#also i do have a secret santa i have to work on and hopefully i won't have to stop and do that first but it will be prioritized

[accirax]

Through the magic of an AU, Xander, Min, and Teruko make it through the night, avoid a Class Trial, and participate in the first motive alongside everyone else. Except, this time, the first motive is... a gift exhange?

(basically, if it wasn't clear, i'm drawing the drdt characters doing a secret santa exchange with each other, hopefully posting one interaction per day until christmas!)

[mostmagical]

I've realized that I probably won't be able to post the next chapter of Fate, Destiny... A Hamster as soon as I usually would and it kinda kills me to admit it 😭 but I've been sick this past week and it's been hard just to read for more than a few minutes, let alone WRITE.

I'm not letting myself put out a half-assed ending to a fic that means so much to me and introduced me to so many kind people 😭😭

[hotdadsparty]

@latte-abstract sorry for the late post but i was your secret santa for HSSS this year! i hope you like it even if its unfinished

[bilbao-song]

(all credit for the original idea [and a significant portion of this text] goes to @quiet-beatle​!)

ho ho ho, classic rock fans! Christmas is coming and so is The Secret Rocker Santa project! if you are looking for an opportunity to make new friends who love classic rock, or just want to make someone happy, this is your chance!

** if you don’t want to see posts about this anymore: filter the tags #secret rocker santa and/or #srs23 — click here for an explanation of how to filter tags **

What is Secret Rocker Santa?

Secret Rocker Santa is a tumblr-wide “match-maker” in which you will anonymously send asks to (and hopefully befriend!) a tumblr user who is assigned to you. you will also be assigned to someone else, who will send anonymous asks to you. the event will run from december 1st through december 25th. while this might seem complicated, it’s actually quite simple, and you will only need to answer a minimum of two questions to sign up.

How it works:

you must read these instructions!

the deadline to sign up is november 28th. there are two ways that you can sign up: the first option is to sign up via google forms. the second option is to send me a submission (or an ask) with your completed questionnaire (found here). while the first two questions are required, you can otherwise provide as much or as little information as you want.

please reblog this post! (this isn’t a strict requirement, but it would be greatly appreciated and helps to ensure that enough people will participate!)

your ask box must be open to anyone! this means that anon asks will have to be enabled. if you want, you can wait until the first day of the project (december 1st) to change this setting, but please make sure you remember!

your blog doesn’t have to be classic rock-related, you just need to be a fan. (we will also be using a very broad definition of “classic rock,” so nearly any music from 1950s-1990s counts.)

(those are the main things you need to know, but more details + some helpful tips are below the cut!!)

shortly after signing up you will be assigned a number — you probably won't need it for anything, but it's a backup way for me to keep track of who is who in case we run into any problems :)

during the last days of november, i will be assigning people to their Secret Rocker Santas. you will receive a message from me telling you who you have been assigned to, either in the form of an ask or direct message.

you will start messaging the person assigned to you ANONYMOUSLY on the 1st of december and continue until Christmas (december 25th), which is when you will reveal your identity and (hopefully) have made a new friend!

you can send your partner whatever you want (as long as you do not reveal your identity). your job is to make your partner feel happier! (some ideas: send lyrics, pictures, or facts; play games, chat, and of course do things that are not only associated with classic rock).

be careful - make sure you are messaging your assigned partner anonymously.

please tag messages that you receive from your secret santa and any other related posts as #SRS23, so your santa will be able to find your answers more easily.

EXTRA REMINDERS:

some people might get more than one santa or will be assigned to more than one person, depending on how many people participate and how many suitable matches i have for certain people. if you are certain you will not be able to be a secret santa for two people, please mention this when you submit your form (you can also let me know if you would prefer to be a santa for two or more people! anyone who volunteers for this will get first pick if the need arises)

if you’re not committed to sending asks to your partner and/or responding to your santa at least a few (2-3) times a week, please do not sign up.

while the primary focus of this project is classic rock, any additional interests you list may be used as a secondary way of helping to find a good match for you. with that in mind, don’t hesitate to list any interests and hobbies you might have, whether they relate to classic rock or not! this will especially come in handy if there are many applicants who like a particular band, or if i am having trouble finding a match for you based on your favorite bands.

if your santa has not contacted you in over a week, message me and i will gently remind them or find you another one.

as a general rule, be nice! anyone who is rude to the another participant will be removed from the project.

make sure to answer all of your santa’s messages! you don’t have to answer right away, but don’t ignore them.

please let me know if you experience any problems at all (for example, if i have made a mistake, or you are having problems with either your own santa or the person you are assigned to)

if you are not already following your partner’s blog, you probably shouldn’t do it right away, because they might guess that you are their santa.

it’s useful to have an easy-to-find “about me” page or pinned post so that your santa will have a better chance of finding something to talk to you about!

please try to keep a note of who you’ve been assigned to, as well as your assigned number!

IF YOU CHANGE YOUR URL AT ANY TIME DURING THE PROJECT PLEASE LET ME KNOW. if you don’t let me know about your new URL (or otherwise make it clear that you have moved), i will not be able to assign matches for you.

please be patient! i will assign matches and answer questions as quickly as possible, but please keep in mind that i have other responsibilities too!

you don’t need to be following me, but i will be sharing updates here, so it would be a good idea to at least keep an eye on that page/tag.

please don’t hesitate to participate! this is supposed to be a fun, lighthearted, seasonal activity, and if you do encounter any issues, i will help you :)

ALL RELEVANT LINKS:

google forms sign-up

copy the questionnaire here (to sign up if you don't wish to use google forms)

paste questionnaire, fill out, and submit here

FAQ page

all future updates will be posted in this tag!

lastly, if you have any questions or want to ask for advice, do not hesitate to message me or send an ask!

please spread the word if possible! :)

[rubye402]

Happy Holidays to everyone! Huge shout out to @portal-secret-santa as always for being EXTREMELY patient with me as I fail to get my prompts again this year (We figured out WHY and shouldn't have problems anymore, but WOW it took a bit to figure it out.)

Anyways. My person is @radioproto ! A fellow Wheatley enjoyer! Sorry if this is too non specific, I looked through the blog but still had NO idea what to do aside from just an X Reader. I mean, I did include Fact just so you technically had both in one present...? So hopefully a present for you and the rest of the fellow Wheat kissers is good enough!

Also, here's an AO3 version!

Mistletoe Mayhap (Wheatley X GN!Reader)

Note: Does NOT include "Y/N" or talking for Reader, with minimal responses or descriptions for the sake of immersion.

Word Count: 1,213

“Sorry- You want to hang up a MISSILE?” Wheatley gawked. Well, as much as a core could, anyways. Fact sighed, optics pinching shut with a small clink of metal.

“MistleTOE, Wheatley. The plant?” He opened the lower plate, barely looking up to meet the blue optic of the fellow core.

“Plant? Mate, we have an entire tree! Threw lights and small little trinkets all over its branches, PLUS that star thing on top. Spacey was EXTREMELY excited on that one. WOULD NOT stop talking about it so I'm FAIRLY certain-” Wheatley paused when he heard one of the claws the cores were using to decorate picking up something, and Fact held up a plant book of some kind, page turned to a small bushel of plants. Two words stood out in the center of the page, indicating what the said plants were. "Holly" and "Mistletoe."

“These.” Fact spoke up.

“Ah.” Wheatley squinted, trying to stretch his optic slightly to see. He read the description of Mistletoe. “OK… "Scientifically called" blah blah blah… "More commonly called Mistletoe… Poisonous plant when consumed," that's grim for… "A holiday staple?" Really? "Traditionally hung up from the ceiling, and when two people are under it…"” Wheatley suddenly wheeled back on his railing, immediately feeling like his processor was heating up, and his fans whirred to life to cool him down.

“I figured you would like an excuse.” Fact set the book back and closed it as he just rolled his eye.

“An excuse for wot?”

“Kissing a certain test subject. You know who.” Fact looked over at Wheatley as he said that. The fans kicked up another notch. “I figured that if you weren't going to say something, out of whatever fears you have, that it would give you an excuse if they didn't reciprocate. Play it off as just a traditional thing and cut your losses.”

“Wh- Hey! Do you SERIOUSLY think they're going to reject me?!” Wheatley defended. Then thought about it a moment longer, handles faltering as he clarified. “...Would they actually, you think?”

“I never said that.” Fact glanced over as he grabbed a plant, assumedly the one in question, and handed it over to Wheatley. Doing so in an underhanded motion just so he didn't hold it above him and Wheatley. “I'm entirely neutral to whether or not you two work out, I was merely offering a way for you to try to find out if they DO like you, that gives you an easy out if they DON'T.”

“...Huh.” Was all Wheatley could muster. He looked at the plant… Then slid off on his railing to find somewhere to hang it.

It wasn't a big party. It was only two other cores, the two testing robots, GLaDOS, the companion cube as a VIP, and both Fact and Wheatley. Oh, but mostly some turrets facing away from the door and "talking" amongst themselves, and someone thankfully had the foresight to mark out where they'd not only be put, but where their eyesight ended. That was for the last guest. 

A certain test subject that had to equally watch their steps around the turrets, much like P-Body and Atlas, who were currently dancing to the holiday tunes newly coded into the radio, curtsy of GLaDOS, much like the fruitcake on the table. It was just a fake decoration since nobody could eat, but it was decoration for any other human Christmas party too, so it was fine.

Wheatley watched as they entered from his corner of the room. It was one end of the table that had the fake fruitcake, that wasn't near any of the turrets, GLaDOS was on the other end, and most importantly, had the mistletoe hanging on the ceiling above him. He just flexed his handle up and down as he nervously waited for them. Mercifully, it didn't take long for them to walk over to talk to him.

“Oh-Oh! Ello! Happy holidays, luv.” Wheatley's smile was obvious through his voice as he spoke. They regarded him with a grin and nod. “So uh, this might take you for a shock, you'll wanna hear this. Me and Fact over there, yeah? Pink optic guy? Decorated this whole space! By ourselves. Managed to set everything up! Well uh, not the fruitcake though. SHE did that one, not sure why though THAT'S decoration...” The test subject still looked around the room and did some small claps for him. “Hm-? Oh! Thank you! Glad you seem to like it then. That 's all… Accurate and things. Being honest, cards on the table, Fact definitely manages to gather up how to decorate this place properly like humans very well. Nicely done, all in a good day's work on his part. And-And myself of course. Not to toot my own horn or anything, but I DO want to give myself SOME credit, y'know?”

Then they glanced up, spotting the plant. Here it goes…

“What's uh- What's that you spot?” Wheatley looked up, feigning surprise as best he could. “Ooooohhh… Look at that! That's that mistletoe thing, yeah? Isn't that rather-”

“...Wheatley, that's Holly.” Fact piped up, rolling over to them.

“Wot?” Wheatley turned to him.

“Holly has the pointed leaves and red berries. MISTLETOE has smooth leaves and white berries.”

“...Ah. I- hm. I seem to have gotten my plants mixed up.” He glanced over at the tester muffling a laugh. “Not! Y'know ENTIRELY my fault. I read up on this FAIRLY well, and in everything I saw they seemed PRET-TY sure the thing was spiky and-and RED. Very BRIGHT shade of red, might I add.”

“Fact: That is a bold face lie-”

“And here's a fact: YOU handed that plant to me.” He growled out.

“I thought the ONE BOOK I showed you said it was Holly.”

“There were TWO ENTRIES in the middle! How was I supposed to know which one was what?!”

“It DESCRIBED what the plant looked like!”

“Well! That's…! Good to know!” Wheatley huffed. Fact just groaned and rolled away.

“...So uh. Egg on my face, I guess. Yeah… Yeah I hung it up. Caught red handed, so to speak. Red handled, for me and my case I guess?” Wheatley dryly laughed, fans whirring more obviously as he lowered his railing down to them. “I uh… I guess what I was trying to do is… Not exactly a secret anymore. I uh, wouldn't exactly BLAME you if-if you don't want to. Especially seeing as it's not ACTUALLY mistletoe- Ah!”

Wheatley paused as the bottom panel of his optic got a kiss pressed up against it.

Oh. Oh they were anyways.

Wheatley took care that he actually stayed quiet. Kisses meant no talking, right? So he just, gently shut his eye, pressing his optic into it, to reciprocate as best he could. 

When it ended, he felt the world around him almost melting away as he just focused on them.

“Oh WOW. So uh. So that's a kiss. Yeah, I can see why humans like it so much, feels nice, makes you all warm. In a good way. VERY very good way. Not complaining one bit about that. In fact uh. Could I have another?”

With their nod, Wheatley shut his eye, and felt a now familiar press into said optic.

[leiawritesstories]

The Universal Rules of Mistletoe

a fun, hopefully cute, little fluffy fic based off this prompt from @rowaelinprompts "Our friends set us up under the mistletoe"

a gift for @sahana-draws!! happy @rowaelinscourt Rowaelin Secret Santa! it's been so much fun working on this little piece and I really hope you enjoy :))

Word count: 2,054

Warnings: none! (just clueless idiots in love)

Enjoy!

🎄❄️🎄❄️🎄❄️🎄❄️🎄❄️🎄❄️🎄❄️🎄❄️🎄❄️

Fifteen Years Ago

Shiny patent-leather shoes tapping lightly against the hardwood stairs, Aelin hurried downstairs as fast as she could while in her poofy red tulle Christmas dress. Five steps up from the bottom, she stopped, peering across the wide hallway into the main floor of the Galathynius home, which was full of beautifully dressed adults. Her eight-year-old imagination latched onto the sight of her mom and dad with their hands linked, smiling and laughing as they talked with their friends.

She wanted everything they had when she grew up.

Slowly, a little nervously, she moved three more steps down, stopping again as the nervousness flared up in her stomach. This was the first year she had been allowed to come to the Christmas party, and even though her babysitter would be there with her, she wasn't sure if she could do it.

"Hey." Another voice--a boy's voice--interrupted her scattered thoughts. Rowan Whitethorn, the boy from next door whose parents were longtime friends with Aelin's parents, stood on the other side of the staircase railing, looking at her with solemn green eyes. "I like your dress."

"Thanks," she said, smoothing her small hands down the fluffy layers of the skirt. "Mom let me pick it out."

Rowan grabbed two of the stair rails, using them for support as he rose onto his tiptoes to stick his head over the top of the banister. "Are you gonna come to the party?"

"I dunno." She stood on the last step, one hand lingering on the banister. "There's only grown-ups there."

"I'm there too," he said. "Hey, do you wanna play party tag?" Party tag was a game they had invented two years ago, when they were six and seven, during one of the many events Aelin's parents had hosted. Because Rowan and Aelin were so young, they would show up at the event for a bit to be cooed over by all of their parents' rich friends, and then be swept off away from the event. They'd invented a quiet, no-running form of tag where whoever was "it" would have to sneak up on the other person and subtly tag them. Nobody could run, and there had to be at least two minutes between tags.

It was more fun when one of their friends was also at the party, but they made it work with just the two of them.

Aelin cracked a small smile. "Okay." She stood up and stepped off the last stair, and he walked around to stand with her. "Are we gonna go now?"

"Yeah, we--"

"Oh, Enna, look!" Evalin Ashryver Galathynius's voice floated in alongside a cloud of her expensive designer perfume. "Our little ones seem to have found the mistletoe!"

Alarmed, Aelin looked up, finding a small bunch of mistletoe tied with a crimson ribbon hanging from the chandelier above the staircase.

"You know what that means," Enna Whitethorn beamed, setting her champagne flute aside and whipping her phone out of her clutch. "Rowan, darling, do you want to give Aelin a kiss?"

Rowan's whole face turned bright pink. "Do I have to?"

"No," Aelin whispered, blushing just as bright. "It's just a stupid thing the grownups do when there's mistletoe."

"Of course you don't have to," Enna reassured her son. "But it would make such an adorable photo, right Eva?"

"Oh, it would be precious!" Evalin agreed. "Fireheart, will you at least pose there for a minute? Yes, just like that! So cute!" She snapped a few photos in rapid succession as Enna did the same. "Enna, could you get a few of just me and Aelin?"

Relieved, Rowan hurried to stand next to his mother as Evalin came over to Aelin. "You look beautiful, little Fireheart," she said warmly, tidying the big red bow in Aelin's blonde hair. Enna snapped a few photos, and Evalin took Aelin's small hand in hers. "Are you ready to come to the party?"

Eyes wide, Aelin nodded. "Do I have to stay for very long?"

"Just long enough to say hi to a few people." Evalin squeezed her daughter's hand. "I promise. Then you and Nehemia can go have your movie night, right?"

"Uh huh." Aelin straightened her spine, a move she'd seen her mother do endless times. "I'm ready." Quietly, Rowan fell into step next to her, his mother on his other side. And, with her mother on one side and her best friend on the other, Aelin felt a little better about going into the grown-up party.

~

Present

Aelin was halfway through curling her hair, lips held apart while her matte crimson lipstick dried, when a rapid-fire knock drummed against her bathroom door. Before she could respond, the door swung open and Elide Lochan, her second cousin and dear friend, barged into the bathroom.

"I'm not dressed!" Aelin yelped, scrambling to pull her satin robe closed while still holding the curling iron in her other hand.

Elide rolled her eyes. "I can tell, Ae. Don't worry, you still have an hour before anyone is supposed to get here."

"You could've said that before you ran in here like everyone had already showed up," Aelin grumbled. "But thanks, Ells."

"No problem." Elide grinned. "Nice lipstick. Gonna get it all over someone's face tonight?" She wiggled her eyebrows.

Aelin snorted. "Gods, no. I'm the host, not some teenager who can run around all night kissing the boy she has a crush on."

"You're also twenty-three and you work too hard." Elide snatched the curling iron from Aelin's hands and took over curling her hair. "You deserve to have a little fun at your own freaking Christmas party."

"Yeah, sure," Aelin said sarcastically. "Bring me a man to kiss under the mistletoe and we'll see about that."

Elide smirked. "You're on."

An hour later, Aelin headed down the stairs, the same staircase she'd walked down every day since she was a little girl, and paused at the bottom step to take a deep, preparatory breath. You can do this, Galathynius, she told herself silently. Everything was all set up--the dining room table with a charcuterie spread, the silver-and-blue themed Christmas tree in the foyer, the large, open living room adorned with soft twinkle lights and decorative snowflakes and soft music piping in through the speaker system her parents had installed years ago. It's going to be just fine.

The doorbell rang.

Collecting herself, Aelin stepped off the stairs and went to the front door, a gracious smile spreading across her face. Her smile brightened when she found her cousin Aedion and his fiancée, Lysandra, waiting on the front step.

"Merry Christmas, Ae!" Lys squealed, hurrying inside. "Let us in, it's freezing!"

Aelin laughed. "Hi, Lys. I missed you!"

"You wouldn't miss me if you weren't working all the time," Lys teased, hugging Aelin tightly. "That dress looks fantastic, oh my god."

"Thanks," Aelin whispered back. Her crimson silk dress--of course her lipstick matched her dress--had thin straps, an elegantly scooped neckline, and was fitted in the bodice before flaring into a spill of floor-length skirts.

Aedion wrapped his arms around her. "You're not this tall," he teased.

She rolled her eyes. "It's called stiletto heels, genius."

"Sounds dangerous." He winked.

"Only for you boys who don't want to feel short." She laughed. "Hi, Aeds. How's wedding planning going?"

"Do not get me started," he groaned. "I'm so stressed, and our wedding isn't until another seven months away."

"Hey, relax. Have some punch. Just think about Christmas for a while, not the wedding."

"I'll try." He flashed her a grin.

The doorbell rang again, and Aelin opened the door to find four six-foot-plus men crowding her front steps, acting like small children with their elbows everywhere even though they were all at least in their mid-twenties.

"You can't all fit through the door like that," she drawled, beaming.

Fenrys elbowed his way through the others and broke into the house first. "I win!" he crowed, sweeping Aelin into a hug that pulled her off her feet.

"Good grief, Fen, you haven't even had any drinks yet!" she laughed. "Congratulations on winning whatever it is you think you won."

"He thinks it's a competition to get into parties first," Connall, his twin, explained. He affectionately tugged Fen's man bun. "Put the host down, Fenny."

"Don't call me that, you little--" Fen put Aelin down and went after Con, who'd sauntered away into the living room.

"They're all children, I'm sorry." Rowan pulled off his heavy winter jacket and shook the film of snowflakes off his pale hair. "Merry Christmas, Aelin--oh my god." He stared at her for a good long minute, his eyes wide and his jaw slack.

"Take a picture, it'll last longer," Lorcan drawled, nudging Rowan int he shoulder. He wrapped his own arm around Elide's shoulders; the two of them had been dating for just over a year and Aelin had never seen Elide so happy.

"Merry Christmas, Ro." Aelin restrained her giddy smile and did a little spin to show off her dress. "Thanks for--oh!" Rowan caught her, pulling her into a warm, pine-scented hug.

"You look stunning," he said softly. "I didn't know if I could say that in front of all the others, they'd never shut up about it, probably because they know how much I like you...uh, because we've known each other since..." He trailed off, blushing fiercely.

Shocked, Aelin looked up at him, her thoughts going a mile a minute. "You...me...what?" She shook her head. "I'm going insane. I need a minute--five minutes--I--" Abruptly, she hurried towards the stairs, only managing to get two steps up before Rowan's hand closed gently around her wrist.

"Hey." He stabilized her, his voice as grounding as it had been since they were little kids going to their parents' party for the first time. "I'm sorry, Ae, I didn't mean to scare you."

She turned around. "You didn't scare me, Rowan. You just...you said you like me?"

"I like you, Aelin." Warmth and a smidge of uncertainty flickered in his eyes. "But if you--"

"Stop that right now," she chided softly. "I thought I was always going to like you from the shadows, Ro. I've had a crush on you since we were kids."

It was his turn for stunned silence. "I should have said something years ago," he finally said, chuckling in disbelief. "I guess--"

"MISTLETOE!" Elide all but shrieked, completely shattering the mood. She--and everyone else, good grief--were suddenly piled into the walkway between the foyer and the living room, eagerly watching the couple on the stairs.

Aelin felt her face heat up, and she was on the verge of running upstairs to hide from everyone. Rowan was blushing again, even as he threw a glare that screamed "Traitor!" at Lorcan, who was smirking.

"Looks like you're together under the mistletoe, Ae," Elide repeated, beaming so wide Aelin almost thought her cheeks would split. "You know what that means!"

"That someone set us up?" Aelin asked, suddenly wondering how convenient it was that she and Rowan had had that moment together on the stairs.

Elide shrugged, her eyes bright. "There's universal rules of mistletoe, Aelin, and you're gonna have to follow them."

"We knew it!" Fenrys blurted, unable to control the secret. "Why else would we have gone into the living room as soon as we got here?"

"Fenrys!" came a collective groan.

"We shouldn't have told him," Lorcan half-mumbled, shaking his head but grinning. "Boyo has a bigger mouth than anyone I know."

"I know they're our friends," Aelin whispered to Rowan, grinning, "but I kind of want to kick them all out of my house right now." She looped her arms around his neck. "I want you all to myself."

"Me too, but we can hardly ignore the mistletoe rules." He gave her a secret, quietly joyful little smile. "Can I?"

"Please do." She tipped her head up and met his lips, his kiss soft and sweet and lingering. Completely perfect.

They only separated at the cheers and whoops of their friends, and they came into the party hand in hand, laughing, and hardly left each other's sides all night long, because sometimes, it took the quiet scheming of dear friends to get the couple who was quietly in love with each other to admit it.

~~~

TAGS:

@live-the-fangirl-life

@superspiritfestival

@thegreyj

@wordsafterhours

@elentiyawhitethorn

@morganofthewildfire

@backtobl4ck

@rowanaelinn

@house-of-galathynius

@tomtenadia

@julemmaes

@swankii-art-teacher

@charlizeed

@booknerdproblems

@earthtolinds

@goddess-aelin

@sweet-but-stormy

@clea-nightingale

@autumnbabylon

@darling-im-the-queen-of-hell

@llyncooljones

@silentquartz

[nickfowlerrr]

Hey girl! For by drabble request, it would be for pwyc!bucky with the #4 gift giving scenario, and Dialogues #5, #11, #17, and #21. Thanks!

thank you so much for sending this in! it did not go how i expected but hopefully you enjoy it 👀

gifts 🎄

pretty when you cry series masterlist

pairing: pwyc!bucky x curvy!reader

warnings: none? this blog is 18+ only.

words: 1.5k

notes: i hope you all enjoy - not sure how i’m feeling about this one 🫣. haven’t decided if this will be canon or not yet.. let me know what you guys think! also steve’s girl has a name now so there’s that lol

Driving back from Eva’s Christmas party, you were inspecting the white elephant gift you had chosen with a quirked brow as you sat in the passenger seat.

“Do people even use nutcrackers? Or are these things just for decoration?” you wondered aloud as you played with the little lever that moved the nutcracker’s mouth.

“I’m sure someone somewhere still uses them to crack nuts,” Bucky responded, mainly to humor you.

“Humph.”

“What?” he asked, stealing a glance at you as he drove.

“Nothing. It’s just.. This thing is kinda creepy, don’t you think?” you cringed.

“I wasn’t gonna mention it, but yeah,” he chuckled, “it is.”

“Would it be rude to regift it?”

“To who?”

“I don’t know.. Or maybe I could just drop it off at one of those donation places,” you mused.

“No, we should regift it,” Bucky smiled deviously. “I know exactly who to give it to.”

You rolled your eyes, knowing he was planning on gifting it as his Secret Santa gift to Sam. Steve’s girl, Rosalie, was like the real life embodiment of the Christmas Spirit. She had decked the shop out completely the moment she got the go ahead from Steve and managed to get everyone to agree to doing Secret Santa this year. Bucky had previously refused but after Rose wouldn’t stop pestering you to pester him, you finally just agreed on his behalf and sort of forced him into it. He was going to call Steve and get him to take his name out of the mix, but it didn’t take much bribing from you to get him to just go with it.

“You have to play by the rules, Buck,” you admonished.

“How am I breaking the rules?”

“You have to buy him something, something he’d actually like,”

“Who says I can’t give him two gifts?” he challenged. You didn’t respond to that with anything other than a scoff and another roll of your eyes.

“Are we still going shopping tomorrow?” he asked.

“If we must,” you groaned.

“I can’t believe the girl who forced me to decorate the house just weeks ago is the same girl who hates going Christmas shopping,” he taunted.

“Shopping is very different from decorating. Decorating includes pretty lights and soft christmas music and cookies and cocoa and a soft ambiance in the comfort and privacy of your own home. Shopping includes big crowds, dumb people who don’t know how to walk properly in public, loud music, and those annoying perfume samplers who are like everywhere all at once,” you complained, already not looking forward to tomorrow. “I hate Christmas shopping,” you grumble.

“I love Christmas shopping,” he said.

“You love shopping, period. And if you keep buying everything you see, I’m not gonna have anything to give you.”

“You don’t have to get me anything, sweetheart. You are my gift,”

“Always so sappy,” you teased. “Plus, you can’t say that when you’ve already crowded the space beneath the tree full of gifts for me,” you sighed. Bucky put his hand on your knee, squeezing you lightly.

“If I’m being honest, half of them are for me,” he smirked, moving his hand to slide further up your dress and along your thigh. You moved his hand back to your knee, giving him a side eye.

“We’re like five minutes away - you think you can manage keeping your hands to yourself until we get home?” you asked, almost condescendingly.

“I’ve been working all night to keep ‘em to myself, angel. I don’t know how much longer I can last,” he simpered as you watched the speedometer tick up to 75.

“Well let’s try for five and we’ll see how things go from there,” you replied with a light smirk.

“I think you and I both know how things are gonna go,” he grinned.

—------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

A week later and Christmas Eve finally arrived and you found yourself at the shop, surrounded by many familiar faces. As you were talking with Loki, Rosalie began ringing a little christmas bell to get everyone’s attention.

“Secret Santa time!,” her melodic voice sang from across the room.

“This should be entertaining,” Loki mused before he moved to join the growing circle Rose had organized.

You were a little worried about the gift you had gotten Wanda, but there wasn’t anything you could do now but hoped she liked it. As you approached the group, you took your seat next to Bucky, whose arm was already around it, as he spoke to Steve who was sitting on the other side of him.

After giving her little speech, Rosalie started off the gift exchange by handing her gift to Thor. Thor welcomed her gift readily and handed his gift to Yelena. Yelena had Steve, Steve had Clint, Clint had Loki, Loki had Kate, and so on and so on until it was Peter’s turn to give his gift to Bucky. Then it went from Bucky to Sam to Scott, who handed his gift to you with a smile. When everybody finally had their gift, Rosalie instructed everyone to open them.

Peter had gifted Bucky a nice set of whiskey glasses with an expensive bottle of whiskey to go with them.

You unwrapped your gift carefully as Scott looked on, looking more excited to watch you open it than he was to open his. Under the wrapping paper you found a gift set from your favorite beauty brand and a box of assorted See’s candies under it.

“This is perfect, Scott,” you smiled sincerely, getting up to hug him as you spoke. “Thank you so much!”

“I knew you’d like it! I mean, it was what you wrote on your paper, so duh, but still. I’m - I’m glad you like it,” he smiled his signature smile.

—-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The party continued well past midnight and you and Bucky got home a little after two in the morning. As you tried to head upstairs to get ready for bed, Bucky stopped you and instead directed you to sit on the couch by the tree.

“I thought we were gonna do gifts in the morning,” you said skeptically as Bucky bent down to search through the abundance of gifts sitting under the tree.

“It technically is morning,” he pointed out. “I want to give you your main gift right now.”

“Well, wait. I want to give you yours first,” you argued. You knew you were going to be shown up gift wise either way, but you figured you’d feel less bad if he opened his first.

“Doll -,”

“Please,” you said softly.

“Okay,” he conceded.

You got to your knees and looked for the box that held his ‘biggest’ gift.

He looked a little skeptical at the long thin box you handed him, but opened it anyway.

You were holding your breath as you watched him, still not sure how you even felt about it.

He opened it then looked up from the box, almost stunned, watching like he was waiting for you to say sike.

You just nervously bit your lip before looking down at the box yourself.

“Tickets,” he said. You nodded slowly.

“You know my sister lives here,” he said as he gestured to the plane tickets you had printed out.

“Yeah.. I, uh, I figured..if you still wanted us to meet, we could g-” your trepidatious explanation was interrupted by Bucky’s lips crashing into yours as he grabbed hold of your face.

“This is the best gift you could’ve given me,” he smiled. “You’ve really made my Christmas this year.”

You didn’t say anything, still fighting your anxiety at the thought of meeting anyone from Bucky’s family, and instead forced a smile. You knew he could feel your nerves, but he didn’t call you out on it. He took your hands in his and squeezed gently, leaning his head against yours for a moment before he pulled away and went back to looking for your gift.

He pulled out a small wrapped box and turned to you as you both sat kneeling in front of one another. He gently pushed you back so you were sitting completely on your heels. Your name leaving his lips, the first time in a while he’d actually used it, immediately had your undivided attention.

“Sweetheart. You know I love you. You know you’re my everything, and you know I’d do anything for you. You’re my soulmate, nothing could ever change that. We belong together. You’re mine,” he emphasized as he gently caressed your cheek. “Forever.” He pulled away only slightly to open the little box he held in his hand. You felt like you couldn’t breath as you stared at it, just blinking while he snapped open the lid. Suddenly, with the smallest movement of his hand, gleaming right at you was the most stunning diamond ring you’d ever seen. “You and I both know that. But I wanna make sure everybody else does, too.”

There was silence between you as you continued staring in shock at the ring he held. “Whadaya say, pretty girl?” he asked, finally getting you to break away from the ring and meet his eye again with the gentle nudge of his fingers along your chin, all the while you were trying to gain control of your breathing. “Marry me?”

[scasuallypursuits]

#3: Surprised Link

One of my better work for ZeLink. I experimented with more saturated colors than usual with some desaturated on others for some nice contrast.

Below this art are some of the stages I went through.

I was browsing youtube when I saw this thumbnail. A vision flashed through my mind the moment I saw it. So I immediately went to work with it.

Noticed how there is more line weight on the hands. I was very careful about, took a good amount of time and in return nobody noticed it. Until I pointed it now, of course. It's the same reason why you can't see LInk hands behind Zelda cuz I was conscious about it. Now in hind sight, adding the hand might had added a more feeling of surprised and embarrassment.

Adding the brown hand as Ganon's would had also been funny as well.

Here is the line art. You'll see a some text faded in. Those are my notes.I tend do my art stuff in small intervals cuz I have other shit to do so often I have a layer called notes to remind future me on what to do and what other cool ideas to think of. It's been helpful and sometimes, I kinda like how it looks. Like it reminds me I'm some kinda of scientist peering through human anatomy, it's fault and how to improve it.

The in between rendering. Here you can see that Link is finished but not Zelda. I start with the slightly desaturated flat colors first then make a simple gradation based on lighting. Even with just the gradation only, it gives so much more 3D look of it. Since I started with some desaturation, when I do a more saturared color shapes, it pops out more. At least in theory.

Also added that red line. Like in those manga to convey motion and stuff. I like it. It's quite neat-o.

Here is the finished product you saw at top. My way of picking gradient background it usually just picking they're 2 most dominant color.

I then needed something to contrast the heads better since I want the focal point to be there stronger, I added a neutral color to it as contrast. Great at adding some marks there as well. That's why I added my signature and I had some fun and made a korok and a hearth looking stickers. Took like 20 minutes top. Though I do feel like the korok could be cuter.

Here all the of them at them side by side.

Last of my better looking art. Hopefully by next week, I'm done cooking something up. I'm also doing an secret santa art gift so my time are quite split between. I draw slow, so that's why I only add stuff here weekly cuz I'll run out of content here fast.

[bigalockwood]

20 Questions For Fic Writers

Thanks @sunshine-rudberg for tagging me <3333

How many works do you have on Ao3?

7!

What's your total Ao3 word count?

175,665

What fandoms do you write for?

Young Royals. I used to write for other fandoms ages ago, but have no interest to write for any others right now.

Top five fics by kudos

(The results to this are kinda skewed, because I started posting my stories for users only after Royally Whipped, which drastically influences nr. of hits and kudos).

Royally Whipped

we'll make a home on the cracks (glowing review)

Simon Eriksson hates breeches

All Is Fair In Love and Secret Santa

arm-biting (vindictively)

Do you respond to comments?

I try my hardest, but when I was writing Royally Whipped I was insanely busy and got super behind on replying. So now I have a mountain of comments waiting for me to reply to . I'm trying my best to go through them and keep up with the comments coming in because of should've said no.

What is the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending?

No angsty endings for me. I guess in terms of what was angsty until close to the end, it would have to be glowing review.

What's the fic you wrote with the happiest ending?

Royally Whipped, I'd say. Season 3 completely derailed my plans for that one, so it's much less angsty than originially planned.

Do you get hate on fics?

Not yet. But I guess there's always first time for everything, right?

Do you write smut?

So far, no. Just weirdly suggestive scenes.

Craziest crossover:

Never written one.

Have you ever had a fic stolen?

Not that I know of. Hope it doesn't ever happen, either.

Have you ever had a fic translated?

Nope! (As far as I know, at least.)

Have you ever co-written a fic before?

In an old fandom, yes. It was fun but also super messy and definitely far from my best work.

All time favourite ship?

Wilmon! No one does it like them.

What's a WIP you want to finish but doubt you ever will?

There's a bunch of stuff in my drafts, but most of those are just rouch ideas or random scenes. So no WIP. I'm usually very good at finishing them (though there is an abandoned twilight fanfiction on another website, but I'm not touching that one with a ten-foot pole).

What are your writing strengths?

Questions like that always throw me off, because I genuinely don't know. But I think I'm pretty good at coming up with metaphors for my characters feelings that are hopefully not too cringy to read.

What are your writing weaknesses?

I ramble. A lot. Other writers could probably tell my stories in three chapters and be done. I'm unable to do that. Also too many details in general. Pretty sure I overuse and repeat certain words all the time. Generally just don't know how to make anything concise.

Thoughts on dialogue in another language?

I don't mind it when reading fanfic (actually barely notice), but personally choose not to use it. If the story is set in Sweden, then imo they're already speaking Swedish with each other, so no need to have them say Swedish words.

First fandom you wrote in?

Twilight lmao

Favourite fic you've written?

You're asking me to decide between my children??? Okay, I'll give it a shot. I think Royally Whipped will always have a special place in my heart because I wrote it in such a chaotic phase of my life. But I also really, really love Simon Eriksson hates breeches (I think it's very funny ngl) and had the best time writing glowing review.

No pressure tags @hergrandplan, @wilmonsfolklore, @gulliblelemon, @nerdyfangirl76, @iwouldnevergetintofanfic & anyone else who wants to do this (I could tag so many amazing people, but I have no idea who's already been tagged, other than those along side me)!

[beaker1636]

Alphabet Game Bonus - Christmas Celebration

AN: So I made a group Christmas mini story, it is full of Motionless jokes between the guys. I wanted it to be lighthearted Christmas with the boys and to also give everyone a bit of a laugh as we remember some of the jokes that are in the fandom :) I hope you all enjoy. I know it is a bit of a joke chapter, not as serious but I had a request for Christmas with the guys and that made me think of this. Hope you Enjoy!!

“Why did we agree to host Christmas here while I am actively moving in again?” Lottie asks, turning towards Vinny who is standing next to her with a box in his hands.  Questioning why she let him talk her into this, and why they decided to move her in a week before Christmas rather than waiting for the holiday to die down.

“Because we are all helping you and are here, so it made sense to do the gift exchange after we get all your stuff in here,” Chris says with a smile, walking in the room with a box as well behind the couple. “But we can move dinner to our place and do the gifts there if you would feel better, Carlotta,” he adds.  Knowing Mia may not be the happiest about it last minute but she would understand.

“No, it’s fine.  I’m just overwhelmed with the move is all. Thank you for helping us with this.  I appreciate all of you guys,” she says, turning towards all the guys who are bringing the last of the boxes into the dining room.  The girls have all stationed themselves in the various rooms of the house to help unpack things, helping Lottie have one last thing to worry about during all of this.

“That’s what we are here for,” Mia calls from her place in the kitchen.

“Why don’t we stop and order the chinese that we agreed on, we can take a break once it arrives and do our Secret Santa gifts.  I can handle doing the rest of this alone,” Lottie says with a smile, her way of telling all the guys to go find their girlfriends so that they can stop and get going on everything else.

When they all wander off to do that she turns towards Vinny, pulling him into a kiss for a moment.  Relishing in the happiness that she does feel about taking this step with him, moving in together, things have been going great with them since their trip with his family awhile ago and the two of them have felt a lot closer.

“Busted,” Naomi jokes as she walks into the room, catching her best friend off guard, making Lottie flip her off with a smile before pulling away from Vinny, everyone making their way to the living room getting ready to eat dinner together.  

While it isn’t homemade, nothing special they all enjoyed it.  It was fitting for them, all any of them ever have cared about is the friendship and bond they have made together.  A lot of people would think that the band would want nothing to do with each other while not working but they genuinely love and care for each other. When someone needs help with anything they join in and get it done, much like they all did today.  

Carlotta looked around the room, watching everyone gathered, many people sitting on the floor due to not having enough chairs and could almost tear up.  Not having a stable relationship with her own family makes her appreciate this that much more, they wouldn’t have done this for her especially so close to the holiday but her friends all did.  Making sure that they were there to help with what she needed, and she hasn’t even been part of the group that long.  

Vin can tell that she is thinking, getting lost in her head so he reaches out to grab her hand, squeezing it and letting her know that he is there for her without saying it while they listen to Chris tell some sort of story, that has a majority of the room laughing.  Everyone was laughing and smiling as they enjoyed the time together, finishing up their meal before moving on to the Secret Santa game.

“Okay, I’ll give mine first.  We all stuck to the joke gifts right? Hopefully.  Anyway I drew Vinny,” Chris said, handing Vinny a gift box with a smirk on his face.

“Do I even want to know what the fuck you came up with?” Vinny asks as he starts to open the box.  Pausing before letting out a laugh and pulling out a T-shirt. “It says, I’ve got these two plastic forks with a photo of plastic knives.”

Everyone instantly starts laughing, remembering the time Vinny said it and Chris had to correct him, that he had knives.  Another funny memory that they have all amassed over the years, that always makes them laugh when they talk about it.  

“I love the fact we all agreed to basically roast each other with our gifts.  Okay, well I drew Ryan and yeah, I was kind of an asshole,” Vinny says, trying not to laugh as he hands his over to Ryan.

Ryan opens the box and immediately has a grin on his face when he closes it for a moment to let out a laugh. He then reopens it and pulls out a little kids toy watch. “The card says because you are always late and oversleep.” He says with a grin. “You aren’t wrong, maybe I won’t miss my flight now, thanks man. Now my turn, I pulled Chris.”

Chris takes his package while rolling his eyes, hoping that he won’t get anything too stupid but also hoping that he will just for the fun of the entire thing.  “Of course it is a Jizzerless in White hat, why would it not be,” he says with a shit eating grin.  “We need to keep this tradition for next year, honestly.  I love it.  I’ll have to share it on twitter later. And that means Justin and Ricky got each other.  And I for one can’t wait to see what that will bring.”

“Justin can open his first,” Ricky says without hesitating, handing his over to the taller man with a shit eating grin. “I promise it isn’t that mean, well maybe it is but.”

“Nah, why don’t you go first Rick.  I insist,” Justin responds, giving him a bag too while staring him down. 

“Just do it at the same fucking time, problem solved children,” Ari said with a laugh, watching the two fight like toddlers.

They both turn and look at her with a look before doing so, both glaring at the other after opening their own and realizing what it was.  Rick pulled his out of the box for everyone to see, it being a thing of movie theater butter and salt for microwave popcorn.

“You dick, it is not the same thing,” he groans with a slight smile on his face.

“Yeah and you got me a large box of popcorn so you also were throwing that argument in my face, so you are just as much a douchebag for this too,” Justin says, laughing when it hit him that they both thought of the same thing to give each other.

This is the one that made the entire group laugh, everyone recalling having to hear about the popcorn argument they had, and that they still whine about off and on to this day.   Both of them are too stubborn to agree with the other despite the fact it does taste very similar.

“Did you girls do this too or did you do something different?” Chris asks once everyone settles down, turning towards Mia with a smile. “I would love to see how you roast each other like we did.”

“No, we all exchanged books instead, figuring we would leave the fun for you.  Though now I am regretting that we did not do that as well because this was hilarious honestly. We already handed the books out earlier today when we were taking a break from moving things.  I will say that it will be fun watching them read some of mine because we all know my tastes are darker than the others,” Mia responds with a smirk.

“Yeah, but you all got stuck with some of my hockey romances and I know that isn’t your cup of tea.  So I would say we are slowly going to be even,” Lottie responds with a smile, her fingers threading with Vinnys.

“And I gave all of you the demon series I liked, I have a feeling that we all are going to be messaging each other going what the fuck is wrong with you, reading this shit,” Naomi says with a laugh, meeting her friends eyes for a moment before looking away.

“Listen, after you all made us read that chapter of Haunting Adeline out loud awhile ago I don’t think any of us want to know what exactly it is you are reading so you can keep that to yourself,” Ryan says with a laugh, squeezing Ari’s hand.

Everyone continues to laugh and enjoy the night, enjoying all the inside jokes that were brought back with the gag gifts they all got each other.  This is what it is all about, spending the time with those that they care about, enjoying being with one another and laughing with one another.   Being part of their own family that the boys have created with their band and have eventually added the girls into it, and nobody would change that.

[saywhatjessie]

Sleigh Bells Ring

Day 24 of the Advent calendar! Using this list. Day 24: Gift Giving Fandom: Ted Lasso - Pairing: TedTrent 1.1k[Ao3]

The Diamond Dogs decided to do their own gift exchange outside of the staff secret santa so that Trent could be included, even though he no longer worked at Nelson Road. This was completely unnecessary and made Trent well up with grateful tears when Beard told him about it.

The team and staff were doing their exchange during the half day of training on actual Christmas so Trent stopped by on Christmas Eve, coming into the coach’s office while the lads were training in the weight room, a small collection of gifts under his arm.

There were so few Diamond Dogs, they didn’t bother with the secret santa, just picking a budget and deciding to get something for everyone. It was a little more work but Trent felt like he knew the Diamond Dogs pretty well at this point. Knew what they liked. So buying for them wasn’t much trouble at all. And it was nice to be able to show his appreciation for this little community he’d been included in.

The pleased greeting that met him when he entered the office really did make him feel fuzzy inside. What had Ted done to him?

“Glad you’re here, buddy!” Beard told him. “Because we need to give you your gift before Ted logs onto Facetime.”

Trent paused, freezing in his act of arranging the gifts he’d brought on Beard’s desk. “That’s fairly ominous.”

“Yup!” Beard answered, brightly. “Roy?”

Trent did not like the look of Roy’s smile as he pulled out a very tall, very threatening looking present.

Trent looked at it, mistrustfully. It’s not that he didn’t trust his fellow Diamond Dogs, it’s just that he was pretty sure that they’d all at some point picked up on his crush(-ingly in love) feelings about the former gaffer and the fact that they were doing this without him meant there was probably about to be some teasing at the very least.

Trent sighed, stepping forward to accept the package. He could take some teasing. He knew they were not about to be mean but he also knew he was probably about to be embarrassed.

Trent glanced into the weight room to see if any of the team were paying attention. Colin was, of course, because he was Trent’s friend and also had some kind of supernatural ability to sense when teasing material was being presented to him. Jamie was also looking but he looked like he was trying to be subtle about it. Roy probably told him what was going on. Trent sighed again.

He ripped the paper off the box, having to lean it up against a desk to yank the flaps of the box open and inside was Ted Lasso.

Well, it was an illustration of Ted Lasso. Looking soft and rumbled and printed on a body pillow.

Trent dropped his head and everyone else clapped.

“Why would you do this to me?” He asked his shoes.

“Don’t pretend you don’t like it,” Roy said, crossing his arms and looking smug. “We all miss Ted.”

“I have one, too,” Beard told him, holding up his phone to show Trent a picture of, yes, that’s Beard proudly holding up his own dakimakura of his best friend like an American holding a fish.

Trent hummed. If Beard had one too, it couldn’t be that weird (he thought, lying to himself. As if Beard taking part in something would ever make it less weird.)

“We all got you other things too, to open in front of Ted,” Nate contributed. “But we all chipped in on this as well. Because it was funny.”

“I thought it was sweet,” Higgins contributed with his dadly smile. “Who wouldn’t want to have a snuggle with the old gaffer?”

“So have you all got one, too?” Trent asked, hopefully.

Roy snorted. “Fuck no. I have an actual boyfriend to cuddle with.”

Everyone looked over at Jamie who was being less subtle about watching now and waved at everyone, smiling cheerily.

“He’s an idiot,” Roy allowed. “But at least he’s not a pillow.”

“Roy, be nice,” Beard said.

“I am being nice! I got him a pillow! I had to commission that drawing, you know, do you know how embarrassing that was?”

Trent couldn’t help but smile at that. “Thank you, Roy. And thank you to the rest of you as well.”

They all started howling in acknowledgement, Trent woof-ing right along with them.

Beard clapped his hands together. “Okay! Let’s get pillow Ted put away and pull real Ted up on Facetime so we can get this DIamond Dogs gift exchange underway.”

Trent smiled around at the assembled men in the room. His friends. It was nice having a group of people who could rib him for a crush but he knew didn’t really judge him. Who supported him.

And, really, he could feel his own face and the stupid thing it was doing when Ted came up on screen. If they had to deal with him being that embarrassing, they were entitled to some ribbing.

He accepted presents last and everyone else took their gifts from him well, making him feel pleased and accomplished. The other presents Trent received from the Diamond Dogs were a thoughtful assembly of writing tools, vintage band t-shirts, and hair accessories.

Ted himself got Trent a new blazer, corduroy in a deep but vibrant plum color. Casual enough for every day but also very much a statement jacket.

“You deserve to stand out a little,” Ted smiled at him. “People should look at you.”

Trent’s neck felt very hot and he was very grateful they disconnected from the call with Ted not long after.

He wasted no time in dropping his head against the wall and groaning.

Beard silently pulled the Ted pillow from the box and held it out to him. Trent took it, burying nis face in Pillow Ted’s chest and saying no more.

Years later, when the state of education in America took a true nosedive and Henry decided to try his luck at secondary school in London, Ted was back! Coaching the women’s Richmond team and learning how to live for himself again now that is son was almost grown.

What this meant was that the Diamond Dogs received a picture to the group chat about a week into Ted being back taken from Trent’s bed. It was a selfie Trent with Ted asleep in the background, clutching fast to the Ted Lasso body pillow Trent had kept for those years.

The teasing that came down on him for the picture was worth it. At least now he had his own boyfriend to cuddle as well.

[rawberry-preserves]

Helloooo ZE fandom! Remember this post I made back in October? Here's your explanations!

Spoilers abound for all games!!

Secret Old man is a plot twist 3 different times

1st secret Old man: Tenmyouji being Junpei

2nd secret Old man: Sigma not knowing he's in his old body in VLR

3rd secret Old man: Delta's existence in ZTD

“If two guys were on the moon and one killed the other with a moon rock”

Character becomes a Schrödinger's cat in 2 games.

Akane in 999 and VLR

Fireman third wheels two people with incinerator trauma

C Team, would also like to point out that not once do Akane or Junpei mention the incinerator (or even joke about it) around Carlos

Santa is a punk that's into the stock market

Someone's dismembered Arm is microwaved

Junpei’s refrigerated arm is essentially put in a microwave to solve the last part of the Pantry in ZTD. Specifically, it had to be warmed to be open enough to activate the palm scanner

Someone decides killing ¾ of the population is best course oaction to kill 1 dude.

Delta's motive for releasing radical 6 was to kill an unknown terrorist that would otherwise kill the entire population on earth

At least one character gets their hand chopped off in each game

VLR and ZTD are easiest to explain. Sigma uses the 9 door to chop his hand off and prevent his bracelet from injecting him in Quark end (also has his hand chopped off by the other characters in Sigma’s bad end). Carlos looses his hand after being attacked by Akane with the Chainsaw in the “Suspicion” fragment. 

999 was less obvious but in the Axe end, toward the very end, Junpei sees Clover walking off with his bracelet, since he was still conscious when she left, this leaves two options. First being that his heart stopped and allowed his bracelet to come off while still conscious, OR if Clover didn't want to wait for him to die and just chopped his hand off before leaving him to bleed out.

A character gets injected with a lethal poison from a needle on a book cover.

This one is the fake answer!!

I actually asked the Uchikoshi's Somnium discord server for a fake answer and this is what I was given first!

A lot of y'all appear to go tripped up on this and that might be because of the Bio Lab in ZTD. Part of the puzzle involves Sean, Mira, and Eric getting their fingers picked on something (don't remember exactly what rn but it was definitely not a book), but this was set up for the game's decision regarding Radical 6 (75% fatality rate) and Fanatic Bio R (100% fatality rate).

This decision was based on Newcomb's Paradox

Ice Cream server has one of the highest kill counts in the series.

Look at any route where Eric finds a gun, when not counting the Zeros, Eric has killed more characters directly than most of the other cast. (I think the only other characters in the higher range aside from Eric are Mira, Ace, and Dio)

I have a Google doc I've been working on with a list of rules for a solid kill count. Hopefully I will post that by itself soon.

Every Event in the Series happens because of a Snail.

Saw someone in the tags say they refuse to believe the snail caused 999 and I hate to break it to you but in the Apocalypse fragment in ZTD, Delta clearing states that if the initial incident that killed 6 people, including Akane’s parents, didn't happen, she wouldn't have gotten involved in the first Nonary game that Ace ran that was covered in 999.

Would also like to note that it was confirmed in VLR that Ace is a member of Free the Soul. How much he knows about the snail is debatable.

A character canonically has a 9” dick (18” when horny)

If youve been in the fandom for over 6 months, I think you know what this is

If there is anything else you would like clarification on, feel free to reply to this post or send me an ask!!

[gtafest]

GTA Valentine's Day Secret Art Exchange

Is that title way too long? Absolutely. Do I care? Absolutely not.

There was some interest in Valentine's Day event, so here it is! The difference to Secret Santa is that this time the focus is on romance and love instead of Christmas. And, the bigger change: nsfw gifts between adults will be allowed due to popular demand. This is why the form asks your age and is a bit different in other ways too.

Here's the drill:

We do art trade as an exchange between artists and writers who create fics/fan arts/graphics/etc for one another as a gift. Secret means that you can’t tell anyone what you are working on until it’s time to post your work. You make a gift and get a gift.

This event is for all GTA games despite the name of the blog. You can ask for gifts about any GTA games or even your original characters, but make sure the prompt is very clear on what you want. Leaving many different kinds of prompts is preferable! The mod will do their best to match up everyone so that there is representation for as many games as possible.

The theme is love and romance, but you can also leave other kinds of prompts if you want. Platonic love definitely counts! This is a good time for all your fluffy, romantic, soft, cute, or sexy prompts. Themes so heavy that they could make people uncomfortable are not allowed. Always ask if you’re unsure! You will be contacted if there’s a problem with the matchmaking or your prompts, so be sure to leave the correct information on your social medias.

You can join by filling in this form. It will only be available until January 10, so be quick! By the end of next week, you will receive the information about the person you’re going to gift your work. Then you will have until Valentine's Day to work on your gift.

The moderator will ask you for progress a couple of times before the deadline to make sure that everyone gets their gift. If there are any problems and you can’t participate any longer, contact the mod ASAP and be honest. We've had a few issues with this before, and I hope it won't repeat again. If you're unsure if you can partake in this exchange, think twice before signing up.

That’s about it! Feel free to reblog this post (my tagging system is lacking tbh) and hopefully, we get a lot of participants!

Mod: @nevergonnasimpyoumikey

[yujeong]

Fanfic Writing - New Year's Resolutions

Hey fellow fic writers <3 I know it's still not the end of the year, but it's December and I'm impatient, so I would like to share with you my writing plans for 2024 and ask you to do so too, if you want to. My Ao3 for convenience is Yuujeong, where you can check out all the things I'll be referencing below. So, in my case, I *hope* that in 2024, I will be able to: - write at least one more chapter for "Little House on the Hill" (I make no promises though, I've kind of moved on from that fic, even though it holds such a special place in my heart) - write and post the third installment of my "Heroes and Villains" series (I have neglected this one for months but I hadn't figured out this fic completely up until last month, when the full picture of it came to me and I managed to get unstuck. Hopefully, next year you'll be reading it) - finish and post the sequel to "Broken Vows" (istg I haven't forgotten it, on the contrary, it haunts my dreams, it's just such a tricky little shit that I ended up asking for help about it. It'll be in such capable hands now, and I hope people will enjoy reading it) - continue my Kim&Pete fic series (the second installment won't be too difficult to write - she says, as if she doesn't need at least a month for a fic to be written and edited before posting - but the one after that will be multi-chaptered and looong, so I'll need time and a lot of effort to pull it off. 2024 *will* see this series written and concluded though, I swear) - ARMPETE!! (I have a fic I've been meaning to work on for months now and it'll probably end up not being multi-chaptered as I intended at first. Unfortunately the inspiration for more than that has run out BUT I will enrich the fandom with this rarepair or so help me-) - write at least one BostonNick fic (there's one that's the most likely to be written, which is about Boston getting a haircut and I think it's cute and would love to explore the idea. Also, a Nick character study fic because my boy deserves the world) - write smut! Yep, in 2024 we're getting horny baby (prepare for some VP somno shenanigans, because there's not nearly enough of it in the fandom and that's a huge shame) - participate in at least one fandom event (the kpts Big Bang, while stressful for multiple reasons, was incredibly fun and I would love to do something like that again - same goes for things like Secret Santa events which are cool too) - try writing fics for some of my other favorite shows besides kpts (kpts was unique in the way only TMNT has been for me before, which was it giving me so many brainworms I needed to express my self artistically in the only way I was capable. In 2024, I would like to revisit some of my favorite shows and figure out if the same can happen with them too) I probably have more to share but I'll leave it here. Now, for the tags, I'd love to see the plans of @wisteria-daydreamer @wretchedamaranth @xxhappy-chickenxx @coleslaww @raksh-writes @mightymightygnomepriest @lu-sn @suzteel @fleet-off @justanothervariant @theoldastronomer @dual-desires @emberfaye @tsttoain @thisautistic and ALL the other people who are escaping my mind rn but their works are equally important! Please, if you want to share your writing plans, do so and tag me, I'd love to see them <3

[bilbao-song]

(all credit for the original idea [and a significant portion of this text] goes to @quiet-beatle​!)

ho ho ho, classic rock fans! Christmas is coming and so is The Secret Rocker Santa project! if you are looking for an opportunity to make new friends who love classic rock, or just want to make someone happy, this is your chance!

❅ ❆ ❅ ❆❅ ❆ ❅ ❆❅ ❆ ❅ ❆❅ ❆ ❅ ❆❅ ❆ ❅ ❆❅ ❆ ❅ ❆

What is Secret Rocker Santa?

Secret Rocker Santa is a tumblr-wide “match-maker” in which you will anonymously send asks to (and hopefully befriend!) a tumblr user who is assigned to you. you will also be assigned to someone else, who will send anonymous asks to you. the event will run from december 1st through december 25th. while this might seem complicated, it’s actually quite simple, and you will only need to answer a minimum of two questions to sign up.

How it works:

you must read these instructions!

the deadline to sign up is november 28th. there are two ways that you can sign up: the first is to send me a submission (or an ask) with your completed questionnaire (found here). while the first two questions are required, you can otherwise provide as much or as little information as you want. the second option is to sign up via google forms.

please reblog this post! (this isn’t a strict requirement, but it would be greatly appreciated and helps to ensure that enough people will participate!)

your ask box must be open to anyone! this means that anon asks will have to be enabled. if you want, you can wait until the first day of the project (december 1st) to change this setting, but please make sure you remember!

your blog doesn’t have to be classic rock-related, you just need to be a fan. (this project will also be using a very broad definition of “classic rock,” so nearly any music from 1950s-1990s counts.)

(more info below the cut!!)

during the last days of november, i will be assigning people to their Secret Rocker Santas. you will receive a message from me telling you who you have been assigned to, either in the form of an ask or direct message.

you will start messaging the person assigned to you ANONYMOUSLY on the 1st of december and continue until Christmas (december 25th), which is when you will reveal your identity and (hopefully) have made a new friend!

you can send your partner whatever you want (as long as you do not reveal your identity). your job is to make your partner feel happier! (some ideas: lyrics, pictures, facts, play games, chat and of course do things that are not only associated with classic rock).

be careful - make sure you are messaging your assigned partner anonymously.

please tag messages that you receive from your secret santa and any other related posts as #SRS22, so your santa will be able to find your answers more easily.

REMINDERS:

some people might get more than one santa or will be assigned to more than one person, depending on how many people participate and how many suitable matches i have for certain people. if you are certain you will not be able to be a secret santa for two people, please mention this when you submit your form (you can also let me know if you would prefer to be a santa for two or more people! anyone who volunteers for this will get first pick if the need arises)

if you’re not committed to sending asks to your partner and/or responding to your santa at least a few (2-3) times a week, please do not sign up.

while the primary focus of this project is classic rock, any additional interests you list may be used as a secondary way of helping to find a good match for you. with that in mind, don't hesitate to list any interests and hobbies you might have, whether they relate to classic rock or not! this will especially come in handy if there are many applicants who like a particular band, or if i am having trouble finding a match for you based on your favorite bands.

if your santa has not contacted you in over a week, message me and i will gently remind them or find you another one.

as a general rule, be nice! anyone who is rude to the another participant will be removed from the project.

make sure to answer all of your santa’s messages! you don’t have to answer right away, but don’t ignore them.

please let me know if you experience any problems at all (for example, if i have made a mistake, or you are having problems with either your own santa or the person you are assigned to)

if you are not already following your partner’s blog, you probably shouldn’t do it right away, because they might guess that you are their santa.

it’s useful to have an easy-to-find “about me” page so that your santa will have a better chance of finding something to talk to you about!

please try to keep a note of who you’ve been assigned to! you’ll also get a personal number which you will have to remember, so please make a note of it or save the message i send you.

IF YOU CHANGE YOUR URL DURING THE PROJECT PLEASE LET ME KNOW. if you don’t let me know about your new URL (or otherwise make it clear that you have moved), i will not be able to assign matches for you.

please be patient! i will assign matches and answer questions as quickly as possible, but please keep in mind that i have other responsibilities too!

you don't need to be following me, but i will be sharing updates here, so it would be a good idea to at least keep an eye on that page.

please don’t hesitate to participate! this is supposed to be a fun, lighthearted, seasonal activity, and if you do encounter any issues, i will help you.

again, click here for the questionnaire, and click here to submit it! if you would prefer to sign up via google forms, click here!

if you have any questions or want to ask for advice, do not hesitate to message me!

please spread the word if possible! :)

[havendance]

Santaquest Pt. 4: New Comics Version!

Taking a break from reading the endless old comics holiday anthologies to check out some *new* DC comics!

DC's Twas the Mite before Christmas!

We've got an appearance of who I believe is the real Santa in the Booster Gold story: The Santa Copies.

Booster Gold: Whatever this looks like, I swear-- I didn't kill Santa!

Santa gets hit by some piece of Alien technology that causes anyone who touches him to turn into him! Booster, who had touched him, proceeds to go off and stop a mugging while in Santa Mode:

Rip Hunter: Booster! Get back here!

Only when he touches the muggers, they turn into Santa too! And then they all go off to deliver presents:

Skeets (voice over): "...we've lucked out with the man they're turning into." Booster: Merry Christmas!

Fortunately, Rip Hunter is able to reverse it and things return to normal.

Batman - Santa Claus: Silent Knight #1

This one's from last week, but since we'll also be covering #2, let's get caught up first.

Strange vampires attack some carrollers. When Batman and Robin show up to investigate, none other appears to aid them than Santa Claus! (And also Zatanna)

Santa: I came as soon as I heard. The draug never got Farther than Norther Europe before. For them to be free again and in GOtham City is... ...bad tidings. Prancer (he has glowing eyes and looks rad): Snort. Santa: Easy there, Prancer.

We learn that Batman once trained under Santa Claus! (If I didn't have like 5 other wips I want to get done, I'd almost want to write that story)

Santa: That it has. I've followed your exploits. Robin (Damian): Wait, What-- Batman: We met during my years abroad. He showed me a few things I still use.

This isn't your average Santa though, he's jaded and cool:

Damian: Clau-- You can't be serious. I don't believe in Santa! Santa: You and me both, kid.

Uhh, this is getting kind of long, so let's put in a cut. The rest of issue 1 and issue #2 beneath!

This Santa also doesn't need to worry about Christmas, he spends all his time hunting monsters! (Man there aren't enough exclamation points in these new-fangled comics. I've got to use more in my summary to make up for it!)

Santa: It's fine-- It hasn't needed me to happen in centuries. No, I hunted and trapped all the Draug and somehow they've been set loose again. That's why I'm here. Someone freed them from the catacombs I sealed myself. Deep underground. Only I knew they were there.

The issue ends with the Krampus attacking and injuring Zatanna! Santa once sealed him away, but now he's back!

Batman - Santa Claus: Silent Knight #2

We open with Santa taking Zatanna away for medical treatment. He leaves a message for Batman and his allies and they retreat to a Batcave to view it! During a flashback sequence we learn that Santa and Krampus used to be friends, working together to bring order!

Santa: And one day, hopefully, the carrot alone will be enough. Krampus: Bah! The stick, the stick! Nightwing: Interesting--they brought order to chaos by scaring the wicked.

However, this all came to an end, when Santa mistakenly thought the Krampus had eaten some children and banished him! Once he realized his mistake, it was too late for him to fix it. The next night, the draug are Batman, but Batman calls in Miss Martian, Green Arrow, and Black Canary to help! (And they all look super bad-ass while doing it) In the end of the battle, someone else shows up--Superman!

Superman: You never said-- --that you knew. Santa.

What's Krampus up to? Does Superman also know Santa? Is he upset that his extremely secretive friend kept secrets from him? Will Santa and Krampus be able to reconcile due to Christmas Spirit? All this more I'm sure we'll find out in the next issues.