OOC: Infopost, the Recycled Edition: wildandbrave

wildandbrave

OOC: Infopost, the Recycled Edition

Apr 28, 2014 10:01

HI I'M LIKE SUPER SUPER LATE BUT I BROUGHT STARBUCKS. It just occurred to me that maybe I should reuse my last infopost for the sake of returning people (HI) with some tweaks.

Bird metaphors and much WTFing at Victor Hugo ahoy!

Actually, by nature Cosette was not easily startled. There was in her veins the blood of ... the barefoot adventuress. It must be remembered she was more a lark than a dove. She was wild and brave at heart. - Les Misérables, Vol. 4, Book 5, Chapter 2

wildandbrave
Name: Euphrasie Fauchelevent, known as Cosette because no one ever uses her real first name.
Fandom: Les Misérables, by Victor Hugo
PB: Amanda Seyfried*
Year: Sophomore
Age: 14

(Why the ellipsis? Yay problematic 19th-century wording that every translation I like uses, and the translations that don't use it annoy me too much to use. Sigh.)

The biographical basics! Cosette:

Comes from Paris, France, in 1829.
Is 14 and a sophomore.
Has brown hair (with natural blonde highlights, Victor Marie Hugo, ARE YOU FOR REAL) and blue eyes.
Her wardrobe when she got to Fandom consisted mostly of frumpy, overly modest schoolgirl dresses all in black. Some modern-day clothing is starting to sneak in there, but overall she dresses like someone who gets a generous but not extravagant allowance for clothes: she doesn't own an excessively large wardrobe, but what she does own is of fairly expensive quality.
Is the Brickverse version of the character, which is to say she's from the novel and not the musical adaptation. I just like saying "Brickverse."
Is an orphan who:

Is the illegitimate daughter of a grisette named Fantine and a skeevy dudebro of a student named Félix Tholomyès who -- along with his three friends who happened to be paired up with Fantine's friends -- planned an elaborate group outing then took off after dinner saying there was a surprise coming for the women, and hopped into a coach headed out of the city. Meanwhile Fantine, Favourite, Zéphine, and Dahlia sat there at the restaurant until the waiter came back to given them a note that basically said "Leaving Paris now it was fun but we're going home LOL WASN'T THIS A GREAT SURPRISE WE ARE SO FUNNY 'K BYE (PS we paid for dinner)." Not so funny for Fantine, though. Especially because UM COSETTE WAS ALREADY ALMOST TWO YEARS OLD AT THE TIME WTF THOLOMYÈS YOU ASS.

*ahem*
(Fair warning, I have Feelings on the subject of Fantine so don't ask me about them unless you have spare time on your hands.)
Was left at Montfermeil, in the extremely dubious care of the Thénardiers, while Fantine went home to Montreuil-sur-Mer in hopes of finding work and eventually saving up enough to get her daughter back. Needless to say this did not happen. Fantine lost her factory job when some of her coworkers discovered her illegitimate child (Jean Valjean had nothing to do with this, and only found out about it afterward), resorted to prostitution to meet the Thénardiers' monetary demands, and ultimately died of complications from an illness that was probably tuberculosis, but not before Valjean found out and promised to bring Cosette to her.
As a result, Cosette spent five years doing all the Thénardiers' drudgework. While they were happy to use her as a source of somewhat regular income, charging her mother for her keep, they saw Cosette herself as an unwanted burden and basically treated her the same way as the dog -- eating scraps under the table, sleeping on the hearth, all that. The people of Montfermeil, though, thought it was an incredibly noble and generous gesture by the Thénardiers to take in an orphan even though they weren't rich.
As such, Cosette is a survivor of abuse: besides the maltreatment mentioned above, she also bore the brunt of all the Thénardiers' anger, was beaten (and threatened with beating) as punishment, and got bullied by Éponine and Azelma, who were following their mother's lead.
Was rescued from this by Jean Valjean, who faked his death to escape his second prison sentence just so he could fulfill that promise to Fantine.
Has almost no memories of her mother, and no idea that her adoptive father is an escaped convict.
Remembered very little of her life with the Thénardiers -- though I'm interpreting the text to mean that she was repressing it. Remembers more now, but more on that below

is fresh out of convent school (I know, so tropey; when it comes to writing female characters Victor Hugo's 19th-century-ness shows a lot, ergh), where she's been for six years, since shortly after leaving Montfermeil. Why? Because obviously when you are running from a certain police inspector it's super conveniently beneficial if you climb over a wall into the garden of a convent where you just happened to get a job for the man you rescued from being crushed under a cart. Shh, plausible coincidence is secondary to the Point we are trying to make here.

The man's name was M. Fauchelevent, so Valjean and Cosette were supposed to be his brother and niece.
Fauchelevent is now Cosette's legal last name thanks to some paperwork trickery by Valjean, who'd learned a few things while he was mayor of Montreuil. (Canonically this doesn't happen until she gets married, but hey, school admissions applications and all that.)
Came to Fandom with Valjean (Sir Living On The Mainland and Thus Not Appearing In This Game) after finishing her convent education, instead of moving into the house on the Rue Plumet.

Is a seriously sheltered girl, due to the whole convent school thing. The convent of the Petit-Picpus was ridiculously ascetic.
Is, despite this, not as docile as she might appear, and will not hesitate to call you on it if she thinks you're being stupid.

With certain people, she's actually really good at puppyfacing until she gets her way.

* - I didn't want to use Amanda Seyfried as a PB originally, but I couldn't find usable icons of Virginie Ledoyen, whom I originally wanted to use despite the 2000 miniseries being COMPLETELY MADE OF WTF (though less WTF than the 1998 movie with Liam Neeson and Geoffrey Rush which I will now go back to pretending never existed) and eh, I like looking at Amanda Seyfried so hey. Someday I will have more icons but I have to Photoshop her hair and both my computer and I are slow.

Nothing could be sadder than to see her frolicking and, so to speak, fluttering about the room with the movements of a bird that is startled by the light or has a broken wing. You feel that under other conditions of education and of fate, the gay, free manner of this young girl might have been something sweet and charming. Never among animals does the creature born to be a dove change into an osprey. That is seen only among men. - Les Misérables, Vol. 3, Book 8, Chapter 4

filleauloup
Name: Éponine Thénardier
Fandom: Les Misérables, by Victor Hugo
PB: Samantha Barks
Status: Townie
Age: 19

(The condensed version; see two infoposts ago for more rambling, as well as info on my off-island kids.)

Comes from Paris, France in 1832. Specifically, June 6, 1832, from the Rue de la Chanvrerie barricade where she jumped in front of a gun to save Marius's life, then inadvertently stumbled into Fandom rather than let the National Guard round her up with the other survivors.
Spent years living in extreme poverty with bouts of homelessness, which explains why she looks like hell: she's still incredibly scrawny and is missing a few teeth.
Is 19 and a townie; lives in one of the smaller warehouses in the abandoned warehouse district, which is very slowly getting less warehouse-like and more home-like, on the inside anyway. Getting the utilities hooked up involved some trickery and maaaaaaaaaybe mild blackmail.
Works at the post office, runs mail delivery routes, and has a bit of a personal courier business on the side. If you pay her under the table she doesn't care whether what she's delivering for you is strictly legal.
Is also a survivor of abuse; her father has no reservations about beating his daughters, or about pimping them out. (If you ask me about this I will tell you, and get Very Upset about it in the process.)
This contributed in part to her alcohol problem. I try not to make too much note of it but more often than not she's at least a little bit buzzed.
This also has a lot to do with her completely warped sense of morality. She's trying to be a good person, but she's still learning what that entails. It's a slow process.
Is a bit mercenary, out of habit; she tends to want to know how doing something is going to benefit her. She does, however, have spontaneous fits of selflessness, particularly with people she considers friends.
She's getting used to the idea of having friends (what, people who hang around with her without wanting anything from her?), and occasionally still gets way too excited when people are just nice to her.
Is prone to spontaneous fits of rambling, though she may cut herself off mid-sentence if she catches herself letting on more than she wants to. Know that I am always mentally apologizing the entire time I am typing up those tags. THEY BOTH TALK A LOT I'M SORRY.
Acts fairly brash and careless; it's habit, a defense mechanism so as to not let on how ashamed she was of being so poor.
Has a weird fixation with mirrors and reflective surfaces.
Is pretty good at creeping around and hiding in shadows and things like that.

@alwaysinhere

throughtosunrise

infopost, shut up recycling's a good habit, ooc