Your cozy life in New Orleans is about to come crashing down.
You are the child and heir to the illustrious Almonáster y Roxás family, infamous for their monopoly on all dealings with the supernatural in 1890s Louisiana. Your youth was spent wanting for nothing— being waited on hand and foot, and kneeling among the reeds of New Orleans’ swamps, catching dragonflies.
But, as you would quickly come to realize, with the shimmery end to the Gilded Age comes the death of that languid, idyllic childhood. The threat of that great expanse beyond your youth skirts ahead of you, cloaked in shadow… alongside the many dreadful and mundane responsibilities that often accompany coming of age.
Preparing to continue your father’s business, even as he chooses to keep you and your family in the dark about the nature of his work.
Navigating the bustling streets of London, where you are to meet your fiancée at the altar.
Contending forces pull you in every direction, as you learn to navigate adulthood, all while representing your house built of cards, the one that splinters beneath its own weight. You may approach the hurdles that face you on your path with the diplomacy that befits your father’s trade, or you may choose to fight the current that takes you.
As you grow and come into your own as a young noble in London, you begin to unfurl your wings for the first time. But leaving the nest comes with problems of its own, some of which may destroy the carefully constructed peace you seek to preserve.
A semi customizable MC (choose your hair type and color, eye color, pronouns, sexuality, etc.)
Choose between four romance options: your fiancée, your secret lover, your fiancée's adoptive sibling, and one of your family's servants. (one male RO, one female RO, and two gender selectable ROs)
Deal with your family issues, all while having to deal with the law constantly making your life worse
Experience the supernatural world of London and decide how you really feel about your family's work with them
Have mommy issues and overall be the messiest person you can be <3
This IF is rated 18+ for sexually explicit scenes, alcohol and drug use, descriptive gore, and death. This list will be updated as the story is developed, but if there is anything that we may miss, please let us know
Loren Bennet ◇ The Secret Lover ◇ 19 | RO
Loren Bennet, your childhood best friend and the love of your life. You both met when you were a child, and they had moved to New Orleans. Originally, it was three of you, but after Anika returned home to France, the two of you had grown closer. Far closer than you ever should have, and now it's all been ruined. Loren is heartbroken over the fact that they won't be the one to marry you. Despite the fact that you were all once friends, once you can see their resentment towards Anika building, you're not really sure what will happen the day it becomes too much for them to handle.
Loren is gender selectable
Anika L'Amoreux ♡ The Betrothed ♡ 18 | RO
Anika L'Amoreux, your fiancée. Once, you two were best friends, but now she's more a stranger than anything else, and the fact that she refuses to admit that you two don't know each other anymore causes more issues than it prevents. Anika has no idea about your relationship with Loren, and is insistent on trying to rebuild your friendship. She's sweet and kind, but that kindness seems to just be causing more problems. You're not quite sure how exactly you're going to get through this engagement, let alone an entire marriage.
Anika is gender locked female, but that doesn't mean your sexuality is locked. How your MC feels about Anika is totally and completely the player’s choice.
Claude/Claudette L'Amoreux □ The Failure □ 19 | RO
Seen as the failure of the L'Amoreux family, C's life hasn't been the easiest. Adopted when they were 6, their new family assumed they'd practically rule the world only for them to fall into the wrong crowds and almost cost their family everything. C is desperately trying to make up for what they've done and prove to their family that they've changed, but nobody truly listens. Now, with Anika seen as the star of the L'Amoreux house, C is left to do nothing but follow her around and live in her shadow.
C is gender selectable
Jasper Moore ○ The Servant ○ 18 | RO
Jasper Moore has been a staple in your life for almost as long as you can remember. His family came to work for yours when you were young, and Jasper assigned himself the role of your personal attendee since the beginning. Despite having him so close most of your life, you really don't know much about him. You have no idea how he feels about your situation either, but when you found out about the betrothal, he was one of the first ones to comfort you, promising that he would be there the entire way through. Even if you're sure of nothing else, you can be sure that Jasper will always be there to lend a hand when you're in need.
Jasper is gender locked male
Philippe ‘Pip’ Almonáster y Róxas ☆ The Brother ☆ 10
Pip has been inseparable from your side almost his entire life. Your mother and sister left your life around the same time, and the hurt from that only drove him closer. You're his hero, and he admires you in every way possible. Surprisingly, Pip seemed to take the news of you leaving New Orleans well, but later that night, he had crawled into your bed and cried himself to sleep next to you. Your heart aches at the thought of having to leave him behind.
Flora Almonáster y Róxas ♧ The Sister ♧ 23
You and Flora were close once, but when she turned 18 and got married, that bond withered rather quickly. Only speaking through an occasional letter and a rare visit, you can't say you know Flora all that well anymore. She did, however, come home specifically to offer you support after hearing the news of your engagement, but you're still unsure of how to feel about her.
Andreas Almonáster y Róxas □ The Father □ 48
You have an odd relationship with your father. You've never been particularly close, but you never imagined he'd be putting together a marriage for you behind your back. You and your father may have been distant from each other, but you still trusted him. Now, that trust is broken, and it leaves you to wonder what else he could possibly be hiding from you.
I'm sorry for going silent id never abandon this project (or any of my other ones either) just got pretty busy for while. but im back and im going to be posting what i had of chapter one written pretty soon! I had originally wanted to wait till i finished the whole chapter but its a lot longer than i had expected. I have a good stopping point right now so im going to go ahead and edit everything and make sure the code is still good and post it for yall soon:3. I hope you're all doing well and I'm excited to share the updated demo with you guys!
also quick question how do we feel about potential infidelity
the story takes place during 1890 so i normally look up popular names during that time period and go from there. when you set everything up for your mc ill have a couple of name suggestions there but you're completely free to just do whatever you want anon:3
Could you show us Claude/Claudette's character board? 👀
oh course! lowkey, theirs is my second favorite🧍♀️
starting from bottom left: Katniss Everdeen (the hunger games), Kim Wexler (better call saul), Tashi Duncan (challengers), Mel Medarda (arcane league of legends), Amy March (little women 2019), Fitzwilliam Darcy (pride and prejudice), Chani Kynes (dune), Tess (the last of us part one), Shadowheart (baldurs gate 3)
rip loren bennet you wouldve loved lesbian twitter
oh i should probably name the characters for those who dont know all of them lmao
starting from bottom left ellie williams (the last of us part 2), taissa turner (yellowjackets), freya (god of war), will herondale (the infernal devices), chloe price (life is strange), tifa lockhart (final fantasy 7), joe march (little women), jules vaughn (euphoria), maggie rhee (the walking dead), and vi (arcane league of legends)
rip loren bennet you wouldve loved lesbian twitter
oh i should probably name the characters for those who dont know all of them lmao
starting from bottom left ellie williams (the last of us part 2), taissa turner (yellowjackets), freya (god of war), will herondale (the infernal devices), chloe price (life is strange), tifa lockhart (final fantasy 7), joe march (little women), jules vaughn (euphoria), maggie rhee (the walking dead), and vi (arcane league of legends)
Oh, I just sent an ask but I actually forgot I wanted to ask you something else too.
We know how Loren feels about MC's marriage, but in your answer to my other ask you said that they resent Anika only if MC romances them.
I'd be interested in knowing what each non-romanced RO (player never picked romance options with them and so on) thinks about any given RO that was chosen by MC. Like for example, in my case, C is my chosen RO. So what would unromanced Loren, Anika and Jasper think about the relationship between MC and C? I hope it makes sense!
And on a side note, how's the relationship between Anika and C to begin with? I've realized we don't really know about that specifically, as C's intro feels like it mostly refers to how their family look at them at large, not necessarily how Anika herself feels.
Sorry, I'm really going feral over C here - I just need more haha
dont apologize for being feral over C. im happy to see it🤭. Now I've got to try to answer this in the least confusing way possible lmao.
This got long so the rest of it is under the cut
Loren:
Unromanced Anika honestly is pretty happy about this one once she gets over the disappointment of not being able to marry Mc. She's always liked knowing that mc and loren have someone who is forever in their corner even if she feels a little left out sometimes, and now that she knows that theyre like together together she can't help but be excited for them.
Unromanced Jasper doesn't really have an opinion, but he's glad to see that Mc is happy. He knew that mc and loren were together before, so its not like things really changed for him when they stayed together. Life just carries on as normal for him tbh
Unromanced C also doesn't care too much. Once they get over the initial shock of mc and anika no longer getting married, they're back to being pretty neutral. They are, however, somewhat happy anika isn't being forced into an arranged marriage. Even if she was okay with it, they weren't.
Jasper:
Unromanced Loren is honestly just completely shocked. They truly never thought that something would happen between mc and jasper just with how much of a wall jasper tried to build between them. Loren would be a little hurt in any route, but they'd be most okay with Jasper ending up with mc. They know he will always do his best to make them happy, and at the end of the day thats all they care about.
Unromanced Anika also really enjoys mc ending up with jasper. The whole thing sounds like it came right out of a book, and she can't help but love every second of it. Anika also just really likes Jasper and is so happy for mc to end up with someone who cares about them so much. (jasper and anika bestfriendism is alive and real to me)
Unromanced C honestly wouldn't know what to think. Part of them can't help but think of how inappropriate the whole thing is, but they do their best to not think that way. They also dont know Jasper too well, but if mcs happy, who are they to try and change anything
C
Unromanced Anika would be so shocked she genuinely wouldn't know what to say. She wouldn't be angry or anything like that. It's just that she never imagined that Mc would end with her sibling of all people. Once she sees how much Mc and C are able to help and support each other tho she's fully their number one supporter and will do everything she can to convince her parents not to interfere.
Unromanced Loren... isn't a very big fan of C. Its not even jealously or anything like that they just think C is pretentious and would much rather mc end up with someone like jasper or anika. Over time, they'll warm up to C, but they're definitely that person who'd tell Mc to break up with them over the smallest disagreements (they're petty LMAO).
Unromanced Jasper would be a little worried. Hes heard rumors about C and some of the things they've done, so he already has some issues with Mc getting close with them. He'll still be there to support mc and their decisions, but he also won't be afraid to tell mc his thoughts if they ask him. Once jasper gets to know C better, he'll be fine with their relationship, but its definitely going to take a while
Anika:
Like i said, Loren does hold some resentment towards Anika, but unromanced loren learns to get over it relatively quickly. Once they're able to rekindle their friendship with her, loren is pretty supportive of the relationship. They know that she'd never hurt mc, and thats all they care about. Also, the fact that Anika and mc live down the street from them is something they'd be pretty happy about
Unromanced Jasper is pretty supportive, especially once Anika manages to befriend him. He enjoys watching how happy anika and mc are with each other. Hes not the happiest that this means they'll have to stay in London, but he'll learn to be okay with it, lmao
Unromanced C is incredibly relieved. From the moment they heard about the arrangement, they were very worried that Anika was going to be trapped in a cold and unloving marriage, so finding out its actually the exact opposite makes them very happy. All they want is their little sister to be happy<3
As for Anikas and Cs relationship, I'd say they're pretty distant. In a lot of ways, they're similar to mc and Flora but less awkward. The distance between the two isn't from any sense of abandonment like it is with mc and Flora and more from C purposefully distancing themselves to try and reduce the bad image they cast on anika and their family🙃
im not going to get super detailed just so you can fully experience their personalities yourself, but I'll tell you a little bit🙂
Anika is the definition of a sweetheart. She's a very kind and genuine person, but that doesn't mean she's a pushover. If she's put in a situation where she's backed into a corner, she's not afraid to fight back. Anikas unwillingness to be talked down to is genuinely one of my favorite things about her
The C you'll meet is overall a quiet and reserved person with an incredibly intense streak of stubbornness. They're also pretty blunt, but they do their best to never come across as cruel. Occasionally, you see glimpses of the old confident arrogant and driven C, but they've tried to distance themselves from that version as much as possible
Jasper is somewhat distant with mc but still kind. He's also incredibly loyal to those he cares about. I kind of find it difficult to describe him because his relationship with mc is different than what he has with other people, so he tends to act differently depending on who he's around. Jasper is definitely the ro that i have the most difficult with just because it's hard to figure out what he's actually feeling and what he's choosing to show in the moment
Loren is pretty sarcastic and enjoys making people laugh. However, they can be pretty mean and dismissive of people they dont view as important, and they aren't a very forgiving person. Loren also tends to become obsessed with things, and this mixing with their habit of keeping grudges pretty often leads to disaster🙃. Lorens loyalty to Mc (and pip) plays a very big role in who they are as a person, and you'll really see that later in the story, so i won't touch too much on it right now. In short, befriend loren, you've got a loyal companion for life. piss them off, and they're making your life a living nightmare
i saw @/tosahobi-if make character inspo boards for their ros a little while ago, and i made some too, but i was too nervous to post them. but if yall wanna see them, I'll post them🙂
