Today Has Been Brought To You By The Victorian Era

-HD: *singing* Haaaaiill Brittania, Brittania rules the waaaves-
-TD: Europa Wulfenbach needs an anthem.-
It does! I mean, TPU has a fight song, but it's not quite the same thing. Hmmm.
-VDM: Tried to come up with one once. Couldn't get past "Europa Wulfenbach, it's the only place to be."-
-WRM: "Europa Wulfenbach, it's the only place to be
He rules from the mountains to the shining sea?"-
-VM: "From the ocean to the Wastelands, he rules with the magic touch"-
-VuM: "And if you get him angry, he'll come and fu--"
-TD: *cuts him off with a laugh* Technically accurate, but let's keep the swearing to a minimum!-
-D: Can we ask what you were looking up before this turns into a round of "There once was a man from Nantucket?"-
First it was Victorian courtship rituals.
-M: o.O? The hell?-
I was thinking about Victor/Alice--
-All: Big surprise.-
And it occurred to me that I ought to know a bit more about how a proper Victorian relationship would have gone. That way, once Victor and Alice start getting their groove on, so to speak, I'll know how to have Victor act.
-TTV: I actually don't know much about courtship myself. I never had much of a chance to talk to the girls of the village, and when I did I fumbled over myself so much that. . . . Well, you know me. Never even had a sweetheart.-
-VD2: *faintly bitter* Better than a string of bad dates and two toxic girlfriends.-
-TTV: *sympathetic* Yes, I suppose so.-
-OD: What did you find out? *Tommy* Besides the fact they were probably all sorts of complicated.-
Really, "complicated" is the best word to describe it. Did you know there was a whole system of flirting based on the way a lady held her FAN?
-VD: What?-
I'm serious. If she fans fast she's independent, if she fans slow she's married/engaged, a closed fan touching the right eye means "when may I see you?", the number of sticks shown then answered the question "at what hour?", resting the fan on the right cheek meant yes, on the left no, putting the fan handle to the lips meant "kiss me," a fan over the left ear means "get lost," but an OPEN fan COVERING the left ear means "do not betray our secret"--
-TTV: THIS is why I'm no good with women! How on earth is someone expected to keep track of all that??-
I know! Apart from that, unmarried women had to be constantly chaperoned, a man couldn't stay too late at a girlfriend's house, they weren't allowed to touch each other walking together until they were formally engaged, they couldn't ride together in a closed carriage. . . . Oh, and here's an interesting one -- there's this list that says people shouldn't marry others WITH THE SAME FREAKING EYE COLOR.
-DW: . . . You're joking.-
I'm serious. Apparently you were supposed to go as far your opposite as possible in love. (Sorry about the midi music, you can shut it off at the bottom)-
-MF: *mildly sarcastic* I guess all the Victor/Emily shippers are right, then. Can't get more opposite than dead and alive.-
-TTV: This almost makes me grateful my parents arranged my marriage. *pause* Almost.-
*giggle*
-RPD: What else?-
Did a little more poking at penny dreadfuls. Working on that one Victor story, you see. I still can't believe they've got the entire text of "Varney the Vampire" up online.
-TTV: Really? Amazing.-
I know. Hooray for early pulp fiction!
Now that I've bored you all with pointless trivia, it's time to go wander the web some more.
-D: I saw where you were headed. Stay away from the horror game articles on Wikipedia!-
Oh come on, it's only "The 7th Guest!" I can take THAT!