#why a 10 minimum???? hello????

[sunnibits]

bruh why is inprnt making all prints a minimum of 10$ dollars now… ur telling me I gotta go back and adjust all my prices on shit after I’ve already chosen specific prices for things for a reason 😭😭 wtf man I’m so confused

[siriuslynephilim]

my super cool very extroverted 1.3k insta follower having sister just told me there's only 8 people in her close friends and im one of them.. i am #not okay

[antimony-medusa]

Is that— bells ringing? Keyboards clacking? The sound of two thousand stressed writers pancing furiously about the floor? Ah yes, Yuletide.

Hello. MCYTblr. I am back again.

You are looking fine today as we move towards the end of the year. Is that a new cologne you're trying? New shirt? New glasses? It's working for you. How have I been? Well.

Well.

*I smack the wall, curtains spring aside, revealing my flip chart presentation that I've had lying in wait*

It is time for me to talk to you about Yuletide again. I was here earlier during tag nominations, but it's sign-up time, and I want to make sure everybody has a change to participate in this if they want to.

What's Yuletide?

Yuletide is an annual mega-exchange for small and rare fandoms. It runs in the close of the year, with a 1000 word minimum for gifts, with gifts revealed anonymously on the 25th of December and de-anoned on the 1st of January. It is easily the biggest exchange in multi-fandom-exchange-world, and last year more than 1,350 people signed up.

Why does everyone sign up?

Well, it's tradition, for one. There are a lot of people that only do Yuletide as their big exchange every year. It's a big holiday spectacle, it's really fun to see it operate and see pinch hits come out and get nabbed in minutes, and people kind of put on their holiday outfits and turn out for it.

For another thing, if you are in a small fandom, it's the one exchange where you can actually have a shot of getting a gift for an obscure manga fandom, or an out-of-print book, or a tv show from the eighties. If your fandom has five people in it, the odds are higher than average that two of them are signing up for this exchange, and hey presto, suddenly you're matchable in your fandom for an obscure podcast.

For another, and this is the biggie, the fact that this is an exchange for small and rare fandoms has led to a certain tradition and vibe for the fandoms that people nominate. People bring their most obscure and fun ideas, going, "hehehehe wouldn't it be fun if someone wrote a story about this", and into the tag set it goes. There is SUCH a spectrum of fandoms in the tag set.

This year there are 4,263 fandoms and 16,735 characters in the tag set. Let me just skim through and look at some of them.

There are commercials, web sketches, art pieces, songs, music videos, board games, podcasts, a dizzying assortment of anthropomorphising different places, items, and ideas, and RPF from a marvelous variety of historical periods (so, y'know, historical fiction if it was published professionally). There are people who nominated tik tok sketches. Twitter threads. A bridge. Book binding techniques. You ever wanted to write a romance between Knitting and Crochet? That's in the tag set, and someone wants to prompt you to do that. Happy Yuletide.

So if you are at all the sort of person who likes a prompt challenge, BOY is this one just a MARVELOUS one. I know I personally am going to be signing up for Humans are Space Orcs (tumblr post) and Fandom Exchanges (Anthropomorphic) amid my more traditional fandoms.

And as for my more traditional fandoms, and the reason why this post has the tags it does (I would get to it eventually)— there is a lot of MCYT in the tag set! I put out a post saying GUYS, the smaller fandoms might apply for this, and BOY did people show up for it. I scanned through it, and the MCYT (and adjacent) that made it in is:

Karmaland SMP

Legacy SMP

Lifesteal SMP

Moonlight SMP

New Life SMP

Outsiders SMP

Rats SMP

SMPEarth

SMPLive

Witchcraft SMP

Pirates SMP

Mianite

Slimecicle Cinematic Universe

SBI Rust

Generation Loss

You could make an entire sign up, 3 minimum requests and 4 minimum requests, and only select MCYT fandoms. The wild thing is that you can only select a max of 10 fandoms to offer, so you actually couldn't offer all of the MCYT. ZombieCleo Witchraft SMP is in. Tommyinnit SMPEarth. Clownpierce Lifesteal. Tubbo SBI Rust. Oli Rats SMP. A wealth of options for the block folks.

So come, join me! What's that? You say this sounds excellent, you're in? You want to know how to sign up? Well this post is already long enough so I'm putting the rest below a cut.

You sign up on the collection here, using fandoms listed in the tagset here. Before you do so though, I'd recommend you check out the blog, especially their "how to sign up" post here, because even if you're used to exchanges, the way Yuletide works is a little bit different. Let me do a quick breakdown here.

Requests

# of Fandoms

You have to select a minimum of 3 fandoms that you are Requesting (a gift that you want made for you), up to a maximum of 6 fandoms. Each fandom has to be unique. For each fandom, you can request between 0 to 4 characters in that fandom, and 0 means "literally you can hit me with anybody", and the up-to-4 characters are the people you definately want to show up in the fic.

AND MATCHING

This is one of the things that Yuletide does differently, because most fandom exchanges do "or" matching, where they match you on either characer A OR character B, (maybe you only offered character B) and you can pick among any of the selected characters on the person's request to write for. Because Yuletide does AND matching, you will only be matched if you offered every single one of the characters the person has selected, and then you get to write for every single one they have listed in their fandom, unless they say differently in their letter. If they requested character A and Character B, you get to deliver a gift that includes them both, according to the rules.

Bu like, in practice, a lot of people are a bit more like "you can pick only one of these guys if you'd like", because that is how everyone is used to things running in most other exchanges, plus people don't want to be too picky, so you can specify in your letter if you definately 100% want characters A, B, and C, or if you're fine with just A, or just A and C, or whatever constellation of characters you're chill with.

This year they have added optional freeform tags you will click on, that will specify either A) use every single one of these guys I selected. B) I have specified in my letter which guys I need for sure and which ones you can swap, C) Dealer's Choice Of Guys Go Crazy.

DNW and Optional Details

Yuletide is an "Optional Details Are Optional" (ODAO) exchange, so technically you could request (or receive) an offer that just has the characters and then you get to go absolutely buckwild for the two month writing period. Most people, however, do not want to do that, so that is where you'll put in Do Not Wants (anything that would ruin the gift for you, from major archive warnings to kinks that you don't vibe with to headcanons you loathe), and some prompts and/or likes for your person to jump off of.

DNWs absolutely must be abided by, and breaking a person's DNW is grounds for getting turfed from the exchange. Following a person's prompts or lists of likes is technically optional, but definately best practice, and y'know, part of the whole spirit of the exchange. Most people are doing their best to adhere to both the DNW and the Optional Details when they do their gift.

You can just format your DNW and Optional Details on the Ao3 signup page (easy, fast), or you can link them offsite in a letter (fancy, you can do formatting, people do them in google docs or dreamwidth pages (the traditional and more accessible option)). There's a tradition of people posting their letter links here, so that people can get an idea for what sort of prompts and signups people are offering, and make sure they're matchable to people with especially fun ideas. Note: you do have to duplicate the data if you're doing a letter, cause if you put your DNW in your letter but NOT in your Ao3, the mods won't enforce it.

And while we're here, that last link is to a community blog that includes a place where you can promo your fandoms to lure people into signing up for your guys, or participate in mini-challenges within yuletide for people who specificially want poly relationships (Three Doves Challenge), or characters of colour (Chromatic Yuletide), or horror/darkfic (Crueltide), or smut (Yuleporn), or art (Wrapping Paper), or even more. There's even a poetry challenge!

Offers

# of Fandoms

You have to sign up with a minimum of 4 fandoms, to a maximum of 10, for fandoms you are Offering (a gift you are willing to make). You must offer at least 2 characters for each fandom, to a maximum of 20— but there's also an "any" tick box if you want to go full "hit me, I like a challenge" and you'll write anything (in the tag set) within a fandom. Each of your fandoms must be unique.

Writing Period:

Signups are open through the 21st, with assignments out by the 23rd, and then you have until the 18th of December to deliver your gift.

Important Notes

You must be 18 or over to participate in Yuletide (because you might be matched with someone who requests smut), and signups close on 9pm UTC on Saturday, 21 October.

There's a known issue where the safari browser isn't letting people sign up properly, (when you get an exchange this big sometimes things break), so they say to either sign up on mobile or use a different browser. So that will be fun for me.

--

And that's it! Yuletide! Just under a week left to sign up, and 351 people have signed up as I write this letter at 1:30am. I just refreshed it and now it's 352. You can sign up on the Ao3 page here!

JOIN ME EXCHANGES SUCH FUN LETS GO.

[redcurrantarot]

Pick-a-Card Reading: Who is your Future Spouse/Life Partner?

Hello everyone, and welcome to my first PAC reading! Use your intuition/call upon your spirit guides or higher self to choose the image/group that you feel called to as it holds the message meant for you.

Decks Used: Caroline Myss Archetype Cards, Tea Leaf Oracle Cards, Radiant Rider-Waite Tarot

PAC Theme: Howl's Moving Castle

Disclaimer: This is a general tarot reading for entertainment purposes meant for a wide audience and isn't targeted towards every specific person, so not every message will resonate with every person reading 100%. Take what information resonates with you and leave what doesn't. All of the info provided in my readings are my own personal interpretations of the cards and messages that come through. Because of the general nature of the reading, it's best not to take it too seriously and keep in mind this is just for fun!

© redcurrantarot 2023 — all rights reserved. Do not steal, copy, change, or redistribute my content.

Group 1

Cards: hills, caterpillar, elephant, hammock, samaritan, student, beggar, saboteur rx, chariot rx, page of pentacles, 8 of swords, 8 of wands, 2 of cups

Hello and welcome to your reading group 1!

Starting off, your future spouse/life partner is someone who is still figuring out their life and seems to be quite young and is just starting out their journey. Specifically I'm seeing they're still in school (higher education so college or university most likely) they're in a period of their life where they're a student and in a position where they're learning new things, as for what they're interested in or majoring in I feel like it's definitely something related to helping or communicating with others or societal issues. The thing is though, your future spouse at this point in time seems to also be kind of struggling with lacking direction and feeling stuck in life. It's giving me the feeling of being in school but also being confused with how their life is going, what they want to do and where they're headed. There's a lot of feeling trapped in their circumstances and not knowing what to do and feeling aimless. They're giving financially struggling college student, the type to barely make ends meet and might eat instant ramen a lot. It seems like they're probably lacking a support system in their life and feeling kind of helpless. I can also see them working a minimum wage type of job most likely and just trying to survive. I think the main reason for this is because of the fact that they seem to be some type of foreign exchange type student as in they're probably from another country and are attending school in another and have only themselves to depend on money wise. They're honestly working super hard to the point where it can be kind of unhealthy and they might not be able to take care of themselves very well because they're just trying to get by. Things won't always be this way for them though as things seem to be looking up and a change is coming their way. I'm seeing specifically that this is how the two of you meet each other, your person eventually decides to go on a trip or a vacation of some sort maybe back to their home country or wherever but it's definitely somewhere far away and then that's how both of you end up meeting!

Group 2

Cards: bear, coins, boat, heart, messiah rx, prince rx, don juan, angel, knight of cups, 4 of wands rx, 10 of wands, king of wands rx, king of pentacles

Hello and welcome to your reading group 2!

Alright this is interesting, your future spouse/life partner is someone who comes off or acts in a way that is arrogant and they're someone who is also very powerful I'm seeing when it comes to their position in life and their social standing. They're someone who has a very large presence and who gives the impression that they know everything and are pretty intimidating too as if everything is in their control, they have a god complex. But I'm also seeing the reason for why they act this way/give this impression and it's because it is an act/a mask or a defensive mechanism in a way, I don't believe they actually truly believe they are better than others or above them but they take advantage of their power, their charm and attractive qualities to protect themselves because there is a lot of burden on them since they are incredibly connected to money and might be at risk a lot because of this. I'm seeing that this facade they have is because of issues and pressures due to their upbringing/family and because it's likely they come from some sort of generational wealth, in a way it's like they have to serve them which gives me the impression on top of this pressure already, they might be the heir to their family as well which comes with expectations. They might feel like everything is on them to succeed and they carry a lot on their shoulders. There are always people flocking to them and around them, sometimes not with the best intentions because not only do they have wealth from their family, they're also very good at making money and doing business and are held to high expectations by others and also themselves. I also think they're someone who's very smooth and knows how to use their seductive qualities to their advantage. Despite all of this though, underneath it all, this act and this performance they are someone who is truly kind and incredibly caring at heart. I'm seeing that they're someone who is probably pretty sensitive and soft hearted which is even more of a reason to put out a strong front, despite having so much wealth, they're also altruistic too and they definitely use their money for the right reasons and give back to others and to the right causes eg. charities, non profit organizations etc.

Group 3

Cards: torch, july, tree, apple, mediator, king, priest, monk/nun rx, king of swords, king of cups, 5 of pentacles rx, ace of cups, 4 of pentacles

Hello and welcome to your reading group 3!

I'm seeing that for your future spouse/life partner, they're someone who has a talent for connecting with people and has great communication skills which can bring people together. They're someone who can combine their intelligence and perception as well as their emotional sensitivity and compassion to move people and persuade them. I'm seeing that they're also someone who commands a level or respect and they also have some type of authority and are a leader in some way, they're someone people look up to. One thing that comes out very clearly about them is that they're also someone who is incredibly devoted to their spiritual/religious beliefs, they're very pious to the extent where it's something that they're known for and they might dedicate themselves to their religious beliefs to the point that they take priority over material matters at times or become overly concerned with them. They strongly give me the impression that they use their skills to help others in some way and offer them care and compassion. For some people their person might be a counselor of some sort or a therapist but I also can't help but feel like they do in some way use their spiritual/religious beliefs to tie into their work somehow or that it is in some way related. I honestly wouldn't even be surprised if they were some kind of religious/spiritual advisor or even a priest or just someone important in their religious/spiritual community that people turn to for help or guidance. They kind of give me the impression of someone who is good at preaching or might even want to "save" others. Another thing that is coming through is that they have a lot of self control or discipline towards themselves because of their beliefs and seem to be conservative in some way and for some of you, your person might be the type to want to "wait until marriage" or at least further in into the relationship if you get what I mean. One last message that is coming through is that for some of you, you guys might be part of the same religious/spiritual community and your families might know each other and it's possible you'll meet because you're introduced to each other through them and that this could be an arranged marriage/pairing.

Group 4

Cards: mice, broom, camel, tree, healer, child: wounded rx, vampire, mentor, 8 of cups, 10 of pentacles rx, the hermit, 6 of cups 8 of pentacles, the sun

Hello and welcome to your reading group 4!

Your future spouse/life partner is someone who is on a healing journey. They're someone who has experienced a lot of pain and trauma in their past, specifically their childhood and growing up from their family and is finally leaving it all behind in the past and recovering from this. I'm seeing that they've finally walked away from this and probably have cut them out from their life and moved away into a new home and life and have made a lot of effort and spent a lot of time alone to self reflect and introspect on the issues their trauma has caused them. This caused them to become aware and more protective of themselves and to not let others take advantage of them anymore, but I'm also seeing that through this self healing journey they found a new purpose in life that is part of healing their inner child and past wounds. It's really beautiful honestly, not only are they healing from this but they've decided to use their experiences and pain to guide others, specifically other children so that they can give them what they never had. I'm seeing that this person is very likely a teacher of some kind or at least for sure works with children, they could work in a school teaching them or could even be a daycare/kindergarten teacher or a child therapist of some kind or they could work with families, maybe even child protection services, something along those lines. But whatever they do they truly put in a lot of work to be a good mentor to other kids and to help and guide them. It's something that they're truly passionate about and it brings them a lot of joy not only towards themselves and their inner child but to other kids as well, they're someone who is constantly and consistently putting in effort to learn more and heal by working with other children and just spending time with them.

Thank you for enjoying and supporting my PAC readings! I'd love to know your thoughts, please feel free to let me know through my asks. Any feedback is appreciated ♡

© redcurrantarot 2023 — all rights reserved. Do not steal, copy, change, or redistribute my content.

[sunnyaliceart]

Hiiiii please tell me Cat's lore I love them already

Hi! Hello! Thank you for your patience for this response. I'm very glad you're interested in the AU and that you wanna know more about Cat, so let's talk about the feline friend...

Under the read more is talk and sketches relating to my No Deal AU

Cat is the kitty Sissel in the No Deal AU. He has white fur and blue eyes. He was gifted a blue bandana instead of a red one to match the blue rose of No Deal which is how I'll refer to the Yomiel of this AU.

In fact, Cat is the inspiration for No Deal's look in this AU.

After No Deal got his body back after living in Cat's body, he saw himself in the mirror and decided his red suit didn't cut it anymore.

The white fur of the cat that homed him felt like a blank slate. No Deal saw beauty in that as he lost everything and was a forgotten soul, a ghost. Why shouldn't he look the part? He traded his red suit for a white one and as he passed by a flower stall, he saw a blue rose. Drawn to it, reminding him of his own beauty as an unattainable spirit, he took it and added it to his outfit.

The little white cat still followed him around despite the man never looking back for the cat after he got his body back. After a while, No Deal decided that having a feline companion that he could possess at will could be useful for his traversal in the world. No Deal gave him a blue bandana so he could always recognize him.

While never cruel to him, No Deal is much less attached to Cat as Yomiel is with Sissel. No Deal finds Cat to be a useful asset when infiltrating certain areas, messing with people, and his revenge plan. He only takes the bare minimum care of Cat and yaps to him a lot like the monologuing villain he is.

Given that Cat was an orphan kitten that was ignored or brushed away before he found No Deal, he has nothing to compare to of what an actual loving bond looks like and enjoys being with No Deal up until his end.

Yomiel held Sissel with love and respect, valuing his friendship with him. He wanted to leave the country with his cat friend while No Deal saw it unfortunate that Cat was a casualty in his plan to put Lynne in prison, but ultimately moved on fairly quickly. His revenge plan went wel, all things considered. After all, those he wanted dead were killed or thrown in jail and his power had grown considerably. The world was a stage and its people his puppets.

It was only after death did Cat realize how little No Deal thought of him. While thankful for having someone care for him for 10 years, he was enraged by the disrespect. He was never even given a proper name!

Names No Deal used to address Cat:

Cat

Puppet

My Puppet

Stray

Kitty

Snowy

Doll

Little Ghost

Furball

Fuzzy

Fuzzball

Hairball

Phantom

Feline

Etc...

While angered at being abandoned, he didn't understand the concept of revenge and just wanted to fade away in peace, so he stayed away from No Deal in the Ghost World. That's why in the scenario where Post-Game Yomiel meets Cat, he's furious at the sight of Yomiel because it seems now he wants to talk to Cat only for Yomiel to call him a name he doesn't recognize. He knew this was a Yomiel that had someone he cared about and it wasn't Cat.

Cat is a sad tragedy and I deeply apologize for that. Like I mentioned in previous posts, No Deal is an awful man and his humanity died along with him.

I do take solace that Cat was never abused in life and was happy. He eventually found peace in the after life and even formed a friendship with Sissel thanks to Ghost World hijinks.

Feline Friends Forever!

[sinner-sunflower]

A HH Lucifer-centric AU 4/?

PART 1 , PART 2, PART 3, PART 5, PART 6, PART 7, PART 8, PART 9, PART 10, PART 11, PART 12, PART 13, PART 14, PART 15, PART 16, PART 17, PART 18, PART 19, PART 20, PART 21, PART 22

Thanks to your support, I am so committed to this. When I finish this, I plan to make it into a long, proper, one-shot- better format and everything!

I've been doing these chapters in the middle of work lmao, so if you see a typo or some edits, it's me rereading it after work.

I'm trying to include more Alastor but he's pretty hard to write.

I used Velvette so much here cos I love her as that bitch you love to hate. She is obviously the spokesperson of the Vees

---------------------------------------------

The hotel lobby is filled with unbearable silence as hell's overlords and high members of the Ars Goetia arrive one by one.

Just a few hours ago, Alastor heard from Carmila Carmine that the king had called a meeting for the top ruling people of hell. Charlie doesn't know why her dad called for it in the hotel.

The Ars Goetia (minus Stolas) were whispering among themselves and shooting the sinner overlords dirty looks every now and again. The overlords were good at pretending they couldn't hear anything. Apparently, they at least have the sense to know that that would be a fight they cannot win.

The hotel's residents collectively claimed it as their spot. Husk is talking with Angel quietly, keeping him distracted and out of view of Valentino, Vaggie is holding her spear as she keeps a close eye on the strangers in their home, Nifty is obsessively cleaning a corner of the bar (Husk keeps telling her that it is still dirty just so she won't venture elsewhere), and Cherri is playing with an unlit bomb in her hand.

Rosie and Stolas decided to approach Charlie and Alastor at the bar at the same time, both slightly bowed to her.

Charlie: Prince Stolas. Rosie.

Stolas: Hello, princess.

Charlie: How's Octavia?

Stolas: Via misses your outings together. But she is fine. She's with her mother today.

Rosie: Not that I'm not happy to see ya, Alastor. But why exactly are we here? Our Carmila has not stated a reason why.

Alastor: You know as much as me, my dear.

Stolas: It must be dire. His majesty rarely calls for the Goetia's presence. He is not here yet?

Charlie: No. He went down in Sloth earlier. I'm worried. After what happened yesterday, I..

Rosie: Yesterday? Did something happen, sweetie?

Charlie realizes the slip up and backtracks.

Charlie: Nothing, Rosie!

Rosie gives her a look that tells her they're going to be talking about it later. She gives the overlord a weak thumbs up.

Meanwhile, Velvette decides enough is enough and they have wasted too much time waiting.

Velvette: Ugh! Vois, let's go. This is a fuckin' joke.

Carmila: Velvette, calm yourself.

Valentino: Why should she? I had very important shit to shoot today and me being here is making me lose money.

Alastor: Then perhaps you should step down. Having to attend the bare minimum duty of their title must be so difficult for someone so... undeserving.

The Radio Demon has a giant patronizing grin plastered on his face. Alastor's comment prompted Vox to speak up.

Vox: Oh, you timely piece of shit! Fight us right now, Alastor!

Alastor: How unbecoming. Throwing tantrums in front of royalty!

Velvette: I for one, don't want to sit here waiting for a no-show fossil

Charlie's demon side flares as the demon insults her dad.

Charlie: How fucking dare you?!

Random Goetia: You shall know better than to disrespect your king, insolent pest.

Velvette: Ha! You think we're scared of a bunch of birds?

Alastor: Should have known you three cannot behave for a simple meeting haha!

Soon everyone was yelling obscenities at each other, filling the hotel with chaos. Before a proper fight could break out, the door opens with a bang, silencing every demon.

Lucifer has arrived, following him were the other Sins. They were arguing amongst themselves from behind him. Charlie can only catch glimpses of what is being said as voices overlap each other.

Beelzebub: Bel-

Mammon: Are you fuckin-

Satan: Wrath is-

Leviathan: We cannot-

Asmodeus: Evacuation-

Belphegor: Grown another mile-

Lucifer says nothing the entire time and just takes a seat in the middle of the semi-circle table he conjured up. With the way the table was placed in front of everyone else, Charlie gets the feeling of deja vu of her hearing in heaven. But now her dad will be the one passing judgment.

Most of the sinners in the room back up as the Sins continue to argue with their full form.

Lucifer sits back and raises a hand and the yelling stops.

Back then, she never really understood why demons were afraid of her dad. He was always a silly and happy guy when spending time with her. But one time, she sneaks into his rare meetings with the Sins and sees why he was called the devil.

The anger she saw then could have given her Uncle Satan a run for Uncle Mammon's money.

Lucifer: Thank you all for coming on such short notice. I will cut to the chase. I have called you all here because something is brewing at the very depths of hell. Something that may affect us all.

Stolas: The Ars Goetia is at your disposal, sire. But may I ask what is this about?

Belphegor: I can answer that. A few months ago, an anomaly appeared at the edge of Sloth. It was not a problem until-

She pressed her touchpad and a hologram screen appeared showing the infected ground.

Not a single demon didn't widen their eyes.

Angel: What the fuck is that?

Belphegor: We wouldn't have called you all here if it was not this severe.

She taps and shows a mutilated demon pig.

Belphegor: This is Patient Zero. An animal on a nearby farm made contact with the anomaly. It instantly infected the whole body, controlling the creature whilst killing it slowly. If it can affect an animal like this, we fear what it may do to-

Velvette: And what do you expect us to do about it exactly? Why the fuck would we care about some old place we can't even go to.

Belphegor is briefly stunned by the interruption but ignores the sinner's disrespect.

Belphegor: Because you would have to be naive to think that it will stop in Sloth. We cannot be too careful.

Velvette: So you think we would risk our lives? Yeah. No thanks. How do we even know that it will affect us? It's just a pig. The worst we can get is horrible floor decor.

Lucifer stands up and moves silently towards the middle for everyone to see.

Lucifer: Free will does not mean you are free from consequences.

The king starts to remove his shirt to everyone's panic, except Belphegor.

Mammon: Woah woah, mate. The fuck ya doin?

Lucifer shrugs off the last piece of clothing to reveal the glowing, infected marks. It has not been a day since he touched it but the veins are already covering the entire right half of his torso.

Charlie: Dad!

The princess attempts to go to her father's side but Vaggie holds her back.

Lucifer: Shall we proceed without any more interruptions?

---------------------------------------------

What to look forward to in Part 5:

the rest of the meeting

more dialogue from the other Sins. Cannot decide what personality to give to Leviathan.

My HC for Satan is he's like one of those old butler types but has a jacked body (I know he has that workout app, but I'm leaning more of the liver king type of a gentle strongman with anger issues. I don't want him to be a fuckboy gymbro)

more badass lucifer

the Vees getting scolded like the children they are

[jinsoulloves]

guitar player! karma x reader

being surprised by his lover by showing up to his performance, and having you watch him live for the first time was something karma never knew he needed to see, until now.

fluff, karma x reader, opposite attracts type relationship(readers style/aesthetic isn’t rlly specified though), use of nickname ‘love’, oneshot, like 3 seconds of angst at the start

they seemed a little more giggly than normal today. and, he couldn’t lie, their eagerness for him to leave the house and go to meet with his bandmates put him on edge. usually they were both making lame excuses for him to stay a few minutes longer, which usually ended up in karma being 30 minutes late to his pre-show practice.

“yo, man.” the drummer of the band, as usual, was on karma’s heels about the schedule again. “10 minutes till showtime, this might be our biggest show yet!” his cheeky grin clashed with karma’s fatigued frown. it was always nice to have an audience, but his mind was set on his own personal issues at home.

that was until he received a text.

[name]

do good at your show! don’t stay later than you have to :)

it was reassuring in its own, odd way.

they were practically suffocating in the large venue. it was like highschool graduation all over, but with strangers who looked like they came straight from an ally. there were a few decent, friendly looking people, but being somewhere like this for the first time, everyone looks like they want kill you.

[name] stayed in the back of the crowd, somewhere less empty yet they were still noticeable, as if they didn’t stick out like a sore thumb already. the lady at the entrance practically spit out her drink when they enthusiastically walked into the venue. of course, she greeted them like anyone else, but the confusion was clearly evident.

the lights started to dim, the features of the strangers in front of [name] being lost in the darkness. the chatter faded away and suddenly they felt like the only person in the room.

their heart almost stopped when the crowd screamed as the band entered. [name] had listened to a few songs, but it was basically the bare minimum of what their real fans probably listened to. karma had clearly stated he didn’t listen to his own songs unless he had to, since it was basically all he heard all day, but that they were free to enjoy them as the pleased.

the song was one they didn’t recognize. wether that added or hindered the butterflies. the lump in their throat grew. the way the 4 members were set out, you could easily stare bullets into your favorite, and [name] couldn’t help but fall victim to this practice.

the music blared, louder than you had anticipated it to be. something about seeing him play it live rather than listening to it on your phone was different. they couldn’t help but smile giddily as karma’s eyes ran along the crowd. the room was cramped, which was why everyone was struggling to not be pushed into each-other, like the the crappy pb and j someone makes when there in a rush.

when his eyes met yours, it was like the world stopped. if they felt like the only person in the room before, now they felt like the only person on the planet.

karma’s eyes were locked on [names] while his guitar pick unconsciously stuck against his guitar. both their smiles grew wider as he forced himself to strip his eyes away from them. he played more enthusiastically, more harshly. and he kept finding himself glancing over back at them, to make sure he wasn’t hallucinating their presence.

[name] stood outside of the venue eagerly, scrolling mindlessly through the videos and photos they took when karma was playing, which was basically the whole time. they knew they would probably have to go back and delete about half of them later so their storage didn’t kill them, but they savored the moment before it slipped away.

what seemed to be here to stay was the warm embrace of karma’s arm wrapping around their shoulders in a soft form of saying hello.

“i didn’t know you were going to show up today. hell, i didn’t think you’d show up at all.”

they pinched his arm.

“that makes me feel like you’ve been waiting forever for me to finally waddle over here.”

“maybe i have. maybe i haven’t. just wish you would’ve told me, i could’ve gotten you backstage, so you didn’t have to fight the crowd.”

his usual cheshire smile shone through again. the two walked back towards home, [names] ears ringing from the sudden loudness of the music.

“that would’ve ruined the surprise!” karma just rolled his eyes childly, planting a kiss or two onto their head as they walked. “it was more a surprise for you rather me, love-

,your jaw was literally on the floor the whole time. doesn’t take a pro to see.”

[name] just sighed, waiting silently in their momentary defeat of a surprise. he saw this and chucked, swooping in with his worn out voice.

“you should come more often, love. i’m sure the band would love you, and you seem to like the music.” he suggested eagerly, hiding it with his overused voice and tired eyes.

[name] grasped at the hand hanging loosely from their shoulder and smiled. it was like they had been in a trance all night. the two both subconsciously leaned into each-other.

“i’d like that.”

wether he showed it or not, those words made him swoon more than he already was. having them come to the show was something he needed but hadn’t known it yet.

he ruffled [names] hair around just so the atmosphere wouldn’t get too lovey dovey. they giggled. every second was filled with melodic silence and lovesick glances.

hopefully this wouldn’t be the last time they got to walk home like this.

[robertreich]

The Biggest Economic Lies We’re Told

In America, it’s expensive just to be alive.

And with inflation being driven by price gouging corporations, it’s only getting more expensive for regular Americans who don’t have any more money to spend.

Just look at how Big Oil is raking it in while you pay through the nose at the pump.

That’s on top of the average price of a new non-luxury car — which is now over $44,000. Even accounting for inflation, this is way higher than the average cost when I bought my first car — it’s probably in a museum by now.

Even worse, the median price for a house is now over $440,000. Compare that to 1972, when it was under $200,000.

Work a full-time minimum wage job? You won’t be able to afford rent on a one-bedroom apartment just about anywhere in the U.S.

And when you get back after a long day of work, you’ll likely be met with bills up the wazoo for doctor visits, student loans, and utilities.

So what’s left of a paycheck after basic living expenses? Not much.

You can only reduce spending on food, housing, and other basic necessities so much. Want to try covering the rest of your monthly costs with a credit card? Well now that’s more expensive too, with the Fed continuing to hike interest rates.

All of this comes back to how we measure a successful economy.

What good are more jobs if those jobs barely pay enough to live on?

Over one-third of full time jobs don’t pay enough to cover a basic family budget.

And what good are lots of jobs if they cause so much stress and take up so much time that our lives are miserable?

And don’t tell me a good economy is measured by a roaring stock market if the richest 10 percent of Americans own more than 80 percent of it.

And what good is a large Gross Domestic Product if more and more of the total economy is going to the richest one-tenth of one percent?  

What good is economic growth if the way we grow depends on fossil fuels that cause a climate crisis?

These standard measures – jobs, the stock market, the GDP – don’t show how our economy is really doing, who is doing well, or the quality of our lives.

People who sit at their kitchen tables at night wondering how they’re going to pay the bills don’t say to themselves

“Well, at least corporate profits are at record levels.”

In fact, corporations have record profits and CEOs are paid so much because they’re squeezing more output from workers but paying lower wages. Over the past 40 years, productivity has grown 3.5x as fast as hourly pay.

At the same time, corporations are driving up the costs of everyday items people need.

Because corporations are monopolizing their markets, they don’t have to worry about competitors. A few giant corporations can easily coordinate price hikes and enjoy bigger profits.

Just four firms control 85% of all beef, 66% of all pork, and 54% of all poultry production.

Firms like Tyson have seen their profit margins skyrocket as they jack up prices higher than their costs — forcing consumers who are already stretched thin to pay even more.

It’s not just meat. Weak antitrust enforcement has allowed companies to become powerful enough to raise their prices across the entire food industry.

It’s the same story with household goods. Giant companies like Procter & Gamble blame their price hikes on increased costs – but their profit margins have soared to 25%. Hello? They care more about their bottom line than your bottom, that’s for sure.

Meanwhile, parents – and even grandparents like me – are STILL struggling to feed their babies because of a national formula shortage. Why? Largely because the three companies who control the entire formula industry would rather pump money into stock buybacks than quality control at their factories.

Traditionally, our economy’s health is measured by the unemployment rate. Job growth. The stock market. Overall economic growth. But these don’t reflect the everyday, “kitchen table economics” that affect our lives the most.

These measures don’t show the real economy.

Instead of looking just at the number of jobs, we need to look at the income earned from those jobs. And not the average income.

People at the top always bring up the average.

If Jeff Bezos walked into a bar with 140 other people, the average wealth of each person would be over a billion dollars.

No, look at the median income – half above, half below.

And make sure it accounts for inflation – real purchasing power.

Over the last few decades, the real median income has barely budged. This isn’t economic success.

It's economic failure, with a capital F.

And instead of looking at the stock market or the GDP we need to look at who owns what – where the wealth really is.

Over the last forty years, wealth has concentrated more and more at the very top. Look at this;

This is a problem, folks. Because with wealth comes political power.

Forget trickle-down economics. It’s trickle on.

And instead of looking just at economic growth, we also need to look at what that growth is costing us – subtract the costs of the climate crisis, the costs of bad health, the costs of no paid leave, and all the stresses on our lives that economic growth is demanding.

We need to look at the quality of our lives – all our lives. How many of us are adequately housed and clothed and fed. How many of our kids are getting a good education. How many of us live in safety – or in fear.

You want to measure economic success? Go to the kitchen tables of America.

[jaimistoryteller]

Why Help’s Need 3.0

Hey Folks

Happy New Year and Winter Holidays to all of whichever you may celebrate.

I considered continuing the trend of just updating 2.0 but decided it's a new year, so have a new post. I'll put things from this year on this post, to make it easier, and leave the link to last years post, for record reasoning.

Thank you all

Jaimi

12/16/2023

Hello all, 

I’ve spent pretty much 20 to 21 hours of each of the last three days sleeping due to pain. I only woke for brief periods between for food, bathroom, and taking meds. 

I didn’t get to the bare minimum of $237 I needed to, so the check for the plumber bounced and I need to pay the returned check fee. Amusingly, that is how much I had raised, so the total hasn’t changed, and I just applied it to the account. 

I really need to get him paid, so he’d be willing to work with me in the future if something happens again. 

$0/445

Any and all help would be greatly appreciated. That includes sharing, every little bit helps. Happy Winter Holidays,

Jaimi

[will do a more detailed description when not barely awake]

Patreon

Redbubble

Share this post; my venmo, paypal, or cash app with a note about how it can help.  

Paypal: cosmosbusinessventures@gmail .com or Paypal Me

Ko-Fi

venmo @JaimiST

Cash app $jaimist

GoFundMe: Help Jaimi Catch Up the Bills & Fix the Roof

Current Situation

12/12/2023 1 pm

Hiya Folks

So initially I did my update at three in the morning, while in a lot of pain after finishing a really long day. To recap:

Three trips to the hospital, not counting trip to see the eye doc for the pre-surgery recheck

One cat passed away and had to be taken to the crematorium

Winston has a sprained leg I’d like to get checked but haven’t been able to

Spent yesterday trying to fix the water, after the on/off broke on me, after I had already cut the line, so I got drenched and so did a lot of stuff.

Now then, I had gotten a quote for $400 last night, then today, I was able to get it fixed for $208, as long as I get it paid today, we’re good, as they came and fixed it. I’m barely awake, so will need to work on this further after another nap.

Thank you all, 

Jaimi 

Past Amounts

1/23/2023 - $278/2153 

2/1/2023 - $817/2513 

2/18/2023 - $/1734

2/26/2023 - $0/25533/7/2023 - $100/2855

3/7/2023 - $867/2855 

6/8/2023 - $1833

8/5/2023 - $104/1060

8/10/2023 - $90/930

10/16/2023 - $0/437

12/12/2023 - $0/637

12/12/2023 - $25/445

12/16/2023 - $0/445

Proofs

[will add after i nap more]

[comicaurora]

hii hello 👋 just wanted to start by saying that the comic is still so cool interesting and I love how things are progressing so far, at first I wasn't sure if i was going to enjoy the current arc as much but its honestly really enganging with the bits of Falst backstory being revealed, seeing Dainix in action and put in situations, and also more interactions of the party members without Kendal really being present there (i love him sm but its interesting to see how the group dynamic is starting to really shape up, even though falst and dainix have only known each other for like a day(?), putting them in a perilous situation is a really good choice we can see open guy and closed off guy interacting and its so !! its cool) also the lighting for the cave with the fire and the ancient tech is great!

(this is already such a long ask im so sorry)

but ... speaking of ancient tech, i wanted to know how much of it has survived? we know that Erin's bag of holding is also Ancient made (iirc), and so is the storm pedestal, but is there still some other known Ancient tech used in the world? are there also significant populations/communities of people with Ancient ancestry that have gathered and do they have most of the access to that tech? If they do exist, are they more of a closed-off community or are they kind of subsumed into the local population (of ppl with no Ancient ancestry and stuff) ?

tl;dr really digging the current arc i love zombie dungeon funtime adventure. more info abt ancient tech / ppl descended from ancients pls?

anyway thank you very much and have a good day ^_^ love your work Red and it's honestly amazing how far the comic has progressed and the community's grown over the past 3-4 years ! (damn i cant believe 2019 was 4 years ago)

glad you're having fun! dropping dorks down a hole for Character Development is always a fun idea

Most Ancient stuff is in ruins, but the automatons are quite sturdy, especially the stuff created in the final days of the civil war. Ancient war machines will sometimes reactivate and un-bury themselves, wreaking havoc based on long-belayed and half-remembered orders. Dainix's desert home deals with these on occasion, which is why he's familiar with the basics of how they work.

Most Ancient tech works in ways that nobody has quite figured out how to replicate, but it can sometimes be repurposed if it's well-preserved enough - although the fact that most Ancient tech reacts with alarms at the presence of humans and elves makes it pretty hard for most people to make them do anything particularly useful. Things like Erin's bag are rare but not unbelievably so - there seem to have been a lot of them, and they're hard to break.

Ancient ancestry has been almost entirely subsumed into the overall population, and it almost never presents in any visible way - just about its only telltale signs are unusual height, and the combo of earthtone-skin and light-earthtone-hair with pale jeweltone-eyes, which is not naturally found in uninfluenced humans or elves and is rarely found even in elementally adapted populations of either (elves can have jeweltone eyes but always have skytone skin, typically patterned; influenced humans like crystal-caste will have jeweltone eyes and hair; etc)

Ancient tech responding positively to anyone is quite rare, and typically occurs in people who seem to have a significant number of Ancient ancestors on both sides of their family and consequently visibly resemble the phenotype to an unusual degree. It's very difficult to measure this sort of thing, but the general rule of thumb seems to be that a person needs to be at least 10% of Ancient descent before the tech doesn't panic on sight, and at least 20% in order for it to actually respond to them in any meaningful way. So the equivalent of one Ancient great-grandparent would work as a bare minimum, which doesn't sound too bad - unless you start doing the math of how many generations have actually passed since there were a surplus of Ancients around.

After the Ancient civil war ended and the "cave-folk" left the Singing Caves, there were barely a thousand Ancients left alive and scattered across the northern continents, in contrast to hundreds of thousands of humans and elves. And since this was over 4000 years ago, with generations happening at a rough average of three per century, there have been over 120 generations since the Emergence. One way to look at this is that every person of the Elder Races currently alive is a descendant of some set of those people alive at the Emergence, 120 generations back - they had kids 119 generations back, those kids had kids 118 generations back, etc etc, eventually leading to a person alive today whose great-great-great-(115-more-greats) grandparents were all around at the Emergence. However, this numbers game gets complicated when we do the basic math of asking "how many (118-greats)-grandparents would anyone have)" and find the answer is 2^120, or a little over 1 undecillion, which is a one with 36 zeroes after it, which is a billion billion billion billions. This many people have never been alive anywhere, because the uncomfortable truth is that after a certain number of generations back everyone's family trees stop forking and start looping, though if it happens far enough back it's not a genetic liability like it is in certain colonizing nations' royal families. So this math is already falling apart, but it is giving us some idea of how catastrophically unlikely it is for someone's Emergence-era ancestry to beat the odds and have enough Ancient make it to the modern day to be detectable.

To dramatically simplify the math and pretend generations are cleanly delineated at 3/century (and that genetics actually works like clean 50%s every time, or even that genetics as we understand it applies to this fictional fantasy world), at the time of the Emergence, the world population was around 0.1% Ancient, and in order for a modern person to make the tech work for them, their first-generation ancestry - the sum of all those Emergence people whose descendants eventually produced this kid, weighted to account for the people who are technically the 118-great-grandparents multiple times over thanks to family tree loops - needed to be at least 10-20% Ancient. It's not impossible, and there were parts of the world where the Ancient population at the Emergence was easily that high, but they're likely to be vastly outnumbered in the rest of the pile of 118-greats-grandparents as the family tree approximately doubles in size every generation.

So it happens, but it's rare and getting rarer. Most people in this field are instead trying to crack how to reprogram or build automaton control units from scratch, rather than dealing with them freaking out all the time.

[roosterforme]

roosterforme's fic challenge #love is in the air tgm

Let's celebrate Valentine's Day the Top Gun way! Choose a love song, any love song that you want, and write a fic about one or more of our favorite Top Gun characters!

Rules:

Please use the #love is in the air tgm hashtag!!!

Once you have your song selected (first come, first served, no duplicates), please send me an ask letting me know which song and character(s) you want to write about. If your song is not listed below, just let me know what you want with your ask and I’ll add it (within reason, of course). If your song has been claimed already, I'll let you know so you can choose another one

You can use the song in the fic however you would like. Use it as the title, use some lyrics, have the song playing in the background, anything you want!

Minimum word count: 1k

There is no real time limit, but please try to post around Valentine's Day, or during the month of February.

Please make sure you tag me (or send me a message) when you post your story so I don’t miss it. I can’t wait to read and reblog!

Please reblog and share this with anyone who may want to participate

If you’re under 18, do not submit or read smut

Songs are listed after the cut:

If you don't see a song you like, send me an ask and I will add it for you!

Current Playlist:

1 @familyvideostevie Let's Get It On by Marvin Gaye (Bradley)

2 @semperhuggs Perfect by Ed Sheeran (Jake)

3 @bradshawsbitch You're My Best Friend by Queen (Bob)

4 @gretagerwigsmuse Everlasting Love by Love Affair (Bradley)

5 @bradshawsbaby My Girl by The Temptations (Hannix)

6 @wkndwlff Slow Dancing by Aly & AJ (Jake)

7 @beyondthesefourwalls Wildflowers & Wine by Marcus King (Bradley)

8 @roosterforme Hello, I Love You by The Doors (Bradley)

9 @hangmanbrainrot At Last by Etta James (Jake)

10 @cherrycola27 Desire by U2 (Bradley)

11 @theharddeck Yours by Russell Dickerson (Jake)

12 @bradshawsbaby Can't Take My Eyes Off You by Frankie Valli (Bradley)

13 @wildbornsiren Can't Help Falling In Love by Elvis (Bob)

14 @thedroneranger Talk You Out of It by Florida Georgia Line (Jake)

15 @whisperofsong Late Night Talking by Harry Styles (Jake)

16 @mothdruid Just the Way You Are by Bruno Mars (Javy)

17 @sometimesanalice Like I Can by Sam Smith (Bradley)

18 @little-wiseone Love Me Like You Do by Ellie Goulding (Jake)

19 @bolaurel You Can't Hurry Love by The Supremes (Bradley)

20 @high-bi-imgonnacry Next Thing You Know by Jordan Davis (Jake)

21 @thedroneranger Kind of Love We Make by Luke Combs (Bradley)

22 @cherrycola27 Burning Up by the Jonas Brothers (Jake)

23 @laracrofted Delicate by Taylor Swift (Bob)

24 @beyondthesefourwalls The Good I’ll Do by Zach Bryan (Jake)

25 @cherrycola27 Until I Found You by Stephen Sanchez (Bradley)

26 @blackwidownat2814 All of Me by John Legend (Jake)

27 @godsfavoritebabe Endless Love by Luther Vandross (Bradley)

28 @cassiemitchell Friends Don’t by Maddie and Tae (Jake)

29 @sylviebell Everything Has Changed by Taylor Swift (Rooster x Phoenix)

30 @madsnowstorm Beyond by Leon Bridges ft Luke Combs (Jake)

31 @jynxmirage If I Ain't Got You by Alicia Keys (Bradley)

32 @bussyslayer333 Lovefool by The Cardigans (Bob)

33 @desert-fern La Dah Dee by Cody Simpson (Jake)

34 @cassiemitchell Worldwide by Big Time Rush (Bradley)

35 @jynxmirage Tennessee Whiskey by Chris Stapleton (Jake)

36 @desert-fern Dandelions by Ruth B (Natasha)

37 @avaleineandafryingpan Like My Father by Jax (Bob)

38 @roosters-girl Just What I Needed by The Cars (Bradley)

39 @hangmanstigerlily Can't Fight This Feeling by REO Speedwagon (Jake)

40 @call-sign-shark Addicted to Love by Robert Palmer (Mav)

41 @myfaveficrecs I'll Make Love to You by Boyz II Men (Bradley)

42 @roosterforme The Kind of Girl I Could Love by The Monkees (Bob)

43 @rae-gar-targaryen This Old Heart of Mine by the Isley Brothers (Mickey)

44 @shrimping-for-all Letters by Why Don’t We (Bradley)

45 @bradshawsbitch Secret Love Song by Little Mix (Natasha)

46 @floyd-luvr About You by The 1975 (Bob)

47 @floyd-luvr Ain't No Mountain High Enough by Marvin Gaye and Tammi Terrell (Bradley)

48 @semperhuggs Need You Tonight by INXS (IceMav)

49 @nocapesdahling You Send Me by Sam Cooke (Jake)

50 @nocapesdahling By Your Side by Sade (Bradley)

51 @ssprayberrythings Black and White by Niall Horan (Jake)

52 @daughterofautumn All You Need Is Love by The Beatles (Mickey)

53 @daughterofautumn Lay All Your Love On Me by ABBA (Bob)

54 @callsignseagull I love you by JP Saxe (Jake)

55 @gennyanydots Untouched by The Veronicas (Bradley)

56 @gennyanydots Here In Your Arms by Hellogoodbye (Bob)

57 @thebirdandthebee Congratulations by Mac Miller (Bradley)

58 @endofdays56 Right Here Waiting by Richard Marx (Bob)

59 @notroosterbradshaw These Arms of Mine by Otis Redding (Bradley)

60 @avengers-fixation I Don't Wanna Set the World On Fire by VoicePlay (Jake)

61 @amysteryspot I Will Always Love You by Whitney Houston (Bradley)

62 @beyondthesefourwalls I Don't Love You Like I Used To by John Legend (Javy)

63 @valhallaas Love Me Tender by Elvis (Jake)

64 @daughterofautumn Your Body Is a Wonderland by John Mayer (Mickey)

65 @hangmans-wingman I Don't Want to Miss a Thing by Aerosmith (Jake)

66 @tongue-like-a-razor Truly Madly Deeply by Savage Garden (Bradley)

67 @tongue-like-a-razor I Wish It Would Rain Down by Phil Collins (Jake)

68 @hurricanerex666 Kiss Goodnight by I Don't Know How But They Found Me (Bradley)

69 @roosterbruiser Fruits of My Labor by Lucinda Williams (Jake)

Songs You May Want To Use:

At Last by Etta James

Addicted to Love by Robert Palmer

Desire by U2

Let's Get It On by Marvin Gaye

Just What I Needed by The Cars

You Can't Hurry Love by The Supremes

Late Night Talking by Harry Styles

I'll Make Love To You Boyz II Men

Can't Help Falling In Love by Elvis

Can't Take My Eyes Off You by Frankie Valli

Beautiful Stranger by Madonna

Love Me Like You Do by Ellie Goulding

Lovefool by The Cardigans

Best I Ever Had by Drake 

Perfect by Ed Sheeran

Love Story by Taylor Swift

All You Need Is Love by The Beatles

Need You Tonight by INXS

I Will Always Love You by Whitney Houston

All Of Me by John Legend

Just the Way You Are by Bruno Mars

My Girl by The Temptations

[f1hallmarkfest]

Formula 1 Hallmark Fest

Hello one and all! We are delighted to announce the Formula 1 Hallmark Fest, aiming to bring winter cheer and cheesy festive feel-good holiday fic to the masses.

What is Hallmark?

Every year, The Hallmark Channel has their annual Countdown to Christmas celebration. As you can imagine from the title, the movies center around Christmas/winter holiday themes. Hallmark Christmas movies are some of the cheesiest, most nostalgia-evoking films you can imagine. Many of them center around small towns and discovering (or rediscovering) the spirit of Christmas, spending time with family and friends, and finding love in the holiday season!

Hallmark Christmas movies are absurd in the best way, making them perfect for fanfic plots.

How to Join

Sign up via our form

Join our fest Discord

Join the AO3 collection

The Rules

For writers- Minimum word count: 4000 words (and the sky's the limit)

For artists- Minimum art requirements: Lined and colored

Theme: Your work must align with the theme of the fest, that being cheesy heartwarming festive goodness!

Other than that, there are no limits on what you can create! A short, fluffy feel-good fic oozing with tender holiday love? A novel-length fic with an intricate plot and epic highs and lows? A painting of your favorite guys kissing under the mistletoe? A comic centered on holiday misadventures? Your call!

Key Dates:

Important Dates

TBD: Sign-ups close July 15th: Check-in 1 October 15th: Check-in 2 November 25th DECEMBER 14th: Collection submission December 1st 17th!!!: Fic reveals start

Important Links:

Admin: Dees @leclercenjoyer Mods: River @river-ocean, Tracy @apeacebone, Samuel @gearshxft Discord Server: https://discord.gg/GmXyBx3AVC AO3 Collection: https://archiveofourown.org/collections/F1_Hallmark_Fest Sign-up form: here Email: f1hallmarkfest@gmail.com

FAQ under the cut! 👇

1. Does it have to be AU? Not at all! F1 drivers' lives are already so god damn weird that it lends itself perfectly to the sort of over-the-top nonsense that makes a Hallmark movie truly special.

2. Does it have to be romantic? Absolutely not! Follow your heart <3

3. Does it have to be Christmas specifically? Nope! At their core, Hallmark movies are Christmas movies, but it's not essential. Any winter holiday, or even just winter in general, can fit the bill. (Or I guess summer, for the southern hemisphere?)

4. Can I do art for someone else's fic? Yes! Absolutely! We won't be pairing writers and artists (a la Big Bang) but you are more than welcome to find a writer to work with through our fest discord!

5. What happens if I have to drop out? Nothing! We understand that circumstances can change, and the deadline is long so unexpected situations may arise. If you sign up and find you can't participate, that's fine! Just drop the mods a line, no hard feelings.

6. Does my work have to be completed for me to submit it to the fest? Given the length of the deadline, we would ask that yes, your work should be finished before posting!

7. Do you accept late sign-ups? Sure!

8. Do I have to have an idea when I sign up? No! If the theme of the fest intrigues you but you can't think of what you want to write/draw right off the bat, you're still welcome to sign up! The discord server is the perfect place to workshop ideas with your fellow creatives, and we even have a random plot generator if you need a shot of inspiration.

9. Can I join the Discord server if I'm not participating in the fest? Yes, absolutely! If you just wanna come hang out, share in the vibes and the love and chat with folks, you are more than welcome to! And who knows, perhaps inspiration will strike you!

10. Why is the deadline so long? We decided to get started early to give people lots of time to work on their fics! This way, if people want to write proper longfic, there's plenty of time to get it done!

[runabout-river]

On Mahoraga, the Ten Shadows and Sukuna

I've seen so many hurt feelings and rage boners over on Twitter about Sukuna using the Ten Shadows in his fight against Gojo. There are people who straight up call Sukuna a fraud for using the 10S and people are violently speculating about an imagined battle where this and that power didn't exist and therefore either Gojo or Sukuna is the real boss and winner and it's as much of a dumpsterfire as it is hilarious to watch.

Sukuna is not a fraud for using a technique he owns

This is like saying god-like character B only is as strong as he is because he acquired a weapon along the way and that weapon doesn't count in fighting powers because... he wasn't born with it I guess. Every swordsmam from now on is a fraud as well. Zorro is weaker than Sanji because swords don't count while Sanji only fights with his natural body. And that boy Tanjiro! Did you know that he only made it to the Demon Slayer Corps because he also had a sword? Total fraud or something like that.

Time and time again the manga made it clear that sorcerers are not noble and honour bound people. They fight to win and the how is completely irrelevant to the winning because they're, among other things, con-artists and the only thing that awaits them if they don't win is death. Gojo and Sukuna would straight up nuke each other if that was a feasible option.

Gojo is as much a "fraud" as Sukuna

Gojo started this fight with the help of three other sorcerers and that help is going to reappear as the fight goes on. As I said in last chapter's Review, the others will have to fight against Mahoraga to fill out the (most likely) 8 adaptations it has so Gojo's techniques can work again. Uraume is going to appear again at some point as well.

The only reason why this fight is one-on-one until now is because of two things:

Ego, and

The immediate death of any outside assistance

Someone like Sukuna would of course want to defeat his opponent on his own with the minimum amount of effort to show how strong he is, and he most likely didn't think that much of Gojo at first either and he would also reject direct intervention from Uraume and Kenjaku, but his own techniques and weapons? Those are his and he's going to use them at his leisure regardless of where they came from. He "defeated" Megumi anyway to get access to the 10S so there isn't even any debate about whether he deserved to use them.

And Gojo? Hello? He would not let things like a fair fight get in his way of defeating Sukuna and saving Megumi and the world. Right now though, he can't accept any outside help because Sukuna would instantly kill them. Having him defeat Sukuna would be the best case scenario but they most likely discussed the more likely scenario that at some point the others have to step up as well. Even Kenjaku said that they will come. Gojo would give his life to give the others a fighting chance if it were to come to that but he wouldn't pointlessly throw his life away if "cheating" and being a "fraud" would've helped him and everyone else.

(Btw the more I think about it the more I'm of the opinion that Sukuna activated Mahoraga's wheel after Gojo's second Domain collapsed.)

Now that the fraud allegations are out of the way, let's go to another point people are losing their minds over: Mahoraga.

Mahoraga is NOT the ultimate weapon and the end of this fight

Mahoraga is also not the strongest technique of the 10 Shadows. What do we know about it? No one had ever tamed it before, not even the Zenin clan head who fought against the 6-Eyes Gojo clan head. I don't remember where it was said or if was ever clearly stated, but that fight ended with the Zenin activating an exorcism ritual to end the fight with both him and the 6-Eyes dying.

To achieve that, the 6-Eyes had to have been severely weakened otherwise he would've defeated Mahoraga himself just like 15-Finger Sukuna did. Just like Gojo said he would if Sukuna had summoned Mahoraga already. All of this is to say that the Zenin of that time fought against the 6-Eyes with only 9 tamed shikigami and a domain and maybe they were not truly equal in their fighting strength but the Zenin was at least strong enough to inflict serious damage to his opponent.

The true strength of the 10 Shadows Technique does not lie in one single shikigami, not even Mahoraga, but in the intelligent use of all aspects of it. Like: summoning and calling back the shikigami when needed; combining the living shikigami to form new creatures; strengthening the living shikigami with the powers of the dead ones; utilizing the shadows to their maximum, and completing Chimera Shadow Garden and using all its unique abilities and powers.

Intelligence has been Megumi's number one characteristic among all the other characters and I don't know about any of you but as a true culmination of Megumi's abilities, I found Mahoraga to be underwhelming. First, because it (the super mega ultimate weapon) appeared too early in the manga and second, because it was defeated in its very first appearance. So either Gege made a blunder in his storytelling and appropriate leveling of character abilities or Mahoraga was never meant to be the ultimate usage of the 10 Shadows.

(The characters might think it is but the sorcerers aren't the only con artists in JJK, Gege is too.)

In essence, Sukuna isn't automatically going to win this fight just because Mahoraga is going to come, AND it's going to be Megumi who will push the 10 Shadows to its absolute peak not Sukuna

[angelosearch]

I'm kind of annoyed that FF8 was supposed to be the first game in the franchise to be all about romance, yet Squinoa only share 1 hug, never say I love you directly (they do sort of indirectly say it at separate times in Disc 3 — he says "I've fallen for you" in his head, and she admits that him saying "Just stay close to me" had started everything for her... but again, those aren't direct love confessions), and their 1 kiss panned away from them so quickly, it ended up being a discretion shot.

But... on the other hand, we are talking about a JRPG game from 1999. Eastern countries like Japan were and still are very iffy about PDA, hence why, if any kisses occur between couples in the FF universe, such kisses literally only happen once, and only between a canon couple. Of course, that doesn't really explain why, just 2 years later, in FF10, Tiduna (which I love, btw!) got a real, fully-displayed kiss... not sure what happened in the 2 years between those games to change gears like that 🤷‍♀️

Sorry, I just had that thought pop into my head and wanted to share it with you 😅😜 What are your thoughts?

Hello anon! Thank you for sharing. Haha, I am always down to talk FF8!

In terms of why the PDA was at a minimum, I think you're right that it has to do with the culture around the game. Why was FF10 so PDA heavy in comparison? This is all conjecture, but I wonder if it was an overall increase in Western influence on the company. (or just an increase in wanting to appeal to a Western audience)

Right before the release of FF10 was the release of Spirits Within. That movie required a new level of localization because of the voice acting. Then, FF10 was the first game in the franchise to require voice acting. Working with Western voice actors and translators throughout the production of the game may have had some bearing on how the story was told. Of course, FF10 was also being produced alongside Kingdom Hearts, which was a MAJOR Western Influence. I mean, it doesn't get more America than Disney, in my opinion. Whatever American executives that were working on the Kingdom Hearts storyline may have inspired changes to FF10.

Not sure if this had any bearing, but when SquareSoft was working on FF10, they were attempting to appeal to Enix for a merger. Some of their decisions around major cinematic moments may have been made to make them more competitive. I mean, when I think of 10, I definitely think of the kiss scene, so I really do think it appeals to a Western audience.

Now, in terms of if FF8 was successful in illustrating a romance... From my perspective, the way FF8 shies away from the more typical signs of love (saying the words, physical contact, etc.) makes it all the MORE romantic to me. It's like... their love transcends what is normal and expected. Maybe they don't hug and kiss much, but they do so much more. Squall carries her half way across the world on his back. Rinoa travels across time to bring Squall back to life. Squall throws himself into space. Rinoa gives Squall a metric fuck-ton of patience. Everything is so grandiose and epic, a kiss on the cheek or occasional hug, I think, would have ruined the rhythm of it all.

(Although, I am Ace, so to me, physicality and romance can exist in two completely separate spheres.)

In terms of saying "I love you" - I don't think it will be easy for Squall to come to identify with those words. He knows he feels something, but he's probably never said that to anyone but Ellone. And for Rinoa, she probably knows saying something like that to Squall could chase him off, especially because by the end of the game they've known each other for about... two weeks.

(Rinoa does say something like "We love you. There, I said it!" in the middle-of-the-road interaction at FH on disk 2 though, which I've always imagined as her saying it in a covert, "I've got a crush on you" sort of way.)

That is to say, I do think FF8 is all about romance, and I love how they portray it. Would I like a high-definition close-up kiss shot for AMV purposes? Damn right, I do. But I don't think the lack of PDA or specific wording takes any love away from the story. Anyway, that's my take! Thanks again for the ask!

[mayakern]

Hello! I got one of your midis in August (which I adore!) and kept the tag to remind me which size to get for my next order. I noticed that the tags numbers are slightly different from what is listed on the website (My size A tag says 10 to 30 inches), but I can't find anything mentioning a sizing change. Was there a change in sizing that I missed? Thanks!

so the sizes aren’t different, this is just one of those funky manufacturing things. size A’s completely at rest measurement is 10”, but if someone with a 10” waist (i.e. a child) wore the skirt, it would not stay up because for full elastic waistband items like the skirt, there is a minimum amount of tension that needs to be present for the garment to stay on. that’s why we say the minimum measurement for size A is 15” and not 10”, which is the actual unstretched size.

as for the larger end, idk why they put 30” because that is not the full stretch (it’s closer to 34”, with 32” being the max comfortable stretch). 30” was our target measurement for a full comfortable stretch for the A size—emphasis on comfortable, as maximum stretch is NOT comfortable to wear, so we always chop a couple inches off the top when providing sizing info. however in order to get a max comfortable stretch of 30”, the skirts need to have a resting waistband size of like 8” which is honestly a bit ridiculous. we did get prototypes made in this size and they were wayyyy too tiny, to the point where the factory didn’t even want to make them.

unfortunately, even tho we’ve tried to communicate this multiple times to get the tag sizing to reflect the actual sizing, our factory just doesn’t seem to understand what we’re asking for,

TLDR: the sizing info on the site is accurate and the info on the tag is not.

(tho it’s in the ballpark)

[sinner-sunflower]

P.2 HH Lucifer-centric AU 10/?

STORY 1, PART 1, PART 2, PART 3, PART 4, PART 5, PART 6, PART 7, PART 8, PART 9, PART 11, PART 12, PART 13, PART 14, PART 14.5, PART 15, PART 16, PART 17, PART 18, PART 19, PART 20, PART 21, PART 22, PART 23, PART 24, PART 25, PART 26

Notes at the end!

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Lucifer should've known that even in his sleep, his torment would not stop.

He should have been wiser, but exhaustion dulled his senses, making him lower his guard.

He thought that maybe, maybe, the universe would give me just this little moment. And at the beginning he really thought that. He felt weightless. Like he's not the Morningstar, the fallen angel, the King of Hell, the Sin of Pride, a father or a lover. Like for the first time in a millennia, he simply existed.

So forgive him for his surprise when darkness swallowed his dreams before he could savor them fully.

Roo: Hello, fallen. Been a while, hasn't it?

Lucifer: Roo.

Roo: Don't look at me like that. Our deal is still in effect, you know. I can't do anything more than this even if I wanted to.

Lucifer: You saying you want to do more then? Like harm me?

Roo: Ugh, you silly creatures, always so pessimistic. Can't someone just chill and have fun?

Lucifer: I highly doubt the root of all evil and chaos embodiment just wants to 'chill'.

Roo: Believe what you will, fallen. I am many things, but I am no liar.

Lucifer: Your sister surely is.

Roo had to laugh at that. 

Roo: Yin in every Yang or so they say.

Lucifer: What? You're telling me you have good in you?

Roo: I would think the fact that you get to keep your soul was a sign in and of itself.

Lucifer: That's less than the bare minimum.

Roo smirked and rested her head on her hand, a gesture that grated Lucifer's nerves. He couldn't help but think he should take a page from Adam's book and wipe that shit-eating grin off her face.

Roo: Had the old man never told you to not look at a gifted horse's mouth? 

Lucifer: Enough. Why are you really here?

Roo: If you must know, I merely wanted to ask how you are doing! After all, meeting The Fates must have been quite the experience.

Lucifer: You were looking?

Roo: I wanted to see if my vessel works well. It's not my fault I can see everything you see, hear every thought you think, feel every pain you wish never happened but also desire to inflict onto yourself. I wanna ask, does your pity party ever stop?

Realistically, Lucifer knows that Roo is messing with him; she was deliberately provoking him, reveling in his inner turmoil. She's luring him in, and he's taking the bait.

There's a creeping cold that's getting worse the longer they talk. He thought nothing of it at first but he's now starting to feel it under his skin.

He's well aware of the threat in front of him but doesn't mean he's not going to bite back with force.

Lucifer: I think you're forgetting who delivered the final blow in the first war. You know, the blow that led to your defeat?

Roo's nonchalant and playful facade cracked just a bit that Lucifer knows he struck a nerve.

Lucifer: Hell, shouldn't you be more thankful to me? Without my actions in offering the fruit to humanity, you wouldn't have gained the power you so desperately craved to rise again. And now, here you are, benefiting from my influence once more.

The Sin of Pride couldn't fathom where this sudden surge of confidence came from, but he refused to cower any longer. Roo had expected him to tremble in fear, to bow before her as if she were someone superior to be revered on.

He's sick and tired of everyone assuming he should be the one on his knees, begging for mercy.

Lucifer: How are you the root of all evil when I'm the one who started sin. You should be worshipping me! Now that I think about it, in some twisted way, I was your creator-

His mockery was short lived when the dreamscape glitched and suddenly it wasn't Roo in front of him; it's The Root of All Evil.

Laughter erupted from the shadowy figure, a grotesque sound reminiscent of a rabid hyena's. Refusing to be intimidated, Lucifer continues to put oil in the fire.

Lucifer: Bringing out the big guns for a little comment? Insecure much?

He's bullshitting at this point but damn him if he's going down without an ounce of victory. He also thinks he's lucky to have said as much at all.

The abrupt stop of laughter sent an involuntary shiver down his spine, and then gravity seemed to solidify around him, pressing down with an oppressive force.

Push.

Michael: All you had to do was listen.

Push.

Lilith: You're exhausting, Lucifer.

Push.

Charlie: He's defending this hotel! How come he could have faith in me but my own father can't.

Push.

Y̵̛̞̝̳̥͍̏͛͊ö̴̼̭̜̖́͗̒͝ü̴̩͚͆͑ ̵͎̉̒̄̄ả̶̭͈͍̟̳ṙ̵̡̲͙̼͎è̸̮̳̲̊͂̔̍ ̴̠͔̯̘̬̑͝s̵̜̪̗̯̚è̴͇͌̇ṅ̷̘̝̀t̶̛̹̝̄͘ẻ̶͓̱̬͔̅̉ͅn̵̥̽̋̌̓ĉ̴͜e̶̯͇̤̺̤̅̀̅d̵̝̰̬̗̋ͅ ̶̝͕̩͇̱̎̋͝͝ẗ̶̢̊͠õ̶̡̦͖͒̈́̍̍ ̸̧̏F̸̧̬̪̂̋a̸̞͈͍͇̔̓͘͜l̶̬͙̤͈̝̑̕l̵̼͂.̴̱̘̣̽̏̕͜

Lucifer screams. But instead of despair, he feels anger bubbling within him. What the hell is happening to him? He's been snapping more. Why did he snap at Michael? Why did he tell him that he can't wait for Heaven to be destroyed? He never wanted that. All he wanted was to give Eve free will. All he wanted was to love Lilith. All he wanted was for Charlie to be safe. All he wanted was for everything to STOP!

Roo: What's the matter, little devil? Never seen real evil before?

The cold is becoming unbearable now. The lake is frozen and all the greenery had been turned into crystals, consumed by the creeping frost that made them look like solid darkness.

Lucifer gritted his teeth, feeling the chill seeping into his bones, threatening to overwhelm him. He refused to give Roo the satisfaction of witnessing the King of Hell tremble; regardless if it's in fear or not.

Roo: Let me show you just how good of a person I can be. 

Then she's suddenly up on his face and brings a finger to his forehead.

Lucifer can feel Roo's corruption going further inside him and at the same time, a lot of somethings are coming out. It must be his remaining divinity because that's the only reason he can think of on why his Father's tether is screaming and clawing at him. 

He feels himself choke from everything happening all at once but he can't move. Roo has him locked in place and he never felt so helpless.

'Am I going to die here?'

No. Roo said that she won't be the one to deliver him to his demise. Nevertheless, he thinks that this is it.

Roo: Remember these words, fallen. A message from The Fates that you did not get to hear.

Charlie. He wants Charlie.

Roo: With the first soul's ascend, all began to unfold.

Tears begin to form in The King of Hell's eyes. Be it from the pain or fear, he doesn't know. 

Roo: It will end at a star's fall, as the threads have foretold.

Michael! Where is he?! He promised Samael he'll always protect him!

Roo: Trumpets will sing, as the sky recites a prayer.

'Father. Help me.'

Roo: An instrument of Heaven shall come down and be the devil's slayer.

He struggled to remain conscious; he fights to stay awake but he can't even move a finger but his efforts were in vain as he collapsed to the frozen ground, utterly drained. Through hazy vision, he can see Roo staring down at him with a gleeful smile.

Roo: See you soon, my fallen~

He wakes up to the smell of Marigolds.

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In Nifty's voice: How was that?!!

You have no idea how long I spent making that rhyme prophecy thingy.

As always, your kind words and actions are greatly appreciated!

My DM's are always open for theories and introspections <3