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[gardenerofblizzards]

Direal being a dumb poo about Cervet

You are exactly one year older than Cervet. That means that you're supposed to look after her, and she's supposed to look up to you.

She never seemed very interested in that, though. Not until Greina arrived and she practically threw herself into showing him the ropes.

You guess that maybe that's why you feel so attracted to her. If she doesn't want to do something, she ignores it until people stop pestering her about it, and that kind of headstrong stubbornness is admirable.

(It still hurts. You were meant to be her world, her guide, her everything for her first year, until she got actual responsibilities and other things to think about, but she brushed you aside and figured out the lay of the land without so much of a stumble or a hint from you and that hurts.)

Iaired showed you a study once about how dogs tend to show more loyalty towards masters who neglect them as compared to loving masters. You threw the book at her head and avoided the library for a week.

You may be lovesick but you aren't a puppy.

You can't help but wonder if that was on purpose. If she's treating you this way because she knows she's practically got you on a leash. You'll be as good as a puppet king once you turn 18, if leadership is what she's after.

You can't help it, though. She's so vibrant and colorful and devoted to everything she does, even if the way you might as well not even exist in her eyes absolutely shatters you. You'll force her to look at you eventually. Even if she doesn't like what she sees, acknowledgement and rejection is better than literally nothing.

[gardenerofblizzards]

*Excited trumpet noises*

I am pleased to announce that, as I do adore reader input, anyone who would like to join the google doc where all of this is planned out. You won't be able to directly edit it, because we have to be at least a little cautious, but if you follow the link below, you may read and comment to your heart's content!

*It does contain large amounts of spoilers, though, so read at your own risk*

https://docs.google.com/document/d/15lwC5zkuaE0S0oG4e0qNN4myMa05oALHV38g6_2TvS0/edit

[gardenerofblizzards]

Jaxend on the Idiocy of Iaired and Bareni

For all they like to pose and posture and put their brains up on pedestals, Iaired and Bareni are really dumb.

According to Kaytel certain sources that shall remain unnamed, Iaired has been desperately trying to give all of us younger colonists something she's been calling 'The Talk,' since apparently that was the best code name she could come up with. Bareni has been desperately trying to stop her, for whatever reason, so Iaired went to Aidhan, and not even to tattle! I mean, people only talk to Aidhan to tattle, from what I've seen. I guess Iaired really wasn't happy with Bareni not letting her talk to people.

She just must have really wanted to talk to somebody about this, but I'm not sure why her focus was on the younger kids, since Kaytel my unnamed source informed me that all of the words used were big and made Aidhan's whole face turn red before he started muttering things real quiet and embarrassed.

Then Bareni yelled at Iaired and called her a 'spiteful little (source did not know this word).' Iaired looked really smug, though, so I think that means that she got a point.

[gardenerofblizzards]

Character Gender and Sexuality Cheat Sheet!

I feel like I should have done this earlier. No more guessing pronouns, now! (Assume panromantic unless mentioned otherwise)

Jaxend- he, him, his/ aggressively undefined Lokhet- he, him, his/ bisexual Kaytel- varies (genderfluid)/ demisexual Greina- she, her, hers/ homosexual Cervet- she, her, hers/ asexual Direal- he, him, his/ heterosexual Bareni- they, them, theirs/ pansexual Eureat- she, her, hers/ homosexual Iaired- no pronoun preferences/ asexual, aromantic Frulon- he, him, his/ pansexual Aidhan- he, him, his/ undefined Hetral- she, her, hers/ pansexual

[gardenerofblizzards]

Short Story Updates

Hahaha did I say one a day? I meant one every whenever I have time and an idea. So maybe two to three a week, four on special occasions. We have also recruited an editor, which will make the uploads a little slower but also hopefully a little less dumb.

[gardenerofblizzards]

Iaired on Hetral

We're going to talk about Hetral for a bit. Hetral and her faults and those lovely sharp edges that she smoothed down for everyone else's sake. Hetral, who made every one of us love her and then broke our hearts when she left.

We all should have known better, but I guess there was something in her that convinced us all she'd be different. Everybody has their time, though, whether they want to leave or not.

I'd like to think she wanted to stay, here with all of us, but who can say? It's possible she hated us from the beginning, or started to along the way.

I'm not sure why I wrote that. It was plain to everyone around that she loved every last colonist, and it stabbed her a bit more harshly with each one that left until it was her time to go.

So it's not that I doubt she loved us, even the ones she never met, it's that I doubt she could have kept going for very long. Even if she had been the one exception, it would eat her from the inside out until she was nothing but a sugar-sweet smile on the face of a creature that should have been put down long ago.

In that way, I'm glad she's gone.

But only in that way.

[gardenerofblizzards]

Greina on the Topics of Books and Bugs

I love living things. My favorites are usually the ones that can't talk, and out of those insects tend to take most (all) of the highest spots. I think the praying mantis continuously clocks in at number one of things I adore because of their ability to be so gentle with the same spiked scythes that make them probably the most fearsome predators among bugs. They might not actually be the best predators, though. Despite my affection for critters, I know very little about any of them. I blame this on my complete inability to find anything I'm looking for in The Library.

Actually, speaking of The Library, I found something really interesting there earlier this week. Iaired showed me to it with unsurprising ease, especially considering she's probably memorized every book in the entire building. I had asked her if she knew of any good books for a short, just-for-fun sorta read, and right away she put on that 'I've just had a fantastic idea and you will soon recognize my genius' face she's so fond of.

Within two minutes of searching (I'm not sure if that's the right word, since she plainly knew exact location of the book) I had it in my hands, the soft violet of the cover very pleasing to the eyes. The color went quite well with the simple white text of the title, which named the book as Wings. The summary made it out to be quite romantic while hinting at a possibly unhappy ending. I doubt Iaired knows my reading habits so poorly as to give me anything remotely tragic, so it can be assumed that the characters all work out their problems in the end.

It finds its way into the little brown bag on my shoulder, along with my copy of A Beginner's Guide to Spotting a Lie. Everyone here owns exactly one book, though I guess Iaired is the exception to that rule, since she knows the books so well they might as well be hers.

These books are supposed to be the hints that link us to our powers, but mine has been visible almost since the first time I heard someone speak. I mean that literally, too. I can see it as a cloud of smoke rushing out of a person's mouth.

Lies are almost a physical thing to me at this point. The darker they are, the more malicious. More smoke means a bigger lie. Yellow smoke means a person doesn't know they are lying. The rules are pretty simple, although it took a while for the others to figure out why I used to scream about there being fire in their throats when I was younger.

It's kind of a depressing power, not to mention useless in a fight against a demon, but at least I know what it is. Lokhet's almost two years in now, and he doesn't have a clue. Besides, I'm far from being the first person to develop an ability that can't be used offensively. Out of the ten of us who've figured out what we can do, it's split exactly 5-5 between those with powers that can be developed for use in battle and those with tactile powers. (I'm pretty sure that's the word Iaired's always using, but it doesn't look right. Maybe I messed up the vowels?)

I think I'll go visit my bugs soon. I like Gavroche the best, but don't tell the other praying mantises. They might get jealous, and with how they tend to get bitey when that happens I really don't wanna upset them. I named Gavvy after this little boy in some French play that Iaired says I remind her of, but I don't know what 'French' is, and there's usually a little white puff after that and she chuckles a bit, so maybe she doesn't mean it the way I think she does? Adults are weird.

Oh, maybe if I ask super nicely Kaytel will let me have some crickets to feed them!

[gardenerofblizzards]

Kaytel on Sign Language

Sometimes Iaired's future sight is the most annoying thing to put up with, especially when she's trying to be vague and mysterious. When is she going to get the message that leaving half a dozen books on learning sign language around the colony does not give anybody incentive to do anything? Words, honey, they exist for a reason.

It would have been so much easier on everyone if she had just, I dunno, told us that the next kid to arrive was gonna be mute. Maybe then we would have actually been prepared for him, instead of us all flailing around and hoping that we were communicating before remembering that he wasn't deaf and he had no reason to know sign yet.

I really like the new kid, though. I haven't spoken to him yet, of course, but I've heard and seen good things, even if I still can't get over the fact that's he'snewuknownterrifying I don't know him well enough to make actual contact. Bats are really useful for when you want to overhear especially interesting conversations, and people always forget that they can see their every move in complete darkness. Despite this, I haven’t caught hide or hair of ill will towards him. He seems very good at being inoffensive.

It will still probably be a while before we meet, though. Actual people are terrifying. More so than Iaired’s know-it-all attitude, I hate fear. Anything else that I could possibly feel disappears once I can see another person’s face. Just another reason why I’d rather have my power, even if given the chance to swap with someone else. I know not everyone can say the same.

Sure, it took work. The hours and hours of putting up with Iaired in that dusty old library, memorizing bone structure and muscle, were nothing compared to the failures. ‘A complete understanding of the anatomy of what one is trying to create is essential in proper visualization and the subsequent materialization,’ is what I’m always being told. I don’t need their attempts at motivation, though.

I started off small, making insects and other simple things. Improper visualization or lack of concentration makes the end result come out warped, or missing pieces. Seeing these things in pain that I caused was enough motivation for a lifetime. Now, before any big materializations, I always make triply sure that nothing could go wrong, because the big things can actually feel. Bugs and such aren’t tricky enough to be able to hurt, but the big ones are. The big ones bleed.

After a failure is the only time when I can feel pity for Eureat, instead of the usual mild dislike. I mean, it’s bad enough seeing my animals bent out of shape, but she can only make copies out of herself. That’s gotta be an awful thing to screw up.

I understand, though. We’re currently the only two Materializers. Nobody else really gets what that’s like.

That’s why I don’t say anything when my bats hear her crying or thrashing in her sleep after yet another nightmare full of things that you caused, you screw up, you have to be better than that.

She’s so much older than I am, but how I feel about that and her personality don’t even matter after a certain point. We’re too similar to not rely on one another’s existence.

[gardenerofblizzards]

Whoops

I forgot to mention, I'll be posting little mini-stories focusing on each of the characters in order to examine their characters and develop them as much as possible. Expect these at a rate of hopefully one a day or so.

[gardenerofblizzards]

Lokhet on Demons

Nobody for sure knows what the shadowy creatures that hunt them really are, or even where they came from. The Library holds no mention of them.

Lokhet doesn't think he wants to know. The dark scares him, and if nothing else the demons are made of darkness. The demons are the kind of thing every child has nightmares about, and he is still a child in every way.

If you were to really pressure him into telling you where he thought they spawned, he would tell you his theory is that they are fear. They are the awful things that crawl out of his friends' heads at night and come after them as revenge for their own birth.

He might not say it in those words, but then again he never says anything at all. He's never been able to.

[gardenerofblizzards]

Cast of Characters as of Now (May Change)

8 years- Jaxend Letrak 9 years- Lokhet Iliand 10 years- Kaytel Pioxen 11 years- Greina Litian 12 years- Cervet Kreala 13 years- Direal Seimto 14 years- Bareni Salett 15 years- Eureat Katran 16 years- Iaired Flavot 17 years- Frulon Tagwen 18 years- Aidhan Srilai (past) 18 years- Hetral Kanlee