Gretchen Di Val
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I shut my eyes and all the world drops dead;
I lift my lids and all is born again.
(I think I made you up inside my head.) The stars go waltzing out in blue and red,
And arbitrary blackness gallops in:
I shut my eyes and all the world drops dead. I dreamed that you bewitched me into bed
And sung me moon-struck, kissed me quite insane.
(I think I made you up inside my head.) God topples from the sky, Hell's fires fade:
Exit seraphim and Satan's men:
I shut my eyes and all the world drops dead. I fancied you'd return the way you said,
But I grow old and I forget your name.
(I think I made you up inside my head.) I should have loved a thunderbird instead;
At least when spring comes they roar back again.
I shut my eyes and all the world drops dead.
(I think I made you up inside my head.)
- Sylvia Plath, Mad Girl's Love Song
"Sleep my little baby-oh
Sleep until you waken
When you wake you'll see the world
If I'm not mistaken... Kiss a lover
Dance a measure,
Find your name
And buried treasure... Face your life
Its pain,
Its pleasure,
Leave no path untaken." ― Neil Gaiman, The Graveyard Book "Almost nobody dances sober, unless they happen to be insane." - H. P. Lovecraft
"Dance, when you're broken open. Dance, if you've torn the bandage off. Dance in the middle of the fighting. Dance in your blood. Dance when you're perfectly free." - Rumi
| Gretchen Di Val | |
| Sect: | The Camarilla •••• |
|---|---|
| Clan: | Toreador (Masquerade) • |
| City: | Canberra -- |
| Pack/Coterie: | Guild of Apollo |
| Title: | Journeyman |
| Sire: | Kaalia |
| Lineage: | Vashti |
| Embraced: | 1932 |
| Generation: | 11 |
| Player: | P. Saunders |
| Storyteller: | Canberra VST |
Personal Information
Appearance
A willowy young woman, graceful and delicate, with pale, rosy skin, and platinum hair, given to dainty, feminine fashion, with a marked penchant for pastels and soft silhouettes (there's a rumour that she was once rather creatively referenced by a particularly crass Brujah as looking, "like a toilet-roll cover I'd really like to fuck."). With wide eyes and doll-like features, she's undeniably pretty - if somewhat bloodless-looking.
Personality
Dreamy and fragile, Gretchen's a romantic soul. As delicate as the petals of a rose, she's a little girl's dream of a fairytale princess, and a grown man's fantasy of a Waterhouse nymph. However, her highly neurotic, hyper-needy edge and tendency towards violent mood-swings pings her on many a Malkavian's radar.
Mortal World
The world knows Gretchen Di Val as a performing polymath; a prodigious violin concert soloist, pianist, composer, and the prima ballerina with the Queensland Ballet Company, who in the 2015 season danced the part of Titania in the Company's acclaimed presentation of A Midsummer Night's Dream.
It's something of a family tradition, musical and dancing genius.
And something of a family name.
Information Known by Kindred Society
Gretchen Di Val came from Boston, in 1932, with, curiously, a Southern accent, a German first name and a Welsh last, entrusted to the stewardship of the Elder, La Belle Dame d'Lumiere. Her Sire's name unfamiliar, and she herself being of mysterious provenance, she settled quickly enough into life at the Brisbane Court. Her mesmerising dancing and beautiful music soon won her patronage and favour among the more aesthetically-inclined courtiers, and her peculiar sweetness - once time had proved it more than a facade - ingratiated her with most of the others.
Most Toreador are beautiful, and in that, Gretchen neither diverges nor distinguishes herself. She cannot hold a candle to the exquisite, flaming perfection of her Elders, but her beauty was part of her Sire's reason for selecting her, and she certainly holds up her end. Her loveliness extends beyond her glowing, doll-like looks, however, and into her gentle, dreamy manner, and she has served as the muse for several other Toreador over the course of her unlife, while also pursuing her own arts. She is a ballerina par excellence, a violin and piano virtuoso, as well as a composer upon both instruments, and gladly entertains her Toreador sisters and cousins unto their transfixed entrancement. Eschewing the provocative and languid sexuality of many of her Clanmates in dress and manner, Gretchen exhibits daintier, less excitingly dangerous femininity; more ingenue than femme fatale, she favours softer silhouettes that allow her easy movement in sweet, powdery colours that highlight the gentle radiance in her features. A delicate, un-selfconscious sensuality infuses all her interactions with her beloved "sisters". Her wide, shifting blue eyes with their fringe of long, feathery lashes are pensive and quixotic, and her docility is disarmingly genuine; though her rare, sudden flashes of temper are said to be sharp, and frightening.
Timeline
OOC Knowledge Only
- 1910: Born Edith Sumner in Mystic, Connecticut.
- 1915: Her youngest Uncle dies at Passchendaele. Though little "Edie" is too young to understand what has happened, the family's life will be forever darkened, and her own thus marked, by his death.
- 1917: Begins dancing.
- 1918: Begins learning to play the violin.
- 1919: Begins learning the piano.
- 1920: Owing to her splendid talent for all three, is often asked to entertain her parents' visitors, in the drawing room. Her parents are gay, gregarious pillars of the local community, and the house is often the site of dinner and cocktail parties. Little Edie is quickly educated in the importance of keeping up appearances.
- 1923: Her talent as a dancer sees her sent away to France to study under Isadora Duncan, herself.
- 1925: Edie proves somewhat resistant to Duncan's more freeform styles, and is sent, somewhat heartbroken, back to her family in America in disgrace, and writes her first piece; a violin solo "requiem" for her mentor. Her parents, concerned by her sudden retreat into swings between sullen depression and screeching tantrums, enter her into a local dance academy, in the hopes of distracting her from her grief.
- 1926: Edie's parents discover her to be romantically entangled with the older, and very married director of the school, and pull her from the academy. Her behaviour worsens, becoming more and more erratic, as she spends most days locked in her room, composing pieces on her piano and violin while sobbing loudly, and then tearing them up in a fury and flinging things around the room. When she is seen, she is a ghost - listless, empty-eyed, refusing to eat, and descending into shrieking rages when provoked or alternately clinging, weeping, to her mother's skirts. She grows thin and drawn, and takes to wearing longer sleeves and hemlines, in spite of the fashion. The Sumners stop hosting visitors to the house.
- Later that year, Edie's mother discovers a straight-razor in her dirty clothes basket, and says nothing, but that night, and with a stomach heavy with dread, bursts in on her in the bath. In between her daughter's indignant screeching, and lunging for a towel, Mrs Sumner glimpses deep, angry lacerations scoring the insides of her thighs and upper arms and breaks down in tears. Strong men with a van are called, and they take a weeping, pleading Edie away to Danvers State Hospital, where she is diagnosed with "hysteria" and held for some months.
- 1927: Shortly after Christmas, Edie is allowed to come home. She is different; gay and lively, sweet and gentle. Her parents believe her cured. The family begins to entertain again, and Edie dances, and plays her instruments for the visitors. Many remark upon how charming she is, and how pretty, and how (this, always the last mentioned and least esteemed) talented. In time, a romance blossoms between her and the handsome and promising son of one of her father's work superiors, and all looks bright. Mr Sumner beams with pride, and imagines his climb through the ranks. Mrs Sumner plans for her daughter's future, and begins to crochet a trousseau.
- In September, word of Isadora Duncan's death in an automobile accident in Nice reaches the family, and Edie sinks into a deep depression. Her parents fear she has relapsed into her hysteria, but she is ultimately comforted by the sweet efforts of her beau, and, after some rather subdued weeks and a lot of sobbing, appears to shake it off and return to her normal, sweet self.
- 1928: Edie and her beau are engaged, and all the house is a-twitter with activity. Edie sews a wedding dress while her parents excitedly plan the wedding. Her fiance, accompanied by her in-laws to-be are over what seems like three times a week, and she dances and plays for them until she feels her legs and fingers must surely fall off, while her parents smile on. Great plans are made for the wedding, and all the neighbourhood is to be invited. Her mother picks out flowers, alight with joy.
- A month before the wedding, a letter comes for her - an acceptance into a ballet Company in Boston, to which she had applied in secret - and her father reads it out in disbelief, then shakes it in her face in a rage. Edie weeps, and shakes, and promises it means nothing to her, that she never expected to receive an offer, as he throws it in disgust into the kitchen bin.
- A week before the wedding, she takes a cab to her fiance's family home, crawls in through the window of his room, to his shock and delight, and into bed beside him. Before dawn, as he sleeps, she slips out again. When her parents wake, that morning, they find her gone; her drawers empty, her wardrobe stripped, her case missing, and no note of where she's gone.
- After hitchhiking and train-jumping all the way to Boston, she finds her way to a small, grimey alley, and knocks on a door, a stained, crumpled, greasy letter clutched tighter than life itself in one trembling hand.
- 1932: Having adopted the rather more glamourous name of Gretchen Di Val, and a Southern accent befitting a Tennessee Williams heroine, Edie is now all stolen mystique and affected glamour. She is living in a dingy bedsit, she is slightly starving, but she is dancing for her life, and so she is happy. The once-great company had fallen on hard times, but to Edie, now Gretchen, it is Heaven itself. In the spring of 1932 she dances the Sugar Plum Fairy in the Company's small production of Tchaikovsky's The Nutcracker. The audience is small, but in attendance is the young Toreador, Kaalia. Entranced by Gretchen's performance, the Kindred is waiting for her outside the stage door when she leaves. Delighted to meet a fan, who isn't simply some over-earnest sailor enamoured or greasy wolf hoping to seduce her, the young dancer is all-too-pleased to walk, and talk, with the admiring vampire - unaware of the hunger that belies that fascination, or the danger that lurks in those arms. When they reach her small apartment, she invites the beautiful stranger up for a late-night coffee, hoping to continue their conversation.
- Shortly before dawn, Kaalia bursts into the haven she shares with Vashti, bloody tears streaming down her face, and the pale, limp body of the ill-fated ballerina in her arms. "I took too much," she sobs, and as the cold, stiffening body of the pretty girl begins to stir, and her eyelashes to flutter, Vashti whispers, "Kaalia - what did you do?"
- A deal is struck with the Prince of Boston to forgive the fledgeling's accidental indiscretion, but only if the new Embrace is sent into exile, effective immediately. A disoriented and bewildered Gretchen is pulled from the arms of her new friend, and sent away from everything she has ever known, to the strange, distant nation of Australia, where she is placed under the personal tutelage of La Belle Dame d'Lumiere. Gretchen is devastated, and the relationship is initially decidedly strained, but in time, the two Roses reach an understanding of each other, and an accord together.
- 1940: Gretchen's soft, lovely compositions and mesmerising dancing draw the attention of the Ventrue primogen, Nicolette DuQuesne, who patronises her art, and the two grow intimately close.
- 1944: La Belle Dame d'Lumiere suddenly leaves for overseas, to bring home ancient Vashti, her own Sire, Jacqueline, and Gretchen's Sire, Kaalia. In her absence, Gretchen fails to cope, unraveling privately while seeming ever more desperately brittle-bright at Court, like a star on the verge of shattering. Eventually, she finds comfort in the arms of a Kindred whom, when the older Toreador return from their sojourn, they declare undesirable, and the affair is quickly put to bed. Privately, Gretchen descends into a depressive episode, but is eventually buoyed by her Sire's return.
- 1970: The introduction of a new Malkavian, Mr Parker into the Court, sees Gretchen gain a new ally as something about her - unclear to any but the other Malkavians - draws his fascination, and he becomes her patron and firm supporter. When he is made junior Harpy, he takes the young Toreador under his wing, and teaches each of his lessons on to her, just as he learns them. In return, she employs these new lessons to assist him in keeping the society of the Court under control.
- 1980: Vashti leaves to establish the Court of Canberra, down on a sheep paddock in New South Wales. Gretchen doesn't take her leaving well, but the other Toreador are eventually able to raise her from her doldrums with presents and treats, and the distraction of beautiful artwork. Rumour has it that she also falls in love, but as to the whom, that remains a mystery.
- 2013: Kaalia is called by Vashti to join her in Canberra, with Gretchen summoned also, but with Gretchen committed to back-to-back tours with the Queensland Ballet's Summer season, and then a tour with the New South Wales Symphony orchestra, she is unavailable to attend for some time.
- 2016: After an emotional parting from La Belle Dame d'Lumiere, Gretchen finally makes it to Canberra, for a joyous reunion with Kaalia and Vashti.
Recent History
2016
- APRIL - Gretchen attended her first Court in her new home of Canberra, her appearance shortly followed by Sabbat visitors, the presence of Archon Theo Bell, exploding imposters, building fires, Elders in helicopters, rioting hipsters and, finally, subpar environs. In the midst of all this chaos, she was seen to be very close with her Sire, Kaalia Raine, who that night took Praxis. In addition, it was witnessed by multiple onlookers that Gretchen found herself repeatedly approached by and drawn into conversation with the Brujah Elder, Hathus, under whose focus she seemed to hold up admirably, conducting herself with grace, intelligence, and just the right amount of humble deference. By evening's end, she must have won his approval, for his offer of patronage to her arts raced around the Court's gossip circuits like wildfire.
Lineage
Known Sire
Known Siblings
Known Childer
None known.
Known Grand-childer
None known.
Quotes
Quotes By
- - "Gifted? Well, how sweet you are. You might be aghast, sir, to know just how much blood, and sweat, and sacrifice went into the purchase of these 'gifts'. Dancing relentlessly atop broken toes, sprained ankles, lifting and loosening nails. Playing on through blistered and bleeding fingers. My soul sang with the joy of all that I had given up only to embrace the glory of that pain, for I knew those blessings - my dancing, my music - were priced in accordance. If I had only known I need but wait for them to be given to me, why! How different my life might have been!"
- - "Those cursed by birth with a surfeit of volition are bound by nature to become dancers. Those who fall just short, I can only imagine, often become Ventrue."
- - "Who are you to scorn the importance of Beauty? Beauty breathes, my lord. She listens. She is all that will survive us, in the end. And, be assured, sir - She hears you."
- - "Free will, I daresay, remains ever the final consolation of those in whom the Muses never took an interest."
Quotes About
- - "Little Grete, what an exquisite creature she is. It would be a travesty on the world to have her rare beauty and talent destroyed due to an act of spontaneous passion. I shall do all in my power to ensure the Prince spares her life."
- - Vashti, Boston, 1932
- - "My dearest childe, how I have thought of you through all these years, but now we are together again and the years seem less weary."
- - Kaalia Canberra, April, 2016
- - "She is a breath of fresh air so sweet if feels like breath true."
- - Isaac De Leon Canberra, April, 2016
- - "Do not seek to compare us. I am the blade, and she the snow covered rose. I do not compete with her, nor she with me. Indeed we both dance. But we do not perform the same show. She is the lily in the wind, with the flow and ebb of the beat, to the sound that moves her body and captures your eye. I dance, as the knife in an assassins hand, with little elegance, but as much, sometimes more, precision than she. She is seen, always, by most every eye. I am seen by few. In another world, she'd be the distraction, and I the one who deals the final blow before you even knew I was there. She sings, but I can not, for she is the bird, and I, the hound. I kill, but she can not, for I am the monster in the dark, and she the light that makes the world seem less dark for our kind. We are not so different you say, but you are wrong. Perhaps the largest difference between us is the protection I give my grandmother, while her family protect and pamper her, for one must remember that the blade is both polished and sharpened with stone, while a flower wilts and dies without care."
- - Jacqueline Mayeaux Canberra, April 2016
- - "A lovely porcelain doll to watch. Her dancing and other talents are most adequate. Truly, I believe this one is the true vision of a Toreador. Incredibly talented, beautiful and full of life but fragile and in need of protection. She will enjoy every comfort because I wish it. Do not seek to drag her into the morass of monstrousness that pervade our society. It will not be tolerated."
- - Hathus Eiriks Chindavinth
Conversations
"Quote" - reference
Rumours
- Called "little Grete", by her Clan Elders
- Once unknowingly had a fling with a member of the Sabbat
- Don't say that. Don't even whisper it. It's not true, and even if it was; La Belle Dame d'Lumiere would come for your head.
- Sure the indescretion wasn't her great great great uncle the Sabbat Cardinal Hairpin or whatever? You know the SABBAT CARDINAL who La Belle Dame d'Lumiere invited to the Toreador Salon in October 2015 and defended as her cousin publicly?
- Don't say that. Don't even whisper it. It's not true, and even if it was; La Belle Dame d'Lumiere would come for your head.
- Has an odd fondness for Tremere
- Is peculiarly attractive to Malkavians.
- Has been said to have a delicious brain.
- Why are the other Toreador so protective of her?
- Her Sire got so disappointed with her that she shipped her off to Melbourne. The domain of Elder Gunderic...
Inspirations and Soundtrack
Inspirations
- Lucille Sharpe, Crimson Peak
- Painted Doll, The Devil's Carnival
- Nina Sayers, Black Swan
- Juliet Hulme, Heavenly Creatures
- Claudia, Interview With The Vampire
- Daisy Buchanan, The Great Gatsby
- Emilie Autumn, in general
- Lindsey Stirling
Soundtrack
- Scream Of The Butterfly by Adam Warman (orig. by Acid Bath): She smiles like a child with flowers in her hair, with blood on her hands
- ¿Viva La Gloria? by Green Day: The traces of blood always follow you home, like the mascara-tears from your getaway
- Use Me by Garbage: Use me, I'm beautiful. Take me, I'm yours. Hurt me, it feels like medicine, and all I deserve
- Time To Dance by Panic! At The Disco: Give me envy, give me malice, give me your attention
- Strawberry Gashes by Jack Off Jill: Curse me, sold her; the poison that runs its course through her
- Bad Habits by Billy Field: Can't help myself; bad habits. I'm running wild, lost control
- Your Ex-Lover Is Dead by Stars: It's nothing but time, and a face that you lose - I chose to feel it, and you couldn't choose
- Down In Flames by Welbilt: Burning under me, the things that you can't see - I can't blink my eyes, and I can't breathe
- Unwell by Matchbox 20: I'm not crazy, I'm just a little unwell
- Problem by Natalia Kills: Don't you want to save this dirty little damsel?
- Dance Me To The End Of Love by The Civil Wars: Dance me to your beauty with a burning violin, dance me through the panic until I'm gathered safely in
- Opheliac by Emilie Autumn: You know the games I play and the words I say when I want my own way
Status
City
- Acknowledged by Prince of Brisbane in the 1940s.
- Graceful by Prince Kaalia Raine on the 7th of May, 2016.
- Talented by Prince Kaalia Raine on the 4th of June, 2016.
Clan
- Revered as Primogen by Prince Kaalia Raine.
- Given by Character on date for details.
- Given by Character on date for details.
Boons
- Trivial boon owed by Character to Character for details (date).
- Major boon paid by Character to Character for details (date).
OOC Information
I am really, really keen for background ties and linkages. I have just so much empty space in my history, and I am very keen to fill it with IC relationships, both political and personal. Does Gretchen owe your PC a boon? Do they owe her one? Why? Are they a patron of the arts? Are they an artist/poet themselves, moody for a muse? Are they a filthy Gangrel, brutish Brujah or hideous Nos who would have treasured a moment of unexpected kindness from the pretty Toreador? Are they just a lonely female Kindred, who would really benefit from having a girlfriend to confide in and whisper with at Court?
Hit me up!
| Member Information | |
| Player: | P. Saunders |
|---|---|
| Number: | 2003100615 |
| Domain: | Canberra |