#source: style over net

[jokeroutsubs]

📝[ENG Translation] Joker Out exclusively for Style.

Before their performance at Sziget, Joker Out spoke exclusively to Style.Over.Net about what this means to them and when we can expect new music.

Article written by Meta Vrazic, published on 22.08.2024 on the Style.Over. Net website.

Translation by @kurooscoffee, review by a member of JokerOutSubs, proofread by @flowerlotus8

What do Tom Odell, Sam Smith, Bebe Rexha, and Kylie Minogue have in common?

All of these music giants shared the stage last week with the Slovenian band Joker Out at one of the biggest European festivals, Sziget.

Before their performance, they spoke exclusively to Style.Over.Net about what this means to them and when we can expect new music.

Photo: Vita Orehek

You're performing at Sziget, which means you're sharing the stage with some of the biggest names in the music industry. What does this mean for you?

Bojan: For us, this is a dream come true. Today (editor's note: on the day of the concert), we'll reach or even surpass our hidden hopes and dreams that every band starting out at 15 years old has.

Kris: I'd like to add that, in my opinion, it doesn't matter that much who is on stage before or after me. I focus more on which other performers have played on this stage at this time. In 2018, I listened to one of my favourite bands, The Kooks, at this exact time at Sziget. Lewis Capaldi also had his first performance at this time, and yesterday, Tom Odell got this slot. To me, it's an incredible achievement that we can compare ourselves with such names, especially in our region.

So you would equate yourselves with these artists? Do you see yourselves as equals?

Bojan: Yes, we're on par with Lewis Capaldi (laughs). No, we don't see ourselves as equals, but I would emphasise that this festival has 60 stages and over a thousand performers. So, being on the main stage at such a time is quite an amazing feeling.

Photo: Vita Orehek

In a recent interview, you mentioned differences between Slovenian and European stages. So, I have to ask – do you have a shower here?

Jure: Yes, I saw a shower. We'll definitely shower after the show since we're heading straight into a van and back to the studio.

So, you won't have a chance to walk around Sziget? When did you even arrive?

Jure: We left Hamburg at 7 AM, arrived at 11 AM, had a coffee, did a soundcheck, now we're talking to the media, then it's the concert, and back. It's pretty packed.

Photo: Vita Orehek

You've already performed for various audiences in many countries. Which audience is more demanding, Slovenian or international?

Bojan: Slovenian, for sure, because it's our home crowd. Other artists we've talked to also say that the home audience is always more demanding.

In Slovenia, we're omnipresent, both musically and in the media, so there are certain expectations. Some might even come to our shows hoping our performace would suck, so they can justify not liking us. Meanwhile, in other countries, they don't understand what we're saying, so they come just to let loose, dance, and have a good time.

International audiences sing incredibly well. If you closed your eyes during the concert and just listened, you'd think you were in Slovenia.

Kris: I'd add that someone willing to listen to music in another language is by default more open-minded and less demanding.

What's tougher: Sziget or Eurovision?

Jure: Eurovision, because we had no experience, and the pressure was much greater. We prepared for it for six months, whereas for a concert, you have a day or maybe even just a few hours.

Bojan: At Eurovision, it doesn't matter how good you are or what kind of performance you have. If you mess up in those three minutes, you're done. There are so many people there who don't care about your story or how precise you are—if you make a mistake, it's over. Whereas at a concert, you're there to have fun, and even mistakes are welcome as they make the experience more enjoyable.

Photo: Vita Orehek

How do you prepare for concerts? Do you have any special rituals?

Bojan: Not really. About 30 minutes before the concert, we completely calm down, practice a little, and then we all shout our motto together.

We've all heard stories about stars with very specific backstage food and drink requests. Do you have any special requests? What must be there for you?

Jure: Ginger shots, sour candies, vitamin water, towels...

Bojan: A mirror! It sounds bizarre, but there's often no mirror backstage, and before you go on stage, you can't check that everything's in place. So now we've specifically added a mirror to our list.

Is there even any stage fright still present before the concerts?

All: Yes, definitely.

Kris: Sometimes it happens about 20 minutes before the performance, depending on the day you're having.

Photo: Vita Orehek

And who's the most nervous?

Jure: Lately, it's been Bojan.

You now have songs in three different languages. What does this mean for your target audience? What is your target audience like, actually?

Bojan: We aim to have a good time. To play and enjoy ourselves, this music comes from us – and we haven't changed much during this time. Of course, we always try to find something new and different, depending on where the wind takes us.

I mainly think that you don't need to take this too seriously. If everyone checks their playlist and looks at the music they listen to, it's probably not all the same and monotonous. Why shouldn't it be the same for performers?

Have you ever felt that you aren't taken seriously because of the “boyband” label?

Bojan: We get this most often precisely in Slovenia. When we did interviews abroad, serious journalists approached us with a great deal of respect. They often even came to our concerts before the interview and expressed their enthusiasm and respect—you can feel that they take you seriously. Still, this doesn't bother us in Slovenia either, because, in reality, we are a “boyband.”

Photo: Vita Orehek

Do you ever get tired of any of your songs?

Kris: I always enjoy all our songs, but during a one-month tour in Europe, we involved the audience during the song 'Umazane misli'. And sometimes, while waiting for the audience, it drags on and gets a bit boring.

Bojan: Well, I had a great time even during those moments.

Of course, we need to check in on how the new album is coming along. When will it see the light of day?

Bojan: The album is expected to be “on time,” and you can expect it at the end of October. So far, things are moving well; we occasionally hit a “bump” that throws us off rhythm, but we're satisfied. We're doing well and holding up great.

[shithowdy]

this is your periodic reminder that for all the artifacts and errors and "tells" one could possibly list, the only reliable way to actually determine if an image is ai generated is to investigate the source. it is becoming increasingly common for "fake classical paintings" to circulate around curative aesthetic blogs, and everyone should be using this as an opportunity to not only exercise their investigative skills but also appreciate art more in general. you're all checking out the artists you reblog, right? 🫣

so what are some signs to look for? let's use this very good example.

what a lovely late-impressionist piece blended with evocative leyendecker-esque themes! why haven't you ever heard of this artist before? surely tumblr would be all over an artist like this. who is justin brown?

your two options from here are to do a search for the name, or a reverse image search. i prefer reverse image searching, particularly when it comes to a common name like "justin brown". so what does that net?

Immediately, without looking at any text, something is wrong: it barely exists. an actual historical piece would turn up numerous results from websites individually discussing the piece, but no such discussions are taking place. Looking at the text, though, does show the source-- and at least in this case, the creator was honest about their medium.

But let's also look at the "exact matches", in case a source doesn't make itself apparent in the initial sidebar results like this.

This section will often tell you post dates of images, and here it can be seen that the very first iteration of the image was posted 15 days ago. It did not exist online prior to that.

Seeing how long an unsourced image has been floating around is a skill applicable to more than just generative images! See a cool image of an artifact or other intriguing item with a vivid caption? Reverse search it! If all the results are paired with that caption and only go back a few months, you might just have viral facebook spam.

Sometimes generative creators are dishonest about their medium and do not tag it like in the example, so that's when establishing "jpeg provenance" becomes important. While it can be a little trickier to determine if someone is using generative images and not admitting to it if they aren't trying to pass it off as a classic, something to consider is the age of their account and the frequency with which they post. Here are some account red flags:

-Did they only start posting art after 2022, or if they did before, did their style/skill level WILDLY change? Not gradual improvement-- I'm talking amateur graphite portraits straight into complex digital renders. Everyone starts somewhere, newness is not a red flag alone; it's newness combined with existing in a vacuum away from any community.

-Do they post fully-finished paintings several times a week? -Do many of these paintings seem iterative of a similar theme or subject matter ("three well-dressed young men face each other under shade and dappled sunlight")?

-Does their style change in inconsistent ways? An artist that can swap between painting like Drew Struzan and Hokusai should be pretty well known, right? Why is no one hyping this guy?!

-Do they have social media besides the source instagram? If so, what are they posting about? Are there any WIPs? Doodles? Interactions with other artists? Gallery dates? 3am self-doubt posts? Or is it all self-promo? Crypto? Seemingly nothing art-related at all for someone pushing out 3 weekly paintings?

Basically, if it's important to you to omit this stuff when you curate, please don't just smash reblog if the source doesn't seem to be the OP themselves. Seeking out sources was important even before this became an issue, now it is more than ever.

peace n love

[sunderwight]

A fun prospect for Superhero-themed SV AU's that I don't often see is genre dissonance. Like, Luo Binghe as this edgy 90's style antihero who just straight up kills his enemies and sleeps around and is driven by selfish motives (revenge, ambition, etc) rather than altruistic morality, vs Shen Qingqiu as this kid-friendly supervillain who is "evil" mostly in terms of aesthetics and his ability to make inconvenient problems that are reasonably safe for child heroes to solve. Something like Punisher vs Team Rocket in terms of vibes.

Maybe the reason they meet is because some big publishing house akin to Marvel or DC just bought up the rights to whole bunch of older, discontinued comics titles, and decided to do a Justice League/Avengers style mash-up with a bunch of nostalgia properties and their most recognizable heroes and villains. Which means lots of crossovers condensing several titles into a handful of series.

Luo Binghe's origin always features him as a teenager, so he reboots as the youngest Avenger-equivalent team member in the new continuity. Even in this reboot, however, the writers still mostly go the gritty and dark route with his plots and stick to the same key developments -- his abandonment as an infant, his adoptive mother's tragic death, his tough life on the streets, abusive mentors and backstabbing "allies", and so on.

But Luo Binghe's life suddenly starts experiencing periods of dramatic change in his life when he's brought in for appearances in the lighter, friendlier world of the Junior Heroes continuity. After all, he's a natural choice for tying the two continuities together thanks to his youthfulness. Luo Binghe isn't consciously aware of the fact that he's moving between different titles and different writers. All he knows is that sometimes, when he hangs out with the bright and talented Ning Yingying, he's drawn into "conflicts" with Shen Qingqiu -- the kind of "villain" who will call for tea breaks, never actually hits anyone when he shoots his ray gun, leaves clues for all of his crimes, and can't seem to stop from imparting genuinely helpful advice in between his witty quips and taunts.

When Luo Binghe fights Shen Qingqiu, somehow he never actually gets hurt. Neither do any of his friends. The world in general seems brighter and lighter, as if there is some secret barrier protecting everyone from all the evils Binghe knows only too well exist in the rest of his life. Luo Binghe is increasingly convinced that Shen Qingqiu is the source of this mystical safety net. After all, for an allegedly powerful genius who is able to fool half the world about his wicked aims, he's never won a single fight against a kindhearted but somewhat ditzy teenager and her ragtag bunch of friends!

So what's he spending his actual energy on?

Luo Binghe is pretty sure it's keeping the real evils at bay. Making himself the biggest bad in town, and in doing that, making it so that the "biggest bad" is nothing worse than a slightly judgmental teacher in a pretty costume.

It's not long before Luo Binghe doesn't want to go back to the Justice League equivalent, to his world of misery and strife, even after his visits with Ning Yingying are supposed to be over. Especially as the global stakes of various heroic activities start getting higher, and it becomes clear that the boundary between Shen Qingqiu's safe world and the grimdark reality of Binghe's usual life are getting thinner...

[theeartuaist]

The worst ones never seem like yanderes

At least, not at first - a real wolf I'm sheep's clothing. They seem just so... normal - peefect even! Well, maybe a few things are off about them but everyone has their eccentricities, right?

Like yes, for some reason ever since they entered your life, people who hurt you somehow end up moving away, changing jobs, or ghosting you entirely? Or person you were interested in suddenly blocked you everywhere after getting an "anonymous tip" about something you supposedly did?

But they are kind, sweet and they like you. Sure, they're always in your whereabouts, somehow. But they also just so happen to like that cafe you go to. A coincidence, of course.

Bonus points, if they have the UNCANNY ability to become your literal dream person. Like, have you noticed how they gradually adopted all your favorite things? How their music taste mysteriously evolved to match yours? How they started dressing in that aesthetic you once mentioned you found attractive?

It's not just about looking the part either. They study you. They watch which fictional characters you swoon over, what traits you admire, what behaviors make you feel safe and comfortable. Then they become that person—or at least, a carefully crafted version of that person that exists solely to ensnare you.

Oh, you like people who are passionate about environmental issues? Suddenly they're volunteering at beach cleanups and posting about sustainability. You mentioned once that you find it attractive when someone can play an instrument? Don't be surprised when they "happen" to be learning guitar and need your encouragement.

The chameleon-like quality is terrifying when you finally see it. All those "coincidental" shared interests, the way they mirror your communication style, how they seem to anticipate your emotional needs... it wasn't organic growth. It was calculated metamorphosis designed with one goal: becoming irreplaceable to you.

Yandere like these both terrify me and intrigue me, because they're patient and you never see it coming until the net has already been set. They're willing to play the long game because they want to shape themselves into everything you've ever wanted, becoming so essential to someone that you almost can't imagine life without them. They'll be the one who makes you believe the basement was your idea—that it's the safest place for you to be.

If you try escape at this point, there's nothing much you can do. Your parents? They charmed them completely. "Such a good influence on you," your mom says. Your close friends? They've already won them over. "They're so good for you," your bestie insists whenever you express the smallest doubt.

They strategically befriend your siblings, your roommates, your coworkers—not because they care about these people, but because each relationship is another avenue of access to you. Another source of information. Another potential ally in keeping you close.

They have already turned your support system into their surveillance network. They'll casually ask your friends about you and your whereabouts, and none would be the wiser. If you ever try to create distance, worst case scenario, they'll make you look like the crazy one, weaponising your entire social network against you.

It starts subtly. They'll share "concerns" about your mental health with your closest friends. "I'm worried about them," they'll whisper with perfectly crafted concern. "They've been so paranoid lately." They'll reframe your legitimate suspicions as irrational jealousy or instability.

They'll remind people of that time you were stressed or that medication you once took or that family history you mentioned in confidence. They create a narrative where you're unstable, and they're the long-suffering, supportive partner who just wants the best for you.

By the time you try to tell someone what's happening, the groundwork has been laid. "That doesn't sound like them at all," your friends say with furrowed brows. "Maybe you should talk to someone..." Your own parents take their side. Your therapist has already heard their version of events.

The ultimate trap: the more you try to expose them, the more you reinforce the narrative that you're the unstable one. Your desperate attempts to break free just tighten the noose. Everyone's watching you with concern now, reporting back to them, convinced they're helping.

The way they use these relationships as hostages. If you ever try to create distance, it's not just them you're leaving—it's potentially everyone who's grown to adore them.

By that point, there's nothing you can do but accept your fate.

[runningfrom2am]

cold nights // part twenty-eight

summary: you were back in the capitol, and you would be damned if you didn't try your hardest to make it worthwhile.

pairing: coriolanus snow x fem!reader

wc: 3.3k

masterlists / nav / requests

tags/warnings: tribute!reader and mentor!coriolanus, r is very sweet (too kind for this world. literally.), sunshine x grumpy trope kinda, he falls first, violence typical for the source material, depictions of mental illness, also she's is very smart (as she should), district twelve!reader.

a/n: ahh hiii sorry i went ghost on yall i have been BOOKED and i am so sick and just,,, yeah. life is catching up to me omg

my asks are also open to talk about this series! (i do have emoji anons open now too!)

send me any and all of your thoughts! here!

series masterlist // playlist

Coryo must have been running a few minutes late today, since he hasn't come to get you from your class yet. It was eating into your lunch, which you didn't mind, but still- it was outside of your very structured routine.

Looking down the now almost empty halls, books held against your chest as you wait for your boyfriend.

'Boyfriend'.

The term still felt weird, but you can't help the giddy feeling that manifests into a small smile on your face as butterflies flutter their way into your chest. Still, though, there was no sign of this boyfriend of yours.

"Y/N, hello." Your name pulls you out of the internal mantra, and you look up to its source; a boy who had just walked out of your class after staying back to speak to the professor. He had short hair, styled up the same way Coryo's was day to day now- but it wasn't nearly as blonde. This boy has kind eyes, and it relaxes you from the unexpected interaction.

"Hi there." You smile at the boy, trying to hide how furiously you're searching your head for his name. In classes of forty to fifty students, it was difficult for you to remember especially when you'd only heard their names once and never spoken to essentially all of them. "I'm so sorry," You say to the boy, smile shifting to apologetic. "You'll have to remind me of your name."

"Hilarius." He tells you, and seems to take it in stride.

"Yes! Oh, of course. My apologies." You laugh slightly, a force of habit pushing your hand out to shake his.

He grins as he takes it. "No worries." He adjusts his bag over his shoulder, looking past you and down the halls. "Are... are you waiting for someone?"

"Yes," You nod, and the confusion surrounding why you were just standing there clears from his features. "Coriolanus."

"Ah." Hilarius nods.

"Do you know him?" You ask, having that be your go-to for small talk with your new peers. So far, it's worked well. No one you've had the chance to speak to yet has said no.

"Yeah, yeah. I do." He rubs his jaw as he answers. "We've never been close, but we went to school together. He's in one of my classes now, actually."

"Really?" You smile. "Which one?"

"Poli sci."

"Oh, nice! That's his major. He knows an awful lot about it already- if there's any group projects he's definitely someone you would want working with you." You gush, adjusting your hold on your books.

"Yeah, he's pretty smart." Hilarius agrees.

"Have you decided on your major yet?" You ask. "Political science and English is a wide net to cast."

He shrugs. "Kind of, I don't know. My parents want me to go into business or politics, but I don't think that's what I want."

"The very substance of the ambitious is merely the shadow of a dream." You hum. "I think you should pursue what you want. Not what they tell you you should."

He tilts his head at you, a confused smile on his face. "You do really speak that way, don't you?"

"Well, yes." You laugh.

"I'll be honest, I thought you were playing us all for fools to try and get people to like you."

"Oh, no. I am not smart enough for a ruse like that." You giggle, shaking your head.

"Sure you are." He laughs. "I mean clearly, you are."

"I promise that's not it at all." You assure him quickly.

"Yeah, yeah I know that." He gives you a calm smile. "Hey, do you... do you have time before your next class? I have a little bit if you want to grab lunch together."

"I do, but I usually eat with Coryo." You explain, but he was fifteen minutes late by now. Maybe if you just went to the courtyard he would meet you there. "But we always eat in the courtyard between the buildings, so if we go there I'm sure he'll know where to find us."

"Then lead the way." Your new friend nods to you and you smile, heading off down the hall in the direction of the exit.

Coryo rushes out of his lecture hall as soon as they're done. How the professor had so little care for holding them back an extra twenty minutes just to "wrap up" on a lecture concept was unbelievable to him. Other people had other classes, and he had to get to you.

When he makes it to your building and your class, he assumes your professor must have done the same thing when he doesn't see you in the hall. Peeking into the classroom, he doesn't have the time to be relieved since another class has already started and you are not sitting there listening. He takes a step back and looks around, thoroughly confused.

Where did she go?

He doesn't know if you're comfortable enough here to be wandering off on your own, but you must be. Or you were with someone. Likely Sejanus, if you were to go off with anyone, but as far as Coryo knew Sejanus was in a class across campus right now. Or he was at least supposed to be.

Immediately he picks up his pace stalking through the halls. After ten minutes, it's clear you were nowhere in the building. He even ran the risk of checking the women's bathrooms after his second lap, scared that maybe you were sick or hurt. But no, you were just gone.

Okay, Coriolanus- think realistically about this. Maybe she just went to wait at our usual lunch spot.

That had to be it, so cursing himself for wasting more time, he heads outside.

Sure enough, he was right. He just wishes he had thought of that sooner- especially when he had neglected the possibility that you had been kidnapped.

"I do love it here, I really do." You smile, trying to be convincing enough to your new friend. "Of course, there is always so much to learn! I'm just really grateful for the opportunity." You say, covering your mouth with your palm as you speak and chew at the same time.

"Come on, Y/N. You can be honest with me." Hilarius says, raising an eyebrow at you. "That sounded extremely scripted. There aren't peacekeepers holding a gun to your head, so... just be honest."

You laugh nervously, looking around. "Okay... I mean, it's fine. I'm comfortable, and I love Coryo and everything don't get me wrong!" You defend quickly, and he just nods. "But... I miss my family and my friends, the music, the food... just, it's really not the same."

"I can imagine." He nods sympathetically.

"Here," You offer him your container of fruit in an effort to soften the subject. "Take some, it's far too much for me."

"Thank you." He agrees politely, taking a raspberry from the mix and popping it into his mouth.

"Please, though, don't tell anyone. I did that whole interview convincing everyone that I was happier than ever here and I just don't want to start any trouble."

"You have my word." Hilarius nods, holding out his pinky to you which you accept with a smile.

"Can I tell you a secret?" He says quietly, and you nod while you grab another strawberry from the glass in your lap.

"You kind of owe me one, now." You tease.

He laughs, but his smile fades quickly. "I feel like... Everyone here loves the games, but I hate them." He admits, taking you by surprise. "I want you to know that I think it's absolutely cruel. I mean, little Wovey... She was just the sweetest and- and I feel so guilty about it all. I wish I got to choose whether or not I wanted to mentor."

You nod, swallowing back the rest of the fruit in your mouth. Suddenly, the sweetness makes you nauseous. "She was." You agree quietly, closing your eyes for a moment and preparing for yet another distressing conversation. "I am sorry I couldn't save her."

"Don't be." He corrects you quickly, a worried expression greeting you when you looked at him again. "That's not what I meant, there was nothing more you could have done. You were a friend to her, she really liked you. She had someone, that's the best either of us could offer."

You nod slightly, chewing instead into your lip and leaving your lunch abandoned. "I-I..." You take a shaky breath. "If I could go back, I would have protected her more. She should have won." You choke your way through the statement, eyes burning from holding back tears. Every time you have one of these conversations it feels like you think someone else should have won. Never you.

"Don't cry, please don't cry." He pleads, placing a hand on your shoulder and you freeze under his touch.

"Don't, please." You say quietly, gently shaking off his hand. You couldn't be touched right now, but how was he to know that? This wasn't his fault.

"I'm sorry." Hilarius says, eyes wide as he watches you. "I didn't think, I shouldn't have said anything but I-"

"What the hell did you say to her?!" Your boyfriend's voice is the next one that rings in your ears, you look up to your right to see him walking over quickly, and Hilarius shuffles to get up.

"Nothing! Nothing, I- I don't know." He defends quickly. "I didn't mean to upset her, honestly."

Then Coryo is crouching in front of you, waving a hand in front of your face. "Hey, you're okay." He says softly, offering you a worried smile. "I've got you, alright?"

You nod a little bit, moving your things away from yourself with trembling hands. "I know."

"Is she okay?" Hilarius asks and you nod again, trying to smile in his direction.

"No. Get out of here, Heavensbee. I'll clean up your mess." Coryo spits at him, and he apologizes again quickly before grabbing his bag and disappearing across the grass.

"Coryo, he didn't-"

"Don't worry about it, love." Coryo smiles at you, suddenly less angry than he was a moment ago. "Just take some deep breaths for me, can you do that?"

"I-I'm fine." You breathe out, chest rising and falling quickly.

"Yeah, you're doing great." Coryo smiles, looking around quickly before adjusting so he's kneeling just in front of you. "Tell me about your readings. Anything good today?" He asks, already knowing the answer.

"I'm glad I went back to class today." You say cheerily as you climb into the car, your boyfriend right on your heels.

"Yes, I am too." He says as you buckle up in the middle seat and he closes the door before getting comfortable next to you. "You're getting so much better."

You nod, looking out through the tinted windows as the car begins to move into traffic. You weren't sure if "better" was the correct term- it didn't sit right with you. You weren't sick, not that you thought, anyway, but maybe he was right. The mention of the other tributes' names would have had you on your knees a matter of months ago; you would have been down for the count for days. Still, though, it felt unsettling to hear it said like that.

If getting better meant not being as hurt by their deaths, maybe it's best if you never recover.

"Hey, are you hungry?" He asks after a moment, watching your eyes glaze over as you stare across him and out the window at all the other young people walking by. "I was thinking we could go try that ice cream place I was telling you about on the train."

You blink away the disassociation, smiling up at him instead. "Yes, that sounds lovely."

"What kind do you think you'll get?" You ask, leaning into Coryo's side as you approach the shop. It was late afternoon, so it was a little busy, but really not all that bad. Crowds bothered you less and less, these days.

"I'm not sure." He replies. "Probably like... vanilla."

"Vanilla?" You giggle. "That's so boring! You said they have every flavour imaginable, and you're settling for vanilla?"

"Okay, well, what do you suggest?" He chuckles, pulling the door open for you as you step through.

"I don't know, I just think you should consider all your options first." You shrug, eyes already landing on the handwritten chalkboard menu that spans the back wall. "Oh, wow..." You say under your breath, eyes going wide.

Coryo watches you with a smile on his face, gently brushing his hand over your back. "Okay, I know what I want." You speak quickly, and he laughs.

"What? There's no way you read all of it just now."

"No, course not." You shake your head, eyes still locked on the board as the sound of people chattering surrounds you. "Coryo, what's white chocolate?" You ask, gently tugging on his sleeve and pointing to where you see it.

"Uh, it's chocolate, but white." He answers, really unsure as well. "Tastes a little different than regular chocolate, but hardly."

"Okay, yes. I want that. With raspberries, it says." You nod in finality.

"Yes, ma'am." He agrees. "Wait right here, love." He says and you nod as he walks over to the counter, and you get to look at the colourful paint on the walls and all the buckets of ice cream behind the glass barrier.

"You're Y/N, right? The victor?" A girl's voice asks you and you turn to instead give them your full attention, nodding with a nervous smile.

"In the flesh." You smile, tilting your head slightly. She must be just a few years younger than you, maybe Len's age.

"Oh, wow! We thought so!" She grins, nodding back to a group of other kids, all of whom are donning the same red uniform you always saw Coryo in earlier in the year. "It's so nice to meet you! Oh my gosh, you're so pretty in person." She gushes. "Not that you weren't on screen, but just- wow, I mean, sorry. I'm just nervous."

"Oh, please, don't be." You smile at her, trying to be reassuring as you press a hand to your chest. "I get nervous meeting people all the time. What's your name, hun?"

"Lexus." She answers with an excited smile and flushed cheeks.

"Lexus! What a beautiful name." You say, partially to fill the silence. "It reminds me of my little brother, his name is Lennox. He's about your age, too."

"That's really cool!" She smiles. "How old are you? I mean, obviously under eighteen, but I'm just wondering because I have an older brother so it would be funny if I was the same age as your brother and my brother was the same age as you. If that makes sense, gosh, sorry- I'm rambling..."

"No, no, you're alright!" You laugh slightly, honestly relieved that she was able to do most of the talking. "And I am eighteen. My birthday was during the games, actually."

Her eyes widen. "Really? That's so lucky! That must have felt so special. What a gift!"

A gift?

You almost choke on the air, patting your hand on your chest as you swallow it down. "Well," You clear your throat, looking over to your boyfriend while he's collecting change from the girl working at the counter. "Only because Coriolanus brought me an amazing gift."

"What did he give you?" She asks, and you still haven't torn your eyes away from him as he walks over, silently pleading for his help.

"What did who give you?" He asks, eyeing her as he walks back up to rejoin you.

"I was just telling Lexus that you gave me an amazing birthday present." You explain.

"Oh, well, no. It was very lame, I'm afraid." He shrugs modestly.

"No, it wasn't!" You laugh, swatting his arm before looking over at her again. "He gave me my favourite book, and his cousin even made me a cake. We had a little celebration just before the games, didn't we?"

"Kind of." He chuckles.

"No, hush. It was perfect, I couldn't have asked for anything better."

"I could think of a few better ways to spend your birthday-"

"You guys are really cute." Lexus cuts in before he can finish, and your cheeks flush pink as your attention is drawn back to her. You don't notice how his face pales.

"Oh, no." You laugh. "He's just a little stubborn sometimes, I think my birthday was perfect, and my opinion on it is the only one that matters, no?" You look up at him, raising an eyebrow.

Coryo collects himself quickly, raising his hands defensively with a smile. "Of course, you're right."

"I know I am." You smile, lifting your nose in pride.

He turns as his name is called, seeing the same girl with your ice cream cones waiting. "Did- did you want a picture or something?" He asks Lexus and she nods, cheeks red.

"If that would be okay, Y/N." She looks to you.

"Oh, of course it is!" You smile, following her back over to the table. Her friends were watching silently the entire time, eyes wide in awe. "Hi..." You say, suddenly nervous as none of them greet you. Lexus must have been the chosen one for being able to speak to you, and she was sent over because the others were too shy.

"Here," Lexus says quickly, moving her bag from the seat at the table and fishing a camera out of it. "Take a seat, I'll sit over here." She slides into her friend's lap across from you, making them all laugh as she holds the camera out to Coryo. "Would you mind?" She asks him.

"Not at all." He says, taking it carefully and turning it over in his hands to find the right button.

"It's that button on the top." She points vaguely and he nods, getting the gist of it quickly. "It comes in handy to be in photography right now, apparently."

You laugh slightly and lean over the table slightly, tilting your head as you smile.

"Ready?" Coryo asks and you nod, hearing mumbles of agreement as you raise your hand from where it rests against the table, holding your pinky under your thumb and raising three fingers.

The flash almost blinds you, but you try not to blink.

"Lovely." Coryo says as he passes the camera back to Lexus and she stands up to take it.

"What does this mean?" Her friend asks, mimicking the salute you did for the photo.

"Oh, we do it back home." You explain. "It means peace and unity, or something along those lines depending on context." Getting up from the seat, you shrug a bit. "Force of habit, I suppose."

"Oh, cool! I didn't know that." She replies and you just nod, eyes following Coryo as he quickly rushes over to grab your ice cream. "Well, I should probably go before that melts, but it was so nice to meet you!"

"Yes, of course, thank you!" Lexus grins. "Maybe we'll see you around!"

"I hope so!" You smile. "Adieu, adieu, adieu! Remember me." You wave, turning to go after your boyfriend.

"What's that from?" He asks when you reach his side, knowing your shift in tone.

"Hamlet." You answer as he holds the ice cream cone out for you and you take it happily.

"Ah." He chuckles, giving the kids a nod as he follows you to the door.

"She said I am so lucky that my birthday was during the games." You say as the door shuts behind you, and you resist the urge to look back in through the window.

"Oh, wow." Coryo laughs, shaking his head. "Yeah, I mean, kids around here don't get it. I don't think they understand what's really happening."

"Clearly not." You focus on licking up the drips that have begun to stray down the side of the cone. "This is really good!" You say excitedly, back to your normal self as you look up to him walking next to you down the sidewalk.

"Yeah?" He smiles.

"Yes." You hum, taking the first real lick off the top. "What did you get?"

"Vanilla." He chuckles, already knowing how you will react.

"Vanilla? Oh, Coryo, you need to expand your horizons a bit." You tsk, teasingly shaking your head at him.

"Hey, it's not my fault it's good."

taglist: @soulessjourney , @that-veela-girl ,  @dreamyysouls, @rockstarbfs, @maysileeewrites , @baybieruth , @kitscutie,  @fratboyharrysgf0201 , @totallynotkaibiased , @stelleduarte , @secretsicanthideanymore , @bejeweledreverie , @drewsandsebastianswife , @niicole-87 , @queenofshinigamis , @innercreationflower , @nallasstuff , @iovemoonyy , @thatmarvelchick19 , @wearemadeofstardust0 , @regulusblackcore , @puredreamagination , @fantasticchaosthing , @becauseseaotters , @secretsicanthideanymore , @strawberryflavouredkisses, @cascadingbliss

okay suddenly tumblr isn't letting me tag more people than this so i just made some cuts unfortunately :') i just left the max amount of people i could whose users i recognized and see in my notifs all the time :) if you're not on here and you should be i'm so sorry!

also this taglist is closed now!! if you’d like to get a notification when i update, turn on my post notifications!! i promise i won’t spam y'all :,)

[theghostparty]

Roméo et Juliette: de la Haine à l'Amour - Redesign - 2024

To understand my completely unnecessary desire to redesign a musical that is over twenty years old, you have to understand that Romeo et Juliette is my Roman Empire. Long explanation under the break.

I wanted this design to be an homage in the silliest way possible.

I really leant into the sensibilities of original costume designer Dominique Borg, who used contemporary colour and technique and applied it to historical (or pseudo-historical) silhouettes.

Broadly, I wanted the Montagues to feel English in their shapes--Elizabethan doublets, high necklines, and ruffs, in homage to Shakespeare and the source text. They're all leather, denim, silver hardware--a little bit punk with status.

The Capulets would be deeply Italian Renaissance in their silhouettes, in reference to the setting of the play. They're all velvets, lace, chiffon, satins, and gold hardware--giving them an airiness of the Mediterranean while still allowing some drape here and there.

I wanted each family to have a slightly more broad palette than most versions afford them--which is why the Montagues have a smattering of green and magenta while the Capulets play with some soft yellows and lavenders.

The ball scene is largely Arthurian in inspiration--just because I took the idea of "what would the 1500s consider vintage and costume-y in the same way we think of the Victorian era" and ran away with it. There's also some silly Y2K nonsense because I rewatched the "On dit dans la rue" music video and thought "What if the Capulets threw this big Arthurian affair with full elegance and the Montagues cobbled together some gay club outfits circa 1998 fits out of a suit of armour."

FINALLY, I wanted Roméo and Juliette to take on elements of each other's family's style and colours for the end of the play--because to be loved is to be changed.

So here is a breakdown of my choices for each of the looks.

Un Jour: Here we see Roméo in his base look. It's a two-tone patent leather double with multiple zipper details. The peplum is criss-crossed zippers. The wings over the shoulder seams are edged with zipper teeth. The ruff detail at the neckline is also edged with zipper teeth. He has along zipper across the front of his boot like he's trying to be the next Sailor Moon. I don't know y'all. I went a little feral with trying to figure out all the places I could put zippers in.

Juliette is the most juvenile looking in Un Jour. I imagine that in this scene, she's being dressed by her family instead of her own volition.

She's in an asymmetrical, empire-waisted gown that is likely a brocaded or printed silk. Her chemise is a sheer lavender georgette or chiffon that peaks through the lacing at the shoulders and along the upper arms. She has a velvet choker and velvet belt and a heavily stoned velvet headband. Her hairstyling (it would have to be a wig, it would be NUTS to not make this a wig) is an homage to the open-weave Juliet caps that were similar to nets worn in the period on hair. Italy was, fun fact, one of the few countries where women didn't cover their hair during the renaissance.

L'amour heureux: As I explained above, Roméo's outfit is so silly. The wrap around glasses. The one arm of armour. The sheer, stoned period shirt. The gold brocade on the trousers. The pearl earring. The many, unnecessary belts. Bless this mess. It's also a cheeky little nod to Baz Lurhmann's Romeo + Juliet.

Juliette is, ostensibly, cosplaying as Guinevere or Lady Macbeth or Ophelia or any number of Middle Ages women. The ball is the Capulet's opportunity to really sell their daughter as marriage material so I wanted the look to feel bridal, hence the veil. I wanted to give reference to exaggerated surcote sleeves without actually doing them, hence the sleeve-into-glove and bow detailing with trails down to the floor. There is also a hint of yellow chemise underneath, which is actually just her Le balcon look underdressed for ease of the quick change (yes, I did think about this.) The dress is velvet with one panel of lace in-set into the underskirt. The bows are satin-face organza.

Le balcon: Romeo would change into his base again (during Le Poète). Juliette is in a simple yet totally impractical sheer chemise + slip combo. I wanted this soft yellow for this sequence because I always think about the lines "O she doth teach the torches to burn bright!" and "But soft! What light through yonder window breaks?/It is the east and Juliet is the sun" when it comes to describing her. The chemise would likely be a chiffon, while the slip would be silk.

Aimer: I say this with my whole chest--I hate how they changed the palette for Aimer in the 2010 production. I want my lovers soft and angelic and matching in this moment of union. Here we see a bit more of Romeo's lace shirt--his sleeves are laced like Juliette's in the first look. His doublet, trouser, boot combo are off-white leather in homage to the original production. Juliette's dress has a similar train length to her ball look (again, bridal) and we see the neckline creep up into a ruff (Elizabethan, rather than Italian). Lots of sheer net and lace with cream bridal satin as a skirt. Tiered sleeves. A little circlet on her head.

Le poison: Honestly? Just wanted her to have another outfit change before her death dress as a transitional choice. There's so much more of the purple in this look because it's going to take us into the blue elements of the final dress.

La mort de Roméo/Juliette: Again. To be loved is to be changed. Juliette has a dropped waistline, a high neckline and ruff, and a heart shaped cut-out detail (see: boob window). She's straight up in blue, and all the sweet and soft pinks of her youth are gone. Romeo has lost his high neckline, ruff, wins, and peplum in favour of a shorter Italian silhouette. He's asymmetrical (a call-back to Juliette's asymmetry) and all the edging detail is done in red. Mantua as a setting is patchworked, torn, and dirty, so I imagine the doublet is pieced together from scraps of jersey (so it's drippy and sad and hangs off him in a lovely manner).

[so-i-did-this-thing]

hello! all creatures great and small question here. i just started reading (or rather, listening to) the first book and im really liking it! i want to dive into the show(s) too. do you recommend the new reboot or the original one? the reboot seems like it would have a more active fanbase but i am curious about the original too. (mostly for peter davison. i am a pretty big doctor who fan 😅)

Both shows are a delight.

The OG series is more faithful to the books, and it's great fun to see the stories come to life. The performances a lot of the time are that over-broadcasted 70s/80s style of British television, but that is just part of the charm. Peter makes a lively Tristan.

The new series is clearly a modern conceit, focused on character and plot arcs over a strict retelling of the animal cases. It loses as much as it gains, with the net result of being sweet and charming and full of heart.

Both shows are more rewarding if you know the source material. A lot of James' inner monologue gets lost on screen (especially commentary on the resiliency of the Dales farmers, as well as the relentless tide of "progress"), and gags like the rose bath salts are much funnier in text, imo.

So, it really depends on your mood! I own the DVDs for both series. :)

[sammyboiocs]

I was dealing with some troubles organizing my thoughts regarding the fashions of each nations I'm dealing with in this world/story. I have plenty of Pinterest boards that I was relying on but I wanted to organize my thoughts more properly so these explorations were created!

I'll add some elaborated thoughts under the cut since it's a lot

The first two pieces are depicting the fashion of the Winter Court. If you know my more recent OCs, this is where Kaerrfuar and Faruaill are from. The first piece is meant to be general daywear. The focus in on robed/dress looks with lots of ties/fastens like belts or strings.

I want to revisit the Winter Court fashions and dissect it a bit more because while I think that what i did here isn't bad it is limited. I want to include more furs into their outfits, get a clearer distinction between outside wear and inside wear. The Winter Court (and Courts in general) are the type to have different outfits for all occasion and I think breaking that down more would be very beneficial to me in understanding the fashion culture.

I also want to revise the fastens because I think i need a LOT more lacing. Semi corsets and fashionable belts, LOTS of jewelry. I didn't even touch on the gloves the shoes the accessories. I made a note about patterns and then didn't do any patterns. A lot to be revisited!

The second photo is depicting Winter Court nightwear and undergarments. They do a lot of layering and because I do draw Kaerr a considerable amount in their pajamas i wanted a good reference. Especially since a big part of Kaerr's transition in marriage is finding clothes they arent overheating in after they move lol.

I think generally the pajamas/undergarments are straightforward and remain a reliable source.

The next picture depicts Wetland fashion. That is where Neirin was raised, as well as where his (adoptive) mother Reka, and much of his friends like Lage, Keel, and Reif are from.

The Wetland fashion has a lot more variety in longer shirts and functional layering. Lots of sashes and netted accessories because they are both a land and water based mer civilization. getting in and out of the water means they have more options in how the fabric is going to lay on them in motion and the functionality of it especially for the small fishing village where much of my characters are from will focus on wearing things that can be refashioned in various ways.

I largely think my exploration here is reliable. I'd like to do more in the way of jewlery and potentially feet and hand wrappings, since the mer don't tend to wear shoes, but overall I think I'm happy with it!

Lastly is my exploration for Coreilmar. This is where Neirin was born and where Neirin and Kaerr live for much of the story. Importantly, it is where Neirins family; Mairenn, Taran, and Manon live and I desperately needed to figure this out for styling them.

Guys,,,, its SO hard... Coreilmar was the one I needed this for most because it was the most difficult and I still think I have a lot to do for it.

Coreilmar has two main things I needed in their fashion, brighter more colourful attire. And armour inspired looks. This includes lots of junky body jewelry, pauldrons, and Bracers. I was struggling a lot with the chest and neck areas since at the time I was worried about the mer wearing anything over their gills. I am now at a place where I can imagine they do wear stuff over their chest at least, but it would have to be looser fabric or jingly jewelry. This is something I haven't figured out how to style yet and I really wanna do more work on it.

Coreilmar I also dearly want to figure out more of how fashion might differ between class levels, as well as identify how their marital jewelry might be significant from their other jewelry.

With all of these countries I want to test out more of how children are styled. How similar it might be to the adults and how much it might not. Would a child in the Winter Court put up with all the belts and layers the adults wear or would the court find easier ways to fashion children to be less bothersome. Are kids in Coreilmar eager to put on their bracelets and run around or would that be considered a waste of resources?

There's a lot to be explored for both the variety of the fashion and the context of the fashions so I hope to do more of this eventually <3

[palmofafreezinghand]

worship

Esme and Carlisle debrief after a very successful art exhibition. on ao3 here.

New York City. 1988. 

Esme’s forehead fell against her husband’s back, her arms slinked under his tuxedo jacket, impatiently waiting for him to unlock their hotel room. Carlisle swiped the key card in the door, the door angrily beeped. His wife’s body pressed against his back as she let out a deep sigh. 

“Come on,” he grumbled, trying the key again only to be met with another beep. 

“Shush, it’s two in the morning,” Esme whispered between his shoulder blades, softly pinching at his sides. 

“This is the city that never sleeps,” he whispered, feeling her light laugh. He tried the key a third time, cursing human’s insistence on advancing technology, and was met with a green light and the click of a lock giving way. 

He held the door open for her with one hand, slipping the inefficient key card back into his wallet. 

The room smelt vaguely like Aqua Net hairspray — the purple can, never the orange — and a citrusy floral perfume that came in a little yellow bottle. He locked the door behind them. A muffled thud demanded his attention, Esme’s stilettos being half heartedly kicked off. 

He turned to watch her as she made her way lazily about the suite. Earrings were unclipped and tossed onto the nightstand, a necklace worth more than his car unclasped and set in a wad, nylon tights ungracefully peeled off and left on the patterned carpet. 

With a soft thump, Esme flopped onto the bed. The thick duvet ballooning around her. “Sold out,” she sighed, her arms falling down beside her. “Thirty-three pieces. All sold.” 

“It was truly a marvelous show, my love,” Carlisle said, a smile of amusement as he watched her beaming to herself. He hung his tuxedo jacket on a flimsy wire hotel-provided hanger. “You have truly outdone yourself.” 

Carlisle was humble enough to admit he was not an objective source when it came to Esme’s artistic talent. However, he would still be the first to say she was one of the most gifted artists that had ever created. The smashing success of her one-night exhibition was not dispelling his theory. 

The cynic in him knew drawing the attention of a large gallery and their patrons with large checkbooks was asking for trouble. Reviews by art critics were the opposite of inconspicuous.  They had taken precautions. ‘J. Platt’ was known to be a recluse, never pictured in public, only a handful of curators claimed to have ever spoken to the artist. Instead, the artist’s employee maintained most communications, collected all payments, transported all pieces, and was the one who attended the crowded openings. No one had ever batted an eye. 

“I have outdone everyone!” She exclaimed sitting up with a start. 

“Shh,” he smiled. 

“Did you hear them in there?” She stage-whispered. 

“I did,” he laughed, stepping out of his pants and hanging them next to his jacket. “You’re a star.” 

“Every single piece sold. For that director’s awful prices at that, even that ugly yellow one.” 

“I liked the yellow one.” 

“Fifteen minutes. Completely sold out in fifteen minutes,” she sighed, raking her hand through her hair, destroying the style she had spent over an hour getting to lay just right. “You know the best part?” She asked, reaching out her arm in Carlisle’s general direction. He took the command willingly, stepping to the end of the bed. 

“How happy you are?” He asked, his thumb and index angling her chin up to look at him. It was an enchanting sight, the dimple in her left cheek, the crinkle at the corner of her eyes. 

“You and Edward did not buy a single piece. I did this. All on my own.” She plopped back down on the bed. He picked up her left arm and gently sat down next to her, allowing her arm to drape over his abdomen. “This is exhilarating.” 

“You can not fathom how proud I am of you. You deserve every kind word they said in there, and more.” 

“‘Master of technique.’ Did you hear that one?” 

“Oh yes. Did you hear the two older gentlemen who kept comparing your lighting to Caravaggio?” 

“No,” she breathed, shifting her body to tuck into his side, her head resting on his chest. “You must swear you will not allow me to get addicted to this feeling,” she said, looking up at him. 

“But I am enjoying this side of you.” There was something charming about the utterly uncharacteristic boasting. A display of self assuredness he presumed would fail to be endearing for longer than a night. 

“Tomorrow I know I will be mortified about my behavior this evening,” she confessed in a whisper barely louder than the air conditioner, “but for tonight I selfishly wish to revel in this.” 

“You deserve it, Esme. Truly.” 

“I love you,” Esme said into his neck. Her breath brushing against a scar that he feared would forever be sensitive. 

“And I love you.” 

“Not as much as those people tonight. They worshipped me.” 

“I do not worship you?” Carlisle gasped, only partly in jest, rolling them so he was looking down at her, elbows propped on either side of her. 

“I suppose,” she sighed, fully in jest. “None of those men have named an island after me.” She brushed a lock of hair off his forehead. 

“I’ll name a thousand islands after you.” 

“Thank you.” 

“For the island?” 

“For allowing me this night.” 

“Of course. It was an opportunity you would be a fool to pass up.” 

“No,” she shook her head, gently pulling him down to lie next to her. “The past sixty something years of awe and wonder at every sketch and painting, even the ones you hated.” 

“I have loved every piece of art you have ever made,” Carlisle lied as he had done thousands of times before when she pressed him on the subject. She tilted her her head in challenge. “Besides your cubist phase,” he admitted quietly. 

 “I knew it!” 

“For what it’s worth I still worshipped you then,” he said, pressing a kiss to her cheek. Well, attempting to, but she had turned her head to catch his lips in a proper kiss. 

[songofamazon]

20 Questions for (Fanfiction) Writers

Tagged by @maythedreadwolftakeyou. Thank you!

How many works do you have on ao3?

So, I just recently started moving things over from ff . net and other places, but I've also written new things, so for stats like these, I'll be including both.

On AO3, I have only 9 works so far. On FFnet I have 24. Of course there are a few on my computer waiting to be edited and posted.

2. What’s your total ao3 word count?

AO3 has 64,627 and FFnet has 800,881 words. So yeah, I've got a lot to move over yet.

3. What are your top five fics by kudos?

So we're going to do this mixed "favs" from FFnet and kudos from AO3:

1. Under the Shadow of the Builders | 43 Favs | Star Wars (194,940 words) This story spans the game Knights of the Old Republic and follows the adventures of the crew of the Ebon Hawk as they try to discover the source of Darth Malak's power and stop the Jedi Civil War.

2. Ma’venahn, you look so tired. | 25 kudos | DATV AU (499 words) Solas has been freed from the fade prison and is living at the Lighthouse with Rook and the Veilguard team, acting as an advisor. When Inquisitor Lavellan comes to join their efforts, his heart is far from prepared to face her again.

3. Sailor Moon: Elysion | 20 favs | Sailor Moon OCs (6,137 words) Elysion tells the story of the soldiers of the seven secret Earth realms. Even before the Dead Moon Circus follows Pegasus to Japan, they track him through Anchorage and then to a small suburb of Chicago. Two teams of Sailor Soldiers must defend humanity as the Dead Moon Circus searches for the mysterious Golden Crystal and Secret Keeper. [I am in the process of revising this to remove some harmful tropes, so only the first two chapters are up on AO3 so far.]

4. Reconciling Emptiness | 19 favs, 9 kudos | DAI (35,695 words) The Inquisition has won and Corypheus was defeated, yet Inquisitor Lavellan cannot bring herself to celebrate. Solas has left without a word, and she no longer has an enemy to fight. This series of short vignettes explores Lavellan's struggles to reconcile the emptiness left by the departure of Solas and other companions, and to find a new purpose for the Inquisition.

5. Solavellan Ever After | 13 kudos | DATV AU (991 words) The final battle against the false Elven gods rages, and Solas, now freed from the Fade prison of his own making, fights alongside Rook, Veilguard, and their allies. But the terrible wrath of Elgar'nan is unstoppable, and it could cost Solas his heart. This is an attempt at a potential happy ending for Solas and Inquisitor Lavellan, with what we knew of Veilguard in August 2024. I'd still like to finish it eventually. (cw: graphic injury)

4. What fandoms do you write for?

I started in Sailor Moon otaku senshi (OCs) fanfiction, moved into Star Wars (particularly Knights of the Old Republic era), and then the Solavellan bug bit me and I write Dragon Age fanfics too.

5. Do you respond to comments? Why or why not?

Absolutely! I love having conversations with my readers. Comments give me motivation, and sometimes even ideas.

6. What’s the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending?

Hands-down, it's From Beyond, my Sailor Moon OC fanfic in which all the OCs die, and in so doing, the canon sailors completely miss a message that might have saved the Silver Millennium.

7. What’s the fic you wrote with the happiest ending?

I think that would be Solar Wars, the first Sailor Moon fanfic I wrote from start to finish. Everyone is purified and gets to go home to a renewed Golden Kingdom. The writing style is very much characterized by the age I was at the time, and it needs some harmful tropes removed before I can move it over to AO3.

8. Do you get hate on fics?

Not really? I don't really get much engagement at all, to be honest. Every once in a great while, back on FFnet, someone would catch a misspelling that my dyslexia missed, and that was always frustrating to get that kind of condescension when dyslexia is literally a disability. (Don't do it. It's mean and ableist. Just don't.)

9. Do you write smut?

I tried to go there with Raspberries, and I didn't like the process. It was in my head, but writing it out was really uncomfortable.

I'm the sort of demisexual who is generally sex-repulsed by hanky-panky that doesn't involve me, and apparently that extends to my characters.

Fluff though? I love writing romantic fluff.

10. Do you write crossovers?

Not really? I might take inspiration from a character in one fandom for a character in another. See my Rook, Tenjo Mercar, who was inspired by Utena Tenjou in "Revolutionary Girl Utena." Their first fic will go up with @transthedasfest later this month.

The Sailors in From Beyond are named for the planets in the solar system of an original fic universe I was co-writing with a friend in middle and high school. I may yet make some off-hand comments in a Sailor Moon fanfic in the future to "Sailor Pern" or "Sailor Naboo," but I don't really want to dive too far into that kind of crossover.

11. Have you ever had a fic stolen?

Not to my knowledge, but also, I don't get a lot of engagement. That said, one of the biggest complements I got during my Tower of Time (my Sailor Moon OC fanfic website and forums) era, was stumbling on another set of forums that had adopted my Sailor Moon: NeoF sailors for an open-ended RPG. They had done so much art and character development, and even made a website for them. It was really fun to meet them and learn what about the characters appealed to them.

12. Have you ever had a fic translated?

Not to my knowledge!

13. Have you ever cowritten a fic before?

In my Tower of Time era, my friend Prae and I sort of co-shaped the fannon of the Tower of Time, but each of us wrote our own "seasons" of stories for it.

The biggest co-writing project I did was original fic in middle and high school with our friends, in which we imagined a self-insert pseudo-magical girl hero story. We played out various adventures, shared artwork, and people wrote different sections of our adventures. I mostly wrote the origin stuff.

In Star Wars, on TheForce.net forums, I organized a collaborative story from a bunch of different perspectives on Revan's return to Republic space as a Sith Lord. Unfortunately a couple of the key perspective pieces never got done, so we never shared it. I should really see if I can contact at least some of the writers for permission to post their parts again.

14. What’s your all time favourite ship?

Revan x Carth still haunts me. I need to finish their epic story someday. It's already 300K words long in "book" 3 of 4. I stalled when all my readers disappeared...

By contrast Solas x Inquisitor Lavellan is such a font of inspiration. I love them and their restrained intensity for each other so much.

For completely original OCs, I accidentally stumbled into a Sailor Elysion x Helios past lives romance, and I love it. Their current timeline relationship is more complicated, and also there's Chibiusa.

And while I was writing my transition piece between KotOR and KotOR II, my produce-hauling pilot Kionee Rinnh wound up giving a ride to Mical (Disciple) and wow does she have a crush. I love that for her. Sometimes these things just happen when you let your OCs out to play.

15. What’s the wip you want to finish but doubt you ever will?

I love the characters in Celestial Revolutions (Sailor Moon) so much, and I'd love to give them resolution, but I can't quite find a backstory and villain plot that fits right. They're on at least their third revision.

Back to Kionee Rinnh, I wanted to write the genesis of her shifting from just a produce hauler to a blockade runner in I do it for the Fruit, a Mandalorian Wars Journal. I'd still love to write that, but it takes a lot of timeline research, and my physical and mental state these days just need me to write easier things.

16. What are your writing strengths?

I think I'm really good at cinematic descriptions, when they're called for. I also pay a lot of attention to word and sentence rhythm, as well as the way that words can convey sensory and scene details.

17. What are your writing weaknesses?

Staying focused on just one project. Wow. Ahah. This is how I have so man unfinished WIPs.

I also struggle a bit to write mean characters. I feel bad for the other characters. Haha.

18. Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language in a fic?

As a multilingual and multicultural human, I find that I write a lot of stories (original and fanfic) where cultural and linguistic exchange play a big role.

First, don't italicize loan words from other languages. That others the second language/culture and your readers who do speak that language.

Second, it needs to serve a purpose. Is it ambient background noise that your character feels lost in (just as the readers might)? Fine, no explanation of what it is needed. You could also give your perspective character's feelings or approximate understanding of it.

Are you demonstrating a skill of one of your charters? If so, we need to be able to appreciate that skill, so somehow in the text that surrounds it, we need to get the meaning. I have seen footnotes work for this, or something like "I introduced myself politely," to give us an approximate meaning and nuance.

Context is absolutely necessary.

If you are someone who uses mixed languages in your day-to-day life, and the story is something that draws from your experiences, you do you. Context clues can help the rest of us who aren't from that subculture better understand, though.

19. First fandom you wrote for?

Sailor Moon! My first fic would have gone online in the late 1990s when my uncle let me use a part of his web domain to launch the Tower of Time. Eventually the Tower got its own domain and webspace. Either Solar Wars or Seasons was first.

20. Favourite fic you’ve ever written?

For Sailor Moon, it's Elysion. The characters led the way and the story just fell into place in a way that felt so natural.

For Star Wars, there are some really brilliant moments in the middle of The Road to Rediscovery, which is really more a collection of loosely related shorts that connect KotOR and KotOR II. It has at least one chapter featuring each of the companions from both games, and a bunch of Kionee tying them all together. My novelizations of the games are a little more constricting in material (though my KotOR II is going pretty off the rails), whereas this between material just kind happened, because the characters needed it. It was a joy to write it super character-driven.

For Dragon Age, Reconciling Emptiness is really important to me. I was playing Inquisition during a really difficult period of my life, with lots of transitions, uncertain, and fear. I was trying to figure out who I was and who I wanted to be. I started this immediately after finishing my first run of the game, before Trespasser, and it carried me through a couple years of transition, much like Inquisitor Lavellan needed to sort through years of transition without Solas.

Thanks again for the tag! For other tags, if you feel like it: @thereeness, @shuubunni, @bygonesigh, @galadrieljones, @spiritsong

If only I'd spend as much time writing and editing stories as I do on Tumblr...

[toreadorcaretaker]

🍷 𝑻𝑶𝑹𝑬𝑨𝑫𝑶𝑹 𝑶𝑪 𝑻𝑨𝑮 𝑮𝑨𝑴𝑬 🌹

I was tagged by @sadwrncupid! I dare you to do fashion for Enir and/or Florante even though they're not Toreadors (if you want to). Also, I don't know a lot of people in VTM yet, so I am just making this an open tag!

DRESS UP : Put 6 photos describing your Toreador OC’s style and aesthetic. Let others get to know them through fashion, since you get to know about people through what they wear (and maybe some more notes on why they dress like that because this is more of a me thing and I just wanna read about fashion and lore okay you don’t have to haha)

Clarette favors tight silhouettes in black or red satin so that her big, curly hair can take center stage. She wears it in a messy updo for formal occasions, or just flowing everywhere, and often wears hats with netting over her face. She also likes velvet and furs, because they give the illusion of warmth, which is something she misses. She has a leopard fur capelet that is made from her former pet leopard, in addition to many other fur items. She likes lots of silver jewelry and pearls.

Image Sources: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9

[panopticonrpg]

EVENT 01. PART 2: THE FEAST

Your new home...

You’re off the cruise ship - but where are you? There’s nothing else in the horizon but deep ocean; inland, the beach gives way to thick wilderness, and a raised plateau with small, bungalow-style houses peppering the landscape. They all look exactly the same, and are scattered like a small village - or like someone tossed them on the land like dice on a board. To the east, a large brick and stone building squats in a field. Something about the building hums; closer inspection reveals generators situated around the back. The same with a warehouse building to the east - in fact, generators seem to power all electricity around the empty village…but what was powering the generators?  No gas tank, no batteries, no solar panels even.  But they chugged along nonetheless.

The cameras on the tall poles lovingly follow your movements, everywhere. What catches your senses - particularly your nose - is the scent of food.  On the coast overlooking over the ocean is a wooden patio, spacious enough to hold over 200 people.  The patio is empty, save for one long table near what looks like a barbeque-and-bar counter.  Under covered nets to protect it from wandering critters, are dishes and dishes of food. Hot and cold food, non-alcoholic beverages in large dispensers, dishes to please every palate and dietary needs.  Given how empty this place is, it's unclear how the food - freshly made and beautifully arranged - even appeared.  Was it here before you woke up, or did it manifest somehow during the panic of waking up on the Odyssey? The loudspeaker message glitches, garbles up and then suddenly changes to a woman’s soft and cheery voice: COME CHECK OUT THE BUFFET AT THE HUB! You must be S̡̧̧̡̨͔̜̲̞̖̥͚̦̎T̡̜̦͖͈̥̈́̈́̓͐͘A̻̘̜̣̱̫̳͖͉͊̃̅́̄̑͘Ŗ͕̞̜̩̟͑͆͂͐̐̊̑̀̊͝͠͝͝V̛͙͍̘̟̞̓͛͒͐̇̀͑̐̋̿̈́Í̧̻̗͊̃̎͆̍̅̕͜Ņ̧̧͙̲̬̳̞͇͇̊͆́͒̋̊̔̽̕͝Ḡ̡̦͕͔̘͎̥̻̅̾̉̂̅̎̄̋͌́͝͠ (starving) after your long travel to get here.

OOC info below the cut!

OOC INFO:

The rest of the island has opened up for exploration!  Within immediate access (about a 15 minute walk from the beach) are the community areas.  The top point of the Tower is in the distance, and might be tricky to reach, as there’s a strip of wilderness and a crooked old bridge separating the community from the Tower. The black-sand beach is about a half-hour walk, and the volcano island is a ten-minute swim (by a strong swimmer) to reach it.   Within the bungalows and medicenter, there are electric sockets.  (Hint: need a phone charger?  Your character might want to head back to the Odyssey).  All bungalows have plumbing and electricity, powered by the mysterious generators.  NOTE: Breaking apart a generator comes with risks - if you don’t understand the power source, can you put it back together successfully?  There are no generators to replace the ones in use. The medicentre is basic, but fully functional.  Inside the brutalist building, it looks incredibly sterile, like no one has used it since it was built.  The technology in there looks like it came from before Y2K. The warehouse is fully stocked with perishable and non-perishable food.  There are also some other basic supplies:

 somewhat shapeless clothes made of natural fabrics, heavy coats (despite the island seeming tropical)

some small household appliances, including toasters

plenty of toiletries and cleaning supplies

a few books and magazines

some cassette tapes, CDs, and old music players.  No music from after Y2K.

there are no televisions

a variety of repair and household garage small tools, mostly non-powered 

a stand-up dolly, some wheeled wagon-carts for carrying heavy things, and five bicycles.  

FINAL NOTE: The bracelets do not work yet! Patience…

[cindylouwho-2]

Etsy Second Quarter 2024 Earnings Report: Sales Still Down, But Not As Much

Above: Slide 8 from Etsy's Q2 Financial Results Call, © Etsy.

The company is doubling down on gifts, AI, and "the quality, diversity, and differentiation of our sellers' most unique inventory"

While sales were still down in Etsy's second quarter, the trend is slowly changing, and the number of sellers is dropping as well, hinting that the site clean-up may be working a bit.

We also got some key information on recent Etsy search changes, more on specific ways engineers are using AI, and some interesting details on the new Etsy Insider program announced the same day. This is definitely a report you don't want to miss!

First, here are the official sources:

the press release

transcript of the conference call

slides from the conference call

video of the call (click on “Webcast”)

my summaries of the second quarter 2023, and the first quarter 2024 for comparison

And the key numbers (covering April to June 2024, compared to the same period in 2023):

Sales on Etsy were $2.5 billion, down 3.2% year over year

Total sales for all 3 marketplaces (Etsy, Reverb, and Depop) were $2.9 billion, down 2.1%. [Elo7 was officially sold in mid-August 2023, so its numbers were included in the comparison totals]

Etsy’s revenue (including all 3 sites) was $647.8 million, up 3.0%

Seller service revenue was up 0.9% , while marketplace revenue was up 3.8% across all 3 sites

Net income was $53.0 million, down 14.4% “reflecting a $7.2 million retroactive non-income tax expense” that Canada is to blame for [note that Canadian sellers will now be paying a ~10% increase in fees starting August 15, with a 1.15% regulatory operating fee almost certainly related to this tax change]

Active buyers on Etsy alone stand at 91.5 million, up 1%

Active sellers on Etsy alone are at 6.6 million, up 300,000 from the second quarter 2023 but down 400,000 from the first quarter 2024. [Note that “active” means one charge or transaction in the past 12 months; many “active” shops currently have nothing for sale]

Etsy sales where the buyer and/or the seller was not in the United States were 48%, although across all three sites that is only 45%

What Sellers Need To Know About Search

As you already know, from previous quarterly results calls and other presentations, Etsy is moving away from serving up the most relevant search results - which often might be very similar in nature - and is instead focussing on the quality of the listings now. CEO Josh Silverman now revealed that they are trying to reduce repetition of items and of individual shops in the search results, as a push to show the wide variety of products and styles available on the marketplace. This part regarding recent search tests is worth reading in full:

"In the past, our search algorithms ranked each listing individually based on likelihood to convert, which often resulted in buyers seeing far too many similar items rather than a more holistic set. Here's some powerful data. We roughly cut in half the percentage of searches where a high percentage of listings seen on page one are from a single seller. We reduced the percentage of searches that have two or more listings that may appear identical by over 70%. We're incredibly excited about what this might mean for future visitation, as buyers see a more diverse and higher quality set of listings each time they visit Etsy. In addition to helping buyers, these initiatives also support our sellers, given how important it is that we nurture the best of Etsy across our seller base. Our latest search experiments resulted in approximately 70% of shops having more visibility in search, with the share of search impressions from small and medium shops increasing by nearly 30%." [my emphasis]

That's right: almost out of nowhere, Etsy is suddenly worried about giving visibility to smaller-volume shops with (possibly) fewer items. They were not only cutting down the number of times a shop can appear on page 1, but are also reducing the number of listings that look very similar. If they adopt some version of these tests in the future, this has the potential to harm resellers, shops that only personalize common finished goods, and shops using print-on-demand (POD) services. I know some sellers are upset that POD shops can still use mock-ups - I wrote more about that here - but if looking the same as other merchants may be a huge drawback later this year, suddenly original photos sound like a great advantage.

They didn't mention when they tested this, but we should assume that search changes will keep coming in this area. Given that Silverman also repeated the promise to soon provide better information about how our listings are ranked in search, definitely expect more volatility in the near future. For bigger businesses with tons of listings, you may want to think about how to get your lines into a broader array of searches instead of depending on competing with yourself in a smaller number of large queries.

AI: It Knows Better

Silverman's ideal world is apparently one where the corporation ignores sellers' own descriptions of their wares and instead lets a machine figure it out for us.

His own words are perhaps the best description of what I mean:

"...to better curate merchandise to improve the buyer experience and drive GMS, we're making it easier for buyers to find quality listings for mid-price jewelry, known as demifine, by having human experts determine what jewelry attributes are most important to a buyer's search, think material, gold purity, or hot trends, then utilizing GenAI to infer those attributes to create new search discovery modules and pathways, and incorporate this into on-site experiences such as landing pages. While this search is very much in progress, these better on-site shopping experiences, combined with targeted marketing initiatives, such as tailored social media content, CRM efforts, and improved data feed curation for paid and organic search, contributed to a 9% year-over-year increase in GMS for demifine jewelry in the quarter." [my emphasis]

To summarize: human merchandising experts figure out what the average shopper wants in jewellery in the $100-$200 range, then AI looks at listings and figures out which have those elements. [Sadly, that means that shops making less trendy items could have even less visibility in generic searches, which kind of goes against the diversity thing he was pushing when discussing search earlier.]

Given that Etsy's AIs currently tell me that my pendants are a completely different size than the actual measurements I've already written into the listing, and still sometimes think that something turquoise-coloured is a turquoise gemstone, I'm not looking forward to more of this. [I am intrigued by the fact they are trying to push sales of jewellery in that price range, though, so that's something.]

The New Creativity Standards

No real news here. As promised in previous calls, the July 9th announcement was about ditching the broad concept of handmade - which both buyers and sellers could find confusing - for different levels of contribution by the shop owner. The accompanying ad campaigns are about changing the public perception of Etsy and focussing on the shop owners themselves. Silverman thinks that emphasizing that Etsy has artisan goods may lead to sellers feeling better able to raise their prices.

Etsy isn't expecting the new standards to increase conversion, but instead to bring people who already know Etsy back to shop more often. Silverman also linked this to the search testing discussed above; showing buyers more variety should also encourage more repeat visitors.

Being a Gift Hub Is Still A Big Goal

Some sellers seem to think Etsy is going to give up on being a gift destination any time now, but that seems really unlikely, given that the proportion of orders marked as gifts went up 4% in the quarter while overall marketplace sales were down 3.2%. Furthermore, "we're utilizing monthly US buyer surveys to gauge the impact of our gifting strategies, and this data shows a significant year-over-year increase in prompted consideration of Etsy for gifts." The press release even mentions selling Etsy gift cards through third parties, although that hasn't otherwise been announced or discussed just yet.

As the company keeps adding new gift features - such as video gift teasers and gift purchase reminders - it's clear this is a long-term plan. If you haven't already, look at how your shop can innovate for the gift buyers Etsy is going after, because the focus on gifting is not going away.

"Etsy Insider" Is A Test; It Might Disappear, Or Change

While some sellers are upset about the new Etsy Insider program that will be offered to US buyers via invite only in September, there are a few facts you need to know:

It's a test. It may not go beyond beta, although they are hopeful.

Silverman is really excited about seeing if offering free US shipping will bring people back in more shopping situations. [Since shipping costs have skyrocketed but Etsy hasn't raised the US free shipping minimum set before the pandemic, this point does not bode well for sellers.]

The target Insider members are not Etsy's best buyers, but "people who shop only occasionally on Etsy. Think people who shop three or four times a year...We're targeting more occasional shoppers and seeing if we can upgrade them."

Miscellaneous

Expect even more pressure to use the buyer app, as 42% of sales now come from it. They are even running paid ads for the app, because shoppers who download it come back more and spend more on Etsy in the long term.

Chief Financial Officer Rachel Glaser is retiring, but not until they find a replacement for her, and she will be staying on as a consultant into 2025.

Offsite Ads are up, in part because they are expanding where they are shown, with way more social media ads. Those tend to bring existing buyers back sooner rather than attracting new buyers as Google Shopping does.

While Offsite Ads spending was up, brand spending was down, because they spent so much on hyping Gift Mode in the first quarter.

98% of sales now go through Etsy Payments [while that led to more income this quarter, it also means there isn't much real growth to come, with only 2% of sales going to other payment processors today.]

The new shop fee is cutting down on fraud and also the number of new sellers. Fraud tends to go way up in the fourth quarter, and they feel they are much better prepared to prevent it this year.

Sales were up at Depop, and Reverb continues to do better than the average musical instrument business.

The economy is still volatile.

Finally, while all of Etsy's top 6 categories were down in the first quarter, 3 were down less in the second, paper and party supplies were about even, and toys and games actually increased.

My Thoughts

It would be easy to criticize Etsy for not managing to increase sales again this quarter, and for expecting to be slightly down in the third quarter as well, but the truth is lots of non-essential ecommerce is still down or struggling. Ecommerce stocks were down this week after several other companies such as Wayfair reported poor numbers. Amazon's online sales were only up 5% in the quarter, which is a bad result for them, especially given that they sell a lot of essentials and grocery items. Amazon revenue missed projections as well.

On the other hand, it would also be understandable if some people fell for the "increasing impressions for small shops/marketing true artisan goods/reducing scammy sellers" rhetoric. It sounds great, but to me it's all a bit too good to be true, especially given that the site just allowed AI art, and 100% commercial gift baskets and commercially-made holiday decor to be sold, competing with genuine handmade artisan creations. We'll have to see how much visibility wreath and pillow resellers get once they realize they are allowed now.

More importantly, Etsy might have tried pivoting a lot earlier instead of losing so much goodwill over the past several years with the increasing quality decline of the site's offerings. I guess someone at head office finally noticed all the articles and social media posts about how Etsy is just AliExpress-lite with a veneer of handmade now. The time to retain core buyers instead of disappointing them arrived well before 2024. What took them so long?

In other news, it's looking there will not just be new insights for Etsy search coming soon, but also actual new changes to search. Silverman discussed the search tests as if they were the plan going forward, while still calling them tests. The increased use of AI to identify attributes for listings is disturbing, given how horrid Etsy has been at this for years now, but no one should be surprised. Expect a lot more of this, and expect it to disrupt traffic for some.

Wanting more diverse search results is actually great if it works and shows people what they are searching for. That doesn't always happen right now, of course. Getting rid of some mock-ups is also a strong idea, as long as Etsy follows through and makes the correct creativity standards very evident to shoppers, thereby elevating items sellers truly made by hand over simple POD. Right now, though, the creativity standards are frequently applied incorrectly, and way too many handmade shops are having items removed when they have done nothing wrong. Without an effective way to appeal bad image bot decisions, many of the proposals might harm more legitimate shop owners than they help.

I wish I felt like Etsy could truly pull this out of the fire, but we should not be surprised if the final 5 months of this year give us buckets of chaos randomly tossed about various features on the site, and even more instability for many sellers. Plan for major disruptions while still hoping for improvements.

[nyadversary]

Do you have any thoughts about why HP became such a smash hit?

assuming you mean harry potter? sure, i guess, i'm not gonna say anything groundbreaking though. the future of the publishing industry (print media in general, really) was looking very uncertain in the late 90s with the rise of digital media and the internet. childrens' publishing in particular had not had a major hit in a long time; again, late 90s, the internet was becoming more and more viable as a source of entertainment for young people, kids were playing video games and surfing the 'net instead of reading books. harry potter presented itself as a new spin on the sort of classic british childrens' fantasy that had already been proven to sell well (think roald dahl, etc. — the first few harry potter books are very much written in that style, and the marketing for the first book played pretty heavy on the dahl comparisons from what i recall), and it had crossover appeal (adults liked it). it got a small initial print run from bloomsbury, that did well, then scholastic jumped on the US rights because they saw their chance to make bank and the rest is history. it got hyped so hard because publishers and reviewers hyped it hard and they did that in part because of concerns over the long-term viability of their industry. also, while there's a heap of criticisms to be made about the series in general, the first few books are fairly solid kid lit and it's not hard to see why they did well. by the time the series really started to go off the rails JKR had so much accumulated goodwill that people would buy and read her work no matter what

[h4rr0wh4rk]

Harrow Cosplay Planning 2: The Hard Part

Friends, the harder yet more fun aspect of this cosplay is designing my version of Harrow's necromancer robes. While one could look at the series as sci-fi and have a lot of fun trying to design something more sleek and futuristic, like Harrow's canonical cover outfit, I have a deep love for historical costuming and overly ornate bullshit of all sorts, and as such will be leaning heavily into anachronism for the Reverend Daughter of Drearburh's more officious garments.

The line from chapter 7 about Harrow's disembarking outfit reads,

"Harrowhark did not care for any herald. She had drifted out like a black ship in sail, a bony figure wreathed in layers and layers of night-coloured cloth with a lace overcloak trailing behind her; adorned with bones, painted like a dead woman, eyes blindfolded with black net."

"Layers and layers" and "ship in sail" are the first things that give me ideas. When I think of the silhouette of a "ship in sail" I think long not wide. Now, maybe most of the train comes from that lace overcloak, but I think we would have more fun if the main gown itself had some volume in the skirt. I want to avoid any horizontally boned skirt supports, (so no drum farthingales, panniers, or crinoline cages) in order to maintain that long not wide effect. Initially, I thought about basing the main gown on a houppelande, specifically the one pictured here:

Rogier van der Weydan, c. 1443-1445

But as I thought about the practicalities of cloth usage in the ninth and this line Harrow has in chapter 6 of HtN, where she notices Jod's all-black attire, "he was dressed simply, as per usual, in a black shirt and trousers. The lack of tint had always pleased you. It was very Ninth, even the collar and the cuffs of his shirt that were scruffy and pilled from too much wearing," it became clearer to me that the houppelande was too wasteful in its fabric use. That fits more with one of the Tridentarii's diaphanous dresses than Harrow. So I looked instead to a much less wasteful garment, the kirtle:

Dieric Bouts, ca. 1455

Specifically, one that has the opening on the side like this example.

Daisy Viktoria Medieval Dress Pattern

But with more of this shape when standing. I like the continuous cut of the front pieces of the bodice and skirt, and we can add volume and length at the rear gore without adding bulk or extra fabric to the front or side gores.

I want to do a side button (because they actually have buttons! Woo not the 13th century!) opening to try and do something stupid. Given Harrow's propensity for turtlenecks, I want to try and add a side buttoning high neck collar, though whether that gets added to the kirtle or lace overcloak is anybody's guess right now. But if it does end up on the kirtle, getting into the gown will probably be easier if all the openings are on the same line.

To create the "layers and layers," the black kirtle will get a black shift and petticoat, an apron, a shawl, maybe a separate collar garment, kind of like a structured fichu, and the lace overcloak, which will objectively be the hardest thing to source. I'm not adding a surcoat because this is my design and I don't feel like it, it doesn't fit my goth 13th-century rococo vibe.

Speaking of rococo, I am tossing around the idea of adding robe-a-la-francaise-style box pleats to the gown to help support the length idea, but that might be too much.

The veil is a tad confusing. The way it's described in the quote above, as Harrow's "eyes blindfolded with black net," implies it may be more of a fascinator or even a true blindfold, but earlier in that same chapter, Gideon describes how, “The expression on the other girl’s face wasn’t disinterest or distraction, as she’d assumed; even through a layer of veiling, she could tell that Harrow was near-incapacitated with concentration,” making it seem like the veil is over her whole face. Out of a deep love of overdramatics, I'm taking the executive decision it's a full-face veil.

The veil I'm taking from Victorian mourning veils. I know it describes it as "net" in the quote, but in HtN, the Lyctor Hood is contrasted with it as such, "your new hood, unlike good Ninth House furze, was transparent enough to let you see quite clearly". I did some googling, and today it seems like "furze" is just a plant otherwise known as gorse, not a type of cloth or veil. However, if Harrow's veil were simply netting, she would be able to see out of it easily. I think this is a case where Gideon's unreliable narration and inattention to detail is kicking in. As such, I feel justified in using a more densely woven fabric for the veil itself.

The Met, Mourning Veil, 1900-1920

While this is technically probably Edwardian, the crepey silk used was common throughout the Victorian era.

I also like this type of headband I keep seeing fan artists (I will try to find sources and links in the coming days) put Harrow in to anchor the veil, so I would make a version that is not 50 dollars and is probably smaller.

ZiptieJewelry

The shoes would just be the shoes I get for the other version of this cosplay.

Adding all of the bone beading to the gown will be a bridge I burn when I get to it, it's going to be rough rough rough. I have no idea what I want to do in terms of rococoing this up, so expect at least a part 4 of the HCP series about that, (3 will be grease paint research) even if HCC (Harrow Cosplay Constructing) begins in the meantime.

If you made it all the way down here, thank you for reading all of that I am excited to work hard on it and show you what I come up with, and if you didn't:

TL;DR Gonna make a black kirtle for the necromancer robes and add some accessories

[aiyexayen]

✿⋆₊⊹ Zonai Facts ⊹₊⋆✿

Mammalian features.

Furry.

Bipedal.

Had exclusive access to incredibly potent but finite power source obtained by unsustainable mining practises.

Opened enormous pit mines in underground caverns beneath every single major city of every nation across Hyrule in the pursuit of more of the energy source.

Bound naturally-occurring root systems in tight woven nets throughout Hyrule's underworld to funnel large quantities of daylight down from the surface, introducing invasive species of surface flora in the process, in order to see better in pursuit of more of the energy source.

Named the energy source after themselves.

Energy source notably corrupts other beings who mine for it.

Used their power and technological advancements to invent fully modular mass weapons of elemental destruction.

Created an army of effectively-immortal, autonomous war robots that are hostile to all lifeforms and attack immediately with deadly force.

Had the power to semi-permanently suspend enormous land masses in the air and did so.

Seeded aforementioned robots on these land masses across the entire skies of Hyrule suspended over every other peoples' land.

Spread their Zonai-exclusive-access technology across the entire surface of Hyrule as well--into towns, caves, valleys, mountaintops.

Supplanted many Hyrulean culture's beliefs and religious practises, building all of them enormous temples with little apparent religious function beyond interacting with the Zonai themselves.

Built over ancient sacred grave sites with their own architecture.

Constructed their own buildings on sacred land intruding on the homes of spirit beings.

Perpetuated the belief that the Zonai themselves were descended from gods.

Filled each of these Zonai temples across Hyrule with technology exclusively able to be accessed by the Zonai or those few they grant permission.

Each temple's technology contained the enormous elemental potential to wreak extinction-level destruction on the peoples and land of Hyrule, not unlike enormous floating war machines.

Seeded the temples with scores of their previously-mentioned immortal, armed with deadly force, universally hostile battle robots.

Places where the Zonai land masses interact with Hyrulean ground cause the latter to begin to disappear, native ecology being replaced as patterns of unknown nature spread out from the point of contact like a living tattoo.

Made a marriage alliance with the most populous and centrally-located race in Hyrule, who also claimed divine bloodline.

Both accepted and demanded allegiance from every other prominent nation in Hyrule.

Described as "warlike" by those who outlived them.

Commandeered the most powerful spiritual leaders from each race and bonded them to ancient and powerful Zonai amulets.

Crafted Zonai-style animal masks for this elite team of mages that they appeared to wear permanently, while the Zonai and Hylians remained unmasked.

Ensured their own visages and names would survive eternally through hundreds of shrines built in their image across the land and sky, filled with an absurd quantity of light energy from an unknown source (and battle robots) to eternally preserve and protect them.

Left the other mages' faces and names out of history entirely--until they do not exist even in the records of their own peoples and nations.

Adorned royalty with intricate stone jewellery.

Severed limbs capable of functioning independent of rest of body.

Had white hair.

Very tall.

Fuckable?