lunar.twin

Dear Madison,

  I’m sorry that I am doing this by letter and not face to face. I hope you don’t think it makes me a coward but seeing all of you one last time would probably make me stay and there are reasons I can’t. I also apologize that I cannot tell you exactly what those reasons are but know that you had nothing with my decision to leave. Please don’t worry though, I promise I’ll be okay.  

I don’t know if I ever said this to your face or not but, I forgive you for everything that happened. I know you’re a good person. Both you and your brother. And the beach last year, well, I am still grateful for that even if everyone questioned the method. The point was that you gave him back. Anyway, thank you for that and thank you for the stone you gave me. I carry it everywhere and it helps me to be confident, just as intended. I wish we could have gotten to know each other better. Maybe one day. If I see Ben out in the world, I’ll give him your regards.

Oh, yes! The cute bear, I wanted to get something cute too but I didn’t have the time. What a shame! Beartholomew is the best name I ever heard for a bear.

Yeah, they run all over the place.

Oh, the New Age Olympics, I thought you may have heard of it since NYADA sent a team! They are doing really well. 

Isn’t it? Beary for short. I’m glad I went in there before all heck broke loose. I bet you would’ve done great at the games, too! 

Don’t need to guess that you left the festival early then, really lucky that you did. Though with all the cow talk lately, I can’t help but find it a-moo-using. Okay terrible pun but the cow drama was the least to worry about, but strangely a fun thing too. How were your missions Madison? Any stories you can share or are they all classified.

Well, there has been a slight die down in the Hunter, aged 22, meme but there have been a few online going around about “what emojis fit” seems like his fangirls are just something. The only thing good to talk about is Team Thundercats is something New Age Pride for NYADA. We’re in second place and getting there with the second leg. The topic this week is The Mapuche Religion. You have any knowledge on that?

At least you get something fun out of it! Any idea what set all the cows off in the first place? 

The missions went well. I mean, it’s work. It’s probably pretty fortunate that I don’t have any major stories to talk about it -- it’s not the kind of job where you want things to be too interesting, otherwise that’s a bad thing! 

Aww, that’s one of my favorite ones! I thought we’d just evolve it to Hunter Clarington, Age 23. 

MARLEY: If Ryan were still here at school, I'd suspect him, but I don't really know any other major animal activists on campus. Maybe they just had enough and decided to revolt??

MARLEY: Yeah, I don't know much about illusion work either. It's not anywhere near my specialty of magic. x: But I don't know. It didn't feel so much like an illusion because if it had been, then the person would've had to know some pretty deep secret-ish stuff about myself that no one else knows about.

MARLEY: Well, willingly knows, I mean. [DELETED]

MARLEY: My double didn't look exactly like me though. Her hair and her eyes were different. They kept changing too, back and forth. It was strange.

MARLEY: I only know of a few people who got 'mimicked' but I don't know if I should say who they were. They might not want everyone to know. I don't know if there were any commonalities either, because I only saw mine and one other one. And they were vastly different.

MARLEY: Sorry if that's not helpful at all. x: You might want to ask the others who went to the carnival though, see if they have any information that might help you pin this thing down. I'm kind of curious myself as to how it all worked or what caused it.

MADISON: That doesn't mean they don't exist. And it could always be one of his friends doing it in honor of him or something, right?

MADISON: It's not helpful, but it's something. I've sorta got my hands full on this other research project at the moment, so I don't know if I've got the energy or time to devote to looking for answers for yet ANOTHER big deal event that I wasn't actually there for.

MADISON: Although

MARLEY: Yeah, she's particular about who she cares to think about or spend time with. If she bothered to give you the time of day, you mean /something/.

MARLEY: They did. I got ran off the grounds and into some building full of mirrors.

[...]

MARLEY: I'm not sure. I mean, mine grew thorny vines and was able to injure me, so I don't think they were illusions. Not really.

MARLEY: Have you ever dealt with something like that?

MADISON: So this is all the cows' fault! I wonder if something tipped them off?

MADISON: Huh.

MADISON: I mean, the core tenet of Illusion is the belief that it's real. If the person casting the spell was skilled enough, I don't see why the constructs wouldn't be able to hurt you.

MADISON: Then again, I'm still lousy at that school, so what do I know?

MADISON: There are monsters who can mimic voices really well, but that's about it. And I've heard of some that can change form, but most of them aren't really good at people shapes. There's always something that's not quite right, usually the eyes.

Madison.

I was actually going to offer that I may have missed you and your brother while I was in the Amazon - for your unparalleled simplicity - but now I’m not so sure. 

The purpose of The Oasis, above all, is to preserve magic. We hope to take troubled Witches and L. Nats who are facing abolishment or neutralization under our wing, removing them from the society that they have been unable to function in and working with them one on one until they’re ready to give it another shot. Isolation can be immensely therapeutic. The Oasis is a last resort, after institutions like NYADA, which are similarly reformative, but education based and located within large societies. We assume that an individual coming to us for a second, third, fourth chance has already been through a program like NYADA and has been educated. We’re hoping that the Bureau and the Committee will be heavily involved in the implementation to ensure a fair and secure process. Of course, I’m more than willing to take suggestions. Your interest is appreciated.

Aww, c’mon. You know you missed us. We’re highly missable.

Hmm. 

I like the concept. People have a right to their own lives, after all. I don’t know that I would’ve pegged you for someone who’s qualified to rehab folks who need it, at least not personally -- I’m assuming you’ll be hiring licensed professionals to actually oversee these therapeutic efforts, right? 

But I have to admit -- something about this seems a little fishy to me. Are people voluntarily checking in, or are they sentenced to their stay here? Who decides how long they need to be there? Are they truly isolated, or are they socialized together? It can be incredibly jarring for someone who’s been alone for a long stretch of time, or given only minimal contact with others, to be thrust back into society at large -- the rules are different, and a lot of the time, the world is different, too. You need to make sure that what you’re doing in an effort to help isn’t actually backfiring on you to be more detrimental in the long run. 

I missed the party entirely so I can’t say for sure what happened. But I do know for sure that any party at NYADA now needs to come with a warning label that lets students know they should be wary of any object they come across no matter how much fun they are having.

Not much to report on my end. I just got back from Greece after a week with my family and now I am just getting back into the NYADA groove.  How’s your summer treating you?

I dunno, the prize I got at the carnival is pretty non-threatening and adorable. The only thing I heard went wonky is these cows going bonkers. All in all, that’s not so bad for a NYADA shindig!

Ooh, fun! Was this a working vacation or one for pleasure? Mine’s not bad, just busy, but that’s how I like it! I go a little nuts when I don’t have anything to do. I took a couple classes, went home for a little while, and other than that I’ve been working -- both at Scroll & Ink, and at the “other job.” 

MARLEY: It certainly is. xD If she considers you worthy of anything of the sort, then you're good.

MARLEY: Lucky duckies. Well at least you guys didn't get chased out by cows! That was pretty wild.

[...]

MARLEY: It's hard to explain. I'm not even sure what really happened. Only that some people ended up with like... doubles? Of themselves?

MADISON: I'm pretty sure just being on her radar is good. She doesn't waste time on people who aren't worth something, one way or another.

MADISON: Wait, now the cows did the chasing?

[...]

Honestly, cotton candy was the best part of that trip, I loved seeing the cows too, they are great, though things got a bit out of hands, luckily no one was hurt by them running free.

Everything was nice on campus, a slow peaceful summer. We all are excited following the NAO, The Thundercats are doing amazing.

Cotton candy was pretty bomb. I also got this sweet bear that blows bubbles. I’m calling him Beartholomew. 

The cows ... broke free? Every piece I hear of this story makes it sound weirder and weirder! I hope they’re okay, poor dears! 

The NAO? 

‘Narrowly avoided’ is a phrase used very loosely.

The real question here is, why are you eating in the cafeteria when so many other, quality options exist?

But the key word here is avoided! However narrow, the curse was still not in play, and that’s the important part! 

I’m not! I haven’t ever since the first time I discovered what the “surprise” is. No way am I taking that risk again! I’m just looking out for my fellow students, because no one else should have to suffer like I did. 

Y’all? Have you been in the south? 

I’ll tell you what is not a meme, Madison Margaret Mendel Mason Mallory May McCarthy (Is one of those correct?), and that is the infamous “Hunter Clarington, age 22″ virus. I am now twenty three and hope you can accept this change. Additionally, I’m at the beginning of the implementation process for an Amazonian sanctuary of my own design (the Clarington Oasis for Criminal Keeping) and am more energized and devoted than ever. 

This is not a new thing, Hunter Henry Clarington, Age 23. 

C’mon, you know what my middle name is. And you know it’s not one of those! 

Clearly, I’m perfectly capable of allowing the “meme” to grow right along with you, and I think it’d be pretty swell if everyone else followed suit! There’s no reason for something that’s this much fun to just die off just because you’re another year older, my dude! 

MARLEY: A rival bracelet. Sounds like Santana, alright.

MARLEY: Well I love it. It's got some of my favorite colors in it. Thank you!

[...]

MARLEY: Your brother told me you left before all the madness at the carnival started. Everything okay?

MADISON: She really wanted a friendship one but doesn't want to be friends, so she got the next best thing. At least she considers me a worthy adversary - that's high praise from her!

MADISON: Yeah, everything's fine! I met up with some other friends after the car crashing, we missed the cow thing entirely, and then we took off.

MARLEY: Hey!

MARLEY: Thanks for the bracelet. It's so cute! Did you make it yourself?

MADISON: I did! Santana wanted a rival bracelet and I already had the floss out so I figured I'd make some actual friendship bracelets while I was at it.

So .... Who wants to catch a girl up on how the summer’s been treating NYADA’s favorite people? What’s new and exciting? What are the new memes? Have we narrowly avoided any curses? Has the cafeteria figured out that the tuna surprise isn’t fooling anyone at all?