Edwige Plaisance-Booker

Full Name: Edwige Plaisance-Booker aka: 'Edie Infernum'

Date of Birth: 12/8/1979

Place of Birth: Esch, Luxembourg

Years Living in Victoria, BC: Just over one year.

Eye color: steel blue

Personality/Demeanor: Only in recent years had Edwige begun to let herself leak into whom she presents to other people. Unfortunately, twenty-some years of facade leave quite a bit to boil beneath the skin. Needless to say, Edie's emotional extremes can come across obtrusive, and sometimes bi-polar in their highs and lows. She'll try too hard to pull off what does come natural, convincing herself it's the only way to match the instant allure of a scripted commercial personality - then tries too hard at feigning indifference when her awkward intensity backfires. It's when she had exhausted herself of trying that she is at her most appealing. A calm Edwige leaves times to think (at least a bit) before she lets just any verbal diarrhea fly. She may be moody and pessimistic, but no one feels any dumber for having sat through her banter.

Style of Dress: Turning around from the flawless sex appeal her career demanded from every take on her appearance, unkempt stays put as the overall theme of Edie's wardrobe. Some days her taste for luxe grunge styles will leave her looking as though she dressed inside a multicolor closet, and left her hair untouched from rolling out of bed. While just as often she will downplay the disarray of her high priced bobo chic with simplistic vintage pieces and familiar touches of meticulous styling.

Personality Quirks: That which makes up the unmistakable oddness Edie can never seem to shake off. Little things she does so often, she barely notices them anymore. Edie's mind does a great deal of drifting, no matter the circumstance the look in her eyes is consistently vacant. Seated alone with a cigarette on some park side bench, passersby may swear she's staring, when really nothing in front of her is in focus, or even considered. When something someone says or does triggers a thought, she will immediately chime out in sharing the point, even if doing so cuts in on someone else's speech. In most cases, her pipe outs have little to no relation to the topic at hand. She simply can't bare to let one potentially meaningful idea slip through for another, she can drive herself up the wall attempting to recall something she neglected to broadcast. Edie tends to ask a great deal of questions when she feels she has run out of things to say - this happens often when she finds a subject of conversation particularly interesting. She'll talk so much, so quickly that she wears out the train of her thought. This makes her behavior when paired with her fiancé all the stranger; with them together, getting more than a few aggravated words out of either the two is akin to pulling teeth. It's rare to catch any direct interaction between the couple at all, aside from arguments. The list of behavior from Holden that merits an apprehending snip from Edie seems to change on the daily, all of which he responds to with the intentional repetition of whatever it is to have rubbed her the wrong way. Acclimating to caustic snarls back and forth is a necessary evil for anyone who plans to be around the united duo for any extended period of time.

Bad Habits: Very few of Edie's unsightly tendencies are of a nature to come out in public. Her nicotine addiction is among the highest causes for concern. Smoking is a crutch for nearly every aspect of her regular schedule, if something is to be done, it goes faster with a filter in between her lips. It's a large exception, but otherwise no potentially dangerous substance is ever put into her system. She giggles constantly, sometimes not realizing herself until taking in the questioning stares of those around her - there isn't any special trigger that she knows of; anything slight as a hitch in someone's voice can tickle her to impish tittering. She doesn't bother trying to explain herself - People get insulted over anything, and it would simply take up far too much of the day. On the scarce chance that she should take a special liking to someone, she can become quite the over attentive nuisance. This is a prime reason why she opts to keep her rampant emotions under lock and key where casual acquaintances are concerned, losing sleep over neurotic worry is all too common; And very few people are looking for friendships that come with an extra Mother. Holden, in his relationship with Edwige, is more a victim of her obsessive care than anyone else could (not) hope to be. Regardless of their unusual conduct where one another is concerned, when apart, not an hour goes by without a check-up call from either end. If Edie doesn't hear from him, she will torture herself with every imaginable explanation - often times scaring herself into dropping everything to seek him out herself. Fortunately, Holden is prone to behave much to the same degree where separation is involved. This detail does, at least, keep the breakdowns and blow-ups at a relative minimum.

Hobbies: Netflixing obscene numbers of films; preparing lavish meals that end up as leftovers; criticizing every mix Holden puts together (especially when her opinion isn't wanted); getting under the man's skin in general; forgoing sleep to rearrange furniture and needlessly straighten and organize; keeping religiously up-to-date on Thrill Kill's nightly broadcasts; meandering the streets of downtown Victoria to see how many tourists mistake her for homeless.

General Likes: flustering Holden; flower gardens; tea with honey; classic beauty; strong cologne; people watching; the Bug Zoo; nostalgia; angry sex; dipping her toes in the harbor; unspoken understandings; stiletto heels; water travel; criminology.

General Dislikes: humidity; people who stomp on anthills; most women; Germany; any form of 'quick' food; freckles; furry animals; unnecessary niceties; limited sense of humor; the diehard hangers-on to her fan base; overtly effeminate men; answering questions; grapefruit.

Occupation: Retired international glamour/fetish model. Holden, Edwige's fiancé, pulls in an irregular salary occasionally spinning inspired but unlicensed mashups while coining the bizarre alias: DJ 'Cancer Box', at local clubs. As the couple constitute the only living beneficiaries to her late husband's assets and substantial insurance payout, it's more a matter of Holden's creative fulfillment than the income. Edwige frequently informs him of his silliness.

Movie Genres: Fantasy; horror; thrillers; sci-fi; ironic romance; comedy crossovers - whatever happens to make her heart beat faster.

Movies: It Happened One Night; A Scanner Darkly; Death Becomes Her; Bug; The Professional; Kiss Kiss Bang Bang; The Devil's Backbone; The Last Man on Earth; Legend.

TV Shows: Ever-running American sitcoms, like Seinfeld and Everybody Loves Raymond.

Actors/Actresses: Robert Downey Jr.; Jean Reno; Christian Bale; Marlene Dietrich; Meryl Streep; Ashley Judd.

Music Genres: Electro; ambient; bigbeat; noise; bastard pop; experimental

Bands: The Books; Final; Fantômas; Chromeo; Princess Superstar; The Prodigy; Pet Shop Boys; Bauhaus

Do you live alone? No.
Describe your home/apartment: Permanently moored on the northern banks of James Bay, and right on the sidelines of the Inner Harbour's touristy bustle floats Edwige's ideal home. For the funding at her fingertips, the dockside haven is the epitome of simplistic functionality. The layout of the lower floor is occupied jointly by a dining room and oversized kitchen; while the upper floor is home to Edwige and Holden's bed and bath - which opens out into a custom deck (where Holden insists she do her smoking), a guest room - housing the entertainment center - for lack of it's original use, and what could have once been called a den. Whatever it was, the room is now a lonely exception from the houseboat's guileless decor and serves as Holden's 'studio'. Aside from his pit of scattered equipment and wall of occupied terrariums, the minimalist living space is homely - but nothing exceptional, or even decorated beyond a few photographs and scattered knick-knacks.

Personal history: Maxime and Annemarie Plaisance were safely separated to their respective niches of Europe before their daughter was ever old enough to get a taste for traditional family. Edwige spent her childhood years under the care of her mother's disciplinarian sisters in Hanover, Germany. Annemarie's presence was no more than a formality, while the set of strict aunts groomed their niece towards embracing the role of a traditional female, capable of landing herself a wealthy man for a husband. Summers were spent a long train ride away from Hanover, in the underpopulated Luxembourgish commune of her birth. It was here, Edwige's father urged and allowed her glimpses into aspirations beyond finding a husband.

Edwige's life couldn't really begin until she was of age to set out on her own. While her aunts drilled her in appreciable conduct, and advertised her to prospective husbands twice her age, Edwige and her father planned for the great escape. With the final spring of secondary school, arrived her acceptance into Paris Descartes University. Edwige's unannounced departure from the household eliminated any chance of financial aid or even vaguely civil interaction with her mother's side of the family from then on. Maxime gave his daughter every cent he had saved for the purpose, all of which barely covered one year's tuition.

Majoring in sociology, the first year of Edwige's academic career was a living dream. She was finally on her own. Free to pursue what and whom she wanted without the constant threat of harsh reprimand. Even working to keep herself afloat was a pleasant change from being kept under lock and key. It wasn't until her second year away from home that the reality began to take it's toll. Steadily, the hours of overtime she needed to live and keep up tuition mightily outweighed what was left over for her actual studies. It was bitterly unsurprising when her solid grades began to decline, and her will to continue the struggle followed suit.

Everything changed with the opening of a completely unexpected new option. Just like an introduction one might find in the celebrity autobiographies no one reads: While waitressing a bistro in uptown Paris, she was scouted. Just like that, the wiles and agreeable mannerisms her aunts had pumped her full of came to play. She gave all the right answers, followed all of the most crucial direction, smiled and nodded at all the right times. Tuition funds went to makeovers, wardrobe, and studio time. Once her portfolio was seen by the right people - Edwige's education had long since been put off on hiatus.

Within a years of her first real paying shoot, Ewige's long legged likeness had spread out of Paris - out of France - and eventually out of Europe. She reopened doors of the glamour modeling industry to girls of modest endowment, and even after her blaze of popularity steadied out to make way for new faces; Edwige remained a counterculture sensation with her trail of edgy and controversial projects. She found herself content with her time in the limelight, and ultimately stepped out of the business shortly following her engagement to a man her aunt's would have been proud of.

Booker Apiaries, one of the highest grossing apicultural names in the across the US and Canada, and mother to multiple branch companies of rivaling success - Headed by Mississippi native, Dale Booker; a man with his fortune made and ready from the day he was born. Edwige, then commonly known by the alias of 'Edie Infernum', was perfectly aware upon accepting Dale's proposal that she was concerned little more than a trophy wife. The two were married in autumn of '99, and Edie tried not to linger on
her resignation to the unfulfilling end she'd been pushed to from the start. She focused on the positives to potentially come out of a loveless marriage to a man thirty years her senior - In exchange for looking pretty on his arm, she could comfortably return to school if she desired, she could raise a family with the assurance her children would have every opportunity in the world. Edie was surprised again by just how much the latter notion made her heart swell.

When word of of successful conception came in early 2000, Edie enthusiastically conditioned herself for a healthy pregnancy. Her first step was to give up her vice of nicotine - cold turkey, the second was vast expansion of her model's diet to accommodate all of the necessary nutrition. This made it all the more devastating when the embryo miscarried in the final week of her first trimester. But Edie tried again, and again. Three times she conceived, and all three times the developing fetus never lasted more than a week into the second trimester. Depression set in, then anger, until finally Edie ruled to let herself feel nothing at all.

In 2003 Dale's former wife was killed in a traffic collision on the Philadelphia I-16. Still a year away from reaching age of majority, Dale's estranged son was sent to spend the rest of his adolescence in residence with his remaining parent. Edie knew her step-son only through rare mention, and a fourth grade photo in her husband's office. She was certain of the coming animosity before ever needing to meet Holden Booker face-to-face.

Holden was a prozac poster child, decayed youth in the flesh - what flesh you could find through heavy make-up and piercings. When he wasn't skulking about with Mikael Åkerfeldt screaming through his headphones, he was spouting something unpleasant about whatever he could think of. He pilfered Edie's cigarettes (as the habit was resumed), put holes in his face with safety pins, and left a mess in his wake that cost the household several maids. With it time again for fate to set surprise in motion, Edie and her husband's wayward son became fast friends. For the first time since the summers with her father she had someone she could really talk to. Holden listened to the most inane of ranting, calmly sat through explosion after explosion of his step-mother's unattended hurt and rage, and never judged her. Even after the boy reached eighteen, he never stayed too far at a distance.

In 2005, Dale Booker fell victim to a fatal heart attack brought on by hypertension. At sixty-three, he had a history of high blood pressure, and was frequently taking nitroglycerin to relieve his symptoms. He was insured for over two million dollars, which - after thorough investigation - was divided between his wife and son as his only living beneficiaries. Holden spent months in negotiations for the full sale of Booker Apiaries to his father's acting partner, while Edwige put her late husband's properties up for market.

They remain very close.

Thoughts on the killings in and around Victoria:

Edwige never really has cause to board the ferry to the mainland, the only trips she can recall were only ever for the sake of the ride itself. Still, more than once since over a year the killings stretch from one to a dozen, has she been unable to keep her overactive imagination from getting the best of her. All sorts of fabricated horror scenes have left her unsettled, but namely one: With her and Holden's home bordering so close to the killer's hunting ground, what's to keep him from overstepping to the docks? Obviously, a sudden change in such a consistent madman's pattern is unlikely, and the idea of breaking in to a private residence solely for the sake of coming for the likes of she and her lover makes little sense - But these notions do little to keep Edwige from staring out into the harbor with expectant dread, night after night.