#mailiorn

i have talked about this before briefly here (link) and here (link) but i dont think i went into enough detail so L E T S G O

so like. here's a fact. raphael and maia are the only ones who can actually cook. i dont know if seelies eat but they probably don't have to since they are part demon and part angel, and neither of those have to eat. so, meliorn probably can make themself useful because they understand a lot of the natural properties of plants and besides they have magic, but other than that, they don't really know how to cook

izzy is a certified disaster which rapha already knows firsthand, clary has never touched a pan in her entire life and that's just a fact, and simon can probably like, fry an egg, but usually he only really helps his mom/bubbe cook during holidays like rosh hashanah or purim. he's way out of his depth

so because this is a surprise for maia they are down to half their amount of functional cooks and up to infinite times their amount of disasters because usually if anyone joins them when they're cooking it's simon and he mostly just chops stuff and helps. meliorn sometimes watches like an anthropologist trying to understand their funky lil food. but usually it's just rapha and maia, really

and really it was rapha's idea and he recruited meliorn because their knowledge of plants and their natural properties could be useful and somehow the whole squad is involved now. "i can't lie," meliorn says with the worst innocent expression known to man, and it's all rapha can do to throw his hands up and accept that this is his life now

anyway, they are all super excited about it (even rapha in their own way) so it's cute. rapha mostly asks for them to work as taste testers but of course they all have a billion uneducated ideas that they throw into the mix anyway. some of them are health hazards. the others are insane. eventually they get so desperate they try the insane ones anyway

also rapha just looks cute with his dumb lil apron and his several study books - a cooking book, a book about the chemical composition of chocolate, a study of werewolves' digestive system, a study on the effects of chocolate in werewolves, and an encyclopedia of non-conventional edible plants

(meliorn is offended by that last one. he doesn't need an encyclopedia when he has meliorn, an expert. simon is offended by all of them. just use the internet)

so he knows what the bad chemical that makes maia puke is, the trick is to try to get rid of it while not ruining the taste of chocolate. that's when izzy actually proves herself to be useful because wait a minute, she knows biochemistry. why did no one tell her that from the start?

so with rapha's cooking expertise, meliorn's plants expertise, izzy's biochem expertise, simon's creativity, and clary's cheering abilities, they are actually able to create a pretty dope recipe. it even melts on the tongue and everything and they can actually use it to make other stuff like cakes or other pastries or whatever

POLYCULE ASK! POLYCULE ASK! POLYCULE ASK! YESSSSSSSSSS

that's actually a pretty interesting question because the polycule is very culturally diverse. like of course we have simon who's jewish, but the rest is kind of in a weird place. i'm pretty sure shadowhunters don't have holidays at all, and since clary was raised by a shadowhunter and a former shadowhunter, i'm pretty sure she would have been raised without any either? like maybe she'd celebrate the gregorian new year because you know, they have to pretend to be mundane after all, but i think that and birthdays were probably pretty much it for her. oh and halloween i guess which is also not religious-affiliated, are there any other holidays in the states? i guess there's the 4th of july and thanksgiving but both celebrate imperialism/colonialism and i don't want to write about that so i'm gonna pretend there aren't. plus i doubt shadowhunters celebrated those either

so ok we have izzy and clary with no holidays, we don't know whether or not maia is culturally christian and i don't wanna just say "yes" by default... and then there's meliorn whose holidays and traditions will be typical to seelie culture, which are gonna be... unique to them obviously. we don't know how they are celebrated, how long they last, what is the milestone, how or even IF they count time - like maybe they go by when a specific flower blooms and that only happens every 10 gregorian years or some shit. so that's a question mark i guess

and there's also the fact that the seelie realm is very politically closed which. i like to think changes once they get rid of the old queen! but it's still a slow process to just allow other people there. then again izzy was a shadowhunter and she used to hop by so it's probably not a huge deal for meliorn to bring their partners and metamours to seelie celebrations? or at least to the ones that aren't Super Sacred or anything. so like parties and dances and stuff like that? yeah. which i guess brings me back to the other "meta" i wrote about seelie dances (link) and what it would be like for the rest of the polycule to participate in those and shit

then... well obviously there's the gregorian new year which we have obviously just gone through (well, we had when i started answering this ask. it's march now so rip. update it's april now. i'm so sorry anon) so like! i think it was always kind of hell for both raphael and maia, autistic icons, because of all the explosion sounds that just made them feel really upset and feel really stupid for it. with raphael i think it was more bearable when he had rosa because she would spend the day with him and hug him and let him squeeze the stress out you know dauhdasuihda also she was always the one he felt the most comfortable stimming in front of. and then after he lost her it only got worse because on top of the fireworks there was the clear absence of rosa that he just FELT everywhere. you know?

and with maia there's the added trouble of her being AMAB and what with being raised to "black men" standarts of masculinity (to be clear, as in: due to racism black men are expected to be even more macho than white men, ESPECIALLY by nonblack ppl; not as in wow black ppl are so backwards or whatever. white ppl invented gender norms anyway so lmao), she was definitely shamed a lot for being so distressed by the fireworks when she was little methinks. we love that combination of transphobia, racism and ableism! so it was just hard and filled with bad memories. and then once she ran away from home it got marginally better without the constant telling her to "man up" and shit like that, but it still came with the added memories you know

and also with them (plus simon) being vampires/werewolves the hearing gets even more sensitive so that's... fun. meliorn realizes it stresses them out and makes up a special kind of spell that muffles their hearing of background noise, so they can feel more comfortable and for the first time there is not that added stress that comes with the new years and it feels so nice?? they even try watching the fireworks but it's kinda like eh, not that great, especially because even looking at them brings out memories you know doahdsaoh so instead meliorn shows them some magic and it's so much prettier with all the glowing lights and stuff, you know?

maybe after that the polycule starts spending the new years in the seelie realm instead, that'd be cute, just like. enjoying that pretty place with all the lights and shit. i think they would all prepare some kind of light show some way or another like using magic and witchlights and whatnot. that'd be cute

as for other holidays! i think their holiday traditions would start with simon's first yom kippur after he was able to eat solid foods again (shut up a potion WILL be created and i don't accept any other option). before that, with simon being unable to eat, he was also obviously unable to fast. he wouldn't feed during yom kippur but it's not like vampires need to drink blood every day so it's not really the same thing. and it felt particularly lonely that, besides being away from his family and community, he also couldn't fast

i mean obviously simon isn't the only jewish vampire in the world, or jewish downworlder for that matter, so i'm sure he makes jewish friends he would at least get together and pray with for yom kippur, and that's what matters the most, really, but being unable to fast when he wants to and also not being able to participate in the break-fast meal just. sucks djdnudhsus

and then he's able to eat and he can do all that again! but it's also kind of emotionally charged for all of the vampires to fast for the first time when for so long they associated not eating with feeling unhuman, you feel? so like it kind of hits all of them hard

so the polycule decides to make him a little surprise and cooks the break-fast meal for them. clary probably knows what simon and his family used to eat after yom kippur so they try to recreate that for him? and maia and raphael are lowkey nervous about it because they had never made stuff like noodle kugel before and while they could at least try it (yay potion!) they have no idea if it's tasting like it should, ya know what i mean? and it's kind of sweet that they are so worried about making this the best possible experience for simon and the closest to home it can get. and simon is super emotional about getting to eat that stuff for the first time, as well as the other vampires, so you know. it's very emotional all around. but in a good way? and i think after that it kind of becomes a tradition that they make him the break-fast meal after yom kippur too

and then the next years they lowkey fuss over him for the last meal before the fast too, which i'm not sure is something simon would do with other people so they would go ham, dude, particularly raphael because he is a worrier first and foremost. so catch his ass all lovingly planning a meal he can make with zero (0) salt whatsoever so simon doesn't get too thirsty during the fast for MONTHS, planning so he gets the most amount of sustenance, lots of fiber, etc., and simon is like "you know i don't even have to eat, right?" but rapha is just all "you know food still matters" and simon doesn't say anything because it does. it matters a lot

and raphael is all sweetly nervous because like... it is a simple meal, that is the point, but he still wants simon to enjoy it and simon can't stop smiling through the whole thing. raphael and the others also eat it with him too in solidarity before simon goes to the synagogue with his community and it's like a sweet send off you know?

also this is not exactly a celebration or a tradition for that matter but since YK is the day of forgiveness i like to think that eventually simon asks for raphael's forgiveness on YK for the whole rosa thing, and although that isn't religious for raphael, raphael asking for his forgiveness for how everything went down, too. and it's just a sweet moment where they leave this whole story behind and look for a better future - i imagine this happening before they get together, so again, it doesn't really count as an answer to your question, but i just thought i'd include it because i find it sweet

then after that there is sukkot and i just really loove the idea of them helping him build the sukkah (for those who don't know, the sukkah is a hut covered with vegetation under the open sky, where jewish ppl live in for the duration of the sukkot). i know that they could just buy a certified one but where is the fun in that when we could have shenanigans? also i think that that would have been part of simon's personal/family traditions because i bet him and becca loved to build the sukkah for their family. so like on that spirit it is a little sad that they can't help each other with that anymore since simon can't be seen by the rest of his family, but of course as soon as he mentions it and how fun it used to be the whole polycule is Immediately On Board. let's help simon build his sukkah!

first of all other than simon none of them have ever built a sukkah before and simon usually followed becca's lead tbh, also he's just not great to Lead And Control people in general, and the polycule is already messy as all fuck. so it's a disaster, especially with raphael and simon's superspeed and strength thrown into the mix, and meliorn's almost impossible to hold back mischievous nature. izzy is lowkey responsible for keeping them in check and okay now that i think about it clary might have helped simon's family build it before, especially when she was a kid because kids just love that shit, but i don't know if she would remember the steps tbh (read: she wouldn't remember the steps) so yeah all in all the sukkah falls down more often than not and they might have to replace a few materials when simon and raphael accidentally snap their bamboo poles in half. rip

meliorn is probably all like "you are all weak and pathetic, i am a seelie, i can literally control living things. simon needs a vegetable covering? watch me get all the nearby trees to form a beautiful roof" and simon is like "actually the sechach cannot be alive" and meliorn slowly dies because they have no power over dead nature. also simon forbids magic usage in general because this needs to be an authentic building experience for him, so meliorn is left as the most useless one since they only have experience building these things using magic and the help of the trees or whatever

also i bet they would love to go EXTREMELY hard on the lights and decorations. i know that hassidic and to my understanding general orthodox jewish communities don't decorate the sukkah but i don't hc simon as part of those communities so i think he would want to decorate the sukkah. like even if it isn't fully covered in decorations, he would want what few he has to be well done, you know what i mean? like he would want to make the holiday posters himself (i dont know if it would be appropriate for clary to help make these but if it would, she totally would and i like the idea of simon giving her a very specific prompt to make the posters and clary doing it for him, you know? and maybe them all helping paint it with colorful themes), making decorations, and okay, at the very least fairy lightning? please? come on. it's another whole ass dramatic experience to get electricity in there so that's fun for sure, but i think meliorn and maia in particular would be all over the idea of making a pretty lightning system, and simon is definitely not gonna complain because he loves pretty things and the idea sounds rad. raphael smiles fondly through it all and basically saves the day by being the only one with organizational skills who is actually able to help them make a working plan for the sukkah

(catch these idiots making a blueprint. TRY and tell me they wouldn't)

(every year they make a new blueprint and the sukkah has different designs and proportions - always following the requirements like having four at least 32 inches tall walls, of course - and they start completely anew. the sechach must always be new but not the general structure, but they redo the structure anyway because again, it's fun)

and then of course they have meals together in the sukkah for the duration of sukkot and just idk i really dig the idea of the lot of them holding trays of food wearing oven mitts as they get inside and turn on the lights and it feels really nice and sweet you know? and then of course promptly turns kind of messy because it's their way but that's what they want. also, at least once a year they manage to sneak becca in for a meal with simon in the sukkah and they are just both so happy and aaaaa :')

and that's how "kidnapping" becca so she can see simon and his sukkah becomes another tradition lmao. they do it in the most dramatic full of flair way they possibly can while still not being found out and then promptly tell simon all about it in the most dramatic and exaggerated retelling during the meal, which always makes both simon and becca laugh (reality: becca just told her parents she would be off for a few hours to do some school thing or something and then they picked her up and she got a superspeed piggyback ride so she and simon wouldn't miss a minute. their story: "it all began with a carefully planted lie,")

there's also pesach which many (reform) jewish friends of mine have told me they like to do with goyim because the whole point of that holiday is to welcome strangers and share jewish history, so i think simon would like to do that as well. so yeah i think simon would enjoy having them with him during the Pesach Seder - again i think simon would want to be with his other jewish friends but it would be fun because they all could bring their pet goyim that they know would be respectful and nice to have around, run the Seder, and celebrate with them. also for their first one i think simon would have gotten excited about explaining the order/15 steps to them, so like cue lots of fond looks as simon tells them everything about it, how this is the first time he'll be able to have the feast, the four cups of wine, and how he's excited even to have the bitter herbs again. and then over the years they all become pretty much used to the 15 steps, they come naturally, they know what to expect, they already know the story of the Exodus after retelling it every year, and it's nice both when it's new and he gets to share and when it starts to be something in their element because it became their tradition and they want to be there with simon for the holidays, you know what i mean?

then there's purim!!!!!!!! god they would sure have so much fun on purim it gets me really excited to think about. purim might be the one that they get to participate the most in from what i've seen, and i have lots of thoughts about it, like:

first of all, making hamantaschen!! they each make a batch with a different stuffing and it's lowkey a competition and lowkey a surprise and as always with cooking together it is very fun and homey. and also kind of silly as they usually are, but purim is a holiday that is kind of supposed to be silly and for ppl to let go so it matches that mood, you know what i mean? like they're all covered in flour and "stop trying to LOOK at what i'm making!" and blind testing and stuff

then, food gifts! so from what i've seen it is preferable that the food gifts jewish ppl send each other on purim are sent by a third party, which is usually a kid, but they don't know many kids and i really like the idea of the polycule serving as simon's messengers for the day lmao. going everywhere round the shadow world and beyond ("hey mel since you can portal i have this friend in argentina-") and then bringing him the other gifts people send simon in return :)

dressing up in costumes! there is absolutely no way simon doesn't dress up for purim and the whole polycule is absolutely dragged into it, including an absolutely reluctant raphael. it quickly becomes a tradition tho that they change costumes every year and try to make them funnier and more outrageous (as you do) as time goes by. trust the polycule to turn pretty much everything into a competition. and simon always laughs with so much glee and joy when he gets to see what everyone dresses up as so really, how could they say no?

(maia "wins", like, every year. she is totally huge on costumes and her and simon are very attuned in that sense, so, you know. catch her dressing up as memes and just generally making the most creative costumes. she may or may not think them months and months ahead of time)

maybe they hold purim meals with particularly themed costumes every once in a while when they want to spice it up, but i think generally it's more of a freestyle thing

simon also loves reading the purim torah tbh, it's just fun. and then of course there's the megillah and booing when haman's name is mentioned. they are all banned from using graggers because half of them have superstrength and the other half doesn't technically have superstrength but is still super strong and they destroyed the poor thing on accident after the first ten seconds when they tried

food yay! and the very long meal. they usually get pretty drunk, tbh, at least the ones that can. and just generally i think it's one of their favorite celebrations to do together and more often than not ends in them all curled up together in the couch so u know, that's sweet uwu

and then of course rosh hashanah, which is the holiest joyous day in jewish tradition, so of course it's a huge deal for them all. and i just think they would all be super excited about making the evening (especially the meal ofc) the most incredible for simon it could possibly be. again i think simon would want to spend it with his downworlder jewish friends and community, and they probably have their own synagogue they go to together and everything, so obviously they are all involved in making preparations for rosh hashanah, but i like to think the polcyule and simon's friends' pet goyim would help with what they can as well (provided it's not something that should be done by a jewish person like baking the challah; but if not with cooking, they would at least want to help with stuff like decorations and the like. honestly i imagine all of simon's partners sitting together very seriously with a paper in front of them writing down all the stuff they can do to help with rosh hashanah preparations and everything. especially once they learn that like being happy/joyous is a mitzvah so they're just like "we want to make u as happy as possible then :)" and it's sweet and simon may or may not tear up a little)

and then we have other holidays that aren't associated with religion like halloween, which was kind of implied to be the official downworld holiday, so i'm pretty sure they go big on that too. not dressing up because again, one day where they can all afford to be themselves, but definitely meeting up at the hunter's moon, getting spectacularly drunk, roasting the mundane's costumes, and then once they get back to whichever of them's homes, watching some shitty movies and throwing stuff at the screen together

i'm on the fence about día de muertos. i know it's not exactly a sad holiday but i feel like it is for raphael because it kind of represents everything he's lost - his culture and his family, and he can't even go to the parade during the day, you know, although i'm not sure that would have been his thing, but i do think he would have loved to watch the arrival of the monarchs when he was a kid but he'd have to be in méxico for that. and particularly after he lost rosa i just feel like it would have been so emotionally charged for him, you know? he would definitely make her an altar every year and it would be just... big and well thought-out and something really emotional and important for him, welcoming his little sister back the best he can. and i feel like that's something he'd want to do alone because my boy loves to punish himself

but there are little things i think they would have wanted to do with him, and that they might push a little to be able to, like being with him while he eats by the altar and hearing him tell stories about rosita. and i think they would help him "undo" (?) the altar once día de muertos is over, which is always extra emotional for him and aaa. and then the next day they kind of just get to be with him and cuddle a little bit as he recovers emotionally, you know?

also it has just occured to me that raphael is christian shit fuck fart bitch cock. so okay i guess that puts xmas and easter somewhat on the map? again mostly for food. us latinos celebrate xmas on the eve, not on xmas day, and raphael is totally the insufferable xmas meal obsessed bitch who's on the kitchen all day and refuses to let anyone help (he can't pull that particular stunt for the meals they have for simon's holidays obviously but he can on xmas soo). but it's worth it because it is always a great one. and he also gives a lot of thought into getting everyone presents so that is sweet and it earns him lots of kisses on the cheek and stuff. and that's pretty much it for latino xmas, we don't really do stuff i'm still not convinced gringos haven't made up like the socks and the eggnog and xmas music (????) so it's more lowkey. and i think raphael would keep the more religious aspects of it to the stuff he does at church (again, there are downworlder religious communities idk what to tell u) and for the nursery home. which is not to say that like... oh wow xmas is totally not a xtian holiday! or whatever, just that the version the polycule does is more lowkey on the religious aspects and the things they do together on that day are more about being together with raphael on a day that matters to him, you know, especially since again, he is the only xtian and that's gonna be a sensitive thing for simon especially

and i think for easter it is mostly something they do to shower maia in sweets lmao. again she misses chocolate and i'm sure they spend a lot of their time trying to figure out how to get around that, either be by like trying to make special chocolate that doesn't make her sick or sweets that really really resemble chocolate or that are so good she doesn't even mind that she can't eat chocolate anymore. so that's their tradition for easter (and raphael goes to church ofc)

oh yeah and i forgot valentine's day! i have this funny little idea just for the shits where they have this little thing where they setup one-on-one dates for all the parts that are actually together and each of them lasts, like, 10 minutes (poor maia who dates everyone is just running around town) and it's more about the fun of running around from one day to the other like this is a bad romcom where some bastard is trying to juggle having two (monog) girlfriends at once. but then they actually get all together at the end of the day and trade presents and funny cards both among their dates and metamours ("roses are red, violets are blue, you're my girlfriend's girlfriend, and i love you platonically"). usually ending up with them drunk and debating how exactly they got to this overly complicated arrangement and trying to figure out the best way to explain this to an outsider and trying to make, like, fluxograms that explain all of their different relationships visually and they all look so messy it just leaves them more confused lmao. so yeah it's fun

and i think that's all i've got? i say, as if this answer isn't longer than anyone will have the time to read and took me over 4 months to write. but anyway

Also what other pet names do u think she uses? ❤️

u know im torn between "she uses very few pet names but she uses all of them to all her partners so it's always chaos when they're all together" and "she has a different pet name assigned to each of them cuz she's organized like that"

like i don't see maia being particularly creative with pet names the way magnus is, but a good old fashioned "honey" or "baby" never hurt anybody. and her partners aren't grouchy asses about it (and besides who could deny maia a pet name when she always says it so softly and lovingly) (if you think raphael is grouchy about pet names you're wrong. he's a certified Simp™ and doubly so for maia) so she can roam free. on related news i've just decided it's the first one. maia is organized but she can enjoy a little chaos and besides the pet names are just what slips when she's feeling Soft™

she also calls all her partners by nicknames and she always says them so lovingly they feel like petnames. very rarely does she ever use her full name. i don't know what her nickname would be for Clary tho, all the others are pretty obvious (rapha, si, mel, iz), first thing that comes to mind is "clay" but that's also a word so maybe something like "art girl" or something? but like "art girl (affectionate)" and it always makes clary smile

and yes she has a tendency to be like at a group dinner and be like "babe, can you pass me the salt?" *five different people all reach for the salt at once* "si WHY would you think i meant you you're further from the salt than i am" "vampire speed?" and she laughs

besides most of them highkey have acts of service as their main love language which always makes her all bubbly inside because she feels so cared for and it's what she deserves

then it immediately leads to bickering over who she did actually mean and maia just. doesn't even remember anymore so she can't even settle it, but even if she could she wouldn't cuz it's fun and she feels right at home with them 🥺

listen to me. you listen to me. i LOVE stupid asks. altho i dont think any asks are stupid i love everything yall send me but like! silly/crack asks are more than encouraged. i literally live for this shit

ok this is cracky so dont take it too seriously ok thnx

also i really want to hear ur thoughts on the nominations, but here's what i have so far:

Raphael wins "most beautiful smile" because 1- its true; 2- half the downworld council is dating him and the other half includes his dad, and they all love and cherish his smile, especially as it's so rare. raphael and alec both voted for magnus, so hes a close second

"Council supermodel" or whatever they jokingly call the Most Beautiful Leader prize is an ultimate tie because magnus and alec voted for each other, raphael voted for maia, maia voted for meliorn, and meliorn voted for raphael. later they jokingly ask simon to make the final vote and he gets nervous because HOW is he supposed to choose between his 3 perfect partners so he just blurts out "alec" in nervousness. ever since it's polycule canon that alec won council supermodel and they joke about it when they want to make simon Really Flustered

(raphael is also like wtf meliorn u should have voted for maia i dont even want to be Council Supermodel anyway. meliorn is like 1- thats exactly why; 2- i figured this was going to happen so making it a super tie was really funny. raphael has to stop a smile because hes a simp for meliorn's mischief even when hes on the receiving end, goddamn it)

(maia is the winner in his heart tho, but he goes by "alec won" to tease simon cuz priorities)

Fashionista or whatever is a tie between magnus and meliorn because facts only, and also alec and meliorn voted for magnus, maia and magnus voted for meliorn, and raphael voted for alec as a joke because bitch really is allergic to anything thats not a black t-shirt

can u tell that i have no idea how yearbooks work? i dont understand gringo traditions

Raphael Is Very Tired Prize For Disgusting Allo Shit, aka "most likely to make out during a council session" goes to magnus and alec because of course it does

HAD TO LOOK UP YEARBOOK MOST LIKELY QUOTES AND FOUND OUT THERE IS A "TALLEST/SHORTEST" PRIZE RAPHAEL IS SO FUCKING PISSED WHEN HE GETS THE SHORTEST PRIZE DJDNDJDNDIDNDIDNDIDNDI EVERYONE IS FORCED TO HEAR THE "IN MÉXICO I WAS THE TALLEST" SPEECH FOR TWO AND A HALF HOURS. then raphael hands alec his "tallest" prize like "here have the Unnecessarily Big Giant For Inhuman Looking Motherfuckers prize"

best dancer goes to magnus. no-brainer

"most loved by parents" goes to raphael for OBVIOUS reasons and magnus gives him a kiss on the forehead and everyone makes fun of him and hes like "how is this my life" (he doesnt mind one bit)

found out that theres a "fearless" prize that some site also called "pack leader award" (??) so of course traditionally the pack leader takes this one, so maia takes it

magnus wins "everyone's father" because of course it does. also "most likely to start a charity" and "most likely to invent the next groundbreaking technology/spell" for the 100th year in a row

yo yearbook prizes are actually rlly boring tf

"coffeepot's best friend" goes to alec because hes the only one who can stand institute coffee anyway

i give up on looking it up back to making up prizes. "most likely to roll their eyes so hard they see their own brain" goes to alec

"most likely to make a stranger on the street fall in love" goes to maia "5 partners and counting" roberts. also "best hair"

"most likely to show up to the meeting in a clown wig" goes to raphael because hes a dramatic bitch like that. magnus votes against him once and he shows up next week in a full clown outfit saying he cant believe he was betrayed like that

"stubborn ass award for that one mf who just wont quit" is a tie between alec, magnus, and raphael

greatest prankster goes to meliorn

Voice Of Reason Award goes to maia. Greatest Giver Of Amazing Advice That Is Thoroughly Ignored goes to meliorn (raphael votes for himself on this one and is booed by all)

Owner Of Gender prize goes to magnus because hes so gender ugh. meliorn is just like "i still dont understand what that is" and almost wins anyway

Juggling Queen goes to maia for being pack leader, restaurant owner, university student, and girlfriend of 5 all at the same time. also "most likely to succeed (even more)" because obviously they have all succeeded but maia is something else

Most Iconic Exchange goes to "because you're so unbiased" and magnus is salty about it for years to come

yes absolutely!!!! meliorn helping them grow plants is always one of my favorite things. doubly so for the dumort because again i feel like after everything has settled down rapha would want to make the dumort feel like a warmer, more welcoming place, and plants do the trick nicely! they even help vampires feel like they have sunlight because of the association, u know? and meliorn can enchant them so they can grow even inside the hotel without sunlight, or gets them plants that don't need sunlight. they know everything there is to know about all sorts of plants, common or not, and they put together a nice ensemble of them. some even have fruit!!

and yes also a rooftop garden, fantastic. magic or no magic actual natural sunlight is always the best and they can grow a whole ecosystem there, kinda like permaculture but not exactly that cuz i'm sure seelie planting practices have their own traditions. but like basically a huge pulsing ecosystem right on top of the dumort, and when it's night the vampires who like to garden can go up and prune the plants, fertilize the soil and whatnot, and it's fun

i mean meliorn also comes back to take care of it cuz like you said it's a challenge and they want to help them grow stuff that doesn't do well in the NYC climate, like peppers and other tropical plants. but the vampires dabble and it's not like meliorn can always be there, and either way they appreciate the company and the opportunity to teach the vampires their planting practices. it is particularly helpful for recently Turned ones who need to have a hobby to feel normal and who also want to learn more about the shadow world, u know? plant therapy never fails if ur asking me

and YES you're right plants are a love language for meliorn and helping them with their cooking is a way for them to participate in their hobbies and help them with this thing that so clearly also means love to the two of them. and meliorn knows the two of them (particularly rapha) treat the ingredients with so much respect too, theyre just in good hands

so meliorn can speak any language because ✨magic✨ and of course it's a little tricky because again, language isn't an exact science, much less translation, but in short it's like they can automatically have equivalents of a word in their head and reply accordingly. so nuances of the language are lost - which is why they sometimes sound weird or too posh - but communication is very easy

and then of course over time they learn more about the nuances and words that are associated with certain contexts and you know, the whole thing about languages. particularly english in this case as it's the one they use the most but i also like to think that they try to learn spanish and yiddish, like, for real? because they always hear their partners speaking spanish and they know it would mean a lot to simon if they learnt yiddish For Real as so many people look down on the language. especially because raphael and maia are already trying to learn it, so, you know, meliorn can join in

and just like... they aren't pretending to not know the languages but they want to actually learn them from the start, their structure and stuff, not just the words, you know? because learning languages is always so fascinating and shows so much about the culture(s) that language belongs to, and it's really so interesting and enriching and meliorn is in love with the cultural diversity of non-seelies

so it's just soft hours with izzy, raphael, and simon all trying to explain the same concept to him, except they have very different approaches and it soon becomes a mess of arguing that leaves them more confused than they started rudbdjdndi in the end it's usually maia who pulls them to the side while the others are in passionate debate to explain it to them in simpler terms and meliorn is like "oh! i understand now. thank you, bella" and maia has that cute soft smile. it's also funny cuz maia is the least fluent out of them all but it is what it is

and EXTRA soft hours with simon teaching the 3 of them yiddish. it's a little infuriating cuz due to magic meliorn doesn't need to be taught the alphabet, while raphael and maia struggle with that for a bit, since they haven't learnt an alphabet since they were small kids lmao. and meliorn already basically speaks intermediate-level yiddish because ✨magic✨ so it's a bit frustrating, esp cuz rapha definitely has a little bit of a competitive side

things i demand

one hell of a lot more details on warlock political organization. warlocks are anarchists and you can pry that away from my cold dead hands. not just political but since warlocks are the only downworlders who are not either born mundane or raised in a completely different culture, how warlock society organization works. id love to see more on how they help each other, build community, mutual aid, what their culture is like (considering its a mix from all kinds of cultures from all kinds of countries from all kinds of times. it would be lit to see how that played out, what a unique take it would have on diversity, stuff like that. really im so emo for warlocks dont @ me)

seelies are not villainized and treated as nothing but tricksters. the whole "the seelie queen sucks" thing can still be a thing, but rather than it being used to villainize them, seelies themselves are shown as being the greatest victims of that government, and work towards building a better one. the fact that seelies becoming a closed off society is directly attributed to shadowhunter oppression and further discussed

still on the topic of seelies, there are explorations on what their culture is like (since theyre the only downworlders not raised mundane) and how cultural differences play out between downworlders. there is mutual respect between them and the differences are way bigger than what we've seen, shadowhunters simply dont know that because theyre ethnocentric bastards

the historical association between autistic ppl and faeries (in Europe) is brought up and brings good social commentary on what is considered "normal" in each society

the dumbass "vampires and werewolves hate each other" plot exists only because Raphael and Maia are constantly working to build that bridge. further backstory is pulled out to show that the feud between the two species is a direct result of shadowhunter interference, colonizer style. as clan and pack leader, Raphael and Maia work together to build, more than just an alliance, a real community between the two groups, based on solidarity and mutual aid

the union between all downworlder "species" (based on mutual respect and help, as well as horizontal decision making and transparency) is the key to destroy shadowhunter supremacy

Magnus doesnt have to sacrifice himself all the time because the stronger downworlder community means no one needs to give more than they can. he is still however a prominent figure, having raised lots of other downworlders and also being a powerful leader who's ultimately kind and wants to help his people always

Alec is essentially a clave traitor/spy for downworlders and brings them inside information from clave business. also hes there to Love Magnus and Provide Emotional Support

Seelies dont have a gender system

warlocks acknowledge literally every culturally specific gender ever

Maia, Raphael and Meliorn fall in love as a treat to me

they bring the clave down

jace is punched multiple times

OH MY GOD THIS IS SO ADORABLE!!!!!! and yes u r completely right, it would be a meSS

so i bet simon would have the idea to do this because i voted him Most Likely To Know What's Going On, like, trend-wise and shit. and they do one for each because i'm extra

so they start off with clary cuz she's the one with the least amount of partners, but everyone else sits at the corner and screams tips and ideas like this is that drawing game or something (i don't know what it's called cuz i never played it). clary mimicks jumping motions because she wants them to catch her. izzy just nods understandably and is like "you want to be taller. i understand. i've been offering you to get you some platform shoes-" and clary just goes "NO!!" and bursts out laughing. maia thinks she's trying to do a coreography. simon actually realizes what she wants but doesn't tell them and opts to scream random ideas instead. meliorn has never be sadder that they can't lie because they'd LOVE to scream random suggestions but they have no idea what the fuck she wants. eventually they give up, but when clary tells them, izzy does catch her just for good measure and clary giggles so much

next up is izzy cuz second smallest amount of partners, plus it's just the same as before + meliorn. izzy raises her foot because she wants to take off her shoes because they hurt from being in heels so much. maia just taps her own foot against hers. izzy is like no. clary is like oH DO YOU WANT TO BE TALLER???? and izzy just laughs that soft laugh of hers. someone - i can envision meliorn but idk - kisses her foot because dom izzy rights and she's like NO THAT'S NOT WHAT I WANTED RIGHT NOW and raphael and simon are just like i am looking away i do not see it. someone offers a foot massage and she's like well, i wouldn't complain, but no. once they give up, she takes off her shoes herself

next is meliorn cuz they're already there. they just want to put their arms on their waist and give them a kiss cuz they're suave and sweet like that so they extend their arms slightly in that position. simon immediately goes for a hug cuz he's cute and meliorn is like "close" fully believing that they'll get it right but from them on they just get more and more wrong. next simon tries is a cheek kiss. raphael goes for a hand kiss. simon shakes their hand. izzy hands them a spoon? maia thinks it's about opening something and tries all the drawers. they all try a robot dance. izzy hands them water this time. raphael spends a long time reflecting on what it could be. izzy just keeps handing them stuff. candy? peanuts? orange juice? flowers? where did she get flowers. no one knows

at least when they give up she is the first to get the hug and kiss because of the flowers. raphael may or may not resent that he didn't think of that before (he gets a kiss on the forehead instead of the lips and lingers a little longer in their arms and it's sweet)

so raphael is next and he just wants someone to hand him a chair because that gifset about how raphael always sits down first thing when he gets into a room lives rent free in my mind and i think that's very funny for some reason?? clary actually figures that one out because she's a fellow lazy ass and she's like "THE CHAIR, HE WANTS THE CHAAIRR" but no one listens to her because so far she's only been wrong and simon is like "fray, just because you would want a chair, doesn't mean everyone else does" and he's lowkey right because every time she tried to guess she was just going for whatever she would want in their place. simon gives him a cheek kiss then tries to make him give simon a cheek kiss and raphael does but he's like "that was not it". maia plays with his hair and he's like that's pretty nice but HOW did you get that from that motion. meliorn actually pulls one of the drawers in the kitchen because she thinks he wants to cook or something and raphael teases her for becoming isabelle. he doesn't get to sit

simon just pokes his own cheek and everyone is instantly like "he wants a cheek kiss" in unison and he's like HOW did you guys figure that one out, no one else figured the others out!! and they're like you're just transparent af and also you've tried to get cheek kisses from both raphael and meliorn we know you. simon is frustrated that his plans to be mysterious were yet again ruined but he gets 4 cheek kisses so he's not mad