Summer Snowflakes

Whoo. Just made it.

So I’m sliding in right at the end of the month to do the Beautiful People: Siblings Edition tag. Today on the blog, we have Elliot Sharpe and Mileya Blanchard from my manuscript, Sketchy Moments. Or Low Expectations. not sure yet.

Sort of Chibi Mileya

Um... my own style for Elliot?

Please ignore the fact that their heads are floating. I only have the patience for headshots.

Anyway.

Summary:

After the most humiliating incident of his life, Elliot “Andreas” Sharpe moves to a new foster home. Armed only with a sketchbook, a locket, and three scars down his face, Elliot sees his new fosters as little more than a timely break: he’ll hunker down with them for a couple weeks while he waits for the drama at his former Home to die. Then the new fosters are welcome to send him back to the Anderson, and they can all go about their merry way.

But then life, and a little girl named Mileya, conspire to convince him that even the lowest of expectations can’t protect you from reality.

As explained in the summary, they’re a lot different than most siblings because Mileya is Elliot’s foster sister, the daughter of his foster parents. But when I saw this tag, I knew it would be perfect for them and, besides that, so much fun to do. So here it is!

1. What is the first memory they have of each other?

Well, since they’re foster siblings, their first memory is their first meeting: when Elliot was fourteen and Mileya was six, her parents decided to foster Elliot. He’d actually known her parents for a few weeks, but he and Mileya met at the Anderson Home for Adolescents, where Elliot had lived for the past two years, just before the Blanchards took him home for the first time.

2. Describe their relationship in 3 words.

I decided to have them each use one word, and then describe their relationship from my point of view. So...

Mileya would describe it as “fun” because she’s six, everything good is fun, and Elliot, to her, is good. She loved Elliot from the minute she laid eyes on him and decided that, for as long as he stayed with her family, he would be her big brother. Big brother, in her mind, equaled spending lots of time together and having fun.
Elliot would probably say “temporary.” Like Mileya, he understands that they might not be together forever, but the difference is that’s the only thing he sees. To him, she’s a sweet kid and all, but the relationship won’t last long enough to be given a true name. So it’s just “temporary.”
As a whole, I’d say their relationship is “bittersweet.” Because, even as young as Mileya is, they both understand the implications of being a foster kid. However, she’s willing to make the best of it, and Elliot’s not. E sees the bitter; M sees the sweet.

3. What kind of things do they like to do together?

In the beginning, Elliot would prefer to not do much with her at all. But Mileya does convince him to play dolls a few times. He doesn’t enjoy that, though, so it might not count...

Oh, they both like art! And Mileya adores Elliot’s drawings. She secretly wants to draw just like him someday.

4. What was their biggest fight?

They’ve actually never fought, but only because Elliot tends to bend to her desires; he doesn’t want to rock the boat and thus have her parents get rid of him sooner than he’s ready to return.

5. How far would they go to save each other?

Mileya’s little, so it would be hard for her to wrap her mind around that concept. Since Elliot’s out of foster care right now and living with her family, I don’t think she could actually understand that he would need saving from anything.

Elliot though, once he decides to care about someone, has a remarkable, almost sacrificial loyalty. So he would give up almost anything to save Mileya: his locket, his drawings, he’d even go back to foster care to save her. I think the only thing he might balk at would be his life. Then again, he doesn’t actually value that that much, so he might just be like “Here, take it!”

6. What are their pet peeves about each other?

Mileya wishes Elliot wouldn’t hide from her so much, and that he’d play with her more. That he would love being with her the same way she loves being with him.

Elliot wishes Mileya wouldn’t bother him so much; he likes her and all, but eventually, he needs time to recuperate from her bouncy personality.

7. What are their favorite things about each other?

Elliot loves Mileya’s innocence and genuineness. She’s a little kid, so she’s adorably honest, and he never has to wonder what she’s thinking. When he’s always second-guessing himself and everyone around him, constant honesty is a nice trait for someone to have.

I’m not sure there’s a specific thing Mileya loves about Elliot. She just loves him in general because, at least for now, he’s her big brother. For her, that’s enough.

8. What traits do they share? Mannerisms, clothing, quirks, looks, etc?

I’m not sure two siblings could be more different: they share no quirks or mannerisms, their looks are almost entirely different (though skin color is similar), and Mileya likes pink, frilly, girly clothes, while Elliot’s go-to outfit is a pair of baggy jeans and a black Bane t-shirt that says something about being molded in the dark.

Yeah. My bae’s a wee bit emo.

9. Who has the strongest personality?

Mileya. Undoubtedly Mileya. Though Elliot’s does contain a bit of a quiet strength.

10. How does their relationship change throughout your story?

Well, that would be telling wouldn’t it? ;)

Suffice it to say, Mileya doesn’t change much. At least not intentionally. She does, however, manage to draw Elliot to the Light Side of the Force, but she doesn’t really know it because Elliot likes to keep his feels inside.

***

I don’t know about you, but I found that really fun! Through this tag, I actually discovered a lot about their relationship, so thanks to Cait and Skye for coming up with this! Do you, my readers, have siblings in your stories? What’s their relationship like?

Or, if you don’t write, what’s your favorite set of fictional siblings? There are too many amazing ones to choose from, but I’m gonna say Sam and Dean, Katniss and Prim, Nico and Hazel, Mason and Omar.... Okay, I’m just gonna stop now. Like I said, too many amazing ones. :D

Oh, one more thing, and then I promise I’ll shut up: my co-writer Rebecca is going to post this tag on her blog sometime next week (I know the linkup will technically be over, but *shrugs* we really don’t care). She’s gonna talk about Cecil and Vil, our MCs from Becoming Brave, so be on the lookout for that!

Okay, beautiful people, I’m done. Comment away!

I've featured a Yiruma song on here before, but this guy is so great, I knew I'd have to come back and do another one sometime. So here we are!

"Because I Love You" has such a beautiful melody, it's almost like he's telling a story with the music. It's the sort of song that lends itself directly to your muse, perfect for almost any kind of writing (though perhaps not action scenes; not sure if it's epic enough), and especially great for editing.

What do you think of this song? Have any instrumentals you'd like to share? Do you play piano? Let me know in the comments!

Guys! It has been way too long since I’ve done one of these! I don’t know about you, but I have really missed the fangirling. I shall try to make it a monthly thing again, but I’m afraid I can make no promises.

So, let’s just enjoy today! lol Before we begin, though:

And now that that’s out of the way, this Saturday, I present to you... *drumroll*

FITZSIMMONS!!!

I adore FitzSimmons. I mean, they’re so perfect, they come with their own ship name. And the google doc I wrote this on? Yeah, even it recognizes FitzSimmons as a real word, meaning no red squiggly line underneath it, so you know this ship is legit.

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Full disclosure and all, this post is not technically shipping because FitzSimmons aren’t in a romantic relationship (and tbh, I’m not sure I want them to be. Maybe, but I’m not positive). Still, they are absolutely lovely together, and they have one of the most perfectest relationships in all of TV, so a post about them was nothing short of necessary.

For those of you who don’t know, FitzSimmons are from Agents of SHIELD, the TV show that coincides with the Avengers movies. The show follows FitzSimmons, a biochem-tech duo, and their cool super spy team as they do cool super spy things around the world, and, every once in a while, pick up someone or something that’s totally out of this world.

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The show is hilarious and action-packed, with just a touch of feels every now and again, so it’s probably one of the best shows I’ve ever seen. It’s also another fandom I could talk about for days but, because you and I have only so much time in our lives, I will limit myself to the amazing wonderfulness of FitzSimmons and maybe a few others.

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Fitz is the tech half of the biochem-tech duo. He’s their gadget guy, literally a rocket scientist, so he takes care of all the tech and engineering in their spy weaponry. He seems like he’s pretty good at everything science-related, but gadgets and tech are his specialties. Hilariously enough, he’s actually kind of squeamish when it comes to some of the biology (like dissections). Not that I blame him of course, but since Simmons dives into those sorts of things with an almost-strange joy, it makes for some pretty funny moments.

As for his personality, Fitz is an adorable little dorkling: cute, geeky, and rather socially inept. As Simmons once said, “If you want to make something awkward, copy Fitz.”

Little bit of language, but this vid is great.

At the end of the first season, things happened (not gonna give you that many spoilers), and his personality kinda changed. He’s grown up a lot, which is heart-breaking, but still, he remains thoroughly adorable.

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Simmons (by simple deduction) is the biochem half of the duo. This girl is the dictionary definition of an extreme nerd: she graduated three years early, has at least two PhDs, and, as Fitz said, “loves homework more than life.” In regards to the spy team, she takes care of anything biology or chemistry related: dissections (cuz those happen), chemical concoctions, and the formulae for their chemical weaponry.

She also once described a guy she thought was handsome as “well-formed and asymmetrical.” To his face. So I think it’s only fair to put her with Fitz in the cute, geeky, awkward little dorkling category.

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Simmons also changed a lot in the second season. She became kind of hardcore, to the point where it was almost scary. But, as of recent events, she seems to be returning to the light side of the Force (sorry, couldn’t help a Star Wars reference), and with Fitz’s help, I think she’ll stay there.

tumblr.com Because one can never have too many pictures of them.

I mentioned this above, but one of my favorite things about FitzSimmons is that they’re not exactly a couple. Technically, they’re just best friends, and sometimes, it’s like they have an almost brother-sister thing going on. But they’re so adorable together. As Skye said at one point, it’s like their psychically linked: throughout the first season, they were often on a wavelength completely separate from the rest of the team, but no matter what, they always knew what the other was thinking. They consistently finished each others’ sentences, worked together on just about everything, and were just generally adorable.

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Of course in the second season, they were separated. For an extended period of time. Which just about broke all three of us (them and me). Then Simmons returned and they weren’t really talking and then they were fighting... *pauses and breathes deeply* But that’s all in the past now, because as of the last episode I watched, FITZSIMMONS LOOKS LIKE A THING AGAIN!! AND I AM BEYOND HAPPY.

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Ahem.

I’m okay now.

Seriously.

Uh... maybe I should talk about some other aspect of the show...

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May is freaking awesome. She’s so cool, with her deadpan, blank-faced personality, and kick-butt fighting skills. Plus, she’s totally loyal to Coulson and the team, always has their backs when they need her. And seriously, I pity the person who makes them need her.

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Skye began the show as a sweet, funny, hacktivist computer genius. But in this past season, she started taking kick-butt lessons from May, and I daresay Skye’s getting pretty good at it. Granted, she’s not nearly as awesome as May yet, but with a couple decades of work, I’m sure she’ll get there.

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To be honest, when I first saw Coulson in the Avengers movies, I didn’t really like him. He seemed, well, annoying. Then all of the sudden he got cool (challenged Loki, for star’s sake!), then he died, and then he came back to life, so I guess he’s kind of awesome now. Everyone on his team seems to agree, at least about the awesome part, and he’s a great leader: you can see that he genuinely cares about every person on his team. In return, they are vastly loyal to him and would do just about anything he asked.

Also, he’s got a sweet car.

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Like I said at the beginning, I could probably go on about this show for days (I haven’t even gotten to Hunter and Bobbi. I might have to do a whole other Shipping day just for them). But this post is already way longer than most of mine, so I shall say nothing more except that AoS is one of the best shows ever and I ship FitzSimmons with all my heart. Or at least friendly-ship them with all my heart. Is there a name for that?

Anyway.

Have you watched AoS? What do you think of it? Do you ship FitzSimmons with all your heart and soul? Let me know in the comments!

So, I’ll admit it, this one isn’t exactly a writing song, because (other than while writing this post) I’m reasonably certain that I’ve never listened to it while writing. HOWEVER. It’s almost perfect for the couple we’re gonna fangirl about this weekend...

THAT’S RIGHT. Shipping Saturday coming at you! Woo, woo!

giphy.com That was my reaction anyway.

So yeah, no Thursday post this week, but I’ll be back on Saturday to do some mad fangirling with you guys. By the way, can you guess from the song who we might be shipping?

*pokes head up sheepishly* No, I didn’t do Posts of the Week last week. Deepest apologies, I went out of town and forgot completely.

giphy.com. How can you not forgive this face?

On the bright side, though, you guys get extra posts this time! :)

The Power of Sacrifice by Annika. This one’s an Easter post, so technically I’m a little late, but the message of Resurrection Sunday is something we should celebrate everyday. And besides this post is awesome, combining Thor, Harry Potter, Star Wars, and Star Trek with the message of Jesus. Yeah, yeah. Basically one of the coolest Easter posts of all time.

A Poem for Easter Morning by Mariella. Clearly another Easter post, this one containing a lovely poem.

5 Ways to Fangirl in Public (Without Embarrassing Yourself) by Jaime. This title is pretty self-explanatory. And the post is hilarious.

Too Soon by Emily Rachelle. Another beautiful poem, this one about young love.

Digital Design How-To by Mrs. Roseanna White. Great post about digital design! If you’ve been struggling (as I have) to make good images for your blog, I think this post will be helpful.

Writer Struggles: When Your Story’s Not As Good As You Thought It Was by Ally. In which Ally preaches truth, lol. Seriously, though, this post is great.

Make it Personal by Mrs. Stephanie Morrill. A brilliant reminder of how to make your story hard-hitting.

Hello and all the Difficulties of Naming by Rebecca and Kathryn. In which two of my best friends introduce themselves to the blogging world. Pop over and say hello!

Yesterday is Faded by Chard. A wonderful post from Chard, reminding us that we don’t have to live in the past.

Boys Want a Little More What? by Chard. Awesome post, especially for us girls, reminding us where our true value is!

Look at that! I was a good little fan withplenty of posts to share! Now go! Read, my pretties, read!