#so i bought hair dye like an hour after an argument
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tag game đś
shuffle 'on repeat' playlist and list the first ten songs â¨ď¸ thank you for the tag kaili @blueside-hobi & kayla @cordiallyfuturedwight . đŤđ hope you're having a lovely day!!
latata by gidle
bouncy (k-hot chilli peppers) by ateez (also I have THE WHOLE ALBUM ON THIS PLAYLIST JUST REALISED being normal about atz is never an option for me)
psycho by jun
d-day by august d
oh my god by gidle (MANIFESTING đŻ)
BEcause by dreamcatcher
inception by ateez
jopping by superm
topline by stray kids ft. tiger jk
eve, psyche & the bluebeard's wife by le sserafim (BOOM BOOM BOOM!!!)
tagging some of my lovely moots and sending all of you the biggest hug!! also have a fun weekend and take care of yourself!! đđŤ: @joon-rkive, @seraphjimin, @kimchokejin, @sollasitrona, @lyubins, @banghwa , @hobeah, @raplinenthusiasts, @aprylynn. đ
#tag game#moots đ#kaili đş#funny story: i know exactly when i made jopping appear on this list#so listen#if you dont know my main coping mechanism is dying my hair whenever things go wrong#so i bought hair dye like an hour after an argument#and played jopping on repeat for like.... 2 hours while dying my hair and scream singing the lyrics dkkdkdndkdkdkdndndn#gaslighting girlbossing jopping#i will trademark it as a therapeutic technique#ANYWAY BABES hope you're all well and thay you remembered to eat today!!! ily đ đŤ
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Raven- (x.t)
Pairing: xavier thorpe x fem!reader
Request: can I request Xavier Thorpe helping reader dye her hair purple?
Warning: suggestive. no smut tho. cursing. (Please let me know if I should be aware of anything else)
A.N: hi fangirlies!đ§đźââď¸ Hereâs a small one shot based on a request I got. Thought it was cute and wouldnât take too much time. Also.. Iâve never box dyed my hair so I might have had to search up detailed steps to it lol
also can we all stop lying and admit she was everyoneâs girl crush at one point?
âYou're going to look so sexy, pumpkin" Xavier exclaims with excitement. "Raven was my childhood crush; Iâm getting hard just thinking about you with purple hair."
âYou had a crush on a cartoon character? Youâre such a freakâ you teased your boyfriend.
A new year meant a new you. What better way to update your appearance than to dye your hair? Your boyfriend's eyes lit up the moment you mentioned that you were considering dying it. âPurple, Purple, Purple!â Xavier shouted relentlessly. Even though you hadn't considered such a dramatic transformation, his 20 minute argument of why you should dye your hair purple had convinced you. Purple was a fun color, and you reasoned that it wouldn't clash terribly with your skin tone. So, he accompanied you to the store and you bought a box of purple dye. Now here you were, in your dorm room waiting for xavier to help you apply the dye to your hair. His one and only wish was to be present for the entire thing. You debated it for a while, picturing him squealing like a little girl the whole way through and taking forever to finish. Ultimately, you only caved because you reasoned that being the talented artist that he is would make him the best assistant.
You sat in your desk chair swinging side to side as you waited, he wouldnât shut up about how this was actually happening.
"Hurry up and get started before I change my mind." He promptly tore open the box, pulled out the contents, and arranged them neatly on your desk. He carefully brushed your hair, removing any knots, with a hairbrush in hand. He always treated you so delicately. Not including those times you begged him to use you as his own personal toy in bed, of course. The latex gloves that were included in the box had been slipped on by Xavier, who secured the second one like a surgeon would before performing surgery.
âLetâs fucking do this!â He shouted enthusiastically.
He began by dividing your hair into small sections. Then, he dipped a small brush into the mixture and applied the mixture from roots to tips. Every time you'd try to start a conversation, you'd get sushed, then get a snappy "I can't focus with you talking to me" or "Shut up, I'm working" in response. He was taking this entirely too serious and that made you laugh. His eyebrows were furrowed, and his tongue was sticking out from the corner of his mouth. He could seriously do anything and the butterflies in your stomach would still flutter. Iâm so madly in love with this idiot, you thought.
He completed your head and then started the timer for the indicated time the directions stated. He loved to take charge in anything he was working on, so you enjoyed that you could relax and not worry about the whole process. Aimlessly scrolling through your socials.
âOk now what?â You asked, swinging your desk chair to face him as he slipped off the gloves.
âNow we waitâ
After 30 minutes, the timer rang throughout your dorm, and Xavier jolted out of bed at the sound of it.
"Letâs take a shower," he instructed as he yanked you across the room and followed you into the bathroom.
"Nuh-uh, wait outside," you spoke as you gently pushed him out of the bathroom. He pouted at you, knowing you never refused his puppy eyes. But you shook your head before closing the bathroom door.
You spent an hour rinsing the hair dye, washing and blow drying your hair, styling it to impress your boyfriend. You took one last look in the mirror and knew exactly how Xavier would react. You couldn't deny that he did an amazing job. Your hair was a consistent shade of lavender and it complimented your eyes well. You could only imagine what Xavier would say as you smiled at your reflection in the mirror.
âBaby?â You called out. Wondering if he was awake after spending an eternity in the bathroom.
âFucking finally! Bring your pretty ass out here, nowâ
"I don't think you're ready."
"For the love of God, y/n. Now is not the time to tease... get out here," you could hear the desperation in his voice.
"Alright alright, but close your eyes. . . Are they closed?"
"Yes they are, come out."
You carefully opened the door and peered into your room to see if he was truly closing his eyes. He was sitting on the edge of your bed, his hands over his eyes like a child. Heâs such a good boy, you thought to yourself. You knew heâd follow your directions, he always did as you asked like a love sick puppy. You told him to open his eyes while stopping directly in front of his legs. His face was filled with shock and amusement.
âWhat do ya think?â You ask as you twirled, striking a pose as you faced him again.
"I- wow, I truly didn't believe you could get any hotter" adoration in his eyes. His face lit up with great pleasure as he gazed at your lilac-colored hair.
"Ya know- if the whole artist thing doesn't work out for you, a hair artist could be your calling," you joked as he reached for your waist and guided you to sit on his lap.
"Pumpkin..I warned you of what this purple hair would do to me," he pressed his lips against the crook of your neck, littering the space with wet kisses.
You let out a soft moan as you moved your gaze down to his lap and saw just how much he appreciated you in purple hair.
The name raven was added to the long list of nicknames he had for you, and you had to admit, it had to be your new favorite.
if you sent in a request, I see you! waiting to get home to start working on them. writing from your phone is hard work.
For the bestie that sent in this requestâ I hope it was more or less what you had in mind! Wasnât sure if you wanted fluff or smut so I kinda added a little of both. thank you for requesting đ¤đŚđŞ´đ§đźââď¸
As alwaysâ requests are always open! Share your thoughts! Talk to me! Get something off your mind! â¨
#wednesday#wednesday netflix#xavier thorpe#xavier thorpe fanfic#xavier thrope imagine#xavier thorpe fluff#imagine#percy hynes white#fangirlieswriting#xavier thorpe blurb#xavier thorpe smut#xavier thorpe x reader
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Have a Merry Christmas :) - Yoongi
For: @yoongi-sugagliderâ, EommaaaaaaaÂ
From: Marria
Pairing: Musician!Yoongi x Author!Reader
Summary: The littlest of gestures have the biggest impact <3
Genre: Neighbors to Lovers, Strangers to Lovers, Fluff, Itâs beginning to look a lot like Christmas!
Warnings: Your heart may burst from the fluff, like a little language here and there.Â
Rating: PG
Word Count: 3.8k Words
A/N: I am not Christian, but I have a lot of holiday spirit, okay? Also, Eomma I loved writing this for you. Honestly, itâs so cute and I love you and everything you do. Youâre doing great and I hope this is what you were hoping for! Alexa, play All I Want For Christmas is You by Mariah CareyÂ
Other: Masterlist
    Moving was a long and laborious task. Your arms felt like jelly as you clutched the heavy box of dishes. You kicked open the door of your new apartment as it began to close behind the line of movers going in and out.Â
âNeed some help?â A low voice grumbled. Assuming it was your father, you just groaned and nodded.Â
âGod, I didnât even know I had so many dishes! Iâm pretty sure I just use the same ones. I should give some back to you and mom.â You complained.Â
âThatâs great, but Iâm not your dad.â Ah, shit.
    In your defense, the box blocked a majority of your line of sight and you were a bit preoccupied. What you didnât expect was to see a handsome man staring at you through narrowed eyes. A small smile tugged at his lips.Â
    He wordlessly held open the door for you to get into the apartment and you didnât say anything out of embarrassment. You set down the box and when you turned around to say thank you and apologize, he was already gone. The door next to yours clicked shut.Â
    Great. It wasnât the first impression you had wanted out of your next door neighbor. You pulled your hair into a ponytail and swiped at the building sweat. You needed to do something to get on better terms with your neighbor. Or maybe you were overthinking things way too much. You began to unpack the dishes while the movers brought in the couch.Â
     After the dishes were put away, you went back out to help the movers. On your way out, you glanced at the heavy oak door that was close beside yours. You bit at your lip and turned back to head downstairs. You had wanted to knock, to apologize or just say something.Â
   Something something something. You were always doing something. They called you quite the âfixerâ in your house. Being an author was not usually a great career choice, but one thing did stand out about you; when something was wrong, you fixed it.Â
    Min Yoongi ended up being quite the enigma, as you were soon to find out. Ever since your first meeting, he had been cordial with you. In all honesty, though, he rarely left his apartment. You did figure out that he was a musician and studying in the music department at the local college. How did you find out? Well, you werenât a stalker, okay, but you did overhear conversations from time to time. The walls were thin.Â
    You had noticed how he rarely had any visitors, even during holidays, and a few times you had wanted to ask if he wished to join you for celebrations like New Years or Christmas, but you never did. You found out why he was alone about a year into living in the building. You didnât speak to him, but there was some attraction to the unknown.Â
    It had been Christmas. You were packing and preparing to leave your monotonous life to spend time with your family. It was your favorite time of the year. Warm fairy lights were hung all around your apartment and the smell of cinnamon candles was in the air.Â
    You shoved the last of your clothing into the bag. You were decked out with ugly Christmas sweaters, beanies, and boots. Just as you were about to leave, you heard the shouting of muffled voices from next door.
    Neither of those were Yoongi. You knew because, well, he just never seemed like the type to yell in an argument. In all your interactions with him, leaving in the morning, riding the elevator, you knew him to be a quiet and introverted man.Â
   The shouting grew louder and you wondered if you should go knock on the door and check in. You exited your apartment and walked the few steps to stand in front of his door. Hesitation filled your mind and you bit at your lip. After a few more moments, you decided against it. You turned and started walking down the hall to the elevator.Â
   Suddenly, the door to his apartment opened and closed with a loud slam. You felt yourself jump at the loud noise and you twisted your head to look at the door. Yoongi, with his faded blonde hair, you had noticed he was into dyeing his hair a different color every month, was exiting his room. He took brisk steps, mumbling something about getting some fresh air.Â
   You glanced at him as he strode into the elevator with you. He was running his hands madly through his hair in a constant rhythm. Then he took in a deep breath. The elevator already held winterâs frigid air and you could see the lightest of breaths puffing out from his mouth.Â
âMy parents.â He said simply. You nodded in understanding, connecting the dots.Â
âIâm sorry about that.â You said softly. He finally looked at you. You remained still, watching as the numbers ticked downward.Â
    After a few moments of his eyes roaming your face, he turned back to look at the metal doors.Â
âIt canât be helped. Most parents wouldnât want their child throwing away their life on trivial pursuits.â
âTrivial pursuits, hm?â Your heart thumped quietly in your chest. You remembered the look your parents gave you when you told them about your wishes to pursue writing.Â
âI want to be in the music industry. You know, like those kpop producers?âÂ
âI see.â You hummed in acknowledgement.Â
    The elevator slowed to a stop and the doors slowly creaked open. You hurried out, shouldering your duffle bag. The lobby was cold, the doors opening and letting a cold breeze in every time a resident entered or exited. Yoongi stepped out with you. This was the longest conversation youâd had with him for a year, it was oddly calming.Â
    Yoongi was a listener and he took his time with his words. You reflected this in a way, but your support system was stronger. When you looked at his tired face, the way his lips pulled into a natural frown, you felt concerned. How was he holding up?Â
âI think you should do what you want, Yoongi.â You said, walking to the entrance for the underground parking. He watched you go.Â
âDonât worry, Y/N, I am.â He said simply and turned on his heel, leaving for the regular entrance.Â
    A few years passed like seconds. Your life was just flashing by your eyes. Schoolwork, your job, everything was the same. Each year you led a comfortable lifestyle, you even managed to get your book into the editing phase. More and more, your life and fascination with your neighbor had intertwined.Â
   The words you wrote in your book became based on the intrigue of your mysterious neighbor. Who was he really? What did he do besides schoolwork? To you, it seemed he just sat inside and played piano until the early morning hours, just like he was doing now.Â
    Christmas Eve was around once again and you were packing, once more, to go see your family. You wanted to leave extra early in order to spend more time with your grandma, whose health had been shaky lately.
   The sweet melody of silent night echoed through the quiet building. You glanced to your far left wall, trying to imagine him sitting at his piano, playing such a melancholic song such a happy day.Â
   Thatâs when it really began; the notes. It started with a simple message scrawled messily on a sticky note.Â
Have a Merry Christmas, yoongi. :) - Y/N
    You kept at it. Notes upon notes, everyday, 365 days. It gave you something to do and it was always a nice routine. You were sure he threw away each note and he never mentioned them when you stood in the elevator together either. It wasnât anything bad.Â
    They always just said simple things like Hope you had a good day today. Or Are you alright? Or, your personal favorite, Have you had anything to eat? The questions always ranged based on how you heard him enter his apartment. You tried your best to plan ahead, so you kept at least two in your pocket in case you forgot sticky notes.Â
    You often thought over your feelings for him. He was nice, sweet, and on top of it, extremely handsome. You lazily wrote I like you one day on a sticky note and then crumpled it up, stuffing it into one of your pockets. Someday, someday. You told yourself.Â
 âWhatcha got there?â You asked, eyeing the white grocery bag in his hand.Â
    He stood next to you, as per usual, on the elevator. The elevator itself was old and slow.Â
âJust some dried squid.â He said.
     You were quiet, which prompted him to continue.
 âTheyâre taking them out of stock this week and I donât know how long until I can get them again. I donât have time to go anywhere else. So I guess Iâve just got to stock up.â He explained quickly. You nodded, logging the information away into your brain.Â
âPersonally, I like Kyoho Jelly.â You said.Â
âAh, thatâs good too.âÂ
    The next week, you went to another grocery store, and even though you werenât a particularly big fan of dried squid, you bought several packages. For the next few weeks, you delivered your notes with a bag of dried squid.Â
    Both you and Yoongi had rather...solitary ways of life. He spent his time holed up playing piano and you spent your time hiding in your room writing. In fact, you mostly had the same schedule as each other. It felt nice to have a companion on your short trips to and from school. Even if you didnât say much, it was enough.Â
     You ran into him on the elevator once more. He gave you a nod of acknowledgement and even managed a smile. You felt your cheeks heat up slightly. Who wouldnât be flustered to speak to him?Â
    Yeah, he had that nerdy, introvert, kind of look to him, but he had this mystery in his eyes, a coldness that could only be found through years of immense strength and resilience. You knew him to be dedicated. Your way of supporting him was by not knocking on his door when it was 1 A.M. and he was practicing the same piece for the hundredth time.Â
    Yoongi held a folder of sheet music in his arms and you held your manuscript. The blonde looked at your arms.Â
âYouâre a writer?â He asked.Â
âYou could say that.â You shrugged and hit your floor number. You stayed still as he stepped in after you.Â
âThatâs...really cool.â He said awkwardly.Â
    You were a bit surprised. You had expected him to be cool as a cucumber, very put together, but he seemed almost nervous as he stood beside you. He fidgeted quite a bit and averted his eyes away from you.Â
âI guess.â You said softly, a warm feeling growing in your stomach. Then you bit your lip to keep from smiling.
 âI wanted to apologize about uh, the way we met.â You chuckled. âI didnât know you werenât, achem, my father.âÂ
     He looked away and you saw his shoulders shake with a silent laugh. Then he turned back to you. You saw a ghost of a smile left on his lips and he slowly let his face fall back into a neutral position.Â
âItâs no problem.â He said stoically, then he broke character, âI found it quite...humorous and youâre cute so itâs no big deal.âÂ
    Then he flushed bright red and stumbled over his next words.
 âI mean, I-nevermind, this is awkward.â He rushed and took a deep breath. He released a sigh and you smiled at him.Â
âThanks.â You said gently.Â
    The elevator dinged and you stepped out, waiting for him. Did he know about the notes? Why hadnât he said anything? You glanced at his flustered face and decided against questioning him. He stepped out and began to walk with you in silence to your door.Â
    You finally made your move.Â
âHey, I know I usually leave these on your door, but since youâre right here...Iâll just give it to you, okay?â You reached into your pocket and picked up the first crumpled piece you found. You handed it to him sheepishly and he took it, holding it carefully in his soft hands.Â
âThank you.âÂ
âItâs no problem.âÂ
He opened his door. âSee you around.â
âSee you-â the door shut. â-around.â You finished quietly.Â
   You reached into your pocket and pulled out the other piece of paper. Howâs your day? It read. Your face paled. Oh god, no. The only other paper in your pocket had been...I like you.Â
     Your book had been slipping away from you. The editing process was tedious and time felt like it was getting away from you. Yoongi didnât know about your book, he didnât know how you wondered if he was alright, like some weird infatuation. It was normal to be worried about your neighbor, right?Â
    On the subject of notes, you had gotten a rather harsh wake up call from your publisher. He had explained, in simple terms, that your book wouldnât be successful.Â
âThe writing is okay, I guess, but what happened halfway through? I was sure the main character was going to end up with Brandon, so why does it so suddenly change? I think this will throw off readers looking for a cute romance novel.â He said, as if reading off a script.Â
âBut itâs realistic. You canât fall in love and expect to be with the first man you lay eyes on.â You argued.Â
âLook, Y/N, this is just supposed to be a ditzy romance novel. Donât get into your head with metaphors and realism. Thatâs not what youâre good at and not what we signed up for. Thanks.âÂ
    And the call had ended just like that. Distressed was an understatement. You set your phone down on the counter and collapsed on the couch that lay next to the wall that connected Yoongi and your apartment.
     He was playing Nuvole Bianche, a rather sad song, and it pushed you to the edge. Everything was going wrong. Yoongi hadnât even looked at you since you got the notes mixed up and you were sure he was purposefully avoiding you.Â
    The tears began to stream down your face, painting your cheeks. The piano rose in intensity and a sob tore out. Years of work, and for what?Â
   The disappointed looks on your parentsâ faces, the raised eyebrows of your professors, all the words they had said to you in subtle jabs at your character, your career choice...were they true? Were they right? You curled in on yourself, sobbing loudly. You didnât even notice the piano music halt.Â
   The only sound were your sobs, the hopelessness that settled in your bones. Maybe you should just stop. Then, there was a melody. A soft tune that had waited for a quiet moment. Youâve got a friend in me.Â
   The joyful piano contrasted that of your own despair. You lifted your head. Had he heard? Did he know? You swiped at your eyes as the tune grew louder.Â
   You got troubles, and I got 'em too. There isn't anything I wouldn't do for you. We stick together and we see it through. 'Cause you've got a friend in me. You've got a friend in me. The melody swept you up and carried you away.Â
    You could breathe again.Â
    The TV was turned up loud, blaring the message that had you sitting on the couch this Christmas instead of with your parents.Â
âA large avalanche occurred late last night, blocking a major roadway from Seoul to Busan. Officials say no one was injured in this disaster, however this will prevent hundreds of people from returning home this Christmas.â The reporter said.
    You watched the screen, mind blank and eyes open. The screen itself was blurred to your vision and you were currently pushing away the harsh reality that threw a wrench in the happiest day of the year for you. You had no one. Still, in your misery, you blinked and stood. You had to do the one thing you knew how to do; write.Â
   So you wrote. You wrote well into the afternoon. You wrote until your fingers cramped and your stomach growled with hunger. You wrote until you could hear Yoongi slamming his apartment door at the end of the day.Â
   Your misery was on display on this blank white page. Wasnât this supposed to be a good day? You bit your lip and looked to the far wall. Yoongi was silent. No piano music was heard.Â
    In a split second decision, before your inspiration vanished and your mind became numb from writing all day, you jotted a few words down onto a sticky note. You surveyed the yellow paper. It was such a small square, but the words on it meant something. It was weird how words can mean so much.Â
��    You left your apartment, stretching out your back which had been hunched over your computer. You swallowed thickly and stuck the note down on the ground. You knocked and waited. No response.Â
   You sighed and left, opening your door and slamming it shut behind you. You felt angry tears pricking at your eyes. It was stupid, trying to understand your handsome neighbor, trying to connect to such an obviously closed off person.Â
    The sound of his door opening softly and closing made you stop. You checked the time. You had three hours to midnight, three hours to Christmas.Â
    Yoongi hesitated, staring down at the little note. Have a Merry Christmas :) - Y/N
    He bent down and picked it up, the note reminding him of the first note last year. Of course he noticed the notes everyday, of course he felt grateful, happy that someone cared. It had been a long time since that happened. He flipped over the note. Nothing on the backside, yet the simple words seemed to taunt him.Â
    The notes had made him feel...funny inside. Yoongi wasnât all too great at figuring out what was going on in his head, he just plowed through life as fast as possible. He spent his time lost in work, piano, or sleeping.
    Your notes felt like a time when he could calm down and stop for a bit. How are you? I hope your day was good. Little things that made the biggest of impacts on his world.Â
    He needed to do something. The blonde, now mint haired, couldnât understand how he felt about you. All he knew was that he very desperately wanted to make you happy. He had gone radio silent for a while, unsure of what to do when he discovered your note; I like you. What was he supposed to do with that information?Â
Maybe you like her back? His conscience said.Â
    He thought of the crumpled notes in his desk, the replies never sent. He knew what he needed to do next.Â
     30 minutes to midnight. You were sprawled on your bed like you were making a snow angel. A soft rapping on your door made you sit up. You glanced at the time and then you stood. You made your way to your closet in an attempt to throw on something other than your pajamas.
    In the end, you just chose leggings and a random christmas sweater in your half packed bag. Looking at the open bag made you frown and your mood dampened. The knocking sounded again.Â
âComing!â You shouted, pulling on socks and walking to your door.Â
    Upon opening the heavy wood, you saw no one. Then, on the ground, was a sticky note.
 Have a merry Christmas :) - Yoongi.Â
    You picked up the note, heart thumping wildly. You turned to look at his door. It creaked open slightly and All I Want For Christmas is You began its lilting melody.Â
    You folded the paper up and stepped towards his door. You gripped the note tightly, hope blooming in your chest. He sees you. The little voice in your head pushed you to continue you into the apartment.Â
âYoongi?â You called. The piano continued playing. Your heart thudded in your ears and you glanced down the short hall.Â
    A board was propped up at the end, illuminated by hazy yellow Christmas lights. You stepped quietly and quickly towards it. You noted the similar layouts of your apartments.
    It was like all the pieces of an apartment (a hallway, a room, a bathroom, etc) but in a different order with the same dimensions. As you walked closer to the board, you could finally make out what was on it. Your breath caught in your throat.Â
    Notes. Little sticky notes were pressed all over the board. You leaned closer and the familiar scrawl of your handwriting came into focus. All of your notes. Every. Single. Note. You had ever sent him, was on this board.Â
    You felt tears spring to your eyes. He had kept them. You managed to hold back the flood as you read over each note with fascination, because beside every note, was another note in Yoongiâs handwriting.Â
How are you? Iâm okay, how are you?
Did you eat today? Yes, thereâs no need to worry.Â
    They were in various conditions. Notes, you realized, that he had intended to respond to you with. Each one was crumpled slightly, as if heâd thrown them out and then decided against it.Â
    A bag of dried squid sat next to a bag of Kyoho Jelly. You smiled a little, remembering your gesture of goodwill. In the very middle, however, you caught the note you were sure he had thrown away.Â
I like you. I like you too.Â
    Time froze. The tears were down your cheeks in an instant, the overwhelming emotions flooding you. The noteâs words played over in your brain, like his soft breath in your ear.
    I like you. I like you too. The music came to a stop and you were pulled from your thoughts, twisting around to face the mint haired man. His eyes were soft, a gummy smile on his face.Â
âYou didnât think I would let you spend Christmas alone after all of this, hm?â He teased.Â
    You let out a little chuckle and walked towards him. He stood from his piano and met you in the middle of the room. He took your hands in his and squeezed softly.Â
âThank you, Yoongi.â
âNo, I should thank you.â He glanced at the board of notes. âYou didnât need to do all of this.âÂ
âIt was just a silly infatuation.â
âThereâs nothing silly about it, Y/N.â He pulled you closer ever so slightly. Then he looked up pointedly and you followed his line of sight. Mistletoe.Â
   Without a second thought, without a doubt, which was a surprise since you had many, you tilted your head and met his lips with yours.
    He pressed into you, wrapping an arm around your waist and moving his lips in time to yours. Yoongi had an aloof and cold demeanor oftentimes, but he found he was only ever warm when he was with you.Â
    You pulled away, breathing a little harder than before. His cheeks were tinged pink and yours were as well. You were flustered, captivated by his chocolate eyes. The clock on the wall chimed midnight.Â
âMerry Christmas, Yoongi.â You breathed.Â
âMerry Christmas, Y/N.â Then he leaned in once more and gave you a soft kiss on the lips.Â
#bts#bts x reader#Min Yoongi#Castlebangtan#castlebangtan friends#ily eomma#yoongi x reader#Secret Santa#fluff#strangers to lovers#stl#neighbors to lovers#bangtanuniversity#bangtanarmynet#kpopuniversenet#PG#Marria is in the holiday spirit
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* natalia dyer, nonbinary + she/they | you know philomena carmichael, right? theyâre twenty-one, and theyâve lived in irving for, like, a day? well, their spotify wrapped says they listened to oo-de-lally by roger miller like, a million times this year, which makes sense âcause theyâve got that whole wind whipping around your hair, the gentleness of decomposition, a naked blur dancing around the flames of an everlasting fire thing going on. i just checked and their birthday is april 20th, so theyâre a taurus, which is unsurprising, all things considered. ( james, 22, est, they/them )
hiii im back ... tentatively .. looks at u all ominously
CANCER, TRAUMA, DEPERSONALIZATION / DEREALIZATION, DEATH, GRAPHIC MENTION OF DECAY, INSECTS MENTION TW.
mini playlist.
oo-de-lally / roger miller, wonderfully bizarre / bendigo fletcher, dust in your pocket / glass animals, gecgecgec / 100 gecs, nantes / beirut, cherry-coloured funk / cocteau twins, not allowed / tv girl, space song / beach house, dog food / 100 gecs.
statistics.
full name: philomena brontĂŤ carmichael
nickname(s): philly, phil, mena, etc.
birthday: april 20th, 2000.
zodiac: taurus sun, scorpio moon, aries ascending.
temperament:Â improvisor / phlegmatic.
label: the halycon.
sexuality: demisexual.
pinterest.
biography.
a middle child belonging to christopher and imogen carmichael - two stanford professors. christopher specialized in british literature whilst imogen specialized in the classics. hence the name.
the order of siblings goes as such: lysander, elektra, juno, philomena, and twins orion & valora. the deal was that everybody had a greek (or in junoâs case, roman) first name and a middle name inspired by a piece of british literature circa 1800s and under. a family of nerds, if you will.
so, clearly - right off the bat, their parents are ⌠eccentric. theyâre both in love with their respected topic, and with each other, and with their kids. the carmichael family is a happy family.
they each have their own quirks and whatnot - though phillyâs always been particularly dreamy - even as a child, sheâd spend hours watching clouds or caterpillars or the leaves blow in the wind rather than play with other kids. she wasnât a shy kid - she just had her own interests.
hardship doesnât hit the family until philomena is five and starts having splitting headaches. theyâre slow at first - but as soon as sheâs seeing spots and unable to walk in a straight line, doctor appointments are made.
cancer tw // it doesnât take long for them to discover the tumor, though the official diagnosis of malignant ependymoma comes a month later.
itâs grade ii but slow-moving, small enough to not be as much of a threat as worried, but big enough where removal is necessary. philomena earns a scar and brings it in for show-and-tell. for two months afterwards, phillyâs at radiotherapy monday through friday.
theyâre lucky - philomenaâs considered cancer-free by the next year. sheâs babied at first - handled delicately, as if she could break if touched - but with five other children ⌠it doesnât last for too long. end of cancer tw //
and life continues as normal.
her personality doesnât shift much over the next few years - sheâs awfully independent for a kid, and awfully quiet - when she speaks itâs about faeries and bigfoot, about how the sky is so blue and if you listen quietly, you can hear the leaves whisper their secrets to each other. this is not odd.
sheâs close to all her siblings, but she idolizes her older sister - elektra. elektraâs six years older and dyes her hair whatever colors she wants. elektra bought a knife off a seedy guy downtown. elektra threw away all of her heels and renounced god. elektra is god. her music is loud but itâs not heavy - itâs florence and the machine.
theyâre opposites - elektraâs boisterous and feels loudly, philomenaâs softer and feelsâŚless. when elektra sneaks out, philomena keeps watch. they are a duo.
philomena is smart - but sheâs fifteen and hates school. hates sitting inside all day. hates the same routine - day after day - itâs all the same. her parentsâ routine is the same, philly feels contained and she wants to live.
elektraâs twenty-one and just bought a brand new spanking (used but not falling apart) 19-something volkswagen ⌠van - using her entire savings account. she says sheâs tired of routine, sheâs leaving the next day.
naturally, philomena stows away in the back and isnât discovered until theyâre two states away and sheâs got to pee. elektra nearly crashes the van in shock.
itâs an argument - philomena vs. elektra, then them vs. their parents, then their parents vs. the school, the state - itâs an ordeal. philomena switches to an online program in the end.
it hurts christopher and imogen - lysanderâs not having any of their nonsense, junoâs betrayed and alone - the twins are twins. in the end, itâs alright. the carmichael family is a happy family.
philomena and elektra take their time - itâs not a road trip, itâs their new life, permanently on the road. they stop and explore often - they do odd jobs in whatever town they settle in. they dine-n-dash, they shoplift. they survive in their own way.
during particularly desperate times, they two resorted to identity theft & credit fraud - getting away with it only by ditching the cards once theyâve made it out of state.
she drops out of high school officially when sheâs seventeen - they have to drive all the way back to california to deal with the wrath of their parents and to deal with paperwork, but itâs done. philomena doesnât know what path she wants in life - but itâs not that.
depersonalization / derealization tw // itâs during this time that the episodes occur - philomenaâs outside her body, philomenaâs wrapped in cotton, her memories are not her own. sheâs looking in the mirror and she doesnât recognize herself. they take shelter in a city for six months, long enough for her brand spankinâ new therapist to figure out whatâs wrong with her. sheâs diagnosed with depersonalization / derealization disorder - they think itâs stress. philomena doesnât get stressed. they think itâs trauma. she laughs - she never laughs. depersonalization / derealization end of tw //
death, decay. maggots tw // there is trauma though, deep-rooted but somewhere inside - you just have to look for it.
you. just. have. to. look. for. it. look for it. look for it. look for it look for it look -
you were ten and she was thirteen, an off-trail hike in familiar woods in a familiar town, safe and familiar. it was your idea, to stray from the carved out paths, down creeks and up hills and round, and round again. youâre the one who spotted the scarf first, sticking up from the dirt and dancing in the wind like the beginning of reincarnation. it was not reincarnation, it was discovery. it was ruin. with curiosity drawn, you skidded down - with compliance, followed juno, followed your sister - clumsy in her steps and tumbling down quicker than you. you saw the corpse, but juno felt it. decaying flesh and maggot. end of death, decay, maggots tw //
and she left juno, just like that - just five years later, when juno had finally gone to the end of her wits. philly up and left. abandoned her.
philomena and elektra leave the city after that therapy session. they do not return. sheâs always been good at hiding her secrets.
after ending up with warrants from their arrest in florida (after running from the law in texas), philly and elektra have wound up at irving <3 partially hiding from the law and partially bcos their trusty vanâs broken down and they havenât got the money to fix her up yet.
personality & facts.
sheâs quiet but sheâs confident - her voice sounds like rustling leaves, if leaves smoked a pack of cigarettes a day.
often underestimated - phillyâs petite and looks like sheâd fall over if a plastic bag blew too close to her. sheâs independent - for the most part. elektra is the only person philly takes orders from.
has always been considered odd - weird, strange. still talks about the trees as if theyâre listening, as if theyâre old friends. sheâs vague and doesnât elaborate on the things she says.
believes in pretty much any superstition you throw her way. luck is very important to her. if you ask her if the earth is flat, sheâll say probably. believes strongly in bigfoot and the lochness monster. has personally seen aliens, and loves ghosts almost more than herself.
she can be amusing - whether you âgetâ her or not, her outlook is often bright - she talks about the negatives the same way she talks about the positives. can be seen as naive or gullible, but sheâs plenty smart. even if half of her education has come directly from google.
philly doesnât laugh. a smile, yes - often, in fact - not always reaching her ears, or bearing teeth - but these are not indicators of her happiness. philly is consistently content. she thinks many things are funny - she still will not laugh.
her voice is often monotonous - she doesnât sound dreary, she sounds far-away. her voice carries. her emotions are often unknown to others.
is apathetic in most situations. sheâs hard to bother - sheâs incredibly patient and enjoys the company of most - tolerates them at the very least. itâs hard for her to express her emotions, because she feels them so little that itâs very nearly not worth it. her affection is not verbal - itâs small touches and gestures of kindness, love in her own way.
is a fan of knock-knock jokes and bad puns. she wonât crack a smile while telling you them, nor does she expect you to laugh. she just enjoys them.
she owns a motorola razr covered in puffy stickers - hasnât ever had a smartphone. sheâs a fan of emoticons. her favorite is :o)
has a lot of bruises and scratches and scars - sheâs often getting herself into pickles. there are always, at the very minimum, three bandaids on each hand.
she has insomnia, so sheâs awake often. is often seen wandering town - even when she shouldnât be, even when it might be dangerous. her intuition is delayed. when she does sleep - her dreams are vivid and fantastical.
keeps a box of memories - sentimental bits and pieces sheâs picked up over the last few years. there are a lot of buttons and postcards, but any teeny tiny object will do.
her style changes every week - most, if not all, of her clothes are thrifted. one week sheâs baby spice and the next sheâs lydia deetz. she combines pieces from different styles often - she looks like a barbie clothed by a child. she feels most comfortable like this.
will either patch-up the clothes that get too worn or reuse them in some way. sometimes donates the clothes she gets tired off - isnât minimalistic, but sheâs learned to keep only a small amount of possessions.
the only consistency is her lucky ribbon - itâs pastel yellow and silky and as thin as a shoelace. she ties it onto her outfit of the day, everyday. if she loses it, sheâs lost. elektra has a matching ribbon.
has no problem with minor theft - she only takes bare minimum, puts herself and elektra first and thatâs how itâs always been.
currently living in florence, their van, with her sister elektra <3 currently residing in lilac ridge.
they used to live in motels on the occasion, the cheapest room, and more often than not theyâd both go home with strangers for a comfier bed and a hotter shower.
it was a common occurrence - she didnât sleep with them - but somehow, she weaseled her way into their homes anyway. has come out mostly unscathed, on most occasions. this has been a practice ever since theyâve been on the road.
really, truly - has not slept with anybody, had her first kiss at thirteen with a frog. this doesnât bother her. (smirks at leo)
will consume anything you put in front of her - isnât picky.
listens to whatever theyâve picked up along the way but she likes instrumentals the best. her second favorite genre is 1990â˛s and 2000â˛s top hits. theyâre nostalgic for her. third favorites? florence, of course. fleetwood mac. the bird and the bee.
loves storms - will go out in the rain and will risk her life for it.
owns a pair of roller-skates and is often skating rather than walking. unless sheâs on grass - then sheâs walking barefoot.
has many hobbies, and gets bored of them often. her favorite hobby is welding. sheâs not certified.
also, juggling.
also, accordion.
the kind of girl whoâll do any job you give her. odd jobs are her favorite jobs. babysitting is her least favorite - but she does it anyway. has lost children before. have they ever been found? not by philly.
dyes her hair blonde often and cuts her own hair - bangs included - finds it cathartic, likes the itchiness of bleach.
everything she does is often in pursuit of feeling free, alive, and meaningful.
( like her frequent visits to the woods, late at night when the moon is high and full. itâs freeing to dance around a fire, stark naked in the cold. builds immunity )
comes and goes wherever she pleases, nothing & nobody can stop her (besides elektra).
has a certain knack for getting animals to like her. has too many âpetâ rats that reside with her, alongside a baby raccoon & a few crow pals. has a new animal companion everyday, but she doesnât contain them or force them to stay.
wanted plots.
speaking through my third eye ... ;; philly is new in town n shes very strange. constantly lives in a state in which she does not exist (at least on the same plane). this is her harassing the locals. this is her slipping thru their fingertips as they attempt 2 understand her. they get close smtms bt philly jst. whisks herself away.
hollows of our eyelids ... ;; perhaps there is smbdy jst as strange as philly. iâm out here calling fr all the weirdos. lets be friends. lets hv philly n co go on adventures n discover horrible sites n uncover ancient secrets tht lie deep below irving. mayb nt tht. bt im jst saying. this is fr the dreamers. da weirdos. the jugheads. LHKDSHFSADLKGFHLSKADG fr those who also feel as if they r not real.
bills n aches n blues... ;; ya this is my call fr all negative plots. bills (catching philly be a thief and a fraud), aches (mayb heartache? unrecruited feelings or w/e theyre called?), n blues (ooooh so sad... so sad ... angst ...) obviously i am a genius. i wldnt say tht philly is here 2 make enemies bc philly doesnt care much abt ppl bt perhaps tht cld b an issue. tht she doesnt care much abt others. mayb ur muse is jst like. cn u pls care. n philly is like. i am incapable. sry. sucks.
n also ,, ;; like. anything iâll. take anything. philly is weird lets come up w surreal plots tht verge on the edge of like. nt being correct fr this verse. suddenly theres vampires? or so they think ... smirks. anyways. shes been 2 jail n been in the circus n dances naked in the woods n hoards animals n treasures. we hv a lot to work with here obv.
#irvingintro#cancer tw#death tw#decay tw#maggots tw#dissociation tw#depersonalization tw#derealization tw#trauma tw#:D
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(NATALIA DYER, DEMI GIRL) - Have you seen PHILOMENA CARMICHAEL? PHILLY is in HER/THEIR SOPHOMORE year. The WILDLIFE SCIENCE MAJOR is 20 years old & is a TAURUS. People say SHE/THEY are WHIMSICAL, PATIENT, APATHETIC and UNPREDICTABLE. Rumors say theyâre a member of CALLOWAY. I heard from the gossip blog that SHE CONCEALED MURDEROUS EVIDENCE Â (JAMES. 21. EST. THEY/THEM.)
ive done sm switches bt. she is the one. she is the one i love. trust me. ples. this is an old intro n im frankly. too lazy 2 read it bt. i love her a lot shes very good please like her
TW CANCER, TRAUMA, DEPERSONALIZATION / DEREALIZATION DISORDER ( ALT. DISSOCIATION ), DEATH, DECAY, MAGGOTS.
aesthetic.
wildflowers in your hair and bare feet against moss, binoculars and maps, madonna beating out of half-dead speakers in a half-dead van, whipping wind, jumping off cliffs and rolling down hills, a bandaid wrapped around each finger, cryptic bumper stickers and cryptids in the woods, facing the sun and letting the rays hit you, counting stars late into the night, dancing naked in the woods with nothing but fire to light your way, mismatched socks and lucky ribbons, hoarding a box of special treasures, shoplifting and diner-dashing, bleach against roots, pink sweaters paired with ripped fishnets and slip dresses with knock off uggs, willingly wearing crocs, glitter stickers, fungi and feeling one with them, lying down and decomposing, theyâll find us in a week. theyâll find us in a week.
basics.
full name: philomena brontĂŤ carmichael
nickname(s): philly, phil, etc.
b.o.d. - april 20th, 2000
label(s): the amaranth, the halycon, the neophyte, the wanderer, etc. etc.
height: 5â˛4âł
hometown: woodside, ca
sexuality: demisexual
pinterest ( & her family pinterest b/c theyâre my most developed family uwu)
stats
favorite song:Â wonderfully bizarre, bendigo fletcher / we can be defined by the things we want / iâll be a life full of free haircuts from the one that i love / weâll collect fallen out teeth in a candy jar / mice for the backyard peregrine falcon reservation.
background.
a middle child belonging to christopher and imogen carmichael - two stanford professors. christopher specialized in british literature whilst imogen specialized in the classics. hence the name.
the order of siblings goes as such: lysander, elektra, juno, philomena, and twins orion & valora. the deal was that everybody had a greek (or in junoâs case, roman) first name and a middle name inspired by a piece of british literature circa 1800s and under. a family of nerds, if you will.
so, clearly - right off the bat, their parents are ⌠eccentric. theyâre both in love with their respected topic, and with each other, and with their kids. the carmichael family is a happy family.
they each have their own quirks and whatnot - though phillyâs always been particularly dreamy - even as a child, sheâd spend hours watching clouds or caterpillars or the leaves blow in the wind rather than play with other kids. she wasnât a shy kid - she just had her own interests.
hardship doesnât hit the family until philomena is five and starts having splitting headaches. theyâre slow at first - but as soon as sheâs seeing spots and unable to walk in a straight line, doctor appointments are made.
it doesnât take long for them to discover the tumor, though the official diagnosis of malignant ependymoma comes a month later.
itâs grade ii but slow-moving, small enough to not be as much of a threat as worried, but big enough where removal is necessary. philomena earns a scar and brings it in for show-and-tell. for two months afterwards, phillyâs at radiotherapy monday through friday.
theyâre lucky - philomenaâs considered cancer-free by the next year. sheâs babied at first - handled delicately, as if she could break if touched - but with five other children ⌠it doesnât last for too long.
and life continues as normal.
her personality doesnât shift much over the next few years - sheâs awfully independent for a kid, and awfully quiet - when she speaks itâs about faeries and bigfoot, about how the sky is so blue and if you listen quietly, you can hear the leaves whisper their secrets to each other. this is not odd.
sheâs close to all her siblings, but she idolizes her older sister - elektra. elektraâs six years older and dyes her hair whatever colors she wants. elektra bought a knife off a seedy guy downtown. elektra threw away all of her heels and renounced god. elektra is god. her music is loud but itâs not heavy - itâs florence and the machine.
theyâre opposites - elektraâs boisterous and feels loudly, philomenaâs softer and feelsâŚless. when elektra sneaks out, philomena keeps watch. they are a duo.
philomena is smart - but sheâs fifteen and hates school. hates sitting inside all day. hates the same routine - day after day - itâs all the same. her parentsâ routine is the same, philly feels contained and she wants to live.
elektraâs twenty-one and just bought a brand new spanking (used but not falling apart) 19-something volkswagen ⌠van - using her entire savings account. she says sheâs tired of routine, sheâs leaving the next day.
naturally, philomena stows away in the back and isnât discovered until theyâre two states away and sheâs got to pee. elektra nearly crashes the van in shock.
itâs an argument - philomena vs. elektra, then them vs. their parents, then their parents vs. the school, the state - itâs an ordeal. philomena switches to an online program in the end.
it hurts christopher and imogen - lysanderâs not having any of their nonsense, junoâs betrayed and alone - the twins are twins. in the end, itâs alright. the carmichael family is a happy family.
philomena and elektra take their time - itâs not a road trip, itâs their new life, permanently on the road. they stop and explore often - they do odd jobs in whatever town they settle in. they dine-n-dash, they shoplift. they survive in their own way.
during particularly desperate times, they two resorted to identity theft & credit fraud - getting away with it only by ditching the cards once theyâve made it out of state.
she drops out of high school officially when sheâs seventeen - they have to drive all the way back to california to deal with the wrath of their parents and to deal with paperwork, but itâs done. philomena doesnât know what path she wants in life - but itâs not that.
itâs during this time that the episodes occur - philomenaâs outside her body, philomenaâs wrapped in cotton, her memories are not her own. sheâs looking in the mirror and she doesnât recognize herself. they take shelter in a city for six months, long enough for her brand spankinâ new therapist to figure out whatâs wrong with her. sheâs diagnosed with depersonalization / derealization disorder - they think itâs stress. philomena doesnât get stressed. they think itâs trauma. she laughs - she never laughs.
there is trauma though, deep-rooted but somewhere inside - you just have to look for it.
you. just. have. to. look. for. it. look for it. look for it. look for it look for it look -
you were ten and she was thirteen, an off-trail hike in familiar woods in a familiar town, safe and familiar. it was your idea, to stray from the carved out paths, down creeks and up hills and round, and round again. youâre the one who spotted the scarf first, sticking up from the dirt and dancing in the wind like the beginning of reincarnation. it was not reincarnation, it was discovery. it was ruin. with curiosity drawn, you skidded down - with compliance, followed juno, followed your sister - clumsy in her steps and tumbling down quicker than you. you saw the corpse, but juno felt it. decaying flesh and maggot.
and she left juno, just like that - just five years later, when juno had finally gone to the end of her wits. philly up and left. abandoned her.
philomena and elektra leave the city after that therapy session. they do not return. sheâs always been good at hiding her secrets.
three years later and her parents want philly to have a higher education - desperate for it, really - worried for her future. itâs a battle that she loses, getting her ged and applying to a local college in florida in shameful compliance.
theyâre there for a year until philly gets (expectantly) expelled from the community college & the two of them are banned from the town theyâd residing in up until that point. they donât talk about it - but boy, was it one hell of a time.
they found refuge in preaker, a town that seemed to suit them well - it suited elektraâs desire to travel up and down the east coast, and it intrigued philomena enough to the point of her being content with staying. soon after, philly officially transferred to yates for her freshmen spring term & theyve been here since.
(whenever anna brings cillian uh. heâs in here too heâs been traveling w them fr like 3ish years. i just cannot rewrite atm KDSGLSDKLGKFGHLKSL bt hes here. n hes sexy. n we love him. bro3tp)
OH. hey yeah the secret. errmm. thtâs on cillian. philly just hid the evidence. no they didnt kill someone yes they did no they did not <3 yes
personality & facts.
sheâs quiet but sheâs confident - her voice sounds like rustling leaves, if leaves smoked a pack of cigarettes a day.
often underestimated - phillyâs petite and looks like sheâd fall over if a plastic bag blew too close to her. sheâs independent - for the most part. elektra is the only person philly takes orders from.
has always been considered odd - weird, strange. still talks about the trees as if theyâre listening, as if theyâre old friends. sheâs vague and doesnât elaborate on the things she says.
believes in pretty much any superstition you throw her way. luck is very important to her. if you ask her if the earth is flat, sheâll say probably. believes strongly in bigfoot and the lochness monster. has personally seen aliens, and loves ghosts almost more than herself.
she can be amusing - whether you âgetâ her or not, her outlook is often bright - she talks about the negatives the same way she talks about the positives. can be seen as naive or gullible, but sheâs plenty smart. even if half of her education has come directly from google.
philly doesnât laugh. a smile, yes - often, in fact - not always reaching her ears, or bearing teeth - but these are not indicators of her happiness. philly is consistently content. she thinks many things are funny - she still will not laugh.
her voice is often monotonous - she doesnât sound dreary, she sounds far-away. her voice carries. her emotions are often unknown to others.
is apathetic in most situations. sheâs hard to bother - sheâs incredibly patient and enjoys the company of most - tolerates them at the very least. itâs hard for her to express her emotions, because she feels them so little that itâs very nearly not worth it. her affection is not verbal - itâs small touches and gestures of kindness, love in her own way.
is a fan of knock-knock jokes and bad puns. she wonât crack a smile while telling you them, nor does she expect you to laugh. she just enjoys them.
she owns a motorola razr covered in puffy stickers - hasnât ever had a smartphone. sheâs a fan of emoticons. her favorite is :o)
has a lot of bruises and scratches and scars - sheâs often getting herself into pickles. there are always, at the very minimum, three bandaids on each hand.
she has insomnia, so sheâs awake often. is often seen wandering town - even when she shouldnât be, even when it might be dangerous. her intuition is delayed. when she does sleep - her dreams are vivid and fantastical.
keeps a box of memories - sentimental bits and pieces sheâs picked up over the last few years. there are a lot of buttons and postcards, but any teeny tiny object will do.
her style changes every week - most, if not all, of her clothes are thrifted. one week sheâs baby spice and the next sheâs lydia deetz. she combines pieces from different styles often - she looks like a barbie clothed by a child. she feels most comfortable like this.
will either patch-up the clothes that get too worn or reuse them in some way. sometimes donates the clothes she gets tired off - isnât minimalistic, but sheâs learned to keep only a small amount of possessions.
the only consistency is her lucky ribbon - itâs pastel yellow and silky and as thin as a shoelace. she ties it onto her outfit of the day, everyday. if she loses it, sheâs lost. elektra has a matching ribbon (& so does leo fowler eyes emoji)
has no problem with minor theft - she only takes bare minimum, puts herself and elektra first and thatâs how itâs always been. she tries to be good while in preaker / yates - would hate to be forced out by mobs with torches and pitchforks
currently living in calloway while elektra stays in their van, florence - sometimes philly stays there during the weekends.
they used to live in motels on the occasion, the cheapest room, and more often than not theyâd both go home with strangers for a comfier bed and a hotter shower.
it was a common occurrence - she didnât sleep with them - but somehow, she weaseled her way into their homes anyway. has come out mostly unscathed, on most occasions. this has been a practice ever since theyâve been on the road.
really, truly - has not slept with anybody, had her first and only kiss at thirteen with a frog. this doesnât bother her. edit: her first & only kisses hv been w leo fowler. this is important
will consume anything you put in front of her - isnât picky.
listens to whatever theyâve picked up along the way but she likes instrumentals the best. her second favorite genre is 1990â˛s and 2000â˛s top hits. theyâre nostalgic for her. third favorites? florence, of course. fleetwood mac. the bird and the bee.
loves storms - will go out in the rain and will risk her life for it.
owns a pair of roller-skates and is often skating rather than walking. unless sheâs on grass - then sheâs walking barefoot.
has many hobbies, and gets bored of them often. her favorite hobby is welding. sheâs not certified.
also, juggling.
also, accordion.
the kind of girl whoâll do any job you give her. odd jobs are her favorite jobs. babysitting is her least favorite - but she does it anyway. has lost children before. have they ever been found? not by philly.
dyes her hair blonde often and cuts her own hair - bangs included - finds it cathartic, likes the itchiness of bleach.
everything she does is often in pursuit of feeling free, alive, and meaningful.
( like her frequent visits to the woods, late at night when the moon is high and full. itâs freeing to dance around a fire, stark naked in the cold. builds immunity )
comes and goes wherever she pleases, nothing & nobody can stop her. she knows to respect nature. exudes natural trust energy <3 dont know wht tht means but
the trust expands to animals as well, she has a certain knack for getting them to like her. has too many âpetâ rats that reside with her, alongside a baby raccoon & a few crow pals. has a new animal companion everyday, but she doesnât contain them or force them to stay. edit: she hs a tabby cat named pail, now. named in honor of her mother, bucket.
leaves her window in calloway wide open because of this, because her window is conveniently right besides a tree with sturdy branches. good for animal smuggling, sneaking in and out, hiding, etc. etc. world is her oyster.
though her room in calloway is ??? frankly a mess ??? already ??? usually keeps most of her possessions in her memory box but sheâs also turned her room into a mini labyrinth of knick-knacks. very cozy, but very nest-like. think of howlâs room from howlâs moving castle.
wanted connections.
how did you get in here ;; someone whose room she perhaps crashed at late at night, mysteriously. she refuses to explain where sheâs come from. sheâs gone before you wake. they could literally not know her at all sheâs just sleeping halfway under their bed like <3 thank you <3
maâam this is a wendys ;;Â Â someone who sees her constantly <3 doing outlandish shit <3 bc lets b real. shes weird. shes a weirdo. why do u think she wears the same hat everyday. (she doesnt wear hats often) anyways. they probably dnt even like her? just think shes very strange?
im literally going to dissect you ;;Â Â someone who. wants to figure out philly. pick at her brain. wear her shoes. kind of in the same category of above in this general like. ur fkn weird. bt they wna figure out why <3 they wna play therapist <3 jokes on u she hates therapists
liddle thief in the night ;; someone who has caught her stealing. or dining n dashing. either/or. perhaps both. she steals a lot :/
oh like. friends n stuff ;;Â of any closeness. ppl she talks 2 conspiracies with, ppl she goes on late night walks with, ppl she explores with, ppl she steals with, ppl she smokes with, etc. etc. ppl who bring her out to parties cos they like her funky little ways when she gets drunk n tries to climb atop everything <3Â
thts nice. anyways ;;Â this is fr like. literally anything unrequited. philly doesnt like <3 a lot of ppl <3 In That Way. so its basically just. ur muse thinks shes very neat n she thinks ur muse is very neat bt platonically. she doesnt do hookups or anything n if she does i tend 2 like. run purely based off of chemistry even with. most of her connections in general.
uuhh. anything ;; HLKDGKSDLKGHLKSFDSHGKFD i nvr rly hv a lot of connections up fr philly bc shes like. a very unpredictable muse n i think its usually better to just. throw her in! n see wht happens! we cn still plot obv n come up w some fun things bt fr the most part shes very organic
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ănatalia dyer & demi girlăâž carmichael, philomena, the junior radcliffe studentâs records show that she/they are a taurus and 20 years old. she/they are studying wildlife science, living in noland and can be whimsical, patient, apathetic & unpredictable. when i see her/them i am reminded of the gentleness of decomposition, dancing naked around the flames, and whipping wind in your hair. â˝ăjames & 21 & est & they/them.ă
hereâs my second !! baby child i love a lot ... much kinder ... a bit odd .. love of my life ... a classic ... a favorite ..
TW CANCER, TRAUMA, DEPERSONALIZATION / DEREALIZATION DISORDER ( ALT. DISSOCIATION ), DEATH, DECAY, MAGGOTS.
aesthetic.
wildflowers in your hair and bare feet against moss, binoculars and maps, madonna beating out of half-dead speakers in a half-dead van, whipping wind, jumping off cliffs and rolling down hills, a bandaid wrapped around each finger, cryptic bumper stickers and cryptids in the woods, facing the sun and letting the rays hit you, counting stars late into the night, dancing naked in the woods with nothing but fire to light your way, mismatched socks and lucky ribbons, hoarding a box of special treasures, shoplifting and diner-dashing, bleach against roots, pink sweaters paired with ripped fishnets and slip dresses with knock off uggs, willingly wearing crocs, glitter stickers, fungi and feeling one with them, lying down and decomposing, theyâll find us in a week. theyâll find us in a week.
basic info.
full name: philomena brontĂŤ carmichael
nickname(s): philly, phil, mena, etc.
b.o.d. - april 20th lmao !!
label(s): the amaranth, the halycon, the neophyte, the wanderer, etc. etc.
height: 5â˛4âł
hometown: woodside, ca
sexuality: demisexual !!!!
pinterest ( & her family pinterest b/c theyâre my most developed family uwu)
stats
inspired by: luna lovegood (harry potter), orla mccool (derry girls), cassie ainsworth (skins), alice (aliceâs adventures in wonderland), amelie (amelie).
biography.
a middle child belonging to christopher and imogen carmichael - two stanford professors. christopher specialized in british literature whilst imogen specialized in the classics. hence the name.
the order of siblings goes as such: lysander, elektra, juno, philomena, and twins orion & valora. the deal was that everybody had a greek (or in junoâs case, roman) first name and a middle name inspired by a piece of british literature circa 1800s and under. a family of nerds, if you will.
so, clearly - right off the bat, their parents are ⌠eccentric. theyâre both in love with their respected topic, and with each other, and with their kids. the carmichael family is a happy family.
they each have their own quirks and whatnot - though phillyâs always been particularly dreamy - even as a child, sheâd spend hours watching clouds or caterpillars or the leaves blow in the wind rather than play with other kids. she wasnât a shy kid - she just had her own interests.
hardship doesnât hit the family until philomena is five and starts having splitting headaches. theyâre slow at first - but as soon as sheâs seeing spots and unable to walk in a straight line, doctor appointments are made.
it doesnât take long for them to discover the tumor, though the official diagnosis of malignant ependymoma comes a month later.
itâs grade ii but slow-moving, small enough to not be as much of a threat as worried, but big enough where removal is necessary. philomena earns a scar and brings it in for show-and-tell. for two months afterwards, phillyâs at radiotherapy monday through friday.
theyâre lucky - philomenaâs considered cancer-free by the next year. sheâs babied at first - handled delicately, as if she could break if touched - but with five other children ⌠it doesnât last for too long.
and life continues as normal.
her personality doesnât shift much over the next few years - sheâs awfully independent for a kid, and awfully quiet - when she speaks itâs about faeries and bigfoot, about how the sky is so blue and if you listen quietly, you can hear the leaves whisper their secrets to each other. this is not odd.
sheâs close to all her siblings, but she idolizes her older sister - elektra. elektraâs six years older and dyes her hair whatever colors she wants. elektra bought a knife off a seedy guy downtown. elektra threw away all of her heels and renounced god. elektra is god. her music is loud but itâs not heavy - itâs florence and the machine.
theyâre opposites - elektraâs boisterous and feels loudly, philomenaâs softer and feelsâŚless. when elektra sneaks out, philomena keeps watch. they are a duo.
philomena is smart - but sheâs fifteen and hates school. hates sitting inside all day. hates the same routine - day after day - itâs all the same. her parentsâ routine is the same, philly feels contained and she wants to live.
elektraâs twenty-one and just bought a brand new spanking (used but not falling apart) 19-something volkswagen ⌠van - using her entire savings account. she says sheâs tired of routine, sheâs leaving the next day.
naturally, philomena stows away in the back and isnât discovered until theyâre two states away and sheâs got to pee. elektra nearly crashes the van in shock.
itâs an argument - philomena vs. elektra, then them vs. their parents, then their parents vs. the school, the state - itâs an ordeal. philomena switches to an online program in the end.
it hurts christopher and imogen - lysanderâs not having any of their nonsense, junoâs betrayed and alone - the twins are twins. in the end, itâs alright. the carmichael family is a happy family.
philomena and elektra take their time - itâs not a road trip, itâs their new life, permanently on the road. they stop and explore often - they do odd jobs in whatever town they settle in. they dine-n-dash, they shoplift. they survive in their own way.
during particularly desperate times, they two resorted to identity theft & credit fraud - getting away with it only by ditching the cards once theyâve made it out of state.
she drops out of high school officially when sheâs seventeen - they have to drive all the way back to california to deal with the wrath of their parents and to deal with paperwork, but itâs done. philomena doesnât know what path she wants in life - but itâs not that.
itâs during this time that the episodes occur - philomenaâs outside her body, philomenaâs wrapped in cotton, her memories are not her own. sheâs looking in the mirror and she doesnât recognize herself. they take shelter in a city for six months, long enough for her brand spankinâ new therapist to figure out whatâs wrong with her. sheâs diagnosed with depersonalization / derealization disorder - they think itâs stress. philomena doesnât get stressed. they think itâs trauma. she laughs - she never laughs.
there is trauma though, deep-rooted but somewhere inside - you just have to look for it.
you. just. have. to. look. for. it. look for it. look for it. look for it look for it look -
you were ten and she was thirteen, an off-trail hike in familiar woods in a familiar town, safe and familiar. it was your idea, to stray from the carved out paths, down creeks and up hills and round, and round again. youâre the one who spotted the scarf first, sticking up from the dirt and dancing in the wind like the beginning of reincarnation. it was not reincarnation, it was discovery. it was ruin. with curiosity drawn, you skidded down - with compliance, followed juno, followed your sister - clumsy in her steps and tumbling down quicker than you. you saw the corpse, but juno felt it. decaying flesh and maggot.
and she left juno, just like that - just five years later, when juno had finally gone to the end of her wits. philly up and left. abandoned her.
philomena and elektra leave the city after that therapy session. they do not return. sheâs always been good at hiding her secrets.
three years later and her parents want philly to have a higher education - desperate for it, really - worried for her future. itâs a battle that she loses, getting her GED and applying to a local college in florida in shameful compliance.
theyâre there for a year until philly gets (expectantly) expelled from the community college & the two of them are banned from the town theyâd residing in up until that point. they donât talk about it - but boy, was it one hell of a time.
they found refuge in lovell, a town that seemed to suit them well - it suited elektraâs desire to travel up and down the east coast, and it intrigued philomena enough to the point of her being content with staying. soon after, philly officially transferred to radcliffe for the fall semester & theyâve been here since!
UPDATE: another summer update! very simple ... she n elektra traveled the states again, as they always do ... like clockwork. had to be dragged back to radcliffe (doesnât like staying in one place for too long) bt also <3 likes a lot of people here n brought them all souvenirs. it ws very nice! nothing bad.
personality.
sheâs quiet but sheâs confident - her voice sounds like rustling leaves, if leaves smoked a pack of cigarettes a day.
often underestimated - phillyâs petite and looks like sheâd fall over if a plastic bag blew too close to her. sheâs independent - for the most part. elektra is the only person philly takes orders from.
has always been considered odd - weird, strange. still talks about the trees as if theyâre listening, as if theyâre old friends. sheâs vague and doesnât elaborate on the things she says.
believes in pretty much any superstition you throw her way. luck is very important to her. if you ask her if the earth is flat, sheâll say probably. believes strongly in bigfoot and the lochness monster. has personally seen aliens, and loves ghosts almost more than herself.
she can be amusing - whether you âgetâ her or not, her outlook is often bright - she talks about the negatives the same way she talks about the positives. can be seen as naive or gullible, but sheâs plenty smart. even if half of her education has come directly from google.
philly doesnât laugh. a smile, yes - often, in fact - not always reaching her ears, or bearing teeth - but these are not indicators of her happiness. philly is consistently content. she thinks many things are funny - she still will not laugh.
her voice is often monotonous - she doesnât sound dreary, she sounds far-away. her voice carries. her emotions are often unknown to others.
is apathetic in most situations. sheâs hard to bother - sheâs incredibly patient and enjoys the company of most - tolerates them at the very least. itâs hard for her to express her emotions, because she feels them so little that itâs very nearly not worth it. her affection is not verbal - itâs small touches and gestures of kindness, love in her own way.
is a fan of knock-knock jokes and bad puns. she wonât crack a smile while telling you them, nor does she expect you to laugh. she just enjoys them.
she owns a motorola razr covered in puffy stickers - hasnât ever had a smartphone. sheâs a fan of emoticons. her favorite is :o)
has a lot of bruises and scratches and scars - sheâs often getting herself into pickles. there are always, at the very minimum, three bandaids on each hand.
she has insomnia, so sheâs awake often. is often seen wandering town - even when she shouldnât be, even when it might be dangerous. her intuition is delayed. when she does sleep - her dreams are vivid and fantastical.
keeps a box of memories - sentimental bits and pieces sheâs picked up over the last few years. there are a lot of buttons and postcards, but any teeny tiny object will do.
her style changes every week - most, if not all, of her clothes are thrifted. one week sheâs baby spice and the next sheâs lydia deetz. she combines pieces from different styles often - she looks like a barbie clothed by a child. she feels most comfortable like this.
will either patch-up the clothes that get too worn or reuse them in some way. sometimes donates the clothes she gets tired off - isnât minimalistic, but sheâs learned to keep only a small amount of possessions.
the only consistency is her lucky ribbon - itâs pastel yellow and silky and as thin as a shoelace. she ties it onto her outfit of the day, everyday. if she loses it, sheâs lost. elektra has a matching ribbon.
has no problem with minor theft - she only takes bare minimum, puts herself and elektra first and thatâs how itâs always been. she tries to be good while in lovell / radcliffe - would hate to be forced out by mobs with torches and pitchforks
currently living in noland while elektra stays in their van, florence - sometimes philly stays there during the weekends.
they used to live in motels on the occasion, the cheapest room, and more often than not theyâd both go home with strangers for a comfier bed and a hotter shower.
it was a common occurrence - she didnât sleep with them - but somehow, she weaseled her way into their homes anyway. has come out mostly unscathed, on most occasions. this has been a practice ever since theyâve been on the road.
really, truly - has not slept with anybody, had her first and only kiss at thirteen with a frog. this doesnât bother her.
will consume a n y t h i n g you put in front of her - isnât picky.
listens to whatever theyâve picked up along the way but she likes instrumentals the best. her second favorite genre is 1990â˛s and 2000â˛s top hits. theyâre nostalgic for her. third favorites? florence, of course. fleetwood mac. the bird and the bee.
loves storms - will go out in the rain and will risk her life for it.
owns a pair of roller-skates and is often skating rather than walking. unless sheâs on grass - then sheâs walking barefoot.
has many hobbies, and gets bored of them often. her favorite hobby is welding. sheâs not certified.
also, juggling.
also, accordion.
the kind of girl whoâll do any job you give her. odd jobs are her favorite jobs. babysitting is her least favorite - but she does it anyway. has lost children before. have they ever been found? not by philly.
dyes her hair blonde often and cuts her own hair - bangs included - finds it cathartic, likes the itchiness of bleach.
everything she does is often in pursuit of feeling free, alive, and meaningful.
( like her frequent visits to the woods, late at night when the moon is high and full. itâs freeing to dance around a fire, stark naked in the cold. builds immunity )
comes and goes wherever she pleases, nothing & nobody can stop her (besides elektra). has befriended the campus witch, or as much as the witch will allow, and shrike as well. she knows to respect nature, and abandoned sites - sheâs practically free to explore as she wishes, her only pride is the trust sheâs gained.
the trust expands to animals as well, she has a certain knack for getting them to like her. has too many âpetâ rats that reside with her, alongside a baby raccoon & a few crow pals. has a new animal companion everyday, but she doesnât contain them or force them to stay.
leaves her window in noland wide open because of this, because her window is conveniently right besides a tree with sturdy branches. good for animal smuggling, sneaking in and out, hiding, etc. etc. world is her oyster.
though her room in noland is ??? frankly a mess ??? already ??? usually keeps most of her possessions in her memory box but sheâs also turned her room into a mini labyrinth of knick-knacks. very cozy, but very nest-like. think of howlâs room from howlâs moving castle.
wanted connections.
random encounters⌠itâs only her second semester at radcliffe, she hasnât met everybody yet i���m sure
random encountersâŚin the wild⌠alternately, people sheâs met before in a different part of the country. whether sheâs stolen from them or crashed at their place, or simply shared a dinner. anything goes!
unexpected sleepover⌠someone whose place she crashed at after a mysterious night. a party, adventure, etc. etc. maybe they donât even remember her staying over, maybe she hadnât been with them to begin with.
employers⌠she does a lot of odd jobs! knows how to make a lot of things in many different mediums just to earn a small living.
friends⌠yâknow ⌠people who enjoy her presence, likes her oddness. they may not understand her, but they appreciate her. or maybe they do understand her, in their own way!
not friends⌠philly doesnât consider anybody an enemy in the slightest, but some people may not be fond of her ⌠think sheâs a little too strange, or they refuse to understand her, or something of the likes.
closing in⌠someone trying to get closer to her, trying to figure her out on a level deeper than what she would like, and she keeps slipping out from between their fingers every time.
mom friend mom friend mom friend⌠older sibling figures! dad friends! take one look at philly and instantly want to swaddle n protect her.
caught red handed⌠someone catches her stealing or about to dine-n-dash. do they care? who knows!
late-night shenanigans⌠they just walk and talk at night ⌠very relaxing ⌠not actually very shenanigans filledâŚ
a dealer⌠because she wasnât born on 4/20 for nothing. sheâs not turning 20 on 4/20/20 fr nothing. donât fail us.
debating conspiracies⌠or superstitions, really anything. maybe theyâre frustrated at her apathy surrounding all situations.
no likey⌠:( they distrust her. probably fr good reason tho ⌠i donât blame you
thrifting pals⌠no explanation needed methinks
an eventual hook-up⌠maybe ⌠possibly ⌠itâs questionable, but it could happen! canât stay a virgin forever! (or well. she cld. weâll see!) sheâd probably have to trust yr muse a lot though
unrequited romance uwu⌠probably unrequited on her end because she doesnât usually think of anybody in a romantic sense - itâs possible, but youâd have to be something special for her to like you back. that being said âŚ
something returned⌠eventually, slowly. slow. itâll take time.
maybe something returned !! eventually. slowly. slow.
n like rly anything u want !! anything u can think of i am here 2 fulfill ⌠we can brainstorm all sorts of wacky scenarios!! sheâs a thief! sheâs an accordion player! she dances naked in the woods! sheâs been in the circus AND a small utah county jail!
#ruhqintro#cancer tw#trauma tw#depersonalization tw#derealization tw#dissociation tw#death tw#maggots tw#decay tw
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Fear of Being There
The scientists put 3D glasses on a cuttlefish I read in an article, which I pair with the unread email from a friend of twelve years sitting one tab away, it appears to partly be a link to some video. Â Feeling brave, I gather speed and push to the open email, purposefully ignoring all of the friendâs written message to zoom into the thumbnail of the video link they shared with me, which shows on one side of the thumbnail the shocked open mouth of a drag queen reacting to what I assume to be the most heinous transgression. Â On the other side, a porcupineâs needles blasting from inside the mid-section of what appears to be a burmese python. Â âHow could this scenario have ever happened,â I ask myself as I donât click, then scan the message written above the link:
âare you still in Kansas City??â
âI saw our high school English teacher walking in the park with a huge clump of moss stuck on her ass, Iâve been wanting to tell you that for a long timeâ
âCarrie is in NA now and I never see her. Â also I adopted a dogâ
âIâm sad I havenât heard from you in a long time but I respect that you are just doing your thing, doing what you think is best for you, I love you. Â enjoy this video of a drag queen screaming as she watches a porcupine impale a boa constrictor from the inside, it really made me laugh. Â Itâs not realâ
âI would love to visit some time if youâd have me, I would love a long road trip, no pressure.â Â
All I ever felt towards this person was worry; they were frequently to be found painfully descending the valley of some knotty, unlubed parabola. Â Suicide often seemed on the table though it was never openly discussed, and what was discussed and unburdened between us never seemed to offer this person any relief. Â But, I had not seen them in almost two years â still, I worried. Â The gristle of sympathy. Â Though now I could only think this person a bit stupid for not electing revenge as the only compatible solution. Â They wallowed, tried to make inroads on the community around them, multi-tasker, all I did was worry, wonder if there was no chance for them. Â On my better days I in fact stopped worrying because I resolved to believe that there was no chance for them. Â On worse days I used to encourage them to online date, to take classes in some technical craft and escape minimum wage, incredibly coming from me who has yet to escape minimum wage, I bloated them with the most despicable general advice most likely invented by some phantom community and popularized by rotating day time talk show cryptids. Â I surprised myself, the self-help industry deluge came spilling readily from my own mouth, I had no other advice to give. No effect. Â I had no idea what could help someone, I did not respond to the e-mail, the scientists put 3D glasses on the cuttlefish to study if it uses stereoscopic vision to hunt, love that.
I responded to the email by going out for a long walk.  The walk proceeded as planned.  And then, in front of my eyes, the glistening juice of a misdirected frappĂŠ bronzed itself on the sunlit sidewalk. It was June. The person who bought then dropped it when attempting to give their companion a lil sip seemed one or two involuntary grunts away from the most amateur keening. We did not know each other and passing by I said nothing, in another hour and a half it would be sunset and that was the daily alarm for my worst and most stupid memories. Â
Walking without a plan for a couple miles had led me to nothing specific: a popular cafe with drive-thru option, and the entrance to some truncated nature preserve with an ample parking lot, that I barely observed.  The humiliated and frappĂŠ-less melody of the forlorn customer began to spread over my shoulder, I averted my gaze from the nature preserve to treat it as if an attractive face I was intimidated by.  The only use for such a pathetic nod to wilderness in an urban area should be frequent alien abduction.  I knew better than to hope for that, I was not a good multi-tasker and did best with a single plan of attack.  And I already had a good plan, through subtle make-up I was looking older by the day (more like the month).  Pretty soon I would dye my hair grey.  I considered it was something the young people of the era liked to do and not for the reason of appearing aged.  In fact, more than anything this coalition of young and old visual signifiers increased the proof of their wrinkle-free faces and accentuated the domineering stylistic awareness inherent to youth in a, unnaturally long energy-sucking sigh, capitalist country.  I continued to high step forward like a finickety markhor in a fugly mood. Then, finding myself facing a hard-to-cross state highway I concluded, âoh, hahaâŚok, ahâŚâŚthatâs fineâ and turned back towards the unused nature preserve parking lot, âI am almost too far away from home anyway.â I sat on a curb on the side farthest away from the road.  Looking across the street I saw that the customer and friend had started to kiss.  A simple solution to the loss of the drink.  His body turned awkwardly, I allowed myself to espy the torque of the maleâs twisted cargo short pocket and felt very little.  I was turned away from the forest preserve entrance, at sunset I would have the executionerâs urge to once again survey and prepare my Doha nights. Â
The arrival of sunset did not derail my day, but it always succeeded in sequestering my concentration so as to remember that, perhaps, time â I felt fully sick of telling myself about it. Â I would prefer an obsession more traditionally fun, there was something about the way the eyebrows (with near-unibrow between) met the sharp lines at the top of the hyrax-like nose of Q.C.âs gradually-hot-to-me face. Â I did not spend too much time thinking on him, I had little control over my eyes when in his presence. Worse, attempting to appeal to him would mean calling off the whole ambitious deterioration project, which was fully under my control/the best path forward. Â I did not spend much time thinking of him when not in his presence and the collective shimmy of maple tree leaves in the breeze appealed to my left side as it carried on through the row of trees behind me. Â A sparrow bopped around the swath of thick grass to my right and was not interesting at all. Â I knew I felt this about the sparrow because I turned away from it quickly. Â Finally I rotated towards the nature preserve entrance. Â Was this an opportunity for me to snag a poesis? Â I wanted to be home in my bed alone. Â I also wanted to pretend to be thriving, inspired and free. Â I wanted to try to see the world for the first time again. Â
I got up and started towards the forest path with the confidence and direction of the professional managerial class. Â To appeal to Q.C. would involve a gravitational u-turn, I would have to cut my hair better, with more style and intention, I would have to once again attempt to wear clothes that mostly fit my body, with careful monitoring of the area where jeans could be hit firm with zested glute. Â I would have to invest much mental analysis into determining how to embody his desire. Â I would have to keep emphatic track of my body language and reactionary expressions when near him so as to appear at least some low level of confident and laid back. Â The antithesis of an angry errant stump, sucking vengeance through an ancient straw lined with obsidian spikes that clacked ominously against dentures I did not need. Â I could not appear as âdepressed for two.â Again, and worst of all, I would have to deselect the only source of direction for the future, my only true idea for satisfaction: the pursuit of my literally new age. Â My only chance to repair my original timeline, by controlling my own time. Â The old tension between wanting badly to be noticed and desired by others, and wanting that definition of freedom which is the refusal of all external attention, both approval and disapproval, in order to bring about the most contained stability â of course that tension ran me ragged once again. Â That wan zit, it really seemed scripted at this point, I worked very hard to send it to the background. Â My body clearly sensed this when it activated the release of an ear wax ball the shape and weight of a gently used cheek piercing stud. Â The feeling associated with its premiere and gruesome launch was similar to just catching the last concrete appearance and subsequent fadeout of a semi-interesting-but-ultimately-unremarkable ghost of a 52 year old coffee mug.
I entered the forest, which began with a layer of joyless mulch.  The opening of the trail had dimensions so wide even the most sexually depraved plant had little chance to gak its repressed gropeage on a passing body.  I looked up as I walked, realizing the only animal likely to be spotted here, at this time of day, would be a bird.  Perhaps I might see a hawk or turkey vulture.  My survey resulted only in the very soft swaying of stacked green branches in front of striated and unremarkable clouds.  After watching this gentle tableaux for about thirty seconds, I wanted to more than violently shake an in-his-prime Ansel Adams, ask him what in the unconscionably labyrinthine fauxhawk Iâd just seen. Would he have looked twice at this sky â my glance still directed upwards, I heard its scabrous chirp before I saw it, and then I saw it and immediately hated its presence: a sparrow had landed on an oak branch forty feet above my head and wanted to stay there.  I refused to let it observe me, turning to it I suddenly screamed in the timbre of an aggressive synth orchestra hit.  Continuing my walk after compartmentalizing its non-reaction, I wondered how I might make these natural surroundings matter to me.  They made no inherent argument that profoundly engorged the fun bags, perhaps because I was generally hooked into things by chaos, aggression and arguments, not by continuity or bucolia.  I could identify the simpler trees at least.  Of course pines and maples were easy, birch too.  I could usually confirm oak and cherry through guesswork. Otherwise I wandered through a forest in a skein of unskilled silence, in some beta-level abyss that was never fact-checked.  I didnât know if having the names of mosses and wildflowers and mushrooms made it easier to appreciate the woods I forced myself into.  That I recognized and questioned such absences in myself was part proof that I felt a large component missing in the ongoing construction of respect for humble surroundings, and part recall of an inherent tendency to not care much about my own construction.  Against the spirit of the times, I spurned the concept of âpersonal development,â both in the thought directives I gave myself, and in the level of base inertia and hatred of fitness that exposed me as down-low sirenia.  âPersonal developmentâ â I did not trust the idea.  But moderate walking was acceptable to me and I continued to walk.  All trees beside me were suddenly activated by a quite beefy breeze from inside the forest.  Mood was present.  And along the audio effects of the wind in heavy leaf-covered branches, I thought I heard a rustling in a different tempo one-hundred feet further along the path.  A clench shuttered my body.  Once, I was reckless. I entered badly lit hotel rooms brimming with silhouettes of animatronic movements. I took pills handed to me, only asking after I swallowed them what they were (bottom tier migraine medication). These days nearly any situation outside my apartment brought the inflamed trance of cautious thoughts.  Where I seemed to hear the sound I saw nothing but the continuation of breeze, and felt fully the irregular welts of my prey mentality. Â
But I did not turn to exit. Â The introduction of humidity into early summer pumped a new game in me anyway, the godforsaken thirst for some swell of âpossibility.â Â Against my addiction to titanium cowardice, flicked this vague and acidic proposition for adventure â that most rancid word of careerist travel influencers and successful stunt doubles. Â Heavy hot air seemed to ferment a perennial wildness of feeling that, in other weather conditions, remained neatly veiled in self-suck. Â I hated that I could still be easily infiltrated by this hormonal illusion of âanything can happen,â despite all my malevolent associations with the phrase. Â It was important to make a list of all the things that are possible. âAnything can happenâ was a sloppy mantra full of menace and probably popularized at some point in the late 20th century to sell mini frozen bagels with pizza toppings. Â The list of all the things that are possible is the list of most crucial truth, it is a list that serves as sublime prep for someone who has been through the full consummation of âanything can happen,â when the thing that happened was a mind-shedding, unmentionable thing. Â I knew the culture at large was heavily against such a distrust of possibility, as the concept suggested monumental change and always for the better â the potential of fortune. Â I also knew it was against the cosmetic grafting of extra skin to make what I suddenly decided to refer to as âmy boysâ look especially wrinkled and saggy. Â I stood still and surveyed the way partial sunlight glazed on and off the nearest bush of presumably poisonous berries. Â I briefly turned around and took in the forest entrance in the distance, and beyond it the suggestion of abridged midwestern meadow, now also washing in and out of sunlight with an unpunished laze, that I felt very unused to. Â Nowhere else in my life, to which I paid attention, obeyed that kind of rhythm. Â This statement was immediately wrong and a direct contradiction of my slow motion lifestyle. Â I allowed the statement to stand because its wistful gush was enjoyable, roughly spiritual, and juicy. Â
It brought thoughts of a nightmare I once had that eventually, through sustained lack of action, curdled into just a dream, a dream that had a trolled atmosphere of never-ending. Â A dream that felt three years long. Â A nightmare-incubated dream that appeared seven months after that moment of apex possibility and only the second dream after. Â
There was a group of us. Â We were in a house, we didnât know we were in a slasher movie, we had thought it was a self-liberation biopic. Â We were pursued by a presence we did not expect. Â But every time there was a shot of the killer, the killer had been deleted in post. Â Only a tense and expectant camera followed us around, and we screamed at empty spaces at the top of the staircase and in corners of rooms. Â Dissonant music accompanied us, which, now knowing we were in a horror movie, we expected and rolled our eyes at. But we never saw the killer and nobody ever died. Â
I also remembered the first dream I had after the event, it was very short and involved me waking up at 7am to give a dog one cup of dry food. Â The density of hanging leaves in the forest began to inch a feeling of haunch and ceiling overhead, the light landing on the settled foliage only in splatters of rhapsodic dag. Â The inevitable feeling of being alone in the woods, despite the steady wash of faraway highway motors, is intimacy with something. Â You believe you are not being seen, when small and mundane animals see you, it means absolutely nothing. Â With a bear or mountain lion in the mix, at last you will truly feel âseen.â Â I was in a freely neglected and shrunken nature preserve on the edge of a midwestern city, I did not think it was possible to be seen by a bear and so I did not feel like I could be noticed. Â Thus I felt intimacy. Â
The content of that intimacy had zero intellectual value.  It was only the comfort of being fully hidden, safe and alone.  I was impressed by how much thick cover the trees supplied since the preserve itself was state park theater.  The trees hid me from the sky, repressed my existence from something that could watch me.  I basked. I thought of the substantial bulge of an older male in tight-fitting jean shorts.  In this context of feeling unseen, it seemed the thru line of my consciousness in bringing up such an image was the keyphrase, âsomething hidden.â  The intimacy began to retreat as a counter.  Again, my head disenrolled me from a healing terrestrial feeling; it looked at nature with vast inexperience, it pursued a perspective of mountainscape print out.  I tried to recover the hypnotic sap of that momentary solitude and continued walking. Of course the interruption of erotica in mind is one of the more iconic nature moves.  And yet for some reason it seemed to unravel the hallmark atmospherics of a more investigative mystery. Such a divide was proven by watching my pivots of attention between two tickles.  For instance, on one side, direct observation of a boner. The other side, fog covering an empty island highway at night.  I thought I knew well the narrative arc of a priapism, and I thought I did not yet know much about the carnage in my seeping memories.  It seemed obvious â of the things that controlled me, I prioritized with meaning the one I did not know much about.  And instinctively, being alone under thick canopy felt like good setup for that kind of self-irrigation.  I thought of the bulge again then saw another sparrow and after it reasonably bopped about for a skoach I suggested to it, âget away from me fuckface.â Again it did not move. Â
I walked several paces off the path and leaned against a definite oak trunk, wondering if my old person stage makeup was still intact, glancing towards the voyeuristic rays of sun slipping through the trees, well diffused and beginning their noticeable descent. Â I listened. Â After approx. twenty seconds of listening I heard the long-churning spew of a motorcycle gunning down the road about a quarter mile away, somehow powerful enough to overwhelm the peaks of forest ambience with its quite rascally discharge, hunh, the streaks of horrific classic rock revival spraying after it. Â I thought, âstop subverting me,â then felt the newly introduced stance of someone in my peripheral vision. Â They did not advance or retreat but did fidget. Â Probably, I could not be sure without glancing directly, pretending to look up something on their phone. Â They seemed about fifteen feet away from me, I considered if I would have to kill them in self-defense. Â
âHowâs it going?â a manâs voice directed at me from the trail, giving me permission to look at him directly. Â A balding but well-maintained buzz of greying black hair, glasses, a thin white-yellow-green-black button down tartan print department store shirt tucked into leather belt and loose fitting blue jeans, the eye eventually and uncontrollably being led down to the neon pink, orange and yellow running shoes with white laces low-key dusted in a sampling of diaphanous schmutz. Â My âhiâ was squeezed out with full defenses. Â The man did not say anything back but immediately enacted some plan of his, made obvious in his eyes that pressed on my face with an unmistakable singularity. He pursued unbroken eye contact to evaluate the potentiality of the interaction. I responded by looking away, remembering it was a powerful move in the game. I also refused to believe he thought me attractive enough for whatever in-development future passed through his turgescent nethers. Â As a mature adult, I was no longer available to rawk out with my cawk out but clearly the cast of desperation on the man made it possible for me to appear sexually acceptable, as evidenced by his not leaving. Â Nor did I imagine that he produced much foregrounded desire in an m4m community; lastly he probably stayed because he was closeted. Â I tried to maintain an appearance of clueless indifference, comparable in chillness to deciding to write âU Râ in a text message the same moment you observe a plastic bag fly in the wind towards a sleeping stray cat. Since the man did not leave or say anything, I also waited another 7-10 seconds in silence and downward glance. Â Yet this tactic, usually so effective in social settings, had failed, and so I looked at him again. Â And again the charged stare of non-verbal magic. Â The humid air was beginning to slightly cool as the wind filled the space between my collar and neck, suggesting it might rain soon. Â But behind the manâs head the sun, flanked by fleshy lard-swept clouds in various indigo exposures, was still visible. Â I hoped if the increase in gusts continued that they might produce a temporary bald spot on the crown of my head as I said, âwhy are you looking at me?â
He did not immediately respond, but severed all links with my eyes. Â I watched his glance minutely dart from one close location on my face to the next, âdo you have makeup on?â
Each generation, freer than the last. The man did not know the answer for sure, but that he had noticed something was confirmed.  Very exciting, I beamed internally. I controlled the beam.  There was still so much work to be done. Â
Towards the man I projected breathtaking displeasure. Â I assumed the keyed up tone of someone wanting to be regularly shared on the internet: âIâm just trying to enjoy the forest on my day off sis so donâtââ and shut off inexplicably, though recognizing as the system recoiled that the implication of this manâs advances had lightly cracked some automated timecode in my lower lefthand corner of frame. Â My body â I had only felt it all of a sudden. Â Shoulders were arched forward to protect my underbelly, chest was swollen and stuffed with the debris of a delayed reaction of terror, single inconsistent tingle in left leg suggested the tiniest strobing marquee aimed at the brain, suggesting ârun.â Â I had thought, this is not a dangerous situation at all. Â A little unusual but not something I havenât experienced before. Â Something I could refuse and easily walk away from. Â
The body had behaved differently.  Sunset mounted.  The body had believed it was going to die.  I hadnât even noticed.  Internal monologue always suggested much to investigate when looking for a solution, it presented long interconnected hallways and sliding doors, considerations of escape and tactical movement.  It berated the body for not reading the situation correctly or at all, it hated the bodyâs spontaneous and inept mechanisms.  It relished any reference to the phrase âbassackwardsâ but in this case the body was right.  If I was to be killed by this person was still up in the air, I leaned towards no, but the body had not been reacting to my imminent death, only suggesting how relaxedly I pretended to advance through commercial district sidewalks, gas station candy aisles, cruisy chip bag-strewn forest preserves as if Iâd never been reorganized by some sort of adaptation of death in which you survive. There was much work to be done, much work, to make the hair of my eyebrows more profuse and unkempt.  My nose hair, which was way too thin and manageable, samesies.  It was with the failure of a deep breath that the gauze of that summer sunset coaxed me back into the scene, despite the marquee now reading âRun II: Darkest Before Dawn.â  The man had not known how to respond to my ejection from the clapback.  I took stock, the forest appeared momentarily still and squirrelless.  His energy seemed as if grappling with the possible realities of what I was.  If crazy, at least in the way that interferes with verbal communication, I was no longer an option in his âmmmâŚâŚâŚdamnâ-ridden design.  If crazy but able to continue clear conversation, or if so shy as to appear only intermittently awkward in conversation with strangers, I was still a highly available mark. Â
âDo you like it here?â he asked. Â It seemed that micro makeup and abandoned sentences were not considered dealbreakers for someone in his position. Â My body continued to want to leave and I stayed, he took a few steps forward, staring again with that binary intensity where the recipient must commit to its endgame or flash exit. Â
A strap broke in me: I suggested, âI hate it here.â Â The comment reached him. He looked as if to be re-processing me under a blank face but maintained his slow approach. Â I was answering his questions coherently and so I was incredibly sexy, perhaps. Â âIâm not doing well,â I followed up, using a long-acting smile-to-smirk succession in an attempt to muffle it. Â
This was ignored, âIâve got a pretty big one,â silence, breeze, sunset, wow â squirrel, âwhat are you looking for out here, alone?â Â
Silence, squirrel, âyou know where you are, right?â
Breeze, trees, sunset, reggaeton in the distance, instinct erupted â I stepped forward. âItâs not yet time for my annual anal,â my voice cracked. Â âIn fact, it wonât happen this year, or ever again.â Â
A pause was produced, though it was clear he didnât quite grasp my meaning. Â I stood still, now staring at him in order to properly knead the info. Â Finally a look of understanding on his face â âoh, Iâm sorryâ and he exited back up the trail, all spells dismantled. Â
I remained in the woods.  I looked at the squirrel.  I even yearned to see a sparrow, uninterested in knowing why.  I allowed the intellectual regulations to rest, I listened to the joyous pump of prancing squirrel feet on twig-bedazzled forest floor.  I looked at the sunset, while blocking the word âbeautiful,â and liked it. I walked to the path, turning away from the exit with the rush of a recently liberated preteen spray-painting an anarchy symbol on the door of a rusty abandoned sedan next to discontinued freight train tracks that are overgrown with weeds and yellow wildflowers.  I wanted to walk deeper into the woods, I wanted to be in the woods when it got dark.  I wanted to be alone and without a mind.  Knowing it was untrue, I nevertheless proposed to myself, âI think I could cum just from being alone for 3 weeks.â  After a feisty fifty or sixty steps around the curving path, I met chain link fence separating the forest from a row of backyards and their respective single family homes.  I thought of the cliche of an evil character in a kidâs movie laughing maniacally for some time then very suddenly stopping to present a severe and unamused face. It surfaced as a whimper. Â
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ăNATALIA DYER â DEMI GIRLă âż looks like PHILOMENA CARMICHAEL is here for HER/THEIR SOPHOMORE year as a WILDLIFE SCIENCE student. SHE/THEY are 19 years old & known to be WHIMSICAL, PATIENT, APATHETIC & UNPREDICTABLE. Theyâre living in NOLAND, so if youâre there, watch out for them. ⏳ JAMES. 20. EST. SHE/THEY.
hllo this is a slightly older bt not tht old like. minus a year old muse of mine tht i thought wld fit rly well into this group n i hope u guys all love her bc i love her a lot !!! anyways pls drop a LIKE if u wld like to plot because i need to know. who to plot with. thereâs so many people pleathe help me out HBSJDNKFMGLH
TW CANCER, TRAUMA, DEPERSONALIZATION / DEREALIZATION DISORDER ( ALT. MENTAL ILLNESS ), DEATH, DECAY, MAGGOTS.
aesthetic.
wildflowers in your hair and bare feet against moss, binoculars and maps, madonna beating out of half-dead speakers in a half-dead van, whipping wind, jumping off cliffs and rolling down hills, a bandaid wrapped around each finger, cryptic bumper stickers and cryptids in the woods, facing the sun and letting the rays hit you, counting stars late into the night, dancing naked in the woods with nothing but fire to light your way, mismatched socks and lucky ribbons, hoarding a box of special treasures, shoplifting and diner-dashing, bleach against roots, pink sweaters paired with ripped fishnets and slip dresses with knock off uggs, willingly wearing crocs, glitter stickers, fungi and feeling one with them, lying down and decomposing, theyâll find us in a week. theyâll find us in a week.
basic info.
full name: philomena brontĂŤ carmichael
nickname(s): philly, phil, mena, etc.
b.o.d. - april 20th lmao !!
label(s): the amaranth, the halycon, the neophyte, the wanderer, etc. etc.
height: 5â˛4âł
hometown: woodside, ca
sexuality: ??? $500 ebay mystery box. pansexual if you had to label it.
pinterest ( & her family pinterest b/c theyâre my most developed family uwu)
stats
inspired by: luna lovegood (harry potter), orla mccool (derry girls), cassie ainsworth (skins), alice (aliceâs adventures in wonderland), amelie (amelie).
biography.
a middle child belonging to christopher and imogen carmichael - two stanford professors. christopher specialized in british literature whilst imogen specialized in the classics. hence the name.
the order of siblings goes as such: lysander, elektra, juno, philomena, and twins orion & valora. the deal was that everybody had a greek (or in junoâs case, roman) first name and a middle name inspired by a piece of british literature circa 1800s and under. a family of nerds, if you will.
so, clearly - right off the bat, their parents are ⌠eccentric. theyâre both in love with their respected topic, and with each other, and with their kids. the carmichael family is a happy family.
they each have their own quirks and whatnot - though phillyâs always been particularly dreamy - even as a child, sheâd spend hours watching clouds or caterpillars or the leaves blow in the wind rather than play with other kids. she wasnât a shy kid - she just had her own interests.
hardship doesnât hit the family until philomena is five and starts having splitting headaches. theyâre slow at first - but as soon as sheâs seeing spots and unable to walk in a straight line, doctor appointments are made.
it doesnât take long for them to discover the tumor, though the official diagnosis of malignant ependymoma comes a month later.
itâs grade ii but slow-moving, small enough to not be as much of a threat as worried, but big enough where removal is necessary. philomena earns a scar and brings it in for show-and-tell. for two months afterwards, phillyâs at radiotherapy monday through friday.
theyâre lucky - philomenaâs considered cancer-free by the next year. sheâs babied at first - handled delicately, as if she could break if touched - but with five other children ⌠it doesnât last for too long.
and life continues as normal.
her personality doesnât shift much over the next few years - sheâs awfully independent for a kid, and awfully quiet - when she speaks itâs about faeries and bigfoot, about how the sky is so blue and if you listen quietly, you can hear the leaves whisper their secrets to each other. this is not odd.
sheâs close to all her siblings, but she idolizes her older sister - elektra. elektraâs six years older and dyes her hair whatever colors she wants. elektra bought a knife off a seedy guy downtown. elektra threw away all of her heels and renounced god. elektra is god. her music is loud but itâs not heavy - itâs florence and the machine.
theyâre opposites - elektraâs boisterous and feels loudly, philomenaâs softer and feelsâŚless. when elektra sneaks out, philomena keeps watch. they are a duo.
philomena is smart - but sheâs fifteen and hates school. hates sitting inside all day. hates the same routine - day after day - itâs all the same. her parentsâ routine is the same, philly feels contained and she wants to live.
elektraâs twenty-one and just bought a brand new spanking (used but not falling apart) 19-something volkswagen ⌠van - using her entire savings account. she says sheâs tired of routine, sheâs leaving the next day.
naturally, philomena stows away in the back and isnât discovered until theyâre two states away and sheâs got to pee. elektra nearly crashes the van in shock.
itâs an argument - philomena vs. elektra, then them vs. their parents, then their parents vs. the school, the state - itâs an ordeal. philomena switches to an online program in the end.
it hurts christopher and imogen - lysanderâs not having any of their nonsense, junoâs betrayed and alone - the twins are twins. in the end, itâs alright. the carmichael family is a happy family.
philomena and elektra take their time - itâs not a road trip, itâs their new life, permanently on the road. they stop and explore often - they do odd jobs in whatever town they settle in. they dine-n-dash, they shoplift. they survive in their own way.
during particularly desperate times, they two resorted to identity theft & credit fraud - getting away with it only by ditching the cards once theyâve made it out of state.
she drops out of high school officially when sheâs seventeen - they have to drive all the way back to california to deal with the wrath of their parents and to deal with paperwork, but itâs done. philomena doesnât know what path she wants in life - but itâs not that.
itâs during this time that the episodes occur - philomenaâs outside her body, philomenaâs wrapped in cotton, her memories are not her own. sheâs looking in the mirror and she doesnât recognize herself. they take shelter in a city for six months, long enough for her brand spankinâ new therapist to figure out whatâs wrong with her. sheâs diagnosed with depersonalization / derealization disorder - they think itâs stress. philomena doesnât get stressed. they think itâs trauma. she laughs - she never laughs.
there is trauma though, deep-rooted but somewhere inside - you just have to look for it.
you. just. have. to. look. for. it. look for it. look for it. look for it look for it look -
you were ten and she was thirteen, an off-trail hike in familiar woods in a familiar town, safe and familiar. it was your idea, to stray from the carved out paths, down creeks and up hills and round, and round again. youâre the one who spotted the scarf first, sticking up from the dirt and dancing in the wind like the beginning of reincarnation. it was not reincarnation, it was discovery. it was ruin. with curiosity drawn, you skidded down - with compliance, followed juno, followed your sister - clumsy in her steps and tumbling down quicker than you. you saw the corpse, but juno felt it. decaying flesh and maggot.
and she left juno, just like that - just five years later, when juno had finally gone to the end of her wits. philly up and left. abandoned her.Â
philomena and elektra leave the city after that therapy session. they do not return. sheâs always been good at hiding her secrets.
three years later and her parents want philly to have a higher education - desperate for it, really - worried for her future. itâs a battle that she loses, getting her GED and applying to a local college in florida in shameful compliance.
theyâre there for a year until philly gets (expectantly) expelled from the community college & the two of them are banned from the town theyâd residing in up until that point. they donât talk about it - but boy, was it one hell of a time.
they found refuge in lovell, a town that seemed to suit them well - it suited elektraâs desire to travel up and down the east coast, and it intrigued philomena enough to the point of her being content with staying. soon after, philly officially transferred to radcliffe for the fall semester & theyâve been here since!
personality.
sheâs quiet but sheâs confident - her voice sounds like rustling leaves, if leaves smoked a pack of cigarettes a day.
often underestimated - phillyâs petite and looks like sheâd fall over if a plastic bag blew too close to her. sheâs independent - for the most part. elektra is the only person philly takes orders from.
has always been considered odd - weird, strange. still talks about the trees as if theyâre listening, as if theyâre old friends. sheâs vague and doesnât elaborate on the things she says.
believes in pretty much any superstition you throw her way. luck is very important to her. if you ask her if the earth is flat, sheâll say probably. believes strongly in bigfoot and the lochness monster. has personally seen aliens, and loves ghosts almost more than herself.
she can be amusing - whether you âgetâ her or not, her outlook is often bright - she talks about the negatives the same way she talks about the positives. can be seen as naive or gullible, but sheâs plenty smart. even if half of her education has come directly from google.
philly doesnât laugh. a smile, yes - often, in fact - not always reaching her ears, or bearing teeth - but these are not indicators of her happiness. philly is consistently content. she thinks many things are funny - she still will not laugh.
her voice is often monotonous - she doesnât sound dreary, she sounds far-away. her voice carries. her emotions are often unknown to others.
is apathetic in most situations. sheâs hard to bother - sheâs incredibly patient and enjoys the company of most - tolerates them at the very least. itâs hard for her to express her emotions, because she feels them so little that itâs very nearly not worth it. her affection is not verbal - itâs small touches and gestures of kindness, love in her own way.
is a fan of knock-knock jokes and bad puns. she wonât crack a smile while telling you them, nor does she expect you to laugh. she just enjoys them.
she owns a motorola razr covered in puffy stickers - hasnât ever had a smartphone. sheâs a fan of emoticons. her favorite is :o)
has a lot of bruises and scratches and scars - sheâs often getting herself into pickles. there are always, at the very minimum, three bandaids on each hand.
she has insomnia, so sheâs awake often. is often seen wandering town - even when she shouldnât be, even when it might be dangerous. her intuition is delayed. when she does sleep - her dreams are vivid and fantastical.
keeps a box of memories - sentimental bits and pieces sheâs picked up over the last few years. there are a lot of buttons and postcards, but any teeny tiny object will do.
her style changes every week - most, if not all, of her clothes are thrifted. one week sheâs baby spice and the next sheâs lydia deetz. she combines pieces from different styles often - she looks like a barbie clothed by a child. she feels most comfortable like this.
will either patch-up the clothes that get too worn or reuse them in some way. sometimes donates the clothes she gets tired off - isnât minimalistic, but sheâs learned to keep only a small amount of possessions.
the only consistency is her lucky ribbon - itâs pastel yellow and silky and as thin as a shoelace. she ties it onto her outfit of the day, everyday. if she loses it, sheâs lost. elektra has a matching ribbon.
has no problem with minor theft - she only takes bare minimum, puts herself and elektra first and thatâs how itâs always been. she tries to be good while in lovell / radcliffe - would hate to be forced out by mobs with torches and pitchforks
currently living in noland while elektra stays in their van, florence - sometimes philly stays there during the weekends.
they used to live in motels on the occasion, the cheapest room, and more often than not theyâd both go home with strangers for a comfier bed and a hotter shower.
it was a common occurrence - she didnât sleep with them - but somehow, she weaseled her way into their homes anyway. has come out mostly unscathed, on most occasions. this has been a practice ever since theyâve been on the road.
really, truly - has not slept with anybody, had her first and only kiss at thirteen with a frog. this doesnât bother her.
will consume a n y t h i n g you put in front of her - isnât picky.
listens to whatever theyâve picked up along the way but she likes instrumentals the best. her second favorite genre is 1990â˛s and 2000â˛s top hits. theyâre nostalgic for her. third favorites? florence, of course. fleetwood mac. the bird and the bee.Â
loves storms - will go out in the rain and will risk her life for it.
owns a pair of roller-skates and is often skating rather than walking. unless sheâs on grass - then sheâs walking barefoot.
has many hobbies, and gets bored of them often. her favorite hobby is welding. sheâs not certified.
also, juggling.
also, accordion.
the kind of girl whoâll do any job you give her. odd jobs are her favorite jobs. babysitting is her least favorite - but she does it anyway. has lost children before. have they ever been found? not by philly.
dyes her hair blonde often and cuts her own hair - bangs included - finds it cathartic, likes the itchiness of bleach.
everything she does is often in pursuit of feeling free, alive, and meaningful.
( like her frequent visits to the woods, late at night when the moon is high and full. itâs freeing to dance around a fire, stark naked in the cold. builds immunity )
comes and goes wherever she pleases, nothing & nobody can stop her (besides elektra). has befriended the campus witch, or as much as the witch will allow, and shrike as well. she knows to respect nature, and abandoned sites - sheâs practically free to explore as she wishes, her only pride is the trust sheâs gained.
the trust expands to animals as well, she has a certain knack for getting them to like her. has too many âpetâ rats that reside with her, alongside a baby raccoon & a few crow pals. has a new animal companion everyday, but she doesnât contain them or force them to stay.
leaves her window in noland wide open because of this, because her window is conveniently right besides a tree with sturdy branches. good for animal smuggling, sneaking in and out, hiding, etc. etc. world is her oyster.
though her room in noland is ??? frankly a mess ??? already ??? usually keeps most of her possessions in her memory box but sheâs also turned her room into a mini labyrinth of knick-knacks. very cozy, but very nest-like. think of howlâs room from howlâs moving castle.Â
wanted connections.
random encounters... itâs only her second semester at radcliffe, she hasnât met everybody yet iâm sure
random encounters...in the wild... alternately, people sheâs met before in a different part of the country. whether sheâs stolen from them or crashed at their place, or simply shared a dinner. anything goes!
unexpected sleepover... someone whose place she crashed at after a mysterious night. a party, adventure, etc. etc. maybe they donât even remember her staying over, maybe she hadnât been with them to begin with.
employers... she does a lot of odd jobs! knows how to make a lot of things in many different mediums just to earn a small living.
friends... yâknow ... people who enjoy her presence, likes her oddness. they may not understand her, but they appreciate her. or maybe they do understand her, in their own way!
not friends... philly doesnât consider anybody an enemy in the slightest, but some people may not be fond of her ... think sheâs a little too strange, or they refuse to understand her, or something of the likes.
closing in... someone trying to get closer to her, trying to figure her out on a level deeper than what she would like, and she keeps slipping out from between their fingers every time.
mom friend mom friend mom friend... older sibling figures! dad friends! take one look at philly and instantly want to swaddle n protect her.
caught red handed... someone catches her stealing or about to dine-n-dash. do they care? who knows!
late-night shenanigans... they just walk and talk at night ... very relaxing ... not actually very shenanigans filled...
a dealer... because she wasnât born on 4/20 for nothing. sheâs not turning 20 on 4/20/20 fr nothing. donât fail us.
debating conspiracies... or superstitions, really anything. maybe theyâre frustrated at her apathy surrounding all situations.
no likey... :( they distrust her. probably fr good reason tho ... i donât blame you
thrifting pals... no explanation needed methinks
an eventual hook-up... maybe ... possibly ... itâs questionable, but it could happen! canât stay a virgin forever! (or well. she cld. weâll see!) sheâd probably have to trust yr muse a lot though
unrequited romance uwu... probably unrequited on her end because she doesnât usually think of anybody in a romantic sense - itâs possible, but youâd have to be something special for her to like you back. that being said ...
something returned... eventually, slowly. slow. itâll take time.
maybe something returned !! eventually. slowly. slow.
n like rly anything u want !! anything u can think of i am here 2 fulfill ... we can brainstorm all sorts of wacky scenarios!! sheâs a thief! sheâs an accordion player! she dances naked in the woods! sheâs been in the circus AND a small utah county jail!Â
#radintro#cancer tw#death tw#trauma tw#mental illness tw#grief implied#maggots tw#decay tw#body horror implied#just trying to cover my bases#anyways this took a Lot out of me n its already 3am ...#i'll get to my replies tmrw#n !! i'll reply to more starters !!#dnt stop wnt stop
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NATALIA DYER / DEMI GIRL â donât look now, but is that philomena carmichael i see? the 19 year old wildlife science student is in their sophomore year and she is a rochester alum. i hear they can be whimsical, patient, apathetic and unpredictable, so maybe keep that in mind. i bet she will make a name for themselves living in garcia row. ( james. 20. est. she/they. )
like this to plot !!
TW CANCER, TRAUMA, DEPERSONALIZATION / DEREALIZATION DISORDER ( ALT. MENTAL HEALTH ) / DEATH / DECAY / MAGGOTS / GROSS ??
a e s t h e t i c s
wildflowers in your hair and bare feet against moss, binoculars and maps, madonna beating out of half-dead speakers in a half-dead van, whipping wind, jumping off cliffs and rolling down hills, a bandaid wrapped around each finger, cryptic bumper stickers and cryptids in the woods, facing the sun and letting the rays hit you, counting stars late into the night, mismatched socks and lucky ribbons, hoarding a box of special treasures, shoplifting and diner-dashing, bleach against roots, pink sweaters paired with ripped fishnets and slip dresses with knock off uggs, willingly wearing crocs, glitter stickers.
general info !!
full name: philomena brontĂŤ carmichael
nickname(s): philly, phil, mena, etc.
b.o.d. - april 20th lmao !!
label(s): the amaranth, the halycon, the neophyte, the wanderer, etc. etc.
height: 5â˛4âł
hometown: woodside, ca
sexuality: ??? $500 ebay mystery box. pansexual if you had to label it.
pinterest
stats
biography !!
a middle child belonging to christopher and imogen carmichael - two stanford professors. christopher specialized in british literature whilst imogen specialized in the classics. hence the name.
the order of siblings goes as such: lysander, elektra, juno, philomena, and twins orion & valora. the deal was that everybody had a greek (or in junoâs case, roman) first name and a middle name inspired by a piece of british literature circa 1800s and under. a family of nerds, if you will.
so, clearly - right off the bat, their parents are ⌠eccentric. theyâre both in love with their respected topic, and with each other, and with their kids. the carmichael family is a happy family.
they each have their own quirks and whatnot - though phillyâs always been particularly dreamy - even as a child, sheâd spend hours watching clouds or caterpillars or the leaves blow in the wind rather than play with other kids. she wasnât a shy kid - she just had her own interests.
hardship doesnât hit the family until philomena is five and starts having splitting headaches. theyâre slow at first - but as soon as sheâs seeing spots and unable to walk in a straight line, doctor appointments are made.
it doesnât take long for them to discover the tumor, though the official diagnosis of malignant ependymoma comes a month later.
itâs grade ii but slow-moving, small enough to not be as much of a threat as worried, but big enough where removal is necessary. philomena earns a scar and brings it in for show-and-tell. for two months afterwards, phillyâs at radiotherapy monday through friday.
theyâre lucky - philomenaâs considered cancer-free by the next year. sheâs babied at first - handled delicately, as if she could break if touched - but with five other children ⌠it doesnât last for too long.
and life continues as normal.
her personality doesnât shift much over the next few years - sheâs awfully independent for a kid, and awfully quiet - when she speaks itâs about faeries and bigfoot, about how the sky is so blue and if you listen quietly, you can hear the leaves whisper their secrets to each other. this is not odd.
sheâs close to all her siblings, but she idolizes her older sister - elektra. elektraâs six years older and dyes her hair whatever colors she wants. elektra bought a knife off a seedy guy downtown. elektra threw away all of her heels and renounced god. elektra is god. her music is loud but itâs not heavy - itâs florence and the machine.
theyâre opposites - elektraâs boisterous and feels loudly, philomenaâs softer and feelsâŚless. when elektra sneaks out, philomena keeps watch. they are a duo.
philomena is smart - but sheâs fifteen and hates school. hates sitting inside all day. hates the same routine - day after day - itâs all the same. her parentsâ routine is the same, philly feels contained and she wants to live.
elektraâs twenty-one and just bought a brand new spanking (used but not falling apart) 19-something volkswagen ⌠van - using her entire savings account. she says sheâs tired of routine, sheâs leaving the next day.
naturally, philomena stows away in the back and isnât discovered until theyâre two states away and sheâs got to pee. elektra nearly crashes the van in shock.
itâs an argument - philomena vs. elektra, then them vs. their parents, then their parents vs. the school, the state - itâs an ordeal. philomena switches to an online program in the end.
it hurts christopher and imogen - lysanderâs not having any of their nonsense, junoâs betrayed and alone - the twins are twins. in the end, itâs alright. the carmichael family is a happy family.
philomena and elektra take their time - itâs not a road trip, itâs their new life, permanently on the road. they stop and explore often - they do odd jobs in whatever town they settle in. they dine-n-dash, they shoplift. they survive in their own way.
during particularly desperate times, they two resorted to identity theft & credit fraud - getting away with it only by ditching the cards once theyâve made it out of state.
she drops out of high school officially when sheâs seventeen - they have to drive all the way back to california to deal with the wrath of their parents and to deal with paperwork, but itâs done. philomena doesnât know what path she wants in life - but itâs not that.
itâs during this time that the episodes occur - philomenaâs outside her body, philomenaâs wrapped in cotton, her memories are not her own. sheâs looking in the mirror and she doesnât recognize herself. they take shelter in a city for six months, long enough for her brand spankinâ new therapist to figure out whatâs wrong with her. sheâs diagnosed with depersonalization / derealization disorder - they think itâs stress. philomena doesnât get stressed. they think itâs trauma. she laughs - she never laughs.
she gets medication, and life is normal.
three years later and her parents want philly to have a higher education - desperate for it, really - worried for her future. itâs a battle that she loses, getting her GED and applying to a local college in a town halfway across the country.
staying rooted pains her - pains elektra, stuck in a midwest state for no good reason. by the summer before her sophomore year, philly deides to transfer to lockwood. elektra can travel up and down the eastern coast and philly goes too, sometimes, on the weekends. itâs a compromise that favors her parentsâ wants above all.
school has caused phillyâs disorder to flare up - a small rift in her day-to-day life even when she doesnât realize it.
things were fine for a while - they have to be fine, because philly is always fine - because elektra is always fine, because theyâre always fine and happy and content with their situation. but years of negligence had caught up with philly - and now sheâs not quite sure what to do.
it began with a phone call from juno - angry juno, hurt juno - juno who has called every week for four years and has only gotten a handful of answers - and many, many handfuls of answering machines. juno who doesnât understand why philly is like this - when sheâs so hurt, all the time - when things are so much, all the time. the call ends with a reminder that they are the same - that theyâve experienced the same thing, the same thing that nobody else in their family had experienced.
juno, of course, refers to the dead body in the woods nine years ago.
to backtrack - philomena was ten and juno was thirteen when they had decided to go on a hike - a nearby trail that had been walked countless times, in a town theyâve always felt safe in. it shouldâve been safe - it shouldâve been fine. but philomena liked going off the trail, making her own - insisted on it, in fact. she was the one who skidded down the slope first, curiosity drawn to a dirty, fraying red scarf - but juno had been the one who had tripped and fallen, who had landed besides decaying flesh and maggots. philomena had seen the body first - but juno had touched it. juno had touched it.
after the police and the sirens and the years of therapy, juno had always wanted to talk about it - always wanted to address it, vent to the one person who would maybe, could maybe, understand. philly had already blocked it out of her mind.
back in present day - the phone call with juno had attracted elektra, who then in turn called juno and marched away, screaming match from across the country (supposedly). philly, always a little too curious, had only overheard parts of their argument. but she heard the one thing that left her bothered - a rare experience, and a sickening one. elektra had called her a child. just a kid, to be exact.
philly had stopped considering herself a child when she turned eighteen - and she certainly never thought she acted childish. confrontation led to a rift, and philomena determining that they needed time apart - that elektra should go, now, please. and she did. and philly was alone. no elektra, no florence - no more depending on her sister, just philly. alone.
a firm week before dean lockwood was murdered and the rochester students moved to huntington beach, philly had disappeared. run away, if you will. no driverâs license, just a handful of cash and her âpetsâ set free. sheâs just now reappeared, with a van she has no registration for parked outside of garcia row & in front of their new âdormâ.
personality !!
sheâs quiet but sheâs confident - her voice sounds like rustling leaves, if leaves smoked a pack of cigarettes a day.
often underestimated - phillyâs petite and looks like sheâd fall over if a plastic bag blew too close to her. sheâs independent - for the most part. elektra is the only person philly takes orders from.
has always been considered odd - weird, strange. still talks about the trees as if theyâre listening, as if theyâre old friends. sheâs vague and doesnât elaborate on the things she says.
believes in pretty much any superstition you throw her way. luck is very important to her. if you ask her if the earth is flat, sheâll say probably. believes strongly in bigfoot and the lochness monster. has personally seen aliens, and loves ghosts almost more than herself.
she can be amusing - whether you âgetâ her or not, her outlook is often bright - she talks about the negatives the same way she talks about the positives. can be seen as naive or gullible, but sheâs plenty smart. even if half of her education has come directly from google.
philly doesnât laugh. a smile, yes - often, in fact - not always reaching her ears, or bearing teeth - but these are not indicators of her happiness. philly is consistently content. she thinks many things are funny - she still will not laugh.
her voice is often monotonous - she doesnât sound dreary, she sounds far-away. her voice carries. her emotions are often unknown to others.
is apathetic in most situations. sheâs hard to bother - sheâs incredibly patient and enjoys the company of most - tolerates them at the very least. itâs hard for her to express her emotions, because she feels them so little that itâs very nearly not worth it. her affection is not verbal - itâs small touches and gestures of kindness, love in her own way.
is a fan of knock-knock jokes and bad puns. she wonât crack a smile while telling you them, nor does she expect you to laugh. she just enjoys them.
she owns a motorola razr covered in puffy stickers - hasnât ever had a smartphone. sheâs a fan of emoticons. her favorite is :o)
has a lot of bruises and scratches and scars - sheâs often getting herself into pickles. there are always, at the very minimum, three bandaids on each hand.
she has insomnia, so sheâs awake often. is often seen wandering town - even when she shouldnât be, even when it might be dangerous. her intuition is delayed. when she does sleep - her dreams are vivid and fantastical.
keeps a box of memories - sentimental bits and pieces sheâs picked up over the last few years. there are a lot of buttons and postcards, but any teeny tiny object will do.
her style changes every week - most, if not all, of her clothes are thrifted. one week sheâs baby spice and the next sheâs lydia deetz. she combines pieces from different styles often - she looks like a barbie clothed by a child. she feels most comfortable like this.
will either patch-up the clothes that get too worn or reuse them in some way. sometimes donates the clothes she gets tired off - isnât minimalistic, but sheâs learned to keep only a small amount of possessions.
the only consistency is her lucky ribbon - itâs pastel yellow and silky and as thin as a shoelace. she ties it onto her outfit of the day, everyday. if she loses it, sheâs lost. elektra has a matching ribbon.
has no problem with minor theft - she only takes bare minimum, puts herself and elektra first and thatâs how itâs always been. she tries to be good while in rochester - would hate to make enemies whilst florence is getting repaired.
currently living in audax while elektra stays in their van, florence - sometimes philly stays there during the weekends.
they used to live in motels on the occasion, the cheapest room, and more often than not theyâd both go home with strangers for a comfier bed and a hotter shower.
it was a common occurrence - she didnât sleep with them - but somehow, she weaseled her way into their homes anyway. has come out mostly unscathed, on most occasions. this has been a practice ever since theyâve been on the road.
really, truly - has not slept with anybody, had her first and only kiss at thirteen with a frog. this doesnât bother her.
will consume a n y t h i n g you put in front of her - isnât picky.
listens to whatever theyâve picked up along the way but she likes instrumentals the best. her second favorite genre is 1990â˛s and 2000â˛s top hits. theyâre nostalgic for her.
loves storms - will go out in the rain and will risk her life for it.
owns a pair of roller-skates and is often skating rather than walking. unless sheâs on grass - then sheâs walking barefoot.
has many hobbies, and gets bored of them often. her favorite hobby is welding. sheâs not certified.
also, juggles.
also, accordion.
the kind of girl whoâll do any job you give her. odd jobs are her favorite jobs. babysitting is her least favorite - but she does it anyway. has lost children before. have they ever been found? not by philly.
dyes her hair blonde often and cuts her own hair - bangs included - finds it cathartic, likes the itchiness of bleach.
everything she does is often in pursuit of feeling free, alive, and meaningful.
wanted connections !!
random encounters - sheâs new to rochester and doesnât know many people - if anybody at all, so :-)
alternately, people sheâs run into with elektra during their journey. whether theyâve stolen from them or stayed with them somewhere or just, ate dinner with them. anything.
someone whose couch / floor sheâs crashed on after a night of whatever - a party, adventure, etc.
people she does jobs for !! people who commission her to make stuff for them. people who need a babysitter.
people who think sheâs weird - and those who like it. or those who hate it. people who donât understand her - people who do, in their own way.
someone trying to get closer to her but she keeps slipping out from between their fingers.
a parental / older sibling figure !! they take one look at philomena and instantly want to swaddle and protect her.
people who take an immediate liking to her. people who introduce her to the music scene. people who show her around town.
someone who catches her stealing or about to dine-n-dash.
late-night walking pals.
a dealer b/c weed ? a thing.
someone who gets into a debate with her about conspiracies or superstitions or anything !! someone who gets frustrated at her apathy.
somebody who just immediately distrusts her for whatever reason.
??? you donât have a smartphone ??? cue someone trying to teach her how they work - and philly hating it !!
thrifting pals.
m a y b e a hook-up, eventually, but itâs questionable.
something unrequited, likely on their end b/c philly is ⌠a hard egg to crack.
maybe something returned !! eventually. slowly. slow.
god ⌠someone she just tells her entire life story to. like this meme.
iâm rly down to brainstorm and think of anything !!! dnt forget 2 leave a like :)
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NATALIA DYER / DEMI GIRL. â philomena carmichael is really making a name for themselves as a sheep. i think that she/they are studying wildlife science in their sophomore year at lockwood, living in audax. originally from woodside, california, philly is known to be whimsical & patient, but can also be apathetic & unpredictable. â james / 20 / est / she/they.
hllo !! 2/5 intros so far, ur almost there !! like saige, there has been slight alterations to philly bt theyâre not very extreme uwu
TW CANCER, TRAUMA, DEPERSONALIZATION / DEREALIZATION DISORDER ( ALT. MENTAL HEALTH ) / DEATH / DECAY / MAGGOTS / GROSS ??
a e s t h e t i c s
wildflowers in your hair and bare feet against moss, binoculars and maps, madonna beating out of half-dead speakers in a half-dead van, whipping wind, jumping off cliffs and rolling down hills, a bandaid wrapped around each finger, cryptic bumper stickers and cryptids in the woods, facing the sun and letting the rays hit you, counting stars late into the night, mismatched socks and lucky ribbons, hoarding a box of special treasures, shoplifting and diner-dashing, bleach against roots, pink sweaters paired with ripped fishnets and slip dresses with knock off uggs, willingly wearing crocs, glitter stickers.
general info !!
full name: philomena brontĂŤ carmichael
nickname(s): philly, phil, mena, etc.
b.o.d. - april 20th lmao !!
label(s): the amaranth, the halycon, the neophyte, the wanderer, etc. etc.
height: 5â˛4âł
hometown: woodside, ca
sexuality: ??? $500 ebay mystery box. pansexual if you had to label it.
pinterest
stats
biography !!
a middle child belonging to christopher and imogen carmichael - two stanford professors. christopher specialized in british literature whilst imogen specialized in the classics. hence the name.
the order of siblings goes as such: lysander, elektra, juno, philomena, and twins orion & valora. the deal was that everybody had a greek (or in junoâs case, roman) first name and a middle name inspired by a piece of british literature circa 1800s and under. a family of nerds, if you will.
so, clearly - right off the bat, their parents are ⌠eccentric. theyâre both in love with their respected topic, and with each other, and with their kids. the carmichael family is a happy family.
they each have their own quirks and whatnot - though phillyâs always been particularly dreamy - even as a child, sheâd spend hours watching clouds or caterpillars or the leaves blow in the wind rather than play with other kids. she wasnât a shy kid - she just had her own interests.
hardship doesnât hit the family until philomena is five and starts having splitting headaches. theyâre slow at first - but as soon as sheâs seeing spots and unable to walk in a straight line, doctor appointments are made.
it doesnât take long for them to discover the tumor, though the official diagnosis of malignant ependymoma comes a month later.
itâs grade ii but slow-moving, small enough to not be as much of a threat as worried, but big enough where removal is necessary. philomena earns a scar and brings it in for show-and-tell. for two months afterwards, phillyâs at radiotherapy monday through friday.
theyâre lucky - philomenaâs considered cancer-free by the next year. sheâs babied at first - handled delicately, as if she could break if touched - but with five other children ⌠it doesnât last for too long.
and life continues as normal.
her personality doesnât shift much over the next few years - sheâs awfully independent for a kid, and awfully quiet - when she speaks itâs about faeries and bigfoot, about how the sky is so blue and if you listen quietly, you can hear the leaves whisper their secrets to each other. this is not odd.
sheâs close to all her siblings, but she idolizes her older sister - elektra. elektraâs six years older and dyes her hair whatever colors she wants. elektra bought a knife off a seedy guy downtown. elektra threw away all of her heels and renounced god. elektra is god. her music is loud but itâs not heavy - itâs florence and the machine.
theyâre opposites - elektraâs boisterous and feels loudly, philomenaâs softer and feelsâŚless. when elektra sneaks out, philomena keeps watch. they are a duo.
philomena is smart - but sheâs fifteen and hates school. hates sitting inside all day. hates the same routine - day after day - itâs all the same. her parentsâ routine is the same, philly feels contained and she wants to live.
elektraâs twenty-one and just bought a brand new spanking (used but not falling apart) 19-something volkswagen ⌠van - using her entire savings account. she says sheâs tired of routine, sheâs leaving the next day.
naturally, philomena stows away in the back and isnât discovered until theyâre two states away and sheâs got to pee. elektra nearly crashes the van in shock.
itâs an argument - philomena vs. elektra, then them vs. their parents, then their parents vs. the school, the state - itâs an ordeal. philomena switches to an online program in the end.
it hurts christopher and imogen - lysanderâs not having any of their nonsense, junoâs betrayed and alone - the twins are twins. in the end, itâs alright. the carmichael family is a happy family.
philomena and elektra take their time - itâs not a road trip, itâs their new life, permanently on the road. they stop and explore often - they do odd jobs in whatever town they settle in. they dine-n-dash, they shoplift. they survive in their own way.
during particularly desperate times, they two resorted to identity theft & credit fraud - getting away with it only by ditching the cards once theyâve made it out of state.
she drops out of high school officially when sheâs seventeen - they have to drive all the way back to california to deal with the wrath of their parents and to deal with paperwork, but itâs done. philomena doesnât know what path she wants in life - but itâs not that.
itâs during this time that the episodes occur - philomenaâs outside her body, philomenaâs wrapped in cotton, her memories are not her own. sheâs looking in the mirror and she doesnât recognize herself. they take shelter in a city for six months, long enough for her brand spankinâ new therapist to figure out whatâs wrong with her. sheâs diagnosed with depersonalization / derealization disorder - they think itâs stress. philomena doesnât get stressed. they think itâs trauma. she laughs - she never laughs.
she gets medication, and life is normal.
three years later and her parents want philly to have a higher education - desperate for it, really - worried for her future. itâs a battle that she loses, getting her GED and applying to a local college in a town halfway across the country.
staying rooted pains her - pains elektra, stuck in a midwest state for no good reason. by the summer before her sophomore year, philly deides to transfer to lockwood. elektra can travel up and down the eastern coast and philly goes too, sometimes, on the weekends. itâs a compromise that favors her parentsâ wants above all.
school has caused phillyâs disorder to flare up - a small rift in her day-to-day life even when she doesnât realize it.
things were fine for a while - they have to be fine, because philly is always fine - because elektra is always fine, because theyâre always fine and happy and content with their situation. but years of negligence had caught up with philly - and now sheâs not quite sure what to do.
it began with a phone call from juno - angry juno, hurt juno - juno who has called every week for four years and has only gotten a handful of answers - and many, many handfuls of answering machines. juno who doesnât understand why philly is like this - when sheâs so hurt, all the time - when things are so much, all the time. the call ends with a reminder that they are the same - that theyâve experienced the same thing, the same thing that nobody else in their family had experienced.
juno, of course, refers to the dead body in the woods nine years ago.
to backtrack - philomena was ten and juno was thirteen when they had decided to go on a hike - a nearby trail that had been walked countless times, in a town theyâve always felt safe in. it shouldâve been safe - it shouldâve been fine. but philomena liked going off the trail, making her own - insisted on it, in fact. she was the one who skidded down the slope first, curiosity drawn to a dirty, fraying red scarf - but juno had been the one who had tripped and fallen, who had landed besides decaying flesh and maggots. philomena had seen the body first - but juno had touched it. juno had touched it.
after the police and the sirens and the years of therapy, juno had always wanted to talk about it - always wanted to address it, vent to the one person who would maybe, could maybe, understand. philly had already blocked it out of her mind.
back in present day - the phone call with juno had attracted elektra, who then in turn called juno and marched away, screaming match from across the country (supposedly). philly, always a little too curious, had only overheard parts of their argument. but she heard the one thing that left her bothered - a rare experience, and a sickening one. elektra had called her a child. just a kid, to be exact.
philly had stopped considering herself a child when she turned eighteen - and she certainly never thought she acted childish. confrontation led to a rift, and philomena determining that they needed time apart - that elektra should go, now, please. and she did. and philly was alone. no elektra, no florence - no more depending on her sister, just philly. alone.Â
personality !!
sheâs quiet but sheâs confident - her voice sounds like rustling leaves, if leaves smoked a pack of cigarettes a day.
often underestimated - phillyâs petite and looks like sheâd fall over if a plastic bag blew too close to her. sheâs independent - for the most part. elektra is the only person philly takes orders from.
has always been considered odd - weird, strange. still talks about the trees as if theyâre listening, as if theyâre old friends. sheâs vague and doesnât elaborate on the things she says.
believes in pretty much any superstition you throw her way. luck is very important to her. if you ask her if the earth is flat, sheâll say probably. believes strongly in bigfoot and the lochness monster. has personally seen aliens, and loves ghosts almost more than herself.
she can be amusing - whether you âgetâ her or not, her outlook is often bright - she talks about the negatives the same way she talks about the positives. can be seen as naive or gullible, but sheâs plenty smart. even if half of her education has come directly from google.
philly doesnât laugh. a smile, yes - often, in fact - not always reaching her ears, or bearing teeth - but these are not indicators of her happiness. philly is consistently content. she thinks many things are funny - she still will not laugh.
her voice is often monotonous - she doesnât sound dreary, she sounds far-away. her voice carries. her emotions are often unknown to others.
is apathetic in most situations. sheâs hard to bother - sheâs incredibly patient and enjoys the company of most - tolerates them at the very least. itâs hard for her to express her emotions, because she feels them so little that itâs very nearly not worth it. her affection is not verbal - itâs small touches and gestures of kindness, love in her own way.
is a fan of knock-knock jokes and bad puns. she wonât crack a smile while telling you them, nor does she expect you to laugh. she just enjoys them.
she owns a motorola razr covered in puffy stickers - hasnât ever had a smartphone. sheâs a fan of emoticons. her favorite is :o)
has a lot of bruises and scratches and scars - sheâs often getting herself into pickles. there are always, at the very minimum, three bandaids on each hand.
she has insomnia, so sheâs awake often. is often seen wandering town - even when she shouldnât be, even when it might be dangerous. her intuition is delayed. when she does sleep - her dreams are vivid and fantastical.
keeps a box of memories - sentimental bits and pieces sheâs picked up over the last few years. there are a lot of buttons and postcards, but any teeny tiny object will do.
her style changes every week - most, if not all, of her clothes are thrifted. one week sheâs baby spice and the next sheâs lydia deetz. she combines pieces from different styles often - she looks like a barbie clothed by a child. she feels most comfortable like this.
will either patch-up the clothes that get too worn or reuse them in some way. sometimes donates the clothes she gets tired off - isnât minimalistic, but sheâs learned to keep only a small amount of possessions.
the only consistency is her lucky ribbon - itâs pastel yellow and silky and as thin as a shoelace. she ties it onto her outfit of the day, everyday. if she loses it, sheâs lost. elektra has a matching ribbon.
has no problem with minor theft - she only takes bare minimum, puts herself and elektra first and thatâs how itâs always been. she tries to be good while in rochester - would hate to make enemies whilst florence is getting repaired.
currently living in audax while elektra stays in their van, florence - sometimes philly stays there during the weekends.
they used to live in motels on the occasion, the cheapest room, and more often than not theyâd both go home with strangers for a comfier bed and a hotter shower.
it was a common occurrence - she didnât sleep with them - but somehow, she weaseled her way into their homes anyway. has come out mostly unscathed, on most occasions. this has been a practice ever since theyâve been on the road.
really, truly - has not slept with anybody, had her first and only kiss at thirteen with a frog. this doesnât bother her.
will consume a n y t h i n g you put in front of her - isnât picky.
listens to whatever theyâve picked up along the way but she likes instrumentals the best. her second favorite genre is 1990â˛s and 2000â˛s top hits. theyâre nostalgic for her.
loves storms - will go out in the rain and will risk her life for it.
owns a pair of roller-skates and is often skating rather than walking. unless sheâs on grass - then sheâs walking barefoot.
has many hobbies, and gets bored of them often. her favorite hobby is welding. sheâs not certified.
also, juggles.
also, accordion.
the kind of girl whoâll do any job you give her. odd jobs are her favorite jobs. babysitting is her least favorite - but she does it anyway. has lost children before. have they ever been found? not by philly.
dyes her hair blonde often and cuts her own hair - bangs included - finds it cathartic, likes the itchiness of bleach.
everything she does is often in pursuit of feeling free, alive, and meaningful.
connections to the victims !!
tatiana samuels & george craig iii / philly was not attending lockwood university at the time of their deaths, and has never met them.
hana williams / they were friends, but didnât hang out together often. they sometimes ate lunch together, or went on walks at night together. hana had wanted to meet phillyâs many pets.
christoph wainwright / philly and christoph had met through a mutual friend, and though philly hadnât been expecting kindness from him - he had given her it, and in turn she found him interesting. a little too interesting, maybe - and they had kept talking since their initial meeting. they met and spoke often at night, for hours at a time - where nobody would see them. philly never understood why he had wanted it that way, but she respected it. even now, their âfriendshipâ with each other isnât known by others. itâs a secret, one could say.
wanted connections !!
random encounters - sheâs new to rochester and doesnât know many people - if anybody at all, so :-)
alternately, people sheâs run into with elektra during their journey. whether theyâve stolen from them or stayed with them somewhere or just, ate dinner with them. anything.
someone whose couch / floor sheâs crashed on after a night of whatever - a party, adventure, etc.
people she does jobs for !! people who commission her to make stuff for them. people who need a babysitter.
people who think sheâs weird - and those who like it. or those who hate it. people who donât understand her - people who do, in their own way.
someone trying to get closer to her but she keeps slipping out from between their fingers.
a parental / older sibling figure !! they take one look at philomena and instantly want to swaddle and protect her.
people who take an immediate liking to her. people who introduce her to the music scene. people who show her around town.
someone who catches her stealing or about to dine-n-dash.
late-night walking pals.
a dealer b/c weed ? a thing.
someone who gets into a debate with her about conspiracies or superstitions or anything !! someone who gets frustrated at her apathy.
somebody who just immediately distrusts her for whatever reason.
??? you donât have a smartphone ??? cue someone trying to teach her how they work - and philly hating it !!
thrifting pals.
m a y b e a hook-up, eventually, but itâs questionable.
something unrequited, likely on their end b/c philly is ⌠a hard egg to crack.
maybe something returned !! eventually. slowly. slow.
god ⌠someone she just tells her entire life story to. like this meme.
iâm rly down to brainstorm and think of anything !!! dnt forget 2 leave a like :)
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so last night i realised i had almost hit 500 posts on this account. and then i had the brilliant, genius idea to make a post with 500 facts about monster house for my 500th post.
this was not a genius idea in any way shape or form.
i am not a genius.
but i did it anyway, so now i present to you:
five-hundred-fucking-facts about monster house
enjoy.Â
KENZI
1) Kenzi was abandoned as a baby 2) She was adopted by Monster House 3) She does not know when her birthday is 4) Her best friend growing up was Toby 5) Kenzi thought she was a vampire when she was a kid 6) She went around biting peopleâs necks for weeks 7) Kenzi loves photography, Instagram, and modelling 8) She has ran four marathons and six 10ks 9) She has been dying her hair since she was 14 10) Kenziâs favourite chocolate brand is Cadburyâs 11) She loves cooking and hosting parties 12) She hates being human and wishes she was a monster too 13) She is almost fluent in French 14) Kenzi has no idea what she wants to be when sheâs older 15) She never wants to leave Monster House 16) Kenzi is always chewing gum
HARLOW 17) Harlow dyes her hair black 18) She plays drums because her dad told her it was for boys 19) She plays basketball because her dad told her it was for boys 20) Her mum died three years ago and Harlow has never got over it 21) She lives with her dad, their relationship is recovering 22) Harlow wonât leave the house without a beanie 23) She loves video games like overwatch and call of duty 24) She is absolutely shit at video games 25) Doritos are her favourite snack 26) Harlow has lost count of how many cousins she has 27) If she could be any monster, sheâd be a vampire 28) Sheâs in a college band called â4amâ 29) Theyâve played three actual gigs so far 30) Harlow wants to be in a famous band 31) Harlow does NOT want to ever get a real job 32) She writes a lot of songs 33) Nobody will ever see these songs 34) She hates the beach 35) The only thing she hates more than the beach is spelling errors 36) She also hates vegetables and weather over 20 degrees C 37) She loves the sound of rain and thunder 38) She hoards TV boxsets and prefers them over Netflix 39) She loves antique stores and charity shops 40) She has an impressive vinyl collection
TOBY 41) Toby is bisexual but prefers guy 42) Heâs known he was bisexual since discovering Tom Holland 43) His favourite superhero is Iron Man 44) Spider man is a close second 45) Toby wanted to be a superhero when he was a kid 46) Now he wants to be a super villain (#edgyteen) 47) Heâs enrolled in school part time 48) Avoiding sunlight makes school difficult 49) The kids at school joke that heâs a vampire because of this 50) They donât know why thatâs so funny 51) He plays bass guitar but never lets anyone else listen 52) Except Matty. Sometimes he joins in with the âdrumsâ 53) Toby loves going to the skate park at night 54) He once wrote a 500 word essay on why the moon is better than the sun 55) He knows every constellation and loves stargazing 56) He loves sitting on his dadâs balcony and watching the stars 57) Toby doesnât know who his mum is 58) Metal and rock music is his favourite 59) He chews on his finger to satisfy his desire to bite things 60) Sometimes heâs tempted to see if he could bite his finger off 61) He never has 62) Toby loves tomato ketchup 63) Immortality intimidates him 64) He only wears band tee shirts 65) He starts wearing beanies everywhere after meeting Harlow 66) Toby idolises Harlow 67) His favourite food is pancakes with chocolate sauce 68) Kenzi makes him pancakes to apologise after they fight 69) Toby buys her bars of chocolate to apologise 70) Kenzi and Toby bicker a lot 71) They are also best friends 72) Tobyâs favourite period of history is the Roman emperors 73) Caligula was his favourite emperor 74) Toby almost turned Kenzi when they were 14 75) He despises pop music 76) Kenzi and Toby fight over nothing more often than pop music 77) Custard makes him want to throw up
KAI 78) Kai has six older sisters 79) He is one of two guys in the witches coven 80) He speaks French and Italian (almost) fluently 81) He volunteers at the local animal shelter 82) He does not get along with his family 83) Kai tries to fit in but he isnât very good at it 84) He gets very upset if his hair doesnât look right 85) He struggles with dysphoria but his parents wonât let him get T 86) Kai loves doing jigsaws and watching reality shows 87) He listens to music to drown out his parents arguments 88) His oldest sister Natalia is his favourite 89) She cut his hair and bought him guys clothes after he came out 90) Natalia plays board games with him and helps with homework 91) Kai loves baking - especially banana bread 92) He hates bananas but could eat banana bread all day 93) Being a witch is hard and heâs really really bad at it 94) Kai once turned a dining room chair into a frog 95) He also turned his motherâs earrings into a donkey 96) They never let him keep the animals 97) Pop music and indie rock are his favourites 98) Kai is scared of the dark 99) Science and maths make no sense to him 100) He plans on leaving the witches coven when heâs 18
PHILLIP 101) Philip is a history professor at Seabrooke University 102) He was born in 1893 under the reign of Queen Victoria 103) He campaigned with the suffragettes - and even broke a window once 104) He is a hardcore liberal and despises the conservative party 105) He attended the 1908 summer Olympics held in London 106) He once had a fling with a maid of George Vâs 107) Phillip had entered a competition to be on the titanic 108) He was an engineer during world war 2 109) His nose was broken at a protest for women to be given degrees 110) Phillip has been married three times 111) The first died, the second left him for another man 112) The third was a Vegas marriage about 30 years prior 113) Phillip is straight - but heâs experimented extensively in the past 114) He does the newspaper crossword puzzle every morning 115) He bans TV until after 3pm 116) Phillip moved to Monster House in the 70âs 117) He despises the movie âTwilightâ above all else 118) He is the one who decided to adopt Kenzi 119) Phillip is essentially in charge of Monster House 120) He adores barbecues with his family 121) He hates Russia, incorrect grammar, and coffee
MATTY 122) Toby brought a stray dog in one day 123) The next morning, a toddler was asleep in their living room 124) Phillip decided to keep him 125) His hobbies include chewing peopleâs shoes and phone chargers 126) He has broken exactly seven bones 127) There is no soul clumsier than Matty 128) His face is full of freckles and his cheeks are always red 129) He runs everywhere 130) He wants to be a footballer or an astronaut when heâs older 131) Matty breaks Phillipâs morning TV ban so he can watch cartoons 132) His favourite game is fetch 133) Toby created a machine for him that throws a ball over and over 134) Matty hates it - he likes playing with an actual person 135) His wolf form is small, fluffy and a little too blonde 136) Phillip has been assured that he will get less blonde as he grows up 137) Toby once tried to enter him in a dog competition 138) They won ÂŁ20 and bought the biggest ice creams they could 139) Matty loves porridge almost as much as he loves shoes and Toby 140) He has an imaginary friend called Boris who he blames for everything
CALLIE 141) Callie is half fae and half human 142) Her full name is Calypso, but everybody calls her Callie 143) She cannot tell lies, but is excellent at talking around the truth 144) Sheâs introverted and shy - but also amazing at public speaking 145) She wants to be a legal aid barrister 146) Her hair is naturally brown but she dyes it red 147) She plays acoustic guitar in 4am - the same band as Harlow 148) Her roommate is a werewolf but she doesnât know about it yet 149) She has travelled to France and Italy 150) But she wants to travel the world 151) Her bedroom walls are covered in maps 152) She has an emergency supply of snacks in a room at all times 153) Her biggest dream is to have her own library room once day 154) With a secret bookshelf door, of course 155) Her lava lamp and beanbags are her prized possessions 156) She does not have a good relationship with her parents 157) She struggles with insomnia and rarely sleeps 158) Coffee is her one true love 159) She adores long car rides and she adores driving 160) She works part time at a coffee shop 161) Her car is her other prized possession 162) Callie can devour bags of skittles in an instant 163) She forgets everything in her personal life 164) And remembers everything in her academic life 165) She loves fire and will sit and stare at it for hours 166) Sometimes she goes to the local aquarium to study 167) Change is her worst enemy - everything needs to be consistent 168) She has been a straight A student all her life 169) She goes for a long walk every Saturday afternoon 170) Callie writes songs when sheâs feeling bad
MILO 171) Hiding antlers in public is the bane of his existence 172) He is part of a group who want to tell humans about monsters 173) Milo does not particularly like humans 174) He has curly blonde hair that is usually a mess 175) One of his eyes is darker blue than the other 176) He loves blanket forts and fairy lights and hot chocolate 177) He has a part time job delivering pizzas 178) This means he gets a discount on pizzas, which he takes advantage of 179) Percy Jackson is the main reason heâs doing a classics degree 180) He enjoys writing fantasy books in his free time 181) He is reasonably fluent in Ancient Greek and Latin 182) âOut of Boundsâ signs are a welcoming invitation to Milo 183) He will explore everything and anything 184) Milo wants to travel to South America the most 185) He has two mums 186) They both adore Callie 187) He goes rock climbing in his free time 188) This is so he can climb trees, fences, and monuments better 189) He claims heâs climbed several mountains 190) Callie does not believe this claim 191) He was not raised in Seabrooke and had few monster friends as a kid 192) Milo is a nymph 193) His father is one of his motherâs best friends - also a nymph 194) His âfatherâ taught him to garden and to bake 195) Milo never called him dad - he was always Uncle Barney 196) He loves growing his own flowers 197) Nymph magic allows him to grow the most beautiful plants and flowers 198) It also allows him to bake exceptional cakes and cookies 199) He adores his younger brother and sister 200) He is double jointed and left handed
KENZI AND HARLOW 201) Making out is their favourite pastime 202) Harlow spends most of her free time at Monster House 203) They enjoy joking about how âplatonicâ their relationship is 204) Kenzi loves cooking for Harlow 205) They spend a lot of time watching TV shows together 206) Stranger Things and Friends were their last binge-watches 207) Harlow is always invited round for Friday Board Game Night 208) Kenzi constantly steals Harlowâs clothes 209) Harlow loves playing with Kenziâs hair 210) Harlow loves holding Kenziâs hand 211) Harlow just loves touching Kenzi as much as possible 212) They both have a years pass to the local petting zoo 213) Kenzi goes to all of Harlowâs band gigs and basketball games 214) She wants to set up a cheer leading squad for the basketball team 215) Harlow just wants to see Kenzi in a cheerleader costume 216) Harlow asked Kenzi to be her girlfriend 217) Kenzi said I love you first 218) Theyâre planning on getting an apartment together after graduating 219) Also a dog 220) Harlow adores getting Kenzi to play (and fail at) video games 221) Kenzi is a massive flirt - Harlow does not appreciate it 222) Harlow once stabbed Kenzi on the hand whilst cooking together 223) Kenzi and Harlow do not cook together 224) They bicker a lot 225) But Harlow adores Kenzi more than anything else, and vice versa
TOBY AND KAI 226) Toby only got the guts to ask Kai out because his dad made him 227) They are polar opposites in just about every way 228) Toby didnât know what being transgender meant before meeting Kai 229) Toby calls Kai âsunshineâ 230) Kai calls Toby âgrumpy gutsâ for the most part 231) They fall asleep on the phone together a lot 232) They also fall asleep in the same bed a lot 232) Kaiâs parents do not like vampires so they donât know about Toby 233) They met through the Monster House toddler group when they were kids 234) They both went to the Monster House study group as kids/teenagers 234) Nowadays, they âstudyâ in Tobyâs room instead 235) Kai drove Toby mad up until very recently 236) It wasnât exactly love at first site 237) Toby threw up on Kai - the hatred only grew from there 238) Over time, Toby developed a soft spot for Kai 239) Nowadays, Kai still drives him crazy, but in a good sorta way 240) They have every intention of moving in together after school ends 241) Kai has a drawer of clothes at Tobyâs place 242) Toby has punched six people in defence of Kai 243) One was an eleven year old. He has no regrets 244) Toby frequently takes Kai stargazing 245) Toby also taught him how to skate 246) Kai speaks French to Toby and he loves it 247) Sometimes Kai takes Toby to volunteer at the animal shelter with him 248) Their biggest fights are over pop music and science 249) They plan on getting a turtle when they move in together 250) Kai loves sitting on Tobyâs lap 251) He also loves stealing his sweaters 252) He also loves fixing his hair 253) He frequently picks flowers for Toby and spends hours arranging them 254) Kai also loves falling asleep on Toby 255) Toby kisses Kaiâs cheek a lot 256) Toby adores Kai, but he rarely admits to it 257) He took Kai to a Troye Sivan concert in February 2019 258) Kai sends Toby selfies a lot throughout the day 259) Toby saves every single one to his phone - but wonât admit to it 260) Tobyâs dad r e a l l y wants him to marry Kai
CALLIE AND MILO 261) They met when they were both searching an abandoned church 262) They thought the other was a ghost 263) For the longest time, Callie was âghost girlâ in Miloâs phone 264) Their first date was in Starbucks 265) But they tell people it was back in that abandoned church 266) They are both too terrified to ever go back to that church 267) They have plants to travel the world together 268) Callieâs phone background is Milo and his messy bed head 269) Miloâs background is Callie in one of his sweaters 270) Callie hoards Miloâs sweaters 271) Milo practically lives at Callieâs apartment so he doesnât mind 272) Callie only really sleeps when sheâs with Milo 273) Milo likes playing with her hair while she reads out loud 274) The sound of her voice calms his anxiety 275) Callie frequently plays guitar and sings for Milo 276) He considers himself her number one fan 277) Callie likes listening to him ramble about history and classics 278) She often falls asleep while he talks - he never seems to notice 279) Callie drives Milo everywhere 280) Milo always makes the best road trip playlists and snacks 281) Miloâs mumâs adore Callie 282) They go for family dinner every other Sunday 283) They are going to Greece together over the summer holidays 284) Their opinions on monster politics differ wildly 285) Callie enjoys teaching Milo how to play guitar 286) Milo grows his own flowers to give Callie 287) He also enjoys cooking for her 288) Sometimes he brings her breakfast in bed 289) He usually gets a blowjob in exchange for this 290) They make a game out of fucking in as many places as they can 291) This has included: the grocery store, a church, the forest 292) Miloâs parents frequently bring up marriage 293) Theyâre both quite content with how things are 294) One day, theyâd both like a small wedding in Europe somewhere 295) Zoos, petting farms, and aquariums are their favourite dates 296) Milo is basically Callieâs pillow 297) Callie writes songs for Milo 298) Her parents do not approve of her dating a Nymph 299) Callieâs roommates adore Milo and love that he basically lives there 300) They fight about how much wardrobe space Milo takes up frequently
BACKGROUND CHARACTERS 301) Callieâs roommate is a werewolf 302) She doesnât know that Callie isnât human and vice versa 303) Werewolf roommate (Arya)âs family is originally from India 304) Arya loves escape rooms 305) Callie loves petting Arya in wolf form 306) Milo is the only one who questions why thereâs a wolf in the kitchen 307) But Milo still feeds Arya-in-wolf-form blueberry muffins 308) Bruce the Minotaur has lived in Monster House forever 309) Nobody really knows where or when Bruce came from 310) He has a very distinctive Greek accent 311) Bruce makes the best waffles 312) And he knits a damn good scarf and woolly socks 313) Which is incidentally what everybody gets for their birthday 314) Sheryl the Siren is like a crazy aunt to the kids in Monster House 315) She auditioned for X Factor once - she didnât get in 316) Her vocal inspirations are beyonce and mariah carey 317) Sheryl is married to Mary-Anne the Mermaid 318) Mary-Anne lives in the coves behind Monster House 319) Sheryl loves singing for Mary-Anne 320) Maybe itâs the water-clogged ears, but Mary-Anne enjoys the singing 321) They had a beautiful beach wedding twelve years ago 322) Kenzi was a flower girl, Toby was a page boy 323) There is a ghost living in the attic of Monster House 324) It never seems to come out 325) Bruce sits outside the attic door each night to keep it company 326) Sometimes it likes to play drums with pots and pans 327) Nobody really has a name - itâs just âthe ghost in the atticâ 328) They leave cookies for it at Christmas - they always get eaten 329) Sometimes Matty gets there first 330) Grace the Gorgon is an interior designer 331) She wears a veil-like head cover to hide the snake hair 332) Most humans just assume the head cover/snake hair is a new trend 333) Grace constantly redecorates Monster House 334) The house usually puts everything back overnight 335) Monster House does not like change 336) Grace is a wanted felon for the murder of a man named Perseus 337) Humans seem to be destined to forever walk past Monster House 338) Thus, Grace has never been caught 339) It is rumoured that she was once called Penelope 340) Nobody quite knows what Perseus did to warrant murder 341) Nobody quite trusts Grace with a knife, either
SEABROOKE 342) Seabrooke is a small, sleepy seaside town in southern England 343) It is the suburban hot spot for Monster life 344) Seabrooke has a population of 4,500 345) Around 250 of these are monsters 346) For some reason, Seabrooke has itâs own university 347) Nobody really knows why - itâs possible Phillip had a role in this 348) Seabrooke has two primary schools, a secondary, and a sixth form 349) It gets a lot of tourists during the summer 350) Everybody hates the tourists - especially Monsters
WITCHES COVEN 351) When Bruce the Minotaur gets sick - he canât be taken to the doctors 352) The Witches Coven is the main place Monsters go when theyâre sick 353) Witches are difficult creatures and the Coven are no different 354) If you get on their bad side, theyâll refuse you service 355) The Witches Coven therefore practically run the town 356) There are three families that make up the Coven 357) Admittance is only to witches with the blood of prestigious families 358) Kai is part of the Witches Coven 359) Kaiâs family practically runs the Witches Coven 360) There is a lot of tension between the Witches and Phillip 361) Largely because they both have a lot of influence over Seabrooke 362) Regardless, Phillip still genuinely likes Kai 363) The Witches tend to be high maintenance and spoilt 364) The parents are like the worst white suburban soccer mums ever 365) Regardless, they are excellent at healing magic 366) But also excellent at ruining your life 367) They have definitely killed a few monsters - but it cannot be proved
LOCAL NEWSPAPER 368) The Daily Seabrooke is ran by shapeshifters 369) Nobody remembers when the TDS was started 370) Philip adores it for the crosswords 371) Apparently the crosswords are âout of this worldâ 372) TDS is ran by a group of crazy looking students 373) Of course, theyâre shapeshifters, so theyâre probably all 1000+ 374) The shapeshifters behind TDS donât mingle with other monsters 375) At least not as themselves 376) They report on human politics and news as well 377) Only monsters are sold the copies with monster news included 378) Half of TDS is gossip about the people in Seabrooke 379) Nobody is really safe from their snooping 380) Their methods include being a literal fly on the wall 381) Most breakups, Witches Coven drama, and Vamp/Wolf fights are put in 382) TDS is extremely controversial amongst Monsters in Seabrooke 383) Kenzi thinks itâs fucking hilarious
SEABROOKE UNIVERSITY 384) The University is crawling with monster life 385) Several professors are monsters 386) Most notably are Phillip and Steven 387) Phillip teaches Modern History 388) Steven teaches Medieval History 389) Phillip is a Vampire, Steven is a Werewolf 390) They have a competition for who gets History Professor Of The Year 391) This competition frequently gets out of hand 392) Everybody knows about their rivalry, few knows why 393) Nobody knows how long the two have worked there - most say forever 394) That wouldnât be far from the truth 395) Steven happens to be Arya (Callieâs Roommate)âs father
MONSTER HOUSE 396) Monster House is practically alive 397) It constantly expands and shrinks 398) There are always exactly as many rooms as are necessary 399) Only the first floor can be seen by passersby 400) And they often walk straight past it 401) Ordering pizza is a nightmare 402) Itâs like the human brain cannot comprehend where it is 403) Even though itâs in an incredibly obvious location 404) When they do see it, they see only a normal house 405) The construction of the house makes no sense 406) There are rooms hanging over nothing and stairs leading to nowhere 407) Sometimes bedrooms move and finding them is a nightmare 408) The living room and kitchen like to switch places 409) On Mondayâs the kitchen is green and nobody knows why 410) It is black and white the rest of the time 411) It is almost impossible to paint or decorate Monster House 412) It prefers to do that itself 413) Somehow the bedrooms always look exactly how they are wanted 414) At least they save on paint - that shit is expensive 415) Unfortunately, Monster House doesnât clean itself 416) Toby has registered several complaints about this
LULU 417) Luluâs full name is Lucifer 418) It has been living in the basement since the beginning 419) It has only been seen by four people 420) Phillip and Kenzi are two of those 421) They call it Lulu because Kenzi couldnât pronounce Lucifer as a kid 422) The nickname kinda stuck 423) Lulu gets fed raw fish every morning 424) They just dump a bucket full down the hatch in the kitchen 425) Sometimes Toby threatens to feed Matty to Lulu 426) This causes Matty to have nightmares and sleep in Tobyâs bed 427) So that one kinda backfired on Toby 428) Nobody actually knows what kind of creature Lulu is
MISC. FACTS 429) Harlowâs favourite song is âLights Down Lowâ by Max 430) Seabrooke is not on any map - nobody knows why 431) I really regret this 432) Never ever try to write 500 facts it will not be fun 433) Callieâs favourite kind of law is criminal law 434) Particularly fatal offences 435) She also likes land law because sheâs fucking weird 436) Kai got into reality TV because of his sisters 437) One of the arcades in Seabrooke is monster themed 438) Toby works there on Saturdays - always taking the night shifts 439) Kai really wants to own his own bakery one day 440) He tried to get the local bakery to hire him but heâs too young 441) Kai also wants to live in France or Italy 442) He also wants to be on reality shows and get a fake tan 443) (Okay. Toby is pretty sure he was joking about that) 444) Kai always has to wish on a lucky star 445) Milo wants to be a published author one day 446) Kai has tried to run away from home twice 447) His parents put a tracking spell on him and found him too fast 448) Toby wishes he could skate at the park with the other kids 449) But he also secretly likes that everyone finds him mysterious 450) Toby used to have a (massive) crush on Kenzi 451) Now theyâre both pretty gay 452) Everyone is gay tbh 453) Monsters have no concept of heteronormativity 454) Kenziâs favourite colour is pink 455) Callieâs favourite animal is an octopus 456) Kai has a picture of him and Toby stuck on his bedroom wall 457) Kai has had a crush on Toby since they were kids 458) Coming out as trans wrecked Kaiâs relationship with his parents 459) It is seen as a disgrace for witches to have male sons 460) Men are submissive in witch culture 461) Kaiâs parents frequently misname and misgender him 462) The kids at school are much more accepting 463) Kai came out when he was 14 464) Toby has actually been one of his biggest supporters 465) Natalia has been his main supporter as well 466) Toby likes Kai a lot more since he came out 467) Kai feels more real to him now - and irritates him less 468) Toby doesnât know how long Kai has liked him for 469) Kai is pretty open about being trans 470) Seabrooke is quite accepting, even if his parents arenât 471) Kenzi is terrified of being rejected by the monster community 472) She really wants Toby to turn her so she can be an actual monster 473) She wears contact lenses so her eyes look purple 474) She doesnât really like school and puts the bare minimum effort in 475) Harlow is taking four a levels - a difficult thing to do 476) Fuck this was the worst idea 478) Harlow channels her anger out through drumming 479) Itâs therapist mandated so her dad cannot stop her 480) Even though he very very much wants to 481) Harlowâs favourite video game is overwatch 482) Her mains are lucio, junk rat, bastion and rein 483) Harlow despises spelling and grammar errors 484) Matty likes stealing Tobyâs tee shirts 485) Between Matty & Kai, Toby barely has any clothes left 486) Which is fine as far as Kaiâs concerned 487) Matty is like a little brother to Kai 488) Originally, Callie & Arya were part of a polygamous relationship 489) I cut that out, though, because I couldnât think of a third girl 490) Seabrooke tends to have mild weather 491) During the summer, the heat can spike to 25-30 C max 492) It rarely snows, but it does rain a lot, and thereâs a lot of wind 493) Most of the houses in Seabrooke were built 100ish years ago 494) It has a train station - nobody knows why - itâs the last stop 495) There is a Seabrooke museum ran by a vampire and a Fae 496) There is a secret monster section in the back 497) Idle Town by Conan Gray reminds me of Seabrooke 498) As does This Town by Neil Horan (I think thatâs the name idk) 499) Fuck you to @livvywrites for not stopping me 500) I am never doing this again
tag list: @livingthelovelylife, @commasinsidequotes, @4kidsopfan, @thatworldinverted, @livvywrites @ravenpuffwriter @the-writer-turned-procrastinor @livingthelovelylife  (ask to be added or removed more likely after this shit)
#writeblr#writeblr community#monsterhouse#this was the worst idea of my life#never again#do not do this#b a d i d e a
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The Extremist #1
If you've ever really wondered how dumb I am and how much of it is an act, just watch how I completely miss the point of this series!
I wonder if Captain Kirk also felt like his entire body was coming every time he put on his captain's uniform?
The Extremist seems to be the one who punishes members of The Order who perpetrate terrible deeds. And somehow, the suit sexualizes the entire ordeal. So on December 1st, The Extremist punishes the slightly overweight man (who is actually obese because, I guess, Ted McKeever must be fat and he was all, "This guy, being slightly obese, should probably be drawn fatter than me!" That's just speculation. I mean, comic book writers are usually fat. The artists are usually hot fuckbots of raw sexuality) by stabbing him in his fat heart. Apparently people in The Order are allowed to engage in hedonistic pleasures that would be deemed immoral by members of the status quo. But even they have their limits on how far they allow their members to push the envelope. And Mr. Slightly Overweight killed two girls. So what do we know so far, kids? The Extremist is The Punisher in a gimp suit who constantly gets cum stains on the inside of the leather. The Order is a secret society where people engage in illicit sexual desires. And if you murder two girls, you'll be excommunicated from The Order (meaning you'll be killed). You might be able to get away with killing one girl but that's just speculation! The Extremist removes the suit to reveal a woman who can't stop making sexual analogies.
Maybe it's different than what you thought sex was because sex absolutely isn't stabbing a naked fat man in the heart. Okay, maybe that's a little bit like sex.
This lady walks away from the scene of the murder thinking, "I felt like The Extremist." So was she The Extremist and she was just worried that she was enjoying filling the role too much? Or is there some other Extremist she's emulating?! This would be so much easier if it were just a connect the dots puzzle. I hope you kids at home are following along. If you're not, you're pretty fucking stupid! This story isn't even complicated yet! It's just a commentary about how life is sex and sex is life and murder is sex but maybe not life and maybe not sex but somehow you'll still come in your pants! The Extremist mentions how she's doing this for Jack. She mentioned Jack earlier when she said something about him lying on the pavement outside a sushi restaurant while she said, "I dye my hair, Jack." So I guess the main story is about her and Jack. But it's going to be told in tiny snippets between her sex murders. Just like the real story in A Series of Unfortunate Events is the relationship between Lemony Snicket and Beatrice. I hope The Extremist gives us more of the real story per page than Lemony Snicket did. It was hard to remember all of the Beatrice details when he only mentioned her once like every hundred and twenty pages! Later that same night, The Extremist gets a call from Patrick (who reminds her of Jack) to go out and do some more Extremist work. She wanted to give it a rest because she's worried that the suit is taking control. So I guess it's a symbiote, right? But Patrick is all, "Come right over and don't take a shower! I want you to be all sex stanky in that thing!" The audio journal entry for that night contains the first words read in the story as a brown person's hand is seen playing one of her tapes but then rewinding it to begin the story on December 1st (as seen in the first scanned panel earlier). So that'll probably be important later! The Extremist meets with Patrick that night, mostly because he wants to fuck her. But she consents to see him because, as The Extremist, she's looking for Jack's murderer. She doesn't have a name yet so I can only refer to her as The Extremist. But that's a misnomer when she's out of the suit. Maybe we're not supposed to get to know her outside of the suit since this story is about The Extremist only and that is whoever is in the suit at the time.
She's also racist so I guess the name fits.
Beginning a racist statement with "I'm trying to be honest" doesn't mean you have to be forgiven for your racism. Maybe begin with "I'm trying to be not racist!" Oh, and then don't add a "but"! Patrick tells The Extremist a story about how Lords in Victorian England used to take in young East End girls living on the street. In return for giving them a home, they expected sexual favors. Patrick's ancestor stood up in the House of Lords to declare that it was the "inalienable right of every British Lord to find amusement among prepubescent working class girls." And then he says this:
In 1993, that may have seemed unlikely. In 2019, we're one speech away from Trump making this exact declaration and the GOP and evangelical Christians falling right in line behind him.
Patrick's point is that his ancestor was making, for the time, a conservative defense against liberal views that poverty stricken children shouldn't be preyed upon. His point is that the "extreme" position varies across time and space due to changing cultural mores. I think the real point is that conservative ideas are always fighting against changes that help to protect those preyed upon by the rich and powerful. Which means conservative ideas and values are always fucking wrong. I said always! This comic book has a lot of tits and ass. But I don't think I've seen a penis yet. Not that I've been scouring every page with a magnifying glass to find one! That's slander! When he was alive, Jack was The Extremist's husband and also The Extremist. He was cheating on The Extremist outside of The Order and his being The Extremist which I guess makes his infidelity worse. It's fine if he fucks other people in The Order or even out of The Order as long as he's currently The Extremist. But doing it out of costume and out of The Order? That's a slap in his wife's face except whatever a slap in the face is sexually. I guess sometimes it's just a slap in the face! But more often, it's probably a slap on the fanny. Yes, I meant the British fanny! On December 9th, Patrick kills himself in a game of American Roulette. That's Russian Roulette except instead of one gun and bullets added as you take turns, players choose from a pile of guns with one of them loaded with six bullets. I don't know if Peter Milligan just made that up but it's a pretty good joke if he did. At the American Roulette game, The Extremist discovers Jack's killer. How she did it isn't as good as how Sherlock Holmes solves crimes. It's not even as good as how Matlock solves crimes. It's practically not even good as how Perry Mason solves crimes where he just hounds witnesses until there's just four minutes left in the hour and somebody confesses. She just notices somebody that doesn't look like they want to fuck her and just looks frightened instead and thinks, "A-ha! That's what Patrick said I should look for! Somebody who doesn't want to fuck me!" It's a good thing I don't know anybody who was murdered because I would think that every single person I ever met killed them. The Extremist heads over to this woman's house, the woman Jack was fucking, and kills her. But first she gets her to confess! That's important because you don't want to get caught in a loop where you keep killing new people because you're unsure if you killed the murderer. That would be like a cut-rate Memento where instead of memory loss, the protagonist just suffers from mild doubt. Judy (that's her name!) quits and moves to the suburbs. She leaves The Extremist suit and her audio tapes for somebody else to find (which somebody else does! On page one! The black homeless guy, I bet!). Nope, she goes back for the suit because she's super horny. The black guy probably finds the suit in a later issue. Or maybe he's working for the FBI. After she retrieves the suit, Patrick contacts her. He faked his own death and has become Pierre. I guess he's a vampire or something. Is that too fantastical for a story like this? Up until now, it's been super realistic with the whole sex club for people who need extra drama and sex in their lives. Also how it takes place in San Francisco! Patrick gives The Extremist a letter to read which is also an offer and/or her next mission. In the letter, Pierre confesses to killing Jack. The other woman was just a shill who wanted to be killed by The Extremist after being blamed for ruining The Extremist's marriage! The Extremist decides to kill Pierre because he ruined her life. The issue ends with her and Pierre about to do battle to the death. The next issue will concentrate on Jack's story, six months previous. The Extremist #1 Rating: C-. Picture Pages! Picture Pages! Time to get your Picture Pages! Time to get your strap-ons and Rohypnol! So, kids, what did you think of our first sordid tale of sordidity? Pretend this comic book was coming out this year and I didn't know Peter Milligan was writing it. Would I purchase the next issue? Probably not. I probably only bought the second issue in 1993 because there were so many titties in this one. Porn was a lot harder to come by in 1993! Other than the titties, I'm not sure I understand the point of this story yet. Is it about what people will do when they're pushed to the extreme? How far will a mousy wife who was shocked at doing sex on top go when she finds her husband has cheated on her and he's been murdered?! Or maybe it's about how we are the clothes we wear. Judy only loves to fuck and murder when she's in The Extremist's gimp suit. It's like that scene in Fire Walk With Me when Donna ties Laura's sweater around her waist and then starts fucking guys like crazy. Then Laura notices and is all, "Don't wear my clothes! Never wear my clothes, you dumb slut! Wait, who are you? Are you sure you're Donna? What happened to Lara?!" Sometimes I put a sock on my dick and then I'm all, "I'm a rock star! Look at me, mom!" I mean, I don't actually try to get my mom to look at me! That's just something I've heard people tend to say when they feel proud of themselves.
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cisfemale â ever hear people say PHILOMENA CARMICHAEL looks a lot like NATALIA DYER? I think SHE is about 19, so it doesnât really work. The FREELANCER is here because THEIR VAN BROKE DOWN and they are from WOODSIDE, CA. They can be WHIMSICAL, but they can also be APATHETIC. I think PHILLY might be N/A. ( snot goblin. 20. est. she/they. )
hi hello friends ,,, i bring to u my third character and the Newest Muse i have created ... which means iâm still working on her ! so pleathe bare w/ me as i have no idea how sheâll rly truly turn out. but !! as always, give this a LIKE and iâll come bother u !!!
TW: CANCER, IMPLIED TRAUMA, DEPERSONALIZATION / DEREALIZATION DISORDER ( ALT. MENTAL HEALTH )
a e s t h e t i c s
wildflowers in your hair and bare feet against moss, binoculars and maps, madonna beating out of half-dead speakers in a half-dead van, whipping wind, jumping off cliffs and rolling down hills, a bandaid wrapped around each finger, cryptic bumper stickers and cryptids in the woods, facing the sun and letting the rays hit you, counting stars late into the night, mismatched socks and lucky ribbons, hoarding a box of special treasures, shoplifting and diner-dashing, bleach against roots, pink sweaters paired with ripped fishnets and slip dresses with knock off uggs, willingly wearing crocs, glitter stickers.
general info !!
full name: philomena brontĂŤ carmichael
nickname(s): philly, phil, mena, etc.
b.o.d. - april 20th lmao !!
label(s):Â the amaranth, the halycon, the neophyte, the wanderer, etc. etc.
height: 5â˛4âł
hometown: woodside, ca
sexuality:Â ??? $500 ebay mystery box. pansexual if you had to label it.
pinterest
stats
biography !!
a middle child belonging to christopher and imogen carmichael - two stanford professors. christopher specialized in british literature whilst imogen specialized in the classics. hence the name.
the order of siblings goes as such: lysander, elektra, juno, philomena, and twins orion & valora. the deal was that everybody had a greek (or in junoâs case, roman) first name and a middle name inspired by a piece of british literature circa 1800s and under. a family of nerds, if you will.
so, clearly - right off the bat, their parents are ... eccentric. theyâre both in love with their respected topic, and with each other, and with their kids. the carmichael family is a happy family.
they each have their own quirks and whatnot - though phillyâs always been particularly dreamy - even as a child, sheâd spend hours watching clouds or caterpillars or the leaves blow in the wind rather than play with other kids. she wasnât a shy kid - she just had her own interests.
hardship doesnât hit the family until philomena is five and starts having splitting headaches. theyâre slow at first - but as soon as sheâs seeing spots and unable to walk in a straight line, doctor appointments are made.
it doesnât take long for them to discover the tumor, though the official diagnosis of malignant ependymoma comes a month later.
itâs grade ii but slow-moving, small enough to not be as much of a threat as worried, but big enough where removal is necessary. philomena earns a scar and brings it in for show-and-tell. for two months afterwards, phillyâs at radiotherapy monday through friday.
theyâre lucky - philomenaâs considered cancer-free by the next year. sheâs babied at first - handled delicately, as if she could break if touched - but with five other children ... it doesnât last for too long.
and life continues as normal.
her personality doesnât shift much over the next few years - sheâs awfully independent for a kid, and awfully quiet - when she speaks itâs about faeries and bigfoot, about how the sky is so blue and if you listen quietly, you can hear the leaves whisper their secrets to each other. this is not odd.
sheâs close to all her siblings, but she idolizes her older sister - elektra. elektraâs six years older and dyes her hair whatever colors she wants. elektra bought a knife off a seedy guy downtown. elektra threw away all of her heels and renounced god. elektra is god. her music is loud but itâs not heavy - itâs florence and the machine.
theyâre opposites - elektraâs boisterous and feels loudly, philomenaâs softer and feels...less. when elektra sneaks out, philomena keeps watch. they are a duo.
philomena is smart - but sheâs fifteen and hates school. hates sitting inside all day. hates the same routine - day after day - itâs all the same. her parentsâ routine is the same, philly feels contained and she wants to live.
elektraâs twenty-one and just bought a brand new spanking (used but not falling apart) 19-something volkswagen ... van - using her entire savings account. she says sheâs tired of routine, sheâs leaving the next day.
naturally, philomena stows away in the back and isnât discovered until theyâre two states away and sheâs got to pee. elektra nearly crashes the van in shock.
itâs an argument - philomena vs. elektra, then them vs. their parents, then their parents vs. the school, the state - itâs an ordeal. philomena switches to an online program in the end.
it hurts christopher and imogen - lysanderâs not having any of their nonsense, junoâs betrayed and alone - the twins are twins. in the end, itâs alright. the carmichael family is a happy family.
philomena and elektra take their time - itâs not a road trip, itâs their new life, permanently on the road. they stop and explore often - they do odd jobs in whatever town they settle in. they dine-n-dash, they shoplift. they survive in their own way.Â
she drops out of high school officially when sheâs seventeen - they have to drive all the way back to california to deal with the wrath of their parents and to deal with paperwork, but itâs done. philomena doesnât know what path she wants in life - but itâs not that.
itâs during this time that the episodes occur - philomenaâs outside her body, philomenaâs wrapped in cotton, her memories are not her own. sheâs looking in the mirror and she doesnât recognize herself. they take shelter in a city for six months, long enough for her brand spankinâ new therapist to figure out whatâs wrong with her. sheâs diagnosed with depersonalization / derealization disorder - they think itâs stress. philomena doesnât get stressed. they think itâs trauma. she laughs - she never laughs.
she gets medication, and life is normal.
itâs four years later and theyâre in vermont when their good olâ trusty van - affectionately named florence - breaks down in a town called livingstone. the cost is more than they have at the moment, and theyâre stuck. philomena thinks she likes the town - but she doesnât know about the watershed.Â
personality !!
sheâs quiet but sheâs confident - her voice sounds like rustling leaves, if leaves smoked a pack of cigarettes a day.
often underestimated - phillyâs petite and looks like sheâd fall over if a plastic bag blew too close to her. sheâs independent - for the most part. elektra is the only person philly takes orders from.
has always been considered odd - weird, strange. still talks about the trees as if theyâre listening, as if theyâre old friends. sheâs vague and doesnât elaborate on the things she says.
believes in pretty much any superstition you throw her way. luck is very important to her. if you ask her if the earth is flat, sheâll say probably. believes strongly in bigfoot and the lochness monster. has personally seen aliens, and loves ghosts almost more than herself.
she can be amusing - whether you âgetâ her or not, her outlook is often bright - she talks about the negatives the same way she talks about the positives. can be seen as naive or gullible, but sheâs plenty smart. even if half of her education has come directly from google.
philly doesnât laugh. a smile, yes - often, in fact - not always reaching her ears, or bearing teeth - but these are not indicators of her happiness. philly is consistently content. she thinks many things are funny - she still will not laugh.
her voice is often monotonous - she doesnât sound dreary, she sounds far-away. her voice carries. her emotions are often unknown to others.
is apathetic in most situations. sheâs hard to bother - sheâs incredibly patient and enjoys the company of most - tolerates them at the very least. itâs hard for her to express her emotions, because she feels them so little that itâs very nearly not worth it. her affection is not verbal - itâs small touches and gestures of kindness, love in her own way.
is a fan of knock-knock jokes and bad puns. she wonât crack a smile while telling you them, nor does she expect you to laugh. she just enjoys them.
she owns a motorola razr covered in puffy stickers - hasnât ever had a smartphone. sheâs a fan of emoticons. her favorite is :o)
has a lot of bruises and scratches and scars - sheâs often getting herself into pickles. there are always, at the very minimum, three bandaids on each hand.
she has insomnia, so sheâs awake often. is often seen wandering town - even when she shouldnât be, even when it might be dangerous. her intuition is delayed. when she does sleep - her dreams are vivid and fantastical.
keeps a box of memories - sentimental bits and pieces sheâs picked up over the last few years. there are a lot of buttons and postcards, but any teeny tiny object will do.
her style changes every week - most, if not all, of her clothes are thrifted. one week sheâs baby spice and the next sheâs lydia deetz. she combines pieces from different styles often - she looks like a barbie clothed by a child. she feels most comfortable like this.
will either patch-up the clothes that get too worn or reuse them in some way. sometimes donates the clothes she gets tired off - isnât minimalistic, but sheâs learned to keep only a small amount of possessions.
the only consistency is her lucky ribbon - itâs pastel yellow and silky and as thin as a shoelace. she ties it onto her outfit of the day, everyday. if she loses it, sheâs lost. elektra has a matching ribbon.
has no problem with minor theft - she only takes bare minimum, puts herself and elektra first and thatâs how itâs always been. she tries to be good while in livingstone - would hate to make enemies whilst florence is getting repaired.
theyâre staying in a motel, currently, in the cheapest room they could get. philly will still visit florence. will sometimes go home with strangers purely to take advantage of a comfortable bed and a shower with better pressure.
itâs a common occurrence - she doesnât sleep with them - but somehow, she weasels her way into their homes anyway. has come out mostly unscathed, on most occasions. this has been a practice ever since theyâve been on the road.
really, truly - has not slept with anybody, had her first and only kiss at thirteen with a frog. this doesnât bother her.Â
will consume a n y t h i n g you put in front of her - isnât picky.
listens to whatever theyâve picked up along the way but she likes instrumentals the best. her second favorite genre is 1990â˛s and 2000â˛s top hits. theyâre nostalgic for her.
loves storms - will go out in the rain and will risk her life for it.
owns a pair of roller-skates and is often skating rather than walking. unless sheâs on grass - then sheâs walking barefoot.
has many hobbies, and gets bored of them often. her favorite hobby is welding. sheâs not certified.
also, juggles.
the kind of girl whoâll do any job you give her. odd jobs are her favorite jobs. babysitting is her least favorite - but she does it anyway. has lost children before. have they ever been found? not by philly.
dyes her hair blonde often and cuts her own hair - bangs included - finds it cathartic, likes the itchiness of bleach.
everything she does is often in pursuit of feeling free, alive, and meaningful.
wanted connections !!
random encounters - sheâs new in town and doesnât know many people - if anybody at all, so :-)
alternately, people sheâs run into with elektra during their journey. whether theyâve stolen from them or stayed with them somewhere or just, ate dinner with them. anything.
someone whose couch sheâs crashed on after a night of whatever - a party, adventure, etc.
people she does jobs for !! people who commission her to make stuff for them. people who need a babysitter.
people who think sheâs weird - and those who like it. or those who hate it. people who donât understand her - people who do, in their own way.
someone trying to get closer to her but she keeps slipping out from between their fingers.
a parental / older sibling figure !! they take one look at philomena and instantly want to swaddle and protect her.
people who take an immediate liking to her. people who introduce her to the music scene. people who show her around town.
someone who catches her stealing or about to dine-n-dash.
late-night walking pals.
a dealer b/c weed ? a thing.
someone who gets into a debate with her about conspiracies or superstitions or anything !! someone who gets frustrated at her apathy.
somebody who just immediately distrusts her for whatever reason.
??? you donât have a smartphone ??? cue someone trying to teach her how they work - and philly hating it !!
thrifting pals.
m a y b e a hook-up, eventually, but itâs questionable.
something unrequited, likely on their end b/c philly is ... a hard egg to crack.
maybe something returned !! eventually. slowly. slow.
god ... someone she just tells her entire life story to. like this meme.Â
iâm rly down to brainstorm and think of anything !!! dnt forget 2 leave a like :)
#livingintro#gd this took too long but i enjoyed it#cancer tw#mental health tw#implied trauma#lmk if theres anything else i should tag !
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* natalia dyer, nonbinary + she/they | you know philomena carmichael, right? theyâre twenty, and theyâve lived in irving for, like, a day? well, their spotify wrapped says they listened to the leanover by life without buildings like, a million times this year, which makes sense âcause theyâve got that whole wind whipping around your hair, the gentleness of decomposition, a naked blur dancing around the flames of an everlasting fire thing going on. i just checked and their birthday is april 20th, so theyâre a taurus, which is unsurprising, all things considered. ( james, 22, est, they/them )
hi thank u all fr being so patient w me as i rapidly switch out muses n figure out wht the fuck im doing atm <3 also sry fr my rare presence work hs been kicking my ass like lets jst say i deserve 2 b smbdyâs housewife (misogny wins this time sry) so i nvr hv to work in my life <3 DFSLKSDHKGLFSHLKAGHLKAHLKSG this is a joke 2 clarify. anyways. this is philly sheâs old bt sheâs one of my very favorites ever. this intro is also old sry its nt in my usual. style. LKDFKHGLKGF
CANCER, TRAUMA, DEPERSONALIZATION / DEREALIZATION, DEATH, GRAPHIC MENTION OF DECAY, INSECTS MENTION TW.
mini playlist.
the girl who stole my tamagotchi ;; hot sugar / i dropped out ;; and the kids / pork soda ;; glass animals / wonderfully bizarre ;; bendigo fletcher / (dream) ;; salvia palth / alien blues ;; yundabar / dust in your pocket ;; glass animals / warm honey ;; willow / bela lugosiâs dead ;; bauhaus / gecgecgec ;; 100 gecs / blinding ;; florence and the machine / nantes ;; beirut / cherry-coloured funk ;; cocteau twins / not allowed ;; tv girl / oblivion ;; grimes / space song ;; beach house / dog food ;; 100 gecs / the leanover life ;; life without buildings.
statistics.
full name: philomena brontĂŤ carmichael
nickname(s): philly, phil, mena, etc.
birthday: april 20th, 2000.Â
zodiac: taurus sun, scorpio moon, aries ascending.
mbti & temperament: infp & improvisor / phlegmatic.Â
label: the halycon.
sexuality: demisexual.
pinterest.
biography.
a middle child belonging to christopher and imogen carmichael - two stanford professors. christopher specialized in british literature whilst imogen specialized in the classics. hence the name.
the order of siblings goes as such: lysander, elektra, juno, philomena, and twins orion & valora. the deal was that everybody had a greek (or in junoâs case, roman) first name and a middle name inspired by a piece of british literature circa 1800s and under. a family of nerds, if you will.
so, clearly - right off the bat, their parents are ⌠eccentric. theyâre both in love with their respected topic, and with each other, and with their kids. the carmichael family is a happy family.
they each have their own quirks and whatnot - though phillyâs always been particularly dreamy - even as a child, sheâd spend hours watching clouds or caterpillars or the leaves blow in the wind rather than play with other kids. she wasnât a shy kid - she just had her own interests.
hardship doesnât hit the family until philomena is five and starts having splitting headaches. theyâre slow at first - but as soon as sheâs seeing spots and unable to walk in a straight line, doctor appointments are made.
cancer tw // it doesnât take long for them to discover the tumor, though the official diagnosis of malignant ependymoma comes a month later.
itâs grade ii but slow-moving, small enough to not be as much of a threat as worried, but big enough where removal is necessary. philomena earns a scar and brings it in for show-and-tell. for two months afterwards, phillyâs at radiotherapy monday through friday.
theyâre lucky - philomenaâs considered cancer-free by the next year. sheâs babied at first - handled delicately, as if she could break if touched - but with five other children ⌠it doesnât last for too long. end of cancer tw //
and life continues as normal.
her personality doesnât shift much over the next few years - sheâs awfully independent for a kid, and awfully quiet - when she speaks itâs about faeries and bigfoot, about how the sky is so blue and if you listen quietly, you can hear the leaves whisper their secrets to each other. this is not odd.
sheâs close to all her siblings, but she idolizes her older sister - elektra. elektraâs six years older and dyes her hair whatever colors she wants. elektra bought a knife off a seedy guy downtown. elektra threw away all of her heels and renounced god. elektra is god. her music is loud but itâs not heavy - itâs florence and the machine.
theyâre opposites - elektraâs boisterous and feels loudly, philomenaâs softer and feelsâŚless. when elektra sneaks out, philomena keeps watch. they are a duo.
philomena is smart - but sheâs fifteen and hates school. hates sitting inside all day. hates the same routine - day after day - itâs all the same. her parentsâ routine is the same, philly feels contained and she wants to live.
elektraâs twenty-one and just bought a brand new spanking (used but not falling apart) 19-something volkswagen ⌠van - using her entire savings account. she says sheâs tired of routine, sheâs leaving the next day.
naturally, philomena stows away in the back and isnât discovered until theyâre two states away and sheâs got to pee. elektra nearly crashes the van in shock.
itâs an argument - philomena vs. elektra, then them vs. their parents, then their parents vs. the school, the state - itâs an ordeal. philomena switches to an online program in the end.
it hurts christopher and imogen - lysanderâs not having any of their nonsense, junoâs betrayed and alone - the twins are twins. in the end, itâs alright. the carmichael family is a happy family.
philomena and elektra take their time - itâs not a road trip, itâs their new life, permanently on the road. they stop and explore often - they do odd jobs in whatever town they settle in. they dine-n-dash, they shoplift. they survive in their own way.
during particularly desperate times, they two resorted to identity theft & credit fraud - getting away with it only by ditching the cards once theyâve made it out of state.
she drops out of high school officially when sheâs seventeen - they have to drive all the way back to california to deal with the wrath of their parents and to deal with paperwork, but itâs done. philomena doesnât know what path she wants in life - but itâs not that.
depersonalization / derealization tw // itâs during this time that the episodes occur - philomenaâs outside her body, philomenaâs wrapped in cotton, her memories are not her own. sheâs looking in the mirror and she doesnât recognize herself. they take shelter in a city for six months, long enough for her brand spankinâ new therapist to figure out whatâs wrong with her. sheâs diagnosed with depersonalization / derealization disorder - they think itâs stress. philomena doesnât get stressed. they think itâs trauma. she laughs - she never laughs. depersonalization / derealization end of tw //
death, decay. maggots tw // there is trauma though, deep-rooted but somewhere inside - you just have to look for it.
you. just. have. to. look. for. it. look for it. look for it. look for it look for it look -
you were ten and she was thirteen, an off-trail hike in familiar woods in a familiar town, safe and familiar. it was your idea, to stray from the carved out paths, down creeks and up hills and round, and round again. youâre the one who spotted the scarf first, sticking up from the dirt and dancing in the wind like the beginning of reincarnation. it was not reincarnation, it was discovery. it was ruin. with curiosity drawn, you skidded down - with compliance, followed juno, followed your sister - clumsy in her steps and tumbling down quicker than you. you saw the corpse, but juno felt it. decaying flesh and maggot. end of death, decay, maggots tw //
and she left juno, just like that - just five years later, when juno had finally gone to the end of her wits. philly up and left. abandoned her.
philomena and elektra leave the city after that therapy session. they do not return. sheâs always been good at hiding her secrets.
after ending up with warrants from their arrest in florida (after running from the law in texas), philly and elektra have wound up at irving <3 partially hiding from the law and partially bcos their trusty vanâs broken down and they havenât got the money to fix her up yet.Â
personality & facts.
sheâs quiet but sheâs confident - her voice sounds like rustling leaves, if leaves smoked a pack of cigarettes a day.
often underestimated - phillyâs petite and looks like sheâd fall over if a plastic bag blew too close to her. sheâs independent - for the most part. elektra is the only person philly takes orders from.
has always been considered odd - weird, strange. still talks about the trees as if theyâre listening, as if theyâre old friends. sheâs vague and doesnât elaborate on the things she says.
believes in pretty much any superstition you throw her way. luck is very important to her. if you ask her if the earth is flat, sheâll say probably. believes strongly in bigfoot and the lochness monster. has personally seen aliens, and loves ghosts almost more than herself.
she can be amusing - whether you âgetâ her or not, her outlook is often bright - she talks about the negatives the same way she talks about the positives. can be seen as naive or gullible, but sheâs plenty smart. even if half of her education has come directly from google.
philly doesnât laugh. a smile, yes - often, in fact - not always reaching her ears, or bearing teeth - but these are not indicators of her happiness. philly is consistently content. she thinks many things are funny - she still will not laugh.
her voice is often monotonous - she doesnât sound dreary, she sounds far-away. her voice carries. her emotions are often unknown to others.
is apathetic in most situations. sheâs hard to bother - sheâs incredibly patient and enjoys the company of most - tolerates them at the very least. itâs hard for her to express her emotions, because she feels them so little that itâs very nearly not worth it. her affection is not verbal - itâs small touches and gestures of kindness, love in her own way.
is a fan of knock-knock jokes and bad puns. she wonât crack a smile while telling you them, nor does she expect you to laugh. she just enjoys them.
she owns a motorola razr covered in puffy stickers - hasnât ever had a smartphone. sheâs a fan of emoticons. her favorite is :o)
has a lot of bruises and scratches and scars - sheâs often getting herself into pickles. there are always, at the very minimum, three bandaids on each hand.
she has insomnia, so sheâs awake often. is often seen wandering town - even when she shouldnât be, even when it might be dangerous. her intuition is delayed. when she does sleep - her dreams are vivid and fantastical.
keeps a box of memories - sentimental bits and pieces sheâs picked up over the last few years. there are a lot of buttons and postcards, but any teeny tiny object will do.
her style changes every week - most, if not all, of her clothes are thrifted. one week sheâs baby spice and the next sheâs lydia deetz. she combines pieces from different styles often - she looks like a barbie clothed by a child. she feels most comfortable like this.
will either patch-up the clothes that get too worn or reuse them in some way. sometimes donates the clothes she gets tired off - isnât minimalistic, but sheâs learned to keep only a small amount of possessions.
the only consistency is her lucky ribbon - itâs pastel yellow and silky and as thin as a shoelace. she ties it onto her outfit of the day, everyday. if she loses it, sheâs lost. elektra has a matching ribbon.
has no problem with minor theft - she only takes bare minimum, puts herself and elektra first and thatâs how itâs always been.
currently living in florence, their van, with her sister elektra <3 currently residing in lilac ridge.
they used to live in motels on the occasion, the cheapest room, and more often than not theyâd both go home with strangers for a comfier bed and a hotter shower.
it was a common occurrence - she didnât sleep with them - but somehow, she weaseled her way into their homes anyway. has come out mostly unscathed, on most occasions. this has been a practice ever since theyâve been on the road.
really, truly - has not slept with anybody, had her first kiss at thirteen with a frog. this doesnât bother her. (smirks at leo)
will consume anything you put in front of her - isnât picky.
listens to whatever theyâve picked up along the way but she likes instrumentals the best. her second favorite genre is 1990â˛s and 2000â˛s top hits. theyâre nostalgic for her. third favorites? florence, of course. fleetwood mac. the bird and the bee.
loves storms - will go out in the rain and will risk her life for it.
owns a pair of roller-skates and is often skating rather than walking. unless sheâs on grass - then sheâs walking barefoot.
has many hobbies, and gets bored of them often. her favorite hobby is welding. sheâs not certified.
also, juggling.
also, accordion.
the kind of girl whoâll do any job you give her. odd jobs are her favorite jobs. babysitting is her least favorite - but she does it anyway. has lost children before. have they ever been found? not by philly.
dyes her hair blonde often and cuts her own hair - bangs included - finds it cathartic, likes the itchiness of bleach.
everything she does is often in pursuit of feeling free, alive, and meaningful.
( like her frequent visits to the woods, late at night when the moon is high and full. itâs freeing to dance around a fire, stark naked in the cold. builds immunity )
comes and goes wherever she pleases, nothing & nobody can stop her (besides elektra).
has a certain knack for getting animals to like her. has too many âpetâ rats that reside with her, alongside a baby raccoon & a few crow pals. has a new animal companion everyday, but she doesnât contain them or force them to stay.
wanted plots.
speaking through my third eye ... ;; philly is new in town n shes very strange. constantly lives in a state in which she does not exist (at least on the same plane). this is her harassing the locals. this is her slipping thru their fingertips as they attempt 2 understand her. they get close smtms bt philly jst. whisks herself away.
hollows of our eyelids ... ;; perhaps there is smbdy jst as strange as philly. iâm out here calling fr all the weirdos. lets be friends. lets hv philly n co go on adventures n discover horrible sites n uncover ancient secrets tht lie deep below irving. mayb nt tht. bt im jst saying. this is fr the dreamers. da weirdos. the jugheads. LHKDSHFSADLKGFHLSKADG fr those who also feel as if they r not real.
bills n aches n blues... ;; ya this is my call fr all negative plots. bills (catching philly be a thief and a fraud), aches (mayb heartache? unrecruited feelings or w/e theyre called?), n blues (ooooh so sad... so sad ... angst ...) obviously i am a genius. i wldnt say tht philly is here 2 make enemies bc philly doesnt care much abt ppl bt perhaps tht cld b an issue. tht she doesnt care much abt others. mayb ur muse is jst like. cn u pls care. n philly is like. i am incapable. sry. sucks.
n also ,, ;; like. anything iâll. take anything. philly is weird lets come up w surreal plots tht verge on the edge of like. nt being correct fr this verse. suddenly theres vampires? or so they think ... smirks. anyways. shes been 2 jail n been in the circus (shoutout 2 kirby) n dances naked in the woods n hoards animals n treasures. we hv a lot to work with here obv.Â
#irvingintro#death tw#decay tw#maggots tw#dissociation tw#depersonalization tw#derealization tw#cancer tw#trauma tw#zooweemama#anyways. kira's will b up soon
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Xion Appreciation Week - Day 6
Iâm writing a fic a day for #XionAppreciationWeek, in honor of my favorite and the best Kingdom Hearts character! :â)
Iâll be posting them both here and on AO3. You can find the AO3 fic here, titled âAffectionâ.
The rest, Iâll put links up as I post new chapters!
Day 1: Remembrance Day 2: Return Day 3: Separation/Reunion Day 4: Light/Darkness Day 5: Ice Cream/Seashell >Day 6: New Beginnings Day 7: No. XIV (Free Day)
âYouâre sure about this?â Roxas frowned, making sure the rubber gloves were snug over his hands.
âYes, Iâm sure,â Xion nodded.
âNo, but like, REALLY sure?â
âRoxas,â she laughed. âIâm REALLY sure.â He paused, then sighed deeply, starting to apply coconut oil to her hair.
âAlright⌠Just, if you do this, thatâs⌠a LOT of bleaching. Itâs kinda hard to come back from that, as far as the health of your hair goes-â
âSound like an expert on this,â Axel grinned as he mixed the bleach, setting out the toner and shaking the dye. âI thought I was supposed to be the one taking point on this.â
âI-I mean, I⌠you know, I read the bottles-â
âThe bottle talks about hair health?â Xion smiled, eyes closed as his fingers ran through her hair.
âH-hey! Donât you both gang up on me!â
âYour hair always WAS a bit too blond,â Axel laughed and Xion chuckled to herself.
âCâmon, guys!â
âAlright, Axel, stop teasing him,â Xion smiled and he sighed.
âOh alright. But only if you consider my argument.â
âOh come on,â Roxas grumbled and Xion snorted.
âAxel, Iâm not gonna go as red as yours.â
âBut it looks so GOOD! Doesnât it?â
âOn you maybe,â Roxas laughed. âIf Xion tried to pull that offâŚâ She opened her mouth to retort, but sighed, nodding. âSo, just blond, then?â
âUm, actually⌠I went out and bought the color I wanted while you two were on your way over.â
âWait, you did?â Axel gaped. âWell then what the hell did I bring my dye over for?â
âI didnât ask you to,â she replied, sticking her tongue out at him. âBut, yeah, itâs under the sink, in a plastic bag.â She heard Axel rustle down below.
âOh! Hey, that may actually look pretty good on you!â She grinned, and felt Roxasâs fingers pause as he looked over as well.
âOh wow, thatâs a REALLY pretty shade of purple.â
âSee?â she smiled. âI know what Iâm doing.â
âWell I am terribly sorry for mistrusting you, then,â Axel chuckled. She opened one eye to see him holding the purple next to her head, squinting. âYeah. Yeah, thatâs gonna be perfect!â She laughed and Roxas finally finished, taking a step back and looking her over.
âItâs gonna take a while for the bleach to set in,â he warned. âYou gonna be okay?â
âI think so,â she smiled. âIâm excited!â
âShould be!â Axel smiled, ruffling her hair and she huffed.
âAlright, weâll do the bleach and then itâll be like⌠half an hour before we can rinse that and do the dye. Thankfully you donât have a whole lot of hair to dye so it wonât take too long.â She frowned at that as he started to apply the bleach. She DIDNâT have a lot of hair. Kairi could pull of the short haired look, sure. Aqua and NaminĂŠ had hair that was a bit longer, down past their necks. She wondered if sheâd look good like that. Sheâd have to re-dye it, obviously, if she wanted to keep it purple, but sheâd maybe like longer hair. It was bizarre to realize she had so much agency over her appearance. For a year it was just black cloaks, her hair not growing due to the bad replica body.
âAnd done,â Roxas smiled, pulling her hair up and settling it under a shower cap. âAnd now we wait!â
âA whole half hour, huh?â she chuckled. âWhat do we do until then?â
âLetâs talk about boys,â Axel joked and she laughed.
âWhat, like SaĂŻx?â she teased and he went as red as his hair.
âH-hey! Low blow!â She and Roxas laughed as he sighed.
âDo you guys ever⌠want to change your name?â Xion asked after a moment.
âWhat do you mean?â Roxas asked.
âUm, like⌠well your name is just Sora, with an X. Mine is No. i, with an X. It just⌠kind of reminds me that I was⌠you know, not human, at one point? I dunno.â
âDo you want to change your name?â Axel asked.
âI dunno! I meanâŚâ She frowned. âI donât HATE Xion. Itâs kind of pretty. Itâs like the flower, shion, and itâs this really gorgeous purple flower-â
âOh, THATâS why you picked purple,â Axel laughed and she blushed.
âIt⌠itâs part of it, yeah,â she admitted. âBut, um⌠in flower language it means âI wonât forget youâ.â The other two were silent for a moment. âBut itâs a pretty flower, and I really like it. It also has another name? Itâs the âtatarian asterâ, or just aster, usually. I kind of⌠thought that was pretty.â
âAster?â Roxas asked and she nodded.
âIt does kind of have a ring to it,â Axel nodded slowly. âWeird to have two A names between us, though.â
âYeah, Aster and Asshole,â Roxas snorted and Axel kicked him, the boy yelping in surprise.
âBut youâre Lea,â she smiled. âYou have a Somebody name. Your Nobody name was just your own, with the X. Roxas and I didnât have names before this.â
âI guess thatâs fair,â he frowned, rubbing his chin. âWhat about you, Rox? What would your Somebody name be?â
âUhhâŚâ He frowned, crossing his arms and tapping his foot. âI dunno. I donât really have anything. Roxas just always sort of⌠suited me, I guess.â
âOh,â she frowned.
âBut that doesnât mean YOU canât change your name,â Axel pointed out. âJust cuz Roxas over here is a wet blanket.â
âIâm not-!â She chuckled and smiled.
âI guess thatâs fair. I donât really⌠know yet. So you can keep calling me Xion until I figure it out. I just sort of⌠I want something new, you know? Something thatâs⌠just me. No names from someone else, no purposes built by someone else. Just me.â
âHence the hair,â Axel smiled and she nodded. âI get that. Youâre entitled to your own sense of individuality, you know?â
âYou donât know what all those words mean,â Roxas laughed and Axel rolled his eyes.
âThank you both, for helping me with this,â she smiled. âIt means a lot.â
ââCourse, Xion,â Axel smiled and she sighed, resting back against the mirror, closing her eyes. Her hair, her friends, her name. Something that was just hers.
#xionappreciationweek#xion appreciation week#xion#axel#lea#roxas#kingdom hearts#kh#echo writes#fanfiction
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the definitions of home
s9: post the truth. on the run/unremarkable house origin fic. part of my series that i write as i rewatch the x files.
Summary:Â Mulder and Scully, on the road.
note:Â warning for depiction of the Scully gives William up storyline and frank discussion of it.
---
i.
june, 2002
Fox Mulder disappears from prison on a overly warm night in June. There is no explanation for how he could've gotten out; the guards at the prison insist they know nothing. Some say his spooky reputation precedes him, that the only way he could've gotten out was by evaporation or something. Others are only furious.
Miles away, his former partner, Dana Scully, disappears without a trace from her apartment. She takes her car but leaves behind everything else, outside of a suitcase, some clothes, and a few photos and other keepsakes. Police suspect that her disappearance has something to do with Mulder's escape, although their theories range from willing accomplice to unwilling companion. Her current coworkers refuse to disclose anything. It all remains a mystery.
---
Mulder and Scully drive, under the cover of the night, the moon and the stars. Scully grips his hand over the center console, their fingers knotted together. They stop, briefly, on the side of a dark road so that Mulder can change out of the incredibly incriminating prison jumpsuit, and Scully seizes his face between her hands in a desperate motion and kisses him hard. He gathers her up, crushing her against him. âI missed you,â he whispers into her ear, and she almost falls apart right there, clutching him hard and kissing the side of his neck.
Minutes later, they drive away together, the road inky black before them. Scully doesn't let go of his hand.
They're all the way into Kentucky before Mulder says it, in a breathless voice like he's been punched in the stomach: âWhy did you come with me?â
Scully's mouth falls open in shock; she whispers, âMulderâŚâ with horror in her voice.
âI mean, Scully, it'sâŚâ He sounds breathless, like he's about to cry. âIt's a lot to sacrifice, just for⌠I mean, you could live your life, try to be⌠happy⌠You don't have to leave your home. Your family.â
âMulder,â she says insistently, furiously. She tugs at his hand hard. âDon't you know?â
Her voice is so fierce, so insistent, that there is suddenly no question in Mulder's mind. He pulls Scully's hand to his side of the car and kisses the back of it. Tears drip down Scully's face; she tugs their joined hands back over to her side of her car and presses her mouth against the inside of Mulderâs wrist, closes her eyes as his heartbeat pulses against her. He is home for her. He is her family.
ii.
june, 2002
They spend two days in the Roswell hotel, even though it's insanely dangerous. Scully keeps telling herself that it is dangerous, again and again, but she won't let go of Mulder. After a few hours, lying tangled up in his arms with no desire to move, she's starting to wonder if she can't let go of Mulder. (He seems no more eager than she is to walk away; he keeps his arms tight around her, his nose tucked into her hair.) âThis is almost a physical impossibility,â she rasps into his neck at one point. âNot having moved for this long.â
âWe deal in impossibilities,â he says into her hair. She can't tell if he's happy or sad. She tips her chin back and kisses him fiercely, desperately, because they were going to kill him, she was going to lose him again, and she can't believe it, she can't believe he's here. She kisses him and kisses him, and he kisses her back, and she's crying before she knows it, tears dripping off of her face. Mulder bundles her into his arms, kissing the top of her head, the side of her face repeatedly. âIt's okay, it's okay,â he whispers, and she tries to let herself believe that.
âI love you,â she says, because it's easy now, it used to be so fucking hard but now it is so easy. She wants him to know. âI love you so much, Mulder.â
Surprise flickers over his face, briefly, before a similar sentiment comes in to replace it. He leans down and kisses her mouth, soft and salty and dizzying enough to make Scully weak at the knees, even though she's lying down. âI love you,â he whispers, rubbing his nose along her cheek. âLove you, Scully.â
She sags forward in the circle of his arms, her cheek pressed to his chest. His heart thudding in her ear. He's here, he's alive, they were going to kill him but he got away. He strokes her hair gently, his large palm cupping the back of her head.
âI think we're gonna need to go in the morning,â she says into his bare chest, pressing her lips to his skin. âWe can't just stay here, we're sitting ducks.â
âOkay,â Mulder whispers.
She sniffles, just a little. âI don't want to go,â she murmurs, almost inaudibly, too vulnerably. She wants to stay here forever, in his arms, in this shelter of the hotel room that feels much safer than it does. She wants to go back to that night over a year ago, Mulder holding their son in his arms, sweet and sleepy, the future brighter than ever. If they don't move, they don't have to confront all that they've done. Nothing is real here.
Mulder kisses the top of her head. His nose is cold. âI know.â
---
They buy a car with cash the next morning, a combination of cash and exchanging their old car. Covering their tracks. Mulder wears a baseball cap low over his face, ragged t-shirts and unshaved face. Red dirt cakes under his nails as he exchanges the money. Scully stands beside him, sunglasses pulled down over her face, her newly dark hair pulled back into a ponytail. He watched her dye it this morning, bent over the stained hotel sink. She looks unfamiliar, strange, alluring. She'd been insecure that morning, staring at him sideways through the newly dark locks, and he'd wrapped his arms around her, mumbled that she was beautiful and meant it. It still feels so incredible that she's here, alongside him. Looking at her feels like looking into the sun.
She takes the keys from his hands outside of the car and climbs into the driver's seat. Mulder understands: no more arguments about who is going to drive. The air conditioner makes a rattly sound when she turns the key in the ignition, before beginning to blow at a weak level. Mulder turns it all the way up.
Scully taps her fingers on the wheel decisively before looking over at him. âWhere to?â she asks, her voice soft.
He shrugs a little. âNorth?â he offers, because he's spent a year in the fucking heat and he'd really like to be anywhere else at this point. The new distance between them (that came in with the daylight, when they finally had to untangle themselves and move) feels surprising, but it shouldn't, after all they've been through.
Scully works her jaw back and forth, nods. Turns the key in the ignition and pulls away. They head north.
---
Mulder lets down his window and rests his arm on the side of the car, the metal stinging like bug bites. The air rushes through the car with a certain hardness, unravels Scully's hair from her ponytail. She makes no move to brush it away. They take turns driving. Mulder wants to talk, fill the car up with noise because if he thinks about anything for too long, then he will fall apart, but every single potential topic he can think of will make it worse. He doesn't know how to talk to Scully anymore. A year and a half of near-constant separation has made them near strangers. He loves her tremendously and feels as if he doesn't know her all at once.
They stop at another hotel, against Scully's better judgement, sometime after midnight. He's exhausted, but he still stops to take a shower, wash the desert off of him. He's surprisedâgenuinely so, but not unhappilyâwhen Scully climbs in behind him, the water running down her shoulders and darkening her brown hair. Her eyes are sad. When he wraps his arms around her, she holds on with a strength that surprises him, digging her nails into his back. They hold each other under the weak spray.
---
In the morning, they set off again.
iii.
august, 2002
The days slide by in a routine fashion, one after another. They hopscotch from state to state, sporadically taking wrong turns and heading off in a different direction. Scully sends postcards to the people they've left behind: her mother, Bill, Skinner, even Reyes and Doggett. She keeps it simple, varying states between people, brief messages and signing them with only her initials, but Mulder still doesn't like it. âIt's too dangerous,â he always says. âToo much activity and they'll be able to find us.â
âIt's worth it,â Scully always bites out, eyes flaming as she stares at him. âMulder, you wouldn't be here if it wasn't for them. They at least deserve our thanks.â
He should probably stop picking a fightâhe hates fighting with Scully, at least about serious things that don't involve cryptids or monstersâbut this is one fight he doesn't mind picking. He'd rather fight about postcards that probably won't get them caught than the things that matter. All the things they're not saying.
They look like different people; he's still startled every time he looks in the mirror. He's let his beard grow wild in an attempt at covertness, hair hanging raggedly in his eyes. Scully's hair is still brown, and she touches up on it every month; it's long, too, longer than he's ever seen it on her. She pulls it back into ponytails or braids most of the time, but occasionally she lets it tangle around her face, hiding her eyes like a curtain. They look shaggy and dirty, dressed in clothes bought from K-Mart or Goodwill or yard sales. Nothing like the Agents Mulder-and-Scully they used to be. Nothing like the parents they very briefly were, either, and Mulder is glad of this. He hates reminders of the hole between them.
(Sometimes, he'll let him think of those golden three days, the three of them sleepy and happy in Scully's apartment. Much less than he used to let himself think about it in New Mexico. In New Mexico, it was a good memory, a reminder: he had a family waiting for him. People who loved and misses him.)
(Less often, he'll think of his son, unfamiliar to him now. In the arms of strangers. Living in a different house, learning to walk and talk, forgetting who his father is. Was.)
Scully is cold and distant sometimes, clingy and grateful others. They are always closer in the night than in the day, sleep closer than they get when they're awake. He thinks that she feels more regret than anything; guilt, fear, longing. He has plenty of that himself. He understands.
They'll let themselves be happy once in a while. If they spend a longer amount of time in one place than usual, they'll partake in what the town has to offer, go to bars or museums or libraries, of all places. (The first time she suggests it, he calls her a geek in a teasing voice and she swats him lightly and he wants to cry, it feels so normal.) Other times, it's various things in their hotel room: card games or board games they borrow from the lobby or catching old movies on TV. Other times, it's just reminiscing, exchanging stories from the early years of their partnership that don't bring back horrible memories or far-off memories of childhood. (They delicately avoid anything after November, 2000, of course.) One night, they fall asleep on the side of the road, tangled up in the backseat.
The summer is over before Mulder knows it, before he can even comprehend it. Days feel like nothing in this new stage of his life. Everything is too brief. Like the time he spent with his son: too small to get a grasp on. It all slips away.
iv.
fall, 2002
Sometimes Scully will replay it in her mind, almost like a punishment. Self-flagellation. She deserves to suffer for what she's done, she'll tell herself in the worst moments.
It goes through her mind again and again, like a record stuck on repeat. The last night she spent with her son, keeping him up despite her better judgement. She'd tried to distance herself from her for a week, methodically feeding and changing him without any added affection, only because she didn't want to change her mind. But she'd stopped on the last night, when it was too late to change her mind. Held her baby in her arms on the couch, rocked him back and forth in the stunning silence of the apartment, counted the minutes like precious gold.
She almost had changed her mind. Almost told the cheery, sympathetic social worker no, please, please don't take him. But the words stuck in the back of her throat as she told herself again and again: It's for the best, it's for the best.
William had gotten to the point where he wasn't a big fan of new people. William had clung to her shirt as she tried to hand him over, the way he sometimes did around new relatives. She had pried his fists off. She had handed him over to strangers when he wanted to stay with her. (She doesn't think about his new life now, if she can help it, but when she does, she always wonders if he misses her, is afraid of whoever is taking care of him now, or if he's happier now. Never scared, never in danger, not living with parents who do nothing but leave.)
Every time she sees it, the image of the social worker carrying her baby away, William's huge brown eyesâeyes just like Mulder'sâwatching her, she wants to throw up. She did throw up then, emptied her stomach bent over the toilet before breaking out into sobs.
She'd do anything for Mulderâcommit a federal crime, throw away her career, leave behind her family and her lifeâand she'd do it all over again if it meant he was safe. And she'd told herself during the process of giving William up that she'd do anything for him, too, including giving him up. But now she just finds it ironic, that to keep Mulder safe she left everything to be with him, but to keep William safe, she just left him. Cruel irony that burns in her throat like bile.
She hates herself for this: for all of it, all the ways she's failed. She starts crying sometimes, so hard she can barely breathe, out of nowhere. Mulder always, always holds her, whispers comforting things into her hair, but it feels like he is doing it with a sense of detachment when she cries about William. She's hurt him incredibly by giving away his son; he never, ever blames her out loud for it, but she knows how hurt he is. Even knows that he blames her a little. And she deserves it, all of it.
She doesn't have much of William left anymoreâshe doesn't have much of anything personal left anymore, but she sent most of William's things with him. She kept some pictures and the doll that Mulder had given her, packed up in a box somewhere. (She prays that it's not stuck in evidence somewhere, where she can never get it back.) But there's one thing she does have that makes her feel a combination of strong guilt and sadness: William's bunny, the one whose ears he chewed and slobbered all over, the one he always had with him. She'd meant to send it with him, but after the social worker left, she'd found it lying in the crib she hadn't taken apart yet. She'd almost called the social worker back to tell her that William left his favorite toy (to tell them to give her son back because she'd changed her mind and she'd never let him go now), but something in her had collapsed. She'd kept it in the crib (in the empty nursery she never, never went into after that) until the night she packed to leave, when she'd slipped it into her suitcase. It smells like William did, like old baby food and baby powder and No More Tears shampoo. Scully never takes it out, but it's enough to know it's there. That she has something left of her baby.
One of the only big fights she and Mulder have had is over William. She's daydreamed going to get him a million times (knocking on the door and someone answering with her baby in their arms and he is so, so happy to see her), but when Mulder suggested it, she screamed at him. She said it wasn't an option. She said she couldn't do that to another person. She said it was over and ignored the way his face crumpled in devastation at losing someone else.
She doesn't want to believe that, that it's over, but it is. It has to be. She doesn't know that she could handle anything else.
v.
december, 2002-january, 2003
They spend half of the winter in Minnesota, snowed into a bed-and-breakfast. The kind elderly lady at the front desk doesn't ask too many questions when Mulder slips her a fifty and always, always pays his rooming fees on time.
It's cold in their little room. They wrap themselves in quilts with all the lights turned off, and press together in the dark hollow the blankets leave. They've been on the road for six months now.
Mulder shaves three days before Christmas as Scully cuts her hair to just below her shoulders right next to him. They look more familiar in the mirror, and Mulder finds himself feeling relieved. They eat the provided meals with the other guests, largely keeping to themselves. They play board games in the homey living room area, and Mulder inadvertently makes friends with the cat that lives in the lobby. A few other longtime guests wave at them every day. There is always fresh coffee. It's the most at home Mulder has felt since he left Scully and William.
They move on as soon as the snow melts.
vi.
june, 2003
They keep moving for most of the next year. Rent apartments or upstairs rooms from unsuspecting landlords for a month or two. Scully accumulates a small collection of personal belongings: various items of clothing, coolers to keep food in, toiletries, books. There's a picture someone snapped of them in a bar and immediately handed over to them, shrugging it off as testing their new Polaroid, stuck to the dashboard with a tiny strip of Scotch tape. They both look tired in the picture, their dark heads bent together, Mulder with his arm around Scully's shoulders offering up a polite smile and Scullyâs mouth stiff in surprise, her hand pressed to his chest. They hadn't known the guy with the cameras was there until he said, âHey, look over here.â
(Very briefly, there was a picture of William on that dashboard. A picture of him crawling across the floor, looking up into the camera. Mulder had found it accidentally, buried under Scully's jacket in her suitcase, and had stuck in up next to the picture of them. Scully had gasped a little in horror when she saw it, shot him a look of horrible hurt and left the car with the excuse of needing the restroom. When she returned to the car, Mulder had retrieved it and slid it into his pocket. He hasn't pulled it out since.)
They're in Washington when they've been on the road for a year, just outside of Seattle. They're renting a room above a little shop, a musty couch shoved up next to a kitchen counter and a little stove, a rickety table in the kitchen, a bed that borders on twin size (the owner advertised it as a double) under a window and a bathroom with a clawfoot bathtub off to the side. Scully points it out offhandedly as she pours Mulder a cup of burned coffeeâshe phrases it as, âHappy anniversary,â very casually, and just before Mulder can point out that they began their relationship in January, not June, he realizes what she means and barks out a surprised laugh.
(They've been avoiding the other, less pleasant anniversaries, like the day Mulder died, the day Mulder left, the day Scully let a stranger carry their son away. William's birthday. So it seems more than worth it to celebrate the small moments, like the moment of their reunion.)
Mulder rents some videos for the tiny TV and VHS that comes with the room, and Scully curls in his lap as the credits for Psycho run across the screen. He's also bought a cake, despite Scully's protests, and he eats a piece as Janet Leigh makes the decision that will change her life forever. âDid you pick a horror movie about a woman on the run on purpose?â Scully asks.
âYes.â Mulder sticks a forkful of cake in his mouth. âI wanted to reassure us both by pointing out that it could've been a lot worse, and remind ourselves that we haven't come across any Norman Bateses.â
âWell, thank heavens for small favors,â she says. She grabs the fork out of his hand and takes a bite of the cake. Mulder wrinkles his nose at her and she grins innocently, nestles her head against his shoulder.
The truth is that it's gotten easier over the past year. Living on the road. Living without anyone else. (Without their son.) It feels almost natural at this point, just her and Mulder against the world. She can't say that she likes it, though, the constant moving. Never knowing where they are going to sleep at night or be in a week. The constant fear. It's become almost second nature, and she hates it, every part of it except the fact that she is closer to Mulder.
She turns it over and over in her head before settling on a solution. Later that night, wayward limbs tangled together and Mulderâs cheek resting sleepily against her ribcage, Scully brushes her fingers through his hair and says, âHey,â softly. He grunts a soft response.
âI think we should meet with Skinner,â she says. âSee if it's gotten any safer, if it might be possible for us to⌠come back.â It's always been her and Mulder against the world, so that feeling could easily transfer to some sort of permanent home.
He lifts his head to look at her, his eyes dark in the light from the window, snakes his arms around her bare hips. âYou think they've forgotten about it?â
âI don't know if I'd say forgotten. I was just wondering if⌠settling down was a possibility. Something like that.â
Mulder nuzzles his face into her neck. âIf that's what you think is best,â he mumbles.
She rests her chin on top of his head, sighing a little. âDon't do that, Mulder. We're in this together, you know that.â
âThen let's arrange it. Sounds good to me.â His hand rubs absently up and down her spine.
Scully sighs, shifts her chin a little to look out the window. There are people on the street below, going places, doing things, living their lives. And here they are, and she is not quite sure what they are doing. She'd do anything for him, but she's not sure how much longer she can live like this, even if it has gotten easier.
âDo you ever regret it?â Mulder speaks directly into the skin of her neck, as if embarrassed.
âRegret what?â Scully replies, with astonishment, and maybe a little hurt in her voice. If he's referring to what happened with William, her giving him up, then she can't believe he has to ask. She regrets it every goddamn day.
âThis,â he says. âComing with me. Leaving everything behind.â She doesn't answer for a few beats, so he clarifies nervously, âI know I asked you this back when we first left, and you said no⌠but I just⌠wanted to make sure that hadn't changedâŚâ
âMulder, no,â she says firmly. âNo. Never.â
He raises his head, his eyes dark, and she kisses him hard, their noses bumping together. âNever,â she says against his mouth, and he nods, bumps his forehead up against hers. âLet's meet with Skinner,â he whispers.
---
The next day, someone recognizes them. Some small-town sheriff who they worked with years ago, who recognizes Mulder underneath his beard. He doesn't mention anything about being a federal fugitive or arresting himâhe seems to just want to chatâbut it spooks them enough to work. They leave that night, shoving their last monthâs rent under the door and driving off into the east like bandits.
vii.
july, 2003
They meet in a bar in Alabama. Skinner is dressed casually, which is always startling to Scully, and he stands from the booth to shake their hands. He offers to pay for the drinks.
He doesn't have a lot of news from the FBIâScully can't tell if there really isn't anything happening or if he's holding back. But one thing becomes clear during the procession of their conversation: they can't come back, at least not yet. âThey're not actively looking for you, but they're definitely on alert,â Skinner says. âThe military, the FBI⌠if you come back, there's no telling what the extent would be.â
This is code for: They'll use this as an excuse to kill you both. Scully bites her lip, swirls her drink in her glass. She wonders if they should tell Skinner about the end of the world. She wonders if there's even anything they could do.
âSomeone recognized us,â Mulder says. âIn the last place we stayed in. I don't think he⌠knew about my sentence or anything like that⌠but we left immediately.â
âProbably a good idea,â says Skinner. âI wouldn't risk it.â
âWe need somewhere to go,â Scully says suddenly, the thought occurring to her just then. âIf we get into a bad situation, or are separated somehow, we need somewhere to go to⌠get our bearings.â
There's a long silence between the three of them. Scully stares at the amber-colored liquid; she's not going apologize for wanting a security plan of sorts. âI'd suggest the house my mom left me,â Mulder offers gingerly, âbut I figure it's too dangerous. The neighbors would recognize me, especially considering everything that happened with Amy Cassandra a few years ago.â He sounds embarrassed, and Scully wants to flinch at the memory.
âI have a house,â Skinner says suddenly. When they look at him in surprise, he shrugs. âIt was my great-uncleâs. When he passed, he left it to me, but I haven't gotten around to doing anything in it. It's a farmhouse out in Farrs Corner. Isolated. There's a gate to contend with and a very long driveway, and it's completely empty. It'd be a good place to hide out for a little while.â
Mulder blinks at him incredulously. âSir, we couldn't possiblyâŚâ Scully starts.
Skinner waves off her protests. âIt's just Skinner now, Scully, and you're right. If nothing else, we could use another rendezvous point.â He tears off a piece of a napkin and writes an address down on it. âNext time you want to meet, call me and we'll meet there.â
They sit in stunned quiet for a few minutes before Scully says, âThank you.â Mulder takes the scrap of paper and sticks it in his wallet. Skinner nods in response.
Later, in their hotel room, Scully will memorize the address before copying it down and sticking it in her wallet. When Mulder gives her a questioning look, she says, âPart of the purpose of this safe house, Mulder, is in case we get separated for some reason. So we both need copies of the address.â
âThat's not going to happen,â he says softly, his hand suddenly warm on the small of her back.
Scully gulps a little, shutting her wallet. She hopes that it won't, but she knows how the world works. âI hope it won't,â she says out loud, and feels Mulder's warm, callused palm stroke the length of her spine.
viii.
fall, 2003
They visit the Grand Canyon in the fall because Mulder has never seen it before. âYou've traveled all over the country, but you've never seen the Grand Canyon?â Scully teases.
âI've never heard of a Grand Canyon-related cryptid before. Have you?â Mulder retorts. Scully smirks briefly, snakes her arm around his waist and leans her head against his shoulder. They stare out over the gorge together.
They make it something of a habit, spend September and October zigzagging across the West, visiting national landmarks they've never seen. They spend a week in San Diego in November, Scully showing Mulder her old childhood haunts, places she used to love to go. Mulder half-thinks she's wanting to run into Bill, but they never do.
On their last day in San Diego, Scully drives them to a cemetery that Mulder recognizes with a stunned breath. Three days into January, they'd laid Scully's daughter to rest there. Scully exits the car and goes in alone. Mulder lets her, leans forward in his seat and buries his face in his hands. He doesn't want to think of the little girl he knew years and years ago, sweet-faced and adorable, coloring with crayons on the floor. Who should be almost eight now. He doesn't want to think of his son, of the sister and parents and family he will never know. He doesn't want to think about everyone that he's lost along the way.
When Scully gets back to the car, her jaw is clenched, cheeks red and streaked with tears, and Mulder suddenly remembers the date of birth he read years ago, in Emily Simâs file. It's today. He suddenly understands; William's birthday was just as bad, worse, for both of them.
He doesn't try to engage her in conversation. He drops her off at the hotel and drives to the grocery store to pick up their dinner, tries to give her the time alone she needs. Tries not to think of his son when he passes the aisle of baby food and diapers. Tries not to linger on memories of Emily. Tries his best not to think, because if he thinks too hard, he just feels sick to his stomach.
When he gets back to the hotel, Scully is asleep, curled up on top of the bed with something stuck under her arm, something baby-blue and soft-looking. At closer look, Mulder realizes it's a stuffed rabbit, worn, its ears looking like they'd been chewed on.
Nausea overtakes Mulder, and he has to grit his teeth together to keep from bursting into tears or crying out. He never even knew she had that.
Instead, he draws the covers up and over Scully with a gentleness that almost surprises him. Wipes his eyes and turns away. Doesn't retch until he reaches the bathroom, bending over the sink.
ix.
december, 2003
They've barely fought about William.
The only time they've ever clashed about William is when Mulder suggested that they go find him and take him back. Otherwise, they delicately avoided it. When Mulder thinks about it, he's almost surprised. A year and a half they've been on the run, and they've never fought about the subject that makes Scully cry or fold up into herself, that makes resentment and grief and guilt rise in his throat, every time it comes up. It almost surprises him when he realizes it.
(He tries to tell himself that he doesn't really blame Scully, that he can't imagine what she went through or how desperate she was, how scared, that he can't judge her for just trying to keep William safe. But it's so hard, considering how many people he's lost, thinking about that little baby curled in his arms. The cold shock of realizing that he'll never see him again.)
(The truth is, he tells himself, he's as much to blame for all of it, and he'll never forgive himself for walking away. But he wasn't there, he doesn't know, and it's impossible to imagine Scullyâwho held their son on the bed and spoke to him in a honey-sweet voice, who mumbled, âPlease don't take my baby,â in a fierce, motherly tone to everyone they saw from the shack in Georgia to the hospital room, refusing to let anyone but Mulder take him until he convinced her to let the nurse look at himâactually letting a stranger take her baby.)
Still, they haven't fought about it, at least not openly. It's the forbidden topic, the one subject they avoid like the plague. As if they know that if they bring it up, it will only end badly. He doesn't want to hurt her, ever. But a year and a half of avoiding the subject adds up. The tension layers on, thickly, and they don't even notice. And it all eventually comes to a head.
They're staying in a hotel in St. Louis, a shitty one because they can't afford anything better at the moment, and Scully is working a shift at the restaurant she was just hired at. She's hoping to get a steady job and a reputation under the fake names they've been using here so that they can rent an apartment, at least for the winter. It's the Christmas season, and Mulder can tell she's sad. Missing her family or remembering her dad or Emily or maybe remembering the delightful Christmas they spent shooting at each other in a haunted house. Or remembering William. Mulder can't say that he's not affected by it in a similar way; holidays have always been painful since he lost Samantha. But a couple of Christmases ago, alone in the New Mexico desert, he'd daydreamed about better Christmases in the future, Christmases he'd spend with Scully and his son. So, yes. It's hard not to think of his son in moments like this, when he's flipping channels on the TV and comes across a cheesy Christmas movie.
He wilts, then crumbles, turning off the TV. He participates in his new private rituals, the rare times they have privacy, and takes out the picture of William, the one he stole from Scully.
He loses track of time, looking at the tiny photo of the son he'll never know. He rubs a thumb over the glossy front of the photo, wipes away a tear with his other hand. And then the hotel door opens.
Scully enters, her dark hair pinned back, unknotting her apron as she goes. âI forgot how much I hated working in the restaurant business as a teenager,â she grumbles, crossing the room in several broad steps. He closes his hand over the photo in an attempt to hide it. âI did well in tips, though, nearly $200âŚâ Scully's voice falters, breaks off as she sees Mulderâs closed fist, his guilty face. âWhat is that?â she whispers.
Mulder's mouth falls open as he tries to think of something to say. âIâŚâ
âMulder, whatâŚâ She grabs his hand and the photo falls out on the bed. Scully staggers away when she sees it, as if the sight of it physically hinders her. Her hand over her mouth, her face pale. Mulder closes his eyes, the physical weight of this exchange descending on him.
âWhy do you have that?â Scully whispers in horror.
He closes his hand over the picture again, tucking it into his pocket. âDon't you remember, Scully⌠a year ago, I⌠put this picture up, and y-you didn't want it up, so IâŚâ
Scully sinks into the chair next to the desk, rubs at her eyes with the heel of her hand. âI can't⌠I don't need reminders, Mulder,â she says, her teeth clenched.
âYou weren't supposed to see, Scully,â he says, suddenly upset, suddenly hurt. âHe's my son, and I have a right to look at his picture if I want to⌠And besides that, it's not like I'm the only one hiding things of William's.â
Her eyes flash with anger. âI don't know what the hell you're talking about,â she bites out.
âThe rabbit in your suitcase,â he snaps. âI don't know why you'd hide that, Scully, if it's something that belonged to our son, don't you think I deserveâŚâ
âI wasn't hiding it!â she snaps right back, flying to her feet so fast that it startles him. âI didn't even take it out, Mulder, because it was too fucking painful. I can't handle this. Do you understand that? I can't fucking handle it!â
âAnd what about me, Scully? What about what I can handle?â he says sharply. âI'm his father. I'm just as much involved in this as you are.â
âNo, you're not,â Scully replies coldly. âYou gave up that privilege when you left us.â
Mulder flinches. Scully's face whitens even further, as if realizing what she's said, and she opens her mouth as if to explain herself, or maybe take it back, but he's speaking before she can, the words spilling out of his mouth uncontrollably. âFuck you, Scully. I may have left, but I didn't want to leave. You told me to. I begged, and you told me to go. You said I'd be putting you and William in danger if I didn't. So I left, to save you both. And while I was gone, you gave my son away.â
Scully's face is reddening now as she gets angrier; tears well up in her eyes as she spits, âYou don't have an ounce of understanding of what it was like for me. You don't have one clue.â
He knows this and he's planning to apologize, maybe, but what comes out is entirely different. âYou said you wouldn't leave him,â he says, his voice cracking. He is about to cry, he can tell. âYou pleaded with everyone not to take him away from you. You said you'd protect him. You swore.â
Scully makes a small, hurt sound like she's been stung, closes her eyes with pain. And Mulder feels bad, and he should feel worse, but he keeps hearing her say, You gave up that privilege when you left, when she begged, she begged him to leave. I can't lose you again, Mulder, she'd said. William can't lose you. Please. She begged him and now she's blaming him, and he can't take it. He turns and storms out of the room, tears dripping down his face. William's picture like a stone in his pocket.
Scully doesn't follow.
---
He goes to a bar and gets drunk, the good kind of drunk that makes it easy to forget. Not drunk enough to make him sadder or angrier. Mostly, he just wants to forget the stunned, hurt look in Scully's eyes when he accused her of giving his son away. Forget when she blamed him because he left.
(He doesn't stop crying. He hunches up in a booth by himself, avoids the gazes of others and wipes his eyes with shitty napkins. The beer all tastes salty, like the ocean, even though they are miles away. The tears rippling in the alcohol like rain.)
Hours later, he decides it's time he went back to the hotel room. He doesn't know what the hell to do now, but he knows he has to try. Scully is all he has left, Scully is the person who he'd go to the ends of the earth for. He doesn't know if she'll be willing to talk to him, and he doesn't know if he's ready to talk to her, but he has nowhere else to go. He walks back to the hotel, hands buried in his jacket, and that's when he sees it. The flashing lights, red and blue and ominous.
The only thought in his mind is pure panic. He breaks off into a run, praying that no one is hurt, praying that it's just some crazy person who has nothing to do with ScullyâŚ
He couldn't be more wrong. He sees the cop cars, and then he sees the men in blue, and then he sees Scully. Being escorted towards a police car, a hand on her arm. She looks dignified, because Scully faces down danger like this with steel in her eyes, and then she sees him and fear flashes across her eyes. He stops straight in his tracks, heels dragging, mouth falling open. Maybe to scream her name. They shouldn't take her because she isn't the one they wants, she doesn't deserve to die, and god, he loves her. And they'll kill to keep this quiet, the impending end of the world. He can't lose her. His mouth forms the first syllable of her name.
Scully shakes her head hard. He takes a few steps closer to the ground as they guide her towards the car, and one of the men is asking her something, and she ignores him. âGo,â she says, and he can't hear her, can only see her moving mouth, but it's unmistakable what she means. Either go or no, but she doesn't want him to come over there. He takes a few more stumbling steps, and she shakes her head again furiously. She is terrified for him and she wants him to go.
The police are asking her what's going on, following her gaze to where Mulder stands.
And because he is a coward (but mostly because he knows there is no chance of getting Scully out if they're both in), he turns and walks away. Doesn't run so as to not attract suspicion. He walks away, his heart thudding so hard that he can feel it everywhere. His face is wet with tears again. He whispers her name under his breath, his throat raw.
Behind him, he can hear the police car pulling away. The sirens aren't on.
x.
december, 2003
He waits it out for a little while, stakes out the hotel. Waits until morning before he makes his decision. Scully doesn't reappear.
It takes a few hours to walk away. He almost physically can't do it, can't leave her behind. Not after everything. He feels like he is going to vomit. The thought of what could be happening to herâthat they could already have her in some dark military facility, be doing what they did to him, scheduling her for a fucking ridiculous trial that ends in the same sentence he received, kill her to keep them quietâmakes him physically sick.
He steels himself up, reaches into his pocket and touches the picture of William. Thinks of Scully mouthing, Go, the night before.
He leaves. Walks to the bus station and buys a bus ticket to Richmond. (He's kept enough money on him to be able to leave at a moment's notice, at Scully's insistence, and it turns out she was right.) He's following her plan for if a crisis such as this happens by going to the address Skinner gave them. He'll take a taxi to Farrs Corner, call Skinner from a payphone and ask about their next move. How to save Scully. He'll turn himself in if that what it takes, do whatever he needs to get her out. She knows what is coming, she can take steps to protect herself and William. He's ready to do anything to protect her, protect them both.
The bus ride takes over a day. The isolation does nothing to help him, considering that all he has with him is the photo of William and what little money he has left after buying his bus ticket. He tries to sleep, his head resting against the window. He wishes Scully was with him. He wishes he had stayed behind. He feels horrible, even though she did tell him to go. He owes her better than that. He could've saved her, or at least he could've tried.
No one seems to find him suspicious. He's grateful for that, at least.
He arrives in Richmond the next day. It's the furthest he's strayed towards the East Coast, towards DC, since his arrest, and he feels strangely daring. He wonders if they sent Scully down this way yet.
It's a Saturday, so he calls Skinner's apartment in the hopes that he'll be home. No answer. And he can't very well call anyone else, much less go looking for him. He waits a few more hours before calling again, to the same results. He gives up, then, and begins to work on getting to Farrs Corner.
He has to hitchhike most of the way, but it takes most of the day instead of just a couple hours because it turns out that most of the people willing to stop are only headed part of the way there. He takes a taxi the last little bit, out to the address Skinner gave in the middle of fucking nowhere, and slips the driver twenty extra bucks to pretend he never saw him.
The gate is heavier than heâd expected, and the dirt driveway is too long and too rocky. The night is dark and absolutely too cold. Mulder trudges up the driveway, his toes numb in his shoes. He misses Scully.
The house is a little run-down, a couple of broken windows, a caved-in part of the roof. But there is a light on inside. A car in the driveway that looks stunningly familiar. His breath catches in his throat.
He tries not to run. It could be anyone in that house, he tells himself, taking the steps on shaky legs. It's not necessarily her. He pushes open the door with a shaky hand, the fear and anticipation rising in his throat. There's a lamp plugged in on the floor, next to a queen mattress, and suitcases clustered in the corner. A blue rabbit ear sticking out of the unzipped corner of one of the bags. âScully?â he calls out, voice trembling.
Footsteps creak in the other room and then Scully is entering, wearing a coat, her hair thrown back into a braid. Relief flashes through her eyes when she sees him, her shoulders sagging. âMulder,â she says softly.
He's across the room in a few seconds, his hands cupping the side of her face as he kisses her deeply, relievedly. She surges against him, her arms folded around his neck. âI thought you wereâŚâ he gasps out, scooping her up and pressing his cheek to the curve of her neck, and she whispers, âI know, I know.â
---
âHow the hell did you get out? I thought for sure that they'd caught you.â
âThey didn't know who I was, Mulder, it had nothing to do with you. They were pursuing my fake identity. Another waitress accused me of stealing a watch from an esteemed customer that she herself had actually stolen. They let me go as soon as my name was cleared.â
âJesus, IâWhy did you tell me to leave, then? I could've gotten you out of there. You scared me to death, Scully.â
âI know. I'm sorry, Mulder, I am, but I was⌠I was terrified they'd figure out who you were. And I couldn't risk that. I wouldn't risk that. They want you more than they've ever wanted me.â
âGod, I⌠I thought they were going to do what they did to me⌠I came here to try and find Skinner, to get you out. I tried to wait for you.â
âI know. It's okay. It's okay. We did what we had to do.â
âI thought⌠Shit, Scully, I'm sorry. I'm so, so sorry.â
âShh, it's⌠I'm sorry too, Mulder. I'm so sorry. I know⌠I know it's⌠I didn't mean thatâŚâ
âIt's okay. We don't have to talk about this right now. It's okay.â
âI love you.â
âI love you. Jesus, I've always loved you.â
âThat's impossible, Mulder.â
âEverything's so impossible with you, honey. Do you believe in anything? Anything at all? Couldn't you believe I've always loved you?â
âI love you, too, Mulder.â
xi.
december, 2003-march, 2004
They end up staying at the house much longer than they should. It's Christmas and they really have no desire to leave. They collect firewood and build a fire in the living room. Mulder works on repairing the roof because it's way too cold inside. They finally get in touch with Skinner, who comes over to turn the gas and water back on. Scully goes to visit her mother, cautiously, and Mulder counts the hours until she comes home, teary and emotional, and curls up in his arms.
They spend Christmas wrapped up in quilts and sweaters, the fire blazing and a scraggly little pine tree taking up residence in the corner. (They'll be cleaning up pine needles for days.) Mulder tapes a sprig of holly to the door jamb and calls it mistletoe, kisses her every time they enter. Scully drives to the grocery store and buys groceries. It snows, whiter than it has in years. They're definitely not going anywhere anytime soon.
It's impossible to be in a house for weeks at a time without making yourself at home a little. Scully buys things that are necessary for staying in one place: soap, tampons, food. They eat off of paper plates and plastic utensils until Scully announces she can't take it anymore and buys real kitchenware. Mulder begins to repair the windows upstairs. They have money siphoned off from the thousands of dollars left to Mulder by his parents.
It's not lost on them that they're basically squatting. But by the end of the winter, the little empty house begins to feel like home.
âHave you ever thought about staying here?â Scully whispers one morning, her ear pressed over his heart. âJust⌠staying?â
âWe are staying,â he mumbles into her hair, wild from sleeping on it.
âI mean permanently.â Her palm presses into his chest. Mulder's chin jerks a little, but he says nothing. She takes a breath before continuing. âWe've already done a lot of work on the house. We haven't seen anyone else outside of going into town. Skinner has easy access. We have enough money to buy the house. If we settled down, then I could work on getting a permanent job, work on⌠maybe getting a job at a hospital, a residence⌠Skinner said I might be able to come back soon, he said it might be saferâŚâ
âScully.â His fingers run along her scalp, and she raises her head to look at him. He's smiling, just a little. âI love it here. I think it's a great idea.â
She smiles, too, lets her cheek fall further against his chest. âWe'll have to get a real bed,â she says. âFurniture. I can get some of my things out of storage.â
âI was thinking I could turn that room back there into an office,â he says. âYou know. Just in case we decided to stay.â
She grins, unable to help it. âOh, you know. It's always good to be prepared.â
âCan never hurt.â He strokes some hair behind her ear, drops a kiss on her forehead.
xii.
april, 2004
She'd never pictured herself buying a house with Mulder. If she'd pictured their future before, it'd been something like their career at the FBI together, maybe moving into one of their apartments one day. (Later, it had been raising their son together, whatever that entailed, but she doesn't think about that anymore.) But now, it feels more right than she ever could've imagined it. It feels like home.
They negotiate it out with Skinner, money is exchanged, and Scully's nameâher real nameâis on a legal document for the first time in two years. She retrieves her old stuff from storage, bookshelves and her couch and her bed andâmore painfullyâWilliamâs old crib. She puts her old double bed in the new guest room, having dubbed it too small for the two of them. They still have a lot of empty space, so they risk everything to go furniture shopping together, going from yard sales to antique shops to (finally) a real furniture store. (âThis is too high-end for us,â Mulder whispers in her ear as they examine bed frames. âI look like a homeless man.â Scully rolls her eyes, tells him distractedly that he's her homeless man and he'd better help her carry this furniture out to the car.)
The furniture is delivered out to their middle-of-nowhere house while Mulder hides in the basement. He helps her rearrange it as soon as the delivery men are gone. It takes all day, but it's the kind of work that Scully enjoys: mindless but working towards something.
She sits on the desk in the living room that she has claimed as hers. Mulder collapses in the new chair in a way that's probably horribly destructive to the structure and looks up at her, covering her knee with one hand. âYou ready to save the world?â he asks.
She doesn't know the world can be saved. She doesn't want to think about it, all the people, everyone she will lose and their son out there with no idea what's coming. She drops a kiss on his head and says, âWe'll figure it out.â They have eight years, and that has to be enough time. It has to be. It's easier not to talk about the painful things.
Their new comforter is a blue-black color with white swirls on it that might be stand-ins for stars, Scully can't tell. Her back is thankful for the mattress change; sleeping a foot off the ground on a mattress with bad springs is a horrible idea. She re-dyes her hair red (albeit a lighter shade) and cuts it to her shoulders in the bathroom off the bedroom. An attempt at professionality. Mulder keeps the beard (âIt's covert, Scully.â), but goes to lengths to make it look nice. They frame old pictures and paint their new rooms. They attempt to make dinner. (Scullyâs attempt leads to her swearing off cooking forever, in a dramatic rant Mulder finds inspiring and she finds embarrassing; Mulder's attempt, he calls a Work In Progress.) They eat together at their new dining room table, a Mason jar with various wildflowers in it stuck in the middle. Mulder pins up the photo of William in his office, along with a picture of Samantha, and Scully doesn't say a word. It's easier not to talk about the painful things.
They go outside at night, sometimes, and look at the stars. It's not chilly anymore, but they still sit too close together. Scully feels almost young again.
âWhat do you think?â she whispers softly to him one night. âOf this? This⌠place?â She means, Are you happy, and doesn't know how to ask it.
Mulder drops a kiss on her head, his arm warm around her shoulders. There's so much that they've missed out on, so much they've lost or that hasn't gone the way they wanted, but they have each other. âI think it's home,â he says.
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