Post by brooklynlove on Aug 23, 2008 14:32:03 GMT -5
Full Name: Bastiene Helena Blythe
Newsie name: Basie (this is just a nickname)
Name origin: Although named for her French mother, Helena, it wasn't long before Basie's father's friend, Ewan, had shortened the name to Basie, saying Bastiene Helena was "too much of a mouthful for such a little pint".
Age: 16
Gender: Female
Birthplace: Boston, Massachusetts
Currently Living: New York, NY (Harlem)
History: Born in Boston, Massachusetts to a Canadian father and a beautiful French mother, Basie Blythe grew up in a colorful swirl of foreign tongues, sweeping dresses, and ivory keys.
From the time she was small, she would pull herself onto the small black bench that sat in front of the family’s stately grand piano (their one material treasure), lean her dark head lightly on her father’s broad shoulder, smell his musk and nearness, and watch as his strong hands moved powerfully over the keys with an inerrant grace. She would watch her mother, too. Basie often wondered how anyone could resist starting at a woman so lovely as Helena Renauld Blythe, with her creamy complexion, soft brown ringlets, and the strikingly pronounced cheekbones that Basie, herself, had inherited. Basie often wished she could also have inherited the flowing French accent her mother still spoke with.
No, the Blythes were not rich, but they were a family, and that, Basie knew, was rich enough. She had read a great many books, and often felt sorry for the orphans about which she read, the servat girls in search of never-seeming-to-be-found Prince Charmings. That is, until her own fairytale shattered.
They told her Mother wasn’t coming back. No one said anything about why, but Basie was able to catch tidbits from conversations: “How long had she been seeing him?” “I hear he had a wife, also…” “…how scandalous!” and “mustn’t tell the little girl”. And at thirteen, Basie was no fool.
The day her mother left, Basie began imagining her troubles away, finding her books once again to be her greatest comfort. She found that her father’s talent for music was now a part of her, even more than her mother’s eyes and curls, which she now cursed. Basie began spending long hours alone on the piano bench, a stack of books beside her, as her fingers moved deftly across the ivory, possessing a strength and smoothness with which not even her father could compare. But even with this newfound escape, Basie could not bear to see the broken, lifeless man that was now her once beaming father, and so it was that she was sent to live in New York with the long faithful family friend, Ewan O’Connell. Ewan, a factory worker, rents a small flat in Harlem, just big enough for him and his friend’s daughter. Basie, who soon tired of sitting alone all day, has taken to sometimes selling newspapers, although she has found that she becomes too preoccupied with reading them to remember to actually sell any.
Hair Color: Chestnut brown
Hair Style: Soft, long ringlets that she lets tumble loosely down her back
Eye Color: A snapping, navy blue
Skin Color: Basie has a fair, milky complexion, just like her mother.
Height: 5'5"
Weight: 109 lbs
Clothing Style: Refusing to become vain and looks-obsessed like her mother, Basie tends to wear plain dresses, although she has recently acquired a pair of trousers, two mis-matched boots, and an oversized cabbie hat, which she dons when acting out her favorite stories calls for a boy.
Items owned: Many of Basie's personal belongings were left in Boston, but she brought with her three books: A Midsummer Night's Dream (by W. Shakespeare), Little Women (by L.M. Alcott), and her Bible. There is also a very out of tune upright piano in Ewan's modes flat, and the one thing Basie kept of her mother’s—a billowing, dark green velvet hat with an ostrich plume.
Troubles: Basie tends to think a lot and imagine her problems away. Whether this will prove to be a good or a bad technique remains to be seen. She can also get a bit fiery when provoked, and is constantly harboring spite for her mother, which at time leads to an abnormal paranoia of appearing too attractive or like too much of a flirt.
Fears: Basie is most afraid of becoming too much like her flirtatious mother, a fear that she knows is somewhat irrational, yet one she can't seem to rid herself of.
Siblings: None
Parents: Will and Helena Blythe
Newsie name: Basie (this is just a nickname)
Name origin: Although named for her French mother, Helena, it wasn't long before Basie's father's friend, Ewan, had shortened the name to Basie, saying Bastiene Helena was "too much of a mouthful for such a little pint".
Age: 16
Gender: Female
Birthplace: Boston, Massachusetts
Currently Living: New York, NY (Harlem)
History: Born in Boston, Massachusetts to a Canadian father and a beautiful French mother, Basie Blythe grew up in a colorful swirl of foreign tongues, sweeping dresses, and ivory keys.
From the time she was small, she would pull herself onto the small black bench that sat in front of the family’s stately grand piano (their one material treasure), lean her dark head lightly on her father’s broad shoulder, smell his musk and nearness, and watch as his strong hands moved powerfully over the keys with an inerrant grace. She would watch her mother, too. Basie often wondered how anyone could resist starting at a woman so lovely as Helena Renauld Blythe, with her creamy complexion, soft brown ringlets, and the strikingly pronounced cheekbones that Basie, herself, had inherited. Basie often wished she could also have inherited the flowing French accent her mother still spoke with.
No, the Blythes were not rich, but they were a family, and that, Basie knew, was rich enough. She had read a great many books, and often felt sorry for the orphans about which she read, the servat girls in search of never-seeming-to-be-found Prince Charmings. That is, until her own fairytale shattered.
They told her Mother wasn’t coming back. No one said anything about why, but Basie was able to catch tidbits from conversations: “How long had she been seeing him?” “I hear he had a wife, also…” “…how scandalous!” and “mustn’t tell the little girl”. And at thirteen, Basie was no fool.
The day her mother left, Basie began imagining her troubles away, finding her books once again to be her greatest comfort. She found that her father’s talent for music was now a part of her, even more than her mother’s eyes and curls, which she now cursed. Basie began spending long hours alone on the piano bench, a stack of books beside her, as her fingers moved deftly across the ivory, possessing a strength and smoothness with which not even her father could compare. But even with this newfound escape, Basie could not bear to see the broken, lifeless man that was now her once beaming father, and so it was that she was sent to live in New York with the long faithful family friend, Ewan O’Connell. Ewan, a factory worker, rents a small flat in Harlem, just big enough for him and his friend’s daughter. Basie, who soon tired of sitting alone all day, has taken to sometimes selling newspapers, although she has found that she becomes too preoccupied with reading them to remember to actually sell any.
Hair Color: Chestnut brown
Hair Style: Soft, long ringlets that she lets tumble loosely down her back
Eye Color: A snapping, navy blue
Skin Color: Basie has a fair, milky complexion, just like her mother.
Height: 5'5"
Weight: 109 lbs
Clothing Style: Refusing to become vain and looks-obsessed like her mother, Basie tends to wear plain dresses, although she has recently acquired a pair of trousers, two mis-matched boots, and an oversized cabbie hat, which she dons when acting out her favorite stories calls for a boy.
Items owned: Many of Basie's personal belongings were left in Boston, but she brought with her three books: A Midsummer Night's Dream (by W. Shakespeare), Little Women (by L.M. Alcott), and her Bible. There is also a very out of tune upright piano in Ewan's modes flat, and the one thing Basie kept of her mother’s—a billowing, dark green velvet hat with an ostrich plume.
Troubles: Basie tends to think a lot and imagine her problems away. Whether this will prove to be a good or a bad technique remains to be seen. She can also get a bit fiery when provoked, and is constantly harboring spite for her mother, which at time leads to an abnormal paranoia of appearing too attractive or like too much of a flirt.
Fears: Basie is most afraid of becoming too much like her flirtatious mother, a fear that she knows is somewhat irrational, yet one she can't seem to rid herself of.
Siblings: None
Parents: Will and Helena Blythe