Origins

She is a poor student, and she has never hidden it. When she gathers up souls, what comes to mind is not glory but student debt, art supplies and rent. Those numbers are more real than any praise, and they press in behind the easel late every night.

“This should cover some student debt”

“这些应该能抵掉点学生贷款。”TL

Her name has long been on the roster of the Upstart Gallery, but a name doesn’t pay the bills. In summer she draws caricatures of passersby on the boardwalk; during term she all but lives in life drawing. Those classes have taken root in her head: pulling off one of her signature tricks, she will suddenly remember that she used it in life drawing once, and things got real awkward real fast.

“This reminds me of my summer gig doing caricatures on the boardwalk”

“这让我想起夏天在海滨木板道上画漫画像的兼职。”TL

School always keeps its place in her mind. Hesitating at the threshold of the ritual, what she mutters about is her final project: completing the ritual won’t mean a thing if she doesn’t graduate. She is skipping class to be here and dreads anyone at school finding out, which is why she asked Dynamo whether he knew any of the teachers at Jamie West.

“Look I got a final project I need to work on, and completing the ritual won't mean shit if I don't graduate”

“我还有期末作品要完成，要是毕不了业，完成仪式又有个屁用。”TL

“Oh, I'm skipping class to do this and just want to make sure you can't narc on me.”

“哦，我是翘课来这儿的，就想确认你没法告我的状。”TL

By her own account, she worked out her shit in therapy two years ago. So when she took Pocket to task, she spoke with certainty: if you miss your family, be honest about it instead of pretending you don’t care.

“I'm not. Cause if I were you I would leave New York and never look back, but that's because I worked out my shit in therapy like 2 years ago. You on the other hand, are trying to summon a god because somewhere inside you still want mommy and daddy's approval.”

“我没有。因为我要是你，我就离开纽约，再也不回头，但那是因为我两年前就在心理治疗里把自己那堆烂事理清了。而你呢，是想召唤一位神明，因为你心底某处还想要爸妈的认可。”TL

She no longer has anything to do with her family, yet she can hardly be said to have made her peace with it. She told Bebop it had been three years, and her parents hadn’t even checked to see if she was alive; she was not particularly interested in being the bigger person. When Baba asked whether her parents knew she was here, she said no, and that even if she were talking to them she wouldn’t want to scare them. It should scare you, said Baba; she answered only: don’t worry, it does.

“It's been 3 years. They haven't checked to see if I'm alive, let alone happy. So I'm not particularly interested in being the bigger person.”

“已经三年了。他们连我是死是活都没问过，更别说过得开不开心。所以我可没兴趣当那个大度的人。”TL

“Don't worry, it does”

“放心，我怕着呢。”TL

Victor doesn’t talk to his parents either, yet he can’t make sense of her. He doesn’t know who his parents are, he said; she does. Knowing, she answered, makes it a lot easier to avoid them.

Old Friends and Foes

Paradox: An Idol Shattered on Meeting

She has been to three Paradox Museums and calls herself a fan of Paradox. Paradox promised her a little preview of the next pop-up after the ritual: anything for a fan. When she asked Paradox about the ways of art theft, though, the answer she got was: I’m not an art person, that’s more another Paradox’s thing; he’s an asshole, but when it comes to art theft he’s the best.

Later the two really did come to blows. With her opponent down, she said: never meet your heroes; and in the next breath, God, she’s so cool. She half-jokingly hoped that after this her art might be worth stealing; painting Paradox’s portrait, she put it more plainly still: I won’t be mad if you want to steal this. Paradox, for her part, kept her in mind too: given more time to cook, she may become someone worth stealing from.

“Maybe after this my art will be worth stealing...”

“也许这次之后，我的作品就值得被盗用了……”

“I won't be mad if you want to steal this, Paradox.”

“如果你想拿走这个，我不会生气的，悖论”

“Given more time to cook she may become someone worth stealing from.”

“再给她点时间磨练，她或许会成为很好的对象”

Kelvin: The Man Who Wants Her Cover Art

Kelvin said that if they survived, he would write about what transpired today, and every book needs a cover; who better to draw it than someone who lived it? She said she’d be honored. She has also asked him how to deal with a sponsor, joking that she could pull a Kelvin — take the money and disappear off the face of the Earth for a year — and he said he really didn’t recommend it. She is not always polite with him: when he told her she was too young to have a chip on her shoulder, she shot back, don’t tell me how to feel.

She knows he is a wight, and painting him, she said he may be dead, but he’s alive on this canvas. Bringing her down, he, too, was measured with her: this wasn’t the place for her, and there are better ways to find yourself; he hates cutting down promising futures.

“There are better ways to find yourself, Violet.”

“阿紫，还有更好的方法去发现自我。”

“I hate cutting down promising futures.”

“我最讨厌斩断有前途的人生。”TL

Victor: The Model from Life Drawing

Victor is her favorite life drawing model. Painting him, she said it was just like old times. Later, when the two met in the ring, she still called him her favorite model; he, apologetic, said he’d owe her a sitting.

“He was my favorite life drawing model, too”

“他也是我最喜欢的人体写生模特。”TL

“Sorry, Violet. I'll owe you a sitting.”

“抱歉，阿紫。我欠你一次画像”

Haze: The Agent Sizing Her Up

At first Haze was trying to figure out whether she was an “asset” worth using; told that Violet was just an art student, she said: I’ll take your word for it. Later, seeing her scared, Haze sighed and told her to stay close; she’d do what she could. What Violet feared, though, was the OSIC behind Haze: she said she was ending up on a watch list, and that the agency was surely going to find her.

“*sigh* stay close to me. I'll do what I can.”

“*叹气*跟紧我。我会尽力。”TL

“I'm ending up on a watch list aren't I...”

“我这下要上监视名单了吧……”TL

Seven: The Man Who Said Kill Without Mercy

Seven took her for a cliché, guessing she was doing this because her parents were disappointed in her; she asked whether he really thought she was that clichéd, and he said “Yes.” When she asked him for advice on the ritual, all he said was: kill without mercy. She promptly called him a murderer, and said she didn’t want him anywhere near a wish. Yet when she put him on canvas, he looked to her like he wanted to reach out of it and kill her. Perfect.

“Kill without mercy.”

“毫不留情地杀。”TL

“You're a murderer Seven!”

“你是个杀人犯，柒！”TL

“He looks like he wants to reach out of the canvas and kill me. Perfect.”

“他看起来像是想从画布里伸出手来杀了我。完美。”TL

Pocket and Paige: Like Her, and Not Quite

Pocket’s moodiness struck her as familiar; she joked at her own expense that she’d thought she was moody, and painting him, she sighed, wondering who hurt him. Paige, in her eyes, is “like me if I was white and more neurotic”; she wants to be the girl’s friend, and in the painting she did her a favor and toned her anxiety way down.

“And I thought I was moody...”

“我还以为自己够阴郁的呢……”TL

“She's like me if I was white and more neurotic”

“她就像我，只不过是白人，而且更神经质”

Solomon and Abrams: The Ones Who Left Her Room

When Solomon invited her to play chess for money, she changed her mind the moment she heard she could put rent on the line. She said his confidence was calming; he said she mistook resignation for confidence, that he had made peace with the fact that he was going to die, and then said it was a joke. He had seen her paint in the park and told her she was good; when she said she was okay, he told her fake humility didn’t become her. As for Abrams, she said it was better than killing a cop, and that she had nothing against Ixians; she just needed to do this ritual.

“You mistake resignation with confidence, I've made peace with the fact that I'm going to die.”

“你把认命当成了自信。我早就接受了自己会死的事实。”TL

“Better than killing a cop, I guess.”

“总比不尊重警察强吧”

Yamato and Vyper: The Ones She Keeps Away From

She once called Yamato a bitch — because she’s insufferable, she explained — and only afterward realized what she had done. She said she had pissed off the 7th Moon and might have to change her wish; yet when she painted her, the painter in her surfaced again, wondering what turned her so cold. Vyper, in her eyes, is a frat party turned into a person, and she has set herself a new goal: don’t be her.

“Oh I called you a bitch. Because you're insufferable.”

“哦，我骂你贱人。因为你实在让人受不了。”TL

“I pissed off the 7th Moon... I might have to change my wish”

“我把第七月得罪了……看来我得换个愿望了。”TL

“I wonder what turned her so cold”

“真想知道是什么让她变得这么冷漠。”TL

Billy: The One Who Asked Her Out for a Beer

Billy asked her to get a beer after the ritual — actual beer, he made clear, because the last thing he needed was Vyper seeing her and trying to stab her. They talked rallies, the bat and murals, as easy with each other as friends from the same student crowd. Later, in the ring, he murmured an apology: walk it off, Vi, you’ll be okay.

“Actual beer. Last thing I need is her to see you and try to stab you.”

“真啤酒。我最不想看到的，就是她见了你，然后捅你一刀。”TL

Celeste: The Idol Who Might Have Been a Friend

She once told Celeste: big fan. She mentioned having quit her studies partway, and Celeste scoffed that the teacher sounded like an asshole who doesn’t have to pay rent. Later Celeste reckoned they probably could have been friends, and that Violet needed some found family.

“I think she needs some found family.”

“我觉得她需要些自己找来的家人。”TL

Nurse Harrow: A Ruler in Her Gaze

Nurse Harrow works in the Possession Ward, and Violet knew her by way of a friend, Nick Tsai; on the spot the nurse recited the boy’s poor posture, his dirty fingernails and that hamster, and said she was glad to hear he survived treatment. Violet said she reminded her of one of her professors at Jamie West; asked whether that meant she loved the teacher or was terrified of her, she answered “Yes,” twice. When she asked for stories from the ward, the nurse would share none, saying instead that she was a child who doesn’t deal with professionals; Violet found that a little more bitchy than she’d expected. Painting her, Violet said that gaze made you want to stand up straight; and later, when she actually brought her down, she admitted she kind of enjoyed smacking the judgment off her face.

“Kind of enjoyed smacking the judgment off her face.”

“打掉她那张评判的脸，还挺爽的。”TL

Anecdotes

Patrons. She tends to size up the rich and their institutions with an appraising eye. Calico looked pretty rich, so she asked whether she had ever thought about being a patron of the arts; she wouldn’t mind at all, if they were paying her rent. When Lady Geist fell, she exclaimed that she had been a patron of the arts, and worried she would never get into any gallery she had donated to; painting her, she mused: what if I could get Jamie West an endowment?

“You ever think about being a patron of the arts?”

“你有没有想过当个艺术赞助人？”TL

“Oh shit, she was a patron of the arts...”

“天哪，她是艺术赞助人……”TL

The Throne-Room Portrait. Rat King took one look at her brush and straight off demanded a portrait for his throne room. Her terms: keep me from getting killed and you got a deal. She likes portraiture; there’s something cool, she says, about capturing the essence of someone without using words as a crutch.

“Keep me from getting killed and you got a deal”

“保证我不被杀，这笔买卖就成交。”TL

“I like portraiture. There's something cool about capturing the essence of someone without using words as a crutch.”

“我喜欢画肖像。不靠言语这根拐杖，就能抓住一个人的神韵，这很酷。”TL

The Potter’s Wheel and the Dreams. She has a potter’s wheel at home, and when Mo & Krill came to her wanting to make ashtrays, she realized only then that they were serious. When Rem heard she was going to be in the ritual, he slipped into her dreams to see the fun, and all she could do was ask him to please stop.

“Holy shit you were serious, I am so sorry. Yeah, I got a potter’s wheel.”

“我靠，你们是认真的啊，真抱歉。对，我有一台陶轮。”TL

“When I heard you were gonna be in the ritual, I decided to invade your dreams, and they seem pretty fun!”

“我听说你要参加仪式，就决定闯进你的梦里看看，结果好像还挺好玩的！”TL

Wraith and Apollo. When Wraith lifted her into the air, all she let out was “Damn it Wraith!”; of Apollo, she tossed off: “Blackmore asshole.”

“Damn it Wraith!”

“该死，灵魅！”TL

A Record. Holliday’s lasso had her crying “I’m just a student!”, and afterward she worried she was going to have a record. An immigrant student’s sensitivity to that one word, “record,” lies bare in this small affair.

The Bear Pit. Looking over the fighting ring of the Bear Pit, what occurred to her was that they should pay her to paint it.

Graves. To her, Graves is such a cliché; she goes to school with hundreds of kids just like her. Yet painting her, she said: I get her.

“You are such a cliche Graves”

“你真是老套得要命，格瑞墓。”TL

Open Questions