Annabelle Beaumont
Proprietress of The Lady's Laugh
Age: 23
Sexual Orientation: heterosexual, but flirtatious regardless of gender
Training/Skills: healing (herbal remedies for common ailments, poisons, antidotes, midwifery), palm reading, tarot cards, several instruments, singing, bedplay
Weaponry: guards, a dagger, and poisons
Bio: Born to an English Earl, she wasn’t born to the man’s wife. Her mother was a gypsy her father took a fancy to and basically gave her the ultimatum of staying as his mistress or watch her tribe be tortured to death. So, her father kept her mother quite well in a small estate a short ride from his main home. Anna grew up speaking several languages thanks to all the lovely visitors her father brought over for entertainments. Her mother had been the tribe’s healer and passed down the knowledge to her daughter, along with the trades of palm reading and tarot. Her father had always been a lover of music, so her childhood was spent in various sorts of lessons...One would think her father intended her to marry well when she was of age-but that wasn’t the case…
She was always told she was such a
pretty child. She was eleven the first time she was violated by someone her father sought favor from...And as she grew-she became prettier and prettier. Her father traded her for favors over and over, and Anna learned from each little turn from her father’s hand to whoever’s bed she would be gracing that night. By the time she was of marriageable age, she had become quite the courtesan. She could charm and beguile most any man, and women even found themselves enjoying her conversational skills and wit. Even the King would invite her to sing and play for the court at many a party.
Unknown to her, her half-brother had not been aware of exactly whose daughter she was-just that she was favored courtier, called upon by the King for her talents...He decided he was in love with her and she should be happy to be in his bed...Her father had made sure she knew that such a thing was unacceptable before it had ever come up-it might have been an open secret to the adults in court, but not his proper family...He didn’t want them to know...So when her half-brother broke into her room at the palace one night, she had been left with no course but to defend herself...Not her fault that his balls ended up on the floor...He shouldn’t have been helping himself into her bed.
Luckily for her, the King agreed...Though, to avoid scandal, she was
sent away. Really, she was supposed to take up residence in Boston, but a storm blew the ship off course and she found herself in Nassau with a governor’s fortune. She always wanted her own place to call home. The girls who were sent to be her servants, and a few slaves her father had quietly acquired had wanted a different life than had been dealt them--so...She bought a lovely dilapidated estate that had its own charms...At sixteen, she was the mistress of her own estate, and with her lovely manners and talents-she was soon being called
Lady Anna. She always took it as tongue in cheek.
Nassau was often finding itself under the rule of various kings, governors to carry out their will, and pirates when the governors did a shitty job. Anna and her former servants and slaves saw an opportunity-so many men away from home...They needed a place to eat, drink, sleep, and fuck...So, Anna turned her little estate into a profitable business, her coffers growing until she owned a sizeable portion of the port...She fixed up the shops and warehouses and began to rent them out for a modest fee. The working girls were allowed rooms and paid rent if they wanted to stay, anything over that they kept-the rent was high but the ladies still found themselves with coin in their pocket, and if they just wanted to work for a night-well, Anna took a share of the fee for each tussle. Food, drinks, whores...The trifecta of things men at sea were more than willing to pay whatever coin they had in their pockets for...Or secrets…
Likes: music, wine, charming company
Dislikes: crude humor, snakes, bad cooking
Personality: Charming in passing, few people could fault her upon first meeting her. Polite, elegant, witty--Few people could think her as much more than a sweet and charming woman. Few would find themselves thinking her shrewd or cunning-but she most certainly is. Dealing with politicians, nobles, pirates, Naval offices, and such--well, one certainly can’t be a dottard and thrive. Not to say she isn't capable of being genuinely sweet, but it's rare for someone to endear themselves to her quite so well. For those who find themselves in a rare tender place in her heart, there's not a more loyal friend they could have.
Points of Interest: Captains can come to her for leads, tips...The occasional treasure map if they heard something from someone or other. When the governors find themselves with power, they know to ask her about who might be willing to give them a discreet hand with one problem or another...Or a not-so-discreet hand if they really want to make a statement-find out the reivers form the potential privateers, so to speak.
She also does small entertainments like palm reading and tarot cards for individuals who ask.
She doesn't allow trouble at her establishment. Those who cause trouble tend to find themselves with terrible illness. Whispers abound she's really a gypsy witch who charmed her way into a court, and then found her way here with what valuables she had bespelled from suitors...But really-a mix of minor and mild poisons can be found in any bit of food or drink, the antidote given before someone leaves in those same drinks and food-and if they cause trouble, no antidote for them-a trick she learned from her mother of how women kept their husbands from straying-poison in breakfast and if they didn't return for dinner, they were too ill to entertain an extramarital affair.
Ship Information: She owns The Lady's Laugh-the best tavern, inn, and brothel in Nassau. No ship...
Puppet Master: di moon
The Lady's Laugh/
X/X/X/X/X/X/X/X (references)