Late as usual, but maybe some people will be interested? :)
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This is the “official” copy-cat post of this year’s exchange. It’s heavily inspired by the original blog and doesn’t intend to take over or imitate it in any disrespectful way. Rather, it’s a homage to the wonderful exchanges of the past years.
WHAT
Originally it started as a Christmas card exchange in the Sherlock fandom some years ago. Lovely people sent seasonal greetings to other lovely people all over the world cheering up their often stressful and exhausting pre-Christmas period. As time has gone by, I know the Sherlock fandom has been put into a sort of coma and people found other fandoms. That’s why this isn’t an exclusive Sherlock event, but an overall-lovely-people-providing-Christmas-spirit-and-we’re-just-keeping-the-name-for-tradtional-reasons-exchange. You want to send and receive Christmas post? You’re in!
WHEN
Register until Monday, 5th December 2022.
Exchange begins at Wednesday, 7th December 2022.
HOW
Send me your name, postal address and any internet handle you want to add (tumblr, twitter, Instagram, etc.) to sherlock-xmas-exchange at outlook.com.
After I’ve received all your information I’ll create a PDF file and send it to all participants. Then you can immediately start writing, producing, creating Christmas mail to your heart’s content.
RULES
1. All information on the list you’ll receive is confidential and not to be sent or shown to anyone else.
2. Send at least one card to the person below you on the list.
3. Be friendly, cheery and nice to each other. :)
Disclaimer:
If you register, you agree to be willing to share some of your personal data (name, address, email and/or social media handles) with other people taking part in this Christmas cards exchange. All data will be treated confidential by me and not be made public. I am, however, not responsible, nor am I capable of checking what any third parties (other participants) do with the data.
I’m tagging everyone who was interested and/or has participated in last year’s exchange. If you want to be removed just drop me a line.
When I was in art school I used to make lots of these "doodle" (aka scratchy/messy without a plan) animations in my spare time and I somehow just sat down and started one last week!
It was super fun, just started drawing Masa with his hair untied and trying to figure out what he was looking at! I happened to have a very-post-canon-hc about Matsu and Yaichi bonding while Masa is away on a trip, and Masa being thrilled to find out when he comes back :3
[Video description: a scratchy animation of Matsu, Masa and Yaichi from House of Five Leaves. They are all shown from the chest up in three quarter's view, apparently sitting down.
Matsu is shown first, facing right. He is writing or drawing, but then stops to look to the left. After a moment he smiles, then returns to his work, still smiling.
Masa is shown second. His body is turned to the left, but he looks to the right, at Matsu, with a bit of a confused expression. He turns his head to the left, but holds Matsu with his gaze for a bit, before fully looking to the left.
Next, Yaichi is shown. He has a cup of hot tea in his hand but seems distracted by something in front of him. He seems to stare at Matsu, smiling, then glances to his left and meets Masa's gaze. Yaichi's eyes go a little unfocused and he smiles dreamily before he takes a sip of his tea.
Masa is shown again, still looking confused, but something seems to dawn on him. He blinks and smiles excitedly. /End video description]
tagged for my choice of oc by @pralinesims and @raiiny-bay <3
The Rules are simple! Tag people and name a character you want to know more about! If you want to let the person you tagged decide who to showcase, then don’t name a character and they can pick somebody. Easy! The person who is tagged will then bold the remarks below which apply to their character and, if they want to, include a picture with their reply!
[ PERSONAL ]
$ Financial: wealthy / moderate / poor / in poverty / other
✚ Medical: fit / moderate / sickly / disabled / disadvantaged / non applicable
✪ Class or Caste: upper / middle / working / unsure / other
✔ Education: qualified / unqualified / studying / other
✖ Criminal Record: yes, for major crimes / yes, for minor crimes / no (despite his attempts matthias has never successfully roped her into any of his mess lmao) / has committed crimes, but hasn’t been caught / yes, but charges were dismissed
[ FAMILY ]
◒ Children: had a child or children / has no children / wants children
◑ Relationship with Family: close with sibling (but it's complicated... imani has real love for her baby brother but she's also aware of the difference in how her parents treat the two of them and it's definitely impacted their relationship) / not close with sibling(s) / has no siblings / sibling(s) is deceased
◔ Affiliation: orphaned / adopted / disowned / raised by birth parents / not applicable / other
[ TRAITS + TENDENCIES ]
♦ extroverted / introverted / in between
♦ disorganized / organized / in between
♦ close minded / open-minded / in between
♦ calm / anxious / in between
♦ disagreeable / agreeable / in between
♦ cautious / reckless / in between
♦ patient / impatient / in between
♦ outspoken / reserved / in between (she's more outspoken when she's just with romeo or matthias, but when she's around her parents she gets quiet)
♦ leader / follower / in between
♦ empathetic / vicious bastard / in between
♦ optimistic / pessimistic / in between
♦ traditional / modern / in between
♦ hard-working / lazy / in between
♦ cultured / uncultured / in between / unknown
♦ loyal / disloyal / unknown
♦ faithful / unfaithful / unknown
[ BELIEFS ]
★ Faith: monotheist / polytheist / atheist / agnostic
☆ Belief in Ghosts or Spirits: yes / no / don’t know / don’t care
✮ Belief in an Afterlife: yes / no / don’t know / don’t care
✯ Belief in Reincarnation: yes / no / don’t know / don’t care
❃ Belief in Aliens: yes / no /don’t know / don’t care
✧ Religious: orthodox / liberal / in between / not religious
❀ Philosophical: yes / no
[ SEXUALITY & ROMANTIC INCLINATION ]
❤ Sexuality: heterosexual / homosexual / bisexual / asexual / pansexual
❥ Sex: sex repulsed / sex neutral / sex favorable / naïve and clueless / other
♥ Romance: romance repulsed / romance neutral / romance favorable / naïve and clueless / romance suspicious
❣ Sexually: adventurous / experienced / naïve / inexperienced (she's had sex before but her experiences have been few and far in between) / curious
⚧ Potential Sexual Partners: male / female / agender / other / none / all
⚧ Potential Romantic Partners: male / female / agender / other / none / all
[ ABILITIES ]
☠ Combat Skills: excellent / good / moderate (she's taken a self-defense class before and matthias has taught her a couple nasty tricks in case she ever needs them) / poor / none
≡ Literacy Skills: excellent / good / moderate / poor / none
✍ Artistic Skills: excellent / good (she sketches while she's waiting around; she's often drawing her own designs, fairies, flowers, snakes, pointy scribbles, or spirals) / moderate / poor / none
✂ Technical Skills: excellent / good / moderate / poor / none
[ HABITS ]
☕ Drinking Alcohol: never / special occasions / sometimes / frequently / alcoholic
☁ Smoking: tried it (disliked the taste and the smell) / trying to quit / quit / never / rarely / sometimes / frequently / chain-smoker
✿ Recreational Drugs: never / special occasions / sometimes / frequently / addict
✌ Medicinal Drugs: never / no longer needs medication (used to take meds for an old ballet related injury but she's good now) / some medication needed / frequently / to excess
☻ Unhealthy Food: never / special occasions / sometimes / frequently / binge eater
$ Splurge Spending: never / sometimes / frequently / shopaholic
♣ Gambling: never (she's too disciplined for that) / rarely / sometimes / frequently / compulsive gambler
tagging @cowboycid for val, @helltrait for chris, and @tau1tvec for isa! and let me just rapid fire some of you who i think might have fun with this tag game!! @birdietrait, @wildmelon, @diwns, @fangs-trait, @deehya, @bunmou, and @spurgees
Poll adventure (paventure? lol) Day 7: read the small story tidbit below the poll for more details, OR just vote based on initial impression
(✦ see past poll results + further information HERE (link) ✦)
The winning option of yesterday's poll was that the adventurer should go on a 5 day journey to find the Innkeeper's weird brother who studies animals, and show him the Suspicious Egg….
~
The next morning he wakes early, buzzing with renewed purpose, and also minor back pain from sleeping on old potato sacks.. After a meager breakfast of more free leftover scraps, the Innkeeper stops him before he leaves, giving him a few extra supplies for the long journey, as she can tell he doesn't have much. He packs up and sets out onto the road once again, crumpled sketchy map in hand...
He has a fairly uneventful journey for the first day - waving at the occasional other travelers as they pass, cleaning his boots in a nearby pond, stopping to eat some dumplings whilst watching the sunset, and finally setting up a small tent a short ways off the main path, resting with his cat by a dim campfire until they both fall asleep......
The second day, however, does not start as smoothly.. Only a few hours further down the road, he's met with a large barricade, guarded by a group of what seems like elven soldiers from one of the larger surrounding cities of the area. Practicing his confidence, he puts on his best "brave face" (which to others, appears more as some sort of pained wince, like he might have something in his eye), shakily striding right up to the authority figures he is definitely not afraid of.
"Halt, traveler! You cannot pass."
He sways slightly, struggling to keep his wobbly legs under control, "OH, y-yEAH, ssorry, I was-, hh, I was just walking, ~o-out for a stroooll~, haha, so I .. uh.. o-okay. That's.. okay. But, uh.. could, can.. euh.. C-can I ask why? like... why the, uh... blocking off.. of ... the um.. the-"
"Unfortunately, we are not at liberty to disclose any information on the nature of this current road closure. Our sole duty is to maintain security of the barrier."
"hhHeh, ye.. eAh, for sure, I-I get that.. Duty is.. really so... important in ... today's world.. gotta, um.. do the duties.. or, uh.. .. yeah, but.. so, uhhh... wh-Do you know.. maybe, uh... H-how long you'll, like... be here? guarding... and such...??"
"We'll be here as long as we need to be here."
"...O-okay.. but, like.. uh... any,,.... time estimate? hahahehhh?? like, uh.. a day, or... two, or um...??"
"This matter does not concern you, traveler. Move along."
"Aoh, yeahgh, I.. totally.. totally.. it, uh.. Well.. but it kind of does though,, right? B-because I do, in fact, actually have to go down that road at some p-point sssoo, um,... uh.. I-"
"I said move along."
The guard abruptly takes a step forward, causing The Adventurer to yelp as if he'd been hit, tripping over his own feet and scrambling off on hands and knees, lunging into bushes near the rocky roadside.. After exchanging a confused glance, the guards both shrug, resuming their stoic positions at the barrier.
The Adventurer watches from the uncomfortable safety of some berry brambles, surveying the area at a distance and desperately trying to work out how he can still get where he's trying to go. The map given to him by the Innkeeper is pretty straightforward, not showing alternate paths. Based on his primary map, he could maybe think of a few detours, but he's anxiously unfamiliar with the area... How should he proceed?
----
Additional Details -
(I decided whenever he gets new items or goals or something, I'll list them at the end just to keep track)
items + to inventory (from the Innkeeper): 2 lunchboxes of vegetable dumplings, 2 canteens of water, a box of tea, one rope, 1 pouch of dried meat, 4 candles, a hand-drawn map
main goal: get to the abandoned castle ruins to see the rare animal specialist about the egg
Honey, this might be very rude. But like what is your job. I want to save you from the that hell hole bro.
Please do not misunderstand nor feel pressured to answer.
I just hope it gets better.
❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️
i'm an office manager which means that i'm responsible for all the paperwork (all invoices go through me), calls and emails. and i act like an assistant to basically everyone in our office. including shit like booking flights and hotels and taking care of everyone's cars and insurances etc. buying office supplies, taking care of how our office looks, making tea & coffee for guests, booking rooms, making sure our management signs the papers on time etc. etc. etc.
doesn't sound that bad but the 'acting like an assistant' is tricky. because i get like 20 daily requests from people to take care of something asap. like, paying a fine, calling some place to ask about something, scheduling a meeting, making changes in booking, registering a car etc.
now it's extra stressful bc i'm organizing a christmas party for 120+ people and it's not easy when you need to book hotels for 30 people, book a restaurant, decide on a menu, confirm attendance etc. and your guests are dickheads who don't care if you have to change their reservation 4 times in 3 days.
Côme saw Felix enter his office and thought "Wow! I love his outfit!", to then go through the "He's really pretty" kind of thoughts. Felix did the whole hand kiss thing next and Côme instantly knew they would get along well. Also, they're a bit oblivious when it comes to flirtation, so it took them quite a while to realize Felix was flirting with them.
Felix saw Côme and the first thing that popped into his mind was "Omg! They're so small!" (Côme is 5'1"). Then Côme started being his sassy self and Felix quickly realized they were a little chaotic gremlin. His next thought was "omg, they're a little dumb" when he understood that Côme had no idea he was flirting with them.
4. Who initiates affection? Why does the other not initiate affection as much?
Both of them initiate affection and I don't think one does it more than the other. They're both very clingy and physical when it comes to expressing how they feel so they do it a lot, whether it's consciously or absent-mindedly. They'll hold hands when walking together, have a hand on the other's thigh when they're sitting together
But they're also really affectionate with their words. They never miss an occasion to compliment the other or offer encouragements. And pet names. They never run out of pet names.
5. Do they argue often? If so, what do they argue about?
They don't really argue often, they get in heated debates about random silly subjects, but it's almost never anything really serious.
But if they do really argue, it's often due to the fact that Côme shuts down when something happens. They'll stop communicating and Felix can sense that there's something wrong but Côme won't say anything. Until it all explodes.
6. How do they makeup/apologize after an argument?
None of them deals properly with being mad at each other, so making up is fairly easy for both of them.
Côme will offer gifts, sometimes handmade, like a little crochet plushie, or sometimes it's something they found that made them think of Felix. And with the gifts come the apology.
Felix, I envision, does it through touch. He sits next to Côme, testing the waters, trying to see if Côme is okay with his presence, then he dares a bit more and gets closer until he engulfs Côme in a hug.
7. How often do they say "I love you"?
They say both say it pretty often, but it's almost always at very random moments. It's like one of them does something stupid and the other has no other reaction than "I love you" coming out of their mouth. They just both know how they feel about the other and how the other feels about them, and they don't think there's any use to not say it out loud.
8. What do they love most about the other? Why?
For Côme, it's Felix "brightness". It's the way he makes a room light up when he enters it, or the way he instantly lifts everyone's mood. Felix is a ray of sunshine who makes them feel warm and at ease, and Côme can't help but fall for them a little bit more any time he smiles.
For Felix, it's the fact that Côme is really easy to read. Everything they feel, or think shows on their face. But Felix finds it particularly endearing because Côme persists in being all mysterious and hard to read, when they're the exact opposite.
9. What do they dislike most about the other? Why?
For Côme, it's Felix's messy side. They're not a neat freak, but they've spent years in labs where you've got to keep everything sterile and neat and everything has to be in its place. And they're having a hard time shaking off that habit. So, they definitely scrunched their nose a little at Felix's 'organized mess' the first few times. But they'll get used to it.
For Felix, it's Côme recklessness, especially when it comes to their body. Côme has been skateboarding since they were a teen, so they're used to getting hurt and taking bad falls. They broke a few bones over the years, so they don't really freak out anymore when they fall and bleed, unless the bleeding doesn't really stop. But Felix always freaks out when they come home and they're all bloodied because they took a bad fall, or when they laugh it out when getting hurt during missions, and he doesn't really understand why Côme isn't more concerned.
me gearing up to hate my Fucking life as i work to finish this damned texting bitch of a program due tomorrow, logging into the school website to get the lab info page... only to see the due date's been pushed back a week. probably bc many people, like me, are really... not close to done with it lol
i wouldve known this if id gone to class today probs lol, but i was too busy being gay. so uh. yay? this is a genuine relief lol i was feeling Particularly destructive about it all.