leavesdancing - Tumblr blog

[leavesdancing]

everyone’s debating posts of the decade, best and worst, and i have yet to see anyone mention moon moon

[leavesdancing]

[leavesdancing]

I realized he’s more than one man, Murphy. He’s a team. You, Laura, Bernice and me, of course, we’re all part of that team. We’re all Remington Steele.

—Steele to Murphy Michaels, Remington Steele, “Your Steele the One for Me”

[leavesdancing]

[leavesdancing]

The Importance of Fashion in Fantasy

If your fantasy world has historical connotations then having a grasp on historical fashion is really important. Talking about clothes can add layers of depth to your world, like the keftas in Shadow and Bone by Leigh Bardugo. In this post, I will mostly be focusing on historical fashion from Europe as this is what I know most about. 

Class Hierarchy

If you want to show class and wealth differences, fashion can be key to doing so. However, this isn’t in the same way as we would see in modern times unless your world has the capacity for fast fashion. Being rich didn’t mean you had a closet the size of a barn with lots of floofy fabrics like in Bridgerton, it meant having a few garments in the latest fashion that you wore frequently. The less wealthy you were the more out of fashion your gowns or coats would be, however, gowns would often be altered where possible to fit the new style. 

The poor would still wear imitations of high fashion, but in simpler ways with simpler fabrics. Second hand or homemade was the norm. Contrary to popular belief, being poor didn’t mean ceased to care about fashion and well get onto why later. 

Regional Fashion 

Just because something was the height of fashion in Moscow, doesn’t mean it was the heigh of fashioning Paris. On a smaller scale, fashions would take time to reach rural area’s and smaller cities, so fashion would differ from region to region within a country. If you want your world to feel vast, including differences in clothing preference from country to country and region to region could really help with this. Other characters can then identify more about a new character just by looking at them.

The Importance of Fashion 

Historically, fashion held a much greater significance than it does today. This is because of what fashion meant in society. Through most of history in Europe, there have been very strict social rules that everyone had to abide by. Dressing in line with the fashion was a way of showing that you were in line with these social rules. This meant being fashionable wasn’t about setting trends and breaking out of the norm, it was about keeping to the norm as much as possible. Breaking out from the confirmative fashion could risk your place in society, affecting your relationships, marriage prospects and ultimately your livelihood.

Of course there were people who took risks that paid off and subsequently moved fashion onward, but fashion moved at a much slower pace due to the amount of time and expense required to make completely new garments and so these were relatively small changes.

Hope this was helpful!

[If reposting to instagram please credit @isabellestonebooks]

[leavesdancing]

My mom accidentally said “gender non-compliant” instead of “gender non-conforming” and you know what? I like that. Let’s use that for something.

❄💙 Aria 💙❄

[leavesdancing]

The Black Footed cat is the smallest wild cat in Africa and one of the smallest wild cats in the world.

[leavesdancing]

Lando’s not a system, he’s a man. Lando Calrissian. He’s a card player, gambler, scoundrel.

[leavesdancing]

My girlfriend and I talk a lot about our different generations of queerness, because she was doing queer activism in the 1990s and I wasn’t.

And she’s supportive of my writing about queerness but also kind of bitter about how quickly her entire generation’s history has disappeared into a bland “AIDS was bad, gay marriage solved homophobia” narrative, and now we’re having to play catch-up to educate young LGBTQ+ people about queer history and queer theory. It gets pretty raw sometimes.

I mean, a large part of the reason TERFs have been good at educating the young and queer people haven’t is, in the 80s and 90s the leading lights of TERFdom got tenured university positions, and the leading lights of queerdom died of AIDS.

“Excuse us,” she said bitterly the other day, not at me but to me, “for not laying the groundwork for children we never thought we’d have in a future none of us thought we’d be alive for.”

[leavesdancing]

[leavesdancing]

New Ask game. Send me one of my fic titles and I’ll tell which was THAT SCENE for that fic.

[leavesdancing]

This is for the slow writers out there. Those who take weeks to write one chapter. Those who take years to finish one manuscript. Those who regularly write only 100-300 words in several hours. Those who take months to put out a new chapter. Those who haven’t touched their stories in years but it’s still a WIP because they can’t stop thinking about/taking notes for scenes/etc.

I see you. You’re valid. Keep up the good work!

[leavesdancing]

[leavesdancing]

Work-Life Balance, by Zephyrfox

Fandom: James Bond (Craig movies), GoldenEye (1995), Midsomer Murders - All Media Types Rating: General Audiences Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply Relationships: James Bond/Alec Trevelyan, James Bond/Q, Q/Alec Trevelyan, James Bond/Q/Alec Trevelyan Characters: James Bond, Q, Alec Trevelyan, Bill Tanner, John Barnaby, Charlie Nelson Additional Tags: Pining, Established James Bond/Alec Trevelyan, Pre-Relationship, Original Character(s), Q-Branch Match Making, Oblivious Q, 007 Fest 2020, Don’t copy to another site

Summary:

Q has a problem with his work-life balance. He doesn’t have one. Fortunately, his branch - and his Double O’s - have a plan to fix that.

Chapter 1:

Q stopped by his admin assistant’s desk. “Liz, do I have a good work-life balance?”

 “No, sir,” Her grey eyes glinted with amusement. “You have a work balance.”

 “Cheeky,” he muttered, going into his office.

 “Yes, sir!”  Liz called, grinning after him.

[leavesdancing]

Chapter 2: Plotters meet to plot their plans. Their goal? To get the Quartermaster, Bond, and Trevelyan together - without revealing their intervention.

“Oh, Liz, that reminds me—” Q turned towards her. “Please let everyone know that Bond and Trevelyan are planning a project for M, and might need some assistance.”

Liz put on a confused expression. “A… project, sir?”

“Yes, they’re on down time, restricted to MI6, and apparently they’ve annoyed M enough to give them something to take their minds off of mischief.” Q smirked, as though he enjoyed the thought of Bond and Trevelyan in a spot of trouble. "They're designing an obstacle course for the trainees."

Chapter 3: Q joins James and Alec in their flat to discuss the plans for the Double O's project. They're friends, that's all. He wasn't expecting to be invited to dinner...

Between the two tempting agents, Q would be hard pressed to keep his hands to himself that evening. Casting about for something innocuous to say, he went with the obvious. “Thank you for inviting me.”

 “We didn’t dare not to,” Trevelyan teased, flashing him a broad grin. “You were quite clear that you intended to   check over our work.”

 “Yes, well,” Q said, adjusting his glasses as an excuse to look away. “I’m sure you didn’t expect me to interrupt your dinner. Am I too early? Whatever it is smells delicious.”

 “Don’t look at me,” Trevelyan said, nodding his head towards Bond. “That’s all James’ doing.”

 Chapter 4:James and Alec wonder what's gotten into Q when he returns to them. Liz Earlywine is disappointed in Q's report of his evening with the two Double O's, and later there's a meeting of conspirators.

Sure enough, Bond and Trevelyan sauntered towards their table through the Friday night crowd, each holding a glass of what appeared to be lager. Naturally, the civilians surrounding the bar gave way before them, instinctively recognizing that predators walked among them.

“Well, well, well, James, look who we have here,” Trevelyan said jovially as the two approached the table.

Bond’s ice blue eyes swept the conspirators seated around the table, pausing at Lane and Michael, sweeping over Liz, and landed squarely on Eve. “They’re having a party.”

“And they didn’t even invite us. James, I’m hurt.” Trevelyan set his glass on the table and took the chair opposite Liz, his green eyes bright with his characteristic mischief.

Chapter 5: The best place to seduce your Quartermaster is obviously not at MI6. A better place is out in the country, far from the hustle and bustle of city life. Of course, getting there is only the first part of the journey. At some point, James and Alec will have to actually communicate with Q — and deal with an unexpected body popping up in the middle of their obstacle course...

Q had just reached the bottom of the stairs when the front door crashed open. He turned to stare in shock as a disheveled Alec Trevelyan came racing in from the outside, laughing like a hyena, Bond hard on his heels.

Q lost his balance as Tanner grabbed him by the arm and pulled him out of way as the two rushed past.

“Nice to see you, Q,” Bond called just before he slammed hard into Trevelyan, knocking him into the wall and pinning him there.

“Hi, Q,” Trevelyan called cheerily, even as he wheezed, trying to catch his breath.

Chapter 6: The Quartermaster meets representatives of Midsomer's finest from Causton CID. Bond and Trevelyan have opinions about that...

Q stood, absently resettling his glasses, as Tanner led the two policeman toward him. Hopefully the two would re-introduce themselves, because Q had missed Tanner’s introduction.

“—And this is our quartermaster,” Tanner said as the trio came to a stop.

Q held out his hand with a friendly smile. “Call me Q.”

“DCI Barnaby,” the older man said, shaking Q’s hand with a firm grip.

“Detective Sergeant Nelson,” the younger man said, taking Q’s hand after the DCI relinquished it.

Chapter ?: Still a WIP, with dating and danger ahead for our intrepid heroes!

Work-Life Balance, by Zephyrfox

Fandom: James Bond (Craig movies), GoldenEye (1995), Midsomer Murders - All Media Types Rating: General Audiences Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply Relationships: James Bond/Alec Trevelyan, James Bond/Q, Q/Alec Trevelyan, James Bond/Q/Alec Trevelyan Characters: James Bond, Q, Alec Trevelyan, Bill Tanner, John Barnaby, Charlie Nelson Additional Tags: Pining, Established James Bond/Alec Trevelyan, Pre-Relationship, Original Character(s), Q-Branch Match Making, Oblivious Q, 007 Fest 2020, Don’t copy to another site

Summary:

Q has a problem with his work-life balance. He doesn’t have one. Fortunately, his branch - and his Double O’s - have a plan to fix that.

Chapter 1:

Q stopped by his admin assistant’s desk. “Liz, do I have a good work-life balance?”

 “No, sir,” Her grey eyes glinted with amusement. “You have a work balance.”

 “Cheeky,” he muttered, going into his office.

 “Yes, sir!”  Liz called, grinning after him.

[leavesdancing]

A Betazoid character who isn't in a nurturing profession, but is a tactical officer.

"Captain, I sense they know they're about to get their asses handed to them"

[leavesdancing]