Eponine Thenardier (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
makeflowersgrow) wrote2013-03-10 01:10 am
makeflowersgrow) wrote2013-03-10 01:10 am
Somarium Info
<cut>[Player name] Lili
[Age] 23
[Personal Journal] petalstoashes (but I NEVER use it) You’re better off grabbing me on this journal!
[Other characters currently played] None
[Character name] Eponine Thenardier
[Age] Eponine is about seventeen – two months too young to be held criminally responsible (which was eighteen in nineteenth century France for women), according to the novel. Although, saying that, she is probably, at this canon point, just celebrating her eighteenth... (she tells Marius that she is too young around 6 weeks before her canon point here). If she can get away with it, she’ll say she’s younger to try to avoid trouble. Eponine actually looks a lot older than she is though. She has had an awful lot of ‘life experience’ and knows a great deal of sordid things, which Hugo says has aged her prematurely. And yet, she still retains a sense of innocence about her that sits in contrast to this older look.
[Canon] Les Miserables (the novel – though using the film’s actress as the PB please)
[Point in time taken from canon] End of Part 4 Chapter 8: ‘Enchantments and Disillusions’ – Eponine has thwarted Thenardier’s attack on the Rue Plumet and lost the alliance of the Patron Minette.
[Background] Eponine was born in the October of 1815 in the small town of Montfermiel on the outskirts of Paris. She was the oldest child of Monsieur and Madame Thenardier, the local innkeepers, though a year later, she became big sister to Azelma.
Eponine had a VERY happy childhood. She was absolutely doted on by her parents – more so than Azelma, and definitely more so than Gavroche, who came along when Eponine was about six. Between Azelma and Gavroche being born, another little girl, a child the same age as Eponine, came to live at the inn. But as Eponine was dark, so Euphraise, or Cosette, as she was known, was blonde. And whilst Eponine was well cared for an d plump and prettily dressed, the little Cosette was abused and treated as a servant in the inn. Eponine did not know who Cosette was, or why she was treated in such a manner by the Thenardiers, but she fell in readily enough, abusing Cosette and tormenting her. Eponine liked to report Cosette’s ‘misdeeds’ to her Mama, for the fun of seeing the little girl punished. She would NOT let Cosette touch her toys or her clothes, though she often taunted Cosette with them. She learned from an early age how to con people, and how to pickpocket and thieve. She’s never been taught that thieving and lying are wrong and so it slowly became natural.
Eponine’s world was shaken when a rich man came and took Cosette away. Even as an ‘adult’, Eponine doesn’t fully understand why Cosette was taken or what happened, but she realised that after Cosette left, her own life became progressively worse. Nothing is written about the next eight to ten years of Eponine’s life (time is hazy in ‘Les Mis’), but evidently, the family’s fortunes changed. What is written next is either the obvious conclusion of the time jump or hinted at within the novel. They lost the inn, and were forced to move to Paris. Once within the city centre, they spent some time homeless. Madame Thenardier ‘lost’ Gavroche, and sold her two youngest twins. Eponine and Azelma were still taken care of, in that they were allowed to stay with their parents, but Eponine especially, was expected to earn her keep. It seems that from an early age, she was pickpocketing and begging in Paris.
Monsieur Thenardier, in the meantime, had several brushes with the law and changed the family name to ‘Jondrette’. He fell in with the Patron Minette, a notorious street gang from the slums of St Michel, and did what he could to work his way up the ranks. There has been debate as to whether this included allowing Eponine to be used for the sexual gratification of the men – it is strongly hinted that this is the case, and an article written by Hugo seems to confirm this. At any rate, Thenardier moved up the ranks, and dragged Eponine into the gang life that he loved. Eponine soon changed from pampered princess to a street urchin. She learned street lingo, known as ‘argot’ and can speak it fluently. She also learned not to answer back too much, to shut up and put up and to expect nothing. Thenardier became violent towards both his daughters, and regularly hit Eponine, and allowed the other Patron members to hurt her too. Eponine in return became contemptuous of her father, though she remained scared of him, and did as she was bid. She also developed a relationship (consensual or otherwise) with the youngest Patron member, Montparnasse – so much so that Thenardier regarded Montparnasse as his son in law.
Going back to definite canon facts, the Jondrettes managed to purchase a room within the Gorbeau tenement block. It’s basic, and the room has only two mattresses, a desk, a fireplace and a chair within it. But it’s a roof over her head and Eponine is grateful. In the room next door is a student, Marius – a man that Eponine notices from afar and becomes helplessly attracted to. Marius, on the other hand, doesn’t notice her. Her first interaction with him is when she is running from the police with Azelma. Azelma drops a bundle of the begging letters that her father was having them deliver, and Marius pockets them. The following day, Eponine is sent to Marius’ apartment to beg for money. Marius recognises the writing and makes the connection. Eponine meanwhile, wanders around Marius’ apartment, and stares at herself in the mirror, singing as she does so. And then, in an attempt to impress Marius, reads aloud from a book and writes ‘the police are coming’ on a piece of paper, with only slight hesitancy. She flirts awkwardly, and tells Marius about her trip to the theatre. She divulges about her previous winter beneath the bridge and how she had contemplated suicide, and how she likes to walk by herself at night and sleep rough to escape Thenardier. She tells him about her hallucinations due to lack of food. Marius pities her and gives her five francs, and she thanks him in argot.
When Eponine returns to her own room, her father sends her to deliver a letter to the rich gentleman at church. Eponine soon returns, having run all the way, to say that the man will soon be there. She reacts angrily as her father destroys the place, but is quietened. When the gentleman turns up, Eponine eyes his daughter passively, and with a jealous eye. She shows her only sign of honesty in trying to return the gentleman’s coat, which her father is cross with her for. When it is revealed that the gentleman is Valjean and the daughter, Cosette, Eponine cannot believe it, and compares her situation to Cosette’s, revealing more of her self loathing. She goes to visit Marius, and is dismayed when he asks her to find Cosette for him, as he is in love with her. She makes Marius promise to give her whatever she wants in return, but agrees to do it.
Meanwhile, her father is plotting for the rich man’s return. Azelma and Eponine are sent outside barefoot, to keep watch in the snow to watch for the police. The plan goes pearshaped and the gang are caught trying to kidnap Valjean – all except Eponine and Montparnasse, the latter having left the former off (presumably to have his way with her). The gang are rounded up and sent to jail – and Eponine swiftly follows. She spends two weeks in jail, but is then freed, due to lack of evidence of her involvement, and her claims that she is below 16 (she’s lying, but without proof of age, she cannot be proven wrong).
Once she is free, a gang member named Babet sends a letter to Eponine, ordering her to investigate a house on the Rue PLumet. Eponine finds that it is Cosette’s house, but rather than give her and Valjean away, she sends Babet a biscuit, indicating that there is nothing up there. Eponine finds Marius and tells him of the house. She is upset by his joyful reaction and surprised that he actually calls her by her name. Marius makes Eponine swear not to tell her father the address and she takes him to the house. Once there, she reminds Marius that he promised her anything she wanted, and he hands her some money, which Eponine drops. She does not want his money, only his love.
Eponine secretly keeps watch on Marius as he visits Cosette, and though he sometimes sees her, he says nothing. Finally, Eponine approaches him but cannot think of anything to say and he pushes her away. Finally, she follows him, and sits, deep in thought, on an old stone whilst Marius visits Cosette in the garden. She is spotted by her father and the Patron Minette, who have come to rob the house, despite Eponine’s warnings, and dragged out of the shadows. She attempts to distract them with teasing and contemptuous words, but the men are intent on breaking in. They threaten to hit her, but she threatens to scream. They laugh at her, but Thenardier, afraid of being imprisoned again, makes the men leave, allowing Eponine victory – for now. She’s left with a dire warning that she is in BIG TROUBLE when she goes home that night.
[Personality] Eponine is… she’s tough. She’s had to be. She has grown up in a hostile environment, where the philosophy of ‘every man for himself’ is predominant. She knows how to stand up for herself, and she is not one to back down in an argument. She carries herself well, and can talk to most people. Her chatter comes across as awkward at times, or even inappropriate. She flirts with Marius as best she can – but it comes across as awkward. She is nervy. She speaks more than she should to people she doesn’t know, and is very open about herself and her life. Within minutes of meeting Marius, she tells him about her suicide consideration. Her words come without a great deal of thought, in a tangle of argot and French when she’s nervous. The more in control she tries to seem, the more ladylike she tries to act, the more it comes off as an act, a sham – sheer desperation. Hugo says that Eponine might have been gay and flirtatious, like any proper society miss, as her exuberance and feistiness bubbles from her, despite her drab life – but the reality of being poor has rendered her uneducated and out of her depth in social situations with her ‘betters’.
She’s not much use in a fight, and relies more on her tongue to get out of situations. When Eponine knows a person well, she’ll talk back at them, jousting with words, even if they threaten physical violence.She herself does not rely on physically fighting; she knows she is weak from starvation and in a world of men, she never has the power to win physically. Eponine reacts to danger by facing it head on and without flinching. She will accept violence against herself as well as she can, with her head raised high and a glare in her eyes. Eponine is very difficult to scare; her life has desensitised her to a lot of horror. She is also very good at hiding any signs of her fear too. Fear is considered a weakness in the Underworld, and Eponine quickly learned to hide that particular emotion a long time ago.
Some would describe Eponine as cold – but she’s not, not really. It’s a show, an act she puts on, so people don’t try to mess her about. In reality, Eponine is an emotional little creature. She’s completely in love with Marius, a student, who doesn’t return, or even acknowledge her feelings. Eponine craves love though. It’s what drives her. Show her any hint of kindness, and she becomes a lapdog, eager to please and willing to do anything, even if it causes her physical or emotional pain. She wants attention. She laughs inappropriately and
Eponine is defiant. She hates what her father makes her do, but she has to participate. Still, she does it all with a glare in her eyes and her mouth pressed into a hard line. She often shouts back before giving in; the exception is when she is protecting Marius. She stands up to her father and the Patron Minette properly for the first time and it costs her her home and her family alliance, essentially leaving her destitute. Eponine’s love for Marius is greater than any love or fear that she has for her Papa.
She does what she has to do to survive. She can be incredibly manipulative, if she thinks she will gain from it. She is incredibly brave and doesn’t seem to have a great sense of personal danger. Eponine will face any adversity that comes to her head on; it is not really in her nature to hide. And she will face her fate with a straight back and a defiant glare. Nobody will feel pity for Eponine. She is brave till the very end. She is not stupid, though. If there is a way to avoid a beating, either through lies or staying away for a night, Eponine will take that option. Afterall, as she says, ‘there’s no point in looking for a beating I could avoid, is there?’
Eponine is loyal. If she feels obliged to someone, she will bow to their will, whether she agrees with their actions or not. This is seen particularly with her Papa and the Patron Minette. She is more loyal to those who show affection towards her than those who intimidate her, though. A lot of the time, she’s scared and she’s wary, and she has the same cautious expression as a hunted animal.
She doesn’t consider herself to be at all beautiful; she thinks she’s disgusting, and that she doesn’t deserve a happy life. Eponine loathes herself. She hates everything about herself, from the dirt she is encrusted in, to the criminal that her Papa has turned her into. She cannot see anything positive about herself at all; but she forces herself to continue with life.She is somewhat bitter, especially towards those better off than her. Jealousy is one of Eponine’s biggest failures. She desperately wants a better life, but knows she will never have one.
Eponine has some psychological problems. She has been known to suffer from hallucinations when she is very very hungry. She tends to laugh as well, in very inappropriate places, a nervous reaction perhaps. She is also known to be quite suicidal; the winter of 1931, Eponine considered wading into the Seine to drown herself – she didn’t because she was scared that it wouldn’t work and it would be too cold. This is perhaps an indication that Eponine cannot cope with her life as well as she seems to on the surface.
Eponine is sweet. She likes flowers; she finds them soothing after the horrors of Paris. She is somewhat of a dreamer, and likes to imagine herself as a proper lady, dancing with Marius. She can’t let the people she loves end up hurt. She’d literally rather take a bullet for them than let them be injured. Eponine likes to sing; she has always been told that she has an awful voice, but she doesn’t care. She likes to sing and often hums away to herself, singing old French ditties and raunchy ballads, and songs that she makes up herself. Her mother says she is a waste of space, but she isn’t really. She just… She wants to be able to learn. She wants to study with the scholars, but she knows that’ll never be. She can just about read and write her name, and is very proud of these facts. It takes her a while to read, and longer to write anything beyond ‘Eponine’ and ‘the police are coming’. She’s very intelligent, and picks things up quickly. She is very street smart, and has the potential to be book smart too.
Steadfast is a word to describe her; she'll stick to the people she likes, no matter what they ask of her.
Eponine is naturally proud. She doesn’t want to be pitied, and hates the fact that people do pity her. She’s playful, and somewhat of a tease when she’s around people she’s comfortable with. With strangers, she’s more wary of ending up in trouble. Her speech is often colloquial; only when she talks of love does she become more poetic.
In all, Eponine craves affection. She wants to love and be loved. She wants a happy life. She wants Marius. She wants pretty dresses and a bath and the opportunity to learn. But she has no hope that she’ll ever get any of this. It’s there, she can see it, but for Eponine, it is going to be forever out of reach. And she’s accepted that. And she will face her fate bravely.
[Abilities] She’s a good thief and a pickpocket. She seems to have the ability to withstand extreme temperatures without becoming seriously ill (although she does have a really bad cough). In canon, she wanders the snowy streets barefoot and without a coat, and has spent winters either outside or without any heating/fires/adequate clothing and apparently managed to escape frostbite or pneumonia. She is also able to survive on very little food, though she is well aware that she’ll be dead within a year if her situation in canon continues. Eponine is good at hiding in shadows and following people. She can memorise routes and find quicker or more concealed routes too. She can speak Argot fluently, though she tries not to, as it immediately betrays her as a criminal. Eponine is VERY proud of the fact that she can read and write with hardly any escapes.
[Other important stuff]. If Eponine uses argot when talking to a character (she does slip into it when she’s scared or excited), I will include a translation of her speech in brackets at the bottom of the comment. There is a full argot dictionary (as far as I can find) included in Eponine’s journal too.
I would like permission to use some headcanon in Eponine’s background stories. She has a tendency, when she’s nervous or trying to impress, to splurge stories about her personal history. However, Hugo leaves around 10 years of Eponine’s life unaccounted for, between her move from Montfermiel to Paris, except for brief descriptions of homelessness. There are obvious ways that her life changed, from comfortably well off to indescribably poor, and, if we follow Hugo’s preface and earlier drafts, she was prostituted out from a young age – which is not something she’s willing to talk about much. But I’d like to be able for her to include other stories – perhaps how she and Azelma conned an old man out of the last of his money by pretending to be his granddaughters – and details of how rats ran over them etc under the bridge that last winter. Nothing too outlandish – and things that could definitely have been a part of her life, like the con act, might be included.
Eponine is a complete dreamer – she already lives half in fantasy when she can.
[Sample post]
[First Person] Done as a face to face interview
Would you consider yourself a hero or a villain? Why? Neither is an option as well, but still tell why.
I am a bad girl. Rich people call people like me scum. The Patron Minette say I am a ‘gat’ – an alley cat. A bad lot. I am a thief, I suppose, and I beg. I don’t like that. It makes me feel – [She clutches at her stomach with one hand, digging in with her nails through her thin chemise] I… I suppose I am. I don’t know what I am. I don’t cast wicked spells and cut up frogs in the moonlight like the villains in those old stories do. [She laughs uneasily] But I am not a hero. I am… just… just ‘Ponine. I can see it in people’s eyes though. They do not like me. People like the students, they look through me, as if I am not there at all. And the rich people see me with every other girl like me. They see me as a bad lot, and shake me off and send me away or they cross the road out of fear of me picking their pockets… [She shrugs]
I am not a villain. I am not so bad as Papa or Babet or Montparnasse. But I am not a hero. Such people are for fairy stories. And life… well, it is nice to dream but I know it is not real.
There is a cake in the rain. What do you do?
Why is there cake in the rain, Sir? WHERE is there cake? Do you know how long it has been since I have had cake? No, neither do I – but it was when I was a little girl in Montfermiel that I had it last – and such cakes, Monsieur. I used to let the cat lick the cream instead of Cosette having it… If there was cake, Sir, I would eat it as fast as I could, no matter where it was.Even if it had been in the rain for hours. It’s been days since I last ate, days and days. Cake would be lunch today, and breakfast, and probably my dinner tonight, and for the last three days when I had nothing – maybe a crust I found. And I would make sure that Papa or the Patron Minette would not see the cake or they’d have it off me. Maybe I would save a piece for Gavroche. Maybe. [She laughs, embarrassed, and looks down at her hands]
Would you consider yourself a well traveled person? If so, what are some of your favorite places? If not, would you want to travel or is there some place you want to go?
I want to go to England. I hear it’s beautiful there, Sir. Don’t know much about it, though. It’s over the sea somewhere. Marius used to speak of it now an’ then. I’d like to go. I’d like to see the world, like a proper lady does, on her travels with her Papa or her husband, p’raps. I won’t be goin’ nowhere except Paris though. Need money to travel, you see, Sir, and I don’t ‘ave enough for a carriage, let alone berth on a boat.
You're dirt poor and your family is starving. You have a chance to steal bread. Do you: a) ignore it and get a job, b) steal it anyway because you know you won't get caught, c) get caught but break out of prison anyway, d) steal it and then hide from the creepy cop that keeps stalking you, e) don't steal because stealing is wrong :(. Explain why you chose that option.
(LOL)
I would take it – my Papa would beat me half to death if I didn’t – an’ where’s the sense in taking a beatin’ over a loaf of bread when you’re so hungry the streets wave and pitch and flowers grow eyes an’ smile at you and the houses lean over you like they’re gonna eat you up? Maybe I’d get caught – an’ I couldn’t break out. You need help inside to do that. And out – an’ the Patron Minette wouldn’t help me. Nah, I’d cry, like Papa said. I’d cry an’ say I were fifteen. They’d have to let me go.
If I could, I’d take a job. Monsieur, I know what I am – but I could work in a proper job. I’m clever, you know. I know all my letters, no mistake, and I can read. Shall I show you? And I know my numbers to say and to write. Most any number, I can do. Mama taught me careful when I was little, and I never forgot. [She shakes her head though] No one would employ me though. Not looking how I do. They’d see my feet and say, ‘You there. Girl! Out! OUT!’ and they would chase me out and call me names. [She shrugs.] Robbing isn’t something I like. I am not like my Pa. But it keeps me alive another day an’ it keeps ‘is ‘ands off me mostly. So I do it.
You see a bloody knife on the floor. What do you do or think?
I would think that ‘Parnasse’d been up to his tricks, Madame. I would think, ‘Oh no. What poor gentleman’s met his end in this here street.’ And then I’d think, ‘What’s one of them doin’ around here so late at night anyway?’ Some people are asking for trouble. ‘Parnasse only kills when he robs – you better not be telling the bogies on us, or he’ll have me murdered himself.
But it ain’t fer a lady to hear what he’s like. [She laughs] I’d be watchin’ my own neck if he’d left it for me to see. That’s a sign, that. I would say to myself, ‘Eponine, what have you been doin’ to make him so cross he wants to be rid of you?’ I would say, ‘What have I done to make Papa cross?’ I would not cry. I would look down the next alley, in the third doorway on the left, for ‘Parnasse and let ‘im do what ‘e wants with me quick.
If you could change your current lifestyle or job career, what would it be?
I would be a lady. Like Cosette. It should be her like this… maybe. Or maybe no one. I don’t want ter be a thief and a bad lot – but you can’t help it when you have nothing. An’… and maybe he’d look at me different if I were as beautiful and as clean as her… I would like M’sieur Marius to look at me in such a way.
Or maybe that is too much to ask. Madame, I would settle to be an innkeeper’s wife, like my Mama was when I was little. Or work in a bakery, or a factory – anything Madame, which meant I could have shoes on my feet and food in my belly. A bakery would be lovely – it would be warm. Perhaps even they would let me have a blanket beneath the counter at night – it would smell lovely too. That is what I would like. But a proper lady would be lovely. In a beautiful dress costing fifteen hundred jimmy o’goblin, with petticoats and lace and a beautiful corset, Madame. Of course, I would need a corset because I would be fat from eating every day! And I would dance all night at the ball – and… and he’d smile at me, and hold me close in his arms and we’d dance forever and forever until he asks me to marry him. [She looks away, completely embarrassed, before looking back at the interviewers and grinning.]
[Third Person]
Someone is being mugged! With complete control over NPC actions, write a sample that illustrates: 1) how or what the character is thinking before the event happens, 2) how they react and deal with the situation, and 3) if necessary, how they handle the aftermath. This will allow both a change to show your character both in a normal situation and a forced situation.
It’s getting late. Very late. Eponine looked across at the big clock on the side of the building – and grinned. The sticks pointing to the little numbers meant nothing to her. Instead, she turned her face upwards, examining the darkening sky, before nodding to herself. It was getting late. And all Eponine could think of was food. Food. Her stomach rumbled, and she pressed her right arm tight across it, trying to suppress the grumbling. Eponine closed her eyes. Was it THAT bad? Would she be able to sleep through it?
No.
Eponine thought the answer with regret. No. No, she was so hungry. How long had it been? Two days? Three? Four? And even then, it had only been a crust and a bit of dripping.
The girl staggered forward, out of the alley and into the main street. How funny. The buildings were moving. Eponine stood quite still and smiled, watching for a minute, before shutting her eyes tight. No. Buildings should not move. They should not be monsters. They should just stay still and… and be buildings. Not move.
She opened her eyes slowly, and darted for the nearest doorway, peering out at the crowd. Food. She needed food.
And to get food, she needed money.
Eponine leant back against the cool stone. Oh god, she hated it. She hated herself so much for giving in and doing it. But what else could she do? She closed her eyes, fighting that sinking feeling in her stomach. She needed the money and she needs it now. So, with her eyes closed, she took a deep breath. Her facial expression went blank. She took another, and whilst she held it, she imagined herself, plump and clean. And another breath. Marius.
Eponine opened her eyes and looked back around the doorway to the street.
There were lots of people there, wealthy people compared to Eponine, hurrying home after a long day of shopping. Eponine found a target. An old gentleman, who looked too frail to bother to chase her, should he feel her hand in his pocket.
She slipped into the crowd.
She moved silently on bare feet, weaving between the people, until she was directly behind the man. Five feet away. Three feet. A foot.
Eponine noted his pockets as she followed him, assessing the shapes and bulges as she worked out where the purse was.
And when the man stopped to peer into a shop display, Eponine’s hand was in his left pocket immediately, easing the thin wallet out as gently and as quickly as she could. And as soon as she held it securely in her hand, she pushed it into her ragged skirt and set off back into the crowd. How much was in the wallet? Enough for some bread and an apple? Maybe a bit of meat if she was really lucky. Eponine headed back to her doorway to count her spoils. Truly, she hated what she did, but it was the way it had to be. Dog eat dog and man rob man.
She sank down and counted out the coins. She had five – big gold ones too. That man had been rich! She pocketed the wallet too – she might be able to sell that – and dragged herself up. A smile lit her face now, previous worries about theft gone. She was richer now than she had ever been. Eponine was already dreaming of the banquet that awaited her now!
[Why do you want to play this character in Somarium?] I think Somarium will allow me to explore Eponine’s softer side. Although it IS explored in canon, through her love of Marius, Somarium provides a setting where Eponine’s girlish dreams and fantasies can come true for her – a proper relief from Paris, interspersed with nightmares of her reality. It allows me to explore Eponine’s softer side without tears – just sheer joy. Something which I have never had the opportunity to do before. And – well, the poor kid has suffered a lot these last few years in Paris. Her dreams are often dark, which again, will be another interesting dynamic to explore.
[Which rule was your favorite and why?] The ‘be polite to others and act like grown ups’* rule. I know this is like, a standard group rule but I cannot be doing with drama. I rp to chill and just want a fun time. None of this ‘wankiness’ and ‘cliquey’ stuff. I’d rather people just call me out on problems instead of bitching – and then we can fix it!
*Disclaimer – Rule may be paraphrased!
[Where did you hear about Somarium?] Lauren (deathsticks) told me about it.
[Any questions?] Nope! </cut>
[Age] 23
[Personal Journal] petalstoashes (but I NEVER use it) You’re better off grabbing me on this journal!
[Other characters currently played] None
[Character name] Eponine Thenardier
[Age] Eponine is about seventeen – two months too young to be held criminally responsible (which was eighteen in nineteenth century France for women), according to the novel. Although, saying that, she is probably, at this canon point, just celebrating her eighteenth... (she tells Marius that she is too young around 6 weeks before her canon point here). If she can get away with it, she’ll say she’s younger to try to avoid trouble. Eponine actually looks a lot older than she is though. She has had an awful lot of ‘life experience’ and knows a great deal of sordid things, which Hugo says has aged her prematurely. And yet, she still retains a sense of innocence about her that sits in contrast to this older look.
[Canon] Les Miserables (the novel – though using the film’s actress as the PB please)
[Point in time taken from canon] End of Part 4 Chapter 8: ‘Enchantments and Disillusions’ – Eponine has thwarted Thenardier’s attack on the Rue Plumet and lost the alliance of the Patron Minette.
[Background] Eponine was born in the October of 1815 in the small town of Montfermiel on the outskirts of Paris. She was the oldest child of Monsieur and Madame Thenardier, the local innkeepers, though a year later, she became big sister to Azelma.
Eponine had a VERY happy childhood. She was absolutely doted on by her parents – more so than Azelma, and definitely more so than Gavroche, who came along when Eponine was about six. Between Azelma and Gavroche being born, another little girl, a child the same age as Eponine, came to live at the inn. But as Eponine was dark, so Euphraise, or Cosette, as she was known, was blonde. And whilst Eponine was well cared for an d plump and prettily dressed, the little Cosette was abused and treated as a servant in the inn. Eponine did not know who Cosette was, or why she was treated in such a manner by the Thenardiers, but she fell in readily enough, abusing Cosette and tormenting her. Eponine liked to report Cosette’s ‘misdeeds’ to her Mama, for the fun of seeing the little girl punished. She would NOT let Cosette touch her toys or her clothes, though she often taunted Cosette with them. She learned from an early age how to con people, and how to pickpocket and thieve. She’s never been taught that thieving and lying are wrong and so it slowly became natural.
Eponine’s world was shaken when a rich man came and took Cosette away. Even as an ‘adult’, Eponine doesn’t fully understand why Cosette was taken or what happened, but she realised that after Cosette left, her own life became progressively worse. Nothing is written about the next eight to ten years of Eponine’s life (time is hazy in ‘Les Mis’), but evidently, the family’s fortunes changed. What is written next is either the obvious conclusion of the time jump or hinted at within the novel. They lost the inn, and were forced to move to Paris. Once within the city centre, they spent some time homeless. Madame Thenardier ‘lost’ Gavroche, and sold her two youngest twins. Eponine and Azelma were still taken care of, in that they were allowed to stay with their parents, but Eponine especially, was expected to earn her keep. It seems that from an early age, she was pickpocketing and begging in Paris.
Monsieur Thenardier, in the meantime, had several brushes with the law and changed the family name to ‘Jondrette’. He fell in with the Patron Minette, a notorious street gang from the slums of St Michel, and did what he could to work his way up the ranks. There has been debate as to whether this included allowing Eponine to be used for the sexual gratification of the men – it is strongly hinted that this is the case, and an article written by Hugo seems to confirm this. At any rate, Thenardier moved up the ranks, and dragged Eponine into the gang life that he loved. Eponine soon changed from pampered princess to a street urchin. She learned street lingo, known as ‘argot’ and can speak it fluently. She also learned not to answer back too much, to shut up and put up and to expect nothing. Thenardier became violent towards both his daughters, and regularly hit Eponine, and allowed the other Patron members to hurt her too. Eponine in return became contemptuous of her father, though she remained scared of him, and did as she was bid. She also developed a relationship (consensual or otherwise) with the youngest Patron member, Montparnasse – so much so that Thenardier regarded Montparnasse as his son in law.
Going back to definite canon facts, the Jondrettes managed to purchase a room within the Gorbeau tenement block. It’s basic, and the room has only two mattresses, a desk, a fireplace and a chair within it. But it’s a roof over her head and Eponine is grateful. In the room next door is a student, Marius – a man that Eponine notices from afar and becomes helplessly attracted to. Marius, on the other hand, doesn’t notice her. Her first interaction with him is when she is running from the police with Azelma. Azelma drops a bundle of the begging letters that her father was having them deliver, and Marius pockets them. The following day, Eponine is sent to Marius’ apartment to beg for money. Marius recognises the writing and makes the connection. Eponine meanwhile, wanders around Marius’ apartment, and stares at herself in the mirror, singing as she does so. And then, in an attempt to impress Marius, reads aloud from a book and writes ‘the police are coming’ on a piece of paper, with only slight hesitancy. She flirts awkwardly, and tells Marius about her trip to the theatre. She divulges about her previous winter beneath the bridge and how she had contemplated suicide, and how she likes to walk by herself at night and sleep rough to escape Thenardier. She tells him about her hallucinations due to lack of food. Marius pities her and gives her five francs, and she thanks him in argot.
When Eponine returns to her own room, her father sends her to deliver a letter to the rich gentleman at church. Eponine soon returns, having run all the way, to say that the man will soon be there. She reacts angrily as her father destroys the place, but is quietened. When the gentleman turns up, Eponine eyes his daughter passively, and with a jealous eye. She shows her only sign of honesty in trying to return the gentleman’s coat, which her father is cross with her for. When it is revealed that the gentleman is Valjean and the daughter, Cosette, Eponine cannot believe it, and compares her situation to Cosette’s, revealing more of her self loathing. She goes to visit Marius, and is dismayed when he asks her to find Cosette for him, as he is in love with her. She makes Marius promise to give her whatever she wants in return, but agrees to do it.
Meanwhile, her father is plotting for the rich man’s return. Azelma and Eponine are sent outside barefoot, to keep watch in the snow to watch for the police. The plan goes pearshaped and the gang are caught trying to kidnap Valjean – all except Eponine and Montparnasse, the latter having left the former off (presumably to have his way with her). The gang are rounded up and sent to jail – and Eponine swiftly follows. She spends two weeks in jail, but is then freed, due to lack of evidence of her involvement, and her claims that she is below 16 (she’s lying, but without proof of age, she cannot be proven wrong).
Once she is free, a gang member named Babet sends a letter to Eponine, ordering her to investigate a house on the Rue PLumet. Eponine finds that it is Cosette’s house, but rather than give her and Valjean away, she sends Babet a biscuit, indicating that there is nothing up there. Eponine finds Marius and tells him of the house. She is upset by his joyful reaction and surprised that he actually calls her by her name. Marius makes Eponine swear not to tell her father the address and she takes him to the house. Once there, she reminds Marius that he promised her anything she wanted, and he hands her some money, which Eponine drops. She does not want his money, only his love.
Eponine secretly keeps watch on Marius as he visits Cosette, and though he sometimes sees her, he says nothing. Finally, Eponine approaches him but cannot think of anything to say and he pushes her away. Finally, she follows him, and sits, deep in thought, on an old stone whilst Marius visits Cosette in the garden. She is spotted by her father and the Patron Minette, who have come to rob the house, despite Eponine’s warnings, and dragged out of the shadows. She attempts to distract them with teasing and contemptuous words, but the men are intent on breaking in. They threaten to hit her, but she threatens to scream. They laugh at her, but Thenardier, afraid of being imprisoned again, makes the men leave, allowing Eponine victory – for now. She’s left with a dire warning that she is in BIG TROUBLE when she goes home that night.
[Personality] Eponine is… she’s tough. She’s had to be. She has grown up in a hostile environment, where the philosophy of ‘every man for himself’ is predominant. She knows how to stand up for herself, and she is not one to back down in an argument. She carries herself well, and can talk to most people. Her chatter comes across as awkward at times, or even inappropriate. She flirts with Marius as best she can – but it comes across as awkward. She is nervy. She speaks more than she should to people she doesn’t know, and is very open about herself and her life. Within minutes of meeting Marius, she tells him about her suicide consideration. Her words come without a great deal of thought, in a tangle of argot and French when she’s nervous. The more in control she tries to seem, the more ladylike she tries to act, the more it comes off as an act, a sham – sheer desperation. Hugo says that Eponine might have been gay and flirtatious, like any proper society miss, as her exuberance and feistiness bubbles from her, despite her drab life – but the reality of being poor has rendered her uneducated and out of her depth in social situations with her ‘betters’.
She’s not much use in a fight, and relies more on her tongue to get out of situations. When Eponine knows a person well, she’ll talk back at them, jousting with words, even if they threaten physical violence.She herself does not rely on physically fighting; she knows she is weak from starvation and in a world of men, she never has the power to win physically. Eponine reacts to danger by facing it head on and without flinching. She will accept violence against herself as well as she can, with her head raised high and a glare in her eyes. Eponine is very difficult to scare; her life has desensitised her to a lot of horror. She is also very good at hiding any signs of her fear too. Fear is considered a weakness in the Underworld, and Eponine quickly learned to hide that particular emotion a long time ago.
Some would describe Eponine as cold – but she’s not, not really. It’s a show, an act she puts on, so people don’t try to mess her about. In reality, Eponine is an emotional little creature. She’s completely in love with Marius, a student, who doesn’t return, or even acknowledge her feelings. Eponine craves love though. It’s what drives her. Show her any hint of kindness, and she becomes a lapdog, eager to please and willing to do anything, even if it causes her physical or emotional pain. She wants attention. She laughs inappropriately and
Eponine is defiant. She hates what her father makes her do, but she has to participate. Still, she does it all with a glare in her eyes and her mouth pressed into a hard line. She often shouts back before giving in; the exception is when she is protecting Marius. She stands up to her father and the Patron Minette properly for the first time and it costs her her home and her family alliance, essentially leaving her destitute. Eponine’s love for Marius is greater than any love or fear that she has for her Papa.
She does what she has to do to survive. She can be incredibly manipulative, if she thinks she will gain from it. She is incredibly brave and doesn’t seem to have a great sense of personal danger. Eponine will face any adversity that comes to her head on; it is not really in her nature to hide. And she will face her fate with a straight back and a defiant glare. Nobody will feel pity for Eponine. She is brave till the very end. She is not stupid, though. If there is a way to avoid a beating, either through lies or staying away for a night, Eponine will take that option. Afterall, as she says, ‘there’s no point in looking for a beating I could avoid, is there?’
Eponine is loyal. If she feels obliged to someone, she will bow to their will, whether she agrees with their actions or not. This is seen particularly with her Papa and the Patron Minette. She is more loyal to those who show affection towards her than those who intimidate her, though. A lot of the time, she’s scared and she’s wary, and she has the same cautious expression as a hunted animal.
She doesn’t consider herself to be at all beautiful; she thinks she’s disgusting, and that she doesn’t deserve a happy life. Eponine loathes herself. She hates everything about herself, from the dirt she is encrusted in, to the criminal that her Papa has turned her into. She cannot see anything positive about herself at all; but she forces herself to continue with life.She is somewhat bitter, especially towards those better off than her. Jealousy is one of Eponine’s biggest failures. She desperately wants a better life, but knows she will never have one.
Eponine has some psychological problems. She has been known to suffer from hallucinations when she is very very hungry. She tends to laugh as well, in very inappropriate places, a nervous reaction perhaps. She is also known to be quite suicidal; the winter of 1931, Eponine considered wading into the Seine to drown herself – she didn’t because she was scared that it wouldn’t work and it would be too cold. This is perhaps an indication that Eponine cannot cope with her life as well as she seems to on the surface.
Eponine is sweet. She likes flowers; she finds them soothing after the horrors of Paris. She is somewhat of a dreamer, and likes to imagine herself as a proper lady, dancing with Marius. She can’t let the people she loves end up hurt. She’d literally rather take a bullet for them than let them be injured. Eponine likes to sing; she has always been told that she has an awful voice, but she doesn’t care. She likes to sing and often hums away to herself, singing old French ditties and raunchy ballads, and songs that she makes up herself. Her mother says she is a waste of space, but she isn’t really. She just… She wants to be able to learn. She wants to study with the scholars, but she knows that’ll never be. She can just about read and write her name, and is very proud of these facts. It takes her a while to read, and longer to write anything beyond ‘Eponine’ and ‘the police are coming’. She’s very intelligent, and picks things up quickly. She is very street smart, and has the potential to be book smart too.
Steadfast is a word to describe her; she'll stick to the people she likes, no matter what they ask of her.
Eponine is naturally proud. She doesn’t want to be pitied, and hates the fact that people do pity her. She’s playful, and somewhat of a tease when she’s around people she’s comfortable with. With strangers, she’s more wary of ending up in trouble. Her speech is often colloquial; only when she talks of love does she become more poetic.
In all, Eponine craves affection. She wants to love and be loved. She wants a happy life. She wants Marius. She wants pretty dresses and a bath and the opportunity to learn. But she has no hope that she’ll ever get any of this. It’s there, she can see it, but for Eponine, it is going to be forever out of reach. And she’s accepted that. And she will face her fate bravely.
[Abilities] She’s a good thief and a pickpocket. She seems to have the ability to withstand extreme temperatures without becoming seriously ill (although she does have a really bad cough). In canon, she wanders the snowy streets barefoot and without a coat, and has spent winters either outside or without any heating/fires/adequate clothing and apparently managed to escape frostbite or pneumonia. She is also able to survive on very little food, though she is well aware that she’ll be dead within a year if her situation in canon continues. Eponine is good at hiding in shadows and following people. She can memorise routes and find quicker or more concealed routes too. She can speak Argot fluently, though she tries not to, as it immediately betrays her as a criminal. Eponine is VERY proud of the fact that she can read and write with hardly any escapes.
[Other important stuff]. If Eponine uses argot when talking to a character (she does slip into it when she’s scared or excited), I will include a translation of her speech in brackets at the bottom of the comment. There is a full argot dictionary (as far as I can find) included in Eponine’s journal too.
I would like permission to use some headcanon in Eponine’s background stories. She has a tendency, when she’s nervous or trying to impress, to splurge stories about her personal history. However, Hugo leaves around 10 years of Eponine’s life unaccounted for, between her move from Montfermiel to Paris, except for brief descriptions of homelessness. There are obvious ways that her life changed, from comfortably well off to indescribably poor, and, if we follow Hugo’s preface and earlier drafts, she was prostituted out from a young age – which is not something she’s willing to talk about much. But I’d like to be able for her to include other stories – perhaps how she and Azelma conned an old man out of the last of his money by pretending to be his granddaughters – and details of how rats ran over them etc under the bridge that last winter. Nothing too outlandish – and things that could definitely have been a part of her life, like the con act, might be included.
Eponine is a complete dreamer – she already lives half in fantasy when she can.
[Sample post]
[First Person] Done as a face to face interview
Would you consider yourself a hero or a villain? Why? Neither is an option as well, but still tell why.
I am a bad girl. Rich people call people like me scum. The Patron Minette say I am a ‘gat’ – an alley cat. A bad lot. I am a thief, I suppose, and I beg. I don’t like that. It makes me feel – [She clutches at her stomach with one hand, digging in with her nails through her thin chemise] I… I suppose I am. I don’t know what I am. I don’t cast wicked spells and cut up frogs in the moonlight like the villains in those old stories do. [She laughs uneasily] But I am not a hero. I am… just… just ‘Ponine. I can see it in people’s eyes though. They do not like me. People like the students, they look through me, as if I am not there at all. And the rich people see me with every other girl like me. They see me as a bad lot, and shake me off and send me away or they cross the road out of fear of me picking their pockets… [She shrugs]
I am not a villain. I am not so bad as Papa or Babet or Montparnasse. But I am not a hero. Such people are for fairy stories. And life… well, it is nice to dream but I know it is not real.
There is a cake in the rain. What do you do?
Why is there cake in the rain, Sir? WHERE is there cake? Do you know how long it has been since I have had cake? No, neither do I – but it was when I was a little girl in Montfermiel that I had it last – and such cakes, Monsieur. I used to let the cat lick the cream instead of Cosette having it… If there was cake, Sir, I would eat it as fast as I could, no matter where it was.Even if it had been in the rain for hours. It’s been days since I last ate, days and days. Cake would be lunch today, and breakfast, and probably my dinner tonight, and for the last three days when I had nothing – maybe a crust I found. And I would make sure that Papa or the Patron Minette would not see the cake or they’d have it off me. Maybe I would save a piece for Gavroche. Maybe. [She laughs, embarrassed, and looks down at her hands]
Would you consider yourself a well traveled person? If so, what are some of your favorite places? If not, would you want to travel or is there some place you want to go?
I want to go to England. I hear it’s beautiful there, Sir. Don’t know much about it, though. It’s over the sea somewhere. Marius used to speak of it now an’ then. I’d like to go. I’d like to see the world, like a proper lady does, on her travels with her Papa or her husband, p’raps. I won’t be goin’ nowhere except Paris though. Need money to travel, you see, Sir, and I don’t ‘ave enough for a carriage, let alone berth on a boat.
You're dirt poor and your family is starving. You have a chance to steal bread. Do you: a) ignore it and get a job, b) steal it anyway because you know you won't get caught, c) get caught but break out of prison anyway, d) steal it and then hide from the creepy cop that keeps stalking you, e) don't steal because stealing is wrong :(. Explain why you chose that option.
(LOL)
I would take it – my Papa would beat me half to death if I didn’t – an’ where’s the sense in taking a beatin’ over a loaf of bread when you’re so hungry the streets wave and pitch and flowers grow eyes an’ smile at you and the houses lean over you like they’re gonna eat you up? Maybe I’d get caught – an’ I couldn’t break out. You need help inside to do that. And out – an’ the Patron Minette wouldn’t help me. Nah, I’d cry, like Papa said. I’d cry an’ say I were fifteen. They’d have to let me go.
If I could, I’d take a job. Monsieur, I know what I am – but I could work in a proper job. I’m clever, you know. I know all my letters, no mistake, and I can read. Shall I show you? And I know my numbers to say and to write. Most any number, I can do. Mama taught me careful when I was little, and I never forgot. [She shakes her head though] No one would employ me though. Not looking how I do. They’d see my feet and say, ‘You there. Girl! Out! OUT!’ and they would chase me out and call me names. [She shrugs.] Robbing isn’t something I like. I am not like my Pa. But it keeps me alive another day an’ it keeps ‘is ‘ands off me mostly. So I do it.
You see a bloody knife on the floor. What do you do or think?
I would think that ‘Parnasse’d been up to his tricks, Madame. I would think, ‘Oh no. What poor gentleman’s met his end in this here street.’ And then I’d think, ‘What’s one of them doin’ around here so late at night anyway?’ Some people are asking for trouble. ‘Parnasse only kills when he robs – you better not be telling the bogies on us, or he’ll have me murdered himself.
But it ain’t fer a lady to hear what he’s like. [She laughs] I’d be watchin’ my own neck if he’d left it for me to see. That’s a sign, that. I would say to myself, ‘Eponine, what have you been doin’ to make him so cross he wants to be rid of you?’ I would say, ‘What have I done to make Papa cross?’ I would not cry. I would look down the next alley, in the third doorway on the left, for ‘Parnasse and let ‘im do what ‘e wants with me quick.
If you could change your current lifestyle or job career, what would it be?
I would be a lady. Like Cosette. It should be her like this… maybe. Or maybe no one. I don’t want ter be a thief and a bad lot – but you can’t help it when you have nothing. An’… and maybe he’d look at me different if I were as beautiful and as clean as her… I would like M’sieur Marius to look at me in such a way.
Or maybe that is too much to ask. Madame, I would settle to be an innkeeper’s wife, like my Mama was when I was little. Or work in a bakery, or a factory – anything Madame, which meant I could have shoes on my feet and food in my belly. A bakery would be lovely – it would be warm. Perhaps even they would let me have a blanket beneath the counter at night – it would smell lovely too. That is what I would like. But a proper lady would be lovely. In a beautiful dress costing fifteen hundred jimmy o’goblin, with petticoats and lace and a beautiful corset, Madame. Of course, I would need a corset because I would be fat from eating every day! And I would dance all night at the ball – and… and he’d smile at me, and hold me close in his arms and we’d dance forever and forever until he asks me to marry him. [She looks away, completely embarrassed, before looking back at the interviewers and grinning.]
[Third Person]
Someone is being mugged! With complete control over NPC actions, write a sample that illustrates: 1) how or what the character is thinking before the event happens, 2) how they react and deal with the situation, and 3) if necessary, how they handle the aftermath. This will allow both a change to show your character both in a normal situation and a forced situation.
It’s getting late. Very late. Eponine looked across at the big clock on the side of the building – and grinned. The sticks pointing to the little numbers meant nothing to her. Instead, she turned her face upwards, examining the darkening sky, before nodding to herself. It was getting late. And all Eponine could think of was food. Food. Her stomach rumbled, and she pressed her right arm tight across it, trying to suppress the grumbling. Eponine closed her eyes. Was it THAT bad? Would she be able to sleep through it?
No.
Eponine thought the answer with regret. No. No, she was so hungry. How long had it been? Two days? Three? Four? And even then, it had only been a crust and a bit of dripping.
The girl staggered forward, out of the alley and into the main street. How funny. The buildings were moving. Eponine stood quite still and smiled, watching for a minute, before shutting her eyes tight. No. Buildings should not move. They should not be monsters. They should just stay still and… and be buildings. Not move.
She opened her eyes slowly, and darted for the nearest doorway, peering out at the crowd. Food. She needed food.
And to get food, she needed money.
Eponine leant back against the cool stone. Oh god, she hated it. She hated herself so much for giving in and doing it. But what else could she do? She closed her eyes, fighting that sinking feeling in her stomach. She needed the money and she needs it now. So, with her eyes closed, she took a deep breath. Her facial expression went blank. She took another, and whilst she held it, she imagined herself, plump and clean. And another breath. Marius.
Eponine opened her eyes and looked back around the doorway to the street.
There were lots of people there, wealthy people compared to Eponine, hurrying home after a long day of shopping. Eponine found a target. An old gentleman, who looked too frail to bother to chase her, should he feel her hand in his pocket.
She slipped into the crowd.
She moved silently on bare feet, weaving between the people, until she was directly behind the man. Five feet away. Three feet. A foot.
Eponine noted his pockets as she followed him, assessing the shapes and bulges as she worked out where the purse was.
And when the man stopped to peer into a shop display, Eponine’s hand was in his left pocket immediately, easing the thin wallet out as gently and as quickly as she could. And as soon as she held it securely in her hand, she pushed it into her ragged skirt and set off back into the crowd. How much was in the wallet? Enough for some bread and an apple? Maybe a bit of meat if she was really lucky. Eponine headed back to her doorway to count her spoils. Truly, she hated what she did, but it was the way it had to be. Dog eat dog and man rob man.
She sank down and counted out the coins. She had five – big gold ones too. That man had been rich! She pocketed the wallet too – she might be able to sell that – and dragged herself up. A smile lit her face now, previous worries about theft gone. She was richer now than she had ever been. Eponine was already dreaming of the banquet that awaited her now!
[Why do you want to play this character in Somarium?] I think Somarium will allow me to explore Eponine’s softer side. Although it IS explored in canon, through her love of Marius, Somarium provides a setting where Eponine’s girlish dreams and fantasies can come true for her – a proper relief from Paris, interspersed with nightmares of her reality. It allows me to explore Eponine’s softer side without tears – just sheer joy. Something which I have never had the opportunity to do before. And – well, the poor kid has suffered a lot these last few years in Paris. Her dreams are often dark, which again, will be another interesting dynamic to explore.
[Which rule was your favorite and why?] The ‘be polite to others and act like grown ups’* rule. I know this is like, a standard group rule but I cannot be doing with drama. I rp to chill and just want a fun time. None of this ‘wankiness’ and ‘cliquey’ stuff. I’d rather people just call me out on problems instead of bitching – and then we can fix it!
*Disclaimer – Rule may be paraphrased!
[Where did you hear about Somarium?] Lauren (deathsticks) told me about it.
[Any questions?] Nope! </cut>