#the kind of guy who will lie about salt’s favourite chip flavour for No Reason

[heres-to-all-that-is-mine]

I may have led you to believe Chip is some kind of straightman (in the comedy sense), boring little guy but I need you to know that is misleading. He is very capable of being like that, it’s kinda part of the job, but in truth - off the clock - it’s just a little weirdo

[coffeeandcalligraphy]

Reeve’s birthday + mini character profile!

Hey People of Earth!

So it’s become a bit of a trend to use my characters’ birthdays as an excuse to post mini character profiles for them, ha, so here we are again with another one! I’ve written this in advance (on the 12th) because I’ll be at a Current Joys concert for most of the 13th (her actual birthday). Hope you enjoy getting to know the MC of the FOSTERED books. (who I strangely don’t talk about nearly enough lol)

This is her:

This is also her (both by @sarahkelsiwrites):

This is Reeve’s aesthetic that I just whipped up lol:

Name: Reeve Aldaine

Age: 15-19 over the courses of books 1-6

Nicknames and from who: I think she was only ever called Evie by her older sister who isn’t in the books for very long.

Favourite restaurant: East Side Mario’s according to @sarahkelsiwrites (or Five Guys) lol

Favourite candy: Sour skittles or wine gums (according to @sarahkelsiwrites)

Favourite type of cake: Vanilla

Favourite hobby: Being salty for no apparent reason, being that toxic (TM) friend who lowkey knows it but if u bring it up is like whut no how am I toxic

Favourite colour: Purple

MBTI type: ISFP

Favourite cereal: Mini wheats

Favourite breakfast food in general: Crepes

If she had a job in real life, what would it be: Anything in retail (Sarah says at a perfume counter) because she’s rather adaptable and not picky though I think she’d really enjoy being a barista, lol. 

Favourite thing to do: Reeve loves salting about other people. She isn’t an outwardly bitchy person, per se, but she likes toying with potential scenarios of what people could be thinking of her and why. She isn’t a particularly creative person, so she doesn't have any sort of concrete hobby, for example, but if there’s salt involved, she’s down. 

Does she like The Strokes or does she not like The Strokes: Yaaaaassss join the clubbbb (her fave song would probably be You Only Live Once).

Her actual aesthetic: Looking out a gloomy window while it’s raining, chipped black nail polish, the smell of rain on pine trees, the subsequent smell of the sap, maple syrup in clear, labelless bottles (so weirdly specific but truu), sprigs of dried lavender

If she was a gum flavour: Juicy fruit cuz she got all dat riiiipe juicy teaaaaa

Would she write books: No, ha. Although her voice itself is hella poetic. 

If she were a donut flavour: Sprinkles 4 dayz

If she were a beverage: Coca Cola in those vintage coke glasses or a glass of wine

If she had a favourite band: Daughter, but she’s also definitely into rock further along the alternative spectrum (and Whitney. Whitney for dayz).

Songs that remind me of her: 

(I would say all of Daughter but to specify)

- The End by Daughter

specifically these lyrics

They say there's something in my house That I should just get out, get out I don't want to be escaping No, I'm too busy moping around I'm too busy moping around I'm too busy moping around I'm too busy moping around I'm too busy moping around

- Smother by Daughter

I should go now quietly For my bones have found a place to lie down and sleep Where all my layers can become reeds All my limbs can become trees All my children can become me What a mess I leave To follow

- Shallows by Daughter

Let it all rain down From the blood stained clouds. Come out, come out, to the sea my love... And just Drown with me

- New Ways by Daughter

Washed out brain I have a dirty mind Oh, I need, I need new ways To waste my time I need new ways

- Numbers by Daughter

Chemically enlaced faces Black out nights and tight spaces We'll feel distant embraces Scratching hands 'round my waist, yeah I'll wash my mouth but still taste you

- Made of Stone by Daughter

What if I'm made of stone? Feeling is not a system Nervous I'm caught in a hold Hoping I'm over thinking I should be feeling more Draped over your bones Paint colours up the walls To spread our inspirations You are the likely cause Of what will be my demise

- A Hole in the Earth by Daughter

It's like an old ruin Your father's a liar while my father's lying down In a hole in the earth there And I'm scared I'll forget him I'm still haunted by those open wounds I won't express them truly to you

Likes: 

- Sitting in front of fireplaces + the sound of crackling wood

- The smell of smoke

- Rain

- Skipping rocks (she’s also v/ good at this)

- Melancholically reminiscing about her childhood

- Anything purple

- Swing-style rock

- @sarahkelsiwrites says Corn Pops

Some other stuff: 

Reeve out of all my characters, has probably had the most major character flip in terms of her arc. I’ve described her before on here as poetically existential, and I think that’s personally an excellent way to describe her. In the initial stages of the series, she was quite pessimistic, but there was very much still a tangible spring in her. She’s never been particularly warm, but as the series progresses, namely from book four onward, this becomes much clearer. Her morals (especially in book six) also take a turn in what I’d basically describe as moral decline. She’s had a bit of ‘anti-character-development’, by which I mean she’s sort of progressed backwards (and most likely will continue to). Because of this, she reads incredibly ambiguously, and in a lot of ways, like the antagonist of the story, due to her extreme perceptions of people in both her judgements, and interactions with them. (Thus she’d probably rub the reader as unlikable.) She’s a very direct person, who doesn’t quite understand her moral faults, but simultaneously exploits them. So for example, she might know she’s being judgemental, but not quite understand why (or why that’s not a good thing) and continue to impose that on others. 

She’s a very turbulent, negative person, mostly towards the latter half of the series. Whilst she’s always had these issues (such as jealousy and pettiness), they’ve almost been under the surface kind of issues. It’s kind of funny to think of it now, but @sarahkelsiwrites, and @imdisappointed (and myself) have always pointed out Reeve’s unlikable characteristics from the beginning. I always thought this was because I was doing something wrong, and only realized when writing book six, that these characteristics are actually a part of her character, making her incredibly morally grey (and sometimes, morally wrong). Because of this, the narration (since it is first person) often reads morally grey as well. She’ll often state something she doesn’t believe in as if she does believe it, which oftentimes feeds into her constant inner conflict. 

She’s a very critical person, to the point of being overtly so, and thus, will overstep her boundaries in judging you if she feels you’ve either wronged her, or wronged someone she cares about. Though, she doesn’t vocalize these opinions, they almost reach the point of vulgarity through the narrative as they’re rehashed for the reader. 

She also harbours a lot of self-deprecation, and blames herself a lottttt for many a things, namely the various complications within her family, even if she couldn’t necessarily fix these things. She’s a fixer by heart, and not being able to patch up holes continuously bothers her. I’d describe her as self-loathing. I wouldn’t say she hates herself, I just think she hates the pawn of herself (sort of the persona she puts on), and hates what that person let her become. 

Ha, all of this was uber negative, but that isn’t all there is to her! She’s also an intensely emotional person (which can lead to baaare melodramaaaaa), so this really allows her to connect with other people on a really deep level. She doesn’t trust easily, due to her various traumas, but if she does trust you, you’ll feel it. She cares intensely about people (which can sometimes be a bad thing), but will try her hardest to be a supportive friend. So she does have a lot of stuff bogging her down a lot of the times, but will remain by your side (and hopefully not make the situation about her oops). 

I mentioned this before, but she’s also a very distant narrator. It’s sometimes hard to achieve this especially in the scenes I need her to be even more distant in (hence so many clarity issues haaaaha), so I’ve toyed around a bit with form in her POV. Some bits of these books are in verse, some in second person, and some in third. She is a first-person narrator, but I do enjoy experimenting a bit (especially in dissociative scenes). She’ll also insert herself into other characters’ situations (almost like pseudo dissociation lol) a lot, and go through possible events they may have gone through.

I think her development is the main reason these books went from YA to vaguely adult maybe, because she’s definitely gone down a viciously explicit emotional path (which I didn’t actually plan for, but am happy about). So yeah. Lots of things go on in her head, and I think she really does need a lot of time to dispel all of it, but she’s getting there. 

So that’s it for now! I haven’t really done an extensive profile for Reeve, even though I talk about her a lot, so hopefully this helps in getting to know her a bit better!

Thanks for reading!

--Rachel