#Inanna is the baby of this house always

[spicypepperflakesss]

Muriel Reacts

Got this idea from a TikTok of a Westie copying it’s owner’s way of speaking [kinda like that Italian husky]

Muriel Reacts to: A Dog Trying To Talk Like You

Sometimes you come across wholesome gossip about animals that bark or meow like their owners. Hell, there are birds that mimic speech entirely, down to the soft ‘tch’ of breath when one ends a sentence with a ‘t’.

But you’ve always admired that one simple huff from Inanna could mean an entire sentence to Muriel. A lick of her chops could mean she disagrees with the way he cooked dinner that night. Or a yawn could mean that she’s stressed out a squirrel hiding in a nearby tree.

And Muriel loves telling you all about her inner thoughts. Most of the time, when she’s not berating him about something or he didn’t just blame her for a stray fart.

You marvel at the magnitude of thought that Inanna can say in one gesture. And you wish you could understand what she’s saying most of the time. After all, Muriel isn’t always around to play translator. You get the feeling that Inanna is just as frustrated when she bores into your soul with her golden eyes, hoping that you’d just understood what she had just been trying to tell you. But alas, the day you finally understand her has yet to come

But, as time flies by, you meet a new fluffy friend. Another dog temporarily under your care sometimes, and you spoil them to bits in the same way you do with Inanna.

And, like most close fluffy friends, your new dog friend now copies the way you speak. It’s learned that ‘no’ is the exact sound they need to make with their mouth when they don’t like what you’re doing. Or ‘hello’ when you’re happy to see them. Sometimes they just copy the way you talk back to them outright, because human speech is silly and copying you is fun

And that happened once, with Muriel in the room.

You were babysitting this dog again and you were approaching the door to check something outside.

Their ears perk up and rotate to your direction. Was this the sign of a walk? They’re not sure, but they jump from Muriel’s feet and race towards you.

Aww, how cute.

“You wanna go on a walk?” you coo in sing-song.

“Rarra rakk?” the dog barks, copying your last few words.

You laugh. Muriel slowly rises, watching you both with confusion pinching his brows but amused smile tugs his lips.

“Sure we can go for a walk later.”

“Ra ra rakk! Ra ra rakk!”

Your fluffy friend goes into tail-swishing overdrive, mimicking what you said in repeated, smiling barks as they twirl in place and jump on your leg.

You and Muriel both laugh. “What’s he saying?” you ask.

Muriel is still laughing, but this time he doubles over. As if the whole affair tickles him so much.

“He’s not— He’s not saying anything!” he says in between laughs.

“He’s just copying you. Probably so he can go outside.”

“Ah.” you say

Though you’re still smiling, you’re a little disappointed. Somehow, this is funnier to Muriel, who’s trying to calm down from from his high of laughs. He clears his throat, bites his lip at your disappointed face to contain the new laugh bubbling in his throat, and spares you a sympathetic look with a pat on your back.

“I-It’s okay.” he says, with all but a small smile breaking through his serious face, “Guess they just really likes you. Most of the time they’re just thinking of food, or you.”

He probably means the thoughts they have in the span of you babysitting them.

“Yeah.” you smile at your doggy friend, “I guess, I just wanted to understand what they were saying. Them and Inanna.”

Muriel softens at you. Perhaps he had always thought translating their thoughts was enough. He had no idea about that.

“Hm. A person and their familiar will have a different bond than you and a normal animal. But…”

He’s quiet for a silent beat. Then, he lights up as an idea dawns on him.

“Here—”

He carefully picks up the dog, and they allow him to carry their tiny body in his arms without protest.

“Sometimes, the way they look at you is enough.”

He presents your fluffy friend to you.

“Oh, it’s fine. I guess I just—”

“It’s okay. Trust me.”

This furball slides from his arms and their liquid body pours into your arms. Their bones are so relaxed, moving them around is like swirling wine in a glass. And their tail remains wagging this whole time. Their dark eyes shine at you earnestly. You look back at your friend, feeling the complex pool of quiet excitement, joy, and affection swimming behind their tiny brown orbs.

Then they lick your nose.

And now you’re a laughing mess as they continue to lick your face and unsuccessfully roll over in your arms to expose their belly. You’re holding them like a cradled baby. Then, with a decisive sigh, they close their eyes.

Muriel shares the excitement in your eyes as a silent gasp escapes you. They’ve never done this before. They’re sleeping like said baby in your arms.

Pride beams from your smile as you watch this pup sleep. Muriel returns your smile with his eyes softening at you.

Maybe Muriel is right.

This is enough. For now.

(Eventually you do take him for a walk. And a slightly jealous Inanna is not too far behind. [this is instantly quelled with a few treats and some affection])

[garf-lover96]

i know about fagottino... and i thought

fagottino prezioso... cat...

rowan and pepi...

how does rowan act with pepi

i thought about this ask for more than a second and decided that answering this question for ALL the familiars would be more interesting. also you read my mind again because i swear i was thinking about Rowan spending time with Pepi the day before you sent it omfg

Pepi: he visits Portia's cottage to hang out with her and Pepi equally. makes sure to always bring her a treat and occasionally a new toy. sweeps her up into his arms and smothers her in kisses and compliments as a greeting 'ojjjj Pepitka how radiant you are today :)'. also lets her loaf on him for hours. Bluebell loves playing with her too, they chase each other around a bunch

Malak: Rowan makes sure that he and Julian bond with each other enough, he really wants to help them understand each other better. but he also coddles him soooooo much and it kind of pisses Julian off when he takes the bird's side in a conflict....... i mean, he is a bird guy, what did you expect. Bluebell was initially pretty nervous around him but she got over it and they're besties now! they just bicker sometimes as housemates do

Faust: long term besties! Rowan has a soft spot for reptiles because of her. loves her silly little tongue and her body texture so he doesn't mind her squeezing him, also is willing to let her hang out on him like he's a tree at all times. a little too squeamish to feed her a dead rat himself but is fascinated by the way she just..... gulps them down. woah..? really loves babying her and calling her silly nicknames as well. Bluebell and Faust are like that photo of a snake hanging from a roof and squeezing a bird but /pos /affectionate (Rowan and Bluebell are both very squeezable)

Melchior and Mercedes: (i'm assuming the dogs stayed at the palace after Lucio was exiled??? there was no mention of what happened to them in Julian's route so..) Rowan actually goes out of his way to visit and play with them, he adores them so much. literally fell in love with them at first sight. they're precious angels that can do no evil. he'd roll around in mud with them if that would make them happy. Bluebell likes to get them riled up and fly away immediately after so she doesn't get caught by the JAWS

Chandra: he was a little stiff around her at first??? imagine going to a bird playdate with your trusty little magpie and the other bird looks like a smaller version of a biblically accurate angel. he warmed up to her after a few visits and pets her freely now. likes holding her in his lap and watching her head turn to insane angles. Bluebell's a little jealous of her glamour...

Inanna: he doesn't visit Muriel all that much so he's not used to being around her. he's still scared that she'll bite his face off and prefers to let her approach first if she feels like it. he goes pretty stiff while petting her too... i mean my god why does this guy have a whole ass wolf living in a house with him, it makes him uneasy. Bluebell stays away from her, she wouldn't risk being eaten

animals. love them so much

[fox-daddy]

Baby Fever with my main 3 Mc's

I've wanted to write this prompt since I saw baby fever appear in a poll so when it won I was over the moon. Then my adhd hit and I did nothing but sit on it and the prompt closes soon so- Incase I don't get it done on time here's how I think my Mc's would deal with baby fever.

Hunter;

Immune. Totally does not get baby fever. What is baby fever? sounds stupid. Too cool for baby fever. They don't even have a fever they checked!

The fact their babing their Li's familiar? totally normal. Pepi was asking to be carried like that since she wouldn't stop trying to eat their lunch, Inanna's paw was sore they couldn't have her walking around on it. Malak? Okay, yeah they have no excuse for holding Malak like a baby outside the fact playing with his bird feet is fun.

Forces their Li to be their pillow more often. In general being way more cuddly wanting to just be held more often than usual.

eats way more meat more specifically rare stakes and Liver pâté.

suddenly seems to always have at least one piece of candy on them.

Julian;

Just happens to pick up more mini lollipops for the kids that visit his clinic. It would be a tragedy if he ran ou- oh he already has a packed in the draw? these one's are different flavors though what if a kid doesn't like grape and apple and wants strawberry?

Slowly more often uses the amount of medical books Julian has to look up random questions. Until they basically have a certain book by the bed so they can just reach over and grab it if they wake up with a burning question.

Becomes more aggressively protective of urchin kids running around keeping closer eye on them which indirectly means bringing kids to Julian to be checked out whenever injured. Typically bad grazes and small cuts.

Seems to always know where Malak is. Did I mention they baby their Li's familiar way more? holding like baby, giving treats, making sure their happy and content.

Portia;

Them taking learning how to cook more seriously.

Spending more time around the castle garden because theirs baby birds everywhere? nah totally just got lost on their way to the cottage. (what do you mean they've been together 2 years? they can still get lost)

Why are they reading the cuter fantasy books instead of their usual darker taste? don't worry about it.

Muriel;

spends way more time with the chickens than they used to.

may have built a new chicken coop. Okay their wild and their neighbors not their pets but they deserve a good house with nice roosting spots.

why are they holding a chicken and having it from their hand? it's being bullied and they just wanted to make sure it was eating enough.

Kyle;

Goes from no thoughts towards children to actually thinking about it a lot more.

work on the logistics of having a child and what that would mean, can they afford it? do they have the time and energy? etc

then theirs the fact he's a transdude if he has to carry it he doesn't want to risk hating himself the entire time. It's going to have to be something he's serious about.

dreams about the future way more and with a higher chance of looking after a child during it.

spent a solid half hour crying over accidently killing a butterfly/moth. had to be consoled.

becomes way more cuddly.

feels more bedtime urges if you know what I mean. (if you don't this image or it's description will explain; VVV)

Asra;

visits Salim and Aisha more for both tea and stories about Asra's childhood.

more defensive? snappy? about certain topics without realizing it. Not enough for it to be aggressive but more akin to someone not wanting to think about something.

stays home more often than before especially for long trips as they don't have the appeal for him right then.

I wouldn't say he babies Faust but he definitely lets her get away with more than he normally would.

Nadia;

becomes more attached? needy? hard to find the right word but Kyle is sitting through more meetings than normal to be by Nadia's side. Not necessarily needing her attention just presence.

Lucio left behind a bunch of untamed animals you say? within a month or two they mostly have homes or are now Kyle's ill-tamed animal. (he actually cares for the animals under his care)

daydreams more often and rearranges the bed every few days like a fussy hen. (only the bed since Nadia had to put a limit for how often Kyle is allowed to rearrange the entire room.)

subconsciously avoids alcohol more even though he doesn't drink much to begin with.

Bluebell;

goodluck noticing their baby fever. They burry it as deeper as Asra buries his truma. As deep as Julian buries his self-worth. as deep as-

Lucio;

more cuddly, cuddling with Lucio and the dogs more than before.

somehow ends up looking after a baby animal. If the animal grows up and they still have baby fever then they somehow end up with another baby animal in their care.

occasionally talk to Lucio about if he want's kids. If he doesn't drops the topic faster than you'd drop a hot potato.

[quitefair]

Ilmatari gang Ilmatari gang Ilmatari gang I gotta know about Ilmatari gang!

ohohoh....

the document in itself is like fragments and notes, but in all honesty, i should just take the opportunity to finally talk about all these guys.

under a cut because it's entirely self indulgent. and got incredibly fucking long.

So Marduk's clan is a group of dragonborn that left Tymanther some 50 years ago, eventually settling in the Lower City of Baldur's Gate. Along the way, some of them stumbled upon the Church of Ilmater, and took up vows in His name. Father Anum was one of them, the cleric that would become the elder of the clan years later.

I use the word clan here, but this particular clan is not your typical dragonborn community in that they aren't blood-related. You'll find almost every scale colour from chromatic to metallic to everything in between.

The clan runs a sick house/soup kitchen in the name of Ilmater in the Lower City, open to all who need it. Not all of them are sworn into the service of the Broken God, but most have some loyalty to Him, in their own way. Once in a while, the paladins and clerics of them are called out in service of the Church, hunting cultists and conjurers of evils that threaten the peace of the city.

It was on one of those raids that Father Anum, then still a lay-brother of the church, infiltrated the hideout of a small cult of Tiamat. After having cut down the cultists, his party uncovered a set of five dragonborn eggs. One for each of Tiamat's chromatic heads.

Anum was compelled to bring the eggs back to the city, despite his bretheren's call to destroy them. They were innocents in this, he argued. How could you blame these eggs for what the cultists were going to do with them, whatever that was?

So he brought them back, housed them in the rookery at the sickhouse, and one by one they hatched into tiny squeaking babies. Black, followed by white. Followed by blue and red at almost the same time.

But the 'green' one refused to hatch. I say 'green' because that's what the cultists assumed, in their attempt to gather chromatic eggs for their draconic goddess. Anum knew better though, knew that the green that covered the egg was just a patina, a coating of oxidation that concealed the true metallic nature of this egg.

It took the bronze egg several more months to hatch, and only after the eldest of the clutch, the black dragonborn with his fiery green eyes, took it upon himself to snuggle up with the egg every night. Watched over his little cousin with the patience of Ilmater himself, until one crisp autumn day, the egg finally hatched.

Anyway. Enough rambling. Here's the Ilmatari gang, in decreasing order of age.

*~*

Enki

Black Dragonborn | Monk | Way of the Open Hand | Broken One

Although he's the oldest, he doesn't fucking act like it. Always quick with a smile and a laugh, dragging the others into wild shenanigans, he's the trickster of the lot, much like his real life namesake.

Has broken more bones than he can count. Kneecaps can tell when it's going to rain.

Despite his chaotic personality, he looks out for the rest of the kids like they're his own. Gives sound advice too. The others adore him, though they won't say it to his face.

Enlil

White Dragonborn | Ranger | Hunter

Stoic, surly, prefers his own company most of the time. Dragonborn faces are hard to read, but you'll be hard pressed to find any emotion other than practiced nonchalance on Enlil's face.

His familiar is a raven, as yet unnamed.

Out hunting most of the year, bringing back game for the soup kitchen's pantry.

Inanna

Blue Dragonborn | Bard | College of Creation

Luthier, owns a shop in the Lower City.

Loves making things, hyperfocused to a fault. Often disappears for weeks on end when working on a new project, and has to be dragged out of the shop by one of her many cousins.

Gula

Red Dragonborn | Cleric of Ilmater | Life Domain

Works at the sick house, specialises in labour and childbirth, but has a hand in all other forms of magical healing.

Exasperated, overworked, absolutely cannot stand Enki's shenanigans. Will flip him ass over teakettle if he's annoying her. (Which is very often.)

Marduk

Bronze Dragonborn | Paladin of Ilmater | Oath of the Ancients

It's my girl. The youngest of the lot, and acts that way.

The others may bicker and fight with each other, but they agree on one thing. Everybody loves Marduk and would die for her.

So yeah. Thats the Ilmatari gang.

[shadow--writer]

bro do you think i could get like,, a coffee shop (or bookshop) au headcanons for the main six? if you're comfortable with that ☺️✨

Ah coffee shop/bookstore aus are my favourite I love them! I hope you don’t mind me going wild on my favs (Julian and Muriel) lol

Requests are still open! And asks about my new MC! Send em in!! (also fic requests are open lmao)

Main six x MC coffee shop/bookstore modern au

~~~~

Julian

You work at your local bookstore and this very hot doctor comes in almost every week 

You don’t know why, but you’re curious as to why

He always comes during your shift, asking for new books, books on medical treatment, old history, history on leeches, types of leeches, birds and birdcare

The first time he came in when you locked eyes he fell over

You and your coworkers started a little bet to see what he’s coming in for next 

But he doesn’t come in the next week

Or after that

You hate to admit it but you’re starting to miss him. He never failed to make you laugh with his strange requests

The past few times he came in he was always a bit red

But his face lit up whenever he saw you

You started crushing on him and now that he hasn’t come back for a while you’re...a bit sad

Next time he comes in is when you’re closing up

He’s out of breath, wheezing on his knees

Amused you let him catch his breath

“MC...I’m sorry I haven’t come in a while! School and work got hectic and I didn’t have time-”

Shushing him gently you bring him inside, pulling out your secret stash of tea you keep in the back

Asking him what’s wrong makes him go bright red

Confused, you sit and wait

“Would you believe me if I said I fell in love with this cute bookworm who works in one of my favourite store?”

You’re a little hurt but happy for the person he loves. He notices the hurt and laughs

“It’s you sweetheart. I’ve seemed to have fallen for you.”

I’m sorry, but after he confesses he would totally steal you just to make out with you behind the science textbook section (....I might write this wait)

Asra

Asra works at this sweet little tea shop that you like to visit every so often after work/school

He’s the cutest barista and you always smile when he’s there

Slowly you’ve warmed up to one another, him bringing you your favourite tea with a little note

Don’t hit on the baristas, but he might make an exception just for you

He adds some stuff to your tea to make it special and he always gets excited when he sees you come in

When you stay late he breaks out the coffee to help you stay up studying/working

He’ll spend time after work just to talk to you

He smells good like cinnamon and tea leaves

If you fall asleep he’ll let you sleep a bit while he closes up, and then wakes you before he leaves

He really enjoys your company, and you always brighten his day when you come in 

Days you don’t come in seem to drag on and he’s a little lonely 

Oh no

oh no

he has a crush on you now

But you bet your sweet arse you developed some weird outta nowhere feelings for him too

It’s why you avoided the tea shop, you didn’t want to make things weird

He sees you passing by and runs after you just to tell you

He really does miss you 

His confession is all a jumble. “MCILOVEYOUSOMUCHPLEASECOMEBACK!”

He’s very cute and when you go back he’ll make you a latte with snake art

Nadia

Nadia works at a cute little bookstore with a small cafe off to the side

It’s not very popular, just tucked away but it has a very nice atmosphere

They make the best pastries and have the best espressos

The first time you came in Nadia was there and willing to help 

She misheard you and sent you to the wrong section but she was too nice so you felt bad

Later on you tell her about the incident 

She is so embarrassed but it’s sweet

She finds your compassion so very sweet 

Some days you’ll come in just to study for school or read a book over coffee

She likes talking with you (distracting you from your schoolwork and her from her actual job. The manager doesn’t mind)

She handles everything with such grace it’s hard not to fall deeply in love with her

Sometimes you’ll come in just to talk to her 

It’s about when she starts to fall for you too, making your guyses interactions a bit awkward but still very sweet

She confesses by kissing you behind the bookshelves, she tastes like bittersweet chocolate and coffee 

When she pulls away you are bright red, making her giggle. 

“Consider it a thank you, MC. You’ve made my days so much brighter just with your smile.”

Oh my gods is she hot 

You aren’t gonna survive this 

Kiss her back 

“I...I hate to admit this, but I think I love you.”

Muriel

You work for a fun little animal themed bookstore 

Kids love it 

But one day this huge I mean tall and broad man walks in, hunched over, asking for a book on how to take care of chickens

Well that’s new you’ve never had a request like that from someone who looks...well, like Muriel does

But as always, you put on a smile and sweetly show him the way to chicken care

He’s so nervous oh poor baby 

He’ll grab your sleeve as you go back to the counter, his hair falling into his eyes but you can see how red his cheeks are

“Can...can I have some help finding a specific book? I...don’t know my way around.”

Of course you help how could you not

Soon after that he becomes a regular, and you learn he is in school to be a Vet and he has a small house up in the mountains 

Where apparently he has been saving animals

The first time you learn about Inanna was when he came in asking for a book on dog breeds

When he couldn’t find her breed he asked for a book on wolves

and you are starting to worry

But it’s okay he knows what he’s doing

As shy as he is, he falls for you fast and hard. Soon coming in with very poor excuses 

But it’s okay because you get to see him more and more, falling for him yourself soon enough

When you show him to books on bird seed, you kiss his cheek making him sputter

After a moment, he kisses your forehead, whispering ‘I love you’

And that was the day you knew this man was gonna kill you with his voice

Portia

Portia is this super cute barista at this fun energetic coffee shop

You are a poor hardworking person who needs their coffee fix

But oh my god Portia thinks you are the cutest most beautiful thing to walk through those doors

Her coworkers tease her but they let her act on her immediate crush

Looking up to this bubbly redhead holding your coffee, you fall for her too 

And soon you come in every week, sometimes three times a week

To study and get coffee

No...no other reason....

Portia is thrilled to see you in the coffee shop so often 

Eventually she leaves her number on the side of your coffee cup 

OMG no other person has done this in this au bwahahaha they’re all dumbasses 

She’ll confess with a few hearts in your coffee and a wink 

After work you’ll wait for her before pulling her along and kissing her behind the building 

Ah, young love

She’ll giggle and after this you come in more often and when she finds out where you work she’ll come to visit you

“MC! You came again! Welcome!!!”

Bright smiles and laughter 

Your day always seems better when she’s around

Lucio

You work at an old coffee shop with a fun rustic vibe and this man comes in so often 

Like every 

single

day

to order the same exact thing

The same exact super sweet coffee with two cookies on the side. He’s an odd one isn’t he

He’ll start to flirt with you right away

“Hey gorgeous, you make this all for me?”

Of course you did

That’s your job

Eventually you start flirting back and that’s when things start picking up 

Lucio catches major hardcore feelings

You’re that cute barista and he caught feelings for you

Unfair

You catch feelings too 

Eventually

He’s very blunt and flirty and..okay sure you kinda like that in him 

One day he was so aggressively flirting that you grab his shirt collar and plant a hard kiss on his mouth

Then get back to work as if nothing happened

Leave your number and winking face by his coffee

Ooooooooh man are you gonna get it after work 

;)

[theshipden]

The main 6 finding out Mc is preggers with their child

Asra;

They knew something was up from the very beginning, they’re very in tune with you

When you begin to feel sick, they’re there to take care of you and pamper you, using magic to ease your nausea

when you nervously tell him after an oddly quiet, anxious day it suddenly clicks together why you were so silent

They’re so happy, you’re immediately swept up into their arms and showered in reassurance and kisses

All they wanted was you, to see you again, hear you again, hold and love you- and now they get that and more?

Goes to the realms less, spends majority of his time with you 

Takes over running the shop, but they know you’ll ask him for help if you need it

Nadia and Muriel hear first, then with your permission, he tells the others

Doesn’t smother you but is always within reach, always ready to lend a hand

Practices hot and cold magic to help you with any soreness or hot flashes

Braids your hair and pulls it back when the morning sickness or kicks become too much

His smile is definitely brighter these days, his touch gentler, and sometimes you awake to their hands cradling your swollen belly

Very patient with your needs and cravings, offers space when you need it

Tells you how great of a parent you’re going to be, how lucky he is

Julian;

When you start getting sick in the mornings, he thinks you’re coming down with some kind of cold.

Honestly, you’re too busy caring for him to notice some of the obvious signs your body is telling you

When you’re laying against him and complain about feeling/looking bloated does he bring up the topic nervously, flustered and scared to upset you

You both contemplate it, go into a deep talk far too late at night about it but agree you’re both ready for the next step

After you miss your period and pay closer attention, it’s unmistakable that you’re carrying a child

He drops to his knees so fast, kissing your flat belly and whispering to it

Does the exact same even when you’re rounded and well plump 

He insists on talking to your stomach, puts his hand to your belly during breakfast.

The first kick he feels is sometime in the night when he’s telling your baby a story

He’s never jumped up so fast, the smile and joy on his face was something you’d never forget

Knows best how to curb your nausea, soreness, and any mood swings

Doctors orders, my dear

Nadia;

She doesn’t realize, truthfully, but she does know you’re acting different

Leaving the bed at night, late to breakfast every morning, pale, sweaty, your chest is sore?

Convinces you to get checked by Julian, if not by the palace’s doctors

At first you and Julian keep it a secret, you’ll tell Nadia on your own time, on your own terms in a better way

You tell her everything’s fine, not to worry, but she doesn’t press it and trusts you’ll tell her the truth soon

During a dance for nobles, you rush to the bathrooms and lose your composure at the sink

She frets and coos at you, holds you when you’re done

Embarrassed you cry into the safety of her shoulder and tell her

Wonders why you never mentioned it sooner, asks if you’d want to go to bed early

She sleeps in more after finding out, goes to bed earlier, clears her schedule to see you more in the day

You both have many long and detailed conversations about progressing and what to do

watches you closely, if she’s not there then someone is to aid you, you’re not alone much

asks the kitchen to feed you only the best and most nutritious meals, breakfast in bed happens much more when sitting up yourself is difficult

Tells you you’re beautiful by the piano, playing soft melodies for the two loves of her life

Muriel;

You don’t know it at first, he surely doesn’t either

You know your body well enough, if you’re not worried or too concerned, he won’t be either

Inanna doesn’t want to leave your side, he isn’t too sure why but lets her, it means you’re safer anyhow

You break the news to him over soup by the fireplace, wrapped in blankets, as if discussing weather

nearly chokes, asks you to say that again, absolutely red 

He’ll wonder if he’s even worthy, if he deserves this, if you want this

You bring his hand to your belly and tell him there’s no one else you’d want this to happen with

You have to reassure him a lot, he’s so scared he’ll hurt you or the baby, his strength is horrifying to him

When you need him though, hes there

Rubs your back, feet, helps you sit up, lets you borrow his clothes when your’s no longer fits right anymore

Grows more comfortable the bigger your stomach gets with your reassurance, prepares the house

Pops into the forest a bit more, but never for too long, he doesnt want to leave you by yourself

Sometimes he gets overwhelmed by how beautiful you are, that there’s going to be three in the house now, and sobs

By himself, he’ll curl into you and place his hand over your bump and just breathe

Portia;

Jokes about being pregnant with you a lot at first, you both laugh it off when you miss a period

Those jokes die down when your chest aches, you bloat, get hungrier, feel sick when you wake up

she calls Julian thinking you’re dying or the jokes weren’t just jokes anymore

She finds out the same time you do and she squeals

All over you in a second with hugs and questions and suggestions on everything

Julian sees himself out, congratulating you both before he leaves

She tells the servants right away unable to keep it a secret, so ecstatic about having a baby with you 

Finds cute clothes in the market for both you and the baby, receives gifts from Nadia and friends

Knows exactly how to touch you to make the nausea easier to manage, or the soreness to go away

Works hard at first but the closer you get, she starts to take time off

You can’t get the image out of your head of another redhead in your family, Julian always jokes about them being twins if you have a boy

She’s dotting on you from start to finish, coming home with things to make your pregnancy easier

Asks Julian for lots of tips and anything she should look out for, for you

Favorite place? Head in your lap, arms around your stomach with pepi somewhere nearby

Lucio;

Surprisingly, he can tell something’s different with you

Sure, he’s a little self-centered but not when it comes to you, his tribe had ways of knowing things before they knew of western medicine practices

terrified you might have the plague again, you’re with him after all, and immediately gets doctors to look you over

while the thought did cross his mind before, he really didnt think it possible

him?? becoming a father?? That was too good to be true, no way it could happen, not with someone as great as you

kicks all the doctors out right away, so quick to tell you he’d love to have a baby with you but of course, no pressure. If its not what you want he gets it, respects that

When you tell him you’d love to have a baby, his smile is blinding as he dives for you

Insists on doing everything for you, you’re not lifting a single finger for the next nine months

spoils you, rotten, even when you might ask him not to, he can’t help it

Already a room, cribs, and new wardrobe for you and the baby

Wants nothing but to stay with you, he gets angry if he’s away from you for too long

Pampers you to hell and back, washes your back for you, rubs your feet, room service daily

Sometimes when he’s too far in his head, he’ll ask you again if this is what you really, truly want

Nobody can come close to you, filthy, gremlins, Lucio snaps at everyone

He’ll scream your praises from morning to dusk, you’re so beautiful, has he said that today??

he has??

better say it again

oh, and did he mention how amazing you are?

Because you are and he adores you

[poetic-emptiness-fanfic]

75 for the angst prompts??

Thank you, @nvvermore! 😊 First I found it hard to come up with an idea for this, but then I remembered one of my ideas for Hande’s future... I hope you like it!

75. “Don’t pretend you haven’t thought about your life without me.”

Characters: Hande Kuura, Julian Devorak, Ilona Kuura-Devorak, Asra Alnazar & Muriel

Content warnings: postnatal depression & self-destructive thoughts

Words: 1 935

Worthless Mother

“Hande, my love, please... It’s 14:00 already, you need to get up.” Julian pleads while he opens the curtains of their bedroom. Hande is lying in the bed, feeling exhausted although she’s slept for over 12 hours. She covers her head with her blanket, but Julian gently pulls it away, causing his wife to groan. Why should you get up? You're just a failure, so it’d be better for you to just wither away. Julian smiles to her, but worry is clear in his eyes. Hande meets Julian's gaze but her eyes seem empty, emotionless. Julian knows that's not a good sign – Hande's having a bad day again. ”Please, darling. I understand you feel tired, but you feel even worse if you sleep in. What if you just sit up? I made you some breakfast.”

Julian offers his hand to Hande, who reluctantly takes it and let her husband help her to sit up. She knows, that Julian has closed his clinic early to help her, so she doesn't want to disappoint him by just sleeping. The breakfast looks delicious, but Hande doesn't feel hungry at all. ”Thank you,” she whispers, just staring at the tray with her favourite tea and lemon quark on it. Why is he going through the trouble to make all of this for me ? I don't deserve it. I'm a burden, but Julian puts on a brave face. Julian sits beside her, handing the bowl of quark to her encouragingly. He doesn't want to force her, but he also wants to make sure Hande eats – she's lost weight recently. Tentatively Hande takes the spoon and slowly eats the quark – she knows Julian won't leave until she's eaten it all.

Asra comes knocking on the bedroom door before coming in, ”How are you feeling, Hande?” Hande just shrugs, not meeting Asra's eyes. She feels embarrased that she needs so much help, that Asra and even Muriel have come to help her with chores. ”Saaga, Faust, Inanna and Malak are keeping an eye on the baby, so not to worry. I contacted your parents recently. They said they're more than happy to come and help you, as well.” ”That's great news!” Julian says, ”Now you don't need to worry about being alone while I'm at the clinic – I always feel bad leaving you.” He puts his arm on Hande's shoulders and kisses her temple, causing a lopsided smile rising on Hande's face. ”Thank you, Asra. And sorry for causing so much trouble,” Hande says woefully. ”Nonsense! You're currently unwell and you're my friend. I'd do anything to help you. And who would refuse a chance to spend time with Ilona?”

Muriel also enters the room, looking hesitant. ”I picked some flowers... If you want to have them here,” he mumbles to Hande. She forces a smile on her face, thanks him and asks Julian to get a vase for the flowers. After the flowers are on the nightstand Julian tells the duo that they can go home now. Asra comes to hug Hande and Muriel pats her on the shoulder, smiles and says, ”Take care,” before they get their familiars and leave the house. When Hande hears the front door closes behind them, her face drops again. No need to pretend anymore... She knows she can't fool Julian, so she doesn't bother. Julian takes her in his arms and hugs her tightly, ”I missed you,” he whispers into Hande's ear and leans in for a kiss. Hande answers the kiss, but does it mechanically. Julian's kiss is very tender and loving, but it still feels like nothing for Hande. Why is he still doing this? Is he keeping up appearances, although we're alone?

The moment is interrupted, when Saaga scurries to the room. She headbutts Hande's ankles and makes an eye contact, ”Baby crying.” And just like that, Ilona really starts to cry in the nursery. Hande freezes on the spot, anxiety taking over her body. No, no, no... Not again... Hande covers her ears and hyperventilates. What does the baby want? I should know, but I can't understand, it's making me crazy... Julian watches helplessly when his wife starts to rock herself on the verge of tears. He goes to Ilona, taking his daughter into his arms and speaking to her calmingly, “Shh, shh, shh... Ilonka, moje holčička, prosím, neplač. To je v pořádku, tati je tady.¹” Ilona still keeps crying, and her diaper is clean so she must be hungry. Julian doesn't want to upset Hande more, but now he has to. He goes back to their bedroom, rocking Ilona and babbling to her in Nevivic.

Hande looks frantic when Julian comes with Ilona. She feels so tired, she doesn't want to hear the baby's crying. Julian smiles to her woefully, letting Ilona suck his forefinger so that Hande wouldn't have a panic attack. ”My love, Ilona is hungry.” Hande doesn't understand, how Julian could know that, but she clutches her hands into fists and closes her eyes. Deep breaths. I need to feed the baby, and the baby won't eat if I'm nervous. After a moment she nods to Julian who gives Ilona to Hande. She manages to keep her hands steady, although her movements are still very mechanic. While Ilona is eating, Hande just stares at her, and tries to hold her properly, because that what's she's supposed to do. Julian has come to sit next to her again, drawing circles on her back with his palm. It actually helps Hande to calm down.

Ilona feels so strange in her arms. Sometimes Hande can't even believe she has given birth to this being, although she remembers the fear, the pain, midwife's calming presence and Julian holding her hand, stroking her cheek and whispering encouraging words to her. Ilona also has her mother's blue eyes and snub nose – and still Hande doesn't feel the baby is hers. What kind of a mother you are, being sad and anxious when you're near the baby, your own daughter? Worthless, stupid, bad... Her eyes start to prickle with tears again. After Ilona has eaten enough, Julian gives praises for Hande and takes Ilona so he could burp her. Hande watches her husband and daughter, how Julian grins lovingly at their daughter, kissing her on her cheek and how he manages to make Ilona smile to him. Witnessing this sight gets Hande eaten up with jealousy. Why is it so easy for him? The baby likes him more... Well, I can't love the baby enough, so no wonder... Silent tears now falling along her cheeks Hande curls herself into a ball and stares into nothing.

After burping Ilona starts to coo in her father's arms. Julian notices she's watching at Hande's direction and babbles to her daughter, ”Kdo je tam? Je to maminka? Ano, to je mami!²“ Hande can understand Nevivic a little, but she doesn’t hear Julian or notice, that her daughter is trying to make contact with her. Dark thoughts keep poisoning her mind. You’re worthless, a pain in everyone's ass! Julian only stays with you because of the baby. It would be better if you just died, everyone would be happy if you were gone! Hande startles a little when she notices that Julian has kneeled in front of her, making her notice Ilona. The baby still keeps cooing, shaking her little hands and when Hande makes eye contact, she smiles. Hande forces the corners of her mouth up and tentatively presents her forefinger to Ilona. The girl grabs the finger, shrieking excitedly. Fool. You shouldn't trust me. I only cause you harm and sorrow.

Hande suddenly pulls her finger away, curling herself into a ball once more. Julian looks confused – he was happy to see how Hande had offered her finger to Ilona, but now she seems to have shut herself off completely. He nuzzles Ilona, but then turns his gaze to Hande. ”Han? My love? What's the matter, dear?” he asks his voice filled with worry. For a moment Hande speaks nothing, but then she hisses, ”Don't pretend you haven't thought about your life without me!” Julian looks dumbfounded. He decides it's better to take Ilona back to the nursery. After that she returns to the bedroom and kneels in front of Hande once more. ”Darling? What did you mean by that?” he asks. He can see Hande is crying, but doesn't dare to touch her, if she's angry at him. After the anxious silence Hande finally mumbles, ”You regret being with me. I only cause harm to everyone. I've failed as a wife and a mother... I'll ruin our child...” Her mumbling turns into sobbing and she hides her face behind her arms, trembling.

Julian's heart breaks by her words and the sight of her. So that's been bothering her – for how long, he couldn't tell. Now Julian needs to fight back tears himself – it's devastating for him to see how the mind of the love of his life is trying to convince her that she's worthless. Her brave, kindhearted, intelligent Hande, hating herself... Julian climbs onto their bed, laying his right hand on Hande's shoulder. ”Hande? Could you please look at me?” Slowly Hande raises her head, but she's unable to meet her husband's eyes. Well, that must be enough for now, Julian thinks. He starts to stroke her shoulder while he speaks, ”Hande... My love... My sunlight and stars... The light of my life... I have never regretted being with you. Yes, some time ago I thought about my life without you, how would it be, but you know what? It made me feel miserable! Just the thought of living my life without you made me feel utterly lost and a life that's not worth living...”

Julian now places his palm on Hande's cheek, gently stroking it with his thumb. Now Hande makes an eye contact, and it makes Julian's hurt jump a little. ”Hande, my love, you're just sick now. This is not the real you, and I know that. You haven't failed as a mother! I can see you love Ilona – you wouldn't try this much if you didn't. What kind of a husband I would be, if I wouldn't stand by your side? You were there for me, when I was a suspect for a murder! We promised to help each other, and I'm going to keep that promise. Not because I feel obliged to, but because I love you.” Hande blinks her eyes, her expression melting a little. Julian feels an urge to prove Hande how much he loves her and whispers, ”Darling, can I kiss you?” Hande nods and Julian leans in, closing the distance between them. Firstly, he gently kisses Hande's tears away from her cheeks and the reaches for her lips. They feel chapped, but Julian doesn't care, but caresses them with his own. Time seems to stop and Julian feels like Hande's body comes to life, at least a little.

Reluctantly Julian draws away, so they both could breath. A bashful smile rises to Hande's lips and Julian takes her into his arms. Hande takes in Julian's familiar scent, leaning into his touch, humming contentedly. Hande answers the hug and whispers, how sorry she is for speaking to Julian like that. ”It's okay my love. I love you so much, and I will always be there for you, remember that. We will get through this, with the help of our family and friends – I know it doesn't feel like it right now, but you'll get better, I promise.”

If only Hande could believe it.

TRANSLATIONS:

¹ ”Ilonka, my little girl, please, don't cry. It's okay, daddy's here.”

² ”Who's there? Is that mommy? Yes, that's mommy!”

[hanawrites404]

Wynne's Diary - Nature with Muriel

"Muriel?"

"Hmm?"

"Can we go outside for a bit? I miss seeing nature from close" I requested him as I played with his raven hair, his head resting on my lap.

"Sure..........you can go out if you want to" He leaned onto my touch and shyly kissed my hand.

"I said 'we', Muriel. It means both of us. Along with our pets of course" I looked at him.

"I-I mean.......yes absolutely.........It surely has been a while since.........we visited the forest before we......you know" he blushed a slight pink.

"Before we got married, had a nice and long honeymoon and came back home being exhausted yet satisfied as fuck" I completed his sentence.

"Y-Yes" he blushed even more.

"So when is a better time than right now? The downpour must have ended so now we can enjoy the forest even more. A wet and misty atmosphere is something I really enjoy you know" I rubbed his bare chest.

"Yes....even I wanted to spend some time with you outside.........Inanna too wants to visit" Muriel told me.

"And so does Ichi" I eyed my turtle who was peacefully sleeping on Inanna at the corner.

"So what are we waiting for? Let's go. I'm really anticipating to see the new flowers and baby plants which recently came up" I told him.

Muriel nodded and sat straight up from my lap. I stretched my legs a bit and got off the bed.

"Ichi come on, let's make you soak some sunlight" I picked him up and kept him on my head as usual.

"Inanna you too come with us. You could use a nice walk" I petted her and she happily obliged with me, licking my hand.

I chuckled and scratched her neck.

"Good girl. Go to Papa now, I'll join you soon"

Inanna obeyed me and went away. I then quickly wear my shoes.

Muriel was standing near the door waiting for me. As soon as I came close to him, he blushed, and then offered me his hand to hold onto while turning his head away from me.

My lips curved into a smile and I cupped his face with my hand and turned it towards me. His cheeks were dusted pink and he still wasn't looking at me.

I shook my head with a chuckle.

"Ichi, lift me up please"

Ichigo does so and he makes me float in the air. I then used this to my advantage and I flew up to Muriel's height and kissed his lips passionately.

I felt him gasp but then he moaned in the kiss and pulled me closer by my waist and head, kissing me back.

I then pulled away while panting softly. Muriel's cheeks were now red and he looked so goddamn cute from close that I couldn't help but peck his lips once more.

"Ready to go, Big Boy?" I teased him.

"D-Don't call me that" He blushed more and pouted.

"Alright fine" I got down and opened the door to welcome the nature outside with open arms.

I led out a sigh of relief when I felt some leftover raindrops falling on my skin and the sun shining above, showering its sunlight through the canopy of the forest.

The weather was pleasant and cosy. I was having fun outside walking on the wet ground, the earthy smell along with the scent of wet leaves hitting my nose.

"You like it here Ichi? The weather is quite nice today" I rubbed his head with my finger and I felt him licking it.

"I'm glad that you feel the same way. And actually thinking about you, the strawberry plant I grew nearby must have ripened its fruits. So why not check on them soon?"

Ichigo squeaked with delight and I giggled.

"Then we shall go and pick some of the juicy strawberries for our dear Ichigo" I rubbed his head once more.

"Oh my? Where is Muriel?" I had realised that I had forgotten about him as soon as I placed my foot outside the house. I turned to look for him and fortunately he was not that far. He was just feeding his chickens as usual.

I then noticed that one of the baby chicks separated itself from the flock and came running to me with its tiny feet, tweeting at me cutely.

I blushed at its adorable nature and picked it up in my hand. The chick made itself comfy in my hands and chirped again.

God this fluffy baby bird was already making my heart melt......

I petted its head gently carefully as to not squish its head with my fingers. The chick settled down on my hand and enjoyed the affection, a small smile forming on my lips.

From the corner of my eye, I saw Muriel staring at me. But as soon as our eyes met, he averted his gaze and coughed awkwardly.

I chuckled and shook my head. I then approached him with the chick and crouched down with him in front of the chickens.

"They sure have grown in number. I'm happy to have so many of them. The more, the merrier"

"Yeah" He replied.

"The baby chicks which recently hatched up are so so adorable. Each of them are little balls of sunshine" I beamed.

"They sure are" he too smiled a bit as he petted one of them.

"And talking about little balls of sunshine, I was thinking about something lately" I started.

I really wanted to talk to him about this but never got the courage to. Now was definitely not the best time but I really wanted to get it off my chest.

"What is it?" Muriel asked me back.

"W-What if......You know......I......Oh god how do I say this?" I placed my hand on my forehead from frustration.

"It's ok. Take your time Wynne. Don't rush yourself" Muriel assured and I smiled weakly at him.

"Thanks......" I sighed.

Maybe I was finally ready to tell him now.

"You see.....I........I was thinking about our children"

Muriel tensed up a bit and I was actually expecting him to be. Being a parent was no joke after all.

"O-Our children..........what about them?" He asked me, concern in his tone.

"I......I am scared a bit. I think I will mess up again like I did before" I was dissapointed in myself.

"W-What are you talking about? Sonia was born as a healthy child" Muriel defended.

"Nothing was wrong with Sonia. The fault was on me instead. You do remember how I passed out in the middle of the delivery right? Sonia was really lucky to come out safely otherwise she was going to die even if she had a good health condition" I explained.

"I-I see.......yes.....I.....I do remember you getting unconscious while you were giving birth. Not going to lie but......I was really worried about you at that time" Muriel replied.

"Yeah........... Which is why I'm concerned about the future. The fact that they are twins this time would make the situation even more difficult than the previous one. What if.......what if they die because of me?.........Both of them?" I got paranoid and felt my stomach drop from the anxiety.

"H-Hey! D-Don't...... Don't think of it like that. You are a strong woman. You will be able to handle this" he cupped my face and locked his emerald eyes with mine. Concern and worry reflecting in his gaze.

"I......I don't know Muriel. I am not so sure about myself"

"But I am"

"What?.......Why?" I looked up at him. How can he have so much faith on a weak and hopeless person like me?

"It's because I......I have seen you handle many tangled situations with ease...........You..........protected the city and..........saved the people with your immense bravery and strength.........It's the thing I really........admire in you"

He then placed his hand on my stomach.

The pain of giving birth is something which I might never be able to understand.........but I know that it must have been difficult for you because it was your first time...........so give yourself some time to relax and.......take a break if you want to and..........and everything will turn out to be fine............."

"And what if it does not work fine?" I asked him curiously.

"Then I will comfort you as best as I cam.......and also take care of you if anything wrong happens...............I promise you that I would always protect you Wynne because I..............I love you..........I love you very much".

It was my cheeks' turn to heat up from his confession as I replied.

"I.........I love you too Muriel. Thank you for reassuring me. I feel much better now" I sighed from relief and smiled at him.

He blushed a deep red and rubbed his neck while looking away.

"Of course. Don't mention it" he replied.

I then smiled wider and hugged him tight, burying my head in his chest. I felt his body tensing up a bit but soon he relaxed under my hug and wrapped his arms around me, returning the embrace.

He kept kissing my head and playing with my stands of hair which made me giggle everytime. He really liked running his thick fingers through my hair, you see. One of the reasons why I prefer his hair massaging a lot.

We stayed like this for a couple of minutes, until Muriel asked me something.

"U-Ummmm.....Wynne?"

"Yeah?"

"I.......I wanted to take you somewhere......D-Do you mind coming with me?" He asked timidly.

"Oh of course I would love to join you. Lead the way Muriel" I took his hand.

He flushed pink once more but started walking without saying anything else. Inanna stayed behind to look after the chickens and so did Ichigo as he slipped off my head and joined Inanna.

I was already bubbling with curiosity the whole time. Where was he really going to take me? If I remember correctly, I knew the major areas of the forest, so what place was he talking about which I haven't seen yet and never knew of?

We did not take much time to arrive as Muriel stopped after a couple of minutes walking, but for some reason he didn't let me look at the place as he placed his big hand over my eyes, shutting them close.

"Don't look......!!" He ordered me.

I was confused as to why was he doing so but then I shrugged and let him cover my eyes.

He then takes hold of both of my hands and guides me forward. The aura of this place was surely different from what I usually sensed when I visited the forest. It felt more magical, heavenly and utopian. In simple words it felt very unrealistic however was present right in front of my eyes.

Muriel uncovered my eyes after settling me down on a rock and dipping my feet into the cool water after removing my shoes. I shivered from the feeling of pleasantly cold water wetting my warm feet which made me open my eyes.

I was amazed to see a small pond filled with crystal blue gleaming water. Many types of herbs and shrubs growing along its borders. It was similar to the enchanted lake I used to read about in stories.

"Muriel I.......This is beauteous. Where did you find this place??" I asked him, tugging onto his pants desperately like an excited child.

"I found this place by myself when I was looking for herbs.........and I thought that you would like it so.............I had saved it for showing this to you after our honeymoon........" He told me.

"Oh God, Muriel you are such a sweetheart" I cupped his face and kissed him passionately. I could literally feel his cheeks burning but I kept kissing him affectionately, expressing all my love for him in the form of kisses.

Slowly I pulled away and kissed his forehead, then his nose and then his lips. I then looked at my work and found out that Muriel had literally turned into a bright red apple.

I chuckled at his cute expression and leaned my forehead onto his.

"I love you so much Muriel. I truly do" I pecked his lips one more time.

"Gods I.......I.......I love you too Wynne.......Please be by my side always.............I cannot live without you" He took both of my hands which were cupping his face and kissed them.

"Don't worry......I will always be with you. No matter whatever happens to me" I then embraced him close to my chest as I ran my fingers through his raven black hair.

The butterflies of different kinds surrounded both of us as we held one another close, feeling each other's warmth and succumbing into the comfort and relief.......

Nature surely was blessing both of us today.......Is it because she missed me? Or is she welcoming the future generation residing in my womb?...........

Or Maybe both? But only God knows that.

The end..........

[plaguebeetle]

arcana modern au headcanons

mc

their aunt is still around because i said so

was in a car crash :-( 

suffers from severe retrograde amnesia as a result of traumatic brain injury, as well as a lot of other physical injuries

had to relearn how to read, write, speak, walk, everyday basic tasks felt impossible. thankfully asra was with them 25/7 

somehow after everything is still hope and joy incarnated 

has an encyclopedic knowledge of plants and crystals, maybe one day they’ll inherit the shop

their aunts folk remedies for migraines

makes friends everywhere they go.

got mugged and just said “but i don’t want to give it to you”

asra

we already know he’s a hippie

drives an ancient vw bus because “I can fit all my friends in it”. the inside is decorated with colorful blankets, lights, and other tacky objects

lovingly referred to as the shaggin’ wagon.

lowkey famous on every social media site he joins, but it does help with business at the shop

he works the counter at the shop, lives there most days of the week, and brings back ingredients whenever he goes to muriel's place

always getting into weird situations that make great stories later

brings faust everywhere. nothing is off limits

“this is my emotional support snake”

asra has never been known as a ‘timely’ or ‘organized person’, but when it comes to mc’s medicine schedule, he is NOT fucking around.

muriel

he and asra grew up together in foster care, and ran away in their teens to live in an abandoned house in the woods

muriel really deserves his own hgtv show after all the work he puts into the house to make it livable 

does random repair jobs and sells handmade furniture to earn a living.

chickens

goes to the library to research homesteading and makes his own edible garden

inanna is a stray dog he found that keeps following him

“muriel thats an actual wolf”

the most wholesome person in the world, even though he acts like he doesn't care

has nature documentaries on in the background

vegetarian vibes

maybe he was in the military, but he doesn't ever want to talk about it :-(

julian

he was rounding in his last year of medical school when mc was in the ICU

that's how he and asra met.. and you know the rest.. yikes

always getting attacked by this random crow every time he leaves home. it's very entertaining to watch.

when hes not working he's at this seedy karaoke bar. 

coffee shop knows his name and order, and the punchlines to all his jokes, but hey, he tips well.

lives with mazenlinka because “who could possibly afford rent in this damned city?”

chaotic energy. rowdy boy. nasty rowdy boy.

his practice is within walking distance of the shop. checks in on mc every now and then to see how his favorite patient is doing

“hey watch this” *does some freaky double jointed shit*

for living in the city he has a weirdly in depth knowledge about sailing

nadia

gonna go with the classic big business owner trope, a branch off of her parents company.

looks intimidating until she smiles and starts talking, then she’s one of the kindest, intelligent, and funny people you’ve ever met

has a wine fridge in her office

suffers from severe migraines, sometimes so bad it affects her memory, which is why she hired portia as a PA.

she doesn't like using the word assistant though, portia is her most trusted friend.

yes she married a sociopath on a drunken whim in las vegas. yes they divorced. no she doesn't want to talk about it.

sleepovers and gossip with asra every friday

didn’t know mc before the accident, but when asra told her she immediately contacted the hospital to pay for all their medical and physical therapy bills.

portia

funky little lesbian

has a picture of pepi in her wallet to show people who didn't ask

rents out an adorable little cottage not too far from work

“is there cat hair on my back?”

her garden looks like some pinterest bs it's amazing, not to mention she's always wearing something colorful 

proud sister of the worlds lamest brother 

simultaneously mom friend and just baby

has some great remedies to ease migraines after working with nadia, mc is absolutely thrilled when she shares them

uses :3 emoji

BEST gift giver hands down

lucio

“hey doc! wanna come hand out?! i got some n-” *sound of julian locking his car doors, pretending not to see him.*

goes to the gym and does one set then takes pictures and leaves

very loud sports car that drives.... like that

questionable morals, but he takes good care of his dogs, they're practically spoiled

business major frat boy

managed to start his own company and does extremely well.

his prosthetic gets professionally polished once a week.

doesn't understand why noddy blocked him on instagram

once when he was a kid a pig chased him in the petting zoo

[a-ackermann]

Beach day with the Main 6?

I was scrolling through requests and just had to get to this one. It caught my eye and I had so many ideas bubbling throughout the last week or so, so here is my offering;

Asra:

- The beach you go to is a reasonably crowded and well known area, with a large quantity of sand and less rocks so you don’t hurt your feet walking to the water

- Asra, being the hippie magic person they are, brings a pair of those hiking sandals and wears a vibrant rainbow tie dye shirt with their swim trunks (that have little sharks on them btw)

- He always brings the best snacks AND the best snake!! (you were wrong if you thought Faust wasn’t tagging along)

- Your spot on the beach definitely cacthes other’s eyes with the giant rainbow umbrella and multicolored beach towels

- what’s this?? a tiny rainbow umbrella with a small beach towel??? and tiny, infant sized food?? perfect for a well known snake friend!

- Asra, being the talented magician that he is, hand made several sun hats for the three of you, yes even one for Faust. Especially one for Faust.

Nadia:

- There isn’t such thing as a beach day, Nadia only knows of beach holiday, meaning you two probably rent a private beach house for a week or two

- She brings a plethora of swim wear, but typically sticks to a gorgeous royal blue bikini with a sheer purple scarf resting on her shoulders (bonus, she brings so many pairs of sunglasses she wouldn’t notice if you stole any)

- Nadia goes all out with spending time at the beach, going as far as bringing a bottle of champagne and two glasses for you two to enjoy

- Nadia ensures to bring only the finest foods in a picnic basket, double wrapping them all in a cliché red and white plaid cloth so everything stays safe from the sand getting in the wicker basket

- She keeps her hair tied in a high bun so that sand doesn’t tamper with her lucious locks as she lays in the heat of the sun, simply relaxing and enjoying herself

- buuuut if you want her to do something a little more fun, all you have to do is nag her a bit and she’ll cave into going for a walk along the water in the afternoon

Julian:

- Now listen man, Julian has so many pairs of weird ass swim trunks that it was near impossible for him to choose. Patterned? Multicolored? Shorter? Longer?

- But you’ll never guess which ones he stuck with, and considering how pale he is, will later suffer the consequences of doing.

- Plaaaiiiin black baby!

- Once you two actually get to the beach, it’s pretty apparent Julian made a silly decision going for black swim trunks, because by the time you both are finished setting up, he’s already red from head to toe.

- The beach set up is kept simple, with a cooler full of “adult beverages”, with you keeping a close eye on how many Julian is downing considering you two are in public.

- The beach is a local, crowded beach, loaded with kids building sand castles, people who came just to sun bathe, and lots of rowdy rambunctious young adults. To which Julian of course, being the talkative one he is, always seems to find one person after another to chat with.

- Mid way through speaking though, you have to interrupt Julian with a quick reapplication of sunscreen to his face, back, chest, and arms, otherwise he’d be there til burnt to a crisp and would still be talking.

- He is the dramatic romantic sort though, and ensures to give you a taste of his romance with a drink on a more secluded area of the beach, watching the sun set as you two review the fun day together, and afterwards, a walk along the shoreline.

- Even after going through two tubes of sunscreen, Julian still gets burnt. But with some aloe vera and patience, he’ll be alright.

Portia:

- Bright blue bikini with cute flowers all over baby!! She is VIBING with warm weather!!!!

- The beach seems to be Portia’s element, with the sun setting aflame to her vibrant red hair. However despite how lovely the sun makes Portia look, the heat still beats down on her, and one thing she shares with her lovely older brother is pale, easily burnt, skin.

- The beach set up is cute and simple, with Portia insisting Pepi came along since she couldn’t “leave the baby at home”, meaning there’s small cat-sized stuff for Pepi too. (A small beach towel, a little water bowl, a little food bowl, and a little umbrella for shade)

- Portia is a very.. out there, person at the beach. She drags you to every game of volleyball with strangers, and pulls you to the water to actually swim rather than stay in a little sanctuary on the sand.

- Don’t worry about Pepi, that kitty stays in the shade under her little umbrella and knows how to defend herself if any unsupervised K-9s come rolling by.

- You and Portia have one hell of a day out in the sun, luckily the beach wasn’t nearly as crowded as you two expected so you got to be total goofballs together without the fear of some ancient elderly couple with nothing better to do complaining about you two acting like kids.

Muriel:

- He’s pretty skeptical about going to the beach. As long as you two stay in a much more secluded area with a lot less people, he’ll eventually cave into going.

- As long as the beach is notably clean, that is

- The beach set up is just two towels, and a beach bag loaded with snacks and drinks placed under the shade of a big tree

- His trunks are a dark to light green gradient, simple but fitting

- Muriel has to make the impossible choice of leaving Inanna at home so she doesn’t go buck wild in the sand and track all that sand back indoors

- He’s very skeptical to “go out there” and at first would much rather just lay in the sand, or perhaps wade in the shallow end, although the shallow end is more like the deep end for most

- Toward the end, when people start leaving, he won’t mind going and getting ice cream with you to make up for not being so energetic at the beach, even though you didn’t mind at all

- A simple smile, kiss on the cheek, and a “You don’t have to be sorry for anything you didn’t want to do” will quickly reassure this big guy

Lucio:

- The beach? How about HIS pool? Or why not just build a beach? Why do you two have to go and be around all those people and children?

- When you start firing up his ego, by saying he could go and bless everyone’s eyes with the sight of his chiseled, gorgeous body (with a gentle reminder that he’s still yours)

- He insists the beach set up must be high end, with a whole gazebo, folding chairs, and table for the cooler full of expensive beverages and the basket full of snacks and Lucio’s fancy foods (you still don’t understand why he insists on eating such high end on a day made for relaxing and enjoying yourselves)

- He certainly makes a statement with his red speedo, and doesn’t understand why you’re blushing the entire time, but does boast about it, saying you’re such a shy little dove despite seeing more of his body than this countless times before

- Just smack his chest and he’ll grin, but know to knock it off.. for now

- He spends most of his time tanning, without really paying much heed to how much time is passing... let’s just say he was as red as his speedo when you two were leaving

- With enough convincing as it gets dark, he’ll send you into the parlor to get him and yourself ice cream, (with his money seeing as he must be the one pampering YOU) while staying in the car to hide his “hideous burns”

- Be prepared to lather him in aloe vera the next few days...

[yeeyeetyeehaw]

The Arcana

The Main six with a pregnant MC

Asra:

Touchy. He likes to feel you and the baby, he can sense their magic.

“Their aura...it’s beautiful...”

Cannot WAIT to see his child

Very insistent on proper diet and exercise while you’re expecting, he wants both of you to be healthy

Faust keeps herself wound around your belly for protection, so she can keep the baby safe. She’s very excited to meet them. “...Baby!”

He’s very accommodating to your requests, especially the cravings. He knows what you want before you do. “Asra-“ “The skink is on the stove, love.”

But you’ll never lift anything over five pounds either. Not in this house.

Very invested in the pregnancy, reads up on childcare, and makes a list of everything your baby will need.

Aisha and Salim are over a lot, too happy to be grandparents.

They missed out on Asra’s childhood and they’ll be damned if they miss their grandchild’s

Nadia:

Loves your baby bump so much. She always has you sit by her side with a hand sitting on it protectively

Has a nearby wing converted into a nursery after she cleanses burns Lucio’s

Summons private physicians and midwives to look after you during the process, carefully taking note of your needs.

The chefs will have a specialized pregnancy menu for you, and will suit any cravings you may have

Bath time for when you’re sore, and she’ll give you a massage afterward.

“Come now my darling, you’ve had a long day.”

Chandra keeps a careful eye on you while Nadia attends to court business, always making sure you are safe and comfortable

Takes you on strolls through the garden to keep you active, is always careful of your limits though.

Cuddles are an all day affair, they don’t come often, but Nadia will spend endless hours with you in bed if you asked it of her

Nasrin and Namar frequently send gifts, and eagerly await the birth. Nadia’s sisters visit often, especially Natiqa. Nazali checks in on you from time to time

“Oh Didi! You’ve made us aunties!” —Nasmira or Navra at some point.

Julian:

Through the roof at first, PUMPED to be a dad. “I’m gonna be a father!....I’m gonna be a father.” He’ll get over it.

Very insistent you get ample amounts of rest and food. “Bed rest my dear.” “Ilya, I’m only a month in...”

Do not even THINK about lifting anything yourself. “Don’t strain yourself!” “Ilya it’s a PAPERCLIP!”

A bit overbearing, but he means well

On top of your cravings. As soon as the words leave your mouth he is out the door

Malak likes to perch on your windowsill and sing to the baby, the kicks you get in return are worth it.

Tries to spend every waking moment either with you or at the office to earn money for the baby

Is probably going to try and deliver his own child. Mazelinka won’t have it.

Mazelinka stops by almost daily, and brings delicious healing brews for your morning sickness and food (you can actually keep down) with her.

Portia will spend time with you and bring little knitted clothes for the baby. “Auntie is best” is on most of them. “Auntie Portia, I like it!”

Gives you baths with salts from Nevivon for swelling and muscle aches

Cuddles solve everything else, especially pregnancy migraines.

Muriel:

Knows little about babies, but he’s so happy he’s having one with you

Very concerned...you’re so small...and your belly is so big

Inanna never leaves your side, she is a constant companion and cuddles with you when you’re sore

Muriel carries you everywhere. there will be no walking by yourself

Gives you little charms for any morning sickness and nausea

Sends Asra to buy things for your cravings, he doesn’t want to leave your side, but he’ll brave the crowds if need be

Always has wood in the fireplace

You get the best furs, without question

Has Julian, as much as he dislikes him, over often to check on you

Takes you to the river to cool off, pregnancy makes women hot, and you might coerce him to join you

Will let you feed the chickens if you want exercise

Uncle Asra is over as much as possible, sometimes with gifts. “This is from Nopal, it’s good for fussy babies who don’t sleep, and I brewed this one for you, for the soreness.” (He’s such a sweetheart)

Portia:

“I’m a mommy!!!”

Through the roof! She’s so happy!

Knows all kinds of herbs to help with nausea and morning sickness

Keeps you at home to rest

Mazelinka is proud, she likes to see you two happy, occasionally brings some brews to help the baby’s health

Uncle Jules is over often, as both your physician and an aspiring ‘fun uncle’

“Ilya If this baby gets any ideas...” Portia is pretty serious about his (admittedly) harebrained shenanigans

Pepi is always curled up on your belly, and will lay there even when the baby is kicking.

Knits baby clothes w matching sets for Pepi. Tiny little booties!!! And caps!!

Nadia gifts you an extension on your house for a nursery, and Portia spends hours decorating it

Takes you on walks or lets you help tend certain areas of her garden for some light exercise

Lucio:

Is ecstatic to meet his child

“They will be my legacy!!”

Already spoiling the both of you, with gifts and an entire wing of the palace dedicated to his child

You are NOT allowed out of bed. Ever.

Anything you want, servants are waiting hand and foot

Cravings? You have a personal chef.

Soreness? You have a personal masseuse

Nausea and morning sickness? He’s hired the top physicians and they are here to stay

Throws grand celebrations to welcome his heir properly. The masquerade is yesterday’s news.

Buys lavish baby clothes and gives your child precious gems and metals.

“They need a crown if they’re going to rule.” -Lucio, handing you a diamond encrusted golden crown

[collective-laugh]

Main 6 + MC Hogwarts After Harry Potter Graduates HCs

I'm following @savenkey 's beautiful edits of the Arcana as HP houses

Asra

I think Asra would be a bopping Divination teacher

Like not only is he at tune with the future and understanding it, he's got the aesthetic

Probably gives out a lot of extra credit, doesn't want to see any of his students fail

He went to Ilvermory as a kid, and was really enamored with the idea of traveling, but he was so set on being a teacher, and so the wind brought him to Hogwarts

He was sorted as a Hufflepuff, and it's not proven him wrong thus far

Faust is his adorable little troublemaker assistant and definitely whispers answers to students when they're taking tests

Wants his class to be challenging but, on the real, an easy A

He's a great teacher, but is almost always getting nagged on by Dumbledoof and the other teachers

He doesn't worry about it too much - he's happy where he is, and his students, for the most part, thrive

Nadia

Nadia does not intentionally make Potions one of the hardest classes, should you take it under her

But let's be real, only best will pass her class regardless

She and Snape are not necessarily mortal enemies, but they're not buds

Minerva, on the other hand, is a very close friend of Nadia's.

She went to Durmstrang as a girl, and was sorted into Ravenclaw, where she absolutely thrived

She was always challenging herself, even going so far as to complain about the lack of competition

Her rules are law, and though she will do her best to adhere to her authority figures, she will stick to her beliefs in the end

Chandra is her saving grace, a sweet little owl who loves to stare at students while they take tests so Nadia can grade papers in peace

Her headaches have only been getting worse, but her colleague, Portia, always offers to help, bless her

Julian

The Devorak name carries almost as much weight as the Weasleys, or as Vol - er, He-Who-Shall-Not-Be-Named

He's the flying instructor, which surprised everyone, including himself

But, he's good with the first years and he loves flying, and he's a trained physician

Of course, he substitutes as nurse when need be, but Madame Pomfrey almost always has it covered

He's been teaching here for a few years - the number changes drastically every time you ask him

Same goes for his eye - he's always making up some wild story, and no one really knows the truth but he and his family

He's a good teacher, but firm, and won't curve any grades, but he is adamant about extra credit

You went to that Quidditch match? Ten points to Hufflepuff and ten points to your last test grade

He himself went to Hogwarts when he was young, and was sorted into Gryffindor to...no one's surprise

He is brave, mostly, and is smart and courageous and knows what he wants

Muriel

As a boy, Muriel had been sorted into Hufflepuff, but after graduation, and he started teaching at Hogwarts...things happen

He doesn't like to talk about those things and chooses to live out in the woods

Hagrid's nice, and the creatures are kind, and they're two wood bros who just chill out and interact with the kids sometimes

He's got a pet, a great, beautiful wolf he was convinced saved his life more than once. She called herself Inanna

He does miss the school, sometimes, but his little hut is enough to keep him company, and the kids are nice enough

Those brave enough to venture out to meet him usually don't stay long, but sometimes there's a particularly brave seventh year, or a persistent Dumbledore who 'just wants to talk'

No thanks, he doesn't really want to talk

Portia

Portia graduated from Hogwarts three years ago, and was offered a job almost immediately upon completion

She's the herbology instructor, and is one of the most nurturing and excitable teacher ever

She does think that it's strange that she used to be an upperclassmen to nearly half the student body, but she tries not to think about it too much

She's still got her beloved Pepi, her sweet baby

She was, unsurprisingly, sorted as a Gryffindor, both due to her spunk and to her family name

She tried to exceed her name, to be more, and she was happy to learn she'd be teaching with Julian at Hogwarts

It was a competition in her mind, really, but she was happy to be there

She's always flitting about, helping faculty and students, regardless of house or standing, and some wonder how she was a Gryffindor and not a Hufflepuff

Until they see her angry, her defending the students, and it all makes sense

Lucio

Lucio wants to be in the cool kids club so badly

But for now, he's just the transfer from Ilvermory, and knows Asra all too damn well

He's a Slytherin, and he teaches Charms

But he wants to be the new DaDA teacher so badly

He just knows he'll be able to last more than a year - oh, he wants it so badly, and he tries to be suave and cunning and let everyone else see just how much he deserves the position

He doesn't get it

But, he's an alright charms teacher.

People talk about him behind his back, and he loves to deduct points at every beck and call, regardless of house

Honestly, it's a game to him, but he'll be rooting for Slytherin, to the end

He absolutely does not stand for bullying in his classroom, and will shut that shit down, regardless of house

MC

The latest and greatest defense against the dark arts professor, and they've managed to catch the eye of one particular bachelor(ette)

Their house is almost always displayed proudly, their one of the best DaDA professors Hogwarts has seen in a long while

They came in after the whole Harry Potter fiasco, and people are...dare they say, hopeful that this professor will last

Every time they hear about Harry Potter, they wonder how the hell they let a...child get into that situation

Every year. For like 7 years. That's absolutely cray to them

But they teach, and they do that shit well, and they start a relationship with a certain wizard

[ladyhistorypod]

Episode 18: Three’s Company, Four’s Divine

Sources

Ishtar

Open Richly Annotated Cuneiform Corpus: Mesopotamia Timeline

Open Richly Annotated Cuneiform Corpus: Inanna/Ishtar

Electronic Text Corpus of Sumerian Literature: Inanna and Enki

Electronic Text Corpus of Sumerian Literature: Inana's Descent to the Netherworld

Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative: Composite Text of Akkadian Descent of Ištar

Journal of Near Eastern Studies

CON­STRUCT­ING THE IM­AGE OF ASSINNU BY MARTTI NISSINEN SAANA SVÄRD

Further Learning: Electronic Text Corpus of Sumerian Literature: Epic of Gilgamesh, Epic of Gilgamesh: Standard Babylonian Version

Nüwa

Oxford Reference

Mythopedia

Google Arts & Culture

Further Learning: Remarks by Ambassador Cheng Jingye

Danu & Tuatha Dé Danann

The Goddess Danu (YouTube)

Danu - Irish Goddess (YouTube)

Ancient History of Ireland, Tuatha De Danaan, Scythians, and Phoenicians (YouTube)

Celtic Mythology - An Introduction to the Tuatha De Danann (YouTube)

Further learning: House Shadow Drake - Don and Dana, Celtic Myth and Legend, Poetry and Romance, The Sacred Isle: Belief and Religion in Pre-Christian Ireland, Life Understood from a Scientific and Religious Point of View, The History of Ireland

Persephone

Hesiod’s Theogony

Homer’s Hymn to Demeter

Madeline Miller

Further Learning: Lore Olympus (webcomic), Punderworld (webcomic)

Attributions: A Ghrà by Damiano Baldon

Click below for a transcript of this episode!

Haley: Which goddess is three point three seven feet tall? Kelsie: Three point three seven? Haley: Yes. Alana: Do– do you want us to say? Do you want to say? Lexi: These jokes are just a quiz for Kelsie. Haley: I have to have multiple jokes? I'm not ready. Alana: I have one it’s fine. Haley: Okay well it's Demeter. Alana: And you know you should also you know in in in COVID times, in COVID times you should be standing Demeters apart. Lexi: Oh. My. Lord Jesus. Oh my god. I should say oh my lord Ashera [Ash-er-a]. Kelsie: There you go. Alana: Oh, that's very funny. Haley: I love when Alana’s– Alana: Ashera [Ash-ay-ra], actually please. Lexi: Yeah, right. I knew as soon as I said it I said it wrong. Haley: Every couple of episodes Alana will… like Lexi and I will say something, and Alana will be like “oh that's like really funny” in this tone and like… I’m always funny. Don’t be surprised. I don't need this from you. Kelsie: Actually Haley, you're quite hilarious. Haley: Thank you. Lexi: Wait, but how does that tie into social media? Haley: I didn't get to the question yet. The question is because for… well my dad doesn't listen to my podcast, but for my dad is the worst person to get Christmas or birthday presents and his birthday is January 2, so like hop skip and a jump right after Christmas. But he loves board games, and his favorite board game is Codenames, so I have printed out over two hundred photos– like family photos– of the like stupidest photos in the world. And I'm laminating everything so it could be his own Codenames pictures, replacing all of it. Kelsie: That’s good. Haley: And my question is, is there a photo from your childhood where you're like what am I doing but you have that second jolt of like no this actually makes complete sense when you're realizing like what you're doing in the photo? For me it was crouching down in like the seventh grade next to a kangaroo, waking up a kangaroo, and then immediately after getting punched. I also had bangs but it was Australia and humidity or whatever climate that just didn't work with my curly hair. Lexi: So that was a set up so I could say that the picture of me digging up a dinosaur… Which, famously on this podcast I get mad when people think archaeologists dig up dinosaurs. Kelsie: As you should. Lexi: But yes, there is a picture of me, five years old, digging up a dinosaur. Not a real one. I don't think they’d let four year olds do that. Haley: But the best part is the goggles! Lexi: I have goggles on to protect me from the dirt. Kelsie: That’s important. You don’t want to get schmutz in your eyes. Lexi: But I’ve never been on a dig where I wore goggles. Kelsie: Maybe you should. Maybe you should wear goggles next season. Lexi: You know how much acne I’d get around my face if I wore goggles in the heat of Israel? Alana: Yeah, right? Kelsie: Who cares? Alana: No, go to Ireland! [INTRO MUSIC] Alana: Hello and welcome to Lady History; the good, the bad, and the ugly lady you missed in history class. We're back recording new episodes, so here is Lexi. Lexi, what would you be the goddess of? Lexi: Cross stitching and tricycles. Alana: Do you want to elaborate or just leave it at that? Lexi: Well right now I am cross stitching and it's what I do with my hands when I'm talking because I have mental problems and the only way I can focus on something is to do something else mindless. And the tricycle is because I have an adult tricycle and an anecdote my dad took that tries to go into the bike repair shop to get the brake fixed and he was too embarrassed to say it was his daughter’s so he said his wife bought it for his mother in law. Alana: And I really like that question so I'm also gonna ask Haley. Haley, what would you be the goddess of? Haley: I think I would be the goddess of eggs, just because I would control them and like not take it in because like I don't wanna be the goddess of something like I destroy, so like… Alana: For the irony. Haley: The irony. Eggs. Alana: And it's our third ever guest, Kelsie! Kelsie, tell the listeners a skosh about yourself. Kelsie: Hi everybody I'm Kelsie Ehalt. I am a Master’s student at Brandeis right now and I'm going to go and list the department I'm in. It's just a lot of words, so get ready. But I'm in the joint program in Near Eastern and Judaic Studies and Women, Gender, and Sexuality Studies, those are two different departments, but they both have ‘ands’ which makes things confusing. But basically I study ancient history via texts right now. I do archaeology as well but right now since digging’s not really a thing because we shouldn’t travel because of the pandemic, I'm really focusing on languages for my Masters. And then I also incorporate the gender studies side of things into the equation, so I'm just looking at how gender functions in the ancient world and thinking about it from a not straight white man perspective, basically, because that's basically all that’s been published. And there’s some better scholarship coming out now, but there's still some work to be done so I'm doing what I can there. Alana: We do love all of that. And I'm Alana and I tried to start an all goddess religion when I was like eight. (Haley laughing) Alana: Me and my friend Kay who is one of my like oldest friends in the whole world, they're gonna get a shout out a little bit later as well because they sort of helped me in my research. We like tried to start up polytheistic all goddess religion when we were like eight. We like had a list of goddesses that we wanted to name and we like created little rituals. A great time to be had. Kelsie: Everyone should have just a religion creation phase I think. Alana: Absolutely. We called it Selenism because the main goddess was Selene. Haley is shaking her head at me and it's making me feel… ways. Haley: I love it but also like… Lexi: I feel like I was like writing fan fiction before I knew it was fan fiction, while you simultaneously were making a religion. Haley: Like I'm not surprised that either of this happened. Not surprised at all. Alana: It's a true story, it's a fun story. We kept a lot of ash in bottles… related to this religion that we were making up. Kelsie: Where did you get ash from when you were like… Haley: Yeah, that’s the… Alana: I don't think we still have it, but like we had it for a while. Lexi: No no no, where did you acquire it? Kelsie: What were you burning? Alana: Oh. From like. I don't remember. Haley: No that's a body. Alana: I think we just like burned paper or something and collected the ash. Kelsie: Oh, that’s not exciting. Alana: We played with a lot of fire when I was… Kay and I… we played with a lot of fire. Haley: Yeah! Yes! Yes. Lexi: I don’t know what to say. Haley: No, playing with fire… Wait, were you a Girl Scout too? Alana: No, I was a Daisy for half an hour and then they wanted me to do all this like stupid weird shit like say my own name in a group of people so that was a no no for baby Alana. Alana said no no to being a Daisy. Kelsie: Alright so I'm going to talk about my girl Ishtar today. So Ishtar is the Akkadian name for the goddess of love and war but the Sumerian version of her name is Inanna so I might switch back and forth between Ishtar and Inanna but know that by the later period they're the same person. There's some debate about whether Ishtar was a separate goddess who became then sort of like coagulated in with this earlier Inanna, or if Ishtar is just like a direct connection to Inanna, there's a debate about this, it’s not quite clear. So I’ll probably refer to her as Ishtar. If I mess up and instead of Inanna it’s because I work with the later period stuff so I don't really see Inanna too much. But anyway so Ishtar, Inanna is the Mesopotamian goddess of love and war. And she's depicted in all kinds of different texts, but obviously we have the most interesting sort of goddess information about her from the mythological texts, but she also shows up in legal texts because they're just invoking her to you know validate decisions, things like that. And people in this period, well in Mesopotamia across all periods of history, have personal gods so she’s invoked in sort of just letters too if they're just like “hey bud I'm sending you this thing, you know, good luck, thanks Ishtar or Inanna.” like whatever, she's brought up a lot. But for today I'm gonna focus on a few of the mythological texts because I think that's where we get the most interesting information about who she is as a character in the Mesopotamian religion. So the biggest story, or the story where she has the biggest role, is– the title’s translated, there's not really a title, they don't always title these tablets. But it's translated as the Descent of Inanna or Ishtar into the Netherworld. So I'm gonna give you a little summary of what goes on in that story which is… it's a fun one. I actually– this is one of the first things I– the actual– first actual texts I worked on translating in Akkadian, not just working out of the exercise the book but actually working with text. So I'm gonna tell you the Sumerian version a slightly longer, and there are more details, so I'm gonna tell you that version, and then I can tell you how the later Akkadian versions differ later. So here, Inanna–because this is Sumerian– she's deciding to go down to the netherworld. It's kind of conceived as like a cavern type thing underground so I guess I should go over Mesopotamian cosmogony first so we have Earth here which is where you know humans and mortals lived, and above that is the heavens, which is pretty standard for what modern Abrahamic traditions follow as well. But then beneath the Earth, we have the netherworld or underworld. In Sumerian it’s kur, in Akkadian it's kurnigi… I'll just call it the netherworld. And then between the netherworld and the Earth we have the Apsu, which is sort of this underground water where things happened too, and that's where Enki lives. And that's also– that plays a role in the creation story of Enuma Elish where Tiamat, one of the primordial goddesses who's the goddess of fresh water...? Either freshwater or saltwater I’m forgetting. She mixes with Apsu which is either freshwater or saltwater, whichever one she's not, and they create the other gods from there. So the Apsu is really important because it's sort of the origin point of all of the gods within Mesopotamian… the Mesopotamian pantheon. It's also where Enki lives, and he's one of the head gods too and we'll talk about him some more in the story because he plays a role. Okay so in the Descent of Inanna… so she's going down to the underworld to visit her sister Ereshkigal, who is the goddess of the underworld. I'm forgetting what her name is in Sumerian, it might be still Ereshkigal. But she’s going down to visit Ereshkigal because her husband– Ereshkigal’s husband has died, so Inanna wants to go to his funeral. And before she goes down, she tells her assistant– it's translated as minister in the versions that I looked at– her minister whose name is Ninshubur– I'm not sure about the length of the vowels there, but Ninshubur is Inanna’s like assistant, I'm imagining like a PA. And so Inanna is like “okay Ninshubur, like I'm going down, it's kind of dangerous to go, people don't really go down to the netherworld, so if I'm not back in three days go ask these gods for help.” and she gives a list of gods. First is Enlil, and then Urim, Nanna, and Enki. That's important later because she gives a list of four and it's important that she gives a list of four because the first three don't help her, but we'll get to that in a minute. So Ninshubur is like “okay, great, have a good visit to the netherworld,” and off Inanna goes. So Inanna goes down, she’s stopped by the gatekeeper… and the gatekeeper says “hold up, what are you doing here and why are you here?” And so Inanna says “I'm visiting my sister because her husband died and I want to go to the funeral” and he's like “okay let me go ask her.” So he goes and asks Ereshkigal if it’s okay and Ereshkigal is concerned because before Inanna went down, she got these powers. And the powers are manifest in physical objects. So she gets a ring that has some sort of special power, and this lapis lazuli necklace that has a power, and there are seven other– seven total things, so five other things that have powers. And so Ereshkigal knows that Inanna brought these and she's concerned about them because there's a sort of not trusting dynamic between them even though they are sisters. So Inanna’s like okay you can let her in but close all seven gates and only open one at a time to let her in, and each gate take one of her things. So she goes through it's the same sort of structure throughout, in the Sumerian. And she goes to one gate, they take her ring. She goes to the second gate, they take her hat or whatever. And it goes on for seven gates. And then she gets to the last gate, they let her in, and basically it was a trap. Speaker 0: They… it's kind of confusing. The Sumerian is not really clear on what exactly happens. But I've sent Alana the link to the translation that I looked at, and so you can read it too if you want to see– Alana: That will be in our show notes at ladyhistorypod dot tumblr dot com. Kelsie: Yeah. So I used the version that the… the Electronic Corpus of Sumerian Literature version which is trans– it's sort of a… It's a compilation of some different translations but it's a pretty standard not too fluffy interpretive translation, so I thought it was pretty good. But basically… so she gets the last gate and then they start yelling at Inanna and then she turns into a corpse and they put her on a hook. I'm not exactly sure what the process of these things are, but I’m imagining they're yelling at her and she just sort of like desicates and like dries up and they like put her on a hook. The motivation isn't super clear, I think, and some of the tablet is broken, so there… we might be missing some of the context, of course. And you know, of course, something important happens in a break, that's always the case, it’s never something boring. So maybe there’s some sort of other story, and maybe it's orally transmitted, detailing the drama between Ereshkigal and Inanna. Maybe there's a more specific reason why Ereshkigal does not trust Inanna and therefore wants to take her powers and then trick her to stay in the netherworld. Anyway, so Inanna's dried up, on a hook, and then three days passed and so Ninshubur, you know, being the loyal personal assistant, realizes three days have passed and Inanna’s not back, so she's like “oh shit, I better go get help.” So she goes to the first person that Inanna told her to ask for help from, Enlil. Enlil says “no, I’m not helping.” And then Ninshubur goes to Urim, Urim says “no I'm not helping.” And then Ninshubur goes to Nanna, and Nanna says “no, I’m not helping.” And finally she goes to Enki, who in some versions of myths is Inanna’s father. And in this version he… the wording is that he is her father, but we have to be careful with the wording about like familial relations in Near Eastern text because sometimes they’re just using them to describe power dynamics, not actual biological relations. So even though Enki here is you know referring to Inanna as his daughter, it might just be a power dynamic thing rather than a biological relation. That's not super clear, but in other versions of the story he’s also depicted as her father so I think that's fair enough to go for the narrative. But anyway, he’s like “okay fine I'll help, what is Inanna doing?” And so Ninshubur explains that she went down to the netherworld and is stuck. So Enki's like “okay I have a plan.” So he makes these two figures and these are gonna come up later because these figures are what I'm doing my thesis on. He takes dirt from his fingernail and he makes a kurgarru and in the Sumerian it’s galutera. In later Akkadian is just galu. But these two figures– and I’ll explain a little bit more later when I talk about what I'm doing for my thesis– there are some interesting gender performance things going on with these figures. But right now I’ll just leave them as helpers that Enki makes from dirt from under his fingernail. And he gives one of them a plant and he gives one of them water, and he’s like “okay, go down to the netherworld, and give… you're gonna see a corpse, and it's gonna be confusing, but that corpse is your queen.” So I love that saying, because he's like “you’re gonna see this dead body” so he knows what happened already, which I don't understand how that happened. But he's like “you're gonna see this corpse, give her the water, give her the food, and you'll be okay.” They go down, they give Inanna the water and the plant, and she– I assume like somehow revives. And I’m imagining like a sponge, like they put the water on her and like I said before, like I’m imagining like the yelling like desiccated her, so there was sort of like… like soaking up the water. And so okay… she's like “okay I'm fine now.” So they start to leave, and these two demons stop them, the group of three who are leaving, so there’s five of them now. And they say “well, no one ever leaves the netherworld, so you need to send someone to replace you.” And she's like “okay, who do you want” and they're like “we want your assistant” and she's like “no she's too loyal” and then they're like “we want your manicurist” and she's like “no she's too good” and then they're like “what about your husband” and Inanna’s like “okay sure, I guess.” There's some other stories about her husband Demuzi, that it was an arranged marriage too so Inanna is like not too keen on her husband. But so anyway, so the demons go to take Demuzi, and he's like “oh no, I don't want to go to the netherworld.” So he talks to his brother Utu, who lives in the heavens, and he's like “Utu, turn my limbs into snakes so I can escape the demons” and Utu is like “okay, that sounds like a good idea.” And so he turns his limbs into snakes, and he escapes the demons. And then the last part of the story is really fragmented, so I have no idea what's going on, but apparently Demuzi escapes, and then some other things happen, and then Inanna talks to a fly…  like a bug, a fly, who says “I know where your husband is, we can go find him.” And then apparently the fly helps her– it's broken so it's hard to know and then the story ends somewhere there. But that's the short, sort of humorous version of the Sumerian version of the descent of Ishtar, or Inanna, rather. And then the Akkadian version is a lot shorter, it leaves out a lot of the details of… it doesn't have the story afterward, after they leave the netherworld and the demons are trying to take someone back to replace Inanna, the Akkadian version doesn't have that. One of the notable things but the Akkadian version, I think, and this sort of links into my master's thesis, which I’ll get to in a second, is that when Ishtar, in this case since we're talking about the Akkadian, is stuck in the netherworld, there's a whole series of lines repeated twice or three times where it's like all of the animals and humans aren't having sex anymore. And things are bad. And so that's how they know that something's wrong with Ishtar, instead of the assistant sending people down to help, other people realize that something's wrong, which I think is interesting. And then, you know, then she gets back and it's okay. But yeah. So, to talk about my thesis a little bit. So I'm focusing on a couple different figures in the cult of Ishtar, the main ones I'm focusing on is the assinnu. The assinnu is the syllabic spelling of it in Akkadianin but there's also a logogram which in Sumerian is sagg or sag. That one you see sometimes the other one is urmunis which is literally man-woman. Haley: Fun fact, sag in Farsi is dog. Kelsie: Oh, really? Haley: Yeah. Kelsie: In Sumerian it’s head or like top. Haley: Oh that's fun. I was ready for you to be like wolf. Kelsie: No, it's the same as the Arabic it's kelb, kelbum in Akkadian. Anyway, so I think there's definitely something going on interesting gender-wise with these figures, and so actually I first came up with this topic because I was reading the descent of Ishtar in Akkadian, not the Sumerian version. But my first semester of Akkadian, and my professor was a PhD student and we got to a part where– the part where in the Akkadian version, Ea instead of Enki makes an assinnu. And it's the word assinnu in the Akkadian version, but it’s kurgarru and galla in the Sumerian version, but these are all kind of related. I'm throwing words out, I’ll explain the difference– and also the difference isn't super clear, so if you’re confused between them, everyone is. There's not a clear distinction between these roles that we found in the textual evidence so far. But I was like “okay what's an assinnu” because I never heard that word before, that's not a common word in Akkadian and he’s like “oh, it's like a third gender person” and like that raised red flags in my gender studies brain, I'm like okay like whenever you categorize something as third gender without any other discussion there's something interesting going on there. So I started reading some more about what people had written about the assinnu and it turned out to be pretty gross because as we all know being archaeology students and students of the ancient world, it's all white straight man… cis straight men writing about basically everything and so that's the case with gender as well, unfortunately. And so in all these different translations of texts, the assinnu are translated from everything as like cultic prostitute, to eunuch, to impersonator– all these gross words that I think… one, just really limit the conversation that you could have about gender in these figures because you're placing so many modern assumptions on them just with the single word that you're using, and two, especially words like eunuch and cultic prostitute like there's no textual evidence to support these interpretations anyway. So it's all this secondary scholarly interpretation being placed on these figures where you know there's not many textual instances of them, so it's hard to say what exactly is going on but there's not specific evidence for castration or prostitution. For my thesis I’m basically going through and writing about how the word assinnu and kurgarru and galu and kalu have been translated by scholars, and then going back and seeing like what can we figure out in terms of their gender performance from the actual textual evidence that we have, as opposed to just going to these simplistic, interpretive labels. And my proposition, too, at the end is to not translate words like that because any translation that we have is going to simplify the role of these figures and I think just leaving it in the Akkadian leaves more room open for describing the things that they did and leaving it open because we don't know a lot about them, and just leaving that sort of gray area there instead of just labeling them one thing or another. But yeah so that's what I'm working on for my thesis, and all of these figures are associated with Ishtar specifically. And I think there is something interesting there because of Ishtar’s liminality herself because she's the goddess of love and war and those are two kind of opposite things. And her own gender performance is kind of somewhere in between this binary because sometimes she's portrayed in cylinder seals and things with a beard, and her animal is a male lion, or a lion with a mane, at least. I mean there are female lions with manes too. So I think Ishtar herself has some interesting gender things going on, so it makes total sense that her cultic functionaries, her cultic personnel, also had some interesting gender things going on too. So I'm just trying to figure out what exactly we can say about what's going on within her temple. There’s not a lot of evidence, but just trying to figure out what's going on. Lexi: I love it. I love your thesis. Haley: My mind is blown. Lexi: I really struggled to settle on a lady for this episode because I wanted to do something interesting but I didn’t want my lady to be from the same region as like another lady that was already being covered by one of you in this episode and that's– the regions you are familiar with are the regions I am familiar with because we had the same professors. So I had to branch out of my comfort zone and explore a person I had never explored– well, a god I never explored because this is goddesses. So I did what any sensible person would do and I reached out to my sister– sorority sister, for everyone who's been following along. And I would like to thank my sister Amber for suggesting this lady. It was a very good suggestion. So I'm talking today about Nüwa. Clarification, as always, I do not speak Chinese, so that's the best that it’s going to get but it's probably not totally correct but do with that what you will. I speak Korean, not Chinese. Alana: Have I been Jewish yet? Have we said Sprinklebear McPuss-n-Boots yet? We got to get all three. Lexi: You got them in. We got them in. Nüwa is the mother goddess of traditional Chinese mythology, so you know we know of a lot of other mythologies from other parts of the world and there often is a mother figure… you know, a matriarch among the deities if you know what I mean. So she's that but in China. And her name is made up of two characters, nu which means woman and wa which is a unique character that is only a part of her name, so that's how it distinguishes her from women in general, it's Nu-Wa. And she is the sister and wife of emperor god Fuxi. And Fuxi is the god who created hunting and cooking, which is a fun combo like hunt then cook? Not vegan, but very relevant to each other. She is often depicted as a serpent, and it's her body is the figure of a serpent and she has a woman's head. And she is capable of shape shifting into anything she wants so she can change how she appears. And let me just say she looks really dope, like what a vibe, check out our Instagram, I’ll put up a picture there, or Google her, but I'm obsessed with the different looks that she has. In some depictions she's just drawn as a woman in traditional Chinese dress, which is hanfu and that's slightly less cool but like chill. And in the traditional Chinese creation story Nüwa created humankind from the earth. And we see this in a lot of creation myths. If you know of creation myths from around the world, a lot of times like the physical earth or clay or dirt is related to the creation of humankind. So the story goes that one day she was walking through the woods and she found the woods to be so beautiful that she was sad that she couldn't share the beauty with others. She wanted someone else to enjoy the beauty of the earth. So she decided to create humans from the clay around the river. So she stopped at the riverbank, she picked up the clay, and she's like “I can make humans out of this.” And it is said that she made the aristocracy, like the aristocratic class from yellow clay from the riverbank, and the lower classes were made from mud. And so Nüwa made the upper classes with her hands, she molded them, but her hands got tired and so she picked up a rope and she dipped in the mud, swung it around over her head, and the mud that dropped off became the lower classes. So there is a class distinction in this story, I assume it was at one point in history perpetuated by the upper classes to justify like the class divide in their society but that's how the story goes. And there are several versions that story with varying details so if you are curious to go explore it there are texts about her written in Chinese and Vietnamese and a couple other Asian languages, so if you speak any of those and want to go read it, feel free. But that's the general basic… things that seem to be true in every version of the story. She is credited with defeating the evil water god who is depicted as a black dragon and is named Gonggong, which… I love that name too, like I love the double syllable situation. It's like you could call a pet that, but I guess not since he's an evil water god, maybe it's not good luck to name your pet after him. And Gonggong he’d ripped a hole in the sky when he was battling another god– it was the fire god, so the water and fire god were like [fighting noises] you know? That was not good podcast audio, but they were going at it, him and the fire god. Alana: How am I supposed to transcribe that? Lexi: Ahhh noise! Kelsie: Throw in some vowels and some Hs. Lexi: They were going at it. And they were fighting. And Gonggong ripped down one of the pillars, which is a mountain. He ripped it down, and the sky got a big hole in it. This is a big problem because the sky protected the people from like crazy weather phenomena, so like rain, tsunami, crazy kind of like… crazy crap was happening in the sky. And so she repaired the hole and saved the humans because she loved them because they were her creation, and versions of the story also differ, with one suggesting that she died of exhaustion because she was so tired because she had like held up the sky and put it back together. But she saved humankind, so it was like her last great feat. And another version suggests that she could not repair the sky with just the material she had, so she herself became stone and put the sky back together. So there’s either the version of her dying of exhaustion or her actually becoming the material to repair the sky. Either way, this is her final story so she sacrifices herself to save humankind from Gonggong's mistake. Kelsie: Wait, so with the second version where she is repairing the sky herself is there like an astrological sort of connection to her then? Is there like a constellation representing her? Lexi: That's a good question. No source I read specifically dictated that. Particularly I think because she tends to be associated with the day, but I am unsure. There might be a constellation related to her. She's technically the goddess of marriage and fertility. Chinese religion has really changed over time, but despite that, Nüwa has remained an important figure to many people in China. There are many temples and shrines that are dedicated to her and preserved in her honor, including one that is seen as the ancestral shrine of all humanity, so she's very central in like the identity structure of China. And some women in China today pray to Nüwa for assistance in issues of fertility or marriage, so like if you want a husband you're supposed to go and be like “Nüwa! Give me a man!” and if you want to have a baby, you're supposed to go to Nüwa and be like “Nüwa! Birth me a son!” and so on and so forth. In addition to her role in religion, she also features prominently in pop culture in China and other parts of Asia. She has been a character in three video games, so you can go play Nüwa. I don't know exactly how these video games work, I have not played them. But if that's your jam, Google it. And in numerous television shows and films, there's films that depict all the different stories surrounding her and other deities so she factors into those stories too, and there have been film adaptations specifically of the sky fixing story. And on Earth Day in 2012, a statue of Nüwa created by a Chinese professor was revealed in Time Square as a representation of the importance of protecting the ozone layer because the theme of that year's Earth Day was the ozone layer. And so the ozone layer protects humans and is similar to the sky and Nüwa in her stories… so the statue is of her holding up a piece of the sky… Nüwa holding a piece of the sky…  and she's holding that up and that represents the ozone layer and the fact that we need to keep the ozone layer safe, so as you would give to Nüwa and worship Nüwa you should worship and protect the ozone layer… so on and so forth. Very very cool. And the statue was later moved to Vienna and I've included in the further reading the transcript of the speech that was given when the statue was installed in Vienna which is now where it lives forever, so it's really interesting if you're into that kind of thing. And also I will include a link to the Google Arts and Culture page that describes the statue and you can learn more about the statue and what it's made of if you like that kind of thing and what it looks like. Haley: I was having like a mental identity crisis with who I was gonna pick, and I was on TikTok, of course, scrolling through like just for inspiration. And I came on for my like For You Page. I think that's what it's called, the youths call it, a fun story about Danu and Tuatha Dé Danann. I really… Okay, so this is Irish mythology that we're doing a deep dive into, and I asked Robert how to pronounce these, and of course I forgot. So in Irish mythology, Danu, meaning the flowing one or the divine one who brings all things into being, is associated with both masculine and feminine things which is like right on. However, every time I pick– like, I couldn't decipher like, discern whether she was representation– like if you looked at her while she had her pronouns, or assuming from scholars now she/her pronouns, if she would represent both masculine and feminine or if she is just associated with because she's the divine one who brings all things into being. Because when you look at her it's– I put a lot in the further reading but I used a lot of YouTube videos of the people who are like kinda amateur experts in this… certainly not myself. And a lot of the representation that they put up were very feminine goddess like. Like very nature-esque, flowing long hair, flowing skirts and dresses, or sometimes like a warrior but really like honing in on that feminine side. And that's just my tangent. So she is also like the earth goddess of fertility and growth, abundance, agriculture, as well as intellect, change, and wisdom– and a whole host of others. She just does it all, apparently. She's also like the hypothetical mother goddess of the Tuatha Dé Danann which is what I'm also going to talk about. But before that, because this group of people, the Tuatha Dé Danann, which is Old Irish for the people of the goddess of Danu and the anai– the A. N. A. I. within the name means wealth and that's kind of strange because this… when I'm reading Danu is D. A. N. U. and that’s not found in any like medieval Irish text which was kind of like a point in time where people were like okay it's not in this period and afterwards type of situation. That goes for a lot of her myths and legends. And if you let me nerd out for a sec, let's go into some etymology of the name Danu. Scholars believe that the name Danu is the nominative form and the genitive form is Danann, spelled as like D. A. N. A. N. N. or D. O. N. A. N. D. or D. A. N. A. N. D., which is seen in the primary sources, that’s also how the name Tuatha Dé Danann is spelled. It's the D. A. N. A. N. N., the genitive form of Danu. Again, with these people, they are the people of the goddess of Danu. And this is the story that I'm actually gonna focus on because spoiler it's great and it's also one of the most well known sources, just if you like do a Google search this is the one that keeps popping up with her. And it's about how… basically Ireland was kind of populated. So opening our book to a short story, while there are a bunch of little stories like within this one story, I'm kind of like lumping it all up. And in Irish mythology  Tuatha Dé Danann were the first people or tribe in Ireland. Since they're supernatural and they're not necessarily human but they are human, the way they arrived to Ireland was like via dark clouds and mist which also gets strange because they landed on Connacht. Am I saying that right, Alana? Alana: Connacht. Haley: Connacht. Alana: C. O. N. N. A. C. H. T.? Haley: Yes! Yes ma’am. Alana: Connacht. Yeah Haley: Which is on the west side of Ireland. And this is where– Alana: It's– throwback to episode two, that is around where Gráinne Ní Máille was born and lived and did her pirate-y thing. Haley: Exactly. So this is like why it gets weird, why I say it's like they arrived via dark clouds and mist because they also had boats. So when I was first reading this, I was expecting like people coming out of like dark mist and clouds because clouds are in the sky! But I think now like boats come along with it, so there might be spaceship boats or like water boats. But– Alana: Like in Treasure Planet. Haley: Exactly! That’s what I was thinking. Lexi: Ancient Aliens? The aliens brought boats down and created the Irish people? Haley: NO. Alana: No no no no. Treasure Planet. Treasure Planet is the analogy that we are going with, Treasure Planet. Haley: Yes. And when they arrived, they supposedly burned the boats, hence forcing them to settle in the land they like docked. Which made little to no sense-tentacles, because you literally like, again, rode in like a cloud of mist. And also I want to know when they settled, and they were like “okay, we have food, water, shelter. Let's burn them boats.” And that's fine, that's a great tradition, I'm not like saying for the tradition. But what if, like, if it was immediate, how did you know that was like a suitable habitat? Because like wouldn't you say “oh, we don't have like one of the three basic needs, four, five basic needs that we need, let's get back on our boats and travel around.” These are also supernatural beings and I'm just overanalyzing mythology. That's what I do. Also once they were settled, so like post-burning boats, I guess… It was said that they stayed there for centuries. And for the archaeologists and all of us here part of the myth that is the ring forts, are also called like the fairy forts… Alana is making a face. And that's because that– Alana: I dug a ring fort! Haley: Connection to you and Susan. Probably Susan, why I know this story. So– Alana: This is the Susan Johnston appreciation episode part two. Haley: I actually have a book that she gave me right next to me on my desk, I have with my library background. Anywho, the fairy forts are like often called fairy forts because the Tuatha Dé Danann used them as portals to another like world. And side note, if a human were to happen across the portal they would be forced to dance until they went mad. Honestly, that’s just like… I read that and it was also kind of like– Lexi: What a way to go. Haley: Exactly. Kelsie: It wouldn't take very long for me, like you know twenty minutes I'm gone. Haley: I know! I was like I can dance through like one album of ABBA but like if we get into an album of the Beatles I might like cease to exist. Alana: (Gagging noise) I hate the Beatles. Famously I hate the Beatles. Haley: Rude. And then she is on a podcast with like one of the best Beatles lovers ever. Lexi, right there and then I’m like a– Alana: I hate the Beatles. I think they're overrated. I think it's just like mediocre white men getting more credit than they deserve. Lexi: Well, Sergeant Pepper takes your note and kindly throws it out.The bird. Haley: He took a nice poop on it. Alana: That's fine. Whatever. Haley: Okay so back to my story, because it’s about me right now. We all went mad. And then lastly, this is my last note, so when the Celts invaded, the legend goes that they all turned themselves into fairies, hence, fairy forts! And then they keep watch over the land. That's them. That's Danu. Kelsie: What's the– I don't know if you know this, and maybe I… maybe there’s not an answer, but what's the significance of… between fairies and circles around things? Like when I think of like– like I know about ring forts, I didn't realize there was a connection to fairy forts. But then like winding up like fairies and circles like… Haley: Yeah. Kelsie: Mushrooms, like that’s also a circle-y thing on the ground. Is that a bigger thing? Haley: So, the circle is like the portal, and the reason why it's called fairies is that the legend says they turned into fairies. So it's like fairy forts, that’s their fort. Kelsie: That makes sense. Haley: That's the most I can tell you. I'm sure there's more. There are a lot of YouTubers out there. Lexi: Also, circles is magic. Alana: I'm talking about Persephone the Greek theological figure, ancient Greek. I identify with her very strongly because I also contain multitudes. There is a poem by Nichole McElhaney who is the author of A Sisterhood of Thorns and Vengeance, a book that apparently just like does not exist, because I cannot find it in print anywhere. But the poem goes “Do not worry about your contradictions - Persephone is both floral maiden and queen of death. You, too, can be both.” And I love that. But apparently like the book doesn't exist Nichole McElhaney has a couple of other poetry books with really interesting cool names similar to A Sisterhood of Thorns and Vengeance. She is also known as Proserpina in Rome, and also known as Kora or Kore, which means maiden. And she becomes Persephone when she is like queen of the underworld which we will get to… the stuff that you might know… because of the Percy Jackson series. So in Homer's Hymn to Demeter… Homer's Hymn to Demeter is kind of the primary source we have for the story of Persephone being taken to the underworld. Homer describes her as slim-ankled, which my friend Kay, shout out Kay, who I brought up earlier, we tried to make a religion together, they are an expert in classical literature and they said that that probably meant like a graceful or delicate or something along those lines. So the story is Hades saw her in a field, abducted her, and took her to the underworld and like made her his queen and something about pomegranate seeds, that he forced her only one in Homer’s hymn. It’s only like one seed. You hear it like three or six other places, but in Homer it's just one. Here's what you might not know about that myth, according to Homer. Hades had Zeus’s permission to do this, but not Demeter’s, who is Persephone’s mother. And Demeter goes searching all over like the whole world for Persephone, and everyone saw what happened– like the sun god saw what happened and was like yeah we're not gonna help you because like basically they said she could do a lot worse as far as a husband goes. She's like queen of the underworld right now. I think like that's a pretty good deal… you know Hades isn't going cheating on his wife like someone we know. Zeus. But according to Homer, one pomegranate seed meant three months in the underworld. Anyway Persephone– this is a really short story I'm sorry– Persephone. She is part of the agrarian triad which is a group of three agricultural slash harvest deities with Demeter and a god called Triptolemus. Kelsie: Lexi would call this an agricultural throuple. Alana: That's an excellent point. I don't think there is any evidence for that but I do like the idea of it being a throuple. So Persephone as queen of the underworld kind of gives a more pleasant face to the concept of death and the afterlife, so it kind of like helps Hades’s reputation and there's not as much stigma about it because yeah you're dying but look the goddess of spring is also queen of the underworld, so that's pretty cool. Now I'm going to cede the rest of my time to modern reinterpretations that are all written by women or some other marginalized group. The only one whose like gender I don't know is married to a man and cis straight men don't marry other men by definition, so this person is marginalized in some other way. I don't know if they know that, but it's really cool story. So first of all, Hadestown. Wow. Anais Mitchell. It's beautiful. It's jazzy. It's so much fun. It's Hades and Persephone but they've like fallen out of love after so long and also the myth of Orpheus and Eurydice is in there. I want a live recording of it– it's a Broadway show– I want a live recording of it the way that Hamilton has been. I think that is what we deserve. There is also a couple of webcomics, the first one is Punderworld, which has a very– why are you shaking your head Kelsie? Kelsie: It’s such a bad pun and it has pun in the word! Alana: It’s a bad pun and it has pun in the word. It's a very realistic art style, there are not a ton of episodes, one of them made the rounds on tumblr while ago if you were still there. And it takes place in a more realistic like ancient Greek Olympian kind of setting. Links to the webcomics by the way will be in further learning which is what I've been calling it lately because it's not always reading. The other one is called Lore Olympus. There are a lot of episodes of this one. It is more whimsical but also somehow grittier? Like all the characters are kind of color-coded. Athena has a very androgynous, ace, butch lesbian vibe like someone else in the Zoom right now. So it’s like Olympus is a modern city, but the mortal realm is still in ancient Greece. It's really cool, I was up until five AM last night reading it because I just like gave up and was like I just have to read this. Shout out to my friend Em who told me about those webcomics. Also Madeline Miller, who wrote Circe which was an incredible book and Song of Achilles which I haven't read yet, wrote a really cool piece about Persephone several years ago that basically ends with if Madeline Miller were Persephone we would always have winter because she loves pomegranates so much and that is a mood. Lexi: I love that you brought up Percy Jackson because it always bothers me but there are so many cool modern literary takes on a lot of these things but that's the one that had to get famous? Haley: I'm rereading and I finished the Percy Jackson series, forgot how much like I invested myself into it. I think I only read like the first book and like half of the second because I don't remember the third, fourth, fifth but I have the next series which is like… Alana: The Heroes of Olympus or something? And it’s the Roman? Haley: Maybe. I think that's the next one. Alana: I read the first four Percy Jackson books in a weekend, and I would have read the fifth one in a weekend but it was not out yet. Lexi: I was a fan of them as a child. Alana: I was in like fourth grade. Lexi: Yeah probably fourth grade. But my mom decided I was still a fan of them and for my twenty third birthday I asked for a single ticket to go see Hamilton by myself, but for the same price my mother bought four tickets to see Percy Jackson the Musical. Picture this– Haley: Wait, where was it first? Lexi: It was on Broadway. I mean a real Broadway– Haley: They had Broadway? Lexi: Yes. Picture a thirty two year old gay twink dancing around the stage pretending to be a twelve year old boy. Alana: That just sounds like the Percy Jackson Lightning Thief movie. Lexi: Yes. Alana: But with singing. Haley: To be fair Logan Lehrman because I– Alana: Oh, Logan Lehrman is incredible. Lexi: Also, I won't spoil the musical, the musical's gone now it doesn't run anymore, but in case they ever do another iteration and people want to see I won’t completely spoil it. But it is written where there's only a cast of eight people but all the characters are covered by those eight people, and so there are some weird interesting things where that really take you out of the story because like they have to do double duty as characters and all they do to change is like throw on a jacket. Haley: Is it just the first book? Lexi: Yes and no like how the movie was the first book, but like not. You know I mean? Haley: Yeah. Lexi: It's not a truthful direct adaptation. The songs were like “when your dad’s a god, your dad's a god. The one other thing I want to say about it is my brother and I had both for the books as kids and were like okay we'll go see this as like a family thing, whatever. During the intermission, a girl behind us who was probably maybe fourteen or fifteen would not shut up about Percy Jackson to her family and my brother leaned in and was like if we’d come here seven years ago that would have been you. And I mean probably. But to that team who put that on. Lexi: You can find this podcast on Twitter and Instagram at LadyHistoryPod. Our show notes and a transcript of this episode will be on ladyhistorypod dot tumblr dot com. If you like the show, leave us a review, or tell your friends, and if you don't like the show, keep it to yourself. Alana: Our logo is by Alexia Ibarra you can find her on Twitter and Instagram at LexiBDraws. Our theme music is by me, GarageBand, and Amelia Earhart. Lexi is doing the editing. You will not see us, and we will not see you, but you will hear us, next time, on Lady History. Haley: Next week on Lady History, she’s going to blind us with some science. We're doing a deep dive into the women of twentieth century science. Haley: We good. Alana: Amazing.

[cela-astral-projection]

I'd never want once from the cherry tree 'Cause my baby's sweet as can be She give me toothaches just from kissin' me

18+ under the cut, I guess. Nothing really happens. An abundance of caution. 

Muriel pushed the door open from the bedroom, still exhausted. It was evening, and he'd been in and out of sleep most of the day. Demanding solitude.

He would do this from time to time. Asra and Celeste took turns, being close at hand, but allowing him his space. This had been a particularly rough patch. They were patient with him. They didn't demand anything. They were simply available to him, willing to cater to his every whim. He just wouldn't ask for anything, buried deep in himself.

Generally, these spells would last a few days. But this was going on far longer than usual, and it had taken a turn towards the frightening. He looked gaunt. Paler. Sickly. On such a big man, it was very striking. He barely ate, and when he did, it was simply fistfuls of the candies and sweets he managed to grab and hide in the darkened bedroom, leaving a rat's nest of jewel-toned wrapping wadded up on the bedside table.

Asra had dealings in town that he simply could not put off another day, so she had been left in charge. It was a simple enough task if emotionally taxing, seeing the one they loved in such pain.

She kept herself busy, cleaning, cooking, keeping Inanna occupied so she didn't tear the bedroom door apart trying to get to him. Feeding the chickens. Hell, she'd even chopped wood, which was a task that usually sent Asra and Muriel running from the house after her, not entirely confident in her abilities to wield a giant ax, to her annoyance. She had managed to get away unscathed, she was proud to say.

The Muriel situation had come to a point where simply letting him be was untenable. She had to try something, but it had to be subtle enough to not spook him. Like coaxing a stray cat with cream.

She sat at the dinner table, alone, reading. She knew how to build one hell of a fire, that was for certain. She hadn't quite figured out moderation when it came to that. The room was much too warm, so she had opened a window, cool air pouring in to even out the intense heat from the fireplace.

At Muriel's seat, there was a large bowl, steaming. A thick piece of bread on a plate at its side.  In the center of the table, a beautiful golden pie, with deep red juices seeping out from cracks in the flaky crust. His stomach growled.

She looked up at him over the top of her book, smiling.

"It's hot." He said, low, eyes fixed on the pie. He was salivating.

"I know. Sorry. It's better over here by the window." She replied, quiet. "Come sit with me. I'm lonely."

He sighed, torn. He just wanted to go back to bed. But he was so, very hungry. "I'm...just tired." He did start across the room. Short, cautious steps.

"I know you are," she said, with a nod. Her eyes were soft, as was her tone.  She closed her book and laid it down. "I made dinner for you."

It smelled incredible. Everything. The yeasty, sweet-smelling fresh bread. The rich, garlicky, herbaceous broth in the bowl. The scents were overwhelming. He hadn't felt such hunger pangs since he was small.

But, his attention was fully on the dessert. He was a sucker for anything sweet. She knew some of it was that the sugar gave him temporary relief. Comfort. But it didn't last. It wasn't sustainable. He would ride the high for an hour or so, especially now that he wasn't eating normally, then crash.

"I'll...just take a slice of that and go back to bed." He said, short, moving to the cupboard to grab a plate.

"Oh...no, sorry. It's still cooling. I got started on it late. It's still too hot. I want it to cut well." she replied, standing. Apologetic. "Please, you can have as much as you want once it's good and cool. You'll like it better, I promise. I spent all that time pitting the cherries...I just want it to be right."

He pulled a face. "How long?"

"It's hard to say. It's really warm in here. If I move it to the windowsill, maybe an hour or so? Can you wait that long?" She leaned across the table to collect the pie plate. She was wearing a sheer, loose tunic. When she bent, he could see straight down her shirt. Heavy breasts hanging. She looked up at him, biting her lip.

"I'll...wait." he nodded, swallowing hard. He was starving. Absolutely famished. In more ways than one.

She collected the plate and righted herself, crossing to the window and making sure the plate was seated securely. Her bargaining chip. It seemed to be working.

He sat heavily in his chair, hands folded between his knees, not looking at her. She watched him for a long moment. Come on. Eat it. Her mind pleaded, trying to reach him. But, he didn’t move. 

She sighed, and grabbed her chair, pulling it around to his side of the table, sitting in front of him. He straightened and turned, startling. She caught his wrist. "You're tired. Let me take care of you, okay?" she pleaded, staring straight in his eyes. Not a suggestion. A requirement.

He tensed. "I don't need you to take care of me," he said, pressing his lips into a line.

"I need to take care of you. It's my problem...Indulge me." she countered, squeezing his wrist affectionately before releasing it, the corner of her mouth turning up.

He huffed. "Celeste..." he whispered, frustrated, exhausted. Too tired to argue.

She turned to the table and picked up a spoon, dipping it into the soup. She had taken care that it would be nourishing, but not too rich. She wasn't sure if he could handle anything too heavy at this point. More flavor than substance. She brought the spoon to her lips and blew cool breath across the surface, and then to his mouth.

He didn't open his lips. An eyebrow raised, annoyed. She mirrored his face, not relenting. He rolled his eyes and allowed her to proceed, and she pushed the spoon in.

His eyes fluttered closed, and he relaxed. It was warm, smooth. Coating his tongue.  Bone broth, butter, vegetables, garlic, herbs. It was creamy, fatty, but still thin. It flowed down his throat.

"Is it okay?" she asked, studying his face.

He made a quiet noise of approval. "Everything you make is good," he said after a moment.

She took another spoonful and repeated the process. He took it, a bit more eager. She leaned in and kissed the corner of his mouth. "I'm glad you like it."

They sat like that for a long while, until the bowl was mostly drained. They went slow, her constantly checking in. Making sure that it wasn't too much, too soon.

She broke the bread in her hands and raked it through the liquid that clung to the bowl, bringing small bites to his lips. She ran one hand over his stomach, soothing circles.

When the food was gone, he opened his eyes. Celeste, smiling up at him.

"Is there more?" He said, looking over at the empty bowl.

"If you want it, of course." She said, sweet.

"What about you?" he asked. Another of his hangups. Scarcity. The illusion that there wasn't enough. From years of there not being enough. For making sure that Asra was taken care of before himself. The days when his stomach felt like it was eating itself. Stolen food. Threats on all sides. Food as payment for services rendered.

"There is enough. There will always be enough," She said, raising her hand to cup his cheek in her hand, running her thumb back and forth, looking in his eyes. "Asra is coming home with more food in the morning. Take whatever you need. There will always be more."

He leaned forward and rested his forehead against Celeste's, breathing deeply.

She ran her hand into his hair. It was lank, greasy. Too long. She had always liked long hair on him, but as Asra had once told her, equally disappointed, "He looks like the Scourge of the South. He doesn't like letting his hair get that long anymore. Too bad for us...It’s gorgeous, isn’t it?"

He smelled musty. Like old sweat. It was a smell that came often on her impoverished patients. Those suffering from mental illnesses. Unwashed. Stale. She hated it on him. But, her face didn't betray her. Years of training had hardened her against that. There was no excuse to make someone feel less than, or unclean.

She kissed him. Soft, sweet. Unafraid. He pressed his lip against hers. Still weak. Still tired.

He wanted her. He wanted to sleep. He wanted to eat.

After a while of sitting quietly, she moved to stand, preparing him another bowl. She sat it on the table, then leaned down to kiss his cheek. "Eat this for me. I need to boil some water and change the bed."

He nodded, turning towards his meal, eating in silence. She set to her task, putting on a pot to boil, then going to the bedroom, looking over her shoulder when she got to the door, biting her lip. He still worried her, but at least it was some progress.

She made quick work of the bedroom, stripping the bed, throwing a couple clean blankets down. She cast a spell to dispel the gloom and grime that clung to every surface. She cleared away the discarded trash that he left on the bedside tables and gave everything a once over. She looked around. This felt better. Cleaner.  Good enough. She could do more, later. She grabbed the washbasin from the dresser, and a soft cloth and fragrant, luxurious soap. A gift from Nadia.

When she returned, the water was steaming on the stove. Muriel was still eating. Taking slow bites.

She ladled water into the washbasin. She dipped her elbow into the water. It was quite hot, but he ran hot, and she was nearly immune to the heat herself, having had to scrub with it so often in medical practice.  She lifted the basin, and made to place it on the table, in arms reach, but out of Muriel's way. She ran her finger along the rim, enchanting it to stay warm.

"I'm going to clean you up a bit if that's okay? You can take a bath later if you want. I think this will help you feel a little better in the meantime."

He stopped for a moment, contemplating. He really didn't want to be fussed over, but...he knew she wasn't wrong. He nodded, silent.

She dipped the cloth into the water and wrung it out. She put the bar of soap into the bundle of cloth, massaging it until it frothed. Cedar. Sweet Citrus. Eucalyptus.  Good job, Nadia.  

Celeste moved behind him, brushing his hair over his shoulder. The cloth was brushed lightly over the back of his neck, his shoulders. Gentle pressure. He moaned a bit. It felt incredible. Warmth pricking at his skin, followed by a cool breeze across the damp trails left behind. He was hunched over his bowl. Never one for excellent posture on his best day. It made for easier work tonight. She worked diligently.

Even now, like this, he was magnificent. Powerful.

She remembered the first time she recalled...running into him, outside the shop. With his curse, it was a hazy memory at best, but she did remember something. Him, all mystery and darkness, delivering an ominous warning. She remembered not really giving much of a damn about the warning, strange as it was. Everything then was strange, so that wasn't exactly new news.

All she knew at that moment was that she was going to climb that big tree some fine day. He was the first man, since waking up in Asra's arms three years prior, that had stirred something that voracious in her. He inspired a Volta-Esque hunger in her. She liked to blame Asra for that, teasing. Giving her half a heart that already belonged to some tall, dark, handsome stranger. She never stood a chance.

Once she had finished his back, she peered over his shoulder. His bowl was empty again, and he just sat, enjoying her ministrations. Quiet.

"Will you take off your pants? I want to get your front, too. If you want me to?" she inquired.

He took a shaky breath, color flooding his cheeks. He turned to look up at her, unsure.

She gave a quiet chuckle. "Oh, please. It's nothing I haven't seen a thousand times before. Let me do this."

He sighed and stood up, shaking his head, hands at the waist of the drawstring, soft trousers. He unknotted the tie, sliding them slowly over his hips. "You don't have to do this."

"Oh, trust me. I want to. Give me an excuse to get my hands on you. I'll take it." she teased gently, watching him.

The garment fell away, leaving him exposed, and he kicked it roughly aside, going back to sit, turning the chair away from the table. He couldn't quite meet her eyes, still blushing.

She refreshed the cloth and moved to kneel in front of him. She started at his collarbone and moved down. She focused on her task, though it was...difficult. She was used to being in the position in front of him. Usually, her job was a bit different. But, until he was clean, that particular prospect was a bridge too far. Though, he did seem to be stirring a bit under her touch. She bit the inside of her mouth, not hard enough to draw blood, but hard enough to keep her sober.

Her hand moved to his abdomen. Each defined abdominal muscle. A line of dark hair, all trailing to his cock. Gods. This was going to be a problem. It had been a while since he’d let her get this close. She cleared her throat, her own cheeks flushing, heat pooling in her stomach. "I...think I should let you handle that. I'm going to get your dessert. It should be ready." she said, patting his thigh, then placing the cloth in his hand, pushing herself up, moving to grab a crepe spade and plate from the cabinets.

He watched her as she moved away. He could feel himself smile involuntarily. He had always had trouble accepting that she found him handsome, but after this long, he knew she did. The fact that he could be this low and still elicit that reaction from her did cheer him a bit. He turned to refresh the cloth with soap and water. He would be thorough. He didn't know what he would be able to manage. But, he promised himself, he would have her tonight, in some capacity or another.

She moved the pie to the countertop and cut in. It had cooled and the juices had set. The flaking crust crunched and splintered as she moved the wedge through. She breathed a purely Epicurean sigh. It sliced cleanly. No gapping between the crust and fruit. The sweet fluid did drip, viscous. Exactly what she wanted. She said a silent prayer of thanks. They didn't always turn out this perfect.

She plated the slice and took a moment to admire it, before picking it up, grabbing a fork, and moving to the sitting area. She took a seat on the pile of furs on the far side of the room. Muriel's preferred place.

He watched her as she went, finishing his task. He tossed the rag in the bowl of water and stood, following after her. He stood over her, glistening in the firelight. "That's mine, right?" He said, jerking his chin towards the plate in her hand.

She smiled up at him, tilting her head to the place beside her. "I think you've earned it."

He climbed onto the pile, lounging at her side. He made to take the plate from her, but she pulled back. He furrowed his brow, confused. She sliced through the pie with the fork and brought it to his lips. He huffed a bit. "Really?" he said, incredulous.

"Mmm-hmm. Grant me this one last indulgence. Then, I'll stop infantilizing you and treat you like the man you are. Promise." She winked.

He opened his mouth, and she placed the bite on his tongue. His eyes closed and his head lolled back, groaning. The crust was delicate, airy, with a crackle. It nearly melted in his mouth. He could taste the butter. The filling rode the line of being almost cloying, honeyed, but that was cut through by the tart freshness of the cherries and a hint of orange. He chewed, slow. When he swallowed, he swore. "Oh, fuck me."

"I will, but you have to tell me what you think of the pie first."

[vesuvian-american]

How The Main 6 Handle STRESS!

Here’s a headcanon on how our babies handle stress and what to do to help them!!!! Let’s get into it! Enjoy!!!

Asra:

He rambles

He loses his cool

He’s really fidgety and cant seem to keep cool 

He can also be a bit ill tempered but he never does anything to be rude to you

He just has little patience in stressful times

Like, if he stubs his toe while he’s trying to rush and do work around the shop

You’ll seem him ball up his fist and throw out a few curses before getting back to the task at hand

He needs some tea and a break

Make him up a nest of blankets and soft pillows and let him take a nap

Dont leave his side though

Just sit or lay with him while he rests, let him lay his head on your chest and play in those ivory curls of his

Forehead kiss him

Nadia:

She’s always been prone to headaches 

But her stress headaches are a whole different breed

Nadia has never really had the patience for much of anything but please, don’t let the poor servants on her bad side during stressful times

She’s frazzled, irritable, all and all just not her usual self

One time, you caught her with two different pairs of shoes on

She just doesn’t pay much attention to detail when she is stress out

She needs a spa day

Take her to relax in the bath, have her hair washed and braided up, and order her a massage

While she takes a few hours off, please, help take the load off of her for a bit

Have all of the palace help come to you if they need anything, for the rest of the day you will be handling all of the Countess’ work

And you’ll be happy to do so

Get her some of her favorite wine and join her in bed for a well needed nights rest

Julian: 

Our Julian, he’s almost always stressed over something

Except, that’s minor or acute stress

He’ll be clumsy, never stop talking, he’ll stutter here and there 

But

When he’s really stressed over something huge

Oh

He’ll be quiet

And that’s really odd behavior from him so instantly you’re worried

He’ll chock himself full of coffee and just work on whatever he’s working on

You can ask if he’s okay but he’ll just respond with monotone short answers, its not to be cold but he’s just focused and in the zone while also internally freaking out

“I’m quite alright darling, no worries” :)

Give him a cold glass of tea, to combat the hot coffee, maybe chamomile to calm his nerves and tire him out

Without taking him from his work just yet, give him a deep massage on his neck and shoulders until he finally resigns himself into your touch

Get him out the house so he can forget about his stress for a while and then that night, have Mazelinka make that famous soup to put him to sleep

Muriel:

Muriel is always fairly quiet and reserved

He’s a man of few words

But when he’s stressed out and worried he seems to be a little more talkative

Every few minutes he’ll have a question to ask 

“Does it hurt?”

“Are you okay?”

“What’s taking Asra so long?”

“Do you need something?”

From time to time you’ll have to hush him, because still even though he’s not saying much, this is a bblot for him so you know his mind is running a mile a minute

Just take him outside of the hut and into the forest for a while

He loves nature, so be out and immersed in it calms his nerves

You, Muriel, and Inanna all out in the forest on a walk picking flowers, berries and mushrooms

That will calm him down

Portia:

Poor baby girl!

She is really frazzled, she makes a lot of slip ups, a lot of stuttering, and her face is just constantly red

Her hair is going every which way, she becomes very forgetful too

She almost left the cottage to get to work on time without even getting out of her pajamas, she just woke up and ran out the door

She constantly feels like she has to do it all, she was Nadia’s most trusted servant, now she’s been promoted

But she still hovers around the servants and helps them with their duties, especially the new hires

Please, sit her down and get her a day off from work

Of course Nadia will say yes because she’s been worried sick about her too

“Don’t kill yourself for your work Portia”

She’ll sigh and try to protest but you really have to trap her in the cottage for a day to get her a break 

Or go to the Rowdy Raven to give her time to let loose and to really truly get her away from the palace

She’ll really appreciate it at the end of the day, and the next day, she’ll have another day off while you nurse her hangover!

Lucio:

He really becomes a pouty baby

When there is work to be done and a million people are pulling him in a million different directions, give him a helping hand

You definitely want to help him become a better Count to Vesuvia and to do that there will have to be a lot to heal and reconstruct in the palace and out

The flooded district, the southend, the red market, the courtiers, the dark past of the coliseum, unhappy and fearful citizens

It all needs to be healed, and not by you, by him

That’s out of his element, he’s not a good people person like he previously thought, but with your guidance, he’ll make it through

But during this process, he’s completely and utterly stressed out, he’s damn near lost his ability to function he just wants to scream

He feels like he doesn’t have anytime to be himself, he’s pulling his hair out, his clothes dont match, he’s being rude to people

Get him out of Vesuvia

Go on an adventure

Show him the world in a more positive light without him thinking about conquering new lands, or “What will Vesuvia do without me?”

“They’ll be just fine Lucio, Nadia’s back there handling some business while we’re gone.. You need time to relax.”

He sees the world in a new light with you, he’s curious, happy, laughing, and really, truly, genuinely, enjoying his time out on the spontaneous journey

Having visited far away lands, he’s seen what he wanted for Vesuvia

And together, you both went back and made it happen

That was the first time in a long time he hadn’t thought about being a “bad” Count and/or being a ghost goat demon spirit thingy, he was free and happy to find the new him

The true him

[moxy-fruitbat]

Muriel as a father part two!

Okay first off can someone please draw Muriel wearing a baby in a baby carrier it's for science please and thank you.

Also my mind stuck on the twins thing so congrats Muri and MC you got double!

- He's in love with them right from the very start. They're his little cubs, his baby bears, his chickadees, and he would do literally anything to keep MC and them safe.

- Skin to skin contact was super easy bc he's like 90% chest. Even as they got older, the babies would for the most part stop crying when he held them close.

- MC and Muriel baby wear, mostly so they can take care of things around their little hut homestead while still keep an eye on them.

- There isn't much room for one crib in the hut, let alone two, so all of them co-sleep together, with Inanna at the foot of the bed.

- The kids get satchels of myrrh that they wear around their necks, but it's also in their bath water and laundry soap so everything smells like it. No one's forgetting Dad in this household.

- They go on evening walks together in the forest, as a whole family (including Inanna, of course!). Muriel will point out little things to them, like what kind of bird made what call, or what this certian type of plant or mushroom is, or what kind of weather certain clouds mean, even when they were too young and/or were sleeping for the majority of the walk.

- Speaking of Inanna, she is absolutely pumped to have little kids in the house. She's very protective of them, and she curls up with the two of them around the fireplace. They fall asleep nestled in her warm fur.

- Inanna gives them sloppy dog kisses right on the face, causing shriek in a fit of giggly laughter.

- MC loves watching Muriel interact with the babies; seeing him share things he loves with the people he loves always puts a huge smile on her face.

- He introduces them to every chicken by name.

- Muriel and MC will call each other "mama bear" and "papa bear", which they both honestly find super sexy. They don't get much time for that anymore, though, since the hut is literally one room and they co-sleep.

- Occasionally, once the littles ones were old enough to not die from being left alone for 20 minutes babies are scary. They can just...suddenly die for no real reason, they'll leave the twins with Inanna while they both go "out to get more firewood" and have a quickie. She has never had to, but Inanna would start howling for them to come back if anything started to go wrong that she couldn't fix herself.

- Uncle Julian, Auntie Portia & Aunt Nadia, or Ommer Asra will occasionally babysit, too, taking the kids for an overnight stay in the city, giving Mama and Papa Bear a well-deserved night off together.

- Muriel is the worst at disciplining them. He's so afraid of scaring them ("I don't want my own children to hate me......") and they don't really listen to his quiet "Hey, stop that." So it's up to MC to put them in line when they need to be.

- Once they're too old and somehow end up taking up the majority of the bed (and kicking both MC and Muri in the face at the same time), Muriel makes them their own big-kid beds. They're made out of beautiful, hand hewn logs, with designs and their names carved into the headboards.

- It's a relatively easy transition into getting them to sleep on their own. "Mama and Papa are right across the room, see? You can come get us any time you need us."

- They have a lot of handmade wooden toys, and when they are old enough to play out in the forest by themselves, they have their own adventures building forts and playing pirates ("Just like Uncle Julian and Ms. Mazelinka!").

- Papa Bear rides! Muriel will hoist them up on his shoulders (yes, both of them. One on each.), or they sit on his back like he's a horse, on all fours. They pull on his hair, which he hates, but he puts up with it to hear their giggly laughter.

- Ommer Asra brings them cool new toys from far away places, and Aunt Nadia makes sure they have new clothes all the time. She has a great eye, of course, and always picks out very cute stuff.

- There's a growth chart in the door frame of the hut, and these kids grow FAST. They're Muriel's, after all, and if your MC is smol like mine it doesn't take long for them to pass her up once their growth spurt hits.

- Evenings are quiet and usually spent in front of the fireplace, with MC reading out loud to the family, or just makes the story up as she goes. Sometimes she sings/plays an instrument (if your MC knows how). When they get older Muriel might teach the little ones how to wittle, but otherwise they usually play quietly, snuggle up with Inanna, or sit with MC and listen to her stories. If it's a special night (or usually just because!), they'll pop popcorn in a shaker over the fire.

- Now that the number of occupants of the hut has grown from 1+wolf to 4+wolf, their little homestead has grown, too. In addition to foraging and the chickens that roam around the forest, there's a vegetable garden and maybe even a hive or two of bees. It's more work, but everyone is happy.

- Muriel goes to sleep every night, his wife in his arms and his children fast asleep in their beds. Inanna is asleep at his feet, or in bed with one of the kids. He holds MC close and kisses her forehead while she's sleeping. He wouldn't trade the life he has for anything in the world.