#*agatha

[lunatlco]

@thelonelyykitty said:  “ ¿Qué eres? ”

“ ¿a qué te refieres? ” se sintió algo acorralado, pero su duda fue necesaria, ya que no sabía qué clase de respuesta requería Agatha. “ mago, humano, un cúmulo de células, polvo del espacio... elige una respuesta ” 

[bonnissance]

also it’s now canon that Miss Gullet stole the fancy red dress from Hecate’s wardrobe

[niviumnovel-blog]

apparently it's sibling day so here have a june/agatha sisterhood bonding thing

"Did you even run a brush through this once?" June said with a 'tsk' as she examined the damage done.

"Of course I did," Agatha replied, affronted.

"Liar." June picked up the brush sitting on the vanity in front of her and ran it through Agatha's hair, with some difficulty. She made a short noise of frustration. "Jesus, Agatha... You know that tying it back doesn't make it that much neater, right?"

"At least it's out of the way," Agatha said with a petulant shrug. She blew a strand of hair out of her face and looked at June's reflection in the mirror in front of her. "If I leave it down, it gets all frizzy and gross."

June managed to force the brush through with some yanking, eliciting a short series of 'ow!'s from Agatha. "You need to take better care of it. I swear, one day you're going to wake up and your hair's going to be one giant knot in the back of your head. And tying it back won't save you."

Agatha shrugged again. "Then I'll just chop it off like Mulan did."

"Hey." June hit her lightly with the underside of the brush, again eliciting an 'ow!' from her. "Don't use Mulan to make excuses for your laziness."

Agatha stuck her tongue out at her reflection. "It worked for her, didn't it?"

June's reflection rolled her eyes at her. "Even if that wasn't such a silly idea, you'd be hard pressed to find a sword in this day and age. Just brush your hair; it's really that much easier."

"Did Mom used to do your hair for you?" Agatha asked, and in context of the conversation it made perfect sense, but it truly came out of nowhere. The few times that they ever discussed their parents were in the middle of arguments, and even then the topic was brought up by June and not Agatha. It was rare that Agatha ever voluntarily went into a discussion about their mom or dad, and in retrospect she wasn't all that sure why. It wasn't exactly something she did on purpose, but each and every time it came up, she felt her heart sink a little and mused that it probably related to the reason. She just couldn't make the connection, yet.

The question must have taken June by surprise, because she stopped yanking through the knots long enough to allow Agatha some time to digest the throbbing in her head. She was seriously considering brushing her hair more often when June finally answered, "...Yeah, she did. She's the one who taught me how to put my hair up in a bun."

Agatha turned around to face her directly, eyebrows raised in curiosity. "Really? I thought you taught yourself how to do that..."

"Nope. That was all mom." June turned Agatha's head so she was facing forward again and resumed brushing; it became easier with time. "She taught me all sorts of styles and techniques when I was younger. I used all of them for parties, Sweet Sixteens, dances, dinners... I don't think I even remember all of them now, come to think of it. Lately all I have time for is work and running errands, so either way I don't think I'd have the time to relearn any of it. It's probably the same for her, too." She paused, then patted Agatha's shoulder lightly. "I'm sure she would teach you a few, too, if you asked her to."

Agatha's face crumpled. "Ew, no way. I don't want to look like you." June hit her with the brush again. "Ow! Stop that!"

"Sorry. My hand must have slipped."

"Liar! You're laughing at me!"

"I'm laughing because you're a funny girl."

"Up yours."

[niviumnovel-blog]

aaaaaaaaaaaaaand finally i got to sheila's introduction!

i went through and edited it several times just so i could get sheila's voice right, and i'm still not quite satisfied with it tbh but here it is! there isn't much context to set here; agatha just met a little girl who got hurt while playing tag and offered to take her home since she couldn't walk on her bad leg. when they arrive, sheila's the one to answer the door.

Agatha cleared her throat and nodded. “Right. Sorry.” Without further delay, she approached the door and knocked.

There was an abrupt pause in the conversations being held inside, but they resumed immediately after one of the patrons proclaimed, “I’ll get it!” Agatha shifted anxiously from foot to foot as the muffled click of someone’s heels drew closer, until finally they stopped right behind the door. Agatha stared, waiting for it to swing open, but instead a little slot toward the top of the door slid aside and revealed a pair of brown eyes. They blinked at her curiously through the opening.

“Hello,” the person behind the door greeted. “Password?”

“Uh...” Agatha replied intelligently. When the eyes simply blinked at her, she carefully shifted Faye to her other arm and gestured toward her. “I’m just here to drop off this little girl. She directed me to this place.”

The eyes narrowed at her. “And why would she ask you to drop her off? She has legs.”

“She got hurt playing tag with some other kid, so she can’t walk. You could ask her yourself.” Agatha looked at Faye, but the girl was hiding her face in her shoulder. “Right, Faye?”

Faye squirmed away from the eyes peeking through the door and muttered something into Agatha’s shoulder. “What was that?” Agatha asked with a frown. Faye repeated it more loudly, but it still came out muffled. “What? Hey, let go so we can hear you.”

Albeit reluctantly, Faye obeyed and faced the door with averted eyes. “...I’m sorry, Aunt Sheila...”

The brown eyes peering at them through the door widened slightly. “Oh, baby, it’s okay! Come here.”

The opening in the door slid shut and, after several bolts and locks were undone, the door itself finally swung open. Immediately, out came a tall redhead woman in black heels, spreading her arms out wide to retrieve Faye from Agatha. Agatha clumsily handed her off and released a deep breath as the weight was finally lifted from her arms. The redhead woman seemed to carry Faye with no problems, however, and even managed to maintain her balance perfectly in her high heel shoes. She smiled widely at Faye and kissed her cheek, leaving a smudge of red lipstick on her face. Faye giggled and looped her arms around the woman’s neck in a similar fashion to how she clung to Agatha, though she was clearly more comfortable with the woman.

The redhead herself was made up nicely, with dark maroon lips and just enough blush to emphasize the contours of her face. Her hair came down her back in curls that were dull and frayed from the lack of proper hair care, but Agatha couldn’t help but admire them regardless. She wore a black turtleneck that came down to her elbows and gray slacks with buttons at the cuffs; simple, yet altogether an oddly stylish outfit for someone who was living in the middle of nuclear winter. Then again, perhaps the woman’s wardrobe simply consisted of many stylish things. Amelia would have liked her, she mused. She was, after all, always trying her best to look good with what she had.

“Thanks for taking care of my niece,” the woman said after properly smothering Faye with affection. “And sorry for whatever trouble she caused you. Kids, you know? They live through a catastrophic apocalypse just once and they think they’re invincible.”

Agatha grinned a bit, sheepish. “It’s cool. I wasn’t really busy doing much, anyway,” she confessed.

The woman appraised her for a moment, leaning against the doorframe. “I don’t believe we’ve met before, have we? What’s your name, chica?”

“Agatha. Agatha Liu.”

“Agatha...” the woman repeated, sounding out her name into carefully separated syllables. “That’s a cute name.” The woman took Faye into one arm and stretched out her free hand. “Mine’s Sheila. I run a bar here with my brother, Roy.”

Agatha took her hand and shook it. “Oh, that’s cool,” she said without thinking. Immediately after the words came out of her mouth, she lost a bit of her confident momentum and blushed; she was relying far too heavily on that one stock phrase, and it was quickly becoming a bad habit.

Sheila just smiled, and then beamed suddenly. “Hey, you know what? You can tell your folks to stop by and barter with us sometime. We accept supplies, fuel, souvenirs--anything, really--in exchange for food and services. Sometimes we can even offer a place to stay,” she said. There was an ominous crash behind her, followed by a short pause and nervous laughter. She leaned in and lowered her voice to say, “We don’t have any vacancies at the moment, but as soon as these two bozos take off I think we’ll have enough room.” She winked. “Do you have anything you can trade? Something you can bear to part with?”

Briefly, Agatha was reminded of Natasha’s attempt to ‘barter’ with her over the boat and decided that avoiding that line of questioning was probably for the best. “Uh...no, that’s okay. My parents...aren’t with me right now,” she answered slowly, choosing her words carefully.

Sheila frowned. “Don’t tell me you’re traveling alone?” Agatha nodded mutely and waited for her frown to grow even deeper, but instead she just raised her eyebrows. “Really? Wow, I’ve gotta say, that’s impressive for your age. You must’ve been just a few years older than Faye here when the bombings occurred. I’m sorry to hear that.”

Agatha shook her head. “Well, I haven’t been traveling alone all my life. I just started recently,” she confessed.

Sheila looked between Agatha and Faye, who was growing more and more visibly uncomfortable as the conversation progressed. “One moment, sweetie,” Sheila said to Agatha before temporarily kicking the door shut.

Agatha waited impatiently, again shifting from foot to foot as time went on. She could feel the blood between her legs beginning to spread to her inner thighs and shuddered, pressing her legs more tightly together. Even if they did have a pad for her to use, she didn’t have anything on her that she could trade off. After all, Natasha would kill her if she let anything happen to the medical kit. There wasn’t anything on the boat for her to use, either, so she was stuck bleeding through her clothes until either Natasha and Ryan returned or Penny and the others caught up with them, whichever came first. Either way, her clothes were doomed to be ruined, and her extra set was still in the middle of drying.

The door creaked as it was reopened, snapping Agatha out of her thoughts. “Sorry about that,” Sheila said, her arms Faye-free. “I had to take Faye to her daddy. Poor girl’s going to get a real verbal lashing for going out too far into the city again. He’s such a drag, honestly.” She rolled her eyes and crossed her arms, then brightened again. “But he told me to thank you.” Agatha just smiled uneasily, her thighs still pressed together oddly. Sheila noted her discomfort with a raised eyebrow and nodded at her. “What’s that, the pee-pee dance?”

Agatha’s face colored quickly. “...Do you guys, um, have a bathroom or something?” she asked, partially sidestepping the question.

Sheila hummed thoughtfully. “Well, normally I’d have to charge you to use our facilities, but I suppose that the bandages you used on Faye’s leg could be considered your payment. Plus, to be honest, I’d really prefer it if you didn’t piss all over my front porch,” she replied.

Agatha brightened. “Really? That’s great, thank you!”

“No problem, dear.” Sheila moved aside to let Agatha scurry in.

[niviumnovel-blog]

i'm rereading some june scenes and found one you guys (meaning rebecca since she's the only one who reads these lol) might like

“Hey, watch your mouth,” her father scolded. “This town is a wonderful place with wonderful people. You should be grateful for it.”

“Grateful? Why the fuck should I be grateful for a town full of people who hate me--even the people in my own house? Why should I be grateful for teachers who treat me like I’m dumb or kids who treat me like I’m a weirdo or a family who treats me like a disappointment? Why should I be grateful for a bunch of stupid people who don’t know anything about any-fucking-thing in the world?” The volume of Agatha’s voice escalated as she went on. She could feel her face growing red with anger. Before anyone could argue, she stood abruptly and slammed her napkin on the table. “I hate it here, and I hate you!”

Agatha rushed out and into her bedroom, but not before catching the sound of June calling after her. She quickly locked the door behind her and wiped clumsily at her eyes with her arm. Her other arm stretched overhead to tug at the string attached to her ceiling lamp, which blinked on in an instant. A myriad of thoughts ran through her head all at once, though before she could act on them, June knocked at the door.

“Agatha, open up. We need to talk,” she said, her voice coming in muffled.

“Leave me alone!” Agatha replied as she looked through her duffle bags in a hasty attempt to figure out which one she stashed the giant jar of fresh fish in.

June sighed. “Look, I know what it’s like for you at your age. I had trouble getting along with my classmates, too. I even had problems getting along with some of my coworkers here. I know it’s tough, but you’re not going to solve anything by making an enemy out of everyone.”

Agatha tripped over a stray pillow left on the floor and fell painfully on top of a duffle bag with something round and hard in it. At least she found the fish. “I’m not making an enemy out of everyone, everyone’s making an enemy out of me,” she argued, trying her best not to sound winded.

“Will you just listen to yourself? I’m not the bad guy here; I’m just trying to help you. And Mom and Dad are just worried that if you keep acting bitter and alone, that’s how you’ll turn out in the end. We’re all worried about you,” June insisted.

Next was the gauze and medicine. She kept those somewhere in her bookshelves, just behind the aquatic life encyclopedias. “Mom and Dad don’t care about anyone but themselves,” she protested as she shoved the books aside delicately, as to not make a loud noise that could be heard through the door. “They stopped caring about me a long time ago. I’m a lost cause. You’re the only one around here who even bothers keeping up with me anymore.”

“That’s not true, and you know it. They love you. They love both of us. You just need to cut them some slack. It’s been a rough six years, you know. Dad’s been busy planning out new wall designs to keep the outsiders away, and Mom’s been busy as hell with the cancer survivors. They work really hard to keep us fed and sheltered,” June explained.

Agatha stuffed the items into her pockets and paused to stare at the door separating herself and June. “It’s easy for you to defend them because you can make them proud. You’re strong, and smart, and responsible, and everyone always expects the best out of you. They don’t just give up on you before you even try.” There was a long pause. Agatha waited for June to respond, but she didn’t, so she continued, “We’re not the same. So stop acting like we are.”

Another pause. Briefly, Agatha mulled over a mental checklist of what to bring. She seemed to be forgetting something. “I’m not giving up on you,” June said finally. Rather than elaborating on what she said, the sound of her footsteps retreated from the door and gradually faded away.

Agatha knelt on her bed in silence for a while, staring at the door.

“...Flashlight,” she remembered. She grabbed one from beneath her bed; it was a headlamp typically used by miners back when the coal mines were still open, or so she had been told. After fastening it around her head, she zipped herself up and opened the window.

She smirked. June may have been smart, but she always seemed to forget the small window in her room hidden behind Mr. Teddy.

[niviumnovel-blog]

alrighty i owe this blog 3 days' worth of daily posts sooooo let's start with an excerpt

this scene in particular was originally meant to be a short story about a girl and her squid friend and how she eventually had to leave and become a doctor/veterinarian. i chose for her to be a girl because i was inspired by httyd but wanted a lady version, and i set it during nuclear winter to also contrast with the springy green setting of httyd.

eventually while i was brainstorming ideas for what to write for nanowrimo, i came up with an expanded version of the unfinished short and rolled with it.

sooo yes here it is:

Suddenly, Agatha stopped right in her tracks and blew out a frustrated white puff of air. She gazed up at the new height of the wire fence; previously, it had been short enough for her to hop over, but between the last time she visited and now, her father’s underlings must have extended it too high for easy entry. “You’ve got to be kidding me,” she muttered. She kicked the fence petulantly and sighed. “Guess I better climb up.”

The fence rattled noisily as she grabbed on and hooked her feet into it. It wasn’t as if she hadn’t climbed a fence before, but after her massive growth spurt about a year or two ago, she hadn’t really needed to. The fence had stayed exactly the same in all of her six years hopping over it, and as she grew older, it grew shorter and less intimidating. Granted, she hadn’t been all that intimidated by the ‘KEEP OUT’ sign when she first saw it--in fact, she had felt intrigued by it, at least enough to climb over and ruin her favorite shirt in the process--but climbing it every day had still been a daunting task.

Many things about the effects of the nuclear winter had always been kept secret from the children of the town. The forest was blocked off by the infamous wall, which had been built twice as tall as her own mother and father stacked on top of each other lengthwise. Other children and even entire families mysteriously moved away little by little without explanation; it wasn’t until Agatha turned twelve that she learned that these families had been exiled for stealing food or embezzlement. The town, boring as it was, had very strict rules about everything from rations to curfews to restricted areas no one was allowed to visit. Specifically, entry to the shore had been banned for a long time, not only because of the monster June encountered, but because of the accidents that occurred on the abandoned boardwalk. After both of those incidents, no one wanted to go anywhere near that place.

The snow softened her landing as she fell on her back with a solid thud, though the impact still knocked the wind from her. Regardless, she hastily picked herself up and ran down the cobblestone path to the beach, slipping carelessly on a few wet rocks on the way. Her back was sore from the landing, and there was a pebble in her boot--or perhaps her stocking--that stabbed her heel with each firm footstep, but she kept running anyway because she hated being late for their daily meetings and she was very, very late. It wasn’t as if Pinky had never been late a day in their life, but they were almost always the first one there when she arrived and she felt guilty for that. She couldn’t imagine how long they had been waiting.

“I’m here!” Agatha exclaimed as she skidded to a halt at the shoreline. She stopped, the snow well above her ankles at this point, and squinted out into the darkness. Upon confirming that yes, she was practically blind without proper glasses or a light, she clicked on her headlamp, but all she found was dark water rising and falling in its usual motions. When there was no response, she added, “I’ve got food!”

After a long moment, a familiar tentacle hesitantly shot out and rubbed her cheek in greeting. Agatha held the tentacle close to her face and smiled apologetically. “Sorry for the wait. Here.” She reached into her messenger bag and shook the jar of dead fish for emphasis.

Impatiently, Pinky pried their tentacle off her face and wrapped it around the jar, leaving bright red suction marks in their wake. Agatha sat down cross-legged and watched them dump their meal into the water hungrily. “You must be starving, huh? Since I didn’t stop by for lunch.” Pinky used their other tentacle to splash water at her, so she instinctively held up an arm to shield herself from the spray. “Don’t be like that; it wasn’t my fault! It’s all because of that stupid guy who got me in trouble...” She removed the headlamp from her head and shined it on Pinky’s tentacles as they gobbled down the rest of the fish. Their skin glistened with sea water in the lamplight, but it was difficult to see anything clearly with the way Pinky constantly swayed and fidgeted and, once their meal was over, tapped their tentacle against the shore demandingly. 

Agatha rolled her eyes. “I don’t have any more.” Pinky made a disapproving noise. “Well, what do you want me to do? Break into the food warehouse and smuggle all their salmon to you? Don’t you already have fish in the water, anyway? What’s up with that? Is our fish just more tasty than yours?” 

Pinky blinked their many eyes at her pleadingly while she frowned and crossed her arms. The blinking outlasted the frown, however. “...Oh, fine. I’ll try finding something bigger for you next time. And people call me spoiled.” Pinky rubbed her cheek with the underside of their tentacle, their skin smooth against hers. 

Agatha couldn’t help but giggle at the familiar display of affection. “I missed you...” she said, holding their tentacle close. She smiled softly, but the expression fell as soon as she felt something rough brush against her cheek. Immediately, Pinky recoiled at the contact and let their tentacle thud to the ground. A dark red scab tore across the pink, freckled skin. “Stop, it’s okay. Let me take a look.” Agatha frowned and gently ran her hand over the rough skin. It was just about the width of her hand. “...I brought gauze, too.” She pulled out the item in question from her coat and carefully started winding it around Pinky’s tentacle.

[niviumnovel-blog]

yet another daily post hello

By the time June finally swung by to take her place, the sky was already turning black and the air was getting colder. She came into the room and immediately undid the bun her hair had been tied back into so she could comb through it with her fingers, a habit their mother used to scold often but gradually became harder to break as their mother stopped caring. The thick leather vest strapped to her torso hung loosely from her flat chest as she undid it and retrieved her gun from the holster before tossing the vest onto a nearby sofa. She pushed up her glasses, which served her far better than Agatha’s ever would, and met her sister with a stony frown. “Hey. You ready, yet?”

Agatha greeted her with a small nod and proceeded to gather her things, which weren’t much. After wiping cookie crumbs from the corners of her mouth, she stuffed the flashlight into her back pocket and crumpled up her doodles of angry schoolteachers and giant squids to toss into the garbage bin just near the entrance. The paper ball bounced off the rim into June’s face.

June swatted at the ball irritably. “Jesus, Agatha, seriously?” she grunted.

Agatha crossed her arms as she moved around the desk. “I didn’t do it on purpose,” she said defensively.

June sighed. “Whatever. Did you get everything?”

“What does it look like?” Agatha snipped. Upon seeing June’s skeptic raised eyebrow, Agatha rolled her eyes and held out the contents of her pockets. “Walkie-talkie, spare change, keys.” She patted the pocket holding her flashlight. “Light. I’m good.”

June huffed out a plume of white air and took Agatha’s place behind the desk. “Visiting hours are almost up. Who’s left?” she asked.

Agatha took a moment to think. “Mr. Jameson’s son, Mrs. Laurence’s nephew, Ms. Rogers’s granddaughter...” She paused. Headband Girl was still there, too, but she didn’t know her name nor did she know how she was related to Caroline Adams. “...And...Mrs. Adams’s...something.”

“Mrs. Adams’s something?” June echoed, narrowing her eyes at Agatha. “I keep telling you to have a record of the visitors. You can’t just let anyone in here. Did you even bother to ask why they were there?”

“Oh, come on, it’s not like she’s going to go in there and murder someone,” Agatha snapped. After a while, she reluctantly added, “And...besides, I know her. She’s my classmate.”

This, for whatever reason, changed June’s expression entirely. She raised her eyebrows. “A classmate? From school?”

Agatha snorted. “No, we go to the same grocery store, that’s why I called her my classmate. Yeah, a classmate from school.”

“No need to get snippy with me.” June glanced at the clock hung up high on the wall above Agatha’s head. “Since visiting hours are almost up, maybe you two could walk home together.”

Panicked, Agatha tried to revert back to her annoyed expression and crossed her arms with a frown. “W-what, you don’t trust me to go home by myself?”

June eyed her oddly, because she had always been the best at seeing through Agatha’s attempts but she was fortunately never good enough to figure out what she was trying to hide. “No...but it’s always safer to travel in numbers when it gets dark,” she replied slowly.

Agatha continued to feign annoyance and looked away with a scowl. “Whatever, I’m leaving by myself. See you.”

“Wait,” June called to her retreating back. Agatha stopped in the doorway. “Dad said dinner won’t be ready until eight, so you’ve got a few hours before you need to go home. Don’t go anywhere that isn’t well lit, and don’t stray too far from the town’s boundaries. Okay?”

Agatha groaned loudly. “Okay already. Can I go now?”

“Alright, go. Goodnight.”

“G’night.”