selenak

To no one's surprise, my story was the 18th Century. To my considerable surprise, my recipient wasn't a salon friend but completely new to me, so I was a bit nervous. My recipient had asked for Voltaire and given several good prompts, but the problem was that I had already written the story about Émilie du Chatelet, and the story about his love/hate relationship with Frederick the Great. However, fortunately Gummy_bean added that while Madame Denis, Voltaire's niece-slash-companion-slash-lover of decades, had not been among the offered characters, they would also love something centered on her if I were so inclined. I most definitely was - that was the one significant character and relationship I hadn't focused on fictionally before, and also one who usually gets a lot of condescension and dislike by biographers. Say no more, recipient, thought I, reading the prompt, and voila: the story:

The Other Woman (6893 words) by Selena
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: 18th Century CE RPF
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Relationships: Marie Louise Mignot Denis/Voltaire (Writer), Émilie du Châtelet/Voltaire (Writer), Friedrich II von Preußen | Frederick the Great/Voltaire (Writer), Marie Louise Mignot Denis & Émilie du Châtelet, Émilie du Châtelet/Jean François de Saint-Lambert
Characters: Marie Louise Mignot Denis, Voltaire (Writer), Émilie du Châtelet, Catherine Arouet Mignot, Alexandre Jean Mignot, Elisabeth Mignot de Fontaine
Additional Tags: Character Study, Complicated Relationships, Unhealthy Coping Mechanisms, Jealousy, Family Dynamics, Uncle-Niece Relationship, Uncle/Niece Incest, POV Female Character, Rival Relationship, Yuletide Family Affair, Yuletide 2024
Summary:

What was it like, being in a polycule with Voltaire, Émilie du Châtelet and Frederick the Great? Madame Denis tells all!