#qdd char

[quydanduong]

building you a new body with my rib cage

[quydanduong]

For the past few weeks I've been working on a customized áo dài with a skeleton pattern inspired by Bá Nguyệt's ghost form. It has one "exposed" sleeve and the rest of the form are layered under thin silk to create a veiled shadow of the full skeleton.

Art accidentally captured in the background is by Kevin Sabo.

Customization process summary under the cut.

A simple graph of steps I went through to customize the áo dài.

This is how the áo dài appeared at the beginning. It is a typical modernized áo dài for men, with tay chẽn (sleeve cuffs fit to wearer's wrists) sleeves, a straight form, and running button line down the right chest. My plan is to adapt it to look more like an áo ngũ thân tay chẽn, which means the left lap of the áo has to reach the right shoulder and armpit, instead of middle of right chest.

I began with tucking the left lap under the right lap and sewing the two sides together, turning the áo dài into a long shirt.

Then I painted the skeleton pattern onto the front, back and two sleeves of the áo dài with bleach. This took about 4 full days: the actual painting time took less, but I let it dry overnight after finishing every part.

By this time, the silk I ordered for a 2nd layer had come in. I cut the piece for the front piece. This would be sewn to the left shoulder, left armpit, and the left half of the neckline. It'd be left open on the right side so it can be closed by buttoning. I actually sewed the silk onto the áo dài, but then realized the color of the two types of fabric do not match up. The silk I ordered is black, but the base áo dài is a near-black dark navy. My first reaction is to get blue acid dye and give the silk layer a blue wash and turn it into a more navy color. Turning the base áo dài black would have been more ideal, but I already bleach-drew on it. Anyway, this doesn't work, considering the silk is already saturated with color (black), so I got black dye to spot dye the base áo dài, avoiding the bleach drawing. When I washed it to bleed out the extra dye, the dye washed over the bleach drawing anyway, but this is something I could live with.

I carried on to make the silk sleeve to go around the left sleeve. This ended up being shorter than the sleeve of the áo dài because I ran out of silk, so I hemmed the base sleeves to better match the silk sleeves. Thankfully, the original sleeves were too long anyway, so it ends up the right length after hemming.

I cut out the back silk piece. The front, sleeve and back pieces are sewn together first before onto the base áo dài. Then I added buttons (mock pearls) to the base áo dài, at the collar, right collarbone, and two more on the right side of the áo. Traditionally, there should be 5 buttons (collar, collarbone, and 3 down the side) but since the side of this modern áo dài is shorter, only 2 are needed.

This isn't pictured in the diagram, but I ended up retouching the bleach drawings where they were too washed out from the dye. DONE!

[quydanduong]

How Bá Nguyệt does her hair

—What you need: A long, broad strip of haircloth (about 5 ft long and 3 in wide) with an attached eye covering, a thinner and shorter strip of haircloth of the same material, some strings to act as hair ties

Divide hair into two sections, with most of the hair goes to the top section, leaving a thin layer of hair at the nape for the bottom section.

Collect the top section and wrap into a bun with strings.

Use the thinner and shorter strip of haircloth to tie the bottom section of hair.

Wrap the broad haircloth around the forehead to the back of the head, make sure that the eye covering goes over the eyes. Tie the cloth tightly at the back of the head, underneath the bun.

Tuck the shorter tail of the haircloth over the bun and into the loop of the cloth itself.

Wrap the longer tail of the haircloth around the head, about 3-4 loops in total. Make sure the cloth covers the knot at the back of the head.

When there's only one loop worth of haircloth left, put a hand under the cloth to create an narrow opening. Then as you finish wrapping the last of the cloth, tuck the end of the cloth into that opening to close the wrap.

Adjust to ensure the wrap is tight. And finish!

[quydanduong]

Bá Nguyệt (she/her)

A blind shadow medium, who can “feel” yin, yang and other energies of her surrounding, allowing her to develop her own incredibly precise cultivation technique, with mediumship at its core. She is also a master in talismans, Bá Nguyệt prefers to use her fingers, hands or feet as the brush.

Deadpan + simpleminded + stubborn.

On her back, she carries the huge Hundred Ghosts Jar, which is full of the spiritual energy fitting for ghosts, beasts and the unholy to heal and cultivate. As the name suggests, it can fit up to one hundred ghosts.

[quydanduong]

Nhật Hạ (she/her)

A huge spiritual beast with 6 horns and long thick white hair covering her entire body. She lived in a red lake called Nhật Tiềm (Sinking Sun); the few humans who managed to see her call her the “White Buffalo”, a beast that pulls the sun down to the lake at night. She eats clouds, drinks breezes; her body is full of spiritual energy, but as she does not cultivate herself, her cultivation level is still very low.

Because she stores so much spiritual energy, she has the ability to grow very potent healing herbs from her hair. If she has a taste of a person's blood, she can produce the herbs that acutely cure any sickness of that person.

Appears easygoing, very “chill”, expressive. Superficial, careless, her head’s always in the cloud.

[quydanduong]

Tấm & Cám

Empress Kiều Anh (she/her) is Thiên Quang Bảo's first wife and also the official Empress. They get married when both are 20. She was a country pumpkin before she met him, when she was known of as Tấm. She died only 2 years after appointed the queen when she went back home for her late father's death anniversary, having tragically fell to her death when attempting to climb a coconut tree.

Under pressure from the imperial court, the Emperor take Tấm half sister, the one year younger Cám (she/her), as a concubine. She had since long envied Tấm deeply, even to the point where she wears make up to look older, and she makes it a point to appear "more" than Tấm when she was Empress as well. Many people address Cám as the new empress anyway, even though she does not have this official title.

[quydanduong]

Golden Crown Egret Deity (he/him)

The Golden Crown Egret Deity was originally a Spiritual Advisor of the Kiến Văn era court. Legend has it he ascended after defeating Vét, saving the common people.

Legend also told, the day he defeated the Vét General, from the sky beamed down a column of golden light. Phạm Hi Hoà turned into a black egret, giving birth to a baby boy, then following the light beam to fly up to heaven.

That baby later grew up to become the next emperor of Nam Bình, named Thiên Vị Nhân, ending the Bùi Dynasty and starting the rule of the Thiên.

(Often, the common people of a country give themselves the last name of the ruling emperors to prove their obedience and loyalty to those Emperors. However, this changes as the Thiên dynasty begins. Thiên Vị Nhân claims that only heavensborn's, emperors or crowned princes, may bear the last name Thiên (which means Heaven), and so most people in the country still keep the last name Bùi.)

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Know-It-Alls and the Information System

Know-It-Alls are informants on all things spiritual: Gods, ghosts, mediums, and the likes. They serve as information hubs for divine and Heavenly mediums who are hunting down ghosts. They are often not affiliated with each other. Some carry specialized information that makes them exclusive in the field. However, it’s possible that they have a network of information to exchange, coordinate and control the field. Exclusive Know-It-Alls are also very particular about their way of selling information.

Hoa Linh (she/her) is a haughty tailor in Thái An who moonlights as a Know-It-All. When she's selling information, he is called “Brother Lĩnh” (he/him), and speaks warmly, without a southern accent like Hoa Linh does. He is the main (and most popular) Know-It-All in the Central area.

Phan Xình (he/they) is a knife and scissor sharpener in the South. He has the Eye of Yin Yang (the ability to see ghosts) and so was able to attain many exclusive information himself. A dull and easily startled person.

Tạ Chu Cận (she/her) is a traveling musician and Know-It-All in the north. She sings about stories you never heard of before, including one about 2 girls named Nhật and Nguyệt. All information sold are told in songs, which may be hard to understand and can be misinterpreted.

Comparison: —Brother Lĩnh: only accepts trade of information as payment; he is stationary and therefore easy to find. Top pick for information on Heavenly mediums and Central area divine mediums. —Phan Xình: moves around a lot, accepts money as payment. Top pick for information on local (Tiên Lữ, Phù Dung area) ghosts and divine mediums. —Tạ Chu Cận: songs are hard to understand, sometimes does not give you what you want. Top pick for information on Northern ghosts and olden spiritual cultivation.