#i got a few games gifted to me this xmas so i'll be busy. for a couple thousand hours i think gfhdfgdf

[chibigaia-art]

ive not checked this blog in some time but stumbled upon it today, and was just thinking that if youre still into dangan , you should totally check out a visual novel called umineko, itd be right down your street!

oh i know umineko just vaguely because that girlie beatrice was against daniil in the doomed by the narrative tournament hmmm

im writing it down and keeping it in my back pocket for future games to play!

[cryptidsurveys]

Saturday, July 13th, 2024.

Are you going to be busy tomorrow? Not really. I'll be at the animal shelter from 7-11am, but after that I'm free to do whatever.

What was the last topic you read about on Wikipedia? I rarely ever look anything up on Wikipedia, so I have no idea what it would have been.

Have you ever donated money to Wikipedia? No.

Is your country part of the Commonwealth? It's not.

Around what time of the year do you start your Christmas shopping? Last Christmas was the first time in years that I did any gift-related shopping. My dad and I don't exchange gifts, but I've been back in touch with my mom since last summer, so I decided to get her a few things. As for decorations, I started shopping (as well as putting things up) around October. I know that's basically anathema to some, but I just know how fast the holiday season flies by and I actually wanted a chance to appreciate them. :') Additional info that no one asked for: many of the holiday decorations we own are from my childhood, so they're rather old, dusty, broken, etc. I decided last year to start building up my own little stash, and last year's focus was Xmas. This year, I'm going to focus more on Halloween or Thanksgiving, so they'll hopefully get their chance in the spotlight this upcoming season.

Do you have blinds or curtains on your windows? There are blinds on most of the windows, but there's a small curtain in the kitchen window.

What are the most common birds you'd see around your home? Mourning doves, grackles, robins, sparrows, hawks, bluejays, etc.

Did you sleep well last night? Yeah.

Did you live within walking distance of school when you were a kid? Technically yes. It probably would have taken me around 30-40 minutes to walk to my elementary school, but I took the bus.

What board games did you play when you were growing up? Monopoly, Parcheesi, Trouble, Mousetrap, Checkers, Yahtzee…

Do you know any sign language? No.

When was the last time you bought new clothes? What did you get? Three polo style shirts - two black and one light blue. Mainly for wearing to the animal shelter if my shelter shirts happen to be dirty or if I just want to change things up a bit.

What, other than books, do you have on your bookshelves? A ceramic pipe that my dad painted when I was a teen, a branch of dried cottonwood leaves, an unknown bone, a clamshell that often holds my rings, a sprig of fake lilacs, and a stuffed kitty doorstopper (it used to have a brick in the bottom, but that ripped out; now I just use the brick by itself and the cat is stashed on the bottom shelf).

Do you ever watch streamers on Twitch? No.

How close are your nearest neighbours? I live in a pretty typical suburban neighborhood, so…just imagine that level of closeness, I guess…?

Has your house ever been broken into? How did you find out? In a sense, but it's not a story I feel like telling.

What do you usually eat for breakfast? Oatmeal with fruit, peanut butter, carnation instant breakfast, and chocolate syrup. It's pretty much always some variation of that; I hardly ever eat anything else.

What's the first thing your hand touches if you reach to the left? A travel coffee mug. It's got a sort of marbled design on it.

Describe your favourite mug or cup. I have this huge red mug decorated with gingerbread houses that I use for my oatmeal, as well as another white mug with a kitty on it that says "Meowy Christmas."

If you could teleport to any country right now for a holiday, what would it be? Japan. Except I wouldn't want to go right now; I would prefer to go in spring or autumn.

Are you overwhelmed right now? Not exactly. It's more like I'm on the verge of feeling overwhelmed because I'm constantly pushing my physical/emotional/social limits in order to strengthen them. Like, I'm generally fine, but if I were to pile even a couple more activities on top of what I'm doing now, I think I would approach burnout.

Did you share a bedroom with someone when you were growing up? I did share a room with my mom when we lived in an apartment when I was a teen, but as for my childhood, I had my own room.

Have you ever had anything dry cleaned? I don't think so.

How many group chats are you in? Do you participate in them much? I'm not in any. That is one of my reservations when it comes to one day working at the animal shelter, though - the constant, off-the-rails group chats. Cassie was saying the other day how she was getting texts at 7am on her day off and she was just like…I don't want to see a picture of a dog in a pool; I'm trying to sleep! And frankly, I don't blame her. That dog photo would be a whole lot cuter in the middle of the day, but if I'm trying to sleep, fvck absolutely off, lmao. You're practically tethered to your phone, though, just in case something comes in that's actually relevant.

What's the best concert you ever went to? I've never really been to any memorable concerts.

Do you like to watch subtitled movies? I don't watch a whole lot of movies, but I don't mind if they have subtitles.

Are you still in touch with any of your exes? No.

How old were you when the first American Pie movie came out? I'm not sure.

Do you know how to change the oil in a car? What about a flat tyre? No.

What do you do for work? I volunteer at an animal shelter, in their cattery. I clean colonies/kennels (which involves wiping down surfaces/cat towers/etc, refreshing food and water, cleaning litter boxes, changing blankets, and that sort of thing). I also do basic housekeeping stuff like washing dishes/scoops, sweeping, mopping, laundry, taking out trash… Oh, and on Fridays, we have to weigh everybody, which is always an adventure. :')

[mozukumi]

HEYY IT'S ME AGAIN!! since it's ready christmas in my timezone, i remembered the spring troupe dads unleashing The Gift Reckoning on christmas!! if ur still doing mankai swap au asks, i wanna know how they all celebrate christmas (and maybe the days leading up to it?) :D!!

-🌸

HI 🌸 ANON!!! i still am doing these - although i can't make any promises on how fast I'll respond, aha. this is a bit late, but like, it's still December in my timezone. it kind of counts!

under the cut for length!

SPRING TROUPE:

Sakuya - do you ever think about the part in Merry Xmas Mr Blooming where Sakuya is like "oh i remember one year i did my best to be a good boy but still santa didn't ever come to me" and hisoka is like "put up your stocking you've been a good boy i'm sure santa will come". i think about that part a lot. Because Hisoka most likely never got to truly believe in santa, and I think about how christmas is so tied up to gekkagumi, and I think about him trying to give Sakuya a better life, and I - okay that's enoug canon stuff but it's just a sweet story.

Anyway, by this point, he's old enough to have figured out santa and all - but it's his hope to try and keep the spirit alive for the younger kids. I think that Guy and Sakyo would probably be the only kids who still believe, but even for all of the ones who "know better" by now, he tries to create a really happy atmosphere. He's still a freeter, so he has to work in retail a lot this time of year, but he manages to keep a grin on his face despite the rude customers.

And of course, the Gift Reckoning. Although he doesn't have that much money to spare, he makes sure to get a gift for every single member and tries to organize some quality time for each one.

Masumi - I think for a while he spent his Christmas's with his grandmother, until she passed on. For the next few years, he spent them in his Bachelor Pad or whatever, so he's definitely not used to having so many people around for Christmas.

But as you mentioned, he has a gift reckoning to unleash. He can afford to give out more gifts then Sakuya, but after their first year of doing this, Masumi tries to tone back so it doesn't seem like he's trying to one-up Sakuya. Unlike Sakuya, who arranges one-on-one time with each member, Masumi goes with the flow. If he overhears the kids talking about wanting to go to a movie, he offers to buy them the tickets and go see it with them, etc.

Tsuzuru - I think this dude deserves to just fucking relax at christmas. He's spent his previous ones busy with taking care of his siblings, but at this stage, they are starting to grow up more - so he vows that this christmas he is just going to fucking Chill. no cleaning! no cooking!! he is going to sleep until 12 pm!!! he will CHILL!!

... i don't think he succeeds, but it's a nice, thought.

Citron - ... yknow, I actually don't know if they celebrate christmas in Zahra or not! If anybody knows, feel free to tell me - I tried to check Citron and Guy's Christmas cards, but the ones that were translated didn't help.

So I'm not sure how he used to celebrate Christmas, but these days I think he has a lot of fun with it! I think since he's a bit younger in this AU, he's a bit over-eager and forgets to hide his wealth a bit - so he gets everybody extravagant presents and they're like ? how does a college student afford this?

Itaru - Christmas is for one thing, and one thing only: seasonal scouting in his gacha games. At least, that's what he used to believe!

He's used to getting really impersonal gifts (from his parents) or passive-aggressive gifts (from his sister), so when the adults actually give him gifts that match his interests, he's really moved.

Chikage - how long do we have. do you want me to cry over gekkagumi for an hour or for 2 hours-

Anyway, christmas is a lot more light for him then it is in canon - August is still alive, and he never believed that Hisoka betrayed him. Christmas is baking gingerbread together, a symbolic compromise. Sweet and spicy as one.

I think because he wasn't used to much fanfare around it, he's the kind of person who sleeps in big on christmas - much to the chagrin of everybody else, who wants to open their damn presents!

SUMMER TROUPE:

Tenma - His first Christmas outside of the media spotlight is... weird. He's used to having photoshoots lined up, and scheduled tweets by his PR team. He doesn't have that anymore, as he's recovering from his scandal.

It's so much more quiet then he's used to, which unsettles him, but overall he doesn't hate it. He's finding that there's a lot to be gained from going through life as a Person, not as a Celebrity.

I also think he believed in Santa for an embarrassingly long amount of time (I forget if this is canon or not?), so he's with Sakuya on trying so hard to protect Sakyo and Guy. Because it's COMPLETELY normal to keep believing in Santa at that age.

Yuki - Yuki is a big fan of Christmas! It's got a lot of potential from a fashion designer's perspective, for cute limited outfits. He loves designing himself cute pajamas for christmas eve and a classy outfit for christmas day.

At this point, Yuki is probably an uncle - I know in canon, his sisters are already getting married, so it's likely they've had kids when he's in his 30s. I think he takes to that surprisingly well, and they probably love getting presents from Uncle Yuki.

Muku - As a shoujo manga author, Muku probably more focused on the romantic connotations of christmas. He has to crunch a bit to make his seasonal chapters, but aren't they so heart-throbbing?

As for the family side, the first year has his first Christmas with Juchan again, which is definitely an experience! He's missed him so much, but of course, Juza is a bit closed off...

Kazunari - kazunaris rough draft of a character arc in this is that like, um. he has to rise and grind for the freelance work he does as an artist. im sorry that im introducing the anime boy to capitalism.

but aside from having to worry about his holiday bonuses, i think kazu celebrates much like in canon! he's still got a great relationship with his family, and he's super hyped for all of the christmas partying.

Misumi - Misumi celebrates much like in canon as well - with all the money he's saved up from his part-time jobs, he's able to give every single person a special triangle gift. He's also able to reconnect with Madoka bit easier, as Madoka would already be in college by Captain Sky's Pirates, so I think they try to spend some time together as a family. It's still awkward, but they're working on it!

Kumon - oh boy the kumon juza relationship in this AU makes me cry so much because like... Kumon still does idolize Juza! But he's also still mad at being abandoned! And Juza thinks Kumon was foolish to ever idolize him! And a part of him still worries that reconnecting with Kumon is going to hurt him!

But at Mankai, they're together again at last, and while things are awkward.. they're still the Hyodo brothers. i think they still give each other really thoughtful gifts and then they cry because after all this time they still know.

AUTUMN TROUPE:

Izumi - Izumi has mixed feelings about celebrating Christmas at Mankai, at first. because I think her dad probably celebrated there too. So it's just a reminder that this place was more important to her dad then she was, and that's a bit raw.

But despite all that, she still has fun. Like all of the youngsters, she's doted on by the adults, and she realizes she can do better then her father. She can have love here without abandoning her family - which she doesn't! She either invites her mother into Mankai to celebrate, or she goes to visit her mother herself

Sakyo - so i've mentioned that I think Sakyo still believes in santa. this is because I think that'd be hilarious. like, sakyo is really having to carry a LOT on his back in this au, because he's still izumis childhood friend but he's ALSO the juza but he's ALSO kind of the azami. he is a man of many talents.

so instead of azamis like, really flustered and prim and proper thing about relationships, i just think it'd be funny if sakyo was still a santa believer despite otherwise being very edgy and stuff. it's charming. what else can i say.

I still need to figure out the exact timeline, but I think this would be around the time his mother remarried? So this might also be his first christmas with a step-sister and step-father! But since he's not actually joining the yakuza in this au, he's not trying to seperate himself from them, so they actually get to grow closer.

Omi - omi is one of the casualties of this AU because he was like, basically the center point. the metric i used only made him one year older. he is Barely different. which is part of why he got the spy role, as a way to give him something to Do.

so aside from feeling a bit more guilty, otherwise the same! he's still doing the cooking AND the cleaning.

Taichi - ? taichi is a character i have not thought about enough in mankai swap. i literally dont know what his job is. im so sorry taitai.

His siblings are getting older, so I think christmas has started to wind down a bit for him - so he's super excited to have such a high-energy christmas atmosphere at mankai! Even if his siblings think they're too cool for christmas, he's NEVER stopped being hyped.

Juza - juza my little onglydoop.

in Merry Xmas Mr Blooming, Juza says the following:

Every Christmas, I looked forward to eating the cake my mother made.

A day I could eat sweet foods. That was what Christmas was to me.

Which um. He's been estranged from his mother for like, 10 years in this AU. So I think his christmas tradition for a while was to try and make his own cake, and then he'd cry because it was never quite like his moms.

The christmas he returns to the family is very awkward, and makes him worry that he never should have come back - but of course, his family sets him straight! He gets to have his cake once more, and he probably still cries, this time tears of joy.

Azami - azami is probably used to celebrating with the ginsenkai, and i bet he still does! he scolds anybody who stays up too late on christmas eve, since it's bad for their skin, and sakyo joins in - because what if santa doesn't come! i just think it's a funny image to imagine both of them going around barking orders at people.

WINTER TROUPE:

Tsumugi - he spends it with zabi. next question-

but nah. honestly, i think a part of him secretly dreads christmas, because his birthday is so soon! and he kind of just wants to get to that. not that he'd ever actually say that out loud, since that'd be rude, but it is always a bit depressing to get your christmas and birthday gifts squished togethert... which is why he's so happy when mankai throws him a seperate birthday party!

Tasuku - I think Tasuku and his family are usually pretty low-key about christmas, which makes celebrating with Mankai... a new experience, to be sure. as always, though, tasuku is a pretty good sport - and will go through with it all, to get new experiences if nothing else.

Hisoka - gekkagumi crying session part 2. i think year one is really hard for him, since it's the first time he's celebrated without august and april - and unlike in canon, he KNOWS what he's missing. but he can't talk about it.

it's tough, but when he mentions wanting to make gingerbread, it becomes a whole deal that everybody gets involved with - and he knows this won't replace what he's missing, but maybe it can add on to create a new tradition.

Homare - full of poetic inspiration, truly! alongside his gifts, everybody is also given a custom poem. he's not used to christmas being this lively... at home, it was always a very formal affair, but he quite enjoys the atmosphere.

Azuma - i dont know if theres a non-depressing way to say "he's probably still not used to celebrating christmas without his family." but um. ya.

but at least he doesnt have to celebrate alone anymore!!

Guy - as said earlier i think guy is a santa-believer. why? because this would be charming.

i think he's along with sakyo like, very seriously warning people to not be naughty because it'd be a shame if they got coal.

STAFF:

Banri - it's so nice for him to have a christmas that isn't just about company parties and end of year goals - instead, he can focus on whats important. SEASONAL GACHAS his theater family.

Isuke - i think about the 1 year gap a lot. the 1 year in this au that isuke spent at mankai alone. also tumblr isnt letting me unbold this help., but anyway uhh i think he's just really grateful that he wont have to spend another christmas alone.

OKAY MAMMA MIA THIS GOT LONG. I STILL CANT UNBOLD . thank you so much for the kind ask!!