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Current Music: Dark Song - Primordial

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It's Halloween, I guess

I'm not very inclined to care much about holiday spirit (or spiritS considering it's October 31st, I suppose) but it crossed my mind that I have a few slightly spooky stories to my username and I thought... Why not list them? It's mainly just vampires and demonic possession but, hey, you can never have too many vampires and demonic possession, can you?

These are all for Warrior Nun :)

Vampires

If the truth is waiting for us - Gen, with some teeny tine avatrice, M, 2786 words. Ava Silva finds out that this world's shadows are much darker than they seemed.

A Vampire: the Masquerade AU.
AO3 / sisterscell

Is it creepy when you start out the story after having drained people who were supposed to be your friends? And then you get chased down by vampires who stake you through the heart and kidnap you and question you about lineage but, really, you were turned just now and isn't being a vampire hard enough already?? I don't know but Ava sure finds out. Then again, this is really the prelude to...

( Read more... )

Current Mood: productive

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recipe

Crispy Red Potatoes

Here is the recipe for crispy potatoes that I made for dinner tonight. I also made green beans and reheated some fried chicken, but the potatoes were the best thing. They were creamy on the inside and nice and crispy golden on one side.

Small red potatoes- 1 lb oven at 400 F

Remove any growing eyes or bad spots. Chop into small pieces. Cut in half & then each half into 3 or 4. Soak the cut ones in water while cutting the rest to prevent browning.

Dump water & oil the pan. Spray w avocado oil. Season potatoes w salt & msg.

Cook 20 min & stir on pan.

Cook 20 more mins. Use metal spatula to get crispy bits/stuck ones off. Add black pepper & taste for seasoning. Add more salt if needed.

Serves 3 plates as a side

Current Mood: thoughtful

Conversations with an A.I

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Lake Lewisia #1324

Some traditions suggested that offerings to the dead were appeasement, made in fear because they outnumber us; others made offerings in invitation, like a charcuterie board laid out for arriving guests. Then there were those who placed offerings like bait and bribe, akin to peanuts left out for a local murder of crows, who might one day bring stolen jewelry and loose change to their favorite human. The dead did outnumber the living, and some people wanted to make lots of friends in low, six-foot-deep places.

---

LL#1324

Current Mood: pensive

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Moment of Silence: Patricia Crowther

Famous witch Patricia Crowther has crossed over.

And there is much rejoicing in the Summerland!

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Current Mood: busy

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Birdfeeding

Today is mostly sunny and mild.

I fed the birds. I've seen a mixed flock of sparrows and house finches. They drained the hopper feeder.

I put out water for the birds.

EDIT 10/31/25 -- I did a bit of work around the patio.

EDIT 10/31/25 -- I did more work around the patio.

EDIT 10/31/25 -- I did more work around the patio.

EDIT 10/31/25 -- We set up for our Samhain ritual.

A great horned owl is hoo-hooing outside. :D

I am done for the night.

Current Mood: busy

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holiday

Holiday

I saw this line elsenet and thought it would be fun to share here:

What day does the Christmas season begin?

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Current Mood: busy

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Books

libraries as resistance

In a system that wants to dismantle education and undermine critical thought, libraries become sanctuaries of truth, radical hope, and quiet rebellion.

Generously stocked, freely accessible, public libraries are ideal.

However, if the government destroys them, we have another option: private libraries run by actual bookworms. A library can be stocked quite cheaply with used books, hence the Little Free Library movement and swap shelves. But if you have or can afford to rent or buy space in a building, then you can provide a bigger collection. A private library is not at the mercy of the government, and you are free to do things like ban censorship.

Current Mood: lolsobbing

Satirists Cannot Work Under These Conditions

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environment

The demolition of the White House East Wing? ASBESTOS!!!

Renovations in the early 1900s and 1940s probably introduced a large amount of asbestos insulation in the walls and around the plumbing in the building, which means any renovation or demolition of the building needed to have a thorough inspection and abatement plan in place before any work or demolition could be done.

And we all know that didn't happen. There's no way in hell that with the speed in which that building came down that any sort of plan or abatement could have been done. Which means all of the construction workers, White House workers, Secret Service, WH security, press, visitors, protestors, anyone walking near the area - all have been potentially exposed to asbestos.

Also, when asbestos is removed from building renovations, it has to be specially packaged for disposal, including the special handling outerwear that the workers wear. Which means the landfill that the East Wing now occupies is now a haz mat dump and probably thoroughly contaminated with free-floating asbestos. Every time more rubble gets dumped on top of the East Wing debris, the physical impact hitting the lower layers of WH debris is stirring things up and more asbestos gets pumped into the air.

https://arstechnica.com/health/2025/10/trumps-swift-demolition-of-east-wing-may-have-launched-asbestos-plumes/

Oh - and another thing? #47 also just disbanded the commission in charge of regulating and approving changes to historic buildings and monuments throughout the DC area, which would have been in charge of any renovations to the White House East Wing.

Current Mood: busy

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Wildlife

Scientists discover a stunning new golden-tongued lizard in China

A new species of mountain lizard, Diploderma bifluviale, has been discovered in the upper Dadu River Valley of China. Its distinct traits and isolated habitat highlight the hidden biodiversity of the Hengduan Mountains.

Current Mood: pensive

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Garden of Repose

Revisit those who have passed during the year. These entries from my "Moment of Silence" tag highlight those who have died recently. Some of my posts have a "Carry on the Work" section regarding the person's accomplishments in case anyone else wants to explore those.

Browse ways to celebrate Dia de los Muertos.

Here are some things to do for Samhain. See the Greenhaven Coven page for Samhain and its recipes.

Does anyone else have names to remember?

Current Mood: accomplished

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New Year's Resolutions Check In

We made it to the end of October! \o/ If you have completed some of your medium-term goals or subgoals, and/or you're still chugging away at your ongoing goals, then pat yourself on the back. You worked hard for that. We are now well into autumn. If you're doing seasonal goals, share what you're working on for this fall.

This year I'm trying something new, continuing to track goals at the end of each month. So far it seems to be helping, so that's encouraging. I'm looking at my goal list more often and trying to keep ticking off more of them. The main drawback is that this update becomes more of a chore each month.

These are the previous check in posts:
New Year's Resolutions Check In January 4
New Year's Resolutions Check In January 10
New Year's Resolutions Check In January 17
New Year's Resolutions Check In January 24
New Year's Resolutions Check In January 31
New Year's Resolutions Check In February 28
New Year's Resolutions Check In March 31
New Year's Resolutions Check In April 30
New Year's Resolutions Check In May 31
New Year's Resolutions Check In June 30
New Year's Resolutions Check In July 31
New Year's Resolutions Check In August 31
New Year's Resolutions Check In September 30

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Current Mood: busy

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Follow Friday 10-31-25: Kpop

Today's theme is Kpop, Korean popular music.

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Current Mood: busy

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Bingo

I have made bingo down the B column of my 10-1-25 card for the Fall Festival Bingo. I also have 8 extra fills.

B1 (wizards) -- "What Wizardry Is All About" (standalone)
B2 (black / orange) -- "The Two Cottages" (Quixotic Ideas)
B3 (magic) -- "Maybe She's Just Singing" (Practical Magic)
B4 (witches) -- "The Unretired Witch" (The Adventures of Aldornia and Zenobia)
B5 (unstable) -- "A Fountain of Energy" (Polychrome Heroics: Rutledge)

I2 (herbs) -- "No Worthless Herbs" (One God's Story of Mid-Life Crisis)
I3 (dark side) -- "Set on Continuous Improvement" (Polychrome Heroics: City Engines)
I5 (broken) -- "The Clearest Signal" (Polychrome Heroics: City Engines)

G1 (Alone in the Woods) -- "The Songwitch" (Practical Magic)
G2 (transformation) -- "The Road to Transformation" (Sleeping Beauty)

O2 (talking dog) -- "The Disappointing Daughter" (The Adventures of Aldornia and Zenobia)
O4 ("That felt weird.") -- "To Understand Water" (Polychrome Heroics)
O5 ("Do you trust me?") -- "Trying to Be Better" (Polychrome Heroics: City Engines)

Current Mood: embarrassed

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dreamwidth how to

So...

Guess who just remembered that ey've already written some "Image Hosting on Dreamwidth" tutorials?

They're just still stuck on Tumblr and not Dreamwidth at the moment.

Links, so I can get to migrating them later:

Brief tutorial with no images, Tutorial with images.

There's also this one, which is not by me, but covers posting images by email.

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Frankenstein 2025

"I am obscene to you, but to myself, I simply am."

Y'all. Oooooh, boy, y'all, I am ruined. I mean, it's a Guillermo del Toro movie, which inevitably means a life-altering quantity of emotions.

In no particular order:

1) I desperately need to write something about reading the film and the creature through a trans, and especially transmasculine, lens.

2) I also desperately need to write the fix-it fic in which the Creature and Elizabeth escape together. For once, I am not interested in polyamory as the solution. Nor can the ever-attractive Oscar Isaac sway me from my desire to defenestrate these awful men.

3) This barely even qualifies as monsterfucking, but goddamn, the Creature could rail me into next week.

4) I feel a distinct bout of vegetarianism coming on... Why is everything and everyone made of meat?

Jenn's been playing Cult of the Lamb

and omg those cultists are so needy. They can't feed themselves, so you're constantly trying to keep them in berries and fish, and they complain about everything!

"There's no place to poop, build an outhouse!" (You're an animal, poop on the ground!)

"I want to eat a poop sandwich!" (Uh, okay, but why do I have to make it!?)

"Oh, that grass gruel made me sick!" (Get back to work!)

"I'm sick of your lies!" (Welp, time to perform another ~~human~~ sapient sacrifice of a, uh, willing victim!)

Seriously, who's running this cult, you or them?

*****************************

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Current Mood: weird

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A Good Impression (part 2 of 2, complete)

A Good Impression
By Dialecticdreamer/Sarah Williams
Part 2 of 2, complete
Word count (story only): 1214
[Thursday, December 15, 2016, barely past seven in the morning]

Back to part one
To the City Engines Index
:: Thanks for reading! ::

:: This story was written for the October of 2025 Magpie Monday, from a prompt by

readera. Rather than wait for sponsorship, I am posting it in two parts (on two days), to keep from making the timeline any more tangled. Thank you to the wonderful Readera for the idea, and I hope readers enjoy the story as much as I did while writing it! Part of the City Engines stories in Mercedes, in the Polychrome Heroics universe::

Frank the Crank pursed his lips. “Why are you underselling yourself again?”

Lautaro laughed, his voice rolling in warm rumbles. “Did you ever see the movie ‘The Wizard of Oz’? Remember the line ‘Pay no attention to the man behind the curtain?” He set his mug on the counter and crossed his arms, but that only made him seem larger and more solid with no trace of threat. “As I understand it, my job is to be your curtain.”

Tension pulled Frank’s eyebrows down into a knotted snarl. “I don’t like all of this misdirection.”
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Current Music: Caberdrone - Peatbog Faeries

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Gaming: 1-on-1 FKR cyberpunk dystopia and you have nothing

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