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Elegant. Poise. Beauty. Intelligent.

These leaded words, like jewels of a crown, were placed on the crest of her head. Expectations upon expectations has primped up Marianne to composed, statured, and inevitably the 'perfect' person. She is the woman fated to become someone great, and there was no voice in her childhood to object. On the exterior, she appears to be a fragile flower with a face of a painting. That is, until she opens her mouth. Her words are hard like steel, and her strides are controlled and strong. Marianne is a walking monarch; her appearance will fool those who only look.

In love with the world around her, Marianne has made it a personal doctrine to be open-minded about other cultures, experiences, and beliefs. She believes that she is meant to help people, and she will put others first during times of need. This passion is her core motivator, however idealistic she may sound, she is not naive.With this compassion and maturity is a lot of self-discipline and worldly understanding. To balance her dreams with reality, Marianne makes it a point that she is a leader, as she had been raised to realize thus. Assertive, with clear goals and deadlines, resourceful, and her own advocate, Marianne acts with her mind and logic. 

As a woman of power, she knows what traits and doings results to success. This steely and cold demeanor makes it is easy to misjudge her as someone domineering and emotionless. However, Marianne is much more equanimous, emotional, and understanding beneath the surface, traits that are clearer upon familiarity with her. 

In this cluttered world, Marianne thrives to make sense and order of it all within the dimensions of her mind. Marianne's desire for efficiency goes along with her orderliness. Her mind is hardly in a clutter, and that just makes it so much easier for her to articulate with clarity. With that said, Marianne is neat and tidy with her physical environment to showcase the strict habits she regulates her mind with. For the sake of good faith in mind, everything around Marianne will be spotless, organized, and assessable. 

Co-workers will be able to identity these positive traits through the way she conducts business; she may be rigid and industrious in the workplace, but she offers herself as a beacon for communication and support for work-related issues. However, the biggest fault she has is her lack of desire and apprehension with personal connections.

Marianne is, in fact, and introverted leader. She has a knack for leading other people and organizing, but she is not so good with being engaged in a personal level. She is apprehensive when people want to get to know her, fearing that her status intimidates other people, ergo limiting her abilities to make friends. Adding to the cause, she is as shut as a clam, favoring to be a wallflower than the primrose of any garden. Being in the center of the spotlight makes her feel the most cramped up by standards, and that puts her at too much risk of disappointing others. She fears that the 'real' Marianne, the sensitive one, is too weak to survive in this cutthroat society. Perpetually, she feels alone in crowded rooms.

Adding to that, Marianne's position of power distances herself from others. Because she had been left alone and abandoned so many times in her past, she is more often dictated her anxiety toward talking to people. She is aware that she is the one holding herself back, and though she has been pushing herself to such great heights, Marianne faces many old unsolved problems that linger in her mind. More often, she can't come to fixing it, and would rather leave the scars to fester in her heart.

The most practical and easiest solution is to use money to be in favor of others. Money has always been her ally, double-cloaked as her enemy. Most of her relationships have deteriorated because of her lack of emotional or personal commitment, but the moment she offered money or aid, they swarmed like bees to honey. It is a vicious vice of hers, but Marianne's own fear of self makes her unwilling to break the habit. Her logic consists that Marianne is too interesting and flawed to captivate a meaningful or genuine relationship. Her past failures and abandonment has long made this real to her. 

Therefore, she keeps her mind off of these challenges with work. Her worth ethic, however, can get to extremes. Work is extremely important to her, and she makes it certain that she is always on top of her responsibilities. There are times that she will put her job before her health, and it had landed her several visits to the hospital. Although impressive, her diligence exceeds her human capabilities, which causes a lot of bad things. Worst of all, she's very stubborn about her capacity, and she always overestimates how much she can handle.

On her worst days, however, almost every emotion is heightened—including the lack of emotion and expression. She may be cold, blunt, and even more distant. Marianne is less of a rose garden and more of a stone fortress, like the Gibraltar of the North. Situated high on the hills, her walls can be impenetrable when all gates are closed, to which nothing can get in as nothing can get out. In this time, Marianne would have a tendency to give terse and blunt commands or responses to others. She often doesn't mean it as a slight, but it it may come off as cold or domineering words. The people in her department are used to this treatment, but she can forget that not everyone is familiar to being spoken to this way.

When she's placed in a more 'layman' bevy of people, she can get antsy and irritated although it won't be clearly discernible to strangers. Whenever she dishes out a phrase or a request, she expects it to be fully understood. She does not mind the occasional setbacks, but the sight of inefficiency displeases her. She overestimates regular people; hence the whimsical disappointment may get her in a less than appreciable mood. All in all, if they don't ask questions or ask for help, she will automatically assume they understood her.

All of these contrasting attributes and intemperate social situations has been weighing down Marianne for years. She is stuck, spiraling in between her ambition and her social interactions. Marianne favors herself in giving herself a passion and a cause in life, which is really the only foundation that is keeping her together. Take that away from her, and she’ll be left in fragments. From her family love, to her love life, and to her friendships, everything is in a mess. The chance that everything she has done is not good enough scares her to solitude. Yet when she does muster the courage to find shelter, she finds that her own family has given her an ample amount of distance; the very distance that Marianne had provided out of that fear. 

There is really no other way to be strong than to have faith in herself. Like a stonewall, she stands firm and tall. Upon inspection, however, particle of each stone slab is made of sand.

Wine: As a woman of class, of course she prefers wine over any other alcoholic beverage. She drinks beer as well, but she will always prefer wine for most occasions.

Ballet: She took this as an extracurricular class, and she has loved it ever since. Marianne is beyond talented with ballet, but she seldom performs on the big stage. She gets a bit of stage fright and neurotic about perfecting her form; that is why she doesn't make her skills public. Marianne can do ballet pieces perfectly when she is alone; whenever she is aware of another presence, however, she always stumbles or makes a misstep.

Traveling: Because of her job, she goes on business flights all of the time. No matter how many times she leaves the country, she always enjoys seeing a fresh new environment.

Culture: She is as cultured as a woman can be. She has traveled to all of Europe, parts of Africa, and most of Asia and the Pacific Islanders. Her extensive knowledge and appreciation of cultures makes her a well-rounded person, for the most part, and she knows that this has aided to her success.

History: This subject was just a study hobby of hers. Marianne enjoyed reading history books as if they were simply just books. It taught her many philosophies and perspectives about atrocities and great human triumphs. She hasn't had much time to study history leisurely, but she can still pull up facts out of her head during n intellectual conversation.

Horseback riding: What a very regal sport, don't you think?

Order and cleanliness: A neat-freak is a better word. Everything must be spotless. Marianne even does her own cleaning at her estate when she has the time. It's like a way of stress relieving.

Books: You can imagine that a woman of her intelligence likes to be in the environment of books. She has a grand library in her estate, and you'll find her nose in a book, for sure.

Alone time: Yes, she's a great conversationalist. She's a people person. But Marianne needs alone time every once in a while. She gets exhausted from all of her priorities and responsibilities. Therefore, she will opt to be by herself when she has free time.

Disorganization: Chaos is her nightmare. She is able to keep a calm demeanor during chaos, but on the inside, she will be extremely off-balance. A disaster will not throw her off her center--rather, the fact that people won't listen to her will get her off her rocker.

Scammers: She's in the money business, henceforth, she cannot stand these types. It's more like an annoyance to her rather than a vigilante passion to stop them. She knows that is not in her place, after all.

uncontrollable obstacles: Marianne takes on challenges, but when it comes to obstacles she cannot control, that gets her EXTREMELY irritated. For example, if she cannot proceed because of someone else's stunted responsibilities, she will get so, so angry. She does not like to rely on other people all the time, and she dislikes it even more when her progress cannot go on because of someone else's fault.

Disrespect: You better know that this is on top of her pet peeves. If you downright disrespect her, she can snap out of her nice demeanor in an instant, depending on the level of rudeness. Marianne enjoys the fact that she is tolerant, but she won't handle any form of obvious slander.


Personal biases: When you bring your personal issues/biases to a debate, you lose. Marianne does not like to see people take extremes. Though, just because she doesn't like it, doesn't mean she won't want to be associated with these types of people. Frankly, this type of argumentation persists in a majority of the population, even in the highly educated ones. Regardless, it annoys her.

Foul smells: Must be filthy.

Direct romantic approaches: Marianne had many unwelcomed approaches of romance in her life, and so, she's not so peachy about relationships. She closes herself off, and will avoid romantic opportunities when she can.

Become promoted: Her more practical dream is to become the Governess of the Bank of England. However, she wants to be the President of the Euro Central Bank more than anything. Her previous experience with that banking company was not good, but she is not the type to run away. If she could, she would go back, rise against all that had wronged her, and correct the whole system so that she is the one who gets the last triumph.

Perfect the economy: There is no such thing as a perfect economy. There will always be error, as humans are prone to fault and confusion. Regardless, Marianne wants to create an efficient pool of wealth. It'll require some great organization of the company, and it will also require close cooperation with police enforcement to ensure that the savings of people will be protected, free from corruption.

Make more of an impact: She wants to win the Nobel Prize. Not for the money, and not for the title either. She wants to win because she wants to know that she has done something good enough to impact the world positively. Her acts of philanthropy did garner some attention, but since her schedule cuts so short, she hardly has too much time on her hands to do something great.

Being herself: This is simply the biggest fear of her life. Marianne has been pasted as a 'cookie-cutter' woman who is perfect, beautiful, talented, and intelligent. She must continue to be, or else people will abandon her. Her logic is sad, and this fear is irrational, but it is real to her. She cannot be herself, lest she faces rejection.


Rejection: Being all that she is, Marianne can't really deal with being utterly rejected. She can take a failure, but she won't be able to handle not being good enough. Marianne has been esteemed and conditioned to be perfect and great, so much that a total shut door to the face would shock her.

Starting all over: She has gotten so far. Marianne would be distraught if all of her efforts disappeared. It could very well happen; the disasters of tomorrow could very well strike upon her life. She is wary, but with these things, she cannot control her fate.

Harm to her family: She had been distant to them, but she still loves her siblings dearly. Marianne checks up on the two of them when she can, and she will do anything to support them.

Marianne van Rosenfeld was a precocious child, and she always hurried herself to the next step in life. This was especially the case when Ms. van Rosenfeld's water broke unexpectedly during a visit to Luxembourg. She was born a few weeks early, and she entered the world with a powerful lung and strong, thrashing limbs. Marianne Fleur was referred to as an angel since her first day of life.

From childhood until adulthood, she had always been adored. Blonde hair, blue eyes, and a willowly in statue, she was considered to be the most comely and fair, Attention came from all over, yet Marianne found a way to not cave into the enticements and hungry eyes. This was due to the fact that Marianne was quick to mature and understand. She was jaded quickly by the philosophies she received from her strict tutors, women who were strong feminists with the intelligence to be reckoned width. 

They taught her how to rid of her other vanities and focus more on her education. It was not so much of a struggle to adapt with that. Shy and introverted, she grew up to prefer to not be around all of the attention. While she attended boarding school in Switzerland, Marianne faced a few humiliating moments of failure, and it onset  of her fear of disappointing. She moved to Luxembourg for boarding school for the rest of secondary school, and was able to quietly work on her education while she explored on what routes she wanted to take for her life. There was little to choose from, to be frank. Luxembourg was very big about business, and her parents especially kept a keen eye on her. Yet, Marianne accepted what was expected of her, and she came to really enjoy the prospect of working in business.

There was a reason why this ambition cultivated itself in her head at such a young age. Everyone expected so much from her. Everyone always paid attention to her, questioned her, and tested her. "What will you do in the future?" "What do you like studying?" She hated it when she said, "I don't now." They would make a scrunched up expression of disappointment. Marianne disliked all of this questioning and surveying--she just wanted to do what she liked to do. She just wanted to be a child, free to discover and wonder.

Yet she couldn't. Marianne knew she couldn't. She was curious, hard-working, beautiful, wealthy, and talented. All of these traits were acknowledged as desirable traits, and if she didn't take advantage of it, she knew she'd be at a loss. Even when she was pampered with riches, Marianne was too proactive about her knowledge; she looked up news articles as young as nine years old. She read about stock drops, bonds, and third world countries. The girl's mind fed off of stories about poverty and the theories of business, standard of living, and all such. Even when she did not understand, she went out to ask. With every answer, she learned. She learned something that her parents could not see:

Diamonds are not forever--no, not at all. The prices waver and drop. The diamonds are refined by the price of blood, and it was not fair. But what makes a diamond worthy--is it its shine, its glimmer, its number of facets?

No. It is greed that makes it worthy.

One summer day, her mother asked her, "Will you make a difference in the world, my little flower?"

She answered, "Yes."

"How?"

"You will see."

It was in her blood's prerogative to succeed, to quite literally, rule, but she did not make a show of it. Though her self-esteem and confidence held her high, she willed to keep a certain poise and sense of humility. Either way, her dream was rather far-fetched. Marianne wanted to regulate this hectic and man-made concept of 'money', the one thing that has both made lives prosperous and others ruinous. She wanted to dispel any type of corruption that holes itself in banking corporations, and all of those little gaps and holes that taint the pureness of a working economy. She wanted to improve how to efficiently handle the money, because there were two types of thieves in this world: those who run to the bank with a gun in their hand and those suited ones with a political agenda.

With hard work and plenty of help, she was able to enter the Institut des sciences et technologies de Paris (or HEC Paris) at the age of fourteen as a fashion designer and business major. During these three years, she couldn't have been more productive. Marianne was a talented designer, and her beauty earned her a place as a model. Yet, the limelight and the spotlight eventually degraded her interests in fashion designing, which then turned her to Banking and Finance.

Marianne was quick and progressive about her change in careers. She interned at the European Central Bank and became affiliated with many politicians and economic professors. Marianne further embellished applications and resumes with her finesse in ballet, the harp, and humanitarian acts. The adolescent had been on several newspapers and articles, all of which exemplified her as the shining star of the decade.

Marianne, in fact, did not like this attention. She acknowledged that it brought her networking, but it also brought her distraction. To be blunt, she did not hold on to many friends. It was not that she was not friendly; on the contrary, she was always a pleasant, good-natured, and open-minded friend. However, she was always too busy, and she preferred to be at home to relax. Her vacation moments consist of a cup of spiced wine and a quiet hour.

When slow times melted away, Marianne dived in for the next challenge, the next accomplishment, the next achievement. Seventeen years old, she was going to graduate as a valedictorian. After all celebrations were over, Marianne was shortly hired to be a projects manager at the European Central Bank. During the middle of a hectic schedule, she was told that her parents passed away in an accident.

...

No time for mourning. She couldn't. It broke her heart, but she had a job to do. It was her first serious job, and Mari had to put on a brave face until the project was finished. After she asked for a short leave, Marianne reunited with her siblings to face the condolences and the mark of grievances. One thing lead to another, and their surname was tampered and tainted. Lawsuits came from all over, and that jeopardized Marianne's reputation. The money was dwindling away, just like sand through an hourglass. Worst of all, Marianne had expected this to happen.

Unlike her siblings, she had taken preemptive measures so that money could not hinder her opportunities. Marianne had her own savings that had grown with interest, and she had her own well-paying job. She was able to help with law suits, and the best she did for the family was limit the amount of money the government took away from the family. Still, the mansion was sold away. Mother's jewelry and father's cars auctioned away. Either way, Marianne could not stay any longer. She took a flight back to Germany as soon as she could, and she gave her bitter and melancholy goodbyes to her siblings when the money was split to three.

She only hoped that her siblings were going to be wise with their sum of money.

Marianne, of course, invested with all of her money. She was careful and calculating, which ensured that her assets were safe and/or growing. Because of her use of caution and great leadership, Marianne was promoted at the age of nineteen as a secretary of a marketing department. The only problem was, she was so scrutinized because of her surname, age, and gender.

It irked her so much that all of her accomplishments could be easily overlooked by three, unchangeable attributes. Marianne had filed in for harassment several times, but that did not completely dispose all malicious or lusty onlookers. They loved to feed off the ambitious. She could not take it, and so she applied for an occupation at the Bank of England instead.

After three interviews, twenty one year old Marianne was admitted in the Bank of England as secretary of finance and public relations. The young blonde frequently attended press conferences and became a well known icon of the bank as liaison with the bank and the media. Life was still hectic at this time, and Marianne had much trouble adapting to this new scene and lifestyle. Nonetheless, she persevered, and she conquered.

At this point, she was able to garner her own respect in England. The executives with England, albeit old, were more flexible and open-minded than those at the ECB. This took off a significant amount of stress away as she flourished under a more positive environment. With this, the clarity in mind gave her room to excel. Marianne achieved the feat of saving the bank a huge sum of money by deducing a trend that would limit spending. She then promoted to chairwoman at the age of twenty two.

Despite all of these victories, Marianne never lost her grounding. She was a passionate leader and a hard-worker, and her iron-secured grip on leadership earned her the title of "The Duchess". Acts of philanthropy further embellished her reputation, and her hard work earned her a place on Forbes. Behind the limelight is a woman who was still struggling emotionally. Being under the spotlight was the most lonely; she was surrounded by shadows. These shadows included ones that were jealous of her, and they scrutinized her relentlessly. In a man's world, Marianne was an anomaly, a prude, and a domineering, robotic woman.

It had some truth, however. Marianne could not deny her vices. The only truth she could cling on to was that she had no meaning in life other than to succeed. The corporation was her life. All she wanted was more respect and more acceptance from her peers. That way, she could efficiently rule, to make a difference in this corrupted world.

But there were snakes everywhere. Marianne hired a man by the name of Gilbert to clean her home. By a twist of fate and a brush of powdered innocence, Gilbert dipped Marianne on the porch of her mansion. An opportunistic photographer snapped the photo, and then published it on the magazines with the headlines saying: Powerhouse Woman and Lingering Romance. This worried Marianne to almost no end. Her reputation was everything. She did not want a scandal to be cooped up with her name. She did not want any rumors to be smeared across her position.

There was only one thing to do: make an arrangement.

They dated, and not for conventional reasons either. Gilbert and Marianne became a public couple, and onlookers eagerly turned their heads at the prospect of this gorgeous pair. The photographers hailed on them like bees to a honey, and Marianne became London's next Kate. Marianne was no real duchess, but that did not stop the journalists from calling her one with her 'unknown beau'. The two exchanged their kisses, held hands, and feigned a romance that has captured the attention of England. She only wishes that it will be over soon.

Recently, her secretary has made it public that Marianne is indeed getting married to Gilbert. Everything has been set up, from the ring to the dress, and she already changed her surname for the wedding. A bride-to-be, Marianne's concern is not about the wedding... but the arrangements made before this whole fiasco started. What is it they say? Two can keep a secret if one of them is dead. But let us hope it does not get there.

Tick tock, the clock went and chimed, announcing the eve of the hour. Four o'clock, and the depression of the weather made it as though it was past nine. The gloomy summer rain bore darkened messages, and with its' ill luck, it caused a problem to her outlets. Marianne needed some swift action, because most of the appliances in her home relied on electronics and the computer.

While she was in her bathrobe, she called for closest available handyman--some stranger, claimed to be certified, online. Marianne was the slightest cautious, but this was an emergency, and she would pay extra to inject some sense to a person. As long as they don't rat out any strange information to the media, there should not be a problem. In any case, she won't make it possible for this stranger anyhow. Marianne's area of expertise was keeping prim and proper at all times. There would be nothing interesting to report.

She changed from her silken attire to something more suitable for guests. A couple of important government representatives want to come over for a small dinner, and she wanted to ensure that they shall be graciously welcomed. Marianne smoothed out her skirt and then slipped on her black heels--the tolerable sort of shoes, thank goodness. She would not dare wear anything pinchy in the comfort of her own home.

The lights flickered once more as Marianne ambled down her hallway. The halls were grand, finely decorated, with hung paintings that had the same frozen expression for centuries. Her pace was brisk and swift, as always, and when she heard the doorbell, she made a beeline for the foyer of her home. By the time she got to her foyer, she noticed that a maid had opened the door for a man to come in.

Marianne took a few cautious steps down the twin staircase that curved around and rolled on the trail of the entrance. It was though she was a princess, walking down the stairs that were adorned with a maroon carpet that stretched from the second storey to the first. In short, she probably did look like a princess in a castle. The foyer was marbeled with a pinkish hue for the floor. The room had a warm, golden glow from the hanging chandelier above, the crystal glimmering for all it is worth. The entire interior decor was to resemble a French palace-a -suitable to her tastes of culture.

After taking a long enough glance at the stranger, she continued down the red carpet. Like royalty, Marianne walked over to the entrance with a tall stature. A little woman, she was, but she was as formidable and high as a fortress.

With her hand over the other, Marianne greeted the man with a small smile. "You must be Mister Rothstein?" She indicated that he was soaking wet, and felt a bit of pity for him for going through so much trouble. She supposed that a little extra pay shall suffice as compensation.

"Please, do come in. I am Marianne, a pleasure." She extended her hand out to shake his hand. When she met his eyes, she noticed that his eyes were blood red. All of that, combined with his pale features, made her realize that he was an albino. It made no difference to her, but it was rare to find such genetics.

Before he could say more, Marianne resumed, "As I mentioned in the description prior to calling you, there is a problem with the electrical units in my home. It is affecting my computers. I will need this to be done by thirty three minutes, if that is possible."