Ten Facts about Valentine Ortolan
1) Her full name is Valentine Jean Ortolan, but no one ever calls her that if they want to live. She's eighteen.
2) She has two older half-siblings, Neve and Toby, and one older full sibling, Victor, who is six years older than she is.
3) She and Victor are their father's illegitimate children. Alexandre Ortolan ran a relatively large smuggling operation in Europe. Vala's mother died under suspicious circumstances when Vala was five, and her father assumed the death was related to his business. Vala and Victor always suspected that Alexandre's wife had a hand in their mother's death, and used to laugh that Alexandre had adopted them into his home, making his wife take care of them. They got along okay with their half siblings, but they're twelve and ten years older than Vala, so she didn't really cross paths with them much. Their stepmother left after two years, and they mostly raised themselves after that.
4) Vala grew up in Paris. Her father died when she was thirteen. Victor had already moved out, and Vala spent a few months living basically parent-free in her father's townhouse, with just the maid taking care of her. Victor brought her to join him in Boston in time to start high school.
5) Vala still has more than a hint of a French accent.
6) Vala attends an all-girls high school called St. Mary's. Their main rival is the co-ed school Sofie attends.
7) Victor runs a small but growing "legitimate business," similar to his father's operation, that is just beginning to challenge the Pyatnitski's organization. Victor owns an art gallery (run by Lem Park), and is involved in the most of the adult entertainment operations around the city. Vala is the maîtresse at the oldest and most prestigious establishment, a private club called Sewall's Point. Victor hadn't had any intention of involving Vala in his "work," but she talked him into it by tagging along "accidentally" several times and being unbearably charming. She's good at keeping track of people by face and by name, and she remembers habits and preferences.
8) Vala *hates* Irene Adler in BBC Sherlock because now she can't use the line, "Well, I know what he likes." Also because she finds the idea of any British woman as a sex worker preposterous. British men, however, are fine.
9) Vala didn't know who Sofie was when Sofie auditioned as a dancer, but Sofie definitely knew who owned the club. Surprisingly, Sofie and Vala hit it off, and now they hang out. They particularly enjoy picking each other up from school in their rival uniforms, being awesome and hot, and doing things they are probably not supposed to do.
10) Most people interpret Sofie as depressed and Vala as carefree, but it's basically the opposite. Sofie has a very zen attitude about things she can't control, but Vala is constantly fretting. Vala tends to have two modes, on and off, 0% or 100%. She's just very good at hiding her slight desperation.
11) Vala really, really, really wants to be in love.