Chané Laforet

Chané Laforet (シャーネ・ラフォレット Shāne Raforetto) is the eldest daughter of Huey Laforet and Renee Paramedes Branvillier. She takes part in the Lemures' hijacking of the Flying Pussyfoot in December 1931.

In the aftermath of the 1931 incident, Chané joins Jacuzzi's Gang and grows to deeply care for the delinquents. Chané is reunited with her father in 1935, and meets her sister Leeza Laforet for the first time.

Eventually, she marries Felix Walken and they start a family. Both of them are alive and in their nineties in August 2002.

Appearance
Chané resembles Huey far more than she does her mother. She has his black hair and golden eyes, his pale complexion and lean build. Even her hairstyle resembles his in the way, it splays out on either side. However, Chané's features are more pronounced and angular than either her father's or her sister's.

She usually wears a Spanish-styled strapped dress, long black gloves and black boots that are below the knees.

Personality
Thanks to Huey's brainwashing from birth, Chané is initially devoted to Huey almost to the point of fanaticism. For a long time, she sees herself solely as a mere tool for her father to use and does not seek his affections (in contrast to her sister Leeza, who craves his affection).

The events aboard the Flying Pussyfoot (including her run-ins with the Rail Tracer and Ladd Russo) would affect Chané greatly. She started to doubt herself, her lifestyle, her actions. This was exacerbated when she fell in with Jacuzzi Splot's gang, whose kindness initially confused her. As she got to know them, she found her world expanding; suddenly her father was not the only person in her life--here were people wanting to be friends with her, here was a man who claimed to love her. Away from Huey, Chané began to develop into an individual, and for the first time in her life she found herself caring about others.

She changes to the point where she goes so far as to openly side against the Lamia, one of her father's factions. However, Chané still loves and remains loyal to Huey, and she looks forward to the uncertain day when her father is released from prison. Although she is loyal to Huey, she does not share his immoral personality. In fact, she was openly opposed to the idea of taking an entire train hostage despite the fact that it was for her father's freedom.

Chronology
(To be expanded.)

Pre-1931
In 1922, Huey and a young Chané go for a walk. Given her unique relation to him, he tells her that he will show her a glimpse of the knowledge that only he holds and explains that she cannot tell anyone of it or use it for herself. She promises that she won't, and he prepares to show her 'all that is forbidden' - that of his goal, and the world as he sees it through his own eyes. He acknowledges that he is practically forcing this on her, and says that if she wishes for anything in return she may ask him.

Her request is simple: She wants Huey to take her voice from her. Huey calls Chané "truly a good child," and reassures her that it will only take a moment's work to take her voice away. He does so. The specifics of how and when are unknown.

In September 1925, Chané accompanies her father to the docks of New York. There, her father seeks out Tock Jefferson (Tim), a twelve year old boy who has run away from home. Chané watches as Huey introduces himself to Tock as a monster, thrusting his hand into his lantern. The skin melts off his immolated hand, only to slip back into place soon after. Huey is impressed with Tock's calm reaction, and calls out to Chané that it appears that their guest does not intend to flee. She may go.

Chané nods and vanishes, sprinting soundlessly into the darkness of night.

1931-1932
On December 29, 1931 Chané gathers with the other Lemures in an abandoned factory under the orders of Goose Perkins. During the meeting, Nader Schasschule attempts to betray Goose and fails. Chané severs his right hand with one of her knives.

On the evening of December 30, Chané boards the Flying Pussyfoot along with the Lemures, a cult that wishes to free her father from prison. The Lemures plan to hijack the train and take hostages, whom they intend to use for negotiation purposes. Chané does not approve of the terrorists' methods, and knows that they really only want her father in order to learn his secret of immortality. She is also aware that the Lemures plan to kill her on the train; however, she goes along with their plans in order to see how much they can accomplish.

While aboard the Flying Pussyfoot, Chané kills a White Suit that is threatening Mary Beriam, whom she captures and delivers to the Lemures. Later, she fights with Ladd Russo on top of the train. Their second encounter is interrupted by the Rail Tracer (Claire Stanfield) who takes a liking to Chané and proposes to her. She is shocked by the proposal - it is the first time someone has told her that they love her. At the Rail Tracer's request she carves her answer to his question in the roof, telling him that she will be in Manhattan. She proceeds to leap off the train and into the river, so as to avoid arrest.

Several members of Jacuzzi's Gang fish her out of the river and bring her to their temporary residence. Chané is confused by their kindness towards her, and she remains aloof for the first few days she is with them. While in their company, she is kidnapped by Graham Specter, (who believes she is Eve Genoard). At Graham's warehouse, she swipes at Graham with her knife and he realizes his mistake. He is impressed by her fighting prowess, and is excited at the thought of fighting her. Jacuzzi Splot's sudden arrival interrupts the fight, and he offers himself up in exchange for Chané's release. Nice Holystone and the rest of Jacuzzi's gang show up soon after, along with Claire.

Chané is flabbergasted that they would go out of their way to come for her, that Jacuzzi would willingly sacrifice himself for someone he barely knows. When Claire proposes to her again, she accepts.

1933
By September 1933, Chané has become a full fledged member of the gang, and has grown to think of them as friends.

One day in the Genoard Mansion, she sees Tick and Maria walking through the garden. Thinking that they mean her friends harm, she rushes to the garden and attacks Maria. When she hears Jacuzzi scream, she reenters the manor and witnesses Dallas Genoard regenerating. She is further alarmed when she hears Tim talking about making people immortal. She knows that the more immortals there are, the greater threat there is of her father being devoured. She charges Tim but is blocked by Adele, who cuts her face. They proceed to have a stand-off.

Chané is present when Dallas casually reveals to Jacuzzi's gang that Huey is in charge of the Larva, and the revelation sends her mind reeling. She considers the possibility that her father might deem Jacuzzi and his gang specimens, and wonders if she'd really be alright with letting her new friends die - or if he told her to kill them herself. At the height of her inner turmoil, Claire enters the room and embraces her, telling her that everything will be fine.

Claire proceeds to 'talk' with her and assure her that he'll settle things with Ronny and make sure that Chané's friends are unharmed - and to leave her father to him. He adds that he's not happy about the cut on her face, and that he can't "let it slide on a personal level, see." He then saunters over to Dallas and intimidates him into confessing what he is hiding. Jacuzzi and his gang leave to talk with Tim, while Chané and Claire head for their hideout.

Chané arrives at the abandoned factory (their hideout) just in time to see Maria advancing towards Chané's fellow gang member Fang Lin-Shan, with Tick and Eve nearby. Furious, Chané throws one of her knives at Maria's back. The knife is deflected. The two woman appraise each other - Chané gives her full attention to Maria, since Maria was the one who'd threatened Chané's friend. Claire interrupts the tense stand-off by greeting Tick; he is interested that Luck Gandor decided to send Tick to handle the negotiation business.

Thrown off by Claire's arrival, Maria asks Chané if she's still good to fight. Claire assures Chané that he can handle it, and quickly identifies Eve as one of Luck's and Keith Gandor's friends. Fang introduces her to Claire, and Chané is surprised to learn that Eve is the owner of the house she is staying at.

The group is soon joined by Jacuzzi, who informs them that the Larva and Dallas are planning to storm the Mist Wall tomorrow.

The next day, Chané, Claire, Tick, Maria, Fang, and Eve head to the Mist Wall. As Eve and Fang step back, Claire attempts to lockpick the main entrance, only for Ennis to arrive and physically kick the door down, Chané and the others take the elevator to the Babel Restaurant on the top floor. There, she witnesses the arrival of the Lamia and the killing of the restaurant manager (and his regeneration). When Claire and Christopher Shaldred take their fight outside (through the windows and onto the pyramid), Hong Chi-Mei and Chané follow. There, she and Claire fight against Leeza and Christopher in the raging storm - although Chané is not aware that Leeza is her sister at the time.

During the fight, Claire brings up the very dilemma that Chané has been worried over: if Huey ordered her to kill Claire, whom would she choose? Claire...or Huey? Claire confidently states that she can still follow her orders and pick him (Claire) at the same time. If Huey orders her to kill Claire, then she should try to do that as best she can. Claire will just avoid everything that Chané throws at him, and they can keep on loving each other.

An explosion rocks the restaurant, and Chané heads down to see if their friends are all right at Claire's urging. When she returns, she 'informs' Claire that Firo and "the kids" are fine. Chi leaves with Christopher slung over his shoulder. Claire and Chané make their way down into the restaurant, and after looking around they head for the elevator. Once inside the elevator, Claire muses about Huey and Nebula, and decides that if something strange happens again he's going to have a talk with Huey.

1934
In 1934, Chané has an unwelcome encounter with Spike, who was part of the Lemur faction aboard the Flying Pussyfoot in 1931. Chané also becomes friends with Miria Harvent when the woman stays with Jacuzzi's gang at the manor--she is grateful that Miria readily accepts her muteness and abnormalities.

1935
Chané reunites with her father in February 1935, and formally meets her sister Leeza for the first time. The two sisters go on patrol together near Ra's Lance that same month. During their patrol Chané spots Nader and attacks him, remembering how he betrayed her father in 1931. Worried that she has grown soft over the past few years, she resolves to kill Nader without any semblance of feeling.

Abilities
Chané is one of the most capable combatants in the series, capable of going toe-to-toe with Ladd Russo, Graham Specter, and Maria Barcelito, all of which are highly powerful fighters in their own right. She specializes in knives. She is athletic and light on her feet (able to fight on top of a moving train with ease), and sports superior reflexes - dodging Ladd's bullets and blocking them with her knives to name the most impressive examples.

She was responsible for numerous White Suit deaths aboard the Flying Pussyfoot, and the Lemures considered her their trump card against the other faction.

Relationships
Huey Laforet - Chané's father and supposedly the only person to show her any form of love during her childhood. As a result, she was completely devoted to him and voluntarily gave up her voice for his benefit. She was involved in her father's work from a young age, helping him to recruit others to his side and aiding him in his experiments. She is aware that her father sees her nothing more as a tool but loves him anyway. Huey's attitude is somewhat apathetic towards her -- he view her as an experiment, and is really only interested in her from the viewpoint of a clinical researcher. Huey has never told Chané that he loves her. And he doesn't.

Leeza Laforet - Chané's younger sister. The two meet in 1935, and Chané is largely uncertain about how to act around her newfound sister - how to relate to her, how to talk to her, how to feel about her.

Felix Walken/Claire Stanfield – Chané and Claire's initial meeting on board the Flying Pussyfoot was...odd. While Claire fell in love with her immediately, Chané was bewildered by his sentiments and felt threatened by his solipsism. When she arrives in Manhattan, she decides to kill Claire (believing him to be a threat to Huey). Her resolve wavers when she receives a gift in the mail from Claire; it is the first time someone other than her father gave her a gift. She changes her mind about Claire when the two reunite at Graham's factory, and they start courting. Chané is the only one allowed to 'call' him Claire after he changes his name to Felix Walken. The two eventually marry and start a family.

Renee Paramedes Branvillier - Renee is Chané's mother, and handed Chané over to Huey when Chané was but an infant. Chané has never met her, but it should be noted that Renee has been persistently asking Huey to let her 'reclaim' Chané for her experiments.

The Lemures - Though the Lemures respected her combat prowess, it is clear that the cult does not value her life nor respect her as a person. She in turn has no affection for her comrades.

Jacuzzi's Gang – Chané is initially bewildered by Jacuzzi and co.'s kind treatment of her--they don't seem to want anything from her like the Lemures did. They don't want to use her either, an idea that she finds totally foreign. Eventually she warms towards their concern and realizes that she thinks of them as friends. It is an entirely new relationship for her: while her relationship with Huey is borne out of one-sided love, this relationship is built on reciprocity, on mutual love and trust and respect.

She becomes fiercely loyal to her new 'family' and is determined not to let harm befall them. If a member of the gang is in danger, she will immediately rush to their defense. For example, Chané hurries to protect Fang Lin-Shan as soon as she arrives at the factory and sees Maria advancing upon him with a katana (1933). She cares about them to the point where she will go against her father if they are in danger because of him.

Trivia

 * Chané's first name means "oak-hearted" in French. Her surname "Laforet" literally translates as "the forest."
 * Chané shares similarities with Celty Sturluson, a character from Ryohgo Narita's light novel series Durarara!!. Both characters are mute and communicate via the written word.