A few Duchess Swan HCs <3
this one was very interesting to do. shes such a tragic and complex character. definitely one of my favorites. sorry in advance about the angst-train.
she views her dancing as a kind of emotional outlet. whatever shes feeling, she puts all of that emotion into her dance
its a different story, though, if shes dancing for a grade.
if shes dancing for a grade, it has to be PERFECT in every way. she will not accept a grade lower than an A
she would practice a routine over and over all night until she collapses from injury or exhaustion if she has to
she also tries to get perfect grades in the rest of her classes, but flashing forward to legacy day, by that time shes so burnt out and depressed that shes failing most of her classes from lack of trying
lizzie and duchess never said so much as a word to each other until the 5th day of living together, since they are both very closed-off and thought the other was strange
their very first verbal interaction happened after duchess hurt her foot while dancing and had to wrap it
it went like this; "what happened to your foot?" "dancing accident" "oh" and that was that
the two have a very strange relationship
they consider each other, not quite friends, but more than acquaintances.
they rarely speak to each other, only when absolutely necessary. most of their interactions are more like quick nods, or simple acts of kindness. like lizzie will occasionally bring her coffee and set it down next to her without a word, and duchess will make sure lizzie, who has a habit of sleeping in, gets up in time for school
it may not seem like much, but duchess will always treasure that relationship because its one of the only times she feels shes allowed to be 'nice', even in a small way
deep down she knows her attitude towards others plays a big part in making her so miserable, and she does want to be nicer to people and make friends, but its a sacrifice she feels she has to make in order to steal her own happily ever after
since each odette turns into a swan at the end of her story, they are assigned a random prince to produce an heir with just before their story begins
since duchess's mother became a swan, duchess lives in the castle with her father, who takes no interest in her
she was mostly raised by the castle staff, though shes had the same personal dance teacher since she learned to walk. duchess considers her the closest thing she has to a mother
she used to go to the lake to visit her swan mother every once in a while, but she went missing years ago. duchess assumes she either went to live the rest of her life elsewhere, or was killed by hunters
duchess likes to only wear black and white, but her mothers favorite color was lavender, which is why she incorporates a bit of that color into some of her outfits
faybelle and cupid both offered to teach duchess how to fly, but she (quite rudely) rejected the offer
which resulted in a few too many rough falls from high places, many bruises and a concussion
when she came back to the dorm lizzie took one look at her, grabbed her by the arm, and walked her to the nurses office no questions asked
she did eventually learn how to fly, though
shes one of those people who is constantly complaining about the temperature. shes always either too hot or too cold
she always has airpods in. shes usually listening to classical music throughout the day, but she keeps them in even when she isnt listening to music, just so nobody will bother talking to her
she put lizzie on lana del rey
she has a deal with kitty cheshire that if anyone happens to find the lake she always dances on, kitty will come and scare them away. in exchange duchess gives kitty test answers, which she stole from sparrow
she finds sparrow incredibly annoying, and knows he feels the same about her
despite that, they always find themselves together. duchess thinks its because theyre just comfortable with each other
they dont have any romantic feelings towards each other, but there have been many rumors around school about them being together
they have more of a sibling relationship. they can have terrible arguments with each other, then an hour later ask if the other wants to grab coffee. no apologies necessary.
their hangouts usually consist of people watching and judging/gossiping about everyone they see
she does feel some regret over what she tried to do to ashlynn and hunter, but would never actually apologize for it. she never spoke to either of them again after true hearts day. in fact, duchess actively avoids her