Éclair Tonnerre

Player Name: Violet
Player Journal: avioletqueen
Playing Here: N/A
Where did you find us? App This Please and also another player.
Are you 16 years of age or older? Yes!



Character Name: Éclair Tonnerre
Canon: Ouran High School Host Club
Timeline: A few weeks after her little stint in Japan.
Character's Age: 18

Powers, Skills, Pets and Equipment:

New Power for Scorched:
She now has a photographic memory - with one catch. She can remember anything she sees through her opera glasses, but without them, her memory is the same as always.

Skills:
Éclair is a very intelligent, very manipulative girl. She is very good at flattering people and adjusting how she appears to others in order to best make them let their guard down.

Pets:
None.

Equipment:
Her opera glasses.

Canon History:

Éclair Tonnerre started out her life as a disappointment. Her mother died in childbirth, leaving behind her only child to be largely taken care of by nursemaids. Her father, rather old for a parent (in his late forties), needed a son. Cliché, but true. Monsieur Tonnerre was head of the Grand Tonnerre Group, one of the wealthiest companies in France, and without a male heir, the company would have gone to waste. Marrying again would be highly unlikely, as all the eligible bachelorettes were looking for someone much younger. However, he tried this route, not disowning his daughter, but not recognizing her either.

Éclair was raised without seeing her father face to face until she was ten years old. She didn’t know much of life or the world beyond the walls of her home. In the mornings, she’d learn history, geography, math, and sciences under the best tutors in France - in the afternoons, she’d sew, practice piano, and paint. She knew no other way of life but this until an announcement when she was almost a teen. At the ripe old age of sixty, Monsieur Tonnerre grudgingly accepted to teach Éclair the ways of business and to let her take over the Grand Tonnerre Group when he died; all this completely against his wishes.

Suddenly, Éclair found herself thrust into the high stakes world of the Group, without having any prior knowledge of business or finance. She learned quickly under the stranger that was her father, trying to impress the stern old man. She never succeeded in gaining words of praise from him. One of her earliest excursions was to an opera where her father met with a few of his business associates. She took a great thrill, not in the acting or the voices, but in the elegant manner with which the elite women peered at the stage through small glasses. From that day onwards, she carried around a pair of gold opera glasses with her, looking at the world through violet-tinted lenses.

She was the pride of all her old servants - such a beautiful young woman she had grown into, they exclaimed. She secretly laughed at how they fawned so ridiculously over her, and held contempt for them all. All except one: a kind maid who always had a distant and lonely look in her eye. Her name was Anne-Sophie Grantaine. Éclair would never admit it, but she loved to hear the woman talk, and she soon became Éclair’s personal maid. One day, the heiress asked Anne-Sophie about her life, wanting to hear a story from the motherly woman. Anne-Sophie told Éclair of her beautiful son, born illegitimately to her, who was now residing in Japan and around Éclair’s age. His name was Tamaki Suoh. Being a doting mother, the maid gushed about her son to Éclair, and soon, the heiress found herself falling in love with this man that she’d never met. She made a decision - she’d go to Japan and marry this Tamaki, so that she could please her father while being happy herself.

She immediately started to learn Japanese and in a year, when she was passably fluent, she called the Suohs. Shizue Suoh, Tamaki’s strict grandmother, answered the phone. Éclair debated with the old woman and finally gained her consent to a marriage between herself and Tamaki. Taking charge as if she was already the head of the Grand Tonnerre Group, she began negotiations with Ootori Medical, looking to buy out their company so that the family was engaged with this business and wouldn’t try to stop her marriage. After carefully putting together the many parts of her plan, she finally came to Ouran, where Tamaki Suoh went to school, and where there was a convenient fair proceeding. She gained admittance to the school and saw Tamaki face to face for the first time. It was love at first sight - at least, for her. She found a slight interference in the case of Haruhi Fujioka, but after finding out that the scholarship girl was nothing more than that - a scholarship girl - she calculated that though her words were passionate, she would not play a major part in the proceedings.

She could sense Tamaki’s hesitance towards marrying her, and detested it. Quickly realizing that the Host Club was the root factor that would tie Tamaki to Japan, she twisted the other hosts’ words, making it seem as if Tamaki was not a friend as much as a burden. Finally, she unleashed the bit of information that would seal the deal; if Tamaki married her and disbanded the Host Club, he would be allowed to see his mother in France. Already believing that he was nothing more than a nuisance, the Suoh complied with the heiress’ requests, and later that day itself, the fiancés were on their way to France.

All was going well - Tamaki was a bit moody, but that would soon change - until they heard the pounding of hooves on road behind them. Éclair was shocked to see Fujioka following them in a carriage; she’d made a big mistake in undermining the value of the girl. Just a few words, and Tamaki was ready to leave Éclair to go back to Ouran. The heiress couldn’t believe it - it was the first time her plans had ever failed her. Speechless, she watched the interaction between the two. Speechless, she watched as the carriage crashed into the side of the road, watched in slow-motion as Fujioka flew through the air. She wanted to pull Tamaki back, to keep him with her and let that girl drown, but let him go, knowing that he’d be happier with the Fujioka girl. And later, when she was reflecting on what had happened, she would convince herself that she hadn’t cried all the way back to the airport. Her father, naturally, was extremely angry with her. He simultaneously took the position of heiress away from her and sent her off to boarding school.

Personality:

Éclair is very concerned about her appearance. She's actually a rather average height - around 5'5" or 5'6" - but she appears taller because of her stellar posture and because she always wears high heels. She has immaculately styled hair and large blue eyes. Éclair wouldn’t be seen dead in anything but the latest French styles. Her appearance is very important to her, and as a result, she usually looks… well, stunning.

The best way to describe Éclair is that she’s similar to an onion. Or cake. She’s got layers of personality smashed together to come up with the end result - a uniquely attractive, greedy, and lonely girl.

Her top layer is silky, sweet, and seemingly pure. Éclair appears intelligent, charming, and beautiful - everything that anyone could want in a girl. Her social etiquette is marvelous, and she herself appears perfect to others. She’s very respectful towards those who deserve it, and very kind to her peers. She is also very hard-working and determined, and good at inspiring others. She’s very much a model to younger girls, and her praises are music to their ears. She manages to mask all her family problems by addressing her father as “dearest” or “wonderful”, and answering all inquiries about her absent mother with a great deal of tact and crocodile tears. She manages to act modest and humble, and appears to be very sweet and innocent.

Then her next layer - rougher and grittier. She’s very good at flattering others in order to create good relationships. As the only daughter of a powerful businessman, she’s had to learn how to deal with sexism in order to gain respect in the elite social circles she is exposed to. Due to this, she excels at manipulation and seduction, and to sum it up, is very used to getting her way. She’s very materialistic, and doesn’t find anything wrong with wanting every luxury the world can provide; if she is able have it, why not? She can be very vain and shallow, placing a lot of importance on her looks - her ultimate goal with her beauty is either to manipulate men or make good first impressions. She’s quite shrewd and quick-thinking, having to be on her toes in order to beat the competition and aid the family company. She’s also ruthless, and will stop at nothing to get what she wants.

It’s easy for her to adopt an oh-so-condescending attitude, and she secretly laughs at most of the people she interacts with because of how easily they fall for her ploys. She doesn’t really care for anyone other than herself, and she’s brilliant at acting in order to fool people. She excels at verbal sparring, and can be very sarcastic and harsh to people, especially those who are close to her. This is one of the more confusing parts of her personality. She’s much more mean to those who are closer to her because she feels like she can drop her outer shell of perfection and sweetness around them. However, she ultimately ends up driving others away from her. She looks down upon ‘commoners’, and will avoid associating with them at all costs - she does have a reputation to behold. To her, power and prestige are everything in life, and calling her greedy and selfish wouldn’t be wrong at all.

And finally, the sour and bitter layer. Though Éclair appears a spoiled brat, she admits to realizing how monstrous she is. Lacking familial love of any kind, she’s searching for someone to accept her, but her meaner self disgusts anyone who starts to get close to her. After strength being ingrained into her for so long, she can’t stop herself from being ruthless or harsh, so she is very lost in this way. She is quite imaginative, shown by her falling in love with the image of Tamaki that she came up with based on the stories that his mother told her. She’s definitely a bit insecure, with her habit of hiding from the world behind opera glasses, and craves acceptance in the business world even though she is a woman. And it’s hard to believe there isn’t a part of her heart that breaks every time she realizes how many people dislike her and her sneaky ways. She is very prideful, and is quick to cover her moments of weakness - if she can help it, she will not break down in front of anyone. She masks the way her life has been decided for her by being forward and ambitious. However, practically no one has seen this side of her, so these darker emotions are a secret burden that only she can carry. As a result of this non-stop stress, Éclair tends to be very snappy at the end of a long day, and the smallest of things can get on her nerves. It’s possible that one day, she’ll break under the incessant pressure.

All in all, Éclair is wonderful on the outside, ambitious and selfish on the inside, and lonely and cynical deep in her soul. What part of her you’ll see greatly depends on who you are.

Why do you feel this character would be appropriate to the setting?

While Éclair is used to being pampered, she is still a very resourceful person. She will do anything to get what she wants or needs, and while she might not be willing to do the dirty work, she will always have a charming facade for those who do it for her.

As to where I want her to go? Well, I don't think she'll ever not be conniving and manipulating to a certain degree, but I'm hoping she will slowly learn to let people into her life.



Previous Game: Reims Academy
Length of time there: 7-8 months? The game sort of drifted off and gradually died.

Important development and/or events in your previous game: She grew slightly more independent from her father, and does not prescribe so much to her father's rules when she's in private. In public, though, she's still the same.

Additionally, between Reims and Scorched, her father has named one of his assistants to be the new heir of the Grand Tonnerre Group, so returning to her family as heiress seems to be impossible at the moment.



Network Post Sample: Here is an example, and here is my tag for the game.

Third Person Sample: Here is an example, and here is my tag for the game.

If you need anything extra for either of the samples, just let me know and I'll whip something up for you! :D