Post by Marielle Mercier on Mar 20, 2010 20:27:01 GMT -7
*The Basics
Full Name: Marielle Mercier
NickNames:
Age: 19
Alliance: Zallia
*How It Works
Personality: Marielle is a merchant’s daughter, raised from the cradle to always be on the look out for a good deal and worthwhile merchandise. She is even-keeled and may appear over serious to those who do not know her well. Viewing nearly everyone as either a potential supplier or customer, she tends to treat people of all social classes fairly. Instead of loudly jockeying for position, she steps back from a situation and insinuates herself into some quiet, necessary capacity to gain the advantage. Her sense of humor tends toward the acerbic and understated. Many people take her quiet demeanor for weakness, but she is actually quite firm on most things, giving way only when she judges the battle not worth the breath to argue. Capable in a crisis, she finds it difficult to venture past simple flirtation, unwilling to share that much of herself with any man she’s met yet. Besides, she far prefers a life of travel and adventure, figuring she can settle down when she’s ready.
10 likes
1. Sailing
2. People who get her sense of humor
3. Honesty
4. Her rambling family
5. A balanced ledger
6. Nice fabrics
7. Her cat, Julien
8. Docking at new places
9. Striking a favorable bargain
10. Strawberries
10 dislikes
1. People who condescend to her
2. People who insult merchants
3. Covering for her brother’s incompetence
4. The war between Lamora and Mar’vol
5. Dealing in foodstuffs
6. Cooking
7. Pretending to be nice
8. Marzipan
9. Darning socks
10. Not having money of her own
Appearance: Marielle inherited the Mercier height, which is to say quite short, not that you should ever mention this fact to most of the Merciers. She is considered somewhat pretty but no great beauty compared with her mother or sister Eulalie. She keeps her appearance neat and tidy. Her long dark hair can usually be seen braided up out of the way, much to her mother’s annoyance; Heloise thinks she would look more feminine with her hair down, since it makes her angular face look softer. Marielle likes to think her pulled back hair puts an emphasis on her dark eyes, which thinks are her best features. She is rather small and thin, although she will put on weight while on land for more than a month. Her fingers are often ink-stained from keeping ships’s ledgers. Like a good merchant’s daughter, she wears plain but finely made dresses with simple jewelry on more formal occasions. While at sea she usually wears a knee length tunic over a shirt and trousers, although she will always change into more appropriate attire once the ship comes in sight of shore. Her most prized possession is a pair of emerald earrings her father gave her on her seventeenth birthday.
The Back Story
Parents: Aubin and Heloise Mercier
History
Marielle comes from a long line of merchants operating out of Zallia. Her father is the eldest in the Mercier family and took over the operations of the family business last year upon her grandfather Bastien’s death. Prior to that he had captained the Aurore, the lead ship of the family fleet. She has a great many relatives, all living either on board ships or in various houses on Rue Berchand. She and her twin brother Marius were born on a voyage from Zallia to Mar’vol, her mother’s first and only trip abroad. Her mother prefers to stay home and manage the household, no mean feat considering the size of the family. Marielle and her brother have four younger siblings: Bastien the Younger, Eulalie, Felicie, and Yvette.
Marielle is considered one of the brighter children in the Mercier family and takes after her father in many ways. She and Marius accompanied their father on many sea voyages, learning firsthand the tricks of trading and haggling for a good bargain. She has helped her father keep the Aurore’s ledgers since she was eight and her father had said more than once he wished she had been born a boy so she could inherit. In contrast, her twin Marius has difficulty keeping rates of exchange in his head and tends to make a mess of the accounting books. Despite these differences, the twins have generally had a good relationship with each other until recently, when Aubin assigned Marielle to share command of the Aurore with Marius.
Marielle is estatic for the chance at command, although she is less than thrilled that she has to share it with Marius. She understands the need for the appearance of propriety and is thankful her father is giving her the opportunity to prove herself and delay the inevitability of marriage. Her mother is less pleased, being eager for Marielle to settle down. Marielle is fairly certain that the inclusion of her distant (and admittedly handsome) cousin Vespasien Gagnon on the Aurore’s crew is her mother’s doing.
Pets: A short-haired, spotted cat name Julien
The Master Mind
ooc name: Carys
PB: Natalie Portman
Sample RP
The door banged as Marius flung it open. He stalked across the room to where his sister sat and placed his calloused hands on her desk, glowering. She looked up, her dark eyebrows raised. “I take it you’re angry,” she said. She sighed inwardly, returning to cross her sevens and zeros on her total. There were rather a lot of zeros attached to the Mighell’s last voyage, explaining Uncle Evariste’s embullient mood. It was likely she would have another new cousin before the year ended, she thought.
“It’s not fair!” Marius said, pounding the desk for emphasis. “Now everyone thinks I’m such an idiot that my sister has to babysit my first command.”
“Or maybe you’re babysitting mine?” she suggested lightly. She set down her quill and waited for the ink to dry.
He waved a hand dismissively. “Don’t be silly. Father’s lenient, but he’ll never give you your own ship.” He raked a hand through his hair in frustration. “He must think I’m positively womanly.”
Marielle bit the inside of her mouth to keep from speaking. Lately she’d come to detest her twin. His newfound misogyny seemed to come from his new friends at the local tavern, since it surely hadn’t come out of their family. The Merciers were terribly egalitarian, all things considered, teaching all their children reading and arithmetic regardless of sex. After all, the family business depended both on a stable home base as well its more adventurous trading activities.
He knew her too well to think her silence positive. “And now you’re judging me.”
“I’m waiting for the ink to dry,” she pointed out evenly.
“Can’t you just give in and marry Vespasien already?” Marius demanded.
The way her family discussed the supposed inevitability of her marriage to Vespasien Gagnon brought out her ire in a way few other subjects did. Certainly, she found his emerald eyes and strong arms attractive. Wouldn’t any warm-blooded woman? She had even toyed with the idea of falling in love, and the other things that implied, and it was quite appealing. Children, however, was where she drew the line, and offspring were after all the unavoidable result of getting married. Having babies meant you didn’t travel any more and she wasn’t ready yet – if ever – to give up the thrill of the wide ocean and docking at new and exciting foreign ports. “See you at supper,” she said, sidestepping his question in her usual way.