#i actually learned a ton of new stuff while making this! mostly about hair. and mostly about how not to do it.

[not-actually-human]

@alkalineleak thank you so much. ok here we go. im gonna be honest ive mostly thought about jay so this post will mainly be about her but ill list some stuff about gil and chip as well o7

Jay: shes the girl to cut her own bangs in the kitchen at three am during a breakdown. her hair is soooo choppy and uneven and its always pulled up in a ponytail thats falling apart. some sort of french braid would work better but she is too lazy to do that + she never really learned how + thats how ava wore her hair and so jay just sticks with the ponytail. she has goggles so she can do experiments and has a tool belt with a shit ton of tools and itty bitty pieces of scrap metal and chemicals and stuff that she always takes with her. idc what the official art says she wears a loose fitting grimy tank top and cargo pants. also shes the tallest of the albatrio and i will be on that hill till the day i die

Chip: he learned to braid hair when he was little and him and gil are teaching jay how to, so he often has messy braided hair since he lets jay practice on him. when ollie was on the ship he let ollie braid his hair too. also he has a prosthetic pinky and i think jay often will often give him new ones that she made while bored. like when shes tinkering without a real goal thats the number one thing she will make.

Gillion: he learned how to braid hair from edyn but he actually prefers making bracelets with that skill. so everyone on the ship has at least one or two bracelets made by gillion. he almost never braids his own hair. also he is just starting to learn to embroider from chip (i dunno i feel like chip knows the basics of a lot of craft stuff, like sewing and stuff like that) and he has embroidered a little itty bitty pretzel onto his shirt somewhere

[darkacey]

Amber/peridot

Thanks anon for the asks! (And apologies for taking so long to answer - figuring out my response to Peridot was harder than I expected it to be.) Original list can be found here!

As usual, my response is super long, so check them out under the cut.

Amber: Something you learned from writing your wip

Two main things come to mind

While figuring out what sort of gloves Lucas wears, I found that hairsheep leather is a special type of very supple/fine leather made from hairsheep! They have hair instead of wool, and they're primarily raised for meat/leather. (I went with leather instead of silk for Lucas because silk would get dirty way too quickly and probably get destroyed by everything I put him through).

Hairsheep Leather

Characteristics: This type of leather is known for its great strength and natural elasticity, which helps the glove to fit properly. Hairsheep is neither thick nor bulky, but is instead a lighter material to work with. Best of all, hairsheep is buttery soft to the touch, and provides lasting comfort for the wearer.

When I was stuck on the Atohl's End segment, I toured an actual salt mine and learned a ton about how it's mined, how it is/was used, and what it is/was like for the miners. I could probably make an entire post about all the stuff I learned there, but basically I figured out that Atohl's End is definitely an iron mine and not a salt mine. But I still haven't done a lot of research into iron mines lol

Fun facts about salt mines

The walls sparkle!

Mining is done through a checkerboard pattern. They take out large "rooms" in between pillars, and they have to be careful to mine within specific mud lines or else it causes the ceiling to collapse.

To control airflow, emptied "rooms" used to be boarded up with empty explosives boxes filled with trash salt. Nowadays they use heavy curtains because the boxes used to be knocked over by explosive blasts a lot.

"Anything that comes down, stays down" - this refers to the fact that unless it's absolutely necessary, everything you don't need doesn't come back up because the hoist is so tiny (4 by 6 feet), it's only cost effective to bring up salt and miners. To get anything down, they had to take it in pieces (this includes cars - they'd dismember them, discard windshields/whatever else was unnecessary, and then reassemble them underground). Tools, trash, etc were all abandoned once they outlived their usefulness.

Salt mines are a great place to preserve stuff. The one I visited has a lot of Hollywood memorabilia because the air is dry, temperature is steady, and there's next to no chance of natural disasters destroying anything.

A ton of other stuff that I'd probably spend a week explaining, but I have writing and other things to do. ^^; (That said, if you have specific questions, I'd still be happy to answer when I have time.)

Peridot: What is your protagonist’s greatest strength / weakness

I think technically Lucas is my protagonist, but I see him and Ari as dual protagonists. For both of them, their curiosity about all things gets them into so much trouble. They show their curiosity in very different ways (Lucas has to write everything down and analyze things, Ari has to experience and/or create new things). The more I think on this, though, it isn’t really a weakness. That would mean it hinders the progress of their goals, which it doesn’t. They’re just unlucky.

Hmm… With that angle, it seems more apt to say that Lucas’ weakness is overthinking, getting stuck in his head instead of actually reaching out. Lot of reasons for this (mostly related to godhood and self-imposed isolation that’s become so ingrained, it’s still there even after amnesia), but it’s also partly due to the way his brain works. (I could also point towards his dogmatic inclinations/abitrary rules, but I've downplayed those in Who Remembers a God as an implied-autistic trait for Rules as Comfort).

Lucas’ strength is hard for me to pinpoint. I could again look towards his curiosity, and his passion to record everything, but it's hard to say that he's actually good at it. (I say this affectionately, but this man is a hoarder of knowledge, and only lifetimes of experience have taught him how to have any semblance of organization).

I think what Lucas naturally excels at is his people skills, actually (which is ironic given the stereotypes about autistic people). His instinctual inclination to be a showman, to spread joy intentionally or accidentally, allows him to gain friends and allies wherever he goes. Plus, it's extra helpful to collect all the stories he loves cataloging. (Sure, excessive miracles cause him quite a bit of grief, but he's used to bad luck).

Now, as for Ari, their strength is probably just the fact that they're a jack of all trades. Whatever they put their mind to, they're able to figure out with reasonable degrees of success. (Being an Earthmate gives them an unfair advantage, but my point still stands.)

Conversely, because Ari is so good at so many things, they unfortunately feel the need to do everything for everyone else. Their weakness is their inability to easily trust other people. While this usually works out just fine (who doesn't appreciate extra help?), it does hurt their relationships when they cross boundaries.

[ellowynthenotking]

Mar 30

Dear Dad,

We had to stop. We didn’t have to, but it was nicer for us to stop, so we did.

It’s been a while since we took a good break. Not that this was a GOOD break, but it was nice to slow down for a minute. 

It’s Reese’s birthday. That’s why we stopped.

We’ve been making really good time, so after Zunair’s birthday, we thought we could pause to celebrate again. Reese didn’t feel like he needed a big thing for his birthday, certainly not the whole week, but at least a little party.

It’s his birthday, so there’s no reason not to celebrate. Riley agreed that we’d been making good time before we even brought up stopping, so she didn’t have an argument for taking a break. Well, Zunair brought it up after less than casually checking when Reese’s birthday was and asking me what I thought the date was. 

Not subtle at all, but that’s also something I’d never claim that Zunair was. He’s many things, not at all subtle. So he made sure that we could celebrate how Reese wanted, which was just drinking and relaxing. 

Not like there’s a lot else to do around here. 

So we stopped in one of the little towns. Riley found a place to store the cart (a new problem we’ve discovered), and the rest of us found a place to sleep and then a place to drink. 

So Reese mostly drank, and the rest of us just watched. Well, Zunair danced around and played music and made a little money. I think it was at least enough to pay for the room for the night, so it was not a complete waste. 

I think everyone else was too on edge. Riley was, at least, she always is these days, and I was because that watched feeling hasn’t gone away yet. Grace and Will seemed to be having more fun talking about hair stuff. Literally, I wish I was making it up. They were literally talking about how to best deal with the problem of too much hair. Willow doesn’t want to cut off all her hair for reasons. She doesn’t look like she has a ton of hair. Apparently, it took forever to get this long. No cutting it all off, then. 

Grace is all for cutting it off. And everyone else’s hair. 

Not in a bad way, I think. Everyone’s been complaining about hair as a problem, so cutting off everyone’s hair would probably fix at least the issue of everyone complaining about how their hair is always in the way. But I don’t think it would be as much of a cure-all as she thinks. 

Also, I’d like to restate my stance of “I don’t trust any of my friends to hold a knife that close to my head.”

But Willow had me sit on the ground while she, Grace, and Riley discussed what to do with my hair, what I should learn to do with it, and mourned the lack of cameras when they put my hair in pigtails and a ponytail mohawk.

It was funny to see Reese dancing around and singing to Zunair’s not-so-great renditions of great songs, but they both had fun. Even if Zunair had to stop because he was laughing so hard a couple of times, it was pretty funny to watch.

But it was mostly awkward, I think. It was funny to watch and slightly horrifying to actually be a part of. And it didn’t help that I think our group was the only one laughing. No one else seemed to find Reese that entertaining. Or, maybe they did, but not the good kind.

We tried to let him have fun, though. Everyone’s been so stressed, so the least we can do is let him have a little fun. Relax, one might even say.

What we needed, though, was rest, and I don’t think partying was rest. I dozed while the girls did whatever to my hair, but I don’t think that’s the best rest. It’s better than nothing, but it’s still not the best.

I’m hoping we’ll get to the city soon. I’m sure we wasted a fair amount of time.

Maybe we’ll be back in time for your birthday, and we can get lunch like always.

Miss you, Jack

Read the rest of the series here: 

Or read more by this author here: 

[decamarks]

@mysticetus's rainer for art fight... i've admired this design for a while now and i'm really glad i got an excuse to make something with it =D

[astaroth1357]

Demonic Pregnancy (But It Makes the MC… Problematic)

Okay, so hear me out. I know the prevailing idea is that a human getting pregnant with a supernatural kid would sap their strength and what not… But what if the opposite happened? So basically, getting pregnant by the brothers would make the MC physically stronger, but more susceptible to their sin… Oh this is going to be fun. 😈

Trigger Warning: Pregnancy

Lucifer

First noticed something was up when the MC came into his office to bring him coffee and casually ripped the door of its hinges… with one hand… by the handle…

He didn’t even have time to be mad about it because he was already frantically texting Diavolo and Barbs that there was something very wrong with the human. They’re not supposed to do that.

Meanwhile MC is in the background marveling at the newly freed door in their hand… They hadn’t even thought about it! Is this what having power is like?? Are they actually dangerous now??? Better not let it go to their head…

*it is totally going to go to their head*

Lucifer learns two things pretty quickly, (1) The human is pregnant with his child and (2) They’ve just been given access to a whole lot of power and they’re mind is set on one thing: Domination.

The next nine months for him are spent practically having to leash the MC or else they’ll go out to pick fights with anything that moves to prove their “superiority”… His brothers and even Diavolo included!

It wouldn’t be so bad if their body wasn’t still very human and very breakable… and also they’re PREGNANT, so please STOP!!

This baby, honestly, could not come fast enough… Good thing demons don’t develop grey hairs… Poor guy…

Mammon

Noticed something was up when they were chatting out at RAD and they dodged a stray ball from Beel. 

They dodged a ball. From Beel. And he throws at, like, Mach 7 speed… And it didn’t even look hard!

… But being the dumbass that he is, he just thought they had gotten a lot better at their magic. It was Lucifer who saw something wasn’t right when the MC was actually holding their own against Mammon and Beel in a race.

Was thrilled by the news at first but then quickly learned that he must have infected them with Greed somehow…

They wouldn’t stop begging for new stuff! Sometimes for him or the baby, but mostly just whatever struck their fancy the second that they saw it.

He’d try to tell them no but then they’d look all sad or whine about hard it was to be pregnant and how they couldn’t do things like tie their shoes or stand for long periods of time or…

(Never mind the fact that they could bench-press Beel if they wanted to, no no, that didn’t matter.)

His nine months were pretty much spent pandering to Lucifer and Levi for more loans to keep his MC happy… and praying they’d snap out of it after the baby finally came because he CANNOT keep paying for their crap…! 😥

Leviathan

MC and Levi playing games in his room and one of their online matches got particularly heated… The MC may or may not be prone to gamer rage, but that night they got so frustrated that they snapped his controller in half like a toothpick…

They were too busy trying to frantically apologize to take notice of their sheer strength, but HE did. And he was thrilled!!

Like, sure, it sucks that he’d have to buy a new controller but that was So. Cool. Their strength was like something out of a shonen!! He was honestly fanboying too hard to question, “Wait a minute, how did they even get that strong??” The MC later went to Lucifer themselves to get it all got sorted out (really Levi was no help whatsoever) and man was he shocked by the news…

Though he was even more shocked by the sudden spike of jealousy that they seemed to exhibit afterward… Like, extreme “You better not leave my sight” level jealousy… 😣

One the one hand, he’s kind of into it because being alone with the MC is all he’s ever wanted!… but on the other hand, dude really wants some space… 

He tolerates the next nine months for three reasons: (1) He does honestly love the MC, (2) Watching them break (other people’s) stuff and fight demons with their bare hands will never stop being cool, and (3) He’s somewhat afraid of what they’d do if he tried to leave so…  😥

Let’s hope the effects are temporary…

Satan

Found out something was wrong when he and the MC went to the park. He saw an old acquaintance of his and left to go say hi but came back to find that the MC had uprooted an entire park bench to squash a nosy lesser demon…

Nothing, absolutely NOTHING, he’d ever read about humans told him that they were capable of that!

Figuring this has some kind of magic origin, he doesn’t bring them to Lucifer but to their resident human sorcerer instead, Solomon…

…and THAT bright idea ended up getting the MC magic tag-along throughout their pregnancy since Solomon wanted to make "a few” observations, the lying bastard… 🙄

Even more unfortunate though, is that the introduction of Wrath into their system also gave the MC an utterly monstrous temper which didn’t help their newfound strength at all…

Poor Satan gets saddled with caring for what amounts to a hair-triggered glass cannon… (though really it’s less protecting them from the world and the world from them 😣).

Needless to say, he’s lost quite a few bookcases over the next several months…

Asmodeus

It was another night with Asmo, so another night out clubbing. He and MC were together for most of the time, but they had left him briefly to get another round of drinks… and somehow got dragging into a straight up brawl in the process.

And they WON…

Asmo brought them right to Lucifer after that. Like, he loves you sweetie, but there were like ten lesser demons there and no way a little human like yourself could pull that off without something being up.

Oh he was overjoyed by the news, but the real test was yet to come… Who would give out first? The Avatar of Lust or a very, very, astronomically horny MC…?

In truth, no one in the House ever wants to talk about what happened for those next nine months ever again… The things they saw… The things they heard… Filthy, filthy things….. 😖

And more broken beds than anyone could care to count…

Let’s just say that they’re all happy the MC was already pregnant, otherwise they’d be dealing with a LOT more demon babies running around… What a hellscape that would be…

Beelzebub

The MC was helping him move some of his weights between rooms. They were only supposed to carry the lighter ones (which really weren’t that light) but they were carrying them so easily that the two got suspicious… They tried to lift one of his heaviest barbells and, to their amazement, they picked it up even easier than he could!

They both just kind of stared at each other for a few seconds before calmly agreeing to go find Lucifer. This probably wasn’t normal…

What pregnancy even was had to be explained to Beel since he doesn’t really understand humans and he only needed one thing confirmed…

So, they’re eating for two now?

And boy did they act like it! The MC’s appetite practically tripled as the months went on and he did his best to keep up for them. He even missed a meal or two for the first time in his life because he was so preoccupied making sure his MC had enough to eat… 😣

Their tastes also got weirder as time went on… At one point they asked for Solomon’s cooking which nearly had him “Nope-ing” out of the relationship right there. He stuck through it to make them happy, but he couldn’t watch them eat it… Even he has his limits, MC… 😟🤢

Wants the baby to come out already if for no other reason than he can finally go back to being the biggest eater of the House again. Having to work around two is a nightmare for everyone…

Belphegor

Would you believe he straight up didn’t know for weeks?

Like, they told him they were pregnant a while ago but all the pregnancy seemed to do was make them really sleepy…

Combine their naps with how often he’s dead to the world and it just never got brought up. 🤷‍♀️

That was until the day it was his turn to vacuum the common room and the MC was resting on the couch…

“MC, can you move? I need to get under there.”

“Hm? Oh, sure. Let me help.”

They then proceeded to get up and lift the couch with one hand like they were Beel or something!

He was, perhaps, slightly miffed that they didn’t think it was necessary to mention they had gotten a butt ton stronger for like a month, but you know…

Belphie has probably the easiest time managing his MC anyway because ALL they want to do is sleep. At most he just has to take on the responsibility to remind them to eat and move around a little.

Lucky bastard always gets off easy… 😖

[jean-kayak]

Saw some cute couple tiktoks and it gave me an idea for a fluffy request!

Just some hc’s of lwaizumi, Ushijima, Suna, and Hinata not understanding the stereotypes of black women when their gf is anything but that. She’s gentle and nurturing with them, can be firm but does so because she cares, calls them sweet nicknames with a smile on her face, makes banging bentos and dinner, and when she’s not wearing any makeup or accessories; her natural beauty just flexes on them with the sun shining on her melanin.

I just want these boys to simp and be like “Aggressive? Loud? Ratchet? *looks around* Where?” But if someone says sumn racist or calls their queen ugly, shit will be on sight.

A/N: Here you go, anon! Hope you like it! (i lowkey made these really long)

💪To say this man is enamored by you would be a massive understatement

💪You have him so far gone, and he wouldn't have it any other way

💪One of his favorite things about being with you is waking up next to you in the morning

💪The sun hits your skin just right, and he swears up and down you're glowing

💪Of course, no one believes him so he takes a picture to prove that you look ethereal, bonnet and all, and you feel your face heat in embarrassment when you find out he's been showing that picture to his friends

💪Since he has to wake up so early in the mornings, he's very careful when he gets out of bed making sure to not wake you

💪But before he gets out of the door, you're always right there, handing him his lunch before cupping his face in your hands, planting soft kisses on his forehead, nose, and lips

💪And if he could fall in love any harder, he definitely does every time you do it

💪He was working with the team at the gym, and he was getting dressed after showering, wanting to fall right into bed with you when he got home

💪He's smiling like a dork at his phone, reading over a text that you sent him, when someone gets his attention

💪It's someone he's become acquainted with, asking him who the person is making him look at his phone the way he is

💪He proudly shows him a picture of you (thankfully nothing embarrassing), and the guy's reaction confuses him

💪"I bet she's annoying, yeah?" he jokes, and Iwaizumi just squints at him, an irritated look on his face

💪The guy laughs his first comment off before making another one. "Like super loud? You know what I mean?"

💪Iwaizumi scoffs darkly as he shakes his head. "Nah, I don't know what you mean, but you don't want me to find out."

💪The guy's playful demeanor drops fear slightly appearing on his face at his tone

💪"Say something like that again, and I'll break you in half." He puts a light tone on his words even though he's dead serious

💪"Have a nice night," he adds, giving him a hard smack on his shoulder before walking out of the gym a lot angrier than he wants to be

💪But he can't help but think about what the guy said, and he hopes that no one's said anything like that to you

💪He finds you with your back against the headboard, scrolling through your phone, the TV playing

💪He drops his bag, instantly flopping down on top of you, and you chuckle softly as you run your fingers through his hair, your nails lightly scratching at his scalp

💪He's so tired that the feeling has him falling asleep instantly, and you ask him how his day was, and he tenses when he remembers the last conversation he had

💪You notice and stop moving your fingers, and rub your hands over his shoulders instead. "You okay, Hajime?" you ask concerned

💪He looks up at you, a look in his eye you can't read. "If anyone says any disrespectful shit to you, let me know, okay?"

💪You at him in confusion but nod your head anyway, and you know he'll tell you when he's not seconds from sleep, and he gives you a warm smile before pressing a soft kiss on your stomach before he finally conks out

🌾You were probably one of the first people to ever make him smile widely

🌾The first time his team sees it, they're more than shocked, and they constantly tease him about the fact that there's someone that could make him smile that big

🌾He loves coming home to you after practice or games, the house filled with the smell of his favorite food

🌾Sometimes he won't even eat, would rather spend his time in your arms until you make him eat

🌾He's always finding himself at a war with himself, the appeal of going out for a morning run sounding awful compared to staying in and laying with you

🌾He would probably do anything you say, whether that's easing up at practice or making sure he's following a new diet that he's been put on which means that, no, he can't have dessert tonight

🌾He comes home one day, crashing in the bed, and you instantly notice that his shoulders are tenser than usual

🌾Your soft is voice but firm as you scold him telling him, "You shouldn't push yourself so hard, baby"

🌾And that's all it takes for all of the tension to drain out of him along with your fingers playing with the hair at the nape of his neck

🌾For a while, you remained a mystery to the team, only Tendou knowing who you were

🌾And it was all because they just outright ask to see what you looked like, so he claims that it just never came up lmfao

🌾So, everyone is surprised when you walk in, and when they see his face light up, like, instantly

🌾They've never seen him move so fast off the court before, all of them floored

🌾He gives you a kiss on your forehead before promising you that he'll be home early and that he won't overwork himself, and then you're out of the gym

🌾He walls back to the team with a light blush on his face, his lips still upturned in a smile as he reads the note you left on his bento

🌾But as soon as he gets to the team, that same stoic expression is back on his face. "What is everyone standing around for?" 💀

🌾He's one of the first people out of the shower after practice, eager to get home, and he's slipping on his shirt when one of his teammates walks up to him

🌾He's slowly working his way up on actually getting playing time, but he just wants to get home, but tunes into the conversation anyway

🌾He asks him if the woman that walked in during practice was his girlfriend, and he gives him a dumb look at his nods his head once

🌾The guy chuckles lightly before saying, "I bet they're all the same, right?"

🌾Ushijima raises an eyebrow at him. "Excuse me?"

🌾The guy scoffs softly, and as he's about to respond, he slams his locker a little more aggressively than usual, making the guy jump

🌾"You should refrain from saying anything disrespectful about my girlfriend and instead work on your shitty receives," he deadpans, his voice hard before he walks out

🌾He didn't want to even begin to answer the conversation, hating how it sounded like the guy was putting you into a certain group

🌾His shoulders are tense when he comes home for a different reason when you hug him, and he's looking at you, but not saying anything

🌾"What're you thinking about?" you comment, lightly pressing on the wrinkles on his forehead. "What's wrong?"

🌾"If anyone says anything awful to you, you tell me immediately," he says quickly, his voice so serious that it makes your eyes widen

🌾"Okay?" he urges, cupping your face softly

🌾"Yeah, of course," you say, nodding quickly, and he smiles before giving your forehead a soft kiss

🦊There's literally nothing that this man doesn't love about you

🦊Like Iwaizumi, swears up and down that you're glowing when the sun hits your skin the morning

🦊If you're sitting anywhere in the house where the sun hits your skin through the blinds, he'll just stare at you until you finally call him out on it

🦊Has whole albums on his phone of just you, and you and him, it literally takes up a huge portion of his phone storage

🦊He's your biggest hype man, will literally have many photoshoots with you

🦊If y'all are driving around and the sun hits you just right, he's pulling over so that you he can take pictures

🦊This man also becomes a huge cuddle when you start dating, or more like he always wants to be wrapped in your arms or on top of you in some way, shape, or form

🦊This is mostly because your touches are so soft, that it puts him to sleep instantly

🦊It could be your fingers running through his hair, your hands rubbing up and down his back, or when you massage his shoulders after a game

🦊His soft snores fill the room like five minutes after you start

🦊He is very aware of the stuff that you have to deal with, microaggressions and all, and he's quick to shut it down

🦊Matter of fact, it's probably one of his favorites things to do

🦊He likes watching the people who make the backhanded compliments lose all of their bravado lmfao

🦊There was one time where he was hanging out with Atsumu, catching up with him, and he ran into someone that he vaguely remembered from high school

🦊Somehow you came up in the conversation, and Suna was more than proud to show him a picture of you because you're like smoking hot and he loves showing you off lmfao

🦊But he already knows where the conversation is going when he sees the guy's reaction

🦊"Isn't she like--" His comment is cut off when Suna squints at him, Atsumu hiding his chuckle being his hand

🦊"Isn't she like what? Hm?" he hums. "What stupid shit are you about to say?"

🦊The guy tries to backtrack, but Suna cuts him off. "Oh, no, please say whatever you were about to say, I'm all ears," he drawls, his eyebrows raised, having way too much fun

🦊The guy's babbling now, stuttering over his words, and Suna claps a hand down on his shoulder. "Pull that shit again and I'll kill you, yeah?"

🦊He gives him a wink before squeezing his shoulder hard. "Nice talking to you," he jokes before he walks away

🦊And best believe that he will fight anyone that thinks that shit is okay

🍊He's constantly floored by you

🍊When his eyes first landed on you, the world disappeared around him, and it still does every time his eyes land on you

🍊Stares at you a ton until he just tackles you in a hug or kisses

🍊This happens a lot lmao, and you've just learned to let it happen

🍊You're always there making sure he's taking care of himself like making sure he's drinking enough water when he's out in the sun for a long time

🍊He literally eats everything that you cook, and this man eats a lot

🍊He always asks you to come with him whenever he's playing volleyball out in the sand

🍊He tells you it's because he just wants you to be there to watch him, but he's mostly watching you and how your skin glows under the sunlight

🍊He comes up with cute, corny captions whenever he posts pictures of you

🍊Like, "my sunshine under the sunlight," corny stuff like that 💀

🍊His energy seems to be even higher whenever he's with you, and sometimes you have to put your hands on his shoulders to stop him from bouncing

🍊He always asks you to put sunscreen on his face because he likes how softly you apply it, and you always kiss his forehead before you put it on, and it makes him swoon

🍊His friends tease him about how his attention span on actually playing volleyball drops whenever he brings you with him

🍊And he's like "can you blame me???"

🍊Like, all you could be doing is laying there while you're reading or on your phone and he'll stop in the middle of the game or during a break and kiss you before going back to playing

🍊And let someone say something disrespectful about you, and his happy demeanor literally disappears

🍊Some guy that joined their game one day when they were down a player made some comment like "is that your girlfriend? Really?"

🍊And the pride he was beaming about being your boyfriend changes

🍊The smile falls off of his face, and he's stepping closer to the guy, his face goes hard

🍊And he lowers his voice so that his words are out of your earshot

🍊He gives him a dark chuckle. "Say it again, I dare you."

🍊The guy's eyes widen at his tone, and then that signature smile is back on his face. "Watch what you say next time, or I won't hesitate to find you."

🍊The guy is taken aback, and Hinata just walks away, making his way towards you

🍊You haven't seen him yet, and he's laying down on top of you, and you protest about him being sweaty and covered in sand

🍊"You know I love you, right?" You bristle in surprise, a small smile on your face before you nod

🍊"You're amazing in literally every way, and don't listen to anyone that says anything different."

🍊You're confused at the sudden declaration as you reply with, "Thank you, Sho. And I love you, too."

🍊And then he's smiling widely at you, brighter than the sun before he's pecking you on the lips before getting off of you and running back towards the court

[ckret2]

Do you have any headcanons about the Hazbin's (minus Charlie) lives back when they were alive?

I scrolled through all 42 pages of the hazbin tag on my blog and literally every one of my premortem headcanons are about Alastor and Sir Pentious lmfao

So sure! Want an entire novella about my headcanons for Sir Pentious's backstory?

For Alastor, I can offer:

a traumatic toddler experience

his mother observing him with ghosts as a child

Alastor working with demons (funny)

Alastor working with demons (creepy)

Alastor and his asexuality/aromanticism (mostly postmortem but it has some premortem flashbacks)

Alastor with friends in the 20s trying to explain he does not get horny

a fic that didn't ACTUALLY happen but that demonstrates my headcanons for how he works with demons

And moving away from fics and on to tumblr posts!

For Alastor:

Alastor fought in World War I

another WWI post

headcanon about how he died (I've since changed my headcanon—hunting accident rather than manhunt—but the position's the same)

excerpt from one of the fics above about Alastor's first kiss

early headcanoning on Alastor's relationship with the queer community in life

Alastor saw but didn't learn the lindy hop in life

Alastor's accent makes people (in this case Sir Pentious) think that he's upper class when actually he's just had theater training

Alastor's family tree comes from a mix of socioeconomic backgrounds and before he died he achieved fame but not fortune

Alastor does not feel broken/insecure due to being ace/aro and never has

what people in Louisiana thought of Alastor as a radio host

what did Alastor look like (and Sir Pent)

Alastor only saw 10% of the Golden Age Of Radio and that's fucked up

fun fact when Alastor was on air radio stations weren't "just news" or "just (one genre of) music," a single station would play music and news and soap operas and sports etc

random links of queer history, 1920s gay culture, slang, and NOLA history

Alastor's mother grew up while Sir Pentious was menacing the US and she has very vivid memories of living in fear of him, and also she doesn't know her son is a cannibalistic murderer

Alastor wore glasses in life and only switched to a monocle in death

Alastor was never identified as a serial killer and there's probably unsolved true crime documentaries made about his killings (and these documentaries unknowingly use a recording of the killer's real voice, a clip from a news broadcast where Alastor read about the killings on air)

check out how hyped this newspaper in the 20s was for radio like goddamn

Alastor listened to radio all day every day

more 1920s research links

very loose overview of New Orleans race relations 1890-1920

how NOT to write about Voodoo

reminder that "alastor did magic in life" is a headcanon until we SEE him using magic before he died—also "Voodoo" is a religion not a magic power

how Alastor avoided getting caught as a serial killer

I doubt Alastor was famous enough for queer historians to have discovered he existed, only niche radio broadcast historians know about him

Alastor was raised to be courteous to (respectable) women, but not to genuinely see them as equals in a modern sense

1920s hair facts and headcanons on Alastor's hair

scene from one of the above fics of baby Alastor being haunted as shit

Alastor is a hedonistic thrill killer not a mission-oriented killer

his killing method was shooting from a distance, like hunting game

Alastor was kinda psychic in life and his psychicness interacted with radio signals

this includes developing a hella accurate sense of time

Alastor's always been hella into Mardi Gras

here he is in a ridiculous Cajun Mardi Gras costume

how the Great Depression probably affected Alastor

Alastor feels 0% empathy for other people but 500% empathy for fictional characters in musicals

For Sir Pentious:

he was so infamous that today he's a common character used in historical fiction in the same way that Victorian-era historical fiction commonly uses Queen Victoria as a character

(and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle references him in a Sherlock story)

(and he really did call himself Sir Pentious in life)

(and every character who lived after him had to study him in school, including Vaggie writing a paper about him and Alastor was cast as him in a school play)

(and now let's talk about historians dying and meeting the people they studied in Hell)

he has a son who's probably now in heaven

Sir Pent is trans

no seriously he has a son

Sir Pent has a chain of deadnames he used before settling on "Sir Pentious" and all of them are snake puns

one of Sir Pent's chosen names

based on Victorian sexual mores Sir Pent probably got kinda homoerotic with some dudes

this is just big Trans Sir Pent energy

what did Sir Pent look like (and Alastor)

I don't think Sir Pent used a wheelchair in life (but do think he had to for a while after he died)

Sir Pent is Pussyeating World Champ no I do not accept arguments

Sir Pent and his wife were very loving until his wife went "nope, you're planning world conquest, that's too evil for me"

he rigged his clothes to self-combust so he could choose death if he was ever on the verge of capture

his wife was named Helena and here's why

this is his self-destruct binder/corset

the one headcanon everyone shares

Sir Pent ain't Jack the Ripper

And there's a ton more headcanons on @dontasktheradiodemon my Alastor ask/RP blog but listen, I just went through 42 pages of one tag and it's 3 a.m., I'm not going to comb my roleplay blog for every premortem headcanon I've ever mentioned about him over there. It includes stuff like "he did deliberately shitty horoscope readings on air" and "the first time he summoned a demon he was on the Western Front and also coming down with Spanish flu so he's not sure how much of the ensuing chaos was real vs fevered hallucinations or how much was the Germans' fault vs the imp's" and "he lived a few years in New York and did drag."

These are not the only headcanons I have. These are just the headcanons I've been asked about or made time to type down. (And not counting all my postmortem headcanons. Or the premortem headcanons sprinkled into postmortem fics.) Feel free to ask me for more. Ideally with a topic you'd like to hear about; otherwise asking me "do you have any headcanons?" is like walking into a library and asking "do you have any books?" Gimme a section to start with.

[luckyblackcloverrr]

The Black Bulls and their bullshit in the modern time: jobs I guess – Part. 2

Many seemed to enjoy the first part of the series, thank you so much for the love! Honestly I don’t think this part is as good or funny as the one about lifeguard Yami and the café buddies, so look out for part 3 (the last part) I guess? Again I didn't mean for these to turn out like headcanons, but does it really matter at this point? Nonetheless, I hope you guys enjoy this one, which includes babysitter Asta, and the fashion boutique group! :D

Asta

baby babysitter

has enough muscles to carry 4 children on him with ease.

he probably shocks clients by telling them that he doesn't mind working for free (because he's clueless about stuff like that)

but his clients always pays him because they feel bad when they see him get along so well with their kids

never gets mad at the children, but always disciplines them with his loud ass voice whenever they do something wrong

teaches the kids yoga he learned from Vanessa to calm them down

"inner peace in your mind, and breathe in, breathe out."

the session is interrupted when a kid pulls his hair from behind him, and suddenly they're having a nerf gun battle

likes to break dance in the living room to entertain the kids

dislocated his shoulder once because of it

tries to help them with homework but he himself doesn’t understand what the question is asking for

brings the children out to the park to have fun with the consent of their parents

usually brings Luck with him because he has TONS of energy and the children love playing tag with him 

Asta tells him to lose on purpose so the kids don’t cry

absolutely horrible at putting them to sleep because he literally sounds like an alarm clock

so he pretends to sleep with them to get the children to follow him (because they look up to him)

ends up actually falling asleep

immensely fascinated at his rich clients' houses because he has never seen cool things like a water fountain or a built-in theatre before in a house

i totally see him screaming and shouting exactly like the children he's babysitting when playing with them

Vanessa Enoteca

runs a small fashion boutique, and designs all the items in the shop

the only person in the shop that the customers find approachable

she's usually hungover when you see her

but helpful nonetheless when it comes to clothing choices

there's never really a time where the boutique is full with customers

so in the morning she sits behind the counter, either fast asleep or watching cat videos

in the afternoon she becomes more productive though

works with Gordon to finish any ongoing pieces and discusses new designs

lowkey thinks of her customers as dolls

constantly playing dress up with the customers, and her persuasion skills gets them to actually buy her choices

plays bubblegum jpop through the speakers because Zora lowkey enjoys it

5pm to 7pm is the time for her daily yoga sessions

she holds weekly zumba lessons on the space one floor above the boutique for some extra cash

Gordon and Henry always end up being dragged into them, both the yoga and the zumba

has considered becoming a stripper seriously at least 4 times

flirts with male customers only because she wants sales

it works for some reason and she sells a winter coat for $350... in the middle of summer

gives discounts whenever she feels like it

once when she was batshit drunk, she cut 99% off someone's bill

she was dragged to the back to rest while Zora had to take over at the counter and passive aggressively explain why it is impossible and unreasonable for them to offer the discount

Gordon Agrippa

works in Vanessa's boutique pt. 1

was asked by Vanessa to work in her shop because he had a talent for sewing up dolls

now he's Vanessa's apprentice, learning how to properly make clothes and helping her complete outfits

apparently, his fashion taste has significantly improved (according to Vanessa)

she thinks Gordon's appearance is what makes him...Gordon, so she doesn't bother asking him to change it

wants to go out and make friends with the customers

once, he appeared from the back room and everyone in the store fled in fear

Henry gave him pats on the back to console him afterwards

after working together for awhile, all the workers in the boutique can make out his mumbles

likes to stroll around the shop (when there is no one) to appreciate the peace and vibes

has handmade dolls of everyone, and they sit on the table and watch him while he works

also the person who fixes things around the shop

light bulbs, broken shelves, malfunctioning cashier machine, you name it

only because the rest either had no clue how to fix them, or they're too unbothered to care about it

so Gordon learned all these skills from Google

occasionally goes to the café and Charmy's restaurant to fix things too

he just wants more friends, but is also absolutely content with his friendship with the Bulls

Zora Ideale

works in Vanessa's boutique pt. 2

drives a cool motorcycle to work

only working here because Vanessa promised to give him free clothes

you'll never see him without a leather jacket

Vanessa has told him before that he looks too scary for the customers to approach

but he honestly does not give a damn

critiques just about anybody's fashion sense

he'll tell a child that the pink Elsa dress she is wearing looks like shit

or how those blue coloured barbie crocs are NOT it

and the child always ends up crying, but stops when Henry offers her a lolipop

but he does offer actual advice and good choices depending on the customer

just that it comes out very aggressively

and it is up to the customer whether to take his suggestions or leave

he will BULLY anyone that talks shit about the workers in the store

Henry's looks messy and dirty? Zora roasts

Vanessa doesn't take her job seriously? Zora roasts

Gordon looks scary? Zora agrees but still ROASTS

the person who pulls Luck back by the ear before he ransacks the place

also offers relationship advice to couples if necessary

many visit the shop just for his brutal honesty about various topics

at least 5 couples visit monthly for his guidance

REFUSES to join Vanessa's yoga and zumba sessions, he clocks out and immediately heads to the café to chill instead

Henry Legolant

works in Vanessa's boutique pt. 3

wears pajamas to the job

he was invited to work there but Henry thinks of it more as a friendly gathering than work

his job there mostly consists of folding clothes, ironing clothes and keeping the whole store tidy

he's basically in his own world

doesn't get mad whenever the store becomes messy

he doesn't question it and instead he just tidies it up again

also sometimes sits in a corner and draws new outlines for the interior design of the boutique

is the one who recommended potted plants to Nacht for the café

Zora wanted to give him a haircut, but he insists that it's okay

"that's why his hair is so big, because his hair is fULL oF sEcReTs." – Vanessa Enoteca, quoting off the Mean Girls.

as per Gordon's request, he stands outside the shop for 20 minutes daily

to 'get his daily dose of sunshine' is what Gordon said because Henry stays inside too much

makes tea for the rest whenever it hits 4pm

sometimes offers it to the customers, they usually refuse

enjoys Vanessa's yoga and zumba lessons

he thinks it will help him become more productive

and because he has a very pleasant memory of a specific Zumba session with all the Black Bulls

which was Magna, Zora and Luck competing to see who was the better dancer

Finral won in the end by majority vote

Parts - 1 | 2 | 3

[starr-fall-knight-rise]

HASO, “In the Ambience.”

Had a conversation on discord last night where I became aware that I left Sunny and Adam’s interactions at a place where it was sort of nervous and awkward. So thank you DZ for talking that through with me.

I am not really well versed in writing relationships, and I didn’t want it to overshadow the rest of my writing, so I pulled back from it, but I think I pulled back too hard. So if you care about the Sunny/Adam dynamic, I wrote a story this morning to acknowledge that. Hope you like it, and I hope you all have a great day. 

She got up in the dark, with only the dim ambience of soft blue lighting to accompany her. She stretched all four arms, and rolled her neck. It struck her as mildly interesting in that moment, how something so small could connect them to humans, The thought was fleeting as she took another step forward to kneel down on the floor. There, in a little alcove in the wall, she had set a volcanic rock from Anin, dried moss, and other paraphernalia from her home world. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath resting her hands together.

Praise and respect to the spirits of Anin. Praise the fathers and mothers of war gone to their rest below the moss and the earth. Praise their spirits that watch from the sky and peer through the ether down upon us.

She continued the slow mantra in the style of Prayer learned from Naktan and pulled her concentration to her core ignoring anything and everything around her. A deep state of meditation overtook her. She would never have done this if she  thought there were any chance that she was in danger, but below she knew Earth glowed like a sphere before their orbiting ship. There was no worry of invasion.

She thought she heard something at one point, but chose to ignore it as she continued her mantra.

Eventually, and after an unknown amount of minutes, she stood and turned slowly to find-

She stopped, and crossed her arms over her chest.

“What are you doing.”

Adam burrowed his way further down into her blankets nuzzling his head up against her pillow, “So warm, and comfy!”

She tried not to smile, “You dumbass.”

He pulled the blankets tighter around himself, “You know, I did come here to talk to you, but I actually really am comfortable, so come back in two hours.”

“I-”

He closed his eyes and pretended to snore loudly.

She rolled her eyes as she watched him theatrically pretend to sleep. She looked around mildly for a moment before picking up another pillow and glancing at the door. She casually walked over, dropped the pillow on his head and then held it down as if she intended to smother him.

That got him up and moving.

Before long the two of them were grappling for the upper hand, him trying to put her in a choke hold, and her using her lower arms to pinch him.

He yelped, “Ouch! Pinching is illegal.”

“SIssy.”

He clamped his legs around her lower arms pinning them in place. SHe struggled for a minute and then went limp.

SHe could feel his smug smile, “I win, I beat the saint of Anin. Everyone bow at my feet.”

“You say that, but if this were a real fight, you’re the one with a self destruct button.”

“Self-destruct button…?”

“Meaning if this were a real fight, I would have punched you in the balls.”

“Please don’t”

Finally he let her go, leaving the two of them to lay on her bed, sheets scattered on the floor around them, and her pillows in disarray. Adam put his hands behind his head and sighed.

She glanced over at him, “I don’t suppose you came to just hang out. Here on Admiral-ly business?”

He groaned pulling one of her pillows over his face, “Please smother me for real this time.”

SHe leaned up on one of her elbows, “Why?”

“I don’t wanna be an adult anymore,” She tilted her head to the side watching in amusement as he attempted to throw a childlike tantrum, but only really had the energy to kick his feet once, “It’s boring and lame and they wont let me wear heelies to important meetings…. Children don’t have to pay taxes.”

She laughed, pulling the pillow from his face, “Adam you are many things, but ‘adult’ is not one of them.”

He grinned slightly, “True enough.” He sighed again and rested his head back against the pillows, “I just want to get back to what we are supposed to be doing, exploring the universe and making cool alien friends.” He threw up his hands in frustration, “But Suddenly I find myself embroiled in stupid annoying politics that I don’[t understand, being used by people who are, lets face it, WAY smarter than me, constantly finding myself getting manipulated.”

She huffed, “They aren’t smarter than you Adam, they’re just manipulative, and you aren't.”

He sighed, “Fair enough.” Then he looked at her, bright green eyes reflecting the soft ambient blue light, “I just, I miss this, I miss us, I miss hanging out and doing stupid shit, and all of the things I could do when I wasn’t so important and this operation was smaller.”

She smiled rather sadly reaching one hand over for his, lacing the four of her fingers through the five of his, “Well someone has to do the hard things, who better than you.” 

He glanced over at her raising an eyebrow, “Or you, miss saint”

She rolled her eyes again, “Can’t seem to get you off of that. I’m still the same person I used to be.”

“But with power.”

She elbowed him gently and he grinned, “But really, I am proud and impressed and…. Let's be honest super super smug that ‘I’ know you personally.”

“I know, I am pretty terrific.”

The two of them laughed for a minute before settling down again. He glanced over to her little shrine on the wall, “What were you doing just then?”

She looked up at the ceiling, following the lines of metal and rivets with her eyes, “Praying to the spirits of Anin.”

Embarrassed, he shifted, “I didn’t know you were….. Well I didn’t think you were all that religious?”

SHe shrugged, “Don’t feel bad, it’s sort of a new thing. Back before all this, it was sort of just stories to me. Like I believed it because that was what everyone believed, but I didn’t really accept it, or feel it the way I do now. After everything with my mother, it was hard to feel connected to something I felt I wasn’t a part of….. But then after visiting my mother, after becoming a saint for a religion I never really followed…. Well it started to make more sense. It feels real now in a way that it never did.” She turned to look at him, finding him watching her, the UV blue stripes in his skin glowing blue.

“I believe in the spirits of Anin more than I ever have.”

He smiled at her and squeezed her hand, “I’m glad to hear it.”

They lapsed into silence for a long moment staring up at the ceiling before, inevitably he broke it, “So this makes you like, space Moses.”

She frowned and turned to look at him, “What is a Moses?”

He grinned, “A guy from one of the Earth Religions. You know guy follows god’s directions to lead his people away from slavery, climbs a moutain, recieves the word of god, comes down to give it to the people, that sort of thing.”

Sunny tilted her head slightly to the side, “Are you religious?”

He paused, frowning, “I…. well I…. don’t really know. My family has been some flavor of Christian for a long time.”

“Christian?”

“Uh yeah, The general idea is that there is one all powerful deity who created everything. He has rules and laws that you are supposed to follow, The general tenants of this specific religion mostly boil down to, love everyone and don’t be a dick, which humans are notoriously bad at. You sin you go to hell, a very bad place after you die, and if you are a good person you go to heaven. Problem is everyone is a sinner and breaks the rules, so really no one was going to get into heaven.”

“That sounds bleak….”

“Well that's where the other stuff comes in. Basically this all powerful deity sent down his son in human form to live a perfect life, so when he was martyred he took on the sins of all of humanity and paid for them in the greatest act of mercy to open the gate for the rest of us into heaven.”

Sunny shifted as he tilted to the side to lay in the crook of her arms, “Of course that is just one religion among tons on earth, we aren’t really as cohesive in our beliefs as Drev are….. As for me…. I’m not really sure.”

She tilted her head to the side, cheek resting against his hair, “After seeing space, I become more and more convinced of some….. Thing that created everything, but beyond that it's sort of a tossup.”

She ran one hand through his hair, course but still soft somehow.

“You know my name comes from that religion.”

She turned her head to look at him, “Oh.”

“Adam was the first man.”

“WHat do you mean.:”

Adam shrugged, “He was supposedly the first man that god created, from the dust of the earth…. I think?”

She gave him a sidelong glance, “Look, and you get to be the first idiot in space.”

He snorted and poked her in the ribs.

“There were PLENTY of idiots in space before me, believe you me.”

“Mmm I don’t know, you are pretty dumb.”

He laughed, grabbing a pillow and hitting her with it. She rolled over so she was lying on top of him and then went limp.

He struggled, “Get your big ass off me.”

“Oh no, I have been attacked by a sudden acute case of the, my spine doesn't work anymore disease.”

“If you don’t move, you’ll suddenly find yourself with a case of fist in your face disease.”

She laughed and rolled off him, making su7re the hard parts of her carapace were sticking down for maximum discomfort. 

He grunted.

They returned to lying down next to each other in the half darkness. Sunny reached over and turned on some quiet music in the background as the two of them sat and talked, and laughed.

“I can’t wait to get back to deep space.” He closed his eyes and hummed softly at the thought, “Just the crew and the darkness and nothing ahead of us but an endless frontier.”

Surprisingly, she found the thought to be more than a little comforting, and closed her eyes thinking about the vast reaches of blackness and the endless spinning galaxies. 

“And while we are out we can drop Conn into a pulsar.”

He snorted,

“That billowy bastard would survive and you know it.”

She huffed, “Still though, if I have to hear one more smug lecture how he has a child with you, I’m gonna wring his scrawny neck.”

He grinned teeth flashing blue in the light, “Is someone;.... Jealous?”

Sunny laughed, almost tipping him off the bed and onto the floor with her mirth, “Yes Adam, I am totally jealous, really I am. I mean who wouldn’t want to have a child with YOU, big dumb, dork. Really the perfect place to put my superior genes.”

“Superior genes, says someone who can’t reach the top shelf.”

She kicked him foot clanging off his prosthetic, “I am a foot taller than you.”

He placed his hand next to his ear, “What was that, I can’t hear you over how short you are.”

Sunny shook her head, “At least I have binocular vision and both my knees.”

“And weird neck nostrils, don’t forget about those.”

“Oh yes so I can house them on my face like you and your bigass nose.”

“Low blow, low blow.”

“There are…. Lower things…. I could make fun of.”

He snorted, “Can’t make fun of it if you’ve never seen it. You on the other hand, walking around in the nude.”

“You’re welcome. Who wouldn’t love.” Sse gestured to herself, “This.”

“Mmm yes,.... chitin , very sexy.”

“I am a gift to the universe, and should be appreciated by everyone.” He brushed a hand through his hair, “Well I find that real gifts are gift wrapped, so jot that down.”

“Oh yeah, like a prank gift when you put something lame in a box for something cool.”

He frowned at her, “You wound me,. My feelings are so very very hurt. I might even cry.”

“I drink human tears.”

“That, that’s really gross.’

She laughed and then they lapsed into silence. She could hear him breathing quietly next to her in the darkness, his chest rising and falling under the ambient blue light. She looked across the room to where her saint armor was hanging in it’s climate controlled case illuminated to a pearly sheen.

“Adam.”

“Yeah.”

“You know I’m just kidding about calling you dumb riught.”

“Yeah I know.”

“I’m proud of what you’ve been doing.”

Adam turned to look at her rather incredulous, “Me, of what? I haven’t been doing shit.”

“So we are just going to ignore you overthrowing a maniacal politician while simultaneously piloting a 2,000 year old spacecraft?”

“That was more Conn and Eris than it was me,”

“It was your idea.”

“Lets not forget Admiral Kelly.”

Sunny pulled him closer, “I am sorry, I will not be accepting anything other than you acknowledging that you did a good job.”

“Screw you.”

“You’d like that wouldn’t you.”

He sighed, “You’ve been talking to Ramirez WAY too much.”

She was only slightly smug as she rested her head back against the pillow, “I really should get up and train.”

“We should.”

Neither of them movies.

“Alternatively we could just…. Lay here…. All day and do… nothing .”

She looked up at the ceiling for a long moment and pretended to be in deep contemplation before “Well it’s official, you have convinced me. You and your silver tongue.”

“I am a master negotiator.”

He shifted position putting one arm behind his head, “Think about it, by this time tomorrow we will be back to space exploring and doing what we should have been doing all along. I can’t wait.”

“That makes two of us.”

[stxrrywildflower]

intern

pairing - bau team x teen!reader

summary - you intern for garcia at the bau

warnings - mentions of case

word count - ?

note - takes place during season 7 around 2011

you knew penelope from the minute you were born.

both of your parents were extremely close, living just a few short blocks away in san francisco. penelope was only 17 when you were born, you instantly becoming her new favorite person. her mom was even named as your godmother.

when penelope’s parents had died, yours had looked after her even though she did go underground as a hacker. despite how much penelope had changed, she was always there to check up on you and your parents.

and then she had gotten caught by the fbi of all people.

you were far to young to even comprehend what was happening. all you could remember was penelope hugging you tightly before she left. the two of you kept in contact by letters ever since that day.

now 17, you were an expert with computers. penelope was your guide, helping you learn to hack everything and anything as well as your way with all technology.

adding on to that, you were incredibly smart, taking all advanced placement courses at school. one of your classes was an internship, you had to find a local company to spend a certain number of hours a week in order to earn credit.

when penelope hears the news, mostly since she had access to your course schedule, she pulled a couple strings.

before you knew it, you were booked to have an internship with the behavioral analysis unit in washington d.c. under penelope garcia. aaron hotchner would be your ‘boss’ as he was the unit chief.

your parents were incredibly supportive, working out the details for you to stay with penelope for the semester and possibly part of the summer.

with multiple bags packed and a plane ticket booked, you were set to leave for washington d.c. in just a few short days.

____

arriving at quantico, you were more than nervous.

a car was arranged to pick you up from the airport, an agent named anderson picked you up to bring you to the bau. from there, you would be able to see penelope, meet with hotch, and get your proper paperwork and badge.

you could tell from the second you stepped in that your presence was out of place. a teenager was rarely in the bau, nonetheless one few people could connect to someone on the team.

“alright this is the floor you will be working on. garcia’s office is down the hall but through those doors over there is what we call the bullpen. that’s where the main teams desks are as well as where they do briefings,” anderson spoke, giving you a mini-tour.

“and the staring?” you asked. “that will stop soon. once they see you with agent hotchner they’ll back off. as much as i want to defend your case, i can’t say i wouldn’t act the same. this is the first teenager working at the fbi ever,” anderson informed you. “oh wow, didn’t know i was making history.”

“yeah you are, and I'm sure-” he was cut off.

“penny!” you exclaimed, rushing forward to hug the tech analyst, your luggage remaining behind you.

anderson smiled to himself, waving towards garcia before heading back to work.

“i’ve missed you so much sweetie,” penelope grinned, matching your enthusiasm. you hugged her for a little longer, overjoyed to see her after months.

morgan was next in the hallway, hugging you once penelope let go. “hey kid, how are you? school okay?” he questioned, ruffling your hair. “everything’s good derek, i’m just stoked to be here,” you grinned.

the rest of the team, to say the least, was extremely confused. there were a ton of questions running through their heads as the scene played out.

“maybe it’s morgan and garcia’s secret love child,” emily snickered, spencer and j.j. laughing too.

“i can take your bags down to my lair and we can bring them to my place after work,” penelope offered. “and i can take you in to meet hotch,” morgan piped in.

you kept your backpack with you, the three of you splitting up. morgan stayed by your side, guiding you into the bullpen.

the two of you couldn’t have been in the main roof for more than a few minutes before who you assumed was hotch was down to greet you.

“welcome y/n y/l/n, it’s nice to finally meet you,” hotch greeted, extending his hand for you to shake. you took it, nodding with a “nice to meet you too sir.”

“please, call me hotch. we can talk up in my office,” with one final smile towards morgan, you were following the into chief up for your meeting.

“so how do you know garcia?” hotch first asked.

“she’s pretty much my godmother, her mom was my official one before she passed. our parents were friends so i’ve known her for most of my life,” you explained, a smile on your face. “she taught me to hack when i was only 10.”

hotch nodded, “and you’re seventeen, correct? have you committed to any colleges?”

you shook your head no. “not yet sir. i’ve been accepted to a few but haven’t made any final decision. pennelope is pushing me to go to school around here though.”

“i’m sure wherever you go will be a good fit. but now, we have to get into some of the more official stuff. how are you managing school with this inteenship?”

“my teachers moved all of my classes online with virtual lessons and work. penelope and i have already worked out a schedule so i can focus on my work here and do schoolwork at night,” you explained.

hotch was obviously satisfied with his answer so he continued, “now with your internship, we don’t expect you to work cases with us right away. it is mostly just learning under garcia. once you feel comfortable enough and get a recommendation, you can move up.”

you nodded along, taking in the information about your job. “i can take you down to get your badge and then you can meet the team,” hotch offered. “sounds perfect.”

photos and paperwork didn’t take more than twenty minutes. you were back up, a crisp new badge clipped on your jacket, soon enough.

“my team,” hotch called. “conference room.”

with his usual ‘unit chief’ tone, no one bother to argue with him. adding on to your interaction with three out of seven members, changes were obviously happening.

you were seated on top of one of the file cabinets, morgan beside you and penelope next to him. your conversation died down once more people entered the room.

both you and morgan quickly got down, wanting to look at least a little bit professional.

“everyone, i would like you to meet our newest team member, y/n y/l/n. she’ll be interning under penelope and helping out on cases,” hotch inteoduced.

you waved to everyone, a slight smile forming on your face. “from left to right is reid, prentiss, rossi, and j.j. and your already know garcia and morgan,” hotch pointed out each individual member.

“wait i’m not following. you know morgan and garcia?” rossi asked.

“my parents knew penelope’s for a long time. i grew up with penelope pretty much as an older sister. and i know morgan since he’s visited home a few times,” you explained.

the team was already eager to get to know you, having a fresh face around, nonetheless one that was only 17, would definitely be nice. so, for your first day, you were pestered with questions. you already fit well with the team, a new member being added to their little family without problem.

____

your first week was pretty much just learning the basics of how the computers in garcia’s lair actually operated. you had your own little station in one of the corners, a few computers and monitors set up for you to work with.

two weeks in, you had your first real assignment.

it wasn’t by choice, you were supposed to start working with the gory stuff in two weeks, or a month of working there.

you absolutely loved the job with the team. oftentimes, you found yourself hanging out with either emily or j.j. for dinner and time with sergio and or henry. you went on morning runs with morgan, the two of you constantly sending each other new routes to run on. spencer helped you with your homework, planning a schedule for the idea work time like it was no issue. if you ever had a problem with school, he would always help you figure it out.

rossi found a new sense of joy in teaching you to cook. you grew up in san francisco, eating a lot of sea food and not much else. rossi changed that, making you various pasta dishes to try as well as the recipient. and hotch, hotch became an overall mentor and pretty much another dad to you. while spencer helped you with work, hotch would keep you in line with everything.

the latest case was pretty intensive on you and penelope. you did as much work as you could, you still weren’t officially clear to handle crime scene information just yet.

the one time penelope was out of her office getting coffee for the two of you, her office phone had started ringing. you quickly pushed away from your desk, your chair rolling across the floor until you were in front of hers.

“office of the most talented and magical members of the bau here. how may i help you?” you greeted. “man garcia is really rubbing off on you,” you chose to ignore that comment.

“speaking of garcia, where is she?”

you sighed, “getting coffee. what do you need?” hotch was quick to answer, “i need you too look up an unsub. name is roger clark.”

in lightning speed, you clicked away at the computer as you dug up information on the man.

“ah here his is. clark rogers was born to a frank and mary rogers. was a normal child, played sports and graduated with honors. did have a case of aggravated assault in college though he got off free since his dad was a lawyer. oh shoot, his mom died a few weeks ago,” you quickly explained.

something about a possible trigger as barely audible in the background of the call. “we need a location asap,” emily spoke.

“oh i’ve has the location sent from the minute you called,” you leaned back in your chair, most of your work already done.

hotch actually had one of his rare smiles on his face after that. “thanks so much,” he spoke. “stay safe,” you called before hanging up the call.

little did you know, your work was more than helpful. though it was minimal, small details you had provided actually proved to be useful in taking down the unsub. even penelope, who heard news of everything once she returned, was thoroughly impressed. it wasn’t super easy finding out that information as fast as you could.

all you knew is that you were guaranteed a job once you graduated.

☆ ☆ ☆

tags - @tinylumpiaa @sapphicspence @itsmyblogandillreblogifiwantto @change-the-world-someday @ah-blossom @dr-reid-ismyspiritanimal @kissessforharryyy @garcias-batcave @spenceneedsahug @jjandreidsgirl @zoseph @spencerreidxoxo @marvelxmendes @kissessfordraco @ogmilkis @cm-is-kinda-cool @ssa-morgan @matthewgublerswife @spencerslatte @babyangellee @agentshortstacc

[pixiedoodlein]

I’m so fucking mad that a year and a half into this pandemic I am back to 11th hour debating another year of homeschool. The first stretch of homeschool, in NYC, when the toddler was a baby, and husband was home on unemployment, was good, nice even, a quiet piece of something good when the world outside was falling apart. The next stretch, the Oklahoma stretch, with a particularly climby toddler, husband working 10 hour days, me doing remote contract work, somewhere we had no family around to help w/ childcare, was challenging. I was not always my best self. Some days were delightful, muffins and math games. Other days I was more Miss Trunchbull than Miss Honey, fractions were squeezed in between crying (usually mine) and netflix (way too much of hers), and I held on to any shred of sanity by telling myself “just a little longer, just until the vaccines.”

Well here we are. Husband & I have been vaccinated for months, but the kids aren’t yet. The upstate NY town we moved to is a very small town (pop: 838), was mostly untouched by previous waves. When we got here, I couldn’t understand why everyone was so lax about it- no masks, no panic. Our first day here, when I came home from the market and saw through the window a gaggle of unmasked kids in my living room (the neighbors coming to welcome us, they heard a kid moved in) I almost had a heart attack. In fact, I was so tired from the drive from OKC that for a moment I actually thought I was at the wrong house, that I was hallucinating, because how in the world could there be unmasked bodies in my living room.

Then I started talking to people here. And I realized that the way I thought they were insane for not being deathly afraid of covid, they thought I was insane for being petrified. Because the disease hadn’t hit here; their businesses were destroyed and their kids were out of school (in a rural area with barely functional internet, remote school = a lost year) and their lives were totally fucked up, for a disease that never arrived at their doorstep. I came to understand why they weren’t worried, why here life looked (almost) normal. I told them about what it was like to live somewhere covid tore through, the freezer trucks of bodies on the FDR Drive and my previously healthy 27yld brother so sick with it the first spring he thought he was about to die (but too scared to go to a hospital), my dad’s relative in the next NYC wave on a vent for months and lucky to be alive but may never walk again, the doctors in OKC pleading on the news to please wear a fucking mask because the hospitals were fucking full, and the neighbors stopped thinking I was psycho when I carried extra masks for their kids, and made them put them on, when I took them to town for ice cream. I never stopped masking. But we did indoor dine here (once, BBQ, it wasn’t delicious enough for how anxious I felt) and I did bring all the kids, including my toddler, to a fairly crowded children’s museum in the big (small) city an hour away, where the rest of us were masked but the one with his hands in his mouth, who was all up in other kids’ faces, the one who really should be masked, wasn’t because he won’t leave it on for more than a minute.

Actually it’s a lie to say that I never stopped masking- I have dashed into little stores here, without one, because I’m vaxed! It’s safe here! Covid felt done. We had friends come here to visit this summer. Friends who are vaxed, but that doesn’t seem to really matter enough anymore. We had the neighbors over for meals, indoors (you see, more indoor dining! A minute ago I was just thinking restaurants, but why would plagues only spread in restaurants?). They had us for meals. The girls are a crew, new best friends, making my daughter’s life here so, so much happier, constant sleepovers (their kids were at our house this afternoon; my kid is at their house right now). The parents and grandparents are wonderful, making my life here, and husband’s life here, so much easier, so much better. We help them with stuff, they help us with stuff, there isn’t a day that goes by that we don’t see each other, unmasked. Some of the adults in their household are vaxed; some of the adults in their household are not. The kids are all too young to be vaxed. But it (living, doing shit again, seeing people again) really stopped feeling scary; it really felt like everything was fine, normal-ish, normal-er. The end of the pandemic felt in sight.

I signed my child up for school here. Real school, not mommy school, school with a school bus. She was a little anxious, I had to talk her into it, I sold it hard, I bought her whatever pair of new sneakers she wanted for her new school (she hasn’t had gym class in a year and a half; for a phase in Oklahoma she wore one boot and one sandal every day, why not). She wasn’t anxious about sneakers or covid; she was anxious that maybe she hadn’t learned enough in homeschool (I am not a teacher! I did not homeschool because I am good at it or love it or wanted to, I homeschooled because I was scared of her getting covid at school and dying), that she would be behind. She isn’t behind. I followed the real school curriculum as best I could (as in: sometimes totally and sometimes not at all), and somehow, when I gave her the standardized “real school” test “at the end of the year” (aka the day I couldn’t take it anymore, I had to focus on my work or I wasn’t going to have an income, the day I’d decided we’d done as much as we could and it was time to be done), she sailed through it, this kid is smart. Smart as in needs to be in actual real fucking school to stay smart and learn and reach her potential.

She got excited- one of the neighbor kids is in her grade. The other kid is older- but the school is small, she’d see her tons. She was excited; I was excited. I registered her for school. Her new teacher sent a nice note. We all were excited. She’s never taken the school bus before but the neighbors take it and she’d be fine on the bus with her besties, the bus would pick her up in front of their house since there’s nowhere to turn around up our hill (we are VERY rural), they’d all get on and off the bus together. She has been backpack shopping. We have been discussing what she’ll have for breakfast (honey nut Cheerios), what she wants me to pack for lunch (she says just Goldfish, I say turkey sandwich, we’re working on it).

But now, 18 days before school starts here, I am thisclose to pulling her out, to embarking on another lovely (not), gratifying (not) year of homeschool, because of covid, delta. When we got to our new home in our new tiny town in June, there was no covid here. Now, our county is listed by the CDC as a high transmission area (is there anywhere in the US that isn’t?). 80% of senior citizens here are vaxed; 50% of the total population is, well below the national average. 15 cases per 100,000, in a county of 100,000. I guess this is less rampant than our previous pandemic locales, NYC (currently 25/100K), OKC (49/100K). This is splitting hairs, everywhere is bad. This is what panic does to me: are we better or worse for every decision we’ve made in the past year and a half, every decision that got us here? There are fewer cases here but fewer people and fewer vaccinated people and fewer ICU beds. We aren’t safe even here, but at least we are happy (happy aside from fear of delta death).

I don’t know whether to send my kid to school in 18 days. There will be masks but masks aren’t enough (how many masks do I make her wear? two, ten, a thousand?). This choice feels crazy— in March 2020, when that covid was mostly sparing kids, I yanked her out of school. Now, this covid does hurt kids. How much longer, how many more years, can parents be in this position to make this nightmare choice? What will hurt her more: school or no school? There are vaccines, more than enough in America. We shouldn’t be having to make this choice.

As it is, because of toddler— not because of toddler, because of being a parent to children in a pandemic— my work life, and husband’s, will be severely impacted this year, again. I can’t send him to daycare because he’s too little to leave a mask on (he won’t even leave his pants on!) in a room full of other unmasked toddlers, whose families may or may not be vaxd, may or may not wear masks (there has been a noticeable increase in supermarket mask wearing since we got here, but still not enough, is any of it enough?), may or may not be going to parties and weddings and funerals, daycare providers who may or may not be doing all the same. This means I can only apply to remote jobs, so I can be home with him. Husband has some flexibility, more than he did in OKC, but god forbid he has to work while I have a work call or meeting or work due I didn’t manage to get done at 4am or 11pm when the house is quiet. He can’t bring toddler to work with him, his work is up on scaffold, stenciling ceilings. This will be another year of me muting myself on Zooms while toddler pulls his diaper off and hurls poop at the cat. Would it really be so much harder to also be trying to teach parts of speech to our daughter at the same time? Yes, it would, but I don’t know if I can send my kids back out into the world until they’re vaccinated. I am counting the days, holding my breath, until they can be.

I used to believe in personal choice. I don’t anymore. I want this shit to be mandated, I want the government to line us up and force mRNA into holdouts’ arms, I want it to be required, to be able to function in and interact with and benefit from society in any way, shape, or form. I have been very lucky in the pandemic. Privilege stacked on privilege on privilege, to be fussing over my Zooms in my hamlet. I had been pretty pandemic perky, baking my pies and playing with my pandemic pets and (thinking about) doing puzzles, but I’ve reached my breaking point. This shit could be done, but it’s not, and I’m scared it never will be.

[sword-brainrot]

HOMIE YOU AND YOUR WRITING NEVER FAIL TO LIGHT UP MY LIFEEEEEEEEEE. now since my bday is coming up, may i have some headcanons about how izuminokami, mutsunokami, and uh....(spins wheel) honebami all celebrate their saniwa's/s/o's bday? seperate pls. tHANK YOU

OMG! YOUR BIRTHDAY IS COMING UP?? HAPPY (early) BIRTHDAY!!! These swords will try to make your bday extra special and I will try my best to make the headcanons extra special! I hope your bday is amazing and filled with plenty of love ^^ Just going to let you know now, all the swords have no idea what a birthday is until you explain it to them. They don't have a birthday of their own and their masters didn't celebrate their birthdays by the time they got them as a sword.

Izuminokami, Mutsunokami, and Honebami celebrating S/O birthday (GN!Reader)

♡   As soon as Izuminokami learns about birthdays, he asks you when yours is. He wants to make sure he doesn't forget! He writes it down someplace (and gives it to Horikawa to remind him cough) so he can remind himself every month and plan when it gets close!

♡  Expect a lot of very not subtle questions about your past birthdays and the things you like. Some questions even going as far as; "If you could possibly get a gift from a really handsome sword, what would you want?"

♡  He has... a blather mouth. He has a hard time keeping a secret from you. He is aware of it too! If you start asking him questions in return of why he is asking, he will instantly tense up and become flustered. Constantly tripping over his words in trying to think of an excuse. He may also just run... That is also a big possibility.

♡  The day of your birthday, you will wake up in your bed alone. It happens sometimes in the past if Izuminokami has an early morning mission he has to leave for, but normally he wakes you up to tell you he is leaving and give you a kiss goodbye. It is very unlikely for him to leave before you wake up and without a single word.

♡  Right away you will know something is up.

♡  As you continue you on with your morning routine, you will take yourself to the kitchen to get some food and drink. There are a few swords that normally take turns with kitchen duty so you expect to see one of them (Kasen, Azuki, Chiyoganemaru, Kuwana, Nikkou, or Mitsutada)

♡  However, instead you will see someone entirely different. There, struggling to crack eggs into a bowl without the shells, will be Izuminokami. His hair will be pulled back in a tight ponytail and adorn on him will be a pink apron... A little too small for how tall he is. His face pull of concentration as Horikawa cheers him on and tries to help him.

♡  He almost doesn't notice you until you let out a small snicker at the sight you see. His expression will quickly change from total focus to total surprise. Probably dropping the egg in the process as his face lights up like a Christmas tree.

Izuminokami: H-Hey! You're not suppose to be awake yet!! Horikawa: Well you have messed up quite a bit, Kane-san. I'm not too surprise they are awake by now... Izuminokami: S-Shut it, Kunihiro!

♡  It is very clear that Izuminokami is the one that is mostly helping the cooking progress while Horikawa is the one actually cooking and getting stuff done. They are making (Your favorite breakfast food). From just the look of the kitchen... Izuminokami has messed up. A ton of times.

♡  After the meal is finally done, Izuminokami will bring it out to you and serve it with (your favorite flower) on the side.

♡  The messy apron finally off of him and he sits beside you, giving you a small kiss on the cheek.

♡  "Happy birthday, my beloved."

♡  The rest of the day goes the same as normal (minus the part of everyone wishing you happy birthday and giving you gifts throughout the day when they catch you). The only thing different is that Izuminokami makes sure that today is your special day and you don't have to work. No paperwork for you! It's your day and you deserve to enjoy it!

♡  Izuminokami is around you for most of the day but doesn't want to crowd you because he knows you have a lot of swords lining up to give you gifts.

♡  He doesn't give you a gift. Not until much later.

♡  The sun has already fell and the both of you are getting ready for bed. Once you are climbed into the bed, Izuminokami leaves and comes back with a small box. He sits next to you and tells you to open it.

♡  When you open it up, you will find half a heart. Pulling it out, you will realize that it's a necklace with a blue gem at the top and Kane-san inscribed onto it (because no way is Izuminokami going to fit on there).

♡  As you look over, you will see that Izuminokami pulls out the necklace from under his shirt that has your name and your (favorite color) gem also on it. He had been wearing it the whole day.

♡  "I know it's hard to forget this handsome face but I wanted to give you something where we are always together. No matter how long we are apart. I know I can be dumb and reckless at times, but you keep me grounded and loved. I don't ever want to lose that. I want to spend many more birthdays with you and always keep you close to my heart. Happy birthday, Y/N."

♡  Once Mutsunokami finds out about birthdays and that your birthday was coming up, he starts planning! He wants to make the day super special and gets everyone involved to do that for you.

♡ Mutsunokami has always been the type of person that takes a bunch of photos with the camera you bought for him. He loves it so much. His gun and camera are his babies. So it is no surprise whenever he pulls it out and takes pictures of the two of you. Those are his favorite photos.

♡  Mutsunokami also has a little bit of a loud mouth. He will often let it slip about his plans and isn't good at covering it up. He will let it slip and instantly cover his mouth, letting you know it was something important and you weren't suppose to know yet.

♡  Though most of his plan is secretive! It's just... Not a big surprise that he has something planned for your birthday.

♡  The day starts off normal. You awaken in Mutsunokami's arms as he holds you close to his chest. For once, Mutsunokami isn't still passed out and you have to slither yourself out of his grasp. This morning, he is awake. He is smiling down at you as he whispers a faint "Happy Birthday" and giving your forehead a soft kiss.

♡  Your day starts off normal... Well, until you get to the kitchen and see that the citadel is empty. The both of you don't run into any swords and there is only two plates of hot food that await you both.

♡  Like always, Mutsunokami shovels all the food down in a fast pace like it is nothing big. This time, not waiting for you to finish your meal. Instead he gives you a quick peck on the cheek and tells you that he has to go do something and that he will be back later. Leaving you alone.

♡  The whole citadel is quiet as you finish your meal and take care of the few dishes that accumulated after the two of you ate.

♡  It is only when you leave the kitchen and go to the back do you see it.

♡  In the back are stands everywhere. All the swords that weren't there, now stand before you and in front of the festival they put together for you. All of them popping confetti and Mutsunokami coming out with your favorite type of cake in hand, a few candles on top.

♡  Everyone begins to sing happy birthday and awaits for you to blow out the candles.

♡  The whole citadel came together to make a festival with many games for you and the rest of the swords to enjoy together. Mutsunokami with a camera around his chest, taking pictures of the best moments he can capture.

♡  You spend your birthday playing all the games they put together; Goldfish scooping, Yo-yo fishing, Gun-shooting, Super ball scooping, and many more!

♡  Some stands have masks and others are food that swords made that they remember their master(s) loving.

♡  There is even a big performance at the end with all the Awataguchi swords (minus Onimaru. No way you are getting Onimaru to sing and dance)! The show ends with fireworks and Mutsunokami by your side.

♡  It is when the day calms down and everyone is cleaning up, that Mutsunokami takes you to the side. He helps you up onto the roof where you two can relax and look at the stars. He gently holds your hand as he hands over a decent size box with wrapping.

♡  Inside is a photo album of pictures of all the swords in the citadel when they first arrived, as well as moments of them hanging out with you. There is many pictures of the two of you together.

♡  The very last picture is the two of you kissing with the small caption; "The only person I want to seize the world with."

♡  Under the writing is a necklace with a locket. In the locket is the same picture so you can keep it with you at all times.

♡  "You brought me to life, aruji (master). For that, I will forever be grateful. You have taught me so much about the world and let me see so much. The thing I am most grateful for is being taught how to love. Everyday I learn something new about you and everyday I smile. I want to keep learning about the world and you. So this is my gift to you. A happy birthday now and many more happy birthdays in the future."

♡  Honebami asks many questions when he first learns of birthdays. This boy is very confused by the whole concept. He is willing the learn everything about it, though!

♡  Unlike Mutsunokami and Izuminokami, Honebami is very good at keeping secrets. So It will feel like he has forgotten about your birthday for a while. But he would never. He even wrote it down in his special journal to make sure he always remembers it.

♡  Honebami is actually quite good at planning without you knowing. He will still be around you the normal amount but will somehow be getting stuff done in preparation for your day.

♡  The day of your birthday, you wake up to the smell of fresh food. As you open your eyes, you see none other than Honebami. Normally he is already out of bed and doing the things he need to for the day. Very rarely waiting until you wake up. However, this time is different. Instead he is standing there with a tray in hand and some hot food on top.

♡  "Happy Birthday.."

♡  The second half more quiet as his cheeks start to burn and he looks down so his bangs hides his face from you.

♡  You enjoy your meal in bed with Honebami by your side, making sure he is taking care of you so you don't have to lift a finger.

♡  After you finish your meal, he takes the tray away to go clean. It is then when his brothers come in, wishing you a happy birthday. The little ones jumping on you and giving you hugs. They all give you cards and one big gift.

♡  In the big gift is a (favorite color) saddle!

♡  Once Honebami returns, you all go out into the barn to see an Anglo-Arabian horse. They all chipped in money to get you your very own horse to name. It is yours so they will never take it out to battle and you can spend time with them whenever you want. The little swords are all hopping around in excitement when they show you their big present to you.

♡  The rest of the day is pretty quiet. Some happy birthdays here and there, some cards and presents. Honebami steals you away around midday from everyone and offers to teach you horseback riding. If you already know, he offers for the both of you to go riding together.

♡  Honebami isn't the best at horseback riding. He is pretty fast on his own but he does know how to ride!

♡  If you are too scared to ride by yourself, he will ride on your horse with you. The stroll in the forest is just filled with you and him. It is mostly silent besides the birds chirping and the horse's soft sounds.

♡  He will ride out to an opening, where the pond is crystal blue, to rest. As the two sit by the shore, he will pull out a journal just for you. It will be a brown journal.

♡  Inside will be a letter to you every day he has known you. In it will be him describing everything he loves about you. Your eyes, your hair, the way you smile, the way you look when you first awake, the soft hugs you give that make him feel so secure, your voice, your kindness, the moment he realized he fell in love with you and knew you'd be the only one for him.

♡  It's everything he could never say in words.

♡  The very last page was written just the night before. His hand now entwined with yours as you read.

♡  "You are probably very well aware of how it's hard for me to expression feelings and emotions to you verbally. Yet you still love me even though I struggle in showing you in return how much I love you. I cherish that so much about you. This journal is something I have been working on for a long while. Anytime you went to sleep, I would say up and write. This is everything I have trouble saying to you. These are my feelings written down for you to read anytime you may doubt my devotion to you. You mean the world to me so... All I ask of you is to look at me one more time in this moment."

♡  As your head turns to him, you will be greeted with a soft smile on his lips and love in his eyes. "I love you, Y/N."

[opalsiren]

the h2o gang on tiktok

emma: posts tons of study hack tiktoks, a few of which have gone viral. think soft lofi music, perfect notes for all her classes, aesthetic reels of her desk, tips on how to stop procrastinating or write the perfect college admissions letter. naturally rikki comments 'nerd' under every single video. occasionally she'll post little aesthetic vids of her making smoothies at the juicenet too

cleo: mostly takes videos of her fish collection and has a loyal following who love to hear all about hector et. al's latest adventures. a video where she redecorates her entire fish tank from start to finish goes viral. she sometimes posts videos of ronnie and the other sea life at the marine park also. at one point she definitely uploaded a 'decluttering my entire wardrobe' video, but continued to wear the clothes she claimed to have decluttered in future tiktoks. she quietly deletes any comments from followers who try to point it out

rikki: rikki's tiktok is a little more chaotic. she'll post videos of her and the girls messing around, silly memes, videos where she does the voiceover for her cat's life, even a series called 'things that annoy me' which is pretty self explanatory. emma and cleo are often featured. she also has a series about having a rich boyfriend when you are not rich where she pokes fun at zane for doing rich kid stuff like having a rose arbour or a ten thousand dollar mountain bike when they leave near approximately 0 mountains

bella: her tiktok is mostly videos of her singing, and she probably has the most followers out of all the girls. she definitely is the biggest tiktok 'personality' of the bunch, despite being the most introverted. as such she occasionally dabbles in lifestyle aesthetic-adjacent content where she makes iced coffee, shows you how to turn seashells into jewellery, styles her clothes or hair or make-up, or shares self care advice. she has to be talked down from deleting when a follower comments that her voice is so pretty she must be a siren though

charlotte: charlotte isn't super active on tiktok, but when she posts she dabbles in all things creative, sharing timelapses of intricate paintings and charcoal sketches, showing us how to transform a regular denim jacket into a bespoke masterpiece, and sometimes features her mum in cooking videos too. she remains relatively anonymous though and rarely includes her voice or face in videos. i think she probably would develop a penchant for vintage tiktok after learning more about her grandmother too

lewis: of course lewis posts niche science facts, especially those pertaining to marine biology. surprisingly some of his videos are actually really interesting and fun, despite rikki commenting to the contrary. he also sometimes posts cute aesthetic videos of him and the mermaid squad just hanging out. emma, rikki, and bella will leave nice comments whenever he posts videos of cleo

zane: is motorcross tiktok a thing? i can imagine zane positioning himself as this like commentary tiktok personality where he just walks around and says stuff into his mic. his videos often go viral for the wrong reasons, like the series he tried out on having a not rich girlfriend when you are rich. his most successful video is a compilation of him daring nate to do increasingly stupid things, like eat a live crab or do a headstand on a moving bike. nate says the concussion was worth the virality

will: will definitely posts tons about his collection of various shells, fossils, and the like that he has amassed free diving around the world. he talks about the history of each item and sometimes shares general free diving tips too. i think he would probably eventually go travelling again and share videos of his exploits, especially those which take place underwater

sophie: her tiktok is mainly advice on how to be a #girlboss from crafting the perfect CV to telling other prospective employees at your job interview that you have already been hired. her content is actually not dissimilar to emma's except the tone is a little different; emma is more gentle and encouraging, while sophie mostly yells at her audience and gets meme'd once or twice (hot take: is sophie just a worse version of emma?). sometimes rikki uses burner accounts to call her a capitalist pig, but usually feels bad and deletes the comments later

bonus: at the time of writing kim is embroiled in a tiktok rivalry with miriam and tiffany who have a shared account. kim came up with a new tiktok dance that went viral, but miriam and tiffany are claiming credit

[harrypotterandthefandomaccount]

Stumbling Over Your Own Two Feet

request: hey angel! since your writing for cedric diggory too, i was wondering if you could make a headcanon/drabble about cedric dating the reader who has muggle parents? and maybe some stuff about him visiting the readers home and seeing all the muggle stuff? also maybe a part where she shows him her phone LMFAO bc idk if the wizards have phones or not x just tons of fluff and cedric being confused by memes, tik tok or vine references xxx

warnings: none

note: gender neutral!reader,,,, i havent written for cedric in a long time so i hope yall enjoy this but omg this is so fricken bad i am so so sorry i-

-

You were smitten the first time you saw Cedric Diggory. He was not only unbelievably handsome but kind, funny, and just an overall wonderful human being. At first, the two of you rarely talked, only having a few classes together. But as years passed, you both became partners in most of your classes and began to realize how much you had in common.

Until you started to realize that not every wizard has been introduced to a muggle. Well, at least you thought you were muggle - you apparently had some sort of magic blood within you, letting you attend Hogwarts.

You were beyond shocked when you received a letter from Hogwarts stating that you were a wizard - weren’t those made up, like that one series of books into movies? What was it called, Harley Porter?

Anyways!

It was extremely difficult being a muggleborn in a school mostly filled with students who had at least one parent that knew of magic. However, one person that stayed consistent through those years with you was Cedric. He was quiet in his first few years, but slowly came out of his shell and showed you how to be a wizard to your full potential. He also proved to be an amazing friend, sticking up for you whenever other wizards would question your ability to even be a wizard with your muggle status. He seemed to know how to handle every situation thrown at him, and that was something you envied about him - but loved him nonetheless. 

So to see Cedric very confused over such minuscule items in your house was a wee bit surprising. You thought wizards would know everything about muggles, considering they were like little pet rats and most wizards loved analyzing them. Apparently, that wasn’t the case.

Cedric had decided to come over to your house during Christmas break, saying he missed your mom’s homemade meals and your dad's jokes that made him laugh till he cried - but you knew he just wanted to spend time with you. He had met your parents once before, but that was outside of the muggle environment. So now, coming into your home for the first time, he didn’t know what certain things were and was taken aback by some items.

Entering your house, your tiny laundry room was the first room that the house enclosed, attached to the kitchen. Cedric pointed at your washer and dryer, stacked atop of each other, “what are those things, darling?”

You raised an eyebrow, “a washer and dryer. We use them to wash and dry our clothes.”

Cedric furrowed his eyebrows, “why not use the scouring charm?”

With a laugh, you took Cedric by the arm and led him through the kitchen, “it feels better to sort our clothes and have them go through the process of being cleaned. Although, I sometimes use the charm when I’m feeling lazy.”

Your boyfriend chuckled and nodded along, but stopped once he saw the toaster in your kitchen, “okay, darling, I understand the washer and dryer, but what in Merlin’s beard is that?”

Looking at where Cedric was pointing at, you squeezed his hand, “a toaster, love. We put bread within those little slots and by pushing the level down, the heaters inside toast the bread.”

He looked dumbfounded, “you muggles astound me. You don’t just make lightning bread?”

Now you looked confused, “lightning. . .bread?”

Cedric looked you in the eyes before snorting, “how about that tour?”

Rolling your eyes but silently adoring his little snort, you pulled your boyfriend through the dining room to the upstairs and into your room, before closing the door, setting one of his bags on the floor. Plopping on your bed, you pulled out your phone, deciding to go onto Snapchat and send pictures to a few of your friends.

Your boyfriend walked around your room, glancing at the little trinkets you had. One thing that caught his eye, though, was a picture with you and some of your friends from your hometown. Picking up the photo, he noticed you were mid laugh, along with your friends, but the picture wasn’t moving.

“Sweetheart,” Cedric started, watching as your face lit up from the flash on Snapchat, looking over at him, “how come this photo isn’t moving?”

You smiled, “those are my friends, my muggle friends. Obviously, they can’t be exposedto magic so I can’t take any moving pictures with them.”

You seemed a little hurt at the end, but understood that it’d be dangerous to even expose your muggle friends to a moving picture.

Giving you a tight smile, Cedric jogged over to your bed and laid next to you, resting his head on your chest as you played with the filters on Snapchat, laughing at Cedric’s facial expressions he made.

“That’s your phone, right?” your boyfriend asked, still looking surprised as to how so much light and information could fit onto one screen.

You kissed his head, “yes, love, and actually. . .I just downloaded this new app called ‘TikTok’ and I’ve been scrolling through it - the people on here are absolutely hilarious. I even learned a new dance!”

You pushed yourself up, looking around for your phone charger that seemingly disappeared.

Cedric leaned back, propping himself up on an elbow, “a new dance, you say? Show me those moves, beautiful.”

You blushed, “I didn’t say I was good, Ced.”

Pausing your search, you wrapped yourself up in one of Cedric’s Quidditch sweaters that you definitely took with his permission, tossing your shirt into your hamper, leaving you in shorts and his sweater. Then, you leaned over the edge of your bed once more, trying to see if your charger was caught between the wall.

Cedric smirked, leaning over to grab your ankle, jokingly trying to pull you towards him as you leaned over the bed, trying to reach the charger, “c’mon darling, show me some of those moves you learned on. . .TikTok.” He chuckled to himself, wondering how muggles came up with those names.

You yelped when his hand met your ankle, blushing profusely as his fingers played with your calf, “Cedric Diggory!” With a sigh, you tossed a glance to him as you hopped off the bed, “promise you won’t laugh?”

He looked you over as he supported his head against the many pillows and stuffed animals you had on your bed, ruffling his hair, “no promises. . .go ahead, sweetheart.”

From that night on, Cedric learned the multitude of TikTok dances that took over the world, ranging from the Renegade (he grew frustrated at how quickly Charli picked it up but he couldn’t) to the Chika dance.

All the two of you did was laugh, stumbling over your own two feet as you struggled to learn the dances. However, at the end of the night, Cedric kissed you, telling you that while being TikTok famous would be cool, just being with you was a hundred times better.

[alice-in-wonderart]

I have found your blog and I love it!! Good look with it! Can you do headcanons for pregnancy and post-delivery for the juniors? (I see you write about them, and I don't know which other characters you are comfortable to write for). Thnkx~

I write for right about all characters! The Nies, the Jiangs, the Wens, the Lans, even all of the Jins (except Jin Zixun he can go be mean somewhere else) + Yi City power characters are all characters I write for ✌️ (I may have missed a few names) That aside, thank you so much for reading my stuff! I'm glad you enjoy them ❤️❤️ Aside from having 0 time management skills, running such a blog is so much fun! Here is your request about the Juniors being...well- themselves.

Ouyang Zizhen

You're what now?

OYZZ.exe stopped working.

Then he realised three fundamental truths at the exact same time. (if u get the reference, bless ✌️ )

Once the realization of the situation hit, his eyes watered and a loud, yet emotional whail escaped his lips, before engulfing you in a big hug. He was going to be a dad! You two were going to have a baby. And then realization hit him again.

Shit. He was going to be a father. A father to a baby - his baby. That was a lot of responsibility he was about to take. A lot of work, a lot of sleepless nights, a lot of time and energy. Babies are hard.

And then realization hit him a third time. He was going to have an actual family with you. And you were the mother to his child. YOUR child. He almost couldn't believe it.

Cue OYZZ becoming 70 times more affectionate and careful. You want to go outside? By all means, but let your gentle lover accompany you. Just in case, y'know. You want something sweet? By all means, what kind of sweets does the queen desire? You need new clothes because of the baby bump? By all means, what kind of silk do you want? Colour? Pattern? Style? You want to sleep? 3, 5 or 50 pillows?

OYZZ is a walking panic bomb when it comes to your pregnancy. Conveniently, he also knows how to mostly hide said panic. But you being in pain, having morning sickness and and in general feeling off is not something he signed up for. So, he will dote over you as much as humanly possible.

But then judgement day arrived. And he was out of it. He somehow never considered the fact, that you were going to one day have to give birth to that baby.

You have never seen a more distressed looking man than OYZZ when he finally got the permission to see you. His eyes were puffy, his lips were quivering and he was so pale, he could easily pass for a corpse. It seemed as if he was the one giving birth, not you.

And he immediately dropped to his knees next to your bed, gently taking your hand in his. You were alive. You were alive and argueably healthy and that was what he needed to hear.

But then! In comes the medic, holding your child in pure white blankets, gently letting you take it. And the moment his eyes landed on that baby he knew, that his heart was stolen once more.

"Congratualtions! It's a girl."

Guess who is about to become "Daddy's little princess".

Jin Ling

"Hahahahahhahha. Funny. Oh wait, you're serious?!"

PaniK

What do you mean you're pregnant? When did that happen? When did you learn? How were you sure? Wait, you were how many months in?!

Give him time. It's not, that he isn't happy. He's just panicking like crazy. Of course, once the initial mental breakdown™️ wears off, he'd come up to you and give you the most emotional hug you've ever experienced. He'd hide his face in your hair, as he mumbled into you how incredibly grateful he actually is.

Now, as the Lanling Jin Sect's leader, of course it was expected of him to have an heir, so such news travelled quickly. Immediately this became the gossip of every household and ultimately led to you receiving a metric ton of gifts from all over the place. Jin Ling would also make sure you were living the most lavish, yet healthy lifestyle possible.

The truth is, he was utterly terrified. After all, he grew up without parents, lived only with his uncle and as a result was quite hot-tempered. More than anything, he wanted to be the best dad possible. He wanted his children to grow up in a loving family, with their parents next to them, with a mother to care for them and a father to teach them. And he was afraid whether he was capable of even being a good father. But of course, you knew he was going to be the best father in the world.

Now, speaking of hot-tempered, Jin Ling honestly would throw more hissy fits than you. In fact, he'd get more mood swings than you too. In fact, even when pregnant, you're the calm one. Because if you think he's snappy and over-protective of you usually, wait 'till you see him once he learns you're pregnant. Hoo boy.

He was at work, dealing with the pressures of leading a sect when one of Lanling's servants hurriedly burst into the room, giving him the news that made his tough guy act crumble in seconds - his wife was giving birth.

At the time, he was surrounded by now Sect Leader Lan Sizhui, (idk it's a hc), Nie Huaisang and of course - his uncle, who all ushered him to go see you. Thus, he stormed out, running towards the nursery like his life depended on it.

"What do you mean I can't enter yet, my WIFE is in there." You haven't seen scary until you've seen Jin Ling, amidst an utter mental breakdown, being held down by a few nurses, trying desperately to stop him from going in.

Once they DID let him in, he'd be by your side in 0.001 seconds, only to see you holding not one, but two babies.

"A-Ling, look. They're twins. Say hello to papa, little ones." For once, Jin Ling didn't mind the tears that began falling from his eyes, as he gently held one of his two sons in his embrace. Perhaps, being a father wouldn't be that bad after all. Not with you by his side.

Lan Jingyi

*dramatic gasp*

For once the loud, wild Jingyi was left speechless, unmoving, utterly starstruck by the news. He'd never admit it, but for a while he'd been dreaming of having a family with you. So, when you told him the news, his heart skipped a beat. His dream was coming true.

And then, with the biggest smile on his face, he'd lift you up, carrying you to your now shared room, stating how you shouldn't strain yourself and how he'd take care of everything you need.

"Er-gege, I'm only 3 months in, it's barely noticeable yet, I can take care of myself."

Denial.

Lan Jingyi will be there for you at the cost of right about everything, even if it meant breaking Lan's rules, much to yours and everybody's dismay. Macho man™️ will protect his darling flower. What he wasn't ready for was how complicated pregnancy actually is.

Whenever you're more moody, he'd be quick to anger as well, so small and pointless arguments wouldn't be uncommon. But for every little argument, there is also a sleepless night where he'd cuddle you, whenever your stomach would hurt, or you'd feel uncomfortable.

Now Lan Jingyi is a cool dad. He is a cool dad before he is officially a dad. Whenever you two are alone, lying in bed, he'd lean in to rest a hand on your stomach. And he'd always give a happy yelp whenever he felt his little one move. And gosh, how much he'd talk to the baby. He'd tell your stomach stories of his great adventures, he'd joke around and believe me, he's planned every family outing for next 10 years.

Absolutely everybody thought it was going to be a boy. Ouyang Zizhen and Jin Ling even bet on it, OYZZ being ABSOLUTELY sure it would be a boy.

Giving birth was a whole new adventure. He'd wake up much too early for his liking with you frantically shaking him awake.

"The baby is coming." "Who's coming?" "The baby." "THE BABY?!"

Cue, Lan Jingyi losing his damn mind. He'd be up and running in a blink of an eye, casually scaring the medics and waking up the entire Cloud Recess in his hurry. Don't run in Cloud Recess? He's not running. He's SPRINTING. Do not shout in Cloud Recess? He's not shouting, he's SCREECHING. Do not speak out of turn? FOR GOD'S SAKE MY BABY IS COMING. And he'd be like that the entire time, until he's allowed to see you. He'll write the rules a thousand times if he has to later. He won't, Lan aren't heartless.

Seeing his healthy little baby, he was right about ready to pass out. He almost didn't hear you joking how your little girl was a loud crier and was about to be just as wild as her dad.

" Wait. It's a girl? We have a little girl!" Cue Ouyang Zizhen screaming in misery, as Jin Ling victoriously smirks his way.

Lan Jingyi on the other hand couldn't have been happier.

Lan Sizhui

QWQ

"This is the best day of my life, I can't believe we're going to have our own family!"

With a bright smile, he'd pull you in for a sweet kiss, shaking with excitement. Honestly, he'd have the best reaction out of all the Juniors. He's a family guy, who gets to witness true love everyday around his fathers, so having a child of his own with you was one of his long-term goals. He was old enough and wise enough to be absolutely ready to embark on an adventure through fatherhood.

Lan Sizhui would be so loving and gentle with you. You'd have him wrapped around your finger, he'd respond to your every beg and call. He'd minimize any work-related travelling to make sure he could be as close to you as possible.

When he wasn't there, he'd assign his cultivation partner and trusty bestie Lan Jingyi to take care of you and look after you. Did you necessarily need it? No. But you understood his worry, so you let him be.

He'd be there for you when you were feeling down, through your mood swings, morning sickness. He never complained, never fought with you, never gave you anything short of his unconditional love.

In fact, he was so SO compassionate, that he'd get pregnancy cravings WITH you. Nothing like the two of you, sitting awake at 2 am, (uncommon for him) eating chocolate-covered cucumbers and apricots.

Similarly to Lan Jingyi, everybody were already 100% sure the two of you would have a little girl. With Sizhui's sweet soft-spoken behavior and big warm heart, having a little gentle flower to spoil rotten seemed like the obvious outcome.

Lan Sizhui, on the other hand, refused to give into all of those "what ifs". Only time could tell. Besides, he'd be just as happy and proud no matter what gender the baby would be.

With his careful planning and skillful avoidance of any travelling, thankfully he was there when the due date was up. On the outside, he remained as calm as physically possible, but oh, on the inside it was a storm. Few could see through his façade, but by the trembling of his fingers, discreet chewing on the inside of his lip and eyes darting all around him, his true feelings came to light.

And when he finally got to see you, you've never seen him more unlike himself. With a worried expression and hasty movements he'd make his way to you, trembling hand reaching out to cup your face. He'd leave a gentle kiss on your forehead, before turning to the newborn in your hands.

"Sizhui. Say hi to your son."

A single tear rolled down his face, carrying the weight of all of his love in it. One look at his child and his heart was pierced by a million arrows. At that very moment he vowed, that he'd protect this child with all he's got, teach him all he knows and love him with all of his heart.

Thank you for reading~

[eloquentgifs]

DWJ Reading Project. Part I

As I said here, my 2021 resolution is gonna be READING EVERY DIANA WYNNE JONES BOOK I CAN FIND, and due to my love of making lists and taking notes, I’ve decided keeping track of this reading project here in this post, which I’ll keep updated as I make progress. It’s mostly for my own pleasure, but maybe it helps someone who wants to give it a try to this amazing writer and doesn’t know where to start.

Part II (1977 – 1981 & The Chrestomanci Series)

Part III (1984 - 1992 & Land of Ingary Series)

- Changeover (1970) I couldn’t find it, which it’s a pity because not only it’s her first novel, but it’s one of the few she wrote for adult readers. For what I’ve seen, it’s a political comedy about colonialism in Africa.

- Witch’s Business (also called Wilkin’s Tooth, 1973) It tells the story of two siblings who start a revenge/dirty work business to make some cash and ended up caught in a crazy plot of debts, witchcraft, old grudges, painting modelling and treasure hunting. I love how even this early in her career you can already find some of her creative trademarks, altought it’s not as polished as her future novels. Still, the characters and the dynamics between them are pretty good, the way everything unfolds is flawless, and it is a fun read in general.

- The Ogre Downstairs (1974) Three kids are dealing with the fact that her mother married a guy who’s rather grumpy and terryfing (the titular ogre), and that now the household includes him and his two sons. The story begins with the Ogre buying a chemistry set to each group of siblings, and they turn out to be magical, so a lot of crazy shit happens and they start to get along with each other as they have to colaborate to clean a mess after another before the ogre finds out. I must confess I didn’t enjoy that much the first half because everyone was being an asshole, but it improves as the characters own their shit and decide to be better. Magic here it’s merely an excuse, Diana just wanted us to learn empathy and how to build a good coexistence.

- Eight Days of Luke (1975) David is depressed because he’ll have to stay with his abussive relatives during the summer, but then he mets this weird kid with powers called Luke and they become bff’s. Unfortunately, Luke is also in bad terms with his own relatives and David will have to help him to hide from them. I’d say you’ll enjoy more this book if you have some basic knowledge on Norse Mythology, but tbh I think reading it without any clue about the subject might be interesting in its own way, because you’ll discover the stuff as David does. Great read anyway.

- Dogsbody (1975) This one it’s like two different premises mixed up together. First, we have this society formed by sentient stars and planets, in which Sirius was a very important figure until he’s judged and punished for murder, and we follow him while he tries to get free (and maybe prove his innocence?). On the other hand, I think Diana just wanted to write a dog POV. In any case, both ideas where combined perfectly, and the result it’s crazy good. Some trigger warnings tho: there are several depictions of animal abuse, and once again tons of emotional cruelty towards chidren (the main human character is an Irish girl being harrased and bullied by her own family because of her nationality and for having a father on the IRA)

- The Dalemark Quartet: · Cart and Cwidder (1975) It kind of reminded me of the first half of The Name of the Wind, probably because the main character is also a red haired kid who travels with his family all around the world performing with his lute (I figured a cwidder is some kind of lute?), and there’s also tragedy, politics, old foreshadowing songs and legends... But mostly because I JUST COULDN’T STOP READING, and I can’t wait to read the rest of the series.

· Drowned Ammet (1977) I thought the two previous books were rather darker than I’m used to see in Diana’s work, but this is a whole new level. It follows the evolution of Mitt from a sweet farm kid to a teen terrorist, so prepare for a main character full of hate, resentment and, eventually, self-loathing and a beginning of redemption. We also get to see his dynamic with two high born children, and it is super interesting how the prejudice and ignorance keep getting in their way so they can’t become 100% friends (as a contrast with those stories of rich and poor being bff’s without a single sign of how very different their POV of the world is, just by their different upbringings). I love friendships and found families as much as anyone else, but it is refreshing to see some realistic struggles and people caring for others even if they don’t get along perfectly

· The Spellcoats (1979) This one was very surprising, and I think it might require a re-read some time. The first odd thing about it is that it’s settled centuries before the previous books, in prehistoric Dalemark. Then the actual wtf comes from the structure itself: it’s a first person story, weaved into two wool coats (seriously, this concept is genius and so is the ending). The weaver is a girl who has to runaway from her village with his brothers and sister because they look like the people who’s invading their land, so their fellow villagers want them dead. There’s not a lot of action, but tons of little details and magic and family dynamics brilliantly written and I LOVE IT.

· The Crown of Dalemark (1993) This last book of the series brings back almost all of the characters of the previous ones, plus a time traveller from modern Dalemark, and concludes both the political/social aspect of the story and the more fantasy, mythical one. I love time travel stories so this really was my treat, because not only serves a plot purpose, it’s also used to let us know what happened with the characters of past Dalemark (although through the lense of historians, which is not as much as I would like to)

- Power of three (1976) At this point it’s clear Diana just loved to play with POVs and make us question every side of a story. I’d say this was the main theme of this book. It is present in the main character arch, who has to reconcile how he sees himself (as some average pointless dude) with how he’s perceived by others (everyone fucking loves him and consider him super wise and awesome). And it’s also the main conflict of the plot: the three races/species who live in The Moor HATE each other and constantly kill each other as animals but.... Well, it remind me to this episode of Star Trek. I love it when a story is used to show us how actually ridiculous some prejudices and bigotries are. I love it when they do it in ST, and certainly love it when Diana does it. Just let kids read and watch these things all of the time, please.