Disclaimer: Mitsy: Thank you : ) Tri: Oh, that's so very flattering ^^ It's… I don't know, really. It's different for every writer. For me, titles of things are very influential- songs, books, movies. Most of the time, though, it's me stringing words together and pretending to understand them. : ) Arthur: Hehe, it's okay : 3 And yeah, I couldn't believe Iris was the champ either! Puppy: Oh, thank you so much! *hugs* Penny: Haha : ) Olih: That's because it is from High School Musical! And yes, fufu, Dating Sims. Deltra: OH NO PLEASE DO REFRAIN FROM SQUEEZING OUT MY EYEBALLS. I DO NEED THOSE SOMETIMES, DEAR. But anyway, thanks ; ) I can't WAIT to call all my favourite characters! Ikitsumi: Thank you for the fave/ alert!

Contest: For all you artists out there, this is for you!

Because of the new Image Manager feature, I need pictures to use as covers for Love Remains the Same, Violet Hill: A Pokemon Mystery Dungeon 3 Story, Last Train Home: A Platinum Nuzlocke, and Pictures of You: A Black Nuzlocke. The winners will receive an insanely long one shot of their choice, recognition for their cover art, and the use of their artwork on this site. Winners will be announced on the first of August.

You may enter more than once.

My ideas:

LAST TRAIN HOME: Odile in center, facing front, with mesprit (legendary pokemon of emotion) floating above her head; Damion to her right, facing the edge of the paper, with azelf (legendary pokemon of willpower) floating above his head; and Asher to her left, facing the edge of the paper, with uxie (legendary pokemon of knowledge) floating above his head.

PICTURES OF YOU: A close up of Lydia's eye, whichever colour you'd like, with the phrase 'Everything happens for a reason' written across the bottom.

VIOLET HILL: Against the background of a clock; Cooper in the center, holding her necklace; Gavin looking off into the distance. The words 'Respice Finem' should be written at the top with their translation, 'Look Back At The End', written at the bottom.

LOVE REMAINS THE SAME: … I have no ideas for this one, haha.

If you have alternate ideas for a cover, please PM me. Ideas would be positively loved!

REFERENCES:

For Gavin:

browse. /?qh=§ion=&q=meowth+gijinka#/d41sfx4

or

Type, 'meowth gijinka fancy deviantart' into Google and click on the result by *onisuu.

For Cooper:

browse. /?order=9&q=vulpix+gijinka&offset=72#/d1ny13t

or

Type, 'vulpix gijinka tagami-crown' into Google and click on the result by *Tagami-Crown.

For Odile:

?order=9&q=anime+girl&offset=24#/d1vdyyt

or

Type, 'cute anime girl altiz-studio' into Google and click on the result by ~altiz-studio.

For Asher:

Type 'Kaoru Hitachiin' into Google Images and some references will show up.

For Damion:

browse. /?qh=§ion=&q=peeta+# /d2k8cey

or

Type, 'Peeta Mellark graysee' into Google, and click on the DeviantART result by ~graysee.

-And that's it! Good luck, and may the odds be ever in your favour ; )

Question:

My Answer:

Characters: A character study using Eusine and myself. Okay, Peter Pan… is so influential, you have no idea. That and Alice in Wonderland are my childhood. It makes me want to cry, and… oh, Peter, take me away. Words in italics are quotes by J. M Barrie, and are not mine.

Summary: This is my absolute favourite piece as of far. I love it dearly.

neverland

"i love the stars," i whisper, pressing my hands against the windowpane. "mom, can i please open the window so that the stars can come inside? it's cold out tonight."

"no, you can't. you'll let in a draft. besides, i'm sure the stars can keep each other warm."

"oh, but please, mom. i feel so bad for them."

"why?"

i lean my forehead against the glass, and breathe. "stars are beautiful, but they may not take an active part in anything; they must just look on for ever. it is a punishment put on them for something they did so long ago that no star now knows what it was. so the older ones have become glassy-eyed and seldom speak (winking is the star language), but the little ones still wonder."

my mom closes the curtain, barring the stars from my view. "go to sleep. you have school tomorrow."

"i don't want to go to school and learn solemn things."

"well, too bad. that's just the way it is."

"why?"

and that is the first time an adult doesn't have an answer for me.

.

.

.

.

it is years later when i meet him. i am at that terrible in-between where i think that i've lost myself, only to find that i never knew who i was to begin with.

he has the posture of a man but is dressed in bright splashes of childhood still, and i approach him timidly. "sorry, but can you give me directions? i'm terribly lost."

lifting a gloved hand to point me in the right direction, he says, "second star to the right, and straight on 'til morning."

i blink at him, and smile. it's one of those unexpected smiles, one those slippery, shadowy ones that don't really know what to think of themselves. "oh, the cleverness of you."

he blinks lagoon-blue eyes right back at me, and really looks at me this time. "oh, the cleverness of me."

.

.

.

.

"who are you, anyway?" we meet again, sheltered behind a mountain face, and when his mouth moves i spy seldom-speaking stars behind his lips.

"me. myself. i." i ponder. "writer. hopeless wisher. queen of lower-case letters."

"me. myself. i," he introduces himself. "mystery man. researcher. dead-end."

i appraise him. "i'm odile," i say, and then frown. "or, i think i am. that's what people know me as, anyway."

"i'm eusine." he offers a gloved hand, and we shake it like the awkward teens we are: my grip too soft, his too firm.

he looks at me uncomfortably; blinking, you know, like one not sure whether he is awake or asleep. "what are you going to do now?"

"find myself. you see, i put myself down somewhere, and have misplaced it. it's all very troublesome, really."

he smiles, nods, turns away. i let him go.

but we don't say goodbye. not yet.

.

.

.

.

"i do believe in faeries. i do, i do." i exhale my beliefs into glass bottles, and toss them out to sea. the sand of olivine beach moves as i shift my weight.

eusine sits beside me. growing up has pushed us together again, it seems; the distance in his eyes mirror mine. "what else do you believe in?" he wonders.

"souls. sincerity. mercy. love." my bottles bob along the waves, my beliefs lighting them up from the inside out. "what do you believe in, eusine?"

"magic. adventure. prestige. happiness." he tries to be so dignified, what with his bowtie and cape and all things dashing, but really he is just a cocky little boy: he has dimples and a cowlick and freckles like constellations, scrunching together on the milky-way of his cheeks.

"do you believe in faeries, eusine?"

"i do. i do."

i lay down, braiding my hair with sand. so does he.

"odile, why don't you use capital letters?" he asks.

"because i don't think any letter should be more important than the other," i say. "everything- and everyone- should be equal."

minutes tick by, and the sky is so blue- i wish it would cheer up a little.

"you know, we're the smartest," i tell him. "people like us, i mean. we see things adults won't."

"you think?" his voice is quiet, wondering.

"yes. quite often, actually." pale rays of light tiptoe across the water; and by and by there is to be heard a sound at once the most musical and melancholy in the world: the mermaids calling to the moon.

"eusine, why are you a dead-end?" i ask.

he stiffens beside me, and starts to draw crop-circles in the sand. "us smart people- the ones that can see things adults won't? well, we're all dead-ends. we never turn out the way we want."

"that still doesn't explain why you are one."

"because i'm chasing a dream. and at the end of the day, dreams leave you with nothing but reality."

i put a hand over his, squeezing tightly. "dreams do come true, if only we wish hard enough."

"but odile, what do we wish on?"

"we wish on wishes themselves, of course."

.

.

.

.

"is everything going to work out?"

"i don't know, odile. i really don't know."

we sit in our neverland, knee-to-knee, eyelash-to-eyelash. "i think that i'd rather die than grow up," i say softly, sadly. "i never want to become an adult."

he sighs, and his lashes flick against mine. "to die would be an awfully big adventure," he agrees.

there is a saying in neverland that, every time you breathe, a grown-up dies, so we fill our lungs with air and do not exhale.

i glance back at eusine. he is holding his breath, eyes shut, chest puffed out dramatically. never… is an awfully long time, i tell myself, thinking back to my previous words.

blinking tears from my eyes, i look into his face, which is slowly purpling. and i realise that no matter how long you try to prolong something, it'll happen anyways.

some things are inevitable.

"i… maybe i do have to grow old, but i will never grow up," i gasp, gulping back oxygen like water. "because to live would be an awfully big adventure. right, eusine? right?"

but eusine is lying still, slumped against the windowsill. he doesn't stir when i touch him, and his lagoon-blue eyes are blind now; they can't see any of the things i see.

feeling the tears trickle down my face, i press a fist against my mouth, and sob.

.

.

.

.

Yes.

Even for the most reluctant, growing up is inevitable.