#go to sleep buddyyyy

[bearygentle]

ughhhhhhhh crumples into dust for the 3rd time this week

[expecto-kedavra]

Hey buddyyyy I was wondering if you could write about Slytherin male MC discovering their healing powers and healing Ominis of his blindness and Anne of her curse. I’ve read fics of those individually but never together

Keep up the good work 👍🏼

Hey! I love this idea. Fun fact, the first ask I ever sent on Tumblr was to the ever talented @hogwartslegacyreactions and it was how the HL characters would react to Ominis being cured of his blindness. Be sure to check her out! Scarlet is a lovely writer and I adore her blog. I owe much of my inspiration to her This was originally a bit long all together, so I'm going to split it into multiple parts. ONWARD!

Pt. 2

Pt. 3

Pt. 4

The Healer, pt 1

Ominis was definitely frustrated. He was having a lovely night's sleep when the Margaret the Diricawl landed on his chest. I was going to send a Niffler, but I didn't trust any of them to deliver a message swiftly and efficiently. Especially Ricky. I rescued him from a particularly grouchy vendor in Irondale, said he "pilfered the town and should be sent away to Azkaban." The last thing I needed was detention for the little stinker stealing Professor Ronan's hat, or Weasley's glasses. So I sent Margaret with a note tied to her- "Come to the Room please. I have something to show you." She was the sweetest of my Diricawls, one who wouldn't peck my dear friend's eyes out. They were very important to my plan. Anyways, the grumpy Gaunt stumbled into the Room of Requirement, muttering and cursing. "What? This could not possibly be more important than my rest." I laughed. I wasn't sure if it was really early or really late. I had been working for hours. "Oh trust me my friend. It is." I stared at the small vial that was the reason behind all this. A clear liquid glowed inside, occasionally flashing a brilliant blue. "Go sit on the couch." I ordered, and Ominis agreed. I had definitely piqued his interest.

"You told me that your childhood healers tried Phoenix tears and it didn't work." My heart was in my throat. This had to work. For him, for Anne..for everyone. "Right." He replied. "They thought that if that couldn't give me sight, nothing could." He was very stoic, I knew he had long accepted his condition and made it work. "Well. They didn't try everything. Mainly because this didn't exist until now." I brandished the small vial. He blinked slowly. "Wow. How incredible. I am in awe." He said flatly. Oops. "Oh right. Sorry. I call it Miracle Tears." I was tired. Naming stuff is hard, why do you think two of my pets are named Margaret and Ricky? Being creative was hard enough while not sleep deprived, Miracle Tears was going to have to cut it. "And who's tears might they be?" Ominis laughed. It was good to hear his tone shift from sleepy grouch to his usual sarcastic drawl. "Mine. Helios shared some. So did Diana." I replied. Ominis had met my phoenix, and my herd of Unicorns, so he recognized the names. "What? They cried for you?" He sounded shocked. "Yes, they are my bestest friends and they were much nicer when I woke them up." I shot back. "I thought of every healing substance I could think of. Phoenix tears, of course. Then Unicorn blood, but I knew that was out of the question. I consulted with Poppy, and we theorized that the tears could be used to a similar effect. We tested our theory, and we were correct." I didn't mention that our method involved jumping off of the balcony in the Room. "However, it wasn't as powerful, only healing partially." I said sheepishly. "Wait. Was that why Poppy was in the Hospital Wing for three days?!" Ominis more so sounded disappointed in me rather than upset. "You're getting off topic." I was glad he couldn't see my face reddening. "The last healing power I could think of was my own. Isidora went insane by removing pain and absorbing it. I did not want to risk that, so I thought up another way to bottle this power." He was quiet, I could tell he was thinking. "Listen. MC. I know you want to help me and Anne. But we've both made peace with our lives. As hard as it may be to hear, I don't need this." He was right. I knew he didn't. "I know. Sebastian does." I said softly. He was silent. Since the end of last year, Sebastian had fallen into a funk. His punishment of losing his twin sister was wearing too hard on him. He rarely spoke, and ate even less. I worried for him, and I knew Ominis did as well. "If it doesn't work, you can say you told me so and I will forget about it. But he's our friend, and he's slipping. We are losing him." That was enough for Ominis. "Alright. For Sebastian." I handed him the vial and he drank.

Ominis fell to the floor, writhing in pain and clutching his face. Shit. I didn't know what to do, or what to say. "My eyes! They burn!" He screamed. I ran into my potion room, frantically looking for something...anything. Dittany maybe, I can brew a Wiggenweld...I tried to focus, but my friends pained screams were throwing me off. As soon as I was about to scream for Deek, he stopped. He picked himself up off the floor, blinking. "I...can see." Ominis looked up at me. His normally pale eyes had turned into a deeper shade of blue. It worked. "Sorry my ragged mug is the first thing you saw." I laughed. He tackled me with a hug. "This is the world...the real world!" It was quite adorable seeing him staring at everything, his smile lit up the room. "We need to find Sebastian."

[trashyswitch]

Day 6: Chase

Sean and Ethan just finish wrapping up Brain Leak Episode 11, and are ready to play around like the childish people they are. A lot of silliness ensues.

I was up at 1am last night, when I realized I forgot to upload the latest tickletober fanfic. But...I decided to upload it today to make up the difference, and upload today's fanfic as well. So...2 fanfics in 1 day? On accident? Sure. We'll call it that.

I decided to experiment with Sean and Ethan's podcast 'Brain Leak', and had written this back when the tickle scene for Brain Leak episode #11 was being talked about in the community. And honestly...I felt excited to write about these two! I watched a lot of Brain Leak videos to get their friendship interactions correct, so I hope this is accurate. I hope you enjoy!

Here's the link to Brain Leak if you're interested.

Seán got up and turned off the cameras, while Ethan stayed on the couch. “Alright. That’s a wrap for Brain Leak.” Ethan declared into the microphone. 

Seán laughed a bit. “Mic’s off, you know.” He reminded him. 

“Yeah, I know. But it’s funnn!” Ethan reacted dramatically. “You can spin it around, you can swing it back and forth…” Ethan started swinging the mic back and forth, while watching it swing with just his eyes. 

“You are getting sleeeepyyy…” Seán joked. 

To go along with the joke, Ethan leaned himself over and went limp before snoring dramatically. 

This made Seán laugh at him. “Woooow. Sooo sleeeepyyy.” Seán walked around the right side of the couch to the back. He leaned his arms on the back of the couch and started to whisper something to him. “When I snap my fingers, you will say ‘Buddy’ in your silly voice.” Seán said, giggling near the end, which only broke his facade as the hypnotizer. 

Sean’s giggles only made Ethan start smiling and giggling as well. 

“Hey, I didn’t snap my fingers yet.” Seán warned with a bright smile, poking his side. “You’re supposed to be sleeping.” Seán told him. 

Ethan jumped and giggled. “Sohorry, sorry.” He cleared his throat and pretended to be sleeping again. “Okay.” Ethan said quietly. 

Seán snapped his fingers, and waited for Ethan to do his thing. Right away, Ethan lifted his head back up, put on the stupid little signature face, and smiled all childishly. “Buddyyy!” Ethan declared. 

Seán doubled over and bursted out laughing, absolutely loving the Unus Annus reference. “Buddyy!” Seán imitated almost perfectly. 

“Buddyyy!” Ethan declared in his baby voice. 

“Buddyyyy!” Seán imitated, laughing. “God, I think we drank too much giggle juice before this.” Seán admitted. 

“What’s giggle juice again?” Ethan asked. 

“I dunno.” Seán replied. “Probably water.”  

“Ah.” Ethan replied with a laugh. 

Seán hopped back onto the couch. “Okay.” He thought for a moment. “Just to clarify, is it actually true that you can’t do massages?” Seán asked. 

“Yeah. My neck and shoulders are toooo tickly.” Ethan admitted. 

“Meanwhile I can’t even handle being touched.” Seán joked, touching his own right side. 

“Really?” Ethan asked in his ‘eef’ voice. “You can’t handle a little touchy-touchy?” Ethan asked, bringing his wiggling finger closer to Seán’s face.

Seán pushed his hand away. “Don’t even think about it.” He warned. 

“Aww come on, buddyyy.” Ethan said, referencing the Unus Annus quote again. “Not even a poke? Not even a little boop?” Ethan asked before bringing his other hand to his side. 

Seán pushed his other hand away this time. “You touch me, I punch you.” He warned. 

Ethan laughed. “Wohohow.” 

“That’s what’s gonna end up happenin’. You poke me one too many times, and I end up sucker punching you all the way to space.” Seán warned. 

“It’s just a poke.” Ethan told him. “Come on.” Ethan adjusted himself and put up his hands in fists. Only, both his index fingers were up. “Put ‘em up! Fight me!” Ethan teased. 

Seán raised his eyebrows. “Oho, you’re on.” He put up his fists with the index fingers up as well, and put on his game face for the poke war that was about to ensue. 

Seán ended up throwing the first poke. He poked Ethan in the left side, making Ethan double over slightly. “AH- Hey!” Ethan poked Seán’s right side with his left finger, before following it up with a right finger against the left side. 

“Ah fAHCk! You fuckin-” Seán threw his fingers towards Ethan’s sides and unloaded several pokes against him rapidfire. 

On the last poke, Ethan felt more than one finger touch down, which only made him laugh more. “HAHAhaha! Yohou cheater!” Ethan reacted, poking Seán’s right and left side with his index fingers super quickly. But Ethan’s hands would slip out of the fists, and he would end up throwing a few more fingers in. 

Seán fell back onto his butt and laughed, wiggling himself around and attempting to grab at Ethan’s hands. “ETHAHAHAN!” Quickly, Seán tried to take the upper hand. “YOHOHOU BASTArdly little-” Seán pulled Ethan’s arm out from his belly and pulled the childish blondie across his lap. “Gotcha now.” Seán proceeded to cover Ethan’s sides with tickles and squeezes. 

Ethan wheezed and closed his eyes, laughing almost hysterically as he kicked his feet like a little ballerina. While he wiggled around, Ethan managed to turn himself onto his left side with his back facing Seán, which somewhat got him out of an uncomfortable position. Ethan grabbed at Seán’s hands, attempting to pull them away and escape. “HAHAHA! KKKHAHAHAHAHA!” Ethan threw Seán’s hands away from his sides and just barely managed to escape on his feet. “HA! I got out!” Ethan cheered, throwing his hands away. 

Seán got up onto his feet. “Not for long.” He warned. 

Ethan looked at Seán, and quickly saw the mischievous twinkle that filled his eye. Realizing he might be fucked, Ethan sprinted away from him. “YOU CAN’T CATCH MEEEE!” Ethan shouted. 

Seán ran after him. “IS THAT A CHALLENGE?!” Seán yelled back. 

“I DON’T KNOW!” Ethan replied. 

Ethan ran through doors, thankfully having a better understanding of where he was going. Seán had started out following him, but seeing where Ethan was going, Seán quickly noticed a secret little passage he could take and turned to take the detour. 

Ethan turned around and smiled brightly. He had lost Seán! Time to get to the backyard and do some mad stunts! He opened the door to the backyard and ran out, not even bothering to close the door behind him. Ethan ran and slid across the green grass, completely covering his light brown pants in grass stains. 

Ethan made it to the bottom of the hill, and hid behind a tree. He was breathing heavily by this point, which he likely knew may be giving away his position. But he didn’t care. He felt he was hidden enough. He looked around at the yard, and sighed. He was safe now. He can rest. 

By this point, Seán had slowed himself down and was shaking his inhaler. He took a moment to breathe in the medication, and held his breath to let it kick in. He didn’t want to experience an asthma attack while he was simply running around with Ethan. that’d be a sorry reason to end up in the American hospital. When Seán felt physically ready again, he let his breath out and put his inhaler back in his pocket as he resumed walking at a faster pace to find Ethan. 

“Ethan?” Seán called, looking around. “Eeethan?” he called again, turning to look at the other side of the yard. “Eef?” Seán called teasily. 

Then, he heard it. A little Ethan giggle. A contagious Ethan gaggle. There was his clue! Now how to make Ethan giggle all over again… 

Seán thought for a moment, and smiled a bit as he remembered Unus Annus moments again. He remembered Ethan’s failure to say ‘skillet’. And then he remembered the infamous song…

“The dance of Italy!”  Seán sang loudly. 

Ethan gasped and smiled brightly. An Unus Annus song! “WOH-WOH-WOH!”  He loves that one! 

WAIT- DAMMIT! HE TRICKED HIM! HE ACTUALLY TRICKED HIM!

Seán widened his eyes. There’s no fucking way…That WORKED?! Seán sighed and rolled his eyes with a smile as he kept going. “The dance of Italy!” Seán repeated. 

Ethan sighed. “WOH-WOH-WOH!” Ethan replied, giving up and not even caring about being found anymore. 

Seán smirked and noticed a tiny finger hiding behind the tree. He showed off his teeth in his smile and walked closer. “It’s the dance of Italy~!” Seán said. 

“Woh-Woh-Woh??” Ethan said, turning to listen for where his friend was located. 

Seán ran to the tree. “GOTCHA BITCH!” He shouted as he charged at Ethan. “AAAAAAAH!” Ethan yelped as he was successfully tackled to the ground by Seán. 

The moment he managed to keep Ethan under control, Seán started poking the absolute heck out of the man. “Poke war finale!” Seán proclaimed. 

“AAHAHAha! HahaHAHA! OHO! OHOHO GOHAHAD! GAHA- HahAHA!” Ethan cackled, his voice going up and down, and all over the place. 

“A little poke here…” Seán poked his belly button a few times. “A little poke there…” Seán poked at his ribs next. “Ound a leetle poke zhere!” Seán declared in his ‘Henrik’ voice as he poked his right side a few times. 

Ethan tried and failed to push Seán’s hands away. “HAHAHA! Naha- PLEHEASE! Ahaha- Ihi’m SORRYYY!” Ethan reacted. 

“Sorry doesn’t fix how much I can tickle you now that we’re in-person.” Seán reminded him. 

It was here that Ethan started to try and get him back. His pushing hands moved to poking Seán back, specifically going for his right side. “Poke de nerve.” Ethan kept repeating. 

Seán jumped and chuckled, curling in on himself. “Yohou motherfucker.” Seán muttered, resuming his poking. 

Then, Ethan grabbed both his hands and used them to push his friend down. “Poke fight over. ONLY TICKLES!” Ethan covered Seán’s right and left side with endless tickles. 

This made Seán wiggle around and curl up into a ball, laughing involuntarily. “HAHAHA! YOHOHOU BAHASTARD!” He yelled. 

Ethan smiled eagerly. “Tickle tickle tickle tickle-” He kept repeating the word over and over again. 

“SHUHUT THE FUCK UHUHUP!” Seán yelled back at him. 

“Tickle tickle- Hm? Why? Too ticklish for your own good?” Ethan asked in his Eef voice. 

“WHAHAT DO YOU THIHIHINK, AHAHASSHOLE?!” Seán shot back, kicking his feet while still in the fetal position. 

“Would raspberries be too much for you-” Ethan started to genuinely ask. “DON’TYOUFUCKINGDAHAHARE!” Seán warned, pushing Ethan’s head away from him. 

“Ahalright, alright! Fine!” Ethan stopped his fingers and moved away from him. “Too much?” He asked. 

Seán let out a breath and slowly unraveled himself onto the grass. He grunted and sighed. “A little, yeah. But I’ll be fine.” Seán replied. 

Ethan smiled, laid down a couple feet beside him. They hung out outside for a little while longer, chatting about a few different things. They chatted about the next couple days of filming, and chatted about the different topics they may chat about on the podcast. 

Eventually, the boys went back inside and continued their conversations within the walls of Ethan’s home. 

[anotherghoul666]

Oh, hey there, great to see you're back:) Concerning the ask game: orchid, cactus and aloe vera!

I am back my dearest!!! ❤️❤️❤️ I missed you! I'm not back on my writing game yet, gotta get some professional writing out of the way first (like my review of the new Sleep Token aaaaaaaaahhhhhhh buddyyyy it's SO GOOD) before I get back on my porn shit, but I'm at least back prowling the dashboard and spending time with yall! :D

orchid ⇢ what’s a song you consider to be perfect? My immediate thought was to go the early 70s prog route, because this era more than any other in my opinion produced the most perfect-while-very-ambitious tracks in such a short time period. Yes' Heart of the Sunrise is a brilliant example of this.

cactus ⇢ something you’re currently learning (about)? How discord servers work XD Dude sometimes I feel so boomer with the hip current technology things, I'm super good with some stuff but discord and servers specifically have such a steep learning curve!!! When I jumped in a server for the first time yesterday morning I panic-cried XD It's better now already cause it gave it some time, I'm still confused about lots of things but I'm learning, but sheeeesh what an overwhelming environment for my hypersensitive brain to fumble around in for the first time. I shall get better the more I use this tool!

aloe vera ⇢ what’s something (mundane) you really want to experience in life? Pure silence. Like actual, total silence. I feel like this is just an experience we have anymore because there is constantly noise around us 24/7. And especially with that sweet sweet neurodivergent hypersensitivity aka hearing the electricity in the walls and shit, I feel like actual real silence would be special. I had a few moments of nearly achieving that going into cabins in the woods with no electricity and all that stuff but at some point I couldn't focus on anything, let alone sleep, without a noise cause I feel I'm too used to constant noise. I had to play fan noises on my phone to sleep and hope the battery wasn't gonna die overnght. So I wanna try again, to sit in real silence and enjoy it instead of having my hypervigilence kicking in.

[barbatoskisser]

Love how you send me an ask as I am about to sleep- /lh /nm

As much as I'd love to stay up talking on Discord with someone else, my body is telling me no.

Oh whoops

Oh no i juat sent it because hey ranfom word bs go xd

NzIGHT BUDDYYYY

[orange-disaster]

Crash moved his arms and found that the coat is quite warm and comfy.

“ Yeah, thanks Doctor Cossack! “

He snuggled deeper into his scarf, and turned in the park’s direction. After no time, they were inside the park. The grass was, well, kind of short, and there were patches of frost all over it.

The pond had bits of ice floating on the edges, but the ducks were swimming happily inside. Crash had stars in his eyes when he crouched on the shore.

Why hello again

(@orange-disaster)

Mikhail was simply wandering around, unsure of what to do. The meeting he was attending ended earlier than expected so he got time to kill. It was then that he saw a familiar orange armour and smiled before jogging over, calling out,

“Crash Man!”

[abusylittlezebra]

One night stand reaction meme because I dare you 😂

Leave me a ღ for my muses reaction to waking up to your muse after a one night stand

If I just hold the pillow over his face long enough and then sneak out, no one will ever have to know….

“Hey, buddyyyy. How’s it going? You sleep good?”

[gynandromorph]

me: hey, buddyyyy, what’s wrong? you seem scared. what are you afraid of? my brain: well, food, sleep, water, heartbeats, the outside world, also the inside of buildings, and going to the bathroom. there’s other things but those are the main ones me: *inhales through gritted teeth*

[sammetje08]

1. Beel, idk i just think he is a sweetheart

2. Lucifer, unlike him I don’t have a single bit of pride

3. Beel or lucifer

4 my MC sleeps in joggings pants a shirt and a hoodie. She mostly lays on her right side.

5. She is crazy but she’s mine, I kind of see my MC as a bit of an idiot also because im clumzy in real life but im still their human :)

6. My fam does belive in god but not so much that we go to the curch every sunday

7. She wants demon wings and horns, she doesn’t care she just want them. Also she loves the angles. At first she was a bit confused buts she’s used to it now.

8. My MC realtionship with her family is okay not the best not the worst.

9. 50/50 depends, my MC likes talking back so if she decides to talk trash or talk back to anyone she’d be dead..

10. MC really doesn’t care about magic but she would like to study it.

11. Lucifer: damn i feel short, i have a feeling he is like my brother. Mammon: (bsf name) this you? Broke hoe. Leviathan: otaku buddyyyy satan: draco malfoy? Dis you? Asmo: abit gay is okay. Beel: okay but this this man is tall. Does he have to duck to get trough doors? Belphie: is he asleep? In their attic LUCIFERRRR STANGER DANGERRRR. Babartos: butler…gimma a tea. Diavolo: king? Damn okay then

12: simeon: sexy, sexy angle. Luke: you shall be my child and we wil watch mlp :> solomon: he just need glasses and he would be harry potter as an grandpa.

13: my MC played baseball in the human realm as a pitcher so she would be able to throw hard and precisely, imagine mammon stole something of my MC she would just throw something against his head while he is running and the rest is like “she did what now”

14: no she just haves a shelf where she stalls them.

15: the matching neklace she has with her human bestfriend

16: she would try to eat it but if it really grosses her out she would be like yeah heck no

17: seeing the brothers getting closer over time.

18: she misses her sport and the team

19: mostly with beel asmo or mams shopping train or doing stupid bsf shit

20: normal but the tie a bit lose

Obey Me! MC Questions!

About Your MC!

Which of the Boys are they the most like?

Which of the Boys are they the least like?

Who does your MC date? [If multiple, what order do they start dating each one?]

How does your MC Sleep? [On their side, on their back, with a partner, etc., in PJs, etc.]

If you were to pick one song — and only one song — to describe your MC, what would it be and why?

Did they come from a religious family/culture? Do they practice a religion? 

What do they think about the whole angel/demon stuff? 

What’s your MC’s relationship with their family?

What are your MC’chances of survival if they got lost in the levels of Devildom that take you to the surface [aka the layers of Hell]?

Is your MC jealous/upset about not being able to use magic? Do they learn?

What was your MC’s first impression of the demon boys? 

First impression of the Angels & Solomon?

What is a skill your MC has that the Boys would be surprised by?

Do they own a secret place for their most prized possessions?   

What’s the most important thing they own?

Do they eat the strange demon food?

What’s their favourite part of being in Devildom?

What does your MC miss most about the human world?

What does MC spend most of their time doing/with who?

How does MC wear the RAD uniform? [If they do.]

[shinyhappyjess]

TAGGED BY @dracomalfoy-youlittleshit MORE LIKE DRACOMALFOY U LIL STAR THANK U there’s nothing i love more than talking about myself i’m not kidding it’s ridiculous ANYWAY HERE WE GO

Rules: answer 20 questions, then tag 20 bloggers you would like to get to know better…

Name: Jessica-Rose, v pretentious i usually just say Jessica but i secretly like it

Nicknames: Jess which at this point is basically my name it’s all anyone calls me i like it

Height: 5”4

Nationality: Scottish 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿

Favourite fruit: orange or apple or strawberry or all of them i love fruit

Favourite season: summer ☀️

Favourite plant: I LOVE PLANTS but idk my favourite and this hurts me UGH ok i love wildflowers daisies make me happy and lavender also i love all my leafy green plants Clark my aloe vera is beautiful and thriving i love him also i got a cute little kalanchoe plant for my birthday from my friends it’s beautiful ok i’ll stop

Favourite scent: vanilla, cake mix or lavender

Favourite colour: yellow 💛

Favourite animal: Fox 🦊

Coffee, tea or hot chocolate: i don’t like hot drinks but if i had to pick then hot chocolate but i wouldn’t be happy about it

Average sleep hours: 8-10 i’m a sleeping champ i slept through a fire alarm once

Dog or cat person: both but i have a dog and i’m not a traitor so i’ll say doggieessss

Favourite fictional character: i love everyone in one day at a time what a fkn rad show

Number of blankets you sleep with: i have like .. 4 throw blankets on my bed as well as my duvet i usually snuggle one and my dog makes a nest out of the others

now if this question was how many pillows/cushions .. i’m honestly too scared to count bc it’s probably around fkn 12 or something

Dream trip: honestly i want to travel the world it’s all i care about so like a road trip around europe or america or australia sounds rad but also i’d like to take my buddyyyy to florida to do all the parks or california bc my mum has so many rad pics from there KL

Blog created: fuck knows idk how to check probs like 2014 maybe when i was peak dan and phil stan

Number of followers: 124 thank u friends and random porn accounts love u

Random fact: i used to be a competitive dancer (i was pretty shit lol) nd my dance group performed at disney and did a competition at universal studios so that’s p cool

that’s only 19 questions so bonus fact: i am a NIGHTMARE for getting invested in trying to pick up a new hobby n then giving up a week later shoutout to my uke that’s sat in its case since like 3 christmases ago i’m sorry mum

SORRY IF U DONE IT ALREADY I TAG @fuck-yeah-firebringer @absuuuurdstarkid @arcreactorsanddragons @the-bandit-king @lauren-lopez-fangirl @oh-my-dead-vicious-wizard-duck @laurenlpz @woweejoeyrichter @popsicles-and-gelato +anyone who wants to do this honestly live ur dreams n u can say i tagged u xx

[rememberthattime]

Chapter 52. Finnish Lapland

I’m writing this introduction from our flight from London Gatwick. It is 6:14 AM. Cold and rainy. We’ve been up since 4, and even my few hours of sleep were interrupted by relentless coughing. I should feel tired and angry.

But instead I’m bursting with anticipation - like my body can’t handle the excitement (maybe that’s the reason for my cough?).

This is Chelsay and I’s first weekend trip, and as the plane makes its way to the runway, I’m remembering the #1 reason we moved back: accessible travel, starting with this weekend’s trip to the Finnish Lapland.

Our second round of European adventures began with this road trip to Nellim, Finland, an extremely remote town of 150 people tucked 250 miles into the Arctic Circle, just five miles from the Russian border.

However, before writing about our three days in Finland, I want to quickly cover our first three weeks in London.

I could talk about our return to Richmond Park, about our walks through Soho and the reminders of how “cool” London is, or about how we found our flat in Hampstead within 24 hours of arriving... All of that was great, but I really only want to write about one thing: Indy.

Yes, 12 year old Chelsay’s dream finally came true. As a kid, she’d tell her mom she was going to live in London (...she watched a lot of Mary Poppins). She would have a great job and a nice husband. But most importantly: she would have a border collie named Indiana Jones. This dream came true when Chels and I traveled up to Derby, England to visit a puppy litter. All of the puppies had chubby butts, but our little Indy was easy to spot: tail wagging, stomping over his puppy siblings, and already showing affection to his new parents. It was love at first site.

We won’t get to take little Indy home for a few more weeks, but that hasn’t slowed Chelsay’s “puppy mom” obsession. We bought his crate and fence on the ride home from Derby. We’ve been watching hours of dog training videos on YouTube. I’m receiving dozens of texts each day with the same puppy picture. ...Who am I kidding though? I’m just as much of an obsessed “puppy dad”.

That one Indy story means you’re caught up on our first three weeks in London. Back to our first trip.

There’s always a buzz when you’re going somewhere new, and that’s especially true in Europe. Every country is so accessible yet so unique. Spain is nothing like Sweden nor Morocco. They’re all just three hours away, but might as well be on different planets.

This was proven true as our plane descended into Finland. The landscape was whiter than a Dave Mathews concert. Snow everywhere. No patches of civilization, just patches of evergreen forests covered in more white. We took off in metropolitan London and landed literally in the Arctic Circle.

If this was evident on the flight in, it became especially clear as we left the airport. I asked our rental agent for the car keys and he looked back at me as if it were obvious: “They’re in the car - I started it 30 minutes ago.”

As we stepped out the airport doors, I realized why this should’ve been obvious — and also why his directions to the car were so emphatic. Everything was frozen, including the car had he not started it earlier. Chelsay and I would’ve been frozen too if we didn’t literally dive into the car.

After barely avoiding frostbite, my first thought upon hitting the road was “How can people survive here?” It’s just snow, ice, and sub-zero temperatures for months!

But the Finnish rightly play up their winter wonderland. In fact, it’s close enough to the North Pole that Lapland claims to be the Home of Santa. Yes, of all the places in the entire world, Santa chose Rovaniemi, Finland to set up shop. What an honor.

After a brief stop at Santa’s offices, we hit the road for our four-hour drive to Nellim. This place is remote, and that was exactly the intention. My two goals for the trip were (1) to see the Northern Lights and (2) to walk through snowy, silent Finish forests. Heading as far into Lapland as possible gave us the best chances for both.

The drive was a breeze: we had studded tires for the icy roads, and a James Acaster audiobook for entertainment. Plus the landscape kept us in awe - tall spruce forests lined the roadway and the black concrete was covered in ice, loose snow whipping around in the wind.

We were conscious of daylight on our drive up. In winter, the sun technically rises at 9:30 AM and sets at 3 PM. I say “technically” because there is actually far more daylight thanks to Nautical and Civil twilight, two things I’d never heard of before this trip. Given Lapland’s latitude, sunrise and sunset last about two hours each — rather than have a defined light time and dark time, Finnish days are just caught in perpetual semi-visibility... In addition to being “Home to Santa”, Lapland is apparently also the Twilight Zone.

Stop it Mike.

Anyway, we arrived at Nellim Wilderness Resort after sunset and nautical twilight and civil twilight and any other twilight. It was dark, but there were still a few activities available our first evening.

First, our resort had an illuminated sled hill. We didn’t know about the sledding beforehand, but once we’d seen it, Chelsay and I couldn’t resist.

Our riding styles were absolutely on brand: Chelsay laughed and screamed the entire way down (reminding me of our ride on The Mummy roller coaster at Universal Studios).

Meanwhile, I took sledding to an extreme by riding headfirst (likely breaking my ribs with what Chelsay called “The Salmon Jump”), then later trying to surf down (likely breaking my back with what Chelsay called “The Concussion Tumble”).

We were in the right country to recover from our (my) frigid falls, because the Finns love a hot sauna. In fact, they invented it! 1000 years ago, some Viking named Olaf probably tried that sled-surf thing, and a smoky sauna was his novel therapy!

Luckily the resort’s saunas were private, because similar to sled-surfing, I introduced a new twist to an old tradition: no one in the history of saunas has ever sweat as much as I did. Olaf included.

Outside of sledding and saunas, the other big nighttime activity in Lapland is searching for the Aurora Borealis. The Northern Lights are fairly common this time of year: about 50/50. The problem was the weather was due to be overcast & snowing throughout, so Chelsay and I came in with zero expectation.

We mentioned this to the receptionist at Nellim, but she wasn’t giving up hope. She said to keep our eyes peeled for stars: if you can see the stars, there’s a break in the clouds and a chance to see the Aurora. It didn’t hurt that our room was 50% window.

Just as the receptionist predicted, we saw stars from about 10:30 to midnight. Staring out felt like being on a hunt, eyes dashing from one side of the sky to the other in hopes of seeing a green flash. Eventually I fell asleep, but the resort offers an Aurora alarm in case the lights appear.

Unfortunately there were no alarms either night.

I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t disappointed - the Northern Lights were one of the main reasons for visiting, and the brief star sightings provided a cruel tease of unwarranted hope. But the Aurora is just weather after all, and as the sun rose the next day, we remembered how cool it was to be in Nellim, Finland. Plus, the flip side of this snowy cloud cover was a clean and white-coated winter wonderland.

The fresh snow was perfect for our first activity of the day: dog sledding. These huskies were dying to get out and run, and I’ll never forget their excited gallop as we burst through the trees onto an open, frozen lake.

Chelsay and I switched off as driver, both flirting with danger. Chelsay nearly led us into Russia, while I ghost rode the sled. If you’re not familiar with ghost riding, it’s where you hop out of a moving (now driverless) vehicle and run beside it. Based on the look in our dogs’ eyes, I’m not sure they’d seen this before.

After the morning excitement, Chelsay and I had earned extra whipped cream on our hot chocolates. I’ll briefly mention the dining, which we both surprisingly enjoyed. Finnish food is not traditionally exciting (a lot of lingonberry and reindeer), but the Wilderness Resort came through for each meal: tasty lamb shanks, potatoes gratin, mushroom risotto, panna cotta, and more. And obviously a lot of hot chocolate.

We regained enough energy over lunch for our afternoon activity: snow shoeing. We planned to be out for a few hours, so bundled up in three layers of everything: socks, leggings, sweaters. We even doubled up on gloves.

Now insulated from the sub zero temperatures, we were motoring around the quiet, empty wilderness in no time. Nothing but clean snow and creaky timber for miles. Chelsay said it reminded her of the land of swirly twirly gumdrops from Elf: “Byeee Buddyyyy”

We climbed up hills, slid down slopes, trekked across frozen lakes, forged our own paths through the deep snow, and tracked the only other footprints we could find: wolf and reindeer.

Just as the sun was setting (at 3 PM), Chelsay and I stumbled into a peaceful and perfect grove. It was a beautiful setting and the most memorable moments I’ll take from the trip.

The evergreen branches were coated in snowy white clumps, the crisp air was cold in our chests, and the only sound we could hear was crunch... crunch... crunch... as we gently shuffled across the deep snow.

We returned to our room with that “exhausted but content” feeling. Our quads were burning but we’d accomplished what we came for.

That night, we enjoyed another remedial sauna - this one was somehow sweatier than the last. We didn’t have any energy or unbroken bones left for sledding that night, so we instead stayed in our room and watched Parasite (great movie) while sipping hot chocolate. I doubt I’ll remember what JOMO meant when I read this in 20 years, but this night describes it well.

We were making the long drive back to Rovaniemi around lunch the next day, but had plenty of time for morning walk. This time we attempted to go without snow shoes, but quickly realized that walking through deep snow is hard! Your feet sink with every step, and you have to contort your legs up & out of the snow to make any progress.

Chelsay compared it to the Sahara, except instead of sinking ankle-deep in sand, we were literally waist-deep. Luckily we persevered long enough to stumble across a pack of reindeer.

With our quads burning, we figured the reindeer sighting was a good enough cap to our Lapland adventure. Sure, I wish we’d seen the Northern Lights, but Chelsay and I are still very content with our first trip back in Europe.

I say that without any doubt. Rewinding to our flight from London: Lapland’s frozen landscapes exceeded the “new city” excitement I felt as our departing plane rolled toward the runway.

Lapland is a different planet: part winter wonderland, part uninhabitable wasteland. Its frigid wilderness is unlike any of the previous places we’ve visited, but the craziest part is that it was all so easily accessible. Chelsay and I were 250 miles into the Arctic Circle, literally a short walk into Russia’s northernmost territories, yet remained just a three hour flight from London.

That’s why we moved back: because every trip Chelsay and I take has the potential to bring us somewhere new, special, and completely different from anywhere we’ve ever been.

I can’t wait for our next departing plane to roll its way to the runway.

[notquiteinsane]

anemone, bloodroots, and rose buddyyyy

Anemone: Favorite flower?

Dahlia!!!! I love things with lots of petals. And dahlias are just balls of petals. And they are soft and come in lots of different colors! One of my mom’s friends crossbreeds dahlias and sometimes we get bulb things from him and they are SO COOL. Except they like full sun and my mom’s yard doesn’t get a lot of that lol. Maybe one day I’ll be able to grow a ton of them and then throw them at people like snowballs.

Bloodroots: When you were a kid, what did you want to be when you grew up?

:o

Okay. So. My answer varied a lot as time went by? For a long time I wanted to be a marine biologist, and then I found out that it wasn’t like, diving and looking at cool animals and coral and stuff. Then i wanted to be a truck driver? And then I got into the “oh god I have no idea I just want a job” and that’s when I was diagnosed with anxiety *cough*. 

Rose: What’s your favorite sound?

So, I did this one! But I HAVE MORE.I really like the sound of waves on rocks. Whether that’s on like, stream pebbles or on big basalt cliffs, you pick. My family has property up on the Keweenaw peninsula of Michigan, right on lake Superior. And hearing those waves at night when I’m going to sleep is the best. :) And if I’ve been in the lake, I can still hear all the rocks clacking around underwater in my head. It is a very good, but very cold, sound. It is good.

ask box game prompt here!