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tea-with-eleni · 20 hours

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how i sleep knowing i will pirate every single thing released on disney plus

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tea-with-eleni · 20 hours

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Okay I do appreciate that my big cat not only keeps track of when she needs to eat but of times like "My human has not eaten yet and it is probably time for me to be kind of concerned about that"

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tea-with-eleni · 21 hours

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early homo sapiens b like help i cant stop making bowls . help i cant stop domesticating plants and animals. help i cant stop developing language and architecture and religion

#elementary school students speed run the development of civilization so hard #we had warring tribes between the Tribe Of The Mighty Oak and the Tribe Of The Old Drainpipe #eventually the Tribe Of The Old Drainpipe won because they had a natural resource #aka quartz #and man did we go in HARD for digging up the quartz #even though the Mighty Oak had better rooms and furniture and such and fewer anthills and was objectively more livable than the drainpipe #eventually the teachers stopped us because the drainpipe had a rusty grate over it #and its one thing to maybe get scraped knees or whatever and another to get tetanus #which we knew we just didn't care because of our primitive pit mining efforts

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tea-with-eleni · 2 days

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The cat decided she likes the goo from a turkey or chicken pot pie. It's mostly chicken stock, so hardly surprising.

The surprising part is that I brought home a piece of cherry pie from work today (one of the volunteers had an excess of cherries gifted to her, so she made two pies and brought one in to share) and the kitten has decided that she is a big fan of cherry pie.

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tea-with-eleni · 2 days

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Meanwhile, in Barovia

From Ludmilla's POV.

Ireena jerked in response to something I couldn’t see, then grabbed my arm. “Strahd is coming,” she said. “The boys and Volenta fought him, I think. They sent a message. We have to get out of here. Now.” If I were human, her grasp would have been painful. She was white as a corpse. I heard her heart pounding. “Where can we go?”

I stood, pulling her up with me. “I’m glad I wore something sensible if we’re going to be running. Let’s go back to the brazier room. It’ll get us started. Try to act natural, in case we run into anyone. If you got a message, assume Strahd sent one to Rahadin.” I hoped he would send one to me. If he sent one to me, I could buy us time. Most likely, though, he would not send anything to anyone. Most likely, if he saw Volenta, if he fought Volenta, he would waste no time. He would kill me. He would try to turn Ireena. He would fail, and she would die. She would have no allies waiting in her next life and the cycle would continue.

We had to run.

We hurried down, down, down into the basement. When we reached the braziers, we had a choice. “Our options aren’t good,” I told Ireena. “We can go to Krezk — if there’s anything left of it, which seems unlikely — or Vallaki or Tsolenka Pass. Possibly we can go to the Amber Temple. I’m inclined to go to Vallaki, because it’s closest to the northern borders. I think I might be able to get us somewhere Strahd can’t follow… but it’s going to be a risk.”

“Where?” she asked.

I grimaced a little. “That’s the worst part. I don’t remember the full details. I know that, maybe two hundred, three hundred years ago, there was a war. I don’t remember with who, but I know Strahd sent me in his stead for part of it, because he can’t leave Barovia.”

“How can you — nevermind.” She rubbed the bridge of her nose and sighed. “Stupid magic, probably.”

“Definitely,” I agreed. “If you think it’s too big a risk, the Amber Temple would be my next preference for places to hide. Strahd will still probably find us, but at least we might be able to release something horrible to slow him down.”

“If you think we might be able to head north and actually escape him, I’ll try it,” she said. “Ladies, I’ll try just about anything to stop him.”

“If you think they’re listening, a prayer is worth a chance,” I said. I lit the brazier.

We went to Vallaki.

#curse of strahd #dungeons and dragons #dungeons and/or dragons #ireena kolyana #ludmilla vilisevic #dnd

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tea-with-eleni · 2 days

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Honestly I think I just keep making this dish because

It tastes fairly nice

It looks way fancier than it is

It convinces me to eat at least three different vegetables

Mostly, it just uses one pot. And even though I have a dishwasher, the fewer dishes that get used, the more likely it is that I will actually clean them when it's their time.

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tea-with-eleni · 3 days

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It's relaxing as heck to close out registers. Like. Wait. You want me to skip count by various random amounts, use some basic modular arithmetic (one of my favorite weird math concepts) to make sure I only need to recount denominations that could conceivably cause problems if something is off, and it all needs to add up to a known total?

Oh yeah. I will close out ALL the registers. I can open 'em, too, if you really want, but closing them usually involves weirder numbers.

...why did nobody notice I am almost certainly on the spectrum.

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tea-with-eleni · 3 days

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ALL SHALL BASK IN MY TRIUMPH

I MADE A PASSABLE CHEESE SAUCE WITHOUT BURNING A WEIRD PUCK OF MILK ON THE BOTTOM OF MY SAUCE POT

MAYBE I AM LEARNING SOMETHING

#it's the little things in life

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tea-with-eleni · 4 days

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#curse of strahd #dungeon and/or dragon #strahd von zarovich #volenta popofsky #ludmilla vilisevic #I'm sure romancing the brides is totally a safe move yeah

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tea-with-eleni · 5 days

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Feel like I’d feel better if I could just. Like. Pressure wash my sinuses.

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tea-with-eleni · 7 days

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Ladies of Barovia: Meanwhile, In Ravenloft

From Ireena's point of view, as she's spent a couple of sessions (and several days in-game now) trapped at Ravenloft. Fortunately, she isn't quite alone. Unfortunately, for better or for worse, she has been adopted by the brides. Or, at least, the two that actually have free will and are, in fact, true vampires: Ludmilla and Volenta.

Being adopted by a vampire is emphatically Not Great, but it does help a little when your adoptive vampire has decided that, if it comes down to a choice between siding with you or siding with Strahd, they're quite tired of Strahd von Zarovich.

“As much as I appreciate you serving as my emergency guard vampire, you do have to sleep eventually. Also… I’m pretty sure you have to eat.”

“Sweetness, I have slept. Enough. Every night, after I cast the spell for the little hut, I do sleep. I’m fine.” Ludmilla isn’t looking at you. You think you have it figured out. You’re not sure she can charm you the same way Strahd can. She isn’t looking at you because she’s uncomfortable. Or, and the possibility terrifies you, she’s ravenous.

You groan.

“And eating? You clearly haven’t, and it isn’t like I don’t know that I’m food. How long until you slip?” She does look at you then. Her eyes are wide, crimson, and… afraid.

“I won’t.” She doesn’t sound certain. Ludmilla crosses her arms and almost runs to the window. “I won’t, Ireena! I’ve dealt with far, far worse for your sake. Doing it with you here? That’s nothing. I can keep you safe.” She’s shaking. You join her, looking out over the garden you’ve come to detest. Cautiously, you take her hand. It’s as cold as the stone of the windowsill, but warms slightly at your touch. Her fingernails are like talons, but she does not clench her hand and does not draw your blood. You’re a complete and utter fool, giving her an opening like this when she must long to drain you dry, but she still seems in control of herself for now. Barely. What gave her that iron self control?

You don’t want to ask. She almost certainly does not want to answer. You wouldn’t. There are plenty of things about your past, from this life and previous lives, that you don’t want to revisit in any way — the fire in the church. The pure dread when you realized your sister was missing. The now-tainted memories of the mysterious visitor who was so romantic when he snuck into your little cottage. The gory feast of St Andral that, and you would be a fool to forget, the woman next to you caused.

The woman next to you who, with her free hand, is gripping the windowsill as if her life depends upon it. The woman next to you, who has not left your side since Strahd returned. She does not seem to completely share your fear and loathing of him, but it is clear that her relationship to the lord of Ravenloft is far from idyllic. And… she has tried to prove her use to you. It is almost certainly another mind game of some kind, but she has crafted spells to keep Strahd from intruding on your sleep. At your request, she made sure that your friends were alive and, although you definitely don’t trust Volenta as far as you can throw her, Volenta also wasn’t lying when she said she had no interest in hurting your friends. Ludmilla sent Volenta to help them escape the amber temple. Volenta was not lying when she swore to Ludmilla that she would do her best.

You can’t trust Ludmilla.

You would be a fool to trust Ludmilla. No matter what she says, no matter what she does, she has killed countless innocents.

But she has never done anything to directly harm you. Strahd, your only other option at the moment, has. Even at his most romantic, even in the lives where you almost might have come to return his affections, Strahd caused your death. Strahd killed or endangered your loved ones. Strahd has been the source, ultimately, of everything bad in your life. Memories of past lives threaten to overwhelm you, to the point where you almost miss that Ludmilla has released her death grip on the windowsill to focus back on you.

“Once Volenta returns, I’ll see more to my own needs. Non-lethally, if that’s a concern. Despite what my previous actions may have indicated, we don’t typically kill. There are few enough souls in Barovia as it is.” She pulls her hand away from yours and recrosses her arms. “Thank you for your concerns.” She almost looks vulnerable. You could try to find out more about her. If she’s been here for centuries, why have you only met her now? What is she hiding?

Do you want to know badly enough to risk alienating her?

Not yet, you decide. Not when… you remember the edge of the thirst you barely experienced, in the last days before they drove a stake through your chest. Whatever she endures must be worse. You want to keep her as happy as you can until she has had a chance to do something about it. Although…

It’s a terrible idea. You know how Strahd’s teeth feel at your throat, life after life. You know how it left you, afterwards. The marks have finally faded, hidden beneath your mother’s crimson scarf. It’s almost inevitable that Strahd will try to take your blood again and if he were to find out about anyone else doing the same, it would put your protector in danger. She clearly hasn’t considered it as an option, so it must be a danger she isn’t willing to risk — or, unfathomably, she won’t take anything from you without your consent.

You would probably be safer, though, if you were less worried about your protector losing control of her instincts. And it would probably put her in a better mood. You could ask, then, just what her centuries of unlife have contained.

A plan begins to form. You focus on your breathing, try to consider how every choice you could possibly make can only lead to your next death. Perhaps you should write a letter to your future incarnations, just in case, if you survive your next stupid decision.

“I know you don’t need to kill to feed,” you say. You loosen your scarf and tug at your collar. Ludmilla’s hand goes to the identical scars at her own throat, two ragged holes made by the same fangs. You swallow. “Milla, I trust you not to kill me. I need you. I don’t know why you’re really doing this, and I know you aren’t telling me everything, but… you need blood. I’m offering.” Her eyes dart towards yours.

“You don’t mean that. I’m not asking you, not for that. I won’t hurt you. I’m not him.”

“I know you aren’t asking,” you say. You try to hold her gaze, even though her eyes are exactly the same color as Strahd’s. They’re different, though. She sees you. She’s asked questions about your life, about who you are, about who you were, about what you want. That is why you are offering. “I’m offering, freely. I know the risk and I’ll be alright. You’re risking a lot for me and this…” you shrug. “I can heal myself.” You can feel the inexplicable holy magic that lay dormant through so many of your lives. The dancing lights you summoned earlier flare slightly.

“It will still weaken you,” she protests. “No, Ireena.”

“You can feed from normal people without killing them,” you point out. “I’m not normal people; you have more reasons to make sure you don't take too much blood, so you'll barely inconvenience me. Don’t be stupid.”

Why is she fighting you on this? Gods, why are you trying to convince her? What is wrong with you? Have centuries of rebirth made you this eager to throw your life away?

A second mad, impulsive idea occurs to you.

You take all of two seconds to consider how it would infuriate Strahd, how you’re pretty sure she’ll take it exactly as you think you want her to take it, and how you don’t have any reason to care about anything else. Anyone else who would care is dead already and doesn’t own you anyway.

Before she can protest further, you kiss her.

#curse of strahd #dungeons and dragons #dungeons and/or dragons #ireena kolyana #ludmilla vilisevic #meanwhile in ravenloft #dnd #behind the scenes

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tea-with-eleni · 7 days

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A local eastern european tea house (which....is a thing apparently? or is in western north carolina where I went to uni) made a kind of iced oolong tea drink with a slightly sweet sugar? foam "head" they served in a pint glass that was just the best drink ever. it looked like I was chugging beer which made it even more fun, since I never bothered to develop a taste for beer.

that said, I am from the southern US and will drink damn near any tea iced (it's often too hot to bear it hot).

If I must drink the tea hot (it's winter, I'm studying, I'm sick) then some variation of oolong is still good. Or one of those rose teas, with the rose petals in. Or a darjeeling. But an oolong is usually safe. A breakfast tea almost always requires sugar, which is often a pain because then the pot gets all sticky if you don't clean it promptly enough. Which. I am ADHD. I will never clean it promptly enough.

#currently I am on a mission to drink my weight in orange pekoe iced tea in the hopes it will drown this cold

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tea-with-eleni · 7 days

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oh boy i am just falling apart

#about all I can do is send virtual hugs #but I can do that #virtual hugs and support

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tea-with-eleni · 7 days

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It’s inexplicably living on this island pretending to be a seagull is what it is.

Because folks liked my latest pigeon comic so much, here's another pigeon piece!

I made this a couple years ago for a sadly now defunct publication called Pipe Wrench. I hope this piece helps spread more pigeon love.

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tea-with-eleni · 7 days

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Too tired to draw but I still need everyone to be aware of this bizarre interaction I had at work this morning

#and this is why some Americans will pretend to be Canadian in casual conversation when abroad #I am sorry my stupid country is so very dumb

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tea-with-eleni · 7 days

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After growing up in a city where lies and smiles and appearances were everything, I will heartily miss living in a place where the truth was often messy and untidy and battered around the edges but where honesty was at least the norm.

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tea-with-eleni · 9 days

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"How do I make the achy lymph nodes feel better?"

"....mindfulness meditation and ibuprofen maybe?"

The ibuprofen didn't do much so I guess I'll try magic sure why not

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