Final Fantasy OC Repository

Rene Lalique, Art Nouveau Esmerian Purse (Purse with two serpents), 1900s.

Emile Pingat Silk Jacket with Braidwork

1880s

Hand Embroidered Silk Velvet Evening Gown

c. 1934

i think this is one of the most beautiful songs i've ever heard and i would really like to know what the words mean

Glass bead necklace with rock crystal pendant, Korea, 3rd-5th century AD

olms are blind translucent salamanders that spend their entire lives in caves. they're about a foot long and can go literally years without twitching a single muscle. they only breed something like once a decade, and they can live for over 70 years.

aaaand they're also one of the biggest organisms to be totally cave-bound!

see, the thing about caves is that there's... not a whole lot going on. once you go pass through the Bat Zone and enter the parts of the cave where the only residents spend their entire lives there, you discover this:

yeah. these chambers have spent literally thousands of years away from the sun in unchanging darkness, so there's really not many nutrients passing through the food web here.

pretty much only the tiniest mere dribblings of nutrients are occasionally washed through underground rivers that pass through the cave, sustaining tiny cave fish and invertebrates. and also the olm, giant among its cave siblings.

so because there is so very little food and nutrimants around, olms have adapted to just. not use energy. at all.

they don't expend ANY energy at all unless it's to sip up a passing particle in the water. they are as still as statues otherwise, biding their time.

oh, I do NOT like looking at it head on.

and once they've built up enough reserves, they'll go find a similarly motivated partner to go create some little olms with! but then it's back to a decade of stillness in the dark for Olm.

Wedding Ensemble

c. 1901

"The appliqués of this wedding dress exemplify the whip-like curves and scrolls characteristic of the Art Nouveau period. Made in Rome for Mrs. Frederick Dand Sherman in 1901, the design of the dress shows the impact of the Art Nouveau movement throughout Europe by that year. While the white-on-white color palette would have been a conventional choice for a bride just after the turn of the century, the asymmetical trimming would have been a deliberately bold and fashion-conscious choice. The shape of the skirt and cut of the sleeves particularly suits the overall decorative scheme of the dress."

Italian

the one I was looking for originally also has a summer variant. (artist is Frederick Charles Herrick: 'it is warmer below' is from 1927, 'it is cooler below' is 1926)