Here are some random romance (and some nsfw) facts about the ROs!
The Voice:
The Voice has never been in love before meeting Daaé.
The Voice does not want children (this is not a fact that will ever change), though it does enjoy the idea of planning for children with a partner (decorating a nursery, picking out a name, that sort of thing).
He reads trashy gothic pulp stories, including erotica. Vampire stories are his favourite.
Has a very warped sense of sex and kink. Views its more vanilla sexual fantasies as depraved, like getting horny to the idea of being ridden makes it feel guilty and ashamed, but then views its fantasies that are actually depraved (by society’s standards, ie necrophilia) as completely normal things to get horny to.
Daroga:
When the Daroga was younger they did not agree with sex outside of marriage. They have relaxed this stance in more recent years, though they still don’t engage in casual sex themselves.
Jumping off that point, the Daroga has been married twice before, both times out of lust.
Food is a regular motif in the Daroga’s route. They love cooking for their partner, they view sharing and especially making food as the ultimate means of caring for someone.
Likes kisses on the inside of the wrist.
R De Chagny:
R is a virgin, though not for lack of opportunity.
Very physically affectionate, a touchy feely person. This has gotten them in trouble before, when casual touches have been perceived as flirting.
A yearner of the highest degree.
Self-inserts themselves into love stories. Especially stories about enduring love and having to rescue or fight to be with someone else, like later Arthurian romances or classic mythology (Cupid and Psyche, The Odyssey, etc).
Sorelli:
La Sylphide was the first ballet Sorelli ever saw, and the love story made her bawl her eyes out. It’s no longer her favourite, but it holds a special place in her heart as the inspiration for her career.
Has attended an orgy before. Thought it was fun, will never ever do that again though.
She doesn’t like the idea of marriage. She’s more than open to being someone’s committed partner for life, but the idea of being that legally dependent on a man scares her - though she could certainly be convinced if she was in love.
Quality time is how she shows affection. She’ll find excuses to just be near someone she likes.
i am so interested in this IF! i just read the demo (which is beautiful, by the way. i'm very picky about what i read and Le Fantôme hits all my marks) it's a crime there aren't more asks. so i'm obviously remedying that!!! what is the first thing the ROs notice about Daaé (i guess other than their voice? or what about it, specifically, drew them in?)
R: This one is actually going to get answered slightly more in the story, but R's loved Daaé since you were children (whether or not that's romantic love is up to you). One of the things that made you such good friends was a mutual love of fairytales as kids, and in your first meeting R got to play the hero a bit and thus forever onwards thought of themselves as Daaé's knight in shining armour. Since they were sort of approaching that age where the adults around them were expecting them to start to grow out of playing make believe, it was especially meaningful to R that Daaé never mocked that little fantasy and sometimes in fact encouraged it (doubly so for fem!R for whom the idea of playing a knight would have been a significant break from expected gender norms).
Daroga: This one is going to definitely be answered in the story, but the gist of it is the fact that Daaé's an immigrant. It's not the most noticeable thing (Daaé's mostly lived in France and doesn't have an accent), but there's definitely a sense of a social barrier that is one of the things prevents Daaé from really developing strong connections with any individual (regardless of how much or little Daaé might try). The Daroga can relate to this a great deal, and it's something that makes them empathise with Daaé slightly more than they do other members of the opera. There's other story-related things that make the Daroga start to really keep an eye on Daaé, but this is something that made Daaé stand out to them well before the other external factors came into play.
Sorelli: Suspicion. For a long while Sorelli didn't honestly take that much notice of you. What really starts to get Sorelli to pay attention is when the Voice shows up (not that Sorelli knows it). Why is Daaé spending time at the opera house early in the morning when no one else is there? Why is Daaé behaving suddenly differently than before? Why are a host of other things happening around Daaé that individually would be nothing, but all together paint a picture of something else going on? Sorelli is very protective of her opera house and the people in it, so naturally she's going to pay attention to Daaé more - how else is she supposed to know if Daaé's the one that needs protecting or if Daaé's the one that the opera needs protecting from? She knows logically it all may be perfectly normal and benign, but she absolutely hates knowing that there's something going on that she doesn't get to be a part of.
The Voice: I think that if I ever end up making a Patreon, I'll probably write a scene from the Voice's point of view featuring the first time they notice Daaé. So for this I'll just answer what it is about Daaé's voice that drew his notice. Daaé's voice is not naturally the best (for a professional opera singer that is), it does take you a few months of practicing proper technique before the Voice deems Daaé good enough to perform a major role. However, Daaé's voice has a unique sound to it, something indescribable that makes them memorable compared to other voices of a similar quality. For the Voice specifically, he chalks this unique sound up to emotion - he views it as Daaé feeling the music more deeply than any other singer, and feels that when Daaé sings he is getting to see a part of their soul (hence the reason that I called the acting skill Acting and Soul).
I LOVEDDDD the game omg!!!! Sorelli and R have my whole heart 😭😭
I got 2 questions!!
Have the ROs ever fallen in love/been attracted to someone of the same gender? Since you said R has loved Daaé for a long time, if we chose it to be in a romantic sense, how did they feel about falling in love with someone of the same gender?
Artists have been queer since the beginning of times lollll so I'd think that society is more "whatever" regarding the artists, but for the aristocrats being queer is a bigger "problem" 🤔
And the second question is NSFW!!
I'm playing a male Daaé, but I'm not comfortable reading my MCs bottoming 😫 will we have the option to choose whether Daaé tops or bottoms? If not, it's no problem at all! I'll just skip the spicy scenes and enjoy the rest of the game 🤗
Thank you!!! :)
Thank you for the kind words! The second question is answered first here just because the answer is slightly shorter.
I'm playing a male Daaé, but I'm not comfortable reading my MCs bottoming 😫 will we have the option to choose whether Daaé tops or bottoms? If not, it's no problem at all! I'll just skip the spicy scenes and enjoy the rest of the game 🤗
I still have yet to determine just how detailed the spicier scenes will get (ideally I’d like very detailed but who knows what will be allowed on different platforms for posting by the time I get there). No matter what though I do want to make sure that the sex scenes will have a good degree of variety when it comes to getting to choose how they play out. Either you will get that choice of topping or bottoming, or the scene will be less detailed with more of the vibe described and certain actions implied, in which case it could be interpreted as either person bottoming depending on what the reader prefers.
Have the ROs ever fallen in love/been attracted to someone of the same gender? Since you said R has loved Daaé for a long time, if we chose it to be in a romantic sense, how did they feel about falling in love with someone of the same gender?
Sorelli has had relationships with other women before, you’re on the money about artists being queer (especially in Paris during the Belle Époque time period). The Daroga has been attracted to the same sex before - Hamida has once or twice acted on this in her youth while Ismaël has not.
The Voice is on the spectrum of demisexual - it has never felt sexual attraction towards a specific person before, though it has felt sexual desire and it’s the crush it develops on Daaé that allows it to feel sexual attraction specifically for them. It has been sexually attracted to the idea of certain characters in literature, nearly always women but that’s more due to the character tropes that it’s attracted to in literature almost always fitting the same gendered dynamic. Being attracted to a male Daaé is something that barely fazes it, as you’ll see - it’s got a lot of issues and even I’m not cruel enough to add internalised homophobia to the list!
R on a platonic route struggles a bit with attraction when it comes to Daaé, especially of the opposite gender - normalised heterosexuality combined with objectivity recognising that Daaé can be considered attractive means a platonic R has spent a lot of time prior to the story wondering if they’re in love with Daaé, simply because it’s hard for them to conceptualise that the strong love they feel for an opposite gender Daaé could be anything other than romantic. Same gender platonic R (or platonic R with a nonbinary Daaé) doesn’t struggle with this nearly as much, but they are attracted to multiple genders and when they start to explore that as they get older, they do wonder a bit about their feelings for Daaé, just not to the same extent as opposite gender platonic R.
Romantic R is Daaé-sexual for lack of a better way of phrasing it lmao. Daaé was the first person they were ever attracted to, even when they were too young to really understand what they felt, and every instance of attraction they’ve felt towards others has been because those people remind R of Daaé in some way. I think falling for a Daaé of the same gender doesn’t bother them quite as much as you’d expect, though there is an element of shame when they first start feeling attraction towards Daaé - feeling like they’re taking advantage of the friendship somehow when Daaé doesn’t know how they feel. At the end of the day though, R is expected to marry well and have children, and even a Daaé of the opposite gender is off limits because of their class difference, not to mention Daaé’s an immigrant who was raised Lutheran (regardless of how religious Daaé actually is), and later Daaé’s scandalously an opera performer. Most of what bothers R about Daaé being the same gender is that they can’t get married, but that was always going to be a problem regardless of Daaé’s gender. So the reason that falling for same gender Daaé doesn’t really bother R that much is because society is already looking down on this relationship either way, Daaé and R being queer only exacerbates a situation that already existed.
The exact dynamic and how R feels about it is affected significantly by gender combinations, as that affects how Philippe views it (and R does view Philippe as the main authority figure in their life) - Philippe doesn’t care much if Raoul is attracted to men and has a lover, male or female, provided Raoul is discreet about it and still marries a noblewoman. While on the other hand Rose could be telling Philippe to his face that she’s having sex with a woman (not that she actually would do that lol) and Philippe would still think Rose and fem!Daaé are just good friends. And naturally Rose having a male or male-presenting lover is completely out of the question.
Does Sorelli love her lover or is it just for the money?
She's very fond of her lover and feels both affection and attraction for him, but no, she is not in love with him. Her feelings for an MC romancing her are almost immediately stronger than anything she feels for her lover, even when she's only at the flirting/crush stage with MC.
Honestly, I'm not a super huge fan of love triangles (unless my character is the one being fought over lol), so I don't really plan on treating Sorelli's route as a straightforward love triangle where you have to 'compete' for her.
« La Sorelli est une danseuse grande, belle, au visage grave et voluptueux, à la taille aussi souple qu’une branche de saule »
Dominique Sorelli
The Prima Ballerina of the Paris Opera Ballet
Female, she/they
Tarot: Strength
La Sorelli is the prima ballerina of the Paris Opera Ballet. Beautiful, proud, flirtatious, fierce, she is the self-proclaimed protector of the opera house. With her superstitious nature, she especially takes issue with the Opera Ghost who frightens the younger ballerinas, whom she often goes out of her way to encourage and safeguard. Sorelli is vain about her looks an abilities, leading others to view her as shallow, though she is far more intelligent than given credit for. She is the kept mistress of a wealthy nobleman - perhaps she loves him, or perhaps she loves what he materially provides her. You and she always seem to be in each other’s orbit, and she regards your meteoric rise with suspicion. You’ve never been able to break through her hard exterior to see the vulnerabilities underneath - until now.
Age: Early to mid twenties, no younger than 23 and no older than 26.
Hair: Jet-black in colour, though in sunlight it appears to have shades of amber brown. It is pin-straight and silky in texture. It reaches her lower back. She likes to use it to accentuate her neck by pinning it in an elegant pompadour high on the back of her head.
Eyes: Her oblique, near-black eyes have a monolid and a sharp glint that hints at her intelligence.
Skin: She has smooth ivory skin dotted with beauty marks. None on her face, but a good deal on her back, shoulders, and neck.
Figure: She has a lithe, willowy figure that makes her appear taller than her average height. Thanks to her years of dancing, she has graceful arms and toned muscle, especially on her legs.
Features: Sorelli has well-proportioned features and is considered extremely beautiful. Her bone structure is defined and angular, most especially her high cheekbones. She has a swan-like neck, often considered her best feature.
Clothing: Sorelli likes to dress fashionably - just not what the upper classes might think of as fashionable. She is heavily inspired by the artistic types she is surrounded with, and has a strong preference for the aesthetic dress movement. She often likes more scandalous styles. In private, she dabbles with cross-dressing.
Voice: Sorelli has a lilting, melodious voice, though she makes an active effort not to let her pitch get too high, otherwise she believes that she sounds shrill.
"The only way to get rid of temptation is to yield to it." (Oscar Wilde, The Picture of Dorian Gray)
