(Uncle Gru decides to go first in answering the question upon reading the question)
“Ah, yes, we are doing very fine indeed as we speak, @nerdynekotv. It’s mostly alright, not terrible, kinda cramp for most people’s taste, but it is wonderful to have most of the bunch in Mari’s home during these trying times. For the most part, a little exhausting in keeping ourselves from going stir crazy but not too boring at all. The Gurls are having a great time in spite of being stuck inside at their cousins’ place and had a wonderful time playing with Mari’s pets and Agnes’ Galarian Ponytas earlier this afternoon.”
(Then Auntie Lucy enters the room and sees the answering that she joins in)
“We’re trying to make the most of the situation right now. All of us won’t know when the whole mess will end, but it has been quite a journey so far. I must admit, a lot of interesting things has happened over the last weeks in our dear niece’s home: such as the Minions hosting a pillow fight at the basement that went out of control, Gru & Doctor Nefario building stuff with Mr. Vinny, and the Girls deciding to have a makeshift dance recital to keep people’s spirits up. Hopefully you’re doing as just as well too.”
“Hello Tumblr people. How is life in quarantine doing so far? Well, for us, the house is getting a little crammed at the moment with most of us evacuating to Mari’s place and everyone having to share spaces & ration supplies among ourselves, but it is actually good so far, nothing too drastic, although we can’t all go outside beyond the backyard and Harry going out to get basic and medical supplies.
At the moment, we are just getting some quiet time and Gru had put the Girls to bed now. Don’t forget that if you’re in the quarantine takeover, send in some questions for us to answer (just not the ‘suitable for work’ ones) until Wednesday midnight. We will all be waiting.”
On Day 6 of @silentlyfangirlingselfshipper’s A Very Shippy Christmas event, I shall present thee with ribbons, and loads of them too! All forms of fault is blamed onto Auntie Lucy for suggesting this idea last year, and I searched up Pinterest to find funky ribbon outfits (and some accessories). These outfit picture collage is the result of this mayhem!
Note: I had to resize some of the photos to cram everything in one collage.
Sources (arranged from left to right): 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13
This is my take on Prompt #1 for @selfshippingsylveon’s Familial F/O Week 2019 event, theme is Holidays/Weekends. Because I’ll be stuck in Singapore this week, I’ll be posting just a bunch of headcanons and drabbles in lieu of full-on stories because of the bad timing of the trip announcement my Dad dropped on me and my mom. I went with Holidays and an emphasis on Philippine Independence Day (June 12) and also about the fam bunch & their dabbling of the Filipino culture, because we need a ton of Philippine self shipper representation. While the others are not forgotten, the main focus will be on the fam bunch this week as the event says it.
Also, tagging @plucky-belmondo because we Filipinos gotta stick together! Anyway, let’s jump right in!
It’s no secret that Filipinos are the ethnic group with the largest demographic in Daly City and there is also an even bigger one in San Francisco called Kalayaan SF. In fact, many cities in the Bay Area and San Mateo County are slowly beginning to celebrate it more as the years has passed. So celebrating the founding of the Philippines as a modern republic is quite common here and Mari & co. do partake in it.
While it took him so long to get onboard with PH Independence Day fun, Harry enjoys it a lot despite being an Englishman: he is just slow in celebrating it until now, while Kairi full on adapts to it and loves celebrating it so much: she would help out in cooking stuff like adobo, lumpiang shanghai, garlic rice, etc. with the family for lunch. Meanwhile, Issa and Mari will get extremely patriotic to the core on that day, to say that they get really excited when the day comes is a big understatement.
Mari, Kairi and Issa also enjoy wearing clothes in color palettes from the flag for the big day as well, and the three of them would coordinate the colors to match up the color palette. Something that Harry, Philip, and Sora might need to take notes from.
Uncle Gru has a big problem with the Minions causing chaos during the festivals and parades held for the day that he had to use the Freeze Ray on them from ruining it for everyone involved and the people wanting to partake in the fun during the time Mari just finished her third year in college.
Edith and Agnes would sometimes dress up in some of the local costumes, especially the Maria Clara dress, on the day itself, all day long. Auntie Lucy stores them in pristine condition at the storage room and will give them a good cleaning a few days before the holiday begins.
Belle volunteers to do reading sessions with kids in the Daly City Public Library every June 12, using books written by Filipino writers in both English and Filipino (or just Filipino in some cases) that she often borrows from Mari and Issa, although she does have a section of her ever-growing library that has Filipino written books just to be safe. Just recently, Margo has joined along with her at the library and is slowing getting the hang of Filipino from Issa’s tutoring as well.
Despite the awkward past Japan and the Philippines had before (*cough, cough* World War 2 and the government’s non-apology about the comfort women issues *cough, cough*), Michiru doesn’t mind joining the Independence Day events in support of the Filipino American community & Filipinos worldwide and has been improving in cooking Filipino food with Issa’s help in the last couple of years. Hotaru and Setsuna would sometimes join them in the cooking session with them, Mari, Harry, and Kairi. Haruka can’t sadly cook to save her life though.
In spite of having a messed up mastery of the Filipino language, Mari has been trying to teach Harry and Kairi how to speak and write it for years and, just like her, their mastery in it is mixed and barok to say the least, although Issa has been helping the three out (along with the rest of the fam bunch) in recent years, so it’s not a lost cause for all. She is also helpful in helping Auntie Diana to reach full fluency in Filipino, so whenever the latter meets up a Filipino and speaks to them in Filipino without having a ‘nosebleed’, they will get floored in amazement that a millennia-old Amazon can speak and understand it really well.
Believe it or not, the (12th) Doctor did claimed that he did witnessed the Proclamation of the Philippine Independence in Kawit, Cavite in 1898, but whether that is true or not is yet to be confirmed. He could be trolling you if you ask me personally.
While most of the fam bunch will avoid the offal food from the 7,107 islands for various reasons, Uncle Maui and Auntie Diana will at least try them out just once. Last time that happened, Mari was horrified to learn that he (Maui) managed to eat up the diniguan (which is pork offal, meat, and blood stew) without cringing in fear. Talk about having nerves of steel for a demigod!
The siblings and Issa will spoil Margo, Edith, and Agnes (and Scooby, Kirby, and Marina & her adopted siblings) with Filipino treats such as dried mangoes, barquillos (wafer rolls), polvorons, etc. whenever they buy them on their trips to the Philippines or when relatives from the Philippines send all of that stuff to Daly City in a balikbayan box. It will be always be a treat for them whenever that happens.
Since mango ice cream is a thing in the Philippines, Auntie Diana will always get excited to taste it when visiting the country on business trips for the Louvre. Mangoes can make for great ice cream too.
Expect to hear OPM music all day long on this specific day. It was a suggestion that Margo brought up as she was trying to learn to understand Filipino through music at the time and still does to this day.
Summary: Weekend breakfast on a Sunday morning would’ve been all fine and dandy, if you’re not in Mari’s fam bunch in a chaotic morning rush.
Notes: This is inspired from a prompt request I sent to @husband-of-lucoa for the domestic fluff prompts with a dysfunctional coffee pot. Also, the story is basically what a typical weekend morning is like for me and the fam bunch; spoilers: it is always messy and crazy! The breakfast featured here is called a cornsilog (corned beef, sinangag (garlic fried rice), and itlog (eggs sunny side up)), which is one of many silog breakfast dishes in the Philippines and in Filipino overseas communities all over the world. Words in Italics are meant to represent Marina’s sign language since she can’t talk and is a mute (thanks to that deal with the evil Sea Witch in the past…).
Setting: Mari and co.’s house in Daly City, California; Sunday morning
Tags: breakfast, weekend mornings, chaos ensues, crossovers, self shipping, mild freak outs over little things and non-functional coffee makers
Rays of sunlight hit Mari’s sleepy face one spring morning inside her bedroom. She grouchily tried to get up, but a part of her was too lazy that it had knocked her back to the bed. Nevertheless, she managed to get up after 2 more tries. Her attention then turned to the alarm clock on her bedside as it read 8:45 am. Saturdays and Sundays are the days she doesn’t need to go work, so she has time to relax before Monday calls in for another round of 5 work days. The assistant librarian yawned and stretched as she got out of the bed, after which she took a shower, and got dressed up in the usual outfit of floral camis, cardigans, jeans, and ankle booties. Today was supposed to be a nice day to go out with the weather being bright and with little clouds that could warrant rainfalls, and it is jam-packed with a ton of errands to do in San Francisco with her brother Harry and friend Issa’s wedding drawing closer each week.
As soon as she finished getting makeup and drying up her hair, she then went down the stairs, and headed straight for the kitchen and dining area. But as she was about to make a turn, a knock was heard from the front door, so it took her eyes towards the door and she opened it up to see that a familiar face smiling back at her.
“Oh Marina, hello,” Mari greeted the blond teenager, “I didn’t expect a visit from you today. So what has brought you to come over today?”
Papa has asked me if you might need some help for Harry and Issa’s wedding in July, the otherwise muse but bubbly girl signed to her, So I came over here to help you guys in any way possible.
“Why of course, we do need more help,” she smiled back as she escorted Marina to the house, “We’re heading to San Francisco in a little bit after breakfast. Perhaps you can join us with that.”
I would love to go with you guys, she couldn’t agreed more as she signed the reply.
“Well, I hope you have an empty stomach on hand, because we’re just going to...” Mari’s sentence was cut off abruptly when both girls heard loud noises coming from the kitchen, “make breakfast...”
Perhaps we should check out the kitchen to see what has happened, since the noises came from there, Marina’s face grew more concerned as she signed to her and both continued to hear the kitchen noises.
After an affirmative nod, Mari and Marina rushed to the kitchen where they were greeted by what would have been a war zone to many, but is actually and unfortunately a normal thing to Mari every weekend: Many of Mari’s family and friends were scrambling either to trying to cook or feed the pets, getting something quick to eat, or making a mess of the kitchen, and apparently some weird noises coming from a… kitchen appliance?
Anyway, the pets (Scooby Doo, Marie Torchic, Piplup, Rowlet, & Scorbunny) were fighting for attention and huge shares of food as Ahkmenrah tried to carefully measure the allowable amount of pet food they can eat, Harry & Issa were nearing completion of cooking most of the food (eggs sunny side up, garlic fried rice, and corned beef with onions and potatoes) with Uncle Gru’s Minions causing havoc everywhere, Philip and Kairi ducked away from plates, bowls, and drinking glasses thrown about at random intervals as the Minions kept going crazy and they were trying to get orange juice, water, toasted bread & its accompaniments, and hot chocolate, and Kirby started to moan in hunger while Margo was doing her best to keep him calm down as her sisters Edith and Agnes watched on.
“Poyo...” the sad starving Star Warrior moaned, his little arm holding onto his grumbling stomach.
“Just hang in there, Kirby,” the oldest of the Gru sisters reassured him, “They’re almost done with the food soon.”
“I still don’t get why Kirby is always sad when he’s hungry,” Agnes sighed as she told Edith.
“Beats me, those puffballs must have big appetites for sure,” she remarked, “Have you seen that masked knight friend of his trying to eat that many sweets before?”
“Uh, Harry, Issa. What is going on in here?” Mari asked both brother and future sister-in-law of the chaos engulfing the area before ducking herself and Marina to the floor as some plates crashed onto the wall unannounced.
“What else but the usual, sis: Uncle Gru’s Minions are at it again: throwing plates and bowls, grabbing and dropping random items onto the floor & walls, and hoarding bananas,” the Boy Who Lived began to list down the things of madness verbally to her and Marina as the latter two got up again, “The pets are craving for more food than needed, Kirby suddenly goes hungry and is moaning in pain...”
“And there are some problems with the coffee maker for some reason right now,” Issa added in to what he has said.
“Wait, the coffee maker is having PROBLEMS!!!” Mari gasped in horror when she overheard arguments to where the aforementioned object were located and with her (not biological) uncle Gru, aunt Lucy, and grandfather figure the Doctor all tangled up in there.
“Alright, who’s going to repair that blasted coffee maker right now?” The Doctor groaned in dismay after multiple attempts to start it up properly as normal.
“Not me, Sir Grumps-a-lot!” Gru refuted it, clearly not in a mood to fix anything in a grumpy hungry state, “I’m not going to fix that thing while not having something to eat.”
“Look, gentlemen, please,” Lucy tried to calm the storm brewing, “Right now is not a good time to fight over just a dysfunctional coffee maker on a Sunday morning.”
“You’re going to fix it!” the Doctor told Gru.
“No, you’re going to use that weird technological stick of yours to fix that coffee maker!” the former super villain argued back.
“Okay, okay, what is the situation happening here?” Mari asked the trio as she walked towards them with Marina following behind, uneasy and confused.
Mari, what is going on over there? Marina signed to her out of concern.
“Oh, Mari, hello!” Gru soon noticed her presence, waving back at her and trying to hide the previous emotions he had earlier, “It appears that this coffee maker over here doesn’t want to open to any one of us today. Quite a baffling experience we’re having today”
“In short, you’re suffering from a caffeine withdrawal right now,” the Doctor scuffed a bit, not hiding his annoyed expression, “Sometimes, you pudding brains are really that weird over your obsession with coffee.”
“Oh dear, this is getting nowhere,” Lucy worried as the situation hang on a thread.
“Okay, okay. Let me get this straight: the coffee machine is not able to open and work properly, and now you two are caffeine-deprived and fighting over who’s going to repair it?” Mari quickly recapped the situation for the three, but mostly to the Doctor and Gru.
“Uh...” both men now began to look nervous, staring at each other out of fear, before facing Mari again and meekly squeaked a ‘Yes’ for an answer.
So that could explain that argument earlier? Marina signed in to the two out of concern.
“About that silent girl next to you? Why is she doing here?” Gru asked Mari.
“Marina here is one of many adopted kids of some friends of mine and she decided to drop by today,” she clarified to them, “She is unfortunately mute and can only communicate via sign language and body language.”
“Hmm… I see,” the Doctor mused on the guest, before realizing something, “But then what to do without coffee with the broken coffee pot?”
“I highly doubt Harry can magically fix that thing,” Lucy sighed.
Marina noticed that there are sparks flying from the coffee maker, it looked like it may have to deal with the Minions Mari has told her and her adopted siblings a lot. She nudged Mari to check on the thing with her, and what the assistant librarian saw had her jaws dropped in shock: water was splashed onto the machine and was dripping down towards the sink hole, causing a short circuit in it. Mari recalled that at one point, one of the Minions, Bob had nearly dropped a vase of water onto Harry’s laptop when he tripped on a rug while trying to water the flowers in the backyard and it too would have suffered the same fate as the coffee maker had Harry not cast a time freeze spell to save both the little Minion and the laptop and grabbed the vase immediately before the first drop landed on said laptop.
“Uncle Gru, I think that the Minions didn’t watch where they were throwing water at, and were responsible for the short circuit in this coffee maker,” she brought the damages to her forever relatives and was annoyed that her uncle Gru wasn’t paying attention to the Minions again.
“WHAT?!? They short circuited the coffee maker!?!” he freaked out in horror, before slowly regaining his nerves and began to glare at his Minions in disappointment, “Minions! How are you going to explain yourselves over a coffee maker and a short circuit?”
The Minions were understandably upset at the fact that their boss was mad at them for destroying a kitchen appliance with water splashing from the sink, they were scared that he’ll throw a fit about it if they don’t apologize and admit the truth. They eventually, as a group, mustered the courage and said ‘Sorry, Boss’ in Minonese.
This act warmed Uncle Gru’s usually grump bear heart, and hugged them tightly, he know that he couldn’t stay mad at them for long if they acknowledged their sink water meets coffee maker mishaps and owe them up. Although he did warned them never to play with water near all appliances and forms of technology ever again, and they were more than happy to respect that rule.
“So… Now that is settled, how we are going to do without some coffee?” the Doctor groaned in dismay, now that the coffee maker is down.
“Doctor, you can still fix broken machinery with your Sonic Screwdriver, right?” Mari informed him, “Perhaps, you can do it, but try not to be grouchy about it like earlier so much that got Marina worried.”
“Anything for you and your siblings, Mari,” he happily smirked back as he pulled out his Sonic Screwdriver while Mari and Marina helped in cleaning out the excess and ripping water on the coffee maker and the area it occupies before he began to program the Screwdriver to repair the coffee machine in very little time as possible.
The coffee maker began to roar back to life as it light up again to work as it normally did, everyone’s eyes looking at it in amazement like seeing Santa for the first time. Harry was putting down the dishes of food he and Issa cooked earlier on the dining table when he saw the coffee maker being revived back to working order and asked if it could still work properly again.
The Doctor brought out a mug, filled the machine with ground coffee, and had it to make a regular brew. And just as the fam bunch were expecting the thing to die on them big time, it was working relatively fine again: it did what the Doctor had pressed on and coffee was pouring onto the mug like there was nothing to worry about. He then drank some of the coffee without second thoughts and released a sigh of satisfaction, proving that the coffee maker is restored to its original state.
“Doctor, you’re a mad genius!” Kairi gasped, “Your Screwdriver managed to fix the coffee maker without breaking a sweat.”
“Pardon me?” Philip was still getting used to 21st Century lingo and colloquialisms while he too was stunned by the miraculous repair.
“Yes, yes, I see that you all took notice of it, and that I can appreciate it,” the Doctor slyly bragged a bit as he was about to make some more coffee for the coffee drinkers in the bunch, starting with Gru, “So: What kind of coffee preparation you people would like to have?”
“I’ll go for a cappuccino, Doctor,” Lucy asked him, relieved that the problem has been resolved.
“Espresso please!” Gru chimed in.
“Doctor, you know that I often go for a mocha drink,” Harry informed the Time Lord ahead of time.
“Yes, I know that very well,” he happily noted before he turned to Mari, “So, are you going to get some coffee?”
“Nah, you know well that I’m more of a tea drinker than anything, but today, I’m gunning for some OJ right now,” she replied.
Marina also declined the coffee offer and opted for some hot chocolate instead. As the fam bunch settled in for breakfast, eating and sharing their thoughts & stories, along with sorting out plans for the upcoming July wedding, Mari could take a sigh of relief, knowing that things in her crazy bunch will end well regardless of the messes they get themselves into. Surely, she won’t see everyone trying to be normal and stop the chaos entirely (because every single one of them have different personalities and quirks) any time soon, but one thing is for certain: sometimes, a little bit of chaos on the weekends isn’t that bad at all.
So I came across an idea from @husband-of-lucoa at the self shipping server at Discord of what kinds of gifts he’s planning to give his f/o family and friends. I couldn’t help but to feel fuzzy warm to do it as well. So here are the stuff I’m planning to surprise to my fam bunch this year:
Issa and Kairi: For my little sister and my dearest BFF, I actually got the three of us matching necklaces that was actually based an Esty creation that took its inspiration in Vampire Dairies’ Caroline Forbes (the TV show version).
Harry: I was surprised to learn that among the stuff the PokéBirds made a mess of was an old mug Harry used to have before after returning from the Battle of Hogwarts. So I am bestowing him the #1 big brother mug ever!
12th Doctor: Fun fact: The Doctor has some mean guitar skills courtesy of Peter Capaldi’s boy band days, hence a couple of the scenes of him performing a rock guitar solo. But where to keep those extra guitar picks when he doesn’t need them? Why, give him a big old guitar pick shaped guitar pick storage pack!
Belle: Oh dear old Belle, we bookworms can’t seem to have too many books in our shelves, lol! I decided to give her an interesting on the Mitford Sisters with the book The Sisters: The Saga of the Mitford Family by Mary S. Lovell.
Moana and Maui: I decide to pay tribute their Pacific Islander/Polynesian roots with adjustable puka shell bracelets. Nothing too fancy.
Karina/Blue Rose: My NEXT heroine loves to get glammed up whenever she isn’t fighting crimes or going further in her singing career. I actually decided to surprise her with Too Faced’s Semi-Sweet Chocolate Bar Palette. It’s actually a duplicate gift I got from my birthday, and I just so happened to own it, so I thought of giving her the gift of makeup. Don’t want to waste it.
Michiru/Sailor Neptune: Sailor Moon fans would know that the Sailor of Embrace’s favorite gemstones are also her birth stones for March, aquamarines. These light blue gems were said to be lucky charms for sailors in the past. I went for a pair of simple aquamarine stud earrings, she’s really that elegant and refined, I don’t want to make her feel cheap by giving her something iffy.
Ahkmenrah: Poor Ahk has a hard time explaining to skeptical neighbors about the mythology/religion of Ancient Egypt these days, so I’m giving him this book in hopes that he can give these skeptics a good lesson on Egypt’s ancient religion without boring them to death.
Margo, Edith, Agnes, and Lucy: I wasn’t too sure what to give them, especially the girls, and it doesn’t help that Agnes has been begging her folks for more friends for her unicorn plushie. Luckily, these Christmas-themed colored bead bracelets surely do the trick well. Come on, we girls needs some jewelry here.
Vinny: I decided to make fun of him this season by giving him a chemistry themed spice rack to see his reaction. The last time he did it, I nearly freaked out about the gag gift he gave me first in a box of pranks! With a surprise appearance of Mole.
Kirby: Kirby’s a creature of simple needs: since he’s still a little baby puffball, he doesn’t want that much stuff other than something to eat. Guess what, a box of mochi sweets is the perfect gift for our little round hungry puffball!
Gru: I thought Gru would like a neat upgrade to his old mug, and since he has tons of Minions to deal with, a BOSS mug should do the trick.
Hi Lucy, what is the most dorkiest thing about your niece Mari? That is if you're not bound by legal law to tell us. If you can't, would you rather tequila or a milkshake? I look forward to hearing from you. Thanks! Moss from the IT department.
@shallowhound
Lucy: Mari has way too many things to talk about out of the gate, but her keen interest in books and history in general is quite high. Because of her work in the library, she has known many things and which categories to go through. Obviously, her interest in the last Russian Imperial Family is on a higher level and will tell you things that most textbooks and history books might have forgotten about. She does pretty much in depth on things that it’s hard to break away from. I must have lost hours listening to her talking about nearly everything.
As for the drinks portion, probably milkshake mainly because Margo, Edith, and Agnes are still young and Mari is not a fan of alcoholic drinks. Thanks for the questions by the way, Moss.
“Today’s surely full of activity in the family right now. At the moment, me, Diana, and the girls are going to be pick up Mari and Kairi from work & get some dinner take-outs as well. Gru’s pretty busy cranking up something at the labs at the moment, although the Minions and Marina will be looking after the house while we’re out and about.”
“Hey, while we’re at it, keep sending us questions into the inbox all weekend long and we’ll get to them as soon as we get back home. And don’t worry about the Minions though, they can handle themselves home alone most of the time. We promise them we’ll be getting bananas for them as well.”
“Bananas!!!” (Chaos ensues)
“You have to say that too soon, Margo sweetie.”
“Sorry about that, Aunt Di. They can be quite a handful when they get too excited.” - Margo
