Oh my. The minute I saw this come up on the flist while shoe shopping, I knew I'd be in for a treat. I savoured this slowly, but alas, it had to end. Yes, that is the only bit of criticism this story deserves. It ended.
I love your talking portraits and Her Ladyship's voice. So perfectly the upper-class woman who is able and willing to make friends (romantic ones, even!) beyond class borders, sure of herself and her attitude, and I have no words for how much I adore your spot-on, loving portrayal. Also the portrayal of their relationship, spelling out just the perfect amount of detail.
Then the image of Sinistra. Oh, be still my heart. And butch/butch, oh, pardon the vulgar term, of course I mean hitch/hitch is my slash -- ♥
Well, I don't know why Violet thinks I need to know some vulgar Muggle term for them. -- *LOL*! And I love hitches. Both the term and whom it designates.
I went into a gentle decline and died a most affecting death, surrounded by my loving family and several devoted, grieving admirers of both sexes, but that's a story for another time. -- I want to hear this story! Eroticised female frailty/illness and the premodern normalcy of same-sex crushes in one sentence -- genius.
portrait rot *g* Love the portrait universe you paint.
(It took me many years to understand myself. I was most carefully raised, of course, sheltered and petted; it wasn't until I arrived at Hogwarts as a portrait that I discovered that a woman could love a woman as more than a schoolgirl crush. -- Hooray! And I love how you show that gender/sexual identities need to be seen in their historical contexts, giving us both the eighties and the Victorian age. Also, Vrunhilde is a triumph. Poor dear, though -- seems a decent Valkyrie can't ever be spared death by fire on account of some little git.
Flirtatious!Hooch, chattiness, hair ruffling, and all -- ♥
And the Fortnightly Coven! Mesdames Bones and Grubbly-Plank! Griselda the lesbian spacemaker and terminologically-aware Irma of the unreliable book knowledge! I also enjoyed the innuendo-filled glimpse of Minerva/Elphinstone, and tipsy!Pomona is a winner, bad dirty jokes and all.
"Temper, temper, Vi," I say gently, but this well-intended comment just seems to annoy her. -- Hee hee. Somehow I hear Bette Davis here.
she's wearing just a short robe -- a waistcoat, really -- over a white shirt and a Hufflepuff cravat. -- *swoons*
And the end, as sorry as I was to arrive at it, is sheer wonderfulness.
Be Glomped, O Mystery Author, and thanked for this fantastic read!