Congrats on 10k, MistCat! Name: Josephine Tabitha Heron Gender: Cis female Age: 14 years Sexuality: Asexual Josephine was not the kind of person who gave up a fight easily. Not unless she knew she was outmatched. Sadly, this usually meant she got into trouble and ended up grounded. Which was why she was now sitting in the RV that her family - who, on a day when they were not camping for the summer, would be in a house not far from where they were now in Joshua Tree National Park - instead of exploring outside with her little sister and brother. Outside, she could hear the happy laughter. She had been out there about a week ago, but when you're stubborn about letting your little sister play on your phone, your days of freedom are numbered. "Sweetie, are you in there?" Josephine turned to see her mother smiling at her through the door. She stared for a second, then took a breath. "What is it?" "You're done being grounded," Mrs. Heron replied, "It's dinner, anyhow, so it's not official until tomorrow, but it's soon enough." Mrs. Heron then turned, and Josephine had to stifle a whoop and do her best to calmly exit the trailer after her mother. Outside, the sky was a beautiful sunset hue, silhouetting the Joshua trees perfectly. Josephine sighed happily and breathed in the air. She could smell a campfire off somewhere. Too bad they weren't having on tonight. She took a moment to wish that her older brother was here to see this with her. He loved the outdoors as much as she did. Too bad he was at home on his own working his summer job for college. "Josie! You coming?" her 10-year-old brother Aiden called her from the table. Through a mouthful of food, her little toddler sister Lia added "It's mac-and-cheese!" This got Josephine moving quickly over to the table. The Heron siblings had been brought up on mac-and-cheese. They all loved it. Chances were, if you stranded them together on an island with only each other and the delicious M&C their father made, the kids would fight each other to the death over each other's rations. Josephine and the rest of the family dug in. "This is good," Josephine stated between bites of food. She did her best to eat fast before one of her little siblings made a move for the food that was rightfully hers. It was a thing they did. "Yesh," Aiden agreed, mouth full, "It'sh good shtuff." "I wish Casey were here for this." All of Josephine's family members turned to her. Mr. Heron let loose a sigh. "I know, honey. I'm sure he'll be with us next year." Josephine merely grunted and went back to her food. That was another thing about her family. Her father was very much a future-oriented dude, unlike Casey and Josephine, who dwelled in the present, and Aiden, Lia, and Mrs. Heron, who focused on learning from the mistakes of the past. The family could be odd in that way. Swallowing her last bite of food, Josephine cleared her plate and notified her mother that she was heading down to the small grove of Joshua trees not far from the campsite. Mrs. Heron looked at Mr. Heron, shrugged, and told her it was fine so long as she came back when called. Josephine eagerly agreed to these conditions and headed off. The beautiful trees' spiky leaves had Juniper berries speared on them in places. Earlier, the kids had been pretending to be Loggerhead Shrikes, which, according to the visitor center, were a type of small, predatory bird that ate small rodents, lizards, and bugs and speared them on branches to save for later. The kids had loved them immediately. Josephine smiled at that memory from earlier that week. She sat down, and began to sift through memories as she hummed. "Cuz I'm at an all time low..." This was her favorite song, along with her brother's. The two used to sing the radio edit together, but now that they were older were permitted to use the cusses so long as they didn't make a habit of it. She remembered singing it on a lot of occasions. Her 14th birthday had been spent at a campsite in Yosemite with her extended family, and everyone had done a little talent show act, she and Casey had sung that same song for everyone else. And on her first camping trip, they had listened to it in the car. They were only four years apart in age, yet they felt even closer, like twins. It was these happy thoughts that Josephine was so immersed in that when her mother called her back to camp, she startled a little before registering what was happening and rushing back towards her family. "Josie! Come quick!" Thoughts rushed through her head. Was something wrong? No. Nothing was wrong, she told herself. Her point was proven when she saw the red Honda. The very, very distinctive red Honda and the figure beside the Honda. "Casey," she cried out, "You came!" Her older brother laughed. "Yeah, they let us have an unexpected break, so I get to be here for a few days before I have to go back." Josephine hugged him. This summer was going to be even better than she thought.
EDIT: WHOA! I WON????? AAAAAAAAA TYSM! Character design by @MistCat (I accessorized a little, I hope that's ok) Coding by @Ivypaw_and_Dovepaw "All Time Low" by Jon Bellion And art by me (though Google had the background) I shaded. Yay! Oof. I used the Scratch Bitmap for this, so I really hope this looks ok. Not sure I'm gonna win, but I'm happy so long as this work is acknowledged. *Wheezes and dies of fatigue*
