I made the colored version of Brynne! What do you think

Aru and I share a love for ailaughatmyownjokes

aiden and mini are fans of stanzi potenza

nikita enjoys sophie silva

rudy’s trying to figure out a phone and still tginks Bluetooth is a literal blue tooth (that’s on Aru for introducing him to Hotel Transylvania)

Sheela considers social media to be a meaningless void of brainrot

Aru - "Mantra (Jennie)" / "Not Like Us (Kendrick Lamar)"

Aru is definitely a sucker for internet drama, so you know she's eating up "Not Like Us." She definitely enjoys how united the internet has become to laugh at Drake.

"Mantra" was added because I feel like Aru would definitely bias Jennie from Blackpink if she was a K-pop fan. "Mantra" has this very, "I'm a bad bitch, and I don't care what you have to say about it" vibe that I feel like Aru, after the entire series, definitely vibes with. The song itself was built to be an earworm, and it's something that's just meant to be danced to. Aru probably puts this song on while cleaning, which leads to her climbing onto the nearest surface to dance (which Aiden admires with a soft smile on his face).

Mini - "Box in the Ocean (Alessia Cara)"/"Your Love (Jisoo)"

"Box in the Ocean" goes into how the singer buries her emotions in a box hidden in the ocean. While I feel like Mini has definitely gotten better at handling her anxiety over the books, she would definitely still vibe with the sentiments expressed in the song: who you were in the past is still you. Also, "Box in the Ocean" has this very calm, groovy beat that I feel Mini would love.

"Your Love" has this very 2016 feel due to its calm EDM beat. The singer describes this very innocent, simple type of love. I feel like Mini, again, would just really like calmer pop songs. Plus, the song would definitely remind her of her relationship with Rudy.

Brynne - "On My Mama (Victoria Monet)"/"Noir (Sunmi)"

"On My Mama" is a very laid-back groovy song: it's something that would make anyone move their shoulders and nod their head with the beat. Brynne definitely plays this while she makes Hira and her dinner. Sometimes, she'll get really into dancing and pull Hira into it. Whatever they're doing would probably be considered the ugliest dancing in the world, but who's the world to judge what goes on in cozy kitchens.

"Noir" has similar music vibes to "On My Mama." I think Brynne would just like the chill, groovy vibes this song gives off in general. This specific subset of music is definitely something she would love to put on while cooking. Since Sunmi makes a lot of this type of music, I also head-canon Brynne to be a very big Sunmi fan.

Honorable Mentions: "28 Reasons (Seulgi)" [Brynne definitely got into this song because Hira was a Red Velvet fan, and now Brynne can't stop playing "28 Reasons."]

Rudy - "Big Dawgs (HanuMankind)"/"Rockstar (Lisa)"

"Big Dawgs" is a song Rudy loves to play to pretend he's tough. Every one of the Potatoes knows he's the biggest softie around, but they'll let him have this one. He listens to this while scouring through Otherworld shops to find Mini the perfect gift for their bi-weekly date.

"Rockstar" is similar to "Big Dawgs" in the sense that it's, at its core, a hype song. Rudy would love these types of songs because he loves to be hyped, point blank. I've always head-cannoned that Rudy and Mini get a dog together, and when they're both adults and Mini's out saving lives as a doctor/researcher, Rudy makes Alexa play "Rockstar" at full volume, dancing with their dog.

Aiden - "Von Dutch (Charli XCX)"/"Run for the Hills (Tate McRae)"

Lower the raised eyebrows: let me explain. Both of these songs are literally the definition of modern pop music. They're loud, they're fun. I firmly believe that Aiden became a professional photographer when he became older. To make some money, I think he'll often do gigs for models, so I feel like his music taste would evolve to involve these pop songs as that's what helps his models get into the mood for their photoshoots (if that makes sense. Can you tell I have no idea how the professional world of photography works?).

"Von Dutch" is a song that Aru got him into. Her amazon playlist would constantly be playing their house (because Amazon music has no ads), and after hearing "Von Dutch" once, he was hooked.

"Run for the Hills" was something he discovered after he fell in love with "It's okay, I'm okay." Sometimes, when this song plays, he'll start singing it as Aru dances. Aiden's beautiful voice mixed with Aru's awkward not-really-dancing makes for a lovely combination, if they do say so themselves.

Kara - "Hard to Love (Rose)"/ "Daisies (Katy Perry)"

Both of these songs build their base around guitar and powerful alto vocals. These are songs I think Kara would gravitate to as they're genuinely very wonderful songs, but they're tinged with a sense of melancholy I think she would appreciate.

"Hard to Love" is a song that she discovered while just casually listening to Blackpink's releases. Ever since then, her bias has been Rose.

"Daisies" is something she listens to when she's down. It's a way of reminding herself that through it all, she has grown, and she will always grow. I've always head-cannoned that if she ever reunited with the Potatoes, it would always be a while later. (Never mind that in my fic it's a few months later. We don't pay attention to inconsistencies like that.) By then, she would have learned how to build an effective support system around herself.

Apart from being one of the rare books where you actually get the "villain's" perspective, it has great humor, characters who actually have realistic flaws, and another great genre with barely any representation: Indian mythology.

The first initials of the names of the Pandava sisters is the same as their adjacent Pandava brothers. Aru- Arjun, Yamini- Yudhishthira, Brynne- Bhima, Nikita- Nakul and Sheela- Sahadeva. Details, which, Roshani took care of amazingly.

Coming to the last book. NoI. The scene with the Uber driver, Krishna, was a direct parallel to a very famous scene from Mahabharata, where Arjuna stands on a chariot looking at the opposite army, which consists mainly of his family, and feeling apprehensive about fighting them. Then Krishna, who is his chariot driver, steps in and explains to him his dharma.

The conversation that took place between them is recorded in the Bhagvad Gita, the sacred book of Hindus.

The Pandava sisters have a group chat purely for spamming. Aru will (obviously) send memes/pop culture references/ anything that makes no sense. Nikki will insert sarcastic comments sometimes but she and Brynne surprise everybody by responding in pop culture references/memes. Sheela is the person who has never spammed in anything but dancing stickers and Mini is just *sigh why am I related to these people* but she will inform them of unnecessary medical facts when they get too annoying

Aru Brynne and Nikki will give Rudy wrong info about the human world. I am fully convinced they did that thing where they told Rudy that crocs are the most fashionable shoes humans can wear and he randomly turns up at Aiden’s house one day wearing bright pink crocs and Aiden just DIES ( he manages to take a photo and sends it to Mini)

Aru had a British insult phase

When Brynne and Hira first start dating, they don’t want to tell anyone so like for the first few months Brynne makes the most RIDICULOUS excuses to sneak away for dates with Hira but even the Potatoes turn extra oblivious (but they’re pretending) like ‘Oh look we’re out of sugar packets let me go get some’ and Aiden just looks at the 2 kilo bag of sugar on the table then at Brynne and shrugs ‘sounds reasonable’ ( but he’s smirking inside)

After SoD Mini and Aiden become close like they bond over documentaries but they become really close after ToW when Aru’s kidnapped cause Brynne coping mechanism is cooking but Aiden and Mini just bond by rewatching all of Aru’s favs LotR and Harry Potter and all that

Aruden has this weekly tradition where they go for ice cream or froyo and they just go to the park or something and Aiden takes pictures and they don’t really do anything just sit but they’re together and that’s enough

When they first started dating, Rudy gifts Mini a Full Complete Extra Rare Ultra Special Sanitation Kit and that was the day Mini fell in love with Rudy.

Aru is really good at telling stories and she was voted Storyteller Supreme at one of the Potatoes sleepovers

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