#i plan to post stuff like this daily for the entirety of october so be ready for that! i have a good feeling about this year :D

[theamalgaverse]

“They’re brothers, they’re inseparable. But something is itching me to find out how strong the rope tying them together is…”

[keepthisholykiss]

The results from my Dracula Daily survey are in! Just like with my Hamlet survey in the past, these are the highlights of data that I found from the survey. Folks shared valuable insights that are soon to be shared with the purpose of advocating for further free education resources like these. The data in these graphics is not all the data received but that is because I never share 100% of results, only the interesting parts. This is also probably my final survey I will do like this unless there is desire for me to do more research, if you have a topic you’d like me to cover send me an ask! Otherwise I will be working on my child, my magnum opus, my future PhD dissertation.

Onto the post mortem thoughts and alt text which are both under the fold!

This survey was originally done with the purpose of a specific conference I was to attend and share my thoughts on accessible education with. However that conference was, ironically, incredibly inaccessible. I am a queer disabled scholar and I face a lot of challenges in academia so making my case for why educational resources like Dracula Daily should be promoted within academia is very important to me. Unfortunately my original plans for this research could not happen due to my having to pull out of the conference. Now this data is being shared with a new and much more accessible conference, so at least I can still have use it for its original purpose!

Also of note is that this survey, unlike work I have done in the past, received some really nasty responses. Specifically terfs (idk why they wrote gross stuff in my survey answers though) and people who wanted to belittle the way or the content of what I was researching. This is not okay. I want to reiterate that I am a queer, disabled scholar who has zero tolerance for some of the responses I received. Studying fandom is never fully free of this but I want to hold people accountable always for the way people are treated within a community. My studies of online community are basically done (because I am moving onto my PhD work which does not involve the same research) but if I come back to doing it I will be implementing other methods to avoid the way I was treated. Regardless of the bad eggs and struggles I have with most all of academia this was fun. I appreciate everyone who participated and thank you for the feedback. Please enjoy these results!

ALT TEXT:

Slide one: Dracula Daily survey results Slide two: About the survey -  A survey was conducted to gather data from fans of Dracula Daily to gain insight on accessible education and fandom. The survey received 863 responses these are the data highlights. Slide three: Disclaimer - The data presented here is a summary of information and highlighted portions of responses. This is not all of the data and the entirety will never be released. Also some responses were omitted from final numbers due to abusive language entered into the survey toward the researcher. Slide four: Before Dracula Daily - 62%  of respondents had not read Dracula before Dracula Daily.  More than 50% of respondents answered that they had been avid readers at some point in their lives. Slide five: 85%  of respondents noted that they had consumed other gothic or vampire media prior to Dracula Daily. Slide six: Finishing the story - 66%  of respondents finished Dracula Daily. 15.7% plan to finish. Slide seven:  92% of respondents said Dracula Daily improved their understanding of Dracula and/or classic literature Slide eight: Stopping short -  The majority of those who responded that they did not finish stopped reading sometime in October.  The top reason for not finishing was: lack of motivation. Slide nine: Let’s Talk About It - 82%  of respondents talked about Dracula Daily online, in person, or both. Over 50%  cited memes as their favorite part of participating. Slide ten: One More Chapter -  Many respondents indicated their desire to read more books in this format, the titles with the most interest were: Sherlock Holmes, Jane Austen, Phantom of the Opera, and Les Miserables

[in-my-head-i-do-everything-right]

Prompt: Basically the entirety of “I wanna be yours” by Arctic Monkeys but more specifically “secrets I have held in my heart, are harder to hide than I thought, maybe I just wanna be yours

secrets I have held in my heart, are harder to hide than I thought. maybe I just wanna be yours

In October, while she’s still riding the high of absolutely demolishing Greg Dewey in mock trial, she finds out that the hot guy who’s always standing outside the library after her 3 PM post mock trial coffee break was the one who said that shitty thing about her sister two years ago while walking out of a debate competition—a competition Allie is ninety percent sure he won, by the way. And sure, he looks hot as fuck leaning against that exposed brick in his Tom Ford coat. Which, arguably is his right. To look hot. But, still.

He said the shitty thing about her sister. Allie’s still a little pissed about that. Which is her right.

“You’re Harry Bingham, right?” she asks, just to make sure. God, his name is so… Waspy. Pure Wasp. Bingham. She’s bets his family came over on the Mayflower. She bets they’re proud of that.

He smirks down at her. Smirks. He literally smirks. “Who’s asking?”

She can’t get over the smirk. Like, is it hot? Yes. Is she incredibly annoyed at him already? Big yes. “Who do you think is asking?”

“Well,” he says, adjusting his coat. It’s a really nice navy. Allie’s honestly a big fan of the coat. “If you’re asking…”

“It’s a yes or no question,” she snaps, her arms flailing a little, her coffee sloshing around in her cup. She paid five dollars for it from the student run coffee shop and she doubts it was at all worth it. But she made a promise, okay? A promise to her sister that she’d support small businesses. Which has pretty much only meant stopping with the daily Starbucks, but Cassandra doesn’t need to know that.

“Yeah, I’m Harry Bingham. Why?” How was that smooth? No, Allie would seriously like to know. How did he make that sound smooth? How is that possible?

“Did you do debate in high school?”

His brow scrunches. His head tilts. He still looks hot. “Why—”

“Another yes or no question.”

“Yeah,” he says slowly, carefully, like he’s trying to figure out where this conversation is going in real time, “I did debate in high school.”

She smiles. It’s not a proper smile, more of a half-smile. A smug smile? Doesn’t matter. “Great. Do you remember Cassandra Pressman?”

Harry’s face lights up briefly, probably with recognition. “Yeah, I remember Cassandra. She’s hard to forget. Very… intense.”

“Well,” Allie says, stretching out the word. God, she hates men. “I’m her sister, and from what I can remember, you said some pretty shitty stuff about her, and were, just in general, a complete and total asshole.”

“Excuse—”

“A misogynistic asshole, actually. And you know what, this coffee is shit anyway so—” In one fluid movement, an honestly graceful movement, a movement that Allie is—no matter how disappointed she knows her parents will be in her—proud of, she dumps her shitty five dollar coffee all over the front of his Tom Ford coat.

He lets out this pained sounding gasp that half resembles a mess of curses, and she walks away victorious and mostly guilt free.

Two hours later, he follows her on Instagram. She does not follow him back (even though she thinks about it because… hot dude), and that feels really good too.

-

With a start like that, they shouldn’t make it anywhere. Still…

In November, she runs into him in line at the student run coffee shop. Which just furthers the point that she needs to stop going there.

“Allie Pressman,” he says, and if he wasn’t so hot, so might be a little creeped out. But, also, she does know his name. So maybe they’re even?

“Hi,” she says, semi-awkwardly. About as awkward as can be expected when you run into the guy you dumped a whole coffee on. Also, turns out setting was not what was making him so attractive. No surprises there, but still something to take note of.

“Thought you said the coffee here was shitty.”

She purses her lips. “Well, I have Pfeiffer this semester, so while the coffee here is,” she lowers her voice just a little. God, she loves being dramatic, “incredibly shitty, I definitely need the caffeine.”

“Oh,” he visibly winces, “sorry about Pfeiffer’s class.” And, then, just before they reach the front of the line, “Let me buy you a coffee? To make up for the fact that you will be getting very little sleep this semester?”

She tilts her head to the side. Who the fuck is this boy, and how much is he willing to spend on coffee? “Shouldn’t I be the one buying you coffee. Because… well, you know.”

It’s a half-grin half-smirk this time. And it is, arguably, much more disarming. “My friends and I have taken to calling it The Incident,” he supplies, and oh he’s funny too. Fuck.

“Sorry about that, by the way.” She is not, in fact, at all sorry about The Incident. However, Hot Guy (he does have a name, and she does know said name, but… well) is about to buy her a coffee, and judging by the Rolex on his wrist, price does not matter.

He shrugs. “I had it coming. And I’m sorry about the shit I said about Cassandra.” Allie’s mouth doesn’t necessarily fall open, but it almost falls open, and that counts for something. White boy admits he made a mistake. This is first page news. “I was stupid and upset and probably a little high. And I’m sorry.”

“I’m not the one you should be apologizing to.”

He levels her this easy grin. This content grin. This… I am one step ahead of you grin. “I messaged your sister on Facebook a very lengthy and somewhat heartfelt apology a year ago.”

They are officially at the front of the line. Allie does not care. “Cassandra hasn’t checked her Facebook since 2018.”

“That sounds like a her problem.”

Allie ignores that. “Hi,” she says to the cashier. “I’ll have a large caramel macchiato with two shots of espresso please.”

Harry looks equal parts disgusted and appreciative. And a little bit concerned. Which is valid. “Small black coffee for me.”

“And can I also get one of those brownies, and two of those turkey shaped sugar cookies,” she turns to him. Spending someone else’s money on food is fun. “Don’t they just look so cute?”

“Yeah,” he says, sounding amused and looking way too endeared. “They look very cute. You plan on sharing with me?”

She should not be playing along with this. “Maybe.”

He follows her outside, catching the door and holding it open for her. It’s raining, which sorta sucks, but she has no plans on actually sitting down with this boy. That feels like a step too far.

Only, then—“My place is just around the corner,” he says, so fucking casually. And, God, how is she supposed to respond to that? “I’ll trade you one of those cookies for my notes from Pfeiffer’s course.”

Her heart is about to beat out of her chest. This is not good. “You paid for the cookies.”

“I know.”

Fuck.

“Okay, let’s go to your place.”

-

They have sex five times over the course of a week before her conscious tells her to stop. Then, she tries avoiding him for the rest of November but gives up two days after Thanksgiving. Because she’s not immune to anybody who calls to offere her left over pumpkin pie, okay. Fucking sue her.

“I shouldn’t be here,” she says right off the bat, and he lets out this laugh that involves him throwing his head back. And that shouldn’t be as hot as it is, and she should not be feeling this warm inside because it is literally snowing right now.

“Where should you be, Pressman?”

“Studying for my polisci midterm.”

He continues looking at her way too fondly. Her cheeks flush a pale pink. She blames the change in temperature. “You have Craven?”

“Yeah.”

He does this little waving motion that is much hotter than it should be. One day she will find a thing he looks unattractive doing. Today is not the day. “Don’t even worry about it. Easiest test I ever took.”

“I should still probably be studying for it.”

He shakes his head, and that makes her laugh even though she very much does not want to. “You seem pretty smart. Don’t worry about it.”

That was… comforting.

“You know, I kinda like what we have going,” he says, and nope her heart should not be beating anywhere near as hard as it is. Is she having a heart attack? Oh, God, is she about to die? Is she about to die in Harry Bingham’s apartment? Cassandra is going to be so disappointed.

“And what exactly is this that we have going?” she manages to get out. Yeah, Allie can practically taste Cassandra’s disappointment.

“Eating baked goods and having sex. Obviously.”

She chokes on her bite of pumpkin pie.

“So if you wanna get dinner sometime…” he continues, as though she is not choking right in front of him.

She manages to dislodge the piece of pumpkin pie in her throat. If that shit wasn’t so fucking delicious, she would be swearing it off right now. “Would you be paying?”

He looks surprised. That counts as a victory. “Yes?”

“Then no, I’m good.”

“Why?” he asks, just a little too quickly, and, yeah, his composure is entirely gone, and they are once more on an equal playing field. Arguably, she might have the upper hand right now. Which is nice.

“Because that sounds a lot like a date, and I do not want to date you.”

To his credit, he only looks sort of hurt. She takes another bite of that pumpkin pie. Who cares if it might kill her. “Why not?”

“Because you’re my sister’s high school debate rival, and that just feels a little too it’s a small world for me.”

“That’s a shitty excuse.”

“But it’s a valid one, isn’t it?”

“No, not really.” Well. At least he’s being honest.

“Look, Harry.” First name and everything. This is called progress. “You’re nice and all—really great baked goods—but Cassandra would give me that disappointed face if it ever came out that I’m… associated with you. And, honestly, I can’t handle that right now. Mentally—nope. Not happening.” She sounds flustered. She feels flustered.

“Okay?” She is taking that answer as a win.

“Great!” Too bright. “Hopefully we can stay friends? Or at least the type of acquaintances who buy the other fun shaped sugar cookies and give them the notes to classes so they have a chance to not fail.”

He stares at her, a bit like he doesn’t think she’s real, like he’s marveling at everything that she is. That or she has pumpkin pie crumbs all over her face. And, then: “Actually,” he starts, and oh God, this is not going to go her way is it?

“What?” she says very slowly.

“You know what?”

“What?” She repeats.This is already getting annoying.

“You know what’s hot?”

“What?” (But with additional fear this time.)

“Secret relationships.”

Oh. Oh Fuck.

She doesn’t have an argument for that.

-

Honestly, that’s probably the moment that it all starts.

send me song lyrics and a pairing and i’ll write you a drabble

[darknymfa-art]

This year is a bit of a mixed bag, to be honest! After years of mental health struggles I finally started receiving help for it last year, and this year I've really felt the impact of that. So much impact, in fact, that this September I finally returned to college! Which of course promptly slurped up pretty much all of my free time, but ah well. I've tried to make up for it by doing daily drawing challenges, including my first ever full Inktober! Considering that my previous record from 2016 or so was 6 days... Well, a full month was pretty dang good! Also lots of Pokemon Amethyst stuff here at the tail end of the year, finally getting through that old project. Also I totally prepared this whole post earlier this month lmao. Held off until I saw a layout come around, and so I had something good to put into December. JANUARY: 3 whole drawings this month, and one of my favorites from this year too! Something about this piece just really does it for me, ngl. Also did a bunch of fanfic writing this month, based on the multiple one-shots I have with upload dates from January, and also the fact that I was writing a chapter a week as part of my executive dysfunction therapy thingy. FEBRUARY: 3 drawings, but overall less productive. Not much writing (or, well, compared to the surrounding months), and the art pieces were mostly simple or took longer than they should've. Still, nothing to complain about! MARCH: Somewhere around here I finished my first multi-chapter fanfic ever, counting 15 chapters and over 50.000 words! I was really excited about it, pretty much bouncing out of my chair when I declared it done. It absolutely stunned me that I wrote *that* many words, that I managed to complete a project of that size. (it's pretty dang impressive if you look at where I came from, but I have since finished a 60k and a 90k fic, so...) APRIL: Not only do I have 4 art pieces for April, I also have a *ton* of writing. Besides my usual weekly chapters I joined the Phic Phight (a DP fandom event similar to Art Fight but for fanfic writers), so I wrote an additional 8 one-shots for a total of 34.000 words this month. Yeah, it was a productive hecking month, and it kind of set the tone for my next few months, proving to myself what I was capable of. MAY: Wow, lots of pieces to pick from this month. After doing the Phic Phight the previous month, I decided to keep the writing train going, and started writing two chapters of fanfic a week. One for Weirdward, my next major project after Disinterred (which finished posting this month), but also one for What A Nice Surprise, which followed up Disinterred in my weekly update slot. Really productive month, really, lots of writing and drawing and experimenting with styles! JUNE: The end of my year-long fusion project! This year was very important for me, art-wise, because I finally got to finish projects I started. Which may sound a little silly, but with my executive dysfunction, I usually lost interest in projects before I got anywhere close to finishing them. Really satisfying in that aspect. Also continued to carry on my 2 chapters of fanfic a week thing. JULY:[1][2] Not much finished stuff this month, kinda let myself take a break there. Still wanted to keep up the 'draw at least 1 thing a week' thing, but kinda eased up on how cleaned up it had to be, especially since I didn't want to start a new project so close to school. Mostly played around with my superhero setting/world/thingy, to be honest! Don't have much experience with designing their outfits, so that was fun to play around with. Figuring out their aesthetics and how to knit those into superhero-esque outfits. (except for Hornet. she's an ex-villain who never changed her costume) This month also saw the end of What A Nice Surprise, my one-shot which spiraled completely out of control, and ended up beating Disinterred in word count. A neat 12 chapters and 62.000 words, there. Also we broke the heat records around here so yeah, I took some time for myself to just melt in peace, lemme live. AUGUST: Not a whole ton of art to be honest, but this ensemble pic right here was a real joy, and I really like the Totodile piece as well. I officially finished writing Weirdward, my (currently) longest fanfic, at 22 chapters and 91.000 words! And I wrote a shorter multi-chapter over July and August as well (Play Your Part, at 6 chapters and almost 25.000 words). SEPTEMBER: I'm gonna be honest, this was the month I started school again after 2 years of doing basically nothing. It was a lot of getting used to that again, let's be real. I have nothing major to show off for this month, art-wise. Outside of art, getting to start school again was a major achievement for me; finally recovering far enough (mostly through art) that I could go back. And I've done well, so far! OCTOBER: I did Inktober! Pen-based stuff, yes, but the first year I managed longer than a week. A full month, even! I also finished my longest one-shot yet (Surreptitious, counting 35.000 words), and wrote a couple of fics for EctoberWeek to celebrate my first full year of fanfic writing. Didn't quite manage the full week thanks to school, but still, 20k words is nothing to sneeze at. NOVEMBER: Inktober TWO!!! No but for real, I started off the month by finishing my last Inktober piece, and then immediately transistioned into doing daily drawings of Amethyst Fakemons. Not _quite_ every day, but I still 11 of them done before the new Pokemon games dropped, so. Pretty solid, especially since most of them were in color. I also played through Pokemon Sword in its entirety, and wrote a 12.5k fic over the span of a single weekend for a Phandom event. So, y'know, not too shabby. DECEMBER: Well, this month isn't over yet, so... Doing another traditional art challenge, this time Pokecember, although I'm only doing a single Fakemon a day. Also finished planning out the entire Amethyst dex AND region (including encounters), so! (well, okay, I still need to sort in 'regular'/unchanged/canon Pokemon but shh) And hey, look, actual digital art! Which isn't posted on dA yet because I didn't finish drawing their wings but eh, still looks good. Template by AsterianMonarch on dA 

[ginnyzero]

Completely Harmless Ch. 15

Completely Harmless An SSO SilverGlade Re-imagining Story (Or Fix it Fan Salt fic) By Ginny O.

When Lily and her friends wanted to buy horses and were directed to the Silverglade Manor and its myriad of problems, they didn’t expect to start a revolution. They were just a bunch a stable girls. Completely harmless. Right?

A/N: Things are only canon if I say they’re canon. Pre-Saving the Moorland Stables compliant for the most part. Posted in its entirety on my website. Posted in 2000 to 4000 word bits here. Rated T for Swearing Word Count 177,577

Chapter Fifteen Nefarious Counter Plots

Antonia did call begging for help moving things. Bjorn offered up his truck and so while half the girls stayed behind to do the daily chores and check ups around the Manor, the rest went with Bjorn to New Hillcrest going through an empty farm in Epona.

Bjorn told them about the area as he drove slowly so they could keep up.

“But the Dews disappeared. Don’t know who owns the olive farm now,” Bjorn sucked on the stem of the edible flower he kept in his mouth.

“Then, who are we to pay to get the olives,” Melody asked.

“Isn’t Maya over in Moorland a Dew?” Regina added.

Pauline nodded. “She is!”

“Well, she’ll know what happened here with her family,” Lily said. “We can ask her on the way back.”

Bjorn muttered about the trees in the road in the Marsh and how the New Hillcrest mayor wouldn’t look beyond their own nose despite their whole “planned” town. “If no one can get to your town because of trees in the road, what good is it,” he said crankily as they dragged big logs out of the road with improvised rope hoists from his truck.

Antonia had a good portion of her things packed up but not all of it. And she’d run out of boxes. So, they ran over to Jamie Olivetree the local (and horrid) baker to see if she had any and if any of the other stores had boxes they could use. They came back with boxes from Jamie and the different clothing stores and were able to finish packing up Antonia’s stuff quickly, carefully packing all the items with newspaper.

“I know the cottage is smaller. I mean, I’m getting rid of a lot of stuff. I was so hopeful when I moved here that the Winterwells would want a restaurant other than Jamie and nothing opened up.” Antonia raked a hand through her hair.

“But the Baroness wants one and that’s even better,” Regina said as she wrapped up some lamps. They loaded her things into Bjorn’s truck and boxes onto the horses and Antonia locked her house for the last time. “Let me go drop this key off with the Mayor,” she said.

Lily accompanied her and they informed the Mayor about both the new Restaurant and Event area opening soon at the Manor but also the Farmer’s Market run by the Summer Chipmunks. The Mayor sounded pleased about it all.

Bjorn grumbled. “Now if she’d be pleased enough to clear the roads.”

They headed back at the same pace as before.

Lily promised to meet them at the Village after she went and talked to Maya. She trotted off to Moorland.

“Maya!” She called out and waved as she got close. “You probably don’t remember me, I’m Lily. I was a camper here.”

Maya leaned on her shovel. “You’re right. I don’t remember you.”

“There are a lot of campers, it’s no matter,” Lily said. “Say, Bjorn, the Silverglade Manor gardener says that big old farm in Eastern Epona belongs to your family. We’re opening a Mediterranean restaurant,”

Maya held up her hand. “Belonged,” she said dryly and a little bitterly. “The G.E.D. bankrupted us and bought us out.”

Lily bit her tongue as not to swear. “I’m so sorry, Maya.”

Maya slumped. “Yeah. What are you going to do?”

“We’re going to help, that’s what we’re going to do,” Lily put her hands on her hips. “We aren’t going to give G.E.D. and the likes of Mr. Kemball money. And it’s not like they’re guarding it or doing anything with it from the looks of it. We need the olives for the restaurant.”

“It’s too late,” Maya moaned.

“It isn’t. Look, where did your family go to?”

“There’s a farm in the Forgotten Fields. But forget it, they won’t deal with you. They hide every time someone comes along. We’re ashamed. That farm in Epona had been in our family for generations.”

“And we’re going to help you get it back.”

“How?”

“By paying you for materials for the Restaurants. Look, the Manor is opening a restaurant and doing events. The Forgotten Fields is right across the South Silver Waters, right? Then, we give orders to you. You give them to your family and we’ll pay you for it. And we’ll tell other restaurants that are going to be opening soon to also use your family’s farm with their orders.”

“We can’t supply all of it!”

“Maybe, maybe not, there are a lot of farms in the area and they aren’t going to have everything we need either. But if all the families and tenant farmers got together and worked together so that everyone was growing different things with enough overlap there’s enough, everyone will benefit and your family will be making money again. You can get your farm back. Especially, since you’re the only family that does olives and we’re going to need a lot of those.”

Maya looked skeptical.

“Look, the Summer Chipmunks are putting together a Farmer’s Market.” Lily got out her phone and scribbled down the President’s number. “You take your family’s goods there and we can figure out what your family needs to plant in order to make money while they work to get their Olive Farm back. And, hey, if we do it right. Your family will have two thriving farms instead of one. It’s a traditional Greek menu this summer, we’re going to need olives, tomatoes, and cucumbers. We’re going to need milk for yoghurt and the different cheeses. We’re going to need chicken, beef, and lamb. I’m not sure about eggs because she might be using the duck eggs from all the ducks at the Manor.”

Maya looked dazed.

“Antonia, the head chef, is moving into Silverglade today. She’s going to want to talk to all her local suppliers. You want your family to be on that list.”

Maya burst into tears and then latched onto Lily. “Thank you. Thank you. Thank you so much. No one has had any ideas, any good ideas.”

“Hey,” Lily patted her back. “This area is about to see a revival. You’ll see.”

Maya nodded, let her go, and wiped her eyes. “Thanks.”

“I’ll talk to the President of the Summer Chipmunks about encouraging Steve and the others to come up with a farmer’s collective. I know the Sunfields have a creamery and that the Goldspurs and Will have flour mills.”

Maya nodded again. “Most of the farmers barely talk to each other. Jasper has a Pumpkin Farm in the Golden Hills.”

“Pumpkin is more of a fall thing,” Lily murmured. “I’ll go tell him about it. He can’t be as cranky as he was before.”

Maya wiped her eyes. “I hope not.”

Justin jogged over. “Hey, no upsetting the help.”

“Happy tears, Justin, happy tears!”

“Oh,” Justin rocked on his heels. “Things going okay over there in Silverglade.”

“We’re going to make a huge difference. You’ll see. Things are going grand,” Lily assured him.

Justin glanced at Maya who had composed herself.

“If you’re sure,” Justin said. “Since, you’re making Maya cry and all.”

“It is classified information, Moorland,” Lily said. “You aren’t authorized to know.”

Justin pouted. “Be that way.”

Lily winked at Maya.

Maya bit her lip.

“We don’t want G.E.D. to get wind of our nefarious counter plots,” Lily whispered.

Maya nodded rapidly.

Lily looked down her nose at Justin. “Well, I best be off, much counter insurgency to attend to.”

Justin scoffed.

Maya gave her a thumbs up.

Reassured that she’d made someone’s day better, Lily went to help Antonia finish unpacking and tell her about the fate of the Dew’s farm. Antonia was flabbergasted. “How could they do that? No. You’re right. I’m not giving G.E.D. any money. Not after the things they’ve done. We’ll get the money to the proper owners of the farm.”

“I don’t want to scare them by going to explore their farm now,” Lily fretted.

“Hopefully, someone will turn up at the first Farmer’s Market,” Linn said. “Even if it is only Maya. She can relay the news to her family. If they don’t want to be seen, then Maya can be their public face.”

“And she’s cute, people will be sympathetic since she’s cute.”

“Well, she mentioned Jasper has a bigger farm in the Golden Hills. He grows Pumpkins.”

“I don’t need pumpkins until at least October.” Antonia made a face.

“We can tell him that,” Lily grinned.

Once Antonia was settled, Lily and the other girls decided to check out the Golden Hills. “We used the transports, I only really saw the village,” Lily said to Abigail.

“We were on a timed schedule,” Pauline told her. “There are a lot of villages!”

They all laughed.

They rode down the road instead of winding through the dead gardens.

Jennifer sighed. “That is going to be a lot of work.”

“I don’t think Agnetha cares.”

They went past the Riding Arena. Sabine still practiced inside, though she’d hired someone else to time her.

The road led to a large iron gate and on the other side was the Golden Hills.

“So,” Lily asked slowly, “are the Golden Hills, golden?”

There was some giggling.

“I mean, this isn’t like the Golden Fields that used to be canola flower fields.”

“You think they’ll do anything about that,” Melody mused, meaning the Summer Chipmunks.

“Not our area,” Elsa said.

“Oh thank goodness,” a couple said together.

The Golden Hills were indeed golden. And they’d be more golden in the fall, Lily observed. However, now it was high summer so it a soothing blend of green and eye catching yellows. The Birch Trees continued on the other side of the gate. Their leaves would turn gold in the fall.

But among the Birch Trees were trees with green leaves and long chains of yellow flowers.

“What are these?” Lily asked Linn.

“Golden Chain Trees,” Linn said.

“Pretty,” Lily said.

Now, the girls from other places weren’t sure if it was accident or by design, but the many different bushes and flowers of the Golden Hills area that they noticed as they rode down the road to get to Jasper’s Pumpkin Farm were some color of yellow.

There were three bushes that were yellow that no one knew the names of. Though one had bunches of white flowers.

For flowers, Lily recognized goldenrod, though it was more of a weed than a flower. There were black eyed susans, yellow pansies and yellow daylilies. Grace, who knew more about flowers, pointed out yellow primroses, yarrow and of course, there were buttercups and some yellow snap dragons. There were also yellow impatiens.

This was fun according to Grace, because snap dragon seed pods looked like skulls and impatiens seed pods exploded when you touched them. There was a funny looking round flower that was called a Billy Button. The Garden Tickseed had bright yellow flowers with burgundy centers.

Elsa wanted to know if the people of the Golden Hills went out and just ripped out anything that wasn’t yellow. That made Linn and Tyra laugh. There were Mums and Marigolds for the fall of course. Right now they were growing as green plants and shrubs not yet flowering. And in Spring, among the birches, Linn said there were yellow daffodils as far as the eye could see.

“Those are bulbs,” Grace said looking down.

“They push out the tulips,” Linn said.

“Well, tulips aren’t currency anymore,” Grace sniffed.

There were some giggles.

They explored a bit before actually going to Jasper’s farm. The Golden Hill’s forest was a huge Birch forest and there was a race there run by a girl named Emma. The race itself had jumps and such of fallen trees and big rocks. The pumpkins were trying to take over the forest around Jasper’s farm. The pumpkins were still small and not at all ready to be picked yet. They told Jasper about the Farmer’s Market and that in the Fall, the chef of the Silver Glade was planning on using Pumpkin for something.

“Pumpkin and Pumpkin Spice is all the rage in fall,” Jasper agreed. He thanked them for the information.

They returned to Silverglade feeling they’d done their part to help out the Summer Chipmunks.

--

The next day the decorator arrived. He’d seen the pictures. He’d seen the ideas. He wanted to get his own take on the space. And, he wanted hard numbers. He needed to know exactly how many people they could sit in there because that was going to help determine how much money they could make for the floor space and how much each seat was going to cost.

Antonia nodded along and talked about food pricing and how she wanted to keep it low by sourcing from local vendors.

Linda hung off to the side and had the girls help her take pictures of the goings ons as a couple of the other girls were given measuring tapes and told what needed to be measured.

“For a nice modern space, we do want it to be something neutral, but not taupe,” the decorator raved. “We’re calling it the Silver Glade, then grey, grey that actually says something. French grey, dove grey, something warm so it’s not cold and then if we use more classical furniture in darker colors it will stand out like the dark slashes on the paper birch trees.”

“He’s making this up, right?” Stacy asked Theresa in a low voice.

Theresa shrugged.

“French paneling, definitely, Le George has that right,” the decorator nodded. “And these windows are spectacular. We don’t want to draw away from them and this gorgeous view of this amazing reflecting pool with curtains. “No. No. No.”

Agnetha presented him with a board of the different flowers she expected to put into the back gardens and the array of roses.

“Brilliant,” he said. “And you said the Baroness loves purple?”

“It’s a Winery, she adores purple,” Elsa said dryly.

“All right, we’ll have the Wedgewood intaglio vases and they’re smaller and then we can also have large purple glass vases to put the roses into and I know an artist who can make us purple and clear glassware for the tables. Let the purple of the glassware and the flowers be the only colors in the room to draw the eyes to exactly where you want them. Otherwise, use greys and silvers. There’s a plaster artist I know that can do a plaster bas relief above the doors like at the Le George if we want.”

“That sounds great,” Antonia said. “Anything to make this place seem posh and upscale and reflect the Mediterranean but still be classic.”

“Fresh and young,” Lily reminded them.

“That will be the purple glass,” the decorator said. “I think I have a handle on it. Up the stairs we go.”

He raved of the view from the roof. “All right, here is my thinking. We’re definitely going to want the same chairs. Though the ones in the dining room will be cushioned better. But I saw these antique roman style chairs like you wanted with something similar to the Silverglade Clan swirl on the back. We can have them up here and down there with grey or silver cushions. No grannie is going to want to come all the way up these stairs for a meal, so downstairs will be much more comfortable with back support cushions too. Otherwise, Ms. Agnetha, plant your roses everywhere for a romantic look and don’t worry about vases overly much. We can put some lights on the pillars here and along the walls if necessary among the flower boxes and call it a day.”

Everyone looked relieved that this probably wasn’t going to be a huge deal.

“We can get the flowers and lights in before the furniture arrives,” Agnetha reassured him.

“And I’ll be off to hire some workers to do the walls of down below and get my artist friend on the line.” He beamed at them. “We’ll need a chandelier in the same style as the rest,” he murmured making notes as he went.

“He seems to know what he’s doing at least,” Lily said.

“Relief,” Grace wiped her forehead. “I was worried he would call the place hopeless.”

“It’s a big empty room,” Elsa said.

Antonia leaned against a pillar. “This doesn’t quite feel real.”

“It will soon enough,” Lily told her.

Agnetha dusted her hands together. “Better get the lights order in then for up here.”

“Anastasia might have already.”

“Pish, she might have put in an order for designs, but she doesn’t know how many we need,” Agnetha said.

Lily decided to let Agnetha, the decorator, Anastasia, and the lighting artist sort it out. It sounded way to dizzying for her to do. The other girls agreed with her. But it looked like things were going to pick back up again very quickly.

FOR THE ACCOMPANYING IMAGES PLEASE DO NOT REMOVE MY WATERMARK AND CONTACT INFORMATION. THANK YOU. I get it. Some of you might get excited and want to see this stuff in the game, especially the clothes, tack, and pets. However, the only way I want to see this in the game is if I get paid for it. If I see it in the game and I’m not paid for it, there will be hell to pay. You think I’m salty. I’d be angry. Personally, I’m not going to send this info to SSO. If you do, leave my contact information there! Don’t give them any excuses to steal.

Now, I’ll know you haven’t read this note if you leave me comments about how ‘salty’ I am about the game and if I hate it so much I should do something else. I am doing something else. It’s called Mystic Riders MMORPG Project. Mystic Riders however is a very baby phase game. You can check out our plans on the game dev blog. (Skills, Factions, Professions, Crafting, Mini-Games, 25+ horse breeds!) If you know anyone who would be interested and has money or contacts about game making, direct them to the blog.

[kumoriyami-xiuzhen]

Super Rough Translation Plans

(post 3 of 3: translation update)

Well.... I’ve decided to try and help out with the Hakuoki SSL translation project despite being a Chinese translator, so I will be prioritizing the SSL cross and daily translations.... and I will therefore be putting out less non-ssl translations  for the foreseeable future after this month.

Listed are my non-ssl game translation plans which i wrote for myself:

nothing listed here is set in stone for a definite release

October

CXM Otomate Party 2017 Drama

Kazama Bakumatsu Drama “Winds blowing on the Street at Night” Mini Drama  

November

Hakuoki Kyoka Roku Rain scenario saito/hijikata/harada intro

start working on translating Hakuoki junkuretsu or however it’s spelled manga (only saito chp 2 and harada chapter as the rest are on facebook/other manga hosting sites)

December [I honestly don’t know if I’ll do anything else in december since I intend to laze this month plus I anticipate me getting very busy]

2016 SSL Short Story for Xmas

What I’ve been referring to as “Unknown Drama”

SSL Drama Hakuo Gakuen Track 3...? or at least start working on it then since its 19ish min

January (Chinese New Year and New year falls in this month so I also anticipate me not having time this month)

SSL New Year Story (if I can find it....)

Start working on Shinsengumi Oni-tan drama cd

February

HIjikata/Yamazaki/Kazama KW drama - 薄桜鬼 真改 風ノ章 ebten特典ドラマCD 「幕府の犬と子犬」note: I DO NOT have the audio for this and this is the hijikata/yamazaki/kazama drama cd on my lookout list

Shortlist of priority interests not scheduled

Zuisouroku Animate Drama -  島原後日談

Kyoto Winds Drama CD Saito/Harada/Sakamoto

Kyoto Winds Drama CD Souji/Sanan/Iba (no audio)

SSL versus story (this was probably a magazine publication though it is included in one of the SSL books)

Yuugiroku saito ending

Kyoka Roku rain scenario game translations

yuugiroku 3 stories (saito stuff first... obviously :D)

Hakuoki otomate party 2015 drama

Character monologues [only found what i think is for kazama, harada, souji, heisuke]

Souji Short story [Souji’s version of Saito’s Days of Practice]

web drama 8 with souji/saito

ssl short story with saito and chizuru that mentions ibuki taking pictures of Chizuru (not sure if this was either a blog or magazine publication)

Harada/Souji/Heisuke Stellaworth stories

Other Random Notes

I’m debating posting the Shinsengmi Oni-tan drama all at once instead of doing it track by track (videos will be separately cuz im not that crazy)

 what I think are the character monologues might not be them

 the unknown drama video when finished will be posted as unlisted since the only video of it I found says hakuoukiable2 (or something like that) on it unless someone happens to share with me video of the 3rd JAPAN乙女festival hakuoki drama (finally found out where it came from)

also found videos (already have Chinese tl) for the hakuoki drama from the 2011 JAPAN乙女festival but they both have icons on them so whenever this gets looked at, it would also be posted as unlisted

found most of the character cds... i’ll probably update my lookout list in november?

I hath 0 interest in interviews 

for yuugiroku 3, i probably won’t be doing anything for it til next year

i’ll be keeping a lookout for translated tsukikage content since i did hear that there would be short stories with each of the 6 guys pov that is similar to the stellaworth side stories but i don’t think anyone should get their hopes up with that since i anticipate certain individuals on baidu doing the drama cds first

If there’s some mildly insane and/or masochistic person like me who wants to do an English patch of the entirety of Yuugiroku Taishitachi no Daienka I can help with translating stuff from all 3 of the game stories since I’m 80% sure there are Chinese patched translations of Yuugiroku 1(100% for this one) and 2 (not sure for this), and translations for the entirety of the story content of the 3rd found online.

---------------

au revoir~ til next post. 

im still looking for the tsukikage cgs... and will continue to post them as I find them in batches of six minimum. they’re all up now