She/her (royal highness)
55 posts
Princessofwhiteshadows - The Princess Of White Shadows - Tumblr Blog
What's your favourite song form the Comedian Harmonists? You may pick ONLY ONE!
NNNOOOO DONT MAKE ME PICK killing you /lh uhhh but maybe ? currently maybewait
this one MAYBE
my baby, my baby
Weekly Check-In #2!
How are you doing? Is the Cornley Crew cooperating with your story ideas, or are they putting up a fight?
Do you want these weekly check-ins to be an ongoing thing during the event, or would you rather just be left alone to write?
These are simply meant as a lighthearted way to talk about your progress, maybe tease your story, or maybe just vent a bit about your struggles if that’s what you want.
This is the magic lucky word count. Reblog for creativity juice. It might even work, who knows.
Hot take maybe but I think Bertie would be FAR more likely to survive the first two months of Dracula than Jeeves would be. Bertie has a healthy sense of self-preservation. Jeeves consistently underestimates how dangerous a situation might get (Steeple Bumpleigh, the club book) because he’s overconfident about his level of control over any given situation. He'd handle Dracula masterfully if they faced off in England, but on Dracula's home turf? Much more doubtful.
I realize this might be a tough sell, so I will explain further (or it's not a tough sell, and I'm going to explain further because I want to). (criteria taken from @canyourfavesurvivecastledracula) Without further ado.
Would Jeeves and Wooster survive Castle Dracula?
Jeeves
Jeeves' survival will depend on how long Dracula finds him more entertaining than irritating. On that basis, I don't think he's long for this world. On the one hand, he has a huge wealth of knowledge about English society and culture that he can recite perfectly from memory. That should buy him at least a little time with noted teaboo Dracula.
On the other hand, he would be absolutely no fun as a vampire plaything. Jeeves cannot be got. Sneaking up on him while he's shaving will yield zero reaction (though that's at least good for his short-term survival--given that, although he DID take the crucifix from the old woman out of politeness, he certainly isn't going to wear it. The rules of fashion don't go out the window just because you're in a spooky castle). Then, although managing the whims of rich jerks is not an insignificant part of a valet's job, Jeeves usually does this by bending his employers to his will. Dracula is not the sort of employer this will work on. It'll just add insult to injury when on top of being impossible to scare, NOW Jeeves is telling Dracula that his favorite cloak is several centuries out of fashion and he's not allowed to wear it anymore.
Jeeves will 100% go exploring in the areas he was told not to go-- though to be fair, he MIGHT actually get away with this, what with his superpower of appearing in rooms without being seen or heard. Said superpower might save him from the brides as well (though this is by no means guaranteed). Since I find it doubtful that Dracula would come to rescue his annoying ass, not being noticed is his best defense.
There are a couple other things working in Jeeves's favor; the question is just whether they'll be enough to save him.
He DOES know shorthand, and could try to send coded letters. He might even have the foresight to squirrel away some extra stationary where Dracula can't find it. But could he get them posted? Would it even do him any good?
He certainly has enough cultural literacy to figure out what his new boss is pretty quickly. If he didn't chuck the crucifix out the carriage window, he might start carrying it around in his pocket.
Psychology of the individual, sure, but the individual in question is a 400-year-old vampire who lives in an isolated castle in a foreign country and is regarded as a terrifying mythological figure in the surrounding villages. Jeeves has never come up against anything this alien before, he's cut off from his normal resources, and opportunities to play people against each other are limited.
He probably has enough upper body strength from all that shrimping and fishing to climb the wall, so he COULD escape if he wanted to, if he survived long enough. It's just, again, that overconfidence, and also Dracula has a vast library full of rare old books that are entirely at his disposal. He's keeping his eyes and ears alert for potential escape strategies, of course, but I don't see him being as desperate to get out as Jonathan was.
There are just a lot of "depends on"s here, and I'm not convinced that luck would shake out in Jeeves's favor, all things considered.
Bertie
Bertie is so perfect for the job of Castle Dracula Prisoner it's like it was made for him. Think about it. Being held against his will in big manor houses comes more naturally to him than breathing. He's afraid of things that are scary. A lifetime of dealing with Aunt Agatha has made him the world's preeminent expert in "curl[ing] up in a ball in the hope that a meek subservience [will] enable [him] to get off lightly." He will NEVER go exploring in places he's been warned away from if nobody is forcing him to (Rev. Aubrey Upjohn's office notwithstanding. There were biscuits in there). He's both fun to talk to and easy to toy with (and extremely English). A+ prisoner. Dracula adores him.
In my opinion, Bertie is at Castle Dracula either because Aunt Agatha got some wires seriously crossed and thinks he’s going to meet an eligible potential bride (I mean, there are certainly brides there), or because Dracula has something Aunt Dahlia wants him to steal (far less likely, given that one of Dracula’s THINGS is famously not owning anything silver). Either way, he's shown himself entirely willing and able to escape down drainpipes if a sitch gets too scaly.
He DOES take the crucifix, and DOES wear it (which is what will save him during the shaving scene, because you KNOW he's going to jump a foot and cut himself like the dickens). He's read enough supernatural goosefleshers to be genre savvy about terrified old women cryptically pushing crucifixes into one's hands. I also think his sunny disposish endeared him to the villagers, and they were particularly vehement about urging him not to go. He doesn't speak German or Romanian, but he's empathetic enough to recognize Pure Terror. So by the time he actually gets to the castle, his imagination is already running wild and he's plenty aware that he is in imminent danger.
I think the biggest risk to Bertie will be the brides; whether or not he's susceptible to trances, if he thinks they're trying to marry him, it's against the code of the Woosters to turn them down. But that only becomes an issue if he comes face to face with them, which, luckily, I think is unlikely on account of the aforementioned "won't go exploring" (and if he did, Dracula would definitely rescue him).
I'm inclined to say due to his drainpipe-escape habits that he WOULD be able to climb the wall and MAY attempt to sneak into Dracula's room to look for the keys if his desperation grows to outweigh his fear. Whether he does or not, though, he does NOT have the stomach to attempt shovel murder, and therefore won't get magic brain fever, and may very well simply walk out the front doors when the people come to take the boxes away. OR he climbs his way out like Jonathan did. Either way.
When Bertie tells this story at the Drones later, Tuppy will say that no doubt it's been greatly exaggerated and all that probably happened was that he spent a couple months in an oldish house entertaining a weird loner.
God, there really is nothing like 20s detective fiction to remind you that prejudice is a social construct.
You'll have a story with a crossdressing thief which is mildly transmisogynistic but completely devoid of modern vitriol; it literally comes off as "here is a fun oddity that lets me be Clever about French grammar"
And in the very next story you will learn fifteen different slurs for Italians
guess whos listening to the comedian harmonists again
Bryony Corrigan as Vanessa Wilcock-Wynn-Carroway as Queen Isobel in:
The Most Lamentable Tragedy of the Prince of England and His Long Lost Twin Brother, Prince Regent of France and the Problems Therein Experienced by All When they came to Know of One Another after a Battle (by Simon Shakespeare, cousin to the famous Colin Shakespeare)
6,129 stitches, 43 colours, and 50 hours, 39 minutes, 46 seconds (I tracked it)
The stitching is done!! I still need to iron it and finish it (I might frame it - I’d prefer to hoop it but it’s nearly 9” tall so I’d need to find a big enough hoop for that)
The inspiration photo:
More cornley polytechnic drama society text posts (this time not only Robert) because these are ridiculously fun to make
spare thought for the enslaved shepherds in greek mythology/tragedy who rescue the exposed doom babies... sometimes they know why the baby was left to die, sometimes they don't. they just — it's a baby. no one else wants it. you can't leave it here. what harm could it do. it's a baby. you want it to live. it's a baby
“Are you the witch who turned eleven princes into swans?”
The old woman stared at the figure on the front step of her cottage and considered her options. It was the kind of question usually backed up by a mob with meaningful torches, and the kind of question she tried to avoid.
Coming from a single dusty, tired housewife, it should’ve held no terrors.
“You a cop?”
The housewife twisted the hem of her apron. “No,” she muttered. “I’m a swan.”
A raven croaked somewhere in the woods. Wind whispered in the autumn leaves.
Then: “I think I can guess,” the old woman said slowly. “Husband stole your swan skin and forced you to marry him?”
A nod.
“And you can’t turn back into a swan until you find your skin again.”
A nod.
“But I reckon he’s hidden it, or burned it, or keeps it locked up so you can’t touch it.”
A tiny, miserable nod.
“And then you hear that old Granny Rothbart who lives out in the woods is really a batty old witch whose father taught her how to turn princes into swans,” the old woman sighed. “And you think, ‘Hey, stuff the old skin, I can just turn into a swan again this way.’
“But even if that was true – which I haven’t said if it is or if it isn’t – I’d say that I can only do it to make people miserable. I’m an awful person. I can’t do it out of the goodness of my heart. I have no goodness. I can’t use magic to make you feel better. I only wish I could.”
Another pause. “If I was a witch,” she added.
The housewife chewed the inside of her cheek. Then she drew herself up and, for the first time, looked the old woman in the eyes.
“Can you do it to make my husband miserable?”
The old woman considered her options. Then she pulled the wand out from the umbrella stand by the door. It was long, and silver, and a tiny glass swan with open wings stood perched on the tip.
“I can work with that,” said the witch.
Back in October last year, I started reading This is an Adjuration by @not-freyja.
By the time I had made it to chapter 5, I had already started typesetting this story as I read because I knew this would be one of those stories that I needed to have on my shelf.
When I finally caught up to the story at chapter 31, I begged the author to let me bind this when it was finished.
Nearly a year later, and what is probably the most important bind of my life is finally finished. Check out these glamour shots, and if you want to hear more about the actual binding process and about how this fic actually changed my life, see below.
So funny story, before I get into the technical side of this bind, but this fic actually changed my life. Not as in I was greatly emotionally moved by the story, though don't get me wrong I absolutely was, but genuinely this fic introduced me to some of the best people I have ever had to privilege of knowing (Hello Class, you know who you are 🩷), and also, it introduced me to Freyja, the incredibly talented author, who, as I type this, is curled up in bed next to me fast asleep after flying half way around the world to go on a two week long date with me.
Moral of the story folks is comment on the fics you like. You might accidentally meet the love of your life on, and I can't believe I'm saying this, AO3.
Anyways, about the bind!
This bind was a challenge from day 1. I had to do the typeset for this 300k word fic 4 times, and had to split it across 2 volumes. This was the longest fic I have ever attempted to bind, and it was so thick I couldn't get it in the paper trimmer.
To make this book as durable as possible, I attempted a few techniques. I secured it with 3 tapes, I made an Oxford hollow, I rounded the spine, I made a slipcase and I used 2.3mm boards where normally I use 1.8mm.
The slipcase is covered with embossed faux leather, buckram and plain ribbon, and lined with gold satin fabric. I've never made a slipcase before so this was an experience.
The books are covered with an emerald green silk finish bookcloth which really gave the books the luxury they deserved. I foiled custom end papers as well as every chapter title page using heat reactive transfer foil on toner ink (never again I am never doing that again omg it took days). Huge thank you to @la-sera for letting me use her artwork which helped inspire this fic!
The grey flashback chapters I had to use HTV for the border decoration and I'm very happy with how that turned out because it was so easy and straight forward, unfortunately it just wasn't viable for the whole book.
It feels weird to finally have these books done. They have my blood, sweat, tears and my heart poured into them, and I've been working on them for so long that it's odd to actually have them finished. I'm so proud of this bind, and feel like I've grown so much as a fanbinder by making these.
Anyways, if anyone has any questions about the process, please don't hesitate to ask!
(and if you are an Linked Universe fan and haven't read Adjuration yet, this is your sign!)
Prompt List for Cornley Christmas Chaos 2024
It is Friday the 13th, the perfect day for the prompts to finally be released! The AO3 Collection is open, so go forth and write to your heart’s content!
Before we get started, however, here’s a quick recap regarding how the different prompts work;
The 12 Point Prompt List is open for any interpretation you wish, be it literal, metaphorical, or maybe the prompt is only mentioned in passing. It’s up to you!
The 13th Prompt, also known as the Quote Prompt, is our additional challenge. The quote provided must, in full, be included in your fic. How you choose to include it is entirely up to you.
Now, it’s time!
Prompts: 1. Snowed In 2. Hanging Tinsel 3. Wish Lists 4. Gift Wrapping Mishaps 5. Sledding Adventures 6. Christmas Crackers 7. Mistletoe Moments 8. Traditions 9. Decorating the Tree 10. Candy Canes 11. Snow Angels 12. Christmas Movie Marathon
And now, for this year’s 13th prompt.
Quote Prompt: 13. “My buttons are made of biscuits”
Additional Useful Links and Guidelines for the event.
A gothic horror story where a gentleman from a good family gets haunted by something monstrous, which follows him around and keeps killing people around him at utter random, in cruel and horrifying ways. Specifically within circumstances where the protagonist has no alibi, and everything indicates that he committed the murders.
But the real horror is not that he would find himself accused of the murders, but that the people around him naturally assume that he did do it, but genuinely do not care, because the victims are never people that the society around him considers "important". The scullery maid of his household is found brutalised beyond recognition in a room where even the ceiling has been splattered with blood, and a constable of the local police brushes it off as a case of household discipline gone wrong, being horrifyingly casual with the assumption that the protagonist severely beat a girl in his service to death, and will dismiss it as an accident. The street urchin that the protagonist was seen talking with - wanting to help this poor little orphan - is found decapitated, severed head in the protagonist's fireplace. This, too, is calmly swept under the rug.
After every horrifying murder, the protagonist tries to seek help, to present the crime to authorities in hopes of getting some semblance of help, or at least clearing his own name of this, but every time it's brushed off. "These things do happen", he is reassured, like it's perfectly normal that a mansion of that size has a secret garden of unmarked graves in one shady corner.
The real horror is the ever-encompassing implication that this is perfectly normal.
It is truly uncanny how well this dialogue fits two of my mischievous OCs who also happen to be siblings.
Another of their highlights with the same energy:
sibling A: *running past a group of passerby* "You didn't see us!"
sibling B: *running after her a few seconds later* "No no no, you did see us! - But we ran that way!"
"There are only two ways this shit could have gotten this bad."
"And I'd like to remind you I have been in your custody for the last twelve hours."
"Noted. ONE way."
"When you find my sister, please tell her mummy liked me better."
Nine people I want to get to know better!
Thanks for the tag!
Last Song: Road to Morocco (Bing Crosby and Bob Hope)
Favourite colour: dark red, but any colour can look great imo (except beige obviously)
Currently watching: Yes, Prime Minister
Last Movie: Peter Pan Goes Wrong, but that's technically a recorded play and not a movie... Before that I watched Private's Progress
Sweet/Spicy/Savory: sweet I suppose, but the food I eat is usually pretty bland
Relationship status: in a relationship
Currently obsessed with: mischief theatre, basically anything I read on ao3, and figuring out how Tumblr works (I just learnt how to write bold, italic and strikethrough text! I will have so much fun with that knowledge!!)
Last thing I googled: "Wendy Cope poem"
And a non-pressure tag for: @pennzance @memesandmusicalss @the-irrelevant-trumpeter
Nine people I want to get to know better!
Thanks for the tag @catstronaut-one!!! <3
Last Song: By the Sea (Sweeney Todd Original Broadway Cast)
Favorite Color: probably blue or purple — I tend to gravitate toward cooler colors.
Currently Watching: The Goes Wrong Show and The Magnus Archives (if podcasts count as watching 😂)
Last Movie: actually might have been Sweeney Todd (2007) 🤦 a mediocre movie that I ended up watching twice anyway.
Sweet/Spicy/Savory: I definitely gravitate toward sweet. I can’t handle spicy at all, as much as I wish I could.
Relationship Status: single
Currently Obsessed With: Sweeney Todd (shocker!), Mischief Theatre, The Magnus Archives (just finished season 2), and Danganronpa V3 (just finished chapter 2)
Last Thing I Googled: I think actually it was Alan Rickman, because he’s… in Sweeney Todd 😂 guys I can’t I’m just realizing how much it’s taken over my brain.
This was super fun! Sending no pressure tags to @musntbill @trips-around-the-sun @caseopened and @blodsten (sorry if any of you have already done this 😅)
And hey, if anyone shares my current obsessions, feel free to hit me up and chat (just no spoilers please!!)
shoutout to whoever stole my amazon package containing nothing but a single pair of shoelaces.
guys what if we had middlecase letters
63 colours, 5,217 stitches and 50 hours of my life later …
And the photo it was based off of
not to face reveal myself (also please ignore my mess of a room) but guys. my custom tshirt arrived and i’m obsessed.