#so i think giving her flowers would be a great way for her to channel that love of nature into something

[teknikolor-walters]

i think getting really into botany would fix bug i'm so serious

[the-scarlet-witch-22]

The Lark Ascending: A Chaconne Story (Agatha Harkness x Reader)

Summary: Five years after leaving your heart in New York to chase your dreams in Vienna, you're finally a rising star in the classical music world. After scoring your biggest gig yet- a soloist job for a summer concert series in LA- you discover that the past isn’t as distant as you’d thought.

Word Count: 5.7k

A/N: Hello friends, welcome to the Chaconne sequel, The Lark Ascending! This story is very near and dear to my heart and I’m so excited to be posting it. The inspiration for this fic is from one of my favorite pieces of the same name, The Lark Ascending. Thank you so much for reading, and I hope you enjoy it. Please feel free to let me know what you think!

Being a musician was all about sacrifice; you had to be willing to get to the top by any means necessary. You couldn’t just give it your all, it had to be more than that. But what happens when that wasn’t enough? What happens when you have it all just within reach, but no matter how hard you try you can’t quite get there? Those were the questions you had asked yourself when you first moved to Vienna. It seemed like no matter what you tried, how many hours you practiced, it wasn’t right. There was something missing. You did everything you should have, you moved to Vienna (although that wasn’t entirely your idea to begin with), you performed night after night with your blood, sweat, and tears, all while healing a broken heart.

It felt like you had all of the pieces to the puzzle in front of you, but they didn’t fit together. Or rather, you didn’t fit. There was something missing, and no amount of practicing could fix that. There was a small voice in the back of your mind whispering that there was a reason you didn’t make it into the Manhattan Symphony. Agatha would always say how much progress you were making, how much potential you had, that there was promise, but you wondered just how true that was; how much of it she really meant. You had been doing a lot of thinking on your relationship with Agatha lately.

The first few months after you moved to Vienna, you couldn’t even say her name without crying. There were reminders of her everywhere you turned. The coffee shop near your apartment, the rehearsal hall where you spent most of your time, every park you strolled through. You’d stumble upon small things, like a review for a new play, or interesting theories on post-modern music, and subconsciously want to share them with her. A beautiful sunny day, the flowers blooming in the ground, the wind whistling in the distance, the way the dew sparkled on the grass after a thunderstorm, everything was Agatha. You knew they called Vienna “The City of Dreams”, but you never anticipated all of your fantasies to revolve around the same woman. How were you supposed to get closure when she was thousands of miles away?

Your solace came, unsurprisingly, in the form of music. Vienna was the birthplace of some of classical music’s great forefathers, and there was inspiration all around you. Performing with Natasha and her chamber orchestra was like a breath of fresh air, and with every performance you slowly found yourself again. It wasn’t entirely true when they said time heals all wounds, because you weren’t sure you’d ever heal from the scar of leaving Agatha, but with every month that passed you found it hurt less and less. You often thought you would always love her, but this was for the best, you knew it was.

Eventually, it felt like everything was falling into place. Performing with a prestigious group that featured world renowned soloists like Wanda Maximoff meant you were able to make the right connections. You worked harder than you ever thought possible, and channeled your grief into your music to push you forward. It paid off in the end, and with Natasha and Wanda’s help you eventually entered a rising soloist contest.

Getting over your fears of inadequacy was another story. You knew that the one thing that was missing was your ability to believe that you were good enough; that you had always been good enough. No amount of practicing could convince you of that either, it had to come within yourself.

In the days leading up to the competition, you had a breakdown in front of Wanda that changed the way you saw yourself.

You set your violin down on the piano, ignoring Wanda’s concerned glance in your direction. “I think I need to drop out of this competition. I’m nowhere near ready.”

Wanda frowned, looking over the sheet music you had handed her earlier. “What are you talking about? You have everything memorized. You sound really good.”

“I don’t feel ready,” you argued, staring at the floor, trying to ignore the tightening of your chest at the thought of competing that weekend.

“No one ever feels ready for these sorts of things,” Wanda pointed out, and you knew she was trying to help, but you weren’t in the mood to hear it.

“I’ve never had the best luck with these sorts of things,” you reminded her. “I think I need to accept that this kind of dream isn’t feasible for me.”

“Why do you keep getting in your own way?” Wanda questioned, moving the sheet music to the side, her tone curious.

“I’m not getting in my own way,” you politely informed her. “I’m being realistic.”

“Nothing about this, about what we do is realistic,” Wanda corrected you, standing up from her seat. “I never thought I’d make it as a soloist, but I had to believe in myself enough to try. If you can’t even give yourself that, then you’re right; this isn’t feasible for you.”

Her words sat with you for a moment, and as you took it in, you felt the tightening in your chest begin to break until you could breathe again. She was right, you knew it deep down. As silly as it sounded, you had to give yourself a chance.

That ended up being the first competition you ever won, much to your surprise and Wanda’s delight.

Things began to look up after that. You slowly entered more competitions, and eventually you made enough of a name for yourself to begin soloing with various orchestras. It was nothing you could have ever imagined in your wildest dreams, but it was real. You did it. In spite of the heartache and pain, you did it all.

The past year proved to be your busiest yet. You had been booked solid with performances across the U.S. with a wide variety of orchestras, and your schedule wasn’t slowing down just yet. You would be spending your summer in Los Angeles, and you were still in disbelief.

If you had told yourself five years ago that you would be the featured artist in residence of the Los Angeles Symphony’s summer season, you would have thought it was a joke. Being the premiere performing symphony on the entire west coast, they had a stellar reputation and drew in huge crowds. Stephen Strange was a legendary conductor who you had always dreamed of getting to work with. It almost felt too good to be true.

You made it to the symphony center a little earlier than you planned, but with the unpredictability of LA traffic you didn’t want to risk being late. All that was on your agenda for the day was a meeting with the CFO of the board, Tony Stark, and a short rehearsal. But, you were hoping to get a quick peak of the concert hall while it was still empty. There weren't many people around this early in the day, but you had little trouble navigating yourself around until you found the backstage door.

The concert hall was pitch black, and you fumbled with the switches backstage before managing to flip on a single stage light. You wouldn’t need anything more than that, surely. Stepping on the stage you looked out at the vast concert hall, which seemed to hold hundreds of empty seats, and you pictured what it would be like to step out to thunderous applause. None of your previous experiences performing as a soloist had ever been for an audience of this size, and you silently came to the realization that the crowd at the Hollywood Bowl would be even larger. A familiar tingle of nerves coursed through your system as tiny thoughts of doubt twirled around your brain. Were you ready for this?

Absentmindedly tapping your fingers against the music stand at the podium, your eyes swept across the room. A quick glance at the schedule confirmed that no one from the orchestra would be here until later in the evening, so you’d have the place entirely to yourself. Taking a deep breath, you unpacked your violin and began to tune, taking note of how the sound bounced all around the walls, and gradually felt yourself relax. It was funny, you mused as you lowered your violin, how easy it was for you to discredit how much you had accomplished over the past few years. You weren’t just some conductor’s assistant anymore, you were a professional violinist, and a good one at that. It was unclear if your hesitation to accept your success came from the fear of being considered overly cocky, or if it derived from years of low self esteem and an inferiority complex.

Taking another long, calming breath, you swept those thoughts aside. Raising your violin, you rolled your shoulders back, turning so you were facing the front of the hall. It would be foolish to play the entire piece hours before rehearsal, as you would be wasting energy that you would desperately need. Performing was a lot like running a marathon, you couldn’t blow through everything you had in the first few miles and be left with nothing for the end. No, you needed to be intentional with every movement of your bow and shift of your fingers up and down the fingerboard.

The Lark Ascending was a majestic sixteen minute piece that was filled with swooping melodies as the violin sang higher and higher with every measure. Vaughan Williams was a composer during the late Romantic Era, crossing over into the Contemporary, and he had been inspired by a poem of the same name written by English author George Meredith. Vaughan Williams was able to create such stirring imagery with the notes on the page, that it was easy to get lost as you were playing and get transported to this dreamy, astral realm. Filled with a gorgeous blend of vivid colors and clouds, you felt like the lark Vaughan Williams was depicting, soaring through the clear skies.

The piece was filled with vulnerable cadences where you played without the orchestra’s accompaniment acting as a safety net in case you fell. You had to be completely sure of yourself, a hint of hesitation of your fingers or incomplete bow changes would ruin this picturesque painting. Rolling your bow to the frog, you internalized what you wanted your first note to sound like, settling on working on your opening phrase. Placing your fingers on the string, you closed your eyes and began. Your introduction was a stunning cadenza, with the tempo gradually increasing as you began your opening runs, your fingers gliding across the strings.

There was freedom with the tempo, allowing you to take your time and savor each note, your vibrato ringing through the hall. As you climbed higher and higher into the stratosphere it almost felt like you were the lark, ascending into the open air. Performing like this had unlocked a new sense of freedom you always yearned for; the countless hours of practicing turned into an almost effortless sight to any audience. It was as natural as breathing, and each exhale you took matched the strokes of your bow. Nearing the end of the phrase, you tried a new stylistic technique as you shifted your fingers gradually down the fingerboard, making note to try it again later at rehearsal.

As your bow stopped moving you made a few other mental notes of where you could add more vibrato, or improve your dynamics, when all of the lights in the hall turned on, snapping you out of your inner thoughts. The abrupt sound of loud clapping is what startled you the most, as you thought no one else would be using the stage until tonight. You turned around to find the stage door was still ajar, just as you left it, but you noticed a figure lingering in the shadows, and you nearly jumped at the sight. The building was secure enough that you weren’t going to be murdered, right?

“Can I help you?” You asked as politely as possible, setting your violin in its case.

“I have to say, dear, you certainly know how to leave a girl wanting more,” A familiar voice rang out, amusement clear from their tone as they stepped into the light. “You must have had an excellent teacher.”

Agatha Harkness leaned against the door frame, hands folded across her chest. Her dark hair was splayed against her shoulders in their usual messy curls, and you were surprised to find her in more casual attire consisting of a pair of black jeans and a lightweight button-up sheer white shirt. She arched an eyebrow at your shocked expression

You felt your heart stop as you stared into a familiar pair of blue eyes. “Agatha?”

Her lips twisted upwards, smirking, a familiar glint in her eyes. “Surprised to see me?”

Time stood still as you were frozen in place, millions of thoughts dancing around your brain. You were unsure if it had been five seconds or five hours, all you could do was try to remember to breathe. Agatha was here, but how was she here? Were you imagining it? It wouldn’t have been the first time, as you’d lost track of the number of appearances she had made in your dreams over the years. They were all of slightly different variations, but would all end in the same heartbreaking fashion of reconciling with the conductor and feeling a sense of happiness you’d long forgotten…until you inevitably woke up alone.

Blinking, you took a timid step towards her, your hands uncomfortably folding behind your back. “Agatha, what are you doing here?”

Ignoring your question, she walked over to your violin case, and, despite your protests, she picked up your violin, examining it. “I see someone got a new instrument.” Gently turning it, you watched her trace the scroll, her fingers dancing around the pegs. “A shame, really, I was quite fond of your old one. But this is nice too, I suppose. What is it? Italian? German?“

“Swiss, actually,” you lightly corrected her, holding out your hands, signaling for her to hand it over.

As she disregarded your wishes for a second time, you felt a familiar pang of annoyance at how stubborn she could be. Picking up your bow, she raised your violin, setting the bow on the string, before releasing and producing a G-major chord. As the chord echoed throughout the hall you relished in the sound. Agatha had rarely used your violin before. She had always insisted that her talents remained with conducting and the piano, but you recalled a few memories of convincing her to play a scale or two on your violin.

You were normally extremely protective over your instrument, often refusing to allow anyone else to even hold her. However, you recollected, it had never been like that with Agatha. There had been some deep, unspoken level of trust that you had never felt with anyone else.

“Impressive,” Agatha remarked, appearing to admire the sound quality, before finally handing it back to you. Her hands briefly brushed against yours as you wrapped your hands around the neck of your violin, and it was as if you had been zapped by lightning.

But as quickly as the sensation overcame you, it was gone. Agatha retracted her hands, deep blue eyes boring into yours with the same intensity she always seemed to carry.

Clearing your throat, you broke eye contact, feeling the weight of her gaze still on you. “You never answered my question. What are you doing here?”

The conductor released a thoughtful hum, as you watched her move towards the edge of the stage. “Now is that any way to greet the Los Angeles Symphony’s guest conductor, dear?”

Guest conductor? Your face scrunched up, surprise coloring your features. None of your recent internet searches of the conductor revealed she would be in Los Angeles for any upcoming performances. Now, you weren’t exactly stalking Agatha, that would be creepy. You just liked to occasionally see what she was up to. That was normal, right?

“Tony never mentioned a guest conductor when I spoke with him earlier,” you pointed out, leaving out your internal ramblings as you were sure Agatha would get far too much pleasure from hearing you had looked her up.

“Well, it appears that Stephen contracted a rather nasty stomach bug, and I just happened to be in the area.” Agatha explained, as if it was the most obvious answer in the world.

Now, you weren’t claiming to be an expert geographer, but something in your gut told you that she was lying. “So you just happened to be in California when you live on the East Coast?”

“Something like that,” Agatha tossed out, teasing you ever so slightly, and you scoffed.

She had always been elusive; that had been part of her charm. You never entirely knew what to expect when you were dealing with Agatha Harkness, and that used to excite you. She often reminded you of a raging hurricane, with her occasional fits of anger and passion all mingling together like the waves crashing against the shore. There had been a gentler side to her, of course, located in the eye of the storm. That had been the Agatha you were most familiar with, underneath all of the sarcastic quips and horrible temper was the woman you had once fallen in love with.

Nothing about her had ever been direct, which nearly drove you mad. But the subtlety of how she offered her affection more than made up for it. Nearly every night she insisted on driving you home, and you had quickly learned she detested the subway. She had been horrified when you had revealed you almost never cooked, so she made a point to teach you her favorite recipes (while only gently mocking your lack of skill in the kitchen in the process). It was clear she hadn’t been used to expressing her emotions, but then again you had never been an expert in that field either. Still, she loved you in her own way, and deep down a small part of you knew she loved you enough to let you go all those years ago.

But standing here now, you couldn’t help but wonder what she was really doing here. Did she know you were set to premiere with the orchestra? There was a fleeting thought where you dared to wonder if she came here for you, but you knew that was too foolish to even imagine. It had been so long without any word from her, why would she come to you now? You had performed with a few other orchestras in the States over the past year, and there had been a few brief moments where you hoped she would show, but she never did.

She was looking pleased, far too pleased for your liking. A rather dark thought crossed your mind, and you shot her an incredulous look. “Oh my god, did you do something to Stephen?”

Agatha let out a loud cackle, the sound sending a shiver down your spine. “I’m a conductor, dear, not a homicidal witch. What exactly do you think I could have done, beat him up with my baton?”

That painted a rather interesting image in your head, but you frowned at her, unamused. “You’re not going to tell me what you’re doing here, are you?”

“You always were a fast learner, darling,” Agatha quietly remarked as she took a step towards you, the once familiar pet name sounding foreign on her tongue. “I must say, I was surprised to learn you had selected Vaughan Williams.”

“Why?” You questioned, noting how she slowly inched her way closer to you.

“I suppose I assumed you’d pick something with more flare. Tchaikovsky perhaps, or Sibelius.”

Shrugging, you vaguely called to mind one of the first things Agatha had ever said to you. “I don’t know, I guess I always preferred something more subdued, you know?”

You watched her eyes sparkle with a mischievous glint, and it was clear she knew what you were doing. “Something more subdued, hm? Not a fan of the dramatics?”

“I think that’s much more your genre of choice than mine,” You retorted, feeling the air in the room begin to thin as she circled you like a shark.

Agatha stepped in even closer, and her fingers reached up, playing with the loose strands of hair that fell around your shoulders. You felt your body react to her touch, a sensation you’d long forgotten. “You cut your hair,” she murmured, so low you could barely hear her.

“You haven’t seen me in over five years,” you pointed out, feeling a wave of nerves hit you over having her so close. “I’m sure my hair’s changed a lot since then.”

“It looked longer in Chicago,” she mused, still twirling the strands around, and you were stunned. Chicago? Your most recent performance was with the Chicago Philharmonic last month, and that would mean that…was she there?

“How would you know that?” You pressed, and her fingers ceased their movements, as you searched her eyes for a glimpse into what she was implying.

You could feel millions of unanswered questions dancing between the two of you, the tension thick in the air. Agatha’s hands abruptly dropped your hair as if she had been burned, and you briefly yearned for her touch again.

“My assistant showed me a recording of the performance on their phone,” Agatha explained, folding her hands against her chest. “Your stage presence certainly has improved, but you were late coming out of your cadenza.”

Ignoring the slight dig, your brain honed in on what she said prior to that. Her assistant. You couldn’t help but ask yourself if she had kept the same assistant since you left. A brief, but intrusive, thought made you wonder if the dynamic between Agatha and this new assistant was similar to the one you once shared. Did she call them the same terms of endearments she had bestowed upon you? Did she introduce them to her favorite old movies that you used to beg her to turn on? Did she go out of her way to fluster them, as she once took pleasure in doing to you?

You weren’t sure why it bothered you so much. It wasn’t as if you were together anymore, Agatha was free to do what she liked and to see who she pleased. You had a few short-lived, meaningless flings while living abroad, so it would be hypocritical to judge her. But, there was a voice screaming deep inside you, questioning how special your time together truly was if she could have replaced you so easily?

“Right, your assistant.” You tried your best to keep the bitterness from seeping through, but could practically taste the venom in your mouth.

Agatha raised her eyebrows, but refrained from commenting on your change in tone. Instead, she turned to walk down the stairs of the stage, leading to the aisle. “I only heard the last few bars of your cadenza, and it isn’t terrible, but it could certainly be better. Now, I don’t have my score on me, but it sounds like you’re losing too much momentum as you come down the fingerboard.” She sat a few rows back from the stage, crossing her legs together. “Could you take it again from your last run, and try to make your decrescendo last longer? We want to elongate these phrases to draw the audience in.”

There had been a time when you would have done anything Agatha had asked of you without question. Your daily practice sessions with the conductor had been grueling at times, as she was incredibly nitpicky, and had an impeccably well-trained ear. Any missed entrance or a note that was even just a hair flat she would pick up on. You had worked with a lot of gifted musicians in the past, but none of them could dream of coming close to Agatha Harkness. She wasn’t just a conductor, she possessed the rare ability to take the notes off the page and transform them into these brilliant, colorful works of art.

You used to live for her praise, and would often go out of your way to receive it. It had been your worst fear to disappoint her somehow, even if it meant sacrificing your own dreams to please her. But things were different now, you weren’t her assistant anymore. The burning desire to gain her approval still lingered somewhere within you, but it wasn’t as strong anymore. You knew that you would be okay without it, as you had to learn to live without her.

Giving her a pointed look, you decided to test the waters. “You do realize you’re not my boss anymore, right? I don’t have to just do whatever you say.”

Agatha looked momentarily stunned, and you could practically watch the gears turning in her head. “If I recall correctly, you used to enjoy having me tell you what to do.”

Looking down, you forced yourself to not remember just how much you used to enjoy that. Clearing your throat, you thought of something to fire back with. “Well, they do say memory is the first thing to go.”

“Funny, dear.” Agatha deadpanned, but as you lifted your head you were able to see the corners of her lips were turned upwards. “But I’m not paying you to just stand there and look pretty.”

“You’re actually not paying me at all, the orchestra is.”

“Technicalities,” Agatha said dismissively, waving her hand to signal you to hurry up. “And as you just so kindly pointed out, I’m not getting any younger. Any day now.”

It was clear Agatha wasn’t going to let up, and you weren’t in the mood to keep arguing with her. Grabbing your violin, you gently rested it under your arm. “Should I start at my last entrance?”

Agatha had a thoughtful expression on her face, and you couldn’t help but focus on her fingers tapping out indecipherable rhythms on the top of the seats in front of her. “Hmmm, let’s take it from the top. Do you need your sheet music?”

Shaking your head, you raised your violin. Placing your bow on the string, you tried to rid yourself of the nerves you could feel start to overtake you. Your first few notes rang through the hall as you tried to perfectly time each shift of your fingers and vibrato. Everything had to be fluid; any jerky bow changes or careless finger placements would risk destroying the exquisite illusion you were painting. Some violinists would claim the most challenging pieces to perform were the ones with incredibly fast passages that were often impossible to master. Your brain had to be a few steps ahead of your nimble fingers so you could anticipate what the next notes would be, and one small slip up would send you tumbling down.

While you agreed that exuberant pieces were extremely difficult, you would argue that the hardest pieces to perform as a soloist were the more melodic ones. The pieces filled with stunning melodies, warmed up by gorgeous vibrato. They weren’t packed with thrilling runs up and down the fingerboard, instead they were notated with sweet, heartbreakingly beautiful lines that required you to pour your heart out. Yes, it was scary to have to nail a few hundred notes coming out one after another, but the hardest feat to master on the violin was the ability to play achingly slow, glorious passages. It was to fully captivate an audience with every elegant swish of your bow and dance of your fingers on the strings.

You were so swept up in the notes you had memorized in your brain, you barely heard the soft creaking of the stairs leading up to the stage. There was a particularly bare section halfway through your cadenza, where you were so high up the fingerboard that you needed to extend your elbow to allow your fingers to reach. It wasn’t good enough to merely play the right notes; you had to be confident your left hand was pressing down on the correct spot on the string, while your right hand held the bow but didn’t press too hard down. If you applied too much pressure when you released the bow, it would produce a screeching noise on the string.

Continuing on, you kept your fingers on your bow relaxed, but you could gradually feel your shoulders begin to tighten. This happened on occasions when you were feeling particularly nervous or antsy, and it was usually difficult for you to relax them. As you tried to refocus your breathing and attempt to get your body to calm down, you could feel a familiar presence lurking in the background. Even though you could not see her, you knew she was right behind you. You had found yourself in this exact scenario with the conductor too many times to count. She would always promise to stay in her seat while you were playing for her, but would almost always end up on the stage within mere moments.

As if she could sense you about to stop playing, you heard her voice ring out. “Don’t stop now, dear. I’m just observing something.”

You wanted to turn around and ask if she was observing your ass, but you knew she would merely retort with something to make you blush furiously in response. So you kept going, trying not to picture what she was doing.

As the line slowly started to take you down the fingerboard with every new phrase, you put all of your attention into your intonation. You could hear her take yet another small step towards you, to the point where she was nearly pressed up against you.

“You need to relax.” Agatha uttered, so close to whispering in your ear that you reflexively shivered. She put one hand on your shoulder, rubbing gentle circles. “Your posture is giving me horrible flashbacks.”

It was becoming increasingly difficult for you to remember the correct notes when she was closer to you than she had been in so long. Her other hand rested on your hip, the sensation almost causing you to drop your violin. It had been so long since you last felt her touch, and you could just barely hold onto the melody in your memory. A small voice in the back of your brain begged for more, but you ignored it.

“Relax.” Agatha repeated, her voice firmer this time, and you felt your body obey her command. Your shoulders finally went down to their correct position, but her hands stayed on you. “There we go, good girl.”

Your brain buzzed at her words, feeling your cheeks burn and you were thankful she couldn’t see the effect she still had on you. As you reached the end of the cadenza, you slowly lowered your instrument, trying your best not to fall over from the overwhelming feeling surrounding you. “So, what did you think?”

Using the hand situated on your hip, Agatha swiftly twisted you around to face her, moving the hand she had on your shoulder down to help secure your violin. You stumbled just ever so slightly, but she steadied you, her grip tightening on your waist.

“Easy there,” Agatha lightly teased, and you thought you saw her eyes hungrily rake up and down your body. “Have you always been this jumpy, or are you just excited to see me?”

There was so much you wanted to say, but there was a lump in your throat that grew bigger with every tug on your waist, drawing you impossibly closer to the woman your brain refused to let go of. She was infuriatingly high-handed, extremely egotistical, and was single-handedly the most stubborn individual you had ever encountered. She was obsessive, and aggressive, and had her eyes always been so blue?

“Agatha…” you managed to breathe out, desperately trying to clear your head and regain some sense of self control, but your brain felt slippery.

The combination of the heat from the bright stage lights and the intensely burning gaze from the conductor had you feeling more unsteady on your feet as the seconds slowly ticked by. You’d spent the past year performing in sold out concert halls, yet you were never more nervous than you currently felt being face to face with Agatha Harkness.

It was unclear how long you stood there, staring at each other. You knew Agatha well enough to know she had something to say, it was written all over her face. But she remained silent, one hand situated on your waist and the other gently holding your violin in place. There was something about the way she was looking at you, as if she thought she’d never see you again.

Just as she opened her mouth to say something, a loud buzzing noise began to ring through the hall. The moment was broken as she released you, sighing as she reached to her back pocket, revealing her cell phone.

Squinting at the screen, and you suddenly remembered the difficulty she had of reading off her phone without her glasses, she frowned. “I’m sorry, I have to take this. It’s my assistant.”

You took a step backwards, feeling burned. “Right. Your assistant. Best not keep them waiting.”

Agatha gave you a brief, perplexed glance before answering her phone. “What do you want now?” Loudly sighing, you watched as she closed her eyes, clearly vexed. “I already told you, for the millionth time, it’s the box in my study.” Pausing, as she listened to her assistant reply, she held up a finger to you, signaling for you to wait for her. “For the last time, no, nothing else. Just the box in my study, the singular box. Make sure Scratchy is ready to go as well.”

It appeared the assistant had more questions, as you watched Agatha pinch the bridge of her nose in agitation. “No, no, no, stop,” she then paused, and looked at you again. “I have to deal with this, I’ll see you at rehearsal.”

She stormed away without another word, squawking orders over the phone, and you were left in the aftershock of the earthquake that was Agatha Harkness.

Next Chapter

[82mitsu]

{18Trip} The Homescreen Voice Lines Vault

Collection of all the voice lines I have translated on my Twitter account. Uploading it on here for archival purposes.

Note: A lot of them were made to fit the Twitter character limit, sometimes they're a bit freestyled.

Mostly Raito oriented, with some others thrown in the mix.

Chihiro: Raiting, you spend a lot of time watching vids, don'tcha~ What channels got you hooked?

Raito: Let me see, channels all about information over ramen and the occult stuff like Muu☆Tan's are vital to me.

Raito: Kuguri, you can do what you want but, have you considered to stop sleeping naked from time to time? No doubt you'll catch a cold.

Kuguri: I'd prefer for you to leave me be. A certain Someone who can't properly wake up in the morning has no right to police others on how they sleep.

Raito: According to this scripture of taboos that I procured on my own, it appears that Pandora's Box will open up again soon. The theory of hope remaining at the bottom is plausible but, let's just wait and see...

Akuta: Uugh... I can't... I can't go on like this anymore.... Raito-san, please do the usual thing again tonight!!

Raito: A hopeless guy, aren't you... Got it, I'll take care of you. I will... feed you the best late night ramen that there is.

Netaro: Raito~! Trouble's afoot! There's hearsay of a unfamiliar flickering luminant body appearing behind the dormitory~!

Raito: What!? An unidentified flying object, in other words!? We must unravel its true identity! Let's go right away, Netaro!

Kuguri: Sometimes Nanaki looks at me cutely and pleads for advice on composing music. Well, my involvement is limited to hearing him out and giving a nudge, however.

Kuguri: I don't disagree with your way of living, Ten... It smells sweet, exclusively so. How about we go on a drive together again sometime.

Ten: Aha, it's an honor to get invited by someone like Kuguri-san~ I don't mind the kinda relations where you stay outta each others affairs either.

Chihiro: Geez~! Taotao, you play Anigun way too much! Didn't you like promise you'd go shopping with Chii today! And here I sat looking forward to it~!

Tao: Sorry. To think there'd be an event out of nowhere... I'll buy you some pudding as apology. So let's go shopping. Okay?

Akuta: Like, during flower viewing... adults do /that/, right... Y'know... the thing... s- s- s- strip rock paper scissors....!

"yakyuuken" is a Japanese game on based rock paper scissors, where the loser ends up stripping.

Akuta: Ten-san, I heard you talking to a woman on the phone earlier, but is she for real... wrapped around your finger!? Like both hands all over a beaut and...!

Ten: Aha, the hell man. Don't slander me. She's just a plain ol' friend. Maybe you're still too young for this though~?

Akuta: That freakin' Kiroku, he put a kinda bracelet that girls would wear in his desk. Ah, wonder if he's like also doing the do with her...

Ushio: Oi Stupidtake, record what I make all you want but don't snatch food while i'm not looking. You itching to get banned or something?

Akuta: Geh... got caught, huh... I regret my actions! Please spare me from being exiled! Oh great god from heavens above Ushio-samaaa~!

Nanaki: Kugunii, come over whenever you feel like it again. I'm sure Dad, Mom and Big Bro all are eager to see you.

Kuguri: Perhaps so. ...I'll go if the mood strikes me.

Nanaki: Spring is the season of encounters, huh... I already have crossed paths with my G.O.A.T though.

GOAT: Gen Z slang, means "Greatest Of All Time".

Ushio: Listen Murakumo-san, I know you're fooling around, but can you please refrain from putting any weird ideas into the younger guys' heads?

Ten: Oh-hoh~ look at you sounding all cool there. Dunno what you mean with "weird ideas" though.

Ushio: ....I curse the freaking guy who dared to use my shampoo without permission to go bald from losing 10 hairs every second...!

Ryui: Toi, your hair's sticking out. Here, sit still. I'll fix it to make it pretty.

Toi: Wah... Thank you dearest Big Bro. My beloved Big Bro really is the coolest in the whole wide world... My heart's skipping a beat...

Toi: A mature seductiveness like Yodaka-san's... How can i end up having that too? I'm jealous, you see.

Yodaka: Fufu, but Toi. Don't you have your own kind of charm that I lack. I admit I'm also envious on that front.

[butterflydm]

Kinda jumping off a discussion I was having with @markantonys and @sixth-light the other day, I am really feeling excited about potentially bringing in most/all of the rest of our endgame love interests next season because I think they'll pretty much all benefit with the jump from book to screen.

(contains some book spoilers through Knife of Dreams)

I really enjoy a lot of the choices that the show has made so far, and I think they've done a lot of good set-up for the romances as well. To start with the characters who are locked in already, I really loved that Rand's three love interests all got to spend some extended time with (at least) one of his friends in season 2. Elayne being close with Egwene and Nynaeve is book canon, of course, but I like that the show essentially did that with Aviendha & Min too -- Perrin and Aviendha were so funny together, Mat and Min were also funny but had some great depth and angst. We got to see all three of them shine as individual characters before we got into any romance elements.

Especially with Min, I really loved the choice for them to take Min's self-reported past struggles with her ability and make it a current thing for her. It gives Min an active emotional storyline that is about herself and not centered around Rand, which is a big plus for me.

For next season, it's fairly well confirmed that we're getting Faile, and I think the show is set up to do really well with her:

a. the fact that we're not getting Perrin's internal narration will do so much to combat the 'constantly possessive and jealous' vibe that she often has in the books, because she frequently does not act on it but is just feeling something and if Perrin didn't basically have telepathy, no one would know.

b. Perrin's previous marriage provides a good reason for his relationship with Faile to be much more of a slow burn than it was in the books, and also provide background on why he'll be over-protective of her without falling into Jordan's "Women Are Precious Frail Flowers" trap (which Jordan did realize was a flaw in his writing -- we see him trying to interrogate it over the course of the series. But sometimes he would fall into the trap anyway).

c. And Faile and Perrin's relationship being more of a slow-burn would also make Berelain be a less ridiculous character (if they choose to still have her & her pursuit of Perrin). I'm also fond of the (from reddit!) speculation that maybe Berelain will be Graendal in disguise, which would have the potential of working really well to bring Graendal in sooner and give Perrin a proper Forsaken nemesis.

We are likely to get Gawyn, and if he's our main PoV for split in the White Tower, rather than it being Min (who is going to be in the Tanchico storyline with Mat, if that leak from a couple of weeks ago is true), then the audience will be more inclined towards being sympathetic towards him. We're also not likely to have the huge slow-down in pacing that happened in the second half of the book series, so it won't feel like Gawyn is just marching in place for forever. He's definitely one of the characters who suffers the most from how slowly the plot moves in The Slog.

Less likely but still very possible (especially if the leak about Mat is true) is that we may meet Tuon next season, and the show has done so much to make Mat & Tuon more plausible as a romance, even before we get into anything like character development.

Partly in the difference in Mat's background, in his relationship with his parents, and also in the way his dynamics with characters like Liandrin and Ishamael were played out.

Plus the set-up for what the show is doing with damane & sul'dam is promising in terms of Tuon because the show has established that the sul'dam are very weak channelers (as opposed to being learners), which means that Tuon actively beginning to channel wouldn't be plot-breaking in terms of her capabilities and would just affect her on a narrative level, which makes that feel like a much more likely path for them to choose to go with her and which opens up some avenues for some genuine character growth from her, which would be an exciting change from the books.

And, on a more subjective note, I feel like Jordan really fell down on the writing of Mat and Tuon, especially in CoT & KoD, so basically anyone else taking them over is probably going to be an improvement for me.

The show also really established a strong personality for Mat off the bat, which is something that Jordan was pretty inconsistent about. 'Mat' doesn't really gel as an individual character until the third book when he gets a PoV; and then he changes in several ways between the end of Winter's Heart and the start of Crossroads of Twilight (which is only a week later); I think that 'Crossroads' Mat could have been plausible (if depressing) as a character if Jordan had actually worked up to him over the course of CoT & KoD rather than him abruptly becoming this New Slavery-Neutral "both sides are valid" Mat in-between books (in WH he has an actual ethical & visceral objection to slavery, while in CoT & KoD, he only seems to object to the idea of being personally enslaved and views it neutrally if other people are enslaved). But I've talked about all that before, lol, so I will just say that it feels like the show already knows who they want Mat to be and has taken a pretty bold stand on the subject (re: being a Hero of the Horn), so I don't think we'll see them dumping his brains and empathy overboard between seasons.

So, yeah, I know s3 is still filming, but I am already anticipating it so much!

[mysoulspiralbound]

drew the Omori party in outfits a little more fit for their adventures than there pj's

explanations, dnd classes, close up's, and Mari & Basil under the cut

Omori is the party's bard, despite looking and acting like a rogue. as both an artist and a poet, i thought bard suited him better. working with his monochrome color palette was a challenge, but i'm really happy with how it turned out. a fun fact is that me wondering where the heck omori was keeping a knife on his person (combined with my horror at him running around deep well in his socks) is what inspired this design series. i'd like to imagine that Mewo is his familiar.

Aubry is a barbarian based on her focus on strong attacks and her ability to channel her anger into large damage. i tried to keep the shaping and color of these designs mostly the same, though obviously more embellished, as she's literally running around barefoot in a nightgown in cannon. sturdy gloves and boots are an adventuring must, and i picked her meteor hammer cause i think it's her coolest weapon. i will never understand why Sweatheart's pillow somehow deals more damage.

Kel is a kind of trickster rouge — he's not great at stealth, but he's got the highest dex of the party and he's not bad at traps. he's got a lot of colors in his shirt which was kind of a challenge, and i really went back and forth on what player class to give him. his pouch is for additional amo, and his gloves are based on archers globes, since he's the only one who uses ranges weapons in the party. if i redoing this, i would might get rid of his undertunic and/or leg wraps. they were added for protection, but i feel they're mostly just cluttering up the design.

lastly, Hero is a paladin, based both on his healing abilities and his knight in shining armor energy. i picked pink as his accent color cause it contrasted best while still remaining in the omori pallet. his pj's were the hardest to match into a proper adventurer's outfit, so Hero's armor is largely independent of his canon design. the rose on his chest is a reference to his charming personality, the chivalry expected of knights, and his flower from basil's garden. it's also there to fill space, as his design was looking a little to plain otherwise. his kitchen knife is gold to match his little sparkles and to avoid having it blend too deeply into his armor.

Basil definitely has some strong "your princess is in another castle vibes, so that's what i went with for his outfit. he's got his classic flower crown, and i tried to put as much plant imagery as possible into his dress. i switched the princes gloves for gardening ones in his redesign, as well as changing how the dress layered so the lacing didn't run all the way down the garment. the frills on his sleeves and hem are designed to look like petals!

last but not least it's Mari! i've kind of got two versions of her, but i do very much like both. first, i drew her as a wizard, based a little bit on gandalf's habit of showing up, lending the party a helping hand before disappearing to do "important wizard stuff." she's important and helpful when she shows up, but ultimately, the party has to do things on their own. her spell component pouch and her staff both have her picnic basket theming added, as it's symbolic of her healing abilities and the safety she provides the party.

the other version i drew of her leaned more towards cleric based on her role as healer. she'd be a deeply religious figure, possibly having it be revealed later on that she's more powerful than the party knows. i incorporated her picnic pattern here as well, and kept the style of her shoes, since she is literally the only one of the main six who wears them in the dreamscape. like wizard!Mari, her necklace and the ribbon around her head are both callbacks to the ribbon tied around her neck in her original design.

[bonefall]

BB!Brushblaze

[ID: A grown version of Brushpaw from Warrior Cats. He is a ginger-and-white tabby cat with splotchy patches, a white butt, tail, paws, and 'bib'. He has yellow eyes with a distinct blob marking on his right side. He has a round notch in one ear.]

Because he's been coming up a lot lately, here he is! BB!Brushpaw is an ex-BloodClan cat who joins WindClan along with Snapper.

After the BloodClan Battle, Firestar opened up diplomatic negotiations in an attempt to see how much of Tigerstar's Impossible Deal the Clans could still honor. The answer was so simple as to be ridiculous; flowers, wood, novelty food. Things BloodClan can't get in the concrete alleys of Chelford. Leo and Snapper were only two of the traders who would regularly visit WindClan and ThunderClan.

Leo was head-over-paws for Onewhisker almost right away. He rarely went to ThunderClan, always trying to get chosen to go to the moor. He was so smitten, he never realized any of the red flags. Onewhisker wouldn't do public displays of affection, or tell his friends they were seeing each other, and when Leo floated the idea of joining the Clan... Onewhisker gave an affirmative, but not enthusiastic answer.

Tallstar decided to allow Leo and Snapper to join, but only if they went through apprenticeship as a formality. Onewhisker told Brushpaw that it's forbidden for warriors to be with apprentices, even if they are adults, and Brushpaw understood and respected that.

But it didn't get better.

Next, his ceremony was delayed over the destruction. His mentor, Mudclaw, even accused him of being a jinx and that he was bringing the humans to the moor. He went on the Great Journey forced to remain Brushpaw, Tallstar only having the strength to give Crowfeather his Honor Title and leaving him and Snappaw in the dust.

His scar is from fighting in the WindClan rebellion-- one of the rebels jumped on his back and tried to snap his neck. After the fight, Onestar gave the two their well-earned names; Brushblaze for the muirburn that Mudclaw sabotaged, and Snapstorm for the rain that put it out after.

When Onestar became leader, he changed, or... maybe it just revealed something that was always there, that Brushblaze didn't see. Either way, whatever they had was over.

Eventually, he became an ironic friend of Heathertail, helping her bring back tunneling. He died helping her and Breezepelt escape The Kin through a secret passage he constructed with Harespring, collapsing the tunnel so that they couldn't be followed.

Lots of info under the cut

Design & Meta Stuff

It bugs me how in Onestar's Concussion they copped out on the idea that Onewhisker was cheating on his lover with Smoke, by making it SUPER clear there was no overlap in the relationships. Soo instead yeah poor Brush was cheated on.

I feel like the fact that Canon!Brushpaw was a ginger tabby was supposed to invoke the image of Firestar, because the whole point is that "Firestar succeeded where Brushpaw failed" so like... I DESPERATELY tried to make sure Brushblaze is a ginger tabby who looks nothing like my Firestar lmao.

Total opposites, my Firestar is bright and skinny, Brush is dull and sturdy. Fire has no stripes and no white and Brush has stripes and white patches.

I gave him a spotty white tail for the irony of it looking like Darktail's but inverted.

I don't know if this makes sense but I tried to channel the energy of a gay dude who owns snakes.

Personality

Waaaaay smarter than you think, but can be a bit passionate and oblivious.

Prone to biting off more than he can chew and getting in situations above his head.

A yes-man, doesn't like saying no to people, especially when he feels like he can help.

Most ex-BloodClan cats look scary but are friendlier than they seem.

Surprises people with the way he casually remembers everything. Names, recipes, offhanded comments... say it once and it's in his head forever.

You really think that he's going to be a grump with that face, but it's far from the truth. He's tired, but super friendly.

History

Leo was a BloodClan Solver, a position that has to do with intellectual work.

Snapper was his assigned Problem, kind of like a BloodClan warrior.

His mother Bailey is actually one of the most respected Solvers in BloodClan. He didn't really like being in her shadow, though.

Looking back on it, Brushblaze is embarrassed about how quickly he was ready to commit to someone who, in hindsight, wasn't into it as much as he was.

They were dating but Onewhisker was... flaky. He didn't want to tell others about their relationship, never wanted public affection.

It was really obvious looking back on it that One was never brave enough to commit.

Snappaw and Brushpaw had to fight a lot of xenophobia to earn their place. Mudclaw's distrust of a cat he was supposed to train like an apprentice was a major factor in why Tallstar changed deputies so suddenly.

Unknown to Brush, Onewhisker had already rejected an old lover, Smoke, when he found out she was pregnant and wanted to join the Clan. He couldn't handle the shame of telling Brush he had been cheating AND the idea of waltzing into camp with a brazen kittypet lover.

Brush did eventually move on, but it took a long time. Onestar had Heathertail via honor-siring, never getting back into a romantic relationship again.

After this, he's very grudging of Onestar. Obeys him as a leader, but clearly dislikes him as an authority figure and as a person.

One of Onestar's many regrets.

One day in the Po3 Era, he overheard Heatherpaw and Breezepaw scream for help and came running

They were digging a tunnel, and Harepaw got buried

He pulled him out, and the three of them begged him to not tell their parents

Heatherpaw: "If my dad finds out he'll want to use this to do something stupid"

Brushblaze: "well... can't argue with that."

But he made them promise that the next time they dig that far down, where they could get hurt by a cave-in, they would come get him.

He became something like a safety friend, helping them work out how to reinforce a tunnel, doing good estimates of how to dig from Point A to Point B.

Onestar, of course, did eventually find out about tunnels... from Sedgepaw, boasting about the naturally-occurring ones under the Lake. It sure did give the four of them a scare that he'd learned about their little resurrection of tunneling as a practice.

Brushblaze eventually found love again; ironically, it was with Whitetail!

They had two kittens; Galekit and Smokekit.

He found it REALLY weird though that Onestar was so... aggressive? About Smokekit

"you didn't have to do this," said Onestar, glaring at the baby.

Brushblaze blinked several times. "....have a child???"

He would learn the truth less than a month later, when Darktail brought The Kin to the lake

Breezepelt joined quickly, and Heathertail went with curiosity when it was revealed that Darktail was her half-brother.

Harespring, deputy at the time, knew that his childhood friends were in danger. Him, Brushblaze, Crowfeather, and a few others immediately started digging to help save their Clanmates

Brushblaze's final act was shoving The Kin escapees in the tunnel, lagging behind, and collapsing the tunnel on himself and their pursuers.

[quitealotofsodapop]

[Someone like Erlang (all seeing eye) peaks in and is like "Whoa. That monkey came *out* of a tree of immortality. Thats new. Wonder if anyone else knows about this... Best not say anything and cause a fuss."]

God, this guys gonna get it for not telling anyone. Like, gonna need to ask Nuwa to make him a whole new body level of gonna get it.

Although, coming OUT of a Tree of Immortality is hell of an idea!

I've had thoughts of Rin-Rin coming out of a flower - but one of those really big ones, shaped like a rafflesiaceae, maybe even.

I've had thoughts she'd be a hippy like character - like the hippies in ATLA in the Cave of Two Lovers episode - playing her instrument and going with the flow with what life throws at her.

Though, I did think the Smash Legends version could be one of three things:

part of a ghost hunting crew ala Ghost Files with Rin-Rin being the Shane (but make her really short to give the idea that she's got raging chihuahua energy even when challenging demons to kill her)

a commentary channel ala PenguinZ0 who also makes big documentaries about big things ala SWOOP

anarchistic punk rocker who gets into fights and wields her guitar as a blunt weapon and uses music to do actual damage

[After all, losing someone you think will be there forever makes you think about what "forever" really means....]

*Looks at the various SWKs and LEMs* Well, their story does differ, so maybe hers can differ as well.

Although, the picture of a hippy, commentator or anarchist versions of Rin-Rin meeting up would be bizarre - like, they would be way more different than either SWKs or LEMs.

Would be hella sad times for the one that lost their Rin-Rin.

referencing the Rin Rin post here; and how she might be a supernatural monkey in her own right.

[I've had thoughts of Rin-Rin coming out of a flower - but one of those really big ones, shaped like a rafflesiaceae, maybe even.]

Oh gosh she's just born from it like Thumbelina. Some of the largest flowers like rafflesia actually grow on/parasitize trees! Maybe a unexpected result of a rafflesia attaching itself to a Tree of Immortality or Enlightenment (Bodhi tree) is a very confused little celestial monkey popping out of it.

Rin Rin in most of the universes is like the cabybara of the mystic monkeys. She likes everyone and wants them all to get along. Ends up joining the strangest of gangs depending on what verse.

In TMKATI-au Rin Rin is like the monkey village's leader, and tries her best to keep any conflict from cropping up. Think of a monkey leslie Knopes (Parks & Rec). Actually a political rival for The Mayor by the time of the main series. She def takes over running Megapolis during and after S3. She's also the first person Wukong goes to for "boy advice" cus she's like his big sister with this stuff, and Marshal Ma is useless with anything regarding romance. Is like teh kids' older cool aunt.

I love the thought of her Smash counterpart being a commentary youtuber with a decent follow count, mostly cus she has a straight forward and unbiased opinion on whatever issue she tackles. But she does ghost-hunting on the side with Smash!SWK & LEM/Starfruit & Lilac, when they ask her. She gets along weirdly great with more punk-rock/rebelious types in the Smash Legends verse, despite looking like she crawled out of a 1960s flower power magazine.

I offer the idea of New Gods!Rin Rin being the hard anarchist punk of the variants. She's an older lady (same age as Ace and Joker) and she is Tired of late-stage capitallism in Donghai City. The NewGods monkeys agree that she's the scariest of them.

If the different Rin Rins ever met, it would be a little confusing since the biggest thing they share is their grey fur and some flower accessories.

And very sad for which SWK lost their Rin Rin :(

[valyrra]

Ok. I have the need to explain myself due to the recent ask because I like to over-analyze and kinda am just an otherthinker.

TW: rape/suicide/hate/trauma/mental disorders/vent/selfharm/LONG post

TLDR: Morally bad things in fiction should and always will be existing. And you shouldn't tell people to kill themselves - you never know what consequences will be. If you think taking one's REAL life is good who's the villain then? ;)

Why I think fictional(!) rape is better (as a concept) than sending someone words like "you should kill yourself" in REAL life.

To anon: You don't actually can change my mind about this one. I think I've already gotten messages like this and still to anon - godbless you or whatever you believe in. I hope you won't ever be experiencing any of the trauma or just bad things in general. have a good day, sweetheart.

I didn't get to what character you referred to but I'm gonna take my guesses: Micah Bell, Thragg or Homelander perhaps? (with Micah I don't actually think it was stated in-game that he raped someone? if I'm wrong you are free to send me sources, but I think he just said that he threatened girls from the gang with a gun into fucking them but they still didn't/he let them go?)

Rape is bad :) That's it. There's no in-between. Killing is bad. There a lot of things that are bad and morally wrong. What's IMO justifying these things in fiction:

It's fiction. It isn't real

If it's written well - it can be a great story-moving point.

If you are closing your eyes to these problems you are delusional? This is a MORALLY WRONG concept - you SHOULD think about this. You SHOULD think it's morally wrong. Villains should get you icks. They give me icks. Most do.

Not writing morally wrong doings of a villain is your opinion. But idk who can you write that way.

I'm gonna talk about the Invincible comic book for a bit. Here's Thragg. Here's Anissa. I'm sorry but do you often see female r*pists in fiction? I don't think so. Does it make you hate her? Yes. Does it makes you think bad about female r*pists? Yes. Is this problem in society is talked about less in general? Yes. Is this raising the opinions? Yes. Is it going to make ME hate the character from the writing point of view? No. You do you. I like Anissa as a character, not based on her doings, but based on her writing. Same goes to A LOT of characters I like.

LOL remembered this vid about fictional violence:

Opinion about writing/Micah Bell:

I love him honestly. The first time I played the game I didn't put much thought into his character, but second playthrough is what made me appreciate the whole storytelling of the game from the writing position. Micah is an exceptionally amazing antagonist from his Man VS God conflict to the Fathers and Sons narrative that haunts him until his death.

People who write "WELL I THINK MICAH SHOULDNT HAVE EXISTED" I am afraid, didn't get his character. What the fuck did you expect? A wild west story without good written villains? Flowers? Happy endings? Dude, please drop your rose-colored spectacles. You got the amazing storytelling, great DEEP characters and yet you are complaining. You know probably you should hate Micah. Your choice. Probably I'm digging too deep, but I have analyzed this character too much to hate him now.

He's traumatized from childhood and isn't sympathetic to anyone, even himself. Dude's too deep in shit and I feel pity for him. I wouldn't be able to fix him, no one would. And I feel sympathy for most people in this position.

I love Micah Bell's philosophy in life. It's very much twisted but there are a lot of things that my overthinking mind is channeling fucking strength from.

"Listen. What will be - will be. Ain't nothing a feller can do about it. Ain't no one changing nothing. I've got all kinds of crazy in me - ain't nothing I can do about it. Ain't my fault - ain't no one's fault. Just live your goddamn life and when its time - go out shooting!"

Dude isn't making himself a victim. I love that. He gets that the world isn't a happy place, yet he's not going down without a fight :) Very good anti-suicide quote in my opinion ngl.

Man I don't even write bad things here I think...? I mean like about Micah for sure. Yeah, I ship him with my RDR OC just because like... I like his writing, I support women's wrongs IN FICTION. In my own story that won't ever elaborate on Lyra will get even pregnant from him because I think I'd like a certainly strong female character that fucks with a bad bad guy out of spite/he didn't rape her and she like kills and shoots and stabs people while being a woman and pregnant in that historic moment because that for sure would be fun. (plus I want also to integrate another OC Eva in the story which will kinda struggle to live a morally right life despite her both parents are crazy)

You aren't bad for liking bad characters:

Mental health // Here goes the thing that contradicts my own opinion internally // my psyche:

I'm pretty open about my mental health. I'm open about a very stigmatized disorders like for example BPD. There's this thing I never got properly diagnosed with and its OCD. Kinda a self-diagnosed thing is like I "get stuck" on some intrusive things. And this shit is what I struggle with daily. Usually yeah, they are violent but only towards myself (sometimes not violent at all). I have cut myself because I liked Bi-Han (Sub-Zero). You don't know how much time I spent hating myself for getting fixated on morally bad characters. I NEVER blame or shame or would threaten or bully a person for liking a bad character, I do this to myself only. Maybe it's more of a sexual thing? You know how my sweet mutual (@ l3vi4than)'s banner says: "My taste in men is a form of selfharm". With some characters - it's pretty much the case. Like with Thragg mostly I think or whatever idk. Homelander or Adam Smasher. Man, I am a certified monster fucker from like 13 years old when my brain went like: "Hello, Alex Mercer is sexy af with and without his armor ability".

Unfortunately - my brain is very bad and makes me thing I'm the worst human on Earth. But still kinda there are worse kinks than this? I think I've read somewhere that like a very big percentage of women like CNC even if they are feminists / against rape and etc. Well I'm not sure where I was going with that but like even having a kink doesn't make you a bad person? Who tf am I harming except for my own mind?

A lot of reassurance from my mutuals in tumblr helped honestly. I am grateful for people reassuring me that like all human beings I am still deserving of love even if I FIXATE ON certain characters.

fyi:

Research has shown approximately 70 percent of people with borderline personality disorder will attempt suicide at least once in their lifetimes. About 10 percent complete the act. This suicide rate is higher than any other psychiatric disorder and the general population. You never know what people are going through. Don't push people. Suicide isn't a joke. Right now I'm in a right place of mind where I can even write long posts like these but things change quickly. Yesterday while playing DBD I encountered a very cute and friendly Wraith player who is suicidal. In gaming it's kinda cool to be immoral like wishing people to kill themselves especially in session games like idk Dota2,CS,LoL,Valorant,Overwatch etc (these are the games I've played which were kinda toxic). And I was a toxic gamer myself when I was younger. Wrote nasty things, but kinda grew up and realised that this shit is harmful af.

Sorry for this long post just kinda had to get some things out of my mind.

Have a good day and don't be like anon. Feel free if you want to contradict any shit I wrote I'm open for opinions.

[aprillikesthings]

YOOOOO IT'S MY WEEKEND and I have eaten dinner and it is time for MORE SHE-RA

yayyyy

OH GOD we're getting into the really good shit btw

if I manage not to do a marathon of these it'll be a gd miracle

Usual reminder: this is a REwatch and there's spoilers ahoy, I make a lot of bad jokes, I reference other cartoons

s4 ep10 fractures

okay before we get started

ahahah

I've given in. I'm gonna cosplay Catra. >_< wish me luck, I'm aiming for some kinda loosely post-canon thing, in part because there's no hiding my age at this point, except via like, photoshop pfft

side note the place I was looking at that makes custom fangs based on dental impressions is usually a month and change out, and the con I want to wear this to is in mid-April. *GROAN*

I have tried the cheap ones they don't stay on D:

OKAY

Dialogue is Double Trouble. Why are you even in the room??

oh it's a truth-telling spell lol

(it didn't work)

LOLOL the disbelief in Double Trouble's voice. "Can she do that?"

oh my GOD (yes it's Double Trouble)

but their Adora looks like Johnny Bravo aaahaha

Double Trouble does blow a raspberry at Shadow Weaver, tho, so they're forgiven

Adora explains the Heart of Etheria Project

Shadow Weaver: oooh we can use this to our advantage Me: okay Boromir but NO

nO

Adora's about to blow a fuse, but I would be, too! Like what part of "the planet could explode" is fucking difficult

Meanwhile, Catra is watching porn video feeds of places the Horde has taken

and thinks she spots someone!!!

(she hasn't, and she makes a sad little face when she realizes)

yeah she's being a bitch but also her deranged little face is great

OR EVERYONE COULD DIE. THERE'S ALSO THAT.

YAYYYY

does anyone else remember the old video "what your fave she-ra ship says about you"? this was made just after s4 actually. anyway I'm remembering it because it includes the line "you just want good things for Scorpia. and really, who wouldn't?"

Daci and I, for a while, couldn't stop quoting the ContraPoints clip used early on to reference "The inherent eroticism of the sea."

"MMmmm yeah. Don't you wanna just...get in there?"

It's a really funny video (I am called out SEVERAL TIMES) and the channel did a bunch of similar videos for other shows.

(also looking at the home page of the channel, she's a she now!!!! HELL YEAH)

Anyway everyone is surprised to see Scorpia :D

And their initial reaction is Not Good D:

the poor thing accidentally stuns Perfuma (...oh god that'S HILARIOUS knowing later stuff)

well that stops Adora in her tracks

back in the Fright Zone, Catra thinks she hears Scorpia's laugh and again is visibly relieved before realizing she's wrong

babygirl you need some rest (and so do your soldiers), you are getting paranoid and hearing things

so what, you're going to torture the rest of the soldiers who haven't left????

(I understand why she does the things she does but I still want to shake some sense into her)

JUST GET SOME GD SLEEP

she tries to call Double Trouble, but they don't answer

I want to give her a hug. But also shake some sense into her.

Another one to add to my "cartoon bondage" collection, as one does. But Perfuma is clearly a little smitten, though: she smiles as she walks away and makes a flower grow in the vines, awwwww

okay oh my GOD okay Scorpia's dialogue is KILLING ME i am CACKLING

"Wow...Yeah, but just-- Shadow Weaver. And at Bright Moon. Everything is making so much sense about why Catra's been acting the way she has."

Adora goes wide-eyed at Catra's name, Shadow Weaver looks at her, and then Adora looks away, pissed off.

like I was saying: SMITTEN

Anyway Scorpia explains why she wants to go find/save Entrapta, who's on Beast Island, and:

bahaha

they relate various stories about the horrors of Beast Island and Shadow Weaver insists they're nicer than the actual place, it's starting to sound like some bad joke about Etheria's version of Australia

I mean also you should go get her because she shouldn't be stuck there but okay

They all decide to go to Beast Island to rescue Entrapta but Glimmer is having NONE of it

Glimmer: "Adora, have you ever heard of anyone coming back from Beast Island? Do you even know where it is?"

I mean, good points, but

aaaugh

Bow: "There's an unstable mass of magic in the middle of the planet. Everyone's at risk unless we can get Entrapta to shut it down."

OKay I'm not typing up the whole damn episode you can read the transcript if you really want to, lol they argue about this for a bit longer, Glimmer even recommends they ask Light Hope how to use it even though that's a terrible idea, Glimmer tries to appeal to Bow but Bow is on Adora's side on this one

oh honey, no

She tries to order Bow and Adora to stay in the castle and not leave

Scorpia's "prison cell" is a very nice spare room. Perfuma brings her a salad and Scorpia doesn't recognize it as food immediately, the poor thing has only ever had ration bars.

Frosta: "It's not a sleepover!!! Perfuma: ":D I'll get pillows, brb!"

But then Frosta asks about her pincers with genuine interest and makes ones for herself out of ice...and Scorpia starts to cry

;_;

;_;

GO. TO. BED. oh my god

I RAN OUT OF IMAGES fhghgh okay gonna reblog

[steeltwigz]

use this ask as an excuse to talk about maria robotnik :D!! love to see what you have to say :]

THIS HAS BEEN IN MY INBOX FOR SO LONG IM SO SORRY DHDJDN

Sorry this became kind of just a rant of me doing weird speculations UHM. Dhdndbdb

Maria is just sooo. Everything about her is so compelling to me! The way she's treated as secondary in her Own Story. Even when we're supposed to be thinking about her, Shadow or the ARK is always looming just slightly in the background. She exists in this vacuum of being one of the most important and recognizable human characters in fandom, yet we barely know anything about her! She's related to THE main antagonist and we've heard him talk about her maybe 4 or 5 times. She's a ghost and a martyr and a sacrifice and another name on a list of tragedies and Shadow's sister and Eggman's cousin and a sickly little girl and the catalyst for So MUCH Sonic lore. Everything we now about her, how she acts and why, what she was like, how she felt about her family and the ARK, is determined Mostly by fan interpretation (as far as I know. I mean, she was in Archie as a ghost or hologram or something, but I haven't read that far yet). Even still, the interpretation from fans seems to be always the same! That she was courageous, curious, reckless and active despite her illness. She sought out danger and excitement even if it meant she might accidentally hurt herself. Often times I see Shadow being written as the voice for reason, instead of her! They also agree that she inherited the Robotnik family trait of being intelligent and inventive (something that's actually actively supported by Sonic Channel artwork featuring her reading or excelling in classes). Fans like to think that she wasn't helpless, despite what her game writing would imply, and they kind of reject the notion that she was a perfect young girl who was quiet and polite and attentive which imo is the exact Opposite of what SEGA seemed to want for the character. I really really like this!! It's so fascinating to me how everyone seemingly agrees on these traits despite how little we know of her. What caused that? Coincidence? Did the way Sonic X rebooted Maria with the character Helen affect anything? Fans have given her so much more depth and I love to see it!!!

I want to know so MUCH about her. What was life like on the ARK, where are her parents, what's the Robotnik family tree look like, etc.? We know so Much about every other character, we kind of take it for granted I think. We know most of their favorite foods, songs, colors, flowers, bands, activities, weather patterns, where they live and who they live with, what they do for a living, what their daily routine is like. We even know some of their favorite Gaming Consoles!! But for Maria we get Nothing! Does she even like the color blue? How does she feel about the ARK? What's her favorite movie, song, food, animal? Does she like bugs or reptiles? Does she talk to the other scientists on the ARK? If so, what about? Does she like them? Do they like her? What was her relationship with Commander Towers, and why do we rarely see them mentioned together? When Shadow was created, did she start avoiding Towers, or were they never great friends? What books does she like to read? What's her favorite genre?

She's also just so tragic in a way that's so. Gets me ILL when I think about it for too long. She was Never going to reach the Earth. Did she know? Did she lay awake at night and think about it? She's so so optimistic and hopeful, I don't want to think she ever let herself give up on that dream tbh. And if GUN successfully shut down the ARK without killing her, would she have survived the trip back to the planet? She HAD to live on the ARK for a reason, and the government knew that. Was her death something they had already accepted as collateral before even stepping foot on the ARK? Did the soldier that shot her see her as a dead girl walking? Was the plan always to kill her as a way to make Gerald vulnerable and weak, and the soldier only thought about it enough to recognize it as himself taking the opportunity where he could? Did anyone else develop NIDS before or after those events? Did a proper cure ever develop? Did the citizens of the Earth ever do anything to honor or acknowledge the ARK tragedy? Did GUN ever formally apologize? Is there a monument or something out there?

And about her death! Did the Robotnik family ever find out she died? How long did they have to wait until they got confirmation? Did Maria ever get the dignity of a proper grave and funeral? How long did that take? Was she religious? If so, which religion? Shadow the Hedgehog (the game) is steeped in nods and references to Catholicism, was he Catholic? Was Maria? How did she feel about her religion? Would she have got along with Sonic and Co.? How would she feel about Eggman?

And she was like. Always going to be Shadow's Sister or The Sick Kid. How did that affect her? She's got the Secondary Character To Her Own Life and Doomed By The Narrative swag and it leaves me BEGGING for more information. We can learn a bit about her from Shadow, and assume some things about her based off the way he acts, but a story focused on her specifically would be so so interesting to me.

And about Shadow! Does he ever visit her grave? In Sonic X uncut, he makes a grave marker for Molly, someone who was a lot like Maria too. Did he do that for Maria as well? And if Shadow and Emerl were made "with her soul" or whatever, how much of them are traits of hers? If Gemerl was reprogrammed to be like Emerl, is he similar? I don't know how Maria acted, but I know Gemerl's personality well. Was Maria like that too? How far can you abstract from the original before there aren't any original traits left?

Anyways. Idk. She's so so cool to me. She can be projected on in basically any way becuz of how Little we actually have confirmed about her which is cool too!! Idk what SEGA's obsession with making little girl martyrs is, but I think all of them are cool. Thank God Helen didn't kick the bucket too, idk how many Maria clones my emotional state can handle. If Tikal is the original little girl martyr, would that make Maria a Tikal clone..... Much to think about!

[apocalypticavolition]

Let's (re)Read The Great Hunt! Chapter 39: Flight from the White Tower

Yeah, we spent a book and a half getting here, but it's already time to get going again. That's the problem with fantasy novels. You never get a chance to appreciate the scenery of anything. The best lodgings you can hope for are the same inns that all the other tourists (most of them in ominous black cloaks that hide their features) are staying at. You never get a chance to find the little restaurants the locals go to or find the attractions no one's even heard about. You don't even get a chance to avoid spoilers like I'm giving you here by saying this post spoils the whole damn Wheel of Time series. Don't keep reading if you don't want that.

We have the Ogier symbol again, because now it's the girls' turn to go through the Waygates.

Even a few men had come with petitions, standing by themselves, looking unsure about being in the White Tower, and eyeing everyone else uneasily.

Not gonna lie, if I ever had to visit the White Tower I'd spend the whole time worrying that I was a male channeler who just didn't know it yet and that at any minute the Amyrlin and the whole of the Red Ajah would descend upon me like locusts.

“This would do better for a turn in some lord’s park than a ride to Toman Head,” Nynaeve had said dryly as Egwene helped her with the buttons of a gray silk with thread-of-gold work and pearled flowers across the bosom and down the sleeves, “but it may allow us to leave unnoticed.”

People joke about Jordan's fashion obsession, but note here that these details are only important as part of the jarring contrast to the uniforms the girls were wearing previously.

Min had kept her breeches and baggy man’s shirt under a boy’s brown cloak and coat, with an old, wide-brimmed hat pulled down over her short hair. “One of us has to be the servant,” she had said, laughing.

That's not a convenient excuse at all, Min. You clearly just like men's clothes. It's a shame you forget that later because even if we just assume it's a personal preference as opposed to anything genderqueer, it's still a hell of a standout trait.

The Aes Sedai had not seen them yet, but Egwene recognized her; Takima, of the Brown Ajah, who taught the history of the White Tower and Aes Sedai, and who could recognize one of her pupils at a hundred paces.

The in-universe stereotype of the Browns as too wrapped up in their reading to notice the world is demonstrated to be false yet again. It's almost a surprise it catches on at all, with Takima likely being so many women's first introduction to the Ajah.

Also note how decayed the White Tower is that a Sitter, who by all rights should be quite busy with her job, is also a teacher, which should be another full-time job.

She found it hard to think that there had been a time when she had been eager to have an adventure, to do something dangerous and exciting like the people in stories. Now she thought the exciting part was what you remembered when you looked back, and the stories left out a good deal of unpleasantness.

Remember when Rand was convinced until Shadar Logoth that Egwene was having a great time and didn't have a care in the world? Remember when Perrin was grumbling about how she was obsessed with dancing with Aram? Those POVs sure are unreliable, aren't they

The man blinked at Nynaeve’s ring, then at her. “I was told two,” he said at last, sounding unimpressed.

Plan B failing to work here, it naturally graduates to Plan A for all three of these ladies going forward.

As they were riding out, Elayne tossed him a coin and murmured, “For your trouble, goodman. You have done well.” Outside, she caught Egwene’s eye and smiled. “Mother says a stick and honey always work better than a stick alone.”

I think Machiavelli said something like that too, though he also said the stick alone was better than the honey alone and I'm not convinced. Nynaeve of course is much too used to having to fight her way to get anything to remember that honey is an option.

By the outer side of the wall, carriages, carts, and people bustled along a street, while inside lay a wilderness of sorts. The grove had neither the tame look of a park nor the complete haphazardness of the forest depths. Rather, it seemed to be the ideal of nature, as if this were the perfect woods, the most beautiful forest that could be.

No doubt the Ogier laid it all out for the optimal growth of everything inside, a pattern that nature tries to use but is always forced away from by terrain and weather.

“Forgive us, Liandrin Sedai. They did not tell us; we overheard. We did not mean to listen to anything we should not have, but we did overhear. And we want to help Rand al’Thor, too. And the other boys, of course,” she added quickly.

"I think their names are Map and Terrin?"

Do you not think there are those who would question you when they are found to be gone? Do you believe the Black Ajah would be gentle with you just because you are heir to a throne? Had you remained in the White Tower, you might not have lived the night.

Note that at no point does Liandrin say that she did anything to stop such a thing, which would have been false but a lot more reassuring.

“You do not have to come,” Liandrin said. “You can wait here for me, safely enclosed by the fence until I come for you. Or perhaps the Black Ajah will find you before anyone else.” Her smile was not pleasant.

Then Liandrin started cackling and after she recovered began to mutter to herself about how she'd show "them", she'd show them all!

And none of the girls were the least bit suspicious. I can get Elayne (too used to Elaida) and Egwene (too eager to be the best) not getting it but Nynaeve and Min should be ashamed.

Time seemed to stretch out, as if the cold crept over her by the width of one hair at a time, and every hair took minutes.

Really it's a miracle any person or animal can cross this kind of threshold at all. It must do terrible things to your blood pressure. (Have I already said that? I should look back but I'm not going to! Suck it, readers!)

“As long as you know you deserved to,” she murmured, “then you didn’t deserve to.” Suddenly she chuckled. “Sometimes I think it was sayings like that more than anything else that created the title of Wisdom. Well, here’s another. You break your neck, and I’ll see it mended just so I can break it again.”

1. Yeah, Egwene definitely has humility at times. Haters forget that.

2. Nynaeve absolutely would. I imagine she never finds out about Rand's post-series situation because if she did she'd kill him and raise him again just for leaving everyone in the lurch like that.

“Elaida taught me a little about the Ways. She would not say much. Not enough,” she added glumly. “Or maybe too much.”

You know, considering that pre-series Elaida isn't a powermad fool corrupted by a source of evil so foul it violently reacts with actual evil, I don't think we give her enough credit for how miserable it must have been being Elayne's tutor. "What are the Ways? What's a sa'angreal? How many people can I link with? What if I did X to a ter'angreal instead of Y? Is there a weave to cure all of the injured animals I found in the last three months?"

“Elaida says the rules of nature do not hold in the Ways. At least, not the way they do outside.”

I feel like we had this infodump before. Frankly, I actually find it kinda realistic that Egwene has absolutely no memory of it now though (Ha! Now my poor memory has a point! Suck it again, readers!).

Somehow, she had thought the Shadow’s taint on the Ways would hide it from her. She could sense that taint, after a fashion. It was faint and had nothing to do with saidar, but she was sure that reaching for the True Source here would be like baring her arm to foul, greasy smoke in order to reach a clean cup.

I feel like this was probably meant to hint at some aspect of the metaphysics that came to play when cleansing the taint or maybe using Callandor, but it never quite went anywhere. It is good confirmation at least that what's gone wrong with saidin isn't something unique to men.

“Moiraine does not know so much as she thinks.” She popped the cheese into her mouth with a smile.

Liandrin isn't as right as she thinks, I suspect, but I do enjoy the smugness. What tools might she have to deal with the Black Wind herself? I doubt very much that the Forsaken have any expertise or tools for this kind of scenario, so if she does have a method, it's something the Third Age Aes Sedai came up with.

Egwene, what if, after all you are going through for him, Rand doesn’t marry you? What if he marries some woman you’ve never seen before, or Elayne, or me? What then?

Min is using the inclusive or, naturally.

Egwene made herself go along with it, saying if she did become a Green she would have ten Warders.

Well, she's one-seventh Green and one seventh of ten is one and some, which is basically the total number of Warders Egwene takes. Completely accidental non-foreshadowing arrived at through dumb math tricks and either acknowledging that Egeanin isn't much of a Warder or, more popularly with the fandom, suggesting that Gawyn is a fraction of a person - and a smaller fraction at that.

She would not let anyone glimpse the parchment she compared to the Guidings, stuffing it away with a curt, “It is nothing you would understand,” when Nynaeve asked.

Considering Liandrin's track record, we must assume that she's actually being at least Aes Sedai honest here and that Nynaeve wouldn't understand what she's seeing. So either it's very esoteric or it's at least a subtle affirmation of Liandrin's being evil and not a glaring sign of one.

“We are here,” Liandrin said, smiling. “I have brought you at last to where you must go.”

Speaking of glaring signs...

Oh wait, we're at the end of the chapter. I'm not going to talk about anything now. Next time: Damane.

[dansnaturepictures]

15/01/23-Sabine’s Gull and more at South Moor

We came here today to look for the Sabine’s Gull which has been around which I was hoping would stay for this weekend, it had been seen today and as we arrived in a shower I was thrilled to pick it out on the water in the lagoon. It then flew to some mud in the lagoon in front of a large bit of dark vegetation which I couldn’t quite tell what it was, it seemed to have seaweed mixed in it. It was settled for a long time here, did fly and land a bit further along and stood for a bit before returning to the original spot. I was overjoyed to spend an hour maybe more watching this epic bird. It’s so beautiful with its striking brown head and shiny yellow on the bill and neat grey wings. A dinky delight of a bird, a dazzling and beautifully marked gull. It was so amazing and breathtaking to see. Towards the end of our time here it flew, parading right over our head allowing astonishing and intimate views, such a precious moment. It’s not often with rare birds you get such good views of it both stationary and in fight so this was a great balance in some fantastic views of this bird. I took the first, fourth, fifth and ninth pictures in this photoset of this bird today.

Just under a month after we got our last life tick (the American Wigeon at Pennington four weeks ago today in fact) this is the first Sabine’s Gull we have ever seen. I had hoped to see one of these for a while now, and it feels so good to. My 283rd bird in my life and 119th species seen this year. I feel euphoric to have seen a new bird so early in a year again and it’s always good to get a new bird under the belt early in a year to give the year something that none of my others have had.

There were a key trio of other great birds seen here this afternoon with a smart looking Greenshank seen nicely, almost a Kestrel hovering against a rainbow I was an inch or so away from that but it was nice to see this bird all the same and a fair few Rock Pipits. These cheery dainty birds flying around in a group bigger than I’ve seen before I think, I am thrilled to be on one of my best ever runs for them seeing so many at different places either side of the change in year. I took the tenth and final pictures in this photoset of Wigeon which were nice to see today too.

As sun took over well after the shower that rainbow which I took the third picture in this photoset of added nicely to an afternoon of breathtaking landscape with the salt marsh, views into the vast Langstone Harbour, great views of the Hayling Island bridge and oysterbeds and over to Portsmouth with the Spinnaker Tower looking nice and ivy overhanging a channel of water beautifully at the start. It was good to see the sun heading down creating some stunning orange sky scenes in a good afternoon and day again of interesting sky scenes. I took the second, sixth, seventh and eighth pictures in this photoset of views here today. We’d never properly been to this spot before near to Hayling Island oysterbeds which we know so well and we left with a very good impression of this great wild spot that has a bit of a nature reserve.

On the way here I enjoyed briefly seeing winter heliotrope nearby on a verge my flower of the week with the ones I’ve seen at Lakeside. At home today Magpie, Jackdaw, Goldfinch and Starling were good to see as well as nice sunny scenes and the moon nestled into a nice cloud scene this morning. A fantastic and memorable weekend for a few reasons for me, I hope you all have a good week.

Wildlife Sightings Summary: My first ever Sabine’s Gull, great views of Brent Geese, Great Crested Grebe and Little Egret, Little Grebe, Black-headed Gull, Herring Gull, Greenshank, Redshank, dashing Grey Plover which was another highlight, Dunlin, Turnstone, Oystercatcher, possible Lapwing flying, Mallard, Wigeon, Teal, Red-breasted Merganser, Moorhen, lovely Linnets flying across, Rock Pipit, possible Meadow Pipit too, Woodpigeon and Carrion Crow. I heard Robin.

[howmcnythings]

This day was supposed to be special. It was supposed the be a day to celebrate her, a mother, for the first time ever. Her first mother’s day where she was the mother. She always tried to celebrate it as a kid, but it was never a great day. Once she was adopted, she would buy Aalis flowers, but that was about it, because it was always such a hard day for her before that. When she got pregnant, she was excited about the fact that maybe this day could become something good, something that would take over the bad memories.

“Happy mother’s day, momma!” Callista said, running down from her bedroom. “Momma? Where are you?” she asked, pulling the card out that she’d made for the woman. “I have a present,” she called out. 

Walking through the house, she looked for her mom, eventually finding her in the living room. When Callista got closer, she realized that her mom wasn’t awake. The coffee table had a dusting of cocaine on it, and the floor around her parents was littered with empty liquor bottles. It wasn’t an uncommon sight, but it was one she was sad to see. 

“Momma?” 

Her mother let out a small groan, but that was it. Her parents were both passed out, and it was only 2pm. Callista looked at the card in her hand, and crumpled it up, tears streaming down her cheeks as she pulled a blanket over her mom, before throwing the card in the kitchen garbage.

Flipping through the channels on the television, everything was just upsetting. Everything was about mother’s day. Special episodes of any show she could think of, even the cooking shows were playing mother’s day specials. She couldn’t escape it. This day was supposed to be a happy one, but instead she was sitting alone on Ren’s couch. 

“I’m home,” Callista called out, putting down her backpack at the front door. She pulled out the gift she’d made at school that day. It was a picture frame, made out of popsicle sticks, and decorated with paint, glitter, and stick on jewels. She was so proud of it, her frame was the straightest out of everyone’s. She didn’t know if her mom would even like it, but she put a lot of work into it. “I have a present for momma.”

“You’re late, you little piece of shit,” her father hissed, greeting her in the hallway.

Callista sighed. “The bus was running behind,” she explained. “I didn’t mean to be late. I’m sorry,” she said. She was only seven. What else could she do? She didn’t know how to get home on foot, which would have taken a long time too. The bus was her only option.

“What the fuck is this?” her dad asked, snatching the gift out of her hand. “Your ma and I can’t fuckin’ sell this shit! What would you bring her this garbage for?” he shouted at her. “You wanna bring ma a present, you bring her shit she can use or sell, none of this fuckin’ cheap shit,” he added, throwing it across the house.

Callista watched as her creation broke apart after hitting the wall. “My picture frame..” she said sadly, hanging her head sadly. Her father grabbed her by the hair, pulling her face up. His other hand collided hard with her face. What he said to her next was a blur. She had to try to keep her eyes on him, but his words weren’t absorbed. She was too busy trying not to cry. She could feel the throbbing pain of her cheek and right eye socket from where he’d hit her. One tear fell down her cheek.

“Now go get me a beer, or I’ll give you something to really fuckin’ cry about,” he finished, shoving her against the wall before he went to sit in his recliner.

When a commercial came on showing a mother with her new baby celebrating the day, Callista found herself throwing her glass against the wall, letting out an angry yell as she did so. As if detoxing wasn’t hard enough, she was stuck knowing that this day was never going to be good for her. She was a mom now, and she didn’t get to celebrate. She might not ever get to celebrate.

She always swore that she wouldn’t become her parents. She was half way there. She had been using with her daughter in the house, and that was already the first step. She hadn’t ever neglected Marina, but she had definitely made questionable choices, and now that she was sober, she knew that. But she still never expected that she wouldn’t have Marina there. Tears poured down her face as she let out loud sobs, letting herself feel everything for the first time since Marina was born, as she began to clean up the shards of glass.

She was a mother, it was mother’s day, and she didn’t even know where her child was. 

[adviserbabycom]

Lollipop Baby Monitor Review

Looking for a baby monitor that's fast and easy to set up? Look no further than the Lollipop baby camera. Our camera is compatible with both iOS and Android systems, so you can connect it to your phone in minutes. Plus, our advanced night vision ensures you can keep an eye on your little one even in the dark. And if you have more than one child, our multi-streaming feature lets you watch them all at once. So relax and take a break - the Lollipop baby camera has got you covered. What're good folks? D Anthony here from the dad fog today, we're gonna talk about a baby monitor, but not just any baby monitors a monitor that incredibly resembles a Lollipop. Lollipop: Best Wireless Baby Monitor with APP The good folks over at Lollipop sent this over for me to take a look at it. And boy, did I take a look at it? It's my wow. Lollipop cons: All right. Before we get started, I know we were supposed to be working on this consistency thing. It was supposed to be a video, you know, every week I think behind like one, but I have a good reason why I've been working on something.  We have a clothing line called create dope humans, and now these shirts are available to toddlers, youth, and infants picking up one of these shirts is a great way to support the channel. And if you're into that kind of thing, just go ahead, click the link and the description without first there do baby monitors have come a long way since the first one in 1937.  And this one here that we're looking at is pretty sleek. And I'm very excited to show it to you guys. Now, our four-month-old Aaliyah is no longer sleeping in our bed and she is now in her crib far, far, far away. We still need visibility to her, which is why this baby monitor comes into play. Now, when it comes to baby monitors, here is what is important to me, safety and privacy, convenience and ease of use useful features. Lollipop Cons: price Lollipop cons: price  The biggest thing I worry about when it comes to any Wi-Fi monitor is has the company has taken the correct precautions to prevent unauthorized usage and access to my baby monitor privacy mode on Lollipop gives access only to people who are connected to your Wi-Fi network, reducing the risk of an outsider, accessing the monitor. That is a good thing. I've seen countless stories of monitors being hacked too easily. So this big deal really big deal from me. Privacy mode is for anybody who is connected to your network, but if you're anything like me and you like to take late night strolls around the neighborhood, by yourself, you're clearly away from your Wi-Fi network. In that sense, there's an option for you to cut that privacy mode off and you can still have access while you are away out to dinner. The babysitter comes through long on the lonely, through the lonely neighborhood. Something like that. Another feature that is good as soon as somebody else accesses your Lollipop. As soon as somebody else accesses your Lollipop, you get a notification. So in the event that something happens, you will get a notification that says this person has just now connected to your Lollipop. Let's look at features. The packaging here is incredibly sleek. I do enjoy the branding efforts here. Now you can get this in a few different colors. They have pink and they also have teal. I think it'll be good if they had a larger range of colors, just, you know, to kinda keep it. But I think it's part of their branding and their, their marketing strategy.  They're only sticking with a couple of colors. We went with the teal because it matches the little flowers that Rachel put on the wall. What comes in the package is you get some screws, some mounting screws, and you get this right here. This is actually a branch. You can put it in there, like so, and mount to the wall. I actually thought this was an antler thought. This was a dear antler. I was like, why, why would they give me an antler? And they only gave me one at that. Definitely not an antler, definitely is a branch for wall decor design. Now the cool thing about some of the features on here is you can take pictures in real-time and store them to your library right there on the Lollipop. Now, while you can take pictures, I haven't found a way to be able to take videos and maybe something that they offer in, their upsell of Lollipop care, but on this free version, just day today, I haven't been able to figure out how to record video Now, if you have a Google home or some kind of screen with a virtual assistant, you can connect your Wi-Fi baby monitor to these displays on the website. It says that it is compatible with Google home, but I have not been able to connect my, um, my Lollipop to Google home. It just, it just doesn't work. There's no dropdown for it. I went through it about 17 times. It, you can't connect it.  And that, that kind of sucks because in the middle of the night, you know, something happens. You have to kind of go through the phone and open it. And there's no just external monitor for you to just kind of roll over, press a quick button, and look at like some other non-Wi-Fi related monitors. The image is very crisp on the Lollipop The image is very crisp on the Lollipop. I like the way that it looks on my phone. It is broadcast in 1080 P. But the thing that I just don't really care for is I can't rotate the camera at all. So I have to put the camera in a very specific location. I have to be comfortable with that location. There's no looking around the room or anything like just baby, baby, baby. That's it. Now, if you like, you can bend your Lollipop and sit it may be on the table or on a nightstand next to your crib. It has what is most likely a wire on the inside of this silicone exterior that's bendable that allows you to place the baby monitor on a table or a stand mounting is pretty easy. Soon as you open up the app, there are three different ways that you can Mount your Lollipop. Now we put ours right on the crib directly facing kind of diagonally downward, but you can just as easily Mount it on the, uh, antler or the branch. If you like, you can set the monitor up to notify you. If the room gets over a certain DPS. So if the room gets too loud, you get a notification on your phone that, that there is an increase or uptake noise. That uptake is most likely your baby crying. Now, if your child is the one that needs music to go to sleep, there are some options on there that you can use. Noark chopping a hairdryer, a vacuum sea wave, some water. And if the baby is still in the womb, a hairdryer, she doesn't care about a hairdryer. All right, when it comes to cost, you're looking at about $150 for your very own Lollipop, baby monitor. In my opinion, it's a very competitive price considering everything that it does. And when you look in the baby Wi-Fi market, even regular Wi-Fi camera markets, it's on parts about that. The additional thing that they add is their Lollipop care. Now that ranges from $29, all the way up to $200 per year, you get a few extra features like the ability to record continuously for 24 hours. Now, I think the basic version is just fine and it's worked for us pretty well. So depending on your style, there may or may not be a need to actually add on this Lollipop care. So that's it guys. That's all I got for you guys today. I hope you guys enjoyed this. Um, very cool. Looking looks like an eye. That's it for me today. I hope you guys enjoyed the product review for the Lollipop, baby monitor. Lollipop Wi-Fi® baby camera FAQ I think that's a great idea! They just need the login info, and I keep one phone logged into my account so we don't have any problems with swapping phones or forgetting who was supposed to watch which kids at what time. The monitor is a WI-FI-based baby camera and the live feed is through Lollipop. However, if your home Wi-Fi crashes then this will not work because there's no way to get internet access on its own! But luckily for you, we have Network Diagnosis which helps diagnose networks so that might be helpful in setting up an environment where parents can view their babies easily without having any problems viewing them via smartphone app or computer screencast when they're away from home Lower the DB level Read the full article

[songs-about-girls-like-me]

chapter 6: the school camp pt.2, romance defeat

In an obvious turn of events, I found myself in the bathrooms mirror and still didn't like my look for the disco. Not that it was bad, it just didn't have the vibe that I wanted… and I looked underdressed as hell. But I decided again to not let that make me feel stupid or ruin my night. The idea of a dark place blasting music was so exciting for me, like a concert or a club and I was ready to dance my heart out. Nothing was stopping me from dancing, not even my ugly shirt.

The september air was fresh and the sun was just finishing setting as I left the sinks with my long shadow. I walked pass the stone benches where most of the girls were sitting and made my way to the path of gravel to wait.

"Hey" one of my classmates was there too.

"Hey" I said back.

"Are you excited? Do I look alright?" She seemed nervous, with a glimpse of a rush in her eyes. I understood the feeling and broke into a smile, excited, though I praised myself for looking chiller. I looked so chill. Maybe a bit too chill, but whatever.

"Yea, you look great" I said to her. The sun had disappeared between the trees in a matter of seconds and it was officially dark now.

"Thanks!" She sighed. She was significantly taller than me and was kinda popular, but in a way where she was more like... an exact live version of an insecure pawn to the actual popular girls, like in a disney channel movie type of way. I noticed she was wearing lip gloss and felt a bit like a baby bug next to her. I guessed she had something to talk about, and me, being so extremely low profile made her trust in my secretiveness. "Rees. I like someone, do you want to know who he is?" There it was. A smirk crossed my face. I loved secrets almost more than anything.

"Yea, tell me"

Our instructors were now asking us to follow them.

"Girls, follow the line, let's get back to the house!"

"You promise-promise to keep it a secret?"

"Yes, duh"

"I like [random boy]" said Emma as we walked up the path of gravel. In the dark, I managed to hide a grimace from her. I'd known girls found him cool and hot, but hearing it in the flesh was crazy. He was popular, but had zero appeal in my eyes. He looked like an ugly TV host to me, with a horrid gelled hairstyle.

"Oh, cool" I assured her.

"Do you think he could like me? Like… do I look nice?" I though she should care about anything else but that dude. I didn't find her cool (mostly because of this insecure pawn attitude she had) but still: it was insane that she liked him. I just guessed love was like that.

"Sure!" I nodded my head as we made our way around a flower bed of violets. "He- you're awesome Em." I had to suppress my disapproval on her crush while I tried giving her my take on what she should do, cause she kept asking. [Random boy] was ugly but "cool/popular" and I guessed that's just school hierarchy. Then my heart started feeling the electronic dance pop coming our way from the main living room in the house.

The disco was mid but it felt like a big deal, and I liked the fact that the space had a lot of windows, all with a dark view to the woods and they had an actual disco ball hanging from the ceiling. Our teacher, a 40something man with a really funny vibe who said math was "his passion", was there as a chaperone/ adult in charge and he helped making strobe lights with a lantern. Half an hour later, the room was stupidly hot with tween's sweat despite the weather being around 12°C and they had already played Pa Panamericano by "Yolanda be Cool and DCUP" twice. I was having fun, and appreciated that the music was actually really really loud, to the point where it was hard to talk over it. Ella and I had danced together to some songs and got really excited when they played California Gurls cause it was the song our teacher was choreographing in Jazz. But when some Ke$ha or Jason Derulo got played, I would become someone unrecognizable. TiK ToK was already an anthem and I felt great to be able to dance to it in a party type of context. I tried hard to not feel shy. I knew I could be cool and have fun, and so I kept dancing, with my hands in the air and moving my hips like yea.

A group of girls with boys started forming in one of the corners of the room, leaving out everyone but the "popular crowd" to dance between them like they were any different from the rest of my classmates. Like we were all kids, except for them who were actually cool and grown-ups, and were actually meant to be in this party scene.

I didn't care about other girls outdoing me in terms of hair or clothes, or the fact that they had more friends or those aeropostale shirts. I didn't mind if they were closer to our teachers, or talked to boys. Or the fact that I was wearing my grass-stained jeans tonight and they had brought body mist. But for some reason I minded the dancing.  And the popular girls had this obnoxious air about them while dancing, as if they could dance better than the rest of us girls. They, and specially Mia (yes, the one who had cursed on the name of Jazz and then found it too hard) were now showing off their dance skills as if they deserved to be thought of as "cooler than everyone else". I couldn't help but care. They all were dancing in a group mixed with girls and boys. I needed to prove to myself that I could be seen dancing. And I kept catching Mia, looking conceited, with her eyes closed and slightly uncordinated arms, quietly making everyone agree to her being the coolest newest most awesome girl here. And I cared. I was not going to silently agree to her being awesome. I knew I was a better dancer. To the trained eye (meaning, me) she even looked clumsy, while everyone liked how she danced.

So I danced and when I felt shy I reminded myself that my dance teacher had given me a little more attention lately, and I forced myself to losen up and listen carefully to the music (which is what I do even to this day lol). I danced telling myself I was really cool and then at some point I decided I needed water. The place was really dark as I crossed the room and got to the hallway leading to a second lobby where they had put out a cart with small plastic cups of water. The lights were dim, coming from the kitchen in the next room. Aaaand I lowkey knew Brody was going to be there and that's why I chose to get water right at that moment, even if part of me thought I was being insane.

"Hey" I picked up a cup from the cart. He was wearing a padded black nylon jacket that seemed too warm. I would always forget how “whatever” he actually made me feel. His outfit was better than mine but I reassured myself that my vibe was cooler. I was chill and outgoing.

"Hi" he said.

"Needed some water" I drank from the small cup, finishing half the water in one go.

"Same." He seemed nervous. Or maybe he was just sweaty. The vibe between us was a bit weirder than usual but I still wanted more water.

"I'm having fun, are you?" I tried to make conversation.

"Yes. Kinda needed a break"

"Yea. It's so hot." He nodded and I drank water. He drank water too. "Aren't you hot?" I asked, noticing beads of sweat on his face.

"Yes! I actaully am. I should take-" He stopped mid-sentence and took the jacket off.

These cups were probably the ones they used to make 100ml lime jelly for our dessert, and when I finished two of them, I took them to a trash can nearby. I picked up a third cup. We were too quiet for a second. And then for another second. I didn’t know what I had expected or wanted from this scene. I didn't like him like that, he was just a boy, and a short one at that.

"Oh, you're here?" a voice appeared from the hallway. It was Mia, and her blonde curls made an actual cool look, even if it was a bit messy with the humid air. "Oh, you took your jacket off? Why? It's kinda cold." Brody and I had been talking from across the cart and I almost felt she didn't notice me cause I was standing 1 metter away from him. But I knew it was impossible.

"Do you want my jacket?" Brody stepped up to her, looking a bit more confident for the first Time.

"Yes, sure." Mia turned around to face me but avoided eye contact while he put the jacket on her shoulders. I suddenly felt as if I shouldn't be there. But I was there first and I actually wanted water so I tried my best to pretend I though nothing about it. I took another sip from my cup. "Thanks.” She gave him a smile. “Come on, let's get back!! Wooo!" she said.

"Sure!" He said meeting her energy.

I was left alone with my water. I felt pissed off. And I felt young looking at them act like that, even if they didn't even looked cool. She took him so swiftly though, I was lowkey impressed even if I was also pissed. I could’ve never done that. It didn't really matter if she took him, cause I never would've. I wasn't decided on anything like that.

I kept thinking. Mia and Brody made no sense together. She was way "cooler" than him. And she didn't seem emotionally involved at all. I thought someone had probably matched them together. I could see Miles, Brody’s friend, behind it. He was the one trying to create a scene that day he told me Rome thought I was pretty, or liked me or whatever it was. Somehow I had no doubts, it was Miles. Either way, Brody wasn't anything mine or even close to me, and I was okay with that. I accepted my defeat on romantic drama for the night, knowing the only bubbly feeling a would get in my heart was the beat of the music inside my chest, and I took the third plastic cup to the trash. It was good that I didn't actually liked lame ass Brody, and the fact that I could keep on dancing all night (at least until 9 or 10pm) .There it was, a beat I recognized making a fuzz inside my heart: it was Justin. The first notes of Baby were playing in the main room and so I sprinted my way back to the hall. "Ohhh, Ohhh" I was screaming and was physically caught to stop my run by a bunch of my nice girls classmates, just in time for Justin to start singing the first verse.

[tranzfalgar]

okay it’s time for some stardew valley headcanons for the bachelor/ette(s) so let’s GOOOO

Alex:

- he always awakes before his grandparents, and on warmer days he’ll go down to the beach to watch the sunrise.

- friends with elliot! the two of them sit on the side of the dock sometimes and just chat about life.

- knows how to make cookies, as evelyn taught him when he was a bit younger

- wary of the saloon, as he doesn’t really like the smell of alcohol and only goes into it if he’s forced to!

- if you marry him, he can and will pick you up randomly to surprise you while you’re working!

- if married, he will “bench press” your kids once they become toddlers, and it always makes them giggle

- hates the winter and gets cold really easily. on the first day of fall he’s already bundled up wanting it to be summer again.

Elliot:

- willy is like a father to him. the two of them sit on the docks and watch the fish swim by together

- sometimes he’ll braid his hair, and leah will bring flowers from the forest and weave them into his hair.

- has a rlly pretty singing voice, and likes to record piano covers in his spare time

- if you marry him and the two of u have kids, he’ll always braid their hair in the morning and tuck flowers behind their ears.

- he brings home fresh fish he caught and makes himself dinner every night. that’s why he’s an excellent cook.

- has actually caught a legendary fish before!

- his eyes change color, they can go from blue to green to brown in the same day. people call them the “prismatic shard of eyes”

Harvey:

- he’s so clumsy that sometimes he’ll even trip over air. due to this, he has little bruises all over his knees and elbows.

- his favorite animals are birds. sometimes he’ll go outside and just give them some bird seed. he loves watching them fly around.

- not only is he fascinated with planes, but he’s also fascinated with the weather. as a kid he used to watch the weather channel, and he dreamed of becoming a weatherman.

- when he needs to focus really hard, he’ll pull his hair back with a headband

- him and his mother were and still are very close, and he writes letters to her at least once a week

- he cannot cook to save his life, but he’s an incredible baker! will make you little treats if you’re friends or married

- he always wears a wristwatch, but the time is always 6 minutes behind. he likes it because it has a plane engraved into the side against his wrist.

Sam:

- he had adhd, and his stims include flapping his hands, tapping his foot and strumming his guitar

- he has a beautiful singing voice, think like wilbur soot but a bit more high pitched?

- the reason he likes cactus fruit so much is because he just plants them and lets them grow. he loves succulents because they don’t give him an allergic reaction!

- cannot play video games for shit. sebastian and abigail have banned him from multi-player games because he just sucks so bad.

- love language is acts of service, simply because he likes singing for people he cares about and doing little things for them!

- if you marry him, he will bring his guitar into the coop and/or barn and sing to the animals. they have learned to run over a greet him, since they love his singing.

- his hair is actually curly, but you’re unable to tell due to how much he gels and straightens his hair.

- has mastered the art of the puppy dog eyes

Sebastian:

- loves the hell out of halloween, but is scared of literally everything. he nearly cried watching a horror movie with sam and abigail.

- really good with a slingshot! so if he were to go into the mines, he would wreck some monsters shit with his slingshot skills

- he had glow in the dark stars on his ceiling, but removed them. he used to love the stars and space, but came to resent them because it was his sisters thing.

- he like…irl blushes. like an anime character. when he’s embarrassed, upset, flustered, his face will go all pink. everyone picks on him for it.

- has/had a crush on most of the towns singles. he is a bisexual disaster and secretly a romantic so….take from that what you will.

- a natural born ginger, but dyes his hair. he also has freckles on his nose! and he has an eyebrow slit because of a scar!!

- for some stupid reason, he takes really good care of his hands? like he always makes sure they don’t get calloused, and his nails are always painted black, despite using his hands all the time for work.

Shane:

- he cannot cook. he burned pasta noodles because he didn’t know you had to put water in the pan.

- he still has a chicken plushie from when he was a baby, and it still sits on his bed. and if he cuddles with it at night? no one needs to know.

- has a huge birthmark on his side shaped like a heart

- really good at mixology, so i think that when joja gets shut down, shane works at the saloon and makes the drinks while gus cooks. he adds a whole new section on the menu!

- friends with sebastian. they paint each other’s nails from time to time, or sit in the rain together and just talk.

- kinda strong as hell? he lifts boxes in joja for work, as well as carrying around jas, so i’m assuming he could just….pick the farmer and his friends up?

- he has the most contagious laugh, it used to be a rare sound, but now that it’s a pretty common occurrence, shane makes people laugh all the time with his own laugh.

Abigail:

- buff. she is buff as hell. her and alex work out together sometimes, since she expressed a desire for adventure. she has picked up sam and sebastian with no warning and thrown them into the ocean

- can talk to animals due to her being the daughter of the wizard! so sometimes she’ll go to marnies farm and just chat with the cows or something

- if she sees a tree, she WILL climb it. she loves it so much, it’s just so adrenaline inducing for her.

- her and sebastian tried to go into the mines before but sam stopped them because it wouldn’t have been very safe. they were all 14.

- trying to learn to play the ukulele with a little help from sam. it’s frustrating, but she really likes the sound of it, and she’s determined as hell.

- absolutely cracked at any and all video games he plays. mario kart? she will kick your ass. animal crossing? her island has 5 stars. pokémon? she always wins. you can’t stop her, she’s too powerful.

- she has glasses, but prefers contacts, since glasses would get in the way of her adventuring.

Emily:

- not only can she sew, but she also makes her own soaps and candles! any form of creation she adores.

- loves flowers, and has a lot of little potted ones in her room. she raises them, gives them little names and personalities, and then brings them to sandy and tells her all about each flower

- she can roller skate, and it’s her preferred method of transportation. she can do a bunch of fun tricks as well!

- has an eyebrow slit

- making cute little baskets of homemade gifts is her favorite thing to do for her friends. sometimes she’ll just leave them on their doorsteps for no reason other than she wants to!

- can SPRINT in heels. like even 6 inch heels she can just RUN and it scares everyone who sees it.

- she loves the sounds of birds chirping in the morning, and she’s able to identify the name of the bird by its chirping and calls

Haley:

- is able to perfectly crack and drink from coconuts. that’s why she loves them so much.

- has the worst sense of direction. she’s lucky she lives in a small town, or she’d get lost all the time

- the spring is her favorite time of year, simply because she loves to capture life coming back in those spring months. baby animals, blooming flowers, her friends on the beach or just chilling in the sun, all of it

- her most prized possession is the very first picture her and emily took as kids on their parents polaroid. it’s taped to her mirror

- has a little beauty mark under her lip, but it normally isn’t visible due to being covered with makeup!

- she’s able to do her own nails! this is because she is ambidextrous, yet she doesn’t know, because it’s never been brought up

- she fucking LOVES learning about and identifying plants, trees and flowers. she knows so many it’s crazy. she has a great memory.

Leah:

- resident true crime enthusiast and ghost hunter. she drags elliot with her around town to go hunting for ghosts. they also watch documentaries together!

- has a bunch of little scars on her hands from her artwork

- to get inspiration for works, she’ll go on walks at different times of the day, different seasons, different routes, and she’ll turn each walk into a work of art. depending on all the environment and those who she runs into, each piece is vastly different.

- animals love her, and will sometimes just follow her around for no reason. she doesn’t mind at all, she kinda loves it.

- friends with emily. they are currently teaching each other their own forms of art, since they love learning from each other!

- really good at dancing, she’ll dance while she’s working on projects and she’ll hum a song to herself

- her favorite statue was created after she went on a walk, ran into abigail, and the two of them went swimming in the ocean and stayed there as the sun set and the stars came out. she has a little crush on abigail.

Maru:

- her hair is ALWAYS tied up, it’s impossible for her to work if her hair is in her eyes

- when she was a kid she wanted to be an astronaut, because she loves the stars, but she found she prefers the science and math behind it all

- she pierced her own ears, she has little star earrings!

- watches cartoons and geeks out about them with penny when they meet up in town!

- for some odd reason, she is terrified of butterflies. no one who knows her, or even maru herself have ANY idea why, but she will run away if she sees one.

- her favorite memory was the one night her and sebastian stayed up really late as kids and snuck outside to look at the stars (back when sebastian still loved them) and they ended up seeing a meteor shower

- she presses flowers as a hobby, and just keeps them in a little notebook alongside her ideas for projects and gadgets.

Penny:

- while she’s cleaning her and pam’s home, she finds herself singing to herself. she has yet to be caught by anyone

- each day, her hair is done ever-so-slightly different. each morning, she likes to change it up, and sometimes jas or vincent will give her something to put in her hair

- also interested in ghosts, will occasionally join elliot and leah on their adventures

- she is naturally really warm, so she doesn’t have to bundle up as much during the winter. the kids cling to her because she’s like a human space heater

- has a bit of a geeky side, and she loves to watch cartoons a lot. when she can find the time, she always watches them. they being her lots of comfort.

- has a small scar on her side from when she tripped over as a child onto something sharp. she likes it because with two freckles, it makes a little smiley face

- loves the water and the feeling of sea wind in her hair. she secretly wants to learn to drive a boat, so she can feel that wind in her hair whenever she wants.