#modern au...sort of

But seeing Nessie in person again at 3 months old was a complete surprise. Even if she talked to Nessie before on the two-way mirror (well, she talked and Nessie cooed as she hugged the muggle Loch Ness Monster plush, ignoring her as all babies tend to do in the presence of their mum), seeing Nessie so big now compared to the first few days after she was born was a shock.

Nessie needed to be carried with both arms now to keep her secure. Her baby niece was wiggly as a worm, all excited to see the world around her. And she had Sebastian's eyes, all full of love and innocence as she babbled in Anne's arms while always looking at her mum.

She was definitely her twin brother's daughter in that regard.

Nessie truly was the best of her brother and it was clear as day as she carried her baby niece after she woke up from her nap:

Nessie was now officially her favorite Sallow.

She didn't even care how upset her twin was when she said that as Iñaki took a picture of her carrying her favorite Sallow.

...

(After the lat image I made yesterday of a pondering Anne, I needed a feel good drawing of adult Anne and Baby Nessie)

4- Looks like Dady Sallow has figured out the head hold and IT'S OVER FOLKS!!! BABY SALLOW MARTINEZ HAS BEEN MUNCHED BY HER DADDY!!! TUNE IN NEXT TIME FOR THE CHEEK MUNCH GAMES!!!

5- WAIT! WHAT'S THIS!?!

5- Looks like Daddy Sallow is letting Baby Sallow Martinez take her revenge and have a cheek munch of her own with her hand!!! BABY SALLOW IS LAUGHING!!! WE HAVE A GREAT GAME TONIGHT FOLKS!!! LOOK AT THE LOVE BETWEEN FATHER AND CHILD!!! TUNE IN NEXT WEEK WHEN DADDY SALLOW TRIES HIS HAND AGAIN IN THE MUNCH GAMES!!!!

The first MUNCH!

…

I walk a lonely road

The only one that I have ever known

Don’t know where it goes

But it’s home to me, and I walk alone.

-Boulevard of Broken Dream (2004), Green Day

…

[Journal Entry 1]

I think one thing most people don’t understand is how much it freaking sucks starting over again. Especially when you finally got the thing that you were looking for…only for life to take it freaking away like it doesn’t even matter.

That’s one thing at least me and Linkin Park have in common.

Tried so hard. Got so far. / But in the end, it doesn’t even matter.

I still don’t get the hate against Linkin Park. Or that song. It seems appropriate now as I find myself writing in my new journal at the crack of dawn in London-town in the room I picked out as mine.

We’ve just arrived to London almost an hour ago, Papi all tight as we gone through customs at Heathrow airport. Not that I blame him. It’s the least favorite part of all of our trips where the custom officers stares at you, asks stupid questions to your parents, then asks you stupid questions about what are you excited about moving into the UK.

I had to bite my tongue and lie as I said, “Hopefully, I’ll make new friends.” I said it with such a sweet smile on my face that I hope that I gave that man diabetes.

.

.

-_-

.

*rolls eyes*

Mami once said I shouldn’t wish bad things upon people, especially when they did nothing to you…but it’s hard. Really hard when you’re somewhere you don’t want to be.

Maybe I should try looking at what I do want can and can do…at least that’s what my godfather, Aiden O’Ruairc, said. He gave me one of his family ring as a parting gift in case I ever needed anything while in the UK at my birthday party…it was the last reunion I had at my home before we had to fly over here a few days later. And now we’re here.

And now, taking a second look at the family ring he gave me, it’s hard to believe Padrino Aiden would give me something as nice and fancy as this O’Ruairc ring. It’s made out of silver and had engravings on the inside with Ogham letters.

Runes to be exact.

Also known as written spells. Spells that are activated if you push your magic into it.

If I wanted to, I could find what they mean…but with everything all mixed up in different boxes that my parents shipped to London to our new “home”, it’s not worth looking for it right now.

I miss home.

I miss the grass outside our house. The nosy neighbors. Even hearing the nomaj high school marching band practicing on Saturday mornings despite being a few blocks away.

I miss it all.

I didn’t appreciate living in Sewanhaka as much as I should have. I was too busy moaning leaving Jackson Heights considering how rough it was to adjust to living in Sewanhaka. It feels like a town stuck in the 19 -‘Americana’ - 50’s somehow.

Right…I should mention this journal: this is my second time moving. The first was when I was seven.

And now I’m fourteen.

I guess there’s something to be said about the number seven screwing things up for me.

But I guess going back to my main point of all of this…I miss home.

I know I shouldn’t play it on repeat, but Boulevard of Broken Dream really does feel like feel like the soundtrack of my life. I’ve never really had a steady group of friends and once I did, once I had my circle that stayed…it’s gone.

It’s all back home.

Just like my wand.

(And between you and me journal…I might have “accidentally” left it at home on purpose…Can’t send me to some magic school in the middle of nowhere, Scotland without a wand, right? >=] )

Hopefully I can convince Mami y Papi to let me stay local >.<

There are good schools here in London…right?

…

[Journal entry 1, evening]

They woke me up from a nap. I feel dead. Like a zombie.

I hate zombies.

Or feeling like one.

But it’s rather important that I talk about this right now; apparently my new magical guardian had dropped by our new home to get me ‘sorted’ right away.

And the worst part?

I actually like the old geezer.

Eleazar Fig.

He looks like a grandpa, gives vibes as if Doc Brown and Mr. Rogers were in one person.

Unfortunately, leaving my wand at home’ wasn’t the best plan. Fig lent me his late wife’s wand and now I’ll feel guilty if I don’t practice with him in the summer. Stupid old man and his need to help me by guilting me into using his late wife wand…but Fig isn’t the worst.

He’s actually a decent old man. A fun lecturing grandpa so to speak.

He wants to see where I stand against Hogwarts students as far as magical abilities goes. I shouldn’t have mentioned to him I always struggled with magic due to how weak mine was compared to everyone else. Now all he wants to do is help me improve it. It’s doesn’t help that apparently he’s the professor for magical theory, so improving my magical usage is actually up his alley.

Even worse.

He makes it seem like Hogwarts is a fun place to be as I had my first lesson earlier this evening.

I like to hope not so.

….

Again- which meant more of she wanted more stories, and not necessary this one as she tired to turn the pages of his old children book he managed to keep since before his parents' death. And who was he to refuse his daughter of the only Sallow tradition, a love of reading his parents had installed in him when he was a child?

It was one of the only few gifts he could pass down to her from her late Sallow grandparents that his parents left him. And he wasn't going to deny Nessie her Sallow birthright of a love of reading.

"Alright Nessie, one more story. Hopefully you'll be asleep with the next one. Now this one is your mum's favorite my Nessie Lassie, it's a muggle book called, 'Goodnight Moon.'" Sebastian said as he got another book and began reading, "In the great green room, There was a telephone..."

....

Sebastian is canonically an avid reader and loves to read. He is after all, a son of two professors. When he was little, his parents passed him down the love of reading and now he's passing down his parent's love down onto his baby daughter in hopes she finally gets tired enough to go to sleep.

But he doesn't mind. Nessie will only be so small for so long.

Besides...

...It's a Sallow Tradition after all to pass down that love of reading.

...

Base Picture & Rebozo Reference: Link

More background on a Guatemalan Rebozo: Link

Meanwhile, Anne on the inside is really like:

(just replace daughter with niece, I was too lazy to do it here XD)

Before she was born, Baby Sallow Martinez has always been referred as Nessie from Iñaki's family. Part of the reason is because Nessie was a cryptic pregnancy- Iñaki didn't realize she was pregnant till near the end of her 4th month (I'm actually into the headcanon that any family that MC and Sebastian makes are naturally chaotic. That and I was sort of inspired by @applinsandoranges 's short story: An Astute Observation where her MC had a cryptid pregnancy and had a child with Sebastian) since she barely had any pregnancy symptoms.

Since Iñaki had a cryptic pregnancy and Nessie the Loch Ness Monster is a cryptid, Iñaki had nicknamed her expecting child Nessie and the name stuck after she mentioned it once to her family. it doesn't help that generally Latinos give odd nicknames to their family members as well and some of the Martinez Cariaga members see it as an actual pretty nickname, so it stuck as the unofficial name despite the fact that Baby Sallow Martinez does have a proper name 😂

To Sebastian's annoyance, when Nessie was born, she got a lot of Nessie the Loch Nessie Monster themed gifts, such as:

including a Loch Ness plushie she packed-bonded with. I imagine her plush looks like a cross of the two below but more like the left with the right's colored bumps running down the spine:

Merlin help Sebastian and Iñaki if Nessie ever misplaces/loses her plushie. That girl loves her plushie! 😅🤣