Ophelia Monroe

Phe is a healthy and active woman in her 40s. With the exception of her blindness, she is in perfect physical condition.

Phe is of slightly above average height for a woman, but not overly so, with a pleasingly curvaceous form. She remains lean thanks to her dancer's training and her continued practice, but time and a more relaxed approach to the art has allowed for curves she lacked in her youth to fill out. Her legs are still well-muscled and she has exquisite control of her body and how it moves.

She has rather kind gray eyes, slightly discolored from the chemicals that both scarred the skin around them and left her blind. She minimizes the scars as best she can with makeup, and hides them and her eyes for the most part behind colored glasses.

Her eyes and the scars around them.

She moves like a dancer well in adulthood, even when she is not on stage. Her dance training on her blindness have allowed her to develop a finely-tuned sense of spatial awareness; she moves through most environments, especially familiar ones, as if she knows where every person and item in it is.

When she is 'on', she is always dressed impeccably and dramatically, demanding attention and deserving it. She leans towards rich, vibrant colors and fabrics and bold accessories. She loves a hat.   When she is relaxed or at home, she prefers comfort to attention. If she is merely holding court in Phantasia's bar and not performing, she might be in little more than a tasteful robe, her hair piled atop her head messily to keep the wild mass of it out of her face.

Virginia Nesbit was born to a moderately successful riverboat captain and his moderately understanding wife in the midst of a trip between New Orleans and Baton Rouge. If the story is to be believed, her momma went into labor mid-aria on the Scarlet Lady's main stage, and the strain of screaming in pain at the point of delivering the highest note in the performance "ruined" her voice forever. No one specifically ever said this was why Ginny was pushed into performing - opera and ballet - but most people definitely thought it.    It's not unusual, really, for parents to live their dreams through the achievements of their children.   Ginny was at least blessed with a loving and attentive father who wanted the best for her, and wanted to allow her time to be a child. He didn't see her as an extension of something he lost, or resent her for stealing something from her out of impossible and improbable malice. He did all he could to make sure she still had a childhood, as much as he could, despite the wrath he earned from his wife.    Ginny would have debutanted in 1861, except for the looming threat of war and destruction the country found itself in at the time. Her parents weren't Confederate supporters by nature, and her father spent a lot of his time and resources during this period running contraband - which included hiding runaway enslaved persons in the hold of his boat and attempting to run them to Union-leaning locations. Which is how he got executed for treason in 1863.   The Scarlet Lady was seized by the Army. Ginny and her momma found themselves displaced, disgraced, and at their lowest. Ginny and Maree moved to Savannah and tried to start anew, but word traveled (if slowly) even back then. They couldn't outrun Orin's sins, and even Ginny's singing couldn't keep them off the edge of destruction. Maree came up with a plan: she'd marry her darling daughter off to a well-heeled gentleman who could afford to take care of mother and daughter in the style they were previously accostomed. Ginny was not fond of this plan, and made her thoughts known. Especially when momma declared her choice - a 37-year-old bachelor and mill owner named Henry Bozeman.    Bozeman was a frequent lurker at the theater where Ginny performed, and he tended to give Ginny a very uncomfortable feeling whenever he hung around. Her instincts were correct: he had an unnatural obsession, and Maree didn't see it. All she saw was his money.    Ginny decided she objected, on principle. She told her mother she refused, told Henry she would not be joining him in holy matrimony, and when both objected to her objection, she planned to sneak away. Henry found her the night she planned to escape, and did something horrible - he splashed a caustic liquid in her face, effectively blinding her. And he was surprised when she didn't then turn to him to 'care' for her in her time of need. (He threw himself from his mill to avoid arrest and punishment for his actions).   Ginny chose not to stay and become reliant on her mother. She fled instead, learning to navigate the world on her own (with a little help here and there). Her voice got her far: her other 'assets', when she figured out how to use them to her advantage, aided her as well. She fell into the world's oldest profession almost accidentally, but discovered early on she enjoyed the power it gave her.   She recreated herself in Europe - she became Ophelia Monroe. She eventually bought a failed theater in London and transformed it into a burlesque showcase and brothel.    And she doesn't ever think about the raven-haired little girl on the steamboat stage, singing for her daddy as the steamboat rolled along.

Ophelia identifies as female.

Ophelia equates sex with power - not in a way that is oppressive, but as a means of asserting her control and autonomy over her world and her body. It is her decision what she does with her body, when, why, and with who. This is true in the transactional sense - when she is exchanging 'services' for money - and in a personal sense as well.   She describes her sexuality with the concept of "laissez les bons temps rouler:" let the good times roll. Good times don't have a preference in partner. Neither does she.

Ophelia received the same general sort of education most young girls did. In her teens, she also studied italian to help with her pronunciation and understanding of some of the operas she performed. In the time since she left America, she has spent a considerable amount of reading, studying, and acquiring knowledge on various topics, including business, history, politics, and other things the sort of people who visit her might like to discuss.

Currently, she is the owner of the Phantasia Burlesque Review (and Brothel) in Covent Garden.

Ophelia believes in the concept of a victimless crime - prostitution, homosexuality being two of the largest of them. If no one is being harmed, why the hell should anyone interfere? She also has a broad and inclusive definition of harm.   Harm to children, animals, and people you should love sits high on her list of harms.