Part 1

after the concert and the start of orchid and crows relationship, leon begs cami to find a bassist. if they had one theyd be a “real” band. the concert went so well (in his eyes) and he wants to perform again sometime.

she of course agrees, and promises she will find one.

penny helps cami make signs advertising the open spot in their band. they stop at a cafe and ask if they can put up a sign. they order a coffee and sit down.

one of the baristas overhears and decides to confront them, telling them he plays bass. He introduces himself as Winter, and Cami accepts immediately, happy to call off the search they just started.

He asks out Penny immediately after meeting her because shes pretty. She says no. completely unbothered, he takes the rejection and moves past it. no problem. Cami jokes, “What about me?” Winter tells her to enjoy the coffee.

Part 2

Winter shows up for rehearsals, gets to know Cami, Leon, and Crow.

His respect for being yourself also comes with a disdain for being fake. He quickly sniffs out Cami as a fraud and becomes one of the only people that can get under her skin. He teases her about her behaviors, calling her out on things. Cami hates this.

Eventually, when he meets Anais, he loves her personality and asks her out. She accepts pretty quickly. She barely met the guy, but what’s the harm is giving dating a try, she thinks. It’s been a while. Why not. She also appreciates the forwardness.

Part 3

at a county fair, misha has set up a booth. offering short 10 minute therapy sessions for free (to practice what he’s learned).

Misha lets them talk, and thanks them for being there. He doesn’t tell them his thoughts. Some are just happy to have been listened to, others felt like it was a waste of time.:

penny: “narcissism. potential ptsd.”
crow: “lack of confidence. needs a break.”
cami: “major depression, self image issues, she was a lot”
orchid: “some issues but totally workable. could be formidable with help.”
winter: “he was encouraged to see me again, damn.”
anais: “no notes.” she leaves with a gold star.

Part 4

Later, Winter is next to Anais at a table. she reading one of her notebooks out loud, explaining the lore of her insane world. winter thinks to himself, “oh god. i can’t NOT sleep with her”.

Anais and Winter are very adult and shameless about their relationship. Hard contrast to the Crow/Penny drama.

Winter interrupts her to say “let’s go have sex,” while he looks at her lovingly, resting his head in one hand.

she gets immediately flustered, quiets down and says, “w-winter, what the fuck. we can’t. I’m on my period.”

winter stands up and offers his hand. she objects, “but it’s gross.”

winter replies, “you’re beautiful.” steam escapes anais’ ears, while also revealing that they were at a dinner table at a restaurant with cami, penny, and crow.

cami says, “based.” Penny says, “you just got here.” Crow is blushing.

Part 5

Anais has an OC boyfriend named Capt. Lonestarwolf Insano I, sometimes shown throughout the series as a plush in her room, or various scribbles or drawings he has.

After meeting Winter, she has to break up with Capt. LSW I.

So she uh, kills him off. It’s extremely heartbreaking for her.

A gloomy, rainy scene is shown. Nyx is holding Capt LSW I in her arms as he’s dying. a huge hole in his chest. he asks her for a final kiss.

Part 6

Winter and Anais get along REALLY well. They aren’t afraid to talk to each other, they both enjoy each others sense of humor, and theyre both very understanding and patient.

Anais surprises winter in her underwear, holding a pet collar. she lustfully but also somewhat embarrassed asks him if they could try put “pet play”.

calm faced, winter doesn’t miss a beat, and walks over to her and puts the collar on. steam escaping from her ears. her face a smiling mess.

but then he snaps on a chunky device to the collar. she is still flustered. but is concerned. “w-winter ..? what is this?”

he matter of factly says, “gps”. suddnely theyre in a car. winter driving. Anais in a cage in the back seat. she’s crying and asking where they’re going. winter says the vet. she needs to get spayed.

she cries out, “nooooooo, what the fuck. i just wanted to be called a good girl.”

finally, winter stops at a coffee shop drive through and orders a latte. Anais, sniffling, adds in, “and a pup cup.” winter repeats her order, “and a pup cup.”

Part 7

Anais arranges a funeral and invited everyone. Winter says can’t make it, doesn’t say why. A short scene shows him hanging up the phone, sitting in a room full of boxes, toys, and framed photos.

when everyone arrives at Anais house, dressed in proper funeral attire, they all question each other, wondering who the funeral is for. why is it at Anais house.

they make their way in. Anais is crying at the front of the event by herself, next to a giant portrait of Captain Lonestarwolf Insano I. no one knows who that is. the mystery continues. Anais thanks them all for coming and stands at the podium. she’s extremely emotional and through tears and sobs, does her best to give her eulogy. crow and Cami are especially confused and desperate to figure out what the hell is going on. penny and orchid try to calm them down, just play along and be there for Anais.

after listening to some of the eulogy, cami says to crow, “is this…. her fuckin OC?”

it all clicks for crow, too.

they look at each other like they know what they must do.

the scene skips to Anais bawling hysterically while cami and crow are desecrating the coffin that was being lowered in her backyard, trying to get in and see what’s in there to prove their suspicions. penny and orchid are trying to comfort Anais, but they’re also slightly curious.

Backstory Time: Winter

Winter was the oldest child of a large family of rabbits (not a hare like Penny). His hare and skin are pure white, his eyes are blood red. The rest of his family are the same. His two parents were loving. His many younger brothers and sisters were happy and energetic. Being the oldest, he felt the common pressure to take care of them, even if no one asked him to.

he had a beautiful, caring, understanding, and loving relationship with one of his younger sisters. he would do and did anything for her. he was closest to her by far. he was always soft and sweet with her, feeling happy and comfortable. with anyone else in the family, he was a bit less so, but its not like he was rude. its just that the difference was obvious to everyone in the family. they cherished their closeness, they didn’t make fun of winter and his sister for it.

eventually, when winter was 17, he was going through a phase where he was more pulled back, rebellious. he enjoyed the closeness he typically had, but wanted to explore who he was when he was alone, in contrast to his usual bombardment by his very large amount of siblings.

one day, when his family wanted to go on a trip, he refused to go, saying he’d like to have the house to himself for once. his parents dont push, thinking its about the age people start to act like this. they let him have his privacy and they take the rest of the family out.

his beloved younger sister asks him to go with them. he nearly caves for her, but holds firm. he apologizes, promising he’ll go next time.

a couple days of solitude later, he’s greeted by rangers at the door, who inform him that his family had all tragically passed away when their van went off a cliff.

before meeting anais, before meeting cami and penny and joining the band, he had just finally started to live his life, by force.

he put away the bottle, and make a pact with himself: to always say yes. if he wants to do something, he does it. if someone asks for something, he does it. even if for a little while. just to forcefully get his body back in motion. to get his brain to do anything other than what its been doing.

he lives off the wealth his family left behind, but decided to look for jobs. specifically ones that are asking for assistance, not just waiting for someone to apply.

he wanted to make the change now

so he ends up working multiple jobs: one as a barista at a coffee shop (even though he doesn’t drink caffeine, since it exacerbates his insomnia), and one as customer service at a retro CD/Vinyl store.

These jobs help him stay away from his house, get out of his head, focus on whats happening around him, and not on the pain he might otherwise wish to inflict upon himself.

he knows this is an escape. he knows this attitude isn’t a fix. but the part of him that desperately wants to live was stronger than the part that wanted to die. he reasons with himself that saying yes to everything wont solve his problems, but it got him out of the coffin.

after a while of working both jobs and exhausting himself by doing anything his or other peoples whims carry him to do, he decides he can relax more.

he keeps the jobs, but drops the “yes man” attitude. that same day, he sees penny and cami come into his store, looking for a bassist.

he had always wanted to play in a band before, and playing his bass is one of the few comforts he has at home. he had just told himself he wouldn’t just say yes to everything. perhaps, he’ll join a band “next time.”

“next time……”

that’s when he confronts penny and cami, bringing up their search for a bassist.

Part 8

winter and Anais have been dating for a bit. one night, everyone goes out for karaoke to celebrate before eXellence’s next gig. the entire gang. they all have a great time. everyone sings. everyone gets properly drunk, even Penny who normally watches herself. Penny even sings karaoke. A surprisingly sexy song. clearly released from some of her inhibitions by the alcohol, she even puts on a small show (a small showing of her narcisism, of how hot she thinks she is). the entire gang is various levels of flustered.

it’s a great night. everyone has fun.

Anais is the only one who didn’t get completely hammered.

winter, however, is completely fucked up. he has a bit of a drinking problem, and while he doesn’t get wasted alone anymore, he still has the habit of drinking too much once he gets going.

Anais wasn’t aware of the extent, but she had known it could be an issue tonight.

he clearly needs assistance getting home. anais takes him. when they arrive at his place, she helps him to his living room couch. he’s slurs out gratitude. and is practically snoring already.

she moves his hair out of his face, and asks him where the bathroom is. he tries to point her towards the hall but he’s too drunk to make much sense.

she figures it out and goes to use the bathroom. she finds it, and after using it, she decides to see if she can find a blanket for him. she opens a room and from the single beam of light disrupting the darkness, she sees its strangely filled with boxes, toys, picture, clothes. it looks like a whole life in here. it doesn’t look like it’s all winters stuff. there’s girly toys and pictures of what looks like family.

she closes the door, feeling bad for having intruded.

she goes back to winter on the couch, to find him asleep, but crying. light trails of tears strain his face. he is mumbling a little and his expression appears pained.

she holds his hand in hers, and sits by him, watching. for the rest of the night.

Part 9

eXellence has a killer performance. Their first time playing as a “full band” goes well. They perform some songs written by Leon

• “Poison Apple”: a song about apples being yucky
• “I Can’t Help But Cry”: a song about how annoying it is to cut onions.
• “The Cement Mixer”: a song about the sound his wrist makes after writing for too long at school.

They also perform a cover of “Ups and Downs” by Daisuke Ishiwatara. This is the only song where you get nearly all of the lyrics. A condensed version of the song:

The darkness is pierced by the morning sun
The light is beautiful, and I’m mesmerized by it
But soon I can’t open my eyes
But eventually, I get used to it

Surrounded by precious things
The heart turns into stone

Hardly the stuff of a bedtime story
A happy ending is just a snapshot in time
Life is a journey, not a destination
Enjoy the ride, with ups and downs

My friend enjoyed Paradise for the palate
Holding a platinum knife, with sapphire gloves
But his eyes did not shine
What he needs is an economic overthrow

Surrounded by precious things
My heart turns into stone

Hardly the stuff of a bedtime story
Sometimes you have to play a supporting role, oh!
But what matters is that your eyes shine
In the moment

Part 10

penny, cami, crow, and orchid are hanging out at orchids grandparents house.
penny is chatting in the other room with the elders, fascinated by their stories. they think of her as very polite and enjoy talking to her.

cami and crow, however, are taking turns getting their asses completely whooped in a fighting game by orchid. it’s a beautiful, masterful, effortless show on orchids part. she’s simply having fun. winning and losing were never on her mind.

crow and cami are frustrated, but not because of their losses. theyre looking for any weakness. its an unsaid agreement between them. they are desperate to unravel the mystery that is orchids skill.

perfect loss after perfect loss. they keep fighting. occasionally, they land some hits, but it never matters. they attempt to adapt to her patterns, but as soon as they latch onto anything, she’s mixed it up. its hopeless. their frustration turns to awe. they are playing a meta game now. they begin to laugh, its like theyre throwing things into an unbreakable blender which childlike abandon just to see what happens.

orchid is oblivious to their internal monologues, and is simply elated that her friends are so eager to play with her.

then, cami tells crow her new insane idea. “lets bet penny that orchid can beat her.”
crow laughs, pushing back. of course orchid will win. then it clicks. oooohhhh, her competitiveness. it’ll be fun to watch what happens when penny is faced with something she can’t defeat, especially when there are stakes (the bet).

cami and crow silently agree. cami sets the trap, yelling back to penny that orchid is soooo good, the only person who could maybe beat her is penny.

penny is intrigued. she politely ends her conversation with the grandparents and goes over to see what cami is talking about.

cami remarks that orchid is S+, just like penny
(a lie, orchid doesn’t play ranked mode)
and that penny might be the only person who could match her.

penny is internally happy about the praise, but she doesn’t want to show that and make orchid feel bad.

she asks orchid if she can give it a try.

they sit down, and penny near instantly loses. its not even a competition. it was pathetic.

penny is speechless. motionless. blank faced.

crow and cami are genuinely shocked, thinking that there would be at least some kind of fight.

but this works out in cami’s favor. she taunts, “ah unlucky. you haven’t played in what, a couple months?”

penny takes the lifeline, “haha. yeah. just gotta shake off the rust.”

cami elbows crow and says, “i bet \$20 wins the next round.”
penny’s ear twitches.
crow assists, “I’ll take that bet. I’m putting \$40 on orchid, though.”
penny lets it get to her, and she joins the bet, \$60 on herself against crow and cami.

crow and cami fist bump.

the next fight starts.
penny did well. she took one round but lost the match.
a similar story for the next match..
penny’s competence and adjustments to orchids playstyle give her more ground, but its never enough.

penny kept raising the stakes. the bet is now at \$500 and orchid is not having fun anymore.
orchid finally loses, but penny knows it was fake.

penny calms her feelings, and makes a final proclamation.
“one more game. no money anymore. if i lose, i’ll get a tattoo of orchids choice.”

everyone is silent, the air has changed.
orchid shakily plays her next match. she’s lost her nerve, but it doesn’t matter. she still gets a decisive victory.

the scene shifts to penny laying on her stomach at a tattoo artists table, the gang standing around her. penny has her face buried in the table, while the tattoo artist draws a heart on her exposed butt cheek.

(i want to somehow make it clear that this was Penny’s “facing the dragon” scene. i believe i’ll have to make penny’s fear of dragons more obvious when it initially gets mentioned without exposing too much of her internal struggle. It’s not about dragons, exactly, its not even about failure. it’s about the complete and utter inability to be faced with something so insurmountable, that no amount of effort can possibly make a difference. she was a good sport about the tattoo, but this scene exacerbates the cracks in the walls of her carefully constructed fortress.)

“Without Difficulty”

Penumbra is yapping at Cami, who is distractedly looking over her shoulder at Winter and Anais watching Stanty \& Pocking (a fake name for the name Panty \& Stocking, to avoid using the real anime name). Cami interrupts Penumbra, “penny, watch this.” Penumbra says, “I was talking.” Cami leans back and loudly (obviously wanting to be heard) says, “I DONT KNOW, I THINK DEKU NO-DIFFS ITACHI.” Anais looks irked by the sound of her voice. Anais takes Cami’s obvious bait and yells, “IN WHAT FUCKIN’ WORLD-” Anais is climbing over the couch while Winter is holding her shirt, smiling, and pausing the anime.

Weight

anais is holding her belly, looking down at it. she says quietly, “maybe i should lose weight.” you can hear crashing and stumbling in the background. an “ow!” is also heard.” Winter shows up and hugs Anais’ belly, pressing his face up against it. She turns away embarrassed while poking his face and pulling his ear. He says, “shhh… she didn’t mean it. it’s okay. i won’t let anything happen to you”

Lost Item

Anais calls Winter. She is relaxed, neutral. Holding a pen, clearly was in the middle of drawing earlier. Winter picks up, “Hey Fluffy, what’s up?”

Anais plainly asks, “Did I leave my black bra at your house?”

The scene switches to show winter at his house. He’s on his couch, playing a video game, his phone next to him on speaker. A black bra is strapped to his head like a hat. Without interrupting his game, he replies, “Mmm… I don’t see it anywhere.”

Old

Winter: “Anais, don’t take the bait.”
Anais mumbling to herself: “I’ll show them. 30 old? Really?”

the above dialogue is the caption for an insanely sexy but very tasteful selfie type photo of anais in the mirror. amazingly done yet not overstated makeup, her hair flowing beautifully to one side, her tank top black, dark as night, her pose pushes her chest together to emphasize her bust. her hand holding her phone has a stylish fingerless black glove. there is subtle glitter on her purple eyeshadow and on the top of her breasts.

her expression is soft, sultry, seductive, lips barely parted and lightly pursed. her colored contacts are purple to match her eye shadow. a silver earring shaped like a sword is pierced through her ear, and she has a single red line trailing down her left eye.

Chapter 8 – The Diamond and the Pebble