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.)

a road trip actually happened in "Damsel in the Red Dress" too, several actually, but in the past, so they'll only be mentioned in retrospect, but one is pretty relevant to the third book, as it revolved around Alicia's 21st b-day

17: how will your characters deal with their bff being in a kind of bratty/grouchy mood?

Alicia has a tendency to go from 0 to 100 and either be very sweet or very irritable with no in between. Kattar's response to this usually depends on the context. If it's his fault he used to try to brush it off, but he's learning to apologize. But if it's not his fault and she's just being a...woman who complains a lot, he usually tries to spoil her to get her to smile and not be so irritable. typically his go to method for this would be to get her to stop talking first (not an easy feat) and then offer to take her out to get something to eat or get ice cream. When you've had a female bff since Junior high you learn there are a few different kinds of angry.

1. I'm angry AT you
2. I've had a bad day
3. I'm hungry
4. It's that time of the month.

2 through 4 can be solved with food, and in Alicia's case, sometimes with cuddles.

When Kattar is having a grouchy day Alicia can sometimes get irritable herself, but when she controls that urge, she often tries to get him to smile or laugh or be playful and affectionate to get him to lighten up. Her hugging him when he was having a bad day was usually enough to ruin his bad mood, if nothing else, because he felt the need to separate her from him before he got too embarrassed, and she would stubbornly cling to him until he agreed to stop being such a pickle puss.

It's time to deliver

Your OCs while camping?

First of all Kattar has never gone camping of his own volition, period, and he's also never been 'real camping' only stayed in out of the way cabin with some of his friends when they were 19. He doesn't like the woods, he doesn't like that most standards for sanitation deplete significantly the second people get out into the wilderness. He doesn't like that he could drive HIMSELF because his hot rod cars definitely couldn't make the trip so he had to ride with his friends Ryan, Brad, Utkarsh, Lee and Alicia, and there were legit four of them (him being one of them) crammed into the back seat without the proper safety precautions like seat belts.

Then once they arrived he had to share a room with three other people, which he is also not used to being an only child who also wasn't big on sleepovers unless they took place at his own house, and that was usually two friends at a time MAX. He didn't particularly enjoy tramping through the woods, and was worried they'd get lost (they didn't.) He didn't want to go swimming in the lake (and didn't) because he doubted how clean it was.

Alicia on the other hand loves nature. She likes being away from the noise and crowds of the city. Crowds of people are often a no go for her, crowds of trees are totally fine. She went about sketching plants and leaves, and occasionally chatting with Kattar who really didn't want to leave her to wander the woods alone because he was convinced it would be way too easy for her to get kidnapped. She also got a room to herself in the cabin as the only girl present, so win win. She doesn't shower or wash her hair that often, so it wasn't a big loss to her either lol.

Dominic does okay at a farm. He can help move heavy hay bales. He'll be gentle with the horses and cows, so they'll trust him and he learns fast, so he'll probably be allowed to help groom them and braid the horse's manes. He'll also love getting to feed and be around the cute little animals like lambs and baby goats, and he'll be particularly curious about any new kinds of flowers he sees there and takes pictures so he can try to make them out of origami later.

Essence isn't a fan of the farm, just seeing it as more work, but she'll quietly participate and be happy to leave when she's done. Dominic however will be trying to get her to enjoy it. Feeding her farm fresh berries and figs and getting her to sample the ice creams that the farm makes. After visiting the farm he'll take her to a small bakery where he'll tell her to order anything she wants. She'll probably only pick one thing so he'll pick several more for the two of them to share, and they'll eat them with some of the milk they bought at the farm.

even if he knew the friend needed to be comforted or cheered up?

Essence doesn't have a crush but if she knew Dominic really wanted something she could reasonably provide for him without jeopardizing any of her previous agreements, she would probably find a way to give it to him as a tit-for-tat sort of thank you for the gifts that he's given her.

If Dominic found out that Essence really wanted something, he'd probably buy it for her if he didn't think it would make her too uncomfortable. if he was worried she'd feel bad about receiving something too expensive he'd give it to her anonymously, but he'd honestly prefer to give it to her in person so he could see her reaction. Unfortunately there isn't much like this he can do for Essence because the only thing she really wants is sleep. He could buy her a pillow i guess.

Your characters on a hike?

First of all, no hiking for Kattar. Not only is he not interested in taking his wheelchair through the woods and potentially getting irredeemably stuck somewhere, he doesn't like all the bugs and animal everything that's in the woods.

Alicia loves the woods. she'd prefer to go hiking alone and probably bring nothing but water, a few granola bars, and some art supplies.

Andrew loves hiking, Jinho does not. Jinho packs sunscreen. Wears a baseball cap, probably brings a little battery-powered hand fan and lots of water as well as hand sanitizer. Andrew packs for a hike basically like they're going camping complete with a first aid kit, flashlight, and even a tent, just in case they get lost and have to spend a night in the wilderness. (which unfortunately for Andrew has never happened.) He and Jinho always find they're way back to civilization in time for Jinho to take a hot shower and relax in the beauty of urban convenience.

so, inspired by @JokesterComics thread, today's topic is:

17: Your characters on a plane?

Is it their first ride? do they like flying?

Kattar has taken lots of flights. They don't bother him, but he doesn't like them very much, finding them boring. Mrs. Moon would find them boring too, but she just works on her flights. Of course she flying first class or business class. She has literally never flown coach.

Alicia doesn't mind flight too much but she does have a tendency to feel a little odd when she's flying, because of altitude shifts. not enough to need to use the airsick bad, but enough for flights to be generally unpleasant. Also she always has to use the bathroom way more than anyone ever should whenever she's on any sort of long trip.

Andrew would like flying, but he's never done it. He'd like seeing the world from up so high, seeing the sunrise through the plane windows etc.

Jinho hates flying. Every part of it. He's afraid of missing flights and always super tense. Afraid of losing baggage trying to make sure everything is arranged properly so he doesn't leave anything in another country where he'll never get it back. Flying makes him queasy, though he carries medicine for it. He doesn't like trying to work on planes because the lighting is weird to him and makes his eyes tired. He doesn't like sitting so close to strangers. He doesn't like trying to sleep on the plane because he always wakes up with his neck hurting, and he thinks the food is way too overpriced.

18: How do your characters react to losing their friend/friends at a mall?

Alicia would forget she could totally just text Kattar at first and check the last few places she saw him, where she thinks he might be, and then remember her phone, or he would text her. In her defense, she didn't have a functional phone in her teens, so she was just used to having to find the people she was looking for, and she's not entirely grown out of it lol.

Kattar would text them, and be arguing the whole time like 'no, do not move. i will come find you. do not try to find me or we will never find each other."

Andrew would probably go back to the car and wait for Jinho there, since they only have one car so it's not like Jinho could have left without him.

Jinho would irritably go to his favorite coffee shop/bakery and just wait for Andrew there. Andrew will probably find him eventually, but he's not going looking for him if he doesn't have to. If Andrew doesn't find him eventually, he'll probably go to the car and watch videos while laying on the back seat until Andrew shows up.

Essence doesn't have friends, but if she lost Ayla she would be in level 10 panic mode. She'd immediately go to mall security and ask them to help her find Ayla. She would probably refer to her as 'my kid' even though Ayla is technically not Essence's child. Ayla would be in some store looking at backpacks or journals with her favorite characters from "My Mirror Prince" on them.

If she lost Dominic at a mall she'd probably just wait on a bench and text him her location.

Dominic would worry if he lost Cocoa at the mall, but he'd have to remind himself that she's an adult and will probably not be kidnapped. He wouldn't text her, because her phone is usually dead because she forgets to find it. He'd just wait a few minutes just in case she had to use the restroom, and if she doesn't return he'll check where he knows she's most likely to be. Fortunately she rarely wanders off. If he lost Honey he'd go to wherever the nearest sale clothing/makeup sale was taking place, and find her 100% of the time.

XD. thanks. The fear is real!

But Zayzann, way to take it over the top. Also Khazmine yikes

sometimes that doesn't work lol. Dominic's sisters forget to charge their phones constantly