just as with the OG SGE!Lucent, Dr. Ashveil is ostensibly cis but it just feels wrong to use that word for him. this is a man who thinks it would be awesome and neat to turn himself into a shambling thing of eyes, mouths, and hands, and he mostly refrains from doing so because it would scare the fuck out of the normies and make it much harder for him to get things done

his attitude towards his gender is a shruggy "yeah, I guess I am a man" with a dash of "believe what you want about me," but the whole "enamoured with the idea of transforming himself in ways that are horrific and taboo to mainstream sensibilities" is the bigger aspect here

every so often the good doctor just casually comments on how it's such a shame that Londoners aren't open to the idea of having more than two arms and hands. think of the added utility! the additional dexterity! surely the tailors at least should be on his side - would this not be a fascinating outlet for their skills?

like it's okay that angels have six limbs but the moment you change those extra two limbs from wings into arms noooo it's "grotesque" and "nightmare-inducing." but wings are just specialized arms?!?! smh

I have decided that the Savoulain expy's name is Nathan, short for Nathaniel. except that whenever the good doctor refers to him it's with his full first name and a not-entirely-fair amount of exasperation. the letters he writes back to Nathan are 10% insulting him, 20% insulting Summerset, 40% expounding on the evils of the upper class, and 30% deeply detailed and genuinely thoughtful answers to Nathan's questions and theories regarding the Correspondence. they are at least 5 pages long, not counting the books he sends alongside them.

Nathan's letters, meanwhile, never cease to be polite and kind, as if he's writing to a friend. he describes his own research on the scholarly paradigm of the Correspondence in great detail, from his theories to the everyday happenings of his studies. he engages with Dr. Ashveil's theories with both respect and curiosity, asking questions and probing weak points with no trace of malice. often he sends books of his own.

and the good doctor, of course, drops everything to reply whenever he gets a letter.

I have gone from "what if Nathan invited the good doctor to translate a box of sunlight with him" to "what if I wrote a whole thing in the style of an in-game storyline where you get to play queerplatonic matchmaker to these two"

I have decided that the Savoulain expy's name is Nathan, short for Nathaniel. except that whenever the good doctor refers to him it's with his full first name and a not-entirely-fair amount of exasperation. the letters he writes back to Nathan are 10% insulting him, 20% insulting Summerset, 40% expounding on the evils of the upper class, and 30% deeply detailed and genuinely thoughtful answers to Nathan's questions and theories regarding the Correspondence. they are at least 5 pages long, not counting the books he sends alongside them.

Nathan's letters, meanwhile, never cease to be polite and kind, as if he's writing to a friend. he describes his own research on the scholarly paradigm of the Correspondence in great detail, from his theories to the everyday happenings of his studies. he engages with Dr. Ashveil's theories with both respect and curiosity, asking questions and probing weak points with no trace of malice. often he sends books of his own.

and the good doctor, of course, drops everything to reply whenever he gets a letter.

on the topic of the good doctor being German - I think he doesn't have a German accent, per se.

• he has a knack for languages. I feel like he knows French and Latin at the very least, possibly others? he was University Educated.
• plus also he's been living in London for some decades
• he studies the Forbidden Language That Sets You On Fire, and that includes speaking it - so his ability to make precise sounds with the right emphases is very good.

I feel like if there's anything unusual about his speech, it actually comes from studying said Forbidden Flaming Language, not from having German as his native language. it's the kind of thing that just worms into your brain. there's no easily-comprehensible pattern to how the sound of it works, but it bleeds into his English regardless - the way he emphasizes certain syllables or alters certain sounds, but only in certain words in certain contexts. it's very hard to put a finger on and the overall effect is "perfectly understandable but uncanny" and people write it off as a product of him being German and mad.

(yes, if you get him to imbibe enough alcohol that his brain calms down, he speaks perfect (Victorian London) English.)