#So far Dare Devil is his best sire son

[silly-fox-in-sox]

What a cool old boy he was. 

[josefavomjaaga]

December 1812. Napoleon leaves, Murat takes over

This is all taken from Eugène’s correspondence again. Just for the "fun" of it, let's get back in the timeline to the point when Napoleon leaves the army after the Russian Campaign. Or rather during it, as for those who stayed it was far from over, with the worst yet to come.

After the Berezina crossing Eugène at first is simply relieved to (as he and apparently even Napoleon assume) have reached safety:

Eugene to the vice queen. Illja, 1st December 1812, evening.

Tomorrow, my dearest Auguste, I will go to Molodotschino, which is on the road from Minsk to Wilna, and now communication has been reopened. Thank God! It is too cruel to stay so long without giving news or receiving news of objects so dear to the heart. We are all very tired from a long march and from a cold that reddens the tip of our noses in a terrible way. My health has not suffered, fortunately, but I have exactly my whole household on the pallet. The Emperor is well, and is very good to me. He had the extreme consideration of writing to the Empress Marie-Louise to give you news of me, at times when it was impossible for me to do so myself.

There exists also a rather misleading letter, apparently written at the explicit order of Napoleon by Maret in Vilna to Eugène's wife Auguste in Milan, stating that "some cossacks threatened momentarily the communications" and that for this reason Eugène may not haven written to Auguste for several days. But other than that, everything's fine, Eugène is fine, and this campaign, if anything, "has only strengthened His Majesty's attachment" to the viceroy. Considering that, when Maret wrote this, Eugène's army corps had been reduced to a couple of thousand men at best, this might be a rather optimistic view of the situation. But apparently Napoleon tried to reassure Auguste about her husband at several occasions; I do not know if Maret had to write similar letters to other ladies as well.

Then, on December 5, there's Napoleon's departure, after a public reading of the 29th bulletin and a staged discussion about how it was absolutely necessary for Napoleon to go to Paris immediately. Like most of the high ranking officers, Eugène probably was aware of Napoleon's plans, as this letter seems to be written before Napoleon made his intention public:

Eugène to Napoleon, 5 December 1812.

Sire, I have no right to try to infiltrate the wishes of Your Majesty; but if, as is probable, Your Majesty will not delay in yielding to the wishes of France, and if his intention is to leave me in the army with the King of Naples, I take the liberty of asking for a new testimony of his kindness to me... Sire, I have devoted my life to the service of Your Majesty. It would be painful for me to be employed only for the glory of another prince, especially considering the feelings of this person towards me; feelings which Your Majesty is as familiar with as I am. I therefore dare to ask for an order to return to Italy, at the time which Your Majesty considers most suitable. Should Your Majesty leave me in the army, I shall remain there as long as it pleases Your Majesty, and I shall continue to serve Your Majesty with the same zeal and the same devotion.

Interestingly enough, Eugène seems to have no doubt at all that superior command would go to Murat; at least to him this seems to have been the natural choice. Which makes me a bit supicious about all the lengthy discussions on this subject that, according to Caulaincourt, had taken place before Napoleon made his decision. To this letter, Napoleon answers on December 5, in Smorgoni:

My dear son, I have received your letter; do your duty and rely on me. I am the same for you, and know well what you need; never doubt my paternal feelings.

That's clearly pushing all the right buttons when it comes to Eugène: Do your duty, Daddy loves you, be a good boy.

Eugène, devoted husband that he is, also informs the Missus about this latest development.

Eugène to the vice-queen, December 6 1812, from his bivouac close to Ochmiana:

Good evening, my dear Auguste, I am well, in spite of the excessive cold, 18 degrees, I think, etc. You will no doubt know by now that the Emperor has left the army to go to Paris; you can bet that his presence there was necessary. Each of us remains at his post; however, I have hope that, if nothing happens this winter, I will be able to join you. I desire it, for more than one reason; besides, I am not in the mood to serve under the King of Naples, who has just taken command of the army. But as for leaving now, that would have been wrong of me, and we must remain at our post, whether it be good or bad. Farewell, my dearest Auguste, I shall be in Wilna the day after tomorrow, from where I shall send you Allemagne: the poor devil is very tired, I thought today that he was frozen solid.

So, Eugène in both letters hints at a rather selfish motive for his unwillingness to remain under Murat's orders: He does not want to contribute to an eventual success of his rival. He need not have worried, seeing as it all soon turned into disaster. The other motive is Murat's supposed resentment towards Eugène, a feeling that Napoleon is aware of (according to Eugène at least). I must say, from his correspondence I can see plenty of resentment of Eugène towards Murat. But I would really love to know what bad things Murat ever really did to Eugène personally. So far I cannot come up with anything.

As soon as Napoleon was gone, discipline and morale in the army seem to have dissipated. From yet another bivouac, close to Wilna, two days later Eugène already has to tell his wife that he has lost almost all his baggage and horses and had to leave twenty servants on the road who had been unable to continue to follow the army's march. It also becomes clear how broken and depressed he feels when he writes: "All our sorrows, all our labours will be forgotten as soon as we are returned to our families. Every day teaches us further that true happiness lies only there. Kiss for me my four little angels, I do it every day in my mind, as at every moment of my life I think of the happiness that heaven has poured upon me by uniting our destinies. May we soon come together and never leave each other again."

It would still take another six months until he could return to Milan to see his family again. But unlike many, he at least did.

[bloxdstained]

&.  caitlin stasey : female : she/her : no one is alone by into the woods cast –  It seems anastasia thorne has been lured to Volterra. the twenty-one / 5000+ # -year-old vampire has been in the city for a few days. Whispers in volterra says they’re nomadic.  doesn’t playful warm smiles, fancy gowns and an array of tiaras, sharp knives emerging from hidden places, laughter and dancing, a fiercely compassionate and passionate soul, and a touch of mercy remind you of them?   ⸢  penned by alias : sirius age : 29 tz :  gmt+1 pronouns: she/her. ⸥

anastasia grew up as the youngest child and only daughter to a wealthy family

from before her birth she was engaged to the next king to be, Elias Thorne. and while she didn’t entirely understand this until she was about seven-eight years old, much less the whole meaning of it before her early teens, it in many ways influenced her childhood growing up. 

her mother was warm and loving, but very strict. and her father was proud and protective, but had high expectations. the moment she fell short of those expectations, his wrath was terrifying within the walls of their family home. 

for the most part, her childhood was a happy one. filled with silly games, flower picking, sewing, enjoying the nature all around them. ana loved to get lost in the woods and was a dreamer at heart, picturing her future, the travels she’d make, the people she would meet. 

when her marriage finally did happen, she was ecstatic. most of all to get to be alone with Elias after the ton of family gatherings and parties they’d been too as each others dates, but never had much time just the two of them. 

as she had been counseled and trained to, ana threw everything she had into her marriage and her role as queen. at first she found it all very exciting, though she also held herself back in certain areas. like not speaking up when she disagreed on the policies and politics her husband and king chose. or telling him if there was something she wanted from him. 

with a little time though, she dared to drop those walls and simply be herself. honest and kind, concerned with justice but also mercy, passionate and loving, but also liking to play devils advocate. 

sometimes, to her great frustration, she struggled to get trough to Elias. his advisor and mother were the only two he took advice from, and it irked her that as his wife he would not listen to her as closely or heed her advice just every now and then. 

when his mother died, ana got her wish. he started to listen to her, value her advice. which meant she no longer had to go the long route to get him to see her points or understand what was best for their people. though the years of doing so had made her a skilled politician of her time.

a people that very much loved and adored her. for her kindness, her attentiveness to them, but most of all her merciful nature. 

she asked Elias to turn her not many days after he’d told her what he was. a bit hasty perhaps as she just wanted to be assured that she could be with him for what she thought would be forever. 

they lived quite harmoniously together, never involving anyone else in their relationship, often staying together rather than apart. like going on hunting trips with the soldiers when it was time to feed. though ana would sometimes stay behind with her ladies and throw them a bloody feast, which meant death for any human serving in the castle. 

since a hybrid baby would kill her as a human, and she as a vampire couldn’t have children, Anastasia asked Elias to help her make them a son. an immortal child. 

to this day she thinks of her son as one of the main contributors to the war that would soon follow and the destruction of their kingdom. the death of their people.. 

she stayed behind only to protect their child, being quite the skilled fighter and no stranger to bloodshed. after all, as a queen she would defend her people however she could, first with words, but when they did not suffice, with knives and blades. 

but the sound and smells of the battlefield caused her son, who had no control to begin with, to loose himself. killing their guards and her ladies, Ana was all that stood between him and the open war. knowing that he would kill everything in his path, not caring who was foe and who was ally, she tried to hold him back for hours. eventually, she was forced to take his life. 

taking the life of someone she loved with all her heart shattered ana. and the thought of telling Elias what she had done.. she could not. so she fled, running as far and wide as she could. facing her husband would mean facing her sins, their loss, twice the pain she was already feeling and she could not handle that. 

hearing that their kingdom had been lost, she felt even more guilty. she shouldn’t have left him to deal with it all alone.. but it was done, and she could not move backwards. 

in the years since she has traveled far and wide, exploring the world in ways she wasn’t quite able to as a queen to a great kingdom. 

admittedly, being free to roam, to think only of herself, to dream on her own behalf only has been good for her, but the guilt and grief has never quite left her. 

personality ;

ana has always believed in second chances, and she still does. even if her own seems to be taking it sweet time. 

while she doesn’t mind the modern times, she has taken a lot of her old court ways with her from her time as queen. she loves to dance, to throw lavish parties, to go out for picnics and drink wine long into the night. all in all having a good time and see others have that as well.

she’s a charming and witty type of girl who would rather joke and laugh than dig too deep emotionally. this is because she’s hiding from her own negative emotions. 

she is carefree and pretty much thinks there is no limit to what she can do or where she can go. 

as a friend, a lover or ally she is loyal, compassionate and warm. she loves with all her being, and throws not just her head but her heart into everything she does. 

she’s in the process of setting up a little flower shop in Volterra, coming there because she is curious about the gathering of vampires and because she has a great love of Italy. 

she speaks a number of languages, but her favorite is french. a lot of her nicknames for those close to her are french words. 

there’s not really a middle ground for her emotionally as she feels everything very deeply. this can at times make her volatile, though rarely does she lash out at others unless she totally looses control.

she is one of the oldest vampires alive and thus expects a certain amount of respect when people approach her or comes to understand who she is, though she is not overly prideful or entitled. 

she still uses her last name from Elias, ‘Thorne’ because she likes to still feel connected to him, despite knowing that they could never be what they were and having expected him to have moved on, and might not be all that thrilled to see her.

Connections ;

her ladies ! (I would LOVE for some of her court ladies to have either stayed with her or still be active vampires)

lovers – ana has had many over the years, both male and female 

friends, recent and old ones 

guards – ana made her own personal guard, vampires only loyal to her that she’s probably sired or befriended trough the centuries 

best friend – her closest friend and the only one she’ll fully open up to 

any and all connections one can think of! she’s wide open :D