#had over half of the DIY recipes

[sl33py-g4m3r]

ramble about me constantly restarting games ~~~ why tho~~~? y i do this? -_-;;

I wish I wasn't such a serial game restarter~~ idk why I do this to begin with~~

I hope I don't do it with Pokemon violet cause I've almost got all of the pokedexes complete~~~ just need some version exclusives from scarlet, as well as all the legendary treats~~ but you got to multiplayer for the other version's ones and neither me nor my sibling are in a pokemon playing mood I think~~ sadly~~

a note to myself to not restart pokemon violet~~ we're almost done baby~~

but nope~~ this post was concerning specifically animal crossing new horizons~~~

I was using a cataloging app on my phone to track donations to the museum, diys, items I had, everything really~~

I stopped playing that particular island for like a year and then restarted cause I got bored I guess?

so now my island and cataloging efforts are back at square one again.

and I was almost done with the museum and had helf of the DIY recipes~~ and was ALMOST at blue roses again~~

got to blue roses on one of my islands, restarts immediately afterwards.

I'm never going to 100% the game like this~~ which was why I was cataloging everything to begin with~~

how do I not get bored of animal crossing (or any game really) so I can actually either just beat the game, or actually 100% without restarting??

this behavior isn't helpful~~ why am I like this?

also is connecting your island to the Nintendo online app worth it to do? I've done that with many of my others previously and now don't know how to delete them off the nook link app cause I don't have those islands anymore....

I think there are items you can only get from that~~ so I'd assume it's worth it to keep paying for NSO just to use nook link and get those items~~~

which is kind of dumb~~~

what else is nook link good for tho? I don't get it~~~

TLDR: I serially restart games I intend on hopefully eventually 100% dropping me back at square one again~~ idk why I do this unless I either don't like the setup, or get bored~~~ or don't play for a while~~ I need to knock it off and chill out~~

games like these are supposed to be a chill experience~~ not a "get everything done as fast as possible" grind fest like I play them~~ I'm not a speedrunner~~

but yeah this behaviour isn't helpful to 100% how do I stop this? especially in regards to Animal Crossing New Horizons?? cause restarting my island was what got me to make this long text wall to begin with~~

help~~

[wareagleofthemountain]

Here’s a compilation of all my behind the scenes HCs that I imagine Thranduil and his queen shared in their domestic lives

Being that they often stayed up late working on paperwork, battle strategies, and other royal duties, Thranduil and his wife had a mental cookbook of DIY recipes. This came from the countless times they’ve whipped up a last minute dish made from leftovers at 2 AM. Including desserts and, as a law, they feed each other a spoonful of whipped cream whenever one of them takes the container out.

Thranduil’s wife loves to tease him for having a “Doriath accent” whenever he speaks in Elvish. Which he of course passes on to Legolas. Sometimes, when he’s pronounced a word particularly heavy in his Doriath inflection, she’ll chuckle and repeat it back to him just as he said it so he can’t deny his accent as he always does. But, for all her teasing, she thinks his speech is adorable.

Thranduil has a slightly lopsided smirk due to the burn scars on the right side of his face. Even with his masking spell, the right half of his lip droops down when he smiles.

Thranduil’s wife always takes care when approaching him on his blind side, touching his shoulder and gently brushing her body against his side to make him known of her presence before she speaks lest she startle him.

Thranduil wears low cut v-necks at his wife’s request. She loved to brush her fingers over his collarbone whenever she passed him as a sign of affection so he made it a point to keep that area accessible to her.

No personal space for the queen. Although she had her own throne, Thranduil much preferred to hold her in his lap with his chin atop her head during meetings.

Every night before bed and every morning before breakfast, Thranduil rests his head in his wife’s lap and holds her free hand as the other works healing salve into his scars. She’s the only one, besides his healers when he’d first been burned, that he allows himself to drop his protective shield around. He was fearful at first that she may be put off by what she saw, but she only loved that part of him fiercely and shamelessly.

Thranduil’s elk and the queen are very close. He often follows her around whenever she goes for a walk, and he’ll still try to follow her even when Thranduil is trying to ride him in a different direction. The king will have to tug on his reigns and put in a good deal of effort to get his mount on a different path.

The white gems were a just because gift for his wife, as Thranduil was so thankful to be married to her that he often surprised her with gifts.

When meetings become long and dull without any important topics being discussed, Thranduil and his wife will entertain themselves by passing a paper back and forth. The rest assume that they are just taking notes, but really they’re drawing. Someone starts on the picture and they pass it around, adding on to it until the meeting is over. The end result is always interesting and Thranduil has a locked drawer in his office where he keeps them.

The queen and baby Legolas often drop by the king’s throne room and bring him flowers they’ve picked while out on a walk.

The night Thranduil was crowned king, before his official ceremony, his wife and son crowned him in their bedchamber after everyone had finished getting dressed. They didn’t have a silken red carpet so the queen rolled out a long red bath towel. They didn’t have a royal scepter so toddler Legolas fetched a branch he’d brought inside. But they did have the crown, so Thranduil took a knee before his wife and she said, “by the power vested in me by Prince Legolas Greenleaf of the woodland realm, I name you king Thranduil Oropherion. Leader, protector, and defender of our land.” She placed the crown atop his head, Legolas tapped his shoulders with the stick, and Thranduil tackle hugged them both. He’d never felt more like a king than in that moment, and he always considered this his true right to rule.

The king and queen dislike being apart longer than absolutely necessary, and never tire of each other’s company. The queen considers their marriage as having an eternal sleepover with her best friend. Which is accurate as I think they have been close since childhood.

They made a game of hiding one of Legolas’s stuffed toys in various places around the palace. Once it’s found, it’s the other’s turn to hide it.

They can’t sleep unless they’re cuddling.

Whenever someone new moves into their kingdom, Thranduil and his wife make them a welcome gift basket filled with local plants and foods, as well as a few household staples.

The couple are good friends with Lord Elrond and Lady Celebrian. However, the Queen and Celebrian are on another level. They’re practically sisters and declare a “no boys allowed” hang out session whenever they visit. They just wanna drink wine, try on dresses, and plot to take over the world (but you didn’t hear that from me).

When they were pregnant, the ladies took turns hosting vacation weekends at their estates.

Thranduil gets rather possessive of his wife when around human men, keeping his arm wrapped around her at all times and glaring if someone stares at her a moment too long. It’s not that he doesn’t trust her, it’s just that he knows human males aren’t as well mannered as elven men. Plus they tend to stare more and he hates that. Same for dwarves.

They rarely ever argue as the couple has always made it a point in their relationship to be open with one another. There is truly nothing that can’t be discussed between them.

The first time the queen saw how terrifying and brutal Thranduil could be in a battle, she was actually quite scared and it took him a few days to ease her back into feeling comfortable around him.

Whenever they go out for a ride in winter, Thranduil always seats her on the saddle in front of him and hides her in his cloak with her back pressed against his warm chest.

He’s definitely the type to shamelessly check out his wife from atop his throne as she walks by. They also playfully flirt with one another whenever they can.

Thranduil loves to nuzzle his face into the crook of her neck from behind, his arms wrapped around her waist.

Sad, but the Queen’s body had been so brutalized by orcs that there was not enough of it to bring back for a proper burial, so Thranduil ordered the statue be built in place of a grave. On his worst nights, when he’s absolutely sure no one is around and fails to drink himself to sleep, he’ll curl up on the forest floor at the foot of the statue for some sort of comfort in order to close his eyes. He also sometimes pays it a visit just to plant more flowers and tell it about his day or how much Legolas has grown. Obviously he knows it’s an inanimate object, but he misses her so much.

He and the Queen have an inside joke involving Elros. Thranduil had hired the guard himself without the presence of his wife, so it wasn’t until the next day that Elros encountered the Queen while standing watch at Thranduil’s side during a public audience. The Queen was never one for formality so she was easily mistaken by him as a commoner due to her simple attire. When she’d attempted to step out onto the stage beside her husband as he spoke, Elros drew his blade and told her that she was standing too close to the king. Now, sometimes when she’s standing near Thranduil, she’ll take a few steps back and say “wouldn’t want to stand too close to his Majesty” with a wink. It makes Thranduil grin in amusement and Elros blush terribly.

Thranduil is constantly holding his wife’s hand.

During holidays, the queen sees to decorating the palace herself and always comes up with at least one fun craft for her and Thranduil to try each season.

[malk1ns]

HI HELLO I’ve been thinking about your barbie girl sid for a hot minute….if you could please imagine the man trying to do a diy/home improvement/“wood working project….like maybe sid wants to make a bird house or bird feeding station so he can do some more bird watching, and he’s struggling a little trying to figure out which tools are best to use in what order….sid out in the backyard all sweaty and pink cheeked and pouting behind his safety glasses trying to figure out why his angles are off…..asking geno with his big old 🥺 eyes to hold his wood still for him while he works his saw……

Sid loves having hobbies.

Evgeni's watched him pick up and discard new ones practically every offseason since they've been together. The only ones that have stood the test of time are scrapbooking and baking; Sid spends hours in his craft room putting together memory books that Evgeni will absolutely not admit to crying over when he's feeling sentimental, and after over a decade Sid's perfected his banana bread recipe.

Everything else, though, Sid gets really into for a few weeks over the summer, then loses interest a few weeks into the new season. They have half a shelf's worth of books on birdwatching from the Covid pause, and Evgeni things there's a bin of yarn somewhere in the garage still.

So, he's used to Sid watching something on YouTube and getting all excited about trying something new. They take trips to stores to buy stuff because Sid doesn't trust Amazon after they delivered a sensitive package to their neighbor's house, and Evgeni watches Sid wander the aisles, offering opinions when asked but otherwise letting Sid pick out whatever little bits and bobs he likes best.

It keeps Sid occupied, usually. Evgeni does most of his intensive paper-writing in the offseasons, and Sid having something of his own to work on, even if he gives up after a month, keeps him from getting bored when Evgeni loses track of time.

He's not so sure about this summer's choice though.

Sid's been talking about wanting to redo the basement at his house all season, setting up Pinterest boards and drowning Evgeni's Instagram messages with links to renovation jobs. Evgeni figured they were in for a summer of dealing with construction and mess and contractors who lie right to Sid's face because they know a mark when they see one.

Turns out, Sid wants to do some of it himself. Evgeni thinks he'd rather deal with the contractors.

Neither of them are all that comfortable in Home Depot, but Sid insists on going in person instead of ordering, and Evgeni spends his first real off-day of the summer eyeing the endless, inscrutable tools and hardware fixtures as Sid frowns at his list and gets them lost at least three times.

It's when they get to the circular saws that Evgeni finally says something.

"Sid..." he says, frowning at the sawhorse set up to demo one of the units. "Not sure this is safe, like, you're use a saw before?"

Sid's crouched down to inspect the saw blades. Evgeni takes a minute to admire the way his ass and thighs strain at his jeans.

"It's fine," Sid says, distracted and poking at the packages. "People use these all the time. And I watched a video on YouTube." He glances up at Evgeni, eyes big and imploring. "I really want to make this table, G."

Evgeni caves. He usually does. Sighing, he crouches down next to Sid, who beams at him and shoves his phone under Evgeni's nose. "Can you help me figure out which of these I need to get?"

--

Sid takes over Evgeni's concrete shooting pad in the backyard. There are piles of wood and buckets of bolts and screws and fasteners all over the place, and Sid spends every afternoon puttering around out there, measuring planks and drawing designs on the big sheets of paper he had stashed away from some other project.

Sid's shorts are all very short, and his t-shirts are getting tighter as he bulks back up after the season. It's a nice view. Evgeni's not getting much done on this summer's paper.

It doesn't seem like Sid is making progress either, though. So far, every time Evgeni glances out the window, he's only succeeded in moving around the pieces of wood.

He looks awfully cute in his safety glasses, though.

One day, the weather is nice enough that Evgeni gives up on his paper and wanders downstairs, stepping out onto the patio.

"G!" Sid beams at him, pushing his glasses up his nose. His hair is getting long, curling with sweat against his temples, and he's wearing the tightest white t-shirt he owns. Evgeni licks his lips. "Are you done with your story? Do you want to see what I'm working on?"

Evgeni shakes his head. Every summer, Sid thinks he's going to be done with his paper right away. He's stopped explaining the number of drafts he has to go through before it can even be sent to his editor. "I'm take break, it's nice out. Yes, you show. It's not look much like table though, Sid."

Sid pouts at him. "It takes time," he whines, gathering up the papers he's got scattered over the sawhorse. "Look, I have to measure out the legs, and make sure that all the pieces fit together..."

Evgeni dutifully looks over the designs. Sid's handwriting is terrible, but he's clearly put work into the numbers; there are erasemarks all over where he's corrected the measurements.

Numbers have never been Evgeni's strong suit, so he doesn't spend any time checking the figures. Either they'll work or they won't. "Looks good, Sid, I can't wait to see." He glances to the side, eyeing Sid up. "You take break too, maybe?"

Sid frowns at him. "I was just about to start cutting..." he starts, but trails off when Evgeni drops the papers and gets his hand on Sid's ass. "Oh, a break. Yeah, okay."

He makes for the door, but Evgeni catches him around the waist before he can go back inside, pulls him over to the chaise lounges next to the grill. When he knocks one of the seat cushions onto the ground and drops to his knees, Sid squeaks.

Sid's spent a lot of time outside this summer, and he's already got color, stark tan lines on his belly and thighs from his shorts. Evgeni licks over his hipbone, setting his teeth into the soft flesh there and biting down just enough to leave a mark, just enough to make Sid whine and cant his hips forward.

Getting Sid's shorts off is always a battle, but eventually Evgeni peels them down his thighs, letting them pool on the ground as he leans forward to bury his face in Sid's groin. He's warm, and he's been sweating in the afternoon heat; when Evgeni inhales, it's salty and pungent, twisting something in Evgeni's stomach and making him groan with want.

Sid twists Evgeni's hair in his fingers and tugs, not too hard, but urgently enough that Evgeni redirects his attention to Sid's dick, already hard and beading precome.

Evgeni doesn't tease. They're outside, after all, and the chair cushions are only comfortable for so long. He opens his mouth and lets Sid feed him his dick, closing his eyes to savor the taste and the heft of Sid in his mouth, listening to Sid pant and groan and whimper above him as he thrusts.

Sid's noisy when he comes, practically shouting as he spills over Evgeni's tongue, and Evgeni clenches his thighs. He's hard, he wants to come so badly, but he holds Sid's dick in his mouth, licking and sucking gently until Sid pulls away with a gasp.

"Wow," Sid says, blinking down at him. Evgeni's mouth feels swollen and used, and his dick is hard in his gym shorts.

He gets to his feet with a groan, wincing as his knees crack. He's barely gotten his balance when Sid is pushing at him, shoving him towards the door and inside the house.

Neither of them get anything done that afternoon.

--

The table turns out terribly. The legs are all the same length, but they don't fit into the top correctly, so it wobbles. The stain isn't even, too thin in some parts and textured and thick in others. One side of the top is cut at a slant.

Sid pouts over it, wants to throw it away, but Evgeni puts it in his office, on one side of his desk. A couple of folded-up index cards stops it from wobbling, and with a few blankets on top it's a perfect nest for Maverick to curl up in and nap. Sid smiles whenever he comes in and sees it, and Evgeni's caught him doodling; he thinks Sid's trying to figure out how to make a bird house.

He does make Sid take the circular saw back, though.

[gucciforasushirestaurant]

can i request something fluffy? maybe christmas cookie baking with harry!

Cookies.

summary: baking cookies with H.

word count: 610

reading time: 2min 30sec

content warning: pet names (baby, honey, babe), illusions to trauma around the holidays.

_______________

“Will you please focus?” you giggle. You shimmy away from Harry’s kisses to your neck, as he stands behind you, his flour-covered hands on your waist. “Go back to your station, please!”

“Alright, alright. I’ll be good,” he smirks, kissing the side of your head before taking his spot next to you, and rolling out more cookie dough. “How many more do we have to do?”

“However many we can get with the dough we have left. I overestimated how much the recipe would make.” You pout.

You may have bitten off more than you could chew, with the cookies. The baking part was the easy part, it was the decorating that would take you a while, and the more cookies you made the more you needed to decorate. And everything didn’t need to be perfect…but it had to be close to it because we're set to host Friends-mas this weekend. A test run for when you host Harry’s family on Christmas day. And, oh boy, were you nervous! You wanted to impress, you wanted to be the best host there was. You’ve been a Pinterest fiend for weeks, saving every recipe and DIY that you’ve come across. And when you saw the hand-decorated cookies, Well, you had to buy your own set of cookie cutters and decorating supplies! Your beautifully decorated cookies were planned to be everyone's party favors.

Once half of the cookies were cool enough to decorate and the last half were baking, you began decorating.

“This is the part where I’m useless.” Harry jokes, watching you dye different icings. Harry was the musician, but you were the artist, and he was sure his creations wouldn’t be up to par.

“What? No! I want you to decorate some too.”

“You sure?”

“Yes. these are supposed to be favors from the both of us.” You beam up at him, handing him a piping bag. “Now, do you want to copy me or do you wanna free hand it?”

“I’ll copy yours first until I get the hang of it.”

You went at his pace for the first few cookies, while his hands got adjusted to the piping bag in his hand. And he wasn’t too bad! They didn’t look as crisp as yours did, slightly messy but that’s what made them personal.

“Thank you,” you say quietly into the silence that falls between you. Harry sets his piping bag of icing down, for another color.

“For what, baby?”

“For baking cookies with me,” you say shyly.

“You don’t have to thank me honey, you know I love spending time with you.” He leans over kissing your cheek, and you nudge your hip to his.

“I know. But still, I used to hate this time of year. I never got to bake cookies or make a gingerbread house,” you let out a sad chuckle. “But now - I don’t know - I enjoy this time of year. It feels so cozy,” you sigh, putting the finishing touches on your cookies. "And I get to bake cookies. With you,” you smile looking over at him, and he pops a dimple.

“I love you.” Harry blurts, and you can't hold back the giggle.

“I love you too.” You look down at your work. 40 cookies it turned out. Way too many, but they all turned out adorable. “Well, we did it, baby. Yours doesn't look bad at all! You can barely tell who did what?"

“You are an adorable liar baby.” He chuckles, picking up one of his first cookies that looked a little rough around the edges, and taking a bite.

“You tried your best,” you admit with a soft smile.

🎄🎄🎄

Kinkmas 2023 Masterlist

Kinkmas 2023 Blurb Masterlist

Request a Kinkmas Blurb <3

[moopsy-daisy]

Make Your Own Cosmetics, Get What You Actually Want

Once you've been in zero waste, eco friendly, solarpunk/lunarpunk circles for a while, it's easy to forget the steps you took when you started. There are lots of DIY projects I've been doing for 10+ years now, and I keep doing them because they work (for me). Yet, when I sit back and think "am I doing enough?" I always gloss over the myriad things that have become part of my everyday life.

Making these things won't save the environment, but you'll get products that meet your needs on your terms, will save you money, and you won't have to worry about a company discontinuing your favorites. Plus, it seems like a lot less packaging to just buy a brick of beeswax and toss in some kitchen stuff you already had to make makeup.

Henna

I got really lucky, I always wanted red hair and henna is a natural dye that only comes in red. Well, more of a coppery tone. But, here's the other cool thing: the henna process is anti-fungal and controls dandruff. Half the time, I remember to color my hair because my scalp starts getting itchy 6+ weeks later and I start to get flakes. Coloring my hair takes care of my scalp and I don't need dandruff shampoo to keep it healthy. It's cost-effective, buying high quality henna for a year's worth of color (for my length and thicc hair) is about $60 for 18-months' of materials. I mix it when I need it, and keep the powder in the freezer. Pro-tip, if you or your partner don't like the grassy, hay-like smell of henna, add cardamom or ginger powder to the mix. It doesn't change the color but it'll knock down the scent.

I learned everything I needed to know about Henna for Hair here: http://hennaforhair.com and buy through Catherine's store because I know I'm getting real, quality henna powder.

Oh and a cloth wrap for your hair will let you keep the henna covered without wasting plastic wrap every time you redo your roots. I've been using the same 'turbie twist' wraps for years now. I made them from old t-shirts and they're stained as fuck. Who cares? This is basically their only job.

Carmine Lip Color

No, it isn't vegan. Yes, it's made of bugs. It's also a spectacular color, the insects aren't abused in the process of gathering or raising. They're actually parasites on nopal cactus, they have a simple niche and serve it well. I learned this lip stain recipe from Humblee & Me, and have found that the anti-bacterial doesn't seem to be necessary, ymmv. A 2.5 gram sample pack of carmine from TKB has lasted me almost a year and I wear this almost daily. I find that the glycerin really helps keep my lips from drying out too badly, so I wear my lip stain even when I'm not planning on being seen by other people. I spend about $20 on lip color for a year and that's including the bottles I use to store it (tiny eyedroppers work best imo) and the glycerin. Not quite zero waste but darn close.

Note: I'm still trying to find a simple recipe for black goth lipstick that I like. So far, my attempts have had a nasty texture and aren't worth the trouble.

Eyebrow Fill

My favorite brand of eyebrow liner discontinued the best color I ever found, so I decided to make my own. Beeswax, cocoa powder, activated charcoal, and almond oil made a little pot of eyebrow fill that suits my needs beautifully. Go super light on the charcoal until you know you've got the color you want. My brows are pretty dark but not fully black, so I do a dark chocolate sort of shade. I think I made my last batch about 11 months ago and it's still half full. I use it daily, apply with an angled brush, and it's never given me breakouts or anything. I don't even wash it off, because I am lazy.

Body Powder/Dry shampoo

Growing up in California, I didn't need this stuff. Living in Oregon? Summer would be awful without body powder. It's also a nice way to have a fragrance on. Pour your favorite perfume (I love Black Phoenix Alchemy Lab oils) onto a cotton ball, put that ball in a jar with a bunch of corn starch. Shake. Leave it for a month. You now have scented body powder. It's a decent dry shampoo, too, I just brush it into my dark hair and it disappears.

Tooth Powder

There is NOTHING wrong with using conventional toothpaste if it meets your needs. I have particular reasons for using tooth powder. These include hating the taste of most toothpaste and needing to avoid fluoride because of my particular thyroid condition. (Fluoride isn't bad for everyone! It isn't ideal for everyone. Figure out what you need!) I make my own tooth powder, it works well enough for me and I don't hate brushing my teeth like I used to. 1 part baking soda, 1 part bentonite clay, some ground cloves. Mix it up, keep in a glass jar (metal will bond with the clay, bad things happen, this is why we use glass or plastic for storage). $20 of materials = LOADS of tooth powder.

Cutting Hair

It's way easier than you think. I cut my own hair and I do a graduated bob which is a little more complex than most at-home cuts. I taught myself. I use decent shears (don't use scissors) and a Wahl hair trimmer set. Learn this skill on yourself, and when people find out you can do hair, they'll come to you for their own needs. Great way to provide mutual aid (one of my parents is trans and getting haircuts in a salon would be extremely stressful for her, so I cut her hair and save her money and suffering). You could also do skill trades! I trade haircuts for massages from a massage therapist friend, for example.

Protip: Dust yourself with body powder before cutting hair, it makes the little shards of cut hair way less prone to sticking to you. You'll still want a shower but it'll just be less icky.

[riley-travels]

July 23- Half day, Clog DIY, Boba DIY, and Yilan

Today I woke up surprisingly early, I think around 2:00 before taking a while to fall back asleep and waking for the final time around 6:30. I went for coffee around 7:00 and ran into Chief and Yeh Laoshi. The coffee I had was much better than yesterday. With the caffeine, I was able to start the writing on my Independent Excursion 1. I had already found an amazing article that I really enjoyed, so I reread that and began my work. I ended up hitting somewhere around the 800 word minimum in the academic section and was able to hit an exact 1010 with the title and my free writing section. After me and Sabrina were both done with our posts and had submitted them we decided to “reward” ourselves by trying out La Maison du Danemark, a bakery by our hotel that we had not tried yet. It was amazing as always, then we just waited for the bus. The ride to Yilan was pretty easy but very rainy. After we got there, we learned about clogs and even got to design our own leather strap to go on little key chain clogs. Before going back to our hotel we had the chance to make our own boba milk tea. We got to brew the tea in a shaker, add milk powder, add our desired level of brown sugar syrup, and then shake with ice. Then we poured it over the tapioca pearls and got to drink it, I thought it was good but the tea was kind of weak but the pearls were some of the best I have ever had. When we were in the gift shop I also saw one of my favorite desserts that I buy at home, which I had no idea was made in Taiwan.

Academic:

The globalization of boba tea, originating from Taiwan, has had profound effects on the island's cultural and economic landscape. As boba tea gained international popularity, it brought global attention to Taiwanese culinary culture, absolutely building a sense of national pride among Taiwanese people. Economically, the global demand for boba tea has boosted Taiwan's tea industry, leading to increased exports and the growth of local businesses. This cultural export has also contributed to Taiwan's soft power, enhancing its cultural presence on the global stage. However, globalization has also led to the commercialization and commodification of boba tea, sometimes resulting in the dilution of its traditional recipes and methods to cater to international tastes. Despite these challenges, the worldwide success of boba tea underscores Taiwan's influential role in global food culture. Walking around in the touristy areas of Taipei many local sellers of different souvenirs also utilize the image of boba, further stimulating the economy at home.

[thatsadbietch]

All Hallow’s Schemes

Who’s ready for a Halloween themed fic in December??  

It seems you’ve been dealt your share of tricks this Halloween, and decide its your turn for some treats with a little help from your favorite smug eagle.

ler!reader, lee!Keaton

I hope everyone enjoys! Please if you have a villager in mind I’d love to oblige!

“Wheeew,” you exhaled, shutting the door to your home and slumping onto your couch.  It was a fun Halloween event, but it wore you out, searching for and giving candy to Jack while avoiding being tricked by your neighbors.  And some of them got you good, wiping your brow and inspecting your hand to find it coated in blue and green paint.

“Those assholes,” you muttered fondly, chuckling a little to yourself as you recounted the events of the evening. Audie, Patty, and Piper were out together and flanked you at once for candy, which you’d just given to Jack. While you were trying to explain your way out of an impending trick, Louie appeared behind you, taking your arms and holding you against him.

“Treat or be tricked, Y/N, that’s the rule for tonight!” he had said as the three aspiring pop stars attacked your face and neck with paint. Of course, it was all good fun, but it left you restless.

“All that trouble for what?” You asked yourself, looking toward the door where you emptied all the contents of your pockets.  Some spooky garland, a lantern, one of Jack’s robes, a Jack mask, a few new DIY recipes…

“... Wait a minute,” You thought and approached your Halloween haul, eyeing the robe and headpiece.  The gears in your head were turning and you developed a wonderfully devious idea.  But you were going to need some help.

*******************************************************************************************

“Heh, not too bad,” Keaton said to himself, going through his haul for the evening.  He had been careful to steer clear of Jack all night… Not that he was afraid of him or anything.  Totally not that. He just thought it best not to bother the Czar on his big day.  Yep, that was the story he was sticking with.

Three loud thumps startled him out of his thoughts as he ran up to the door.

“Nice try, you aren’t getting any tricks or treats from me!” He called out.

“I thought you were an eagle, not a chicken,” you called back from the other side. Keaton turned quickly and opened his door rather abruptly, but you rushed in before he had a chance to tell you how rude he thought you were.

“Wingo, what are you- what happened to your face?” he said upon seeing the blue and green hues you hadn’t bothered to clean off yet.

“Louie, Piper, Audie, and Patty happened.  And I want your help to get them back.” Keaton smirked.  “What’s the plan then, wingo?” You pulled up a message on your phone and showed your vibrant partner in crime.

*******************************************************************************************

“There, sent!” Piper chirped, having sent a mass invitation to everyone on the island to her home for a Halloween party.  Given almost half the island was at her home already, she figured the more the merrier… Or in this case, the scarier.  Audie, sporting a red dress and devil horns, was preparing a punch while Patty frosted some of the pumpkin and bat-shaped cookies she baked for the occasion. Meanwhile, a toilet paper-wrapped Louie put up the decorations.

“Thanks for inviting us over, Piper, this is gonna be a blast!” Louie said as he descended from a step ladder.

“Of course.  The decorations look totes amazing, by the way!” Piper complimented, smiling wide and showing her vampire teeth.  Paper bats flew from strings on the ceiling and spooky garland accented the walls.  Pumpkin lanterns were illuminated and fake spiders sneakily adorned chairs and tables, awaiting unsuspecting guests.

“And OMIGOSH look at this snack table!” Audie’s blood-red cherry punch was the perfect balance of sweet and tart, and Patty’s finished cookies were a work of art; you almost wouldn’t want to eat them and ruin them.  Well, almost.

“It was no trouble.  I’m actually super pumped my cherry punch gets such a grand debut!” Audie elicited a  small squeak of excitement and clapped her paws together.

“And I always love an excuse to get baking. It’ll be my claim to fame!” Patty perked up.

“And I just finished putting together the perf Halloween playlist.  Tonight is officially ON!” Piper cheered.

And just like that, out went the power.

Patty and Audit audibly gasped in surprise, holding each other.

“Piiiiper… What’s going on?” Louie asked wearily.  Piper huffed, more frustrated than scared at the moment.

“I don’t know! I’ll go check outside.”  But she stopped, and all four watched as her door slowly opened.

~Crreeeeeek~

“Piper,” Louie called, placing a hand on her shoulder.  She jumped in response, but backed up where the four of them were huddled together.

“I heard there was a party at this house… A Halloween party…” Bellowed a deep voice.  The four villagers were shaking now.

“And I WASN’T INVITED?!” The door burst completely open and in bounded a purple-robed figure with a pumpkin lantern head, eyes glowing bright red.  

“JACK!?!” The four exclaimed, fear evident in all their voices as they huddled more tightly together, if that was possible. The figure released a deep, evil laugh.

“Mwahaha! Yes, tis I, the Czar of Halloween themselves!” They sauntered menacingly toward the group.  “How dare you host a party on my Halloween night without my appearance!” The group murmured apologies, but the Czar was having none of it.

“Enough! I care not for your apologies.  Your actions must be met with consequences, so here is a trick from your dear friend, JACK!” With that, a substance burst forth from the figure’s wrists, causing squeals and screams from the four.  However, Audie was the first to stop and realize.

“Wait, foxtrots… This is just silly string.”  Suddenly the lights kicked back on, and sure enough, the four looked at each other covered in purple and orange silly string.  They all stood, thoroughly confused.

“Hahaha! Wingo, that was phenomenal!” Keaton ran in, putting a friendly wing over “Jack”’s shoulder.

“How now, what do you mean “wingo”?” Patty asked.  Keaton smirked as the figure pulled off his head, which wasn’t a head at all, revealing your still blue and green painted face.

“Y/N!?!?”

“Surprise!” You announced triumphently, returning Keaton’s gesture by placing an arm over his shoulders.

“But… how did you…” Piper started.

“Oh, it was pretty easy!” you started.  “You sent the invite, and I decided to return your trick with one of my own!”

“Of course after seeing wingo’s face, I had to do something. Four against one, ya know. And it was a blast!” he then turned to you. “Had to even the odds a little bit.  What kind of a bestie would I be if I left them hanging?”

There was a moment of silence before Louie started laughing. “Man, island rep, you got us good! And we did kinda gang up on you earlier, sorry about that.” Audie, Piper, and Patty followed suit.

“Yeah foxtrot, I guess we got caught up in all the festivities.”

“I’m sorry if we made it seem like we were all out to get you, chickadee.”

“Oh bestie, I’m so sorry!”

“There’s no need. Everyone had fun with their tricks.  I know I did,” you chuckled and continued.  “As far as I’m concerned we’re even now.”

“So will you guys stay for the party?” Piper asked in a hopeful tone.

“Yeah, Rep, hang out!” Louie encouraged.  You looked to Keaton, who shrugged with indifference.

“Yeah, I think we can chill for a while.  But we’re gonna go get cleaned up and changed first.  We’ll be back in a few!”  With that, you and your partner in crime headed to your house, which was notably larger than the others and near to the island office.

“Jeez friendo, when are you gonna let me move in?” Keaton jested, planting himself on your couch while you went to wash off your paint.

“Maybe when you help me pay off the bells I still owe on this place,” you retorted.  You looked in the mirror and were relieved that the paint all seemed to come off without residue. Upon coming out of the bathroom you see that Keaton has already taken the liberty of propping his feet up on your coffee table and resting his wings behind his head with a Halloween program on the TV.  “You do look pretty comfy, though.”

“Helping the Czar of Halloween prank our friends is hard work.”

“Oh yeah, flipping the power off and back on must’ve taken it out of you.”  Keaton glared at you momentarily but turned his attention back to the program.  Maybe it was the adrenaline from the massive trick you pulled off, or maybe it was the spirit of the holiday getting to you.  Either way, your own glare turned mischievous as you crept up on your unsuspecting friend.  

“So are you almost ready to go or wha-HA! Wihihingoo, NOOOHOHO!” Keaton screamed, in part due to the very intentional timing of a jump scare on TV with you bringing your hands down and scribbling your fingers in his exposed underwings. 

“Whahahat are yahoo doihihing?!” Keaton toppled over in an attempt to get away, however, you (un)gracefully jumped over the back of the couch to straddle his legs: he wasn’t going anywhere just yet.

“Well, if you think about it, I could be doing a few things,” you said plainly, as if you weren’t trying to tickle Keaton into a giggling mess.

“I could be giving you a well-deserved trick for the holiday,” you teased, dragging your fingers from his underwings to the softer part of his belly, scribbling at the quivering tender area.

“WIHEHENGOHOHO!” Keaton shrieked, trying to squirm out from under you, but you firmly planted yourself.

“Nuh uh, none of that!” you scolded, quickly turning to squeeze the tops of his knees, which unfortunately for him was one of the few areas unguarded by feathers.

“GAAHHAHA, noohooho wihehengo, please!” Keaton cackled, his head thrown back on the couch cushion behind him. You stopped to give him some reprieve, not forgetting to hold that spot against him in the future.

“Now, where was I,” you said in mock thought, tapping your chin dramatically while the eagle under you caught his breath.

“Y/N, wahahait,” Keaton tried reasoning through residual giggles.  But you acted as if you hadn’t heard him.

“Oh, yeah! I could be giving you payback for telling your uncle,” you continued, suddenly sending vibrating pokes randomly along his ribs.

“WINGOHOHO! NOHOHO WAHAHSP STIHEHENGS! Cheehehater!”

“Cheater?! You sold me out to Apollo! Maybe I wouldn’t have learned aaaallll about “wasp stings” if you hadn’t found that loophole, huh?” You exclaimed, continuing your revenge by squeezing Keaton’s hips, wriggling your thumb on the taught skin. He went ballistic, his back arched and heels dug into the couch behind you both.

“YHAHAH/NAAHEHE!” he grabbed onto your wrists, but at this point was too weak to pull them off. You almost felt sorry for him… almost. But you did give him another chance at catching his breath as you relented once more.

“Wihihngo, I’m sorryhehe, I cahahan’t…” he trailed off, panting and giggling, wiping away his tears of laughter. You waited a beat for either him to finish his thought or tell you he’s reached a limit.  Now that you thought about it, you were a bit surprised he hasn’t done much objecting as of yet.

“You sure are in rare form today, wingo.  Is the moon full or something?” Keaton asked nervously. You chuckled at your usually pompous and confident friend, who was very much caught off guard. 

“Halloween spirit, maybe. But there’s one more thing, since I have your attention,” you stated, and made a show of pinning Keaton’s wings to his sides.  His eyes widened in surprise and wonder about the unknown.

“You might not be in this situation if you hadn’t started all of this on the beach.”

“What? Okay, that’s NOT how that happened!” Keaton objected, finding the sass that was once buried in ticklish hysteria.

“Yes it is! You couldn’t take a joke, so you resorted to… this!” Keaton noticed that beat of silence in your accusation and pressed on.

“Resorted to what exactly, wingo?”

“You’re stalling!”

“No, let’s get the story straight. I can’t take a joke so I tackled you on the beach and…?” Keaton egged. 

“You… you ti-... arrgh…,” You felt your face heat and you huffed.  How dare he fluster you in his position?

“Oh my god, you can’t say it.”  It was your turn for your eyes to widen.  You grit your teeth in an attempt to seem unphased, but given your face felt as though it was the same temperature as the sun, you knew it was in vain.

“You can’t say it! Look how red you are!” Keaton, even still in a compromised position, chuckled at the realization.

“Shut up, feather face!”

“Oh wingo, don’t be like that.  You’re adorable,”

“Careful Keaton, I still have one more trick up my sleeve.” He narrowed his gaze and smirked.

“Do you? Are you going to tickle me some more? I already figured that,” he replied, emphasizing that damn word.

“And just wait, wingo, I’ll have my payback. You’ll be tickled to tears again, and you won’t even see it coming.” You were a thoroughly flustered mess at this point, but still took in a deep breath…

“And the best part is I know you’ll even look forward to it, 'cause you like being tickled-AHHH! HAHAHA NOHOHOHO!”

You exhaled vigorously in the crook of Keaton’s neck, vibrating his nerves into such a frenzy, he didn’t know how to respond. He thrashed pretty violently as opposed to earlier, so you figured he was eating his teasing words and held as firm as you could. Your breath did run out eventually and you sat back up to look at the giggling mess beneath.

“I’m sorry, were you saying something?”

“Whahahat did you do?”

“I’m not playing that game again!” You threatened, taking in another deep breath.

“Nonononono wahait wingo I’m serious! Whahat was that? Keaton frantically spoke, and you could tell he was genuine in his question. And it dawned on you.

“Oh... OH! You’re birds!” you chuckled, “You actually probably don’t know what a raspberry is!” He looked at you as if you’d lost your mind.

“What does fruit have to do with it?”

“Ha, no, no, that’s just what it's called. I don’t know why.”

“Well, I’m not a fan!”

“I think they’re a fan of you, though.”

“Wingo don’t-BWAHAHAHAHA! DAAHAHAMN THIS FRUHUIT!” You sputter, laughing at your friend’s comment, and stood, releasing Keaton from your hold.  He barely registered his freedom, more concerned with refilling his lungs.  You patted his chest.

“You all right?”

“*huff* I think I’ll make it.”

“Good, I’m glad! We can go whenever you’re ready, then,” you said cheerily, then knelled to meet him at eye level.

“There’s plenty more where that came from if you want to try me again.” You stood again and walked away, heading toward the front door.  Keaton paused for a moment, not expecting a threat, but stood quickly.

“HA! You’re on, friendo.  Just after we crash this party.  Again.”

[happi-meals]

Pancake Breakfast! 🥞

Pancakes are part of a traditional southern breakfast and I was craving them today.

Theyre sweet and nostalgic, reminding me of grandma's house the most and some breakfasts spent at Cracker Barrel with her when I was little.

One part of learning to cook is the magic that is finding out how my favorite foods dont take magic to make! As in, most of what pertains a meal or even an entré is so simple its suprising to me.

Pancakes, to be a bit reductive here, are just fried batter patties! The most simple consisting of what I made this morning (or rather afternoon lol): flour, oil, water, sugar, and leavening agents.

Here I experimented with my own batter making skills with a vegan twist:

all purpose wheat flour

water

olive oil

salt

brown sugar

honey.

I dont have baking powder but since I understand its purpose in a recipe as a leavening agent, I tried to substitute it with baking soda and apple cider vinegar, which kindaaaa worked? Lol I was gonna use lemon for the acid part, but I didnt want a bright citrus taste for these pancakes. Too experimental and not familiar lol.

With a little reassurance from a skim of internet recipies, what I made turned out not bad! And I was soooo excited when I saw the batter frying and then flipped the cake. Looked just like the Real Thing mama's make!

I wanted to get a lil experimental and add some trail mix inside. I added them a lil too late for my first pancake (sprinkled some ontop of the raw side of the cake i had frying in the pan yikes), so the texture was a bit grainy. Plus the nuts and fruit burned and the cake on that side didnt look as appetizing lol. But since that was my experimental cake, and was also my first try, I gave myself some grace and focused on the overall experience of eating the entire pancake. And all my efforts proved worth it! It wasnt half bad. :-)

I just cant imagine eating pancakes without having two, and I also had wayyy too much leftover batter for just one anyway, so I made another and added the trail mix into the batter bowl before pouring it all in, which proved to be a better choice lol. Since I didnt want to waste all the batter I made, and only intended to make one more pancake, i added it all to the pan for a huge one lol.

It turned out very good, though I do admit I might have to actually buy baking powder for more fluffiness (though the baking soda and acid/cider trick kinda worked! i'll just have to get my proportions down). Also I always over estimate how much oil i need in any given recipie! So it was a bit dense and greasy. But as with all learning experiences, mistakes are inevitable yet valuable!

The rest of my breakfast consisted of a fried egg, baby carrots, a banana, and steamed spinach. Brwakfast wouldnt have sufficed without vegetable elements for me, so I was literally craving vegetable sides rather than just a breakfast of wheat and animal products.

The carrots had a great texture and sweetness, and althought I definitely could have salted the spinachand a egg wayyyy less, the flavors together were supurb. One day I'll have to experiment with making omlets with spinach and vegan cheez bc the flavors are so compatible! 😋

LeEgg frying in LePan. I broke it up a little oops lol.

I found this recipe online of how to improve my vegan pancake making skills for another hearty breakfast. This one also calls for baking powder but i think my baking soda and acid workaround could still work.

I'll def update this post when I try this particular recipe!

[raplinesmoon]

The Test Kitchen (KSJ x Reader!)

❅ Holiday in Handcuffs ❅ hosted by @bangtanbathhouse

⤖ Spaces: [8I,3I,3J, 10G, 10H]

Pairing: Husband!Kim Seokjin x YouTuber!Reader

Genres: floof

AUs: established relationship, holidays AU

Word Count: 2.6k

Warnings: oc breaks glass, some kissing, otherwise super cute fluff

Ratings: G

Summary: Tiktok made you do it… again. Luckily Jin is there to help you have some fun in the kitchen.

A/N: It's basically December, so I can post this... right? I had this cute idea for husband Jin lovingly helping his YouTuber spouse with their cooking channel, and it was so cute I think I nearly died writing it. This is based on my favorite Youtube channel, Rachhloveslife, who does tons of vids testing out hacks with her absolutely adorable husband! Srsly, they’re goals and you all should watch them for a smile. Thank you to the wonderful Moon (@lavienjin) for looking this over for me <3 I hope you enjoy! 🥺 Lots of love, Isi 💜 Banner made by me.

Taglist: @jinpanman @sunshinerainbowsbts @joheunsaram @kithtaehyung @jjksblackgf @minyfic

“Helloooo my lovely people, it’s December and you all know what that means! It’s basically the most wonderful time of the year!” you accentuate your intro with jazz hands as you slide on the red Santa hat you’d dug out of the basement especially for this video.

“And everyone, look-, look, I decorated!! Just to get in the holiday spirit!” you excitedly gesture to the string lights and tinsel you’d hung up for the video, paling when you realize half your string had gone out and was now dangling limply from the cabinets.

“Or, at least I tried. You know, because holiday cheer is all about spirit anyway! A for effort.”

Nice save.

“Now, today, I’m very excited because we’re going to be diving into the vast world that is holiday Tik Tok. A world that, until recently, I didn’t know existed, until my husband showed me all these cute little DIYs and recipes and decorating hacks. You guys, I AM OBSESSED. So I thought it’d be fun to try out a bunch of different recipes for you guys, and of course, we’ll have Jin come in and try them too!”

Speaking of Jin, you had a long day of filming ahead, and he was supposed to be arriving any second with your daily cup of Dalgona coffee. As a native, he’d initially been all grumpy and grumbly when the trend had hit the interwebs, mumbling under his breath that it wasn’t even “authentic” to traditional Korean dalgona.

A few trials later, and the two of you had become hooked on the sweet, foamy beverage. You made Jin eat his words as he got up every morning to prepare the two of you a cup before heading off to his office to work from home in a crisp white dress shirt and fleece pyjama bottoms.

Hearing him pad into the kitchen with two cups, you smile as he slides you your cup out of the camera’s eagle-eyed view.

“Madam, your coffee,” he smirks with a whisper.

“Okay, now that I have been deemed caffeinated, it’s time to spread some Christmas cheer! And I feel like now, more than any other holiday season, we really need a bit of cheer. So come on and cosy up, grab some fuzzy socks or a blanket, maybe grab a mug of tea, or maybe even hot chocolate, ooooh that sounds so good right now. Also this hat, this hat is getting very hot, and I’m wearing fleece pyjamas and the heat is on and let’s just not talk about the poor planning here and jump right into it!”

Jin shoots you a warm smile before taking a seat at your kitchen table behind the camera. As a raging introvert, sometimes having a bubbly YouTuber for a wife was a lot to handle. But his favorite days of the week were the times he got to sit down and help you test and film and edit. His heart always fluttered at seeing you so passionate and invested in doing what you loved, and bringing joy to your hundreds of thousands of subscribers.

“So for recipe #1, we’re gonna be making these shortbread cookies, but they’re not just shortbread cookies. Look everyone, they’re also little lids!! Like these cute little lids that you could just put on a mug of hot chocolate to keep it warm! How genius is that?”

Jin had a couple of questions about the shortbread cookies. He was doubtful that 1) they’d be as cute and adorable as Tik Tok made them seem (the app had a bad habit of overselling anything and everything), and 2) whether they’d actually keep anything warm without turning into a soggy mess. For now though, he’d just sit back and enjoy the way your eyes widened and lit up over the recipe in question.

“Now, to begin, we’re gonna roll out some dough,” you grunt, as your ball of shortbread dough smacks onto the counter with a satisfying thunk!

“Does this rolling pin in my hand make me look menacing?” you ask the camera, but really you were asking Jin.

Jin shakes his head vehemently. You were too cute, you couldn’t even be scary if you tried.

Your shoulders drop and you pout slightly at his response, but decide to keep chugging along.

“So the funny thing about shortbread actually, is that baking it during the holidays is kind of a tradition in my family. My dad had this really good shortbread recipe that he used to make when I was a kid with lemon zest, rosemary, and orange zest. I remember I got so upset one year because when Jin and I had just started dating, his parents taught us both how to make songpyeon for Chuseok, and the same year, my dad taught Jin the holiday shortbread recipe but not me! I threw such a fit, and my dad was like, “you’ll just have to keep Jin around so he can teach you one day.”

Jin remembers your first holidays together like it was yesterday. Although it had been a whirlwind, flying to Korea for Chuseok and staying there for a few weeks, and then flying back to spend the holidays with your family, he wouldn’t have traded your sleepy, puffy cheeks and jet-lagged cuteness for anything. That was the first time he knew he wanted to spend the rest of his life with you.

“And now, I couldn’t find a cookie cutter that fit my mugs perfectly, so I’m just gonna use this glass bowl to stamp out the shapes,” you hold it both hands, palms flared outwards, showcasing the glass bowl as though it were the most precious artifact.

Jin’s eyes widen as your hands slip, and the bowl wobbles, tumbling into the air. Poised and ready, he darts into the frame, pushing you out of the way of the falling glass as it falls to the ground and shatters into hundreds of tiny crystalline pieces.

He looks up to see your despondent face as you take in the disastrous sight, reaching over his broad frame to cut the camera.

“We can always edit that out,” he says gently, noticing how tears glisten and cling to your lashes.

“I’m always so clumsy,” you sob, wrapping your arms around him and burying your head into his chest. “I can’t even hold a bowl straight, I ruin everything!”

Jin learned the hard way that filming recipes for YouTube meant more than your fair share of kitchen disasters, often resulting in the air smelling like burnt dough, or the stand mixer going haywire, causing batter to hit the walls. No matter how many times you edited it out with the “oh no no no” sound from Tik Tok, he knew you took each little failure to heart, lamenting at how you couldn’t be like those aesthetic influencers you saw scrolling on your phone every day.

“People love you because you’re real, baby, not because you’re perfect,” he presses a kiss to your hair. “Accidents happen. What matters is that no one got hurt.”

He smooths your hair and gives you another kiss, running to your supplies closet to grab a broom. Sweeping up the evidence of your transgression, he gives you a wide smile and reaches to take your hand in his, wiping the smudged mascara from under your eyes.

“Now, let’s roll the camera. We have some cookies to bake, don’t we?”

“Okay guys, we are back! And recovered from our little mishap,” you chuckle. “Just to recap, while we were away, Jin helped me finish up the cookies and put them in the oven! And now, we are gonna get started on the next recipe, which are these adorable peppermint spoons to go with our cookie lids!”

“So this recipe is from Tiktok," you recall, “but my mom actually does this at home using chocolate during Christmastime with our little nieces and nephews!! So, you know, maybe if this hack turns out to be a success, Jin and I can incorporate it with our little ones someday!”

Sputtering as he takes a sip of water right when the words come out of your mouth, the tips of Jin’s ears turn red. Yet another holiday season where the whole family would ask about when you were planning on having kids. It wasn’t that he didn’t want kids, of course. Jin’s heart swelled at the thought of you, him, and a little baby, making pancakes on a Sunday morning, the small squeals and giggles along with the clapping of tiny hands. But there was no pressure in his mind. You were both still young, and enjoying each other’s company. Children could come later.

“So I got these crushed up spoon moulds from Amazon,” you continue on, “but that’s not the cool thing. Look what I found!”

You hold up the bag of crushed up candy canes. You’d jumped up in delight when the two of you had gone shopping together for this video, not even excited about the hack, but more excited to tell the world about the amazing new revelation that was crushed up peppermint.

Now, all you had to do was sprinkle them into the mould and pop them into the oven, and then your viewers would love these cute spoons that took no effort at all.

“I was just thinking,” you ponder, “these are so easy, you could totally make them, and package them up with a cute little mug, and maybe some hot cocoa mix and give it to friends. We should totally do that! Right, Jin?”

Looking beyond the camera, you see Jin nod and give you a thumbs up. You’re unsure whether he’s agreeing with your suggestion or merely telling you that you’re doing great, but you don’t mind his encouragement either way.

“Jin is too shy to talk right now, but he agrees with everyone. So don’t steal this gift idea from me!” you joke.

Finishing up the candy spoons, you pop them into the oven and cut the camera once more, happy that this hack seems to be working out so far.

“Nice recovery,” Jin says from behind you. “I told you everything would be okay, didn’t I?”

“I know,” you sigh, “but I always make you say it every time. I somehow can’t believe my own brain, but totally melt from the encouragement from my awkward, dorky husband.

“Omg, melt?!” you nudge his arm. “Do you get it?”

“Babyyy,” he tugs on your arm, grinning as he pulls you away from the counter. “You’ve been working so hard since you got up. Let’s take a break and eat. I made some kimbap yesterday, and we can play some Mario to unwind before we start filming again.”

Jin has barely finished persuading you to come along when you lean over and press a kiss to his pink lips, his face flushing at your bold actions.

“Lead the way, handsome.”

“AAAND NOWWW, for the grand finale! It’s a Christmas miracle!” you yell, gesturing to the side as if you’re presenting a magic act. “Everyone, after months of persuading, I have finally convinced, the one, the only, my darling husband, Kim Seokjin to join us for our taste test!”

“Everybody give him a big round of applause,” you jump up and down, making crowd noises with your mouth as Jin awkwardly stumbles into the frame, greeting the camera with a small wave.

You usher Jin over, proudly presenting your hot chocolate themed creations to him. He takes in the scene, his chest swelling in pride as he takes in your cute cookie lids, peppermint spoons, and the ever famous Tik Tok hot chocolate bombs that he’d helped you frantically finish after the two of you spent too much time lazing around, playing Mario Kart.

With a glint in his eyes, he nods his head, his eyes glancing over at the pile of dishes that rest in the sink. You let out a tiny gasp, catching onto his mischief, and slowly press a finger to your lips and let out a small “shhh!”. Not even one minute into his camera debut, and his chaotic side was already making an appearance.

“I had a crazy thought,” Jin blurts out. “What if we put the hot milk on these chocolate bombs, and it just turns into a big gloopy mess? That seems pretty likely.”

“Jiiinnnn,” you whine. “Everybody, tell my husband to stop being a pessimist just because he’s the better cook.”

You grab the measuring cup full of hot milk, and drop a hot chocolate bomb into two mugs, one for you, and one for Jin. Pouring the milk into each cup, you feel your breath hitch, Jin’s heavy breathing behind you, as both of you wait for the long awaited surprise.

“I-, wait, oh, I see it-, oh,” your voice drops, taking in the melted chocolate that looks more like sludge at the bottom of the cup.

“I guess it kinda worked,” Jin scrutinizes. “But let’s be real, drinking this would clog our arteries. So it looks like all our efforts were in vein!! Get it?”

He guffaws, nudging your shoulder as giggles escape you too, the both of you doubled over in laughter from his dad jokes.

Still, determined to save this, you reach over and grab one of the peppermint spoons, stirring the hot liquid with it. You let out a tiny “oops” as half of the spoon completely melts away, dropping into the sweet liquid, and turning it an even more unappetizing color.

“Well folks,” you say, looking up at the camera with a smirk, “we struck out on 2 out of 3 of these recipes. Now, for the grand finale, will these cookie lids work?”

They look cute enough, you think, as you grab one of them from the baking tray, plopping it on top of the cup.

“Aaaand salvaged!” Jin announces, hand meeting yours in a high five. “They had us in the first half, not gonna lie, but my amazing wife manages to make everything work.”

“And there you have it folks,” you declare, wrapping up the video. “Tik Tok baking hacks that kind of, semi-worked? That was more anticlimactic than I thought it’d be, but we had so much fun! See you all in the next video!”

You reach over to turn to press the button to stop recording, but not before Jin’s “Aish, kids these days” sneaks into the A-roll.

“Ugh," you groan, rubbing your temples. “I was so excited for some of those, I thought they’d work! There’s like hundreds of videos on Tik Tok about them!”

“It’s not you baby,” Jin wraps his arm around your waist. “They’re just bad recipes that somehow happened to go viral. Maybe next time we should bake some of the recipes from your family cookbook? And I can ask my mom for some of hers. I’m sure the viewers would love that.”

“You know,” you sigh, a sleepy yawn interrupting your train of thought. “That’s not a bad idea. My dear Jinnie, you always know what to say to make me feel better.”

“That’s what I’m here for,” he says softly, pressing a kiss to your cheek. “Now, I think someone is a little tired, don’t you think? Let’s go to bed.” He supports his weight, the two of you lumbering up the stairs sleepily to your cosy bedroom, changing into your matching flannel pyjamas.

As he listens to your quiet snores, Jin looks out the window, silently watching the snow fall outside, painting a magical scene in your front yard amongst the twinkling lights. Soon enough, there’d be another day waiting for the two of you in the test kitchen. In his heart, he knew this holiday season would be your best yet.

A/N pt 2: Thanks so much for reading! As always, any comments or feedback are much appreciated, but I appreciate you all anyway <3

[trippin-over-my-fandoms]

I’ve seen this done before but here are my modern!rdr2 social media headcanons for the Van der Linde gang.

some of these are LONG and then some are shorter. doesn’t mean I love any of them any less however. I just did my best with all of them. 

* I treat the gang as family especially for my modern au 

Dutch

frequently uses Facebook and has dozens of friends he doesn’t even know. like if he gets a friend request he’ll accept it. John tells him he might as well just make his page public and Arthur pleads with him to make a facebook PAGE so that his random friends will stop liking posts that Arthur tags Dutch in. 

Dutch has no idea how to make a facebook page. 

he also has a Twitter and a massive following at that. He’s VERIFIED. 

all of his twitter posts are vague though

are they a joke? are they political? is it what he’s eating for lunch that day? literally no one knows.

Hosea

also has facebook but doesn’t use it because why does he need to look at pictures of events he was at. he only uses it to see things he didn’t partake in

also has snapchat but just to keep up with the kids 

because life360 was too much to deal with for everyone

and snapchat is cool

also he can and will spam you with bitmojis 

Arthur

used to use facebook a lot but stopped because he was tired of his posts getting likes from people he didn’t know and friend requests from people Dutch was friends with. 

plEASE

he has a private facebook for a reason, he doesn’t want other people to know his business. 

he also has an instagram but anything he posts on facebook also goes on there. it’s not aesthetic or pretty or anything and he doesn’t even caption over half his pictures. 

he literally only uses social media so that his friends and family know he’s alive

has snapchat because of Hosea but barely knows how to use it 

doesn’t get why everyone wants to use snapchat when teXTING AND CALLING ARE RIGHT THERE

John

the question is what doesn’t he have.

john has been trying to make it big on social media since youtube came out.

his youtube used to have videos on it but he deleted them because they were cringy and arthur liked to send them to the group text. 

plays twitch games on the weekends and sometimes with Jack but he thinks most of the subscribers are there for his kid since most of his solo streams don’t do as well

has a twitter, doesn’t follow Dutch, literally envies that he’s verified. 

he’s tried everything but no matter what he does nothing pans out

uses tiktok to promote twitch streams

instagram feed is mostly selfies of him but 99.9% of the time he’s wearing sunglasses and the caption is some random quote 

also has facebook but only to appease Arthur and Dutch, he doesn’t even have a profile picture. Claims only boomers use it. 

an avid reddit user. if he’s got problems he’ll go to reddit. claims reddit saved his life. everyone’s tired of the story so they stopped asking. 

also uses snapchat more than he should and the only social platform he has more than 100 followers on. 

Charles

same as arthur and has both facebook and instagram and posts the same on both except his are pleasing to look at. 

they’re unintentionally aesthetic 

he uses a psd on all his pictures and won’t share what it is

has monthly life updates that start with some inspirational or deep quote and then text that pushes the instagram word limit

also has a deviantart , has shared psds there before , constantly tries to convince Arthur to get it. 

used to use tumblr but he forgot about it

Abigail

the definition of a facebook mom. 80% of her facebook posts are about Jack or parenting. 

Instagram is similar but also different, she’s actually a relatively successful influencer with over 1,000 followers. 

all of her friends and family (who have instagram) follow her

has snapchat solely for the cute bitmojis and to send John adorable snaps of Jack playing with all the fun filters. 

she also won’t take a selfie unless it’s with snapchat because she no longer trusts her own camera. 

also uses pinterest and has a collaborative board with all the ladies. 

but in general, on her own, she has too many boards. she uses pinterest for EVERYTHING 

Sadie

bold of you to assume she uses social media. 

she does just not a whole lot. 

checks it once in the morning and once at night. 

except pinterest because how dare Abigail get her into it. but even pinterest she only uses in downtime. 

has facebook and instagram but there’s maybe only five posts.

if anything she’ll post on her story

will only snap Abigail and Arthur otherwise she doesn’t use snapchat

all of the social apps are mostly offloaded on her phone anyways

if she needs to know anything she just checks the group text which she has on do not disturb because they text way too much. 

Molly

she’s verified on instagram 

it’s also the only social platform she’ll use, which frustrates Dutch because he wants to be friends with her on facebook

but she’s happy with just instagram 

she keeps it simple 

and the main theme to her posts are fun outfits in her ever expanding closet

the other posts are usually of plants that she’s managed to grow. she’s not the best at being a plant mom but she’s still a good one to the ones she’s managed to keep alive. 

the only thing she contributes to the pinterest board are her own pictures of her plants which are overly aesthetic. 

Karen

started out with a normal instagram account then made a spam account which she ended up using way more often.

all of her posts are extremely chaotic

and usually reposts from her snapchat

has a reddit just to troll John

reposted his cringy youtube videos to reddit and got hundreds of upvotes

if you wanna see the most raw and chaotic videos of Arthur and John then she’s the one to follow. 

also if you wanna see Abigail when she’s not all put together. 

is the reason there’s so many memes in the collaborative pinterest board

Mary-Beth

has a instagram but also has a second instagram for art and book reviews

or basically anything she’d post on her tumblr

which is her second most used social

also uses facebook but only because she is an admin for one of those multifandom blogs. 

also begs Arthur to get a deviantart. 

uses pinterest most but only second to Abigail

literally the queen of pinterest DIYs

Micah

has twitter

as far as anyone else knows that’s all he has

maybe he has snapchat?

maybe they saw him on snapmaps once? 

all he ever does with twitter though is retweet anything Dutch posts.

yet somehow he has so many followers. 

Lenny

anyone who has snapchat has streaks with Lenny

even Hosea who doesn’t understand why it’s a thing

he also posts a lot on facebook but it’s mostly travel or vacation photos everyone is just a tad jealous of. 

Lenny always seems to be busy but still has time for streaks with his friends. 

he’s also an up and coming youtube vlogger

Sean

also has reddit to troll john

but he also legitimately uses it too. 

he’s also really popular in the minecraft subreddit , don’t ask

also has twitch and also has way more subsribers than John

and a youtube which he’ll upload (overly edited) twitch streams to

everyone subscribes to him but they don’t tell John that.

also has a tiktok and is up to date on all the trends because of course he is

Kieran

got facebook when he was 10 and just never left.

literally doesn’t use any other social media

he’s not in the group text either so he has to facebook message Arthur to know what’s going on. 

but he shares a lot of memes and cute pictures of animals

he used to follow Dutch but unfriended him when he was the only thing he ever had on his activity feed. 

Susan

has facebook but claims she doesn’t have time to use it

Arthur knows this to not be true because she will like a lot of his posts. 

she’s also guilty of liking every single picture in one post or album. 

Arthur has also caught her looking at memes and using recipes she finds on there. 

also part of the pinterest board but never contributes. 

Trelawny

he has an account for everything

like

litereally

everything. 

even whatsapp and linked in and kik

even tinder

the only one anyone knows about are his facebook, twitter, and instagam

but there’s no posts on any of them except twitter

he’s also verified

but for unknown reasons

any posts on his facebook are ones he’s tagged in

he’s also in a lot of facebook groups

Strauss

runs a subreddit

a paid facebook admin of several pages

the only person who actually knows this is Dutch because Strauss has told him about it

he has no online presence whatsoever out side of those.

Javier

spotify king

has over 500,000 subscribers on youtube

uses instagram but as another platform for his music

edits his own album covers

top tier playlists too

Tilly

aesthetic queen

the most put together and pleasing to look at instagram feed next to Charles. 

uses pinterest a lot as inspiration and for making moodboards.

also uses tumblr to share moodboards

part of the sims global community facebook group

she keeps saying she’s going to start a youtube vlog but hasn’t yet

keeps trying to convince John to let her help him with his youtube.

she also uses twitch to play minecraft and sims

oh and she set up a minecraft server for everyone

Bill

facebook boomer

that’s it

I don’t know how else to put it

probably shares heavily republican posts

Swanson

didn’t use social media until tiktok.

he doesn’t do dances or anything but he does post weirdly obscure and chaotic videos that end up trending on more than one occasion

it’s usually drunk ramblings in his car that end up being hilarious

or videos of the others almost dying or ending up in the ER

Pearson

facebook boomer but make it cool.

also shares conservative posts but less offensive ones compared to Bill’s

likes almost every post any of his friends share

also comments on them too

Uncle

does he have social media? no one knows for sure. 

yet somehow he knows what’s going on

even if nobody can find any of his social accounts or have ever seen him using one before let alone doing anything on his phone other than playing cheesy mobile games.

[hyunjilicious]

100 ways to say ‘I love you’ Christmas Edition [bucky barnes]

Summary: it’s pretty self explanatory, I guess. (FLUFF) 1.6k

Warnings: absolutely none, just Bucky being cute, awkward and madly in love with you!!

-

In 2018, you were in Namibia, hunting down an American terrorist that had been on the run for the better part of the year. In 2019, the avengers were scattered around the globe, executing a 'shoot first, ask questions later' type of mission that ended long after the new year began. But this year, all of your friends were home. For the first time in years, the Stark Tower was shining from top to bottom with Christmas lights, carols echoing down all of its long, secluded hallways. It was the first time you'd get to actually spend the night of 24th of December with your true family. That is, if you made it in time. Back on December 19th, you and Bucky got stuck in the depths of Louisiana, with absolutely no means of communication, let alone transportation. You decided to make the best out of the situation and turn it into a road trip, but time flew by so much faster than expected, that it was now 2:13 pm on Christmas eve, and you and Bucky were sprinting down the snow covered empty highways of the east coast, dead set on making it home in time. He wasn't that eager to get back and tried to get you to rent a hotel room and spend the night alone, but you weren't having it. He huffed and puffed about not giving a shit about Christmas, but it was the first one he could celebrate with people that loved him, in over 70 years. With every motel that you passed, he'd turn and look at you from the passenger seat, begging you to stop. You didn't even consider it. You wanted him to have the full Christmas experience. A storm was brewing and you were whiteknuckling the steering wheel, fighting back the urge to yawn for the 3rd time in the last 10 minutes. After driving for 7 hours straight, you were close to passing out, but nowhere near ready to give up. "Pull over, love" he smiled, grabbing your thigh, "Let me drive. I'll wake you up when we arrive"

-

And of course Bucky refused to decorate. You spent the better half of the day rummaging through boxes and looking up diy tutorials on the Internet, doing your absolute best to make your bedroom as cozy and Christmasy as possible. Candles were scattered all over the furniture, their soft light and delicate cinnamon scent filling up the room, a small Santa Claus figurine was sitting neatly by the window, garlands dripped from every corner and your Christmas playlist was on shuffle for probably the 4th time that day. As you kept busy, lowkey exasperated whenever one ornament didn't fit in as planned, Bucky laid on the bed, making nasty comments with every chance he got. He complained about the music, said the room was too hot, that the candles made his nose feel funny and not for a second did he stop begging you to drop the fucking decorating and join him in bed. You didn't wanna hear it. You kept going, bringing in box after box of ornaments, each one making Bucky more and more frustrated.

"Buck!" you whined, turning around in your hands a little remote controlled reindeer. "His leg is stuck... he keeps falling"

"Throw it into the trash" he scoffed, plopping down on his back and hiding his face in the crook of his elbow.

Of course you didn't listen to him. "No..." you mumbled, more to yourself. You sounded like a child, but you didn't care. Instead, you just sat down on the edge of the bed, all your attention focused on the broken toy in your hands, "I'll fix it somehow"

"Just throw the goddamned thing away, Y/n" he groaned, "Only on my nightstand there are other 3. We got enough"

You just shook your head, focused on getting the reindeer to walk again. It was no use. You got no utensils and your nails were threatening to break as you kept trying to open up his battery container. 5 minutes of painful silence followed, ending with you finally giving up, "I'll just put something under his leg and use it as a decoration" you whimpered, legitimately heartbroken over the toy.

"Fuck, just come here. Give it to me. I'll fix the damn thing for you"

Your heart swelled up, "Really?"

"Yeah..." Bucky sighed, grabbing a screwdriver out of his nightstand and picking up the toy. "Master assassin and I'm fixing toys" he mumbled under his breath and you couldn't help but wrap your arms around him and kiss his cheek.

-

Your version of paradise started just when you arrived at the tower on Christmas Eve. Bucky did as promised and then offered you a weak smile, full of warmth as he helped you out of the car when he parked in front of the Tower. You were beaming with excitement for the days that were to come. When the next morning arrived, you were sipping your coffee on the balcony, waiting for everyone to wake up so that you could all start unwrapping the presents. When the door opened you didn't expect Bucky to come out, as he never - ever, failed to sleep until noon, if given the chance. But there he was, wrapped in one of your comfy blankets, padding over to you with a coffee mug in his hand. When he reached you, he opened his arms and welcomed you against his chest, closing his hold around your body and engulfing you in the warmth of the blanket. It didn't take long until you noticed the little paper bag lodged under the elastic of his sweats, and when you asked about it, he cursed himself for ruining the surprise. He handed you the bag, and urged you to open it, insisting that it wasn't your present. When you did, your eyes landed on a knitted bunny clutching a heart to its chest. "An old lady was selling these a few weeks ago at a boutique I saw while waiting for you to meet me. I know you love to call me Bucky Bunny because you know how much I hate it. I forgot about it and came across it this morning at the bottom of my bag while searching for my charger. Now I think its stupid, a dumb rabbit and his eyes are a little bit fucked up, but he's cute and it reminded me of you, so here you go"

-

As much love as some of you had for the holiday, it still wasn't enough to convince the whole group to actually watch a Christmas movie. So, in true avenger spirit, you all decided to watch Terminator. After finishing dinner, you all scattered around the Tower. Some people left to change in more comfortable clothes, some helped clean up the kitchen, and some, like Bucky and Thor, remained in the living room, plopped in the middle of the couch, fangirling over Arnold Schwarzenegger's acting and the great sense of humour of the 90s. Eventually everyone gathered around them, you and Wanda being the last ones to show up. She cuddled against Vision's side, but Bucky was lodged in between Thor and Steve, and there was no way you'd ever ask any of them to move. Seeing you eye an open spot, Bucky waved you over as he stood up. "Here, take my seat". You wanted to object but he didn't want to hear it. Eventually, you sat down, and so did he, on the floor, right in front of you. Nonchalantly, Bucky pulled your legs apart and settled between them, with his back against the couch. He gathered your Christmas themed sock clad feet into his lap and rested his head against your knee as the movie began.

-

And like any other Christmas dinner, of course yours wasn't an exception. Natasha's recipe for apple pie was by definition the best that ever blessed the earth and none of the attendees was any stranger to that. Considering how many of you there were, as you made a point of spending the end of the year together, 2 batches had to be made. It was hectic, everyone fuzzing around the Tower, preparations on tow the whole day. And of course there would be repercussions for the chaotic atmosphere, but you'd only find out about them later. After burning through the first meal courses of the evening, it was finally time for her sweet delicacy to grace the table. Natasha neatly placed the two pies on either end of the table, proudly announcing you could all dig in. Bucky was seated to your right, and he unlike you, managed to grab a piece of pie from the first batch. You didn't think too much of it, until you started eating yours, only to realise the bottom was burned. Despite all of you trying to assure Natasha that it was not her fault and that she shouldn't beat herself up about it, she promised she'd make another one tomorrow. The night carried on as planned, but no matter how much you tried to push away the thought, you couldn't help but feel bitter about missing out on the good pie. Just when you were about to come to your senses and realise what a dumb reason for you to get upset that was, Bucky sent you text, asking you to come to the bedroom. Curious as to what this could have been about, you hurried upstairs and burst into the room, nearly crashing into Bucky's chest. He slammed the door behind you and handed you his plate - his slice of pie only halfway eaten. "I saved you a piece. These are jackals, I had to hide it. Dig in before anyone comes!"

-

On December 27th the buzz was starting to die down. When you put up the lights in your bedroom, Bucky said they could stay on for two days and two days only, and you reluctantly agreed to make a compromise. Just this time. The time to turn them off came last night, and since he offered to let them on until the morning, you felt like an unreasonable little shit if you were to ask him to turn them on again. It was about 7pm and you were two seasons deep in The X Files, and Wanda asked for your help. Bucky pulled out his phone and assured you he wouldn't watch ahead until you got back. It took you about 30 to help your friend with her problem, and when you returned to your room, confusion washed over you. The Christmas lights were on and Bucky was nowhere to be seen. "Fuck" he grunted.

You turned around to see him behind you, standing in the doorway, two cocoa mugs in his hands, "I made these cause I know you like them. And I wanted to surprise you with the lights but vision is a dumbass and forgot to text me and tell me when you were almost done"

"So she didn't actually need help folding the bed sheets?" you laughed, endeared by his antics.

"Of course she didn't" Bucky shook his head, handing you one of the mugs, "She's not an imbecile"

"Oh my god" you giggled in disbelief as you sat down on the bed.

"I'll squirt shit nuggets out of my ass for two days, so please tell me at least I got the recipe right" 

He was so adorable, anxiously waiting for you to taste the cocoa he just made. "It's so good!" you rolled your eyes in pleasure, taking another sip, "Thank you, you're too sweet, Buck"

"Yeah, I know-" he chuckled, grabbing the mug from your palm and placing it on the nightstand. "I got one more present for you. Close your eyes and hold out your hands"

"No, Buck-" you whined, "I didn't get you anything else-"

He dismissed your words in an instant and kissed your lips, before guiding your hands up. You opened them up and closed your eyes, curious about what he could have gotten you. First, you heard him shuffle around the bed, and then you felt something rather itchy touch your palms. You nearly burst into laughter when you realised it was his chin.

"Ok, open your eyes"

And as you did so, your eyes landed on Bucky's face, as he had placed his head on your hands. He was wearing a tiara with reindeer ears, and you couldn't help but laugh out loud.

"You're my present?" you beamed, throwing yourself against his chest.

"My face is the present-" he corrected you. "Guess what it does. Take your leggings off and you'll find out"

[fbfh]

thankful for my (found) family - demisquad + reader thanksgiving special

2.4k

platonic everyone + reader, implied future/potential leo x reader if you look real close, thalia has a girlfriend that I had to make up bc they never mention hunters of artemis but go off rick, calypso is not included bc she acts more like an antagonist imo, gif doesn’t have anything to do with it besides nostalgia lmao

happy thanksgiving <33

You and Leo are cooking in the kitchen 

You have been all day

The doorbell rings, and Annabeth goes to answer, binder full of travel plans in hand

“That should be-”

Clarisse enters with a loud greeting and a hug to everyone in arms reach

Percy’s loud cheers echo from the living room as he calls out the new score of the football game he’s keeping everyone updated on

She drops her bag, hopping over the back of the couch to watch with Percy

“Woah woah, catch me up Jackson! What'd I miss?”

Hazel is helping Rachel make cute diy table settings and party favors 

Rachel, as with most art projects she takes on, is very focused on making it Martha Stewart levels of cute and amazing 

Frank and Piper are keeping everyone updated on the parade 

Frank pops down the stairs, calling out, “The last performance just ended, the dog show starts in 5!”

Hazel drops what she's doing and exclaims, “THERE’S A DOG SHOW?!” 

She runs upstairs to watch with Frank, her yellow dress swishing behind her

You chuckle, calling over to Annabeth as you mix batter in a bowl, " Hey Annabeth, how are the travel plans looking?"

She shuffles through some papers in her binder

"Magnus and Alex had another layover, but they should still be able to make it in time. Thalia and her hunter friend will be here in 10, and Travis's flight got delayed because of a sudden snow storm."

"Really?" You reply, "This time of year? That's pretty ironic for a son of Hermes..."

"I know, I'm looking at some shuttle services to see if that would be faster…" Annabeth replies

Nico enters, stealing a couple appetizers, "This is so stupid, I could just go get him."

Will, right behind him, eats the appetizer Nico hands him and replies, "No you can't. Doctors orders."

Nico starts to protest 

Will shoots him a look 

"Boyfriend's orders."

Nico tries in vain to stare him down,  "… Va’ a farti fottere." he says, cracking a smile

"Love you too," Will counters 

You and Leo shoo them out of the kitchen before they steal more of your recipes

Jason and Grover walk by with a bunch of pillows and blankets, setting up guest rooms. 

Grover calls through the pile of fluff he's carrying, "Hey, we're gonna need a few more pillows-"

Jason, over his pile of bedding, corrects, "A lot more!" And Annabeth runs over to help carry some of the blankets he's about to drop

"-A lot more pillows…"

You grab your keys

"okay uh… Grover, do you want to head to the store to get some more pillows-"

Leo, vigorously sautéing something adds over his shoulder, "And basil! And, uh… red wine vinegar, olive oil, and potatoes."

You rip a piece of paper off the notepad on the fridge and scribble a quick list 

You're probably going to need some more ice, too 

Tyson, very distressed, holds up an empty container of mellowcream pumpkins, declaring, "THERE'S NO MORE BABY PUMPKINS!" :(

you loudly add candy pumpkins to the list

Rachel approaches. 

"Are you going to the store?"

"Yeah," you reply, "how's crafting going? You need anything? "

"We're almost out of glitter and mod podge. It's not looking good. We could use some more fake leaves, warm toned glitter, and rhinestones - the nice ones."

Grover looks slightly lost 

You narrate as you add to the list, "Fancy rhinestones, mod podge, fake leaves, red, yellow, orange, and brown glitter…"

Tyson, still distressed, yells, "AND BABY PUMPKINS!"

:(

You hold up the paper, "Already on the list, bud, Grover's gonna get them!"

"What if he gets the wrong kind?" Tyson asks 

You, turn to Grover quietly, "Grover, can you take Tyson?"

Grover nods

"Hey Tyson, Grover has a lot of stuff to get, could you go be his shopping buddy? That way you can pick out the right baby pumpkins."

He doesn't look convinced

He wants to keep working on a secret project he’s been doing out by the garage

"And…" you add, sweetening the deal, "you can get two candies for the way home."

He agrees

You turn to Grover; "I'll call you guys an uber-"

"I'll drive."

You all turn around, shocked to see Reyna awake. 

You thought she was still passed out 

She showed up at 9am and immediately fell asleep from traveling all night 

"Reyna, hi! Are you sure-"

"We'll be fine, I need to stretch my legs a little." She proves by rolling her shoulders

"Okay, as long as you're sure," you hand her the paper, re-entering the kitchen

She takes the paper from your hand as you shut off the beeping timer and grab a pair of oven mitts from the drawer

Reyna examines the paper, "...This is a weird list. Where are we supposed to get all this?"

Leo moves to the side as you pull out the rolls from the oven, using tongs to set them on a wire cooling rack, "Maybe target?"

Leo, still very focused on cooking, announces, "If you get me generic brand spices I will burn this place to the ground."

"O-kay," you turn back to Reyna, laughing, "there's a Wegmans and a Joanne's right next to the TJ Maxx, you can probably find everything there."

"We'll be back within the hour." She states, taking your keys. 

Rachel meets her at the door. "Here, use my card. Also, make sure you get the flat backed swarovski crystals. And please pick some glitter with a nice color shift!"

You remind them to call or text with any questions and be safe

Heading back into the kitchen, you fill up a big bowl with carrots, celery, cucumbers, and mushrooms

You grab two cutting boards, knives, peelers, and a plastic bag for the peels, tips, and tails

You set it all down on the coffee table in front Percy and Clarisse

“Can you guys get the relish tray started?” 

They agree, and immediately return to yelling at the referee

You shake your head laughing, and head back to the kitchen

“How we looking, Sparky?”

“Stuffing cups just went up in the oven, pie crust dough is chilling, and the green beans are almost done sauteeing. Rolls are cooling - could you stir the cranberry sauce? - and… the turkey is going up as soon as the stuffing is out.”

You stir the sauce as you continue talking

“Great! We’re making good time so far. Oh, I found a recipe for brown sugar pie, which Frank requested - apparently it’s a Canadian Thanksgiving thing - so I figured if you’re doing turkey I can handle the pies.” 

He pours some cooking wine into the pan, and shakes it as the alcohol burns off

“Sounds like a plan, babycakes.” 

You laugh at the nickname, and grab butter, salt, some herbs, and a stick blender to finish the potatoes

A few minutes later, you hear the door open 

Reyna and the boys are back already? That was quick

You wonder if they need help bringing groceries in

“Eeeey get over here you knucklehead!” 

Bags drop, and you hear Jason laughing in protest

You poke your head out of the kitchen, and see Thalia with Jason in a headlock

In spite of the fact that he’s about half a foot taller than her, she’s still noogie-ing him, pretending she can’t hear him objecting through his laughs

She finally lets him go, greeting everyone as he adjusts his glasses

She bear hugs Annabeth, punches Percy in the arm, and high fives and hugs pretty much everyone else

You run up the stairs to the guest room Grover was setting up before he left

You finish making the bed head back down, meeting Frank and Hazel on the way 

"Oh, Hazel, what did you think of the dog show?"

"It blew my wig!" She says giddily 

A confused smile settles on your face

"It was awesome and she loved it," Frank translates smoothly

He and Will are understandably best at deciphering 40s slang

Thalia is introducing everyone to Amber, a girl she’d met on the hunt and become really close with

You greet her, and turn to Thalia

“Your room is all set up if you wanna get settled in,” you turn to Amber, “and yours will be ready soon,” 

They share a look

“Oh,” Thalia starts grabbing their bags, “that’s fine, we can share a room. We share a tent on the hunt all the time, right Ambie?”

"Oh,”

And then it clicks

“yeah, however you’re comfortable.”

You grab one of the bags, and help them upstairs

“Why don’t you guys take a while to settle in, I’ll tell the others you’re resting.”

They thank you, and you start to leave

“By the way,” you poke your head back in, “you two seem really cute together. Welcome to the family, Amber.” 

She blushes and Thalia gives you an appreciative look

You nod and head back down

You let the others know they’re going to nap for a little while, and not to wake them up

“Hey, any travel updates?” You ask Annabeth, on your way back into the kitchen

“Alex just texted, she and Magnus are finally on their way, should be here in the next few hours. As for Travis…” 

She holds out her phone, showing you Travis’s tiktok

He’s filming the mirror in the airport bathroom

“So uh, my flight’s delayed, I’m bored, I’m gonna fuck with some people,” he holds out a hand full of stickers that look like outlets

He records himself putting them around the airport, then gets people’s reactions when they try to use them

He ends the video asking for more prank ideas

You look back up at Annabeth, holding back a laugh, “Seems like he’s doing okay,” 

“Oh,” she replies, “that’s not all.”

She scrolls up, showing the next prank video where Travis goes around the airport having fake phone conversations to get people’s reactions

Conversation topics including ‘I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but slept with your grandma’, ‘hey bro I can’t come to the party, also turns out I’m going to be your stepdad’, ‘hey dude remember that old lady we used to cat sit for? Well, I found out I got chlamydia from her, so…’, and ‘yeah man, I’m so excited for the poetry slam. Also, it turns out my jazz fever is actually syphilis.’. 

Your hand flies over your mouth, trying not to laugh loudly enough to wake Thalia and Amber

“Yeah,” Annabeth says, fighting her own laughter, “he’s doing okay.”

You start putting together ingredients for pie filling

“That is the most in character thing I could have imagined,” you laugh, and Annabeth shows Leo the videos

“There’s a bunch more, too,” she adds, “Around making tiktoks, he found a bus heading this way. He’ll be here in a few hours.” 

“Cutting it close,” you muse, filling pies, “I’m glad he’s not stuck at the airport though. How about Connor?” 

“Haven’t heard much from him, but he said he'll be here in time for dinner."

A little while later, Thalia and Amber re enter, joining Percy and Clarisse in the living room 

The door opens shortly after, and Tyson enters, arms full of containers of candy pumpkins 

Reyna and Grover are right behind him

You take Grover's bags, announcing that Thalia got here a little while ago

He bleats excitedly and runs to hug her, Reyna right on his heels

Piper and Tyson bring in the rest of the groceries

Tyson sets down the last bags in the kitchen, looks out the window, yells, "IT'S ALMOST SUNSET!", and runs back out into the back yard, presumably to finish his mystery project 

Everyone eventually makes their way to the living room, nibbling on appetizers and watching classic Thanksgiving specials 

The food is almost done, all that's left is decorating the pies and a little tidying up 

You walk over to Leo, placing your hand on his shoulder 

He looks up at you

"Why don't you go take a quick shower and change before dinner," you muse, knowing the hoodie and jeans he's been cooking in all day isn't the outfit he'd picked out, "I'll wrap things up in here,"

He thanks you, dramatically presses a kiss to your forehead, and exits the kitchen 

You decorate the pies distractedly, catching the doorbell right before the second ring 

You smile at the people about to enter

"Annabeth," you call, "Magnus and Alex are here!" 

She drops what she's doing, and runs over to greet them 

Leo is back down stairs a short while later 

His brick red hoodie replaced with a burgundy one - his fancy hoodie as he calls it - a heavy flannel layered on top, and a beanie pulled over his almost dry hair

His pyrokinesis makes you forget how cold he gets sometimes 

You're about to go upstairs to change out of your cooking clothes when Tyson enters dramatically 

"The surprise is done!"

Everyone files outside to see what Tyson made as he leads you all out to the garage 

Perfectly attached to the side, is a very small horse stable 

"Wow!" Percy starts, "Great job, dude!"

Tyson is beaming as he's showered with confused praise 

"So uh," Percy ventures, "what did you build it for?"

"Maybe something like this?!" Descending voices declare in unicen 

Travis and Connor land in front of you on no other than Blackjack

Everyone erupts into cheers

“I thought you were stuck at the airport! What about those tiktoks?”

“Saved in my drafts, baby!” Travis laughs

Percy greets Blackjack and everyone else heads back inside with Travis and Connor 

You run upstairs to shower quickly and change, and are back downstairs just in time for appetizers and drinks 

You're about to take a sip of coffee when the door opens 

An irregular set of footsteps echoes into the room, along with a familiar voice 

"Ah, children, I hope there's room for one more," 

Everyone turns in surprise as Chiron enters the room 

After lots of warm excited greetings and making sure he has a warm cup of tea, he settles in to chat for a while

"I was on my way to meet with my more, ah, rambunctious cousins, but I couldn't let a day like today pass without stopping by."

After two cups of tea and lovely conversations, Chiron heads out to meet up with the other party ponies 

Thalia, Percy, and Will get all the food on the dining room table while Rachel makes the finishing touches to the centerpieces 

Everyone finds their seat, and you make the first toast

"I think I can speak for everyone when I say I'm thankful for you guys - my found family."

Every glass is raised

You can all drink to that. 

[uas-fics]

-Title: Flower Crowns

Rating: G

Summary: Half lost on his walk, Leon finds a frustrated Piers attempting to weave flowers together.

Ships: Leon x Piers

Content Warnings: N/A

----

What a wonderful day for a walk. The sun shone over the yellow-green of the land. Not a single cloud floated across the blue sky. Flowers swayed in a gentle breeze. Rookidie chattered in the trees as bug pokemon skittered along the ground.

Simply a wonderful day outside of...Well, Leon didn't know exactly where he was, but he was at least sixty percent sure he was outside of Hulsbury. Or maybe Tuffield? He was on one side of the Northern Wild Areas.

Probably.

He stretched his arms up. His jacket sleeves rolled down to his elbows. The worn blue jacket had been his grandfather's and was still a little too big for him, even now that he was an adult, but it was comfortable and warm enough for spring days. He kept it with him when he wanted to go incognito since it wasn’t as distinguishable as his sponsor cape.

He could use more days off like this, more calming walks in nature with nothing but the plants, wild pokemon, and--

"Oh, c'mon!"

Leon jumped, nearly knocking his hat from his head.

Who was that?

He titled his head, listening. Someone swore up a storm not too far away. Half in an attempt to help, and half to seek confirmation of his location, Leon followed the colorful language over a small hill to its source.

Amongst a field of wildflowers and tall grass, someone kicked at the dirt. Grass, flowers, and dirt sprayed into the air.

"And you’re no help, you piece of--!" They spun around, throwing something.

Leon ducked just in time to avoid coming face to screen with a cellphone. The phone landed with a dull thud in the grass behind his feet.

Regret welled up in Leon's stomach. Maybe he should have just called the Pokemon League and asked them for help getting home. This person seemed too upset, and Leon interrupting their rage would just make them angrier, won't it?

"Champion Leon?"

Leon jumped at the sound of his name. Taking his gaze off the phone on the ground, he looked towards the phone's owner.

The gym leader of Spikemuth winced.

"Sorry 'bout that, mate." Piers raised his hands, palms facing forward as if he expected Leon to throw something back at him.

Leon shook his head, both to shake off his shock as well as to placate Piers. He picked up the phone.

"It's nothing to worry about," He reassured, wiping the screen on his jacket sleeve. On the screen, some sort of brightly colored webpage stared back at Leon. In a curling font, the header read 'Just A Unovan Country Gal' with 'recipes, DIYs, and patterns for good old girls' written underneath.

Deciding not to ask about the site, he pressed the power button as he passed the phone back, darkening the screen. Piers put the phone in his pocket. He hadn’t noticed Leon staring at the screen or didn’t acknowledge he knew Leon saw it, at least.

"You're lost, aren’t you?" Piers didn't hesitate to ask.

"What? Of course not. I know where I am," Leon lied, unsure why he did. Everyone in the Pokemon League knew he was terrible with directions. Every gym leader had to come to find and escort him to their gym at some point or another, including Piers.

"If you need help gettin' home, I can take you,'' Piers offered. "I'm done with...I'm done for today."

"Done with what?" Leon couldn't help but venture. The Unovain website flashed in his mind’s eye.

He couldn't figure why Piers of all people would be in a wildflower field in the middle of the day so far from Spikemuth. Was he picking flowers for a special someone? Searching for a certain pokemon? Training his team? Did it have to do with the website he had open on his phone?

Piers wrinkled his nose. "None of your business."

It was Leon's turn to hold up his hands. "Sorry." He took a few steps past Piers. "Didn't mean to pry. I'll leave you to it if you can point me toward Hulsbury."

Piers eyed him up and down, slowly, calculatingly. A shiver ran up Leon's back. Why did his stomach twist into knots? It wasn't like Piers planned on stabbing him.

With a heavy sigh, Piers pinched Leon's jacket between his fingers, stopping him from wandering off.

"Flower crown," he muttered, refusing to look at him.

"What?"

"Flower. Crown. I was trying to make a flower crown." Piers took his hand away to run it through his thick bangs, pushing them back away from his face. A tinge of pink blush dusted his face.

Leon bit the inside of his cheek to keep a laugh in. Flower crowns? Piers was the least likely person to be making flower crowns. Leon tried to imagine the dark-type gym leader with a ring of wild daisies and dandelions around his head but only succeeded in a snort of amusement at the idea.

Piers glowered and raised his hand. All of his nails had a sheen of shiny black paint, except for the middle one lifted at Leon, which was a matte white.

"If I left you out here, you would die of exposure before you found your way back."

Leon covered his mouth before another snort could make its way out.

"Sorry, sorry, but..." He took a breath, "why do you need a flower crown? It doesn't much match your..." he gestured to Piers’ punk, monochromatic outfit, “aesthetic.”

"It isn't for me," Piers snapped. "It's for Marnie, my sister. She wants one, not me."

Leon wasn't sure he'd ever actually met Piers' sister. He rarely went to Spikemuth, and when he did, he just stopped by the gym to deliver papers to Piers and get out. Had he ever even seen Piers’ sister before? She was about Hop's age, he knew that, but he couldn't remember if she was a little older or a little younger.

"Oh, of course. That makes sense," Leon said. "That's nice of you to make her one."

Piers searched his face for any sign of insincerity. Leon flashed him his champion smile. Whether that helped or not, he didn’t know.

Piers snorted. More to himself than Leon, he muttered, "It'd be nicer if I knew how to make one. Stupid website wasn’t any help..."

At this, Leon finally took a gander around. Most of the flowers had been plucked in the immediate area. They either sat in a pile or as parts of what Leon could only assume were attempts at flower crowns.

He knelt and picked a crown up, holding it carefully. Yellow daisies made up the crown. Each daisy had a slit cut in the stem with the next daisy slipped through until the end where the last stem was tied to the first. It was crude and the spacing of the flowers uneven, but not the worst flower crown Leon had ever seen.

Before Leon could look closer, Piers snatched the crown out of his hands. Pale yellow petals fell to the ground.

He glared, the tips of his ears burning red. “Making flower crowns isn’t a life skill they teach you in school, you know.”

Leon tilted his head to the side then asked, "Do you want help?"

"Help?" Piers tossed the crown into the tall grass. "You know how to make them?"

Leon nodded. "I grew up in Postwick." He fell back to his bottom. "Everyone knew how to make a proper crown." His lips twitched up into a smile. "I remember chasing down a wooloo to stop it from eating the crown I'd just given it."

He took a few daisies from the pile next to him. It took mere seconds for his fingers to remember the motion of wrapping stem over stem.

"Silly thing was someone's prized wooloo, and the farmer spoiled it rotten," Leon continued, occasionally looking down at his hands, "so when it saw me coming towards it with a handful of flowers, it thought it was getting a treat."

He laughed at the memory. He couldn’t have been more than seven or eight at the time. His mother still brought it up when she wanted to embarrass him in front of guests.

“I remember looking out the window and seeing my little boy, nearly in tears, shouting at a fat old wooloo.” She’d laugh. “Oh, he chased that thing for an hour trying to catch it!”

As Leon continued rambling, Piers watched his hands weave together daisies, dandelions, and corncockle. He sat back with his hands resting across his knees. He puffed his cheeks a little as he watched, breathing only through his nose. Whether he noticed he was doing it or not, Leon wasn't sure and didn't ask.

"And that's how I broke my arm for the first time," Leon finished, holding up the crown. He placed it on Piers' head where it sat unevenly on top of his ponytails. Leon beamed at Piers, proud of his work as if they were children playing in the fields of Postwick and not young adults.

Piers brushed his fingertips against the soft petals. He took a dandelion and a wild clover flower from one of the piles. With his face set in determination, he started to copy what he'd seen Leon doing. He wove together six flowers before tossing his hands in the air.

"What am I doing wrong?" He demanded.

Leon scooted until he sat next to Piers then took the crown to examine it. He nodded to himself. Without asking, Leon took Piers' hands in his own.

"You're doing it backward. See here?" Leon made Piers' thumb press against the first wrap in the crown. Instead of locking around the flower, the stem went behind it. A simple mistake for a first-time crown weaver to make.

Piers pulled his hands back.

"I think I got it." He took a meadows cranesbill and corncockle and began the wrap and lock method Leon showed him. He held up his attempt for inspection.

"That's it. Just keep doing that until it's long enough."

"This is going to take a while," Piers said, adding a daisy to the chain.

Leon shrugged sympathetically. "It might," he settled into a more comfortable, half-reclined position, "but it'll be fine. I'm here to help."

Piers paused and looked over at Leon, eyeing him once again. This time, however, Leon didn't feel a chill run up his back. Instead, heat crept up his cheeks at Piers' half smile towards.

Leon's pride wanted him to hold Piers' gaze as he would with any other gym leader, but he broke away to look at a patch of foxgloves in the distance.

"Thanks." Piers turned back to his project.

They sat in comfortable silence for a while before Piers held out a flower. Its stem was too short.

"D’you know what this is?" He asked, dropping the flower in Leon's lap.

Leon picked it up and spun it in between his fingers. Of course, he knew what it was, but he shrugged and pretended to think it over.

"Primrose, I think." He said. "My grandma kept some fancier varieties in the house when I was growing up."

The memory of cleaning up broken pots formed a smile on his face. Sonia and he landed themselves on his grandmother’s naughty list for killing her primroses, even if it was an accident.

Piers hummed. "I thought that's what it was. And this?"

Leon moved next to Piers. "That's a ragged robin. This is a cornflower. That's chicory." He continued pointing out the names of the flowers he knew, silently thanking his mother and grandparents for explaining all the wildflowers to him when he was a kid.

Of course, he didn't know them as well as Milo. He couldn't tell what medical uses dandelions had or how to make coffee from chicory, but Piers seemed impressed nonetheless with his botanical knowledge.

Leon picked up a flower from a failed crown attempt. He held it up, about to explain what it was, but Piers spoke first.

“That’s a wild violet.”

Leon slowly nodded. He was a little disappointed he didn’t get to explain it but shoved the feeling away. Of course, Piers would know such a common flower.

Piers smiled down at his work. “Marnie made me fill a whole basket with them once. She learnt you can cook with them.”

“Did you--cook with it, I mean?”

“Unfortunately.” Piers snorted. “I’ve had pot brownies that taste less like grass.” He paused, then added nonchalantly, “Before I was part of the league, of course.”

, Leon snorted a laugh to himself. That was a lie, he knew, but instead of remarking on it, he said, “Did you use the flowers or leaves?”

“Marnie baked them, not me. I just turned on the oven. I think she just put the whole plant in there, roots and all.” He laughed. “I’m going to have to tease her about that when I get home. Thanks for reminding me about that.”

Finally, Piers held up his crown. It was far from perfect, some of the flowers lost their petals and long stems stuck out at odd angles, but Piers held it out as if it were a royal crown. His expression wasn’t unlike how Leon’s mum said he looked when he finished making a crown for the spoiled wooloo.

"Wow, it looks great," Leon complimented.

Piers snorted with a smile. "For a first attempt, I guess." He looked at his flower crown, then at Leon, then back, before reaching up. He took hold of the bill of Leon's baseball cap. With a flick of the wrist, he tossed it off then replaced it with the crown.

He smiled at him. “You look like a prince, champ.” He teased before bending down and picking up the hat.

“I could say the same.”

The two shared a laugh and grins. Their fingers touched as Piers pushed the hat into Leon's hands. Leon wasn’t sure the touch was unintentional.

"It's getting late."

Leon looked up at the saturated orange-red sky.

"If you get me to Hulsbury, I can get a taxi home."

Piers chuckled and shook his head. "You really are lost, aren’t you? We're not too far outside the Spikemuth Tunnel, mate."

Leon dropped his hat. He held his head in his hands. The heat of embarrassment crept up his face. He had wandered farther off the beaten path than he thought. How did he even get so far away from where he started like this?

With a sympathetic smile, Piers put a hand on his shoulder and squeezed.

"How about I take you back to my place, as a thank you for teaching me this." He gestured to the crown on his head. "I'll cook you up a little somethin' then you can hitch a ride on a flying taxi back home."

Leon's heart skipped a beat. He swallowed the embarrassment down and smiled.

"That sounds great."

----

AN: I stopped writing this halfway through to go outside, find some flowers, and learn how to do this because the way I described Piers doing it is how I've always done it. XP It is a completely valid way to make flower chains don't get me wrong, but it doesn't look nearly as fancy.

Anyway, maybe a little too sugary sweet, but I wanted to write some short fluff and doggone it I did!

Check out @uas-art for more of my drawings.

[sailorfailures]

December 5th is Makoto Kino/Sailor Jupiter’s birthday!

So how can you celebrate?

♃ Rewatch or reread your favourite Jupiter-centric chapter, episode, or musical! Start with episode 025, her introduction and the first instance of her famous “senpai crush”; then move to episode 039, where she crushes... again, this time on a handsome figure skater; episode 049, where her close friend Shinozaki is put in critical condition by a Cardian and she goes looking for revenge; episode 055, where she expresses her love for alien-turned-senpai Seijuro by way of homemade lunch box; episode 096, where Makoto gets a crush on Haruka and learns to explore her own presentation; episode 105, where she loses to a Daimon in a contest of strength and starts to second-guess her abilities; episode 134, where she visits a friend from her old school whom she encouraged to pursue writing; or episode 147, where Makoto waits for her “prince charming” Tiger’s Eye at a dance and launches a thousand MakoAmi shippers yes I see you there.

♃ Sailor Jupiter has several official image songs across different canons you can play for her big day:

90s anime: Anata no Sei Janai [“It’s Not Your Fault”]; STARLIGHT ni KISS Shite [“Kiss Me In the Starlight”]; Wasureru Tame ni Koi wo Shinaide ["Don’t Fall In Love to Forget”]; WE BELIEVE YOU Live Action: MIRACLE DANCE NIGHT; LOVELY YELL Crystal: cherry pie Musicals: Zigzag Slash She was also given a totally new image song in Dic’s original English dub that took the place of “Anata no Sei Janai” in episode 49, Rainy Day Man.

Here’s a playlist of all these songs and other Sailor Jupiter BGM cues!

♃ Whip up Makoto’s favourite foods, meatloaf and cherry pie. Unlike some other fellow Sailor Guardians she’s not a picky eater and has no least-favourite food, so why not challenge yourself to try something new or revisit an ingredient you thought you hated? You never know, you might grow to love it!

♃ Makoto’s very self-reliant, and her hobbies reflect her practical nature, particularly as she had to look after herself from a young age after the deaths of both her parents in a plane crash. She’s also intentionally pursued hobbies considered traditionally “feminine” out of concern that her outward appearance and mannerisms don’t convey who she is inside.

Her most oft-portrayed hobby is cooking, which is both something that brings her personal satisfaction and a way for her to express her love for the people closest to her - she shares her lunch with strangers, serves her friends fruit sandwiches & tea when they meet at her apartment, and daydreams about giving a personalised boxed lunch (bento) to her sweetheart. She’s also a natural teacher, showing the gang how to make curry (which becomes the one dish Usagi can make) and cookies, and showing Motoki how to make hayashi rice (“hashed beef”). Why not host a little dinner party or pot luck for your friends, teach yourself a new recipe (or teach someone else a favourite recipe of your own), or simply celebrate food by patronising a small cafe/bakery like Makoto dreams of owning someday?

She’s also a demonstably skilled sewist, making anything from stuffed toys (apparently, her specialty is teddy bears), to knitting, to bespoke patterns for her class’s maid cafe stall at their high school festival. If you’re a beginner, why not start with some simple DIYs or by altering clothing you already own/thrift, and if you’re experienced, now is a good time to revisit that project you have lying half-finished in the back of your crafts cupboard you keep saying you’ll finish someday when you unpick that one bit I SEE you there.

Makoto loves flowers and has quite a green thumb, perhaps influenced by the Japanese element she draws her powers from - wood. She tends to the strawberry patch at their high school with great success, and though she is often associated with roses, her favourite flower is actually the sasanqua (a type of camellia). She loves flowers so much that she dreams of being a florist someday, a dream she actually achieves in the live action! Pick up a new plant from a local nursery, fill your house with flowers from an independent florist, or start your own produce garden in your back yard, flower pots, or a small indoor terrarium/windowsill. If you don’t have the means to tend to a garden of your own, why not look into seed bombing with plants native to your specific area to combat invasive plant species. Or simply visit your favourite nursery, arboreum, or public garden to surround yourself with nature!

For sports, Makoto is proficient in martial arts, specifically karate (in the original anime) and judo (in the manga and Crystal). She’s also shown to be naturally gifted at ice skating thanks to her past life as Princess Jupiter, since it was a popular sport in the Moon Kingdom, pulling off even very difficult moves like lifting her partner over her head. Check out some local martial arts classes in your area or take some friends to the ice rink! She also enjoyed, and was quite good at, ballroom dancing, so take your partner or a small blue gal pal to some dance lessons - just not ballet, which she can’t quite finesse.

♃ Dress like Makoto for the day! Particularly in the first season, Makoto stuck mostly to “tomboyish” fashions, again reflecting her practicality and sporty side, rarely daring to wear skirts or dresses. However, as the series went on we learned that she in fact admired traditionally “feminine” clothes but feared they wouldn’t suit her. With encouragement from her friends like Usagi and role-models like Haruka, later seasons saw her branch out into a secondary style, with a more mature, “womanly” edge than the young, girlish styles of her friends - though she still enjoyed her original “boyish” fits. Wardrobe staples include casual jackets/hoodies, cable knit sweaters, slacks, shorts, loafers, and sneakers, and later midi skirts, turtlenecks, and bodycon mini-dresses. She wore a lot of green in varying shades, but also orange, teal, and increasingly pink.

As Sailor Jupiter, her image colours were dark green and “sugar pink”, and she wore green ankle boots accented with bright white laces. Her most iconic accessories were her pink rose earrings which, unique amongst the Sailor Guardians, she wore both transformed and not, even throwing them once as a makeshift weapon. Her nails were painted apple/avocado green from her second transformation onwards. Her hair, which to the disbelief of her teachers was naturally curly, was usually worn in a high ponytail with a bobble hairtie (plain teal in the 90s anime, green with petal-like accents in the manga/Crystal/PGSM) and two locks falling over her ears, though she did sometimes swap the hairtie for a ribbon or scrunchie.

Makoto didn’t seem to wear much makeup but did wear cologne/perfume, almost certainly rosen/floral; in fact, it’s one of the first things Usagi notices about her when they meet. If you don’t already have your own signature scent, browse for some local indie perfumers to find something that speaks to you - or look up how to make your own!

♃ Makoto wears a belt of potpourri around her waist in the manga and live action, so you could try mixing a blend of your own dried flower petals and displaying it in a bowl or tucking it in sachets amongst your clothes. In addition to the obvious rose petals, consider including oak leaves or pine needles for an earthy, woodsy note.

♃ Fall in love with someone you met 3 minutes ago!

♃ Crack some skulls!

♃ Clean up your living space! It’s good for the body and the mind.

♃ Fav and read some Sailor Jupiter fanart and fanfic on sites like Pixiv, Twitter, and AO3 - or contribute your own new content! Don’t forget to tag!

Feel free to reply and reblog with your own ideas of how you’re going to celebrate Makoto’s day!

Happy Birthday, Mako!

[magickedhat]

@theaterism​ asked:   !! hello hello, what are some things wren remembers the most about being the illusionist’s apprentice?

”Some things? I could write a whole book, honestly, ‘bout all the stuff she tried to teach me. But that’d be wasted effort, apparently.

“Did you know, magic can’t actually be learned through books? It’s too vague for that, too weird for words. You gotta go out and actually live it. It’s like... y’know, reading a book in general. What you’ll read is only a piece of what’s really out there, narrowed down even further ‘cause you’re seeing it through another dude’s eyes. You haven’t seen any of it yourself, haven’t, like... felt it, y’feel? Magic is a lot about feeling, honestly, like feelin’ the air whip at you as you ride a broom or jump from really high up. A book could describe that to me, sure, but it wouldn’t be anywhere near the real thing.

“Estella thinks that’s why magic has lessened in power over the centuries. People out there looking for shortcuts and forgettin’ to really live. She told me this so, so many times, I think she just... believed I looked like someone who liked shortcuts. She’s not wrong, that much is true.

“She... did have a magic book. Not a book on magic. Just a magic book. The difference is, like... As she put it: a book cannot teach you proper magic, and if you discover one that does, it’s in your best interest to destroy it. And you can bet your ass we destroyed it.. Ah... the whole book was just ink, to be honest. I think. ‘Cause I did look at it, obviously, and she let me look at it ‘cause she knew I would’ve just stolen it otherwise. And, like... it literally was just pages and pages painted black. Wet ink. It left a stain on my finger for days to come. But, like... there wasn’t anything particularly unsettling about it.

“Anyway, we destroyed it either way, as soon as we got the chance. We made this weird-ass bathbomb-- y’know those DIY bathbomb things they sell out there? It was somethin’ like that, but with our own herbs and a bit of her own magic. Pretty sure there was molly in it? Like, that’s what my mom used in a lot of her recipes, so there might have been some in there. It’s like, the standard herb for healing and protection, I think. But yeah, like, we filled this whole bathtub with water, threw in the bathbomb and the book. Had to reassure Hugues that no, it would not ruin the bathtub...

“... guess what: it ruined the bathrub. Could not even dream of showering in there, with all the ink and green-ish bathbomb mambo-jumbo. We had to scrub the stuff away for the rest of the evening and Lou would not let it go for the next few months. At least the book was disintegrated, though. Along with my spine.

“Hm... Her illusions feel a bit like dreaming. It feels real in the moment, but looking back, you’re all like... ‘the fuck? was i just flying north with a team of geese, or did i have too many drinks at the bar?’ Things like that. When I was smaller, she’d get me these, uh... glitter jars? Those water glitter jars, she’d get me them to calm me down. Cool part is, she also used to charm them, so I could get the glitter to create shapes and have it move in certain ways, and it was, like, a cool visual stim. Sorta like a mobile game. Guess it was better than stealin’ her phone to play games half the time.

“She actually has a degree on psychology. It’s not uncommon to find performers here with higher education, not really --- hell, my own surgeon is a literal clown over at the circus. Anyways, Estella --- she mashes what she learned in school with her own magic. She can look into someone’s subconscious for a lil’ while. She does that to costumers and we’d tend to avoid creating illusions that would, like, tap into their fears. It sucks ass when she looks into my subconscious, though. ‘s like readin’ someone’s diary, for fuck’s sake...

“Uh... Did she try to teach me actual magic? Yes. Did it work? Debatable.

“Okay, okay, in my defense, I just never had the right mindset for the things she wanted me to do. Like... one time, she wanted me to turn the black stripes on ours tents into water---imaginary water, illusions an’ all that---and the gold stripes into climbing flowers. I just-- could not do it. Something ‘bout the illusion would go wrong and the entire thing would fall apart, and I’d have to start over again and get the meanest headache.

“She did say it was partly because of my dad. He taught me to rely most on expectations when messin’ around with illusions, what people assume will happen, and like, that solidified my magic really damn well, so I was always clinging to it. So... completely fantastical things that are conjured from, uh... from within, those are just not my thing. I can do little things, though, like those little fire butterflies. Worked my ass off to get ‘em to fly right. At least they come out lookin’ good.

“She was... kinda absent, I guess. Not as a teacher, she always had plenty to teach me. Neither as a babysitter--- oh, no, if I were getting into trouble in the circus, she would find out and she would lecture me about it. But just like... Imagine we’d be workin’ on some new theory. I’d be practisin’ on the stage creating all sorts of spectacles, and she’d just... fall asleep. Right there, on the seats. I’d wake her up, and she’d be like, ‘don’t worry about it, I’m watching, keep going’ --- yeah, sure, and I’m the queen of England on vacation. God... It was annoying as hell. 

“Generally, though... she wasn’t bad as a teacher. I don’t think she ever expected to be one. She mostly just did it ‘cause dad asked her to. She just... didn’t have anything that I really wanted to learn. And to be honest, most of my clearer moments with her are durin’ dinners and holidays, when Hugues would be cookin’ somethin’ good and Lou and I would steal food and Estella would pretend she didn’t see nothin’. I like her a lot better as a family friend than a teacher, is what I’m saying.

“I just wish she wasn’t as secretive as dad likes to be.”

[kara-does-fandom]

Why MC doesnt get her working phone back (part 1. Leo, Jean, Arthur, Sebastian)

At least, not til Comte finally caves and gets phones or laptops for the residents. 

Listen, you werent sure why you still had service and access to the modern internet all the way back in the past. You were glad you could still check in on things and listen to that one song on youtube you liked... but maybe you, Sebastian, and Comte should have figured out what would happen after you found yourself explaining your little pocket computer to the boys. Comte is a blessing of a vampire and manages to track your laptop down during his tech shopping trip. 

So here are reasons you dont see your phone as often as you’d like

Leonardo

As an inventor, he is fascinated by the phone. As an inventor, he is also fascinated by youtube’s DIY community and spends hours watching how people build things, the explanations on inventions, and likely the art restoration videos and other stuff dealing with old art. Likely spends a bit of time with discussions and videos talking about the pros and cons of different art materials and makes extensive notes on what toxic pigments exist and tbh Comte will have a shopping list on his desk and notes on what Vincent isnt allowed to have even when it comes into fashion. Maybe it wont effect them as much due to being vampires but.. nah. Best keep everyone safe. Leo also spends a good deal of time with cat videos, because of course he does. You see your phone occasionally, mostly when it is recharging. The library is even worse, as is his room during the first week of the DIY and invention youtube as there are scattered notes and ideas everywhere. 

Comte compares notes with you on what Leo uses the most and gets a laptop for him. You arent too surprised when a tablet shows up later. Be it an art tablet like or something like an ipad, Leo scribbles his ideas on anything and you had wondered what he’d do when he discovered layers and a good erase tool. 

Jean

Ok so you see your phone a lot more often when it comes to Jean, but you also sit down with him one evening in the library after offering to help him with his learning math and reading. You go over what the future technology can offer, and you eventually settle in next to him and find some good basic learning to read and math videos, websites, and other stuff. Sure, you may have personally subjected yourself to duolingo as you prepared for your trip to Paris, but maybe you will offer that later. The shy boy doesnt really ask for much else when it comes to what your phone can do, and honestly its charming to see him leaning over your phone’s screen as he stumbles through his lessons. You are reminded of those tumblr posts of actors in historical or fantasy garb using everyday tech. 

Jean is quite happy to use your phone for the small things, so while Comte might not get him a device of his own, you end up with a set of bookmarks on your laptop ad maybe Jean gets his own Youtube or a playlist full of videos to help him, nestled quietly amid your own. 

Arthur.

Oh god, Arthur. After ensuring he knows how to avoid his own famous creation on the endless internet, you... kinda dont see your phone ever again. He loves tumblr and all its drama, phrases, and the odds and ends of random info you can get as they float across your dash. You know for a fact he will likely get his own account the moment Comte returns with a laptop for him. He spends hours researching various medical stuff. Being the mansion’s doctor gives him a responsibility and he, like Leo, spends a good deal of time making notes on what advancements sound good at first but end up very damaging in the long run. Sebastian finds himself buying at lest two new notebooks for Arthur which quickly get filled with things he feels is important for the health of not only the other vampires, but you and Sebastian, who are the only humans. Other search history includes sex tips, as how could he not want to know if the future holds any new knowledge on pleasing his partner, and maybe a few movie clips or writing stuff. He half resigns himself to stumbling over Sherlock stuff. Your grimace of a smile when he asked how popular it was told him all he needed to know.

Comte of course gets him a laptop. Comte looks into solar power or some other extra electricity generating technology. Comte quietly starts making his own list on what inevitable purchases he will make as he listens to you and his boys as they confer over the phone screen and decides Santa Comte will have a very full bag of goodies that winter. 

Sebastian

He initially confiscated your phone the moment he figured out it worked with the predictable noises about messing with the flow of time and the future cannot influence the past and other things. You got it back, of course, especially after he resigned himself to the knowledge that the damage had already been done. Now he uses your phone to look up recipes, play some background music during chores, and look up anything else a good butler might need to know. He falls back into old habits from when he lived in your time, using the internet to augment his research as a historian. 

It takes him a while to decide between a phone or laptop. You arent sure what he got, as he keeps it as secretive as his little notebook he uses to keep tabs on the residents, but you can easily figure out he uses it for much the same reason.