LANOIRE, Ursule Fantine {WIP}

[cosette]

...Ursule Fantine Lanoire*
* Injustice had made her sullen, and misery had made her ugly. Only her eyes remained beautiful, and they were painful to look at, because, large as they were, they seemed to increase the sadness.*

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...basics*

name Ursule Fantine Lanoire
nickname Lulu
age 17
gender Female
grade Baum Junior
hometown Paris, France
sexuality Straight
personification Euphrasie "Cosette" Fauchelevant
status Dormant
face claim Cosette Munch

...appearance*

hair color Near waist length, bright red, hair.
eye color Dark blue, very acute.
build Slender, without very many curves. She has the frame of someone who was malnourished for a very long time, and then suddenly grew. Her limbs are lanky and long, and her skin is very fair.
height 5'7"
clothing style Lulu loves fashion. You can generally find her in something that doesn't look like it would be chic, but has become chic.
distinctive traits She likes hats and other head accessories. Also, she has a french accent.

...personal*

personality
With Lulu what you see is not what you get.

Life has not been kind to the Parisian doll, and it has made her increasingly fatalistic when it comes to life. Why bother making friends? They'll only leave you. Why look for love? He'll only waste twenty years of my life, before leaving me to be with a stripper named Jasmine. Her pessimism and grudging attitude tends to turn people off to her.
past
Ursule's Lanoire's story started, as with most, before she was born. Her mother was Zoelie Lanoire, a beauty who had moved to Paris from Montbeliard, France. She moved into an apartment with three other girls who had similar aspirations, and began to start her career. She had promise, as is often the case with those who are bright eyed and bushy tailed. While trying to get her name out on the Parisian circuit, Zoelie met Gérard Schivardi, an aspiring politician who wanted to be President of France. He was older than Zoelie (44 when they met), and seemed so mature to the nineteen year old girl. He was instantly entranced with the naive girl, and they began a relationship, despite his being married thing.

Under the advice of Gérard, Zoelie moved into her own apartment- paid for by him- and to give up the dream of modeling. She did so happily, as he was constantly making promises to leave his wife, and to marry her. She was a kept woman, and lived such a life style.

Almost a year into their affair, Zoelie became pregnant. She was over joyed with the news, certain this was the push he needed to do as he had always promised he would! Gérard, on the other hand, saw scandal in his future, was trying to find a way to escape. A lover was one thing, something that could be politically explained away, but to have a child brought about by that affair? His career would be over. Denying the child and ending the affair, he washed his hands of the situation.

Zoelie was devastated. Her career was ruined, the man she loved abandoned her, and she had no set skills to maintain a life for the child growing in her belly.

She worked in a textile factory, deciding that she would try to resume the modeling career once the little one was born. With time, the baby grew and was eventually born by caesarian section, resulting in a healthy baby girl, but scars on the mother's torso. While she gazed upon her Ursule Fantine with the tender love only a mother could feel, those scars meant that Zoelie had to let go of her dream. She instead devoting herself to work hard and provide a life. But children are expensive, as is rent in Paris. She couldn't return home and be shamed by her parents for having an old deserters baby. She had no where to go, could barely afford Lulu's sitter.

Her only saving grace was that her sister, Josephine, had moved to Paris. Finally, a friend, someone who could share her troubles with. Who could empathize. Josephine even had two little girls of her own, right around Lulu's age! For the first time in two and a half years, Zoelie felt the warm hand of relief.

It was short lived. Josephine had no sympathy for her sister, and instead was harsh and forceful. There would be no free baby sitting, no coddling, and Zoelie most certainly could not move in with Josephine's family, for she was as pretty and Josephine was plain, and her husband Faber had wandering eyes. Zoelie could not even come over for dinner without helping pay for her portion of it.

Financial stress finally broke poor Zoelie when Lulu was four, and though her beauty was fading and her hair was steadily growing silver with stress, she desperately turned to prostitution. Ironically, upon learning of Zoelie's career move to pay rent more promptly, the landlord evicted mother and daughter. On the streets, Zoelie turned to her sister for help, but was still turned away. But, Josephine would take in Lulu, under the circumstance that Zoelie paid for all of of her expenses. Food, board, cloths. The works. Zoelie was grateful for this small kindness.

So Lulu went to live with her Aunt Josephine. By then, two boys had also been born, leaving housewife Josephine alone with five young children. Eponia and Aceline were not nice playmates. They did not share well, and they made Lulu do their portion of the chores. When Lulu would go to her Aunt, she'd be accused of being a cry baby and a tattle tale. That if she was so unhappy their, Tante Josephine would be more than happy to call the authorities to take poor little Lulu away, where she would never see her Mother ever again. It was a traumatizing threat for the five year old, who decided it to be best to keep her troubles on the inside. Quickly she outgrew her cloths, though Tante Josephine spent the money Zoelie gave her on things other than Lulu. Special outfits were purchased for the rare moments that Zoelie could visit. Lulu told her nothing but of how happy she was with her Tante and the Cousin's Jordetta's.

On her sixth birthday, her Mother gave her a beautiful china doll with daisies in her hair, who Lulu christened duly Pâquerette. Her mother told her that if she was ever sad, to whisper in Pâquerette's ear, and the doll would wait for Lulu to sleep before going to tell Zoelie all her troubles. Thrilled with a beautiful thing of her own, Lulu treasured the doll.

Soon after, the vagrant Zoelie got pneumonia and died, leaving Lulu with no one. Josephine was furious at the expense of a cremation, and of having this charge she was now stuck with, without so much of a cent to show for it. Lulu would have to earn her keep, Josephine insisted, turning the child into a servant.

Lulu prayed for someone to come, and asked Pâquerette every night to find her Papa, and ask him to come save her. He never came. No one ever came.

When she was eight, Eponia grew jealous of Lulu gaining the affection of the dreamy Francois Maurice. A spiteful girl, Eponia waited for Lulu to fall asleep one night, and cut off all of her pretty red hair, leaving the locks right on her pillow. When Josephine found Lulu sobbing in her bed, she chided her for being a stupid girl to do such a terrible thing to her hair, and sent her off to school. Francois' attentions turned promptly to Eponia.

After that, Lulu kept to herself. She had given up the hope that someone would come and rescue her long ago, though she still told her secrets to Pâquerette. The aging doll was her only friend, which was another subject that Eponia loved to pick on Lulu about. Lulu's had two comforts in the world: Music and her dreams. When she sang, it was as if she were turned into a little bird, and was able to fly far away! Much like the mother she barely remembered, Lulu dreamed of being famous and loved someday. Where she could leave the Jordetta's behind and make them wish they had paid her kindness.

One of her teachers and neighbors, Mademoiselle Madeleine Lablanc saw great promise in Lulu. And, though she never spoke of her home life, and her Aunt's increasing cruelty, she had her suspicions. Teaching her to sing and play the piano, Mme. had become almost a friend and comfort to her. Though she had little reason to go out, Madeleine would find reasons to leave the house and have Lulu babysit, to give a little money in her pocket. Lulu kept that one of her greatest secrets, keeping the copy in her copy of Les Misérables.

After her confidence was gained, she finally told her teacher that someday she hoped to sing for a living, she really did not think much would come of it. It was simply nice to tell someone a secret that was not a doll or a cantankerous bitch who would scoff at her. Yet, one night, as Lulu prepared dinner for the Jordetta's, Mme. Lablanc came and informed Josephine and Faber that Lulu had been accepted to a boarding school in America.

Her dream! Her dream could come true, and she could finally be away from this awful town house.

But Josephine was reluctant to have her live in housekeeper go, as she still had another year before Lulu was eighteen. Even more reluctant was she to rise to a success above her daughters. Desperate, Lulu offered her the Fifteen hundred euros she had saved over the past five years, saying she could have it all if only she would let her go! That if she had ever felt even an ounce of love for Lulu or her Mother, she would give her this. As Josephine was beginning to say no, Faber- a chronic penny pincher and cheapskate- said yes. After all, they were short on funds, and it was not as though Eponia and Aceline's hands were broken.

Lulu didn't stick around for that conversation, running to her room to begin preparing her backpack with her cloths (a backpack was all she needed) and Pâquerette. She would finally be free!
present
LIVING SITUATION:
Lulu lives in Frank L. Baum dorms, though she makes herself scarce as possible. Living with her is very much like not having a roommate at all, as she is there so rarely, and her only source of decoration is a tack board and Pâquerette.
SOCIALLY:
Socially, Lulu could be a lot better. She's a pretty girl with an interesting sense of style, but her life has made her very suspicious in nature. Especially of men. Often she will pretend not to understand English. She does enjoy singing and piano though, and can often be heard in the music room practicing. Her goal is to become famous for her voice, not how many friends on facebook she has.
NOTE: She doesn't have a facebook.
FINANCIALLY:
Lulu gets a small student allowance. Luckily, she's a sharp shopper, and makes her money stretch through the month. On top of that, she works at a consignment shop, where she's able to get a nice discount for the clothing she buys there.
EDUCATION:
Lulu has a 3.2 GPA, and must keep it above 2.5 in order to maintain her scholarship. She does well, and tutors students in French and Piano.
HAPPINESS:
Lulu might not be sunshine and moonbeams all the time, but she is happy to be on her own. She enjoys her boarding school and likes her classes. She even likes New York, which is the epicenter for fashion, wealth, and culture.
family
Mother: Zoelie Lanoire. Deceased.
Father: Gérard Schivardi. She's never met him, and does not know his name.
Uncle: Faber Jordetta
Aunt: Maria Louise Jordetta
Cousin (female): Eponia Jordetta 18
Cousin (female): Aceline Jordetta 16
Cousin (male): Gavin Jordetta 14
Cousin (male): Armande Jordetta 13
Cousin (male): Ciel Jordetta 9
likes

• Music. Singing and piano, especially French jazz (singing) and opera (listening, singing a little, but its not easy). Yael Naim is her favorite.
  
• Fashion. All sorts. Anything interesting and appealing to the eye.
  
• Gardens. Not tending to them, but just sitting in a beautiful garden is so relaxing.
  
• Beautiful old cathedrals. Though she isn't particularly religious, she does find comfort in their timeless beauty.
  
• Beautiful hair. She will never let hers be cut again.
  
• Make up. It makes her feel free and rebellious.
  
• Romance and it's novelty. She is, herself, too guarded to fall in love at first sight, yet she dreams of it.
  
• Day dreaming. She does it constantly.
  
• Being messy. She's never dirty, but why would she bother putting her clean cloths away when she'll just toss them out of her drawer to find the right skirt anyway?
  
• Being around happy people, or a smiling person. Especially if she caused the smile.
  
• Dolls. She knows she's too old for them, but she loves looking at them. Especially hers: Pâquerette, who she tells all her secrets too.
  
• Dancing. Nothing like ballet, though she loves to watch it. But she is a graceful person, and waltzes quite well for someone who was never taught.
  
• Clouds. The big, puffy, ones.
  
• Pretending she can't speak English. She has two or three of her teachers convinced she can't understand a word they say.
  

dislikes

• Cleaning.
  
• Mispronunciation of French. Either learn it, or don't speak it.
  
• Yelling. It makes her feel panicky.
  
• The smell of alcohol or black licorice.
  
• The sight of blood. It makes her faint.
  
• Anyone who will not be out with the whole story from the get go. She hates omissions. They're worse outright lies.
  
• The feeling that no matter who it is, they will leave her eventually.
  
• Crying in front of people. She is too proud.
  
• Action movies. They're really stupid.
  
• The word whore. She'd rather be called a bitch or even the c-word before she'd ever let someone get away with calling her a whore.
  
• Being asked "Voulez-vous coucher avec moi (ce soir)?", ESPECIALLY when combined with her prior dislike of bad pronunciation.
  
• Loneliness, and being unwanted.
  

other notes TEXT HERE

...literature*

book title TEXT HERE
backstory A BRIEF SUMMARY OF YOUR CANON'S PART IN THE STORY. ONE-TWO PARAPGRAPH

...roleplayer*

name TEXT HERE
age TEXT HERE
gender TEXT HERE
rp experience TEXT HERE
how you found ouac TEXT HERE
rp sample AT LEAST THREE PARAGRAPHS