![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
ambitious_womanWhat person in your muse's life, either by canon or in roleplay, has most affected their personality in your writing of them?
This answer is one of two parts, and it is not difficult to pinpoint which two men are the sum of that whole. Though obviously her mother's ambitions for her daughter and that fateful visit to Madame Le Bon would have serious consequences throughout Reinette's life? Without question those that have impacted her the most have been Louis XV and the Doctor -- as individuals, and in her relationships with them.
Louis would become, for Reinette, the man of men. She weighed what all others had to offer against him, and always found them lacking. Always. It was more than merely being king, though that was the beginning of her journey. It what Louis, as goal and not man that set her on a path that would change Reinette's life. She would receive an education that was rare for a man in her day, much less a woman, and thrive upon it. Beyond books, politics and penmanship there was the theater, dance and driving She played several instruments, was skilled at embroidery and etching. She was then exposed to the finest literary salons of the day, opportunities to practice her carriage and wit. Voltaire became one of her closest confidants. All because at the age of eight, it was predicted that she would become lover to a king and then groomed for that role.
But what started as a prize became a deep and abiding love. Though only physical together for the sum of five years, it is their others interactions that speak to his impact on her. She taught him a love of plays and books, where before there had only been the hunt. Though skilled and public and one to thrive on attention, Louis educated Reinette on the smaller, quieter intimacies. The long conversations the two shared, nearly every day, for hours on end. Fresh coffee, pressed by the king himself. And Reinette in turn became skilled in creating those places for him, and them. Opportunities away from the court. He shared everything with her, and she shared everything in return. They met as equals, and more importantly, he considered her one. She was not restricted by her sex, even though she was enabled by it, in the beginning. In all ways, she loved him. To the point that Reinette carefully chose her successor when she stepped aside for reasons do to her health. Though the influence Louis granted her, Reinette was able to direct developments in the encyclopedia, topography, the works of many artisans and the commisioning of a military school that still stands today. Though she played the games of court well, seeking favored positions for her brother and surely her daughter had she lived? Make no mistake, Reinette worked very hard for her country, and to prove herself worthy of Louis' opinion. Only death managed to separate them.
If Louis was how Reinette measured all men? Than in an odd twist, delivered by the Doctor Who episode The Girl in the Fireplace? It was the Doctor, from an alien race, that became her measure for all humanity.
He might not have been of her home, or even of her planet, but the Doctor set the universal standard for what was possible ("I have seen the world inside your head and know that all things are possible...") In many ways a world of corsets and courtly rules and constraints ceased to have limitations. For a few, brief, unhindered moments she walked within the Doctor's mind. And while we can all speculate on just what she saw, the impact of those images can never be doubted. In many ways I think it pushed her already frantic energies and pursuits even further, sometimes to the point of exhaustion. Because she now saw more than merely the France that was her home. She saw what is was, was becoming, and would be. The France of beyond her lifetime. So many advancements, so many wondrous things, all now carried within her as well. She has it has her task to if not recreate them? Then to begin their journey, and find her role within it. She often looked at the stars and admired them. But Reinette also wanted those that looked down on her home to find something in it to admire as well.
This answer is one of two parts, and it is not difficult to pinpoint which two men are the sum of that whole. Though obviously her mother's ambitions for her daughter and that fateful visit to Madame Le Bon would have serious consequences throughout Reinette's life? Without question those that have impacted her the most have been Louis XV and the Doctor -- as individuals, and in her relationships with them.
Louis would become, for Reinette, the man of men. She weighed what all others had to offer against him, and always found them lacking. Always. It was more than merely being king, though that was the beginning of her journey. It what Louis, as goal and not man that set her on a path that would change Reinette's life. She would receive an education that was rare for a man in her day, much less a woman, and thrive upon it. Beyond books, politics and penmanship there was the theater, dance and driving She played several instruments, was skilled at embroidery and etching. She was then exposed to the finest literary salons of the day, opportunities to practice her carriage and wit. Voltaire became one of her closest confidants. All because at the age of eight, it was predicted that she would become lover to a king and then groomed for that role.
But what started as a prize became a deep and abiding love. Though only physical together for the sum of five years, it is their others interactions that speak to his impact on her. She taught him a love of plays and books, where before there had only been the hunt. Though skilled and public and one to thrive on attention, Louis educated Reinette on the smaller, quieter intimacies. The long conversations the two shared, nearly every day, for hours on end. Fresh coffee, pressed by the king himself. And Reinette in turn became skilled in creating those places for him, and them. Opportunities away from the court. He shared everything with her, and she shared everything in return. They met as equals, and more importantly, he considered her one. She was not restricted by her sex, even though she was enabled by it, in the beginning. In all ways, she loved him. To the point that Reinette carefully chose her successor when she stepped aside for reasons do to her health. Though the influence Louis granted her, Reinette was able to direct developments in the encyclopedia, topography, the works of many artisans and the commisioning of a military school that still stands today. Though she played the games of court well, seeking favored positions for her brother and surely her daughter had she lived? Make no mistake, Reinette worked very hard for her country, and to prove herself worthy of Louis' opinion. Only death managed to separate them.
If Louis was how Reinette measured all men? Than in an odd twist, delivered by the Doctor Who episode The Girl in the Fireplace? It was the Doctor, from an alien race, that became her measure for all humanity.
He might not have been of her home, or even of her planet, but the Doctor set the universal standard for what was possible ("I have seen the world inside your head and know that all things are possible...") In many ways a world of corsets and courtly rules and constraints ceased to have limitations. For a few, brief, unhindered moments she walked within the Doctor's mind. And while we can all speculate on just what she saw, the impact of those images can never be doubted. In many ways I think it pushed her already frantic energies and pursuits even further, sometimes to the point of exhaustion. Because she now saw more than merely the France that was her home. She saw what is was, was becoming, and would be. The France of beyond her lifetime. So many advancements, so many wondrous things, all now carried within her as well. She has it has her task to if not recreate them? Then to begin their journey, and find her role within it. She often looked at the stars and admired them. But Reinette also wanted those that looked down on her home to find something in it to admire as well.
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2007-10-09 05:25 am (UTC)But, in the end, she did more in her 43 years than many do in lifetimes, so I think he would believe the tradeoff to be worth it.
no subject
Date: 2007-10-09 05:34 am (UTC)