Emeline Mercier
Full Name: Emeline Mercier
Nickname(s): Emma, Em (to close friends only)
Date of Birth: July 21
Actual Age: 34
Gender: Female
Sexuality: Heteroflexible
Place of Birth: New Orleans, Louisiana
Ethnicity: Mixed
Religion: Catholic
Degree of Religious Practice: minimal
Species: Werewolf (Alpha)
Physical Appearance:
Height: 55
Weight: 132 lbs
Body Type: athletic
Hair Color: dark brown
Hair Style: long and wavy
Eye Color: light green
Skin Tone: bronzed
Scent: sweet olive trees, bourbon, and ink
Aura: purple and gold
Birthmarks: none
Scars: none
Tattoos: none
Physical Description:
Emeline is a striking woman of Creole heritage that is to say, her family lines contain a wide mixture of different ethnicities and cultures. In Emeline, this has manifested in hair so dark brown it is nearly true black, skin that looks naturally tanned no matter the climate, and eyes a unique shade of aquamarine green. She is of average height and has an athletic build that she works hard to maintain. During her University years, she began studying Brazilian Jiu Jitsu, and her years of travelling as a single woman prompted her to continue with it long after leaving school. Becoming infected with lycanthropy did made it harder to progress formally in her chosen martial art, but she holds a 1st degree black belt and has not let her skills get rusty.
She is comfortable in everything from a business suit to a ballgown, but unless she is attending a formal or business event, she can most commonly be found in faded jeans and a tshirt.
Family/Relationships:
Father: Tomas Mercier (deceased)
Mother: Helene Mercier (deceased)
Siblings: none
Marital Status: single
Other Romantic Relationships: Ex-fiancé, Warren Lehnert, in New York
Education:
Degrees Held: BA of Mass Communication, Louisiana State University
Master of Arts, Political Journalism, Columbia University
Speech/Language:
English L5, R5, S5, W5
French L4, R4, S4, W4
Spanish L4, R3, S4, W3
Creole French L3, R1, S2, W1
Speech Pace: moderate
Accent: usually none, but a slight Cajun accent when upset or excited
Occupation/Career/Finance:
Current Occupation: Freelance Journalist
Socioeconomic Level (At Birth): middle class
Socioeconomic Level (Current): middle class
Personality: outgoing and curious
Vices: risk taker
Strengths: curious, determined
Weaknesses: competitive, doesnt know when to quit
Fears/Phobias: claustrophobic
Turn Ons: Confidence, intelligence
Turn Offs: Immaturity, pettiness
Character History:
Emeline was raised in New Orleans, Louisiana, by her father. Her mother died in childbirth, and her father never quite recovered, but the daughter his wife bore him became his entire world. Tomas Mercier was banker who worked hard to provide his daughter the very best life he could despite the loss of her mother. Their life was no opulent, but Emma was never without the things she needed, and overall, she led a fairly typical, contented childhood.
Emma was an intensely curious child, always asking why about everything. It is a stage most children go through, but Emma never grew back out of it. When other kids were pretending to be doctors and astronauts and superheroes, she was pretending to be a reporter, telling all of their stories to the world. It was no surprise to anyone when she graduated from high school and went straight to University on a full ride scholarship for the Louisiana State Universitys Bachelor of Arts in Mass Journalism.
It meant leaving home, but Emma moved to Baton Rouge and pursued her studies with her fathers full support. She majored in journalism and took a minor in her second passion, preternatural studies. By the time she finished her BA, graduating at the top of her class, she had her pick of job offers. But New Orleans was her home, and so that was where she took her first job, writing for the New Orleans Times-Picayune.
It did not take long, however, before her freelance work began taking up more of her time than her day job. Her keen interest in non-humans led her to involve herself in many articles on vampires, fae, and shifters, as well as a lot of the less common supernatural creatures that lived in the USA. She found the legalization of vampires a fascinating subject, and was one of the few writers willing to portray both the positives and negatives of the move. The danger of interviewing creatures that could crush her with one hand was intoxicating. Always a bit of a thrill seeker, Emma began pushing off more mundane stories in order to pursue writing strictly about supernatural beings. She travelled more and more often to find people willing to talk with her, and eventually, she left her job in New Orleans in favour of the freedom of freelance work.
Journalists often find themselves on the receiving end of hatred when they take a stand on an issue. Emmas tendency to write both sides of a story made her unpopular with pretty much everyone; both pro-human groups and some pro-vampire and pro-lycanthrope lobbies began to see her as a meddler, a traitor. While Emma was always up front about what article she was writing at the time of an interview, one month she might be working on something supporting the Church of Eternal Life, and the next, writing an article about why vampires being granted alive status was a mistake.
She never really knew whether it was her writing or her thrill seeking that ended up getting her infected. She had dated the guy a few times, knew he was a werewolf if she was honest with herself, that had been part of the appeal but she had not been truly prepared when he shifted during sex and scratched her. He said it was an accident, but the skeptic in Emma had difficulty believing it. He hadnt lost control, had barely harmed her at all, but it was enough. Enough that on the next full moon, she truly found out what it meant to be a Shifter.
Emma learned more in those first few months of being Lukoi than she had in years of studying and interviews. The Ulfric assigned her a sponsor, and the local pack helped her through those initial, difficult months. After the better part of a year, however, Emma requested and was granted a transfer. She needed to move on.
Her infection had derailed her plans, but Emma was determined not to let it ruin her life. While she learned to control this new aspect of who she was, she would return to school and pursue her Masters degree. However, she could not return to New Orleans due to the volatile situation for Lukoi in that city, so instead, she applied and was admitted to Columbia Universitys Master of Arts program, with a focus on political journalism.
Emma moved to New York in the summer of 2008 and transferred to the pack there. She studied hard and excelled in school as she always had. When she graduated, she took a job as a journalist for the New York Post. She also continued with freelance work, writing articles that were published in a large variety of well known magazines. Her personal life developed, as well; she met and began dating another member of the New York werewolf pack, a business major named Warren Lehnert. In 2013, they got engaged.
Only a few months later, however, Emma got a call that shook her world again. Her father was ill. Pancreatic cancer. He had been keeping it from her, and by the time he told her, his life expectancy was being measured in months rather than years. But because of the Los Sangrientos pack and Juan-Vidal, she could not go to him. She railed against the restriction, terrified that her father would die alone, but both her Ulfric and her fiancé forbade her to return while Juan-Vidal was alive.
When word came that Juan-Videl had been killed, however, Emma would be denied no longer. No matter what the new Ulfric in New Orleans was like, she would go home. Her Ulfric relented and agreed to let her go. Warren did not. She left her engagement ring on their kitchen counter and headed to Louisiana.
While her only reason for returning home was family, the Shifter situation in New Orleans was extremely volatile, and it impacted her return greatly. The Ulfric, Julia, was insane, but Emma was willing to endure whatever it took to be with her father for however long he had left. She bowed to Julias rules, did what she was told, and kept her head down. She did nothing that might irritate the already unstable Ulfric.
Her time was spent almost entirely with her father, unless the pack demanded otherwise.
Tomas Mercier passed away three months after his daughter returned home. Emeline was with him when he died. She stayed in New Orleans to see him buried and to handle his affairs, before realizing that she really had no where else to go. While she could return to New York, her life there was irrevocably altered. Beyond that, she felt a responsibility to the New Orleans pack. This was her home, and she could not abandon it to the ravages of an insane Ulfric and her lieutenants. She also knew that she was not powerful enough to stand against all of them alone and come out alive. So instead, she put her skills to work gathering the information that would be needed to overthrow the tyranny of the Los Sangrientos pack. Not just Julia, but all of them.
Emma continued as she had been, quietly watching, not causing any trouble, and waited for the change that she could feel in the air. It was coming. She just needed to be ready when it did.