They appeared, in many respects, at odds with the world around them. Even their movement seemed contrarian, lilting in a manner more often associated with the flapping of a seabird as it cuts the invisible rope that ties it to the ocean surface. It is important to note this description is not intended to demean; in fact, quite the opposite. To a beholder, this person is without doubt an exceedingly deliberate force. Take, for instance, their hair; it is pink, the most petulant of colours. And yet, does this not speak for an uncommon autonomy? A steely determination to maintain one’s individuality, not unlike a selkie who would dash itself upon the teeth of a reef rather than shackle itself to either land or sea. But that was LJ, an occasional enigma. I cannot claim to understand the workings of their mind, but I would allow myself to describe them thus: a lover of music, an imaginer, a creator, an academic, and a friend.