#you have carl and ellie with a romance that embodies true friendship and teamwork

[overdressedcarp]

Questions courtesy of the fabulous @fisforfreakyme. Original post is here.

Hey, friend... I was having an off day and needed something to de-stress with for a while, so I went through the questions you came up with. It was really fun and helped to lift my mood, so thank you for sharing these.

1. Childhood favorite movie, and favorite movie now?

When I was a kid, in my family the go-to movies were “What About Bob?” and “The Princess Bride,” so I had large sections of both memorized by the time I was eleven or so. Also “Home Alone” and “Home Alone 2: Lost in New York,” both of which were obligatory viewing every Christmas.

My favorite movie now would probably be Pixar’s “Up,” followed by “Monsters, Inc.,” “Inside Out,” and anything else Pete Docter’s hands have touched.

2. Music that never fails to make you happy.

Tony Bennett is my go-to happy music. Anything jazz, really, but especially him. I also have five different renditions of “Puttin’ on the Ritz” saved to my Spotify because I love that song so much.

3. Do you play flash games?

Not really (most of my forays into the PC game world have been through Steam games like Portal and Terraria), but I’d be very open to recommendations.

4. Book you wish you could rewrite.

Honestly? Sir Walter Scott’s Ivanhoe. I read it in high school and still have the beginnings of an AU fanfiction saved on my computer somewhere. I got really invested in Brian de Bois-Gilbert as an antivillain (the fact that he’s a horrible person notwithstanding, he was easily one of the most complex characters in the book) and I was peeved when the narrative axed him. I still have vague dreams of writing an homage novel from his perspective that sets him down the long and winding road to becoming a halfway-decent person.

5. What happened to the dead man on the beach?

Ocean City, New Jersey. “America’s Greatest Family Resort,” the sign on the way in had bragged. There were supposedly some nice restaurants and a decent carnival on the boardwalk. “Supposedly,” because it was currently one in the morning and Adoniram was shivering in a poorly-lit parking lot up the hill from the beach.

“Admit it.” Olivia opened the car trunk and lifted out a wicker picnic basket. “You needed a vacation.”

Adoniram removed his glasses and wiped the frames on his shirt. “I don’t know if I’d call this a vacation.”

Olivia set the picnic basket on the ground, then hefted out a bulky beach umbrella. “Nonsense. We’ve got everything one could ask for. Pristine shoreline, cool breeze, attractive beach clothing...”

“Dead body.”

They both eyed the bundled-up corpse at the back of the trunk. Olivia pressed her latex-gloved fingertips together, then exhaled thinly.

“It’s a... working vacation.”

The beach was cold. Adoniram regretted letting Olivia talk him into the pair of high-end leather sandals; they were chafing his feet and acquiring more sand with every step.

Olivia had sent him down with the basket and the umbrella first, to set things up while she waited with the corpse. With the car. Waited with the car.

Adoniram unfolded the gaudy teal beach towel and shook it out over the sand. He laid it flat, adjusting the corners and smoothing the wrinkles. He could feel Olivia’s binoculars gazing down at him from the top of the hill. He planted the umbrella as best he could in the unsteady sand, then set the picnic basket full of food on top of the towel.

“I’ll wait with the car this time,” Adoniram said as he pulled himself up over the metal guardrail. He knocked his feet against the guardrail, then sat on top of it and started undoing the Velcro on his left sandal.

“You’ll do no such thing. I’m not carrying Phillip down there all by myself.”

“What have I told you about naming them?”

“Every life deserves dignity, Mr. Ross. Even the unsavory ones.”

Adoniram wasn’t sure how to respond to that, so he finished shaking the sand out of his sandals and joined Olivia at the trunk.

“Feet or head?” she asked.

“What kind of question is that?”

He ended up taking the feet. They worked their way down the hill to the beach, Adoniram stumbling backward and cursing the geological processes that produced sand, and Olivia looking much too pleasant in her wide-brimmed hat and the white sundress she was wearing over her hazmat suit.

They set up “Phillip”—the corpse the corpse the freaking corpse—on the beach towel. Adoniram turned around while Olivia changed the body into the swim shorts and t-shirt they’d bought from a box store on the drive down.

“For heaven’s sake, Mr. Ross, it’s just human anatomy.”

“It’s dead human anatomy, and I don’t want to look.”

“Where did you put the sunglasses?”

“Picnic basket.”

A moment of rummaging, then: “Ah. Thank you.”

Adoniram inhaled deeply, then chanced a peek over his shoulder. The body lay prone on the towel, sporting the orange “Life Is Good” t-shirt. Olivia had slipped the sunglasses over the body’s eyes. From the right angle, the fellow could almost pass for a run-of-the-mill sunbathing tourist. You know, at one in the morning in early April.

“That should do it,” said Olivia. She reached into the picnic basket and pulled out a sandwich wrapped in plastic. “Tuna?”

Adoniram’s stomach turned. “Uh, not hungry.”

“Well.” Olivia settled onto the sand, unwrapping the sandwich. “More for me, then.”

6. An inspiring quote.

Inspiration in three languages. (Photograph taken at Hellbrunn Palace in Salzburg, Austria)

7. Favorite pizza toppings.

Sausage or chicken. Not big on tomato sauce, though, so my ideal pizza would probably have a white sauce.

8. Do you have plush toys in your room?

Photographic evidence:

9. Describe your perfect day.

It is late autumn, a week or so before the first snow. The air is cold and crisp. In this perfect fantasy world I own a little apartment in a small but robust town, within biking distance from the local library.

I wake up, feeling unusually refreshed. I sit next to the window and read a chapter from my Bible as I listen to the birds talking to each other outside.

I put on soft and comfortable clothes, pack my laptop and sketchbook into a backpack, and ride my bicycle to the aforementioned library. The library has a small café in the back corner, so I select some books from the shelves and bring them to the café. I order tea and too many pastries. I sketch for an hour or two while messaging a friend over the internet, then take a break to read one of the books. It is a good book and I find myself shouting at the characters regularly in outbursts of catharsis. The librarians do not shush me because they are all sweet and slightly hard of hearing. I finish the book, then get up to stretch. I smell some books. I order more pastries.

I spend the afternoon writing on my laptop while listening to peppy jazz and swing music. I finish a draft of my current story and send it to a friend for feedback. The library is open late tonight. I order another cup of tea.

10. Ever punched someone?

My oldest nephew is about two and a half years younger than me, and we got into more than a few fights when we were kids. I whaled on him quite a bit for teasing me—something I very much regret, and not just because he’s now an athlete tall enough to put his elbow on my shoulder. :P That’s probably the closest I’ve gotten to punching anybody. I’m a shrimp, so even if I were inclined to get into fights it probably wouldn’t go well for me.

11. Cliché you are tired of seeing.

“We’re just friends” being used as a paper-thin cover-up for wanting to kiss someone passionately and angstily on a rooftop.

Ex.: “Hey, you guys spend a lot of time together and have verbally expressed affection on at least one occasion. *waggles eyebrows* Are you a ~couple~ now?” “Augh! No, how can you SAY that? How can you even imply that we would be interested in each other? We’re just FRIENDS, moron! I don’t even LIKE [other person] that much! ...Why, did [other person] *say* something about us being a couple?” (Ten minutes later: *passionate and angsty kissing on a rooftop*)

I don’t have anything against romance; I’m just kind of tired of seeing friendship presented as the easy, shallow option, with flurries of romantic passion serving as the gold standard for love. I’m tired of seeing the credits roll as soon as the main characters get a relationship upgrade.

I’d like to see more friends who are just friends and who love each other like crazy—friends who grow old together, arm in arm, being “just” friends as if that makes their commitment any less real.

I’d like to see more friends who struggle through the complexities and vulnerabilities of friendship, who have to deal with years of built-up internal crud just to say, truthfully, “I trust you.”

I’d like to see more lovers who are friends first, who are bewildered by all the new feelings but don’t stop being friends after the first kiss—friends who are in it for the long haul even when the attraction isn’t there.

I’d like to see more friends—lovers or not—who are too busy being a darn good team to worry about convincing anyone that they’re “just friends.” Give me friends who come home to each other and smile because Being friends is a lot of work, but, wow, you’re worth it.