<div class="floatleft">(https://elliquiy.com/elluiki/images/5/59/Seadragon.jpeg) (https://elliquiy.com/elluiki/images/5/54/Screenshot_2022-04-02_16.57.35.png)</div><strong>Character Name:</strong><em>Faith Carvalho and Coral (https://elliquiy.com/forums/index.php?topic=341012.msg16145110#msg16145110)</em><br/><strong>Wearing:</strong><em>Black spaghetti strap tank with white heart and black shorts (https://elliquiy.com/elluiki/images/9/90/Sleepwear.jpeg)</em><br/><strong>Time:</strong><em>9:00 PM June 3rd; Night</em><br/><strong>Location:</strong><em>Girl’s Cabin</em><br/><strong>Tagging | Mentioning:</strong><em>OPEN</em><br/><strong>Note:</strong>Spoilered mention of suicide attempt.<br/><hr/>Coral's head rested on the pillow next to Fay's, her body coiled around her crown from one side to the other in a halo of pale blue and pink faux fur. She would much rather have been snuggled up beside her best friend, her body elongated against her, snuggled up beneath the blankets like they used to. Perhaps that was too much to ask for so soon after last night, but Coral just wanted her charge to be happy again. It has been so long since she has been happy.<br/><br/>Coral loved watching Fay make art. Even if the subject matter made Coral sad. Coral thought back to the day Fay's father picked her out of her bin at the little boardwalk kiosk along Mission Beach as she watched Fay's hand moving across her drawing pad.<br/><br/>It had been a warm spring day. There were puffy clouds in the sky, and the sun was shining right into Corel's lifelike marble eyes. She had heard Fay before she ever saw her. Words were spilling out of her mouth in a tumble. It was a story about a giant pelican dozing on a salt air weathered post and the squawking seagulls fluttering around it. Her mom and dad politely listened and asked questions about them, allowing Fay to fill in her story with whimsical details that only a creative child could provide.<br/><br/>The sun in Coral's eyes had been blotted out by a giant of a man with swooping brown hair and broad shoulders. A strong, but gentle man, by the way he picked Coral up and showed her to Fay. She had been dressed in pink overall shorts, a bright white unicorn head with a rainbow mane on the front. Her white t-shirt had an ice cream smudge on its collar, and her long dark hair was in two pigtails that fell down her back. The squeal she gave made Coral's stuffing heart fill with love. She was perfect, and Coral had never been happier.<br/><br/>They were constant companions from that moment, and Coral was a part of every adventure and every story. Fay didn't have a lot of friends. There weren't many kids on the base her age, but they had each other, and Fay included any kids who moved in, no matter how long before they and their parents were transferred away. Fay was so vibrant and sweet, and others gravitated towards her like she was the sun and they were flowers.<br/><br/>It was never more true than when Fay went to camp for the summer. She snuck Coral along with her every year. Coral suspected Fay's mom knew her daughter was smuggling her in her backpack and just pretended she didn't.<br/><br/>At camp, Fay shined, pulling even the shiest camper into her gravitational well of friendship and adventure. None more so than Karina. Like Fay, she was a regular, and the two girls became the closest of friends. It was no longer Fay the Fairy Princess and Coral the Dragon. It became the Adventures of Fay the Fairy Princess and Karina the Brave with Coral the Dragon. Third billing never bothered Coral. She was happy Fay had a human-like her to play with, and Fey never left Coral out of their adventures. They ran through the first with Coral held aloft in flight and fought off imaginary beasts. They would sing silly songs around the campfire with the other campers or huddle together with their cabinmates at night, telling spooky stories. And Coral was always there, and they were happy. When they were away from camp, Fay would send Karina drawings of their adventures and be so excited when Karina sent her a letter in return.<br/><br/>Coral's favorite memories were watching Fay create. From crayons to pencils to marks and eventually paint, Coral had watched her talent grow. Fay's little room had been filled with dragons and winged horses and knights and princesses, all of her own creation. Best of all were the pictures of their adventures. Fey the Fairy Queen and her friend Coral the Dragon. Coral was in awe of her friend and so very proud of her. She just knew Fay would grow up to be an artist.<br/><br/>And then everything changed.<br/><br/>The men at the door were fancy in their dress uniforms. There were two of them. One stocky and firm. The other showed his age in his belly. They wore serious faces and held themselves in serious ways. Coral didn't like it. Fay didn't like it either. They spoke in quiet tones and said terrible words, and what they said made Fay sad. Very sad. Coral had never seen Fay that sad.<br/><br/>The Lancasters arrived after. There were more quiet words. She and Coral spent the night on a strange bed in a strange house, and Fay cried. All night. She held Coral so tight that it felt like she would split her seams. The following day Fay walked home alone; Coral held so loosely in her hand that she thought Fey might drop her and leave her behind. Her fanlike tail dragged along the ground all the way across the base. Fay spent the next week walking around the house in a daze. Each night crying into Coral's mane until she fell asleep. She barely ate. The Lancasters came to check in on her, but they never stayed long, and Fay barely spoke to ask when her momma would be coming home. Coral was never farther than arm's reach away, not until Fey set her down one night on the small chair in front of the small vanity in her small bedroom.<br/><br/><div class="spoiler_container"><div class="spoiler_header" onclick="hideSecond (this);" role="button">References to suicide</div><div class="spoiler_body">Coral watched the tears fall from her perfect little face onto an old crayon drawing of the Fairy Princess and her Brave companion on their magical sea dragon. She set it aside and picked up the pill bottle, and swallowed. Swallowed again and again and again, and there was nothing Coral could do to stop her. She watched her shake and shiver, foam and froth, and she could do nothing but watch. Watch and hope. Coral had never been scared before, not until that night. She drove herself crazy with worry until Fay rolled over in the morning and began to vomit. She was so sick. Sick for another week, and every night Coral watched and hoped that Fay wouldn't do it again. Maybe she was just too ill, or maybe she was just too numb, but Fay didn't try again, and by the time her momma came home, she had cleaned up and washed her bedding with no one the wiser. No one but Coral.</div></div><br/><br/>Coral hoped having mom home would help, and it did for a little while. They cried and held each other and cried some more, but her mom only stayed until the funeral and then was gone again, and Fay was alone. She cried, but this time she cried alone. She didn't pick up Coral or hold her close. She left Coral on the chair and cried, alone. Fay's mom would come home and then leave. This was how it went. The happy sounds of the home turned sad and then angry, and Coral watched it all from that little chair in front of the little vanity in that little bedroom.<br/><br/>Fay's art changed with her. Cotton candy skies became gloomy storms, Unicorns replaced with monsters, and princesses with dead-eyed things. Candy and bubble gum became cigarettes and alcohol, and Fay's few friends disappeared. The people she brought over were no longer nice, and they hurt Fay, and Fay hurt them, and Coral couldn't lift a furry little claw to help.<br/><br/>Fay's mom smuggled Coral into Fay's backpack this time. Coral had no idea why, but it was nice to be off the chair. It felt different somehow. Important. She so very much wanted to talk to Fay, but that was impossible. Impossible until it wasn't.<br/><br/>Coral's first words had been a surprise. To them both. Somehow she knew there was danger in the forest. Real danger. She had to warn Fay, but when the words blurted from her lips, they both managed to look shocked. Coral was so shocked, in fact, that she couldn't stop talking. There were so many things she wanted to say, and they all just tumbled out, and Fay…well, Fay didn't say anything. Just stared in disbelief, then fear, and then…nothing. While the other girls in her cabin screamed or laughed or chattered at their companions. Fay quietly got down from her bunk and silently walked out into the night, leaving Coral perched on the edge of the bunk, a gap and unsure of whether she should follow or not.<br/><br/>Fay had barely said a word to her since, and when she tried to engage like the other companions and their girls, Fay only withdrew. Thoughts of the others in the cabin drew Coral's attention away from Fay's morbid art piece and to the others sitting around and chatting. Billie was undoubtedly loud, boisterous like Fay used to be but more aggressive. Danica reminded Coral a lot of Fay when she was younger. Outgoing and optimistic, a natural magnet for others to gather around. Laurie was less verbose but only a little, personable to be sure. Elle and Angel were harder to gauge. They were quieter than the rest but no less vibrant and alive. That was easy to see. Devina reminded Coral the most of Fay as she was now, but even she seemed to isolate herself less than Fay. Listening to the conversation in the cabin was reminiscent of how Fay used to be when she enjoyed the world. When she enjoyed herself.<br/><br/>"Why don't we join them?" Coral asked, her slight British accent taken from the one Fay had used for her when she was a child. "It sounds like fun."  Coral's voice was little more than a whisper. Being nestled around Fay's head made it easy for the girl to hear her.<br/><br/><div align="center">***</div><br/>Faith lay on her bunk, sketchpad propped up on her tummy as her hand worked the dark charcoal into heavy paper. Her fingertips were blackened with charcoal dust as her deft fingers curled on a pitch back lip. Flakes of black were lost against the dark void of her tank top. She would brush them off later. With deliberation, she drew her finger down from her portrait (https://elliquiy.com/elluiki/images/f/f1/SelfPortrait.jpg)'s lip, spilling darkness for her mouth, down the page. She set aside her charcoal and switched to her kneaded eraser, its gray mushiness tracing the edges of the darkness. Forming it. Shaping it.<br/><br/>Coral's whispered words shifted her eyes to the chattering girls she had the unfortunate displeasure of sharing the cabin with. Faith could tell this was going to be a very long three months, and that wasn't even including the talking wad of stuffing above her head.<br/><br/>"I'd rather be lobotomized by hook-hand Henry's rusty hook. Thank you," she said, not nearly as quietly as Coral had been. Her eyes slide from the girls towards Coral. It was the most she had spoken to the stuffed dragon….animal…creature…thing, whatever the hell Coral was. Faith wasn't sure she wasn't having a psychotic episode or some other kind of meltdown yet. It felt real. Deep down, a part of her knew it was real but wasn't able to process it all yet. Hell, maybe she never would be. So Faith had taken the tactic that had worked for so many years on her mother. The silent treatment. Was it childish? Maybe, but she needed space to think, and having the smothering dragon sitting above her head wasn't exactly giving her the space she needed.<br/>