coming from a french-german couple who immigrated to united states in the beginning of the 60s, irene was the oldest of their four daughters, born in avenir, the city they decided to settle down. bright, intelligent and kind, the blonde girl was definitely known in the city for treating everyone equally, not bothering about their social class or status.
however, her family did bother about such a thing and, when she came of age, they announced she was to have her marriage arranged by them, who already had some candidates. marrying her to a french or a german man was always the plan, as they would like to remain attached to their culture, wishing that their descendants had the same (or at least one of them).
being promised to françois de thibault, irene—still a bit unsure of how this was going to be—decided that it would be for the best if she studied in france, close to her fiancé, so they could get to know each other. if they were to spend their lives together, she would like to know who she was marrying to. it was a good surprise to know he was a gentleman. even commited to expand the hotel empire his father created, the man gave her his full attention: always with her whenever they had time, not sparing any money when it came to take her out, either for a date or for a small casual travel to another european country, being kind and treating her like a queen, like they were meant to be together.
and, perhaps, they were. it’s no lie to say both francis and irene fell in love with each other during those years of meeting one another and, by the time their wedding happened, it seemed like they were living in a fairy tale. which only got better when adam was born, two years later.
her son was her everything; even being offered to have someone to take care or feed the boy, irene would gently dismiss them, wanting to do it herself, grow more attached to her son, whose eyes were as blue as hers, and hair just slightly darker. she read to him every night, even when he was just a baby—and that became a habit as he grew up, always hoping she would read to him.
irene would proudly say she raised one of the kindest young men, taught him to treat others gently, to always listen and understand before judging, to treat his father with respect. but she didn’t live long enough to see what her death would cause to both loves of her life.
adam was the one who spent more time with her in the hospital, during her final days. a whole year in a hospital bed, after the diagnost. a whole year of her teenage son stopping by with one of her books to read to her, and smile and say she would be ok—she had to, right?—even though both knew the truth. her last two weeks were spent in a coma and, still, her son would be there, until the very end when he had to be dragged out of the room by his father.
trivia:
had a lot of connections in avenir! friends with the ramirez ( @ahhatwoforflinching ) and the havfrue ( @x-lostatsea ).
was friends with gabrielle, aka belle’s mother ( @beavmcnts ), since they were very young.
studied literature at université paris-sorbonne.
was the one to literate adam: she taught him how to read and helped him on how to write.
loved thanksgiving, which is why she brought it to her family—the thibault would always spend the holiday together when she was alive.
in love with the british culture (which she always said it was “adam’s culture”), she always liked to see when the british servants who lived with them (even in paris) taught something new to her son.
a very understanding girlfriend and wife, it wouldn’t be hard to see irene resting in an armchair on françois’ office, reading a book or doing her own thing, so they could be “busy” together.
wrote several poems for both her husband and son. was a talented writer, but never wanted to publish anything.
her personal library is now adam’s: all of her books are with him and he has been working on expanding it.
very protective, she would defend her family, especially her younger sisters, with all she got. also very attached to her nephews and nieces.
died at the age of 39 (in 2002), when adam was just 16.
Not particularly. She’s not lazy by any means. She does take a morning walk/jog but it’s a slow comfortable pace.
🍰 - Do they eat healthy or do they like junk food?
She actually enjoys healthy food quite a lot. Fruits and veggies. Plenty of things that are fresh. Though she loves cake, and she enjoys other sweets. She just prefers healthy food out of habit from growing up the way she did.
Vitani actually has a habit of sleeping in many odd positions. She can sleep pretty much anywhere as well. The most common is curled up, one arm to her chest, the other under her pillow/head. Her legs curled close to her.
🎨 - Artistic ability
She doesn’t have much in the way of artistic ability honestly. Not when it comes to visual arts… Music though, she can play guitar.
👶 - As a kid, what were they like?
Small and angry. Fiesty, always getting into fights with her brothers. Specifically Nuka the most often, mind you. She was good at sharing toys when it came to Kovu, but she thought Nuka being older he should play with his own.
Quesadillas of any sort, tacos too. Audrey generally likes meat and cheese as a combination. It’s hard to go wrong with those. Spicy foods are something she grew up on so she does enjoy those but she’s just as apt to like something with or without the spice.
💐 - Favorite type of flower
Many are surprised, but Audrey actually adores peonies. Surprisingly she likes all the colors... since they don’t actually come in blue.
🎤 - Can they sing?
Yes, actually. She’s not amazing but she’s not bad either. Average but better than one might expect for a tomboy?
’ They say if you talk out loud while you look for something, you find it faster. ’
Marian continued to search frantically for the book, between shelving other books that had been returned and checked in, and completing her other required tasks. A seventh grade language arts teacher had approached her a couple of days ago asking if they had a book on hand as she wanted to start reading it to her classes later that week, and without checking, and like an idiot, Marian said of course and she’d let the woman know right away. Holes. She had seen the book, and knew that they had numerous copies on hand, but it was always going in and out as it was popular among the younger classes. She couldn’t find a single copy and she felt like she had looked everywhere.
She turned to Belle as she spoke, “That sounds absolutely bonkers.” she replied, “But.. it’s going to be my last resort. And I’m going to sound absolutely ridiculous walking around saying Holes as I look for the book, so enjoy this moment..” the brunette told her friend with a laugh before she headed over to the appropriate section to once again scan the shelf, quietly repeating ‘Holes’ over and over again to herself.
each step they give into the space echoes against the walls, even being such a small (yet, apparently comfortable) flat. empty as it is, even their breaths seem to make a noise while both take a look around. it’s been almost three months since she’s been living with belle and maurice, out of favor, and as much as she likes the beaumonts, go go knows she is taking too much space and time from them. there was no nicer family in avenir, she is certain of it, remembering how it was to meet up with the other, many, many years since the last time she saw each other, or even talked.
she obviously remembers belle—how could she not? it was the only girl who seemed to want to sit with her during lunch when they were just kids, even being older than her. both of them bonded quietly and it was nice to have someone to talk to and not feel completely alone, even if she was a loner as a kid. but it was still surprising meeting her again, and be remembered… and, more than that, being offered help in such a needy situation as she was when she got to avenir. but as much as it was good to live with a family, she doesn’t like to feel as if she’s bothering their usual dynamic so, the sooner she was finally allowed to rent a place for herself, she dragged the older with her to check out options.
“i quite like this one,” go go turns to look at her, an amused smile opening as she gestured around with a hand, just randomly. “it’s small but… well, i will be on my own, right? seems easy enough…” which was a good thing on her point of view. having too much space wouldn’t be very useful as she doesn’t really have many things to fill a place anyways. “just to think i need to buy some furniture seems like a challenge, though,” her thoughts are suddenly said out loud and she shrugs. “how do people do this…?”
“A big regret would be me not studying more art while at university. I find myself to be incredibly intrigued by it now, architecture, paintings, sculptures, the history.. I find myself appreciating it more and more the older I get, but I wish I had learned more early on.”
Marian stood outside the door of Belle’s flat, a bottle of rosé in one arm and two boxes of chocolate in another. She hated Valentine’s day, despite her love of fairy tale love. She felt like the whole thing was simply a ploy used by mass companies to make a bunch of money off of desperate people looking to show another person they loved them through a box of chocolates and a dozen roses that were gonna be dead in a week, but to each their own. She was, however a fan of the sale prices on wine and candy for last minute shoppers, and for the day following. She knew neither her or Belle had any intention of spending the holiday with a boy, so that evening she showed up, ready for a girls night. She knocked furiously, trying to balance the boxes of chocolate. “Alright, Belle! Time for our annual celebration of the worst holiday in the world!” she called.
