long gone.

What does their bedroom look like?

Do they have any daily rituals?

Do they exercise, and if so, what do they do? How often?

What would they do if they needed to make dinner but the kitchen was busy?

Cleanliness habits (personal, workspace, etc.)

Eating habits and sample daily menu

Favorite way to waste time and feelings surrounding wasting time

Favorite indulgence and feelings surrounding indulging

Makeup?

Neuroses? Do they recognize them as such?

Intellectual pursuits?

Favorite book genre?

Sexual Orientation? And, regardless of own orientation, thoughts on sexual orientation in general?

Physical abnormalities? (Both visible and not, including injuries/disabilities, long-term illnesses, food-intolerances, etc.)

Biggest and smallest short term goal?

Biggest and smallest long term goal?

Preferred mode of dress and rituals surrounding dress

Favorite beverage?

What do they think about before falling asleep at night?

Childhood illnesses? Any interesting stories behind them?

Turn-ons? Turn-offs?

Given a blank piece of paper, a pencil, and nothing to do, what would happen?

How organized are they? How does this organization/disorganization manifest in their everyday life?

Is there one subject of study that they excel at? Or do they even care about intellectual pursuits at all?

How do they see themselves 5 years from today?

Do they have any plans for the future? Any contingency plans if things don’t workout?

What is their biggest regret?

Who do they see as their best friend? Their worst enemy?

Reaction to sudden extrapersonal disaster (eg The house is on fire! What do they do?)

Reaction to sudden intrapersonal disaster (eg close family member suddenly dies)

Most prized possession?

Thoughts on material possessions in general?

Concept of home and family?

Thoughts on privacy? (Are they a private person, or are they prone to ‘TMI’?)

What activities do they enjoy, but consider to be a waste of time?

What makes them feel guilty?

Are they more analytical or more emotional in their decision-making?

Would they consider themselves a Type A or Type B personality?

What recharges them when they’re feeling drained?

Would you say that they have a superiority-complex? Inferiority-complex? Neither?

How misanthropic are they?

Hobbies?

How far did they get in formal education? What are their views on formal education vs self-education?

Religion?

Superstitions or views on the occult?

Do they express their thoughts through words or deeds?

If they were to fall in love, who (or what) is their ideal?

How do they express love?

If this person were to get into a fist fight, what is their fighting style like?

“Why the long face?”

The phrase slipped from Amaru’s lips, simply from thinking about it for too long resulting in his current red face and turned head from the embarrassment. He almost immediately clamped his hand on his mouth the moment he said the dreaded words, not intending to spurt them, but staring at the girl who’s expression seemed to dictate her inner feelings seemed to take it’s toll. Resulting in Amaru in his current state.

He didn’t mean to; no of course he didn’t. But eyes too captivated by the furrowed brows of the girl beside him managed to play with his mind for much longer than he had hoped, and in the end, blurting out the words of question that played on the tip of his tongue for the past 15 minutes. Why the long face?

Of course he had to own up to it once he heard the sound of what he supposed was her voice going “huh?” and turned to face her, charming grin taking it’s place on his features. He had already dug himself a spot in the ground, there was no need to disguise his curiosity at least for now. His elbow pressed against the desk as his cheek proceeded to lean into the palm of his hand, and he shuffled closer to listen. He hoped his ears weren’t still red from the sheer embarrassment of his words. Why did he have to run his mouth now of all times?

his question isn’t one unfamiliar to elizabeth’s ears. she’s heard it all too many times. people questioned her expressions all the time, asking her if she was upset about anything or if something was bothering her. if people were feeling extra bold, they would straight up tell her that she really needed to loosen up her face or she would have no friends. however from her experience, she’s decided that friends weren’t necessary. she had a few, and that was enough for her.

when he spoke her name, she was even more surprised. “uh yeah. elizabeth’s right. who are you?” the words left her mouth before she could even process them, but she was always a little wary when people knew her, but she didn’t know them. “and i’m not sad so you don’t have to be concerned.” she wasn’t sure if concerned was the right word, but she brushed it off. he wouldn’t have asked her if he didn’t care one bit.

he scoops a handful of sand before letting it trickle down, and his mind is brought back to once again a bright smile matched to a sweet face, orange hair and laughter during lazy afternoons, saccharine kisses and playful touches and it makes kaspian nauseous. it doesn’t help that he’s missing home a little too much and a tight smile finds its way onto his lips, he shakes his head.

“i came here to forget these things and you want me to remember them again?” he asks jokingly, “it’s alright, though. just stuff with schoolwork… and stuff with the ex,” he mutters, words sour on his tongue and tight in his chest. “i mean, have you ever felt so much in love your heart hurts and all you want is just to hold that person in your arms so tenderly, but they can never be in your reach?” he asks softly, in an achingly gentle murmur. he looks down at his feet again and bites down on his lip, until he smiles brightly again.

“hey,” he begins, nudging her lightly. “you sure things are okay with you and narnia?” he knows how she finds narnia’s ocean beautiful, and it reminds her of home, and all kaspian wants to do is ease that homesickness away from the female.

he stands up abruptly, reaching down and offering a hand to elizabeth. “come on,” he prompts, charming grin plastered on his face as he wiggles his fingers to offer elizabeth to take it.

she opens her mouth to respond but quickly bites on her bottom lip once more, realizing her mistake. upon hearing what was on his mind, she decided that she wasn’t all too interested in what was on his mind. or more like she didn’t want to listen to kaspian talk about how he still missed his ex ( why else would that person still be on his mind? ). 

“no.” elizabeth shakes her head before letting out a quiet scoff. “no, i can’t say i have. i’ve never really loved anybody.” the closest that she’s come to love was her friendship with marcella but even in that, she was too scared to mutter the four-lettered word. it seemed sacred, and she felt that she didn’t deserve to say it. “but i’m sure it hurts. sounds like it would.” gazing down at the sand, she grazed her fingers upon it, making incoherent patterns on the surface. 

Adriel felt a chill down his spine when red eyes looked up at him, unconsciously he took a few steps backwards. His curiosity however, stopped him from fleeing the scene. “what do you want?” she asked, seemingly with certain difficulty, and Adriel could only swallow in fear.

“Should I not be the one asking you this question?” Adriel sighed, already deciding the next best course of action. Petting the female ghost once again with the broom, Adriel continued. “There there, be at peace. Stop haunting the halls and move on to life next great adventure.”

He attempted to give her a solid thumbs up, however failing as he juggled the broom around. In irritation, he tossed the broom aside, and made his way beside her. “I think this would help more.” He sighed, wrapping his strong arms around her. “There there… be at peace. Please do not possess me either. I’m doing a good deed.”

upon realizing that this male wasn’t going to leave her alone, she rolled her eyes before bringing her legs closer to herself as if making herself smaller was going to make the tears go away. he still had the stupid broom in his hand almost making it impossible for her to take his comfort seriously. did he think this was all a joke? or was he just really bad at dealing with crying people?

the sudden side-hug had her jumping in surprise and if she wasn’t feeling so horrible she probably would have brushed him off. first of all, she didn’t even know who he was, and second, she just hated physical contact with people. there were only a handful of people who could get away with touching her without permission. 

“I was terrified, yes. But like everyone, I am usually terrified." 

"You never know what could happen. Nothing can be trusted." 

"And do you have any idea what it’s like to have you control me in this way?" 

"You need to fight your own fights." 

"You are yours once again." 

"And whatever else happens tonight—I’m sorry." 

"Sorry we had to do that. But we wanted you to be safe." 

"I can’t promise I’ll never leave you. No one can promise that." 

"And boy, have I almost died! I have almost died a lot." 

"I don’t know how that could’ve happened!" 

"I didn’t sleep well last night." 

"They didn’t mean for it to turn out like this. They didn’t mean for anything to turn out like it did." 

"Can you try to understand how something like this could happen to anyone?" 

"Can we have a conversation for once?" 

"What do I care about your petty human concerns?" 

"We all mattered to each other even though we knew we didn’t matter at all." 

"It makes me very unhappy to be unhappy. I’m much happier being happy." 

"Wow. You’re way nicer than I remembered." 

"I have no idea what any of that meant, but it sounded terrifying." 

"I would never let that happen! I would never—" 

"You don’t think who can hear you anymore?" 

"It’s like they say: work hard, play hard. Then work again, work hard more, work harder, keep working hard, have you been working hard enough?, work harder if you want to live! And then, and then, play! Play very, very, very hard." 

"Do you remember nothing of the you that was?" 

"I—oh. That’s a good question! What do I remember?" 

"Uh, um, n-nope! Uh, doesn’t sound right at all." 

"Time is weird, isn’t it?" 

"Well, I have some feelings about how that conversation went." 

"It’s great to hear your voice again. It’s great to hear any voice again." 

"I’ll admit: this is a little exciting." 

"I’m not myself anymore." 

"Sometimes I am one me and then again I am the other." 

"It ebbs like the tides. But like the tides, it returns." 

"I imagine an entire life without them. It makes me happy." 

"There’s only me, _____. I’m the only me there is." 

"We have all had our differences in the past, sure. And we will have our differences again. We can’t always be happy. But we love each other." 

"I wish things could have gone differently, obviously. That is obviously what I wish. But they didn’t." 

"What is the use of nostalgia for what didn’t happen when we have to live with what did?" 

he watches amusedly as elizabeth reaches down to play with the sand, obviously avoiding eye contact and he can’t help but wonder why. his intent gaze fixes on her as he watches the sand fall from the gaps in her fingers, quietly mapping out her features with his eyes and down the gentle curve of her jaw. if only he could have a little sister just like her—it would be great.

nodding slowly, she wonders what sort of problems he may be going through. kaspian always seemed to be so happy-go-lucky around her. thinking that it’s about time she returns the favor of him always hearing her out, she turns to face him a little. “i’m a good listener.” which is true. elizabeth isn’t a lady of many words; she’d rather hear than speak. “that is, if you do want to talk about it.”

it’s not common for cam to keep up with personal swimming practice, seeing as he gets distracted with school activities or his own writing more often than not, and other times he simply forgets that he swore to his father he’d do it. he never feels that much remorse for these cases, honestly; swimming isn’t as easy to forget as the pirates like to insist. at least, not for him.

today, fortunately or not, he’s managed to remember, and thus gone to the shore where he can practice by himself in the open water. if he’s going to bother, he might as well do it where he’s always remembered doing it. clutching the handle of his extra bag—because he’s never, ever bringing his beloved satchel with his beloved writing tools that cannot ever get wet under any circumstances near open water—cam swings his arms extra hard as if to expel anxiety from his body as he walks. he can already see a group of students nearly in the water, and he’s going to have to find someplace farther along the shore if he wants to practice in peace.

as luck would have it, that’s not a real option for him, because one of the students he’s spotted is pushed into the water and left to fend for herself as the rest of the group suddenly rush towards campus. “the fuck—” sparing only a second to glare at the runaways, cam drops his bag to run to the struggling girl in the water. “fucking hell,” he mumbles to himself before diving in after her.

elizabeth’s first memory of water is when she’s three years-old, and her family takes her to the dock to see the ships coming in to trade. she’s fascinated by the waves as well as the beauty of the ocean and how clear yet colorful the body of water was. however, all happiness is broken when she’s forbidden from touching it because people believed that she possessed magical powers like her mother.

fact was, she wasn’t some witch like her mother — as much as people refused to believe it — and all she wanted as a three year-old was to experience the rush of the waves on her feet and maybe how it felt to be free, swimming around. the first time she got to experience it was when she got to fabeln. that’s probably why she found so much joy in sitting near the docks here, dipping her feet in the water. she has some freedom here that she never had back home.

ELIZABETH WAS DIFFERENT in a good way, a way that spurred this instinct in Nathaniel to approach her and get to know the younger girl better. Maybe it was because she was the closest person to Marcella apart from himself and Marci, or maybe it was just the quiet demeanor she gave off. An icy atmosphere that attracted him due to the opposite feeling he knew he radiated.

Whatever the reason, Nate knew his persistence in talking to the girl stemmed from a desire for friendship. He wanted to understand her, why she acted so closed off and cold when he knew she could smile if she wanted. He didn’t know if she was unhappy or simply introverted, but Nathaniel had this paternal urge towards her that refused to leave the boy alone. And so, he found himself beelining towards Elizabeth in the hallway for the fifth time this week.

His steps are hurried as he crosses to the opposite side of the hall, swerving in between students swiftly. The smile on his face is as inviting as he can make it, and when Nathaniel finally reaches the girl, she’s already noticed him.

distracted from her thoughts, she hadn’t even realized that there was someone coming towards her until the sound of their footsteps was too close, and she knew who it was even before she had to turn around. who else could it be? nobody else was brave enough to confront of her ( or they were all just like her and wanted nothing to do with the rest of the world ).

nathaniel. he was a little different. he constantly tried approaching her and talking to her, and she can’t help but wonder why. it’s not like she welcomed him with a bright smile or anything. usually it was just like today where she would turn around before he could even tap her shoulder or anything and stare at him with her icy eyes. 

loralei could be normally found in a tree, just hanging there. she hid in the leaves, watching each and every person who walked by. it was always amusing to spy on someone. specially when they were doing weird things- like this girl. what she was doing, loralei has no idea at all. she tilted her head in confusion as she watched the female enjoy the flowers. why was she so excited? the flowers back in wonderland were nothing to be happy about.

there was a chance that some flower could randomly grab you and bam- you’re gone. eaten by some weird plant. she continued to watch the girl for a little, her eyes narrowing. this girl seemed normal to an extent. honestly, normal was no where in loralei’s dictionary so obviously she didn’t know the definition of ‘normal’. to her, ‘normal’ was just a facade.

deciding that she should make herself known, she slowly slide out of the leaves and laid on a branch. a cheshire smile on her face, eyes glistening with mischief. “you look like you’re enjoying those flowers.”

rather shocked by the sudden voice, elizabeth jumped slightly back, her eyes growing wide. who was this female? perhaps she should pay more attention to her fellow schoolmates; it seemed that she really didn’t know enough people at this school despite it being her second year here. 

looking down at the flowers she had in her hand, she had to remind herself for a moment what she was doing. “oh! i am! they’re so beautiful, don’t you think so?” a naturally large smile plastered itself onto her face as she stroked the petals of the flowers, admiring their beautiful, vivid colors as well as the sweet aroma they gave off.