One in a Million

[the-princess-atta]

lost-girl-at-sea​:

Market Research || Jatta

“Oh yes, just lead him to some tree that he found rather interesting,” said Jane.

And that tree had probably been his downfall, Jane knew, but she did not say that out loud for it was not her story to tell. Maybe it was the will-o-wisps that led John to his doom, actually. The thought left a bitter taste in the back of her mouth. She was thankful she was talking to fairy and not a sorcerer who might be able to pluck the Lie from her lips.

“Suffice to say it was a very creepy tree, so I shan’t be straying from the path any time soon. I broke my leg in the woods once, and that was horrible enough.” She figured the drastic information drop would steer the conversation away from John. “Good thing I was on a path.” 

.

Ah, that reminded Atta of her questionnaire!

Right, she’d ehm, got a bit off topic there. It wasn’t every day you heard of will-o-the-wisps though. And wasn’t that exactly why she was doing this? She scribbled something down about them, to include in any seminar that they ended up putting together--

More importantly though, her questions. 

“Right, that reminds me! Ehm, do you know what to do when you experience medical emergencies in the forest? Or I guess, what did you do?” 

[the-princess-atta]

fi-fitz-flynn​:

Fresh Start {Atta & Flynn}

**

Maybe this sleepy town could be a little like New York in that case. Being busy and alive all hours. Flynn couldn’t imagine he would do well in a town that didn’t have something exciting.

“I mean - a normal amount?” Flynn had a favourite flower which he thought more people needed to have that information readily available.  “What does that have to do with Pride though?”

.

Atta did not have an answer to that, really. Humans had an entirely different understanding of sexuality than fairies. They made it part of their identity-- which Atta actually found quite lovely. Fairies usually expressed other things; flowers, though, were often part of that expression.

Maybe it was the same here. 

She chuckled a little. “Well, I’m a fairy--” her hair was covering her ears so this would make it obvious “--so I don’t know exactly. But I imagine it has to do with expression? Beauty? Love? Flowers can mean all of that. Anyway, I’m ah, helping out with one of the events-- we’re making flower crowns and necklaces and bracelets, that kind of thing. You could come see.” 

[the-princess-atta]

fi-fitz-flynn​:

Fresh Start {OPEN}

Flynn was already bored. This wasn’t his first time across the pond, so to speak. He had been on planes, he had fenced items and provided many services but he had never planned on living here.

A place that wasn’t even big enough for a bank. There were no challenges nothing exciting and well Flynn was wishing they had shipped him off somewhere more exciting. Why couldn’t he have gone back to Italy or something.

Instead he was at a quaint little coffee shop- tea shop- something.

“Excuse me - I’m super new to this area. Would you mind telling me what’s interesting to do around here?” Might as well just jump in.

.

Atta was in town for the Pride events! It had been a long day so far of flower crown tutorials, and she was thankful to get away for a snip for a tea and to relax. Though she was glad she had been volunteering. It made her feel more involved in town and that was definitely something she wanted to continue, once she was... queen.

But she didn’t want to focus on that now, did she?

Because frost-- here she was, getting asked a question. 

“Oh! Ehm-- well there’s lots going on right now,” said Atta. “You’ve shown up during Pride Month. There are events all over the place, day or night, really. Do you like flowers?” 

[the-princess-atta]

Falling Flower || Attendy

Soon, Atta would be queen.

There was no choice in the matter, and so Atta was trying to do everything she could to prepare herself. One way to do that was to establish more of a presence in town, and so she’d volunteered to help out with the Pridegram and Flower Crown event. It was a lovely event-- taking place in the afternoon, a breezy and sunny day, right there in Swynlake’s main park. Children came with their parents; students came with their classmates. Atta went around, teaching the different knots one could do so the stem would not tear, and it was exactly this sort of little thing that made Atta feel useful. Like, just maybe, she might be an alright queen after all.

She’d just started making a daisy chain idly, when she saw a familiar redhead approaching.

Atta’s eyes brightened. “Windy!” she exclaimed. And she wanted to say a lot of different things here. That she had missed Wendy. That she felt guilty for once again getting so busy. How was she anyway? Had she heard Atta would be here or was it just a coincidence-- it was probably a coincidence, silly for Atta to think otherwise--

Instead of all that, Atta just breathed out one thing. “Hi.” 

@flippin--corduroy​

[the-princess-atta]

lost-girl-at-sea​:

Market Research || Jatta

–

Now Jane did not know if she should be truthful in this situation — though she didn’t know why she would have to lie, really. For one, it had been John who’d seen the Will-o-Wisp. And yes, they had followed it, but she could surely leave that bit out if this fairy girl was going to lecture her.

“While out with my cousin,” she said. “He spotted it first. I don’t think it was trying to lead me anywhere. It was for him.” She shrugged. “It was quite something, though. I feel honored to have seen it.”

.

It was an honor-- maybe. Or it was an omen, a warning, that her cousin should heed. Atta frowned, not sure exactly how to respond to the woman. She seemed more or less educated about these things, but... 

“Ah,” Atta nodded. “It’s certainly a one-in-a-lifetime opportunity. Your-- cousin was alright after, yes? He didn’t go too far in the woods after them?”

That was always the danger. 

[the-princess-atta]

huldufolk-hjarn:

gabriella-marino:

The Plot Thickens || Environmental Club

Gregory felt his gaze slip to Sindri when he mentioned the board - a small tint of pink crossing his cheeks as he shrugged his shoulders in an easy agreement. Though… part of him wandered if he’d be helpful even in that department. He was about 50/50 on getting petitions to pass, and it seemed like the important right issues ones he had less luck with. He’d blame a crooked Board at the time for the werewolf one honestly though, so perhaps he could be a bit more help than he thought. And perhaps he’d even find himself back in a position on the Board sometime… when it was less..chaotic for him. 

Because he did remember a time when he was passionate to make a difference. Wanted to help and would fight for it. He’d lost sight of that for so long but… one day he was sure he could find the way to get it back. 

Passing on the clipboard when it was handed to him (he would participate in clean ups but ….no, no he would not lead them), Gregory turned back to Atta with a small hint of a smile playing on his lips. He’d heard about the Community Garden idea once or twice before, after all. He thought it was a splendid idea really. There was no reason that there shouldn’t be access to food for anyone in town that they could all help grow and maintain themselves! 

And who exactly was going to do all that work?? Gardening was a lot of work!! 

That was an easy one. “…I-.. I don’t know if uhm.. it was t-talked about but…” He started, signing and talking with another quick shrug. “..it would be a-…a r-really g-good th-thing for all the s-schools t-too. T-..to be a-able to teach A-..agriculture on a..a pretty b-big and real scale at a-all ages. And it-..it w-would be e-easy help f-for maintaining t-the gardens m-most of the y-year.” Not that a petition like that would be struck down in the first place but.. add an education aspect and.. pfft. 

@gabriella-marino @huldufolk-hjarn @olaf-likeswarmhugs @the-princess-atta

Ooo! Wow, there was so much to go off of here, she didn’t even know what to focus on. The Google Doc seemed like a good idea! But…it might get a bit chaotic if everyone had the ability to edit it. Maybe they could get some sort of Discord server thing going? She had it with her dance friends, they were always sharing links in there. It might be helpful for this sort of thing, too. With polls for people’s availability and that sort of thing. 

Then she forgot about that in favor of the clean ups! Then the town wide participation events! Then the community garden!! That was super exciting to think about since it would be something that could show for its success. 

She also really liked wanting to add an educational element. Like the other girl’s project! Especially if they could do something with the younger kids. Better get them educated on the subject now rather than to keep them in the dark and thrust all of it on them with everything else that was going to be expected of them. 

“There’s a lot of farm lands around here. Do you think we could talk to some of the farmers? Try and convince someone to come talk? Or maybe even get a tour of their land or something like that?” she suggested, Shelby translating for her. 

@huldufolk-hjarn @the-princess-atta @olaf-likeswarmhugs @notmuchofatail

.

Sindri couldn’t keep the smile off of his face now as all the others started to give their input. It was really nice, seeing how something he envisioned, something he and Atta had started, just the two of them, had grown into this. Now they were doing really things. They were making a difference, even if it was just in this town, and Sindri thought that was something to be proud of. 

He was proud. 

He was also very excited. 

As soon as the mention of farmers rang out, Sindri jumped at it. 

“That’s such a good idea,” he said, beaming at her. He hadn’t thought of it and that just proved that the more people involved in something, the better. 

“I’m sure we could get Mr. Moon to talk. Also the Gibben’s farm is out in Besydus and they grow a lot of vegetables. I’ve seen their stand at the farmer’s market. It’s so impressive. Maybe we could even get some of them to donate supplies to get started.” 

Sindri looked around at everyone and nodded. “I think this has been a very successful meeting and I really just want to thank everyone for all your ideas and input. I think we’re going to be able to do really great things.”

@the-princess-atta @olaf-likeswarmhugs @notmuchofatail @gabriella-marino

.

Atta didn’t really know any of the farmers, though she supposed she should, shouldn’t she? That would probably be important, going forward. Even though Besydus was out of Enchantra, they were still close enough that staying abreast of how things were going would probably benefit Atta and Enchantra in the long run as well, wouldn’t it? 

Though she wasn’t quite sure she was on the same page as everyone here... weren’t community gardens still rather small...? She wasn’t sue what ‘big’ meant to Gregory Eeyore. 

But it concerned her, a little. She didn’t want any humans encroaching on her forest. They must stay in the Pride U grounds already alotted. 

But everyone was so excited... she didn’t want to bring that up and-- itw as premature anyway, right? Right. 

“We’ll make a list of potential um, point people then-- mentors, of sorts. I’m sure one of the Hollow’s garden-talents would also love to chat,” mentioned Atta instead of all of her worries. “But that does sound great! Looks like we have a place to start.”

@notmuchofatail @gabriella-marino​ @huldufolk-hjarn​

[the-princess-atta]

lost-girl-at-sea​:

Market Research || Jatta

–

Jane nodded. She knew of these things. She did not consider herself an animal expert by any means, but she’d been fascinated by them, especially magical ones. She had a particular interest for sea creatures in her youth, before she found her strange and unsettling connection to them. Nowadays, she preferred to learn about the ones who lurked deep in the forest. 

“Oh yes, I know about those,” she said with a nod. “And there’s also Will-o-Wisps, aren’t there?” 

She remembered, once upon a time, when she and John had trekked to the Darkwood and been led away by those strange glowing lights. 

.

Ah yes, the will-o-the-wisps.

They were very curious little creatures. Atta had never seen any herself, but she’d heard of them. They only appeared to specific people or creatures for mysterious reasons. She knew that once a particularly mischievous animal-talent had wandered much too far into the Darkwood and the will-o-the-wisps had led her back out again.

But she also knew those same wisps could lead strangers in. 

“You saw a will-o-the-wisp?” was Atta’s response then. She tilted her head, mouth slightly parted in surprise. “Those are very very rare.” 

[the-princess-atta]

adventurous--ellie​:

the-princess-atta​:

adventurous–ellie​:

Weak In The Knees|| OPEN

“Oh, thanks for the hand. And yeah, I guess I’m alright.” She smiled at the woman as she stood, and hoped she was a good enough liar for her fib to go undetected. If there was one thing she was desperate to avoid, it was seeming like the “poor, ill woman constantly in need of help.” For as long as she was able, Ellie would be on her own. But getting to know people? That was her favorite part of exploring! “My name’s Ellie. You?” 

.

Atta didn’t think anything was wrong. After all, it had rained last night and the ground was still soft and slightly wet. Many people would probably slip here-- especially since mundus were infamously not very careful.

It usually annoyed her, when they went clomping through Enchantra. But on the lakeshore, it was quite alright. Even charming.

Atta smiled kindly. “Ellie! Nice to meet you. My name is Atta,” she said, enjoying not tacking “princess of Enchantra” on the end of that. Right now, she just got to be Atta. Plain and simple. “Oh, did you come out here for a picnic?” She gestured to the basket. 

[the-princess-atta]

adventurous--ellie​:

Weak In The Knees|| OPEN

Was this a bad idea? Not really—all Ellie wanted was to have a hilltop picnic while the weather was nice—a rarity in Swynlake, if the past few days had meant anything. Was this an impulsive idea? Sure, most of her ideas were. Still, it was too late to turn back now. She would either collapse at the top of the hill, or collapse at the bottom, and there was no way she was walking all the way back down there without at least enjoying her lunch first. 

And then her legs trembled, the shakes getting worse the further she pushed herself. Wait. Shit. Nononono, not now! She squeezed her knees together to brace herself for impact as gravel cut into her skin. That was going to leave a mark.  

Alright, simple. All she had to do was push off–Nope, that was gonna work. 

“Hey!” She shouted to the stranger walking by. “Sorry to bug you, but would you mind helping me up?

.

Atta was doing a field visit for the water-talents today, very close to the lake! After all, in just several days, it would be the fairy floatilla event, where the talents would give the mundus a glimpse of their extraordinary magic. There was much to prepare before then and so Atta was quite busy. But for once, she was enjoying herself. It was hard not to get excited when so many of her fellow fairies were excited!

She was getting ready to fly back to the Hollow when she saw a mundus struggling on one of the inclines. 

Atta quickly transformed into her human size and headed over. “Don’t worry about it! I saw you slip-- here you go,” she offered a smile and a hand to help the girl up. “Are you alright?” 

[the-princess-atta]

vcnatorr​:

Strategising || Atton

Much to the dismay of his father and his various educators over the years, Clayton was not a particularly organised man. When it came to a project with many moving parts, anything from the maintenance of a great stately home or this relatively small project with Atta, he could never do things in any sort of order. The idea that it might be more logical to do things step by step never occured to him, which was rather ironic (or perhaps, annoying), because when he was out on safari in the Serengheti, or stalking deer in the Scottish Highlands, everything was done in order. He followed procedure, he never got ahead of himself. The game had to be played to the rules… he just could never seem to apply that to anything else.

So he had really just plucked the idea of speakers for the seminar out of the air, but it did seem important, didn’t it? Even with out all the incident reports and things that Atta wanted, there would be people that they knew for certain they wanted to speak, or so he thought. People who would have a lot to say, and would at least be mildly interesting to listen to. Not to him, obviously, but to someone. He already knew that in attending this seminar he was going to lose a few hours of his life that he would never get back, but it wouldn’t do to miss it. Some sacrifices had to be made for power, he supposed.

“Well, I do think the focus should be on voices from the Hollow myself, unless you have other ideas,” He smiled as he said this, to encourage her to speak up if she did so. He didn’t expect her to, but he still had to give her the opportunity. “So I’m glad to hear you’ve got a few in mind. Of course, someone from my office could always get involved, and did you say you’ve worked with the magizoology department at the university in the past? I was thinking they might be able to offer a little of their expertise too.”

.

Ah, well-- that made sense. 

And really, Atta was impressed that Clayton had thought to center the Hollow’s experience. So far, she’d not any any reason to doubt his character, or ask questions of it, and this response seemed to solidify that he was a thoughtful man-- not too proud or arrogant like some of the humans she met. 

(Like the Mayor. She wouldn’t speak this out loud but she was uneasy around him. Yes, he was a magick, but not one that she understood -- only one she recognized, with her great and ancient magic, to be great and ancient, much like herself. But he didn’t have a Hollow to protect. So what was all that magic used for?) 

Atta nodded at Clayton’s mention of the magizoology department. “Oh, yes! Yes, I think that’s right. I, ehm, don’t exactly have connections to the department at the moment...do you?” She had no idea, but maybe the Sheriff would. After all, her guards often went out with the animal-talent fairies, so perhaps there was a similar relationship here. 

[the-princess-atta]

huldufolk-hjarn​:

gabriella-marino​:

The Plot Thickens || Environmental Club

Gregory was glad that the club was full of natural leaders and public speakers. People that were passionate and knew how to get that message across and what to do on every platform to spread the word about what they were doing here. He himself was not that kind of person. He much preferred to work in the shadows, behind the scenes or.. he supposed only in that kind of position when it came to teaching people about animals or something. 

That was about the only time he felt comfortable leading any kind of discussion; when it was about animals and nature. It was a lot different being in the environment and teaching people about the things that surrounded them than just… stopping random kids at the Uni to inform them about upcoming events though. The latter of which Greg still struggled to do. If anything he could… maybe help Olaf on the online front but even that was a task of great social responsibility he just wasn’t sure he was good at. 

Glancing around the group, Gregory shrugged his shoulders as a personal response to the question Atta asked. At one point, he had a list of projects he wanted to do. Things from his time on the Board, things from when he’d first started school, things from when he’d graduated the first time… but now with everything going on, a lot of those had taken the back burner and so Gregory didn’t have much to contribute at the moment, instead allowing his attention to fall back on the rest of them. 

@gabriella-marino @huldufolk-hjarn​ @the-princess-atta​ @olaf-likeswarmhugs​

Gabriella agreed with Sindri. Sometimes she felt too small for the absolutely enormous problems that had been left behind by other people who had come before her. Faced to clean up a mess she had never wanted to inherent but felt responsible for anyway. 

It wasn’t until later on in her life that she had learned what Sindri was talking about, how important it was to take small victories for what they were; victories. If everyone knew that helping their own community first instead of looking at the world’s problems like their own personal ones, then the task of progression would be a lot less daunting. 

It was good to know she was in the right place and that someone who actually had a head on their shoulders was in charge. Seriously, the amount of times she had gone to some sort of Green movement thing back home that had been led by some brat trying to get a merit badge or hit their hours on a community services sheet was enough to make her wary. But Sindri was making her more hopeful, especially since he listened to others rather than using his title against them. 

She glanced around at the other members to see if anyone had anything to say, waiting, too. She had ideas but they were only general things that she was sure everyone here had on their minds, too, but not planned out or anything to have reason to present to the group. 

@huldufolk-hjarn​ @the-princess-atta​ @olaf-likeswarmhugs​ @notmuchofatail​

.

Sindri looked over at Atta and nodded, clutching his hands together in front of him. “I was thinking we could maybe have a sort of shared file or something, one that we could all have access to where we could just brainstorm ideas. Maybe like a Google document. I know I want to try and do more things for the town, maybe organize some townwide conservation days or something where everyone conserves water as best as they can or like, turns off their electricity for a certain amount of time in a day. I know that kind of thing takes more planning and we might have to go to the board for some of it.” 

Sindri looked around and cleared his throat. Just having these people here was so nice, the way they were looking at him and nodding like they really wanted to make a difference. It gave him hope. “I know Greg has experience with the board and could maybe help write petitions if he was feeling up to it, or just give us some advice. Other than that I don’t really have anything else to say other than thank you. To all of you. It’s so nice to be around other people who care and want to make a difference. I think if we all work together we will do some real good around here.” 

Sindri went to sit down before remembering his clipboard and he held it up. “Also I have signups here in case anyone wants to volunteer to help lead one of the park clean-ups. Other than that I think I’m all out of announcements.” 

@the-princess-atta​ @olaf-likeswarmhugs​ @notmuchofatail​ @gabriella-marino​

.

Ah, lots of ideas!

Atta smiled at Sindri as a feeling of fondness swept through her. It was a specific feeling she felt almost exclusively to fairies of her own Hollow-- though at times, she’d felt it toward Candace too. It must be the bond between all of their magic. When that feeling swept over, it was like all the waters inside of her calmed down and she could look over a wide, gentle ocean, and know everything was going to be okay. The ecosystem of her Hollow was working in tandem, the magic just below the surface. 

She did think it was important to focus though. She had her little project with the Office coming up, but it might be a while yet before they could put it into action.

And so what could they do now? What were some things they could tend to, much like garden-talents tended to the seedlings in the forest? 

“I’d like to lead one of them,” said Atta and she took the clipboard to write her name before passing it on. “I also wanted to ehm-- revisit one of the petitions we talked about writing, Sindri? The community garden one. I think you talked about it with Mr. Moon once. Maybe we could start it up again and get a draft done by the end of the semester.” 

@notmuchofatail​ @gabriella-marino​ @huldufolk-hjarn​

[the-princess-atta]

lost-girl-at-sea​:

Market Research || Jatta

–

“Well, I know about the Gummi Bears and Trolls, obviously,” she said — not in a particularly rude way, just in a matter-o-fact one. “And the fairies. And I know there’s loads of different bird species. My cousin is something of a bird watcher.”

As she said that, she felt her throat clog up a bit. She refused to speak in the past tense.

“And I imagine other animals typical to English woods — foxes, badgers, deer. You don’t need a full census, do you?” This she did say as a joke, with a little tease in her voice. 

.

Atta’s cheeks pinked just a little. The woman was nice, of course. She didn’t seem to be in a hurry which meant Atta didn’t feel too too guilty about taking up her time. But the thought passed through her mind about whether her questions were any good. Maybe it was a bit of a silly one...

“No, no, I mean-- of course not, mostly I’m not sure people realize there are a few amount of dangerous creatures in the forest,” said Atta. “And I don’t mean dangerous as in they are aggressive or evil, but rather that straying off the paths and wandering into their territory would be dangerous for both yourself and the animal. The gryphons in the north, for example. And there is a unicorn herd, and redcaps in the darkwood,” she listed. “They don’t have as much of a presence, but they’re there.” 

[the-princess-atta]

runnerless-sled​:

the-princess-atta​:

runnerless-sled​:

the-princess-atta​:

When This Rain Stops || Sleighing Princess​

-

Sled nodded with a small smile, “You will, you’ll get an opportunity. One fight does not make a good friendship just go away.” 

He paused a moment, “Do you think I was always the friend I am?” He chuckled, “I was once a fledgling too, you know. Very long time ago, but it did happen.”

“Friendship is not an innate talent, each friendship is different because each person is. Friendship takes time, Miss Atta.” He stood up from his kneeling position, straightening himself up a bit, “And what you must learn is that friendship has to allow for some selfishness, friends should allow each other to do what is best for them. Maybe they won’t always see it like that at first, but they will. You and Candace will work this out.”

.

At first, Atta frowned at some of the things Sled said. She had never thought of friendship like that. Wasn’t friendship supposed to be about giving? But then, in order to give, someone had to receive-- to be open to receiving. And of course if this was just one way, that didn’t sound healthy to Atta either.

She wasn’t sure where she and Candace fell on this scale, exactly. For a while, at least while Atta wasn’t the princess of the Hollow, things had been natural. They met up often and shared each of their worlds generously. 

Atta wanted to get back to that. 

She nodded slowly. At least her crying had stopped and she saw a way forward. “Maybe...maybe that is right. Thank you, Sled.” Her lips lifted in a real smile. “I have a lot to learn from you.” 

[the-princess-atta]

huldufolk-hjarn​:

gabriella-marino:

The Plot Thickens || Environmental Club

The Environmental Club was just about the only activity that Gregory participated at in Pride U which….tracked really. It was the one thing he was passionate enough about that made him go out of his way to interact with other people for. It helped that the people in the club were all people that were like-minded and cared a lot about the planet and the creatures that lived there too. 

Gregory was sat against a tree, his arms wrapped easily around his knees as his gaze flickered back and forth between the other members - offering a small smile towards Sindri since he seemed nervous but otherwise staying quiet until Atta spoke. 

Educational seminars on the Forest. That was something Greg had wanted when he was on the Board - education towards the forest (and also towards Magicks in general!). He strongly believed that a lot of fear was based off the unknown or the misinformation and if the properly trained people (I.E: Atta, the Fairies of the Forest, the Great Prince, Etc) were able to share their knowledge with the town and also the tourists, Gregory wanted to think that fear, anger and disrespect towards the Forest and those who called it home could lessen or stop. 

“…I-..m’sure that-..that’s something perfect f-for this. E-..either for that or…if..there would ne-need to be vo-volunteers t-to help the..the seminars..” Gregory spoke quietly, signing along with his words even if there was already an interpreter with them. It was a lot easier to express himself through sign these days anyways. He just hoped he wasn’t speaking for the club but… it seemed like a great thing for them to do  and who better to help out and lend support? 

@gabriella-marino @huldufolk-hjarn @olaf-likeswarmhugs @the-princess-atta

This all sounded great so far! She took note of the lake clean ups, knowing she would have to get in on those in the future seeing as people liked to think they could put whatever they wanted in there. Plus they were making headway with making sure people had access to recycling bins and this girl already had the police department on her side? 

It made Gabriella feel both completely behind in her life and like she was in the perfect place to start doing something now. Because it was never to late, and it was better to get going as soon as possible instead of writing it off until thing suddenly became easy. News flash, things were never easy and there was never a clear starting point for these sorts of things. This was a leaping into the deep end and just keep swimming ordeal. 

“Yeah! Like if you needed people to set up and take down your set up. Bring snacks. I’m sure we can help advertise for you, too,” she signed, Shelby speaking it aloud to the group. Gabriella smiled, glancing at the girl. “Flyers and getting the word out on social media about when and where it will all be, right?” 

Gabriella looked over to the president now, expression open, wanting to see if her ideas were within their limits or if he would strike her down. Or, well, not so mean like. Everyone here had this gentle way about them. 

@huldufolk-hjarn @the-princess-atta @notmuchofatail @olaf-likeswarmhugs

.

Everything was going so much better than Sindri ever could have hoped. When he’d first come to Swynlake, he spent a lot of his nights wondering if he’d done the right thing. It was hard for one person to make a difference, he would think, and maybe it was foolish of him to leave home and come here all alone. Sometimes he still felt that way, even though Olaf being around made that feeling a lot less scary, but sometimes–like now–Sindri really believed he’d done the right thing. 

Everyone was sat in a circle, a few people leaning up against trees and Olaf smiling up at him from the grass. Sindri wanted to hold his hand, squeeze it and let Olaf feel the pride filling his chest. He’d done something good. They were all doing something good. 

“Social media is a big one,” Sindri said, nodding along with Gabriella’s ideas. “If anyone has any tips or is good at running something like that, that would be amazing because I know I’m not really the best at it.” 

Sindri looked over at Atta next. “And any way you can think of that we can help with the educational seminars I think we’d all like to try. I know sometimes it can feel like nothing we do will ever really be enough, but when I feel like that I just try to stop and think about what we’ve already done. We’ve already made a difference, even if it’s a small one, and those things can grow. I’m really glad all of you are here.” 

@olaf-likeswarmhugs @the-princess-atta @notmuchofatail @gabriella-marino​​

.

It was the nature of Atta’s talent to feel the opposite of what Sindri described really -- the burden of responsibility so high and the weight of her power so great that she struggled less with feeling like she couldn’t make a difference and more with figuring out the right way to do it. That was her biggest weakness. She could spend a lot of time in her own head, going over potential solutions as one might polish a stone into gold. But if she spent too long, then nothing got done.

It was precisely why she needed groups like this and people around her. When she had advisors and mentors and friends, all these overwhelming problems were... well, less overwhelming. Just listen to her friends’ suggestions! She wouldn’t have ever thought to do social media. It wasn’t something she was good at either, but she didn’t have to do it on her own so...

So Atta smiled and nodded. And for once, she wasn’t anxious.

“Oh, I can do that!” piped up Olaf, raising a hand. “The social media part. I love that kind of stuff and got lots of practice with RA events. Though if anyone wants to help me--” 

“It probably is a two person job,” agreed Atta. There were a million social media sites out there (at least that’s how it felt). 

Then she glanced back around, and her royal-talent prompted her to guide the discussion onward. “Any other projects we have coming up?” 

@notmuchofatail​ @gabriella-marino​ @huldufolk-hjarn​

[the-princess-atta]

vcnatorr​:

Strategising || Atton

Clayton gave a nod, wondering just how much work he would actually have to do here. Whilst this little project had been his suggestion, he had sort of been hoping that Atta would be putting in most of the effort. And it seemed that so far, she had been doing just that, so Clayton could only hope that it would continue. He could spend the time going through these reports, parsing out which ones might be relevant, or he could give all of the data to Atta and let her go through it at her leisure.

See Clayton was a visionary. He had big, grand ideas. He did not, however, put any of the work in to make these ideas happen. Once you reached a certain tax bracket you could pay pretty much anyone to do pretty much anything, which afforded the luxury of being able to sit around all day doing a lot of thinking. He did get his hands dirty, every now and again. When it suited him. Look at his little project with Henry, he’d been putting the work in there, hadn’t he? Sort of.

Besides, Atta had that nervous, jittery sort of energy that Clayton thought was usually soothed by having something to do. And she also didn’t seem like the kind of person who would say no, so he could probably wriggle out of doing too much work pretty easily.

“I’ll go through our records and see what crops up,” He said, nice and vague. “Have you had any thought to who we might invite to speak at the seminars? It would be nice to get a decent mix of folks from town and from the Hollow. I’m sure there’s a wealth of knowledge all around Swynlake.”

.

Clayton’s next question was a bit of a surprise because, well-- that was rather premature, wasn’t it? 

In Atta’s mind, at least. She was the sort who liked procedure, B following A, etc. etc. The Hollow was filled with important procedure so she was used to living that way. Of course, some talents had more flexibility than others. Garden-talents were especially tied to the cycles of the earth, so their days and tasks rarely deviated. The kitchen, too, had a strict schedule to meet, since they were providing for an entire Hollow. But Tinkers had actually had more freedom than Atta had expected. There were repairs, of course, but the Invention Hours meant that tinker-talents could brainstorm and fiddle and imagine, a spot of new in their day no matter the rest of the schedule. 

Still, even the invention hours were on the schedule. Organization among chaos and all that.

So for Atta, Clayton’s question seemed to gesture to... picking names out of a hat. She didn’t have all the data so why would she consider anything like that quite yet? 

But she didn’t want to say any of that out loud. Maybe she should be more flexible. This could be, erm, a good-- a good exercise...

“Oh! Admittedly, ehm, not really. I suppose I assume at some point our head of Animal-talents will make an appearance... and probably one of the garden-talents to talk about the biology of the flora... and Nyx, the Captain of our Scouting Guard,” answered Atta, thankfully without too much delay. “What about yourself?” 

[the-princess-atta]

i-want-candy​:

Time is the Longest Distance ! [Catta]

It didn’t feel like she had time. Or even a choice. What else was she supposed to do besides theater? That was what she had been working her whole life towards. She didn’t have any other talents…she supposed she was kind of like a fairy in that way, from how Atta described it. You did one thing that was assigned to you, your whole life, and that was it.

“You–you’re probably right,” Candace sniffed, but she shook her head too.

“I just–I dunno what else I’d do. What I’m good at. What I want. I’ve been told I’m going to be an actress my whole life and I put so much effort into that. And I was good at it! I really was. I can’t just change my major. I can’t just tell my mom. It would crush her. And there is nothing else I can do. It was just…it was probably just a fluke or something I just…need a break, yeah. Maybe.”

.

Atta certainly related. 

Their situations were not the same in many ways. Atta had been told by ancient, powerful magic what she would do with her life, and it was a decision folded into her veins, something she could never separate from herself. Even if she didn’t want to be queen... well, it was hard to determine if she didn’t want to be queen of if she was just scared and anxious and still mourning her Hollow. She wasn’t ready. 

But that could be Candace too, just in her own way. She needed to ask herself those questions, as Atta was asking herself now. Did she want to be an actress? What did she like, what did she hate? What would her life look like if she wasn’t? 

Atta smiled thinly, her head tilting a little. “It could be a fluke, you’re right. But... I don’t want to say these things happen for a reason, they don’t, but-- when things do happen, they present opportunities. For me, I got an opportunity to take a break from being a royal-talent when I came to Enchantra. I’m glad I took that break, I’m glad I got to experience something outside of my talent. I think it taught me a lot about myself and what I’m good at. So maybe taking a break can teach you the same things. You could go back to acting or you could not.” 

[the-princess-atta]

lost-girl-at-sea​:

Market Research || Jatta

–

“There’s the Darkwood and the Lyons Cave,” said Jane. “And the Pixie Hollow, the Meadow, and down south… well that’s where the Gummi Bears and the Trolls are, isn’t it? I haven’t really trekked down there so I’m not sure if they have specific names.” She shrugged again. “I usually  hike along the Wolf Trail or the Besydus Trail.” 

Jane generally gave the Hollow enough space, mostly because she felt like the fairies probably didn’t want Mundus trekking around so close to their territory, and also because she had no interest in those areas of the woods. 

.

That was pretty good. Most people knew about the Hollow, naturally, because there were so many fairies who lived and worked in town. But not many knew there were specific names for other areas, and that the territories were drawn pretty firmly. 

“Oh nice, that makes a lot of sense,” said Atta as she scribbled down a few more notes. “Are you aware of what other creatures call the forest home, magical or otherwise?”