Cadence Caldwell

Guest

Basics

Full name: Cadence Sophia Emmeline Beauregard Caldwell
Age: 24
Date of birth: October 7
Birthplace: Paris, France
Current location: Laguna Housing Community
Blood status: Pureblood
Occupation: Auror (Intelligence Officer) and Fashion Designer

Looks

Hair style and colour: Dark brown, long and kept in soft curls.
Eye colour: Dark brown
Height: 5'7"
Body type: Toned
Dress sense: Cadence wears only the most elegant clothes. Her feminine clothes are both classy and sexy at the same time, and she likes to emphasize her figure and long legs. She enjoys wearing heels, and is a fan of the Non-Maj Louboutins which are popular for their red soles.

Personality

Likes:
- Theatre; a life as a socialite requires a certain amount of acting for the sake of politesse, and it is for that reason that Cadence became interested in theatre at a young age. Despite her acting skills, however, Cadence remains an enthusiast who has never attended workshops or auditioned for plays. She likes to keep her skills a secret.
- Parties, especially champagne; what sort of socialite did not enjoy parties? It was a great way to make connections and build stellar impressions, and Cadence is not one to pass up opportunities for climbing the social ladder.
- Jewellery; aside from the fact that they can be secretly deadly (Cadence owns a poison ring she inherited from her great-grandmother), diamonds truly are a girl's best friend, although Cadence is also attracted to the charm of the less luxurious opal stone.
- Fashion; it's what makes her money, and it is through fashion that she was able to show her parents how independent she can be. Besides, though some people don't realize it, the world is ruled by beauty and fashion—after all, beauty is power.
- Secrets; the darker they are, the better. The most scandalous ones make for great leverage.
- No-Majs; perhaps it's strange for a pureblood socialite to like no-majs, but Cadence secretly admires how no-maj technology keeps improving despite their lack of magical abilities. Though she still sees witches and wizards as genetically superior, she acknowledges no-majs as people who actually get things done better than magical beings.
- Intellectual/philosophical literature; Cadence is highly well-read, and can recite quotes from something as obscure as Seneca's works to the more popular (and recent) works of Schrödinger. She does not like to flaunt this, however, as she knows people will find her more approachable if they think her to be an airhead. In this way, Cadence can also catch who is bullshitting, which makes good social blackmail when necessary.

Dislikes:
- Know-it-all people; this is another reason why Cadence prefers to keep her more intellectual interests under lock and key. Cadence cannot stand intellectual pretentiousness, and often uses the Socratic method when faced with those who are too certain about their self-proclaimed genius.
- Pureblood conservatism; though Cadence knows that she benefits from such conservatism, she knows that it also holds back her potential—for instance, her opportunities as a pureblood woman are still quite limited, not to mention she has to act refined and restrained (though she is fortunate to have grown up in America—British purebloods are more elitist). If there's anything Cadence dislikes more than anything, it's people who tell her what to do.
- Confinement; despite her social status, Cadence often relates more with the bohemian or free-spirited people she reads about in literature. This is why she has a particular love for Colette's works, and why she considers the muggle Josephine Baker as one of her favorite heroines.

Quirks:
- Flirtatious; though Cadence is not interested in romance or anything of the sort, she does like to have her fill of admiration through her flirtations. It doesn't matter to her what gender they are, as long as they are beautiful and useful.
- Superstitious; despite her refined, intellectual mind, Cadence is not immune to having her own superstitions. She always wears an opal ring for good luck, and she always wears the right shoe first before the left shoe.

Flaws:
- Selfish; for all of her righteous claims about helping the wizarding world with her espionage, Cadence is ultimately a selfish person. Her real motivation for being an Auror is a desire for adventure, a life which runs on high adrenaline and quick decisions. The noble results of law enforcement work are mere bonuses—the real reward is from the excitement she feels, and the secrets she gets to learn about.
- Dishonest; it is difficult to know if Cadence is truly someone's friend. Though she may be generous and occasionally nurturing towards them, she does not exactly talk about her own feelings, preferring to keep her friendships/connections in a less intimate territory.
- Perfectionist to fault; a Cadence always expects perfection from both herself and the people around her, and she will not settle for anything less. Though this can be considered a strength, it can be quite toxic when she isn't pleased with her performance. A low rating from a boss or an unimpressed review of her collection can be a huge blow to her self-worth.
- Superiority complex; for Cadence, it is utterly necessary for her to be the smartest and most beautiful person in the room, even if the people aren't aware of the former. She was the Queen Bee in Ilvermorny, and still is among her New York friends.

Strengths:
- Charismatic; to quote her mother when she was teaching Cadence how to act in social situations, "a Caldwell must always brighten the room and make everyone smile in admiration."
- Incredible self-control; being a socialite and heiress, people would normally assume that Cadence has a shopping problem. They'd be surprised, however, to know that Cadence has the self-control of a middle or working class person working a job with terrible pay. Her self-control isn't only out of a desire to be disciplined and break the heiress stereotype—less purchases made also means that it'll be more difficult to track her down.
- Cunning; it is how she always has things done her way. Cadence knows that it is crucial to make herself likable, hence her politeness even towards people she dislikes. Conflicts, after all, were so unnecessary when she could have those people as potential allies. That said, when Cadence does make an enemy, she is quite ruthless with her character assassination, especially when this is combined with her love of scandalous secrets.
- Flexibility; both physically and mentally. Cadence studied ballet throughout most of her childhood and adolescent years, hence her agility. As for mental flexibility, it comes with being cunning—after all, one shouldn't expect to have things always go as planned, and the ability to think fast is important in both the fashion world and espionage.
- Ambitious; she is a Caldwell, after all, and the Caldwells wouldn't be a highly respected elite family in the East Coast if it weren't for Elizabeth Stolberg Caldwell's devotion to helping the MACUSA in the 1700's. Cadence's ambitiousness is also what helped her build a career in fashion design, along with connections that allowed her to work in the Intelligence Department of the British Ministry of Magic.

Weaknesses:
- Power; it goes hand in hand with her ambitiousness. Though Cadence likes to think of herself as a good person, it is difficult for her to say no to power, especially when it means she can influence people to do anything she wants.
- Champagne; it's always good to have one in hand. It's especially perfect for making people feel like they can never be as sophisticated as her.
- Paranoia; Cadence hides it well with her smiles and banter, but she is actually a highly paranoid person. Sometimes it helps her, since an intelligence officer must always be aware of their surroundings and whatnot, but Cadence often fears that someone out there is plotting against her or her family. Her paranoia especially shows at night when she makes rounds to make sure that everything is locked, although she tries to mask with claims of wanting to stroll around.
- Restlessness; Cadence can never stay still. She believes in the proverb about idle hands being the devil's workshop, and is therefore unlikely to be caught slacking off. Due to this, Cadence doesn't know how to let loose (despite liking parties)—everything in her schedule, from her rich breakfast to the time she takes buying pastries at a popular patisserie, is perfectly calculated for the sake of her image.

More Information

Before Cadence was even born, it seemed as if she was destined to go against what people expected of her. Her parents, after all, met in a circumstance that the magical community deemed rather unconventional. As the only daughter of Jean-Baptiste and Lucile Beauregard, Aurore was expected to be an obedient daughter until she was eventually of the right age to marry. Aurore, however, was more stubborn than they expected. What they did not realize was that when Aurore spent her days in the library, she was actually reading up on New York. Novels told her stories of women in the Big Apple who were headstrong and ready to conquer the world. In New York, independence was seen as a strength and not as an anomaly. So when Aurore finished her studies at Beauxbatons, she left home after an explosive argument with her parents and moved to New York City.

Though pureblood elitism wasn't as bad in America, the magical community still participated in another form of divisiveness—classism. Of course, since it was unfashionable to be elitist in America, the wealthier families (whether they were old money or nouveau riche) hosted events such as charities, but they weren't one to actually let the less affluent into their social circles. In the late 80s, William Caldwell, a debonair pureblood gentleman, was going through a phase of reckless rebelliousness, and so he eschewed debutante balls for bars and No-Maj drive-in theaters. Punk wasn't dead, and he was determined to keep it alive in his own old money way. It was in one of those drive-ins when he met Aurore, a sweet French expatriate who he took for a No-Maj. She was to become a plaything at first—marriage was the last thing in his mind, being a young bachelor, and besides, Aurore was too innocent for him to actually be genuinely interested. So when William was finally forced to attend a party at MACUSA, he was surprised to see Aurore stroll in wearing a dazzling wine red dress with another known playboy by her side. Aurore was an even better player than all of them, and they didn't even know it.

William was distraught. The woman who he was about to dump was suddenly walking up to him with a sweet smile and a champagne glass in hand. She had just stopped by to greet him, but it was with greeting loaded with meaning: that one, she had known about him all along, and that two, he was beaten at his own game. It was that very French double kiss that started an obsession in him, and soon enough he was visiting MACUSA everyday to try and get to know the Frenchwoman who now had a job as an Auror. Two years later, they got married in New York, and Aurore was finally forgiven by her parents. When Aurore was pregnant with Cadence, they lived in the Beauregard estate for awhile so as to raise their daughter in a more relaxed environment.

With her childhood years spent in Paris, Cadence lived the culture of pleasure, of always taking the time to get what she wanted instead of growing up with New York impatience. Aurore and William debated about Cadence's future. Aurore wanted her to study in Ilvermorny, William wanted Beauxbatons. In the end, Cadence managed to convince her parents that it was important for her to know her American roots as well as her French roots, and so the Caldwells lived in wizarding New York while Cadence studied in Ilvermorny, which was located in nearby Massachusetts. Cadence was sorted into Thunderbird, and she soon made her mark in Ilvermorny as one of the best students of her time. She was especially brilliant at Defense Against the Dark Arts, and her outstanding reputation attracted a group of followers who hailed her as their Queen Bee. Cadence work a mask of humility through it all, but secretly she was smug and thrilled to know that she was considered as such in her circle of friends. Her acquaintances were careful not mess with her, since her friends were eager to please her and fight battles for her.

After her graduation from Ilvermorny, Cadence interned in one of wizarding France's biggest fashion houses. Since fashion in magical communities was all about the ingenious usage of Charms work with fabrics, Cadence attended the French wizarding university as a Charms specialist before she secretly added Auror training as her covert degree. Upon learning that her mother had worked as an Intelligence Officer in MACUSA, Cadence realized that it was the perfect way to have her adventures. Being a budding fashion designer also gave her an edge—parties and other sorts of gatherings with the rich and the famous gave her more access to secrets, plus her status as a fashion designer made her seem harmless and superficial. She eventually graduated from L'Université Riviera de la Magie with a Charms degree and a covert Intelligence Auror degree.

Rumours of criminal underground worlds in wizarding UK were spreading in the French Ministry of Magic, and the British Ministry was looking for agents who the British criminals wouldn't recognize as Aurors or intelligence officers. Cadence, who was still working out how to start her fashion empire, was approached by the Department Head one morning. She didn't need much convincing to say yes—if she manages to help the British ministry with this problem, there would be honors and accolades waiting for her. If there was anything Cadence liked better than her luxurious lifestyle, it was glory, and she was prepared to show the world what she was capable of.

Family

Mother:
Name: Aurore Caldwell (née Beauregard)
Age: 53
Living or Deceased: Living
Blood type/Species: Pureblood

Father:
Name: William Martin Caldwell II
Age: 57
Living or Deceased: Living
Blood type/Species: Pureblood

Siblings:
Name: Philippe André William Beauregard Caldwell
Age: 22
Living or Deceased: Living
Blood type/Species: Pureblood

Siblings:
Name: Mischa Elizabeth Jane Beauregard Caldwell
Age: 22
Living or Deceased: Living
Blood type/Species: Pureblood

Family History

The Caldwell family, whose roots can be traced back to Scotland, were one of the New York landowner families involved in the founding of the North American magical community. Their ancestor, Elizabeth Stolberg Caldwell, was one of the first members of Ilvermorny's board of governors, and most of her descendants (who were often sorted into either Horned Serpent or Thunderbird) often took on high positions in the MACUSA. Even her squib descendants ended up working for the American government. The Caldwells, however, are not particularly patriotic—the influential positions they take aren't out of benevolence as much as it is their desire to remain significant in the American magical community.

Currently, the Caldwell family are still situated in New York, and most of the members of the family work in MACUSA (aside from owning vineyards wherein the wines are sold both in the magical community and the No-Maj world). The Caldwells are also connected to various pureblood families, such as the New York Stolbergs and Moseleys, the French Beauregards (who are also of Veela descent), the Puerto Rican Montanos, the Filipino Herreras and the Brazilian de Sousas. The Caldwell family is also known for having matriarchs instead of patriarchs, as the Caldwell women (even those who are only Caldwell by marriage) often turn out to be more headstrong and ambitious than the Caldwell men. In fact, the Caldwell women of the 20s were known for joining the Suffragette movement, and during the Second World War Martha Caldwell Herrera built a shelter for Filipinos in war-torn Manila.

Despite the Caldwells' charity work, they are not a completely innocent family. Some of the Caldwells in the 1800s had spoken against rights for human and magical creature hybrids, and one Benjamin Caldwell even wrote a manifesto about human superiority. Though there aren't any known bigoted Caldwells in the modern-day world, some magical families still hold grudges against them, as the bigots from history contributed to years of systematic oppression that still affect those families to this day. The current matriarch, Beatrice Caldwell (younger cousin to Martha Caldwell Herrera), is working hard to undo what the Caldwells have done, but history isn't very forgiving.

Other

Wand: Aspen, rougarou hair, 11 inches
Broomstick: Always the latest, of course.
School that they went to: Ilvermorny School of Witchcraft and Wizardry
House they were in: Thunderbird
Uni attended: L'Université Riviera de la Magie

OOC

OOC Alias: Lor
Best Way To Contact: PM, please.

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