@Viola?, this is

Chatterbox: Down to Earth

@Viola?, this is

@Viola?, this is kind of an awkward post, but... we were chatting our AEs on that other thread and it has kind of died soo.... Do you wanna just keep going on this thread? Or back to that one? Ack, this is so awkward I almost didn't post it.

*submit* 

submitted by Shy Peacock, Tree of Life
(April 9, 2018 - 7:54 pm)

@Viola?: That's what I was doing too, but this seemed like a good enough place to mention it.

Kitten: I think it's about Nikolai, not the Darkling. I didn't like the Darkling either. He was just... a walking cliche. I love the Light-and-Darkness cliche (you literally cannot take that too far with me, I love that aesthetic and just literally everything, most of all the cheesy metaphorical quotes), but the love-triangle-with-a-villian cliche just makes me very annoyed. I always wind up mentally yelling at the character, like "No! Stop looking at him! Stop getting distracted. He is the FREAKING ENEMY, YOU MOON-EYED SMITTEN MORON! Agh!" Those things are just a headache to read about for me.

Sorry. Rant over now. 

submitted by Stardust, Ubiquitous
(January 19, 2019 - 6:37 pm)

Isn't Nikolai the Darkling? Or am I mixing people up...? I thought Nikolai was who the Darkling was before he became the Darkling.

Yes, I HATE love triangles with villains! Like, you have this amazing female protagonist and the author is like "wait, this character is too strong," so then they have to fall in love with the villain and ruin themself. This is my pet peeve in YA novels. 

submitted by Kitten
(January 20, 2019 - 5:50 pm)

Hey, Stardust, are we... still doing the RP stuff? And the conversation too, now. 

submitted by Viola?, age Secret, Secret
(January 24, 2019 - 7:16 pm)

Yes, we are, past-me, if future us continues it. This has happened before. Now shoosh. I am scheming, and my machinations require this thread to stay afloat.

Also, I just saw the admins’ post from months ago asking if I join art contests in Cricket. I don’t; I like showing off, but I’m never sure I’ll win, and sometimes I don’t have a good idea, and I want to let other people have a spotlight. I can flaunt it here as much as I like; I know I’m known and often admired for what I draw. It’s less exciting but less stressful. Nice in a different way. I sometimes still take prompts, though, just for myself. 

submitted by Viola?, age Secret, Secret
(February 4, 2019 - 8:45 pm)
submitted by Top!
(February 13, 2019 - 10:10 am)

*shy smile* You can't really go wrong with whipped cream. Er, my favorite berry is raspberries though. *awkward pause* O-oh, and I suppose I prefer meadows. And, uh, trees. Specifically in blossom. Blossoming meadows and trees. Flowers are pretty. *blushes* I-I mean, obviously. And, um, talking to people is nice too. But scary. Good when you do it right. I guess it's like most things then. *another awkward pause* And I like to... *tries to figure out how to articulate* to think of, uh, prose. Like poetic sounding ideas. Metaphors. Even... even songs, sometimes.

Oh... that sounds wonderful. I'm grinning like an idiot right now. A moonlit date of getting to know each other. The stars smile down on them as they shift closer to each other, as they both realize they've made an agreement that needs to be AMENDED. *continues taking comically deep breaths* Oh, and what if they sing each other to sleep. That would be so cute. Hey, we did start this in April. That's cool, that we've been doing this for nearly a year now. 

So I ghosted you again. I'm going to stop making excuses and just say that I'm here now, and I'm sorry I wasn't before. I really do enjoy talking to you, it makes me wish I knew you in real life, so we could have these conversations at double the speed, all the time. It's really great getting to know you here.

She doesn't, but she still gets Bs. I don't really have to worry.

Oh! How were they? I'm very excited to disscuss them with you. In real life I can literally book talk for hours. I'm actually rereading them, because I bought the audiobooks on a whim, after hearing that they were very good. It's not quite as good as the first time, as one could imagine, and Wylan's voice actor vexes me to no end, but I'm still enjoying them quite a bit. Did you like them? I really enjoyed the characterization of all of them, the arcs were amazing. Any thoughts? Who is your favorite character? Mine is Inej, I think, but I love all of them so much. Nice job Jane Eyre. If she was out riding unicorns and slaying demons on her quest for the sun and the moon, I admit I'd be a little worried.

Haha, thank you! It's a pretty chill competition, so I'm not sure if the toughness of the other teams will be directly affected by our victory, but I'm still excited. Wow, my book is good enough to get a film adaptation! Go my author! (That sounded a bit weird. Oh well.)

Woah! Nice school and text wall! I just feel like it would be so much more applicable than what we do at my school. It sounds like you'd get to know your classmates very well and learn to figure out what works for you and how to work with others. It just sounds very cool. Congratulations on ridding yourself of the terrible teacher! I think that if I was in your postition, The Academic track sounds closer to what we do at my boring ol' public school, obviously, but it sounds like you enjoy being a Sudbury student. Do more people take Academic or Sudbury? What kinds of classes are you taking? Oh, yeah, my school has hundreds of students. The reason they built it was because the other middle school in my cluster was overcrowded, with over a thousand students. 30 kids sounds tiny to me, probably equally unfathomable, although to be fair, we probably have a much larger space.

 

The court also sounds really interesting. How well does it work? Does everyone take it seriously (I know not everyone would if we tried that at my school)? The rules-and-punishment system sounds much better also, as opposed to "you're not allowed to do these specific things, which are listed in this handbook no one actually reads, which are vary in enforcement, and the punishment also varies, and your other teachers will tell you not to do other things, and the only punishment for that is a detention" type thing at my aformentioned boring ol' public school.

 

It sounds like you are also learning responsibility, another useful quality that we defenitely are not learning. The clerkships sound cool, although the chores sound like a pain. It's cool that everyone works together to get them done. 

 

No worries. It made sense, apart from being radically different from my school. Do you like it there?

 

It is a lot of work, but now that it's less than a month away, I'm beginning to get excited. I don't even have that much work, compared to some of my more conservative friends, but I'm still hopelessly overwhelmed XD. Oh cool, happy early birthday! People always tell me that I act older than I am, but I think I look younger (I'm very short), so I guess we're kind of inverse. :) That's kind of cool. I like pendants too, but we're not allowed to wear jewelry in PE, and I take too long to get from class to class anyway, so I don't wear them very much. I feel obligated to describe my age and looks now, so I'm 13 now, but you already know that I think (my birthday was coincidentally the same day as the reunion, which is why I wasn't there). I'm short, and I used to have long black hair that I kept in a braid like I described on my sheet, but I recently cut it all off to donate to kids with cancer, so now it's just above shoulder legnth. I also have long nails, which I like to paint. I usually also wear jeans (I particularly enjoy embroidered jeans) and T-shirts. I like pinks, some neautral colors, and cool colors, I guess. I have my ears pierced and I don't wear glasses. And like I said, I'm tiny.

 

I suppose. You'd still have to spend a lot of time on it though. Oh, I heard about Wicca! I confess, I've always liked the idea of magic, because it allows characters to be good in a fight without being particularly athletic, or even very smart. If I were in a fantasy novel, I'd probably be a magic user. I like that idea. I guess they're both terms we use for awesome acts of power we don't understand.

 

So about that Discord help.... 

 

I swear I posted a response not too long ago, but I guess it either didn't take or I merely forgot. 

 

Maybe Mexi has become an AE. I AE'd. If AE is a verb....

 

I'm not sure, but I think I was just responding to something you had said in your last comment that was located around there. 

submitted by Stardust, Ubiquitous
(February 18, 2019 - 1:05 pm)
submitted by Topdust
(February 18, 2019 - 1:06 pm)

Laylanie says rpyt. RIP Youtube? I sure hope not!

submitted by Topdust
(February 23, 2019 - 6:52 pm)
submitted by Topdust again again
(February 24, 2019 - 1:47 pm)
submitted by EVEN MORE TOPPING!
(March 1, 2019 - 5:41 pm)

Noooooooooooooooooooooooooooo I had it almost finished and then my iPad deleted everything! Agh. Whatever. I’m going to bed.

submitted by Viola?, age Secret , Secret
(March 2, 2019 - 12:11 am)

Oh! That sounds incredible. I don’t think I could do anything like that. E-except sometimes it h-happens anyway? Sometimes I-I’ll be speaking to someone and I won’t know what to say, but I—a—it feels like I’m looking up? And seeing something... like the outer reaches of the universe have pulled themselves near and a strand, or strands, of them are coming down and spilling out at the ends, feeding into what they say, t-the person. And I say what the bigger... source... is. And it comes out in rhyme. I-if you understand my meaning. *blushes* I-it sounds rather sillier spoken aloud. 

Oh my Claaws yes. That’s so cute. Yes. Yes, yes, yes. So much yes.

It’s okay! I’ve done the same. I love talking to you, too. I usually have faith that you’ll be back, I just wasn’t as sure this time because of the... unusual... ness.

Oh, that’s good.

I’ve actually only finished Six of Crows so far, but it was great. I thought Matthias was a little flat, just full of stereotypes, but his dynamic with Nina was awesome. Nina herself, she was sort of like a slow burn of utter shamelessness. It wasn’t striking exactly, but it’s sure sticking with me. Wylan might’ve been slightly shallower than I initially thought, what with the reading disgrace thing, but it was cool how he kept surprising people/me with all the skills I’s forgotten or never imagined he had because they’re so unlike the others’ (and because he keeps getting called useless). I’m excited to see how he’s going to grow. Inej is cool—I think she seems more capable than she feels, and she’s insanely capable—but Jesper might be my favorite. Even though he kinda only has one skill besides his power, I love the little hints and tastes of his past and how he wants to get into trouble and how he’s kind of jaded but still manages to hold onto some niceness and his relationship with Wylan, which I ship the hardest of any ship in the book. Gah. Too cute! It’s a little sad to me that he was decieved twice, and with the identity of a companion, no less. That can’t be great for his trust. And my main question about him and Kaz has to do with trust. Wonder if there’ll ever be a moment where Jesper decides to disobey Kaz... I hope Inej isn’t going to act totally helpless in her captivity. She could totally try to stealth her way out, although the removal of her calluses might well impede such a venture. As for Kaz, I don’t really like him that much, but I respect how smart and quick-thinking he is, and I think he’s well-written. The plot twist at the end was so tragic. And I love the stuff about his hands. And when he nearly ruins his own plan because of Pekka, oh my gosh. What’s annoying about Wylan’s voice actor? I got the physical books...

You’re welcome!

Thanks! Yes, we do get to know each other pretty well. I’m not sure if more people are Academic or Sudbury overall, but I think in my age group it’s about evenly split. This year I ended up taking a lot of traditional courses—Math, History, Literature, Science—just because I thought they looked interesting. I’m also in Japanese, a couple of English electives and as much art as I could possibly get, which is still disappointingly little—only three periods a week. I’m also in something called Real World Math, which I’m planning to drop soon because it’s turning out not to be useful or interesting enough to be worth it, and I started out the year in Music and Psychology but got bored and/or frustrated in both and dropped them. I have a free period almost every day, too, which I usually spend doing homework or art. Or eating. XD And yes, your school probably does have a much larger space. 

Judicial Court works very well, actually. Yes, almost everyone takes it seriously, especially new people. I always forget that they don’t know it’s not a chamber of torture and death. Despite the jokes about “off with their heads” and such, it’s really not about punishment at all. It is still very much not fun, though. I’ve largely succeeded in keeping out of it so far this hear. The fact that the committee is four-fifths students helps with the gravity, as does the feeling of shame over both having broken a rule and being called out on it. Occasionally there will be someone who just refuses to come to the meetings and/or to do their consequences, and when that happens, they simply keep getting written up until they either cooperate or get suspended. If they can’t follow the rules, they can’t come back. Fortunately, that’s uncommon, if not unheard of.

Ha, I still feel pretty irresponsible. Wonder if less support leads to greater responsibility... Chores are indeed a pain. It’s good to know how to do them, of course, and one adjusts somewhat after a while, but it doesn’t stop us griping now and then. There is a sort of solidarity in that. Plus, most of us have a preferred chore, and luckily, most of them are different. I am one of few who is not alone in their first choices. I’m also probably one of the more reluctant ones about doing chores, but it gives me something legitimate to be proud of... hm. 

Yeah, I do. Nowhere else am I quite the same. I was getting pretty miserable before I started going, too. I recently started to wonder what it was like before then. I’ve been there a long time, going on five years, but one of the students graduating this spring has been coming since kindergarten. I know a lot of people have come and gone in the time between. The school has changed locations more than once, too. It’s funny, I always think of the building first, and then the people, but the essence of it is in the way it works. 

Wow... That is kind of cool. Oh! I don’t want to have pressured you, sorry. To be perfectly honest, though, you sound adorable. I’m always fascinated by people who are significantly larger or smaller than me. Happy late birthday! Speaking of which, your present might be late, too. I wasn’t sure when to give it to you, and then I underestimated how long it takes to... well, you’ll see. :3 

Aww, that’s nice of you. I’ve thought about doing it myself, but I haven’t cut my hair in years, and it’s gotten sort of... ragged. Uneven? And full of split ends. I love it anyway, but I’m not sure anyone else would want it. I never paint my nails. I don’t know why. When the lighting is right, they can look like they’re glowing, but that’s not it... I think it was that I hate it when nail polish starts to chip, and I like being able to see through my nails to some degree. And yet I still entertain the notion of going to a nail salon and telling them to surprise me... or you could paint them, if you wanted, and if we met irl! Aw man, I remember back at my old school, where the girls were always braiding each others’ hair. That was fun. I think one of the main... I guess cultural differences between boys and girls is that boys are usually never taught how to braid. My twin doesn’t know how, and I can’t imagine that any other boy I know would. It probably varies among enbys...

You’re probably right. Technology, too, but yeah, magic is awesome. I don’t know what class I would be in a fantasy setting, but I’d love to be an elf or a half-elf. I want to live for centuries and see in the dark and meditate for four hours a day instead of sleeping. 

Yes? Is there anything in particular you need help with?

Heh, maybe.  

That’s odd... 

HA HA! I HAVE BEATEN YOU, ERRORS! OR TREACHEROUS PROGRAMMING! I REIGN VICTORIOUS! (While rewriting this the second time, I copied and pasted everything into a Notes thingy as I went. Then when my iPad deleted it all again I copied and pasted the note into a Google search bar to fix the formatting, and when I copied and pasted THAT back into here, it worked perfectly! Apart from that the italics were gone and it was all a single paragraph. Still glorious.)

submitted by Viola?, age Secret, Secret
(March 2, 2019 - 5:00 pm)
submitted by Top!
(April 10, 2019 - 7:09 am)
submitted by Top!
(April 10, 2019 - 3:09 pm)
submitted by Top!
(May 29, 2019 - 5:59 pm)