Giselle Friloux

Giselle Friloux

bard

archer

woodworker

❝...❞

GENERAL INFO

STATS

gender

race

clan

citizenship

age

nameday

guardian

affiliation

female

Elezen

Wildwood passing

Limsa Lominsa

35

13th sun, 6th UM

Azeyma

None

Passionate, loud, flirtatious, and roguish, Giselle fits the profile of a bard to the letter. A love of hedonism and decadence define a great deal about her, from her flashy and often revealing wardrobe to the laced cigarettes near-perpetually hanging from a lazy, lopsided smirk. She is outgoing, gregarious, and friendly...mostly, though her less savory aspects often include arrogance, a jealous nature, and a penchant for gossiping if the rumor is good enough.

Though it would be a stretch to call her outright dual-natured, she does strike a balance between extraversion and something more self-contained. She values her privacy and is, on the whole, a somewhat private person, which is sometimes at odds with a deep-seated fear of loneliness (which, one might argue, feeds the fire of her more outgoing tendencies). She is just as likely to be at the edge of a crowd, silently watching and sniggering, or absent altogether. Her interest in socializing waxes and wanes more frequently than the moon, and she is often (rightly) considered flighty for it.

LIKES ■ Decadence. Shamelessly devoted to the pursuit of hedonism, Giselle spares no expense on luxuries. ■ Singing. More of a hobby than a career, Giselle was born with an earth for music and a good singing voice all the same. ■ Writing. Halfway a hobby, halfway a career, Giselle enjoys writing stories. Primarily raunchy stories.. ■ Sex. Maybe her favorite thing.

DISLIKES ■ Responsibility. Giselle isn’t the most reliable person, especially when it doesn’t directly benefit her. ■ Racism. The butt of much racist vitriol in her youth, Giselle despises racism in all its forms. This doesn’t stop her from being racist herself, however... ■ Unattractive couples. What’s worse than an ugly pair of people? Literally nothing. ■ Bad attitudes. Despite her own tendency to be an arrogant twat, Giselle despises unappetizing behavior in other people. Everyone should be pleasant, always.

MOTIVATION ■ Popularity. Giselle wants to be loved and adored; arguably the source of much of her energy, seconded only by her desire for... ■ Prosperity. A desire for wealth and stability is Giselle’s driving focus. Once upon her time a craving for love and sex took precedence, but in recent days she has sought prosperity above all else. ■ Love. An unabashed romantic at heart, Giselle craves passionate, intimate love, and had spent many of her younger years recklessly pursuing just that. Now that she’s found it, it’s practically consumed her. ■ Sex. ….she likes it a lot.

STRENGTHS ■ Loyal. Her true loyalty is hard-won largely due to her own flakiness, but once it is there, it is there for life. Giselle does not commit herself to someone half-heartedly. ■ Industrious. When she actually manages to apply herself, Giselle is extremely productive. She does hard, fast, and good work. ■ Quick-witted. Mental agility serves her both as a craftswoman and a people-person, not to mention on those rare forays into the battlefield. ■ Charming. Whether or not this is a strength may depend on who you ask, but Giselle utilizes all her best aspects to come off as charming as possible. She can, perhaps, lay it on a tad too thick at times.

WEAKNESSES ■ RECKLESSLY loyal. Once Giselle’s loyalty is won, it’s damn near impossible to shake it. Perhaps to a fault; you could kill a man in cold blood and she’d likely make an excuse for you. ■ Jealous. Giselle is prone to jealousy and is often ruled by it. It encompasses all manner of things from social status to romance. ■ Arrogant. By and large, she thinks herself above most people she meets. She can be a patronizing twat about it. ■ Loud. She’s just...really loud.

QUIRKS ■ That laugh. Giselle’s laugh is just heinously ugly. Any metaphor about geese out of hell will accurate summate her laugh. ■ Expressive. Really...expressive. She talks with her hands more than her mouth, and given her loud mouth, that is certainly saying something. ■ Flirty. So flirty it’s nearly a fault. Not promiscuous, just shamelessly smarmy.

APPEARANCE

It’s hard to deny that Giselle is pretty, but whether or not that persists in spite of her personality is up to the beholder. Short for an elezen but still tall for most other races, she’s in possession of a pleasant enough figure fit with healthy breasts and hips, both of which she tends to flaunt rather shamelessly. Her skin is dark and smattered with even darker freckling.

Her face, though perhaps odd at a glance, is nonetheless wielded to its full potential. Eyes that could be described as cat-like are heterochromatic, with one a pale gold and the other a darker green. High cheek bones frame an infuriatingly pert nose and thin lips that are more often than not pulled into her trademark lopsided smirk. There is a beauty mark of arguable authenticity just beneath the right corner of her mouth.

Her hair makes quite a statement, to say the least. It is violently blonde, nearly so much as to be white, and it usually hangs freely about her face and shoulders in a man of just tousled enough wisps and waves. When completely loose, it hangs to about mid-back.

Her style of dress is as flamboyant as the rest of her. Bold colors, gold trims, garish accessories, though held together with at least a thread of class. Most of the time. She favors boldly dipping necklines that flaunt her freckled cleavage and wide-brimmed, ostentatious hats that match whatever no doubt ridiculous garb she’s donned on any given day. She also seems fond of jewelry, her long ears pierced several times with various golden hoops, studs, and chains.

COMBAT

Giselle is skilled with a longbow, but her martial prowess leaves something to be desired. This works for her, though; she typically avoids combat when possible, preferring to rely on her trade (and her charm) to make a living. Most use of her longbow is for fun and sport, though she can be a deadly, keen shot with it when necessary.

HISTORY

Giselle’s vivacious and upbeat attitude belies a checkered past. Her mixed heritage was the source of childhood trauma, from mockery due to her parentage to moving back and forth between Gridania with her father, Thibault Bretodeau, and Limsa Lominsa with her mother, Georgette Friloux. She quickly grew to loathe her time in the former, though time with her father in the woods learning to perfect her craft as a bowman and a woodworker was the saving grace. Time spent with her mother was less focused, with Georgette too busy as the madam of a high-cost brothel in Limsa Lominsa, but she found herself more free to express and be herself in the port city all the same.

As she grew into her teenaged years, however, all the childhood mockery surrounding her Duskwight mother had begun to truly wear on her. For several of these years she forsook both Limsa Lominsa and her mother’s company, dyeing her black hair blonde in order to pass fully as Wildwood upon her eventual departure from Gridania. She took up residence in Ul’dah shortly into her young adulthood and began a business for herself as a crafter of fine harps.

Skilled though she may have been, there was not much of a market for such a niche product and she soon began to struggle making ends meet. Taking the humbling opportunity to set aside her arrogance and internalized racism, Giselle soon traveled to Limsa Lominsa in order to make amends with her mother and seek her counsel. To her surprise but not precisely against her will, this ended with her hand in a number of not-quite-savory pies, from slave trade to narcotics exchange.

Dubious though the morality may have been, Giselle’s wit and charmed served her well in the underbelly of Limsa Lominsa, as did her learned mother’s guidance. It lined her pockets with a handsome amount of gil for over a decade, and when a comfortable enough cushion had been amassed, she detached herself from the port and made her way back to Ul’dah to resume her woodworking shop.

NOTE: Information presented here may be used as RP hooks within reasonable means. Ask me!

PRE-CALAMITY Origins ■ 1542: Born on the 10th Sun, 5th Umbral Moon to Georgette Friloux. Thibault Bretodeau, a former lover of Georgette’s, is notified by mail that he has a daughter. ■ 1545: Lives in Limsa Lominsa until the age of three, when she returns to Gridania with her father. ■ 1545 - 1559: Learns her craft under her father’s tutelage, but stays with her mother in Limsa Lominsa during the summer. Her parents do not get along and they barely even speak. Giselle is harassed relentlessly in Gridania for her mixed heritage. ■ 1559:Eventually driven from the Shroud, and her father by proxy, to escape the confines of her youth, Giselle takes up residence in Ul’dah and starts her own business. ■ 1563: Lacking both experience and a proper market, her business flounders. Giselle seeks out her wealthy mother’s aid in Limsa Lominsa and thus begins her black market career. ■ 1563 - 1571: After a decade of hard, dishonest work, Giselle finds her finances sufficiently stable and departs Limsa Lominsa once more, able to pursue her woodworking as a career atop her new cushion.

POST-CALAMITY Thibault’s Death & Annaliese ■ 00: After years of little to no contact, Giselle’s father is killed in the Calamity. Grief-stricken, she returns to the Shroud to attend his funeral. This trip serves as little but a reminder as to why she loathes Gridania to begin with. ■ 01 - 04: Works comfortably in Ul’dah, building a fairly high reputation for her craftsmanship, though a love of excess and hedonism soon begin to chip away at the profits from her time in Limsa Lominsa. ■ 04: Hires Annaliese Sellecerre as a bodyguard to ensure the safe transport of an expensive commissioned piece to a client in Limsa Lominsa. Giselle accompanies her for the journey and the two strike up a vague animosity. ■ 04: Her peculiar mix of tension and attraction with Annaliese, combined with her love of Limsa Lominsa, soon drive the pair of them to seek new work in the port town. ■ 04: Giselle and Annaliese strike up a romantic relationship. ■ 04: Both tired of their life in Ul’dah, Giselle and Annaliese relocate to Limsa Lominsa. Return to Limsa Lominsa ■ 04 - 05: Shirking all responsibility like the pair of assholes they truly are, Giselle and Annaliese soon run off on an unannounced six-month vacation to gods-know-where, probably not doing anything but getting high and making their neighbors hate them. ■ 05:Giselle and Anna return to Limsa Lominsa. ■ Currently Giselle relies on her smutty book trade for income in light of being too intimidated to return to her woodworking. Desiring to commit on a more long-term scale to Annaliese, she is currently seeking a more profitable, reliable means of income- and has turned to her mother once more for advice.

INTERACTIONS

RUMORS Some of these rumors are untrue, speculation, or are greatly exaggerated. Please feel free to add your own rumors under the Player Character category! ◢ COMMON RUMORS - Easily overheard. Use these freely! ■ “Miss Friloux? Aye, ye won’t find a better carpenter. The wood just sings to her, I reckon.” - A traveling bowman in Ul’dah. ◢ UNCOMMON RUMORS - A little more difficult to hear. Use sparingly or ask first! ■ “Not that I’D read such a thing, but I’ve heard that Coquette duBouche, you know, the one who writes all those smutty novels- is actually the daughter of Madam Georgette. I wouldn’t read that sort of rubbish. Certainly not. What are you talking about?”- a wealthy Wildwood on extended stay in Limsa Lominsa. ◢ RARE RUMORS - Very rarely overheard. Please ask before using! ■ "That white-haired Wildwood is not quite so. Haven’t you heard? She was sired by a Duskwight. Or maybe it was the mother...who can say" - a commoner in Gridania. ■ "I’ve heard some non-too-handsome rumours ‘bout the daughter o’ the prestigious Madame Georgette. ‘eard she was even in the slave trade, I did, from a friend of a friend. Scum, the likes ‘o her." - a dockworker in Limsa Lominsa. ■ "Yellow hair. What a farce. That one’s head was ink-black growing up. Who does she think she’s fooling? What a twit." - a commoner in Gridania. ◢ PLAYER CHARACTER RUMORS - Feel free to add rumors of your own! ■ "Feel free to add your own rumors here!" - Giselle Friloux

RELATIONS ♥ Romantic Attraction | ♥ Platonic Love | ✔ Positive | ✖ Negative | ● Neutral note: Characters with whom Giselle has interacted extensively. I’ll try to keep up with this as best I can! Annaliese Sellecerre ( ♥ ) - Lover Her relationship with Anna shifted from playfully antagonistic and sexually charged into something considerably more ambiguous, and then finally something decidedly less ambiguous when the pair of them ran off on an extended vacation for half a year. Giselle is passionately devoted to her, more than she lets on (which, truly, is saying something), and is helplessly in love. Georgette Friloux ( ♥ ) - Mother Giselle's relationship with her mother is at best distant and at worst tense. Georgette was a somewhat derelict parent in her youth, too busy with her work to raise a child, and in her teenaged years Giselle took it upon herself to rebel and shun her duskwight heritage. Though adulthood brought humility and resulted in her seeking to mend the severed relationship with her mother, the wound has yet to fully close. Geissrael Helbmannwyn ( ♥ ) - Mentor/"Father" Having been more of an attentive parent to Giselle in her youth, even if not "officially" so, Geissrael is in many ways a father figure to her. Giselle's childhood summers were spent holding the sea wolf's hand on walks through the market, trips to the shore and countryside, and later training for various types of martial combat. Thus Giselle's rebellion against her heritage struck an arguably deeper blow to Geissrael. The resulting rift remains vast and uncomfortable to this day, even though Giselle feels miserably guilty for what she has done.

GALLERY

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MISCELLANY

Potential Hooks

■ Lominsan Underground. Your character has been involved in the Limsa Lominsan black market within the past 15 years.

■ The Muse. Your character is a returning patron of the Muse, the brothel belonging to Giselle’s mother.

■ Woodworking needs. Your character has (or has ever) had need of woodworking services, especially for a harp or a bow.

Outside Links:

■ When a Hot Elf do the Sing Song - A Tumblr inspiration blog. Some IC content, mostly images and stuff. Moderately NSFW.

Misc Info:

■ Template adapted from Bancroft Gairn, with edits by Xheja Rajhera / N'hadiya Khei. Further edited and adapted by Giselle Friloux

■ Giselle’s face claim is Natalie Dormer.

■ Giselle’s voice claim is Sweet Shalquoir.