deercountry | Welcome to the Satellite of Love!

It was, and the addition of vanilla extract and sugar with crushed ice made it heavenly!

The name seemed to almost give the drink a sort of ambrosia kind of feel to it!

"You know, maybe when you get the urge, you might want to write about something different. Think about it: you're here, and you've already seen so much go on, right? Why not take some of those situations and infuse them with some of the types of situations that we have to deal with here?"

Oh, that was for sure, and if there was someone who was notoriously bad at staying out of trouble, it was Luz.

To Luz it was just another activity involving petting kitties! Just...vampiric ones that took some of your blood!

"Oh yeah. You can totally trust me on that."

Luz sighed. "Well, assuming that if we go back, would even be at the same time? We still don't know what happens when we, uh, 'rejoin the flock in the ocean' and what not."

It would seem like a Dreamsicle to Lexi. She'd always loved those. And the name only made it even more appealing.

"Maybe? I've got a setting for horror the likes of which Stephen King can only dream about. A cast of characters who are all interesting, traumatized, or both. There are lots of people here who could be the main characters all by themselves and this whole thing is out of Lovecraft, except deleting the awful racism."

Lexi tended to be cautious by nature, which was why she seemed to make it out of most things relatively intact?

And who didn't love petting kitties? Petting kitties was the closest thing to Heaven on...well, Trench.

"I know. It's...there are too many variables. I'd try to calculate them all out, but it would probably be some crazy 'Good Will Hunting' math problem covering walls," she said in an attempt at a joke.

Luz had heard people compare it to an Orange Julius once, which she thought was ridiculous (and who the heck was this "Julius" and what made him Orange)? The name was one of the best parts!

"Oh sure, and if you were to write something like that, I'd be the first person in line to read it! Also, thanks for saying that, I hear way too many nerds try to talk about Lovecraft without mentioning the racist stuff, as if that part was ok to look over."

It certainly wasn't for Luz: if anything, it was a monster that ruined the art of otherwise talented people. The moment you took a person and made them an "other," you were forgetting anything that would make your book appeal to the disenchanted.

Luz was sure that the only way you could get her to stop petting kitties was to have her dead. It would be the only way.

"Better not to think about it! If it ever happens, we'll be confident in knowing we'll be better people and do our best to outvote the crazy in our communities."

Lexi wouldn't know, they didn't have one of those in the mall she typically went to. (the name's vaguely familiar, but for the life of her she couldn't remember why). And the name was awesome.

"I know, right? I mean, there's 'product of their time' and there's...that. Which was crazy racist even for then. The concepts were good, the writing was so-so, and the racism makes me want to travel back in time to smack him upside the head a time or twenty."

It still seemed like that was the case, given authors like Orson Scott Card's assholishness about LGBTQ people. The shitty thing was, she'd liked Ender's Game, but couldn't enjoy it again after hearing about how incredibly homophobic he was. (gay marriage as a reason for another civil war? seriously? seriously?) She'd since sold all of his books which she'd had at a yard sale.

Lexi would come back from the dead just so she could pet cats.

"I sure hope so. Crossed fingers and knocking on wood!"

There were, out of where she immediately lived, but Luz had no real drive to go seek one out. Her mom made the drink just fine.

"From what I hear, he was already a weird guy anyway, but throw some racism into the mix and you have basically a nineteen hundreds version of Edgar Allan Poe, but with racism."

Not that Edgar Allan didn't have his own problematic issues. Still, Luz was inclined to agree with Lexi in general about authors who seemed to be cool and then wound up being much less cooler than their actual works, which made Luz give up any that infringed on limiting anyone's freedom.

Luz agreed with that sentiment!

"Yeah! Assuming we ever leave here!"

Luz knew there was the whole "squid" thing to think about.

It must have been really cool. To have a mom you could rely on to be a mom like that. Suze made the occasional effort, but most of them were directed to Cassie, to dresses and tops which would highlight her cleavage. Which made Lexi feel like shit all over again because she was a 34-B if she stuffed her bra with kleenex. Did big boobs equal worth?

"Yeah, you're not lying. At least Poe--no, he was problematic in his own way, too, didn't he marry his teenage cousin? Or at least want to? But at the same time, if all 'problematic' authors are erased, what are we gonna be left with? Maybe sometimes we need to engage with what makes an author a filmmaker a whatever while keeping the fact that they have feet of clay in mind, anyway. It's probably not healthy to devote so much time to a single creator in like. An idolizing way, anyway."

"We're going to leave here. Eventually. In our own sweet time. And...I'd like to end up where you are. Instead of where I was. If. That's okay?"

She hated thinking about the squid thing. As far as Lexi was concerned, it was a non-starter.

Ooh, don't mention that to Luz, who would have been positively seething at the idea that Lexi would feel a little less engageable because of her body. Luz would have found that so intolerable she would have been foaming at the mouth about how Lexi was so much more than how people looked her own body.

"He absolutely did, and that is just not cool in so many ways, even if his own life got pretty tragic in other ways. You have a point though: authors are shaped a bit by the world they live in, and in the end, they're all just people. Some of them though? I know enough not to fund them being awful people. If they're dead and gone, that could work. But you have a point there: you should be able to like a work, or body of work without putting the author on a pedestal. In the end, they're just people."

Luz winced, wondering how true that would be, and put her hands in Lexi's.

"I have no idea what would happen if we went back: if we'd even go back the same age, and last I checked, I was stranded in a magical demon world. I kind of wonder how that would go with the both of us."

In other words, Luz wouldn't stress if there was an after: what they had now, without complications (to an extent)? She cherished and was grateful for.

She knew she was being dumb, equating her worth to whether or not she was attractive, but it was hard not to when she was constantly in Cassie's shadow. The worst part was, she didn't feel like she could or should say anything because at home, everyone overlooked her in favor of Cassie and here, because she was afraid she'd sound like she was whining.

"Yeah. It's easier to be a little more lenient when it comes to authors who are already dead, depending on whom was earning money from their great-great however many grandchildren were. Or if a book was already public use because the copywrite expired. But, yeah. They're people, formed by their times. It's probably not a good idea to put anyone on a pedestal because that's a great way to be disappointed when they don't live up to what we would like for them to."

Lexi gave Luz's hands a squeeze and tried to look confident.

"Well, if I survived East Highland, I can survive a magical demon world. No problem." Also including Trench in the equation.

Luz was more than cherished, she was loved. It was still hard to actually say love since most of those she'd loved had disappointed her in the end, but she didn't want Luz to be one of them. She didn't think she would be? She trusted Luz more than anyone else.

Luz would have gladly told her she was free to whine in her presence. If Lexi needed assurance that she was beautiful, Luz was more than happy to oblige her anytime. As far she was concerned, NO ONE could tell her that Lexi wasn't gorgeous.

"Exactly! Besides, anyone can write a great body of work and still be a pretty awful person once you get down to it. Better to try and do your own thing, and if you can separate the author from the work, to do that. Authors are like celebrities that way: you want them to be good people, but its fifty-fifty that they actually are."

And frankly, celebrities might as well be a thing of the past for Luz.

"I mean, you say that NOW. Just reserve your judgement until, well, we get one of the really bad months. I think we've been kind of lucky so far."

Luz knew better than to stay hopeful TOO much. Honestly, Lexi is both reasons to not be too trustful yet also why Luz was feeling happily optimistic again. No one had made her feel like Lexi had, and she didn't want that feeling to end anytime soon.

It's all those years of repressing and grinning and bearing it working against Lexi. She doesn't want to make people worry about her. And...she was trying to see herself through Luz's eyes. She had pretty brown hair which went wavy if she didn't use a flatiron. Her eyes were milk chocolate colored. It was a start?

"You're giving celebrities way better odds than I would. The Kardashians alone would have to be on the lower end of the sliding scale of morality and 'not an asshole.' Actually, add almost every reality TV star to that. Except Guy Fieri, he seems like a genuinely cheerful guy."

Might be a part of the past for both of them, since she was determined to stay here as long as Luz was.

And Lexi groaned. "That's it. You've jinxed me. Next month is gonna suuuuuuuck."

If she had anything to say about it, it would never change. She knew the odds were against them, but she was determined to try her hardest to keep things together.

She had really pretty hair, all right, and beautiful eyes, to say nothing about her smile or the ways she quirked her eyebrows and how smartly she dressed! Honestly, Luz could go on about this, but she didn't want to embarrass Lexi too much, even though she'd freely tell her this if Lexi needed a pick me up!

"I'd like to think that not every celebrity is a horrible person, even the ones that are famous for, uh, dubious reasons. And you're right, Guy Fieri does seem nice! Mom's even used some of his recipes!"

Likewise, Luz was pretty sure that she didn't want to leave Lexi's side!

"Hey! Hey. As long as you're here, it won't be that bad! Besides, we still have a store (that's going to do great)! to look after!"

No matter what happened, she was going to make sure she didn't somehow mess up this great thing she had!

She'd try to avoid fishing for compliments in regards to her looks. She didn't feel like it was right or fair to do something like that. She was getting better at seeing her own looks, but it was still a long process, breaking herself of the habit of seeing Cassie as the pinnacle of beauty and one she could never compete with.

"Yeah, he's like. So enthusiastic about all of the places he goes to. Though, I can't watch him on an empty stomach, I wind up raiding the fridge because of him. Though, I've used some of his recipes, too, at least the Italian ones."

Good. Then it was settled.

"And as long as you're here, I'll be happy. And, we do! (it's so cool, I love every bit of it)"

Luz was pretty sure it was unlikely that Cassie would be here, but even if that were the case, Luz didn't see how she or anyone else could compare with Lexi. That was something she knew was going to be an ongoing process though, since she knew that Lexi had hang ups in the way she did, and she didn't give up her own ghosts so easily.

"I think that's kind of the point! You want to keep watching and eating, and he wants to expose you to something new at the same time! Honestly, it works! I'm pretty motivated to try something new when it comes to our house!"

Which really depended on if Reaper wanted to cook or not.

"I feel the same way! Actually, I'm going to go back downstairs to put a few more finishing touches to the kids area, ok?"

As the months passed and she was the only one from her world here, the more she thought that yeah. She really might be the only one from her world to ever come here. It was...kind of a weird release, once she began to come to terms with it. That she really could define herself on her own terms. Which was a weird, but cool feeling.

"Probably! Now that I can actually cook for myself, I might try some of the more interesting recipes. Ones with real spice to it, I like spicy food, but well..." She trailed off, figuring the lack of names was good enough to name those who didn't.

Reaper still scared the unholy hell out of her.

"All right, that's fine," and she leans in for a quick kiss. "I'll check the upstairs to see if anyone's interested in the comics or manga."

Luz was just glad that she'd have the chance to start fresh, that there wouldn't be anyone she needed to compare herself with. She liked Lexi just the way she was and wanted anyone who met her to judge her on her own personality, not what someone said or who she was related to.

Granted, Luz was kind of pushing her friends to meet Lexi too, if only because she wanted people to see how great she was.

"Oh, if it's spice you want, don't worry! I can come up with several recipes, and really give you a run for your money!"

Luz wouldn't go crazy of course. Not until she had a better grasp on what Lexi preferred. Personally, Luz was more of a sweets girl herself.

That was exactly how Reaper wanted it too, and Luz knew that quite well.

"You know there will be!" Luz brushes her hand over Lexi's cheek, looking at her tenderly. "See you soon, my love."

Welcome to the Satellite of Love!

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I SO relate to Lexi here about OSC. I loved Enders Game.

but Woody Allen and Roman Polanski can still go to Hell

They can, though I'll admit I actually like Polanski's films more...he is still awful.

the only Polanski film I like is "Rosemary's Baby" and I STILL have to tell myself that he's a POS

He also did a good yet fucked up version of Macbeth too. Very screwed up.

...hmm. I do like fucked up Shakespeare.

Prepare yourself for naked ladies and a war scene with rape...I watched this in 12th grade:/

eeek! eeek! /crosses their fingers that their boss doesn't see this

Yeah, Polanski didn't hold back there. Woof.

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