Character Avatar: Emily Browning
Character Name: Miette Bouvier
Age: 27
Height: 5'
Rank/Title: Baronne
Race: D'Angeline/Namarrese
Country/Province: Wherever Damien is
Townhome Request:
Country Home Request:
Player: Merle
Appearance/Personality: Standing at only five feet even, Miette is diminutive, and aside from that lack of stature, she is also rather slender, though not skin and bones thin. Her circular face, with prominent rounded cheekbones, often rosy, soften her appearance, creating the impression that she is more voluptuous than she really is. It is also not unusual for others to think she is younger than her actual age, given her small size and doll-like features: pouting lips; a small, some might say cute, nose with the slightest dimple at the tip; wide set almond eyes a shade of vivid hazel that fluctuates from golden amber to a tawny olive green; porcelain pale skin, prone to the most sublime pink flush.
Her hair is a medium hue that ranges from wheat to mousy brown, with just a hint of cinnamon. Somehow encompassing blonde, brunette and red, but not a one of them in particular. Rendering it indistinct, hard to quantify. That description defying quality giving her a leg up when she wishes to remain incognito. It is a bit of a reflection of the woman herself. There is something strange about Miette. Like a perfect little china figurine that is beautiful to look at, but cold to the touch. So fragile, delicate, hollow inside. Something that, once broken, becomes sharp and dangerous.
And Miette is most certainly broken.
Outwardly she is often quiet, unobtrusive. Inside she is turmoil and contradiction. The physical and psychological abuses and conditioning Miette was put through most of her life have left their scars upon both her body and mind. At times she can seem on the brink of falling apart, while at others she can be nearly devoid of emotion. Taught to be obedient from a young age, she tends towards subservience, but knows how to take control when she needs or wishes to.
Since joining Damien de Carman (whom she is more than a little obsessed with), the Baronne has found her own sadistic streak, and can be exceptionally callous and cruel in her own right. Her other services to him have also illuminated a cunning mind (she has proven a quick study for the types of manipulations Damien favors). The lady knows how to use her unassuming, soft-spoken manner and dainty, non-threatening appearance to good effect.
At the end of the day, Miette is a badly abused young woman with a great deal of mental and emotional damage, who doesn't see things or react to them in a typical, healthy way.
History: Though of genteel birth, Miette has certainly not led a charmed life. Her father, the Namarrese Baron Edmond Bouvier, was a profoundly cruel man, and her mother too timid and servile to stand up to him. Not in defense of herself, nor of their children. Edmond terrorized the household without opposition, particularly the girls. Tormenting them. Training them to serve him, please him, and obey his every whim. Even being the eldest and his heir did not spare Miette this fate, and in fact, only seemed to make her a special favorite for her father's loathsome attentions.
While not as docile as her mother, the girl nonetheless dared not defy him, but inside she seethed and suffered and grew to hate. Herself, her mother, her life, but most of all, her father. Often Miette dreamt of escape, by various means. Wishing for his death, betimes praying for her own, waiting for the day she would inevitably be married off to some nobleman or another. She was not interested in romance as other young women might be, but if it meant her freedom from the Baron's vile grip, she was willing.
As it turned out, Miette only traded one yoke for another.
Upon their first encounter, she was not particularly taken with the young man her father introduced as a business associate. Damien de Carman. In Miette's eyes he was only one of many she had attended at the Baron's behest, and nothing more. Once passed her majority, she had begun to lose any hope of release, not even in marriage as she had at one time thought. So, as she had mostly given up looking, the young woman saw no possible vantage or opportunity the newcomer could present.
Even were that not the case, her sudden liberation came in a form she would not have expected. Through Damien's machinations, Baron Bouvier found his ruination. As he was unwilling to submit to the younger man's attempts at blackmail, de Carman made good on his threats. The information released led to Edmond's arrest, and further investigation led to his execution. Raising Miette to the position of Baronne.
Her new title did not grant her freedom as she had imagined it, nor protection from Damien, but she didn't care. He was her hero. Her savior. Whatever torments he visited upon her were received gratefully. In Miette's mind it was the least she could offer in repayment for what he had done for her, as she had also convinced herself that was his motivation.
While it was true that he'd wanted Miette in his clutches, he soon seemed to grow bored with her, and much to her dismay, found another plaything. She was distraught, panicked, heartsick, and in the end took out all of her jealous frustrations upon the poor girl. In so doing, Miette found that she had the capacity to be every bit as cruel and sadistic as her father, or her current captor. What's more, that she took great satisfaction in it. Even better, this development renewed Damien's interest in her.
For a time.
Again, he eventually tired of her company. So, Miette has dedicated herself to finding new ways to capture and keep his attention. To proving herself a worthy companion. She helps devise and implement wicked torments for Damien's playthings, assists in finding the information and vulnerabilities he needs to manipulate people, and often serves as a lure... as her name suggests, a little crumb to follow... bait to draw in more pawns for his twisted games.
Ma mie is an old-fashioned (not that that matters board-wise) French term of endearment, from a contraction of 'my friend' made feminine: mon amie > m'amie > ma mie. Akin to something like my dear. Mie also refers to the soft (non-crust) part of bread, and miette is the diminutive form. Literally a crumb/crumble. Émietter is the verb to crumble.
