#☼’( ʜᴇʀs ɪs ᴛʜᴇ sᴜɴʟɪɢʜᴛ [about] )

[cromwellharvests]

once you're stripped clean, what's at your core?

rippling sunset

you’re the nicest person i’ll ever meet, probably. with an undying passion to protect those who can’t protect themselves, you’re energetic and bubbly (compassionate and giving) to a fault. it’s cute, watching you run around trying to tie up loose ends. 

i feel bad for you — out of everyone you know, you probably have some of the deepest trauma, more than anyone’s aware of. this isn’t something that you want attention for at all, and you’d really just rather forget it exists entirely… but even then, it seems like you can never escape it. 

i wish you a pleasant rest of your life, full of rippling sunsets and free of prying eyes.

tagged by: @reigningsniper​

[cromwellharvests]

no matter the variation, Easy’s homeland remains mostly the same: a valley settlement nestled within foothills, with some taller mountains visible in the distance— a creek, or a proper river, running along the edge of town. lush, green, and isolated. most of the inspiration I draw while imagining it comes from Austrian & Slovenian foothills:

the larger farming estates are settled firmly in the narrow stretch of semi-flat plains at the bottom, with a few ranches climbing up onto the hillside, and the “heart of town,” little though it may be, dappled between a few short tiers of plains and hill. mossy, grey cobblestone partitions which mark the edge of family’s plots, or slope gently along an old footpath... 

even in its grandest form as a village just outlying the capital city of Arcadia (in her Kingdom Hearts verse), it remains quiet, humble, and idyllic, with a diverse population and tightly-knit community. there are woodlands close at hand, sprawling meadows, and a lake not far from the town’s limits...

but I started writing all of this to say that: in nearly every scenario, Easy has never been far beyond her homeland before her late-adolescence / early adulthood— and, as I’ve circled back to in some interactions thus far, has never seen an ocean in person, or been to a real ‘beach’.  she’s read all about them, seen pictures in books, in paintings, and even studied more extensively about tropical plant life and the different biomes in coastal regions, but... simply hasn’t had the opportunity, or means, to go until she embarks on whatever journey takes her out of Wiradu.

she’s always loved to hear stories from people who’ve grown up nearer to one— imagining the sound of crashing waves and the ‘scent on the air’ which everyone seems to talk about, how warm sand would feel underfoot, so-on, and so-forth. 

…so, circumstances notwithstanding, she’ll be absolutely radiant with elation when she finally does get the chance.

[cromwellharvests]

phone facts for Easy modern verse(s)

she has a several-years-old barely ‘smart’phone in a chunky floral case, with lots of dings and scratches because she forgets about it and knocks it off of something, or it falls out of her pocket amidst all her physical laboring.

clumsy thumbs, but a quick typer. she sends a lot of messages with typos in them and corrects herself afterwards.

LOTS of emojis. tons. probably asked for help downloading custom emoji packages with cuter designs. the whole thing is very aesthetic, with frequently-changing background + lock screen.

keeps a backup flip-phone on hand in case of emergency. she would use that as her primary phone, if it weren’t for the fact that the GPS/Maps on her main phone save her life on a regular basis.

she’s good at figuring things out, but still isn’t the most tech-savvy of the bunch. she asks for a lot of help tweaking settings, downloading and using certain apps, etc. (probably pleads Ed [ @alchemic-elric​ ] to help on that front.

uses a samsung because it’s the first style she ever got and she refuses to learn a new interface.

downloads and takes so many pictures. lots of pinterest things for craft inspiration, as well as any animals she meets on the street, pretty plants, and whatever baked good she’s recently churned out.

never deletes text threads so there’s just way too god damn many messages on there

completely inept at social media. has a twitter, facebook, insta, but genuinely never uses them/updates twice annually.

has neko atsume installed and never forgets to feed her digital kitties.

forgets to call/text other people first but is a great emergency contact because she will ALWAYS answer the phone if it rings

[cromwellharvests]

Which saccharine pet name are you?

sweetheart.

kind, graceful, the one they dedicate songs to. searching for beauty everywhere but in themselves. moved easily, and gives wholeheartedly.

[cromwellharvests]

not the first post I’ve made of this kind, but a worthy one to return to (and that ‘pawn’ analogy brought it back to mind):

emily is, in theory, fairly powerful. she can handle herself in a fight, and her alchemy has the potential to be devastating, if ever employed for violence. that she wouldn’t do so by choice I’m sure I hardly have to reiterate. if a situation came down to defending her own life at the likely expense of another’s, it’s doubtful that she’d have the steel it takes to make that trade; she’s more likely to become the victim in said case.

only in defense of someone else does it enter the realm of possibility. someone she loves very deeply, someone who she’d give her life for— and she would far rather give her own life— is the only imaginable case where she might be capable of taking another’s. the very last resort, after all other options are expended. she’d do it, to save them.

but she would never ‘get over it’.

as much as she’d try to carry on, as much as others may convince her that it isn’t evil to do such a thing in self defense, that she may have ‘been in the right,’ it would make her sick. she may be able to recup enough of her life to keep going on, and even still live ‘well’, all things considered, but she would be haunted by what she had done every single day. nevermind that she can extend understanding to others who have fought in these wars, that she does not treat them all as irredeemable monsters– and, in fact, is very compassionate to those she feels have been taken advantage of by the system which facilitates violence– it is simply something she could not live with. 

[cromwellharvests]

CHARACTER STATISTICS

——   physical stats;

RUNNING SPEED   — 5/10

RUNNING ENDURANCE   —  5/10

LIFTING STRENGTH   — 9/10

CARRYING ENDURANCE   — 9/10

JUMPING ABILITY   —  4/10

THROWING STRENGTH   — 9/10

STEALTH ABILITY   —  5/10

PAIN TOLERANCE   —  8/10

SWIMMING SPEED   —  6/10

SWIMMING ENDURANCE   — 7/10

STRETCHING ABILITY   — 5/10

DANCING ABILITY   —  6/10

CLIMBING ABILITY   —  5/10

TOUCH SENSITIVITY  ( PLATONIC )   —  9/10

TOUCH SENSITIVITY  ( INTIMATE )   —  10/10

GENERAL REFLEXES   — 7/10

OVERALL PHYSICAL CONDITION   —  7/10

——   mental stats;

ADVANCED MATHEMATICS   —  7/10

SIMPLE MATHEMATICS   — 9/10

SPATIAL AWARENESS   —  8/10

CHEMISTRY UNDERSTANDING   — 9/10

BIOLOGICAL UNDERSTANDING   — 10/10

NATURE SCIENCES UNDERSTANDING   —  10/10

CREATIVE INTELLIGENCE   —  8/10

ARTISTIC ABILITY   —  8/10

MUSICAL PROWESS   —  7/10

MIMICKING ABILITY  ( AUDITORY )   — 4/10

ODD PROBLEM-SOLVING —  8/10

COMPREHENSION  ( SPOKEN WORD )   —  8/10

COMPREHENSION  ( WRITTEN WORD )   — 9/10

COMEDIC ABILITY   —  5/10

COMEDIC TIMING   —  6/10

OVERALL MENTAL PROWESS   —  8/10

——   emotional stats;

INTERPERSONAL INSTINCT   —  10/10

INTRAPERSONAL INSTINCT   —  4/10

EXTROVERSION   —  6/10

MORAL COMPASS   — 9/10

EMPATHY   —  10/10

EXTRASENSORY ABILITY —  0/10

EMOTIONAL ENDURANCE   —  8/10

COPING ABILITY   — 4/10

TENDENCY TOWARDS ABUSIVE BEHAVIOUR   — 0/10

TENDENCY TOWARDS VICTIM BEHAVIOUR   — 5/10

LEVEL OF DENIAL   —  6/10

PROTECTOR COMPLEX   —  8/10

DAMSEL COMPLEX   —  1/10

EMOTIONAL INTIMACY  ( WITH PARTNER )   —  8/10

EMOTIONAL INTIMACY  ( WITH FRIENDS )   —  9/10

EMOTIONAL COMPREHENSION   —  9/10

TENDENCY TOWARDS PANIC   —  5/10

GENERAL EMOTIONAL STABILITY   — 7/10

tagged by: @eternasci ! this was neat, thank you ♥ tagging: @dcviated (ragu or dogi), @deathleads, @adornednight (felix), @fullmtal​ — and anyone else who wants to!

[cromwellharvests]

@seaprofound tagged me in a fun little quiz about “Which Fictional Characters Are the Most Like Your Muse?” [quiz link here] and I had fun with it but I... don’t know a lot of the characters which came up on the long list. So, instead, I’ve highlighted some of the high percentage characters that I know and adore, and thus could see influencing my characterization.

Belle (Beauty and the Beast) 94%

Deanna Troi (Star Trek: The Next Generation) 91%

Guinan (Star Trek: The Next Generation) 91%

Katara (Avatar: The Last Airbender) 89%

Maid Marian (Robin Hood [Disney]) 89%

Jane Bennet (Pride and Prejudice) 86%

Luke Skywalker (Star Wars) 86%

Samwise Gamgee (The Lord of the Rings) 85%

Makoto Kino (Sailor Moon) 83% 

[cromwellharvests]

slightly different take/angle on the topic at hand (because I’m sure I don’t have to tell you that Easy wouldn’t betray the trust of any partner like that): 

while she wouldn’t likely stay in a relationship with someone who cheated on her, and she’d obviously be very sad, and hurt, (depending on the extent of the relationship), Emily wouldn’t actually react with much ‘surprise’ in most situations and would internalize a lot of her negative feelings because she often suspects/believes she isn’t enough— exciting enough, beautiful enough, so-on, and so-forth— for any given S.O.

[cromwellharvests]

all told, with how often Easy develops at least some romantic feelings for people she’s close to— a natural side effect of constantly choosing to look at and see the best in them, and caring for them as deeply as she does— she experiences considerably little heartbreak by comparison. she doesn’t feel jealous if someone she’s sweet on pursues someone else, nor does she really spend time wallowing over not being favored in turn.  at the end of the day, it’s more important to her that they find their own happiness, whether or not it’s with her. 

oh, there might be those nagging, little pangs of wistfulness here-and-there, but that’s only natural given how desperately she longs to be in love.

the real heartache and love-weariness only comes in to play if the other person has shown interest in turn, or if they pursue a relationship for a time, only for it to fizzle out or crumble. again, depending on the situation, it may just be your standard amount of disappointment over a match that wasn’t meant to be— but if it’s someone she felt really strongly for, and the separation comes out of left field, that’s when she’s likely to turn in on herself and start to pick apart the reasons why she might not have ‘been enough’ for her partner.

still, she manages to mend, and I’ve yet to imagine any heartbreak great enough to stop her from putting herself back together and loving, again, with little reservation.

[cromwellharvests]

thoughts about a (modern) easy ‘going to a party with friends’ tropes/traits:

the certified Mom™ + bisexual friend with a somewhat-mini packpack on hand. it comes fully loaded with a first aid kit, water bottle, and plenty of snacks.

always brings extra food and booze to house parties. like, full bottles of relatively nice drinks + mixers which she has no intention of bringing home afterwards. it’s a gift to the host if there’s anything leftover.

high alcohol tolerance means she’s going to put away a LOT on the front-end of the party to get a little buzz going, but tends to just sip after that and stay mostly-sober (in case anyone needs to be taken care of in the latter half)

drifts between various pocket-groups and conversations, listening more than talking. likes sitting in whatever room has music playing and just chilling.

that said: if any card games/board games/other assorted play gets started, she’s On It immediately.

pretty good at charades and pictionary, very good at trivial pursuit. likes scrabble, even though she never wins.

will randomly start cooking a dinner large enough to feed the party if left to her own devices and given kitchen access

if no kitchen access/ingredients: she surprises everyone with pizza or takeout

is vaguely keeping tabs on everyone and responsible for the mysteriously appearing glasses of water as the night goes on

will either leave early or disappear to find an empty room (with the house dog/cat in it) when her social battery runs out

[cromwellharvests]

also a semi-annual reminder that: easy’s mom is above 5′10″ and all the men in her family are 6′0″+, she is just comically and inexplicably Smol

[cromwellharvests]

difficult person test.

You are an easy person to get along with (27.14%).

Highest scores in:

Risk-taking is the propensity to engage in risky behavior for the sake of experiencing thrills. People high in this trait impulsively seek sensations to overcome boredom, and often get pleasure from shocking others with their adventures and stunts. Risk-takers often make those around them ill at ease since their actions may have consequences for others as well as themselves.

Suspicion is the tendency to harbor a strong and unreasoning distrust of others. Suspicious people often question the motives of even those who act loyally and devotedly toward them. Such people are often reluctant to open up to others and may interpret kind-hearted gestures as attempts to deceive them.

[cromwellharvests]

What Crystal are You  

rhododnite.

you have a quiet strength about you. you're the one that's there when your friends need that last push. your grounding energy is comforting and reliable. you have a gift for encouraging and strengthening those around you, helping them heal their wounds and find it in themselves to endure. you know how because you've been there before. when was the last time you opened up about your own struggles without it just being to help someone with theirs? when was the last time you let yourself think about your pain without using it as a comparison? you're allowed to let people help you heal too.

[cromwellharvests]

not @regnantlight​​ giving me a reason to get way, way back into Waitress The Musical™ as we discuss how each song relates to Zel and Easy, but especially:

and for this post I went to quote the parts of the song which I felt were most certifiably Easycore... but it was all of it. the whole thing. I’m not kidding when I say that this musical is a BIG source of inspiration for Easy’s character— but I will try again to pull out the lines that hit hardest:

...When it's done I can smile It's on someone else's plate for a while.

I'll place it on display, And then I'll slice and serve my worries away.

I can fix this I can twist it into sugar, butter covered pieces Never mind what's underneath it I have done it before

...Tell them all my secrets but disguise them So they dance on the tongues Of the very people that they're secrets from Make it soon Make it better Though, better never lasts forever I'll make it small so it fits

So with flour on my hands I'll show them all how Goddamn happy I am Sugar, butter, flour Don't let me down!

SEE IT. IT’S STILL MOST OF THE SONG. goddamn— the whole energy, the sentiment of putting all the parts of her that aren’t sweet, happy, and soothing to other people, anything that she thinks might be inconvenient for those around her, and not only burying it under yet-another piece of work, a task, but one made to nurture other people; using frustration, loneliness, and all the un-sunshiney pieces to go go on and make something purely for someone else to enjoy— mmmmmmmmMMMM.

sara bareilles i owe you my life.

[cromwellharvests]

@eternasci​ asked: 

What Major Arcana tarot card's morals best align with your character? You can focus on the developmental aspect of tarot (meaning, the entire "journey" that a tarot set puts a person through) or state the card you think best fits them overall.

(E.g., someone can be only temporarily aligned with the Chariot card because they are about to move into the Hermit's teachings, or they simply are always a Chariot because your character focuses on achievement, change, and empowerment.)

Okay so. I TRIED not to be biased about this. I tried to go ‘oh well, she could be the Empress, what with the divine femininity of it all,’ or the high priestess— even Temperance, which comes fairly close; one foot in the water, immersed in the flow and constant change, while the other is planted firmly on the earth, grounded and constant, completely dedicated to her purpose...

But I can’t help myself. She has to be The Star. Yes, yes, it’s my favorite card from the major arcana (to the extent of my one-and-only tattoo thus far being the Star card from my primary deck)— but it hardly seems like my fault that Easy so closely embodies the qualities which make it my favorite to begin with. Or maybe it’s completely my fault, but who cares. 

To elaborate, I’ll pull from the Biddy Tarot description of The Star, as well as the Wild Unknown, as that’s my preferred deck for reading:

“ She pours the water out to nourish the earth and to continue the cycle of fertility, represented by the lush greenery around her...  one foot on the ground, representing her practical abilities and good common sense, and the other foot in the water, representing her intuition and inner resources and listening to her inner voice. She is naked, representing her vulnerability... under the vastness of the starry night sky. ” Biddy Tarot

“ The full-spectrum color gives the star an air of holistic, healing energy. All colors are present, all colors are even, and they are contained safely within the star... The Star represents the magical sensation that comes when you live in a way that feels true and right to you. The Star gives its light freely, without holding back. But it is also unassuming. The star draws attention quietly, with a sort of serene power. A beautiful, calming influence is present in this card. This star is a reminder that hope is present even in the darkest of nights. ” Wild Unknown

Nourishing, peaceful, and hopeful. Giving without reservation, but not with the same level of intensity that is commonly associated with the Sun, (which is a comparison I, and many others, have made in time).  Where the Sun is vigorous, celebratory, and unapologetic, the Star— Easy— is a gentler presence, a more balanced force; no less constant in her shine, but not quite as blinding. Her light is not meant to drown out that of others around her, but to amplify them.

And the selection from the Wild Unknown highlights a very important quality of her character I have always tried to convey, (and no doubt what helped inspire her creation in the first place): the idea of someone being able to come through the darkest times imaginable, to endure trauma and see the worst of what the world has to offer, and still continue to share their light. To be hopeful and kind, warm and welcoming, even if that vulnerability has lead to incredible pain before. The idea that the love and goodness that can be cultivated with a tender heart still outweigh any consequences that same openness incurs. To sum it up, I’ll pull another quote from the ‘general meaning’ section as described by the Wild Unkown:

“[The Star] also has some healing connotations. The Star offers you a reprieve, a chance to make peace with whatever turmoil you’ve experienced. The Star shows that despite your battle scars, you can still be vulnerable. You can still trust, you can still find a way to show up in this world as your authentic self. Your greatest strength is activated when you devote yourself to being real.”

[cromwellharvests]

friendly reminder that: Easy is not easily intimidated by most people (with a few notable exceptions; i.e. Bradley), and is equally hard to discourage— especially when it comes to being underestimated or looked down on. with her stature, her demeanor, and her colloquialisms all considered, even well-meaning people can be dubious of her to start, and she’s very much used to having to ‘prove’ herself to others. though, she doesn’t go out of her way to make an impression on them, only lets her actions speak for themselves.

the surprising steel to her resolve is what makes her so well suited to the diplomatic roles she (often) takes on in post-war / post-main-story scenarios. she doesn’t let the pomp and circumstance of some dignitaries faze her and, (despite the sometimes romantic daydreams which she indulges), she doesn’t feel immediately humbled by nobility or high titles. at the end of the day, people are people, and Easy knows that no circumstance of birth or fancy rank makes someone more valuable, fundamentally. she can acknowledge the important role someone plays and treat them with respect without falling to their feet with cowering humility.

so she doesn’t take most, if any, snobbish mistreatment to heart– nor does she respond with any malice in kind... 95 times out of 100, anyways. if there’s a chance for some malicious compliance to be exacted, or it’s convenient to deliver a reality check to someone in the course of her work anyways, you can bet the Littlest Sibling™ gene is still alive enough in her to see it done. but, at any rate, she’ll just sally on with her business and take any unkind thoughts others have in stride.

....the same cannot be said for other sorts of interactions. difficult to intimidate, yes. nigh on impossible to discourage, absolutely. but to fluster? mmm.

Easy’s usual defence mechanism against flirtation and flattery is her natural obliviousness to the former, and off-hand denial of the latter, but what I imagine might be an unforeseen consequence of her kind, hard-working, and generally amenable nature when working in a highly-visible and often social position, (especially in her later adulthood), would be the not-entirely-uncommon occurrence of someone making a very clear romantic appeal to her. so if you’re looking for a weakness to exploit? it’s probably that. 

(though she’s reasonably good at not getting too Wooed™ while on-the-clock).