Pearls and Vermin

Mostly it's patience, Facebook marketplace, and local thrift stores. (Not antique stores--they're generally priced at what stuff is worth, and they're able to be patient until a buyer with the right budget comes about.)

And that means that you might be doing a lot of work driving somewhere, hauling furniture, and then driving a lot again. It also means passing on cool stuff that isn't in your budget. The great deals are always the ones that are the least convenient. Always. They're priced low because the seller wants them gone and doesn't want to deal with moving themselves. They're usually in smaller towns that aren't antique hotspots. This piece was two hours away from me and I roped some random motorcyclists into helping me load it into my van.

Personally I'm a fan of getting a budget, secondhand piece of furniture that's good enough for what you need for now, taking care of it, and then upgrading to something cooler when you find it. For example, the side by side is replacing a mediocre writing desk and this very heavy leaded glass hutch (which I moved out of the way yesterday by myself and let me tell you, not fun).

I'll be selling both the desk and hutch for essentially the same amount I paid for them. It's kind of like leasing furniture, really. I already recouped what I spent buying the side-by-side by selling a different china cabinet. All three of those furniture items are nice, and were individually less than $250 when I bought them. They're just less cool than the new thing!

Emmrich week

Day 3: Thanatophobia

Caoimhe set her jaw. "But if I do not take a consort, the Autumn Court will fall to ruin. And I would topple empires for my people," she ground out. "Also my name is pronounced KWEEV-ah, for the record. And I really like your forest-green velvet cloak and open redingote of black and silver brocade worn over tight black doeskin leggings."

"thank you," said Mercy. "I got it all from a very interesting courtier couple who work in tandem as the best dressmaker and tailor the Shadow Court has ever seen. they are also lesbians, incidentally."

"the author's going to take a hard left into this story being about them, isn't she?"

"Probably."

"Actually," said Mercy, "I'm a baoban sith, which is like a fae vampire."

Mercy needed to shut her lying little bitch mouth right now. Nobody was a vampire. The author was capable of writing fantasy things that don't involve vampires.

Also there was an impractically fancy legendary sword and a prophecy and stuff. See? No vampires.

"I have a castle on a mountain overlooking a cliff, and it has bats."

But like magical bats. With magic. No cold iron.

"I'm basically a vampire."