A Bit Wayward Verse

Welcome to the universe that's a bit wayward

All types of art for this world and the people who live in it -- drawing, writing, photography, music, poems, etc !

[Seph, 2019]

Persephone Costa prefers to go by 'Seph,' because if nothing else, 'Persephone' has too many syllables.

Seph’s hippie parents were a little too proud of the “creative” name they’d given her, so when they dropped her off at a fire station, it was one of the only things she could say, because it was pretty much the only thing they’d taught her.

They dropped her off believing that Safe Haven Laws applied to 4 year olds-- or maybe they were just too high to really think about it-- but in North Carolina, the law only applies to 30 day old newborns at the oldest (Seph has looked it up). Her bio parents hadn’t put much thought into it anyway, and they were tracked down easily enough. They still had all of her documents, clothes, the toy they'd gotten her, etc. 

They were arrested on a couple of charges, and both sentenced to 15  years in prison. When others in Seph's life heard more about them, they believed that her bio parents should’ve gotten a heftier sentence, but she didn’t really like to contemplate that. 

Seph was placed into foster care and spent the next 10 years bouncing from place to place, unable to keep a home, no matter how hard she tried. From Kill Devil Hills, to Kitty Hawk, to Manteo, to Duck, to Nags Head, to  Rodanthe, back to Manteo, and Kill Devil Hills, etc-- she’s seen pretty much the entirety of the Outer Banks. 

As long as she could reach the beach though, Seph didn’t mind moving around OBX. 

(She minded moving from family to family, and it had a major impact on her, whether she’d admit it or not, just not the actual Outer Banks).

The beach was Seph’s favorite place to be (other than her best friend’s dad’s garage, which was full of an obscene amount of instruments). She loved everything about it, from the warm sun and salty air, the soft sand, the sound of the waves, and the feeling of the water around her. 

Seph believed that breaking the surface tension of the water after sitting under for so long that it felt like your lungs were going to burst was the best breath of air that could possibly be taken.

She loved swimming in the ocean and knowing all of the marine life that was with her. She loved knowing that she was connected to whales, even 100 miles away.  It was her goal to one day get close enough to record a whale’s song to put it in one of her own songs, but she had never gotten close enough (and she didn’t even have the proper equipment to record ones song underwater), so she’d settled for knowing she was connected just by the water for now. 

Seph had a deep rooted fear of whales beaching. She’d obsessively check the Sea Angel Marine Life Emergency Service’s website, which would give updates on beachings, what had happened, and if they’d gotten to the beached animal in time. 

[Maya, 2000]

This was the night that changed Maya's life forever.

[Gray, 2013, B&W]

Grayson Xiao Miller

Gray grew up in Galloway, DE, and upon finding that out, most of the time people say “yeah, I can see that.” Gray’s been dying his hair the same black since he was a teenager, and it wasn’t until his mid 20s that he started wearing anything other than ripped jeans and the same boots (now that his prefrontal cortex has developed, he does look back on this and cringe). He’s kept his emo aesthetic, even after learning that he’s capable of wearing slacks. 

His look still gets him some looks (affronted ones, mostly) at his dead end job as an accountant. 

Technically he could try to climb the corporate ladder-- like his best friend-- but he doesn’t want to. He hates accounting. 

Gray started working at Weaver and Peter’s Accounting Firm when he was 20 years old. It was the first “real” job that would hire him, and he needed something better paying than King’s Grocery and Small Slice Pizza. He couldn’t stay working those jobs forever, and he didn’t want to-- working with a bunch of high schoolers during the summer after he graduated was a hit to his already easily bruised ego.

He’d already been working at Small Slice when he’d moved out at 18, but it felt more appropriate then. King’s Grocery had more people his age and older, but it wasn’t enough to pay for a place on its own. Gray wanted to move out of his shitty one bedroom, one office apartment, which he was splitting 3 ways (he took the office as his room-- his roommates were brothers who didn't mind sharing). He needed something better. A "grown up" job.

So as much as he resented math, he took the accounting job.

Gray wasn’t expecting to stay at the job as long as he has, but then again, he didn’t expect to be alive at 20, let alone up until today. 

Gray’s been basically waiting to die since he was 16. 

A part of him feels like he already did. 

Discovering his brother just moments before the light died from his eyes, just 2 months after watching their dad die in a hospital bed, tore a hole in Gray’s chest so big nothing could fill it back up. He was sure that was some sort of death in him too.

[Maya, 1999]

By Clarence Hawthorne

Prologue 

The scent of blood was nauseating as it surrounded me, only growing stronger and stronger as more of it poured from my throat. The two holes from the rodent-like pointed teeth burned as the air hit, and the venom coursed hot through my veins. I felt like I might explode as I writhed around in pain, trying not to cry out, but gasping for air. My fist clenched around a sharp rock, but it did nothing to redirect the pain. I was sure I was dying. It hurt too much for me to not die from this. The vampire might not have drained me, but surely the venom was killing me. I was positive I was going to die, and I was begging God to get it over with already.

But then I didn’t die.

The Lovett Carnival !

[Maya, 2006]

The Start of Maya's Backstory

Maya Lux Moore

(Or is it...)

Maya grew up in the Appalachian region of Georgia, giving her an accent that she just couldn’t seem to shake, no matter how hard she tried to squash it. 

She lived in a trailer park with primarily her mom, Donna, since her dad was out doing who-knows-what. Not that Donna was particularly attentive. Maya was an “oops” baby, and her parents weren’t ready to settle down and be parents (it’s doubtful that they’d ever be fit parents, truthfully), so Maya had quite a bit of time to herself while they went out and did whatever they wanted. Her dad would leave for days at a time, and Donna started bringing her affair partners around when Maya was 4. Donna had a never-ending string of men, all of which she was supposedly “head over heels” for. She’d usually end up cheating on them later, or vise versa. 

Their trailer had 1 bedroom, so Maya slept out on the kitchen’s bench, right in front of the TV. It became her main way of coping, other than art. She delved into different forms of media and storytelling. She became obsessed with knowing every detail of her favorite movies, rereading her favorite books, and listening to music— anything to block out the noise, either inside or out of her head. There was something comforting in the repetition. She knew exactly what was going to happen. That wasn’t something she could rely on in real life, so she craved it, and savored it.

For that reason, she grew a love for holiday Hallmark movies, and their repetition. She always knew what was going to happen, and there were always happy endings. 

There was something weirdly comforting about the way that the relationships were portrayed as well. The love interests were never violent, or overly angry, at least at the end, when they got together. For a brief period, Maya thought that maybe, maybe, that could be real. Then she realized that that was a stupid idea. Even still, she loved Hallmark, and the cheesy romance, and the predictable lines and stories. 

This world of media became a core part of who she was.  

It was through this that she learned about the goth subculture. When she saw Bauhaus' cover of Ziggy Stardust on MTV, she fell in love. She discovered Siouxsie and the Banshees, then more goth music. She fell in love with the music, the style, and the belief system became incredibly important to her.

Autonomy, equality, and freedom of expression were all extremely important to her. This only intensified, even as she kept it to herself, when her life started running off the rails, worse than she could ever imagine.

The other outlet Maya had was art. She started drawing at a young age, while she was locked up in the trailer, and had nothing better to do. She discovered oil painting when she was in high school. She immediately fell in love. 

By then, they’d moved up to Derryley, Delaware. 

Maya would look up at the sky as she walked home from school, and see the colors of the fading sun. Her favorite was the bluey-purple color, right after the sun set. It was beautiful, and it felt like the calm before the storm, as she headed back to Donna and whoever her boyfriend was at the time. 

Maya always paid attention to color. Not only in her surroundings, but in her emotions, in people’s voices, and most importantly, people’s auras. To Maya, people’s hands were the best indicator on what a person’s intentions were. That was where she could see the colors the brightest, and their hands would be clear, or blur depending on what they were thinking of doing. If the hands were hazy, Maya knew she was in danger. When their aura darkened— even if they were clear— she knew they were angry. Other people have even more specifics, or quirks to their colors, or their auras. Maya never thought much about the fact that she read auras until someone pointed out that it wasn’t exactly normal, but even still, she didn’t care. It was helpful. 

Colors were what drew Maya to oil painting as well. Mixing them, blending, creating values and highlights and shadows— it was something that quelled her anxiety for just a bit, and she adored it. She loved that there could be something generally ugly, but if painted in the right way, it could be beautiful. She loved paintings of cities, where an alleyway is dirty, but the sunset peeks through, and the rays of the last bits of sun bounced off the bricks. She loved painting motels that were old and falling apart, but were beautiful from their neon signs, often reflected in puddles that had settled into potholes. 

And she was good at it. Not only was she good with knowing her way around color theory— she sometimes listed  oil paints in her head to try to replicate a color she was looking at— but she was also good with the technique. She had a good eye.  

With the help of her art teacher, Mrs Lisbon, she started to sell her oil paintings at 15 years old. She did duel enrollment for Blackbird Community College her senior year of high school, when she was 16 (because she moved up from Georgia, and her school wasn’t the best, she skipped 8th grade), and graduated community college when she was 17. She excelled in college, specifically her oil painting class, and learned a lot— outside of oils as well. 

The fact that she learned anything at all during that period of time is shocking to her. 

Galloway, Delaware, is the first city made in A Bit Wayward Universe

Around the City

It's a medium sized urban city located in southeast Delaware, and about 30 minutes from the east coast. There's about a 30 minute drive until you hit the next city, and the roads just outside of Galloway are lined with trees until you get to the highway.

Galloway is busy, with residential areas of apartment complexes and neighborhoods. The neighborhoods tend to be farther out on the outskirts, while the apartment complexes are packed in around the city.

The city is relatively walkable, though the closer you get to the edges, the need for a car or public transport grows.

The northern part of Galloway is known for being the wealthiest, with expensive apartments and gated communities, such as Beaumont Drive. The Noctilio Resort of Galloway is at the northeast part of the city, making it a good place to stay for people who want to explore the city, and not be too far from the beach, or ShortSpine Shore.

The center of Galloway-- also known as Mid Galloway-- has the most residential apartment complexes, mostly middle class. The west side has mostly residential complexes, and is the cheapest place to live, but it's known for not being a safe area. Missing persons reports are often from those who live in the west side.

The east side of Galloway has a few different classes, and it holds the majority of neighborhoods, rather than apartments.

The southern part of the city is most known for the work surrounding chemical research. Research, studies, and testing are what's said to be happening in the lab, though residents are becoming increasingly suspicious as to what's really going on.

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Entertainment

There are plenty of necessities, stores, small shops, restaurants, and entertainment around the city.

Some examples of necessities are King's Grocery, the Walkin Laundromat, and Callisto Real Estate.

Entertainment like movie theaters, PINS (bowling), and the Voorhee's Escape Room are popular.

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The Supernova Mall has stores such as Downs 2000, Moonage and Stars, and Ultraviolet Makeup. It also has entertainment like the Twilight Movie Theater, Spacek Arcade, Starfire Roller skating, and Ray Guns Laser Tag.

The food court has a lineup of favorites, like Wiiings, Sweetwater, Craven Out, and Ookushi.

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Galloway isn't known for its tourism, but it's got plenty to do for its residents. Those who move to the city tend to find it endearing. Those who grew up there sometimes find it cheesy.

Nothing wrong with cheesy though hehe.

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Vampires

Vampires have their own set of accommodations, and stores are recommended to stay open later after the sun goes down so they can get their necessities too.

Vampyr Transition is a federal business that helps new vampires transition from human, to vampire life. It's like counseling, or a life coach for new vampires.

There are a few Hollowmeyer and Jean Blood Banks around the city. Hargreeves' Umbrellas create and sell umbrellas that are extra wide, and come down extra far to help protect the vampires that need to come out during the day. Claudia's, a clothing store, sells clothes that cover more skin to protect them from the sun. (The drawback is the fact that vampires don't do well in heat).

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