#and i'm not a textiles student

[walkman-cat]

i decided months ago that i am going to make a piece of the costumes i have to realise

i do not know how to sew

[handweavers]

i've been so fucked up for months i haven't been able to go downtown to pick up my work from last spring from my school's textile studio and they always have a cutoff date like if you don't pick up your old work by x date they toss it and they're pretty strict about that unless you arrange with the studio tech beforehand, and the studio tech doesn't like most people she's pretty curt with most students. not rude but just keeps things professional and a bit distant, a very serious person. but i know she grew to like me over the past few years/warmed up to me a lot and we'd chat a lot about different textile things and she would say really kind things to me a lot which felt rare and special, and she let me have special treatment with some of the equipment because she trusted me to use it properly. and i haven't seen her in nearly a year and i expected her to have tossed my work out when i didn't come to pick it up last fall and emailed her to explain why and dropped off the face of the earth, i made my peace with losing that work and accepted it, it is what it is, i will survive, etc.

but she emailed me earlier this week and said she didn't have the heart to toss my work and has kept it safe in her office for me if i'm ever able to come pick it up and if not she's going to keep it as an example piece to show other students when teaching weaving because it's too lovely to get rid of and my heart swelled like 10 times its size bc she didn't have to do that and it meant so much to me that even a year from seeing her last she was still thinking about me and being kind to me. and i emailed her back and picked it up today and saw her and we chatted for a bit and it was so nice. I love her I miss my school's textile studio and weaving in there and talking craft with her... sigh

[limeade-l3sbian]

As Women History Month begins, listen to this powerful speech by Yesenia Zamudio, a Mexican mother who's daughter, María del Jesús, was murdered in her own apartment in 2016.

María was a 19 year-old engineering student in Mexico City's National Polytechnic Institute (IPN). After going out to party with classmates and a teacher, they claimed she "went crazy" and "committed suicide". A criminal investigation later reported that she was forcefully brought to her fifth floor apartment by her teacher and a classmate who after unsuccessfully trying to sexually abuse her, and as she struggled and screamed for help, threw her out of the window. María went into a coma and suffered head and leg fractures. She would die eight days later.

María's mother alleges that at least 7 people were involved in her daughter's murder. Despite this, following a 5 year investigation, in 2021 a warrant was put out for the arrests of María's teacher, Julio Iván Ruiz Guerrero, and her classmate, Gabriel Eduardo Galván Figueroa, for femicide. They have been fugitives since then. Mexico suffers one of the highest rates of femicide (the killing of women and girls because of their gender) in the world, with almost 1,000 cases every year. Greatly exacerbating the femicide epidemic in Mexico are the often U.S. owned "maquiladoras" or textile factories that operate along the U.S.-Mexico border. They prevail because of U.S. policies such as free trade agreements which encourage U.S. companies to exploit low labour costs in Mexico and in these factories women are particularly vulnerable to sexual abuse, exploitation and forced labor.

It is for this reason that Yesenia's words keep having such a powerful impact: "I am a mother who had my daughter killed. And yes, I am an empowered mother and a feminist! And I'm in deep shit. I have every right to burn and to break. I'm not going to ask anyone's permission, because I'm breaking for my daughter. And whoever wants to break, let them break and whoever wants to burn, let them burn and whoever doesn't, don't get in our way!" (redstreamnet)

[blackopals-world]

Could I request Vil, Malleus, Ruggie and Jamil with a Fem!Yuu who is a seamstress that is really, really good at sewing, knitting, embroidery, and other forms of textile design.

If you're to busy to do this request, I completely understand.

Love your profile picture btw, it's so cute!

~Sure I got time~

Tailor-Made

Seamstress!Yuu x Vil , Ruggie, Malleus, and Jamil

(NRC is a mixed school with boys and girls.)

Crewel stepped over the scattered bolts of fabric as he tried to get to the bed. The room was a mess as always with sketchbook paper littering that girl's desk. Said girl was in a deep burrowing in layers and layers of loose fabric, pillows and discarded ribbons.

"My dear pup, I don't know how you will manage to get to class when you can't even wake yourself up." Crewel said to his ward as he pinched her cheek.

The girl grunted and tried to pull away before mumbling in her sleep."Five more minutes."

Crewel stared at her incredulously as he pulled harder.

"Five minutes, soon you will have no minutes! The carriage will be here soon and you're room is a mess, your hair is matted, and your not ready for school!" Crewel was rather upset.

If he had it his way she'd be shipped off to an all girls school in France but she chose NRC for some reason. Sure, it wasn't a bad school and he could look out for her, but the boys there where characters. Why did she want to transfer there?

After prodding her, Yuu eventually shook herself awake and prepared for the big day. Her stuff was packed and her familiar Grim was at her side.

"The carriage is here!"Crewel called up the stairs. The girl came running down with her hair combed and uniform tidy.

Crewel sighed fondly over the girl. She had grown so much from when she was just little pup. Her mother would be so proud.

Divya, was an extraordinary woman. He misses her dearly but her daughter was still his treasure.

"Divus? I'm leaving."Yuu looked at him with concern in her eyes.

"Oh right," He said pushing his feelings down as he kissed her forehead "Be good pup. I'll see you there."

"See ya, Da- Divus!" She panicked before rushing out the door.

With that she entered her coffin and had Grim stay at home until she the entrance ceremony was over. When she awoke it was time to stand before the magic mirror.

Her soul resonated with one dorm one made for her: Pomefiore

She stood up a little straighter when she heard it. Part of her had doubts but now she knew. Her smile was wide as she saw her guardian smiling at her as though there was no doubt. She was just like him and Divya, people who understood beauty and perfection.

Vil

Being a housewarden meant keeping his students in line. That meant also keeping students from fighting. The girls were currently dealing with a problem. One he had to take control on.

The new girl had caused a mess involving dye. Vil would have to punish her by making her clean. Though he couldn't help but do it half-heartedly.

She was rather meek about the whole ordeal and apologized over and over. She had done it with the best intentions of adding a color to her list of fabrics and it just got everywhere.

He couldn't deny that it was a rather nice shade of lavender. Still, he could see this becoming a problem. He chose to give her a room where she could do her dyeing hobby in peace. They had a room for such things anyways even if it was abandoned.

Form that day he rarely saw her. When he did she was scurrying around campus gathing materials or with friends.

He found out why from the girls. Yuu was working on something big and they were helping. They were bubbly and giddy as can be when he asked but they never told what I was. They did say something about the upcoming ball and cheaking on her. His curiosity peeked, he entered the sewing room.

The room wasn't dusty like before but the smell of old wood lingered mixed with perfume and paint. Yuu stood in the center with glasses perched on her nose and measuring tape around her neck. She was placing pins on the hem of a gown. Her eyes focused on getting it just right. She nodded before pulling out her pen and using her unique magic [Let's Stick Together] causing the pieces of fabric to fuse together.

She fingers danced across the waterfalls of handspun lace as she pulled, cut, and sowed the gown. It was the same color that drew Vil's eyes.

He looked around as the seamstress focused and became taking note of other objects in the room. Mannequins were lined up in rows. Each had a suit or dress that was meticulously crafted but some were bare. Each were designed beautifully. The moment he touched the silk of one the suits his eyes caught sight of a silhouette.

In the corner of the room was a mannequin covered by linen.

Vil eyed the unaware girl and heard the 'click clack' of her hands weaving lace designs.

He lifted the blanket and he was more then just enraptured.

The suit was quite grand, vintage but new.

When Vil saw it he felt a pull in his chest. One you'd get if you saw something perfect for you while browsing and you are over taken by such a need and desire for it.

He wanted this suit. The ball was in ta few weeks and had a outfit planned but he needed this suit. Only this one would be worthy of him.

His eyes went back to the girl who finally looked up.

"VIL-SAMA!" She shouted her glasses falling off her face but still attached to the chain around her neck.

"I see you've been working very hard." Vil praised her with a pat on the head. Yuu wrinkled her nose blushing at the remark.

"What are you doing here?" She asked dumbfounded.

"I wanted to check on you. There is so much silk and satin here you'd think it was my closet." Vil mused.

"Oh, this? A few of the girls are paying me to make their gowns for the ball and a few boys too. I've been making them in pairs." Yuu said showing off her latest gown to be finished.

"I see, what about that one?" Vil pointed to the suit that was hidden away.

"Oh, not that one. It wasn't really made for anyone." Yuu shook her head as she pulled the cover back over it. "It's not worth looking at."

Vil felt a sting in his chest. How could he say that about something so stunning, something she made with her own hands.

"You seemed to work very hard on it. "Vil said keeping calm.

"Yeah, I guess. It's not very good though. I think I made it to match some kind of prince aesthetic but messed up. Besides what good is it if no one would wear it." Yuu sounded upset with herself "It's better sometimes to stick with what you know people like. People like handmade clothes. Something made for them, not for me."

Vil wanted to argue with her but he couldn't. She was right in some aspects. Only some.

"I'd like to commission you. Make me a suit just like this one here. Fix a few things. Change the materials on the undershirt and skirt to silk." He ordered her.

Yuu agreed reluctantly. She was sure Vil would think her design was cheap and while looking fancy at first, its commodity won't last.

Still, Vil didn't let her slack on his suit and came in regularly to check on her. Almost everyday he came to watch her and advise her on styles. He even modeled a few things she was working on. Sometimes when she was having bad days he'd just sit with her until it was over. When he needed her, she'd rush over to the shoot to fix whatever the problem was. Sometimes the stylist on set just didn't get it right. They were quite the duo. It was clear from the nickname Vil gave her. Ube.

There were only three other girls in the dorm and they noticed Vil hanging around. Soon enough they were giggling amongst each other as they helped the seamstress with her work.

One girl in particular who had become Rook's little spy as of late made it no hint that the ball's theme had them going in pairs. She also made it no hint that Vil would be behind if he didn't find a partner.

"So tragic it is! Almost every girl is already taken and so are the guys." Belladona said throwing her hands up as she spoke.

"Is this you asking me to go with you." Vil had seen this tactic before.

"Of course not, Rook is taking me. You're so busy I doubt you realized that a certain girl hasn't been asked." Belladona was Yuu's closest female friend. After the dye incident, they began forming a friendship. All the girls loved the hardworking seamstress. They just didn't want her to miss out.

Vil got the message and berated himself for not thinking of this. Almost immediately he went to visit Yuu who had finished the last of her commissions just in time with a few days to spare.

"Vil! You're here! Look I'm finally done!"She showed off the finished lineup of outfits with pride.

Vil didn't looked happy though. He knew the owners of each of the set. He felt something missing.

"You're missing one" he said simply.

Yuu looked around for a second before shrugging.

"What do you mean? Yours is right here." She asked.

"I meant yours. You aren't going to make your own dress for the ball?" Vil asked knowing how much pride she had in her work.

"I didn't think I'd have time to. I had a design but with all the orders..." She fell silent "It's fine Vil, it's just a party. I'm happy to see everyone else shine."

"What good is it to say that? How can you see everyone else shine when you aren't even there." Vil has been annoyed by this women for too long.

"Vil?" Yuu asked feeling the temperature shift

"I am so sick of your self depreciating martyr complex! It's either, my work isn't good enough or putting everyone else before yourself. Can't you just admit that you are a talented person, that your hard work means something? Why can't you just see yourself like I do? Someone who's talented, beautiful, and caring. Why is that so hard?" Vil poured his heart. He didn't knownhe was holding this back. Every thought he had at the back of his mind was rushing out. "I'm sorry. It's just...I wish you'd care about yourself more. I want you to be happy."

Yuu knew Vil cared but she was dumbstruck at how much he cared. They had never put it into words.

"I'm sorry. I guess I never...thought you felt that way." Yuu said "I doubt I'll be able to go now anyways. I only have three days left to make one."

"Then allow me to help." Vil didn't know much of dress making but he had seen Yuu do it enough to get an idea.

Thankfully Belladona, Dory, and Aza came in to help as well. The dress was finished in record time.

Yuu loved it. I was better then she imagined.

"Well then, all it needs now is a suit to match." Vil said rolling the mannequin that wore his suit to stand next to it. "It looks best like this."

Jamil

Jamil knew it was cold but he was only going to be out for a few minutes before returning to his dorm. It was not that long a walk. Beside he had a jacket on.

"Jamil! Wait!" Yuu called out to him, her basket of yarn bouncing on her arm. "It's cold out!"

"I'll be fine." He said waving goodbye.

"No, don't. Put this on first!" Yuu wrapped a big scarf around Jamil's neck.

The chunky knitted scraf was only the beginning as a hat and mittens were added on. All he needed now was an obnoxiously cute knitted sweater to top off the look. Granted it was a rather comfortable scarf.

Still Yuu was a bit of a mother hen. Something fostered by being the tailor of the Pomefiore dorm. Having the fix clothes all the time.

Jamil had been a recipient of that treatment after getting a few rips and tears. One he got a rip in his PE uniform while dismounting his broom she immediately mended it with her unique magic.

He had seen her use it a few times to punish her rowdy friends by fusing their hands to walls or statues to keep them from moving.

Jamil didn't know whether to be thankful or annoyed by the mother hen. But time told that he began to rely on her help. After an incident involving a carnivorous plant in the greenhouse he managed to ruin his uniform jacket and didn't have time to fix it. He left it in her care.

"Don't worry I'll give it back to you before classes tomorrow." She said brightly before scurrying off like she always does.

Jamil couldn't believe what he got back the next day. It was his jacket but it was beautifully embroidered with gold.

"You didn't need to go that far." He said trying not to look bashful.

"Oh, I guess i can just cut out the thread." She responded a bit disappointed.

"Absolutely not! You made this for me! It mine!" Jamil yelled pulling the jacket on and keeping away from her.

"Aww, Jamil~ I knew you'd love it!" She cheered as she tired to hug him.

This was something special just for him. He doesn't like his things taken away. When others saw him in wearing it they were envious. So much envy that everyone wanted one. Embroidered uniforms were the new trend after all.

Actually, Jamil felt something vaugly familiar about this. He went to the trophy hall to check his suspensions. Inside a glass case was a uniform from a former student that was kept.

"Divya Khatri"

She was first place in many art competitions. Their were even a few pictures hanging in classrooms that were her's.

What Jamil was looking for was the similar style in the embroidery but now all he could see was the last name.

"Khatri"

I guess we all have something we want to live up to.

Ruggie

There is no such thing as wasted material. Every leftover scrap of cloth is useful.

Ruggie would often drop off old clothes he wanted tailored or recycled. Yuu didn't ask where he got it but she was able to make such cute outfits for the hyena. It saves money on material and they can dye the clothes however they want.

It was around Christmas when he asked Yuu to help make clothes tosent back home to his family. A few babies were born recently in the neighborhood and he wanted to send something.

Yuu agreed immediately and began knitting something for the children.

She might have gone too far because she ended up with a lot more clothes then she realized. She remembered that Ruggie's community is pretty big so a few extras for the bigger kids would be useful.

By the time Ruggie came to check on her she was working on something bigger. A quilt, you can't welcome a cub into the world without a quilt. It's something they need all their lives.

Ruggie had to pull her out of her sewing haze with a shake.

"I don't think you'll finish in time." Riggie said nuzzling her cheek.

Yuu pouted, a bit disappointed but understood.

"Don't be sad, why don't you come visit and we can work on it there." Ruggie chimed trying to maker her feel better. "I'm sure the kids would like to thank you in person."

"Really? I'll ask Divus and we'll go as soon as break starts!" With this she immediately started rexting her guardian.

"I've always wondered. Why do you call your dad by his first name?" Ruggie asked tilting his head makingnhis ear wiggle a little

"Divus isn't my dad. He just raised me after my my mom..." She didn't say the rest but you know the rest.

"It's okay, I understand. We have more in common then I thought. We orphans gotta stick together!" Ruggie said going back to nuzzling his giggly friend.

It's a good thing Divus didn't see that.

During the break Yuu spent time finishing the quilt with Ruggie's grandmother. Divius supervised the visit of course before they left to go home.

Malleus

Malleus liked watching Yuu work. Specifically watching her use the loom. It was calming to listen to the calming clacking of the wood knocking against the frame.

Even more he liked the spinning wheel when she was making yarn. The monotonous sound was calming and familiar.

"OW!" Yuu yelped as she pulled her hand way from the silver needle. A small drop of ruby blood fell staining the white yarn.

Immediately Malleus was at her side holding her injured hand.

"Are you feeling alright?" He asked "Do you feel faint?"

"I'm fine, I just need a band-aid. Rook will probably know any minute now and tattel to Vil again." Yuu sighed, she would be banned from the work shop until it heals.

Whatever compelled his sweet little lizard brain to lick the wound was beyond her. But it worked whatever it was supposed to do because the pin prick healed.

"Unhand her Roi du Dragon!"Rook shouted as he appeared out of the great blue yonder AGAIN!

Yuu isn't even surprised. He was doing it on purpose.

After that happened Yuu wanted to apologize for her vice warden's behavior AGAIN. She made him a embroidered handkerchief.

Mellues was very proud of his handkerchief and thanked her for it buy gifting her a pouch of jewels from his hoard. How thoughtful.

Only for him to come back with puppydog eyes with the scorched handkerchief in hand.

"I'm sorry, your precious gift was ruined." He was clearly upset.

"Don't worry, let me take a look at it." Yuu comforted him as she gently took the cloth.

It had a few singed holes in the fabric. Yuu made a 'tsk' sound as she examined.

"It was an accident." He said as if he asking for forgiveness.

"It's no problem. I could just fuse the fabric and re embroidery it or...I can just not" She said thoughtfully.

"Not?" Malleus asked.

"Well I can't unburn it. It's burnt. I can remake it but it won't be the same handkerchief I gave you. I can however stich around the holes and fuse it, preventing it from unraveling. With a bit of tlc I can make it better without distorting the original design." Yuu explained taking the cloth over to her desk.

Malleus agreed readily as he watched Yuu save his handkerchief.

Halfway through Divus called asking what she wanted for dinner.

"You are very close to the professor. Are you two related?" Malleus asked after she hung up.

"He's my guardian. Raised me since I was 4 and I learned everything I know from him and mom." Yuu answered.

"Oh, he's your father. I had no idea." The dragon said a bit surprised.

"No, not my dad. He was there for me when mom died. They dropped me off in front of his house when no one else could claim me. He was barely an adult back then, like 20." Yuu said in a clipped tone "He had enough to deal with without a kid being dropped in his lap. He probably sees me more as a sister then a daughter."

"Did he say that?" Mallues asked seeing the hurt in her eyes.

Yuu had spent her life blaming herself for Divus not being free.

'Of course not. I just assumed-" Yuu started but stoped "Let's just finish this first."

Crewel

Yuu rushed home that evening since it was the weekend. After greeting the dogs she cornered Divus in the kitchen wearing that dalmatian apron she had made him when she was 9. It had red ruffles and she made one for herself with pink ruffles to match. She had out grown it a long time ago.

"I'm home, Divus." She said peeking into the pot only to receive a slap on the hand with a spoon.

"Not yet pup, I don't want you sneaking bites before I'm finished." Crewel said sternly as he ordered her to help instead of being a nuisance.

Yuu got started on the salad like always as she huffed like a tired puppy.

"Did you have a good day at school?" Crewel asked checking on the potroast.

"Yeah, Malleus needed help fixing his handkerchief." Yuu said cutting up the lettuce.

"I'm not sure about you hanging around him. He's polite but he's still dangerous even if he doesn't mean to be." Divus was more worried about Yuu dating then the potentially dangerous dragon.

"Dad! Please don't, I can hang around boys and keep myself safe." Yuu whined.

Divus didn't say anything at first.

"Dad?"He whispered under his breath a smile creasing his lips.

"I meant Divus!" Yuu blushed.

Crewel turned down the heat on the burner before turning to face Yuu.

"Yuu, don't force yourself. You call whatever make you feel comfortable. I've been wanting to talk about this with you. I've raised you since you were little. You're as good as a daughter as one that was my flesh and blood. You're my little girl." Crewel said reaching over hugging.

"Thanks...dad." Yuu held back tears as she hugged him back.

Over dinner the two talked about the normal event of the day.

"Hey, dad? Can we talk about mom?" Yuu asked, he knew Divus never liked talking about her. It hurt him alot.

"She was my best friend. She was older then me when we went to NRC. She was brilliant artist too....."

Crewel talked on and on about his memories of Divya. He never mentioned how she died, he focused on her life. Sharing the good time just like she would have wanted.

[evaskjew]

HL headcanon : life in the 19th century

I was doing some historical research in order to make a family tree (for an OC for a fanfiction in the Hogwarts Legacy universe) because I'm a stickler for historical detail (It's not at all because I'm a history professor) and I thought it might be nice to share this for anyone who's interested.

Social transformations of the 19th century

HL takes place at the end of the Victorian era in UK, a historical period marked by the Industrial Revolution. Thanks to this revolution, many transformations appeared and developed in Europe:

The railway network in UK in the 1840s (at the time of HL, the Hogwarts Express was still something new and must have caused a scandal among the purebloods, who were no doubt scandalised that one of the latest Muggle technical innovations was being used to take students to the castle).

The gradual disappearance of proto-industry and the decline of workshops, particularly in the textile industry, which were replaced by the emergence of factories (spinning mills) in the towns. In addition to economic and social upheaval (emergence of a new social class: the working class), the Industrial Revolution was marked by a major rural exodus. People left the countryside to go to the cities to find work.

Cities then grow by welcoming a whole new population (whole families leave the countryside for the city). To meet this demographic challenge, we note the emergence of working-class neighborhoods that are developing in large cities. These neighborhoods are usually located next to factories.

The living conditions in his neighborhoods were not the greatest luxury (insalubrity, pollution of factories, poverty wages, etc.). It is enough to read some social surveys carried out at the time (such as that of Villermé in 1840 for France) to realize that living in the nineteenth century marked by this industrial revolution was not necessarily the best. In fact, the city of London was so polluted that a permanent fog hung over the city. In 1858, The Great Stink took place, which was the origin of the installation of sewage systems throughout the city (here again it can be assumed that in HL, the system of pipes to evacuate waste water from toilets and toilets is almost a novelty (toilets having become standard from 1840)). 

In short, all the transformations linked to the Industrial Revolution during the 19th century suggest that life expectancy at that time must not have been very high.

Life expectancy

For my OC, I chose to make her a member of the French wizarding family Rosier. And then being French myself, that’s it.

The situation in France in 1891 was essentially the same as in England (the Industrial Revolution having spread throughout Europe, what happened in England was observed elsewhere).

I managed to find graphs showing the evolution of life expectancy in France. I guess it was more or less the same for the UK.

Graph showing life expectancy at birth in Switzerland, France, Germany and Austria. In the 19th century, life expectancy was around 43 years.

Source : Swiss Life, La révolution de la longévité, 29 mars 2016.

Graph showing life expectancy in France from 1720 to 2020. The blue curve shows the life expectancy of men and the orange curve that of women. Here too the average is around 43 years.

Source: INED (French national institute for demographic studies)

Motherhood in the 19th century

To create the family tree, I had to look up the average age at which women gave birth. As life expectancy is low, women give birth at higher rates. In addition, the infant mortality rate was high at the time (medicine wasn't really that good, plus questionable hygiene standards).

Table showing the average age of childbirth among single women. We note that during the second half of the 19th century, women gave birth most at ages 20 and 24.

Women in the 1830s had their first child at age 23 (compared to around 24 in 1870), their second at 26 (compared to 27 in 1870). We also note that in 1830, women had more children than women in the 1870s/1880s (10% of women had a 3rd child in 1830 compared to 6% in 1870; 6% of women in 1830 had a 4th child compared to 1% in 1870).

Source : BRUNET Guy, « Célibataires et mères de nombreux enfants. Parcours de femmes à Lyon au xixe siècle », Annales de démographie historique, 2010/1 (n° 119), p. 95-114. URL : https://www.cairn.info/revue-annales-de-demographie-historique-2010-1-page-95.htm 

Sorry if the documents are in French, but I am French and I am used to doing my research in French university databases.

I hope this could have been useful for those who write fiction in the HL universe and who want to remain consistent with the society of the time. (Well then I think that wizard families lived longer because magic had to help with health problems linked to pollution or other. Thanks to Wiggenweld potions)

I hope my English is clear, I mostly use a translator.

[mysteryshoptls]

SSR Jamil Viper - Dorm Uniform Vignette

"M-My heart..."

―Last Night

[Scarabia Dorm – Lounge]

Jamil: We're inviting the Headmage and throwing a "Banquet to Showcase the Scalding Sands"?

Jamil: …Once again, you've got us wrapped into some trouble without even considering others.

Kalim: But the Headmage said he was trying to figure out where he wanted to go on vacation, right?

Kalim: Our country would be perfect.

Kalim: So, we in Scarabia should show him just how amazing Scalding Sands can be!

Kalim: I'll leave the decorating and menu to you, Jamil. Leave the parade preparation to me!

[Scarabia Dorm – Hallway]

Jamil: Yeah, but even if I'm told this just the day before...

Jamil: Well, it is the Headmage we'll be hosting. If we throw a half-baked banquet, it'll reflect on our dorm negatively.

Jamil: I'll have to make sure this banquet is an absolute success, for Kalim and the dormitory… And also, for my sake.

Jamil: Alright. First up is decoration.

Jamil: However, just being beautiful won't be enough. It should express the culture and traditions of the Scalding Sands.

Jamil: …All the ideas I keep coming up with would just take too much time.

Jamil: Hmm… I must find a way for beauty and culture to intermingle… Beauty and culture… Beauty…

Jamil: Ah! Right!!

Jamil: I should ask "that person" for this sort of thing.

[Pomefiore Dorm – Lounge]

Vil: …And so you've come here to ask for my advice in designing your venue for a party.

Jamil: Yes. We need beautiful furnishings, beautiful table settings, and beautiful entertainment…

Jamil: As I kept thinking the word "beautiful," I could only keep picturing your face, Vil-senpai.

Vil: Oh, is that so?

Jamil: Kalim prepared for us some of our country's traditional fabric to use as decoration for the party.

Jamil: I have the fabric here. The cloth is bright red, with a large peacock design.

Jamil: I was hoping to humbly request the advice of what to do with this fabric from someone with as much aesthetic sense as you, Vil-senpai...

Vil: I understand what you're trying to say.

Vil: …But you can't possibly be expecting to receive my expertise for nothing, now, are you?

Jamil: (Haha, I knew it'd come to this! Good thing I came prepared.)

Jamil: I would never dare to expect for the epitome of charismatic beauty, Vil Schoenheit, to assist me for free!

Jamil: How could anyone ever be so rude. As return for your advice, I will gift to you one roll of this delicate fabric.

Jamil: As it is, textiles in the Scalding Sands are extremely high-class.

Jamil: Moreover, these fabrics woven by private artisans on behalf of the Asim family can't be found in any store…

Vil: I can tell with one glance just how well-made this cloth is without you having to explain any further.

Vil: Well, I was just searching for fabric to make into a new suit. I'll accept your request.

Jamil: Really? Wonderful!

Vil: Let me take a closer look at that textile you brought.

Vil: …I see. It's woven so delicately, and yet the large design has a rather strong impact.

Vil: I supposed it would be customary to use this fabric as-is and frame it or lay it out to showcase the traditional artisan craft.

Vil: I think I would like to devise a different way to use it…

Jamil: Wow～ This is all so educational～

Jamil: (Great, Vil-senpai should take care of everything now. I'll just nod along from here on...)

Vil: Someone, bring my fabric shears!

Pomefiore Student: Yes, sir!

Jamil: Your shears?

Jamil: …Wait a moment, what are you using those scissors for? You're not…

Vil: It should be obvious.

Vil: I'm cutting it up.

[SNIP!]

Jamil: Aaack!! Now that very expensive cloth is in two strips!!!!

Vil: And I'll cut it once more to make a thin, long flag.

[SNIP!]

Jamil: H-He cut it again! One roll of this cloth could feed a family of four for one whole month and still!!

Jamil: What a waste…

Jamil: Wait… What is this…?

Jamil: By making those deliberate cuts on the traditional pattern, he's made a whole new pattern appear!!

Vil: That's right. If you simply stay within in the norm, it will only be a tasteless venture.

Vil: And although a certain someone has been throwing around pointless flattery since he got here…

Jamil: (Urk!)

Vil: You can't allow yourself to forget to be daring whenever you try something new. Dedicate yourself to being sensational.

Vil: The word "safe" does not exist whenever I have a hand in producing something.

Vil: Now then, you go grab another pair of fabric scissors as well and cut the cloth exactly as I tell you to!

Jamil: Y-Yes!

[Main Street]

Jamil: Whew. I'm beat…

Jamil: Vil-senpai… I appreciate that he doesn't do anything half-hearted, but he sure knows how to boss people around.

Jamil: There were a lot of scrap fabric left over, so it took a while just cleaning up, too.

Jamil: …Well, at least I've figured out the decoration issue.

Jamil: Next is prepping for the dishes that we'll serve at the banquet. It's already past 15:00, so…

Jamil: …Wait, past 15:00!? I've got less than 3 hours until the banquet starts!!

Jamil: Thanks to Vil-senpai's long explanations, that took much longer than I expected. At this rate, I won't finish in time for the banquet!

Jamil: I have to figure something out so I can make the food in time.

Jamil: Make… the food…

Jamil: …Alright.

Jamil: This time, I'll have to ask "that person"!

[Kitchen]

Jamil: (For this banquet that Kalim just sprung on us to show off the Scalding Sands to the Headmage…)

Jamil: (In order to make it a success, I need to make traditional dishes from my hometown…)

Jamil: (I don't think even I could prepare all of it by myself.)

Jamil: (And so I decided to call in support. And when it comes to cooking, it has to be this person…)

Jamil: Trey-senpai. Thank you for your help.

Trey: No problem. I'll do my best for you. After all…

Trey: You're going to prune all the rose trees in Heartslabyul as recompence, yeah?

Jamil: …Yes. As long I can make it through this party.

Jamil: (When it comes to the workload, I think I lost out here. It's fine, I'll just put on a cool face, and keep my head down…)

Trey: So, do you know what you're serving?

Jamil: Yes. I intend on creating a menu based on traditional Scalding Sands dishes.

Jamil: The main course will be a whole roasted lamb. Ordinarily, I would have marinated it in spices for three full days, but…

Jamil: I have some already pre-seasoned in the freezer. I'll have to use that for today.

Trey: Sounds to me like you're pretty meticulous, already planning ahead for this banquet.

Jamil: Kalim just loves to randomly invite people over, so I make sure to make arrangements ahead of time.

Jamil: Place the meat in the oven and roast it over low heat. While it cooks, we can prep the other dishes.

Jamil: We have to make seafood sauté, green salad, potato and bean spread, lightly toasted bread and dessert…

Jamil: Basically, I need another set of hands. First, we'll start with peeling the potatoes!

Jamil: Great. With that, all the dishes are done.

Trey: Everything smells delicious… Especially the cooked meat!

Trey: …However…

Trey: The visual might be lacking a little bit.

Jamil: Eh, really?

Trey: Yeah. Everything on the plate is brown, so I feel like it's missing something.

Trey: I have these roses that I picked to turn into jam. Maybe if we scatter these petals…

Trey: See? Doesn't it look much more gorgeous with all the red in the dish?

Jamil: You're right! It gives off such a striking impression now!

Jamil: From time to time, my younger sister will say that my cooking looks bland.

Jamil: We used to get in so many fights about that… I guess it was because of the color.

Trey: Haha. Well, here in Heartslabyul we have a few guys who're picky about how the pastries look, so I think I get how you feel.

Trey: The most important thing when it comes to cooking is the taste, of course.

Trey: So I'd love to say that visuals don't matter, but…

Trey: We created a real delicious thing. Shouldn't we want people to enjoy it from beginning to end?

Jamil: I'll make sure to keep that in mind. Next time I head home, I'll make sure to surprise my sister.

Trey: Great, then let's decorate the other dishes as well. I have some edible flowers, too.

[Main Street]

Jamil: Thank you very much, Trey-senpai!

Jamil: …Alright. I've finished prepping the food now, too.

Jamil: …I wonder how Kalim's parade preparations are going.

Kalim: Looks like the animals are here. Let's go meet them at the Main Gate!

Jamil: Hm? Speak and they shall appear. It's Kalim. I think I'll check in on him from afar…

Scarabia Student C: Will you really be bringing lions and elephants here too? What if they get loose on campus…?

Kalim: Hahaha, it'll be fine!

Kalim: What do you guys think you need to be able to communicate with animals?

Jamil: (Hey, that's too easy. The answer is "Animal Linguistics")

Jamil: (Use animal linguistics to teach the animals he proper route for the parade…)

Kalim: The thing everyone needs to be able to communicate with animals is…

Kalim: A GOOD BOND!!!!!

Jamil: !!??

Kalim: We're all living creatures just the same, so it'll work out if we just ask them for help.

Kalim: After a little break, let's open up the cages and build a relationship with the animals!

Jamil: …He's going to release the lions and elephants from their cages without proper preparation…?

Jamil: Why… Why is Kalim always so careless when it comes to animals…!?

Jamil: Since he was little, he'd always just go right up to tigers and leopards and try to feed them…

Jamil: …I've got a bad feeling. Every little thing is making me more anxious by the second.

Jamil: I can't rely on Kalim one bit. I'll speak with the animals myself…!

[Scarabia Dorm – Lounge]

Kalim: Headmage, I hope you'll enjoy your experience as we show you just how we honor our guests in the Scalding Sands.

Kalim: Alright, time for the feast!

Jamil: Somehow… We got the decorations, food, and parade prepared in time…

Jamil: I've run more today than I ever have in any basketball game. I'm worn out…

Kalim: Hey, Jamil. You look a little tired.

Jamil: YOU'RE JUST IMAGINING THINGS!!!!!!

Kalim: Oh yeah? That's great then.

Crowley: The decorations are spectacular, and the food is absolutely top notch.

Grim: Gobble, snarf, munch. It's so gooood!

1. Hey, use your manners!

2. Chomp, chomp, chomp.

Kalim: The Headmage and all the other guests are happy, too. Thanks for setting up the place and for prepping all the food, Jamil.

Jamil: …You're welcome.

Jamil: But it's too early to get complacent.

Jamil: As the host, you still have your own part to play during the parade finale, don’t you?

Jamil: Go and get ready for that.

Kalim: Yeah, alright!

Jamil: Geez…

Grim: Jamil!

Jamil: Hm?

Grim: Your dishes are so so so good!!

Jamil: …What do you think, [Yuu]? Does the traditional food from Scalding Sands suit your taste?

1. It's delicious.

2. I've love to eat this every day.

Jamil: Heh. Well, good.

Jamil: Oh. Looks like the parade is starting.

Jamil: Headmage, if you will, please come and watch the Scalding Sands Showcase parade from the balcony.

Scarabia Student C: U-Um, excuse me! Vice Housewarden!!

Jamil: Hm? Why are you in such a panic?

Scarabia Student C: Well… [whisper, whisper…]

Jamil: …

Jamil: …What!?

Crowley: Hm? Did something happen, Viper-kun?

Jamil: N-No! Nothing whatsoever.

Jamil: I must leave for a little while to attend to some other matter… Please continue to enjoy your time here at the Scarabia banquet!

[Scarabia Dorm – Hallway]

Jamil: KALIM IS GONE!?

Jamil: This is the traditional Scalding Sands parade of animals. We'll be releasing the parrots as part of the finale…

Jamil: And the host of it all is supposed to give a grand welcome!

Scarabia Student C: We searched everywhere, but the Housewarden's nowhere to be found…

Scarabia Student C: At this rate, we won't be able to do the grand finale.

Scarabia Student D: I know! What if you go out as the Vice Housewarden, in place of the Housewarden, Viper-senpai?

Jamil: I can't.  That would smear the host's― Kalim's reputation.

Scarabia Student C: But we can't find him…!

Scarabia Student D: And while we're stuck here, the parade is still going… What should we do?

Jamil: …Calm down, everyone. It won't help to panic.

Jamil: You are all insightful and calculating students of Scarabia, are you not? Whenever something unexpected occurs, you must tackle it with a level head.

Scarabia Student D: …You're right, Viper-senpai.

Scarabia Student C: Apologies for losing our head there.

Scarabia Student A: Vice Housewarden! I've been searching for you!

Jamil: Hm?

Scarabia Student B: Um… There's something I need to tell you about Kalim-ryōchō…!

Jamil: …I understand now.

Jamil: Because of your mistake, the parrots all flew away. So, Kalim went out in search of something to mitigate that.

Scarabia Student A: Yes… He said that it would be fine to start the parade, but…

Scarabia Student A: Sorry. Everything is our fault.

Jamil: …We can figure out who's at fault later. Right now, we have to think about how to solve the problem at hand.

Jamil: Based on what you've said, Kalim headed towards Diasomnia…

Jamil: No matter how fast he pushes that magical carpet, it will still take at least 10 minutes.

Jamil: There's only about 5 minutes left until the parade finale. No matter how you look at it, he won't make it back in time.

Jamil: …I have to do something to buy time until Kalim returns.

[Scarabia Dorm – Lounge]

Crowley: Tigers and elephants, lions, monkeys and peacocks… This parade is so lively with so many animals.

Crowley: I'm moved to tears that I'm able to witness such a spectacular parade from the dormitory's balcony!

Grim: Ooh! The parade has made it to the fountain.

Grim: The music's amping up, too…

1. Here comes the finale!

2. This is the most exciting part!

Crowley: I wonder what surprise ending they have in store for us!?

Crowley: …

Grim: …

1. The animals are just going around in circles.

Crowley: Their movements are strange, I wonder what may be afoot. Or, perhaps…

Crowley: Perhaps there was some sort of problem…?

Scarabia Student C: The Headmage and the others are starting to notice… Is he still not here!?

Scarabia Student D: If this keeps up, our parade will be a failure…!

???: The Asim family never fails.

Jamil: …That is, not so long as I have a hand in things!

Jamil: Here in the shadows of the tower above the roof is the perfect place… Flourish for me, my wind magic!

Crowley: Oh? Something is falling from the sky.

Crowley: This hail of red against the backdrop of the white Scarabia dormitory is utterly stunning.

Grim: Whatever's fluttering down keeps stickin' to my nose, it's so annoying!

Crowley: Grim-kun, you just don't get it. This is a rather stylish happening.

Crowley: I could gaze upon this forever.

Jamil: The scraps of fabric that Vil-senpai cut and the rose petals that Trey-senpai gave me…

Jamil: I didn't think they would come in handy in this way. It's definitely not something that even I could have predicted.

Jamil: Anyway, I was able to give us more time by giving them a little bit more of a show. All that's left is…

???: …Heeey!

Jamil: What's that flying this way…? It's the Magic Carpet! He's here!!

Kalim: Hey, Headmage! And [Yuu] and Grim! Thanks for coming to Scarabia today.

Kalim: Nothing makes me happier than being able to host valued guests!

Jamil: Whew… With that, the parade's done and done.

Jamil: I guess I'll start heading back to the lounge. Where's my broom…

Jamil: But anyway, how long does Kalim plan on staying on that carpet?

Jamil: I get so anxious watching him fly around on that carpet while standing…

Kalim: Woah, woah, I'm losing balance… Aaaah!

Kalim: I'm faaaaalling～～～!!!

Jamil: WATCH OUT!!!!!

[SPLASH!]

Kalim: …That totally scared me. I accidentally fell into the fountain.

Kalim: …Hm? But I'm not injured…?

Kalim: …Ah, Jamil! I guess you must have used your wind magic to help slow my fall.

Kalim: Thanks a bunch. I didn't get hurt at all.

Jamil: I thought... M-My heart was going to stop… Ugh.

Kalim: But, oh man, I'm soaked… This is so terrible. Hahaha!!

Jamil: It's not something to laugh about. I was completely beside myself!

Jamil: Stop being so careless!!!!!

Kalim: Urgh. …Sorry for worrying you.

Kalim: …Hey, did you see the parade finale? I did so good!

Jamil: …Yeah, I saw. Good job today…

Jamil: ...me.

Crowley: Wow～ The decorations, food, and parade all made for a spectacular banquet!!

Crowley: It must have been very difficult for you to prepare everything for this, wasn't it?

Kalim: Nope, not at all. Right, Jamil?

Jamil: Yes, not at all.

1. Great job!

2. Thanks for your hard work…

Jamil: (What a day today was. I don't want to deal with a banquet as troublesome as this one ever again…)

Kalim: Headmage! Come back and visit us anytime, even if it's not for vaca…

Jamil: Kalim!

Kalim: Hurp.

Jamil: Next time the Headmage asks anything of you, you need to make sure you answer "I'll consider it."

Jamil: Whatever it is, you need to come and clear it with me first.

Jamil: …Understand?

Kalim: …Hhhhew. You covered my mouth so quickly, that startled me.

Kalim: Sure. I don't really get it, but okay!

Jamil: You truly are the most useful Housewarden I could possibly have…

Requested by Anonymous.

[spiderfreedom]

i notice a lot of tumblr users seem convinced apple is the only company that uses unethically sourced electronics materials and foxconn, and i'm sorry to say that's not true

every nintendo console since the gamecube has been produced by foxconn

sony's playstation consoles are produced by foxconn

the xbox consoles are produced by foxconn

like basically every major tech company you know of has worked with foxconn, xiamoi, nokia, sega, google, the blackberry

and that's just foxconn, that's just the people putting the stuff together. (to read more on this, I strongly recommend the book "Dying for an iPhone", which is a history of Foxconn and Foxconn's relation with Apple)

resource extraction is an even uglier game with fewer players. I'm sure you guys have heard about the congolese protests recently due to the mines expanding

nothing about the technology supply chain is clean or ethical. now, lots of supply chains are unethical and involve slavery or exploitation in some way or another - see the supply chain for textiles. but whereas an especially motivated and well-off person could buy from small farms for wool, the capital requirements to extract rare earth metals are so large that only large firms can afford to do so. firms with no incentive to increase the price of these operations by voluntarily caring about safety or ethics. the countries that are being extracted from are so poor and exploited that they have no real way to fight back, either.

i know we've all grown up with console wars and mobile phone wars and nintendo vs sony vs microsoft, nintendo vs sega, android vs iphone, but i'm sorry to say that it's all marketing, and all these companies play the dirty game of forced labor in their supply chain.

i can't tell you what the solution to this because 1. i am not an expert in international business? and 2. when transnational entities get involved, things very quickly become way out of the reach of what an ordinary citizen or even groups of citizens can do. foreign policy and business is out of our sphere of influence.

that's not to turn everyone into doomers, but to give perspective. there's no ethical console war here. if you're a student and you want to make this your career path, study economics, law, transnationalism... I recommend the book "Challenging the Chip: Labor Rights and Environmental Justice in the Global Electronics Industry," which is from 2006 but still relevant. (if you are in university, check jstor, your uni may have the book!)

[20dollarlolita]

An absurdly and unnecessarily over-the-top and thorough breakdown of using my embroidery machine for a cosplay piece.

Part 1) The piece:

Many iterations of Princess Zelda from the Legend of Zelda series has this tapestry front piece. I've looked for a technical name for this piece as well as extant examples of it from our history, and my research is indicating that it's just a fantasy piece and doesn't have a name.

So we're calling it an apron. IDK. "Heraldic apron," sounds fancy enough.

One of the things that's been a bitch through all cosplay of all time is custom textiles. Since the early days of cosplay, we've been looking for ways to handle this at home. Back when I got into cosplay and took it really seriously, Worbla hadn't been invented, there was no Friendly Plastic, Wonderflex had to be purchased in 15-yard lots, the Glowforge and home 3D printing was just a fantasy, and Cricut machines ran off cartridges and couldn't design from your computer. Also, when I was cosplaying seriously, I was a college student with no job and a $100/month allowance for food (which I spent on cosplay, mostly). We didn't do fancy shit. You know what we did?

We had fuckin' hand-traced and hand-cut stencils. Mother fuckin' freezer. Paper. Stencils. Now, this version of Zelda that 2009 Me is cosplaying up there does have a much simpler heraldic apron than Ocarina of Time Zelda does. However, since I've gotten access to embroidery machines, I've had this great need to remake this sort of concept with adult me's current budget and skill set.

Now, there's a few issues from the start about making this. The notable one is that the in-game textures for the apron do not completely line up with the official artwork. When you start looking at the 3DS remakes, they re-textured the apron, giving us yet a third canonical way that this thing might be laid out.

Obviously, the easiest thing to do is to get several references, and then to slap them next to each other and compare. I've got GIMP pulled up here, and have several versions here. I adjusted color levels until the pattern in the garment was as clear as I could make it. There's horizontal guide lines going across to divide the apron into sections. We'll call those sections thusly, top to bottom: Triforce, Eyeball, Bird, 8 Rectangles, and V.

***

This is going to be long and boring. I have my reasons for writing a long and boring post, but sadly, I'm not able to share them without becoming un-boring, thus defeating the purpose of this work.

***

I forgot to label them, so that reference image is, from left to right: N64 screenshot, 3DS screenshot, N64 character model, small inset at the bottom is 3DS, official artwork that was released alongside the N64 game, a heraldic tabard, some official rendering of the Hylian crest, and another 3DS screenshot.

Some are pretty self-explanatory, and some are more open to interpretation. Notably, let's take a look at the Bird section. The official artwork and the 3DS remake both distinctly have the Hylian Family Crest there. The N64 version has a very distinctly different bird thing.

So, I had to decide, which one do I put on my apron? I had to consider several things, but one of them was the process of how game textures from the N64 era were made. Textures for this game were very small image files, smaller than your 2009 cosplay.com forum avatar. The reference art would be made and then other people would be in charge of turning that art into a usable texture file, so there was artistic license involved in adapting that. This game was released before the Hylian crest had been used in multiple places across several games. Therefore, we can justify making the assumption that the texture artists didn't have an understanding of how important it was to keep this part the exact shape it was, and turned "stylized bird" into "stylized bird" in a way that would read clearly on screen at 45x100 pixels. We can assume this to be the case, because, when Grezzo did the 3DS remake, their texture artist used the Hylian crest instead of the OoT bird thing.

***

Sorry for all the embroidery stuff in the past few days. I've attracted the attention of a couple people online and embroidery seems to bore them, so we're doing that for a little bit until I stop being interesting.

,***

Cosplay has a spectrum of screen-accuracy to full-nonsense. In some things, you can do screen accuracy very well. Screen-Accurate Princess Leia from EpIV is pretty easy to make look good. Sometimes, you can do full nonsense pretty well, too. Princess Leia, but in if Star Wars was steampunk, also pretty easy to make look good.

Some things aren't as easy to make look good when you're doing screen-accurate. Sephiroth's hair in most of the Final Fantasy games stands up off his head by like 30% the height of his face. If you math that out, you have a wig with 5" antennas swooping up in the front. When you put that on a head, it looks silly. Do you want your Sephiroth to look silly? No? Then you need to do something about that hair.

My cosplay rule that I try to stick with is this: If you need to make a decision between what is "accurate" and what looks good, you pick what looks good. As long as the character reads as the character when you're done, it's better to look good than to be accurate.

And this is why, instead of just tracing any of these aprons in my embroidery software, I broke out a pen and drew the whole thing out.

Actually, I drew half of it out. The left half to be specific. I know that I'm going to mess with this later on my computer, and I know that I want the thing to be symmetrical, so let's save everyone (mostly me) some trouble and just do half of it.

Why was it important to me to draw it full size? Remember, that texture we're referencing is less than 100 pixel wide. The final piece is going to be full size, so there's a lot of things that just don't scale up easily. We're basically going from a texture the size of my thumb nail to something that has to be more high-def than 8K. This basically meant that I needed to redraw it from scratch to get that resolution. Lots of little details are going to have to be added, and I'm much better at adding them with a pen than I am just guessing while I'm digitizing the file to embroider.

So, I took it, pulled it into GIMP, and made some adjusting. I mirrored it so that I have both a left and a right side to work with. I changed the contrast so that I could see the lines better. I didn't like the Hylian crest that I drew so I just plopped the official SVG onto it and dragged it around until it fit.

And then, and this is kind of important, I cropped the image so that it's the exact proportions that I want the final thing to be. My whole design is in this file, and there's no outside image. This is important, because I'm going to use this as a template to trace in MySewnet, and the easiest way to get the background to behave properly is to pre-set it to the exact size you need in another program. Good thing this software isn't stupid absurdly expensive, or else the fact that you needed to do that would be really annoying.

The digitizing process:

Okay, so the first thing that I do is to make a custom hoop the size of the finished project. There's no way that I can actually stitch this out this big, because a 25" long hoop doesn't exist anywhere, but it's way easier to design all of it and then split it up than it is to design in pieces and then fit them together. I open the hoop in the digitizing software and load my template as the background.

Digitizing from a technical viewpoint is really simple: you click points all around the area you want to make a shape, and then you hit "make this thing", and then it renders the thing. You can then give that thing a different kind of fill or line. Easy.

So instead, I'm going to go into the art part. Because yes, I've already drawn this whole template, but I haven't figured out how to fill each of those shapes. This isn't like a coloring book where I can just fill a shape with color. Embroidery means that I have to pick how exactly I fill all those areas.

First up, I have the legendary Golden Triumph Forks. The Magical Eating Utensils. I wasn't super sold on how this was rendered in the official art. We can vaguely see how, in the game art, it looks a little more like a red outline with corner flourishes, rather than what we got in the artwork. I probably should have looked up some historical flourishes from time periods in world history where technology matched the apparent technology of the world of the Legend of Zelda, but I just kind of picked a random frilly shape.

The Triforce is one of the most important symbols in Zelda, so I knew that I wanted it to be a bright shape. This meant that I wanted to fill the shape with stitches in such a way that none of the purple backing is showing through. In embroidery terms, this usually means either a full pattern fill, or an applique. I picked applique, because this is an easy shape to applique. I knew from the start that I was going to use metallic tissue lamé. Lamé's great for a lot of things, but it's weak and shows creases. To avoid that, I wanted to put in a fill stitch to support the fabric and prevent damage, as well as hiding any big creases. I picked a big and open motif fill that will still show a lot of the applique fabric.

Eyeball:

So this is, specifically, the Sheikah Eye. It's an important symbol in the series. The Sheikah stick this eye on pretty much everything. However, it's not a fancy, gaudy, ostentatious symbol.

I grabbed a motif line at random from the list of motif lines, and happened to like it. It's a very heavy stem stitch that goes over each stitch 4-6 times, making a big, raised area. To make sure the eye was visible, I filled in the iris, teardrop, and eyelashes. I picked an opaque spiral fill, because it's a circle and these general shapes are circles. A while back, I bought some metallic white "iris" thread, and thought that a subtly-iridescent white would fit nicely.

Those little eyelashes at the bottom that aren't there in the art? Well, there's there in the game render juuuuust a little bit, and also they fall into "if it looks better that way, it's the correct way" mentality.

The Hylian Crest.

Fuck this thing.

All you need to know about this is two things: 1) I just traced the SVG that I found on the Zelda wiki, and 2) I didn't plan on stitching it out with black outlining. That black outline is just there to confuse my software into doing what I want.

Since this is as important as the triforce, I knew I wanted to do it in silver lamé. That means all of this is an applique. Quick tip: if you're going to be breaking a design into smaller segments, don't do any applique so big that it has to be spread over two segments.

Ask me how I know.

I originally had this filled with the same chain stitch that I used on the Triforce, but it made things look very samey and very mushy. I later switched it to a triangle-shaped spaced fill. I selected the triangle as the correct shape by clicking every shape one at a time and seeing what they looked like. Since this was going to be a running stitch on a shiny applique background, the fine details don't really matter. You actually can't see them normally, which is why I had to change the color here.

The outline there is the same stem motif that I used in the Sheikah eye. I found that it's wide enough to cover an applique edge without having to look like a satin stitch.

Squares, Triangles, and the Face Thing.

I have no idea what that face thing is supposed to be and apparently neither did anyone else on the internet. Since it just kind of looked like a scribble, I just rendered it as a scribble. I used a satin column so that it could have line weight similar to a drawing with a paint brush, and the shiny satin line would look like wet ink. Also known as phoning it in.

The triangles are filled with a contour fill that just traces the edges of the shape. I left some space between the lines so that the purple background can show through. This gives is sort of an optical illusion of movement. The outside of this was originally that same stem motif line from before, but after I stitched it out, I realized ti was too heavy. The final version had the same motif, but smaller, and with fewer repeats of the stitch.

I'm so damn proud of those fucking gold boxes. Okay, so, let's look at the design. Why are there gold boxes? What do they do? What do they mean? Do they represent the eight dungenons in the original game? Nope, because there were nine dungeons in the original game. Are they the eight sages? No, because there's seven sages. Is it what happens when you average the number of dungeons and sages out? I don't know. Anyway, they looked stupid just being little gold boxes, so I gave them blunted corners. I did another contour fill because I wanted them to lie flat on the finished apron and not draw any attention to themselves. As for the little tail, folks, I discovered a technique and I'm FULLY READY to abuse the heck out of it. So, I traced the lines with a satin column, ready to try to mess with the spacing to see if it'd lie flat with enough work. I hit "convert to tapered motif" by complete accident, and it was kind of cool. So, then, I went through the various motif options, found some cool looking scrolls, hit "fit to line" and slapped those in there. And I think that the little tails being written in some weird language I can't understand is SO COOL. I love how this part looks and I will not be taking other opinions on it at this time.

The V.

I didn't like how either of them looked in the original, so I just kind of winged it. I was getting bored at this point so I took a pattern fill that was supposed to be linked chains, and then I twisted it around until I was the least bored I could be with it. Again, I went with the smaller stem stitching on the outside.

Those little tails on the circles there are also filled with the scroll as tapered motif thing. If you go for this, don't forget to run the "delete short stitches" filter or else there'll be like 1100 unnecessary tiny stitches in your motifs. Ask me how I know.

Now, we learn by making mistakes, and the best way to make mistakes is to just jump in and wing it. On the left, we have the first version of this that I tried. On the right, we have the second version, which is the one I'm going to use. I've made a couple of adjustments to the file since that final version, so if I make it again, that'll be just a hair better.

So, for starters: backing fabric. I liked the movement and texture on this subtle dot tonal better than a solid purple, so i used that for both my test and my final project. The main drawback with using a printed tonal instead of a dyed solid is that the back of the printed fabric is still white. On some things, specifically the area around the satin stitching on the ink face thing, you can see subtle white haloing where the stitching's displaced the background. I don't like it. No one else seemed to notice or care.

I knew that I'd be doing this in my endless repositionable hoop, but I hadn't taken into account that I'd be doing it in the endless hoop sideways. The endless hoop expects you to go from top to bottom, and my design goes left to right. This means that I have to fight the fabric around the clamp of the hoop. The endless hoop also doesn't hold things as tightly as a regular hoop does. Because of the way the fabric is moved through the hoop, a fusible or sticky stabilizer has to be applied to the fabric before, instead of being hooped with the fabric. All of this meant that I just didn't get the support that I needed on the first go around. You can see this in the way that the fabric has bunched up around the 8 boxes. For the first round, I used some fusible no-show mesh stabilizer. It wasn't wide enough, so I had to cut it in chunks and apply it sideways. For the second round, I used two layers of Power Mesh (same stuff but different brand) as well as a layer of light+tacky paperless sticky tear-away. I really hate that light+tacky stuff so ti's exciting to finally use it up.

My first trial was mostly to see if I could make the endless hoop work like I wanted it to. In this trial, I learned a lot of things. I kept the computer nearby to make changes as I noticed them. When I was done, I looked at what I'd made. I didn't like all the proportions in all of the design, so I dragged some stuff around in the file. This was when I realized that the heavy stem stitch motif everywhere was looking clunky, and reduced or removed it from several places. I changed the fill of the Hylian crest to the triangular fill. shout out to anyone from That One Anonymous Message Board who made it this far in this post to try to prove how deranged I am. You've got a lot of time on your hands, don't you? I completely changed all of the instructions to tell the computer how to do the applique on the Hylian crest (which I STILL got wrong), and added some aligment stitches to help with the applique process. This was when I changed the color of the outline in the software. Ideally, you should now be able to lay the applique down as one fabric, let the machine sew the whole thing, and then trim it. This is important, because that applique spreads out over two hoopings, so it's kind of a mess. The secret to making this work is for hooping #2 (eye and top half of crest) to stitch out the eye BEFORE the applique, so that the whole fabric can be placed over the completed eye. We learn.

Once it was all combined and digitized, it's important to render all the digitized elements as stitches, and then do a bit of cleaning up.

Notably, I really needed to take those tapered motifs and run the stitch optimizer program. The stitch optimizer's job is to remove stitches that are too short to stitch out nicely. When looking at the 3d views in the software, I can't tell which of the samples is the before and which is the after. If I zoom up really close in illustration mode, I can see it, but remember that this is like a 1" wide strip of stitching. The basic rule is that any time the software wants to remove 3300 stitches and you can't see the difference in the stitch-out, you REALLY WANTED to remove those 3300 stitches. That's not 3100 stitches from all over the design, BTW. That's just 3100 stitches from that one section.

I go over my test swatch, section by section, and make sure there's nothing that I forgot to put into the software. I also just delete every jump cut and then make the software add them all back in. The program that adds cuts automatically tends to be more judicious wit them than the digitizing program is when you make the design, so it's a way to make a design stitch out a lot smoother with just two clicks.

So, once all of that is done, we can just run the design splitter program. The design splitter says it has "intelligent splitting" settings, which is an absolute joke, but I use inteligent setting anyway. It's not necessarily any better at picking where to split than a straight line is, but our eyes are trained to see straight lines. The allegedly-intelligent splitting does at least split at random points, making it harder for your eyes to pick out what's a splice and what's a continuous line.

So, in addition to "intelligently" splitting the design apart, the program adds two color blocks to each split piece. One is before the stitches, and it's four stitches long. This just does one stitch at each corner of the design area.

The second block it adds is at the end. This block stitches a corner marker at each corner in the design. In this picture, the before line is green and the after line is red. I offset them by a little bit so that you can see what's going on, but they do happen directly on top of each other.

This is important, because you're trying to lay your design out so that every section of the split design lies perfectly next to the other ones. When you re-hoop your fabric, you can step through the first four stitches. If you've placed your fabric correctly, then those stitches should perfectly touch the markers that were sewn in the previous blocks. If they don't line up, you can just re-hoop over and over and over and over until it lines up.

In theory, you can line up an entire design just using these markers and the alignment stitches. You can just keep rehooping forever until it lines up. It's great. On the other hand, if your embroidery machine has literally ANY KIND of design placement setting onboard, that can help a whole lot. The astute observer will note that, on that picture way up at the top, that machine isn't my Topaz 50. That's because the T50 has some nice basic design positioning that will let you place within a certain range, but it won't let you tilt the design if you hooped it crooked. I did the first attempt at this on my Topaz, and it was fine, but there was a lot of re-hooping. So I might have taken this to work, to do this on the machine that's a step up from mine. (While I was there, I used a sit-down Bernina longarm to "hand"-baste the stabilizer on. That's not the intended use of the machine, but if you set stitch regulation to like 1 stitch per inch, and then you just pull the fabric straight through from the side, you get perfectly straight basting lines. If you're not feeling like dedicating an entire room in your house to having a free-motion machine just to baste straight lines, most mid-tier sewing machines have a fake hand-basting setting in them somewhere). Anyway, if you don't already have a bunch of hoops from HV, you can get that kind of positioning setup on Brother and Baby Lock for much less than the cost of the machine I was working on. If doing big multi-hoop projects like this is a priority for you, ask your salespeople about machines that make this really easy.

You now also have the great trade-off: the smaller the hoop, the tighter the design will hoop, and the less stabilizer you'll need. However, the bigger the hoop, the more you can shift the design around in the machine without hitting the edge. The tighter the hoop grabs, the less stabilizer you need, but the harder it is to shift the fabric that's already being held in the hoop to get it where you need it to go.

I handled this by just fucking throwing a shit ton of fucking stabilizer at it like there was no tomorrow. There's three layers on this bad boy.

You might be saying "Why didn't you just use a heavier cut-away?" and you'd be right, except for two things. 1) if I use two lighter layers, then I can trim the stabilizer away in layers, avoiding the stabilizer showing through and 2) my store didn't have any wide fusible cut-away in stock so

Anyway, here it is, time to make it into the actual apron. I'm very excited for this project. I'll probably break out the repositionable hoop again to do a border on the outside of the completed project, but I don't know for sure exactly what that'll look like.

[soft-for-them]

Textiles classroom - Billy Hargrove x plus size reader

Summary: Your boyfriend Billy Hargrove needs your expertise in sewing so you both go to the out the way textiles class room to be alone together whilst you sew. I ended up writing this gender neutral because dysphoria and stuff.

Comments and reblogs are much appreciated and help more people read my works.

A/N: Ahhhh, I'm not sure I like this one shot, the request was such a good one but my writing ability isn't the best... so yeah, no proof read.

Often the classrooms that hold the textiles classes aren’t like the other classrooms housing different subjects. If the textiles class has its own classroom, rather than a borrowed art classroom or a spare room that’s coved in mathematics posters of geography dioramas, then that textiles room is small and out the way, often in an abandoned part of the school which only a few teachers and fellow sewers go to linger.

The textiles classroom at Hawkins High is tiny probably even smaller than the staff room and it’s hidden away too, often students who are looking for it for the first time are late because the small single door looks too much like a janitors closet rather than an entrance to a classroom.

With a row of yellowing strip lights, the last light near the doorway all ways flickering so much that it’s like in a hospital corridor in a horror film. The light flickers so much so that there’s a piece of paper with the words ‘don’t turn on’ written in bright highlighter blue sticky taped over the row of switches to deter any students or unknowing teachers from turning it on.

A big cupboard at the front of the classroom near the teacher’s desk, an ancient chalk board on wheels and a pristine Singer sewing machine (the type that has its own stand and looks like it’s like it from the Edwardian era) hold all the ‘updated’ sewing machines, which the classroom only has five of.

These sewing machines are cheap and off brand, they were bought in baulk ten years prior when Hawkins began teaching the textiles class along with other classes considered too ‘hippy’ by the grumpy older parents when don’t care for the arts.

Normally the avocado green machines, with their easily snapped needles and dodgy presser foots that jam too much are locked up at lunch time in the cabinet with the bobbins and threads but your teacher trusts you enough not to steal the machines so she trusts you with the key to the cabinet.

So right now you tow a green sewing machine over to the nearest plug socket, your back pack still on your back and your boyfriend Billy Hargrove awkwardly standing in the middle of the room holding a pair of forest green gym shorts, his rather small pair of gym shorts that he plays basketball in, that have a large rip in them.

Billy Hargrove, the school’s resident bad boy and handsome Cali man looks like a lost puppy among the large desks off to the side of the room and the many mannequins, drying racks and clothes horses bustling with fabric and clothes sew by a handful of students that scatter the classroom.

Then there’s you, the school’s resident tailor, that chubby nobody who people pay to fix and alter their clothes on the down low.

The only other people who know of your little scheme is that guy who sells candy and alcohol out of his locker (what secret sellers have to stay together) and of course your secret boyfriend.

No one is surprised that Billy likes you, it’s evident in how protective he is of you.

Many wonder why, most don’t realise that you and Billy have known each other for far longer than just a couple years, all those times spent holidaying in California as a child weren’t for nothing after all.

However, almost everyone would be surprised, apart from the betting teachers of Hawkins High and locker snack guy (what, he sells a lot of beer to the Populars so he sees how Billy looks at you), that you both been dating for quite some time.

For months now it’s been sneaking around town and late night car rides, blowing off school and getting high in a random fields sharing aspirations of becoming someone or moving back to California and giving a big ‘fuck off’ to everyone who ever hurt you both.

Honestly, you’re not sure if it will last, the relationship that is.

Sure you’ve come to realise you love the curly blonde mullet of a man, anger issues and all but you’ve been sewing like hell saving up some spare money so hopefully you’ll have a chance at Art school.

More and more time has been on making your portfolio, you being stuffed away in the textiles class room sewing dresses and suits, sofa covers and curtains whilst Billy does the opposite, him often skipping class and flunking exams.

Though you don’t dwell on it so much, especially right now as you thread a black thread through the sewing machine, pressing the presser foot down until the strand picks up the same black thread from the bobbin below.

It takes a few tries and as you try to be patient with the fault machine Billy sliding over to you as you try again, his feet lifting up onto the desk next to your sewing machine as he lounges back into a blue plastic school chair.

The man has always been fascinated with you skill so his mouth is always zipped shut when you sew.

It’s like he’s in a trance when looking at you, the love oozing out but when your hands sew so quick and delicately he thinks of how skilful and intelligent you are.

There’s your looks too; you’re pretty despite the lack of sleep making you groggy and easily irritated and your curves make him feel so many things. He could be rude and say all the rude things he thinks about you but he can also say that being around you makes him a better person.

His blue crystal eyes bore into you as you finally start sewing, you own eyes cast away from him your sight fully focused on fixing the smallest of rips that could have easily been left without the pair of shorts getting ruined.

Billy realises that he likes it here with you, in this classroom so out the way and quite that the world seems to stop when you’re alone here together, it’s a safety or maybe it’s just because you’re so comfortable alone together.

So with sparkling blue eyes and time to waste, the thought of asking you skip Algebra class after lunch is over flowing in his head.

Billy Hargrove relaxes and cherishes the moment hoping it will last.

[entropy-mephit]

The section of room for the zoom class seems to be carefully chosen to not show too much of life beyond, but pieces can be inferred from the soft teal shade of comfortable wide seat professor chose for himself, and the light filled, dreamlike quality of impressionist painting that peeked into the frame next to the shelf dominating most of space behind prof. Galden. It was full of books that with some effort can be recognized as a mixture of various fiction, with curious dominance of Sci-Fi, one row stolen by the topical history books and… was that a theoretical physics? It seemed like it was saying something about either the prof or his mysterious partner.

Prof. Galden was in the middle of an enthusiastic explanation about the huge impact automatic looms had on the textile industry, and how their punch cards were the earliest form of what later would be known as programing when something caught his attention. He stopped speaking, craning his neck with worry. And then he smiled so softly there was no doubt it was his boyfriend again.

“Hey, Dream!” he greeted, then turned toward the camera again. “As I was saying…”

The figure wearing a dramatic black cloak crashed down onto prof. Galden lap, stopping whatever he wanted to say in its tracks. Attention was fully stolen away from the topic, both from the audience and from the professor himself.

“Love, what…?”

“I'm going to abdicate,” murmured that ridiculous goth twink into his boyfriend's neck, but loud enough for the set to catch his words. And there really aren't many meanings to the word.

“All right.” Professor petted his back, focused enough he might have forgotten he's still broadcasting the lecture. “Is it because of my democracy talks or the queen did something?” he asked like that was a normal question, all but outright confirming, so it looks like the secret royalty theorists are winning that bet.

“Both.”

“I will help… oh damn. Dream, moment. My class!” Prof. Galden looked at the zoom classroom with terror as he realized that they had at least fifty people witnessing what was going on with them.

Most of the students had their cameras off but just enough was visible to know "kids" were staring. Because of course they were. For some reason they all were all too invested in anything they could get about the goth boyfriend.

Dream, whatever his highness' actual name was, reached blindly behind him, and somehow hit just the right button to instantly end the class, before the professor had time to notice and protest.

[phoenixyfriend]

Girl Genius university AU?

send me an au and i’ll give you 5+ headcanons about it

This ask meme is from over a year ago. Please don't send new prompts.

I'm going for modern with this, since canon would just be... Paris and TPU.

Agatha's primary focus is assistive devices. She's a bit too focused on 'small robot that does complex tasks' compared to, say, 'device that opens bottles easier for people with involuntary tremors' and the like, but still. She's got a grant from the government and a lab from the university, and she TAs a few classes to keep up on her contract.

Gil is an archaeologist that spends about 70% of the year on sabbatical. He's a big enough name that the college doesn't want to get rid of him, but he doesn't teach nearly as many classes as he should. He's there for one semester a year, and when he leaves for digs it's with like. Two students. His contract says more but somehow--!

Tarvek actually loves being a teacher. He does lectures for hundreds of people at a time. He's a fashion teacher, but his real specialty and claim to fame is materials engineering and textile development. He (chem) runs into Agatha (eng) and Gil (bio) in the chemistry department sometimes.

Colette is the youngest head that the political science department has ever had.

The library has a von Blitzengaard wing due to the family's many donations to the school. It is directly opposite the Sturmvoraus wing.

[knockyasocksoff2022]

Bungou Stray Dogs in The Hunger Games: Armed Detective Agency

(A/N: some of these districts aren't cannon, they're from the Hunger Games Role-play wiki, which I found wheile reserching the districts, and I thought they were cool so I added them.)

Under the cut because it's kind of long.

Tribute: Yosano Akiko

District: 15 (Medicine & Scientific Research)

Gender: Female

Age: 25

Occupation: Pre-Medical Student

Specialises in: close-quarters combat with heavy weapons (swords, scythes, hatchets)

~

Tribute: Kunikida Doppo

District: 6 (Transportation)

Gender: Male

Age: 22

Occupations: Maths Teacher & Logistic Coordinator

Specialises in: planning, strategic thinking, martial arts, shooting (not snipers)

~

Tribute: Tayama Katai

District: 3 (Technology)

Gender: Male

Occupation: Code engineer

Specialises in: coding (srsly, this guy’s survival skills are shit)

~

Tribute: Dazai Osamu

District: 0 (Astronomy & Meteorology)

Gender: Male

Occupation: Astronomy (almost all of his predictions about the universe are dystopian)

Specialises in: Strategic thinking, manipulation, deception, stealth, and martial arts (close and medium-range combat)

~

Tribute: Junichirou Tanizaki

District: 6

Gender: Male

Occupation: Student

Specialises in: Stealth and close-range combat with guns and/or knives

~

Tribute: Naomi Tanizaki

District: 0

Gender: Female

Occupation: Apprentice under Dazai

Specialises in: Strategic thinking, manipulation, deception, stealth, and seduction

~

Tribute: Miyazawa Kenji

District: 10 (Livestock)

Gender: Male

Occupation: Student (helps out with livestock after school and on the weekends)

Specialises in: staying positive, making friends, strength and brute force

~

Tribute: Nakajima Atsushi

District: 2 (Masonry & Weapons manufacturing, Also where most peacekeepers are recruited and trained)

Gender: Male

Occupation: Quarry worker & peacekeeper in training

Specialises in: heavy lifting, operating heavy machinery, getting into fights, breaking up the fights of others, following orders

~

Tribute: Izumi Kyouka

District: 8 (Textile production)

Gender: Female

Occupation: Student (works part-time in a textile production factory)

Specialises in: weaving, operating heavy machinery, and martial arts (taught by her mother)

~

Tribute: Kirako Haruno

District: 5 (Electricity)

Gender: Female

Occupation: Grid Operations manager

Specialises in: her job, logistics, planning, helping mediate disputes and unite her coworkers, and cat-sitting.

(A/N: I'm too lazy to tag everyone right now, so if you;re seeing this post: YAY!!!)

[handweavers]

i've dropped out of uni for mental/physical health reasons too many times so the gov has banned me from receiving any student aid funding for minimum 3 years so that on top of the fact that my uncle who was paying my portion of the rent so i could afford to go to school died means that i literally can't afford to live in this country anymore and i have no way of affording to finish my degree either, i'll never be able to finish my textile degree & that on top of everything else that has happened to me in the last year let alone the rest of my life is just like. almost all of my family in this country is dead now and i have no path forward and the grief is so overwhelming just decades of grief compounding in me it's actually numbing like i'm just floating in a miserable fog rn. the only direction out of this that i can see (that isn't giving up entirely) is moving back to msia where my remaining family lives and starting over, and the amount of grief in this decision is so overwhelming just on its own im trying to process it . idek what to say anymore im just trying to stay alive and keep a roof over my head

[k00299393]

Disrupt - Final Statement

I have learned that my greatest Disruption in life is 'Time'. Although it took me some 'time' to come to this realization, I enjoyed the journey. I have learned many skills doing the workshops and seminar's, which in turn really helped me to grow as an artist.

I feel that my most successful piece from this brief has been the stop motion I created doing the experimental animation workshop with Yvonne. It's called 'Windy Day' and was a memory I recreated from a 'time' I will never get back, using my clothes and my daughter Lara's clothes that she has long since outgrown. Taking inspiration from Osbert Parker.

Windy Day

I believe it's successful for a number of reasons.

The brown paper background is a blank canvas for the viewer to fill with a place of meaning to them.

The clothes arent too spacific to any one time period which makes it relatable to a bigger audience.

The clothes are absent of people, making them a vehicle the viewer can place themselves inside, maybe a memory of when they went to see Nanny. Or perhaps a fantasy of the future and a life they long for.

The background sound is of birds in trees something I'm sure everyone has had some experience of.

If I were to have any regrets after finishing this brief, it would be that I again ran out of 'time'. I had intended on creating a new stop motion piece, this time with the help of my daughter's. But the business of being a mother, full time student and part-time worker wouldn't allow it. That and the fact that my pre teens aren't fond of being at the other side of my camera these days.

Going forward I intend to explore animation more but also fashion and textiles as I didn't get a chance to explore that yet.

[mmagpye]

today I'm thankful for yellow curry with soft tofu simmered for a while with a bunch of green onions, for spending time looking at a Guatemalan huipil, beautiful Japanese kasuri mended textile, stitching time in the evening, students who stay motivated and organized and hopeful

[raptorsaurusmelain]

Let me show you... Youtube - chapter 2

Hey, here is chapter 2 of Victoria's adventure.

Warning : no proof reading, english is not my mother tongue.

─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: .☽ . :☆ﾟ. ───

Yuu called Victoria to warn her they found a room.

Victoria faced away from the headmaster to yell a "I'm coming !" Before telling Crowley "I bid you a good night, headmaster."

Crowley sighed "I will think about your proposition… Good night".

The raven man walked away from the dorm under Victoria's eyes full of satisfaction. Yuu should be a janitor for a few days before being a student, if she remembered correctly.

She began to go upstairs when Yuu yelled :

"Victoria-san ? There is a suitcase in my room with my name on it !!"

Victoria frowned. That's strange…

"Don't open it !! I am coming !!"

Victoria walked faster to the bedroom, finding herself in front of the exact room from the game. Truly it was a strange feeling to be in front of things you never saw before in real life and yet that seemed so familiar.

On the dusty white sheet covering the bed was an old suitcase, in a textile that seemed to be leather. There was a tag on it, spelling in English lettering "For Yuu". That… wasn't in the game.

Victoria ordered gently "Yuu, Grim step back a little, I am going to open it."

Full of apprehension, Victoria opened the brass clasps of the suitcase to reveal… 

"Clothes ? Well that was unexpected."

Yuu came closer and opened their eyes wider. "Those are mine ! And there is my wallet too !"

Victoria was surprised. [What is happening?]

"Well at least I will not have to worry about making laundry too often !" Added Yuu.

Victoria sighed and pushed Yuu lightly "we need to clean a little if you wish to sleep on a bed tonight"

Yuu nodded and they both went on an expedition to find at least a broom. When they found one, they took the white cover off, coughed and shook the old duvet. When they had the money, they really needed to buy a washing machine.

Once they were done with Yuu's room, they went to search Victoria's room and clean it.

Victoria chooses a room that seemed to be the old dorm manager room, bigger and more furnished than Yuu. Like Yuu, a suitcase was waiting for her, with a beautiful "For Victoria" tag on it.

She opened it. There was more stuff than in Yuu's. There were clothes, a smartphone, the charger, her wallet and a letter from the bank?? Did she forget to pay something ?

Curious, she opened the letter and read what it was written. Yuu, as curious, asked "what is written on the letter ??".

Victoria was confused and showed the bank card "apparently I have a bank account here ?". She pointed at a little rectangle "Look there is even a pin number."

There was a confused silence.

"What's a bank card?" Asked Grim.

"It allows someone to pay something with their money, by other means than coins and bills." explained Yuu.

The woman was confused. After a few seconds she decided she was too tired to care for today. Always procrastinate, Imma right ?

“Let’s clean, I will think about it tomorrow… We need the night to digest our emotions.”

After cleaning and saying good night, Victoria was alone in her bed. There she advised her plan : 

1st of all : she was in the game but some stuff deviated from the canon events.

2nd : she decided to not interfere with the story of the game, she was enough of a disturbance. 

3rd : she would just be a background janitor and help Yuu, if they needed.

4th : something (or someone) decided to interfere and make them accommodate their new lives quickly. Else why would there be suitcases in their rooms ?

5th : a bank account ? She will have to find Sam’s to activate her bank card.

6th : the dorm needed repairing and they will have to do that in their free time.

Unable to sleep, she grabbed her phone and saw that she had a message. She opened it and read:

“Welcome to Twisted Wonderland Victoria !

We are happy to announce to you that you were chosen among a thousand of participants to become Yuu’s emotional support !

We created a bank account in your name and in a few days, your phone will be rewired to function on Twisted Wonderland telephone network !

If we are satisfied with your services, you will receive your new ID and your social security card. In addition, if you go all the way till the end of the story, you will be a permanent resident of Twisted Wonderland !

Aren’t you happy ?

Disney”

A PERMANENT WHAT ??

Tag : @boba-tea-sipsip