#<- i come bringing a recommendation

[melannen]

Dracula cross-stitch sampler pattern

Since I've had time on vacation, I finished up a cross-stitch pattern I started a year ago in the first Dracula Daily round, based on the words Dracula uses to greet Jonathan Harker when he comes to the castle: "Welcome to my house. Come freely, go safely, and leave some of the happiness you bring".

I wanted a sampler for my front hall, but all the patterns I could find were very Hot Topic Goth. Nothing wrong with that, but my goth aesthetic is more "creepy thing found behind the wall in an old attic", and I wanted a pattern that my aunt wouldn't realize was anything out of the ordinary. I was looking around for inspiration and stumbled on an 1871 sampler by 12-year-old Jemima Clements in the Victoria & Albert Museum in London. It's a little bit early for Dracula but the aesthetic was spot on, so I spent a long time squinting at a zoom of the best download of it they had to copy the wolves and the letters, and then left it for almost a year because I got frustrated trying to figure out how to get a good-formatted pattern out.

When we came up on a year I transcended frustrated and went with the good-old fashioned grandma method and transferred my pixels to a spreadsheet. So on the off chance you want a creepy Dracula sampler for your front hall, I now have it in .pdf and a downloadable Google Sheet. The .pdf is formatted to print on legal paper, but it will be a bit small that way; you are welcome to fiddle with the spreadsheets to get it the size you want.

PDF of the pattern of the Dracula quote ^this will not work if your browser redirects to https because my webhost messed that up, but it should work if you force http

Google Drive link to a shareable/downloadable Sheets file

The pattern uses 7-10 different thread colors; I don't believe in locking in brand-name floss, so the pattern includes color description and it's up to you to find stuff in your stash that looks good together.

I could not come up with a decision on the border, so the options are:

Make all the flowers plain lavender

Use a variegated purple for the flowers

Pick 4-6 different shades of lavender/light purple and alternate them - this is most similar to Jemima's border

Use the "allium flower" pixel art pattern I coded into the pattern (recommended only if you recognized the allium flower pixel art pattern I used.)

[littler0b1n]

My boys…

[thunderon]

actually my day just got marginally better because one of the neighborhood kids insisted on holding an umbrella over me and walking me to my car. it wasn’t actually raining or anything lol for some reason the kid just really wanted to hold an umbrella over my head but it made us both happy so whatever

[ihamtmus]

.

[extrashortshorts]

Clown Zoro’s King of Hell title is now “King of the Circus 🤡 🎪”

As if

If he stays in buggy's crew (from that theory video) where's that clown FOR SOME REASONS still a captain, zoro would never have anything close to "king" or any cool title. He would have something, just not as important sounding🤔Buggy just won't let it happen, that would be sharing to much spotlight

But that theory on it's own is pretty wonky imo, zoro that we know now need to change half of his personality to work under buggy

[the-busy-ghost]

Me normally: Let people love what they love

Me, after a Test Match Special commentator expresses their belief that the new All Creatures Great and Small is somehow "better" than the 1978 version: This is pure insanity and TMS can no longer be trusted on anything, how can they even be trusted to know about cricket, do they have no TASTE

[maxlarens]

okay im done talking about lewis and roscoe now, because im really not inclined to get involved in things i don’t know that much about. neither of the anons i’ve answered already were coming from a hateful place and i think all drivers are open to some level of criticism and discussion. there’s nothing wrong with saying those things on tumblr imo

i am however (and this is not directed at any specific anon, it’s just a general comment!!) wary to overly criticise someone like lewis who is the only black driver on a grid dominated by white men, in a sport dominated by white men at all levels. i think there are fair criticisms to level at lewis but i don’t think it helps to call him out on all these little issues that you might ignore for another white driver. i think maybe lewis isn’t doing his best with the resources that he has, but i think he’s trying harder than a lot of other drivers. and that means something.

of course i have general criticisms of activism under capitalism and performative activism. but i dont know if thats helpful here.

[akaikami-cherryblossom]

Put Cater in a little outfit🥺🥺

[911-on-abc]

okay I'm just going to post this now because I've seen a lot of mutuals get hate, but here it is:

I think the ship war discourse is bullshit. I will not be engaging in it. I ship both, I ship all three of them together, tbh I'm a rare pair shipper too, honestly give me eddie and vanessa if they are going to make eddie het, I've seen people ship eddie with terry from dispatch! I do not care!!

If u don't like one ship or the other, I don't care about that either. some of my friends don't like one and some of my friends don't like the other. even though I don't dislike either, I'm accepting people who do. it doesn't bother me!

i'm firmly a fan of curating your experience. what I have been and will be doing is tagging any post featuring bucktommy and buddie with those tags so people who don't like one or the other can filter them out. if you don't like a ship or character, I really encourage you to filter it out instead of letting exposure to it annoy you (trust me I've been there).

but yeah. I won't be choosing sides. it's cool with me if you do as long as, you know, you're not harassing people. no judgment here, just don't bring that discourse to me. thanks!

[moe-broey]

Thoughts on Grima in FEH? I personally am a big enjoyer of this horrible little guy getting picked up by the scruff and dragged kicking and screaming into therapy by the summoner.

OOF... UNFORTUNATELY... I have zero complex thoughts about Grima 😅 I do think it's interesting, from the many Grima and Robin interactions in FEH, that there's almost this self-fulfilling prophecy to it, like Grima believes no matter what they Have to be this way. That all roads lead to this, and there's no changing it. And in believing that, they make it their reality.

HOWEVER. I do get really stuck on just. How they talk. Top Ten Least Effective Insults: Worm.

They are like middle school bullies to me...... at least in FEH specifically where they will just harass Robin to no end LMFAOOO (and anyone else they have a bone to pick with)

I do think they can have a little therapy. As a treat :) (they could use it.)

[mondscheinprinzessin]

I was seeing a ballet yesterday, and naturally I gained inspiration to make an AU for BC out of it, so here have Blind Channel as Giselle:

(tw: suicide(as in the original))

part I:

our main character of the story is Olli: a peasant boy living his life in a beautiful little village enclosed by forests and fields, son to a family owning the local tavern 🍻

due to his families good status, there's not many worries to his daily life

only: his heart

there's Aleksi, huntsman of the area, a young man who has grown up alongside Olli, their families close due to their professions, and for years the two boys have played together in the close creek, or the flower fields, or spend long evenings observing the drunk patrons, and Aleksi has always liked teaching Olli about the wildlife, the traces the animals left in the dirt, and adored how eagerly Olli has listened to his words, and how adorable he looked with his big eyes when Aleksi has found a particularly beautfiful flower 🌸

it was no surprise (to him or anyone else except Olli) that Aleksi fell in love, and for him it was etched in stone that Olli would marry him as soon as Aleksi asked him to

but then why did Olli block off all of his romantic advances?

it didn't deter Aleksi from his mission however; every day he would make sure to see him, and bring him and his family gifts, little presents that would make Olli's life brighter and keep him in his mind

part II:

Joonas has always liked the forest more than his home, a big castle with every richness that he could think of. but the thick tress around him gave him the one thing his status as a nobleman couldn't provide: freedom ⚜

the little village at the edge has always peeked his interest, and not even his squire could keep him from his newly formed plan

it was one day where he just had to wander off somewhere where noone knew him and his duties, and so he just dumped his mantle and sword into his squire's arms and ordered him to hide his possession in an abandoned shed

and oh how much lighter his steps were from then on, and how much fresher the air smelled, and...

how beautiful this boy looked!

it was by no means an easy feat to get the boy to even look at him without golden locks shielding his eyes, and rednes to cover his cheeks; his shyness the cutest thing Joonas has ever seen

but how much better it was even to be able to hold Olli's hands, to hold him by his waist, to spin him around, see him laughing!

his heart was gone, it was no longer his, all of it belonged to Olli, and Joonas was sure he would never meet someone as loving as him (there was an admonishing voice in the back of his head reminding him of a fiancé, but Joonas was good at keeping it quiet) 🌞

part III:

Aleksi, after time growing suspsicious that Olli was drawing back more and more, and wondered where his best friend and lover was venturing off to couldn't hold back a cry of pain when he saw him and a man of unknown to him arm and arm with each other

it couldn't be! Olli has been his forever, and should have been his forever! ⚡

he had to know who that man was, and so one evening Aleksi quietly followed the mystery man all the way to a shed, and witnessed as he put on a royal red cape, a sword, and took a trail that led him to a horse bound to a tree

this man couldn't be from here, couldn't be from their village or from any around them, there was only one conclusion, and Aleksi couldn't believe it

that nobleman could have everyone, had probably many people laying to his feet, but he had to come here, and take Olli away from him?!

meanwhile the harvesting festivities were in full swing and there was even word the Duke would come honour the village! 🍁🍂🧅

and it was Aleksi's perfect chance

after having to watch Olli and that lying man prance around the marketplace his time has come: just when the party of noblemen and the Duke was to arrive and Joonas took his leave, Aleksi took him by his collar and pinned him down to declare to the whole village what evil was among them, and opened Olli's eyes to the hoax he has fallen victim to

he produced the nobleman's sword as a proven fact, and it fell to the ground as loudly shattering to his ears as Olli's cries were

the madness has gotten him! Aleksi tried to support his friend's body, calling for him to be relieved, to spare his tears; it was alright now, Aleksi was by his side, danger was gone, he would never have to see that man again, but Olli only pushed him aside, trying to cling to Joonas who by now showed only defeat 💔🖤

it was a dance of lunacy, and Aleksi gasped when Olli took hold of Joonas' sword and-

it was too late. two pair of hands stretched to prevent him from doing this horrific act, but the sword was already pushed into his abdomen by his own doing

Olli was laying on the ground in a pool of blood that was quickly washed away by weeping men, both Aleksi and Joonas alike

part IV:

because of his suicide Olli wasn't granted a place in the local cemetery but had to be buried somewhere in the forest, at a place many sould have found their last place for many different but sad reasons

Aleksi was there this first night when on his way back home he made a detour to visit Olli's grave ✝

he could sit there for hours, staring, crying, screaming, regretting, so much regretting

dong dong dong dong dong dong dong dong dong dong dong dong

it was time, and Aleksi has lost it

this hour was for the vila, and this place was theirs to hunt: the many women who got abandoned on their wedding days and gotten their hearts broken and betrayed by men to the point of their deaths and were now on a path of vengeance 💢⚔

and they have gotten Aleksi circled, a lonesome grieving target, and he was theirs to use a puppet, to make him dance dance dance till the sun got up and his feet bled and his lungs gave up and his body broke and he joined the land of the dead

the same fate could fall upon Joonas, who just as Aleksi found his way to Olli's grave, and this night too he was there at the feet of the stone cross

and he could swear he was hearing Olli's whispering, and a swish of white fabric at the corner of his eye made him turn around and there he was: a beautiful etheral appearance

but it wasn't the only one. more and more white creatured with long hair and veiles appeared and within seconds it seemed he was in the center of them

one of them, glowing and with a crown sparkling in the moonlight, came gliding towards him-

but Olli was suddenly between them, begging to leave him be, but Joonas was already enchanted, his feet no longer dancing to his own will

and Olli was desperate, knew that every second was more like 30 minutes for Joonas, and he was aware he couldn't survive as long as their queen was continuining her plan of torture and her subjects of vila helped her bring death upon all men

Olli didn't want to be part of this; yes he had been betrayed, but he was one thing his queen never experienced: forgiving

he couldn't hate Joonas, he could never

it didn't matter who Joonas actually was, he had won his heart fair and square with his charm, and his wit and his jokes, and his warmth, and Olli didn't want him to suffer like he did; he had to protect him

he kept pleading as he protected Joonas to his best ability, they only had to make it to sunrise and they would be safe🌤

Olli could move on, and perhaps Joonas could move on, and his queen wouldn't have any power over both them anymore

it wasn't long any more, they had to make it!

dong dong dong dong dong dong

not long anymore!

END

There's three different endings to this story originally and you can decide for yourself if Joonas survives or not. Aleksi is supposed to die though, and for this story I think it would be nice if Olli is freed and he and Aleksi meet in some kind of after-life and continue to h(a)unt the forest together, playing like when they were children, Olli having forgiven him and understanding that Aleksi only wanted the best for him, and Aleksi understanding that no matter what he did he couldn't just decide to take Olli's heart. Happy end, all was well :)

[myname-isnia]

You know... I tried to hold back, I really did. I tried to convince myself that I already have so much going on and genuinely do not have the mental capacity for something like this

I've managed to hold out for almost two whole weeks and my resolve was strong, but unfortunately the Ye Olde Hyperfixation was stronger

[scatterpatter]

Every time i cringe when old of mine gets notes again, I then get this kinda swell of pride

Like man I never would've thought that a silly doodle I did in the middle of a hyperfix in 2019 would over 4 years later bring a smile to someones face

Like how many times I've gone down internet rabbit holes and found fanart over a decade old but still managed to bring a smile to my face, how many abandoned fics and comics and art people dont really think abt anymore still bring me joy when I stumble upon them

And I might not be proud of my old work because I've improved and I get embarrassed because I know I could do so much better if I re-did it nowadays, but like thats not the point. When I made it way back when it made me happy, and while it's not up to my personal standards anymore, it still makes other ppl happy. Other ppl arent holding my old art to the standards i am.

My one lil moment of joy that sparked a doodle inspiration kinda went across time and brought a smile to someone else's face way down the line when im not even really in the fandom that doodle was for anymore

AUs I've since gone back and went "eugh" with because I know I couldve approached them with better designs and writing nowadays, even tho I don't think it's good enough, someone else does, and like. thats just. thats just nice.

Idk. I dont have a point to this. I just hope that stuff i make today makes ppl happy years down the road. That's a nice thought.

[jingerpi]

its kind of annoying how there's basically no way to cut off liberal sources and academia without isolating yourself to anti intellectualism. like don't get me wrong there's a lot you can cut off and a lot of genuine intellectual study from workers and marxists but there's simply not enough marxists with resources (for obvious reasons) to rely on solely for principled understandings of the world. it really bothers me that if I want to stay informed about science or math I have to follow universities and popsci YouTubers and just do my best to filter out the liberal nonsense, otherwise I'm intentionally depriving myself of information and learning that I likely wouldn't find elsewhere. sometimes it's worth doing, sometimes it's worth switching from one liberal to a slightly less-liberal, but it's still a frustrating reality to deal with

[ereborne]

Song of the Day: May 26

“Get Some” by Ghosted ft. Kamille (video)

[ronanceisintheair]

I'm both detached and part of the ronance fandom. Hope that clears things up