Hey y'all! You can call me Fig (she/they, but if you do throw a he in there for spice I won't mind), and this is my inspo blog (main is @uncannyfig). I may eventually update this with relevant tags, but for now we're vibing it.
Ten years after the vampire Carmilla has been killed, Laura (her former prey) keeps being haunted by her ghost. How vivid can an apparition get? What do you do when you can’t find escape from grief?
Laura is a 87pg gothic horror comic inspired by the 1872 vampire novella Carmilla though it can be read as a standalone. It's available now at the Shortbox Comics Fair until the 31st of October (8pm UK time) alongside other amazing comics. I really hope you enjoy it!! 🖤
EDIT: Laura's pdf is now indefinitely available on ko-fi!
Laura is available as a pdf again after many requests, thank you for the continued support!
Ten years after the vampire Carmilla has been k
everything u need to know about me can actually be explained by the fact that i read that poem about the serving girl wearing the pearls so they're warm for her mistress when i was like 11 and it rewrote my brain chemistry forever
1) do this even if you're under 40. seriously. I definitely should have been doing something like this for years and I only turned 40 a month and a half ago
2) if you're like me just now trying this going "oh god i've only done 15 and i think my hands are cramping" start lower than 30 and increase by 5 once whatever number you're doing no longer makes your hand cramp up. I can manage about 15 per exercise at the moment.
I've added these to the exercise set I teach to seniors every week. Lots of people with arthritis in the class, and we've done hand and forearm strengthening in the past (with a stress ball), but the range of motion here is a new and good addition.
Dropping the first papercraft of the year, and the first full papercraft I've personally done in 4 years (if you exclude commissions and standees). I was grateful to catch one of the limited theatrical screenings of Guillermo del Toro's Frankenstein (2025) at the end of last year and I think we can all agree this scene was the stand-out moment in the film. But there were also several themes that hit me with such a powerful resonation, I felt like my soul was sucked into the film and split between the mind of Victor and the heart of the Creature.
Firstly, how could I have not captured this scene in papercraft? Assembling the Creature from scraps of paper, moments before he's meant to become scraps himself. It allowed me to step into Victor's shoes, and relive the obsessive pursuit he describes in the film, only to suddenly meet his goal and aimlessly fumble with what he's created, chaining it in the dungeon, out of sight and mind. I find myself, after tireless nights of dedicated crafting, throwing my completed papercrafts into my closet, documented, abandoned, eager to start the next one.
My Cake Tier Patreon members can download a digital papercraft kit of this when I drop the files later tonight!
Read on further if interested in how this papercraft marks a personal health milestone for me. Otherwise, have a wonderful day!
Why this papercraft marks a personal health milestone for me.
March 2023 is when my health suddenly took a left turn (see Facedown Fate and Night-Glimmer posts). Out of nowhere, I began to have what I call 'low heart rate sessions', where my heart rate for any activity was running 10-15 points lower than normal. I felt like I was walking underwater, my chest felt heavy, I felt cold, and would have to breathe heavy to keep up with the activity I was doing (whether that be walking, or even sitting). Then after several hours, it would suddenly disappear. My HR would rise to normal levels, my breathing would ease, my temperature would rise. No explanation or trigger.
I went to the ER 7 times over the next two months, and with the onset of my second now-chronic symptom, what I refer to as a PVC, I checked into the hospital for evaluation. People who have PVCs describe them as heart flutters, but mine are heart 'kicks'. Like a miniaturized version of the wind being knocked out of you. It's a scary, uncomfortable heart rate hiccup, invoking a short cough, and there's a feeling of dread lasting moments after it happens.
Over the next two years, I went to gastrologists, pulmonary specialists, allergists, 3 different cardiologists, tested so many medications, had multiple CT scans, MRIs, Echos, holter monitors, stress tests, all coming back with 'you're healthy as a horse, it's just stress'. In the end, the only solution my cardiologists could offer were anti-depressants for the stress or beta-blockers for the PVCs (which, hah, lower the heart rate….hello???), which I declined both. I felt if it was stress causing these mystery symptoms, medications interfering with my productivity would just make me more stressed.
During the height of my symptoms I would experience a PVC every 20 minutes, invoked by sudden HR changes (even something like eating shaved ice, which triggers a hypothermic response through your tongue) or random stress events. Eventually, I cut out unnecessary stress in my life (like the news) and I saw my PVCs start to recede to a handful of times per day, months later.
Now, almost three years later, I'm only experiencing them a couple of times a week, if at all, after significant lifestyle changes and rigorous stress deterrents that I invoked at the start of 2025.
I sat through the Frankenstein film marveling at how bosom buddies I was with Victor's ambitions, only to realize I was experiencing my second self through the Creature. A being who was confused in his body, and clashing with his creator, desperate for answers on how to continue living as he is.
Him holding onto the dynamite stick was a taunted retribution toward Victor, but there's a moment of desperate hope in his eyes that this could be the way to unmake himself, perhaps into something Victor would realize he has to accept.
Last year I had to unmake myself to put everything back together with where I'm at now. With those tools in my pocket, I have a better outlook for 2026 and beyond. Rather than the closet, I've hung this frame in my hallway to remind me of this milestone, my Creature, everyday.
the horror of being "god's favourite princess". literally one of my favourite horror themes. the god loves you and it's so scary.
it will always choose you. you cannot die. you'll always come back because it loves you so much. you are its right and left hand, its eternal weapon. it will drown you in its light. light as horror. darkness as horror. what if it thinks you are its best friend.
you are god's favourite princess and it's terrifying.
brennan lee mulligan is my favourite poet actually
EDIT: so I watched this video quite late at night when I wasn’t at my sharpest, quite honestly needed something to cheer me up, and I just screen-capped this quote without too much thought. I realise in hindsight, after multiple people have correctly called it out, that it was a misstep on my part, and I should have given proper credit to the filmmaker Brennan is quoting in the video, Akira Kurosawa, from his film Seven Samurai. Stating that Brennan is my favourite poet was meant as a bit of a joke, but I realise now how harmful that was when I failed to mention he’s quoting a poc artist. That was entirely on me and I apologise. We should always strive to do better and listen when we’re called out on mistakes. I didn’t think this post would blow up so much but as a consequence this has led to some damaging misinformation and I’m truly sorry for that. Credit to @xoxoviva and @probablydeletethis among many others for holding me accountable for this
Love how tumblr has its own folk stories. Yeah the God of Arepo we’ve all heard the story and we all still cry about it. Yeah that one about the woman locked up for centuries finally getting free. That one about the witch who would marry anyone who could get her house key from her cat and it’s revealed she IS the cat after the narrator befriends the cat.
What about the one with the princess locked in a tower learning to become a wizard? That’s lived in my mind for years and I haven’t seen it in a long time
Oh, love that story, adding it to the list:
20. Princess Talia
and adding a few more contenders
21. Thyme
22. The Monster under the Bed
23. A Meaningful Death
24. Humans are unstoppable…until they aren’t
25. The Monster under the Fridge
26. Antler Guy
27. Cleric slamming healing spells
Adding a few more I remembered:
28. The Frog and the Scorpion
29. HSTHETE
30. The First Witch in the World
31. Imagine that Oceans were replaced by Forests
32. A Faerie taking a Name
33. The Dragon on the Farm
34. Synovus & Menace
35. Raising the Anti-Christ
36. Aliens vs. Flora & Fauna of Earth (pretty sure there are even more additions to the original post but I had this one saved)
37. Doctors without Borders…in Space!
38. The Villain-Wrangler
39. The Last Contact
40. The 100 Parent-Point Children
41. And the Heavens Wept
42. The Night Gentleman
43. The Serpent God and their Priestess
I can hardly take any credit for these stories! But I love sharing them. Unfortunately I cannot read all the prompt responses so please tag me if you want me to reblog a story that resonated with you so I can give it a little boost :)
kianamaiart
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