#lolita mystery bundle

[20dollarlolita]

CuratedKawaii Lolita Fashion Mystery Bundle Review

So a while back, I was made aware of this etsy listing:

I love mystery packs and lucky bags. It doesn't matter to me if it's good or terrible. I love me a lucky mystery bag. This listing had just little enough information about it to be unable to tell if it's bad or good, so I went for it. The thing about having this blog is that if something's bad, it's still good blog content.

Ordering process was pretty simple. I believe I had to pick a substyle from a drop-down list and then had a fill-in box where I could list colors and motifs that I want. I picked brown and cream classic. I paid $75, shipping non-inclusive.

Finally got the order in the mail a couple months later, and I had a whole lot of fun with this.

The idea is that the items included would be a full coordinate (minus shoes and petticoat).

Quick little economics comment: buying this is buying a service and a product. I knew going into this that I'd be paying for the curation service as part of the cost, so I was expecting to get less than $50 worth of items. The etsy seller has to make money on this, and you have to know going in that the seller has to make money on this. Expecting every item in the bag to total up to $75 is kind of stupid. This isn't like a AP lucky pack where everything is being sold at cost.

Actually, the price was one of the things that made me so interested. A full lolita coordinate for like $50 of stuff? Color me interested.

So, what did we get in the bag?

Main piece: Love Nadia JSKOP by Bodyline, in brown.

So on baby me's second ever Bodyline order, which I received Dec 31, 2012, I bought Love Nadia in purple, and was immediately disappointed in it. I then cut it up to plan to make a skirt out of it, put it in a box that's now labeled "abandoned projects", and it's still here to this day.

In that time, I've really regretted cutting it up, because I figured it probably wasn't as bad as I remember it being, and I just had a lot of confusion about how I wanted my own body to look.

So the first thing that I checked was to see if the weird printing part was still there. It is. I'd like to let everyone know that, in the past ten years, Bodyline did not fix the weird printing part. However, they DID add a side seam pocket!

Anyway, this wasn't a review of Love Nadia. This is a mystery bag review. I was very excited that there was an actual identifiable brand in the mystery bag. It wasn't super clear from the listing exactly how much experience with lolita the curator had, so I was bracing myself for some quality sweat lolita.

Second item was a cute bolero from Liz Lisa. I did immediately have to put this in the wash because, speaking of sweat lolita, it was a used item and it had a little bit of smell adhesion. But it's a nice cream lace cardigan thingy with a front tie. Love Nadia is not sure if it's an OP or a JSK and so having a shoulder wrap helps me not have to decide if its' a JSK or an OP. I like the term JSKOP, pronounced j-s-ko-p.

All the rest of the accessories are offbrand.

The socks are cream net socks with a little loop opening in the back. I find these so cool because they would probably look like they were trying to be really sexy on me if they were black, but they look just lovely in cream. I could go on a rant about color contrast here, but that's not why we're here. I loved getting some nice and detailed socks that I didn't have to worry about not fitting my kitten-holders.

There were two hair accessories included. Since this was supposed to be a full coord, I decided to try to wear both of them at once. One is a cute little beret with rickrack and a bow. It's got wig clips to help it stay on. I wore this yesterday in my comfy casual coord.

The other hair accessory was a bow barrette with a little lace drape. I think this one was handmade. I don't know who made it, but I really love that there was a handmade accessory included.

Fitting both the beret and the barrette (and keeping track of how many r's are in each word) on my head was a challenge, but I did it.

There was also a tie-on headbow. Since I already had two hair accessories going on, I opted to wear this one as a belt in the context of this coord. I do love me a good head-eating bow, so the fact that I can use this for that is very fun to me.

And then there were some little stretchy pearl bracelets. I wear stretchy bracelets all the time, and so it's good to have some new ones!

Total coord:

I was going to take a better picture without the cat poop box and where I was looking vaguely interested in being there, but Carhartt was in this picture (having just thrown litter everywhere) so we used it instead.

As far as substyle goes, it's very sweet. It's definitely the sweet end of the classic spectrum, and I could even just say it's brown sweet. There are a lot of little details that want to push it over to the classic edge. It's definitely brown and cream.

Functionally, there's a little bit of an issue where too many things want to take up the same space. IDK if the coord was intended to wear the headbow on your waist (but I couldn't find a better way to include it), but that bow sits right where the tie-front of the bolero wants to tie. The beret and the barrette are competing for the same real estate on the head, so I can't wear the beret like a beret without covering up the barrette. I promise that I DO know how to actually wear a beret normally.

In terms of including all the necessary parts of the coord, yeah, we checked all those boxes. Color balance is pretty good. All the colors are incorporated into the coord without leaving any weird blocks of just cream or just brown. I feel like whoever curated this box knows how to wear lolita fashion.

We knew this going in to the idea of getting a coord for <$50 of items, but there is a concern about the overall quality of these pieces. One of the fun things about lolita fashion is that you can balance things into your look. You can use a less expensive or lower-detailed accessory if you put it in a coord with more detailed items. A lot of these items are going to be really useful for me in future coords. However, I've previously addressed the idea of the "faking it" card, where you can only use so many not-quite-right items before it starts overtaking the coord. The accessories are lovely on their own, but when they're all put together, you kind of start to feel it. But this is a solid case of getting what I paid for, and I'm very happy.

Who do I recommend this for? I'm not sure I can recommend this package for a beginner that has no other items. You can build a wardrobe that's more accurate to how you want to coord things with the same money, and get pieces you know you'll use. But I do think that, if you have established pieces to later work the accessories in, it's a really fun sort of surprise gift. If you already wear lolita fashion and you want to try a new color or a new substyle, this can be really good inspiration, and fill in some gaps that you're likely to have as you branch into another direction.

A couple of things that I'd potentially like to see changed about this listing in the future: I'd really appreciate if there were photos of mystery bundles that had already been sent. I get not wanting to spoil the mystery, but taking some good flatlays of the bundles and then adding those flatlay pictures after the buyer reviews the bundle would be a really good addition. There's nothing wrong with the collages as listed, but seeing real items people have been given would help buyers a lot. I think it'd also be nice to drop something like, "This mystery bundle may contain new and lightly used items from Japanese and Chinese lolita brands, nonbranded accessories, and handmade accessories." I bought this partly because if it was terrible, that'd be funny for the blog, but I don't think that the primary audience of this was "people who want to take a gamble on losing their money." These kind of notes would be really helpful for people who were making the decision of if they want to buy.

Another potential option that I would love: CuratedKawaii definitely has good resources for getting fun offbrand and nonbranded accessories. I love my little beret and I love the socks and I love the tie-on bow. I love how well everything worked together. I feel like the budget here is the major limiting factor. While I don't think I'd want to spend $300 on a mystery bundle, I do think there's an untapped market that's at about the same price point as the mystery bundle. Everyone who is reading this and who has a problem where they keep buying dresses and not buying acessories, please raise your hand. Since that's most of us, let me pitch my idea: A mystery accessory bundle, where instead of saying what color and substyle we want, we just tell CuratedKawaii what main piece we want accessories for. I can write, "Hi, I just impulse bought this OP, and have no accessories for it. Please help!" This would give our curator friend a bigger budget to work with, since they don't have to budget for a main piece. I would absolutely LOVE to trust buying accessories over to another person and seeing what they come up with.

So yeah, I had a TON of fun unboxing this. I picked brown and cream because I knew that I needed more of both of those colors, and I love the flexibility of the things that I got. I got a bunch of stuff that I normally wouldn't buy for myself, and I like that I now have a bunch of cool creative items to work with in my wardrobe. I DIY a ton of things, and so I'm already planning how I can change and use the pieces I got to be a little more like I'm used to working with. I asked CuratedKawaii if they planned on putting up a listing for this again in the future, and they said they were. If anyone else out there reads my experience and thinks that it's the kind of mystery surprise that they'd want, I definitely recommend checking them out.

[liquoricerosefashion]

Starting a Depop

Hi, anybody who might be reading this! Since I'm making a blog to accompany my new Depop account, I thought it would be nice to write a little introduction.

My name is Ellie, and I've always wanted to be involved in fashion in some way, whether that be sewing, designing, or selling. I also love making art, writing, and making collages. I've always been drawn toward different aesthetics and subcultures, especially anything gothic or alternative. From the age of eleven, I was obsessed with Japanese street style - I'd spend hours pouring over magazine street snaps, fantasizing about Gothic Lolita dresses and blouses from the early-mid 2000s. I have dressed in Lolita style since my early teens and continue to delve into researching other alternative fashion trends.

I work alongside my partner, Craig, to bring Liquorice Rose from a daydream into reality. Together, we have a lot of fun coursing through charity stores and thrift markets, finding some real gems that prove that one man's trash can be another man's treasure.

Right now, we're selling some super cute pieces individually, but offering style bundles and mystery bundles are next on our fashion bucket list! I can't wait to start pulling together some looks.

Liquorice Rose is for people of every size, every gender, and every aesthetic. If you have a certain look you would like us to create, tell us about it and I'll aim to make those dreams come true!

At the moment, we're only selling within the UK, but if you have your eye on a certain piece, shoot me a message and I will happily look into international shipping prices for you!

[curatedkawaii]

Hi! I have 3+ years of wearing lolita fashion under my belt and I'm looking to offer mystery box coordinates to people! No amazon dresses here, you have my guarantee- just Alice Girl, Vcastle, Heaveniris, To Alice/Tomybear, Roji Roji, and more! I'll be posting coord collages every day of coords that could be YOUR mystery bundle box! :)

[mythgirlimagines]

Time for a brand new talentswap for this fine Tuesday! Give a warm wink and a smile to Myth, the Former Ultimate Animator!

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BACKSTORY AND TALENT

As a youngster, Myth‘s imagination and energy was all over the place. A combination of regular consumption of books, movies, and TV, and living in a rather creative household herself, made this Myth want to bring her odd creations into the human world. Ever since she entered her first ever short animation into a prestigious film festival for preteens, she has been on a roll ever since, with romantic and fantasy anime being her main bread and butter. Her most well-known work yet is “Up in Smoke”, a Romeo and Juliet-esque animated film chronicling the romantic escapades of a two female elemental spirits, a water and fire spirit, and the rebellion against their strict family. It earned raving reviews from critics for its adorable artstyle, its loveable characters, and its heartwarming portrayal of LGBT dynamics. In fact, most of her works have at least one LGBT character, or at least have some form of LGBT subtext. She may not have a lot of human friends apart from Wyre, but she has the support of both her friends and her massive fanbase. Even as a adult, she still has it going in the animation department. 

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RELATIONSHIPS

Wyre Anon, Former Ultimate Animal Breeder

Due to her wild and rowdy appearance and personality, Wyre never really had many human friends, but they compensate for this with a whole arkload of animal friends, with lizards, snakes and other reptiles being her main speciality. Myth and Wyre met as children, and quickly bonded with each other over their eccentric behaviour and lack of human friends. In fact, Wyre was the one who gave Myth the eared hat and tail that Myth regularly wears. Wyre regularly brings in live animals as a drawing reference, so Myth would learn how to properly animate animal movement. 

Outfit: Same outfit as the original, but with a cat design on the skirt, a brown fox ear headband, and a matching brown prop tail. 

Anon Scar, Ultimate Princess

As the princess of a small European country called Zunduros, Scar is the current heiress to the Zundorian throne. Myth was surprised to learn that her animated shows have quite the following in Scar’s kingdom. Despite constantly carrying herself as the “Heiress of the Untouched Shadow”, the facade quickly breaks away to reveal a heavily-concerned and somewhat maternal girl, once she realises that this entertainment giant doesn’t exactly have the healthiest living habits. Nowadays, Scar is always on standby, making sure that Myth gets her daily food and rest. 

Outfit: A black Gothic Lolita-style dress, with white lace and red bows on the front, dark red stockings, red heels, red gloves, a red rose holding up her side bun.

Fusion Anon, Ultimate Musician

As the lead singer of the soft rock band, “QUIZ BOWL”, Fusion’s songs mainly center around family and parental love. Fusion’s personality matches the subject matter of his songs, being paternal and kind-hearted, despite what his height and wild fashion would suggest. Imagine Myth’s shock when this 6’3 tall boy with a large afro dyed various colors and a leather jacket claimed to be a massive fan of her adorable animated films. Ever since Myth found out and gave him an autographed art book, Fusion has been in special interest heaven. Nowadays, Fusion helps compose music for Myth’s animated films. 

Outfit: A large afro dyed various colors, a black leather jacket with an autistic pride badge on the front over a red t-shirt, black leather gloves, ripped black pants, black boots, a guitar case strapped to his back, color contacts. 

Fusion Anon II, Ultimate Photographer

As the girl behind the famous photography blog ,“bustasnap”, Fusion II has traveled all over the world to take pictures of all the scenic landscapes she can find. Upon looking at Fusion II’s photos, Myth knew that she had to use them for background references. This has led to the mysterious disappearance of many of Fusion II’s printed Polaroids. Upon finding out that Myth was the one behind the theft of her pictures, Fusion II chose to print the pictures and hand the copies to Myth. From there, Myth learned that Fusion II is a kind girl underneath her sarcastic and flippant demeanour.

Outfit: Same outfit as her original design, but with her prized Polaroid strapped to her right side. 

Just Anon, Ultimate Gamer

Dominating popular MMORPG after popular MMORPG under the name, “anon.”, Janon spends all of his time laying down and not moving from his territory. Despite Janon’s adorable appearance and fashion sense, Janon is foul-mouthed, cynical, and hates just about everybody in this goddamn con. Well, almost everybody. He has a massive soft spot for the two Jr. Ultimates of the convention. Janon and Myth like to organize little slumber parties and nap underneath a large pile of blankets, pillows and stuffed toys, where certain bothersome Anons wouldn’t bother them.  

Outfit: A Pikachu hoodie, black headphones with the Overwatch logo on each ear, formal wear and face-mask from original design.

Sparkle Anon, Former Ultimate Traditional Dancer

Coming from a long and prestigious line of traditional dancers, Sparkle’s dancing is truly a spectacle to witness on stage. Spicing up her dance moves with glitter and sakura petals, Sparkle’s moves look like they’re straight from a high-budget fantasy movie. Topping off her stellar appearance is a loud and bombastic attitude that truly shines on stage. Just like with Fusion, Sparkle is also a major fan of Myth’s works, particularly her magical girl series. Myth regularly watches Sparkle perform in order to help with animating dancing and the movement of her characters. 

Outfit: An orange kimono with pink flower designs all over it, a purple obi, white socks, brown gets sandals, a sidetail decorated with flowers, glasses from original design. 

Egg Anon, Former Ultimate Lucky Student, and Wet Sock, Former Ultimate Yakuza

Originally the twin children to one of the biggest underground yakuza chains in the world, Egg has since been cast out of the bloodline for their unpredictable luck cycle managed to nearly doom their entire bloodline, and it’s only through Wet Sock‘s control that the entire bloodline didn’t go kaput. Upon hearing about Egg and Wet Sock’s backstory, Myth thought that this would make a good premise for a film. Needless to say, despite their cursed and violent concepts, Myth managed to look past them, to find deeply disturbed individuals that just need a hug. 

Egg’s Outfit: A bandaged left eye, a half-shaved haircut, the same same clothes from their original design, but with a clover design replacing the bird designs. 

Wet Sock’s Outfit: An eyepatch on their right eye, a half-shaved haircut, a black suit just like Fuyuhiko’s.

Curious Anon, Jr. Ultimate Nurse

As the adopted child of a hospital worker, Curious ended up learning everything that they can about the medical field and the human body. Curious has became famous and beloved at the hospital for their kind-hearted and levelheaded personality, as well as their excellent bedside vigil. Because of Myth’s constant neglect of food and sleep, Curious is constantly on standby to make sure that Myth gets the proper amount of nutrition needed to function as a proper human being. Myth may not need Curious constantly hovering over her, but she appreciates Curi’s concern for her. 

Outfit: Part of their hair tied into a small ponytail, a mint green face mask, same outfit from original design, but with a white apron with a red cross design on the front, and mint green scrubs.

Anon Nerd, Former Ultimate Mechanic

Famous for his uncontrollable temper and strength, as well as his equal caliber intelligence, Anon Nerd is known for making functional machines out of literal garbage. Unfortunately, Nerd’s entire attitude doesn’t exactly make him a massive hit with other people at his mechanics store. Despite Nerd’s own workaholic tendencies, Myth just makes Nerd so angry with her blatant disregard for her own health. Nerd regularly tries to get this adorable animator to get her eyes off her drawing tablet and just go to sleep, even if it means knocking her out with a wrench. 

Outfit: Ruffled-up hair, grease stains all over his body, a black and yellow jumpsuit, black and yellow boots and gloves, scouter from original design. 

Eldritch Anon, Ultimate Team Manager

Despite Eldritch‘s jittery and paranoid behavior in public, Eldritch is unbelievably confident when it comes to leading a group. Eldritch is the number one trainer in “Fort Ritchie‘s Boot Camp”, a training center that trains children to take on the inevitable zombie apocalypse. Ignoring the whole “apocalypse” pretense, Eldritch is really good at motivating individuals to take action. Upon witnessing Myth’s poor health, Eldritch has taken it upon himself to prevent Myth from becoming zombie bait, but Myth really doesn’t want to exercise, and seems content with being zombie chow. 

Dream Anon, Ultimate Chef

As the daughter of a professional TV chef, Dream can cook healthy meals to feed all her teammates on her volleyball team. Dream is famous for being just a big bundle of joy and sunshine, as well as her energetic and overzealous attitude when it comes to cooking. Dream has taken upon herself to cook Myth only the best of meals, in order to make Myth actually drop her work to go eat with all the others. Don’t get Dream wrong, she does enjoy a lot of Myth’s works, particularly her shonen works. But would it kill Myth to eat something with actual nutritional value?

Outfit: A white chef uniform, a pink bandana tied over her head, a pink ascot, shoes from original design. 

Iris Anon, Reserve Course Student

When you first meet up with Iris, the first thing you would notice about her is her insane clumsiness and her almost stupidly optimistic viewpoint. Despite first impressions, Iris actually managed to get into Hope’s Peak Middle School’s reserve course on academic prowess alone, which makes her a veritable genius. Despite not even having an actual talent, Iris doesn’t let that, or the horrible quality of the Reserve Course get her down. Iris watched a bunch of Myth’s anime with her girlfriend, and she is currently overjoyed to be spending the con visit with the girl behind all those masterpieces. 

Outfit: A white dress shirt, a red bowtie, a dark blue skirt, white knee-length socks, black slip-on shoes, bandages on her arms and legs, glasses, star clip, and braids from original design.

Purple Anon, Ultimate Swordswoman

As the daughter of an ancient lineage of sword fighters, Purple has been taught the art of the blade by her elders, and yet she manages to surpass them all in blade-to-blade combat. Purple is hardly ever seen without her trusty claymore strapped to her back. Despite what her talent would suggest, Purple is very timid and cowardly, thanks to her sheltered upbringing. Because of her sheltered and old-fashioned upbringing, Purple also speaks in very antiquated vocabulary that is hard to understand. Myth may not understand a word that Purple is saying, but Purple would make a great fantasy protagonist. 

Outfit: A black headband, gakuran top, a long purple skirt, lilac stockings, black slip-on shoes, a purple scabbard on her back that holds her claymore.

This series centers around this adorable animator who is unhealthily attached to her work, as the people around her show massive concern for both her and her health. 

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PERSONALITY

Ever since she was a child, Animator!Myth has always been into the arts and a very creative soul. Her imagination is all over the place, which helps her with her works. Aside from that, Animator!Myth is also kind-hearted and happy to lend a helping hand to people who needs it. Unfortunately, Animator!Myth has a little bit gaping flaw in her personality: she is a MASSIVE workaholic. Not wanting to let down her loyal fanbase, Animator!Myth works day and night on her animated works, much to the understandable concern of her family and friends. This unfortunately means she goes for days on end without stopping for a snack or nap break, making this already childish and loopy girl somehow even more childish and loopy. Her friends are trying their best to teach Myth that overexerting yourself is no good, and taking constant breaks is the key to success. 

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APPEARANCE

Animator!Myth is bespectacled and slightly chubby. Myth‘s undyed hair goes down to her shoulders. As for her clothes, on her head, Myth wears a fuzzy blue hat with ears, an ahoge, and brown stripes. Myth wears an oversized blue jacket with yellow details, that holds an animator’s tablet in one of the pockets, over a pink shirt. She also wears a red skirt, black stockings, and yellow rainboots with a paw print design on the bottom. Clipped to the bottom of her skirt is a tail that matches the hat she wears.  ——————————————————-

Well, now that I have finished this week’s talentswap, let me know what you think! In the meantime, have fun and be merry!

-Fusion Anon

---

It would be so awesome to be an animator! I love this talentswap!

[sparklyjojos]

[THE CHILDISH DARKNESS Recaps, Chapter 8]

[tw: gore, adult-minor relationship, a bundle of homophobia / biphobia / transphobia]

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EIGHT

Saburou always told Kaede that she should find a honest, loyal and benevolent man, even if he himself wasn’t really any of these things. Every man Kaede tried to date sooner or later turned out to be awful, which inevitably led to a break up, sadness and – on a surprisingly large number of occassions – Saburou beating up the boyfriend of the week.

Nobody, not a single one of these men believed in becoming or having a partner whose love is honest, loyal and benevolent. But what about Saburou himself? He certainly believed there could exist a woman that had all these qualities. Just like all the girlfriends and wives of his friends: honest (not mentioning something to their partners technically wasn’t lying!), loyal (it’s not like they wanted to leave their husbands!), and benevolent (they forgave Saburou a lot!).

“I wouldn’t say that’s love,” Kaede said. “That’s something you understand when you get there. You never actually were in love, right?” Well, not really. “How about with me?” Idiot.

That being said, he cherished Kaede. He got angry at her good for nothing boyfriends and let her cry on his shoulder. In turn, Kaede forgave his flaws and kept hanging out with him. But that had to be only because they were good friends. Besides, his body never responded with arousal when in physical contact with her, so clearly that wasn’t love, right?

The love he felt for Yurio was different, but… she was thirteen, he twenty-nine. Just thirteen! This wasn’t something considered to be normal, and he definitely didn’t have a lolita complex or something! He’d really have to start dating single adult women from now on! Yurio should live her own life, get a boyfriend her age and grow up normally. He cared about her and so never attempted to kiss her or have intercourse, even if it was tempting.

When she told Kaede about his Yurio problem, Kaede called him a lolicon, reminded him that he’s an owner of a cram school filled with minors, overall questioned his morality and proposed giving himself up to the police.

--

Around the time Saburou had finished writing the third Runbaba novel, Kaede for whatever reason married their childhood friend Okamoto Yasuhiro (But really, with Okachi? Was he maybe not as strictly into guys as he had thought as a child?). The reaction of Saburou’s brothers and father to this news was to tell Saburou that he’s an idiot for passing the occasion to marry a good woman like her. Shirou – who knew about his many sexcapades -- told him without any qualms that maybe he should just cut his dick off. In hindsight, maybe it really would be better if he’d done that before it showed interest in a thirteen-year-old.

Saburou’s mother didn’t say anything back then, but he knew she was disappointed too. Kaede had often visited their house and earned the favor of the entire family. Even Maruo’s election committee member Mitamura Hidenori had said that Saburou found himself a nice girlfriend, and that she looked amusingly similar to Saburou’s mother in her youth. Maruo’s secretary Kato Satoshi replied that Saburou was still young and would surely meet a lot of nice women later (little knowing that Saburou had surely had a fruitful meeting with his granddaughter once).

What would Jirou say about it if he was still there? Back when Kaede had been in middle school and Jirou’s companion Kawai Kazuhiro attempted to date her, he got punched by Jirou so hard he flew a few meters away. Then Jirou used a cigarette to give him several burns on his right hand, arranging them in the shape of Cassiopeia (at that time burning constellations into people was his big ‘interest’). He also had Kazuhiro wear female underwear, knowing that when Kazuhiro and his twin brother Youji had been children, they were often made fun of for wearing cute feminine clothes and hairstyles their parents loved.

Jirou repeated all of the above later with Youji who had attempted to get revenge for his brother. Youji’s constellation of choice was the Big Dipper.

Without a doubt Jirou had some interest in Kaede. He never hurt her and she was about the only person in the entire prefecture who didn’t show fear in his presence. He never looked as relaxed as when talking with her.

Have Saburou married Kaede, maybe Jirou (if he was there) would beat him up too and burn Orion or something into his hand.

But hey, it’s not like Saburou’s relationship with Kaede was Like That.

Was it?

--

Even if Yurio still occasionally showed up in Saburou’s bedroom with a knife asking him to stab her and he had to fling the knife out the window and chant “It’s alright, it’s alright, it’s alright”, these outbursts became much rarer. Things were going good.

Then Saburou got a call from Atena, who told him in tears that Shirou was currently fighting for his life after he’d been hit by a runaway driver in the hospital’s parking lot.

Saburou made sure that Yurio would be fine staying alone in the house and that she had her phone nearby (pink with a sticker saying ‘love’ and their tiny photo), and left to drive to the hospital. It seemed Shirou had borrowed his BMW in the morning, so Saburou had to use Ichirou’s Bentz instead.

A traffic officer called Aoyama told him that right when Shirou had been leaving the building, he got hit by a car so hard he bounced a few times between the car’s roof and the porch ceiling. Hardly an ‘accident’. Fortunately Shirou could be taken to ER immediately afterwards, but the outcome of surgery was uncertain. It wasn’t the first time in the span of not even three months that Shirou had been seriously injured in a car accident.

Who would be trying to take Shirou out? Some sort of gang? Saburou called a yakuza member he'd met once when he’d been hanging out with Jirou, Tsuji Yutaka (first lieutenant of Furutaka-gumi related to Hoshino-kai). But before he could really ask about anything, Tsuji shot his own question at him:

“Is is true that Mr. Jirou returned? A whole lot of rumours is flying around claiming that he showed his face in Fukui lately.”

Apparently, somebody had seen Jirou in the Palace Hotel in Fukui, assisted by a woman, and now various group were trying to find him. Was that just innocent Kawaji Natsurou being mistaken for Jirou? Were the two men one? Was that someone else? And who was that woman? No, there’s no way that…

Could Jirou be trying to murder Shirou? He shouldn’t have any reasons to pick him as a victim over Maruo or Saburou, but maybe he changed his approach somehow. Saburou remembered a piece of dialogue from Thomas Harris once again.

“Do you spook easily, Starling?”

“Not yet.”

Jirou / Natsurou had showed up in his dreams as Hannibal Lecter. Would Clarice “Saburou” Starling be able to put him behind bars?

Saburou decided to check who that woman was first and thought about Jirou’s old followers he could ask about her. Maybe Kawai Kazuhiro? Saburou found his number in the phone book, but was told that Kazuhiro and his twin Youji had gone missing fourteen years earlier in December 1986.

Exactly when Jirou vanished. Did he take the twins with him for some reason? As a mystery writer Saburou instantly reacted to the twins being involved by thinking of some complicated body switch trick. That would be ridiculous. But Saburou couldn’t stop thinking about the possibility of Jirou running away with someone and soon realized just why he felt so bitter about it.

Why hadn’t Jirou taken him along?

No, he had to resume thinking about the case at hand. He had to finally become useful. Or was he really that stupid and good for nothing?

--

Upon getting to the hospital, Saburou first went to visit Maruo in his room overcrowded with political partners (the news spread fast about his son possibly being targeted) and was startled to find Maruo crying. He took Ichirou’s secretary Hasegawa Katsuyuki aside.

“Hey, why is Maruo crying?” he asked.

“What do you mean ‘why’, Mr. Saburou? Mr. Shirou got hit by a car!”

But Shirou was still alive, and when Saburou had called Maruo earlier the man sounded unfazed.

“He wiped his tears and took a few deep breaths before getting the call,” Hasegawa said. “He didn’t want to show you his panic. That’s what parents do.” Hasegawa added that they had tried to contact Ichirou in vain. He must have still been searching for their mother.

Maruo thanked Saburou for coming, and Saburou knew that he meant “thank you for being here at this time”. Ever since Nozaki’s attack Maruo got a lot more timid. Shirou would claim that looking death in the eyes had changed him.

“What do you think, Saburou?” Maruo asked after a brief exchange about the accident / attempted murder. “Why did that happen?”

“I wonder if there’s someone who holds resentment towards him.”

“Do you think it’s my fault?” A wry smile. “You too think that all these things happening to my family is my fault?”

How could one respond to such a question? Deep inside, Saburou felt like Maruo really was the cause of all their problems, but of course a whole lot of other people were at fault. Maybe they -- the brothers as well as their mother -- could have done better instead of giving up on Jirou. Maybe Maruo and Jirou should have tried better for the sake of each other.

“Everyone’s gone already,” Maruo continued. “Everyone’s leaving the Natsukawa house.”

“Maybe it’s better if they did,” Saburou replied, “if they can do what they want. Even if split up, family is still family, right? Everyone would be able to finally solve the problems they couldn’t tackle while staying in that house.”

Maruo certainly feared losing the family he kept around him. When his wife had been attacked and fell into coma, he slept an entire day long as if trying to escape intense grief. He’d always been a weaker man than he looked.

“That’s not possible,” Maruo said after some thought. “The family must stay together until the end.”

Saburou didn’t plan on screaming, but he couldn’t help yelling through sudden tears about how Maruo is always saying things like that and making everyone miserable, that this fixation on keeping them together is ruining everything, that it’d be best to finally let everyone go and live separately!

Maruo looked shocked, but clearly not believing in anything he’d just heard. “You’re going to leave too, aren’t you? Then leave!”

Saburou hadn’t said that, but he was already sobbing like a little boy and couldn’t voice his arguments well. Surely Maruo just spoke brashly in an attempt to hide weakness, but Saburou still felt hurt. Leaving the room, Saburou heard one more thing behind his back.

“You’re not my child anymore!”

Saburou broke down crying in the hallway.

Natsukawa Saburou, abandoned by both his parents. No, that last name wasn’t even his anymore. His house wasn’t his house anymore.

Hasegawa walked out after him and told him not to run away, that Maruo surely understood what Saburou had meant, and that he needed just a little more patience and some more calm talking.

But it was always the same! They just always returned to the starting point, and no one ever seemed to grow the fuck up!

Hasegawa didn’t agree with that, and told him that Shirou had decided to become a candidate in the summer election to replace the still hospitalized Ichirou and Maruo. In fact he only showed up at the hospital that day because they were talking politics. Even despite his own job back in the USA, Shirou was more than ready to do something like this for the good of the family.

Saburou yelled at Hasegawa to shut up and ran away. Who he was running away from? Hasegawa, Maruo, Shirou? Himself? He hadn’t done anything useful like Shirou, and even if he intended to help Yurio, in the end it was Shirou who really took care of her and her mental health.

--

Waiting in front of the operating theater, Saburou talked with a man called Fukushima Manabu, who until pretty recently had owned a convenience store, but was now Shirou’s secretary. He also happened to be a son of one of Nozaki’s victims, who had died after a long coma. Fukushima wondered if it had been the right choice to try keeping her alive for that long.

“I don’t really understand it myself,” he said, “but I often saw my mother’s ghost when doing laundry. Or rather her soul, seeing as she hadn’t died yet at the time. Her face showed up in the water inside the washing machine, looking at me without a word, expression hard to read. But when I’d push the button to have the water drain out, she’d look at peace. I thought that maybe this was her way of asking me to finally let her go. But I was too afraid to do so, and I liked our little meetings. I couldn’t kill my mother. Eventually she died and never again showed up in the laundry water.”

Saburou didn’t know what his own reaction would be if the one in the coma was one of his brothers or father -- would he be able to cut off their life support, snip!, goodbye? -- but shuddered to even think about killing any of them. Besides, he wanted to show them that he’s worth something. No matter how horribly they’d suffer, he would stand his ground and refuse to kill them.

Just to what extent could egoism born from love be forgiven?

--

Saburou realized that not only had Shirou borrowed his car that day, he was also wearing his clothes, as he usually did because of how little baggage he had taken with him from the US. Whoever the runaway driver was, his intention wasn’t to kill Shirou, but Saburou.

Saburou thought that he really should have been the one to get hurt.

In the end, the doctors said that Shirou would survive. Around that time news surfaced about a car with a busted front window found near the hospital. The driver thought to be the one who had attacked Shirou was still sitting inside. The problem was, said driver was found with all the skin of his head and limbs peeled off, and all the teeth pulled out. Despite that he was still alive and said his name was Okamoto Yasuhiro. Okachi.

Saburou called Yurio and learned that Kaede had come by earlier asking to see him.

--

A little later Saburou arrived at the Mouryou Pond and found crying Kaede. He was afraid – because of Okachi’s attempt to kill him, because of Kaede waiting here for him with unknown intentions – but then again, the entire world held nothing but fear for him now. He’d been thrown out of the family, Shirou was injured, and his mother, Ichirou, Jirou were all far away.

But Yurio was still there. He had to put this mess in order and return to her.

Kaede said that she’d been in love with Saburou for a long time, and no matter how much she tried to date others, it just wouldn’t work. She had no idea that things would lead to this awful situation. She had thought that maybe getting together with Okachi would be fine, that he’d have no interest in her. But lately he had seemed to have grown more at ease with touching and kissing her. They had a lot of long conversations about it.

Saburou remembered the note that had been found by Okachi’s body.

 Saburou, I’m glad you’re still alive. Even though a lot of time had passed, do you continue doing what’s right? Just by observing you a little I was able to make sure. You’re a honest and docile person. (...)

Do you still read mystery novels? Do you remember the title of the book that I, you and Shirou read together and liked a lot? ‘Red Dragon’ by Thomas Harris. Have you read its sequel, ‘The Silence of the Lambs’? I did. If you’ve read it, but can’t remember the details, you can check it for yourself later: the thing that Lecter tells Clarice about Buffalo Bill:

“Billy’s not a transsexual, Clarice, but he thinks he is, he tries to be.”

Saburou, this man just like Buffalo Bill is trying to deceive himself. This statement should be enough for you to understand the meaning of what I did. Observe the scene from all sides, try out all ideas. When constantly looked at by a new pair of eyes and in a different light, everything will certainly reveal itself.

This is a simple, maybe a little flashy work of art made to show you just that. I hesitated a little over whether or not to use novocain, but this indecision was swept away when I heard that Shirou had been saved. The point in the first place wasn’t to give this creation suffering. I chose the song “I will survive”, as this man’s self-deception was just that persistent.

You see, flaying alive is a popular execution method in the East and in the West both, but in the Sixteen Kingdoms period particularly, skinning the person’s face was followed by making them sing and dance for everyone’s amusement. I’m sure you would enjoy it too. His rendition of “I will survive”.

 The above note had been put into Okachi’s mouth together with a giant pink dildo signed by “Death God Jawakutora”. The handwriting style of the note without a doubt belonged to Jirou. Saburou had no intention of ever showing that note to Kaede.

Okachi had felt jealous about Saburou and Kaede. Had he been just faking it like Jirou implied, or was he actually bisexual like Kaede thought? When he’d once said that Kaede had been the first woman he’d ever fell in love with, was it true? Maybe his talk about how the border between gay and straight is hard to see was born from his experience of not falling squarely on one of these sides. Was his murderous intent towards Saburou true jealousy or somehow born from false emotions?

Saburou’s thoughts were interrupted by a phone call from Yurio, who gasped and hanged up as soon as he mentioned he and Kaede were at the Mouryou Pond. Since he and Yurio had first met here, she probably considered it a special place.

When he turned to face Kaede again, she was holding a knife, but didn’t make a move, crying that she didn’t understand anything anymore. Saburou had a feeling that the situation couldn’t be resolved other than by having someone be stabbed.

“Stab me, Kaede,” he said knowing well that she wouldn’t. She wasn’t Yurio. Her love was different. But maybe it’d be better if she did stab him. Everything was his fault, his and his love’s. “I have loved you all along, Kaede. That’s why it’s better if you stab me.” He both didn’t actually want to die and thought that it’d really be a better option.

All of this was the fault of the egoism of his love. He had known about Kaede’s suffering, but refused to disconnect her life support. Disconnect himself from her. He stubbornly stayed near her as she hovered at the faint line between life and death, not really falling on either side.

He kept telling her to stab him, she kept saying she can’t and at last dropped the knife, and he embraced her.

Maybe her inability to kill him was also the effect of egoism born from love.

In the end, Kaede said she’d go to the police and tell them about Okachi, but that she wanted to stay alone at the lake for a little while. Only when walking down the mountain did Saburou realize that she still had the knife, but highly doubted that Kaede would hurt herself. He considered turning around, but if he wanted to support her, the right choice was probably to just leave. To cut the line of the life support.

Goodbye, Kaede. Snip! Goodbye.

--

When Saburou returned home, he found a headless corpse in the garden, and the ID revealed the dead to be Yurio’s father. A knife – the same that Saburou had thrown out the window -- lied discarded to the side. Yurio must have used it.

But the one she should have killed wasn’t her father. After Yurio cut his father’s head off, she carved a (still bleeding) “LOVE ME TENDER” into his chest and put Saburou’s pants on him.

The one lying dead on the ground should be Saburou.

Without even trying to find Yurio or taking care of the corpse Saburou entered the underground storage and closed himself in the darkness, exhausted from everything that happened lately.

He heard footsteps again, heard them stop abruptly over his head again, but this time someone opened the trapdoor. It wasn’t the pale ghost of a little girl.

“Found you!” laughed Kawaji Natsurou.

He looked an awful lot like Jirou -- made himself look like Jirou -- but his hand bore several scars arranged in the shape of the Big Dipper. Kawai Youji.

“Long time no see,” Saburou answered. “You seem to have found a really good mask.” A spitting image of Jirou. Wait, if Jirou had peeled off the skin from Okachi’s face, did Youji do the same to Jirou and wore it like his own?

Saburou tried to fight, but Youji managed to inject him a knockout drug.

As if whatever god there was had finally gave up on him and decided to cut off his life support after seeing him return to that same small darkness under the floor over and over again.

Snip! Goodbye, Saburou.

[>>>NEXT>>>]

[sweetdisabled]

Guide: Shopping on Taobao with Yoybuy

note: the pictures here will be uncaptioned. i’m sorry about this, but it’s going to get pretty visually heavy!

shopping on taobao is a pretty essential life skill for any lolita or lolita-to-be - and quite frankly it’s also just fun. what can i say, my forefathers stalked the savannah, working on bringing down that wildebeest, and in the same spirit, i stalk one yuan sales. they still sing tales around the campfire about how i got all of those fuzzy socks.

taobao is a marketplace of many different stores. think of it kind of like the ebay marketplace. it is located in china, and stores there largely ship only to other chinese addresses, so you need to use a buying service if you’re not in china yourself. for this guide, we’re going with yoybuy, because i’ve had good success with it and find it easiest to DIY.

first step is to open a browser to do your online shopping. i really like chrome for this because you can set it to automatically use google translate on a page. however, you’re going to want two tabs open before you even get to taobao...

in one tab, google for ‘google translate english to chinese’. google will automatically pop up the english to chinese boxes. we want simplified chinese here (which is usually the default).

also google ‘yuan to usd’ (or insert whatever your local currency is for usd). this will mean you can convert prices easily and readily, with that tab already at the ready.

one more tool and we’ll be ready to actually go to taobao!

when you right-click a webpage in chrome, this is the menu that pops up. we want to pay attention to translate to english here.

most of the time chrome will automatically translate. however, it may need a little push here and then.

with all of these tools ready, we’re finally ready to actually open taobao.com in a new tab.

this is... pretty overwhelming, right? google translate can automatically translate text, not anything in a picture, so it still ends up half-translated. phew. get your bearings a moment, though, and soldier on!

tonight i’ve decided that i could really use some cute hankies to go with a strawberry-themed outfit i’m planning. so, tab over to our english to simplified chinese...

now copy those chinese characters into the search bar on taobao...

it will give you some further suggestions - but let’s keep it pretty general for now. hit ‘submit’, and let’s see what we have.

looks like we’ve lucked out - there are tons of choices!

to get you acquainted with this page, the column on the right is where recommended advertised items show up. these can largely be disregarded. the main block of items will be underneath all of these options at the top.

as you can see we have a lot of different choices we could look into, if we wanted to narrow it down. however, this grey bar is where we have the important stuff.

we can hit the price button to sort things. scroll over it, and we’ll get more options.

since all i got is like three fiddy and some pocket lint - plus i’d rather have a cheaper cotton hankie that i won’t feel guilty about perhaps blowing my nose on - i usually sort price from low to high, so cheapest items are first.

that’s more like it! (7 yuan right now is about a dollar.) now we can browse for what catches our eye. you’ll also see, next to the price, how many people have bought it. under that is the translated name of the product, then the name of the storefront.

i like the looks of this one - properly frilly and fancy! right-click and open it in a new tab so we can keep organized. (that way there’s no getting frustrated if it’s a ‘bust’.)

now we’re on the product’s page in the seller’s store. we can look quickly off to the side for some information about the seller.

this guy’s apparently been selling on taobao for 6 years. the shop is rated out of 5 points in three areas - how accurate the description of their products is, how good their service is, and logistics (which probably covers things like how quickly they ship the products and how well they wrap them up, etc). this guy’s got a 4.8 rating that is rising.

that means we can probably buy from him with some confidence. if you see a store that hasn’t been open for very long, that would be a red flag. same if you have a store with low ratings, or absolutely perfect ratings. if it’s 5.0 across the board, it’s a little too good to be true sometimes! one red flag may not be worth it to stop you in your tracks, but be on the lookout for them, just like you would with any online seller.

and don’t worry about see all baby. google translate likes to think all items on taobao are babies... (it’s a mystery to all of us.)

wading past the translation, it looks like this shop sells a lot of linen goods, especially for the european market.

a really cute tea party vibe, right? :D

this is where we could browse this store more - it’s very cute, after all - but i’d like to maybe make the coordinate a little more specific and cohesive. let’s see if we have any better luck with a more specific search!

when you get more specific with your searches, it means there’s often a lot less items - for example, there’s only one page of search results instead of 15+. but i think we’ve found something that’s perfect!

cute, right? looking at it closer, though, it’s not embroidered, and it’s more of a terrycloth or towel texture. those are two things i’m not really sure about - this is why we open our finds in a new tab.

it does give me a chance to talk about this one thing, though -

sometimes the final price of an item will be hidden unless you’re a ‘VIP’. you can login and make a taobao account if you like - it requires a cell phone with texting, but international cell phones are okay. however, i usually just shrug and go ���well, we know it’s somewhere under 9 yuan”.

whatever taobao agent you use will usually be able to get the VIP price for you.

another trick is that if you find an item that you go ‘oh, that’s close, but not quite....’ about, hover over its picture in the search results. you will then get two choices - find the same or find similar. the first option finds the exact same thing, but at other retailers. find similar, well, finds things that are variations on that same thing.

this hankie looks perfect! so... let’s actually buy it!

since taobao sellers largely only ship to people in china, and i’m in america, i can’t just hit that buy now button. this means i need to use an agent - and there are a lot of different choices out there.

i’ve used two so far, largely for ordering BJD stuff and home goods (and some accessories) (largely necklaces... what can i say... i read the words one yuan sale and my eyes light up). taobaospree is a professional outfit that you contact via email. they definitely give you the ‘white glove treatment’. their prices are very fair, and their staff very helpful. if you’re making really big important purchases, or purchases you’re worried about, i’d recommend them.

however, yoybuy is also really good for if you want to park the car yourself and walk instead of handing the keys to the valet, so to speak. i’ve also had really good experiences with them.

for taobaospree, they ask that you just email them a list of what you want with some details - they have a template you can use on their website. but since we’re just buying hankies, let’s use yoybuy.

first things first, we’ll need to sign in. yoybuy offers deals every so often like ten dollars of credit if you register with them, so it’s worth looking out for if you’re about to place an order. (every little bit helps, right?)

once you’ve signed in/signed up, take the url from the item you want...

and copy it into the search box at the top of yoybuy’s website, then click buy now.

yoybuy’s website will then load up all of the item’s information, like this.

now we can just shop as normal! it give you the converted rates of how much each item is, plus the domestic shipping, or how much the shipping will be from the seller to yoybuy. (yoybuy will help calculate the shipping from yoybuy to you later.)

so i’d like 6 total, and i can select the options. just to make things clear, i’ve also said as much in the ‘comments’ box. if something is a little unclear, you can add your comments there to make sure they get the right option.

as you can see this is totally meant for a much wider screen than mine, but it gives you an updating total of what is in your shopping cart.

on the black bar you also have some options like being able to ask for a live chat with someone if you get very confused.

when you’re ready, click ‘buy’. you’ll have a chance to do an overview of all your items before clicking the ‘pay’ button.

as you can see, there’s a couple of options here.

you can pay via a regular visa or mastercard, paypal, or use some other services i’m not familiar with. you can also send money via money transfer (like western union) and have it waiting there in your account.

there’s a service charge which is usually around 4% here. yoybuy themselves charge a fee of 10% for acting as your agent. they don’t ask for all of this up front. you pay in two parts - one is the items and domestic shipping that’s been calculated. they then bundle up all your items and figure out the best way to ship them to you, and you pay the 10% fee to them then.

if you’re initially doing a large order, your bank may balk a bit - so be prepared. for me, it took a text message of them going “uh hey, was this you? because random chinese company charging your credit card 200 dollars looks real sketchy.” and me going “lol it’s ok guys”.

however, in this case, handkerchiefs get!

you will now get an overview page of your order. 

each item will have its own line, and you can track how things are going.

the agent will purchase the item for you, then await shipment of it. you can click the chat bubble at any time to chat with the agent to ask them about the state of the item. this is where they’ll also inform you if something is out of stock or if there are any difficulties. you can also ask for them to take a picture to show you, if you want to make sure something is ok before they send it on to you.

as your items come in, you can click the checkbox and get an estimated parcel weight. that will help you figure out how much the shipping from yoybuy to you will be - and they even estimate how much they’ll have to spend on shipping materials.

once your items all arrive at yoybuy and they ship them on over to you, you can look at the options on the left to find a record of all your packages.

redacted information ahoy, folks, but let’s take a look-see at the package i already got from them -

the parcel number is what you click to open up an information page, showing all the items that are in the box they sent. the tracking number will be what you can check to track your package. they offer a variety of different carriers to use, and iirc, all of them come with tracking numbers. (you get yoybuy’s cut rate on shipping through all carriers, though!) if there are any problems, they’ll show up in the status - along with things like if it’s in an immigrations check.

if there are any problems, you can then report it to yoybuy and they’ll help you out - however, i’ve not had any problems with them. all my items came safe and sound!

so there you have it, a short guide - ah, well, at this point, just a guide - on how to, step-by-step, order stuff off taobao via yoybuy.

good luck in your own shopping, and happy hunting! 💖

[weakestheart]

7 Ways to Create a Killer Opening Line

Writing the first line to your book is an incredibly daunting task. This is your first opportunity to hook readers in. I remember writing and rewriting the opening line to my humor book OH BOY, YOU’RE HAVING A GIRL over and over again until I finally felt like I nailed it with this:

“If you’re a guy and you’ve opened this book, you either have a daughter, are on the verge of having a daughter, or are in the delivery room hoping that that sweet bundle of joy that just emerged from your wife somehow, someway, spontaneously grow a penis. I am here to tell you: That almost never happens.”

If you’re having trouble nailing your opening, you’re in luck: writer and WD contributor Jacob M. Appel offers up seven different approaches to writing a killer opening line (he includes examples from classic novels to accompany each, too). Here they are and they are worth bookmarking and referencing each time you begin a story.

1. A statement of eternal principle.

This technique is a staple of European classics. Think of Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice (“It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune must be in want of a wife.”) and Leo Tolstoy’s Anna Karenina (“Happy families are all alike; every unhappy family is unhappy in its own way.”). Of course, the story or novel you write must confirm the proposed principle. If it turned out that Mr. Darcy didn’t want to wed, or that Anna was happily married, these openings would certainly leave readers wanting. (An excellent contemporary example is from Jane Hamilton’s The Book of Ruth: “What it begins with, I know finally, is the kernel of meanness in people’s hearts. …”)

2. A statement of simple fact.

The entire weight of the narrative can sometimes be conveyed in a single statement. Think of, “I had a farm in Africa” (Isak Dinesen’s Out of Africa) or, “It was a pleasure to burn” (Ray Bradbury’s Fahrenheit 451) or, “I am an invisible man” (Ralph Ellison’s Invisible Man). No gimmicks. No fireworks. Just—as Mr. Gradgrind demands in the opening line of Charles Dickens’ Hard Times—the facts.

3. A statement of paired facts.

In many cases, two facts combined are more powerful than either one on its own. The paradigmatic example is the opening line of Carson McCullers’ The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter: “In the town there were two mutes, and they were always together.” A town with two mutes is not necessarily compelling, nor are two inseparable men. But a town with two inseparable mutes? Now thatlocks in our interest.

4. A statement of simple fact laced with significance.

Because readers don’t read backward, it’s possible to bury a key piece of a story in an opening so that, by the time it becomes relevant, the reader has forgotten it. Agatha Christie mysteries do this often. The key to solving the crime in Murder on the Orient Express, for example, is embedded innocuously in the opening sentence. So is the key to the heroine’s psyche in Margaret Mitchell’s Gone With the Wind, the opening of which explains, “Scarlett O’Hara was not beautiful. …”

5. A statement to introduce voice.

“Lolita, light of my life, fire of my loins.” Vladimir Nabokov’s celebrated opening is not designed to convey characterization or plot, though both are present, so much as to introduce his distinctive style. Anthony Burgess opens A Clockwork Orange (“What’s it going to be then, eh?”) without any plot, characterization or setting at all—merely the ominous voice that will accompany the reader through the text. Stories that begin with a highly unusual voice often withhold other craft elements for a few sentences—a reasonable choice, as the reader may need to adjust to a new form of language before being able to absorb much in the way of content.

6. A statement to establish mood.

Contextual information not directly related to the story can often color our understanding of the coming narrative. Take Sylvia Plath’s opening to The Bell Jar: “It was a queer, sultry summer, the summer they electrocuted the Rosenbergs, and I didn’t know what I was doing in New York.” While the Rosenberg execution has nothing to do with the content of the narrative, it sets an ominous tone for what follows.

7. A statement that serves as a frame.

Sometimes, the best way to begin a story is to announce that you’re about to tell a story. English storytellers have been doing this since at least the first recorded use of the phrase “Once upon a time” in the 14th century. Mark Twain’s The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn starts off this way, as does J.D. Salinger’s The Catcher in the Rye. After all, a brilliant opening can be as straightforward as: “You are about to begin reading Italo Calvino’s new novel, If on a Winter’s Night a Traveler …” (which really does start exactly that way).

[20dollarlolita]

Tumblr adding polls was the greatest thing they've done in the last 6 years and the fact that I'm not making polls is a sign of my restraint.

For those of you jumping in new to the game, here's a lolita meme from 2011 that I'm doing. Original here, mine are tagged "20dollarlolita 30daylorlolita challenge". I meant to save the last one as a draft but it posted incomplete and I"m just going to live with that forever, I guess.

Random Lolita' 2011 30 day challenge, day 5: 10 things from your wish list:

When I got Typewriting Squirrles and Tailor Bear, I completed my wishlist, so this was a little bit tougher. Here goes.

#1) More embroidered pieces! Ever since getting into machine embroidery last year, I've been super into things that are embroidered. I love edge-to-edge embroidery and I love looking at how things are digitized, so I want way more stuff with embroidery instead of printing.

#2) More musical things! As y'all may know, I collect keytars, so I want much more musical print lolita. I have Bodyline's piano cats JSK and it's awakened a need for me. I want Meow Meow symphony and I want all the other cat pianos.

#3) More diverse fabrics. I got AP's Gloria skirt for cheap since it's missing the overskirt, and it's velveteen with glitter on it. I want more different textures and fabric types.

#4) More fully shirred things! When I bought that mystery bundle on Etsy, that had Bodyline's Love Nadia in it. That's a fully shirred cap sleeve OP/JSK and again, turns out that I like being comfy. When I started lolita I had two fully shirred pieces and I got rid of both of them (one I regret. One I am glad I returned to the original owner because it was a gift to them from a family member who died, but also I wish I still had it in my wardrobe).

#5) More handmade things! Really, I need to make more OPs and blouses. I need to just do the fiddly things. I have 12 yards of white shirting and a ton of patterns and I just need to do the things.

#6) I have three pairs of printed tights and I wear them all the time so why don't I just get more printed tights? Plus size 45-kitten-holder tights are on ebay for like $25 a pair, and that's where I got the ones that I have, so what's stopping me from getting more?

#7) Okay so i don't know if this counts but I want to get lolita dresses for my creepy doll Helena so that I can carry her around and have her match me. I've seen people do this and it looks super cool. Also, I was at Walmart and saw some dolls that were specifically to have fidget toys in them. And I think that's just capitalizing on a trend but one of them had some giant pigtails that were made to be stretchy and messed with (I think her name was Unicorn Sprinkle), and I know there's so many people in my (new) lolita comm who keep fidget toys on hand for anxiety at meets, so I think it'd be really cool to have a doll in a lolita dress that's specifically for you to carry at meets and fidget with but that goes with your outift. However, I hate making doll clothes. I have many ideas about doll clothes but I don't do any of them.

#8) More tea party shoes. After making my last pair into roller skates, I bought some very used ones for $5, but they broke on my first wear and I can't find a couch by the side of the road to fix them with like I did on my last ones. I have like 4 pairs of RHS and 4 pairs of chunky mary jane platforms, so I need some tea parties. This is especially true because of my bad ankle. My podiatrist probably really wants me to stay closer to the ground than 4".

#9) I kind of just want to own every single meta frill skirt that I can find. They're cheap and comfy and maybe I do want to get back into wearing lolita every day if that wearing lolita is meta frill skirts.

#10) This is going to sound weird, but I want more blouses that need to be ironed. I've been getting so many gathered polyester blouses that don't need to be pressed, and I want the look of that crisp pressed blouse. Also I really love when you take it out of the wash and it's yucky and sad but then you press it and it's all crispy and happy. I don't like that sometimes I want it to be something that's already pressed and I have to press it, but I love when you renew something's life with your iron.

Okay, that's it for today. This one was fun, because it made me think. Maybe that's the point of these, to make you think about the situation you've taken for granted differently. BTW now everyone is asking me about pretzel lolita. I remember a long time ago there was a Threadbanger post about something called the Dookie Necklace (seen in part of this video about 1:30 in) and I feel like pretzel lolita needs to somehow incorporate Dookie Necklace technology. I'll think on this one and get back to you.

<double checks that she ACTUALLY queues this one when she wants to>