The gift giving season was upon you. You didn't procrastinate this year, or maybe you weren't even thinking of Christmas gifts when you found it... but the important part was you had found IT. There it was, in an unlikely place, but calling you like a beacon. It made you think of them, how could it NOT? You had to have it. They needed to have it.
It was the season for large inflatable Santas and other such displays of wealth. All that had always made Sadie bite her lip and shake her head a little. It seemed wasteful, and in the end, it wasn’t very good for the world, but she didn’t understand the people who got angry about it, either. The feelings behind the gaudy decorations were quite lovely. That was what Sadie had always thought in previous years.
Hope. Peace. Joy. Love. This time around, it was a little harder to be caught up in such a warm and kind Christmas spirit, but she was trying, creeping out from the cocoon of her bed more and more each week as her family stopped by with warm cookies and fairly traded cocoa. They were good at not staring. They always had been. She smiled at them when they came, and sometimes felt her chest go warm, just a little, but better than the numbness that had sat like ice in her lungs for months.
Eventually, she warmed just enough to go outside. She liked giving gifts. She didn’t want to stop that, and with enough people out, maybe it would distract from the tall girl with scars over half of her face, the girl with the false eye.
And so she found herself in a lonely corner of one of her favorite thrift shops, thumbing through the racks, with a bright cheery string of lights tacked overhead and the smell of used clothes all around her. She almost zoned out looking at sweater after sweater, flipping past a shirt with bright color blocks, and one with strikingly vintage looking florals that she considered briefly before moving on, before her eyes settled on a sleeve knitted from a deep and lovely blue.
She wondered, as she reached for it, if it was meant to be the sea, but no. This one had stars, whole galaxies full of them. Sadie sucked in her breath and ran her fingers over the fabric. It was beautiful, and soft as soft, the texture that only well worn wool could hope to have, and it was perfect. She tugged it free from the rack and flipped it around, and this time her breath caught in a different sort of way, a half laugh. In the middle of this space scene, someone had decided to put a Santa hat wearing cat. Well, at least it was seasonally appropriate, and it was cheap enough.
She knew it would be the perfect gift for someone who liked space, perhaps someone who had a brightly colored comet of his own. Ignacio. It was going to Ignacio. She checked out with a small smile, kept her head low as she walked through the crowds, and made it back to her apartment at last. She got out some old paper bags to wrap it in, and a bit of twine, and she painted stars on the wrapping, too, with her acrylics. That managed, she left the package on her kitchen floor, made herself up a mug of tea, and retreated back to the cozy embrace of her blankets. The logistics of shipping or meeting up was something she could figure out another day.
Seiana_ZI
The Space Mermaid
Posted: Sat Dec 08, 2018 6:28 am
Quote:
TO: Cordelia Carden (Skye Starrfyre) FROM: Bindhi Coryn (DaisyMilk)
It was hideous. You knew it was hideous. And you knew exactly who you would inflict it upon. And it was a GIFT, so they wouldn't even be able to say no. You were filled with Christmas glee, the same kind of glee you were filled with when people groaned at Christmas music. You wrapped it with care, or maybe you took it to a gift wrapping service and watched the confused expression of the service counter as they wraped up the garment. This... this was going to be great.
The Space Mermaid
One ticket, please~
Skye Starrfyre
Cackling uncontrollably, Bindhi raced through the mall. She knew she was getting funny looks from some mall patrons, whilst others were grabbing their children and dragging them close. The tall blonde didn’t care. She’d found the absolute perfect gift for Cordy. It was epic. She would never ever see or find anything this good ever again. The Christmas gods were giving her an eternal thumbs up, this gift was so good. In the background, she could hear the Muppets singing We Wish You A Merry Christmas and she broke into a fresh round of cackles.
Sneaking a peek into her shopping bag, Bindhi grinned and resumed her hunt for a gift wrapping station. She didn’t want one of the in-store ones. She wanted one of those little local ones set up by like the Girl or Boy Scouts. If she was gonna pay through the nose to have the most awesome of sweaters wrapped, she wanted her money to go somewhere good. Feeling full of holiday cheer, she continued her search, pausing once to buy herself a hot cider. Okay, and a second stop because she couldn’t resist how good the funnel cakes smelled.
When she finished her snack, she spied a family walking with freshly wrapped gifts and decided to head in the direction they’d come from. Finally, she found the gift wrap station, manned by a mixture of Scouts. Perfect.
Marching up, she pulled the sweater she’d purchased for Cordy out of the bag and carefully selected the most beautiful paper and bow combo she could find. The kids, bless ‘em, seemed to find the sweater just as funny as she did. The adults accompanying them… not so much. She caught more than a few confused and despairing looks being tossed her way. Doubtless she’d be inspiring multiple ‘Damn Millennials’ when these nice folks got home tonight. She did not care in the least. The Christmas Crow sweater was above such silly things. Christmas Crow with it’s giant googly eyes of justice was EVERYTHING.
While the kids worked on wrapping gifts that had come in before hers, Bindhi sat down nearby, filling out a pretty card to go with the gift. She’d never been the best at articulating her feelings, but she wanted Cordy to know just how much she’d valued their friendship. Hell, it had survived her purifying and becoming a stupid drunk. Of course, she wasn’t entirely sure that Cordy knew that she’d been the rando who’d given her career clothing advice that one day. No matter! They were awesome birb buddies now. And just in case she managed to thoroughly offend Cordy with the Christmas Crow, she’d come prepared with a gift card for Cordy’s favorite shop. Tucking it carefully into the holiday card she’d finished writing in, she slid both into the envelope.
Musings interrupted by one of the kids calling her over, she headed back to the table and admired the wrapping job. It looked completely professional and totally gorgeous.
“Ya done good, kidlets,” she pronounced gleefully. “This is just perfect and I love it. Now where’s the tip jar?”
Still grinning, with package in hand, Bindhi was pointed to a cutely decorated jar and without hesitation dug a couple of hundreds from her wallet and dropped them in. It was Christmas after all and the kids had done good. Besides, the Christmas Crow would hardly approve of her being a jerk.
eldritch stardust
Kawaii Prophet
Offline
Strickenized
Garbage Cat
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Posted: Sat Dec 08, 2018 9:58 pm
---
Quote:
It was a labor of love. It started off as just a normal sweater, or maybe if you were hard core, just a heap of yarn and fabric. But the point was, you turned it from something boring and every day, into something extraordinary. It was crafted with extreme attention to detail. In your eyes.... it was perfect. They would love it, you were sure of it. Whether or not that was apparently to those looking at it was a different matter.
Word Count: 1078
It was her mother's idea to pick up hobbies more becoming of a homebody — more suited to the life her mother wanted her to lead. More suited to the life her mother led, where she raised children and made social calls and dabbled in innocuous activities that provided no real benefit to her or her husband's fiscal security and weeded the yard and gossiped about other community members and whittled away her intellect on the television. Ayesha wanted no part of such a path. She cared very little what others thought of her, or how potential suitors saw her for how she might benefit their egos. If Adel wanted a thoughtless housewife, he knew how to break off an engagement.
But none of this advice foisted upon her was about suitors, or Adel, or practical skills for a home-bound life. Sewing, or in this instance, knitting claimed no such great stakes in how she was perceived by others. No, her mother recommended such hobbies because she was lonely, because she and her daughter shared so little in common, because she wanted her daughter to experience a piece of the life she lived.
So much of that unspoken truth was evident in the details of her mother's instruction. She bought no spare needles for Ayesha as she simply supplied the ones she used as a child half her daughter's age. She taught a stitch she learned at that young age — a simple one, fit for a beginner with no appreciable motor skills — and sat with the finished product from days of yore across her lap. This stitch, she insisted, was good for producing chunky weaves with good insulation. Perfect for this time of year, she would add. Perfect for gift-giving, perfect for staying warm in the winter, perfect for wrapping new babes born at year's end. While Ayesha was a summer child, she knew their firstborn was at year's cusp. She looked upon her mother astutely but raised no comment.
Silence reigned from Ayesha for a healthy few minutes as she mentally transitioned from her mother's story, her struggles, her lost connections, and Ayesha grounded herself in the task at hand. Yarn wove about needles in a clumsy fashion, much like Adel ice skating. It often slipped and slid and clumped up unhelpfully around the couple loops that started her off, and her first adjustments slipped those loops off the end of her needle entirely. Why would anyone make knitting needles out of steel? Why not wood or some other tacky material that stood a chance at anchoring her burgeoning project in place? What if, weeks down the line, she bumps her bag and one of the needles slips a loop? What would that do to her project?
But her mother would explain it. She would see the crease of scrutiny in her daughter's brow and read the thoughts from her grip like pages of text written in her native tongue. She had an answer for everything — for her daughter's worries, for her poor form, for all the technique secrets Ayesha wished she had to make this learning curve shape itself into a hill instead of a cliff. Then, with a hearty pat on Ayesha's wrist, her mother would depart for making lunch while Ayesha puzzled out her project.
That was months ago. She watched her project evolve in her own hands since that moment: first she had an earnest start on a scarf, then she abandoned that for earmuffs that she quickly botched, and then she found an online pattern for knitting a sweater proper. And with Christmas looming in all the ways of retail, yarn skeins went on sale to an exorbitant discount for reds, greens, whites, golds, silvers in one of the more eclectic local shops. She thought, then, that a Christmas sweater was a choice of convenience — both fiscally appropriate and convenient for the common religions in America.
First she started with simple red and green. She wanted a plain pattern — maybe five rows of red followed by five rows or green — and in the planning stages, that pattern quickly complicated. Even rows became odd rows, then the number of stitches within those rows grew their own complicated patterns, then they were offset, then they became zig-zags, then they worked in a third color with white acting as snowflake patterns superimposed within the base, then the soft gold yarn with attached plastic stars found its way into a crudely-shaped Christmas tree ornament, then an entire tree was added in beneath that, then ornaments of purple and blue and frosted silver spawned in that tree, then the cuffs needed their own gold lining, then she realized she could factor corded Christmas lights into the sweater like it was its own wearable festival.
That was her project. For a solid month. She spent a minimum of an hour each day on that design, often more with the addition of transit time or canceled meetings or mindless hand activities while she critically reviewed documentary footage (and afterward learned that she should be paying as much attention to her overcomplicated sweater design as to her studies). On some weekends, she marathoned Netflix originals while her hands worried away at her pet project. Her fingers grew sore, her wrists stiff. But as she progressed, her stitching grew more uniform and her patterns more successful. Less and less remained of her skeins until finally, nearing mid-December, her long-term efforts finally produced a finished piece.
And it was a disaster. An impeccably seizure-inducing orgy of Christmas cheer shaped into a vague suggestion of the human torso with cartoonishly oversized shoulders and bicep tubes the size of Pringles cans. The torso bore an intimation of an hourglass figure, completely unintentional by her own accounts, that flared out near the end as if expecting its wearer to have righteous muffin tops. The patterns themselves were lumpy, rife with mistakes, and partially unrecognizable unless compared with the design.
But she knitted something and finished it with such a fierce degree of discipline that she could not deny her inward satisfaction for another project completed. All that remained was choosing a party that would accept it with enough social grace to throw it in the trash when she wasn't looking. Did she know that kind of magnanimous person? Or was she better of donating this horrendous waste of yarn to a homeless shelter? Choices.
xxxThe Space Mermaid
thank you for the opportunity! sorry i kept screwing it up
Posted: Sun Dec 09, 2018 5:24 am
To: Itsuki Zachary Calloway (Lucifer Force) From: Paul Jones (Ghouliboo)
Quote:
The gift giving season was upon you. You didn't procrastinate this year, or maybe you weren't even thinking of Christmas gifts when you found it... but the important part was you had found IT. There it was, in an unlikely place, but calling you like a beacon. It made you think of them, how could it NOT? You had to have it. They needed to have it.
Paul Jones never considered himself much of a shopper.
Granted, there were never too many people in his life that he really needed to shop for. With his family, money never allowed for much around the holiday season, so he’d quickly learned not to expect things as he never typically received things. They were lucky to even get a Christmas tree on most years, storage space being so hard to come by in the tiny apartment and a tree requiring so much of it. Ones in stores were envied and spied on, their lights and endless decor fascinating a young boy who could only smudge the glass pane with grubby fingers and a runny nose.
As he’d grown older, occasionally he would have a girlfriend that would require him to purchase something for her when the Christmas season came by. For the most part, he did his best to remain single around that time of year because it was too much of a chore to even remember trivial things like that, lest he be forced to endure another tiresome lecture about feelings and how he was a terrible boyfriend for hurting them.
Gifts were a luxury and it was hard enough to earn enough money to cover the costs of his football expenses on top of being expected to buy flowers, necklaces or whatever the ******** else teenage girls expected out of teenage boys. It wasn’t like they were ********’ married or anything -- why standards were so high for sixteen, seventeen year olds was beyond him.
Every once in a while, though, if he managed to keep a girl around long enough to feel the obligatory responsibility to make sure she wasn’t a sobbing mess of dramatic tears around December twenty-fifth, he’d usually manage to find some cheap stuffed animal or clearance bauble that made for a half decent attempt. He was a guy, he had other focuses to worry about than keeping a temporary girl happy by means other than himself, right.
Now that he was older, the need for presents was fewer than ever. With his mother having passed, there was only one soul that he’d ever concerned himself with when it came to gift giving and for the first time in his life, he’d actually had the desire to find appropriate gifts, as opposed to feeling obligated or forgetting completely. Someone that meant the world to him deserved only the best in the world, which meant… a hell of a lot of shopping around to try to find his kiddo the gift that might actually tug that seemingly permanent scowl into a smile, even for just a moment or two.
With their move to Destiny City, not much had changed on the front when it came to gift giving except for the location of shops for him to peruse through. The internet was also a lifesaver - when he remembered how to navigate around the laptop properly. For the most part, though, he’d subjected himself to the crowds and cold to look for items in person to tuck under the tree after wrapping them in lumpy, half-a** attempts. The mall was a good of a place as ever to start his search but it wasn’t turning out to be very fruitful… at least, until he passed by one of those stupid little entertainment stores that had all of those weird cartoons featured all over with posters and toys and displays. He didn’t understand why adults were so into big-breasted women with giant eyes in cartoon form - if they wanted s**t to jack off to, they could just download porn like a normal person. He never bothered going into the store, despite the array of DVDs they sold or other normal products, but a colorful sweater on the mannequin caught his attention for a moment and immediately made him think of a certain, furry someone.
Huh.
Paul knew he was getting soft, if he was thinking about getting something for someone besides his kiddo. But the large eyes and the random words that made ******** no sense seemed right up a certain Mauvian’s alley and the cat had been there for Paul and Noah throughout the year with his perky, good intentioned self.
Lips pressed together as he stood there and debated on it, staring down the wide, animated eyes on the sweater’s lower half. Finally, he shook his head before stepping inside, making a beeline for the clothing section as he searched for the smallest possible size available.
Even goddamn cats deserved a present once in a while, he guessed.
Lucifer Force
sorry Itsuki, I know this is for alt civs and you’re a cat but PAUL TRIED OKAY
The Space Mermaid
One ticket, please and thank you!
Ghouliboo
Garbage Spook
Offline
Ghouliboo
Garbage Spook
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Posted: Sun Dec 09, 2018 5:25 am
To: Mordred Pendragon Kavinsky (iStoleYurVamps) From: Robert Banks (Ghouliboo)
Quote:
The gift giving season was upon you. You didn't procrastinate this year, or maybe you weren't even thinking of Christmas gifts when you found it... but the important part was you had found IT. There it was, in an unlikely place, but calling you like a beacon. It made you think of them, how could it NOT? You had to have it. They needed to have it.
Robert Banks never really saw himself as someone who struggled when it came to shopping and all things in season. For years, he’d always managed to have designer suits with the appropriately tailored accessories. Name brand watches adorned his wrist, ridiculously expensive ties fastened around his neck and hair trimmed by only the most trusted of hair stylists who knew what they were doing.
As the years passed and his living situation changed with the move to a new city and the start-up for his business, Banks never considered that he was getting out of date in any way. His suits may have had to be taken in with the recent loss of weight, the watches now clung a little more loosely around his wrist and his hair might have been a couple inches longer than what he’d normally pass for acceptable. Still, his office was as what the children would say was on point. Everything was placed perfect, nothing extra or excessive. While he still lacked anything sentimental on his desk (save for the portrait of Bob -- it was always a conversation rescue with the elderly female clients, to talk about his oversized feline roommate), he had his papers, stapler, stamps and hole punch all in perfectly aligned order from size to to size. He knew how to decorate, he knew how to look professional.
Yet, when it came time to shopping for non-clients (as in, giving individuals who were worth more than receiving an obligatory basket of generic chocolates and wine), he was… well, rusty. It was so much easier to sign a few dozen premade holiday cards with a flourish of his pen and be done with it. There were businesses and secretaries who could arrange the shipments of the gratuity baskets. When it came to friends and companions, though, he was left flying solo.
And Rob wasn’t sure if he liked that.
Shopping online was always a great thing - no need to gift wrap anything himself, no need to have to go rifling through shelves and racks in search of the perfect item. A couple clicks, a bit of information typed in and he was done, all without having to leave the comfort of his desk or home.
Socked feet gently rubbed against the side of his couch as he lay sprawled out on it, his laptop resting in his lap as he stared down at the screen. For a man who was almost overly confident about his abilities and his sense of style, he was at a loss when it came to even figuring out what to google for when it came to his closest non-work companions, namely Pietro Kavinsky and his sassy little ward, Mordred.
Kavinsky himself was an enigma wrapped in Russian muscle. His present would require more thought and deliberation, no doubt with the assistance of the smaller Kavinsky’s advice. She hadn’t led him astray thus far, though some of her comments were more appropriate for out of his earshot, rather than directly addressed to him.
Ah-hem.
Fingers clicked around on the internet browser and he moved from site to site.
She was far too old, it felt, for stuffed animals and toys aimed towards the pre-teen female age. But what did girls Mory’s age actually want? She didn’t seem to be the type to be into boy bands - makeup and nail polish didn’t seem up her alley either as she tended to follow in her grumpy keeper’s shadow.
Which left Rob with… well, next to nothing, really.
A few clicks more and he was on a clothing site. Girls liked clothes, right? But imagining Mory in a dress was almost a brain breaker… no, she didn’t seem the type to get dolled up. Hell, she’d worn suits and knight costumes instead of the typical female role attire.
Pursing his lips, he paused when hazel eyes fell upon a series of ugly, horrific looking sweaters.
Hmmm.
It amused him, which was probably why he began browsing through the collection of them. There was one that looked fairly amusing --- even if he didn’t completely understand what AF meant - must be some hip new lingo that he hadn’t caught on with yet. Still, it was something he could see her find amusement in, potentially, so a few clicks later (including the Gift Wrapping option because to heck with doing it himself), it was put in his cart and sent to the shipment center, a brand new sweater on its way with Mordred Pendragon’s name on it.
iStoleYurVamps
The Space Mermaid
One ticket, please and thank you!
Posted: Sun Dec 09, 2018 5:27 am
To: Steele Moore (kuropeco) From: Robert Banks (Ghouliboo)
Quote:
It was hideous. You knew it was hideous. And you knew exactly who you would inflict it upon. And it was a GIFT, so they wouldn't even be able to say no. You were filled with Christmas glee, the same kind of glee you were filled with when people groaned at Christmas music. You wrapped it with care, or maybe you took it to a gift wrapping service and watched the confused expression of the service counter as they wrapped up the garment. This... this was going to be great.
Fingers strummed along the wooden surface of his sleek, shiny wooden desk. It had been polished the evening before by the sweet old cleaning lady, much like it had been polished all of the nights before it. She always knew how to make it shine, almost made him feel guilty for idly pressing his hands against it - but not quite enough to actually make him stop smudging the polish with the tips of his fingers as his other hand continued to click its way around the mouse,
The office’s annual Christmas Party was just around the corner, as was the holiday itself. While that didn’t exactly mean much as far as work and clientele went (aside from closing the office early on the twenty-fourth and completely on the twenty-fifth), it provided a nice excuse for him to take yet another playful pot shot at his esteemed, pompous partner in their law practice.
It was all in fun, of course, as Robert wouldn’t have bothered going into a business with the man if he didn’t at least trust him enough not to run away with the firm’s money. Moore had managed to keep the office afoot when he’d been…otherwise indisposed for a few months at the start of the year and although he’d never come outright and say it to the younger man, he was grateful for it. The dark haired lawyer had been in shambles and his body was still slowly recovering from the abusive state he’d put it in. Weight was slowly coming back and he looked less like a sick patient in a suit and more like his normal, smarmy self.
BUT, with returning to work meant returning to their playful pranks and side-pokes. No doubt the blonde (bleached, he was fairly more than certain) was busy tinkering with whatever new video game system he’d invested in over the past few months at his desk while Banks focused on the internet at his. He still had a good thirty minutes before his next appointment was due to arrive in, so it provided ample time for him to peruse the wonderful, wonderful internet sites dedicated to monstrosities that could be purchased and gift wrapped as actual gifts to present to fellow mankind.
It wasn’t hard to find humorous sites, the issue was finding the perfect horrible looking thing. He saw a few things that were lawyer themed but while tempting, those in his vocation already had enough issue with stereotypes without needing additional self-abuse from someone already in that field. No, he needed something generic. Something festive. Something that would leave Eugene wincing and unable to back out - like losing a bet.
It came in the form of a bright green sweater, the accessories just as gaudy as the fabric’s color. He wasn’t sure how exactly the company was able to attach tinsel and ornaments to the oversized thing but somehow, somehow they had managed to and it made the user look like some unfortunate human Christmas tree.
It was perfect. So perfect, in fact, that he’d nearly spit out his coffee at first noticing it. Worth every penny of the thirty dollars they were charging - especially if he could somehow con the younger man into wearing it for the office Christmas Party. God, he hoped it jingled, on top of being the sparkly, lit up tacky piece of crap that it clearly was.
A few clicks more and expedited shipping was chosen, the parcel due to arrive in the next day or two.
Leaning back in his office chair, the lawyer simply smiled to himself as he drew his mug up for another long sip, unable to wipe the smug grin from off of his face.
kuropeco
:']
The Space Mermaid
One ticket, please and thank you!
Ghouliboo
Garbage Spook
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Ghouliboo
Garbage Spook
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Posted: Sun Dec 09, 2018 5:29 am
To: Jimmy Dallas (Pixie Nyxie) From: Julianne Payne (Ghouliboo)
Quote:
It was hideous. You knew it was hideous. And you knew exactly who you would inflict it upon. And it was a GIFT, so they wouldn't even be able to say no. You were filled with Christmas glee, the same kind of glee you were filled with when people groaned at Christmas music. You wrapped it with care, or maybe you took it to a gift wrapping service and watched the confused expression of the service counter as they wrapped up the garment. This... this was going to be great.
Gift giving season had used to be fun -- and then it became a chore.
Years ago when she was still in nursing school, scraping by was hard enough that she had to resort to coming up with clever inexpensive presents for all of her coworkers, family members and fellow students. Being a poor student herself, it was a challenge she readily accepted because the Christmas season was liberating. There was cheerfulness and mirth everywhere, parties every weekend and secret santa exchanges in several of her circles. Classes were over and she could focus on last minute shopping (or in most cases, clever handcrafting) instead of exams and clinicals.
When she married Jack, things slowly began to change. Friends grew up, they were no longer college girls and boys but employed adults. Parties were still around - just fewer in number and earlier in the evening. Now and again she’d go out with friends and destroy a bottle of wine or a pitcher of margaritas but becoming a resident’s wife meant her reputation now had an effect on his so her fun loving days found censorship and fun with friends soon turned into obligatory appearances at various galas and gatherings that he’d been invited to. Surrounded by strangers, she painted on a smile and greeted them with false friendliness, attached to the arm of the doctor who’d brought her there. Budgets for presents went to important figureheads in the hospital in an attempt to make good impressions, friends left by the wayside until they faded out of her life entirely. Bitterness became the final emotion for the holiday season when he decided to replace her, spending the last Christmas she and Jack had as a married couple in the arms of another woman, the divorce finalizing only a month or two later.
He’d stolen the holiday spirit from her, much like he’d stolen her enjoyment of her hospital, of her favorite restaurants, of her place in the town. Moving to Destiny City had been a smart move in the end and with the change of location came the change of mood when winter swept into the city. Black hair had grown out, blonde roots returning to their rightful place as decorations made their way onto her front porch for the third time year of her time in DC.
Along with the changes came a change of friends. Friends she could never replace, that she swore to take priority in, that she wouldn’t neglect and lose like she had so many before in her past. Aurora received ample small gifts from the blonde, Jules’ heart going out to the young woman and her lonely father. Knot had a couple things set aside under the older woman’s decorated tree and even the incorrigible cowboy that continued to mosey his way back around to her front steps had a gift or two in his name.
Even naughty people sometimes deserved nice presents, after all.
Though Jules couldn’t help but smile a little wickedly at the thought of what one particular present happened to be. It was a horrid looking sweater that she’d stumbled across during one of her various shopping outings and she’d thought of him immediately. It was fitting - even if she didn’t really see Dallas as a sweater sort of guy.
He’d wear it, she was sure of it.
Mostly because she’d hold out until he did.
Pixie Nyxie
rofl this got a lot sadder/reflective than I meant for it to, soRRY
The Space Mermaid
One ticket, please and thank you!
Posted: Sun Dec 09, 2018 5:31 am
To: Knot Halyard (Lucyal) From: Julianne Payne (Ghouliboo)
Quote:
The gift giving season was upon you. You didn't procrastinate this year, or maybe you weren't even thinking of Christmas gifts when you found it... but the important part was you had found IT. There it was, in an unlikely place, but calling you like a beacon. It made you think of them, how could it NOT? You had to have it. They needed to have it.
Slender fingers carefully folded the oversized sweater into the gift box, the cardboard container even more festive than the article of clothing she was currently tucking away. It was a risk she was taking, design wise, but it was cute and festive and hopefully would at least produce at least a smile, if not anything else.
Julianne Payne wasn’t much for clothes shopping when it came to buying things for other people but it seemed she was changing a lot of her ways, over the past year or so. Not only was she shopping for a handful of people instead of simply one or two but she was actually putting effort into all of them, as opposed to feelings of obligation. It was a good feeling, a warm feeling, especially for someone who was slowly getting used to spending the holiday season all alone in her quaint little home.
A small little mrow caught her attention and blue eyes glanced down at the kitten -- or cat now, as it had grown up fairly fast - before she offered it a smile. Satisfied for the time being with being acknowledged, the puss decidedly rubbed its way around her ankles and slowly sauntered its way towards the fluffy bed in the corner, no doubt to continue supervising Jules as she worked to wrap more and more of the presents she’d stacked out onto the kitchen table.
The haughty little thing actually reminded her of the young woman who’d be on the receiving end of her current present, an amusing (but cute, in Jules’ opinion) sweater to bring in the winter festivities in. Knot was her own woman, independent in every sense of the word. She didn’t let society censor her - she spoke her mind, she enjoyed her life and she wasn’t about to let anyone stop her. Popping in for visits whenever she felt like it, leaving just as likewise.
She was a special one, that girl, but Jules couldn’t help but worry that her business with a certain cowboy would end up getting her hurt or shot, much like the first interaction that the nurse had shared with the cowboy himself. He played a dangerous game, doing whatever it was that he actually did. Jules didn’t believe for one moment that he simply ran a farm - sure, she’d seen it with her own eyes (and worked on it until her fingers blistered) but the money he was spending for the appliances and sheer size of his home meant there was money coming in from other directions. Probably dangerous directions. If Knot wasn’t more careful, then…
Well, she didn’t want to think about that.
The serious expression forced its way upwards, a smile curling back onto her lips as a new Christmas carol began to play on the nearby radio. Putting the last fluff of the bow before setting aside the present for the next one, she simply decided she would concentrate on the here and now -- and maybe on the gingerbread cookies she was hoping to make in the next week or so.
Maybe she’d call a friend up, see if she wanted to assist with the job...
Lucyal
The Space Mermaid
One ticket, please and thank you!
Ghouliboo
Garbage Spook
Offline
Ghouliboo
Garbage Spook
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Posted: Sun Dec 09, 2018 5:32 am
To: Ellenore Blackwall (Skye Starrfyre) From: Beatrice Kellye (Ghouliboo)
Quote:
It was a labor of love. It started off as just a normal sweater, or maybe if you were hard core, just a heap of yarn and fabric. But the point was, you turned it from something boring and every day, into something extraordinary. It was crafted with extreme attention to detail. In your eyes.... it was perfect. They would love it, you were sure of it. Whether or not that was apparently to those looking at it was a different matter.
When the holiday season arrived, Beatrice was normally flinging herself into toy stores around the city, looking for the clearance sections for cheap, unloved toys that she could transform into monstrosities that she could practically pelt her friends and loved ones with. Bears that lacked eyes, dolls with smushed in faces or broken limbs, maybe hair plugs yanked out by vicious little toddlers before their mothers could put a stop to them. Whatever their ailment was, she always managed to find a good deal on pricing and could invent a way to creatively “alter” the handicap into a new, horrific element.
This year, she decided she was going to do something a little different than her normal stuffed animal surgery. She had a handful of abused bears as a back-up plan but her mother, in an attempt to normalize her otherwise odd child, had insisted on teaching Bea the fine art of knitting.
It had been a noble effort on Ms. Kellye’s part, honestly, but with an added talent to her arsenal, Bea instead decided that knitting could provide the most incredible accessories with a twist. Gothic themed scarves and hats, things with holes where they shouldn’t be, knitted caps that had eye patches or beards or ridiculously looking fanged teeth. Sure, knitting took a lot more time than her normal hand stitching and sewing but the outcome seemed more… adult-like, maybe? That she’d grown out of childhood things like teddies and dollies and had moved on to making actual clothing.
Maybe it would help expand her Etsy store and generate more customers?
Christmas was the perfect excuse to try her hand out on making handmade gifts for friends to gauge their reactions. While she knew they were gonna be nice - it was the obligatory reaction when dealing with best friends - she also knew that they would be honest with her. Maybe a little bit biased on her part but at the very least they’d be frank with her about the potential she had (or lack thereof).
Yarn was unfortunately more expensive than decapitated dolls so Bea had to rummage through clearance bins for various unwanted colors to work with, as well as rifle through her mother’s personal stash. Sure, you had to spend money to make money but her friends were worth it when it came to spending her last forty dollars in savings, especially if it produced pretty little accessories and hats and sweaters and everything to wear throughout the season.
Seance’s had been an easy color choice. Bea hadn’t been confident enough to mix colors in the pattern that either Ellanore or Marnie liked (pastel goths and their gosh darn beautiful color schemes) so Bea stuck with her favorite color combination: black and white.
Sure, it wasn’t the most festive of holiday colors but it didn’t mean she couldn’t make the pattern festive, right?
She wasn’t exactly sure where she was going with it but as the knitting progressed, she developed some sort of semblance of pattern across the front of it. Trying to knit words was hella trickier than she imagined it could be and although some of them tended to droop down, it was still legible so she counted it as a “win” in her book.
Skulls were also hard, so only one of those got put on. The crossbones ended up dipping down towards the bottom hem of the sweater, almost melding in completely. Tombstones were lumpy, the patterns were uneven and there were a few extra strings dangling here and there.
Yet, when she pulled back her finished work, Beatrice Kellye couldn’t have been any prouder.
Tucking the sweater into the black gift bag she’d found at the dollar store, she proceeded to apply a dozen or so little spooky stickers from her sticker collection before declaring this gift complete, setting it aside with the others she’d worked tirelessly over.
Even if Sea didn’t wear it out in public, it’d probably make for a good lounging top… right?
Skye Starrfyre
The Space Mermaid
One ticket, please and thank you!
Posted: Sun Dec 09, 2018 6:15 am
To: Zachary Bantock (endejester) From: ??? [the return label has long since faded away] (Ghouliboo)
Quote:
The gift giving season was upon you. You didn't procrastinate this year, or maybe you weren't even thinking of Christmas gifts when you found it... but the important part was you had found IT. There it was, in an unlikely place, but calling you like a beacon. It made you think of them, how could it NOT? You had to have it. They needed to have it.
Twenty-five forty-two Hampshire Street had once been a post office, a quaint one located in the vicinity of an impoverished part of Destiny City. Neighboring a block or two from Hillworth, the school reputed to be home to troublesome boys, it also shared the neighborhood with the lower income families who struggled to make ends meet when it came to surviving in the cruel, unexpected world that Destiny City provided.
It had once been run by an elderly man, Steven Inglewood, who came in like clockwork every morning (save for Sunday, reserved for both the Lord and for rest) on the dot to unlock the doors and sit behind the counter with his wife, Margery Inglewood, who was known for smelling like butterscotch and having an infectious laugh that could bring a smile on anyone's face that came in, no matter how rushed or hurried they were to simply drop off a package and get on with their busy day.
Steven and Margery worked at twenty-five forty-two Hampshire Street for thirty-some odd years and were a fixture in the neighborhood, watching it grow both in number and in crime rate. Twice they were held up at gunpoint by troubled young men who thought the Inglewoods would be an easy target, making out with barely a few hundred dollars and a misplaced sheet of stamps that Margery had slipped in by accident in her terrified state.
The neighborhood had rallied together to not only locate the problem youth and turn them in but also held a fundraiser to replace the broken window the thieves had cracked on their way out the door on top of the ER bill Steven was subjected to when hit for initially refusing to listen to the petty criminals.
Every Christmas brought with it an exchange of gifts for the elderly couple. They had cookies at the ready in small little inexpensive tupperware dishes for the regular visitors, the various members of the community that stopped by to check their PO boxes and drop off packages. They received a lion's share of presents from thankful faces, be it gift cards to local eateries, cookies and candies or little angel figurines to go with Margery's notable collection (that now and again found their way onto the counter top, poses swapping out every other week).
When Steven had fallen ill, it had been a struggle for Margery to keep the post office running by her lonesome. As the cancer had slowly claimed her husband, she was forced to retire as her own eyesight was going and more than once, poor Margery had forgotten to lock up for the night, resulting in whispered questions of whether or not the widow Inglewood was slowly getting touched by dementia, as names were also growing harder to remember and dates were easily confused for others.
Friends had eventually convinced her to turn in her keys to the office, the government officials in charge of Destiny City's postal offices soon deciding that the branch was far too outdated and poorly located to continue anyways - closing the doors for forever with a notice stating it would soon be renovated, dated December 2010.
Eight years later and the building was finally - finally - finding its doors pried open, darkness devoured by the bright, sunny beams as wooden planks that had once boarded up the windows and doors were stripped away, revealing the dust and cobwebs that lurked within.
Amazingly enough, no homeless had managed to find their way in to the tightly sealed little former post office, leaving the building a standing memory. A small angel sat at the very corner of the counter top, left behind by a forgetful Margery Inglewood, who had long since passed from the world to join her husband in the afterlife. Little pieces of history had been left behind, soon collected and tossed away to make way for the fast food restaurant that would soon be taking its place.
As one of the lower cabinets was cleaned out, an array of parcels had been discovered, stashed away by an addled Margery in one of her last days at work. Why she'd placed them in the cabinet was a mystery, presumably an error made in a confused state by the ill woman. Whatever the case, a handful of the packages' addresses had been far too faded to read but one or two were still legible, thankfully, and were soon deposited back into the mail system and soon finding their way to their long-awaited homes, eight years later.
One of which, it seemed, was addressed to a Zachary Bantock, housed in Hillworth no less. It was clear that young Zachary would have graduated eight years later than the posted date, but in an effort to make up for their grievous error, the local post office searched to locate Mr. Bantock's current address and re-route the package to the last known location, adding a typed up apology note with a brief explanation for the delay in delivery.
Inside sat a fuzzy blue sweater, the face of a friendly looking panda in a Santa Claus hat and a cheerful (but painfully punny) greeting woven beneath a series of snowflakes. A greeting card was nestled in the depths of the material, cursive lettering that had been carefully drawn out, wishing Zac the merriest of Christmases.
endejester
The Space Mermaid
One ticket, please and thank you!
Ghouliboo
Garbage Spook
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Ghouliboo
Garbage Spook
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Posted: Sun Dec 09, 2018 7:51 am
To: Giulia Montgomery (Infinities) From: Seal's Eye (Ghouliboo)
Quote:
The gift giving season was upon you. You didn't procrastinate this year, or maybe you weren't even thinking of Christmas gifts when you found it... but the important part was you had found IT. There it was, in an unlikely place, but calling you like a beacon. It made you think of them, how could it NOT? You had to have it. They needed to have it.
Akio Yoshida had a knack for finding gifts.
Ever since he was a young child, he always seemed to know what his parents or sister would enjoy. It wasn't always what they asked for but it delighted them all the same. He never asked for lists, he never asked for specifics, he just went out, hunted around and returned home victorious with his prizes.
Shopping for Aurora was a little more tricky, mostly because her reaction was very important to him, so the young man didn't want to take the task too lightly and result in disappointing his favorite person. So that meant wandering around shop after shop, refusing to settle on any one item until he knew what the other stores held within them, on the off chance they possessed something even better.
Back and forth, store after store, he continued to peruse each department in his quest to find The Perfect One. There were a lot of Almost Perfect Ones scattered here and there and he took note of where they were found in case he needed to back track but nothing jumped out at him to be the exact item he would go with, much as all the other presents had done for the rest of his family members.
While browsing the sweater section (as he'd lost several of his own to his tiny girlfriend, who looked far too adorable in them for him to ask for their return) he paused when a whitish blob caught the corner of his eye. The shape was unmistakable, little flippers jutting out from the oversized, exaggerated shaped head.
Black needy eyes beckoned him over and for a moment, he could feel his heart stop.
As he drew closer, the sheer amount of sequins and sparkles covering the fabric assured him that this was definitely not the gift for Aurora but it did immediately make him think of someone else. It was starting to give him cavities by just staring at how utterly pink and adorable the baby seal was -- but this certain someone on his mind would surely adore it to pieces.
Someone young and blonde. Someone who squealed every time she saw him, clinging on to her magical companion as if he were a lifeline. Someone who could babble for hours about her favorite seal and how much she loved her magical prince.
He debated for a moment before grabbing it off the rack, praying it was even close to her size. Akio was horrible enough when it came to figuring out women’s sizes as it was, much less trying to decide what size a young pre-teen would be. He decided to go with one that was potentially too big for her -- but she could always grow into it, right? Folding it over his arm, he continued on his trek for finding the perfect gift for his girlfriend, his additional present kept close by for safekeeping until it was time to find the register.
It was high time he went back to pay his young dreamer a visit, so perhaps it would bring added delight if he did so with a treasure in tow for the little princess.
Infinities
<3
The Space Mermaid
One ticket, please and thank you!
Posted: Sun Dec 09, 2018 3:52 pm
To: Rose Jacobs (Kaori_luv) From: Patrick O'Ryan (Fiction1119)
Quote:
It was hideous. You knew it was hideous. And you knew exactly who you would inflict it upon. And it was a GIFT, so they wouldn't even be able to say no. You were filled with Christmas glee, the same kind of glee you were filled with when people groaned at Christmas music. You wrapped it with care, or maybe you took it to a gift wrapping service and watched the confused expression of the service counter as they wrapped up the garment. This... this was going to be great.
((Its crappy I know >...< I'll try to redo in paint before contest ends just not sure I will get a chance)) https://postimg.cc/LYPK9ZLn
He had found a sweater for Fiona earlier, a dragonfly sweater that was a cute and currently wrapped in a box in the plastic shopping bag from the store. Now he just needed to find sweaters for the rest of the people on his Christmas list. Pat had found a doctor snarky sweater online, the site said it would take a few more days to get to him, but that still left Lilly and Rose. For his cousins he definitely wanted to get some ugly sweaters for them. Something that would make them vow vengeance… or present him with his own ugly sweater. He didn’t even have to find the perfect sweater since he had enough material at home to make a typical sweater truly ugly.
The incessant music was almost non-existent now that he was so use to it. Caroling and jingles were both just noise in the crowded mall, even the garish decorations were almost normal to his eyes. The bright colors, the glitter, and the sparkles were everywhere. Along with the nauseating long lines in the stores, the pushy people in the center booths, and kids everywhere. So many kids. Kids screaming, kids running around, kids playing and in general being nuisances. It wasn’t that Pat disliked kids he just didn’t like nearly tripping over one of the snot nosed children every three feet. It also didn’t help that while he was in one store a kid jumped out from the middle of a rack of clothes and scared the bejesus out of him. If he hadn’t been lucky and caught himself, he might have actually hit the kid, instead he just laughed weakly and moved away. Hitting a kid wasn’t a good idea, it tended to end badly for the adult that's for sure.
He ditched that particular store and was currently poking around one of the more adult clothing stores, no children clothes in site. It was in that store that he found the perfect sweater for Rose. It was just the right size but it was the giant cat face on it that originally drew his attention, a tabby wearing a santa hat was front and center on the cheery red sweater. White bubble letters wished everyone to have a ‘Meowy Christmas’. That alone wasn’t enough to make it a ‘ugly sweater’... silly and rather immature yes but not exactly ‘ugly’. It was the white fluffy cuffs and red, white, and green stripes along the bottom that had Pat consider the sweater perfect for a gag gift for his cousin. What added the icing to the cake as it were, was the Christmasy colored paw prints that crawled up the back of the sweater. Over all the garment was garish and bright and overall obnoxious. It was perfect, and he was totally going to get smacked for it.
By the time he reached the counter to pay the tall redhead was humming along to the jingle that was playing. He hummed along with Jingle Bell Rock as the last person in front of him, stopping only when he greeted the young guy behind the counter. “Sweater contest?” The guy asked, as he rang the thing up.
“Not quite, gag gift for my cousin.” Pat grinned and swiped his card to pay for it.
“Nice.”
It wasn’t exactly the nicest thing to say but Pat found it funny and after wishing the cashire a ‘Meowy Christmas’, much to the kid’s amusement, he headed back out to the mall. Two sweaters down, one more left.
((All great ideas have to come from somewhere. Here is the actual sweater I took inspiration from: Link))
The Space Mermaid
one more ticket if im not too late please
Kaori_luv
Fiction1119
Original Lunatic
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Grymoire
Dapper Lunatic
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Posted: Sun Dec 09, 2018 5:08 pm
To: Emmett (Kuropeco) From: Lysander (Grymoire)
Lysander was not usually one for tacky sweaters or any other terrible holiday fashion that turned up but .... Emmett had made a comment about a few sweaters while they were out getting lunch one day and so he'd picked one up. It at least wasn't too tacky and while he wouldn't want to wear it himself he had a feeling that it wouldn't make that much of a difference to Emmett. His partner had so far worn whatever he brought home for him and this was Christmas after all. So if he was lucky Emmett would like it and he'd be able to get a few pictures of him in the sweater before it disappeared into the back of their closet.
It was glittery and sparkly and in a way reminded him of his partner. Probably because of the cute face and the glasses. He wasn't sure Emmett liked lamas but it was a cute animal and if nothing else Emmett would probably like it if only because he got it. Emmett always seemed surprised when Lysander bought him things no matter how often he did it. That was still surprising and still made him slightly upset that Emmett wasn't used to things like that.
Someone in his life should have spoiled him a bit but it seemed like no one had ever bothered. Which meant that Lysander had a lot to make up for and he wasn't going to pass by any chance he had to do so.
Since tacky sweaters deserved company he also picked up a pair of green and red stripped socks that Emmett could wear. They would most likely be hidden given the types of clothes Emmett liked but at least he'd know his partner was wearing them. They were soft and a bit fuzzy and had 'Happy Holidays' written across the tops in white stitching. Cute enough while still matching and being a bit tacky.
He'd asked the girl at the shop counter to gift wrap it for him knowing that he wouldn't be able to make it look as nice. His hunch proved to be true when he was handed back a sturdy box decorated to look like a santa suit with a shinny plastic buckle to hold the bow in place. Once he had that in hand he picked up a gift tag at a stationary store next door and wrote Emmett's name on before attaching it to the gift box.
He was rather proud of the giftbox and the gift tag, a holographic cactus with a bright pink flower that, in a way, would at least match the sweater inside. It had been the tackiest one he'd been able to find that still at least somehow matched.
When he'd gotten home he was grateful that Emmett was napping and tucked the box where he'd find it before going to answer a few emails while he waited for the other man to wake up and find his gift. Perfect plan and hopefully he wouldn't be waiting too long
