The day passed by without any further incident - A couple of glances in the hallways here and there, but nothing like what Skara had expected throughout the day. Nothing that she could even be certain was related to her breakup with Ves. For all she knew, they just noticed how much of an exhausted mess she looked.
None of her classes were able to fully capture her attention. Half the time she would stare off into space, and the other half staring blankly at her stationary, trying to summon the effort to write something down, or do the basic arithmetic in her head, or at least try to focus on what her teachers were saying.
Her mind was too full of jumbled thoughts to do that though, even worse than it had been that morning. The lack of sleep also piled on, making it even harder to focus. And with all of that merging into one big blob of thoughts and feelings and just... Things weighing on her mind, time felt like it had slowed down to a crawl, and she spent the entire day just waiting for classes to end so she could go home and pass out.
When the final bell of the day eventually arrived with it's normal scream, it took Skara a second to actually realize it had gone off, only noticing that it was time to go as her classmates started to pack their things up to go home. A sigh escaped her.
"Thank the Titan." She muttered, dragging all her belongings into her bag in an unkempt and undignified manner, slinging it over her shoulder, and quickly making her way out the door and into the corridors. The sooner she was away from Hexside, the better.
She made her way around the groups that formed in the hallways as people met with their friends, stepping in between and around anyone who got in front of her, and turning corners as sharply as she could. Somehow, she could feel that at least a few people were giving her funny looks, but she wasn't in anything even approximating a good enough mental state to care. She just wanted to sleep at this point.
As she turned another corner sharply, Skara caught a brief flash of colours in the shape of a witch. On instinct, she and the other person both skidded to a halt.
"Hey, watch it!" The other person snapped - Skara recognized the voice before she had even looked up to see their face - Boscha. When they registered one another, Boscha's face relaxed from one of anger, to a scowl or mild annoyance. "Oh, there you are."
"Oh - Hey. Sorry, I -"
"There you are, Skara! We were just about to start looking for you!"
Behind the Potions Witch, Amelia - Who's voice the Bard had heard - and Cat were in tandem, and all three of them were wearing their Grudgby uniforms. Skara blinked a couple of times, and then she realized that after everything that had happened the last few days, she had completely forgotten - Today was supposed to be Grudgby practice.
Possibly the absolute last thing that she wanted to be doing right now.
"Where's your gear?" Boscha asked, flatly. Her eyes narrowed as she glanced at Skara's school uniform, like it was suspicious that she hadn't already changed.
"I er..." Skara floundered for a moment, and for a brief second she felt like she needed to come up with an excuse. She settled down after about half a second though, and realized that she didn't need to lie about anything. "I... Honestly I'm... Not feeling too great. I was gonna just go home and sleep."
Boscha's left eyebrow raised. Behind her, Cat just shrugged. "I told you she probably wasn't gonna be up for it today."
The Potions Witch turned around and gave Bo a look that Skara couldn't see, but knew perfectly well. Bo seemed to shrink, and turned away from the team captain. Turning back to Skara, Boscha raised her eyebrow again, like she was inspecting the other girl a second time, before letting out the smallest of sighs.
"...Fine." She said, with a shrug. "You don't look like you'd be a great player today, anyway. We'll see you tomorrow."
With that, Boscha just walked around Skara, and that was that. Amelia and Cat followed, though they both looked to Skara as they passed. Amelia offered a sympathetic look, though didn't say anything, but Cat offered her a small smile as she passed. "Hope you feel better soon."
And after that, she followed Boscha and Amelia, and Skara found herself alone again.
A sigh escaped her, and she ran a hand down the side of her face. She just considered herself lucky that Boscha hadn't been angry at her. The last thing that she needed right now was that. Well, that and Grudgby. She didn't even like Grudgby. Not really. Not enough to do practice like Boscha did, anyway. But it was one of those for-friend things that you were supposed to do, so she went along with it.
Maybe that's how it works with you and Boscha... But that isn't how it works with me or my friends. And... Maybe that shouldn't be how it should work at all.
"Shut up." Skara shook her head, and hissed at the familiar, internal voice.
Noticing a nearby group of students looking at her with confused expressions, Skara quickly decided that she needed to be... Basically anywhere other than here. She kept her head low, and carried back on the route that she had been walking down, towards the exit of the school and towards home.
Everything else on her mind, all the other problems that were surrounding her, and the emotional and mental state that she was in, she really did not want to add... Whatever it was that Willow had been implying onto her list of things that she needed to deal with. Just... No.
There was already so much on her mind. She didn't want to have to add something else to the pile. She didn't even know what it would mean to add this onto the pile.
She didn't even know what it meant to begin with.
The way that Boscha and her interacted - That was just how friendships worked. How her and Boscha's friendship worked. That was just how things were. The way that the social hierarchy worked. That was just how Hexside worked. Skara hadn't ever questioned that. It was just how it worked. What was there to question?
What was there to think about?
Passing down the final corridor, the Bard Witch made a beeline straight for the doors. The moment that she got outside, she felt like a weight had been lifted right off of her chest.
Her shoulders relaxed, her head tilted back, eyes fell shut, and she allowed herself a long sigh. Hexside had felt both too cramped, and too large at the same time. Getting out of the building now felt like getting out of a prison cell - It felt good to be outside again. Her mind allowed itself to empty too. For just one brief moment, everything left her mind and she was able to allow herself to feel just a bit relaxed.
It only lasted for a second though - No sooner had the weight left her chest had she heard the sound of a recognisable laugh down at the foot of the steps. Her head craned itself back forward, and looked down to see that, yes, she had been right - It was Willow and her group again, minus Amity.
Once again, the weight returned to Skara's chest.
Just... No.
Pulling the hood of her cowl up over her head, and keeping her focus squarely on the ground beneath her, Skara made her way down the stairs. She didn't want to deal with another run-in with Willow - She had had enough of those over the last two days as it was. She just wanted to go home, and the only way home was past that group. All she could hope for was to get past unnoticed.
"...So, yeah, I'm not allowed to try summoning a phoenix for a couple of weeks. Or they might try and peck my eyes out. And also try to eat me. Again."
"I swear, you get yourself into situations like that every few days."
"Hey, at least this time it wasn't my fault - No one told me that phoenixes didn't like light spells!"
"It's a phoenix - It's in the name!"
"...I - I feel like we have very different definitions of what a phoenix is?"
There was another round of laughter that came from Gus and Willow, and after just a couple of seconds, the Human joined them.
For a moment, Skara let her head turn to glance at the three of them out of the corner of her eye. It bothered her... More than she was willing to admit right now. She believed what Willow had said earlier - At least, about not having told anyone about their encounter the other day. The part of her brain that told her that Willow had to have been lying, or was just waiting to do it later so she could feign ignorance, or some other thing that Skara couldn't fathom wanted to yell at her for believing Willow. But the rest of her mind just... Wouldn't let that part of her talk over it. She didn't believe it. She was beyond certain, more than anything else right now, that Willow had been honest back then.
And she just didn't understand why.
For a moment, she just watched the group of them interact. She couldn't hear much, but from what she could, they told stories about how their day had gone, jokes, that kind of thing. It wasn't too dissimilar to how her own friend group operated, at least from a distance. And a part of Skara wanted to feel angry, believe that she was having some sort of elaborate prank being pulled on her or... or something. Something that would make more sense. But she couldn't bring herself to believe it.
Watching them though, the dynamic that they had wasn't at all like the ones that existed within her own friend group. From what she could tell, they didn't really have a leader, like her friend group did. They didn't treat one another all that similarly to her group either. It was just... Different. Lighter somehow. Some other people looked at them as they passed by. A few people gave them raised eyebrows, but none of them seemed to care.
It reminded Skara of the books she read when she was growing up. The books she read to this day.
There was a split-second where Skara noticed something change, and based purely on reflexes, her eyes darted towards the Plant witch.
Willow was looking directly back at her. It couldn't have been for longer than that split-second, if even that, but she had noticed the Bard watching them.
Instantly, Skara turned on her heels and made her way down the path, away from the school, away from Willow, and with any luck, away from all the intrusive thoughts that had wormed their way into her head just now. She needed to sleep. To get her head back on straight. She needed to be away from people.
Behind her though, she could practically feel Willow's eyes still on her.
She shook her head, and picked up the pace.
"I mean... It is right there in the name."
"Gus said the same thing - "
"- And I was right!"
"- But like, how? I don't get how you get 'Will attempt to eat you if you show them bright lights' from 'Phoenix'!"
"You said Humans had myths about them back on Earth, right?" Amity questioned. Luz nodded her head, to which Amity's face scrunched up slightly as she thought about it for a moment. "Maybe they just ended up having different etymological origins?"
"Er... Etymo-what now?" Luz blinked. She looked towards Gus, who gave her a shrug, apparently equally as confused as the Human was.
"Etymology." Amity repeated. Luz and Gus just blinked again, still clueless. "The origin of words? I'm saying maybe the origin of the word phoenix is different in your world than it is to ours."
"Oooooh..."
There were only a few paths that led to Hexside, and by extension, that meant that there were only a few paths that led away from Hexside as well. Just about all of them ended up in Bonesborough, and when it was time for classes to end, all of Willow's friends would take the same path, even though for most of them, it was a fairly roundabout path back home - But they all got to hang out, so none of them minded at all.
For Willow, these were always the best moments of the day. Where she engaged with the friends who mean the most to her in the world. Whether it be hearing Luz explain the most simple of magical feats as if they were the most exciting game of Grudgby ever, to hearing Gus ramble about his latest bizarre and often immediately debunked claim about human, Willow could always come up with a fun observation or piece of extra information or, in her best moments, even a snappy zinger. Even despite their awkward past, Willow could even talk to Amity more as if they were, if not best friends, at least starting to get closer to a friendship they had shared before during these walks.
Most days, Willow was happy to talk with her friends and walk with them down the wrong paths, just so she could spend a few more precious hours of her fleeting youth with people she cared about..
But this was not one of those days.
"So, where does the word 'phoenix' come from on the Isles, then?" Luz questioned. Willow's eyes glanced towards her group again to observe, but she stayed quiet herself.
"It's an old word." Amity explained. "Long before the Emperor arrived, but based on what little we know, it came from a word meaning 'Light Eater'."
"Wow that is a... Very direct translation." Luz said, extremely flatly. She pondered it for a moment, before nodding her head slightly. "Y'know what, I think that's the most likely explanation then."
"Is... Anyone gonna ask why Amity just like, knows that off the top of her head?" Gus asked, his eyes jumping between the Human and the green-haired Witch.
"Hey, Amity's like, super smart!" Luz answered like it was the most obvious thing in the world, and without even the slightest hint of reservation. "I bet she knows everything about eatomal... atomal... eginal - However you say that word!"
Despite Luz's inability to properly speak, the sudden compliment made Amity's face flush, and she looked away in an effort to hide it from the Human girl. Willow allowed herself to smirk at the interaction - It wouldn't ever stop amusing her the way that Amity reacted to Luz being, well, Luz. And how someone with eyes as wide as her's didn't see Amity's crush was truly beyond Willow.
Plus, it was extremely cute.
After just a few seconds though, the smirk on Willow's face faded, and she found herself being pulled back into her thoughts. She kept thinking back to earlier, just in front of the school.
That had been Skara she'd seen watching them, right?
While it had only been for just an extremely brief moment - Not even a second, really - Willow was certain that it had been Skara's face under that hood, watching them, before they quickly turned away. Their uniform was also adorned with the darkish red signifiers of the Bard Coven, so it felt like that narrowed it down even further. And for some reason, Willow wasn't entirely sure how to feel about that.
The last couple of days had been... Bizarre, to put it lightly. Of all the people that Willow had expected to have had... These sorts of interactions, whatever they were, Skara had been one of the last. Maybe, she supposed, if the worst came to it, Amity, if it turned out Luz didn't reciprocate her feelings, or maybe Luz if she fell for someone else and the exact same thing happened. But... Skara?
It was hard to explain, even to herself, even just in her own head. Their interactions had been sparse and minor - just a couple of five, at most ten minute talks in the last two days - but Willow found that she was bothered by them. And it had nothing to do with the fact that she and Skara had a bad history.
No, it was more how Skara had reacted. What Skara had said.
That... That's just how it works. Hexside! School! This whole... Thing!
To Willow, the idea of telling people about Skara's breakup to be popular just seemed cruel. But to Skara, it seemed normal, almost necessary, as important an act to survive as breathing, that when someone else didn't do it, it completely threw her off. And yet, when even just slightly pressed, Skara had struggled to explain it to her, like she didn't even properly know herself. Willow had never seen this side of the silver haired Bard before. Even when she was bullying Willow, she never seemed to act like... that.
Then again, Willow had always tried not to think about, or pay too much attention to Skara anyway, so maybe she just hadn't noticed any of this when it happened. But she had noticed it now.
And it was sticking with her. And seeing Skara watching them had only just made it more pronounced.
"Willow?"
Blinking out of her thoughts, Willow looked away from the ground, and up towards the rest of her group. Gus and Luz were still talking between themselves - It had actually just been Amity who had tried to get Willow's attention. "Oh - Amity? I - Sorry - What's wrong?"
"Are you okay?" Amity questioned, an eyebrow raised. "You looked... Really interested in the ground for a while there."
Letting herself laugh just a little, Willow then scratched at the back of her neck. "I'm fine. Sorry, I just... I had something on my mind, that's all."
"Do you want to talk about it?"
For a moment, Willow really did think about it, before she let out a sigh. "...Kind of? But... I don't know if it'd be right for me to. It's not really my... Thing to tell.. Well, it kind of is, but..."
Amity gave her a look that conveyed confusion - Understandably so, Willow supposed. What she had just said wouldn't put anyone's mind to rest. But the whole situation really didn't have much to do with Willow outside the few run-ins that she had had with Skara, and after today, and the way that Skara had acted, she wasn't especially keen on breaking her word now. She sighed though; she couldn't just not say anything to Amity now.
"Have er... have you noticed Skara acting... oddly, over the last few days," she asked. Depending on how much Amity knew, Willow would be able to figure out what she could say, and what she couldn't.
Amity's eyebrow rose even more, and she blinked.. In her expression alone, Willow could already tell that Amity was wondering why in the Titan's Name Willow was even remotely concerned with anything related to Skara.
Still, the Abominations Witch mulled it over for a second. "Noticed, no, but... I remember hearing something about her and her boyfriend in my Abominations Class earlier, but that's about it." She shrugged. "I'm guessing they had a fight, or broke up, or something. Those kinds of rumours don't usually start unless that's one of the reasons. I didn't really pay any attention to it after that."
Amity's head then turned so that she was looking directly down the forest path, a slightly distant look in her expression.
"And I try not to pay any attention to that part of my life anymore." She shrugged, and the distant expression went away. She turned back to face Willow. "Why?"
"It's just... I had a run-in with her -"
"What - When?" Amity immediately stopped walking, straightened her back, and raised her voice slightly, though it sounded unintentional. "What happened?"
"Wait, what 'what happened'?"
Luz and Gus both noticed Amity's sudden voice change. Their conversation immediately came to a halt, as both started paying attention to Willow and Amity's conversation. All four of them now stood in the middle of the forest path together, all looking towards Willow and Amity.
"Willow had a run-in with Skara." Amity quickly told them.
Holding up her hands like it would physically stop the barrage of questions she knew all of them had, Willow quickly rushed to explain herself to them, "It - It wasn't anything like what you're thinking. We didn't fight or anything. I just - "
She stopped herself before she said anything along the lines of 'I found her crying in the hallways'. The breakup was a personal issue for Skara to deal with. Regardless of what their relationship was, Willow wasn't going to do what Skara had been afraid of her doing, and just start telling people.
Quickly, she came up with something else. "I just - I thought she looked really depressed today and... I don't know. We kind of... Literally ran into each other in the hallway and just... She seemed off."
"Did she say something mean to you?" Gus asked.
"No." Willow said. It wasn't even a lie, either. "That was what was weird about it, I guess." Among other things.
Gus and Luz just looked at one another. Eventually, Luz turned towards Willow, scratching at her cheek. "I... Remember hearing from someone in one of my classes that she and her boyfriend broke up. If that's true then that probably had something to do with it, right?"
Willow blinked. There were already rumours about it going around? Really, it shouldn't have surprised her, but it did. Skara had been paranoid for a good reason, apparently - Maybe Ves had told one of his friends, or someone had overheard their conversation, or... Something else happened?
Still, at least it meant that Willow didn't need to pretend that wasn't what had happened anymore. "I er... I heard something similar."
For her part, Amity's expression was... Difficult to read. Her arms folded, and she glanced sideways. "Ves and Skara were tip-toeing around each other for months before Grom. They pretty clearly liked each other. It was hard to get Skara to stop talking about him sometimes."
"If those rumours are true, then I guess that might explain it." Gus said, his hands shovelling into the pockets of his uniform. He didn't sound all that sympathetic - Not that it was unwarranted, Willow reminded herself. He'd been on the receiving end of Boscha's gang too. "Are you okay though? It can't have been fun to have to deal with her again."
"I'm... Fine." Willow assured him. "I guess it was just... On my mind, that's all."
"Hey, if you ever need to talk about it..." Luz made a couple of gestures with her hands where she pointed to Willow, and then to herself - If she ever wanted to talk about it, Luz would be there for her.
It made the Plant Witch give her a small smile. "Thank you, but I'm okay, really."
She wasn't lying, either - It wasn't like the encounter had shaken her up or anything like that. Mostly, she was just surprised by it all, really. And the way that Skara had acted... Well, there was something about it that bothered her. But she didn't want to bring it up with her friends. She knew what their response would be.
Heck, she knew what her response should be, logically.
"If you say so." Luz offered another kind, sympathetic smile. "But, hey, if you ever need it..."
"I'll let you know, Luz, I promise."
That seemed to satisfy Luz. With that, the group began to walk down the path once more. It took a short while, but conversation between them did eventually pick up again. And as it did, this time Willow made a concerted effort to join in at least occasionally, if for no other reason than to let her friends know that she really was okay. But in her head, the interaction with Skara still actively remained, as well as the fact that she had seen the Bard watching them after school had ended.
She wasn't sure how she would begin to explain that to her friends. She didn't even really know how to explain it to herself.
Something about the whole situation, and the way Skara acted just didn't feel right to Willow. Like there was something just... Really wrong with the way that she had behaved. Obviously she was hurt, that went without saying. Willow hadn't ever seen Skara get upset by anything like this before, so she didn't have any kind of reference to work with, but... Something about it just seemed wrong. She couldn't put her finger on it.
Rumours were cruel - Willow had had to grit her teeth and bare a number of them directed towards her throughout her time at Hexside. She remembered a number of them; that she was 'cursed' to look the way she did, that she was a literal half-witch, or whatever worse, nasty thing people could come up with.
It made sense to her that Skara didn't want any spreading - But it was the fact that she expected them to, that she claimed it was the way that things were, and how utterly shocked she seemed by the fact Willow hadn't done that...
...Like she thought it was some sort of force of nature, rather than something people did consciously.
In the back of her head, the part of her that was still angry about everything that had happened between them in the past was telling her to ignore it - That this was a mess of Skara's own making, and that she could stew in it. It wasn't any of Willow's business anyway. That was why she hadn't just blatantly shared it with her friends. It wasn't her story to tell, and it wasn't her issue to get involved in, either.
Being honest, it was hard not to just listen to that part of her brain.
But like Willow had said to Skara after finding her in the hallway, she knew what it was like to be alone.
Maybe that was what was bothering her more than anything. The fact that Skara seemed like she was completely alone. Heck, for all Willow knew, Skara hadn't told any of her friends. It seemed like she had wanted to keep this as quiet as possible. Even though it clearly hurt her.
And Willow... A part of her wanted to just ignore it, but...
For some reason, she couldn't.
Eventually, the group began to split off from one another - Gus left first, claiming that he and his father had some sort of plans for the afternoon. Luz left shortly after as well, after having to duck into a potions store to collect some sort of supply for the Owl Lady. She didn't leave before she gave both Willow and Amity a hug each. Willow let herself smirk at Amity's usual reaction to the gesture.
Once Luz was in the store, and Amity had calmed herself down, she turned to look at Willow. "Shut up."
"I didn't say a word." Willow said, eyes looking away, but her smirk still wide and knowing.
After that, they continued on, in relative silence. Willow's home was in the same direction that Amity had to go from where they were, at least for a short while. After patching things up, at least a bit, their relationship had improved, but it was still finding its footing again. Nothing had been 'fixed' yet - It was a process that they had to work out.
But, it was getting there. Even if there was the occasional roadblock.
Just a couple of minutes after they had split from Luz, Amity finally spoke. "...You said that Skara wasn't acting like herself earlier."
Willow blinked, but nodded. "Yeah."
Amity sat with that for a moment. Her face turned towards the ground, and was scrunched up in thought. It made sense, Willow supposed. Amity had spent years around Skara. It would make sense that knowing that would at least concern her a little bit, even if she at the end of the day, had nothing to do with the Bard anymore.
When Amity didn't speak for a short while, Willow thought that that may be all that Amity had had to say.
"She's not necessarily a bad person." Amity eventually said. "Boscha spends time around people far worse than Skara, but I've never had a huge issue with her. We weren't friends, really. Well, I didn't think that we were, but... She's mostly harmless. She's not like Boscha, at least. If it wasn't for our parents, I don't think that she would have spent any amount of time around me or Boscha at all. But, our parents did their thing and, well, here we are now."
"I'm sorry, Amity, but I don't get it. What's this got to do with anything?"
"Because I know the kind of person you are, Willow." Amity sighed. "You're like Luz. And I know exactly what Luz would be thinking of doing in this situation. And..."
There was a brief pause.
"...We were all horrible to you. We really were." Amity bit down on her lip as she said it. "And... Honestly, sometimes I don't know why you even decided to spend time around me after all that I did to you. You could have told Luz that you were uncomfortable with me and I'm sure she would have respected it."
"She actually wanted to make a big 'Make us friends again' plan."
For a moment, Amity just stared at Willow, before letting out a single laugh. "That... Does sound like her." The usual accent of pink that coloured Amity's cheeks whenever she talked about Luz made themselves known, but quickly faded away. "But - But if you had been firm with her, she would have backed down. Luz is... Insistent, but she knows when she should stop. Usually, anyway."
That much was true, Willow supposed.
"Look, the point I'm making is... Skara might not have been the ringleader like me or Boscha were, but she was still a part of it. I don't know what you're thinking about doing, and I don't know if it needs saying, but you're not under some sort of... Egalitarian obligation to." Amity's shoulders slumped slightly. "You would have been well within your rights to tell me to get lost."
She looked back at Willow.
"And you're within your rights to leave Skara to whatever mess she's in now."
Willow just nodded. She knew all of that - Of course she did. Of course she knew that she didn't have some... Sort of moral obligation in any of this. It did go without saying.
Still, she appreciated Amity saying so anyway.
As that happened, the two of them came to a fork in the road, where their paths diverged from one another. Maybe it was the topic of the conversation, or the fact that they were still trying to figure out where they stood with one another, but there was a brief moment of awkwardness between the two of them before they split up.
"I'll... See you tomorrow." Amity eventually offered.
"Yeah." Willow nodded. "I'll see you tomorrow."
Amity gave her a final look, nodded back, and began to walk down her own path. Once she was out of earshot, Willow allowed herself to exhale. Of course, Amity was right - Willow wasn't under some kind of moral or ethical obligation. Heck, she didn't even like Skara as a person all that much. If she wanted to, she could just ignore it.
She didn't want to, though.
Frankly, she didn't know what she wanted, or was going to do. Or if she was making any sense, or if she was right to be suspicious in the first place. Or maybe she'd just lost it - She just knew that she didn't want to leave this alone - Couldn't leave it alone. She knew what it was like to have no one to turn to, no one in the world willing to understand her. And while Skara DID have some friends, maybe even a few real ones, she clearly didn't feel comfortable talking about her emotions with them.
Willow internally groaned, trying to figure out why this mattered so much to her, why she cared about this. After everything, all these years...
And then she remembered Skara giving her back the water bottle.
Obviously it didn't matter in the long run. It wasn't a remotely sentimental object to Willow. It was a water bottle. It didn't do anything other than hold water, and even if it did more that that, or meant more, it wasn't like Willow had asked for it back. It didn't matter to Willow.
But, for whatever reason, it had mattered to Skara.
And maybe that was why it bothered Willow. It wasn't like she had any other explanation.
If Willow could walk away from this, she would have done so when she found Skara in the hallway.
She hadn't been able to then, and even if it ended up being a minor thing, she couldn't now.
QosmicQuartz - It's been a bit since this story updated and oh boy, I've been looking forward to getting it updated, but here it is! This chapter was a bit difficult cause of some real life stuff, and it took a while because of Uni but here it is and hopefully we can get the ball rolling again soon! Due to some personal stuff, Julia had to remove herself from the story, but gave me her blessing to add a mutual friend, and the person who inspired both of us to actually make this story - So, welcome DesmondKane!
DesmondKane: Hi, I'm DesmondKane. You may remember me from such hit fanfictions as "The Wrong Blight," "Strawberry Blight," and "Of Paintings and Personal Pain," hopefully proving that I A. have the necessary writing talent to help pull off this story with Quartz and B. am capable of doing more then Simpsons quotes. I was an early fan of Skarlow, and as Quartz states, was the person who got Quartz and Julia into the ship originally. It's an honor to be a part of this story, and I look forward to helping spread the Skarlow ship to as many fans as possible.
Oh and also if anyone is interested r/skarlow is a thing. Neither Desmond or I had anything to do with it but that exists if you're interested - Quartz