â â stuff your eyes with wonder, he said, live as if you'd drop d e a d in ten seconds. see the world. it's more fantastic than any dream made or paid for in factories.â
Belle felt a giggle bubble in her lungs that came out and made her cheeks feel warm. âI drew itâŠâ she admitted, brushing her hair behind her ear, âDrawing helps me hone in my precision and artistry, so when I have nothing to do I like to be outside and just⊠draw whatâs naturally in the world. Flowers, acorns, butterflies, animalsâŠâ She grinned, mostly to contain a larger smile. He was exciting simply because he was excited about what he was talking about. Anyone can love something, but if they donât sound excited about it, how can you truly believe them? âI know the most common that you can find out in this region, besides your average monarch. Red admirals and white admirals, tiger moths, cabbage white, northern crescent, painted ladyâŠâ she recited from memory of her google search after one afternoon when she saw a couple of strangely colored crawly creatures, âI really wanna see a Mourning Cloak one day, though.â
â really? thatâs so fucking cool. wowâ can i see some of your drawings sometime? iâm gonna compliment you âtil you puke. you should consider starting a field journal with them and like, date and time and place you saw your subject. itâs the opposite of a dream journal: a LIFE journal! sorryâ iâm getting way too in your face, arenât i? â there were several factors contributing to why his heart rate had sped up; charlie had a sneaking suspicion it wasnât just insects (the usual cause of euphoria) but he wasnât ready for that talk yet. not unless he wanted to massively embarrass himself. which he could be, because his face felt hotter the more butterflies belle listed from memory. â iâ um... okay! yeah! what does a mourning cloak look like? in your own words. â
âSo exactly how much have you had to drink?â Brian asked, brow furrowing in response to the exceptionally informative data on locusts. He hadnât heard someone speak so passionately about bugs since⊠well, ever. âThose are like the plagues of Egypt, right? Or some bad sci-fi movie. Which I do love, watching old movies like that makes me so happy,â he admitted, picking up a chip and popping it in his mouth. âOh we were talking about dating apps I think before you went off the way of the locust?â
â nothing! i swear! except matcha, but that only increases my metabolism and alertness. itâs the anti-alcohol. but yeah, locusts were part of the egyptian plagues and really any plague that involves massive crop devastation. besides natural disasters, theyâre the leading cause of famine... which is super dark compared to old movies. have you ever seen that super old movie alien? it has nothing to do with insects but it scarred me from ever pursuing space travel. whatâs your luck on dating apps? are your matches like locusts and infesting your notifications? â
âmoss?â she asked for confirmation. honestly, if charlie had produced a salmon from his pocket and had slapped her, she would have been more prepared for that response instead of the one she was given, still, it didnât bother her that much. âthatâs cool, you funky little moss man. iâm thinking about the stars, i guess. not as cool as moss.âÂ
â moss are like the stars of the earth. each one is unique and the pioneers used them as a means of travel. what are you thinking about stars for? â
âFor some reason, I donât disbelieve you,â Matt stated, but he couldnât help but feel a little for the young man, who seemed to have a hard time shutting off his overactive and fast-paced brain. It was actually a little endearing, but Matt didnât say that out loud, he just gave a small nod of his head, and humoring smile his way. âHuh. I didnât know there was much of a difference, but Iâll take the correction. You clearly know what youâre talking about. I definitely wouldnât have thought to even look that up, so thanks for thatâŠRight, crops. Well, it obviously wasnât important, whatever I was saying about them, since I forgot in the first place.â He snorted, âYeah, kinda. Is that your thing? Hanging out in the woods for days on end?â
â dude, anything involving crops are important. agriculture is the backbone of society and the first real human innovation that created the world as we know it. â charlie nodded solemnly, trying to communicate with his eyes how deadass he was without looking deranged. â absolutely! i studied environmental science in college and have done a lot of field work in conservation; i work here as a trail guide. what do you do? â
Evie was pretty sure sheâd been listening to Charlie talk for the whole time with her eyebrows raised an incredulous look on her face. When he turned the conversation back to what sheâd been talking to him about in the first place, she brushed it off and shook her head. âNo, noâ Iâve never heard someone talk so passionately about locusts, of all things. You can keep going if you want. Iâll happily listen. I love learning new things.â
â theyâre just so cool! i went into this locust-induced spiral in the woods the other night and nearly used up all my data. are you sure you donât want me to shut up? you kind of had that fish-in-a-bowl expression. but if youâre really interested, locusts and people are basically the same thing. when locusts rub up against each other, it increases their serotonin levels. theyâre normally super solitary so this is how like... swarms happen. and i get that swarms devastate crops and stuff but when you think about it abstractly, imagine being alone for so long and suddenly youâre surrounded by a bunch of your friends? i think itâs an example of âtoo much of a good thing.â i donât know. i want the locusts to be happy without causing plagues. â
Belle only knew so little about Charlie, the cute nature enthusiast who was sorta new in town. After leaving school for the Summer and going through her awful break-up since February, she was in the market to meet some new people. She just didnât anticipate how cute he really was, though, especially when she had the chance to have an actual conversation with him. She only realized she was staring, not really listening to the details of what he was saying as she admired the look on his face. Though, she did catch wind of when he resumed the conversation back towards her, blinking several times as she came out of her slight trance. âThat butterfly was pretty,â she reminded him as she gestured towards the bed of flowers where she had previously admired a butterfly, âIt was a Red Admiral⊠I looked it up after I drew one last weekend.â
â butterfly? â he whipped his head around to squint at the flowers, but the butterfly was long gone. which was fine; nothing in life was permanent and there was probably something way more interesting out there for the butterflies than watching charlie trip over his tongue at a pretty girl, anyway. â did you see it in a dream and draw it, or did you draw it from real-life like all the early explorers did? you kind of have that jane from tarzan look. what else do you know about butterflies? â
Matt would be the first to admit that he had no idea what the kid was talking about. Sure, he knew of the locusts and the plagues but that was the extent of his knowledge on the subject of insects. He could only stare in amusement as the younger male continued to ramble on, clearly beyond passionate about the topic. âKid, youâre super weird - but you know what? Iâm kinda digginâ it,â he finally said after the other seemed to catch himself. He couldnât help but chuckle in amusement, though, because when it came to anything ranching-related, Matt could relate. He could ramble on for hours about horses, tractors and how to irrigate properly if someone didnât stop him. âI have no idea what even started that little tangent on grasshoppers, but clearly you were triggered. Was it something I said?â He didnât think heâd mentioning bugs at all, but then again, he couldnât remember what heâd been talking about beforehand, anyways.
â believe it or not, iâve gotten that before. â charlie cringed; his fatal flaw of word-vomit had yet to correct itself. heâd made a new yearâs resolution to think before he spoke, but at this point charlie isnât sure he can do more than one thing at once. â locusts, man, locusts. technically considered a part of the grasshopper family but they donât do the HOP, you know? i think you said something about crops and i just... lost it. can you tell iâve been in the woods for three days? â
josiah blinked, bringing himself back to the conversation at hand. admittedly, heâd zoned out almost as soon as the other had interjected. oops. âi, uhâŠoh, yeah. i said it feels like thereâs more people in town than usual. i can barely go anywhere without someone hitting me with a selfie stick or something. theyâre like locusts. think thatâs where the tangent came from?â
â oh, word, okayâ youâre a local! which makes me a locust... if itâs any consolation my preferred method of long-distance selfie is putting a timer on and running. or, if you wanna go x games mode, turn on the timer and then throw your phone! ... except i dropped mine in tree sap once, but you look like you have better coordination than me. â
â iâm so down with locusts right now. have you seen the way those things move? they donât really exist in the u.s. anymore, not since that huge swarm from the 1800s, which iâm not necessarily complaining about since their entire existence isâ you know, centered around plagues and crop devastation. but MAN, donât they flutter... oh! right, sorry; what were you saying? â
her ears were still ringing with the sounds of the firework show, but god, what a fantastic spectacle. maybe, just maybe, she understood why people were so in love with this town. as she was walking back to the inn, she couldnât help but admire the lights hanging up and illuminating the way back, the fireflies twinkling in the grass. it was so perfect, that she barely even noticed that someone else was walking to, but she didnât mind when she did notice. they were all friends tonight. âhow are you doing, friend?â
â me? iâm thinking about moss right now, what about you? â his eyes had adjusted to the dimmer ambiance a second too late; yeah, that was definitely lunette fucking lake speaking in real life at him.
âiâm just saying, moving the fireworks to shoot off of town hall was the best decision weâve ever made.â she said, really talking to anyone who would listen. lorrin was proud of her work, and once again sheâd heard that theyâd done better than the year before. âwhat did you think?â asked she, not really fishing for a compliment, but more so validation on her work she always second guessed.
â what? ohâ the fireworks were fantastic! â charlie enthused, imitating the colorful explosions through what can best be described as jazz fingers with a dash of parkinsonâs. â i wasnât around for last yearâs, but you guys did great. did you know one of the functions of fireworks is to ward off evil spirits? â
oh hi there, welcome to holiday, CHARLES WINSOR. youâve been here for THREE WEEKS? awesome! you look just like TOM HOLLAND, itâs crazy. oh, so youâre a 22 year old TRAIL GUIDE. and youâre CISMALE and use HE/HIM? okay, just checking! oh, people say youâre LIVELY & DEDICATED, but PESKY & AWKWARD? well, iâm sure that you can prove yourself here. youâre looking forward to the HOODIE-HOO DAY celebration? thatâs a good one, youâll love it. i have to get going now, bye! [el, 23, est, she/her]
character parallels: sam shakusky (moonrise kingdom), spongebob, stan uris (IT), bill (mamma mia 1 & 2), stan marsh (south park), lazlo (camp lazlo), aquamarine (aquamarine), jenna rink (13 going on 30), bill s. preston, esq. (bill & tedâs excellent adventure)
zodiac: TBD
aesthetic: âa rock! the pioneers used to ride these babies for MILES âŠ. and itâs in great shapeâ
the youngest of four by 12 years, charlie spent much of his childhood entertaining himself; his prized possessions were his raccoon tail hat, snowshoes, and various books on plant identification held together by tape
he was the only member of the ponaganset high school bird watching society and was known for his bird calls
spent his summers camping; once he got his license, his world expanded by that much more and heâs still (and always will be) a nomad by heart; spent the three months between high school graduation and his freshman year of college hiking the appalachian trail and putting his years of botany and survival studies to the test
has a degree in environmental studies and has so far done internships in idaho, alaska, and new york revolving around forestry, bird study and conservation, and ranger duties
wants to be a wilderness ranger with a focus specifically on the ecological study and preservation of the nationâs parks and forestry; isnât entirely sure which park he wants to focus his efforts on and is focusing on getting some internships before applying somewhere to better expand his horizons
LIVELY ( full of life and energy; active and outgoing ): he basically wakes up with the sun and harnesses its energy at daybreak, making him quite possibly the most energetic morning person on the face of the earth. manages to turn ANYTHING into a positive situation. kid saw a jaguar during his study abroad and feared for his life but would describe the experience as âthrilling! what a beautiful cat! thought i was going to die for sure but all in good fun!â
DEDICATED (Â devoted to a task or purpose ): no one has ever described charlie as lazyâ heâs the complete opposite. his dedication is what makes him ambitious as he doesnât set out with specific goals in mind for himself, just an interest in a thing and the desire to do something for that thing.Â
PESKY ( causing trouble; annoying ): his liveliness can quickly cross over into annoying territory as charlie is incapable of shutting up and his social skills are better tuned for moss than they are people. will try and diffuse a situation by offering up a longhorn beetle as a stress relieving entity. itâs not itâs a fucking beetle. anyway.
AWKWARD (Â not smooth or graceful ): so the social skills ... arenât the best. he talks too much and too fast and trips over his words even when he knows exactly what he wants to say to someone... which is only about 10% of the time if it isnât directly related to catci.
works closely with the holiday parks department as a trail guide; it isnât uncommon to see him covered in dirt, possible stings from beekeeping, and on the rare occasion, rashes from poisonous plant species; he uses these experiences during his guided tours and tries to make it more fun for those in his watch
passed a dude on my way home who was trying to turn left at an intersection but also frantically trying to shove an entire cupcake into his mouth with one hand
