#18.9

[uhohitsdorian]

Solace just cemented his position as third party member to physically strike Romar, the second to do so out of the unbridled fury he provokes, and also cemented his utter hatred of him! Great position to be in when you’re in a tight-knit party together and rely on each other to stay alive.

[Image: a digital comic drawn in black and grey, depicting a conversation between Romar, a strongly-built human man with a topknot, covered in tattoos, and Solace, a very gaunt drow in a heavy wool coat and hat. Romar stands, self-righteously delivering his point: “no, slaves are beasts of burden, they don’t have souls-“ He’s then cut off by Solace, gesturing in outrage with his walking cane in hand, who says, “so you mean to tell me that upon emancipation I was just suddenly bestowed one?!” Romar enthusiastically answers, “yes!” His face then contorts comically as the handle of the aforementioned cane is swung into it at speed. End ID.]

They then exchanged a few letters, after Solace recognised that he should nip his fury in the bud before Romar drove him to commit anything even more violent and impulsive, and stomped away to seethe on his own. Those are pretty amusing, and under the cut.

The first letter has no image, but its text read:

“Romar, I wanted to acknowledge having struck you with the handle of my cane. While I do not shirk responsibility for letting my temper get the better of my judgement, I also do not believe that you had no part in sufficiently and deliberately agitating it to such an extreme, and my opinions on yours remain in unchanged abhorrence. I cannot say I am inclined to like you in any great measure, and must admit that itself is a generous phrasing of the fact. I nonetheless owe you an apology; wanton violence is an unintelligent and ineffectual way to resolve disagreement, and I do not wish to be in truth or rumour the kind of man who resorts to it. Your words struck a nerve, and I faltered, and for that I am deeply ashamed and sorry. I do not need your forgiveness, but I do hope we can go forward from this incident in a gentlemanly manner. Yours finitely, Solace Petrichor.”

The second letter is a reply from Romar (which I was delighted to receive as an image from his player, my friend Chris):

[Image: the second letter. It’s typed to look handwritten, in elegant red text on aged-looking paper, with a bloodstain in a suspiciously similar red colour in the bottom right corner. It reads:

“Solace It is well understood that those that resort to violence as a last resort of debate know are only showing frustration in failure. It is clear that the realities I spoke were for you recognised as uncomfortable truths you were unable to reconcile between your emotion and intellect, which were clearly at odds with each other bringing on self hate. Unwilling to accept the truth you struck out for this I bear you only pity and no ill will. However, to suggest that my words were but trivial agitation, likened to the mercurial mistreats of Allva is a profound insult to my church and true faith Such an affront, as transgressions of others I have already recorded cannot be readily forgiven. Therefore at a future time when opportunity presents itself there is a debt in kind to be paid. Yours patiently Romar”

End ID.]

Solace was, understandably, only further perturbed. He then scrawled out a rebuttal, though never actually delivered it. (I hand-wrote his response, thoroughly charmed by the effort Chris had put into Romar’s.)

[Image: the third letter. It’s handwritten (digitally) on similarly aged-looking paper, with dark ink, in Solace’s near-incomprehensible scrawl. It reads as follows:

“Romar, I would like to congratulate you on earning the title of second-most infuriating man I’ve ever met. I understand now that a favour to you is not an exchange between equals, but a system of blackmail with which you lord power over your contemporaries at the excuse of showing toward them any feeblest action of goodwill, and indulge the sick fantasies revelling in the pit in your soul moulded in the negative image of conscience. Consider the favour I supposedly owe returned in the undue respect I have, up to this point, shown you. Consider it paid. Should I prove myself foolish enough to be found in your debt again, know that I will resign from this position by doing you the kindness of restoring any stolen symmetry to your face by striking it from the other side. Yours resentfully, Solace Petrichor.”

End ID.]

Solace balled up the letter and tossed it across the floor, hoping his temper would have been sufficiently caught in the words or creases to collect dust in tandem. Even through the red haze, he knew how futile it would be to deliver it, and that his straws would break long before the camel’s back. No, he told himself. Anger has no seat at this table. There is work to be done; waste not your oil on burning daylight. He leant back on the bed of the inn, conscious that he should be making the most of the chance to rest while there was still more than a couple inches of bedroll between his weary bones and the cold, callous earth. If he wanted to sleep so close to daisy roots, he’d do it grinning up at them from the solace of his grave. Familiar fragments of poignance swam in his mind. The stars were winking at him through the gap in the curtains, and the air outside had handled the evening as gently as its bitter chill could do. It would be foolish to waste such mercy on anything but appreciation. He drew his instrument and began, with masterful quiet, to tune it, and then to play, letting the feeling guide him along nebulous melodies and distant, glowing chords, charting through the fog to familiarity and meaning. Though it hung heavy in the air, he could feel it about to clear, and some ray of sunshine - however fleeting - waiting patiently to fall on him.

[toby-the-mushroom]

it's my birthday tomorrow ^_^ ^_^ ^_^

[rookflower]

How long will the survey be open for, and will you post about the results?

i'm not sure yet, probably about a week? i didn't know how many responses i would get, so wanted to wait to gague it. i will probably put out a 24hr (at least) warning on both twitter and tumblr before i do. it currently has 243 responses and it's been going up pretty fast, but will most likely slow down soon.

i'm very likely not going to post the raw spreadsheet data because there's a lot of it and it's messy and i haven't yet gone through to make sure there are no a) trolls or b) people who want to keep their responses private. however, i will likely process the data of the more straightforward questions (favourite character, favourite arc, the multi choice questions) (and potentially correlations between them depending how much of a headache that is) into some lists or charts or general observations and will share those eventually! basically i don't think i'll share Everything but i do fully intend to make some of the results public in some way, aye!

[bunnihearted]

🏫🍃🌥️

[samsi6]

.

vor der tür stehen

.

klingeln warten eintreten

.

grüßen und sehen

.

[britneyshakespeare]

This is just a map of New England (minus Connecticut the fake New England state)

[quiirrel]

18.9% reborn. 18.9% I’m sick I’m SIIIICKKKK

[drawing-every-day-2023]

Work felt really short today, which was nice.

[theitches]

I have Agoraphobia... should I start leaving the house while playing a loop of 18.9 hertz audio from my phone so people stay away from me?

[see-arcane]

With a total of 1,176 votes tallied, the preferred plushie poll winner with 28.8% of votes is…

What a close one! Jonathan came in with 27.7%, the mysterious Mr. Morse with 24.9% and, delicious irony of ironies, London Dracula with 18.9%. Rest in pieces. Now, what does all this mean going forward?

First, just to reconfirm: I will absolutely be looking into the costs for having more than one plushie character produced at a time. For all that Mina has the top spot if it comes down to a solo run, Nobody Wants to Separate the Gothic Horror Soulmates, even as wee little plushies. It hurts my heart to think of. Mina and Jonathan deserve to sit side by side on everyone’s pillow. Just as Quinn Morse deserves to haunt the pillow next to theirs while casually throttling and carving London Dracula into pieces. For enrichment.

But beyond that, some other key things:

How is this getting done?

Sadly, I was not a cool enough kid for Makeship to greenlight a collaboration with me. Tragique. But while I was sitting around waiting for them to get back to me, I had time to browse around for other options. During that sniffing around I dug up a couple of promising manufacturers—one of which has some really neat options for not only plush toys, but all sorts of bric-a-brac like stationery, shirts, bags, cups, et cetera—and I plan to reach out to them for quotes to start with. Nothing really gets to move forward until I can nail down prices and the amount of X plushies to be made.

I am more than a little hesitant to tell anyone MAKE ME 1000+ PLUSHIES, PLEASE, THE TUMBLR POLL SAID THEY’RE GOOD FOR IT. These aren’t as simple as print/make-on-demand products, so I need to be careful estimating the amount of folks ready and willing to drop money on the little guys. But I will keep everyone updated on the numbers regardless!

Sooo is this a crowdfunding thing or an investment or what?

Don’t know yet. I am still between jobs at the moment—reminder to check out my Ko-Fi if you want to drop me a buck or commission some art!—but if this is something I can safely drop some of my own money in with the guarantee that it will let me do better than break even, I’ll do what I can out of pocket. However, if the cost of making something of good quality turns out too steep, I’ll start looking into stuff like Kickstarter and Backerkit and so on. I want to be sure I’m not gutting anybody’s wallet to pull this off and I want to be double-sure that what we’re paying for isn’t some flimsy throwaway junk. We are all here on the same Dracula book club starving artist site, so It Has to Be Worth It and not a money-sink for anyone.

Got it. Any other info to spare?

For the plushies specifically, this is when I’ll start:

Polishing up the current four designs into cleaner illustrations with different angles to provide for mockup samples with whoever I pick to manufacture with. If I get stuck on something—(which is likely)—I may throw up another poll to bug everyone about palettes and fashion choices. I have a few more designs I haven’t dropped yet for Epilogue Harkers, a non-Bloofer Lucy, and keychains that I’d love to share too!

Eyeballing materials. I’m already picturing a very close-cut cloth for the build and clothes, but I need to decide on filling too. Stiff overstuffing to hold a pose versus softer/lighter plush for floppy cuddleability. 

Poking at other character roughs, ala the Suitor Squad, the Weird Sisters, Van Helsing, Renfield, and Baby Quincey. And if all of those go well…

…maybe some designs for other favorites in the public domain playground. (Looks meaningfully at Clarimonde, Carmilla, Victor Frankenstein and the Creature, the King in Yellow, too many others.) ((But that’s all far-future stuff at the moment.))

Cool! But you also mentioned something about other merch?

I did.

Because goddamn do I want some Dracula-themed stationery. Journals! Memo pads! Pens! Every day we don’t have these things with the Harkers’ mark upon them is a victory for the forces of Count Dracula’s document-destroying evil. Likewise for shirts, totes, mugs, keychains, face masks and other things that could use some novel-flavored goodies. Hell, I’ll probably even get on with making stuff for The Vampyres to link on my website too. Because I am. Maybe behind on that. By several months.

Anyway.

I’ve got to start working on some designs for those too while the plushie process is progressing. Pray that my carpals don’t get tunneled.

Nice! Sounds like your plate is pretty full. So that’s it, right?

:)

Arcane?

:3c

Arcane. I need you to tell me this is all you’re working on.

>:}

Arcane.

Please stand by.

I have a little treat brewing for the Dracula Dailiers and @re-dracula folks in honor of a very special day for our good friend Jonathan Harker.

[pozartaa]

Poznaj mnie zanim do mnie napiszesz 🖤❤️💚

2019r (94 kg)----------------→2024r (58 kg)

Ten blog jest bezpośrednią kontynuacją poprzedniego bloga, który z niewyjaśnionych przyczyn został mi zbanowany. Mogliście mnie znać jako @pozarta

O mnie

Jestem osobą dorosłą zachorowałam na 4na i bu1i również jako osoba dorosła do tego miałam też depresję problem z alkoholem SH i kompulsywnym objadaniem. Leczyłam się i przeszłam terapię na oddziale dziennym obecnie mogę powiedzieć, że jestem na pełnym recovery. Choć niestety naleciałości dawnych zaburzeń mi nadal towarzyszą (każdy wie, że to nigdy cię do końca nie opuszcza) Kiedyś byłam pr0 ale teraz absolutnie nie. Aczkolwiek nikogo z mojego bloga nie wyganiam i nikogo nie oceniam. Każdy ma swoją drogę do przej��cia.

Nie znajdziecie tu porad jak szybko schudnąć. Nie udzielam wsparcia w destruktywnych zachowaniach, blokuję treści związane z SH. Zawsze na pierwszym miejscu stawiamy zdrowie i umysłowy dobrostan.

Waga

Zaliczyłam w życiu całe spektrum. Byłam wychvdzona i byłam oty1a w różnych wariantach i kolejności. W 2021 roku moja waga zaczęła dobijać do 100 kg i zaczęłam odczuwać zdrowotne skutki 0tyłości. Lęk przed powrotem ED i liczeniem kalorii bardzo mnie zniechęcą do odchudzania. Nie chciałam popełnić znowu tych samych błędów - zdecydowałam się na dietetyka i to bardzo mi pomogło uporządkować mój żywieniowy chaos. Nauczyłem się dużo o wielkości porcji makro jakieś być najedzonym a nadal tracić kilogramy w zdrowy sposób.

Jak schudłam

Dietetyk był początkiem drogi choć jej diety nie trzymałam się dług, ale była ona bazą tego jak ją do dziś. W marcu 2022 założyłam tego bloga i zaczęłam moją własną przygodę i walkę ze zbędnymi kilogramami. Przyszłam tu z wagą 89 kg na 177 cm. Zajęło mi to rok by zejść do 68- 65 kg jadłam około 1000 -1500 kalor1i na redukcji. Roku 2023 w większości poświęciłam na reverse diet i powoli zwiększają kalorie o 50 kalorii co dwa tygodnie, aż doszłam do 1800 kc@l. Później postanowiłam jeść trochę "na oko" teraz spróbuję utrzymać wagę na poziomie zdrowego BMI choć różnie mi to wychodzi i często zaliczam spadki. Oduczyłam się objadania i złych nawyków żywieniowych. Często nie potrzebuję jeść aż tyle co kiedyś.

Zasady utrzymania wagi

♠️jem 4 posiłki dziennie i pare przekąsek. Mój limit to +/- 2100 kcal. (Jest to moje CPM)

♠️Edit lipiec 2024: około 10 lipca przestałam liczyć kalorie w ogóle. Zdałam się na dwuletnie doświadczenie w tym jak przygotowuję swoje posiłki i jak jem. Liczenie kalorii bardzo mnie wykańczało bo niemal dwóch latach utrzymania wagi zdecydowałam się na taki krok. Jeśli to się sprawdzi i nie będę ani za dużo tyła ani za dużo chudła - prawdopodobnie taka forma bloga już zostanie na stałe

♠️ważę się co dwa tygodnie w piątki.

Oznaczenia:

Wzrost: 177 cm (jestem wysoka 😄)

💚- waga utrzymana (+/- 0.5kg)

❤️- waga wzrosła

🖤-waga spadła (każda waga poniżej BMI 18.5 jest spadkiem)

(historia ważenia mi przepadła więc tylko tyle udało mi się odtworzyć )

*29.09.23-06.10.23 -59.45🖤(-0.60kg)BMI 19.0

*06.10.23-13.10.23 -59.55💚(+0.10kg)BMI 19.0

*13.10.23-20.10.23 -59.85💚(+0.30kg)BMI 19.1

*20.10.23-27.10.23 -59.25🖤(-0.60kg) BMI 18.9

*27.10.23-10.11.23 -58.55🖤(-0.70kg) BMI 18.7

*10.11.23-24.11.23 -58.90💚(+0.35kg) BMI 18.8

*24.11.23-08.12.23 -57.35🖤(-1.35kg) BMI 18.4

*08.12.23-22.12.23 -59.00❤️(+1.65kg) BMI 18.8

*22.12.23-05.01.24 -58.75💚(-0.25kg) BMI 18.7

*05.01.24-19.01.24 -59.45❤️(+0.70kg) BMI 19.0

*19.01.24-02.02.24 -59.15💚(-0.30kg) BMI 18.8

*02.02.24-16.02.24 -59.00💚(-0.15kg) BMI 18.8

*16.02.24-01.03.24 -58.50💚(-0.50kg) BMI 18.6

*01.03.24-15.03.24 -59.20❤️(+0.70kg) BMI 18.9

*15.03.24-29.03.24 -58.05🖤(-1.15kg) BMI 18.5

*29.03.24-12.04.24 -58.85❤️(+0.80kg) BMI 18.8

*12.04.24-26.04.24 -58.05🖤(-0.80kg) BMI 18.5

*26.04.24-10.05.24 -58.35💚(+0.30kg) BMI 18.6

*10.05.24-24.05.24 -57.90🖤(-0.45kg) BMI 18.4

*24.05.24-07.06.24 -58.10💚(+0.20kg) BMI 18.5

*07.06.24-21.06.24 -58.75❤️(+0.65kg) BMI 18.7

*21.06.24-05.07.24 -57.95🖤(-0.80kg) BMI 18.4

*05.07.24-19.07.24 -57.55🖤(-0.40kg) BMI 18.3

*19.07.24-02.08.24 -57.20🖤(-0.35kg) BMI 18.2

*02.08.24-16.08.24 -57.30🖤(+0.10kg)BMI 18.2

*16.08.24-30.08.24 -57.05🖤(-0.25kg)BMI 18.2

*30.08.24-13.09.24 -57.05 🖤(=0.0kg)BMI 18.2

*13.09.24-27.09.24.... CDN

[huariqueje]

On the Banks at Twilight - Ivan Fedorovich Choultsé , 1923.

Russian, 1874-1939

Oil on canvas , 63 x 48 cm. 24.8 x 18.9 in.

[victoriadallonfan]

Are you a real friend if you don’t let your bestie shove their foot inside your stomach to ease their injuries?

Be more like Sveta:

- Radiation 18.9

[dietcherrylvr]

I just wanna be bonespø but my parents already think I look too skinny even though my bmi 18.9

[louisupdates]

L-> R, top down. BUCHAREST [17.9], SOFIA [18.9], ATHENS [20.9], BILBAO [1.10], LISBON [3.10], MADRID [5.10], BARCELONA [6.10]

📸 Joshua Halling