Ven

This is Ven. Ven isn’t her birth name, it is what she uses for on-line gaming and the one she now goes by in RL.  Ven is a senior in high school who loves renaissance fairs and makes all her own clothes for them. Currently she is working on a costume inspired by the show Nimona on Netflix. Nodding like I knew what show she was talking about I made a mental note to google Nooma/Nimba/Noa afterwards and found that Ven has the same pink hairstyle as the teenage protagonist in the cartoon. She takes these fairs very seriously, make believe and stories mean a lot to her and she wants to major in theatre design when she graduates. The plan, she says, is to do two years for free at the local state school before transferring to NYU.  I tried to tell her that I had lived for years in NYC, thinking I could maybe offer her some advice or if I am being truthful seem more cool than I might have looked as I shopped for ice packs and batteries in suburban New England, but either she didn’t care or was lost in dreams of her future and no conversation sprang off this revelation.  After she had finished ringing me up I asked her if I could take her photo. Blushing she said “ I didn’t know I was going to be in a photoshoot…! You are the nicest person I have met today!”