#even if you don't celebrate Christmas

[littleprincepaladin]

were thou naughty this year? 🤨

[rattanwhip]

Merry Christmas it's the Luz and Hunter Power Hour

[hekateinhell]

In some of the earlier drafts of Memnoch the Devil, David Talbot was supposed to die, NOT Armand:

From what I saw, a lot of Anne's drafts and notes at Tulane for MtD where more heavily focused on developing the whole religious aspect and the lore that she wanted to follow, but this really caught my attention in a big way for obvious reasons. In an another world, David would've self-immolated instead of Armand, and the book would've ended with Armand and Lestat walking together in Central Park!

"Almost Claudia, but not"... Ouch.

I will say that I understand why ultimately Anne decided to go the route that she did with Armand in actual canon (aka what's literally on the page)—I think it does make sense for his arc given his background and religious trauma. I understand it, but also as a reader and an Armand girlie, I would have been much more satisfied by this ending 🥲 (no surprise there!). Alas, I am not Anne Rice, and I'm just so grateful that she thought ahead to make her notes, drafts, and diaries accessible to us after her passing so we can have fun trying to understand her creative process and considering all the possibilities!

Lastly:

"I do think David has go to to go. Maybe he should go instead of Armand." just takes me right out.

ANNE.

[captainjonnitkessler]

People who celebrate Christmas need to understand that the religious component of the holiday is a huge part of it and no non-Christian should be shamed or mocked for not celebrating, even the traditionally secular aspects.

People who don’t celebrate Christmas need to understand that the cultural component of the holiday is a huge part of it and no non-Christian should be shamed or mocked for celebrating, even the traditionally religious aspects.

There, “can Christmas be secular” discourse is done for the season. That’s it. Everybody move on.

(Bad-faith responses about how “well OBVIOUSLY no one is saying you CAN’T celebrate we’re ONLY saying that it's bad when it gets forced on people” are going to be blocked on sight because a) I’m tired and b) I have had many, MANY people on this site tell me that Christmas celebrations do not have a cultural component and can ONLY ever be religious in nature, which is probably going to come as a shock to the 80% of non-Christians who celebrate.)

[cerise-on-top]

Eating Jausn with König

A Brettljausn is just about the best thing out there. I wrote this back in November when my classmates decided to talk about Easter and Osterjausn, so the formatting is different. However, I thought it would work well with the Easter post, so I decided to post it now.

“Honey, what is that?” You looked at the wrinkly, dark colored thing in front of you. It might have been a sausage, on closer inspection. The plate was well filled with all kinds of meat and cheese. On the side were horseradish, eggs and pepper of all colors. On a small plate in front of you were small, sliced cherry tomatoes, the basket next to it held bread.

“It’s a Brettljause, it’s what we eat on special occasions, such as easter. But you don’t always need one to eat it. Just enjoy the meat, dear. It’s all from regional farmers as well.” König seemed rather content while looking at the food. You knew that Austrians loved their meats and sausages, he had told you about that before and you made fun of him for it, but you didn’t think he’d take it upon himself to prepare something like that. It seemed like that must have taken a lot of work. Must have been fairly costly as well. There was bacon there, it looked fairly good.

You took a piece of bread and picked up some meat with a fork. “And what’s this?”

“That’s Geselchtes. I call it Gsöchts, though. It’s meat that you put in salt water before smoking for a few hours. Before eating, you normally cook it. Don’t worry, this one doesn’t have too much fat on it, you can just cut those pieces off.” He put some gray-ish meat on a slice of bread, adding some egg slices and topping it off with some of the grated horseradish. Its scent wafted through the air, stinging your nose a bit. You watch him take a bite out of the bread, he locks his eyes with yours once he notices. “Is something the matter?”

“No, no, everything’s alright.” You looked at the pink meat on your fork, a bit hesitant to give it a try. König seemed to like this sort of food, he likely wouldn’t have prepared it otherwise. Besides, it was classic Austrian cuisine, apparently, it was only polite of you to try it, at the very least. Taking a bite out of the meat, you ran your tongue across it to give it a taste. You could definitely taste the salt, but it wasn’t too bad. It simply added to the flavor. The meat wasn’t very chewy, but you wouldn’t exactly call it the most tender meat either. It was actually surprisingly good. Instead of putting it on your bread, you simply ate the piece whole before picking up the same thing König had. “And what’s this?”

“Schweinsbratn.” He didn’t even hesitate to gobble up his bread, already on his second one. This time he put some bacon on it with cheese. Eggs and horseradish weren’t missing this time either. One of the tomato slices was lifted off the plate and put on his instead.

You followed his example and put two slices of the meat on your bread, topping it off the same way as him. That meat wasn’t too bad actually either, it was obvious that it was made of pork. With the horseradish being very fresh it was only natural for it to be spicy still. It didn’t disappoint, the taste somewhat reminding you of wasabi, even if your eyes started watering a bit. Your bread was gone soon enough and you opted for another one. There was no telling if König’s next one was his third or fourth one already.

“So, Schatzi.” He prepared another one. “Is it good? Do you like it?”

“Oh, it actually is. It’s pretty good.” Taking some of the red pepper, you put it on your bread with Geselchtem, gulping down a few of the tomatoes. You were sort of surprised this stuff didn’t come with a salad as well.

By the time you were on your third bread, the plate was already pretty empty, with König having eaten quite a lot. He’s always had a rather big appetite, and for that you were grateful, there was no way you could have eaten all of that on your own. You hadn’t tried the dark, cut up sausage yet. Of course, you had no idea what that was either. “What’s this? Sausage?”

König quickly chewed the food in his mouth before swallowing it down. “Yes, that’s Hoatwiastl. Hartwürstel, I suppose. As the name suggests, it’s a hard sausage. It’s very good, though, you have to try it.”

It was rather hard indeed, you were glad it was cut up into smaller slices. Biting into it whole would be another other ordeal. It was too small to put on bread, so you ate it along with it. Once done, you were completely full, incapable of eating another bite. There were still pieces of meat and cheese left on the plate, it was unbelievable. König didn’t seem affected at all, he simply got up and started putting everything away before returning with a bottle. If you had to take an educated guess then there’s a chance “Wein” might have been the German word for “wine”. “Would you like a  Spritzer? It’s essentially wine mixed with soda.”

“Is that really necessary? Do we really need to drink too?”

He chuckled a bit. “It’s a big part of our culture. Alternatively, I can offer you some Gösser or Puntigamer.” With an amused expression, he watched you weigh your options. You didn’t know what either of those things were, probably some sort of beer, thus making you better off with the wine, probably. König even got the two of you some wine glasses. They were fancy looking, but you weren’t sure if you could actually take a sip of that.

He really just put mineral water into some wine, drinking it slowly. With a watchful eye, he almost expected you to take after him, which you did eventually. It tasted exactly the way you’d imagine, sparkly wine with a bit less flavor. Not the worst you’ve ever had. The things you did to make your man happy.

You continued to eat for another few minutes, this time in silence, for the most part. The plate was certainly full at the beginning, you couldn’t believe your eyes when most of it was gone. Still, despite the culture being rather meat heavy, you had to admit, it was pretty good. However, it was very filling. You couldn’t eat another slice of bread, opting for the meat and sausage instead, eating some slices of cheese along with them. Maybe some mayonnaise would have been good with it as well, but you didn’t want to make the suggestion in case König didn’t like it.

After wiping his mouth with a paper towel, he sat back, letting out a content sigh while holding his tummy. Even he seemed to be rather full after the copious amounts of meat he had eaten. Not like you weren’t, however. He took another sip of his Spritzer before putting the plates away, with you helping him out a bit, naturally.

“Thank you for trying some of my food, I do appreciate it. Did you like it?” Cleaning the plates with a sponge, his focus was on getting the last few crumbs off it so he could put it in the dishwasher. You popped one last cherry tomato in your mouth before handing him another plate, giving him a hum of approval.

“Yeah, it was pretty good, but could we maybe eat something less meaty next time? This was quite a lot.”

“Don’t worry, Schatzi, next time we can eat Kasnudeln. They’re also very delicious!”

[bisexualbuckl-y]

i can't stop thinking about buck's future reaction to this new eddie storyline in like a best friend way, because i don't know how aware buck is of how much eddie is struggling with his mental health lol, like how long ago was the last time they spoke about shannon in relation to eddie? does buck think eddie is over her death? or maybe not over but at least he's come to terms with it? i feel like we'll see eddie trying to hide this thing with kim and buck will surely know something's going on but i don't think he'll ever imagine something close to what's happening, and then aside from the lying and bad feelings surrounding the situation he'll also feel awful because he just didn't know how this was still an issue eddie was having... yk?

[transingthoseformers]

Earthspark should do a Halloween episode. And a Thanksgiving episode. And a Christmas episode. Given that the Terrans are interested in learning a lot about Earth culture, it would be a missed opportunity if we don't actually get an episode of each holiday, and I can see some interesting plot ideas for each one. The Halloween one could have the Terrans meeting some more of the kids in Witwicky or Philadephia who are Robby and Mo's friends. The Thanksgiving episode could actually introduce more of the extended Malto family, or have a small cameo of a Transformer balloon at the not-Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade or Optimus having to pardon a turkey. The Christmas one could explore the different celebrations at that time of year, maybe have the Terrans experience snow for the first time, or have them meet Santa Claus or whatever. Earthspark is just good for a bunch of holiday centric episodes.

I saw the words "introduce more of the extended Malto family" and my first thought was LET THE TERRANS MEET THEIR GRANDPARENTS IF THEY NOW HAVE ANY

Like

Give us the most loving grandparents that seem like they came out of a kids cartoon to the already rich in mentor / familial figures Terrans. Because I think that would be sweet and hilarious as hell.

I feel like a Halloween episode would be a rather good detective episode too ngl (that or an episode involving Tarantulas again!)

Also the Maltobots experiencing snow for the first time!

Okay the idea of Optimus getting to pardon a turkey gives me the image of him literally carrying around a turkey everywhere the entire episode, and he either gives it a goofy name or a funnily formal name.

I'd love love love to see more of Alex and Dot's life before they got involved with the transformers (at the least stuff from before the war ended), and them meeting with family and doing all the holiday stuff is a perfect opportunity

They probably wouldn't even dare do it in canon but I just got the lovely idea of someone trying their best to get Megatron and Optimus under the mistletoe

Hell I don't care if it's some generic funny in universe holiday, considering how we saw mother's day I feel like that's less likely, but it'd be still fun because it conveys what I'm focusing on myself: the sense of family and learning new things we see consistently throughout the series with the Maltos.

[that-foul-legacy-lover]

HIHII WIFII NIGHTLY THOUGHT ANON HERE HOPE YOU'RE DOING GOOD AND MERRY CHRISTMAS<33

As a gift today i have nightly thought of Legacy and christmas tree, him not understanding why you're bringing a whole tree inside at first only to then get hype when you bring the decorations, its all so shiny!!

I can see him having a blast seeing the tree light up at night, or helping you to put the star on top by holding you! You could also let him do it, and he would be soso careful to not break anything 🥹 you would both enjoy admiring the shiny, tall christmas tree cuddling(and of course Mothman would purr)

it's not Christmas anymore, but i'm still in the festive moth mood!!!

ohh the way his wings begin fluttering when you bring out all the sparkly ornaments- he's basically in heaven, with both the shiny lights and the glittery baubles. Legacy helps you pick which ornaments to put where- his favorites are the ones with crystal details or swirling metallic patterns, and he has a keen sense for where each one will refract light the best. if you have to string the tree with lights yourself, he helps by untangling any knots in the long cord... and then promptly gets himself tangled in it, the twinkling lights all laced around his horns and in his fluff. it creates a little more work for you, but it's definitely worth it to see how mesmerized he looks at the sight of all the glowing dots speckled around his hair and fur- you HAVE to tie a ribbon around one of his horns at some point, it's just a requirement

and the STAR, oh my goodness the star- he adores that thing to pieces. his crystalline eye widens when he first sees it, crouching down and trilling to examine it at all angles. but Legacy absolutely insists that you put it on the top of the tree and will pick you up so you can do just that, his claws wrapping around your waist as he carefully lifts you closer. once the star is positioned and glittering from high above, you shift in Legacy's arms and ask him why he always wants you to put the star up, despite him being the right height for it

Legacy just tilts his head- isn't it obvious? he points a sharp talon at you, then himself, then finally at the star, letting out a happy purr

because you're his star, of course

[weenwrites]

Howdy Ween🤠! How goes it? Enjoying the warmer weather I hope! (Edit: Starting writing this in my notes a while ago so I am personally sick of the warm weather now but if you like it then I hope that you're enjoying it! ☀️

I was hoping to request something with a human who enjoys building explosives, doing experiments with different chemicals put into fire: whether they are really productive or not remains to be seen. They don't do it in the base or around the kids for safety so probably out in all that dessert somewhere. Maybe they talk about them or record them for show. When they hear about Wheeljack from Bulkhead & Miko they're excited to meet him but they're nervous of new people. But they still wanna show him there stuff ya know? Bonus points, if you also think it'd be funny and it fits if not you don't have to, if it makes so much of a ruckus since they probably wanna impress Wheeljack that Agent Fowler calls in his traditional Agent Fowler fashion? "PRIME! What is going on down there!?"

I would like the story format but is headcannons works better for you that's fine. If decide you wanna write this, thanks in advance Ween!

(P.S.-I know this is really wordy but I promise when I send in a request it's 50% the story I describe & 50% vibes. It doesn't have to be exactly how I described it😅.)

Summary - Wheeljack and Miko go check out some explosives. Characters - Wheeljack Content - Gen Category - Scenarios Trigger Warnings - None

✎ A/N: I don't mind it if requests are wordy! There's always a chance that what you include in fics may help me come up with more ideas on how to write it.

[ Please do not repost, plagiarize, or use my writing for AI! Translating my work with proper credit is acceptable, but please ask first! ]

They were expecting Miko to show up once the rest of the team were called to assist them with the explosives. It was to be expected after all, Miko without explosives and action wouldn't be like her at all. Though part of them was beyond ecstatic to hear a familiar revving engine and see what looked to be the italian-flag racing towards them in the distance—later turning out to be Wheeljack—they forced all that excitement behind a calm and friendly demeanor once he skidded to a halt in front of them.

”Wheeljack!“ They exclaimed as he reconfigured himself into his rootmode, ”and Miko, too!“ they add as the respective girl stepped out from behind him. ”Thanks for showing up, but there isn't anything for the two of you to do. The team's finished loading all those explosives down there in the quarry, and I just have to do a bit of work on my end to ensure that things run smoothly.”

“That's fine, we came here to watch the show anyway.“ She explained.

”By all means, go right ahead—actually, Miko I'll need you to put these on real quick," and quickly, she was passed a pair of earmuffs and goggles before Y/N turned to the bot next to her. "Ooh, I don't think I have any earmuffs or protective goggles that are your size, Wheeljack." They chuckled.

"Don't worry 'bout me," he flicked his hand, "I've handled my fair share of loud noises before."

"Oh, right, right… You're out on the field alot…" They mumble, taking a clipboard from the trunk of their car, "I'll be detonating the explosives soon, so you won't have to wait long."

With a nod, he placed a hand on his knee and bent lower to look at the crates of supplies off to the side. A few particular crates had caught his attention with the bright yellow warning labels pasted all over the sides.

"What's this over here?" He asked.

Without batting an eye, Y/N responded: "Nondescript explosive materials."

"Gee, really?" Wheeljack deadpanned, "Couldn't tell."

They lowered the board and sighed, "Sorry, I'd rather not tell what it is—not while Miko's around anyway,—“

“Hey!”

”—I could get into a lot of legal trouble if you guys went around making explosives and setting them off without an ATF permit." They pause, "Assuming you guys would rat me out to the police, anyway…"

"D'you really take us for those kinds of people?" He chuckled.

“Just you guys? Specifically? No. Fowler? Absolutely.”

"Could you at least show us how it works?" Miko offered.

With a sigh, Y/N reluctantly continued, "I… Guess it wouldn't hurt as long as you can't get your hands on the specific chemicals themselves—and as long as you don't rat me out, my permit's at stake here..."

"Our lips are sealed." Wheeljack offered, even miming a zipping motion across his mouth.

With a hum, they shuffled past Miko, and over towards Wheeljack beside the crates. And there, they began sifting through some of the bags of chemicals, each plastered with big blocks of small, black text that either detailed warnings or the bag's contents. Curiously, the two had peered over Y/N's shoulder to try and make heads or tails of what they were doing.

"I just need a little bit of this nondescript powder, and if I ignite this tiny speck right here…"

The powder gave a loud very audible pop, leaving a small, black, smoking speck on the cardboard.

"And that's how it's going to go. Except… On a much larger scale. There's about 30 pounds of this stuff all the waaaay over there, each of them in a little water gel sack capsule, spread out across the supposed entrance of the mine."

"30 pounds?" Wheeljack blinked, "doesn't seem like much, and the mine's entrance is pretty deep."

"To you it might not, but just you wait." They smirked, "Appearances can be deceiving… But the explosives aren’t meant to reach the energon in the mine, it’s just supposed to pave the way to the energon since we don't have access to any larger pieces of mining equipment."

"Oh right, you're just loosening the rubble, yeah?"

"Yeah, and then you and the rest of the team will move in to clear it out, and depending on how it looks from there, I may have to plant some more explosives."

"Ya know that some energon veins can be deep-rooted into the soil, so if this mine is as big as everybody makes it out to be, you might have to adjust how many explosives to use and deep they go."

"Ok, ok, I gotcha... Say, you wouldn't be interested in helping me with these explosives, would you?" They offer, "I could really use your expertise."

"Sure thing, don't see why not." he nodded.

"Great! Now, is everyone ready?"

"Yeah, fire in the hole!" Miko exclaimed.

Y/N nodded and with the simple click of a button, a ground-shaking boom had errupted from the quarry with a mushroom cloud sprouting into the sky to boot. Gradually, the quaking had ceased and as the cloud was barely beginning to clear, Y/N turned to the two with a haughty grin.

"Whatever you mixed up has a pretty impressive blast radius despite the quantity," Wheeljack whistled.

"Oh, the quantity has nothing to do with the explosion, it's actually the concentration of the material that affects the scale of the explosive itself." They explained. "A little goes a long way, as they say."

"I see, mind if I take a closer look? I think if I run out of explosive cores for my grenades, I bet could make something like this work…"

"Well, so long as Fowler won't be on my back for this, then no, I don't mind—it's called ANFO, it's packaged in water gel since it's soluble in water. It's not as sensitive as dynamite but—hey—please be careful!"

"Yeah, don't worry 'bout it chief… Now what's this ANFO stuff made from exactly…?“ Haphazardly, he shoved the lid off the crate, ”A bit of… What's this now?"

"I-I told you to be careful!" They screeched, "If the powder gets between your joints, the friction could cause it to ignite!”

“Right, right… Human things aren't that sturdy…”

[serotoninnt]

heidi but

Merry

[hellosunnycore]

✦ Happy Holidays! ✦

[lunetual]

REASON [MONSTA X MINI ALBUM] ✧ VER. 2  ↳ KIHYUN

[tennessoui]

🎄🎁💫  Kit’s Holiday Fic Is Here 💫🎁🎄

besties ok im three days early but i was too pumped to not start posting (after 2 months of not posting fics i finished!! <-- a record) 

so back in late september/october, i asked y’all to vote (thank you to everyone who voted i was literally so excited that people were interested!!!) on which of my aus should get a cliche holiday fic!! but i kept thinking about all the different choices as i watched the votes come in (30 aus in the first round, 15 in the second), and you know my impulse control is weak af, sooooo i took the top 12 after the end of the 2nd round of voting, combined their vote totals from both rounds, and ranked them from 12 to 1 for my posting order. 

i’ve got about 12 through 5 finished, and i think i’ll be able to finish 1 - 4 before it’s time to post them! a project kit will actually adhere to a schedule for-- holiday miracles DO exist!! :D 

the first one-shot is rated T and set in the high school reunion au, which ranked #12 with 49 votes!

Posting #11 later this week!

[vigilantdesert]

I LIVE BITCHES

[warriorstale001]

Xtra Small One Shot: Chapter 19

A (sort of) Christmas special for Xtra Small featuring Nightmare and kid Cross fluff moments!

I apologise for my lack of content this year but I have BIG plans for writing next year.

I might even have a new, shorter fic in the works =).

Have a wonderful holiday season everyone!

[yeliuxi]

I venture into Tumblr's fyp. I see posts I've blacklisted because they were tagged christmas or xmas. I click view post. They are all about cnovel characters. I remember why I blacklisted the tag and why I should not click view post. The cycle continues