and blue, most likely with a simple pattern if she can find a good cloth, and a plain apron. However, for more formal occasions, Amélie wears her black maids dress with a simple head piece, and an apron bordered in lace.
General Personality
Loves:
- Chocolate
- New clothes
- Fashion
Likes:[/color]
- Carlotta
- Sunshine
- Doing hair
- Gossip
- Romance
- Flirting
- Wine
- A good joke
- Being appreciated
- sewing
- jewelry
Dislikes:
- frumpiness
- people who can't keep up with the fashion of the times
- Carlotta's tantrums
- Carlotta's mood swings
- messes
- being blamed
- getting sick
- people who gossip about her
- pale yellow anything
- those who are overly modest
Hates:
- laundry
- cooking
- people who are rude or enemies to Carlotta
- people who are rude to her
Fears:
- Being stuck as a maid for the rest of her life
- Never finding success
- Being alone
- Being hated by everyone
Dreams:
- To own her own shop on the Champs-Élysées
- To be a famous designer
- To find love
Short Term Goals:
- Be the best friend and confidant possible to the Diva
- Find a patron for her future shop
- Begin designing a portfolio
Long Term Goals:
- Buy a shop
- Save money for her shop
- Have a dress recognized
- To be successful
- To find love
Strengths:
- Perseverance
- Common sense
- Wit
- Humor
- Domestic skills
- Control over her emotions
- Keeping secrets
- loyalty
- excellent work ethic
Weaknesses:
- Easy with her money
- When she can no longer control her emotions she tends to explode in a rather violent fashion
- Holds a grudge
- Vanity
Talents:
- sketching
- complains
- sewing
- designing
- hair
- makeup
- keeping her emotions hidden
Personality:
Despite being trained in several fine country houses of French nobility and working in the service industry for seven years, Amélie has a sharp wit and a sharper tongue around most people. Often she manages to contain this around her employers, but once she gets close to you personally, nothing is off limits to her. She enjoys commenting on most things that she feels concern her, even if they really do not. She makes it her business to find out about everyone's business for her gains and amusement. Still, given her profession, she is willing and able to keep secrets. In fact, she is quite loyal to those who are close to her and those she serves. Her loyalty goes beyond keeping secrets. She often gathers information, spies, sets up intrigues and defends those she cares about quite freely. Sometimes, she even does this without instruction which can cause tension and misunderstandings on occasion.
When it comes to her goals, Amélie is a very determined and straight forward young lady. She likes to keep her eye on the prize and will do most anything to get what she wants. When it comes to work she has an excellent ethic and often will work long and hard into the night to complete her work- whether that be work she takes up for her own amusement or work that must be done out of necessity. She likes to maintain a high level of accomplishment with her work as well. Amélie always maintains that anything worth doing is worth doing well and tends to fuss a little too much over small details.
Other than perfection, the only things that distract Amélie are her desires to live beyond her means and her appreciation of romance and beauty. She often spends money she does not have or attempts to reach beyond her station in her dress and her demeanor on occasion. It may be her own self importance and vanity, but she often likes to think of herself as more than just a maid or just an employee of the opera house. She often gives herself more weight than she truly has in the world. Given her little delusions of grandeur Amélie enjoys beautiful things- whether they be music, art, clothes or jewels. She often can be seen eying something on a patron or in a shop window with a concerning eye and a little jealousy. Along with her penchant for pretty things, Amélie, though she would never admit it openly, has a weakness for romance. She often reads novelettes and stories of love when she gets a moment to herself. Though she aims too high in love and often imagines herself with a patron, she knows her place and is hopeful that someday a decent fellow will show up; preferable one who knows how to talk rather than just whistle.
[/IMG][/center]
Specific Details
Country of Origin: France
Languages They Speak:
- French (native tongue)
- Spanish (only basic phrases and choice words; from listening to Carlotta mumble)
Occupation: Personal maid to the Diva of the Opera
Relationship Status: Single
History
Family:
Nathalie Poulenc (mother), Marcus Poulenc (father), Robert Poulenc (elder brother, 1st born), Denice Poulenc (sister-in-law), Thomas Poulenc (younger brother, 3rd born), Avril Poulenc (younger sister, 4th born), Béatrix Poulenc (younger sister, 5th born), Diane Poulenc (younger sister, 6th born)
Friends: Carlotta Corazón
Rivals: the opera seamstresses, Jeanette (future rival)
Enemies: Jeanette (future)
Pet(s): none
Biography:
Amélie was born into what she likes to refer to as, the brood. Her elder brother Robert was already five by the time she, the second born child and first born daughter of Nathalie and Marcus Poulenc entered the scene. At first it was a lovely family life. Things were always rather tight of course. Their father worked away from home as a man servant to a wealthy family while their mother worked as a laundress and a seamstress for the more middle class people of the town they lived in. That is where Amélie got her love of clothing. Every week, when she was good, her mother would allow her to take the cart, along with her older brother, into town to gather the laundry. She would walk to all the houses and gather sacks upon sacks of beautiful dresses and crisp suits made from heavenly materials- at least compared to her own awful clothes. When her mother was not looking, Amélie would steal away into the laundry room and put some of the frocks on over her own, wishing for the finery she knew she would never have if she stayed with the family.
Still, Amélie tried not to show her discontent. Even as she got older and was forced to do more and more of her mother's work in order to help feed the many mouths that were starting to join the family. At eleven, Amélie had already managed to surpass her mother's skills with a needle and take over a great deal of the mending. However, due to her mother's almost constant condition of pregnancy or mothering some newborn sibling, soon most of the laundry fell to Amélie as well. She detested the smell of the soaps and the way they constantly dried out her hands. Some days the washing was so bad, she had to bandage her hands to keep the blood from the clothes. That was when Amélie started dreaming of escape.
At fifteen she got her chance. Robert had left the family to learn how to enter service under their father and with the number of mouths to feed, and her sisters finally entering the age where they too could do laundry, Amélie entered service as well. After several days of trying to adjust she realized that she still hated it. Even worse than laundry there was constant cleaning. The hours and the work was even harder than the laundry at home. At least she had her own income now. It was the only thing that really kept her going. Those few paltry sous at the end of each week. Someday, if she was careful, Amélie promised herself that she would make a dress to rival any of the dresses the rich ladies of the house wore and enjoy all the pleasures they did. So sou by sou she saved and day by day she worked.
Eventually, her mending became full sewing. The ladies of the rich country estate where she worked still had their dresses sent for from Paris, but Amélie was who they called when the dress needed to be altered for the season or needed to be taken in or, for that matter, let out. She was rising rather quickly amongst the ranks of lowly maids. But still her love of fashion was her undoing. Often when putting away the dresses after mending them Amélie would fall into her old habit of slipping on the garments and giving herself a twirl in the mirror and imagining she was one of them instead of herself.
The problems started when she was caught by the eldest son of the mansion she worked at. He had been looking for his suit jacket and he walked right into her quarters where she had just slipped on a beautiful emerald gown that had needed new trim sewn on. He gave her a devilish grin and made some snide remark while she stood caught like a child with sweets who could not have them. And then he shut the door. And then he chided her. And then he took back the dress and forced Amélie to stand there while he stared. And then he threatened to tell if she did not follow his every single direction.
For weeks she was tortured by him. Not wanting to loose her job she conceded to his every whim, until the day the other maids began whispering. Apparently one of the footman had found out from the man's drunken ramblings. Amélie's father was shamed as was her brother. So Amélie did the one thing she knew she could do- she quit before she could be dismissed.
Without references she took all her money and fled the country to Paris where she could work as a seamstress in some small shop and eventually set herself up in her own boutique. Yet, fate would have other plans. On her way into Paris Amélie was reading an abandoned paper and found an ad for a seamstress in the famous opera. She had heard from her former employers about the beauty of the opera and if nothing else she was eager to see it. So on a whim she found herself in front of the opera ready to apply for the position. When she overheard a conversation about a new singer from Spain requiring a ladies maid. She lowered her head and played the part that she had devised for herself of a girl just coming into the city for the first time having served a rich family well in the country. When they asked for references Amélie produced a forged letter explaining that the family wished Amélie could have stayed but they could not afford the size staff they had given a poor investing decision.
The trick worked. Amélie was interviewed and then hired. She learned to run Carlotta's house, be Carlotta's confidant, and work as a maid. Still, her dreams of owning her own shop never left her. Now, six years later, Amélie serves the diva faithfully as a friend and a confidant. However, she still is saves and biding her time until she make her dream come true.
Optional Character Information
(Recommended If Able)
Nickname(s): Amé
Voice Claim: Amy Nuttall
Approximate Weight: 165 lbs
Religious Beliefs: Catholic when it suits her
Sexual Orientation: Heterosexual
Social Rank: Lower Class
Favourite Colour(s): Blue and Green; but only certain shades.
Favourite Food: Chocolate
Favourite Animal: Cats
Quote: "I suppose she has an appropriate costume for every activity." - Violet Crawley, Downton Abby
Song That Describes Character: She Works Hard for the Money- Donna Summer
RP Sample
RP Sample:
Ten o'clock in the morning and her majesty la Diva was not up yet. Amélie had already prepared breakfast twice on the off chance that Carlotta would wake earlier, or at least at a reasonable hour. It was bad enough that the woman came in late last night and Amélie had to wait up to ready her for bed. In truth, Amélie did not mind so much. She loved hearing all the gossip from the evening. Still, it was a chore to be constantly working at the capricious whims of her friend and employer.
Quietly, deciding that something must be done before Carlotta was late, Amélie stole quietly into the room carrying the tray of tea and a light breakfast. Setting down the tray with barely a sound on the small coffee table in the room Amélie snuck over to the large window and slowly opened the curtains so that light crept into the room and over the bed to the groan and complaints of Carlotta. Amélie smiled to herself and shook her head. This was going to be more of a challenge than usual. It was a good thing she came prepared.
"Madame la Diva....it's time. You don't want to be late for rehearsal do you? Oh and you received new flowers....chocolates....and your new dress is finished- with the fur trim...." Amélie smiled knowingly and produced the garment sweeping it out of the closet where she had placed in the night before. She gently flared it out and brushed it out with as much drama as she could muster knowing that the one person who matched her love for beautiful things was her mistress.
Quietly, deciding that something must be done before Carlotta was late, Amélie stole quietly into the room carrying the tray of tea and a light breakfast. Setting down the tray with barely a sound on the small coffee table in the room Amélie snuck over to the large window and slowly opened the curtains so that light crept into the room and over the bed to the groan and complaints of Carlotta. Amélie smiled to herself and shook her head. This was going to be more of a challenge than usual. It was a good thing she came prepared.
"Madame la Diva....it's time. You don't want to be late for rehearsal do you? Oh and you received new flowers....chocolates....and your new dress is finished- with the fur trim...." Amélie smiled knowingly and produced the garment sweeping it out of the closet where she had placed in the night before. She gently flared it out and brushed it out with as much drama as she could muster knowing that the one person who matched her love for beautiful things was her mistress.
About You
Name: Layni
Gender: Female
How Long Have You Been Roleplaying?: Roundabouts 10 years!
What Type(s) of "Roleplay" Have You Done?: You name it and I've probably done it. I have done LARP, MMORPG, RPG, D&D, stage acting, improvisational acting, text based rpg and whatever else I forgot
Where Have You Roleplayed? What Sites Do You Belong To?: Currently I only belong to this site. In the past I have belonged to many site. Unfortunately, all of them are defunct at this time.
What Fandoms Have You Played Before?:
Phantom of the Opera (musical, book, alternate universe), Harry Potter (marauders era, alternate universe), fantasy, Game of Thrones, Tudors, Anne Rice, 10 Things I Hate About You, Disney.
Who Recruited You? How Did You Find Out About Us?: Google
Contact Information: darkmoontemptress@yahoo.com, MSN: laynid88
Anything Else?: I'm so excited I just can't hide it!
Required Information
Sources Used In Research: The friendly members of the site cbox, general knowledge and what I could vaguely remember from the book.
PASSWORD: Pistachios are yummy
*Template by Meg*
Graphics by and Edited by Kristine
Graphics by and Edited by Kristine