very much so lol. It's a line from a song by a musician called Aklesso
9: At age 10, what sort of kid was your character at birthday parties?
Alicia was super talkative. She was talking about all the toys that were popular then, that she and her friends were collecting. Barbies, my little ponies. Her friends had way more of them than her, but she wasn't jealous. Her dad bought her the popular toys, but she had like two Barbies, and two my little ponies, usually only getting them on birthdays and holidays while her friends had tons of them, but she was still grateful.
She'd talk about the TV shows and the library books that went along with the series, and their favorite characters, the prettiest ponies etc. with everybody.
She'd be part of all the games, and helping her friends decorate their custom cupcakes because everyone wanted one Alicia had designed, because she made them so pretty, and then the birthday mom would forever be taking pictures of everyone's cupcakes on her flip phone. She wasn't exactly popular, but she did have quite a few friends and they all liked her a lot, though most of them were better off than she was.
Kattar had a lot of friends. He didn't exactly like going over to other people's houses to play. He didn't like going through their toy bins, were for some reason usually dirty, and that he'd occasionally find Cheeto and Dorito crumbs on the floors or the carpets, but he'd learned not to talk about that by that point, though he did wash his hands quite a lot, and always immediately when he got home.
At his friends house he played a lot of video games. At birthday parties they'd often have video game marathons, sometimes have star wars themed light saber battles, water balloon fights. They were usually pretty structured parties with a lot of games and activities planned out, party favors, and things like that. Kattar wasn't into a lot of the same things as his friends but he knew how to appreciate other people's hobbies when he was hanging out with them. Also the majority of his friends weren't rich kids like him, but middle class, so it helped him keep him from becoming snobby or elitist in the long run, a very intentional choice on his mother's part, and the reason why she sent him to a public school.
His parties were nothing like anything any of the other kids would expect, almost more like an adult party than a kid's party. There were a lot of snacks and decorations, movies and board games, but the decorations were never related to any kind of cartoon, TV show, or toy that was popular at the time, just Kattar and Mrs. Moon's aesthetic tastes. You're not seeing him with Toy Story themed decorations with paper plates and food-dye flavored cakes with spider man on them. Nope, his cake came from an artisan bakery and it was coconut and passion fruit flavored.
What's the theme? We are all going to enjoy ourselves, but they also already had very nice decor for a reason.
The only kids who invited Essence to their parties were the ones who wanted more presents. She didn't have friends, but her mom's friends pretty regularly invited her to their kids' birthday parties, because that's what you're supposed to do within your 'circle.' So naturally she didn't really have a lot of fun. People tried to avoid her as much as possible during the parties unless their mom's gave them a look and then they'd more or less begrudgingly interact with her for a little while before excluding her again,
Her little sister Elizabeth had a couple of really close friends, and they regularly hung out, not just on birthday parties, but she would be invited out for girls' days by her friends' mothers. The parties were often girly themed parties, with everything pink, spa-day things and stuff like that.
If Azure and Caramella Red were on a picnic together, Azure would have prepared the whole picnic basket and Caramella Red would find the perfect spot. Azure would think up some good poems and write them down, and Caramella Red would paint the scenery. They would rest until the sun sets.
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Synopsis:
Twelve years ago, Azure Skylar, the Knight of the Cross of the unparalleled syndicate, the Chapel, was favored by the Pope himself to work on a mission that would determine the fate of their entire group against their growing rival, the Empire.
Twelve years ago, Azure met Caramella Red Aberdeign and found a friend in her. For once, he knew rest, quiet, peace, and comfort. Little did he know that Caramella Red was also the infamous Sweet Crimson, the ace assassin of their growing rival, the Empire.
A mistake, a wrong decision, a missed opportunity, all wrapped in the same regret that led to the ink on paper weeping about all that should have been said and done before time came and went. A story inspired by Taylor Swift's Evermore, Letter Addressed to the Fire will take you to a trip down the star-crossed soulmates' memory lane and tell you about all that was only whispered in the wind twelve years ago.
First of all, Essence does not want to go to the beach. Getting the sand out of her hair again will take literally forever, and she's not about to wear a swim cap at the beach, not only because it would be super hard to get her hair under it, but also because it looks ridiculous to her.
She'll only be staying at the beach as long as whoever she went to the beach with wants to stay, and she'll probably just sit on the beach overheating, and drinking lots of ice water, unless they ask her to get into the water.
Dominic would probably insist she drink something other than plain water and had some pink lemonade or popsicles which he for sure packed in a very very very iced cooler, along with some slightly alcoholic cold cocktails, and Essence will probably agree to try a popsicle, but not enjoy it very much, because the one he offered her was his favorite coconut milk popsicle which is oddly creamy and also has little pieces of coconut in it, and Essence has texture issues.
Dominic is largely enjoying himself, too eager to take his shirt off, and probably torturing anyone he can manage to get to come into the water with the huge waves he'll splash them with, or sometimes full on grabbing and pulling them into the water, especially if his sisters came along. Cocoa will pretend to be annoyed, and maybe be a little annoyed by his antics but still enjoy herself. Honey will plan to just work on her tan and not get her hair wet, but consent to get in the water if Dominic asks and then be just as militant in the ridiculous water war as Dominic.
However, if his sisters were with him on the beach Dominic would be a little less relaxed, because he'd totally be looking out for creepers who might try to mess with them.
9: Your characters are going to the zoo.
First of all, Kattar doesn't want to go to the zoo. Since he was about 5 years old, his mother never tried to take him, or have anyone else take him, to the zoo because he can't stand the smell. But Alicia wants to go, so he goes.
Once again, crowds borderline terrify him, because he feels claustrophobic and trapped whenever he's somewhere where he can't move easily, and this freaks him around the National Zoo entrance because there are just way too many people, but Alicia will find her way to stand in front of him, and then probably just be squatting down in front of him, with her elbows on his knees talking to him quieter than the din, which will somehow manage to make it audible, distracting and comforting him until they have space to move again.
Once they're in the zoo, Alicia will want to look at everything. Kattar is trying to convince her that that will take like all day and be basically impossible, but when he sees how much she really wants to, he'll get a map and make a plan for how they can see everything.
Alicia is excited by everything like a hyper child and probably taking lots of pictures, and Kattar will also be taking pictures for her so she'll have some actually good ones by the end of the day, taking some pictures of her, just because it's so cute and pretty to see her so happy and excited. He likes seeing the lions pretty well, and she'll want to take a picture of him in front of the area. He'll like the birds and butterflies, but doesn't enjoy going into the habitat area that actually allows you in the room with the animals as much as he could because he's afraid of something flying at or...relieving itself on or near him.
He absolutely gags at the monkey house and probably is unwilling to be inside it for more than 5 minutes.
Also they totally start overheating around noon, and have to stop to get something to eat or drink, but that bugs Kattar less than it should, though he himself is really sensitive to heat, just because Alicia looks unironically hot to him when she's overheating, trying very hard to cool off with her face really flushed.
they do successfully manage to see everything, but there's only like 30 minutes left until closing by the time they do, and Kattar is exhausted from wheeling himself around all day long, but still happy he was able to make Alicia happy, and she's probably touched, almost to the point of tears, seeing him so worn out, though he didn't complain all day long. They totally go out for pizza and ice cream at the end of the day before heading home, and this will probably be marked down as one of the happiest days in Alicia's life.
9: There is a power outage, what's are your characters doing?
Kattar is prepared, with flashlights kept in a readily accessible drawer in his kitchen, but he won't feel the need to do a whole lot. He'll probably just watch a movie from the huge collection of unwatched DVDs he has on hand until his laptop gets low on power and then go to sleep. However if Alicia was at his place at the time they probably wouldn't get very far into the movie and just end up laying on the floor, talking and laughing with each other until they fall asleep.
If Alicia was home alone, she wouldn't be able to find anything prepared for something like this. She for sure doesn't have flashlights, or if she does, she doesn't remember where she put them. She'll probably just read using her phone light until her eyes get too tired of trying to read in the weird light, or her phone dies and then either go to sleep, or decide take a bubble bath in the dark, whence she'll remember that she has candles even though she still has no idea whether she has flashlights.
10: How do your characters react to someone they like buying them a present they absolutely hate?
Well, that depends on the kind of like. If one of Kattar's friends bought him an ugly sweater, he would know it was completely intentional, and probably jokingly threaten to use the sweater to muzzle them before throwing them in his closet.
Now if it was Alicia, he would first question if she realized how ugly it was, if he was absolutely sure she didn't realize he would hate it he would be like "Lise, I don't know if heaven was out of eyes that could see color...and patterns, when they made you..." but if he was sure she did it on purpose he'd probably tell her he refused to wear it in public and would say that he'd only wear it at all if she wore it first, which she would totally do.
If Kattar bought Alicia a present she absolutely hated, there are only two ways that could really have gone.
He didn't realize what he bought her was a trigger.
He bought her something super pretty but extremely uncomfortable to wear.
He knows Alicia well, so it;s not generally a matter of taste that he would mess up on, but she has a lot of trauma and secrets he doesn't even know about, and sometimes these triggers appear in the most seemingly unrelated things.
If his present triggered her, she would probably quietly tolerate it, thank him, and pretend to like it while wishing the whole time to get it away from her as quickly as possible, probably planning out how long she'd have to leave it out somewhere he could see it when he was at her place before she could shove it in her closet, and he wouldn't question where it disappeared to. She would only tell him it upset her if he noticed and asked what was wrong, and even then, she really wouldn't want to tell him, both because she'd prefer not to talk about it, and also because she wouldn't want to worry, upset him, or make him defensive.
If it was just something pretty, but uncomfortable to wear, she would first tease him relentlessly for buying her a gift in self interest. Then she would agree to wear it, but argue that that was a present for him, so she should get something else in return (don't make him comb your hair for you Alicia, I know you hate doing it, but that's an unfair trade.)
And yes for sure this situation would happen if he ever wanted her to wear most kinds of strapless dresses or tops, a leather dress...(hmmm, how would Alicia leather dress?) or anything that showed the scars on her back.
“Have you thought about what you’re going to wear to the opening?”
“Not much,” I sigh, and by that, I mean ‘not at all.’ “I’m not usually that into clothes and makeup, and I don’t know much about fashion.”
“You looked pretty stylish in that little cocktail dress you wore to the award ceremony.”
“Well, that wasn’t my doing. My friend Kattar styled me for the award ceremony.”
Shannon raises one eyebrow with a skeptical look that embarrasses me more than ever.
“Well,” he says almost sarcastically, “he certainly showed his taste.”
11: Your OCs at an ice cream parlor
Alicia can't decide on a flavor. She for sure is spending ages trying to pick which one she wants the most and Kattar is telling her "Just get two scoops." But she'll be worried about wasting the ice cream if she can't finish two scoops. Kattar will promise to finish her ice cream if she can't just so long as the flavors she selects aren't food dyed a weird color like blue, or green, or pink. Basically so long as she gets something peanut butter, coffee, chocolate, or vanilla flavored.
Kattar gets coffee ice cream because he likes less sweet flavors. Also he gets a cone, but totally also gets a paper cup and spoon because he just wants to EAT the ice cream parlors in-house made waffle cones. He does NOT want to get ice cream all over his hands. Alicia insists that he is neurotic and gets her ice cream in a cone, but of course it starts melting down her hand and she has to try to lick that off her wrist before it makes it's way down her arm, but then she almost spills the cone altogether, and Kattar has to remind her that she is tilting her cone dangerously far, and then she gets another droplet spilling on a different part of her hand. He definitely just gets her a paper cup to put her ice cream and cone in at that point before she loses the whole dessert altogether. She does in fact manage to finish two scoops despite what she thought, and Kattar finds this amusing, though of course he doesn't comment on it, as she distractedly finishes her ice cream and then asks to taste his. He'll allow her one taste, but then she'll ask for another, and he will staunchly refuse to give her anymore, no matter how much she tries to get him to give her some. She should have ordered coffee flavor if she wanted it.
Unrelated, but if the shop carries pistachio, Alicia will sample it because she's always been curious about pistachio ice cream, because she knows it's 'a thing' but she's never tried it. She won't like it, but she will try to be polite.
13: What are your OCs like when watching a movie?
When watching alone or with other people, Alicia doesn't know how to be quiet lol. Most of the time she doesn't talk through the movie, but she might have unrelated questions in the middle of the movie (do we have any snacks?) or she might ask questions when she can't remember who a certain character is, etc. This drives Kattar up a wall. She also has a tendency to forget this is a movie and get overly invested, scared, saddened by whatever she's watching. When she's sad Kattar has to stop the movie to try to comfort her because he legitimately doesn't want her upset, but when she's scared by it he finds that cuter than he probably should, especially because she has a tendency to cling to him without even thinking when she's scared lol.
As for Kattar, he watches everything without showing any emotion to the point where it's impossible to tell if he's even enjoying the movies he watches lol. Alicia has on many occasions found herself watching his face instead of the movie just wondering "do you even like the movie?
(The roommates gather to watch a science fiction movie about a theme park filled with dinosaurs)
Byxx: He's excitedly on the edge of his seat, shoving handfuls of popcorn into his face as the T-Rex appears on screen in the rain. "GORGEOUS." 
Zayzann: Unholy screeching in Paxoram at the T-Rex as it approaches the theme park car and bellows its call. He's clearly forgotten that this is a movie, and that there's no imminent danger present. His eyes constrict to severe, x-shaped reticles and his down feathers puff outrageously as he readies to defend himself and the others.
Iris: She tries to calm Zayzann down and explains the premise of the movie, how movies even work, and that anything remotely resembling a T-Rex like this is LONG dead. She tamps down Zayzann's ridge of cranial feathers and shushes him to get him to calm down. Iris eventually gets him to sit down and flatten his feathers.
Khazmine: The patient Augment studies the creature with interest, noting vulnerabilities, vital points, and possible avenues of attack. It's abundantly clear that her best defense would be to camouflage wherever she was and hope that these creatures don't eat Augments. She's grateful that Earth doesn't have many animals this dangerous in the area.
Azure would focus a lot on the thoughts, perspective, philosophy, and meaning of the movie.
Caramella Red would pay lots of attention to the set design, landscape, and cinematography of the movie.
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Synopsis:
Twelve years ago, Azure Skylar, the Knight of the Cross of the unparalleled syndicate, the Chapel, was favored by the Pope himself to work on a mission that would determine the fate of their entire group against their growing rival, the Empire.
Twelve years ago, Azure met Caramella Red Aberdeign and found a friend in her. For once, he knew rest, quiet, peace, and comfort. Little did he know that Caramella Red was also the infamous Sweet Crimson, the ace assassin of their growing rival, the Empire.
A mistake, a wrong decision, a missed opportunity, all wrapped in the same regret that led to the ink on paper weeping about all that should have been said and done before time came and went. A story inspired by Taylor Swift's Evermore, Letter Addressed to the Fire will take you to a trip down the star-crossed soulmates' memory lane and tell you about all that was only whispered in the wind twelve years ago.
14 How would your characters try to style their crush (if given the opportunity of course)?
Kattar has done this several times. He really has no issue getting Alicia to let him style her, because she knows she has very little fashion sense, so she usually goes to him whenever she needs to look nice for an event. Usually he picks out a dress that he thinks suits Alicia well, in a color they like, either pink or red, and a pair of heels, then he helps her pick a hair style, jewelry to go with etc. He likes her wearing skirts and dresses, rarely pants or shorts, and basically always picks something without sleeves, it's one of his preferences. Since she's so short, he never puts her in maxi dresses, because they would make her look drowned.
Alicia would have a hard time persuading Kattar to let her style him, but if he did finally consent, probably after much pleading, she'd actually not do that badly. She loves his hair an irrational amount so she'd probably want to try tying it back with a ribbon the way his mother ties hers, and she'd put him in a sweater with a pretty wide scoop neck, blue jeans and sneakers. He basically never wears blue jeans, or sneakers, especially not light-blue jeans, so he would have some strong feelings about that, but tolerate it. All and all, he'd look nice, but not particularly stylish. He'd still be happy wearing it if it made her happy tho.
(he sort of styles her in this chapter lol)
Ahh, I have a few OCs obsessed with weird creatures too. Alicia loves sea life, but weird things like octopi and sea slugs and such lol
15 Your OCs at a festival or a concert?
I'll do both, but I'll start with at a festival.
Alicia and Kattar live near DC so there are a lot of festivals they can attend, and have attended, like the Cherry Blossom Festival and Fiesta DC (Latino Festival.) Alicia loves festivals and is like a bumble at events like these. she wants to look at everything and taste all the food. Kattar never orders anything himself because he knows Alicia won't finish a lot of her food and he'll be called on to finish it for her so it won't go to waste (she's tiny, you can blame her for trying to save space in her stomach.) The primary problem for both of them at festivals is the heat. Despite being basically a snake and getting cold easily, Kattar also overheats easily and he doesn't like sweating. He'll wear linen, but he's also worried about anywhere where there are heavy crowds meaning someone will touch him with dirty hands and get his clothes dirty. He's also just not a fan of crowds, and that has increased ten-fold now that he's in a wheelchair. Before he was in a wheelchair, he used to have to put Alicia up on his shoulders (not that that was that big a deal, since she's not heavy) for her to be able to see any performances taking place. she was uncomfortable with being up that high at first, but she got used to it once she realized he wasn't going to drop her.
At a concert things are way different. Alicia doesn't like them, like at all. Somehow being in a crowd at a concert is way more uncomfortable for her than it is in the open air of a festival and she hates the amount of people touching her at all times when she's in a standing area so she always has to get seats. Before Kattar was paralyzed, he loved concerts. He's been to several, usually rock concerts, throughout his teens and twenties and he almost always dragged a friend along with him, usually Alicia, and they made and night out of it, going to the concert, then for dinner, and probably staying in a hotel if the town the concert was in was far from where they lived. The concert was always the worst portion of the day for Alicia, especially because they're just so crazy loud, but she enjoyed the trip and the dinner.
Have I mentioned that Alicia is horrible to take with you on road trips?
I'll give details on that one next, and then camping XD.
16: your OCs on a road trip?
Let's establish this right away.
Alicia is a road trip demon. Do not take her on a road trip with you. Anyone who loved her any less than Kattar would have lost patience at hour two when she's asking to stop to go to the bathroom for the second time. She also buys tons of snacks at gas stations and Kattar doesn't like it when she eats in his car, but she'll beg to be allowed to eat something because she's so hungry, and she does manage to eat without spilling for anywhere between 20 minutes to 2 hours, but she WILL spill eventually lol.
She wants to talk rather than listening to music or audio books which is fine, unless you had albums or audio books you were planning to listen to, but fortunately Kattar doesn't MIND talking. Also she takes too long to eat whenever you stop to eat along the road and that makes getting back to the trip take longer than it needs to.
Once they arrive at the locations she's enough fun for Kattar to forget why he dislikes taking her on long trips every SINGLE time until it's time to get home. Basically the only annoying thing she doesn't do is ask "Are we there yet?"
Jinho is horrible on road trips because he can read or watch videos without getting dizzy so he just...does, and doesn't interact with the driver. (Read: Andrew, because he's so much better at driving than Jinho is. And no, this isn't a 'driving while asian' situation.)
For Apparent Secrets, the road trip actually happened! 
Side Stories 01 & 02 "Stargazers" covers the road trip the roommates and Curtis took to the beach. 
To summarize:
- Iris, Curtis, Zayne, Cassie, and Byxx piled into Curtis's ancient sedan and had a road trip to the beach
- Byxx and Zayne sat in the back, and Cassie had to sit on Zayne's lap. She was so heavy that Zayne was sore and having a tough time of it by the time they arrived at the beach.
- Iris and Zayne (Zayzann in human form) went swimming in the lake
- Cassie (Khazmine in human disguise) lingered on the beach under a huge beach umbrella
- Curtis and Byxx built a titanic sand castle and stomped it to smithereens
For the full story, please enjoy: