#speaking of colors this is very random but today i'm wearing a top that is not black! wow! (it is white)

[noxtivagus]

INTERPRETATION YES THATS THE WORD I KEEP ON FORGETTING

[theamityelf]

(Kamukuras AU Masterlist)

"So, Kamukoto," Junko says, twirling a strand of her voluminous hair around one manicured finger and smacking her gum in a way that is meant to downplay the inside knowledge she's just demonstrated by half-using the name 'Kamukura'. "What do you think of my nails today?"

He is sitting beside her on a bench close to the main school building. He's wearing the hoodie the class gave him. His thick, brown hair he has taken to trimming at just past shoulder length and tying back in a ponytail, with a bunny hair tie that Junko also gave him. The bunny has a tracker inside, which he knows and allows. (It's not as if Byakuya's nearest home address was classified in the first place.)

His eyes are still bright red, because he eventually decided against using colored contacts for his classmates' benefit.

Perhaps his first demonstration of personal identity, though the choice itself was a passive one.

"I think I...don't like them," he answers honestly.

"Color me deeply offended," she replies, with barely a veneer of offense. "Why not?"

"Well, that seems to be the same polish that was used to ruin the personalized comic Hifumi made for me, which heavily implicates you as the one who did it. Also the saturation doesn't quite match the color of your lipstick. An extra coat would have rectified that."

"Oh, good, you picked up on that first one. I was worried I hadn't done enough to take credit for my gift. When did you know it was me?"

"Within a second of Hifumi tearfully showing me his ruined comic. Was I supposed to mention it out loud?"

"No, but a glance or wink would be very validating for me."

"By validating, you mean reinforcing the behavior?"

"Maybe."

"What kind of acknowledgement would you find least validating?"

She hoots with laughter, pinching his cheek hard enough to break the skin. "Ice cold, you lab rat!"

"Kyoko said I'm allowed to be unaccommodating with people when I feel like it. I wasn't sure what kind of feeling she was talking about at the time, but I think this is it. Was that good, for you?"

"Aww, you even negotiate your kink after the fact! You're so precious, I'd cut you open if someone hadn't beat me to it. Still might," she adds in singsong.

He gently removes her hand from his face. "Speaking of, I've also been asked not to let people hurt me."

"Uh-oh! Am I in trouble?"

"My friends have said they won't harm my classmates unless..." He trails off. "You'll be fine. I might have to make this minor injury look like it was caused by something other than fingernails. Next time I'll remember to stop you."

"What else were you asked not to let people do to you?" Junko purrs.

He blinks, considering her and deciding what to make of the subtext of her question.

"Makoto!" Nagito greets, walking up to them (having presumably stealthed over until he announced himself at ten feet away) without even the pretense of having to look around.

He's dressed in bright-colored, loose-legged pants and a crop top, with jewelry in a seemingly-random subset of the many piercings he's given himself since escaping the labs. His hair is about as thick as Makoto's, but not as curly, and he's allowed it to grow just past the small of his back with only a few streaks of dye throughout (in a rare show of restraint, which is unlikely to last). In one hand, he is absentmindedly twirling a closed umbrella.

"The Ultimate Yakuza mistook me for this body's former occupant on my way here," he continues. "I kissed him on the mouth, of course. His reaction suggested that was incorrect. Ready to come home? Because I'm allowed to use force, if you're reluctant."

"Oh." After a few seconds of sustained eye contact, Makoto says, "I'm...reluctant?"

"Thank you!" Nagito says, picking him up and throwing him over his shoulder.

Junko opts to interject, now. "Hi there, Kamukomaeda. Remember me?"

"The noisy, impudent one who forgets she's beneath us!" Nagito says delightedly, his bright red eyes actually landing on Junko for the first time. "Good afternoon. I see you've slightly injured my favorite compeer. I wouldn't want to be you when our predecessor sees it."

"Why? Do you think Izuru-sama will finally grace me with his presence? Because don't get me wrong, botched experiments are totes my type, but I am just itching to get my hands on the original; my sources say he actually came out as intended."

"You put a lot of stock in the intentions of our inferiors," Nagito muses (still carrying Makoto on one shoulder). "Understandable, as one yourself. But you're mistaken if you believe provoking our predecessor's wrath will earn you his attention for very long. If he feels moved to confront you, it's unlikely you'll have time to talk."

"And here I thought you were the fun one."

"Also understandable. I present as such because I frequently entertain myself." Nagito casually puts up his umbrella just in time, as someone empties a bottle of formaldehyde out of a window above them. The angle of the umbrella causes the fluids to trickle down the back of Junko's shirt. "Good afternoon, Ultimate Fashionista."

"Bye, Junko," Makoto adds, as Nagito turns to leave. "You should soak those clothes in a bucket of hot water with a cup and a half of baking soda for at least eight hours, then rinse them with cold water and leave them to air dry."

[fayesdiary]

Faye's Fòdlan Journal: Season 1 - Episode 3: A Mystery Crest and a Mysterier Roster

<-Previous Masterpost Next->

Had to cut it short on the last episode, so let's just get to the point.

No promises, Rhea.

By the way, I appreciate the color of the border changing to the one of the house you've chosen to teach. Really nice touch.

Shortly after making our choice, Seteth's younger sister Flayn enters the room. Say hi to her.

She seems nice and well-mannered. I swear though, her in-game hair looks like a piece of candy.

After being dismissed, Byleth goes to meet their new class, who are obviously surprised to learn they're the new professor.

Byleth, interestingly enough, asks to be treated as a friend instead of their professor. Something that really makes me think my idea they really are uncomfortable with their new position at this point. Or at the very least in being in a place of authority. Makes sense, from what we know they've been at Jeralt's side the whole time, so the idea of leading is completely new to them.

The Lions are reluctant to accept their request but eventually relent, since they speak to Dimitri in pretty informal terms and he's their future king. All except Ingrid, who still doesn't feel she could manage not paying the respect she feels owes her superiors. Luckily, Byleth is fine with it.

With Felix proposing a mock battle with Byleth in the future and most of the other students joining in, we bid them farewell for now.

Understatement of the century, buddy.

Two days pass, and we recieve a pitiful sum of 1000 gold for funding our monthly activities. So we have 1500 gold in total.

Granted, we started the game on 4/20 (yes, really) and we're at 4/26 at this point such a low budget for barely a week of teaching is a bit more forgivable but still, there's a good chance the Officers Academy is underfunded on top of being understaffed.

Also, we heard nothing about a salary. Is Byleth even getting paid for this?

Because if not, no wonder Rhea can't find any teachers.

Her management issues aside, today we're meeting with Hanneman, who really wants to see if Byleth has a Crest using a mysterious device we never see on screen. But since Byleth doesn't know about Crests, Hanneman is more than happy to infodump before that.

I mention they're this world's Holy Blood, and they do work pretty similarly to Jugdral: Really powerful, granted by a goddess, passed down through bloodlines.

Hanneman claims Crests have a power beyond mortal understanding, but given I have checked and do things like minor situational boosts that are neat but not that impressive (such as Dimitri's Crest occasionally doubling his weapon's Might)... yeah, I'm afraid I am going to need a citation for that.

If they are super powerful in the narrative, then they are doing a poor job at showing it. Which is weird because between the Holy Blood and the Emblems, this series usually does a good job at demonstrating superhuman powers in gameplay.

The reason Crest Detectors exist at all is because unlike Holy Blood, children of a Crest Bearer are not guaranteed to bear it themselves. Crests can in fact, stay dormant for generations only to reawaken in a random descendant.

Anyway, he believes Byleth has a Crest. We of course know that's the case, because we checked the Status Screen. And given it's listed as a Mystery Crest, this makes his next reaction very understandable.

True to its name, Byleth's Crest is one that has never been seen before, something that immediately sparks Hanneman's curiosity as he begins to investigate straight away.

But no matter what he finds out, it's pretty much a guarantee their Crest will turn out to be the strongest of them all. We're already beginning to see where the story is going with Byleth and it's not promising.

Hell, their Crest is also identical to the effige Sothis wears so, you know. (I am not even going to try and guess what that jewelry is called)

Another thing not promising at all is the ingame cutscenes.

This is my biggest criticism of Engage as well: instead of doing anything interesting with them, they consist of all the characters in it standing around talking and having a few stock animations with the same camera movements every time. And if there are any objects, they will at best be shown with a sprite, which is not even the case for Hanneman's device. As of know, I have no idea what it looks like.

I am a bit more forgiving towards Three Houses is only for its much, much larger scope, but given that most of 3H's criticism I see online has to do with poor pacing and padding, reused content and inconsistent characterization... you kinda have to wonder if having such a big scope was even worth it.

In Engage the ingame cutscenes were saved only due to the voice acting and music. I hope I'll be able to say the same for this game.

These criticisms aside, we leave Hanneman to nerd out over Byleth's Crest.

The next day Rhea introduces us to the Calendar, the defining feature of this game which... looks really daunting. Not gonna lie, my head is starting to spin already.

Luckily for me, we are not going to engage with it this episode. I have a few things I still have to discuss from last episode, after all.

Let me introduce you to the Roster. It's an option on the Monastery Menu which, contrary to its 3DS incarnation, gives us a LOT of insight on every character, even those not from the house you chose.

On top of the gameplay relevant information like stats, items, skills, classes mastered, Combat Arts and Abilities, you also learn some fun extra information such as their personal history, their height and their age.

This is true for every character... except for one.

You see, Byleth's age is missing.

As far as I looked, they are the only character for which this happens.

And if other characters claim them to be a child or around the same age of the students who are around 17 but they're actually not... well, there's only one explanation in this series.

Granted Byleth doesn't have pointy years, but I'm pretty sure not counting Alear who came after Byleth, there may be a few other examples of dragons having regular ears? Half-dragons, at least.

Speculations about Byleth's true nature aside, one thing's for sure: the fact the year of their birth as the child of Jeralt is listed as unkown kinda makes me doubt the claims they're his biological child. Because if that was the case, surely he'd know the year they were born, right?

The other thing that caught my eye was reading Dimitri's personal history.

The Tragedy of Duscur.

We haven't heard this event mentioned in the game proper yet, but the fact Dimitri is listed as the sole survivor and I couldn't find Duscur anywhere on the Fòdlan map (I even checked again)... makes me assume the worst.

It also happened four years before the game's start. Which is also the year Dedue, the only character we know comes from Duscur, swore loyalty to him. At least something good came out of it....?

Oh, and it also means Dimitri got horribly traumatized when he was thirteen. Dear Sothis, no wonder he doesn't want to talk about his past.

Also I'd be very, very suprised if this doesn't come up later during his slippery slope into... whatever his deal in the timeskip is.

In any case, I'm gonna end this short episode here. Next time, we will start our first proper day on the job.

<-Previous Masterpost Next->

[lostinthestxrs]

excerpt from a prequel to an unpublished story I'm writing!

Context: Carolyn Amarosa is 18, and about to be crowned the Queen of All Magic in her kingdom of Crestfall. She decides that before she can properly run her kingdom, she’d like to see the outside world, the mortal world, seeing as she has never been outside the kingdom walls. In this excerpt, she meets the sweet, kind of nerdy mortal boy Andrew Que when she's working a slow shift at Fremont’s, the coffee shop she works in. 

It is winter when I meet him. Snow is falling, covering the bushes outside and the cars in a thick layer of white fluff. It is slow in the cafe, but slow in a steady way. Customers here and there, taking a moment to step inside and enjoy a nice cup of hot chocolate or eggnog. Some even taking batches home to share with their family. It is just Selena, Valerie, and I working today. We take turns taste-testing each cup of whatever concoction the others have made from random ingredients available to us in the kitchen. Laughing and cracking jokes. I am wiping the counters when he comes in through the door, triggering the tiny silver bell at the top. Jet black hair and a light shade of olive skin. He pauses at the entrance and takes off the black beanie he's wearing, shaking the tiny specks of snow from his hair, letting them fall to the mat we placed just at the entrance. They sparkle against his hair. I snap from my gaze when I realize he is walking towards the counter, and stop wiping to meet him at the register.

   "Hello, " I smile. "Welcome to Fremont's, how can I help you today? "    "Hi, " he says. "Just a moment please. "    His eyes scan the menu. It usually bothers me when customers do this, but there is no one waiting, so I wait until he finishes. Finally, he looks back up.  "What's the best thing on the menu? What's your favorite? "    "Well, " I say, leaning forward a tad, as if I am about to reveal to him a secret.    "It's not technically on the menu, but I can serve it to you if you'd like. " A smile plays at my lips, it's fun to do things like this on slow days.    "Well, then, I'll take a medium of whatever this secret menu item is. "    "And would you like that for here or to go? "    "I'll take that for here, I think. " He begins to ruffle through his pants, for his wallet I presume. "How much do I owe? "    "Oh, it's on the house, " I reply simply, resulting in him doing an awkward lift and release of his hands.    I cannot tell if he is blushing or if his cheeks simply burn pink from the cold weather outside, but the surprise on his face turns into a soft, sheepish smile.    "Oh! Thank you, " he replies before leaving to sit down. When I turn from the register, I see Selena leaning against the counter, smirking at me. I give a slight shake of my head, but feel the pink tint come to my own cheeks. And it's definitely not cold in here, nor have I been outside because I have not left the warm coziness of the store-front since I arrived at 2pm today. I walk over to the back counter, and kneel down to open the fridge. I pull forth the red-capped milk and pour it into one of the metal containers we use to steam milk. I walk to the rack holding all of our sauces and syrups, and pump 5 shots of the chocolate sauce into the metal cup. I pull the lever from the espresso machine, and push it against the inside of the metal container, and push the button for steaming. Once the whirr of the machine stops, I pour the delicacy into a mug.    As I am about to take the mug to the customer, Valerie returns from her break, and Selena taps my shoulder. "Go ahead and take your fifteen afterwards. " I nod, and push open the swing gate separating the employee area from the main seating area. The boy from earlier is sitting at one of the tables near the firepit. His brown eyes look up at me as I gently slide the red-colored mug across the table.    "A Carolyn specialty, " I say.    "Ah, so that's the name of the pretty barista. " I instantly blush at this, and rack my brain for something to say. Thankfully, he speaks up again. "I'm Andrew. It's nice to meet you, " he said, extending his hand. I take it, and shake it, affirming it's nice to meet him as well. I glance down at the book he was reading.    "Three Knights, " I muse. "That's one of my favorites. "    He smiles softly at me. "Mine too. I'm giving it a re-read. "    "You know, I have a whole collection of Emily Parí novels back home, " I say, although I am unsure why. Mentioning home to strangers can be dangerous.    "Oh, where are you from? " Yeah...that's why I shouldn't have said that. I pause, unsure what to say, and simultaneously panicking because if I pause for too long, it will be weird. "Oh, you wouldn't know. It's a very small town. " This could not be farther from the truth. Crestfall is an incredibly large area, perhaps as big as some of the metropolitan cities here in the mortal world. But I cannot say that.    Andrew nods and appears as if he wants to ask more questions, but does not pursue this train of thought. "Well, Carolyn from small-town-I've-never-heard-of, would you like to join me? "    "Sure, " I reply. "I'm on my break. "    We spend the next few minutes discussing the novels of Emily Parí and analyzing the deep rooted hidden meanings of Three Knights. When my watch beeps to alert me that my break is over, I rise, but Andrew holds out a hand to stop me.    "Wait, " he says, quickly pulling out a few dollars. "I know you said the drink was on the house, but let me at least tip you. " I do not object to this, partly because I know the difference tips can make, and partly because I get the feeling Andrew will not let me and would get it to me anyways. I only smile and wait until he folds the clump of bills into my hand, and then place the wad into my apron pocket.    "It was nice meeting you, " I say, and he smiles at me again.    "You too. I hope we meet again, " he replies, and I walk off.      That night, after we close, I just barely remember to pull out the crumpled bills I stuffed into my apron pocket before tossing it into the back of Selena's car. When I unfold the mess, I see a piece of paper that was clearly hastily ripped---I can tell by the serrated edge---from a notebook. On the piece of paper, a phone number.

[addytheheartbreaker]

"Meet Carmelo the Ice Cream"

Name: Carmelo Jerato

Age: 22

Height: 6'1 ft

Weight: 59 kg

Mask singer belong to: Tyler "Ninja" Blevins

Friends with: Doll, Dog, Rabbit, Egg, Monster, Penguin, Hippo, Skeleton, Ladybug, Rottweiler and Unicorn.

Appearance: Ice cream person, blue mint ice cream hair with chocolate sauce and sprinkles with a single strawberry ice cream top fisish with a cherry on top (if he could turned into a human, his hair would be obviously light blue). Light skin, kitsune no me (also known as "Fox eyes" or "Shifty eyes" in English or people who always closed his/her eyes), sky blue eyes (made out of ice cream, if human his eyes are sky blue eyes), the OwO smile (because he is adorable), blushes and slender and tall body type.

Clothing style: Ice cream theme with ice cream related decorations and accessories (flavor color and various of toppings), jacket or hoodies, sweater or printed shirts, his bandana and formal suits (main clothing). Casual clothes, ninja uniform (only for battle competitions or in gaming dimension).

Fun facts about Carmelo:

•Carmelo is a Americans-Japanese boy living in America his whole life.

•he can speak and understand English and Japanese, his mother taught him japanese which he learned very quickly in young age.

•he has a collection of anime (old times and modern times), he can also watch anime on his spare time.

•Ice Cream can let Egg borrowed his anime since the two loves watching anime. There are times when they watch anime together at the Masked Singer 2 mansion.

•Carmelo is a huge sweet tooth, he often must eat sweets after meals or when he is still live on twitch gaming.

•A successful professional gamer/streamer, has claimed many titles like Ninja, a billionaire and a well known generous philanthropist.

•as a famous streamer star and a philanthropist, he is generous to do a charity for mental health issues support, suicidal prevention, cancer prevention and child depression treatment support.

•Carmelo is a very friendly, energetic, enthusiastic, cheerfula fun, child like, and wonderful guy to meet with.

•he is friendly to children and has time to hang out at the child depression treatment support center to cheer and play with depressed children.

•He is an associated of the group called the "Night Streamers Joy".

•Ice Cream has been controlled and trolled by his boss who challenging each other while doing charity.

•Ice Cream can go through different dimensions. His main dimension where his group are in is the "Gaming dimension", a huge unknown island like battle field for him and the group with many people to play. (Fortnite reference).

•The only way he can go to that dimension is actually out of the body experience like. His real body still stays while controlling and expressing emotions while playing as his mind and soul entered the visual dimension as a player. (Inspired by the movie Sucker Punch, loved that movie its awesome)

•Carmelo secretly owns many weapons that looks like the game or fortnite weapons that came to real life. He knows how to use it and it is highly unknown how he managed to use it but some believed that he had been practicing on playing games his whole life.

•His family, a mother and father, an older brother and younger sister, he is a middle brother but treated like a child to him.

•owns so MANY games at his bedroom and gaming room. He remembers what the games instructions and stories about and he basically remembered every game titles.

•Ice Cream couldn't go outside without drinking nitrogen liquid.

•Nitrogen liquid is a family traditional everyday medicine because his family are all ice cream or frozen dessert people. He needed to drink nitrogen before going outside is because of the sun heat exposing if he stays outside for too long.

•the only part that would melt first is his eyes and hair. The eyes melts faster then his hair and it gave him a terrifying melting eye look that scares everyone.

•but that's alright, he can refilled his eyes by going to the "Comfort room" (aka the Freeze room), stay there for 10 minutes before putting 2 scoops of ice cream to his eyes.

•if he had a human form, Carmelo has asthma from overheat and couldn't stand heat very seriously.

•He plays video games and do streaming and live charity 24/7. He is also takes breaks but didn't take vacations because of his melting pressure.

•his hobbies are playing soccer, playing more video games (on or off streaming), hanging with friends or the children, going to the mall to play arcade games then get a lot of prizes and going through cafes, candy and bakery stores to eat sweets.

•he doesn't have any stomach problems or any illness after eating a huge amount of sweets. Its because as an ice cream man who is born with a family of frozen desserts, sweets is a resource power and energy.

•his hair, hair accessories?, eyes and outfit changes flavor and toppings according to his mood and emotions. However, the black licorice/charcoal black ice cream flavor is the most expensive looking ice cream you ever seen.

•the black ice cream is not shown on public. There are rumors on public that causes everyone on craving to wanting to tastes it but couldn't reach and trigger his black ice cream. It remains mysterious to unlock that flavor.

•the only person who Carmelo already showed and letting them taste the black ice cream is his closest friends who are willing to keep a secret, Bezai (Egg), TJ (Monster) and his family.

•Egg and Monster knew the taste of the expensive looking black flavor, if asked they both wouldn't revealed it.

•the only way to trigger the Black Licorice/Charcoal Black Ice Cream are two things; someone with a very HUGE amount of money donating on his lives streams or someone who is a billionaire and in ready battle or in fighting mode.

•the Black Ice Cream is called "Killer Ice Cream" or "Dark Time Ninja flavor". Because people are Dying to get that type of flavor and this killer ice cream is only active when he faces a fighting challenged or wanting to murder someone (but too soft to commit such crime). It only showed at the Gaming dimension only.

•He is friends with Marshmello. Ninja introducing to him and he has been on his concert for fun.

•He has his bandana, Ninja made it for him so they could match together. He only wear his bandana when he feels like fighting, when he feels serious on playing fair and on Killer Ice Cream mode.

•A huge fan of Naruto, him and his group did the running ninja which he had a lots of views of the random video on youtube.

•his powers is nitrogen fog or frost powers (it is different to Ice power to Frost powers).

•his fighting style is karate, taekwondo and military skills. He professional learned taekwondo daily at high school when he was just a teen, he won 3 gold medals and 5 silver medals from first to the end of high school years.

•as for his military skills, he got it from the game and learned all further constructions which is explained on why he knew how to use a gun and other weapons he possessed.

•Carmelo suffers on depression. In addition onto how he got depression is when he was just a teen where he first got his own twitch.

•age 17-18, he is a victim of toxic fans and was a victim of a certain person on twitch who ruined him into giving his fans a negativity on live streams. Ninja notices the changes and decided to stop the manipulator by exposing him with a help with his friends. Carmelo is grateful that his mentor/friend helped him for everything, but he still suffers to depression still.

•he took medication and support on his long break from twitch before he had finally continue to play.

•his has the same views and followers as Ninja's. Ice Cream is still in the same number of views today.

•He left twitch after Ninja decided to leave twitch. Which means he had left his group, the reason behind it is not just about Ninja. Carmelo: the real reason I left is because its time for me to moved on to the next level and get out from my comfort zone. It was fun after everything I've been through and I had a lots of good memories and bad memories here on twitch. I'll leave the guys who are now my former group to keep it up.

•he can draw anime and cartoon, he only draw it on spare time.

•his room at the Masked singer 2 mansion. His room is literally the freezer room obviously located at the kitchen, the room walls are all covered with crystal ices but in light blue, it was dark but his room are filled with neon lights, his complete desktop, a bathtub filled with ices, his bed, a mountain of ice cream containers and several frozen desserts and a room with his clothes there (Bezai: It bothers me that you put your clothes at this freezer room as your room Carmelo. Carmelo: why bother? I'm an ice cream man, I need to be at least chill to cool myself enough.) (see what I did there 😉 )

•He always played loud music every weekends because he wanted to practice dancing. The song choice are Marshmello's songs, electric soundtracks, 8-bit songs, and Japanese songs (mostly vocaloid).

•Ice Cream once played Family feud because he is a fan of that show since teenage years. Him and his group played together then won the money.

•his partner Bezai, Carmelo always been beside him and always go with him around for no reason. Because they are partners together, Ice cream and Egg are food related which is why he always have to follow him.

•he is Addy's playmate when he is out streaming. When he isn't playing on his desktop, they go play on the couch play video games on TV, PC and go to the mall to play arcade games to get prices.

•Ice Crean respectedly and acted politely to woman and young ladies. Since he knew about Ninja banned to play with a female player, he followed his advice onto not playing with a female player but he would act courteous when out of streaming or gaming.

•He met Egg when he went to have an interview together before the Masked Singer season 2.

•He can't say any swear words since he never swear in his life. He did hear people swearing but for him, he remains clean to his mouth especially in front of children.

•since his eyes remain close all the time and everyday, he has a emoji that looks exactly his look. His emojis are actually OwO but closing eyes: —w— , ^w^, UwU, ~w~, >w<, XwX, =w=

[gothify1]

Welcome to the Month of Me , where every day in January we’ll be publishing a new fashion, beauty, or wellness  article featuring a first-person account of shaking up an old habit, pushing beyond a comfort zone, or simply trying something new. Follow along for 31 days of storytelling, including what it’s like to quit alcohol for 80 days , try Beyoncé's very strict diet, or completely overhaul your closet. Everyone knows that feeling. You look into your closet and feel like there's nothing to wear even though it's probably overflowing with garments. You're the spitting image of Cher in Clueless , pouting in front of a disastrous pile of clothing. Several months ago, I came to the crushing realization that I was Cher. Since I work in fashion, there are constantly new pieces coming in and never an equal amount of outdated pieces going out. On top of that, I'm trading in my rather spacious L.A. apartment and selling my mobile closet—I mean car—for a much smaller NYC apartment, a city where even having a standard closet is considered a luxury. I didn't just need a routine closet cleanout for the sake of a clearer headspace and smoother getting-dressed routine (though I've definitely benefitted from those). I needed to totally gut my closet. So when the team at the emerging resale app Mercari reached out to me about cleaning out my closet and selling my unwanted wares on the platform, I didn't think twice. I worked with Mercari's chief stylist and professional organizer Anna De Souza to rid my closet of the excess, organize everything, and (hopefully) make money off of what I no longer needed. Two hours, four garbage bags full of old clothes, and a handful of Mercari listings later, and my closet and I were back in business. After working with an expert like De Souza, I learned just how many mistakes that were keeping me and my closet so disorganized—and I'm vowing not to repeat them. Keep scrolling to read about my key takeaways, from knowing what to ditch, how to keep my clothes organized, and how to successfully turn a profit selling on the app. Mistake #1: Owning multiple items that serve the same purpose. I got rid of a lot of items that qualify as multiples. I pared back items like black trousers, pajama sets, and button-down shirts that I didn't even realize I owned so many versions of. Mistake #2: Holding onto jeans that blatantly don't fit. We've all been there. I'll wear these once I get in better shape.  As a rule of thumb, if you haven't worn them in six months, they need to go. And part of that is also creating space for things that you feel good wearing today (not in the hypothetical future). Mistake #3: Keeping items purely because they hold sentimental value. A bomber jacket from my grandmother's closet. The dress I graduated from college in. A necklace from an ex-boyfriend. These items hold so much meaning because of all the memories associated with them, but De Souza challenged me to take another look at them and ask myself if they really added value to my life or were merely taking up precious real estate. Surprise, surprise—the latter was true for almost all of them. Mistake #3: Not taking the time to steam or iron delicate pieces before putting them back. Going through everything one by one made me realize that a solid chunk of my clothes was unwearable because they were wrinkly. The fact is that I wasn't taking the time to steam them, I'd just choose something else to wear instead especially if I was rushing to get dressed. A quick fix? Take a few minutes to steam these delicate pieces before putting  them away, so they're fresh and ready to go for next time. Mistake #4: Thinking that minor stains and rips can't be mended and tossing the "faulty" pieces. A little extra care in mending a stain or rip can go a long way if  that is, you really love an item. But the flip side is also true: pieces that are past the point of fixing shouldn't be taking up space in your closet. Mistake #5: Using random hangers rather than uniform ones. One of the first things De Souza did once we decided on the final "keep" pile was to replace all my random and clunky hangers with sleek felt ones that created a cohesive look to my rolling rack. Whereas before I used an amalgamation of plastic hangers from the dry cleaners or a recent shopping trip, now everything hangs on identical hangers—and it has the effect of giving my garments more value. Mistake #6: Organizing everything by item type . I used to organize my rolling rack based on item types like blouses, skirts, pants, etc. but she suggested we arrange them according to color, something I wouldn't have thought to do. It not only looked way better in my room aesthetically-speaking, but it actually became easier to spot pieces I was looking for and I've found that now I'm more likely to wear pieces that used to collect dust since I can see everything pretty much equally. Mistake #7: Folding items in half (instead of rolling). This was an obscure organizational tip. I didn't think  there was any issue with the way I had folded the clothes on my shelves but alas, De Souza taught me to roll my clothes, especially my jeans and once we did so I was able to fit more in the space and see everything better. Plus, isn't the look of rolled jeans just chic? Mistake #8: Giving away well-known brand names and wasting time trying to sell lesser-known brands. I've tried my hand at selling my clothes on an app before, but my approach was all wrong. I was putting too much effort into shooting and listing clothes that weren't going to sell well, no matter how great I thought they were. De Souza advised me to select pieces from well-established brands to sell first and mentioned that household brands like Nike and Levi's were some of the top-selling on Mercari . I selected a few jeans from brands like Levi's and 7 For All Mankind to list as well as a few pairs of heels still in good condition. Mistake #9: Not taking the time to shoot aesthetically-pleasing imagery. De Souza advised me to shoot the items I wanted to sell similar to how I'd set up an Instagram shot. Good, natural lighting, clean backgrounds, and a prop or two (I used a houseplant) are all key components to creating a likable—and more importantly, sellable—product listing on the app. After successfully selling a handful of shoes, jeans, and tops, my earnings were close to $300. I was officially impressed. To make that amount on other platforms I've used in the past, it would have taken me several weeks and dozens of product listings. Next up, read about the styling mistakes that over-50 women have vowed not to repeat . Opening Image: Szymon Brzóska/The Style Stalker