A field journal signed by Jolie Cardinal [Entry 1]

~*~*A Collective of Faerie Journalists - written lore*~*~

Infection Field Studies - Second Iteration

[Entry 1]

This is the start of the second iteration of my Infection Field Studies.

I lost my original journal while attempting to flee a nasty hoard of Infected. Well, I say “attempt,” clearly I made it out alive, albeit banged up and scratched. It was utterly horrible- loosing my journal felt like how I believe getting a limb chopped off would feel, I even felt a sense of phantom pain, my journal should have been in my satchel but no matter how many times I checked, it was not.

But it is what it is, fortunately while I have no picture-vision I have a good enough memory that I believe I can piece my studies back together, it won’t be the same but I’ll just have to make do.

Alongside my entries I will also occasionally have notes from my Fae Journalist companion- Steven VonLillian. He brings an excellent perspective of the Infection that I simply cannot bring, as he has read many a Fairytale and takes them all to heart, something I’m finding to be as crucial as wearing a mask in the Infection in this budding Fae phenomenon.

As said in my last journal, the point of conducting these studies and collecting research is to provide information and knowledge that can aid to further understanding the Infected in hopes to achieve a cure. I may not find a cure in my lifetime, but I truly believe further generations could have the means to create one, and my studies will become the first stepping stone of doing so.

-Always Hopeful, J. Cardinal

The Purge of Decay and how it ties into the Fae Realm in B.A. Legacy [PART 1] (5/11/26 - 5/??/26)

    

~Realms, Fae, and Apocalypse’s, Oh My!~

This is basically a follow up to this  previous note post, as I’ve had time to think things over and want to explain some stuff to answer some questions. And yes this does mean I’m discussing The Purge of Decay, no it’s not set in stone I’m just discussing the general concept. Now go grab your snack of choice because this is going to be a long one.

(**The following lore is very conceptual, not fully thought out, and everything is subject to change**)

(6/3/26 Edit Note: Whenever I say “Fae” or mention “The Fae Realm” I’m referring to the “Creatures” and “critters” and their part of the realm specifically, this was before I started calling them Flower Fae and thought of other lore, I’ll explain all of this in part 2 but I wanted to mention it briefly in case it were to cause confusion)

The Purge of Decay as a storyline/POV is the history of The Infector and the Infection’s Origin and follows Rose and Poppy, but within the story The Purge of Decay is a historical event and a traumatic near-extinction level experience the Creatures/Fae went through barely over 1,000 years prior to STEP I.

For a brief background, Rose is a little over 6,000 years old by the start of the STEPs, and was somewhere within their 5,000s during The Purge of Decay, Poppy’s age is unknown to me but they’re not much younger than Rose. Rose was held in high regard due to their innate magical prowess while Poppy drifted through life relatively unnoticed but not ignored, Poppy simply didn’t draw anyone’s attention, anyone but two Fae, that is. Poppy and Rose were exceptionally close, as Poppy had an interest in the betterment of the environment and life as it is and Rose admired that about them. It’s a tale as old as time, character with too much empathy is driven to do bad things for the betterment of other things, this story is no different. Poppy would begin to loose hope, and that’s when they would catch the attention of a specific Fae, who I’ve just been calling “the Stag” because I don’t have a name for them. Poppy would slowly be manipulated by the Stag, and over time would have these ideas and thoughts introduced to them, leading them to misuse their magic.

This is where I explain: what magic does Poppy have?

Creature magic is something I don’t have fully thought out, but there’s some things I have certain, and that is while all Creature’s have Nature based magic (that being plants, flowers, etc) there’s different types of magic that falls under this umbrella, one of which being Decomposers.

It’s simply based off of what some fungi do, something that is healthy for a balanced ecosystem but can be detrimental if the balance doesn’t exist. Creatures who have this type of magic have always existed to balance the magic that increases the growth of ecosystems, however the events of The Purge of Decay turned this magic into somewhat of a taboo. You see, there is a downside to this form of magic, something the Stag exposed, and that is what Creature’s began to call “The Rotting of the Self.” It is a phenomenon where Creatures with this magic will begin to loose themselves if they use it too often, (they essentially slowly become “Infected”) their magic will slowly decompose their own life force, their mind will decay, and they will become nothing but a monster controlled only by the instinct to “Rot” and “Decay.” While Creature’s with this form of magic is meant to be able to decompose matter like how another Creature might grow a plant, they can also use their magic on other non-magical plant based Fae (such as “Critters”). Side note: The concept of this magic and the Infection overall is based on mycology, root rot, and invasive species.

The Stag took advantage of Poppy’s natural ability to Decompose and Poppy became the first Decomposer to experience “The Rotting of the Self,” supposedly this occurred due to the misuse of the magic, as Poppy began using it to essentially mutate “Critters” after being convinced that if everything was the same there would be no more problems of clashing elements.

Concept art of a Critter before and after Infection/mutation

Now, what does the Stag get from all of this? Well… I don’t have that fully thought out yet, but what I do know is that the Stag doesn’t have magical use of their own which is why they needed Poppy, and that they’re obsessed with experimenting and stretching the limits of Fae life and magic. The Stag also upholds the same ideology they misguided Poppy into believing: that if everything is the same there will be no clashing elements, however they lack the empathy Poppy had and doesn’t truly want everything to be equal, because *they* want to be at the top (typical evil hypocritical ruler type of villain). Funny thing is that Sadie Foxglove instantly clocks this thinking the Infector has, and also clocks that the Infector has two different goals in mind (aka Poppy and the Stag’s goals clashing), but we’re not talking about Sadie.

Now we get into the true events of The Purge of Decay.

Remember how I said that it was a traumatic, near-extinction level event? Yeah, that’s because this was when the Stag and Poppy would link and fuse and become The Infector who would then begin the original Infection, yeah that’s right, what you guys know as “The Infection” is actually the second attempt. However just because it was ended doesn’t mean it didn’t cause irreversible damage. As I said before, the Stag is obsessed with experimenting and stretching the limits of Fae life and magic, and The Infector is no different as they’re more of the Stag than Poppy (Poppy was too far gone by that point, but it’s debatable whether they still have some control over their body). The Infector spread the Infection which naturally did immense harm to a majority of the Fae within the Fae Realm, and on top of that narrowed in on the Creature’s specifically, not only because they had personal ties to the Creature’s, but because the Creature’s are incapable of being Infected (unless self inflicted) and are easily the biggest threat. The Infector tormented the Creature’s, anyone they came across would be taken to be experimented on as the Infector became tunnel visioned on figuring out how to Infect them, many lost their lives to the Infector’s experiments and those who made it out alive came back with bodily harm: missing limbs, body parts, etc. Not only that, but The Infector especially hunted down all the Creature’s above or close to the age of 5,000, as they were the biggest threats.

Messy sketch of The Infector and Rose

To give some context, Once 5,000 years old, a Creature will develop the ability to manipulate the elements (aside from plants), this includes controlling air, water, and fire, and by doing so, the weather and overall environment. However it is heavily looked down upon to manipulate the weather unless absolutely necessary and agreed upon by the Monarch, as it can heavily impact the environment’s wellbeing if misused. As you will probably have caught onto by now, the best ways to get rid of the Infection is by utilizing fire and large amounts of water (and air, while not really much help for humans, was utilized by Elder Rose later on, alongside water, to cast the winter storm that froze the Infection, halting the process).

The Infector targeted Creature’s above or close to the age of 5,000, causing the Creature’s to lose a large majority of their elders, including their Monarch, causing the current heir to ascend to the throne immaturely (but I’ll get to that later). Rose was one of the few surviving Creature’s around that age, and alongside the other survivors created a plan to get rid of the Infector and the creature’s of Decay (Infected) along with them. I’m still working out the details, but they succeed and banished the Infector outside the Fae realm, sending them into a deep slumber (I know, typical), but not without being warned: the Infector claimed that a Creature would one day follow in their footsteps, and that they would aid to their awakening and inevitable return.

After being collectively traumatized, killed and experimented on, and having lost most of their elders and their Monarch, the Creatures instantly became hostile towards any Decomposers. Use of that magic was banned, and those who had too strong of a connection to it was banished outside of the Fae Realm in fear that they would be the one to follow in the Infector’s footsteps. Those who were banished, and those who banished themselves alongside loved ones, would start to build their own home in the forest of the human realm, which is where The River Town is located. Elder Rose is one such Creature who banished themself, not only in solidarity of the Decomposers, but because they were already making plans to fully be rid of the Infector for good. They are the only one who truly believed and heeded The Infector’s warning and immediately began to prepare for it head-on, rather than attempt to avoid it by hiding away and banishing those who might cause it.

While the banished Creature’s stood with the Decomposers (or was one themselves), there was still the trauma and warning haunting them, causing fear and unease, especially when the Infector was somewhere in that very place. Decomposers refused to use their magic, and instead focused on their other abilities, attempting to suppress their natural gift. This is when one specific Creature would be born, a baby Creature who showed immediate signs of an intense innate ability to Decompose, to the degree that it scared even the Decomposers themselves, and they collectively agreed to toss out the baby (hypocritical, I know). As you might guess, this baby was Knell. (Here’s a fun fact: A knell is a solemn tolling of a bell which announces a death or disaster, which was one of those perfect accidents because I fully thought I named him Knoll, you know, like a mound. Also his true Creature name is Periwinkle and I find that hilarious) Elder Rose was infuriated by this, and from then on refused to associate themself with the community, outcasting themself alongside the baby and making a safe home for it, raising them until they were old enough to take care of themself (I honestly can’t fully remember why, but Rose had a specific reason for not wanting Knell to see them as a parental figure). Knell would unfortunately be the one to “walk in the Infector’s footsteps” and awaken them, but how that happens isn’t exactly thought out yet, but the Infector always had an interest in Knell until Sadie piqued their interest more.

Once awoken, the Infector was instantly intrigued by this new “realm” they seemed to have found themself in, and was especially excited to learn that Creatures and “Critters” were also there alongside them, meaning they immediately began to Infect. However the Creatures were mostly able to keep hidden, and the intrigue of the Humans capability to become Infected was keeping the Infector distracted, especially once they were introduced to the concept of Half Creatures once meeting Sadie Foxglove. Let’s just say the Infector’s gears began turning in their head, and they were captivated by the idea that Half Creatures could be their way to Infect Creatures. And thus their new experiment began.

The Infector, with the help of Gabriel Flintlock (who also aided in the Infector’s awakening, I might add), found three test subjects: a half Infected boy called Spider Lily, an Infected girl named Millie Mayfield, and a young Half Creature named Colette. And add to those subjects a Crow Creature (this is something I will discuss later). The experiment was this: force linking and fusing (like how Poppy and the Stag linked and fused) a Half Creature with an Infected Human (Colette and Millie) and a Half Infected with a Creature (Spider and the crow) to see whether this would create a way to Infect Creatures. The consensus was undecided and unable to be followed up, but that’s how SilverBell and SpiderLily became a thing, something the Creatures (excluding Knell and Elder Rose) were horrified by.

The Infector’s experiments: SilverBell and SpiderLily + Knell showing signs of Decay

This wasn’t the end of the Infector’s attempt to utilize the relationship between humans and Creature’s to their advantage, as they would form a link with Sadie Foxglove after needing a new life source (the whole reason they relied so much on the Infected to spread the Infection was because they were still being affected by Poppy’s “Rotting of the Self” and would fully lose consciousness after a few more uses of their magic, something they discovered after Infecting Gabriel Flintlock at the end of STEP II), something that would lead to their demise.

Creatures/Fae pre-Legacy

I want to discuss the Fae Realm Monarchy for a moment, as well as how it was affected by The Purge of Decay, as it is pretty important for B.A. Legacy.

In order to become the Creature Monarch a Creature must first reach the age of 2,000, which is considered the age of maturity for Creatures. Creature Monarchy follows a bloodline, a lineage of Creature’s whose blood is that of a tree, golden sap. A Creature with that Golden Heritage can only rule for 6,000 years before stepping down and letting their heir take their place, this gives their heir time to pass the age of 2,000 before their parent passes the throne to them. Before being killed by the Infector, the previous Monarch had only ruled for roughly 2,000 years, their heir (the current Monarch) being barely over 600 (which, I know, is a lot, especially compared to Creature’s like Foxglove and Knell, but based on the span of their lifetime that’s incredibly young). The Golden Heritage was hunted down alongside the elders, but the current Monarch’s Heir wasn’t as much of a target due to their young age, the Infector planned to kill the Heir once all the elders were out of the way, but thankfully that never came to pass. However this did leave the Heir to ascend to the throne immaturely, with an elder ruling alongside them to “guide” them until they reach “maturity.”

This elder is still ruling alongside the Monarch, as it will still be roughly 300 years (give or take) before the current Monarch reaches the age of 2,000.

It was the Ruling Elder who pushed for Decomposers to be banished, and while the current Monarch has more say now than they used to, they still live in fear of the Infector and despise anything and anyone that might reflect the Infector’s behavior.

Before the events of The Infection (B.A. Infection), Faeries weren’t very well known in the human realm, Creature’s presence were only ever noticed by those who lived in or near the forest, and Critters were the only Fae to ever be seen in towns, they weren’t even considered “Fae.” “Creature” and “Critter” are human given names to separate the magical creatures that lived in the woods based on how human or animal they appeared. The River Town was filled with a majority of people who knew of the Fae’s existence, they would hear the soft chiming of bells in the forest, tiny “Critters” scampering around their town causing mischief, and magical flowers were spread all around the forest in places you wouldn’t expect. The people of the River Town learned to live alongside the Fae, finding neutral ground of not bothering each other while sharing the same forest, however outside of the forest, especially in the city, they were considered nothing but a fairytale for children and weren’t believed to exist. But despite this, rumored sightings still spread and those who were intrigued went searching for answers. Self proclaimed “Creature Hunters” began to appear in The River Town, some were brash enough to ask the townsfolk outright what they knew about the “Creatures,” while others disguised their ill intent as simple curiosity and a desire to learn about the magical beings of the forest out of respect or intrigue. The townspeople would become increasingly aware of the intentions behind these people’s actions, and became uneasy around any outsiders who showed interest in the “Creatures,” and things only got worse when the self proclaimed “Creature Hunters” began setting up traps, not only souring the humans neutral relationship with the Fae, but also causing damage to the forest life as animals would get caught in traps meant for “Critters” and townspeople’s livelihood that depended on the forest was being affected as more hunters began hunting in the forest. Successfully capturing “Critters” and bringing them back to the city brought more attention to the matter, and the people of the River Town was able to get their mayor to convince the city government to tone down on the sudden spike in hunting in their forest, and while it wasn’t made illegal, it was from then on heavily looked down upon to “harm the hunting industry by hunting for imaginary fairytales.” However there was no going back at that point, as despite the social scrutiny, people inside or outside the City became aware of “Creatures” existence and began engaging with this new money making opportunity. Creature Hunting not only become an official thing, but a secret thing, as Creature Hunters started hunting down Fae for their unnatural and sometimes magical properties, selling them within secret markets or operations either alive for study or use, or killing them and selling the parts. This was the beginning of the Fae’s mistrust and hatred towards humans, and it would only grow from then on.

Brooklet Avenue: The Legacy of Nature’s Revival. Creature’s are being hunted down by humans and the Infection is running rampant, however after the events of Nature’s Revival, Creature’s are seen as the source of the Infection and fighting against the Infection and hunting Creatures is seen as one and the same. The only plus is that while the Infection is here to stay, The Infector is dead and never coming back,  meaning the Monarch’s main fear and reason to not get involved with “the human realm” is dealt with. With humans targeting Creatures, hunting them down, experimenting on them, and getting more and more involved with the Faerie’s livelihood, humans attracting the attention of the Fae Realm was inevitable, and the behavior humans were showing looked a bit too close to that of the Infector for the Monarch’s liking.

Discussion to be continued…

I wasn’t able to work on this for a while but was still brainstorming this topic in the meantime, so now I have other thoughts and lore that makes my previous thoughts and brainstorming I had yet to type out outdated. Basically, continuing this post to fit my new ideas would make getting this out take too long and frankly feel kind of strange, but because it’s still unfinished I’m just gonna do a part two with my revamped brainstorming and lore ideas :) (The Emily Wilde trilogy which I’m currently reading is partially to blame haha, I had a feeling it would help with my Fae lore which is why I was planning on getting this all typed out before I started reading the books but ah well that just means we’re skipping over the “screw these stupid animal creature things that are too important to the plot to cut!” and going straight to “I’ve thought of a fix” lol)

-Stitch 🌱

Catching up on some lore I promised (4/25/26 - 5/16/26)

 

~Remember that time I asked you guys what lore you were most interested in? Yeah…~

Hi… this took so long to finish that I had to redo the intro because it was just so outdated and would just be confusing. Anyways, Missy I am now bringing you your long overdue character dynamic lore dumps, and Eebie, even though you said you’re fine with waiting, you’re getting The Purge of Decay lore sooner than originally planned, which is what I’m currently working on :)

Now with that said, here’s some character dynamics, woo!

~*~*~*~

Usually I would immediately go for explaining my B.A. OC OTP (that string of letters mean something I swear), Sadie and Willow, but I’m currently workshopping those two and their dynamic feels so unfamiliar and not solid enough even for my note posts, so for today I have selected these character dynamics to discuss:

-Penny, Brielle, and Ben

-Brielle and Jolie

-Jolie and Josephine

Some will be short, and some will be paragraphs, but I figured lore was lore and even if it’s short it’s still something that would otherwise be unknown to y’all, so here we are, starting with the Brown Siblings, because I can’t believe I’ve been working on B.A. for over a year and have barely talked about those three.

~The Brown Siblings (Penny, Ben, Brielle)~

The Brown Siblings! The original main characters. Despite originally being more illustration centered they actually have a lot of lore to share, Brielle and Penny even has quite a lot of lore within the STEPs, meanwhile Ben stays more chill and illustration focused. So, let’s talk about them!

Before jumping straight into their dynamics, you first need to understand their escapism, as it plays a *very* big part in how they interact with eachother.

~*~*~

Brielle is the most straightforward out of the escapism tendencies each sibling has, she’s avoidant in nature, so despite being able to handle herself and defend against attacking forces, she’s also the first to run away when she’s scared. Even the way she defends against the Infection is avoidant. If you go out into the forest you’re going to have to understand that facing the Infection head-on is inevitable, however it was also taught to most River Town residents that the best corse of action is to stun and flee, they’re taught that the Infected can’t be killed and that is exactly how Brielle handles it. This is also how Brielle handles her trauma, “stun and flee” is basically another way to describe avoidance, is it not? When given the option to choose, Brielle will *always* choose avoidance, it shows in her main form of escapism- workaholism, it’s a distraction and therefore a form of avoidance, if she’s busy she doesn’t have the *time* to think about what happened to her parents and her community and therefore pushes it off. It shows in her action, her personality, her guilt- when she accidentally “kills” an Infected Townsperson and hurts her brother, what does she do? She runs, she flees, she avoids, it’s the same tactics she’s always followed that was even more built up ever since coming to Brooklet Avenue. It even shows in how she interacts with others, but I’ll get to that in a moment.

Penny’s escapism is the least controlled, it’s also the most innocent-looking of the three, as she struggles with maladaptive daydreaming, imagination cranked up to 100% to the point of being harmful, she’s pulled out of reality, and when forced to experience reality folds in on herself. She doesn’t know how to handle real complications, she’s babied, kept safe from harsh realities, and has been given too much false hope that she can no longer perceive when it is *false.* Her optimism comes from naïveté masquerading as hope, and when exposed as such she reverts back into her sweet dreams of a better, more gentle reality. Penny is also avoidant, but it is a different kind of avoidance. While Brielle’s avoidance is more controlled, Penny’s came from a place of misunderstanding and being nurtured in the wrong ways, protecting someone from the harsh reality of life doesn’t mean keeping them from it.

Ben is easiest summed up with a phrase: you can never fully move on, but you sure can try. Unlike his sisters who are stuck in an escapism limbo, Ben has actually worked through a lot of his trauma, but *like* his sisters, he too engages with escapism. Ben’s escapism has always been the hardest to explain, hence why it was always just described as “music,” but that’s not all there is to it. Ben puts up a front, in order to “move on” he believed he had to put his past behind him, and in order to do so has to become a new person, essentially the complete opposite of his twin, and this is primarily thanks to his Aunt who helped him work through his grief. To briefly explain Sadie’s flawed reasoning, she believes that the only way the Brown Siblings can heal is if they move on and live new lives, might I remind you this is someone who grew up with an absent “father,” only to later in life lose her mother, and due to her previous losses, Sadie has a reoccurring pattern of “casting aside” her past in search of a new future. This is basically what she teaches Ben. Sadie (with permission from the twins, although they were hesitant) burns down their family home to prove to them that they don’t need to focus on their past and can instead build a new life, a fresh start, and Ben takes this opportunity and runs with it: new people who doesn’t know him, a new culture and environment, he can be whoever he wants, and he can shape it himself. Ben’s way of escaping his trauma is by living in the moment, he follows life wherever it takes him, and he refuses to fit into a singular mold (or at least he tries), this is why music is so prominent in his escapism. Whether it’s listening to a record on his phonograph with his little sister by his side, or playing the violin with his friends, he listens to every note, every lyric, the sound of a bow gliding on strings, and for a brief moment nothing else matters and he feels weightless. While Brielle immediately “moved on,” and Penny was shielded from the truth, Ben fully caved in on his new reality, it hit him hard but he also allowed himself to feel the grief, and that’s probably why he was the first to move on, and the one with the healthiest coping mechanism.

~*~*~

With all that said, I’m going to explain the dynamics in this order:

-Brielle and Penny

-Penny and Ben

-Brielle and Ben

Brielle and Penny:

Brielle, being Penny’s older sister, does have the tendency to baby her like Sadie, however there’s also more to it. Brielle will do anything to keep the Infection away from her little sister, and that includes keeping her in the dark about it. While Brielle is out in the forest fighting the Infection, Penny is safe and sound in the town living a calm childhood. However, little kids aren’t stupid, they catch onto more than you’d think, and Penny could always tell there was something going on, she just never knew what. Penny would eventually get curious about the forest, the place she wasn’t allowed to enter, and would find a little spot where it was difficult for people to see her leaving, and cross the river by simply swimming across. This would be the time when Penny meets Millie, an Infected who had conflicting feelings upon reuniting with “her” lost friend, and Penny would get out safe and sound, Millie Mayfield being the only Infected to ever hesitate when it came to infecting. Then there was Brielle. Brielle’s relationship with Penny is a complicated one, because while she is incredibly overprotective of her, she also doesn’t set aside the time to play with or hang out with her little sister, causing their relationship to be primarily lead by a type of “do you actually care about me?” attitude from Penny’s side. And after discovering that Penny had been sneaking into the forest, Brielle’s attempts to keep Penny safe changes from “there’s nothing wrong” to “there is something wrong and you must stay away from it” which just damages their relationship further as Penny distances herself from Brielle to keep her from learning about Millie. They never fully make up, as Penny and Brielle only ever grow more distant as neither of them work through their destructive coping mechanisms, and Brielle never gets the chance to truly connect to her little sister, nor Penny to her big sister. (How sad…)

Penny and Ben:

While Brielle was strict and distant, Ben was quite the opposite, he has a very healthy relationship with Penny as he would actively put aside time to play with her, and would often invite her to hang out with him whenever he went off on his own to de-stress. Ben and Sadie basically raised Penny together, as neither of them could fully take up the space of her parental figures but did their best to make sure she had a happy childhood. Ben raises his little sister similarly to how he lives his life, unrestricted and free, which is probably why Penny, a imaginative little girl, gravitated more towards her fun-loving older brother and his friends rather than her busy, closed off older sister. Ben actively encourages Penny’s imagination, and tries to give her the space to be herself, however he too would avoid the “Infection Talk,” and isn’t fully clued in on her forest escapes until Brielle brings it to light when she becomes furiously anxious about it.

Ben and Brielle:

Ben and Brielle, despite being twins, aren’t really characters I thought much of together, as they’ve always had their own lives separate from each other. Due to Brielle’s busy life and Ben’s own relationships with his friends and Penny, there isn’t much to comment on in regard to how they interact. Which is honestly a plot hole on my part, they grew up together so there should be *something* there. If there’s one thing I can comment on, it’s that Brielle’s trauma sure does screw up any relationship she was barely holding onto, because the single thing I can think of where Ben and Brielle was involved with each other’s storylines is the end of STEP II: where Brielle accidentally decapitates the Infected Honey (The Carpenter’s wife), which is something that was heavily looked down upon by the River Town community as they consider it inhumane to do so to Infected Humans. Ben stumbles upon the scene, and Brielle panics, begging him not to tell anyone and not to see her differently and that she didn’t mean to do it. Ben doesn’t know what to think and tries to leave after Brielle won’t clam down, which is when Brielle suddenly lashes out, her hands turning to wooden claws as she slashes her brother in the chest. Seeing what she had done, Brielle is horrified, and with panic and adrenaline through the roof, she runs, leaving Ben to bleed out in the melting snow… obviously he survives, but.. yikes.

~Jolie Cardinal and Brielle Brown~

Jolie and Brielle! Probably the shortest character dynamic in the list, it’s simple but sweet, and I’ve had an illustration idea based off of this very duo since back when I was first thinking about the story. (I still really want to draw it but it requires The Huntsman to be designed and I just haven’t gotten around to that yet)

As you probably already know, Jolie’s main goal in life is to find a cure for The Infection, by Step III onward she’s kind of shifted her perspective and changed her goal to trying to learn as much as possible about The Infection and write down all her research in her journal for others to use, so that they can continue on her research to hopefully one day find a cure, but that doesn’t mean she’s lost hope for her own lifetime… But I’m getting carried away, I’m talking about STEP I, Springtime Survival, with little 12 year old Jolie Cardinal and 16 year old Brielle Brown. The very beginning of Jolie’s cure studies, in the midst of Brielle’s trauma-based workaholism. I will admit, this dynamic is a bit one-sided, but that’s because Brielle is just distant like that, I mean, you’ve seen how she is with her own siblings, what do you think she’d be like with others? Brielle was one of the youngest River Town residents who would go out into the Infection infested forest to do chores and come back usually unscathed, she has both training in logging and medical care and because of all of these traits she quickly gained the awe and attention of young Jolie Cardinal, who had been studying medical care and botany through limited books in determination to find a cure, and had been wanting to study under someone with experience. Perhaps even gain experience herself… but unfortunately for Jolie, being a young girl who didn’t seem physically or mentally prepared for the forest, would be turned down by basically every person she tried to study under. Therefore she turned to her last resort, someone closer to her age who surely would understand her perspective and determination, someone like Brielle Brown! Someone who… also turned her down. Look, Brielle doesn’t have the time to teach someone else, and she certainly doesn’t have the mental energy to let anyone in, and above all she wasn’t going to send a twelve year old girl to her inevitable fungal demise. Unfortunately for Brielle, being turned down by her last resort only made Jolie even more determined, and caused her to turn to her true last resort: gaining experience through trial and error, learning firsthand what the Infection is like by going into the forest by herself without anyone else’s help. Because her guardian certainly wouldn’t be coming with her, gosh he doesn’t even know she’s doing such things! Jolie would get herself into trouble and if she couldn’t get herself out of it, Brielle would often miraculously be there to save her. Brielle would try to convince Jolie to stop coming into the forest if she couldn’t handle it, but Jolie would keep showing up, time and time again, and eventually Brielle would feel inclined to teach Jolie a thing or two, but would ultimately still stay distant and refused to actually mentor her. These two, while not forming any close bonds, has always stuck out to me as a STEP I dynamic, as they were thought out so early on and is just that: a character dynamic, so it felt like a bit of a breather in between the two long dynamics :)

~Jolie Cardinal and Josephine Solara~

Jo-Jo! *cough* I mean Jolie and Josephine! These two are such cuties to me, which is funny because they live very dangerous lives. A bit of a side note, but I was originally hesitant to pair these two together because Jolie looked so much older than Mary in Step I, but they’re actually incredibly close in age (only a one year difference), Jolie just looked old for her age and Mary had the same base as Penny, besides Mary gets a few growth spurts somewhere between Step I and Step II, so she doesn’t look younger for that long. Anyways, back to character dynamics!

Sooo… fun fact about these two, they’re the prime example of “Stitch makes too many romantic duos and doesn’t go in-depth enough with most of them,” because I have so much going on in B.A. that I don’t think of stuff unless they’re plot relevant enough and therefore can’t give you a specific answer of how these two met, and if I did know once, I’ve long forgotten by now.

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“Mary” also known as “Marigold” was a little eleven year old girl, very small for her age, who came to Brooklet Avenue with her twin brother, named “Spider Lily,” those names were given to them by Sadie Foxglove due to the fact that they were both selectively mute and refused to talk to anyone. Marigold and Spider Lily were both often seen scampering around the River Town, usually seen by townsfolk as Spider Lily causing some type of ruckus or commotion while Marigold would follow him around and help him out of tight spots, however she never engaged with any of his shenanigans. Despite clearly coming from the Mill Community, it was clear that the two were on their own, but no one could ever figure out where they would disappear to when they weren’t causing trouble, their home was a completely mystery.

Jolie Cardinal was a twelve year old girl, often described as “studious” and “mature” for her age. She is known as “the girl who floated down the river,” as she would be found floating down the river of Brooklet Avenue on a branch not long after the start of the Infection. Jolie would be taken in by the Carpenter, and later it would be known that her mother was attacked by Infected and tossed Jolie into the water, supposedly in hopes her daughter would make it out alive. Jolie was often found studying, either medical or botanical books, and when she wasn’t trying to get out into the forest and putting herself in danger for her studies, would often be carving something out of a little piece of wood.

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To give a timeline, Jolie and Mary starts interacting sometime in STEP I, Springtime Survival, probably about a year (or a year and half) into STEP I (for reference, STEP II is three years after STEP I).

Jolie and Mary would run into each other a few times in the forest, usually while Mary was trying to bring her brother back to Knell’s Treehouse, but Mary and Spider would always disappear the moment they got the chance. However Jolie had already started noticing signs of what Mary and Spider kept secret from the entire town: Spider was ill, in what way she didn’t know, it could’ve been some chronic illness she didn’t know much about, but she also didn’t want to ignore the signs. Jolie would begin to keep an eye out for the twins, and whenever she had the opportunity would try to interact with Mary.

Eventually the two would warm up to each other, and would start to get to know each other on a personal level, learning that one of their goals were the same: they both wanted to find a cure for The Infection. Mary also officially introduces herself to Jolie as Josephine Solara.

This would bring us close to the end of STEP I, where Spider is outed as Infected and the town kicks him out, forcing Mary to test for the Infection before letting her go with him. Jolie believes that Spider was treated unfairly, but also understands why the townspeople reacted the way they did, he was Infected after all, and the town was never hesitant to cast out their own people if it meant keeping the Infection out. Jolie was aware by that point that Spider was Infected, but Mary never explained the details of how he was keeping it at bay up until that point.

Fortunately, by STEP II, Mary finally trusts Jolie enough that she knows she wouldn’t react poorly learning the information, and brings Jolie into the woods where she introduces her to Knell The Creature. Mary explains to Jolie that Knell is her’s and Spider’s caretaker in the same way how the Carpenter is for her, and that his natural Creature magic was how Spider was able to fight the infection (even if it was a loosing battle). Jolie is shocked by the information, but her shock is quickly overcome by the revelation that she may have had a breakthrough- the Infection can be kept at bay, and if it can be kept at bay, surely that means it can be reversed? Despite Knell’s attempts to explain the situation properly to Jolie- how the Infection can’t be reversed and even he could only do so much to fight it- Jolie was already filled with more hope and determination.

This would be when Jolie and Mary would share everything they know about the Infection with each other, and would officially consider each other partners- no, sorry, not romantic partners, partners in the sense of working together for the same goal, that comes later.

Jolie and Mary would run into Gabriel Flintlock in the forest, who was snapping photos of frozen Infected, and this is how Jolie would learn that Gabriel had some knowledge of the Infection himself and would start seeking him out to question him on such things, however Mary was incredibly hesitant to trust him. Mary would later be proven correct. Throughout STEP II Gabriel would interact with Jolie, Mary, and Penny, pushing Penny into interacting with Jolie and Mary and introducing them to Millie, manipulating them all into believing there was hope for a cure and traveling out to his old Academy (University?) where the Infector lay asleep from the freeze. He would also manipulate little Colette and bring her to the university himself (now you guys understand why Gabriel isn’t that great of a guy, but that can be a whole post of it’s own). After manipulating the three girls to travel with Millie to the old academy, Gabriel arrives with Colette and the Infector is freed from the thaw and wakes up (it’s a whole thing that has nothing to do with Jo-Jo), they trap Jolie, Mary, Penny, and Colette and removes Millie’s flowers. Then Spider is brought to the academy (I haven’t quite figured out the details of how he gets there, I’ve gone through a few ideas and just haven’t figured out which one would work best), and the “experiment” begins. (I’m having to remind myself this is about Jolie and Mary, not Step II lol) Mary becomes distraught over her brother (supposedly) becoming Infected, and Jolie quickly gets out of her branch restraints during all the commotion and frees Mary, running off with her before they catch The Infector’s attention.

Knell ends up explaining to Mary that he knows from a trusted source that Spider is alive, and this is how STEP III begins for Mary and Jolie.

Phew, this is where I can finally describe their dynamic. Yeah, that’s right, this was all leading up to me being able to actually talk about these two, my goodness! This is why I had to cut out so much…

STEP III is when I’ve always thought of Mary and Jolie the most, probably because this is when the plot picks up and they become romantically involved- Mary even picking up the surname “Cardinal” in preference over “Solara” despite nothing being official (it’s the same scenario as Sadie Foxglove still legally being called Sadie Brown). Jolie is a stoic girl who doesn’t often show much emotion on her face, and only really warms up around those she loves, one of which being Josephine, an overprotective and passionate girl who is compared to sunshine. Jolie and Josephine both had similar feelings when it came to “growing up too fast,” as Jolie was always considered too “mature” or “adult” for the other kids her age, and Josephine was neglected by both her parents and her older sister and only had the company of her brother within their harsh environment. Alongside this and sharing a similar goal, they were able to get close pretty fast. The only time the two clashes with each other is Jolie’s inability to see when she’s gone too far for her research, particularly when it comes to putting herself in danger, and usually values others more over herself. Part of this is due to Jolie’s overconfidence, as she’s survived many a scenario and truly believes she can get herself out of most situations, but living on the edge like this usually causes Josephine to stress over her and has caused many an argument. They have attempted to work through this, with Jolie being convinced to be more cautious with her life, and Josephine being less overprotective and trusting that her girlfriend knows what she’s doing, however the problem will always remain present in their relationship in one way or another. The two never officially “dated,” at least not in the typical way, as they confessed their feelings for each other and became romantically involved while simultaneously putting their goals first, but they both preferred it that way, as neither of them are very fond of the concept of “dating” and simply fell into their own version of a romance. Out of the two, Josephine is the most outspoken about their relationship and her love for Jolie, she adores her girlfriend and finds her determination and hope admirable, and is always in awe with how intuitive Jolie is, one of her favorite compliments to give her being “you beautiful genius!” Jolie shows her love in more quiet ways, her love language is quality time and she isn’t much of a public affection type of person, she doesn’t mind if Josephine is the one who initiates public affection as she knows Josephine is a very openly lovey person, but she won’t be the one to initiate it. Jolie enjoys quiet quality time with Josephine, she will gladly help Josephine with whatever is important to her, and having someone so dedicated to her and her own goals means the world to her. Jolie’s heart melted when Josephine asked if she could take up her surname, Cardinal, as her own, as to her it meant she truly saw her as family.

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The character dynamics list originally had Knell and Nico, as well as Mary and Spider, but I quickly realized that if I explained Knell and Nico’s dynamic on top of all the others I’d be writing this thing for like two months, soooo character dynamics part two anyone? Also remind me to never do this many dynamics in one post, I’m doing one dynamic per post from here on out…

-Stitch 🌱

STEP II and STEP III pov plot summaries (5/15/26)

  

~What happens in STEP I anyways…~

 I was working on my basic plot summaries I’ve been making in preparation to work on a timeline for Brooklet Avenue, and decided to share them with you guys. You know, get more lore out there, even if it’s simple and not the full picture in any way.

Also I’m still working on my other posts I swear! ToT (In fact I just need to finish one last part for the character dynamics post :))

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(Lore is subject to change)

(Also this only includes the main plot driven POVs and doesn’t include the many different characters interacting with each other, this is simply meant to map out which POVs requires the most time to play out so I can figure out how long STEP II and III should be. Which is why STEP I isn’t included because I already know how long STEP I goes for)

Main plot of Step II-

🌻Nico: Nico travels outside of B.A, stays with the Lake Community and trains to get through the “beast” to get to the City. Once he makes it to the city, he finds Madame, and learns of his father’s fate, convincing Madame that he wants to become a Creature Hunter.

🐦‍⬛🪾Spider/Knell: Spider is outed as Infected and outcasted from The River Town. He becomes sick from the Infection clashing with the winter and Knell takes care of him, Spider has troubles with his Infection outgrowing Knell’s magic and begins hearing the voice of The Infector.

🍎🌿 JoJo: Jolie gets to know Mary more who is stressing out over her brother, Jolie doesn’t believe it was right for Spider to be treated the way he was but also finds his case to be somewhat of a breakthrough. Jolie and Mary also both starts hanging out with Gabe because Jolie thinks he might have some information on the Infection, but Mary is hesitant to trust him.

🐇🌼🍄‍🟫 Gabe/Penny/Millie: Penny starts hanging out with Gabe as she finds him intriguing and amusing, and introduces him to Millie, who he is deeply interested in.

🎻🍓 Ben/Clem: Ben and Clem come to terms with their feelings, and begins to try things out in this new winter wonderland, but during this they become more and more distant from Sylas who seems to be secluding himself from them and won’t explain why.

🤍🍃 Colette/Sy: Sylas begins distancing himself from his friends after they become more romantically involved, during this he finds a little girl and starts to take care of her, becoming more and more attached to his new “little sister” and enjoying this new form of love and attachment.

🐺🐑 Brielle/Penelope: Brielle keeps busy but seems to be getting a little distracted with Penelope, a girl who won’t leave her alone that Brielle has gotten used to the company of. Penelope believes that she can help Brielle and they become very close, but both struggle with their family issues.

🪾🍁🌾 Infector/Sadie/Willow: The Infector is frozen the entire time, but that doesn’t stop them from being involved. Sadie shares the truth with Willow, and Willow struggles with being torn between two communities, especially while her own is struggling in the winter.

🐦‍⬛🔏 Sebastian/August: August learns the truth about Sebastian, and upon confronting him, is given the power to kill him (need to learn how exactly this happens but this is just reference for how many years Step II should be)

Main plot of Step III-

🐦‍⬛ SpiderLily: Wandering the land with amnesia after escaping The Infector, SpiderLily stumbles upon The City and takes a liking to the environment, finding enjoyment in messing with the citizens and spooking people. However it’s not long before he draws in the attention of Creature Hunters, and ends up befriending two thieves, Ellie VonLillian and Reese. Before realizing he’s being lead on by the two thieves, who are secretly working with Creature Hunters, he is attacked and caught by Creature Hunters and taken away to be experimented on in preparation for the hunters big plan.

🌻 Nico: Nico is deep within infiltration acting as a Creature Hunter, trying to figure out how to dismantle the Creature Hunters or put a wrench in their hunting. He gets caught after trying to help SpiderLily escape the clutches of the hunters and doesn’t get out until Knell finds him and frees him at the climax.

🌿🍎 JoJo: Jolie and Mary are searching for Spider, they make their way to the city where the real searching begins, they meet Ellie VonLillian and Reese who tries to help them after feeling guilty of their betrayal and learning what Creature Hunting actually is. They find and free SpiderLily but is unable to sneak him out.

🍄🌼 SilverBell/Penny: Penny stumbles upon “Millie” and attempts to reconnect with her childhood friend, however SilverBell won’t go along with it. Penny continues to look for SilverBell, eventually following her to the Creature Community deep within the forest. Penny ends up in the wrong place at the wrong time and before she can be turned away is mistakenly captured alongside the entire Creature Community by a sudden attack from the Creature Hunters.

🥀🌲 Elder Rose/Knell: Knell meets up with Elder Rose for the first time since he was a baby, they discuss The Purge of Decay and Elder Rose gives Knell some things to contemplate about his life as a “Decomposer” and as the one who freed the Infector, explaining that it was ultimately his choice whether he “went down the same path” as Poppy. It’s not long before the two of them realize what happened to the Creature Community, and Knell becomes incredibly angry, leaving immediately to stop whatever it was the Creature Hunters were plotting.

🪾🍁🌾 Infector/Sadie/Willow: After agreeing to the Infector’s link, Sadie takes up the persona of who she consider’s to be the true “Sadie Foxglove,” a conniving Creature who is done playing nice. She appears in Brooklet Avenue, letting everyone know “who she truly is,” souring her reputation in an attempt to convince The Infector of her act and make sure no one will miss her when she’s gone. Willow doesn’t believe her, and follows her into the forest, where she runs into Sadie and The Infector. Sadie convinces Willow to leave before The Infector can do anything to her, and Willow begins to form a plan of her own to either get Sadie out of this situation, take her place, or go down with her trying.

🎻🍓 Ben/Clementine: Clementine helps Ben get through the disappearance of his best friend and twin sister, his distant little sister, and his Aunt’s sudden change in heart. The two of them promise to build a family together, and Ben holds out long enough for his little sister to return home before eventually proposing to Clementine and going through with marriage.

🐺🐑 Brielle/Penelope: After accidentally injuring her brother, Brielle has run away and been overtaken by some type of “wolf Creature,” she eventually finds herself near a lighthouse where the wolf tries to attack the flock of sheep nearby. Brielle is stopped by Old Lady Herder, who houses her and gives her work to do: tending the flock. Penelope has left her home after a falling out with her family, deciding that Brielle was the only one who could understand her and upon learning that Brielle has disappeared, goes after her.

I had to hold so much information back, If I went into detail of each pov… well I’d finally have most of the lore out, that’s for sure, but I’d also be here for like a full week straight which I simply can’t do. Feel free to mention which pov you’re most interested in and I might put it higher on the “just get the lore out there already” list :>

-Stitch 🌱