Origins
Captain Bellefleur was created in the Spring of 2010 - during my time in Northern Ireland - and I'd wager he's about a year and a half old. He was actually created for an entirely different project that has since been abandoned, much like my many other projects. However, he still continued to exist in my mind, waiting to be given some form of "life" elsewhere.
There is a reason I put life in sarcasm-quotes, and that's because the good Captain isn't technically alive. He's undead. To make the image clearer in your mind he is an animated skeleton. There is a reason I decided to do this, that being that skeletons are usually used to scare or freak people out. So, it is in my nature to take something like that and twist it around. Captain Bellefleur is about the nicest person you could ever meet, and is the source of some of the comedy in my universe. It wouldn't even be much of an exaggeration to say that he is an incarnation of goodness itself.
Captain Bellefleur is an effort of my part to turn a symbol of death into a symbol of life and goodness.
Personality
As I said above, Francis is an incredibly nice and giving individual. He spends his time doing an impossible number of things and is quite the philanthropist. He is an excellent cook, and owns a rather popular higher class restaurant in New York city called la nourriture. Using his culinary skills and the resources of his restaurant he sends meals to poorhouses and shelters on a bi-weekly basis.
He supports countless charities and very often visits those in need. (often in disguise) He keeps several bee colonies within the city and has several gardens that he tends to.
He is not capable of speech, but knows how to write and knows several forms of sign-language. Despite this, he will rarely use these skills to communicate with friends, and rather enjoys watching them trying to discern what he's trying to communicate, as well as decipher his current mood and emotions. (He shouldn't be able to see or hear either, but he somehow can anyway, or so people assume, and he somehow just knows whenever a dish is ready to be served.) He is usually as jolly as his skeleton grin would suggest.
The good Captain is a bit finicky about clothes on others, and will fix anything he feels seems out of place. He also loves to dance and is proficient in many different kinds of dance. He will keep up with the reality TV shows focused on singing and dancing. He is a lover of the arts in general and is also a bit of a movie nut - enjoying heartfelt tearjerkers the most. He finds the horror genre laughable, though anything featuring the undead may put him on edge. He is an avid supporter of undead rights and runs an undead support group.
Francis can tend to have a bit of a morbid sense of humor, often hiding in people's closets, or buying coffins or grave plots for people on their birthdays. He celebrates his "deathday" instead of his birthday. Halloween is also his favorite day of the year and co-runs an annual haunted house along with Sem and Sorena. He enjoys the holidays in general and loves hosting parties.
Francis can be quite dramatic, and looking at him would make one believe that he lives in a sort of fantasy world. This is partially true, but he longs to simply serve as an example to others through his acts of service and simplicity.
Captain Bellefleur may also be a bit oblivious to social norms and doesn't tend to sweat stuff that should be sweat over. He has a magical key, a skeleton key, (lol) that allows him to get through any lock. So he'll casually walk into places he shouldn't be. He'll also use the key to "borrow" cars if he's in a hurry. (He's not a very good driver though.) He tries his best to return the car where he found it, often to find an angry owner or a police officer.
Looking at him you wouldn't know that he is an expert swordsman or marksman, but he is also a pacifist at his core, and will only take up a weapon in defense of another. He is deeply in tune with both the physical and spiritual world and always seems to know when something is happening.
He loves children, as they for some unknown reason are able to accept him as he is more easily than adults are, and he loves making them happy.
His new dream is to start a clothing line along with Elizabeth, another character of mine who still needs some development.
Appearance
In private or in the presence of people used to his skeletal form Captain Bellefleur wears very little - often just a pair of boots, a military-style frock coat, a belt, and a large tricorne-styled hat with a large pink feather. Of course, he'll dress up appropriately for any special occasion, but he is almost always wearing the hat.
In public he's sure to wear a cloak that covers him completely.
©2011 James Curry a.k.a Sem
(Note that the hat in the picture wasn't drawn as large as it's supposed to be.)
History
Francis Bellefleur was a French noble several centuries ago, greedy and corrupt to his core. He was also a privateer, and was captain of his own ship. He raided the seas for the sake of his country, and it was his greed that eventually led to his death when he decided to attack a ship belonging to the church - which was forbidden by any nation. A battle ensued and he was caught up in a bizarre mixture of magical energies that killed him, but also bound his spirit to his corpse.
The more his body decayed the more good he became, and he lived out the centuries pursuing goodness. In his mind his life had been devoted to selfishness and greed, and so his death would be devoted to selflessness and service.
Not long after his death he met Sem and Sorena and quickly became close with them. He went with them when they decided to move to the American colonies in the 1700s shortly before they gained their independence.
He spent the entire nineteenth century living with the poor of the larger cities such as New York, and in the twentieth century visited places like Africa and India as well as traveled the world. During his travels he was able to become a master chef, able to cook a variety of dishes from practically every nation and culture.
Near the end of the twentieth century he returned to New York and finally realized his dream of opening a restaurant.
Personal Impact
Francis is still a bit young to have had any sort of huge impact on me yet. He's merely fun to think about at this point and I do get really amused imagining him in certain situations.
He is the only character of mine that is purposely ridiculous, and I like it. I feel that it's good to be flexible and realize that not everything needs an explanation, and some of my explanations for things can be pretty farfetched anyway, even in this incredibly flexible universe.
I could say that he's an example of how we should be towards our fellow man ;o
Thanks for reading! =)
The character Captain Francis Bellefleur is ©2010 James Curry a.k.a Sem
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