Appearance: Reinette was once considered a great beauty. Artists of great renowned travelled across the sea to capture her likeness on canvas and in stone. To this day, there are portraits of her hanging in museums, a fact that makes her uncomfortable.

In a time of Ladies in Waiting, Courtesans and Queens, Reinette stood out among the rest and captured the eye of the King. Centuries later and Reinette is still a great beauty. She hasn't aged a day since the day she was turned, and she never will. Reinette still stands at an elegant 5'8 with a figure that is soft and feminine. She is not from this time. In the days of Palaces and Kings, woman were prized to be plump. Reinette was certainly blessed with an appealing figure. She has just enough of a swell to her breasts and rear that she can fill out a dress and look healthy and vibrant. She also has the long legs and toned stomach that is considered alluring by modern standards.

Reinette carries herself with the grace and elegance expected of one living lavish during the peak of France's social era. She was raised to be a wife but soared above her station and it shows. Her skin is soft to the touch though it has lost its warmth. Free from blemishes and scars her flesh holds the colour of fresh cream. Against this backdrop, her eyes stand out like blue river stones. They hold the wisdom of many lives lived, the warmth of a Mothers love and the mirth of a true free spirit.

The young woman's sense of style has evolved over the years, as has she. Always having been classically elegant, though styles have changed, Reinette has always been at the forefront of fashion. While the gowns she wore as the King's Mistress will always have a special place in her heart, Reinette now has a more modern style. If she had to place a label on her style, she might say that she dresses French. To which she means that she enjoys a structured piece, a bold pattern and an overall sense of chic simplicities. Honestly, though Reinette simply favours clothes that are light and pretty. She enjoys feeling feminine and she will often use her clothes to accentuate her mood.

As a positive person, Reinette will more often than not dress with a sense of joy and colour. She has never been an overly complicated person. Reinette has a simple style that is unapologetically her. Her wardrobe is filled with genuinely vintage clothes that she picked up from around the globe. She enjoys accessorizing with simple jewellery and natural make-up. Gone are the days when Reinette will paint her face with a mask of aristocratic royalty. Reinette favours neutral shades and subtle slicks of gloss or balm across her bow-shaped lips. She prefers to allow her natural beauty to shine through.

It is far more common form those who know her however to identify the immortal woman through scent over sight. Reinette is a great lover of perfume, having built an empire around it in the early 1900s. While her favourite scent changes over the years, her signature will always be a seductive blend of cedar, clove and rosewood, splashed near the end with notes of tart raspberry.



Distinguishing Features: Tattoos have been around long before Reinette was born but it wasn't until the 1970's that they became something acceptable for people other than Sailors and Criminals. It was several decades after this that Reinette braved the needle and got herself a permanent piece of art.

She had always been fascinated by the process and never having to worry about ageing or sagging skin, she thought why not? So, Reinette now has a subtle, and in her opinion, beautiful tattoo etched into the flesh of her left hip bone. Made with white ink and accentuated with pastels, a 3D Feather seems to have fallen from heaven and landed on the soft curve of her hip.

Opposing the sweet and innocent feather, Reinette also has her navel pierced twice. On a more common note, both her earlobes are pierced as well. Reinette also has a small beauty mark on the side of her nose.

A constant in terms of her wardrobe is an oval gold locket that sits atop her breasts. Inside is a precious gift, portraits hand-painted of two small angels. On the left is her daughter, on the right her infant son. The locket was a gift from a lover and Reinette cherishes it.



Personality: Reinette is a woman of strength. She always has been, and time has not dampened this attribute. Capable of speaking her mind, Reinette refused to be just another pretty face and it was because of this, that she has, in the past, been not only a King's favourite Mistress but his dear friend and advisor as well.

Reinette has always taken an interest in others. She is capable of thinking beyond herself and has never been selfish or self-centred. Her ego has grown no larger than to accommodate the size of a healthy self-esteem. She is kind and generous. Often calculatingly quiet, Reinette enjoys the company of intelligent, gentle people. She has always been hopelessly drawn to artists and will happily sit for hours poring over a soul displayed by any creative person. Having been both a Wife and a Mother before, Reinette understands the power and importance of Family and loyalty. She has loved and been loved, and she hopes that she will love again.

She is maternal and caring, incapable of looking away when someone, especially a woman is in need. It was this merciful heart that sparked the creation of her now global charity, Dea Matrona. Named for the Mother Goddess once worshipped by the people of Gaul, before it was known as France, the Charity offers assistance, aid, counselling and funding to Women who have suffered rape, abuse or sexual trafficking.

There is another side to this remarkable woman, however. It can never be forgotten that Reinette is a Vampire. By nature, she is predatory, and to this day, Reinette is capable of great violence. While she has learned to control this aspect of her personality, it can never be erased from who she is. With everlasting life comes the need for blood and blood, at times, has been taken by force. Reinette, having retained her sense of morality and humanity over the years, prefers to drink either animal blood or blood obtained via a blood bank when she can but this does not excuse her from her true predatory nature.

Having always been wise and cunning Reinette knows what needs to be done. She was successful and beloved in her time because she was smart. There was more to her than a pretty face and a supple body. Reinette is intelligent and while with such a sweet face, she can often be overlooked, she will be underestimated at your peril. A great lover of books and culture, Reinette drinks in the world.



Occupation: Like most Vampire's her age, Reinette has no actual need to work. Over the decades she has amassed a wealth that means she will live comfortably for the rest of her life. Reinette owns property both in America and in France. For the sheer pleasure of it though, Reinette enjoys her job.

Having lived in France during the birth of perfume as it we know it, Reinette helped shaped the world by whispering to her King and convincing him to invest in field upon field of flowers. He sent ships to distant lands and brought back oils and spices that his perfumers blended into compositions as fine as watercolour paintings. It was not until the early 1900s though that Reinette launched her own brand, Flâneuse. The Feminine form of the word Flâner, meaning to wander with no particular destination in mind, Flâneuse is now a fragrance empire [think Channel].

They produce their own signature scents and have been since 1910 but they also collect and collate many rare and exotic perfumes that they sell in their stores globally. A small little boutique sits in a corner of the French Quarter in New Orleans and Reinette often enjoys working an afternoon and discovering customers perfect scent.

On a more humanitarian front, much of the profit Reinette makes from Flâneuse is poured back into her charity Dea Matrona. Reinette was a feminist before there even was such a word and helping Women, especially those who have been exploited and mistreated by the world, is a personal mission. Dea Matrona works closely with law enforcement across several countries and aids in the rescue, release and rehabilitation of Women who have been abused, raped and/or sex trafficked. Reinette will not deny that is hard work and the stories she hears wear heavy on her soul but as she will say, ‘if it hurts, it only proves that I still have one.’



History: Like all thing, History needs to be taken with a grain of salt. Most of the time, they get things right. Occasionally, they are as accurate as a game of Chinese Whispers. Reinette Poisson was born in 1721 but she did not die in her 40's from tuberculosis. Reinette was the royal Mistress to King Louis XV and those stories are true. Louis did have a great love for his favourite Mistress and Reinette loved him too. He was her King, her lover and from the day she met him till the day he died, she was his confidant, his friend and his paramour. Let's go back a little further.

Reinette, as she was called by family and friends, was born into a common home. Reinette translates to 'Little Queen' in French which seems fitting given how her life turned out. She had a happy childhood. Her family wasn't poor, but they weren't nobility by any stretch of the imagination either. Reinette was often teased by other boys and girls who liked to make fun of her last name. Poisson in French is fish. She still recalls the day when she turned and broke the nose of a boy who was throwing stones at her, all while demanding that she stop wriggling so he could chop off her head. Still, all children are teased at some point in time. Reinette, for the most part, handled it with grace.

Reinette grew up intelligent, beautiful and refined. She spent her early childhood at the Ursuline Convent where she received a good education. During her teen years, her mother brought her home where she continued her only Daughter's lessons. Madeleine hired tutors who taught Reinette to recite entire plays by heart and play instruments such as the clavichord with polished perfection. Reinette had a natural talent for painting and engraving. She was graceful on her feet and had a voice that melted hearts. There was no doubt that Reinette was being groomed for marriage. It was every Mothers dream for their Daughter to marry well, though Madeleine had greater hopes. At the age of nine Reinette visited a Fortune Teller at the country fair who told her that one day, she would reign over the heart of a King.

Dreams were one thing however and reality was another. At 19 Reinette was nearing the age where she would no longer be a desirable wife and so she was married, not to a King but a man of wealth nonetheless. Charles was a good man. He worked hard and provided for his family. Reinette cared for him as any good wife should, though, in her private moments, she would admit to herself that she never felt true passion for him. For all his fine qualities, Charles was terribly dull and Reinette dreamt of passion, adventure and perhaps a little danger.



Still, the couple had two children together. First came a beautiful young girl that was the light of her Mothers eye. Second, came a son, but tragedy came soon after. Reinette's baby boy did not live to see his first birthday. The loss struck Reinette hard, but she poured her broken heart back into her family and her Daughter Alexandrine. For the next several years, things were great. Reinette raised her Daughter and cared for her Husband. She was a popular figure among the French social scene and for the most part, she was happy.

As Reinette became more known in social circles, King Louis XV came to hear of her. Soon enough Reinette was invited to the Masked Twilight Ball held at the Palace of Versailles. It was here that she met the King for the first time and like the tale of Cinderella and the Prince, they danced. King Louis was infatuated and Reinette found herself feeling things that she had come to believe were only mythical.

A month later, Reinette was the King's Mistress. It really was that simple. Desiring to keep her close at all times Reinette was given an apartment directly above the Kings. It was a whirlwind romance. Less than two months later Reinette was officially separated from her husband Charles. It was the way of things back then. Reinette cared for Charles but the King of France had set his eyes upon her. Even if she wanted to deny him, she couldn't. Before she could be presented to Court however, she needed a title.

For a King, this was an easy enough task. King Louis purchased an estate and presented it to his Love along with a title and coat-of-arms, officially making Reinette, a Marquise. From this point on, Reinette was known in court as Madame De Pompadour. Sadly, her mother passed away on Christmas Day the very same year and never got to see her Daughter became the undisputed Mistress of the French King. Losing her Mother was hard for Reinette, but she found comfort in the arms of Louis.

Away from Court Louis was an extremely sweet and caring man. They were more than just lovers; they were truly friends. As much love and excitement that Reinette brought into his life, Louis returned it tenfold. With devotion, he filled every moment of her day with passion, adventure and yes, a little danger. At night they played cards by candlelight, often in various stages of undress. They smoked cigarettes on swing sets in the dark. By day they rode white stallions through rivers and then sunbathed on the backs of rocks while their clothes dried in the breeze.



Reinette was not just a pretty piece to adorn his arm, however. She was more than capable of accompanying him on hunting trips as she was quite the shot. She challenged him to sparring matches and rewrote his perceptions and expectations daily. With a sly sense of humour, she was more than a match in wits. Reinette was even smart enough to show the Queen the proper respect she deserved and oddly perhaps, the two became remarkably close friends. Queen Marie was heard to remark that 'If the King were to have a lover, better Reinette than anyone else.'

From Commoner to Marquise, Reinette was living a charmed life. Louis loved her and he cared for Alexandrine like she was his own. Contrary to popular belief he even had the Petit Trianon Palace built for her and not for Marie Antoinette who would not enter the social scene until many years later and who, let's be honest, was no comparison for Reinette herself. There were those in Court however who felt that her King was compromising himself by entertaining a woman without noble blood, but Louis never seemed to care. He loved her and trusted her, at times, even more than many of his advisors. Reinette never lied to her King. She told him the truth, whether he wished to hear it or not and that was why he gave her power.

For one of common birth, she had adjusted to the life of court and politics very quickly. King Louis trusted her enough that he allowed her to have her say in many military and foreign affair matters. Most notably, he tasked her with the development of Sevres, which soon became one of the most famous porcelain manufacturers in all of Europe and provided hundreds of jobs to the region.

As life tends to do, however, just when things seem to be going so sweetly, tragedy strikes. Not long before her tenth birthday, Reinette's remaining child Alexandrine passed away. Reinette did not make it in time to see her go. Eleven days later, Reinette would lose her Father to what she would swear, was a broken heart for his dear Granddaughter. The losses devastated her and Reinette began to fall into a depression. She would describe the feeling to the Court Physician like an inability to breathe in warm air. Breathing became harder and all appetite seemed to vanish. Sleep was hard to come by and fatigue set upon her like a thick fog. Louis grew more and more worried about his love. Doctors did not know what to do. Soon enough the King began to search outside of traditional medicine for answers.



Reinette was in mourning. She had given birth to two precious children and lost them both far before their time. What she was feeling was grief and depression but there was no such word for these feelings yet. What she needed was time, love and support and in truth, she had these things. Louis loved her as did the people of France but sometimes love was not enough and on occasion, it was far too much. Louis loved his Mistress and seeing her pain at losing her children, knowing the loss of loved ones himself, selfishly, he did not desire to feel this way again.

The Kings might and reach scoured the globe for a solution to his predicament. He could not lose his beloved. What he did, he did out of love, but a loving excuse is still an excuse. The answer came from Greece. On a great ship with white sails, a young man sailed to the Kingdom of France. He came with a secret and a gift and upon the Kings request, he shared this gift with Reinette Poisson. His secret became her secret. His gift, her curse.

Reinette can recall with vivid clarity the night that Theo Caden Matthias entered her chambers. She can still see his brilliant blue eyes as he sat down by her bedside and took her hand. With a calm voice and a thick accent, the Vampire introduced himself. He promised her freedom from grief and a life of carefree passion and then he turned her. The act itself was quick and relatively painless. The trauma that followed, was not.

Needless to say, the adjustment period from Human to Vampire was a difficult one. The hunger alone nearly broke her. Louis did not understand the full extent of what he had done until one night when in her madness, Reinette nearly killed him. The incident shocked them both but had the unexpected effect of opening their eyes to the startling reality of what they were facing. From that moment on things were taken a little more seriously. Reinette secluded herself inside the Petit Trianon Palace and under Theo's tutelage, she learned to control her hunger and her anger. If asked, she will not deny that there were days when she hated Louis for what he had done to her. The loss of the sun alone was one of the biggest things that she struggled with, but as the years wore on, Reinette would adjust to that too.

For the next decade, Reinette lived a different life. She remained by Louis' side, but their relationship had changed. Never would they stop loving each other but the intimate side of their relationship had ended. Neither Reinette nor Louis could give a reason why. It was just one of those things. That chapter of their love had closed and Reinette had entered an entirely new novel. They remained close friends and Reinette continued to act as the Kings advisor. There reached a time however when their secret needed to be protected. Reinette was no longer ageing and the people of France were beginning to gossip. A plan needed to be made and the answer was simpler than they would like to admit. Madame De Pompadour needed to die.



This is where History gets a little fuzzy. The books say that Jeanne Antoinette Poisson died in 1764 of Tuberculous. Clearly, this is not true. Her death was faked and Reinette went into hiding. With the wealth she had amassed and the King of France as a dear friend, it was possible for her to leave and begin a new life anywhere she wanted, but Reinette couldn't bring herself to leave all she knew behind just yet. In fact, she remained in France until her love passed away in 1774. She was by his side until his last breath.

Free from her past life, Reinette forged a new path. There was so much of the world that she longed to see and slowly, piece by piece, she began to sample its wonders. It was not until the early 1800s that Reinette came across another Vampire however and just her luck, he was full of hunger, rage and familiarly, grief. Archer Ashby was without restraint. To this day, Reinette cannot explain what exactly it was she said to the Man that convinced him to come with her, but they are both glad of it. It was in a chateau in Munich that Reinette began teaching Archer control and more importantly, she showed him love.

A bond was born Centuries ago that is as strong today as it was then. Considered her closest family, Archer is a Brother that she would walk through fire for. When he moved to America and took up the task of building what is now New Orleans, she was by his side. When he came to her and shared his vision of a place where all those who were different could come and be loved, she supported him.

Archer did not need her to hold his hand, however, and so eventually, as all Immortals do, Reinette turned back to embrace her wanderlust. She had always been a Flâneur and always would be. She built up her company, travelling the globe to discover rare and exquisite scents and she dedicated what time she had left to her charity. It would never be said that Reinette did not work hard but life was made for living and she knew that more than most. Time was made for love and Reinette once more found her days full of passion, adventure and that little bit of danger but monogamy looks different through the eyes of forever and so she built her own life, her own way. New rules for a new world. Family, however, calls and so it is time once again, to return home.



Family:

Francois Poisson - Father - Deceased

Madeleine de La Motte - Mother - Deceased

Abel Francois Poisson - Brother - Deceased

Charles Guillaume Le Normant d'Etiolles - Ex-Husband - Deceased

Alexandrine Le Normant d'Etiolles - Daughter - Deceased (died at 9)

Beloved Baby Boy - Son - Deceased (died in infancy)

King Louis XV - Lover - Deceased

Theo Caden Matthias - Sire - Alive

Additional Information: Reinette still speaks with a subtle French accent. Whether this is by choice or not, is unclear.