#but the fact that she offered to teach him to play the piano

[gifstiva]

- I thought you were asleep. - You thought wrong.

#but the fact that she offered to teach him to play the piano #maybe he learned a song or two to play for tali #and then when ziva came home she did end up teaching him her favorite to play #and now he plays for her? #otp: tiva #tivagifs #gifstiva #tony dinozzo #ziva david #cote de pablo #michael weatherly #tiva gifs #tony x ziva #ziva x tony #ncis #tiva #my gifs

[tip-top-cloud-surfer]

Piano Man - The Forgotten Nest AU

AU Series Based on The Forgotten Nest

Summary: Bradley teaches Nickie a special song on the piano.

Additional Warnings: Referenced Past Teenage Pregnancy; Tension between Maverick and Bradley

Word Count: 1.6k

Main Master List

Series Master List

It wasn’t uncommon for Cora, Bradley, and Nickie to spend time at the Kazansky house. Cora had always been incredibly close with them and Nickie was treated like their own grandchild in the Kazansky household. And with Maverick home for the next few weeks, they would take any kind of buffer that they could get. 

Maverick and Bradley were still . . . tense. 

Bradley still resented Maverick for pulling his papers. Maverick delayed his career. Maverick added unnecessary tension to Bradley’s relationship with Cora. And Bradley also resented Maverick for the fact that had he not pulled his papers, Bradley never would have stormed out, broken up with Cora, and missed a moment of her pregnancy and Nickie’s life. 

Maverick didn’t want to rock the boat. He didn’t want to set off Bradley and risk him storming off again. He didn’t want to get in the way of Bradley’s relationship with Nickie or Cora, whatever that was at this stage. So, he would just let Bradley initiate that conversation.

And Cora wanted them to just figure it out. Nickie was getting older and starting to pick up more on everything around him. And it was only a matter of time before he picked up on the tension between Maverick and Bradley. And the second that he did, she was going to kick both of their asses and lock them in a room until they figured it out. 

“I’m worried that he’s getting too hot out here,” Cora mumbled to Bradley, holding her hand to Nickie’s forehead.

Nickie, as the only toddler at any of these events, was pretty much the center of attention. Everyone wanted to play with him, run with him, and otherwise entertain him. But with the San Diego heat, Cora was concerned about him.

“Did you want me to take him inside?” Bradley offered, holding Nickie’s sippy cup out to him.

Nickie eagerly took it and started to rapidly drink from it, holding the sippy cup with his own two hands. Cora looked even more concerned and nodded to Bradley, handing Nickie over to him. Bradley pressed his own hand to Nickie’s sweaty forehead and stood up. 

Heading inside and into the air conditioning, Bradley let Nickie finish up with his sippy cup as he found himself wandering over to the piano that sat in the corner of the Kazansky living room. Sitting down on the bench, Bradley pushed the cover off of the keys.

Nickie, now curious, pulled his sippy cup away and stared down at the piano keys. Bradley grabbed and set Nickie’s sippy cup aside just as Nickie slammed his hands on the keys, causing an odd tune to echo around the room. Smiling to himself, Bradley let his son just mess around for a bit with the piano. 

“Loud!” Nickie yelled, struggling a bit with his ‘l’.

“Very loud,” Bradley agreed, gently grabbing his wrists. “Why don’t we try something different?” 

Grabbing Nickie’s chest, Bradley pulled his son across the keys, causing Nickie to giggle as he got dragged around. Settling Nickie back down on his lap, Bradley placed his own fingers on the keys, already with a song in mind.

“Put your hands on mine, Nickie,” Bradley stated, setting one of Nickie’s hands on his own. Nickie followed his instruction and held the back of his dad’s hands. “Alright, now just hold on.”

Bradley started to play a simple tune, one that he had known for most of his life. Nickie smiled as Bradley moved his hands up and down the piano, content to just hold on and listen. When Bradley finished with that tune, his brain immediately went to the one that he had practiced over and over and over again. 

“Alright, Nickie, this one is a little faster, so you have to hang on a little tighter, okay?”

“Oh-kay,” Nickie sounded out.

Starting to play the song, Bradley just let his fingers move on muscle memory alone. After all, he’d probably practiced this song about a thousand different times. 

“You shake my nerves and you rattle my brain. Too much love drives a man insane. You broke my will. But what a thrill. Goodness gracious, great balls of fire,” Bradley sang softly, resting his head on top of Nickie’s little one. “I laughed at love 'cause I thought it was funny, but you came along and you proved me, honey. I changed my mind, this love is fine. Goodness gracious, great balls of fire.”

Going through the next few lines of the song, Bradley got to the part of the song that he knew Nickie would enjoy the most. Dragging his hands down the keys, Bradley dragged Nickie with him. Nickie laughed and wrapped his arms around Bradley’s arm, letting himself get dragged around some more. 

Tapping his leg in time with the keys that he was playing, Bradley bounced Nickie on his knee, causing Nickie to laugh and squeeze his arm even tighter. 

“You like that, huh?” Bradley asked, smiling down at his son. Continuing on with the song, Bradley let Nickie just hold on. “Kiss me, baby.” He leaned down and pressed a kiss to the top of Nickie’s head, causing Nickie to curl up against his arm more. “Ooh, that feels good, baby. Hold me, baby. I wanna love you like a lover should. You’re fine. You’re so kind. Imma tell the world that you’re mine, mine, mine, mine.” 

Bradley was so focused on the song that he missed the sound of footsteps coming down the hall. Maverick stood in the entryway to the living room, simply watching Bradley and Nickie interact. All while he reminisced about a different Nick and a younger Bradley in a similar set up years ago. 

“Goodness gracious, great balls of . . .” Bradley trailed off, staring down at Nickie.

“Fire!” Nickie yelled, causing Bradley to smile proudly.

“You got it!” Bradley praised, ruffling Nickie’s short curls. Sitting Nickie up on his lap, Bradley returned his hands to the keys. “Did you want to try playing it?” And before Bradley could get another word in, Nickie went right back to smashing the keys with his hands, causing Bradley to laugh. “Yeah, sort of like that.” 

Nickie smashed a few more keys and turned around to smile up at his dad when he spotted Maverick standing in the doorway. Standing up, Nickie reached out for his grandfather, causing Bradley to turn around. He was expecting Cora to be standing there, but when he spotted Maverick, he instantly frowned. 

“Food’s done,” Maverick stated, stopping a few steps away from Bradley and Nickie. 

“Gramp,” Nickie called, reaching over Bradley’s shoulder for Maverick. 

Eyeing Bradley a bit wearily, Maverick held out his hands for Nickie. Bradley reluctantly let his son go into Maverick’s arms before he turned back to the piano to put the cover back. 

“Are you teaching him that song?” Maverick asked, setting Nickie on his hip.

“Yeah,” was all Bradley offered back. 

“Well, he seemed to really like it.” 

“Yeah, he did,” Bradley replied, straightening up as he turned back to Maverick. 

There was a tinge of insecurity and jealousy when Bradley saw the way that Nickie curled up into Maverick’s chest. Bradley knew that Maverick had spent more time with Nickie in his life. And he knew that Cora probably trusted Maverick more with Nickie than she did him. And it was just a little bit aggravating for Bradley to have to deal with the fact that the man who ruined his life was more important to his son than he was himself. 

“Guess I’ll have to wait for another day to teach him some other songs,” Bradley replied, stepping past Maverick. 

“We could get a piano at the house, if you want,” Maverick offered, turning back to Bradley.

“No, it’s fine.” 

“It wouldn’t be too difficult to find one,” Maverick asserted, causing Bradley to frown. 

“Why? You want something else that you can hold over my head?” 

“Bradley, I’m not trying to hold anything over your head,” Maverick replied softly. 

“You don’t even think that I can watch Nickie on my own,” Bradley emphasized, his frustration coming to the surface. “You don’t need to check up on us. I can watch my own son.”

“I never said anything about that, Bradley.”

Nickie, able to feel the tension now, whined a bit and wiggled in Maverick’s hold. Bradley reached out for Nickie on instinct, but Nickie just seemed to want to be put down on the ground. Maverick set Nickie on his own two feet and even though Bradley offered Nickie his arms, Nickie turned for the doorway and trotted over to where Ice was now standing. 

“You two,” Ice stated, glancing between Maverick and Bradley with a sharp admiral glare, “need to figure it out. You’re scaring Nickie.” Nickie reached Ice’s leg and held on, glancing back at where Bradley and Maverick were standing with his big brown eyes. Ice scooped Nickie into his arms and shot Maverick and Bradley another look. “Fix it. You’re lucky that it wasn’t Cora that found you two.”

And with one last admiral glare, Ice walked off with Nickie in his arms. 

Maverick waited until Ice was gone before slowly turning to Bradley, who was quietly seething where he stood. Bradley refused to look over at Maverick and instead moved to follow Ice. 

“Bradley,” Maverick called, causing him to stop, but not turn around. “You know that I would never try to get in between you and Nickie, right?”

“Do I, Mav? Because I also thought that you’d never get in between me and the Academy,” Bradley stated seriously. 

Maverick winced and Bradley walked off before Maverick could continue the conversation.

Tags: @praline357 @luv4kani @oxxolovemelikeyoudooxxo @abaker74

#top gun fanfiction #top gun maverick #top gun: maverick #top gun #tgm #tgm fanfiction #bradley rooster bradshaw #bradley bradshaw #rooster fanfic #rooster top gun #bradley rooster x oc #bradley rooster bradshaw x oc #rooster #rooster x oc #bradley bradshaw x oc #bradley bradshaw fic #rooster bradshaw #top gun rooster

[kingedmundsroyalmurder]

AU game: the grandmother dies when Jane is ten 👀

Five fun facts meme. Interpreted as 'five things that would happen' because I don't know how many of these are, uh, fun. Also it's more than five, because I have no self control.

Jane goes to the funeral, of course. She does not cry. She wears a new dress that Aunt Sylvia bought her, when it became clear that Mother would not be able to pull herself together enough to handle the logistics of preparing her daughter for the funeral. Everyone keeps assuring Jane that the grief she feels is normal, and that she will feel better if she can cry and let out her feelings. She is given a week off school to mourn. Aunt Sylvia offers to let her stay over with them for a few days.

Jane does not tell anyone that, although she does not know the word for what she is feeling, she's pretty sure that grief is not it. She feels very dreadful indeed, that she cannot grieve her own grandmother.

The house on Gay Street seems to have died with Grandmother. Aunt Gertrude fades ever more into the wallpaper. She continues the routine perfectly, almost aggressively. It is as though Grandmother will return at any moment and Aunt Gertrude will not be the one to be scolded by her mother for letting the house go. Mother fades into herself. She stops going out, stops putting on her pretty, expensive clothes, barely leaves her room. She alternates between wild grief and furious merriment, dotes on Jane and refuses to see her each in their turn. Robin is devastated that her mother is dead. Robin is overjoyed that her mother is dead. Robin is finally free. Robin is more trapped than she has ever been.

It's Mary and Frank who keep the house going. Frank runs errands and takes Jane to school and sees to it that she has new clothes when she starts to outgrow her current ones. Mary keeps them fed and stocked and makes sure Miss Robin eats something every day. She lets Jane help her in the kitchen as much as she likes, because the poor child should have something to cling to, with her world in upheaval.

Irene Fraser learns that Victoria Kennedy has died. She makes some rapid calculations and decides that her brother must never know. If he is ever to move on from his youthful mistakes, he must never get wind that there is anything out of the ordinary in Toronto.

But Andrew Stuart bows to no one, and that spring he gets it in his head that he must see his daughter again. Irene tries to talk him out of it, argues and manipulates and, when all else fails, pleads with Andrew to leave the past in the past and let things lie. Andrew will not be swayed. He writes to his wife and demands that she send him their only child. 

Andrew's letter sends the house on Gay Street into renewed chaos. They had just started to claw their way out of the pit, to find a new balance and start living again. Aunt Gertrude continues to live by her schedule, keeping the house spotless and presiding over Jane's evening bible reading. But somehow, without Grandmother, she seems softer. Not more approachable, or kinder, or anything perceptible, but somehow Jane doesn't dread the evening bible session anymore. Mother, meanwhile, is slowly, timidly, starting to emerge from her overwhelming grief. She is fragile still, and rarely gets through the day without crying, but even that seems to soothe her. She doesn't go out, can't bear to face her pretty, glittering friends, not when her feelings are so big and so complicated and so overwhelming, but she resumes some of her correspondence. Jane is still dreadfully worried about her, and conspires with Mary to make all her favorite dishes. She asks Miss West if Jody couldn't come over in the afternoons, after the lunch rush, to sit with Mother and keep her company while Jane is at school, and Mother finds some life back teaching Jody to play the piano and taking her out for nicer clothes. Mary, who sees everything even if she doesn't let on, calls on Miss West and negotiates a fee for Jody's time, so that the poor girl won't find herself punished for wasting time.

When they receive Andrew's letter, they almost lose Robin again. Jane, who is by this point accustomed to thinking of herself as the secret head of the household, takes it upon herself to answer the letter. She shall not go to him, she writes. He has not wanted her until now, and she cannot leave Mother alone in her grief. Please do not write them again.

Andrew does not write to them again. Andrew goes to Toronto and knocks on the door.

It is very ugly, at first. Robin cries. Andrew demands to know why she didn't write to him to say her mother was dead. Robin, in a fit of bravery that could only be fueled by sheer emotional exhaustion, asks why he didn't write to her first, all those years ago, when she left.

The room goes silent. Andrew says he did write to her. Robin says she never got the letter. All three Stuarts, silently and with utter certainty, realize what must have happened to it.

In the end, Jane does go with Andrew to the Island. Andrew invites Robin along too, but she refuses. Better for father and daughter to spend time together without her, since she's had Jane to herself all these years. Privately, she knows that she couldn't bear to exchange so much as one word with Irene Fraser, not when she is so fragile and everything is so new. She and Jane write to each other regularly, and with no forbidden subjects. Jane discovers freedom, true freedom, on the Island, and Robin spends her time doting on Jody and, slowly, venturing out into the world. She wants to be brave for her daughter, wants to have things to write about that won't make Jane worry. To her own surprise, she realizes that, when she can set her own schedule, she does not mind going out. She missed the parties and the socializing, now that she can refuse an invitation when she wants to and choose for herself whether or not to spend an afternoon in. Robin and Andrew slowly get to know each other again, first through Jane's letters and, eventually, through their own correspondence. They continue writing after Jane comes back to Toronto for the fall.

That year, Andrew comes to Toronto for Christmas.

Next summer, Robin and Jody visit the Island for a few weeks.

Slowly, the family heals.

Send me an AU and I'll give you five an amount of things that would happen in it!

#audience participation #Batrachised #lantern hill book club

[kid-az]

Omori Xenoblade 2 Crossover au

Am very bored so I just wanted to share a silly crossover idea I thought up. I hope you folks enjoy reading.

(Main ships are Heromari, Cactiflower, and Sunburn)

Hero (Driver): A driver from Uraya. His family is part of the Urayan nobility, and like in canon, they pressure him to become a doctor, (One that treats injured soldiers) even though he wants to be a chef, specifically one that serves the common people and downtrodden. He defended himself with a frying pan before becoming a driver, but now fights using Mari’s tessen’s, or war fans. He wasn’t able to become a driver at first since he wasn’t attuned to it, but after Mari became his blade, he got better at it.

He wears the typical Urayan outfit, not as grand as some of the nobles, but he doesn’t mind at all. He wears Urayan armor while in battle, though the chest plate has a symbol that resembles an Aegis’s core chip or the Conduit. He has dark blue hair (As blue as his canon RW shirt) and has scale-like protrusions on his cheeks and neck.

Like in canon, he’s an extremely nice, friendly guy, though unlike in canon, he didn’t have depression or survivors guilt due to never meeting Mari until his adulthood. He is of course completely terrified of Arachno’s, though highly appreciates nature otherwise. His and Kel’s parent’s have blades of their own, his dad has an earth-based, doglike blade named Hector and his mom has a light-based, human blade named Polly.

Mari (Blade): A wind-based attack class blade who has an appearance partially resembling that of a spider, such as having 2 pairs of beady eyes, bristles on her human arms and legs, and 4 spider-like webs on her back. She wears a short-skirt kimono that is colored in many shades of purple, two scarves that she weaved with her ability of making web-like strings, and wields war fans that she can use to hit in a distance by tying webs around them.

Just as kind as Mari, but can be very sagely in her advice and a little mellow… almost depressed. This happiness comes back when she sees Sunny, her so-called little brother…… and becomes depressed again when she remembers that Sunny doesn’t remember her… or does he? She kicks herself out of the depression by talking about bugs, weaving and knitting clothing/plushies, and playing the family piano or accordion.

Mari is actually a flesh eater, one that has existed almost as long as Jin had, before Torna got destroyed. She and her little brother were awakened by a driver who they considered their dad, and before he died. (Old age, he survived Torna.) He offered his heart to his daughter as he favored her more than Sunny. While Sunny went back into his core crystal and became mysteriously lost, Mari remained active and conscious…… so she decided to travel the world and help people.

Heromari Dynamic: Hero would meet Mari while she was in Fonsa Myma, donating clothing and playing a button accordion. Although afraid of her at first, Hero would be endeared by her kindness, beauty underneath her spider-like features, as well as her mischievous, smug nature. Mari would be endeared by how much of a kindhearted, selfless dork Hero was, (And also wanting to act as an older sister-in-law for Kel, since he sorta reminds her of her little brother) and decide to pick him as her driver.

They’re dynamic is the same as in canon, though Mari like to jumpscare him in the dark as she finds his scared reactions to be funny and adorable. She acts as a responsible teacher and older sister-in-law to Kel, teaching him how to knit and weave, encouraging him to be as confident in himself as he can, and offering sagely advice… albeit she gives advice to both brothers. She dotes heavily on their baby sister Sally.

Kel (Driver): Also a Driver from Uraya, and one who actually became a driver earlier than Hero did, in spite of their parents favoring the latter. More confident in himself than in canon due to Mari’s encouragement and the fact he’s a driver. Is the royal guard to Uraya’s queen, basically their version of special inquisitor Morag.

Wears gilded, modified Urayan armor, though this one is much lighter as he utilizes agility than brute force and tankiness. It is also shaded a faded orange as that is his favorite color. Same hair color as Hero yet also thicker, and has scales above his eyes. Kel doesn’t play basketball as it wasn’t invented in Uraya :(

If Hero likes nature, Kel LOVES it! He would never attempt to harm an animal, and would always find some way to drive them off/nonlethally incapacitate them. Loves Hector and takes him on walks, and is of course very energetic. He wields a scythe, first a regular war scythe then Basil’s Blade scythe. Usually joins meetings with Uraya and Mor Ardain, with him and Morag being friends (And gushing about their blade partners, which they get embarrassed by.)

Basil (Blade): An earth-based, tank type blade, Basil is regarded as “The flower of Uraya” and it fits very well for his appearance and personality. He always has a vibrant flower crown on his green-colored hair, and his outfit consists of a long robe overgrown with vines, mushrooms, moss, and of course, flowers. He wields a gardening scythe as his weapon.

Although his various incarnations (Such as Stranger, Rowan, and Flower) were of various characters, (Former was mysterious and very blunt, the middle was outright violent and rebellious, and the latter was far too closed-off and meek) This incarnation of Basil is one that is extremely kindhearted, albeit a little too insistent on how “everything is okay.” His overall appearance and demeanor is slightly based on who his driver is, and due to Kel’s optimism, bravery, and sense of responsibility, Basil shares these same traits.

He can be a little bit meek, shy, and socially anxious, but all in all he is a very reliable friend to his pals and a significant other to Kel, who they can all rely on and to never give up. He has been adopted by Polly, who acts as Basil’s mother-like figure. During the rare times they meet, Brighid acts as an older sister figure to Basil.

Cactiflower dynamic: After Hero’s failure in awakening Basil, (Thankfully only getting a nosebleed and headache instead of death.) their parents reluctantly had Kel try to awaken him so as to not become an embarrassment to the nobility. Thankfully, Kel managed to awaken him on the first try, and the both of them immediately got along very well without any issues, outside of some shyness over their mutual crushes.

Thankfully, after the acknowledgment and encouragement from Morag and her blade partner Brighid, Kel and Basil felt comfortable enough to start dating eachother, and now they are a powerful, inseparable pair! Unlike most of Basil’s previous driver, who were often sent to put down rebellions or slaughter political targets and beasts, Kel and Basil have instead decided to help out the population with their issues, helping fend off beasts on in way that harms not people nor nature, exemplifying Uraya’s culture of natural coexistence.

Also they love cuddling together because teehee it’s cute!

Aubrey (Driver): She is Tantalese, having a singular cross-shaped marking under each of her eyes. She’d be dressed similarly to the average citizen on the Titan, though her jacket would be white to reference her varsity jacket, and she'd have a pink ribbon that she got from the black market, made in the Uraya titan! Her family life would be similar to how she is in Omori, a shitty single drunk mom, having to rely on herself to feed her and her mom. She does this by hunting some of the wildlife and monsters, selling their parts in the black market to get stuff she needs.

Unlike in canon however, she wouldn’t have met the rest of the group yet. She’d be a lot more verbally harsh and closed off to strangers, and would be as brutally honest as possible. She’d however heavily idolize and maybe be friends with prince Zeke and Pandoria, thinking of them as pretty cool people she can trust greatly. (And she is objectively right) She’d wield a a sword with a gun stuck on it as a weapon before becoming a driver, and after that she’d ditch her old sword with the dual ones Sunny has. Speaking of…

Sunny (Blade): As stated, he’d be a dark type blade of the healer class, his weapon class being two butterfly swords. His initial design would be inspired by the Komusō monks (Specifically the basket mask, kimono and flute) and the Nekomata, (Specifically with two tails and cat ears. No human ones though) though with enough trust with Aubrey and maybe some of the gang they’ll eventually meet with, he’ll take off the basket mask and show he only has one eye….. and that his core chip is cracked! (His right eye is replaced with black foggy mist.)

His cracked core chip would give him some pretty bad amnesia and dissociate, often referring to himself as either Sunny or Omori. He’s also be a bit more verbally sassy due to influence from Aubrey. He would have the special ability to absorb any attacks via a black hole, and then shoot these attacks back whenever he feels like. Also he’d have several red hands extending from his back.

Strangely… Sunny would be drawn to artwork, music, or people that resembled the ancient Torna Titan, one that had been destroyed 500 years ago….. and he’d have brief recollections of a person named Mari….. weird, normally blades wouldn’t remember their past lives…

Sunburn Dynamic: So like… Aubrey is a little distrusting of Sunny even though he is a blade, and it doesn’t help that he wears that strange basket mask. Snuuy… while not at all distrusting of Aubrey still doesn’t show much emotion and is shy. But then later she decides…… hey, she should take inspiration from how the prince and how he interacts with his Blade and just…… over exaggerate herself as much as possible. Give Sunny cute nicknames like Sunbun or Sunshine… even go as far as to pose dramatically like prince Zeke would…… and Sunny starts chuckling happily, and it was probably the cutest laughter Aubrey has ever heard.

Then their relationship gets better, Aubrey offering Sunny piggybacks as she is very STRONK, and Sunny plays tunes with a flute he has one him so as to soothe her. Eventually, the both of them decide they would escape Tantal and the overall Genbu Titan and go out into the cloud sea….. where a wider world and possible friends await them.

#omori #omori game #omori crossover #omori au #xenoblade chronicles #xenoblade chronicles 2 #xenoblade 2 #omori hero #omori mari #omori kel #omori basil #omori aubrey #omori sunny #character headcanons #headcanons #alternate universe #crossover

[a-casual-egg]

Miscellaneous villain team au facts and stuff (mainly about Evil Dob/Ed)

- Lady Liliana chose to resurrect Evil Dob/Ed not only for Dob having to face an evil version of himself again but also because he almost killed one of the oxventurers (Egbert) and Prudence would hate seeing someone that rejected her.

- The resurrection was like the creation of Frankenstein except Liliana did not shout "It's alive!" and cackle. Instead, Ed quickly sat up and breathed heavily as if he just woke from a bad nightmare and she just said smth like "Ah, good.". Then she walked off.

- Ed is mad that she isn't in awe of him and thinking he's the coolest guy ever. He just came back to life, how can you not be incredibly impressed?!

- It took a while for Katie and Ed to be on good terms. Katie spent a while trying her best to avoid him bc of the fact he's a clone of Dob.

- Eventually, they're as thick as thieves, and Katie confides in him.

- Katie tells Ed that she has a crush on Lady Liliana and internally he thinks, "You have awful taste." but he doesn't say it.

- Katie and the Clonebert(s) all think Lady Liliana is the coolest but Ed does not see it. He's the only one seeing clearly because he doesn't have on the crush on the lady or is a group of Egbert clones that have only known her teachings.

- Ed practically hates her and Liliana knows. She also knows that he wouldn't abandon or turn on her because he doesn't want to lose Katie or the Clonebert. She uses that knowledge to her advantage.

- When the oxventurers learn that Ed hates Lady Liliana, they attempt to use that to their advantage and get him on their side. They, but mainly Dob, try to recruit him occasionally. It doesn't work because he's loyal to his friends and despises the guild.

- Katie hurts whenever she hears a lute play. She just needs to hear a single note, and suddenly, she feels pain like someone is pulling at her heart.

- Katie has a bit of an aversion to music as a whole bc of Dob but she finds herself being fond of the piano.

- The Cloneberts all snuggle in a big pile when they sleep.

- The Clonebert is very physically affectionate with his siblings and will offer Katie a hug whenever he's worried about her. It took a few times before Katie let herself accept the hugs. They're the best hugs she's ever had.

- Katie has painted everyone on the team's nails at least once. She does Ed's when they have sleepovers. He likes them black. She painted the Clonebert's after he said he likes her nail polish. She usually paints the Clonebert's nail with a nail polish that has glitter in it bc he likes the shiny and how it reflects in the light. She's only painted Liliana's once but it was when Lady Liliana asked when and why everyone else on the team had painted nails. When Katie told her she did it, Liliana smiled and said Katie should do hers so everyone on the team had painted nails. The nail polish was purple.

- Ed loves to bite, both in fighting context and in affection context.

- The Clonebert does want to meet Egbert. He wants to meet the man he's cloned after, even if he's an enemy. His loves his siblings and how caring they are for each other, but he wants his dad.

- Lady Liliana knows a lot about astrology and reads her, Katie, and Ed's horoscopes. She considers reading the Cloneberts horoscopes a waste of time.

- The Cloneberts are like giant guard dogs and will follow the people they like around like dogs.

- Ed has a bunch of nicknames for everyone on the team. Katie is the only other person that actually seems fond of the nicknames.

- Katie and Ed both really want tattoos. Lady Liliana considers them a waste of time.

- The Clonebert is very weak to cats and will lay on the ground with them while talking to them.

- Cats could rub up against Clonebert and purr and he will already be crying. Ed and Lady Liliana would look at him like he's weird if they ever saw it.

- Katie will act like a cat and also adores cats. She just isn't weak to them.

- Katie and the Clonebert sometimes talk about cats together and how they find them so adorable.

- Katie stims by playing with her hair, flapping her hands, and rocking. Oftentimes, she will try to be discreet about it, but when she's comfortable with people, she doesn't try and hide it.

- The Clonebert stims by wagging his tail, blowing out smoke from his snout, and rumbling like an alligator. He feels most comfortable stimming around his siblings and Katie.

- Ed stims by biting, punching/hitting things (not important stuff), and kicking. He considers his stims cool and makes it everyone else's problem. He has a reputation to uphold as a cool punk dude, and his stims don't interfere with that, so why try and hide them?

#oxventure #lady liliana #katie delacour #katie pearlhead #evil dob #clonebert

[everydayzefron]

Some facts about Zac Which you may or may not know!:

1. He turned down a big record deal.

Jesse McCartney said Zac turned down a record deal, with six zeros attached to the end of it (huge $ offer) Due to his preference for acting. The deal wanted him to put out a solo album. Not sure how many offers he got, but it is known Simon Cowell of all people wanted to sign Zac.

Additionally it was Zac’s love for singing that opened the door for him into the acting world.

———

2. He knows how to play the piano.

Growing up Zac has mentioned a few times very briefly that he knows how to play the piano extremely well. He took piano lessons as a kid, and it was his piano teacher who took notice of how talented he was and helped aspire his parents to get him involved in auditioning for roles.

——-

3. Taylor Swift herself taught him how to play guitar.

Even though he knew how to play piano quite well, Zac said he struggled with learning how to play the guitar. He stated his previous attempts have all been failures and nobody could teach him. Up until Taylor Swift of all people (who he calls a legend) volunteered to teach him. Since being taught by Taylor, Zac continued working on his guitar skills and has said he knows how to play almost every song with the four chords Taylor taught him. One of his go to songs he learned to play is Santeria. All thanks to Taylor Swift for being an incredible guitar teacher, according to Zac.

—-

4. He has frog hands.

Picture is self explanatory!

5. He’s into song writing! Says he wants to write his own album one day or even a musical!

One thing a lot of people don’t know about Zac is his interest in songwriting, or rapping. While working on his comedy film, ‘Mike and Dave Need Wedding Dates’ Zac wrote (and is credited on) for writing ‘Stang Life’ which is an offical sound track song for the film. Zac additionally raps on the track. The lyrics are understandable if you watch the film, as it’s film-based inspired lyrics. Zac also co-wrote his collaboration parody duet with Taylor Swift and wrote Vanessa Hudgens a song for her birthday.

——

—

6. He likes to write poems, and loves to paint & draw which he does really well.

A Zac fact that most people don’t know but something he mentions often is his love for poetry & painting/drawing which he is good at.

His (now removed, or faded) feather tattoo on his bicep was actually designed (drawn) by entirely him. Which he once mentioned in an interview.

Quote: “I actually designed it (tattoo). I like to sketch - it’s my favourite medium. I’ve done drawings and paintings for girls, but mostly I do comic books. Sometimes it’s just nice to put thought.”

—-

7. He is super nerdy which was a big shock to Zendaya.

In an interview while doing press for The Greatest Showman, Zendaya shared her first impressions on Zac. She never expected that Zac would be what she calls a “super nerd” since he’d go on telling her about Stranger Things, which he’d passionately deep dive about. Growing up, Zac wasn’t the popular kid in school, and sometimes bullied. Although he did community theatre which was an escape for him. His teacher once described him as “shy and quiet” and spoke about his passion and determination for acting.

—-

8. He did extremely well in school growing up, with high grades and never slacked off. Leading him to be accepted into the University of Southern California (USC) & University of California Los Angeles (UCLA)

Pretty self explanatory. Zefron is very smart, especially since USC has a very low acceptance rate. Always has been. Zac not only was a top performer in arts but also academically. Friends of his past said he would take studying very seriously since he doesn’t slack off anything he does.

—-

9. He is a huge animal lover! Who grew up with his Siamese cat Simon, and two dogs, Dreamer and Puppy.

This one is a more obvious fact! Since there are plenty of interactions with animals, since he is a big time animal lover. One of the very first pets he owned was a kitten he called ‘Cucko Kitty’ it was a kitten Zac found as a stray & rescued.

——

10. He played on a baseball team while growing up and has a signed baseball from Dusky Baker.

Before he got into theatre, and singing & dancing. Baseball was one of the sports Zac would play growing up! Dusky Baker is also one of the players who signed his ball when Zac was only a kid. Promising after 35 minutes he’d return from church to sign it, which he did.

—

11. He had a very large gap between his teeth while growing up, and has a whole lot of freckles!

His gap may be fixed nowadays! But time to time when he doesn’t wear his retainers his signature gap between his teeth makes a small comeback! Other than the bright eyes and gap, Zac also has a freckles all over his nose and freckles on his cheeks too.

#Zac efron #zefron #Zachary efron #facts about zac #facts #celebrity facts #celebs #celebrities #actor #deep dive #11 facts about zac #did you know #info #information #fun #about Zac #Taylor Swift

[leclerced]

Ok ok part 3 of Charles Angel toughts

Inspired by all the butterfly details I put on the angel pinterest board I know for a fact that Charles went and got them matching butterfly jewlery.

He keeps extra hair ties, lip balms, pads and whatever else angel might need in his car and at his place.

She tries to learn how to play piano to surprise him but he ends up catching her trying to learn and offers to teach her himself.

They go on runs togheter (imagining that her and Oscar moved in with Lando in Monaco and considering Charles lives there)

Miss girl is a genius, she learns french and her and Charles always talk in french when they wanna hide smth.

To tie in them talking french let's talk abt how they always gossip abt everything, anything and everyone when they get bored during race weekends ( I will find a video of charles reacting to gossip because I have it in my mind while writing this)

When they are in Monaco he always goes and buys her fav dessert/food from a little place they Discoverd during one of their runs (if he can't give it to her himself he has it delivered to her and landoscar's place)

Charles said that he always get his hair cut by his mom, well now Angel does too. Everytime she needs a haircut she goes to his mom and only his mom.

If lando and oscar are busy with testing and she doesn't wanna go with them (rarely happens but when it does) he takes her on trips.

One times she mentions that she really is craving some pizza so Charles literally takes her to Italy because where else can u get better pizza than from the source.

Oh I wanna write more but my phone is dying so I will be back later. Love you🩷

sorry i just saw ur ask if i received this and i did but i somehow missed it when it came through!! i'm sorry!! please send pt four im eagerly awaiting <3

charles has everything she might need!! he has a go bag for her tbh

she's trying to learn in secret but he comes over with her favorite dessert to surprise her and oscar lets him in, not realizing the piano is a secret to surprise charles with, so he enters their house to half learned piano. he just sits next to her and starts playing, asking if she would like some lessons?

her and charles waking up earlier than the boyfriends and going on runs together, she always brings back breakfast for her boyfriends wherever they stop.

link to charles gossipping

her learning french so no one can eavesdrop on them?? i can imagine it soo well. them meeting up throughout the day to be like, "oh mon dieu, tu as vu-" "j'allais dire la même chose" ("oh my god, did you see-" "i was going to say the same thing!")

angel goes with charles one time while gettingher hair cut and immediately is asking his maman if she has time to cut hers too, in perfect french no less. charles's maman teasing him asking why he doesn't have a girlfriend like her and angel is like "that is what i am saying! i'm working on it, don't worry maman. i will have him married within the year."

angel and charles going on road trips!! they are besties. anytime he's craving something he'd just say "okay let's go get it!" no matter how far he has to drive or fly to make it happen.

#ask #anon #angel au

[goddess-aelin]

Little Did I Know

Chapter 6: The Parade

Masterlist | LDIK Masterlist

Word count: 2.3k

Warnings: none!

IKYK what this is *Cue Kelly Clarkson's Breakaway*

A few beloved, calm weeks passed following Aelin and Rowan’s late night kitchen talk. They continued to get to know each other. She learned he was an adept swordsman and he offered to teach her all he knew, which she excitedly agreed to. And in return, she played piano for him, letting him see a part of her that she hadn’t shown anyone since her parents died. He was an avid listener, asking her questions about what the notes meant and how to play simple songs. She found that she greatly enjoyed spending time with him. Underneath the tough exterior she saw the first few weeks he was in Terrasen, she found a caring, gentle man. One who she could absolutely imagine falling in love with. Eventually.

The weeks passing meant that their wedding was getting closer and closer, scheduled for the end of April, right before her 21st birthday in May.  It also meant that the Terrasen Independence Day parade was near. That day, to be exact. 

Aelin always loved the parade. There were a few years when she was young in which she was able to participate as a spectator, clapping along with the beating drums and waving to her uncle when he passed by in his carriage. Once her uncle and parents died, the honor of being the most exciting and anticipated part of the parade passed to her as the next reigning monarch. She was then the one who waved at people from her golden carriage, even going so far as to blow a few kisses to the people she knew. 

This year was going to be a little different. No longer would she ride alone in the carriage, no. Now she had the honor of Prince Rowan of Doranelle riding next to her. Despite their marriage being a month away, Aelin petitioned for Rowan to be able to experience the parade this way, arguing that it was good for him to be seen riding with her as Terrasen’s future King and Queen. A strong, unbreakable unit. 

It was also Aelin’s first parade since she took a more involved role in her court. She had been spending a generous amount of time at the orphanage where Lysandra grew up as a child. Darrow said it was good to take a special interest in a few different areas that she could focus on and the orphanage certainly was an easy choice. 

She also had a few meetings with the local soup kitchen. Those two organizations together made up Aelin’s first round of dipping her toes into the politics of Terrasen and she couldn’t have been happier with her choices. It felt great to finally be able to make decisions for the benefit of her people, especially when many of the lords seemed callous and uncaring to these issues. While she, of course, needed to be involved in every aspect of Terrasen’s future eventually, she would much rather start with something that had a direct impact on her people. She hoped that one day, Rowan would be able to bring his intelligence and caring into the fold, too. 

As they were waiting for the parade to begin, Aelin found Rowan stroking the horse that would be pulling their carriage’s mane. 

“Are you nervous?” She gave him a small smirk.

“Should I be?” He asked in return. Aelin laughed. 

“Not at all. In fact, I always have a great time.” Her voice got quieter as she continued speaking. “This was always something that I looked forward to after my parents died. It was exciting to be among my people. The Gods know I don’t get many chances for that when I’m holed up in the castle.”

“Aelin. You do a great job. I haven’t been here long but I can see you care so much for your people. That’s an important quality for a Queen to have. Something that maybe Doranelle could use more of.” 

That certainly wasn’t the first time Rowan spoke negatively of his queen. But it was the first time he did so in such a bold and public manner. Just then, a guard came over to announce it was time to get into the carriage and into position for the beginning of the parade. 

Rowan looked to her and held out his hand. “Well, shall we, milady?” 

Aelin gave him an answering grin. She had to admit the milady definitely did it for her. If she wasn’t already attracted to Rowan, that surely would have done it. She took his hand and answered, “We shall, milord.” Rowan’s answering chuckle was music to her ears.

The parade started off quietly enough. Their carriage was in the middle of the parade, surrounded, of course, by a few guards and trailed by a small contingent of the more agreeable lords of Terrasen. Darrow was in a carriage directly behind them and, to her chagrin, Lord Hamel was right behind him. She had hoped that he wouldn’t be present but she supposed that he was trying to garner support to make his move if Aelin’s marriage and coronation didn’t work out. 

Rowan was a natural. His smile was stunningly open and he waved to her people as if he knew them his whole life. He was magnetic. And she was sure that more than a few of the cheers were not just for their future monarchs, but rather because he was so godsdamn handsome. She’d have to ask the guards if there had been any reports of fainting in the crowd once they got back.

His good mood was infectious. If Aelin had liked the parade in years past, then she was having an absolute blast this year. The small comments she and Rowan would make to each other made the ride even more enjoyable. She didn’t think she had ever laughed so much during an event like this.

As they passed the orphanage where she had been volunteering recently, she couldn't help but stand up and wave even more vigorously. She heard Rowan chuckling from his seat but she didn’t care. She knew those kids. They were bright minds, the future of Terrasen who just so happened to be dealt a shitty hand. But she hoped that her volunteer work and subsequent future plans would help them to dream as big as they could possibly imagine. There would be no limits for those kids. 

One child in particular stood out to her as they were passing by. Evangeline, a girl no more than 10 with strawberry blonde hair, looked as if she had been crying. And as soon as Aelin looked to Evangeline’s right, she saw the reason. Two children who were much bigger than tiny Evangeline were snickering to each other. 

Aelin didn’t think, she just acted. “Stop! Stop the carriage!” She turned to Rowan, who grabbed her waist before she could be thrown forward at the abrupt stop the driver made. Aelin could hear the murmurs from the crowd around them and she thought she heard Darrow’s voice calling her name. Her eyes met brilliant green. Ones that seemed to understand immediately what she was going to do. He gave her an encouraging smile and a nod and with that, she jumped off the carriage and walked over to where the people from the orphanage were standing. 

Aelin bent down in front of Evangeline, taking one of the girl’s hands in her own and raising her chin with her other. 

“Will you tell me why you’re crying?” 

Evangeline looked at Aelin. She knew that she could trust her, so she nodded her head. “They were pulling my hair. And they called me ugly.” 

“Is that so?” Aelin stood and quirked an eyebrow, looking to the boys. They began sputtering and turning red as tomatoes. 

“I…I..we….” one of the boys managed to get out.

“Here’s how this is going to go. You will never, ever, say those things to someone again, ok? You will apologize to Evangeline and I’m sure there will be extra chores waiting for you once you get back to your rooms.” The boys nodded. “But. I am forgiving and I think Evangeline here is, too. So we’ll still let you walk in the parade with the rest of us.”

“Miss Aelin? What do you mean walk in the parade?” Evangeline’s voice was so quiet that she barely heard the girl. 

“Well, how would you like to walk with me?” Evangeline nodded excitedly. “All of you! You are Terrasen’s future and therefore, it would be a great honor to have you walk with me during this year’s parade. What do you guys think?” Cheers erupted from the children. 

With help from the orphanage staff, Aelin was able to wrangle the children together in the middle of the royal carriage and Darrow’s. Evangeline stood beside her to her left and took her hand, the girl grinning from ear to ear. Aelin couldn’t help the answering smile she sent back down. 

Before she gave the go-ahead to continue the parade, she felt a warm hand grab her right hand, as well. Her heart skipped a beat as teal met green. Rowan was wearing the softest smile, reserved just for her. And she hoped that the smile she gave back in return conveyed everything she was feeling. Her gratefulness that he was by her side and standing with her. Her trust in him. Her enjoyment of his company.  

They resumed the parade and Aelin didn’t think it was possible, but she had an even better time than before. With Evangeline on one hand and Rowan on the other, she felt like she could take on the entire world. Rowan’s hand was a steadfast weight, one that gave her strength and one that made her very, very happy at that moment. Despite their tumultuous beginnings, she couldn’t imagine not having him by her side. Perhaps she would have to thank Darrow eventually.

The next morning, Aelin was woken by a weight being thrown directly on her face. “Ow. What the fuck.” 

“Are you gonna tell me what this is?” Lysandra was standing over her with her hands one her hips, wearing a smirk. 

“What what is?” “Look at the magazine.”

“I didn’t know you buy into these silly things,” Aelin commented, raising an eyebrow. “These magazines are usually just gossip.” 

“That may be but if you flip it over, you can look at the cover page. Today’s issue has some pretty interesting content on it.”

Aelin flipped it over. What she saw wasn’t necessarily unexpected. It was a picture of her and Rowan,  holding hands and walking through the Orynth streets during the parade. 

“Okay? We were at the parade yesterday, of course it was going to make headlines.” 

“Ah yes, because that’s what I’m pointing out. Just the fact that you’re on the front page. And not the fact that the look the prince is giving you is totally platonic.” Lysandra rolled her eyes good-naturedly. “Flip to page 27, please.” 

Aelin didn’t disagree with her statement. But she and Rowan were just friends. Just because he was smiling at her didn’t mean he wanted anything more. Aelin did as she was told and flipped to page 27, where a giant, golden title of “A Love For the Ages” met her eyes. There was barely any text under the title, the pages instead holding pictures upon pictures of her and Rowan throughout the day. Smiling. Laughing. Looking deeply into each other’s eyes. And yes, she thought, pages, plural. The pictures spanned a whopping seven pages of the magazine. How the paparazzi managed to get that many pictures of her throughout the day, she would never know. 

“He’s just…he’s just my friend. We were happy to be there and it was a fun day. That’s all.”

“Mmhm. Well I wish Aedion, my friend, would look at me like that.” “Ugh. Can we please not talk about your crush on my cousin? It’s weird.”

“Whatever you say, my dearest. I’ll make a deal with you. If I get the rights to being your firstborn’s godparent, I won’t say I told you so when the time comes.”

Aelin rolled her eyes and threw a pillow at her friend’s face. Lysandra’s laugh trailed after her as she left the room. 

But the longer that Aelin looked at the pictures, the more she wondered if there was some truth to what Lysandra was saying. Aelin didn’t think she’d ever looked at someone the way the pictures showed her looking at Rowan. And she knew that those looks were not forced on her part. She had a great time the previous day and nothing about her smiles were faked, especially to the man holding her hand. 

Aelin’s breath caught when she turned to the last page of pictures. In the middle of the page was a beautiful black and white photo, taken from the sidelines of the parade. Rowan was still holding her hand, except this time, he was bringing her hand up to his mouth for a kiss as she was laughing. Something fluttered in her stomach as she took the picture in. She didn’t even remember this moment. Everything about the day just felt so natural that she hadn’t even noticed the gesture. She wondered if he had known what he was doing at that moment or if he was so caught up in the emotions of the day that felt just as natural to him. 

She wasn’t sure how she was going to proceed. This was an arranged marriage. She hadn’t expected to have feelings like this so soon. She had hoped, of course, that eventually they would grow to love each other, but hadn’t expected just a few weeks to go by before she was more than fond of him.  Because she certainly knew what those little flutters in her stomach meant: she was falling. Quickly and hard.

A/N: I was seriously so excited for this chapter and I hope it comes through. This was probably my most anticipated chapter to write because I love this scene so much (even if it's so incredibly cheesy). I hope you guys enjoyed the fluff because you've got a bit of a storm coming.

Tagging: As usual, let me know if you want to be tagged/untagged:

@cretaceous-therapod @morganofthewildfire @tomtenadia @live-the-fangirl-life @charlizeed @violet-mermaid7 @euphoric-melancholyy @kritical24 @rubyriveraqueen @dealfea @wellofnothing @ayaashryver @anna-swims @leiawritesstories @whoever-you-choose-to-love @holdthefrickup @heirofflowers @bananaanna23 @thecrispypotatochip @shanias-world @rowanaelinn @bruiseonthefaceofhumanity @hanging-from-a-cliff @fantacysoup @swankii-art-teacher @thegreyj @fromthelibraryofemilyj @westofmoon @lovely-dove-zee @books4eva04 @cookiemonsterwholovesbooks @backtobl4ck @dreamer-133 @elentiyawhitethorn

#rowaelin #rowaelin fanfiction #rowaelin fanfic #my fic

[gamerbearmira]

GIFTLESS GRANDKIDS RAHHHH

Been a min. Also. I posted this on AO3, along with another. POSSIBLE GIANT SIREN LATER IF I FINISH THE ART❓❗

But yes it's been a minute since I wrote and posted it over here. I know y'all probably prefer the art over the writing but. IT'S HERE

Alma I still love you but sometimes I gotta make you the bad guy 😭

Lea get it

-----

Isabela and Dolores slid from the chairs as they finished their breakfast. The two immediately went to their respective activities. Isabela went to the nearby table, putting on her gloves and apron before grabbing the watering can and giggling as she ran out to the garden on the side of the house. She and her papa had started it, and she had been diligently caring for it whenever she had the time. Julieta would often go out back to look at what her daughter had done.

Dolores grabbed her guitar from the side of the chair, rushing off to the music room to practice. After the ceremony a year before, her tio Bruno had suggested she could start playing instruments. Felíx was more than on board and had been teaching her the guitar and tiple. Agustín had even offered to teach her piano, and help her read music. Pepa was more than happy to sit there and listen to what the girl was currently learning.

Alma pressed her lips together as she watched them go. Julieta noticed her mother's face and furrowed her brows, scanning them before her demeanor seemingly shifted.

"Mamá? What's wrong?" Julieta asked and Alma shook her head, waving her off.

"It's nothing," Alma said.

Julieta finished helping feed Luisa, and pulled the girl into her lap, before pressing. "I can tell when something's wrong. Just tell me."

Alma sighed heavily, placing her utensils down. "Do they have to do these things? Isabela is going to get dirty, and Dolores, she hasn't done much else outside of playing."

"What's wrong with that? Isabela doesn't seem to care," Pepa intervened, her cloud hovering above her. "And Dolores is enjoying it. Besides, I think her learning instruments are great. She's really got an ear for sound and music."

"Yes but it's not helping the family or the community," Alma argued.

"That's because you don't think that," Felíx mumbled, rolling his eyes as he took a bite of his eggs. He ignored the glare Alma shot at him.

"Mamá, they're 6, not even 7 yet. You can't possibly think that they should be out working!" Julieta said, progressively getting angrier.

"I just think that maybe since they didn't get gifts, they should invest their time into something more useful," Alma stated matter of factly.

"Mamá!" Julieta yelled, slamming her hand on the table.

"Gardening and playing music isn't going to further the progress of the miracle!" Alma yelled back, and Julieta began to stand up when Agustín sat her back down while taking their daughter, Luisa. The girl didn't understand what was going on, but she could tell her mamí was mad. She had heard her mamá say once that she wished the candle didn't exist.

"Mamá, I...I don't think it's good to put that kind of pressure on them," Bruno spoke up, shrugging. "Besides, they're only kids. They might not have gifts, but that doesn't make them any less talented. I mean have you seen the stuff they've accomplished?"

Alma waved Bruno off, and the man sighed, sitting back in his chair in defeat.

"No matter. Luisa will have her ceremony in a little less than a year, and she'll have a...hopefully useful gift," Alma said before leaving the table. Julieta was seething as she watched her mamá leave. The other adults could tell she was already planning the next upcoming ceremony. The last two, Isabela and Dolores', was risky, and the fact that they even succeeded in preventing them was a miracle in and of itself.

Julieta was infuriated. Her mother only cared about the gifts. Never mind the fact that Luisa was only 4. Or the fact that both she and her sister were due to have more children in the upcoming months, Pepa sooner than herself. Or even that Isabela and Dolores were STILL in the nursery, plus Luisa and there would soon be two more babies in there. It was getting packed.

And anytime one of them brought up someone giving them their own rooms, Alma would say that it wasn't possible and that they essentially lost that chance when their door (and strangely their doorknobs) disappeared. Luckily Casita was able to rearrange some things, so there was more space...but 5 kids in a nursery? That was certainly pushing the limit.

"I can't believe her," Julieta scoffed, and Agustín helped her up, guiding her out of the room. She needed to go sit down. Plan Luisa's ceremony, then somehow ask Casita to expand the nursery. There's no way they were letting the three (soon to be five) of those kids stay in that cramped room. But until Julieta figured out a way to get them their own, it would have to do.

-----

NAURRRR

They still in the nursery :((( so sad :(((

But yeah, Alma does kinda believe that if they don't get a gift, they don't get a room. She just doesn't view it possible, given that the other rooms are formed by magic, and held by the ones with Gifts, save for herself of course. Because she's the only exception for some reason.

ANYWAY YEAH...Need to develop this story more. Course I suck at coming up with ideas (hint hint. wink wink.). ALSO...might do a dogs and doors snippet. Perhapth 🤓

#my asks #my asks are open #encanto #encanto au #au #encanto alma #encanto Julieta #encanto isabela #encanto Dolores #giftless grandkids au

[izzielizzie]

maeve rojas headcanons (bc i miss her and you can never have too many maeve headcanons)

maeve is left handed

there is no reason for this other than the fact that i get the vibes

she’s obsessed with lizzy mcalpine and sasha alex sloan

she loves how they have a nice mix between romantic and existential songs

maeve is more musically inclined than bronwyn

bronwyn has mastered the piano but maeve is proficient at a bunch of different instruments

she can play the acoustic guitar, the violin, and piano

people are always just a little scared of her the first time they meet her

there’s no concrete reason but it always feels like she’s staring into people’s souls

it’s probably because of her eyes

she’s the first to extend an offer of friendship though

she’s incredibly welcoming even though she will judge someone within an inch of their lives

no one can verbally decimate someone like maeve can she just has a way with words

maeve is the queen of unlikely friendships

she and phoebe are polar opposites but they are best friends

addy’s energy exhausts maeve but she also feels energized around her – they’re total partners in crime

cooper and maeve have one (1) shared life experience and that is being mixed up in a murder mystery but they still love each other like brother and sister

maeve hates doctors

it’s not like she’s anti-modern medicine or anything but she’s spent so much time in hospitals and she associates doctors with bad news and suffering so she just doesn't like them

the two doctors she can stand are her mom and kris

maeve has the best relationship with her parents out of any of the main characters except luis

she never grew out of her childhood habit of climbing into her parents’ bed when she’s upset

maeve and her dad have father-daughter days every month and maeve always looks forward to them

maeve and her mom aren’t as close as maeve is with her dad but maeve loves to sit on her parents’ bed and watch her mom get read to go out

when maeve was a little kid she would sit on her mom’s lap at the vanity and help her mom chose her jewelry

maeve has impeccable taste and it comes from her mom

when she was healthy enough to go home but still sick enough to not be able to go to school maeve’s dad would work from home and he would teach maeve how to cook

mr. rojas does all the cooking in the house and he makes traditional colombian food so it’s the only type of food maeve knows how to cook

her fondest memory is of the day her dad let her play on the floor of his home office while he took calls and she spent the whole morning putting together a puzzle and for lunch they made waffles and added whipped cream and maple syrup and it felt like her own little secret because they didn’t tell her mom

maeve often falls asleep curled up on couches and her parents used to carry her up to her room during that magical in between moment when she was just about to fall asleep

they stopped after a while because she was just getting too big and the first time luis carries her up to her room she almost cries because she feels safe and comfortable like she did when she was a kid

maeve will never tell anyone but the real reason she hates being outside is because her immune system sucked when she was sick and she wasn’t allowed outside so it feels so daunting 

kris puts the pieces together after a class on immunology and all of a sudden maeve makes so much sense to him

maeve is a little scared of kris because he has the most medical knowledge and she knows that he can see through her at any moment and then all her compartmentalization will fall apart

she freezes every time kris mentions anything he’s learned from class

luis tries so hard to get maeve to open up to him but at some point nate pulls him aside and is like “dude she’s only going to resist the more you pry just let her be and prove she can trust you”

and not soon after maeve starts to tell him things about when she was little

maeve isn’t big on pda but she always has to be pressed against luis

she acts confident but she’s super anxious about everything

she plays with the hem of his shirts a lot or with his fingers

luis teaches her how to ride a bike and she honestly becomes a faster rider than him

it’s a great way to dispel all her nervous energy

maeve sometimes goes whole weekends without getting out of bed because she just can’t muster the energy to get up

those are the days where luis stays on the floor of her room and brings her food 

maeve just has a lot of unaddressed trauma that sometimes hits her like a truck

but she also has really good days where she lights up every room she walks into

maeve is perceived to be calm because she’s surrounded by chaotic people but she’s also insanely chaotic

maeve used to be a little scared of her sister before she was diagnosed with cancer because bronwyn was a little stubborn and bossy as a kid but she softened as maeve aged and now maeve adores her sister more than anyone

she refuses to see the flaws in the people she loves sometimes which is actually her biggest flaw because she doesn’t understand how exhausting it is to be perceived as perfect

maeve loves her friends with her entire soul and she’s the least likely to get into an argument

but she will get into arguments on their behalves, something she will happily remind them

maeve is just a very messy character with a lot of development in her future and i really hope we get that in oouib

#maeve rojas #bronwyn rojas #phoebe lawton #kris (oou) #addy prentiss #cooper clay #nate macauley #luis santos #oouil #oouin #one of us is lying #one of us is next

[ottos-wahn]

i don't think we, as a society, talk enough about the scene at the piano in season 4, episode 22 (i'll be waving as you drive away part 2) of little house on the prairie, which is, in my opinion, one of the most romantic scenes in television history for so many reasons. it reminds me so much of the phone scene in it's a wonderful life, with its quiet intimacy, with the way you can really feel the longing between mary and adam, how they're sitting so close, but they can't quite touch. they're sort of hovering, being very careful with one another, until it becomes too much, and i just love the hesitation, the slow burn, the pining!!! but also it's the first time they really allow themselves to realize what they mean to one another.

it starts like any other lesson, with her doubting her ability to learn how to play piano because she's blind and his reassurance that she can do anything she wants to do; he offers to teach her, and his sitting so close to her isn't that unusual in this context (he sat right next to her and touched her hands when teaching her Braille earlier), but then the context changes when she admits that it isn't just her being blind that's dissuading her from learning how to play. there also isn't the time. and you can see his face fall, you can see the sadness on his face when she reminds him that her family is coming to take her home. because before this, they spent so much time together, and they always had so much more time to come. but for the first time, they're faced with the idea that they won't be together anymore. and we, the viewers, can see how her leaving is affecting him, but obviously she can't, so she tells him that she's scared. and she's scared explicitly because he won't be there to help her.

and for a moment, he's back in teacher mode and tells her she can't depend on him forever (which we, the viewers, obviously know isn't true), but this only lasts a moment, because he knows this isn't Mary's usual self-pity and self-deprecation. this isn't her usual way of trying to get out of something she finds too difficult, that she's too afraid to try, and she doesn't need tough love; this is a moment of real vulnerability, and, as if in effort to make her feel better, he reveals he'll be leaving too (which i genuinely believe that he would not have gone to winoka had she stayed at the burton school but i digress).

to which she responds that she's glad she's leaving, if he won't be there anymore.

and then we get The Moment, where, faced with both of their impending departures, they can't hold their feelings in anymore. and she laments, so quietly and gingerly, the fact she's never seen him. and he takes her hands and tells her to look at him. and he brings her hands to his face!!!! the way he closes his eyes and leans into her touch! her little smile! the way her voice cracks when she asks what color his hair is!!

the music swells and then it ebbs and we hear adam, his voice barely above a whisper, ask what she looks like. because, he tells her, he's never seen her, either. and she takes his hand and brings it to her face, and there are tears in her eyes! and she's holding his hands even as he caresses her face! and his fingers linger over her lips! and he laughs in disbelief at this revelation, that his feelings are requited!

but it's more than that for mary! because this is the first time she realizes that adam is also blind! that he actually does understand her!! and not only does he understand her, but all of his preaching, all of his lectures on how blind people are just as good as anyone else, how they can do anything they set their mind to, how important it is for her not to make excuses for herself, were not the condescensions of a sighted man, but lessons he wanted to share with her from his own years of struggling with himself and his blindness!! and that offers her hope, that she will also overcome her current struggles, and that she can achieve self-actualization just as he has! i don't think it's just love of adam that allows her to reconsider her dream of becoming a teacher, though obviously his support is helpful! but she moves to winoka without being engaged!

and it's also just so tender! the way they caress each other! how happy they are! and the new understanding they gain of one another through this scene!

it's the first time they're "seeing" each other, and it's also the first time they're seeing each other. and i wish so badly that tumblr was around when lhotp was airing because i want so many gifsets of this scene

#little house on the prairie #mary ingalls #adam kendall #melissa sue anderson #linwood boomer #not to write an essay but i fucking love this scene and this entire episode #and i believe in my heart of hearts that pre-season 7 adam kendall is the best love interest on this show #he and mary complete each other!!!!! #they can both be vulnerable around each other but they also don't allow the other to wallow! they tell each other what they need to hear! #do you ever realize you're spending your youth caring way too much about something no one else cares about

[my-head-is-an-animal]

Problems With The Heart

Greg House x Dr Anna Harding (OFC)

Story Masterlist

Chapter 2 - It’s Fun

House would never admit it, but he hated the way it’d all come out about Anna. He wanted to wait another few months before everyone found out that he actually liked this woman, but Cameron threw a spanner in the works. It started out as casual hanging out and moaning about patients. On occasion they would go and drink together at some bar or he would take her to place bets on dogs and horses and everything else they could bet on. She laughed and he found it difficult to refuse her anything when she did.

The first time he realised it might have been more was when she mentioned wanting to learn to play the piano, they’d had a couple of drinks and House called a cab to take them back to his so he could teach her a little. She was a surprisingly fast learner and she managed to learn a few songs in a matter of weeks, it wasn’t perfect, but every time she went back to try again, the better it was. He watched her slender fingers glide over each key and her small smile when she got it just right, soon he was able to play his guitar along with her and they were able to play together. The first time she got it perfect was when he realised he liked her.

House decided at that point to try and distance himself from her, but she didn’t seem to be affected by it, when he confronted her and apologised for his absence, she just shrugged and said it was fine if there was something he wanted to deal with on his own. She offered to be there for him if that was what he needed or they could go place some bets or drink at the bar if he needed a night to let loose a little.

Anna’s eyes dilated when they spoke, she enjoyed his company and after a night where he agreed to let loose, after they’d gone to the bar and gotten kicked out at closing time, once they were waiting for the cab to come, he said it simply and plainly and very drunkenly.

‘I want to have sex with you.’ He giggled, making her laugh even harder as well.

‘Oh really?’ She said, biting her lip.

‘You’re accent is sexy, your body is smoking and I think you would be very good at it.’ He almost lost his balance on the sidewalk, making her laugh again.

‘Oh my god, you okay?’ She said still laughing but reaching over to stop him hurting himself. ‘Look, I’m not denying anything, I am hot, I am smart and being English has its advantages, I get all the lads.’ She winked, as he leaned on the wall for balance. ‘If you promise not to be weird about it in the morning, I could totally tap that.’

House just laughed, he couldn’t believe his luck, she was hot and smart and sexy he believed every word of her drunken speech. He agreed to her terms and noted they’d both regret it in the morning.

‘That’s tomorrow’s problem.’ She waved his concern away. ‘So are you going to kiss me or what?’

He liked kissing her, she was soft and warm and hummed when he dragged his teeth over her lip, she had sensitive skin over her hips and lower back and he loved feeling how curved she was. The cab pulled up beside them and they went back to his where a slightly awkward encounter ensued. That was six months ago.

House knew he’d fallen in love, Anna was easy, she didn’t judge, she didn’t try to change him and she rarely ever asked for anything. When she did ask, he knew it was because it was bad. They’d shared things, he told her about Stacey and his leg, she told him about Afghanistan and how she was honourably discharged. She hated that she was constantly monitoring herself, but she was responsible and the second someone questioned her judgment on a patient she took a minute to review herself. Patients came first, that was her.

He told her about Cameron and she couldn’t offer much advice, said if he wasn’t ready to be open about the fact they were in a relationship then that was fine, but he needed Cameron back so he needed to figure it out on his own. She would back whatever decision he made.

They didn’t have sex sober for weeks in the beginning, they were treating each other like releases. Neither of them minded, in fact in some ways, he preferred the casual nature of their relationship, but six months on and one fake date with Cameron told him he wanted more than just casual. He just didn’t know how to approach the subject.

He went over to her apartment, hesitated for a few minutes before knocking on the door. She took a little longer than usual to answer and the second the door swung open he saw why. Anna had been crying.

‘You’ve never cried before.’ House blurted out. She frown and tilted her head, challenging him the way he liked.

‘You mean I’ve never cried in front of you before.’ Anna held the door open for him. House limped in, but didn’t head for the sofa like he usually did. He waited for her to close the door behind him. ‘Everything okay?’ She frowned, concern lacing her beautiful features.

‘Why would you ask me that?’ He felt his voice lower to a growl. Her red eyes dilated the way he knew they would the second he let his voice lower. It hadn’t quite been intentional but he was glad that it had happened. ‘You’ve been crying and you don’t do that for no reason, so obviously this is something truly upsetting, most likely a culmination of a few things that’s led to you cry so much that your eyes are now bloodshot…’ House trailed off realising that she was just waiting for him to get to the point. ‘You’re upset and you’re asking me if everything is okay.’

Anna sucked in a deep breath. ‘Well why wouldn’t I?’

‘If you needed someone to talk to you could’ve called.’ House shrugged.

Anna started laughing a little and headed for her kitchen. Her place was generally sparse, covered in books but that was about as far as she went with personal effects. Anna reached up to the top shelf to grab a whiskey bottle, he only seemed to noticed then that she was just wearing a T-shirt, one of his T-shirt’s to be precise, the hem raised above her toned legs and she looked incredibly beautiful.

She poured two glasses and handed him one. ‘Look, if you came here for sex I’m not in the mood, if you wanted something else, then-‘

‘I want you.’ House interrupted her, downing his whiskey. ‘I want you to call me when you need someone to talk to, I want you to rely on me when you need someone, I want… more.’ He felt reluctant to say it, regretted it when she said nothing.

Anna downed her whiskey and went to pour another. She wasn’t over pouring, she was just thinking. House placed his glass on the island next to hers.

‘I don’t think you want more with me.’ She said, quietly. ‘I’m not an easy person to be in a real relationship with.’

‘A real relationship?’

‘What we’ve been doing has been fun, so much so that I was going to suggest we stop.’

‘Wait, you like hanging out with me and your conclusion was that you wanted to stop? That doesn’t make any sense.’

‘I fell for you.’ Anna downed her whiskey again, but she didn’t refill this time. ‘We’ve been having a lot of fun and it’s been easy because there’s been no pressure. Spending the odd night together is fine, but what you’re asking is for something I don’t want to burden you with. I go whole nights without sleeping and some nights I can’t sleep unless it’s on the floor. I don’t always sleep in a bed. I have moments throughout the day where I think I’m back in the desert, just momentary flashes, nothing that would cost a patient, but I take that home with me. I sit on my sofa and I go over what happened over and over again until I can be sure that I can still do my job. You want me to bring that crap home to you? You’re already damaged, what good do you think I could do?’

House thought about it, she was right he knew she was, but it didn’t stop him wanting more.

‘If that’s what you want then I can’t stop you.’ He finished his whiskey. ‘But if you change your mind, I’d like to know.’

He wasn’t sure if it was right, but House left her apartment. He didn’t know if he could give her what she needed, he wanted to try, but he didn’t want to pressure her into anything. She meant too much to him to damage her any further.

If you liked this, please consider supporting me ☕ thanks for reading!    

#Greg House #greg house x original female character #greg house fic

[stardew-atlantis]

Can I just say that I absolutely LOVE your oc's? And can I ask for some fun facts abt them?👀🤌

YES, YOU ABSOLUTELY CAN 🥺omg I love talking about my OC's

(Idk which ones you wanted facts from but I'm gonna do all of them because why not)

SJ:

while it's not explicitly written into the fic, SJ is actually demi-romantic as well as asexual. It's why she took so long to realize she wanted to be more than friends with Harvey, they needed to develop that bond and trust first before she was able to see him as a romantic option.

SJ teaches Harvey to play Minecraft. They have their own server together. (Harvey mostly builds things and takes care of animals while SJ mines and fights the monsters for him)

SJ knows how to play piano. (Zephyr wanted them to get along better, so he got Elliott to teach SJ piano as a way for them to spend time together)

SJ got her name from that kid in The Blind Side because I thought the name SJ sounded cool XD

My face claim for her is Marisha Ray (with glasses)

Zephyr:

I've probably said this before but I literally can't find the post on my own blog so I'm gonna say it again. Zephyr was actually based on a DnD character I made for a campaign that never got started. It was a cyberpunk themed campaign, so that's why his last name is V, and he was a cybernetically enhanced human/wizard. Which is ironic, because he's basically my only fully-human OC 😅

Zephyr got his name from fantasynamegenerator.com because I wanted a cool robot name. To explain it in stardew, I headcanon that his mom wanted a "Unique" name for her son so she named him Zephyr. (Also since people have asked me this, it's pronounced 'Zeff-er' in case you were wondering)

SJ was the first person Zephyr came out to when he started identifying as bisexual. (He knew for a while, but didn't actually tell anyone right away) Zephyr knew his parents wouldn't approve, so he decided to tell his sister instead. In return, Zephyr was the first person SJ told when she realized she was ace.

Zephyr has done art studies of Elliott. After they start dating, Elliott offers to be a live model for him.

My face claim for him is Bryan Dechart

Isaac:

Isaac is in his early 30's, about 6 feet tall, and he was originally supposed to be an OC for Haunted Chocolatier, but I wanted him to have a stardew backstory so I added him into the main fic. (Yes I already have fics planned for when HC comes out XD)

I don't have a face-claim for him but I made him on the sims before I made his in-game sprite/portrait. He looks like this! (His eyes were originally supposed to be grey but I am still new to pixel art so they're brown, for now...)

I'm still developing his story alongside the others, so I don't have a ton of lore for him yet, but it's coming!

JS:

JS (Jess) is an actual save file that I made in order to do the Joja route in the game. She was supposed to be the Anti-SJ and I'm not creative with names so I named her JS. Her full name is Jessica Sharp.

JS was the reason I first went for Harvey in the game XD I actually married Sebastian in my first ever save file, but after going through all the bachelor's routes on the joja file, I just fell in love with Harvey and he is best boy.

If you count each sentence spoken by JS in "Everest Farm", 22 of those sentences were lies.

JS is an only child in the family she was adopted into.

Despite SJ being asexual, JS is straight (And my only straight OC)

I do have a sim for her too

Thanks for the ask! Sorry for the Essay, I never get to do this XD

#stardew valley farmer #sdv oc #farmer sj #farmer zephyr #asks #oc fun facts #atlantis farm #shanesbluechicken

[draculas-husband]

16. Do they enjoy dancing? / Do they have dances they can teach each other? 38. Thoughts on each other’s friends? 58. Do they have similar taste in movies? / Live theatre? Music? 77. Do either of them have secrets even the other doesn’t know?

They do indeed enjoy dancing. Although it takes them a while before they even try. Edmont is the one who asks Drac if he knows how to dance and if Drac would like him to teach him any Ishgardian dances. Naturally Drac accepts and it ends up being a rather intimate experience for them. Eventually they get rather good at it too. Sure they're not Morticia and Gomez good but that is an impossible standard haha. At least the passion is there! 😂💖

Firmien appears to be Edmont's closest friend and Drac absolutely adores him. He has been serving the Fortemps for 50+ years and Drac can't help but ask him constantly about what Edmont was like growing up. And considering how happy Drac makes Edmont, Firmien in turn cannot help but share all sorts of information about the former count. Drac of course also just loves talking to Firmien in general and gets to know him pretty quickly. They sometimes hang out together, the three of them when time permits. Although he is still the steward and mainly serves Artoirel at this point. Edmont and Drac will gladly have him along for lunch or a walk and the like whenever Firmien gets time off.

As for Edmont's thoughts on Drac's friends... I mean the scions he have met he enjoyed meeting. They're all a rather colorful bunch. And Tataru has come to mean a lot to him just as she does to Drac. Tataru is after all Drac's best friend. While Drac was on the first he asked her to deliver updates and letters to the manor for him and she was happy to do so. While there, she offered to come over to chat with Edmont should he feel the need and want to. Mentioning that she too understands what it is like to miss Drac even if their relationship is of a different nature. He accepted her offer and they had a couple of conversations over tea. One time they even had a proper drink when Drac had shared in a letter that he was unsure if he'd make it back alive... So again he has come to value his own friendship with her.

There are also the many friends that Drac has made along the way. Edmont can attest to; that there has never been a dull moment with Drac around. Overall he likes the people Drac befriends and is happy Drac has them. Even though he may not always have the energy to spend time with them himself. He is very happy they make Drac happy. And that is what truly matters to him in the end.

This is a very interesting question. (Are movies even a thing?) Drac hasn't experienced live theatre for the longest time before he meets Edmont. But after the events of heavensward I'd like to think they start seeing plays together. Drac is willing to watch whatever as long as he gets to spend time with Edmont. He usually ends up focusing on the costumes even if the play itself bores him. And if they are not to his liking either he can always just look at his beloved instead. So technically there is always something nice to look at. But genuinely Drac does enjoy theater and is open to most kinds of stories. He is a drama kid after all haha. I'd like to think his favorite play is one that some ishgardian kids set up in the firmament based on the events described in Edmont's book "Heavensward". In fact he loves it so much that helps make their costumes and set more accurate and even gets to play himself during one of their performances. Naturally the kids and Edmont adores it. Afterwards they surprise the kids with cookies and signed copies of the book. (Sorry got off topic there!) I would like to think that Edmont prefers the kids play over some fancy grandeur performance that was mainly set up for the nobility. In part because he associates it with a must rather than a want.

As for music I think Edmont surprises Drac with his taste. While he enjoys a good classic piano piece as much as the next noble he also used to be bit more "wild" in his youth. So he can definitely enjoy something more on the metal or rock side of things. A good knightly workout cannot be done to the sound of classic piano music after all.

Drac on the other hand listens to everything. And enjoys anything with a good enough melody. But naturally he has his favorites and Edmont doesn't mind them even though they're not always his cup of tea.

Drac tries as much as possible to be an open book with Edmont. But even he is uncomfortable with the amount of death his actions has caused and does avoid talking about it more than he probably should. He also hasn't told Edmont about Emet yet. In fact he hasn't told Edmont many details about the first at all. He intends to though. He isn't super comfortable sharing information about things that could be traced back to Edmont and potentially cause him harm so there are definitely things Drac keeps a secret for such reasons. He is however open about the fact that, that is the case and that should he feel safe enough to share it, he will. Edmont isn't actively keeping any secrets from Drac but there are things he too doesn't like like to talk about. But he will answer anything truthfully if Drac asks.

They do have a long conversation about both their previous experiences with relationships and Drac makes himself very clear about how he feels about loyalty and how important it is to him. Edmont knows full well that there is nowhere he could hide from the scions or any of Drac's friends if he actively tried to hurt Drac. Thancred made that very clear to the former count once he found out that him and Drac were an item. Which is in fact a secret Edmont is keeping from Drac. Not that he ever intends to hurt Drac anyway but ya know. (I must however be clear that Thancred does not have anything against Edmont overall. I think loyalty is just something he feels very strongly about too and would hate for one of his best friends to get hurt.)

#ffxiv #count on count romance #dracmont #count edmont de fortemps #edmont de fortemps #drac lusard #count dadcula #Ask #Thank you sm for the asks!!! #💖 #Long post #shadowbringers spoilers #Man I really went off here oops #Have a bunch of trivia and lore for my own little canon #I apologize for any misspelling #And weird grammar #Etc #English is technically not my first language...

[peace-coast-island]

Diary of a Junebug

The joys of being mediocre in something you enjoy

There’s something freeing about accepting that you don’t have to be good at something you enjoy doing. I think it’s natural for us to feel like we have to be decent at something in order to keep going at it. There’s nothing more frustrating than putting all your time and effort into doing some sort of activity or hobby only for it to turn out kinda eh, or for it to just completely fall short of what you envisioned. That alone, I think, takes a lot of fun out of it.

Having been there many times, I find it kind of acts like a roadblock. It also doesn’t help that most of us have it hammered in us the expectation of “If you can’t do it right, then don’t bother doing it at all.” sort of mindset. Even though most people who say that probably intended it to help you, it, in fact, does the exact opposite.

Hobbies are supposed to be fun. I think that’s something we need to remind ourselves from time to time. And if it stops being fun, you can put it down. There’s no shame in trying and failing - gotta repeat that to myself from time to time.

While Raiden, Qingmei, Makoto, and Dainn were visiting, I took out my violin for the first time in years. Even though I’m kinda rusty, I still can still play a couple decent tunes. Although I’ve played the violin for five years in school, I didn’t get much out of it, except maybe a casual appreciation for orchestras and classical music.

To be honest, I wasn’t the best at playing the violin, which was why I was usually in the back. I liked it enough to stick with it for so long, but I wasn’t aspiring to be a maestro or anything. Maybe I would have enjoyed it more if I wasn’t so hung up on the fact that I was just okay at playing. It also didn’t help that the teacher we had through middle and high school was kinda pretentious in a snobby way - but that’s a really minor point. Basically, being part of the school orchestra gave me something to do other than academics, but other than that, it was meh as I pretty much just went thought the motions by doing the bare minimum.

Makoto’s been hanging out with Qingmei and Dainn a lot more, and he kinda prompted them, and the other demon slayers to pick up a musical instrument. Raiden’s quite musical as she knows how to play quite a few different instruments as well as sing. She’s the one who got Qingmei into piano, which then led to Qingmei getting into songwriting.

And unexpectedly, Dainn jumped in on the songwriting too despite having absolutely no prior musical experience. Even though he downplayed his contribution to Star Blessed Slumber as merely just a translator and his singing as passable for someone who never sang a note ever, Raiden noted that he seemed to have a lot of fun with the process. I mean, it makes sense considering that it’s a whole new and different thing for him, especially since he grew up in a culture and upbringing that didn’t really place as much emphasis on the arts.

Sometime later, Makoto offered to teach him how to play the cello. The whole thing was literally Dainn being like “Oh, this is so cool! I wish I could play something” when he saw Makoto play with an orchestra. And then Makoto responded along the lines of “Why not start now?” And he was like “Wait, what?” Then there was some back and forth with Dainn wondering if this was a good idea or not while Makoto was encouraging him to give it a try. Finally, he said, “Why not?” and picked the cello.

Several months later, he’s taken well to the instrument. It goes to show that you’re never too old to pick up on something new. Dainn started out from scratch, being unable to read a note and not knowing the basics, to playing songs and picking up all sorts of new skills. I don’t think I’ve ever seen him so enthusiastic about something since picking up the cello - neither have the others. I guess after being known as a warrior for most of his life, it’s nice to have a change of pace and pursue something he never considered before.

Raiden was surprised when she saw Dainn with a cello, even more so when she saw how seriously he was taking his lessons. Then again, he tends to be a serious person, though that’s probably more of a product of his upbringing. Plus, there’s also the way he was raised to put 1000% effort into everything, and nothing less. Obviously, it took a lot of practice for him to get where he is now - that’s something that takes time and dedication, not just talent alone.

In terms of technical skills, he’s still got a long way to go - mainly because he’s still very much a newbie. I can’t really judge on that since I’m no expert on the cello, but I do know that playing an instrument isn’t really something you can learn overnight. Like with Qingmei, Raiden insisted on documenting Dainn’s progress on learning how to play, and it’s provided a lot of useful insights. It’s also nice to have something to look back on and see how far you’ve come, especially when you start off going in totally blind.

Obviously when you start out, it’s gonna be rough. Everything is new and unnatural, so it takes time for you to get used to it. You either get frustrated enough to throw in the towel, or you persist and keep going until it clicks and finally makes sense. And then you keep going, learning more and more new things. The more you do it, you either keep at it, or eventually lose interest and move on to something else.

And I think while trying - and struggling - to learn something new, the fun and joy of it kinda gets lost. After all, it’s hard to enjoy something if you’re struggling to get the basics down. Not to mention that there’s this mindset of “If you’re not getting it right, then what’s the point?”, which takes away the incentive of picking up something new. That shame and embarrassment of not getting the hang of something really stops you in your tracks. It’s even worse when people around you are like, “Don’t bother, you’re not good at it anyway. Do something more productive with your time instead.”

I don’t consider myself a perfectionist, but I do fall into that trap of giving up and getting frustrated when I don’t get something right after putting a lot of effort into it. That nagging thought of maybe I’m wasting my time kicks in and it makes me kinda regret even trying in the first place. It’s a frustrating cycle that’s easily imposed on you either by yourself or others, often without realizing it.

Qingmei’s gone a long way since she learned how to play the piano despite having no prior musical knowledge whatsoever as well and now she’s writing music. In her case, she never really set out to be good, she just wanted to pick up a fun hobby. Being a swordfighter and adventurer for pretty much her whole life, Qingmei realized that she needed to have interests outside of those in order to get out of a rut, which was the main reason why she wanted to learn piano - other than it being something that looked cool and fun.

Dainn’s reasons for picking up the cello were similar. He was basically raised as a warrior ever since he could walk, and so his life revolved around that. Going from a lowly foot soldier to practically straight to the top as captain wasn’t something he planned, more like predetermined by the elder knights - something he’s kinda resented as time went on. Since he didn’t have any other aspirations, he just did as he was told because it never occurred to him that he was allowed to make his own choices. He speculated that maybe if it weren’t for the fact that he was from what they called “The Streets”, rather than a noble like most knights were, maybe he would have been a lot more sheltered and isolated.

The more I learn about his past - which is not much, really, - the more I get why he seems kind of aloof and keeps things vague. I guess after spending centuries fighting a losing battle without really understanding why it had to be you who suffered, but doing so anyway out of obligation, it’s no wonder why he struggled a lot after the calamity passed. And somehow, he survived despite all odds. So what happens next since you’re still alive and kicking? Raiden was surprised that he chose to stick around, though it makes sense why considering that he had nowhere to go and wandering the wilderness probably wouldn’t do him any good since it’ll be more of the same, except maybe being even more lost and directionless.

Obviously, most people don’t have extreme scenarios like that, but it’s my long winded way of saying that it’s good to have a wide range of interests and not let yourself be boxed in. But in order to do so, you need to be able to step out of your comfort zone and not be afraid to do things badly. After all, you need to start off somewhere before you get good. And even if you still aren’t that good, if you enjoy it, then that’s all that really matters.

Do it for yourself. Don’t let other voices cloud your mind with unwarranted criticism, especially when that critic is yourself.

As I’ve said, I was inspired to take my violin out after all these years. Seeing how enthusiastic Dainn and Makoto are, I really wished I appreciated playing the violin more. I mean, it was a school thing, and I’m pretty sure no one in an intermediate orchestra set out to be professional musicians, but still. At least I do have an appreciation for classical music and orchestras, even on a superficial level as in they sound good and I think more people should get into them. I have been getting into more artists who are known for incorporating classical elements in their music - a genre that’s often considered old, outdated, and kinda inaccessible - and introducing modern audiences to them, so I guess that’s something.

So we had some fun playing around with our instruments and I didn’t feel self conscious about my playing at all. I was surprised that playing the violin still came somewhat naturally to me - that’s muscle memory, I guess. Maybe I’m not the best at playing, but that’s not gonna stop me from trying. I doubt I’ll be picking up my violin again anytime soon, but if I feel like it, there’s a lot of songs I’d want to learn how to play. I won’t be playing in any symphony orchestras - not that I want to, that sounds too intimidating! - but I’ll be playing for me, which is for fun and curiosity, and that’s more than good enough.

And despite playing the violin for five years, I never mastered the vibrato, which is a shame because I want to be able to do it, even just for the sake of sounding like I know what I’m doing. Dainn asked me if I had any tips on vibrato as he’s been struggling with that and I said well, we’re on the same boat. But there’s nothing stopping us from attempting, which we did.

How did we do? Horribly. Did we know what we were doing? Hell no! And it was funny, actually. Nothing like bonding over being bad at something and getting a laugh out of it. I’m sure he’ll get the hang of it someday - I’m counting on it!

That said, it would be nice to be able to master the vibrato. I mean, these days, you can find tutorials on pretty much anything. So if I ever decide to pick up my violin and learn a bunch of new stuff, I’m hoping it wouldn’t be too hard to find something. But again, I’m not really looking to becoming a maestro, though I’m open to playing more for funsies. I think for me, the freedom to be able to choose what you want to get out of an activity that has less to do with improving your skills like it’s a competition and more with improving out of curiosity does more to retain my interest.

Along with jamming out as an improv orchestra, we’ve been doing quite a bit of baking too. Baking is another thing that I’m not always the best at, but I enjoy nonetheless. I mean, I’d like to think I’m kinda above average when it comes to baking since I do it kind of often. I don’t tend to gravitate towards complex recipes that take a lot of steps and prep, but I do like to occasionally challenge myself with a recipe that’s slightly out of my comfort zone.

While I’m happy to say that most of my baking turns out good, I have had a few flops here and there - some which unfortunately end up being a waste. I try to salvage it because wasting food is not good - and in most cases, thankfully, it’s still edible, just not something I’d want to have again - but sometimes, usually for the sake of your stomach if it’s that bad, you have to give up and call it a day.

Maybe our impromptu orchestra session made us a bit more daring than usual, which was why we decided to challenge ourselves a bit in the kitchen. Then again, with Raiden taking charge, she tends to encourage us to push our limits. She is an expert on making all kinds of desserts, and so if you want to tackle a recipe that seems kinda daunting to take on alone, ask her for help. Even if it doesn’t turn out successful, at least we’ll have a good time trying to figure it out!

The toughest recipe by far was this angelcloud cake, a recipe that Raiden randomly found online in some ancient cookbook. Part of the reason why she chose this recipe was because she kinda expected us to fail. At a quick glance, the way the recipe is written is…well, I guess cramming in your life’s story in a recipe has always been a thing. Not to mention that it’s really disorganized, so even if you read through the recipe several times, it still doesn’t really make a lot of sense. And we’re pretty sure that there’s a lot of errors as the logic behind the measurements don’t really add up.

That said, I’ve been curious about where exactly this recipe originated from. Raiden went down a rabbit hole trying to uncover the recipe’s origins, but because it’s ancient, there’s not a lot. With what little information that’s available, it’s all conflicting. The conclusion we came up with is that it was probably one of those recipes that was probably passed down by families where no one bothered to write it out because everyone knew it. The one time someone decided to put it in writing, it ended up being inaccurate, and that’s the one that survived the passage of time. Go figure.

Sure, there were frustrations when things turned out badly, but it wasn’t so bad that we ended up wasting a bunch of perfectly good ingredients. I think it helped that we kinda knew it wasn’t gonna work, but we wanted to try to figure it out anyway because we were curious. The fun kind of fuck around and find out.

Even though we didn’t end up with a light and fluffy angelcloud cake, the final product, a somewhat dense and lopsided buttery vanilla cake, turned out pretty good. Raiden knows how to salvage a failing recipe and managed to turn the sad mess of merengues into a really thick cake batter. She did take a huge risk by putting a lot of butter in there, but it somehow worked. Without it, I can’t imagine how the cake would have tasted - probably super bland and dry.

Then we baked cupcakes, which went a lot more smoothly - not to mention that we had a lot less dishes to wash. We put up a poll and it seems like everyone was in the mood for matcha strawberry cupcakes, which go well with tea. As the snow keeps falling, tea has been our go-to drink to warm us up.

What better way to spend time cooped up inside than with music and cake?

Read on AO3

#animal crossing pocket camp #animal crossing #diary of a junebug #headcanon ramble

[mikalara-dracula]

Hey, can I please have some headcanons of the S brothers treat a bride that is very young (such as being around 10 years old?”

How would the Sakamakis treat a very young bride

Hi there!

Thank you so much for requesting! I made this in the sense that they only view her as a child and she will become their bride when she is of age so the subject of pedophilia is avoided here. Hope you like it. Feel free to request again anytime. :))

Note: Had so much fun writing this with you, bestie (@murasakiplum). I swear Ayato's is my fav here. xDD

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Shu:

Doesn’t think of her too much, especially since she’s still a child.

He might find her annoying if she’s too noisy or throws fits over something silly since she’s so young.

The fact that she will end up being their bride one day just weirds him out since he sees her as a child.

“Huh, to think she’ll be married to us one day. Sounds troublesome.”

If he’s feeling up for it, or his music just isn’t sustaining his boredom, he might teach her how to play the violin.

Shares his earbuds with her every once in a while.

Doesn’t snitch if he sees that she and Ayato are planning something troublesome.

In fact, he finds it amusing.

If she asks for money, he gives it to her no questions asked.

She also asks him for permission on certain things since she knows Reiji will say no.

“Thanks, Shu.”

“Yeah.” He’d yawn. “Just don’t let Reiji find out.”

Reiji:

Oh boy, mama Rei activated.

Like, there isn’t a day where he isn’t scolding her about something or lecturing her about playing too many video games with Ayato.

He is literally all over her, making sure she’s constantly behaving and not doing anything foolish.

Since she’s still so young, he will discipline and teach her manners so that when she’s of age to become their bride, she’ll be “ready”.

Is easily triggered if she slouches or if she refuses to study.

“It is impolite to sit without such care. Adjust yourself or shall I have to take away your video games for a month?”

He’s also really triggered if she touches his science equipment or his tea sets.

“Hey Reiji, what is this?”

“Put. That. Down.”

Irons her clothes and tries to teach her.

However, one time she ended up burning one of Reiji’s shirts.

When Ayato found out about this, he was in hysterics.

“Heh, that prick deserved it.”

Laito:

Is pretty friendly towards her.

Will try to teach her sex ed, but ends up getting scolded by Reiji since she’s too young to know such things.

I mean, she’s only ten for cryin’ out loud.

“Oh, lighten up, Reiji. I was only telling her a few things.”

“That won’t be necessary as she’s far too young to indulge herself in such activities . . . like you.”

Will allow her to wear his hat because he thinks she looks cute.

Teaches her piano if she’s interested.

Has dart matches with her and Ayato, and occasionally with Subaru.

During dinner, he’s offered to feed her a few times.

Yeah, cuz that’s so not creepy.

This has always led to provoking an argument with Subaru however.

And as expected, it results in Reiji having to break them up to avoid further confrontation.

“That’s enough, you two. It is highly impolite to behave that way in front of her.”

Plays tag with her in the courtyard with Ayato, Kanato, and sometimes Subaru.

Loves chasing her around and they honestly have a little too much fun.

They will all go easy on her because of their speed.

However, if Laito is it and he tags Subaru, he’ll just end up getting punched.

He gives her piggyback rides if she’s really tired.

He’d probably give her the answer to homework questions.

Likes to go shopping with her and always buys her new clothes.

But of course, Reiji doesn’t like the

“Stop spoiling her. She’ll end up just like that good for-,”

“Ah Reiji, don’t be like your mom.”

Kanato:

Invites her to tea parties with him and teddy.

Lets her hold teddy sometimes.

Likes to see her dressed up in cute Lolita-like outfits because he thinks she looks cute.

Likes to bake cookies with her.

Is willing to share his cake with her.

Will even dye her hair purple if she likes it.

Which is bound to drive Reiji insane 😂

“Dying hair isn’t a crime, Reiji . . . She’s expressing herself after all.”

Hates it when she’s too busy to play with him.

After all, he acts like a little kid himself when he isn’t getting attention.

“Why are you always playing with everyone else? You're our friend, right? If you value that, you should at least start hanging out with us more.”

Ayato:

Acts like a total big brother.

Likes to play video games with her and sometimes lets her win.

He would probably plan pranks towards his brothers with her--especially towards Reiji.

“Heh, the guy’s a total stick in the mud. Let’s give him a little fun.” He’d grin.

To be honest, from how many pranks they pull on Reiji, he’s always chasing them around the house.

Which is quite chaotic to say the least 😂

Has a hard time believing that she’ll be everyone’s bride one day considering he’d probably grow super attached to her.

He loves taking selfies with her.

Is like the little sister he never had.

Teaches her how to make takoyaki.

But this always ends up being a disaster since he’s quite clumsy and makes a mess of everything, which leads Reiji to scold him for it.

“Honestly, the nerve of you and this dish. If I didn’t know any better, I swear you’d even get engaged to it if it were legal.”

“Aw, shut up, Reiji.”

Loves sharing his takoyaki with her tho.

Encourages her to vandalize things with or without him.

Which really ends up driving Reiji crazy.

Ayato doesn’t mind getting in trouble with her, in fact, he tries to take all the blame.

Awww :’))))

With all of this chaos, it leads Reiji to ground her, that is, not allowing her to hang out with Ayato so no more trouble could be caused.

After not seeing her for a few days, Ayato would knock on her door, and upon opening it, he would ask, “Yo! What happened to you? I haven’t seen you in a few days.”

“Reiji said I can’t hang out with you anymore.”

“Eh screw Reiji, c’mon let’s go to that arcade that’s in town.” He’d say dragging her out of the room.

Likes making breakfast with her.

Pancakes, waffles, you name it, it’s happening.

And Reiji’s not having it.

“Only one thing. This isn’t a buffet.”

Ignoring him, he’d signal towards y/n holding a bowl of batter, “Throw it in.”

Jams out to music with her, but at a VERY loud volume.

And of course, Reiji is going to scold them for it.

Having dance-offs in the living room, maybe with Laito too.

Skateboarding after curfew, only to be yelled at by Reiji when they get back.

“She’s not supposed to be out that late. That is highly-,”

“Ah, c’mon Reiji. Don’t be so uptight.”

Loves celebrating her birthday and goes all out for her.

Especially when it comes to gifts.

And yes, takoyaki is the party’s the main dish.

He videotapes her when she’s imitating Reiji.

Ayato makes TikToks with her too.

He has a secret handshake with her too.

Which Reiji finds to be totally childish.

“Honestly, can’t you act like you age, Ayato?”

“Heh, at least I don’t act like an old man.”

Subaru:

Acts like he’s always annoyed by her, but honestly, he finds her very cute.

Will sometimes allow her to sleep in his coffin with him.

Listens to punk rock music with him.

Protects her, seriously he does.

For example, if Laito says or hints at something perverted in front of her, Laito will be the replacement for wall-chan that day.

He does get annoyed when she calls him a ‘car’, and considering this is insinuated by Ayato most of the time, things definitely get a bit hectic.

“Tell her to call me a car again, I dare you!”

“Ah, whatever. I thought all Subarus had love, I guess this one doesn’t.”

After she comes home from school, he secretly pulls her aside and asks her if she’s having any problems with bullies.

Cuz remember, he acts like he doesn’t care, right? 😂

#diabolik lovers #diabolik lovers headcanons #shu sakamaki #reiji sakamaki #laito sakamaki #kanato sakamaki #ayato sakamaki #subaru sakamaki