━━ VENI VIDI VICI ━━
farleigh start & desdemona troy
a saltburn fanfiction  ©  vogueriots

Desdemona Troy thought that, if there was such a thing as divine punishment, a stern 'fuck you' from above, then it came in the form of school. Maybe she had too much fun at too young of an age, maybe the fates only spared a small amount of forgiveness when it came to teenage girls and she blew it all on little white lines at her sixteenth birthday party. But, could she really be blamed? After all, to live is the rarest thing in the world. Most people exist, that is all. Desdemona Troy wasn't most people.

   She knew many things about life; that the world is cruel and takes what it wants when it wants it, that boys take after the world in that regard, that money and a nice pair of tits can get you anywhere, and that she was destined to be a star.

      Art, she always said, was the language of romance. Sure, French sounded sweet, and Latin carried age, and Arabic held the true sense of poetry. But, art, paintings and sculptures, tender brushstrokes and bold outlines, were the truest whispers of love.

   Desdemona's father, who she'd only ever heard referred to as 'Mr. Troy' or 'Husband', was a big-pocketed banker with a taste for old whiskey and subservient women. He said yes to just about anything if it meant his problem—his daughter—was maintained as far away from him as she could be. Besides, she had the darling Cattons to look out for her.

      Her mother, who she knew as Louise, but only heard her called 'Mrs. Troy', was a much kinder soul than her partner. She met Desdemona's father when they were nineteen, when he was still somewhat carefree and visiting Monaco in a fruitful week of drunken passion. They were married three months later.

Money made the world go 'round, and Desdemona's world was one of frivolous spendings and glutton. Vintage clothing, and elusive perfumes, and paints worth a mortgage, and enough drugs and drink to keep a village subdued. She prided herself on her style, the effortless elegance with just enough hints of a mess to make her entertaining. Red lipstick stains on her cigarettes, cherry wine dancing on her breath.

      Farleigh Start was a man of her own heart. Cousin of her dear friend Venetia, the only thing Desdemona Troy wanted, and the only thing she couldn't have.

But she was never one for rules, anyway.

      Invited to Saltburn out of the goodness of her friends heart, only to spend her nights slinking away to converse with her cousin. Farleigh, she learned, cared little for what he was told to do, that he lived of his own accord. She traced the rings on his fingers and he kissed the tattoos on her chest, and that was the start of their illicit affair.

Though, they should've known that, in Saltburn, it's never just the walls who are watching, and Felix's toy of the year caught them one night, and their lies came to light before the week was out.

      Don't waste your love on somebody who doesn't value it, Venetia warned with tequila breath and a kiss on her nose. But Farleigh did value it, in his own showboating, arrogant way. After a few rounds at the pub and a loan of Desdemona's Vivienne Westwood heels, Venetia got over it and begrudgingly stopped scoffing when she saw them sit next to each other at the house.

Hell is empty and all the devils are here; Oxford. Where everyone knows everyone, unless you're on scholarships, in which case, everyone would sooner know the money spiders in the library than you. Where the lecturers will look past just about anything if your name is familiar. Where Desdemona Troy sat trapped in an Art History tutorial every other day.

      Desdemona did her best to maintain the belief that a smile and friendly welcome would be enough to get you most places in life. Which was difficult when most of her peers were more spoiled than the Cattons—who she loved dearly, but stomped their feet if they were asked to share their toys.

There was one, however, who returned her kindness. A fumbling boy with glasses and pretty eyes who was entangled in a war with the vending machine. She kicked the side of it and, in turn, he gave her half of his KitKat. From that day on, Oliver Quick had made a powerful ally.

      Hell is empty and all the devils are here; Saltburn. Where you dress for dinner and hope your outfit is to Elspeth's taste. Where, technically, you can do coke, as long as you don't bring it in through your suitcase and only use in your room. Where Desdemona Troy spent the last three summers wasting her days away on a lounge chair, and where she's preparing to do the same, only now with the added company and familiar face of Felix's shiny new plaything.

   But all that glitters is not gold, and when Oliver's intentions turn sinister, Desdemona is left with fearful questions that she doesn't get an answer to until the day after Oliver's birthday.

      Desdemona knew her place in the world. She was never meant to be a saviour, or a survivor. She was named after a woman murdered by her husband. She was dead before she was even born. She only hoped that, when her body was found, the light shone on her collarbone, showing the three words she lived by; Veni, Vidi, Vici.

I came, I saw, I conquered.

Desdemona Troy / Havana Rose Liu
Nineteen And A     3/4    Years   Old!
Artist       With      A       Rabbit     Heart!
—Written By Lizzy McAlpine

perform my stupid rituals, everything is cynical.
// sunshine baby ,              the japanese house

and one day i'ma be a steamboat, baby!
// steamboat , adrianne lenker

Farleigh Start  /     Archie Madekwe
Twenty   And A      Half Years Old!
Historian      With       Heavy      Pockets!
—Written       By ROLE MODEL

oh, and all the modern boys are going out tonight
// modern girl , bleachers

i'll wait here tomorrow, outside your door
like i did in december when you held me close.
// sienna ,                                           the marías

✹ FARLEIGH & DESDEMONA ✹

oh, the night's so blue and then i go and spoil
it all by saying something stupid like "i love you"
somethin' stupid //                         frank sinatra

Oliver Quick,             Barry Keoghan
Felix Catton ,                  Jacob Elordi
Venetia Catton ,          Alison Oliver
Lady Elspeth ,          Rosamund Pike
Sir James ,              Richard E. Grant
All Others , As Cast / As Described

♫ DESDEMONA'S RECORD ! ━━━━━━━━
━━━ music to be driven insane to !!

━━━━━━━━━━━ SIDE A
1. California     Joni Mitchell
2. Ain't No Sunshine      Bill Withers
3. Somebody To Love      Queen
4. Bennie & The Jets     Elton John
5. More Than A Woman      The Bee Gees
6. (They Long To Be) Close To You      Carpenters
7. Bridge Over Troubled Waters      Simon & Garfunkel
8. You Missed My Heart      Phoebe Bridgers

SIDE B ━━━━━━━━━━━
1. Grace      Jeff Buckley
2. Stay Down      boygenius
3. Paranoia      The Marías
4. My Fun      Suki Waterhouse
5. my angel      Adrianne Lenker
6. Fake Plastic Trees      Radiohead
7. Put Me Down      The Cranberries
8. From The Dining Table      Harry Styles

♫ FARLEIGH'S RECORD ! ━━━━━━━━━
━━━━ music to lose your soul to !!

━━━━━━━━━━━ SIDE A
1. Go Your Own Way      Fleetwood Mac
2. Piano Man      Billy Joel
3. One Way Or Another      Blondie
4. You're So Vain     Carly Simpson
5. Fooled Around And Fell In Love      Elvin Bishop
6. Strange Magic      Electric Light Orchestra
7. Let's Dance      David Bowie
8. West End Girls      Pet Shop Boys

SIDE B ━━━━━━━━━━━
1. Hate Yourself      TV Girl
2. Dial Drunk      Noah Kahan
3. Scumbag      ROLE MODEL
4. Pink Matter      Frank Ocean
5. Miss Misery      Elliott Smith
6. Punisher      Phoebe Bridgers
7. Ode To The Mets      The Strokes
8. Anything      Catfish and the Bottlemen

( all my blood for the sweetness of her laughter. . . )
-always4ever witchesraves goddessrots madekwesluvr bardotcouture ivorystained pinkalientea saltburnd sidelinefilms t1mothee crrystalclear pxlvamp Sunnyside_2009 vanillascone13 cherrysoursslut drug_nt duable BonobonoyaJeon

( disclaimers & warnings. . . )
canon-typical drug and alcohol use, lots of character death, rude high society, heavily implied/vaguely written sexual content but no actual smut, religious/sacrilegious imagery, lots of shakespeare

               ( author's note. . . )
has it been a year? yes! will anyone read this again, probably not! but idc!!! i missed this and my baby desdemona. if ur a past reader n came back for future updates know that i love u so much thank u i'm so serious i used to keep rereading comments on this book when i was feeling unmotivated because you were all so sweet 💕