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☞ Player Information;
Name: Jo
Player Journal: inglouriously
Age: 21
Contact: joisaverage
Other characters currently played at Ryan's Gulch: Shoshanna Dreyfus
☞ Character Information;
Character Name: Marie-Françoise Lely, but professionally, she goes by Fifi.
Canon: Moriarty: Hound of the D'Urbervilles
OU or AU?: AU
Canon point: The point in your character's history from which you will be playing them in Ryan's Gulch.

Setting: Please provide all information concerning your character's home world or original setting as it relates to them. While we would prefer this section to be written out, providing links will be acceptable in the case of fandom characters.

History:

Not much is known about Fifi from her original canon, apart from that she is "really French," blonde, a whore, and has a lazy eye. In her OU, she lives in Victorian-era London and works out of a whorehouse in Conduit street, a front for the criminal activities of Professor James Moriarty. In this AU, she lives in modern-day London, 2012 to be exact, and works as an escort, though her situation is much the same.

Born Marie-Françoise Lely in the outskirts of Paris in April of 1986, Fifi was raised in a slum by a single mother, Coline. Life often wasn't kind to the young girl; her father abandoned herself and her mother at a young age, and her mother worked in a factory to pay the bills. Madame Lely's free time was spent with a string of men, none of which were particularly kind to young Fifi. Her mother's ignorance meant that she gained a sense of independence at a young age.

She struggled through her early years in school, her flighty personality leaving her unable to focus properly and unwilling to see the value in a proper education. However, as she grew up and saw what a lack of education had done to her mother, she resolved to do better in school. By junior high, she saw an improvement in her grades and, although not particularly bright, Fifi found that certain subjects came more easily than others. Because of this improvement and her low-income status, she was given a scholarship to a high-end boarding school called L'Ermitage, outside of Paris. Fifi gratefully seized upon the opportunity to get away from her substandard living situations.

At L'Ermitage, Fifi learned not only English, but etiquette, classical studies, and equestrianism, among the usual subjects. She was a mediocre student, compared to her classmates, and though she was initially somewhat of an outcast due to her status as a scholarship student, her personality soon outshone the fact that she was a charity case. She gained a few friends and got by as well as she could in her classes. Fifi rarely went home to visit her mother, and when Coline died of lung cancer when she was seventeen, she did not attend the funeral.

Upon graduating from L'Ermitage, Fifi found that she had neither the desire nor the academic credentials to attend a university. She found herself homeless, working days as a waitress and shacking up with Etienne, the latest in the string of boyfriends she'd maintained at school. At eighteen, she had plenty of experience with men, perhaps the one thing she had in common with her mother. When Etienne decided that having sex with her wasn't worth putting up with her mess, Fifi was forced out on her own, living in a one-room apartment not much better than the place she was raised in, and which her waitressing job barely afforded. It was then that she found an easier way to make money which came far more naturally to her: as an escort.

At first, the agency she worked for was rather unscrupulous, and she didn't see very much of the money she earned. Her clients wanted sex more than they wanted companionship or arm-candy, and she found herself fearful that she would catch something sooner or later. Luckily, she was saved from that fate by a business card one of her clients left behind, for a far more promising-looking agency. Fifi called the number, and was granted an interview.

Her looks were perhaps the one thing she had going for her, and it was this asset which landed her the job. She was given a stipend for new clothing, which she jumped at the chance to buy: nicer, tailored clothing which made her look more professional and an expensive haircut were exactly what she needed to get ahead in her line of work, and she was soon pulling in enough money to afford a little bit nicer flat and some extra besides. She became very popular with her clients, and found her evenings filled with nice restaurants, theatres, shopping trips, and, of course, sex. Soon she found that she didn't mind the sex so much, and even enjoyed it from time to time. But soon enough the agency was raided by the police and was forced to close, and the young woman found herself jobless at twenty-one. She decided she needed a change.

This change came in the form of a one-way ticket to England. She'd been afforded the opportunity to learn English in school, and it was enough to convince her that London was the place for her. She was smart enough, however, to look before leaping: she obtained a reference from her former employer for an agency in London that looked promising. Little did she know that it operated as a front for major criminal activity.

It didn't take long for Fifi to become popular among clients; French girls were somewhat of a commodity, and despite her lazy eye, she'd grown into quite the looker. One of the men who requested her the most often was a certain Colonel Sebastian Moran, and between his good looks and his sexual prowess, she soon gained a certain fondness for him and even looked forward to his call. Besides the perhaps shady activity going on around the agency's building on Conduit street, Fifi had no qualms with her new job, and even learned to like England. It was no Paris, but she lived a far better life in London and made pretty decent money even after her boss, Ms. Halifax, had taken her cut.

Personality:

Fifi's personality is not something largely expanded on in Hound of the D'Urbervilles, but I imagine it remains much the same in this modern AU, influenced by the more modern circumstances she was brought up in.

As an escort, Fifi naturally has developed a certain persona under which she operates. Though much of it is derived from aspects of her own personality, she has a tendency to exaggerate things for the benefit of her clients. She's bubbly in both aspects of her life, and perhaps a little silly, with a tendency to laugh and make jokes rather than being so serious about everything. Extremely flirtatious, it's difficult for her not to be, even in a situation where it's not strictly appropriate.

Fifi might play the part of the dumb blonde, but she's certainly not stupid. She knows how the world works, knows exactly what's expected of her and how people see those in her position. She merely chooses not to be bothered by the opinions of others. She's very comfortable with herself and her sexuality and isn't bothered by frank discussion of sex.

Due to her schooling, she has a vast knowledge of etiquette where dress, conversations, and table manners are concerned, and while these are employed with her clients (particularly the higher-end ones), in her personal life she has a tendency to be a bit of a slattern. Her dress is a bit more relaxed, and she's a very messy person. It isn't unusual for her belongings to find themselves strewn around the room, but she has neither the time nor the inclination to be organized.

Like any proper Frenchwoman, Fifi has a love of cigarettes (unfiltered), fine wine and champagne, good, tailored clothing, and fine food. Luckily, her line of work means she has access to all of this through her clients, but rarely will she spend her own money on such luxuries. Growing up poor means that she has the sense to save her money, after her rent and bills and groceries are bought and paid for. She's got a nice little nest egg saved away for someday, and she thinks that in a few years, or when her looks start to go, she'll use it to do something different with her life. Escorting is a good match for her, but she doesn't want to do it forever.

Finally, while sharing herself intimately is part of her job description, she makes a point not to share many details of her private life—her full name, her family situation, her education. It's already too easy for men to feel like they know who she really is, or that they own her in some way. She keeps her independence by respecting her own right to privacy, and she loves the feeling of power this gives her. She may not have been born with much autonomy, but she earned it, and that's the thing she loves about her life.

Abilities: None unless being really awesome at sex counts.

How did your character arrive in Rapture? Teleportation gone awry.

Network sample:

[The woman greeting the Rapture Hotline is obviously trying hard to appear unruffled; she's all about professionalism, after all, and if she's going to be stuck in an underwater city, she'll need to keep her cool or risk scaring away potential clients. She's well-dressed and well-groomed, and it's clear that she has a little money to take care of herself with. Luckily, she has a newly-cashed paycheck in her purse, meaning she'll have a good bit of money to exchange into Rapture dollars.]

Bonjour, Rapture. My name is Fifi and I am new here, I suppose you'd say. This is all very new to me, but it seems I must find a way to earn a little money, non?

[Her mouth curls into a little, coquettish smile.] Alors, perhaps if any of you are needing some professional company, someone to take out for dinner, maybe, you can call me.

Log sample:

For someone from about fifty-five years in the future, Fifi was adjusting remarkably well to life in Rapture. True, she was working on her own, which was not her custom in the least, and actively seeking out clients was much more difficult than having them call and request her personally. But the work was just as rewarding, she found, and she got to keep all of the money she earned, instead of her agency getting a cut.

She was discovering, however, that she needed a bodyguard to work with her. Far too often she was finding herself in rather harrowing situations with clients and no way to defend herself if things went south. Fifi may have been street-smart, but at five feet, two inches, and her build, she wasn't exactly well-equipped to fight off anyone with ill intentions. So, she decided to hold interviews for a personal protector, someone who would accompany her on jobs and wait outside in case anything went wrong. It would mean a cut in her own pay, but it was worth it to keep herself safe.

The only trouble was, some of the gentlemen who showed up to interview with her seemed to have a predisposition to splicing excessively. A few of them seemed on the verge of becoming true blue splicers, and that was not something she was keen on dealing with. Sighing, Fifi crossed another name off her list. This was going to be a longer process than she'd anticipated. Another knock on her door, and she went to answer, her expectations significantly lowered. But to her surprise and delight, the man waiting seemed to be a bit better than the rest. Fifi ushered him inside and asked him to have a seat on her tiny, secondhand sofa.

"Please, monsieur, tell me about your qualifications." She wouldn't mind him telling her about his abs, either, for that matter, but she'd stay professional for the time being.