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tsaritiz · 1 year

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All Identity V references (or easter eggs) to popular culture found.

Some are taken from theories of fandom others are found by me.

Martha Remington as the surname taken from the typewriter brand "remington" (also curious beacause in the game you have to decode typewriters)

Doctor, Emily Dyer is inspired by Amelia Dyer a british serial killer who killed lots of young children while beyond her cares.

Helena Adams references to Helen keller, a blind def woman who were a full-time activist.

Priestress (Fiona Gilman) references to HP Lovecraft's story "The dream in the witch's house."

The Magician references to Servais le roy, the creator of the illusion technic of levitation.

Naib Subedar, in his backstory makes reference to the british invasion of india.

Thief, Kreacher Pierson references George Müller, a Christian evangelist and the director of the Ashley Down orphanage in Bristol, England. He was one of the founders of the Plymouth Brethren movement. His surname is named after Arthur Tappan Pierson, a friend of George Müller who wrote his biography.

The explorer references to Gulliver's Travels.

William Ellis references William Webb Ellis, the alleged inventor of rugby. He also shares the exact same name as him

Norton Campbell's background story references the author H.P Lovecraft's short story titled The Transition of Juan Romero.

Enchantress, Patricia Dorval's adoptive mother references Marie Laveau a Louisiana Creole practitioner of Vodou, herbalist and midwife who was renowned in New Orleans.

Wilding, Murro's Deductions mentions Kasper Hauser, a German youth who claimed to have grown up in the total isolation of a darkened cell.

Female Dancer, Margaretha Zelle references both Mata Hari, a Dutch exotic dancer and courtesan who was convicted of being a spy for Germany during World War I and Natalia from The Last Circus.

Acrobat, Mike Morton's appearance references both Arlecchino from Commedia dell'arte and Vander Clyde Broadway an American female impersonator, high-wire performer, and trapeze artist born in Texas.

"Prisoner", Luca Balsa references Nikola Tesla a Serbian-American inventor, electrical engineer, mechanical engineer, and futurist best known for his contributions to the design of the modern alternating current (AC) electricity supply system.

Entomologist, Melly Plinius references Pliny the Elder (Gaius Plinius Secundus) the Roman author/naturalist/natural philosopher.

Batter, Ganji Gupta's background story references the British Colonization of Indian Subcontinent (1858-1947).

"Psychologist", Ada Mesmer's Surname references Franz Anton Mesmer, a German physician who developed the theory of animal magnetism. She may also be inspired in Ada Lovelace the matematician

Soul Weaver, Violetta references Aloisia 'Violetta' Wagner, a famous German freak show performer from the early 20th century. She was renowned for having tetra-amelia syndrome.

The Ripper, Jack references Jack the Ripper an unidentified serial killer active in the impoverished districts in and around Whitechapel in the East End of London in 1888. His background story references Walter Sickert, a German-born British painter and print maker who was a member of the Camden Town Group of Post-Impressionist artists in early 20th-century London and was suspected of being Jack the Ripper.

Geisha, Michiko references Chōchō-San from Madame Butterfly. She may also reference Yosano Akiko or Higuchi Ichiyo, both famous writers and geishas. But not only, she may reference the play of Fukuchi Ochi "Mirror Lion" .

Hastur is based on The King in Yellow from H.P. Lovecraft novels (Cthulhu Mythos Franchise).

Wu Chang, Xie Bi'an and Fan Wujiu references Heibai Wuchang (黑白无常, Black and White Impermanence) the two Deities in Chinese folk religion in charge of escorting the spirits of the dead to the underworld.

Photographer, Joseph Desaulniers references both Nicéphore Niépce a French inventor, usually credited as the inventor of photography and a pioneer in that field and Dorian Gray from The Picture of Dorian Gray. His background story also mentions the French Revolution.

Mad Eyes, Burke Lapadura references Edmund Burke, a highly regarded Canadian architect best known for building Toronto's Prince Edward Viaduct or "Bloor Street Viaduct" and Toronto's Robert Simpson store.

Dream Witch, Yidhra references Yidhra from the H.P. Lovecraft novels (Cthulhu Mythos Franchise).

Bloody Queen, Mary references both Marie Antoinette the last queen of France and a controversal figure during the French Revolution and the abilities based on Bloody Mary.

"Disciple", Ann's background story references the Salem witch trials.

Violinist, Antonio references Niccolò Paganini an Italian violinist and composer. He was the most celebrated violin virtuoso of his time, and left his mark as one of the pillars of modern violin technique.

Sculptor, Galatea Claude possibly references Camille Claudel a French sculptor known for her figurative works in bronze and marble and her name references to the statue carved of ivory by Pygmalion of Cyprus of the same name from Greek Mythology.

"Undead", Percy references Victor Frankenstein from the author Mary Shelley's novel Frankenstein.

The Breaking Wheel, Will Brothers references the Breaking wheel with their trailer also referencing the Execution of St Catherine.

Naiad, Grace references Naiads, fresh water nymphs presiding over fountains, wells, springs, streams, brooks and other bodies of fresh water from Greek Mythology. She also appears to reference H.P. Lovecraft's novella The Shadow Over Innsmouth.

Wax Artist, Philippe is based on Philippe Curtius a Swiss physician and wax modeller who taught Marie Tussaud the art of wax modelling.

Hermit, Alva Lorenz references Thomas Edison, a famous inventor.

Night Watch, Ithaqua is based on Ithaqua from H.P. Lovecraft novels (Cthulhu Mythos Franchise).

"Big Daddy" is likely a reference to "Big Brother" from 1984 by George Orwell, the leader who keeps all citizens under constant surveillance and controls them.

Allen, while little is currently known about him, is likely based off Zadok Allen from The Shadow Over Innsmouth.

Andrea may be based on Antonia Bianchi, a singer and the long term lover of Niccolo Paganini.

Arthur Byers is likely based on Ambrose Bierce, the author of “Haïta the Shepherd” in which Hastur first appeared.[1]

Catherine is based on St. Catherine of Alexandria who was executed using a breaking wheel.

Christina's death scene in Philipe's character trailer is an allusion to The Death of Marat by French painter Jacques-Louis David.

Claude Desaulniers is based on Claude Niépce, the older brother of French inventor Nicéphore Niépce.

Damballa is based on the benevolent spiritual intermediary in Haitian Voodoo of the same name.

James Reichenbach's last name is a reference to Reichenbach Falls, the name of the location where Arthur Conan Doyle's character Sherlock Holmes had his fight to the death with his greatest foe Professor Moriarty.

James Whistler is based on the real life painter James Abbott McNeill Whistler who was the mentor of Walter Sickert.

Papa Legba is based on trickster spiritual intermediary in Haitian Vodou of the same name.

Princess Lamballe is based on Marie Thérèse Louise of Savoy (Princesse de Lamballe) who was one of Marie Antoinette's closest friends.

Robert is likely based off Robert Olmstead, the main character and narrator of The Shadow Over Innsmouth.

Sullivan is based on Anne Sullivan Macy, an American teacher and lifelong friend of Helen Keller.

The currently Unnamed Cat God is likely based on the short stories Nyarlathotep and Cats of Ulthar by H.P. Lovecraft.

Blue Aladdin references to Aladdin from Aladdin and the Wonderful Lamp.

Violet Peacock's Chinese description references to The Peacocks Fly Southeast.

Both Poseidon's Crown and Poseidon references to Poseidon the god of the sea, storms, earthquakes and horses from Greek Mythology.

Caged Butterfly's description mentions Madame Butterfly.

The 1st Essence of Season 2 is based on several Fairy Tale Stories on each Costumes.

King's Tailor references to one of the Swindler from The Emperor's New Clothes.

Both Lazy Mr. Bunny and Mr. Turtle references to The Hare and The Tortoise from The Tortoise and the Hare.

King Arthur references to the character of the same name

Merlin references to the character of the same name.

Black Swan is based on Odile (The Black Swan) from Swan Lake.

Anubis is based on the god of the same name who is the god of death, mummification, embalming, the afterlife, cemeteries, tombs, and the Underworld in Egyptian Mythology.

Ancient Soul references to the Ankh an ancient Egyptian hieroglyphic symbol used in Egyptian art and writing to represent the word for "life" and, by extension, as a symbol of life itself.

Soul Catcher references to Day of the Dead a holiday traditionally celebrated on November 1 and 2, though other days, such as October 31 or November 6 from Mexica.

Golden Touch is based on King Midas a king of Phrygia who is known to turn everything he touched into gold from Greek Mythology.

The 1st Essence of Season 6 has several references to Greek Mythology.

Icarus is named after and based on the hero of the same name who is the son of the master craftsman Daedalus, the creator of the Labyrinth on Greek Mythology.

Apollo is named after and based on the God of the same name who is the god of oracles, healing, archery, music and arts, sunlight, knowledge, herds and flocks, protection of the young and the Member of Twelve Olympians.

Leonidas is named after Leonidas I a king of the Greek city-state of Sparta.

Pam possibly is based on Pan the god of the wild, shepherds and flocks, rustic music and impromptus, and companion of the nymphs.

Captain Hook is based on Captain James Hook.

Eversleeping Girl is based on Wendy Darling.

Forgotten Boy is possibly based on Peter Pan or one of the Lost Boys.

Siren is possibly based on the Mermaids from Mermaids' Lagoon.

March Hare is based on the Character of the Same Name.

Alice is based on the Protagonist of the Same Name.

Mr. Bunny is based on The White Rabbit.

Bill is based on Bill The Lizard.

Caterpillar is based on Hookah-Smoking Caterpillar.

Knave of Hearts is based on the character of the same name.

Executioner is based on one of the Queen of Hearts' Card Soldiers.

The Mad Hatter is based on the character of the same name.

Queen of Hearts is based on the character of the same name.

Serpent is based on Quetzalcoatl the god of life, light and wisdom, lord of the day and the winds from Aztec Mythology.

Lady Thirteen is based on Yu Mo from The Flowers of War, portrayed by the actress Ni Ni.

Sophia is based on Sophia Palaiologina a Byzantine princess, member of the Imperial Palaiologos family, Grand Princess of Moscow as the second wife of Grand Prince Ivan III.

Ivan is possibly based on Ivan III of Russia a Grand Prince of Moscow and Grand Prince of all Rus'.

Maroon Crystal is based on Dorothy Gale.

Princess Ozma is based on the character of the same name.

The Wicked Witch is based on both Wicked Witch of the West and Dorothy Gale.

Emerald City Coachman is based on the Coachman.

Oz, the Wizard is based on Wizard of Oz.

The Tin Man is based on Tin Woodman.

The Spookcrow is based on Scarecrow.

The Toothless Lion is based on Cowardly Lion.

Golden Ratio references to the Philosopher's Stone a mythic alchemical substance capable of turning base metals such as mercury into gold.

Electrolysis references to the technique of the same name that uses direct electric current (DC) to drive an otherwise non-spontaneous chemical reaction.

Ouroboros references to the ancient symbol of the same name that depicts a snake or dragon eating it's own tail.

Choir Boy has a The squared circle symbol an alchemical symbol (17th century) illustrating the interplay of the four elements of matter symbolising the philosopher's stone on his back.

Mutation represents Chrysopoeia an artificial production of gold, most commonly by the alleged transmutation of base metals such as lead.

Sulfuric Acid has a tattoo on chest resembling the symbol of the same name based on Dalton's Law of Atomic Weights.

Vine references to the Elixir of life a potion that supposedly grants the drinker eternal life and/or eternal youth.

Philofelist possibly references to Necromancy a practice of magic or black magic involving communication with the dead – either by summoning their spirits as apparitions, visions or raising them bodily – for the purpose of divination, imparting the means to foretell future events, discover hidden knowledge, to bring someone back from the dead, or to use the dead as a weapon.

Judge represents Pride.

Deputy represents Greed.

Clerk represents Envy.

Court 3 Commissioner represents Wrath.

Court 5 Commissioner represents Sloth.

Court 6 Commissioner represents Gluttony.

Court 7 Commissioner represents Lust.

Narcissus is named after the character of the same name who rejected all romantic advances, eventually falling in love with his own reflection in a pool of water, staring at it for the remainder of his life, his name is the origin of Narcissism.

Clio is named after the goddess of the same name who is the goddess of history, lyre playing and a member of the Muses.

Talia is named after Thalia who is the goddess of comedy and a member of the Muses.

Hebe is named after the goddess of the same name who is the goddess of eternal youth, prime of life, forgiveness

"Succubus" is named after a demon of the same name they are female demons that appears in dreams to seduce men, usually through sexual activity.

Rainmaker's Beauty Form is based on both Lady Shizuka, one of the most famous women in Japanese history and literature and Ameonna, a yōkai thought to call forth rain while the Prajna Form is based on Kuchisake-onna, that appears as a malicious spirit, or onryō, of a woman, that partially covers her face with a mask or other item and carries some sort of sharp object.

"The Prince" is based on the titular character of the The Happy Prince.

Feathered Cloak is based on Freyja, a goddess associated with love, beauty, fertility, sex, war, gold, and seiðr (magic for seeing and influencing the future) from Norse Mythology.

The 3rd Essence of Season 17 is based on The Masque of the Red Death.

Man in Red is based on The Red Death.

Runaway is based on Prince Prospero.

The 1st Essence of Season 18 is based on The Marriage of Figaro.

Fury is based on both Count Almaviva (Philippe) and Countess Rosina (Christina).

"Susanna" is based on the character of the same name.

The 1st Essence of Season 20 is based on And Then There Were None.

The 2nd Essence of Season 20 takes place on The Crystal Palace on a fictional setting.

Lockheart is shown to be a fictional daughter of the in real life historical figure Joseph Paxton an English gardener, architect, engineer and Member of Parliament, best known for designing the Crystal Palace.

The 1st Essence of Season 21 is based on Bacchanalia, an unofficial, privately funded popular Roman festivals of Bacchus, based on various ecstatic elements of the Greek Dionysia.

Spring Heated Wine is based on Dionysus, the god of the grape-harvest, wine making, orchards and fruit, vegetation, fertility, insanity, ritual madness, religious ecstasy, festivity, and theatre and a Member of the Twelve Olympians from Greek Mythology.

Bai Ze is based on Bai Ze itself, a mystical Chinese beast connected with spirits.

The 3rd Essence of Season 22 is based on insects and also the seven virtues.

Winter Cicada represents Humility.

Frozen Butterfly represents Chastity.

Ant represents Charity.

Scorpion represents Kindness.

Mayfly represents Diligence.

Centipede represents Temperance.

Worker Bee represents Patience.

Boudoir Dream is based on Child Jane Hudson from What Ever Happened to Baby Jane which is a film adaptation of a novel of the same name, portrayed by the child actress Julie Allred

Iron Lady is based on Harriet Craig from the film of the same name which is a film adaptation of Craig's Wife, portrayed by the actress Joan Crawford.

Samara is based on Samarra from The Prodigal which is a film adaptation of Parable of the Prodigal Son, portrayed by the actress Lana Turner.

Rhythm of the Rain is based on Kathy Selden from Singin' in the Rain, portrayed by the actress Debbie Reynolds.

Recluse is based on Jef Costello from Le Samouraï, portrayed by the actor and filmmaker Alain Delon.

Hamlet is based on the titular character of the 1948 film which is the film adaptation of the play of the same name, portrayed by the actor and director Laurence Olivier.

Colonel Dax is based on the character of the same name from Paths of Glory which is a film adaptation of the novel of the same name, portrayed by the actor and filmmaker Kirk Douglas.

The Red Shoes is based on Victoria Page from The Red Shoes which is a film adaptation of a fairy tale of the same name, portrayed by the actress ballet dancer and actress Moira Shearer.

The Black Tulip is based on both Guillaume de Saint Preux and Julien de Saint Preux from The Black Tulip which is a film adaptation of the novel of the same name, both portrayed by the actor and filmmaker Alain Delon.

Just Around the Corner is based on Penny Hale from Just Around the Corner which is a film adaptation of Lucky Penny, portrayed by former child actress, singer, dancer, and diplomat and diplomat Shirley Temple.

Zouzou is based on the titular character of the 1934 film, portrayed by actress, French Resistance agent, and Civil Rights Activist Josephine Baker.

Ben-Hur is based on Judah Ben-Hur from Ben-Hur which is a film adaptation of Ben-Hur: A Tale of the Christ, portrayed by the actor and political activist Charlton Heston.

Dorothy is based on Dorothy Gale from The Wizard of Oz which is a film adaptation of The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, portrayed by actress and singer Judy Garland.

Salome is based on the titular character from the movie of the same name, portrayed by actress, dancer, and producer Rita Hayworth.

Da Vinci is based on Leonardo da Vinci from The Life of Leonardo da Vinci which is a miniseries about the real life artist, portrayed by actor Philippe Leroy.

Svengali is based on the titular character of the 1931 film which is a film adaptation of Trilby, portrayed by the actor on radio, stage and radio John Barrymore.

Rashomon is based on the Samurai's wife from Rashomon which is a film adaptation of two Ryūnosuke Akutagawa novels "In a Grove" and "Rashōmon", portrayed by the actress Machiko Kyō.

Broken Blossoms are based on Cheng Huan from Broken Blossoms which is a film adaptation of The C**** and the Child, portrayed by the actor Richard Barthelmess.

Scarlet is based on Scarlett O'Hara from Gone with the Wind which is a film adaptation of the novel of the same name, portrayed by the actress Vivien Leigh.

Faust is based on the titular character of the 1927 film which is a film adaptation of the play of the same name, portrayed by the actor, director and singer Gösta Ekman.

Million Dollar Mermaid is based on Annette Kellerman from the film of the same name which is a biography about the real life swimmer, portrayed by swimmer and actress Esther Williams.

#identity v #idv embalmer #idv #idv shitpost #easter eggs #so many references #idv easter eggs #identityv gameplay #identityv #idv gamekeeper #idv yidhra #idv geisha #idv fanart

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angelkarafilli · 11 months

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Rediscovered in 1952 by photo historians Helmut and Alison Gernsheim, the “First Photograph” was first depicted in this well-known reproduction that was retouched by Helmut Gernsheim prior to its international release. Joseph Nicéphore Niépce’s “View from the Window at Le Gras.” 1826 or 1827. Gernsheim Collection, Harry Ransom Center / The University of Texas at Austin.

The details are faint, it’s true, due not to fading but to Niépce’s underexposure of the plate.Interesting to think of an 8-hour exposure as being underexposed!

#first photo #Nicéphore Niépce #1826 #View from the Window at Le Gras #black and white #Gernsheim Collection #historic #old #Le Gras #France

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sopitadehuevito · 2 years

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A lore and character analysis of Joseph Desaulniers

Word Count: 13k

This essay is intended to provide a more in-depth look into Joseph's lore and character. The analysis will mostly view his backstory through a historical context while providing additional commentary along the way. Official non canon media such as the official character tweet replies will be used as evidence, however, only when explicitly aligned with canon. To begin, I will go over the sources the developers based Joseph's character off, both from a lore perspective and design one. We'll first address the sources used for his lore and then discuss his character design. From there we'll go in chronological order of events in his lore. Here's a quick recap of Joseph's backstory for those who've either never read it or need a refresher, otherwise feel free to skip it.

Joseph Desaulniers was born into a wealthy French aristocratic family alongside his twin brother, Claude. Both lived happily until they were forced to leave France as a result of the French Revolution. However, mid-voyage, Claude got sick and died. Joseph was never able to emotionally recover from Claude's death which led to him trying to find a way to preserve life, with the hopes of bringing Claude back in the end. One day, he journeyed someplace far away and returned with mysterious books. After his journey, he became fully absorbed in his experiments and eventually succeeded in capturing souls within photographs. He tried to tell his friends about his discoveries but they either took offense to his experiments or assumed that he was joking. As the years went by, he grew older and refined his techniques, which lead to even more disappearances. The townspeople eventually realize this and storm his manor, only to find him gone.

Lore and its Inspirations

When creating the character, the developers took inspiration from many sources. Two of the more prominent sources being the life of French inventor, Joseph Nicéphore Niépce and the gothic literature novel, The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde. Later in the analysis the influence these had on Joseph's lore will become clearer. I will briefly summarize both as to provide context. This will also make it much easier to understand and draw parallels between the works later on.Joseph Nicéphore Niépce was a French inventor who is considered to have invented photography. He had three siblings, one of whom was an older brother named Claude. He was born in 1765 into a wealthy family, with his father being a high ranking lawyer. From a young age, he had a passion for physics and chemistry which he studied in the Oratorian College in Angers. During the French revolution, he and his family were forced to leave France due to suspicion of being royalist sympathizers. He later returned in 1791 to serve as a French military officer in the south of France, but had to resign in 1794 due to contracting typhoid fever. After this, he went to live in Nice in southern France alongside Claude. Here, both the brothers begin to work on their first inventions together. Claude later leaves again in 1816 with hopes of bringing awareness to their inventions. In his absence, Joseph begins to take an interest in the camera obscura. By 1827, the first permanent photo was created and called "Point de vue du Gras". That same year, he went to visit Claude in London who had since then had descended into delirium, squandering most of the family fortune in business ventures for their inventions. Being left with no money yet still wanting to continue with his invention, Joseph entered a partnership in 1829 with Louis-Jacques-Mandé Daguerre, a camera obscura expert whom he had worked with previously and the namesake of the daguerreotype. Four years later on July 5th of 1833, Joseph passed away from a stroke.

The Picture of Dorian Gray is a novel by Oscar Wilde. The titular character inadvertently sells his soul so a portrait of him ages instead of him. The plot is as follows: An artist named Basil Hallward meets a beautiful young man named Dorian Gray whom he quickly becomes obsessed with. He has him pose for multiple paintings and he becomes the artist's muse. One day, Basil's hedonistic friend, Lord Henry Wotton sees a painting he's working on and asks to meet the model. Basil hesitantly agrees on the condition that he won't try to influence Dorian. They both meet and Henry immediately begins to preach about hedonism and how everyone should give into their desires. He later takes Dorian to a garden, where he praises his youth and beauty. He tells him that these are a man's most valuable assets and that he should take full advantage of them before they fade. These words prove to be quite impactful to Dorian, and once the painting is finished, he grows jealous of it. Why should the painting remain permanently young while he ages? In a fit of distress he vows that he'd be willing to give his soul so that the painting could age instead of him. After hearing this, Basil goes to destroy the painting but is stopped and later gifts it to Dorian after he assures Basil that he actually loves it. Dorian and Henry continue their correspondence with Dorian slowly becoming fascinated with hedonism. After a while, Dorian falls in love with a talented actress named Sibyl Vane. However this relationship is short lived as he decides to cruelly break up with her after proposing marriage. He returns home to find that the painting has changed to reflect his cruelty. This makes him realize that not only did his wish come true, but the painting also reflects his sins. He decides to apologize to Sibyl only to be informed by Henry that, in her distress, she had committed suicide. He is distraught at what he did but Henry tells him to consider her death as an artistic tragedy, saying he should move on. Dorian obliges and decides to hide the portrait in the attic so as to not let his secret be revealed. Later that day, Henry decides to give Dorian a French book about hedonism referred to as "the yellow book", believed to be À rebours by Joris-Karl Huysmans. Dorian is so enamored with this book that he dedicates the next couple of years of his life into seeking sensual pleasures. This causes rumors to spread, many claiming that those he engages with have had their lives ruined. However despite this, he isn't shunned or cast out of high society. On the contrary, his beautiful and youthful looks makes him quite popular with both men and women alike. Basil confronts him about these rumors and Dorian makes no attempt at denying it, showing Basil the painting which has now grown hideous. Basil begs him to repent but Dorian grows furious and murders him. He calls one of his estranged friends, blackmailing him into disposing of the body. However Dorian begins to feel guilty about the murder so he goes into an opium den where he encounters James Vane, Sibyl Vane's brother who wants to kill him to avenge her. However he fails after Dorian tricks him into believing that he's too young to have known Sibyl and he's let go. After learning he's been tricked however, he begins stalking Dorian, but dies shortly after being accidentally shot during a hunting party. After this Dorian attempts to turn his life around but when he performs a single good deed, he finds that the painting hasn't changed. In a fit of anger, he decides to stab the painting. The servants hear a loud crash and go to investigate, only to find a decrepit old man lying next to an unharmed painting of a beautiful young man.

Character Design

When creating Joseph's design, the developers expressed that they intended for him to be one of the more attractive hunters (alongside Michiko). This makes sense as appearance is an important aspect of Joseph's backstory, which will be observed later in the analysis. The designers mention wanting him to look like a bishōnen, a Japanese term meaning "beautiful youth". In addition to being a young beautiful man, a bishōnen also tends to be androgenous. Two movies are specified as sources of inspiration: Interview with the Vampire and Death in Venice. The specific roles in question are likely Lestat and Tadzio respectively with both being young, blonde, and somewhat androgynous.

In the fashion history context, Joseph's outfit seems to be inspired by rococo fashion, which was incredibly popular from the 1720s to the 1750s. It was popularized by Madame Pompadour, one of Louis XV's favorite mistresses. Marie Antoinette was another influential figure when it came to rococo fashion and is one of the most notable individuals that comes to mind when speaking of the era today. However, the fashion began to decline in popularity during the 1760s and ultimately disappeared all together with the French Revolution. French Rococo, especially among the aristocracy, was all about showcasing your wealth. It focused on elegance and refinement, elaborate patterns and embroidery (many times with floral motifs) were all common in rococo. Joseph seems to be wearing what was called a habit à la française, which aligned with what a majority of men at the time wore. It consists of a coat, waistcoat, and breeches. The blue coat with golden leaf embroidery is especially accurate for the period with both colors being quite popular. The floral embroidery is also both accurate and a subtle symbol of wealth as complex patterns such as the one Joseph wears were more costly than most could afford. Another small detail is his sword. The designers claimed that the sword (and him being a swordsman) was supposed to give him a slight edge, communicating that even despite his looks, he shouldn't be trifled with. The sword in question is a saber, a sword which was used by the French military (especially the cavalry and infantry) during the late 18th century. This could be a reference to Joseph Nicéphore, who if you recall, was a military officer at the time. In addition, this also doubles as yet another symbol of his wealth, as only the nobility had the right to carry a sword.

Joseph's design is meant to be the embodiment of elegance. Every aspect of his design—from his sword to his clothing— was meant to reflect his aristocratic background. His design is also very delicate in nature. The bright and frilly rococo clothing he wears contrasts with his white hair and pale skin, making him appear more like a fine china figurine (which were also incredibly popular in the rococo era).

His Camera World design is juxtaposed by his real world version. In the guidebook, the designers stated that the difference between the two forms was supposed to "create a subtle taste of fear". This design utilizes themes and motifs from his previous design but distorts them in a way where they become unappealing. This is most apparent in the cracks present all over his skin. They give him a frail appearance unlike the elegant delicacy of his Camera World version seen previously. Similarly, the vibrant colors from before have instead been replaced by varying black and gray hues. All of these design elements combined make him look both like a broken doll and an old photograph. The contrasting forms could also be a parallel to Dorian Gray. In the book, Dorian is a beautiful man while the portrait of his soul is hideous and rotting as a reflection of his sins. Similar to Dorian, Joseph's Camera World form takes the appearance of a beautiful young man. However, his husk form, much like Dorian’s portrait, is uncanny and a result of his own obsessions.

Place and Time Period

So when does Joseph's backstory take place? It mentions a revolution but as some have pointed out, the revolution which caused Joseph's family to flee is never specified in his deductions. Despite this, there are details within Joseph's backstory which point to this being the French Revolution. The first and most noticeable one are his clothes. As previously discussed, the clothes Joseph wears were from the rococo era. Identity V isn't the most accurate when it comes to historical clothing but this isn't a case where the clothes look nothing like the period; in fact, Joseph's clothing looks identical to those of the late 18th century. However the most conclusive pieces of evidence come from his later deductions, starting with the sixth and seventh "Dark Box" and "Rumor". The dark box is referring to a camera obscura, a dark room or box with a small hole which allows light in and projects an image opposite of the hole.

The camera obscura has been around for centuries and was used by artists of all kinds. Its ability to project outside images served as an aid for these artists, they'd simply trace the image and improve upon it later. This is exactly what's mentioned in his sixth deduction where he says "Even the most advanced painting techniques cannot perfectly reproduce the scene from the Black Box". His seventh deduction describes how his maids and workers have become strange, they whisper things behind his back and are taking sick leaves more often. This is all due to Joseph's new experiments. The deductions themselves don't really tell us much; it's only when they're combined that we get the full picture. Much like Niépce Nicéphore, Joseph became inspired to find a way to make the images projected by the camera obscura permanent. Joseph laments how they're "beautiful but fleeting" and how no painting no matter how good could compare to the real thing. If photography had already been invented, what reason would he have to lament about the impermanence of an outdated device? There are also his eighth and ninth deductions "Corrode" and "Develop". I won't go too into detail (yet) but the chemicals mentioned are those required to create a heliograph and a daguerreotype respectively. These methods were early versions of photography developed from 1822 to 1839. The daguerreotype specifically became wildly popular in Europe, and the ways to make it became public that same year. So from this, we can assume that these deductions must've happened on or prior to these dates. If it were after 1839, there would be no reason why his discoveries should be news to him. Even if you argue that this is merely him experimenting with the camera in order to trap souls, it still wouldn't make sense. As mentioned, the chemicals used are the exact ones used to create the photographs, nothing more. If this were truly a journal describing his research about the alterations made to trap souls, then it'd list the alterations made rather than the process of merely making the picture (which would've been public knowledge after 1839). These lab notes weren't him describing how to capture souls, they were describing how to produce a permanent photograph. All of this is supported by the designer's comments in Joseph's once skin. His once skin takes place when Claude was alive and the Desaulniers family was still in France. In the skin, Joseph is holding a doodle made by Claude. The designers deliberately state that the reason for this is that photography had yet to be invented. Bearing all of this in mind, it's clear that Joseph's backstory takes place sometime before 1839. With this time frame in mind, there were no other French revolutions at the time that would fit the criteria other than the French Revolution of 1789. While there was the July Revolution of 1830, this revolution didn't really cause the need for French aristocrats to leave their country.

The Luxuries of the Aristocracy

As we know, Joseph was born into a family of affluent French aristocrats. Prior to the revolution, France had three estates. The first estate was made up of clergy, the second estate was the nobility, leaving the rest of the population to make up the third estate. The aristocracy was in the second state and made up around a mere 1-2% of the population. They owned land and were exempt from most taxation, most notably the "taille" or base tax. Among the nobility there were titles which included the duc, marquis, comte, vicomte, and baron. We know that Joseph was a comte or count. Counts were in the middle when it came to noble ranking; they owned and held jurisdiction over a county. Although not always the case, most nobles were generally very wealthy and powerful.

One privilege which came with such wealth was a better education. The nobility considered a good education to be an essential part of being in the upper classes. Education for the higher classes were usually from either a tutor or a boarding school. Boarding schools were usually favored as they promoted independence but tutors were preferred for younger boys. The curriculum heavily focused on classic teachings and literature. Reading, writing, and mathematics were just as essential then as they are now and it was also common for boys to study history and geography. Another essential part of the curriculum was Latin or Greek. Philosophers such as Plato and Aristotle were popular at the time and the education system reflected this. There were also academies for etiquette which were very popular. As the name implies, these schools focused on teaching boys customs that would be useful to have as an aristocrat (or any member of the upper class for that matter). A lot of these would focus on art and refinement; they'd teach various things including fencing, poetry, dancing, and painting among others. So it goes without saying that Joseph got access to excellent education as a child thanks to his aristocratic background. His talents in painting, dancing, and fencing all reflect his aristocratic education. The fact that they're listed as his talents reflect both how dedicated Joseph is to both his studies and maintaining the illusion of a perfect aristocrat.

Prior to the revolution, Joseph's family was described as being the stereotypical French aristocrats. They were extremely wealthy and they lived an extravagant life because of it. They're depicted as hedonistic, throwing elaborate banquets and parties alongside their fellow noblemen. Joseph joins his family in these celebrations, enjoying living the carefree life that his status allows him. According to the DaShen personality quizzes, he's social and a natural aristocrat; he's loved by many and seen as a model child. However due to his popularity, he feels pressured by their expectations. Perhaps it's because of this that he's said to maintain high standards for himself and is very self regulated. It's also stated that he sometimes wishes he could escape and just be alone. He's dedicated to his studies which can also make him forget about socializing. Yet despite all of this, his wealth and status likely meant that Joseph lived a good life. He would've had access to things most couldn't afford such as a good education, food, and proper medical attention among others. However because of this status he also lived a very sheltered life with both him and his family being described as oblivious to the unhappiness of the people outside their luxurious courts.

Beginning of the End

However, the upper classes had to get that money from somewhere, and it so happens to be that that somewhere was through the exploitation of the third estate, which comprised 96% of the French population. The upper classes gained their wealth through heavily taxing the poor third estate. However, due to numerous reasons, France was in an ongoing financial crisis at the time. In order to address said crisis, the king summoned the Estates General. This is likely the conference which is referenced in Joseph's first deduction. The ceremony was held on May 4, 1789 and lasted two days. The Estates General was an assembly made up of the three classes (clergy, nobility, and commoners). They had the power to enact reforms and each estate would get one vote. This was a rigged system as everyone had equal voting power, despite the nobility and clergy making up only about 4% of the population. This resulted in the clergy and nobility teaming up and outvoting the third estate. In addition, this is exactly what happened on May 5 as the clergy and nobility voted to once again raise taxes on the commoners. The third estate, who was already suffering greatly, and who had been unfairly taxed for decades, decided to revolt. Thus, in 1789 the French Revolution began, a revolution which would last for over ten years. It is considered by many to be one of the most violent revolutions to date with the estimated number of deaths the period resulted in to be around 40,000.

During these violent times, many people from all walks of life decided to leave France. These exiles would be known as émigrés. There are two things that I'd like to note about the émigrés. Firstly, they weren't always seeking peace, many of them were wealthy royalists who wished to organize a counter revolution. I find it unlikely that this was the case for the Desaulniers family, as they're described as refugees, but I still wanted to mention it. Secondly, émigrés weren't only the first and second estate, many of them were people from the third estate. In fact, émigrés were quite diverse socially, more than you'd assume with only about 17-18% being nobles. Regardless of intentions or class, upwards of 100,000 émigres fled to neighboring European countries with Britain being a popular destination. It was the closest to France so it was the quickest and easiest route to take. However because Britain was separated by a channel this made getting to England easier said than done. The first problem was getting to the channel itself. Due to political turmoil, simply crossing the French border was extremely difficult. There are accounts of aristocrats having to disguise themselves as sailors in order to pass. But even if they passed, getting into a ship was another struggle. Many sailors noticed how desperate émigrés were so they hiked up the prices of their passages as a way to earn extra money. Many émigrés already had little money (as much as they could carry) so they couldn't afford the expensive voyages. Though, even if one had managed to go through all of that, the voyage itself was dangerous as well. The seas in the area were rough so many boats would sink, which killed many. We aren't given many details on the Desaulniers' journey other than the fact that it was arduous. Although something I'd like to note was that we know that Claude died in the winter season around a month prior to reaching their destination. They would've had to pass through the English Channel, a twenty-nine thousand mile piece of the Atlantic Ocean separating France and Britain. The English Channel usually has unpredictable weather but from October to April the waters are particularly treacherous. The weather is cold with around 12°C (54°F) during bad weather although it can dip down as low as -5°C (23°F) in the winter. It's also very wet, cloudy, and windy; all of these elements result in very poor visibility. These descriptions seem to match up with the conditions described in the first character day letter when Claude died. It was during a rainy and chilly day sometime during winter up to early spring. It's probably thanks to this harsh weather that Claude got sick in the first place.

When people talk about Joseph and his fear of death they mainly talk about it being caused by Claude's death. This is understandable as Claude dying was indeed a traumatic experience for Joseph but the turmoil of the revolution also bears examining. When the Revolution began, his entire life was turned upside down. He was forced to leave behind his old life and home upon fear of death. The journey to Britain is described as arduous and even when he managed to get there he'd still be faced with having to adjust to a different country, one which he might not even know the language of. Another point to consider was how bloody the French Revolution was. During the Reign of Terror (1793-1794) alone upwards of twenty thousand were killed. It's very likely that many of his fellow aristocrats were killed at some point and to add insult to injury, he likely never got any confirmation about what their fates were. There's also the many émigrés who died during the voyage, some of which he might've seen personally. We know that all of this left an impact on him because of his first letter. While the letter mainly focuses on Claude, others who died are also mentioned repeatedly."

[Death] took you with him and left. He took many with him and left – I even began to blame myself. Why did I survive in this freezing spring?" - Joseph, An Unsent Letter (2020)

The implications that others (presumably on the voyage) died as well could imply that Claude wasn't the only one who was sick. It's possible that the entire ship got infected with some sort of flu or disease, the aforementioned weather could've been a contributor. This is further supported by a different line later in the letter.

"Those disasters, those illnesses, those lives lost, those people who should have welcomed spring with us… I want to remember them all." - Joseph, An Unsent Letter (2020)

These lines also show us that Joseph suffers from survivor's guilt from surviving instead of not only Claude, but everyone who died (presumably on both the voyage and during the Revolution). He vows that he wants to remember them all, due to his guilt he probably feels as if it's his responsibility to remember their deaths. While Claude's death definitely affected him it's possible that had he survived, Joseph would still have developed unhealthy views on death (although perhaps less intense).

With all of that said, Claude absolutely played a major role in Joseph's trauma. As mentioned, his death is seemingly what Joseph feels the most guilty over seeing how he is mentioned in every letter and that his ultimate goal is to bring him back. There are also the conditions in which Claude died. Joseph lost his twin during possibly one of the most difficult and hectic times in his life; they hadn't even been able to make it to their new home in England yet. Claude also died of an illness, one which affected him so badly that he couldn't even sleep. This combined with it being mid voyage means that Joseph got to watch the slow and likely painful death of his twin without being able to do anything about it. He couldn't even separate himself from the situation because again, they're on a boat, so he was forced to confront the reality of the situation. Another small detail (that isn't in the official English translation of the letter but is in the original Chinese version) is that Joseph was the older brother. While he could've only been older by an hour at most, he probably felt additional guilt over failing to protect his younger brother. This failure to protect him combined with the helplessness he felt over being unable to do anything as Claude’s condition worsened is probably the reason why he's so desperate to preserve souls.

With all of this in mind it's easy to understand why Joseph is so fearful of death and desperate to avoid it. This is also a good time to remind you that he was a child when all of this happened, or at most a teenager. He was forced to leave behind his home and was exposed to numerous deaths in the process. Along the way he also lost his closest friend, all while being unable to do anything about it. Joseph didn't just lose his twin, he lost his home, friends, and stability. He went through multiple traumatic events back to back and was never able to heal from them.

The Parallels of Dorian Gray

We aren't given many details of what happens between his arrival to England and him first receiving the books. I'd use history to fill in the gap as I've been doing, but what happened to the émigrés after their arrival varies wildly depending on many circumstances (even among the same classes) so without details I can't really draw any conclusions. Because of this, I'll go straight to discussing the mysterious books. From this point forward, there begins to be strong parallels between Joseph's backstory and The Picture of Dorian Gray.

One thing to note is that Joseph didn't immediately become obsessed with photography after the death of Claude.

"[Joseph] wasn't this crazy in the past. Things took a turn when he went somewhere far away. No one knows what happened during the trip, save that he brought back with him a number of mysterious books. From then on, the old man spent all day in the darkroom and shut everyone out." - Macaulay, The Last Letter (2021)

From this we know that his obsession with photography only began after receiving some books. This is a direct parallel to Dorian Gray where upon receiving the yellow book from Henry, Dorian becomes completely consumed by what it preaches. Now in Joseph's backstory we're mostly left in the dark about the mysterious books. The only clues we're given are that it led to his obsession and that it was sudden. Despite what little we have to go off, it's possible that these books were given to him by someone rather than him just finding them. This is merely a theory of course, but one that I think is worth discussing. One reason I say this is because of the Dorian Gray parallel. So if the mysterious books are a direct parallel to the yellow book, then what about the sources and circumstances of the book? In the novel, Dorian receives the book from Henry, but what's notable is when and how exactly he receives the book. Henry sends him the book alongside a newspaper, it's about the suicide of his fiance. Dorian is understandably upset and decides to focus his attention on the yellow book instead, being completely consumed within only a couple of minutes of reading it.

Before we talk about that however, I want to talk about Joseph's deduction star skin (stay with me here). His deduction star skin is based on the 1926 film version of Faust. The film starts with a demon named Mephisto making a bet with an angel saying that if he can corrupt an innocent man's soul, the Devil will rule the Earth. A plague (sent by the Devil) soon befalls a village, where an elderly alchemist named Faust lives. Faust spends day and night praying and experimenting, hoping to find a cure for the disease. One night he receives a knock at the door from a young girl asking for help for her dying mother. Faust goes to give her medicine however it's all for naught as the woman dies in his arms. Distraught, he runs home, ignoring the dying villagers who beg for his help along the way. Once he gets home he begins burning all of his books in a fit of distress. However one book (The Holy Bible) transforms into an instruction manual on how to summon a demon to gain power. Immediately after seeing this Faust goes to the crossroads (as directed by the book) and summons Mephisto.

Okay, now let's unpack everything. Something which both of these two pieces of media contain is the theme of manipulation, especially through death. Both men were exposed to death which left them feeling perturbed, then an outside force came in to take advantage of their vulnerability. It wasn't an accident either, Mephisto (and the Devil) created a circumstance where Faust would be left emotionally defenseless and then gave him a book promising him the world. In Lord Henry's case, he doesn't cause the death of Sibyl; however he is very much still trying to manipulate Dorian into believing his views.

"...There was something terribly enthralling in the exercise of influence. No other activity was like it – there was nothing that one could not do with [Dorian]. He could be made a Titan or a toy." - Lord Henry, The Picture of Dorian Gray (P57-8)

Both of these line up with what we know about Joseph and the books. It's possible that whoever gave him the books was aware of his previous trauma with death and took advantage of it. At the end of the first letter Joseph vowed to remember those who died so it's possible that whoever the book giver was, used that desire to lure him in. Now the only thing we don't know is the motive. In Faust the motive was to prove something to God and in The Picture of Dorian Gray the motive was to see how he'd turn out (in other words Dorian was Henry's lab rat). It's possible that the person behind it wanted to know more about resurrection via photography themselves and handed it off to Joseph knowing that he'd become obsessed due to his fear of death or perhaps they just wanted to see the psychological impact it'd have on him but these are just pure speculation.

While we're talking about parallels, I would like to quickly talk about Elliot for a moment. Elliot is a character who's appeared in two of Joseph's character day letters so far however, the third is where we truly get to hear about him.

"I distinctly recall a young man from many years ago by the name of Eckhart... Or was it Elliot? Or maybe Elton...? It matters not. He was not the first to take offense to my experimentation, but he was certainly the most rational and vocal about it." - Joseph, A Diary Made from Stationary Paper (2022)

Based on the letter Elliot is probably one of Joseph's close friends since we know that those were the people he told about his experiments directly. If Elliot really is one of Joseph's friends, that gives us a little insight as to what he's like based on how Joseph picks his friends.

"[Joseph's] standards are never lowered when faced with others; [he] like[s] being around people who excel at self-control, and [he] cannot befriend those who cannot exhibit high levels of discipline." - DaShen Fortune Quiz

Assuming that he is, that would mean that Elliot was the only friend who took him seriously as we know that all of his other friends didn't. It's possible that everyone else took offense to so much as the concept of Joseph's experiments while Elliot knew that he was actually doing them (supported by the second letter but we'll get to that in a bit). Whatever the case, Elliot must've had an impact on Joseph for him to remember him all of these years later (even if he forgot his name). Joseph is rather passionate about his views on his experiments and death so the fact that he finds himself questioning his stance, even if for just a brief moment, is an achievement. Elliot might be a parallel to Basil Hallward in The Picture of Dorian Gray. Basil was Dorian's close friend whom he cared about deeply. He became concerned when he began listening to Henry and repeatedly tried to protect Dorian. Even when Dorian shows him the corrupted painting, Basil still tries to help, which ultimately leads to his death. Dorian, on the other hand, doesn't seem to care about Basil's advice or warnings. He brushes him aside in favor of listening to either Henry or the book's guidelines. Sometimes, Dorian will look back at Basil and consider that maybe he should've listened only to quickly cast the thought aside. Now compare this to what we know about Elliot and Joseph. Elliot tried to convince Joseph that his experiments and views on death were wrong (many times) yet his words fell on deaf ears. Later in life however he reconsiders Elliot's words and wonders if they may have had any merit but ignores it.

"I had no desire to listen to his sermons about the deceased or the meaning of life and time. The longer I live, however, the more I find myself recalling his words." - Joseph, A Diary Made from Stationary Paper (2022)

Both of these situations are very similar to one another. Both Elliot and Basil tried to save their friends from the negative influence of someone or something. Similarly, both Joseph and Dorian heed their warnings, only taking them into account briefly just to ignore it a couple of moments later.

Perceptions and Facades

Now something I want to talk about is how the perception and expectations of others affects Joseph. We have to remember that Joseph is an aristocrat, a position that's expected to be and act a certain way in order to fit into high society. We know from the DaShen personality quizzes that he often felt pressured by these expectations, wishing to escape. Yet despite his wishes, he fulfilled all of these standards perfectly. He's talented at painting, fencing, and dancing all of which are skills that one should expect from an ideal aristocrat. He's elegant and charming, seen as the model child and adored by others. And yet this is nothing but a mask. Joseph, especially after the death of Claude, is a deeply troubled individual. He felt immense guilt over his death, a guilt which he never recovered from. He seems to have, at the very least, suffered from depression. Yet despite his mental and emotional anguish, he maintains his facade. This can be seen a lot during his character replies, especially those during his character day. Even when the commenter is sympathetic towards him or attempts to comfort him, he denies anything being wrong. Occasionally, his mask will slip and he'll lash out but this results in him quickly apologizing and sometimes even denying that it happened at all.

Joseph's entire life up to this point has been a facade. However the facade beforehand was likely due to his noble background, he did it because that's how aristocrats were meant to behave. Yet when he started experimenting with photography, he had a reason to continue his charade. We know from his backstory that he tried to explain to others that he found a way to preserve souls but no one took it well. Yet despite their criticisms, Joseph remained confident that his experiments would be beneficial and decided to continue with them anyway. However, a new approach was needed and if he tried to explain his experiments he'd likely get brushed off once more. We know that Joseph is very perceptive of others' views on him (and that he's liked). It's highly likely that he consciously used this fact to his advantage in order to gain others' trust and convince them to have their photograph taken without having to tell them what that would actually entail. This is supported by both his lore alongside story descriptions for various skins and accessories. Themes of temptation and deception are often brought up in these descriptions, one example is his S skin Judge. Where his "sorcery to deceive" is credited as a reason for why he came into power.

"The fabled General Judge is the first chief referee promoted from the executive commissioner. Some say it is because of his noble background, some say it is because of his profound knowledge and there are also those who say it is because of his sorcery to deceive people." - Judge Costume Background StoryWe already know that as an aristocrat, Joseph probably needed to learn how to appeal to others for whatever reason. However this is confirmed in one of his character replies, where he literally tells the audience that influencing people is part of his repertoire.

You might notice that the tone at which the facades are described seems to change. We hear about how he allows others' expectations to mold his actions and how pressured he feels by them but ultimately meets these expectations regardless. This gives the idea that maintaining his facade is something he does to please others rather than for himself. However, the tone shifts and we start to hear about how he deceives others. It mentions how you shouldn't be fooled by his elegance and how he has the ability to deceive. Now these aren't mutually exclusive, it's likely that he still felt the need to please others (and hide his vulnerabilities) but also used his appeal to trick others into participating in his experiments. However the shift in wording could indicate that he only started taking advantage of his appeal after he failed to convince others to get their photographs taken normally. Over time, his facade seems to have become less for the sake of pleasing others and more for himself.

An aspect of his allure that gets placed heavy emphasis on by both the lore and the fandom are his looks. As previously stated, when designing Joseph, the designers made him more conventionally attractive than they'd usually make hunters. His appearance plays quite a significant role in his backstory, namely by being a part of his aforementioned charm. However what I want to focus on are his character replies. While the character replies aren't necessarily canon, they do align with Joseph's character and how he'd charm others. The replies tend to be rather flirtatious in nature, even somewhat suggestive occasionally. A lot of people seem to interpret this flirtatiousness at face value and as a part of his actual character but I highly doubt that that's the case. As was already established, Joseph is someone who is acutely aware of his impact on others and he uses it to his advantage. If the person is particularly attracted to him because of his looks then there's no reason to assume that he wouldn't use that to his advantage. This is most likely what we're seeing, he isn't flirting because he's genuinely interested in the person, but instead because he wants to convince them to take a photo. This is especially apparent when you realize that most of the time that he's flirting with or flattering someone, he's asking them to take a photo. This can be seen both in character replies and in his deduction star quotes.

"Here, madam, let me take a memorable photo for you!" - Deduction Star Quote 2019"Can I take a photo of you, beautiful lady?""If you take a photo, you can hold its subject's most beautiful face in your hands." - Deduction Star Quotes 2020

On the subject of it only being a facade, there's also a chance that he flat out dislikes his beauty being the center of attention. This is only mentioned in one comment so this is admittedly a bit of a shaky basis but it'd make perfect sense. If you recall, when Joseph revealed his experiments, he wasn't expecting any backlash. Him having to jump through all of these hoops and having to put up all of these charades just to convince people to get their photographs taken wasn't really a part of his plan. So him getting frustrated at someone for only focusing on his appearance rather than his experiments (like the example below) seems understandable. But just as all of the other facades before this, he probably just ignores this frustration because it gets him more clients.

However there is another reason why Joseph's appearance is important to his lore, which is in relation with Claude. Joseph and Claude being identical twins adds a new psychological struggle which couldn't have happened otherwise, that being that Joseph seems to link his appearance to that of Claude.

"I missed you, my dear brother. Yet when I stand in front of the mirror, day by day, the face looking back at me has begun to feel foreign." - Joseph, An Unsent Letter (2020)

There are two ways to interpret this line. One interpretation is that Joseph is beginning to look different from Claude as he continues aging, which he dislikes. The other interpretation is that he is growing unable to differentiate Claude from himself. The latter reading could also imply that as he forgets Claude, he is also forgetting himself. Regardless of interpretation however, one thing is clear, he continues to compare his own appearance to that of Claude even long after his death. Furthermore, the line "day by day" implies that this isn't merely a one time thing, but rather a recurring concern of his. Another line about Joseph's inability to see himself comes from the 2021 Character Day Art description.

"With a click and flash, he can seal fates. But Joseph only sees a blurred vision of himself in the mirror." - Character Day Art Description (2021)

Also something worth noting are his clothes. As mentioned previously, the clothing Joseph wears were from the rococo era which was prior to the French Revolution. This means that the clothes he is currently wearing are those he and Claude would've worn during childhood. Something that could also be happening is that Joseph is wearing Claude's clothes. This is just a theory however it's one supported by his once skin: Hangover. Hangover takes place prior to Joseph's family fleeing France and when Claude was still alive. Here, they were still living a highly decadent lifestyle filled with parties and celebrations. We see that Joseph's clothes are much looser and lighter in this skin, only wearing a white blouse with light grey breeches and stockings. This is a sharp contrast between the bulky navy blue suit he currently wears in game. He's holding a doodle Claude made, one which shows the two twins together. The doodle shows that the clothes Claude was wearing are those Joseph wears today (or at least a very similar silhouette and style). It's possible that, while drunk, Joseph merely took off his coat, waistcoat, and cravat but based on the sketch I find that unlikely. In this skin, Joseph would have to be old enough to where it's considered socially acceptable to drink alcohol (the drinking age in France was 16 until 2009). Bearing this age in mind, the sketch and handwriting by Claude look far too juvenile to be that of a 16 year old. It's likely that the sketch Joseph is holding wasn't something Claude had made that day, just something he had drawn at some point. If this is true then that would mean that before Claude's death, Joseph had an entirely different style of dressing. So not only does Joseph struggle with comparing himself with Claude, but he also mimics him in terms of appearance such as wearing the same clothes. The fact that the clothes have very different and distinct styles means that Joseph dressing like that isn't a coincidence either. We know that Joseph feels the need to remember his brother due to survivor's guilt. We also know that photography was yet to be invented, so there's no way to perfectly preserve what Claude would've looked like other than his twin. This was likely his own way of keeping Claude and his memory alive. His trauma and attachment to Claude has managed to warp his perception on his own looks. He doesn't see himself as Joseph, but rather as a twin who should strive to imitate his other lost half.

Philosophies and Murders

Joseph's philosophies all center around one thing: preservation. We see this theme pop up time and time again throughout every piece of his lore. He uses photos as a way to preserve the person whose picture is being taken. Now to put it lightly his methods and processes are highly questionable. Firstly, the process is seemingly done without the person's knowledge about what'll happen to them, all they know is that they'll be modeling. Then there's the photographs themselves. Once the photo is taken, the person's soul becomes trapped within the photo and their body seemingly goes missing. Whether or not they're conscious while they're in the picture is uncertain although his backstory does mention that when the mob broke in the photos seemed to be looking at them. There's also his dynamic portrait which seems to show the person inside the photograph banging or pushing against the film but again, nothing is confirmed.

He took so many photos that the village population began to dwindle. For reference, according to one source, a village population ranges from 500 to 2500 inhabitants. What this means is that he trapped hundreds of people, possibly even a thousand or two. What's more, children and elders were included in this total as well. His actions were (and still are) horrible, yet there is one last detail in all of this: he doesn't believe that what he's doing is wrong in any way. He doesn't view his photography as him damning a soul for all of eternity but rather as sparing them from the death which he finds so cruel. We see this all throughout his backstory, where he desperately tries to convince others that his methods are the best thing to do. However this is most prevalent in his third character letter. The entire letter is him frustrated how others can't see it the way he sees it, and how others should be happy to be immortalized forever.

"Why? Why don't they understand? Life is a gift, a wondrous blessing that should end as poetically as it begins. For this reason, when a person faces their own end, they should be grateful, even ecstatic, at the opportunity to have their final moments immortalized." - Joseph, A Diary Made from Stationary Paper (2022)

By no means does this make any of his actions okay, an explanation isn't a justification. He's still damning innocent souls to spend an eternity in a photograph without so much as a warning, a fate arguably worse than death. However it's important to understand that he does this with no malice. At worst, he does it with apathy. This makes his actions all the more horrifying, this isn't a case of him believing in the ends justifying the means or sadism which are common theories, he wholeheartedly believes in preserving people through photography. What makes Joseph a bad person aren't his motives or his stance on death, but because he's arrogant and imposes his definition of right onto others. He doesn't stop to think (or most likely even care) what the person who's going to be trapped in the photograph eternally thinks, he's right and they should actually be thankful that he's doing them a favor! He refuses to hear anyone out when they object to his ideas, even his close friends. Yet the thing that makes it worse is that he's very much suffering from the consequences of his actions. His relentless pride (and people's disappearances) have led those around him to distance themselves from him. He drove away anyone who tried to help and was left all alone, a solitude which he mentions many times throughout his letters and diaries. Yet not even this was able to make him reconsider his actions. In fact, the only thing which he says will make him admit his own failure is Claude not returning.

"Indeed, there is but one thing, and one thing alone, that could make me acknowledge the failure of my endeavors. And that would be... If you never came back to me." - Joseph, A Diary Made from Stationary Paper (2022)

However this isn't really a reliable goal once you think about it. How would he determine when to stop? He's already completely ruined his life, if anything, he's even more free to continue now that he no longer has anything to lose. This sentiment is echoed later in his letter, where he keeps telling himself that he just needs to be patient and that everything will work out "soon enough". His obsession is so severe that even as he faces the consequences of his actions he refuses to give up.

While Joseph's backstory tells us why he wants to trap souls and bring back the dead, it doesn't really tell us how he plans on doing it. Sure we know that he's capturing souls with a camera but that doesn't really explain how reanimating the dead would work. However I have a theory, one which is founded on something mentioned in his backstory: parapsychology. Joseph is said to have become obsessed with parapsychology, a pseudoscience focusing on studying psychic phenomena. One area of study in the field is spirit photography. Spirit photography was popularized by William H Mumler during the 1860s and 70s, gaining more traction due to all the casualties caused by the civil war. As the name implies, it's about being able to capture images of ghosts in photographs. It's founded on spiritualism, a religious belief which was in the popular 19th century. Spiritualism is a complex topic which I won't get into so as to not butcher details but what you need to know is that they believe that communication with the spirit of the deceased is possible. The photos in question would be of these spirits, oftentimes they'd be the model's deceased loved ones. The spirits would be seen close to the model and sometimes even embracing them.

With that context in mind, let's compare it to what Joseph is doing. We know that he traps living people in his photographs in order to preserve them. Now, this doesn't really match up with spirit photography, as that's focused on capturing images of the dead. However we do know that Joseph's ultimate goal is to bring back Claude. What he's likely trying to do is bring back the dead by capturing their spirits in a photograph. His current experiments are just that, experiments. He's trying to bring back the dead via photographs but he's testing by capturing the souls (or spirits) of the living first. So why doesn't he just go straight into photographing the spirits of the deceased wouldn't that be a better lead? One thing to note is that spirit photography isn't about trapping people in photos, merely recording them. It's possible that this was an aspect which he was struggling with at first, trapping the soul might've been an obstacle in and of itself. Yet even after he managed to do that another hurdle could be summoning the spirits themselves. At least with the living they're still alive and their souls are right there so his only issue would be trapping said soul. With the dead he'd have to not only have to trap their soul but also find a way to summon them in the first place. However this is all just a theory as his backstory is unfortunately very vague when it comes to his actual plans.

Photography and Neurotoxins

As stated earlier, the techniques and chemicals mentioned in Joseph's deductions hold basis in reality. Not only are the chemicals mentioned historically accurate, but the timeline of events and discoveries are accurate as well.

The eighth deduction "Corrode" discusses two processes. The first part of the deduction is likely referring to the first non fixed negative made in 1816. Niépce called these negatives "retinas". These negatives were made by coating a paper in silver salts and then placing them inside the camera obscura. The deduction says "silver nitrate can be replaced by silver chloride" which is a reference to the chemical changes that silver nitrate (AgNO3) undergoes when sodium chloride (NaCl) is added. Upon the addition of sodium chloride, the silver nitrate becomes silver chloride (AgCl). The line "continuously placed in the dark box" is simply referring to the exposure time necessary. Let's quickly talk about exposure as it's going to come up quite a bit. Exposure is pretty self explanatory, it's how much light reaches the camera's sensor (or in this case, the film itself). Exposure time basically means how long you have to leave the lens open in order to record the image. Now the next two lines in the deduction are separated from the rest, they say "blur" and "asphalt". The blur in question is likely the fact that the negative isn't fixed (permanent) so it will fade. Now the asphalt line is probably a reference to heliography, a photographic process developed in 1822. It was used for photo engraving, or making copies of preexisting drawings; however, it eventually gave birth to photography (and the first photograph) in 1827. The asphalt in question is called bitumen of Judea. The bitumen would first be coated onto a plate made of either glass, copper, or tin. The plate would then be placed on an etching covered in varnish. Both plates are exposed to plenty of sunlight for three to four hours and then rinsed with a mixture of lavender oil and white kerosene. This would result in the bitumen plate showing a negative of the drawing copied. Another process was using highly corrosive nitric acid. Instead of rinsing it with lavender oil and kerosene, the bitumen plate is rinsed with nitric acid. Bitumen is acid resistant so only the places without it would corrode thus leaving an etched drawing. This is what the deduction's title "corrode" is likely referring

Despite this being the first mention of photography being used in Joseph's deductions, I doubt this is when he began taking people's souls. Exposure time for photography at this stage took a bare minimum of 8 hours (more at times) and wouldn't always work. Would there be people who were still willing to model for him regardless of the long time necessary? Probably. In fact, I'm sure at least one reader said yes before I even mentioned it. But these cases probably weren't the norm, and even if it were and everyone said yes we have to consider how many people he photographed. The village population began to dwindle, even if Joseph managed to take a photo every single day without fail he probably wouldn't be able to make that many people disappear at that scale. And that's not even beginning to consider how the method wasn't consistent and wouldn't always work. It's probable that the maids in his manor were becoming more distant and fearful due to his obsessive behavior with his experimentation rather than anything to do with people disappearing.

His next deduction "Develop" is describing the daguerreotype. The daguerreotype was created by Louis-Jacques-Mandé Daguerre around 1838 and became public in 1839. They're created by taking a copper plate coated with silver and polishing it with rottenstone and alcohol until the plate is mirror-like. The polished plate is placed in a dark chamber with iodine crystals. The iodine fumes react with the silver resulting in a plate coated with silver iodide. The coated plate is once again placed in the chamber but this time with bromine fumes. The plate is now coated with bromoiodide of silver and light sensitive. The plate is placed in the camera with a removable cover in place so light can't touch it. Once the cover is removed the photo is ready to be taken. In order to take the photo the camera lens cover is removed. The exposure time could be over 20 seconds and devices were invented to keep the model from moving.

After the plate is exposed, it must be developed in order to show the actual photo. Liquid mercury is poured into a vessel and heated at about 79°C (174°F). The plate is placed in the chamber and the mercury vapors react with the plate, exposing the image. The deduction is named "Develop" as a reference to this very step, the mercury vapors mentioned are referring to the mercury vapors which the photo has to be exposed to in order to appear (called latent image). To fix the photo so it doesn't disappear, it's bathed in a solution of sodium thiosulfate. The plate is finished off by gilding it with gold chloride which hardens the plate. Finally, the photo is ready and placed in a case consisting of a mat and a glass cover. Moisture and air proof tape is also used.

This method was likely the one most used by Joseph and the one which allowed him to amass so many photographs. Unlike its predecessor, the daguerreotype merely took around 20 seconds of exposure to capture the image. When compared to the previous 8 hours this makes it much easier to convince people to model. What's more, the photo which he's seen holding bears resemblance to the frames used in daguerreotypes.

Something you might've noticed is that many of the processes used for 19th century photography involved multiple dangerous chemicals. Nitric acid is a highly corrosive acid and iodine, bromine, and mercury are all toxic when inhaled. However the most dangerous of these and the one I'll be focusing on is mercury and its vapor. Mercury is a potent neurotoxin which means that it attacks the nervous system.

Now let's consider Joseph's circumstances, namely his equipment and where he worked. The chamber where the mercury was poured was in no way air tight. What this means is that even if the most of the vapors are absorbed by the film, some is bound to leak out which will eventually accumulate. We also know that Joseph's darkroom was located in the basement, which is by far the worst location to be messing with mercury. There would be no proper ventilation which would make it extremely easy for mercury vapors to be trapped in. The door is seemingly locked as well which just serves to worsen the already bad air flow. Another detriment is the long hours Joseph spends in said basement, his entire days are spent down there. Finally, consider that Joseph at this point, is an old man. Not only is he an old man but he's already exposing himself to other dangerous chemicals. With these two factors it'd be safe to assume that his health isn't exactly the best, let alone good enough to withstand a potent neurotoxin with no side effects. So this leaves us with a man with preexisting health problems spending his days in a poorly ventilated basement who's handling mercury vapors with likely no protection. Bearing all of this in mind the chances of him being exposed to dangerous amounts of mercury vapors and getting poisoned seems very plausible.

Now that we've established the possibility of Joseph suffering from mercury poisoning I would like to talk about the effects of mercury on the body, starting with the physical repercussions. There are many effects and they differ depending on whether it's acute or chronic. Joseph's case was likely chronic as it was small doses over a long period of time as opposed to large doses in a short period. Physical effects of chronic mercury exposure include tremors, hypertension, nausea, vomiting, weight loss, difficulty breathing, headaches, vertigo, skin peeling, and general pain just to name a few. Here's a full chart of symptoms for those of you who are interested.

However one of the biggest ways that mercury poisoning affects the human body is neurological. The neurological symptoms of chronic mercury poisoning are often referred to as Mad Hatter's Syndrome. The term gets its name from 18-20th century hatters who would frequently work with mercury and thus go mad. However just because it was named after hatters doesn't mean that it only affected them, in fact, many 19th century photographers were reported to have suffered from the syndrome. Mad Hatter's syndrome is also a form of erethism, a state of "abnormal irritability or responsiveness to stimulation". Symptoms of Mad Hatter's Syndrome include depression, anxiety, nervousness, irritability, restlessness, memory loss, difficulty concentrating, excessive excitability, and timidity. Severe cases can also cause mania, psychosis, and delirium.

That's quite a lot, let's unpack it all one by one. We know that Joseph was already suffering mentally, and the effects of mercury likely worsened that horribly. Many of the symptoms caused by mercury are also things which he already had. He already suffered from depression and anxiety due to his earlier fear of death. I would also like to talk about increased timidity for a moment. Excessive timidity is one of the more noticeable symptoms when it comes to Mad Hatter's Syndrome. A man with the syndrome might become irritated when receiving visitors. This also affects their job as they may be unable to work if they're being watched. When we look at Joseph's second letter we see that Joseph doesn't exactly seem to be the most social person. The letter in question is about a detective (Macaulay) investigating his manor to find a missing person and yet Joseph doesn't seem to be all that present. Sure Macaulay mentions that "his gentle smile is a facade" but other than that Joseph seems to shut himself out most of the time, being in either his studio or darkroom. This is rather odd behavior for him especially since he seems to put on a social facade most of the time (whether it's real or not is irrelevant). Now this may not be the best example since Macaulay being there to investigate might've made Joseph apprehensive regardless of context but I still want to point it out. There's also one of Antonio's character replies where Joseph is referred to as a timid gentleman.

While Joseph shutting himself out was likely due to his obsession with photography, it's highly possible that the effects of mercury increased his isolation. I would also like to look at the physical symptoms as well. One of the physical symptoms of mercury poisoning is difficulty breathing, which is caused by inflammation of the throat and airway. In game, Joseph breathes quite heavily both in his husk and Camera World version. This could very well be as a result of mercury inhalation. There's also the weight loss and muscle loss that mercury causes which could be the reason why he's so thin, although I find it more likely that this was just a design choice. Now, I want to talk about mercury poisoning symptoms as a whole. The side effects of mercury poisoning are inconvenient at best and excruciating at worst, both physically and mentally. He was by all means slowly dying. This probably added onto the numerous preexisting mental and emotional struggles he was facing. We know that Joseph fears death so being able to either see or feel yourself worsening every passing day must've been an awful experience. Because of this, it's very possible that he grew more and more desperate to perfect his invention. This in combination with improving photographic technology could be the reason why so many people went missing.

What Happens Next

So what happens afterwards? A panic-stricken mob forces their way into Joseph's manor only to find him missing. It's possible that the mob formed after the events of his second character day letter. At the end of the letter, Macaulay says that he'll sneak into the darkroom to see what he discovers. However seeing as it's titled "The Last Letter" we can be sure that his attempts went horribly wrong and Joseph either took his soul or killed him. However one thing to note is that it's addressed to Elliot, who we know was Joseph's friend or at the very least knew what he was up to. From the quotes "I have made up my mind" and "I can't just back out at this point" we know that Elliot likely warned them that it was too dangerous and that they should quit. It's possible that after seeing that Macaulay didn't return, he told either the town or authorities, which led to the mob forming. They're described as "panic-stricken" and considering that people had been going missing for a while now and the fact that the latest missing person was someone who went to investigate is concerning and would understandably alarm people. This leaves us with Joseph, who is nowhere to be found when the mob breaks in. We know that due to his age, Joseph suffered from tremors which would probably make him unable to physically run away, especially in such a rush like this situation would require. What most likely happened is that he took a photo of himself thus sealing himself in the Camera World. This is supported by his third character day letter where he talks about a mirror realm.

"Perhaps it has been too long since I ventured out of the mirror's realm, and I have yet to ascertain the truth of the world around me." - Joseph, A Diary Made from Stationary Paper (2022)

Due to him being in a mirror realm, it'd be safe to assume that he isn't merely a hallucination like the other hunters but an actual supernatural being. Something else I want to point out is his third character day letter. Most characters got an experiment file detailing their game and time in the manor. Those who were already dead seem to have gotten a letter centered around those who could've hallucinated them (for example, Miles hallucinating Michiko) yet Joseph got neither of those. Despite him seemingly still being alive, we don't get any details for his game participation. We hear that he's still experimenting with photography which wouldn't be too unusual if it weren't for the circumstances.

Closing Discussion

Joseph was born into a family of wealthy aristocrats alongside Claude. Both were living happily and comfortably until the French Revolution occured. They were forced to leave their home and make an arduous journey to England. Unfortunately, Claude didn't survive, an event which left Joseph traumatized and permanently altered his views on life and mortality. He silently suffers due to the death of his younger twin until one day he makes a journey somewhere far away, bringing back with him a number of mysterious books. From then on, he becomes obsessed with photography and parapsychology. He begins to experiment with both of the topics, trapping people's souls in a photograph in order to preserve them for all of eternity. The experiments were unethical, yet despite multiple people telling him this, he remained confident in his stance, he was sparing them from the cruelties of death after all. As more and more people went missing people began to fear Joseph yet despite this he kept going, sacrificing his mental and physical health in the process. One day the villagers grow particularly anxious, they form a mob and break into Joseph's manor. However he is nowhere to be found, the only thing left behind being various life-like portraits on the walls.

Joseph is a tragic and complex character who's life was consumed (and eventually ruined) by his severe fear of death. Being exposed to so much death and losing his twin at such a young age resulted in him being traumatized, something he never recovered from. One day he finds a number of mysterious books, which mark the beginning of the end for him. Thanks to his own fears of death and the books, he begins to conduct experiments hoping to preserve souls. These preservation efforts were highly unethical, but he didn't see it that way. Thanks to a combination of his trauma, personality, and the books, he genuinely believed soul photography to be the best course of action. He didn't think that he was harming anyone, nor did he ever want to. However fear and arrogance clouded his judgement, refusing to listen to anyone who'd try to help him. His experiments become more and more obsessive as the years go by and due to this, he progressively begins to become reclusive, spending most of his waking hours with his photographs and cameras. He'd manage to cut off everyone who could've helped, he no longer had anything to keep him grounded. On top of this the chemicals he was using to make his beloved photographs were likely poisoning him, gradually killing him slowly and painfully. Yet despite this he continues to believe that he's in the right, even after the mob invades his home and he's forced to trap himself in a photograph he doesn't see any flaws with his experiments. Joseph is a character who, even after losing it all, remains determined to see his goals through. If I had to use one word to describe him and his actions I'd choose desperate. He's almost purely driven by desperation, he's desperate for Claude to come back, to go back to the past, for people to hear him out, and for his experiments to work. Yet most of these are unachievable dreams and continuing to chase them will only result in more misery for both him and the subject of his experiments.

Translations created by Twitter users:

fc_idv

mayousailor

#Identity V #IDV #Joseph Desaulniers

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winterjourney · 27 days

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22 April 2024 - Camera Obscura

I am building a mid-1800s camera. A camera obscura, to be accurate. I hope to recreate the methods by which the earliest known photographic images were created by Joseph Nicéphore Niépce in the late 1820s. We are approaching the 200th anniversary of his oldest known camera photograph.

The camera is built by hand - no power tools. As I figure out the structure, I temporarily tape the pieces in place. If they work, I'll glue them in place.

Today, I set my focusing window in place. It works! I took it onto my porch, pointed it across my yard, then took photos of what I saw on the focusing window. I flipped the images so you can see them right-side up.

In theory, this contraption will enable me to use other early photographic methods. Stay tuned!

#nicephore #niepce #traditional photography #daguerreotype #camera obscura #heliograph #alternative photography

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pmwritesandpoems · 9 months

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A Timeless Hogwarts Legacy: I Can See Us (7/16)

Fandom: Hogwarts Legacy Main Title: A Timeless Hogwarts Legacy Pairing: Ominis Gaunt/Original Female Character Tags: Romance; Hurt/Comfort; Angst; Fluff; Friendship; Mutual Pining

Chapter: 7/16 Title: I Can See Us Word Count: 9495

Last Chapters: AO3 (All Chapters): AO3 Tumblr: Chapter 1; Chapter 2; Chapter 3; Chapter 4; Chapter 5; Chapter 6

Last Chapter Preview: “I just realised that you’re a Hogwarts Hero as well,” Evelyn answered between her giggles, “because you’re the saviour of the Hero of Hogwarts.”

Ominis hugged her back, his voice clearly showing that he was trying to ignore his annoyance at Evelyn's remark, “I’m just glad that I can save you.”

“You can save me anytime.” Evelyn said as she stopped giggling and smiled when she felt his tighter hug. She even couldn’t contain her happiness at the moment if she tried.

“But no more free falling from a broom,” Ominis forbade sternly.

Evelyn laughed on his shoulder, “Okay.”

And as they embraced each other in the waning light of day, Evelyn felt a sense of hope and excitement for the possibilities that lay ahead. She may not know for sure what Ominis felt for her or what her relationship status with him was after the whole thing. But she thought it was fine. She was okay with what she had.

Because the Hero of Hogwarts was content with him as her saviour.

Notes for the chapter:

The world's first photograph made in a camera by a muggle was taken in 1826 by Joseph Nicéphore Niépce, titled, "View from the Window at Le Gras."

The necklace picture below is only for reference.

Reminder:

I won't mention the main character's house, you could choose her house yourself.

You could change the main character's name with yours, I’ll try my best to not mention her skin, hair, and eye colour so you could match it with your own.

I am no expert of the Victorian era, the use of the calendar system, etiquette, and many other things from the said era are changed as I see fit to support the story. Several insertions of modern era culture will be present as well to support the story.

I never played Hogwarts Legacy. I wrote this and the chapters before based solely on my research on the internet, a.k.a. Searching about it and watching all the videos on Youtube. I wanted to play, but I had no proper equipment. So please understand if there are timeline or explanation differences between this fiction and what happened in Hogwarts Legacy. But I try to live up to the characters and canon story.

You could also read this on AO3.

Enjoy!

p.s. please don't hesitate to comment if you'd like!

7. I Can See Us

Late Autumn, 1891

It’s only been a little over two months since the sixth year started. Yet, Evelyn found herself already exhausted. Especially with her N.E.W.T. level classes. She didn’t realise how tiring they were. Yes, she passed the O.W.L. with good grades, but these N.E.W.T. classes were on a different level. Entering these classes, she realised that there was a lot she hadn’t learned. The fact that she didn’t attend a couple classes while recovering from the last broom accident didn’t help either. She found herself constantly trying to catch up with the challenging coursework, and this week seemed particularly overwhelming. The professors seemed to be piling on extra assignments and making the lessons more demanding than ever before.

Maybe that’s why she found herself almost nodding off once more while hearing Ominis talk about Sebastian’s last shenanigans, or was it his attempt at summoners court?

“Eve?” Ominis called gently.

Evelyn woke up in a jolt, “Yes! Yes, you won it?”

“No, I didn’t win when Sebastian got another detention from Professor Hecat,” he chuckled. “Why don't you accept that you are that tired?” Ominis teased, evidently seeing right through her denial of tiredness.

“I’m not.” Evelyn replied stubbornly, though she couldn't deny the heaviness in her eyes. She rubbed her tired eyes, feeling drained from the exhausting week she had had.

They were at their usual place at the astronomy tower, with their legs dangling at the edge, not minding the autumn breeze that blew her nightgown and his robe gently. Evelyn swore she was up and awake when they arrived at the observation deck. But the gentle wind, the warmth from the bluebell flame, and the comfort of his shoulder made her go straight to dreamland.

“We should go back,” he suggested gently.

“I don’t want to,” Evelyn answered, snuggling against his shoulder and closing her eyes once more.

That was true, she didn’t want to leave. She’s happy with the situation since it was the first time she felt so comfortable and at ease this week. The only time she could spend time with him was in the middle of the night like this, thanks to her bloody packed schedule. Every time they meet under the sun, they’re either busy with schoolwork or handling Sebastian's shenanigans. Not to mention, the nightmares she had this week were terrible. It got worse with how tired she was, so she couldn’t exactly ‘rest’ at night as well.

He chuckled again, “The Room of Requirement is not far. It’s better than sitting here out in the cold.”

Evelyn almost slipped and answered that it’s far better being here with him. It was always far better to be with him, whatever the situation or circumstances.

“I don’t want to move,” Evelyn said as her final answer, still closing her eyes.

“You’re just too tired to move,” Ominis remarked with a playful tone.

She yawned tiredly and just hummed in response. She then felt his shoulders move as he chuckled after hearing her hum, before silence came. It was comforting, and Evelyn almost drifted back to sleep until Ominis spoke again.

“It’s almost midnight,” he said softly.

“How do you know?” she murmured, half-asleep.

"I have a watch," Ominis replied, amused.

"You can read it?" Evelyn teased playfully.

"I may be blind, but I still have my ways," he retorted, pretending to be annoyed.

"Your wand told you?" she joked further.

"My wand told me," he answered with mock exasperation, causing her to chuckle.

“And? What will happen at midnight?”

“And…” he paused, waiting for a moment before continuing, “Happy birthday, Eve.”

Evelyn's eyes shot open in surprise. “What?”

“Don’t you remember that tomorrow—today—is your birthday?” Ominis asked, a hint of confusion in his voice.

“I…” Evelyn trailed off, frowning as she tried to recall the date and day. “I don’t.”

“Well, it’s already one minute past midnight. Today is officially November the eighteenth,” Ominis said gently.

Evelyn remained silent, thinking about how right he was about her tiredness, and how terrible this week had been. She couldn't even remember her own birthday. She was pouting when something soft held her hand, cutting off her train of thought. Still with her head on his shoulder, she looked down, just to see Ominis’s left hand holding her right one on top of her lap.

Then, she felt something gently nudge her head.

“Happy seventeenth birthday, Eve.”

Her breath stopped when she felt his nose in her hair. Evelyn swore she almost died right there and then. Her mind short circuited as all of her exhaustion and shock collided. All she could think about was whether she took a shower before. Merlin, she did, didn’t she?!

“Does my hair stink?” Evelyn blurted it out.

Ominis laughed, not realising the real reason for her panic. “No,” he said after a few laughs and kissed her head on the hair again, “It smells wonderful.”

And then the realisation came.

He kissed her. He. Kissed. Her. Yeah, it’s a kiss on the head, or did it count as a kiss on the hair? Anyway, it’s still a kiss! He never did that before, and she certainly didn’t have the courage to do it to him first. And now, she's gotten not only one, but two kisses in one night. All her exhaustion seemed to vanish into the air. Her heart was racing furiously, and her cheeks quickly turned scarlet with all the blood rushing to them.

Ominis, oblivious to the effect of his action towards the girl, took something out of his pocket and turned to her. Evelyn lifted her head from his shoulder, her face still flushed and surprised. Thank Merlin, he couldn’t see her at that moment.

“And here,” he said softly, his right hand offering a long velvet box to her, “my gift for you.”

Evelyn, who was still reeling from the fact that he had kissed her, couldn’t respond. She was at a loss for words as she looked at him and the velvet box he held. She felt his left hand let go of hers and saw him open the box with a smile.

Her breath was taken away as she gazed at the stunning piece of jewellery inside the velvet box. It was a delicate silver necklace with a small charm in the shape of a snake. The head and tail of the charm were connected to the chain of the necklace, making the necklace a complete circle. It glistened under the soft light of the bluebell flames.

"My aunt gave me this just before she went missing. She told me to give this to someone I cherish one day," Ominis explained, his voice tender. "And I cherish you, Eve. I want you to have it, if you’d like."

Evelyn was still speechless, unable to find the right words to express her feelings. Whether it’s because of the kiss, the necklace, or the confession she just heard, her mind completely stopped. She couldn't believe or comprehend the abundance of affection he gave her.

“It’s beautiful,” she eventually said, her voice breaking with emotion. “Are you sure?”

“Of course,” Ominis smiled. “Now, I must warn you and apologise in advance. What will happen might surprise you.” Ominis took the necklace from the box and held it in front of him. “May I?”

It didn’t take long for Evelyn to answer. Trusting him with all her heart, even without knowing what he would do, she answered with a soft voice, “You may.”

Ominis then began to move his hands towards her. Evelyn moved forward slightly as she noticed him attempting to place the jewellery on her collarbone. Her breath caught when she felt the warmth of his fingertips and the coldness of the necklace against her flesh at the same time. The heat from her cheek quickly moved to the spot where their skin met. She then remained still, anticipating his next move with bated breath.

Surprised her, he did.

He was speaking in parseltongue, and she found herself captivated by the hissing yet soothing sound emanating from his lips. The spell broke when she felt the sudden movement on her collarbone as he spoke. She looked down and saw the snake charm from the necklace come to life. Its head released the end of the necklace chain that was attached to it and slither gracefully from his hand towards her collarbone and up to her neck, bringing the whole necklace behind it. Evelyn went silent in awe. She then felt the snake finish its journey by reconnecting to the end of the necklace chain it had released earlier and remaining motionless. The necklace beautifully adorned her neck

“There,” Ominis said gently, moving his hands away from her.

“Thank you, Ominis,” Evelyn replied in a quiet voice, still in awe and disbelief that she deserved such a precious and valuable present.

“Now, I’m going to teach you parseltongue so you can put it on and take it off by yourself.”

Evelyn’s eyebrow shot up. Hearing how he spoke and so casually mentioned that he was going to teach her something he himself considered to be the dark arts and had tried to stay away from previously really wasn't the thing she thought she would experience for the day. It made Evelyn amused.

“And you don’t mind me learning that?” Evelyn teased, “The so-called dark wizard language?”

“I can’t always be there to help you clasp and unclasp it,” he said in a feigned serious tone. “What if you wanted to take it off so you could use other necklaces? I can’t possibly be there when you’re dressing yourself.”

Evelyn was immediately flustered at his answer and at the way her mind quickly imagined that scenario. She definitely lost this round of teasing. “H-how do you say it?”

Ominis chuckled, “It’s simple. Follow me.”

Ominis then began speaking in parseltongue. Evelyn tried her best to imitate him. But the sound that came out of her mouth sounded very strange and weird, as if she were either trying to clear her throat or choking to death. They laugh at her obviously poor first attempt.

“You have to expand your mouth wider, but not too much.” Ominis instructed and did his best to demonstrate how, and Evelyn tried her best to follow.

It took her five more attempts to pronounce the phrase before she felt the necklace stir to life, the snake's head unclasping itself and falling limp. She shrieked in excitement at seeing the unclasped necklace on her neck, and Ominis chuckled.

“Congratulations. You have become a full fledged dark wizard,” He remarked in a playful sarcasm, a grin on his face. “Now, you could take it off whenever you needed too.”

Evelyn repeated the phrase again, then felt the necklace fasten itself. She smiled as she touched the snake charm. “I would never take it off.”

“W-well, that’s good to hear,” stuttered Ominis.

Evelyn could see his cheeks turning red under the bluebell flames. “What was the phrase?” she questioned, attempting to sound nonchalant as she felt herself blushing as well.

“It’s just something my aunt used to tell me,” Ominis explained in a quiet voice. He smiled softly, as if remembering a good memory.

“I hope it’s not something bad,” she playfully retorted, trying to pick up the mood.

Ominis chuckled and shook his head with a smile, “No, It’s not.” He held her hands tenderly, “It’s more of a declaration of a feeling.”

Evelyn froze. Did he just confess his feelings for her? He might have. She didn't know what that feeling was, but she knew that people used to declare only two feelings. And she was sure his beloved aunt wouldn’t usually declare her hatred for him. He would never smile if he were remembering that, wouldn’t he?

Evelyn tried not to think about it too much. But then, her mind suddenly reminded her that she, too, had just made the declaration of that feeling five times unknowingly. Five. Bloody. Times.

Evelyn's train of thought blew up in her mind. The explosion cleared the thoughts of other things from her brain, like, how to breathe, for example.

She was probably almost blue from the lack of air when Ominis suddenly spoke something else in parseltongue, shocking her brain to function again. She felt the necklace get warm and cold again in an instant, right after he said it. Prompting her to ask in surprise, "W-what did you just say?"

Ominis smiled tenderly, “Protect.”

“So, it will protect me when you’re not around?” Evelyn asked, her cheeks tinted pink.

“I hope it won’t have to.”

"I don't know what to say," Evelyn admitted. She couldn't help but feel overwhelmed by the intensity of her emotions. Her words came out in whispers, “It's beautiful.”

“I hoped it was, since I couldn’t ‘see’ what it looked like exactly, and could only hope that you’d like it.” Ominis chuckled and smiled, "I'm glad that you do.”

“I like it very much. It’s so beautiful.”

“I’m sure it does, and I’m sure you are too.”

“You could ‘see’ it, you know,” Evelyn said without thinking, remembering her late aunt as she touched the necklace around her neck.

She remembered how one day, she mustered up the courage to ask her aunt how she, as someone who was physically challenged in terms of sight, could ‘see.’ She remembered how her aunt smiled warmly, and gently, placed her hand on Evelyn's cheek. Little Evelyn instinctively closed her eyes and mirrored the gesture, placing her own little hand on her aunt's cheek. With tender movements, her aunt traced the contours of her face, and Evelyn couldn't help but giggle as she felt the tickling sensation while also tracing her aunt’s face. When her aunt playfully booped her nose, Evelyn playfully booped her aunt's nose in return, noting the softness and warmth of her touch. Her aunt's hand then moved to Evelyn's mouth, and the young girl did the same to her aunt, feeling her smile. Evelyn imagined her aunt smiling in her head, and when she opened her eyes, she saw exactly that.

In that precious moment, Evelyn learned that sight wasn't just about physical eyes; it was also about perceiving and understanding with the heart. And she wanted Ominis to ‘see’ her. She wanted him to ‘see’ how beautiful his gift was, and understand how much she loved it.

“See what?” Ominis's head tilted in curiosity.

“Me,” Evelyn continued, trying to be nonchalant with the rapid thumping of her heart, realising what she was about to do, “wearing the necklace.”

Ominis shook her head and smiled warmly, “I don’t have to ‘see’ to know that you’re beautiful wearing it.”

By Merlin’s beard, he better stop doing that to Evelyn before she either dies of happiness or embarrassment. Either way, she would still be glad to do it. But there was something she had to do first. With a sudden surge of determination, Evelyn grabbed Ominis’s left hand with her right, and guided it towards her collarbone.

Ominis was flustered but didn't take his hand away as she moved it gently, “E-Eve, what are you doing?”

“I want you to ‘see’ me wearing it,” Evelyn said softly, her heart pounding with nervousness and anticipation. She joked a bit, “We muggles don’t have wands to ‘see’ things magically.”

“I—”

She gulped before continuing, “This is how my late aunt used to ‘see’ something. To see me.” Evelyn guided Ominis’s finger to feel the necklace that adorned her neck. His fingers hovered gently above it. She then brought her free left hand to his collarbone, touching the fabric that covered it, mirroring its position with his.

Ominis didn’t say anything or move any muscles. The silence and stillness that came after felt like a knife to Evelyn’s heart. She felt her cheeks flush with embarrassment. Maybe this was a mistake. Maybe she was being too forward. Maybe he was uncomfortable with it. With all the thoughts attacking her confidence, Evelyn began to withdraw her left hand from his collarbone. But Ominis gently placed his other hand on it, keeping it in place.

Evelyn took a deep breath and began to move her hand slowly across his collarbone. Ominis understood her even without words. His left hand mirrored her movements, touching the necklace on her gently. She could see him smile as he felt the snake charm of the necklace right above her collarbone. Evelyn tried her best to be still. His warm touch sent a shiver down her spine.

And she liked it.

This was certainly different from what she used to do with her aunt. She didn’t feel this warmth before—the warmth that pooled in her heart and below. This was new, and she liked it. She didn’t want it to end. The desire to touch and be touched by him surpassed the desire to only show him how the necklace adorned her. She wanted him to ‘see’ her. To ‘see’ all of her.

So she took a deep breath to calm herself and continued, tracing her hand softly from his neck up to his jaw. Her breath still caught as she felt his hand trace her neck in the same motion, sending another shiver down her spine.

Trying her best to focus and not be distracted by her pounding heart, Evelyn let go of Ominis’s hand she had been holding earlier, and gently touched his jaw with both of her hands. Ominis did the same, he let go of her hand, and copied her exact movement. She took a deep breath once more, and moved her fingers softly from his chin, up to his jaw.

Only after that, she realised that much of his features had changed through the summer. And how wrong this decision was.

She couldn’t stop herself from marvelling at the strong angles of his jaw, feeling how completely opposite it was from the smoothness of his alabaster skin. Even with her heart beating like a hummingbird's as she felt him do the same, she couldn’t stop herself from continuing up after. Touching his cheeks softly, noting how they felt less chubby than before. The sharp cheekbones that were previously hidden now accentuate the beauty marks on them. She traced them tenderly, noticing the constellations that were seen in the sky.

“You have the serpent’s caput on your left cheek.” She whispered with her fingers caressing the beauty marks on his cheek.

Ominis chuckled, and the shiver came again as she felt him doing the same to her. His rough, yet gentle fingers traced her cheek tenderly.

Evelyn gulped, and continued her exploration with a shaky breath. She gently moved her hands up to his forehead, imagining how much a crown would fit in it, just above his sharp eyebrows, showing him as the royalty he was. And then moved her gaze to his eyes. Her breath was immediately taken away, drowning in the tempestuous, yet gentle blue orbs that glistened magically under the bluebell flame.

Evelyn saw him frown, probably thinking she had spent too long looking into his eyes. She quickly moved her thumb and closed his eyelids after that. Her eyelids closed as well when she felt his thumb above them. In the darkness, she brushed his long eyelashes with her thumb, noticing how soft and probably long they were—probably longer than hers—and how he mirrored her gently. Still with her eyes closed, Evelyn then moved to his nose, and was surprised at how pointed, yet soft it was. She couldn’t help but bop it, and giggled when he did the same. With both of their laughs heard in the background, Evelyn opened her eyes to see the last thing she hadn’t explored.

His lips.

Maybe she should stop. This was probably enough. It was enough.

But her fingers still moved.

The laughter faded as her right thumb moved closer to his lower lip. She could hear his sharp intake of breath as she slowly stroked her thumb across it. She didn’t dare to move, waiting with bated breath for him to do the same to her. But he never did. He didn’t even open his eyes. She exhaled and continued. With her left hand on his cheek, she moved her right thumb delicately towards his upper lip, noticing how pale it was under the bluebell flame. Ignoring the thoughts of how she could give it colour through touch from the same parts of her body, she continued to trace his lips, moving slowly to his cupid’s bow, and suddenly took a sharp breath.

He kissed her. He kissed her thumb.

Evelyn stopped, not daring to move even an inch. Ominis grabbed her hand that was over his lips gently, and moved them away. His other hands slid to the back of her head, and softly pushed, causing them to lean on each other on the forehead.

The tension was palpable. She could taste it in the little space between them. She could feel his shaky breath right in front of her. She could feel the warmth of his skin. She could feel how much he wanted to. She closed her eyes and waited, desperately waiting in hope for him to do the thing she also wanted him to do.

She felt him move, and felt his lips on her forehead.

Evelyn’s eyes opened in surprise, only to see him moving backward with his hand on her cheeks.

With a tender smile, he said in a hoarse voice, “I can see you, Evelyn Rose.”

Evelyn could only gulp and nod.

“I can definitely see you,” he added playfully with a smile.

The tension disappeared after that. Evelyn smiled back at him. Their smile turned into a grin, which gradually became laughter. Perhaps, the laughter was the way they concealed their embarrassment, to get rid of the awkwardness of almost kissing. Or perhaps it was laughter of happiness, their hearts realising first before their minds that they share the same feelings for each other. Either way, they laughed for a while before a calm silence came to them.

“I’m sorry for my lack of response at first.” Ominis apologised out of the blue. “I never ‘saw’ someone that way before.”

“You never did?” Evelyn asked curiously.

“I might ‘see’ something that way, but never someone. My family never let me touch them. And I’m afraid Sebastian and Anne would feel uncomfortable if I did it since I’ve never done it before. So I never really did it.”

Hearing his explanation almost brought her to tears. She held his hand tenderly, “Well, now you did.”

“And I’m glad you’re the first one I did it with,” Ominis responded sincerely.

Evelyn quickly went silent. Her sadness quickly changed into embarrassment as she tried her best to contain herself from blushing too hard at her thoughts that came right after hearing him say it.

Ominis then kissed her hand that he had held before and said softly, “Thank you for letting me ‘see’ you, Eve.”

Maybe it was the gratitude and waves of emotions she felt, or maybe it was her own need that was pushing her. Whatever it was, it made her bravely move forward and kiss him on the cheek.

“Thank you for everything.”

And he replied with the most beautiful smile she had ever seen.

Evelyn struggled to concentrate on her classes that day. Her mind always found a way to come back to Ominis’s smile and what had happened at midnight. She couldn’t escape it.

Seeing a blue ball in the summoner court? Ominis’s eyes came to her mind. Feeling the soft fur of a puffskein? Immediately recalled Ominis’s much softer eyelashes. Seeing inside her cauldron in potion class? Ominis’s face suddenly appeared on the liquid surface. Seeing the white chalk Professor Garlick used to draw a chart? Ominis’s skin under the moonlight instantly came to her thoughts.

She couldn’t focus outside of her classes as well. It’s like he was everywhere. Even in the pictures in her textbook or in the paintings in the hallways. She almost screamed and had to look twice at Gaspard Shingleton in her history of magic textbook, whose face changed into Ominis’s at her first glance. She almost fell down the stairs when she thought she saw Ominis instead of the dark haired guitarist in the great hall’s painting. She even bumped into Professor Black accidentally when she was walking in the hallway, distracted by seeing a portrait of Ominis wearing the king’s garb waving at her.

Her day was already hard with the hallucinations she had. And yet, Ominis seemed determined to make it harder. Intentionally or not, Evelyn would never know.

Well, for starters, he looked too handsome today. Evelyn found herself flabbergasted to see him already at Charms class when she arrived in a hurry this morning, sitting calmly beside Sebastian. His uniform was crisp, his hair tidy, and his face beautifully stoic. Quite the opposite of Evelyn's ‘I woke up late and found this on the floor, so put it on as soon as I could’ uniform and ‘I brushed this when I’m running down the halls’ hair. They went back from the astronomy tower to their dorm when dawn had already broken. How could he still look that handsome with only a few hours of sleep? He even gave her an apple pie when she sat on her spot at her table beside his and Sebastian’s, as if he knew she would miss breakfast at the great hall.

And that was the second thing he did that made her day harder, show affection to her. She didn’t exactly know if the level of care he showed today was the same or not compared to the other days, but she surely felt the effects of it doubled. She was flushed throughout the charm class after he gave her the pie. She was immediately flustered every time she saw him smiling across the herbology class. She felt her hands sweat more than usual when he escorted her to the potion class. She even stayed awake throughout the history of magic class, unable to sleep at all with him sitting so close to her. Every smile, every word, and every touch he gave her that day really felt like fire cruising through her veins.

And Sebastian knew it. He bloody knew it in an instant.

“There’s the birthday girl.” Sebastian said out of the blue, causing Evelyn to halt her hurried step back to her dorm immediately.

“Ah!” Evelyn exclaimed as the books she carried fell to the floor.

“O..kay, something must have happened.” Sebastian said, confused. “I don’t think I would make you that nervous.”

She wasn’t nervous. It's only the exhaustion that was previously hidden by her anxiety regarding Ominis. She was going back to her dorm for the evening, wanting to go to the bed that'd been calling her name since the last session of astronomy class. Evelyn sighed tiredly, crouched down to pick up her fallen books, and said, “Just help me with this.”

“What happened?” Sebastian asked as he crouched beside her, helping to pick up her books.

“Nothing happened,” she answered as casually as she could.

“What is that?” he asked suddenly, pointing at Evelyn’s neck.

Evelyn looked down just to see the silver necklace gift from Ominis dangling on her neck, found its way out from under her uniform, where it had been hidden before. She tried her best to be nonchalant about it and quickly stood up.

“It’s my new necklace.”

“Never thought you’re a lover of snakes,” Sebastian said curiously from his still-crouching state. He followed her steps to stand up after he got all the books that were left on the floor.

“It’s a gift,” Evelyn said as she put the necklace back inside her uniform, away from other prying eyes.

“A beautiful one, that is.” Sebastian heaved the books he held, a mischievous glint in his eyes. “Is it from someone I knew?”

Evelyn immediately walked away as soon as she heard his question. Sebastian quickly followed with a grin.

“So, it is from someone I knew,” he said playfully while walking beside her, carrying the rest of her books. “Hmm…Who else could possibly give you something that was related to snakes? It must be another Slytherin, isn't it?” His voice hinted at mischief as he continued to ask curiously, “I certainly didn’t give you that, Imelda perhaps?”

Evelyn rolled her eyes at his obviously feigned curiosity. He probably knew who gave it to her as soon as he heard her say that it was a gift.

“Do shut up.”

He chuckled, “Is that why you’re so jumpy today?”

“I’m not,” She stubbornly denied.

“You are,” He said matter-of-factly and continued with an annoying grin that Evelyn wanted to rip off immediately, “It makes me wonder, did Ominis only give you a necklace?”

She blushed at his accusation. Remembering that Ominis didn’t give her only a necklace but also a kiss under the stars. Three kisses, to be exact—It still counts in her book, even if it’s not on the lips—and he also gave her the bloody delusion that he had the same feelings as her. But Sebastian didn't have know that. He must not know. So Evelyn changed the topic instead.

“Yes, only that.” She said firmly before continuing quickly. “Were you searching for me?”

“I’ll let you go now, since I’m actually on an urgent task,” Sebastian remarked. He continued, his voice becoming serious, “Yes, I was searching for you. I need your help with something.”

The sudden change of tone worried her, but didn’t make her stop her steps as she asked for more detail, “With what?”

“Ominis.”

Evelyn immediately stopped in her tracks.

“I can’t believe he got drunk,” Evelyn complained as she ran through the cobblestone path angrily.

Sebastian shrugged, running beside her, “Neither can I.”

They were running to Hogsmeade—to the Three Broomsticks, to be exact—on a journey to help a certain blond that Sebastian believed was in urgent need of help.

After hearing what he said about Ominis, Evelyn and Ominis immediately put her books in the room of requirements and ran to the nearest floo flames station with Hogsmeade as the destination in mind. Only to be shocked when the relief bust of Ignatia Wildsmith told her that the floo flames were under maintenance. Evelyn couldn’t lie, it made her upset. And the fact that Sebastian didn’t want to go by flying on a broom or beast made her more upset. He was sulking when he found out she hadn’t taken him flying on a hippogriff before. Why did he reject the chance now?

It didn't make sense to Evelyn, but she still followed the will of her troublesome friend. So, here they are, running under the last light of the day, huffing and puffing, trying their best to arrive quickly to Hogsmeade and pick up their friend in a flash so they could go back to Hogwarts before curfew.

“Why didn’t you take him to the dorms immediately in the first place?”

“He won’t move and keep calling for you.”

What Sebastian had said was kind of a surprise for Evelyn. She whirled her head towards Sebastian while still walking, “For me?!”

Sebastian grinned and continued with a sing-song voice, clearly trying to imitate Ominis’s voice, “His exact words were, ‘Where is my rose? I won’t move until I see my rose’ as soon as I arrive after getting his so-called urgent owl.”

“You’re joking?” Evelyn asked in disbelief, and got a shake of the head from the brunette beside her.

“Nope. I tried to pull him off the table, but he wouldn't budge. I was confused at first hearing his drunken request, but then I remembered your last name. So I came straight to you.”

Evelyn frowned. “Wait, why was he drinking in the first place?”

Sebastian shrugged, “I hadn’t got a clue." He then nudged Evelyn playfully. "Did you do something?”

Evelyn didn't know how to answer Sebastian. She did do something out of the ordinary. However, she didn't expect that touching Ominis intimately and almost kissing him would be the reason for him to get drunk. It’s not strong enough, and he looked fine throughout the day. It made her sure she wasn't the cause.

The fact that Ominis became drunk was very odd in the first place. She never, ever heard someone get drunk because of butterbeer. Not to mention, Ominis rarely drinks. He even preferred to share one glass of butterbeer with Evelyn rather than drink one for himself. She didn’t believe Sebastian at first before he showed her the letter he received from drunken Ominis.

“I didn’t.” Evelyn answered firmly and asked in confusion, “How could he be drunk because of butterbeer?”

“He actually drank wine,” Sebastian said nonchalantly.

“What?!” Evelyn whipped her head towards him, “Why did Sirona give him that?”

“He’s already seventeen. It’s legal for him and me to drink it.” Sebastian shrugged, “Although, I'm more of a whisky person myself.”

“I know,” Evelyn rolled her eyes, “I just thought they wouldn't give it to him since he’s a student.”

“Everything’s legal when you have enough galleons,” Sebastian said with a smirk.

“That means…I can buy it too?”

Sebastian nodded, “Legally, only since today." He grinned and teased, "Meanwhile, it’s been legal for me and Ominis for months.”

Evelyn groaned and ran faster, “That just makes it worse.”

It didn’t take long for Sebastian to catch up with her more hurried steps and come beside her again. He asked, “Why?”

“Because, I’m the one who's taking a drunk friend home the day that alcohol became legal to me." Evelyn said sarcastically and exclaimed, “It’s supposed to be me! The one who was drunk and needed help to come home.”

Sebastian grinned, “Never thought you were a drunkard wannabe."

"I am not." Evelyn said sternly, her voice latched with annoyance.

He chuckled, "Don't worry about your first drunken experience. We can remedy that after we handle Ominis.”

Evelyn groaned at his tease and picked up her pace even more while Sebastian laughed.

After that, they ran in silence until they came in front of Hogsmeade, where she stopped right in front of the main doors. She leaned towards Sebastian, trying to catch her breath after running so far. Bloody floo flame just had to be under maintenance at the same time.

“He’s not quite a heavy drinker, is he?” Evelyn asked, concerned, with how she and Sebastian were supposed to bring back Ominis to the castle. Especially if he drank more after Sebastian left him. What if he was unconscious?

“I told Sirona to stop serving him drinks, and I guessed he only took two glasses before he sent me the owl,” Sebastin reassured her. With a hand on her shoulder, he grinned as if knowing what was on her head, “It’s going to be fine. We could use wingardium leviosa on him if he’s out cold.”

Evelyn's worry dissipated, and found herself giggling at the image of floating Ominis in the middle of herself and Sebastian on their way back to Hogwarts. “It would be quite a view.”

“Indeed.”

Evelyn sighed, “Let’s just get over it.”

“Sure, after you,” Sebastian bowed after Evelyn stood up from his shoulder.

Evelyn rolled her eyes at the gesture and pushed the door open.

“SURPRISE!”

A bunch of shouts immediately stopped Evelyn in her tracks. And she was shocked to see so many people she knew in front of her. Her friends were all there. Even Leander, standing behind Garreth and Amit, who were raising their hands as a gesture of surprise, smiled widely. Imelda was standing in front of Amit, smiling smugly at her while carrying a parcel. In front of her, Poppy and Natty were standing with a bright smile. And in the middle of them, was Ominis, standing with a cake in his hands.

“Happy birthday, Eve.” Ominis said to the surprised girl.

Hearing his soft voice made tears come to Evelyn’s eyes. Her annoyance and exhaustion were forgotten. She couldn’t stop smiling as she walked inside the Three Broomsticks towards her friends. “Thank you…” Her voice trailed off as she sniffled, “How did you guys do it?”

“With magic.” Garreth commented out of the blue, which made all her friends present laugh.

She chuckled and remarked playfully, “I’m clearly surprised.”

“Don’t pretend that you’re not. I successfully made the floo lady lie and also made you believe that Ominis was drunk.” Sebastian remarked proudly.

“You did what?!” Ominis exclaimed in surprise.

“The floo lady lied?!” Evelyn said at the same time.

Suddenly, Garreth started to sing the birthday song, and the banter was forgotten. Her friends—including Sebastian, who quickly took his place beside Imelda—followed his steps and sang, guiding her to blow out the candles as she came closer towards them. She looked around with tears in her eyes, genuinely happy to see her friends smiling and singing to her, feeling their happiness for her. Her gaze then moved to the one in front of her and never left, enchanted to see Ominis's beautiful face, smiling warmly at her in the candlelight.

Evelyn waited until the song came to an end, giggling a bit after hearing Garreth belt out the last part of the song, and finally asked, “Can I blow now?”

“Make a wish first!” Sebastian shouted from the back.

Evelyn closed her eyes. The others were silent, respecting the birthday girl. The only thing she could hear was her own breath and her own voice inside her heart. After saying her wish to herself, she opened her eyes and blew out the candles.

The party began again right after that. Hollers and claps could be heard as the last candle blew out. There was no one else but their group and Sirona herself inside the Three Broomsticks, with the place closed to the public by Sirona for the special occasion. Garreth then blew a yellow and gold coloured trumpet, something Evelyn guessed was supposed to be used for a Quidditch match support chant if the game wasn’t cancelled again for another year. It sounded so loud that everyone went silent and closed their ears immediately at the first blow.

“Sorry,” Garreth said, feeling guilty with a grin.

Imelda quickly took the trumpet from the ginger and thwacked his shoulder. Laughter ensued, and the party continued. Near the fireplace, Sebastian and Natty were chatting until they both nodded to each other and let out their wands. A pop could be heard, and it suddenly rained confetti and sparks.

Evelyn looked up and couldn’t help but smile at the rain of glittering papers and shining particles around her. She opened her palms to the air and laughed as she felt several sparks land softly, like a warm kiss on her hands. She couldn’t stop smiling, even if she tried. Remembering the boy in front of her, she looked back down. Her breath caught right at the moment she saw him.

He was breathtaking.

The way his head tilted at the right angle that made his eyes shone among the sparks and glitter that fell from the sky, his alabaster skin tinted golden under the fireplace light, and his mouth smiled radiantly made her feel shivers down her spine. Evelyn felt a war within herself. One side wanted to just forget about everything and kiss him right there and then. One side wanted to maintain her dignity and wait. Seeing how she couldn’t take her eyes off of him, it could be seen which side was winning.

Until several pieces of confetti made their way into Ominis’s hair and stayed there, causing her to laugh. They were clearly an odd addition to his tidy, neat hair.

Ominis began to frown, “What’s wrong?”

“You’ve got something in your hair,” Evelyn said between her laughs.

She stepped closer to him, positioning herself as close as possible without hitting the cake he was holding in both hands.

“Here, let me help.” A voice came out of the blue beside Evelyn, causing her to become still.

Turns out, it was Poppy, who was smiling while reaching out her hand to take the cake Ominis was holding. The boy gave her the cake after he felt her hands, and she quickly turned herself away, shouting excitedly.

“Who wants cake?”

The rest of the group quickly surrounded Poppy with excitement as she moved herself away from the couple. Poppy brought the cake with her to where Sebastian had prepared an empty table, and the others followed swiftly, practically making the surrounding areas of Evelyn and Ominis empty. Evelyn saw Sebastian smirk at her and raise his two thumbs up. Her cheeks flushed at the gesture, realising that her brunette best friend knew what was happening and tried to help.

Evelyn quickly cleared her throat in an attempt to clear the air that was getting hotter and moved her gaze back to the blond boy in front of her.

“Where were we?”

“There’s something in my hair?” Ominis said hesitantly.

She nodded nervously, “Y-yes. Let me help you get it off.”

Her hand then brushed gently through his hair, trying to take the confetti out without destroying his hairstyle too much. Which, pretty much failed at the first attempt.

His soft hair made Evelyn distracted and drowned in thoughts of running through it forever. Not to mention, her mind indignantly reminded her of the memories of last night. She couldn’t concentrate herself and made his hair a little bit messier than it was. Well, at least even with messy hair, he would still be handsome in her eyes.

After almost a minute passed, she successfully took the last confetti and moved her hands away, brushing his cheeks in the process. The gesture made a blush bloom in Ominis’s cheeks, causing Evelyn to suddenly become hyper-aware of how close they were.

Just like last night.

The thought of kissing him flooded her mind once more. The lower part of her body became warm as she looked at his lips, pale compared to his scarlet cheeks. Blood rushed to her cheeks immediately, causing them to be as scarlet as his. Evelyn closed her eyes slowly and felt herself gratifying towards him, getting closer and closer to the pale but soft lips that she wished to—

“Hey, you guys,” Garreth’s voice suddenly came, causing Evelyn to jump back, the moment clearly ruined. “Amit was showing his new picture making machine!”

“It’s actually called a camera, Garreth.” Amit spoke from behind to the ginger, not acknowledging the blushing couple.

“Yeah, yeah.” Garreth dismissed Amit and continued excitedly, “It’s basically like an automatic painting making device, right? We should take a picture of us all with it! Make the memory of this joyous moment permanent."

“Yes, but actually—“

“Gar!” Sebastian interrupted Amit’s explanation with a smack on Garreth's shoulder, “You ruined it!”

“Ruined what?” Garreth asked in annoyance, rubbing his shoulder that got smacked not once, but twice in the evening. Clearly not knowing what Sebastian meant.

Meanwhile, Evelyn knew exactly what he meant and blushed at the realisation that he was seeing her and Ominis almost kissing. She was still silent in embarrassment while Amit continued his interrupted explanation.

“Actually, it’s not a painting.”

“What is not a painting?” Sebastian asked, bewildered and still mad at Garreth.

Amit excitedly continued to explain how the camera in his hands works, “A camera would capture the light by—”

“Let’s just take the ‘photograph’.” Evelyn cut off poor Amit for the second time, who seemed not to be angry with the interruption.

Instead, he asked in delight, surprised but delighted to see a fellow technophile, “You knew it would create a photo?”

“Yes, it’s quite famed in the muggle society,” Evelyn said in a hurry, wanting to get out of the awkward and embarrassing situation as soon as she could, “now, let’s go.”

“Go where?” Sebastian asked, clearly not following the conversation.

“In front of the fireplace would be a good spot.” Ominis suggested suddenly, his wand already out of his pocket. It definitely surprised Evelyn, as he was silent before, she didn’t think he followed the conversation. “If a ‘photo’ was like a painting, it would be best to take it with all of us standing in front of the fireplace.”

“That’s a good idea!” Garreth exclaimed excitedly.

“Right, okay, I’ll set it.” Amit responded at the same time and swiftly went to a spot in front of the fireplace, while Garreth took hurried steps towards the fireplace and found himself in a spot in the centre.

“We’re going to take a photo,” Ominis explained to Sebastian, who still didn’t understand what was going on.

“A photo?”

"It's like a painting, but it was created by a new technology called the camera," Evelyn immediately explained.

Sebastian nodded, finally understood, and shouted to the ginger, “Oi, you can’t possibly be the centre of our paint—photo!” He quickly corrected himself and followed Garreth’s steps to the spot in front of the fireplace, leaving Evelyn and Ominis on their own.

They fell into an awkward silence, as Ominis seemed to be distracted by his brunette best friend, who was arguing with Weasley. Evelyn was going to say she should go find her own place for the photo when Imelda came and asked them about the bickering brunette and ginger in front of the fireplace.

“What is wrong with them?”

“I can’t believe there are two of them.” Ominis remarked in disbelief, seemed to not hear Imelda’s question as Garreth and Sebastian’s banter at each other could be heard rising in each second.

Evelyn shook her head with a smile, feeling her nervousness dissipate after hearing the remark. And answered the confused Slytherin girl, “They were fighting for the middle spot for the photo we’re going to take.”

“Photo?” Imelda asked in confusion.

“It’s basically a picture that was captured instantly using a device called a camera.”

“So, fast painting?”

“Not exactly.”

Imelda shrugged, “Well, we can’t have them in the middle of the picture, whether it’s a painting or not, can we?”

Evelyn was about to answer seriously before she heard Imelda continue, her voice offended.

“It should’ve been me,” Imelda remarked, walking to the bickering boys with determination. After that, there were three people bickering instead.

“They’re so childish,” Ominis commented with a shake of his head.

Evelyn could only laugh seeing her friends’ antics, “They are.”

“We should take our positions too,” he said softly and gave his elbow towards Evelyn. “Shall we?”

She smiled at the gesture, remembering the many times she held it on their journey through the halls, and put her hand tenderly on his elbow, “Yes, Lets.”

Evelyn smiled as she felt Ominis discreetly press his left elbow, which was where her hand held on, to his side. She tightened her grip on his arm, and they walked to their debating friends in front of the fireplace.

Apparently, Leander and Poppy joined in the debate. The former sided with Garreth, thinking a Gryffindor should be in the middle, while the latter only wanted to stop the quarrel in the first place but found herself joining in after hearing Leander say that Hufflepuffs should be at the end. The bickering continued in loud voices while Evelyn and Ominis just stood awkwardly on the side, trying to find their own spot in front of the fireplace. Natty soon joined, standing beside Evelyn.

“How long do you think they will continue?” Natty asked her.

“With Imelda and Sebastian?” Evelyn answered in disbelief. “Somebody better stop it before it turns into a brawl.”

Natty chuckled, “You’re right. You should do it, since you are the one who should be in the centre.”

Evelyn's eyes widened in surprise, “Why?”

“You are the birthday girl.” Ominis answered for Natty, who smiled and nodded in agreement.

“Well, it has gone too long.” Evelyn released her arm from Ominis, took a deep breath and stepped closer to the bickering jumble of her friends, “Guys?”

Her call fell on deaf ears, the bickering still continued.

“Guys?” Evelyn tried once more, yet, their friends kept on debating to Merlin knows what because it was heard like it was not about who should be in the centre anymore. Garreth even began to list the ingredients for polyjuice potions out of the blue.

“Guys, ple—”

“For Merlin’s sake!” Ominis shouted out of the blue, silencing all the people present in an instant. Everyone stood still, clearly surprised. Including Sirona—who was helping to take the photo—stopped in her tracks of aligning the camera under Amit’s direction. With everyone’s focus on him, Ominis then commanded the bickering friends, “Move, Evelyn should be in the middle.”

The bickering friends dispersed immediately, leaving the centre spot empty for Evelyn, who quickly dragged Ominis to stand on the recently empty spot beside her. No one dared comment or complain about that. Her other friends moved quickly—and a little bit in panic—trying to find their own spot for the photo. It was actually kind of funny seeing them all a little afraid because of Ominis.

Hearing him shout and command clearly did something to Evelyn’s body. It sent blazing fire through her veins. And she didn’t lie when she almost kissed him right there and then. Luckily, she could still contain herself and put her hand back in its previous place on his elbow instead. Her only focus was on him while the others scrambled around.

“Places, everyone!” Amit shouted from his spot behind the camera, causing the students to stop and take their place for the photo, no matter where. He then instructed Sirona to align the camera once more.

“Hurry Amit!” Poppy exclaimed impatiently from Evelyn’s left. Probably afraid Garreth would change his mind since she got the position after Garreth relented as soon as she brought up her height as an excuse.

“Yes, yes, I’m coming!” Amit said after finishing his explanation to Sirona of how to operate the camera. After that, he ran to an empty spot beside Leander, who was at the end of Evelyn’s side of the group before he came.

Everyone was posing, and with her hand already on Ominis’s elbow, Evelyn decided to lean her head on his shoulder as a pose. Ominis put his wand in his pocket, put his head above hers, and held her hand that was on his elbow with his hand as a response. Evelyn's smile couldn’t get any wider after that.

“Say butterbeer!” Sirona shouted.

Everyone looked into the camera and followed the instructions, except for Leander.

“Why would I say—”

The camera’s flash interrupted him, and Sirona gave a thumbs up from behind the camera right after that.

“Wait, is it done?” Leander asked, but nobody answered him.

Everyone began to follow Amit, who quickly took the camera from Sirona, swept up in the excitement of the moment and wanting to ask more about the new equipment he had. Poppy was asking if it could take photos of her beasts, Imelda was enthusiastic about aerial shots while flying, and Leander, sadly, was still asking if the process of taking the photo was done.

“Guys? Is it really done? Can we take another? I think I blinked on that one,” Leander's voice was tinged with mild worry.

Sebastian chimed in, a playful grin on his face, “Don’t worry, Prewett. The photo would still look good even if you did. Even better!”

Leander grunted, “What’s that supposed to mean, Sallow?”

Sebastian ignored the tall ginger and walked up to Amit, his curiosity piqued, “Could I borrow the camera so I could take pictures with Anne in the summer?”

Leander called the brunette again in annoyance, “Hey! Answer me!”

Evelyn laughed at the interaction. She was about to break up the two squabbling boys and join her other friends when she felt a gentle yet firm grip on her hand. She turned to see Ominis tightening his grip on her hand.

“Why did you choose me?” Ominis's voice was soft, carrying a weight of curiosity and vulnerability.

Her heart skipped a beat. The way he asked the question caught her off guard, and for a moment, her mind went blank. She looked at Ominis, his earnest expression pulling at her heartstrings. He was asking about choosing him to be in the centre for the photo with her, wasn’t he?

Then, she remembered. She remembered how he gave her a tender smile across the class, how he waited every time she came home from her adventures, how he held her arm gently as they walked through the halls, how he gave her lavish gifts she couldn’t even repay, how he got angry but still cared for her every time she done something bad, how he held her when she was crying, how put his head on her head only just recently, and how he had kissed her under the stars.

She felt courage surge through her veins after remembering those moments. Hope bloomed in her heart. Maybe, he wasn’t only asking about her decision to choose him to be in the centre. Maybe… just maybe, he asked about her feelings as well?

With her newfound courage and hopefully not delusional hope, she gripped both of his hands and bared her heart to him.

“Because I can see us together.”

Ominis's gaze held a mixture of surprise and delight, as if her words had surpassed his expectations. Her confession hung in the air, and the unspoken emotions between them were palpable. Seconds stretched before he finally moved, taking a step closer.

Everything else went blurry for Evelyn as he came closer and closer. Evelyn’s heartbeat echoed in her ears and her cheeks flushed as she realised what was going to happen. His hand found its way to her cheek, and she felt herself gratifying towards him once more for the day, closing her eyes as she leaned in, she—

“Guys! Let’s take another picture!” A voice cut through the tension.

Evelyn opened her eyes, her almost-kiss with Ominis still hanging in the air like an unspoken promise. She turned her head towards the one who had unknowingly interrupted their moment. It was Garreth, bustling with excitement as he hurried back to his spot in front of the fireplace, eager for another shot of a photo.

Tenderly caressing her cheek with one hand, Ominis whispered before stepping back, “I can see us together as well.”

Evelyn's heart skipped a beat at his words, a rush of warmth spreading through her. She felt something unmistakable in Ominis's touch as their hands kept intertwining—an affirmation of the feelings she had evidently not blindly hoped for before. Her cheeks flushed with a mixture of delight and anticipation.

“Garreth!” Sebastian shouted when he arrived beside the ginger. His voice held a hint of annoyance and disappointment as his gaze shifted between the couple and Garreth, clearly seeing what should have happened before the ginger disrupted the atmosphere. “You ruined it again!”

“Ruined what? I just want to be ready for the next picture!” Garreth answered in disbelief.

She shook her head with a smile, “Let him go, Seb. It’s okay.”

Sebastian then led Garreth to his place beside him as he stood at his own place, beside Ominis. He shot Garreth a wry look, “You really have a talent for bad timing, mate.”

“Well, I had no idea what you’re talking about. I just want to look good for the next picture.” Garreth answered while combing his hair with his hands. “My descendant might see it someday!”

Evelyn felt her blush deepen as she realised what Garreth meant. Her descendants might see the photo someday too. Her and Ominis’s.

The others began to move to their previous places for the picture after seeing Sebastian and Garreth already in their own places. As the group gathered once more, arranging themselves for the photo, Evelyn couldn't suppress her smile. The interrupted almost-kiss had inadvertently unveiled what she had hoped to be true. Ominis's affection for her was not just a figment of her imagination, or worse, just a friend to friend affection. It was real and palpable.

Sebastian shot Leander a sly grin before speaking in an exaggerated, cheerful tone, “Ready for another attempt, Prewett? Make sure you don't blink this time.”

Leander's glare at Sebastian after hearing that was met with laughter from the group. Evelyn tightened her grip on Ominis’s elbow, and he returned it gently to her hand, sharing a gesture that spoke volumes. They did the same pose as before.

As the camera flashed, capturing another moment frozen in time, Evelyn's heart brimmed with contentment because she had gained the most valuable gift for her seventeenth birthday. An affirmation from the one who has her heart that he too, could see them becoming ‘us’.

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