#also her true form is a rabbit person but she keeps her human disguise on for Reasons

[mitkitty]

I commissioned @lordichamo for a meme redraw with my D&D character Teeka and Keith, the NPC that DM @thalia-amongst-the-thorns specifically concocted to target me. I am currently obsessed with these two

[favoritefightingfrenchgoth]

 huge masterlist of leftist (mainy, some lib) videos, some docs, some articles, divided by topic: that i will edit and add more to later:

Far Right/Alt Right/Fascists:

Charlottesville: The True Alt Right (Goes over the entire Charlottesville rally while using footage/images from the rally and march, including footage from the Nazis that they had livestreamed, how the Nazis began assaulting antifascist protestors, responses to the incident, and how ALL of them are Nazis)

The Cult of Tradition (Goes over the myths and truths of the Founding Fathers/ colonizers, slave owners, American Revolution. Argues against the defenders of statues and monuments)

Philosophy of anti-fascists

Decrypting the Alt Right, how to recognize a fascist + Debating the Alt Right + How to Never Lose a Debate with a Fascist + The Alt Right Playbook series

Handmaids Tale: Spotting Fascism (shows clips from the show including gore),

How to lose an argument

Fox News keeps breaking its own rules

Why the Alt Right is Wrong + What the Alt Right fears + The Lies of Red Ice TV (don’t go into comments, full of Nazis) and part 2

Pewdiepie and the rebranding of white nationalism + The PewDiePipeline: how edgy humor leads to violence    Part 2 + Pewdiepie is a Nazi + Pewdiepie and the problem with (fake) racism + Pewdiepie mask off + Pewdiepie doesn’t understand hate symbols

How Cultural Marxism became the Far Right’s scapegoat + Hbomberguy’s Cultural Marxism 

Debunking the Alt RIght: Pool parties +  + The Golden One: A measured response

How PragerU is lying to you    Part 2    Part 3 + Brexit: PragerU vs Reality + PragerU - Big Joel + Dennis Prager is a dick to Holocaust victims + PragerU is conservative junk food + PragerU and Poverty: Misinformation Amateur Hour + PragerU and Justice: a conservative nightmare + PragerU and Marriage: a conservative fever dream

Guns in the Third Reich: A response to Shapiro + others  + Ben Shapiro and the politics of Imagination + Leftist’s response to Ben’s 10 tips 

The Easy Answers of Youtube Conservatism

Who’s at fault for the refugee crisis? + Stochastic Terrorism and Christchurch

Is Black Panther Alt Right? (No)

Fox News: How to whitewash an atrocity

Getting Sweaty about globalism

The West + Does the West hate itself? + Why do They hate The West?

How societies turn cruel

Were the Crusades defensive? (No) 

Stefan Molyneux’s Fall of Rome + Stefan Molyneux, Star Wars The Force Awakens + Stefan Molyneux, The truth about the truth about Wonder Woman + We don’t talk about Elliot Roger - response to Stefan Molyneux + Stefan Molyneux, Aboriginal Australian History and ‘White Guilt’

Racists only have one solution

Trump

Jordan Peterson and The Story of Jordan Peterson + Peterson doesn’t understand Nazism + PhilosophyTube’s Jordan Peterson & The Meaning of Life  + Peterson is not profound + Peterson is everything he criticizes and can’t read + The wasteland of Jordan Peterson

Taking feminists out of context + Power fantasy, male objectification, & lady fanservice + Anita Sarkeesian and the people who hate her + InnuendoStudios Why are you so angry? series

Do women destroy civilizations? (No)  + She-Ra broke the brains of Anti-SJWs + Does Intersectionality destroy Individuality?

Anti feminism (Ableism abound) + Anti feminism (Warning: Lauren Southern) + Anti feminism (guy uses ableist slurs) + Anti feminism vs facts  + Red Pill: Strange Art of Men’s Rights Activism and part two + Women in video game history - The Serfs + Lauren Southern is wrong about tradition

Why Paul Joseph Watson is wrong about everything

The Serfs Steven Chowder

Outrage News + Soyboys: A measured response

How to fall down the Anti SJW rabbit hole

Stonetoss and how hate speech spreads

Sargon of Akkad can’t read (Anti feminism, racism) + Sargon’s petition: a measured response + #FreeSargon: a measured response + Big Joel’s Sargon of Akkad + On Sargon

Joe Rogan Gateway into the Alt Right  and part 2  + Pakman gobbles Joe Rogan

FarradaySpeaks - My descent into the alt right pipeline

Dave Rubin gets Orbed + Dave Rubin: Lazy Propagandist

Can women chess? (Yes)

What is virtue signalling?

Bolsonaro & Brazil’s struggle for truth & memory + Bolsonaro & Latin American Fascism + Why Pinochet Apologists Are Wrong (RIP Allende) + Venezuela: The True Face of the Opposition and this + Bolivia is descending into Dictatorship, here’s why and part 2 + Joanna Hausmann is lying about Venezuela (also, German name, south american heritage... 👀👀👀)

Snowflakes-- The Right's War on the Individual

Sports

Hats off to Tim Pool + Tim Pool completely unraveled and backfires bad (self own)

Debunking Steven Crowder on Universal Healthcare

Cuphead: The Fake Outrage

The Boy Who Cried Racist

Denial as a tool of the radical right

The Limits of Logic - Examining Right Wing Logic Through Star Trek and Wittgenstein

Refugees and Human Rights and Part 2 (ties into far right) + Refugees, Asylum Seekers and Laws

Was Hitler a Socialist? (No) + Were the Nazis Socialist? (No) 

I can go a bit over Nazis not being socialists also bc I have gotten into arguments about this topic.

 Nazis cuddled up with monopolists/big business, protected private businesses, the English word “privatization” was invented to describe their economic policy by the magazine The Economist. They were always anti socialist and anti communist and combined it with antisemitism often using the phrases “Jewish Bolshevism” and “Jewish Marxism”. 

Quotes from Hitler’s Mein Kampf, (there’s much more than these, he got very angry over Marx and other Jewish leftists, equating Judaism and communism/Marxism) warning: some antisemitism:

“In the years 1913 and 1914, I, for the first time in various circles which today in part faithfully support the National Socialist movement, expressed the conviction that the question of the future of the German nation was the question of destroying Marxism.”

“While the Jews in their Marxist and democratic press proclaimed to the whole world the lie about 'German militarism' and sought to incriminate Germany by all means, the Marxist and democratic parties were obstructing any comprehensive training of the German national man-power.”

“Marxism represents the most striking phase of the Jewish endeavour to eliminate the dominant significance of personality in every sphere of human life and replace it by the numerical power of the masses.” 

Hitler on coopting leftist language and symbolism to get the workers on their side:  “The fact that we had chosen red as the colour for our posters sufficed to attract them to our meetings. The ordinary bourgeoisie were very shocked to see that, we had also chosen the symbolic red of Bolshevism and they regarded this as something ambiguously significant. The suspicion was whispered in German Nationalist circles that we also were merely another variety of Marxism, perhaps even Marxists suitably disguised, or better still, Socialists. The actual difference between (National) Socialism and Marxism still remains a mystery to these people up to this day. The charge of Marxism was conclusively proved when it was discovered that at our meetings we deliberately substituted the words 'Fellow-countrymen and Women' for 'Ladies and Gentlemen' and addressed each other as 'Party Comrade'. We used to roar with laughter at these silly faint-hearted bourgeoisie and their efforts to puzzle out our origin, our intentions and our aims. We chose red for our posters after particular and careful deliberation, our intention being to irritate the Left, so as to arouse their attention and tempt them to come to our meetings – if only in order to break them up – so that in this way we got a chance of talking to the people.

“First of all they appealed to their followers to ignore us and keep away from our meetings. Generally speaking this appeal was heeded. But, as time went on, more and more of their followers gradually found their way to us and accepted our teaching. Then the leaders became nervous and uneasy. They clung to their belief that such a development should not be ignored for ever, and that terror must be applied in order to put an end to it.”

Here’s a 1923 interview transcript with Hitler saying the “Socialist” in National Socialist isn’t about socialism  and how he tried to redefine socialist in a nationalist and a “by Aryan people, for Aryan people, while everyone still has private property and stuff” way.  Here he also kinda goes over this in Mein Kampf.

Nazis who were left economically only are Strasserists, Strasserists in the Nazi Party were killed in 1934′s Night of the Long Knives with George Strasser being killed while Otto Strasser had been in exile from 1930. In 1933, Nazis came up with Reichstag Fire Decree + political prisoners (mainly communists and socialists) were rounded up and were put in the first concentration camps)

Canada’s 10,000 person Antia Riot - Battle of Christie Pits

Manufactured Milkshake hysteria + Revenge of the milkshakes + The Ballad of Andy Ngo

Free Speech:

Freeze Peach + The fatal effects of Hate Speech + Ur-Fascism, Free Speech, and those who forgot

The Snowflake Generation? A Response

It’s Just a Joke + Just be nice you nerds

The Marketplace of Ideas: Germany vs USA + Why Political Correctness kinda rules + Steven Crowder and the silencing of dissident media + The Serfs on Deplatforming

Race:

America is racist + Is the 2nd Amendment racist? (Yes in its implementation)

Systematic/normalized racism + Race, Law, & Politics - PhilosophyTube and Part 2

Implicit bias + Group Bias & Black Pigeon Speaks

The danger of white moderates + Friending and forgiving racists - Kat Blaque + Be honest, you don’t care if they’re racist + Jeffree Starr and performative activism

What is race?  + What is white supremacy? + White identity + History of whiteness  Also this +  'Humans Are Not Equal': The Dishonest History of Race  Genetic Betrayal: The Truth About Race  Behind The Misconceptions of Race

Why we have a black history month

Book Chat: "Why I'm No Longer Talking to White People About Race"  + Robin DeAngelo’s wonderful paper on white fragility

What is Blackface? + Blackace: A cultural history of a racist art form + Montage from the ending of Spike Lee’s Bamboozled + The New Jim Crow Museum 

Racial comparisons

Quebec Mosque Shooting: Manufacturing a conspiracy

The fate of the frog men (Pepe) + White supremacist propaganda vs truth + Do racists “just love their country”? (No)

Moderate Muslims and terror attacks

Abusing statistics (immigration) + The Bell Curve (isn’t real) + The Great Replacement isn’t real +  Germany’s demographic demise: a response

Immigration and the fall of Rome + Stefan Molyneux’s Native American Genocide

The Many Lies of Lauren Southern’s Borderless

The killing of Trayvon Martin

on alllivesmatter + on privilege

Shaun’s response to “People of color: You are not oppressed”

European histroy is not white history + Does the Left want to destroy history? + Is Philosophy Just White Guys J3rk!ng Off? + A white man’s war? A response to NoBullshit (People of color and women fighting in MY WW2? More likely than you think)

LGBT (mainly T) stuff: 

What is gender? + There are more than two human sexes + Bill Nye vs Pseudoscience and part 2 (Bill said trans rights!!!)

Transphobia in the UK + Transphobia: an analysis by PhilosophyTube + Ben Shapiro’s weapons grade bad takes + Joe Rogan is an idiot and a transphobe  + Debunking Trump on LGBT rights

Debunking trans athletes myths (8 video playlist) + Is Trans Inclusion a Threat to Cis People in Gendered Spaces? (No)

Why Trans Roles for Trans Actors?  + Trans male visibility

Kat Blaque’s monologue on cis nonsense: “Cis people please stop doing this” + Kat Blaque’s take on JK Rowling

What is a TERF? (Don’t go into the comments!!!) + The Transphobe’s Paradox + Why is the trans suicide rate so high?

Red Scare:

Red Scare and xenophobia + racism + Why they still need their big lies about socialism

“Socialism no food”  CIA even said Soviets eat abt the same as Americans , short video going over food shortages

Animal Farm is commonly used in schools to teach about the evils of socialism/communism like mine did:

George Orwell was a socialist anti Stalinist writing about the dangers of authoritarianism. The pig named Snowball (Trotsky) was depicted as good: he wrote the original commandments, was at odds with Napoleon, and he was forced to flee after being attacked by Napoleon’s orders. But Orwell was also a snitch that happily gave out a list of suspected communists to the govt while dying of TB so

McCarthyism

Smith Act trials of Communist Party leaders, domino theory and containment, Eisenhower doctrine, Kennedy doctrine, Johnson doctrine, Reagan doctrine.

CIA funded anti-leftist propaganda campaigns like this

The American Govt often supported coups, wars, and other interference against countries that tried to implement socialism, had strong leftist movements, otherwise just elected leaders that were leftist, many from Operation Condor: Chile, Argentina, Vietnam, Brazil, Cuba, Venezuela, Bolivia (1971 and 2019), etc

COINTELPRO targeted American leftist, Civil Rights/Black Power, antiwar, Native American rights, and environmental protection movements among others. The FBI targeted and threatened MLK. Spied on and kept files of Einstein and Helen Keller. The FBI drugged and then murdered Black Panther Fred Hampton. Etc

Socialism/Communism:

Before their revolutions, Russia and China were pre-industrial, agricultural, largely illiterate societies whose masses were peasants spread out over truly vast expanses of land. From their revolutions, they rapidly industrialized, became largely literate, and became world powers. With the Soviet Union even flourishing and doing great from their planned economy (5 year plans) while the rest of the world was suffering from the Great Depression. 

Important to note so I don’t get accused of being a Tankie: Soviet Union + China also did terrible things, for example there was the persecution/oppression of minorities under Stalin (like Cossacks, Jewish people, his govt was kinda antisemitic), Stalin would also have his political opponents killed (mostly anti Stalinist comrades), they weren’t good on LGBT rights: Lenin decriminalized gay sex in 1917, Stalin recriminalized it in 1936, Stalin reversed a lot of Lenin’s gender equality policies, Mao getting citizens to smelt their own steel and iron wasn’t smart or efficient,  etc. Critical support.

Modern day China is state capitalist. China has the second highest number of billionaires in the world just behind the USA. And Former Soviet countries are now also capitalist with Russia #4 on the list of most billionaires.

Cuba

Cuba has a literacy rate of 99.7%, one of the highest in the world thanks to the Cuban Literacy Campaign of 1961 right after the Cuban revolution. Universal, famously high quality healthcare (doctors are their biggest export, plus they have medical internationalism) and education. Almost half of parliament members are women, Cuba has made great strides in gender equality. Cuba is a direct democracy, while the US is more of an oligarchy, with people mainly winning elections based on their wealth or the wealth of their supporters.

Cuba’s biotech industry is considered the best in the world among developing countries, and has generated important innovations in cancer research, HIV/AIDS research. Cuba created the world’s first vaccine against meningitis B.

Discrimination against LGBT people is illegal in Cuba. It is legal in 30 US states. Cuba has healthcare for all, including trans people, and allows trans people to legally change their gender without surgery. From my understanding, the rights and treatment of LGBT people aren’t perfect but better than US.

Assata Shakur:  “Revolution is a process, so I was not that shocked to find sexism had not totally disappeared in Cuba, nor had racism, but that although they had not totally disappeared, the revolution was totally committed to struggling against racism and sexism in all their forms. That was and continues to be very important to me. It would be pure fantasy to think that all the ills, such as racism, classism or sexism, could be dealt with in 30 years. But what is realistic is that it is much easier and much more possible to struggle against those ills in a country which is dedicated to social justice and to eliminating injustice.”

Book  Another Book The Cuba Libre Story 

Who Did Che Guevara Murder? + Che Guevara: Homophobic racist?

Majority of East Germans miss socialism warning: article is biased red scare stuff. Krupp und Krause, a nice pro East song from West Germany that also explains surplus value. Ich suche die DDR, a nice pro East rock song from Feeling B, which was a band of former East Germans, saying they are looking for the GDR and it had been stolen. Two members are now in the famous rock band Rammstein, the whole band is leftist.

People who actually lived through the Soviet Union miss it, while young people who haven’t say the Soviet Union collapse was good. Far majority of Soviet citizens voted to keep the Union in 1991.

Human nature & socialism + Why the web is communist

In defense of socialism + “X Socialist Country has failed!” is a stupid argument

Authoritarianism in socialist countries

Soviet Union through the eyes of an American + Socialism gives a better quality of life + Soviets had a better record of training women in STEM than modern USA + Space race meme

But how come revolution? + How to defeat your boss + A Beginner’s Guide to Overthrowing Capitalism + The Socialist case against billionaires

Intro to Anarchy + PhilosophyTube’s series on Marx +  What 'To each according to their need' Means + Private vs Personal Property + V For Vendetta - What is Anarchism? + Was the CHAZ (Capitol Hill Autonomous Zone) a living heck?

How would anarchism work irl part 2 part 3 part 4

Witchcraft, Gender, & Marxism + Black Rad Leftism vs Black Liberalism

Internet archive with Marxist texts + Easy direct action + Speech Synthesis: Bernie Sanders reading Communist Manifesto, Alex Jones reading Communist Manifesto + Communist Maniesto Summary video with quotes

Black Panthers

The good man himself, President Thomas Sankara

Sankara declared the objectives of the “democratic and popular revolution” to be primarily concerned with the tasks of eradicating corruption, fighting environmental degradation, empowering women, and increasing access to education and health care, with the larger goal of liquidating imperial domination. During the course of his presidency, Sankara successfully implemented programs that vastly reduced infant mortality, increased literacy rates and school attendance, and boosted the number of women holding governmental posts. On the environmental front, in the first year of his presidency alone 10 million trees were planted in an effort to combat desertification. 

Socialism in America doc

Albert Einstein? Socialist.  “Why Socialism?” Video Summary and Quotes

“Production is carried on for profit, not for use. There is no provision that all those able and willing to work will always be in a position to find employment; an “army of unemployed” almost always exists. The worker is constantly in fear of losing his job. Since unemployed and poorly paid workers do not provide a profitable market, the production of consumers’ goods is restricted, and great hardship is the consequence. Technological progress frequently results in more unemployment rather than in an easing of the burden of work for all. The profit motive, in conjunction with competition among capitalists, is responsible for an instability in the accumulation and utilization of capital which leads to increasingly severe depressions. Unlimited competition leads to a huge waste of labor, and to that crippling of the social consciousness of individuals which I mentioned before..

...I am convinced there is only one way to eliminate these grave evils, namely through the establishment of a socialist economy, accompanied by an educational system which would be oriented toward social goals. In such an economy, the means of production are owned by society itself and are utilized in a planned fashion. A planned economy, which adjusts production to the needs of the community, would distribute the work to be done among all those able to work and would guarantee a livelihood to every man, woman, and child. The education of the individual, in addition to promoting his own innate abilities, would attempt to develop in him a sense of responsibility for his fellow men in place of the glorification of power and success in our present society.”

Stephen Hawking? Socialist. “If machines produce everything we need, the outcome will depend on how things are distributed. Everyone can enjoy a life of luxurious leisure if the machine-produced wealth is shared, or most people can end up miserably poor if the machine-owners successfully lobby against wealth redistribution. So far, the trend seems to be toward the second option, with technology driving ever-increasing inequality.”

Martin Luther King Jr? christian socialist. an interview with him about a year before his murder, he goes over wealth equality, slave reparations. mainly 16:30 to the end

he supported labor strikes, unions, workers. 

‘You are reminding, not only Memphis, but you are reminding the nation that it is a crime for people to live in this rich nation and receive starvation wages.

...“Do you know that most of the poor people in our country are working every day? And they are making wages so low that they cannot begin to function in the mainstream of the economic life of our nation.

...”If America does not use her vast resources of wealth to end poverty and make it possible for all of God’s children to have the basic necessities of life, she, too, will go to hell.”

“This will be the day when we bring into full realization the American dream—a dream yet unfulfilled. A dream of equality of opportunity, of privilege and property widely distributed; a dream of a land where men will not take necessities from the many to give luxuries to the few; a dream of a land where men will not argue that the color of a man's skin determines the content of his character; a dream of a nation where all our gifts and resources are held not for ourselves alone, but as instruments of service for the rest of humanity; the dream of a country where every man will respect the dignity and worth of the human personality.”  AFL-CIO Convention, December 1961

In a story published a week before his assassination, King told Jose Yglesias in the New York Times magazine, “In a sense you could say we are engaged in the class struggle.” The civil rights movement had not cost a dime, he said, but the movement to uproot poverty and inequality throughout the country would “be a long and difficult struggle, for our program calls for a redistribution of economic power.”

Paul Robeson was a socialist and supported the Soviet Union, saying (since the Union had Article 123, banning racial discrimination)  "In Russia I felt for the first time like a full human being. No color prejudice like in Mississippi, no color prejudice like in Washington. It was the first time I felt like a human being.. Where I did not feel the pressure of color as I feel in this committee."

When asked why he didn't move to Russia, he replied: "Because my father was a slave, and my people died to build this country, and I am going to stay here, and have a part of it just like you. And no fascist-minded people will drive me from it. Is that clear? I am for peace with the Soviet Union, and I am for peace with China, and I am not for peace or friendship with the fascist Franco, and I am not for peace with fascist Nazi Germans. I am for peace with decent people." Here he is singing the USSR anthem and Warszawianka

Muhammad Ali on the Soviet Union: Ali had just returned from a twelve-day visit to the Soviet Union at the invitation of the Soviet Ambassador to the United States to promote the upcoming Moscow Olympics. Ali prayed in Uzbekistan with Soviet Muslims. He sparred with Soviet heavyweights in training for the Olympics. He met with Brezhnev at the Kremlin. 

When he returned to the United States he reported back that “they give a man free medical and hospital care, low rent and a job . . . I never felt so free of being robbed.” He expressed disbelief that so many Americans were afraid of war with the Soviet Union. “It’s hard to believe that such a peaceful country wants war.”

Helen Keller? very into socialism.  (also unfortunately she was into eugenics)

also js bc I was taught differently as a kid: how she’s portrayed is super ableist. for example: she could always communicate, she and the household had home signs and anne sullivan was just there so she could get an education. 

Famous leftists/ leftists in history:

Rory McCann, Liam Cunningham, Danny Devito, James Baldwin, Harry Belafonte, Kwame Ture, W.E.B. Du Bois, civil rights activist James Farmer, Frederick Vanderbilt Field was disowned by the Vanderbilt tycoon family for being a communist, King Camp Gillette creator of the Gillette company/razor, Leslie Feinberg,

Victor Gruen architect who first designed American shopping malls (hated the modern ones), Woody Guthrie, activist and co-creator of the NAACP Florence Kelley, pioneer of the birth control movement Antoinette F. Buchholz Konikow, Rage Against the Machine, Madalyn Murray O'Hair, Albert Schatz who discovered a treatment for tuberculosis,  suffragette and founding member of the ACLU Rose Schneiderman, feminist activist Mary Heaton Vorse, editor who compiled slave testimonies George Rawick, 

feminist activist that helped change NY labor laws Theresa Malkiel, writer and abolitionist Lysander Spooner (published pamphlets with legal defenses for escaped slaves, would offer legal services for free, supported John Brown),

Capitalism+Liberalism:

What’s wrong with capitalism part one  Part two + Noncompete’s why capitalism sucks and part 3 + Why do you work 8 hours per day? + How rich countries rob the poor + Your democracy is a sham

1960 Harvest of Shame documentary, covering plight of migrant farm workers living with atrocious conditions and no living wage. As one worker says at 41:32, "Sure you can get a job, but if you can’t live on what you make, what good is the job?”

Abolish the Monarchy! +  Why does Britain Still have a Queen?

How Privatization Fails: Railways + Influencing an election + You are expendable + Misinformation for fun and profit + Manufacturing Consent: How the Media Distorts Reality: Summary of Michael Parenti and Noam Chomsky + Manufacturing Consent Full Noam Chomsky Documentary

Venezuela: myths and Argument ad Venezuelum + The Myth of Capitalism - Dr. Michael Parenti

UN investigating the US for extreme poverty UN report on horrific US inequality and poverty UN condemns Trump admin for exacerbating poverty levels + The American Dream is rapidly becoming the American Illusion says UN expert + Doc Priced Out: LA’s hidden homeless

Stranger Things has some bad politics in it + What if they threw a purge and noone came? + Marvel sucks, Disney sucks (their workers lives)  + HBO’s Watchmen and Liberalism + Forrest Gump - What are American values? + TV Show ‘Cops’ Copaganda + Bob’s Burgers and Class Conflict

White Working Class? Part 1: Class, Culture, Capital +  White Working Class? Part 2: Race, Class, Migration + Landlords are Bad + Utopia + “Good” Billionaires 

Fake Materialism for Real Transphobes on leftist transphobes. “You want to unite the working class? You have to stand up for the whole working class. All of them! All of their struggles! Otherwise, you’re the one being divisive. You’re the one excluding people. Identity can only divide us if we choose not to care about the struggles of others. If we decide that the problems of others can wait, while we sort out the ones that we share: how can we expect people to extend class solidarity to us while we withold our solidarity from them?

Capitalism is built on white supremacy, it’s built on patriarchy, it’s built on cisheteronormativity, on ableism, on settler colonialism, on imperialism, it’s an interlocking and mutually reinforcing system. We don’t get to pick and choose! You either fight the whole thing or you’re fighting none of it! You’re giving quarter to it. And if you want to hold up the fight until everyone agrees to exclude one vector of oppression or another, until we dismiss the concerns of trans people or indigenous people or women or disabled people or whomever, then you’re no different than any other reactionary.”

50 ways capitalism is hurting you part one   Part two + PhilosophyTube on How to fix the housing crisis + Is Capitalism Voluntary? (No.) + Should the Rich help the Poor? (Yes and neither should exist) + Healthcare, Ethics, & Postmodernism + How to Succeed in Capitalism

Capitalist Entitlement + Woke Brands + Case study of Capitalism: Ukraine + Capitalism is great (not really) + Is Capitalism destroying healthcare? (Yes) + Overpopulation is a capitalist lie + Mental health under late stage capitalism

Pete Buttigieg + Trump and the problem with Politics + America never stood or freedom + How Unions died in America (Reagan) + Evo Morales on Trump and Obama + Whistleblowers in America

My First Job/Lazybones Manifesto + Second Job + Third Job

Destiny and the Liberal Mind Prison + Civility +  Kat Blaque’s Why Liberals annoy me + ThoughtSlime’s Are liberals our enemies? + Why Conservatives can’t stop lying

“Law & Order” And Civil Disobedience + What was Liberalism? Part one  Part two  Part three  Part four + The Dark Side of Liberalism (5 part series) + You can’t beat Trump: Frost/Nixon and the Liberal Lie

Sex Work + Sex Workers and Police, Prison Abolition 

Documentary “The Story of American Slavery” from the settlement of Jamestown on + Doc “Slavery and the Making of America” + Doc “Slave Catchers, Slave Resisters” + Doc “The Heritage of Slavery” 1968 w  Fannie Lou Hamer & Lerone Bennett, Jr.

Doc “Life of the Rez” goes over horrible conditions on Indigenous American reservations due to colonization, capitalism

Problems with American Police, Examples, Solutions, and BLM 1 hr, 43 minutes long Hasan Piker coverage. Contains videos and imagery of police violence and corruption, including murders. 

Parts of his coverage are not good: In at least 2 points in this almost 2 hr coverage, he refers to killer cops as mentally ill/”having personality disorders” and “sociopathic”. At one point refers to an AR-15 as an assault rifle, which is incorrect. + Why Police Brutality is hard to prosecute

Havin Fun + Keeping Hope Alive

Yakko's world but countries that were bombed by the USA after the fall of Germany are bombed

Yakko's World but each time the US invaded or coup'd the country (since the Cold War) it gets louder & more distorted / Yakko’s World but every country the US overthrew since 1945 makes it louder

[carriagelamp]

Since it’s 🍁 Canada Day 🍁 I figured I’d do the same thing I did for Pride Month and post a round up of Canadian books. Canadian literature has a tendency to be overlooked, but there’s some amazing gems out there!

That being said, this is definitely not a definitive list. There’s lot of lists out there that probably better, more relevant books. This is just a personal list as a Canadian person of Canadian lit I’ve read that stood out to me for whatever reason. I definitely encourage you though to look into some of the new Canadian novels being written write now, especially all the awesome own voice stories being written by First Nations authors across the country!

I’ve read a fair few Canadian novels over the years, so I’m going to break them up into one post of highlights each day for the remainder of the week: one for Children’s Novels / Chapter Books one for YA / Adult Novels, one for Graphic Novels and one for Picture Books.

Anne of Green Gables by L. M. Montgomery

This is like… The Canadian Novel ™ isn’t it? I imagine that even if you’ve never heard of any other Canadian novel, you’ve probably heard of Anne of Green Gables, if for no other reason than it’s been adapted a million times over. If you’ve never bothered to read the original though, I highly recommend it. Since it was written in 1908 the language is definitely old-fashioned, but that somehow makes it engaging enough to keep an adult reader hooked, while not being too difficult for a child reader who’s moved on to full length novels. It also, of course, makes a fantastic read aloud – I’ve reread this book easily a dozen times over the years since first having it read aloud to me by my mom, during which we both bawled our eyes out together.

If you somehow haven’t heard of Anne, it’s about Anne Shirley, a wildly imaginative (and just wild) orphan girl who is adopted by the Cuthberts and brought to live with them on their Prince Edward Island farm, Green Gables. The Cuthberts had originally intended to adopt a boy who could help with the farm work, but when Matthew Cuthbert finds a girl waiting for him at the train station he can’t bring himself to turn her away. And so begins the hijinks and misadventures of Anne as she grows from child to young adult.

Le Champ Maudit by François Gravel

I’ve always loved the genre of child-horror and this book absolutely delivers. The creature, vieux Nick, and the way it exists in space is delightfully chilling even as an adult. The story is about Oliver, who has often been warned by his uncle not to go into the cornfields – it makes sense after all, the cornfields are vast and uniform, it would be easy to get lost in them. Oliver has no reason to assume there’s something more sinister lurking in them, or that it could be tied to the other people who have gone missing over the years. That is, not until he makes the mistake of chasing a rabbit into the stalks one evening…

The Dragon’s Egg by Alison Baird

I was absolutely a “dragon kid” as a child, I loved any sort of dragon book I could get my hands on and I read this one over and over when I was in grade three. It’s about Ai Len who is given a lovely river stone by her father from his trip to China. Ai Len is shocked one night when, all of a sudden, she realizes that it wasn’t a stone at all, but rather a dragon’s egg. Lonely Ai Len befriends the baby dragon (who disguises himself as one of her gold fishes during the day) and helps him grow and learn as they try to figure out how he can get back home to the river his family inhabits.

Fatty Legs by Christy Jordan-Fenton and Margaret Pokiak-Fenton

Fatty Legs is the true story account of Margaret Pokiak, an Inuvialuit child who grew up with her family in the Arctic. At the age of eight, despite their reputations and her father’s reluctance, Margaret begs to be allowed to attend the Catholic residential school because there was nothing she wanted more than to learn to read. There, far from her warm, loving family, Margaret learns about the cruelties and humilities of residential school. This book is a good introduction to residential schools for young children – it shows the horrors while still keeping the story child-friendly and relatable.

The Incredible Journey by Sheila Burnford

The classic novel that inspired Disney’s film Homeward Bound. This story is about three pets – two dogs and a cat – who are left behind under the care of a family friend at an isolated cabin. These three determined pets though refuse to abandon their humans that easily. After a couple weeks of no contact, a decision is made: they will make the trek across the dangerous North Ontario wilderness in order to find their owners. This is a great animal story that genuinely feels perilous at times as these three house pets are forced to contend against the elements, wild predators, and even other humans.

Inkling by Kenneth Oppel

Kenneth Oppel is a human name in Canadian middle grade literature – not only is he a great writer, but an incredibly prolific one. If you have a middle school child in your life, consider checking out this man’s library of works because he has books that range across all sorts of different genres and topics, and they tend to be unique and gripping. They’re a staple in any Canadian school library.

Inkling is about a boy, Ethan, who is struggling with his life. His family has gone through a personal tragedy, his artist father is struggling to write a new graphic novel, and Ethan’s been entrusted with drawing the art for his school group’s graphic novel assignment, and he can’t bring himself to tell them his father’s talent wasn’t hereditary. Everything changes though, when one night, his father’s ink wakes up… This book is really heartwarming, with sweet family moments, lots of action, and an adorable ink blob that’s just trying to do its best.

My Name is Seepeetza by Shirley Sterling

Another own voice novel, this time written by West Coast Salish and residential school survivor Shirley Sterling. This novel is written like a weekly diary by six year old Seepeetza who is taken from her joyous family home and forced into a residential boarding school. While there she is forced to change her name, her language, and all the things that made her life happy and complete. Despite all this, Seepeetza finds ways to survive and still find joy. This book is written for a slightly older audience than Fatty Legs, more of a thin middle grade novel but still balances the brutal horrors of residential schools with a child-friendly narration.

The Secret World of Og by Patsy Berton

This is another Canadian children’s classic, though a much less well-known one than Anne of Green Gables. My mom read this to me and my brother in early elementary school, a chapter a night, and I remember being completely wrapped up in it and it’s strange, quirky pictures. It’s about the five Berton children who discover a strange, cavernous world hidden beneath their club house, inhabited by little creatures called Ogs.

Secrets in the Sand by Sharon Siamon

This is exactly what it looks like: a true to form Horse Girl book. There’s nothing overly special about it, but I read it this month and was charmed by it. This is technically the second book of the Saddle Island series (and she has two other Horse Girl related series as well though I haven’t read them) but for whatever reason I read the second first and actually enjoyed it more of the two. It has it all! A spunky, head-strong girl! Her best friend and annoying brother! A small, financially struggling Maritime town! A brave horse that loves the ocean and swims into underwater caves! The promise of pirate treasure! Saving The Family Farm (and rebuilding it from the ground up on a tiny island)! Want a fun mindless horse adventure? Well here it is!

Silverwing by Kenneth Oppel

I know, I know, another Kenneth Oppel book but listen… he is so prolific and also it might be a crime to do a Canadian book list and not mention Silverwing. This was a childhood staple when I was growing up, practically everyone had either read it for class, read the entire series on their own because who wouldn’t want to, or watched the weird ass TV series. Or done all three! If you haven’t read Silverwing but like animal adventure stories, this is honestly one of the peaks of the entire genre imho. It’s about Shade, a small silverwing bat that struggles with the rules and limits placed around bat colony life. He’s constantly pushing things, constantly challenging others regardless of if they’re his bullying yearmates or if they’re the clan elders. But one day, Shade takes it too far and breaks a vital law: he stayed up and saw the sun. Now the owls are determined to have Shade killed and the clan is prepared to exile him for his transgression. All this just as the clan is preparing to migrate, and Shade, with his small runty wings, ends up falling further and further behind in the storm…

Underground to Canada by Barbara Smucker

I debated whether or not to include this book, given all the BLM movements going on. This book isn’t own voice, and in the research I’ve done since becoming an adult has made me realize a number of the problems that surround it. But still, it felt wrong to leave out, both because of the social climate right now and because this was another classroom staple when I was growing up. It’s about a pair of young slave girls who are horribly abused on the planation they live on, and who eventually join in on a plot to run away, to find the rumoured “underground railroad”, a network of people who help black slaves escape captivity and escape – in this case across the border into Canada. Despite its flaws, this was a book we read in school and, through the book and classroom discussions, really introduced me to the concept of slavery and racism… and the fact that racism is still horribly alive today. It shook me as a child – it was written to be optimistic and adventurous for children, but it still had more violence and horror than I was used to in books at that age and it really shook me. So I included it in the list because, for me at least, I believe it had a positive effect on my growth as a person.

Up In Arms by Amanda Spottiswoode

This is a woefully underrated series because it really delights me. It’s about six friends, spread across two families. Though they’re from the UK, this series is all about their adventures with their uncle in Canada. Spottiswood writes children travel adventures, all set around the 1940s. The first, Brother XII’s Treasure is a treasure hunt along the West Coast during a sailing vacation; the second, The Silver Lining take them into British Columbia’s interior on cattle drive as the kids get drawn into adventures on horseback, a familiar villain, and old mining secrets. This third book I actually read before the others, and is my favourite of the series. It’s back on BC’s west coast, only this time rather than a vacation the kids of be sent to Canada because of the outbreak of WWII. You get high-flying adventure, wilderness survival, and planning a heist to help right the wrongs done to a local Indigenous community by the white settlers. It’s just a lot of fun.

[nadziejastar]

Isa’s TRUE Personality: The Beautiful, Tortured, Selfless Moon Goddess of Love (Part 1)

Saix’s weapons are an absolute goldmine of esoteric symbolism. There’s no way I can cover it all in one post; there’s just too much. But I want to do a series analyzing everything, to show just how differently his character ended up in canon, compared to how it was originally conceived. I think the original idea for Isa’s character and his relationship with Lea is extremely unique and utterly fascinating. According to the symbolism, Isa’s TRUE personality is exactly as the title describes. A tortured, beautiful, selfless Moon Goddess of Love who was clearly intended as a love interest for Lea.

Part 1: The Tortured Moon Goddess

Cool, collected, and mature beyond his age. He’s good friends with Lea.

— Jiminy’s Journal (Kingdom Hearts Union χ)

Saix’s title, Luna Diviner, is a reference to Selenomancy, named after the Goddess Selene. It is a specialized form of divination that examines the various aspects, phases, and appearances of the moon. According to diviners, moon phases are associated with certain personality types at the time of birth. There are several specific moon phases used as names for Saix’s weapons. Gibbous represents someone who is a healer and humanitarian. They care about other people; sometimes more than themselves. The pain and suffering of others is something that they are not only highly sensitive to, but also want to help transform.  

Balsamic Moon, is the waning crescent that is the trademark symbol on Isa’s jacket. It’s the final phase of the moon. This is a phase of decline and darkness—a rich opportunity for your soul to experience. It is considered the most Yin or Feminine phase. Balsamic means soothing or restorative. If you are born under this Moon, you will be aged and mature in some way. Balsamics are quiet, retiring and resilient; they are often seen as “old souls”. They are complex and wise beyond their years, as well as loners who usually only enjoy the company of a select group of people.  

New Moon is also known as the Dark Moon. It is the phase where the Moon’s energy is weakest. Even though the New Moon is invisible in the sky, those born under it are cloaked in darkness. They tend to lack self-awareness. They may be known for being selfish, callous, or unable to see things from other people’s perspectives. This weapon has the same shape as Berserker and Werewolf.

Saix’s Pandora Gear is Dichotomy. This word has several definitions. It means “a division or contrast between two things that are entirely different.” Or, “the phase of the moon in which half its disk appears illuminated.” It represents the clear division between the past and the present, Isa and Saix.   

Many of Saix’s weapons incorporate ♐︎ the astrological symbol of Sagittarius into them. I believe ♐︎ is meant to represent Lea. Sagittarius is a part of the Fire Trigon of the Zodiac. As an archer, he is said to never fail in hitting the mark. Sagittarius represents the centaur Chiron, an immortal centaur, who was renowned for his gentleness. After being accidentally shot by a poison arrow, he was in agony, but unable to find release in death. So he decided to offer himself as a substitute for Prometheus, who was punished by the gods for giving fire to man. Zeus saw the kindness of Chiron and immortalized him in the stars.

Axel’s weapon Prometheus is a combination of ♐︎ and the symbol of Mars ♂, and ALSO ♋ the Cancer symbol. Mars was known as the Roman god of war. He was said to love the violence and conflict. He carried a spear that was often depicted as covered in blood. He was the patron God of soldiers and was worshiped prior to battle. Soldiers in the Roman Army prayed to Mars before battle, hoping that he would protect them and lead them to victory.

Selene is shaped like a torch combined with ♐︎ the symbol of Sagittarius. In ancient Greek mythology, Selene is the Titan goddess of the Moon and is said to drive her glowing chariot powered by beautiful white horses across the sky each night. Her symbols were the crescent moon, a chariot, and a torch. Selene was very well known mostly because of her beauty. She was a very peaceful goddess and did not approve of war. Her personality was said to be secluded and timid.

Most Ancient Greeks looked to her for healing. Selene also had many powers that you would not think a moon goddess would have. Mythology states that she had powers surrounding dreams, she could harness the ability to awaken intuition and she could also catalyze psychic visions. As the patron of femininity, she was known to have the power to ease childbirth, to inspire love, to mask reality, and to pierce illusion.

Artemis has been commonly associated with Selene. She was the goddess of the Moon, the ruling planet of Cancer, and the daughter of Zeus. Her personality was individualistic and free-spirited, yet kind. She was a patron goddess of hunting and childbirth, and she was also the protectress of little children and baby animals. In Greek mythology, Artemis was usually portrayed as a very tall, beautiful young maiden with a hunting bow the shape of a crescent moon and golden arrows. She is often accompanied by either a stag or a dog. One of her special talents is calming animals, meaning that when she walks near them they come towards her and become calm.

Artemis is one of the ‘virgin’ androgynous goddesses, along with Athena and Vesta. Due to her well-integrated masculine energy and independence, she possesses an introverted temperament, preferring solitude. She was also known to be friends with mortals. Her assets were courage, confidence, and strength (both mental and physical). Her weaknesses were vengeance, impulsiveness, and being quite aloof. She was afraid of men, which is why she used to live in the woods and only went for walks at night. She rarely had any male companions; she only loved one person, Orion, but she ended up unintentionally killing him due to trickery. In her pain she appealed to Zeus to immortalize Orion in the stars so she could be with him.

A quiet and cool-headed youth. Though he does come out of his shell when talking to his best friend Lea, toward others he is distant and untalkative. Often scolds Lea and his contrasting personality.

— description from KHBBS Light Novel 2 (Best Friends)

The design for the weapon Astrologia incorporates ♋, the sigil of Cancer into its design. Cancer is associated with Artemis, who is similar to people born under the sign of Cancer. They are very modest, shy, and extremely emotional individuals who love children and pets. Artemis exemplifies the caring, nurturing and protective qualities of the mother. Deeply intuitive and sentimental, Cancer can be one of the most challenging Zodiac signs to get to know, but they are sympathetic and very attached to the people they keep close.  

Being ruled by the Moon, they are mysterious— they can struggle with sharing their innermost feelings. Cancer was known as the “dark sign” because of the obscured visibility of its constellation in the night sky. They have a tendency to brood and can be very moody and pessimistic. They often don’t have enough coping and defensive mechanisms for the outer world, so they can be prone to introversion and slow to warm to strangers. Cancers are quick to retreat into their shells if it suits their mood. The crab is a perfect symbol for the Cancer sign, symbolizing how a sensitive soul hides beneath a tough exterior.

A Cancer is caring and vulnerable, however callous they may appear on the outside. They are introspective and serene folk, who love solitude yet care gently for the people surrounding them. This receptive nature, however, makes them easily hurt. Cancer is the most emotional sign of the zodiac but at times they might appear icy and separated. Empathy for others is likely to be strong, and they will have an intuitive ability to sense what others need. They have a tendency to be quite clingy. Cancer’s shyness comes from their insecurity and deep fear of rejection. They are a cautious and shrewd people. 

Moon Rabbit is known as the Jade Rabbit in China. The Jade Emperor disguised himself into a poor, starving old man and begged for food from monkey, otter, jackal, and rabbit. Rabbit could only gather grass. Knowing well enough that grass can’t be offered as food to humans, rabbit decided to offer its own body, sacrificing itself in the fire the man had started. Somehow, though, rabbit wasn’t burned. The old man suddenly revealed himself to be the great Jade Emperor. Touched deeply by rabbit’s selfless sacrifice, he sent it to the moon to become the immortal Jade Rabbit.

More than just cute, fluffy, and white, the Jade Rabbit is a sign of selflessness, piety, and sacrifice. The Jade Rabbit is on the moon so that no matter where we are on Earth, we always have the ethics of righteousness and self-sacrifice to look up to. In East Asia, the Jade Rabbit is a widespread cultural symbol. When the bunny isn’t busy making immortality elixirs, it keeps the beautiful goddess Chang’e company in the Moon Palace.

Saix’s weapon Crescent is based on the Phoenix’s wings. This weapon represents the albedo stage of magnum opus. Following the chaos of the nigredo stage, albedo involves the washing away of impurities. In this process, the subject is divided into two opposing principles to be later coagulated to form a unity of opposites during rubedo. The aura is light blue, meaning truthfulness and serenity.

Psychologist Carl Jung equated the albedo stage with “unconscious contrasexual soul images; the anima in men and animus in women”. Jung described the animus as the unconscious masculine side of a woman, and the anima as the unconscious feminine side of a man, with each transcending the personal psyche. This makes albedo a phase where insight into the shadow side of the self is gained, while inflated ego is removed from the psyche.

So, that makes it VERY interesting that the weapon has a similar shape to ⚸. Even if they never planned to actually show it explicitly, the writers seemed to be inspired by Black Moon Lilith. Which raises very disturbing (though very interesting) implications about what happened during the experiments on the “darkness of the heart”. It would certainly explain how Axel’s personality became so warped. It would also explain why he didn’t find Saix’s personality change that unexpected, either, and why Axel seemed to always give him the benefit of the doubt no matter how cold he was. 

Astronomically, Lilith is considered an asteroid. Yet, some astrologers identify Lilith with the “Black Moon”. It’s the mathematical point that’s exactly in between the earth and the moon–essentially, empty space. Astrologically, it represents the cosmic void; the very energy Black Moon Lilith embodies. Psychologically, it is a point that represents how we react to emptiness and isolation. It brings up deep and primal issues like repressed feelings of rejection, rage, and the refusal to give in. This particular archetype is associated with sex, death, obsession, addiction, transformation, resurrection, magic, the occult and the taboo. These things are seen as the entry way between the spiritual dimension (or the underworld), and life on the physical plane.

Put simply, Lilith is the dark side of the moon. She represents animus, the feminine shadow side—What society rejects as appropriate for the feminine, Lilith takes up. The vilest manifestations of sexuality like pedophilia, rape, and satanic ritual abuse are all the domain of Lilith. She was actually said to be a hermaphrodite, so she could act as both a succubus and an incubus. Trauma based mind-control, through the use of sexual torture is another area connected with Black Moon Lilith. She symbolizes the transformation that occurs after going through a dark night of the soul. Usually, the trigger is great suffering, mourning, pain or torture. I can only imagine what poor Lea and Isa must have gone through.

Astrologically, Chiron (Sagittarius) stands in total opposition to Black Moon Lilith and all she represents. He is a symbol to remind us to look at the vulnerabilities we face in light of our connection to Divinity. Through the exploration of our wounds, we are called to heal all that creates a rift or disconnection with our Spirit.

[enniewritesathing]

the lore~

aka all the juicy bits about this version of lycanthropy. although, bc it’s long, I’ll split it into this and then specifically to John.

Lycanthrophy is split into 4 “grades”. Grade 1 are carriers (aka genes are not activated/dormant/latent) but have no chance to turn, but they can pass them on. In this case, John’s mom is a Grade 1. It’s unknown what grade his father was, but most likely Grade 1 as well. Grade 1 lycans typically don’t know about it until their children have gone through their first transformation. 

There are two main ways of lycanthrophy -- cursed by a witch or warlock that knows the spell or inheriting the gene from their parents. A lesser known way is through biting, but this is exclusive to Grade 4 lycans and they are rare.

John is a Grade 2 -- mostly human appearance aside from his eyes, hands, body hair, and teeth. In this case, he’d probably be refered to as “wolf-man or man-wolf”, and can still blend in with the human population in this state. Grades 3/4 are closer to the classical werewolf image.

He cannot shapeshift as a Grade 2, so he is still the same height. There’s some muscle increase but seeing that John is already this, it’s hard to tell.

However, when there’s the rare super moon eclipse, he is a Grade 3 with partial transformation for the duration of the eclipse. It’s... not good.

Lycan and werewolf are used interchangably -- werewolf being the most common term and easier to remember. Lycan is the more formal term.

Lycans have a common trigger for transformation, and that is the moon. It’s been reported that they can avoid it by not being touched by the moon’s light, not looking at it, locking themselves away for their duration or simply staying inside of their place of residence.

In John’s case, he is turned by a supermoon and not a regular full moon; a supermoon is typically 3 or 4 times a year and this makes him stay in his lycan state longer. Grade 3/4 only turn the night on the full moon. Regular full moons for John, he has a marked agitation and is sensitive to everything.

There’s also triggers unique to the lycan and far easy to stop the process. John is prone to turning from extreme emotion (anger and anxiety), so he meditates from time to time in to keep himself in check. 

Lycans are naturally carnivores, but it depends on the lycan themself. John has a marked increase in eating meat when he’s turned, but will still eat fruits and veggies. 

Other than the deer he ate, he doesn’t have a preference for ‘wild’ food. He does get those urges to ‘hunt’... he has caught a rabbit and a couple of birds.

Lycans have the ability to communicate with other animals, or at least, be very in tune with them. 

Yes, John has talked to Spaghetti. It’s not any different from what he does, but the only difference is that they can understand each other. She’s not afraid of him due to the fact she considers him as her dad (one of them anyway) and has looked after her since she was a kitten.

John loves cats as it is, and he really does when he’s turned. Most cats are confused about this until he explains the situation... but still, he respects their space. (Cats? They gossip.)

Dogs are wary of him at first until he states his friendliness (sitting on the floor and being eye level with them). 

They have a fondness for dogs and/or cats. Most likely to adopt a bunch.

A lycan’s body tempurature is higher than a human’s, so they have a penchant of wearing less clothes. For John, it’s shirtlessness, having an open shirt, or a tank top. (But really prefers not wearing a shirt).

Because lycans have heighten senses, they can also be extremely empathic to the point of being “psychic”. They can sense emotions as if they’re experiencing it. They can read “surface” thoughts and can tell if a person is lying or otherwise. 

As John said, lycans chooses their mate carefully because once they give the sacred mark, they are bonded to each other until death. If the lycan is the surviving mate, they will not seek out another one. He mentions that he skipped the courtship part of it, but that’s honestly the dating part. This can take as little as a couple of weeks to years and maybe decades. 

Lycans don’t really have a concept of sexuality, or at least the very least, they are really relaxed about it.

The relationship/bondship may not be necessarily be sexual either.

With the sacred mark on their neck, it grants the lycan’s mate life longevity and age deceleration. So, John and Brian are gonna live for a long time because of this.

Lycans of all grades can live past 120 years. If they don’t do anything stupid. Which is way easier said than done.

They are extremely protective of their mates. I mean... John killed a bear. A big grizzly bear. But they are not possessive.

Lycans are also naturally fiercesome fighters. It’s not farfetched that they participate in combat sports of all types. It’s also an excellent way to keep their aggression in check. John does Muay Thai, but he does not tap in to his lycan side.

Lycans in their human form have near-exotic eye colors, or a ultra bright version of human eye colors. John’s eyes are a striking amber. In low light, they appear to glow.

The first few times transforming is harsh on the body, but the more times a lycan turns, the better they are off, and the faster the process is. Grade 3/4 lycans can transform as fast as 30 seconds. John, after this, learns to transform within 5 minutes.

The point, the start of transformation is the heart, and then it spreads to the rest of the body. Because of that, it causes immense pain and of course, spikes the lycan’s heart rate to an dangerous rate. 

John tells Brian that his heart was stopped six times last in order for him to not transform and have his human side to take back control. This is a way, but it’s a very extreme way and it only works in a specialized controlled environment. He almost dies because of this. 

To compensate for this, lycan hearts are strong (in order to handle the transformation.)

In the notes, it describes transformation as “succumbing to the ocean’s waves.” John interprets this as a sort of meditation.

The reason there are so few lycans is a combination of calculated purges that have dwindled their population to near non-existance over the course of 500 years. 

It is not known how many remain because they’re scattered across the world and extremely elusive. Because of this, there’s no lycan social hierarchy or dynamics; and if they did exist, it wouldn’t be that rigid/strict. (Meaning, John would theorectically be an alpha... not that he’d really adhere to that. He’s not the posturing, aggressive sort.)

Personality wise, lycans do tend to be introverted as to not draw suspiscion, however, they are known to be very social.

Lycans are pretty durable, even if in their human state. 

The stories and myths about lycans stem from Grade 3/4s losing control of themselves and going feral/berserk.

Lycans are allergic to a certain amount of silver; they can still use utensils to eat with. If wounded with silver, depending on how much, the wound takes longer to heal. If shot with silver bullets, it takes two to kill them -- one to the brain and one to the heart (not necessarily in that order). Otherwise, it will severely wound them and even force the lycan to revert back to their human state.

Lycans can heal themselves if the wound isn’t mortal. The bigger it is, the more time it takes, so it can vary between a few seconds to hours, and will leave behind very faint scars. For broken bones, it takes about a day to mend.

Wolfsbane -- of all types -- smell foul to a lycan.

A lycan’s mate smells very sweet to them. (When John turns again and they’re home, he just... sniffs everything.)

They are more likely to remember a person by their scent than by their name. This is especially important when a Grade 3/4 lycan turns.

Lycans do try to be discrete about that, but curiousity tends to take over when met with new situations.

Some don’t have a sense of space. This true for John when he wants something or attention. 

The first transformation usually takes place around the age of 13. Any earlier, a lycan child may be at high risk of dying. This was true for John’s twin brother, Jacob, who turned at the age of 9. John was 11 when he first turned and nearly died. 

The week preceding turning, lycans grades 2-4 experience a fever that is initially low grade (~100.4F) then turns to high grade (103F+).

Depending on the grade (or themself), a lycan does not wear clothing during turning, or at least something that can stretch with their body in order to not rip their clothing (usually spandex for modesty). Clothing feels very abrasive on their skin as well (which is why John tore his off).

Lycans... do howl, but this is more of a Grade 3/4 thing. John has howled before but it’s very soft and low. It’s like a “woooooo”sound. Certain noises do set them off though.

They do share a lot of their behaviors with dogs. Grade 2 lycans can disguise it as quirks, but it is noticable. (for example, when Brian asks a question that starts with “Do you wanna...?” and John immediately perks up.)

Of course, they are naturally hairy and not exclusive to a lycan’s gender. Some prefer to groom and some prefer to rock it. 

Lycans make excellent cuddlers. Especially during the winter time.

Lycans do get along with other occults... but they don’t like the smell of vampires.

And here’s the spicy portion because I’m sure some of ya’ll were looking for it 👀

Lycans do go through heat from 1 to 5 times a year, and lasts about a week. It’s preceded by being extremely horny on main. John goes through it 3 times a year and can happen in either lycan or human form.

There’s little to no refractory period -- aka cooldown.

John is pretty mindful of Brian’s rules but boy is he annoying until he says it’s okay to go. He is also mindful of teeth and claws but Brian doesn’t mind that. (Or his tongue.)

Sex can last hours and can happen multiple times a day during heat.

This is when most bond marks are made, and typically made on the neck. Other locations include inner thigh, hand (around the thumb area), upper arm, shoulder, collarbone, or if the lycan is really cheeky... the ass cheek.

Some lycans have sex in their human form because of convenience. Some. This doesn’t exactly apply to Grade 2 lycans because they’re still human-shaped. 

Sex can also be a little rough and tends to leave marks behind.

There are... some enhancements. 

[curewhimsy]

Whimsy Quartet brainstorm 1/3

This is so unfinished, seriously, this is only 1/3 of what I planned to write. I’m just taking a break because it was draining to type this much already.

This story has to do with Whimsica Saga, it takes place in the same universe. It starts 4 months before the events of Whimsica Saga.

-The Premise-

Whimsy Quartet is a zany yet heartfelt story of hope, dreams, hard work, and friendship! A Quartet of middle school girls, Joy, Vivi, Maia, and Bonnie, gain magic and fight evil forces of despair.

The magical and colorful world of Whimsica is in danger. The Magical Agency needs to recruit as many kind and courageous people as they can in order to overpower Monochrome, a dismal world of despair and injustice. The residents of Monochrome hate Whimsica and send down monsters made of negative emotion to attack the people.

Lately, Monochrome villains have been targeting Earth, causing despair and negative emotions to run rampant. Queen Rainbow of Whimsica sends down Sparkle and Twinkle, magical rabbits who will search planet Earth for more people with magical hearts to be new guardians.

-First chapter synopsis-

Meanwhile, on Earth...

Joy Smiley is 11 years old and recently started 6th grade. She is a quiet, humble, and imaginative girl who is lonely and has low self-esteem. Joy has always liked to daydream and imagine make-believe. She has dreams of happy endings, magic tales, and for people to be her friend.

Joy keeps a little journal with her where she draws and writes down her dreams. One day, a bully takes Joy’s journal from her and puts it on top of a locker where Joy can’t reach, because she is short.

Vivi, one of the taller girls in their grade, stands up to the bully (by annoying them until why give up) and retrieves the journal for Joy. Joy is thankful, though not good at expressing emotion. Vivi remarks that Joy has such a happy-sounding name, but wonders why she always looks sad. Vivi tells Joy she should smile. This inspired Joy to look on the bright side.

Vivi tells Joy that her dream is “to make the whole world laugh and smile”. She’s been told it was logistically impossible many times, but Vivi is an idealist and her determined attitude causes her to keep the dream in her heart.

Joy and Vivi become friends. Later that day, after school is out, Vivi overhears her classmates Maia and Bonnie talking. Maia is upset because her older brother seems to be better than her in everything.

Vivi runs up to Maia and tells her “Someone needs a hug!”

In an attempt to cheer up Maia, Vivi hugs her and begins to tell bad jokes. Maia is visibly annoyed.

Vivi says “Ooh, you’re a hard one to make smile!” Maia says she simply doesn’t wanna smile. Vivi tells Maia that she has to, or else her dream won’t come true.

Maia is in an especially bad mood that day, so she calls Vivi’s dream “stupid” and “impossible”. The world is just that miserable and unchangeable.

Vivi pretends to shrug it off, but she is actually crushed to hear this.

The reason Vivi wants to make the world smile is because her grandfather was a comedian with the same dream. However, he passed away when Vivi was 7. Vivi is determined to keep her grandfather’s dream alive and fulfill it for him.

Bonnie, who is Maia’s childhood friend, tells Maia that perhaps she was too harsh. Maia instead says “She needs to realize the truth.”

Vivi tells Joy about the reason behind her dream. Vivi then says she needs to be somewhere, but actually wanders off in sadness.

Joy feels alone once again and feels useless for not being able to break up the argument or comfort Vivi. Walking to her house, two sleeping colorful rabbits float down from the sky.

Joy first wonders if they’re stuffed animals, but they are warm and twitching their noses. Joy takes the rabbits back to her house. Her mother won’t be home until night.

The rabbits, Sparkle and Twinkle, then wake up and tell Joy that they only show themselves to people with “whimsy” in their hearts. The fact that Joy found them means she is who they are looking for.

Joy asks what whimsy is. It is a special kind of magic that comes from the heart.

The rabbits tell Joy what is happening. Their world is in danger, and Earth is becoming targeted as well. Joy will need to become a guardian to protect Earth from the villains of Planet Monochrome.

Joy is scared and unsure at first that she could do something so big. But then she remembers that she always wanted to experience magic. Sparkle and Twinkle also tell Joy that she is more powerful than she thinks.

Joy agrees to become a magical girl. There is a spiritual awakening deep within her that unlocks the magical powers in her heart and combines it with a divine power from the world of Whimsica.

Then, Sparkle and Twinkle detect that a monster has brainwashed someone close by.

As night begins to fall, Joy follows the rabbits and ends up at the empty park where Vivi went to be alone. The rabbits turn themselves into stuffed toy form to disguise themselves.

Vivi’s heart is in a vulnerable state after she got crushed by Maia’s remarks. Joy sees a monster behind Vivi, who is too crushed to even notice. The monster is beast-like and shadowy in appearance until it possesses a human. Monsters can only possess humans who don’t have magic. The monster hypnotizes Vivi to sleep so she can’t defend herself.

Joy transforms for the first time and feels something inside her awaken. She is a clumsy fighter at first and feels apologetic for being so “weak”.

As Joy is struggling, the monster possesses Vivi. Vivi becomes a corrupted version of herself, the monster has taken over her body and warped her appearance.

Sparkle and Twinkle awaken again and tell Joy that she has to attack and defeat the monster that Vivi became. It is the only way to get the old Vivi back.

Joy is overwhelmed at first. But then she thinks about how grateful she is that Vivi helped her and something happens. She gains the courage to fight.

Joy ends up defeating the monster and Vivi is back to normal, yet she is unconscious. She doesn’t remember a thing about being possessed. Joy wants to take Vivi back to somewhere safe but can’t carry her herself.

Suddenly, Maia and Bonnie arrive at the park. They didn’t see anything prior, but they do see Vivi unconscious on the bench. Joy tells Maia why about Vivi’s deceased grandfather and why her dream is so important to her.

Maia grows very regretful and feels remorse of what she told Vivi. She wants to apologize.

All three girls help carry Vivi to the school nurse’s office. Joy then has to go because Sparkle and Twinkle need to tell her more about her job. Bonnie has dance practice soon and leaves as well. Maia is the only one left and she stays with Vivi until she wakes up.

Vivi is surprised to wake up in the nurse’s office with Maia at her side. Vivi dejectedly tells Maia that perhaps she is right.

Maia then says “No. I was wrong. Your dream is a wonderful thing. You go out of your way to make people happy. The world needs more people like you. I’m sorry.”

For the first time, Vivi sees Maia smile.

“Hey, you made me smile.” Maia says, “You’re one step closer to your goal now.”

Vivi hugs Maia. They become good friends. Vivi continues to help Maia believe in hopes and dreams.

Eventually, Vivi, Maia, and Bonnie become magical girls as well (in that order), thus forming the Quartet.

-Introducing the girls-

Joy Smiley

Age- 11

Birthday- Feburary 14

Hair color- Auburn

Skin color- Brown

Build- Small, pudgy

Race/Nationality- Black/African-American

Favorite food- Macarons, strawberries

Wish- To experience magic, to make the world better

Personality description-

Joy is a quiet, humble, childish girl with a whimsical colorful imagination and a big heart. She's a dreamer and her mind is like a hot air balloon, always floating to different worlds.

Joy is sweet, docile and pure. She loves imagining things and being creative. She is very quiet and shy, causing people to misunderstand her. Joy is quite lonely at first.

Joy is sensitive and the emotions of other people get to her really easily. However, she struggles with showing them outwardly.

Joy's favorite stuffed animal is a cat named Rosa who brings her comfort on a bad day.

Joy has autism and is sensitive to certain stimuli.

Joy is an only child.

Her theme color is pink.

Vivi Star

Age- 11

Birthday- December 23

Hair color- Light yellow

Skin color- Fair

Build- Tall and heavy

Race/Nationality- Dutch (White)

Favorite food- Mushroom risotto

Wish- To make everyone in the world smile, to live a life worthwhile

Personality description-

Vivi is an outgoing and cheerful girl with lots of aspirations and dreams.

She's eccentric, animated and loves to make people laugh. She cracks a lot of jokes in hope it will make someone smile. 

Vivi used to be very shy when she was younger and still has that characteristic hidden inside her. She broke out of her shell in order to accomplish her dream of making the entire world smile. Vivi is very emotional, and is often sad, but hides it well. She is very self-sacrificing and thinks of others before herself.

She has a little sister named Liv.

Vivi’s theme color is yellow.

Maia Mei

Age- 11

Birthday- May 7

Hair color- Dark green

Skin color- Light brown

Build- Tall, thin

Race/Nationality- Mexican, Chinese

Favorite food- Black bean enchiladas, fried rice

Wish- To make a difference

Personality description-

Maya is a girl who is aloof and pessimistic at first. However, she has a lot of willpower and believes in justice.

Maia is boyish and doesn't like being called a "young lady". She has an older brother who seems to be better than her at everything. This discourages Maia and caused her to believe that some things are impossible at first.

Maia tends to act the most serious of the group, but has her moments where she becomes very silly.

Maia is childhood friends with Bonnie.

Maia didn’t believe in dreams at first, but eventually realizes she wants to make a difference.

She cares deeply for her friends in an almost knightly way. The power of friendship is something that moves her deeply.

Maia has an older brother named Alan, and a younger brother named Chen.

Maia’s theme color is green.

Bonnie Orabella

Age- 14

Birthday- Janurary 9

Hair color- Powder blue

Skin color- Fair with freckles

Build- Somewhat short, average weight

Race/Nationality- French, Italian (White)

Favorite food- Ramen

Wish- To inspire people

Personality description-

Bonny appears to be is a calm, sophisticated girl. However, she has a very zany side to her. Bonnie is extremely theatrical. Bonnie has an alter-ego named “Daphne” who she becomes whenever she is acting.

Bonnie is quite dramatic, but is also level-headed. She can be silly a lot.

Bonnie is childhood friends with Maia.

Bonnie loves creating and wants to express herself. She likes to write. Her dream is to be an actress and to act as characters she’s created.

Bonnie has an older brother named Rubin, who is dating Maia’s older brother, Alan.

Bonnie’s theme color is blue.

-The powers of the Quartet-

Joy Smiley gains powers of seeing people’s dreams and turning nightmares into sweet dreams.

Sometimes Joy attacks with perfume, monsters can't stand it!

Joy has healing magic such as giving people hope and comfort in the form of an object affected by her magic.

Sometimes wields a giant pink paintbrush and can paint attacks and platforms. Can also ride on this paintbrush like a broom.

Joy can cast a magical spell, or a "Wish-come-true" when her heart is in a certain state.

Dreamy Drops are magic candy that Joy can use to power up.

"Whimsical heart medley!" is a musical attack where Joy "conducts" the aura around her. The music notes attack monsters.

"Dream Halation" is a healing attack that can soothe damage to the heart and body.

"Hyper Ballet" is a spinning attack where Joy spins at an impossible speed and can even cause a strong wind.

"Celestial Fantasia" is a wide-range powerful blast of magic that can both harm a monster and heal the good allies.

One of her magical trademarks is spinning a lot.

Joy has mostly healing magic. Her magic is based on a fairy.

She can cast a spell of hope.

Vivi Star can store emotions inside of objects. She can also feel emotions from objects and sense if they have happy or sad memories stored in them. She can always sense someone's true hidden emotion.

Smile Sugars are magical candy for her.

"Euphoric star fortissimo!" is a musical attack where monsters are harmed.

"Happy Aura" is a magical attack that causes euphoria and comfort to allies.

"Vivid Starlight" is a beam of light to attack enemies.

"Buoyant Rush" conceals Vivi’s body in a ball of light and has her move twice as fast.

The peace sign is her trademark.

One of her trademarks is a somersault.

Most of her magic is offensive. Her magic is based on a sorcerer.

She can cast a spell of laughter.

Maia-

Maia can sense memories if she concentrates hard enough.

"Dynamic triangle crescendo!" is a musical attack where monsters are harmed.

"Blade Fortress" is a defensive attack where barriers made of light surround her and allies, and monsters are hurt if they touch them.

“Bold Frenzy” is an attack where Maia wields light as a sword.

“Courage Pure” is magic that gives courage to allies

One of her trademarks is a backflip.

Most of her magic is offensive. Her magic is based on a knight.

She can cast a spell of confidence

Bonnie-

Bonnie can cast spells, and she has a cauldron in the Whimsy Room.

"Ethereal crescent arioso!" is a musical attack where monsters are harmed.

"Shield of ice" is a shield that also freezes enemies

“Wondrous Cure” is a healing attack that soothes damage to the heart and body.

"Wave of Tremolo" is an attack that knocks monsters back and topples them over

One of her trademarks is figure skating moves.

Most of her magic is defensive. Her magic is based on a witch.

She can cast a spell of inspiration

-Backstory of Joy and Lumina-

Joy met a girl her age in a dream when she was 6. The girl’s name was Lumina and she defeated Joy’s nightmare for her. Ever since then, Joy believed in magic.

Lumina is actually from Whimsica and she was in Joy’s dream because she can cross dimensions into the realm of dreams.

[tokiro07]

Faker Class Ideas

Case Files apparently just revealed a new class, Faker, that as near as I can tell is meant for impersonators. The only example so far is Hephaestion’s unnamed sister, who served as Alexander the Great’s body double. I figure that any future Faker class servants will be similarly nameless, possibly completely made up characters meant to be imitations of other heroes. 

But that’s not good enough for me, so I’m going to stretch it just a tad and assume that Faker means any hero that in some way faked their identity, whether they were political decoys like Hephaestion’s sister, frequently disguised themselves so people wouldn’t recognize them like Lancelot, faked their gender for some purpose like Jeanne d’Arc, or was deceptive about their identity in any other similar fashions.

If you have any ideas beyond what I’ve found, feel free to add them.

Hua Mulan: 

Khan’s Call to Arms- Mulan summons the army that fought alongside her for twelve years as unclassed Servants. 

Two Rabbits Running- Mulan’s ability to perfectly conceal her identity, hiding it even from Servants with high ranked True Name Discernment. 

Her armaments include a jian (Saber qualifier), qinglong ji (Lancer), and a swift horse (Rider)

Heikichi Endo: 

The Fiend with Twenty Faces- allows Endo to take on any human form of his choosing. 

Also qualifies as Assassin.

Babo: 

Benito Cereno- Cereno masquerades as the true Servant, but is in actuality Babo’s Noble Phantasm. So long as Cereno is present, Babo is dismissed by opponents, effectively giving him a pseudo version of Presence Concealment while also granting him a fighting partner. 

Babo is armed with a knife, while Cereno is armed with a flintlock pistol that he cannot aim at Babo.

Jean Valjean: 

24601- so long as Valjean keeps his passeport jaune hidden, he is unrecognizable as a Servant except to those with extremely high Perception abilities or whose legends depicted them as enforcers of the law. Valjean must have the passeport jaune visible to fully utilize his abilities as a Servant, but while it is concealed his Independent Action Skill goes from rank B to A+.

Bampfylde Moore Carew, the King of Beggars: 

The Life and Adventures- Carew is able to take on the abilities and Skills of any class simply by claiming to be a suitable candidate for such a class. Carew will lose access to a class if he personally faces a true Servant of that class while claiming it.

[Note: I also considered Rudolf Rassendyll, but I wasn’t sure how to make him work interestingly, so Carew won the fifth slot]

Johanna / Pope Joan: 

Via Sacra, the Shunned Street- allows Johanna to set up an area where others cannot enter without her consent. 

Marvelous Locusts- six-winged locust familiars. 

Eligible to be summoned as Ruler class due to religious affiliation.

Ferdinand Waldo Demara: 

Power Vacuum- Demara can take on the role of any Servant class not currently in use, and can even make up new classes (such as Healer, making use of his time as a doctor) if need be. 

Pure Rascality- Demara can master any skill or ability after taking in the necessary information only once either by witnessing it, reading it, or being told of it. 

George C. Parker: 

Bridge for Sale- Parker can analyze a target and formulate a plan to convince them to accept any sort of deal, potentially even swindling Heroic Spirits out of their Noble Phantasms. 

Hervor / Hjorvard: 

Tyrfing- a cursed sword which kills someone whenever it is unsheathed, its activation draws the user toward the most vulnerable point on an opponent. If one does not exist, Tyrfing’s ability combines with Hervor’s strategic cunning to force an opening in the enemy’s defenses.  

Hervararkviða- as Hervor demanded the spirit of her father to relinquish Tyrfing to her, she can make similar demands of the fallen, including Heroic Spirits. To do this, she must find their resting place, or in the case of Heroic Spirits in the current Holy Grail War, the location that they were slain. 

As a shieldmaiden trained in many forms of combat, Hervor is also applicable for the Shielder, Saber, Archer, Lancer, and Rider class. 

Because of the curse of Tyrfing, she is applicable for the Berserker class.

[drtenebrisxii]

Lost Traveler 5 – Finishing a crazy day…

At the left, infinite seas, extending far away to realms of wonder and madness, the night in the horizon painting its mirror surface a dark purple.

At the right, the hiding sun, the ending of the Techno Goddess’ supremacy and the beginning of the Arcane God’s. The last rays of sun painting white, orange and red the horizon.

And in front of them, their destination: a seaside cliff over which tall figures loomed, only standing out from the darkening horizon thanks to the many lights in their windows and the ones coming from the many places down below the huge towers. “So this is city 45”, had thought the young Princess Flare DeFleur, as their makeshift biological transport kept closing distance to it.

It doesn’t take long before she notices the coastal defenses…

Huge stationary cannons were set on metallic platforms built on the cliff and what looked like water monstrosities were patrolling the shoreline in the company of what she immediately identified as other magic users like herself, some of them showing off their powers by flying above their magical servants; others were “boldly” riding them, and others were accompanying their creatures by driving small motorboats close to them.

Flare could felt the gazes of some of them, after all, they could feel her presence the same way she felt theirs.

-This place seems way more protected than any city I’ve ever been…- mutters Flare to herself.

-That’s because it is- comments the beautiful but manly voice of Nyepu, startling her a little. When she faces him, he was already packing away his cellphone.  

-How was the call…? - asks her with a little smile- …it… wasn’t as bad as it sounded? – the dragon just snorts in annoyance.

After defeating the water abomination some time ago, the remaining of their trek was silent and uneventful. The felixin mage, whose name the little princess never asked (she just put “mysterious cat” in the name space), spent most of his time taking a nap. The other passengers kept to themselves, busying themselves with their phones or sleeping a little. And, after telling Nyepu about her situation, the dragon decided that they should probably talk in more detail in a more private place. By the time they started to see the city, the dragon took out his own phone and called someone… and a very heated conversation started, judging by the angry expression in the draconic researcher’s face and his violent gestures; although, in an intelligible combinations of sounds that she’d never heard before but was pretty sure was supposed to be a language… The rest of the survivors showed some interest at first, and even asked Flare if she understood the alien gibberish Nyepu was saying… but she was as clueless as everyone else and, except for the felixin, who recorded a good part of the conversation, everyone else lost interest pretty soon… even Flare… until now…

-Well, let’s just say that I’m in big trouble thanks to you… so you too are in big trouble…- he says, annoyance very clear in his voice – …that and we are getting someone to pick us up in the train station-

Before Flare could ask anything else, a booming voice caught everyone’s attention. It was informing them that they were going to be taking a test to determine if they were possessed or were daemons in disguise by personal of the local police forces as soon as they reach the train station, and they better obey without question. The voice came from a slim dark vehicle that was flying above them with thrusters, its lights cast upon the passengers, blinding some of them, before it flew away as silently as it came.

The passengers spent the rest of the trip to the train station in silence, since they were about to get there soon, anyway… Flare only had time to watch a little of the city and was awestruck by it. She saw how the railway they were on was built in the middle of a canyon that ended up in the sea and went way into inland, basically splitting the city in half. She saw the myriads of bright adds in the walls of the canyon, offering services, naming businesses and stating slogans. She saw how said walls had been carved in many places to form fenced balconies, small plazas and passages.

Flare saw a lot more things in this city, and while she came from a busy city herself, this one felt to be in a different level. By the time they finally got to the station, her mind was still reeling with the many catwalks in the cliffs, stairs, the flows of people going everywhere, more stairs, and the transports swarming the bridges and airspace she’d seen so far… and let’s not get started on the noise and the lights…

Once in the train station, a white place built in such a way that it was suspended between the canyon’s walls and seemed to be bigger inside, the passengers were escorted by a bunch of officers, some lapin, humans and homunculi (the goat-people) wearing green uniforms, to a reclusive office inside the way-too-well-lit station. There, they were met by a pair of male estirges carrying with their mechanical arms instruments that Flare had seen a lot of times in the past: Aurometers.

No one out of the reduced circle of people directly involved in the production and maintenance of those things new exactly how they worked, but they were capable of detecting and measuring the intensity of magical aura in a given space… in this case, the space was the close surroundings of the survivors… and when they were put into two lines to be measured, a lapin officer noticed that something was off…

-Wait a second… - said the rabbit-looking officer, narrowing his big dark eyes- There is one more of you than we were reported…- bearing his fangs in annoyance, he ordered the passengers to form a line to inspect them all… that’s when Flare decided that it didn’t make sense to remain silent.

-I am the one you are looking for, sir- says her immediately, flying to the rabbit’s face- I wasn’t in the original list of passengers- she wasn’t sure if there was an actual list, she’d always traveled in the private train of her family, after all, but she still declared this as apologetically as possible.

-Oh yeah! I almost forgot that!- suddenly says Nyepu, floating to them, and catching the little princess and the pint sized officer off guard- Excuse me, officer, but this girl is my assistant and, you see, she is a powerful magician, so she used her magic to boost her flying speed to catch up with me as soon as possible while I was in the train… she met with us after our wagon was sacrificed…- “Wow… he sounds so natural…”, thinks Flare after hearing how casually he was lying, “who would say that Nyepu was a good enough liar”.

-Why hadn’t she waited for another train instead of doing something so stupid?- says the officer, crossing his little arms in a very skeptical pose with a way more skeptical face.

-Because she is a very reckless girl, aren’t you, dear?- asks him to her with a toothy smile that clearly tells her “Don’t fuck this up”. “Har har, so funny of you…” thinks her, managing to keep herself from smiling at the dragon’s description of her. She is a princess after all, and while she’s very honest and frank most of the time, as someone who have to live in the world of politics, the ability to read a situation and “convincingly play along” was a required must that her mother drilled on her with a lot of effort…

-I kind of am- says her in an impeccable display of false embarrassment, and with an apologetic look she says- you see, I was so worried about what could happen if the boss didn’t receive this part of his device that I decided to take it to him and, well, instead of waiting for the train I was like “he hadn’t left too long ago so maybe I can catch up with the train with my magic and ask him to open a window or something…”- and then, avoiding the eyes of the police-rabbit, as a very shameful person would ordinarily do, she added- by the time I thought of all the things that were wrong with that idea I had already catch up with them-

-Wow… you must be really stupid if it took you that long to figure that out…- begins to say the officer, still looking skeptical, when Nyepu interrupts him.

-I won’t allow you to say that- says him in a slightly offended tone- I’ll have you know, sir, that my assistant is a very capable lady, her problem is that she sometimes gets a little too caught up in doing something one way that it takes her a while to consider other options… that and her magic gives her a very good boost, so she really got to us very fast…-

-Well, she certainly is the queen of making bad ideas work in the end- says suddenly the mysterious felixin from before- When she saw our predicament, you know, the sea daemons coming towards us, she went and fought them off all by herself… it was stupid and inspiring at the same time-

-That’s true!- says the giant lapin that had been with them, smiling proudly- man, had you’d seen her in action, you’d fell in love with her! This girl might be reckless but is damn good at magical combat! – his passion apparently motivated the others to says similar things… some even took out their cellphones to show to the law enforcers what little they could record of her during her daring rescue mission.

Seeing how genuinely excited and impressed were the passengers and the officers with the descriptions of her heroics and what little the limited video records could provide to back them up, the young avian princess was feeling very abashed…

-What is this? Are you getting redder under your feathers?- asks the dragon with a sly smile. She couldn’t help but laugh at his comment and said:

-Well… yeah, I am… I… certainly wasn’t expecting this much excitement from them, at all…- she landed on the dragon’s shoulder and covered her face with her wings- I’m so happy but also so abashed!- Nyepu only laugh a little before saying:

-Well, while they couldn’t see all of what you did, they still saw you doing something really stupid and actually succeeding in making it work in the end…-

-Pri! It was not stupid! I knew what I was doing the whole time- claimed her, her chest swelling with pride.

-Yeah… I guess you almost drowning back there was also part of your plan…- said him playfully.

Before she could retort anything, though, the officers ordered them to form the two lines again, stating that they were accepting their still difficult to believe explanation of why was Flare here in account of her heroism, but she was still taking the test as everyone else, especially since she’d been the one most exposed to daemons today.

The test was actually really simple, the male estirges carrying the devices only needed to get close to the person to be inspected and measure his or her magical aura. Non-magical people like Nyepu had an aura of low intensity which oscillated inside a range that was always below the intensity of daemons’ magical auras… magical people like Flare, on the other hand, had to prove that they were capable of altering the intensity of their aura since, for whatever reason, daemons seem to be unable to do that. So, if someone supposedly non-magical had a too high intensity of aura, or someone magical couldn’t alter the intensity of his or her aura, then they sure were possessed or were daemons trying to pretend that they were the real deal…

Each one of the passengers passed the test without any big surprise and, after the estirge and the lapin officers try and failed to subtly ogle the young princess, Flare and Nyepu said their goodbyes and crossed the hot sea of people going all over the place to get to the western entrance of the station, bombarded by the noise of many boarding calls, varied announcements, conversation and the sounds of the departure or arrival of one of the trains on one of the four lines that converged at this station. As they made their way, many gave curious or weird looks to the half-naked dragon and the little princess; they were also pretty sure that someone actually called them “sexy pair” along the way but they didn’t stop to check it out…

-Sooo… who are we waiting for? - asks Flare after a while of silent contemplation of the beautiful and strange fountain in the center of the underground plaza they were currently in… yes, they were underground, in a plaza carved out of the land itself, sitting, him on a bench, her on his shoulder. They’ve been waiting there for some minutes already.

- A colleague of mine… - says him vaguely, staring at the same fountain… or more accurately, the water it was spraying into its pool. She clearly notices how he forces himself to look at her with his big reptilian eyes – His name is Giorgio, a homunculus with the annoying habit of getting on my nerves…- his face now shows neutrality, but his words had some disgust in them – he must be arriving soon- “Hmmm… he really seems to dislike the guy” thinks Flare. Since her companion didn’t seem interests in saying anything himself, she decides to ask everything she had in her mind.

- I see… and where is he going to take us? – asks the little avian. At this, the dragon seemed a little more distracted of his negative feelings from earlier.

 “Fricking water…” he had been thinking before Flare talked to him. He had been thinking in how strangely empty he was feeling by being in dry land after having been for so long at the sea. “Is that damn ‘Called of the Seas’ nonsense”, he had thought, trying to force himself to just get over it, just as he’s done before for the most part of his life… but this time, that hollowness had come with way more strength than expected… And having a water fountain pouring water into its pool in front of him was not helping matters… Thankfully, his avian companion was distracting him with a conversation now. “The little troublemaker…”.

- Well …- he began, now more focused in answering her than in his corroding emptiness. He was about to go along with the plan of his colleague when he stopped to look at her and saw with surprise how was she looking at him with her sky-blue eyes: she trusted him, her eyes had an innocence that was telling him that she was going to believe whatever he’d say… “The effects of her drinking my blood might still be on effect…” thinks him, and then considers that he probably was still under her “unconscious” blood magic, because he was entertaining the idea of actually ignoring the original plan so he could keep her around longer, “That I’m still feeling quite hollow might have something to do with it as well”, he thinks bitterly.

-Well? – she prompts. The dragon gulps some saliva… his day had been a horrible mess… and it could only get way worse if he goes and brings her with him to his workplace… but… if he does that, he can save money in unnecessary lodging, breakfast and taxis… not to mention that, by having her with him, he can present her to his superiors… and if the guys are clever enough, they’ll see in Flare an opportunity instead of a problem… “All I have to do is break the rules… well… fuck it… let’s go for it…”.

-We are going to go to the outskirts of the city… we have a little research facility there with very good lodging…- he says, “yep, screw the rules, I’m a genius…” thinks for himself, his hollowness forgotten. The plan his assholish colleague had cooked with him by cellphone had implied that the homunculus would not take her to their research center; so the dragon had to invent a story so his colleague could just dump them in a random motel or something before Nyepu could get the money and get rid of her… But Nyepu had concluded that bringing her along would be more beneficial… and, well, he still wanted to help her in her crazy mission of defeating her evil clone, so they should stick together… “We should talk a little more about this mission of hers later, though”, he thinks.

-Wah! I’ve never been in a research center! – says her excitedly, her sky blue talking gem shining with more intensity than usual. -And what are you doing there? – her eyes are suddenly filled with realization and her excitement fell as she asks -Ahm… was… was the thing I destroy part of whatever you were working there? – He only laughs lightly at her reaction, “at least she seems really ashamed for it…”, thinks Nyepu.

-It was… and it was really expensive, but don’t worry… I can build another one… with the right components, that is- says him with a small smile and the little princess’ expression lights up.

That’s when the dragon’s eyes catch a familiar homunculus wearing a magenta track suit walking towards them, crossing the pleasant plaza they were in with long strides. When his strange ovine eyes finally land on them, Nyepu was very sure that the annoying guy blushed before doing his best to look slightly pissed off.  “Yeah… I forgot this bastard has the hots for me or something”, thought him in disgust, releasing a heavy sigh… “What and awkward moment to be half naked”.

-Nyepu!- exclaimed the white goat guy with grey wool, sounding as reprehensible as possible, but failing, while finally getting closer to them – what was all that crap about you losing the control core?! A-and put something on, geez… have some d-decency – he muttered the last part after forcing himself to look at the dragon in the eye, traying too hard to keep his annoyed expression while fighting a smile and blushing furiously… “Man, you are more transparent than a crystal window…”, thought Nyepu slightly amused.

-Hi, Giorgio- he forced himself to answer as neutrally as possible- I already told you what happened earlier, nothing else to add to it… by the way, this is Flare DeFleur, the girl I also mentioned- says him, motioning to the little avian in his shoulder.

-Good evening, Mr. Giorgio! Is a pleasure to meet you! - greets her enthusiastically. “Believe me girl, it is not…”.

-I agree, it is a pleasure to meet me- answers the male lamb in a cold tone… the very same one he uses with people he doesn’t like; Nyepu had heard him talk like that to way too many people…- So you are the problematic girl that put my colleague here in so much trouble…- he says, crossing his arms. Flare falters at this, but Nyepu intervenes.

-She’s the girl that had accidentally destroy the device, yeah, but that’s not a big deal… she says she will pay for it and, with the help of my notes, I can have a new control core in less than a month…- says the dragon- Also, she saved as all of that mess of a train trip from this morning- adds him. At this, Flare gives him a look, which he quickly returns, hoping that that is enough for her to understand that he had kept in secret the negative details of her involvement in the whole incident. “She had picked up very quickly on my ruse with the officers after all…” thinks the dragon.

-Yeah… I remember that- answers Giorgio, still with his arms crossed and giving the young princess a disapproving look- Anyway, come with me- says him, beginning to walk away- let’s take you two to a place to stay for the night… we have a lot of work tomorrow- the dragon and the estirge followed him, flying.

-Actually, I think you better take us to the research center…- says Nyepu.

-Excuse me? I don’t think we have rooms there, don’t be silly- answers Giorgio a little too fast without looking back, although he had winced a little at the mention of their workplace and started to walk faster.

-You and me know that that is not true…- retorts Nyepu matter-of-factly. - Now let’s go there now, I don’t feel like taking up a taxi tomorrow when I can be there already… that and I also need to put something on… is getting colder…- For a dragon, the night was not exactly the best part of the day, being cold blooded and all that. Giorgio stops and gives the dragon an incredulous look…

 Flare was not sure of what was going on at all.

This goat-guy was very weird, not only was he getting flustered just by looking at Nyepu, he also seems to be disgusted with her for no apparent reason, and now he is acting weirdly about the research center. Didn’t Nyepu told her that they lodging there? Why was he lying about it now?

-Ok… man, I can stand you being a little careless… I can even stand you having some affair with this bird! But you are just pushing it now… you know the rules… so what the hell?!- “And now he looks really pissed off! … Wait… affair with me?!”, thinks her, her beak hanging open out of shock “What’s the deal with this guy?! Is he his boyfriend or something?!”.

-I already told you that I really don’t want to waste time with a taxi tomorrow and paying for a hotel when we have a place is kind of pointless, don’t you think? Also, I have a plan, ok? … and, I had no affair with her! And even if I would it be none of your business, anyway– answers the dragon, sounding eerily calmed. Giorgio was redder than her feathers by now, looking embarrassed and furious at the same time; but, instead of doing something regrettable, he takes a deep breath.

-Listen, asshole, rules are not there to be step over… and you already are in trouble as it is… do you really want more? – Says Giorgio, massaging his temples, and wisely ignoring the last part of the dragon’s answer.

-I already told you that I have a plan… now let’s get going- says Nyepu, his eyes clearly saying that he’s not going to accept any other argument. Giorgio just sighs heavily in defeat and keeps walking while muttering something about Nyepu being a “stupid sexy asshole”. “Well… that explains a lot”, deadpans Flare in her mind, flying at her dragon friend’s side, remembering that the dragon had better hearing than her so he must have heard everything that the apparently gay goat was saying… judging by his annoyed but resigned expression, he was and was also used to it… the young princess couldn’t help but laugh a little in bemusement at this.

Giorgio took them to a parking lot where they boarded his car, a green, slim and seemingly expensive model that levitated, before they finally started their journey to the research center… the dragon had to coil himself in the back seat since he was too big for the front one, so Flare had to go there instead, much to the driver’s and her mutual annoyance… specially since the security belt was too big for her…

They spent most of the trip to the outskirts in silence, so she had more time now to better see the city. As in any other city, evenings were also bustling with activity. Since mages were at their peak power at night, most of them prefer that time to do their things than daytime; she herself was like that after all, and so, many magicians were moving around the city, be it flying, levitating of mounting their servant daemon… of course, there were standard sizes for daemons to be allowed into the streets since there were still lots of people who used technological vehicles. The night was full of magical auras, the businesses were still open and attending, the many ads were bright and numerous, and many noises filled the air. She could hear varied music tunes, people discussing, haggling and, sometimes, could even hear sirens and others noises.

It was when they were crossing one of the bridges that crossed the canyon in their way to get to the surface that they all saw a big screen over a building where an anchorwoman, a well-dressed human, was announcing the news… and was informing about the incident in the train track that connected City 45 with City 79. Some videos were shown where one could watch how Nyepu and the passengers built the hover bio-vehicle on which they manage to get to the city; are others, when Flare flew into the horizon, using her magic to attract the daemons; the appearance of the monstrous water demigod; the ultra-flashy explosion with which she defeated it; and a short video of the two of them flying back to the survivors after winning. By the time the screen showed how a little and very bright fairy was interviewing some of the passengers, they were moving and almost done crossing the bridge. Flare was very proud, but the many things that weren’t said (like her being the one who cause the whole problem in the first place) make her feel a pang of guilt. Giorgio seemed enthralled by the shots of Nyepu and, at the end, blushing furiously again, felt obligated to congratulate the dragon and the estirge for their heroism… he also commented on how Nyepu had actually gone and done something heroic for a change with a smug face… the alluded dragon, who was now blushing in embarrassment, didn’t answer anything back for some reason… but that’s when she remembered how adamant the dragon had been at first to help… “Nyepu wasn’t exactly a hero when I met him… and… and he only helped because he was influenced by my probable blood magic…”, that thought saddened her and she made her best to hide it. The news could have been completely different had she never had drunk the dragon’s blood…

The moon was high in the dark sky and in company of many stars, it was a cool night. Flare’s power was close to its peak and she could already feel the many formless spirits that filled the air going everywhere: summoned by the magic users to fuel their spells, creating spaces where powerful daemons could manifest and generally just being carried where the most powerful magic sources were. This were the aetherical flows, and magicians usually used them to search for overpowered mages, magical artifacts, dangerous cults and hiding daemons; but only really powerful and experiences magic users could feel these during daytime… Right now, though, she could feel them with clarity and by the time they were in the outskirts of the coastal city, where the buildings were smaller and more improvised looking, and people look shiftier and more dangerous, she could sense that their path coincided with one of this flows, but she dismissed it as a coincidence…

By the time they finally abandoned the city (after passing by many defensive turrets and a control post where they had to be bio-scanned for identification by a very bored human officer) into a vast dessert and began to get close to what looked like a distant outpost, Flare was fairly sure that not just one, but many aetherical flows were converging somewhere close to the outpost they were going to… it was just too much of a coincidence to not to ask about it. When she commented on her observations, both males remain silent for a moment. Giorgio looked resigned and just laugh bitterly while Nyepu explained that indeed, they were going to that outpost, which actually was the research center they mentioned before, and the aetheric flows were converging in some sunken ruins they found in the river at the bottom of the canyon, at which edge was the research center.  She was not given the chance to ask if there was a connection between their research and the ruins, since the draconian researcher explain it anyway:

Their work there was about “reviving” an ancient weapon of the legendary Empire of Leviathan (the empire of the Sea Dragons), apparently, the sunken ruins had a sort of “factory” or, more appropriately, “hatchery and surgical facility”, where these things were born, grown and prepared to turned into living weapons…

-That… sounds cool… and kind of cruel…- had commented the young princess on the topic. She knew, as everyone else, that part of the technology of the civilized world was literally alive, as in it was made of living non-sentient beings which apparently were design by someone to fill particular purposes… that doesn’t mean that there wasn’t a lot of people who cringe or were outright disgusted by these bio-tech for obvious reasons, but since it was useful, very few people complained… most of said bio-tech came from the Sea Dragons (like Nyepu) and the Myquita (the race of sentient fungus), so they were the most used to these technologies.

Flare now understood the secrecy… they were bringing back ancient technology, which in on itself was pretty awesome, but it was bio-tech which was considered to be… a little unpredictable… so people usually gets very nervous with ease around “new bio-tech advancements” and, more often than not, tend to shut down any operation at the first sign of weirdness… similar stuff happened with magical research since the weirdness usually was way more difficult to control, so she understood the whole situation here. She’d seen some weird stuff in her school days… and had met some people that is no longer around the living for causing it…

When they finally got to the outpost, they were greeted by felixin guards who bio-scanned them again and, after Nyepu told them that Flare was with them, were allowed to enter into the facility. She could see and feel a good deal of felixin and human mages patrolling the perimeter of the outpost, which was composed of various prefab buildings of metal, plastic and the strange organic tissue with imbibed crystals that some buildings were made of. They went to a parking lot and then, silently, were guided by Giorgio to one of the buildings… people was eyeing her with curiosity and she noticed a lot of dragons in the place, most of them seem to be scientific personal, wearing white bio-suits similar in appearance to the one Nyepu had worn when they met.

-Well, here we are… - said the homunculus at the entrance of the well-lit place - so, what will you do? As you know, all the rooms are occupied, so where is your little friend going to stay- asks innocently the goat guy – I can lend her my room and we can stay together this night- said him, getting very red again while traying to keep a straight face, much to the amusement of Flare and Nyepu… “Wow… this guy is so transparent”, thinks the avian girl, giggling lightly in spite of herself.

-I don’t think so…- answers the dragon dryly- actually, I think she can sleep with me… she doesn’t needs too much space… of course, if there is no problem for you- he adds the last part while looking at her, giving her a sly smile. The girl smiles back and gives a sidelong look to the goat guy who was looking at her intently as if saying, “say no!”. She made then a show of thinking it for a while and then said:

-I agree, I prefer to share Nyepu’s space; after all, I wouldn’t even dream on imposing on you, Mr. Giorgio- says her with a pleasant smile to the disappointed homunculus. The guy tried to stammer something, but the dragon beat him:

-Well, that settles it then, we are going there so I can show her where to sleep and to get some biomass for my bio-suit… go tell the admin that I’m back so we can get done with businesses for today- said him and began to move towards an elevator that was at the right of the entrance to deny any chance of argumentation. Slumping in defeat, Giorgio sighed and left saying that he was going to do that.

Once on the lever, Flare and Nyepu share a laugh at the expense of the very obviously gay homunculus.

-Wow… I wasn’t expecting him to be like that… does that guy harasses you all the time like that? - asked Flare after having been laughing for a while.

-Today he’d been a lot more blatant than usual… but yeah… one day, he started to act different towards me for reasons I can’t even begin to fathom… it took me a while to understand what was going on…- said him, getting a little more serious- I told him, repeatedly, that I’m not gay and I’m not interested in him… but that hadn’t stopped him…- now he was looking a little annoyed- It had been very stressing, really, but since the guy is still one of the best technobiologists I’ve ever met, I had learnt to just let it slide and focus on working…- he shrugged while saying that.

-Wow, that must suck- said her when they left the elevator and were now flying over a corridor with many doors with very organic-looking panels at the sides. – And, well, I can relate… my mom had been very insistent on me having boyfriends… like, very, very, insistent… and some of my pretenders had been horribly stubborn themselves, prii… and it just got worse when some girls began to try to court me as well after noticing how I kept rejecting the guys… it was maddening!- said her, getting exasperated just by remembering how many times her pretenders had interrupted her training sessions and had basically hunted her all the time… they would even fight each other for the “right” to be with her… although, she had to admit that when that wasn’t utterly embarrassing, it was kind of funny to watch…

-And I was whining about my problem with him… your case must had been a living hell! - said the dragon sympathetically, touching the panel of a door with the number 307 over it. The door slide open and they entered into a small room (he had to slither to do so since his antigravity generators were too big to enter flying) with a big tank full of water, a desk, a chair and a closet. There was a smaller cylindrical tank at one corner with a strange fluid in it that Flare guessed was the “biomass” the dragon had mentioned before. She noticed how damp was the air inside the place instantly, wish made sense since he is a dragon after all; she was sure it wouldn’t a problem…

-It was indeed! Pri! - said her, resting on the desk, there were many books piled there, as well as a lamp and a personal computer (the computer was actually a very thin sheet that would generate a holographic keyboard and a “touchscreen”). - I had to threat a lot of them with arrest if they didn’t stop!… at least, that diminished the number of nuisances to a more bearable level- said her, exhausted by just remembering all her efforts to try and get away from her pursuers…  

-No shit? - asked him with disbelief, while removing the cap of the biomass tank.

-No shit- answered her, solemnly- my mom wasn’t very happy with my solution… and the girls gave me the silent treatment after that- said her, then added smiling- my next pretenders had all told me first how I couldn’t arrest them because they had diplomatic immunity- The dragon laugh at that (it was a beautiful laugh) and she laugh with him with her chiming voice while he submerged his clawed hand inside the strange fluid. Flare saw with awe how the beige-colored biomass began to cover his arm and moved to cover his exposed torso before coalescing into the familiar blue body armor she’d seen on him when they met today… “This had been a very crazy day…” she thought, remembering all the things she’d done today while looking how his armor changed in color from blue to white.

He then took a part of the biomass and, as it were plasticine, molded it to look take the shape of a small pillow… although, for Flare, it was a big pillow…

-Here- he told her, putting the pillow on the desk next to her, she immediately sat there… “This… this so comfy!!”, thought her, snuggling into the pillow - sorry for the simplicity, princess, but is what I have… I can make you something to cover yourself with if you wish, though- offered him, sounding as polite as possible. She accepted the offering and he went back to the biomass tank and created a small sheet, slightly bigger than a handkerchief. - Well, now I have a certain bigwig to face…- said him.

-Would you need my help? - asked her, flying beside him. He stopped at the door for the moment, pondering her question. Then he shrugged and told her to tag along, then…

 -…as you heard, the royal couple is quite excited with their upcoming wedding and the current harem of princes are more than eager to have their next brother in love joining them soon…- was saying a rather beautiful female felixin reporter in the holographic screen generated by a personal computer. Looking at said screen with utter disbelief are four individuals:

-I can’t… This is…- sputtered Giorgio, now wearing a protective white suit.

-Well…while this confirms nothing… it certainly makes things… interesting…- says a dark green dragon wearing a red bio-suit, recovering his collected demeanor from before. That guy was the administrator of the whole operation, Nyepu and Giorgio’s boss.

-Damn it, girl… she is…- began to say Nyepu, still gawking at the male-surrounded estirge appearing in the holo-screen.

-She… she is identical to me…- finished Flare, her beak hanging open as her little talker gem broadcasted her words with some little shines in a very low volume.

Flare and Nyepu went together to the Administrators office, the dragon had told her to stay outside until he ask her to come in, though; so, when they got to their destination, the little girl had waited in a small reception at the entrance of the building while Nyepu entered to be verbally beaten by his superior for his incompetence, disregard for the rules and general lack of professionalism… Giorgio had been there, watching impassively how the white dragon face the abuse with stoicism worth of a military man. When he was given a chance to speak, he offered the required apologizes and suggested a solution for their current predicament that wouldn’t involve further investment of the directorate… He then mentioned the situation of Flare: a stranded princess in an unknown land that had somehow appeared here with no memory of how while a mysterious alter ego of her was impersonating her for unknown reasons… the girl was already indebted with him, but helping her could provide a lot more benefits in the long run… Of course, the admin and the other researcher in the room were very skeptical of the incredible contrive convenience of all of this, so he was asked to prove his words… that’s when he asked the young avian princess to come in and, to prove she was been impersonating, they turned on the admin’s personal computer and look out for news about her… it didn’t take long and the result was the current scene: the four individuals gawking at the incredible similitude between the two birds.

Effectively, the estirge being now interviewed by the felixin reporter in the news feed was ridiculously similar to Flare… although, this other Flare had certain notorious differences with the one at the dragon’s side: she wasn’t wearing a magical armor (she was naked, except for a gorgeous necklace with many gems of different colors imbibed in it); had some sort aura of elegance that the original one lacked; and was surrounded by four males of different races: a estirge with a generic moustache, a young although bearded human, a fairy with really long eyebrows, and, the one that was apparently going to get married with her, a lapin giant… looking at these guys, Nyepu could only focus on one question: “Didn’t Flare told me that she had no harem?”.

Now, while that wouldn’t come as a really important thing to consider most of the time, for a supposedly harem-less avian, the group in the holo-screen seems a little too big… “so, there are three possibilities: this bird had been lying about having no boyfriends (or husbands, as seems to be the case), she has a severe case of amnesia, or the imposter had been very busy…” thought the draconian researcher… if there was something he was sure was that she was not lying; so it just left the possibility of amnesia and the actions of the impostor… the amnesia theory had only one problem: her own goals. If the girl were to be believed, then she just woke up today and, as such, there is just not enough time to change her life goals from having a happy family to becoming a heroine… unless there’s some mind control involved, but then, it could have been easier to the probable mastermind to just directly control Flare instead of having a clone going through the painful job of convincing every person who knew Flare that she was the real deal… That only left the possibility of this harem of males being the result of the impostor’s work… but that theory had another big problem: how long had that taken? Even with the mentioned pressure of Flare’s mother, the impostor still had to act as the real deal… and real deal, supposedly, was adamant to get married… not to mention that royal engagements usually are very carefully planned, all of that requires time… a lot of time…

Nyepu was unable to get to a conclusion… he had thought in all the possibilities in a matter of minutes but he simply had not enough information to put all the pieces of the hypothetical puzzle together, and by the look on Flare’s face, she was having as much of a hard time as him in trying to understand what was going on… “This is a mess… but… I can probably start with something…”, he thought before taking a decision and finally starting to speak, catching everyone else off guard:

-As you said, admin, this doesn’t prove much… but now I have a theory…- he began and, giving the still shocked Flare a look, he’ll need her support for this and, by the understanding in her eyes and by how she finally closed her beak, he could tell she was going to support whatever bullshit he’d tell to his boss.

He explained to them the amnesia theory, suggesting that Flare did knew all the members of her harem, even the future one, but whatever freak event had left her lost and allowed the entrance of the impostor, had taken away a lot of her memories and, as such, she was regressed to her days as a lone princess… explaining why her first and only impulse was to call her mother. Flare showed very real confusion at this, but quickly played along and said that she was beginning to remember things, starting by identifying the estirge husband as prince Heron and the first one she married… at this, and just to be an asshole, Giorgio searched in his own cellphone for the information, and ended up confirming that prince Heron was indeed her first husband… and that they got married 10 months ago…

At this information, Nyepu and Flare had been very close to drop the act, the dragon managed to fake a fit of cough, which he blamed on having his chest exposed for a long time, to keep himself from showing too much surprise… Flare, on the other hand, while unable to keep herself from gawking in shock, managed to make it look like said shock was for having forgotten so much time of her life… although, there was a worry in her eyes that the dragon interpreted as the very real concern of that been the actual case…

The admin stated the very clear disadvantage Flare would be in if she really had lost so much of her memories… but the estirge claimed that she was beginning to remember things, although, they were still a little fuzzy, and it wouldn’t take her too long to fully recover them all, especially if she were to find herself surrounded by the familiarity of her own city and people… since the green dragon hadn’t seem very convinced, Flare told him that there was a very easy way to prove she was who she was: by going to the entrance of their research complex and use one of the bio-scanners to confirm her identity. Doing this proved to be the right course of action, because the bio-scanner showed that she indeed was ‘Flare Gavina Aralfrava Timet DeFleur Hedrian Gibranda’… there were more names and surnames there, but that, and the mention of her being the third heiress to the Sky Kingdom’s throne, had been more than enough to prove that she was the real deal…

Some discussion later, the admin finally agreed to help them by providing them with tickets to the Sky Kingdom’s capital city, City 36; some money to spend in food and lodging, and, of course, permission for Nyepu to go with her and take as much time as it was necessary. Giorgio was a little sore about not being allowed to go with them. The admin would be getting the components to rebuilt Nyepu’s device in the meantime and was expecting to start other “businesses” with the Sky Kingdom once this mess was all over.

After that, the meeting was ended and everyone went to rest…

 -Nyepu…- had said Flare in the darkness of their shared room, snuggled on the comfy pillow and covered by the sheet her friend had done for her. The dragon in question was submerged in the biggest water tank in the room but was capable of hearing her very well, as him taking his head out of the water demonstrated.

-What is it? - he asked, the lack of sleepiness in his voice suggested that he couldn’t slept.

-Do you… really think that I’m amnesiac? - asked her, looking at him in the darkness, her eyes adjusted to it; the shinning of her talking gem indicating where she was.

-I’m not sure… but if you aren’t, then you’ve been away from home for almost a year…- said him. “That is true…” she thought… The last thing she remembered doing was her going to deliver a message to prince Heron’s city before all of this… well… that and…

-Nyepu…- called her again.

-What? -

-There is… one thing I hadn’t told you…- she said carefully, she could felt the reptilian eyes of the researcher on her after she said those words, but his silence prompted her to go on- before I woke up… I was… in a dark place… hearing someone saying very… creepy things to me…- she was greeted with more silence, so she kept talking- I didn’t mentioned it before because I was not sure how real that was… but now… what I’ve been there for a whole year and can’t remember it for some reason? Because… because I remember how incredibly happy I was by flying… as if I hadn’t done that in a long time…- if that was true, then what had happened her there? Why was she there? And who was talking to her? She could remember nothing except for the last words she heard before waking up… and for some reason, just remembering make her uneasy…

-I don’t know- said Nyepu, suddenly, startling her- let’s just focus on you getting back your life… you’ll probably find more answers by confronting the impostor- he gave her a small reassuring smile before adding- everything will be alright-

-Thanks… I’ve only met you for less than a day but I already think of you as a good friend- says her. He laughs a little at this.

-This has been the craziest day I’ve had… and you calling me a good friend just puts the cherry on top…- he says bitterly.

-What do you mean?-

-Nothing… let’s get some sleep, tomorrow is going to be a long day…- said him before sinking again inside his water tank. She eyed him for a while, debating with herself if she should keep the conversation he obviously wanted to end when she yawned and decided that sleeping would be wiser now… she’d have time for asking him more tomorrow….

And so, smiling to herself for having a friend accompanying her in this adventure, she finally slept.  

[drtenebrisxii]

The next one is here! :D

Lost traveler 5 - Finishing a crazy day...

At the left, infinite seas, extending far away to realms of wonder and madness, the night in the horizon painting its mirror surface a dark purple.

At the right, the hiding sun, the ending of the Techno Goddess’ supremacy and the beginning of the Arcane God’s. The last rays of sun painting white, orange and red the horizon.

And in front of them, their destination: a seaside cliff over which tall figures loomed, only standing out from the darkening horizon thanks to the many lights in their windows and the ones coming from the many places down below the huge towers. “So this is city 45”, had thought the young Princess Flare DeFleur, as their makeshift biological transport kept closing distance to it.

It doesn’t take long before she notices the coastal defenses…

Huge stationary cannons were set on metallic platforms built on the cliff and what looked like water monstrosities were patrolling the shoreline in the company of what she immediately identified as other magic users like herself, some of them showing off their powers by flying above their magical servants; others were “boldly” riding them, and others were accompanying their creatures by driving small motorboats close to them.

Flare could felt the gazes of some of them, after all, they could feel her presence the same way she felt theirs.

-This place seems way more protected than any city I’ve ever been…- mutters Flare to herself.

-That’s because it is- comments the beautiful but manly voice of Nyepu, startling her a little. When she faces him, he was already packing away his cellphone.  

-How was the call…? - asks her with a little smile- …it… wasn’t as bad as it sounded? – the dragon just snorts in annoyance.

After defeating the water abomination some time ago, the remaining of their trek was silent and uneventful. The felixin mage, whose name the little princess never asked (she just put “mysterious cat” in the name space), spent most of his time taking a nap. The other passengers kept to themselves, busying themselves with their phones or sleeping a little. And, after telling Nyepu about her situation, the dragon decided that they should probably talk in more detail in a more private place. By the time they started to see the city, the dragon took out his own phone and called someone… and a very heated conversation started, judging by the angry expression in the draconic researcher’s face and his violent gestures; although, in an intelligible combinations of sounds that she’d never heard before but was pretty sure was supposed to be a language… The rest of the survivors showed some interest at first, and even asked Flare if she understood the alien gibberish Nyepu was saying… but she was as clueless as everyone else and, except for the felixin, who recorded a good part of the conversation, everyone else lost interest pretty soon… even Flare… until now…

-Well, let’s just say that I’m in big trouble thanks to you… so you too are in big trouble…- he says, annoyance very clear in his voice – …that and we are getting someone to pick us up in the train station-

Before Flare could ask anything else, a booming voice caught everyone’s attention. It was informing them that they were going to be taking a test to determine if they were possessed or were daemons in disguise by personal of the local police forces as soon as they reach the train station, and they better obey without question. The voice came from a slim dark vehicle that was flying above them with thrusters, its lights cast upon the passengers, blinding some of them, before it flew away as silently as it came.

The passengers spent the rest of the trip to the train station in silence, since they were about to get there soon, anyway… Flare only had time to watch a little of the city and was awestruck by it. She saw how the railway they were on was built in the middle of a canyon that ended up in the sea and went way into inland, basically splitting the city in half. She saw the myriads of bright adds in the walls of the canyon, offering services, naming businesses and stating slogans. She saw how said walls had been carved in many places to form fenced balconies, small plazas and passages.

Flare saw a lot more things in this city, and while she came from a busy city herself, this one felt to be in a different level. By the time they finally got to the station, her mind was still reeling with the many catwalks in the cliffs, stairs, the flows of people going everywhere, more stairs, and the transports swarming the bridges and airspace she’d seen so far… and let’s not get started on the noise and the lights…

Once in the train station, a white place built in such a way that it was suspended between the canyon’s walls and seemed to be bigger inside, the passengers were escorted by a bunch of officers, some lapin, humans and homunculi (the goat-people) wearing green uniforms, to a reclusive office inside the way-too-well-lit station. There, they were met by a pair of male estirges carrying with their mechanical arms instruments that Flare had seen a lot of times in the past: Aurometers.

No one out of the reduced circle of people directly involved in the production and maintenance of those things new exactly how they worked, but they were capable of detecting and measuring the intensity of magical aura in a given space… in this case, the space was the close surroundings of the survivors… and when they were put into two lines to be measured, a lapin officer noticed that something was off…

-Wait a second… - said the rabbit-looking officer, narrowing his big dark eyes- There is one more of you than we were reported…- bearing his fangs in annoyance, he ordered the passengers to form a line to inspect them all… that’s when Flare decided that it didn’t make sense to remain silent.

-I am the one you are looking for, sir- says her immediately, flying to the rabbit’s face- I wasn’t in the original list of passengers- she wasn’t sure if there was an actual list, she’d always traveled in the private train of her family, after all, but she still declared this as apologetically as possible.

-Oh yeah! I almost forgot that!- suddenly says Nyepu, floating to them, and catching the little princess and the pint sized officer off guard- Excuse me, officer, but this girl is my assistant and, you see, she is a powerful magician, so she used her magic to boost her flying speed to catch up with me as soon as possible while I was in the train… she met with us after our wagon was sacrificed…- “Wow… he sounds so natural…”, thinks Flare after hearing how casually he was lying, “who would say that Nyepu was a good enough liar”.

-Why hadn’t she waited for another train instead of doing something so stupid?- says the officer, crossing his little arms in a very skeptical pose with a way more skeptical face.

-Because she is a very reckless girl, aren’t you, dear?- asks him to her with a toothy smile that clearly tells her “Don’t fuck this up”. “Har har, so funny of you…” thinks her, managing to keep herself from smiling at the dragon’s description of her. She is a princess after all, and while she’s very honest and frank most of the time, as someone who have to live in the world of politics, the ability to read a situation and “convincingly play along” was a required must that her mother drilled on her with a lot of effort…

-I kind of am- says her in an impeccable display of false embarrassment, and with an apologetic look she says- you see, I was so worried about what could happen if the boss didn’t receive this part of his device that I decided to take it to him and, well, instead of waiting for the train I was like “he hadn’t left too long ago so maybe I can catch up with the train with my magic and ask him to open a window or something…”- and then, avoiding the eyes of the police-rabbit, as a very shameful person would ordinarily do, she added- by the time I thought of all the things that were wrong with that idea I had already catch up with them-

-Wow… you must be really stupid if it took you that long to figure that out…- begins to say the officer, still looking skeptical, when Nyepu interrupts him.

-I won’t allow you to say that- says him in a slightly offended tone- I’ll have you know, sir, that my assistant is a very capable lady, her problem is that she sometimes gets a little too caught up in doing something one way that it takes her a while to consider other options… that and her magic gives her a very good boost, so she really got to us very fast…-

-Well, she certainly is the queen of making bad ideas work in the end- says suddenly the mysterious felixin from before- When she saw our predicament, you know, the sea daemons coming towards us, she went and fought them off all by herself… it was stupid and inspiring at the same time-

-That’s true!- says the giant lapin that had been with them, smiling proudly- man, had you’d seen her in action, you’d fell in love with her! This girl might be reckless but is damn good at magical combat! – his passion apparently motivated the others to says similar things… some even took out their cellphones to show to the law enforcers what little they could record of her during her daring rescue mission.

Seeing how genuinely excited and impressed were the passengers and the officers with the descriptions of her heroics and what little the limited video records could provide to back them up, the young avian princess was feeling very abashed…

-What is this? Are you getting redder under your feathers?- asks the dragon with a sly smile. She couldn’t help but laugh at his comment and said:

-Well… yeah, I am… I… certainly wasn’t expecting this much excitement from them, at all…- she landed on the dragon’s shoulder and covered her face with her wings- I’m so happy but also so abashed!- Nyepu only laugh a little before saying:

-Well, while they couldn’t see all of what you did, they still saw you doing something really stupid and actually succeeding in making it work in the end…-

-Pri! It was not stupid! I knew what I was doing the whole time- claimed her, her chest swelling with pride.

-Yeah… I guess you almost drowning back there was also part of your plan…- said him playfully.

Before she could retort anything, though, the officers ordered them to form the two lines again, stating that they were accepting their still difficult to believe explanation of why was Flare here in account of her heroism, but she was still taking the test as everyone else, especially since she’d been the one most exposed to daemons today.

The test was actually really simple, the male estirges carrying the devices only needed to get close to the person to be inspected and measure his or her magical aura. Non-magical people like Nyepu had an aura of low intensity which oscillated inside a range that was always below the intensity of daemons’ magical auras… magical people like Flare, on the other hand, had to prove that they were capable of altering the intensity of their aura since, for whatever reason, daemons seem to be unable to do that. So, if someone supposedly non-magical had a too high intensity of aura, or someone magical couldn’t alter the intensity of his or her aura, then they sure were possessed or were daemons trying to pretend that they were the real deal…

Each one of the passengers passed the test without any big surprise and, after the estirge and the lapin officers try and failed to subtly ogle the young princess, Flare and Nyepu said their goodbyes and crossed the hot sea of people going all over the place to get to the western entrance of the station, bombarded by the noise of many boarding calls, varied announcements, conversation and the sounds of the departure or arrival of one of the trains on one of the four lines that converged at this station. As they made their way, many gave curious or weird looks to the half-naked dragon and the little princess; they were also pretty sure that someone actually called them “sexy pair” along the way but they didn’t stop to check it out…

-Sooo… who are we waiting for? - asks Flare after a while of silent contemplation of the beautiful and strange fountain in the center of the underground plaza they were currently in… yes, they were underground, in a plaza carved out of the land itself, sitting, him on a bench, her on his shoulder. They’ve been waiting there for some minutes already.

- A colleague of mine… - says him vaguely, staring at the same fountain… or more accurately, the water it was spraying into its pool. She clearly notices how he forces himself to look at her with his big reptilian eyes – His name is Giorgio, a homunculus with the annoying habit of getting on my nerves…- his face now shows neutrality, but his words had some disgust in them – he must be arriving soon- “Hmmm… he really seems to dislike the guy” thinks Flare. Since her companion didn’t seem interests in saying anything himself, she decides to ask everything she had in her mind.

- I see… and where is he going to take us? – asks the little avian. At this, the dragon seemed a little more distracted of his negative feelings from earlier.

 “Fricking water…” he had been thinking before Flare talked to him. He had been thinking in how strangely empty he was feeling by being in dry land after having been for so long at the sea. “Is that damn ‘Called of the Seas’ nonsense”, he had thought, trying to force himself to just get over it, just as he’s done before for the most part of his life… but this time, that hollowness had come with way more strength than expected… And having a water fountain pouring water into its pool in front of him was not helping matters… Thankfully, his avian companion was distracting him with a conversation now. “The little troublemaker…”.

- Well …- he began, now more focused in answering her than in his corroding emptiness. He was about to go along with the plan of his colleague when he stopped to look at her and saw with surprise how was she looking at him with her sky-blue eyes: she trusted him, her eyes had an innocence that was telling him that she was going to believe whatever he’d say… “The effects of her drinking my blood might still be on effect…” thinks him, and then considers that he probably was still under her “unconscious” blood magic, because he was entertaining the idea of actually ignoring the original plan so he could keep her around longer, “That I’m still feeling quite hollow might have something to do with it as well”, he thinks bitterly.

-Well? – she prompts. The dragon gulps some saliva… his day had been a horrible mess… and it could only get way worse if he goes and brings her with him to his workplace… but… if he does that, he can save money in unnecessary lodging, breakfast and taxis… not to mention that, by having her with him, he can present her to his superiors… and if the guys are clever enough, they’ll see in Flare an opportunity instead of a problem… “All I have to do is break the rules… well… fuck it… let’s go for it…”.

-We are going to go to the outskirts of the city… we have a little research facility there with very good lodging…- he says, “yep, screw the rules, I’m a genius…” thinks for himself, his hollowness forgotten. The plan his assholish colleague had cooked with him by cellphone had implied that the homunculus would not take her to their research center; so the dragon had to invent a story so his colleague could just dump them in a random motel or something before Nyepu could get the money and get rid of her… But Nyepu had concluded that bringing her along would be more beneficial… and, well, he still wanted to help her in her crazy mission of defeating her evil clone, so they should stick together… “We should talk a little more about this mission of hers later, though”, he thinks.

-Wah! I’ve never been in a research center! – says her excitedly, her sky blue talking gem shining with more intensity than usual. -And what are you doing there? – her eyes are suddenly filled with realization and her excitement fell as she asks -Ahm… was… was the thing I destroy part of whatever you were working there? – He only laughs lightly at her reaction, “at least she seems really ashamed for it…”, thinks Nyepu.

-It was… and it was really expensive, but don’t worry… I can build another one… with the right components, that is- says him with a small smile and the little princess’ expression lights up.

That’s when the dragon’s eyes catch a familiar homunculus wearing a magenta track suit walking towards them, crossing the pleasant plaza they were in with long strides. When his strange ovine eyes finally land on them, Nyepu was very sure that the annoying guy blushed before doing his best to look slightly pissed off.  “Yeah… I forgot this bastard has the hots for me or something”, thought him in disgust, releasing a heavy sigh… “What and awkward moment to be half naked”.

-Nyepu!- exclaimed the white goat guy with grey wool, sounding as reprehensible as possible, but failing, while finally getting closer to them – what was all that crap about you losing the control core?! A-and put something on, geez… have some d-decency – he muttered the last part after forcing himself to look at the dragon in the eye, traying too hard to keep his annoyed expression while fighting a smile and blushing furiously… “Man, you are more transparent than a crystal window…”, thought Nyepu slightly amused.

-Hi, Giorgio- he forced himself to answer as neutrally as possible- I already told you what happened earlier, nothing else to add to it… by the way, this is Flare DeFleur, the girl I also mentioned- says him, motioning to the little avian in his shoulder.

-Good evening, Mr. Giorgio! Is a pleasure to meet you! - greets her enthusiastically. “Believe me girl, it is not…”.

-I agree, it is a pleasure to meet me- answers the male lamb in a cold tone… the very same one he uses with people he doesn’t like; Nyepu had heard him talk like that to way too many people…- So you are the problematic girl that put my colleague here in so much trouble…- he says, crossing his arms. Flare falters at this, but Nyepu intervenes.

-She’s the girl that had accidentally destroy the device, yeah, but that’s not a big deal… she says she will pay for it and, with the help of my notes, I can have a new control core in less than a month…- says the dragon- Also, she saved as all of that mess of a train trip from this morning- adds him. At this, Flare gives him a look, which he quickly returns, hoping that that is enough for her to understand that he had kept in secret the negative details of her involvement in the whole incident. “She had picked up very quickly on my ruse with the officers after all…” thinks the dragon.

-Yeah… I remember that- answers Giorgio, still with his arms crossed and giving the young princess a disapproving look- Anyway, come with me- says him, beginning to walk away- let’s take you two to a place to stay for the night… we have a lot of work tomorrow- the dragon and the estirge followed him, flying.

-Actually, I think you better take us to the research center…- says Nyepu.

-Excuse me? I don’t think we have rooms there, don’t be silly- answers Giorgio a little too fast without looking back, although he had winced a little at the mention of their workplace and started to walk faster.

-You and me know that that is not true…- retorts Nyepu matter-of-factly. - Now let’s go there now, I don’t feel like taking up a taxi tomorrow when I can be there already… that and I also need to put something on… is getting colder…- For a dragon, the night was not exactly the best part of the day, being cold blooded and all that. Giorgio stops and gives the dragon an incredulous look…

 Flare was not sure of what was going on at all.

This goat-guy was very weird, not only was he getting flustered just by looking at Nyepu, he also seems to be disgusted with her for no apparent reason, and now he is acting weirdly about the research center. Didn’t Nyepu told her that they lodging there? Why was he lying about it now?

-Ok… man, I can stand you being a little careless… I can even stand you having some affair with this bird! But you are just pushing it now… you know the rules… so what the hell?!- “And now he looks really pissed off! … Wait… affair with me?!”, thinks her, her beak hanging open out of shock “What’s the deal with this guy?! Is he his boyfriend or something?!”.

-I already told you that I really don’t want to waste time with a taxi tomorrow and paying for a hotel when we have a place is kind of pointless, don’t you think? Also, I have a plan, ok? … and, I had no affair with her! And even if I would it be none of your business, anyway– answers the dragon, sounding eerily calmed. Giorgio was redder than her feathers by now, looking embarrassed and furious at the same time; but, instead of doing something regrettable, he takes a deep breath.

-Listen, asshole, rules are not there to be step over… and you already are in trouble as it is… do you really want more? – Says Giorgio, massaging his temples, and wisely ignoring the last part of the dragon’s answer.

-I already told you that I have a plan… now let’s get going- says Nyepu, his eyes clearly saying that he’s not going to accept any other argument. Giorgio just sighs heavily in defeat and keeps walking while muttering something about Nyepu being a “stupid sexy asshole”. “Well… that explains a lot”, deadpans Flare in her mind, flying at her dragon friend’s side, remembering that the dragon had better hearing than her so he must have heard everything that the apparently gay goat was saying… judging by his annoyed but resigned expression, he was and was also used to it… the young princess couldn’t help but laugh a little in bemusement at this.

Giorgio took them to a parking lot where they boarded his car, a green, slim and seemingly expensive model that levitated, before they finally started their journey to the research center… the dragon had to coil himself in the back seat since he was too big for the front one, so Flare had to go there instead, much to the driver’s and her mutual annoyance… specially since the security belt was too big for her…

They spent most of the trip to the outskirts in silence, so she had more time now to better see the city. As in any other city, evenings were also bustling with activity. Since mages were at their peak power at night, most of them prefer that time to do their things than daytime; she herself was like that after all, and so, many magicians were moving around the city, be it flying, levitating of mounting their servant daemon… of course, there were standard sizes for daemons to be allowed into the streets since there were still lots of people who used technological vehicles. The night was full of magical auras, the businesses were still open and attending, the many ads were bright and numerous, and many noises filled the air. She could hear varied music tunes, people discussing, haggling and, sometimes, could even hear sirens and others noises.

It was when they were crossing one of the bridges that crossed the canyon in their way to get to the surface that they all saw a big screen over a building where an anchorwoman, a well-dressed human, was announcing the news… and was informing about the incident in the train track that connected City 45 with City 79. Some videos were shown where one could watch how Nyepu and the passengers built the hover bio-vehicle on which they manage to get to the city; are others, when Flare flew into the horizon, using her magic to attract the daemons; the appearance of the monstrous water demigod; the ultra-flashy explosion with which she defeated it; and a short video of the two of them flying back to the survivors after winning. By the time the screen showed how a little and very bright fairy was interviewing some of the passengers, they were moving and almost done crossing the bridge. Flare was very proud, but the many things that weren’t said (like her being the one who cause the whole problem in the first place) make her feel a pang of guilt. Giorgio seemed enthralled by the shots of Nyepu and, at the end, blushing furiously again, felt obligated to congratulate the dragon and the estirge for their heroism… he also commented on how Nyepu had actually gone and done something heroic for a change with a smug face… the alluded dragon, who was now blushing in embarrassment, didn’t answer anything back for some reason… but that’s when she remembered how adamant the dragon had been at first to help… “Nyepu wasn’t exactly a hero when I met him… and… and he only helped because he was influenced by my probable blood magic…”, that thought saddened her and she made her best to hide it. The news could have been completely different had she never had drunk the dragon’s blood…

The moon was high in the dark sky and in company of many stars, it was a cool night. Flare’s power was close to its peak and she could already feel the many formless spirits that filled the air going everywhere: summoned by the magic users to fuel their spells, creating spaces where powerful daemons could manifest and generally just being carried where the most powerful magic sources were. This were the aetherical flows, and magicians usually used them to search for overpowered mages, magical artifacts, dangerous cults and hiding daemons; but only really powerful and experiences magic users could feel these during daytime… Right now, though, she could feel them with clarity and by the time they were in the outskirts of the coastal city, where the buildings were smaller and more improvised looking, and people look shiftier and more dangerous, she could sense that their path coincided with one of this flows, but she dismissed it as a coincidence…

By the time they finally abandoned the city (after passing by many defensive turrets and a control post where they had to be bio-scanned for identification by a very bored human officer) into a vast dessert and began to get close to what looked like a distant outpost, Flare was fairly sure that not just one, but many aetherical flows were converging somewhere close to the outpost they were going to… it was just too much of a coincidence to not to ask about it. When she commented on her observations, both males remain silent for a moment. Giorgio looked resigned and just laugh bitterly while Nyepu explained that indeed, they were going to that outpost, which actually was the research center they mentioned before, and the aetheric flows were converging in some sunken ruins they found in the river at the bottom of the canyon, at which edge was the research center.  She was not given the chance to ask if there was a connection between their research and the ruins, since the draconian researcher explain it anyway:

Their work there was about “reviving” an ancient weapon of the legendary Empire of Leviathan (the empire of the Sea Dragons), apparently, the sunken ruins had a sort of “factory” or, more appropriately, “hatchery and surgical facility”, where these things were born, grown and prepared to turned into living weapons…

-That… sounds cool… and kind of cruel…- had commented the young princess on the topic. She knew, as everyone else, that part of the technology of the civilized world was literally alive, as in it was made of living non-sentient beings which apparently were design by someone to fill particular purposes… that doesn’t mean that there wasn’t a lot of people who cringe or were outright disgusted by these bio-tech for obvious reasons, but since it was useful, very few people complained… most of said bio-tech came from the Sea Dragons (like Nyepu) and the Myquita (the race of sentient fungus), so they were the most used to these technologies.

Flare now understood the secrecy… they were bringing back ancient technology, which in on itself was pretty awesome, but it was bio-tech which was considered to be… a little unpredictable… so people usually gets very nervous with ease around “new bio-tech advancements” and, more often than not, tend to shut down any operation at the first sign of weirdness… similar stuff happened with magical research since the weirdness usually was way more difficult to control, so she understood the whole situation here. She’d seen some weird stuff in her school days… and had met some people that is no longer around the living for causing it…

When they finally got to the outpost, they were greeted by felixin guards who bio-scanned them again and, after Nyepu told them that Flare was with them, were allowed to enter into the facility. She could see and feel a good deal of felixin and human mages patrolling the perimeter of the outpost, which was composed of various prefab buildings of metal, plastic and the strange organic tissue with imbibed crystals that some buildings were made of. They went to a parking lot and then, silently, were guided by Giorgio to one of the buildings… people was eyeing her with curiosity and she noticed a lot of dragons in the place, most of them seem to be scientific personal, wearing white bio-suits similar in appearance to the one Nyepu had worn when they met.

-Well, here we are… - said the homunculus at the entrance of the well-lit place - so, what will you do? As you know, all the rooms are occupied, so where is your little friend going to stay- asks innocently the goat guy – I can lend her my room and we can stay together this night- said him, getting very red again while traying to keep a straight face, much to the amusement of Flare and Nyepu… “Wow… this guy is so transparent”, thinks the avian girl, giggling lightly in spite of herself.

-I don’t think so…- answers the dragon dryly- actually, I think she can sleep with me… she doesn’t needs too much space… of course, if there is no problem for you- he adds the last part while looking at her, giving her a sly smile. The girl smiles back and gives a sidelong look to the goat guy who was looking at her intently as if saying, “say no!”. She made then a show of thinking it for a while and then said:

-I agree, I prefer to share Nyepu’s space; after all, I wouldn’t even dream on imposing on you, Mr. Giorgio- says her with a pleasant smile to the disappointed homunculus. The guy tried to stammer something, but the dragon beat him:

-Well, that settles it then, we are going there so I can show her where to sleep and to get some biomass for my bio-suit… go tell the admin that I’m back so we can get done with businesses for today- said him and began to move towards an elevator that was at the right of the entrance to deny any chance of argumentation. Slumping in defeat, Giorgio sighed and left saying that he was going to do that.

Once on the lever, Flare and Nyepu share a laugh at the expense of the very obviously gay homunculus.

-Wow… I wasn’t expecting him to be like that… does that guy harasses you all the time like that? - asked Flare after having been laughing for a while.

-Today he’d been a lot more blatant than usual… but yeah… one day, he started to act different towards me for reasons I can’t even begin to fathom… it took me a while to understand what was going on…- said him, getting a little more serious- I told him, repeatedly, that I’m not gay and I’m not interested in him… but that hadn’t stopped him…- now he was looking a little annoyed- It had been very stressing, really, but since the guy is still one of the best technobiologists I’ve ever met, I had learnt to just let it slide and focus on working…- he shrugged while saying that.

-Wow, that must suck- said her when they left the elevator and were now flying over a corridor with many doors with very organic-looking panels at the sides. – And, well, I can relate… my mom had been very insistent on me having boyfriends… like, very, very, insistent… and some of my pretenders had been horribly stubborn themselves, prii… and it just got worse when some girls began to try to court me as well after noticing how I kept rejecting the guys… it was maddening!- said her, getting exasperated just by remembering how many times her pretenders had interrupted her training sessions and had basically hunted her all the time… they would even fight each other for the “right” to be with her… although, she had to admit that when that wasn’t utterly embarrassing, it was kind of funny to watch…

-And I was whining about my problem with him… your case must had been a living hell! - said the dragon sympathetically, touching the panel of a door with the number 307 over it. The door slide open and they entered into a small room (he had to slither to do so since his antigravity generators were too big to enter flying) with a big tank full of water, a desk, a chair and a closet. There was a smaller cylindrical tank at one corner with a strange fluid in it that Flare guessed was the “biomass” the dragon had mentioned before. She noticed how damp was the air inside the place instantly, wish made sense since he is a dragon after all; she was sure it wouldn’t a problem…

-It was indeed! Pri! - said her, resting on the desk, there were many books piled there, as well as a lamp and a personal computer (the computer was actually a very thin sheet that would generate a holographic keyboard and a “touchscreen”). - I had to threat a lot of them with arrest if they didn’t stop!… at least, that diminished the number of nuisances to a more bearable level- said her, exhausted by just remembering all her efforts to try and get away from her pursuers…  

-No shit? - asked him with disbelief, while removing the cap of the biomass tank.

-No shit- answered her, solemnly- my mom wasn’t very happy with my solution… and the girls gave me the silent treatment after that- said her, then added smiling- my next pretenders had all told me first how I couldn’t arrest them because they had diplomatic immunity- The dragon laugh at that (it was a beautiful laugh) and she laugh with him with her chiming voice while he submerged his clawed hand inside the strange fluid. Flare saw with awe how the beige-colored biomass began to cover his arm and moved to cover his exposed torso before coalescing into the familiar blue body armor she’d seen on him when they met today… “This had been a very crazy day…” she thought, remembering all the things she’d done today while looking how his armor changed in color from blue to white.

He then took a part of the biomass and, as it were plasticine, molded it to look take the shape of a small pillow… although, for Flare, it was a big pillow…

-Here- he told her, putting the pillow on the desk next to her, she immediately sat there… “This… this so comfy!!”, thought her, snuggling into the pillow - sorry for the simplicity, princess, but is what I have… I can make you something to cover yourself with if you wish, though- offered him, sounding as polite as possible. She accepted the offering and he went back to the biomass tank and created a small sheet, slightly bigger than a handkerchief. - Well, now I have a certain bigwig to face…- said him.

-Would you need my help? - asked her, flying beside him. He stopped at the door for the moment, pondering her question. Then he shrugged and told her to tag along, then…

 -…as you heard, the royal couple is quite excited with their upcoming wedding and the current harem of princes are more than eager to have their next brother in love joining them soon…- was saying a rather beautiful female felixin reporter in the holographic screen generated by a personal computer. Looking at said screen with utter disbelief are four individuals:

-I can’t… This is…- sputtered Giorgio, now wearing a protective white suit.

-Well…while this confirms nothing… it certainly makes things… interesting…- says a dark green dragon wearing a red bio-suit, recovering his collected demeanor from before. That guy was the administrator of the whole operation, Nyepu and Giorgio’s boss.

-Damn it, girl… she is…- began to say Nyepu, still gawking at the male-surrounded estirge appearing in the holo-screen.

-She… she is identical to me…- finished Flare, her beak hanging open as her little talker gem broadcasted her words with some little shines in a very low volume.

Flare and Nyepu went together to the Administrators office, the dragon had told her to stay outside until he ask her to come in, though; so, when they got to their destination, the little girl had waited in a small reception at the entrance of the building while Nyepu entered to be verbally beaten by his superior for his incompetence, disregard for the rules and general lack of professionalism… Giorgio had been there, watching impassively how the white dragon face the abuse with stoicism worth of a military man. When he was given a chance to speak, he offered the required apologizes and suggested a solution for their current predicament that wouldn’t involve further investment of the directorate… He then mentioned the situation of Flare: a stranded princess in an unknown land that had somehow appeared here with no memory of how while a mysterious alter ego of her was impersonating her for unknown reasons… the girl was already indebted with him, but helping her could provide a lot more benefits in the long run… Of course, the admin and the other researcher in the room were very skeptical of the incredible contrive convenience of all of this, so he was asked to prove his words… that’s when he asked the young avian princess to come in and, to prove she was been impersonating, they turned on the admin’s personal computer and look out for news about her… it didn’t take long and the result was the current scene: the four individuals gawking at the incredible similitude between the two birds.

Effectively, the estirge being now interviewed by the felixin reporter in the news feed was ridiculously similar to Flare… although, this other Flare had certain notorious differences with the one at the dragon’s side: she wasn’t wearing a magical armor (she was naked, except for a gorgeous necklace with many gems of different colors imbibed in it); had some sort aura of elegance that the original one lacked; and was surrounded by four males of different races: a estirge with a generic moustache, a young although bearded human, a fairy with really long eyebrows, and, the one that was apparently going to get married with her, a lapin giant… looking at these guys, Nyepu could only focus on one question: “Didn’t Flare told me that she had no harem?”.

Now, while that wouldn’t come as a really important thing to consider most of the time, for a supposedly harem-less avian, the group in the holo-screen seems a little too big… “so, there are three possibilities: this bird had been lying about having no boyfriends (or husbands, as seems to be the case), she has a severe case of amnesia, or the imposter had been very busy…” thought the draconian researcher… if there was something he was sure was that she was not lying; so it just left the possibility of amnesia and the actions of the impostor… the amnesia theory had only one problem: her own goals. If the girl were to be believed, then she just woke up today and, as such, there is just not enough time to change her life goals from having a happy family to becoming a heroine… unless there’s some mind control involved, but then, it could have been easier to the probable mastermind to just directly control Flare instead of having a clone going through the painful job of convincing every person who knew Flare that she was the real deal… That only left the possibility of this harem of males being the result of the impostor’s work… but that theory had another big problem: how long had that taken? Even with the mentioned pressure of Flare’s mother, the impostor still had to act as the real deal… and real deal, supposedly, was adamant to get married… not to mention that royal engagements usually are very carefully planned, all of that requires time… a lot of time…

Nyepu was unable to get to a conclusion… he had thought in all the possibilities in a matter of minutes but he simply had not enough information to put all the pieces of the hypothetical puzzle together, and by the look on Flare’s face, she was having as much of a hard time as him in trying to understand what was going on… “This is a mess… but… I can probably start with something…”, he thought before taking a decision and finally starting to speak, catching everyone else off guard:

-As you said, admin, this doesn’t prove much… but now I have a theory…- he began and, giving the still shocked Flare a look, he’ll need her support for this and, by the understanding in her eyes and by how she finally closed her beak, he could tell she was going to support whatever bullshit he’d tell to his boss.

He explained to them the amnesia theory, suggesting that Flare did knew all the members of her harem, even the future one, but whatever freak event had left her lost and allowed the entrance of the impostor, had taken away a lot of her memories and, as such, she was regressed to her days as a lone princess… explaining why her first and only impulse was to call her mother. Flare showed very real confusion at this, but quickly played along and said that she was beginning to remember things, starting by identifying the estirge husband as prince Heron and the first one she married… at this, and just to be an asshole, Giorgio searched in his own cellphone for the information, and ended up confirming that prince Heron was indeed her first husband… and that they got married 10 months ago…

At this information, Nyepu and Flare had been very close to drop the act, the dragon managed to fake a fit of cough, which he blamed on having his chest exposed for a long time, to keep himself from showing too much surprise… Flare, on the other hand, while unable to keep herself from gawking in shock, managed to make it look like said shock was for having forgotten so much time of her life… although, there was a worry in her eyes that the dragon interpreted as the very real concern of that been the actual case…

The admin stated the very clear disadvantage Flare would be in if she really had lost so much of her memories… but the estirge claimed that she was beginning to remember things, although, they were still a little fuzzy, and it wouldn’t take her too long to fully recover them all, especially if she were to find herself surrounded by the familiarity of her own city and people… since the green dragon hadn’t seem very convinced, Flare told him that there was a very easy way to prove she was who she was: by going to the entrance of their research complex and use one of the bio-scanners to confirm her identity. Doing this proved to be the right course of action, because the bio-scanner showed that she indeed was ‘Flare Gavina Aralfrava Timet DeFleur Hedrian Gibranda’… there were more names and surnames there, but that, and the mention of her being the third heiress to the Sky Kingdom’s throne, had been more than enough to prove that she was the real deal…

Some discussion later, the admin finally agreed to help them by providing them with tickets to the Sky Kingdom’s capital city, City 36; some money to spend in food and lodging, and, of course, permission for Nyepu to go with her and take as much time as it was necessary. Giorgio was a little sore about not being allowed to go with them. The admin would be getting the components to rebuilt Nyepu’s device in the meantime and was expecting to start other “businesses” with the Sky Kingdom once this mess was all over.

After that, the meeting was ended and everyone went to rest…

 -Nyepu…- had said Flare in the darkness of their shared room, snuggled on the comfy pillow and covered by the sheet her friend had done for her. The dragon in question was submerged in the biggest water tank in the room but was capable of hearing her very well, as him taking his head out of the water demonstrated.

-What is it? - he asked, the lack of sleepiness in his voice suggested that he couldn’t slept.

-Do you… really think that I’m amnesiac? - asked her, looking at him in the darkness, her eyes adjusted to it; the shinning of her talking gem indicating where she was.

-I’m not sure… but if you aren’t, then you’ve been away from home for almost a year…- said him. “That is true…” she thought… The last thing she remembered doing was her going to deliver a message to prince Heron’s city before all of this… well… that and…

-Nyepu…- called her again.

-What? -

-There is… one thing I hadn’t told you…- she said carefully, she could felt the reptilian eyes of the researcher on her after she said those words, but his silence prompted her to go on- before I woke up… I was… in a dark place… hearing someone saying very… creepy things to me…- she was greeted with more silence, so she kept talking- I didn’t mentioned it before because I was not sure how real that was… but now… what I’ve been there for a whole year and can’t remember it for some reason? Because… because I remember how incredibly happy I was by flying… as if I hadn’t done that in a long time…- if that was true, then what had happened her there? Why was she there? And who was talking to her? She could remember nothing except for the last words she heard before waking up… and for some reason, just remembering make her uneasy…

-I don’t know- said Nyepu, suddenly, startling her- let’s just focus on you getting back your life… you’ll probably find more answers by confronting the impostor- he gave her a small reassuring smile before adding- everything will be alright-

-Thanks… I’ve only met you for less than a day but I already think of you as a good friend- says her. He laughs a little at this.

-This has been the craziest day I’ve had… and you calling me a good friend just puts the cherry on top…- he says bitterly.

-What do you mean?-

-Nothing… let’s get some sleep, tomorrow is going to be a long day…- said him before sinking again inside his water tank. She eyed him for a while, debating with herself if she should keep the conversation he obviously wanted to end when she yawned and decided that sleeping would be wiser now… she’d have time for asking him more tomorrow….

And so, smiling to herself for having a friend accompanying her in this adventure, she finally slept.