Fanon:Marie-Soleil Dortheimer

Marie-Soleil Dortheimer, AKA Madame Doom is a member of the 18th generation of the Dortheimer family. A fraudulent medium, she already gained thousands of Simoleons from gullible Sims.

=Biography=

Marie-Soleil Dortheimer was born in the sleepy town of Huntsville to the ancient constable Raymond Ronchon and the wealthy heir Huguette Dortheimer. An only child, her best friend was her distant cousin Fabienne Bourdon-Ménard. She lived in the red seashore villa with her parents, Fabienne and her mother's cousins Pierre and Stella.

She was soon fascinated by the supernatural world, and was particularly fond of Aliens, since Stella and Pierre were aliens themselves. However, Marie-Soleil was saddened that Stella and Pierre never went on any planet but Earth, being only the result of their late father's abduction by extraterrestrial beings. Her frustration of not knowing how aliens lived lead to her firm resolution of being abducted herself someday.

On a more pragmatic side, Marie-Soleil has always been attracted to luxury. She lived in a loaded family in a huge villa with a private beach. However she was rather nuerotic and feared the loss of her family's beloved fortune to the point of having nightmares. She wanted to ensure the sustainability of her safe's contents at all costs.

She went to university with her cousin Fabienne and the latter's boyfriend Robert but unlike them she took the Physics major. She was a rather average student until she was finally abducted by Aliens. She observed them with a keen eye during their experiments on her and when she returned, she had a brilliant yet highly roguish idea.

She decided to pretend that her extraterrestrial encounter gave her psychic abilities and to venture in Fortune-Telling.

She changed her major into Philosophy and began to practice her fictitious talents with other students. However, she did not hide the truth to her best friend and trusted her to not blab.

She graduated and got employed at a local permanent carnival filled with freaks, oddities and wonders. She settled in the previous, late fortune-teller Madame Fate's caravan and took the nickname of Madame Doom. She there met many skilled stage performers, like the sword-swallower, the daredevil diva and the mermaid.

As Madame Fate was a very famous clairvoyant, Marie-Soleil quickly retrieved Madame Fate's regulars who were missing her prophecies. Madame Doom told them their destinies by reading them tarot and glaring in her own crystal ball.

Marie-Soleil had great fun by predicting her guests dire futures. She knew they would be frightened a lot, but she knew that her predictions were totally bogus and that they are not at risk.

Despite her frequent gruesome words, she gathered a huge fanbase pretty much like her predecessor. The ones that believe her predictions come back to listen to the new developments of their fates (and Marie-Soleil usually tells them that stars moved and changed their awful fates, to keep them as regular costumers) and the ones that do not believe Marie-Soleil's prophecies come back as they find her predictions funny.

Her success and fame led her to riches, as her consultations were really pricey. However, the other carnies, who were overshadowed by Madame Fate in the past and were satisfied in her demise, did not like Madame Doom a lot as she stole the show like the late medium did, especially the Bearded Lady Lucy, whose long, very long beard was the carnival's most popular attraction until Madame Domm arrived. However, Marei-Soleil did not care at all.

Parallelly, she still lived in Huntsville with her family. For now single, she was eager to get married and get children. Her parents died and Fabienne and Robert got married. Robert and Stella were also rising stars in SimNation political spectrum as members of the huge DSU party.

During Robert's campaign for the presidential elections, she was hired by his campaign staff. She had to appear in the medias and to declare that lurid events would happen if Robert Ménard's main opponent and actual president Michel Dragarlan was reelected. Her apparitions, among other doubtful things orchestrated by the DSU, led to Robert's elections as SimNation president.

Despite being incredibly popular, her most pragmatic and sullen costumers forebode her fraudulous activities and did not digest the scam. Many tried to put an end to the shameless hoodwink but Marie-Soleil was utterly protected, first by Stella, who was Huntsville mayor, and after the presidential elections, she was even more sheltered, this time by the entire government which had not less than three of her family members in its ranks: Stella, Robert and a distant relative Victorine.

Murder at Fate's Carnival
On day, Fate's Carnival control-freak ringmaster and owner Armando Lucifonti suddenly died, poisoned with some strychnin slipped in his nightcap. And almost everyone had a strong mobile for such a crime.

The possible evildoers present were: The last employee of the carnival, the clerk Violet Burgundy, had a really strong alibi, and couldn't have offed the ringmaster.
 * The Magician Larry Case,
 * The Bearded Lady Lucy Longbeard who was in notable bad terms with him, and did not bear his superiority in the carnival hierarchy,
 * The rather maniacal Carny Arthur Lugen, who did not bear Armando's newest bill forbidding smoking in the carnival,
 * The Contorsionist Twyla Tangle,
 * The Daredevil Diva Bianca Blaze,
 * The Sword Swallower Lance Pierceman
 * The Lion Tamer Tabitha Panther, who suspected that Armando had poisoned her favorite lion,
 * The Medicine Man Dr Joel Goodwell,
 * The fundamentally dishonest Acrobats Mao and Amber Tan, who stole money from Armando before being caught red-handed,
 * The Tattoed Man Dante Camelo, who had been sued by Armando for having vandalized the rollercoaster and the Carrousel a night he was drunk,
 * The strong man Fabiano Brawn,
 * Madame Fate's son Franco,
 * The clown Puddles,
 * The (bogus) Mermaid Marlena Camelo, who was married to Dante,
 * And finally Madame Doom, who was rather power-hungry and could not suffer Armando.

When Marie-Soleil realized that she was suspected by the police, she decided to lead her own investigations in order to prove her innocence.

The Police quickly unearthed some qwirks in the carnival funds and concluded that there was an embezzler in the place. And their investigations were absolutely not useful, as no one had any serious alibi. Everybody could have sneaked into Armando's caravan and slipped the deadly strychnin in his final drink.

Some days passed and one afternoon, Marie-Soleil was predicting to some beach bum that he would be eaten by a shark when some horrendous scream was heard, originating from the big top. Everyone ran to it and they found the dead bodies of the two acrobats, who apparently fell from the trapeze. The metal hook that hung the trapeze above the ground apparently snapped while they were practicing their show. Just a sad accident. Or perhaps...?

Marie-Soleil was surprised with Mao's and Amber's deaths. She wasn't convinced with the accidental these and she decided to have a walk in the night in order to ponder on all this stuff. When she walked in front of the deceased acrobats trailer, which faced Marlena's caravan (she did not share her caravan with her husband, who had his own), she heard a rather interesting wragle between Marlena Camelo and Fabiano Brawn.

Apparently, the two have had an affair together for months, and the two feared among other things that 'someone else' learnt about their relationship. Realizing that this entire thing could have triggered the murders, Marie-Soleil was horrified and feared for her own life: what if Marlena and Fabiano noticed her presence? However, she couldn't run as she needed to know who was this 'someone' they talked about earlier. But no other mention of the mysterious person had been made: they just slightly mentioned some disappearing bottle, and Marie-Soleil therefore got away as quickly as she could from those she thought were the murderers.

The Morning after, Marie-Soleil was about to tell the police about Marlena's and Fabiano's affair, but she noticed that every carnival worker stood before the Marlena Camelo's trailer. Everyone was there, except Marlena, and Dante was crying (something that NEVER happened to this tough guy before). Marie-Soleil asked the present policeman what happened. Marlena had been found in the small bathtub, dead. She had been deliberately drowned during her bath.

The fortune-teller was really surprised, as it obliterated her theory. She nonetheless informed the police of Fabiano's and Marlena's quarrel. The police concluded that Armando must have overheard the two lovebirds speaking about their relationship. And later, Fabiano would have killed Marlena in a fit of rage after their quarrel. One hour later, they were arresting Fabiano Brawn for the murders of his lover and of Armando Lucifonti.

This theory did not satisfy Marie-Soleil. She thought, pretty much like the police, that one of the two lovers croaked the one that discovered their affair, but she still was skeptical when it comes to the acrobats' deaths and she did not think that Fabiano killed the woman he really loved. He was not that kind of guy.

After the police's departure, she sneaked into the dead woman's caravan and she realized that something was missing in here: a blue bottle of nail varnish had been spilled on the nightstand, but the varnish let a clear spot with a nearly 90° angle shape. Some thing must have been on the nail polish's way, but it had disappeared. Apparently, the police did not notice this small oddity, but it intrigued Marie-Soleil. She also found in a corner a massive metal tong.

She then visited the late Tans' tent and found exactly what was missing. Some dollars, with some slight nail polish markings on the corner. She deduced that the Tans were the ones that had discovered about her affair with Fabiano and they decided to blackmail Marlena to guarantee her that they wouldn't tell her husband. But she would have decided to shut them up definitely and she would have utterly damaged the metal hook that hung the trapeze rope just enough to let it whole and to let the Tans practice for two or three minutes. But WHO would have murdered Marlena? And If the Tans were the ones that discovered her affair, who would have killed Armando?

And during this time, the embezzlement case made no headway. Personally, Marie-Soleil strongly suspected the always-smiling yet really shady Dr Goodwell, but he had no access to the cash registers and the carnival bank accounts... He must have an accomplice, but who could prove it?

One day, a letter was slipped in the dead mermaid's letter box. It had been sent some days before her death by her sister Marina, who lived far, far away, but it had been lost and it arrived rather late. When Dante learnt about the letter, he was really surprised. And as he read it, he turned whiter than an alka-selzer and shredded the letter to bits. Marie-Soleil witnessed the scene and found his attitude strange. She waited for Dante to come out of his caravan and she collected the letter's bits. She reassembled them and read the repaired letter. She found two passages rather interesting: first, Marlena apparently never told anything about her family to her husband. And more importantly, Marlena's sister asked her if she felt better and asked her about her medication. Apparently, Marlena had some health conditions and despite her youthful age (she was in her mid-thirties), she needed a tonic to take care of her. She however was ashamed of it and wanted to keep it secret at all cost.

What if the tonic was the missing bottle Fabiano and Marlena mentioned the night before her death? And mostly, who could have stolen it and why? Apparently, only Marlena and Fabiano knew about her health problems, and perhaps Dante (after all, he and Marlena were married, and hiding such a fact to her husband would be difficult). And why was Dante horrified with this letter?

Marie-Soleil was confused and couldn't stop thinking about this whole thing, and later in the day, something finally hit her: Tonics often contain strychnin! What if Marlena's tonic was used to kill Armando Lucifonti?

This revelation led Marie-Soleil toward to resolution of the first crime. Either Fabiano, Marlena and Dante knew about the tonic, but apparently, Fabiano and Marlena were surprised at its disappearanced, leaving only Dante as the Prime Suspect. Moreover, his attitude when he received the letter was unequivoqual: he was frightened to see that someone else knew about his wife's medication (after all, why on earth would he know that Fabiano also knew about Marlena's health problems?). And if someone learnt about it, he would be done for. However, this would mean that Marlena also was involved in Armando's murder, as she would have known that her husband took her medication away.

However, Marlena's murder had not been solved yet. Who could kill her besides her lover? Dante was a really hot-headed man and he would have killed her without hesitation should he learn about her cheating on him. If he was his wife's murderer, he should have learnt about her affair from someone.

Then Marie-Soleil found a really plausible solution to the crime.

First things first: Dante would have killed Armando with his wife's medication in order to escape the ringmaster's sue against him that could cost him a lot of money. End of Chapter 1.

In the meantime, the Tans learn somehow about Fabiano's and Marlena's affair and they blackmail Marlena. She gives them money but decided to kill them in order to keep them silent. However, and this would be fatal to Marlena, the dishonest and mischievous Tans go straight to Dante to tell him about his wife's cheating in order to cause chaos in the carnival for some time.

Marlena, ignoring that the Tans already told Dante about her affair (after all, she gave them money in exchange of their silent), has a small quarrel with Fabiano about the Tan's discovery of their affair and feign to ignore where her tonic bottle had disappeared to. She then goes in the big top and sabotages the trapeze. Later that day, Mao and Amber Tan would die after the trapeze snapped. And Marlena thought she had got rid of the troublemakers. End of Chapter 2.

However, Dante knew about Marlena and Fabiano and brod his revenge. The next morning, he enters his wife's trailer and drowns the unfaithful mermaid. End of Chapter 3.

Marie-Soleil rushed to the police, but she was caught by an infuriated Dante that, after admitting his wife's and Armando's murders, threatened to kill her. But just before his iron fist struck the fortune-teller, Dante stopped and fell dead on the earth. He had been stabbed by Lance Pierceman, the sword-swallower, who had heard Marie-Soleil's screams.

The police arrived and Marie-Soleil told them about the final proof against Dante Camelo. Her resolution of the murder allowed her to be congratulated by the Minister of Interior Célestin Delbar, and the other carnies, and mostly Fabiano, whose innocence had been proved thanks to Marie-Soleil, decided, now that Armando, the previous owner, was dead, that Madame Doom would be the new owner of Fate's Carnival, like Madame Fate was in her time.

She also solved the embezzlement case and caught the Dr Goodwell and the cashier Violet Burgundy red-handed. They stole money directly from the cash register and they shared the cash between them.

After the murders
Marie-Soleil solving the Fate's Carnival's murders made her even more famous around SimNation, and she stocked more and more cash. However, she had to travel often, as her nationwide fame lead Sims from the entire country to require her help.

One day, she was called by a Sim living in Moonlight Falls, Annalove Ivy. She didn't even imagine what evil she would face there.

When she arrived in Moonlight Falls, she remarked immediately some missing persons posters around town, and the missing parties were named Rainflower and Daydream Ivy. Marie-Soleil deduced that she would have to find them. However, the matter was really different...

She met Annalove, and the latter seemed to be more frightened than distraught. After her introduction to Annalove, she asked her why she required her services. And the answer was quite unexpectable...

Apparently, two magical and ruthless beings had captured Annalove's beloved ones, and they gave Annalove 72 hours to choose whever to save Rainflower or Daydream. Desperate, Annalove called for the most famous paranormal expert in the country, and this was Marie-Soleil. However, Marie-Soleil had absolutely no idea about how to fight and destroy demons, being only a bogus fortune-teller. She had absolutely no knowledge of demonic spirits.

She had to find a way to tell Annalove that she wasn't able to fight her foes. She went to the bathroom in order to give it much thought, and she heard a scream. She rushed outside the bathroom, but she immediately froze in fright: the two monsters had appeared from nowhere. Apparently, the 72 hours reprieve was over and Annalove had to answer their horrible question: would she save Rainflower or Daydream?

As Annalove struggled to choose, the two demons summoned two cages, imprisoning their two captives. Marie-Soleil had never been so scared in her life, yet she had to save the innocents from their gruesome fate. She crawled behind the monsters, and whacked them with the first heavy thing she found, knocking them inconscious. She tried to break the cages, and after much effort, Rainflower and Daydream were free. The four Sims rushed outside the house, and they crossed the path of another Sim, Beatrice Crumplebottom. Seeing how shocked they were, Beatrice immediately told them to quickly get to her home.

Meanwhile, the two evils regained counsciousness. They were infuriated at Marie-Soleil for wrecking their execution, and swore to kill her.

Marie-Soleil, Annalove, Rainflower and Daydream arrived at the Crumplebottom sisters 'smanor, and were greeted by Beatrice's younger sisters Bianca and Belinda. There, the three sister explained that they knew that two demons were around town, and they were after them for some time, yet they didn't find them until this night, when Beatrice saw the four Sims run in the streets in panic for apparently no reason. They also revealed they were three powerful witches whose mission was to destroy demons.

After that, they told them who the demons were. The good-hearted Annalove had been targeted by two ancient and extremely powerful demonic beings (who ironically were really old relatives of Marie-Soleil, who were supposed to be long dead), Charybdis and Scylla. The two evils spent the last centuries tormenting nice an caring Sims: they captured one of the two persons their victim loved the most each, and afterward, the unfortunate soul that was preyed on by the undead evils was exposed to a cruel dilemma: he/she had to choose one of them. The one he/she chose was spared by the twins, but the other was killed. And now that Marie-Soleil had disturbed them, they would surely be after her.

Marie-Soleil couldn't believe what she heard. And she was frightened at the idea of being Charybdis' and Scylla's prey. Yet, she hadn't much time to think about it deeply, as Charybdis and Scylla materialized themselves behind her. In the blink of an eye, the Crumplebottom sisters attacked the demons, perventing them to harm the fortune-teller. They then told the four normal Sims to remain behind them.

The demonic twins then asked Beatrice, Belinda and Bianca to surrender and give them Marie-Soleil, else they would kill everyone. As the three refused, Charybdis cast a death spell at the group, yet Belinda quickly summoned a reflective force field, and Charybdis was struck by the return postage. She burst into flames and her scream echoed in the room. An enraged Scylla then threw the three witches against the wall and immediately send a fiery spell at Marie-Soleil. She was able to dodge it and hid. With Marie-Soleil out of sight, Scylla send another lethal beam to the three unconscious sisters. Marie-Soleil had no time to analyze the situation, and she had to save them. She jumped in front of the beam, and the beam hit the polished ruby she wore as a headband. Luckily for her, the polished jewel acted like a mirror and it sent the beam straight back to Scylla, destroying her for good.

Marei-Soleil was too dumbstruck to understand what just happened, and no one in the room moved for the next minutes. Then she collapsed unconscious on the floor.

When she woke up, the Crumplebottom sisters were taking care of her, and they told her she was definitely safe and that the evil twins were destroyed for good. Annalove came to see her and thanked her for saving her and her beloved ones. The sisters then asked Marie-Soleil to never tell anyone about their secret.

After all these events, Marie-Soleil had to take some time off, and spent it exploring the mysterious town of Moonlight Falls. In some beautiful park, she crossed paths with a beautiful, winged creature. It was a fairy named Ordinn La Fay, and the two bonded well. Time passed, and their friendship changed into love, and the two got married. They quickly had a daughter, named Farore Dortheimer, who inherited of her mother's face and her father's wings.

She continued her fraudulent psychic activities and bought her own, tacky caravan, and still went often to Fate's Carnival. And one day, she was visited by an unexpected guest: her distant cousin Ozalée came to Moonlight Falls. The two could not believe that they were actually together in a fortune-telling caravan in this town. The two had onlt met once, some years ago, while attending at Queenie Dortheimer's funerals in Bridgeport.

After some trivial words expressing their surprise, Marie-Soleil decided to close early and invited Ozalée in her home to discuss a bit and presenting her to Ordinn and Farore. And Ozalée narrated them the tragic circumstances that brought her here.

Ozalée's mother Wanda was a crazy nut who was obsessed with building a rocket, and during her explosive experiences, she accidentally blasted the entire neighborhood that once was Sunset Valley. Marie-Soleil who at the time was fighting Charybdis and Scylla, had no time to watch the news, and after that no one bothered to tell her about it.

Ozalée, though, was protected from the blast thanks to a time machine. And she was forced to leave to another town. Yet, she did not want to bother the other family members, despite their invitations and offer for financial help: Ozalée fell really guilty for Sunset Valley's downfall, and she wanted to penance for it. The problem with that is that she had no more money for herself.

She arrived to Moonlight Falls, and she desperately needed some advice in order to know what to do. And that's how she entered a gypsy caravan under the name of Madame Doom. Thinking Marie-Soleil still was in Huntsville, she first thought it was merely a coincidence, yet she came face to face with her relative.

Marie-Soleil and Ordinn were saddened at the tale, and they invited her for an extended stay. At first, Ozalée refused the same way she did with the other Dortheimer household, yet Marie-Soleil forced her to stay. After some reluctance, Ozalée finally accepted the offer and got a room on the first floor.

TO BE CONTINUED

=Trivia=
 * Many aspects of the Carnival are highly inspired by Fate's Carnival from Mystery Case File: Madame Fate.
 * The second part of her first name is a reference to the famous French astrologuer Madame Soleil.