thank you, evening star

Float On By | Open

Kairi smiled a little, excited to share something she recently learned with another newcomer to town. Or, she assumed at least by the fact. Because the few people she’d spoken to who did bring up the lake seemed to act like it was common knowledge here.

“Honestly, rumors is still even a strong word. I would dare say legends,” She started. “Like about mermaids being in the lake. Can you believe that? I really can’t.”

Oh, there weren’t any real rumors. Hm, what a shame. Lottie could feel her attention slipping already. 

“From what I’ve heard, Swynlake is chock-full of legends and secrets and weird little occurrences. Like, did you know that sending texts in this town is actually pretty risky? They could go to anybody.” The blonde’s nose scrunched up in distaste, then she shrugged. “All this to say, I wouldn’t be surprised if most of what you’ve heard is true.”

the-princess-atta​:

Pumpkin, Spice, and Everything Nice || Sally+Atta+Lottie [Sattie]

Asking clumsies why was turning into Atta’s favourite hobby. She’d noticed there was a near 50/50 split on answers. Either they knew exactly why or they had no idea, looked at her like she was all slush-brained for even wondering, though their cluelessness quickly turned back on themselves as they realized oh, they really should know, shouldn’t they, why they did these little things that they did. It was that one second of vulnerability that Atta enjoyed most– feeling briefly intellectually superior, as though she’d taken temporary command of their world and spun it back around on them, so they were trapped by its mirror-image, the familiar made strange. Considering how out of place Atta felt most of the time, this felt like a gentle, well-deserved revenge.

In front of her, the 50/50 split reared perfectly: the redhead knew exactly why and the blonde crinkled her nose like she’d just smelled something funny. 

This time, Atta enjoyed the answer more– especially as she and the blonde both raised their eyebrows at the same time, mirror-images now in shared enlightenment. 

“I imagine you could do a night sky landscape,” offered Atta. “That seems simple-ish, don’t you think? A crescent moon, then different stars..and that’d be pretty when lit up. Though I think– I want to do it the most traditional way, the way you clumsies do it,” Atta decided out loud. She reached forward for a pumpkin and drew it closer to her. “Which means an extremely scary face. With fangs and things.” 

At this point, Atta realized she, er, hadn’t introduced herself. Frost.

“Oh, I’m errr, I’m–Atta, by the way,” Atta said awkwardly with a tiny wave. “I’m actually from the Hollow here which is why I don’t know about these things if that’s any excuse.” 

@eveningstxr​ @enthusiasticclouds-sally​

.

Sally’s eyes practically opened wide with exciting approval to the night sky idea. She was fond of the night and so naturally loved the idea.

“Oo I think a night sky would look beautiful. The stars should be pretty easy just umm poke holes of all small sizes all around the pumpkin. I agree that it would look very nice when lit up.” 

It wasn’t a scary face, but a night sky was the next best thing. 

The red head hadn’t turned her head, or make a face when hearing herself being referred to clumsy. In fact she had kept carving her lid as she normally had until she had finally got it done. She knew the moment that word was used that she was speaking to a fairy. 

Sally’s ex-girlfriend was a fairy, she had learned a bit of fairy culture from her. At the same time, even if clumsy was meant in its literal form Sally still wouldn’t have reacted because she was a klutz. 

“Nice to meet you, Atta.” She smiled, giving a small wave back in return. “I’m Sally and umm that’s okay I only know all about it because of this well friend I had.”

Yes, had because she was speaking of Daniel who was dead. It brought a sudden ache inside of her that Sally hadn’t anticipated. She had helped him move on, if not he would’ve been right here with her enjoying all the pumpkin carving.

“He was this umm huge history buff and so he knew the history behind pumpkin carving. He liked carving pumpkins as much as I do.”

@eveningstxr​ @the-princess-atta​

Lottie nodded at the idea of carving a night sky. It certainly sounded like less work, plus it would save her from further cutting the pumpkin and touching more of its gross, slimy pieces. It was a win-win scenario in her mind. She was just about to thank the other blonde for her thoughtful suggestion when something she’d said finally registered.

Hold the phone, did she just call her clumsy?

As a former debutante, this felt like a personal affront. Clumsy? Ha! Had this blonde ever maintained her balance in high heels and a ball gown? Or floated across the dance floor with hundreds of people scrutinizing her every move? Doubtful. 

Lottie’s eyes narrowed and she perfected a sharp quip to say in return, but her train of thought was derailed at the mention of The Hollow. Wasn’t that where Olaf was from?

Oh. 

She backpedaled immediately, acting as though there was something in her eye that was causing her to squint, rather than her own pride and pettiness. After a moment, she turned back to the others — Atta and Sally — and smiled slightly.

“Well, since we’re all introducing ourselves, I’m Lottie,” she said breezily, turning back to her pumpkin. “It’s nice to meet you both.”

Hashtag Blessed | Lottiana

Tiana paused for a moment to think about that. She had such a clear picture in her head of what Tiana’s Place would be… what it would look like, what it would sound like, what it would smell like. Tiana had messy sketches and a Pinterest board that she would update late at night when she couldn’t sleep, spending hours pinning pictures of exposed brick walls and shiny green cushions as if that would get her closer to realizing her dream.

Did that count as a brand? Tiana hoped so.

“I guess… I mean, I can show you my Pinterest board,” Tiana said, pulling it up from where she had it bookmarked and turning her laptop around. “I don’t know if that helps. I want it to… celebrate my dad’s life, his history, his culture. So I want it to remind people of New Orleans, but not in the touristy Bourbon Street way, the real New Orleans, you know? And when people come to eat there, I want them to feel like they can relax a little. Let loose. It’s gonna be an upscale place, somewhere you can go on a date or celebrate your birthday, but if people wanna get up and dance, they can….”

Tiana paused, trying to gauge whether Lottie understood what she meant by all that. “Does that get us anywhere? I can write something more specific up. I don’t know how else to describe it. I just want it to feel like both my homes, Swynlake and New Orleans all at once.”

Lottie smiled warmly as she reviewed the Pinterest board Tiana had no doubt spent months — no, years — dreaming up and adding to. Whether her friend realized it or not, this was exactly what they needed to get started. 

“This is perfect, Tia,” the blonde chirped excitedly, looking between their laptops as she typed up some quick notes. Feel like home — Swynlake and New Orleans tied together with a ribbon and bow. Not pretentious but not too casual — strike the right balance! Celebrate New Orleans. Celebrate her father’s life, history, and culture. 

The last bullet point threatened to choke Lottie up and disrupt her train of thought, but she pushed it aside. This was about Tiana, not her.

Nodding thoughtfully, she leaned back in her seat and stared at her screen. After a pause, she smiled at Tiana. “I think the best way for people to understand Tiana’s Place is for them to understand Tiana first. Sure, plenty of people around here know you and your story, but if we’re gonna go bigger — and we are gonna go bigger — we should introduce people to you off the bat. We could do an interview series, along with some branded photos of your dishes across your socials. That way, we balance out the why you started your business — your vision, your dream — with the why they should come — the food, the atmosphere... Plus, nothing gets people talking faster than a heartfelt story.”

Hashtag Blessed | Lottiana

Tiana eyed Lottie suspiciously. “Decaf? I don’t know about that,” she replied, just a little bit amused. Part of the reason she had suggested Hatter’s in the first place was for the access to caffeine.  Out of the meeting spots in town, Hatter’s had the best coffee, and between juggling work and restaurant preparations, Tiana knew she would need a lot if it.

But Lottie did have a point about taking a moment to ease into things. Waitressing had taught Tiana many important lessons, and the most important being that, if you let yourself get overwhelmed, you weren’t much use to anyone, no matter how many tables you were balancing. It was much more efficient to take a breather now and then. Tiana had learned that the hard way back when she started her jobs, but it was a lesson she could stand to be reminded of now and then.

“I know you’re the one teaching here, but I can’t agree to decaf. I’ll have a cappucino instead of an espresso shot. That is my compromise,” Tiana conceded. 

Lottie raised her hands in surrender. “Alright, alright. Just don’t get all jittery on me — I’m gonna need your full attention today.” She laughed and nodded for her friend to follow her to the counter to order. 

Once the two had their respective drinks, the blonde finally settled into her seat and opened her laptop with finesse. She wasn’t sure if she was more excited to help her friend or to finally feel like an expert in something less superficial than shopping. Either way, she was more than eager to dive in. 

moon-yeongtae​:

Tae nodded and held up his arm for a second before putting it back down because that was a stupid thing to do. “Yeah,” he said, smiling. “My eomma always makes sure we wear sunscreen. That’s like, her thing. Whenever we go anywhere she’ll ask if we put it on. I don’t know why. Well, I know it’s because she doesn’t want us to get skin cancer probably.” 

Wow he needed to stop talking. It was just that Tae was really bad at talking to people. That’s why he usually just shut his mouth and decided to be angry instead, but these days he had a lot less to be angry about. He was pretty happy overall. He felt like a normal kid. 

“Are you from Texas?” he blurted. She sounded like she might be from Texas. Or like, the American South. Texas was the only state he knew down there.

Ah, there it was. The Texas question. 

Surprisingly, in her nearly six months in Swynlake, Lottie hadn’t been asked if she was from Texas once. Well, until now. She knew it wasn’t malicious — oh heavens, no — it was just funny. Plus, with her accent, it was a question she’d been asked pretty often during her various travels in the past. 

Lottie smiled and shook her head. “Close, but no. I’m from New Orleans, which is in the next state over from Texas, Louisiana. Have you heard of it?”

the-princess-atta​:

Pumpkin, Spice, and Everything Nice || Sally+Atta+Lottie [Sattie]

Pumpkin carving? 

Oh. She had heard of this sort of thing, but it was much different. In Enchantra they did something with pumpkins during Windy-Moon, but that was still another moon away, was it not? Pumpkins did not grow at her Orkney Hollow, though, so they didn’t have any such tradition. 

“Is there a purpose to it?” asked Atta as she tentatively sat down on the side with the redhead, though this question was also addressed to the blond– or perhaps it was on her behalf, since she was also inexperienced despite her clumsy status. But Atta quickly blushed a little at that question. It sounded rude. She didn’t mean for it to sound rude! 

“I mean, um, is there a…goal or–a reason people are doing the different faces and things on the pumpkins? Like, a story you’re supposed to tell with them?” 

@enthusiasticclouds-sally​ @eveningstxr​

Sally was very genuinely shocked at the fact that she was speaking to two people that have never carved a pumpkin before and that was saying a lot coming from the ginger seeing as she had basically lived a locked up life. 

“That’s the worse part… promise.”

Well, for Sally it wasn’t a horrible part at all she enjoyed every single aspect of carving a pumpkin, but she wanted to reassure the blonde, give her some motivation so that she didn’t give up on her carving. 

Besides, that curious little beast inside of her wanted to know what the blonde had in mind as far as how she wanted her pumpkin face to look like. How was Sally ever to find out if the girl gave up? 

Hopefully, the face would be a scary one. Those were her favorites.

“It could be.” Sally piped as she began searching for a knife she could use to carve out the top of the pumpkin. “Some do carve to tell a story and then have it displayed in front of their houses in spirit of Halloween. I like to do that.” 

Sally always decorated very festively for Halloween.

“Pumpkin carving itself is said to have originated because of a story… an Irish folklore based off of Stingy Jack. There are different variations but umm the common thread was that Jack was barred from both heaven and hell left with nothing but a burning coal, so he carved turnips and place his coal in it to light the way while his soul roamed lost forever…. Jack O’ Lantern…” Sally shrugged. “In the past though Ireland did carve pumpkins with scary faces in hopes that it would ward off evil spirits during All Hallows Eve. I’m sure some people still do today.” 

Sally knew better though because even with all of her carved pumpkins, ghosts still appeared at her doorstep whispering words to her that took her sleep away.

“If not then for the fun of tradition… I like the scary faces.”

@eveningstxr​ @the-princess-atta​

Lottie just sort of... blinked... as this conversation unfolded before her. Who wondered about the purpose of carving pumpkins? Wasn’t it all just for decoration? Just as she was going to chime in and say it wasn’t that deep, the redhead’s tale of turnips and some guy named Jack proved her wrong.

Well, I’ll be, Lottie thought to herself, shaking her head. There seemed to be a story behind everything in this town. 

“I never knew all that,” she said matter-of-factly, turning back to her pumpkin. “My family would just buy pre-carved pumpkins when I was growing up, so we never got into all that —” she waved her free hand as she tried to think of the word, “tradition. I’m not even sure what kind of face I want to make.”

With that, the blonde sat back in her seat and took a critical look at her pumpkin. It was sort of funny-shaped and not at all symmetrical. In all honesty, she’d selected it from the pile because she liked its undertone of orange. Not too bright, not too dull, not too many of those weird little brown spots. 

Her eyes narrowed in thought before she finally shrugged and turned back to the other two women. “Can you carve things other than faces? Like maybe a shape? Or something else that’s very, very basic?”

@the-princess-atta​

Float On By | Open

Kairi nodded in agreement at that. Summer was coming to a close, and proper summer weather was rare in England, so when the sun was out, so were the people. That’s what today turned out to be. 

She smiled, shrugging sheepishly. “Yeah…I couldn’t resist a dip. But - I can say it’s definitely more than ten feet. I can’t give a definite number, to be honest,” She admitted. “…I haven’t been in town long, but I’ve already heard rumors about the lake. What about you?”

Although Lottie hadn’t really shown much interest in the town and its — what was the word? Lore? — she suddenly felt left out. Back home, she knew of everybody’s business. Not necessarily because she went seeking information, but that it came to her organically through friends, family, and employees. If there was even the hint of a scandal, she was one of the first to know.

Here? Well, she was practically out of the loop.

“I’m afraid I haven’t heard much, but now you’ve piqued my interest,” Lottie said, sitting up with a smile. “What sort of rumors have you heard?”

Lovely Little Bad Decisions {Lottie and Peri} 

Peri was immediately concerned at the idea of placement and detail. Something behind the ear couldn’t have much detail and it had to be relatively small. Look at her own which had three items in it and a skillful cover up as well.

Peri had gotten very lucky with Pascal covering it up perfectly.

at the simple linework Peri nodded. “Yeah that would work, we might have to adjust the size a little. How big were you thinking? And Placement?” Peri tucked her hair back to show her tattoo. “If that give you any idea on size and location.”

Lottie pursed her lips as she thought through Peri’s suggestions. In all honesty, she hadn’t given this too much thought outside of picking a pretty design off of Pinterest and deciding to go for it. That was probably her first mistake.

“Well, I don’t mind if it needs to be a little bigger to get all the details right. It’s not like I need to worry about hiding it or anything,” she said with a laugh. “What if we placed it a little lower, almost beneath my ear, and wrapped it around the back? Sort of like this,” she explained, pulling up another photo. 

enthusiasticclouds-sally​:

It was the annual Fall Carnival and while Sally preferred not being around huge crowds because of her magic, she always made an exception for the Fall Carnival. It was carnival themed after her favorite time of year? How was she not supposed to go? 

Autumn was always when she was able to feel most herself. 

Sally didn’t have to worry about scaring people because they found her strange or were to encumbered by her magic. This season though it marked the start of light descending and even life, for Sally it sort of brought life. 

Not surprisingly since she has always been so connected with death.

In any case, Sally didn’t have to look around the big expanse of carnival rides and booths she already knew what she was going to start with and that was pumpkin carving! She had to start decorating her home, Halloween was right around the corner after all!

Sally already had a pumpkin in hand and was drawing the image she wanted to carve when she was interrupted. Turning, the ginger couldn’t help but to blink sort of confused because well, this girl genuinely didn’t know what everyone was doing.

Sally knew, she felt in her emotions and… who didn’t know about pumpkin carving?? 

“Umm… pumpkin carving. Have you ever carved a pumpkin?” Honestly, she asked more for conversation purposes but from her emotions Sally was pretty sure she knew the answer to her own question. “It’s a lot of fun. It’s one of my favorite things to do. Would you… like to carve one?”

Funny Sally mentioned it being fun because the blonde beside her was looking like she was about to throw up on her pumpkin. “Umm… do you need help?” 

@eveningstxr​

Being the go big or go home type of woman she was, Lottie not only understood the hype around fall but wholeheartedly embraced it. Similar to many of her friends, she swooned over the rich color palette of her autumn wardrobe and all the festivities the season brought with it — apple picking, hay rides, spiced candles, cozy decorations, Halloween parties, and big Thanksgiving dinners. The list went on and on. 

The only problem was that she’d never experienced fall weather in her life. New Orleans was a balmy 82 degrees in October, and that tended to complicate things. 

You know, like simultaneously wearing her autumn wardrobe and doing practically anything outside. 

But this year was different. The beginning of September brought cool breezes and events like the annual Fall Carnival to Swynlake. After overhearing some patrons hyping it up at Pixie’s, the blonde resolved to check it out. She even bought her very first blanket scarf to mark the occasion (it was itchy, but she wore it anyway — anything for the aesthetic). 

Normally, Lottie liked to go into events with a game-plan. But since this was a new experience, she decided to just go with the flow. Eventually, that flow landed her at the pumpkin carving station.

And good heavens, was it disgusting.

“Why do people do this?” she muttered to herself, her nose crinkled up in disgust as she scooped another gob of pumpkin goo (guts? pulp? what even was this stuff?) into the bucket beside her station. The sound made her feel nauseous and the smell — well, it definitely didn’t remind her anything of her favorite pumpkin candle!

Lottie was seconds from either giving up or throwing up when she heard a curious voice chime in beside her. Looking up, she flashed the two girls a sheepish smile and shook her head. 

“No, I’ve got it. I just didn’t know it was so, well — gross,” she explained, nodding toward the bucket of never-ending pumpkin goo. “I’ve never carved a pumpkin before.”

Float On By | Open

Her laugh was… it was almost angelic. Or if Tito had ever wondered what an angel’s laugh sounded like it would have been the way her laugh sounded. But he wasn’t wondering that. Not at all. He was entirely more focused on how she pressed closer to him and pressed her lips against his jaw. That was something that was more important.

“Yous a smart girl. Yous got me here without even tryin’,” he smirked, pressing his hips against hers further as his fingers squeezed her hips. “I’ll let yous know it’ll be pretty easy, porcelana. Pretty girl like yous? Can get me t’do almost anything.” 

Pressing his own lips to her jaw, he shifted his hands further down to cup her ass before lifting her easily. “But I think we’s both got something more important in mind right now, ain’t?” 

“Oh, is that so?” Lottie purred with a smirk, wrapping her legs around his torso as he hoisted her up. Well, at least she was right about one thing — she had him right where she wanted him. “You really shouldn’t have said that. Now I’m going to make you prove it.” 

With that, she ducked her head down and kissed him hungrily, her legs tightening their grip as she closed whatever space was left between them.

Float On By | Open

Of course she lived in the swankiest neighborhood in town. Hadn’t he teased her by calling her a princess and porcelain? It only made sense that this looming house be hers. It made the small place he lived look like a shack. Made him feel like he had no business being there.

Except he did because Lottie had her hand in his and was dragging him along behind her like he was a puppy she was bringing home. And maybe he was. A poor little puppy dog following the pretty girl home because she smelled fancy and looked fancy and that meant he’d get something good to eat and a nice place to stay for a few hours. Couldn’t beat that, could he?

Stepping into the fucking mansion that was her home, Tito whistled low as he looked around at everything. 

Yeah. He absolutely did not belong here.

“Don’t say that. Yous won’t get rid’a me.” He smirked as he moved back over to her. His hands found their way to her waist as he pulled her close, lips teasing hers for a moment before he kissed her again. “Unless that’s your big plan. Keep me locked up here for your own pleasure?”

Maybe it was because she was in her own space, or maybe she actually found his question funny — but for once, Lottie laughed. It was a light, effortless sound that echoed in her large entryway and nearly surprised her.

After all, most of their exchanges were so charged and intentionally tense that her reaction almost felt unnatural, but she didn’t harp on it. Instead, she wound her arms around his neck and pressed herself closer.