"I was blessed with love to love you 'Til the stars burn out above you 'Til the moon is but a silver shell No other love, let no other love know the wonder of your spell"

Art by drawncry

I'm not sure if I will ever be able to elaborate on these small character details of my AU in my fic, so I wanted to share my brain worms here.

Low is associated with White Heathers, and Alone is associated with Desert Marigolds.

Just like the flower that Alone represents, she is resilient even in harsh environments. She is a very hardy girl who is not likely to concede toward anything. Paired with her bright-eyed optimism, she thrives in the face of challenges and adversity.

Low's reasoning is a bit more personal. Low wears a necklace of a White Heather that Alone made for him. Heathers represent good luck, protection, and peace in Scottish folklore. It is a symbol of Alone's care, and who Low wants to become as a symbol for New Dream, he is a bearer of fortune, a protector, and a leader who upholds the safety of his fellow villagers above all else.

hello anon's dad 😭👋

Reading and drawing is a hobby I've alluded to before, but for those who didn't know--- Low loves indulging himself in romantic novels and drawing still-lifes.

While he loves himself a good adventure story, there is something comforting about the themes of love and relationships. People are always so complicated, thinking of things they would never say and never acting for fear of consequence, this genre for him is more of a look into other people's true feelings. Low connects to characters very strongly, so whether it be a pursuit of love, a destiny with souls entwined, or a tragic tale, it is something he can comfortably experience from his own home without having to experience love and its complexities himself. (Also because in this AU he is an aegoromantic, someone who is interested in the idea of love, but does not have any romantic desires himself.)

When he's not doing that, he's usually drawing from what he can see. Stacks of books, plants sprouting from moist cracks, trees, landscapes, Alone, Alone, Alone, Alone, Alo-

As a child, he was more imaginative with his art. Things that were impossible: creatures in the night, unexplored lands no sane person dare step foot in, flora and fauna twisted beyond what reality could handle.

It was when he crossed into the Nowhere when all this changed. With every horrible thought and fear come to life, his mind ran to somewhere safe, somewhere real and grounded. This is where his love for still-lifes came from.

In New Dream, he was stable, he had something real. It was something he could feel all around him, something that wouldn't hurt him, it was something safe. Low would never take his new home for granted, so even in his work, he does not find his pencil wandering to sketch places he would rather not step foot into, instead it stays where he would rather spend the rest of his life in.

If it isn't the faraway house on the hill, New Dream was the next best thing.

With those out of the way, what is the extra left-field hobby?

Puppet-shows.

I've never confirmed it in the fic, but I had doodled about Low and his interest in doll-making. He sews well enough, and has made himself a collection of everyone in the village in another chest underneath his bed. (Of course, Alone knows about it. He needs to find a better place to hide his secret things.)

With this, he has definitely adapted some of his books into puppet-show format to entertain the village sometimes. With Alone's help, they made a simple mobile stage for him to perform in, and he has made puppets out of the book's characters as well. He does different voices for each character, and plays his roles with so much passion that you couldn't tell that he is the scout's leader.

And while Low has a blast performing, he values the people he entertains most of all. He loves doing things that help others, even if all it does is make them smile and laugh. Low finds value in being involved with the community, even through his hobbies.