THE INGENUE - Luna Angelique Benoit
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CHARACTER INSPO: Gillian Owens (practical magic), Sarah (the outer banks), Buffy Summers (Buffy) & Addie Larure (the invisible life of Addie Larue).
TRIGGER WARNINGS: blackmail, drug abuse, anxiety, depression, disordered eating, teen runaways, criminal activity, pressure for perfection
FULL NAME: Luna Angelique Benoit
NICKNAMES: Little Moon, Bambi/Doe
AGE: 35
BIRTHDATE: Septemeber 29th, 1987
ZODIAC: Libra sun, Sagittarius moon, Cancer rising
HOMETOWN: New Orleans, Louisiana
CURRENT RESIDENCE: Half Moon Bay, California
NEIGHBORHOOD: West Side
OCCUPATION: Artist
MBTI: ISFP - T
ENNEAGRAM: 7w6
ALIGNMENT: Chaotic Neutral
TEMPERAMENT: Sanguine
+ ambitious, outgoing, protective, open-minded, creative, charming, idealistic
- competitive, self-critical, impulsive, flirtatious, co-dependent, gullible, self-indulgent, bossy
ABOUT
Luna Benoit's parents did everything right. They came from good middle-class families, got good grades went to okay schools, and married. Established careers, worked hard, and began to build a family. They always wanted multiple children and a large family together. However, as fate would have it, they'd only have one. Luna, born under a bright crescent moon in New Orleans, they named their only child Luna.
They loved their daughter endlessly; there was nothing they wouldn't do for her. There was nothing they didn't want for her, and as it would go, there was nothing they wouldn't expect of her.
Luna grew up knowing her parents worked to ensure that she had every opportunity gifted to her. They lived in a lovely home and had excellent and respected jobs, but they wanted ever more for Luna. There was never any doubt in this facet of her life. She was sampling lessons in Latin, Greek, and Spanish on top of already being bilingual. She tried multiple instruments before settling on the piano. She did tumbling, cheer, dance, gymnastics, ballet...every extracurricular under the sun just for the experience. However, the real passion and drive were in beauty pageants.
Her parents were sure that with the right coaching and wins, she could have used her talents and natural grace to win an education in anything she wanted.
Despite their best efforts to give Luna all she could ever want and need, they failed to learn about her. They were so busy raising her to be graceful, intelligent, kind, witty, and gracious that they often misunderstood her wants; her dreams were shadows lost to the illuminated existence her parents curated for her.
It felt impossible to live up to their expectations. To be everything they wanted her to be for Luna, the stress was debilitating. She wanted to make them proud but struggled from time to time, felt like she was losing herself, and the fear of disappointing them had her using adderal to give her that extra edge. Anything she did, she was sure she had it under control, sure it was just enough to get her over that hump.
Her entire life was full of praise she felt she could never live up to, a promise for a future she didn't know if she could deliver. She could see her parents' pride- they'd never outright say it was always there in the undercurrent of a passing comment over "slipping grades" with a B or a lack of dedication if she wanted to sleep in. Luna couldn't imagine what it would be like if she actually failed. It wasn't an option. Thus Luna played her part out of the same love that had her parents giving her everything in them.
However, things would begin to take a turn by fifteen when Luna finally gave a local troublemaker a chance. She'd never shown any interest in his flirting, he was all knees and elbows, and she had to stay focused. However, after a bad day of what felt like one failure after another, he just happened to be there at the right time. Luna took a chance, and for the first time in her life, she tasted what absolute freedom could be like.
Her parents hated the boy and tried to keep them apart. Still, with Luna having graduated early to focus on earning college credits before attending a university of her choice, it was hard for them to know where she was at all times. By the time she turned sixteen, her parents were missing all her other lifelong problems, anxiety, disordered eating, depression, and abuse of stimulants. They placed all blame on him- they would send her away. Away from him, away from the only life she'd ever known. In a moment of reckless youth, they ran away together.
Luna spent the next 7 years in the wildest years of her life. Every ounce of rebellion manifested in those years. From Louisiana to California. From a perfect daughter to a runaway disappointment. She struggled to be everything to everyone, and in the process, Luna lost parts of herself she was unsure she would ever get back.
She spent the years in love, reckless, partying, and finding herself using her curated talents to con when needed - to create art forgeries and more. However, all good things come crashing down, and one day, the man she'd loved was gone, a painful memory that would haunt her wherever she went.
She was twenty-three and alone for the first time in her life. Luna never knew how to be alone and found herself easily swept up into countless unfavorable situations. Working with white-collar criminals to get by to find a place in the world. It had only occurred to her that she could go home after twenty-five.
It was not easy, there was no easy forgiveness, and there was still plenty neither parents nor child could take responsibility for. Still, after years of a strained long-distance relationship, there may have been hope.
The reunion was long overdue, and eventually, Luna found herself traveling again. This time as an artist's apprentice in Paris, where she spent her late twenties chasing her passions and finding out what it would be like to make choices without the crippiling fear of letting others down.
All her hard work paid off by the time Luna was thirty-three. A decade had passed, and sometimes she felt stuck in time, lost to a moment long gone. She did her best and curated her paintings - showing the world and all who would listen to the inner workings of her mind.
She didn't make much or sell often at first, but after time, she landed a large gallery in San Francisco where she had been working to establish herself for a while. However, with the notice came some past demons insisting she works for them again, using blackmail to guarantee her services when forgeries are needed to pay back old debts.
Recently she's moved out of the city into a nearby small town, close enough to pay back her debts but far away enough to have the illusion of freedom.
QUICK FACTS
Luna wears a moon locket her parents gave her for her sixteenth birthday.
She and her parents still have an incredibly strained relationship but are actively working on it.
Luna struggles with needing to feel perfect and holds herself to impossible standards and has her whole life. As a result, she has mental health issues and struggles with abusing stimulating drugs.
Luna is somewhat impulsive, but her impulsiveness is often calculated for the most benefit.
From 2002 - 2010 Luna worked all sorts of odd jobs, from legit to under the table.
When she was younger, she wanted to be a painter, a princess, and a concert pianist. She can only paint by numbers, is only a princess on her birthday when she wears a tiara, and the only songs she can play on a piano are pop songs.
Luna has a black cat she fed in San Fran who stowed away in her boxes during her move from San Francisco, who she lovingly calls Oberon.
FAMILY
Camille Benoit nee Larue -mom: French/Cajun originally from the southern parish of LA. Very loving but very demanding of the absolute best. She was a nurse and well-loved by the community.
Xavier Benoit - father; a historian and devoted father who wanted a large family. Only wanted the best for his daughter and had the best intentions. However, he and his wife's intense pressure and expectations facilitated Luna's runaway as a teen.
TIMELINE
Septemeber 1987 - Birth
1988 - First beauty contest
August 1992 - Begins school.
1990 - Begins dance and piano
2002 - graduated high school 3 years early at fifteen
2003 before running away - had enough college credits for an associate's degree.
2003 - runs away
2003 - 2010 - wildlife all over southern California
2010 - 2012 - Alone in California
2012 - 2013 - Lousianna attempts to repair her relationship with her parents trying to fit back into a mold that no longer works.
2013 - 2019 - Paris and Europe building a career running from her past
2019 - 2023 - San Francisco starting to take off as an artists
May 2023 - Moves to HMB to distance herself from the shit she's roped into.
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