December 2025

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Thursday, December 25th, 2025 11:32
I've fallen in love with this manga and am continually surprised at how few people seem to have heard of it, so here's my humble attempt to spread the word :D (This is a cross-post from my journal, where I'm also delighted to discuss this fandom anytime :D :D)

It only took one promo picture to get me to check it out:

A man with fluffy hair with bloodied face holding the cheek of a smoking woman with a bloodied face, text in English

...I didn't really ask any more questions after that. Bonus impact for stumbling on it in Japanese because the "kept pet" implied in the verb is lovely, and obviously plays with the K-9/"police dog" title.

Anyway, meet Oboro on the left - he's great - and Ren on the right - she's great. The art is beautiful, and everyone is very pretty.

About the world

Some people have special abilities, most of which are not well understood. Only one thing is known for sure: these abilities manifest after someone commits a crime. For example, the criminal from the first chapter is an arsonist and can control/become fire. (Somewhat unrelated, but this is pretty fun coming in from the Boku No Hero Academia world, because it's like a universe in which only bad guys get a quirk.) Here, these abilities are called "sins." In the Japanese, it's simply the kanji for crime with "sin" written in katakana beside it.

This seems pretty simplistic at first glance, but that slowly changes as we drill deeper into the worldbuilding and learn the nuances of these abilities and how they manifest. The implications are deeply fucked up, with often devastating consequences that I'm totally here for as my heart gets shattered again and again.

The story premise

Our plucky detective Ren is selected to join Division 9, a newly created division that pairs a detective with a sin user in order to fight fire with fire -- what could possibly go wrong?! I love her. She kicks so much ass.

Woman with a leg up kicking some dude in the face mid-stride

So, who's our main cast?

Short character profiles )

Four characters looking way too cool as they step through a broken wall

TOGETHER THEY FIGHT CRIME! More specifically, crime related to sin users. But they also get their asses kicked and handed over to them quite a bit, haha.

A bit more on the story and on them )

Where to read? How many chapters are out?

37 chapters, 3 volumes. Totally possible to catch up in a reasonable amount of time! )


Bonus scythe, for fellow appreciators of the Rule of Cool
Man holding a scythe made of blood
Thursday, December 25th, 2025 11:11

Title: Healing The Healer
Fandom: The Fantastic Journey
Author: [personal profile] badly_knitted
Characters: Jonathan Willaway, Varian.
Rating: PG
Setting: After the series.
Summary: Jonathan is a scientist, Varian is the healer, but right now Varian is in no condition to tend his own injuries, so Jonathan will have to do it for him.
Word Count: 400
Content Notes: Nada.
Written For: Challenge 501: Amnesty 83, using Challenge 16: Role Reversal.
Disclaimer: I don’t own The Fantastic Journey, or the characters. They belong to their creators.
A/N: Quadruple drabble.



Thursday, December 25th, 2025 01:59
Wishing you and yours a peaceful season and a lovely holiday ♥



"put a little holiday in your heart
it'll put a little shuffle in your step
give you a song that you can sing
with a melody you can't forget

and if you want to join in a little harmony
to keep the world from tearing apart
you know where to look
you gotta put a little holiday in your heart"

--leann rimes
Wednesday, December 24th, 2025 21:31
I am not doing brilliantly at getting things done. I still need to finish holiday cards, for example. And, in particular, I need to find where I put the stamps I am sure I have.

I also need to finish finalizing some travel plans. There are tickets to various events that I need to buy, too.

And I am nearly out of clean clothes.

I could, theoretically, be getting some of this done tonight. But, I think I am going to prioritize the book I’m in the middle of.
Thursday, December 25th, 2025 03:04
The 2025 Yuletide collection is revealed (and I managed to finish this with a slight delay), and many of us love to read more than just our own gifts and treats. If gamification is your thing, why not enhance your Yuletide reading experience with a fun challenge?
Yuletide Reading Bingo
Yuletide Reading Bingo 2025 (Permanent link to the 2025 version)

Yuletide Reading Bingo 2023 (Permanent link to the 2023 version)
Yuletide Reading Bingo 2024 (Permanent link to the 2024 version)

With this bingo card generator, you can generate your own Yuletide Reading Bingo Card and try to finish it over a timespan of your choice. If you like, you can challenge yourself to not only reading the fics, but also commenting on them. Last year, I saw people making reclists based on their bingo cards, which is such a cool idea to keep track of the fics they read for each square.

There are no fanfic/fandom/Yuletide-negative or bashing items in the lists. This bingo card is meant to be a positive experience and celebrate fanfiction and fanworks in general and Yuletide in specific.

Screenshot of the Desktop Version
example screenshot of the desktop version bingo card

Screenshot of the Mobile Version
example screenshot of the mobile version bingo card

How to Play
Generate a new bingo card until you're (mostly) happy with the results. If some fields are duplicates or contain items you don't want to have in your card, you can then re-roll every single bingo field separately by clicking/tapping on it.
Once you have a card that fits your reading habits (or that takes you out of your comfort zone, if you want to challenge yourself), take a screenshot of the card to keep it.

Closing the page and reloading it will reset the card.

Cross off the bingo fields on your screenshot as you read (or read and comment on) fics that you think count for a field.

Items like "Fandom with over 500 works" mean works in the fandom tag, not in the collection. There are specific versions for the number of works in the collection.
Items like "Fandom with over 1,000 works" doesn't mean qualifying works. There are specific versions for the number of qualifying works.
Items like "Highest number of hits in fandom" or similar however mean in this collection, not in the fandom tag.

If a work you read has a tag that's similar but not identical to a tag on your card, let it count. There were some almost-duplicates that I trimmed.

The Lists
  • Canon (options like canon released this year, book fandom, etc)
  • Category (the AO3 categories and their platonic versions: F/F, F & F Gen, etc)
  • Challenge (the unofficial mini-challenges like Yuleporn, Crueltide, Wrapping Paper, etc)
  • Creator (only if you checked the "After Reveals" box; options like favourite author, mutuals, etc)
  • Discovery (various ways you could've found a fic)
  • Fandom (options like previously ineligible fandom, uncategorised fandom)
  • Length (wordcounts from drabble to 30k)
  • Meta (a fic's front-end and stats, also "citrus scale for rating" xD
  • Protagonist (and side-characters, and POV; new list in 2025 that adds items like "female/non-binary/gender-neutral/male protagonist", various POVs and such)
  • Reader (your relationship with the fic; is it your comfort fic, or your first fic in a fandom?)
  • Style (chatfic, iambic pentameter, custom workskin, stuff like that)
  • Tag (roughly 1,800 tags from the 2024 main collection; more than 100 additional tags Madness)
  • Trope (roughly 100 tropes)


What do the Checkboxes Mean?
  • NSFW is basically what it says on the tin. If you tick this box, the NSFW tropes will be added to the mix. If you also ticked the Tags box, NSFW tags will be added.
  • Tags is also what it says on the tin. It's a list with currently roughly 1,800 tags from the Yuletide 2025 main collection. Around 300 of them are currently marked NSFW and can only be generated if you ticked both the NSFW box and the Tags box.
  • After Reveals includes items that only make sense after creator reveals, such as "work by last year's recipient" or "creator is your Tumblr mutual".
Leaving the NSFW checkbox unchecked should remove all NSFW tags and tropes, but you could still come across content you find objectionable. Leaving the Tags checkbox unchecked removes all tags, but you could still come across tropes you find objectionable.

This bingo generator can be used to generate totally safe-for-work or family-friendly bingo cards, but it was created by an adult with an adult audience in mind.

If you run into any issues or come across any bugs, please let me know.
If you find something that should be in the NSFW category, but isn't, please also let me know. It's possible that I missed a few tags when I worked through the list of over 2,000 tags in the 2025 main collection. Please don't ask me to remove content you find objectionable.
If there's anything unclear, feel free to ask! I'll try to get back to you as soon as possible, but please understand if it takes a while; it's a busy time for all of us. :D

Just FYI, the platform I'm using, Perchance, added AI options for their generators two years ago. This is a regrettable decision that I don't condone, and I'd like to emphasise that this generator is 100% handcrafted chaos.

This generator is based on my Fanfiction Reading Bingo I made as a little practice piece. It's responsive, which means it should work on desktop and mobile. The mobile layout isn't ideal yet; I'm trying my best to make it better (but I'd also still consider myself a newbie and I'm learning by doing).

The background image is an edited version of this photo by Stijn Verplancke on Unsplash.

I hope you'll find as much fun in using this generator as I found in making it! <3

Have a lovely Yuletide!
Wednesday, December 24th, 2025 18:19
Happy holidays to everyone!

I spent part of my day tagging along with my spouse while they got tattoos. Coincidentally, I've been eyeing the work by another artist at the same shop, so I decided to make an appointment with them for early January while we were there. I technically shouldn't be spending that much money, but I think it's okay to treat myself for once. January is also my birthday month, and the tattoo is something I've wanted for a while. It will be Free! (anime) related, because that series is near and dear to my heart.

While I was waiting for my partner, I ended up finishing Volume 5 of the No.6 novel series. I've been slowly working my way through all of them, and every time I get back to it, I feel my love for No.6 (and specifically, Nezushi) being reignited. Reading the novels just offers so much more insight to the characters and their relationships with each other. Being able to see Shion's inner thoughts about Nezumi and vice versa has been making me feel deranged.

Short Vol.5 ramble... )

Anyway, at our house, we won't be doing much in terms of celebration other than eating really, but I hope everyone is able to enjoy their holiday :)
Wednesday, December 24th, 2025 16:41
TRY NEW THINGS THIS YEAR: 28 NEW YEAR’S RESOLUTION IDEAS

The best New Year’s goals are all about getting out of your comfort zone or routine! Even if you love setting resolutions that are practical—like saving money or decluttering—it’s great to dedicate yourself to trying something new this year. Here’s some inspiration for your 2026 goals!


Mixing fun or adventurous goals into your list along with practical ones makes it easier to accomplish things.
Wednesday, December 24th, 2025 16:14
Hello, Yuletiders–as you may have noticed, the anonymous setting on the Yuletide collection, which should hide all author names until reveals on January 1st, does not seem to be working as expected, and shortly after our planned works reveals, we had an unplanned reveal of author names. We’re very sorry for this unexpected breaking of anonymity!

We’re reaching out to AO3 to help us resolve the problem. In the meantime, we have updated all works manually, and author names should now be hidden again. If you notice we have missed any, please reach out to us privately at yuletideadmin@gmail.com.

Again, our apologies–and we hope you enjoy the collection!

Yuletide Madness is scheduled to reveal at 9 PM UTC on 25 December, but this may be delayed if necessary to ensure author anonymity.

ETA: We know many of you have received email notifications to say, "The collection maintainers of Yuletide 2025 have changed the status of your work [work] to anonymous..." This is a result of us updating them manually to hide author names, in order to achieve the same effect you would expect from reveals in an ordinary Yuletide. Sorry for the confusion! You can safely ignore these notifications; we will reveal author names on January 1st, manually if we have to.


Schedule, Rules, & Collection | Contact Mods | Participant DW | Participant LJ | Pinch Hits on DW | Discord | Tag set | Tag set app

Please either comment logged-in or sign a name. Unsigned anonymous comments will be left screened.

Tags:
Wednesday, December 24th, 2025 16:14
We have reached the end of the Cult Pens and Cacao & Cardamom calendars. There's still another day left of the dice and ink ones, but those will be included in the First Day of Christmas post tomorrow. So, it's the end of Advent season! Let's get to it!

1. Gaming Dice: A clear, apple-green 12-sided die with red numbers. There's also some red and green sparkles in it.

2. Diamine Inkvent: A pigment type of ink called Antler. It's a soft brown color

3. Cult Pens: Platinum Procyon Fountain Pen in turquoise. Cost: $84.00. Total Cost: $207.86. Well, with tax, shipping from the UK, and tariffs, I paid a little over $166 for this calendar. As you can see, I'm still getting value for money, but this year's calendar didn't excite me as much as last year's. I'm on the fence about getting it next year.

4. Cacao & Cardamom: a S'mores Knafeh Cup. To be honest, I was slightly disappointed when I saw what it was, but OMG, it was SOOOOOO good. I'd like a whole box of these! Great end to the calendar. I think I liked last year's better, but I'm glad I was able to get one last minute.

Thursday, December 25th, 2025 10:01

Recs: in general

The main Yuletide collection has just opened, with Yuletide Madness to follow shortly, so it's time to think about recs (recommendations)! It's traditional to kudos or comment on works and tell their anonymous creators that you liked them. It's also traditional to tell other people about the Yuletide stuff you like. There are many different ways to share your recommendations for works.

On AO3 itself
You can bookmark a story and add the bookmark and its notes to the Yuletide Recs collection. (Note: This is not the same as the main Yuletide collection.) Detailed tutorials can be found here and here.

In Discord
At the Yuletide Discord, you can post recs with very brief comments in the #yuletide-recs channel.

Here at Dreamwidth
You are welcome to post recs to this community Please follow the guidelines:
  • Any individual post to the community must contain recs for at least 3 separate works.

  • You can put the full text of your recs post in a post to the community, OR you can post your recs on some other platform, then put the link in a post on the community or in a comment to this post.

  • If your post is long, consider cut text code (DW) or details code to compress your text.



Recs: central/index post


THIS POST can also serve as a hub for recs. You're welcome to reply with your recs (especially useful if you don't have a Dreamwidth account). Or you can ask for recs that follow a theme, or just make a comment linking to a recs post elsewhere. Collect Your Recs Here!
Tags:
Wednesday, December 24th, 2025 14:59
Yuletide 2025 Collection Is Live Here!


Enjoy 1539 works in 992 fandoms! (The number will go up as wranglers canonize fandoms - this will take a little time, though.)

The reveals process takes a little while to work in a collection of this size; if a story in the collection is still a mystery work an hour after opening, please let us know.


Finding works
You can find your own gifts on your AO3 gifts page: https://archiveofourown.org/users/YOUR-NAME-HERE/gifts, or by searching the box at the top of the collection works page for the full name you signed up with, or by checking your email if you get email notifications from AO3. Note: your email notifications may bundle together, and it might look like you only got one gift, when in fact you got more.

You can browse the collection by tags or by fandoms. Some fandoms are new and may not show up immediately (wranglers are working on this) or where you expect them; please check labels such as Original Work, 19th Century Historical RPF, Object and Concept Anthropomorphism, and Unspecified Fandom. More info about Unspecified Fandom here.


Anonymity
Yuletide is an anonymous exchange until creator reveals January 1. Please don't give away what you've written. When logged in, you can, if you want, reply to comments on your own works, and you will show up as Anonymous Creator until the authors of the collection are revealed.


Commenting!
Please comment on your gift(s) to let your writer(s) know you appreciate them. We also recommend commenting far and wide to spread the comment joy around! You may enjoy the challenge of a comment bingo card.

AO3 changed default comment settings last year. If you want to make sure people can comment on your gifts when they aren't logged in, you may need to change a setting on your work. More information here, under 'Your comment settings'.


Recs
Making work recommendations is a tradition. Please see more information at the participant community ([community profile] yuletide) about where you can post your recs.


Madness
For those still writing, the 2025 Yuletide Madness collection will stay open for new stories to be posted for 24 hours. It will close for posting, and open for reading, at 9pm UTC 25 December. If you're looking for prompts, there's a roundup of links here.


Problems
If there is something wrong with your gift or you have another concern, please contact the mods at yuletideadmin@gmail.com.



Schedule, Rules, & Collection | Contact Mods | Participant DW | Participant LJ | Pinch Hits on DW | Discord | Tag set | Tag set app

Please either comment logged-in or sign a name. Unsigned anonymous comments will be left screened.

Tags:
Wednesday, December 24th, 2025 20:37
It's Christmas Eve, and the retail trade has been going like the clappers all day.
How goes the creative work (if at all?)
Wednesday, December 24th, 2025 08:16
[community profile] hlh_shortcuts, the annual Highlander fanfic exchange, has been releasing two stories a day since the winter solstice. With 8 stories revealed as I post this, 9 remain. So far, the shortest is >800 words and the longest <7K words. From the tags, 3 crossovers are upcoming. A trend this year may be appearances by Connor and his associates.

(Releases will pause on December 25 to give readers a chance to catch up. Or to sample Yuletide, perhaps.)

Check out the AO3 collection.