This year I thought I would explain my artistic decisions along with my reblog of this piece, since some of them are a little esoteric.
Bells Hells are going wassailing, which is usually done on Twelfth Night, January 5th. This is the custom of the common folk parading rowdily in costume to the houses of the wealthy, singing and making a ruckus until they are invited inside to join the Christmastide parties and rewarded with food and drink. βWassailβ also refers to the drink carried by the wassailers in a specially carved wassail bowl to be shared amongst themselves and their hosts. Since this practice was a fixture of Christmas in Tudor-era England, it seemed to me like something that would be part of Winterβs Crest in Whitestone, and thus familiar to Laudna, who would share it with the rest of the Hells. (There are few things Bells Hells love more than free drinks, raising a ruckus, and annoying Percival de Rolo.)
Orym and Fearne are wearing druidcrafted holly and mistletoe, which beyond being associated with Christmas are associated with druids both historically and in D&D, and are the material components for several druid spells. Mistletoe especially is sacred to druids, although by wearing it on her horn Fearne is also expressing a wish to be kissed underneath it, i.e., on her cheek. She also has ivy around her hooves as a reference to βThe Holly and the Ivy.β
Chetney is wearing a knitted cap in red and white to give it a more elflike appearance, as a nod to his origins as Chutney, the disgruntled Christmas elf, and sleigh bells on his feet. He also carved the wassail bowl Ashton is carrying, indicated by the C-POP branding.
Laudna is Mari Lwyd, part of the Welsh wassailing tradition. The Mari Lwyd is a puppet made from a horseβs skull festively decorated and attached to a sheet that covers the bearer, giving them the appearance of a ghost horse. As part of the door-to-door custom her role is to taunt the wealthy homeowner (in rhyme or song) until granted admittance, whereupon she adds to the chaos of the festivities by chasing the nobles around snapping her teeth. (This is something Laudna would do regardless of WHAT holiday it is.)
PΓ’tΓ© is wearing a jingle bell because at the time I was drawing this @astoriacolumnstaircase had mentioned that one of her toddler children was shaking her PΓ’tΓ© plush and screaming βjingle bell!!!β because . . . he's kinda shaped like one I guess? Idk it is a very inside joke.
Imogenβs outfit is also a very interior reference, itβs the blue coat mentioned in Chapter 6 of Remember Us that BH see in a boutique while looking for winter clothing in Whitestone:
Not far away they find a boutique with a wide window display, populated by mannequins in winter fashions.
βOooh,β breathes Fearne, admiring a peach-colored capelet trimmed with white fur and two fluffy pompoms. Beside her, Matilda looks wistfully at a beautiful long coat of cornflower blue with a gathered skirt and a deep hood. She would so love to see it on Imogen, her lilac hair framed by that soft blue. But she canβt even imagine how much it must cost. βShould we go in?β the faun asks eagerly, reaching for the door handle.
(Fearneβs capelet is also a palette-swapped version of the one she is admiring.) Imogen is also creating the star-shaped dancing lights surrounding them.
Ashton is wearing a tatter-coat and bells, the costume of Morris dance, an English stick-wielding folk dance. Morris dance is a part of the apple wassail, the counterpart to the house-visiting wassail that involves having a noisy party in the apple orchard and hitting the trees with sticks to drive out evil spirits and ensure the health of the trees for the coming year. (Ashton does not know what Morris dance is, Laudna enticed him with the promise of free ale and hitting things with a stick.)
FCG has one of their hands switched out for a drum attachment and I thiiiink the hat and tie are also a reference to the hat and tie he βworeβ at Laudna and Imogenβs imaginary wedding in Remember Us. (And later at their real wedding.) The hat and Victorian style of his level 10 coat also give him a somewhat Dickensian look.
So there they go! Bells Hells on their way to make Winterβs Crest a problem for Percy.
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