#moonsideshade

Source: A Coven of Chayan Gender and Sexuality: your queer aunt Pronouns: she/they Ethnicity/Species: Human, Wood Chaya Birthplace and Birthdate: Shangaura, 694 Guilty Pleasures: Singing loudly and maybe off tune, double dipping, having dessert before a meal Phobias: Seeing their family get hurt or killed, not being able to help their family What They Would Be Famous For: Revitalizing many farmers’ fields during droughts, though she wouldn’t want the fame What They Would Get Arrested For: breaking state laws by practicing Chayan magic, keeping tons of Chayan children away on Weiyun island from the Shangauran military that wants to use them as weapons OC You Ship Them With: Canonically their partner and co parent is Taran Ayu OC Most Likely To Murder Them: Anyone in the Shangauran military or perhaps Shangauran royals who have a grudge against the Chayan Favorite Movie/Book Genre: Memoir or fantasy Least Favorite Movie/Book Cliche: Adults who treat children like they are stupid or incapable of understanding tough things Talents and/or Powers: as a Wood Chaya they can manipulate plants and wood, speed up or slow down plant growth Why Someone Might Love Them: They’re kind, quirky, imaginative, nurturing. 10/10 would cuddle.  They’re playful and great with kids. They get lost in their mind and dance even when there’s no music.   Why Someone Might Hate Them: She can be idealistic, indecisive, frenetic, and one egg short of a dozen sometimes. How They Change: After reuniting with their coven mates, they learn they don’t have to just rely on Taran to take care of the Weiyun coven. They also realize that their children are growing up and can make decisions for themselves, such as going back to the mainland even in the presence of danger. Why You Love Them: It’s always fun to inhabit their headspace.  I wrote some of their character traits after a dear friend who I love and appreciate.  In some small way, I would like older-me to be like Nina.

Full Name: Iris Gender and Sexuality: variable depending on the decade/century Pronouns: she/they Ethnicity/Species: Human from Spring Birthplace and Birthdate: Presumably Spring, presumably almost 3 centuries ago, but that’s all she remembers. Guilty Pleasures: falling off the map and bailing on any official commitments without a sign for a week at a time to go hiking with someone they love :) Phobias: She probably would have been desensitized to most actual phobias over the years? But I think they’d maybe be wary of watching loved ones die. :( What They Would Be Famous For: Being a kickass Aspect of Spring that attempts reform on whatever scale she can sustain over the course of multiple centuries. What They Would Get Arrested For: ohhhh you know, not muuuuuch just all those war crimes and being an accomplice/accessory to a minor murder on verdant grounds  OC You Ship Them With: Liora! :) Unless they’re just coworkers.  OC Most Likely To Murder Them: hmmmm there’s The Balance. Probably the Balance. Liora comes in a close second after that bunch tho. Favorite Movie/Book Genre:  Postcanon I honestly think whatever books Liora ends up bringing home for herself because Iris is nosy and likes knowing what her wife is reading lately. But if they had to go to a bookstore themselves to grab something, probably whatever history books they could get their hands on. Least Favorite Movie/Book Cliche: Historical inaccuracy in a period piece play or novel because the author was too lazy to research. Seasons, how hard is it to just look up the name of the Fall aspect from two centuries ago instead of just making one up?  Talents and/or Powers: Honestly unclear postcanon? I’m open to your interpretations, but probably some healing still, plenty of illusion, maaaybe that lil not dying magic.  Why Someone Might Love Them: Their inherent want to keep doing good in the world, continuing to try and leave a mark even when everything feels as though it’s working against them. Above all being as kind and devoted to her causes + loved ones. Why Someone Might Hate Them: The Aspects are infinitely more stab-able than one might assume. And kinda deserve it for being resistant to radical change in power. How They Change: Spring is about learning to let go and come to terms with things starting anew. For change uh.... Iris probably learned that things needs to end before anything starts again, and that includes her. Why You Love Them: I could write an entire essay here but it boils down to her being a character who has so much heart and a really clear goal of wanting to make things better, both for herself and for her loved ones. And like,,,,, I do super super vibe with the sentiments, themes, and motifs that surround every last bit of their life, and it provides such an interesting space to explore.

petunia: ...........hmmmmmmmmm. i definitely used to low-key idolize john muir but im like -- sorta done with old white guys. it's hard to say whether i've got one person that's an inspiration above all others, but people like gabi fleury, robin kimmerer, lauren esposito, Sarah McAnulty -- people who do science ethically and are good at science communication and are doing hard work -- are really cool.

Thank-you friend!

Questions from here!

14. do you think you’re dehydrated? not at the moment?

The Beckoning There is a city that exists between the lines of the city that you know. You catch glimpses of it, every now and then. Remember the day you were walking down the street and saw a small child standing at the end of the alleyway? The alleyway at the back of the Italian restaurant, with a dumpster always overflowing and sometimes a friendly and mangy stray cat? There, at the end of the alleyway, back against a graffitied brick wall, stood a small child in a bright yellow raincoat. Odd, you that; it was a sunny day, after all. The child waved at you. You nodded, hesitantly, and moved on. Remember the day you were out in the park as the sun started to set? There had just been rain the other day, and the gleam of the reflecting sunset in a puddle on the sidewalk caught your eyes. You looked, and for a moment you could swear that the trees in the reflection had no leaves, though the trees in the park were verdant with summer greenery. Then a passerby hurrying through the park, talking loudly on their phone about sales and advertising revenue and potential clients, stepped in the puddle, sending ripples across its surface. They cursed loudly at their wet shoes and kept going. The reflection looked exactly how you expected. Remember the day that you woke up at three am and started pacing your room? Outside the world was bright; the nighttime city is never dark, the sky was glowing an apocalyptic red from the streetlight’s glow on the clouds and the rectangles of other windows were bright and you could see silhouettes moving in some of them. It took you a long time to notice that the windows weren’t quite where you expected them to be, and a longer time to notice that there were no airplane lights tearing down towards the city’s international airport, or cars going down the street. But once you fell back into an uneasy sleep and woke up the next morning everything was back to normal. The apartment buildings beyond yours were exactly where you expected them to be, and the airplanes roared overhead once again, and the honking of cars stuck in morning traffic filled the air with a cacophony of noise. The Beckoning is a city that exists between the lines of the city that you know. The seasons in the Beckoning never change; it is always a gray and drizzly autumn day, and there are always children wearing yellow rainjackets, and people holding lanterns up to darkened windows. At least that’s what you’d like to believe. Someday, perhaps, you will grow tired of your summer city, your autumn city, your winter city, your spring city, your city ever-changing and ever-growing and ever-noisy, your city never quite satisfied, your city full of people whose names you cannot remember and trains always running ten minutes late and dumpsters in alleyways and stray animals and lost people. Someday, perhaps, you will heed the Beckoning.