Maybe That Will Calm Him Down
Feb. 2nd, 2026 11:13 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
hat_writes_stuffTitle: Maybe That Will Calm Him Down
Author: Almighty Hat
Fandom: Frankenstein (2025)
Characters: Victor Frankenstein, Fräulein Adelheid Blücher, William Frankenstein
Word Count: 443
Rating: G
Pairing(s): Implied Victor Frankenstein/Fräulein Adelheid Blücher
Warnings: Nothing I can think of!
Author's Notes: Sometimes you don't want to write a whole AU. Sometimes, just the moment that would have caused things to spiral into something else is enough.
Summary: This is a silly little piece of flash fiction where I throw a character from one Frankenstein adaptation into another and giggle while imagining the results.
William makes sure Victor's tower has everything it needs, including, in this story, a housekeeper.
"Who is this?" Victor asked, irritable and distracted at being called away from his work.
William was hurrying the woman-- late twenties to early thirties, though Victor was more accustomed to evaluating men at the moment, fair skin, high cheekbones, a firm jawline, nose a little strong but very straight, mouth delicate but potentially expressive, though marred by a mole a touch too prominent to be called a beauty mark, with blue eyes, ash-blonde hair pulled into something strict with braids involved, and wearing, over a trim figure, a traveling suit that was nearly sensible, being perhaps half the width of a truly fashionable crinoline-- away from the coach, where the horses were agitated for some inscrutable equine reason. "A helpmeet," William said, "for now, someone to act as a housekeeper--"
"William, I am a grown man, I can tidy my own room."
"Can you cook?" the woman asked, with a strong Prussian accent. "And more than just a fried egg, Herr Baron, I know how bachelors live. While you are maintaining your laboratory," and Victor found himself unwillingly charmed by her pronunciation of the word, no eliding over any vowels, la bore ah tore ee, "Who is sweeping the kitchen? Who is dusting? Who is scrubbing the moss from these steps to keep you from slipping and breaking something vital? How, Herr Baron, are you keeping mice out of this pile of stones? You will have patients here, correct, test subjects for your surgical methods? How will you keep them healthy if they are not fed proper food cooked in a clean kitchen?"
"And when you do have your patient," William said, smiling as though he'd gotten away with something crafty, "she has experience in nursing, should that be needed."
"That," Victor told them both, "answers why she is here, which would have been my next question. Who is this, William? Surely the woman has a name?"
"Victor," William said, "may I present Fräulein Adelheid Blücher?" The horses, which had nearly calmed, shied and whinnied in their traces. "Fräulein, my brother, the Right Honorable Doctor Victor Frankenstein."
The woman dipped into a brief but seemingly-sincere curtsy. "Baron Frankenstein." Frankenschtein, really, the accent did have its charms. Not as elegant as a Parisian accent would have been, but charming.
"Fräulein Blücher," Victor acknowledged, directly, to further fussing of the horses. Victor wondered what they felt so deviled by, but horses were easily-deviled beasts. "I can't imagine I need a chatelaine, but I suppose I can give you time to convince me I want one."
"In a week, Herr Baron," she said, with absolute confidence, "You will wonder how you lived without me."
End Notes: So a week after watching Frankenstein (2025), Celaeno and I watched Young Frankenstein (1974), which was a very fun study in contrast and I heartily recommend watching these two love letters to the Frankenstein mythos in quick succession. Anyway, as we were just about this far in when this exchange happened:
Almighty Hat: I just keep remembering her later confession-- which we can see foreshadowed-- and thinking "Frau, you coulda done better."
Celaeno: She clearly dug him, though
Almighty Hat: ... On the other hand, if 25!Victor had had a Fraulein Blucher, maybe he woulda calmed down
Celaeno: fff
(Almighty Hat: Elizabeth shouldn't have to do it but
Celaeno: But it might've benefited...everybody if somebody else stepped in
Almighty Hat: Fraulein Blucher: I vill take vun for ze team.
I am not writing this entire AU. You can if you want to. I'm just gonna sit here and giggle over the potential AU. What would you derail, Fräulein Blücher? Did you pack your violin?
Author: Almighty Hat
Fandom: Frankenstein (2025)
Characters: Victor Frankenstein, Fräulein Adelheid Blücher, William Frankenstein
Word Count: 443
Rating: G
Pairing(s): Implied Victor Frankenstein/Fräulein Adelheid Blücher
Warnings: Nothing I can think of!
Author's Notes: Sometimes you don't want to write a whole AU. Sometimes, just the moment that would have caused things to spiral into something else is enough.
Summary: This is a silly little piece of flash fiction where I throw a character from one Frankenstein adaptation into another and giggle while imagining the results.
William makes sure Victor's tower has everything it needs, including, in this story, a housekeeper.
"Who is this?" Victor asked, irritable and distracted at being called away from his work.
William was hurrying the woman-- late twenties to early thirties, though Victor was more accustomed to evaluating men at the moment, fair skin, high cheekbones, a firm jawline, nose a little strong but very straight, mouth delicate but potentially expressive, though marred by a mole a touch too prominent to be called a beauty mark, with blue eyes, ash-blonde hair pulled into something strict with braids involved, and wearing, over a trim figure, a traveling suit that was nearly sensible, being perhaps half the width of a truly fashionable crinoline-- away from the coach, where the horses were agitated for some inscrutable equine reason. "A helpmeet," William said, "for now, someone to act as a housekeeper--"
"William, I am a grown man, I can tidy my own room."
"Can you cook?" the woman asked, with a strong Prussian accent. "And more than just a fried egg, Herr Baron, I know how bachelors live. While you are maintaining your laboratory," and Victor found himself unwillingly charmed by her pronunciation of the word, no eliding over any vowels, la bore ah tore ee, "Who is sweeping the kitchen? Who is dusting? Who is scrubbing the moss from these steps to keep you from slipping and breaking something vital? How, Herr Baron, are you keeping mice out of this pile of stones? You will have patients here, correct, test subjects for your surgical methods? How will you keep them healthy if they are not fed proper food cooked in a clean kitchen?"
"And when you do have your patient," William said, smiling as though he'd gotten away with something crafty, "she has experience in nursing, should that be needed."
"That," Victor told them both, "answers why she is here, which would have been my next question. Who is this, William? Surely the woman has a name?"
"Victor," William said, "may I present Fräulein Adelheid Blücher?" The horses, which had nearly calmed, shied and whinnied in their traces. "Fräulein, my brother, the Right Honorable Doctor Victor Frankenstein."
The woman dipped into a brief but seemingly-sincere curtsy. "Baron Frankenstein." Frankenschtein, really, the accent did have its charms. Not as elegant as a Parisian accent would have been, but charming.
"Fräulein Blücher," Victor acknowledged, directly, to further fussing of the horses. Victor wondered what they felt so deviled by, but horses were easily-deviled beasts. "I can't imagine I need a chatelaine, but I suppose I can give you time to convince me I want one."
"In a week, Herr Baron," she said, with absolute confidence, "You will wonder how you lived without me."
End Notes: So a week after watching Frankenstein (2025), Celaeno and I watched Young Frankenstein (1974), which was a very fun study in contrast and I heartily recommend watching these two love letters to the Frankenstein mythos in quick succession. Anyway, as we were just about this far in when this exchange happened:
Almighty Hat: I just keep remembering her later confession-- which we can see foreshadowed-- and thinking "Frau, you coulda done better."
Celaeno: She clearly dug him, though
Almighty Hat: ... On the other hand, if 25!Victor had had a Fraulein Blucher, maybe he woulda calmed down
Celaeno: fff
(Almighty Hat: Elizabeth shouldn't have to do it but
Celaeno: But it might've benefited...everybody if somebody else stepped in
Almighty Hat: Fraulein Blucher: I vill take vun for ze team.
I am not writing this entire AU. You can if you want to. I'm just gonna sit here and giggle over the potential AU. What would you derail, Fräulein Blücher? Did you pack your violin?
