Tag: leaders are made by will rather than by birth ( eveline headcanons )

Eveline is in a unique position where the revelation of her true gender under certain circumstances can hold very little repercussion overall. As Captain Etienne Cotard, she is recognized as a leader among the royalist refugees in England and is present for all meetings between her brother, Major Andre Cotard, and collective English and French leaders working on operations meant to once more establish control over the revolutionists and in particular, reign in Bonaparte.

However, as Eveline Cotard she is the only daughter of a venerated marquis and a lady of the queen’s own court. Her reputation in France is relatively small but favorable – her debutante affairs were, to her credit, executed flawlessly and she was known during the seasons to be level headed, clever and perhaps a bit too strong in opinion.

Both of these factors combine to make her a powerful asset to the royalist campaign – and she knows it well. Despite this, she maintains her subterfuge – for though she is respected by the men she leads, there is no reason in her view to shake their confidence in any way. Nor does she desire to have them focus too much on her protection, when up until now she has served them well without such concerns.

As such, it is rare for Eveline to reveal to anyone that “Etienne” is in fact a woman. It is much easier to be a young lord than a young lady in a war camp, after all. The few times she has seen fit to reveal herself however, have been fairly remarkable.

On three occasions, the individual learning this truth was another woman who was needed on hand to assist the surgeon with an injury she had sustained in battle. This man, along with her fellow captain and her brother, are the only constants who know her for who she truly is – but then there were those other notable moments.

Once, while out on the town with some of her squadron, Eveline spotted an absolutely gorgeous English sailor and decided to slip off on her soldiers to find herself a helpful matron to outfit her in proper women’s fashion. She spent a good week flirting and enjoying the man’s attentions, and once she felt done with him she wished him well upon his travels and – for all intents and purposes – vanished. Her guise as Etienne hid her well, and within two more days, the man had sailed off, leaving behind nothing more than fond memories. ( As it should be, by her view! )

Another time, a high flying upstart of a British officer was being too loose with his insults toward the French within the pub. Fed up, she challenged him to a target game – the one with the most shots accurately placed would have to pay for the drinks of all men in the other party for that evening. Certain no frog could outshoot him, the man agreed – and was summarily trounced by Etienne, who was known to his men as one of the best shots around, save perhaps the major.

But Eveline was not finished with the man – oh no. After this, she visited her friend the matron again and was once more dressed to impress. She willfully lured the man into thinking her a dainty escapee of revolutionist France, and through charm and flirtation convinced him to “show her” how to use his rifle, as it seemed ever so exciting.

As his men looked on, the poor man got himself set up perfectly as he held on to her and rearranged her limbs to aim, and helped her fire the first shot. She asked for one more try, on her own this time, and he reloaded for her – setting her aim, for safety sake – only for Eveline to drawl, “No wonder you miss so often,” elbow him back, shift her stance, and fire a perfect shot. Setting the rifle back into his hands, she cautioned him to keep his tongue between his teeth, until such a time as he can outshoot a Frenchwoman.

The third, and final revelation of her true gender, is one that to this day has Andre pinch the bridge of his nose to stave off a headache. Men at war were bickering over an angle of attack and she tried to get them to focus. When all attempts at staying their posturing failed, “Etienne” loudly proclaimed that this was why women had do all the work in parliament.

The statement earned scoffs and while the men were starting in on women she dropped the solution to the situation in a tone so cold Andre knew full well a storm was coming and was wise enough to position himself near the door behind her in case of having to grab her and bolt. However, the solution was considered quite impressive – and someone made the idiotic remark that she had been waiting for. The notion that a woman could never come up with such a plan.

Stone faced, Eveline lifted up her shirt and flashed the gathered English into silence. Tucking her shirt back in place, she continued the meeting and left her brother to deal with the aftermath of her actions.

Because Eveline is the more stable of the two, I am going to begin today’s headcanon bombardment with her. Firstly, however, a bit of family history.

The Cotard line has always been more involved with military pursuits than in politics for generations ( with two notable exceptions of queens drawn from their line, they in fact held absolutely no titles beyond that which they earned through militaristic achievements ) and have been stationed near the Spanish border for time beyond their records.

This changed, however, when the Treaty of the Pyrenees secured Roussillon as a province of France. Leadership of the new region was granted to Nicolas Cotard, who served as one of the campaign leaders for many years. It was under Nicolas that the manor house was contracted near the coast, and through him that stability began to establish itself in the newly acquired county; though it would be his own son, Gaultier Cotard, who would establish the tradition of rulership in the area and the commitments that the Cotard family would be known for by the time Andre and Eveline would be born to Gaultier’s son Lorens.  

Among these traditions was to have an appreciation for the hard work around them; while Andre’s lessons will be covered under his own headcanon, neither he nor Eveline were allowed to make people dress them. Considering the complications of women’s clothes at the time, Eveline got clever and had cheat corsets designed so it always looked like she was wearing one when really, she wasn’t. Though she could have entreated her mother to make her father see sense ( As indeed, her mother would have done ) but instead she refused to allow the difference in her gender make her exempt from engaging in one of the few lessons she shared with her brother: that of humility and independence.

Both of the Cotard siblings were taught the way of the aristocracy by their mother and father both, but they were always taught to treat everyone around them as a person first. If there was something they could not do for themselves, then they needed to contribute to the economy of the community and pay for it.

Eveline and Andre were both shocked during their debuts at how their peers treated their servants – both of them were seen as something bumbling, almost peasant like in their debuts because Lorens Cotard needed them to understand immediately what they were: a working class nobility. They were soldiers granted titles – this is how they would be seen by those with power and what they would need to overcome to be heard.

By contrast, to the peasantry under their command they were symbols of class disparity. They would never be fully accepted by their own people, either. Like himself they would need to decide on which path to follow, on how they meant to utilize their influence and what it would mean to cultivate it.

For Eveline, she had a history of Cotard women and clever policies with marriage – for despite their lack of titles, the Cotards always managed to be high on the cusp of aristocracy through the connections and manipulations of their women. After her rocky debut, Eveline’s mother drew her aside and told her of the same laws she had broken down for Andre after his similar introduction to high society outside their home region.

Firstly, they were nobles no matter what anyone had to say about it. They were nobles through right of their mother, through right of their father’s title, and through right of history. Thus, among nobles, they must be as noble as those around them – if not more so at all times. They must cultivate reputation, so that when they see things they wish to change, they have the power and the authority to begin changing it.

Secondly, among the people and the servants outside their community they must be distant – kind, but distant, as nobles and peasants are not meant to mix.

Thirdly, at home, they must always remember that though they are friendly with their community, the social distance remains incredibly vast. What is easy and normal to them will always be strange and abnormal to the lower class and they must learn to manage themselves so that they do not offend.

Because it was not enough pressure for Eveline to marry well, to ensure that the Cotard line remained connected to the right people, to ensure that her marriage kept them within the standings they are used to, she was also wearing three faces, learning all she could about fighting from Andre, and balancing the independence her parents put upon her.

What makes her so stable is that she does not focus on what comes next so much as what is immediately pressing. She doesn’t think in as big picture as her brother does. Frankly, Eveline is not concerned with saving France – not because she doesn’t love her country, but because she comes from a history of revolution. She has spent the whole of her life aware that power shifts, that regimes and borders are never constant. She was raised by a father who believed in living life as one with the people rather than above them, and now she is precisely where her ancestors once were – she is among the people.

All that matters to Eveline is her soldiers, and keeping their morals high, their health well, and their lives as pleasant as she can. Small picture is, quite frankly, a lot less stressful. She doesn’t worry about the Cotard name – in revolutionist France the name bears no meaning, and until Napoleon is disposed of she sees no reason to worry about what to do after he is. She takes things one day at a time, and it keeps her from feeling as though she must be more than exactly who she is.