#nobody has to participate in any of the events i host

[tarlosweeklyprompts]

causal reminder that there are always events going on in some shape or form on tumblr in the creative community and there are so many days and weeks in the year.

[sarcasticscribbles]

BOYCOTT EUROVISION FOR ISRAEL PARTICIPATION.

I am the Eurovision gay this time of year, I love this show. Not only is my country hosting 2024 but it's also in a city I love, but I can't watch as people sing about peace and love while Palestinians are getting killed by one of the participants.

I've complied a couple of petitions, open letters and information regarding Eurovision: Eurovision isn't the highest priority regarding Gaza, but this show is marketing & tourism for countries, Israel is using it to pink wash their politics

According to SVT, Swedish television network in charge of Eurovision 2024 in Sweden Malmö, Eurovision is apolitical, and therefore Israel qualify. They refer to any calls for boycott meaningless ( via )

SVT statement:

[ID: "SVT statement on the debate over Israel’s participation in the Eurovision Song Contest

Israel’s participation in the Eurovision Song Contest is generating debate and today a number of Swedish artists have called on the EBU to cancel Israel’s participation in the Eurovision Song Contest 2024. It is the EBU’s decision which public broadcasters may take part in the event, and as the host broadcaster, SVT follows the EBU’s decisions. The humanitarian suffering in this deeply complex conflict is devastating. Nobody can be left unmoved by the current situation in Gaza, or by the Hamas attack in Israel. We are also concerned about these developments. We understand and respect that groups of people wish to make their voices heard. As the host broadcaster, SVT has an ongoing dialogue with the EBU about the challenges of producing Europe’s largest TV-production in times of unrest. We are humbled by the task and are working to ensure the project can be carried out in the best way possible, with the vision that music unites." END ID]

Eurovision has always been political, and was created as a celebration of peace after WW2. Songs are statements, and EBU took action by banning Russia and Belarus for the invasion of Ukraine. It's a way to show sympathy and solidarity, which Gaza is in need of now.

Why Eurovision is so important to Israel is the opportunity of pink washing, and appearing liberal and LGBTQ-friendly, that the show encourages. This leads to great marketing and tourism for the country, alqueerian on twitter did a great thread about it:

[ID: Tweet from @ alqueerian on X formerly known as Twitter. Tweet: "A really quick thread on pinkwashing and why it’s wrong: pinkwashing is a term that was coined by LGBTQ Palestinians to specifically refer to the use of homophobia as a justification for israeli war crimes, ethnic cleansing, mass displacement, starvation etc." END ID]

Full thread

WHAT YOU CAN DO:

Here are a couple of petitions, open letters and links to encourage the ban of Israel in Eurovision

And if all fail: we boycott

Here are two petitions for the ban of Israel: Petition 1

Petition 2

A list of emails and contact information for broadcasters regarding Israel participation: copy, paste and send. Document

It's created by verilybitchie on YouTube who also made a great call to action video I can recommend

[ID: Screenshot of verilybitchie youtube video "Genocide at the Eurovision Song Contest". The video is showing an article by Chris Lockeyer, news reposter, titled "Israel to compete at Eurovision despite boycott threats" The article says: "The European broadcast Union said its member organisations approved Israel's participation in the competition and it remains aligned with other competition organisations on its stance." The article is from December 19th, 2023. END ID]

And for Swedes, I think it's extra important for us to speak up; here's what we can do:

Open letter via Björk & Frihet, a charity in Skåne offer letters to sign but also have pdf version to print at home!

[ID: Photo from Björk & Frihet, a swedish charity offering open letters to sign to send to the government. "Stoppa folkmordet" as the letters are ladled, means "stop the genocide" END ID]

This is also a letter regarding the contest being held in Malmö, a city with a long history fighting for Palestine! Sign here

[ID: Vote for Swedes in Malmö to sign to protest Israel's participation in Eurovision. END ID]

Meanwhile, don't forget your daily clicks to help Palestine while we wait for EBU to stand by their words and prove we are united by music!

[ID: Iceland's Hatari holds up Palestinian flags during Eurovision in Tel Aviv, May 19, 2019. END ID]

[maspers]

Ranking the Miracucast by good they are at playing UNO

Marinette: She has a strategy. She plays to win. Her family has been playing UNO since before Marinette was in nursery school. She is ruthless and takes no chances. There are no allies in UNO. ...She still ends up losing more often than not because that's just how UNO is. 7/10

Alya: She's mostly just at the table for fun, and really enjoys how into it her friends get. 4/10

Adrien: Yes. 10/10

Nino: You would not expect this man to be good at UNO. But everyone just kind of... ignores him? He just casually goes along causing no drama, until he's the first person to call "UNO!" and everyone wheels around in their seats to face him with shocked looks on their faces. Adrien, however, can see right through Nino's facade and the moment Nino says "UNO!" both of them know that it's on like Donkey Kong. 9/10

Chloe: She has no idea whatsoever how to play, but she refuses to lose to Marinette. There is drama. There is house rules. There is drama about house rules. But they keep inviting Chloe back to the table because when she plays she also *hosts* the game at Le Grand Paris, and while they may not be good at much the Bourgeois family DOES know how to host events better than anyone else. 5/10

Sabrina: Initially didn't participate and was just there to act as Chloe's valet. Then one day she joined the table and curbstomped everyone, then went back to helping set up the snacks like it never happened. This has happened a couple times since then, and nobody understands it. Adrien and Nino have begged her to teach them, and she acts like she doesn't know what they're talking about. The only person to ever match Sabrina in a game of UNO was Marinette's mother Sabine, and all the players that were involved in that game signed an NDA stating they can't reveal who won. I have no justification for any of this, but I can feel it in my bones. 11/10

Mylene: Surprisingly vicious, but experienced players have no difficulty dispatching her. 6/10

Ivan: Unfortunately he is not very good at this game. There was one time he actually won though, with a pretty good strategy, and his smile was brighter than the sun. Since then everyone has wanted him to win again, but none of them are willing to sacrifice their own chances of victory for it. Ivan doesn't mind. He's just happy to be included. 2/10

Rose: Everyone expects her to be secretly good at this game for some reason. She doesn't understand why. She's pretty average at the game, but enjoys when she plays a card normally and everyone else glances around in a panic. This is fun! 4/10

Juleka: By herself she's a little better than average, but she's a real menace when Luka is also in the room. She knows all his tells and micro-expressions, and since Luka is Luka (see below) that means she knows everything. There have been talks of banning the Couffaine Twins from playing in the same round as each other, but such a ban was pretty impossible to enforce. 8/10 by proxy

Kim: In regular UNO he's a complete failure, but when the group is playing with large amounts of house rules he starts doing really really well. Not on purpose. Most of the time, however, he just shows up to eat snacks and arm wrestle with Ivan in the background while everyone else plays. 3/10

Max: Like with every game he's played, he knows ALL the strategies. Card percentages, color probabilities, the works. He should, by all accounts, be an expert at this game. But he does not understand the Heart Of The Cards and so he keeps losing. 6/10

Alix: Is definitely cheating. All the time. Everyone knows it. And it hurts, because Alix is legitimately good at the game too. Her classmates are begging for a regular game, but she just loves seeing what weird stuff she can get away with. Alix/10

Nathaniel: He wasn't particularly interested in the game originally, but then someone (Chloe maybe?) commissioned him to make a massive custom deck with original art based on the superheroes. Since he makes the cards, he somehow also became the judge on what can and cannot become a permanent house rule, since that often leads to new cards being made. He's still really awful at the game itself, but everyone showers him with praise and view his title as Deck Keeper as worthy of unparalleled respect. And since he made the cards, he's the only one capable of countering Heart Of The Cards bullcrap. 5/10

Lila: Has literally never played UNO before, though she will never admit it. 0/10

Luka: The jury's still out on whether or not his inner music hyper-empathy counts counts as cheating or not. Since they can't prove he's using it to know what everyone is feeling about their cards and plays, he's still permitted at the table. But the fact remains that he's very good at this the game. 8/10

Kagami: She has absolutely no idea what she is doing. The amount of cards in her hand sometimes gets so large Felix or Adrien has to provide one of their hands to help hold them. But she is also having the most fun she's had in a long, long time. So let's focus on the positives, shall we? -10/10

Marc: He swears the deck is not rigged in his favor. Nathaniel asserts there's no way he COULD rig the deck in Marc's favor, and Max ran the numbers to prove it. But somehow every time the group starts a new round Marc draws his cards and yup full of wild cards again. 6/10

Ondine: This was Kim's idea of a date. Ondine was not impressed. But she did stay for the snacks, and at least gave it the old college try. UNO just isn't her vibe, and that's okay. 1/10

Aurore: Doesn't usually play with everyone else, but she DOES know how to play, and one time she was asked to join a game when most of the group was unavailable and they needed more players. It was a bit awkward because she's a big Adrien fangirl and is used to playing with a different set of house rules, but they made it work, and fun was had. 4/10

Felix: He tries. He tries so hard. Everyone was wary when he joined the table, but there fears were unfounded because Felix is absolutely pathetic at UNO. He has the rules memorized. He keeps track of all the house rules meticulously, which interestingly means he's very good at keeping the game running smoothly. Everyone turns to him when there's uncertainty about a particular situation. But he just can not win. Ever. He doesn't even get close. He's managed to call "UNO" a grand total of once in his lifetime, and that was because the rest of his cards ended up in Kagami's hand instead somehow. It's awful. It's mortifying. He's a chess prodigy, an expert tactician, how has he been reduced to this? 1/10

Zoe: Was really excited to play, and let out a squeal of joy when she saw Nath's custom cards. She knows how to play really well, and was really quick on the uptake when it came to all the house rules, too. Since she's around technically the group no longer needs Chloe to host, but Chloe took that as a challenge to be an EVEN. BETTER. HOST. Zoe is not complaining, less work for her. And she still beats he sister most of the time, so it's all good. 7/10

[starxluv]

||Kaede and Kokichi with a crush on a Bitchy G/N Reader

—it seems like I can’t create an OC without making them a bitch or at least a bully. So, I’ve done this concept for almost every time I write.

Kaede Akamatsu🎹

She didn’t understand why you were so upset with everyone.

Everybody had tried being nice to you on the first day, well excluding Miu and Kokichi.

Yet, after they showed you nothing but kindness and you showed aggression back, so most of your classmates avoided you.

Though, Kaede didn’t want to exclude you from activities or hangouts since that would just be cruel.

Whenever paired events would take place, nobody would want to be your partner because of your rude attitude, so in a attempt to make you feel welcomed, she’d always be your partner whether she really wanted to be with you or not.

That caused you and her to start bonding and hanging out outside of when you two are paired.

( I made a ‘little’ scenario of you and Kaede in a three-legged race )

“Y/N! Wanna be partners for the race?”

Kaede had run up to you while you were standing all alone looking down at your phone, feeling bored.

“Can’t you see that I’m busy?”

You said rather quickly, not thinking of your answer and just wanting to be left alone by Kaede.

“Well, you need a partner to participate in the game. I was just making sure that everyone has a complete pair.”

“To be completely honest, I don’t want to do your stupid race!” You had slightly snapped at Kaede from her not giving you the alone time that you craved.

Kaede had gone slient, trying to think of a good reply to not come off as rude. She was doing her best to stay kind to you, but you were pissing her off.

“How about this, you do the three-legged race with me and if you don’t have fun, I’ll never ask you to join me again. Deal?”

Kaede held her hand out towards you, gesturing for a handshake.

You had thought about it for a bit, and came to the conclusion that it was a good deal. So, you accepted her offer, feeling slightly defeated.

Kaede had tied her left leg to your right leg securely with a pink ribbon representing ‘team pink’

You two stood at the start line, Kaede smiling at you to hopefully make you feel like she genuinely likes you, while you stared at her with an annoyed face.

“Aw come on, turn that frown upside down! We’re gonna have so much fun.”

You gave her a sarcastic smile for a moment before going back to your bored expression. “There, happy?”

“Eheh….sure.” She tried to do a good fake giggle but ultimately failed.

The faculty member hosting the event started the race, everyone ran off, though a lot of them fell on the track floor.

You sped off towards the finish line, you may not be in the mood for a race, but you’re not in the mood for losing.

“Y-Y/N! Slow down, I might fall!” Kaede was trying to keep up with you, originally she wasn’t going to run very fast but since you were, she was forced to sprint or she’ll probably bleed from falling on the hard track.

“ Pfft! First one to fall is a little bitch!” You said jokingly, not actually expecting any of you to slip.

Jokes on you, immediately after you said that Kaede fell face first onto the track. It hurt like hell but Kaede expected you to stop to make sure she was fine.

But you didn’t stop, you just laughed while dragging Kaede’s body across the track.

“Hahahahaha! You’re like a little floppy ragdoll!”

She felt like she should have been mad at you for your ignorance, but she just couldn’t get mad when you seemed so happy.

Kaede thought your laugh was adorable ( even if it was an extremely ugly laugh )

A bright pink blush spread across her face as she laughed along with you.

Long story short, team pink finished in 2nd place! Kaede had a small nosebleed but laughing made it better.

Kokichi Ouma 🎬

Kokichi was interested in you ever since the first day he met you.

Though, he did think you were quite annoying because of your unnecessary attitude.

He thought that you were just being a bitch to get all of the attention, but little did he know, you just wanted to be left alone.

So, he began pestering you for fun, thinking that you were just a Miu wannabe.

It was fun to see you get red and mad, even when you threaten to kick his ass.

He liked how your insults were creative, they made him laugh because of how stupid they were.

time for the scenario, might be a bit shorter than kaede’s

“Dayum Y/N! I didn’t even know that a human can be as bitchy as you are, that level of bitchy-ness has to be a world record. Congratulations!”

Kokichi said with an enthusiastic smile on his face, watching you get even more annoyed by him was so goddamn entertaining.

“I’m sick of your stupid lies! I get it, you don’t like me! Just say what you want to actually say instead of adding some fake ass congratulations.”

You rolled your eyes, frustrated by Kokichi’s shenanigans.

“How do you know if I was lying, hmmm?? I’m telling the stone cold truth! Didn’t your mom teach you any better than to falsely accuse?”

You started getting mad at him, he was so annoying that he was making your skin fade red.

“Yeah, well at least I have a mom! Didn’t you tell everyone that you had no parents?”

He paused his constant effort to annoy for moment to process what you just said to him.

“Wow, that wasn’t very nice nor funny.”

“What? It’s the truth.”

Kokichi pulled out his crocodile tears and began whining loudly.

“Waaaahhhhh!! I just wanted to be friendsss!!”

You felt slightly bad, mainly because you didn’t know he was fake crying.

“K-Kokichi….fine…I didn’t mean it.”

*sniffle* *sniffle* “You’re lyingggg!!”

“No, I’m not!”

“If your reeeaaallly sorry then say that I’m so hot and I always tell the truth.”

You groaned audibly, not believing that you were actually going to say what he wanted you to.

“Fine…You’re so hot and you always tell the truth.”

“No! Say Kokichi is hot!”

“Do I really have to use your name..?”

“If you don’t I’ll never ever ever forgive you!”

“Ugh, Kokichi is so hot and….he always tells the truth.”

He quickly stopped sobbing once you finished the sentence as he got up and cheered.

“Sooo, you think i’m hot?”

“You’re living proof that even ugly people have sex.”

“Nishishishi, thank you for thinking that I’m sexually active!”

The room got silent for a second.

“What?”

(dang that sucked)

[gortash-week]

Thank you for the polite and understanding response to engagement anon! I do understand the feeling of "aaaaaand nobody has felt enough to leave a comment. :((((" but it's not something that you, the event organizer, have any control over, and attempting to institue a forcible "everyone must engage with everything" would do more harm than good, in terms of resentment at very least.

(<- waiting until they have free time to go read a bunch of the fics)

thank u anon!! i didnt want to come across as rude in my response so i ended up sleeping on it to make sure i got my thoughts across well! of course i would love for everyone to get equal engagement but there's only so much time in the day to read yknow? i totally understand feeling like your work is overlooked (which is why i set up this specific side blog with tags for each day & characters involved so people can filter out what they want to see)

i said before that my main aim for the event was to celebrate gortash and i think that job has done pretty well :D everyone who's participated or engaged has made this week super successful and it's a win in my book!

i'd love to host another event some time in the future, whether it's gortash specific or maybe him & his dynamics with other npcs (someone joked on twitter about a gortash month and i think that would be neat :D i'll probably do a post asking if people would be interested in other events like this and go from there ;D)

but yeah, i can't really do much to get people to engage apart from share all the work made already and hope for the best!

[mobscene-london]

UPCOMING EVENT NOTIFICATION.

All right, for those present in the group chat, you already know about this ahead of time. We were supposed to have a Valentine's Day-themed event the weekend just gone, but unfortunately, pneumonia got the best of me, so you'll have to forgive the delay. If this unfolds how I want it to, though, it should be worth the wait.

WHAT EXACTLY WILL THIS EVENT ENTAIL?

The Westminster Insider will be hosting a charity auction with a twist. Instead of auctioning off items to the highest bidder, they'll be auctioning off dates with the ladies of the dash.

Each of the female characters has a generous budget to design the date of their dreams. City breaks to Europe, dining at the fanciest restaurants, visiting places they've never been...whatever their heart desires! The best part? They don't have to pay a penny. Westminster Insider will fund the entire thing. Just be aware, the pricier and more extravagant the date, the higher the starting bid will be set at, narrowing down your potential bidders...

These dates will then be compiled, listed and open to be bid on by the male guests the weekend of the event. The twist, though? Nobody knows which date belongs to who. They're completely anonymous until the winning bid is announced. Only then will both parties find out who they'll be spending their time with.

WHAT ELSE YOU NEED TO KNOW.

Not only is the bidding process anonymous in character, but out of character, too. Admin included. When submitting your date to me via the ask box, please make sure to do so anonymously so I don't know who it's for. Nobody should be privy to which date belongs to who. Don't tell your friends in secret to make sure that your ship ends up flying off into the sunset together. If they know each other as well as you think, they should be able to figure it out on their own...no?

The rest of the dates need to be submitted Thursday night at the latest. I'll probably close around 2:00 GMT Friday morning (technically still Thursday for the USians.) If you're unsure what your date should look like, I'm going to post the ones I've received so far shortly so that people can begin to think who their characters might bid on. Feel free to use them for inspiration.

If you don't participate in this event without a genuine excuse, and your activity has already been questionable, this will be your exit.

The full event summary with a description of the night, as well as the logistics behind the bidding process and what you'll have to do, will be posted after the date submissions are closed. Keep your eyes peeled for further information. And, as always, if you have any questions, don't hesitate to ask. ♥

[v1leblood]

Who is doing better

Shirou in Brockton Bay or

Taylor in the fifth holy grail war

I sat with this for a bit and I think my answer is decidedly shirou. i'm thinking about it from the perspective of where their personalities would land them/lead them, and like...

neither her family background or relationship with her peers makes it easy to visualize Taylor as an establishment magus, and if she were to be a non-establishment magus (like Shirou), i don't think she'd have something like the insane confluence of events that lands someone with a special origin, or unique magecraft, or mystic eyes or what have you. she'd be nobody special, most likely the kind of person the Grail picks when there are no other promising candidates, a la Ryuunosuke.

i feel like her narrative arc would defined by her relationship with her servant, because without a catalyst, you end up summoning someone that's compatible with you, and I feel like the kind of hero that is compatible with Taylor is Not the kind of hero Taylor sees herself as being compatible with, most likely reflecting the ruthlessness at the core of Taylor rather than her idealism. ultimately, I think she gets outmaneuvered and killed by just about any of the fifth grail war participants unless Rin or Caster take pity on her

now Shirou is a dream host for a shard. no self-preservation, eager to get into conflict if it means saving others, lots of possibilities for trigger events, he has it all. if anything he's so zealously committed to putting himself in danger that you'd want to give him a brute secondary or some other means of avoiding or resisting damage so he doesn't burn out too fast, but whatever it is he's doing, he's doing it single-mindedly and he's doing it Well

i'm not sure where he'd fit in, since it would depend on how his background translates to worm, but it's worth noting that while it seems more natural for him to end up a hero, Shirou doesn't actually seem to hold strong opinions when it comes to criminality. he knows old man Fujimura is a yakuza, which also implicates Kiritsugu in illegality in some way, and never bats an eye about it, so there is a path where Shirou in Brockton Bay ends up as a vigilante or a nominal villain. i don't think its the most likely scenario, but its a definite possibility, especially if he makes the kind of ties that would lead him down a Heaven's Feel-esque or Shirou-into-Archer road.

[coochiequeens]

It’s bad enough that grown ass men are trying to weasel their way into women only spaces but to see them now try to do they same to space meant for minor girls is infuriating.

An Australian mother has come forward to express concerns about an adult man who had been given access to her daughter’s Girl Guides event, ostensibly on the basis of his gender identity.

Every year, the Girl Guides in Australia holds a Jamboree advertised to Australian parents of as a week long adventure of female empowerment for their daughters. This year, over 1,000 young Australian girls between the ages of 10 and 17 attended the event in Ballarat, Victoria. For many, this was their first time away from home and family.

While most parents might assume that the staff in closest contact with their girls would be female, one Aussie mother was horrified to have received a text message from her daughter that there was a man in attendance. 

Speaking to Reduxx, Queensland mother Sadie* says she had allowed her 14-year-old daughter to travel with her Guiding friends to the Jamboree, but shortly after received a text message from the girl informing her that there was a man “pretending to be a woman, wearing a Guide shirt.”

Sadie said she immediately contacted the camp leader and second-in-charge with the information her daughter provided. After a brief investigation, Sadie was told that the man was “was part of the Scouts group assisting the event set-up but not staying on site.” Sadie was initially told the man may have “borrowed” the shirt.

Sadie says that she understood that the usual procedure for males on Guide camp sites was for them to be chaperoned by a Guide Leader. But, as messages from her daughter continued to roll in, Sadie quickly learned the man was participating in events directly with the girls.

Sadie explains she received images and messages from her daughter of the man performing onstage in a skirt with the local hosting guide troop, mingling with the children, and appearing to act in a supervisory capacity.

“If I could have jumped in the car and brought her home, I would have… but this was the first time she had travelled interstate without me, I was even fearful of telling other parents as I didn’t want them to feel as distressed and helpless as I did. Parents should have been told that a man was participating as a Guide on-site at the Jamboree.”

Sadie once again contacted Camp Leaders, who told her they would “talk” to her daughter — something Sadie says she instructed them not to do. She told Reduxx she did not want her daughter singled out or disciplined, and was concerned her child would be “gaslit” by adult staff insisting the man was in fact a woman.

Upon returning home, Sadie says her daughter told her: “We could all see he is a man, he had facial fluff, but nobody dared say anything.”

Girl Guides Australia’s Child Safe Safety Frameworks places emphasis on that it is an “inclusive, supportive, safe and friendly girl-only environment,” but further policies articulate that “girls” can include anyone who identifies as such.

According to the organization’s Guidelines for Diversity and Inclusion: “Membership of GGA and SGGOs is limited to girls and women. Under the terms of this policy, ‘girls and women’ include persons who identity as and live their lives as, females. For the purposes of Australian Guiding membership, non-female gender is a lawfully permitted basis for denying membership.”

On the basis of these guidelines, Girl Guides Australia is open to any person, male or female, who expresses a “female’’ gender identity. Ironically, any female who does not have a “female” gender identity, such as those who identify as as “non-binary” or “trans,” would not be allowed to participate in Girl Guides membership.

The guidelines further state that the organization would not discriminate against any member on the basis of sex or gender identity.

Sadie believes the policies must be urgently reviewed in order to ensure the safeguarding of the young girls who participate in Girl Guides events. 

“The Girl Guiding Inclusion policy … does not reflect community expectations. It must be reassessed by sensible voices who see safeguarding of our children as the priority, not the inclusion of men and boys able to roam unsupervised around our young daughters,” the mother says.

Sadie has told Reduxx she has reported the presence of a male at the Jamboree as an official incident with her daughter’s Girl Guide Leaders. At this stage, she said she feels her “concerns have been taken seriously.” If the response is considered unsatisfactory, Sadie may escalate her concerns higher in the organization.

Girl Guides Australia did not respond to a request for comment on their policies.

While the identity of the transgender male who oversaw the youth at the Jamboree is currently unknown, this is not the first time concerns have been raised about the global shift in “inclusivity” amongst Girl Guides organizations. 

Last year, a frenzy was sparked in the United Kingdom after a trans-identified male with a disturbing social media history became the lead Commissioner for the Southwell division of Girlguding, the nation’s Girl Guides franchise.

Monica Sulley, a male who identifies as a woman, became the lead Commissioner for the Southwell division of Girlguiding in July of 2021, but came to widespread attention later on in the year after concerning social media posts emerged. Sulley had made posts on multiple platforms of photos of himself posing with weapons, dressed in bondage gear, and captioning himself “Mistress.”

Some members of the public who attempted to contact Girlguiding to submit complaints about Sulley were later contacted by police and threatened with arrest

[eriinyx]

[Kuberafest] Side Story: The Crystal Sisters

Hi ! So, here is my participation to the 2023 Kuberafest ! I've wanted to write an OCs oneshot in the Kuberaverse for sooooooo long. This universe just has so much potential. Granted, the theme "Side Story" is not exactly about OCs, yet The End of a Fiendish Magician was about a completely new character, so I just decided I could give it a shot too. Thus, I hope you will enjoy this oneshot ! I precise that English is not my birth language, so feel free to report any language inconcistencies.

There are hundreds of magicians on planet Willarv, and before the cataclysm, there were even more. However, only a few of them will be remembered. While priests and priestesses shine in the daylight, welcomed as rightful kings and queens of the cities, most magicians will die a cruel, lonesome, and unremembered death. This is the story of three of them. - The Crystal Sisters -

N14, Rindhallow, Night of the Witches

There was a bustling crowd that evening at Rindhallow Magic Guild, for it was a night of celebration. The annual festival, the Night of the Witches, would take place once more there. Magicians, fighters, and common folk alike gathered to witness the event. And amongst the crowd, many were the topics of discussion.

“I can’t wait to see the appearance of Lady Laila, our estimeed priestess !”

“They say Ruche Seiran will make an appearance. Do you think that’s true ?”

“I don’t know for sure. But Agwen Rajof has announced her participation!”

But still, none could forget the big event of that night: the traditional joint performance. It used to host very popular guests, and the survivors of the Cataclysm recalled fondly the one which took place in D995, involving Jibril Ajes and Laila Hemawati. That year, it was going to be performed by a trio, three witches which became famous as mercenary magicians for their achievements, their looks, and their dedication to the half cause. Those were the Crystal Witches.

The crowd gathered near the main stage, and whispers began to arouse. The stage was empty, nobody to be found. But then, suddenly, as if a veil of darkness had been suddenly lifted, three figures appeared in the stage. They all had one knee on the flour, and the opposing arm proudly carrying a staff, its head pointing towards the skies. Simultaneously, they raised it up, and their tips crossed, when, with a single shared voice, they all spelled:

“Hoti Kubera!”

And a golden light enveloped the three beautiful looking women who began dancing in the stage.

Ombre Perdin was the most discrete of the three, but not the least talented. She was known to be an introverted person, but quick and efficient when it came to her job. She survived the cataclysm, which in itself was a proof of her talent. She was ranking A amongst magicians, and could even use silent magic. The mysterious air she exuded drew many fans to her, but she was as slippy as a shadow, and as free as the wind.

Her dark green dress waved silently as the choregraphy began, and her raven hair, tied in a perfect bun, amplified that mystic aura of hers. After a few calculated steps, she ended up being in the center of the stage, surrounded by her two acolytes. “Bhavati chandra!”

As she exclaimed herself, a bounty of amplifiers just appeared from all parts of the stage, as her two comrades lined up behind her. Suddenly, Ombre dropped her staff to put her two hands behind her head, which were most instantly grabbed by another fine pair.

“Bhavati kubera!”

The young ladies were sent off flying, and in a perfectly calculated movement, Ombre threw her partner soaring into the air.

Azura Grey was a pureblood magician. Unlike the other two, she was not yet a magician when the cataclysm happened, and obtained her A-ranking license later. She was shining as a ray of sun, and her cheerfulness and positivism was what gained her many favors. Though she did not wield silent magic, she had advanced understanding of magic, and was able to use her three non matching attributes quite well. She was the one more often seen, as she was the social one. Back when she was a student, she became famous amongst Mistyshore university student for her beautiful singing voice.

Her long, beautiful cerulean hair was let free of all constraints, and her simple, yet ample white dress, along with her bright smile, made her look right like an angel, in the middle of the skies. She was spinning while grabbing the staff she had attached to her back, and it was as if time had simply stopped in this moment.

“Hoti varuna “

The water that was resting in the garden’s basins was sent flying all around her, and discomposed into beautiful drops that turned silently around her. Losing the impulse she had gotten from her partner’s bhavati kubera spell, she began to lose height, but she would not let it happen so easily.

“Bhavati vayu”

And thus, she landed on thin air, as if it had been some ground, while the wind was making her hair float around herself like a fairy amongst the bubbles. At this moment, two voices came into harmony, casting the same spell:

“Bhavati surya”

And a wave of light pierced every water that was still floating in the air, making it shine like little pearls, as it discomposed into thin particles.

The leader was undoubtedly the most famous of the three, Aka Talis. Many people said about her, that her only flaw as a magician was her non matching attributes. With a tremendous divine affinity, quick calculation abilities, and grasp of silent magic, she long held the title of the best ranking magicians with three different birth attributes, and though she now only ranked second, most people did not pay as much attention to the first than to her. Proudly harboring her A-rank, she was a firm defender of the half cause and sponsored many of them.

Aside from her magical talents, many were mesmerized by her looks, and though she did not rival in beauty magicians like Brilith Ruin or Airi Yui, she still had numerous fans, whose dates or proposals she always refused. Her gown made her look absolutely stunning this night: a simple, yet striking red, revealing enough of her proud figure without being too vulgar. Her blond hair was tied in a simple ponytail, which slowly fell towards her left shoulder, and her red eyes captured her mesmerizing gaze.

“Hoti indra hoti agni”

With some simple words and while slowly waving her staff, Aka made pillars of intertwined fire and lightning flood the stage right around her and Azura, who was still floating in the air. As they fell to the ground, all that could be seen was this tall and proud shadow. The calculations were perfect, precise to a millimeter, as the spell had perfectly hit the bhavati chandra amplifiers, which magnified it. Ombre, which had disappeared from the stage, suddenly resurfaced. She was so discrete no one ever heard her cast hoti chandra, and as Azura slowly regained the ground, the three of them found themselves again on the stage, and continued their choregraphy, moving around each other in a dance they had repeated so much they could do it while sleeping.

“Hoti varuna bhavati varuna”

With a simple gesture, Azura created a thousand of little floating icebergs, that moved towards the air around Aka. “Bhavati indra bhavati agni”

And the quarter followed with an incredibly difficult fusion spell that blasted them away in a show of lightning and fire which cautiously avoided her partners.

And as the golden light disappeared along with the effects of the hoti kubera spell, the three magicians closed in for a final pose, their leader in the center.

“Hoti chandra” And with these words spoken so faintly that only the three of them could hear, Ombre made them disappear from the stage.

The public was ecstatic. The demonstration of tonight was incredibly difficult. The fusion spells used were known to be extremely difficult to master, and it must have taken years for them to use these. Cheers and applauses rose from the crowd, so loud that they could be heard in the entire city.

As they returned to the wings, Aka suddenly crumbled, and Ombre raced to her side to heal her with hoti asvins.

“I overdid it again… isn’t it ? I feel like I’ve used a week worth of vigor…” Aka whispered faintly.

“Why did you decide to use that stupid fusion spell without telling us ? Each time you tried it during the repetitions, you fainted ! I was so worried when I heard you say bhavati agni!” Azura screamed, yet silently enough so that the public could not hear.

“I just… wanted to… shine tonight…” Aka answered, trying to catch on her breath.

As Aka’s eyes closed, Azura tears began flowing from her eyes.

“No need to concern you. She’ll get better in a day or two. She just needs some rest.” Ombre replied, not even trying to hide her annoyance.

“It’s always the same about the two of you”, Azura responded. “No. It’s always the same about you all silent magicians !” she continued, with anger growing up in her voice with every word. “I just can’t understand you all! You always take things too rationally ! You do not have an ounce of compassion left in your body, be it for others or for yourselves ! Aka is suffering, and it seems like you both do not care at all!”

Ombre turned her head and looked at her partner with sheer contempt in her eyes.

“No, you will never understand. You were but a little girl when it all happened. You never had to kill people you cared about because they had gone berserk without warning. You never woke up in a bath of blood you created. You never had to stab your own lover out of self-defense so that you could survive. And I pray that you never will. ”

Azura’s face darkened, suddenly realizing what she had said.

“I… I’m sorry… I didn’t mean to…” she began to mumble.

“It’s okay”, Ombre replied. “I’m glad… I’m glad that that part of you is still intact. For it is something that I will never get back.”

Azura smiled, as her last tears pearled onto her eyes. For she knew they would not fail her. For she knew that, if she simply wished that the three of them live, the other two would comply out of friendship. Even if they lost part of their humanity, their bonds would remain, now and forever.

Three talented magicians, who found themselves by chance, and never left each other even since.

Though they were not related by blood, they were sisters. Family.

Atera Attack

N16, Month of Destruction

Reported missing

Aka Talis

Quarter

A magician

D962, 7/33

Agni – Indra – Surya

Ombre Perdin

Quarter

A magician

D956, 2/14

Chandra – Chandra – Kubera

Azura Grey

Pureblood

A magician

D987, 6/5

Surya – Vayu – Varuna

[kawaiicheese101]

Mixelsronpa: Mixed Up Despair - Chapter 1: Finders Keepers, Liars Weepers (Daily Life)

???: Hey!

???: Wake up!

Who is…?

Trumpsy: Jee, I thought you were done for

What’s going on...?

Flain: Where am I?

Trumpsy: Why don’t you get up and see for yourself.

What!?

Trumpsy: You have been out for quite a while.

Flain: What…is this place?

Trumpsy: Oh. Don’t you remember?

Trumpsy: After that monocubit thing announced us that we were in a killing game, you passed out!

Flain: So…I wasn’t dreaming…?

Trumpsy: Yeah, somehow…

Trumpsy: Atlleast your awake now.

Flain: Where are the others?

Trumpsy: Oh, Their in the the school diner.

Flain: This place…has a diner…?

Trumpsy: Yep.

Trumpsy: Let’s go to the others.

I walked to the diner with Trumpsy to meet the others.

Jamzy: Ah, Flain!

Niksput: We were expecting you!

Vampos: Are you okay after what happened?

Flain: Yeah…I’m Okay…

Vampos: Ah, Good.

Gobba: We're glad to here about that!

Zorch: But is Monocubit right…?

Zorch: Are we actual gonna kill each other!?

Vulk: N–No I don’t think so…

Volectro: What do you mean by “No”?

Seismo: He think that Monocubit isn’t gonna let us kill each other.

Volectro: Of course you had to talk…

Monocubit: Ahh, Hello there Flain!

Flain: ...!

Niksput: You again!?

Monocubit: Yep! It’s me again!

Niksput: Why are you here!?

Niksput: Are you gonna try to murder us!?

Monocubit: What? No!

Monocubit: I just came to announce that two rules had change

Monocubit: Rules #6, #7, and #8!

The…Rules are changed?

Niksput: Woah! The rules are changed!

Vulk: W–What is this “Mastermind”?

Monocubit: You’ll Find Out!

She’s…She went away…

Gobba: Oh gosh…

Seismo: What…Happened?

Zaptor: What did she mean by “The mastermind can leave the killing game”?

Volectro: I don’t Zaptor…

Volectro: We don’t know…

Silence had filled the diner as nobody spoke.

Silence…Complete Silence…Filled the diner.

Until Jamzy said…

Jamzy: Hey guys, ya’ll know what could makes us feel better

Shuff: What is it?

Jamzy: I was think if we can have a party!

Trumpsy: A party?

Gobba: OH MY GOSH I LOVE PARTIES!!

Lunk: A party sounds nice.

Zaptor: Woo! A party!

I agreed with everybody who was excited by what Jamzy said.

Flain: Yeah, a party sounds okay.

Jamzy: Alright is everything set up?

Camillot: Mmhm.

Lunk: Alriiight, Food’s readyyy.

Jamzy: Oh, Flain’s here. Does that mean we’re ready?

Zaptor: Yeah that’s cool and all, but…

Camillot: What a lovely time with my friends! How amazing!

Monocubit: Now please be aware Mixadel, there will be strict discipline should you choose to violate the school rules and not participate at this event.

Mixadel: What kind of nonsense is this?

Zaptor: Why are Mixadel AND Monocubit here!?

Mixadel: Pardon? Were the exact words on the invitation not that this party was for “everyone”?

Monocubit: That’s why I’m here! I mean, isn’t it exciting to party with your headmaster?

Mixadel: So this is Jamzy fault for giving out those invitations.

Shuff: I couldn’t care less about any of this.

Shuff: I guess I’m cool with it.

Jamzy: Hey! There’s nothing we can do about Mixadel of Monocubit being here.

Jamzy: The whole plan of this party was for everyone to have fun!!

Vulk: W–Why would we have a party…? Wouldn’t it be easy to kill somebody with all the noise?

Jamzy: Calm down, Vulk! I just hosting this party because we looked all down!

Vulk: ….

Jamzy: So…let’s party! Forget about the whole killing game thing that happened and have fun!

Jamzy: I put my pride on the to ask Lunk to cook for all of this for us, you know?

Gobba: This was a great idea! I was really hoping that something like this would happen!

Gobba: There won’t be any murders if all of us become best friends~!

Gobba: Aw…You should have asked me to help you! I love parties and planning them.

Flain: It’s just…You seem like the type to spill secrets pretty easily.

Gobba: Says who? I’m great a keeping secrets!!

Niksput: Ah, I get it. In situations like these we gotta socialize with one another!

Niksput: Alright! Then let’s party so hard that we don’t ever want to leave this SCHOOOOOOOOOOOLL!!

Vulk: E–EEK! Personal space Niksput!

Zaptor: …Uh, I for one get nervous when hear loud noises, Can I be excused?

Monocubit: Absolutely not, Zaptor! As your headmaster, I want nothing more than to promote unity amongst each other as students!

Monocubit: Participation is mandatory from all students! Your enthusiasm for this event has garnered my support!

Volectro: Shut up! You’re not our headmaster, dumbass!

Seismo: Would it be an issue if us at least try to have fun?

There were a few disgruntled faces among us but is was far too late to cancel the party now.

And as such, the party began.

Gobba: Mmm~ Each bite is more delicious as it gets! I guess this isn’t that different from our own food but for some reason this is so better~!

Seismo: Volectro please just try one bit. Come on, “Aaaah”.

Volectro: Stop taking you’re sweet time and treat me like a child…

Trumspy: *Hic* Hey…Jamzy…Why are you always dragging me down for the dumbest shit huh…?

Trumspy: *Hic* why do you act like a stupid bitch?

Jamzy: E–Excuse me, Trumpsy!? How dare talk like that to your older brot–

Trumspy: Older brother!!!??? Hah!!!!! We were only 11 seconds apart you moron!! Do you want your ass kicked?

Jamzy: Trumspy’s acting super weird! Has he completely lost his mind!?

Magnifo: Huh? This is actually alcohol? Gee who snuck this in!?

Niksput: Whaaaaaaat!? Alcohol? How’d they know I love a good drink!?

Niksput: Yo! Anybody wanna knock a few back with me?

Zorch: Wait! There wasn’t any alcohol when we set this all up…Plus we’re minors, you know?

Shuff: You were out of school for awhile right, Niksput? So you must be at the legal age of drinking.Shuff: Ahhhh whatever! I’m gonna grown up soon anyways. Cheers!

Niksput: It’ll be my honor! Cheers!!

Vampos: You’re already drunk? Weird. You claim to love alchohal, but you are just strange.

Vampos: Well, I guess I could just stand in the hallway…and smoke…

Zaptor: Um, sorry to cut in but we’re out of hamlogna sandwiches! 

Jamzy: Really? Okay, hold on I’ll get some more. How are you guys eating so fast?

Zorch: Guys we’re highschoolers! Isn’t alcohol bad or something?

Zorch: M–Monocubit! Do something! You said you’re our headmaster, right?

Zorch: You’re just gonna let them get drunk!?

Monocubit: Hm? Hehe…I don’t see the harm in it. This is a party after all. Deficiency is part of the fun.

Trumsy: I’m losing my damn hair cause of stress!! Thanks to YOU! What’s your problem, huh!? Sit down, whore!!

Jamzy: Ah, Jeez!! Okay, who brought alcohol here!?

Zorch: ...I’m not sure…I give up…

Camillot: Jamzy, are you sure you’ll be okay by yourself?

Jamzy: Yeah….I’ll be good…I guess…

Zorch: Go ahead, I’ll make sure the others go back safely.

Magnifo: Mixadel disappeared halfway through the party though…

Gobba: I accidentally took a sip out of one of their drinks and I honestly have no idea how adults drink something so yucky…

Flain: Gobba, you look tired. Are you sure you’re gonna be okay carrying Trumpsy?

Gobba: Oh, I’m fine! I’m just feeling full from eating so much.

Gobba: It’s a little hard having this big blobby thing press against me, but I’ll be okay…

Vulk: H–Hey, Jamzy?

Vulk: Um…I’m feeling much better now so…Thank you.

The five students who decided to stay and party more…

Jamzy, Zaptor, Vampos, Niksput and Seismo all remained behind. Everyone else went back to their rooms.

It was a mess, but I enjoyed it all the same.

Flain: Hm...I drank some of the alcohol before I knew what it was...I wonder why I'm tired.

Until now, I always went to bed with a hint of anxiety… But tonight, I was able to sleep peacefully.

*Ding-dong Bing bong!*

Flain: Owww…

Flain: My head…Why…do I have a splitting headache…?

Flain: I must have a hangover

Flain: …

Flain: I better go ask Lunk for breakfast.

I also want to make sure everyone who stayed late last night made it home okay.

I should go to the diner.

Flain: Huh? That’s…

Vulk: …

Vulk…? It’s time for breakfast so where is he off to in such a hurry?

…Somethings off, I should follow him.

Flain: Vulk!

Vulk: F–Flain!? What are you doing here?

Flain: That was what I was gonna ask you.

Flain: Why did you come here in such a hurry? You do know it’s breakfast time, right?

Vulk: I’m…not sure if I can speak with you right now…

Vulk: Zorch just send me a message on my monopad.

Vulk: That he needs a tissue.

Flain: What…? What does need a tissue for?

Vulk: I’m not sure…mabye he has a runny nose.

Flain: I have a awful feeling about this…I’m coming with you Vulk.

Vulk: O–Okay…

Zorch asked for a tissue? But… What does he need it for?

More than anything else though…I felt a sinister feeling emanating from the hallway.

Once me and Vulk went into his bedroom…

We were met with a despairfully unpleasant site…

Flain: What…?

I could not believe my eyes…

The body of Zorch, The Ultimate Prankster…

Is lying on the ground…bleeding from the head…

[cartograffiti]

Kinds of fan creation events and how they work!

Challenges, including calendars and bingo

This is the broadest event type. Many challenge types have distinct own names and format designs, but all involve a time limit and a theme. The best way to organize one is to pick a subject or format with a medium degree of specificity, like supporting characters or drabbles, but big fandoms can get more granular and still have a great turnout. I recently ran a 6-week challenge encouraging a fandom with a lot of new growth to “weird the tag,” and that was a blast!

One popular subtype is calendar challenges, mostly aimed at artists. These are classically daily prompts for a month, like Inktober and its many riffs, but some more narrow prompts like mermaids for Mermay have widely been reinterpreted to make a single, substantial piece during the right time. Bingo cards are also fun for all mediums, though they can be tricky to balance—whether you’re issuing everyone the same card or letting them be generated from a pool (like in Bad Things Happen Bingo), a funky distribution of difficulty can make a line hard to complete.

There are very few stumbling blocks in a challenge. If you don’t finish, you just try again another time! They’re also easy to run, as most of the work is preparation. They tend to be less social than many events, but that can be a blessing, and they’re very new creator-friendly.

Prompts, including timed events and kinkmemes

Timed events with prompts work a lot like challenges, but with works being submitted under a given prompt instead of simply responding to the general theme. Usually multiple people can fulfill the same prompt, and nobody is assigned to any particular one.

Sites with nested commenting, especially LiveJournal and Dreamwidth, work best for hosting prompt lists with no deadline or end date. People list prompts they’d like to see in the fandom, and when someone has posted a work fulfilling it, they reply directly to let OP know. These can be called promptmemes, but they’re more often called kinkmemes, even when not specifically sexual.

Bangs, including big bangs, mini bangs, and reverse bangs.

In a big bang, a group of writers submit summaries of a wip to the event mods, and the mods anonymize them for a group of artists to name their favorites. The mods match them into pairs so the writer-artist team can collaborate to complete an illustrated fic. Everything gets posted on a set day or period of days, so it’s like an explosion of new work (“bang!”)

Big bangs usually have word count minimums in 5 digits and sometimes ask artists to complete multiple pieces, while mini bangs do the same process with a lower minimum, usually a 4 digit number, and consistently ask artists for a single piece. Reverse bangs have artists create an artwork first, and then writers are paired with them to write an accompanying fic inspired by the piece.

All types of bang really shine for pulling together different corners of a fandom. In addition to introducing people who work in different mediums, because submissions for matching are anonymized and wips are kept secret until posting, there’s a leveling effect: big name fans and newcomers share the shine, and it’s hard to game the system to get paired with your friends. Most bangs make a chat group for co-working (Discord or elsewhere), so it’s easy to bond with other participants!

They’re a bit complex to run (matching is real work!), and deadlines matter a lot, since there’s at least one other person relying on you to finish. I’ve seen the bang format criticized for reminding participants of business transactions by emphasizing these timetables as a commitment. Good mods always frame it as fun, but if you don’t have a handle on how fast you work, or how to gauge the size of a new project idea, it’s easy to bite off more than you can chew.

Exchanges

These are often fic-for-fic or art-for-art, but many are mixed. In all exchanges, participants choose some tags (subjects they’re willing to offer), and some they’d like to receive. They then create a work for their assigned recipient, respecting wants and do not wants (DNW), and receive a work from the person assigned to them. These are almost always different people, but it’s common for people with shared interests to get assigned into “loops” (A wrote for B, B wrote for C, C drew for A) even when matching is done by Ao3 code.

Exchanges are really exciting since there are waves of anticipation—what have I been assigned? What did I get? Who wrote my fic, if authors were kept anonymous for a week? They work great for any size of group, and for multi-fandom or single-fandom events. The tags to choose from can be assembled by event mods, or submitted by interested folks and then approved, so it’s easy to see what directions people are interested in before you sign up, and solicit people to join you. Exchanges also have a strong culture of “treating,” writing additional fics for requests that caught your eye, or your friends, even if you didn’t formally sign up.

Like bangs, there’s a greater degree of commitment to finish on time because someone else is counting on you. Well-run bangs have rules about when you can default without penalty and let a “pinch-hitter” take over the assignment, how to get off the blacklist if you didn’t follow through, and what they’ll do if anyone doesn’t have a gift when the collection is meant to open. Sometimes exchanges that are having trouble finding a pinch-hitter for someone whose assigned gifter had to drop will delay reveals (“hold the collection hostage”). If you struggle with things not happening on time, stick to larger exchanges, since they’re less vulnerable to this.

Fandom parties

In a party, everyone is grouped into teams to make the greatest number of fanworks during the event. They usually run for a week, with broad daily prompts (like a character name, season number, or motif), and every work submitted is a point. These works must be put together, from beginning to submission, within the 24-hour period of the prompt.

The first time I did a party, it rewired my brain chemistry for the better, because it pushed me to let go of some perfectionist and self-critiquing habits. I’ve put out more fics I’m proud of ever since. Better still, the party culture emphasizes inclusion of fan creations beyond the big two: Gifs! Edits! AMVs/fanvids! Cosplay! Crochet! Filk songs!

The competition and short turn-around can be hard on those with a tendency to overwork or blame yourself if your team falls behind, so they require some self-awareness to stay fun. Parties often allow submissions to count for points without being publicly posted, which can help! (For example, you might submit an unpolished fic and post the revision later, or submit a cosplay despite not wanting your face on that blog.) My experience with team rivalries has only been low-stakes and appropriate, but it’s another unusual element to not be caught off guard by.

Jams

These are most popular with any kind of project or fan labor that involves the word “edit.” Video, gif, and screenshot editing; podfic recording; fandom wiki and resource brush-ups; sharing your wips around and leaving each other feedback.

They usually run between a few hours to a week, and often don’t carry any expectation of being done at the end. They’re more about making progress, camaraderie, and sharing techniques.

Zines and e-zines

This is the trendiest event format right now! They spun off the broader culture of zines: self-published arty magazines and short books, popular for sharing ideas in the diy, punk, and queer scenes as well as fandom spaces. Outside of fandom, they’re usually printed by the creator physically operating the machinery in limited runs. In fandom, they’re usually digital (e-zines), and when they’re physical, the organizers have usually paid a printer to do the run for them.

Unlike any other format on this list, fandom zines usually work on an application and approval process. Instead of signing up and being for sure in, the mods choose a selection of interested people to proceed with their pieces and be included in the zine. Unfortunately, this means the barrier to participate is higher, with big name fans and personal favorites or friends prioritized. I do like that they’re more art-forward than many formats, even often art-only, and it’s fun to be in a group exploring an interest or making a point together.

E-zines are often free, and physical zines almost never are. Either way, profits might be given to charity, donated to the creators of the canon (such as in the case of indie podcasts), or split among the contributors. Whether you’re applying or buying, read carefully about paid zines to make sure you’re comfortable with where it’s going, and know that there’s always risk involved. Scams and mismanagement do happen.

Auctions

Fandom auctions are charity events, raising money for organizations or sometimes the fandom’s own community members in need. Like parties, auctions put more than usual emphasis on fan edits, and also labor such as bookbinding, sensitivity reading, and proofreading.

Usually, participants donate their time by offering a small number of tasks and fandoms, and their resulting work is a gift in acknowledgement of bidders’ donations, with their preferences in mind. It’s a lot like exchanges, but instead of getting a gift back, the creator gets satisfaction from raising money for a good cause.

Like with paid zines, when there’s money involved, you need to read the details with care. It’s also easy to fall into the trap of thinking of bids as what your work is “worth” to people, and you really need to have a backlog of completed projects for bidders to see your style, so this is better attempted after you’ve been around the block a few times and feel confident in yourself.

Other games (masquerade, round robin, art rotations, exquisite corpses...)

A lot of other fun games are worth knowing about if you’re thinking about an event for a small or existing group! One I love the sound of is masquerades like this one, in which people disguise their styles and even imitate each other, and then have a round of guessing. Round robins involve sending a fic wip to a succession of people, who each write a suggested amount of words (usually in the hundreds) to further the story that’s there. Have people volunteer to be the beginning and end before you start! Art rotations aren’t actually a coined name, I’m inventing it on the spot. This is when a pair or trio of artists each do a different layer of a drawing (like one does lines, the other does colors, or a trio does pencils, inks, colors) so that they have the same number of finished collaborations as people in the team. Exquisite corpses are drawings, stories, or image sets where you only see what the previous person did (or a sliver of it) when adding your part.

~~~

I’m sure there are others I’ve overlooked, but hopefully this helps inspire you to look out for or organize some new events in your fandoms!

[fictionkinfessions]

This is a post about the current blog poll regarding ask games on this blog. You can find the original post and poll to vote on via this link below. Please do not send votes via ask messages.

Posts about this topic have the tag 'blog poll'.

https://www.tumblr.com/fictionkinfessions/724128639169544192/

This is long. Here is a read more.

Anonymous asked: sorry im not home and mobile search sucks or else id look myself, but is there a catchall tag for ask games? i think there is but bad memory lol. if not maybe there should be so people can block all games instead of each new one !

Anonymous asked: Suggestion for the ask game debacle: why not tag all those posts with one consistent tag like "kinfessions ask game" or something? Either in addition to or in place of the custom tags. That gives everybody's blacklist something to pick up without requiring someone to add a tag for every single ask game.

Anonymous asked: voted to keep ask games but consider just adding a catch-all tag alongside the specific game for blacklisting purposes maybe? the anon has a fair point with how many there have been lately that it can kind of drown out regular confessions but ask games are fun and it wouldn't exactly be fair to completely get rid of them. wouldn't mind a sister blog for them either though

There isn't a catch all tag, and that's a extremely good idea. I'm kinda kicking myself for not asking for feedback before making a whole poll about it. We'd still have the poll, but there would've been better options about what to do. Also for not doing that to start with.

Anonymous asked: i'm all for continuing the ask games, but can we at least LIMIT them? sometimes it feels like there's a new one every day, or like everything posted is a response to an ask game. it's obviously not stopping anybody from kinfessing normally, but it feels weird to only see ask game responses when the blog was originally intended for kinfessions

Anonymous asked: a suggestion about ask games: host one or two as events with loose but present time limits. kinda like this blog had for june, with mostly pride-themed prompts? it would probably require more moderation, so no pressure if you don't feel up to it mpc. we could even vote for favorite games but i can see it may leave someone upset bc their idea lost. right now it seems (to me. just a personal opinion) like this sudden overflow of different yet very specific prompts is a bit directionless. it's not necessarily bad for a community blog but could discourage a full "conversation"? of linked confessions, which i see as the point of ask games. this isn't to say there are no responses to posted answers - quite the opposite, actually! i just think having fewer themes would allow more unique experiences to be included, instead of splitting more subtopics.

True, there have been a fair amount, and it's been ramping up. Not a bad thing, it's nice that people have curiosity about other's canons and sources.

Seems like a lot of work, but doable imo. My concern would be actually getting people to vote for the ask games. Also if an ask game wins, but nobody plays it, then what? Do we just go onto the next one? Would there be a time limit? What if people send things after the time limit? I'd feel like such a dick for not posting it because they didn't send it in on time. This isn't really a final exam at school or your office job with time limits. Literally how do I explain it without sounding like a Super Serious Tool?

People do that for holiday things, you can't stop that from happening. The only reason I put a time limit for holidays is so nobody gets triggered after they remove a tag from their blacklist, assuming nobody celebrates Fathers Day 2 weeks afterwards. You know what I mean? Not to mention this blog is very active. People may not see prompts until long after the time limit, and they may still want to participate. Also who thinks up themes, if there will be any?

Though maybe we don't vote on them. Like you mentioned, people might get upset if theirs isn't picked. I suppose we could just do it chronologically, as they're sent in. I'm not sure how to manage this. Save the future ask games to drafts and hope I don't lose them? Probably.

Anonymous asked: Going to agree with the anon, there is a bit too many ask games ngl, like I like them but there is so many of them at this point and like I even blacklist the tags but they still get through. I just wish that there was a bit less of them or that there was a seperate blog :(

The thing about the auxiliary blog is that it won't have the same amount of traffic and might go dead. Not a bad thing, such is life. But I think part of the appeal of ask games replies and confessions is that this is a fairly high traffic blog. People want to be seen, even if it's anonymous. I wouldn't mind running a side blog, or at least getting it active enough to let someone else handle it.

Anonymous asked: Hello MPC! You don’t have to post this, but I saw that you were asking for opinions and I can’t actually find somewhere to vote on a poll (unless it was metaphorical? I can’t tell honestly), so feel free to delete this if it’s just taking up space- but I kind of agree with the anon who spoke up about the ask games. It’s not really a bad thing they exist, but when you have so many going at one time, it’s hard to keep track of and sometimes the pinned post/asks become incredibly long. It also feels like it goes against the whole ‘this is not a canon call’ mindset of the blog because it can and does spark up conversations between people, if that makes sense? It’s not a bad thing people are involved, but I feel like it takes away from the point of the blog a little. I think having the ask games be cleaned up and a new system put into place to make it easier to block the tag/find them would be super helpful, but I know that can be stressful. All in all, I’m sure everyone will support your decision!! Thank you for everything you put into this blog MPC 🖤

The voting poll post is here if you haven't found it already. Thank you for your input, you have some good points. https://www.tumblr.com/fictionkinfessions/724128639169544192 It's true that the ask game post is incredibly, tediously long. Even with tags, it's hard to ignore.

I don't know about the canon call thing, I haven't really seen people implying they should be contacted over x y z happening in their canon due to an ask game reply. Honestly I'm not fighting that battle very hard anyways.

I get the feeling that ask games are going to stay. But we did get some ideas on how to manage them better than their current form.

Summary of suggestions

Limit amount of active ask games per week or per month. Maybe 3 per week?

Create a catch all tag for ask game responses

Ask game topics per week or month. Maybe can be voteable as well?

Create side blog solely for ask games regardless??

[fmdhyojung]

✨ Q1 SCHEDULE + BASE EVENT PLOT CALL!

as always, listed below, i will have a brief summary of what both hyojung and suji are up to this quarter and with the new event(s) announced! please like if you’d like to plot!

HYOJUNG

group schedule: selene is slotted for a march comeback with gogobebe, so any sort of interactions when it comes to overlapping promotions! she’s quite indifferent about the song. the only other thing is concert preparations, so if you can also bump into her while she practices for that!

personal: transit love s1 will begin airing on january 20th! the producer tells her that she saw her hosting her radio show a couple of years back as well as her role as yumi, and that’s why she decided to cast her. truthfully, hyojung’s surprised that such a show is coming alive, but she still takes on the panelist role! if your muse ends up being a fan of transit love, you can hit her up for some kind of conversation! the premise of the show will continue to confuse her, but she’s empathetic towards its participants and will always be open to conversations (though absolutely o spoilers!). also, yet to be claimed, but she will begin filming yumi’s cells s2 around this quarter as well, so that’s always a topic to be discussed!

fm 202.3 event: if anybody wants to release a song and needs a female vocalist, hyojung is more than yours to take! just feel free to hit me up and ask for her! she will unlikely be releasing anything on her own since selene is already releasing a group song, but i always like having my vocalists up in case someone really needs a female vocalist

base awards: hyojung will not be having any special role in the awards (maybe award presenter if i decide to? but i’m not sure yet), but she’ll be there... any of the topics that were listed above are open conversation topics at the awards/after party as well! she’s too far into her career to be concerned with awards, so you can just catch her hanging around a little bored

SUJI

group schedule: equinox will be making a comeback with feel my rhythm, and suji will write the lyrics for in my dreams! if your muse is interested in songwriting, she can discuss that process? or if it ends up being a song your muse likes, they can talk to suji about it! other than that, a lot of things are more behind the scenes so more catered towards equinox members, so feel free to hit her up for anything regarding that! she really enjoys feel my rhythm as a whole so happy suji for this comeback

personal: i have yet to figure out what, but i do want suji to release some kind of promoted single in the first half of this year, so once i figure that out, she’ll be most likely working on that track! that, and she’ll most likely be getting a mini album in the second half (or not, because the comeback schedule has a lot of equinox comebacks planned). anyway, she’s just always up for any sort of music talk! if your muse needs advice, if they’re not sure what direction they want to take their music, songwriting (mostly lyrics), she’s your gal

fm 202.3 event: as with hyojung, if your muse needs a female vocalist in any way, suji is available! you can ask for either of my muses, and if you can’t choose, i’ll do it for you depending on the song you pick i guess lmao if nobody hits up suji, depending on the timing of her promoted single, she’ll most likely release a solo song instead!

base awards: suji will 99% get a solo stage at the awards! she had quite a successful 2022, and so i’d like her to get the opportunity to perform those, especially because i couldn’t claim an end of the year award solo stage in time (completely my fault). i’ve already nominated her for a couple of categories, so she’ll be more energetic than hyojung at the awards/after party! 

[kargathbladefist]

long rant below re: covid

(i wouldn’t imagine people would want to reblog this but just in case; please don’t reblog)

i am so fucking tired of being treated like i’m clinically insane for thinking covid is still a problem we should be concerned about. i am so sick of this. i’m not even fucking immunocompromised ejther i just don’t fucking want it again and apparently that’s an unpopular opinion. for context my corporate job sent me to a company conference this week out of state (we’re remote so a lot of people flew in from a lot of places in the US). i’ve been skipping these yearly events ever since the pandemic started obviously because the air travel and conference rooms are a huge risk. however there’s a ridiculous amount of PRESSURE to attend. they won’t say outright that it’s required (that’s probably not legal in most cases) but bosses, managers, coworkers all expect you to be there and will grief and FOMO you in “lighthearted” ways if you don’t with the looming threat that they’ll think you aren’t participating enough and look into firing you. so i fucking went to this one.

strike one was the fact that there wasn’t a single mention of covid or precautions anywhere in the initial documentation and information about the event. in the past year or two they generally haven’t fucking masked as these things so i expect the worst, but i figure since it’s 500+ people this time versus the 50-100 at the smaller departmental meetings, and because new strains are actively spreading, maybe people will think better of it. BOY was i fucking wrong. as you’d expect i show up in my KN95 and there isn’t a fucking mask in sight. i get weird looks. are they assuming i’m antivax and masking for my safety? or that i suffer from debilitating paranoia? i feel partially like i’ve been gaslit into believing the latter when it comes to covid lately with how every one of my peers seems to be living in a completely different fucking reality where they don’t need to mask at a 500 person event where we’re all in a conference room with poor ventilation like sardines and we all just took 2+ hour flights into this city.

the meals are the same, possibly THE least covid sensitive way to serve a meal aside from us all passing a chicken leg around the dinner table; they have 40 or so tables set up again, in a conference room with no effort at ventilation, WHEN ITS 70 DEGREES OUTSIDE AND THIS COULD HAVE BEEN HOSTED OUT THERE IN THE SUN. and they have fucking buffet style meals. come the FUCK on. it’s a joke at this point. HR who organized this must just be on fucking crack man. so not only am i pressured to go to this event but due to my being the only masked person and getting weird looks i unmask more frequently than i would’ve liked, though any “optional “ events (meals) i bail extremely quickly from since i’m not comfortable with it and outright skip lunch on the last day

speaking of which, the morning of day 3 we of course get an email (not a message in the chat channel for this event even though it’s where all the other communication on it, employee questions etc HAS been) saying that someone tested positive and we were all potentially exposed. no general information on WHEN or what panels (since wednesday was split between a few smaller panel discussions) so i have no inkling of what my risk factor is. that’s all they say though, because why cancel thursdays meetings due to a potentially massive covid exposure? after all the government regulations are nonexistent now so why would HR give a fuck anymore, the well being of employees? I email them back asking if they plan to release any more information on where we might’ve been exposed or whether it was last night, morning, tuesday, and essentially get a fuck you back from them saying they’re not releasing anything else.

the worst part of this is that nobody around me fucking cared. if a few people chose to stay in their rooms after that announcement, i didn’t notice, but the volume of people going around unmasked like nothing was wrong the rest of the day was jarring. at this point i figure i must look like the anonymous sick person walking around masked when nobody else is and i just don’t fucking care at this point. nobody talks about it and nobody behaves any differently, distances, anything, except for this ONE girl in dev i was sitting next to who also put on a kn95 and moved to the back of the hall after the sick person texted her saying they’d had close contact the day before.

my rage eventually wears off by the end of the day when the shuttles to the airport arrive, by then my coworkers have gone and had their three days in a row beers and are buzzed chatting each other up and i’m huddled in my fucking seat barely holding back a crying session because everything is sinking in. after being told outright they were exposed my direct coworkers get to the airport, only one out of five of them put a mask on, and proceed to go through the airport and on their flights unmasked. which unrelated but the airport was literally crammed full due to delays and there were people hacking shit up everywhere, i am not over exaggerating since i’ve been in the airport a number of times since the pandemic and it was never this bad. the PLANE itself has like 2-3 people doing that gross hacky cough when you have stuff in your lungs, and the coworkers that were on my flight didn’t mask

like i guess i just don’t fucking get it. i can see how people would be so stuck in their own world that they don’t consider the well being of the disabled people that apparently are invisible to society - but do THEY want covid again? with increasing risk of long term effects? i’ve had it and it’s not just a fucking cold, even with all your shots. is it just a mild nuisance to them? more of a nuisance than something as simple and easy as wearing a mask - even if it’s just one of those shitty cloth ones that doesn’t actually do anything? the whole experience is isolating, it really makes me feel like i’m the insane one living in another reality and they’re all the down to earth normal ones (and yes i heard the term “now that the pandemic is over” while i was there too). they’re not those types of anti mask people since they DID mask during the earlier months but i think we need to broaden our scope with the term anti mask

anyways i call my mom this morning to vent and she gives me the same exact shit - well you have your shots so that’s all you can really do, you don’t need to go ‘panic mode’, i was in the car doing sales with my coworker who had covid two weeks ago and i’m not freaking out (how is that even the same) - just seeking to invalidate my concerns and pretend covid is just a fact of life now. this mindset on a larger scale contributed to the death of millions

tldr work dragged me out to a conference, didn’t lift a finger to do the BARE minimum to protect us from covid and the inevitable happened. also i don’t get to fucking enjoy the weekend with my bf who finally got sat/sun off work because of this. AND their are plenty of people at that conference who extended their stay to vacation with family and, yeah.

[descentintosiblingcon]

Chapter 6

Hotaru sends Shugo an email stating that she appreciates his help, Pikey is fine and she looks forward to coming on the Japanese server again.

(Time to know how to ban a contact, Shugo...)

Balmung and Reki are planning a new event and Reki thinks Balmung might be trolling too close to the sun this time. Balmung brushes him off and refuses to host the event itself, wanting to see it from the player's point of view (He's basically Jigsaw in the first Saw movie, so to speak.). He looks at bamboo leaves and thinks of a random chick...

Speaking of chicks, Rena, Mirielle, Ouka and Hotaru (Damn it, Shugo) are in kimonos writing wishes on the back of bamboo sticks. Shugo is having trouble thinking of his own wish so he spies on the others' wishes (Bad form). Mireille wants a rare life experience, Ouka wants to fight strong enemies and Hotaru wishes for world peace and no more fighting. Yeah, I agree with Shugo's assessment: their wishes suck. They're all platinum compared to Kamiya's wish though: he wants Rena's white socks (On a public server? Have you no shame, man?). What did Rena wish for? Well---

FUCK HER, THE EVENT IS ABOUT TO BEGIN! It's the fight for the Weaving Maiden and it's called Tanabata De Myudan (According to a translator note, it's a metaphor and has almost the same pronunciation as Tanabata, which means to take something without working for it.). Nobody likes the event name and Reki takes the heat for it (even though Balmung came up with it.). So what great event will entice all the players? First, a weaving maiden is chosen! The grand prize for the event is a night with the weaving maiden!

...

...Did Balmung just...prostitute a random player in this MMORPG?

If you think I'm reading too much into things, one of the encouragements is that the person can possibly build a romantic relationship with the weaving maiden in the real world. Is any of this legal? Who cares?! It's a VR game! No one cares! Shugo thinks the event is interesting. Rena is pissed and, even though she's pissed for the wrong reasons, for once, I'm on her side.

In the most disgusting karmic twist I've seen in a while, Rena is picked as the Weaving Maiden. Rena is pressured to talk about herself and, to the adoration of the attendants, reveals that she's 13 years old. Welp, she's a minor. We gotta pick someone else now considering that she's not even legal---

Fuck this manga.

(A guy in the crowd calls her experienced. Let's hope someone electrocutes him with his own laptop.)

Shugo now suddenly has a problem with a woman being treated as a prize when his sister is on the line, the other crowd member uncaring to his hypocritical plight. Anyway, off to the special area. At the Broad and Blue River, everyone participating has to play the part of the cowherd and rush over to see the Weaving Maiden on the other side of a large river. Shugo is intimidated (Shocker) but his sister needs him (not really) so he gears up to cross. Balmung shows up to participate and Shugo somehow recognizes him, declaring he won't let him get his hands on his sister. Mireille, Ouka and Hotaru decline to participate (because why bother giving somebody non-horny minded to root for?) and the race starts.

The river is deep and competition is fierce. Balmung smugly reveals he got top marks in PE and somehow, that matters in a personal environment. Also, there are sharks. Good. Everyone involved in this deserves to die. Mireille and Ouka watching, upon seeing a shark devour someone before their eyes, marvel over the rarity (Mireille) and the power (Ouka) of the shark. They jump in to fight and Shugo leaves them to it. Kamiya rides his giant Pikey through the water to give himself an edge while mocking everyone. Remembering Kamiya's gross-ass wish, Shugo punches his Pikey in the ass causing it to buck him off into the water, allowing Shugo to swim ahead. There are still at least three guys ahead of him though.

Meanwhile, Rena is waiting on her brother to rescue her (Come on...I mean, he is frighteningly enough the best option but there is no universe, situation or event where your best option is "get chosen for a date by my brother"). Rena complains about being singled out but Reki assures that they pick randomly. Rena lets it go, certain that Shugo will win. Reki quietly notes that they really do pick at random but Rena being picked out of all the girls just proves she is the chosen one.

Shugo is out of healing potions and douchey pervs (pervier than him anyway...somehow) are trying to kill him for his sister's hands. He fights them all off. A shark comes for him and he's doomed...until Balmung saves him. Shugo (again, understandably) won't thank him for helping but Balmung doesn't care. In fact, he helps him further by asking if he can't fight off a shark, how can he possibly hope to protect his sister? Shugo is pissed, all according to plan. He speeds off, resolve renewed, and...manages to tie with Balmung, who Rena fawns over. It turns out Shugo wins by a hat but Rena no longer cares. Having arrived and raised hell, Balmung leaves.

Back to the bamboo forest, Shugo is bummed and Rena tries to cheer him up (now that Balmung is gone, she's stuck with the incestuous booby prize). At least he knows what he wants to wish for now: he wishes to be strong. And now we know what Rena wishes for: she wishes for Shugo to be a warrior. Aura is watching as Shugo silently wishes to also see her again...

The chapter ends with Hotaru being pinched by a crab. Chapter saved.

THOUGHTS

OI, drop the incest angle already. And if you're commit to it, don't make Rena such a freaking hypocrite about her feelings concerning Shugo's libido. Portray them as normal siblings or make them a likable couple! Can't believe this is the kind of complaints I gotta make for a .hack manga. God, this is a dumb manga.

[dontneedadispenser]

I'm not sure if you're aware but the rare pair event-blog supports shipping incest. Your one of my favorite TF2 blogs and I didn't know how you want to handle promoting that event-blog. They don't have it as a blacklisted ship and openly state they ((paraphrasing)) don't want shipping discourse which usually is focused on shipping those two. ]:

Ah, to my knowledge, I don't think they support it! The host of that week contacted me with a bunch of questions about what the best way to host a theme week is etc, and I gave them a lot of feedback based on previous weeks I've hosted or helped with. Outlawed ships was a topic that did come up in our discussion briefly among the other details of how to best host a theme week.

If I remember correctly, the concern was about where the line should be drawn on phrasing about ships that wouldn't be supported by the event so as not to invite extra attention from less than savory parties. Nobody wants shippers of a ship you particularly don’t like in your DMs getting mad that your event doesn’t include them (I’ve been there and it’s stressful to say the least). 

In the past, I've hosted similar events (Valentines Week for example) and I typically approach by saying that problematic ships won't be recirculated by my blog. This was my suggestion to them, although I know that's a pretty broad statement. In any case, you can't stop someone from posting to your theme week's hashtag without your permission. Some people don’t read event rules or choose to ignore them. But you do want to try to let people know without inviting them to fight you on it that their content isn’t appropriate for the event. So, that’s why I suggested saying as an umbrella statement that they won't be reblogged. 

There's also no truly easy way to encompass the full spectrum of material that shouldn't be allowed. While pretty much everyone can agree SpyScout shouldn't be anywhere, there are numerous other ships too that are similarly not good. To list all of them would be a nightmare.

It looks like their original rules for the event sort of covered this, but maybe wasn’t as strictly clear:

However, it looks like this rule has since been updated to be more clear since I first got this anon message: 

As for the blacklisted ships, I think that’s just meant to be a list of what was most popular? Based on that previous conversation and the context, it looks like this was probably just an instance of incidental vagueness getting misinterpreted. That’s at least how I see it, obviously things could be different. 

Wow! This ended up being a lot of words. Either way, plenty of amazing artists and writers have been making content for their favorite ships that don't get enough love. Regardless of if anything further comes up - I'll still be reblogging art/fic from the event. I don’t doubt that the people participating are just trying to have fun, and ultimately reblogging just supports those creators. The focus of the event is giving a platform to rarepairs that don’t get enough love. We should be celebrating those creators no matter what, because without them those ships just don’t sail the same!