fairy skeletons.: Beautiful People [Siblings]: The Rosewater Girls

Hey everyone! My apologies for kind of falling off the face of the earth this blog. For the first time ever, I'm linking up with Beautiful People, hosted by amazing blogger/writers Cait (of Paper Fury) and Sky (of Further Up and Further In)! I've been meaning to do this for a while, but I've never really had the time to sit down and do it until now.

You may remember my gigantic WIP spew post back in November, when I participated in Beautiful Books (a variation of this very linkup!). So I guess this is kind of an extension of that—you guessed it; I'm talking about On the Midnight Streets! Again! Because let's face it, my life revolves around this book!

Essentially, what makes Beautiful People different from Beautiful Books is that this linkup focuses exclusively on characters, meant to help us get to know these people better. This month's topic is one especially near and dear to my heart: siblings!

This month I'm featuring Chantilly Rosewater, the heroine of OtMS, alongside her two little sisters, Chamomile and Velvet. The girls are seventeen, fifteen, and thirteen years old, respectively. They've got a mostly incredibly positive and supportive sibling dynamic that I am so, so excited about, and I'm so thrilled to introduce it to you all!

1. What is the first memory they have of each other?

For Chantilly, it's her sisters' births. She has, in most cases, an uncannily good, near-photographic, highly visual memory, so she remembers those two days in particularly crisp, lucid detail. She remembers being terrified for her mother but struck with a strange, immense kind of joy when her sisters were finally born.

Chamomile also remembers Velvet's birth startlingly well, as she was with Chantilly the whole time and they were both kind of freaking out. But her first memory of Chantilly is weirdly quiet: Chantilly curled up in the corner by the single window in their boardinghouse room, deep in thought. Chantilly didn't develop her protective, smart, older-sister edge until she was around eight or nine, so she was very nervous and soft-spoken as a younger child; Chamomile just barely remembers that side of her.

Velvet's first memory of her sisters involves all three of them together—Chantilly is telling a story, as she's wont to do, and little Chamomile is trying to listen, though she's clearly nodding off. Velvet herself doesn't remember quite what the story was about, but she likes to think it was an especially good one.

2. Describe their relationship in 3 words.

Good-natured, protective, unbreakable.

3. What kind of things do they like to do together?

Chantilly and Velvet are both partial to stories, though Velvet struggles a bit with reading at times, so Chantilly makes up tales to lull her little sister to sleep. (She's basically rubbish at it, but she tries so hard that Velvet hasn't the heart to tell her so. And Chantilly's voice is so comforting that it doesn't much matter either way.)

The girls' mother, Diane, works as a washerwoman to support the family (or at least she does before they all have to haul themselves over to the Upper City), and Velvet and Chamomile help her out. They started work when they were both really little (Chantilly managed to snap up a job at a bookshop, which was just about the best job in the world for her), and they were constantly making up little games to make the chores less tedious. They still do it, giving each other small dares and making the time go by quickly. Simply working together amiably is one of their favorite things to spend time doing with each other. Unfortunately, now that they're in the Upper City, there's really no opportunity for them to do that.

Chamomile and Chantilly don't like to admit that they love each other, so they're not doing things together as much. But when they do? They like to just talk and take comfort in the knowledge that while their relationship gets strained sometimes, it'll never fall apart. Never.

4. What was their biggest fight?

When Chamomile was fourteen, she declared that she was going to find the girls' father, Robert, and make him answer for what he'd done to their family. He was an abusive, misogynistic poor excuse for a human being, and she was planning on making him pay. Chantilly immediately shot down any such ideas, saying he was probably dead anyway, and it was best to let such things lie. Velvet didn't remember their father much at all, but she was terrified by what she'd managed to piece together, so she begged Chamomile not to go through with it. Chamomile was so determined and angry that she ran away from home. She nearly got away with it, too, but Chantilly found her shivering and sad in a Middle City alley two days after she'd gone missing. None of the girls really spoke to each other for about a week afterwards.

5. How far would they go to save each other?

Chantilly would, without hesitation, die to save her sisters. She would, in most cases, kill for them as well. Chamomile is much the same, though she's constantly pretending that she doesn't care nearly as much as she actually does. Velvet would unquestionably suffer fates worse than death to save her sisters, but she would be more hesitant about the moral implications of, say, killing.

Basically: great lengths. These girls love each other to the moon and back.

6. What are their pet peeves about each other?

Chantilly: Chantilly is annoyed to no end by how brash and impetuous Chamomile is, and she spends a lot of time and effort trying to make up for this perceived fault. However, she's a little sweeter on her youngest sister, Velvet. Velvet's so kind that it's hard to think anything against her. Sometimes, though, she can't help but think that Velvet could be a little more practical.

Chamomile: She hates the fact that Chantilly always feels the need to rein her in and question her judgment. She loathes acknowledging her own mistakes; she wants to be self-reliant, but her impulsiveness undermines that. She doesn't like admitting that a lot of the time, she acts without thinking things through. Chantilly points that out for her and tries her best to keep her out of trouble, and Chamomile resents her supposed 'inability to mind her own business'. As for Velvet—well, just like Chantilly, she finds it difficult to find fault in her lovely younger sister. But sometimes she wishes that Velvet would just snap and speak up for herself instead of being so quiet and obliging all the time.

Velvet: She's a little peeved by Chantilly's tendency to try and soften the harsher truths of life. Basically, Chantilly's overprotective of her youngest sister, and it shows. Velvet thinks she can very well handle any difficulties that come her way, but Chantilly tries to shield her from it. Chamomile is also inclined to coddle Velvet, and she's not too enthusiastic about that.

7. What are their favorite things about each other?

Chantilly: Chantilly most loves Chamomile's deeply emotional core, although there are admittedly many, many layers of tough-girl bravado hiding Chamomile's vulnerability. It's that part of her that gives Chantilly faith that Chamomile will always pull through, no matter the circumstances. Chantilly also loves how Velvet can find beauty and grace in anything and everything, whether that's the overcast sky outside or the rough clothes they wear.

Chamomile: Chamomile secretly loves Chantilly's selflessness and unfailing ability to catch her loved ones when they fall and make mistakes and mess things up. She also is—yes, she admits it—a little jealous of Velvet's unconditional kindness and caring.

Velvet: Velvet loves Chantilly because she has an unassuming but undeniable backbone to her, and it shows up in everything she says or does. It's a quiet strength that Velvet wishes she could draw from. She also has a huge admiration for Chamomile's fearless way of speaking her mind and being assertive about her own wishes. 

8. What traits do they share? Mannerisms, clothing, quirks, looks, etc?

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All three of them have the trademark 'Rosewater hair', passed straight down to them from their mother, Diane: strawberry blonde, easily tossed about, sometimes unruly. They're also all pretty smallish in terms of build—though Chamomile is easily taller than Chantilly now—and they have a habit of fiddling with their hair when they're nervous, possibly because it subconsciously reminds them of the bonds that tie them back to their family. They're also (probably due to their mother's experiences with their abusive father, and the fact that they were raised by a single mother) somewhat disinclined to trust boys, with their hearts or anything else. Other than that, though, they're all very different personality-wise, except for the deep-seated, awkward current of bravery running through them all. They like to say they inherited it from their mother; she's probably the person all three of them respect most in the world.

In addition, Chamomile and Velvet both got their mother's green eyes. Chantilly's unsettling purple eyes make her the odd duck.

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9. Who has the strongest personality?

To a stranger, I'd say it would look like Chamomile has the strongest personality, and maybe that stranger would be right. She's certainly the loudest, most outspoken one of the three, and she has a more immediate presence than either of her sisters. She's a little commanding, a little rude, and a lot protective of her own ideas and her loved ones. But Chantilly's personality comes out really forcefully at certain times—when she feels like she should be the 'glue' holding her family together, for instance. Velvet's personality isn't weak, per se, but it's a lot more subdued.

10. How does their relationship change throughout your story?

It never once weakens—their strong sisterly bond is, in fact, one of the only constants throughout OtMS—but they grow to understand a lot more about each other as they each go through their own trials and tribulations. They each change individually in often-painful ways, but they always have their sisters to fall back on.

And that's the Rosewater girls for you! What do you think? Did you link up with Beautiful Books?