I Don’t Know How One Normally Eats Baklava, But I Have A Feeling I’m Doing It Wrong.

September Malec fic rec! (yes we're ignoring this is getting posted in October)

This (last) month's theme has been suggested by @just-add-butter, for which thank you because my brain couldn't think of one. So this time we have the theme Flowers and Flower language! As always, I have tagged the authors but if you prefer I don’t, please tell me because I don’t want these to be annoying for the authors.💜

If you want to add your own recs, please feel free to do so!😊

One-shots:

bloom by @smilebackwards: This fic is just pure tooth-rotting fluff and I love it so much.

Summary:

Alec loves watching Izzy get flowers but he thinks he would have liked, just once, to know what it felt like for someone to send him something so bright and sweet, frivolous, just because they cared.

Alternate Universe by @sugarandspace: An adorable, pre-Malec, mundane meet-cute where Magnus is a florist and Alec is stressed.

Summary:

The man stopped what he was doing and looked at Alec, his eyebrows raised. “Are you aware that white lilies are usually funeral flowers? They symbolize modesty and purity, and can be used on different occasions too but that’s what they are most famous for.” “Oh, what would you recommend then?” Alec asked the man, who seemed to light up at the question.

Flowers by @facialteeth: Magnus is having a bad day aka Alec had to cancel their date because demons never sleep. Cue Alec making sure to get Magnus some flowers as an apology in between his shadowhunter-duties.

Summary:

There weren't many things that could ruin Magnus' day. The world ending. His favorite show being canceled. Perhaps, Alec texting him that morning and informing him that he couldn't accompany Magnus on their date tonight because twenty shax demons had popped up. Or, Alec finds a way to apologize, even amidst his duties and the demons that he is suppose to be battling.

Flowers for you by @sugarandspace: Breaking my own rules by rec-ing two fics by the same author, but this author just has the loveliest flower fics.

Summary:

Alec is a Shadowhunter, he probably doesn't care about flowers, Magnus thinks as he's nervously waiting for Alec with a bouquet of red carnations in his hands. Slowly, he gets to learn how wrong he was. -.-.- Or five times Magnus gave Alec flowers.

Where Flowers Bloom by Shergar: Another fluffy fic that never fails to bring a smile to my face when I read it!

Summary:

After their marriage and their move to Alicante, Magnus and Alec's lives are even busier than they had been before. When Magnus realizes that they both have an open few hours in their schedules, he steals his husband away for a midnight date.

Multi-chapter fics or series:

The Language of Flowers by @astudyinfic: Mostly fluffy with some sad bits aka Max is dead and my heart is weeping. Starring Alec as a florist and Magnus as a tattoo artist. (Complete)

Summary:

Following the loss of his brother, florist Alec Lightwood wants to do something to remember him by. Enter tattoo artist Magnus Bane who brings beauty and love into his life. What starts as a one-time thing blooms into an expression of love for all the important people in Alec's life.

out of some dreaming tree by @faejilly: It's a jilly fic, what else can I say except that it's stunning. Seriously, pretty words with pretty descriptions and flowers, what else do you want or need? (Complete)

Summary:

Demons, a hunt, a quest, a partnership that seems too good to be true. Something dangerous is lurking around the edges of their worlds, and Alec and Magnus are determined to do something about it.

Heliotrope by @wirewrappedlily: This series hurts. It's beautiful and lovely but it *hurts*, so tissue warning for those who, like me, get easily weepy. (Complete? The different parts of the series are all complete so putting this under complete)

Summary:

If his client got quite a bit more than a simple cover of the scar from the emergency C-section; if Magnus's magic softened the edges of the hole of grief she had fallen into, just enough that she could find some peace with her own body once more--well, Magnus made a note that, Shadowhunters be damned, the little flower shop down the street was worth the risk.

Invictus by Lecrit: This is technically a one-shot, but at 36k words I have decided to place it with the multi-chapter fics because long one-shot is long.

“You should get a tattoo.” Alec firmly believed in coincidences, in the serendipity that could bring the hazards of life, but even he could admit that sometimes, things seemed to happen for a reason. He was too much of a pragmatic person to truly believe in fate and destiny. So even when Jace blurted those words at him as he stumbled into his shop, they remained abstract concepts to him, no matter how it nudged at the back of his mind.

amor in lingua florum by Hamaithor: And a last fluffy-two part series to tie of this list. Nephilim have a certain affinity for plants which is a HC I adore and Magnus seems to be just as enraptured by it.

Summary:

Alec ends up spending a lot of time at Magnus’ loft, and with him come the flowers. A canonverse AU where Nephilim have a certain affinity for plants; and Magnus knows that, but that doesn't mean he was prepared for anything like this.

Want to learn something new in 2022??

Absolute beginner adult ballet series (fabulous beginning teacher)

40 piano lessons for beginners (some of the best explanations for piano I’ve ever seen)

Excellent basic crochet video series

Basic knitting (probably the best how to knit video out there)

Pre-Free Figure Skate Levels A-D guides and practice activities (each video builds up with exercises to the actual moves!)

How to draw character faces video (very funny, surprisingly instructive?)

Another drawing character faces video

Literally my favorite art pose hack

Tutorial of how to make a whole ass Stardew Valley esque farming game in Gamemaker Studios 2??

Introduction to flying small aircrafts

French/Dutch/Fishtail braiding

Playing the guitar for beginners (well paced and excellent instructor)

Playing the violin for beginners (really good practical tips mixed in)

Color theory in digital art (not of the children’s hospital variety)

Retake classes you hated but now there’s zero stakes:

Calculus 1 (full semester class)

Learn basic statistics (free textbook)

Introduction to college physics (free textbook)

Introduction to accounting (free textbook)

Learn a language:

Ancient Greek

Latin

Spanish

German

Japanese (grammar guide) (for dummies)

French

Russian (pretty good cyrillic guide!)

Finally, thank you! There’s also the fact that she looks almost EXACTLY LIKE AANG!! She has the same round face shape and big grey eyes. It’s always weird to me how you don’t see more people making that comparison, because they look exactly like each other.

What's your opinion on the hc that says Ty Lee descends from airbenders ? (her style of fighting is interestingly close to airbending)

it makes sense, and i understand the theory, but i think this is still kinda surface-level analysis when it comes to unpacking ty lee’s inner complexity. assuming ty lee is descended from airbenders adds a dimension to her character because it means that she is serving a direct descendant of the man who wiped out her people and intends to complete that mission, which would give her reason to resent azula even more than she already does. but since I already believe that she resents azula plenty, I feel like there are better reasons in the text that point to understanding why that is. like, i’m definitely not averse to this idea, she does look far more like aang than she does any of the fire nation nobility, and she definitely has some airbender moves, but I don’t know how much this enriches her character since we don’t have that much context about her family. I wish we did tho; I feel like even the little we do know of her background is enlightening. 

An elephant casually stealing and then returning a wildlife photographer’s hat 

(Source)

Mighty dark challenger of the fortified woods.

Hey y’all what if I told you that there’s a fiction novel out there where a 6 square mile hunk of West Virginia, including a small mining town, is accidentally transported to 1632 Germany due to a cosmic accident.

And the local mining union looks around, goes ‘well shit, guess it’s time to organize everything’ and proceeds to deal with all the incredible bullshit that comes with being dropped into the middle of the 30 years war.

What if I told you it’s free to read online

https://www.baen.com/readonline/index/read/sku/0671578499

For all those who served

if i witnessed this i’d be losing my mind i’m so proud of them 14/10 for both

(via)