Art and Writing With a Cup of Milk

I sat on my bed in the dim lighting of my room. I had no appetite, not after what had happened in the square. I winced as I rubbed my stomach. It felt like I swallowed 10 dragon peppers, and on top of that the punch caused a bruise to bloom on my skin. I felt my whole body go numb again at not only the fight, but the curls that fell delicately around my face.                

Marx stood frozen in his spot as my mom charged at him. The items she was holding fell around her as she grabbed him by the collar and threw him aside. She glared at me and Eris before turning to Marx and scrunching her face so hard I thought it would all gather into the middle of her face or pop off or something. Different shapes and colors of faces started to appear in our peripheral vision, and they all had deep frowns on them. My mother let go of a hard breath, causing some of his face to shrink in fear. She let go of the boy, and in panic, he scurried off into the crowd. My mother turned to me, relief in her facial features, with a hint of disappointment.               I know, I wasn’t the strongest Ariean a mother could ask for. I had to keep myself from bawling my eyes out and apologizing to my mother that I caused all this attention. I scurried off my feet and began picking up the items off the ground, rubbing the dirt off some, and placing them back into our basket. After retrieving the last item, I turned to my mother, only to see she had an alarmed expression on her face. When I turned to Eris for clarification, she was looking at me as if one of our moons exploded. I was bewildered on why they were giving me such looks until a lock of curls fell over my shoulder.

I was pulled out of the events of the last two hours due to a knock on the door. I looked up to see my brother standing there, looking at me with a blank expression. I tried to say something, anything, that would elicit a response from him, but nothing came out of my mouth. He looked between me and my desk and walked towards my desk instead. It was cluttered with books and candles, as well as a few trinkets I collected. He picked up the book I was reading a few nights ago.               Oliver took the book and sat next to me on my bed. He flipped through the pages, seemingly not caring for the Imaginarium in Gemini or the agriculture in Virgo. He stopped on House Cancer, where the oceans were mixtures of blues and purples and the sand was filled with seashells, where cities lie on pods and Cancerians basked in the sun of Helios in pleasure. My body felt drawn to the pictures the book provided, so I touched the pages, longing to be there instead of being cooped up in a world filled with dark colors and fights left and right. I sighed.

              Eris knocked on the door so hard it sounded like thunder. If it were any other day, I would have opened the door for her the first time she knocked, but today wasn’t like that. I was too entranced by the girl I was staring at. I was thinking of all the possible reasons for this to happen, but nothing rational came to mind. I could only recall the events that took place before I went to bed: putting on pajamas, brushing my teeth, and saying goodnight to everyone.

              I don’t remember doing anything to my hair that would make it curly.

              I didn’t know how long I was standing there before I heard my mother’s voice calling me. I told her I’d be out since I didn’t take shower yet and she replied by saying I was in the bathroom for longer than usual. I rushed to take a shower and covered my head with the towel, so my family wouldn’t see the mop of curls on my head. Mom and Eris threw me bewildered looks as I shuffled out of the lavatory.               When I finished getting dressed, I brushed my hair out as much as I could. On House Aries, a majority of the population had straight hair. Some people had waves, but they were small and acceptable. These curls were something out of this solar system. No matter how many times I brushed it out, they bounced back into place. To not raise anymore suspicion, I brushed it back into a bun. I tried to remember how my mom used to do it, but overall, I think it failed me.               Everyone gave me funny looks as I sat at the table and Mom placed the plate of toast and eggs in front of me. My eyes were downcast until Eris spoke up.

“What the hell is up with your hair?!” She asked. I don’t think she meant it to sound so harsh, but it felt like it was. “I decided I wanted a bun,” I replied, my throat feeling warm and dry with anxiety. Oliver took a bite out of his toast in suspicion. “Hun… You never wear buns. Why the change?” Mom pointed out. My head whipped towards her and my mouth was searching for a reason to spit out. “I just thought that today would be a good day!” I said with a forced smile. “Well why don’t you let me- “ “That’s okay,” I said, cutting her off, “I wanted to do it myself!”

              During recess, I stood in the bathroom administering to my hair. It started getting more lopsided and the curls were more noticeable, so I had to comb my fingers through it to gather it and tie it up. I heard the girl’s door open and I almost jumped out of my skin. I thought she would scream at how awful my hair was, but she only held in her laughter. I looked at her to see the brightest orange hair to grace Phaetonis.

“Mina! You scared me!” I yelled as she clutched her stomach and doubled over in laughter. She was rolling on the floor as I tapped my foot in anger. Once she regained her composure, I beat her to the punch. “Look, I’m trying to make a bun. Something happened to my hair this morning… If I tell you, you have to promise not to tell anyone!” I told her. She crossed her heart and knocked on her forehead. “Cross my heart and hope my horns fall off!”

I explained to her how my hair unexpectedly made curls this morning. I told her that I had to tell my family that I thought buns were cool now, knowing full well I hated them. If it made people not laugh at me about it, then it was the best option available.               Mina sympathized and helped me make the bun look good. She was the one into makeup and hair, so this was a gift from Helios.  Her wine-colored fingers raked through my hair as she let it fall to my shoulders. She hummed as she began forming a pony tail at the base of my neck. Before I could even blink, she had transformed the tail of curls into a neat bun. I thanked her a thousand times over as our hands connected and we left the bathroom.               That night, we went out to the market to gather ingredients for dinner. Mom and Oliver set out on getting the meat and Eris and I went for the seasoning and vegetables. Eris had the list in her hands while I carried the basket for our items. So far, we had carrots, onions, and lettuce for vegetables and paprika and garlic for seasoning. We stopped at a stand that had spiky looking vegetables and jars of spices to see if they were any from the list. I was watching her talk to the man behind the counter until I felt someone push me to the ground.               I turned my head to see Marx staring me down with murder in his eyes. I squeaked and hurriedly gathered the items that fell from our basket. I stood up and threw an angry glace at the tall boy, but he shot it down as he puffed out his chest and bared his teeth. He looked like a rogue animal.

It’s been one galactic week on House Aries. I held onto Oliver’s hand as we walked through the usual route home. I grasped it out of consciousness because I didn’t want a rerun of last week. I felt a cowardly for doing such an act, because this act was left for toddlers. Simultaneously, it was flooded out with a sense of security as he softly squeezed my left hand. For a moment he scanned the scar situated between my middle finger and ring finger. He knew it was an accident, yet she was too blind to see that.

              Eris cradled me in her arms as we rushed back home. She practically shoved people out of her way, causing them to throw dangerous looks and shake their fists in the air. I wailed at the pain in my left hand. It was turning red through the red fabric, making it look as dark as the night sky. I held the sliced appendage to my chest and cradled it. I think someone asked what was wrong, but Eris didn’t stop or even say anything. She just kept running.               We had finally made it to our home. Eris basically rammed us into the door, causing a cry from both of us. We crashed the ground; Eris out of breath. The door swung open to reveal Oliver and Mom with quizzical looks on their faces. Eris could only push me through the doorway and Oliver caught me. I cried to them about my hand, and they immediately rushed me to the bathroom. Mom took apart the makeshift bandage to reveal the large slice in my hand.               I’ve never seen Oliver’s eyes grow so big before, but it was creeping me out. Mom sucked in a breath and began searching for clean bandage wraps. My eyes were filled with water, but blinking them away allowed me to see the damage done to my hand. There was a large gash between my middle finger and my ring finger, and since it was split open, that finger and my pinky lopped further to the left than it was supposed to. My whole body trembled in terror, but not my hand. I couldn’t feel it.               The four of us rushed out into the night to a group of healers. I saw other Arieans there with far greater wounds than I had, but I was the only one wailing like a baby. I didn’t care if an Aries wasn’t supposed to show a single tear at the feeling of pain. It was too real and too much.               The healers tried all they could to restrain me, so they could carefully stitch my hand back together. It boiled down to me sitting in Oliver’s lap as the woman in white pushed and pulled the needle and thread through my skin. As my cries died down, I could faintly hear Mother and Eris talking. Their conversation was laced with heat and fast words. I came close to distinguishing they’re words when the woman caught my attention.

“All done! Let’s get you to the healing pod.”

              Oliver and two other healers lead me to a large, white pod. Well, it wasn’t very white, more like a dirty white and covered in scratches. It’s seen it’s years here on House Aries.               They opened the door to the pod and gently pushed me to get in. My eyes started to water and I hurriedly looked towards Oliver. His eyes caught mine quickly and he rushed to my side. He grabbed me by the shoulders and gave me a little shake.

“Be brave. This will make the healing faster. When you’re done, I’ll be out here.” He told me. I sucked in my tears and nodded my head. The healers helped me into the pod and made sure I was comfortable. I felt warmth spread through the pod as it closed. My brother’s face was the last thing I saw before my eyes shut.

“I promise.”

              Eris wasn’t home when we got back. Mom was outside in the backyard training with her helm. The helm she wore had large curved horns on either side. She requested hers be like that because if you studied her helm carefully, she made carvings in between the ridges. The ridges were large enough to hold scars and stories.

“You hungry?” Oliver asked, bumping me out of the trance of watching our mother charge at a dummy. “Yeah.”

              Oliver was the oldest of the two; even though they are both 14, he came out first. Father said he was quiet when he came out, but growing up he was the rowdiest boy he’d ever lay eyes on. He had lots of friends, which he still does, and all of them considered him a leader. He was always recommended to be the class president or someone’s hero in a make-believe adventure. Girls often swarmed him, but he always found a way to evade them.               My brother threw me a smile as he set a peanut butter sandwich in front of me. I gave him a half smile as I bit into the sandwich and he left the kitchen. Him and Dad were surrounded by girls, so when they knew we were settled they’d go off on their own adventure. Sometimes they we’re gone for days and when they came back they’d tell us what they experienced. Only this time, Oliver was just going into the living room to sit by the fire.

              After I finished the sandwich, I went outside to watch Mom still practicing with her helm. I sat on the steps and marveled at how stronger her charges became. After a few hits with the dummy, she took off the helm and twisted her body in my direction. A smile adorned her bronze features. She illuminated under our small sun and Helios.

“If it isn’t my little lamb,” She said, jogging over to me. Her muscles glistened in the suns and bounced off her body. “You’re all gross, go take a shower!” I laughed. She scrunched her face and then burst out in laughter.

              The day was beginning to get dark. Oliver said he went out for a walk, but me and Mom knew he was going to look for Eris. I sat at the table flipping through the blue and purple hues of my book while Mom was in her room. My thoughts drifted from the book to the thought of my sister blaming herself for what happened. She was probably hitting a tree with a sword and she hit it so many times that it fell. Maybe she was taking her frustration out on a river or took something along with her to tear to shreds. Whatever she was doing, I hope she was okay.

“The textured patterns of his skin gleam in the room’s blinding brightness…” page 113, Thirteen Rising @rominagarber

I flipped through the pages of a book with wonder in my eyes. They were filled with vibrant pictures of House Cancer’s oceans, House Scorpio’s underwater worlds, and House Pisces’s Ichtys. I knew the world wasn’t inhabitable, but it was so beautiful to admire. The pictures were illuminated by a soft glow from my candles. Oliver had designed them for me. They were candles that went out by themselves in the daytime, and illuminated themselves during the night.               I giggled as I looked at the picture of Scorpios using water wings to swim through the air. It looked fun to do, and I secretly wished we had something like that on House Aries. I imagined slipping on the fins and wings and soaring through the air, past spongy and colorful buildings. My fingers glided over the picture and flipped to the next page, revealing a picture of House Scorpio’s Guardian.

“Ramona! C’mon I don’t have all day!” Eris called from downstairs. I was so engrossed in the blue and purples that contrasted with the reds and browns that I didn’t hear her call. “Seriously? Nose stuck in a book again?” I heard her say, voice intimidating as it was humorous. I nearly jumped out of my skin as I faced her. The psynergy in the candles burned brighter to reveal her caramel colored features. The sharpness in her facial features made her look like she was 20 when she’s only 14. “Sorry… I’ll get changed and meet you downstairs in five.”

              After changing from house clothes to my red tunic and boots, I fashioned my hair into a ponytail. I grabbed my fingerless gloves and swords and hopped down the stairs, to where Eris was waiting for me near the front door. Oliver was sitting on the couch, reading a comic entitled White Hole. It was one of his favorite comics, something about a group of teens who discover white holes appearing in the Zodiac, and trying to find out who’s behind it. As we opened the door to leave, I gave him a quick goodbye hug.

“That’s for yesterday.” I whispered, causing a slight chuckle to escape his lips.

              Eris and I escaped into the night, trading warm walls for the warmth of the night air. We passed a few Arieans, and noticed some were Majors. I heard my sister suck in her breath and her physique changed from rushed to calm. She even puffed up her chest, causing some of the female soldiers to smile. When they were out of sight, Eris did a small skip and fist bumped the air.

“Three years! Three years and I’ll get to my earpiece, serve in the army, and become a Major!” She rejoiced. I threw her a quick smile, while my stomach churned in anxiety.

              Once an Ariean turns seventeen, they must commit two years to the army and receive their Earpiece. They can also move onto enrolling in the academy to become a Major too. All of it sounds wonderful, but I was always on the fence about it. Like it was predestined for me, but something sounds off about it.               Soon, we came across a field filled with few trees and tall grass. It was dark, so the environment looked more like a silhouette. The only thing that made the scenery look three dimensional is the small fireflies that danced around the blades of grass.

“This is the perfect place to practice fighting in the dark. Your opponent can sneak up on you if you ever must travel where light is minimal. Now keep your guard up Ramona,” Eris said in a sing-song voice. Just as her sentence faded into the night, so did she.

Hi! I decided to make a character to set in the ZODIAC universe: I’ve always been intrigued with astrology and reading it in a series is astounding. All in all, hopefully you’ll like her! 

                Phaetonis may have been the first planet inhabited by humans, but it wasn’t the prettiest. It was cluttered with houses and markets and Arieans. The air really wasn’t healthy, but we were used to it. I walked past the bulky teens and adults as I made my way back home from school. Today we had learned something about House Pisces, but I can’t remember what it was because I was too busy reading about House Sagittarius. They had a bunch of cool tech and colorful cities and wonderful people that Ionged to see.               I was so lost in my own thoughts that I bumped into two other citizens. When I got my bearings, I noticed they were two boys from my grade. One was tall with orange eyes and dark red hair, so dark it could be mistaken for brown. The boy next to him was a few inches shorter than him and wore a shirt with the sleeves torn off to show his muscular arms. He had dark red eyes and dark red hair as well.

“Oh great. What do you guys want?” I tried in a bored tone. I was trying to keep my cool and look intimidating, but something tells me they saw past that. “Hey little lady. My brother here and I need some money for tomorrow. Knowin’ you always got extra to spare, maybe we can have some,” the taller one explained. His brother next to him cracked his knuckles. “Just leave me alone Marx,” I said, weighing his name on my tongue. I slapped my hands on my hips to look bigger, but they only laughed. “Lucky we caught you without your brother. Grab her!” Marx commanded, causing both to lunge at me.

              Before their hands could touch me, I rolled underneath them and started running. I heard them curse and then footsteps, followed by shouts. I pushed past adults and cut a corner past a couple of tents. I wondered how I could have lost my brother amongst the crowd because I would think he’d notice his little sister is missing. Then again, we can become so entranced in our own worlds we’d forget the world around us, and that’d mean each other.               I looked behind me to see if I was still being chased. As I slowed down, Marx and his brother weren’t behind me, so I was granted a brief breath. I straightened my dark red tunic and pet my fire red hair to look decent. I started to make my way out of the ally when I was shoved back. I was about to stand up, but a weight had pressed itself on my chest, making it hard to breath.

“Little lady thought she could escape us?” The shorter brother said. He was so close to me that I could smell his breath and it was very displeasing. “Get off me Fern!” The command sounded more like a cry rather than a growl. I started wiggling and trying to break free from Fern’s grasp, but he continued to hold me down. I started to feel my eyes water as my breath got caught in my own throat. “Aww, is she going to cry? Ha! What kind of Ariean cries?” Marx laughed. I couldn’t help the tears falling from my eyes as I screamed for my brother.

“OLIVER!”

              At my sudden outburst, the boys froze. They quickly surveyed their surroundings for the person I tried to summon. They never messed with me, or anyone, if Oliver was around. He made sure they knew how to be respectful and not bullies.                   As the minutes ticked away in deafening silence, I took my chance to break free from Fern’s grasp. The boys stood dumbfounded for a split second before they noticed my getaway in the opposite direction. They chased me still. At this point I didn’t care if I was crying, or if all my money was gone.

“Why you little bitch!” Marx yelled.

I just wanted my brother. I just wanted him right here, right now, to make all of this stop. 

And Helios granted my wish.

              My physique collided with another, but we never fell. I felt arms wrap around me, and the familiar scent of firewood. I buried myself in his torso, crying my eyes out. I felt his hand pet my hair in a comforting manner, causing me to look up. His burgundy eyes were trained on Marx. If looks could kill, those boys would be lifeless.

“Want to run that by me again one more time?” Oliver said. He took his arms from around me and instead began walking towards the brothers. “Y-You h-h-heard me! She-She’s a-a-a—” Marx didn’t finish the sentence before Oliver’s knuckle collided with his mouth.

              Marx fell to the ground clutching his bloody mouth. Oliver looked down at him and, before the fallen brother could utter a word, kicked him in the stomach. Fern charged at Oliver with rage in his eyes and swung a fist at him. I watched as Oliver dodged it and also swung his fist sideways, causing his to crash into Fern’s cheek. Marx, recovering from the hits, tried to land a punch on my brother, but he was quickly taken into a headlock.

“Call my sister that again and you’ll be wearing a neck brace!” Oliver warned as he pushed him to the ground.

              I stared in awe at how strong my brother is and how much authority he held in his voice. Dad always knew he’d be a great soldier someday, and it doesn’t take long to know why. We both watched as the boys ran away in defeat and horror as a newcomer came into the battlefield.

“Did you beat up someone without me?” Came a confident, female voice.

Hi! Going through ZODIAC series tags, and these questions are very intriguing to answer! 

1. How did you hear about the books? Okay, so I was actually in Barnes and Nobles looking for books to read when I came across ZODIAC and its lovely cover. I bought it thinking it would be just one book, but then I finished it and at the end of the book read “The End of Book One”. I was so shocked yet had to wait for the next book because I wanted to know what was going to happen next!

2. What is your favorite moment from the series so far? I have finished the series! My favorite moment in the series is when Rho gets the title of Wandering Star from Crompton. It sounds so... Stellar.

3. Which house are you from? I’m from House Aries!

4. What do you like about your house? What I love most about my house are the appearances. Fiery features and muscular bodies sound really cool! Other than that... There’s not a lot...

5. If you had to change houses, which house would you pick? I’d pick either House Cancer, Sagittarius, or Gemini! Sagittarius and Gemini for the creative aspects of them, and Cancer for the sea. (Plus, Cancer is my rising sign!)

6. Which system would you most like to visit? I’d like to visit Sagittarius! They seem pretty chill. 

7. If you got to choose, which Zodiac technology would you most like to have? I’d like to have a Scarab. The bracelet seems pretty and it’s nice to have a weapon that can be concealed as just an accessory. 

8. Which character would you want as a best friend? I’d love to have Pandora as a best friend! She’s s supportive of Mathias and Rho, and in general has a great personality!

9. Which sign would you most like to date? This is a little tough... I think I’d like to date a Cancer because of how protective and emotionally intelligent they are. 

10. Who do you hope Rho “ends up with?” (If anyone at all!) I hope she ends up with Hysan! I’ve been so torn between her being with him or Mathias, but I feel like Hysan can give her much more than Mathias can.

11. If you could record a Snowglobe, what would you put in it? Hm... I honestly have no idea...

12. If you had the chance to tell Rho anything, what would advice/encouragement would you give her? I would tell her she can confide in me anything she’d like to. I honestly wish I got to be apart of her journey and help her overcome her situations. 

Hello! I’ve finished Romina Russell’s series ZODIAC, and I have to say:

I’M SO IN LOVE

I couldn’t stop turning each page in each book because I absolutely had to know what happened next. I have endured Rho’s hardships with her, and I am so grateful Romina gave us a story such as her’s to experience. The books had such breathtaking moments, and as I read I was so torn over who Rho would fall in love with, I loved characters I didn’t think I’d love, and I traveled with the Wandering Star to so many planets that had beautiful environment. 

On Tumblr, there isn’t a huge fanbase around the series, and maybe that’s because it’s small. I want to contribute to the fandom as much as I can, so I might create some fanfiction or artwork to awaken this beautiful fandom created by a beautiful writer. I raise my glass of milk to Romina for bringing the stars closer to us, and allowing readers a chance to experience a story like no other!

@rominagarber thank you so much!

Hi there! Nice to see you’ve found this blog! I bet you it’s the only one you’ve come across that has “milk” in the title, isn’t it?