#also her least weasel familiar is named The Creature

[packajackalope]

So I've been cooking a lot of characters lately. Meet Piper, the changeling witch! She's been a huge hyperfixation of mine lately, but I haven't made a whole lot of art of her yet.

[marinerainbow]

Hey, I have an OC question! ^^ What are your OC's (Or at least- Poppy, Shiny, Terry, Henry, Ben and Moony's) favourite animals?

Oh I like this question! I'm gonna go ahead and do all of my OC's for this one ^^ starting with the WFRR OC's since there are so many of them XD

Poppy: Well, we know she's fond of insects, though I don't think they are recognized as animals? So I'd say she also likes ducks. Especially the ducklings (I blame that one convo we had. You know which one XD). When she goes to the park, she always brings a bag of duck friendly food for the birds- and she almost always gets a flock surrounding her 😂

Shiny Weasel: Hm... I'm gonna say it's a cross between ferrets and cats. She doesn't own any pets, but she thinks some of the strays in her neighborhood have adopted her for free food, and Shiny has grown a soft spot for them XD she'd love to get a ferret someday ^^

Terry Ratt T: Snakes. Not really an explanation, he just thinks they're cute, funky guys, "They don't have arms and legs. They do everythin' with their body. Move, eat... They're pretty funny like that."

Henry Foxworth: Hm... I'm gonna say he likes chickens. Not even because it's a fox thing, he genuinely likes them. I think he might have wanted to start a farm at some point in his life before he took scamming as a career path.

Moony Wolf: Ok hear me out... It's bunnies. Even before he started dating Poppy, he's liked rabbits. At first, it was just a part of his predator mindset. Rabbits = food = happy. And when he started working on himself, he felt guilt and felt like he had to make it up to the little critters somehow (Poppy specifically, but A. He didn't know where she was at the time, and B. He figured non-sentient rabbits could be like a practice run, or stepping stones toward the right direction). So he tried to volunteer at animal shelters around Toontown, and ironically got along best with the rabbits (and the dogs course). One adoption and a relationship with his former co-star later, and it's cemented in Moony's mind that rabbits are the best animal (he named his pet Bunny Cake btw)

Ben Cottontail: Hm... Hard to say in all honesty... I think he might like fish? Like maybe as a kid, Ben had a pet goldfish or something, so he's more familiar with fish.

Ok, onto my other OC's XD

Betty Locera: Dogs. And canines in general. Betty would be the best dog mom. She's already a more outdoorsy gal anyway! (*cough* @marshmallow-biscuit-blog Betty would fricken love Boyyo. Joe can dump the dog on her if he needs a dog sitter. Or just a break)

Detective Sketch: Pigeons. Pigeons have been a constant presence in Sketch's life. Watching them land on their windowsill in the orphanage. Seeing them flying around the city. Pigeons kind of bring a sense of childhood nostalgia to Sketch ^^

Prism: She can't pick just one. There are so many amazing animals in the night dimension, and even more that she's read about in the waking world. How can she choose!? Though I do imagine she has made friends with an eatier, a nightopian creature I invented, named Mercedes (I should post about Eatiers now that I think about it 🤔)

Well, I think that about covers it. Thank you so much for sending this in! I loved it ^^

[grey-lark]

absolutely agree with you on hopper’s daemon being a st bernard, that’s so accurate. curious about steve’s parents animals and steve’s daemon’s name choice! also, I’m not that familiar with the daemon universe, but it is considered weird for your daemon to be the same gender as you? since you added that extra part to will’s bit.

- bug anon

Hi Bug! Lol yeah Hopper so obviously a huge rescue dog. Very cuddly. Much protect. Also, as is par the course for me things got long, so more under the cut!

I'll admit I didn't look into Steve's parent's animals as much as some of them, and they're more based on my head canons than any actual canon references, since there's only, like, 2 lines about Steve's parents. Minks are mostly known for being used to make expensive, high quality, fur coats, while minks themselves are very territorial weasels-sque creatures. I chose it because really liked the idea of his dad being something that's seen as a status symbol, but is actually kind of an asshole. Orchid Mantises (manti? mantiss?) imitate orchid flowers, and are beautiful, delicate looking creatures - they're also some of the most aggressive and precise hunters out there. I like to head canon Steve's mom as highly focused on appearances but also secretly fairly cunning. Also, I feel as if her being a highly predatory insect sort of highlights she's probably not the most attentive of mothers.

I'll admit Steve's daemon name actually came out be trying things and it just sort of feeling right? But I do really like it after researching more. According to Wikipedia, Rebecca can mean "Moderator", To Tie, Noose, To Bind, Captivating, Strong Combatant, Hearty - all things I think describe Steve really well. Captivating, Strong Combatant, and Hearty I think are fairly obvious in canon and people have already talked about the emotional gymnastics Steve tends to do to cater to groups for Moderator to fit, but I also think To Tie works as well. I haven't run the numbers, but I'd bet Steve's probably one of the people who talks to the most other characters in the show? He's definitely in the most groups, with a different collection of people he's partnered with each season, and I think makes him sort of good link between most of the different teams that form each season, tying them all together. Also, in His Dark Materials (the series daemons come from) daemon names can vary widely from common names, to objects, to fantasy-esque conglomerations of syllables. I think the Harringtons probably fall into the first category, where good, all American, "normal" names are what they go with. Also, Bex as a nickname just sounds really sporty and peppy to me and I love that for him haha.

Also, yeah in the series daemons are usually the opposite gender of their humans (I guess non-binary peoples' daemons are also non-binary but in a somehow opposite way???? Haha, yeah the early 2000s YA novels unsurprisingly don't consider that). Daemons that are the same gender happen, but are rare enough that they're considered an aberration. I think it's hinted at that same gender daemons are associated with homosexuality, but I at least like to believe that it's just something that happens sometimes and the association is more along the lines of when people assume a boy is gay because he likes art. Either way, I feel like Will having a male daemon would really highlight how he's considered such a "freak" and also be one of the reasons people called him the f-word in season 1 (which i know was period accurate, but still, ooofff)

[enquiringangel]

Was doing some reading and came across these bits linked to Uchiha Izuna’s naming lore…

‘The witch animals of Japan are creatures believed to be capable of assuming a discarnate and invisible form, and in such guise of penetrating inside the human body and inflicting upon it a variety of painful torments.

Yanagita Kunio, the great authority on Japanese ethnology and folklore, distinguished two broad categories of witch animal: a snake, and a four-legged variety usually known as a fox or a dog. […] As a fox, it is found all along the Japan Sea coast […]Under the name of izuna, it abounds over much of the Tōhoku district, Aomori and Iwate prefectures. And again, under the peculiar name of gedō, meaning a Buddhist heresy, it appears in the old province of Bingo in Hiroshima prefecture.

So we have the word Izuna as an apparently regional term for a fox spirit. Jisho.org supports this:

[…] When asked to describe what the creature actually looks like, they will tell you in all these districts, regardless of what name they give it, that it is long and thin with reddish-brown fur, short legs and sharp claws. Clearly we have the same creature appearing under a variety of names, none of which, incidentally, seems particularly appropriate. The creature described does not in the least resemble a fox or a dog, but rather a small weasel or large shrew.’

Like a weasel, hm?

Same kanji!

The description of how the ascetic first acquired power over the fox, finding it in its lair, tempting it with food, is the standard account which has been repeated over and over again for several centuries. Compare it, for example, with what in the works of the Tokugawa period is called the Izuna-hō or Izuna rite, the magical means whereby power may be gained over fox familiars.[…] Magicians have recently appeared in Japan, it runs, who employ foxes by means of the Izuna rite. For this rite you must first find a pregnant vixen in her lair. You feed her and tame her, taking particular care of her at the time when her cubs are born. When the cubs are grown up, the vixen will bring one of them to you and ask you to give it a name. Once you have done this you will find that you only have to call the young fox by name for it to come to you in invisible form.’

There is no real point to this post, other than that Izuna is apparently a fox sent to bedevil people, which supports my fanon of him as a little shit. 🦊And also that he is a slippery little weasel, I guess. Kishi knows his folklore!

(There is also a tengu-like being named Izuna-gongen depicted riding on a fox, which also could well be his name origin. As I have discussed before a million times, the Uchiha are rife with tengu symbolism.)

(Excerpts from The Catalpa Bow: A Study of Shamanistic Practices in Japan by Carmen Blacker.)

[nightingaelic]

Fallout 4 companions respond to getting captured by Super Mutants (for optional added angst, maybe even getting turned into a super mutant). Strong not included for obvious reasons.

Ada: "Be advised: My guardian has equipped me with a tracking device in the event of my capture. You lack the privileges necessary to access their estimated time of arrival."

Ada is always matter-of-fact about her situation, even if her legs aren't functioning and she's squashed between two bags of body parts on the floor of an abandoned hospital. She's also patient, and content to wait until the sole survivor comes to retrieve her. In the meantime, she'll run escape scenario algorithms to determine the best way out of the building. Not affected by FEV for obvious reasons.

Cait: "Are you f***ing serious?! I'll tear your ears off with my bare hands and string them on a necklace! You don't know who you're messin' with, you green bastards!"

No one can match Cait in sheer viciousness when fighting to free themselves, but even she has her limits. The sole survivor would likely find her in a cage, hyperventilating and on the verge of tears. If the super mutants made the mistake of exposing her to FEV, she would tear the nest apart herself. Mutation would be another internal struggle for Cait, but I think she could successfully make peace with her new state of being if given enough time. A makeshift, giant baseball bat might help.

Codsworth: "Unhand me, you brutes! By God, the class of people I'm forced to associate with these days just keeps falling!"

Pre-war Codsworth is constantly offended by the super mutants' behavior, particularly their lack of housekeeping. He can't help bemoaning his situation for all to hear, something that would probably annoy the super mutants enough to bonk him on the dome until he shuts down. Some assembly required once the sole survivor catches up with him. Not affected by FEV for obvious reasons.

Curie: "While we are waiting, would any of you mind answering some questions for me about how you came to exist in this state? Ça vous dit?"

With a wide new world of oddities to study, Curie takes her abduction as yet another opportunity to learn. If nothing else, she can observe super mutants in their natural- or at least chosen- habitat. Prior to her synth transition, not affected by FEV for obvious reasons. Post-synth transition, however, I think Curie would take the mutation as an opportunity to study the effects that turn a person into a super mutant. I don't think she would lose her bubbly personality, similar to the way Lily the nightkin retained some of her old sense of self.

Danse: "You may have the upper hand today, but you and the other freaks of nature are fighting a losing battle." [spits]

Having lost the most to super mutants in the past, Danse fights his captors until he is completely spent. In fact, the sole survivor would have to practically carry the man home for a lengthy recovery, something his suit of power armor would definitely help with. Mutation into a super mutant is one of Danse's worst nightmares, and if exposed to FEV, he would beg the sole survivor to show him the same mercy he once showed Cutler.

Deacon: "Oh yeah, this reminds me of that summer I spent camping out on the National Mall. You even look familiar. Know anyone by the name of Uncle Leo?"

Like in every tight spot he's ever been in, Deacon masks his stress level with quick wits and quicker retorts. Most likely to slip his confines, let the sole survivor fight their way to the heart of the nest, then reveal he was free the whole time and they needn't have bothered. If exposed to FEV, Deacon would probably panic and enlist the sole survivor's help in searching for a cure, positive that a mutated countenance would irreparably damage his ability to help the Railroad. Then again, he might see it as a "new look" and use it to his advantage for a bit.

Dogmeat: [snarling]

Any super mutants that get their hands on Dogmeat are highly likely to lose fingers. Still, there's not much the canine can do if he's put in a cage, other than bark and wait for rescue. While FEV leaves many dogs as aggressive shells of their former selves, I think Dogmeat would be largely okay with his new green-and-bulky form and would still happily guard settlements and follow the sole survivor around, not unlike Gracie from Far Harbor.

Hancock: "Whoa, whoa relax. I've got time to hang out for a bit, no need to get all worked up. Don't stain the coat, I doubt you can cough up the caps to get it cleaned."

Of all the companions, Hancock is the most unbothered by becoming a super mutant captive. It's just another wasteland adventure, albeit one where the opposing cast of characters are all at least two feet taller than him. He might earn some bumps and bruises for being unable to keep his smart mouth shut, but he'll just bide his time until he spots an opening to wreak havoc and escape, or until the sole survivor comes along to wiggle him out. Not affected by FEV for obvious reasons.

MacCready: "You know, I'm getting real sick of you green lunatics. Spent almost a decade living next door to some of your cousins, and they knew enough not to mess with me."

Upon capture, MacCready would roll his eyes and accept that he's going to have to wait for some help. He'd get more desperate the longer his wait went on though, envisioning a world where Duncan lost his dad without getting to say goodbye. Mutation wouldn't necessarily dampen his spirits at first: After all, if anyone can find a cure, it's the sole survivor.

Valentine: "Not exactly a group of masterminds, are you?"

At this point, Nick is used to getting abducted and locked up by just about every group in the Commonwealth. He knows super mutants well enough to know they don't listen to reason, but he can't resist getting in a jab or two about how he's far from edible. Not affected by FEV for obvious reasons.

Piper: "So, uh, what's say I write up a column about how super mutants are seriously misunderstood creatures and we'll call it even? No?"

Piper might have similar levels of confidence as Deacon, but hers are much more likely to waver when faced with possible death by ingestion. Her quips would be fewer and more nervous until the sole survivor arrived, at which point she would put her game face back on and cheer her rescuer along. If exposed to FEV, she would beg the sole survivor to help her find a cure for Nat's sake, and eventually weasel the information about Virgil out of them.

Preston: "I didn't need to get up close to know why you're called 'uglies,' but here we are."

While terrified at what the super mutants might do to him, Preston is the most level-headed when captured. He's already great under pressure in battle, and he's used to setting his own fears aside to find solutions for his woes. Most likely to have more people coming to his rescue than the sole survivor alone, due to his role with the Minutemen. If exposed to FEV, Preston would likely accept his fate with dignity, and make the sole survivor promise to dispatch him if he turns violent. I don't think he would, though, and the Minutemen would probably be more accepting of a super mutant officer than most.

X6-88: "I can afford to wait for field assistance, mutant. They will not make the mistakes I did."

X6-88 accepts his predicament calmly, like he accepts everything that happens to him. If unable to free himself, he will patiently wait for the Institute help he knows is coming, even if it's just the sole survivor with a pipe pistol. Regarding FEV mutation, turning into a super mutant might be the straw that breaks the camel's back for X6-88. In the Institute's eyes, the Courser is now hideous and no longer viable in the field: In X6-88's opinion, though, he is even stronger and more dangerous than he was before. I could see him finally choosing to desert his post out of a growing sense of self-preservation once transformed.

BONUS!

Gage: "Well look who's suffering from delusions of adequacy! I'd call you f***ers dumb as rocks, but at least a rock can hold a door open."

Porter Gage is great at heckling, and just good enough that he toes the line right up to where super mutants would start to understand he's insulting them. The sole survivor would likely find a gaggle of them around his confinement space, convinced he's complimenting them when he's actually being very rude. Breaking him out gives him the biggest smile. Becoming mutated himself might actually benefit Gage in the long run, as the raiders he used to be wary of would instead find themselves newly-wary of the Overboss' right-hand man.

Longfellow: "Too bad you aren't one of the more reasonable ones. Might've saved your skin."

Longfellow treats his own capture with a sense of humor, acknowledging that he's not as young as he once was and might need help now and then. Chuckles the whole time the sole survivor is fighting their way to him, and grateful upon release. If turned into a super mutant, he'd shrug, accept his fate, and ask to be escorted to live with his friend Erickson up near Far Harbor.

Maxson: "I welcome the day you and your kind meet total destruction."

If Danse is angry about being captured by his sworn enemies, Maxson is seething. Kidnapping a Brotherhood Elder is something that shouldn't even be possible in his eyes, let alone by super mutants. Once freed, he would do his best to erase the nest from the earth: Fire, missiles, tactical nukes if necessary. Also like Danse, Maxson would order the sole survivor to mercifully dispatch him if he were mutated. Additionally, he'd have them destroy any evidence of his exposure to FEV, and simply turn in his holotags with the news that he had perished in the line of duty.

Desdemona: [livid silence]

Plunks herself down, lights a cigarette if her hands are free, and waits. Eventually, the sole survivor or Glory will turn up, and she'll give them one, lingering look of disappointment before vanishing into the Commonwealth ruins. Least likely to get captured in the first place. If mutated, she would reassume her job as leader of the Railroad with no comment, and everyone else would know better than to ask.

[flufflebones]

some more fun hcs about delphine [mc 1.... closest 2 my heart since ive used her in various settings for a While]! it’s a little long so im slapping it under a cut but its all sfw and all very much in good fun.

you know, mostly. i only really got two headcanons down and one is brief/about michael and the other is about pets in the devildom

- can and will fight michael do you think they saw the angel/anni event and were ok with it? yeah? no! just going to kick him hard enough in the shin to....... probably bust their own foot but its FINE 

- has an approximate accumulated f*ckton of devildom native and possibly (definitely) magical pets

[The list:

Sosig / Sausage - Hellhound - Gift from Beelzebub!:

A beast of considerable size and [reportedly] god awful temperament, bearing charcoal fur and the lingering [faint] scent of sulphur. More vulpine than canine, their frames are typically gaunt, with the flames that fuel their bodies licking out from the ends of their tails, their ankles and wrists [on their normal quadrupedal legs], the inner portions of their ears [leaving them at a disadvantage when it comes to hearing], their somewhat visible / open ribcage, and the corners of their mouth. 

Despite this general introduction, hellhounds are wildly varied and have a number of breeds and variations in recent history, typically intended for one of three purposes.

Companionship - These hellhounds are typically smaller in stature and less sturdy, with a tendency to bond strongly to one or two masters [with some consideration/leeway for those close to their master: See- Cerberus]. Arguably the most docile of any class of hellhound, they are still dangerous if not raised correctly, and have a nasty bite. Though not a true classification and with no formal means of training a hound to do so naturally, some companion hellhounds serve as a psuedo service dog, heavily attuned to the needs and potential problems unique to their primary master. This isn’t to say that they are an alternative to service animals, or anywhere near as well trained, *of course*, but the devildom is hardly the safest place for a regular human realm animal; And sometimes, you’ve just got to work with what you’ve got.

Sport / Show - Typically very much breed standard. While raised to tolerate handling and grooming, these traditionally built hellhounds are temperamental at best and borderline terrifying when their willful nature comes in direct conflict with a demonic handler who bit off more than they can chew. Heavily regulated, and typically owned by the elite.

Protection - The devildom is dangerous, and nobody is questioning that. Demons with a knack for animal handling [or demons who can afford to hire someone skilled with animals, of course!] breed and train these creatures to guard many things; People, places, objects, etc. They’re typically territorial and hard to train as a rule, as one cannot allow for a beast such as this to be tempted by treats or good petting from *anyone*, yfm?

Sausage is a bit of a mixed bag. Born from protective stock and bought by Beelzebub after overhearing Mammon trying to convince Lucifer to get Delphine/my mc a pet [who lays eggs, we’ll get there, that he can sell for a massive profit]. Being the youngest present brother at the time, anything capturing his interest other than food is both welcomed and encouraged in an attempt to positively reinforce him to not put the devildom at risk of a famine.

Delphine unintentionally raised this brick house of a hellhound puppy into a sort of in-between of companion and protector, with him being very social, very sweet, and *fairly* defensive and willful if things aren’t going his way. He’s typically the one to step in most successfully to motivate her to move around [yes, moreso than the brothers!] and do her day to day tasks, and is probably the best way to find out if something’s wrong with her-- Past being able to just kind of drag her off due to their size differential, his general wit and ability to communicate his needs and wants have led to unexpected food deliveries, blankets spread over her shoulders, and human world medicines arriving a few days before she shows any real signs of illness that she can see.

He’s also spoiled as all get out. If you’re sharing a bed/couch/blanket/etc with her, you can bet Sausage is soon to follow. Sorry, Mammon! He loooves table scraps and is almost as bad as Beel when it comes to eating things he shouldn’t [and looking too cute to be scolded about it too heavily].

Rocky - ... That’s just a rock, dude. - Gift from Belphegor:

It’s really hard to tell if Belphegor is messing around when he presents Delphine with a rough hewn black rock bearing two googly eyes, a pair of hilariously out of place crystalized horns, and a pair of similarly out of place crystal wings, but I swear on all things unholy, he’s doing it for a reason.

Though not... Really sentient, initially, Rocky just needs a good, possibly year long charging. Soulstones are sort of... Weird, in that they are inert and lifeless for as long as they remain with the boulders from which they are harvested. but typically-- After being exposed to a single party’s magical runoff and signature for a year or so-- absorb enough energy to come to life, their coloration and mineral makeup adjusting to fit the nature of the being they owe their life to. Delphine’s takes the form of a celestine and blue goldstone peryton; A winged stag. With crystalized wings and antlers, Rocky would almost look majestic; If it weren’t for the fact that the googly eyes have remained a feature that she has never been able to figure out how to remove. Soulstones are typically quiet observers, not requiring active care to thrive but delighting in contact [especially immediately post spell casting or magic use]. They are attuned to the needs of their magic bound masters, and typically exude an air of-- if not positive-- reassurance.

In Delphines Little Canon Divergence Corner, it’s likely that rocky coming into her care is one of the first of many attempts at reconciliation that Belphegor makes with her post chapter 16; And it honestly really, really sets him back, like, even when she returns to the human realm. Forgotten but included in her luggage, it’s a few weeks into her settling down on Earth that she finds the dinky little stone, and an overload of magic-- Possibly emotionally sourced, possibly due to unresolved tension/a discussion that never got to happen because he was being a little jerk about it-- sets off the transformation, which occurs overnight.

She recognizes the little stone figure when it approaches her in the morning, and one of her first texts about it is a simple, succinct “WTF” + an image attachment sent to Belphegor, specifically in the dead of night with the intention to wake him.

Henry “Pogchampion” 6.0, 7.0, and 8.0, A.K.A: “Pip! Minette! Beans!” - Infernal rats - Gift from Leviathan:

A note: If you don’t care for rats or you’re more familiar with their popular association with illness or disease/classification as vermin, and are only capable of thinking of them in that context, I don’t care. I am specifically talking about rats in the context of them being pets-- And good pets, at that. If you want to talk about how much you wish they were dead/didn’t exist, thats not my problem. Just don’t do it on a post discussing them as a pet, or I will block you!

Anyway!

Leviathan is probably the most appropriate person for them to get pet recommendations from, but her asking never winds up a necessity; When he finds out that he’s got another pet enthusiast in the house, he’s *all* about it, and when he finally [very unsubtly] weasels his way into the information he needs, he gets them to come along with him to what’s supposed to be a routine supply trip for Henry that just *CAN’T* be accomplished online. It’s a trip to *a* shop, but not what she’s expecting, especially when she gets to meet a handful of very curious, very playful, larger than a medium sized dog mice and rats. These guys are very much pests turned pets, with a small niche of hobbyists raising them and breeding them for temperament and overall health and disease resistance. Very social and very intelligent, they tend to thrive best in groups if one is not devoting all of their time to them as an individual. The type Leviathan recommends are on the smaller side, with cloudy, soft fur and sweet temperaments. And massive teeth, nubby horns, spade tipped tails, and very large, typically bony or leathery wings.

Levi is... Probably the one who wanted them, really. They get a little big, and tend to like to roughhouse, and they chew like nobody’s business-- And while he can’t risk his figures or merch or other Otaku Trappings or wires for everything in his room, he *CAN* risk Delphine’s. Plus, Sausage needs a friend, right? Or three?

They pick up three, all of whom are sisters, and all of whom on paper are named Henry “Pogchamp”, 6.0, 7.0, and 8.0, since he *is* technically the one paying for them and at least gets to do that much. Even when they start being named Pip, Minette, and Beans, in casual conversation, he can still hold on to the fact that they’ll always be Henries in his heart of hearts.

Sausage loves them to bits, for the record, but their interactions tend to be supervised/very brief even without the worry of him being able to harm any of them due to the general (and very appropriate) ill advisement of large predators interacting with smaller prey animals. It’s cute, sure, but it can be dangerous, and Delphine (and Levi, to a lesser extent, because he’s using the excuse of them being friends to keep Lucifer off of his ass for adding another animal to her menagerie) isn’t about to risk it.

Sweets - .... A black cat? That glitters? - Gift from Satan and Asmodeus:

Small, sleek, and independent, Sweets is probably the pet people see the least of all of Delphine’s little collection-- Though that doesn’t mean she’s not well loved. A pet project between Satan and Asmodeus, Sweets isn’t *technically* a cat; They’re a being comprised of shadow, somewhat similar in nature to a familiar without the connotation of them technically being a demon slash demonic. Who just so happens to have been enchanted to appear like and generally function in their day to day life as a cat. That sparkles, the only concession Satan was willing to grant Asmodeus in return for his help obtaining the materials necessary to create  the little beast (and in return for him taking the heat when Lucifer inevitably got pissy about it). Given its unique nature, very little is actually known about the little being of shadow past basic care and assumptions based on its generally feline behavioral patterns. The rats scare the hell out of it, however, and it tends to be out of sight except when called, hiding in shadows and only occasionally emerging on its own.

... Oh, and be careful. Satan hasn’t told Del yet, but it seems that the belly rubs this shadowy kitty offers tend  to bite off more than they can chew if they’re not careful. Asmodeus thinks its horrible. Who wants a pet with a massive maw of teeth in their stomach? Satan desperately wants to use this quirk in Sweets’ nature for a prank. Delphine already knows, but is playing dumb for the sake of faking surprise when its formally revealed.

Elysia - Gilded Crow - Gift from Lucifer and Mammon:

SO, i”M going to keep this short because i’ve been writing this for several hours at this point on and off and i really really want to be ready for my dinner when its ready, but!

Elysia is a sort of... Special circumstance. Literally. Devotees to Mammon-- And yes, there *are* people who think he’s a legitimate demon lord, the only people really allowed to treat him like garbage are his brothers and a few choice officials too strong to be eradicated as any lesser demon might have been-- with a background in magical augmentation specifically enchanted this line of crows to reflect that which is most valued by their Lord; Riches. They’re technically not legal due to their status as something of an organic money generator, but a select few in a small flockare kept under the watchful eyes of the Demon Lord and his immediate family, and those who have been trusted by his family members. This is where Lucifer comes in.

Understandably, Mammon is not allowed to have care of his flock, though he certainly wouldn’t be the worst at caring for them. He’d just also be selling their products illegally, and you can’t have that!

Elysia wears a small enchanted band comprised of dull, unimpressive iron-- The kind of thing Mammon would neither notice nor have interest in. This band is enchanted, and serves as a sort of storage space for any of Ely’s dropped organic components. Talons, feathers, eggs-- Everything is automatically absorbed into the band, rendering the bird borderline useless outside of being a gorgeous pet, and a gigantic nuisance. 

Lucifer hates to admit it, but he really is a fan of the large, intelligent, gorgeous creature; And Mammon thinks it’s really funny to teach her to take shiny things (like grimm, loose jewelry, gum wrappers, etc), even past the sentimental value of the bird itself and what her kind represents to him. 

Delphine adores her, too, and is about as good an influence on her as Mammon is-- Teaching her to speak, in some capacity, simply by repeating certain words or phrases to herself as she does things in the day to day, especially during feeding time. It’s all fun and games, until this pretty golden bird calls Lucifer a ‘motherf*cker’ while she thinks he’s out of the room while visiting with Diavolo for an update on her health.

[what-the-crit-is-going-on]

Episode 45

As the ship sails to the Basaft Isle Nott ducks below deck to attempt to make a few more explosive arrows. Two of them she manages to craft with little difficulty but the last one explodes in her face, singing her hair and covering her face in soot. While recovering from the shock of the explosion she notices something moving around in the galley. Of course she knows she should tell the others of this, or at least tell them the explosion was nothing, and she does. Running up to the deck of the ship she's met with the other members of the Nein getting ready to investigate. Nott assures them it was nothing but a trap Avantica must have set before she passed but it's okay now, and then in halfling mentions to Beau there's someone stowing away in the ship. She doesn't want to tell the others because she's worried they'll overreact.

Of course the others manage to get it out of her and Fjord sends her, Jester and Beau down to apprehend the intruder. What they find is a very small gnome girl, with long blonde hair complete with twigs and chocolate all over her face. She's very chipper and absolutely adorable and goes by the name Twiggy. Jester is immediately smitten with her and Nott warms up to her as well as she introduces her friend Trixie the squirrel.

They bring Twiggy up to the others and introduce themselves, asking why she was stowing away in the first place. Turns out she's being chased most likely by a bad man she stole from in Port Dumali. When asked what she stole from whom she reveals a strange clockwork sphere that she nabbed from a man named Sir Caddigan. She let's Caleb take a look at it while the Nein hand her the dodecahedron to mess with in an out of character act of trust. Caleb tried to cast identify on it but it fails him as the object seems to reject his prying eyes.

The team realizes they're sailing into waters frequently sailed by authority and civillians with a well known pirate vessel and rebrand the ship, with the help of Twiggy's magehand, to The Ball Eater.

Eventually Caleb manages to, with the help of Twiggy, unlock one feature of the sphere which pours a few gold pieces onto the deck of the ship. Then he unlocks a new feature Twiggy had yet to see which poured a handful of green gemstone onto the deck. Curiosity getting into everyone they gather to watch as Caleb and Twiggy learn new features of this sphere by completing puzzles, finally spawning a strange and small black hole in the deck. Things enter into it and come back out unscathed so they lower Beau's top half into it to investigate.

It's dark inside and it stays pretty dark until she puts on her goggles. Before she can see anything she's lowered in deeper and hits a semi soft bundle of things, grabbing ahold and signalling to Fjord to pull her out. In her arms is a red cloak, a pair of winter boots, and a metal staff. Caleb inspects everything finding that the only magic is in the staff and is only meant to warm someone's hands when used. The cloak however, though non magical, does have a symbol embroidered into the back of it. The symbol is a very old Zemnian name; Halas.

The Nein press Twiggy on why Sir Caddigan is so bad and she tells them she believes he is the reason she is the way she is, weird and with bad social skills. She remembers being locked up in a cage or a crate and seeing his gross slender fingers jamming through to scare her, so when she managed to escape and find him eyeing the sphere she took it and ran.

With a little more prodding of the sphere, Caleb manages to send the team (minus Yasha since she was standing away from them) into a green light and emerge into a strange chamber, the sphere no longer with them and no means of exit as far as they know. This chamber has four banners; red, green, blue, and black, with Halas’ symbol on all of them. They also notice the two dead bodies laying near the middle of the chamber where they are. Twiggy magehand's the blue banner, pulling it back to reveal a dragon statue with an open maw, from the maw an arc of lightning bolts out and strikes Caleb and Twiggy, the gnome managing to dodge but Caleb with no such luck. Moving the banner back in front of it stops the statue and the banner remains unscathed from this magic.

Caduceus casts a spell to help him commune with the body closest and asks about it's fate. The only information he gleams from it is that it was killed by the wailing creature behind the black banner. The Nein, eager to leave this odd chamber, vote to test the banners from the safety of Caleb's tiny hut. Pulling back the green banner shows them the statue of a mutated and sickly looking human. A cloud of poisonous gas rolls out from it's mouth but they are unaffected thanks to the protection of the hut.

Behind the red banner is just a red door, also with the symbol of Halas on it. Twiggy magehand lockpicks the door, unlocking it, and sending it up into flames from a trap rigged to it. Once the flames subside the door and the banner are perfectly fine and Twiggy uses her magic hand to open the door. The Nein approach the new hallway and enter into it, causing Fjord and Caleb to get slight vertigo, they continue on this strange incline in the hall to get the feeling they are turning and gravity is shifting as they go further in. On the other side is a room that appears to be a study. They come to the realization that this hallway is interplanar as they exit at a slant but come out upright in the study.

Among many many books and shelves the focus is drawn to a large stained glass window at the center wall of this room. Outside the window is nothing but darkness and even Caleb's lights get snuffed out when they enter that darkness. Other than the hallway there is no other exit to this room. Nott and Twiggy investigate a cabinet but just as they reach their hands into it's doors, teeth appear and chomp down on the two rogues’ arms. The others give little help as they check out the rest of the room, feeling as the two can handle this monster. And they do! With Twiggy slashing at it from inside once she gets swallowed and Nott piercing it's “mouth heart” with a pepper arrow she thought was an explosive arrow, causing it to sneeze blood from it's wound inside.

The stained glass seems to represent the planes of existence but appears to be missing the divine gate, telling the Nein this window is pre calamity old. They do notice something different in this map of the planes in the form of a red dot added onto the window.

Fjord is anxious to advance and touches the window causing it to shatter, suck him out into the void and reform behind him. Beau and Jester run up to see what the hell just happened and investigate the window. Eventually Beau settles on the Fjord way of doing things and touches the glass causing her and Jester to be thrust out of the room and into the unknown as well. Following those two is Caduceus and Twiggy, and lastly (because they stopped to nab some books) Nott and Caleb.

Fjord falls into a chamber littered with bones and remains of bodies. Once he's up and gathering his surroundings he's met with the voice and face of a young, blue dragon. Obviously after some conversation Fjord can tell this dragon is not friendly and he stalls for time before he's inevitably eaten. Jester and Beau join him as his talking wears think with the dragon and the fight begins. Fjord blinks out as Beau uses her fire elemental gem she got forever ago from their adventure with the Iron Shepherds and tells it to fuck up that dragon.

Caduceus and Twiggy fall into the battle soon after and let loose some offense to help this elemental (who honestly is doing most of the work). Fjord blinks to a hallway nearby Caduceus and runs down it only to be met with a dead end and a glowy green crystal.

The dragon shoots lightning breath out to Jester, dealing a hefty sum of pain onto her, and as she uses hellish rebuke to deal some back, the cold damage from her spell gets sucked behind her into the other hallway where another gem resides. From the gem a light shoots out into the floor and towards the center of the chamber where a familiar, but less complicated sphere resides. Fjord uses his armor of Agathys to send some energy into the other gem and the same thing happens again.

After many hits to and from the dragon Jester transforms him into a red weasel reminiscent of Sprinkle. Beau runs past and, taking a page from Fjord's playbook, touches the sphere in the center causing her to disappear from battle (which causes her elemental to no longer be loyal to the Nein).

The elemental, being close to the weasel still, attacks it and sending it back into it's dragon form.

Fjord advises everyone to run for the sphere as Caleb and Nott finally join the fray and he makes a break for it himself, hopefully getting sent to wherever Beau is. Caduceus is next in the teleport line and Caleb follows suit. Soon it's only Jester, Nott, and Twiggy left to face the weakened dragon and fire elemental. Jester is looking rough and scared and Nott can tell, she runs from the dragon, taking it's reactionary hit before bamfing out of the chamber, leaving Jester safe from an attack of opportunity if she bolts too. Which she does of course as Twiggy remains hidden. Once they're all out the gnome pops up, fires one last meaningful shot at the dragon in the name of her friends, and sends the dragon to the ground in it's final breath. She thinks about grabbing a tooth to prove she killed it but the fire elemental, now with nothing nearby to attack, focuses on her. So she rushes out via the sphere and the Nein poof back onto their ship.

They're surrounded by their confused crew, who tell them they've been gone a week and they've already made it to Basaft. Their repairs are done and the dock master is waiting impatiently for payment. They hand over the gold and see Twiggy off on her adventures, giving her an honorary membership to the Mighty Nein and gaining the strange clockwork sphere. Most of the group go to rest after that near death experience but Beau and Caduceus stay up and chat about how they're pretty okay even after that harrowing battle. Keeping watch over the ship as the others gain much needed rest.

[machimachilegends]

Suki (Lightning x Yin Synthesis) vs Mirai (3rd Reservoir)

ROUND ONE // SPEED + REFLEXES

When it comes to raw speed, Suki practically goes unmatched when pit against foes lacking blood ties or blatant power. On some occasions managing to leave few serious battles without--so much as the enemy getting a single clean shot in. Given her Release Speed and natural affinity for lightning, she cancels attacks like no tomorrow, and attacks with her entire body leaving little room to breathe.

Though the situation is similar for Mirai, the cause barely has anything to do with speed. Rather Mirai’s Reaction Time makes up what she lacks in agility against speedsters akin to the other, which plays its part with Cast Time, where a single snap of the finger is needed to utilize most spells. With her short Cast Time she’s allowed to fight like normal, keeping her ability to capitalize on hits repeatedly.

ROUND TWO // BODY + STRENGTH

When it comes to Suki’s body she falls under the category of a normal human by her universe’s standards, granted, through extensive training and her birthright as an upper-branch Xchiyu, she’s well-versed in traditional combat--her body having a natural kink for helping adapt to the enemy’s attack chain either to evade or counter. This adeptness gives Suki so much insight on the battle at hand that her body tends to store the memory so she may call on certain experiences to further herself on a whim, though this ability may be attributed to her merits under the Transformation Type.

Regarding Suki’s innate strength, she can flip toss and tear through enemies more than one-hundred times her size via Physical Attacks and bust through metals even denser than neutron stars without much trouble. She’s endured plenty of Special Attacks capable of destroying everything from stars to the universe itself, even contesting such forces with her fists in her civilian form. And it’s not like she gives out easy, acting as a testament to her great speed, she possesses a lot of stamina too. It’s rare to ever see her stay winded for long, which tends to make some mistake her as alien at times.

Similarly enough, Mirai, too has withstood the tests of time tanking a Time-bomb the size of a small country capable of rewriting the universe, at least, had she not dulled its effects prior to detonating. Nonetheless the explosion ended up bringing Suki and Mirai together, and their universes in a critical state, only giving a hint at how durable she is even nowadays, but that’s not where the madness ends as she’s able to keep fighting even when she’s overextended her time tapping into the 1st and 2nd Reservoir of magic.

Reminds me--about Mirai’s body. As a magi, Mirai too is classified as a human by her universe’s standards. Instead of focusing on chi and its physical applications, her universe focused on its sister power magic, leading to a different evolution among mortals where they can naturally store magic in the body. Add in her incredible self-awareness and adjustment to greater magical forces like the fragmented Dawn Stone and Claire Text and she basically has an abundance of magic to spare by default with even greater reserves in the back to continuously cast spell after spell. Factor that even when she’s at zero units her physical strength goes unhindered.

ROUND THREE // EXPERIENCE + TACTICS

Suki has only ever trained under one mentor outside of school and family, whom goes by the name Fuu, a goddess. While there meeting wasn’t random, Suki definitely had to go through a lot before even getting to chance to learn under Fuu--ignoring the fact she only got to cause of Fuu’s attraction to her fusion with Damian and her general interest in their Yin Yang accessibility and imbalance, Suki still had to kill Fuu’s father (The Strongest Man) with assistance. At that point in time Suki had done battle with the supernatural, espers, demons, lesser gods, angels, and androids over the span of a good four years, each one capable of throwing the entire universe for a loop had they succeeded their devious acts. Yet, despite this, Saikuru (Fuu’s father) managed to dwarf Suki and allies capable of similar feats without even trying, yet it was Suki and Damian’s Yin Yang Fissue that put him down face of everything.

Obviously, once Suki was ready for the next step in her training, Fuu gave Suki the task to acquire and hone the Hyper Hare ability into her arsenal to make her greatest strengths overshadow her habitual weaknesses as a warrior, that being her speed and Energy Control.

Over the course of the next five to six years, Suki took the various lessons she’s learned over the years to control her fate and do battle with similarly experienced mortals whether genetic monstrosities from the future, body snatching immortals, conceptual identities taking physical form, summoners from entirely different sets of universes, god slayers, or even those who absorb death flags and the very future--heck even herself, Suki has managed to weasel her way into the winner’s circle using her wit and skill as an expert in Lightning, Yin, and Celestial Releases even going as far as to synchronize highly incompatible attributes and create the very form Synthesis when branching beyond the god-class. Her performance in tournaments tending to lack near the end compared her accomplishments.

Suki has also kept her cool when venturing into the depths of Oblivion, a dark and wonky world with a low atmosphere, the mental and spiritual beat-down of limbo, and gravity hundreds times that of Earth. Suki has also trained on Weak-point Mountain, a place that weighs on the spirit so much it’s almost impossible to release energy, which is remarked a danger zone due to the giant creatures that roam the button and the carnivorous beasts at the top. Additionally, Suki has gone to Netherworld once and has managed to evade the wildlife there while looking for the Garden of Eden.

When it comes to strategy, while Suki can be a little slow at times, once she has an ideal how a technique works, it’s basically a wrap. The only people Suki’s faced that could counter and deny her victory without interference were god slayers called Nina and Fusae, which left Suki on the cups of Double Taming Lightning every time as her only out. Otherwise, she tends to gauge the strength of her opponents using her speed before assessing how quickly she can deal with them, tending to use any spare time to setup attacks using needles, magnetism, paralysis, wires, spiritual severance, and on some occasions bladed weapons to trip up the opponent before overwhelming them with gigantic attacks when simple gashes aren’t enough. Suki also has the ability to purify or seal enemies when necessary, albeit she barely brings the right tools to seal her opponents.

As for Mirai, while her history isn’t well-known by many, nor as expansive as Suki’s, Mirai has had her fair share of battles against the very same espers and god slayers, managing to even put up an even fight at times when it was thought impossible. However, it should be clear she’s done battle against armies worth of esper before she even met Suki, warded off ghosts in the city of Asgard, and even scared off demon gods to protect her own world, if her battles against other high level sorceresses like her mother Sasara means nothing to you.

Each of the Guild Masters she’s crossed in her universe during her rebellion not seeming to even slow her any when she was gunning for Asgard at an adolescent age. Sure that was before she looked through the Claire Text but at the same, old age barely affected the outcome of their battle unlike the Grand Elder’s found in Suki’s universe, whether the conflict was physical or spiritual, she outsmarted each and everyone of them using nothing but the spells she learned during her time as a magical girl at the academia, only revealing her strongest spell--Dragonic Revolver against her closest friend Serena.

Again all of this being before she even got her hand of the Claire Text, participated in war with espers, stop the Psychic Time-bomb, enter Universe 9 unregistered, compete in the Magic Games, train under Fuu, face the demon-gods, and fight the god slayers. No wonder she was at the top of her class, cause she’s straight dominating the rank scene before even mellowing out enough to be seen as cold and mature to outsiders.

Unknown to many, Mirai’s familiar is actually a small black cat she has rarely called on other than a means of shielding herself from a fatal attack or harshly drawing magic straight out of her (Luminous). She also uses her twisted imagination to call on the aide of an entity she calls Hiei, a purple and black blob of magic that momentarily shifts between hydra, serpentine, and dragon with the power to seep into the shadows, tending to move at speeds around ten times that of Mirai’s Dragonic Revolver linearly. Hiei is Mirai’s main means of dealing with anyone she deems fodder or too inexperienced by beat her. Generally speaking, Mirai tends to overpower her enemies using a plethora of range focused and spread attacks while aiming to deal internal damage when unarmed.

Mirai tends to use smoke bombs, shuriken, kunai, and the legendary weapon Entropy she stole on her ventures throughout the galaxy to lay the pressure thick by storing energy and reflecting attacks, and has found ways to combine preset Substitution with the vastly untapped 3rd Reservoir’s magic to essentially cheat death and send its sensation towards those she has cursed to build advantage where tethers of magic would be thought pointless. Mirai turned Luminous into a pair of cat ears on her head and has trained with Hiei to use it to extend from her arm and maw on foes as solid chaos. Mirai also possesses the ability to use telekinesis and heal, although her ability to heal people is laughably poor.

LIGHTNING ROUND // UPRISING + THE BIG THREE

Suki and Mirai both have birthright, drive, skill, and innate talent as warriors. Suki, the heiress of her adept clan forced to learn the forgotten aspects of battle to ensure her victory and meet the remnants of her clan and learn the truth about what happened “that night”, all while balancing bonds with training for the ultimate goal of bettering herself in the back. As the only Xchiyu to make it so far, why not continue and prove there’s something more to being a warrior than meets the eye.

And Mirai, the girl whose father left her in the shadow of her superior mother and sister as a low class reject who went rogue with the magic passed down by the very person she hates to make a name for herself, diligently training for nothing else but to uncover the secrets about magic they couldn’t dare to find themselves. As the only one Magica other than her mother to take an active role in war, Mirai intends to show while power isn’t the be all end all to a fight, it’s a necessary evil.

When it comes to Mind, Mirai definitely takes it with all the study, tactical use of prep-time, her ever-growing affinity for magic, self-awareness, and serious attitude there’s far too much Mirai knows about herself and the world that would ever let her get blinded by anger so easily. There’s also the pressing matter she rarely needs to reflect or justify her wants or needs, and even when she does can already accept the flaws in her way of thinking, only changing when she feels it’s a necessity akin to those who’ve come before her. Whereas Suki is a touch more emotional than Mirai and has her visions skewed more than once.

When it comes to Spirit, Suki takes the cake. Despite Mirai’s tendency to use magic, it’s not the first time she’s budded heads with Mirai, and she proves to have the stronger soul by canceling out Mirai’s World Ending Slash with her very own Giga Swipe. Sure, Mirai is strong, but when Suki can use the lightning attribute, which is in the 2nd to lowest tier of Special Attacks ever against a a crackling blade of raw chaos which is categorized in the 2nd strongest tier of Special Attacks with the added ability to splice through enemies in other dimensions with a blade of lightning that solely draws power from the user, it’s clear Suki can easily tango with Mirai.

As for Heart, believe it or not, both Mirai and Suki have incredible strong hearts after the Slayers Saga where they kept surpassing each other in sheer ability time and time against the toughest of foes. While it took Suki longer to get herself straight due to how spiteful she was becoming with Aile and the intense rivalry that came from it, Mirai’s lack of emotional attachment to her allies left her relatively weak until Aile got through to her and made her reanalyze their mission’s purpose. Only then did they both care enough about the humanity behind their actions did they have that extra push they were missing to get back their Limpid Prism fragments to defeat Eri the Summoner and Daichi the Slayer Reject along all they saved on their ventures throughout the multiverse they’re assigned to.

CONCLUSION // RULINGS + TECHNICALITIES

In the end, they both would use up all their energy trying to best one another, but Suki would either tie or be victorious by a hair, despite all of Mirai’s advantages.

Mirai wouldn’t be able to keep using the 3rd Reservoir of magic she unlocked due to how exceptionally fast Suki would be when racking up hit, especially with all that energy disruption going on with Mirai, and since they’re “friends” trying to make Suki kill her would be insanely difficult with all the times they joined bodies. Suki knows Mirai’s tricks, and Mirai knows Suki’s decision-making procedures. Knowing this, Mirai would stray from melee as much as possible so she could keep generating more magic than she tends to use.

While Mirai would have Suki beat in power using her 5th World Ending Slash/World Ending Inferno and variants of the spell due to the vast revisions made to it, and how quick Mirai can escape harms way nowadays, Suki would have a very hard time using anything from her Laceration Series of techniques, forcing Suki to play tactically and using a plethora of celestial-attributed attacks, which have always taken a lot of energy for Suki to use opposed to how easily she can apply the yin attribute the her attacks, but keeping those shadows down is the only way Suki’s going to get close without using too much stamina. Spamming won’t help too much.

When it comes to defense, Mirai uses spherical barriers, while Suki uses an aura cloak, so by default, Suki’s Release is faster than Mirai’s Cast Time. However, Mirai has a much easier time using her barrier like a lens than Suki does erupting energy from such a cloak especially with how little time it actually lasts. Plus, ever since Mirai faced a blatant user of Anti-magic she’s been more concerned about how she layers her barriers and projectiles to fend off opponents. This means, Suki’s usual trick of rippling the energy holding the barriers up gets countered by the 2nd layer’s inclusion. Suki would be lucky to evade a blast right after its revelation.

The only reason Suki would manage to get Mirai back into her civilian form and keep it that way would be to use a whip of lightning to change the angle which they fight and tag Mirai’s Shadow Magic so she can bypass the visual flood and close distance with the fruits of mastering Hyper Hare so once they’re both in their normal states and Mirai’s low on magic but physically stronger, she can countered with one final rupture of lightning to outrun Mirai’s resistances and close the battle out with a body slam. Mirai wouldn’t expect Suki to manage tagging the very shadows she can use to Shadow Tag her enemies for curses.

It should be noted Yin is stronger than Chaos, so Suki technically has her means of damaging Mirai even if she directly coats herself in space-time fabric, but with how easy Mirai could trade herself in or a clone could be used, it’s not too viable akin to how Suki knows Mirai can see through her afterimages but wouldn’t best her when it comes to slice affinity. So Entropy would only help so much, and it would take way too much time to try Spell-bounding Suki with magic.

[viviae]

23 & 29 for all three familiars please

Bless you <3

Celica - Amygdala (Ghost Bat)

Nefeli - Mr. Sir (King of Saxony Bird of Paradise)

Sidereus - Deimos & Phobos (Ferrets)

23. What’s their favorite thing about your OC?

Amygdala: Amygdala loves Celica’s unique approach to life since their meeting was related to how Celica was the only one who wasn’t scared enough to find her and it’s always been the crux of their relationship. 

Mr. Sir: Oh darling have you seen Nefeli? She’s a mess, poor thing she would be nothing without his guiding hand wing! Truly once you break past her anxious shell she is a delightful though, oozing creativity and has a good head on her shoulders.

Deimos: Deimos appreciates Sidereus’s skill and dedication to his magical craft and work. Also he appreciates how Sidereus leaves his hat pins laying around when he sleeps and can go terrorize his brother with it.

Phobos: Phobos loves Sidereus’s friendships with others and how end of the day he is pretty down to earth behind all his bolstering and ominousness. He also enjoys how he will do anything if he bites his fingers enough times.

29. Why did you choose them for your OC?

Amygdala: A lot of little things, I wanted a familiar for my oc that I haven’t seen commonly around so I was torn between a bat and a tarantula for PEAK spookiness. I saw a post about how there aren’t a lot of bat familiars in the fandom and I just adore bats  as a whole so I eventually allowed myself to give my main a bat. The name Amygdala literally came to me in the middle of my psychology class BUT it’s also a bloodborne reference to the Amygdala’s who have a monster design I just adore so.

Mr. Sir: I really wanted bird imagery for an OC (Nefeli wasn’t really made yet, or at least developed) so I googled birds of prey to base a masquerade outfit around. I eventually scrapped that design entirely and started to develop Nefeli at the same time who was heavily based on the “sheltered artist” trope so I figured a bird would fit for her. The name Mr. Sir was kind of a joke I gave of what would be a funny name to give an oc.

Deimos & Phobos: I went back and forth on Sidereus’s familiar, originally his ‘familiars’ were just going to be a large amount of moths that followed him around and he’d kill them to empower himself with magic since he is the world I wanted something cyclical. I then figured a good nickname for him would be a little weasel so I debated giving him a mink, stoat, weasel, or ferret. Unfortunately all the different creatures confused me so I stuck with ferret. Originally he had just one ferret named Sybil but I heard ferrets are super social creatures and I would’ve felt bad to deny that to them.

[zerochanges]

Night of the Banshee

With less than a week or so to go, Halloween this year is fast approaching. So now’s the time to get in the last few frights and scares before we all start our unnecessarily long 3 month celebration of Christmas (What? Don’t try to tell me your January isn’t full of Christmas decorations that just refuse to die; like a zombie’s death-grip on some poor background character). Last year I was encumbered with a busy work schedule and really didn’t get to enjoy the frightful holiday, at best I think I saw maybe 20 minutes of Cujo on cable TV and that was pretty much the extent of my spooks that year. So this year I wanted to do something special and check out something truly horrifying. Which leads us to today’s subject: Banshee’s Last Cry.  

Now what is Banshee’s Last Cry, I hear you asking. Well it is a sound novel released for the iPhone in the US during January of 2014. So then what’s a sound novel you ask. Well, that can be a bit complicated. Similar to a visual novel, a sound novels usually forgo character sprites and CG art and instead focuses more on the novel aspect. It’s much closer to the novel nomenclature and essentially feels like reading a digital book with music and sound effects to amplify the experience. Of course like a visual novel there are still moments where you get to make choices in the story that lead to different endings.

The easiest western comparison would probably be text based adventure games, a genre that similar to the much more popular point ‘n click adventure games faded away a lot as technology advanced but is making a comeback, especially in the indie scene on Steam and the Mobile phone market. For the sake of this article, that’s pretty much all you really need to know about sound novels, but yes, any nerd I may have just upset; you are right, it’s much more complicated; a lot of games will use that label and have just as many visuals as visual novels, and it also started life as more of a brand of games for Chunsoft (the developer of today’s game) but yet nowadays some of the most famous sound novels like Higurashi When They Cry have nothing to do with Chunsoft. Basically, the more you try to categorize things the bigger of a cluster duck it becomes (quack). But really, all you need to understand what the game play in Banshee’s Last Cry’s is like is to just think of classic text adventure games!

(The original Super Famicom box for Kamaitachi no Yoru - 1994)

In Japan Banshee’s Last Cry was originally named Kamaitachi no Yoru (かまいたちの夜 / Night of the Kamaitachi) but the localization company, Aksys Games, renamed it something a lot less Japanese. In America it’s pretty easy to have missed this game but in Japan when it originally released in 1994 for the Super Famicom it was a huge hit and has remained to this day a cult classic that has spawned off numerous sequels, ports, remakes, reimaginings, and even its own live action TV drama (that’s when you KNOW you made it!). Now obviously this mobile phone release is one of the many rereleases for the game, but for us in America this marks the very first (and at the time of this writing -- only) time we have ever seen a release. This is quite momentous considering despite how incredibly popular Kamaitachi no Yoru was in Japan no one has ever tackled translating it for 20 years until this point, not even fan translations; any real attempt or interest shown in the fan community had always fizzled out until then.

This release while momentous however was also met with some concerns, the most obvious of which was its Americanization (or maybe Canadianization?). A lot of fans weren’t incredibly sold on this aspect of the English release when it first revealed. The plot was moved from Japan to Canada (Nagano to Whistler, British Columbia to be precise), and all the characters were renamed to match. The protagonist Toru became Max, and the heroine Mari became Grace, for example. The good thing is you can rename these two to whatever you like--I personally kept Max’s name but changed the heroine back to Mari because her English name also happens to be the name of my pet dog, and that’s weird--I don’t wanna romance a character with my dog’s name (plus I am too unoriginal to think up any other girl’s name for Grace/Mari). You cannot however rename anyone else in the story, and more importantly for those who took issue with this decision, the location change will stick no matter what.

In Japan they have a lot of folklore creatures, or yokai, who have a very long and rich history. This complex hierarchy of creatures, monsters, ghosts, and ghoulies all help to make for incredibly unique literature you just can’t quite recreate in English. That’s not to say the English world does not have its fair share of great horror writers who could conjure up their own parthenon of fantastically terrifying Lovecraftian horrors, but culturally the things that go bump in the night are really quite different between us. While in Japan yokai may seem like a fun part of their own local folklore that kids to adults all have, at the very least, a familiarity with, not much else like that is true for America.

You may have your occasional local legends like the Headless Horsemen (insert Christopher Walken gif here), but there really isn't any cemented creature folklore that everyone just “gets” in America. At least, not anything nearly as rich and complicated as a lot of Asian or even European folklore creatures. The best alternative I can think of off-the-top-of-my-head would be Big Foot, and ‘Night of the Big Feet’ sounds about as menacing as it does sensual. It’s because of this that veteran translator Jeremy Blaustein (Metal Gear Solid, Snatcher) decided to go in a different direction. Americans don’t really have a great set of creature folklore, and obviously outside our own little niche communities of nerds, don’t know Japanese folklore either--and thus would not get much out of the material presented that way--but that isn’t to say there weren’t plenty of other folk creatures out there that are well known to Americans. While Blaustein’s choice of the Banshee has some awkward work-arounds (mainly an Irish ghost being in Canada and all that), it’s something pretty much everyone knows--a part of popular culture that has stayed with us all, and was a really great stand in for a Kamaitachi, or Sickle Weasel.

Not everyone knows what a Kamaitachi is, even anime nerds might not, as it isn’t the most popular yokai (sadly not enough people have read Ushio & Tora), but pretty much anyone knows what a Banshee is. Both creatures also work quite nicely together, setting the right winter horror atmosphere. In the middle of a terrible blizzard, the howling winds have enough force to knock down tress, shatter glass, and even flip over cars. You can feel the cold down to your bones, it’s bitter and resentful, and while it might just be your imagination, the thought that such fierceness could even be enough to cut through you doesn't seem too ludicrous while out there in the storm. In the original Japanese text we had the Kamaitachi that are known for riding on dust devils, and their sickles that can easily be associated with a wind so fierce that it may even scratch you, while in the English text there’s the Banshee, known for their howls--like that of the howling wind. Anyone who has ever been trapped in a fierce wind storm can attest to the truly demonic, otherworldly sounds fierce wind can make--a howling Banshee’s does not seem far off during a terrible blizzard.

What’s important here is that the original essence of the story is coming out for the audience, and in that regard Blaustein succeeds remarkably, creating a very enjoyable reading experience that is truly on par with the Japanese writing. The text is a pleasure to read, and flows incredibly well. The utter horror and sense of being trapped truly leaps off the ‘page’ and it’s a genuinely harrowing experience while also not missing any of the charm and unique humor the original Japanese version is so well known for as well. In his own words Blaustein talks about his decision for such a strong localization as opposed to keeping the original folklore and setting:

“When I asked myself if the idea of small weasels with scythes strapped to the legs would resonate with a Western audience that has no such myth, I had to answer no. Furthermore, even the word "weasel" brings to mind shifty Steve Buscemi-like personalities as opposed to something supernatural and scary. In trying to make a true localization that would capture the essence as opposed to the trappings of the story, I decided Banshee would be more in keeping with the original SPIRIT of the game. From that POV, I feel that I am actually closer to the reproducing the feel of the original for a Western audience than I would be if I had kept it Japanese. It is hard perhaps to explain, but I feel strongly about it.”

So let’s finally talk about this story, as really it’s the whole meat and potatoes of the game and is what it’s all about. Banshee’s Last Cry has a simple premise at first: a group of people are trapped in an Inn during a terrible snowstorm, things soon become suspicious when three of the guests find a note slipped under their door that reads “TONIGHT@MIDNIGHT=DEATH”. The characters initially try to write this off as a prank but it doesn't take long until people go missing and their corpses show up: the first of which is horribly mangled in a grotesque, almost implausible manner, that leads to the cast wondering if perhaps something supernatural is at play. It’s a Whodunit, with a spice of the potential paranormal. Think old dark house, but with snow.

There are 43 different endings in this particular version of the game, however many of these endings are death related bad ends. For example, let’s say you are given three options when it comes time to confront a potential murderer: one of these options will probably lead you to confronting the wrong person and accidentally escalating the situation until you through your own actions or the actions of another ends up getting an innocent person killed resulting in a game over. The second choice then might result in you choosing the right person but messing up how you confront said person and being killed yourself. That’s two bad endings right there, and 41 more endings to go. The third choice then is the actual right choice to keep the story moving down its natural progression. A lot of the branches in the story can work like this example I just made up, but don’t be disheartened as you can always skip ahead after the game restarts and get right back to where you were and try again. Plus completing endings may unlock new dialogue choices given to you and can lead to endings you could not have seen otherwise at the start of the game.  

Despite the many death related bad endings out there to haunt you in your mystery solving there are plenty of other actual story progressing endings as well, and lots of different stories even to boot. Once you solve the main mystery and finally figure out the murderer and how they pulled off their killings, the game is not over yet. There are other stories that get told with the same basic setting and characters. Sometimes some character’s backgrounds and personalities change completely, other times some characters might be swapped out with new characters! This is especially true in a gag story you can unlock where the first victim who dies a particularly gruesome death is replaced by an overly flamboyant cross-dresser (or maybe it’s an anthropomorphic goat?) and hijinks ensue.

Yes, there also happens to be tons of comedy in this. Probably half the game is really hard edged and full of gruesome horror with crazy high death counts, while you white knuckle your way through it trying to find the bastard who did all this, if it’s even an human to being with, while the other half of the stories are gut busters that turn everything you know on its side and deconstruct horror tropes leaving you laughing the whole way through. Sometimes people are murdered horribly, sometimes you are caught up in a James Bound movie between a war of spies, and sometimes the game just goes absolutely nuts. There is honestly nothing quite like it, you can say Banshee’s Last Cry is an expert case of a video game that both terrifies and trolls its audience, and that’s the best part about it.

Out of all the crazy endings in the game I think my personal favorites have to be the one where you can decode a hidden message in the dialogue presented and learn that Chunsoft is behind a conspiracy to take over the world by brainwashing you and everyone else who plays their games, and the ending that pokes fun at Chunsoft’s other big series: The Mystery Dungeon games. If you ever played a Shiren the Wanderer, or the many, many, many other mystery dungeon flavored games such as Chocobo Dungeon, Etrain Mystery Dungeon, Pokémon Mystery Dungeon, Barbie’s Dream Dungeon, or even Call of Dungeon Medieval Warfare, you’d get a real kick out of exploring the basement of the Inn and discovering it’s actually an RPG Dungeon that you can dungeon crawl through, fight classic fantasy monsters like Goblins in turn based combat, and try to find treasure chests. This game is just an absolute marvel that keeps giving in how it messes with your expectations.

And this is truly the most horrifying thing about Banshee’s Last Cry, there’s nothing quite like it out there in English, and it’s already about to fade away forever. Banshee’s Last Cry launched in January of 2014,  and since then has only had one update, about a week later after it came out and has never been updated since. This September (2017), Apple has launched their newest update: iOS 11 that moves their devices from 32-bit to 64-bit, in the process breaking a lot of past games and applications. A lot of developers have been prepping for this and have updated their products, but a lot of other apps have been left to wallow in oblivion (much like Shin Megami Tensei I -- another miracle of the mobile market now dying with iOS 11). Banshee’s Last Cry has not yet been updated and very likely never will be. This is another game lost to the harsh reality of a digital market place. If you’re thinking maybe the Android version can still be saved, well unfortunately even though Aksys Games advertised an Android version. one never materialized. The only way to play Kamaitachi no Yoru in English is to have an iPhone that hasn't yet converted to iOS 11, an update that is already a month old now at the time of this writing.

There may be hope in the future, as Spike Chunsoft has since shown some interest, a previous Twitter poll from last year over what games people may want to see localized saw “Kamaitachi no Yoru” (yes, not Banshee’s Last Cry) show up in it. While it did not win the poll there still might be a chance for it yet. Another sound novel in that poll, 428, lost as well but was announced for an English steam release. Perhaps if 428 can make it maybe Kamaitachi no Yoru can eventually too. There also happens to be a really nice and shiny new PS Vita remake to work off of for Kamaitachi no Yoru, that converted the game into a more traditional visual novel which will most likely have greater appeal to the English speaking market nowadays.

The future is hard to really tell, but such a fascinating and important game like Kamaitachi no Yoru deserves a better chance for an English audience to enjoy. It shouldn't be stuck on a dead platform that won’t work on modern phones and just the few YouTube Let’s Plays that are out there of it. I cannot think of anything more horrifying than the lost of game like this.

Fun Facts:

1.) Kamaitachi no Yoru was originally made using photographs of the real world location it was set in as the backgrounds. The developers added in some digital effects where they were needed such as pixelated snow moving across the screen and the silhouettes of characters talking. When the developers could not get a background they wanted in real life they created miniature models for them, such as the wine cellar. The Mobile version of the game again does the same thing, but interestingly the English localization Banshee’s Last Cry, retook a lot of the photographs of the Inn setting by using a real Inn you can actually visit in British-Columbia. While some of the interior shots are the same, some are quite different. The miniature models and digital effects seem to have all stayed the same though. You really have to appreciate such workmanship in keeping everything as real and practical as possible. Here are some comparisons of the Japanese and English Inn used:

Kamaitachi no Yoru iOS Comparison

2.) The music in Banshee’s Last Cry is just fantastic. I couldn’t really think of a spot to properly talk about it above but I really loved this particular version of the soundtrack. If you want to check it out you can should be able to find it on YouTube. I also uploaded the music to my Soundcloud as a back-up.

3.) While I didn't want to go to the monstrous task of hunting down EVERY version of Kamaitachi no Yoru I did at least take some comparison screenshots between the original Super Famicom version, the localized Banshee’s Last Cry iOS version, and 2017 Vita remake that turns the game into a visual novel. Check below:

Kamaitachi no Yoru - SuFami - iOS - PS Vita Comparison

[inkshifter]

Tales from the Wastes

In Fate’s Hands

Act II

The Night Owl

    Ezra began to notice as the weeks wore on that the feline seemed to be becoming a permanent fixture in the park. It didn’t matter the time of day, when he went past the gates he could catch the distinct sound of Psych’s melodies. If he wasn’t in any real hurry to get to his destination, he’d stop in and toss her a few bucks. She’d grin at him, but never let his presence interrupt her playing.

   Some nights she seemed well rested. Most nights she didn’t. Some nights her appearance was cleaned up, mostly she gave off the impression of needing a good shower. Ezra began to wonder… Where did she sleep? Did she have somewhere she was staying? Did she crash in motels…? Was she.. Sleeping in that very park?

   He wanted to find out for himself.

   Like usual Psych sat with her back to the sputtering fountain, legs crossed with her guitar cradled in her lap. She strummed out an acoustic version of some latest radio tune and kept her head down, only glancing up when someone tossed in a handful of spare change into her splayed out case. She’d thank them and go back to her cords.

   It was later in the evening when she heard the familiar jingle of chains hitting against chains.

   She’d look up as the hedgehog glided to a stop in front of her, a smile spread across his face “Start’n to think you’re trying to become apart of the architecture,” he mused. Taking his hands from his pockets to fold them behind his head.

   “Yeah? What can I say? I’m digg’n this location. The local population keeps me coming back.” she chuckled, eyes sparkling in a coy kind of way.

   Ezra snorted out his own laugh, albeit a little nervously. He wasn’t one for flirting on an everyday basis “So… have you eaten anything lately?” He tilted his head, wondering if she’d left this spot at all today.

   The feline’s brows raised at the question “Not since this morning. I usually grab something after I pack up.. Why? Ya ask’n me out?” The grin that made it’s way across her face was nothing short of shit eating.

   Ezra flushed and immediately began to stammer out a nervous “N-no! It’s not like that! I-I… ugh. I’m sorry, I... “ he ran a hand down his face and laughed, shaking his head “I just thought I’d offer. But I mean.. If you don’t wanna..”

   “Hey! I never said no! I’d love to grab a bite!” the feline nearly jumped up, causing the hedgehog to hold back a bark of laughter. Psych started packing up her instrument, collecting the coins into a pouch on her companion satchel and shoving the bills into a wallet she carried in her back pocket. She shouldered her case after, beaming “So… you’re buying right?”

   Ezra snickered, shoving his hands back into his pants as she took to his side “What kind of guy do ya take me for?” He was a gentleman! How dare she think otherwise! He gasped dramatically and put a hand to his chest like she’d mortally wounded him. He regained himself a moment after, still chortling softly under his breath before clearing his throat “Say uh… how old are you by the way?” he looked at her with a slight tilt to his head as they turned a corner away from the park.

   Psych faltered in step a little, unsure of the question. She shifted her case and cleared her throat “...I’m uh.. 18.. Why?” she hoped that sounded convincing enough. Last thing she needed was someone thinking she was a runaway.

   He slowed when she did, turning with concern forming on his face. Apparently his question had come off as creepy. Dammit “Oh don’t worry! I just needed to know which door to bring you through,” He said quickly, as he held up his hands in a way to show he meant no harm “I know this really great bar that makes the best damn cheese fries this side of the hemisphere! Thought we’d head there… Not to mention I get free food since I uh.. Also work there.” he chuckled, hoping he hadn’t just freaked her out.

   Relief seemed to wash over her features. She started forward again with a reassuring grin “Oh! Sounds great! Yeah uh... 18.. Is that going to be a problem?” she wasn’t exactly drinking age, to say the least.

   “Nah, s’long as you’re with me you’ll be fine. We’ll go in through the back and sit in the break room.”

   It didn’t take too long to get to the bar he was talking about. The building was set snugly between two much taller ones, set back a little to house a small courtyard with outdoor seating. Strings of lights were draped around the area, giving the atmosphere a relaxed, fun vibe. He lead her down a narrow passage between the bar and one of it’s neighbor buildings, where a heavy metal door stood as a second entry way in. He took out a set of keys from his pocket shoved them into the lock, pushing it open and holding it to let her through.

   The inside was a long room, with a table and chairs at one end for the employees and a couple of couches at the other for when the bar hosted it’s music events. The walls were decorated in signed posters of famous bands and framed, autographed guitars.

   He let the door shut itself behind them “Welcome to The Night Owl, Bar and Music Club,” he grinned at her, and gestured to the table and chairs.

   A music club? Awesome. Needless to say the musically inclined feline would find herself feeling right at home. She’d take a seat, leaning her case against the table “So… uh… you work here?” she was gazing around at the decor as she spoke, her eyes coming to rest on him with a slight tilt to her head.

   “Yeah! I’m one of the bartenders. I’m off tonight though,” he chuckled, his hands on the back of the chair across from her. He wasn’t sitting just yet since he still needed to go up front and get their fries ordered..

   “Heh, wow, how lame does your life have to be for you to spend your off days at work..?” Psych snorted, amusement clear in her face. She hoped that hadn’t come out too rude.

   Luckily, he wasn’t one to take things that personally. He grinned right back at her “What can I say? This place is pretty much my second home!” he leaned away from the chair and rubbed his hands together “Now! How about those cheese fries? I did promise you cheese fries!” and he turned, more or less bouncing towards the door to the inner bar.

   Psych looked after him, shaking her head at his silly antics as she slouched against her seat. She took her time looking around the room once more, fingers drumming against the table to break the silence.

   A moment passed and the door opened again. Psych sat up, expecting Ezra “Man, that was qui-” she stopped short when she saw a tall weasel creature step in. He was dressed up in black from head to toe and looked like he could snap a tree in half. Oh..

   He regarded her for a moment, before crossing to the fridge to take out a foam box. He popped it in the microwave and leaned up against the counter, his eyes trailing back to her.

   Psych tried not to squirm under his stare, focusing on the texture of the table while she counted the ticks of a clock from somewhere in the room. She felt out of place, like he probably thought she didn’t belong there.

   When Ezra finally returned, carrying a drink in each hand, it was as if the tension in the room had been washed away completely, he slid a cup towards her and nodded towards the weasel “I see you’re work’n as hard as ever, Raf,” he smirked, getting a slight smile to rise on the face of the other male.

   “At least I’m getting paid to be here…” he mumbled, before nodding to Psych, who shifted again “S’that her?”

   “Yeah.. Psych,” he smiled towards the purple feline, who glanced his way “This is my roommate Rafael.”

   “Nice to meet ya, Psych. Ezra’s been talk’n about you.” the weasel teased gently, earning him a look of utter betrayal from the hedgehog.

   Psych couldn’t suppress her amusement. She leaned forward and grinned at Ezra “All good things, I hope.”

   “O-of course! I’d never say a cross word about a talented guitarist such as yourself,” he beamed, trying to hide how flustered he was. Raf would be feeling it later. Ezra took his seat across from the violet cat, folding his hands around his drink and focusing his attention on her “So… are ya from around here? All I know about you is your great taste in tunes and your name!” he tipped his glass back, bright ice blue eyes zeroing in on the purple feline.

   She blinked, before laughing a little awkwardly and reaching to scratch at her neck “Uh, no..” she started, as she tapped a claw against her own glass “I’m from Defiance actually..”

   Ezra let out a low whistle, sharing a look with his large friend who’d come to take a seat at the table next to them “Defiance, huh? That’s quite a ways… why’d the hell ya leave?” Everyone knew that Defiance was one of the better places to live in Alabask. Especially compared to Rocket City…

   But she simply shrugged “Needed a change of scenery I guess… Thought it’d be cool to get out into the world and see what else it has to offer.” It wasn’t exactly a lie. She just hoped it sounded like a convincing excuse.

   Lucky for her, the hedgehog was nodding thoughtfully “I can totally get that. My family’s back in a military settlement down south.” He didn’t go into detail about why he was here now though.

   Psych’s eyes then flickered to Rafael, expecting him to say something similar, but he just gave a passive shrug “Born and raised here. I’ll probably die here too.”

   “Jerome’s from Galacity though,” Ezra added in. And they shared another look, one that excluded Psych from whatever knowledge they had that she wasn’t aware of. She assumed Jerome must be another friend of theirs.

   A knock would sound at the break room door then and Ezra would hop to his feet “Fries are done!” he announced, as he vanished once more, only to return a few seconds later with two baskets balanced in each hand.

   He’d stick his nose up in the air as he approached, making quite a show of himself as he presented her the cheesy concoction as if it were an expensive steak from some fine restaurant.

   “Ya dinna is served~” he forced an accent and grinned as she rolled her eyes at his flare.

What a dork.

   Rafael would give snort and stand back up “That’s my cue to get back to work,” he heaved himself up as he tossed whatever lunch had been in his takeout box. He’d give the feline a well meaning glance before stepping back out onto the floor. Probably going back to his job looking intimidating as fuck.

   Ezra spun his chair around and sat with his arms draped across the back, watching the cat curiously as she forked one of the fries into her mouth. He’d grin when her eyes lit up and a hum escaped her throat “Holy shit, you weren’t kidding.” These were the bomb.

   He’d chuckle to himself and waved his hand exaggeratedly “I don’t kid about cheese fries… kid,” he beamed. She’d give him a slightly murderous look at the comment, but she was too busy shoveling more fries into her face to give him a proper retort.

   He hadn’t touched his food yet. He just kept watching her, smiling slightly all the while. She’d pause after a few bites and give him an odd look “What? Is there something wrong? Do I have cheese on my nose?” she rubbed at it just in case. But he just barked out a laugh and shook his head.

   “Nah! Sorry… I was just wondering if you had anywhere to stay. I noticed you wear the same threads a lot..” he trailed off, as if he’d realized how rude it was that he’d pointed it out.

   But Psych didn’t seem offended. In fact, after taking a swig from her drink, she leaned back and chuckled to herself “Not yet… I’ve just been sorta living from bench to bench.. Sometimes I getta room somewhere though! If I make enough. That’s what happened to that money you gave me that first night I played for you.” she explained this all lightly, as if it wasn’t a big deal she was living off the streets.

   Though Ezra’s face would fall slightly. He’d drop his attention to his food, using his fork to push the fries around in their cheesy coating “I was afraid ya’d say something like that…” he mumbled, clearing his throat as those icy blues flickered back up at her “S’why I asked Raf and Jerome if they’d mind me offering you our cough. Y’know, just until you got on your feet?” But she was already shaking her head no, frowning a little as she did.

   “That’s awful sweet of you, Ezra but… I’m alright. It’s a pride thing, y’feel?” she offered him a little smile though, appreciating the thought. She hoped he wouldn’t be too crestfallen over it.

   But he’d simply rub at his neck and laugh awkwardly “I get it.. I guess it would be kinda weird for a girl to be crashing at an apartment with three guys anyway...” he’d heave a sigh, but he didn’t seem too terribly disappointed “The offer’ll still stand though if you change your mind.”

   “Thanks, I’ll keep a note of that.” she gave him a nod, before going back to her fries, thankful when he started devouring his too.

 They’d chat and banter for an hour or so more, passing stories and deciding they needed a jam sesh one of these days when Ezra announced that he was a master of the strings as well. But unlike Ezra, who had a nocturnal streak, Psych actually needed sleep when the sun went down. They’d stand, the hedgehog collecting their long emptied fry baskets while she shouldered her case “I’ll see ya around, Green Bean.” she threw him a cheshire grin at the way his face twisted at the name.

   “Psh, right. I’ll see ya at the park… uh... “ he seemed even more a little upset that he couldn’t think of a comeback, and dropped his head when time ran out “I’ll think of something.. Just you wait.” he warned.

   A snicker would pass between them before she’d turn for the back exit, letting Ezra go about his clean up as the door shut behind her.

[what-the-crit-is-going-on]

Episode 34

Entering into the Wayfarer's Cove they are greeted by the salty stench of old ocean water and older sailors. It doesn't seem to be very busy with only a few patrons drinking at tables. One patron is a odd looking creature the most of the Nein had yet to see in the flesh, an old Tortle man with a eye patch. They mutter about him to themselves before Jester boi ds over to him and asks about how he lost his eye.

They never do get that story but he does inform them as best he can about the various quests they have going on. His name is Orlie Skiffback and the most information he can provide is on one Marius Lepoix. He would occasionally help out Marius when he needed somewhere to stay but lately he hasn't seen him in a while. He begins to get guarded about this topic before the Nein convince him they are here to deliver to him.

That seems to work as the Tortle tells of what he has been up to recently and where they could possibly find him, should he be back in town.

With the Nein finishing up their conversation with the old man, Fjord and Caleb venture over to another patron, a middle aged looking woman who keeps stealing glances at the group.

Fjord buys her a drink and asks her what she knows about the Tidepeak tower in the quay. She doesn't know much as she isn't local. She is Captain Adella of the ship Dren Sal Abyss. After hearing Fjord is also a sailor she offers him work on board and passage for the others to Marquette. He says they'll consider it and moves on to his next topic.

Sabien. The man who sabotaged his old ship. He asks if he works on board her ship and she, luckily, says no. But she does know him, apparently he is working with a man named Cadmus Leland now, less of a sailor and more of a thief with pirating being his new venture, on a ship called the Widow's Embrace. Fjord requests she tell him he is looking for him and they leave it at that as a large shadow enters the bar, backlit and imposing. Once the door closes and the lighting permits it, the Nein are greeted by a familiar face. Yasha has once again found them.

They grab a table to drink and discuss how she is and how she found them only to find out she didn't mean to find them. She's been having dreams, prophetic dreams she believes, about islands. She believes she's supposed to go there and came to the only sea she knew. If nothing else, she agrees to kick Algaar’s ass for disrespecting Jester's mother with the group

Before leaving the bar Caleb asks the barkeep about Tidepeak to no avail. And Nott jumps on a table and threatens the bar for information about Algaar. Also to no avail. They play it off as reciting a scene and leave the bar.

Close to the docks, they ask around about the Sluice Weave there and Fjord suggests Beau try out her new people skills on a guard and see if he knows the where to look. She let's her hair down to one side and takes on the persona of Tracy from Zadash, a ditzy, young, intellectual on break from her classes, finds the least confident looking Zelezzo guard and begins her mission to flirt the information out of him. She gets what she needs from him and bails out of the conversation as politely as she can. The Nein are stunned at the display.

The investigate the area they were pointed to and discover a gate under water. After “convincing” Nott to join them on the rowboat, Fjord, Jester, and Yasha all dive in to break the gate. They succeed and continue in the tunnel to the next gate, popping that one off as well. With the tunnel clear of obstacles the Nein (including Jester's weasel and Nugget the blink dog) dive into the water and through the tunnel.

Coming out the other side onto dry-ish land where they can breathe. Once into the dark tunnel they are met by sentient water elementals and a fight begins. Beau gets knocked prone and whelmed, the elemental forcing water into her throat and nose. Caleb casts enlarge on her, bringing Swole-regard back once again. Yasha pulls Beau out of the water, saving her from drowning while Caleb and Nott take out the two enemies from afar.

They continue down the tunnels, octopus Frumpkin leading the way when Caduceus tells them to stop, he hears voices ahead. Frumpkin spots a chamber ahead of them illuminated by a faint green glow and watched over by raised platforms. The Nein stealth in and see Algaar, flanked by two body guards and a worker, enter into the chamber from the raised up area. It's all work talk until Algaar calls out to someone named Xuundi, and a large half water, half fish looking guy rises from the water reluctantly.

It seems this Xuundi is bonded to Algaar in some way, he also doesn't seem happy about it. Algaar commands him to do some work related things when the water elemental spots the Nein hiding along a wall. The Nein all seem to be in agreement on stopping Algaar without hurting this water genie of sorts. And the fight begins.

Beau manages to toss a throwing star at Algaar while Fjord Misty steps up to them and casts thunderstep. Another water elemental emerges and focuses the magic users in the back of the room and Caleb tosses a fireball to Algaar and his bodyguards. The water elemental knocks out Caleb and Caduceus and Algaar is as well after Jester sends her, now bladed, spiritual lollipop to blindly swing up there. Caleb, face down in the water begins to drown as Jester heals Caduceus.

Before she can heal Caleb she gets sucked into the water elemental with Caduceus. Nott magehands a healing potion into Caleb's mouth and he is saved. Fjord casts hunger of Hadar over Algaar, encasing him in darkness and slimy tentacles. Within the darkness he hears shuffling and eventual coughing.

Yasha puts an end to the water elemental holding the clerics when Fjord drops his sphere of darkness and sees a bodyguard healing Algaar. He quickly knocks out that body guard and pulls a sea wraith from his corpse. Seeing this Algaar is spooked and spends his turn cowering in fear. Beau manages to grapple him with a knee to the throat as Fjord walks up and with one request, unable to be answered by the currently choked out as restrained man, cuts off the hand of Algaar that has a bracelet controlling the water genie.

Freed from his connection to the wretched man, the water elemental drops his raised trident and turns to where his master is, floating up to him.