Sylviane Cordélia Adèle Favreau
Beauxbatons | Seventh Year | Broom Racer | Pureblood────────────── · · ◈ · · ─────── · · ◈ · · ─────── · · ◈ · · ──────────────
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Coming from a somewhat old-fashioned and distinguished family, Sylvie always speaks in a dignified manner and stands tall, never slouching. Sylvie always dresses to impress; fashion, while not her passion, is important to her and she always makes sure she looks put together with light make-up and accents of jewelry to compliment her outfits when not in uniform.
(Faceclaim: Mara LaFontan)= ────────────── · · ◈ · · ─────── · · ◈ · · ─────── · · ◈ · · ──────────────
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Towards the public, Sylvie radiates a cold yet charming demeanor. While it might confuse others how one can be both distant yet welcoming at the same time, the French girl had mastered the technique. Being equally as diplomatic toward anyone she interacts with, she also does not hesitate to radiate a sort of elegance about her that puts her above others. She means business, and everyone knows it. Sylvie has mastered turning on her charm through the many meetings, dinners, and balls hosted within the Pureblood community. When she needs to be charming, she is. When she’s not trying to make a good impression on the allies of her family or manipulating someone to do her will, she’s icy and intense, scaring away anyone that comes in her way.
If Sylvie had to admit that she had a fatal flaw, which she never would, it would be the constant need to prove herself, mainly to her father. While to the public she has no hesitations boasting her talents and superiority, to her father, Sylvie is never enough. Every failure she ever had seems mountainous compared to the multitude of successes that go along with them; her father only seems to see the failures. While she would never admit to it, finally pleasing her father is one of her ultimate goals.= ────────────── · · ◈ · · ─────── · · ◈ · · ─────── · · ◈ · · ──────────────
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Growing up in the Favreau Manor was less chaotic than one would imagine. Besides her twin brother, Sylvie has an older sister, Nicolette Élodie Rosalie Favreau and a younger brother, Remington (Remy) Julien Élie Favreau, both of whom also attend Beauxbatons. Despite having four young children, Aldéric and Lucille ran an uptight and proper household. From a young age, Sylvie was taught about etiquette and grace; she learned proper manners alongside learning English and French (as well as a multitude of other languages including Swedish and Russian). As two noble Pureblood families, Aldéric and Lucille were pressured to continue their success through their children and this pressure was asserted onto Sylvie’s shoulder from the moment she was born. Success and being at the top were ingrained into Sylvie’s brain; failure was something that was not an option. Even from something as mundane as cooking a meal, Sylvie was not allowed to fail. Thus, her competitive nature and fear of failure was born. With three other siblings growing up beside her, Sylvie was constantly in competition with all of them to perform well and progress through their tutoring lessons.
When Sylvie was six years old, she experienced her first instance of magic. It had been a long day of tutoring sessions and as a young child still, she had lots of energy that she would much rather spend playing with her siblings than pouring over the pages of some history textbook. She and her twin had been studying all day and Sylvie wanted a break. Her parents would not give it to her, though. While she knew enough to hold her tongue and comply with her parents' wishes, Sylvie let her anger fester underneath the surface. Ingrained with a competitive nature, she was determined to be the first to finish the lesson. Unfortunately, her older sister finished the passage in the book much quicker than Sylvie and then her twin brother finished soon after. Her anger reached a boiling point and before she knew what was going on, the textbook in front of her had burst into flames.
As Sylvie aged and began her studies at Beauxbatons, she brought her rage into check and learned to like learning a bit more. One of the most prestigious schools known for their broom racing, Sylvie became interested in the sport. Taking a liking to the thrill and skills required to maneuver through the courses, she found solace in the activity. Now Sylvie spends much of her free time practicing her broom racing skills or pouring herself into her textbooks.=
Last edited by Amadea Campbell on 15 Aug 2023, 01:59, edited 7 times in total.
Sylviane Cordélia Adèle Favreau
Broom Racer? YES
Quidditch Player? NO
Duellist? NO──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────Abilities
YEAR ONE | LOVELY CREATURE
ReducioThere’s no denying that Sylviane Favreau had been blessed in the genetic department. For that, she has mainly her mother to thank. While she acquired her father’s dark hair and tall stature, the rest of her features more closely resemble her mother, Lucille. The blue eyes, the defined jawline, the clear complexion, all from her mother. Her entire family had good genes that were quickly passed to her. With long, silky hair and piercing blue eyes, Sylvie is what many people would call beautiful. Commanding a room was something Sylvie never had an issue with, and she liked to think that while it was definitely partly her confident personality, it was also the fact that people were so struck with her looks. The fact that beauty was so captivating was something that Sylvie liked to often play to her advantage whenever she could. At Pureblood parties and gatherings, she wouldn’t hesitate to flash a smile or manipulate someone through her flirtatious comments. She quickly learned it was easy to get what she wanted when she was charming and beautiful.
The maids at the Favreau manor always hyped Sylvie up, gushing over her beautiful locks and her clear skin. They loved every second they had with the French girl, offering to put her hair in a fancy updo just so they could admire the sleek, silky, softness of her brown locks. They often offered to take Sylvie shopping as well, helping her pick out the best outfits that accentuated her eyes or complimented her hair. They made sure that Sylvie’s outfits were fitting for a girl of her age but also flattering, matching her shape. Being dressed to the nines was the icing on the cake for Sylvie’s looks.
All of this put together allowed Sylvie to be the star of the show when she needed to be, especially at the many Pureblood galas her family hosted. Her perfect skin with some added makeup put a glow on her face that enticed people closer to admire her. When she combed out her hair and put it into a fancy updo, people awed over the sleek sophistication of the look. Pairing small accessories with a stunning dress picked out at one of the best designer stores accentuated Sylvie’s height and confidence, allowing her to stand out amongst the crowd. Her confidence clearly showed adding only more to her beauty. Other Purebloods would always make the point to tell Sylvie or her parents how wonderful she looked, telling her how lovely she was.
WC: 420
YEAR TWO | CHARMER
ReducioSince Sylvie came out of the womb, her parents had taught her how to be charming. They were Purebloods, after all, and they had to keep up a good reputation among the community. One wrong move and they could be excommunicated in a heartbeat; this pressure of always putting up a perfect facade was ingrained into Sylvie’s mind as soon as she could understand languages. If anyone in the world was the reason why the 'posh French' stereotype existed, it was because of the Favreau family. Sylvie’s parents constantly drilled proper etiquette into their minds; as they were learning to walk, they were learning the proper way to sit at the table and how to be a courteous hostess when other families came to visit.
Attending many fancy dinners and balls within the Pureblood community allowed Sylvie to hone her skills; she always sat perfectly at the table and did not interrupt any conversations. At balls she danced the proper way and always radiated the image of a perfectly polite and put together young woman. When speaking with her elders and other Pureblood families, Sylvie would always make sure to turn on the charm, always finding at least one thing she could compliment them on and connect with them on. She made sure to have a balanced handshake - not too soft but not too firm - and made sure to always look the person in the eye and smile. Always in the back of Sylvie’s mind were her parents’ words that these galas and balls were a chance to show the other Pureblood families who they were and perhaps find a suitable match for her when the time came. She had to make a good impression on everyone; no Pureblood family wants an unkempt or unrefined girl to marry into their family.
Turning on her charm during these events was a skill she mastered from a young age and it didn’t always stop there. Once she arrived at Beauxbatons, Sylvie started out as a much different person than she turned out to be. Used to playing dirty or forging under the table deals to get what she wanted, Sylvie was taken aback by the showmanship traits that Beauxbatons drilled into their students’ heads. She quickly learned how to turn on the charm in front of her professors and how to quickly turn it back off when they weren’t around so she could get what she needed. What others might call being the teacher’s pet or sucking up, Sylvie turned on her charm to woo her professors into seeing that she was a mature and worldly young woman that did the Favreau name proud.
WC: 444
YEAR THREE | EVASIVE MANEUVERS I
ReducioSylvie had grown up always keeping on her toes. Her family was so strict that Sylvie always felt that she had to walk on eggshells when she was around her parents, especially her father. One wrong move could lead to a disaster of screaming and lectures about how to be more refined. Being able to dodge these lectures and always walk with grace was something that Sylvie learned, despite the less than ideal circumstances, at a very young age.
Sylvie was used to always having many people in her home; her parents were constantly planning dinner events or dances that were hosted at their large estate. They always found a reason to celebrate. When Sylvie was too young to actually attend these events, she would watch from the sidelines as the adults mingled and talked and the servers ran around the people trying to keep everything perfectly in order. She had learned quickly how to stay out of the way; even though these events looked so put together and calm, there was a surprising amount of chaos that was going on behind the scenes. Sylvie had learned how to quickly evade this chaos and watch all of the events transpire from the safety of her bedroom or hiding on the spiral staircase of their house.
As someone who was always taller than average, Sylvie made it a point to not be the type of tall person that was gangly and klutzy simply because they were taller than average. She worked extra hard to move with the elegance and grace that both her mother and sister exerted and took extra precautions to make sure she was always sure footed. This enabled her to avoid any possible falls that could occur as well as quickly move out of the way of any incoming dangers. When Sylvie and her twin brother Amaury turned ten, their parents signed them up for an in depth self defense course. Of course, while they did learn all of the basic self defense moves that a Muggle would learn in a self defense class, they also learned many other skills as well. They learned how to defend themselves against possible mythical creatures they could encounter; they learned how to evade harmful plants such as Devil’s Snare. They learned quickly how to roll and evade if someone was attacking them with spells and formed the proper technique to run as quickly away as possible if something was chasing them. These skills proved quite useful to Sylvie as she progressed through her life, and found that she had become quite good at evading anything she needed to despite her tall stature.
WC: 441
YEAR FOUR | EVASIVE MANEUVERS II
ReducioWhen Sylvie first arrived at Beauxbatons, she had no idea how to participate in broom racing. While she had heard of the sport and the perils of some of the courses that past participants had dealt with, she had never tried the sport but was quite interested in it. Sylvie attempted the sport for the first time during her first year at Beauxbatons. During her earlier life, she had always been taught that she should get to the end no matter who she had to hurt in the process or what methods she had to use to get there. Foul play was something that wasn’t out of the picture for the young French girl as she navigated the treacherous broom racing courses. However, this was something that was frowned upon at Beauxbatons. As a school that emphasized good showmanship and having good grace, expression, and elegance, Sylvie’s teachers instilled these messages within her and she learned from them to not play dirty in order to get what she wanted; she had the skillset to still win when she wasn’t cheating.
From then on, Sylvie attacked the broom racing field with a new rigor. She poured herself into the sport, spending any extra free hours that she wasn’t studying on the field, practicing her moves. Especially when she learned that Beauxbatons offered very few scholarships for extra talented broom racers, Sylvie had a new goal to look toward and that was receiving one of those scholarships. Determined to prove that she had the skills to win at broom racing based on her pure talent, Sylvie honed her skills and specifically focused on her evasion. There were many obstacles on the course and she had to make sure that she could still fly at top speed while avoiding these barriers. Hours and hours of practice allowed the girl to shape her moves, figuring out the best way to spot incoming obstacles and how to react quickly enough to avoid them before crashing into them.
Of course, this did not happen overnight; no one snapped their fingers and Sylvie was suddenly an expert broom racer. And of course, Sylvie knows that she still has a lot of practice she still needs to do in order to improve even more than she already has. However, compared to the broom racer Sylvie had been on the first day of her first year at Beauxbatons, she is a much more skilled and honest player when it comes to broom racing.
WC: 414
YEAR FIVE | FOULPLAY
ReducioHer entire life, Sylvie was taught to do whatever she must to succeed in life. When she arrived at Beauxbatons, this mindset was constantly challenged by the core values of the school: she could succeed through her own skills and be a good sport, the school emphasized to her. She had spent her first few years at school pouring over the correct techniques for broom racing and dedicating virtually all of her time to the sport. Her dedication had paid off, but it involved many hours and a level of commitment Sylvie had not invested in any other endeavor. This mixed messaging began messing with Sylvie’s head as she continued broom racing during the school year and spending time at home in the summers. Trust your skills, Beauxbatons coaxed her, while the Favreau manor insisted Sylvie go big or go home. After all, they were an upscale Pureblood family. No one in their circle got to where they were today without some secretive trickery. Utilizing one’s skillset was considered seizing an opportunity to get ahead in life. As influential as her schooling was, it was not strong enough to distill the influence of growing up surrounded by the extreme extravagance living in the Favreau manor came with. Sylvie was used to a certain level of sophistication and she knew that the easiest way to get to the top was through some cheating. It would make her life much simpler and she could spend more time doing other things rather than practicing broom racing.
Not that she needed to, of course. Sylvie excelled at everything she did; her family would accept nothing less, of course, and as the female twin of the family, she felt extremely pressured to prove her worth within her family. General sibling rivalry was a tough competition, but Sylvie’s perception of this rivalry was only magnified by the fact that she had a twin brother going through the same stages of life at exactly the same time as her. Of course, they were family, so his successes were her successes but in the back of Sylvie’s mind, her brother’s success in dueling only fueled her desire to win even more. She loved her family very much, but there was no denying that her utmost desire in life was to be the best, even within her family’s hierarchical structure. Sylvie’s drastic change in mindset began to occur about halfway through her schooling at Beauxbatons. Noticing the incredible successes of her brother, Amaury, in his dueling endeavors and comparing that to her own lack of accomplishment, she realized that perhaps doing things with a clean moral compass was overrated. Who cared how she got to the top if she was already there? What mattered most was the fact that she was at the top. No one would bother with the specifics of exactly what she did to get there.
As the phrase suggests, “whoever said cheaters never prosper or cheaters never win never encountered Sylvie.” The uptight nature of her household allowed her to perfect the art of deceit and thus, Sylvie became the master of deception. She could do anything, and she would do anything. She was a Favreau, after all. It would be inconceivable to think otherwise.
WC: 540
YEAR SIX | STEADY FLYER
ReducioSylviane’s fear of failure led her to picking up the sport of broom racing during her first year at Beauxbatons. Her twin brother, Amaury, quickly found his place on the dueling team and Sylvie felt pressured to choose something extracurricular as well. She thought dueling was quite frivolous; people stood around waving their wands at each other and it all seemed quite boring to her. Quidditch was an option, but her older sister was an incredible chaser and Sylvie hated the idea that people would perceive her as following in Nicolette’s footsteps. Sylvie was going to forge her own path, which is why she immediately gravitated toward broom racing.
Everything about it intrigued and delighted her. She loved the idea of flying as quickly as possible while also navigating oneself through an obstacle course…while also trying to sabotage other people. It was the perfect mix of a solo and team sport. She could assist her team when necessary but still take the glory for herself by finishing the course in first place. As soon as she discovered the sport, Sylvie immediately began practicing as much as she could. Time not spent studying was spent practicing her technique, learning how to evade the obstacles while still maintaining control over her broom. She purchased herself a new broom as a present at the end of her first year, a celebratory way of showing herself she was succeeding at this.
The elegance in which Sylvie carried herself off of the field translated to her ability to navigate broom racing courses. Years of etiquette training and critiques from her mother about incorrect posture or failure to raise her pinky at exactly the right angle when she was sipping her tea instilled an innate knowledge within Sylvie about the whereabouts of all of her limbs at all times. She had always been tall for her age, and even though she was sure she had finished growing, her elongated stature could be a disadvantage in her ability to evade obstacles. Fortunately for Sylvie, her inherent skill and ability learned from hours of broom racing practice allowed her to breeze through courses without so much as brushing any obstacle.
Encountering obstacles and successfully evading them was a skill of Sylvie’s, both literally and figuratively. Even off of the broom racing field, Sylvie prided herself on her determination and grit, never wavering in the face of adversity and always finding a way through any obstacle that dared to put itself in her path. Her work ethic and strong personality proved only to be an asset in regards to broom racing, as she never backed down from any of the obstacles on the course, even if they were slightly terrifying. The only way out is through: a wise adage and Sylvie’s mantra when facing difficult obstacles both in her life and on the broom racing course. She had to get out, so she went through.
WC: 486
YEAR SEVEN | UNFETTERED FLIGHT
ReducioBalance. It was one of those qualities that people desired to have, both figuratively and literally. For Sylviane Cordelia Adele Favreau, it came to her in both of these ways. Much of this could be attributed to her upbringing, with the extensive etiquette lessons about how to conduct herself and the many years of dancing lessons she took to learn the proper way to move gracefully. Within dance, balance was a key element of mastering moves. Sylvie caught on quickly. Not only was balance achieved in her life in this way, but living at home with her three siblings and her parents fostered an environment where she needed to find the mental balance as well. Expectations from her parents, herself, her siblings, and her peers fought for control in Sylvie’s brain. The only way to handle this was through prioritization and balance of these warring expectations. Compartmentalization became an important part of Sylvie’s ability to be successful. She was able to store away all of her other worries and focus on one thing at a time, depending on what was most pressing in the moment.
This skill became critical to her success in broom racing. She learned how to focus on multiple things at a time while being able to successfully give just enough attention to each so she would be able to control her broom with one part of her brain while playing on the offense if there were opponents around her. It was almost an inherent ability for Sylvie, having all of these expectations (in life) or variables (in broom racing) being thrown at her at the same time but being able to balance them in a way where she could hold them all together without dropping any of them. It was a tiring act, but nothing that Sylvie couldn’t handle. She prided herself in her ability to do it all. One could not be perfect if they were not able to handle the most at any point in time, and she was constantly proving to herself and those around her that she did indeed have the capacity to be perfect. She could keep perfect control of her broom while throwing things at opponents. She could orchestrate a successful dinner while navigating the throes of people and politely conversing with each. While the two worlds of aggressive broom racing and upscale French society were vastly different from each other, Sylvie found that the skills she had acquired through living in both of these worlds applied synonymously.
WC: 418