CHARACTER BASICS
Full Name: Christian Silvestre
Nickname: Kit, Chrissy (Only by Kai)
Age: 31
Gender: Cis Man
Pronouns: He & Him
Ethnicity: Spanish & N/A
Nationality: Spanish
Education: Private tutors, not that he paid much attention.
Occupation: Lifeguard & Co-owner of Skulls & Barbells
Hometown: The Ocean
Current location: Ashborne City ( however he juggles his time here, or aboard the Estrella )
Species: Hybrid (Human/Siren)
Written Aesthetics: messy sheets and an unmade bed, hand-knitted sweaters, taking a punch with a grin & finger guns accompanied by a wink.
trigger warnings:
CHARACTER APPEARANCE
Face Claim: Casey Deidrick
Height: 6'5"
Hair Colour: Dark brown
Eye Colour: Hazel
Dominant Hand: Ambidextrous
Distinguishing Features: A scar across his left brow from walking into part of the ship - constantly giving him a slit in his brow, a charming smile, several tattoos, an ear peircing in his right ear accompanied by an ear cuff.
SUPERNATURAL EXTRAS
Abilities: enchanced swimmer & nagivator, bioluminescence, marine telepathy & empathy. // weaknesses: emotional vulnerability, magical boundaries & emotional ties to the ocean.
Have you always been aware of your abilities?: No, I was unaware of them at first, our father hiding them from us. It wasn't until I realised that mentally talking to fish was unusual, that I realised I wasn't entirely human.
Favorite Magical Items: An enchanted compass, spelled by a witch with a locator spell that it would always point in the direction of where his sister was, so that he can always find his way back to her after being separated for so long.
What supernatural creature is your character most scared of?: He's not really scared of any of them, honestly. Mostly curious, and maybe a slight bit wary.
Who or what would they die for? His twin, his crew, what he believes is right.
Does your character fight or flee? He's more of a plotter. He lurks in the background, planning the best form of attack and then fights, and due to his usual nature, he's often underestimated.
PERSONALITY
Positive Traits: Whimsical, Charming & Enthusiastic.
Negative Traits: Absent-Minded, Fickle & Resentful.
Neutral Traits: Active, Cunning & Adaptive.
Goals/desires: To protect his sister and their crew, uncover more about his heritage & overall, be happy and content.
Fears: His father returning, loosing Kai again, never finding his true love, not being taken seriously.
Hobbies: Knitting, karaoke (though he's terrible at it), teaching yoga to kids, swimming, dancing & working out.
Habits: Fiddling with things when he's nervous, raising his eyebrows, shooting finger guns at people, flirting with people he probably shouldn't.
CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT Q’S
QUESTION ONE: were you born on the island, if so, what kind of curiosities do you have about the world beyond? if you weren’t, what do you miss about the world outside veritas isles?
"No, but apparently my mother might have been. However, as much as I've tried to dig into her, I can't seem to find anything. If she was here, it's like she was erased completely."
QUESTION TWO: what is your favorite part about the island?
"Learning about all the other creatures, and meeting so many new people. As much as I love my crew, I'm intrigued by everyone I meet."
QUESTION THREE: if your character is supernatural, do they fear humans? if human, do they fear the supernatural?
"I don't really fear them, as such, but I am wary of them. Though I've had a few... encounters of a certain kind with a fair few and they've not done me harm so far."
QUESTION FOUR: share a fun headcanon or fact about your character! this doesn’t have to be long, just something to introduce us to your character!
He was once given a choice to run away from the life of a pirate, from the horrible reign of his father by his first love. However, he realised that in doing so, he would be abandoning his sister, and that he would be homesick for the ocean. So, he left them, as much as it broke his heart to do so. He hasn't seen them since.
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
BIO | PLAYLIST | PINTEREST
WANTED CONNECTIONS
His first love - they were probably late teens/young adults, and it was shortly before he overthrew his father. They were on land for a bit, and he fell for them, but when they asked him to run away with them, he ultimately declined, not wanting to abandon his twin. He hasn't seen them since.
His crew - BRING US PIRATES PLS
Best Friend (Pirate Edition) - possibly his right hand person, the person on the ship that he cares for and trusts most besides his sister.
Best Friend (Island Edition) - Since coming to the Isle 8 years ago, the two are practically inseparable, he adores them to pieces, and considers them his best friend (aside from those in his crew, of course)
Various Friends, he's a friendly dude
Hook ups - Boy loves to sleep around, not entirely prone to one night stands as he's more likely to keep them around until they/he gets bored.
Exes - His relationships never truly last long, for various reasons. However, if they ask him to choose between them and his twin/crew? instant relationship ender.
He also teaches pirate yoga to kids, so if anyone has children, send them to yoga
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#MusicMonday Review - April 2022
#MusicMonday is the hashtag I've been using for quite a while to share music recommendations from up-and-coming artists. Always fresh, and always different, trying to look for trends before they become one. You can check March's review for more music.
This month we get a sample of the current state of some popular genres in their respective parts of the world: Latin Pop, British Indie Rock, and a sprinkle of American Surf Rock. Let's have a listen, with a word from the artists themselves. 🎧
Helena Del Pilar – Esperanza
Buscando una estrella
Tu magia vendrá
Tocando la arena
El sol brillará
Abriendo el camino
Tu sol brillará
From La Guajira, Colombia, we begin this month's offerings with an uplifting Pop song that can carry us through the roads that are never easy to walk on:
"The song Esperanza, is the result of my own experiences and, it is a message that I consider the world needs at this time, to strengthen faith... to be filled with hope and with strength... To be able to follow the path 🙏
This is a song that I composed and matured in several stages… (it rarely happens to me). Recently, I started to review it and I felt that this was the right moment to sing it… it is a song that I personally love and I hope it feels so much, as I have felt it, singing it!"
Dentist – Spilled Coffee
I put my head between my knees.
I couldn’t help but beg you please.
They can all see it on my face.
I hate it shows I need some space.
It’s quiet now, it’s quiet now.
I made it out of this somehow.
No, we could never be the same
I’m not even sure who to blame.
Inspiration frequently comes from personal experiences, and this band from Asbury Park, NJ channels a bitter one into Surf Rock bliss. Band member Emily explains:
"Lyrically, the song is based on a toxic relationship, an unnecessary public embarrassment (I’d rather not go further into). A real learning experience and something I hope no one ever has to go through. The overall message is, having a sister and even a being son, how could you in good conscious treat a woman so poorly. It was an unfortunate event."
Cristina Malakhai – Besos Arma
Mi casa de cristal
Es una arma letal
Puedo ver sin tocar
Me falta el respirar
Ya no puedo soportar
Ya no puedo evitar
Sentirme atrapada
Un minuto mas
Ni un solo segundo mas
Quiero salir de aqui
Contigo o sin ti
Taking about unpleasant experiences, our next singer/songwriter from Barcelona, Spain brings a Pop Electrobeat cluster of sensations emanating from a circulated, enveloped, and definitively closed environment:
"I did the song during the quarantine, when we were trapped in our houses, and kisses became a weapon… that’s where the title comes from 😍😀"
Pavlo – ¿qué más da?
Los lugares que solía estar
Las canciones que lloraba al cantar
El amigo que solía llamar
Ahora no lo extraño más
Por sentir, ese absurdo afán
Las fiestas que ni recuerdo ya
Promesas que moría conservar
Palabras solo por llenar
Al final el tiempo solo es poesía
Qué más da, si tal vez hoy no es un buen día
La paso comparando y nada encaja igual
Qué mas da, si tal vez hoy no es un buen día
Back again in Colombia, Medellín to be exact, let's give a listen to a catchy Pop song about feeling estranged from your own past:
"This song is inspired by the music I listened to when I was a teenager, I was a very Disney kid, I grew up listening to Demi, Miley, the Jonas Brothers. I miss hearing those sounds now. I wanted to mix that Rock/Pop with current elements that would make it feel fresh.
My album is based on a big heartbreak and this song opens a new chapter in history, it is the closing of this cycle."
Average Life Complaints – Fish & Chips (Feat. Heartworms)
Clear your mind
Don’t drag behind
One day you’ll grow old
And you may behold
This great majestic ship
Those English fish and chips
The lessons you’re never taught
Are the ones you deserve
Patience
My friend
You’ll do fine
In the end
We now move to South London, England, for an Indie Rock band that's only average in the name. Let the groovy bass line build the message of hope:
"The song's lyrics are written in 2nd person but are mostly mental notes/do’s and don’ts to myself or a friend about trying not to worry too much. It’s intended to be a song about the ups and downs of life and how even through all the pain and worry, everything will be okay in the end.
I used the comparison between rubbish shop bought fish & chips and a proper old English fish shop fish & chips to summate those feelings."
Marseille – Forget It All
I know what you stand for
I say forget it all
I know that it sounds cruel
But I'll have to leave you
Cause I know that you're my girl
But I know that you're
Not my whole world
From up north in Derby, England, this track, while taking you back to the 90's BritPop sound, will make you remember those people you know who are stuck in their ways and aren’t willing to change for the better:
"It is written about a past relationship of someone not seeing the bigger picture and no matter how hard you try to help them they're stuck in their own ways. Even though you're looking out for their best interests."
Paisley Parc – MEAN STREETS
These streets are mean at night
Everybody's looking for a fight
All those husbands and wives
Are not coming home tonight.
We end this month's UK tour in Merthyr Tydfil, South Wales for an acoustic ballad about finding a way in today’s tough cities:
"It was written about living in a working class town and the fear of violence that you're likely to face on nights out on the town"
Listen to them and much more on the Playlist
@osornios
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Las Mismas Estrellas/The Same Stars
Part 2/3
Part 1 Part 3
A03 Link
Seven months, two weeks, and three days. That’s how long she had been apart from her family. But it was more than that, the time apart was heavier than could be described with units of time. It was moments stolen, traditions lost, too many should-have-been memories she would never get back.
They had missed April’s fools, his favorite B-list holiday. She had a really good prank planned too. She was going to replace all the pens in his office with crayons and the equipment in his personal lab with a kiddie chemistry set she got at the 99 cent store. That would have made him laugh.
For the first time since she could remember, they had missed their annual summer camping trip and yearly viewing of the Peresid meteor shower. And every year on the fourth of July, they would drive to Duckburg Beach to watch the fireworks. He had the worst chili dog recipe. She didn’t think it was possible that she could actually miss it. But she did. She missed sitting on a blanket on that beach, unwrapping the world’s grossest chili dogs as the fireworks lit up the sky in brilliant bursts of blues and whites.
Instead, Drake had made hamburgers for her and Launchpad and they watched the fireworks from the top of the Audubon Bay Bridge. The hamburgers were actually pretty good, and the view was unmatched.
But it wasn't the memory it was supposed to be.
Oh, and 10 days after he first went missing, she spent her 13th birthday in foster care.
No traditional leaning-tower-of-waffles birthday breakfast. No PG-13 horror movie marathon she and her grandpa had been planning since she begged for it on her ninth birthday.
Seven months, two weeks, and two days of searching had brought her to this moment.
There he was. Right there. All that was left separating them was 10 feet.
And she couldn’t find the strength to take another step.
When he had asked ‘who are you’ she had felt the ground fall out beneath her.
Fenton’s warning echoed in her mind.
We think prolonged exposure to an alternate dimension could trigger rapid cognitive decline.
Memories of the alternate reality interweave or replace memories of the native reality.
Effects could be permanent.
But it couldn’t be. This couldn’t be how it ended. She couldn't be too late.
She took a step.
“Grandpa,” her voice came out smaller than she intended.
Two more steps.
“Grandpa, it’s me, Gosalyn. Your granddaughter.”
He had been looking forward, staring off into the distance, the late setting sun setting the world around them aglow and golden. Seated on a patio chair, with a painter’s easel- albeit, blank canvas- in front of him, there was a dreamlike tranquility to him. Even though he was only a few feet away now, he looked as if he was somewhere far far away.
He turned to her when she spoke, but only responded with a slow, confused, blink.
She had never thought of her grandpa as old before, but he looked it now.
His face was shadowed with a weariness she had never seen before. Deep lines had settled in his features.
“Grandpa?”
She closed the distance between them, placing a palm on the back of his hand.
These were the hands that held the back of her bike seat as she tore down the street without training wheels and the nimble fingers that placed bandaids on her scraped up knees not 10 minutes later.
These were the hands that cupped her own, the first time she poured a solution from a beaker to a graduated cylinder when both were too large, too heavy for her grubby little hands, back when she still couldn’t see over the lab counter without a stool.
They had been steady, broad, and warm as they guided her movements, teaching her the value of careful, precise measurements.
But now, his hands trembled, even as they rested in his lap, they held a frailty, a shakiness within them.
But his eyes, his eyes were the worst.
Her Grandpa's eyes had sparkled with laughter. There was always a glint of curiosity, or good-hearted mischief shining within them.
But the eyes watching her now, cornered with deep age lines, were almost that of a stranger. They were glassy and somber, seeming to look right through her.
"Grandpa," she whispered, voice tight and strained, "Grandpa, do you remember me?"
His eyes passed over her but there was no recognition.
Her own eyes pricked and blurred but she forced it back.
"Grandpa…Grandpa, it's me, Gosalyn." Desperation was bleeding into her voice now. "Say you remember me. Please, Grandpa. Please.” The word came out as a prayer, a plead. "I've come so far to find you."
“I...don’t know you.” He uttered it softly but unquestioningly.
Tears clawed at the corners of her eyes. A lump rose in the back of her throat and threatened to choke her.
"No, no, you're my grandpa! Your name is Dr. Thaddeus Waddlemeyer. I'm your granddaughter, Gosalyn Luz Waddlemeyer. My parents were Bert and Liliana. They…they died in a plane crash months after I was hatched. You raised me, all my life. I'm your granddaughter and you're my grandpa.
And his eyes lit up and for one moment, one terrible, gut wrenching moment, Gosalyn had hope.
"My son's name is Bert," her grandpa smiled, "Is he home yet?"
Gosalyn felt her heart tear in two.
"Oh, oh, you're crying. What’s wrong?"
Gosalyn felt like she was watching a ship sail out to a horizon. A ship carrying the person she loved the most. She recognized this man as her grandpa, the man who had raised her, but the tide was carrying him to some distant shore, to a place she couldn't reach, to a place she didn't have the capacity to understand.
And Gosalyn could embrace the urge to jump in, to thrash her arms and legs against the waves in a feeble attempt to reach him. Maybe if they brought him back, maybe the effects would reverse...but maybe not. The ship was already so far gone and even if she tried to stay, to reach him, she’d surely be pulled under the deep dark waters.
Even if she managed, by some miracle, to reach him- what would happen then? Would she drag him from the safe and dry deck, into the dark waters like some kind of siren? He had looked so peaceful with his face towards the warmth of the setting sun.
At least now she knew he was somewhere warm, somewhere safe, with someone who called him Papá and kissed the top of his head. She couldn't take him away from this glowing horizon he had found, not from a world where he was with the family he thought he had lost, a world where his son could be alive.
The day she destroyed the Ramrod, the day she had to choose between saving her family or all of reality, she had let him go in her heart. She didn't want to, she tried to snatch it back up again as soon as she did. But the moment she pulled the trigger on her crossbow, a part of her accepted that she would never see him again.
All of Drake's talk and encouragement and promises to help her find her family had been a spark of hope to hold on to. But holding onto hope was like holding onto smoke in a house of mirrors. She had let him go in her heart once, she would have to again.
Gosalyn shook her head, sucked down the sob building in the back of her throat, and wiped her eyes with the back of her sleeve.
"No…no, I don't think your son is home yet."
"Oh…that's too bad... Oh, young lady? Are you crying? Is something wrong?"
She shook her head.
He lifted a hand and cupped her cheek. A comforting gesture he had made a million times before.
“It’s alright child. Don’t cry.”
“Would it be alright...if I sat with you?”
He smiled. “Of course dear.”
Gosalyn pulled up a chair to her grandpa’s side and leaned into him. He accepted, opening his arm and resting it over the back of her chair.
The last streaks of burnt orange were burning low on the horizon. Above blankets of blues and violets filled the night air. Gosalyn sat with the silence. She closed her eyes and focused on the rise and fall of her Grandpa’s breathing, of the warmth of his arm around her.
She didn’t have much time left. Once she let this moment go, it would never come again. She wished she had known then that the memories they made would be their last.
After what might have been 20 or 30 minutes she felt her grandpa’s arm shift from beneath her head.
She opened her eyes. He was opening paint tubes and squeezing them onto his painters palette.
“Grandpa…” she said lightly touching his wrist, “what are you doing?”
“Hmm?” He blinked as if he was surprised to see her.
“What are you doing?”
“She’s almost here. I can paint her.”
“Paint wh- Who are you going to paint?”
“My brightest star.”
Gosalyn became aware of the painted canvases littering the back porch. But they weren’t landscapes of the night sky, or the sunset, or even the sloping hillsides he had spent at least the past hour staring at. They looked like a paint store had thrown up on a canvas. Visual gibberish, random colors following no shape or style.
“There she is! There she is!” her Grandpa exclaimed, “My brightest star!”
The first stars of the night were beginning to peek through the pale evening sky, blinking white within a blue halo. A small comfort filled her as she realized, even in this reality, the constellations were the same as those back home.
Her grandpa moved his hand over the canvas with a new zest, one she was used to seeing as he darted around his lab, writing equations and hypothesising out loud. He made broad, ragged strokes, slashing the canvas with streaks of...nonsense. He blotted one corner of the canvas with blue only to slap yellow and red in the center, he dragged his brush vertically, horizontally, diagonally and zig zagged.
“You taught me how to chart the stars,” she said, her soft voice filling the silence. Her grandpa gave no response to indicate that he heard. She continued, if for nothing else, to fill the quiet air.
“You told me the stories that went with every constellation. You taught me a lot of things, everything I know, physics, chemistry, mechanical engineering. Most kids get fairy tales at bedtime, but you read me doctoral dissertations. While the other kids were singing the colors song, I was memorizing Von Drake’s An Introduction to the Visible Light Spectrum.”
She smiled at the memory.
“Perception of color is nothing more than our brain’s interpretation of wavelengths of light on the electromagnetic spectrum,” she rehearsed, repeating the mantra that had been instilled in her memory since she was little more than a toddler.
But, to her surprise, her grandpa spoke the next line in unison with her.
“Light contains all colors of the rainbow.”
“You...you remember?”
“Light contains all colors of the rainbow,” he repeated, gesturing back to his painting. “Yellow, blue, red, blue, purple too.”
Something cold and icy ran through Gosalyn’s veins.
“blue, purple, and green, then the yellow,” she finished in unison with him.
He looked at her and smiled.
“Grandpa,” she breathed, “Grandpa, that’s my...that’s the song …” but the words were too dry, too cracked to finish. Instead, she swallowed and took a deep steadying breath.
Heart hammering beneath her sternum, she began to hum, shaky and unstable at first. But it was enough. At the sound, her grandpa’s hand slowed, he tilted his head in her direction.
“Close your eyes, little girl blue,” Gosalyn began,
Her grandpa turned to face her fully. Beaming.
“Inside of you lies a rainbow,” he said looking directly into her eyes.
Yellow, blue,
red, blue, purple too,
Blue, purple, and green,
then the yellow.
Tears pricked the corners of Gosalyn’s eyes.
She glanced back at the dozens of canvases piled on the back porch. None of them contained any trace of pink, orange, teal, black, or white. Only the colors of their song.
“Grandpa, that’s the song you used to sing to me. Do you remember me?”
“Little girl blue,” he said pointing at the sky. “Her inner light burns bright. One day she’ll outshine us all.”
He turned back to her, the fog behind his eyes had cleared some but he still looked far away but when he looked at her, she knew that she was seen.
“I’ve... lost something….very precious. There’s something important waiting for me but...I’ve lost my way. My mind...is...my universe is shrinking. Curling in on itself...everyday the edges blur a little more...I’m supposed to get back to something...but I’ve lost my way.”
Even as he spoke, Gosalyn saw the fog returning to his eyes.
A stone, thick and jagged, clogged Gosalyn’s throat but she swallowed it down. She felt a weight on her heart she hadn’t felt since she lifted her crossbow towards the Ramrod.
“But you know what to do when you get lost. You taught me.”
She took her grandfathers hand and pointed towards the splatter of stars against a canvas of night.
“Look, there’s Ursa Minor, and if you follow the little bear’s tail…”
She guided his hand in hers, watched his gaze to make sure it followed where she pointed.
“There’s the north star.”
Unrestrained joy lit up her grandfather’s face. “There she is! My brightest star, my guiding light, I knew I would find her again!”
“The north star isn’t the brightest star.”
“She is to me,” her grandpa answered smiling.
Something inside her shifted. Something heavy. She slumped against her grandpa’s shoulders as sudden weariness glommed to her.
“Grandpa...do you remember what you told me when I was little...about travelers in distant lands...about people who have to leave their homes... what they do...what they say when they miss their family?”
Her grandpa didn’t answer.
“They look up,” she said. “They say ‘bajo las mismas estrellas’. No matter how far.”
“Yes,” he whispered under his breath. “Las mismas estrellas. Siempre.”
Gosalyn didn’t know how much time passed after that. She didn’t move again from her grandpas’ side. She stayed glued to him, wrapped herself around his arm, humming the lullaby he wrote for her while he painted a constellation out of a rainbow.
She didn’t move when she heard the back door open again.
“Ten minutes until dinner Papa,” a warm, velvety voice called out.
“Thank you Lili!” her grandpa replied without looking up.
A beat. A pause. And then the voice spoke again.
“Gosalyn, could I borrow you for just a moment?”
Gosalyn glanced back at the woman to whom the voice belonged. She smiled down at her with kind eyes.
“It’ll only be a moment, I promise.”
Gosalyn nodded. She gave one more tight squeeze to her grandpa’s arm before following the woman inside.
Drake smiled at her when she came in. He was holding a wooden spoon and gave a quick small wave. The gesture was reminiscent of the first time she saw him without a mask. She was surprised by the pebble of comfort it brought her.
The woman, Liliana, turned to her and beckoned her towards a doorway down the hall.
“Follow me please. There’s something I want to show you.”
Gosalyn gave no protest as she followed.
Gosalyn could remember being small, around 4 or 5, and wondering why her family didn’t look like the ones on t.v. So, she did what she always did when she had a question. She went to her grandpa. And grandpa pulled out the photo album from its place on the shelf, and he sat her on his lap on their small green sofa and showed her pages and pages of photos of a smiling young couple.
Pictures of the couple roller skating, pictures of the couple at the beach, clinging to one another as frozen wind whipped at the woman’s long black hair and the man’s oversized shirt.
And, as he always encouraged her to do, Gosalyn asked questions.
What was her favorite food?
“Arroz con pollo. Homemade.”
“And him?”
“Your grandmother’s ropa vieja.”
“Did she know how to whistle?”
“Yes.”
“Could he fold his tongue?”
“He couldn’t, but she could.”
“Were they in love?”
“Oh yes.”
“Were they happy?”
“Very.”
And he combed his fingers through her hair as he told her that he had never seen them happier than when they found out they were having a duckling and that they would have loved her very, very much.
And Gosalyn would stare at the smiling frozen faces with a curiosity of what could have been. But tucked under her grandpa’s arm, on their small green sofa, with blueprints scattered across the floor and her most recent science experiment spread across the table, she couldn’t help but feel happy exactly where she was.
And here now, was one of those faces in front of her. Living, breathing, blinking. Raising a slender hand to brush back wisps of curly black hair that had always remained frozen and still in the photographs.
And her eyes too, she realized, were a living thing. In the photos, the pair of eyes always smiled directly at the camera but now Gosalyn could feel the eyes looking directly at her. Large and wide and perceiving. Gosalyn felt like one of grandpa’s slides pressed directly beneath a microscope. She was helpless to escape them, as they looked directly into her.
This was her mother Gosalyn told herself with deepening conviction. More than an untouchable face in a photograph but someone who would have loved her. The person who, if life had been different, would have been the one who taught her how to tie her shoes and would have driven her to hockey practice.
Her mother.
A missing link of her family history, someone her grandpa had known and loved. Someone who had known and loved her grandpa. A part of her, a part of her that had always been missing but Gosalyn had never felt she missed. The embodiment of theoretical ifs and thens, a source of wondering and curiosity but never a deep dive into who she might have been.
Ripples of guilt ebbed through her. Here she was, a living, breathing person, who had loved and lost and surely possessed a well of ambitions, dreams, and fears as much as anyone else. A living mystery, a puzzle piece of Gosalyn that had always been sealed away.
And yet, Gosalyn couldn’t think of a single thing to say.
Liliana opened the door to reveal a small room, or maybe it just looked small because every corner was crammed with items. A desk overflowing with papers, too many paint brushes to count, tarps and plasting sheeting, jars stained with paint, a shelf full of blocks of soft clay wrapped in wax paper, strange, foreign instruments that looked like they could be dental equipment for a deranged doctor scattered every which way. The only clear space was the center of the room, where a tarp was laid out and sitting in its center was a simple stool and potter’s wheel. On the far side of the room the entire wall was covered with shelves, lined and lined with pottery of every shape and size, some painted, some not, some cracked, some not, some looked old an ancient, other looked fresh and new and if touched, would leave Gosalyn’s hands wet with paint.
“Woah,” she said as she stepped ahead of the woman. She turned in every direction before crossing over to the shelf full of pottery.
“Did you make all of these?”
A touch of laughter entered Liliana’s voice. “Well, everyone needs a hobby when painting commissions are slow.”
“Keen gear,” Gosalyn said softly as she lifted a small pot, no bigger than a cereal bowl from its place, without thinking better of it.
“So what are these flower pots or something?” she said as she examined the one she selected. It was one of the simpler ones. Small in size, simple in shape and design. It was lightly pained with blues and whites but not so much that the strokes of the brush overcrowded the reddish brown color of the clay.
“Some of them are, like that one you’ve got. Others are bowls, vases, or whatever you need them to be. Ah, that’s a good one,” Liliana encouraged as she stepped behind her. “One of the earlier ones I made. My mother taught me that design.”
“Your mother?”
Liliana nodded. “It was my family’s craft. I come from a long line of potters. Five generations of women passing the knowledge of the craft on to the next. My earliest memories are of watching my mother, my grandmother, even my great-grandmother sitting together, forming the clay.”
“I-” she was about to say, ‘I never knew that’ but stopped herself.
“My mother told me our family was like this clay. Born from the same land of our ancestors, molded by the same loving hands, the hands that held us through the night. And when Alvarez women go through the fire, we come out stronger.”
She knelt on the floor, sitting on her knees so that she was eye level with Gosalyn.
“Gosalyn, do you know what these are made for?”
“To...put things in?”
Liliana nodded, “and the one your holding?
“To...put flowers in?”
Liliana smiled. “Maybe I should explain instead of ask.”
She swept a stray strand of hair behind her shoulder. When she looked up and met Gosalyn’s eyes, Gosalyn wondered how eyes full of such warmth could ever have appeared frozen behind a photograph.
“I know what it’s like to be uprooted,” Liliana said.
“To be separated from the people you love and the world you know, to feel as though you have no ground to stand on. I came to this country with only what I could fit in one suitcase. But the most valuable things aren’t carried in a suitcase. They’re held here,” she said as she tapped a finger to her temple, “and here,” she lowered her hand over her heart.
“As long as you carry the love and the memory of your family with you, they stay with you, no matter where you go.”
Gosalyn held her mother’s gaze. It was strong, steady, and overflowing with compassion.
And something inside her...cracked. Like a chip in the center of a dam wall. The sadness she had been managing to keep at bay began rising, flooding over her walls.
“It hurts,” she whispered.
Her mother brushed back a strand of hair from Gosalyn’s eyes, which were already beginning to blur and sting.
“I know it does,” she said gently. Voice soft and soothing like wind creating ripples on a lake.
“I know. I miss my mother, and my grandmother every day. But you know something?”
Gosalyn shook her head.
“I’m still glad I came. Because if I hadn’t, I never would have met my Berto, or Thaddeus. I will always be Liliana Alvarez, formed from the clay of my home, just like my mother and her mother. But now, even if I don’t have the piece of paper to prove it, I am also Mrs. Liliana Waddlemeyer, and Thaddeus, he is my family too.”
She folded her hands over Gosalyn’s and pushed the clay bowl towards Gosalyn’s heart.
“Take it with you, let it be a reminder.”
“A reminder of what?”
Liliana smiled softly and smoothed down Gosalyn’ hair.
“Even the uprooted tree can find a home again.” Liliana tapped a finger against the clay pot. “Family trees are meant to grow. Keep your heart open Gosalyn, and I promise, you will find family again.”
Gosalyn couldn’t contain herself any longer. She rushed forward, throwing her arms around Liliana’s neck, burying her face in the tangles of her hair.
“Thank you,” she whispered.
Liliana stiffened with surprise before returning her embrace, soft and sturdy, and warm.
“De nada, mija.”
And suddenly, Gosalyn could think of questions.
What was Colombeaka like?
Do you miss it?
Did you have any siblings?
What was your mom and grandma like?
Hypothetically speaking, how would one go about learning pottery?
And Liliana answered each and every one with a smile.
“You are sure you won’t join us for dinner?” Liliana asked.
“Thank you, but we really do have to be going,” Drake answered. “We- we can’t thank you enough for your hospitality.”
Liliana smiled, “My pleasure. It was lovely to meet you both.”
In the living room, Gosalyn hugged her grandfather tightly, whispering something in his ear. The old man smiled.
“It was nice to meet you child,” he said.
Despite everything, Gosalyn smiled.
When she turned, Liliana was already there, waiting for her hug. She dropped to her knees and scooped Gosalyn into her chest.
“Goodbye mija, you remember what I told you.”
When they stood again, Liliana escorted them to the door. Drake nodded a goodbye to Dr. Waddlemeyer and Liliana, he turned to step into the night air when he felt a warm hand rest on his shoulder.
In a whisper low enough that Gosalyn who was already on the porch couldn’t hear, Liliana said, “Take care of her won’t you?”
A fist squeezed painfully around his heart. A lump rose up and threatened to lodge his words in his throat. She didn’t even realize the blessing she had bestowed on him.
But somehow, he managed to get the words through without tripping over them, without breaking her weighty gaze.
"It was this way right?" Gosalyn said as she sped down the sidewalk, not waiting for a response.
“I promise.”
"Gosalyn…" he replied gently.
"Then a left turn, and then we're back at the alley?"
She marched ahead of Drake so he couldn't see her face but he could hear the tightness closing in on her throat.
"Gosalyn," he called again.
"Come on, let's go. We don’t have much time right?"
Drake wasn't looking at the watch Fenton and Gearloose had given him. He was looking at the tension in her squared shoulders, at the tightly balled her fists she held at her sides.
"Just around the…the corner right?" Her voice splintered with the pain she was trying to hide. He didn't have to see her eyes to know they were tearing up.
"Gos," he said again, extending and hand to her shoulder.
One touch was all it took and she crumbled. Her knees buckled beneath her, but Drake was already there, sweeping her into his arms as she fell to the pavement.
Finally, finally, she allowed herself to cry and it was like opening floodgates. The sobs battered their way though her tiny ribcage and shoulders.
He cupped her head to his chest.
He had been older than she was now, when he had lost the family he had, or more accurately, he was cut out of it. The day came early, far too early for a child, when he realized home would never be home again. When the deep lurking fear- that dread that filled his belly during all hours of the day and swam into his head and heart during the late hours of night- turned to reality; the only two people in the world he would have expected to love him unconditionally - didn't.
He felt his heart break all over again, but not for himself, for the small child he held now, who tried to carry a loneliness no child should have to carry, all on her own.
He raked his mind, trying to find the words he would have given anything to hear when it had been him.
"I've got you," he said. "I'm not going anywhere. I'm right here. I'll always be right here."
And because he knew it was true, he added, "I love you, kid."
He held her, he held her as half a year’s worth of grief flooded from her. Even when the violent, heaving cries slowed, even when the strangled sobs spread into taut gasps of silence, when it seemed she had cried herself dry, he held her.
Her tiny body slumped into his, exhausted, fatigued, from finally dismounting the unbearable burden.
Eventually, a small alarm trilled from their watches. 10 minute warning.
Trembling, Gosalyn tried to stand, but her knees faltered. Drake held her tighter.
“No, it’s okay,” he said, “I’ll carry you until you’re ready. You don’t have to do this alone.”
She curled herself tighter in Drake’s arms, “Thanks Darkwing,” the whisper was so small he almost didn’t hear it.
And just like that, tucked close to his heart, under a tapestry of glimmering stars, he carried her the long way home.
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