[Event] Ugly Christmas Sweater Alt Civs / Congrats Winners!

[The Space Mermaid]

The Season is upon us! Gift giving, Cold Weather, Warm Sweaters. All wrapped up into one, in the time honored tradition of the Ugly Christmas Sweater. Sometimes worn Ironically, sometimes given as a genuine gift from a well meaning friend or family member who doesn't understand why you don't want to wear a an itchy sweater with a poorly Crocheted rudolph on it, complete with light up red nose. It’s charming, right?

It should be known this is considered a shop event, so those winning the gifts will not be put on cooldown, and will be able to participate in any other upcoming events without issue.


Event Open: Now!

Closes: Dec 9th at 11:59PM PST


Rules:
1. You may give no more than three tickets to any one individual person
2. Sweater artwork must not break gaiaonline ToS
3. Keep the characters age in mind when designing the sweater.
4. You may alter the sweater graphic as you need, or draw one entirely yourself! You may also list if you would like a literal interpretation of the sweater or an artists interpretation if you were not able to quite make a visual prepresentation of what you had in mind. Just keep in mind, these are meant to look... unfortunate.

 

[The Space Mermaid]

Color-Your-Own Ugly Christmas Sweater!
This will allow a person to Specifically design the suffering gift for their friend.You are not entering these for yourself... you are giving these monstrosities lovingly crafted cozy gifts to your friends and loved ones. The person receiving the gift will get to pick the rest of the outfit / hair style, But no changes may be made to the ugly sweater... it was a gift.

You are allowed to make as many sweaters as you wish! Unlimited tickets can may be claimed by solos and dice games, but you can only give out one ticket to any one person. ( Aka you can win however many tickets, but you can only give 1 to john, one to sally, ect ) The point is to spread the love after all!

PEOPLE WITH ABSOLUTELY NO CHARACTERS MAY RECEIVE A TICKET, if it is for a quest that is posted before the start of this event. This is the only way to receive a new character from this event.



TO: ( The character who is receiving the sweater )
FROM: ( Your character who is giving the gift )
Be sure to Quote The Space Mermaid when claiming your ticket! Also please mention which player owns the character your ticket is going towards.

IN ORDER TO Submit your sweater design you must chose either a Prompt and write a solo of 500 words, or play the dice game.

Prompt 1

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.

Prompt 2

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.

Prompt 3

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.

Dice Game

TO BE COMPLETED IN THIS THREAD.
Step 1. Roll two 12-sided dice. If the total equals 12, you have won a gift!
Step 2. If you didn't win, simply try again, put post your attempt number, along with what pages the previous attempts were on.
Step 3. The dice are not in your favor, you have attempted 10 times and STILL have not rolled a 12. Unlikely, but not unheard of. You may claim a ticket.

SLOTS AVAILABLE:

1. by Civ Beejoux
2. by Grymoire
3. by The Space Mermaid ( Design & Lineart ) & Grymoire ( Shadeing ) Collab
4. by The Space Mermaid ( Design & Lineart ) & Grymoire ( Shadeing ) Collab
5. by The Space Mermaid ( Design & Shadeing ) & Shanyume ( Lineart ) Collab
6. by The Space Mermaid ( Design & Shadeing ) & Shanyume ( Lineart ) Collab
7. by The Space Mermaid ( Design & Shadeing ) & Shanyume ( Lineart ) Collab
8. by The Space Mermaid ( Design & Shadeing ) & Shanyume ( Lineart ) Collab

 

[The Space Mermaid]

You do have the right to request your characters to not be entered into the event! If this is the case, simply send a message to The Space Mermaid and you can be posted here to not receie any tickets for a single or all of your characters.

- TICKET LIST -
Ticket for ( Ticket From )

1. AMItotic ( Ghouliboo )
2. Nuxaz ( Ghouliboo )
3. Grymoire ( Kuropeco )
4. Guine ( Kuropeco )
5. Skye Starrfyre ( Kuropeco )
6. Kai Song Natsuko-neko (Sleet Tempest Snape)
7. Sweenys_Revenge (Sleet Tempest Snape)
8. Frayedflower (Kuropeco)
9. Pixie Nyxie (Kuropeco)
10. Sylent Nyte (Kuropeco)
11. Sleet Tempest Snape (Fiction1119)
12. Nuxaz (Fiction1119)
13. Seiana_ZI (stari_maga)
14. Skye Starrfyre (DaisyMilk)
15. Aria Starstone (Strickenized)
16. Lucifer Force (Ghouliboo)
17. iStoleYurVamps (Ghouliboo)
18. kuropeco (Ghouliboo)
19. Pixie Nyxie (Ghouliboo)
20. Lucyal (Ghouliboo)
21. Skye Starrfyre (Ghouliboo)
22. endejester (Ghouliboo)
23. Infinities (Ghouliboo)
24. Kaori_luv (Fiction1119)
25. Kuropeco (Grymoire)
26. Skye Starrfyre (Grymoire)
27. Grymoire (Skye Starrfyre)
28. Kuropeco (Skye Starrfyre)
29. Endejester (Skye Starrfyre)
30. Kuropeco (frayedflower)
31. Pixie Nyxie (frayedflower)
32. Ghouliboo (frayedflower)
33. Lucyal (frayedflower)
34. DaisyMilk (Skye Starrfyre)
35. Sleet Tempest Snape (Sweenys_Revenge)
36. Seiana_ZI (frayedflower)
37. Shanyume (Ghouliboo)
38. Orangish Sherbert (Sweenys_Revenge)
39. Kyuseisha no Hikari (Orangeish Sherbert)
40. Lucifer Force (Skye Starrfyre)
41. Orangeish Sherbert (Kyuseisha no Hikari)
42. endejester Sleet Tempest Snape

 

[kuropeco]

Quote:

To: Lysander Cadwell (Grymoire)
From: Emmett Starling (kuropeco)



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.

He had no idea how to sew.

It had taken Emmett a very long time to figure out what to get as a present for Lysander, not in the least because he couldn't actually recall the last time he had ever gotten a present for anyone. Perhaps his parents, at one time or another, but that seemed quite a long while ago, and he couldn't even remember who they were, anyway.

He had done a great deal of research online, using up the time when he wasn't at work to curl up on the couch with his laptop and idly scroll through pages and pages of what appeared to be an entire encyclopedia of gift ideas. There were so many varying concepts and possibilities that it was starting to make his head spin.

Maybe he should narrow the search a little.

Emmett had typed in Christmas presents for friend, and when that hadn't yielded anything appealing, it had been deleted and replaced by Christmas presents for good friend, and when that hadn't seemed to work either, he had backspaced entirely and written Christmas present for lover.

That, at least, hard garnered at least a little more results, though still a rather astounding collection of them. Emmett had spent an entire afternoon just squinting through his black rimmed glasses at the screen, on a website called Pinterest that he had vaguely heard of before but had zero interest in on any given day. He had bypassed pictures of glossy ornaments and glittery boxes and glistening Christmas turkies and found absolutely nothing of interest until, at last, something at the very bottom of a page caught his eye.

Emmett had stared at the computer, then stared some more, and then finally decided that yes, this was the perfect gift. Or one of them, at least, because he was fairly certain that lovers were supposed to buy each other many things, so he had a fairly good idea of getting as much as he could for Lysander, whenever the other wasn't watching.

(Christmas was a strange holiday. He didn't really understand it much.)

He went out one day while Lysander was at work and bought all of the necessary supplies. Keeping them at home would be difficult, half because Emmett was growing acutely aware that he had overstayed his welcome quite a bit - this had been meant to be temporary, after all, a place for him to rest while he learned how to readjust as a new person with a new identity - but also because he shared a bedroom with Lysander, which made keeping things from him difficult.

He settled for keeping things in a less used closet, hiding under a stack of towels that technically belonged to Emmett, but that he rarely used, because Lysander bought towels that were thick and luscious and fluffy and these ones Emmett had bought at the dollar store because they had been a whole three dollars. He'd had them for about a week before they'd wound up in the closet, and to be frank, Emmett hadn't really been all that upset about it (though he had given Lysander a pointed look that indicated next time he would just let him pick the towels out).

He was not used to domesticity, or living with anyone else, or having a lover, if that was what Lysander was. It wasn't easy; Emmett had always believed that having a roommate was both a chore and a tiresome one at that, and so he had never had one, moving out to live on his own as soon as he had been old enough to do so. It had been several years since then, and for the most part, he had been quite content.

So he'd thought.

Now there were elbows in his sides as he stood at the sink to brush his teeth. Now there were two bowls in the dishwasher instead of one. Now there was a wider, larger bed big enough for himself and someone else, a warm, lean body nestled up against his own, strong arms loose around him. Now there were spills on the kitchen table because he'd accidentally knocked into someone going to fill his dish up with more cereal.

It was taking a bit of getting used to. But he found he didn't mind that at all, which was the strange part.

Emmett painstakingly sewed with all the patience and dedication of a man performing heart surgery. He had bought the sweater premade, because there was no way on earth he would be able to actually create an entire sweater from scratch, and something told him that Lysander wouldn't mind this so much. So he carefully and meticulously pieced together the rest of the gift, taking, as he always did, an inordinate amount of time to do even the smallest and simplest things, like sew a button onto a piece of brown fabric.

(That had taken him almost twenty minutes to figure out. Buttons were tricky.)

Eventually, however, he had managed it. Eventually he sat on the couch in their warm and cozy living room and held up his creation, his hazel eyes moving across the front of it, searching for any stray threads, any crooked stitching at all. When he found nothing at all, he folded it carefully up, as though it was something precious, and proceeded to wrap it neatly in red and brown and black plaid wrapping paper before sticking it under the tree with a little bow on top.

Really, he was pretty pleased with himself. Lysander was going to love it.

Grymoire

The Space Mermaid

uno ticket por favor

 

[kuropeco]

Quote:

To: Michael Lyons-Gallo (Guine)
From: Caspian Lyons-Gallo (kuropeco)



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.

He had plucked out the sweater from a rack of other, more dangerous monstrosities, while meandering around a loud and way too busy gift store at the Destiny City Mall the day after Black Friday.

Caspian was not generally out on his own very often these days. When Michael was at work, and Caspian wasn't at classes or work, he was at home making sure that Cassie was still doing okay, or sometimes just lounging around in his pajamas, enjoying a day off. Patrolling happened, but rarely solo; he knew how much Michael preferred him not to go out and be reckless when he wasn't there, and so, out of respect for his husband, Caspian had refrained from doing anything stupid (for the most part). He'd dialed back the majority of his questionable behavior, and had done ever since he'd met Michael, so at least that wasn't anything new. He was still hard headed and stubborn and occasionally tended to dive headfirst into things he probably shouldn't, but he understood, at least, Michael's concern for both his physical and his mental well being.

And besides; he had no intention of ever letting Michael see him that way ever again, lying in a hospital bed, close to death...

He wasn't going to think about that. Not around the holidays. Not when Caspian's cheerily mischievous disposition tended to be at its peak, because he was a sucker for a good holiday, especially Christmas. He'd already done his best to spread the holiday cheer in their house, stringing up garlands of leafy green, setting out air fresheners that claimed to be things like Apple Spice Awe and Festive Fir (except not at the same time, since that had resulted in an acrid stench similar to poutpourri being burned in the fire, so he'd hastily just stuck to one) and doing his best to hide mistletoe in random places so that he could catch Michael unawares for a kiss.

This last one only worked some of the time, since Caspian's lack of height didn't allow for much ceiling time, and he was trying not to be the sort of husband that crawled onto furniture or countertops in order to reach things. But, well, he'd still managed to stuff a few pieces above their bedroom door, one over the bathroom (he'd just need to remember not to leave it there if and when Peter came back...) and one on a high shelf in the kitchen.

Overall, he was pretty damned pleased with himself. He was saving the actual decorating to do together with Michael, because nothing said loving and happy marriage like decorating for the holidays together, and Caspian was, at heart, an embarrassingly sentimental and romantic guy who very much wanted to do exactly that.

He had, however, gone out Christmas shopping the day after Thanksgiving and that was when he'd found the sweater.

It was a sweater that Caspian found both ironic and entertaining on several levels. Michael may have been a little bit stubborn at times, and a bit grumpy, but he wasn't entirely a grump, and this was why the sweater amused him. It was meant to be an exaggeration and Caspian could almost see Michael's face now, the look of deadpan humor on it that made him so damned attractive most of the time. For a man as straightlaced and serious as Michael could be, he was also incredibly warm, funny, caring and loving, and Caspian fully intended to keep basking in all of these things.

Besides, the sweater was gray (sort of). That would make him smile, and he did really love Michael's smiles.

It was wrapped not entirely neatly - Caspian wasn't exactly an expert with the paper - and then stuck, for the moment, on the living room coffee table, since the tree wasn't set up yet and Caspian didn't want it to get lost in the depths of his and Michael's room, because that was their sanctuary, and also it looked festive to have gifts sitting around.

Now he just needed to find a few more things, and all would be well.

Guine

The Space Mermaid

uno ticket por favor

 

[kuropeco]

Quote:

To: Cordelia Carden (Skye Starrfyre)
From: Fritz St. James (kuropeco)



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 possible she would hate the sweater.

Then again, it was also possible that she would love it. Fritz had spent an embarrassing amount of time at the store searching through the discount bins for the worst possible ones that he could find, and had come up with this one - which, to be fair, wasn't actually that abhorrent. He'd seen far, far worse, and probably half of them on Hitch himself, because, well. It was Hitch.

But still, it was ridiculous and tacky in the sort of way that made people look, regardless of what they were doing. Fritz had stood in the store with pensive expression, the kind that was generally reserved for when people were deciding what their major was going to be in university or what they wanted to do with the rest of their lives.

Not for whether or not he should buy this truly ridiculous sweater.

He had other gifts for Cordelia, of course, because he couldn't not get her gifts. They had first met in the winter, and he had started to fall in love with her in the winter, and so the season alone was already special, already precious. It was made more so by the fact that she was now with him, that she was now the one person in the world he could trust to hold his heart as tenderly as he held hers, cradled in his chest as though it was something utterly perfect and marvelous.

Which it was. And which he wasn't about to take for granted anytime soon.

In the end, he did actually pick the sweater, along with one for himself. Fritz had the sneaking suspicion that his brother-in-law was going to be showing up any day now with something truly and utterly and undeniably heinous in terms of ugly Christmas sweaters, so it was half an attempt to stop him at the pass, and half because he kind of wanted himself and Cordelia to be matching, as unbelievably soppy as that was.

It was maybe a little pathetic. Fritz found that, for once, he didn't care.

He might have cared if it had been any other time of year, but Fritz loved the holidays. He loved the lights and the tinsel and the ornaments. He loved the snow and the music and the ridiculous foods that smelled amazing but only tasted good about half of the time. He loved the caroling and the ice skating and the hot chocolate, and really, he loved everything that had to do with Christmas, because it was meant to be the best time of the year, and for Fritz, it was.

It made him laugh to wrap up the sweater, which he did in the safety of his own loft without anyone around except for Wendell, who kept trying to climb into the wrapping paper and who Fritz kept having to shove off (for a Mauvian, sometimes Wendell was remarkably like an average, every day normal house cat...). He put a nice golden bow atop the package, because that also amused him, and for the first time, as he was gently placing the gift beneath the tiny tree in his living room for safekeeping, he realized that he was...happy.

It was an almost foreign concept. But, here it was, creeping up unexpectedly, until he was almost flushed with the joy of it all. The holidays, Cordelia, his family, his friends. He had what he needed, he thought, and it had been a long, long time since he had ever felt so content in his own skin. It wasn't perfect; there was still rough edges, still places in need of smoothing out and refining.

But for now...for now, it was all right.

Skye Starrfyre

The Space Mermaid

uno ticket por favor

 

[Sleet Tempest Snape]

To: Kai Song Natsuko-neko)
From: Xi-Wang Zhào (Sleet Tempest Snape)

show spoilerhide spoiler

It was that time of year - Christmas and this year he had people to buy things for. He had a family this year, a real family, and he needed to buy things for people. The need was something he felt, deep down, because he cared about these people. These people also cared about him and he knew it, he felt it, even his blood family cared about him. His father was constantly worrying for him, ever since finding out what he was, and he felt warmed by his father's concern and worry. He had to get him something, though he wasn’t sure what, Xi-Wang was thinking of something more personal though rather than something bought and paid for.

For his half sister he wasn’t sure what to get for her, he felt he knew enough about her, but he was worried that whatever he got her just might be popular back in China and she might not like whatever he got her.

He was hoping that as he wandered the mall he’d find something for his half sister, as well as his grandparents, he wanted to see her open his gift over skype and smile and thank him for it. He wanted to see them all smile over whatever he got for them - he knew this. He wanted to make them happy and give them something perfect...this was their first Christmas after all, even if he was far away.

As he walked about Macy’s the Chinese male was glancing about at everything waiting to see if anything jumped out at him. He was hoping something would stand out, anything, but so far nothing. It was as he turned, reaching all the Christmas items, that he saw something. It wasn’t something for his family but it was something he needed to get. He’d only met Kai a few times, they weren’t the best of friends really, but it was perfect for him. It was something he doubted the other would like...but wouldn’t turn down. It wasn’t something he’d hate either, at least he didn’t think so, it would be a nice warm sweater and show he was thinking about him - right? That he wanted to be friends, though he wasn’t sure if that’s what the other wanted.

Grabbing for the sweater, checking the size, he nodded his head in approval before going to finish looking about the store. Settling for, at least at the moment, on a Northface coat for his sister he went for the check out. Once he was done, and everything was bagged, he headed off to get home. He’d been through most of the mall already at this point, and he had two gifts to wrap. Two very special gifts, one being the lovely sweater for Kai, he sort of hoped the other wouldn’t throw it back at him or something else. Xi-Wang really wasn’t sure the other liked him from their few meetings. The other seemed to just...tolerate him...maybe? He wasn’t sure It was odd.

“At least FenLan will like this.” At least he hoped so. He knew the winters in China could be cold and he hoped she’d like this, that it would keep her warm.


(Going with Prompt 1)

Natsuko-neko

The Space Mermaid

Giving 1 ticket here.

 

[Sleet Tempest Snape]

To: Rhona Lee (Sweenys_Revenge)
From: Xi-Wang Zhào (Sleet Tempest Snape)

show spoilerhide spoiler

Who else would wear this, and he knew she would, aside from Rhona? He had found it in China town in some little side alley shop and he had decided to get it for Rhona. The year of the pig was coming up and the shirt was adorable! From the fluff on the santa hat to the bell hanging from the bow about the pigs neck to the little pink pig itself - it was adorable.

Red and gold were commonly used colors when it came to the Chinese new year which was soon after Christmas, well sort of soon after, so the sweater encapsulated both holidays as far as he was concerned. He was even a bit surprised nothing was written in Chinese on the sweater, not that Rhona would understand anything in chinese had it been there, but he was sort of glad nothing was stitched into the red sweater in Chinese. It was perfect as was, nothing else needed.

The item was purchased as quickly as he could get it, no real attention given to its size, as he handed over his money to the elderly woman before hurrying off with the bag in his arms. “She’ll like it.” She might also not fully like it but she would wear it, and would thank him, and that was enough to keep a bounce in his step as he hurried back to Nischal’s apartment so he could fold the sweater into a box and wrap it up for her. Ohhh but what paper for it?

He needed something equally bright and unique for this gift - right?

That in mind he stopped off at CVS, he knew they carried some holiday things, and that was when he found not only wrapping paper but a bag to put it in and tissue paper and yes! He had everything he needed. Tape, box, simple box, and wrapping paper and a tag to slap on the box...not that the bag wouldn’t have one hanging from it. But he was going for something a bit over the top, figuring the other would like it.

With a bag full of supplies, and another bag with the sweater in it, he headed home and got right to wrapping. Situated on the floor of the living room he took the sweater from the bag and went to folding it up and placing it into a bed of tissue paper, inside it’s box, and covering it up with tissue paper he placed the box top on and then went to wrap the box. The paper was a wintery sort of green, white, and silver color with little pine trees all over it. It was the exact opposite of the bright colors of the sweater...and the bag as well. The bag was bright red with santa printed on the front, and back, with Merry Christmas scrolled across it in gold script. The background was some sort of North Pole scene, with reindeer and elves, and it was perfect!


(Going with Prompt 1)

Sweenys_Revenge

The Space Mermaid

Giving 1 ticket here.

 

[kuropeco]

Quote:

To: Logan Hitchcock (frayedflower)
From: Fritz St. James (kuropeco)



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.

Three days after getting both himself and Cordelia a pair of outrageous and yet still somehow a little bit fashionable (except not really) sweaters, Fritz found the glorious monstrosity at a small gift shop at the Destiny City Mall.

It was the sort of shop that deliberately catered towards tacky gifts and cheesy souvenirs; a conglomeration of strange and altogether peculiar knickknacks like a Destiny City snowglobe that, when shook, sprinkled bits of what appeared to be cheddar cheese down over the tiny buildings instead of snow. Another was a set of shot glasses, all stamped with the words Destiny awaits you! in some sort of sparkly paint, where the sparkles kept drifting off onto the ground or onto passersby clothes.

It was also the sort of shop that Fritz, in all of his artistic oddity, loved unreasonably, probably because it was so ridiculous. As a child - and later on as an adult - he'd spent hours wandering the densely packed aisles, peering at all of the crowded shelves and overflowing bins with the sort of joyful curiosity one might expect from a child trying to peer into Santa's bag of gifts. For a while, he'd tried to get Rhys to come with him, but his twin didn't share the same sort of awe that Fritz did when it came to piggy banks shaped like pieces of bacon.

(It was a disappointment, really. How were they so alike and yet so different simultaneously?)

The shop he had found the glorious monstrosity in had a rack of "clothing" to sort through, quotation marks necessary because Fritz wasn't actually certain if all of the items hanging off of the metal bar could be construed as actual things that people would wear or could wear, for that matter. He'd shuffled through the brightly colored fabric, an already full basket dangling from his other arm, wondering if there was anything he could find that would be just awful enough to work for a gift for his brother-in-law.

And then he had seen the glorious monstrosity, in all of its full beauty, just at the back of the rack, and sandwiched between a green metallic dress shaped like an inappropriate Christmas tree and a tasseled black and silver dress that was possibly also a lampshade. Fritz had been about to give up, but then his hand had brushed against something soft and fluffy, and lo and behold, there it was.

It was, for all intents and purposes, a sweater, but the sort of sweater that one's grandmother gave their grandchild when they didn't know any better. Or possibly one that one gave a friend when they wanted that friend to truly experience all of the glorious monstrosity's beauty in full view.

Fritz had stared at it for quite a while, in complete and utter awe of its perfection. And then he had pulled it down off of the rack, draped it over the same arm that was currently carting his basket of goodies around, and made his way towards the front counter, all the while feeling a gleeful sense of purpose and pride at his truly wonderful find.

It was wrapped adoringly in a box, near to professional perfection, because Fritz was an excellent gift wrapper, if he did say so himself, and took a great deal of pride in this. He made sure the curl of each ribbon was impeccably done, and that the paper was smooth and glossy and showed absolutely no indication of the true horror that lay beyond it.

Then he attached a neat little note that said "To my brother-in-law, thanks for your kindness this year" along with a card that showed a dancing reindeer (and also lit up in colors of red and green when it was opened) and a slightly sentimental message that he hadn't been able to help but write. It was left under the tiny Christmas tree in Fritz's loft beside Cordelia's equally as impeccably wrapped present.

Now all that was left to do was wait.

frayedflower

The Space Mermaid

uno ticket por favor

 

[kuropeco]

Quote:

To: Ashley Bennettson (Pixie Nyxie)
From: Steele Moore (kuropeco)



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.

He didn't like Christmas anymore.

To be fair, Steele had never outwardly said that he liked Christmas at all. In fact, to the majority of the outside world, Steele Moore was a ruthless and unsentimental person who found the Christmas holidays to be more of a chore and an annoyance than anything else. A time where loud caroling and overly, annoyingly cheerful people filtered through the city like a swarm of fireflies who couldn't seem to stop shining at everything. He himself was a sucker for a good deal and had gone out on Thanksgiving night to get the latest iPad and a new suit in a shade of flattering dark blue (and possibly breaking his bank in the process, but that was beside the point). But in his office, he was constantly rambling on about all the little grievances he had with this time of year.

It was all, of course, a big fat lie, because that was what Steele did. He lied. To his secretary, to his officer, to his...well, he didn't really have any friends anymore.

But most of all, to himself. Because the truth was something too painful and too frustrating to even consider properly anymore, and he didn't want to deal with it if he didn't have to. One day he would need to come face to face with it all, but this was not that day, and so he pushed off a little farther, back into the deep recesses of his mind.

The real lie of it all was evidenced enough in the completely and utterly decorated little apartment Steele lived in, which was so crammed with Christmas things, it looked like a department store had vomited all over it. He'd hung garlands all around his room, shoved a small Christmas tree into a corner (complete with sparkling silver tinsel and shiny red ornaments), hung mistletoe from his bedroom door (as though that would ever be used), and proceeded to hum Christmas tunes very loudly (and in a surprisingly tuneful baritone) as he hung pictures of reindeer all throughout his tiny kitchen.

Then he sat in his living room with a red and white striped pillow held against his chest and wondered why the hell he bothered anymore.

It wasn't like he actually had anyone to spend this day with. He didn't really have friends. He wasn't really the sort of person to go out to bars or clubs or anything of the sort. He talked to his parents every so often, but they were living in London, and trying to get ahold of them always felt like such a chore - and besides, what on earth did he have to even speak with them about? It wasn't as though they actually cared a great deal about anything he said as it was.

His fingers idly traced one of the sparkling sequins on the pillow. Somewhere from the direction of the kitchen, It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas played, wafting out from the speaker that Steele kept sitting beside his sink for whenever he needed to cook anything that didn't go automatically into the microwave. The apartment, other than the music, was completely silent. It wasn't even snowing outside, just cold and wet and rainy.

He felt...

No. He wasn't going to dwell. He wasn't going to sit here and be maudlin about the fact of his entire life essentially being in shambles, because then where would he be? Then where would he go?

Twenty minutes later, he discovered that the answer was: completely smashed.

Steele had been saving the bottle of bourbon for a good night, because it was an outrageously expensive bottle that he'd gotten as a gift from a client, but this night seemed as good as any to break it open. He'd already had three glasses of it and was starting to feel the buzz, starting from the base of his spine and shivering its way upwards, expanding warmth and a pleasant heat throughout his chest. Possibly he'd initially intended to give the bottle to Rob, but, well. That ship had sailed a long time ago. And besides, Rob didn't drink anymore, or whatever.

It wasn't like Steele knew. He didn't know anything these days.

He stretched out along his couch, the bottle on the coffee table, a half full glass in his hand, His eyes were closed, but that was just to block out the bright lights of his kitchen, which he was too lazy to get up and turn off, in spite of the fact that they were pricking unpleasantly at his eyelids. Steele lifted an arm and draped it over his face, letting out a breath of a sigh that felt as though he was carrying an entire world within it.

He was stuck. Stuck in this loop with no way out.

"Would you like me to make you my test subject?"

Sinoite's voice wafted through his thoughts, simultaneously welcome and unwelcome. Steele gritted his teeth together, but there was no stopping the flush that had started to work its way across his face, no suppressing the sudden sense of longing that pulsed through him, stronger than it should be, because he was so unused to this and so out of his element it felt laughable. And the longing was for...something. He wasn't sure what.

Something more. Something other than this endless, frustrating, painful loop of nothing.

He sat up abruptly, jostling his glass and regretting this movement almost immediately, because his head spun unpleasantly and bourbon sloshed over his fingertips. Steele reached for his laptop, pulling it onto his knees, and idly began tapping away, letting the fuzzy numbness of the alcohol begin to overtake him as he swallowed down the last of his glass, wiping his mouth on the back of his hand.

He had no idea what he was doing. Staring off into the void of the internet, perhaps, but whatever the case, he was scrolling down past an ad for Christmas boots when he saw another ad, tucked off to the side.

Steele stared. It really was a heinous creation, the sort of thing he would have donned just to be obnoxious, but that he now felt was more suited for someone else, someone whose hot and cold personality was currently driving him up a wall for a variety of reasons.

In the morning, when he woke up, he would likely not have any recollection of drunkenly keyboard smashing until he got what he wanted. But a few days later, when a mysterious package arrived at the door, he'd kind of remember. Maybe.

And then he'd go and find that b*****d Sinoite and shove it in his face.

Pixie Nyxie

The Space Mermaid

uno ticket por favor

 

[kuropeco]

Quote:

To: Allison Gallo (Sylent Nyte)
From: Caspian Lyons-Gallo (kuropeco)



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.

Caspian Lyons-Gallo, also known as the Spirit of Christmas Decorating and Possibly Too Much Holiday Cheer, could be found, on any given day, in the mall where he had previously found the sweater he'd gotten for Michael.

It was a large mall; Destiny City could afford to have a large mall, what with the proximity to the east coast and its bustling tourism department that was comprised mostly of people who couldn't actually go to Washington DC and who probably had spent their fair share of time with their noses in their maps, trying to figure out where they had made the wrong turn to end up here. Caspian enjoyed the mall, though; he had never minded crowds, though he did think that the masses of people all swelling around the shopfronts with their noses pressed to the glass were probably a bit excessive.

Still, for once, he wasn't actually here to buy a present. Or rather, he was here to buy supplies for a present, hence why he had shuffled into the first craft store that he could find, and was now somewhere lost among skeins of yarn in varying shades of Rainbow Brite. So far, Caspian had shoved several rolls of bright green under one arm, as well as one of golden thread, and now he was pawing through a bin of discarded scraps and the ends of fabric rolls that were generally discarded for cheap to whoever didn't mind three inches of fabric or needed just that much for a project.

Caspian didn't need too much, but he wanted to make sure he did this right. As in, right for himself and right for his giftee(s), because he'd already stockpiled way too much for Michael, and now he needed to get things for the rest of his little (large) family.

He needed to get a few things for Cassie, and he had several ideas for that, but first and foremost came two other gifts for two other people, because Caspian was nothing if not a multitasker (or just too impatient all the time to finish one thing first before going onto the second). He found a roll of sparkling yellow tinsel in another aisle, and then ,crammed in a basket at the end of a cutting table, a package of small, cheap ornaments - the plain sort of type that you put at the bottom of a tree for little kids and cats to swat at and that were made of cheap plastic, rather than anything too fragile or breakable.

They were perfect. He gathered them up, along with the rest of his supplies, and made for the front counter.

The shopping part had been the easy half of his project. Caspian spent much of that afternoon painstakingly crafting what he was pretty sure was one of the best gifts ever, if only because they were handmade, and what was better than handmade gifts? That, and the fact that they were absolutely ridiculous in every way that counted and Caspian knew this - gloated over this - just made it even better.

He was pretty sure Michael was either going to roll his eyes or be amused. Probably the latter.

Whatever the case, Caspian put the two messily wrapped presents in a bag to distribute at Christmas to both the newest member of the family and also his youngest brother-in-law. The former, because she was fun and cute and cheerful and Caspian had liked her. And the latter because...well, Caspian liked Peter too, but he also liked teasing Peter, and how better to do that than matching family sweaters?

It was a perfect plan.

Also included in the package was a little card with Caspian that had a predictably sweet and sentimental note written in his messy handwriting. At the very bottom of each card was scrawled:

PS - "G" FOR GALLO like a Weasley sweater except better

Sylent Nyte

Guine

The Space Mermaid

uno ticket por favor

 

[Fiction1119]

To: Alexandre Evans (Sleet Tempest Snape)
From: Shannon Mccord (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.

show spoilerhide spoiler

((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/zLVYQQfw

It!

Was!

Perfect!

And if she really gave it to him she would likely be starseeded. Or fed to a youma.

Or both!

He would murder her in cold blood, maybe even with the sweater which would be ironic really, but it would be worth it. Absolutely worth it.

The red sweater itself wasn’t that bad, it was a typical garrash christmas sweater. It was santa red, bright candy apple red, with christmas tree ornaments around the bottom hem. Each ball was tilted off center, each one unique as far as she could tell. The baubles adding the only real color to the sweater since they were green and gold, blue and white, purple, orange, there was even a one that was striped with black although it was more or less overwhelmed with pink and teal. The shirt also sported a traditional red and white striped candy cane and several jinggle bells printed on the back, those ones that everyone sees in the tv shows.

The decoration on the sweater would have likely earned her a look, maybe a smirk, since Alex did have a decent sense of humor. No what would get her murdered and her body fed to yomas were the white words blazoned across the front of the sweater: ‘I’m Not Short. I’m Just a Tall Elf’. The candy cane nestled alongside the phrase as if it was a sweet treat for the harsh words. It wouldn’t really work, not for the person she was thinking of gifting the sweater to. Shannon couldn’t help but snicker at the reaction she imagined Alex getting when he saw the monstrosity.

Her general was a short little fellow who had a very sharp spear to teach those who disrespected him and discounted him some manners. Personally Shannon found it cute, and quite often thought of him as her Diminutive General, however she wasn’t stupid. She knew that it was a very dangerous game she was playing and that's what made the sweater just so freaking perfect. It was sassy. It was snarky. It was ********, cotton gold. And to make it even better was the phrase on the back.

Like the front it too was blazoned across the red cotton sweater in white font except instead of the candy cane these words were accompanied by the jinggle bells. ‘Go Jingle Yourself!’ was the caustic, yet festive, phrase that pretty much cussed everyone out who giggled at the front of the sweater. It was the bitter to soothe the soul of the short person who was forced to wear such a ugly sweater.

It was so bloody perfect!

It was even oversized so it would swallow Alex a bit making it even better!

She needed it! She had to have it! Damn the cost!

Lucky for Shannon’s credit card it wasn’t expensive at all, the cashier gave her a strange look as Shannon continued to snicker as the young girl rang her up then proceed to wrap the sweater in a box. She refused the gift receipt because there was no way in hell she would be giving Alex a chance to return the garment. After scrawling his name on the box all that was left was to slip the package into his mailbox or on his front porch, without being spotted.

She was mean but she wasn’t stupid.

((My art skills stink so here is where the idea first came from: Link))

The Space Mermaid

One ticket please ^.^'

Sleet Tempest Snape

 

[Fiction1119]

To: Fiona Watson (Nuxaz)
From: Patrick O'Ryan (Fiction1119)

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.

show spoilerhide spoiler

((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/R3yxxT3k

Christmas songs played incessantly in the background as a tall redhead made his way slowly through the mall. It was surprisingly crowded for midday in the middle of the week. Garlin and lights were strung everywhere! Gold, red, green, and nearly every other color decked every store window. Displays of toys and clothes were designed around the holiday as only stores could, with glitter and sparkle and fake snow galore. He had already spent a hour in the mall, weaving through the other shoppers, and slowly going mad from the jingly jangly music. Why, was he here again? Oh right, presents. He had all the important ones done but this particular mall dive was just for the joke gifts. The gifts that will get a laugh out people.

He was poking around the stores, mostly to find some ugly sweaters for his cousins, when he found it. It was hidden in one of those more upscale, casual stores that he never went into voluntarily. It was the perfect sweater for his girlfriend, Fiona. It didn’t matter that he had already gotten her some jewelry several weeks ago, the sight of the sweater was too good to pass up. It was a rather muted light gray but it was the words blazoned on the front of it that had drawn his attention. The tall redhead picked up the top sweater and examined it, the words ‘Always be yourself, except if you can be a Dragonfly, then always be a dragonfly’ a riff on the popular statement. Dragonfly was switched out with things like Batman, unicorn, mermaid, dragon, and other such things. It was a really popular phrase, just like that British one ‘Keep calm and -’. A real fill in the blank kind of statement.

Normally the font was in simple black or white but this one was in a soft watery green. ‘Dragonfly’ had to have been printed in some kind of iridescent blue ink since it shimmered but it definitely wasn’t glitter. There were even a few small dragonflies in the background of the wording, like they were flying around. The back had a bigger dragonfly on it, in a type of watercolor painting way.

It might not have been the prettiest thing but it was neat looking and he knew that dragonfly’s were her favorite. It might have been a little too on the nose but he really wanted it. He wanted to see her unwrap it and see the look on her face. It didn’t matter to him if she returned it, or donated it, only that she thought it was amusing.

With the sweater in hand he made his way to the cashier and after a surprisingly short wait he was being rung up. Once the gift receipt was slipped into the bag Pat left the store. He still had more Christmas gifts to get but this was a good start. This and directions to the closet gift wrapping station since he wanted this present wrapped nicely, the other sweaters he was originally on the prowl for… not so much. They can enjoy his own style of wrapping that's for sure.

((Mash of two sweaters: Front, Back))

The Space Mermaid

Another ticket please ^.^'

Nuxaz