Cornelia venait de rentrer à travers le bar bondé du côté de Lady Callaghan quand un homme avec un accent épais s'approchait d'eux et commença à parler.
"Scuse me manque," a-t-il dit. "'Scuse me manque, mais je ne t'ai pas seulement demandé ce personnage de justicier, n'est-ce pas?" Cornelia s'est tournée vers l'homme. Il avait de courts cheveux noirs et portait un long manteau.
Cornelia l'a vu se méfier. Il était plutôt musclé, fortement bâti, et ses vêtements usés faisaient croire à Cornelia qu'il n'était pas un Technocrate. De plus, quel Technocrate serait dans la Rump et Harrow autre que Lady Callaghan? Et même lady Callaghan aux cheveux rouges n'était là que pour pêcher pour l'information. Cornelia a décidé qu'il n'y aurait aucun mal à lui répondre honnêtement.
Cornelia a sorti une cuillerée de ses cheveux blonds de son visage avant de parler. -- En fait, je l'ai fait, répondit-elle d'un ton neutre, en regardant attentivement l'homme et en jaugeant sa réaction. "Savez-vous quelque chose sur le caractère de la "vigilante"?" Elle s'interrogea dans ce qu'elle espérait être une voix innocente, s'inclinant la tête vers le côté toujours si légèrement qu'elle attendit qu'il réponde.
De l'autre côté du bar, il y avait une grande commotion, car un homme offrait à tout le monde des boissons gratuites. Cornelia leva un sourcil; il était déjà très, très, soûl, et regrettait son offre le matin, ou il avait beaucoup d'argent à épargner et rien à voir avec l'argent. Elle a réorienté son attention vers l'homme qui était venu vers elle. Ça ne lui ferait pas de bien d'être distrait-et distrait par quelque chose d'aussi hors de propos qu'un ivrogne qui offre à tout le monde d'acheter à boire-dans un moment comme celui-ci.
Name: Cornelia Vernell
Age: 21
Social Class: Prole
Employment: Maid
Skills and abilities: 
Cornelia may not be able to read and write, but she is an expert when it comes to scrubbing stubborn stains out of fine china or dusting furniture. She is fairly adept at sewing and mending clothing, and she possesses basic culinary skills. Cornelia is strangely good at slipping unnoticed in and out of rooms and eavesdropping on conversations. She has a sharp memory and is very perceptive and people-smart.
Cornelia's relatively small stature allows her to fit into tight spaces and lithely navigate her way through the streets. She knows the basics of lock picking, and she is quick and agile and can adapt and improvise in a sticky situation.
Equipment: 
*A small pocket knife that she keeps on her person; usually down the front of her dress, at all times in case of emergency. The blade itself is only about two or three inches long, and the hilt is plain and unadorned
*A few thin strips of nondescript cloth that she uses to tie her hair back
*A needle and a spool of thread to mend things quickly if the need ever arises
*Six hairpins of varying lengths and widths that Cornelia uses to pick locks; again, only if the need ever arises
Personality: 
Cornelia is a blunt and upfront woman who will tell you the truth if you ask for it. Cornelia doesn't believe in sugarcoating her words and can have a rather abrasive tone. Cornelia tends to be extremely matter-of-fact and direct, though she isn't stupid enough to speak her mind around Technocrats or Meritocrats. She is a very pragmatic person who places no importance on faint possibilities and focuses instead on the realities of life. Cornelia holds no naive illusions of marrying a wealthy Technocrat and bettering her station in life; she knows and fully accepts that she was born a Prole and lives as a Prole and will marry a Prole and will die as a Prole. In Cornelia's mind, there is nothing that she can do to change that, so she might as well make the best out of it.
Cornelia has a rather dry sense of humor and appreciates a good dose of sarcasm or irony. She dislikes prissy Technocrats and Meritocrats who are full of themselves, but she can be good company and interesting to talk to, so long as you don't mind her frequent swearing. Cornelia has a sharp intellect to her despite the fact that she is completely illiterate, and knows to clean up her act while in the presence of people in a higher social class than she. Keenly perceptive and more aware of her surroundings than one might think, Cornelia doesn't miss much. Her position as a servant also allows her to eavesdrop on conversations without seeming suspicious. Cornelia is more than willing to trade pieces of information for money and food, something that quite a few of her employers have found out the hard way. Cornelia is loyal to those that she trusts and highly suspicious of everyone else, which hasn't led to her being the most popular person amongst the people she knows. Her mother used to joke that Cornelia's most formidable weapon was her acerbic tongue.
General Back Story: 
Cornelia Vernell is the daughter of a factory worker and a seamstress. She has three younger siblings, who are named Victoria, Jesse, and Giles. Her older sister, Adriella, died in a factory after some of the machinery malfunctioned. As a Prole, Cornelia has felt and survived all of the hardships that come with poverty; going to bed hungry, being looked down upon by the upper classes, and generally being treated like shit. For the most part, Cornelia keeps her head down and accepts things the way that they are. She is more concerned with making ends meet than stirring the pot.
Cornelia had a very close relationship with Adriella, who was eight years older than her. Adriella was always someone Cornelia looked up to and admired. She died when Cornelia was twelve, leaving her devastated and feeling alone despite the fact that she still had three younger siblings who were all at least two years younger than her to take care of. Adriella's death also made Cornelia feel a slight resentment toward the Technocrats, whom she believes are to blame for the malfunctioning machinery.
As a child and teenager, Cornelia mostly worked as a seamstress with her mother or performed household chores like looking after her younger brothers and sisters or cleaning. She rarely ever saw her father because he worked long hours in a weapons factory. Like most Proles, Cornelia has no formal education to speak of. She is illiterate and knows only rudimentary arithmetic. Her mother taught her how to sew, cook, and clean.
At the age of fourteen, Cornelia began working as a scullery maid in the homes of wealthy Technocrats. She spent long hours scrubbing floors and scouring pots and quietly earning money to send home to her parents and siblings. Cornelia started living away from home and counted herself lucky that she was not toiling away in a factory and working twelve hours a day like the other people her age. When she first began working as in the households of Technocrats, Cornelia frequently mouthed off the people she worked for and has scars to show for it. Since then, she has matured and does her best to keep her mouth shut.
The first family she worked for was notorious for fighting tooth and nail and clawing their way to the very top. Cornelia never saw much of the actual family themselves, but she got into many fights with the cook, who was a gangly man with a fiery temper. The brash fourteen-year-old found herself holding her tongue for the first time in his presence. Not two months after landing the job, Cornelia was beaten so severely that she could not walk properly for six weeks. She was fired after the second week.
The second household Cornelia found employment with actually belonged to a family of Meritocrats, though they were essentially Technocrats in everything but name. The Clarksons were a powerful family of airship captains and merchants who built themselves from the ground up. It was there that Cornelia first began to involve herself with the affairs of her employers, taking money from the cunning Genevieve Clarkson to eavesdrop and provide her with information. Cornelia sent all of the aforementioned money back to her parents. However, after Genevieve died from a sudden illness, her brother Gabriel immediately got rid of Cornelia, knowing of Genevieve's ambitious scheme to rob him of his inheritance and Cornelia's involvement with it. Cornelia suspects that it was Gabriel who might have poisoned Genevieve, but it doesn't matter to her either way.
Cornelia began working for the Keanes when she was almost seventeen. Instead of being assigned to the kitchens like Cornelia expected, she was given the job of a parlor maid. One day, while she was dusting, she found herself the victim of a young man's unwanted advances. Fortunately, Cornelia was quick enough to slip out of the room before he could block her path, but the incident left her shaken and unnerved. Patrick Keanes, a tough-looking inventor, saw the potential in Cornelia, and began to use her to keep tabs on his extended family. With the help of the information Cornelia brought him, Patrick was able to thwart two attempts on his life. It was impossible for Cornelia to avoid being seen slipping in and out of Patrick's study, and soon enough, rumors about the two of them began to circulate, especially because of Cornelia's beauty and youth. However, Patrick didn't care what other people thought about him, and neither did Cornelia. Eventually, Patrick's wife got so fed up with the constant whispering that she let Cornelia go.
Unemployed yet again, Cornelia found her fourth job with the Enrights. Louisa Ann Enright, the lady of the house, was an influential scientists, and her deceased husband was an accomplished writer. Cornelia works as a parlor maid and serving girl for the Enrights. She had another nasty incident during her second week there with a middle-aged man, but Cornelia smashed a silver pitcher against his head before he could do anything and fled. Louisa sympathized with Cornelia, so there were no repercussions, to Cornelia's immense surprise. She had been expecting a harsh punishment for her actions. Louisa too has seen some greater worth in Cornelia and has tasked her with spying on other scientists who could potentially steal Louisa's designs.
Cornelia rarely ever sees her family, although she has been sending them about half of her wages ever since she began working. She treasures what little time she gets to spend with them, and often brings gifts for her parents and siblings.
Cornelia is about five feet and six inches tall. She is rather slender and is naturally fair-skinned. Cornelia has wavy light gold hair that end just below her shoulder blades. It is usually pulled back away from her face and out of her eyes. She has a heart-shaped face and grey-green eyes framed by long eyelashes. Cornelia knows that others consider her "pretty", but she doesn't really think much of it. Cornelia would rather be ugly and full than pretty and starving. Her natural good looks have made her the target of unwanted attention, and she considers herself lucky that so far, she has escaped relatively unscathed from a few close calls. Cornelia's hands are rough and calloused from years of manual labor, and she has small, nimble fingers. Cornelia usually dresses simply and plainly due to the fact that she never has much money to spend on fancy clothes. Her typical attire consists of a roughspun dress and an apron. At first glance, there isn't much to say about Cornelia other than her unusually attractive appearance for a Prole, but there is always a sly glint in her eyes that hint at a whole different person under her creamy white skin and golden locks.