Prompt: It's "just another normal day..." until it isn't. What happens to make this day unique and/or crazy? Include at least two of these five characters in your story: Edward Weaver, Weezie, Cole, Kylen, and Picket.

This is not quite a modern AU, but there is modern technology. I don't quite know how this works.

Heather Joveson was overwhelmed. Not by meetings, or ceremonies, or the fact that she was newly pregnant, though that was taking its toll. No, Heather was overwhelmed by her daughters. At thirteen and eleven, they were both experiencing different life changes. Heather loved both her daughters, but Hannah was at the age where certain bucks were no longer to be avoided at all costs, and all Maggie wanted to do was worm her way out of etiquette lessons in the whole. Where Hannah excelled at acting the part of a princess and a lady, Maggie struggled profusely. Hannah loved reading, and was a quiet, polite young doe, while Maggie preferred to play pranks on her cousin Jo, and constantly beg Cole Blackstar to teach her how to use throwing knives. It was something, Heather had been realizing recently, that seemed as though both sisters wanted to be as opposite as possible. Maggie was constantly complaining that Hannah was stuck–up, while from Hannah's point of view, Maggie was a pest.
Even when it came to the subject of the child she was carrying, when Heather had asked whether they wanted a brother or a sister, the two girls had glanced at each other, and answered "Brother" at the exact same time. They had used to be the closest of close, but when Hannah had started taking her etiquette lessons, it seemed to Heather that Maggie had been left behind, Hannah being the wonderful princess of Natalia, and Maggie as "Princess Hannah's Sister." Heather obviously disagreed with this label, as it was rude, not to mention unfair. Maggie had plenty of strengths of her own; she was excellent with the sword and dagger, she seemed to be a natural actress, and she was constantly scribbling down short stories of her own.

But Natalia, it seemed, didn't want a princess who could fight.

"You look… like someone just washed you and hung you out to dry." Picket was standing in front of the porch swing on which she was sitting, looking mildly concerned.

"I think my children want to kill me," Was her reply.

"Which ones?"

"The girls."

"Both of them? I would've thought it would just be Maggie."

"They're at that age, Picket, both of them."

"I've noticed. I mean, in Hannah, maybe, but Maggie seems like she wants nothing to do with it."

"I know." Heather sighed. "That's what makes it so hard."

"Who ever said raising children was easy?"

"Dad!" Jo, Picket's second son, rounded the corner of the Longtreader farmhouse, dragging his cousin Maggie along behind him. "You'll never guess what Maggie wants to do."

Picket raised an eyebrow. "What does Maggie want to do?"

"She wants to–"

"I want to tell them!" Maggie cut him off, shaking her wrist out of Jo's grip. "I want…" She took a deep breath. "I–want–to–have–a–birthday–party–this–year." She blurted the last bit all in one word, so it took Heather a moment to interpret what she had just said.

"Really?" Was all Heather could answer to that. It was a well known fact that when she was five years old, Maggie had decided that she never, ever wanted to have a birthday party open to the public again. There was a reason for this, but nobody talked about it, for Maggie's–And Their–sake. Nobody wanted to talk about it, for that matter.

"But," Maggie interrupted her thoughts. "It has to be special. I don't want just pink streamers or flowers or something like that. I want this party to show who I am. I want it to be me."

Heather stood up, and wrapped her youngest daughter in a hug, whispering in her ear. "I'm glad you made this decision, but always remember, you don't have to."

"I want to," Maggie whispered back, standing on tiptoes to kiss her mother's cheek.

"What did you have in mind?" Heather asked, standing back, her hands still on Maggie's shoulders. Maggie smiled slyly.

"Well…"

Maggie's idea turned out to be a cosplay party, which most everyone thought was a wonderful idea, even Hannah. She insisted that all of the Joveson's closest family and friends arrive early just to say hello, but not surprisingly, most of them ended up helping with decorations, the transportation of food, and anything else that was needed. Hannah was dressed as Hermione Granger from Harry Potter, surprising no one, Maggie was very happy in her costume as Omega from Star Wars: The Bad Batch, and had miraculously convinced Smalls to dress as Hunter. Heather, in an astonishing turn of events, had dressed as Counciller Oralie from the Keeper Of The Lost Cities series, while Emma was Elwin. Picket was Annikin Skywalker for whatever reason, and while Weezie had flat out refused to be Padme, She was content with acting the part of Rey. Helmer, Picket's oldest son, was somewhat predictably dressed as… Helmer. Jo was going as Ben Ripley from Spy School, and all of his small siblings had opted to go as Ewoks. Jo Shanks was for some unknown reason Cody Jones, from the Youtube channel Dude Perfect, and his friends in the Bracers unit had filled the parts of the others, with Owen as Tyler Tony, Nate and Studge as Coby and Cory Cotton, and Junder as Garret Hilbert. Why they were dressed like this, Maggie could not say, as in her opinion, only weird people dressed as youtubers. But when she opened the side door to the great hall, expecting to find Heyward, she came face to face with none other than…
"Where's Waldo!" Maggie elapsed into a fit of giggles, because Heyward looked very strangely, just like the stripe–wearing man. "Come on in," She opened the door wider, and after saying hello and happy birthday, Heyward made a beeline for Maggie's Aunt Iantha, who was dressed as Iantha Penderwick for the day. Maggie strongly suspected that Heyward had a crush on her tied–with–Emma–and–Weezie–for–favorite–aunt, but so far she had ignored it. She turned her attention to Cole and Heyna Blackstar, who had just appeared through the side door, Heyna dressed as a secret–service agent, and if Maggie wasn't mistaken, was Cole…

"A Ghostbuster?" She couldn't help adding "You look ridiculous," but she hugged him just to let him know she was kidding.

King Kylen and his family, she knew, were arriving with the rest of the public, but she was still excited to see her long distance best friend, Jeffery, who she'd gone to soccer camp with last year and discovered only recently that he was indeed, Kylen's son.

The mic was set and ready, it was time. Maggie had really not wanted to give a speech, but she had decided to in the end. Palms sweating, she made her way onto the stage.

"Good evening, esteemed guests," She was struggling to recall what she had been taught on giving speeches. A smattering of polite applause followed this remark, and Maggie took a deep breath before continuing. "First of all, I'd like to thank everyone who helped this party come together, starting with our wonderful Chef Gort." A thunderous round of applause filled the great hall, and she glanced over to where Gort was standing, beaming at her. "Second, I'd like to thank my family, who are always pushing me to do my best. And to my cousin Jo, because he has to put up with me all the time, and he even helps me when I'm about to get him in trouble." Laughter drifted up towards the ceiling, and she was growing more confident.

"I know there are quite a few people here who believe that I'm not acting the part a princess is supposed to play." Uneasy murmurs were now rippling throughout the crowd, but Maggie kept talking. "I can understand why from that vantage point, it might look that way. I'll admit that I haven't been handling it in a way that I should be, and I'm capable of doing much better than this.

"I wish that I could be perfect and solve everyone's problems, but all I can do right now is fight my own. I am not my sister, and though she is an amazing role model and I will always look up to her–Hannah, I know you don't believe me, but it's true– The best I can be is me. Not my mother, not Hannah.

"Today I start working toward being a better person, but today is also something else. Today I work to stay true to myself, no matter what people think. Many of us have yet to try this, and I encourage you all to try along with me. It may be hard, but we'll fight this battle together."

Stunned silence filled the great hall, and a single spotlight illuminated Maggie.

"Well, I just got the light, so that's about it for me, but I'll say this: I'm Maggie Joveson, and I am officially my own person." The cheers and applause that followed were deafening, and the second Maggie stepped off the stage she was overwhelmed by her family, hugging, crying, laughing, talking, there was no end. But she didn't care. Maggie had known lots of things before tonight, but now she knew one more: She was free.

I know I've been writing about birthdays a lot, so I'll try to make the next prompt something different. I guess it's just because mine is next week, and two days ago my mother banned me from checking the mail until then. My place beside you, Grace