Juliette Doyle

A topic under Characters.

Eila Doyle's mother. Heads the Ministry of Decorum.

Copied from the Story World Docs - July 24th.

JULIETTE DOYLE

Juliette Doyle is fiercely driven, and smart. She picked Atwell like a flower from a garden, loving everything about him at first sight. His looks, the way he talked, and his obvious social standing, already a star at the Ministry just five years in. Courting officially began when Atwell was 20 and and Juliette just 17. Builders can’t marry until they are 30, because the Ministry must come first, but Juliette held out for Atwell, and they married 10 years later, and had Eila a year after that.

Juliette is a first generation worker at the Ministry of Decorum, and the only first generation to ever become Head. She knows that there are whispers that this is only because she is married to Atwell, and that the couple is favored by Prime Minister Morrison. But Juliette also knows the truth: she’s the best.

This comes at a cost. Juliette always feels like she has something to prove, and that means long hours at the Ministry. She works more than anyone there, and although it makes her feel guilty every time, she often comes home late and leaves her children in the care of their handmade, Harney Genor.

Juliette’s family lives on the other side of Waldron’s Gate. They are Tailors. Juliette worked hard to move from the hydrangea bushes of the tailors to the roses on the better side of the museum, and is somewhat embarrassed about where she came from. Tailors make things that must be made, but now Juliette gets to decide what is beautiful. She sees them when she can, but is too busy as it is, making time for her old family is something she thinks of sometimes, but never does.

We have a line to walk with Juliette. We do want to like her, but she is a total fucking bitch. She judges everything on its exterior beauty, not because she’s an awful person, but because that’s what she’s supposed to do.

She questions her motives, and wants to know why she does things, which is something that most people just never think to wonder.

Juliette’s first perfect moment of clarity came when she was a small child. She remembered looking at a bird as it sang from a tree. She remembered thinking that it was beautiful, and being able to articulate why. From the way one color played with another on its feathers to the way its song lightened the air. As if in a trance she noticed the people around her, the shapes of their faces and bodies, the colors and cut of their clothes. She trudged behind her parents in wonder, trying to understand what she couldn’t then, but had many times since: these thoughts have value.

Juliette had aimed for a position at the Ministry of Decorum ever since. And while she does love her family, she also loves doing what she loves and being the best — sometimes too much.

Unlike her husband, and most of their neighborhood’s residents, Juliette does believe in The Crown. She admits to Atwell that maybe it’s silly, but she can’t help but believe in him. Her family always has, they even went to church, and she thinks that had it not been for The Crown, she would never have found her true calling.