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One scentence horror story, aquarium version:

"My fish are acting sick after I deep cleaned their tank and I don't know why."

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"Why can't we just make waterproof books?!"

- Frustrated Scribe - Archives of The Deep -

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ALSO--part iii of The Commodore Ballroom is super late coming, I am so sorry hfdkks the last week or so was a bit difficult, emotionally, and I need to be in a...not difficult place in order to write characters enduring difficult situations hahaha. I'll be back on it soon, don't forget abt it in the meantime ; v;

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is Lize/Liza margie's sister's full name? or is it short for something (the same way Margie is short for Magritte)?

Margie's sister's name is Eliza and her brother's name is Benjamin. But Lize [pronounced Leez...like...deez nuts] hates being called Liz or Ellie. Benji hates being called Ben.

Margie's the only sibling who doesn't care what you call her, so long as it's not "Flea Girl" 😔

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wait I missed something. Why can't Margie's sister be normal about Raf? What did she do?

oh, haha, well...Lize has like...two things goin' on abt this: ADHD and an intense hyperfixation in highschool lmao her and her friends were really into Raf's music and image during his late teen career. They were into other popular artists targeting their demographic at the time, too, but Raf in particular was a real favorite for Lize [it was probably the violin and "worldly classiness" of his branding that tickled her tastes haha]. She eventually grew out of him, especially since he stopped putting out "new" albums by the tail end of his time at Juilliard [the music had been recorded prior to his attendance, and Ephrem Records was just mixing the tracks and releasing the albums on yearly scheduel while he was across seas attending school in New York].

But--Margie bringing him home for christmas completely rekindled that highschool teen celebrity crush/hyperfixation all over again. Also, he's actually??? a really sweet guy????

So--if you've ever been or seen a person with ADHD get really excited/obsessed with a favorite character or celebrity or w/e, then you might have an idea if the intense emotional disregulation that Lize's brain is dragging her through--like an over excited pitbull chasing a cat, dragging the under muscled child on the other end of its leash across the fields.

To add to this, Lize is married and is a brand new mother...and she can't help but make big infatuated doe eyes and emit excited jitters at the boyfriend Margie brought home. It's embarassing for everyone--Lize included. But she has a really hard time reeling it in. Even Margie gets annoyed with her abt it because all Lize wants to talk about are deets about Margie and Raf's personal life together. And! It's!! REALLY WEIRD!!!

Raf does his best to be as bland and unengaging around her as possible, and has communicated very clearly that he is very disinterested and incurious about her. But it doesn't really do much when so much of her enthrallment with him is entirely based on her own projections upon him. I think there is probably not much--short of being an asshole--that Raf can really do to dissuade her fixation. The novelty of him would have to wear off eventually...but he and Margie don't really spend enough time with her family for that to happen.

I think Raf's biggest concern abt Lize isn't Lize herself but, like...her husband? And just...the overall poor image this all paints. It's just extremely akward and uncomfortable, the whole lot of it lmao [thankfully, Liza's husband, Evan, seems to wholly believe in Raf's total disinterest and obvious discomfort towards his wife and her hyperfixation. No bad blood between these two, but a lot of akward, appologetic glances haha]

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"Folks go missing all the time! Heck, sometimes you don't even notice it until they're back!"

- Words of platitude - Cleary unbothered civilian - Local cake shop -

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"BEHOLD!! Sacred Ratios bind us all into the Grand Equation! "

- Loud Sermon - Philosmatic Priest - Church of the Tetrahedron -

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A personal illustration that I finally had some time to finish :))))

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I've mentioned a few times that Raf doesn't have a very fond opinion of Margie's parents [even...or maybe especially...after meeting them and seeing first-hand how they regard her and her passions, and choices, and accomplishments, etc], and he can't really connect with her older sister genuinely, because she's just...incapable of being normal about him, apparently.

But Raf gets along really, really well with Margie's younger brother, Benji. Benji's just a chill autistic guy who lives with the parents, smokes weed and plays video games when he doesn't have work. He's never really had to grow up and doesn't want to--but is a hard worker despite this. So long as you tell him what to do, he'll just do it without complaining--even if the task is insane. And he'll do a good job of it. He and Raf have this in common lmao (though Raf has his own initiatives/goals that he'll prioritise and is a lot more proactive--whereas Benji very much needs to be put in front of a task or have a goal dictated to him by someone else, as he won't take that initiative himself.)

Like Margie, Benji sees Raf as Just A Guy... and, like Margie, suffers a lot of second hand embarassment over the weird fixation/intense vibes their older sister, Liza, presents in her behavior towards Raf. Benji's room doubles as a place for Raf to hide when he needs some space--because Benji's energy doesn't sap the life out of him the way the rest of Margie's family does. They'll just hit a bong, sit back, listen to Iron Maiden or Judas Priest or w/e on Benji's sweet stereo system and Raf is chill to just watch Benji play whatever game he's got going on the playstation.

Thanks to this, Raf gets to know Benji better than he gets to know any other member of Margie's family, and they get talking about a lot of different things.

One of the conversations that sticks with him, I think, is one where Benji explains that he and Margie always swore off the whole "growing up" thing and agreed they'd always act like kids together without letting the world turn them into bitter, boring, joyless adults. As kids, they attribute "growing up" with all the things that made their older sister and parents kinda unfun and difficult to relate to.

When Margie was kicked out of the house and made to live on her own, Benji was genuinely concerned that the world was just gonna beat all the fun and joy out of her, and that she'd come back home one day as a dull, boring, joyless adult that he barely recognized. And he thanks Raf for finding her out there and giving her a place where she doesn't have to be anything other than Margie.

Usually Raf would argue that Margie has grown up...quite significantly--even just during the time he's known her. But he recognizes that this isn't what Benji means when he talks about "growing up" and "adulthood". Benji's definition of 'being an adult' is more akin to Raf's experience with adulthood; poisoned by pessimism, burnout, characterized by passionless incurioisity and bogged down by an oppressive, unyeilding self-loathing and fatigue. All due to the fruitless endeavor of trying to fullfill an impossible role imposed upon him by the uncaring population of his environment.

In honesty, the very first thing he noticed about Margie--before he had even heard her play music--was a certain je ne sais quoi, a joyful whimsy, youthful gentleness, whatever the hell you want to call it. It's what spurred him to reach out to her in the train station, very first time they met.

It was hard to imagine Margie without it. In truth, once Raf had sensed it, he didn't want to let it go. It was a subconscious thing, he didn't understand what he was dealing with at the time. But he'd have never agreed to go for coffee nor to meet with her again--if not for that precious sense of raw joy and wonder that she emitted so effortlessly. It was an endangered animal to him. And ever since meeting her, his life has become centered around preserving and nourishing it in her--and recapturing it within himself.

He has no way of knowing if Margie could have ever lost it, regardless of whether he showed up in her life or not. He errs towards the belief that she'd have always retained it--it's just too much a core part of her personality to bend to the environment like that. But he's really happy to have the luck--and the means--to foster and feed that part of her. Benji will never be without his fun-loving, joyful dorky sister. Raf hopes the same is true for himself, as well.

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artfight 2025!!

I am on team crystal this year and focusing entirely on revenge!

here's some art from previous fights.

yeehaw!

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Hey hey, questions. Does Margie know about the little clones of Kirby? Does he only like Kirby or does the fondness extend to them? Also, would you like to see the drawing I made of them?

oh! I didn't get the notification for this ask haha!

Margie knows abt a few different Kirby clones! Keeby, Shadow Kirby, and batamon!

they are not kirby, especially not the batamons--and she won't be fooled into talking about them like they -are- kirby. But--they are kirby adjascent and thus are worthy of her love 😌💞

Also, I would love to see your drawing!

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"She may be inert up here, but as you descend, her call draws you into the deep." - Dramatic Statement - Nitrogen Narcosis & You: Abridged Edition -

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😎Honey Moon!🏖️

A snippet of Bea and Laz post-series finale 💖 They needed a break

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"That's... only two ingredients... Can I at least add some sugar?!"

- overheard conversation - local dark alley tea shop -

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"I could have sworn they were just there!!!"

- some crazy person - ignore them -

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ocs…

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really everyone you love has something miserably wrong with them or an obvious flaw that won't ever be fixed but like it's up to you what kind of person you can and cannot deal with. someone in my family has anger issues which I can handle and diffuse with no problem, but a person who can't tolerate yelling could not be close to him. another person I know is very anxious & needs constant reassurance and she gets along famously with gentler and more straightforward people than myself, but I can't handle being second guessed all the time. someone who is loosey goosey with their morals wouldn't bother me, but a person with a profound sense of justice makes me feel afraid of getting on their bad side. none of these traits actually make someone a bad person & just because there are personalities I can't handle doesnt mean I'M a bad person either. litany against callout posts for stupid shit and simple incompatibilities we all have to live on this earth together & need to learn how to deal with each other