victorian era · historical · corsets · rigid etiquette · empire · intrigue · fog · ballrooms · suffragette · gentleman
Thick fog, damp and sulphurous, muffles the cobbled lanes of London in the year 1852. The hiss of a newly lit gas lamp casts a wavering orange glow across the wet stones. From somewhere beyond the veil of mist comes the rhythmic echo of a single horse’s hooves. You find yourself paused before a rain-beaded shop window, your own faint reflection staring back. I am a silhouette leaning against the iron post, observing. "So, you... what shape will your existence take within this empire of industry and lace?"