Caoimhe Lorcan

[forgottencaoimhe]

OOC | Caoimhe & Garbhan

caoimhe: "accidentally" spells his name garbage...

no, but caoimhe's got mixed feelings abt garbhan!!!! i feel like, until recently, caoimhe was soooooo blinded by how honored and trusted and cool she felt by being the only person ~in the know~ abt garbhan and aisling's relationship that she was like THIS IS SO ROMANTIC!!!!!! HE'S THE PERFECT BROTHER!!!!!!! HE'S JUST LIKE PADRAIC!!!!!! and like seeing garbhan as basically her brother ~already, and a comforting presence to remind her of the brother she's lost, and just like...full support of this guy (despite his tedious brother!!!!!!! can defffff see them potentially making rian miserable together in the past lajsdflkjsdkjlfj) and this relationship between garbhan and aisling are wo equal or flaw!!!!!!!

however, once she ~knew, she also started noticing other things and i feel like for awhile she tried to just ignore that garbhan wasn't necessarily treating her sister the best, but i feel like he flirted w eabha in front of aisling a few too many times and such, and now she's kinda almost come around to the ~opposite way of seeing him so he's gone from heroic brother figure standing in for the heroic brother figure she so so so badly misses who disappeared...and into, well, the garbage ladskjflkjdsf she's not ~quite ready to fully cut him off, but she's def one bad day away from giving him a piece of her mind ngl lakjsdfkljsdjfk aisling deserves the world, garbhan!!!!!!!!! so either try and give it to her or cut her loose!!!!!!! but also frankly she ~herself feels a lil betrayed by this, too, bc like...she kinda emotionally made space for him as her brother in her heart and like....then he went and proved her wrong and????? that hurts!!!!!! and she knows its only a FRACTION of how aisling will feel and she wants to do whatever it takes to make sure aisling never has to go through that, dammit!!!!

also def feel like she used to force garbhan to practice swords w her, bc i feel like padraic taught her and she doesn't wanna get rusty, so its a fun brother/sister activity!!!! but now she does not wish to continue that w him which...idk if he's even ~noticed or even ~wanted to do that but ~she thinks its a big deal alskdjfkljdsf smdh

[forgottengarbhan]

lasjflasdjf omg!!! </3

Okay, so I feel like Garbhan didn't really pay too much attention to Caoimhe when he first arrived because he was too distracted by Eabha & Aisling, especially -- but probably all of the other girls, too ngl. But Caoimhe is a little young for him, so he basically forgot she existed lmao and when he remembered he was like "isn't she 12?"

I don't think he was too happy, ngl, when he found out that Aisling had told her sister and he didn't exactly trust Caoimhe but he knew that he had to make her like him/he felt that she would be more likely to keep his secret so he probably went out of his way to be charming and then also probably used her to like deliver secret love notes and presents to Aisling, etc. and sorta let her in on whatever little romantic thing he was planning!

And I think what started as a precaution, also bloomed into a genuine relationship for him, too??? Like he probably did think of her as a little sister and ngl probably had the best time teaching her how to sword fight (I don't think Garbhan is the greatest swordsman out there or anything, but he's not terrible and he'd be happy to pass on his knowledge to her!)

But yeah ... Aisling isn't the only girl he is flirting with and while I think he was a little more careful about that at the start, he is less so now, and part of it is because he has this weird thing with Eabha where there's part of him that is desperate to win her over and another part of him that is just self-destructive with it and wants her to just go ahead and hate him already so he knows that he will nEVER have a chance and ...it's a mess. All while he is just having fun with over here with Aisling/potentially going to use her later to make Eabha jealous .... all while slowly realizing that Aisling is a great person and just another girl he's gonna hurt/break her heart/ruin like he ruins everything!

Anyway, idk if Garbhan knows where Caoimhe is with their relationship (I feel like she has probably seen more than Garbhan realizes!) but I do think that he has noticed a shift and he will probably try to repair that but it will probably not seem genuine to her anymore and will probably just make it worse!

[forgottencaoimhe]

ISN'T SHE 12!!!!!!! BAHAHAHA honestly i feel like, as the baby of the family, caoimhe gets that a loT and therefore HATES it!!!!!! i ~do think she's a bit immature and therefore, in that same way, extremely focused on being seen ~as mature and able and ~im a grown up~ (but also, being immature, gets in her own way like 50% of the time alsdkjafdkljf i say this w sm love tho <333333 this girl is a mess!!! and i love her v much lkajdslkfajdsf)

ok, so, gotta say, turning on the charm and involving her in the secret ~D E F~ worked ladskjfkljdf not only was she part of the happy/exciting thing that's going on and being trusted with it...she got to feel like she was hanging out w her bro and up to lil mischiefs, again!!!!!! like, honestly, i think part of her disillusionment w garbhan is ~not his fault at all bc, like -- i think she lowkey (and idk if ~she even realized this fully, frankly) was lowkey tryna make garbhan into like her ~replacement goldfish~ for her own lost brother and like...even if garbhan ~were to be like a perfect paragon of heavenly virtue, right, like...he was ~never going to be padraic!!!!! and i think part of her was ~always going to be angry at him for ~not being her brother (which is not fair!!!!!!!! but it wasn't conscious either...) and so i do think some weirdness and sadness was ~always kinda inevitable here for that reason, but i think esp when garbhan's not being the ideal boyfriend to her sister, its just ensuring the floodgates open, yknow? i think she's still tryna dance around it in her head, a bit, so she probs acts weird around him???? sometimes she's like BEMYBROTHER-IN-LAW and others she's like 'why does he have to be this way!!!!!!! a real knight like padraic would never act like this!' and stamps her foot, so like!!!!! good luck there, buddy!!!

not him genuinely coming to care for her as a little sister, too!! SOB whoops! i feel like there being a genuine attachment there on both sides is probs part of why she's been holding on so long here? but yeah that family loyalty still outweighing that, esp in the treat-aisling-right category, but also in the ur-not-padraic one too smh

i ~do think padraic probs taught her at least a lil smth, but by the time garbhan arrived, it had been some time since she'd seen him (iirc correctly), so she was probs extreeeeemely rusty and probs in need of someone to lowkey teach her again hahaha but as a result, she probs was a slightly easier student than most

ughhhhh garbhan nooooooo! stop hurting urself and everyone else SOBBBBBB aldksjfjdsf ill talk more abt eabha over on her site, but since he's listed as a ~former interest~ for her, im thinking that his charms asp v much ~did work for her, and maybe she even thought of him as a suitor/bf or smth at one time...and then, smth happened and yeah then not so much dklsfjadjkf BUT!! we aint here to talk abt @forgotteneabha except that, like, if it was a quiet crush or secret relationship, obv this has no bearing, but if it was known or even speculated abt, tht's probs another thing that caoimhe is like side eyeing about!

cormac: you can give that one up! he was clearly only dating her to get closer to me!

not his repairs just making it worse SOBBBBB but yeah i can def see that potentially happening!! i ~do think it depends a bit how he plays it tho? bc, honestly, i think rn she's desperately bored (that much she'll admit to!) but also, w everyone she loves off missing or living separate lives from hers, i think she's (secretly!) also desperately lonely, and so if it means more quality time, she might waffle a bit! ultimately tho her loyalty to her sister will def win out i think and she'll be ashamed of herself but!! can see that being a potential tick on whtever journey they're all on too laksjdfkljdf

[forgottencaoimhe]

OOC | Caoimhe & Fiona

ok so like fiona is THE coolest person on the PLANET caoimhe wants to travel the world w her!!!!!! she's so glad that aine and padraic got married for a lot of reasons but a big one is that it means she and fiona get to be sisters <3333333 i also feel like she's sometimes the kitty to fiona's lydia in the sense that if fiona says jump caoimhe doesn't even ask how high she just fully jumps lajsdlfkjsdjkf caoimhe is extremely passionate abt what she cares abt but like thinking in advance of doing is NOT really her specialty which can both be good sometimes bc she's super fearless and forthright etc but also bad bc yknow reckless nonsense

anyway, ~absolutely~ feel like these two did smth terrible (but like...probs not actually ~that terrible but yknow caoimhe thinks of it as terrible) in their youth, like break into a locked barn or smth, that caoimhe still feels mildly guilty abt but was sooooooo excitingggggg but also its a sworn guilty secret the two of them share and its also the biggest secret she's ever kept...but also she hasn't bc she deffffff told padraic and her sisters and probs mentioned it just last week to aine etc but anyyyywayyyyy caoimhe is like 'we're bonded for life by our terrible secret' meanwhile the terrible secret is neither terrible nor secret, but it ~is a bond of shared experience alkdsjflkjsdfkjdsf

[forgottenfiona]

eeeee kate i LOVE this chaotic friendship already <333

so i feel like one of the only things that fiona was not unhappy about when they had to leave calleary for lorcan was getting to be closer to caoimhe! i totally agree these two were probably getting up to SO many things in their youth-- do you think maybe fiona knows the cave system well enough because she and caoimhe were running around there as youths? (probably making ghastly sounds to terrorize cormac! <3)

i feel like when fiona first came to lorcan, she was immediately just wanting to spend all her time running around with caoimhe to NOT think about everything that had happened to the calleary family! i was thinknig abt this friendship more and i know this was kind of mentioned her bio, but i think VERY abruptly, fiona started having reasons they couldn't hang out together quite as much? and knowing fiona those were non-excuses and probably make little to no sense! from fiona's side, she is doing all of this to protect caoimhe!! it probably kind of feels like lorcan has a target on its back with rian here and how they fared during the war so the LAST thing they need is one of their family members to be connected to the resistance so she doesn't want caoimhe to know ANYTHING about it!

but fiona is not really that tactful (surprise) so like i mentioned, i don't think she's done a really great job making up logical reasons she goes off on her own or just with finn, so idk how caoimhe would interpret that but i imagine not great???

BUUUT omg i love the idea that she was the kitty to fiona's lydia? that feels SO real but in an even more chaotic way-- they're not just off flirting w/ soldiers or w/e, they're getting up to ALL sorts of antics! And i love the idea that one very non-consequential is the thing they got up to together that stick with caoimhe <3

[forgottencaoimhe]

dkljfalkdsjfjdsf omg them running around through the cave systems making ghastly sounds to terrorize cormac are soooooo on brand!!!!! it is canon!!!!!! and also yesssss she'd def teach her all about that!!!! she's v much an ~explorer and i feel like creeping round down there and finding out everything she can abt it was a major passion of hers (till she did, in fact, learn it all and thus got bored hence why she hasn't stumbled down there and discovered a kazillion refugees hidden in her basement...tho if she ~did find them lbr she'd def help them dlkafjkdjsf but yeah) also cormac still hears those sounds in his nightmares...yet another reason he's so terrified of those caves!!!! lkasjflkjdsfj

dlfjksdljfjksdf omg i love that and it defffff highkey fits in w her struggles!!! i feel like, given that, she ~has clocked that they're just excuses bc like...to borrow a quote, she's stupid, she'd not dumb!! lakjdsfkljd no but like basically she ~is hella impulsive and never thinks anything through and all that but, like, her brain works just fine when she stops and listens to it, like...im sure she's clocked that those're excuses and she's just being put off, she just doesn't know ~why. and fiona is kinda stuck between a rock and a hard place on this bc of all tht you said abt lorcan w a target on its back, but also bc caoimhe is ~known for not being able to keep a secret, so you can't v well risk having her out there blabbing abt the resistance!! so like it makes a tonnn of sense not to include her!! that being said, she would NOT understand and feel deeply hurt if she ever found out that fiona was keeping this from her!! she'd want so badly to be a rebel frankly!!

i feel like at first, given that caoimhe had recently learned of a secret romance, she suspected fiona of putting her off so that she could sneak off and meet w her lover, but now tht she's toting ~finn along that one's out!! i ~do think she's suuuuper curious but every time she's started to follow them, wouldn't you know it, saoirse just pops up and suddenly ~needs her attention, and caoimhe's so desperate for her friends tht she just eats tht up lkajsdfjlksdkjlf

but yeah she's def sure there's some deep mystery here!! she would actually laugh if someone were to suggest that they were rebels bc 1) finn is far too lazy for that and 2) they would certainly involve me (as i said she wouldn't understand the reasoning why ~not lkasdjfkjldsf smh) so i think she thinks its smth that she imagines they think she wouldn't approve of????? like maybe they're like...going to one god church services or smth idk laksdjfkljdsf but she's desperate to find out dsklfjasdkjlf she ~imagines herself to be this great detective but i think she's as right abt her skills as a detective-adventurer as emma woodhouse was abt her matchmaking skills so lkdsjflkjasdjf feel like she's yet to unearth ~any relevant clues alksjdfkljdsfj

omg yesssss i agreeeee!!! v much not silly flirting w officers or smth, but instead like pranking cormac and exploring caverns and probably like investigating, like, ghosts legends, and all kinds of nonsense that tbqh i doubt their parents ever even knew the ~half of lbr lkajdsflkjdsjkf

[forgottencaoimhe]

OOC | Caoimhe & Marian

so, real talk, i doubt these two have had much, if any, meaningful interaction, bc caoimhe has no filter and her family knows this and probs tries to steer her clear of varmonts in general lasjdfjklsdf

now, caoimhe is the ~least interesting to roderick of the lorcan girls, but he does consider she, her sister, and her niece, to be sort of minor royalty bc there was a lorcan king ruling astaira during roderick's living memory, so caoimhe would be a possibilyt for sebastian. not any of the heirs, mind you, they can only snag laoise out of the lorcan fam, and even then can probs still do better elsehwere, but yeah!! ofc, a sebastian/caoimhe au would probs end w her beheading for sassing roderick to his face or smth but!! laskjdfkljsdfj he does not currently know that lkajsdflkjsdf so yeah!! lakjsdlfkjds

[forgottenmarian]

Not Fiona and Caoimhe both essentially being banished to keep them from saying something unhinged in front of the Varmonts! askldfjds

im imagining marian staring down caoimhe as a potential daughter in law and then reconsidering Aoife bc at least that one is quiet! ;) (jkjk she would never bc valentina is. the. WORSE!)

i feel like asp something will come to me about these two but at the moment... giant blank? i know i had written another comment abt marian finally coming to see lorcan so maybe something there?? though i'm half wondering if Fiona & Caoimhe weren't both locked in there rooms for the duration of that royal visit ;)

[forgottencaoimhe]

dlskfjakdjfljsdf best friends that sass together stay together or...smth lakdjflkjdsf now im picturing them like sent off to like idk the bowels or lorcan or smth 'for their health' when the emperor's over, and just probably getting into crazy chaos down there or smth like the chaos goblings they are smdh <333333333

BAHAHAHAHA aoife suddenly looking like a shining beacon of hope and light!!!!!! caoimhe's chaos singlehandedly securing a happy ending for aoife and sebastin au <333333333 until valentina SOB

kldsfjakldsjfkjsdf they probs ~were locked in their rooms but...if anyone could (accidentally in her case) get out (and think it was all bc of her own astonishing ingenuity ofc!! adslkfjadskljf) it'd be caoimhe ldakjflkdjf girl out here like i am powerful <3 but actually the lock just...didn't catch alksdjfdkjsf but yeah i see two options if we wanna go w this! 1) caoimhe knows exactly who marin is and tells her exactly wht she thinks (bc caoimhe doesn't hve another setting alas laksjdflkjsdf) OR 2) caoimhe is ~unaware of this and either takes marian for someone completely different or just...some stranger or whatever and so they get off to a ~slightly better beginning (we can only hope)? lakjdsfajlkds

[forgottenroisin]

OOC | Fashions???

so as you know, i usually start my lore posts on either of my rulers, but since this is a fashion post, this one's posting to my queen of fashion's blog ;DDDD anyway, i wanted to chat w you guys abt ur thoughts re: astairan fashions in general? i mostly talk abt rosie and her court fashions here, since her bio says she's a trendsetter etc and ive never really talked a ton abt that, so over a year in, i thought it might finally be time hahaha but yeah! i know, kate, you have a lot of thoughts abt aria's gowns and such, as well? and, lizzy, you've talked a bit abt brigit's style being kinda counter-culture, too? and in decorating, at least, we've talked abt more simplicity and nature being drawn into astairan aesthetics, etc, vs varmont, so i feel like that may also apply to their sartorial selections? idk! id love to hear more abt all ur thoughts on all of this!

ok, so as you all know i v much enjoy thinking abt lfr fashion bc!! tis fun heehee since rosie is a bit of a trendsetter, i also like to think abt like...what're maybe some of, like, the ~established style norms~ and how does she break them, if she's setting trends, etc, so!! anyway, from here's imma chat mostly abt rosie's (and eilia's but as a mirror to rosie's) fashions!

i feel like our baseline is obv general medieval/fantasy aesthetic of course and, since historically speaking, queens (whether ruling or consort) were the ppl to set the fashion tone at court and, thereby, throughout the kingdom, i thought id start w @forgotteneilionora 's fashion sense/style and work from there? tbh idk if eilia really ~is setting any trends, but i thought she could at least work as a type of standard, just to get this duscussion kinda going?

obv there're lotsa styles and style cues and honestly i feel like every county probs has its own stylitstic personality and obv each ~person has theirs and so on and so forth (for example, eabha wears a lot of v sort of greco-roman kinda styles which...idk if that's just ~her or if its a calleary thing or maybe a ~their og water nation~ style thing, or some other option entirely) but yeah!

so!! eilia's style is...ngl v deffffff big time a riff on like...~medieval fashion~ in a v indistinct kinda sense ngl hahaha if princess buttercup from the princess bride or lady morgana from merlin or princess isabella from braveheart would wear it...eilionora probably would, too! i think of her as v traditionalist in her dress, but also v elegant and understated as well: she def kinda plays it safe, i think, but she dresses well and is always thinking of her public image through the lens of being a symbol of astaira and therefore wanting to be v respectable etc in the way she presents herself

id say that eilia's biggest contributions to astairan fashion have probs been twofold (with a bonus trait thanks to roderick but i'll get into that in a bit): first, she is super understated in her dress and i feel like, rather than crowns or coronets, she generally opts for a simple ferronieres (aka a sort of...chain or loop that goes over the forebead, often bearing a [ jewel ] or [ jewels ] and, historically speaking, admittedly much more of a renaissance staple than a medieival one but...here we are) as well as a v standard [ medieval silhouette ] of form-fitting bodice with boatneck and flowing skirts below the waist (usually including a long chain or belt at the waist/hips as well), and sleeves that flow outward dramatically from the elbow like [ this ] to various lengths. (the bonus thing she's contributed to astairan fashion is, i think, actually sort of accidental bc i think its just a political statement: and that's a rise in popularity of wearing blue and/or stars as frankly a political statement just bc those're her colors etc and she happened to be queen when roderick took over, so its sort of a symbol now of a free astaira, and since this is all ulatimately a preamble to my thoughts on rosie's dressing standards, i def think rosie does this, too.) another thing eilia does a lot of is sort of...paying a lot of attention to textures: i feel she wears a lot of silk, a lot of velvet, and a lot of diaphonous fabrics as well. you'll def catch her w various transparent veils and such too!

so, w rosie, i think she did a couple things: i think the first thing she popularized, when she first arrived at eilia's court as one of her ladies, was an off-the-shoulder cut, taking eilia's standard cut, but rather than using the standard boat neck, she just...lopped it off altogether like [ this ] bc i do think one of her big focuses when imagining gowns fcomes from thinking in terms of dramatic silhouettes

because of this, i do also think fairly early on she got into sort of...building out dresses w underlayers and with draping and with folding and all sorts of things to produce certain effects, like you'll see on her [ samain/birthday dress ] (and yes this dress was absolutely a splurge -- w the cloth-of-bronze/copper vibes, i imagine it to have been one of @forgottencassandra 's old dresses that rosie took apart and put back together the way she imagined it, since cassandra will often give her some of her old clothes, etc!)

the next trends i think she started actually came from her being inventive about reusing clothes, but making it up in a I MEANT TO DO THAT kinda way so 1) lots of embroidery!!!! i think she did this initially to patch up holes as malconaire became poor and rosie became its seamstress (thanks, valentina!), etc, like imagine if [ these were patches ] how effective that'd be in hiding it as decoration!

an innovation that came even later, from taking one of her mother's old dresses, updating it, and adding literal curtains to form a full skirt (bc again she's imagining dramatic silhouettes), is juxtaposing fabrics like [ this ], taking two toally different textiles that're complementary in one way or another, but also completely different, to make both pop, another kinda riff on eilia's textural choices!

and, 2) more recently, still, lotsa panelling, for when ur reduced to mere scraps and you gotta make a whole dress work outta that! like [ this ].

3) literal actual regional natural motifs!! their jewles are gone...so rosie's bringing back flower crowns and such in a bigggg way! laskdjfkljsdf

i def feel like she partially gets away w this stuff bc 1) she just carries it well and v confidently etc, and 2) she'd already been established as a fashionplate before valentina made them poor but yeah! lkajsdflkjsdkjf

im sure there's other stuff she's done etc but yeah! just some ideas i thought id toss out there!

also she does def wear all kinds of colors, but mostly you'll find her in green and malconaire colors <3

anyway, [ here's ] her pinterest re: wardrobe!

[forgottenarias]

okay so first i'm going to just say that once upon a time i used to do costuming for a baroque opera group (complete with a baroque music group using traditional instruments of the time-- it was a wild gig!) and we'd joke that we were operating in a non-existent world that was a medieval-renaissance-elizabethan-baroque with a vaguely roman-eque vibe (depending on the production!) so i have been operating under those rules thinking of fashion here ;)

so i definitely have the strongest idea about what Aria's styling choices are but i might end up deviating off on a tangent about anyone else at some point.

so like eilia, aria's dress is very simplistic! she def tends to lean towards less 'finer' fabrics in the traditional sense-- i def think she's wearing linen a lot in the warmer months and, obviously, wool in colder months (honestly probably layering wool OVER linen cause our girl does not want a huge closet of clothing, much to Cassandra's horror!) i think in contrast to eilia, aria is rocking that square neckline often and more of a fitted sleeve (but still with that v drop waist that's so distinctly medieval. honestly this is v much what i imagine her wearing in her day to day!

while i think she's sticking with these simplistic silhouettes and fabrics, she's elevated things with a lot of embroidery! i think anything aria has done to her clothing in terms of embroidery adornment is not very elaborate but its the craftsmanship of it that she really cherishes! so lots of tone on tone embroidery (thinking about ~texture~ just like eilia!) and pulling the motifs from either astairan stories or traditional designs.

weirdly was just thinking about this the other day but i think her most elaborate 'daily' clothing item(s) are actually her outerwear in the form of cloaks! its definitely not a unique staple of her wardrobe by any means cause everyone is def rocking one, but i think our girl loves a good cloak with a hood! those are definitely rocking more noticeable embroidery for sure

for more formal events, she definitely takes her fashion cues from Eilia! her clothing for formal events is probably going to be silk or velvet (depending on the season) and i could see her have a couple basic gowns she has re-trimmed over and over again for different events. i could see her rocking some sort of fine belt or waist chain (possibly inherited from her mother?) often with those gowns. AND i think i posted this once upon a time that she had some sort of bejeweled hair clips/combs/ shaped like stars that she'll wear. (i feel like she's tried to wear ferronieres like eilia, maybe when their dad was still alive, but having that on her forehead drove her NUTS XD) in the same vein of things bugging her, i still see her having a more fitted sleeve-- i dunno what i'm imagining her just being SO annoyed by a long sleeve, haha

OH and it probably goes w/o being said but most of her clothing are shades of blue! i think she does incorporate gray as well, especially in her day to day wear, but lots of blue! i DO think she's incorporated some red into her attire now as part of the "plan", most likely in the form of simple robes or something she'd be able to throw on over something she already owned.

i'm guessing at this point any fine jewelry the staffords may have had is now in possession of the most illustrious emperor, but i do think she and eilia have hopefully held on to those ~personal~ jewelry items we'd talked about them having?? (i've been operating under the thought one was a ring and one was a pendant but i can't remember what we talked about haha!) i do think even before that happened, aria would opt to wear little to no fine jewelry unless forced. IF she had anything else, i'm guessing it might have been jewelry she inherited from their mother??

also just imagining whatever cassandra helped her design to wear for Guin's ball was just SO FAR opposite anything she'd ever worn before she felt super weird and uncomfortable the whole party (even before Roderick started in on his nonsense!)

okay i thought i'd tagent more but i didn't so i'll maybe write something up more for my other ladies asp soon!!! because this is my jam!! historical costumes!! (that don't have to be ballet dance-able! xD)

[forgottenamira]

so our girl amira isn't astairan, and she isn't even varmont, she's kolchean and, as the only kolchean woman i know of so far, its kinda pointless to establish what kolchean fashion might look like, but here i am doing it anyway (as ive said before, i do picture kolchis as a sort of...greek/byzantine mash up with a bit of a turkish flair, so that's def smth you can expect to see her riffing on in her sartorial choices)! ;D tbf to kolchean fashion tho idk that amira's the best showcase of it bc, when it comes to amira's wardrobe, its more a...would an evil pythia wear that? would an evil byzantine empress whear that? would an evil turkish sultanana wear that?

if you answered yes to any of the above, ur probably on the right track, but really there is one and, only one question you have to answer when looking at amira's clothing: does it giveoff lowkey 'if i go up against her ill probably lose' vibes bc in the end, that's amira's signature look. literally every single item amira ever puts on is strictly calculated to project strength and power. ofc, there are many different vestments of power that amira puts on, often mixing and matching, and that's kinda what we'll be exploring here!

ok so some of the power amira is wielding, all calculated to intimidate: emperor's birde, emperor's mother (take that, arthur and guin!), calainon's heiress, high priestess, keeper of the eternal flame (tho lbr its really godfrey who does anything w that ngl), and witch to name a few. some emblems of these things:

colors: red (amira: i was wearing it first arthur back off), black, gold, orange, silver, purple

precious stones: lapis lazuli, diamonds, rubies, emeralds, pearls

sigils: dragon/serpent (in kolchean myth they're interchangable bc they are in greek myth), moon, eclipse, torch, tower, phoenix, raven

materials: samite, linen, bronze, copper, brass, silver, gold

scents: pepper, spikenard, cinnamon, aloeswood, ambergris, musk, frankincense, myrrh, balsam, indigo, dyers’ herbs, lapis lazuli, fustic, storax, pine, ivy, bay leaves, myrtle, rosemary

so you will see the above themes showing up time and again in her wardrobe!! some other things meant to project power you'll see is a lot of v structured/rigid clothing to give off strength as well as fabrics to enlarge her silhouette one way or another so as to appear more visually intimidating, veils and lace and draped fabric and dark colors to give off mystery and uncertainty, lots of metalwork to project toughness, lots of jewelry to show off wealth

while amira wears many colors, particularly those above, black, red, and silver are without a doubt her go-to's, these being the primary colors of house calainon. she is also more likely to don a raven, moon, or dragon image than that of a phoenix, as she wishes to showcase that, while she may wield her husband's power, she is powerful in and of herself and her own family without him, though she will happily clad herself in roderick's smbolism when the occasion best suits, as well

a frequent favorite way of amira's to dress is more or less as follows: with a fairly form fitting gown in the ancient kolchean style, covered over by a rich and often rather boxy or else flowing and diaphonous cloak or surcoat of some sort in the more modern kolchean style, blending both identities of ancient high priestess and modern queen, alike

amira also often clads herself in somewhat militaristic looks, donning ornamental armor, studded with jewels, or even a gown with structured shoulders (shoulder pads) topped with epaulettes, chains, or a jeweled dagger. these are always meant to appear entirely decorative, but they absolutely also function in a crisis

in terms of head-dress, amira often wears precious metals (and sometimes stones) in her dark hair or smth to elevate the eye and make her appear even taller and, in this, generally accompanies the look with a veil of some sort, usually black or black-based

in summary, amira's goal is never to look good, per se, just to look powerful (which usually does look pr damn good lbr ;D)

anyway, you can find her pinterest section [ here ] for much more specificity!

[forgottencaoimhe]

note: recap of relevant mentions in the above provided so you don't ~need to read the above in order to understand the below...

ok so we know from her bio that caoimhe is more into ~varmont fashions, seeing @forgottencassandra and @forgottenguinevere as fashion icons (which they are <3) and so i wondered 1) what their individual style cues kinda are, (like ik we've discussed it a bit before but like are they any particular silhouettes for example that they might prefer, any images they try to evoke...that kinda thing ig?), but 2) i also wanted to sort of wildly speculate abt imperial/ovn-ian fashions in general vs astairan fashions bc i ~imagine we'd be seeing smth of a hybrid in caoimhe and yeah!!

also, note, im not really planning to get into men's fashion here -- this one's for the ladies <3 laksdjfjkdsf

ok, so like obv cassandra and guin have their own ~indidivual style, but just speaking now like ~broadly abt like...npcs of the court atp kinda vibes hahaha i did have some ideas i wanted to run by you all!

so we talked above abt how astairan fashion leans more real world-1200s-1300s (eilia, rosie), and 1000s-1600s (aria, but w simple silhouettes). so basically think v free-flowing silhouettes -- maybe a slow-slung loose belt at the hips...the sort of style princess isabella wears in braveheart, or a pre-raphaelite painting, that classic loose medieval vibe

we've established that the typical varmont way of dress is far more extravagent. i was thinking maybe they lean a bit more ~renaisance~ and esp ~italian renaissance~ in their silhouette and looks? perhaps preferring a more sort of stiff, triangular fitted bodice (potentially compelete w early stays), a sort of rolled top of the skirting, and a full. skirt (potentially including a farthingale). this would also tie in w their more ~stiff and ~rigid culture as opposed to the more loose and flowy look and vibes of the astairans. it also fits w roderick's known preference for cloth-of-gold and cloth-of-silver. tc. brocades feel right...potentially they even sport those heavy sleeves of the 1500s? regardless of that i do feel like ovn culture is extremly ~showy, w hella jewels and metal incoporated.

ive been going back and forth abt color palettes. part of me feels like maybe astairans are more colorful in their dress, symbolizing their freeness and boldness. HOWEVER, there's also the heavy showiness of the ovn-ians to consider, and i can see that exhibiting itself in garish colors and over-use of what would've been hella expensive dyes (having ~any saturated colors -- but esp black -- was a huuuuge power move back in the day!) just having a colorful wardrobe irl was obscene conspiculous consumption, really...purple, and red were other hella expensive colors (hence our association w them and royalty even today), in which case maybe astairans ~do tend to prefer more muted and understated color palettes? pastels and natural tones? which would also symbolize their realness and connection to nature? idk...what do you guys think? or bright colors belong to the astairans and dark ones to the ovn? idk...

anyway, deep, slashed (and occasionally bejeweled) sleeves feel like they could def be a thing and/or the occasionally lowkey ~puffed sleeve:

intricate and complex hair styles also feel right -- in the italian renaissance it was not uncommon to actually sew both your hair (and hair you'd purchased and made into wigs and such as well into ur own hair) w jewels and ribbons and and complex braids and all sorts of things of the kind:

(yes simonetta vespucci is featured in all those pics...moving on...unlike my man botticelli amirite *slaps knee* lajksdflkjsdf)

now, i have mentioned that i think diaphonous veils and ferroniere are v astairan elements and those ~do show up here and i ~do think of that in my mind as cross-cultural conversation beginning to take place, if we go in this direction, but anyway!!

going back to color -- lke, idk abt you guys but i really associate the itanlian renaissance w brillaint color, and like my thought is that...maybe that's coming out of the two years that the court has spent in astaira? more of that cross-cultural conversation??? maybe dark, deep-saturated to the point of being v dark colors were a thing in the ovn, and like pastels and lighter tones were a thing in astaira, and we're getting more vibrant colors outta the meeting? tho that being said we've talked before abt stafford blue being a deep, v saturated color so...idk maybe ~colorlfulness ~is an astairan trait? idk...

also feel like some v northern european vibes coulda been holmeland ovn vibes? l ike, before the astairans started to rub off on them a bit, perhaps?

note the jewels, the v saturated and often dark-hued colors, the cloth-of-gold, and v structured bodice w the vast skirting (whether sort of tented or sewed into those ~ruffles -- idr the term atm but you feel me), just absolutely ~luxurious use of a fabric which was itself such a precious commodity -- more conspicuous consumption vibes, etc. (note: some of the three pics here ~are mid-1500s not mid 1400s but still)

but also let's not fail to note...the wonderful world of over-the-top headgear <3

aint nobody doing it like this! so these ladies dresses are all that famous burgundian style which was hella hot in the colder climes at the time (burgundy was one of theeeeee high fashion places at the time) and you do see a bit of that in italian renaissance but idk gotta say that feels ~more astairan to me where done in that more understated fashion...im focusing on the headdresses in this pic!

here, tho, is an example of the burgundian dress that feels more ovn-ian to ~me, anyway?? brocades and cloth-of-gold embroidery? more structured, less free?

anyway back to headresses!

there were varieties of hennins, varieties of turbans, escoffions, snoods (<3), padded rolls, caps, veils, chaperons, and all sorts of other things that feel extravagant and fun!

also ive talked a bit abt the dresses being v structured. here's beatrice d'este, duchess of milan, writing to her sister abt a dress, and if this don't feel varmont..."If you have not yet ordered the execution of this design, I am thinking of having his [Niccolò da Correggio's] invention carried out in massive gold, on a camora [a type of dress which consisted of a fitted bodice and full skirt worn over a chemise ] of purple velvet, to wear on the day of Madonna Bianca’s wedding…"

"Beatrice’s taste was, as Baldassare Castiglione complained, “loud and showy.” Her wardrobe was remarkable not only for its richness, but also for its size. In 1493, an inventory showed that she had accumulated eighty-four garments in the two years since her wedding (Herald 38)."

this is spanish, mostly, but i feel like farthingales (early hoop skits -- not usually visible over the clothing but i did grab some where you could see a bit some of the ornamentation they'd sometimes do bc it visually emphasizes what im talking abt but the last pic shows how it generally woulda looked -- catherine of aragon brought them to england so if you think of that classic tudor skirt that's the general look) may have been brought to the ovn by athaulf's first wife, maybe, giving a v full-bodied skirt:

which in my mind pairs well w the v rigid sort of thinking, controlled, structured, vibes of the ovn? i feel like a v full-bodied and conspicuous consumption thing too applies here...idkbut even wo them...

v thick, v mantled, v over-and-under skirted vibes may apply? just like...so much fabric and dye but also v rigid shapes la;kdsjfljdsf

anyway, obv we don't need to pursue ~any of these for our npcs general look or anything but yeah!! just some ideas i thought id toss out, if anyone has any thoughts on these? idk?? <3333 plus, like, obv all of this is then read through a fantasy!filter etc but obv the pics i got are irl...so yknow...all this w a pinch of salt etc but yeah! just some potential inspo to throw ur way!

again, obv big exceptions to all of these bc every character (npc or no!) has their own individual style, obv even within this places have their own regional styles (i just knoW harburrow and islaun have their own v unique sartorial trends, vibes, and styles of their own, for example!) and those styles will obv also def be intermingling the more the cultures interact etc etc, and obv our playable characters have no need to keep themselves to ~any of these, etc! im just talking wildly broad terms here so we can know when our characters are making ~statements or ~challengings trends or even ~starting their own...that sort of thing! i just felt like it might be fun to have a jumping-off point that way yknow? also its fun picturing the court in general <3

so yeah! whatcha think? like, dislike these? any style cues you had in mind for any of these things? i just feel like chatting historic-fantasy clothes laskdjflkjsdf

[forgottencaoimhe]

OOC | Caoimhe & Odile

so honestly idr the details, but ik you were thinking that odile would have a connection w house lorcan? caoimhe, here, is the youngest of ~this generation of lorcans, so that would potentially connect these two! i did wonder if you could reacquaint me, tho, w that connection? hahaha either way, tho, caoimhe is pr hostile to ovn-ians since the invasion, so if she and odile met ~before then, caoimhe's much more likely to have a good impression of her than if they met after wards?

[forgottencaoimhe]

OOC | Caoimhe & Lucian

so caoimhe is none too shy abt telling the ovn-ians they don't belong here!!! but this ~might not be true of lucian, given that he 'early on' started being a merchant, so if he showed up in that capacity ~before the conquest, caoimhe would've just accepted him as a trader and thought it was frankly pr cool that he was yknow starting out on his own despite coming from privilege etc like, not as a ~merchant or anything, but that's lowkey what caoimhe wants to do, or at least to prove to herself that she ~can which is part of why she wants to try this ill-advised search for shiv, so yeah!!! i def think overall she'd be like 'this guy is pr cool!' if she met him pre-conquest!

if she only met him ~after that, tho, i def do think their first meeting would be a lot less pleasant frankly hahahaha

do you think btw that his addresses to laoise are known abt? if they have a good realtionship, i can see caoimhe potentially having tried to wingwoman for him, there, but yeah obv if they don't...she did not hahahaha also if its not known abt, she clearly did not hahaha so yeah!!

[elisamaza]

Queen Aurora

[forgottencaoimhe]

OOC | Caoimhe & Cassandra

STYLE ICON!!!!!! pls leave behind ur wardrobe...and get out of town!!!!! i do think, in another world, these two would probs be close frankly but!! in this one!! caoimhe just sees cassandra and thinks 'nice for a ~varmont' which...might still include hobbies like kicking puppies in ur spare time sdlkfajsdkjfjdsf. some of what i was saying in [ edmund ]'s post re it being two years and only varmonts getting hurt so far etc ~does ~help but yeah!! she still a varmont!!!!! but also caoimhe deffff take note of what she's wearing to EVERY event all the same!!!!! laksjdflkjsdkf

[forgottencaoimhe]

OOC | Caoimhe & Sebastian

ok so what i said to [ edmund ] largely applies here, too. caoimhe does think that sebastian's nice...for varmont! but still doesn't think he deserves aoife whose nice for a malconaire that ~that's really saying something!!!!!! the whole finn betrothal shocked her but...hey, its better than a varmont!!!!

that being said, she ~does hope that sebastian finds some nice non-astairan girl and goes to some non-astairan place and lives out the remainder of his life in as nice a way as any varmont can manage!! but yeah she does NOT trust his family!!!!!!

meanwhile, roderick thinks laoise could be a good contendor for one of his sons potentially -- caoimhe will NOT be cool w that notion, should she ever discover it!!!! lasjdfkljsdf

[forgottencaoimhe]

OOC | Caoimhe & Marian

so, real talk, i doubt these two have had much, if any, meaningful interaction, bc caoimhe has no filter and her family knows this and probs tries to steer her clear of varmonts in general lasjdfjklsdf

now, caoimhe is the ~least interesting to roderick of the lorcan girls, but he does consider she, her sister, and her niece, to be sort of minor royalty bc there was a lorcan king ruling astaira during roderick's living memory, so caoimhe would be a possibilyt for sebastian. not any of the heirs, mind you, they can only snag laoise out of the lorcan fam, and even then can probs still do better elsehwere, but yeah!! ofc, a sebastian/caoimhe au would probs end w her beheading for sassing roderick to his face or smth but!! laskjdfkljsdfj he does not currently know that lkajsdflkjsdf so yeah!! lakjsdlfkjds

[forgottencaoimhe]

OOC | Caoimhe & Edmund

ok so since we know edmund attended the hangings at lorcan and everyone was required to witness, and since doubtless the lorcans were present at the ice ball, plus just the malconaire/lorcan interconnections, i think its probs safe to say that these two know eo, esp bc i feel like caoimhe and rosie are pr close! honestly im guessing that edmund, sebastian, and cassandra are probs the varmonts that she'd know best? since arthur and guin both lost their malconaire connection at the same time, pr early on? i ~do think that the romance w the varmonts boys ~is one of the few things that caoimhe thinks the malconaires aren't being smart abt!!!!! but i do think she thinks the edmund and sebastian are also def the nicest varmonts and that them being nice is just them being the exception to the rule!! arthur is an entitled prick, amira's a witch (NOT a seer!) w a b, bar's a control freak, etc!!!

i do think that caoimhe's not entirely aware of what's going on re edmund and rosie and probs assumes things're just...going. sure, she hasn't seen edmund at malconaire in awhile and rosie's been unusually quiet lately but also she's an handmaiden to amira so like...that's gotta be rough and that's probs all it is right lkasjdflkjsdjf i don't feel like caoimhe's really one for putting together the pieces...at least not in the right order alsdjflksdjf she's not the most disciplined creature laksjdfkljsdf

anyway all this being said, their first interaction probs went smth like this: caoimhe saw edmund at malconaire w rosie and...

caoimhe: get out of here, varmont, no one wants you here

rosie: ~i want him here

caoimhe:

rosie:

caoimhe: fine. ill go, then

probs not ~exact words~ etc but yeah!! she was probs pr frank/direct in the beginning laksdjfkjlsdf

def don't think she was a ~huge plan of the girls getting w the varmonts tbqh!!! is she ~more cool w it, and thus the varmonts involved, now that two years have passed and so far the only person who got a broken heart in all this was a varmont? honestly yeah, but...they still varmonts and she's sus!! but yeah i think she's sort of begrudgingly friendly towards edmund???? like, she will return whatever energy he comes at her w in kind, sort of vibes??? like, if he's friendly, she'll be friendly, if he's an ass, she'll be an ass, etc laksjdflkjsdf and its mostly for her cousin's sake alksdjfkljsdf smdh she has no sense of self-preservation alas alsdkjflksjdfjk

[forgottencaoimhe]

OOC | Caoimhe & Guinevere

ok so first off guin is caoimhe's fashion ICON!!!!!!!!! caoimhe isn't as much in to the toned down astairan vibes and wishes she could dress like a vamront!!!!!!! kadsljfklsjdfk however, caoimhe sees that as pr unpatriotic given that she despises roderick and everything he stands for!! she doesn't know that guin is, in fact, the antithesis of roderick and only knows that guin is his daughter. like any sane person, she detestes roderick and she assumes alas that his daughter must be lik him!!!!!! SOB

she is also quite blunt and would def be the sort of march up to guin and announce that the varmonts are not needed here and personally welcome them to get the hell outta astaira!!!! *facepalm* fortunately for her, i do think her fam has been running interference to ensure she hasn't had too much interaction w the imperial family (no doubt yet another part of why she hasn't clocked that guin couldn't be more different from her dad!) aklsdjfkljsdfkj anyway, hopefully they'll work it out quickly bc frankly i think she'd quite adore guin if she actually got to know her!! lskdjafkljds in another world/if they get to know eo better i can honestly see them being great friends <333333

i wonder if getting to know guin and realizing she was jumping to false conclusions might start her on a path to dealing w some of her issues? alksjdfkjldsf idk anyway lakjsdfkljsdf

all that being said tho she deffff taking notes every single time guin walks through a door -- that purple number she wore to the malconaire gala???? caoimhe was seeing STARS <333333

[forgottencaoimhe]

OOC | Caoimhe & Alaric

the fact that caoimhe has yet to be arrested is...a minor miracle bc she'd def just see him and go thatsavarmont and march up to him and demand to know what he thinks he's doing here in astaira and that he should go back to his horrible homeland and -- *hopefully this is where one of her relatives interrupts her* akjsdflkjdsf i feel like alaric is probs one of the varmonts she sees ~more often, since iirc we were saying that he and rian work together at lorcan a good bit??? so that's sdlkjfkjlasdjf well...caoimhe ~was thinking just earlier itd be cool to be imprisoned for her beliefs!!! *facepalm*

[forgottencaoimhe]

OOC | Caoimhe & Aria

so i feel like caoimhe is in AWE of aria!!!!!! literal princess alert!!!!!! and so learned and sophisticated!!!! she does think her life is maybe a lil boring and probs tried to spice it up in the past by tryna persuade her to like idk go skinnydipping in lorcan lake or smth that probs was NOT smth aria wanted to do but i swear she means well!!!! she just thinks aria probs ~wants a little thrill!!!!!! alksdjfkljsdjfjsdf but yeah dklsjfakjdsf i apologize in advance lakjsdkfljdsf

[forgottencaoimhe]

OOC | Caoimhe & Percy

so idk if she would? @forgottenfiona but if caoimhe has ~any inkling that fiona fancies percy, she is tryna set those two up!! or at least she ~was until suddenly it seemed that percy and saoirse were stepping out together, totally out of the blue??? which is ~wild bc caoimhe could've SWORN saoirse's eyes were always darting in ~finn's direction but????? now caoimhe feels extremely torn bc she wants ~all of her friends to be happy, dammit, and its not like she can set fiona up w finn, now!!!! travesty!!!!! laksjdfkljdsf

anyway, these two probs did more or less grow up together since i feel like the malconaire/lorcan family has always been extremely involved in eo's lives and obv percy got roped into the whole malconaire experience early on! honestly she's probs dragged him on her fair share of scrapes as well smdh poor percy def needs new friends!! laskdjfkljsdf i feel like she thinks he's a giant dork (affectionate) and is always tryna drag him into having fun, but like its ~her idea of fun which...idk how closely that matches up w ~his idea of fun frankly???? lksdjflkajsdf and shenanigans no doubt ensue alksdjfkljsdf

[forgottencaoimhe]

OOC | Caoimhe & Sonya

so no worries ik ur not ready for sonya yet etc i just like to write all these up when i first take a character so yeah!! caoimhe is NOT a fan of sonya's brother or mother!!!!!!!! and she will ~absolutely tell her that too, girl neither minces words nor, frankly, thinks before she speaks!!!!! she def feels sorry for her having to be related to, and interact w, the other two!!!!! how odious it must be for her!!!!!!

they probs do see eo a good bit bc malconaire and lorcan are so v close and she's a cousin to sonya's stepsisters, so i feel like the malconaires and lorcans are constantly going back and forth between eo's castles etc, so they probs have known eo since basically day one that sonya moved into malconaire!! i deffff think that caoimhe probs had hella questions for her abt her homeland etc when they first met too ladjsfkldf i def think caoimhe's always wanted to travel!!

[forgottencaoimhe]

OOC | Caoimhe & Cassimir

sooooo caoimhe is NOT a fan!!!!!!! and cassimir deffff knows this bc caoimhe has no filter, and doesn't see why she ~should in this instance (or in many instance tbqh), either!!!!!!!! and she has 100% told him that he's a parasite sucking the life out of the woman he claims to love and that the only person in the world he seems to truly love is himself, otherwise he'd never pain eithne by tryna steal both her birthright and that of her little cousin peadar like this, and that cassimir ought to be ashamed of himself like everyone else who knows him is ashamed of, and to be associated w, him!!!!! the only redeeming factor abt rian in ~her book is that at least he's not cassimir!! so obv im guessing they're best friends alkjsdfkljsdkjfkjsdf

honestly growing up idk that they had the best relationship either? im not sure if you have any thoughts re cassimir and padraic's relationship at all? bc obv that'd influence things too but yeah i do think that she frankly probs didn't think that much of him andddd probs told him so esp when she felt that his actions were impacting others bc i do think she tires to be protective (is she effective? doubtful! but here we are). i do think her opinion of him probs improved during his period of improvement but yeahhhhh any brownie points he might've racked up back then are hella dead and buried by now!