gothic-lottie

[gothic-lottie]

This! Ai images are disgusting but on top of that, the ai text generators and chat bots too. Not only do those steal from authors, they also contribute to the death of fandom culture. Instead of using ai to write for you, find a fanfic by a real person to read and if the thing you want doesn't exist, write it yourself. I couldn't find the exact thing I wanted so I started writing it and now I'm nearing the end of my second long fic and my writing skills have improved so much. You're stealing from authors by using text ai and you're also robbing yourself of the skill and personal growth you could have.

Ai chat bots as well. You don't need an ai to roleplay with. There are lots of people who would be happy to do that with you, you just have to find them. By using the chatbots you are, once again stealing from artists but also depriving yourself of the connections you could be making with other people in the fandom and making the community more soulless.

As for the images, we all know they're stealing. We all know they're soulless and disgusting. On top of that, I'd like everyone to observe my first piece of art for my fic/in this fandom (less than a year ago) and my most recent one:

This is the kind of growth you're taking away from yourself.

I have multiple friends who are learning to draw right now and are they perfect? Of course not but their art is real. It has intention and care which is something ai can never have.

I’ve reblogged posts about this before but I wanted to make my position clear about this once again. There is no excuse for using ai. There is no need to use it. I see people say that they use ai because they can’t draw. Yes you can. It might not be perfect but practicing these skills is what’s important.

And if you really don’t want to post your art, there are still alternatives to ai. Use picrew, use face claims, or game screenshots if you do have a copy of hphl.

Most importantly, if you can afford it, reach out to the artists in this fandom who have commissions open! There are so many artists in the hphl fandom who deserve this kind of support. If you do have commissions open, feel free to reblog this post with a link to it. This is open for any creators, not just artists.

[gothic-lottie]

I had to leave the house yesterday and I was too tired to put together an original outfit so… good thing this was made to be all easy and cohesive

I'm trying a new thing with my eye makeup so I don't have to get anything in my water line. Does it look okay? I saw a picture of something like it online but I'm not sure if there's a word for this kind of eyeliner?

[gothic-lottie]

Oh, this looks fun! Isobel loves excuses to wear pretty dresses. She has two love interests in her story line but I think I know someone else who will be taking one of them already so, Isobel Morgana will be attending with Anne Sallow.

I have designed ball gowns for these two before which they were planning on wearing to the end of year ball in their story (close enough, right?) so I'm using those for this. I have a few pictures of them

(ignore the other characters, this was a plot event in my fic.)

HOW TO ENTER (just in case my invite isn't clear enough)

step 1- reblog!

step 2- comment which your MC's name and partner! If they are attending with an NPC, they can bring one who has already been mentioned by another person, it doesn't have to be a new one! If they are attending with another user's MC, tag that user! If they are attending with an OC, please mention their name!

e.g. [MC name] will be attending with [npc name/oc name/ @.......]

step 3- create your outfit! this is completely up for interpretation, you can draw, mod, edit, anything you'd like to do! You're all so talented in this fandom, i know you'll be able to make something awesome! Enter this outfit either via a new post, using the tag and tagging me (@leaping-toadstool-caps), or reblog this one! Everyone will get some form of fanart in return, and my I will crown a the monarch and their partner at the end (deadline is the 30th of December, please note king and queen here are used as gender neutral terms!)

step 4- HAVE FUN! This is completely relaxed, there is no pressure to enter, and above all, have fun! Maybe your MC will make some new friends too!

(hcu taglist: @accio-bagel @theladyofshalott1989 @espressoristretto-patronum @acslytherpuff @ps-cactus @sallowstallgirl @girl-named-matty @savingsallow @ravenwind-75 )

[gothic-lottie]

Chapters 25 and 26 of making Some Sense of This are up now. 26 doesn't have any pictures. These are all for 25.

Poppy and I laughed as we ran through the halls on the way back to the Room with the basket of snacks from the kitchens in hand. It felt like something out of a fairytale. Princesses running through castle halls in ballgowns, caught up in some grand romance, ready to face whatever daring adventure was to come, though our adventure is already over.

When we reached the Room, Poppy turned and kissed me for a moment before pushing the door open and leading me inside. I followed her inside, still giggling as I fell into a nearby armchair. “Why were we running?”

“It’s more fun that way.”

“You’re ridiculous”

“I prefer whimsical”

I kissed the top of her head and mumbled “We can talk now if you want to.”

“Okay. Can you start by telling me about your arms? I can hardly see with the lights out but I can feel the ridges of more scars than I can count. It feels like you were mauled by a wild animal.”

“Something like that. Promise not to worry too much?”

“How can I promise anything when you say something like that?”

“Fair enough. When I get very overwhelmed it feels like my skin is touching me and sometimes I cant’s control the urge to scratch it away.”

She bolted upright with a gasp, sounding horrified. “Wait, those aren’t from your past? You still deal with that?”

“I never said every explanation would be a past issue, though most of these are from when I was younger. I have better support now so it doesn’t happen often and I wear gloves a lot so I can’t hurt myself so easily.”

She poured us each a cup of tea, watching my hand as I picked mine up. 

“Where did that one on your hand come from?”

“Mother stabbed my hand with a fork when I was… ten I think? I overcooked dinner and she was angry because her “precious son” won’t eat if the food isn’t just so.” As I said it, I knew the resentment toward my brother was unfair. Theo didn’t ask for this either and… “I guess I don’t eat if it isn’t just so either.”

Poppy seemed confused by my sudden melancholy so I changed the topic, not prepared for questions about the one nuance in my awful family.

“Where did the scar on your leg come from?”

“Oh, um… I tried to free a group of kneazles when I was nine but when I let the first out of its cage, it attacked me. It was a scared animal, I don’t blame it at all but I screamed and… they killed the poor thing then yelled at me for touching the cages.”

“Jesus, that’s abhorrent. Such cruelty to creatures and to a child…”

“And this one?” I wasn’t sure where she meant till she pushed back my hair, uncovering the scar that had previously been well hidden under my hair.

I panicked internally for a few moments before I could manage a response.

“When did you notice that one?” I gently shooed her hand away and forced a laugh, trying not to seem bothered by it. 

“A few weeks ago when I slept over… I was playing with your hair before you woke up. Sorry, do you not want to talk about it?”

“It’s alright. It happened whe- hape- ned-” The words refused to be said. I guess my voice isn’t ready to tell some stories. I sighed and accioed my talking book. ‘Sorry sunshine, it seems my voice is spent. Maybe another time?’

I nodded and hugged her, nudging the shoulder of her nightgown out of the way as I pulled back to get a better look at a scar on her shoulder. I tapped it and tilted my head. Your turn to share a story.

“Oh, that. I was told to carry something, I don’t remember what but it was much too heavy, when I was little and I fell at a weird angle. The heavy thing had a sharp edge.”

I kissed her forehead and cuddled up a bit. “Should we go to bed? You seem tired.”

Once again, thank you @boxdstars for the amazing shading advice!

Chapter 24

Master List

[gothic-lottie]

I'm really excited about the drawings in tomorrow's chapter. Thank you @boxdstars for giving me some awesome shading advice!

[gothic-lottie]

This sounds so fun! I'd love to participate

Hogwarts Legacy Fandom Secret Santa 💗

Happy holidays everyone!! In Christmas spirit me and @ladyofsappho thought it’d be fun to create a Hogwarts legacy fandom secret Santa, to spread positivity and have a good time!

Edit: Submissions will be closed after 5 DAYS! (depending on participants, possibly might get extended)

How it works:

1. Through this post reblog, comment, or send me or @ladyofsappho a message that you would like to join in

2. After we have enough people to start it, we will send the participants a private message giving you your random secret Santa

3. After you get your person, for the rest of the month leading up to X-mas, you will send fun, positive little anonymous asks 💗 you can send as many as you want! And then optionally, you can create a gift for your person (ex: an art piece, a piece of writing, etc) which you will give to them after the reveal of the secret Santa’s

On X-Mas we will reveal who all the secret Santa’s are, and you can give them your optional gift as well 💗💗

If you have any questions, issues sending anonymous asks or other, concerns, contact me or @ladyofsappho for help!

HAPPY HOLIDAYS 💗🎄

[gothic-lottie]

Fun doctor thing today: I went for a tilt table test and the cardiologist (new doctor I haven't seen before, also a man) tells me actually it's just a consult today then that I can't do a tilt table test because I normally take xanex for anything with needles because they always put an IV in and didn't listen at all when I said I can do it without but I might need a longer time block so we have a sensory issues buffer(because autism). He looked at my heart rate tracking from earlier today (which looks like THIS btw)

And said it doesn't look like I have POTS??? Are you fucking kidding me? He kept asking if I ever faint and wouldn't let me talk long enough to explain my symptoms. I feel fucking homicidal. He didn't even say anything else he thinks it could be or schedule a follow up.

[gothic-lottie]

Guess who isn't posting a chapter this week

I was sick(probably? Was asleep multiple whole days) and was possessed by the writing which ironically means no chapter because I couldn't draw anything while I had words that needed to be thrown on the page and the two pictures for my next chapter are both half finished

[gothic-lottie]

7, Hot chocolate or cider?

Well, cider is spicy (my autistic ass taste buds think it is anyway so Isobel thinks so too) and hot chocolate is a core part of her first happy Christmas. Here are some Christmas snippets, all from Sebastian's POV

5th year

Once we were all inside, Ominis went to greet Anne and talk with her while I set the groceries on the kitchen table. Isobel followed me. 

“So, you're going to talk to Ominis soon, right? I want Anne to have as carefree a holiday as possible.”

“Yes, I'll talk to him once I get this stuff put away.”

“Perfect, what'd you get?”

“Just normal Christmas dinner and sweets.” She was still staring at me as if that wasn't an adequate answer. “You know, ham, potatoes, cranberries, candy canes, chocolate to make hot chocolate…”

“Oh, that sounds lovely. Why would we make the chocolate hot though?”

She's joking, right? She doesn't seem like she's joking…

“Hot chocolate is a drink. Anne'll be floored to find out you don't know what it is.”

She suddenly seemed anxious… like I had discovered some awful secret.

“So everyone knows that? Maybe it's just not common in the muggle world.”

“No, it's definitely common outside the wizarding world.” I sighed, feeling a little bad at how anxious she seemed “I won't tell Anne if you don't want me to. Why don't you know this anyway?”

“I would appreciate it if you didn't tell Anne. My family just… didn't participate in many holiday traditions. Poppy had to tell me why there were trees all around the castle.”

That's sad but she's definitely not telling me the full story here. I don't really care. It's none of my business, we aren't even friends. I don't like her anyway but it's hard to hate her when she seems like an injured puppy or something.

“I won't say anything. Go talk to Anne. She's been waiting for you all day.”

“Okay. Let me know if there's something I can do to help with cooking or anything else.”

She went to sit with Anne after that.

6th year (this one's sad. Chapter's literally titled "The Worst Christmas")

When we reached the end of the pile, there was just one gift left. Ominis passed it to me after checking the tag. When I looked, it read simply “Twins”. It was still Isobel’s handwriting but when I opened it, I was met with a box of peppermint toads and a pack of sugar quills. The sweets Anne and I should have exchanged. There was a letter attached to the toads box. I couldn’t help my hands shaking as I opened it.

“Dear Sebastian,

Merry Chriatmas-”

This was Anne’s writing.

“I know you probably want to lay in bed all day. It's your first without me after all, but I want you to get up for me. At least have dinner. Maybe have a walk around the vivarium, make some hot chocolate for Isobel and Ominis, and eat these peppermint toads. You can do this. I believe in you.

And please check on Bell for me. I think you two might really need each other right now.

Your Better Half,

Anne”

I took a shaky breath and pressed my face into my sleeves, trying to rid myself of the tears welling up in my eyes. She’s right as always. I would rather stay in bed but I shouldn’t. I know walking a bit and having something to eat will help but… it all feels so empty without her.

7th year (still subject to change, not published yet)

I woke up this morning early, determined to make our first Christmas at home something special. 

Ominis has only known happy holidays with me and Anne, aside from what he insists was a good holiday with Marvolo in second year, and Isobel… She said she had happy holidays when her father was alive but she hardly remembers those. The only things she’d wanted were the homemade mint candies Anne used to make, which we did yesterday, and hot chocolate. She didn’t even know what that was our first year together. Her other holiday tradition was something we can’t really do. She wanted to hear a church choir. It sounded like a nice idea but there are no churches nor choirs similar nearby.

Today it’ll be just me, Isobel, and Ominis. Penny is joining us for lunch but refused any further invitations. Isobel is going to be here most of the day but promised Poppy she’d join the Sweetings for dinner so we’re having holiday food at lunch, meaning I have less time to figure out what I’m doing. My mom and dad had a couple great holiday recipes we made together every year but I hadn’t thought to find their cookbook when Anne and I moved into Solomon’s house, an oversight I’ve regretted ever since. I sighed as I stared at the pile of ingredients I’d gathered on the table. I really don’t know what I’m doing. 

I decided to start first on something I remember being relatively easy; cranberry sauce. Dad acquired a taste for it on a trip to the states before Anne and I were around so we had it every year. I poured the bag of cranberries I’d bought into a pot. What else was there to it? Mom always gave me a pile of oranges to juice for this. I can do that. I started on juicing oranges, already feeling a bit sad at the realization that I don’t remember much other than what I was told to do as a nine year old and that really wasn’t enough to piece family recipes back together.

I was pulled out of my thoughts by a noise from the loft. 

“Isobel, don’t jump. My hands are covered in in orange juice.”

I waited to hear some sort of affirmative noise in response before resuming my task. She climbed down with no insistence on being caught a few minutes later.

“Good morning. You’re up early”

“You’re up earlier.” She muttered, rubbing her eyes. “What are you making?” 

“Cranberry sauce… hopefully.”

“Anything I can help with?”

“Not at the moment. Get yourself something for breakfast.” I heard the candy dish by the door. “Something other than candy. You can’t just eat those, even if they “taste like Anne” which is still gross by the way. I like those too and that statement is making it hard to eat them.”

She huffed and sat at the table. “Fine” When I turned to pour the orange juice into the pot, she was cutting a slice of bread. “Are we seeing the Weasleys today?”

“No, they’re visiting the Lovegood side this year and not even I want to meet that many new people.”

“Right… Can we make hot chocolate?”

“When I’m done with this. What else did mom do with this?... I think some water and like, a stick? She used to eat the stick after, what the hell was that?” I looked through my shelf of spices, eye landing on the tin of cinnamon sticks. Did my mom eat cinnamon sticks??? It was the closest thing to what I remembered so I dropped one in and poured water in till the cranberries were covered. I guess that looks right? I shrugged and set it on the stove. “Can you watch this for me? Mix it occasionally and tell me when all the skins have split.”

“Okay.” Isobel finished her bread then tied an apron on and pulled up a stool by the stove to stare at the pot. I smiled and washed my hands before starting on some hot chocolate.

The curtain separating our bed off opened and Ominis came shuffling over to the table, wrapped in all the quilts off our bed.

“Good morning love, how’d you sleep?”

“I don’t want to be awake but it’s warmer over here.” he muttered, laying his head on his blanketed arms on the table.

“You can take a nap if you want.” I kissed his head and set a mug of hot chocolate in front of him, smiling at how cute he is all cocooned in blankets with his hair messy.

[gothic-lottie]

WIP tag game

Thank you for tagging me @myokk @theladyofshalott1989 @rypnami @dom1re

Alright, so I have a few…

Caira Elixus from my Draconic Dystopia project

My current chainmail belt projects

A bit of next week's chapter and the sketch from earlier in that chapter

My sewing repairs pile and my next projects: replacing a bad wasteband little Lottie did and up cycling a dress I thrifted.

This tag game was a few days ago and I'm too tired to figure out who hasn't been tagged. If you haven't yet, do it! I wanna see it!

Also, here's a picture of my sister's kittens that we were watching.

[gothic-lottie]

Isobel 💕

I really wanted to keep the spirit of your art style, so it took me a few attempts. I hope you like it. 😊Her dress and her luscious long hair were a blast to draw!

Isobel loves when people draw her. She just had to make your boy something

Sorry I completely forgot to answer this for a bit

[gothic-lottie]

i’m working on a character/reference sheet for pirate sebastian, and part of it is his weapon- a classic 1760 flintlock pistol. i tried to model it after his wand but also keep the design accurate to history?? his gun is his baby. don't touch. he's the only one allowed to hold it.

tysm @gothic-lottie for the advice on finishing this!

references under the cut, reblogs appreciated!

[gothic-lottie]

5, Holiday MC moodboard

Isobel's is kinda in two halves: at home and at church

[gothic-lottie]

4, does your MC like the snow?

Yes, she loves snow… well, she loves snow from a distance. Once she's in the snow, she hates it because everything is cold and damp. She forgets there are simple spells to dry your clothes off because she's muggle born so she might just end up walking around damp and miserable till one of her friends notices and points it out.

[gothic-lottie]

1. What kind of bag does your MC carry, if any? (If they're a baller with no bag u can tell us about that too)

Isobel doesn't always carry a bag but she is a Victorian woman with huge pockets, though hers are suspiciously big… almost like they're enchanted. She also likes wearing a belt for some things she needs faster access to like potions and (while she's mute) her talking book or (when she can usually talk) a small notepad in case she goes temporarily mute.

2. How organized is their bag? How long does it take them to find stuff they need?

If it's on her belt, it's perfectly organized and she can find it fast. If it's in her pockets, it might be in a pouch or something but most likely it's just shoved in there and could take a minute of rummaging. When she does carry a bag, it serves a similar purpose to her pockets. It's absolute chaos.

3. Which object(s) do they use the most?

In her 5th year, wiggenweld potions. In 6th year, her talking book. In 7th year… well, we'll see. I still need to write that.

4. Which object(s) do they cherish the most?

Her rosary. Father Isaac gave it to her and she'd be genuinely destroyed if she ever lost it.

5. Which object(s) should they probably throw away?

She probably has some rotting potion ingredients in those pockets but she really tries to keep everything clean. Here's a snippet from book 1 between Anne and Isobel

"Speaking of painful experiences, I brought you some extra wiggenweld in case it could help.”

“You shouldn't have, those are expensive…”

“I made them myself, completely free. I get all the ingredients during my usual explorations anyway so it only makes sense. What else am I going to do with 50 horklumps?”

That's probably a severe underestimation of how many horklumps are in my bag but I'm not going to admit that.

6 Which object(s) is the highest in value?

How many wands are in here? Where did you get these?

Her collection of wands from defeated poachers/dark wizards would probably be pretty valuable and during books 1 and 3, she often has at least a few on her that haven't gone in the box with the rest yet.

7. Which object(s) is the weirdest / least expected?

The knives… she's paranoid as hell and… well, it's easiest to explain with a fic snippet. This is from the crossed wands final round in 6th year.

I stood behind the opposite gate, hitching my skirts up for the second round since I wasn't part of the first.

Lucan spotted me and made his way over 

“Morgana, you remember the special rules we set for your magic, right?”

I nodded. ‘It’s actually Sallow now though. I took Anne's name.’

“Right, sorry. I'm also requesting that you hand over all your knives.”

“Isobel doesn't carry knives-” Poppy started, but was interrupted as I started unsheathing knives from various places on my person.

‘Afraid I’ll stab someone, Bratleby?’

“Sebastian specifically, yes. The wand handle too. I have a spare for you.”

I slapped a hand over my chest, feigning offense, before swapping out my wand handle and giving him the sharp one.

“Thank you. Remember, dashes are okay but please don't “smite” anyone or throw anyone around. We aren't aiming for a St Mungo's visit.”

I nodded ‘Wouldn’t dream of it.’

Lucan nodded back and went to make sure Sebastian and Natty were ready for their match.

“Why do you have- five six seven… eight knives on you?” Poppy asked as soon as Lucan was gone.

'In case I'm ever disarmed. You don't want to know how many ashwinders I've stabbed.’

“And on the back of your wand?”

'If someone grabs me from behind and I can't shoot a spell at them, I can stab whatever I can reach.’

“You're paranoid”

I also think it's really cute that she always has candy, normally a few types, at least one of which she doesn't personally like just in case she thinks someone seems sad so she'll surely have something they like. It's a personal habit that I gave her because it's really nice. She shoves candy at Ominis a few times during canon events that she handled differently than the game MC

TELL US what's in your MCs / OCs' bags!! I wanna know all about the things they carry everyday. How many bottles of wiggenweld potion are in their bag? What's the story behind that letter they keep close at all times? Why the heck do they still have the candy wrappers from years ago?!

Questions you can start with:

What kind of bag does your MC carry, if any? (If they're a baller with no bag u can tell us about that too)

How organized is their bag? How long does it take them to find stuff they need?

Which object(s) do they use the most?

Which object(s) do they cherish the most?

Which object(s) should they probably throw away?

Which object(s) is the highest in value?

Which object(s) is the weirdest / least expected?

Feel free to pick just some of the questions, or come up with your own, and answer them however you like - write, draw, create a moodboard, i dont care, just have fun!!

I'm tagging ppl below to kick it off but **ANYONE IS WELCOME TO PARTICIPATE** please do I beg you

NP tag: @theladyofshalott1989 @a-usernamelol @gothic-lottie @rypnami @boxdstars @honeybadgerdontcare394 @theravenchild @infernalrusalka @espressoristretto-patronum @saibugslegacy @traceyc-uk @diana-bluewolf @lyworth @galaxiasgreen @polarisgreenley @resilient--snake @anomalyaly @accio-bagel @hot-cocoa-and-blankets @savingsallow

[gothic-lottie]

I was a little ambitious with the pictures this week.

May I Have This Dance, Chapter 24 of Making Some Sense of This, is out now. It's some well earned fluff with a little reference to the larger Harry Potter fandom's favorite ship at the end

I'm too tired to do my usual excerpts in the post so… yeah. Also, I know she doesn't get mentioned much in my fic but did anyone remember that my Garreth is dating Sacharissa? If you didn't, my beta reader didn't either, don't worry lol.

Chapter 22 art

Chapter 24 art

Master List

[gothic-lottie]

3, favorite kind of holiday music

The only thing aside from her last living father figure that Isobel misses about the muggle world is church. She loves church music. She starts humming songs like Oh Come All Ye Faithful and God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen sometime in November and doesn't stop till February. She doesn't notice she's doing it and even though she isn't particularly musically gifted, her friends think it's cute so no one tells her she's doing it or that she's off key.