The Substitute Librarian
Moving Targets
“Now listen up.” The stodgy unicorn at the front of the group consulted his clipboard, then looked out into the train car where a dozen ponies were paying him varied amounts of attention. Two young seamstresses were displaying relative obliviousness by chatting eagerly to each other, the small group of student bakers stopped exchanging cooking tips, and Emerald maintained an alert stance in the front row with his own notebook and a graphite hoof-scriber. Even though it was early, he had attended far earlier classes during his college years so far, and this was one potential educational experience he was determined not to fail. Or at least not unless it became necessary.
Despite the early hour, the other temporary employees were all fairly alert, most likely because of the phrase ‘Guaranteed Three-Day Minimum.’ The employment packet that had been passed out when they boarded the train made no secret of the erratic nature of their jobs. Several of the deployments had been terminated by the return of the Bearers while the substitutes were still en route to their job sites, allowing the employees to enjoy a pleasant day trip to the small town with extra spending money for shopping.
Still, there was a faint undercurrent of tension through the train because of the possibility that the Bearers of the Elements of Harmony might not return from whatever task they had been assigned, and nopony really wanted to think about what kind of world-wide disaster that might entail. It was far easier to pay attention to the sharp voice of the impeccably dressed unicorn standing at the front of the train compartment as he ran through a few last instructions.
“My name is Papercut, and I’ll be responsible for this deployment. This is a scheduled full Bearer deployment with all of them on a mission for the Princess. Depending on the difficulty of their situation, it could be a week until they return, or more. The six teams filling in for them have each received their own briefing, so I’ll keep this short.”
“Too late,” called out one of the gardeners, although just enough under his breath that the natural noise of the moving train nearly smothered his words.
“Carousel Boutique,” continued Papercut as if he had not heard the slight, although one of his ears twitched. “We’re past most of the Fall fashion season, so all you have to do is watch the store and keep the Bearer’s daughter—”
“Sister,” corrected Emerald automatically without looking up from his notes, although he silently chided his mouth for drawing attention to himself afterward.
“Ah, yes.” Papercut made a correction on his clipboard. “Keep her sister out of trouble around the store. You have your list of behavioral rules, so try to stick with them. Sugarcube Corner?”
“Oui,” said one of the three slightly chubby fillies, all baking students from the school in Canterlot. “We have friends who have been here before, Monsieur Papercut. They say it is always a pleasure.”
Emerald smiled as he made the shorthoof notation on his notebook. He enjoyed the way the young Prench would-be chef pronounced ‘Mon-Sewer Pah-PUR-cuute’ in a way that irked their nominal leader like a hoof-edge along a blackboard. When he wrote it down, the graphite lines made a peculiar image on the paper in the shorthoof notation, much like the pinched lips and beady eyes of its owner.
“Sweet Apple Acres,” said Papercut, his eyes rising just enough off the clipboard to look at the four Canterlot gardeners turned temporary farmers gathered into a tight knot and discussing things among themselves. Papercut’s eyes rested for a moment on the ‘odd one out’ among the group, a greying brown burro who returned his suspicious gaze with a calm patience that Emerald had seen him use a lot in the mountain city. The other three earth ponies were all paying their smaller peer considerable respect. Emerald knew exactly why, and made a note to drop by the apple farm later to find out the exact circumstances surrounding Baron Chrysanthemum’s decision to send the senior manager of his estate’s landscapers on a simple apple-picking task.
“Si,” responded the burro in a tone of absolute and total respect for his superior. “Eet will be right in the middle of harvest, so wee will be working very hard. You are welcome to come out and assist eef you want, Senior Papercut.”
Continuing as if he had not heard a word, Papercut marked off his checklist and said, “The weather pegasi have already flown to the site, which leaves the veterinarian.”
“Present,” said a much older mare with a silver mane. She patted the unicorn foal at her side, who looked up with sleepy eyes. “I brought along my granddaughter this time. She’s really looking forward to playing with the birds.”
The steady progress of Papercut’s pencil down the checklist paused. “You were not supposed to bring along any extraneous relatives.”
“Do you want to spend a few days taking care of Fluttershy’s creatures?” asked the sweet old mare with a smile.
There was a long pause, then Papercut completed his checkmark.
“And our librarian this visit will be—” Papercut squinted at his clipboard, then looked up at Emerald with a frown.
“Emerald City,” said ‘Emerald’ a little louder than he expected. He exchanged a bland look with Papercut, who eventually looked back down and completed his checklist, although with a set to the unicorn’s jaw that did not bode well for Emerald’s present attempt at relative anonymity.
“Very well, we should be arriving at the town’s train station in a few minutes. The mayor will coordinate any requests you have for the Crown during your stay and answer any questions you might have about your assignment. Dismissed.”
“I do have one question,” said Emerald, hoping to head off the inevitable curious prying from Papercut. “It’s really nothing serious. I’ll explain over a glass of wake-up juice in the dining car.”
High prices, low quality, and wake-up juice that was both translucent and lukewarm. The dining car was everything Emerald expected, right up to the cramped seating and the sticky tabletop. He settled down in the uncomfortable seat and fixed Papercut with his most serious glower, matched by the placid servant’s returned innocent expression which rated somewhere around the level of I Have No Idea How The Prostitute Got Into The Fraternity, House Mother.
This was going to be difficult.
“Spill it,” said Emerald. “This library gig is a plum position. The Archivists should have slipped one of their own pet students into it, if nothing else.”
“And you’re here.” Papercut made one brief motion to sip from the paper cup before he wrinkled up his nose and put the untouched cup back down on the table with a sharp grimace. “M’lord.”
“My father did not pull strings to get me this assignment,” said Emerald, trying to keep his anger under control, as well as not begin yet another journey into guessing about exactly what strings had been pulled by who. He crooked a foreleg around his paper cup and took a long drink out of the vile fluid, which helped keep his thoughts under control as he continued.
“Or at least I wouldn’t think so,” he added with a terse frown that was intended to gain sympathy from his opponent even if the subject was too close to his own skin for comfort. “Baron Chrysanthum wants his obedient son in Canterlot, after all. Under his hoof, so I can be the good son he wants. Somepony to enter into the family business, marry whatever unicorn mare he picks out for me, and father a line of happy horned grandfoals for him.” Emerald broke off and quietly tapped the rim of the wake-up juice cup with the tip of one hoof.
“You expect me to believe that, M’lord?” asked Papercut, who contrary to his words, was beginning to show small signs of doubt in his face.
After another distasteful sip of wake-up juice, Emerald continued with as much honesty as he could. “I suspect this is as much a surprise to him as it was to me this morning when the messenger showed up at my frat house and escorted me to the train station. Although somepony managed to get Dawn onto the roster, I suppose. The burro,” added Emerald at Papercut’s quizzical expression. “He’s the head landscaper at my father’s estate.”
“Ah.” Papercut floated his clipboard out and reviewed his notes. “A last minute selection. As you were, sir.”
“Which brings us back to just how my name popped up,” said Emerald. “I’m in Education. There is exactly one Library Studies class in my transcript.”
Let unsaid was the excellent score he had managed while holding down a grueling class load that semester. The experience he had managing his father’s library substituted for several missed lectures, and some minor proactive buttering with some ‘discovered’ first editions for the teacher’s own library did the rest.
He viewed it as less a bribe and more of a tip. The professor had been extremely helpful in the family’s academic endeavors, after all. And the gift had very carefully been delivered after final grade submission.
“Anyway,” mused Emerald, “I only signed up for this task to spite my father. The castle is crawling with qualified Archivists and school library science students who should have all been ahead of me.”
“There are no students on the list, M’lord. They all withdrew their applications, presumably at the urging of their instructors.” Papercut flipped back a few pages. “Several of whom requested cancellations, two candidates are out of town at the moment, and it appears your name just came up. Quite fortunate. Hm…”
“Uh-huh.” Emerald slugged back the rest of the instant wake-up juice with a scowl, made only worse by the gritty taste of undissolved powder at the bottom of the cup. “This is not a cyclical position. What happened to the previous substitute librarian?”
“Librarians,” corrected Papercut, who was still reading his sheet. “None of the substitute librarians made it through their assignment to serve a second time. Out of the Bearer missions involving Twilight Sparkle in the last several months, there were two substitutes who withdrew in the middle of their terms due to mental issues. Three others were issued Letters of Reprimand and Restraining Orders from the Crown upon their return to Canterlot and completion of their evaluation. One—” Papercut gave a tense frown “—defenestrated himself on the job. Thankfully, the assignee library is only two floors in height, but he jumped out of the window twice, the second time with a number of bee stings on his cutie mark.”
“It’s a librarian job,” muttered Emerald almost under his breath. “Check the books out, put the books back. An orangutan could do the job. A degreed orangutan,” he corrected at Papercut’s sharp glance. “One who has attended the university and learned the deep mysteries of the library science program, of course. Wouldn’t want any ordinary pony to think our jobs were easy. Right, Papercut?”
“Of course, m’lord.” The trim servant matched gazes with the new substitute librarian. “Will there be anything else, sir?”
“For starters, you can stop calling me sir.” Emerald crushed his fedora down firmer on his head and slumped in the sticky train bench. “I’m only doing this to get out from under my father’s hoof for a few days. Every time you say ‘sir’ to me, it’s like he’s pushing down on top of my head.”
“Terribly sorry, sir.” Papercut was staring back nonplussed when Emerald looked up, and they matched gazes for a long time before Emerald let out his breath.
“Wheaton college, correct? Home of the Wheat Shocks, the best college buckball team in the league? Rock, Shock, Block, Shockers!”
“Why… Yes, sir.” The mention of his alumni status made Papercut’s spine straighten and his solemn expression gained the slightest hint of a smile at the very corner of his thin lips.
“Not the top of your class, I presume. Self-conscious about your looks, so you buy the best quality suits you can afford on a government salary in Canterlot. Attempting to fit in at court with your peers from more prestigious schools while carrying the anvil of a cowtown college around your neck means you have to look perfect, dress perfect, act perfect, even though you don’t have their diversity of usable spells. Sending money home to your mother, I presume?”
Papercut’s expression darkened, but he gave a short nod.
“Single parent household, then. Your mother always parted your mane on that side so you’ve never changed. Your tie is tied the same way, so you learned that from your mother too. She’s left-fielded, correct? Living in the lower-income Manehattan suburbs next to Wheaton, most likely employed in something blue collar. Nursing, perhaps.”
“She’s… a mortician’s assistant.” Papercut seemed to chew his next words before spitting them out. “Why did you read my file?”
Emerald shrugged and looked back at his own cutie mark, a child’s stubby unicorn horn with a few sparks spitting out of it. “No, I didn’t have to. Your cutie mark is a stack of paper cut in half, so your skill would seem to be in reducing the difficulty of getting through papers, a strange talent for somepony who works at the palace, although…” He took a breath, then stole Papercut’s untouched cup of wake-up juice and took an unsatisfying drink.
“Princess Celestia put you here. She doesn’t want anything interfering with the Elements of Harmony’s lives while they’re out on missions. That means she trusts you, and in all the years I attended the university, I’ve never known her to trust the wrong ponies. And that means she went through the long list of posers and fluffheads to find somepony who could buckle down and get things done regardless of their impressive credentials and fancy resumes. Somepony who had to take responsibility in their family after a parent left. Somepony who struggled through school, couldn’t make it to the elite institutions but still persevered, not somepony who coasted through on their family name. And above all, somepony not so comfortable in their position as to accept bribes, like your predecessor has been accused of doing. Quite a nasty little fuss in the newspapers, not totally swept under the rug, and a scandal which my respected father considers to be unwarranted, so I will also.”
“That’s… impressive, sir,” said Papercut as Emerald finished off the wake-up juice and crumpled the two empty paper cups in his forehooves. “I still want to know how you got access to read my file.”
“I didn’t. I read between the lines in the newspapers. Also, when your position was announced in the papers, I checked for your name in Twerp’s Peerage and the alumni records from my Canterlot Prep, both of which came up empty. For the rest, it’s written all over you.” Emerald reached out with one hoof and adjusted Papercut’s tie. “The way you hoof-launder your school tie instead of sending it out for professional cleaning, the little frayed spot on the tips of the collar, the way you fight to keep from coming down hard on the ‘sh’ sound when you speak. Just why you’re so resentful of somebody from the minor peerage who only wants to be treated like an ordinary pony. Is that so wrong, after all?”
“It… is not,” conceded Papercut, and although it looked as if he wanted to add another word, he stopped.
“Great.” Emerald City stood up with the crumpled cups pinned in one fetlock. He tossed them one at a time over his shoulder and kicked them into the corner trash bin before making a face. “I’ll try my best to keep the library intact if you’ll keep the wolves off my tail. If I look good, you’ll look good. Will that be acceptable, sir?”
Papercut nodded while getting to his hooves. “It is indeed. Are you certain you will be able to do the job of a proper librarian in Ponyville?”
Emerald City checked the packet he had been given when they boarded the train, including the spellkey to disable the wards on the library door and a stout envelope full of library procedures, which he had not opened yet.
“No problem. This’ll be a piece of cake.”
Many of you know I've followed Estee for some time, borrowed a few characters at times, and such. You may not know that I'm such a cheapskate that I only support one person (Estee, nach) on Patreon, even if it is for small change. (I excuse it by blaming my wife at times, because She Who Holds The Checkbook rules my life.)
You see, I was reading Three Hoofwidths To The Left when somebody made a comment that got me thinking: What if Green Grass had encountered Estee's Twilight Sparkle as a substitute librarian? It would be like Star Trek II in certain ways (excepting library-antilibrary explosions) because the two main characters would never be in the same room. An admittedly interesting idea, but could I pull it off? So I wrote a few paragraphs to get a feel for it. Then a few more. Wake-up juice instead of coffee. Green Grass as the eternal cheerful optimist being fed into the meat grinder of an Estee story. Trying to keep The Triptych Continuum separate from Kudzuhaiku’s voluminous work. Being grateful that some kind (and insane) soul put together a Character Listing of the Continuum, and blessing of blessings, an unofficial (slightly outdated) timeline.
It all flowed out fairly naturally, so when I hit the second chapter, I tossed a sample over to Estee to chum the waters… I mean test the waters. Didn’t hear anything for a week. Feared the worst. (and with Estee, that means a *lot* of worst) Then got an encouraging note back… well, for a given value of encouraging (see excerpt).
So I’ve gotten six chapters together in the first ‘arc’ like Letters From a Little Princess Monster, with each arc covering one trip that Green Grass (i.e Emerald City) makes to the library, the one chapter where he gets arrested, etc… This will be a non-canon story as closely related to the Continuum as I can get it with none of the Mane 6 in it at all other than brief notes and threatening letters. I can’t copy Estee’s style, but I can let it influence me as much as I can for this. But don’t just Post negative comments only. A few nice ones would be… nice.
Now that the first
sixeightlucky thirteen chapters are out, I put it on hiatus. We'll see if I can come up with anything else in the course of my remaining work.FYI: This is actually my THIRD attempt I've made at Estee's style.
First was an attempt to make a sequel to the fabulous 100% Move - 50% Fire where the Legend of the Piano got started, so I had to write Cutting the Chord, Swinging the Hammer, and Dropping the Piano to deal with the return. Hey, I liked it.
The second and most recent was So The Other May Live, where you will get a peek into Green Grass' early years, an understanding of why his parents are so controlling, and a vague (and probably inaccurate) idea of what Doctor Gentle's role is when reading Estee's Triptych. Spoilers apply. Cold, chilling spoilers with scalpels.
Technically, Police Navidad is not an attempt to mimic Estee's style, but a gift to one of the characters in the Continuum who really, really needs some time off.
“No problem. This’ll be a piece of cake.”
you never say that, thats like at least it not raining or how could it get worse
Emerald really better hope he is up on his bOOK skills.
Oook...
Honestly, I would quite enjoy reading an iteration of Three Hoofwidths To The Left featuring the Librarian instead of some anonymous clerk. I know, the anonymity was the point, but it would be amusing to see Twilight's implacable OCD smack up against the confidently impossible existence of that most literate of orangutans.
Someone should do a study on how big a referential shadow any given non-MLP character casts on fanfic here.
One would be prim(at)e.
9870456
Or, that nobody notices the species.
I mean, he's in his natural habitat.
9870456 9870485 I could see that too.
"Look, Starswirl's Transformational Imaginary Numbering Sequences does not go next to Pocket Lint's Space, Above, Below, Sideways, and Quirk! One goes in Mathmatics, and the other in SubSpace Theory!"
"Ook!"
"Yes, I know transformational imaginary numbers require subspace to function, but--"
"Ook!"
"Oh. I didn't know that."
Emulating Estee's style... Yeah, don't know if I could manage that. Or anyone else's style, honestly. The words flow in a way that has carved a channel in my brain. I could try digging a canal, but that seems painful.
Now, increasing the overall Continuum influence of a piece, that could work better. Something to think about...
Heh. Greenie working under Papercut... nominally, anyway.
"Cowtown" takes on some interesting implications in Equestria. Also, very nice Sherlock Scan.
I always appreciate a tip of the hat to the patron ape of libraries.
Oh, you poor fool.
Looking forward to more. This should be quite fun indeed, especially when "Emerald" realizes that it wasn't politics (or not just politics) that brought him here. He might be one of the few ponies who can survive the Wrath of Sparkle.
Oh you poor, poor deluded fool. You have no idea what you're getting into
Here comes Murphy banging on the door, door falls off and in he comes
Oh, this is going to be interesting!
9870545
Ah, one of the many variants of "What could possibly go wrong?"
9870530
One should always listen to one's elders, and Twilight could do far worse for a tutor in literary errata.
And then he blew up.
Oh I like this.
I don't think it is so much as emulating Estee's style as much as borrowing Estee's world (or elements of it).
I have read Three Hoofwidths to the Left, and I think this will be a good companion story.
That poor poor pony.
Nicely written :)
9870485
The Doctor from Doctor Who presumably wins in a landslide due to his substantial referential shadow on the show itself. >_>;
9870488
To quote the great man:
“Indeed, if someone were to point out that there is an orang-utan in the library, the wizards would probably ask the librarian if he had seen it.”
9870456
It wouldn't be the first time the Librarian has been there. Estee had him sneak in during The Remainders of the Day.
9870456
She’d probably object to the banana skins more than anything.
On a semi-related tangent, I've always believed that, in the show, Twilight's library wasn't a public library, but rather one that the government owns for their personal use only. Consider:
1: We don't see any signs of Twilight replacing anyone when she moves in.
2: Not once do we EVER see anyone check out a book other than Twilight's close friends, meaning she could just be personally lending them her own books.
3: Similarly, we never see anyone but her friends enter the library (outside of the party in episode 1 and the weather team meeting hosted by her friend), and even they often knock, something you don't do for public buildings.
4: Twilight is often away from the first floor on her personal time during the day (reading on her balcony, doing experiments in the basement, or just roaming Ponyville) with no replacement, nor do we ever see her doing public library work, so she doesn't seem to have any library-based duties.
5: Twilight sometimes monopolizes the main floor for non-library things (such as Twilight Time or her research on the S4 box), which would hinder any book borrowing.
5: There was no replacememt public library after it was destroyed, since Twilight's castle isn't freely open to the public (except maybe when someone has a cutie map mission).
6: Apparently it wasn't even super widely known that Twilight lived there, given Diamond Tiara's surprise at a princess living there.
7: Twilight has never been mentioned to work at a library or as a librarian, only that she lives in one.
I totally love this character -- he's sincerely trying not to be a stuck-up entitled noble, but he was raised that way so hard that he's not really succeeding. . . he's just barely managing to not-succeed in a way that makes it clear he's being sincere. . . he just has no freaking idea how snooty and arrogant he's coming off about how "easy" a job library science is.
Jumping from zero library experience outside of a little theory and a how-to manual into Twilight level hyper-OCD overachiever? This is going to be one hell of a wake-up call. It'll be good for him, if he doesn't go completely crazy. . .
Sherlock pone the librarian. I can dig that. Looking forward to where this goes.
Since when was Greenie Sherlock hooves?
9870545
Piece of cake?
If so, you’re going to swallow a crumb the wrong way & choke on it.
9871120 9870919 Part intense observation, part research, part guessing. His talent helps, because he's practiced in seeing just how young unicorns react to external stimuli and how they act, he's had a few years in college theatre to boot, and he's been matching wits with his father for years. That'll sharpen anybody up. So he knew what Papercut *wasn't* which only left guessing from his school tie and clothes what he *is* so "Papercut isn't a member of the nobility, but he is wearing an expensive shirt and jacket, with some wear showing that any respectable wealthy poser would have replaced, and a Shocker's school tie. That places him in the local vicinity of the school, with working-class parents, but still assigned a very high-profile task."
9870845 Half-crazy? He's got a good start.
9870835 Most of that is just "We don't want to spend the budget to put another pony in there, and it would just complicate the scene anyway." I actually throttled back on the normal library patrons, because in the Continuum, Mr. Waddle is in there frequently to sneak peeks at her rump, and several schoolfoals are constantly trying to get access to the questionable reading material, so closing the library for a few hours to do personal tasks involves chasing everypony out, or leaving Spike to run the place while she's out.
9870683 9870683 Well, every librarian is always looking to expand their collection. Even if they have to travel.
9870651 Just remember, Three Hoofprints was written in the 'Just Before Becoming a Princess Who Really Doesn't Want To Be Called A Princess' phase, and this would be 'Just a few months after arrival' phase.
9870545 Trust me, before this is over he's going to be in the fountain.
9870535 Style is relative. I've *tried* to emulate JK Rowling's style in the Sweetie Belle story, and I keep backsliding.
9871283
I mean, it doesn't take much of a budget at all to occasionally have a background pony by the bookshelves with no lines, or to once (in the many dozens of episodes where the library was active) have anyone make an offhand mention that demonstrates that public library-ing is something that happens even if completely offscreen. It only takes 1 sentence in a series where less important content takes up lines all the time.
I wasn't attacking your fic or anything, just mentioning something I noticed about the show.
9871283
The deduction part comes off as Sherlock Holmes style observation and a broad base of reference knowlege, yeah.
Directions unclear... Ended up bucking bookshelves and lending out bushels of apples
Needs AU tag
I like how the head landscaper burro was introduced. I’m looking forward to learning more about his true reason or reasons for being there. Also, if he has any hidden abilities.
Oh, also his name.
9871479 Crouching Tiger, Hidden Librarian. Heh. Dude, it's Green Grass. He's my go-to half inch socket wrench for writing hapless male characters.
9871417 That's debatable. It's not more than about three degrees off canon.
9871400 Dear Princess Celestia. My mission as substitute librarian worked perfectly. I sold off all the books, cut down the tree, and we'll be erecting a three story brick library building there in the next twelve to eighteen months, depending on how the permits come through. Your faithful subject, Emerald.
9871298 Well to be honest, Twilight Sparkle is not that good of a librarian even in canon. In the Esteeverse, she's probably a little worse, it's just that the Princess *made* her the librarian, therefore she *has* to do a good job because otherwise she'll make the princess look bad and she'll be disappointed and...
9871583
I am unsure at how serious that post is, haha. I'm not trying to say she's a very good keeper of books, just that all in-show evidence points towards her not officially being one in the first place.
Just taking a peek at it, but Twilight definitely did not have a responsibility to manage any Canterlot libraries. That tower was just her home, as evidenced by it being abandoned after she left and her being able to offer it to Moondancer on a whim (I am aware that episode was not out yet when you made that post).
Someone with a brain and a eye for detail. With Sherlock Holmes style deductions. With a name referencing The Wizard of Oz.
Hmm, very interesting. I look forward to where this goes.
9871583
Hee, hee! I joked with you a while ago about how it was near impossible to get the pronoun "he" confused in Equestria because there were so few examples of males...and here I did it!
I meant, "what is the burro's name?" but a more careful re-reading revealed it to be "Dawn," or at least that's
histhe landscaper's nickname.9871616 Yes, but... This is set in the Estee interpretation of events. From the amazing 100% Move - 50% Fire
She also did not have to deal with Piano II - The Return in the cartoon, although it would have been awesome.
9871283
I see some things remain constant across universes.
Whelp, he's dead.
Saying things like that in Ponyville is akin to "I've got a bad feeling about this." in Star Wars.
I wonder which monster will crush/devour/eviscerate him, or how many miscast spells and dark portals will slam into him.
9870545
"And then Scootaloo."
Between this and Farmer Bruener, I'm starting to feel homesick.
Ook!
“No problem. This’ll be a piece of cake.”
And with that, another headstone wil rise in the "Ponyville Emergency Alternate Librarians" graveyard...
Excellent work so far! I hear Estee echoing in the background...
No trouble at all. Just like I'm sure clicking this magic button that makes cookies won't result in a grandma-related Junji Ito-style apocalypse.
First chapter, read it, put a like on it, followed it...
That is quick by my standards; I usually wait till the second or third chapter. Most impressive.
Not sorry I shipped Emerald and Twilight
Also, I kind of do see the whole Rarity is Sweeties mom. Kind of wish they did that tbh