#and I can’t go anywhere for Christmas this year and I’m sad about that aha

[smokedbeans]

Did I wake up having a panic attack, sick or body actually finally giving out?

[lilypixels]

All of them 😄

ok wow you really went for it huh? ahdjkhsd I’ll answer all of them minus the three I just did I’ll put them under the read more thingy since this will be long :’D

zinc white; how are you really feeling today? no one-word answers please!

I woke up two hours ago and only took a shower thus far so I’m feeling good lol

cadmium yellow; when you think of the word “happy” what’s the first thing that comes to mind?

...idolish7 ajhjkfh i’m too obsessed with it h e l p

yellow ochre; name an artist/band whom you just discovered & can’t get enough of!

would it be bad if I said Idolish7/all the related groups (Trigger, Mezzo, Zool)?? cause technically a recentish discovery and I defiantly can’t get enough :’D my real answer is Reol

naples yellow; where do you feel most at home?

my room lol

raw sienna; with whom do you feel most at home?

my mom i guess??

golden ochre; describe the relationship you have with your closest friend.

one that some might not deem normal but works well for us lol (I mean, we’ve been friends for about 10 years now) we have a good understanding of each other and know we don’t have to talk/hang out all the time in order to know we still matter to each other, we both have our own lives and just knowing the other is there no matter what is enough. we’re the type to not talk for weeks and then send random memes and act like we’d been talking the whole time😂 it works really well for me too cause i’m not good at “socializing” on a constant basis and tend to just...not text people for ages on end, but I’ll still care for them and think about them just many see it as me cutting them out rip

golden deep; what’s your favorite season?

tbh the time between spring and summer but fall has been earning some points recently

cadmium orange; what do you like to do on your days off?

I often bake and game

orange lake; do you have anyone you can turn to when you’re sad?

I guess?? but i don’t like bothering people with my emotions often times so I just cuddle my cat haha

titans; do you prefer slow mornings or relaxing evenings?

hmm...the second i think

shakhnazaryan red; are you currently binge-watching anything?

i was binge-watching Tsukiuta but I’ve slowed down with s2 cause now I’m distracted with other things like genshin impact

red ochre; are you more right-brained (creative) or left-brained (analytical)?

i don’t even know/remember anymore, maybe left now???

burnt sienna; is there a painting that brings you peace when you look at it?

Van Gogh’s Starry Night cause I like stars and nightviews 

vermilion; what’s your favorite accent?

oooo interesting one, but I like all accents, I find them cute :3

cadmium red; do you have a “type” when it comes to a significant other?

I have a type with fictional characters and idol biases does that count? no?

scarlet; describe your current crush/es.

i have none 😗✌

ruby; what does your ideal first date look like?

bold of you to assume i would go on a date idk a movie so i don’t have to talk lol

carmine; what does your ideal second date look like?

bold of you to assume I would- ahfkj i really don’t know, go to the library and have tea???

madder lake red; would you ever kiss someone (or accept a kiss) on a first date?

that’s a big NO from me, someone be catching hands if they tried

rose; what’s something really positive going on in your life right now?

is it bad i thought of work? i have a fun time watching baby 😊

quinacridone rose; what’s something you’re really looking forward to?

baking/decorating Christmas cookies that I’m gonna share with family and friends!

violet rose; what does your dream house look like?

like a victorian house, gothic victorian is better, probably haunted, with an attic room hehe

violet; is there any place in particular you’d like to settle down?

anywhere but here lol

blue lake; what would you like to do/accomplish before you settle down?

finish schooling and get job :b

cobalt blue spectral; what is the most beautiful place you have ever been to?

uhhhhhh Clearwater Beach?

ultramarine; when was the last time you were in a good mood? do you know/remember what sparked it?

yesterday I guess cause i had good time shopping with my dad :3

blue; what’s the most recent dream you remember?

my dream last night rip part of it was genshin related cause I played like 3 hours before sleeping and the rest was my mind trying to figure out where the story of an otome I’m playing is gonna go i’m at end of this dudes route and he just erased mc’s memories of him so like enggg

bright blue; what does your dream family look like? any kids or pets? how many of each?

i wanna foster, adopt at least one kid and have one of my own, all the pets, maybe there’s some dude there idk kids and animals all i need aha

blue cobalt; do you like your name? would you give yourself a different name if you could?

i don’t like my name but at same time it’s kinda who i am and idk what else i would name myself i do have a Chinese name though (we picked them in class and what we went by) which is MingYi 明怡!

prussian azure; what’s your favorite scent?

coconut, vanilla, MINT

azure blue; what’s your favorite type of tea, if any?

peppermint tea, green tea, I did like Earl Grey but I can’t have black tea anymore :(

turquoise blue; if you could start a garden, what would you plant?

all the herbs and vegetables! also some of my favorite flowers like foxglove that hopefully don’t make my allergies worse

cerulean blue; if you were guaranteed to have a viewership, would you start a youtube vlog?

probably not

glauconite; describe your body without using any negative adjectives.

5′ 5″, tiny, long legs that hold all the muscles and weight in my body lol my torso is like a rectangle, i am very flat chested and do not mind that 

yellow green; picture yourself walking in a field. what do you see & hear in this scenario?

i can not picture cause i just imagine itchy grass and lots of sneezing😔

green light; are you in a comfortable place in life? if not, what do you think might make it better?

comfortable enough i guess, i try not to nitpick too much on what’s “lacking”

green; name three countries you want to visit; do you have any actual plans in place to visit any of them?

all the countries! I almost went to China for study abroad but then stuff happened TT

emerald green; do you speak any languages besides english? are there any additional languages you want to learn?

I can technically speak basic Chinese and French, but I’ve also already forgotten too much rip I really like learning languages and hope to get back into it soon!

oxide of chromium; what’s your favorite book?

legit any Rick Riordan book, my fav author

olive green; are you currently reading anything? how do you like it so far?

I’m in like the middle of Trials of Apollo book 2 and it is great

mars brown; what’s a movie that always puts a smile on your face/makes you laugh?

idk Megamind??

burnt umber; what’s something you plan to do before the day is over to take care of yourself?

technically already did it, was shower

umber; have you drank enough water today?

no

voronezhskaya black; what or who is your go-to outlet for when you need to vent?

rpg/fighting games where I can smash monsters to pieces

sepia; name five things that always make you happy.

music, babies, Alice, baking, others being happy~

indigo; what’s the best/sweetest compliment you have ever received?

idk i shy away from compliments most of time :’)

payne’s gray; describe your aesthetic?

“welcome to your doom uwu” ajshdjk idk it’s always changing

black; post a selfie because you are so beautiful!

no thanks💖 maybe later but its gonna be gone fast

[qqueenofhades]

Hi there! I love your writing. You write the characters with so much personality and depth, it's always a joy to read If you are still taking September Prompts... Nat/Kitty 23/34?

Aha. I have to admit I was a little confused by this ask initially, until I remembered the September prompt list I reblogged in like... April? So it was several months ago, alas. But it is a great list, it is September, and you asked nicely, so....

It’s been two years since the Glass Palace came down, John Mandrake officially died and Nathaniel was reborn, and they’re in Prague, because of course they are. Technically it’s part of the ongoing peace talks between the former British Empire and the Czechs, but Kitty, while she’s along as an “expert advisor” to the provisional government (and who could have seen that coming?) has to admit that there are other attractions. It’s good to see Jakob, for one thing, and the rest of the Hyrneks, even if they’re not as certain what they think about her. They’re making a good living in their home city, they’re hoping to come back to London but want to see if things pipe down, and Kitty can’t blame them for that. She and Jakob talk more easily than they have in a long time, and they’re both introspective about the fact that she’s ended up here with a title and a proper job and an expense account. “Just be careful,” he says quietly, when she goes. “I’m sure none of them started out that way either.”

He doesn’t need to say I’m hoping you don’t turn into Julius Tallow, because Kitty can hear it. It stings, but she supposes Jakob is entitled. She kisses his variegated cheek -- the stripes of the Black Tumbler are faded, but still visible, like sedimentary beds of ancient rock -- and takes her leave.

(And she didn’t even tell him about Nathaniel. The other things about Nathaniel, that is. It feels like that’s something best left alone -- and something Jakob might not want to hear, besides. It’s obviously for Jakob’s benefit, Jakob’s comfort. Surely not at all because Kitty herself has no idea.)

All that can be said for them with any honesty is that... well, they’re seeing each other. Kitty refuses to let Nathaniel call her his girlfriend, and partner can cover a multitude of sins, not least since they’re working together in an official capacity. She isn’t sure if she likes the fact that Nathaniel is still in the government, even if it’s completely different from Devereaux’s regime, even if it’s trying to do things another way. There’s a big holier-than-thou movement with the magicians who’ve signed a pledge not to enslave spirits and to learn their powers the old-fashioned way. In fifty years they’ll probably have another war and be out conquering the world again. It never ends. It goes in circles. If Nathaniel could just quit -- if he could care just a little less, if they could run away, to America or Australia or it doesn’t matter where, far from London, far from the ashes of the Empire, from the shards of glass, from Bartimaeus’s shadow, from everything that their old lives were --

All that, and then they’re walking back to their hotel in the Old Town, across the Charles Bridge at twilight, Prague Castle on its hill behind them, the moon rising over the crowned statues, they’re holding hands and the silence and the closeness is comfortable between them, she’ll probably go to his room when they get back because nobody said she had to know anything, but she can still shag him and leave, she’s done that a few times now, and then, and then --

Nathaniel says something utterly ridiculous, absent-minded, and Kitty screeches to a halt in her tracks.

“I beg your pardon?”

“Wha -- ?” Nathaniel looks confused, then wary, then deeply alarmed. “Oh no,” he says. “Did I say that out loud?”

“Yes.” Kitty puts her hands on her hips. “Yes, you did say that out loud. And I’ll have an explanation for why you just said I love you in the middle of a bridge.”

“Ah.” Nathaniel’s face gets that closed, too-old-for-it look. He turns away, doing that stupid preening gesture, the nervous hand through the hair, that she used to hate when it was Mandrake lording it over her. It tugs at her heart in a different way now. “Well,” he says, after a long pause. “I’m not taking it back, if you were wondering. I do love you. I’ve loved you for a long time.”

This is and it isn’t at all what Kitty wants to hear. “What?”

“Probably since...” Nathaniel looks embarrassed, waving a hand defensively at Prague. “Well, the golem -- ”

“You do remember how you threatened me and Jakob over that? So if this was some pleasant reminisce about our early days -- ”

“Kitty, please.” Nathaniel looks deeply pained, and he is trying to say something apparently heartfelt, and her mouth snaps shut like a trap. “I remember. Of course I remember. I remember everything. But what happened as a result -- with this, with us, with the Empire, with Bartimaeus -- ”

Kitty flinches. She looks around, she can’t help it, half-expecting to see the djinni sitting atop one of the statues of old Bohemian kings and winking cheerily at them (or feigning vomiting, you never know). “Don’t,” she says, folding her arms tightly over her chest, not sure what she’s trying to keep in, or keep out. She feels panicked in a way she can’t articulate. “Nathaniel -- ”

He reaches for her. “Don’t,” he says in turn. “Don’t shut me out.”

Kitty supposes that since she has been sleeping with this man for almost a year, and they took each other as their date to the office Christmas party and stoutly insisted that nobody else was available, she owes him that much at least. She looks up at him under her eyelashes, that handsome face that seems destined to be carved in stone one day, put up as a statue honoring the savior of the realm; sometimes she still can’t banish the cynical fear that it was exactly why Nathaniel did it. “You love me,” she says, as if he’s uttered a terrible curse in ancient Sumerian (which he speaks, because of course he does). “Apparently. I just... it’s rather... I don’t know what to do with that.”

“Well, heaven forbid you say it back.” He raises an eyebrow, wry and sad and noble all at once, until she sorely wants to punch him for old time’s sake. “Surely it’s not a surprise? We talk about everything else, and I -- Kitty -- when you realize you can tell someone your truth, when you can show yourself to them, when you stand in front of them and their response is “you’re safe with me” – that’s intimacy.”

“Is that what I said?” She regrets it instantly at the look on his face, wants to pull it back, but something raw and wounded and terribly vulnerable has cracked open inside her, the constant disbelief that he could ever truly want her, Kathleen Jones, commoner, felon, and ex-Resistance, scarred with the Other Place, still willing him to stop this new life that everyone wants for him, needs for him, to step up and be the hero who makes all the past suddenly be less terrible. She likes this golden boy far better than the other one, but she’s watching him go down the same alluring path, and what she wants to say is I don’t want to turn into Tallow and I can’t stand it if you turn into Devereaux. She wants to ask him to come with her to the station, to buy a train ticket and go anywhere across Europe and leave the British government to have intimate relations with itself. “Nathaniel, look. I’m sure you think you mean it, but -- ”

“I don’t think I mean it.” He sounds exasperated. Clearly this isn’t going however he planned it out in his head, if he even got that far. For an uncommon magical genius, Nathaniel can be terrible with people. “I do mean it. I love you.”

Kitty winces as if he’s driven a knife into her. She doesn’t look at him. Finally she says, “You just -- you’re a magician. It’s what you do. Make things not mean what you think, turn them around, and... sometimes you get so close to someone you end up on the other side of them. You should know that. About us. It was a game, and then it wasn’t, and then it...”

“This isn’t a game.” She can’t meet Nathaniel’s dark eyes. The intensity in them hurts her. “I won’t mention it again if you don’t want it. But that’s...” He hesitates. Finally he says, “That’s not what I want.”

Kitty can’t recall she’s ever known what Nathaniel truly wanted, aside from power, the need to be remembered, to be known. And when she finally knows, it could be the one thing she can’t quite accept. It could be her.

“Let’s get back to the hotel,” she says, because she’s willing to do about anything to stop having this conversation, and the moon is gilding St. John of Nepomuk’s crown of stars silver, and if she turns around, she may do something very stupid like kiss Nathaniel senseless and tell him that she loves him too, and she is not letting this end like that. “It’s getting late.”

He doesn’t answer. She understands that he probably can’t. God, she thinks bitterly. God, how long until all of us stop paying the price for what they took from us? When am I going to wake up and be okay, be normal?

She doesn’t know. She wishes more than anything that she did.

She starts to walk and does not look back.

[pruittwrites]

Barley Candy And Chicken Bones

“Barley candy and chicken bones for Christmas, it’s a Canadian tradition.” Zack told an unbelieving Emiko. “In Tokyo we drink barley tea, and eat fried chicken on Christmas.”

This dumbfounded Zack. “What do you eat for dessert, tuna ice cream?” Which he knew she had tried, but didn’t care for.

“It’s a whole lot better than fruit cake I’ll tell you that. Christmas dessert for us is what you call Strawberry Shortcake. Sponge cake shaped like a Christmas tree, with strawberries and whip cream.”

Zack smiled at his college bride. They had dated for six months before he proposed, and had planned a small wedding, with mostly family and a few friends. Through no fault of them, or their family, only friends made it to the wedding.

An emergency landing kept Emiko’s parents from making the ceremony. Thankfully they were all right. Zach’s Mom and Dad were both doctors at the same hospital, and emergency surgeries called them back at the last minute.

The couple had tried to postpone, but each parent insisted that the wedding not be ruined. The wedding was beautiful, and the Zach and Emiko’s friends had photographed and videoed every aspect of the wedding for each set of parents.

Anne and Marty, Aika and Hisashi had both felt horrible about it. So they reached out to the others and came with an idea to make it up to the two young people. They had went on a small honeymoon, putting most of the money towards a future home.

The Hobbs and Ishikawa families promised to give the couple a Christmas trip to anywhere they wanted. Now Zack and Emiko were dreaming of where that would be. They ruled out place by place, as they realized that this was one of those once in a lifetime family memory trips.

Family Memory Trips were what Marty had always called those adventures that Zack and his family talked about years later. Like the time they had went to Colorado to ski. It was the most fun he remembered anyone having with a broken leg.

His Dad had fell off the ski lift the first day, but he did his best to keep everyone else laughing. He didn’t find out til years later that his Dad was in severe pain, but didn’t want to ruin everyone’s trip.

Then there was the time they went camping in September. They didn’t tell the kids, but the reason for that trip were cut backs at the hospital, which eliminated the vacation budget that year. The kids didn’t know the difference.

Emiko listened for awhile, then added her own stories. Her Dad opened his own business when she was 13, and worked a lot of long hours. Still, for her birthday, he closed the shop, and spent the entire day with the family. He didn’t say anything, but her Mom told her he had lost a major client because of this.

Then she talked about the time her Mom had went through major surgery. That Christmas, they expected to be very low key, but her Mom decorated every room in the house. Story after story, they realized the sacrifices their parents had made for them.

“We can’t take the trip we were thinking about a few minutes ago can we?” Zack said, knowing her answer. “No, but we can do something much better.” As she picked up her phone to text her brother.

That night they both talked to their siblings, and worked out a plan. Instead of a major trip to some exotic place, they chose a small bed and breakfast near their home. Hank Crenshaw cut the price he charged Zack’s parents to almost nothing, just enough they hoped, for Marty not to make the connection. They split the remaining cost of the rooms with Sally, Zack’s sister.

Emiko called the local travel agent, and orchestrated her parents booking their tickets through her. Her brothers helped them with the cost for Aika and Hisashi.

Each set of parents didn’t say anything to them, but they were both suspicious. Still, they had promised to do whatever the kids wanted. So the four of them prepared for the Christmas trip.

Each were a little disappointed when the other siblings made excuses to keep their parents from buying their tickets. The two couples arrived a little sad, afraid the whole family wouldn’t be together for Christmas. It was a week before Christmas, but the kids had a plan.

Zack and Emiko knew they were the offspring of mystery lovers and crossword enthusiasts, so they had to give them an ‘aha’ moment without spoiling the entire surprise. So, when they got in the car that had been sent for them from the airport, Emiko’s oldest brother was the driver.

When they got to the hotel, Zack’s sister greeted them from the desk, where the hotel clerk would normally have been. Over the course of the first hour, each child surprised the parents with their presence. This was sure, they reasoned, to throw the four off their guard.

The next few days were a whirlwind of activity. Zack and Emiko had planned different things, but those turned out not to be more monotonous than memorable. It was the unexpected moments that became special.

Marty couldn’t sleep that night because of his acid reflux, so he slipped downstairs to sit in the lobby and look at the decorations. Zack’s sister got her Mother’s looks, but her Father’s stomach. She was popping antacids as she walked down the steps. “Dad, why are you up?”

Seeing the pills in her hand replied. “I didn’t have those. Share with your Father.” Then after a few minutes he pulled out his phone. Sally was disappointed for a minute, afraid the special moment would be ruined by distraction.

“I’m not tweeting, I’m getting your brother and his pre-middle aged stomach out of bed to join us.” It took three rings, but soon he joined them, unshaven and hair out of place, still smiling.

The three of them didn’t go to bed until long after the antacids had kicked in. The only detriment was, breakfast became brunch for everyone the next morning, precautionary meds were the first course. Late nights were one thing, burping up dinner was another.

After this, Aika and Anne decided they were going shopping. The men thought they’d stay back while all the girls attacked the mall. The ladies didn’t think so. For love of their spouses, Hisashi, Genzo, Haruto, Zack, and Tom, Sally’s husband, all went to a mall before Christmas.

These are the men who ordered everything online two months ahead just to avoid this nightmare. They walked into every store, were attentive as the women found nothing to wear, then carried the bags of “nothing” all through the mall.

Coffees, popcorn, and all sorts of sweets were sampled. Pictures were taken with Santa, and yes, they all waited in line for an hour to get the pictures. The men even purchased the ugliest Christmas sweaters they could find. Much to the detriment of each spouse. It was a wonderful afternoon.

That night, Zack surprised them all with a sleigh ride through the snow that he had scheduled. It was ok, but forgettable, until Tom lost his balance getting out of the sleigh, and tumbled into the snow.

That sparked a snowball fight, started by Genzo’s wife, Mina, which turned out to be the highlight of the night. It was another late night, only this time everyone joined in. Soon it was Christmas Day, and everyone gathered for a huge feast, spontaneous holiday karaoke, with very bad, off key, wonderful noise, and gifts.

True to tradition, the parents insisted the kids go first. The four had pooled their resources to give Zack and Emiko got two tickets to Hawaii. The parents had guessed the plan, and planned accordingly.

Not to treat the daughter any differently, Sally and Tom got the European trip they had dreamed about. Aika and Hisashi got their two sons, and daughter-in-laws each a trip. One to Alaska, and the other to Australia.

The last few years had been good to the elder Hobbs and Ishikawa’s businesses. They were able to give their kids what they hadn’t been able to years before. Each had raised good children, and were now able to reward the wonderful adults they had become.

After the money they knew had been spent on this special trip, they didn’t really expect large gifts from the kids. An while they weren’t that expensive, they were very special.

Marty got a banjo from Zack. Though an old one, it was a fairly inexpensive, used one, with one special feature. Zack had found it online, then brought it with him to a local bookstore to get an autograph from a musician that he knew his Dad loved. The banjo player had just wrote a book, which was the reason for Zack’s purchase of the banjo.

He knew his Dad would love an autographed book, but he’d love the autographed banjo more. Zack made sure it was just vintage enough to earn the interest of the musician and author, and he was right. Zach even got a song played by the artist on the banjo, and a video for his Dad.

Marty had tears, not so much at the gift alone, but the love behind it. Anne expected something more commercial, knowing it was hard to capture lightning twice. So she prepared herself for the huge smile, regardless of what was in the box.

What she didn’t expect, was a pack of assorted notes wrapped in ribbon. Confused at first, she recognized the writing almost instantly. It was from her best friend of over thirty years. The next was from another friend she hadn’t seen in almost that long.

“I emailed, called, and text everyone I could get a hold of. You never were much for gadgets, so I thought this may be special to put a little old fashioned into your Christmas. The last few letters are from each of us.”

Anne’s face soon matched Marty’s, as hugs were exchanged to everyone. Emiko handed her Mom her gift first. It was large, and Aika couldn’t figure out what it was. When she opened it though, she was ecstatic.

It was a portrait of her Mother in the traditional Nihonga style. “It was from that old photo you love. I think the artist did a really good job, but it’s unsigned.”

Her Mother laughed through tears. “It doesn’t have to be signed. I recognize my daughter’s brushstrokes. Don’t you know I’ve been a fan of your art since preschool crayons?”

Emiko blushed. Not used to painting this way, she was saving this little tidbit of information until she saw whether or not her Mother liked it. Her Mom insisted she sign it right away. Aika knew her daughter, who like most artists, were never far from their tools.

Emiko handed Hisashi his gift. Like Anne, he was prepared for, not a lesser gift, but a less spectacular one let’s say. He too, was pleasantly surprised. Hisashi, a Jazz fan, opened the box to see an original record and cover of “Ella and Louis”. Plus one of those portable turn table that he could hook to his laptop.

Each of the other siblings had gifts just as special, and the parents treasured each one. A vintage pocket watch for Marty from Sally. Plus, a doctor’s bag from the turn of the century for Anne.

Each of Hisashi and Aika’s boys, and their wives, got their Dad special records, including one of Bing Crosby’s Christmas records. Aika was given a classic typewriter for her office, plus a limited edition fountain pen. After telling each child they spent too much, records were played, and gifts were enjoyed.

The treasure though wasn’t the crackles of vinyl, clackety typewriter keys, or banjo strings. The real art in the room wasn’t even the painting, or the letters. It was the children, each parent looked at their most precious contribution to their legacy. Which was the happy faces of the gifts that God had given them.

Because of a Child, Christmas became a reality. An while no other is quite like Him, I do believe He intended for Christmas to always be filled with children. May your home, and heart, be filled with both Christ and the children, those precious gifts, He gives this Christmas.

Merry Christmas from PruittWrites!

from Barley Candy And Chicken Bones