#to bring to work to celebrate solstice :D

[pride-of-storm]

i have successfully! made cookies!!!

[duckprintspress]

In honor of the 54th anniversary of the Stonewall Riots – June 28th, 1969 – Duck Prints Press is thrilled to share with you how we’re celebrating Pride Month: with queer stories, of course!

Introducing our Pride 2023 Bundles: two collections of short stories, one general imprint, one erotica, each priced at a discounted $19.69, with all purchases benefiting two wonderful queer charities selected by the authors of the stories in the bundles: The Ali Forney Center and the Transgender Law Center.

We’ll be donating roughly 35% of the proceeds from these bundles to charity – the Press is donating 10% off the top, and many of the authors chose to donate part of their royalties as well, bringing the totals to approximately 40% of the list price of the erotica collection and approximately 35% of the list price of the general imprint collection.

How This Works

you buy one or both bundles between now and July 28th, 2023.

we tally up all the proceeds earned and do some math-e-magic to figure out how much we’re donating!

we divide the charity share in half right down the middle and, within the first week of August, we donate raised money to the Ali Forney Center and the Transgender Law Center; then, we post the proof we’ve done so.

you get fantastic stories!

we all get that happy, glowy feeling of knowing that money has been well-spent on fantastic causes!

About the Press

Duck Prints Press is a queer-owned indie press, founded to publish original works by fancreators. We’ve been in operation for over 2 years, and in that time we’ve worked with well over 150 creators to publish four anthologies and almost 70 other stories, from shorts to novels, and we’ve got more on the works (our fifth anthology is Kickstarting RIGHT NOW, as a matter of fact!). The vast majority of our creators and their creations are queer/LGTBQIA+ (maybe even all, but we don’t out anyone and we don’t ask demography because, frankly, it’s none of our business).

20 of our authors have chosen to include their short stories in one or both of these short story bundles, and these 20 and others nominated charities, then voted to narrow it down to these two! Participation in these bundles was entirely voluntarily, as was choosing to donate shares of royalties, which about a third of the authors have opted to do.

About the Charities

Note: These charities are not affiliated with the Press, do not know we’re doing this fundraiser, have not endorsed this in anyway and are, as such, utterly uninvolved in this beyond being the beneficiaries of our efforts! Text is from the websites of each charity and is being used under fair use laws.

The Ali Forney Center was founded in 2002. Committed to saving the lives of LGBTQ+ young people, our mission is to protect them from the harms of homelessness and empower them with the tools needed to live independently. A 24-hour program, The Ali Forney Center never closes its doors. We provide more than just a bed and food for those in need — from initial intake at our drop-in center to transitional housing and job readiness training, we provide homeless LGBTQ+ youth a safe, warm, supportive environment to escape the streets [of New York City].

Transgender Law Center is the largest national trans-led organization advocating self-determination for all people. Since 2002 we’ve been organizing, assisting, informing and empowering thousands of individual community members towards a long-term, national, trans-led movement for liberation.

About the Bundles

(this is getting long, so read more...)

We’re offering two bundles: one containing 14 stories from our general imprint, the other containing 11 stories from our erotica imprint. For all the deets, you’ll need to visit the page for each story, but here’s an overview…

Titles in the General Imprint Charity Bundle:

A Mutual Interest by Alec J. Marsh

The Problem with Wishes by Annabeth Lynch

Let the Solstice Come by D. V. Morse

Warmer Lights by Era J. M. Couts

An Odd Gathering of Peculiar Cats by J. D. Harlock

Dead Man’s Bells by Nicola Kapron

Widow’s Black by Nina Waters

twin flames by nottesilhouette

A Shield for the People by Puck Malamud

Much Ruckus by R. L. Houck

Bubble, Bubble by Sage Mooreland

Settling Down by Theresa Tanner

Best Friends AND… by Tris Lawrence

To Fill My Cup by Violet J. Hayes

Approximately 35% of the $19.69 list price of this bundle will go to the charities.

Titles in the Erotica Imprint Charity Bundle:

Pas de Deux by Aeryn Jemariel Knox

Study Hall by Alec J. Marsh

A Safe Place to Land by boneturtle

Clerical Error by Dei Walker

In the Moonlight by E. V. Dean

We All Need to Get By by Lyn Weaver

The Fated Prince by Mikki Madison

Lust by Nina Waters

No One Right Way by R. L. Houck

Easier Than Expected by Samantha M. Piper

Urchin Juiced by Xianyu Zhou

Approximately 40% of the $19.69 list price of this bundle will go to the charities.

What are you waiting for? Come get some great stories, support a queer-owned business this Pride, and benefit two fantastic causes. Win-win-win situations don’t get much better than this!

These bundles will only be available for one month, so don’t miss out. Visit our webstore between now and July 28th and get yours!

[7grandmel]

Todays rip: 14/04/2024

Thwâmpröck Desert

Season 8 No Album Release (Read More) Thwomp Desert (OST Version) - Mario Kart Wii

Ripped by Madinstance

So you know how yesterday's post was about a ripper with a very clearly defined niche of work, with Jamangar and Locked In The Underground? And earlier in the week I was covering the sheer prowess of ripper Madinstance, the raw power he exudes with I will Never be a Redneck? And just a few more days before that, where I talked about how much Mario Kart Wii's music means to me with Sweatpants Select? Well amidst my lineup of possible future posts, I slowly realized how perfectly Thwâmpröck Desert fit all three categories - a great way to end the week, and another Season 8 rip to boot.

Madinstance is an exceptionally skilled ripper, that much I hope I've made clear over my past posts on him. But with a few exceptions from time to time aside, he's also a ripper with a rather particular focus - a lot of his greatest rips, such as Every Mob Wants to Rule My World, Fell From a High Place (Reprise) and M​-​O​-​O​-​G City, are all focused on paying respects to Minecraft and its legendary original composer C418, wheras recently Initial Deluxe (I've Just Raced on this Course Before) appears to reveal a newfound love for the Mario Kart series. You may think at first thumbnail glance that Thwâmpröck Desert is an extension of that, a rip of a Mario Kart game, but there's one more field of his expertise that I'm yet to cover on here. C418 is beloved by many, yes, but within those privy to video game music history, particularly in the chiptune community, few composers are as revered and celebrated as the Follin brothers, Tim Follin and Geoff Follin.

To VGM aficionados, they need no introduction - but then, its those same aficionados who would know such things as that Robocop on Game Boy of all games has amazing music, as I discussed in Viva La Robocop. Most others, those who are primarily video game fans, will simply choose their favorite composer based on their own favorite games. That's completely valid too, of course, many long-running franchises like Kingdom Hearts, Sonic the Hedgehog, Dark Souls and so forth have key people composing for them that are incredibly distinct, to where you KNOW what a Kingdom Hearts game will sound like, what a Dark Souls game will sound like, and so on. Yet what makes the Follin brothers so fascinating in contrast, is that their soundtracks were attached to all kinds of games from all sorts of places: Ecco the Dolphin on Dreamcast, Silver Surfer on NES, Pictionary on NES, Plok! on Super Nintendo - practically the entire spectrum of games of the 80s and 90s, from shovelware to all-time classics, the Follins contributed to. Yet to them, the individual game quality hardly mattered! Be it Pictionary or Plok, Tim and Geoff Follin composed every soundtrack like it was their life's greatest achievement, creating full-on chiptune prog-rock in games that had NO business going that hard (I know that's a bit of an overdone and reductive turn of phrase, but really - PICTIONARY???) The brothers knew how to make any platform they were working on positively sing, and their obscure weirdo games have become titans amidst VGM enthusiasts as a result. An underdiscussed side of video game history, still cherished by a specific subset of nerds yet today.

Which, then, brings us back to Thwâmpröck Desert - an arrangement of one of Tim Follin's most insane pieces, the title screen music for NES game Solstice. It deserves a listen all of its own - the way it fakes you out with the most barebones little ditty of all time before switching into a rock masterpiece is an absolute work of art, and the piece just keeps growing from there, at once impossibly layered yet incredibly cohesive. Madinstance LOVES ripping the Follins' work, he's made a name for himself in part for ripping the SNES game Plok! in particular during Season 6 and Season 7, yet even still I was unsure how well Thwâmpröck Desert could really work. Its not a rip of a Follin composed game like the aforementioned Plok! rips - its arranging this impossibly dense piece of music into a song that already sounds like the violin version of pure, yet elegant, panic. Yet I suppose that also makes it the perfect fit for the Solstice title theme's sheer density - and when actually listening to Thwâmpröck Desert, its hard to imagine that Thwomp Desert ever sounded any different.

It's just - GAAHH!!! Its fucking mind-boggling how good it sounds, how this odd song I'd barely thought about from Mario Kart Wii wound up being the perfect template to arrange Follin's music into. The melody's string instruments are perfect for the Solstice title theme's pure distilled chaos whilst still capturing that sense of elegance and flow, and the most quirky instruments still present in Thwomp Desert add a delightful texture to the arrangement. I have to pause it every 10 or so seconds I listen to just process all that I've heard - the percussion, lead, backing, the progression of the song, its all handled absolutely masterfully, I cannot BELIEVE this was just dropped on us on a normal tuesday! I will Never be a Redneck was at least a season premiere!!

Whew...well, alright, I hope you get the picture - The Follin brothers' music fucking rocks, and I am SO glad that a ripper as amazing as Madinstance has taken it upon himself to pay regular tribute to their work. Games like Mario Kart Wii are leagues more mainstream than the games that the Follins typically worked on, and the idea of SiIvaGunner getting less VGM-savvy viewers to find out about these legendary composers - it just makes me really happy! Madinstance's rips are bangers to be sure, but much like Beautiful! ~ Curveball of Sean Kingston, like Beyond the Floating Isles, like Gate Happy: they're bangers that can also open up a whole new world of musical interests to viewers like you and I. And isn't that just the coolest way for SiIvaGunner's art of subversion to live on in?

(oh, also, its called Thwâmpröck Desert because the Solstice NES game takes place in "Kâstleröck" and I just found that very funny)

[lydiastormborn]

“Everything’s ready,” Irina whispers, breathless and eager as she slides into the pew next to Fia. Just in time, as her father's evening sermon is about to start; Fia looks his way first, but he's still flipping through a thick book on the lectern, momentarily oblivious to the gathering of townspeople. Just then she risks a glance at Irina.

Her friend’s face is turned towards her, so Fia easily sees the telltale signs of Irina’s latest wanderings: cheeks flushed rosy red from exhaustion and running, a thin sheen of sweat on her forehead, her silver hair, which Fia so attentively braided this morning, all in disarray, loose strands falling around her face. There's a small twig stuck in Irina's hair, just behind her ear, and Fia almost reaches to pick it out, but then she remembers herself, and only points to the same spot on her head to indicate it to Irina.

“No one saw where you were coming from?” Fia asks under her breath as Irina hastily brushes the twig out of her hair.

“I’m quite sure,” Irina replies with a glimmer in her eye. Fia’s father clears his throat in front of the congregation, but before he starts speaking, she manages to add, “Well, Miss Vera looked at me funny when I ran past her house, but I saw she stuck some fern and basil into the corner of her window frame, so I think we’re fine.”

...

hi, @kyberbonsai! i was your gift-giver in @naddpodgifting. i also love eldermourne & fiairina, so, to bring back some literal warmth, i wrote about them celebrating summer solstice in slavic folk fashion. hope you enjoy, happy new year!

[dandthegods]

Happy Yule!!

Today is what me and my wife are considering the first day of Yule (mostly because I have little patience and couldn’t wait to give my partner a gift). This is really our first official Yule celebration as we now have time, the means, and are actually living together and are at our own home for the holiday period. And I am super fucking pumped for it! The whole month I’ve had a countdown to today on our entryway chalkboard and now it’s here!!

When it comes to Christmas, and a bit of Yule as well, it is a secular holiday for me. As a pagan I do my offerings on my altar and do a little bigger of a spread than I do on a usual day in celebration of the holiday, but the rest of my traditions and activities are pretty secular. I’ve taken much of the non-religious traditions from my family and continue to do those around this time of year (like baking certain family recipes, doing certain present and stocking traditions, etc) but I try not to completely separate the holiday from the Gods and my practice as a pagan.

The Gods are a huge part of my life. I think about them and recognize them every day. I honor them as often as I can and give offerings when I feel I should or when I’ve found or made something I’d like to share with them. So it wouldn’t feel right keeping my celebrations unconcerned with the Gods and leaving my altar bare and collecting dust.

As the winter has set in, when fall began to fade, and it’s gotten really fucking cold here, I think about the Gods. I think about Persephone’s role in the changing of the seasons and how vibrant and colorful the underworld is while she is there. I think about Artemis being with the animals as they hibernate and face the cold months of scarcity. I think about Zeus and Poseidon as they work together creating breathtaking storms and blizzards, freeze the lakes and waters around me, and freeze my breath as I walk outside. I think a lot about Hestia and Hera as my partner and I spend more time inside and together, making our home cozy and fill it with love and laughter. I pray to Hermes as I and everyone else deals with the ice and snow on the roads and just pray for safety in my travels and the awareness needed to get home in one peace.

The traditions that I create new, the ones I continue on from my family and my wife’s family, I fill with intention and sympathetic magic to keep the spirit of the season, the joy of the holidays, and the wonder of nature alive in my life. I try to imbue new life and meaning into holiday traditions that feel wrong not to do around this time, and I keep the Gods in mind and hope they are having fun with them too.

I wish everyone a safe and happy winter. Stay safe this solstice, spend time with loved ones, and treat yourself to something that brings you joy every day.

Cheers, and happy holidays

-D

[vidalinav]

Nessian Headcanon #12: Family Edition

Since I keep seeing baby headcanons I wanted to make a list of my own :D which I’ve briefly touched on in other posts but...

Cassian and Nesta have a boatload of children (5 at the end of it all I think). The others start joking that they’re building their own army. But what really happens is that they end up taking in many children over the years because they travel often with the work they do and they see so many conditions and there’s wars and all sorts of circumstances. It’s inevitable that kids don’t have homes but they have a giant house and unending resources and the House is like a big nanny itself so they think it’s fate. 

Nesta is actually the one who brings most of the children home. The first one is a 9 year old girl, who is the angriest kid alive. Has something to do with the plot of a story I’m writing, but Nesta is basically entrusted with this kid. She’s the grand niece of someone she ends up knowing and she’s pretty magically powerful so her family would have ate her alive, so she’s asked to keep her safe and whatnot. Her name is Magda but she goes by Maggie. She does not like Cassian whatsoever in the beginning, and she is horribly rude to Nesta. But Nesta does not care at all, she’s like okay get it out, say worse. Like she’s so chill, because she knows how it feels to be that angry. Maggie and Nesta end up being really close to the point where Maggie does not like being away from Nesta and gets very protective of her even to other members of the IC. She’ll fight first and ask questions later. Cassian and her form a bond actually not by fighting at all, but because Maggie does so many experiments that end up going awry. She’s a fae and has got magic up the wazoo and she’s a book nerd, and she’s kind of a trouble maker, and Cassian thrives. He loves her because she’s like a smaller more diabolical version of Nesta. The House is amused by their antics usually. 

Nesta ends up getting pregnant for their second child and this kid is the only one they actually have on their own. Her name is Lyra, and Maggie thinks that it’s hilarious that Cassian lives in a house with all girls. Maggie is about 12 when they have her, and Maggie at first does not take kindly to Lyra, because she starts feeling like they have their own family and she’s just the kid who eventually is going to have to go back to her other family (because that’s a plot too that I won’t go into to) but they try so much to include her, because Maggie is their child. No question. Nesta ends up telling Cassian that she’s pregnant by giving him an enchanted painting, which is the work of all three Archeron sisters. Elain for seeing what the child would look like, Feyre for painting, and Nesta for enchanting it so that if they have more children the picture will get bigger and there will be room for Feyre to paint the others. So one big family portrait. In that picture, Maggie is tucked in between the two with the baby/toddler. Dark hair, big blue eyes... maybe hazel. Maybe one of each (I’m really not sure). The best parts of both Nesta and Cassian though. She’s so gorgeous. Prettiest little girl. But yeah going back to Maggie, they ask her during this picture time (probably solstice present time) if Maggie wants to be an Archeron. (Another headcanon for another time, but Cassian marries Nesta too and becomes an Acheron). So, does she want to do this? Absolutely, and at this point she already start calling them mom and dad and just referring to them as such, so that’s their kiddos. 

Third and fourth are siblings. They’re from the continent. Maggie is 14, Lyra is close to 2. The siblings are brought by Nesta who is doing some thing that I cannot say because I have not made it up yet, but she finds them at the scene of a Massacre in hiding. The oldest is close to 6, the other is probably 1-ish. The oldest will not let them take the baby from her. The baby is a boy. They don’t speak the common tongue, which is any issue, but they hire a tutor to both talk to the little girl and then also to teach them ALL (everyone in their household) the language that the two siblings speak as well as teach them how to speak the common Prythrian language. So everyone ends up learning. The little girl is taken under the wing of Maggie, who is the perfect older sister/camp counselor as she likes to refer to herself after there’s more kids. They don’t know her name for the LONGEST time, because she won’t speak at all, but she ends up loving Cassian because he makes her laugh and he brings her a thousand stuffed bears because at one point she won’t stop crying and he brings them home and makes funny voices with them, and carries her on his shoulders, and she has the sweetest giggle. But eventually they end up naming her Ursella which she ends up going by Ella when she gets older, because her nickname with Cassian is little bear. They do ask her later when she talks if she remembers her old name and her birthday since they don’t know, but she doesn’t say that she does, which may be a lie, but Ella happily goes by Ella, and they give her a choice to choose one random day in the year to be her birthday, but she chooses to celebrate her birthday on the day they brought her in. She calls it her re-birthday.

The baby boy they name Nico. It’s actually a common Illyrian name and Cassian knows that the little boy is technically not Illyrian but it is his first son, and he really wants to give him that piece of him. Cassian does ask him when he’s about 10 if he’d prefer a name that’s based on his own culture, because they make sure that’s very integrated in their home life, because of course Cassian loves his culture and Nesta has that anthropological eye, so she knows and learns so much and they just love their children so much that they want all of them, every piece that they come with. But Nico likes his name, and he’s his dads through and through. But he LOVES Nesta. He’s a momma’s boy for sure, which I guess just makes him similar to Cassian. He does not like learning though, so Nesta usually has to teach him herself instead of having tutors, and she spends extra time with him going through his lessons. Lyra and him grow up together closer to age, so they pick on each other A LOT, but ultimately they grow up to have that relationship like I can pick on you but no one else can. They’re super close. If you want one, you find the other. They both will be together somewhere making a mess of things. Ella is the one who usually is like would you please be loud somewhere else. She ends up getting into music--playing instruments and so she generally prefers quietness to study and practice. Violin is her forte. 

The next boy comes about 4 yrs later. Maggie is 18, Lyra is 6, Nico is 5/6 ish. Ella is 10. The boy is about 12. He’s Illyrian and Cassian finds him this time and takes him to Nesta first, but Nesta is like why are you asking lol this is our new son. He’s a “bastard” unfortunately. I hate that word. But he has learned to fight, Cassian found him in the fighting pits in an Illyrian camp a couple hours away from Windhaven, and the situation was so much like his except this kid was never given a home like he was. So, he spent a good couple of weeks trying to get on his good side enough for him to trust him and to want to go someplace safer and warm. He hates Cassian a lot at first... while at the same time being like you’re the hero I’ve heard about. So admiration but also a touch of resentment and anger at the world. Cassian doesn’t know what to do with that, because still to the day he does not handle emotion like Nesta does. He understands it but he doesn’t know what to say, what to do, his go to is always training, but training is not what this child needs. So again, this is Nesta’s forte. Interestingly enough, she’s very gentle with kids. She’s empathetic, soft, but not condescending. She gives everyone the same respect so it helps a lot when he sees that and he’s never had a mom before who tucks him in or makes sure he’s feeling well. His name is Julian. I forgot that part and it turns out he’s HATES fighting. But he really likes plants. So he ends up spending a lot of time with Elain when she visits. He’s fascinated by them and ends up having his own garden. But because Nesta is magical in this headcanon (because she’s more witchy in my fics) he learns A LOT about poisons. Not because Nesta teaches him, but because he finds her books and reads them and starts growing them. This becomes a problem, because when Julian doesn’t like his tutors or teachers, he starts trying to poison them. Like not killing them, but he knows which will give stomach aches, which will give rashes. Nesta is both proud and reprimanding. 

I do feel like they might have more, but I don’t know for now I feel this is good for their set family. Five in total for their first gaggle of children lol. But all of them are asked if they want to be an Archeron. All of them say yes. All of them have each other’s back even if they have screaming matches on the daily. The house is mostly chaotic at all times but the House loves having people in it and laughing and being filled to the brim with stuffed animals and train sets and plants and music and family members coming in and out since Nyx visits often because he’s an only child for a very long time with Feyre taking more of a position in court rulings and Rhysand just being generally busy because you know High Lord/High Lady stuff. I don’t see Feyre being a stay at home mom but I also don’t see Rhys being a stay at home dad, but they’re also rulers so I peg them for both being working parents, which they feel guilty about A LOT at first, and it’s something that they struggle with in the confines of their own identities and their relationship, because they love Nyx and they know they’re parents but that’s not all they are, and without having the gender role of one parent staying home it’s very difficult for them to both rule, but Rhys does not want to stop being a high lord and Feyre is bored too often and she wants to rule and she knows she can, and she has that title for a reason and wants to utilize it. So it’s a hard time, with lots of arguments, but Nyx ends up mostly going with Cassian for a good amount of the day when he’s older and they have more kids in the house, and Nyx doesn’t really know that Feyre and Rhys had this problem, because he’d just prefer to be around the other kids and it ends up working really well. 

Cassian ends up being more of the stay at home parent. I don’t know why but I feel he just gives me that vibe where forget the courtier business, if there’s no war and if the armies are generally taken care of which he does, he wants to stay home and raise his kids, which is very surprising since he’s the one who doesn’t ever take vacations. He wants to be there for every moment no matter how awkward or loud. That’s his family and he’s waited so long for them, and it’s not even about him not having that family early on, it’s because he genuinely would rather be with his kids. He’s the one who as soon as they got the siblings was like I’m going to have to take a step back, because he saw his kids every day but he just didn’t want to be away for long periods of time, and at that point he’d already taken several steps back on working, so it became more of a done deal then. He still is the general, but he gives more responsibility to Devlon and to other people he’s trained over the years to step up. So generally, Cassian will work a couple of days a week for a couple of hours or just go quickly in the evenings, go over reports if the kids are in class with their teachers, and more during certain times of the year, but he’s generally more of a family man. 

Nesta in my fic/headcanon ends up being a queen as well as a leader of the witches and the founder/leader of the Valkyrie and she owns a shipping company and she’s the cauldron’s guardian which don’t ask me to explain, it’s in this fic I’ve barely written. But she’s a “I can bake the cake and eat it too” type of person to me, and because of her magic it is easy for her to do it all because it’s like a full time job. She goes home after a certain hour and she’s back with her kiddos, and most of her jobs have other people who have a handle on things as well. So she’s not an island, but she loves having the purpose and the drive, because as much as she did like being in the library and being in Velaris and having that day to day slice of life, she likes and yearns for adventure. She’s a go-getter and is not necessarily ambitious for power, but she’s got the whole world to discover and she can have anything she’s willing to work for. She wants to be and see it all. Cassian is endlessly proud of her and is like that’s my mate, my wife. My mate. My wife. And they both end up getting what they want without having to sacrifice their own ideals. Their marriage is a collaboration and it ends up working phenomenally for the two of them and their children. 

But ultimately it’s really the House that makes it possible. Because who cooks food and cleans and supplies every need and wish and whatnot? The House. Who baby proofs? The House. The House is like I’ve always wanted a big family and boy does it get a big family. 

[kookie-doughs]

Y/N L/N AND THE HALFBLOODS

Percy Jackson X Reader -Y/N L/N met Percy Jackson and everything was now ruined.

CHAPTER 9: Percy Forces Me To Join A Quest

The next morning, Percy moved to cabin three. Luke was the only one I could hang out with from my cabin. He was also the one who took care of my wounds after the thing happened. Nobody mentioned the hellhound, but I got the feeling they were all talking about it behind my back. The attack had scared everybody. It sent two messages: one, that I managed to command a hellhound; and two, I came with the son of Poseidon. They all assume I would be as great as Percy. The other campers steered clear of me as much as possible. Only Luke struck around. Yes, even Percy started ignoring me. I figured it had something to do with water and stuffs. Cabin eleven was too nervous to have sword class with him after what happened in the woods, so he had one-on-one with Luke. I usually sit in to watch them in hopes of Percy talking to me again. But nada. "You're going to need all the training you can get," Luke promised, as they were working with swords and flaming torches. "Now let's try that viper-beheading strike again. Fifty more repetitions." Annabeth still taught Percy and I Greek but on different times I had mine in the mornings. Even Clarisse kept her distance, though her venomous looks made it clear she wanted to kill me. I wished she would just yell or punch me or something. I'd rather get into fights every day than be ignored. I stayed with Luke most of my time. We'd gotten close that talking about gods wasn't such a touchy subject. He also told me stuffs about himself, like how he got his scar and small stuffs. I was still in bed in cabin eleven. My body told me it was morning, but it was dark outside, and thunder rolled across the hills. A storm was brewing. I hadn't dreamed that. It was so early that most of the campers were still asleep. "Good morning?" I saw Luke standing near the door. "Eh... good enough I guess." I said sitting on my bed. "It's really boring since I don't do anything." "Not sure if I'm bringing you good news or bad," He smiled taking the seat beside me. "But Mr. D wants to see you." "Really? Will I finally get to do something fun?" "I feel like I should be offended." He gasped dramatically. "Why? Am I not fun?" I laughed, "Pretty much yeah." "Ouch. Anyways, I'd better let him tell you what's up." "Walk with me?" I asked with an UwU face. "I would, but commitment and all that." He joked. "Aight then. I'll get ready, wait for me outside." "I said I won't!" "Geez don't need to be in a hurry. I won't take long." I got dressed and went out to see him with an exaggerated frown. "You better walk fast. I'll leave as soon as you get there." For days, I'd been half expecting a summons to the Big House. Now that Percy was declared a son of Poseidon, one of the Big Three gods who weren't supposed to have kids, I figured it was a crime for him just to be alive. They're probably suspicious of me now as well with Percy and I's relation. The other gods had probably been debating the best way to punish me for existing, and now Mr. D was ready to deliver their verdict. "So... with Percy being a big three material. What would that make me?" "Well, putting aside the fact that you suck, you drown at every body of water that's at least a foot deep, you don't smell like a half-blood. I'd say you're... one of the big three's. Maybe Zeus's." "Har har. I'm just really worried you know? With Percy getting claimed as Poseidon's... and I came with him. And water just loves me so much. I'd assume I'm somewhere along the lines of Zeus and... Zeus. Is there someone stronger than Zeus?" "Depends on who you asked." "If I asked Zeus he'd definitely answer Zeus." I heard a loud thunder echoed. "Someone's brave." Luke laughed. Over Long Island Sound, the sky looked like ink soup coming to a boil. A hazy curtain of rain was coming in our direction. I asked Luke if we needed an umbrella. "No," he said. "It never rains here unless we want it to." "So my kiss under the rain fantasy is a no?" "If it has to be here... probably." I pointed at the storm. "What the heck is that, then?" "Bad news. But don't worry, it'll pass by us." I realized he was right. In the week I'd been here, it had never even been overcast. The few rain clouds I'd seen had skirted right around the edges of the valley. But this storm... this one was huge. At the volleyball pit, the kids from Apollo's cabin were playing a morning game against the satyrs. Dionysus's twins were walking around in the strawberry fields, making the plants grow. Everybody was going about their normal business, but they looked tense. They kept their eyes on the storm. When Luke saw the front porch of the Big House. "Whatever they say. Don't choose the option where you'll die." "Half a promise. Depends on the other option." "Well I'll give you an easier promise. Don't die." "Not really easier but okay."

After he ruffled my hair, I walked up to the front porch of the Big House. Dionysus sat at the pinochle table in his tiger-striped Hawaiian shirt with his Diet Coke, just as he had on my first day. Chiron sat across the table in his fake wheelchair. They were playing against invisible opponents--two sets of cards hovering in the air. "Y/N!" Grover greeted. "Well, well," Mr. D said without looking up. "Our little celebrity finally got his request." I turned to see Percy who was looking at me and then moved away. I waited for him to greet... "Come closer, both of you," Mr. D said. "And don't expect me to kowtow to you, mortal, just because old Barnacle-Beard is your father." A net of lightning flashed across the clouds. Thunder shook the windows of the house. "Blah, blah, blah," Dionysus said. Chiron feigned interest in his pinochle cards. Grover cowered by the railing, his hooves clopping back and forth. "If I had my way," Dionysus said, "I would cause your molecules to erupt in flames. We'd sweep up the ashes and be done with a lot of trouble. But Chiron seems to feel this would be against my mission at this cursed camp: to keep you little brats safe from harm." "Spontaneous combustion is a form of harm, Mr. D," Chiron put in. "Nonsense," Dionysus said. "Boy wouldn't feel a thing. Nevertheless, I've agreed to restrain myself I'm thinking of turning you into a dolphin instead, sending you back to your father." "Mr. D—" Chiron warned. "Oh, all right," Dionysus relented. "There's one more option. But it's deadly foolishness." Dionysus rose, and the invisible players' cards dropped to the table. "I'm off to Olympus for the emergency meeting. If the boy is still here when I get back, I'll turn him into an Atlantic bottlenose. Do you understand? And Perseus Jackson, if you're at all smart, you'll see that's a much more sensible choice than what Chiron feels you must do." Dionysus picked up a playing card, twisted it, and it became a plastic rectangle. A credit card? No. A security pass. He snapped his fingers. The air seemed to fold and bend around him. He became a hologram, then a wind, then he was gone, leaving only the smell of fresh-pressed grapes lingering behind. Chiron smiled at me, but he looked tired and strained. "Sit, Percy, please. You too Y/N and Grover." We did. Grover sat between us. Chiron laid his cards on the table, a winning hand he hadn't gotten to use. "Tell me, Percy," he said. "What did you make of the hellhound?" "It scared me," I said. "If Y/N hadn't told it to stand down, I'd be dead." I saw Percy turn to my direction, which made me roll my eyes. "You'll meet worse, Percy. Far worse, before you're done." "Done... with what?" "Your quest, of course. Will you accept it?" I glanced at Grover, who was crossing his fingers. "Um, sir," I said, "you haven't told me what it is yet." Chiron grimaced. "Well, that's the hard part, the details." Thunder rumbled across the valley. The storm clouds had now reached the edge of the beach. As far as I could see, the sky and the sea were boiling together. "Poseidon and Zeus," Percy said. "They're fighting over something valuable... something that was stolen, aren't they?". Chiron and Grover exchanged looks. Chiron sat forward in his wheelchair. "How did you know that?" "The weather since Christmas has been weird, like the sea and the sky are fighting. Then I talked to Annabeth, and she'd overheard something about a theft. And... I've also been having these dreams." "I knew it," Grover said. "Hush, satyr," Chiron ordered. "But it is his quest!" Grover's eyes were bright with excitement. "It must be!" "Only the Oracle can determine." Chiron stroked his bristly beard. "Nevertheless, Percy, you are correct. Your father and Zeus are having their worst quarrel in centuries. They are fighting over something valuable that was stolen. To be precise: a lightning bolt." I laughed. "A what?" "Do not take this lightly," Chiron warned. "I'm not talking about some tinfoil-covered zigzag you'd see in a second-grade play. I'm talking about a two-foot-long cylinder of high-grade celestial bronze, capped on both ends with god-level explosives." "Oh." "Zeus's master bolt," Chiron said, getting worked up now. "The symbol of his power, from which all other lightning bolts are patterned. The first weapon made by the Cyclopes for the war against the Titans, the bolt that sheered the top off Mount Etna and hurled Kronos from his throne; the master bolt, which packs enough power to make mortal hydrogen bombs look like firecrackers." "And it's missing?" "Stolen," Chiron said. "By who?" "By whom," Chiron corrected. Once a teacher, always a teacher. "By you." "At least"—Chiron held up a hand—"that's what Zeus thinks. During the winter solstice, at the last council of the gods, Zeus and Poseidon had an argument. The usual nonsense: 'Mother Rhea always liked you best', 'Air disasters are more spectacular than sea disasters,' et cetera. Afterward, Zeus realized his master bolt was missing, taken from the throne room under his very nose. He immediately blamed Poseidon. Now, a god cannot usurp another god's symbol of power directly—that is forbidden by the most ancient of divine laws. But Zeus believes your father convinced a human hero to take it." "But I didn't—" "Patience and listen, child," Chiron said. "Zeus has good reason to be suspicious. The forges of the Cyclopes are under the ocean, which gives Poseidon some influence over the makers of his brother's lightning. Zeus believes Poseidon has taken the master bolt, and is now secretly having the Cyclopes build an arsenal of illegal copies, which might be used to topple Zeus from his throne. The only thing Zeus wasn't sure about was which hero Poseidon used to steal the bolt. Now Poseidon has openly claimed you as his son. You were in New York over the winter holidays. You could easily have snuck into Olympus. Zeus believes he has found his thief." "But I've never even been to Olympus! Zeus is crazy!" Chiron and Grover glanced nervously at the sky. The clouds didn't seem to be parting around us, as Luke had promised. They were rolling straight over our valley, sealing us in like a coffin lid. "Er, Percy...?" Grover said. "We don't use the c-word to describe the Lord of the Sky." "Perhaps paranoid," Chiron suggested. "Then again, Poseidon has tried to unseat Zeus before. I believe that was question thirty-eight on your final exam...." He looked at Percy. Chiron was waiting for an answer. "Something about a golden net?" He answered. "Poseidon and Hera and a few other gods... they, like, trapped Zeus and wouldn't let him out until he promised to be a better ruler, right?" "Correct," Chiron said. "And Zeus has never trusted Poseidon since. Of course, Poseidon denies stealing the master bolt. He took great offense at the accusation. The two have been arguing back and forth for months, threatening war. And now, you've come along—the proverbial last straw." "But I'm just a kid!" "Percy," Grover cut in, "if you were Zeus, and you already thought your brother was plotting to overthrow you, then your brother suddenly admitted he had broken the sacred oath he took after World War II, that he's fathered a new mortal hero who might be used as a weapon against you.... Wouldn't that put a twist in your toga?" "But I didn't do anything. Poseidon—my dad—he didn't really have this master bolt stolen, did he?" Chiron sighed. "Most thinking observers would agree that thievery is not Poseidon's style. But the Sea God is too proud to try convincing Zeus of that. Zeus has demanded that Poseidon return the bolt by the summer solstice. That's June twenty-first, ten days from now. Poseidon wants an apology for being called a thief by the same date. I hoped that diplomacy might prevail, that Hera or Demeter or Hestia would make the two brothers see sense. But your arrival has inflamed Zeus's temper. Now neither god will back down. Unless someone intervenes, unless the master bolt is found and returned to Zeus before the solstice, there will be war. And do you know what a full-fledged war would look like, Percy?" "Bad?" "Imagine the world in chaos. Nature at war with itself. Olympians forced to choose sides between Zeus and Poseidon. Destruction. Carnage. Millions dead. Western civilization turned into a battleground so big it will make the Trojan War look like a water-balloon fight." "Bad," I repeated. "And you, Percy Jackson, would be the first to feel Zeus's wrath." It started to rain. Volleyball players stopped their game and stared in stunned silence at the sky. I had brought this storm to Half-Blood Hill. Zeus was punishing the whole camp because of Percy. I was furious. "So he has to find the stupid bolt," I said. "And return it to Zeus." "What better peace offering," Chiron said, "than to have the son of Poseidon return Zeus's property?" "If Poseidon doesn't have it, where is the thing?" "I believe I know." Chiron's expression was grim. "Part of a prophecy I had years ago... well, some of the lines make sense to me, now. But before I can say more, you must officially take up the quest. You must seek the counsel of the Oracle." "Why can't you tell me where the bolt is beforehand?" "Because if I did, you would be too afraid to accept the challenge." "Good reason." "You agree then?" He looked at Grover, who nodded encouragingly. Easy for him. He wasn't the one Zeus wanted to kill. Percy then turned to me, "All right," he said. "But, I'll go when Y/N comes with." "Woah there! I am not going anywhere." I hissed. You ignore me for days and now you want me to die with you now? "Why do I have to go with you?" "Percy---" "I don't want to leave without her." He looked down. I felt guilty about turning him down. Which was stupid since he's the one at fault. I gave a sigh, I hope Luke won't get mad at me. "It's better than you being turned into a dolphin." I mumbled. "I'll go." "Then it's time you consulted the Oracle," Chiron said. "Go upstairs, Percy Jackson, to the attic. When you come back down, assuming you're still sane, we will talk more." Before Percy came up he took my arm and pulled me in a hug. "I wanted you there, so we could save our parents together. After this quest, you me your mom and dad and my mom, will stay together." I hugged him back and nodded. "Thank you." Four flights up, the stairs ended under a green trapdoor. Percy pulled the cord. The door swung down, and a wooden ladder clattered into place. After he went up. Chiron turned to me. "Hmm? Something to say?" I asked in a hopefully not rude tone. "I've had enough of people staring at me thinking, I summoned that hellhound." "Y/N, I assure you I don't think you'd do that. I am just confused as to why it followed your command." "Did you maybe forget to tell us something? I really can't seem to find out who you are." "Well... I don't think I forgot to mention anything. Maybe the fact that water hates me, I've never been on a plane, and I am low-key kinda scared of the dark depending on the situation." "Water hates you?" Grover asked. "First time swimming, beach, I was 5. I drowned at a supposedly 3 feet deep water. I haven't been near any bodies of water ever since. Until I met Percy, I drowned at the beach again. If I wasn't mistaken I was few meters away from the water and it pulled me and I almost drowned." "It would seem, Poseidon hates you. Why would he?" "My parents must've realized that fish god hates me and didn't take chances on the others." I could tell Chiron wanted to continue but Percy came down, "Well?" Chiron asked. He slumped into a chair at the pinochle table. I could see he wasn't happy. "Are you okay?" I asked him. He looked at me warily and nodded. "She said I would retrieve what was stolen." Grover sat forward, chewing excitedly on the remains of a Diet Coke can. "That's great!" "What did the Oracle say exactly?" Chiron pressed. "This is important." "She . .. she said I would go west and face a god who had turned. I would retrieve what was stolen and see it safely returned." "I knew it," Grover said... Chiron didn't look satisfied. "Anything else?" "No," He said. "That's about it." I took a hold of Percy's hand. And he gave me a look that said, 'I'll tell you later.' "Very well, Percy. But know this: the Oracle's words often have double meanings. Don't dwell on them too much. The truth is not always clear until events come to pass." "Okay," I said, anxious to change topics. "So where do we go? Who's this god in the west?" "Ah, think, Percy," Chiron said. "If Zeus and Poseidon weaken each other in a war, who stands to gain?" "Somebody else who wants to take over?" he guessed. "Yes, quite. Someone who harbors a grudge, who has been unhappy with his lot since the world was divided eons ago, whose kingdom would grow powerful with the deaths of millions. Someone who hates his brothers for forcing him into an oath to have no more children, an oath that both of them have now broken." I thought about my dreams, the evil voice that had spoken from under the ground. "Hades." Chiron nodded. "The Lord of the Dead is the only possibility." A scrap of aluminum dribbled out of Grover's mouth. "Whoa, wait. Wh-what?" "A Fury came after Percy," Chiron reminded him. "She watched the young man until she was sure of his identity, then tried to kill him. Furies obey only one lord: Hades." "Yes, but—but Hades hates all heroes," Grover protested. "Especially if he has found out Percy is a son of Poseidon... ." "A hellhound got into the forest," Chiron continued. "Those can only be summoned from the Fields of Punishment, and it had to be summoned by someone within the camp. Hades must have a spy here. He must suspect Poseidon will try to use Percy to clear his name. Hades would very much like to kill this young half-blood before he can take on the quest." "Great," Percy muttered. "That's two major gods who want to kill me." "Hey, I beat you, I got all of them." I smirked. I was trying to lighten up the mood and Percy finally cracked a smile. "But a quest to..." Grover swallowed. "I mean, couldn't the master bolt be in some place like Maine? Maine's very nice this time of year." "Hades sent a minion to steal the master bolt," Chiron insisted. "He hid it in the Underworld, knowing full well that Zeus would blame Poseidon. I don't pretend to understand the Lord of the Dead's motives perfectly, or why he chose this time to start a war, but one thing is certain. Percy must go to the Underworld, find the master bolt, and reveal the truth." A strange fire burned in my stomach. The weirdest thing was: it wasn't fear. It was anticipation. I wasn't feeling scared of anything right now. I felt like I could face anything. I was ready to take him on. Anyone in a matter of fact. Besides, if my mom and dad might be in the Underworld... which would be unlikely. Who knows maybe I could bribe him and talk him into reviving them. Or what if he's misunderstood? What if there's a plot twist somewhere here, and it actually wasn't Hades's fault? Grover was trembling. He'd started eating pinochle cards like potato chips. The poor guy needed to complete a quest with us so he could get his searcher's license, whatever that was. This was suicide. "Look, if we know it's Hades," Percy told Chiron, "why can't we just tell the other gods? Zeus or Poseidon could go down to the Underworld and bust some heads." "It might not be him you know." I added. "She's right, suspecting and knowing are not the same," Chiron said. "Besides, even if the other gods suspect Hades—and I imagine Poseidon does—they couldn't retrieve the bolt themselves. Gods cannot cross each other's territories except by invitation. That is another ancient rule. Heroes, on the other hand, have certain privileges. They can go anywhere, challenge anyone, as long as they're bold enough and strong enough to do it. No god can be held responsible for a hero's actions. Why do you think the gods always operate through humans?" "You're saying I'm being used." "I'm saying it's no accident Poseidon has claimed you now. It's a very risky gamble, but he's in a desperate situation. He needs you." "Damn, my parent doesn't? I'm going on a deadly quest thanks to Arthur Curry right here. Least they could do is support me and let me know They'll be proud of me saving the world." I huffed. "You've known I was Poseidon's son all along, haven't you?" "I had my suspicions. As I said... I've spoken to the Oracle, too." I got the feeling there was a lot he wasn't telling us about his prophecy, but I decided I couldn't worry about that right now. After all, I was holding back information too. "So let me get this straight," I said. "We're supposed go to the Underworld and confront the Lord of the Dead." "Check," Chiron said. "Find the most powerful weapon in the universe." "Check." "And get it back to Olympus before the summer solstice, in ten days." "That's about right." Percy and I looked at each other then we looked over at Grover, who gulped down the ace of hearts. "Did I mention that Maine is very nice this time of year?" he asked weakly. "You don't have to go," Percy told him. "I can't ask that of you. "Oh..." He shifted his hooves. "No... it's just that satyrs and underground places... well..." He took a deep breath, then stood, brushing the shredded cards and aluminum bits off his T-shirt. "You saved my life, Percy. Both of you did. If... if you're serious about wanting me along, I won't let you down." I felt so relieved I wanted to cry, though I didn't think that would be very heroic. I wasn't sure what good a satyr could do against the forces of the dead, but I felt better knowing he'd be with us. "All the way, G-man." Percy turned to Chiron. "So where do we go? The Oracle just said to go west." "The entrance to the Underworld is always in the west. It moves from age to age, just like Olympus. Right now, of course, it's in America." "Where?" Chiron looked surprised. "I thought that would be obvious enough. The entrance to the Underworld is in Los Angeles." "Oh," I said. "Naturally. So we just get on a plane—" "No!" Grover shrieked. "Percy, what are you thinking? Have you ever been on a plane in your life?" I shook my head, feeling embarrassed. My mom had never taken me anywhere by plane. She'd always said we didn't have the money. Besides, her parents had died in a plane crash. "We're not allowed to fly because Zeus is a stuck up who doesn't want others touching his stuff without permission." "Y/N!" Grover panicked when loud thunder echoed above us. I wanted to yell, 'Oh shut up thunder boy.' But I still wanted try fulfilling my promise to Luke with all I can. "Percy, think," Chiron said. "You are the son of the Sea God. Your father's bitterest rival is Zeus, Lord of the Sky. Your mother knew better than to trust you in an airplane. You would be in Zeus's domain. You would never come down again alive." Overhead, lightning crackled. Thunder boomed. "Okay," I said, determined not to look at the storm. "So, I'll travel overland." "That's right," Chiron said. "Two companions may accompany you. Grover is one. The other is Y/N. But someone else has already volunteered, if you will accept her help." "Gee," I said, feigning surprise. "Who else would be stupid enough to volunteer for a quest like this?" The air shimmered behind Chiron. Annabeth became visible, stuffing her Yankees cap into her back pocket. "I've been waiting a long time for a quest, seaweed brain," she said. "Athena is no fan of Poseidon, but if you're going to save the world, I'm the best person to keep you from messing up." "I'll gladly give you my spot and all but... Percy and I are a duo." I lifted my fist which he bumped. "But she's right, we can't leave the world at the hands of two idiots and a scaredy-cat." "Can't we have four people on a quest?" "You can also pick more than two people to join, but this is considered dangerous as three is a sacred number. Any more than three on a quest could result in a catastrophe, including a member of the quest going missing, dying, or the quest failing." "Willing to risk it Peabody?" She gave me a glare. No. I assure you no one shall be lost in this quest. They were all looking at me weirdly. "What did you say?" "I asked if you were willing to risk it...?" I was confused. "Y/N you're doing it again." "Doing what? I am literally not doing anything wrong. Wanna fite me? I will back out of this quest." I gave an exaggerated glare. Annabeth turned to Chiron, who was looking down on me. "I suppose... if Percy is willing to risk it and all parties approve. I could allow this as a four person quest." "Well, I call not it to the dying person." I raised my hand. "But you can come Peabody. We need a not so stupid guy." "Well, if she say yes..." "I-I... don't really..." "I want to come." "I suppose you have a plan, wise girl?" Her cheeks colored. "Do you want my help or not?" "A quartet," I said. "Hopefully it works." "Excellent," Chiron said. "This afternoon, we can take you as far as the bus terminal in Manhattan. After that, you are on your own." Lightning flashed. Rain poured down on the meadows that were never supposed to have violent weather. "No time to waste," Chiron said. "I think you should all get packing." I took Percy's hand and gave him a look to remind him about his quest. "I'll tell you later."

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UwU Haha I'm better now :) I am sorry for being on haitus And for some parts that I might've forgotten to erase UwU -kookie-doughs

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wendy cope, anecdotal evidence

“what’s the use of poetry? you ask. well, here’s a start: it’s anecdotal evidence about the human heart”

orb an illuminated orb against a black background— the colour of flesh, with faint red lines that could be rivers. not a planet in the night sky: my eyeball on the optician’s screen. it’s beautiful. just one small feature of a mysterious universe i’ll never explore, packed neatly in this soft container. we know so little of ourselves, and of each other — the working parts we carry everywhere, the darkness we scan like astronomers, seeking the half-forgotten stories of our lives.

1952 sometimes, instead of a farthing, shops give you safety pins. can that be right? i’m sure it’s what the teacher said. i know it was 1952 because the same teacher, a nun, announced one morning that the kind had died. we were encouraged to go to the chapel, to pray for his soul. a catholic friend showed me what you do with the holy water. it was lovely in there— white, gold, pastels— as pretty as the scenery for the last act of a pantomime. it may have been the same day that i upset my mother by asking for a rosary. soon after that, as we sat down in a theatre, where i couldn’t make a fuss, she told me it had been decided: boarding school, next term.

bags after all these years i’ve begun using it again — the laundry bag embroidered by nanna: w. m. cope linen in large, neat red letters. there’s another bag somewhere, a smaller one, with w. m. cope shoes embroidered in purple. i’ve been trying to find it to carry my shoes in while snow is on the ground. i have other fabric bags — dozens of cotton ones from libraries and festivals — but i want the one nanna made, the one that hung in a cold cloackroom until it was time to pull on wellingtons and trudge up the path to lessons. i see that little firl on an icy morning, with her shoe bag, and i think of the grandmother who couldn’t prevent her from being sent away but spent hours making  things she could take with her when she went to a place where she didn’t know anyone and nobody knew her name.

a vow i cannot promise never to be angry; i cannot promise always to be kind. you know what you are taking on, my darling — it’s only at the start that love is blind. and yet i’m still the one you want to be with and you’re the one for me —of that i’m sure. you are my closest friend, my favourite person, the lover and the home i’ve waited for. i cannot promise that i will deserve you from this day on. i hope to pass that test. i love you and i want to make you happy. i promise i will do my very best.

to my husband if we were never going to die, i might  not hug you quite as often or as tight, or say goodbye to you as carefully if i were certain you’d come back to me. perhaps i wouldn’t value every day, every act of kindness, every laugh as much, if i knew you and i could stay for ever as each other’s other half. we may not have too many years before one disappears to the eternal yonder and i can’t hug or touch you any more. yes, of course that knowledge makes us fonder. would i want to change things, if i could, and make us both immortal? love, i would.

calculations i have been a non-smoker, now, for longer                                    than i was a smoker. i have been a published poet almost as long                                                      as i wasn’t. for more than half my adult years, i have earned a living                                                 without having a job. i have been fatherless for nearly two-thirds of my life. in the run-up to our wedding i reflect that i will not be.         a married woman for half as long as i was single. but, if we are both alive when i am 96, i will have had                     as many years with you as without you— nearly a third of my life so far. with luck, the fraction will grow, like evening sunlight                                               spreading across a field, so the view at the end of the day si brighter and more beautiful than i could have foreseen in the long, dark hours of the morning.

haiku: willows willows white whit frost: like fireworks that whooshed, sparkled and froze in the air.

naga-uta clearest of clear days: frozen leaves under my feet, frost on bare branches, blue sky, smoke from the funnel of a narrowboat, and on the quiet river great slicks of pale gold sunlight.

if it be now if it be now, ‘tis not to come: hamlet, just before the fight that sent him no eternal night. it’s always there: a quiet drum sounding when i have a fright: if it be now, ‘tis not to come. chocking, breathless, falling — numb with mortal fear, i heart it right on cue and silently recite, if it be now, ‘tis not to come.

lantern carol at the winter solstice, midnight of the year, a lantern in a stable shows us He is here. shining through the ages, lighting up the place where we see the baby, his little hands, his face, a lantern in a stable centuries ago conquers time and darkness with its gentle glow, calls us with the shepherds and the eastern kings, offers us the christ child and the love He brings. in the golden lamplight, see him there asleep. ours if we will have Him. ours to love and keep.

christmas cards cards to the very old go out like doves who will bring back news of one kind or another. it may be a sign of life — a few sentences  in a shaky hand, i hope that you are well. it may be a letter from a friend or relative who found my address on the back: i am very sorry to tell you... this years two cards, both to widowers, came back winging back with labels: addressee gone away. i open my christmas list, find their names and type d.2016. i could remove them but that would leave no trace of them and i am not quite ready for them to disappear.

men talking anecdotes and jokes, on and on and on. if you’re with several blokes, it’s anecdotes and jokes. if you were to die of boredom, there and then, they’d notice, by and by, if you were to die. but it could take a while. they’re having so much fun. you neither speak nor smile. it could take a while.

new year the year has died. another year is born and people party, set the sky ablaze. puzzled by their happiness, i mourn the passing of so many precious days. enjoyed or squandered, they won’t come again. out there the world is celebrating. why? the solemn midnight tolling of big ben tells us we’re nearer to the day we’ll die. they know that too. perhaps it’s why they drink and congregate in crowds to cheer and sing. is it denial? do they really think time moving on is such a joyful thing? i used to make an effort to be glad. not now. i stay home feeling old and sad.

[bibliophilicwitch]

N O T I E A   T R A D I T I O N S

Notiea is a self-made holiday inspired by the self-made holiday Boreiea by Hearthstone. Notiea is held on the summer solstice to celebrate the season and to appeal to Notos and the Nephelai for the remainder of summer to be mild and bring a bountiful fall. I decorate a week or so early and make treats for the season as well. Flowers and citrus (sun energy) are heavily associated with midsummer; since I feature flowers heavily during Anthesphoria I focus on citrus for Notiea.

I prefer to try to go camping for Notiea so that I can truly immerse myself in nature and contemplate the year at it’s longest peak as well as enjoy a bonfire with family and friends. Since I prefer to camp and spend time with those that do not necessarily celebrate Notiea, I do not cook a feast as I like for other holidays, but focus on a few snacks and drinks that can either be brought or easily prepared at the site.

The morning of Notiea I find a quiet space for a ritual outlined after the Boreiea ritual by Hearthstone. I will also make a point of dedicating some time either immediately after the ritual or during quiet points of the day to devotional writing or crafting, spell work, and/or divination.

N O T I E A   R E S O U R C E S

Notos Theoi

Nephelai Theoi

Nephelai Summary

Prayers/Hymns

Orphic Hymn 82

To the Four Winds by greekpagan

Notos Prayer by Chris Alderbridge

Recipes

Honey Moist Honey Cake

Greek Honey Cake

Little Honey Cakes

Sun Tea

Iced Chamomile Tea

Lavender Lemonade

Crafts/Activities

Perform a Ritual x, x, x

Midsummer Bath Ritual

Burn Your Weeds Spell

Sun Positivity, Strength & Happiness Spell Jar

(Jumping the) Bonfire 

Suncatcher

Sunwheel

Orange Peel Crafts

Dried Orange Wreaths x, x

Divination

Fire Divination

Cloud Divination x, x

Summer Solstice Tarot Spread

Summer Solstice Spread via newagehipster

The Light: Litha Tarot Spread by @tarot-dreams

Suggest a Topic | Masterpost of My Personal Practice Posts | Support My Content

Last updated 6/11/20

[sabrinasgrimoire]

Yule Logs

The Yule Log is a long-standing Yule tradition. This tradition has evolved over time and has been represented in many ways, including the traditional French and Dutch desert cake (“bûche de Noël” or Kerststronk). In this entry, I will cover different traditions, the history of the Yule Log, and ideas so you can make your own this holiday season!

A. HISTORY

The Yule Log has its roots in the Nordic tradition, where Yule was celebrated as one of the two solstice festivals. It was originally an entire tree! The tree would be carefully chosen for the ceremony and taken into the home. Then, the thickest end of the tree would be placed into the hearth while, quite comically, the rest of the tree stuck out into the living room. The Yule Log would then be lit with the remains of the previous year’s Yule Log, which had been carefully stored in the home during the year. It was strictly stated that the person relighting the fire must have clean hands. The old Yule Log was then slowly fed into the hearth fire over the 12 Days of Christmas (Christmas Day – 5th of January). The Norse believed that the sun was in fact a massive fiery wheel that rolled away from the earth and began its journey back to earth at the winter solstice.

The French Yule Log tradition stipulates that the whole family must help cut the Yule Log. They would burn a little bit of the log each night, and if there was any log left after the 12th night, they would store it in the house because it was said to protect the home from

lightning. The Netherlandish tradition said that the log must instead be stored under the bed to bring protection. Other Eastern European countries waited and cut down a tree on the morning of Christmas Eve. The people of Cornwall, United Kingdom called the Yule Log “The Mock”, and the bark is taken off before it enters the home.

As Christianity became more of a presence, the tradition of the Yule Log melded with the Christmas Eve traditions. The log was sprinkled with libations of mead, oil, and salt by the head of the household. The ashes of the Yule Log would then be tossed into corners of the house to protect it from evil spirits.

As for the kind of wood used for the Yule Log, different countries have different traditions. The English use Oak, the Scottish use Birch, and the French use Cherry. Some traditions say to use Ash twigs instead of a log! This comes from the Christian tale of Christ’s birth, where the shepherds gave Mary and Joseph twigs of Ash to burn so they could keep baby Jesus Warm.

B. BUCHE DE NOEL

This take on the Yule Log tradition is a cake that is made up of sponge cake and chocolate buttercream covered in wonderful little sugar decorations. When I talked to my mom about baking one this year, she told me I was on my own because they are very hard to make! I guess one too many of her Yuletide bakes went terribly wrong...

The Tradition of the Yule Log cake stretches back to the Iron Age. After the Christian religion took over, it was becoming more and more impractical to have large trees in one’s home, especially when the hearths were also getting smaller and smaller. Because of this, it seems, the advent of a cake version of a Yule Log was created. This fit much more nicely into the hearth of Iron Age Europeans, and was also very delicious. Sponge cake, the base of the Yule Log, is one of the oldest forms of cake! The first appearance of sponge cake is in

1615 in a tome called “The English Huswife”. It wasn’t until the 19th century when Parisian bakers popularized the Yule Log, and used it as a vehicle to show off their decorating skills.

I don’t have a reliable Yule Log recipe because this is the first year I will be attempting to make one! There are plenty of recipes online, so make sure to share which ones work for you!

C. WHY A YULE LOG?

Yule or The Winter Solstice is the shortest day of the year, and therefore the darkest day of the year. If we look at other traditions, we see many of them bringing forth light in the darkness. The Jewish tradition lights the Menorah, Kwanza is celebrated with the lighting of candles, and the Christian tradition as well as secular traditions see the lighting of a Christmas Tree. Yule is a celebration of the death and rebirth of the God and the return of his light as the days get longer once more. The Yule Log has become a very easy way to celebrate this return of the light.

D. CELEBRATING WITH YOUR YULE LOG

There are a few different ways of celebrating with a Yule Log, and all of them are entirely up to you! For a Kitchen Witch, you can use your Yule Log as a centerpiece for your Yuletide feast. This can be especially effective when surrounded by candles and in dim lighting.

One Yule Log ritual I came across in my research very meaningfully connects us to our ancestors. Write a few wishes or resolutions for the next year on a piece of paper and attach them to the Yule Log. Place the Log into the fire and meditate on all those who have come before you who followed this tradition. Ask them to aid you in fulfilling your wishes and resolutions during the next year.

E. IDEAS

Wood Correspondences: make your Yule Log from wood that corresponds with your intent! Aspen may be used for spiritual understanding and Oak may be used to symbolize the strength of the God. These are only a few suggestions, and I would recommend taking the Correspondences Series where you will learn more about Tree Magick! We also have a Tree Magick series at the school.

Decorations: this is up to you and your own correspondences! Traditionally, pine cones, mistletoe, holly , pine, and cinnamon are used. It is also traditional to decorate with candles to represent the return of the God. You can easily attach these with a glue gun, or by melting some of the candle wax on the log and sticking the end of the candle to the wax until it hardens. You can also tie a festive colored ribbon on your log to complete the look!

Location: sure, you can burn your Yule Log inside, but it would also be fun to burn outside! If you have a fire pit it might be fun to bundle up, bring a few cups of hot chocolate, and watch your Yule Log burn in the fire pit while surrounded by your friends and family.

Colored Flames: certain chemicals, when sprinkled on wood, will cause the fire to turn different colors! Perhaps you could correspond the flame color with a ritual or spell intention on the night of Yule. Make sure to take proper precautions and be careful!

Barium Nitrate: Apple Green                                                                          Borax: Vivid Green                                                                                       Copper Sulphate: Blue                                                                            Potassium Nitrate: Violet                                                                                  Table Salt: Bright Red

Disposal: you can follow any of the traditions stated above or make your own! It is important to also note that ashes from a Yule Log are also wonderful fertilizer for plants, so keep that in mind if you have a garden.

! Be very careful when disposing of the ashes of a Yule Log. It is considered very unlucky to throw the ashes out on Christmas Day, so wait before disposal.

F. WORKS CITED

James Cooper (2000-2019), T he H istory of the Y ule Log, Why Christmas?, https://www.whychristmas.com/customs/yulelog.shtml

Patti Wigington (October 14th 2019), Make a Yule Log, Learn Religions, https://www.learnreligions.com/make-a-yule-log-2563006

Stephanie Butler (August 31st 2018), T he Delicious H istory of the Y ule Log, History Channel,https://www.history.com/news/the-delicious-history-of-the-yule-log

Catherine Boeckmann (December 12th 2018), What is a Yule Log?, The Old Farmer’s Almanac,https://www.almanac.com/content/what-yule-log-christmas-traditions

[enchantresspenelope]

Book Of Shadows

There are two main books used by Witches with their Craft. The Grimoire, and the Book of Shadows. Both books are used to collect information related to the Craft. The Grimoire is often used by a Coven. It includes the Coven rules, rituals, and practices, and is otherwise much like a textbook for Magick. They rarely have personal notes or observations. The Book of Shadows is a personal Grimoire, a shadow of the self. Many Witches never show their Book of Shadows to anyone. It has everything a Grimoire has but created by the individual Witch, plus it will have personal information, thoughts, observations, and rituals.

While a single book is the stereo-type, many Witches will have multiple books, divided by topics or dates. An encyclopedia of Grimoires. There is a lot of information that can go into this book, each one as unique as the person owning it. Below is a very long list of ideas. Include what you need to get your crafting done, and what feels right for your book.

The Book of Shadows Lengthy List

Book Blessing (and/or Dedication and/or Initiation)

Protective Charm and/or Warning

Dedications, Charges, and Redes Dedication to the Craft Dedication to the Creator Dedication/Initiation to your Coven or Tradition Dedication to your Pantheon Dedication to certain God and Goddess Dedication to the Divine Dedication to Nature, etc Witches/Wiccan Rede Charge of Goddess Charge of God

Laws Of your Coven or Tradition The Acceptable Rules of Magick (according to YOU, this is your book) Spiritual Rules Witches Pyramid 13 goals of a witch The Four Agreements Witchcraft Oath Calls to Gather

Yours Introduction Name, age, birthdate, birthplace What inspires you Likes and Dislikes Thoughts and beliefs What inspired you to become a witch? What is/was your path to becoming a witch? Are you religious and what are your thoughts? What is witchcraft and magick to you? What do you want your life to look like? What do you want your life to feel like? Write down your needs, wants, and fears, and get to know yourself a little better.

Daily Practices Daily Rituals Daily Blessings Morning Intention Nightly Close

Regular Practices Weekly Rituals Monthly Rituals Moontime Rituals Birthday Ritual Yearly Ritual

Calendar What is Time? Cycle of Life and Death Phenology Wheel Times of the Day (Hourly and Key times) Days of the Week Months and Seasons Zodiacs and Calendars Festivals and Celebrations* Sabbats* Quarters/Cross-Quarters * Esbats *

Astrology and Astronomy Sun Moon Planets Zodiacs Constellations Retrograde Void of Course Cardinal, Fixed, Mutable

Symbols and Runes Letters Symbols Moon Runes Magic Circles Ogham Staves Sigils, Sigil Wheels Egyptian Hieroglyphs Runes and Runic Codes Theban Alphabet (Witch’s Alphabet) Amulets and Talisman (as tools often inscribed) Secret Languages and Coding/Decoding/Creating them

Tools of the Craft Origins, What Each Tool Is Used For, How to make, & Proper Usage Meanings and Symbolism Correspondences Bells Besom Mirrors Cauldron Grimoire Crystal Ball Pendulums Special Clothes Dream Catchers Altars – layouts, use Wands/Staves/Staff Ritual Knife/Athame Incense/Bundled Herbs Ouija/Divination Boards

Correspondence Tables Candles Colors Cords Elements Essential Oils Feathers Fragrance Incense Metals, Minerals Planetary Seashells Teas Salt – types, purpose Zodiac and calendars Phases of the Moon Time of Day (Hourly) Days of the Week Numbers, numbering systems Crystals, Gems, Stones Flowers, Spices, Herbs, Trees Directions – calling of the four directions, etc

Divination Arithmancy and Numerology Astrology, Planets, Meanings and Definitions, Birth Charts Biorhythm Bones Cartomancy * I Ching Gazing (Crystal Ball) Geomancy Lithomancy Necromancy Palmistry Pendulum (How To, Charts, Boards) Radiesthesia Runes Scrying Tea Leaf Reading (Symbols, Meanings) (there are so many other ways)

Magickal Recipes Herbs and Herbal Blends Oils and Essential Oils Incense Candles Potions Infusions, tinctures, balms, lotions, teas Food and Magickal Correspondences Recipes for Sabbats and Esbats, Festivals, Quarters, Cross Quarters Rosewater, Moon Water, Silvered Water, Lavender Syrup, Black Salt, Purification Salt Other Kitchen Witchery

Magickal Spells, Incantations, Curses, and Ritual Spell Workings Secret Names Spell Timing Preparing a Spell Prepping a ritual Consecration/Anointing of Tools, how to Consecration Rhymes, Blessings Casting and Closing a Circle Amulets, Charms, and Talisman Sachets, Magick Bags, Conjuring Bags Protection Sachet, Charm Bags Elemental Spell Golden Psi-ball for Happiness Drawing Down the Moon Spell Moon Magick/Moon Water Spell Charging/Balancing/Grounding Cleansing/Smoke Bathing/Purifying Banishing, Binding, Hexing, Cursing Nature Rituals (wind, storm, rain, etc) Crystal Grids Bath Rituals Spell of life The Honey Jar The Witch Bottle The Witches Rune Protection Spells The Oak Pentagram Amulet To Bring Joy to a Negative Person Prosperity, Money, or Employment Spells To Get Noticed at Work Retrieval Spell (find what is lost) Candle Magick Garden Magick Kitchen Magick Knot Magick Sex Magick Blood Magick

Science Anatomy Alchemy Archaeology Architecture Astronomy Environments Meteorology Mineralogy Neurology Philosophy Psychology Quantum Physics Sacred Geometry Flora (info, care, guides) Fauna Mycology Drugs and Hallucinogen Familiars and Totem Animals Creatures and Cryptozoology Taxidermy, Insect Preservation, Herbal and Floral Presses Herbalism (Preparation of Herbs, Potions, Infusions, Baths, Teas, Cosmetics, Perfumes etc.) Natural Medicine (Salves etc.) Alternative Medicine (Acupuncture, Meditation, Bach Essences, Reiki, etc) Physical Movement – Salutations, Stretching, Yoga, Meditation Poses, Martial Arts Natural Phenomenons and Catastrophes Science in relation to Energy and Magick Parapsychology (Telekinesis, Telepathy etc) Physiognomy, Kinesics, and other studies related to body language

Otherworld Ghosts and Spirits and How to Communicate with Them (Ouija etc.) Dreams, Lucid Dreaming, Dreamwork Astral Projection Spirit Guides, Angels, Archangels, Daemons, Beings Invocation, Evocation, and Conjuring

Other Spiritual Practices Different Studies of Energy Work, Magick, and other Spiritual Practices Auras, Chakras, Buddhism, Hinduism, Shamanism, Kabbalah, Mysticism, Gnostic Study, Wicca, Thelema, Voodoo Philosophical Texts

Poetry, Stories, Artwork, Mythology, Theology, Thealogy, History, Herstory, Spiritual and Religious Stories Witch – history, etymology, how to say in other languages The Origins of Witches and the History of Magick Witch types Deities List Pantheons Mythical Beings Myths, Legends, and Stories of Gods, Goddesses, and Beings Lore and Superstitions Pagan Lore Divine Information about the Creator Creation Stories Spiritual Pictures or Artwork People (that inspire or interest you) Any other lore, legends, parables, fables, or stories you like Secret Societies Poetry

Prayer, Intentions, Mantras, and Sacred Text Prayers Blessings Prayers for Prayer Beads and/or Mala mantras (and make beads) Intentions – for morning, for moon cycles, yearly, daily, birthday, etc Close – nightly, for ending moon cycles, year close, weekly close, etc Chants (for individuals, groups, and for circle) Energy Share (sending strength or “vibes” or peace, etc) Meditation mantras and expression

Miscellaneous Pressed Leaves and Flowers (Herbarium) Witch Challenges Mundane Tasks Made Magickal Song Lyrics and Lists Quotes Drawings and Sketches Dream Journal Photos D. I. Y Ideas and Tutorials Books to Read and Favorite Summaries Terminology

*Festivals and Celebrations (Birthday, Handfasting, Funerals, Dedications/Christenings, etc) *Sabbats – History, Lore, Myths, Associations, and Rituals, Food, Drink, Recipes, Activities, Songs, Music, etc – Samhain, Yule, Imbolc, Ostara, Beltaine, Litha, Lughnassadh, Mabon *Quarters/Cross-Quarters – Autumn Equitherm – Samhain – October 31st – opposite Beltane – temperate Winter Solstice – Yule – Dec 19th/22nd. opposite Litha – least light Winter Thermstice – Imbolc – Feb 2/3 – opposite Lammas – most cold Spring Equinox – Oestarra – March 20/21 – opposite Mabon – equal day and night Spring Equitherm – Beltane – May 1st – opposite Samhain – temperate Summer Solstice – Litha – June 20/22nd – opposite Yule – most light Summer Thermstice – Lammas – August 1st – opposite Imbolc – most heat – midway between the Summer Solstice and Autumn Equinox Autumn Equinox – Mabon – Sept 22/23 – opposite Oestarra – equal day and night *Esbat Lunar Names, Meanings, and Associations Monthly History, Myth, and Lore Monthly Rituals Phases of the Moon Full Moon and New Moon in each Constellation *Cartomancy – Tarot and Oracle Decks (Pictures, Meanings, Spreads, Symbolism and History)

[dramioneasks]

HP FESTS: dhr_advent (part 3)

dhr_advent 2018:

Shooting Star by Musyc - G, one-shot - Accidentally locked on a balcony. In winter. In Scotland. Sometimes you don't need to see the shooting star to get your wish.

Unlikely by Colubrina - T, one-shot - Hermione Granger doesn't believe the results of her Divination project. After all, how likely would it be that Draco Malfoy is her one true love? But then, years later, she goes to a Christmas wedding and what is unlikely may well be what is true.

Rocking Your Stockings by xxDustNight88 - M, one-shot - A festive miscommunication leads to an unforgettable Christmas Eve celebration for Draco and Hermione.

Recipe for Disaster by ravenclaw_sass - M, one-shot - For two years Draco has managed to avoid it, but this year Hermione is not taking no for an answer: they are celebrating Christmas at The Burrow.

Naughty or Nice by xxcelientje - M, one-shot - Hermione decides to give Draco a Christmas suprise. ''Have you been naughty or nice this year Mister Malfoy?’ Hermione whispered before she let her teeth scrape against the skin of his ear.''

Granger's Brandied Fruit Cake by naarna - G, one-shot - Baking a fruit cake for Christmas is a Granger tradition, but why did Hermione have to turn their kitchen into a mess?

Fairy Lights by gracediamondsfear - T, one-shot - Hermione and Draco have been selected as the "face" of the new Marriage Law...the first and most publicized wedding to show how wonderful it is. Their romance is slow growing, but Draco has a Christmas surprise he's been planning for months.

Cookie Cutter by MykEsprit - T, one-shot - Scorpius is kidnapped from his bedroom. Draco and Hermione follow a trail of crumbs—literally—to rescue their son. Written for the D/Hr Advent 2018.

Naughty or Nice by goldensnitch18 - M, one-shot - Hermione doesn't want to attend the Ministry Party this year, but Draco just might find a way to make it worth it. Prompt: Naughty or Nice

Passion Pie by scarlettcat - M, one-shot - Ron and Hermione were having a perfectly ordinary life together until the twins decided to take up baking for the holidays.

New Traditions by articcat621 - T, one-shot - Draco spends Christmas Eve with the Granger family for the first time.

A Trial of Senses by MrsRen - E, one-shot - Like so many others, Hermione finds herself in Hogwarts once more to repeat her last year. It's not going like she planned. Not with her breakup with Ron Weasley, not with giving up the title of Head Girl since she believes her time as passed, and especially not when she is trapped with Draco Malfoy in the middle of a record setting blizzard.  

Deck the Halls by Kittenshift17 - T, one-shot - Sometimes all you need is a little bit of holiday cheer. And a good snog.

The Invitation Denegation by LightofEvolution - T, one-shot - Draco is responsible for the organisation of the Ministry's Christmas party, and he desperately wants Hermione Granger to attend. But Hermione doesn't want to come. How far will Draco go to convince her? And will he be successful?

The 'Ring' in Purring by LaBelladoneX - T, one-shot - AU - Another year has passed for our favourite couple and Draco has a rather important question to ask Hermione this Christmas. But things don't always go according to plan, right? He's been keeping a fairly large secret all to himself but doesn't know how to tell her. How will she react?

Priceless by Kyonomiko - T, one-shot - Draco has enough to concern himself in his 8th year without Hermione Granger's Muggle Culture-of-the-Week nonsense. Unfortunately, she's far too tenacious to let him slip away unnoticed.

Standard of Care by Misdemeanor1331 - T, one-shot - St. Mungo’s doesn’t play politics. They expect their Healers to deliver a high standard of care to every patient, regardless of past associations. But when Hermione discovers that Draco is her assigned Healer, she doubts that St. Mungo’s had ever considered a past association as fraught as theirs.

It's in the Bags by RavieSnake - T, one-shot - Hermione Granger stopped home on Christmas Eve on her way to the Ministry gala only to find an intruder on her doorstep. Realizing the man was Draco Malfoy was rather a shock. Learning his reason for being there was an even bigger one.

Ribbons Down Her Back by LovesBitca8 - T, one-shot - The unintentional annual seduction of Draco Malfoy through a series of ribbons and bows - or - Christmas Fluff with a dash of Secret Santa.

A Matter of Practicality by olivieblake - T, one-shot - Returning to Hogwarts to take their N.E.W.T.s hasn’t exactly been fruitful, seeing as Hermione’s relationship has disintegrated and Draco’s family and fortune have both been dismantled by Ministry decree. At least they’ll be alone for the holidays, which is precisely what they both want. Or is it?

Ice by SenLinYu - T, one-shot - Hermione works in Gringotts’ Records Department when Draco Malfoy comes on staff as a curse-breaker. His icy presence drags up memories she’s desperate to move on from and forget. She tries to ignore him, but every time she sees him, she feels chilled to the bone.

A Yuletide Melody by In_Dreams - T, one-shot - Following years of heartbreak and struggle, Hermione has lost sight of the things that were once important to her. It will take some visitors - and a certain blond - to remind her what matters most at Christmas.

Exhaustively Considered by la_rubinita - G, one-shot - In which Hermione has an announcement, and Draco tries his best to respond appropriately.

Smuggling Hope by mhcalamas - M, one-shot - Draco Malfoy has been sentenced to one year in Azkaban. He grows listless and lonely and believes himself to be forgotten. Until he receives a surprise visitor.

dhr_advent 2019:

Dragon Whiskers by sarena - M, one-shot - "Do you think this is my notion of how I'd like to spend winter solstice? Maybe even Christmas week? I'm as delighted as you are!"

Christmas Collaboration by Musyc - G, one-shot - Draco has no idea what to get Hermione for Christmas without spending money. Rose and Scorpius have ideas.

All I Want for Christmas by In_Dreams - T, one-shot - After drawing Hermione's name in the Ministry Secret Santa, it only took Draco a year to get her gift right, on Christmas Eve.

Wishes from Ashes by niffizzle - T, one-shot - Draco Malfoy is alone. He didn't return to Hogwarts, he has no interest in his old friends, and he is incapable of seeing either of his parents. As the holidays approach, any hope for a happy Christmas seems long lost. Little does he know, he isn't the only one struggling this holiday season.

Phoenix Longings by LightofEvolution - T, one-shot - Fate has it that there is only one phoenix ornament left. But where will it be on Christmas? With Hermione, within the Great Hall of Hogwarts? Or with Draco, sparkling from the branches of the tree in Malfoy Manor?

Of Oranges and Stockings by Frumpologist - T, one-shot - Hermione worries that her muggleborn Christmas traditions will always come second to Draco’s pureblood Christmas traditions

You're A Mean One, Mr Malfoy by Darkrivertempest - T, one-shot - Lucius Malfoy thinks it is high time that Draco Malfoy be married and carry on the Malfoy name.Too bad Lucius dislikes Draco's choice.

Father Christmas by MotherofBulls - M, one-shot - Being the spoiled man-child that he is, Draco Malfoy thought he could have it all for Christmas: a girlfriend he was head over heels for, a holiday in his childhood winter home in the North Pole, and a dignified family affair with the aforementioned girlfriend and his mother. Never did he imagine Narcissa would have her own ideas. This Christmas, Draco will be forced to confront the last glimmers of his childhood and accept a new father figure into his life.

brandy, apricot, and spice by LovesBitca8 - T, one-shot - There’s a Christmas pudding in his cupboard. It was made by warm hands with strong fingers, kneading into the mix and chopping quickly as she had in Potions. It was made before. And now, he supposes, it is after.

The Unwrapping of Draco Malfoy by LaBelladoneX - M, one-shot - One night haunted them... forbidding two lost souls from moving on with their lives. She should never have left; he should never have let her go. When the opportunity comes to address their past mistakes, will they take it? Written for D/Hr Advent 2019.

Ornamental by Ally147 - T, one-shot - There’s a bauble beneath the low lounge opposite her, resting against the far wall.

Frozen by MykEsprit - T, one-shot - Being Draco Malfoy's bodyguard was a boring occupation--until one Christmas Day, when chaos was unleashed. Written for the D/Hr Advent 2019.

Now Is A Gift by SenLinYu - T, one-shot - Hermione is determined to give meaningful Christmas gifts to everyone in her Ministry department. Everyone. Even that anti-social arse Malfoy.

Headaches and Lazy Mornings by naarna - G, one-shot - Lazy mornings with her little family are the best...

A Christmas Surprise by articcat621 - T, one-shot - Draco has another surprise in store for Hermione.

Seven Days of Christmas by LadyKenz347 - M, one-shot - After a one night stand after the Ministry Christmas Party, Hermione avoids Draco Malfoy at all costs.

Wrapped in White by Kyonomiko - T, one-shot - The Holiday season feels heavy at Hogwarts in the aftermath of war. Hermione doesn't expect many gifts from the remnants of her Eighth-year class. And so, a small, white package on Christmas Eve leaves her intrigued, curious who might have sent it.

A Midwinter Night's Dream by Colubrina - T, one-shot - A holiday party at work goes astray when a sip of eggnog sends both Hermione and Draco into an enchanted wood. To escape, they'll have to forgive the past.

(Not So) Fake Dating by MrsRen - M, one-shot - After claiming she'll be bringing a date to Christmas at the Burrow, Hermione finds herself in a bind considering there is no boyfriend. Until Draco insists that he can fill the role. Faking a relationship can't be that hard, can it? After all, they've already got the tension down.

Merry Mark, Ministry Narc by Misdemeanor1331 - T, one-shot - To foster feelings of warmth and goodwill, overzealous Administrative Assistant Carol introduces the Department of Magical Law Enforcement to the newest Christmas craze: Elf on the Shelf. However, not everyone is equally enamored with their new office mate.A Dramione sequel to my 2016 Advent fic, Caroled.

Run the Gauntlet by olivieblake - T, one-shot - When the Ministry of Magic announces a renaissance faire to benefit families affected by the war, everyone agrees it's probably a stupid idea—except for Draco, who has amends to make, and Hermione, who has an ex to avoid. Seeing as artisans and performers don't interact, they're convinced it won't be a problem. Much to their joint dismay, fate intervenes to prove them wrong.

Fa La La Ad Infinitem by eilonwy - T, one-shot - A very enterprising band of house-elves is on a mission.

Sweater Season by scarlettcat - M, one-shot - Tis the season for ugly Christmas sweaters and mating Veela. 

dhr_advent 2020:

Sugar Flurries, Candy Storms by mightbewriting - M, one-shot - Draco steps closer. He offers her a single, appraising glance up and down. “You’re Hermione Granger. I suspect you can do anything if you really want it done.”“Stop almost-complimenting me, Malfoy.”His smile grows, white teeth nearly as bright as his hair as he reaches out and flips a curl over her shoulder. He shifts, leaning once more against the nearby column.“Trust me, Granger, you’ll know if I’m complimenting you.”

Whispering Pines by floorcoaster - T, one-shot - The Winter Solstice is a day full of promise for both Draco and Hermione.

Good Luck Kisses by Musyc - T, 8 chapters - A good luck kiss for a Quidditch captain - it's ridiculous. It can't actually work. But it does. Every time.

Queen of Lonely Hearts by raven_maiden - E, one-shot - “You’re an arrogant prick."“I know.” “You harass me constantly.” “I prefer ‘tease.’” “You have no right to touch me.” “Probably not.” Hermione seized what was left of her self-control and ripped free, stumbling backward. “What is this.” Malfoy simply tilted his head. “What do you think?” ** Hermione Granger has a brilliant idea for the office Christmas Party this year. Her coworker, Draco Malfoy, begs to disagree.

Après Ski by scullymurphy - M, 3 chapters - Ginny's let a ski chalet in Switzerland for a pre-Christmas weekend with friends. It's beautiful, cozy and festive, but there aren't enough beds, which means Hermione and Draco will (reluctantly) have to share. And then, of course, they get snowed in...

The Nutcracker Pas de Deux by HeyJude19 - M, one-shot - It began as a way for Hermione to remember her parents, to honour a part of her childhood. But now every Christmas season, Draco Malfoy finds a way into her holiday tradition of attending a performance of The Nutcracker.

The Legacy of Fred Weasley by Kyonomiko - T, one-shot - Fred loved a good party. And Christmas. And suprises. George intends to see his brother's last Weasley product realized...

A Stake of Holly Through His Heart by LovesBitca8 - E, one-shot - The one thing Draco Malfoy hated more than Christmas was snow. Snow had a habit of ruining your plans, causing delays, and generally making you damp. But this Christmas Day blesses him with his third and fourth least favorite things as well: crying girls and Hermione Granger. || 13 GOING ON 30 AU x A CHRISTMAS CAROL

Where the Love-light Gleams by monsterleadmehome - E, one-shot - When Hermione and Draco move in together just before the holiday season, everything seems like it's finally coming together. Then Hermione notices her boyfriend and her cat are at odds. When Crookshanks completely destroys Draco's elaborate Christmas display, will she be able to salvage the holiday cheer? And why does is seem like Draco is hiding something from her?

Les Pèlerins by PacificRimbaud  - M, one-shot - Les pèlerins: pilgrims; travelers on a journey to a holy place.Hermione Granger refused to believe in fate. She’d had enough of destiny and prophecies to last a lifetime. But try as she may, she felt, sometimes, that an invisible golden thread stretched out and away from her.  All she could do was follow it.

The Causative Agent by Misdemeanor1331 - T, 5 chapters - The Department of Magical Law Enforcement has been poisoned, Hermione Granger has been spared, and Draco Malfoy is the only person who can help. Aurors don’t typically partner with Healers, but this case is far from routine, and their combined expertise is exactly what’s needed to determine the causative agent and catch the attempted killer.

An Inconvenient Flutter by niffizzle - T, one-shot - With Christmas just one week away, Hermione heads to Hogsmeade to complete her holiday shopping. She doesn’t expect to run into Malfoy along the way. Now, there will be one more person joining them for Christmas dinner.

Wassailing to the Wand-Wood Trees by Aneiria - E, one-shot - The fifth anniversary is the wood anniversary, and after five wonderful years of marriage, Hermione and Draco celebrate their anniversary in the usual way: a solstice wassail with their closest friends and family.This year is particularly special, however, and with the help of a few old friends this anniversary and Christmas will be one neither of them will ever forget.

Hazy by In_Dreams - M, one-shot - When Draco Malfoy's court-ordered mind therapy fell into Hermione's hands, she didn't know what to think. Two Christmases later, she knows better. Written for the 2020 D/Hr Advent.

The Joy of Noisy Toys by naarna - T, one-shot - Scorpius got a new toy from Uncle Harry for Christmas. It is noisy. And he loves it...

Traditions by LadyKenz347 - G, one-shot - Draco is endlessly confused by Hermione's Christmas traditions. Until something gives and he realizes exactly why she's gone absolutely mental about Christmas.

Snow Fall by senlinyu - M, one-shot - The first holidays married should be perfect. If only it weren't for all those pesky social obligations that are almost impossible to get out of.“We have to go very slowly,” she says, fighting to keep her voice even and biting back a moan. “To stay warm—”Her voice breaks off in a gasp as he caresses her just the way he knows she likes it.She pulls his hand away and pushes him down until she’s on top. “You can’t just grope me indiscriminately,” she says with mock severity. “ I have to show you how it’s done. There’s a specific technique to all this.”He narrows his silver eyes as he stares up at her, pale skin and hair gilded with firelight. “Yes. This appears to be extremely scientific.”

This fest is ongoing.

[livvywrites]

sts!~ What kind of holidays are there in TMQ world, and which ones are your characters favorites? What would their favorites be in a modern AU?

thank you for asking!! holidays are always a ton of fun :D

so back during worldbuilding june, i actually did a post on holidays and traditions!! im going to summarize, though, because i went a little overboard with the post, oops!

Day of Wishes - a holiday specific to Alinora & Aishlynn’s birthplace! it is celebrated during the first new moon of the new year, and is done in honor of Hope! all the lights are turned out save for a single candle each person holds. it’s considered bad luck if the candle goes out before its time, though, so people have to be very careful with them! people gather outside where they can see the stars. at midnight, everyone reflects on their hopes and dreams for the new year, before blowing the candle out and going inside.

Life Festival - another holiday specific to Alinora & Aishlynn’s birthplace! this holiday is celebrated over several days, and pays tribute to the goddess of life! it takes place at the end of the harvest season, just before winter. there are plays performed by kids; bonfires; games; feasts; and other such fun things, all interspersed with work to prepare for winter.

New Year - while many countries celebrate the New Year, this one is native to Talitha’s home country! there are temple services, which often involve reflecting on the past and preparing for the future. then there are private traditions, often involving alcohol. at midnight, many people will break a bottle against the wall, before cleaning up the shards.

Founder’s Day - also specific to Talitha’s home country! speeches are given by the current city leaders, before the students of the Magus College all display their talents & things that they’ve learned. people come from all around to watch and to set up booths.

Solstices - also celebrated in many countries, this refers to the one in Talitha’s home :) the Summer Solstice is celebrated in the market, where people bring lots of goods from around the world. there are also festivities in the public gardens. the Winter Solstice is celebrated indoors, usually with a grand feast. people will also make offerings to the dead and departed.

Masquerade - one more for Tali’s hometown! this one celebrates Chaos. Masquerades are often exclusive events though they’re often crashed. people dress up in elaborate costumes and partake in a night of revelry. the next day, everyone generally pretends it didn’t happen.

Ainerah Election - the slaeyr used to be wanderers, before the founding of Sylfae. every 500 years, every clan got together to elect a new leader. because they got together as a whole so rarely, they also celebrated with games. this tradition continues even after they settle--every 500 years, just before the election, there’s a series of games that slaeyr can participate in! these are often very dangerous, though, due to the slaeyr’s healing factor.

Birth of the Slaeyr - the slaeyr celebrate when their race first came into existence, when the first slaeyr (Lyr and Ava’s mother and uncle!) were born and claimed. there’s feasting and singing and dancing, before night falls. then, the best storytellers come to tell the story of the first slaeyr--often with illusionary or physical reenactments! 

i’ll have to leave out Asa, Elaena, and Viv for this part as they celebrated different holidays!

Alinora adored the Life Festival! particularly the bonfires, as she liked telling scary stories to her friends near them.

Lyr had never actually been to an Ainerah Election, but he really really wanted to participate in the games, so he would call that his favorite holiday.

Ava liked the Birth of the Slaeyr! partially because it celebrated her mother--and now that she’s gone, is a wonderful way to remember her--but also because she enjoyed preparing for the holiday.

Talitha was a big fan of the Masquerade!

Aishlynn has actually participated in more holidays on this list than anyone else xD Her favorite was always the Day of Wishes, though. 

in a modern verse! their favorite holidays would be:

Alinora would really like Halloween, I think, due to her love of scary things.

Lyr would be a big fan of the Olympics, which aren’t a traditional holiday per se, but. You know. Outside of that I think he’d really like Thanksgiving, ‘cause of all the food preparation! (He loves to cook, and to eat!)

Ava would adore Christmas, I think. She would also have a soft spot for Valentine’s Day!

Talitha would love Halloween. She’d love going all out with her costume and decorating and scaring people and horror movies and all that good stuff.

Aishlynn would like the New Year best, I think!

[agirlinjapan]

Red Data Girl: My Wish on the Night of the Shooting Stars (Week 21)

Red Data Girl: My Wish on the Night of the Shooting Stars By Noriko Ogiwara A Translation

Miss the last piece? Read it here!

Check out the RDG Translation twitter!

Help me pay for my next translation project on Ko-fi.

I don’t know where all of you are, but here where I am, we got one week of spring, and now it’s winter again? It was snowing yesterday. I invited some friends over and we sat around the kotatsu and had nabe (Japanese hot pot). It was great! However, now that’s basically May, I would at least like temperatures in the mid 60′s...

For anyone who didn’t happen to see, I posted a bonus piece of RDG last week because I got so much work done over break. :D Click the link above that leads to the previous week if you didn’t get a chance to read it already.

Red Data Girl: My Wish on the Night of the Shooting Stars By Noriko Ogiwara Chapter 3: Winter Solstice Part 2 (1 of 2)

Finally, the exam period came to an end.

Once the final paper was collected and the teacher proctoring the last exam left the room, the students exploded into celebration over their freedom. Now they could flock out of the school and into the busy nearby shopping district to soak up the Christmas spirit coming from all the decorations lining the streets there.

As soon as all the students were released from their exams, flyers about the open house Christmas party that would take place in the auditorium next Saturday were distributed, getting everyone’s attention. Attendance wasn’t mandatory—only people who wanted to come would attend—but many of the students seemed interested in the event. The girls in 1-C quickly began talking about what they would wear.

“Hey, you don’t think they’ll make us wear our uniforms, do you? During Saturday’s party?” Mako and the other girls asked Izumiko right away. They had just read on the flyer that the student government was putting the gathering together.

Izumiko smiled. “I haven’t heard yet. But I think we’ll get more information during today’s meeting.”

There was still time before they would get their graded tests back, but like everyone else, Izumiko wasn’t thinking about that. Perhaps she had used up all her academic concentration for the time being. Seeing as Miyuki had forced her to show him her previous exam papers and they had used them as a basis to study, these end of term exams hadn’t seemed as scary as the midterm that had come before it. Still, they weren’t something she wanted to be thinking about now.

“Ma—”

Izumiko had been about to ask Manatsu if he was going to that afternoon’s student government meeting, but when she turned in his direction, she saw that his chair was already empty. There was no boy sitting there. But Manatsu had rethought dropping out of school and Izumiko had seen him calmly taking his tests. He was fine. She didn’t need to worry about him. Truthfully, she would have been more worried if he was still sitting in his seat after the exams were over.

I wonder why we have things like exams. I guess it’s just one of those things the adults force us into to see what we’re made of and make us nervous…

While studying for the exams, there had been times when Izumiko had felt the unreasonableness of the situation. She could understand the pain Manatsu, who hated studying so much, had been in even more than ever.

They can’t measure us individually like this. We’re all going to forget most of what was on these exams anyway…

Miyuki and Mayura were high achieving students. Was there a way for them to speak up against the teachers? At the very least, they were good at keeping teachers from meddling in their business. Izumiko wanted to learn how they did it, but at the moment, she wasn’t sure if that the right thing to do or not.

But everything’s okay right now. I should be in a better mood. The pain of studying ended yesterday after all...

Izumiko’s brads swung around her as walked into the hallway, thinking this over. When she saw Mayura coming down the hall though, her rising spirits dropped in an instant.

Mayura was walking next to Ichijo Takayanagi.

“Mayura?...”

Mayura’s expression looked moody, almost as if no one had told her the exams had ended.

“Hey, Izumiko,” she said in a hard voice that was much different from her usual tone. “This guy wants to talk with us as soon as possible. It’s about the parents and guardians being invited to the Christmas party.”

That’s right. We were going to make a plan to keep the parents and guardians from attending the Christmas party once the exams were over…

Izumiko quickly realized that even though the written tests were over, the adults weren’t finished testing her just yet.

Deciding that the other members of the student government should hear the outcome of their short conversation, Izumiko, Mayura, and Takayanagi agreed to bring the topic up again when the government was gathered. In order to do this, they went directly to the student government room after lunch. Along with Honoka and the other second years, Manatsu and Miyuki were also there.

Takayanagi didn’t seem to care if he was in front of a full audience or not. His manner did not change at all.

“After everything that happened before, I spoke directly to my honorable father and grandfather. At the time of the school festival, they were aware of Izumiko’s existence, and it’s true that they already had a long relationship with the school’s chairman.”

Honorable father and grandfather?...

It was obvious in every way possible that Takayanagi was the son of a rich family. Oblivious to the impact his choice of words had on the people listening to him, Takayanagi continued.

“But regardless of what happened to me here, my family made me see that I am still a diviner with unsurpassed talent. I am still in my mid-teens and carry much more still-latent potential. Therefore, my family does not believe in anyway whatsoever that I lost. Even if Izumiko’s abilities are unfathomable, they still continue to hold this belief. However, this is what Izumiko said she wants people to think. She said she doesn’t know what will happen after these three years, though.”

Izumiko felt as if she had taken some sort of oath regarding her three high school years. Still, it was true she had said that she didn’t know how this was all going to play out, so she carefully confirmed Takayanagi’s words.

“I don’t think we can consider what happened at the festival as being something that only happened to you.”

Perhaps thinking about Hodaka, who was not here for this conversation, Honoka’s voice was cold as she said, “Are you saying that you’re going to ignore the second ruling and continue fighting for the win?”

“No. My parents also understand that there’s no point in confrontation. They have come to terms with Izumiko’s desire to maintain the status quo. This has nothing to do with our match that took place here at the high school. If it did, I’d be more inclined to cooperate with you now.”

Izumiko blinked. The conversation seemed to be moving in a somewhat positive direction.

“Your family understands the situation?” she asked.

“In no way do I think that they feel any hostility towards you. In fact, there’s been more and more talk about scouting you out to join us. On my honor as a diviner, I swear this is so.”

As always, Takayanagi’s words were ornate. Miyuki grimaced for an instant before he asked, “There are parents mixed up in every part of this situation and now you’re saying your family might be interested in working with Izumiko. Where does the chairman fit into all of this? Assuming that he’s aware of the decision we came to about the festival, why did he invite all the parents and guardians to campus?”

“He’s certainly aware of our decision,” Takayanagi said, responding to Miyuki. For the first since the start of the meeting, he paused before adding, “The agreement between Izumiko and I maintains the diviners’ reputation, but the chairman’s reputation is another matter…”

Honoka spoke up. “This is about the exchange students, isn’t it? It’s about their reputations and the reputations of all the parents and guardians who are involved with the school. That’s what President Hodaka’s been saying.”

“Is this about the foreign researchers?” Miyuki asked.

Takayanagi’s voice was tight as he said, “That’s part of it. Still, Angelica isn’t a bad person. She likes Japan, and she’s easy to understand. Claus is the same. They’re the only two people who have been dispatched by that organization. In order to name the World Heritage Candidate, the chairman can’t refuse any investigations they might want to do.”

“If we’re hiding the truth, will we end up with enemies overseas?...” Miyuki asked thoughtfully after a moment.

“That may very well become the case,” Takayanagi admitted. “From here on out, they’ll probably want to do all sorts of different tests after all. Our agreement is only valid while we’re at school. What we need to worry about now is if someone will be told about our plan during the Christmas party. That’s why I originally came to speak with Izumiko today.”

Takayanagi looked back at Izumiko and then brought up the true point of the meeting. “I have no objections to acting as the top student at this school. With that said though, in the event of any tests that may take place, I don’t believe I could keep up the ruse with my ability to control shikigami sealed away. Izumiko, how do you plan to hide the truth?”

“How do I plan?...”

Izumiko paused for a moment. She hadn’t thought about this before. “You can’t do anything if you can’t use shikigami?”

“Isn’t that clear? I need you to at least remove your barrier on the campus for the days Angelica’s organization does their tests.”

“You said… my barrier? I made a barrier?”

Takayanagi’s shoulders slumped as Izumiko repeated his words with wide eyes. “This is why, Izumiko. This is why I told you what you do instinctively is the exact opposite of diviner magic. You laid down such a powerful barrier that if you don’t take it down when visitors come to the school, they’ll probably suspect it’s there at least partially if they have even the slightest bit of spiritual ability.”

I wonder how I’d take down the barrier… Izumiko thought to herself. She got the sense that it wouldn’t be good for her to say that she had never undone any sort of magic before.

Thinking over what had just been said, she paused before saying, “I understand. I’ll take it completely down on the day of the tests.”

Miyuki did not look nearly as worried as Izumiko. “I guess we will have to do something about the barrier on the day of the tests. Is that all you wanted to say, Takayanagi?”

“If you could take down the barrier a little sooner than that, my associates and I could get a feel for the people who come to participate in the Christmas party.”

Takayanagi’s tone was cautious, but immediately Mayura broke in, her own tone sharp.

“Absolutely not. The campus might finally be more relaxed now that exams are over, but it’s better if we take as few steps backwards as we can. I hate things like shikigami. They make me sick.”

Izumiko nodded at Mayura. Manatsu had been saying that the horses were doing better than they had been before. With that knowledge, she knew it was the right decision to keep the barrier up.

“I like the campus better without shikigami, too,” she said. “So I’ll only take the barrier down on the day those people come.—Sorry, Takayanagi.”

Takayanagi gave a small shrug of his shoulders, but then rose from his seat.

“I won’t make a big deal out of it now. I’m just wondering why you don’t think my proposal would be useful. I’m sure you’ll all reconsider sometime soon.”

After Takayanagi left, Hoshino took up his role as the Christmas party planning chief and shared the latest arrangements which he had put together and the meeting moved back to its original agenda.

When Izumiko and Mayura left the room to pick up some print outs from the administration building though, Mayrua began to speak almost as if she couldn’t help herself.

“Are you really alright with letting Takayanagi throw his weight around like he just did? If he gets his ability to use shikigami again, it’ll be like nothing’s changed. I honestly can’t get behind your decision to try and work with everyone, him included. He’ll probably put together some plan again on the day of the tests.”

“What would you do if you were in my place?” Izumiko questioned Mayura back.

“Isn’t it obvious? I’d make it clear that the game was over. Right now, it’s a draw because you’ve left him powerless, but I would have fought to the very end. That’s what I do with my opponents.”

Izumiko was honestly impressed. “You’re really inspiring to be around. I get what Manatsu was saying about it never being boring around you.”

“What do you mean you get what he was saying?” Mayura laughed awkwardly at the words that had just come out of her mouth. “Never mind. You’re the first person to say anything like that to me, that’s all.”

“I’m serious though,” Izumiko replied earnestly. “I don’t think a lot of people have the ability to get fired up like you do. Manatsu’s the same. I think that’s why everyone gravitates to the two of you. In my case though, I’ll never have that same ability to attract people, no matter what I do. This Christmas party that’s coming up is going to be the first party I’ve ever been to.”

Izumiko continued shyly. “I’ve had my hands full with just watching and learning about all these new things around me that I’m enjoying, and that’s probably why I’ve only done as much fighting as I have to. I’ll be really happy if I find out everyone in 1-C is planning to go to the party out of uniform. I hope we get permission to wear more than our usual clothes. Those are the sort of exciting things I want to focus on.”

Lowering her gaze somewhat, she finally ended her statement. “What I’m trying to say is, you know about these things. Right, Mayura? You know how many Christmas presents it’s normal to give out to people. Or what to do if you’re giving one to a boy…”

Mayura took a few steps down the hallway without saying anything. Then she suddenly let out a sigh, confusing Izumiko entirely.

“Uh? Am I being weird? Is it really strange that I’m bringing this up?”

Mayura shook her head. “That’s not it. You’re you, and I know you’ve been really isolated your whole life. Your goal in coming to this school was to do the things normal people do.”

Turning deep red, Izumiko continued quickly, “But when you’re limited by time and the amount of things you can do, wouldn’t anyone choose what they enjoy if they could only choice one thing?”

“I get it. I get it. You win.” Smiling again, Mayura patted Izumiko’s shoulder. “We’ve shared how we really feel just now. You’re leading this school with your pure heart. That’s the reason why this place feels so calm now. Even so, I’m being ungrateful, and forgetting that you have experiences to make up fo.”

“Make up for?” Izumiko repeated. Mayura did not respond directly to the implied question though.

Instead, she said simply, “If I had to say, you owe Sagara a present. If you decide that you want to share your feelings with him, I’ll give you as much support as you need. When we go into town next time, I’d be happy to help you pick out a present for him, too.”

Keep reading!

[chocolatequeennk]

I’ve Got My Love to Keep Me Warm

Stuck in a cave in the middle of a blizzard, the Doctor and Rose find a new way to keep warm.

Ten x Rose, huddling for warmth. For @doctorroseprompts 31 Days of Ficmas, snowed in and cold.

Thanks to @paigenotblank for reading over this for me!

FF.NET | AO3

The play ended just as the first rays of dawn’s light struck the stage, bathing the actors in a pink glow. Rose sucked in a breath and jumped to her feet along with the rest of the audience, clapping wildly.

She turned to the Doctor after the last curtain call. He was beaming down at her, the wide, goofy smile she loved so much stretched across his face.

“That was incredible!” she told him.

He bounced a little on his toes. “Worth sitting out here on a cold, December-like night?”

Rose laughed and tucked her cold nose into the folds of the blanket she had wrapped around her shoulders. “Well, we managed to stay pretty warm. And that mulled wine they served at intermission certainly helped.”

The wind picked up, sod’s law dictating that as soon as she said they were warm, the temperature had to drop. “I think I’m ready to go home though.” She folded the blanket a few times, then slung it over her shoulders like a shawl or a wide scarf.

The Doctor took her hand and led her out of the amphitheatre. “Just a short walk through the woods and we’ll be sitting in front of the library fireplace.”

A few snowflakes fluttered around them, and Rose hummed happily. Snow was the perfect addition to the festive day. “And maybe we can have hot chocolate, with peppermint sticks and lots of whipped cream,” she suggested.

Neither of them mentioned the fact that once again, the Doctor’s landing hadn’t been quite as precise as he’d meant it to be. Oh, he’d gotten them to the right planet, and even the right day, but they had a four mile walk through the woods before they could have that hot chocolate.

The Doctor swung their hands between them as they started on the path. “We could… cuddle under a blanket while we watch Christmas movies.”

Rose caught the smirk he tried to hide and joined in the game. For the next few minutes, they took turns suggesting ways to get warm.

“Your turn,” the Doctor said. He held a branch out of the way so Rose could duck underneath it, knocking the snow off of it in the process.

The flurry had become a steady snowfall. Forgetting about the game, Rose held out her hand and watched a snowflake melt into her soft mitten. “It’s like one of those old Christmas card paintings,” she said, gesturing at the forest floor which was just turning white. “Snow makes everything look so fresh and clean.”

That reminded her of a question she’d had earlier. “You never told me why they sit outside before dawn in the middle of winter to watch a play.”

“Today marks the first day after the solstice,” he told her. “So last night was the longest night, and they stay up all night, ready to welcome the first dawn that heralds the start of the lengthening days.”

Rose looked up at the Doctor. “The play, it felt like it was sort of a new year theme. Like, the whole point was that things end, but at the end of everything, there’s a new beginning. Is it always like that?”

The Doctor nodded, sending a few snowflakes fluttering from his hair. “Every year, they hold a contest for playwrights to create this year’s solstice play. The theme varies slightly from year to year, but it always has some kind of hopeful tone to it.”

Another gust of wind whistled through the trees. Rose clamped her lips shut to hold back a shiver and watched warily as the snowflakes became larger and heavier.

“Is it just me, or is the weather getting worse?” she asked.

The Doctor sighed. “It’s not just you. The temperature is dropping and the wind has picked up.”

Rose’s nose and cheeks stung from the cold, but she shook her head. “Yeah, I was more talking about how heavily the snow is starting to fall. Look at my blanket,” she added, pointing at the crusty layer of half-melted snow forming on the soft fabric.

The Doctor groaned and raked his hand through his hair. “I was trying to ignore that, actually.” He pressed his tongue to the back of his teeth, then looked down at her. “I’d suggest turning back around, but I’m more certain I can find the TARDIS in a snowstorm than anything else.”

Rose looked up at him quizzically and he tapped the side of his head. With rare exceptions, he could find his ship anywhere. Providing he could actually get to her.

“Yeah, okay,” Rose agreed. “Let’s keep going.” She took his hand and squeezed. “The faster we get home, the faster we can have that hot chocolate, yeah?”

“Oh, yes,” he said, hoping she couldn’t tell his enthusiasm was just a cover for his frustration and guilt.

There was over an inch of snow on the ground now, and conversation was limited to warnings to step over tree roots covered in snow, or to avoid a hole in the path. The Doctor focused half his mind on his connection with the TARDIS, and the ship answered with a warm hum. She was there waiting for them.

That kept him going, even when the storm turned into a proper blizzard and their visibility was limited to only a few feet in front of them. He could hear Rose’s teeth chattering above the whistling of the wind—they had to get home.

But when they nearly stepped off the edge of a ravine because they couldn’t see more than a few feet in front of them, the Doctor called a halt.

“We need to find someplace to wait out the storm,” he said grimly. “There’s no point in going on if we’re just going to end up dead.”

“Well aren’t you Mr. Cheerful,” Rose muttered. “All right then, how are we going to find someplace to hide in this storm?”

The Doctor pulled out his sonic screwdriver. His numb fingers fumbled with the settings, but he finally managed to get the one he wanted. “Topographical analysis,” he told Rose as he scanned a complete three hundred sixty degrees around them. “It’ll tell me if there are any caves nearby.”

Come on, come on, he pleaded silently as he waited for the scan results. If his own hands were feeling the cold, then Rose must be nearly frozen solid. He needed to get her into shelter before she became hypothermic.

He crowed in delight when the scan registered a cave only a hundred yards from where they were standing. “This way!” he called to Rose over the wind.

The Doctor took Rose’s hand and held it tight as they picked their way blindly over the rocky terrain. They were already lost in a blizzard; losing each other in the blizzard would be monumentally worse.

After ten harrowing minutes, they finally stepped out of the storm into the cave. The Doctor adjusted the settings on the sonic, and a beam of blue light shone around the shelter.

“Made it!” he said, his voice echoing against the rock walls.

Rose dropped her snow-covered blanket and glanced around nervously. “Are you sure there isn’t something already living here? Like, a big, hairy something that likes to eat humans and Time Lords?”

“Ah. Excellent point.” The Doctor scanned the cave and breathed a sigh of relief when it came up with only the two life signs. “No, this is a completely empty cave.”

Rose rubbed her hands over her arms, her teeth chattering. “G-good,” she said. “I d-don’t think I could have gone much further.”

The Doctor looked her up and down, swiftly taking in her current condition. He swore under his breath when he saw her blue lips. “Here, let me.” He took her hands first, holding them between his as he concentrated on his own body temperature for a moment.

Rose gasped, and he felt her fingers wiggle as feeling returned. “How’d you do that? I thought you were always colder than humans.”

He tugged her close and wrapped his coat snugly around them both. “Superior biology. I can regulate my body temperature.”

She chuckled. “That’s convenient. I like it.”

The Doctor felt Rose relax as he warmed her up, and he rubbed her back a few times before taking a step back. “But that only helps temporarily,” he said briskly. “If we’re going to get your core body temperature raised, we need to get a fire going.”

Rose glanced around the empty cave, then looked at him, her eyebrows raised. “I don’t see any wood nearby.”

The Doctor shook his head and forced a teasing tone into his voice. “Rose Tyler, we just walked through a huge forest to get to this cave. We are literally surrounded by wood.” He held up his hand when she opened her mouth. “And once I bring it in, I can dry it off with the sonic,” he said, anticipating her objection.

Relief flickered in Rose’s eyes. “Yeah, all right. Just don’t get lost out there.”

He held up his sonic. “I’ll just guide myself right back here the way I did the first time.”

A tiny smile finally crossed Rose’s face. “All right then. What are you waiting for? I think you promised me a fire.”

The Doctor waved, then took a deep breath and plunged back into the storm.

He stumbled around, waving his arms in front of him, until his fingers brushed against rough bark. Then he ran his hands up the trunk until he came to the first branch. Working his way down to the smaller twigs, he broke off several, shoving them into his coat pocket.

“Brilliantly done, Doctor,” he muttered as he worked. “Oh yes, take Rose to one of the best solstice celebrations in the galaxy, but then let her freeze to death because you weren’t paying close enough attention to the weather before you started for home.”

He started a bigger pile of branches on the ground in front of the tree, working carefully in a circle around the trunk so he didn’t lose the tree or his firewood.

All his ideas and plans for the day seemed to be slipping away from him. Ever since their foray into the parallel universe, he’d been trying to find a way to hint to Rose that they could move their relationship forward. Taking her to the Elurran First Dawn had seemed… symbolic, somehow. New beginnings and all that.

Even if he hadn’t gotten up the courage to bring up their relationship, he’d also wanted to give her a nice, relaxing trip. They’d had too much trouble lately. He wanted to remind her of the incredible parts of travelling through time and space.

A blizzard did not fit in with any of his plans.

Tree branches creaked dangerously in the howling wind, and the Doctor decided he’d gathered enough wood. Feeling his way back to his pile, he carefully bent over and picked it up, then made his way back to the cave. He paid close attention to the heading from the sonic. In white-out conditions, it was easy to become disoriented and walk in circles, or the completely wrong direction.

Rose was pacing back and forth across the cave opening when he returned. “Whew! You would not believe the weather out there!” he said as he dropped the wood on the cave floor.

She spun around and wrapped him in a tight hug, which the Doctor immediately reciprocated. “Everything all right?” he asked quietly, holding her close.

She nodded and pressed her cold nose into his coat. “Just got worried you’d get lost out there,” she said, the words muffled by his coat.

The Doctor’s hearts clenched at the fear in her voice. He pulled back and looked into Rose’s eyes, his hands on her shoulders. “I will always find my way back to you, Rose Tyler.”

Her eyes widened, and the Doctor’s mouth went dry. This seemed like the perfect moment to broach that conversation, but before he could find the right words, a violent shiver shook Rose’s body.

“Right,” he said, dropping his hands. “Time to get a fire going.”

“I won’t argue with that,” she said. “And maybe that magic sonic-drying thing could work on my blanket and coat too?”

He smiled at her over his shoulder as he set to work on the wood. “Absolutely,” he assured her. “You just wait, Rose. You’ll be toasty warm in no time.”

Rose bit her lip as she watched him work. She’d seen the look in his eyes a moment ago. If the cold hadn’t suddenly been too much for her to stand, what would he have said?

“I will always find my way back to you.”

She shivered again, and the line of the Doctor’s shoulders stiffened. “Almost done,” he told her.

Rose blinked, then she realised that somehow, he knew she was shivering again. And he doesn’t know that wasn’t from the cold, she thought, a rueful smile on her face.

“S’all right, Doctor,” she told him. “I trust you.”

He didn’t say anything, but she thought his back relaxed, just a little. A minute later, he gathered up the kindling and two medium-sized logs and placed them on a relatively flat spot toward the front of the cave.

“We run the risk of the wind putting it out,” he told her as he used the sonic to light the kindling. “But that’s better than suffocating because there wasn’t enough ventilation.”

Rose shuddered. “Definitely,” she said adamantly.

The Doctor carefully positioned the larger pieces of wood over the twigs and the flames licked at the dry wood. “If you sit here, in between the fire and the cave entrance, maybe it’ll stay going while I dry out more wood,” he suggested.

Rose took his place at the mouth of the cave. The shock of the cold wind at her back took her breath away for a moment, and she huddled over the fire to get warm again.

The Doctor looked over at her, and the lines around his eyes tightened when he saw her hunched over the small fire. “I’ll get our coats and the blanket dry as soon as we have enough wood.”

“I’m fine, Doctor,” Rose told him. When he didn’t look very reassured, she changed the subject. “I thought the sonic didn’t do wood,” she said as he waved the tool slowly over the remaining logs.

He rolled his eyes at her, as she’d hoped. “It’s not actually working on the wood right now.”

She grinned, letting her tongue peek out behind her teeth. “Yeah, I figured that might be the answer. So, how does it dry things?”

“Sonic waves excite the water molecules, causing them to heat up and evaporate.”

“Like a microwave,” Rose mused.

The Doctor added a log to the fire, then took off his coat and laid it on the ground next to Rose’s blanket and waved the sonic over them. “Exactly. Just much, much more efficient.”

Rose could see little wisps of steam rising off the fabric, and just a minute later, the Doctor pulled his coat back on. “I see that.”

He grinned at her, then brought her the blanket. “This will keep you warmer than that wet coat while I dry the rest of the wood.”

Rose hadn’t thought the damp coat was keeping her warm, but when she took it off and felt the cold bite into her back, she changed her mind. She shivered and fumbled with the blanket, trying to drape it over her back.

The Doctor took it from her and wrapped it snugly around her shoulders. “There. That should keep you warm for the moment,” he said, then went back to his task.

Rose rubbed her numb cheek against the soft folds of the blanket. As cold as she was, the Doctor’s concern made her feel warm straight through.

“Thank you, Doctor.”

He glanced up from the pile of wood he was drying out. “What for?”

She smiled at him. “For taking care of me, like you always do.”

The muscle in his jaw twitched and he shook his head. “If I took care of you, we wouldn’t be here in the first place.” A gust of wind blew a flurry of snowflakes into the cave. “We should have gone into town with the Elurrans and found someplace to wait out the storm.”

Rose sighed. “The snow isn’t your fault, Doctor. And you were the one who found this cave, so you did find us someplace to wait out the storm.”

The Doctor silently piled up the dry wood against the wall of the cave. He didn’t look as tense as he had before, so Rose let him think while he dried her coat.

“Come out of the wind,” he invited once her coat was ready. “I think the fire is strong enough to keep going on its own.”

Rose gladly shifted to the warmer side of the fire. She put her coat back on, then held out the blanket for the Doctor. “Come on,” she said, shaking the end at him. “We can get nice and cosy while we watch the storm.”

The Doctor raised an eyebrow. “Don’t you ever blame me for the misadventures I get us into?” he asked as they settled in by the fire. “Ever wonder what you got into when you decided to travel with me?”

He smiled when she looked up at him, but she could see the uncertainty in his eyes. That’s why he’s so upset about this storm.

Rose shook her head. “Nope,” she said, popping the p like he did. “When I told you I love travelling with you, I didn’t just mean the fun, easy parts. I meant the trouble, too.”

She bit her lip. There was more, but if she kept going, she would as good as tell him how she felt about him. On the other hand…

She took a deep breath and crossed her fingers. “It’s like what you said earlier, that you’d always find your way back to me. Well… me, I’m never going to leave you.”

The Doctor’s mouth fell open. “Rose,” he said, his voice more of a wheezy rasp.

She swallowed hard, then kept going. “I know you thought I wanted to stay behind in that other universe with that Pete Tyler, but I didn’t even consider it. I wouldn’t have left Mum behind like that, but even if I didn’t have Mum, I wouldn’t have left you.”

Rose fell silent, leaving the crackling of the fire the only sound in the cave as the Doctor tried to process what she’d just told him. When he’d told Rose he would always find his way back to her, he’d meant it as a kind of commitment—that he wanted to be with her for the rest of his lives.

And if Rose used that to turn around and promise that she would never leave him, then maybe…

“Never?” His voice squeaked, and he cleared his throat while he waited breathlessly for her answer.

Rose nodded, firmly. “Never,” she promised. She licked her lips, then added, “I don’t think I could, really.”

He reached out and gently tipped her head up so he could see her eyes. “Oh, Rose,” he whispered, cupping her face in his hand. “I couldn’t leave you, either.”

She blinked, then shifted closer and placed her hands over his hearts. “Guess we’re just stuck with each other then,” she said.

The Doctor’s hearts sped up when she looked at him through her eyelashes, and when she smiled coyly, he knew she could feel them. “Stuck with you? That’s not so bad,” he murmured.

Rose’s breath caught as the Doctor leaned towards her. The moment stretched out deliciously, and she curled her trembling fingers around the lapels of his coat when she felt the soft puff of his breathing.

Then—finally—his lips met hers. Rose sighed and tried to press closer to him, tilting her head when their noses bumped. Now she could catch his tempting bottom lip between hers, worrying it gently with her teeth as her hands crept up over his shoulders.

The Doctor threaded a hand through her hair as the kiss deepened. His fingers massaging her scalp sent shivers of delight through Rose. She gasped, and his tongue slid into her mouth.

Rose returned the caress, savouring the lingering taste of mulled wine as they kissed. Her belly swooped with every brush of his tongue against hers. The Doctor’s habit of licking everything had given her several fantasies regarding his tongue, and so far, he did not disappoint.

The Doctor dropped a hand to her waist and pulled her closer, until she was practically in his lap. The closer they got, the more Rose wanted to just go on kissing him forever, but her lungs were burning.

The Doctor grumbled when Rose pulled out of the kiss. Now that they were finally kissing, he didn’t want to stop. But when he tried to chase her lips with his, Rose placed her hand over his mouth. He looked at her then, and desire blazed through him when he saw her red lips and heaving chest.

“Humans need to breathe,” she reminded him.

He grinned and pulled her closer. “Did I take your breath away?” he asked as he pressed a line of kisses along her jaw.

Rose shivered when he started down her neck, and he pulled back quickly. “Cold again?”

“No.” Rose shook her head and wrapped her arms around his neck. “In fact, I think I’ve found a new way to keep warm.”

The Doctor blinked, then smiled down at her when he caught her meaning. “Well then, Rose Tyler.” He bumped his nose against hers, relishing the way her soft giggle tickled his lips. “Allow me to continue in my official capacity as warmer-upper.”

[takaraphoenix]

99. Nico/Percy

“This bath is too damn hot.” - “This is why we can’t do cute things. You complain too much.”

Advent Calendar: Day 20

“This bath is too damn hot”, grumbled Nico with a glare.

“This is why we can’t do cute things. You complain too much.”

Nico glare deepened as he settled more into the steaming-hot bathtub. “No. No, the reason we can’t do ‘cute things’ is because your idea of 'cute things’ is yeti hunting in a snow-storm.”

There was a leisure smile on Percy’s lips as he snuggled up against Nico’s chest, sinking into the bathtub. He closed his eyes and sighed very contently. He loved hot baths, especially when he had his boyfriend in the tub with him. Everything was improved by having Nico di Angelo as his pillow, even when Nico was busy complaining about things.

“Come on, it was fun, Nick”, countered Percy, leaning his head against Nico’s shoulder.

“See. That is the problem, Perce”, grumbled Nico and wrapped his arms around Percy’s waist to pull him closer. “You define yeti hunting in a snow-storm as fun…”

“Ni—ick”, drawled Percy out and turned around to properly face Nico.

Nico huffed, the pout melting off his face when he saw how adorable his boyfriend looks. The messy, dark hair clinging to his face, dripping wet. He looked essentially like a drowned cat and it was the cutest look possible. Slowly, Nico leaned in to steal a kiss from his boyfriend.

“What? It was miserably cold. I spent half the time soaking wet thanks to the snow. I lost sight of you trice and every time I found you again, you were maniacally laughing and fighting some kind of monster”, sighed Nico. “I’m too old for this stuff, Perce.”

“You’re two years younger than me”, countered Percy and raised an unimpressed eyebrow.

“Technically I am ninety years old”, countered Nico, giving his best grumpy, old man impression.

“Urgh, you’re so cute when you’re being a dork”, snorted Percy and leaned down to kiss Nico.

“I am being completely serious”, sighed Nico. “I’m twenty, you’re twenty-two, can’t we leave the heroic, dangerous missions during awful weather to the young, enthusiastic newbies?”

Percy smiled, eyes sparkling with mirth, as he curled up on Nico’s chest and closed his eyes. He inhaled the salty sea scent of the bubble bath and listened to the sound of Nico’s heartbeat.

“I’m a camp counselor now. And unlike Mister D, I ain’t gonna sit on my ass all day long. Especially not when it’s something potentially dangerous like that. We’re not gonna let our kids run into danger head-first without being fully trained”, countered Percy softly, drawing symbols on Nico’s chest. “We got no kids of Poseidon, Zeus, Boreas or Khione at the moment. And the weather-situation would have been too dangerous for demigods without weather-controlling powers. Not to mention your shadow-traveling getting us out of the tightest spots.”

“Have I ever told you how hot you are when you talk reasonable strategy?”, whispered Nico.

He kissed Percy’s head, making the son of Poseidon laugh. “Ye—eah. Every time I’m being reckless, you tell me it’s way sexier when I come up with awesome plans.”

Sighing, Nico started running his fingers through Percy’s hair. The Sea Prince started making that cute little purring sound that he always denied he did but totally did. It was part of why Nico liked to call Percy his kitten. Or drowned cat, as he looked like right now.

“Christmas is close and I want all kids to be safe and able to enjoy it”, whispered Percy lowly. “We both know that winter solstice always draws in more trouble. I just wanted to get ahead of it, I guess. There are no major wars going on. I want… I want those kids to be able to have a happy, carefree childhood, as much… as possible…”

“I know, gattino”, assured Nico gently, pressing a kiss to Percy’s temple. “Hephaestus Cabin made a lot of ornaments to decorate Thalia’s old tree. So did Aphrodite Cabin. They had a… decoration-off? Never expected those kind of brawls at camp.”

“It’s… nice”, hummed Percy with a small smile. “That those are this generation’s problems.”

“No stolen symbols of power or abducted goddesses”, agreed Nico, running his fingers over Percy’s side. “It… really is nice. And you…”

“Me?”, echoed Percy with the smallest smile.

“The kids are so glad to have you”, replied Nico. “You care about them so much. You make them feel at home at camp in a way Mister D never really did. They adore you.”

“Ye—eah”, hummed Percy, the small smile incredibly proud. “My kids are great.”

Nico mirrored Percy’s smile at that. Percy always did that. Referring to the campers as 'his kids’. That was why Percy still took dangerous missions, because losing his kids in unnecessarily dangerous missions would break his heart. Percy worked his ass off to train the next generation of demigods and he did not do as camp used to during their time. Sanctioning missions for young children who had essentially no training. It was maybe hypocritical considering Percy sneaked out for his own first mission when he was twelve, but that was exactly why he was so strict. The kids needed proper training first and there was an age limit. No kids went out on missions. Sixteen and older only, considering that they weren’t in constant peril where it was all hands on deck. Most quests were just to find demigods who had run away in fear before a satyr could get to them, retrieving them, or fighting off monster attacks all over the US.

“So… about our Christmas plans…”, started Nico carefully.

“Mh?”, grunted Percy confused. “Mom and Paul are hosting Christmas dinner. Laura and Tyson are really looking forward to it and I am a good big brother who’d never disappoint them.”

“Of course not, but I was wondering, since you have a couple year-rounders…”, drawled Nico.

“I feel bad about them celebrating Christmas all alone”, sighed Percy. “But I also can’t just skip on my family. I wouldn’t.”

“I know, my love, I do”, chuckled Nico and kissed Percy softly. “I wanted to suggest that maybe, we could… invite them too. Since it’s only seven year-rounders, right?”

The new support-system, claiming the kids early so satyrs and camp could help the single parents out, had helped a lot in reducing the number of orphans. Percy perked up and stared.

“Wait, are you… I can’t just… Mom and Paul-”, started Percy with a frown.

“I already talked to them and I offered to provide the additional turkeys. Frank, Leo and Hazel offered too. If everyone of us brings one, we’ll be all set and we know they have enough room”, said Nico, being interrupted by a very enthusiastic kiss from Percy.

This was why Percy loved Nico so much, because Nico always supported him and backed him up. Even when it came to sharing the holidays with orphaned demigods.

Read this here on FFNet & here on AO3!