luci-in-the-stars

[luci-in-the-stars]

I'm sorry to hear that. If you can't find anyone, I can at least help. I'm good at translating paintings to other places. I'm not good at the like composing part but -

Do you have a picture of the animals?

I am looking to hire an artist (or more than one) to paint the side of a barn with a mural of some of our animals that were recently lost. If you know someone that might be interested in this work, please point me in their direction.

[luci-in-the-stars]

Theres a good sale on tomatoes right now. So I've been making a lot of caprese salads. I don't want to use the stove when Felix is away -

What is everyone's go to foods right now? I want to try them all. No squirrels, please.

[luci-in-the-stars]

It's like wriggly mostly in the arms. Hope that helps! '

Does anyone know what the "Wormy" is? And can you teach me?

[luci-in-the-stars]

I will. I don't have one in mind right now but I'll ask my friend what she thinks I should read. Do you have anything new in?

Hey, Luci! Thank you! Drop by anytime you'd like. And if you have any other comics you were looking for, just let me know, yeah?

[luci-in-the-stars]

Oh I mean it depends on your hair type. Do you know that? I mean if not asking who did your hair can help.

Generally though if you bleached your hair you're gonna want to condition and tone it. Maybe look into getting a hair mask.

Hair potion? Definitely sounds like something I'd stay away from, yeah. I mean, I don't even know which non-potion things you're supposed to put in your hair. Probably should know but here we are.

[luci-in-the-stars]

Yeah we should! and that's how much it is? Yeah we should just do a little break in. Like hopping a turnstile.

[User considers it] You know you're probably right. That would be interesting. I think we'll have too. For science.

Cool! Should we hike to the leg? So we can taste it? For science? I don't have $100 to spare though so I think we might have to break-in. Like a little bit. Like a tiny crime. Totally not serious.

Have you ever had chicken feet before? It's like, way more gelatinous than you think—texture-wise. I think you peel off the outer layer of the giant leg and there's gotta be like, good meat inside. My vote is on it tasting like chicken.

[luci-in-the-stars]

[...] Yes I am skilled with cosmetics. I mean it would be temporary to be fair.

I mean, it's kinda part of my job, to be recognized, so. No? The fuck can you do to make people not recognize me, you a makeup artist or something?

[luci-in-the-stars]

You should write science fiction stories.

I'm glad. I like Brutus too. He's a good boy.

[pm] Fine a little [...] out of it but I'll be okay. Always am.

Your fingers turn black and fall off, you become a pillar of salt, and you become mind-linked to a hive mind of people obsessed with the leg. I can keep going with wacky scenarios, you get the picture.

Brutus likes you almost as he loves a good, long walk. Or food, the boy sure loves food.

[pm] How are you [...] doing?

[luci-in-the-stars]

Start//End || Solo

TIMING: April-ish LOCATION: The apartment SUMMARY: Luci discovers she once again is alone. This time she reflects on what she wants to do. CONTENT WARNINGS: Sibling Death tw mention

"And I've got way too many questions just to try and get it right 'Cause I can't be the one to shrug it off And I could be the reason that we stay up all night To be someone, to be someone And oh, all we've got is to try to get it right But no one told you That this gon' hurt"

Luci didn’t believe it for days, as she didn’t comment on the now empty room. Maybe there was something to be said for ignorance, the type of incuriosity that she had never prescribed to. If she simply didn’t acknowledge the gap, the disappearance, it couldn’t hurt her. She could ignore it, and then it couldn’t hurt her. 

Ignorance was bliss. Routines kept thoughts at bay. 

Still, on the edges of her mind, she knew what had happened. Like a shadow looming, she could recognize that her brother was gone. Not long after their sister’s death day, he had moved. He had left again when she wasn’t paying attention. Maybe he had meant to make it easier, to keep her from following him. Perhaps it was a cyclical thing. In the spring, he would have to leave, and in the fall, maybe he would come back. 

She was going to be nineteen soon, and her brother was missing again. He had disappeared from her narrative again as she was going into her sophomore year of college. Luci de la Vega was alone again, and she would have to pick up the pieces of a young life. 

Still, the costs seemed to get bigger and bigger by the day. Her magic dangerously reacting to her mood, she wondered how much her aching bones would take anymore. She thought of progress—of confrontations and reconciliations that she wanted to do—and how, once again, she didn’t understand why they were taken from her. How the little growing fear in her stomach seemed to cry out again and again. 

She opened the door, and she saw the room was, in fact, empty. The traces of her brother were gone, and Luz once more felt the pit in her stomach drop. Still, this time, there was a hint of something else here. There was a shaking little thing in her that she couldn’t quite name. 

At first, it was easy to react like she had, being quiet and unassuming, moving the things she had into the now-free room. She had let Felix know that she’d take over the payment and that if they would have her, she’d love to continue being their roommate. 

They had said yes, and time moved as she put her things into the room. 

Sitting in there, she looked at the journal with the purple sparkles that her sister had given her just over a year before. Remembering what Nicole said, she decided that it was time. With determination, she hadn’t realized she had her pen pressed into the page as she wrote. It felt small and broken, but it was hers as she finally saw the blank page, starting to fill in the sentences. It did not quite make sense as she poured out the feelings she wasn’t quite sure of. 

“I am angry and sad and lost and scared and I will get through this. I will get through this. I can do this. I can figure this out. I am going to do this. I’m so angry. I’m so angry. I’m scared.” 

Determination? Hope? She had met people in this strange little town. While she had gone into herself before, she had people who wouldn’t leave so easily: Nicole and Felix, Alistair and Melody. Cass and Sam. Thea and Wynne. There were so many people she wanted to get to know and talk to. More than that,  she had people she spoke to now, people that cared. It wasn’t her brother and wasn’t her sister. But Luci wasn’t alone anymore. 

“I have friends. I have friends and acquaintances, and people will miss me if I go. I’m not going to leave.” 

There were people who cared about her, and there were people she cared about that she would not leave without a trace. 

“I belong somewhere now. For the first time, I’m not in the background. I belong here. I am supposed to be here and I can do this. I want to stay. I want to do this.”  

Luz wasn’t going to leave. This town that had taken her in, the mines that seemed to call out to her broken magic. The people that she had met - she had made friends. She knew it. For the first time in her young life, she was something more than she had been. She could have a community here - something that she didn’t back in New York. 

With resilience and an ache she couldn’t quite remember, Luci moved her things into the second bedroom, promising herself that she was going to fix herself this time. This time, she was going to be whole.  She was going to shine with herself.

“I am going to make it. I'm going to make you proud of me, Gen. I'm choosing this. No matter what I'm choosing this. ” 

She wondered, perhaps, if one day she’d believe it. 

[luci-in-the-stars]

A tonic? [...] A like hair potion. You know a mysterious substance you might not know what it's made out of. Well you know good. Tonics are hard to get out.

I don't even know what a tonic is, which is why I let a professional do this. So no worries.

[luci-in-the-stars]

!!! Welcome back Sam. I'll be sure to drop in :) I really liked the comic you recommended.

It's a relief finally being open again. For those of you who helped me out, come see me. You know who you are. For everyone else, everything is 20% off this weekend with buy one get one on all $1 box comics.

[luci-in-the-stars]

That's all I think about honestly. I wonder what it looks like? Do you think it's like a creature or just a really big chicken?

Has anyone thought to look for the giant body that goes with this giant disembodied leg?

[luci-in-the-stars]

[User thinks about it.] Do you want people to not recognize you?[...] I could help with that. Sorry that's happening to you.

Friendly people of Wicked's Rest, I feel a need to put out a statement that if you see me around town with people, you don't have to assume the worst about them or me. Stop fucking taking pictures of me living my life and selling it to the tabloids, shit's fucked.

[luci-in-the-stars]

You've seen it? What does it look like up close? [User thinks about how many experiments she could do if she got a little bit of the leg.] Yes I guess I couldn't just watch it for like two hours huh? Do you think that it's dangerous then? Or just freaky?

The leg is really weird, and kinda creepy up close. Doesn't mean it isn't cool though, and definitely can make for a great distraction! A movie would probably distract you for longer though. You can really only look at a freaky disembodied leg for so long.

[luci-in-the-stars]

My friend says she might want to go on a hike and that's pretty much in the middle ground right? [...] I don't actually know. Sometimes they let people do dangerous stuff anyway so I'm not sure they're doing it out of kindness you know? Maybe the Leg is just really cool?

I think that the movies would probably be the less risky option... but then I am not one for adventure, these days. There must be a reason they are asking people to stay away?

[luci-in-the-stars]

[pm] Thank you but I still want to make sure you know that I can help. [...] You don't owe me anything. [User notes what they said making sure that she knows everything she might need] Okay sounds good. I'll make sure to get some socks for Cosmo. I'll get him some nice ones.

[...] Okay as long as you're sure. I don't mind running anything to you though. Where are you by the way -

[pm] I like having you there. You're a good roommate. That's enough for me, you know? I don't need money or anything. [...] Okay. Good. Thank you, Luci. I owe you, okay? There's [...] a rubber duck in the bathroom, too. I think he eats soap. And Cosmo in the cupboards. He likes socks a lot. You can give him some of mine.

No. You shouldn't come here. I'm okay. I can stop by and pick some stuff up. I think I'm allowed to do that.

[luci-in-the-stars]

Awesome!!! I mean I didn't check to see if anything was out. I was just kinda hoping to do something. I'd go hiking!

[...] What do you think it tastes like? It's gotta be weird right? Like do you think it would taste like chicken or something?

Yeah, I'll do something fun with you. Movies are cool, I don't know if anything good is showing. We could go for a hike. Do you like hiking? Or....

What if we ate the leg?