‘louder than gods revolver and twice as shiny’

Tai & Shauna think that's the stupidest thing they've ever heard, but when night falls and Nat still hasnt reappeared, they waver.

Melissa makes the racoon a miniture version of Nat's antler crown. Travis thinks they've been cursed. The juniorjackets start whispering about Nat having displeased It, while Misty loudly declares that clearly they are being punished and who displeased It, Nat is just the victim.

Lottie is blaming herself.

Natalie wandering into camp 3 days later dragging a moose behind her to find Lottie holding up a racoon in a hat while the others sit in a circle chanting around her.

They refuse to get rid of the raccoon. It's called Nat junior and in a matter of days they had managed to domesticate it fully. It likes to sit on Nat's shoulder, but its favourite is Lottie.

like yeah nat decided that lottie was cool in 6th grade and chose to take her to the back of the playground to share a cigarette. van is on the lookout somewhere in the distance. lottie’s face drops when nat pulls out the pack and nat tells her to “relax,” because she just “swiped these from [her] mom and wanted to try one.” they ultimately decide to take a drag on the count of three and…they both instantly start coughing so much they double over. they then swear that they’ll never do this again. (the first time they share a cigarette again in high school, nat recalls this story, and they both giggle like idiots over it.)

in 7th grade nat kicked a soccer ball at lottie’s head, which gave her a concussion, and nat had to take (basically drag) her to the nurses office. she also went home with lottie that day to make sure that “her brain doesn’t explode or some shit.” it takes nat holding an ice pack to lottie’s head for lottie to fall in love tomodachi life style. (cue pen15 song when anna sees alex)

lottie really, really stared at nat one day in 8th grade and ultimately decided that nat reminds her of a raccoon. she then proceeded to list off many facts about raccoons to nat. normally, nat would be annoyed by someone talking her ear off, but she finds lottie’s enthusiasm endearing, and so what if she thinks her voice is nice?

lottie kinda just stands there and stares at her opponents. she’s in her own head most of the time but when she isn’t she’s kind of a gangly mess. like her limbs are just flailing everywhere. she’s not even that tall yet but she does not know what to do with all her limbs. now pair her with laura lee—who would probably cry if she tackled someone to the ground—on defence and that d-line isn’t getting shit done.

nat is built for this shit. in the trailer park she would play soccer with the boys (and this did not go without them saying “but you’re a girl!” to which nat rolled her eyes at) and would THRASH them every time. she gets on the pitch and just plays with her throttle wide open and it works. however she has an undeniable attitude and a scowl that’s ingrained into her face. she isn’t physically biting people but she’s definitely doing it verbally.

shauna has concerning anger issues and would probably end up biting someone. she’s kinda just a really fast little ball of anger and she tackles people for the sake of pushing someone and not getting the ball. unfortunately she is too good to sub off.

jackie on the other hand will run to pick up anybody on either team whenever they fall. if shauna falls, she’s immediately screaming her name while sprinting there, and will target the person responsible for the rest of the game. she also is like really enthusiastic about this stuff and regularly hosts team playdates.

van is the most dedicated goalie you will ever see in your life. first of all, she can JUMP. yeah she’s tiny but your honour have you seen her leap? however she absolutely cannot land so she’s basically rolling 24/7 and ends up with a million bruises after every match but it’s okay because she loves it. sometimes her enthusiasm does her no good because she will jump too high or too far to the point where she misses the ball entirely.

tai is genuinely good. not nat good, who’s just kicking shit as hard as she can, and not shauna good, who’s running really fast and kicking people as hard as she can, but has actual skills. and she makes sure to let everybody know. if you look at her at any point during the match she is getting really mad and whisper-shouting “that’s not how you play! what are you guys doing?!”

mari would rather be literally ANYWHERE else but unfortunately her mom insisted that she play soccer and said “tienes que ser una guerrera, mi amor.” (she has a hard no english rule at home, by the way. mama ibarra is NOT having any no sabo children on her watch.) mari trudges her ass onto that field, talks shit about every single opposing player (and some of her own teammates too, let’s be real), curses her mom in her head (with love), then leaves.

the jvjackets are too young to play but sometimes they end up playing against the seniorjackets on the playground and one of them ends up crying every single time. the seniorjackets are fucking ruthless

despite all their flaws this team is GOOD. mainly because their enthusiasm is pretty much unrivalled, and they also scare a lot of other teams, but they’re still winning often.

they end up winning the little league title and have a pizza party at lottie’s house. in a modern context they play just dance and go ham.

But wait, there’s more!

Someday you will find me Caught beneath the landslide In a champagne supernova in the sky

- it’s fun to be awake & in an upright position

- consciousness is a gift