“I think it’s worth considering,” Emerson said, finally speaking up. Mal shot her a look. For someone so chatty and full of ideas on the phone last night, she had been exceptionally quiet this afternoon. “It could be cool, to make it our own thing.” Under the weight of the withering glare Mal gave her, she shrugged and added, like an apology, “We could at least hear ideas?”
Mal raised an eyebrow. Emerson was supposed to be on their side too. She gave them an innocent smile, bobbing her head to the side sweetly. It was hard—not impossible, but hard—to keep feeling angry at her when she made that face at them. It was much easier to feel a little warm around the edges with Emerson looking at them like that.
Stuck somewhere in between those two feelings, Mal said, “Fine.”
“How aboutPatchwork?” suggested Nylan. “It keeps the same idea as a collage, but it feels a little more… cozy.”
“It sounds like a quilt, though,” said Kodi. “Which, like, is a very specific vibe, especially here in Kentucky. I don’t know if it’s what I want to go for.”
“If we’re going to be rebels,” said Parker, getting animated, “why don’t we do something cool, like…Rogue One?”
“That’s a Star Wars movie, Parker,” Mal said flatly.
“I knowww,” Parker trilled, “but it’s the best one!”
“But it’s not a name for a lit zine,” Emerson chimed in. “Or, well. Not one that isn’t specifically focused on that fandom.”
“Is that a thing?!” Parker’s eyes went wide.
“Yeah! There’s all kinds of zines, actually. You can—”
But before Emerson could launch fully into her zine spiel, Mal redirected. “We’re brainstorming ideas forthiszine,” they said firmly—then made a face thatthey, of all people, were trying to keep them on track about it.
“How aboutThe Collective?” James asked, sweeping his hand through the air as if to illustrate it. “It’s professional yet mysterious.”
“Are wetryingto be mysterious, though, James?” asked Kodi.
“I think something more direct works best,” Stella said matter-of-factly. “Something that makes it clear what we do.”
Mal mused darkly to themself:Last Resort Review, The Plan Killer, The Desperate Times.
“What about something liiike…” Emerson’s tongue peeked out from between her lips while she thought.“Mixed Media?”
“But that’s justCollageall over again,” James protested.
“And it’s pretty boring,” said Stella. When Emerson gave her A Look, she snapped, “What? It’s true.”
But Kodi said, “I don’t know, I like it? It’s a callback toCollage, but its own new thing.”
“It gives us space to grow into, too,” added Nylan, thoughtfully. “We could accept art submissions as well as stand-alone pieces—more of my photos, or some of Parker’s cartoons?”
“Oh.” This gave Parker pause. She looked at Nylan and grinned so broadly that it seemed Nylan couldn’t help grinning shyly back. “Oh.I never thought of that.”
“Because we nevertalkedabout that,” Mal hissed at Emerson.
“We could, though?” ventured Kodi. “I think that could be cool too.”
“I still think the name lacks… teeth,” James said.
“What if we did a cool spelling?” Parker asked. “Like, throw in some extra letters.”
Mal’s dyslexia pulled at the corners of their mind, giving them a headache. (The cup of black coffee currently sloshing in their empty stomach didn’t help.) “Please, no.”
“Okay.” Emerson considered. “What about, like—” She pushed off hard from the circle, her chair rolling back to the editor’s desk. Half a breath later, she rolled back with a pink pad of Post-its and an orange pen. She scribbled something on the top page, then showed it to the group. “Mixxed, with twoX’s,Media. It adds a little edge without toomuchedge. Plus, it’ll make the logo cool to design.”
“Ooh, do you need help with that?” asked Kodi, leaning in to look at Emerson’s lettering.
“Probably!” said Emerson. “I’ve never designed a logo before.”
