The American Sweetheart.
canon divergent Celia St. James from
The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo

❛ What do you want us to do?
Ruin each other all over again? ❜

independent, selective, headcanon based
est. 2021 as adored by Chris

I. Disclaimer; I by no means claim ownership of Celia St. James a beautifully written character out of the equally as captivating novel, ❛The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo❜ neither do I have any affiliation to Taylor Jankins Reid or the beautiful and incredibly talented Jessica Chastain, whom I chose as face claim for Celia. I took the liberty to build a character based on & around the characterization given in the novel, therefore the interpretation of Celia is mine, as is the writing unless stated differently (e.g. direct quotes out of the book). All gifs and images used belong to their respectful owners!! Header, sidebar, post-headers & promo were commissioned from rylanmakes. She's awesome, I recommend you go & check her stuff out! This account obviously is NOT spoiler free, I highly recommend you read the book because it is beautiful but rest assured I will spoiler you mercilessly and tell you all you need to know. Now that we have that out of the way, hi again!! My name is Chris, I am thirty years old and I have been writing & rping on and off tumblr for over a decade now (geez I am getting old), writing has always been a hobby of mine and I intend to keep it as such!! Therefore general rules and roleplay-etiquette apply here too, everything else functions as means to give you an idea of me & my portrayal of Celia.

II. Content & Canon Divergence; considering I am well of age, mature themes will be present on this account. While the novel, at least in most of the flashbacks, Celia appears in takes part during the 50s and the years following, I have decided to set Celia into today's day & age and therefore tweaked certain aspects of her story (e.g. in the book Celia is scouted by Paramount, I will have her be scouted by an agent). Because sexuality and the masking of who we truly are, while much more widely accepted, is still an issue, especially if you are a public figure. Should you however wish to set a thread or plot in the past, so that fully sticks with the book's canon, please let me know because I would love to do that!! Another major difference is that Celia in the book is described as blue eyed, while Jessica has green eyes, which I shall be sticking with. The major difference is, that I have Celia decide to come out publicly eventually.

IV. Selectivity & Mutuals Only; for the sake of my sanity, I will interact with mutuals only which is self-explanatory. HOWEVER because tumblr and its activity can be quite the b*tch at times and as stated before, I am not always around , there is a high chance I miss your follow so if you want to plot & interact and have ideas, please, please, please throw an ask my way!! I love meeting new people and plotting and character building is one of my favourite things to do!! Now, this also means that if I follow you I am really interested in writing & plotting with you!! I don't follow for follow, I follow to plot and interact!!

III. Relationships; I absolutely love building relationships of any kind, whether it be romantic or platonic or even an anti-ship (you know, when our Muses don't get along). If you have read the book then you know that Evelyn Hugo is the love of Celia's life and I will portray her with that in mind, , however, there were long periods they spend apart and who is to say Celia cannot lose her heart again? To someone else this time around? That said, Celia is a lesbian and will be written as such. I will be treating her verses as her roles, the "movies she has made", so to speak, in those the possibility for her to still explore and come to terms with her sexuality exists. Meaning romantic and sexual interactions with men, if plotted properly, are a possibility, but never the end game. Celia is a lesbian.

V. Activity; because my schedule IS so horribly inconsistent my activity is bound to be too but the queue is my best friend. On top of that, I have ADHD which is bound to impact my activity too. Even if I'm lurking & on the dash and have the muse to do replies, there is always the chance that my brain might disagree with my plans and leave me unable to produce anything of substance. Because I do get highly invested in interactions and occasionally tend to hyper-fixate on plots & interactions too, the other side of the medal is that I'll fire out replies immediately after getting them, so everything has its pros and cons, right? Something that greatly helps me to get invested in interactions and keep my attention high is if we interact ooc!! I'm quite the fan of throwing random plots and starters and writing prompts / asks your way and the more we talk ooc the more I will do that!!

VI. Plotting; I absolutely love plotting and character building, I am quite literally game for any plot!! For the most part, I tend to plot and develop during ooc conversations and while I love unplotted interactions to see how our muses get along, I prefer to build and develop from there. It is far easier for my ADHD brain to get stay interested in and get attached to threads & interactions that are plotted, especially if we have an ooc connection!! :)

VII Smut; I enjoy writing smut, Celia doesn't necessarily need an emotional connection to your muse for that, depending on the setting!

I. Born and raised just outside of Savannah Georgia, Cecelia Jamison, so her actual name was scouted right out of her sheltered childhood home — a chance in more ways than one. Not that she was unhappy at home, her family quite large, well off, her childhood a happy one. It's quite a surprise to her family when she takes the opportunity because why would she chose to work? But how could she not? The glamour of Hollywood, a chance of making herself a name, away from her family— the chance to be herself.

II. Deep down she always knew that she would disappoint her family, her parents, her grandparents her siblings too–– sooner or later. The role of a housewife, of a stay-at-home mom, as was expected of her, a society lady, if you will, was never what she wanted. What she desired, truly was something different. The spotlight she enjoyed, but Celia could have that if she would have stayed home. Differently sure, but the attention she could have had. It's to lose herself in a role, in a character, to slip into a role that isn't her own to pretend someone she wasn't was quite freeing, even if she had spent most of her life pretending to be someone she wasn't.

VI. She is happy, blissfully happy, with Evelyn by her side. Celia is so happy that she even manages to accept that Evelyn, her Evelyn isn't ready to come out to risk it all. She even accepts the length she goes in order to hide it all, manages to swallow her jealousy when the woman she loves, the woman she knows loves her too, gets married to a rockstar in Las Vegas only to annul it less than twelve hours later. What she cannot accept, however, is that Evelyn is pregnant after the fact. It's one thing to tell yourself she did it for the headlines, that it meant nothing, it's another to accept that they still had sex. The betrayal cuts too deep, the lie does too –– Celia leaves, is set to come clean after. About herself, about who she truly is, but that would mean potentially outing Evelyn too. So she continues to live a lie, for Evelyn, for herself. She marries even. A gay man. A Football player. They're each other's beards. More lies, more secrets, but it does make her life easier, while her star continues to rise.

VII. Evelyn finds her way back into Celia's life, even while she tries to avoid her, however impossible it seems, considering the microcosmos they live within. This time around, and of that she is sure, it will be different, it will be forever because Evelyn marries her best friend — a gay man, who happens to be in a relationship with John, her husband. They leave LA for New York and live in bliss. Even if it's still a lie. Perhaps that's what causes it all to crumble in the end. That Evelyn has a child with Harry — Celia loves Conner, which considering she never wanted children is huge for her. But then how could she not? She is half Evelyn, so of course, she loves her, she does. And at first, it's okay, that she is only an aunt but eventually, it stings, that Conner isn't her daughter too. That Evelyn and Harry shared something she and Evelyn could never have. She struggles, with her jealousy, the fact that even now, when Evelyn was hers, she wasn't hers but she struggles with herself too, with the lie she keeps on living even though others have proven how empowering the truth can be.

Quick Stats

III. That she was different, was so unlike her sisters, was something she had discovered quite early on. Where her friends, her sisters too, of course, had crushes and got excited about boyfriends— Celia didn't. Sure, she tried the odd date, went for coffee and ice cream with boys whose heads she so easily turned but it just didn't feel right. Girls on the other hand... of course, she couldn't go on dates, not officially at least, to her family they were mere friends. That they secretly held hands and stole kisses behind locked doors was something they didn't need to know. Something they never could know. She would be the family's disgrace, would tarnish their good name.

IV. Leaving Georgia, escaping her mother's thumb, her expectations is freeing, at first at least because Celia still hides so much of herself. This time around her carrier is at stake. The agent that had scouted her, that had brought her to Hollywood told her, without missing a beat, that she couldn't come out because no man wanted to see a pretty girl like her and think he couldn't land with her because she was gay. Lesbians didn't fill movie theatres. Her grumbled complaints that storytelling, talent and a name did, went unheard.

V. A new city, the same secrets. Celia is tired of it, of hiding herself, of never truly being herself. She could change that, could come out. She has made a name for herself, has changed agents too but risking everything just as her star is raising? Her family might still disown her, that threat always looms above her head, even now that she has started to make a name for herself. There is a lot at stake, so she keeps quiet. It's quite cowardly, she knows but she pretends that it isn't. At least until she meets Evelyn when they work together and she falls head over heels. She is the one, Celia knows the second they meet during rehearsals, the one worth risking it all for.

VIII. It all becomes too much when Evelyn goes behind her back and asks for her blessing after the fact— a blessing Celia cannot give her. So she walks out on her again, she leaves New York in favour of Los Angeles, her divorce from John, which follows, the only logical consequence. Shortly after that, she is done with the lies once and for all. Her family as predicted, even if they had been so proud of her prior to the visit, is disappointed, even if they don't outright disown her. Only one of her brothers, while risking falling in disgrace himself, stays in touch with her. The one she had hoped to get a reaction from, she doesn't hear a single word. But then, what had she expected? That Evelyn follows her lead and finally fully embraces who she is? It had been wishful thinking, right from the start. That would never happen. It breaks her heart, to no longer have her in her life, to no longer share it with her, but at least she finally is free and is no longer living a lie.

I. You shouldn't have let me leave — Main; follows the books canon & my headcanons. Applicable for plots & muses of any kind. Celia is sure of her sexuality in this verse

II. It wasn't your good luck that helped you out it was me — Crime / Mafia; very loosely based on a most violent year, Celia is the daughter of a mob boss & marries one. Applicable for any crime & mob-based muses and plots. Celia knows she loves women, she married a man out of duty to her family

III. That we were living without any passion — Scenes from a Marriage; follows the show by the same name, re-write, continuation & general pain. canon-divergence: Mira Cecelia is (re)discovering her sexuality, she cheats on Jonathan with a woman.
Find my episode recaps & meta here & verse into posts with a little more info here.

More verses coming soon!!!

IV. Not all of us are gonna make it out alive — Horror / Dark inspired by The Final Girl Support Group, Celia is one of the final girls. She isn't all too close with the girls because the way she deals with her crisis is frowned upon by them. Making a career out of surviving a massacre is bound to be frowned upon but Celia rather told the story herself rather than have someone else do it for her. When a killer pics up final girl after final girl, she knows it's only a matter of time until they'll come for her too. She's prepared, but she is also ready to die. See verse introduction post for more info!