The Trouble Of Having A Deadpan Face. She's Going To Be Passive-aggressively Delighted About This For

Vampire-themed sestina

Feedback accepted and appreciated. I don't bite. Honest. Inspired by the part in Dracula where Mina turns back to human when he dies, so here the vampire narrator ends their own life to set their lover free. Thanks to @academic-vampire for asking to read my writing and for introducing me to the format! You can read his sestina here.

@blackforrestpunk and @vladimirsangel ! I drew so many cat comics that they'll need a whole new post. Oh, and there's me:

Vlad, you win Design Choice Headache Award, combats and plaids are no joke to draw. Aiden, gold star fashion choice.

Finished a(nother) draft of my writing and looked down to see my gingerbread vampire looking back at me like this:

Mr Pierce... Mr Pierce, what have you done? What do you know? Why are you looking like me that?

Well. Unless this little doofus has better ideas, Tale One is complete - that is to say, it has a beginning and an end and a relatively coherent plot in between. That's a victory for me!

I have to delete so much stuff... too many long talking scenes about the meaning of life and such. I don't know how it happened, and I'm eager for it to un-happen.

The last couple of days have been quite shite, so let's dress up and mess up a vampire. Perfect timing @vladimirsangel to request "Edgy Outfit." (Can you tell that neither of us knows what edgy means?)

Pierce, being Edwardian, thinks the second shirt means "happy and here to murder," and the third one, "I have a nice shirt."

(To clarify, Pierce is pansexual and should not be allowed to go clothes shopping unsupervised)

His friend and partners are supportive as always

For nonsense like this, send me a prompt from this list!

Phantom of the Opera (1990), you did Erik proud

Alternate title: Christine, we have beef!

(Meme inspired by this post.)

I have not a bad word for this Erik (and not just because I can feel a certain friend of mine holding a chandelier over my head). The 1990 adaptation made some big changes to the story, but it perfectly captured the childlike soul of Leroux's Erik that is often lost in translation but vital to him. (When I was explaining POTO to someone outside the situation, i. e. my mum, two things I kept using as comparisons were a child and Gollum - not because he's a chaos gremlin, I was trying to describe how he has a skewered perspective of the world that isn't evil but doesn't follow the accepted moral system. But that's for another time.)

I found myself trying very hard not to resent Christine - a first time for me. I will defend her choosing the Compte de Chagny over Erik, she doesn't owe Erik love, no matter what he did for her. The problem is that she took on a responsibility she couldn't possibly carry.

Never, ever assume to fully understand someone. Especially someone like Erik, who thinks and exists on a different pane as most people. Christine was wrong, terribly wrong, to assume she 'knew his heart.'

When faced with a person so sensitive, so particular, when you are the one person trusted by someone who trusts no one, don't make huge gambles like that. She shouldn't have assumed she knew what Erik needs better than he himself does - if he told you he is happy with where they were, then stay there with him! Instead, she pulled the 'I can fix him' and shattered him completely. I don't hate her for being unable to catch Erik when he falls, I hate her for blindly promising to catch him and failing him.

(I do realise how much of the above describes myself and my worries about how people treat me, so fair warning, I may be a bit biased.)

An opinion: in most versions of the story, Erik emotionally manipulates Christine, but here, Christine is the one who is emotionally manipulative. ('Manipulative' may sound malicious, but manipulators aren't always aware of what they're doing.)

In the second part of the series, she said at least three times 'If you love me...' Now, that is one of my least favourite sentences to see and hear in the best of times, but this is somehow even worse because Erik DOES do everything because he loves her. In other versions, there is the question of possessiveness against love when it comes to their relationship; in that context, I would accept her saying this, to remind him that he should love and not obsess over her. But here, Erik is not possessive.

As for Monsieur Carrière, I have beef with him, too. It's an even bigger, tougher slice of beef. He is irresponsible: not once, but twice, he got in relationships and then left his partners when they have children. The first time could be a mistake; the second time, especially when kept Erik's mother in the dark about his marriage, is inexcusable. Yes, he stayed with her till the end, but then left their son in a basement. Yes, he reached out to Erik in the end, but too little, too late. If Erik is emotional and irrational, it's because Carrière never gave him the guidance he should have.

Christine and Carrière love Erik, I don't doubt it. But it's still painful to see Erik fall down through everyone and everything that should have caught him: his talent, his parents, Christine.

If you'll excuse me, I need to cry in the catacombs and draw something miserable.

I talk about several other adaptations here!

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Good morrow!

Here, I get up to shenanigans with fellow artists, review and ramble, post my writing, crafts and PoTO art because reasons.

My main blogs:

Book/history blog: @purrlockholmesbooksblog

Main art blog: @purrlockholmesbooks

My Gothic literature fanfic Gothic Tales from Melancholia is on AO3

The illustrated t-shirt does exist.

What I welcome in my ask box:

-Art requests are always welcome! I mainly draw, but will also get (hand)crafty if you have good, or unhinged, ideas.

-Asks about drawings, writing, OCs and projects.

-Asks for opinions/reviews of books, films, etc. I love researching and jabbering about my findings.

-Personal questions that won't help any unsavoury individuals to find me in real life (i.e., by all means ask me about my existential crises, but not about my nationality).

Send this to all your favourite moots and pass the pumpkin round! KEEP THE PUMPKIN TRAIN GOING 🎃🖤🎃🖤🎃

Oh my, oh my, I got two pumpkins!

Mr Pierce took them and made a train for his rats.

Thanks for the tag @achildsfirstsorrow @frommarshtheycome and @angel-with-paper-wings , I'm honoured!

Last song: "A Milion Gruesome Ways to Die"

Favourite colour: I grew up among Plantone books and paper samples, there's no way I can choose ONE, my inner amateur graphic designer will curse me.

Last movie: Nosferatu 1922. Made my family watch it, they showed me a puppet from hell that supposedly looks like Orlok, and now I can't unsee it.

Last TV show: It's been a minute, Arcane...?

Sweet/savoury/spicy: Sweet>savoury>spicy

Relationship status: On my way to be a crazy cat lady. Sans cats, but I'll fix that.

Last thing I googled: "Do people still say hip?" My inner Victorian is showing, isn't it?

Current obsession: Drawing things that make me anxious into as silly vampurr comics

Looking forward to: Like ACFS, I'm waiting for Del Toro's Frankenstein, finishing my vampurr book, posting my writing (at last), and menacing my friends when they wake up.

I think we've gotten into the PoTO artists' end of Tumblr, so we're probably double-tagging like mad, but I'll do it anyway. @leader-of-grandys @blackghostm2o @wowyzowy3 @lokislynx @windforkthewriter @thedrawingduke @v-jack-v @vladimirsangel @blackforrestpunk (I already know you two but there's always "better")

10 people I want to get to know better

Omg thank you much for tagging me! @dearwormw00d :3

Last song: You're not alone, Allison Russel

Favorite colour: dark green

Last movie: Lord of the rings: The fellowship of the ring

Last tv show: The Gilded Age

Sweet/savoury/spicy: Sweet>Savory>Spicy

Relationship status: Single

Last thing i googled: hand holding pencil brush reference

Current obsession: One Piece, Nosferatu, Ethel Cain, my fem erik, Epic, Critical Role, studying the Enneagram again, Castlevania Nocture, The Apothecary Diaries, Witch Hat Atelier

Looking forward to: season 2 of the one piece live action, the oscars ( I want to see my beloved Fernanda Torres win), my necklaces that I've ordered, hadestown live recording, Superman, my next RPG session, Percy Jackson season 2! @insanely-creative-things @lepetitghostcat @fishing-rob @erik-christine @muirin007 @klausscrimshaw (ik it's not 10 but idk who to tag anymore, sorry ;-;)

This vampurr feels like she's just been sucker-punched with a potato sack of garlic.

2024 probably thought it was too good to me and HAD to go out with a Parthian shot. Well, at least I got to finish a good vampire podcast in one sitting. Happy New Year, people.

"You can take me hot to go!"

If I have adorableness, you get adorableness. If I get brainrot, well, so do you! Je suis désolée.

All phantom cat stuff here!