#so they can have the braids (<- also a tradition in the dk)

[okayishalchemist]

I did baby brotherhood a little while ago... soooo, how about teenage brotherhood?

This was actually harder than the baby brotherhood, cus at this point they gotta look like they're starting to grow into the adults they become while still being distinguishable from their adult selves

[birb-tangleblog]

I've said this one before, but I def think Adira and Hector would teach him swordsmanship! Both because they'd want him to be able to defend himself without alchemy, and b/c it's a pretty natural thing for them to practice together and bond over. I think the inner Flynnigan Rider fanboy in Varian would also still love to learn swashbuckling and backflips. Eventually, they’d gift him a sword of his own!

It’s equally mandatory that Varian gets to ride Hector's rhino. I don't trust Hector to not be one of those ppl who slaps the rhino and makes it take off with Varian on it after promising they'll go slow... but he would still have a blast. 

Since they aren't familiar with his track record as an alchemist, I think he could potentially rope them into acting as his lab assistants. (Adira would not be thrilled about her white hair getting temporarily dyed blue from a potion explosion. Hector thinks it's hilarious.)

Varian would want to pick their brains about them and everything they learned in their time away from the DK. He wants to know about the sundrop/moonstone lore, what kinds of cultures and kingdoms they visited, any unique knowledge they might’ve picked up on herbs and plants from living in the wild, is that eye/hair color natural, what was life like in the DK before it fell, how did those aerial trams work, where did the binturongs come from, etc.. A million questions, and he only gets more curious and chattery as he gets more comfortable with them.

Similarly, I think he’d try to pull stories about the Brotherhood and his dad’s time as a knight out of both of them, and be pretty enamored with their history. 

Varian has a sense of humor about his stint as a villain, so I can see him teasing Hector about that other time he tried to kill the princess and her friends too. It's practically a family tradition!

For an AU where they stay in Old Corona, or if they just visited regularly, Hector in particular might have a harder time adjusting to village life, and I think Varian would be there to help (tho carefully/subtly) . Little things like their currency, navigating small talk, and knowing who's who in town or what to buy from stores, + getting used to farm life and daily routines.

Potentially unpopular/less common opinion based on what I've seen, but I don't think they'd be overprotective of Varian? Obviously they wouldn’t allow him to come to harm, and they care deeply about him- but they both seem to come from the school of hard knocks and have a bit of that tough love approach. I think they’d ultimately let him make his own mistakes.

Related note- I don’t think they’d be that involved in his romantic life either. No threatening his dates. They've personally experienced the ups and downs relationships can go through, it's young love, he'll be fine.

BRAID TRAIN. Adira and Hector can do each other's hair, and help Varian try out some new styles too. Maybe Quirin can even get a few stubby lil braids.

Said this before too, but I think Adira and Varian would make a great dynamic duo in the kitchen, since she's a good cook and he likes to bake. This is a win/win for Hector and Quirin, who get to eat the byproducts of their kitchen experiments and competitions.

[pennumbra]

Brotherhood HCs - Part TWO

More headcanons about the trio and the DK, below the cut for length! 🌓 🌙  🌑

While Corona celebrates the sun, the Dark Kingdom celebrated the moon. Lunar New Year was the biggest holiday, but there were also moon viewing parties and festivals around celestial occurrences like eclipses. DK festivities in times past were less about parties and feasting because resources were scarce, and more about reflection, relationships, and appreciating nature. Traditions include stargazing and storytelling.

When Varian was a child, the bedtime stories Quirin would tell him were often tales from his time as a knight in the Brotherhood with the names and details changed.

Quirin also continued to practice his swordsmanship after relocating to Old Corona, even following Varian's birth; training brought him a lot of comfort after his wife passed away. He stopped once Varian started getting older, not wanting him to have any memories of it.

While Adira and Hector are essentially orphans, Quirin comes from lesser nobility and is a distant cousin to King Edmund. This is also one reason why he was put into position to act as a liaison to King Frederic- he has a better understanding of diplomacy and courtly high society than the other two.

Meditation and tai chi are important parts of Adira's daily routine and training, for both physical exercise and mental clarity. Favorite times and places for her routine are just before dawn, in lofty places, and in a light rain. Back in the DK, Quirin occasionally joined her for both these exercises. Hector never had the presence of mind or patience for meditation, seeing it as a waste of time, but would butt in during her tai chi to stretch.

Hector is still one of the few people who knows how to braid and pin Adira's complex hair style. In the absence of a mirror, they also used do each other's face paint.

More of an observation/commentary about his design, but the fur mantle Hector wears serves to make him appear physically bigger and more intimidating, particularly next to his Brotherhood peers. If you look, his boots also have a heel- so he can look taller. An intentional, if not entirely conscious choice on his part.

Passive moonstone exposure can cause physiological mutations, and people in the DK are rarely born with unnatural hair/eye colors due to the proximity- e.x. Hector's eyes, Adira's hair, and Varian's blue streak skipping a generation. Such colorations are considered bad luck among more superstitious DK folk. 

[fridakahloinmyeyes-blog]

My Roots, My Foundation, My Mexico

Being from Mexico is an obvious love of mine. People who have been exposed to my paintings can verify that. But I am more than what my paintings expose as far as my culture is concerned. I loved everything about Mexico, including its nature.

It was the surroundings in which I lived that shaped me. I grew up in La Casa Azul in the bohemian Coyoacan district where I spent much of my time painting.* La Casa Azul was a representation of my Mexico. It can be seen in many of my childhood photos taken by my father, Guillermo Kahlo. The central courtyard itself belonged to a long and rich Mexican tradition of cultivated gardens and open-air living spaces.**

In 1936, I painted My Grandparents, My Parents, and I in which I traced the history of my ancestry. I depicted myself as a little girl and included portraits of my parents based on their wedding photo. I also included images of my Mexican grandparents which I symbolized by hovering them over a mountainous Mexican landscape and a nopal, a type of cactus that represented the national plant of Mexico.***

My paintings also included foliage in such a way to show my roots to Mexico. My childhood in La Casa Azul exposed me to the richness of roses, cordylines, philodendron, and palm and banana trees.** And due to the accident that left me bedridden and immobilized, it was actually what cultivated and gave birth to my art.** For so many years, the garden and natural world around me were often an inclusion in my artworks such as Self-Portrait with Monkeys, Self-Portrait with Braid, and it can especially be seen in The Love Embrace of the Universe, the Earth (Mexico), Myself, Diego, and Senor Xolotl. *** I wanted to expose the world around me not just to express the organic nature of Mexico, but to show its beauty!

My roots, my foundation, my Mexico. Forever seen in my paintings and forever memorialized through them.

 * King, Ross. Artists Their Lives and Works. New York: DK Publishing, 2017.

** Glass, Daniel. "Once Upon a Time in Mexico: Frida Kahlo’s Garden at La

    Casa Azul, Coyoacan." Garden History 39, no. 2 (2011): 239-48.

*** Kettenmann, Andrea. Frida Kahlo: Pain and Passion. Germany: Taschen,            2016.