Francine Continello
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Contents
Background[edit]
Original name: Francine Marie Continello
Goes by: Marie Allison Marcos
Date of birth: 5/15/1918
Date of embrace: 6/14/1920
Age at embrace: 22
Place of birth: Hempstead, New York
Place of embrace: Manhattan, New York
Parents: Nicolas and Teresa Continello (Italian immigrants) (Deceased) (Father worked owner of a small grocery store)
Siblings: (all deceased, in birth order.) Nicolas Jr, Evengenlia, Enrico, Florence, Gabriella Bernadetta, Carlo, Eleonora, Giovanni. (Maria (Francine) came between Enrico and Florence)
Francine Continello was born to a rather large Italian Catholic family. She was one of the many middle children. Her parents were very loving and cared for their children, however with so many of them, there were things that they had to go without. However, they never knew what it was like to go hungry or do without the essentials of food, shelter and clothing. Even if a good majority of the clothes were hand-me downs from one of the older siblings. Clothes were pretty much worn until they could not be any longer, the same with shoes. The children never had to walk around in rags or clothes that didn’t look presentable but most things weren’t new, it was just the older siblings knew that the younger ones would be getting the clothes and tried to keep them is a decent shape.
The siblings had their sibling arguments but all in all were close to each other. They did actually have a house which had been built by Francine 4 uncles and her father. The house wasn’t huge and pretty much had four bed rooms enough that the siblings had room but had to share bedrooms. Divided by age and gender of course. The younger ones lived with younger ones and the older with older.
Francine parents had both immigrated on ships from Italy not long after they were married. With in the first year of their marriage, Nicolas Jr, there oldest son was born. Neither parent learned how to speak English until Teresa was pregnant with their first child and then they thought it was a good idea to learn. They did manage to learn but Italian was always the primary language spoke in the home.
In the summer of 1918 Florence was married to Mario Girardo Russo. Love had little to do with the marriage, she was eighteen and it was one less mouth to feed. However Mario was a nice man, he provided for his wife and while he controlled her to the outside world, she ruled the home and he understood that. The controlling her was more of just the way things were then and pretty much when they were out in public what he said went, she had learned that was the way it was and there was no issue with it. They looked forward to starting a family and having many children. However, six months went by Francine did not get pregnant, one year still no child, two years the same and by the time 1922 came around the word barren had been thrown around in regards to Francine. It was unclear why she couldn’t get pregnant but of course, considering the era, it must have been her fault.
Live went on for most of 1922 as usual. The families, her parents, the children that were still living at home, her siblings that had gotten married and had children, Francine and Mario all lived rather close to each other and so holidays were spent at their childhood home. Christmas eve all of the families would gather at the home so Christmas morning all of the gifts could be opened together the next morning. It made for a very crowded home but a wonderful experience.
Christmas Eve of 1922 was no different as the entire family descended once again on to their childhood home. They had dinner and told the story of the birth of Christ and then went to Mass at the local Catholic Church. Three hours later they returned sent the children to bed, the grown-ups followed a few hours later after a few toasts had been made and they all got to catch up around the fire in the fireplace that had been lit.
(The rest is the story of Francine’s embrace.)
The night had gone on and eventually all the adults had wandered off to their respective places to sleep. Some had beds; others opted for the floor like most of the children would sleep on for the one evening. There was barely room to walk in most of the rooms from all the bodies stretched all over the place. Francine and her husband were no different and eventually they too had headed off to bed and drifted off to sleep.
[i]Screaming…[/i] The sound jolted Francine awake unsure if she had dreamed it. There it was again, more screams. The smell of burning…a horrible awful smell of burning that Francine didn’t recognize but it smelled worse than any smell she had encountered in her life. Suddenly, the young woman felt heat surrounding her. Her head turned to watch her husband be engulfed in the flames which were now surrounding their bed. The woman fell unconscious certain she would die.
How long she was unconscious Francine would never know but she awoke in a cool, dimly lit place. She didn’t know how she knew but there was a distinct impression that they were underground some place. The woman felt weak and hungry and was helped to sitting. A cup was given to her and she drank, the liquid was think and cold and had familiar taste to it but Francine wasn’t paying attention to what it was. She was hungry it was helping but she needed more, everything in her body told her that. The man said nothing and cut open his wrist allowing blood to drip from it into the cup. This tasted even better.
Suddenly, the woman realized that she was drinking blood. She couldn’t stop though until every drop was tasted. It made her feel better and she seemed able to speak now.
“What….” She asked the man as she had so many questions.
“Shh…. All will be answered in time.” He said to her.
It was with that, she got a better look at him as he stepped into the light. He was the most hideous man she had ever seen. He had skin hanging off of him, his eyes looked sunken in, and he looked like a corpse from the grave itself. One would think that would result in a terrified scream but she felt no fear from him and oddly enough did not recoil at his sight. The man looked at her questioningly as if he had expected her to react completely differently than she had. Really, she should have and didn’t understand why she didn’t.
Time went on and eventually all of her questions were answered. Her Sire, a Reynold Marcus Phillips, who had been a Nosferatu for a about century and a half or so had rescued her from the burning building, the why and how exactly remained unclear but it didn’t matter. Francine was near death when he saved her and burned beyond recognition so he embraced her instead of just killing her. Her entire family however was not as lucky and they were all declared dead.
She had also been declared dead, due to this Reynold opted to take them out of New York and head south where it was less likely she would be recognized. So they took there time and traveled a bit before deciding on Francine’s final location. During their travels, which lasted about five years, Reynold taught his child her powers, the ways of the Nosferatu and the Cameria. Who to trust (no one) and who to look out for (everyone). She learned to mimic accents, a very good talent to have.
Finally they arrived in Mississippi, Natchez to be exact and she was, as in all cities presented to the Court and the Prince and then at a different time the Nosferatu. Her Sire was known among some in this place and had a fairly good reputation for knowing court etiquette and protocol. They stayed here and throughout the years Francine, became known among her clan and the court as a trusted Nosferatu, this lead to her becoming the go between, between the Court and the Nosferatu as well as the other way around. The other clans are also aware of who she is and where she falls in the vampire society.
She changed her name to Marie about five years after she arrived in Natchez. Everyone knows her by Marie now except her sire who, if they are in private, calls her by either name. Her Sire though she rarely sees as he left to go traveling about ten years ago, he still will occasionally show up but isn’t around as much as he used to be.
Character Sheet[edit]
Attributes[edit]
Abilities[edit]
Advantages[edit]
Merits[edit]
Flaws[edit]
Links[edit]
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