#i désiré him

[odeliba]

THIS IS FATAL YALL

[czolgosz]

so you know how jean will say french words/phrases in otherwise english sentences to be fashionable.. i think also that he doesn't actually know what things are normal to throw in so it just comes off as weird.

[dyns33]

Upon a dream

Dream x reader, being idiots, as always 

Morpheus was truly the best boyfriend in the world. Romantic, poetic, attentive, tender, passionate.

If he had been real, he would have been truly wonderful.

But unfortunately such a perfect man couldn't exist, and so it was normal that Y/N only met him in her dreams.

During one of her nocturnal wanderings, she had found herself in a huge library, his library, and even if he had been surprised to find her there, he had not chased her away, allowing her to explore, showing her the castle, chatting at length with her.

It had been a beautiful dream, which she thought she would quickly forget. But she had dreamed of him again the following night, then every other night.

She was trying to convince herself that it was no big deal.

Her life wasn't so terrible, she had her family, her friends, her job, her hobbies. There were plenty of people who remained celibate all their lives and were perfectly happy being alone in front of the television, eating ice cream and imagining an ideal lover who would visit them in their sleep.

Nothing special.

           "My love, you seem troubled tonight. Far from me. Are you alright ?"

           "Yes, Morpheus. Excuse me, I'm just tired." Y/N apologized with a smile, snuggling into his arms to forget her worries, and the fact that he wouldn't be there when she woke up.

           "Good. That's what I'm here for. You can rest in peace, I'm watching over you. What do you want to do, my love ? Lucienne would be happy to show you new books, Cain and Abel wish to tell new stories, Matthew asks for gossip from the waking world. We can also walk in the gardens, travel to the other side of the galaxy, or stay in bed. Tell me, my love, I am at your command."

           "You're adorable. Anything is fine with me, as long as we do it together."

           "My sweet." he whispered, kissing her.

As always, it was difficult for Y/N when she opened her eyes and found herself in her bedroom, alone, in her cold bed, just like when she went to sleep.

It was absurd, she repeated it to herself every time she was about to fall asleep, but a simple dream managed to make her feel things she had never felt in her entire existence. The human brain could really be fascinating. And dangerous.

Depressing.

Because even if she was terribly happy when she was with Morpheus, she was just as sad when she left him and returned to reality.

Several times, she had thought of talking to a doctor about it. To find a solution. But Y/N didn't really see what it was going to solve.

They were only going to tell her that she felt lonely, which she already knew, and that her dreams were trying to fill that void.

The only thing she could do was seek the company of real people when she was awake.

It was not easy.

If Y/N had been able to get a real boyfriend, she would have done it a long time ago.

And it was worse now, because no one could ever be as good as Morpheus. She was really in love with him.

In love with a dream, it was really depressing.

There was also this ridiculous idea in the back of her head, which kept telling her that it wouldn't be very proper to cheat on him. Even if he didn't exist.

He didn't exist. Morpheus didn't exist, he wasn't waiting for her in her dreams every night, he would never magically appear in front of her, and if he loved her, then he would understand that she was looking for someone to spend her life with.

After asking her friends for advice, one of them offered to introduce her to a charming man, with whom she could get along well. It was less risky than meeting a stranger, because they could tell he was a good person.

And if she didn't like him, it would be fine, she would find other suitors.

Désiré was indeed a charming man. Funny, kind, seductive. But during the whole evening they spent together, Y/N only thought of Morpheus.

When their hands touched at the end of the meal, she quickly pulled it away apologetically. He looked a little offended, but he didn't say anything, forcing a smile.

           "It seems to me that I am not up to it." he sighed when it was time to part ways. "I don't like to lose, but I know when I'm not... wanted. Which doesn't happen often. He's lucky. He doesn't deserve it."

           "... I don't understand what you are talking about."

           "Oh, darling. I think that's the part I find the funniest. He'll be pissed that we had dinner together, but I can't imagine his reaction at all when he finds out why we had dinner together. "

           "It's late, I have to go home."

           "You're right. Sweet dreams." he purred, throwing a kiss at her.

Y/N did not try to understand what Désiré had meant. No doubt he had drunk too much alcohol during the meal, and he had guessed that there was someone else in her heart.

Going to bed, she relaxed thinking that she was finally going to find Morpheus and his marvellous kingdom, after this long day.

The throne room was horribly empty and cold when she materialized there. Sitting on the steps of his huge staircase, Morpheus watched her with an impassive face.

           "How was my brother-sister ?"

           "... Your what ?"

           "Desire. You were with them all night. At first I thought I had to step in, that they were going to try to hurt you, but... Matthew told me you asked to have dinner with them. A "date". You asked your friends to find you a 'date', several 'dates'. So I'm not enough for you ? You don't love me anymore ? Are you making fun of me ?"

           "Morpheus." she sighed sadly. "Of course I love you. I love you more than anything."

           "But not enough to be faithful."

           "Oh, I knew my mind would go to that ground, it's really not fair."

           "... Your mind ?" he repeated slowly.

           "Listen, I love you. But you're not real. It's just a dream. I can't wake up every morning to be reminded that this isn't true, that I'm alone, not loved, and the only times I feel some joy are during my sleep, with a being that my subconscious has invented. You are perfect, and the more time I spend with you, in this fabulous world, the more I cut myself of the real world. It's not healthy."

           “It is true that it is not good for mortals to live in the Dream. But that does not mean that it is not real. That we are not real. You... You really don't know who I am ? You really don't know it's not just a dream ? It's never just a dream."

           "Morpheus... Don't make me hope in vain."

           "I told you to go on dates in the waking world, boss. Just because you always say you exist doesn't mean the lady is going to believe it's true."

The little raven trembled a bit when his master looked at him, flying away to rest on Y/N's shoulder, where he would be safe, for the moment.

           "Maybe I should have listened to you, Matthew. But it's not too late. Desire also showed me that our love was strong, they couldn't do anything against it. I just have to make up for my mistake."

Slowly, Morpheus stood up, approaching Y/N, who didn't know what to make of this dream. It really wasn't like the other nights.

He caressed her cheek tenderly, before kissing her like every time she was going to have to leave soon.

           "When you wake up my love, I'll be there and you won't have any reason to be sad, or look for another partner."

           "Don't make me..."

           "This dream is over."

Jumping up in bed, Y/N first looked at the window, seeing that it was still dark. She then looked at the time, which made her sigh. It was still very late.

           "Good evening my love."

This time, in addition to jumping, she screamed, falling off her bed. Immediately, a man came running to her side, asking her if she was alright and helping her to sit on the mattress. He had the voice of Morpheus. And his face.

No, it was impossible.

           "Well done, boss. Subtle. She wasn't scared at all."

           "Silence, Matthew. My love, forgive me, I told you I would be here."

           "... I'm still dreaming ?"

           "No."

           "So this is it, I'm crazy."

           "You are not in my younger sister's domain, I can assure you. I should have explained a lot about myself to you more clearly, I should have visited you in the waking world earlier. We were so happy I was not thinking, as soon as you appeared in front of me I only wanted to be with you and I did not see that I was hurting you. I apologize. My love, I am Morpheus, Dream of the Endless, king of dreams and nightmares, prince of stories, and I am very real."

           "... You are real." she said softly, touching his face to make sure he really wasn't an illusion. He closed his eyes when her fingers touched his skin, turning to make them pass on his lips. "All this time, you've been real. And I almost dated another man. You must hate me."

           "I wasn't thrilled by this news, but there was a misunderstanding, so I forgive you, if you promise me never to do this again, and to stay away from Desire."

           "His name is Désiré, and okay."

           "Desire is my brother sister, my sibling. Another Endless. They wanted to have fun with you, at my expense, but your feelings were strong and sincere, preventing them from manipulating you, and proving to me that I had no reason to be jealous."

           "But you were still a little jealous."

           "No."

           "Boss." muttered the raven, poking its head out of its creator's cloak. "Boss, you're really bad with girls. You always have to say yes. Yes I'm jealous, but I trust you, I love you, I don't deserve you and I'll do anything to be worthy of..."

           "Thanks Matthew, you can go back to the Dreaming now."

           "I'm a good wingman, I think it's safer if I stay."

           "My love and I are together for the first time in the waking world, at night, in her room, on her bed."

           "... See you, boss ! Madam ! Be good !"

The raven disappeared back into the cloak. Morpheus waited a few moments, as if wanting to make sure he was gone, before laying sensually on top of her, suddenly looking a bit taller, his shadow enveloping the entire room as a sort of purr emanated from him. Y/N wondered if she was really awake.

           "So, my love, what do you want to do ?" he asked, as he asked her every night.

           "Hmm... I'm too tired to go out. It's a little late to read, watch a movie or even dance. So what could we do ?"

           "What, indeed ?"

           "Is the king of dreams sleeping ? Is he dreaming ?"

           "No, and no. But I think about you all the time, to the point that it interferes with my work. A lot of people often dreamed of you, because I wasn't concentrating enough."

           "Are you willing to sleep with me ? I mean, sleep sleep. I'm really tired. But if you're here tomorrow morning... You know."

           "It would be an honour for me to watch over you while you sleep. I already do it every night, but to hold you in my arms while you are asleep. It is the most beautiful proof of love and trust. Not many people realize that there is nothing more vulnerable than a sleeping being. Thank you for this gift, my love."

Smiling, Y/N snuggled up to him after being settled under the covers. She would have liked to listen to his heart before falling asleep, but obviously he had none. He didn't need it, he wasn't human.

They would talk about that later, and the consequences that implied.

But now she was tired, and happy that Morpheus was really there, in her bed.

           "Are you really not going to sleep ?"

           "No. I'm going to beg my father for the night to pass faster, so that it's morning and we… You know."

Y/N would also ask him about his strange family when she was better awake. In the meantime, she fell asleep peacefully in the arms of Morpheus, who sang her a lullaby while stroking her hair.

[godinvent]

So I saw this post about how in the books, Dracula is actually an old man and I always imagined Dracula looked like older Christopher Lee, who played him while he was a kid. While looking him up I accidentally discovered that Christopher Lee was the coolest person in the universe and there is a non-zero chance he was actually Dracula in real life

Sir Christopher Frank Carandini Lee CBE CStJ (May 27th 1922 - June 7th 2015), Sir because he was knighted in 2009 for his charity and his contributions to cinema

So first of all, I saw that he actually knew 8 LANGUAGES (English, Spanish, French, Swedish, Italian, German, Russian and Greek) and was also a staggering 6 feet 5 inches in height. Born in Belgravia in London, one of the most Dracula sounding places I’ve ever heard of, here’s some insane facts about him

•His father, Lieutenant Colonel Geoffrey Trollope Lee of the 60th King's Royal Rifle Corps, fought in the Boer War and World War 1

•His mother, Countess Estelle Marie (née Carandini di Sarzano) was an Edwardian beauty who was painted by Sir John Lavery, Oswald Birley, and Olive Snell, and sculpted by Clare Sheridan

•Lee's maternal great-grandfather, Jerome Carandini, the Marquis of Sarzano, was an Italian political refugee

•Jerome’s wife was English-born opera singer Marie Carandini (née Burgess), meaning that Lee is also related to famous opera singer Rosina Palmer

•His parents would divorce when he was four and his mother would marry Harcourt George St-Croix Rose, banker and uncle of Ian Fleming, making the author of the James Bond books Lee’s step cousin. Fleming would then offer him two roles as the antagonist in the film adaptations of his books, though he was only able to land the antagonist role in The Man With the Golden Gun. It’s believed his role in the film is significantly better and more complex than his book counterpart, played as “a dark side of Bond”

•His family would move and they lived next door to famous silent film actor Eric Maturin

•One night, before he was even 9 years old, he was introduced to Prince Yusupov and Grand Duke Dmitri Pavlovich, THE ASSASSINS OF GRIGORI RASPUTIN, WHOM LEE WOULD GO ON TO PLAY MANY YEARS LATER

•Lee applied for a scholarship to Eton, where his interview was in the presence of the ghost story author M.R. James, who is considered one of the best English language ghost story writers in history and who widely influenced modern horror

•He only missed by King’s Scholar by one place by being bad at math, one of the only flaws God gave him

•Due to lack of working opportunities, Lee was sent to the French Riviera and stayed with his sister and her friends while she was on holiday, and on the way there he stopped briefly in Paris with journalist Webb Miller, a friend of his step father. Webb Miller was an American journalist and war correspondent and was nominated for a Pulitzer Prize for his coverage of the execution of the French serial killer Henri Désiré Landru, also known as BLUEBEARD. He also helped turn world opinion against British colonial rule of India

•While staying with Miller he witnessed Eugen Weidmann’s execution by guillotine, the last public execution ever performed in France

•Arriving in Menton, Lee stayed with the Russian Mazirov family, living among exiled princely families

•When World War 2 began, Lee volunteered to fight for the Finnish Army against the Soviet Union in the Winter War, and a year later, Lee would join the Home Guard. After his father died, he would join the Royal Air Force and was an intelligence officer and leading aircraft man and would later retire as a flight lieutenant in 1946

•While spending some time on leave in Naples, Lee climbed Mount Vesuvius, which erupted only three days later

•After nearly dying in an assault on Monte Cassino, Lee was able to visit Rome where he met his mother’s cousin Nicolò Carandini, who had fought in the Italian Resistance Movement. Nicolò would later go on to be the Italian Ambassador to Britain. Nicolò was actually the one to convince Lee to become an actor in the first place

•Oh yeah Christopher Lee was seconded to the Central Registry of War Criminals and Security Suspects where he was tasked with HELPING TRACK DOWN NAZI WAR CRIMINALS

•Lee’s stepfather served as a captain in the Intelligence Corps

•He was actually told he was too tall to be an actor, though that would honestly help him considering one of his first roles was as The Creature in The Curse of Frankenstein

•He was cast in Captain Horatio Hornblower R.N (1951) as a Spanish captain due to not only his fluency in Spanish but also he knew how to fence!

•Lee’s portrayal of Dracula had a crucial aspect of it which Bela Lugosi’s didn’t have: sexuality, a prime aspect of the original novels.

•While being trapped into playing Dracula under Hammer Film Productions, Lee actually hated the script so much that he would try his best to sneak actual lines from the original novel into the script

•Ironically, he was rejected from playing in The Longest Day because “he didn’t look like a military man”

•Christopher Lee was friends with author Dennis Wheatley, who “was responsible for bringing the occult into him”. He would go on to play in two film adaptations of his novels

•His biggest regret in his career is not taking the role of Sam Loomis from Halloween when offered to him

•Christopher Lee was the only person involved with the Lord of the Rings movies to have actually met J.R.R Tolkien

•When playing Count Dooku, he actually did most of the swordsmanship himself

•Christopher Lee was the second oldest living performer to enter the Billboard Top 100 charts with the song “Jingle Hell” at 91 years old. After media attention, he would get No. 18, and Lee became the oldest person to ever hit the Billboard Top 20 chart

I really am leaving some stuff out here and I may go on

[basilpaste]

(actually got around to writing connies rude little ass being rude! yippee!!!!)

You sit on the cold damp ground, your only layer of protection a thin sheet folded thrice over. The chill sneaks into your bones. It's an unusual temperature for this time of year, but you suppose everything in Vaugarde is unusual at the moment. A little cold is nothing compared to the current state of affairs.

You hold a loosely held together manuscript on your lap. The draft is really more or less finished, but since your editor is currently frozen in time, you figured you might as well at least try to be mindful of your own work. Though with all the previous novels in the series at home, you can't easily screen for continuity. Just another reason to get to that wretched King.

Tapping your pencil to paper, your eyes glaze over the text. Ah! Désirée has an extra accent on her name there. You cross it off. No more Désiréé. Honestly, were you asleep while writing this chunk? The sentence structure of the next line is also… a bit off? It's technically correct, but it really would scan better in Poterian than Vaugardian. You miss writing in Poterian. Ugh.

"Conifleur."

You do not look away from your work, though you do jump. "Odile. I'm shocked to see you up this early. And here I though your 'old bones' needed some rest, dear."

"I'm sure. Just like how you are so desperate for your beauty sleep, right?"

You scoff. She thinks she has you clocked. It's annoying in the worst of ways to have to contend with someone who is no better than you. You know her type. You aren't stupid.

"I'm flattered that you're so concerned for me, darling! But can't one work in peace?" Your pencil scratches the page, leaving a thin line across the margin.

She sighs. From the corner of your eye, you catch her rummaging around in a small supply bag. "Of course not. You're here."

"Oh?" You tilt your head in faux-curiosity, "Is the crone annoyed with poor me? I've done nothing to you today, I'll have you know."

"Urgh."

"It's true! You're the one who went out of your way to make yourself known, dear. I was busy."

"Busy working on something that will help us on our travels, I'm sure." She kneels at the fire pit, sparking it with paper craft, "Like lighting the camp fire."

You blink, "I thought we were going to get moving when the others woke?"

"Yes," she sighs, pinching the bridge of her nose, "but it's cold out. Since you've apparently put yourself on 'watch', it's your job to make sure no one gets sick from it."

… Loath as you are to admit it, she does have you there. You hum in response.

"And where are you off to? I was under the impression that we were still a few days out from the next town."

"There's a caravan that should have set up shop not far from here. I'm doing a supply run. More mouths to feed means we can't afford to rely solely on whatever Isabeau or I can identify and what we have stored." She pulls a coin pouch from her bag by the drawstrings.

That newest mouth to feed. Siffrin was… an enigma. Something about them was familiar to you. You were quite certain you didn't know him personally, but there was a nagging feeling you couldn't shake. They were quite good with that dagger of theirs, though, so you couldn't complain too much.

"Yes, well, I absolutely believe in your ability to charm the merchant into selling us all of their resources for a reduced fee." You say, "You are known for your endearing personality, after all. You positively exude grace."

You don't have to be looking at her to know that she rolls her eyes at you. Hmph. "Gems alive. I'm not going there to haggle, Conifleur. Just to buy."

"Shame," you hum, "and I was so looking forward to a bountiful harvest."

"Are you going to come with me or are you just going to complain at me?"

You jump a bit despite yourself. You just don't understand it! It's no secret that the two of you don't think much of each other, and yet she still invites you along. She has an ulterior motive, surely. To neg you, you suppose. You don't buy it.

You smile, "I thought I was on watch, dear! As talented as I may be, I simply cannot be in two places at once."

"Urgh." She slips her coin pouch back into the bag, slinging it over her shoulder, "By all means. Stay right where you are. I figured someone other than me might enjoy having a say in what I buy for us."

"Wake dear Mirabelle or young Isabeau if you need a second opinion, darling." You scribble out a rough edit of that problem sentence from before.

"… The two of them deserve the rest."

You nod solemnly. That, at least, is something the two of you can agree on. Your companions are much too young for the burdens placed on them. Dear Mirabelle especially.

That said... "That they do. But Rejuvenation only knows that dear Mirabelle will dread waking up so late. Not that it's 'late' at all. You know as well as I how she is."

"Mirabelle would appreciate having a say." She mutters, glancing back at the tents.

"Exactly, darling!" You explain, bright as anything, "You two have fun with that! Until then: I am busy, I fear. Don't bother me anymore. Thank you."

She turns away from you without another word. Good. You can actually think without her incessant badgering.

... The fire warms you in the cold morning. You clench your jaw. You've got work to do, dear. Back to it!

[adarkrainbow]

Sometimes, people wish fairy tales were real life. But in some cases, we deeply regret it...

Today I want to briefly talk about an actual real-life case of Bluebeard - the infamous French serial killer Landru. Of his full name, Henri Désiré Landru. Of his mediatic nickname, "The Gambais Blue Beard". Never had a criminal case been so close to the world of fairy tales: people like to call murderers "witches", "ogres", "devils", but this man is an actual real-life Bluebeard.

The criminal investigation began in 1918, when the mayor of the small town of Gambais (Yvellines) received a letter from a certain Miss Pellat. Miss Pellat was worried about one of her friends, Anne Collomb: she had recently taken domicile with her fiancé, Mister Dupont, at Gambais, but since then had abruptly cut off all communications. The mayor unfortunately could not be of help: he had no knowledge of any "mister Dupont" at Gambais. Not much later, the mayor received another letter about a missing woman - this time it was a "miss Lacoste", who asked about the wellness of her sister, Célestine Buisson, who had recently moved to Gambais with a "mister Frémyet". But again, the mayor was at loss: he knew not of anyone by this name.

The mayor however had the two families get in contact, and they realized that mister Dupont and mister Frémyet were one and the same... And both women had answered almost identical matrimonial advertisements. This opened an investigation, led by inspector Jules Belin. They found that the this mysterious man had taken his fiancées to an isolated villa near Gambais, called "L'Ermitage" (the place here the hermit dwells) because it was 300 meters away from the nearest house. The owner of the house explained that he did not live by it - he was renting it to "mister Frémyet". Said mister Frémyet claimed to live in Rouen, but this was a lie, and all of his letters were actually redirected to the mailbox of a certain "mister Guillet"... located at the house of Célestine Buisson, the second missing woman, in Paris.

The investigation could have stopped there, if a neighbor of miss Lacoste hadn't recognized the mysterious man, getting out of a Parisian earthenware shop with a a woman. The inspector Jules Belin discovered that this man was the famous "Lucien Guillet", and he had left an adress to the shop - for a special delivery. Finding the adress to be in Paris, he was arrested, in april of 1919, on the very day he was celebratng his fiftieth anniversary with... his family, his wife and kids. And this is where the inspector discovered that Dupont/Frémyet/Guillet was in reality called... Henri Désiré Landru.

Let us go back in time to understand how Landru became the monster he is known as. He was not born in a wealthy family, though his family was not miserable and he had quite a happy childhood. He was born in 1869, his mother was a seamstress, his father a factory worker. In school he proved to be excellent at drawings and mathematics, which led him to perform some architecture studies (though he did not pursue there very far - enough to get some low-ranking positions at an architecture firm as his first job).

In 1889, the same year he got said first job, he encountered his future wife, Marie-Catherine Remy, daughter of a laundress. To seduce her, he lied - the first of the many lies he would tell her. He pretended to have a better job within the firm he worked with than he really had, and as such he managed to marry her in 1893 (he had to do three years of military service in-between). Together they had, beteen 1891 and 1900, four children. After the crimes of their father was revealed, they demanded to have their family name changed to one of their mother, Remy.

Landru was not someone whom fortune smiled upon. Between 1893 and 1900, he practiced a dozen of different jobs and was hired by fifteen different people - sometimes he was a plumber, other times an accountant, sometimes he made roofs for houses, other times he draw maps for various projects... With four children to feed, this clearly wasn't enough - the Landru clan was living in poverty. So, to take care of his family as best as he could, Landru decided to abandon honest jobs, and he got into scams.

From 1900 to 1914, Landru organied many different scams and crooked operations to steal people's money. His first scam was organizing a national advertisement campaign about a future motorized bicycle factory (he had indeed prepared the previous year an actual, serious project for motorized bicycle, which he used to fuel his scam). He took pre-commands, but asked for a third of the price to be paid in advance - and of course, no bicycle was actually built...

Constantly switching names, he kept inventing more and more tricks. Buying garages but selling them immediately before even giving the original owner their money ; encouraging investors to fund a factory that did not exist ; organizing engagement celebrations with a woman only to run away after stealing her bank shares... Unfortunately he wasn't really good at fleeing justice - he regularly got minor condemnations to prison, spending there some months or years a handful of times. One of these condemnations was cut-short after he attempted a suicide, and the psychiatric reports of the time are very interesting when it comes to Landru's mental state. Because they noted that he clearly was not insane... but they still wrote that he was not fully sane. Not disturbed enough to have any mental disease, but still too disturbed to be treated like a regular person.

What happened in 1914 that made Landru fall into his "Blue Beard" ways? Why switch from being a petty crook to a serial killer? The most common and accepted theory is that it is due to the justice system. Due to having been sent to jail for a given amount of sentences "above three months", it was decided that his next sentence was to be sent "au bagne" - at the Guyane penal colony. Not only would this mean an exile and a life-long sentence, but back in the 1910s, many people di not survive the penal colonies due to the awful living conditions prisoners had to undergo. This was a true death sentence. So, Landru decided that, next time, he wouldn't be caught...

From 1914 onward, Landru put together a large "marital scam" with deadly conclusions. He put out matrimonial ads, again inventing all sorts of names and pseudonyms, but always presenting the same identity - he was a wealthy and lonely widow searching for a wife. By lying like this, he attracted 283 different women, that he seduced and entertained for a time - but many he rejected and did not do anything with. Why? Because they were ot isolated enough, or not rich enough. Landru was searching for victims with no direct family or close friends, and with some money and goods (even if they were not wealthy or upper-class). He managed to find some... he found ten of them, and he killed them one by one.

Landru was an expert liar and a sweet-talker. After making his victims believe he was indeed the wealthy widow he pretended, he convinced them to sign papers that would allow him to take control of their bank accounts. Then he took them to an isolated villa, where he killed them. He killed his four first victims in a villa of the small town of Vernouillet, but he then switched to the Gambais villa he is most famous for, where he murdered seven more people. Why the change? Because one day, as he got back from the Vernouillet house, he got caught with an expired train ticket and he was forced to leave papers with the villa's adress. Not wanting to get caught, he changed his "murder lair". Once the murders were performed, he took all of the money of his victims, and then went to their house to remove their furniture and belongings. He was even helped by one of his sons to move the items into garages and storage rooms he rented, before selling them at auctions.

His son, you ask? Well yes. Because you see: Landru pretended to his wife and kids that he was an antiquarian, and second-hand dealer - and they thought that all these furniture he handled, he had actually bought... And wait, you still ask, seven plus four? It makes eleven victims, not ten! Indeed... Not all of Landru's victims were women. One was a man. When he killed in 1915 his first victim, Jeanne Cuchet, a 39 year old widow... he also killed her son, the 17 years old André, who had been taken with his mother to the Vernouillet villa. Landru seemingly did not want to leave any "collatoral damage" behind... Not even animals were spared: we know that around the time of the murder of his final victim, Marie-Thérèse Marchadier, the 37 years old owner of a prostitution house, he also strangled her three dogs and left their corpses in her house in Paris.

It has been regularly pointed out that the context of World War One, "The Great War", whose dates match the dates of Landru's murder (he began his fake marital ads in 1914, killed his first victims in February 1915, his last in January 1919), it what definitively helped and eased Landru's transformation into a serial killer. His mental state, already withered by his family's poverty, his mythomania and his fear of the punishment of justice, clearly worsened with the ambiance of death and destruction of the conflict. And the confusion and chaos caused by the war made his murders much easier. If he could regularly return to his wife and kids for brief sojourns, even though justice knew he was a convicted crook fleeing his sentence and his sending at a penal colony, it was thanks to the war keeping everybody busy. If he managed to attract so many lonely bachelors and widows in search for some money and a more stable situation, it was thanks to the war. And the war even helped him with his lies and fake identities: he kept pretending he was a refugee from Northern France (which was then occupied by the German forces), and used this as an excuse for him not having any official papers.

Let us go back to when Landru was arrested.

The police found the many garages where he kept the furniture of his victims. It also found his full and complete comptability - which not only revealed the vastitude of his marital scam (as he had kept the names and adresses of all of his 283 "eventual fiancées"), but also listed all of the tools he had bought for his murders (metal saws, wood saws, lot of coal). How did Landru killed his victims? We don't know exactly how - did he poison them, strangle them? It is a mystery to this day. But we do know how he got rid of the bodies... When investigating the Gambais villa, police found burned remains in the chimney and in the stove. A few pieces of burned female garnment... and burned human bones. Three heads, five feet, six hands. It is considered today that Landru cut off the body of his victims in pieces - the large parts (torso, arms, legs) were buried in the forest or thrown in ponds, while the smaller parts (head, hands, feet) were burned in his stove and/or chimney. In fact, despite being isolated, L'Ermitage still got complaints by those living closest to it due to the "foul smells" that came out of its chimney from time to time.

But what condemned Landru more than anything was a little black notebook he had with him all the time... A notebook in which he had noted the name of the eleven missing person, with hours associated with them - likely the hours of the murders. As I said before, Landru had been an architect and accountant as well as a scammer - he was talented for mathematics and preparations, and from his days as a simple mythomaniac thief he had kept the habit of noting down everything. The name of his victims, the amount of money taken, his fake identities... And he had kept this habit, even as he had put up murderous plans. A final proof, which he tried to explain poorly to the justice: every time he brought one of his victims to Vernouillet or Gambais, it was by train, and he always got a two-way ticket for him... and a one way ticket for the woman.

Landru's trial began in 1921. It was one of the marking cases of the decade. All the newspapers were talking about this (even regularly mispelling Landru's name), and many famous singers and actors of Paris at the time came to assist to the trial - even foreign aristocrats came in France just for this occasion. It wasn't just because of the enormity and morbidity of such a case, as serial killers weren't truly a "thing" back then ; it was also due to Landru's own behavior.

Landru tried to use his eloquence, arrogance, humor and talent for acting to move the trial into his own way. It did not work, as he was condemned for his crimes, but it still managed to make his trial a true show. Many of Landru's lines were preserved by records and newspapers - his jury was known to often laugh at his jokes. He kept denying having killed anyone. "Show me the corpses!" he said. "If these women have any problem with me, they should file a complaint!". He admitted to the lies, the scams, the thief - he even cried when he admitted he cheated on his wife... But he pretended this story of "murders" was fully invented. "Mister, you keep speaking of my head - I am sorry I do not have many to offer you!" ; "Me? I made people disappear? Well, if you start believing anything the newspapers claim...". To the jury he kept saying they shouldn't bother to come all the way to the courtroom for "such small things", and he even had this crazy exchange with the judge. When the judge asked him what his children could think, seeing him with so many women, h answered "Mister the Judge, when I give orders to my children, they obey it, and I do not need to explain the why or the how. I wonder how you raise your own kids!"

The lawyers also kept putting out "coup de théâtre" after "coup de théâtre" - such as bringing in the courtroom the very stove in which Landru burned his victims. But the most famous episode is this one: the lawyer in charge of defending Landru claimed that the victims were not dead. They were alive, and about to enter the courtroom... right now! Immediately, all of the people of the jury turned their head towards the door, from which no one came. The lawyer, happy with his trick, explained that this was a proof that, deep in their heart, the jury knew there was a possibility for these women to not be dead, else they wouldn't have turned their head. He wanted to convince them that, subconsciously, they could feel these accusations were ridiculous and unfounded. However this turned against him when the other party noted "But... have you noticed? Landru did not turn his head."

Landru was beheaded at Versailles in 1922, and up until the end he still had a good word. To the priest who asked him if he believed in God, he answered "I am going to die, and you want me to play a guessing game?". To the man who offered him a last glass of rhum and a last cigarette, he answered "No, it's bad for the health." And to his own lawyer, who asked him if he was ready to finally confess to the murders before dying, he answered his last words: "This, Master, is my small luggage..."

There are many more things to say about the Landru case - the drawing he made of the stove, and behind which he wrote a mysterious sentence which might have been a confession ; the way his murder-villas and his stove kept being sold around and transformed through the following decades, but since we are looking at a Blue-Beard, I want to focus on how, despite being recognized as a well-known murderer, he still had women fall in love with him... After his arrest, and until his execution, he received four thousand letters of admiration from women, eight hundred of which were apparently marriage proposals.

The last of the lovers of Landru, the woman he was living with when he was arrested, and the one who might have been his next victim, was Fernande Segret. Fernande Segret, who admitted in court that Landru had tried to poison her two times during her relationship... Fernande Segret, who organized a trial for diffamation when in the 60s Claude Chabrol made a movie about Landru and partially won it... Fernande Segret who, on the anniversary of Landru's wedding proposal to her, in 1968, killed herself by drowning at the Flers castle: she still had a picture of Landru in her bedroom...

[aloysiavirgata]

I would love more of early years Mulder trying and failing at not being completely enamoured with his brilliant partner 🥺

She looked completely different with her hair pinned up in the chignon. Her resolute little chin on display, her stern mouth.

Her lovely neck.

Mulder shakes his head at that, focuses on on her scowls and her eye rolls and the obnoxious scoffing noise from the back of her throat. Her doe eyes the color of a perfect June sky are the result of a genotypic crap shoot. Her officious skepticism is a choice. And Mulder is not a gambler.

Tom Colton wants to fuck her in an abstract sort of way that Mulder finds amusing. Scully, for all her faults, is light years out of his league. Kiloparsecs. She’s the Other Kind of redhead.

He thinks she believes him, Special Agent Fox William Mulder, in one of her deeper, more obscure organs. Her pancreas trusts him. Her spleen. Her heart is still both too proud and tender, her mind too finely trained.

Dana Scully is a dainty bit of work, he concedes. Her delicate Victorian beauty and her gorgeous little brain. He tends towards slouchy brunettes with mile-long legs, towards nibbled lips and tossed hair. But here’s Scully like some sassy Irish lass from A Movie That Isn’t His and he can suddenly see the appeal.

He’ll make her look at the fingerprints again, make her own her skepticism in front of god’s own data. He’ll breathe in her huffy little outputs of carbon dioxide; he’ll watch her prim, Catholic, Sunday-school mouth.

He’ll call Désirée later on the 900 line because even if Scully is bitchy and rigid and contrary for no reason at all, he can’t see any reason for Colton to use her up.

[josefavomjaaga]

Letter from Laure Junot to her husband (1812)

This is for @impetuous-impulse and @snowv88: As promised, here’s the letter Laure Junot wrote to her husband in September 1812, when Junot was with the Grande Armée in Russia. It’s taken from the book "Lettres interceptées par les Russes", edited by Frédéric Masson (and of which I only own one of those Indian "reprints" that come down to a really bad scan and that I had rightfully be warned of before I bought it 😋. However, these pages are perfectly legible.)

For context: While the publication contains letters that normally did not reach their destination, as they were intercepted during the second half of the Russian campaign, this missive actually had been written during the first months of the invasion and had gotten to Junot safely. However, in his answer, Junot sent it back to Laure, and this answer then fell into the hands of the Russians. (I do not know what they were thinking. Because it’s rather private, and not pretty.)

Laure Junot, at the time when she wrote this letter, happened to be at a spa, at the same time as several other ladies of the court, off-duty empress Joséphine, Julie more-or-less-queen of Spain, Pauline Borghese and the crown princess of Sweden, Julie’s sister Désirée.

The Duchess L. of Abrantès to Junot, Duke of Abrantès. Aix [en Savoie], 7 September 1812 Your last letter caused me to feel both pain and pity. It comes from a fool, and from a fool all the more guilty for being so, as it depends on him to recover his reason and as he refuses to do so as stubbornly as if it meant his eternal misfortune. People dominated by an unfortunate passion are, in the beginning, like sick people who do not want to submit to the vigorous treatment that would cure them. And you want me to feel sorry for you! You want me to pity you! But do you deserve it? Yes, perhaps, but of this pity stripped of all esteem, for you are not the one to whom I promised to offer mine along with all my friendship as the prize for his noble efforts to deserve the name of man, by removing from his heart a feeling that he knows can never be happy. In this respect, you know my way of thinking. It is invariable, and nothing can change it. For many months I have spoken in the same terms to you, and I always will, because it is the language of both my heart and my reason. Perhaps it seems too harsh to you and you find me too frank. A more flirtatious person would no doubt be less so, but is it not better for me to refuse you a poison that would only aggravate your wound and to apply to it a balm that should, according to my desire, remove even the scar and only leave behind of its memory that which could, in the future, spread more charm over our friendship?

Whoa. Now that's a handfull. Please don't hold back, Madame! I have no clue (but would love to speculate!) what kind of "unfortunate passion" she refers to.

For a long time I had this ambition that almost all women have, this unbridled desire to attract attention and admiration, to inspire passionate feelings, to be a kind of divinity for everything around me. I paid for all these adulations with a look or a smile that often troubled the soul of the person to whom they were addressed, without stirring mine. Well, it is with bitterness that I remember this time in my life, and it would seem criminal to me now to encourage or give rise to a feeling that I could not share.

Is this a hint at her own wrongdoings, the affair with Metternich?

I am very happy to think that you are now close to your mother and your son. Give the latter all the time you can spare from your business and the duties you are obliged to fulfil. You have, you told me, great confidence in his tutor. But could strangers ever match a father's eye? Your abilities and your wit put you in a position to watch over his studies very closely yourself. May your loving attention also be focused on his young heart and his feelings. May he one day be able to return to you all the good things he possesses. Believe me, his virtues will be much dearer to him.

This passage confuses me deeply. How can she assume Junot is with his mother and his son in September 1812, when Junot is with the Grande Armée, and the Grande Armée in Russia since June? She must have known that, right? We'll see in the postscript that the ladies were informed of what was going on at the front. Also, the need she feels to interest Junot in his own child is so sad.

I'm leaving for Geneva the day after tomorrow, no matter how much the princesses insist that I stay. I haven't seen my children for three months now, and the need to be closer to them is becoming more pressing every day. I promised to go to Changrenon. I have to spend two days there, and from there I'll go straight to Paris, where I'll be very happy to see and embrace my children, the joy and glory of my life! Ah, when I look back on such moments, I no longer say that it is deprived of any happy future!

Which apparently otherwise she had said. - Also, as she says she will go to Paris to see her children, does that not imply that the son (who was five at the time, according to a footnote) was also there? Does that mean that in the passage above she supposed Junot to be in Paris as well? For that matter, was Junot's mother in Paris, or did she live elsewhere?

I hope that the first letter I receive from you will be good and reasonable, just as I want it to be. Many people take great pride in never changing their feelings. Do the opposite and put your pride in driving away from you those who now dominate you. It is only through weakness, believe me, that we retain an unreasonable inclination, and the word consistency is profaned when applied to madness. Farewell, believe in my sincere friendship; nothing can diminish it, and one thing can increase it greatly: the certainty of being able to give it to you without fear.

This sounds more like a mother trying to reign in an adolescent. The use of the word "crainte" is also interesting. What precisely does she fear?

You ask me about my health. In truth, I don't know what to tell you, as I am still too ill to go and distress my friends by telling them about my sufferings. I'm still coughing up blood, and in the last six days I've had three new bouts of vomiting. There you have my bulletin. P.S.: I am reopening my letter to tell you that I am no longer going to Geneva. Yesterday, after writing my letter, I received the bulletin of the 25th [August, of the Grande Armée in Russia, mentioning her husband]. You have probably read it, and you know me well enough to be convinced that this is not the moment I would choose for a pleasure trip. I'm also in a lot of pain; two hours ago, on my way back to the Empress's, I vomited so much blood that it could only be stopped by putting ice on my chest, so now I'm in so much pain that I can't breathe.

Does she try to imply that the army bulletin they received made her feel worse? I think it's the one mentioning Junot not quite being up to the job.

Also interesting: She adresses her husband by the formal "vous" throughout the letter. Which I believe was slowly going out of use but still not unusual in France, especially between spouses of high nobility. Still, this letter makes me feel as if Laure and her Andoche at this point already lived seperate lives. It sounds like one you would write to a husband you had recently divorced.

[princesssarisa]

I've noticed that a lot of Sleeping Beauty adaptations side-step the issue of the title character's passive personality by focusing instead on the fairies or sometimes the prince. Do you think it's possible to make Sleeping Beauty an active player in her own story? And what are the trends you've noticed in how adaptations characterize her when she is awake?

I just recently watched the 1978 Czech adaptation Jak se budí princezny, or How to Wake a Princess: you can read my review here. This is a version that focuses more on the heroine than most other versions do. Like Disney's, it ultimately reduces her sleep from a hundred years to just a day or two – with the threat that if her prince fails to reach her and kiss her, she'll sleep forever, and the evil fairy (who in this version is her own aunt) determined to stop him. Really, I think that choice is a good first step in any version that wants to make Sleeping Beauty an active player (even though when Disney did it, they still focused mainly on the fairies), because it lets her have a fleshed-out romance with the Prince who's destined to wake her.

Another twist in How to Wake a Princess is that Princess Růženka knows about the curse. Most versions keep it hidden from her so she can naïvely touch the spindle, but in this version she knows, and the knowledge adds weight to her decisions. Her parents arrange for her to marry a neighboring kingdom's crown prince, because the curse only has power within their own land, so if she leaves, she'll be safe. But Růženka falls in love with the crown prince's younger brother instead; yet the brothers' royal parents would never agree to let her marry their younger son, because their spoiled firstborn heir always gets the first and best of everything. So Růženka has to choose between protecting herself with a loveless marriage and following her heart, and she ultimately chooses the latter, which leaves her vulnerable to being tricked by her aunt into pricking her finger.

But even in this version, once Růženka falls asleep, the focus shifts to Prince Jaroslav as he fights to reach her and wake her. Even if Sleeping Beauty is the story's active, principle player for three-fourths of the story, it's obviously hard to keep the focus on her when the plot hinges on her falling asleep. One retelling that subverts that issue is Robin McKinley's novel Spindle's End. That version follows Disney's example of having the princess raised as a peasant by the fairies to protect her from the curse. But the big twist is that in her peasant life, "Rosie" (as they call her) becomes best friends with a real peasant girl, Peony. Since the royal court and the evil fairy don't know what the grown-up princess looks like, Peony sacrifices herself for Rosie by masquerading as the princess, touching the spindle, and falling asleep in her place. (The curse was never softened from death to sleep in this version, so if Rosie had touched the spindle, she would have died; but Peony just falls asleep because she's not the real princess.) So Peony becomes Sleeping Beauty, while the real princess Rosie takes on the role that mirrors Disney's Prince Phillip, fighting the evil fairy and waking her friend with a kiss.

But maybe that's cheating a little bit, by shifting the Sleeping Beauty role from the princess to a supporting character.

Personally, if I ever write a retelling of the story, I'll think I'll keep Sleeping Beauty active even while she's asleep by having her communicate with the Prince telepathically. This idea is inspired by two things: (a) the fact that many versions imply that as she sleeps, she has prophetic dreams of the Prince, so she knows exactly who he is and already loves him when she wakes up, and (b) that in Tchaikovsky's ballet, the Lilac Fairy shows a vision of Aurora to Prince Désiré before she leads him to her. I would give the Prince recurring dreams of Sleeping Beauty, in which they talk, get to know each other, and fall in love, and eventually reveal that they really have been communicating – in her sleep she's been having identical dreams about him. In this way she could give the Prince advice that helps him conquer the obstacles that bar his way to the castle. It could also resolve the story's issue of consent, as she herself could instruct him to kiss her when he finds her asleep in the real world.

As for how Sleeping Beauty is characterized when she's awake, I have noticed a few trends in the different adaptations I've seen so far. One common trend is for her to be lively, outgoing, and playful. More so than either Cinderella or Snow White. I suppose there are three factors in this: (a) a lively, inquisitive girl is all the more likely to explore an unfamiliar tower, and then try her hand at something new, like spinning, (b) the more full of life and joy she is, then the sadder it is when she falls into her deathlike sleep, and (c) unlike Snow White or Cinderella, whether she's raised by her parents or by the fairies, she's traditionally grown up in a happy, loving home, not abused by a wicked stepmother. Another quality often seen in her is loneliness and longing to be free to see the world and meet new people. Her parents or guardians tend to be very protective, maybe overprotective, and she's typically never been outside the castle grounds or the forest where they live and never had any friends her own age. While she loves her parents or guardians and isn't unhappy, she longs for companionship (especially romantic love), new experiences, and to be allowed to grow up. If we view the story as an allegory for growing up, with the spindle prick representing the end of Sleeping Beauty's childhood and her awakening by the Prince's kiss as the beginning of womanhood, then this characterization makes perfect sense. Like many parents, the King and Queen or the fairies would like to shelter her forever and stop her from growing up, but of course that's impossible. She also tends to have a beautiful singing voice, and is often a good dancer and/or plays a musical instrument too – even though it's not essential to the plot, musical talent is very often one of her gifts from the fairies. And she's usually very kind and generous, even in the versions where she's had the most privileged royal upbringing, treating the castle servants as close friends and giving gifts of clothes or food to the poor.

I still have many more adaptations to watch, but these are the trends I've noticed so far.

[empirearchives]

Excerpt from Désirée Clary’s letter to Napoleon Bonaparte while they were engaged:

“The thought of you is with me always, and will follow me to my grave. […] Our hearts are much too closely united for it ever to be possible for them to separate.”

The engagement did not work out, and they never married. When Désirée found out Napoleon had gotten together with Josephine, who he did marry, she wrote to him:

“You have made me miserable for the rest of my life, and yet I still have the heart to forgive you. My life is a horrible torture for me since I can no longer devote it to you.... You, Married! I cannot accustom myself to the idea, it is killing me, I cannot survive it.”

Source: Napoleon: A Life, by Adam Zamoyski

[ty-bayonet-betteridge]

The Performance Protectors

remember when I said I was making new OCs. theyre here. im missing a lot of things like Where Powers Come From In This Universe and How The Team Happened but i have characters at least so what else do you even need :P anyway heres my music-themed superhero team (i only have picrews of them in civilian clothes bc i dont think theres a good picrew for doing superhero outfits jskldfhlskdjh)

Lauren Fisher, AKA Lo-Fi! 21 years old, she/her, transfem, college musical studies student. Ask any of the others and they'll tell you she's the team leader; ask her and she'll say they don't have a leader. Her powers slow and "degrade" reality within a short distance of her, allowing her to dodge projectiles, disable technology, and drain the stamina of her enemies.

Keisha King, AKA HI-NRG! 24 years old, she/they, AFAB intersex transfem (she has CAH), currently working as a bartender at a disco club. Their power increases their speed, strength, and stamina greatly while in a fight-or-flight situation, the effects getting steadily more pronounced the longer the adrenaline is in her system.

Devon Jordan and his twin brother Lamar Jordan, AKA Rhythm and Blues respectively! Both 22 years old, Devon is he/him and Lamar is he/it. Devon works as a server at a diner while he tries to get his rock band off the ground, while Lamar is a caretaker in an assisted living facility. Rhythm has a perfect internal clock and very limited control over the flow of time, being able to jump his consciousness forwards or backwards exactly half a second with another half a second minimum of cooldown between. Blues is an empath, though its ability to sort out people's emotions is highly dependent on his familiarity with them. Because of its lifelong relationship with Devon, it can read his emotions well enough to both notice when he affects time and not get tripped up, making Lamar the only other person whose mind isnt affected by Devon's timebending.

Désirée Riker, AKA Riot Grrrl (she's very particular about the spelling, she's written in anonymously to complain about news coverage that called her Riot Girl.) 27 years old, she/it, hair stylist. Has absurd amounts of gay lust for Keisha but hasn't said anything about it because she thinks they wouldn't want a loveless partner. She shoots explosions from her hands, and can control them well enough to also use them as a method of propulsion.

Ash White, AKA Outsider! 16 years old, they/them, dropped out of highschool to help take care of their terminally ill mother. Studying for the GED test in what little spare time they have. The only member of the team whose secret identity ISN'T known to the rest of them; everyone knows that they're the youngest member of the team, but none of them know that they're a minor (though Lamar is close to figuring it out.) They have a power-negating aura that they can crank up and down, though high-stress situations make them lose control of it.

[thevampiricnihal]

I am surprised that Isabella’s racist assertion that Heathcliff looks like the local fortune-teller’s son

(“The cowardly children crept nearer also, Isabella lisping “Frightful thing! Put him in the cellar, papa. He’s exactly like the son of the fortune-teller that stole my tame pheasant. Isn’t he, Edgar?”)

is taken here as a hint that Heathcliff really is the local fortune-teller’s son.

You would think that this is not Wuthering Heights but Kate Chopin’s “Desiree’s Baby”.

I find this to be an interesting reading and would be open to a fanfic with this premise, but I think the line’s intention is more “garden-variety racism” than “secret parentage conspiracy”.

There really are readings as varied as there are readers, especially with this book.

Edit:

In “Desiree’s Baby” too:

“The baby, half naked, lay asleep upon her own great mahogany bed, that was like a sumptuous throne, with its satin-lined half-canopy. One of La Blanche’s little quadroon boys—half naked too— stood fanning the child slowly with a fan of peacock feathers. Désirée’s eyes had been fixed absently and sadly upon the baby, while she was striving to penetrate the threatening mist that she felt closing about her. She looked from her child to the boy who stood beside him, and back again; over and over. “Ah!” It was a cry that she could not help; which she was not conscious of having uttered.” (italics mine)

We first think that this line is about Desiree’s baby being a quarter Black like “La Blanche’s little quadroon boy”, and indeed that’s the case. But I think if we closely read the short story we can also theorize that Desiree’s baby and La Blanche’s son are siblings, I think it is implied that Desiree’s husband is sleeping with his slave La Blanche:

“And the way he cries,” went on Désirée, “is deafening. Armand heard him the other day as far away as La Blanche’s cabin.” (italics mine)

Why is Desiree’s husband at La Blanche’s cabin? I think he is the father of her child.

This theory that Heathcliff looks like “the fortune-teller’s son” because they are siblings and not just because they are of the same ethnicity reminded me of this line and this implication in this short story.

I wrote my undergraduate thesis about “Desiree’s Baby” and I think the fans of discussing Heathcliff and the “Heathcliff Earnshaw” theory should read more American fiction on race. They play with these ideas even more than Wuthering Heights.

[galionne-speeding]

What're the eight gods like in your Sonic Pantheon AU?

Aah thank you so much for asking! I wasn't sure how/when to drop all the character info ; but now I've got the perfect excuse! To make it more digestible to read (and easier on myself) I'll copy/paste my character doc! (with some slight adjustments)

- - -

Name: Boreas (Also known as "The Cursed Winter", "Lord of Ice") Age: 25 Gender: Male (He/They) Species: Megaloceros Emerald: White

Several millennia ago, the last known megaloceros tribe was wiped out by its neighbors who greatly feared its people's ability to control ice and the cold. The sole survivor of the massacre, Boreas, was able to flee and it is believed he found a Chaos Emerald during his escape. Imbued with new power, he would soon return to avenge his people and slaughter those who had taken their lives ; until a small group of warriors was able to seal him deep inside an underground ice lake.

-

Name: Piia (Also known as "The Trickster", "Devil's Child", "The Moon-Kissed Spirit") Age: 8 Gender: Non-Binary (They/Them) Species: Pygmy Rabbit (Albino) Emerald: Light Blue

Piia was only a child when their village was hit by a disastrous harvest ; and they were offered as a sacrifice to the mountain their people worshiped. They were thrown into a deep crevasse and were killed on impact. However, their body had landed next to a Chaos Emerald which seemingly fed so much energy into it, Piia was brought back to life and granted an array of supernatural abilities. The young rabbit would go on to terrorize their old village, until they were tricked by another child into sealing themselves into a small mirror.

-

Name: Zeutaros (Also known as "The Storm", "The Great Dragon", "The Beast") Age: 201 (Early 40s by Zeti standards) Gender: Male (He/Him) Species: Ancient Zeti Emerald: Red

A Zeti Warlord of terrifying renown, it is believed Zeutaros fell to Mobius from the Lost Hex in ancient times. He seemingly found a Chaos Emerald near his landing site which charged him with immeasurable power and soon began ravaging the land in an enraged frenzy. The carnage would only end when Zeutaros accidentally broke the roof of a large underground cave system, where he fell and was buried by the rubble.

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Name: Mother Agnes (Also known as "The Sunset Witch") Age: 62 Gender: Female (She/Her) Species: Luna Moth Emerald: Yellow

Little is known about Mother Agnes’ past ; only that she suffered greatly in her youth. In her early 60s she opened a boarding school for lost and troubled children which saw great success ; until all of the children put under her care began to vanish. It was soon discovered that she was in possession of a Chaos Emerald, which she was using to put the children into a comatose sleep in order to feed on their dreams. Her school was promptly swarmed by villagers and Agnes was captured and burned at the stake, at which point all of the children woke up. Her medallion is currently displayed in Sunset City’s history museum.

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Name: Désiré (Also known as "Prince Raj", "The Adored One") Age: 17 Gender: Agender (They/Them) Species: Jacobin Pigeon Emerald: Purple

Born into wealth and nobility, Prince Raj was raised from the youngest age to be the next ruler of the kingdom and believed to have everything one could ever wish for. Yet many ; servants and nobles alike ; had noted how disheartend and dejected the prince always appeared both in public and in private. When the future sovereign turned 17 they were gifted a large purple gem which they took a particular interest in. Not long after this, communication from the kingdom to its neighbors slowly dwindled until it fell completely silent. It was soon discovered that the large purple gem gifted to Prince Raj was in fact a Chaos Emerald ; which they were using to warp the minds of the entire kingdom, so that all alike would see their lives now revolving around their new ruler as they worshipped and adored Raj day in and day out. The spell was only broken when an assassin was sent to enter the palace and successfully killed the prince.

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Name: Malda (Also known as "The Hermit", "The Pestilence Witch") Age: 51 Gender: Female (She/Her) Species: African Common Toad Emerald: Green

Malda used to be a peaceful and solitary hermit living deep in the forest, making herbal remedies for those daring enough to visit her hut. When a villager went missing after visiting her however, she was quickly accused of causing his disappearance- as well as all others in the area. While historians now believe she was innocent, villagers at the time condemned her to death by drowning in the nearby lake. Not long following her death, the region was hit with several devastating epidemics ; which were only quelled once the lake was drained and The Pestilence Witch’s skeleton placed in an airtight coffin. A Chaos Emerald was found near her remains during the draining process.

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Name: Manas (Also know as "Royal Seer Manas", "The Devil's Tongue") Age: 57 Gender: Male (He/Him) Species: Manul Emerald: Dark Blue

From a young age, Manas had always displayed the uncanny ability to learn everything from an individual, just by shaking their hand or touching their clothes. As this ability was sharpened over the following years, Manas began to slowly amass followers who were bewildered by his visions and predictions of the future. Little did they know, Manas was granted these abilities by a Chaos Emerald he was keeping safely hidden. As more and more people joined the ranks of his followers, the manul declared himself emperor and set his people on a path to conquer new land ; aided by his visions and knowledge. It is believed this conquest lasted for several decades and saw hundreds of war victories for the manul- until it all fell apart. One of Manas' visions turned out to be inaccurate, leading to a crushing defeat and the loss of nearly three quarters of his army. Disillusioned and under the assumption their ruler had knowingly sent them to their deaths, it is believed the survivors tracked down Manas and brutally murdered him for his failures.

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Name: ∅ / Null Gender: ▇▇▇▇ (It/Its) Species: ▇▇▇▇▇▇▇▇▇▇▇▇ Emerald: ▇▇▇▇

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[ablatheringblatherskite]

Assigning dæmons to characters in the Phantom of the Opera!

Quick explanation of what dæmons are: In summary, in the His Dark Materials world, they're basically physical manifestations of the soul, just in animal form! They are most commonly the opposite sex of their human. It's also taboo and just. wrong to touch another person's dæmon, and usually only happens between lovers or in battle. You also can't move too far away from your dæmon without dying/being severed intentionally (which is. very traumatic. unless you're a witch). The relationship between a person and their dæmon is sacred—they're your lifelong companions, which I love the idea of. And, until a certain age, dæmons can shift to different animals (the age you settle (when your dæmon choose their final form) varies depending on the person).

ANYWAY enough info dumping time for my HEADCANONS for what dæmons the characters from The Phantom of the Opera would have!!

Christine Daaé: a canary named Einar

I'm just gonna say it now—I don't have much reasons for picking these dæmons other than vibes. I just believe that Christine would definitely have a little bird dæmon, and the canary just seemed like the cutest choice! Plus, according to google, canaries are "somewhat timid and shy little birds. Unlike larger bird species, they don't usually do well with being handled, although there may be the occasional exception. Canaries are charming birds..." They are also, from what I know, very cheerful and playful! Which I think fits Christine very well!

Plus, imagine the dynamic between her dæmon and Raoul's and Erik's dæmon—with one being a dog and one a cat. I don't know, I think it just adds a really interesting dynamic to their relationships!

Raoul de Chagny: a golden retriever named Lili

I think the reason I picked the golden retriever for Raoul is fairly obvious LOLL. But aside from the obvious matching personality, I thought it would be really interesting if his dæmon was a dog, especially because he's nobility. Because, according to His Dark Materials, people with dog dæmons actually usually tend to be servants. Which is very classist LOL but like. I feel like it makes complete sense to me that Raoul's dæmon wouldn't match his status in society, plus it would definitely give something extra for Philippe to be worried about regarding him. The dynamic with his social status and his dæmon just sounds like something really interesting to explore!

Plus, I love the image of Lili cuddling with Raoul whenever he's upset and/or starts crying.

Erik: a Siamese cat named Ayesha

I feel like the reason for this is really obvious LOL. Why don't I make Ayesha his dæmon?? I think it's extra sweet if she were! Plus OF COURSE Erik's dæmon would be a cat LOL. Honestly, what else would it be?? Plus, there's this analysis I found of Siamese Cat dæmons, and I think it fits him pretty well!

Plus I love the image of Ayesha getting really annoyed with Erik's shenanigans and advising against them, but still helping him with them anyway LOL.

Meg Giry: a nova scotia duck tolling retriever named Maxime

So I was thinking that, personality wise, Meg definitely would have a dog dæmon too. I was actually considering a golden retriever but I felt like it didn't really fit vibes-wise? So I looked for dogs that are similar and thought that the nova scotia duck tolling retriever looked perfect!! Plus, after I googled their personalities, I think they definitely fit Meg. I also just think it's adorable that Christine's two best friends both have retriever dæmons ehehehe

Philippe de Chagny: a red-tailed hawk named Désirée

So going with the nobility thing, I thought that Philippe would definitely have a really grand dæmon. Like the red-tailed hawk!

The dæmon forum on tumblr have actually already analyzed this dæmon, and I think the traits fit Philippe really well! Although I guess it can be argued he's an extrovert and not an introvert, but there's also such thing as introverts that are very social, so.

But yeah I just love the image of Philippe, with his hawk dæmon, and Raoul standing beside him with his golden retriever dæmon 😭

The Persian/The Daroga/Nadir: a Persian leopard named Fariba

No because I truly believe that Nadir would have the COOLEST dæmon ever. Which is yes, a Persian leopard. Like, the vibes just make sense!! Plus considering he was the chief of police, it just makes sense.

I also love the image of Nadir, with his epic leopard dæmon, and Erik beside him with his house cat dæmon LOLL

OTHER HEADCANONS FOR THIS AU:

I bet Raoul, when he was younger and before Lili settled, would often like it when Lili would shift into a red-tailed hawk, completely because he wanted to impress his brother and have a dæmon like his.

I also think that Christine and Raoul played all sorts of pretend games together, with their dæmons shifting into animals to match whoever they were pretending to be. I can also imagine them taking naps together under the tree, with their dæmons curled closely together.

I feel like when Erik was in the circus, his dæmon was handled so much to the point that he became desensitized to it. I also think he probably learned how to separate from Ayesha even if it hurt a lot to do so, but like out of necessity 😭

I feel like Einar would sit in Christine's hair a lot. I also feel like he and Ayesha would have a very interesting relationship with each other. I also feel like Einar would like to sit on the head or nose of Lili whenever Raoul and Christine are hanging out together.

I also feel like Erik would often be VERY tempted to touch Einar, and his hand might hover so close to him—but he would pull away before he ever did. But I also think that a part of Einar really wanted him to actually do it while at the same time being terrified that he does.

I also feel like, in this universe, to get Raoul, Erik actually grabs Lili so that Raoul is immediately weakened and pretty much incapacitated, and THEN he wraps the noose around his neck. I don't think he'd bother holding onto Lili the entire time—I don't think he'd like doing that either lol, considering his trauma regarding it. I also do feel like Erik would have Ayesha attack other people's dæmons, kind of like how Mrs. Coulter does it? But Lili and Ayesha have definitely had at least one fight, maybe during Wandering Child.

Everyone finds Nadir extra intimidating because of Fariba, even if Fariba is the most chill dæmon ever.

I love the idea that, after all the events of POTO, Christine and Raoul are sitting together and comforting each other, and that's when they touch each others' dæmons for the first time. And that's when their relationship with each other truly solidifies, because there's nothing more intimate than touching another person's soul.

[margridarnauds]

Idk if you still want asks, but do you have any thoughts on Stephen Sondheim's work? 👀

Oh, God, Sondheim and I have a long and complicated history, and some of my views have changed, some of them haven't.

For the most part: His work really isn't my favorite. I'll be the first to admit that I thrive on spectacle, I thrive on catchy tunes and big ballads and epic set pieces and belting. To some people back in the day, that'd have marked me out as a fake musical theatre fan. As someone who has now been in this for the last...well. 14 years, with a working knowledge of musicals across almost every single country that has staged them, I can say I don't care. I know what I like and what I don't like and I own it. I often think that Sondheim's work de-emphasizes the music in favor of the lyrics, which is fine if you like that (he's brilliant), but it isn't where MY focus is. It's the same way I feel about Great Comet.

That being said, I do like INDIVIDUAL Sondheim works -- A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum is dated in many ways, it shows its age in often-uncomfortable ways, but it DOES have an absolutely iconic opening number and is probably one of the single most pitch-perfect adaptations of a Roman comedy.

West Side Story (though, since he was only responsible for the lyrics, YMMV as far as how much it belongs on here) -- Iconic, beautiful, truly deserves its place as one of the greats. Again, aspects of it age uncomfortably, but when you consider the time it was made in, it really does make sense. "Tonight", my absolute beloved, perfect depiction of young love that's hurtling at the speed of a shooting star. "I feel Pretty", yes, it's been parodied to death, but it's FUN. "A Boy Like That" chilling, touching, painful given what happens afterward. "Maria"...is there.

Sweeney Todd -- I've never been able to watch it because of the whistle sound, it's a little too sharp for me (and I refuse to watch the film). Imo, not musically as good as West Side Story, but it STILL has some great numbers, "Johanna" (esp. the quartet), "Green Finch and Linnet Bird", "Poor Thing" (which is nightmare inducing), "Epiphany" (THEY ALLLLLL DESERVEEEE TO DIIIIIEEEEEEEEEE), "The Ballad of Sweeney Todd" (SWING YOUR RAZZZOOORR HIIIIIIIIIIGGGGGHHHHH SWEENEY HOLLDDD IT TO THE SKYYYYYYYYY), which, very much to its credit, ABSOLUTELY inspired the various reprises of Facade in Jekyll and Hyde.

Into the Woods -- A little too mean spirited and cynical for my taste, even as it doesn't end on a totally miserable note and tries to reconstruct the world of fairy tales. I like individual strands of it, I like "Last Midnight", but it's hard to get over the cynical attitude towards fairy tales at the heart of it.

A Little Night Music - Probably my first Sondheim and honestly one of my favorites to this day, I love "Every day a little death" in particular and, of course, the iconic "Send in the Clowns." Désirée, the woman that you are.

Passion - One I've never actually listened to, but I appreciate the book, and I appreciate Sondheim's defense of Fosca, which I'll get to.

Company - ...well. "Being Alive" is nice.

Something I'll give Sondheim is that he was really comfortable shining a light on the human soul, the dark and the light parts, in a way that I think a lot of composers since have TRIED to imitate and that I don't think any have really succeeded in in the same way. And something I really give him, looking back as I was writing this, is that I don't think there's anything particularly SEXIST about the way that he writes female characters; I don't think that he has the Frank Wildhorn Madonna - Whore Complex or the ALW Every Woman Is My Ex Or My Wife Complex or the LMM Every Woman Is In Love With M-I Mean, My Protagonist Complex or the Michael Kunze Women Ruin Everything Complex. Like, "he writes women as people" should be a low bar for a male composer to clear, especially since I've never seen a female composer praised for writing male characters as people (we would consider it a cardinal writing sin if she didn't), but it's something of note. He has messy women, he has obsessive women, and they are distinctly WOMEN whose identities and roles in the story are intricately tied to them being women...but I don't think they're sexist because they're right there next to his men who are equally as messy and obsessive. And I do love the way that he defended Fosca in "Passion:" "[Audiences] refused to believe that anyone, much less the handsome Giorgio, could come to love someone so manipulative and relentless, not to mention physically repellent, as Fosca. As the perennial banality would have it, they couldn't 'identify' with the main characters. The violence of their reaction, however, strikes me as an example of 'The lady doth protest too much.' I think they may have identified with Giorgio and Fosca all too readily and uncomfortably. The idea of a love that's pure, that burns with D.H. Lawrence's gemlike flame, emanating from a source so gnarled and selfish, is hard to accept. Perhaps they were reacting to the realization that we are all Fosca, we are all Giorgio, we are all Clara."

Whatever I think about his work, whatever I think about his musicals, I can appreciate a man who is willing to appreciate a manipulative, relentless, and physically repellent woman and, not only appreciate her, but to accept that she's a part of him.

Overall, is he my favorite? No. A lot of his music and his overall style just is not to my personal taste. But he's a valuable, vital part of the canon, and with good reason. The man truly was a genius. I think that he did what he set out to do with musicals, even if he and I have different emphases, and I think that he did a lot better with women than MANY composers who like to pat themselves on the back for how progressive they are for including paper-thin female characters.

[northernmariette]

Bernadotte, a traitor? A personal opinion.

It's still Bernadotte's birthday for a few minutes as I start this, so here is my offering for today's birthday boy.

Here is my inexpert, insufficiently researched opinion about Bernadotte being, or not being, a traitor. Right off the bat, a traitor to whom, to what? To Napoléon? To France? In my opinion, he was a traitor to neither. I might be all over the place with this, so please bear with my disorganised rambling.

Someone much wiser than I am wrote something, somewhere, that there are no unmixed motives. So did Bernadotte act from completely noble motives? I doubt it. Were his actions justified after he became heir to the Swedish Throne? In my opinion, yes.

Because there are some people who think that it was inappropriate for Bernadotte to marry Désirée Clary, I will put this to rest right from the get-go. Napoléon had dumped Désirée. He had *dumped* her. He had done so when it was much more serious to break up an engagement than it is now. So Napoléon had no claim at all anymore on Désirée. At the time of her marriage to Bernadotte, Napoléon was certainly more politically and socially prominent, but Bernadotte was no slouch himself.

Personally, I suspect Napoléon was not too proud of the way he had treated Désirée, and this is part of the reason he went easy (sort of) on Bernadotte, a general he disliked, if not more. Similarly Bernadotte had no great affection for Napoléon. These two never got along. Napoléon did not like rivals, for one thing, and Bernadotte had had a successful military career himself and was politically ambitious.

Anyway, enough about the early days. It is well known that Bernadotte had treated his Swedish prisoners well during the napoleonic campaigns, and that this created a very favourable impressions at the Swedish court. In 1810, when Bernadotte was asked to become the Crown Prince of Sweden he was in disfavour with Napoléon and perhaps felt that there was no future for him in France. The Swedish offer must have seemed a gift from Heaven. As I see it, here was his chance to get out from under Napoleon's thumb, acquire some elbow room and satisfy his own political ambitions. Still, he sought Napoleon's consent before accepting the offer. I hardly see any traitorous action yet.

Bernadotte was not naïve about the reasons for the Swedish offer. Russia had just wrested Finland from Sweden, and the Swedes wanted a military man to wrest it back. Bernadotte chose another path: he came to an agreement with Russia, and increased Sweden's territory by seizing Norway instead.

Here is where we get into the whole treason business: it was expected that once Bernadotte assumed de facto rule In Sweden, which happened immediately as the King was no longer fit to reign, he would remain faithful to the interests of France. Bernadotte looked to the interests of Sweden instead. In other words, he refused to keep one foot in each camp and brought both feet into the Swedish camp. In my opinion, this was the right thing to do.

Let me offer this metaphor : suppose you have this legendary sports team. Just for the heck of it, let's say the Montreal Canadiens hockey team. It includes many star players, one of which spent his long career on this team, all the while with a coach who just loved to browbeat him. Then the star player gets a dream offer to become a coach himself for a less prestigious team, but with carte blanche to mold it according to his own ideas and principles. Would this new coach act properly if he enjoined his players to go easy on his former team, just because he owed his fame to his time there as a player? My answer is no, no, no, no! The new coach's loyalty has to be to his present team, the one who wanted him as a coach; anything else would be wrong.

This is an oversimplification, of course, and I have no doubt that jealousy and resentment played a part in Bernadotte's choices. However, on the face of it I am convinced Bernadotte acted properly by protecting the interests of his new country. If the interests of Sweden lay with joining a coalition against Napoléon, then this was the proper decision for Bernadotte to make.

If I were to study Bernadotte's life in greater depth, something I would like to do, I might come to another opinion. In the meantime, I see no treason in his putting Sweden's interests first.