#challenge festival round 15

[angel-of-the-moons]

Nothing Is Lost

Khonshu x Fem!Reader

TW/CW: Nothing really!

A/N: This chapter will mostly be some exposition from Khonshu's point of view, and a few flashbacks of his. Also, because sources vary depending on what universe of Marvel Khonshu is from, I took some liberties to do whatever with his familial ties. After all, mortals don't ever truly know all the relationships with their gods, do they? And they have many forms.

Taglist: @drinkingwithkhonshu @astrosphereblog @themostegotisticalgirl124 @patchesofwork @lialiwasneverseen

Chapter 15:

Old Friends

Khonshu gently laid you down in your bed, stripping your wet jacket and shoes off and covering you with your blankets.

Your face was twisted with distress, your voice leaving you in weak groans. The words "please" and "help me" the most consistent he could make out as your face flushed and you began to sweat, the vein in your temple thumping visibly beneath your skin as tears slipped past your lashes and dripped down to your pillow.

What were you dreaming of? It was growing tiresome; you not telling him what he so readily wanted to know. And even more accurately, that Jezebel, one of his more than trusted followers was not telling him the answers.

But... Jezebel knew him very well. Khonshu knew that she knew he had not had such a puzzle presented to him in... Well. Longer than he'd ever care to admit aloud. A simple challenge, as opposed to hunting Ammit and Harrow, and having Jake Lockley taking the both of them out permanently.

A simple puzzle as opposed to the greatest one he's never been able to solve...

He would enjoy unraveling the mystery that surrounded your being so readily.

He was half tempted to get into your head himself; to pull the information out of you and be done with it. But that was no fun, and it was wrong, in this right.

It was different with Marc, Steven, and Jake. Even Yehya and Jezebel; who had let him into his mind willingly.

Learning of Jezebel's memories had filled him with a brief joy he hadn't felt flutter to life within him in thousands of years. It brought a warmth to his weary existence knowing he at least had someone he once knew returned to him; she was one of the only individuals he felt any scrap of true joy or humor in the world with these days. Even if it was miniscule.

"Hmm." He hummed aloud, crouching by your bedside to stare as you twitched and flailed in your sleep, crying out for aid he could not give.

Joy and humor. A puzzle.

If he could, Khonshu would have smiled.

His eyes traced the stars, drawing the shapes that the mortals had transcribed to make sense of the glowing celestial objects.

"Khonshu?"

"Hm?" He hummed boredly, sighing as he sat up on his elbows to look at her.

Hathor snorted with a smirk, her soft round face creasing as she did; briefly running her hands through his feathers, "You are not paying attention."

"Fah. These festivals are always your source of entertainment. You know I prefer the silence of the night. Not all this... mirth." He said, looking down from where they sat, sweeping his arm in a broad swath; invisible to the mortals below as they danced, sang, drank, and played amongst one another in celebration of the first successful harvest and the fact that the Pharaoh's army had crushed would-be invaders towards Egypt, securing their power yet again.

"Hmph!" She huffed indignantly, her ears clapping in distaste at his remark, the sound of her jewelry tinkling as she turned away from him stubbornly. "Khonshu, you are--I swear it--even less unenthusiastic to be around than your father."

"Amun is only as enthused as he is to be around you is because he wishes to sleep with you." Khonshu laughed, "Which I doubt will ever happen."

Hathor swatted at him, knocking his nemes askew and into his lap. "Oh, hush! Now, make your move. I have been waiting an eternity, you doddering bird."

Khonshu laughed again and sat up straight, fixing the position of his headdress and fixing it back into place, his dark feathers puffing up slightly in offense before smoothing it down as he looked at the game board.

It was a simple game--mehen, the mortals called it--the board carved in the shape of a coiling serpent. This particular set was painted to look like Apep (or Apophis as the mortals also named him). Khonshu's pieces were marbles carved of obsidian, whereas Hathor's were ivory-carved lions.

He plainly moved one of the marbles, skipping ahead of two of her lions, making her groan in defeat as she had to reposition them. "You--youuuu--!" She sputtered.

Khonshu huffed a short laugh, "I like to gamble, you know that, Hathor. And you should know I'm very good at it."

"Well one day that streak of yours will fail, you know." She snorted, resting her chin on her knuckles as the other firmly clasped her knee in her palm, her eyes studying the board.

"But that day is not today, my dear." He says, his tone rather chipper as he carefully sipped his wine.

"Honestly, why don't you walk the streets a little? It will do you some good. Distract you from the dreary task of your Fist performing his duties." She sighed, looking down at the mortals below once again.

"I worry about you."

Khonshu rolled his eyes, "Hathor, I am fine. We all have our duties. Mine lies with justice, yours is all of... this." He opened his hand to gesture to the festivities below.

"You forget how closely our divine powers are linked!" Hathor says, looking at him with a sly expression.

"Am I, now?" He mused.

"Yes," Hathor laughed gleefully, moving her lions piece ahead a few steps, getting ever so close to the head of the snake.

After Khonshu grumbled, staring at the board as he tried to sort out where and how to move next--piecing the puzzle of his next move together carefully--he looked at her as she pointed to the sky, right at his moon.

It was thin, a nice glowing crescent of light.

"You forget what that tends to mean. Your powers flow during this night, and of course link with mine. I bring joy, music, ecstasy and children into the world. Your moon, in its current state, helps their livestock and land become fertile... and as well helps their women conceive children. And this continuously brings joy, mirth," She says the word mockingly and with the same tone he had used before, "And fertility. Yes, you help dispense justice. But you also heal and give life, Khonshu. Enjoy it. Don't wrap yourself in a shroud of stars and leave it at that."

Hathor finished off her goblet of wine and grabbed her harp, beginning to pluck the strings in a wonderful melody that soothed him. He recognized the song well, it was one her priestesses played during prayer sessions, typically when mortal women would pray to her for the gift of a child.

"Embrace the mortals you protect... don't just keep them at an arm's length. Yes, you have your Fists... but you also have your arms. It will not kill you to wrap them around them from time to time."

Khonshu fell silent, turning his gaze to the mortals below as Hathor began to sing, a smile on her plump, plush lips.

Perhaps... she was right. He wouldn't say it out loud, of course. He knew she would simply poke holes in his own ego and toy with him with the facts.

Khonshu then rose to his feet, grabbing his staff.

"Hm? Where are you going?" Hathor asked with a smile, continuing to play her harp.

She formed her statement as a question; yet she already knew the answer to it.

"For a stroll." He merely said, disappearing in a blur.

Hathor grinned to herself, plucking her harp as the ushered prayers of women during moments of intimacy as well as the simple gatherings below whispered in her ears on the wind.

Khonshu walked, standing in the shadows as he watched the mortals dance and sing. There was something rather... infectious about the joys the humans were showing.

He had even entertained a toddler as they hobbled up to him, babbling nonsense and trying to hang from his robes even though his parents could not see him for their own eyes. He rubbed the child on his head as his mother kissed his cheek and carried him back over to where a roast bull was being portioned out with bread and wine.

Men and woman alike danced with one another; the instrumentalists and singers flowing like silk to match the nearly nude women who danced with Hathor's name painted on their bodies, gold hanging from them and glimmering in the firelight.

He continued to walk through the streets, peeking in to watch the more reserved and family-centric gatherings many held in their homes; feeling the warmth and life and innocence they were all so blissfully existing in. One home he had surveyed was hosting a celebration as a young mother gave birth to twins--a rare and dangerous occurrence for certain--a very, very welcome and celebrated occasion.

Khonshu had taken a moment of his time to reach out and soothe the pains the woman and her son and daughter felt, touching each of them imperceptibly and watching them relax as her husband cried, holding the three of them in his arms as though they would vanish in an instant.

After that, he trailed the streets some more; feeling the exuberant life slowly give way to the silence of night as he approached a funerary temple. It seemed, he realized, that even on a night of such joy and life... death was still ever-present.

"Bakenkhonsu." He greeted civilly, watching respectfully as his priest was tending to and beginning to embalm the body of a woman with tender care.

"Father." He greeted, his voice strained and heavy with emotion, his head hanging low and his usually bright eyes downcast and sad.

Upon closer inspection, he recognized this particular mortal. Bakenkhonsu had been the one to prepare her youngest child for burial not too long ago. It seemed her grief, in the end, took her away to be with her son once again.

"She passed away early in the morning." He explained. "Her husband was still grieving the loss of their son, but stayed strong. His daughter... oh, her daughter."

He looked up at Khonshu, his eyes full of tears, "Why is it that someone as young as she have to see so much death in such a short time? She blames herself for her little brother's death. And in that regard, feels responsible for her mother's death..."

Khonshu laid his hand on his priest's shoulder, his gaze softening in sympathy.

"Death is never an easy thing, nor can it be fair. But it is important that we understand that it is a fact of life. And in the end, they will all be together again."

"I... I understand. But..." Bakenkhonsu turned, carefully beginning to wrap her body up in soft linen; a red-dyed shroud nearby. Her coffin was beautiful and ornately painted, the gold leaf mask that awaited her surprised him. She was nobility, high status.

She tended the Queen, and the inscriptions on her coffin told how her husband was close with the Pharaoh.

Ah. That explains it. The Pharaoh being so close to her family undoubtedly felt grief in his heart as well, maybe even the others in his house. So out of the kindness in his heart, he likely paid to have the finest burial items to be laid on her body before being placed in the coffin.

"I know," Khonshu said to him softly, his palm resting on the young man's head. "But she was a good woman. Anubis and the others will welcome her with open arms, her son will greet her as soon as she passes into the Field of Reeds. She will never need to fear him drowning in the Nile, again."

This seemed to lighten the burnden on the poor man, his body straightening up. "Benerib made offerings to most of the gods. She would go to every temple as she could often get to and leave prayers and offerings to you all. I think this is what drove her daughter to seek knowledge."

"Her daughter? She is a scholar?" Khonshu asked, stepping away so Bakenkhonsu could resume his task.

"Of a sorts." He chuckled, his tone tainted with bittersweet fondness. "She wishes to learn the ways of the gods, to teach them to other mortals even long after she passes on."

Khonshu chuckles softly in turn. A very ambitious goal, if not an unattainable one. Very few of his brethren--save Hathor and a short bundle of others--got past arm's length with the mortals, "That may not happen."

"But even so, it is a noble goal." Khonshu sighed, looking up towards the night sky through one of the high skylights above. "Even if she does not learn what she wants to... She will still learn and pass on things to her descendants."

"Yes... That is what I told her." Bakenkhonsu smiled, looking up at him once more, his hands pausing in their delicate wrapping of the body of this once sweet and loving woman. "But she just smiled at me, and accepted the challenge. She apparently likes puzzles."

Khonshu chuckled. "Ah, I see. It would seem--"

Their heads both snapped upwards, towards the door of the room as the sounds of sobbing reached their ears, carried on the wind as it whistled into the temple.

Khonshu looked at his priest, and once again the atmosphere changed as he heard words--both accusatory and pleading--carry his name on a soft voice.

"The daughter--"

"Yes." Bakenkhonsu replied quickly, his jaw tensing. "She has been... I--I left her to her grief back in the temple. It was like nothing I said would bring her comfort... Sometimes, we need to be left alone to pour our feelings out."

Khonshu heaven a heavy sigh, his grip tightening on his staff for a moment as he took a pace of a breath to think.

His hand extended and he weaved a spell over the body; so that nothing could ravage her in the time Bakenkhonsu would be away.

"Don your armor, my Fist." He orders gently.

"Yes, Father."

And without hesitation, Bakenkhonsu pressed his fist to his chest and bowed his head. The Moon Disc on his chest glowed, his eyes glowing as white as the stars as linen and fine armor began to enshroud him; the holy armor of Khonshu's Fist now in place of his ceremonial robes.

"What... Will you do, Father?" He asked quietly.

"I will speak to her." Khonshu said, vanishing in a blur as Bakenkhonsu's body lurched slightly before stiffening back up again.

And now, with his patron God controlling his body, Bakenkhonsu receded into blissful complacency as his feet softly dragged through the streets as he marched his way to his temple, away from the sad aura of preparing the bodies of the dead.

He approached his temple, regarding the other priests with cordial nods as the bowed in respect to him as they went about their business.

The temple was well-lit, given how thin the moon was it could not shine into the large stone house of worship to illuminate pathways. But he knew. He always knew the way to his altars.

And as he approached the main chamber, he saw... her.

She was laid at the feet of one of his statues, her face buried in her arms as her body was racked with sobs. The sight touched him, made him feel the waves of guilt and pain flowing from her body as she muttered things meant only for the gods to hear.

And they did reach his ears, at least.

He approached her, gently resting his hand on her shoulder, and began to speak.

"She did all that? On her own?" Yehya gasped softly, setting his cup of tea on his desk.

"Yes." Khonshu replied. "With my guidance, in the beginning. But, she got caught up in the moment and snapped a man's neck."

Yehya frowned thoughtfully, his brows pinching as he linked his fingers together, his elbows resting on the desktop. "And... Jezebel wouldn't tell you anything more about her?"

"About as much as you have, Yehya." Khonshu admonishes with a sigh.

"I'm sorry, father, but..." The god silenced him with a hand in the air.

"I understand, my son. This is a mystery I must--and will--solve myself. I haven't had such a challenge in a long time." He said to him, "I relish the challenge, even if that little whelp is an annoying pest."

Yehya Badr laughed, the corners of his eyes creasing as he looks up at him, "Is she that frustrating?"

"Like a fly that will not stop buzzing in my eye." Khonshu grunted, stamping his staff on the floor, shaking his head.

"You will figure this out. You always tend to." The mortal man replied, adjusting the cuffs on his suit. "From what I have seen from interacting with this woman... She is rather slow to trust. And... Surprisingly ready to throw the first punch. But, given how she has been the victim of so many crimes..."

He shook his head and sighed, his smile faltering, "But it is... good, that she was so responsive to your guidance."

"She complained even more than Marc does." He groused; his voice dripping with irritation.

"Speaking of..." Yehya said, looking up at him. "Has the Ennead called another meeting to discuss what happened with Ammit and Harrow?"

"Yes, however our Avatars were not present for this one." He snorted dismissively, saving his hand. "Though... I do not believe they have replaced them as of yet anyway."

"It's a pity, what happened with Hathor's Avatar. Yatzil was a good woman." Yehya murmured, "From what little I knew of her from our first meeting, she was a kind and gentle soul."

"It is their fault for ignoring Ammit's imminent release," Khonshu reminded him. "Their Avatars did not need to die, yet through their inaction, the gods they worked for signed their death warrants. As well as the souls Ammit devoured prematurely."

"I only wish I had been present. Had I been, maybe Harrow..."

Khonshu walked over to him and placed his hand on his shoulder, "I needed you here, Yehya. There is much evil and injustice here. Marc Spector and the others served me well in other avenues. Your value is here."

He nodded, his lips pressed in a thin line as he thought. What would they all do once Khonshu found out about who you may very well be? Will you remember who killed you? Would that bloody chapter of history and unsolved pain come to a close?

More importantly, how would Khonshu feel about the one person he truly loved with all his being being reborn into somebody entirely new?

What would this mean for the future?

He could only surmise and place bets on hypotheticals with Jezebel; nothing was certain. Yehya was but a man, and he had to admit, the mysteries of reincarnation were still very much alien to him; despite what Jezebel had drip-fed him from what she had experienced. It wasn't something so simple as to be placed in words. Far from it...

"Is she still asleep?" He finally asked after the room fell into a ringing silence.

"Yes. Though she tosses and turns and cries out," Khonshu muttered. "Crying for saving from what, I do not know. She will not tell me what her dreams are, either."

"She will. I know it." Yehya replied resolutely. "I know that one can only keep such things contained inside for so long, before dying to cut the seal and let them all out."

"Indeed."

Khonshu walked towards the window, looking out onto the city streets. "Yehya, I want you to patrol tonight. There is a sickness on the prowl, and I want it cured before any others are harmed by it."

Yehya stood, pressing his fist to his chest and bowing his head. And for a moment, Khonshu could see Bakenkhonsu right then. He could see many of his previous Fists with that gesture of loyalty.

"On your will, Father." He swears solemnly.

"And... when I am indisposed, I want you to keep an eye on that little pest for me. Let me know if something changes about her."

He nodded again, his eyes shifting to an eerie white glow as his body was wrapped in his own variation of Khonshu's divine armor. The god rested his hand on his head, bowing his own: "Be swift, my Fist. Strike them down."

Hunter's Moon left, his cloak fluttering behind him as he went out to fulfill his mission. Khonshu looked out the window and up at the sky.

It was a crescent moon.

Chapter 16: Link

[arwenadreamer]

There's this challenge going round on tiktok, where children put a pie in their fathers face and film how they react. Dean junior thinks this would be fun. His dad is not one to get angry easily and also, he loves pie, always orders some when they eat out. So where could the harm be? He plans it carefully. Sets the camera up, triple checks that he's got the whole bench behind their house in the frame. He thought this through, he has to get his dad while they are sitting, otherwise he might not be able to reach high enough and aim well at the same time. DJ puts two pieces of pie on paper plates. If he breaks porcelain he will get into trouble. Two plastic forks to go with it. When dad comes home, he tells him he got some pie from the neighbour, Mrs. Muller. Asks if they can eat it out back. Everything goes smooth. Dad sits down next to him, smiles a bit ruefully. For some reason Dad often gets a bit sentimental when he eats pie. In that moment it serves Dean just right, though, because that means Dad doesn't see the pie coming. He laughs as cream and pieces of apple drop from his dad's surprised face. Everything went as planned. Until his dad starts crying. Honest to god tears in his eyes. He thinks he must have hurt him accidentally. Scrabbles to make it right, clean dad off. But dad says it's okay. Forces a smile. Dean can see right through it though. Even though dad's tears try as fast as they came, he knows something is wrong.

That day, DJ learns about uncle Dean’s love for pie and about a pie festival he and dad visited 15 years ago.

He never posts that video, of course. But the next day, he and dad bake a pie together. And dad smiles and laughs and has fun.

[jgroffdaily]

Ensemble Studio Theatre (EST) and the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation have revealed their 2024-2025 Science and Technology Project New Play Commissions, as well as the lineup for the Fall 2024 First Light Festival.

Commissioned plays include Mikaela Berry's SuperQuiz!; Jayne Deely's Lavender Dust; Alexa Derman's Beauty; Stefani Kuo's Mercury River; Chris Littler, Kelly Tieger, and Ellen Winter's Animal Magnetism; Jared Mezzocchi's ANY BODY OUT THERE; Sharyn Rothstein's AI Hallucination Love Story; DeAndre Short's Smokeless; Phillip Christian Smith's Bright Light; P.C. Verrone's The Forester; and Emma Watkins' Very rapidly, over a few tens of thousands of years.

Along with this year's readings, EST's mainstage productions, Franklinland by Lloyd Suh and Have You Met Jane Goodall and Her Mother? by Michael Walek, will also be presented by the EST/Sloan Project to round out the season.

Since 1998, the EST/Alfred P. Sloan Foundation Science & Technology Project has developed over 300 plays that challenge and broaden the view of science in the popular imagination. Applications for the next round of commissions will be open September 15-November 15. A virtual panel discussion will be held October 29 for those interested in applying.

**

Animal Magnetism is the musical conceived by Jonathan which is currently in development.

[accio-victuuri]

from this article released today titled: “Three films in half a year were shortlisted for the Golden Deer Awards, Wang Yibo proved himself with good works!”

On August 21, the nominees for the 18th China Changchun Film Festival, the "Golden Deer Award" that has attracted much attention from the public, were announced. China Changchun Film Festival is an international national-level film festival approved by the Ministry of Radio, Film and Television of the People's Republic of China . It will be held in Changchun from August 28th to September 2nd.

A total of 75 films were submitted for the Golden Deer Award Film Festival. After the jury’s preliminary selection, 15 films were finally shortlisted.

The three films have very different styles, and Wang Yibo's roles in them are also completely different. In the literary film "Hidden Blade", the underground party undercover Mr. Ye played by Wang Yibo is cold and forbearing, and his thoughts are meticulous. "Even if there are few lines, the audience seems to be able to hear his unfinished words"; ", he played the young test pilot Lei Yu, who was energetic, courageous and wise, "the arc of character growth is convincing"; and in the sports movie "One and Only", he played the dancer who is pure and true, persistent with his love, "simple and pure, but very touching". The three completely different roles not only reflect Wang Yibo's excellent acting skills - he interprets each role very well, but also shows the audience his broad acting path.

If the audience during the period of "Hidden Blade" may also attribute his excellent performance to the careful training of director Cheng Er, then the excellent performance of "Born to Fly" proves that Wang Yibo's professional ability as an actor is stable-he can eat this bowl of rice , and eat very well. He successfully won the honor of the most media-focused actor in the movie channel's media attention unit by virtue of his roles in the two films "Hidden Blade" and "Born to Fly". For Wang Yibo, the talent of his lines helps to set the characters in different languages, and the excellent appearance endows the characters with special charm. Just like the award speech said, "The characters contributed by Wang Yibo often give the audience clear and mysterious contradictions. Feeling, combined with romantic and noble personal characteristics."

The movie "One and Only" further demonstrated his ability to control different roles as an actor. In "One and Only", Wang Yibo starred for the first time to challenge the low-level little people. This character is like him, because they have the same superior dance talent, and the same willingness to sweat and pain. As a top dancer and all-round dancer in domestic entertainment, it is difficult for us to find another star in the entertainment circle who is better than Wang Yibo's street dancer and more suitable for this role. This character is not like him, because Chen Shuo (character name) is the epitome of those hip-hop old OGs who had no money and resources back then, a complete little guy chasing dreams, and Wang Yibo himself is more confident and powerful than Chen Shuo. Chen Shuo's struggle insists on the epitome of his past, but the reality of Chen Shuo's suffering is not Wang Yibo's experience. He is far luckier than Chen Shuo.

This year is the year when Wang Yibo's films started, and it was also a year when his word-of-mouth box office received a harvest. All 3 films were shortlisted for the Golden Deer Award. Wang Yibo proved his status as an excellent actor with his good works, and also laid a solid foundation for further climbing the peak in the future. I hope that the young actor Wang Yibo can bring more excellent movies to the audience in the future and contribute more exciting roles.

[someone-took-lost]

delphox time tm

i wanna be the very best. but i already am- anyways! tadaaa! foxes. foxes but like in a pokémon font! i love delphox, but i don’t like anthro designs for things that don’t necessarily need to be on two legs. so! i have made it so that delphox is able to be quadrupedal or bipedal. for the whole line in fact~ except fennekin. hes perfect as is.

i think certain designers look over how pokémon are meant to be “evolutions,” and not just bigger-older versions. so i think fennekin evolution is meant to adapt to becoming more “apex predator” of woodland areas. fennekin used to be very common in ancient city areas, but over time moved to more villages with less need to be sneaky little creatures. so now they’re a little better, and becoming smarter. tool based little guys who can stand on back feets for some time in order to use twigs and sticks to conduct a bigger flame.

with this new utilization of their abilities, braixen are medium sized vulpes creatures who hunt prey that are usually just a little smaller than them. i imagine they’re probably just about the size of a german shepherd or a small wolf by now. this body has much easier capability to breath in hot weather and heavy exercise despite the thick coating, but is still able to keep in all the internal flame that they use to survive. they dwell in mostly forested areas, and will occasionally sneak into human towns to steal food. or if they are in a mated duo, they’ll have one distract humans while the other catches food.

delphox is the biggest of the evolutions. he’s the apex of the forest, no one willing hunts ‘em unless for sport or competition. the population of these have become dwindling as delphox hunts have become a common sport for those nearby, even festivals have evolved around them. called the “fire spirits hunt.” they’re known as the fire spirits of the forest, keeping a sort of silent presence despite how big they are. they are about the size of a large buck, or a small elk. and they mostly feed on sawsbuck or bunnelby. their large size is due to their adaptation to being able to use their speed and leaner bodies to their advantage, while also having a larger heat chamber within themselves to create blasts of fire.

mostly solitary, it’s incredibly rare to find wild delphoxes. they live to about 13-15 years in the wild, and 17-19 in captivity. but professors of the galar and kalos regions are working hard to bring them back to their natural habitats.

i hope you guys enjoyed this little spheal, round boi- i like doing these little headcanon creatures thing. i think next i will be doing altaria, but if you guys have any suggestions let me know! i am always up for a challenge <3

[anonymousewrites]

Portal to My Heart (Book 3) Chapter Six

Loki x Reader

Chapter Six: Into Some Trouble

Summary: Loki interrogates Brad again.

            “Hi,” said Loki simply, gaining Brad’s attention as he stepped back into the holding cell.

            “Hello, Loki. Ready for round two?” said Brad.

            “I felt like I just needed another session, you know?” said Loki with only a little bit of sarcasm. “Get a few things off my chest.”

            “Gonna try hardball tactics this time?” said Brad.

            “Something like that,” remarked Loki.

            “Okay,” said Brad, shrugging. He looked in confusion as Mobius and (Y/N) pushed a machine into the room. He stood up and watched them wheel it into place in his cell. “Where’s B-15?” he said cautiously.

            “She’s not gonna be attending this session,” chirped (Y/N).

            “Oh, I get it,” scoffed Brad. “So, you come in here without B-15, and I’m supposed to believe you’re gonna torture me?”

            “Well, let’s simplify everything,” said Mobius. “You have information that we need.” He plugged in the device. “You don’t want to give it to us. So, how do we find common ground?”

            “You are getting’ desperate,” said Brad.

            “You’re not wrong. He’s not wrong,” remarked Loki casually.

            “Well, you know how I am when I’m pushed into a corner,” said (Y/N), smirking.

            “We’ll be honest with you, we’re down to our last option,” said Mobius.

            “And our last chance,” added Loki.

            “This is cute,” sneered Brad, trying to rile them up again. “Which one of you came up with this script?”

            “Because you’re a tough not to crack, you’ve left us no choice but to kind of ramp—”

            “Mobius, controller,” said Loki.

            “Right, okay.” Mobius grinned at Brad. “We can’t start the festivities without that little baby. Stand by.”

            “I think I put it out here,” said (Y/N), stepping out of the room with Mobius.

            Loki followed and slammed the door shut with a resounding thud. Brad tensed in confusion and turned in his seat to face Loki.

            “Hey, Loki, what are you doing?” questioned (Y/N).

            Loki turned away from the window of the door as (Y/N) and Mobius called for him. He ignored them and focused on Brad. “Turns out, there is actually one other option.” Loki smirked and strolled closer to Brad.

            “No, no. Hey!” shouted Mobius.

            Brad looked at Loki with confusion bordering on worry while Loki continued to speak.

            “You sniffed us out, Brad,” said Loki. “And I knew you would because you’re a clever chap. So guess what? I wrote a little script of my own.”

            “Loki, open up!” snapped (Y/N). “This isn’t the plan!”

            “That thing doesn’t work without the controller, though, so what’re you gonna do?” challenged Brad.

            Loki pulled out the control from where he had hidden it. “This one?” he remarked as Brad paled slightly. “Okay, great. We’re gonna have a little Q and A.” He went to the machine and began fiddling with in while Brad stood and shifted nervously. “Did you find Sylvie? And if you did, where is she? Simple question, really, but doesn’t mean we can’t enjoy ourselves as we go along.” He glanced at the device. “This one’s plugged in.”

            “You almost got me,” said Brad, chuckling. “You have no idea how to work that thing.”

            Loki paused and smirked. “I’m not trying to be a hero, Brad. I’m a villain.” His smirk fell, and a darker look entered his gaze. “Remember?”

            “No, Loki!” shouted (Y/N).

            “This isn’t the kind of mischief we were talking about!” said Mobius. “You’re not a villain, Loki!”

            Loki revved the machine, and it turned on. Brad took a step back warily as the truth of the danger started to set in.

            “Look at that!” said Loki.

            “Um, earlier, I said some really hurtful things, and I brought up your mother and (Y/N). And I am really sorry about that,” said Brad cautiously. “Mobius! Hey, get in here! (Y/N), control him!”

            “It’s locked, Brad, it’s locked!” said Mobius.

            Brad watched Loki hold the controller up and paled. “You need to put that down. That’s…you don’t know what you’re doing with that.”

            “What does this one do?” Loki pressed a button, and a golden box appeared around the stool. Loki pressed another button, and the box shrunk and disappeared, leaving the stool compressed and broken. Brad flinched and jumped back at the idea of that happening to him. Loki chuckled. “Sorry. Could’ve hurt yourself there.”

            “Hey, just don’t touch random buttons on that, okay?” snapped Brad, tensed. “Mobius, (Y/N), get in here!”

            “There’s a learning curve on this thing,” remarked Loki.

            “Yeah, there is a learning curve,” repeated Brad in frustration. “You could kill me with that.”

            “Could I?” No smile, no smirk, just an even gaze at Brad, and his eyes widened at Loki’s eyes. Loki pressed a button, and Brad was trapped in a golden box. “This is exciting,” smirked Loki.

            “Turn it off,” said Brad sharply. “Loki, turn it off!”

            “Let me try this, let me try this.” Loki pressed another button, and the sides of the box compressed.

            “Okay, okay, alright!” said Brad, beginning to panic.

            “Sorry, that’s only made it smaller,” “apologized” Loki.

            “Now, look. I don’t know where Dox and the others are. Okay? I don’t know!” shouted Brad, being pushed to the edge.

            “I don’t know if you know this, but I’ve done some terrible, awful things,” said Loki calmly.

            “Yeah, you have! You’re doing one right now!” shouted Brad. “Have some perspective on yourself! Loki grinned and shrunk the height of the box, and Brad crouched in panic. “Okay! Okay. Okay. I swear I don’t know where they are.”

            “Brad,” sighed Loki. “You’re so convincing. I want to believe you, but you’re just—You’re such a good actor.”

            “Look!” Brad was nearly pleading. “I really, I really don’t know. I swear!”

            “You’re so talented!” said Loki, chuckling darkly.

            “They did not tell me the plan!” shouted Brad.

            “Please tell me the truth,” said Loki sharply. “I know you’re lying.”

            “Okay? Okay, okay!” shouted Brad as Loki reached for the button again. “I lied! I lied, okay? I did. I was supposed to go and look for Sylvie, but then, I failed, okay? I bailed.”

            “Right. So, they told you to go after Sylvie and you bailed?” remarked Loki.

            “Yeah!” said Brad.

            “What’s the penalty for a highly-decorated field officer abandoning his mission?” said Loki calmly. “You and Dox? I don’t buy it.” He pressed the controller, and the box shortened on the bottom.

            Brad was trapped in the air within the golden glow. “Okay, look, I swear, okay?!” He saw Loki’s dark look and continued. “I went down there, and I went to get my life, okay?! Because…none of this is real!”

            “Well, if nothing else is real, I guess you aren’t either,” remarked Loki coldly.

            The box shrunk again, and Brad thrashed in alarm. “Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait!”

            “Just tell me where Sylvie is, Brad,” said Loki with terrifying calm.

            “Alright!” coughed Brad, fighting for breath. “I’ll tell you where she is! She has a new life!”

            Loki released the box, and Brad fell to the ground in a heap. He groaned.

            “Got there in the end,” said Loki, tsking. “Why do you make it so hard on yourself, Brad?” He placed the controller down and looked down upon Brad. “One thing, you said you bailed on the mission.”

            “Yeah, but I found her first,” said Brad, unwilling to put himself through that fear again. “She’s on a branch.”

            (Y/N) pushed open the door of the holding cell and strolled in with Mobius. “Did you get it?”

            “He knows where Sylvie is,” said Loki, nodding.

            “See? A little bit of mischief,” said (Y/N).

            “Only as good as your plan,” said Mobius.

            “You make a marvelous advisor,” said Loki, smiling.

            “I know,” said (Y/N), winking. She grinned at Brad. “I told you I could control you.”

            Brad looked at her sullenly.

            “Alright, let’s go, Zaniac,” said Mobius, hauling Brad up.

            Brad looked around, bewildered. “Are you telling me that was—”

            “Hell of a performance,” said Mobius cheerfully.

            “If I tell her where she is, you’ll let me go?” asked Brad.

            “No, you’re gonna show us,” said Mobius, pushing him out the door.

            Loki took (Y/N)’s arm and paused before leaving. “Are you ready to see Sylvie?” After everything that happened? After she hurt you?

            “Are you?” said (Y/N).

            “I’m not sure,” said Loki honestly.

            (Y/N) reached up and squeezed his arm. “I know you don’t want us to fight again. But remember, if it does happen, I’m with you. We’re together in all of this.”

            Loki smiled softly and gazed fondly at her. “Yes. We are.”

l

            “Brad, walk,” said Mobius, pulling him forward when they stepped out onto a parking lot in a branched timeline’s 1982.

            “And if you’re not telling the truth, you’re going back in the Gizmo,” said (Y/N), smiling threateningly.

            “Okay, okay!” said Brad quickly. “Look, she’s in there, alright?” He gestured to the McDonalds. “She’s in there. So why don’t you guys just head on in and remember that I’m the one who brought you here, and a deal’s a deal, alright? So, you go ahead, I’m gonna head on back.”

            (Y/N)’s eyes narrowed. He was getting awfully antsy to go back to the TVA. “Why are you so jumpy?”

            “I’m not jumpy,” denied Brad. “I just don’t want to be around a Variant that killed four hundred of my coworkers.”

            “What do you think?” said Mobius.

            “If she’s here, we need to find out what she knows,” said Loki. Even if I don’t want her to be around (Y/N). Not until she proves she is sorry for what she did. Truly sorry.

            “We’ll do the talking, Mobius. Be ready for…I don’t know. Everything. Anything,” said (Y/N). She looked at Loki. “Ready?”

            “As I can be,” said Loki.

            (Y/N) and Loki walked forward, and Mobius watched them. They opened the door of the fast-food restaurant and stepped inside. (Y/N) scanned the room and stopped as her gaze landed on the counter where several people were standing and taking orders.

            And then (E/C)-eyes met green.

            Sylvie’s breath caught in her throat as she looked upon someone she never thought she’d see again. (Y/N) smiled slightly, and Sylvie couldn’t think of anything more horrible. Not when all she could remember was her knife slicing into (Y/N) and her blood staining Sylvie’s hands.

            Sylvie averted her gaze and looked at Loki, Mobius, and Brad. She had been found, and the escape she had found was gone. She swallowed hard and looked away from them all, holding onto the counter.

            That didn’t stop (Y/N) and Loki from stepping up to the register, though. All three remained silent as they stared at each other.

            “…Hi.” (Y/N) broke the silence.

            Sylvie stared at her before replying. “Hi.” She cleared her throat. “Listen, I don’t have all day. You’re gonna order something? Or what?”

            “We need to talk,” said (Y/N).

            Sylvie tensed, and Loki spoke up. “Please, Sylvie. We must.”

            Sylvie sighed. “My break’s in five minutes.” She turned and walked away.

            (Y/N) and Loki looked at each other and nodded before heading outside to wait for Sylvie. Mobius made a smart decision and stayed inside with a snack and Brad.

Taglist:

@alexpangender

@technikerin23

@kikster606

@neenieweenie

@h-l-vlovesvintage

@chronicallybubbly

[lee-bella]

HP Fest Schedule: December 2023

Below the cut is a list of HP fest dates for the month of December. If you are curious about what's happening in 2024, see the full HP Fest Schedule (Google doc).

December 1

Sirius Black Fest 2023: Posting begins.

H/D Erised 2023 (Tumblr; exchange): Posting starts.

H/D Owlpost 2023: Call for pinch-hitter. Posting begins.

25 Days of Draco & Harry (LJ, Tumblr): Challenge begins.

Deflower December: Challenge begins.

Liquid Luck Roll the Dice Winter Edition: Challenge begins.

HP Chan Fest (AO3, DW): Claiming opens.

Harry Potter Rec Fest: Challenge begins.

HP Yuletide Bliss 2023: Challenge opens.

Snolidays 2023 (Severus): Challenge begins.

dracoharry100 Christmas Challenge: Challenge begins.

Rare Pair Shorts Winter Prompt Challenge (Tumblr): December challenge begins.

25 Days of Kinkmas: Challenge begins.

December 2

Marauders Mayhem Voldy's Valentines (exchange): Sign-up opens.

December 3

Blackcest Fest 2024 (Black family; incest): Prompting ends.

December 4

Blackcest Fest 2024 (Black family; incest): Claiming opens.

HP Triad!Fest: Prompting closes.

December 5

HoggyWartyXmas Prompt Fest: Submissions due.

Hoggywartyxmas Book Club: Opening post due.

HoggyWartyXmas Be Creative (non-fic/art medium): Submissions due.

Magical Trans Comfort Fest 2023: Fest & prompts announced.

December 7

HP Triad!Fest: Claiming opens.

HP Trans Fest 2024: Fest announced.

December 8

Draco Tops Harry Fest 2024 (Tumblr): Announced.

December 9

Riddle Fest (AO3): Prompting begins.

December 10

HP Festival of Stars 2023: Claiming ends.

Drarry Fans Discord Server Double Drabble Exchange (discord only): Works due.

December 11

Charlie's Birthday Bash: Claiming ends. Stories due.

Remus Lupin Fest: Claiming closes.

TTB The Twelve Days of Yule Bash (canon compliant): Challenge begins.

December 12

Charlie's Birthday Bash: Stories reveal.

December 14

HP Festival of Stars 2023: Submissions due.

Marauders Mayhem Voldy's Valentines (exchange): Sign-up closes.

December 15

R/S Big Bang 2023: Art due.

Sirius Black Fest 2023: Posting ends.

HP Soulmates Secret Santa: Works due.

HP Festival of Stars 2023: Reveal begins.

Love Is In The Air (Twitter): Claiming opens.

December 17

Yuletide and Mulled Wine Fest (AO3): Stories due.

Drarry Fans Discord Server Double Drabble Exchange (discord only): Reveals.

Wheel of Drarry Secret Santa 2023: Works due.

December 18

Yuletide and Mulled Wine Fest (AO3): Works reveals.

Dark Festivus Gift Exchange: Fics due.

HP Soulmates Secret Santa: Posting begins.

HP Saffics Secret Santa: Works due.

Wheel of Drarry Secret Santa 2023: Posting begins.

December 19

Dark Festivus Gift Exchange: Reveals.

December 20

HP Bard Fest: Claiming closes.

Marauders Christmas Fest: Challenge begins.

Wheel of the Year Fest (Dramione): Works due.

December 21

Wheel of the Year Fest (Dramione): Reveals.

December 22

H/D Owlpost 2023: Last day late gifts will be accepted.

Yuletide and Mulled Wine Fest (AO3): Creators revealed.

HP Soulmates Secret Santa: Posting ends.

TTB The Twelve Days of Yule Bash (canon compliant): Challenge ends.

December 23

H/D Kidfic Fest 2024: Submissions due.

HoggyWartyXmas Prompt Fest: Posting begins (tentative).

Twistmas: Claiming closes; works due.

Magical Trans Comfort Fest 2023: Posting begins.

December 24

Twistmas: Works revealed.

December 25

25 Days of Draco & Harry (LJ, Tumblr): Challenge ends.

HP Saffics Secret Santa: Works & creators revealed.

Magical Trans Comfort Fest 2023: Last day to post.

25 Days of Kinkmas: Challenge ends.

December 26

Wheel of Drarry Secret Santa 2023: Reveals.

December 30

Riddle Fest (AO3): Prompting closes.

December 31

Sugarfest: A Sugar Daddy Harry Fest: Claiming closes. Submission closes.

2023 Harry Potter Crossover Gift Exchange: Submission deadline.

HP Snooze Fest 2023: Last day to self-post.

H/D Owlpost 2023: Posting ends or until all gifts are delivered.

Remadora Fest (Remus/Tonks): Works due.

Deflower December: Challenge ends.

Harry Potter Kink Meme (Tumblr): Round 2 ends.

HP Festival of Stars 2023: Reveal closes.

Marauders Christmas Fest: Last day of challenge.

Harry Potter Rec Fest: Last day of challenge.

HP Yuletide Bliss 2023: Challenge closes.

Snolidays 2023 (Severus): Last day of challenge.

dracoharry100 Christmas Challenge: Challenge ends.

Rare Pair Shorts Winter Prompt Challenge (Tumblr): December challenge ends.

Riddle Fest (AO3): Prompts announced.

[bluebellofbakerstreet]

Bluebellofbakerstreet's 007Fest 2023 Finish Line Masterpost

15 point art:

GBBO, Q Works Late, James in Jamaica, Kilts!, Aston Martin, Bond on a motorcycle, Commander Bond, Renoir Bond, Location Graphics

10 point art:

Bond, Max Zorin, Eve, Felix, Three-Color Bond, Renoir Eve and all of the Miss Moneypenny Takes a Holiday pics.

5 point art:

Cat, Jaws, Blofeld, and all of the others are from the Children's Story/Rebus

5 point writing:

Skyfall for Kids

Meme/Manip:

Bond Bingo Graphics (2)

Other fan creations:

2048 Game

Scavenger Hunt Fills:

#6 Create a Bond-themed crossword. #23 Create a portrait of a Bond character using only Skittles, M&Ms, or similar small round colored candy.  #28 Find the Difference - Create an almost identical image and change a few things there (could be an edit or art). Tell us how many things have changed when you post it. #29 Solve someone's Find the Difference challenge (Can earn up to 3 times) Solved 3: by kitten-kin, anyawen and ate-the-bean #33 Complete a Bond themed crossword created by somebody else. (Can earn up to 3 times) Solved 3: 2 by kitten-kin and one by spiritofcamelot. #37 Create at least 5 Bond-themed rebus puzzles. #38 Design 3 outfits for a Bond character to be worn on 3 separate occassions.  #44 It's never too early to introduce James Bond to the next generation, although some of the content is too mature. And too long. Rewrite a Bond book or movie as a children's book. For extra points, record yourself reading it like a bedtime story to a child (Both story and read-aloud included.)

Prompt Sheet fills:

#11 Anything, and I do mean anything, about Max Zorin from A View to a Kill. He deserves more attention. #22 Flowers. Put them in a bouquet or in the park. In the garden or as a garden ornament. Put them in a painting or a china pattern. Boutonniere? Yes. Flowers. Gimme. (2nd picture) #25 ANY excuse to put Q in a kilt (and see James' reaction?) #40 Dance. Flailing arms? Okay. Ballroom waltz? Gimme. Line dancing? Sure. Bump and grind? Ayup. Gliding across the floor or stepping on toes, put it in my veins. #62 Bond in Jamaica and his little harem of stray cats who learn his fishing schedule or recognize his boat. #81 “Please stop rolling your shirt sleeves up, it’s terribly distracting”  #155 Historical AU:  Regency?  Victorian?  Roman Gladiator James and  Emperor Q?  (2nd picture) #159 Something nautical; Bond is a naval Commander after all.  Maybe a navy AU? Pirate captain Bond?  A shipwreck?  A romantic sailing getaway? #179 Q and Bond have to go undercover at the GBBO. And to fully complete the mission…one of them must win. Bonus points if they’re investigating Paul Hollywood. #206 Q working late

Art Table fills:

Use a medium you don’t use often  Draw in a different style Ten-minute challenge  Use only three colors Free Space/Challenge Yourself  Draw in One Continuous Line Black and White Only No Lines Inspired by a Painting

Theme Days:

Festivities Day  Felix Friday Characters of Color Moneypenny Day

Events:

1 Hosted:

Bond Bingo Discord 7/30

3 attended:

Productivity Hours Discord 7/15 Productivity Hours Discord 7/16 Ato's Writing Sprints 7/20

87 comments

[sleepyselkiesims]

The Everything Challenge

I have done it!! I have listed everything you can do with packs in the sims! Behold, the everything challenge!

It starts off with a version of the Occult Baby Challenge, but now we follow the lives of each kid after the home, and they're each assigned a pack.

NOTE: This is only the packs that I have cause this is a pack for me. So uhh... yeah Ig I'm the only one that can do this challenge XD But I'd love to know if there are any activities I left out!

Without further ado...

Founder: Parenthood, Laundry day, Kids room, Get together, Backyard

Flower Bunny: Cottage living

Patchy: Outdoor retreat, Seasons

Tragic Clown: High School Years, Discover University

Father Winter: Snowy Escape

Grim Reaper: Spooky stuff, nifty knitting, tiny living, crystal creations

Island Spirit: Island living

Spellcaster: Realm of magic, Get famous

Vampire: Vampires, pets

Alien: Get to work

Mermaid: Jungle Adventure

Wishing Well: Romantic garden, my wedding stories, spa day 

Plant Sim: dine out, City living

Servo: dream home decorator

Note: The founder can be the Plant Sim and have a kid with a normal townie.

The founder does not have to give birth to the kids, but they will have to move the kids in

Bonus Rounds: 

Complete all Achievements

“Ask about Home Region” in every world (requires frequent traveler lifestyle)

General Rules:

Get to level 10 in all skills and careers

Whenever you gain a new ability from a skill or career, you’ll try it out

Attend every festival

Complete every collection

If you want to include each death type, there's my Death Legacy challenge that lists them

Recommended play-style is with aging OFF

City Living

Aspiration and traits: City Native. Unflirty

Careers: Politician, critic, social media

Skills: Singing, instruments, video gaming, painting

Collections: Posters, snow globes, stall food

Activities: 

Play on a basketball court

Use bubble bottle

Use all bubble blower flavors

Busk

Tip a golden statue until you unlock the golden outfit

Busk as a golden statue

Set off fireworks, sparklers, spinners

Use voodoo doll

Unlock all talking toilet interactions

Use vending table to sell items

Complete a wall mural and a ground

Sell a painting on a street gallery wall

Give all speech types on a podium (to be added)

Gain spice tolerance

Fight with a neighbor

Befriend your landlord

As a high-end politician, kiss a baby

Attend special invited events: circus, opera, and underground concert

Eat curry and then play basketball

Give a eulogy for a tombstone

Festivals: Romance, Geek Con, Spice, Humor and Hijinks, Flea market

Island Living

Aspiration and traits: Beach life. Child of the Island, Child of the Oceans.

Careers: Diver, fisherman, lifeguard, conservationist

Skills: Fishing

Collections: Fish, shells, underwater photos, fish, Sulani treasures

Activities: 

Build all sandcastle types

Monster stomp and restore a sandcastle

Befriend 3 dolphins (regular, Azure, albino)

Purchase all snorkling equipment

Volcanic eruption

Break apart a volcanic rock

Use powers to increase a plant’s quality

Flood the floor of a room with the pool tool

Host kava parties for all reward types

Get a suntan and sunburn

Prank a sunbather (there are at least 4 options)

Complete odd jobs

Visit the waterfall

Explore Sulani cave

Encounter a shark

Interact with seagulls

Cook on a fire pit

Use a beach kiosk

Befriend an Island spirit

Ride a jet-ski

Add all add-ons to the aqua-zip

Ride a canoe

Sing all mermaid songs

Discover mermadic kelp (fishing, diving for treasure, requesting a dolphin retrieve treasure,exploring the cave)

Blow the conch shell

Sail on a boat in another world (britechester, copperdale, mt komorebi)

Fish on a boat

Optional: Eat 2 kelp to become human

Festivals: Barbecue, potluck, bonfire, flower and music, family fun day, island celebration, fishing tournament

Cottage Living

Aspiration and traits: Country caretaker. Lactose intolerant, animal enthusiast

Careers: -

Skills: Cross-stitch, cooking, gardening

Collections: 13 animal treats, 15 errand types, 17 canning recipes, 34 fair ribbons, cross stitch patterns, 5 mushrooms, 5 oversized crops, 5 fertilizers

Activities: 

Raise a llama, a cow, a chicken, a chick

Hug all animals

Upgrade animal sheds

Leave something at Sophie the snail

Befriend a fox

Shoo away a fox, plead with fox, ask fox not to steal, 

Befriend a bird tree stump

Befriend 3 rabbits

Ask for gardening help from befriended rabbits and birds

Give and receive gifts from birds and rabbits

Sing to birds

Get smacked by Agnes Crumplebottom

Befriend or make enemies of the Crumplebottoms

Gossip at the pub

Have a fox and chicken fight

Get golden chicken and midnight chicken

Have a picnic from a picnic basket

Have a toddler and child interact with all animals

Optional: have all animal types from treats

Order a grocery delivery

Buy from Market stalls and country caretaker

Gift a canned food

Turn an oversized mushroom into a chair

Befriend the country caretaker

Dress up animals

Start a romance between residents

Eat golden and midnight eggs

Increase the quality of various items after eating the golden egg

After eating the midnight egg, evil glare at objects and another sim

Ask the golden chicken to help with gardening

Sic the evil chicken on an enemy, the grim reaper, and a fox

Play an instrument in the bramblewoods

Pick chocoberry, blueberry, and raspberry.

Hatch an egg

Let a fox steal an egg

Sic a llama on a fox

Sic a dog on a fox

Have evil chicken set fox on fire

Participate in the fairing friend tradition

Write a simple living cookbook

Set oversized crops as decorations

Buy a mystery box from the grocery stall

Travel via bus stop

Optional: get a sheepdog and garden gnome

Festivals: Finchwick fair; Chicken, Cow, Garden, Oversized Crops, Llama

Seasons

Aspiration and traits: Academic.

Careers: Gardener

Skills: Flower arranging, fitness

Collections: Holiday crafts, 15 snowpals, 10 snowpal interactions, 12 decorative eggs, 10 resolutions, holiday traditions, 65 floral arrangements, 16 flower arrangement scents, 12 tree decorations, 12 umbrellas

Activities: 

Help a toddler swim in a kiddie pool

Go for a swim in freezing weather

Become a top-level scout

Cook scout cookies

Shower in the rain

Play in the rain

Give gifts

Sing holiday songs

Have a water balloon and snowball fight

Mud fight!

Play in a mud puddle

Slip in a mud puddle

Rake leaves

Play in a leaf pile

Woohoo in a leaf pile

Burn a leaf pile

Make a snow angel

Declare an ultimate snowpal

Have a child rebuild the ultimate snowpal next time winter comes around

Destroy a snowpal

Brew bee tea

Plant a money tree

Trick or treat!

Fight Flower Bunny for eggs

Win the lottery

Kick a gnome

Create a holiday on the calendar

Put a crocus scented flower near bees

Collect swarm of bees: cheer self up, attack, woo, cheer up, fetch gift, and pollinate plants with bee swarms

Eat a jar of honey in freezing and heatwave weather

Befriend Patchy and steal his outfit

Check Patchy’s pockets for seeds

Upgrade the weather machine

Shoot lightning

Sneak a present

Replace a gift pile with pranks

Decorate!!

Approach bees while wearing the bear costume

Eat honey as a bear

Skate on an ice rink and roller rink

Have a child play in a sprinkler

Upgrade sprinkler

Push someone on a swing set

Sabotage the New Year's countdown

Snowy Escape

Aspiration and traits: Extreme Sports Enthusiast, Mt. Komorebi Sightseer. Proper, adventurous

Careers: Salary Person

Skills: Rock climbing, Skiing, Snowboarding, singing

Collections: 24 Simmis, 5 spirit dolls

Activities: 

Hike with a dog

Woohoo in an ice cave

Become BFFs or enemies with Yamachan

Hike scenic loop

Go hiking with someone

Host a Mountain Excursion

Shove snow in someone’s face

Go sledding with a child

Teach a skiing class

Blog about skiing

Record snowboarding videos

Dance to the company anthem

Festivals: Light, Snow, Youth

Note: each festival has an outfit to purchase.

Discover University

Aspiration and traits: Academic.

Careers: Education, Law, and Engineering

Skills: Research & Debate, robotics

Collections: Ipsum

Activities: 

Learn someone’s traits using the computer glasses

Ask about the secret gathering

Make offerings to the statues

Use the magical sprites that come with the secret club

Gotta go fast on the bike!

Play a game of soccer with someone

Do a keg stand

Play juice pong

After-school activities: E-Sport Competitor and Soccer Team Player.

Get a servo with a techie lifestyle

Optional: get a servo with a technophobe lifestyle

High School Years

Aspiration and traits: Admired Icon, Live Fast, Goal Oriented, Drama Llama. Overachiever, Party animal, Socially awkward

Careers: Simfluencer, Video game streamer. Cheer team member, Chess team member, Computer team member, Football team member

Skills: Entrepreneur

Collections: Ipsum

Activities: 

Go to the shack to see a ghost

Summon urban legend on a vampire

Have a pillow fight

Attend Prom

Sneak out of a window

Go on the 3 carnival rides

Have a Famous student

A vampire sim can get expelled for drinking plasma

Festivals: fashion shows, amateur comedy nights, and poetry evenings

Get to work

Aspiration and traits: Lorem

Careers: Detective, scientist, doctor, retail owner

Skills: Baking, photography, logic

Collections: Geodes, 5 ways of taking pictures, 6 doctor work emergencies, 6 inventions, 15 serums, 8 alien abilities, 20 retail perks

Activities: 

Perform surgery on an alien

Take an alien’s fingerprints

X-ray an alien

Determine gender on a pregnant sim

Watch the alien tv channel

Spread an illness with hugs

Cure an illness with herbal tea and orange juice

Take medicine when not sick

Use cloning machine to clone items for your retail lot

Turn a photograph into a memory

Spoil the latest episode of a tv show

Instill a sim with false confidence

Covertly flirt with a coworker

Eat food at a crime scene

Use all good cop and bad cop interactions

Attend an alien party on sixam

Send an alien baby back to it’s homeworld

The more signs you have, the more sims come to your store

Change mannequin poses

Laugh at a broken neon light

Use alien powers to tranmute metals and crystals

Bring a dead sixam alien beast back to life

Get Famous

Aspiration and traits: Master Actor, World Famous celebrity. Self-Absorbed

Careers: Actor

Skills: Media production, Acting

Collections: 4 talent agencies, 21 acting gigs

Activities: 

Eat Caviar Crackers

Join Drama club

Woohoo in a money vault

Lock a sim in the money vault

Woohoo in a sleeping pod

Cry in a sleeping pod

Rage into the machine

Upgrade a sleeping pod

Hack the dreams of a sim in a sleeping pod

Swim with the fishes

Live stream your entire life

Wear the celestial crystal crown with all crystal types

Flaunt wealth in a crowd

Appraise an autograph

Autograph’s increase in value after a celebrity dies.

Hide from paparazzi in a photobooth

Publish a paper about acting

Bribe a bouncer

Play one of your mix tapes on a public venue speaker

Get Together

Aspiration and traits: Leader of the pack. Dance machine, Insider

Careers: -

Skills: Dancing, DJ mixing

Collections: Club perks

Activities: 

Join a club

Send emotional texts, and accept the outing invitation

Dare someone to streak

Go skinny dipping at the bluffs

Woohoo in a closet

Brew drinks at an espresso bar

Do activities at a cafe

Host a dance party

Dance as a group

Create a custom mixtape

Feel the crowd and get hyped as a DJ

Overthrow a club leader

Begin a club rivalry

Dance off against another club

Wander the maze at the chalet gardens

Befriend/become enemies with the chalet ghosts

Garden Lady Shallot’s garden

Paint with Lord Shallot

Play chess at the chess pavilion and the Estate

Fantasize about weddings at the Estate

Play piano at the estate

Start a bonfire at the beach

Perform all diving moves

Set fire to a llama table

Play darts, foosball, and cards

Change bonfire colors

Throw a voodoo doll attached to a sim into the bonfire

Burn trash in a bonfire

Fire dance

Nap in a bush

Let a child play in a closet

Travel to the ancient ruins via gate

Festivals: Happy Hour, Bear’s Night, Alien Night, Ghost Nights, Knight Nights, Ladies Nights,  Singles Nights, Guys Nights, ancient ruins party, estate party

Dine Out

Aspiration and traits: Foodie, glutton, snob

Careers: Restaurant Owner

Skills: Gourmet cooking

Collections: Experimental food (20), experimental food photos, restaurant perks

Activities: 

Get a restaurant to 5 stars

Draw on a placemat at a restaurant

Compliment and insult the chef

Feed a bite of food to your partner

Get food poisoning 

Simstagram every meal

Stock an aquarium

Try every advertising package 

Get 5 stars from a critic

Leave the restaurant running in your absence

Vampires

Aspiration and traits: Vampire Family, Good Vampire, Master Vampire

Careers: …Vampire?

Skills: Vampire Lore, pipe organ, mixology

Collections: Vampire tomes, 5 vampiric drinks, vampire perks

Activities: 

Ask to turn

Have a club where you play the organ, use vamp powers, and drink plasma

Create garlic wreaths, braids, and garlands

Make plasma fruit salad

Slay a fellow vampire with the Vampire Cure Cocktail

Receive the “Defeated a hunter” moodlet from surviving the cocktail

Woohoo as bats

Woohoo in a coffin

Vampire duel

Receive vampiric training

Meditate and hibernate

Create plasma packs from frogs and pets

Find a sim with Excellent Plasma

Reach irresistible thirst

Become a master vampire

Train another vampire

Place bearcula in front of a mirror

Manipulate life spirit, deprive needs, influence emotions, mesmerize, command, cast hallucination, use vampiric charm

Break into a sims house and drain them

Have a non-vampire fight them while having garlic in their inventory

With vampiric strength, crush crystals and metals

Realm of Magic

Aspiration and traits: Spellcraft & Sorcery, Purveyor of Potions

Careers: -

Skills: -

Collections: 3 bloodline types, 20 wands, 11 familiars, 25 brooms, 24 spells, 15 potions, 8 curses

Activities: 

Travel through the Glimmerbrook portal

Befriend all 3 sages

Get a replacement Glimmerstone from a sage

Bind a pet as a familiar

Send pet to forage for items

Participate in the 5 duel types

Cook the 3 food types in a cauldron

Parenthood

Aspiration and traits: Super Parent

Careers: Stay-at-home parent

Skills: Parenting

Collections: 10 character values, 7 childhood/teen phases, 28 relationship types, 12 table settings, 5 volunteer activities, 7 projects (with 3 types each)

Activities: Lorem

Pack a sacked lunch

Have a sack lunch in a child’s inventory when they go to school

Add drawings to the bulletin board

Set a curfew

Write in a journal

Relive journal memories

Snoop in a journal

Catch a sim snooping in your journal

Make a mess

Build a buildl ‘em blocks table

Play doctor

Destroy a school project

Put a kid in time-out

Ground a child (7 types)

Talk a child through a mood swing, Encourage child to redirect anger, criticize mood swing

Note: skills that help for each project: painting, rocket science, logic, programming, handiness

Spa Day

Aspiration and traits: Self care specialist, zen guru, inner peace. High maintenance

Careers: At-home wellness center

Skills: Wellness, mischief

Collections: 4 unlockable recipes, yoga poses and routines

Activities: 

Teleport somewhere with the wellness skill

Freeze your motive decay

Use all 6 incense types

Join a yoga class

Host a yoga class

Promote yoga virtually

Give and receive 11 massage types

Use 7 bath soaks

Sabotage a sauna

Woohoo in a sauna

Receive and give a mani-pedi

Wear all 6 face masks

Get a rash from too many face masks

While “feeling fine,” gain/remove an emotional moodlet

Outdoor Retreat

Aspiration and traits: Outdoor enthusiast. Squeamish.

Careers: Lorem

Skills: Woodworking, Herbalism

Collections: Bugs, fish, 9 wild plants, 13 herbal remedies

Activities: Lorem

Stargaze and cloudgaze

“Take deep breaths” for a nauseated squeamish sim

Wear a bear costume

Roar in bear costume

“Imitate roar” at someone who’s wearing a bear costume

Host a weenie roast event

Woodcarve the Camping Mascot

Tell stories around the campfire

Summon the campsite ghost

Woohoo in a tent

Roast marshmallows, fish, hotdogs, veggie dogs, and beetles

Cook campers stew, breakfast scramble, fruit cobbler, gumbo, and walleye surprise

Befriend the hermit

Get info from a kiosk

Befriend a Camp Ranger

Purchase supplies from a ranger station

Go hiking

Pets

Aspiration and traits: Friend of the animals. Cat lover, dog lover

Careers: Veterinarian

Skills: Pet training, veterinarian, painting, photography, 

Collections: Feathers, postcards (7, from rodents), types of rodent notifs (10?), type of toys, paintings, pet treats, 4 pet recipes, 4 nips

Activities:

Get all vet clinic perks

Have a pet reach 1500 simstagram followers

Order from a food stall

Give your pets Gourmet and homestyle pet food.

Mix the Minty Fresh Pet Confection and call pet to drink

Get vet clinic to 5 stars

Run an obstacle course with a dog

Travel by a brindleton bay boat

Woohoo in the lighthouse

Let a pet explore a bush

Craft the bird sculpture

Swim with a dog

Have a hamster, rat, pygmy hedgehog, and bubalus

Get rabid rodent fever

Research rabid rodent fever

Purchase rodent remedies

Ask vet employees about rabid rodent fever

Become bffs with a pet

Have cats and dogs investigate the rodents

Plant all 4 nips

Feel the love

Get attacked by a pet

Become companions with a pet

Send pet to explore and dig

Encourage a pet to mate

Sic a cat on a mousehole

Let furniture get scratched up

Have a pet unlearn all behaviors (counters, scratching, waking up, barking, attacking, puddles, drinking from toilet, eating things they shouldn't, chasing pets, toilet)

Befriend and adopt a stray pet

Adopt a ghost pet

See how a baby interacts with animals (they seem to like to sleep near dogs, for example)

Have a female pet run away, and get pregnant during that time

Post alert for missing pet

Calm down pet

Have a dog learn all tricks

Sell a pet

Optional: there are 12 paintings you can create from cats and dogs

Jungle Adventure

Aspiration and traits: Jungle explorer, archaeology scholar

Careers: -

Skills: Archaeology, Selvadoradian culture, guitar

Collections: 10 recipes, 3 mixology drinks, 9 relic combinations, 15 relic curses, 12 relic blessings, 16 Omiscan Artifacts, 13 Omiscan treasures

Activities: 

Rumbasim dance

Play the 7 Selvadoradian songs on the guitar

Tell bones jokes to a skeleton until it dies

Access the food stall’s secret menu

Buy secret wares

Study art for insights

Give an archaeology lecture

Write an archaeology book

Write a travel guide

Authenticate an object for the smithsonian

Perform a Selvadoradian salutation and introduction

Share pictures of vacation

Break a wooden relic by using it too much

Become a skeleton, and perform all special skeleton interactions

Try to eat and drink as a skeleton

Perform romantic interactions on the bridge

Eat every type of emotion berry

Open a treasure chest by a plane wreck

Swim in the Omiscan Royal baths

Open a treasure chest in the Omiscan gardens

Catch a fish at the lagoon

Open a treasure chest on the Island

Mix drinks in an Omiscan temple

Walk through the 4 gate types without disarming them

Offer a relic to temple defenses 

Extract an element on the Archaeology table

Sell items on a Craft Sales Table

Dream Home Decorator

Aspiration and traits: Observant, Friendly

Careers: Interior decorator

Skills: Photography

Collections: -

Activities:

Get a good and/or bad reputation

Get fired for: flirting with clients, nudity, eating/sleeping/showering, low hygiene 

Be featured on the Dream Home Decorator network

Renovate a room, add a room, renovate a level, add a level

Renovate a celebrity home

Write articles

Spooky Stuff

Aspiration and traits: Brave

Careers: -

Skills: Handiness

Collections: ICandy (technically seasons)

Activities: 

Cook spooky cookies, cheese eyeballs, and zombie cake

Place haunted paintings

Decorate!

Dress up!

Host spooky parties at all levels

As for a party treat

Carve pumpkins (10 styles, 4 colors)

Wear a pumpkin as a ghost

Preserve a pumpkin

Light a pumpkin

Smash a pumpkin

Enable pumpkin emotional aura

Get all 4 moodlets from the candy bowl

Wedding Stories

Aspiration and traits: Any love. Romantic.

Careers: -

Skills: Flower arranging

Collections: Messages in bottles, cakes, bouquets

Activities: 

Host: family gathering, engagement dinner, bach party, rehearsal dinner, reception, vow renewal

Call off a wedding

Grapevine gossip

Dance

Use the bathroom in city hall

Send a pet down the aisle

Romantic Garden

Aspiration and traits: Any love. Keptomaniac.

Careers: -

Skills: -

Collections: -

Activities: 

Play in a fountain

Fill a fountain with bubbles

Make an offering to the wishing well

Make all wishing well wish types

Nap on a fountain

Toss coin in a fountain

Swipe simoleons from a fountain

Backyard

Aspiration and traits: Bro

Careers: -

Skills: Motor

Collections: - (could be Season’s eggs)

Activities: 

Drink Lemonade (3 types)

Add bubbles to water slide

Trick slide on waterslide

Fill a bird feeder

Watch birds

Get attacked by birds at birdfeeder

View a windcatcher

Place all windchimes

Laundry Day

Aspiration and traits: Slob, lazy, neat

Careers: -

Skills: Handiness

Collections: Types of clothing (dry, smelly, damp, etc.)

Activities: 

Wash clothes in a tub

Use all scent additives (possibly endless???)

Search pockets of laundry

Place clothes on a clothesline

Cause a dryer fire

Clean lint tray

Have a toddler splash in the wash tub

Upgrade the washing machine (5 types)

Upgrade the Dryer (4 types)

Upgrade the clothesline

Break a clothesline

Sabotage the washing machine and dryer

Watch the washing machine

Add extra soap

Clean the lint trap

Wear wet dirty clothes

Wear clean dry clothes

Sniff clothing

Tiny Living

Aspiration and traits: -

Careers: -

Skills: Handiness

Collections: -

Activities: 

Build 3 lot types: Micro, tiny, small

Use a murphy bed

Upgrade murphy bed

Nifty Knitting

Aspiration and traits: Master of the knits

Careers: Plopsy

Skills: Knitting

Collections: Knitted items (haven’t counted)

Activities: 

Brutally dance to metal music

Have a toddler/child play on a rocking chair

Max knitting skill

Wear all knitted clothing

Dress up babies and toddlers

Dress up farm animals

Knit yarny

Create the sweater curse

Elderly reminisce on a rocking chair

Have a cat play with a yarn ball

Have a child play with knitted toys

Gift the Grim Reaper a lil grim

Crystal Creations

Aspiration and traits: Crystal Crafter

Careers: Plopsy?

Skills: Gemology

Collections: Crystals, metals, 9 gem cuts, 11 jewelry types, 27 effects

Activities: 

Read gemology books

Grow a crystal tree

Befriend the Grim Reaper

Kids Room

Aspiration and traits: -

Careers: Drama club

Skills: Social

Collections: 20 Voidcritters, limited edition foil voidcritters

Activities: 

Perform all 5 puppet plays

Use the voidcritter battle station

Have a childhood bff

Have a childhood enemy

Dance to tween pop

Look for discarded toys in frog logs and trash cans

Trade voidcritters

Train voidcritter to highest level

[brobonebang]

Hello Bro Boners!! We are happy to announce that round 2 of the Bro Bone Bang has concluded with a total of 32 fancies of filial fucking available for your delectation: find our masterlist here and the AO3 page for the collection here, if you want to indulge in this tantalising tantric Turkish delight.

Anyway: you know what that means (and okay yes we had a little two-week hiatus while your neighbourhood mod juggled that festive overwhelm we all know so well) - anyway - round 3 of the Bro Bone Bang is go and our theme for this time around is SONGS. Your prompt should be in the form of a song title and artist: no more, no less. As usual at the Bro Bone Bang we prefer our prompts the way we prefer our drugs - non-prescriptive (this is untrue and also probably ungrammatical but we’re surfing this wave now, no time to get off) (unlike Sam and Dean, who always make time to get off, eyyyy).

Prompts for round 3 will be accepted until the end of February 2023 and fills until midnight UTC on March 5th of the same year (that is to say, next year, obviously we’re not going to run this round for like 15 months). Any song you like! Maybe it’s a classic rock song, maybe - given the season - it’s a Christmas carol, maybe it’s a pop classic of your yoof (whenever that youth may have been, no judgements here). Just pop it in the prompt box and leave it to the lovely fanwork creator to interpret the music and lyrics as they see fit. (A brief reminder: art fills are very welcome! For fics we ask for a 500-word minimum - just a little treatsy taste - so interpret that art-wise however makes sense to you.)

Just one more time for ease of access: you can find the Round 3 AO3 collection here. This is where you can leave and fill prompts. If you wanna post a link to your completed fanwork on your Tumblr once it’s done, please go ahead, and please tag @brobonebang​ so we can see it and reblog it!

(The rules and FAQ for the challenge remain the same as for round 1, so feel free to check them out again if you need a refresher. Any questions? Mods are here for you as always! Just send us an ask.)

[thatsneakymedic]

October Writing Challenge Day 15 Pumpkin

With permission and the trust from Mother Nonou, Kabuto walks hand to hand with Aina as they head back to Aina's farm to go pick up some crops for dinner. Today it was Kabuto's turn to go with Aina to bring the food back as part of his lessons about running errands and learning basic math when it comes to money.

The other two nuns insisted that Nonou teaches Kabuto these things early as times like these when children need to learn quickly. Since even they might need to learn the value of chores and doing errands for their parents long after they get adopted.

Dragging the empty old utility grocery cart behind him with a handle, Kabuto looks around the trees and the cloudy skies. He's wearing his own warm scarf and his boots since the weather has been getting colder these days and Kabuto had just recovered from his own sore throat two weeks ago. He did however love how the trees and the leaves are falling about and decorating the ground with the red, yellow, and orange colors.

"I didn't know that you live just a bit far from us Aina. I can't believe that you walk from here to our place and then to Konoha. But it must really be tiring and stressful when it gets dark, rains, or snow. Winter is in a few months after all." Kabuto says as he does a little hop on the leaf to crush it under his foot to give it that good satisfactory crunch sound.

"Well, first it helps t' get up at th' crack'a dawn. Get all th' chores done you need done 'fore anythin' else. Which's why it's import'nt to go to bed early. Plus by now, I've done learned all th' shortcuts 'round this place. An' when a place's very far or I got a big load t' carry, I take my tricycle an' wagon." She answered as she leads the way to the farm, which is lucky that the wooden fence is the main clue that they're going the right way. On the same road as them, a couple using a large wagon pulled by a horse that carried quite a lot of vegetables on the back of the cart and they both were heading back to the village.

"Hello you two." The wife of the man greets them in a friendly manner as they pass through. And both Aina and Kabuto step aside to let them pass and they bow as they leave. As soon as they pass, Kabuto then tries to look on ahead when they're at least a mile from the farm.

"That man and his wife. They bought a LOT of vegetables! Like as if they're planning a large dinner or festival! I think we should hurry. What if all of the vegetables are gone by now?" Kabuto said as he is now slightly rushing towards the place, holding Aina's hand while also trying to drag the cart behind him too.

Aina though she's not too worried about the vegetables running out, she does notice that Kabuto was concerned so she decides for his sake to also hurry by walking quickly while helping Kabuto pull the cart.

The view of the small farm is now getting closer and closer as the brown fence is reaching the bend and towards the farm. Kabuto slows down his steps as he now looks around the small farm from the front. From far away, he sees a figure moving about before heading inside. Probably Aina's mom or another customer?

"Is that the place? It's a lot different than what I imagined. I thought that you guys would live surrounded by large fields of hay and stuff. Like in the pictures of story books or magazines. But it still looks pretty and comfortable."

She giggles but she's also glad that the boy isn't dragging her so much anymore and now they're able to walk at a normal pace, "Ahaha, oh, Kabuto. You mus' be thinkin' bout people with manors. Those farmers got much more land than we do. Yep, farms act'lly come in all shapes-n-sizes. But we're happy with ours. Ain't never let us down."

"And considering if that couple that passed us that might've bought the vegetables back there. That means that your crops must be really good, even if your place isn't as big. Different and all shapes and sizes... I like it. Since bigger isn't always better." He looks around the outside of the house as they get more closer till they are right at the doorstep.

Now not so much as in a rush since there's nobody there other than him, Aina, and the woman in the store. He is the first to knock on the wooden pillar to let her know despite that she had already seen them coming.

"Aina, is that your mom in the store? She looks a lot like you." He assumed that she would be as kind and friendly like her too.

"Yes she is." Aina nods, though she did worry about if Kabuto won't be intimidated by her personality since even she knew that her mother isn't as friendly as she is.

He stands in front of the various vegetables and he reads the numbers and the names on them. Though reading the list that he has, he looks around more for the other vegetables that were not on the display. Aina guides him to shed and his eyes widen as he sees the tomatoes and sweet potatoes that he needs to pick up.

But before he could move, he pauses when he feels someone staring at him and he turns to the dark skinned woman with the apron who was counting the money, even though she's already done and is now putting it away in a box, she is giving him a rather serious stare. Her attention however is on the Konohagakure Orphanage symbol on his kimono.

"Keep an eye on that child, Aina. Last thing I need is a troublemaker messing up my store. And leave that cart out since I don't want you hitting anything either." She said sternly while turning to Aina for a moment before looking back at him.

Great. Another child from that place and an unfamiliar one that is not the mature one with the hat and birthmark on his nose. She hopes that Kabuto isn't like the insolent girl from the Orphanage who tried to haggle with her with the prices on the strawberries. The girl called her an "stupid old hag" for not willing to deal with the outrageous cheap price and then kicking a display stand's wooden foot so hard, the foot broke and the fragile plums that she cherished herself all fell onto the ground, bruising and ruining the entire bunch. If it weren't for Aina getting between them, she would've not only beaten the girl, but also refused the money and dragged the snotty brat out of the store by the hair. Even if it has been months ago when it happened and Mother Nonou thankfully paid for the damages, it still left a bitter taste in her mouth.

"Y-yes ma'am! I promise that I won't cause trouble for you or Aina." Kabuto politely bowed to her despite being unnerved by her intimidating stare before turning around and gently putting the right amount of tomatoes in the bag and then with his fingers. Counting on the prices while also keeping his hands to himself. Kabuto was thankful that there was plenty of vegetables left even though it looked like it was just about to run out. While waiting, Airi noticed how Kabuto would casually put the produce in their right places and in order while looking around for the items he need when he didn't need to. Seems that this child knows how to clean up and organize.

8 tomatoes 3 cabbages 6 sweet potatoes 8 regular potatoes 6 carrots 2 cauliflowers 3 eggplants

Kabuto was careful with the costs of the items and even counted quietly on both money and the produce. Or at least he thought he did as he picked the biggest ones he could find and he put them on the cart.

His attention was caught on the perfectly shaped small pumpkin that was on one of the displays along with the other larger ones. He has been curious to know how pumpkin tastes like since Urushi told him that he has been craving for pumpkin pie the other day and how it's always delicious to eat around this time of the year.

Perhaps he could buy it for him and maybe Mother would be happy with it too? A small one of course, since the big ones were way too expensive and too big for him to carry home.

He looks at the cash in his hand and he counts what would he have left if he could buy it.

Being so sure that he could get it, he picks up the one that catches his eye and he puts it on the cart. "I think I got everything Aina. I think I have enough money for an extra item too."

He smiles as he immediately heads to the counter with the money ready in hand. Aina then follows him and starts to take out the scale in hand, "Oh, oh wait. You gotta let us--ahaha, 'lettuce'--ah, let us weigh it. Our prices're ain't based on how many of a fruit or vegetable ya got. We figure it out based on how many kilos your pick weighs."

Kabuto's happy face slightly frowns, though he did catch the joke but he had no time to laugh at it, "What? I... I didn't know that. Oh no, I picked out the biggest ones I could find..."

"At least you'll know and be aware of that next time boy. And don't hold the money out in your hands like that. You're easy pickings for thieves to steal from you if you're not careful." Airi advised rather strictly while waiting for Aina to finish weighing the produce. Kabuto gulped as he puts the bills of money in his pocket quickly. Not that there was any need to worry since there was no one around other than the three of them.

Fortunately for Kabuto, he had enough money for all of the produce that was on the list, except for the pumpkin.

"You don't have enough for the pumpkin boy." Airi commented as she puts the pumpkin on the table away from the bags.

Kabuto frowned at that. "Oh no, I'm sorry ma'am. I'll go put it back for you once I pay you the money for these items." He sadly looks at it as he hands the money to Airi who slowly counts the money he gave her, just in case. Kabuto thinks about how he could take out at least two of the produce, but then that would mean less food for just one item and Mother did say to not try to buy unnecessary things.

Airi eyes Kabuto for a moment as he's trying to calculate on what to do even if he is willing to accept that he won't have to buy the pumpkin. She hesitantly sighs as she pushes the small pumpkin toward him, it's the least she could do for his good behavior and because she needed to get rid as much of the produce as she can for her and Aina's planned trip outside the village. "You can add this to the cart, boy. It's on the house and nice job putting the items back in their proper places for me."

Kabuto's eyes open and he slightly gasps as she presents the pumpkin he was holding to him, he was smart enough to know that not every kind act would get him free stuff. But he had no idea that she was paying attention to him cleaning up and putting the items back where they belong. Even though she was scary, she does seem nice after all.

"R-really? I can have it? Are you sure? T-thank you, ma'am!" He picks up the pumpkin and he holds it in his hands. Feeling the smoothness of the skin on his fingertips.

"Make it last, boy. Next pumpkin ain't gonna be free." She said while waiting for Aina to be done helping Kabuto put the items on the cart.

"Yes ma'am. I'll remember that. Thank you for the crops. Goodbye now." Kabuto politely bowed to her before adding the small pumpkin to the cart. Neatly right on the spot where it won't crush the other crops or fall off.

Before Aina could leave with Kabuto, Airi then calls for her to wait and she hands her an list of orders from other customers, "Oi. Kame. If you're gon' take that boy back to his place, go on an' take up that basket over there. Here's th' order list. Get these deliv'ries t' ev'rybody on this list, an' get back here 'fore dark. Got it?"

Aina nods, "Yes Mama!"

"Repeat back t' me what I done tol' you t' do." She crosses her arms.

"Take Kabuto home, make these d'liver'ies, get back here 'fore dark." Aina repeats with her eyes closed and with her hand clenched onto a fist while one hand counts the three things to do.

"Good. Now get goin'." She nods as she puts the money that Kabuto gave her into the money box.

"Thank you again, Ma'am. Have a nice day!" Kabuto said kindly as he also bows to her again before leaving with Aina while holding her hand and helping her pull the cart even though she got it covered. As if giving her extra strength to pull it.

"So Aina, I overheard that your mother wants you back home before dark, and I did see that there was some things put away like storage boxes. Are you going somewhere after this and would you guys be okay to travel when the weather changes? I don't think you should travel too much around this time of the year." The boy holds onto her hand a bit tightly as if to show her his concern.

Aina thinks as she helps him pull the heavy wagon for him while he follows her. "Well, ah, I wouldn' say we travel that much. S'only th' sea turtles we really care about in th' world outside Konoha. We go twice a year. Th' first in May, th' second in October." Her feet step over a few leaves on the path as she continued, "Me an' Mama go t'gether, jus' th' two of us. We camp as much' we can--which's actually very fun once ya learn how t' do it well!--an' rain never bothered me. We need th' rain t' live, don't you know! "Snow? Ahahaha! Well now, I ain't never been through a lotta snow! So I can't say how I'd cope if I did get caught in a blizz'rd. Hafta get back t' you on that."

"So this would mean that you won't be out in the winter then? Thank goodness for that! Aina, your mom even though she is scary. She sounds like a nice lady, especially when she gave me this pumpkin for free. I know that she won't give stuff for free, but I'm really happy that I can bring one since I've never eaten pumpkin before."

The walk back to the orphanage was a nice and peaceful one, and one that Kabuto would always remember when Aina's mother is mentioned in their talks.

A planned drabble with my friend @super-kame-love

Also tagging you @lunyraartistry

[movedtoferinehuntress]

⌜ ♥ @musesbymarnie ⌟ ―― Caitlyn & Jayce ► opportunities to feel unwanted = ❝ "This isn't really my area of expertise." from Jayce ❞

"And your point?" Caitlyn questioned, a hand placed on her hip as if she dared him to back down from the challenge in front of them. It was the Moon Festival of Autumn. sometimes called Midnight Masquerade. The Festival was alive with activities, and excitement beaming from the youngest child to the oldest adult. Multiple different stalls were lifted, some were costumes, and others here to present games or gifts. It was a time when children often would dress up, excitedly running around because of the time of autumn. It was often the day when people would give gifts and celebrate the coming days of the brilliant red moon that provided the harvest and the progress to autumn.

The stall in front of them was a shooting game, the small gun with little plastic balls for bullets, and the metal animals such as rabbits and foxes spun around in front of them. "We all know I'm the excellent shot here, but come on, give it a try," Caitlyn laughed as she reached into her pocket and put down a couple of gold coins to the stall attendant who clicked a button and the animals started to move and twist, bobbing up and down. "All you have to do is knock down 15 in 20 seconds and you get a big prize!" The attendant grinned, encouraging Jayce as Caitlyn was.

"If you don't do it, I promise I'll take a round and get you a big furry Poro," Caitlyn playfully teased her brother as she tilted her head. "Besides, we're going to that magic show, you owe me," Caitlyn often broke down how the magic was done, she was terrible with shows like that because she could see the misconceptions and the perception of deceit. Where one saw magic, she saw behind the misdirection and the truth of the games.

Still, she loved how much of a nerd Jayce was when it came to magic shows.

[bluejayblueskies]

ao3 year in review 2022

happy new year!! 🎉 with 2022 done and gone, i wanted to take a quick moment to look back on the fic i wrote last year 💜

Top Fandom: Malevolent (15 works, including anonymous fics and fics on my separate nsfw account)

Date of First Fic Posted: January 2, 2022 (it's my party and i'll cry if i want to, Encanto, 5.6k words)

Top Multi-Chapter Fic: ten thousand flowers in spring, The Magnus Archives, 47.5k words

I finished this one just a few days ago and I had such a good time writing it! It also may very well be my last major TMA work (unless the TMA muse returns to me at some point) and I'm happy with it being the capstone on my multi-chapter TMA experience 💜

Top One-Shot: The Cube Rule of Food Identification, The Magnus Archives, 1.6k words

This fic surpassed 1.5k kudos recently and I never expected it to 😂 it's the silliest fic I think I've ever written, given that I usually trend towards angst and whump, and I'm glad that people enjoyed it!

(more under the cut!)

Fic I’m Most Proud Of: whisky old fashioned sour, Malevolent, 58.5k words

I love whisky 💜 this fic is my baby at the moment, ngl, and I'm so excited to wrap it up in the next month or two (depending on how fast I write). People have made some truly spectacular art for it that continues to blow me away every time I see it, and the community has been so wonderful and encouraging over this AU that I thought nobody would really find interesting other than me 💕

Fic I Wish Had Gotten More Attention: cicatrix, Malevolent, 4.7k words

I get why this one didn't get a lot of attention--it's a niche AU (a daemon AU) that's rather whumpy, and I posted it at a weird time. Still, it was (and still is) a concept that really excited me, and I still wish it had gotten a bit more attention. Oh well! That happens sometimes. I like to think that I've gotten more resilient about writing weird niche things that will get like 5 comments and 20 kudos max XD

Fic That Challenged Me The Most: Fata Morgana, The Magnus Archives, 41.7k words

I wouldn't necessarily say that any of the things I wrote this year were particularly challenging (unless you count the HTML stuff in whisky 😂). However, I did have a super rough time starting this fic. It really did not want to get off the ground for whatever reason, and it fought me hard for the first couple of chapters. It was pretty smooth sailing after that though, and I'm proud of the final product!

Favorite Quote/Passage: I always struggle with this question because I forget what I've written beyond what I wrote like. Yesterday lol. So I think I'll just pick a selection of lines I enjoy!

from whisky old fashioned sour:

This close, John can count every single one of Arthur’s freckles—or he could if he had the time, which he immediately adds to his to-do list. Does Arthur have freckles on his shoulders as well? His back? The inside of his thighs? John has never needed to know something so badly, so desperately.

from pov you're an arkham taxi driver:

The last glimpse you catch of him is in the bright white of a lightning strike, high above in the clouds. He looks … taller, somehow. Like his shadow has peeled away from the ground and now looms ominously above, an unholy specter of darkness that winds around him like it’s trying to consume him utterly.

from merry and bright:

There was a choir somewhere else in the festival, and the faint sound of Christmas carols mingled with the jingling of bells and the crackling of fire and the ever-present crunch of snow underfoot. The sounds, along with John’s descriptions, painted a brightly-colored picture: vendors adorned with reds and greens and silvers, children with one hand clasped in a parent’s and the other clinging to hand-carved wooden toys or big round lollipops, people with handcarts peddling candied orange peel and apple cider and warm roasted chestnuts.

from do the stars gaze back?:

Then, Jon reaches out a hand and traces a finger along the curve of Martin’s cheek. “You have constellations within you as well,” they say softly, mapping out the spaces between Martin’s freckles and leaving a warm, tingling sensation in their wake. Their finger reaches the bow of Martin’s upper lip, and they hesitate before shifting and cupping Martin’s cheek in their palm. “They’re lovely.”

from live wire:

They’re beautiful, Jon thinks. In the same way that poison dart frogs are beautiful and belladonna is beautiful and a knife is beautiful right before it buries itself in your lungs.

Total Words Posted: 253,945 words

I suppose I did write two full multi-chapter works and one almost-full multi-chapter work this year, but wow that's still more words than I expected! I'm super happy with the progress I made last year, and I plan to continue writing and posting in 2023 🎉 Thank you SO much to everyone who has commented, kudosed, reblogged, chatted with me in DMs or discord servers, and otherwise supported my writing--I appreciate all of you 💜

Some things to look forward to from me this coming year 👀

Malevolent

The last few chapters of whisky 🥃

Episode 20 time loop fic with themes of whump and heavy angst

Some assorted oneshots, including a Christmas PWP I really meant to have done last year and an exchange fic!

More selkie AU 🦭

TMA

Some assorted oneshots via the bunnies in the archives event that I'm participating in

A oneshot where Tim and Jon quit the Institute together in season 4 that I'm planning on finishing and posting!

A magic AU featuring magician Martin who may or may not have accidentally summoned a Jon by writing sad poetry. Featuring hurt/comfort, sickfic vibes, and a happy ending 💜

[twwpress]

Weekly Press Briefing #30: January 15th - 21st

Welcome back to the Weekly Press Briefing, where we bring you highlights from The West Wing fandom each week, including new fics, ongoing challenges, and more! This briefing covers all things posted from January 15 - January 21, 2023! Did we miss something? Let us know; you can find our contact info at the bottom of this briefing!

Challenges/Prompts:

The following is a roundup of open challenges/prompts. Do you have a challenge or event you’d like us to promote? Be sure to get in touch with us! Contact info is at the bottom of this briefing.

@thefinestmuffin and @JessBakesCakes are hosting a casual Josh/Donna Rom Com Fest that will reveal on February 14. Prompts and claims are open; details here. 

Photos/Videos:

Here’s what was posted from January 15 - January 21.

Marlee Matlin posted selfies with her daughter Sarah along with a birthday wish. 

Marlee Matlin posted a photo of herself at Sundance Film Festival as a member of the US Dramatic Competiton jury.

Marlee Matlin posted photos of herself with Hayley Astin at Sundance. 

Rob Lowe posted a screenshot of his new movie Dog Gone being number one on Netflix. 

Rob Lowe posted videos of himself on Jimmy Kimmel Live: 1 | 2

Donna Moss Daily: January 15 | January 16 | January 17 | January 18 | January 19 | January 20 | January 21

Daily Josh Lyman: January 15 | January 16 | January 17 | January 18 | January 19 | January 20 | January 21

No Context BWhit: January 15 | January 16 | January 17 | January 18 | January 19 | January 20 | January 21

@janelmilfoney: January 19 | January 21

Miscellaneous:

Josh Malina celebrated his birthday on January 17. 

 Creator Spotlight:

Each week, we will talk to a fandom creator and interview them about their work and their process. We’ll also give you the opportunity to ask them questions, too! Want to be a featured creator? Find us via one of the methods listed at the end of the briefing!

This week’s creator is @tonysstrk on twitter and hanyolo on ao3. You can find the spotlight on tumblr or on twitter.

 This Week in Canon:

Welcome to This Week in Canon, where we revisit moments in The West Wing that occurred on these dates during the show’s run.

Season 3, Episode 11: 100,000 Airplanes aired on January 16, 2002

Season 4, Episode 13: The Long Goodbye aired on January 15, 2003.

Season 6, Episode 12: 365 Days aired on January 19, 2005.

Season 7, Episode 11: Internal Displacement aired on January 15, 2006.

Editor’s Choice: 

In the TWW universe, a new presidential term would be beginning this week. We rounded up some of our favorite inauguration-centered fics to mark the occasion! Long Story Short by onelargecoffeepls | Rated T | Josh Lyman/Donna Moss | Complete | Josh and Donna get together the night of Bartlet’s second inauguration, putting them on a different path for the rest of the series. Canon-divergent AU in four parts spanning from “Inauguration: Over There” all the way through to “Tomorrow.”

Between Every Line by greatestheights | Rated T | Josh Lyman/Donna Moss | Complete | On the night of President Bartlet’s second inauguration, Donna and Josh drink bad champagne and say some things they shouldn’t.

Now More Than Ever by Canon_Is_Relative | Rated T | Josh Lyman/Sam Seaborn | Complete |  It’s inauguration night and Josh is looking at Sam.

Ever Forward by JessBakesCakes | Rated T | Josh Lyman/Donna Moss | Complete | Four Inauguration Days for Josh and Donna.

Inauguration Day by ETraytin | Rated T | Gen Fic/No Pairings | Complete | The Santos Inauguration from fifteen different points of view.

They Can't Take That Away by MAHC [archived by westwingfanfictioncentral_archivist] | Rated E | Abbey Bartlet/Jed Bartlet | Complete | Jed Bartlet's last inauguration day brings joy for the family and administration, but unexpected complications bring both personal and professional threats.

The Future Belongs by ETraytin | Rated T | Josh Lyman/Sam Seaborn | Complete | "The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their own dreams."-Eleanor Roosevelt.

President Seaborn's inauguration day.

Fics:

Presenting your weekly roundup of fics posted in the tag for The West Wing on Archive of Our Own. If you are so inclined, please be sure to leave the authors some love in the form of kudos or comments. Be mindful of posted warnings/tags for each story.

Josh/Donna

Roses and Sacrifice for You by Shinyrosa | Rated T | Josh Lyman/Donna Moss | In Progress

darling, so it goes (some things are meant to be) by mikaylawrites | Rated M | Josh Lyman/Donna Moss | Complete

say my name and everything just stops by flowersinapril | Rated M | Josh Lyman/Donna Moss | In Progress

 CJ/Toby

departures and arrivals by rearviewmirror for crossingdelancey | Rated T | C. J. Cregg/Toby Ziegler | Complete

The House is Over There by tobyneedspie | Rated E | C. J. Cregg/Toby Ziegler | Complete

 CJ/Danny

Fallout by onekisstotakewithme for daylight_angel, miabicicletta | Rated G | Danny Concannon/C.J. Cregg | Complete

A Night to Watch by onekisstotakewithme for daylight_angel, miabicicletta, Luppiters | Rated T | Danny Concannon/C.J. Cregg | Complete

 Other Pairings/Gen Fic

it started off with a kiss... now it ended up like this by imawkwardlysoc | Rated G | Sam Seaborn/Original Female Character | In Progress

watching the skies by jazzjo | Rated G | C. J. Cregg & Charlie Young, C. J. Cregg/Andrea Wyatt | Complete

compel me to ask you for more by jazzjo | Rated G | Andrea Wyatt/Toby Ziegler | In Progress

the hands of the statesman by themysterybox | Rated T | Bruno Gianelli/Arnold Vinick | Complete The Language of Tomorrow by silasfinch for justdreaming88 | Rated T | Ellie Bartlet/Original Female Character(s) | In Progress

A Different Life by PreppyPrincess5103 (JAG crossover) | Rated M | Sarah "Mac" MacKenzie/Sam Seaborn | In progress 

Wait For Me by imperfectirises | Rated M | Abbey Bartlet/Jed Bartlet | In progress 

Mr. President-Elect by yourlocalrandombisexual | Rated E | Jed Bartlet/Leo McGarry | Complete

my best friend’s hot by fleurfemme for crossingdelancey | Rated E | C. J. Cregg/Andrea Wyatt/Toby Ziegler | Complete

 Multiple Pairings

Unto Us, A Child Is Born by mlea7675 | Rated G | Abbey Bartlet/Jed Bartlet, Helen Santos/Matt Santos | In Progress

THE WEEKLY PRESS BRIEFING TEAM CAN BE REACHED VIA THE FOLLOWING METHODS:

Twitter: @TWWPress

Email: weeklypressbriefing@gmail.com

Feel free to let us know if we missed something, if you have an event you’d like us to promote, or if you have an item that you’d like included in the next briefing!

xx, What’s next?

[moxiebylindsey]

Enjoy Healthy Holidays with Fitness Routines Designed for Women Over 40

The holiday season is filled with joy, family gatherings, and delicious treats, but it can also bring about stress and challenges when it comes to maintaining a healthy lifestyle.

For women over 40, who may be navigating hormonal changes, balancing family life, or managing health concerns, it’s especially crucial to stay active. 

With the right fitness routines, it’s possible to enjoy the holidays while prioritizing well-being. 

Here’s a guide to maintaining health and fitness through the holidays, tailored to the needs of women over 40.

7 Essential Fitness Tips for Women Over 40 to Stay Healthy During the Holidays

The holiday season is a time for celebration, but it can also challenge your fitness goals, especially for women over 40. By incorporating some simple, targeted fitness strategies, you can enjoy the festivities while staying active and healthy. 

Here are seven essential tips to keep you feeling your best throughout the season.

1. Focus on Low-Impact Cardio for Energy Boosts

As we age, high-impact exercises like running or jumping may strain the joints, making low-impact cardio a safer choice. Opt for activities such as brisk walking, cycling, or swimming, which can be done indoors or outdoors, depending on the weather.

Why It Works: Low-impact cardio is gentle on the body, reduces the risk of injury, and keeps the heart and lungs strong. Incorporating cardio 3–4 times a week helps boost energy and relieves holiday stress by releasing endorphins.

2. Incorporate Strength Training to Support Muscle Health

Maintaining muscle mass is essential for women over 40, as muscle naturally declines with age. 

A holiday strength-training routine doesn’t have to be intense but should include resistance exercises targeting major muscle groups.

Routine Idea:

Squats and Lunges: 2–3 sets of 10–15 reps to target lower body strength.

Bicep Curls and Tricep Extensions: 2–3 sets of 10–12 reps for upper body strength.

Core Planks: 3 sets of 30 seconds to improve core stability.

Why It Works: Building strength not only tones muscles but also improves metabolic rate, helping manage holiday weight gain.

3. Stretch Regularly to Relieve Tension

The hustle and bustle of holiday preparations can leave you feeling stiff and tense. Daily stretching or gentle yoga can release tension, improve flexibility, and promote relaxation.

Routine Idea:

Cat-Cow Stretch: 5 rounds to ease back tension.

Forward Fold: Hold for 30 seconds to stretch the hamstrings and lower back.

Child’s Pose: Hold for 1–2 minutes to release stress.

Why It Works: Regular stretching helps maintain flexibility, reduces stress, and can improve posture, which is especially beneficial during busy holiday activities like cooking and shopping.

4. Prioritize Core Work to Protect Your Back

Strong core muscles are essential for stability and preventing back pain, which can be common during the holidays with increased activity. Focus on exercises that engage the core and support spinal alignment.

Routine Idea:

Bird Dog: 2–3 sets of 10 reps per side to engage core and back muscles.

Pelvic Tilts: 3 sets of 15 reps to strengthen lower back.

Leg Raises 2–3 sets of 10 reps to target lower abdominals.

Why It Works: Strengthening the core helps maintain balance and supports the spine, making everyday tasks less taxing on the body.

5. Set a Holiday Movement Goal

Staying active doesn’t always require a structured workout. Set a goal to move daily, whether it’s walking, dancing, or participating in family activities. Use a fitness tracker to track your steps and set reminders to take breaks from holiday tasks.

Goal Idea: Aim for 7,000–10,000 steps a day, especially during busy days of cooking, shopping, or socializing.

Why It Works: Setting a movement goal keeps you accountable, prevents long periods of inactivity, and makes holiday fitness manageable without needing extra time for the gym.

6. Practice Mindfulness and Breathing Exercises

Holidays can be stressful, so taking time for mental wellness is as important as physical health. Try incorporating mindfulness or breathing exercises into your daily routine to stay calm and centered.

Exercise Idea: Practice deep breathing for 5 minutes before bed, inhaling for a count of four, holding, and then exhaling for a count of four.

Why It Works: Mindfulness practices help reduce cortisol levels, keep stress in check, and improve overall well-being. Lower stress means more energy for holiday fun and less chance of stress-related eating.

7. Stay Consistent but Be Flexible

Consistency is key, but it’s also important to stay flexible and allow yourself to enjoy the season. If you miss a workout, don’t worry—focus on getting back into the routine the next day. Try to plan ahead to include shorter workouts or lighter activities on busy days.

Why It Works: Flexibility in your fitness routine prevents burnout and allows you to enjoy the holidays without feeling pressured. This balanced approach helps create a sustainable fitness lifestyle, where you stay active without compromising on holiday joy.

With these holiday fitness tips, you can stay energized, reduce stress, and make the most of the season without compromising your health. Embrace a balanced approach, and enjoy a festive and fulfilling holiday!

Final Thoughts

For women over 40, holiday fitness routines can enhance both physical and mental health, making the holiday season more enjoyable. 

By focusing on low-impact cardio, strength training, flexibility, and mindfulness, you can stay active, feel empowered, and enjoy the festivities to the fullest. 

So, as you head into the holidays, remember that health and fitness can be part of the celebration, allowing you to thrive in every moment.

[saving-word-crawls]

Halloween in November Word Crawl

By: Erica_Kriner

It’s November 1st, and Halloween is officially over…for the regular folks. But us? We’re still in our costumes, going from door to door looking for candy, and generally reveling in the spooky spirit. Who says Halloween only comes once a year? For us, a real spooky person is spooky all year-round!

The following word crawl was developed to keep up the spooky spirit for NaNoWriMo. It probably works best for those writing horror, but hey, I’m writing a travel memoir so you’re welcome to play no matter what!

Things You Should Know

There are a little over 30 challenges here not counting special events, and you can complete them in whatever time frame you like. You could do a couple a day, but a lot of them are smaller and I recommend spending a couple of days or so on each week.

Feel free to substitute song challenges with your own choices, but I highly recommend keeping the spooky atmosphere alive!

The currency of this word crawl is candy! Here’s a list of them all and what they do:

Snickers: Skip a challenge of your choice; ignore any penalties (but also rewards).

KitKat: Half all the goals of a challenge. (10 minute sprints turn into 5 minute sprints, 500 word sprints turn into 250, and so on.)

Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups: Turn a timed challenge into a sprint. (5 minutes: 200 words. 10 minutes: 500 words. 15 minutes: 750 words. 30 minutes: 1000 words. 1 hour: 1500 words.)

M&Ms: SPECIAL! You’ll read more about these later.

Skittles: Subtract 50 words from a goal or give yourself a bonus 50 words to meet a challenge. (But you DO actually have to write these words!)

WEEK 1

The official festivities are over, and you had one wild night of debauchery! Inspect your candy stash and write for 10 minutes as you look over your haul.

How did you do?

Less than 200 words: You knew you should’ve gone to the rich neighborhoods. You barely have any candy, and you have a lot of work to do. (You earned no candy, sorry!)

201-400 words: You have a pretty good amount of candy, but most of it is the cheap stuff. Hard candies with weird names and the like. Oh well. (You earned a candy of your choice!)

More than 400 words: Is that a full-sized KitKat!? You are truly an inspired trick-or-treater. You have enough candy to last you at least until Thanksgiving! (You take the lot! One of each candy!)

Now it’s time to hatch a game plan. Halloween may be over for everyone else, but you have some work to do. Sprint to the nearest 100 words as you plan a month of Halloween-revival!

With your master plan in front of you, it’s time to tackle the first of many goals: revamping your Halloween décor. Pick one of the challenges below, but if you complete them all, you earn one Snickers bar!

Throw out the rotted Jack-o-Lanterns: Sprint 100 words as you quickly try to dispose of these! Yuck!

Take down all the dusty fake cobwebs and put up new ones: Roll a die and multiply by 50 – write that many words and contemplate why you use so much fake cobwebbing.

Steal some of your neighbors leaves to add to your own yard so you can really embrace that fall aesthetic: Word war for five minutes. If you win, you have a very lovely array of leaves in your yard. This may come in handy later. If you lose, write 50 more words as you attempt to make your leaf-less yard look autumn presentable.

With your post-Halloween chores out of the way, it’s time to get to the fun stuff! First task: buying some new pumpkins! Write for 10 minutes as you drive out of your way to one of the few pumpkin patches that hasn’t closed for the year.

Oh no! The pumpkin patch is closed! But you see someone’s vehicle, so maybe the owner is around somewhere? Multiply your typing speed by 10 and sprint that many words as you search for them.

You finally find them as they’re retying a tire swing in the nearby forest. Roll a die to meet this character.

1 or 2: Drats! Old Man Marley is the grumpiest guy in town! He eyes you suspiciously as you approach. “Din’ ye see the sign? We’re closed!” Word war for 10 minutes as you negotiate buying a pumpkin. If you win, move on to the next prompt. If you lose, retry until you win! (If you have to word war more than three times, you’ve earned some Skittles for your trouble.)

3 or 4: Boozy Barbara isn’t tending the gourds after all! She’s drunk! Sprint to the nearest 1000 as you wait for her to sober up. (If she’s super drunk and you write more than 500 words, take a KitKat for being a good citizen.)

5 or 6: Count Bathory! He’s always creeped you out a little bit but he’s happy to sell more pumpkins. Do a Three Digit Challenge to haggle. Count Bathory says he’ll throw in a Reese’s with your purchase for free.

You’ve convinced them to let you get a pumpkin or two, but only if you’re willing to help them out with a small task. Someone’s been stealing pumpkins and they need you to check on their pumpkin patch one night next week. If you agree, they give you some M&Ms as a token of good will.

Finally, with pumpkins in tow, you head home and think about all the fun you’ll have carving them. What design will you choose?

A scary skeleton: A classic choice! Sprint through “Monster Mash” by Bobby Pickett.

A wild werewolf: Truly terrifying! Sprint though “Hungry Like the Wolf” by Duran Duran.

A wonderful witch: Very trendy! Sprint through “Rhiannon” by Fleetwood Mac.

In the middle of carving, you spy an extra candy that you forgot to put with the others! Sweet! Take a candy of your choice for finishing this week.

WEEK 2

You thought you would ease into this second week? Absolutely not, Halloween waits for no demon! Do an Epic Writing Hour as you find the motivation to stay spooky!

Time to check the mail! This isn’t a very creepy task, so do a 5-minute sprint to get it over with quickly. How well did you do?

Less than 100 words : It’s all junk. Maybe one of these coupons will be useful?

101-200 words: Hey, you got a letter from an old friend! Take a 10-minute break to read it.

More than 200 words: What’s this? It’s an invitation to submit a piece of art in an unusual medium to the local art fair! You eye your pumpkins – this could be the perfect way to bring Halloween to the whole town! Follow the special prompts below.

SPECIAL EVENT (Only do these prompts if you wrote more than 200 words in the last challenge.)

Time to touch up your pumpkin of choice! Write 100 beautifully crafted words. Really put some thought into this! (Share your best line from this challenge here 2 to earn a candy of your choice.)

It’s time to enter your pumpkin! Will you qualify? Do a 5-minute word war to find out! If you win, move on to the next prompt. If you fail, exit the special event.

They love your work! It’s between you and two other people! Martha brought her origami miniature of the town and Louis made anatomically correct models of bugs out of various plants…but your pumpkin is fun! Surely you can win! Write like you meant it for 10 minutes!

Less than 300 words: You got third place! There’s no prize, but hey, everyone feels a little spookier after seeing your pumpkin!

301-500 words: Second place is a nice place to be! They give you a Snickers for your artistic contribution.

More than 500 words: As much as the judges loved all the submissions, they loved the “metacommentary” of your pumpkin. They blabbed on about consumerism and then gave you your choice of two candies! Maybe they didn’t get your pumpkin, but you walk away a little richer!

Win or lose, you deserve a break after all that! Take your pumpkin home and take a 15 minute break.

END SPECIAL EVENT

Tonight, you plan to spend a quiet night in, watching a string of scary movies. Let’s go shopping! Sprint to the nearest hundred to find a good deal, because the true horror in this universe is price inflation!

With your favorite scary movie in hand (the director’s cut – score!) you head back to your house, but on the way, you remember that a certain pumpkin patch owner needed you to check on their pumpkins this evening. If you took the M&Ms, move on to the special event. Otherwise, skip it.

SPECIAL EVENT

You make a sharp left and head to the pumpkin patch, wishing you could head home and watch movies but also excited to look at the big pumpkins again. It’s a long drive, so settle in and write 500 words before you reach your destination.

When you get to the pumpkin patch, you are horrified to see all the best pumpkins are gone! With your pumpkin expertise, you can tell that they were ripped violently from the rest of the plant rather than carefully harvested by pumpkin professionals! OH NO! Participate in a 10-minute word war to overcome your own panic! If you lose, you must spend an extra 15 minutes writing to calm yourself down.

With a new sense of clarity, you call up the owner of the pumpkin patch and tell them that their pumpkins have been sufficiently squashed and that it’s an emergency. They tell you to get out of there, and they tell you not to tell anyone what you saw. Sprint to the nearest thousand as you speed out of there!

END SPECIAL EVENT

At home and a little shaken up, you decide to curl up on the couch and watch your movie after all. Look up the running time of your favorite movie and write that many words. (If The Godfather is 2 hours and 58 minutes, you write 258 words.)

It’s time for a mid-movie snack break! What are you getting? Take as many as you want, but at least one!

Popcorn: Sprint for 5 minutes as you wait for the popcorn to pop.

Soft Pretzel: Write 100 words to properly savor the saltiness.

Soda: Write 200 words in 5 minutes to keep yourself from drinking it too fast. If you fail, get a new drink and try one more time.

Ice Cream: Write 10% of your current daily wordcount before your ice cream melts!

If you completed all the snack tasks, reward yourself with a well-earned 15 minute break and a candy of your choice.

You just started playing the movie again when Martha calls you! Martha is so annoying! You pick up the phone and she’s blabbing nonsensically. Word war for 15 minutes as you attempt to get off the phone.

Finally, Martha gets the picture and she hangs up. Now, it’s finally time to finish your movie! On your way to bed after the movie, your doorbell rings. You go to answer it, but no one is there. On the ground, a bag of M&Ms is wrapped up in a note that reads “Halloween is over, but the scares are just getting started. Meet me at the pumpkin patch in a fortnight.” You try to find the source of the mysterious note but there seems to be no one there. Sprint to the nearest hundred as you rush inside to hide under your covers.

WEEK 3

This weekend, you decide to throw a Halloween party. You need to round up some party guests, so do as many or as few of the challenges below to determine your party size!

Send out invitations to all your friends: Type the next 50 words with one hand as you address envelopes with the other. (+10 people)

Create a Facebook event for your party: Choose a specific challenge from the forums to complete (ie. Carrot/Stick, Take/Leave a Song, etc). (+5 people)

Paste flyers over Martha’s flyers for her Thanksgiving party on the same date: Word war for 5 minutes as you remember why you can’t stand Martha. (+5 people)

Film a local commercial advertising your party: Sure, some may call this overkill, but you call if effective! Write 3% of your word count to pay for this ridiculously expensive ad campaign. (+10 people)

Start a pyramid scheme to get more people involved in inviting: Sprint to 300 words and go leave some encouragement in the NaNo forums to get people motivated to do your bidding! (+10 people)

If you complete three or more challenges: With all your hard work, the mayor hears about your party and invites his whole office to accompany him! What luck! (+10 people)

If you completed all five challenges: You’re beat! But on the way home, you find a bag of Skittles!

Before you get home, you decide to see what kind of discount Halloween costumes might still be around so that you can snag a good deal and look great in a new costume. Attempt a 1k1hour. If you succeed, you find a great deal on an amazing Frankenstein’s monster costume AND a cute little scientist outfit for your pet that will make a great Frankenstein with some minor adjustments. Fantastic! Take a Reese’s for your outstanding find. If you fail, you look for a while but decide that the toilet paper mummy will have to do for now.

Time to do some costume crafting! (Even if you succeeded in the last step, this is to fix up your pet’s costume.) Roll a die and multiply it by 100; write that many words. How is the finished product?

1-3: It’s not your best work, but it gets the point across! Take a KitKat for your troubles.

4-6: VIOLA! It’s perfect! Everyone will remember this costume – and this party – forever! Take a KitKat AND a Snicker’s! You earned it!

It’s almost time for the party, and now you must decide what games to set up. Pick as many as you want, but you MUST have an apple-bobbing station.

Apple-Bobbing: Write 300 words in 10 minutes. If you fail, you spill the water everywhere. Write for another 5 minutes to clean it up.

Murder Mystery: Word war for 15 minutes as you grapple with what guest to make the murderer. If you lose, try again for 5 minutes before you finally figure it out.

Mafia: Where did you put that deck of cards? Sprint to the nearest hundred in 60 seconds. If you fail, you put the cards in the most obscure place possible and you’ll spend an afternoon writing to the nearest thousand.

If you completed all three challenges, you rock! Steal some Skittles from your candy bowl.

Quickly run through the house and do all the last-minute things before the guests arrive! Make sure the candy bowl is filled! Spruce up the decorations! Start your spooky playlist! Sprint to the end of your scene as you wait for that first knock at the door!

Within a few minutes, the party is in full swing! How many people showed up? (Return to the first challenge of this week to find your total.)

0-4 people: This is what happens when you don’t tell anyone about your party! At least you can cry if you want to. Do an Epic Writing Hour as you contemplate how cool this night would have been if you’d put in some energy. When you finish, you are horrified to find out that somehow, Martha knew about your party. She brought her bratty kids and their friends. Great.

5-10 people: It’s a small gathering, but it’s your closest friends! Write as fast as you can for 15 minutes as you try to keep the energy high.

11-30 people: The party is swinging! People are chattering and having a good time. Write 300 words as you make the rounds and chat with everyone.

30-49 people: Several people showed up in costume and you host an impromptu costume contest! You declare yourself winner! Do a victory dance and sprint through a playing of “Thriller” by Michael Jackson and don’t forget to grab your prize of a KitKat !

50 people: Did the whole town show up!? The mayor is entertaining the crowd so you get to sneak into your bedroom for a 10 minute break but not before you grab a Snickers.

Finally, everyone gathers for a round of apple bobbing! Now is your chance to outshine everyone! After a few rounds, you are going head to head with Terrence Wiseman, the coolest and most talented guy in town, and Martha’s date! You both take a moment to prepare for battle. Write casually for 5 minutes as you clear your head.

Remember at the beginning of week 1, when you had a word war to see if you could steal your neighbor’s leaves? I told you winning would be helpful! If you won that challenge, then right as Terrence is getting ready to dunk his head in, someone starts loudly proclaiming about the incredible array of leaves in the yard. “It’s like an autumnal wonderland out there!” Terrence loses a precious few seconds and you easily beat him. Skip the next challenge.

This may be the most important moment of your life. Until next week, that is. Word war for 5 minutes.

If you lose, you go to give Terrence some candy but you’re all out, so you have to give him some from your Halloween stash. Give up one candy of your choice. If you have none, just sit there in your shame.

If you win, Terrence is impressed, and he invites you to his comedy show in early December! Plus, Martha looks annoyed with him for the rest of the night. HA. Take that, Martha!

The party winds down and people file out. Once you finally take some time to rest after the festivities, you realize that in all the craziness, you total forgot about Thanksgiving! Your friend brought over some of her leftover turkey yesterday, so you heat some up and even give a little to your pet. It’s a lovely Thanksgiving in your household, but an even lovelier Halloween.

WEEK 4

What’s scarier than a haunted house on Halloween? A trashed house in November! Time for some Fall Cleaning! Here’s a list of chores, unfortunately you won the Homeowner’s Association Award for Cleanest Home last year so you’ll have to do all these chores to maintain your title.

Clear out the trash: Sprint to 200 words to get all the trash, and don’t forget to recycle!

Mop, sweep, and vacuum: Sparkly floors and clean carpets make for happy homeowners. Write for 30 minutes as you finish this up.

Return all the furniture to rightful homes: Manual labor is fun! Do the Never Have I Ever Challenge as you swear you’ll just pay one of Martha’s bratty kids to do this next time. (Link)

Once the chores are done, you can finally get back to what’s most important: Halloween! The town has finally started to see that Halloween is important all year round and some people have taken to the streets to Trick-or-Treat in celebration! You sit outside for an hour of casual writing and end up handing out some candy to a few local kids. (And even a couple of adults, too! Halloween is for everyone, after all!)

Whew! Reviving a holiday is hard work! Take a 20 minute break because you deserve it.

After your break, you return to keep handing out candy, but your bowl has been raided! You search desperately for any spilled pieces but all you find is another note. “If you ever want to see your candy again, you’ll be at the pumpkin patch tonight. Bring your M&Ms.” You look around once more for the culprit, but they are long gone. Complete a Three-Digit Challenge as you gather your supplies.

Later that night…

Before you go on your way to the pumpkin patch, you look at your special candy stash. You grab the M&Ms stockpiled and get in the car. You are nervous the whole way. Word war for 5 minutes as you resist the urge to eat some candy. If you lose, you know what to do.

As you pull up to the pumpkin patch, the air feels electric. You round the corner and

OH MY PUMPKINS, THREE FIFTY-HEADED HYDRAS ARE ATTACKING THE PUMPKIN PATCH!

Count Bathory and some other townsfolk are battling them, with little ground being gained! One of the heads crashes into the ground next to Not-So-Boozy Barbara and she swiftly dodges, but the poor pumpkins are lost in the crossfire!

Count Bathory sees you and TURNS INTO AN ACTUAL BAT to flee the scene, directly towards you! As he approaches, he shoves a package of M&Ms into your hands. “You wanted Halloween? Help us defeat these monsters and save the pumpkin patch or we’ll never be able to celebrate again!”

You can only use M&Ms in these challenges. One M&M will lower your word goal by 10, and each bag contains 10 M&Ms. Use them wisely.

The First Hydra: Bathory comes to your aid as you try to tag-team the Hydra. Unfortunately, it has way more heads than you do and it’s a tough fight.

The Second Hydra: Old Man Marley shows up with a rake and takes a good swing at this one, and one of the heads immediately swallows him whole. That’s okay, he was pretty grumpy. You secretly wish it was Martha, though.

The Third Hydra: Terrence is here! He lands a good blow in one of the Hydra’s eyes! If you beat him in the apple-bobbing contest, it was an eye on the head you’re currently fighting and your word count goal is reduced by 25.

PICK YOUR ENDING BASED ON HOW MANY YOU KILLED!

0: You wake up in the wreckage of the pumpkin patch, with the guts of the most beautiful pumpkins all over you. Boozy Barbara is patching up the wounds of Count Bathory as you approach them. “What happened?” You ask, slightly dazed. “They took the city. The Hydras rule us, now.” Write 1,667 words as you try to cope with this new information.

1: You slay one Hydra, and the other two scramble back into the forest, knocking down trees and slinking into the hellscape void that surrounds your quaint town. You don’t know when they’ll be back, but you know it will be soon. You spend the next few weeks drumming up an army, and since you’ve been the talk of the town recently, it’s pretty easy. Sprint for 500 words to slay the Hydras when they return and save the town.

2: You have waited your whole life to see real monsters, and tonight you got to slay them! (Also, is Count Bathory a vampire!?) You take two Hydra hearts home to display in large fish tanks, and the town puts the other in a jail cell until it agrees to leave them alone forever. Martha tries to tell the local news that you’re her best friend, but your local journalists value integrity and get the facts from you before the story runs. You go to Terrence’s comedy show and leave feeling a little less impressed by him overall. Sprint for 10 minutes to leave before Terrence has a chance to ask you what you thought.

3: You expertly wove in and out of battle like a warrior! Did those moves come from adrenaline? A deep love of pumpkins? Or maybe some crazy backstory I neglected to give you? Who knows! The town regards you as a hero, and after the Mayor resigns for failing to protect everyone from the Hydras, you win by write-in votes! You declare every day as Halloween and the town prospers for all eternity! Sprint to 100 to wrap up a job well done.