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Oh jeeze, this. xd
Seeing how it's set in Victorian London, well, my characters' sexuality is... a bit screwy. How they identify themselves and how they are identified is completely different from how they would identify themselves or be identified today. And yes, I have given it some thought. I pretty much have a current-day AU fanfic running in my head. They're in the music industry.
Elvira is the slightest bit feral, so you're never going to get a self-identification out of her. She's given to conforming to the paradigm that surrounds her (it's not a matter of repression, it's just how adaptable she is) so in a Victorian setting, that means heteroromantic, while also engaging in close, same-sex friendships that would encroach upon the romantic-sexual relationships of our time period. I think in the Victorian setting, she would ultimately become somewhat asexual by choice, given how much shitty romantic... stuff she witnesses. See below.
In a modern setting, the major shift of the story would be from the idealogical dilemma of the Black Circus (which can only exist in the Victorian setting) to a romance between Elvira and Gabriella. In the Victorian setting, Gabriella gets what she wants out of a relationship in close personal friendships. She would likely become a spinster, and she simply has no reason to seek out romantic or sexual interactions. In our time period, the sort of ally/confidant role has more or less been incorporated into romantic/sexual relationships, so that's what she would go looking for. Her preference runs towards that of her own gender, so in the modern-day setting, she would identify as bi and then just... never sleep with guys. Because music industry.
I kind of feel that I have to bring up Cat. In the modern-day setting, it really wouldn't be all that unusual. She's in her late 20's, she's a bit of a celebrity, she's slept with a number of guys. Color me not surprised in the least. But in the Victorian setting, she's expected to maintain fidelity to a husband she doesn't have yet, and to dissolve her identity into his when she does have him. And up with that s**t, she will not put. She's somewhat ambivalent about the whole monogamy thing, but adamant that she always wants to be her own. So she ends up in a string of tumultuous affairs with her admirers, sleeping with them BEFORE SHE EVEN GETS MARRIED TO THEM (oh the horrors) and then getting pissed when they start treating her like a whore. Ultimately, she would get her a** murdered for her troubles. After the story ends, because the death count doesn't need to be that high.
Caliban, well, you could write papers. Lots and lots of papers. As a black man, he is constantly subjected to stereotypes that are either over-sexualized or a-sexualized, and it is his habit to juggle them as it suits him. While the nature of these stereotypes would change between the Victorian and present-day settings, this habit of juggling them wouldn't. He kind of... pointedly doesn't have a thing going with Cat (which might change in a modern setting, but might not) that's kind of a triangular relationship between him, her, and their massive ISSUES.
Chris is always somewhat heteroromantic and asexual. The reasons for the latter vary based on the setting, but boil down to the fact that he's got no spine and there's something a bit... off about him.
Aeru... well. He has a romantic preference for his own gender regardless of setting, and he's always a poster boy for a certain kind of approach/avoidance style of repression. There's always an element of control in his relationships, but he would never engage in BDSM partially because of the aforementioned repression, and partly because the power plays are deadly (literally, deadly) serious, and acting them out in an exaggerated and scripted manner would negate that seriousness. Well, aside with the bondage involved in certain of the Circus's rituals. But that's... well, rather different. Although the echo is intentional. He's actually more romantically active in a Victorian setting than he would be in a modern-day one, because the stricter societal standards lead to a wider gap between what is said and what is done.
I suppose it's important to note that as I imagine these characters between a Victorian and modern setting, I am holding them constant as characters, not a people. There are aspects of their personalities that are essential to them as characters, but by no means do I mean to imply that these aspects are genetically determined.
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