#Cookies Market Price

[pravalika]

Cookies Market - Forecast (2022 - 2027)

Cookies Market size is estimated to reach $46.3 billion by 2026, growing at a CAGR of 5.3% during the forecast period 2021-2026. Cookies are generally baked or cooked foods that are small, flat, and sweet. Molded cookies, dropped cookies, rolled cookies, pressed cookies, refrigerator cookies, and bar cookies are the six major types of cookies. The demand for cookies is rapidly increasing among the young population owing to the rise in innovative and healthier product launches. The rise in the demand for oatmeal raisin bar cookies among the young population, increase in the inclination towards buying cookies like snickerdoodles in supermarkets, rise in the demand for cookies in tea and coffee shops in developing nations, and growing investment by the key players to develop gluten free cookies are the factors that are set to drive the growth of the Cookies Market for the period 2021-2026.

Report Coverage

The report: “Cookies Market Forecast (2021-2026)”, by Industry ARC, covers an in-depth analysis of the following segments of the Cookies Market.

By Product Type: Bar Cookies, Rolled Cookies, Molded Cookies, Drop Cookies, and Others.

By Distribution Channel: Hypermarkets/Supermarkets, Online Channels, Convenience Stores, and Others.

By Geography: North America (U.S., Canada, and Mexico), Europe (Germany, UK, France, Italy, Spain, Russia, and Rest of Europe), Asia-Pacific (China, India, Japan, South Korea, Australia & New Zealand, and Rest of Asia-Pacific), South America (Brazil, Argentina, and Rest of South America) and Rest of World (Middle East and Africa).

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Key Takeaways

Geographically, North America Cookies Market accounted for the highest revenue share in 2020 and it is poised to dominate over the period 2021-2026 owing to the rise in the inclination towards buying cookies like snickerdoodles.

The increase in awareness about the health benefits of bar cookies, such as improving the functioning of heart health and blood circulation is driving the Bar Cookies segment. However, the rise in the availability of alternative products, such as biscuits and chocolates is one of the major factors that is said to reduce the growth of the Cookies Market.

Detailed analysis on the Strength, Weakness, and Opportunities of the prominent players operating in the market will be provided in the Cookies Market report.

Cookies Market Segment Analysis-By Product Type

The Cookies Market based on the Product Type can be further segmented into Bar Cookies, Rolled Cookies, Molded Cookies, Drop Cookies, and Others. The Bar Cookies segment held the largest share in 2020 and is also estimated to be the fastest-growing segment with a CAGR of 6.4% over the period 2021-2026. This growth is owing to the factors such as the increase in the demand for oatmeal raisin bar cookies among the young population and the rise in product launches by the key players in developed nations. The rise in awareness about the health benefits of bar cookies, such as improving the functioning of heart health and blood circulation is driving the growth of the Cookies Market. The Drop Cookies segment held the second-largest share in 2020 owing to the factors such as the growing adoption of gluten free drop cookies and the rise in the research and development activities to develop drop cookies with innovative flavors.

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Cookies Market Segment Analysis-By Distribution Channel

The Cookies Market based on the Distribution Channel can be further segmented into Hypermarkets/Supermarkets, Online Channels, Convenience Stores, and Others. The Hypermarkets/Supermarkets segment held the largest share in 2020 owing to the factors such as the increase in the inclination towards buying cookies like snickerdoodles in supermarkets/hypermarkets and the rise in the investment by the key players in supermarkets in emerging countries, such as India and China. The easy availability of choice of flavor in supermarkets is driving the growth of the Cookies Market. The Online Channels segment is estimated to  be the fastest-growing segment with a CAGR of 6.1% over the period 2021-2026. This growth is owing to the factors such as the growing awareness about the cost-effectiveness and accessibility of buying various cookies through online channels and the rise in shift towards sedentary lifestyle among the young population.

Cookies Market Segment Analysis-By Geography

North America held the largest share with 31% of the overall market in 2020. The growth in this segment is owing to the factors such as the growing demand for oatmeal raisin bar cookies among the young population and an increase in product launches by key players. The increase in the inclination towards buying cookies like snickerdoodles is driving the growth of the Cookies Market. Asia-Pacific segment is estimated to be the fastest-growing segment over the period 2021-2026. The growth in this segment is owing to the factors such as the rise in the demand for cookies in tea and coffee shops in developing nations and growing investment by the key players to develop healthier cookies.

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Cookies Market Drivers

Increase in the Demand for Healthier Cookies.

Customers across the world are increasingly becoming health conscious and are shifting towards gluten free cookies owing to the rise in the number of chronic diseases. The key players are also focusing on launching healthier oatmeal raisin cookies and snickerdoodles with natural flavors, which is one of the major factors driving the growth of the Cookies Market.

Rise in the number of Tea and Coffee Shops.

The rise in the number of tea and coffee shops across the world has propelled the demand for cookies owing to the growing demand from customers. The manufacturers are also attracting customers in tea and coffee shops with innovative and healthier product launches, which is further propelling the growth of the Cookies Market.

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Cookies Market Challenges

Rise in the Availability of Alternative Products.

The key players in the market are collaborating with other players to carry out various research and development activities for launching innovative flavored cookies to attract the younger population across the world. However, the rise in the availability of alternative products, such as biscuits and chocolates is one of the major factors that is estimated to reduce the growth of the Cookies Market.

Cookies Market Competitive Landscape:

Product launches, mergers and acquisitions, joint ventures, and geographical expansions are key strategies adopted by players in the Cookies Market. Key companies of this market are Nestle SA, Mondelez International, Inc, Campbell Soup Co, Kellog Co, Britannia Industries, United Biscuits Limited Co, Grupo Bimbo, Barilla Group, Parle Products, and Kraft Foods among others.

Partnerships/Product Launches:

In February 2021, Nestle SA has launched new Milkybar Cookies that offers a tasty twist and a creamier filling that immediately melts in the mouth. The cookie is available in two sizes and the bags are filled to the brim with smooth white chocolate bites.

In January 2020, Mondelez International, Inc has launched Cadbury Chocobakes cookies to deliver a unique and delightful experience for young customers and to empower consumers by providing them with more choices and innovative eating experiences.

In April 2019, Kellogg Company has entered into a partnership with the Ferrero Group and its related companies to sell selected cookies, pie crusts, and ice cream cones to reshape the portfolio to reduce the complexity, and focus on more targeted investment.

[mielmoto]

@dcviated [from here]

Careful now, Mr. Ragnvindr, or you'll really set the girl's head spinning.

Gifted as she was for gab, Honey was equally accustomed to the polite nods and sometimes-glassy eyes of listeners when she did get off on one of her usual tangents; even well-meaning friends and strangers, alike, struggling to keep pace for as long as she could carry a thought. Far less familiar, then, was his sincere engagement– and a not-insonsiderable helping of praise in turn.

Flagrant praise! Not even thinly veiled behind the typical upper-class subtlety of others in his station! Hell, he even snuck a bit of humor in there— hello? What is happening right now?

❝ ...Oh! Wow, uhm... Thank you? I mean: thank you, for sure— not a question– I'm... just not used to such a big compliment! ❞ Emphasized by how she bashfully raises one hand to cover a flushed cheek (Honey! bashful! what is the world coming to), and gets lost in another moment, smiling to herself as she carved the compliments into memory. Wow, indeed. Snapping back to it, though, she softly clears her throat: ❝ Well, I have been known to make the rare batch of soju and some other spirits from home... but you know I would never dream of making a rival out out of you, Mr. Ragnvindr~! Personally, I think some sort of formal 'long-term partnership'–  ❞ ("possibly legally binding and also possibly matrimonial" is implied), ❝ –would be so much more beneficial. But, anyways, ❞

Honey brushes past her teasing before it can simmer too long and possibly earn the usual wearied expression; reaching back into the display cabinet and lifting out the rest of the "winning" pastry, quickly nestling it into its own pretty to-go box. A paper charm– one for "good health," in this case– is popped along the edge, to seal it closed; officially ready for travel; then she scoops up the returned plate with one hand, and places the box in the same spot with the other.

❝ It's 11,700 for the torte, and approximately... hm, three mora on top, for the rest– samples are free, silly! That's, like, the whole point of 'sampling.' And if you try to pay me more out of the goodness of your handsome little heart I won't have it, so don't even try. ❞

[princessnijireiki]

had to include this reply for the absolute vibe • @astralikacastle

Humor me, Tumblr,

Your extremely nerfed fairy godmother appears and offers to magically resurrect one discontinued corporate food item for you, in perpetuity.

What do you ask her for?

Personally I'm still pining for peanut chexmix.

[mediumsizedpidegon]

Another avenue I want to explore in an Amity Park is Weird scenario is all the niche sub-cultures going on.

There is absolutely NO WAY there isn't a thriving goth community in Amity Park. They're holding picnics every full moon. They're holding crafting sessions in their friends' basements. They're adopting ghost animals left and right: eight-legged dogs and blob-cats, skeletal fish and neon bearded dragons.

There's a young man called Raphael who performs live music every week at a dance club with his band: he's got a myriad of shiny piercings, and a phone camera roll full of his rabbits, Morningstar and Salem. Perhaps those ghosts are bad business like the Fentons say, but the club's never felt more alive.

The scene and emo kids are multiplying at a rapid rate. The punks and grunge folks are doing shit with textiles that makes every quilting grandmother in a five mile radius swoop in to pass on their skills. Josie and Betty, old friends who periodically upload photos online of their handmade lace, suddenly gain an influx of young folks who want to learn how to make their own ghoulish patterns.

There's a new group peeling off from the goths that dress like the embodiment of Halloween– all bones, pumpkin orange and lengths of costume jewelry.

The historical costuming community is alive and well in these times, and they fall upon the few ghosts from times past willing to share knowledge like starving wolves. Their minds are full of patterning-math and fabric prices, and their excitement is, quite literally, infectious.

A revolution starts up in food service: a great many restaurants closed or moved to follow the many people who left Amity after the ghosts first came. A pair of brothers open a restaurant that has the best Polish food around: people politely don't comment on how the owners are dressed in clothes a century out of date or how their eyes gleam. Two cat cafes open, one space themed and another with loose definitions of what counts as a "cat." Assorted coffee and tea shops dot the landscape: some serve donuts, some have cupcakes, and others have breakfast wraps, sandwiches or savory hand pies.

People that can't afford to open a restaurant sell food out of their homes, advertised by cardboard signs with phrases like CAKES FOR $10, and BARBEQUE RIBS FOR SALE painted on them in gigantic bright letters. High school students bring in bags of cookies they made the night before and completely sell out of stock before the day is done. One woman's house has no signage and yet is known by word of mouth to be a herbalist, selling tins of homemade tea blends, flowers, assorted plant clippings, and cough drops.

Someone down the street of Casper High sells small batches of eco-friendly soap at a nearby corner store.

During summer time, lemonade stands are everywhere. Some of the lemonade is made with the strange fruits from one of the parks: no one dies, so it's fine.

The Farmer's Market has gotten... intense.

[nanamis-bigtie]

lucid love

↬ kinktober 2024 x voting event | round 1

cw: fantasy elements in modern setting, smut, sexual dreams, fictional stimulants, reader with a vagina, BDSM & dark themes present in some rounds, aged up characters available as options in some votings, further warnings vary by story summary: lucid love! the latest fashion on the eropotion market and the absolute must have of everyone you know! a collection of potions providing realistic and vivid erotic dreams has gone viral and become almost unavailable in regular sale. a little potionary in the red-light district is your last hope for finally getting a taste of the most wanted product this october a/n: happy kinktober y'all! little birds chirped you wanted more voting events 💅 this time the game will be a little simpler - you will know characters and know what to expect from each option. i can't promise though it will be easier to choose 🤭 voting and more details at the end of post!

It's so…average. Looks like any other potionary.

It takes you aback at first. You've expected something rather extraordinary, befitting a building located in the red-light district—instead, you're standing in front of a shop that could be easily mistaken for a pharmacy. You even take a double look at Google Maps. The address checks, so does the neon magenta potionist emblem, neatly slotted between signs hung over sex shops, massage parlors and love hotels all around. 

The door is heavy and announces your arrival with an old school bell. Potionary is more spacious than you assumed from the window display, almost soundproof, replacing the street noise with soft jazz music. There's a distinct sweet vanilla smell in the air; you inhale deep, your confusion and uncertainty in no time replaced with relaxation. A simple sensory stimulant, a popular booster trick used in almost all shops nowadays. 

Woman behind the counter peels eyes off a book and stubs her cigarette into a pocket ashtray. She's really pretty despite dark circles under her eyes and intimidating aura surrounding her. At the first glance you know she's not someone to mess with, even if short and petite; she must be a mage, and not just an average amateur mage you can usually meet in potion shops, but a true magic master, maybe even the head behind this business.

The name tag on her white coat doesn't ring any bells, though. Shoko Ieiri. Vibrant, easy to remember.

"Welcome." Her voice is dry, and she speaks a little too silent, forcing you to lean towards her over the counter. "What can I interest you with today?"

Hangover treatment, sexual potency boosters, aphrodisiacs, soft hallucinogens—this is the usual merchandise sold in potionaries from the red-light areas. But you're looking for something else, something you're not even sure if it's currently offered. You tried in three different shops already, three times sold out & no idea when the delivery is coming. Demand is huge, the factory can't follow the appetite of customers, and the prices from the private sellers break records on amazon. 

"Do you maybe have—" 

Half of the sentence in, Shoko's face turns from disinterested to mildly curious. She coils a strand of hair around her finger and smiles, "Lucid Love, right?"

As you nod, she presses a button under the counter. In no time another woman peeks out the backroom, bows at you awkwardly.

"Take the register for me." She moves to the back, then motions you to enring the counter. "And you, come with me."

There's another room, protected by a code lock, small and cluttered. Scents and music don't sneak here, space is filled with shadows and shelves, packed to the brim with boxes and folders. Shoko maneuvers through this labyrinth with ease, leading you to an armchair hidden in a cozy corner. Table lamp provides more light, there's a plate with complimentary cookies and an instant potion kettle, an older, almost vintage, model.

"You're in luck, I'm in good contact with the main designer, so I got a hold on quite an interesting stash extra." Shoko turns the kettle on for you. Waters inside swirls and bubbles, turning from clear to violet within seconds.

"Is the price also…extra?"

"Whom do you take me for?" She laughs. "This is a legal business; I can't sell it above the price tag."

You're handed a mug with the company logo, "It's herbs, dried fruits and a splash of relaxing solution. Clean and organic. Treat yourself."

Drink is sweet, floral and hot—but not hot enough to burn your tongue. When you lean to pour yourself more, you spot a fatigued leaflet folded and hooked under the kettle. 

You peel it out for a closer look.

"Will it be to go or—" Shoko watches you intently. Not until then you realized that the armchair can be spread and morphed into a makeshift bed. 

"Oh, no, I'll test it at my own place."

She doesn't say anything, just leaves you to your own thoughts, to fumble in one of the shelves behind your back. 

"Have you ever tried Lucid Love? Or a similar hallucinogen?" A sudden question makes you flinch. Silence and a tasty, relaxing drink have dulled your senses and let your mind drift away.

"No, never." Potions influencing dreams haven't really grasped your interest before Lucid Love became viral. It wasn't the first of its kind, but it grew in popularity so fast and gathered so many ecstatic reviews that you just couldn't stop the seed of curiosity from growing. You still fought quite long against it, but once you gathered enough spare funds for treats and nights started growing longer and colder… Temptation has become too unbearable to resist.

"Any special interests? Fetishes?" The clatter of boxes and folders move towards left and Shoko's gaze meets yours when you look over your shoulder. 

"None that I can think of now."

"Since it's your first time—" She eventually pulls a thick binder out. "—I'd recommend something simple and well-tried."

She flicks the pages over too fast for you to follow but you recognize the familiar pattern of Lucid Love label and logo. You take a closer look once she finally stops; the folder is full of leaflets describing offered dream scenarios, varying in colors and content warning symbols.

"Those are from last year, the second released collection." Shoko hands you the chosen three. "100% positive reviews. I tested a few from this line myself, they do hit the spot."

Even the paper is magically derived, soft and velvety in your fingers, promising the softest and most pleasant sensations. It takes you a while to focus on text instead. As much as it's tempting to buy all three of them, knowing the tricks of magic stimulants, you took only as much cash as needed for only one.

It may be a difficult choice—but it needs to be made. 

There are 45 prompt & character(s) combos divided into 15 votings, 3 options to choose from per each round. Option with the highest number of votes wins.

This way, you will choose 15 kinktober fics: one shots on shorter (below 2k words) side. Themes vary, from very vanilla, through kink and fetishes, towards dark content and monsterfucking. Everyone will (hopefully) find something for themself 😤

Prompts were selected from my private drafts and are partially pre-written, so I hope I can keep the ~24h per fic tempo, however I don't promise anything. My goal is to fit everything in October, stretching it no further than half of November - but only time will show!

If you don't want to miss fic posting time and next votings, you can ask to be added to a tag list! I'll try to keep more or less the same time of publication (so, 3pm CET) but I can't promise I will always fit there.

Before you ask - I'm not sure if all of the losing options will be eventually written. Some of them for sure, since I've been itching for working with them for a while now, but I often abandon drafts for no reason. So, again, no promises. It's better to fight hard for your favorite option, agenda and voting suasion is encouraged ;)

i'm super excited for this kinktober! and i hope y'all will enjoy the ride the same 🤭

[iliveforyouilongforyouvesuvia]

Portia who, having spent the majority of her life with grandmothers, acts like one herself when she's not thinking about it.

"Tsk"ing if you get out of the bath and don't dry your hair right away

Keeping candies in her bag at all times for any random child she encounters

Idly gossiping in the kindest, most nurturing tone as she absolutely rips someone to shreds with her roasts

Still purchasing random sweaters two sizes too large for Julian every fall so he "has room to grow into it"

One day she finds two wicker rocking chairs in the market at a steal of a price and the moment she sets them out on her porch she's reached peak grandmotherhood. She and Pepi spend hours outside in the sun on her days off, rocking leisurely as she covers her lap with the third crocheted blanket of the month for her coworker's new baby and sips from her (spiked) cup of tea.

You'd tease her for it, but the matching rocking chair is so comfy and the cookies she baked are so scrumptious and the way Pepi purrs like a motor on your shoulder is too perfect to disturb.

[tokoyamisstuff]

gn! Reader | no warnings

Alucard

Walter

All dates take place after nightfall of course, letting you participate in his world.

He chooses a rather intimate setting, appreciating a good wine and deep conversation over anything fancy. Is a surprisingly great dancer and there's no room for discussion, you will get swirled around by him in a close waltz.

Shows you incredible places no human has ever set eyes upon, and loves to entertain you with his powers. It's nice using them for something good for a change...

Doesn't let you lift a finger and is always at your service. No need to feel bad, it's a pleasure to him.

Anderson

I imagine him being very active for his age. Will take you hiking or doing other challenging activities as bonding time. Is very fond of nature in general, probably does a picknick, stargazing or even swimming at a secluded lake.

Is a creature of habit, having favourite places to spend the evenings with you. People in there will all know you since you come so regulary.

To him, just about anything counts as a date as long as you're together. Likes to take long walks or just reading besides each other.

Unlike his usual impression he's a sophisticated man so shall he plan something, it'll probably be an art gallery or a cultural monument (preferably churches or other religious things).

He also enjoys corny stuff like christmas markets and classes where you handcraft stuff, pottery for example. Is horrible at it but will gift you the results anyways.

Maxwell

Free time is scarce to this workaholic, but he tries to make the most of it and spend every single second with you.

Luke Valentine

Man's exhausted, so he'd choose a spa day to relax together. Books one of those rooms with a whirlpool and other conveniences just for the two of you.

He won't talk much but actions say more than words, this man loves to indulges you in any way.

Jan Valentine

Treats you like a celebrity. Getting seen and showing you around are his top priority.

He's a very public-spirited person so expect to always be somewhere lively. Picks out what you wear and makes you meet lots of new people. Also loves showing you the world, taking you to different countries just for a day.

Puts a lot of effort in outwards appearance and reputation, but every date ends calm with just the two of you.

The Captain

There's not a single romantic cell in this body. Would probably visit a club going all out and stay in bed fucking you stupid the whole next day. That's it, that's his ideal date.

Be vocal about what you wish for and give clear instructions, then he'll gladly prepare whatever's on your mind.

Likes to brag, so you'd probably do stuff like bowling or him winning prices for you. Is the kind of guy who loudly declares his love for his amazing partner to anyone who didn't ask.

The Major

Not being very sociable he prefers staying at home. Brings you breakfast in bed and the two of you will stay in cozy clothes or naked the whole day.

Enjoys doing domestic stuff, for example simply playing card games, watching comfort shows or baking cookies. A taste of normalcry feels absolutely wonderful to him.

Will be very touchy the whole time, always needing his hands somewhere on your body.

This is a well prepared man. Knows it all and plans everything according to your taste.

If you let him decide, he'd definetly knows some special restaurants with great view or atmosphere. Books it out completely so you'll have privacy. With him you'll definetly feel special and listened to.

His hobbies include very old movies/history documentaries, building miniature models and hunting. Like in the literal sense shooting animals in the wild. Wouldn't force you to participate but it'd mean a lot if you at least show interest.

[unicorncornflakes]

Family Sins - One Shot || Modern!Aemond Targaryen x Reader

Paring: Reader x Aemond Targaryen.

Summary: Every Thursday afternoon you and Aemond meet, even if you have to pay for his family's sins.

Tags: Alternate Universe/ Emotional Hurt/Angst/ Drama & Romance/ Eventual Smut.

Warnings: I am just sad. This is the best I can write these days.

Author´s note:  Pls, enjoy! Feedback, shares and comments are always welcome!

Word Count: 4.2 K

You were soaked to the skin. All your clothes were loose. But, you were still pretty. It was all Aemond could think when he saw you walking through the aisles of that roadside gas station. He followed you with his eye while you consulted the prices of a small cocoa bun. Your black sweatshirt was soaked all over while your damp hair was tied up in a ragged bun. Your black-painted nails grazed some of the price signs as you put the small dessert back in its place and grabbed a cheaper one. You smiled at him as he followed you closely and he picked up the same product that you had left in its place. You didn't talk, Aemond wasn't given to too many words and you were tired from the rain. But, storms always made you happy. It was something Aemond could never understand, but he shared with you.

Outside, at that small gas station in the middle of the forest, it was still raining. Only Aemond's gray Mercedes and the old bicycle that your mother had given you two birthdays ago were parked at the door. You always pedaled five kilometers to meet Aemond. Every Thursday afternoon. He came directly from the city and was waiting for you, drinking a coffee that he always considered awful while you arrived. He always thought he could go find you. Pick you up at the door of your house and take you to a better place. But, that would have been giving you greater importance than you really should have for him. Although, you had driven him crazy. That was all he could think every time he saw you arrive at that place on your bicycle. In summer you always arrived with your short shorts, in winter with your military boots.

On that rainy autumn afternoon, you arrived with that huge black sweatshirt that must have been borrowed, courtesy of your older brother, surely. Or that was what Aemond thought as he followed you through that small commissary that the gas station had. The idea that that sweatshirt belonged to a man other than your brother drove him crazy, so he preferred to think that it belonged to your brother. It made things easier for him. You looked at a series of cookies one last time and left them in their place.

Aemond continued to follow you at a safe distance. You looked at him out of the corner of your eye while you laughed. The two of them alone in that place. Thus, things seemed easier than they really were. Everything was simpler when you were alone.

You walked up to the register and opened the small cloth bag hanging from your back. You took out that cat-shaped purse that Aemond had bought you at a market in Flea Bottom. Also soaked, you opened it, careful not to break it while you counted the coins that that strawberry bun that you had left on the counter cost. Right behind you, Aemond also placed the cocoa puff you had chosen earlier and took the elegant black leather wallet out of his pants. Unlike you, he wasn't wet. His hair was immaculate and his clothes looked as always, well ironed and freshly washed. That black turtleneck sweater he was wearing that day, you knew, cost the same as what it took to eat at home for a whole week.

“Give me a pack of Lucky Strike too,” he said diligently as the cashier looked you up and down. Aemond also dropped a package of condoms on the counter and you blushed while he simply prepared to pay with his credit card. Two small buns. A pack of tobacco. A package of condoms…

Rob, the cashier, looked over his shoulder at you as he charged Aemond for that purchase. He was your neighbor and you were sure that he knew what you and Aemond were going to do that rainy afternoon. You left the store with the strawberry muffin even before Aemond finished paying, although it was clear that you preferred the chocolate one.

He looked at you through the huge glass doors of that gas station and wondered if it wasn't better to give you the treatment you deserved. However, he simply took the condoms and tobacco in one hand, that chocolate bun in the other and went outside. The water continued to fall hard and you were leaning against the door frame. It fell so hard from the ledge that it soaked your torn canvas sneakers, even though the rest of your body was trying to regain heat. Aemond gave you the cocoa puff and you reluctantly took it. You knew what awaited you at home that night because of that simple gesture that was intended to be kind on Aemond's part.

“I could have bought it,” you said without much encouragement, taking down your backpack from your back and putting the condoms and both buns in it. You looked at Aemond, who remained stoic and unfazed as always.

“You would have bought the strawberry one because it's the only thing you can afford and because you need to eat something,” he responded, shrugging his shoulders and opening the packet of tobacco. “This way you will eat something you like,” he said out loud, making the difference between him and you evident: he always paid with a credit card, it seemed like his money was created out of nowhere. You always carried coins in your bag and you never bought what you wanted because you simply didn't have the money for it.

“I guess,” you answered, not daring to look at him. Aemond approached you and finally kissed you. All of his slim, slender body against yours. The height difference was considerable. He just grabbed your face in his hands, his lips making contact with yours in a sweet and passionate way. You held his wrists, as if you always needed an anchor to the ground every time he kissed you. That kiss, surrounded by the storm, was observed under the disapproving gaze of that gas station cashier in the middle of nowhere. The rain threatened to soak you, but you didn't care.

As always, in the middle of all your kisses, Aemond opened his only eye, almost wanting to check that you were real, and not a simple fantasy of his imagination. He always slowly closed his eye again as your lips continued to crash against each other.

At the end of that silent kiss, Aemond took your hand, without looking back, and opened the passenger door for you in the rain. You quickly got into the car and Aemond ran to the driver's seat in the rain. You saw how his hair had now become wavy and he gave a half smile when he saw how you smiled silently, tiredly resting your head on the seat. “I could take the bike and put it in the trunk. Take you home after the motel,” he confessed, not daring to look at you. At that moment, he wanted to go further with you, beyond what he wanted to admit.

"No, do not worry. Then just leave me here and go. I’ll go home from here on the bike,” you told him, not daring to look at him either. You grabbed one of the wet, unruly strands covering your face and tucked it behind your ear. “I don't want my parents to know where I've been this afternoon,” you confessed dejectedly. You knew they would find out before nightfall, just when Rob walked through the door of your father's bar, the nerve center of the town where you lived.

“As you wish,” Aemond responded as the engine roared just started. He turned on his car radio. It only played classical music and you wondered as always if Aemond listened to anything else or the high cultural esteem in which you knew he was held prevented him from doing so. “I bought you other sneakers,” he whispered while keeping his eyes on the road. The windshield wipers of his car moving frantically in the face of such an amount of water.

“It wasn't necessary,” you responded, biting your inner cheek. You hated that he did that. You hated that he bought you everything you needed. You knew he did it for a simple reason: to hold your meetings every Thursday afternoon. As if you were a prostitute, Aemond bought everything he thought or felt you needed. It was his way of keeping you by his side. The only language of love that seemed to know how to offer, understand… “My sneakers are fine,” you said, looking at them. Destroyed and torn. That was all they were.

“They were just on sale,” he responded, putting the issue to rest. His voice always seemed to be devoid of all emotion. Sometimes you wondered if Aemond knew how to feel anything other than indifference or anger, but you knew he did. Every Thursday afternoon he demonstrated it to you. Always in the solitude of that motel room that he reserved for a few simple hours. The radio interrupted the broadcast to talk again about another urgent environmental disaster and Aemond turned it off.

Both you and he knew it was what was going to be talked about. You could see him tense up as he drove. And you directed your body towards his, releasing the seat belt. You bit your lip hesitantly as you brought his body closer to his, one of your hands gripping his seat. The other traveled to Aemond's fly.

“Hmm” was all you heard him say as your hand slowly lowered the zipper. The metallic sound of each and every one of the teeth that made it up exploded against your ears, just like the sound of the rain in the now silent interior of that high-end car. You unbuckled his belt and your hand quickly found his cock in his pants, hard and warm, soft and firm. You bit your lip seductively as you took her out of those extremely expensive underwear. “I don't want to have to give explanations at a police checkpoint like last time,” he answered, without taking his eyes off the road. Grabbing your hand with his as the other grabbed the steering wheel. “Don't be mean to me, (Y/N),” he asked you under his breath.

“I just wanted you to relax,” you whispered sensually and he smiled again without looking at you, although you never knew if when Aemond smiled he was truly happy. You returned to your seat and watched as he quickly buttoned his pants again. “If you don't like it…” you purred and he interrupted you.

“Hmm, I didn't say that,” he repeated again, remembering the fine he had had to pay and how your cheeks had blushed the most while that police officer asked you what your relationship was and forced you to take out your ID card to verify that You were actually nineteen years old and no less. Aemond was six years older than you at the time, but he had always looked older than he really was. He remembered telling the police officer that you were a couple and how you had looked at the ground in regret as those words came out of his mouth. The following Thursday you had not shown up, nor the next one. Three weeks later you came back with a very bad-looking bump between your ribs that you promised was the result of a bad fall on the bike. He knew you had lied, but stating it out loud would have meant never seeing you again.

You finally arrived at that roadside motel and Aemond left you in the car while he went to the reception to get the keys to room thirteen, the one he reserved every Thursday. You received a message from your mother asking if you needed her to pick you up after your study hours at the library. You answered no because you were carrying the bike. You lied to her again. You turned off the phone and closed your eyes. You could understand why your parents didn't want you to see Aemond, but it really wasn't his fault…

He woke you from your thoughts as he opened the car door. You walked out next to him and he held your hand again. You ran through the rain until you reached the second floor of the motel. He clumsily opened the door and you both walked in laughing and soaked. Aemond kissed you again, closing the bedroom door behind you. Holding your face again, with no escape. Your bodies swayed together in that room that had witnessed your meetings for the last two years.

You could hear him gasp as he kissed you. You broke away from his grasp and took off your soaked sweatshirt, which fell heavy to the floor. You also took off your wet shorts and were left in your underwear. Cold and shivering, Aemond covered you with his body, though he was almost as wet as you. You took off his eye patch and he laid you on the bed.

He smiled bright and powerful, like you knew he really felt about almost everyone. He was a Targaryen. He took off his turtleneck and you could see the symbol that already named him as such. The tattoo was fresh on his skin. A green and black dragon on his shoulder. Detailed to excess and you knew it named him as someone important within the family and business, criminal and legal structure. You didn't dare ask, even though he knew you knew the meaning. Your sister had explained it to you when Aegon received his. Years ago, you had both been naïve enough to think that type of tattoo was exciting and powerful. Your sister had been a fool. You weren't on a different path.

Aemond's arms supported his entire weight as he lunged at you to kiss you. His pants though on but his belt undone. He had never been a subtle boy. He smiled at you proudly and cockily, he almost seemed to know what you were thinking. He was dying to tell you that just two days ago he had given him the tattoo, that he had stood stoically and without any emotion while it was done, but his heart had been beating strongly, as if this were finally the moment of approval that he had been waiting for all his life.

He kiss you. His lips met with strength and need. They eagerly bumped into yours. A watery sound. A pleasant shiver ran down his spine, like every time he kissed you. You knew there wouldn't be much more foreplay.

He stayed silent over you. His single eye scrutinized you while the prosthesis remained immovable in that empty eye socket. He had never told you what had happened to him. He would never do it. You had heard rumors, but... His eye continued to look at you in silence. You looked beautiful with your hair wet, all spread out against the pillow, your eyes locked on his, a half smile on your lips.

His thumb brushed your bottom lip gently. Comfortable silence reigned in that cheap motel room. The gray walls. The simple sheets. That sad blind half lowered. The complete scene of your meetings every Thursday afternoon. “I love you,” Aemond confessed in a whisper. Your eyes appeared to offer a small surprise upon hearing him. He felt your entire body stiffen under him. It was the riskiest confession he could make to you. However, he was happy. At that moment, he was happy after a long time. “I love you” he repeated again with more force, as if he wanted to reaffirm his words.

His lips found yours again and you relaxed at the attention. You were in big trouble if Aemond confessed something like that, but it was really what you wanted him to do. Confess that way, with you, and only you. He lightly bit your lower lip with a smile, trying to relax you. Your hands ran up his arms as you kissed. The hand traveling on his right shoulder tried to avoid the dragon tattoo. Aemond was beginning to follow in his older brother's footsteps... You thought, you always thought that he was not that kind of man... but, he craved power like everyone else, right?

Aemond's always skillful fingers undid your panties, removing them heavy from not only the humidity of the rain that had soaked everything. You were too. Your core throbbing and waiting for a simple contact with him. An arrogant smile appeared on his lips when he saw the small soaked grotto, as if his mere presence already activated all the keys you needed. You smiled shyly at him and he kissed you again.

Your bodies merged in an embrace that promised to be eternal. You felt Aemond's cock hard, eager for what he always got when he was with you. The bright red tip protruded through the elastic of his boxers and you licked your lips in a reflex and subconscious act that Aemond was always grateful for. Seeing your wet lips and bright eyes, he could only think that you were perfect, terribly perfect.

“I'm going to get the condoms,” you whispered, a feeling of regret running through your head, as if those words had ruined everything. The atmosphere that had existed until that moment seemed to have almost disappeared and you felt his grip loosen.

“Sure” It was all he said as he stood up and took off his pants and boxers. He didn't dare look at you because he thought that afternoon was finally the moment you would leave him... bareback. He had confessed. He had done it... and you had been taking contraceptives for a year, he had no more sexual encounters than the ones he had with you... he looked at you out of the corner of his eye, crouched down rummaging through your bag, looking for the packcage that he had bought himself. You had never talked about it, but… “I'm not my brother, you know?” He whispered, looking back ahead, not daring to look at you. “If something happened, I would…”

You interrupted him by returning to bed with a condom and leaving it between the sheets while you lay on your side and he turned to look at you. “You know we can't take risk,” you told him as he went back to the bed and grabbed the wrapper. You didn't point anything out but it always made you nervous that he would tear it with his teeth. He put it on silently and positioned himself between your legs. He looked into your eyes and, for the first time, you saw an authoritative gleam behind them, almost as if that damn tattoo had changed him.

“I'm not my brother,” he repeated again under his breath. He entered you forcefully, without breaking eye contact. Your legs surrounded your hips and you moaned at that impact with such violence that it caused his testicles to collide against the slit of your pussy. You closed your eyes and didn't say anything. The sins of his family would always be present among you.

“I'm just saying that family is destroying the town.” Old Tom was sitting at the bar while your father cleaned it. It was late, but he kept moving that old rag against the bar. His eyes filled with worry as he waited for you. He knew where you had been. He knew what you had done. He had always thought of you as a smarter girl than your sister, but it was clear that you were not.

“Once again they have polluted the river with waste from the plant,” said Clark. His mug of beer met his lips. Your father knew where you had been, Rob had told him before he went home. His face had turned gloomy just then. “Those damned Targaryens…”

Just then, all the voices fell silent in the town bar. You had just walked through the door, soaked to the skin. You had pedaled there from the gas station in the rain, even though Aemond had insisted on giving you a ride home. You couldn't let your father see you with him, although when his accusatory eyes fell on you, you knew he knew. Everyone tried to return to their previous conversation as your steps led you to the bar. There a boy with white hair painted in silence. You sat next to him and saw your sister's son painting a green dragon. You were surprised to see him there. Normally the child was always well hidden at home.

“They are just destroying lives. That's the only thing they know how to do…” Tom attacked again. Clark agreed and your father approached in silence, trying to pretend he didn't know, but he knew, of course he knew.

“Your mom had to go pick up your brother… Why don't you join Greg for dinner?” your father whispered as the four year old was still engrossed in his drawing. You scooped up the little boy, who clutched the paper in his hand as you walked up the back stairs.

Your house was on the second floor of your father's business. The metal steps creaked under your weight, but your father's eyes exerted a greater weight on you. He would never tell you anything. He hadn't told your sister before he died either, but the Targaryens had destroyed his life, the life of the people in that place... your life.

Greg stared blankly as you dressed him in his pajamas after dinner. Sitting on your bed, his purple eyes seemed empty and innocuous. It had always been like this. Consciousness never seemed to have reached that unwanted child. You ruffled his hair, almost expecting a smile, but he just fixed his eyes on you. Empty and deep. As if he knew everything and nothing at the same time. You sat down next to him and took off the new sneakers Aemond had forced you to accept.

“Today I saw a dragon,” you commented, also staring at the wall. The boy turned his head slightly. His huge eyes fixed on you. The stories you always told him seemed to be the only ones that woke him up from his lethargic state. “A green dragon, like the one you were painting,” you smiled at him and his eyes seemed to get even bigger.

Greg's real name was Aeron, courtesy of your sister and his father, Aegon Targaryen. Your sister had been stupid enough to get pregnant by that rebellious boy and die in childbirth, leaving her son alone. Your parents had wanted Aegon to keep the child, but it had been impossible. A child who was not like the others, a dragon locked in a home where they were hated. Greg. It was a much better name according to your father. Your grandfather had been called that.

The Targaryens had destroyed the town with the pollution emitted by their businesses, both legal and illegal, and your entire family. And you… you had fallen in love with one of them.

Greg ended up falling asleep with you while you waited for your mother and brother. Your father always closed the bar late, but it wasn't normal for them to take so long to come back. Something must have happened...

At midnight, the lock on the front door clicked and you went out into the hallway to see if your brother and mother were finally arriving. However, that was a big mistake.

“Be thankful they're not going to press charges,” your mother's words echoed throughout the house, no doubt she was scolding your brother. He uttered something incomprehensible in the state he was in. At the time, you didn't know it, but your older brother was in trouble with Aegon again... bloody knuckles. His lost look. The split lip. While you had made love with Aemond, Gregory had punched Aegon to death.

You stood petrified, contemplating him in silence. Just then he located you. “You're a whore who sells herself for a simple cocoa roll,” he whispered. He had never told you anything like that. He, unlike your father, had always known how to hide his anger towards you. But, that night was the one that changed everything.

“Gregory, stop it,” your mother scolded him, knowing before you what he had in mind, after all she had given birth to him… Gregory pounced on you. “Gregory!!!” your mother shouted it. His bloody nails dug into your brother's skin as he hit you while you fell to the ground.

Your father had only hit you that one time... only that one time... was all you could think as you received one blow after another. He grabbed your hair, stretched your neck, and choked you until you were unconscious... The Targaryens had destroyed everything you cared about... and the only thing you could think about was that Aemond would be angry when he saw your body full of bruises... The enormous Greg's eyes watched everything in silence. That child had only seen violence in his life.

The Targaryens always destroyed everything, and Aemond and the tattoo he now had on his shoulder were proof of that.

[tassjis]

Small Copper - 10 lion Medium Copper - 100 lion Large Copper - 1,000 lion Small Silver - 10,000 lion Large Silver - 100,000 lion Small Gold - 1,000,000 lion Large Gold - 10,000,000 lion

---

30 Fruit on the market <100 Payment for ordinary handiwork

---

100 Shumil Feystone 100 Effa paid Lutz 200 Payment per flower part of a hair stick 500 Payment for making a mass-produced hairpin

---

1,000 2 mugs of Behelle and some sausages in Ebb's bar 1,100 Hair ornaments with an express fee 2,000 Stone slate and one slate pencil 3,000 Initial price set for a mass-produced hairpin 6,000 A used calculator 8,000 Myne took home after selling her first sheets of paper 8,000-10,000 Ralph's monthly salary

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10,000 10 cookies sold at the Harpsiel concert 10,000 Given to each soldier escorting grey priests to Hasse 10,000 Cost per hair stick arranged for the girls in the Ehrenfest dorm to wear as a promotion 20,000 postcard-sized parchment 20,000 postcard-sized Volrin paper 30,000 profit from Frida's hair sticks (split between Lutz and Myne) 40,000 postcard-sized Trombe paper 40,000 A bottle of writing ink 40,000 Initial price for one of Freida's hair sticks 50,000 registration for the Myne Workshop 50,000 - 70,000 planned price for Reversi and Playing cards 60,000 Frieda's twin hairpins

---

100,000 An apprentice uniform for Gilberta Co. 100,000 contract-sized parchment 100,000 contract-sized Volrin paper 100,000 minimum monthly wage for a Math and Writing Tutor - Three 1 bell lessons per week 100,000 Monthly salary of a gatekeeper (Gunther's Salary) 160,000 Myne's share of the 5 small gold donated to the temple 200,000 Given to the guards for handling an unexpected Clarrisa correctly 300,000 Monthly travel allowance paid to Italian restaurant chefs 300,000 Price for a Concert Program 300,000 Single colour poker set 400,000 Premium Reversi and playing cards 500,000 contract-sized Trombe paper 500,000 Monthly rental fee of an Italian chef 500,000 A Ferdinand portrait sold at the concert 500,000 Price of Karuta sold at the castle 500,000 - 800,000 Ticket price for low seats at the concert 800,000 Final price for a picture book

---

1,000,000 price per Italian restaurant recipe 1,000,000 Highest seats in the concert 1,000,000 A picture book sold at the castle 1,000,000 Coloured playing cards sold at the castle 1,000,000 Price paid on Brigette's dress 1,000,000 Damuel's reward for the raise angelicas grade squad 1,000,000 Previous Grey Priest price 1,000,000 Royal Academy's Library Registration fee 1,800,000 Initial price of the Children's Bible 2,000,000 Laynoble price for Rozeyne's Mana Compression Method 2,000,000+ A faulty magic tool that will break 2,800,000 Cost of the mana tool to save Myne 2,800,000 2.5 years of Gunther's annual income 3,000,000 Information Fee to improve Rinsham 3,000,000 Used Mana draining tool that has been overwritten twice 5,000,000 Commission for a new mana-draining tool (estimate) 5,000,000 Average price for a grey priest 5,000,000 exclusive rights to pound cake for a year 6,000,000 Production method for plant paper 8,000,000 Mednoble price for Rozemyne's Mana compression method

---

10,000,000 Mynes initial donation to the temple 17,000,000 Production method and rights to hair sticks 20,000,000 Archnoble price for Rozemynes Mana Compression method 22,000,000 price of grey priest Volk 30,000,000 deposit to borrow a book from the Royal Academy's library 30,000,000 Donations from the Tea Party 40,000,000-50,000,000 Price of a book 50,000,000 250 Trombe Paper (The size of a holy book) 128,600,000 profit from Ferdiand's concert (an undisclosed portion of this is considered "loose change" to Ferdinand) 180,000,000 estimated cost of transcribing and translating Dunklefelger's history

[mariacallous]

Ticketmaster has a dream. A dream that one day, it will be “pleased to have partnered with” your child’s school, making it “easier for you to buy tickets” to the nativity play. Which will henceforth be known as the nativity experience. But listen – Ticketmaster wants to make the whole process run more smoothly, freeing you up to connect with the performers you love (your kids) while being “gifted” the paper cup that forms part of the package in these platinum seats (the tiny chairs from the classroom).

No, none of the standard seat tickets are still available. But you can upgrade to the ultimate VIP package, meaning you have access to the Bethlehem lounge (the reception reading corner) an hour before the event. If you want to experience magic this Christmas, do remember to clear all cookies, have only one tab open, and prepare nevertheless to be ejected from the queue four hours in after being accused of being a computer, by a computer.

So yes: Ticketmaster. After the Oasis tickets horror show last weekend, the row about the ticketing website this week developed into such a horror show that you could probably sell tickets to it. And if you could, Ticketmaster surely would, having previously handled ticketing for such fan-facing events as the crucifixion and French Revolution guillotinings (mandatory purchase from one of our knitting concessions). Sadly, the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) doesn’t seem to recognise that rich heritage, opting to launch an investigation into Ticketmaster over Oasis ticket sales, “including how so-called ‘dynamic pricing’ may have been used”. Sarcastic scare-quotes: the CMA’s own.

I’m not saying the ticketing websites are quite simply the worst people in the world, even though I’d quite like to provoke Ticketmaster’s lawyer into writing a cease-and-desist letter listing much worse people from the 20th and 21st centuries. Listen, I already love this notional lawyer. Like a lot of people who draw a salary in his stratum of reality-laundering, he possibly tells himself he works in respectable business, but may be better off informing his parents he works in a more popular trade, like puppy-drowning or journalism.

Now, there are some companies in this world of ours that love to be talked about. But a feature of ticketing companies is that they don’t want anyone talking about them, because if people are talking, the talking is always bad. Nobody goes through a ticket purchase these days and wants to sing its praises. They get to the final scene of an absolute ring quest of an attempt to see an artist/show/ballgame they like, are faced with the last-minute news that, actually, their ticket is going to cost nearly three times as much as they thought, cycle through the five stages of grief while a little counter threatens to time them out, decide to pay the extra, and are left staring at the success screen thinking: “Fucking Ticketmaster.”

Obviously, it’s better if they say this on their own. Unfortunately for Ticketmaster, more and more people are saying it out loud, some of whom are the UK culture secretary, others of whom are the CMA, and the last of whom is the US attorney general, who in May launched a lawsuit against LiveNation-Ticketmaster seeking to break it up on grounds of “monopolisation and other unlawful conduct that thwarts competition in markets across the live entertainment industry”.

What its Department of Justice detractors don’t love about the firm is its ability to dictate to every part of the entertainment supply chain, from venues to artists to promoters, and that’s before you get into its role in the resale market. Unsurprisingly, this is not the vibe you get from the Ticketmaster website, which is a masterclass in that very particular self-pitying corporate tone. “The fees we charge,” it quavers, “are often the only revenue we get for making sure you can get the tickets to the events you love.” Oh no! Who’ll spare a thought for poor old Ticketmaster, simply trying to connect fans with their beloved artists, and surviving only on the coins thrown into its begging bowl? Counterpoint: this is a vast international firm headquartered in Beverly Hills, currently worth an estimated $22bn.

That’s enough cash to make you the proud licensee of some ultra-high-end euphemisms. “Processing fee”, “service fee”, “delivery fee” – truly it has 100 ways of saying “because-we-can fee”. If that feels like you accepting a wage for your job, then charging your boss a supplementary “doing my job” fee each time you feel you’re doing your job … try it, see how you get on! The fact is, Ticketmaster fees can be as high as 75% of the base price of the ticket. Arguably the worst euphemism of them all is “dynamic pricing”, which sounds buzzy and energetic, and something we’d all like to be involved in, until you realise that it means the £148 ticket you queued for hours for now costs £355 – and your favourite artist agreed it all via their management. Whatever they may now say (“Shut up”, in the case of Liam Gallagher.)

In the end, like most things with the word “experience” tacked on to them these days, the “fan experience” has become a soul-swallowing submission to getting rinsed and having to look grateful. But with so many hares now running on Ticketmaster and the practices of the wider ticketing industry, it would be nice to think we might be closer to better regulation in the interests of the customer. Record numbers of fans would buy tickets to that.

[cha-melodius]

Thanks to @rmd-writes, @indomitable-love, and @three-drink-amy for the tags to share my winter/holiday-themed fics! I'll be reblogging a couple of these that have their own cover art over the coming weeks, but this is a good excuse to collect them all in one place! I have... quite a few, especially after last year lol.

Red, White & Royal Blue

The Spirit of Giving T, 2.3k; Neighbors AU, Henry pisses Alex off by signing up to make enchiladas at their co-op holiday party.

May Your New Years Dreams Come True T, 3.1k; Office AU, Henry and Alex participate in a competition to see who can bring the hottest date to the office NYE party.

The Man from U.N.C.L.E.

You Must Be A Christmas Tree (You Light Up The Room) T, 20k; Roommates AU, Napoleon agrees to be Illya's fake boyfriend for his design house's holiday party.

The Makings of a Perfect Christmastime T, 22k; 1960s non-spy AU, a screwball romantic comedy of errors based on the 1945 movie Christmas in Connecticut.

In the Morse Code of the Brake Lights T, 18k; Modern AU, Napoleon and Illya are strangers who share a rental car across the country (and fall in love) after their flights are canceled, feat. demisexual Illya.

A Home for the Holidays G, 1.3k; Canon-setting, Napoleon and Illya decorate a Christmas tree (well, Napoleon decorates, Illya complains).

Consider the Price to an Elf G, 3.1k; Modern AU, Napoleon looks after his boss's daughter and gets a crush on Illya the mall-Santa photography elf.

Another Christmas Song (This Time I’ll Sing Along) G, 2.8k; Neighbors AU, Napoleon is extremely crabby about carolers and Illya starts serenading him through the wall.

How’s About Cookin’ Something Up With Me? T, 4.3k; Teachers AU, Napoleon helps Illya bake cookies for the annual staff holiday party.

Lokius

Got My Love to Keep Me Warm G, 1.3k; Canon-setting, Loki and Mobius get temporarily stuck at a German Christmas market.

Don We Now Our Gay Apparel G, 1.9k; Office AU, Loki and Mobius flirt at the ugly holiday sweater-themed holiday party.

Cold Light M, 3.7k; Modern AU, Loki & Mobius' lives become inextricably entangled when they meet on a deserted Norwegian road (truly just a winter fic and not a holiday one, but I'm including it anyway).

Not sure who has holiday themed fics who hasn't done this, but tagging @clottedcreamfudge, @dumbpeachjuice, @cricketnationrise, @14carrotghoul, @celaestis1, @welcometololaland, @everwitch-magiks, @myheartalivewrites, @leaves-of-laurelin, @nicijones, @loki-is-my-kink-awakening, @mirilyawrites, @heytheredeann, and literally anyone else who has written a holiday or winter-themed fic of any kind, please share the love and tag me!

[sangoqueenkoko]

VARIOUS

how they celebrate Christmas with you

headcanons

MAIN MASTERLIST

(other masterlists listed on main^^)

.

Summary: It's Christmas in Teyvat and can be celebrated differently as to how each person wants.

Warnings? Nope! Just some Christmas-y fluff!

Contains (in order): Kujou Sara, Raiden Ei, Jean Gunnhildr and Ningguang.

Mentions characters above, as well as Yae Miko and Barbara

This is a Secret Santa gift for @cosmichorrorsarestillnicerthanme! Hope you like it!

This will be my last fic of 2023! So Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

Kujou Sara

Christmas is one of the few times a year that Kujou Sara can actually have a relaxing day, the others being your birthday as well as her own. She doesn't really think her birthday is important, but she knows that you have special care for it, as you try to make it the best day of the year for her.

ahem

On Sara's last day of work for the holidays, she came back to your shared Minka, only to be greeted by the usual yearly occurrence, the decorations scattered around the main sitting room in their respective boxes. Lights decorating the panes of the windows, nothing too bright and brash, they're soft and calming.

"(Y/N)?" She asked as she took off her Geta at the front door before walking into the main room, the areas smelling rather... sweet. A familiar scent to her. Hato Sabure. One of her favourites.

"Oh, Sara!" You said as you put the tray of freshly baked cookies down on the cooling rack before going over to hug her, "You're finally home! I've made some of your favourite cookies for the holidays. And no" you said as she already had a hand out towards the already cooled batch, "non for now."

"Oh," she frowned, a frown only you could just about resist.

Raiden Ei

Even if the Goddess of Electro has her duties to take care of towards the end of the year, there is always at least one person inside Tenshukaku who is there to keep up the Goddess' spirits.

And that is you.

You come between Ei's meditation breaks with some dango milk and sweet treats. She will forever love you for it.

And to make her feel the festive spirits, you have a small Christmas tree in her main chambers decorated with her favourite types of decorations, sweet shapes too. Also walking around the city seemed to make her happier, better than an eternal state of meditation. And it wouldn't be a trip into the city if she didn't collect one or two sugary treats for the journey.

Yae Miko even came down from the Narukami Shrine to join the both of you, she's genuinely happy that you've managed to bring Ei out of her own confinement. You're happy to be a third wheel in their conversations as you know that they still have things to catch up on.

Jean Gunnhildr

The two of you celebrate with Barbara, she also sees you like a big sister, she adores you, and you let her rehearse the little tunes she writes. Especially on Christmas, or Christkind, when all around Mondstadt there would be the sounds of the traditional Christkind music sung.

She would skip away to be with her friends, leaving you and Jean alone.

The both of you would walk around the market, also known as Christkindlmarkt, where formalities would be dropped and you two could be sweet together.

In my opinion, I don't see Jean as the type of person to hold hands in public, but I can see her letting you hook an arm around hers as you walk, that way she really knows you're with her.

Your favourite part of the festive season is when other places traditionally open their presents on the morning of the 25th, whereas in Mondstadt, the opening of the presents would be held in the evening of the 24th.

When dinner has been eaten and everywhere has been tidied, presents would be under the tree to be opened.

You got her favourite picture of you two put into a fancy yet simple picture frame to sit on her desk in the Favonius Headquarters.

Ningguang

This woman!

Sugar mother.

She will get you whatever you want! A certain type of clothing just outside your price range? She'll get it for you. Trinkets? She got it. You name it, she's already bought it.

When you buy her things, she will treasure them like a shrine as you bought them with your own hard-earned money, no matter what it may be.

Christmas isn't really a major celebration in Liyue like other nations, it's treated as a lighthearted day. It is celebrated for one day and one day only, and that is the 25th.

But that doesn't stop the festive feelings circulating around the nation.

There’s no single traditional Christmas dinner in China Liyue, but it’s common for couples to go to restaurants and enjoy grand meals like Peking Duck as a traditional Christmas feast.

The fast food chains advertise fried chicken as a Christmas dinner. Fried chicken is already a major Christmas tradition in Inazuma, and due to marketing, it’s becoming a tradition in some major Liyue cities as well.

Other nations have large Christmas trees covered in bright lights and ornaments and decorate their homes with wreaths, bows, and poinsettias. People also display statues and figurines of Santa Claus.

Whereas in Liyue, Christmas decorations do have some unique characteristics. For one thing, you won’t find nativity scenes among decorations in public or in homes. Some people also make their own ornaments out of paper. Or have them be made for you, like what Ningguang does.

But you always managed to get her to make some paper decorations with you, no matter how many times you asked. She doesn't like the idea of the craft, but she makes things like she's the master of said craft.

[willpowers]

literally obsessed with tumblr learning all about the batshit stuff happening on neopets. the seasonal attack pea drama, while it may actually be the funniest thing to happen this year (saw a girl on fb cry about wanting to burn down TNT hq over it), is not even half of it.

basically, it all started a few months back with the Faerie Festival. It is a yearly event, and it usually roughly follows the pattern of people donate items, each item being equal points regardless of rarity. Those points can be spent on exclusive, high value, rare items that can either be only found during the festival, or are normally extremely expensive and hard to obtain. So every year, people would fill their safety deposit boxes with junk items such as driftwood, bottles of sand, kelp, other items that you could barely sell for a single neopoint, in hopes of being able to make bank during the festival.

this year, however, was a curveball. now, there was a daily limit on donating items, as well as points being awarded based on rarity classification. All in all, now there was a finite amount of points you could get, and all these hoarders now found themselves with piles of items that were useless even in the event.

also, every day you could receive a faerie quest.

for those who don't know, faerie quests happen one of two ways. either you get randomly assigned one as a random event when browsing the site, or you spend real money (about a dollar fifty USD), to get a fortune cookie which gives you faerie quests.

each faerie has a different pool of items requested, and will give a specific prize. Some will increase speed, some level, ect ect. However, there are some that offer more valuable prizes, and are therefore the rarest to get, which is the faerie queen herself, who offers great stat boosts all around, and the fountain faerie, who gives the incredible boon of being able to use her fountain, which allows you to change your neopet into any color imaginable without having to spend millions on a paintbrush.

now, getting a daily quest sounds reasonable, after all, what are the odds of getting the elusive fountain faerie or faerie queen?

well! in this event!

it was 100%.

so that meant EVERY DAY of the month long festival people were able to most likely get a free dip in the rainbow fountain, tanking the value of paintbrushes, and greatly inflating the value of the potential things she could ask for.

things were CHAOS.

in response to the chaos, what did the devs do? they increased the pool of items the fountain faerie could ask for SIGNIFICANTLY, making people hoping to scalp these items unable to predict exactly what she would ask for, and what items they should raise the price of.

now this pandemonium only lasted for a few days before they also made it more likely to get requests from other faeries, still with a focus on the rare ones, as a way to calm things down a bit.

also, every day, you could receive a gift box. inside the box was a random item of INCREDIBLE rarity. for instance, I got a sword I was able to quickly sell for 10 million neopoints. More neopoints than I had ever seen in my years on the site.

so not only were things fucked up by the faerie quests, now most high ticket items in the game were quickly tanking in value now that every player had a chance to get thirty of them within a month.

for a poor player like me, it was great fun! i finally got the chance to get neopets in colors i have always wanted, and was able to get a good chunk of neopoints in my bank for things i wanted to start collecting. things were well.

however, the players that had spent hundreds of real life dollars securing their spot in the neopian elite, were not happy.

many a discussion thread on the site and off were battles of peoples opinions on the changing of market value for items. however, the festival ended, and so one would assume things would go back to normal, right?

wrong.

SO wrong.

the people who were running neopets almost IMMEDIATELY AFTER sold the company to new hands.

thus, more changes begin to happen.

some were amazing all around! the new team seems very dedicated to slowly restore functionality to the games, and have cut ties with all NFT bullshit their predecessors did. in a public statement they have enthusiastically announced that they plan to gain profit from the site by putting more investment into real life merch, some of which started quickly to happen!

in fact, hot topic started selling collecter blind box pins! once again could i go into a mall and walk out with neopets merch, ah, those were the days.

(well, actually, people would buy the entire stock and resell it at an upcharge, causing a whole debacle about that, but thats real life drama, not the neopian kind im talking about)

now, it all seems good. people are positive. they even have a great new idea to raise activity and add structure to your daily use of the site!

daily quests!

now it is structured as so. Every day you get about 5 daily quests, and completing all of them gets you 20k neopoints. not a shabby amount, but not nearly enough to make you a neo-billionaire.

every day you finish all your quests gets you one day closer to a weekly prize, given if you complete seven days of quests in a row!

and! every quest you complete has ITS OWN prize! talk about incentive!

however. guess what those prizes were? both the weekly mega prize and the daily prizes, some given out simply for feeding your neopet?

SOME OF THE RAREST ITEMS IN THE GAME

before people would spend their entire neopian career trying to get a petpet like a krawk, or a kadotie, or a rare paintbrush, or even a great battledome item

now people were being handed them like stickers at the dentist!

so once again, the billionares are mad, the poor people who simply want to enjoy fun items that were once out of reach are happy, and all in all the entire economy is in shambles!

and now, here we are! at the yearly advent calender! a daily chance to get prizes!

AND THEY DO IT AGAIN

to explain the huzzah over the seasonal attack pea, know that it is in fact the second most powerful battledome weapon, going routinely for tens to hundreds of billions in neopoints. something that most players would never dream of being able to acheive.

and it is being randomly handed out like candy! (until they decided to remove it from the prize pool, which caused riots, so they put it back)

so once again, pandemonium!

if youve ever been interested in starting or rejoining neopets, nows the time! things are getttting interesting!

[captainpains]

Carol of the Cookies (Captain Rex x reader)

For @diviluscorner in the @cloneficgiftexchange. I had so much fun writing this and I hope y'all enjoy it ❤️

Prompt: Baking Cookies

Warnings: F reader, kids, family bonding, fluffy, domesticity, everyone lives au, not explicitly holiday but has the vibes

~~~~~~~

“Buir! Buir!”

Rex stopped taking off his snow boots and looked down the hallway to see his little girl, Mariel,  running towards him at full speed. She jumped into his arms, giggling when he caught her. He smiled at her and gave her a kiss on the cheek.

“What have you been up to my little trooper?” He asked her, attempting to remove his snow gear while still holding her.

“We went to the library and mama let us pick out some books!” The 6 year old ecstatically explained.

“Really? I hope you picked out something you really liked.” Rex hummed as he took off his scarf and hat.

“I did. I picked a book about stars!” 

“That sounds great sweetie. Hey, how about you go to mama while I finish taking off my boots?”

Mariel nodded before jumping down and taking off down the hall towards the kitchen. Rex finished taking off his boots as promised, then shrugged off his jacket. He took a moment to look at a picture hung on the wall, a picture of his family, something that he thought that he never had. He then moved down the hall, toward the kitchen, toward you.

You were like a saving grace for him.

 He’d met you at a bar called 79s one blurry night so long ago. You were working the bar and had somehow found his drunk flirting charming enough to give him your com. He remembered sending you an apology the day after, the embarrassment he felt when his brothers recounted what happened was soul crushing. He felt less bad about it when you ended up inviting him for a cup of caf. And the rest, as they say, was history.

The war ended, and he proposed. The two of you moved to Saleucami and got a small farm, trading the food you grew at the market. Then little Mariel was born. 

Rex walked into the kitchen and smiled at what he saw. You were trying to keep Mariel from eating the cookie dough that you were making. He watched as you gently pushed her hand away from the bowl, scolding her for trying to eat it. Rex went over and reached into the, taking just a little bit of the cookie dough and eating it.

“That is not for you either.” You playfully glared at him.

“Well then why is it so delicious?” Mariel refuted, arms crossed and face pouting.

“You can’t eat all the raw cookie dough, sweetie. Or there won’t be anything to decorate, later.” You told her as you took the bowl of cookie dough to another counter to roll it out.

Your daughter gave a gasp at the realization. Rex chuckled at it. It would be absolutely devastating if there were no cookies to decorate. 

“How about you go get your new book to show me?” Rex suggested to her.

“Okay!” Mariel rushed out of the kitchen.

“She was so happy to get that book.” You told your husband as you rolled out the cookie dough.

“I bet.” Rex grinned, then wrapped his arms around you. “So, how was your day?”

“Fine. She was very hyperactive after her nap. How was your trip to the market?”

“Good. Got a great price for those meilooruns.”

You hummed in response. Rex tightened his arms, resting his head on your shoulder. He watched as you rolled the dough, then grabbed one of the many cookie cutters on the counter. 

“I missed you while I was gone, cyare.” Your husband admitted, then placed a kiss on your cheek.

“You were only gone for a few hours, dear.” You mused, cutting a few cookies in the shape of a snowman.

“Yeah, but I still missed you and Mariel.”

“Well, we missed you too.” You smiled and turned your head, giving him a small kiss on the lips before returning to your task.

Mariel came running into the kitchen, her book in hand. She excitedly held it up for her father to see. Rex peeled himself off of you to attend to your daughter. She happily took her father to the living room, where they sat on the couch and she read the book to him. You finished cutting the cookies and put them in the oven. You smiled to yourself as you thought about how

You went to the living room and smiled when you saw your daughter sitting on the sofa reading her book to her father. Rex was paying all his attention to her as she read. He was patient and encouraging as she read, making sure she pronounced every word correctly. You decided to let them have this moment of bonding, going back into the kitchen to start some dishes while Rex kept the little one entertained. 

After around 15 minutes, the cookies were done. Mariel came running in when the timer went off. She pouted when you told she had to wait until the cookies cooled off to decorate them.

“You can decorate the cookies later. Now, how about you get your favorite pajamas on and then you pick out a holo movie to watch. When that’s done, the cookies will be ready to decorate.” You suggested to the 6 year old. 

She seemed content with the idea. She ran off to her room. Rex went into the kitchen to help with the dishes while you set up the holoscreen for Mariel to pick a holomovie to watch. Mariel came back rather quickly, dressed in her blue pajamas. She excitedly picked a film about a magic tooka, then ran to the kitchen to decorate cookies.

You helped her when she wanted it, but all in all left her to her vision of what the snowman should look like. You and your husband decorated about four cookies each, while your daughter decorated the majority of them. She made a colorful mess with the icing but was so happy with how the cookies turned out. 

“Buir! Momma! You have to try one!” Mariel insisted, handing a cookie to each of you. You took a bite, while Rex (with his massive sweet tooth) shoved the whole thing into his mouth.

You praised your daughter for how good the cookies looked and tasted. Rex watched and smiled to himself.

He wouldn’t trade this for anything. 

[julie-sufan]

The In-Depth Look at Julie-Su Part 6: Knuckles #16-23

Issue #16 is a one shot. Here Knuckles is upset after finding out that his mom plans to marry her new boyfriend. He runs off not wanting to talk to anyone at the moment.

First (But definitely not the last) time that Julie kisses Knuckles. Then they share a nice quiet moment together.

Issue #17 & 18 features yet another past echidna guardian with a ton of backstory. He meets Julie-Su who is riding an absurdly evil looking horse type of creature.

Love that she's giving him attitude even when in the thrones of death.

In issue #18 she stops by Lara-Le's house (Knuckles's Mom) for some tea and cookies and to hear about of Tobor's (The echidna with the unique eyes) backstory.

Another moment I like. Here we see Julie-Su going from being in complete denial about wanting a relationship with Knuckles to hugging him on the exact same page. Kind of reminds me of Michiru from Fruit of Grisaia who would also fail at trying to be a tsundere type.

Second kiss scene.

Issues 19-21 barely has Julie in it and centers around the Royal Acorn Family. It really feels like a plot that should have been in the main Sonic comic series but for some reason ended up here.

Issue 20 features the first full appearance of Elias who would later show up in the Sonic comic.

After this point Julie gets knocked out for pretty much the rest of the arc.

Next arc 22-24 is going to be a bit tricky to talk about without getting political because it features politics. Please keep in mind that this arc was written way back in 1999.

It features a importance first appearance of Julie-Su's half sister Lien-Da working with the Dark Legion to smash stuff up. No matter what you're views are I like to think that people would come together against the anti-flat screen party.

Did some quick research and found this from howstuffworks. Flat screen tvs used to be called HDTVs when they were first released around 1998.

"Those sets came from manufacturers like Panasonic and Sony, and had a different appearance -- they were wider than standard televisions. That's because the new HDTV standard also included a new aspect ratio. The standard aspect ratio was 4:3, the new ratio was 16:9. They also came with a hefty price tag -- the first sets on the American market cost $7,000 or more."

Lien-Da has never looked more sinister. You can really tell that the artist (Jim Valentino) enjoyed drawing the Dark Legion and it's various members.

Nice Chaotix group shot. This upcoming full page scene I'm going to let speak for itself and that's all I'll say on it.

Hope you enjoy seeing Julie hang upside down because that's what she spends the most of issue 24 doing.

Next up: More hanging around and the Dating arc.

[dexnola]

How to cut costs on a gluten-free diet

Actually several of these principles work on anyone's diet, or another type of allergen diet, but gluten free is what I know and what I serve.

My household consists of me and my partner; she's gluten intolerant and I am not. Our grocery budget is $120 a week (including standard household consumables like soap, paper towels, etc. that I also buy at the grocery store) and we could actually tighten that up more if we worked even a little harder at it. I do most of the cooking and shopping for our household so I thought I would share what it is I'm doing.

Eat as many "regular" items as possible

If there is a gluten free version of an item and a "regular" one that contains wheat, normally the gluten free version is twice the price. So one simple way to cut costs is to buy fewer of them. Some examples are packaged GF cookies and crackers, frozen prepared dinners, canned soups that say gluten free in big letters... basically anything that is marketed as GLUTEN FREE and says GLUTEN FREE in great big letters on the front of the package.

There are lots of items that are labeled "gluten free" but aren't marketed as such. Ketchup is often labeled gluten free somewhere on the package, but there's no such thing as "regular" ketchup that normally contains gluten. Those are fine to buy.

The worst offenders are bread and baked goods in general. Gluten free bread is very expensive. Don't buy things like frozen prepared cakes; gluten free cake mix or brownie mix is the better buy.

Here are some "regular"/inexpensive foods that are naturally gluten free:

rice; avoid pre-seasoned rice mix things

potatoes [regular and sweet potatoes]

corn tortillas (plain corn taco shells and tortilla chips are also easy to get GF)

all manner of fruits and vegetables [fresh, canned, frozen w/o sauce/other extras]

peanut butter

milk and dairy products in general

beans; dry or in cans

meat, especially plain fresh or frozen meat without extra marinades, seasoning, or obviously breading

fish [frozen and canned are least expensive]

I still buy special gluten-free stuff, but

it isn't the bulk of our diet

when reasonable, I let my partner eat them and I eat the regular version (e.g. I still buy wheat sandwich bread for myself)

i put in extra work to find the lowest price; comparing different stores, couponing, stocking up when I find a deal, etc.

Speaking of which,

Figure out what stores are the cheapest near you

A key part of this sentence is "near you." I do most of my grocery shopping at two stores that are 10 or 15 minutes away from my house. They are on the same street and in close proximity of each other. As you compare prices, keep in mind which places are realistically convenient enough to shop at based on where you live, work, and spend time.

I prefer a data driven approach and so have a spreadsheet with the prices of lots of items I buy. Doing it this way, you find that while no store has the lowest price on everything, it's easy to find a store that has an overall lower price on most items.

When comparing prices, remember to compare based on the cost per ounce or cost per pound or similar, not just the package.

In my experience, shopping at more than one store is the easiest way to balance many factors including price, selection, convenience, and quality. Most weeks I go to these two stores:

Wegmans: huge selection of items, low prices on some things, but higher to middling on others; lots of choices for GF items and things like special spices or vegetables that I need just once in a while

Aldi: smaller selection, but easily the least expensive on most regular groceries

I used to live near Publix, which is expensive overall but had a big selection and lots of BOGO sales where they would sell certain items at a loss. I would stalk the sale paper online every week and if they had something I ate at a low cost, I would go to Publix just to buy those items in quantity and then leave to go get the rest of my groceries at Aldi or somewhere else cheaper.

Use sales to stock up on stuff you eat when it's cheaper

For example, If I read the sale paper for the Aldi and I notice butter is $3/lb or less, when it's usually more like $4, I'm buying at least two if not three or four packages and putting some in the freezer, even if we're not low on butter.

This goes double and triple for any special gluten free item. Stock up.

Don't stock beyond your means. Start small as you study your household's patterns of consumption. Start with items that are not perishable: things in cans and boxes, already-frozen items. Also, only stock up on stuff that you know your family already likes.

When you are planning meals to eat, choose based on what you have stocked; shop your house first! Then go to the store to fill in the gaps.

Be prepared to eat at home on days you don't want to cook.

There are always going to be some days when you can't or don't want to cook. You get sick, you're too tired, whatever.

Eating restaurant food (takeout, delivery, or dine in) is extremely expensive and comes with a lot of risks regarding gluten. This is best avoided. Eating out will kill your budget faster than anything else you could do.

This is one time when I don't mind buying a specialty GF item, because while they do cost more than the meals I normally make, they are cheaper than eating out and also safer from a gluten standpoint. I don't mind spending an extra dollar at the store to insulate me from spending ten dollars later.

Some ideas for solving this problem:

naturally GF convenience food that can be tossed in the oven or microwave (at Aldi I have found GF frozen shepherd's pie, sometimes can get frozen tamales, instant mashed potatoes, canned soup etc.)

build a repertoire of meals that are made from "ingredients" but are less work than whatever you normally do; what this means is up to you, for some people it's a dump-in-instant-pot type meal, or maybe a microwaved baked potato and a bag of frozen veggies... at my place I make nachos once a week because they're extra easy.

special GF convenience items like frozen pizza or lasagna

Cheapest of all: make a lot of something on purpose and freeze meal-size portions for later. Soups, stews, and casseroles are all top choices. You can also do things like brown a lot of ground beef and then freeze it; later, you can make something like spaghetti sauce or sloppy joes and skip that first step. (Note that some people do ALL their cooking with this in mind and cook just once or twice a week, or even just once or twice per month, and eat out of the freezer the rest of the time.)

Keep a growth mindset. It might be that right now you are eating out a lot and your skills in the kitchen aren't great. Buying more convenience foods and assembling them at home still saves a lot of money. Once that's comfortable and you're used to the routine of getting food from the store then you can expand your repertoire of simple meals from normal ingredients, which builds your confidence so you can try making more things from scratch. Eating is complicated and eating with allergies/intolerances doesn't help. But it's doable. It can be done.

If I wanted to cut costs in my own household and reduce that $120 budget, I would...

buy fewer sodas and drinks in general.

set strict limits on GF bread. (like I'll only buy 1 loaf a month or something) work with partner to make sure she always has food for lunch and therefore doesn't care to make a sandwich.

Try reducing partner's cereal consumption; make other equally easy breakfast choices available; cereal is expensive

cook and freeze more homemade food and buy less convenience food.

prioritize cheaper fruits and vegetables. Decide on a price per lb limit that I want to stay within and stop buying stuff that is more than that (or buy them very infrequently). Things like apples, carrots, onions, bananas, cabbage, and broccoli tend to be cheaper

do the same thing for meat and also eat significantly less meat.

Hope I helped :)