#leave the sun can be quite a harsh shock after so long underground

[dontmixpaintinyourcoffee]

Oh my god Dandies in Danger just hit me in the heart again- and no I'm not gonna stop posting about it because the audience is so small and I want to take a megaphone and just scream out to the entire world about how good this is-

There's a scene in Episode 14 of Arc 4 that I just finished that genuinely made me emotional in a very personal way. It's a scene between Liam and Adrian, who have been friends for a long time, where Liam apologizes to Adrian for taking him on a 5 hour shopping spree. Now, Liam is a very kindhearted, enthusiastic, social butterfly type, who was very excited to go get some nice clothes and even more excited to hang out with Adrian. Adrian is a very moody poet who (I don't know if this is intended, but still) comes off as probably being autistic. He's very blunt, he's hyper-aware of how other people are perceiving him and his actions, he tends to directly describe his feelings when he pushes himself to be vulnerable with his friends, he's prone to sensory overwhelm, and ect. Some of these traits probably overlap with his clear depression and anxiety as well. He likes Liam a lot, he's definitely his best friend, and he chooses to go shopping because he wants to go hang out with Liam. But the streets are very busy and loud and there are a lot of people, and by the end of the outing he's utterly exhausted. Unfortunately they end up getting swept into an adventure the same day, which involves so much socializing and dancing and investigating and it's a lot.

In the middle of this adventure, Liam and Adrian find some time alone, and Liam stops to check in on him. And he says that he's sorry for not considering Adrian's feelings during the shopping trip. He got caught up in the excitement of it and forgot that this is very overwhelming for Adrian, and he wanted to make sure Adrian knew that it wasn't on purpose and that he didn't want it to happen again. And Adrian says

"It's fine. I know most people can do this every day of the week. Well- maybe not the- the adventure thing- but-"

"I understand. But perhaps next time, if you do want to go with me again on a shopping trip, we spread it out a bit."

And like. Y'all. I damn near teared up. I'm a person with an incredibly low social bandwidth. I have very few friends that I keep very close. And this reminded me so much of how of my own friends have reacted to me when I expressed my own struggles. Or more accurately in some cases, when they noticed the struggles I was failing to express. Especially when I was worried that they would be offended or put off by those things. Things like a friend guiding me by the hand in a crowd because I was so overwhelmed by it all that I was literally shaking and could barely move. Or a friend readily accepting my rejection of a hug and instead thinking up a silly handshake we could do with our jacket sleeves on the spot so that I would feel included without being uncomfortable. And just- jesus christ. It's one of the single nicest feelings I've ever had, and it was deeply cathartic to see that kind of relationship in this show. These characters have become very important to me in such a short amount of time, and I really think that's a testament to the ability of their players. So, thank you Dandies Team. You made me feel very seen :)

[lillaxtrigger]

Young Hope: Chapter 37

The shining sun beats down its heat rays upon the vast, greenless landscape of Utah; the only shadows cast along the dry grounds be from the towering rocky formations upsetting the wasteland horizons. Miles underneath all this dry ground however be a network of caverns that stretch out deeper down into the earth, signs of green spreading out through the caverns the deeper down they go until growing to cover the rocks in the massively sized flora. Suddenly from an entire wall of the overgrown plants, a blade of jet black pierce right through and slice the vines straight off their stems; all the severed leaves and petals fluttering down to the ground and clearing the path for the black horned demon himself, Alex. Following the shape shifting demon through the flora dressed caves be his purple haired mentor and his orange haired sister; both of them trailing behind the boy as he continues to slice through the vines and plants in their path. “Roy, do you honestly think its still a good idea to come along down here; I mean you still haven’t fully healed yet?” the orange girl questions her purple hooded brother. Traveling along the back of the pack, the merc can’t help but scratch the spot where is missing arm once was while he answers his sisters worry with: “Mal, relax. The doc said herself how bout 94% of my bod’s good to go, practically ready to take on whatever wants me to bend over and take it from behind. A bit of minor pains ain’t gonna stop me from thrusting myself straight into the action.” “You’d like that, wouldn’t you. All I’m saying is that it wouldn’t hurt ya to spend about another week or two in bed.” “Tell ya what. Ya hire a nurse with some sweet ass cake to come in and give a full body on body exam and I won’t be a bitch. Til then, I ain’t layin in that bed another day. There’s only so much pornography can satisfy before it stops being pleasurable and starts making ya feel sad, like the kind of sad that makes ya question the fuck your even doing with your life. And you and I both know that I don’t need that being crammed in my overflowing vault of mental problems right now.”

“Hmph. Like your the only one with ongoing problems. One that would be nice of you to answer is why you decided to drag me along in this horrible ordeal of a spelunking expedition; having to soil my ability gardening through this overgrown cavern just so clear a path. It’s patronizing.” the demon leading the way chimes in with. “What it is is that I’ve been letting you metaphorically sit on your demonic ass for way too long now. We need to get back on track with our regimen so your don’t wind up turning into a pompous chode hole, that’s how ya ass gets flat. You wanna be out walkin around people hiding that plank ass of yours, or you wanna bake some delicious thick cake for whoever ya fancy given a slice too?” “For the love of sweet satan, just shut the hell up!” the flustered demon demands, his cheeks blushing bright red. “Yeah, please stop.” the purple angel’s sister begs for him.

“Aight, fine, fine. I get it, the sexual innuendo quota’s full here. Let’s just change the subject.” “Yes, lets.” “So, what’s with those numbers that you found in the middle of the mountain with yer threesome pals.” “I-” A small sigh escapes from her lungs as she decides to simply skip past her brothers wording and starts to dig into the contents of her backpack; soon pulling out the very same withered piece of wood that takes the shape of a severed hand. “We went and found this next to all those carved in numbers. Ryan claimed that they were a bunch of coordinates that pinpointed somewhere deep underneath the soil of the Utah wastelands. It’s still shocking to find something other than hallucinogenic liquid filled cacti growing down under the scorching rocks.” “You’d be hella shocked what sort of stuff you could find under the earth if ya dig deep enough. I recall the time I took a job digging out for an underground trading ring and wound up finding a bunch of people going around and trading all sorts of human, animal, and miscellaneous organs and body parts. Like it seriously didn’t matter where the hell it came from; long as you had a working organ from anything, you could make a marginaly medium profit from your harvesting venture. I specifically remember this one guy cashing in like 450,000 dollars for trading in a whale eye; a whole giant functioning whale eye. I seriously didn’t expect something so fucking huge to have an eye the size of a baseball.” “That is-...that is some serious grody stuff. What sort of demented and horribly grotesque mind would even think about running a bracket like that.” “Never really went and questioned who was running that joint, though that might’ve been for the best. The organ black market is vast Mal. Long as people need working organs to live, somebody’s gonna be in the market to trade for one.”

As the demon cuts straight through another bramble of plants that stand in the trio’s way, Alex’s foot is caught on a wooden root that sprawls across the ground and lets out a yelp as he starts to trip over; both Mally and Roy witnessing the demon straight through the ground. “Holy shit! Alex!” the orange skater exclaims while rushing over to where she had seen the demon fall, discovering a steep dark pit before them. “Alex!” she shouts down, gazing into the dark void of the cavernous pit. Amidst her panicking worry that she witnesses their demonic third simply hover right back out from the depths of the pit; the skater’s worry diminishing as she proclaims that: “Oh yeah, you can fly. It’s been a while since I’ve seen ya, hasn’t it.” “Hmph! Did you really believe that my demise would come from simply falling into a lowly pit? I thought you would have known better.” Alex scoffs. “Geez, sorry for being so concerned.” the orange skater coldly retorts, her expression beginning to sour. “Kinda looked like you didn’t exactly remember for a sec there either, mate. Seriously just yelping there like a little jackal getting their foot caught in a bear trap.” the merc jests to the demon. “Gee, I’m quite blessed to have so many others with my best interests in mind.”

Their eyes trail over to all the roots that pierce through the caverns hard rock, following them all straight into the very hole that the demon had fell down into; all the wooden roots growing thicker as they slither down into the holes depths. “I’m definitely feeling alotta stuff crawlin down there, it ain’t just these plants either. I’m talking strange things here.” the merc mentions. “What else could be crawling down this deep in the earth? Do you think that it could be hell down there?” his orange sister wonders aloud. “Hardly. We’d be drowning in our own sweat if it was.” the black horned demon corrects. “Whelp. Guess there’s one way to tell what’s down here.” Speaking this does Mally leaps right down into the depths of the mysterious hole, with her purple brother following her straight down into the void after; Alex simply hovering right over the hole and stating out: “As if you’d see me recklessly plunging down into some random pit.” Countering the demon’s very statement, Roy reaches right out from the depths of the void and grasps his pupils leg; Alex letting out a terrible shriek as he’s forcibly pulled down into the abyss.

Amidst their delve straight into the unknown depths of the pit, the three suddenly feel themselves splash down into a strong water current; the trio fumbling through the dark rapids as they’re swept deeper into the cavern river. While fighting against the forceful water flow, Mally reaches into her backpack and feels around for her trusty grapple-yo; her eyes adjusting to the darkness as her and the others that fumble behind her. Finally does she pull out her gadget right out from her pack, immediately tossing the yoyo straight to her brother; the gadgets string wrapping right around the merc’s leg. “Roy, get Alex!” she calls out to her sibling. Though Alex rolls right out along the merc’s left, Roy nonetheless attempt to catch his pupil before he could fumble further down the rapids; his right arm failing to reach the demon in time before Alex tumbles further down the current. “He coming your way, Mal!” he alerts to his sister. When seeing him tumble straight her way, the orange skater reaches out for demon and tightly grasps one of his black horns; Alex letting out a little yelp as the unexpected touch makes him puffs into smoke to switch from a boy to a girl. Despite the rushing rapids thrashing them all about, Mally maintains her hold upon her two companions as they all steer through the twisted and dividing river; the skater refusing to let go of either of them no matter how hard they slam against the rocky tunnels. But through the harsh of it all, the trio are soon greeted by a growing light coming from the end of the tunnel; the three of them closing their eyes tight as they’re forced straight through the end of the river rapids.

After a moment or two, the skater feels next to nothing underneath her feet; Mally slowly opens her peepers back up and lets her eyes adjust to the bright light that shines before her. As her eyes get used to this newfound light, the orange girl first beholds the very tunnel that her and the others had rode in through; the waters falling straight down and crashing into a lake below. Aiming her gaze straight up does she discover her gadgets string still tied to her brother’s leg, keeping her from plummeting out of the air. “Roy, you know where we ended up.” she asks him. “Just look for yourself.”

Gazing ahead like her brother suggests, Mally’s very pupils widen when discovering the incredible site that sprawls out before them all; the skater left to behold a vast, luscious jungle that sprawls out form what seemed like hundreds of miles on end; the horizon before them lush green mountains and peeks aplenty. Her site peers down to the plains that loom down below; finding what were numerous giant dinosaurs of many shapes and sizes all roaming through the valleys and lumbering across the thick jungle forests. One of the reaches its neck out up far above the treetops and lets out a thunderous roar that echoes through the entire vista; dozens of other dino’s and hovering birds joining alongside the outcry and creating a booming sonata of the jungle. “Whoa...But where is the light...” The orange skater peers right up above towards the very roof of these wondrous caves and discovers them covered in a blanket of strange crystals, all of them softly mimicking a glow that seemed like the sun itself; a light intense enough to avert her vision before it could harm her eyes. “All of this was underneath the dry lands of Utah the whole time. Incredible.”

Mally’s enchantment is then broken when hearing a voice beneath her grab her attention with: “Excuse me!” Glancing down to the demon she holds in her grasp, she hears Alex further request that: “Might you be so kind as to let go of my horn!?” “Oh right, sorry.” the skater utters as she complies to the demon’s demand; releasing Alex’s horn from her grasp and letting the demon hover through the air on her own. Aiming her site back up to her bro, Mally takes a turn to request that: “Yo Roy, mind kicking me up?” Upon his sisters request does the merc jerk his leg back and flings the skater right up in the air; Mally flipping through the air as she descends back down and lands right atop her flying brothers back. “So now that we got all the excess eye candy outta the way, what do ya think were supposed to be lookin for down here?” the purple merc asks her. “Hmmm...Good question. Guess what were hear to find out is what that hand we found in the mountain might’ve been trying to tell us.” “So just to be clear on this, do you even have a plan set on what were doing here?” Alex questions as she hovers over to their side. “Uh...Not really. I’ve kinda been following bread crumbs this entire time.” “Well, that certainly reassuring.” the demon sarcastically claims. “Guess that’s why they call it an adventure; to broaden our comfort zones and plunge straight into the unknown. I mean if people weren’t forced straight into the wondrous horizons, then they wouldn’t have gotten used to living alongside people like you.” the merc explains to his pupil; something that Alex seems to take visible offense to. “Wait, I didn’t mean...” Before the purple angel could apologize for his miswording, the demon looks away from him; Roy letting out a little groan upon his blundering statement.

As both the angel and demon start to float down onto the rough jungle landscape, Mally hops right off her brothers back and onto her own two feet; all the while Alex keeping her back turned away from her purple mentor. “Shit. Did I really sound that racist? Or demonist, I think? I just meant how anyone these days is willing to let others in their social circles.” the merc whispers to his sister. “That might just be the problem though. The few times I actually catch Alex at school, she’s usually all by her lonesome; sometimes snooping around to stalk Kingsley from class to class. I mean sure, there’s Cayenne jumping in to keep her outta trouble. But beyond that, most people that are around just tend to avoid her.” “Damn, didn’t realize how off I was with that whole xenophobic ball busting speech.” “I’m not sure if that really the crux of the problem.”

Peering back to the girl in question, the two look over just in time to witness a small lizard start to crawl out to Alex; the demon turning into a boy as he reeling back exclaiming: “Ugh! Vile thing!” Flailing his foot out to the small and harmless reptile, Alex scares the tiny lizard back from whence it came; gazing to the retreating reptile with a wicked grin as he taunts with: “Yes, run; you fowl creature! Return from the dung filled hole from where you spawned!” A short grunt manages to slip out from his mouth before the purple merc laments on how: “I thought this whole self superiority bullshit would’ve been buffed outta him by now.” “How you even brought up the subject of humility at all to him?” Mally then question. “Where exactly am I supposed to start with a mess that big?” “Come on, Roy. We both know you were an even bigger mess at 3 quarters of his age and you manage to get better. You need to make some leeway through to him, and what better time than any.” his orange sibling proclaims before shoving the merc right over to the demon; Roy nearly falling over from the unexpected push.

When realizing his purple mentor approaching, the demon simply gives Roy the cold shoulder as he simply peers away; Alex hearing the angel let out a little sigh before attempting to state: “Alex, listen. I think I need to clear up a couple things on what I said a few minutes ago. See, when I said that, what I meant was-” Right before Roy could even speak even another word on the matter however, all three of them hear a thunderous roar ring out through the whole jungle; one loud enough to cause the tree’s surrounding them to tremble like tuning forks. Emerging out from the treeline be the head of a monstrously sized Tyrannosaurs rex, its gigantic sharp toothed maw drooling as its cold beady eyes stars down upon the three; none of them even slightest bit fazed as they all look back to the giant. “Eh, gimme a sec here.” the merc request as he turns over to face the dinosaur. The towering T-rex then thrusts its gaping maw straight out to the approaching merc, ready to chomp down upon his flesh with just a single bite. Just before the ferocious beast could chomp down upon the purple angel, Roy throws his only fist straight out to the dino’s head and punching the dinosaur hard enough to send the thrusting back out through the jungle depths from where it had emerged; its careening body knocking down dozens of tree’s before skidding to a stop in the dirt. Arising from the soil, the once mighty T-rex gazes back over to the very angel that had sent it flying; the dinosaur racing away in a trembling fright and retreating deeper into the jungle.

When Mally peers over to her brother’s side, she notices him having a little bit of trouble moving his arm back into place; small grunts quietly escaping from between his teeth as he slowly jerks his only arm back down. “Roy, you sure you’re as aight as you say?” “Come on Mal, you know it ain’t nothing I’m used to.” Turning back to both his orange haired sister and pupil, the purple angel continues with: “So, whatdya think that hand ya found back in the mountain might’ve been trying to tell us pointing out a place like this?” “I’m...I’m not really that sure. That ice golem that guided us into the center of the mountain was hella bummed about whatever was on that icy pedestal going missing. These coordinates that hand left behind might’ve been a warning. Least that’s how I’m reading it.” “You think that the sites you had on this Mall guy Tore’s paling around with might be starting to line up?” her brother asks. “To be honest, I’m hoping they’re not.” Amidst their conversation, Alex cuts in between the siblings and claims how: “Hmph! If your blue brother was gullible enough to hastily set out with some rando he barely knows, then I say that fool might as well deserve whatever trouble he ends up in.” “Thanks Alex for your completely unnecessary and impractical input.” his purple mentor mentions. “It’s apparently all I’m here for.” Letting out a frustrated groan, Mally starts to trek out through the forest as she suggests that: “Let’s just get a move on. There has to be something here that this hand might’ve been trying to warn us about.” While the two boys begin to follow the orange skater through the thick of the prehistoric jungle, a figure peeks out from the tree’s behind them; their sky blue sclera squinting as they stare out to the trio as they trot along.

Not long after starting their trek through this prehistoric window through time, the three come to discover a deep, vast valley of thick, ivy covered tree’s that tower high up above; all the numerous branches that spread out from their bark stretching out to twice the size of jumbo highway truck beds. “Damn, can’t even see those crystals under these thick ass trees. You needin another flight, Mal; cause I don’t think Alex would say no if you rode him.” “Excuse me? As if I’d let anyone taint by backside so casually.” the demon object. “Doubt you’d be bitchin right now if it was Kingsley.” “You two are kidding, right? You really think I’m gonna pass up a chance like this? Check this out.” Upon her very words, Mally lunges straight out to the collection of ivy covered tree’s and lands right on one of their many branches; sliding right along the length of ivy until jumping out to the next branch. “That’s the spirit, Mal.” her purple brother cheers her with; both he and his pupil gliding through the jungle air to follow after.

Along her little skate through the prehistoric thick jungle skyline, Mally skillfully leaps right off from branch to slippery branch as if she was grinding from rail to rail; dozens of exotic birds fluttering out from the tree’s as she and the boys speed through the forest. Up ahead does she find barely any branches along the path to jump to, the skater eyes peering up to discover a couple of other limbs hanging above; Mally taking out her hockey stick upon seeing the opportunity before her. Leaping further up to one of these branches, the orange hooks the head of her weapon right along its bark; the momentum of her jump causing her to flip along the limb until she launches herself upwards to the treeline above. Once coming to the arch of her ascent, the orange lass takes out her trusty grapple yo and tosses it right out towards the branches ahead; the gadgets string enveloping one of the branches and letting her swing right up to another stretch of ivy.

After landing right along the branch does a blur streak right past the girl, nearly hitting the skater right along her side. “Whoa, what was-” Gazing out to the site up ahead, Mally finds an entire flock of winged reptiles gliding right towards them; their cold eyes glaring to the trio as their jaws ready to bite upon their skin. Another lizard breaks off from the flock and lunges ahead to the skating young girl; loud hiss escaping from its maw as he dives right down to its potential prey. Just as the carnivorous reptile was ready to sink its teeth into her, Mally swings her hockey stick straight into its open mouth and sends it careening straight back its flock; the lizard crashing straight into a number of its brothers and sending them down to the jungle floor with it. When a chunk of their flock is struck down, the entire swarm charges out to the young lady all at once; Mally tossing her grapple-yo out to the crowd and wrapping one of them in its string. Having one of the lizards in her grasp, the orange skater leaps right off the branch and spins right in the air; twirling the trapped reptile around and swinging it right back to its very flock. The entire swarm splitting off in different directions to evade another of their swung back members.

Despite the flock of deadly lizards having been broken apart, a couple of them persist and glide right out to the girl just as she starts to land upon another ivy covered branch; both of their mouths salivating as they attempt to strike from above and below. Moments before either of them could take a bite right out of the airborne skater, a pair of streaks swoop right in and knock the right out of the air; Roy kicking the one above while Alex slices the other clean in half. Finally landing upon the jungle branch below, Mally turns out to her two partners as they start to hang back and gives the duo two thumbs up with a thankful smile.

“Rather vapid of her to thank us for fixing her screw up. I would have at least made sure the whole flock was killed so that none of them could come back.” the demon claims. “You weren’t exactly eager to jump in against them all with her. Doubt there would be any of them left.” “Please, why would I even waste my breath on such inferior reptiles unless absolutely necessary?” “Because your part of this team, dick wit.” “Ha! Team. I seem to recall you practically kidnapping me against my will, all the while deceiving my foolish mother in claiming it all to be nothing more than a simple train trip.” “Hey! I didn’t spurt out a single white lie to your sexy milf momma. I told her that life ain’t gonna wait a single sec while you prep for whatever kind of curveballs its got planned to throw at ya pair of sweet cheeks. Gotta be ready to bat the ball back right into its stupid fucking face.” “Oh, believe me. I am more than prepared to face whatever challenge this existence has to stop me.” Right on queue of stating this does the demon accidentally smacks straight into a jungle branch, his purple mentor slowing down to witness Alex plummet straight down to what seemed like the waiting maw of a giant plant. “Agh. Mal, might need an assist here.” he calls out to his orange sister. Hearing her purple brothers call out, Mally takes a look back in time to witness the giant weed devour the little devil with just a single gulp; the skater letting out a little yipe before she takes out her grapple-yo and tossing it back out towards the site.

While racing right out to the towering plant that had consumed his pupil, Roy aims the palm of his hand out to the weed and fires out a beam of black and purple straight to the neck of the carnivorous flora; the ray cutting straight through the stem like clean butter and decapitating the plant in one swoop. The head of the monstrous plant having been severed, the purple merc gazes down to its giant bulb along the bottom and discovers something kicking underneath. “Alex, just cut right through!” he shouts to the demon trapped within. Upon these very words does a blade of jet black pierce straight out from within the bulb and slices straight through the flesh of the plant; a bout of steam wafting out as the black horned demon attempts to crawl his way out from the flora’s very stomach. Right as he begins to fully pry himself out from the depths of the plant, an entire mess of tendrils wrap around parts of his body and start to drag Alex straight back within the stomach; the slashed piece of the bulb regenerating as the demon is pulled right in. “Dammit!” His eyes are drawn above the bulb when the cut stem attached starts to furiously wriggle and bulge; the neck erupting in a splatter of gooey chlorophyll as a half a dozen more voracious plant head burst out, growling out a vicious sonata as she peer out to the angel hovering over them. “Gotta be kidding with this kind of Cerberus bullshit.” he curses. “Hydra.” his sister corrects as she swings right into the scene.

The orange skater swings over to take a crack at the deadly weed herself; leaping into the air and tossing her trusty gadget straight out to the bouquet of carnivorous green, her yoyo’s steel string wrapping around the plants numerous necks to bundle them all together. Mally streaks right past the tied tethered green and slams straight down onto the ground; all of the heads struggling and squirming as the orange skater tugs them all aside, demanding that her purple brother: “Get’em outta there!” From his sisters request does Roy delve straight down towards the stomach of the carnivorous plant, ready to thrust his fist through its flesh. Before the merc could even touch a single leaf of the restrained bouquet, a thick tree suddenly bursts out from the ground right underneath him and practically uppercuts the angel up to the treetops; Roy screaming out as he’s launched out beyond the leaves above. “Roy!” Among witnessing her brother being shot right out of the scene, the string wrapped around the bouquets numerous necks start to unravel; Mally ultimately losing her grip as the deadly green shakes itself free and is flung straight out towards the trunk of one of the jungle trees. Right after feeling the jungle tree’s harsh bark slam right against her back, Mally peers up to witness all of the heads that she had once kept down now lunging their maws right out to her; the orange skater able to do little but hold her hockey stick up to black the oncoming heads.

Right as all of the deadly heads tempt to take their bites out of the young girl, Mally sees each one of them suddenly come to a halt just a few feet from her; drips of their saliva drooling along the grounds right next to the young lass. Whaaa… As she questions why every one of them stops just short of gnawing her to bits, the skater watches as all of them forced to retreat back to the very bulb that keeps them together; even the heads being pulled right back from wench they had sprouted. Once all the heads were sucked back in, the bulb itself starts to shrink down while being uprooted from the earth; Mally glancing underneath the shrinking weed to find something of wood standing right behind it. As the entire plant is further shrunk down, she soon discovers not another strangely shaped tree, but a figure made from wood roots and leaves that grasps the weeds bulb and sucks every part of the plant into its body; their bright blue sclera upsetting the aged wood that makes up the figures very features with some of the deadly plants head poking out from its roots. The bulb that had trapped the demon is finally dispersed, exposing a female Alex to the open jungle air once more; her face twisting in utter disgust as she finds herself covered in juices and chlorophyll. “Ah, wretched!” Once having absorbed the rest of the killer plant straight into its body, the figure of wood and leaves thrust its other arm straight down into the soil beneath its feet; the roots of the carnivorous green sowing out from its body and straight out into the soil below, all of them watching as the plant worms away deeper into the jungle.

While Alex remains occupied with swiping away all the leftover strange goop that covers her body, Mally walks right past the demon as she approaches the wooden figure that had saved their hides; extending a hand out to them as she greets with: “Man, I don’t think we can thank you enough for-” She’s just a couple feet away before the figure turns right back, the roots of its arm stretching out to form a sharp tipped lance that’s pointed straight down the orange skaters neck. The figures bright blue sclera narrow as it continues to stare down orange young girl, finally questioning to her in a raspy, but faintly feminine voice: “What are you doing here?” “Ju-just take it easy. We didn’t come here lookin to start trouble.” the skater assures the wood woman, her brother crashing straight into the ground a couple yards behind her. “We just wound up following some coordinates and got swept straight in this prehistoric jungle.” “Who told you of this location.” the withered wooden warrior demands to know, pointing the tip of her bark lance right onto the girls neck. “We found the numbers carved in the center of a mountain next to this hand.” Mally explains as she starts pulling out the withered wood hand in question. As soon as her blue eyes behold the palm she pulls out, the wood woman turns her weapon arm back to normal as she snatches the severed hand right out from the skater grasp; the wood woman retracting her arm back to her head so that she can examine the palm closely. The wooden warrior once cold killer gaze twists into a mixture of bewilderment and lament while staring down to the severed palm she holds in her hands, letting out a small breath before whispering: “Nevaline. So you did make it.”

Amidst this brief moment of grief does a streak of black and purple streak right past Mally and rockets right into the wooden warrior; the purple merc grasping the wood woman by the neck and pins her right against the side of a thick jungle tree. “Roy, wait!” Mally shouts as she races out to the two. Though the orange girls fails to stop the conflict from starting as the wood woman shoves her arm into the very tree her purple foe pins her down to; a sharp branch suddenly bursting out from the side of the tree and twisting right at the merc. Roy lets go of the wood woman as he retreats away from the thrusting limb, the edge of the bladed branch slicing the socket of his missing limb; the limb twisting around and attempting to drive its tip straight into the purple angel. Right before the branch could drive its tip anywhere into the merc, the orange skater delves right in the nick of time and breaks the limb in half with just a single swing of her hockey stick. In the very next moment does Mally drive her weapon straight into the earth and leaps backwards to kick her purple brother aside; Roy skidding across the dirt and stopping just short of slamming right into a rock.

“Ah! Mal, what the hell was that for!” the merc exclaims. “You just tackled the person that saved Alex’s hide.” “What?” The merc witnesses his demonic pupil walk into the picture as she swipes away the last of the gooey chlorophyll off her; confirming that: “Indeed. And about time to. It was practically vomit inducing within that vile plants stomach.” “Try telling that to my arm socket.” Roy counters with; pointing out the bleeding gash inflicted onto where his arm once was. “I can-I can mend your wound. Just let me...” the wood woman offers as she starts to approach. Rising right off the ground, the purple merc starts to back away from the wood woman as she nears; ready for whatever sneaky bull she attempts. Peering right behind the wooden warrior however does he see his sisters cautious gaze, his siblings stare telling the merc to put his guard away; Roy stops backing away and presents his cut to the wood woman.

The wood woman reaches down to one of the patches of grass and makes a couple of blades slither right into her arm while warning the merc that: “This may sting a bit.” From this does the wooden warrior reach her arm over to the very wound that she had inflicted; the palm of her hand hovering over the merc’s arm socket as the pieces of grass she had taken slither out from the wood woman’s roots and pierce through Roy’s skin. The purple angel lets a little hiss escape from between his teeth as the grass worms its way around and over his arm sockets gash, the strings of green tying themselves together and effectively closes the merc’s wound. “That should stop any more of your blood from spilling out.”

Having patched up the cut she had inflicted upon the angel, the wooden warrior turns back to the orange skater  and presents the severed palm to demand: “Now answer me; what urged all of you to follow Nevaline’s directions down into this window of still time?” “We’re just trying to find where our brother went, following all this trace clues from an underground mystical library all the way to the center of a mountain and wound up coming down here-” Before Mally could admit any further info, her purple brother steps in front of the orange lass and starts to whisper: “The hell are you doing spilling our business to this piece of morning wood?” “She’s practically been the only thing down here that hasn’t tried to tear us into bloody meat chunks.” “Speak for yourself Mal. You serious not recall her launching me into the sky and cutting by arm socket open, recently?” “Honestly, that sounds like the fault of your own. Surely you of all people should’ve sensed her coming from a mile away.” their demonic partner brings up as she butts right in. “Gimme a damn break here. You know how many predators are lurking through these parts stalking us, and I was a tad busy saving your ungrateful ass.” “Yeah, we should be thanking...uh, thanking...” the orange skater mentions, her site turning over to the wood woman as she attempt to fish for a name.

“Carila, the soul keeper of this slice of time long forgotten and the very secrets it holds. I had intervened against your struggles against the deadly viper bulb to save the plant from your wrath.” “Well, seems for a keeper, you weren’t exactly in much of a hurry to aid us in the fight against that Tyrannosaurs rex or those vile flying raptor.” Alex snidely points out. “I admit, I thought that nature would simply take its course upon you all. But simply from observing you fend off all those carnivorous predators with such ease; I realized how less and less of a possibility that was. I approach you all now to request that you take your leave from this natural wonder and never return.” “Yeah, that ain’t happening.” Roy then tells her. “Indeed. And I’d like to see you stop us, you flat chested wooden tramp.” Alex adds. “If that’s what you wish.” Carila states as her limbs form into weapons.

Right as the three were about to lunge right out to one another, the orange skater once again stands between both parties; speaking on behalf of them all to the wooden guardian on how: “What Alex is trying to tell you that we can’t exactly leave yet, not until we get some answers for all the clues we’ve been following up til now. Whoever that hand you hold belong to, they used their last fleeting moments to carve in the coordinates we followed to get down here. You mentioned their name, you gotta know what they’re trying to tell us.” “And you said that you found these coordinates within the middle of a mountain.” Carila questions. “Yep.” The wooden keeper peers down to the withered hand that rests in her palm, letting out a little groan as she finally gives in and claims that: “If it was Neveline’s final request, then so be it. One that I hope was thought through. Just keep up.”

All of them watch as their newfound guild leaps right up to the tree’s and slithers along their bark like a serpent, Mally ready to jump after before she stops in her tracks when hearing her brother’s pupils remark: “Please tell me you’re not this daft.” “Excuse me.” the orange skater utters while glaring back. “Are you that moronic enough to trust the word of a strange woman that dared to point the tip of their weapon right to your neck?” the demon reinforces, her body shifting to that of a boy. “That strange woman just saved your buns from getting digested.” “Please, I did not need her charity. I was on the verge of escaping from the belly of the beast myself. I assure you that I’m not as defenseless as you’re claiming I am.” “I didn’t say a damn thing like that.” “No, but please. If you wishing to lead all of us to our eminent doom and destruction, then be our guest.” Alex states.

As Alex hovers out in the direction the wood woman had slithered out to, his mentor approaches the girl he had just argued with as she mentions: “Does he not realizes that this is why no one wants to hang around him?” “Yeah, I think I might need to have a word with him.” the merc admits. “Hey, are you to coming along or are you just gawking about waiting to be a prehistoric meal, keep up!” they hear the demon call to them with. “I hope you do so soon.” Mally hopes as both her and her brother leap up to the treetops to catch up to their wooden guide.

While both the purple angel and his demonic pupil hover through the jungle treetops, Mally grinds from branch to branch as all of them follow their newfound wooden guide, who slithers in and out from tree to tree. In the midst of their travels through the tree’s, the wood warrior decides to pry with: “Might I ask what may your ends in coming down here be? I wish to know what Nevaline was attempting to warn you all about.” “Uh...” Leaping right off the tip of a branch, the orange girl spins back to peek over to her purple brother for a clue of what she should do; finding the merc simply shrugging at her as she lands right upon another limb. “Like I said, we’ve been trying to find out where our brother wound up being dragged to. Our one solid lead to go off of is what he not only called himself, but what he had called the man he follows too.” “You seek knowledge of the Kybr, correct?” Carila question.” “Ah, yeah. How’d you-” “Believe me when I say that the Kybr have quite the extensive history; one that the gods themselves were hoping to bury with the passage of time.” “Any chance you could teach us what that history might be?” “Afraid not. But do not fret, your answers shall all be revealed once we travel to the very edge of this domain. Then and only then will you find out what the Kybr truly were.”

Tailing right behind the orange girl and wooden woman, Alex hovers aside his black angelic mentor to comment: “I highly doubt that this living bunch of old roots is so willing to lead us through this jungle for the sake of her departed friend. There’s a clearly ulterior motive afoot.” “I ain’t doubting that. But this whole trail for Tore’s provin hella thin as is; we gotta take in every lead that we get here.” “Rather foolhardy on your end if you ask me.”

“Yeah, speaking of shitty ends, we gotta talk about the way you just piss people off.” “Agh, not you too. I get enough of that sort of infernal yapping from my asinine mother.” “I’m just gonna cut through the bull here and say that maybe constantly acting like pompous dick horned asscheek ain’t gonna get up any friendly faces. You’d probably get way more tail and cooch waiting for ya at the end of the day if ya quit being such a stuffy little bitch.” “Oh, and you’re confident that piece of advice fares no hypocrisy coming from you? How everyone just tends to avoid you as well? Don’t think for a moment I haven’t heard all the stories concerning you and your demeanor when greeting others. Of how you ask almost everyone, even going up to multiple people at once if they’re down to quote on quote “Diddling down in the back alley” with all the charm and subtly of a wayward perverted slob.” From this very statement does the purple merc let a bout of laughter escape from him, Alex hovering back a bit as his mentor’s chuckling starts to die down before the merc responds: “Diddling down in the back alley”. Where did you even-...Did someone actually say that or did you just pull that outta yer ass.” “My point being here is that don’t not exactly have the heart of the public eye either.” the demon rings back. “Hey, least I’m open and outta the gate with that to people. Ain’t like those kinds of dipshits that try to walk around questions and be those fedora tipping self entitled jackass’s. I mean if the people would be less strict about fucking one another, the world would be an honestly happier place for everyone.” “What in the living realm of sweet satan are you paddling about?” “Uh, what was I talking ab- Right, right, right, right, your attitude. All I’m saying is if you don’t wanna wind up reflecting back on your life wondering why ya got nobody to talk to and comfort ya; then quit recklessly putting other people down and stroking yourself like a self masturbating stiff prick.” the merc concludes

“Oh really. Did you hold that sort of attitude when you were with Roxanne?” The mere mention of the girls very name proves enough to send a powerful jolt through the purple angel’s entire body; his expression breaking into disbelieving shock as he turns to his pupil and simply utters: “What?” “Did you really not hear all the rumors and blog posts being passed around about all that juicy drama? Cause from what I’ve heard, the two of you didn’t exactly split things off quite cleanly. All of them kept saying that you were the one acting like the right dick in that whole shpeal.” “W-wh-what the hell does all that gotta do with now?” “I’m just saying that if you’re wishing to criticize me for my behavior, shouldn’t you set a better example?” “You have no fucking clue what happened between us that night!? You really think your gonna get away with going for those kinds of low blows!?” “Hey, if were taking stabs at each other for how we treat people; then I sure as hell ain’t gonna miss the chance to get a couple in. An eye for an eye sort of approach really.” Upon the demon’s very words is Roy left utterly speechless, his enraged gaze cooling into a contemptuous glare before he finally responds with: “No wonder you don’t have any friends.” This last remark manages to shatter Alex’s smug grin so that only a glaring hurt remains; the demon shifting into a girl as she watches her mentor glide out ahead to both the orange girl and the wooden woman up ahead.

Gliding right between both his orange sister and the wooden woman, their newfound guide can’t help but squint her blue sclera eyes straight the purple angel; Mally meanwhile questioning her: “Why can’t you just simply explain all this yourself.” Shaking her gaze away from the purple merc and states how: “The knowledge that you seek simply cannot be put into words; thus I lead up all through this slice of still time to something needs no words to show you. Held with the confines of my sacred grotto lies a piece of wood nymph wood containing an unflinching, unbiased memory of the nature of its time. One that has been preserved since the Kybr’s inception.  If you truly seeks to learn of what the beings that she seeks out truly are, then they must let this root pierce into their minds and share its secrets with them all.”

Along their travels do the numerous jungle tree’s finally begin to thin and dwindle before them, letting the sunny light shine upon them once more as all of them start to reach the end of their forest trek. Leaping straight through the end of the woods do they come to witness a vast, crystal clear lake, reflecting the soft glow of the shinning rocks that shimmer above them all. Mally strolls over to the shoreline of the wide lake to discover half a dozen towering dinosaurs that float just above the surface; some of them swimming over to the shores to walk upon the land. “Wow...” the orange skater wondrously utters. “Yes indeed. Let’s truly thank our rashly trusted guide for leading us to absolutely nowhere, I’m sure that the majestic site was more than worth nearly being devoured alive.” the demon sarcastically mocks. “I did bring all of you hear for more than just the site. The scared grotto of my kind lies right underneath this very lake, buried underneath the galleons of crystal clear waters.” Carila counters. “Hang on here; you seriously expecting us air breathin motherfucka’s to swim all the way down into this who the hell knows how deep body of water?” “Oh no. You won’t have to touch a single drop to enter. Give me just a moment.”

Saying this does the wooden nymph waltz over to the very edge of the vast lake, lifting her root arms as high as she can before kneeling down and thrusting them right into the shoreline; the wood warrior remaining utterly silent as the trio behind her simply stare and watch. “Oh, the hell is this woman even doing?” Alex asks. “Are...are we supposed to do something with her while she’s like this?” Mally questions. “I think I know exactly what were supposed to do with her.” Roy suggests with a stretching grin. “NO!” both his sibling and pupil harshly deny.

Its after the two deny the merc’s request that they begin to feel the ground underneath their feet start to gradually quake, all the exotic birds perched along the edge of the woods behind them flying off as the trembling grows more fierce. Among the constant quaking are their sites drawn over to the lakes quivering waters, where upon they begin to witness dozens upon dozens of what seemed to be wooden tree roots arise from the surface; all of the clustered together as they erect out from the center of the lake. Water spurts right out between the encircling walls as the roots continue to rise out, the trembling starting to die down as they trio see before them an entire sphere made from wooden entangled roots; a path of wood erecting out from the lake trailing straight to the hole leading right inside. Once the entire ball had been risen out from the depths of the lake, Carila finally uproots her arms right out from the shoreline soil; the wooden nymph slowly pulling herself off the ground as the angel behind her questions: “So, this the grotto you talkin about.” “Indeed...” Though Alex is left agap by the incredible bout of natural power that the wooden woman had just displayed before her; the demon shakes off her astonishment and recollects herself to faux say: “I-I-I must admit, that was not half bad for a woman with such a plank chest.” Peering over to the very woman who had just finished erecting the entire cluster of roots, Mally finds the wooden warrior on the verge of passing out; the orange skater coming to her side and brushes her hand against the wood woman’s side. “You need a minute?” Upon asking of her well being does Carila simply swipe Mally’s palm away from her side; simply responding with: “I’m fine. Let’s just move out.”

While Mally follows the weary wood woman along the freshly erected root built path leading straight ahead, the demon and her mentor opt to simply hover along overhead; Alex glaring down to the wooden nymph as she ponders aloud: “Does she really take us for such dimwitted fools? Surely she doesn’t think that we would let her lead us right into her “sacred grotto” without even an iota of suspicion?” Hearing his remarks gaining not even so much as a single response, the demon peeks over to the purple angel hovering right beside her and see’s him simply ignoring her; rather staring down to his phone and texting. Left upset with the merc’s lack of attention, Alex shifts into a boy as he further questions: “Oh come now. Are you really still upset from calling you out over your double standards? Get over yourself already.” Despite his pupils clearly callous, Roy simply continues to look down to his phone, watching as a fresh text from his sister comes in reading:

Mally: “Did he seriously went and bring that whole mess up?”

Roy: “Yep.”

Mally: “What the actual hell! I kind see where Alex is coming from, but seriously bringing up that whole business with you and Roxanne was just a step too far.”

Roy: “I’m just done here. I seriously don’t know what to do next.”

Mally: “Why don’t I chip for a bit, have a little talk with him.”

Roy: “Wouldn’t mind if you whipped his ass either.”

“I must warn you now.” the orange skater starts to hear their wooden guide start to speak; Mally putting her phone away as she listens to what Carila has to further say. “Due to its very nature, the memory root shall attempt to bore itself into your mind to share the knowledge locked away within its very veins; the knowledge of the Kybr themselves.” “We really can’t thank you enough for leading us through this slice of prehistory; I gotta come clean here. That whole bread crumb trail I’ve been following was serious about done. I couldn’t figure out what the hell we were supposed to do down here before you came along.” the orange skater admits. “If that is all you simply wish out from this trip down, then I’d be more than happy to speed your trip along; simply as you not disturb any more of this domain.” “Ya don’t gotta worry a little green leaf on your head about it. We’ll be outta your hair faster than you can produce chlorophyll.” “Oh, I’m betting on that.” Nearing the hole leading straight into the spherical root cluster, both Roy and Alex begin to lower themselves down behind the orange skater and their wooden guide wander straight inside; a strange light beating upon them all as they enter.

Once their eyes start to adjust to the heavenly glow, the three peer out to behold what was field of red, near dying grasslands; the eerie plains of which decorated with open and withered tree that still drip out water from their hollow insides. “This is your grotto?” Mally despairingly question.” “It was...” the wooden warrior despondently confirms. “This is serious meant to be your sacred grounds? All the near dead flora spread through here makes it seem like a forlorn garden if nothing else.” the demon remarks. “Quit it.” Roy harshly growls. “What. No snappy and lewd comeback on your end?” Alex barks back. Rather than respond to his pupil, Roy simply glares out to the plains that lie ahead; the demon himself scoffing from his mentors shunning as he shares in the site.

Out along the very edge of this near lifeless grotto does the wooden woman lead the trio over to a small den made from the inside of a large hollow tree; the inside letting out this strange yellowish orange glow. Walking straight into this den do all of them find the very source of the light; a long single root that pierces straight through the earth below, with Carila proclaiming to them all that: “This root here is the very same that bestows the memories of the time it had grown in; to let another peer into the nature of its time. It however can only share its memories with but single entity and burrow its roots with their very mind to share its wisdom. So I must ask now, which of you three shall approach and bear the history it has to tell?” “You’re seriously expecting one of us to let this thing dig its tendrils into our heads? As if I’d let a dirt ridden plant like that come anywhere near me and taint my mind.” the demon rejects. “Yeah, I ain’t exactly in the mood to get brain probed either. Already made that mistake once letting the Austrian gov cut me open and dig out a chip that they accidentally lodged in there. The scares on the back of my head still itch like hell.” the merc also denies. Mally peers over to the two to find them both staring right at her, the orange skater asking them: “So your seriously expecting me to step up to the plate?” “Mal, you went through the highest of mountains to the deepest of pits just to try and find our bro. If anybody’s earned to find out the truth of this whole mess, it you.” her brother responds. Upon her purple brother’s very words does Mally take in a deep breath while turning out to the mystical root in question, exhaling before beginning to approach the piece of wood; the orange girl feeling a strange sensation through her body as she nears the glowing root.

Once the girl stands before the glowing enchanted root, Mally and those behind her watch as the tip starts to grow out towards the young girls head; the tip splitting in two as it wriggles near the sides of her cranium. With the roots only a few inches away from her head, Mally peeks back to the wood woman and asks: “This isn’t gonna hurt, right?” Right then and there does Mally get her answer when the root’s tips pierce straight through the sides of her head and burrow themselves into her cranium; a yelping shriek escaping from her mouth as she starts to spasm and tremble. The angel and demon taking in the site see the young girl shortly stop her violent shaking and watch her as she slumps backward, discovering her eyes devoid of any pupils as she blankly stares out to them both. “Uh, she gonna be fine after this, right?” Roy concerns. “These roots secrete a special ooze which mends injury upon exiting the host. She will awaken as if nothing had happened.” their wooden guide assures. “And how long will it take for her to wake up?” “With how much the roots have to show, I imagine a long while.” From these words does the wooden warrior start to stroll back out towards the way they had ventured in, the demon asking: “Where the hell do you think your going?” “I have duty to fulfill. One that I had held myself to since I was just a sapling.”

Upon the wood woman’s leave, the two peer over to the young skater as she remains utterly comatose; neither of them able to do much in the moment besides wait for Mally to finish her little history lesson. “Whelp, got nothing better to do.” the purple merc, waltzing out towards a couple of dead hollow tree’s. “Th-that’s it? Am I not to expect some sort of evaluation, training regimen, or any kind of inine physical activity that involves violence, most inflicted on my end.” the black horned demon questions. “I...I-I’m not really in the mood Alex. I’d rather just go behind a couple tree’s and alleviate some stress going through my head...by masturbating.” As his mentor walks out to the dead tree’s, Alex peers to the purple merc with hints of wondering disgust; grumbling: “It still baffles me what sort of sick forces present in this universe that chose him over anyone else to me my guiding mentor.”

Once delving deep within the mental depths of her own subconscious, natural sunlight shines out as the orange skater opens her eyes; Mally giving herself a moment to adjust to the heavenly glow before finally taking in the very site she stands upon. Stretching out as far as her eyes could see, Mally beholds a vast, luscious meadow filled with colorful flora; the likes of which rival the size of oak tree’s as the sun shines upon their petals. Fluttering along all these numerous flowers does the girl witness what she at first seemed like dozens of butterflies; their wings showing dozens of unique designs and patterns with glisten with the sunlight. When one of them starts to descend down towards her, the girl holds her hand out to let it perch atop her index finger; her eyes widening when it finally touches down and discovers what these creatures truly were. A fairy. A small fairy the size of her head greeting the young girl with a friendly wave. Mally left astonished as she gazes up to the numerous others that flutter and dance away from her; the one that stood on her finger gliding off alongside the swarm.

The orange skater follows after the flock of fairies through the lush meadow of giant flowers, soon peering out from the flora to come to a steep incline leading up to a clearing above; the face of this grassy cliff decorated with dozens of branches. Immediately does the girl start to climb up to the top of cliff, grasping hold of the patches of grass and tree limbs that litter its very face; all the while gradually losing site of the fairies that hover above. When just about to reach the top of this steep cliff face, a patch of grass that she holds onto breaks off from the rock; Mally losing her grasp and plummeting back down to the bottom of the incline. Moments before she could slam down onto the earth below, the girl feels something grasp her arm and stop her from taking the nasty fall; the skater peering up to find one of the branches that sprout from the cliff face holding onto her wrist with a warm greeting smile. More of this wooden limb begin to crawl out from the depths of the cliff, revealing itself to be a figure completely made from bark and leaves; quite similar to the guide that she and the others had recently met. The rest of the branches that protrude out from the cliff all start to erupt from its very rock, all revealing themselves to be other wood nymphs that start to sprout out from the earth. When the whole group of wood nymphs start to pull themselves out form the earth and start to climb up to the top of the cliff, the one that holds Mally flings her straight up with just a single sling upwards; the orange girl grasping the very edge of the cliff when coming to the top.

All the sprouting wood nymphs climb to the top of the steep incline as the young skater pulls herself up above the edge with them; Mally standing tall above the rock to behold the site that lies before her. Frolicking through the meadow plains does she discover numerous mystical and legendary creatures, all roaming about and coexisting with one another; centaurs proudly galloping through the calm plains, hard rock golems lumbering out in the distance, foxes with numerous tails racing along the thickets off grass, rabbits with but single horns protruding out from their heads that feast upon the wood nymphs offered leaves, even strange chimera’s sporting the body parts of numerous animals. When she finds dozens of shadows gliding over these flowery plains, Mally’s eyes peer up to the clear blue skies above and witnesses dozens of hovering beasts and creatures all taking through and sharing the air. Pegesi that gallop through the air, griffins that flap through the skies, dragons that huff out bouts of sparks from their nostrils, harpies that share the lower forms of wolves gliding alongside the gentle breeze, little plant creatures whose petals spin like helicopter blades. Incredible. These creature are all from legend, myths. They’re numerous. But why are they here? What even is this place?

The beautiful site of these vast and lively plains start to waver when dark clouds begin to blanket the clear blue sky in their darkness; Mally beginning to feel the very ground that she stands upon start to gradually tremble. Midst this earthly quaking does the orange skater discover a bright tan light that emerges out from the clouds, the glow beaming out from a pair of angelic wings that stem from the back of a human that hovers above them all. Is that… Fluttering above all the numerous mythical creatures of old, this winged figure thrusts their limbs down to the very trembling earth below; the rocky grounds soon fracturing apart at the very seems and uprooting chunks of the earth up towards the skies. The chilling outcries of the numerous mystical fauna pollute the very air with terror as the earthbound creatures fall into the depths of the stretching fissures, never again to see the light of day as they plummet down into the once peaceful grassy plains. Not even the giant rock golems prove safe from this horrifying phenomenon, their very earthly bodies fracture and crumble into chunks of broken stone; their remains joining the chunks of the earth in their ascent up towards the angel. Presented with this very threat do all the numerous sky bound beasts all take charge towards the angelic figure, their claws and beaks ready to rend the angel to pieces in their vengeful rage. Yet their numbers prove utterly fruitless as the angel gathers the ripped pieces of earth aside him and cast them all forth towards the armada; the entire airborne army shot down out of the sky from the barrage of rocks. Left distracted by the horror’s playing out before her, Mally fails to notice the earth beneath her feet crumbling apart; the ground finally giving way and causing the young girl to plummet down alongside the dozens of other mystical creatures to their doom.

Among plummeting through the dark abyss, the orange skater starts to feel the very air around her grow warm the further she descends; drops of sweat beginning to drip up from her body while falling. Its suddenly through the dark that she feels herself slam right down upon a patch of flat earth, feeling an almost relaxing warmth radiating onto her back. From the unexpected impact, the young lady opens her eyes once more to find every bit of the void she had once descended down through replaced with warm streaks of red and orange that waft through the wavy air above; with only the site of a single hand with a fiery orange tan upsetting the site. Mally reaches up to the presenting palm and grasp it to feel herself being pulled right off the warming stone, peering out into the horizon ahead to discover a vast fiery valley made from scorched rock and veins of lava that flow through the land like natural rivers. Beyond these streams of burning liquid, she finds dozens of flaming creatures that crawl and slither through this burning valley of blackened rock and lava; slugs made from molten liquid, butterflies whose wings blaze as they flutter through the air, fiery phoenixes that trail embers through the skies above, packs of deer with curling horns that spurt out flames, insects sporting hardened magma carapaces. Even the flowing rivers of lava hold their own life that breach out from the gooey surface like hopping mullets partaking in the air above.

Her eyes wonder away from the rivers when noticing humanoid like inhabitants roaming throughout these lively scorching plains; their skin a fiery tan orange, their hair bellowing through the air like burning flames as they all ride atop equine boasting skin of blazing rock and flesh. While she views some of these fiery nymphs mingling with one another as they relax along the lava riverside; other ride through the blistering hot valley brandishing weapons that blaze crackling flames; the pack charging through and hunting the blazing deer that roam the plains. Staring out to the site of all the numerous fiery people does Mally suddenly feel a hand grasp at her shoulder; the orange haired girl glancing over to her side to find a woman with long fiery hair, giving her a warm and welcoming smile.

Breaking her eyes away from the welcoming fiery nymph does the orange skater come to witness a hint of blue corrupting the blazing orange sky; Mally peering out to discover this blue light to belong to a pair of flaming blue angel wings attached to what seemed to be a regular human. When the angel thrusts their hands straight out the fiery plains it hovers above, the orange girl begins to hear a disturbance; her attention drawn back to the blazing woman that stands beside her to witness her violently spasm and fall upon her knees. Collapsing onto the scorched earth does this woman start to vomit out spurts of lava from her mouth; her fiery color draining away as more and more of her precious molten ooze spews out from her maw. The whole display brings out an unimaginable fright upon the young orange haired girl as she watches the crying fiery woman suffer from the uncontrollable hurling; Mally retching only further when daring to look out to the others that reside in the blazing valley. Every other living creature from the nymphs to the magma insects all start to quake and collapse in unimaginable agony as their blood of red hot magma spews and burst out from their orifices; all of their bodies breaking apart as more of their bright lava escapes from their flesh and arise up into the fiery air. Among this horrifying nightmare do the veins of lava that had flown through the land erupts out in columns of blazing bright red, mixing along with the bright orange blood that twist through the air and gather atop the angel. All the lava extracted from every single piece of land and creature below the angel gathers right above their head into a massive sphere; one that threatens to grow to the very size of the moon. Out from this newborn core of burning hot lava, a bout of flames spurts out from the underside and descends out over to the young orange girl below; Mally closing her eyes and putting her arms against her face as the fires were seconds from engulfing her.

Outside of Mally’s full on mental envisioning nightmare, the orange girl’s body yet remains complacently right within the small wooden den as the memory root remains within her head; the black horned demon standing outside tiring of simply standing watch and starts to wander out to the dozens of hollow tree’s that litter the grotto. She’ll be fine. Rather take this dull moment to investigate something a curious notion itching in the back of my head. Upon approaching one of these withered trees, the first detail that catch’s Alex demon red eyes simply be the very middle of their stretched and bulged out inside; with only the parted wood leading within the hollow center. The lack of any visible marks outside suggest something might’ve resided within these tree’s once. But what strange and disgusting sort of creature could have dwell underneath it very wood, and why are they practically the only noticeable foliage decorating that wood woman’s grotto? Finally taking a little peek within the hollow inside of the tree, the demon discovers some of the roots failing to simply rise up with the wall; rather a good half of them rising out to the center of the empty space. Far be it from me to waste time studying dendrology, but its a certain fact the inside of them don’t form like this. Seems more likely that something grew from the depths of this wood. But was it what manner of creature that grew within it sapped away its very life, or perhaps would it be something else?

Before the young horned demon could continue to ponder any further on the whole strange matter, Alex lightly jumps when feeling what he felt like raindrops pattering along his backside. The devil? The young demon climbs right out from the depths of the hollow tree and peers above to discover a light drizzle pouring down from the roof of the enclosed grotto; drops of water leaking through the root cluster and dripping down towards the ground. Rainfall? We’re underground, under the dry wasteland of Utah. What matter of trickery is this? In pondering this very phenomenon does he witness an entire chunk of the ceiling break right off; an entire torrent gushish right out from above; Alex finally realizing the events that were transpiring. “Oh sweet Satan, the grotto’s sinking!”

Once realizing the watery doom encroaching upon him and his other’s, the orange demon disappears in a poof of black smoke; swiftly reappearing out to the cluster of tree’s that his mentor had retreated to. “We need to escape immediately. This whole poor excuse of a garden is starting to sink back do-” Amidst attempting to warn his mentor of the looming watery doom encroaching upon them all, Alex transforms into a girl as she riles back in utter disgust when witnessing Roy watch his phone with his pants down. Hearing his pupils verbal retch, Roy swiftly pulls his underwear right back and puts his phone away in a startled panic; collecting himself before turning back to the demon and questioning: “A-Alex! Pht-thed-de-Th-the hell is gotten into you!? Don’t you know better than to disturb somebody while they’re appreciating the precious art of multiple biological copulation?” “Can you quit jelling off to your disgusting smut for a single minute and look up!?” the demon demands. Humoring his pupils request, the purple merc peeks up and behold the root ceiling breaking apart and letting torrents of water flood down and drown the garden. “Oh Jesus, the grotto’s sinking.” the merc states in a blatant calm tone, Alex letting out furious growl upon his mentor finally realizing severity of their situation. “Kay, how bout you go over wake Mal up and get her while I try and figure out where my pants went.” the black winged angel orders, both of them splitting apart as Alex zooms out to the den they had left Mally within.

The demon zips straight inside that very same den, finding his purple mentors sister remaining attached to the memory root, still as comatose as ever. Alex rushes right over to the orange girls side and swipes her body right off the floor by her collar, frantically shaking her while screaming straight into her ears to: “Wake up, you crass ruffian! Our aquatic doom is loom over us and your still casually napping away like the moronic brute you are!?” A furious growl escapes from his teeth as he finds the young girl failing to awaken from her coma, Alex swiftly resorting to physical means to attempt to snap her out from her daze; be it slapping her in the face, kicking her in the shins, and twisting her arms with Indian rope burns. Alas do any of these methods yield even an inch of progress in waking Mally from her unconscious stupor, the demon throwing her body down on the ground in his frustration. “What must I reduce myself to free you, dammit!?” Upon exclaiming such a question do Alex’s bright red eyes trail from the sides of the orange girls head and all the way out to the very root bounding her in place; the black horned demon letting out an irritated sigh as he shifts his hands straight into a jet black axe. Nrrr. Lumberjacking it be then.

Moving right over to the root that holds his mentor’s sister in place, the demon tucks himself back before swinging the blade of his newly formed hand axe out to the side of its very wood; putting every bit of himself in each swing as he repeats the process over and over. With nicks of the root being chopped through, eventually does he manage to severe the wood straight off the trunk; Mally’s body falling over as the root tumbles down onto the ground. Returning to the young skater’s side however, Alex finds the girl still out cold. Damn woman! His masters sibling refusing to awaken from her comatose stupor, the demon is left with little other choice but to simply carry the girl out and starts to pick her right off the ground; Alex surprised with how easy he could heave her right over his shoulder. Huh, lighter then expected. Perhaps this whole training nonsense may not have been a complete waste of time.

The orange skater nestled atop his very shoulder, Alex zooms right out from the den and start to glide straight towards the flooding grotto’s ceiling; peering out to his side to witness his purple mentor return to his side donning pants and all. “This rugged sibling of yours refuses to awaken!” the demon tells the angel. “That so? I ain’t so sure she’s exactly done with her little history lesson yet. That root that’s in her head’s gotta have a hell of a bombshell to drop if she’s still out. “Agh! Of all times for class to be in session.” The angel leads the demon out to one of the rapid torrents that fall from the broken ceiling; Roy warning his pupil to: “Hold your breath.” Both Alex and his mentor take in as much air as they could while rocketing straight towards the descending torrent; the two piercing straight through the water in a huge splash.

Hurdled through an entire stream of bubbles, Mally herself careens through a body of thick, crystal clear water; attempting to close her eyes and hold her breath for as long as she could while submerged. Alas can she could not hold her breath a second longer, a great exhale escaping from her mouth with next to no bubbles of air coming out; the skater left astonished and dumbfounded when finding the water around her as breathable as air. Right, all this a memory. None of it’s real. Her eyes open out to the crystal clear waters ahead and let her behold the numerous aquatic life that swims through out these oceans; schools of fish traveling together, octopi stroking through the waters, sting rays gliding through the sea like butter, and other sea life flowing all around. Yet these dozens of common sea creature be not the only that roam through the ocean, the likes of which that catch her eye being what she could only remember described as myth. Semi aquatic humanoid people dawning scales across their skin with manes of teal that flow like the wind as they swim through the waters; dressed in clothing holding swirling bright color’s and golden jewelery. Giant serpents that stretch along the sea, their gnarling teeth contrasting with their gorgeous fins as they devour prey whole. Some pieces of the coral ocean floor arising and revealing themselves to be massive turtles that trudge along the bottom of the sea. A massive shadow casts down onto them all, some peering up to find the silhouette of an incredible leviathan passing above. But all this was, wasn’t it? What happened to them all?

Midsts pondering of this beautiful sea’s very fate, Mally comes to witness a light of orange delve down into the depths; a human dawned with bubbling orange angel wings glide straight out right in the middle of this oceanic site. When the figure motions their arms straight up towards the surface, pillars of light rain down and pierce through the waters; galleons of sea water being lifted up within the light as the inhabitants retreat deeper down into the depths. Despite swimming as fast as they could, some are engulfed within these glowing columns; some of the sea folk watching in utter terror as their fellow kin are forced to rise from the ocean and up and breach the surface. Engulfed within one of these pillars, Mally is forced straight up alongside the galleons of ocean and flies straight through the surface; covering her eyes as she rises up into the light.

The young girl feels that very light eventually dim, letting her slowly open her eyes to adjust to the newfound site; Mally staring straight up to an entire sea of stars that glisten like diamond along a dark blue sky. Something about the ground beneath her feels strange as she pulls herself up, a comforting surface the likes of which she had never felt before; the skater aiming downwards to find whatever she stands upon wistfully fluffy and dark gray. She sees this fluffy gray shortly end straight out towards an entire thicket of clouds that stretch out beyond the horizon; mountains of fluffy gray ascending up above like mountains, with some puffs drifting across the skies. Alongside these stretches of gray fluff, Mally witnesses dozens of airborne creatures gliding through the skies while sharing the air with one another; avian birds that boast majestic feathers that bellow through the air, glistening lizards that crawl just along the clouds, airborne manta rays that glide through the breeze. Among these numerous skybound creatures does Mally witness numerous people; humanoids with hair like flowing clouds and tattoos of the very winds that streak across their pale bodies. While she finds some of them simply standing tall upon the clouds and taking in the view and mingling with each other, Mally see’s others ride through the air atop the numerous creatures of the night sky. All this was here once before, wasn’t it? But then…

The moment of calming sireen is then disturbed when another angel with wings of pulsing teal winds erupts right out from the sea of gray clouds; the figure hovering above them all as they wave their hands above their head in a swirling motion. The very air itself that was once peacefully still following the angel’s motion and is quickly whipped in a bellowing frenzy, the dozens of creatures and birds that once glides through the sky are cast aside by the raging winds; some of them torn right apart in horrifying fashion as easily as tissue paper among the gales. Its among the swirls of their hands that the angel thrust their palms straight up to the very stars above; the winds that surround them all blending together to form a powerful twister,  one that rips apart the stratosphere itself. Countless outcries and panicking screams flood the raging air as all the creatures and people swept up into this deadly tornado are plucked out from the earthly skies and our sent straight out in to the cold void of space; never to be seen again. Try as she might to keep herself gripped upon the night clouds, Mally’s grasp proves not enough to fight against the incredible gales and is caught within the winds alongside the dozens of other people and mystical animals all drawn straight into the tornado’s wrath; thrust upwards into the starry abyss of space like the rest.

Along the very surface of the Jurassic lake do a pair of figures breach out from its very very depths; the water that splashes out from their ascent glistening from the sunny crystals above; both the purple angel and black horned demon gasping for much needed air as they water splashes back down. After coughing up whatever water may be still left in his mouth, Alex peers out to the shoreline to discover the very wooden woman that had guide pulling her arms right out from the ground; cursing out: “That vile wooden bitch! She did attempt to drown us in that horrid grotto!” While his angelic mentor shakes off all the water that soaks him, the demon then witness’s the wooden woman start to flee out towards the jungle edge; a sinister gnarl escaping from Alex’s teeth before he tosses the comatose skater in his arms out to his mentor with: “Here!” Though caught off guard when his pupil throws his unconscious sister straight to him, Roy manages to catch Mally with but his only arm; his demonic student then delving straight after the retreating nymph.

Racing away from the lake shoreline, Carila gallops back towards the very woods she lead her guests through as fast as she could run; suddenly stopping in her tracks when a streak of orange and black crashes down before her. The dust settles to reveal the black horned demon with his hand in the form of a spiked hammer, ready to swing down upon the wooden warrior. She leaps back away from the demon’s hammering assault and beholds the fury burning with the demon’s bright red eyes; Carila’s own eyes widening as she utters: “Y-You!? But that means-” The wood woman’s face morphs into a star of utter horror upon discovering the demon’s angelic partner touching down; witnessing him gently put the unconscious girl down along the grassy plains before fluttering closer. “Noooo!” she growls. “Indeed.” the demon counters, slowly marching to the wood woman. “Were you really foolish enough to believe that galleons of dirty Jurassic water would be enough to do away with me? A miscalculated assassination attempt that that we’ll shall surely make sure you pay with your life.” “Why did you trying doing that shit, anyway? If its for the whole jungle protector bit, I think punching some dinosaur and cutting some weeds isn’t exactly worth getting so pissy over.” the purple merc questions. “...Do you honestly believe that this has anything to do with any meaningless duty? Do you not know the ramifications that your very existence implies!?” From these very words does the wooden warrior transform one of her arms into a sharp splintery mace; soon charge out to the purple angel as she declares: “This stopped being about the job the moment all of you came down here!” Carila swings her mace arm out to his head once close enough to the purple merc; Roy swiftly kneeling down to evade the spiked weapon and kicks the wood woman right off her feet, making her fall flat onto her back. Peering up does the wood nymph witness the purple angel lifting his leg up and diving his foot straight downwards; the wooden warrior acting fast and burrowing straight down into the soil before Roy could stamp her right out.

Having witnessed their foe dig through the dirt to escape, Alex sweeps his site all around the shoreline; wondering aloud: “Where the hell did that wooden harlot scurry away to?” Glancing over to his purple mentor, the black horned demon finds the merc waltzing to his side while staring straight out to the jungle edge behind him. “The jungle?” Alex utters. Fully turning over to the forest edge, a smarmy grin stretches across his cheeks as he lets loose a little chuckle; mocking out with: “A failed assassination attempt and fleeing into hiding? What a sheepish loathsome guardian.” “Don’t think she’s exactly done yet.” his purple teacher warns. From this warming does the forest before them begin to quake, numerous jungle tree’s spurting out from the earth and clustering together to form one gigantic arm; the limb hammering its hard wood fist straight down to the duo. Roy and Alex split away from eachother as the giant arm dives straight down upon the earth in a furious hammer; the demon between them blocking the flying debris before he claims that: “No doubt she’ll keep attacking like this unless we flush her out.” “Think I know a way that we can to.” Roy follows with.

Along the other end of the gigantic wooden limb, Carila manages to dislodge her own arm right out from the stub of the massive cluster of jungle trees; the wooden warrior peeking out along the stretch to witness the purple angel zoom right out from the horizon. Once the wood woman was right in site, Roy fires out a deadly ray of black and purple out from the palm of his hand and straight out to his wooden foe; Carila springs up to the treetops above to evade the dark blast. As soon as she lands atop one of the branches overhead does the wooden guardian thrust her foot deep into the bark of the tree she stands upon; all the moss covered branches that protrude out from the tree lunge straight out to the approaching angel, with their sharp tips ready to pierce through flesh. The purple angel weaves himself around all the branches that thrust their tip out towards him as he zips straight towards the base of the tree; not a single bit of their rough jungle bark able to brush along his precious purple hood.

Once near the tree his foe stands upon, Roy rams his legs right against its trunk hard enough make the jungle wood begin to tilt over; the towering tree’s roots tearing out from the soil as its plummets. With the very tree she stands upon on the verge of crashing down, Carila pulls her leg out from its very bark and leaps out towards one of the logs that neighbor her; the purple merc seeing his moment to strike and rapidly rocketing right up to the airborne wooden warrior. Right when the guardian was about to land right onto another branch, she feels the mercs fist right against her chin; Roy delivering a rising uppercut that sends her flying straight up through the treetops. Having been sent several feet above the treetops, Carila regains her composure just in time to witness a pterodactyl gliding through the skies; a smile cracking along the wood woman’s cheeks as her arm sharpens into a thin tipped pike.

The merc soon breaches through the treetops himself and hovers along the brightly lit cavern skies, holding his hand right above his eyes to block out the light of the crystals as he peers out to where his wooden foe might’ve went. A high pitched screech then rings right in his ears from behind; the purple angel peeking back just in time to witness the sharp beak of a pterodactyl thrusting out to him. Roy veers out along the side in an effort to evade the dinosaurs skewering tip, feeling the underbelly of the winged beast brush along the fabric of his hood as the pterodactyl passes by; purple angel peering out to the dino to discover the wooden warrior riding atop the monster, all with one of her limbs rooted right into its brains. “Jeez, who’d think that the protector of the jungle would stoop to such hypocrisy; how the prideful and bold have fallen from grace.” he mocks. “To hell with this outdated piece of earthly history, it could drown into the depths of the abyss for all I care anymore! For once in my long and arduous life of wasting away in this worthless hole, I’ve found a calling of greater importance.” Upon these very words does the wooden warrior swing her arm out in the air, flinging out an entire salvo of splinters and thorns that rain down towards the angel; Roy covers his face as the flurry of wooden needles showers down upon him. Her angelic foe distracted by the shower of sharp thorns, Carila forces her flying steed to glide out to the young merc once more; her free arm morphing into a splintered scythe as she rapidly approaches. Just as the wooden warrior was ready to chop her foe’s head clean off his neck, Roy quickly jets up right out of her blades swing and grasp the guardians arm before she could pass by; the purple angel uprooting Carila straight out of the pterodactyl’s brains and flings her back in the direction of the lake. The wooden warrior crashes right along the Jurassic lakes shallow shores, waves of the water splashing and rippling from her little dip. Water leaks out from the opening along the roots of her wooden body as she lumbers out from the lakeside; her bright blue sclera eyes trailing over to the comatose orange girl left resting along the shore.

Hovering down over to the shores where he had tossed away his wooden adversary, Roy’s eyes widen when that very same foe holding his comatose sister by the shirt collar; Carila brandishing a blade of wood straight against Mally’s very neck. “Listen, I get how all the work stress ya got piled up made ya fall from grace hard as hell; but going so low as to take a hostage that can’t even fight back? Not a bad play there if I’m being honest; even if its a dirty one.” the merc briefly praises. “Don’t you dare lecture me on morality, not after all that I had experienced. I imagine that with what the memory root is showing this girl, she would more than agree on how justified this is. A justice with which fate has bestowed upon me after enduring countless years of haunting memories and infinite sadness. And now...you shall taste that very same despair!”

Right as the wooden woman was ready to thrust her wooden blade straight into the comatose girls body, a sudden sharp pain thrusts into her side; the pain enough to paralyze the wood woman from moving even a single root. Slowly she peers down to the side of her lower torso and discovers one of the girls arms piercing straight through her wooden body; the orange girls head rising from its slump to reveal the bright red pupils staring back at her. A sinister chuckle leaks out from her devilish grin as the girl’s body start to morph before her eyes, the roots attached to her head transforming into a pair of jet black horns. “You blind fool. Did you honestly believe we didn’t think this wouldn’t be the first thing that you would try?” the girl asks as she finally fully forms into the very demon that had accompanied the two. With but a single swift movement, Alex slides his razor sharp hand blade across the wooden warrior root body while slipping right out from her grasp; Carila effectively split diagonally as what remains of her upper body is sent careening back in a splatter of chlorophyll. In a sudden poof of black smoke does the demon return over to his mentor’s side, Alex’s smile remaining when fully expecting some form of praise for his performance. His prideful grin deflates when peeking over to the purple angel and finding him not even uttering a single word as he simply stares outward.

When hearing the sound of agonizing grunts and gnarls, Alex glances out to the very wood woman he had just finished slicing straight in half; left astonished when watching her pull what little was attached to her head off the ground. “Gotta give it to ya; pulling yourself back up after having most of yourself slashed off; color me impressed. Even a pornstar’s morning wood would have trouble keeping itself up after getting slashed, they’d be lucky enough to walk away with even a slightly functioning libido afterward. And yet, here you are, ready to erect herself out from your slump and willing to get back in the shoot. Bravo” the merc further compliments with a full blow applause. “Will my disgust of your horribly perverted mind ever cease?” the demon beside him comments.

A bout of lime green pukes out from the fallen wood warriors maw, commenting in between her breaths that: “So many millennia have passed...and nothing...nothing has changed...You still treat us as clay...patronizingly abuse and mock us…as if were nothing but meager toys you could mold to your sick whims...completely disregarding the fact that we had lives of our own...You’re nothing but a sick little fledgling!” “Hmph, whatever qualms you had against demon kind, your grudge was surely not worth the sorry state you’re left in.” Alex chimes in with. “This is far beyond any demons, you irritating little imp. If you wish behold a true monster, look to the man beside you. His very presence is nothing but a reminder of horrors not just countless others had to suffer.” the wood woman specifies, Alex gazing back to the purple angel standing beside him. “Um, mind being specific here? I gotta a mile long list of people I screwed over who want to rip out my testies.” Roy requests.

Carila coughs up little bits of chlorophyll that splatter along the grassy shoreline, taking in another before continuing to explain: “My kind had been plentiful and happy. More than willing to support the very world we had shared with others. All that changed when your kind...the Kybr had revealed themselves...countless worlds and the lives that inhabited them were torn asunder and changed into whatever demented forms they had desired them all to be; caring little of how much any creature in this universe was suffering under their omnipotence. Throughout the ages did the wood nymphs dwindle in number in the struggle against the Kybr, their blood mixing along the oceans of other creatures that had fought against them. Not even the most powerful of demon’s could stand against them. I was helpless to watch as my people had thinned to a meager handful, constantly fleeing from a threat nobody in this universe could even comprehend stopping. I could no longer look to that very grotto under the lake as the place of my birth. All it stands to be now is a graveyard where the last of my kin had faded away.”

The wood woman grunts out as she stands atop her severed upper torso, resuming her lament with: “And though the Kybr have vanished, the scars they had inflicted still remain upon the universe and those who reside within; wounds that prove far too severe for time itself to heal. This jungle, this slice of frozen time was all that the wood nymphs had left to them; one of the pieces of this universe left untouched by the Kybr. And so with nowhere left in this world to harbor, we were tasked to preserve this land....I didn’t ask for this. None of us had! My own mental scars ached the very moment I had laid my blue eyes upon your black wings; the display of power he had demonstrated against this harsh natural land was more then enough proof that you were indeed one of them...one of the Kybr. You claim me as a hypocrite, yet here you stand, demanding one hurt by your ancestors to recount the tails of trauma they had inflicted. You spill the blood of their fraternity and now this? You Kybr are the real monsters.”

Having fully sat through the crippled wood woman’s brief history lesson, both the angel and demon look upon her with pitiable contempt, the merc between them stating: “So all this was just a ploy for vengeance over people that are not here anymore? I mean I respect the dedication, at least.” “But it seems that you’re admirable ploy for such pointless revenge has run its course. A shame.” the demon beside him joins. “Oh, but my ploy is far from over.”

Upon the very next moment does a giant stomp between the duo and their fallen foe; both of them gazing up to find the foot belonging to a massive sauropod that lumbers into the lake beside them. Once the giant dinosaur passes by, Alex returns his eyes over to their front and discovers their thought to be beaten foe having vanished; the demon’s eyes peeking over to his purple mentor to find him still staring over to the sauropod. Returning his sites back to the dino in question, he shares in the site of the wooden woman fleeing atop the beasts very back; a small growl escaping as he readies to fly out in pursue. Without even so much as a word of warning does his purple teacher suddenly take off after their retreating foe; Alex left behind to cough up whatever dirt wafts through the air from the unexpected takeoff.

The dust finally settles, Mally coughing up what dirt had slipped into her mouth and uncovers her eyes to the scene set before her. She stands in the midst of vast army stretching out for miles on end, made from diverse and numerous mystical creatures, people, animals that marching together; limb and limb, hand in hand; all of them determined to face the threat all of the stare out to. Turning over to the direction the battalion marches does she see a brilliant gleaming like that shines upon them all, a warm glow filled with comfort and hope. Peering beyond the heavenly light does she then discover what manner of foe this entire battalion faces; a giant withered head with angel wings coming out from its mouth and flapping in the wind, all attached to a centipede like body sporting numerous eyes along its glimmering exoskeleton. All the numerous eyes that decorate this holy abomination slowly begin to open; a shinning glow pouring out from their pupils and glimmers upon all standing before it, making the entire army stop dead in their tracks. The young girl standing out among them all watches as the sheer determination that once radiated from the entire army crumbles away in but a single instance; every single creature that had marched out to the celestial being now kneeling upon their knee’s and bowing faithfully to the angel’s blinding glow.

This hope filled light starts to fade away and lets the orange skater view the world around her once more; Mally discovering herself standing among yet another army made from numerous magical creatures, mystical beings, and mighty deities. Peering out to the direction they face does she discovers the angelic monstrosity they stand against; a twisted and warped purple shape protruding out several heads of different creatures from its edges, with wings flapping out from these creature’s eye sockets. A deep purple mist exudes right out from the dozens of mouths that the angelic horror opens; all the demons, gods, animals, and people that stand together against this threat all are halted mere moments from attack as this mist blankets them all. Among the army’s stupor does the girl see all of their eyes glow out with the very same purple they breath in; their daze swiftly turning into absolute maddening fury; raging screams and horrified shrieks echo out from the entire battalion as anger and confusion overwhelm them all. Mally watches in utter terror as all these people that once stood together in the face of greater adversity were now violently ripping each other apart; bloody chunks and part flying across the air in the descending madness. The angelic horror pours out more of this maddening mist out from its numerous maws until the very air itself was consumed in raging violet.

Soon enough does this fog eventually lift, letting Mally come to see herself hovering along in the void of space; staring down upon the earth as thousands, if not, millions of holy abominations much like the two she had seen before hovering alongside their angelic humanoid counterparts, surrounding the very planets stratosphere and beyond. Beholding this is she forced past all the winged monsters, her site zooming in towards the center of South America and keeps closing in until she sees a golden tower that stretches from the ground to the shrouding dark clouds. Atop this golden tower was a massive halo that holds a strange space within; all the while beneath this ring stood numerous figures, one with orange horns with a flame in the middle, another the head of a skull surrounded by a cosmic aura, one bearing a crown of pure flames and three eyes, one with a tiara of ice crowned atop her head, another garbed in a cape of winds, and finally one donning a set of armor made from thick bedrock. The millions of holy monsters and human angels all start emerge out from the surrounding clouds, all of which approach the towers very top as the halo overhead starts to rapidly spin and pulse. Working underneath this very ring is a lone angel donned with wings of pure solid matter, typing across and adjusting numerous holographic panels; this lone man pressing one final button on the screen right as all of his fellow kin lunge forth. All the numerous celestial beings that surround them are all drawn straight into the space held within the ring; the halo’s reach extending out to all the angelic beings that surround the very planet as the earth glows brighter and brighter the more of them are absorbed.

Her entire vision engulfed in this glow, the intense light finally starts to fade away and letting Mally open her eyes once more; the orange skater rubbing her head and flakes pieces of root off her head as she sits up. Greeted with a much softer glow set among the darkness, she starts to crawl out from the gap and comes to find herself back out in the prehistoric open air; the echoes of the jungle’s wildlife ringing in her ears. This ain’t the grotto. Is this still...What the hell even happened in the time that root burrowed through my skull? As the young lass ponders weather her surroundings are reality or not, a rumbling explosion draws her attention out along the lands very edge; Mally immediately taking off towards the direction she heard the blast go off without even a moments hesitation.

Once having climbed up to the towering head of the sauropod, the wood woman digs her roots straight into its head and burrows right into its very brains; the dinosaur crying out and flailing before the parasite atop its head takes control. Forcing the dino’s head to peer back, Carila is alarmed to discover the very angel that she had cursed in hot pursuit; the wooden warrior thrusting the sauropods elongated neck straight out to the nearing merc in a desperate attempt to swat him away. Roy hovers right aside the dino’s thrusting head and slaps the beast hard enough to make it careen out from the lake waters and crash along the opposite shoreline; the lake waters trembling from the hefty impact. Gliding out to the lake shores himself, Roy lands right atop the fallen dinosaurs very head and peers down to the hole that she had burrowed into the poor thing; a trail of its blood leading straight into the forest edge. A sinister chuckle leaks out from the merc’s maw before he shouts into the woods: “Running like this ain’t gonna do you a lick of good. You’re the one that started this whole shitshow, you should at least have the theoretical vag eggs to take the consequences like a stiff bean cu-” Right upon the very instant does massive mess of wooden roots stretch out from the edge of the forest and envelope the angel’s entire body; pulling Roy further into the depths of the woods.

All the numerous roots tied around the purple angel’s body bash the boy into tree after thick prehistoric tree pulling him deeper through; some of the towering tree’s crashing down to the ground from the slamming impact. Once dragged far enough through the woods, all the roots that bind the purple angel’s body unravel and send the merc crashing right into the face of a towering cliff; chunks of the rock descending alongside him as Roy shakes off his daze just in time to witness his wooden foe lunge out from the forest with a freshly made body. When Carila thrusts her newly made splinter claws right out to the falling angel, Roy strafes aside the wooden warriors thrusting jab; her claws digging straight through the rocky cliff face as she slides down. Carila bounces right off the rocks and out to the receding purple angel; Roy holding up his only arm as the wooden woman feverishly lashes her thorny claws and smashes through the fallen boulders while furious screaming: “Die!...Die! Die! Die!” “Still can’t believe your using the old and tired “sins of the father” bullshit just to throw this little shit fit of yours. Least you could do is come up with a better excuse that doesn’t dump all your problems on somebody vaguely related to some assholes that screwed you over. You might as well just be pissing in the wind at that point.” “What the hell could a cretin like you possibly know, left utterly ignorant of your ancestors sins inflicted upon this very world, all the tormentous suffering that had echoed across the anneals of time to countless others thanks to them. What would you know of that pain, of watching all the people you hold dear die before you!?” Upon the wooden warriors questions of suffering does the merc’s smug grin suddenly shatter, the skin along his arm socket violently pulsating as he leaps right over one of the Carila’s swipes. Hovering right above the wood woman, Roy hammers his tightly clenched fist straight down onto her head and punches her straight down into the dirt; shouting back: “You think I wouldn’t know that pain!?” Carila’s crash down into the earth manages to leave a crater the size of a small home; Roy glaring down as what remained of his wooden foe worms down into the soil. A serene breath passes out from the merc’s mouth, putting aside his short lived anger like a briefly brandished weapon. Easy Roy. Don’t need to get worked up all at once. Just start digging this morning wood out from the ground and then we can starting beating on her.

Right as the merc readies to thrust his arm down into the dirt, the crater he stands upon suddenly erupts in an explosion of dirt and rubble; the intense force of which launching the angel back up into the prehistoric air. Once stopping in the middle of the air, the purple angel peeks back down to discover what looked to be a gigantic worm all made from numerous roots bursting from the soil and rising straight after the merc; Carila riding right atop the worm with fury in her blue sclera. Roy ascends up along the cliff face as the wood worm furiously gives chase, the ascent crumbling into rocky chunks as both of them head towards the top. Coming out from the cliffs ascent, the purple angel glides straight into the forest edge perched along the top; peering back to see the worm stopping just short of the woods and continues the chase on foot. Yet even as Roy stays a good distance away from the pursuing wooden warrior, Carila refuses to hold up on her relentless assault and start to shove her arms straight into the very tree’s she runs right past; uprooting them from the soil and tossing them out like thick, ivy covered spears. Seeing all the plucked out tree’s descend down towards him, Roy weaves out from all the treetops that slam down upon the jungle grounds; some of them even knocking down the surrounding tree’s upon the descent. Jeez, seems like this bitch’d tear through this whole damn forest before calling the whole thing quits. Course, it be a bit easy just to tear and blast her to pieces; but that sure ain’t no fun. Think something more ironic might be better thematically appropriate here, but how to go about that? Upon coming along the next part of the jungle does the purple angel sense his answer, a devilish grin creeping out from between his cheeks as he peers out along his left. Oh yeah, that’ll work beautifully.

Back out along the receding lakeside, the black horned demon stares down into the water as it reflects her feminine form; a low growl slipping out from between her teeth before she swats at her own image. Where does that purple low life get the nerve? Ignoring his his own pupil and leaving them behind on the shores of a prehistoric lake. He should know better than this, dammit. Don’t say that he’s still upset of our last conversation? You’d think somebody with such grizzly professions would be more thick skinned than to be affect by something so harmless as words. How foolish.

On these very thoughts, the demon’s ears catch something rustling behind him; Alex quickly pulling herself up and turning out to the forest edge to find the bushes quivering. Her alarm dies down when witnessing none other than his mentor’s sibling emerge out from the green; stating: “Oh, its only you.” “A-Alex? Is- is this another...Is that you?” Mally utters. “Oh I don’t know, has that rancid branch that bore into her head deprived her of what sense you had?” “Okay, yeah, this is real.”

Strolling over to the demon’s side, the orange skater peers out to the vast lake before them while questioning: “So, where’s Roy.” “Hmph, that depraved brother of yours is off somewhere in combat with that wooden harlot after she attempt to drown us all.” “Ke-I-what...Agh...I’m out for about an hour and I miss all this. Though after everything that root wound up showing me, I shouldn’t be surprised things went downhill like this. We need to find them before it gets worse.” “Why should we? He doesn’t seem so eager to so much as speak to me, let alone fight by my side. Pretty rude if we’re being honest. Why should I humble myself to go crawling back to him?” Alex refuses with arms crossed. “Jeez, starting to see why he just up and ditched ya.” “What are blathering about?” “Did you seriously expect him to just leave off like nothing ever happened after you deliberately trash talking him about the beef with his ex?” Mally asks him, fully turning over to the demon. “Well, guess that should be the turnabout to it all, should it? If he’s so eager to jest of my demeanor; then he should be prepared to face the same sort of judgment. And from all those rumors said what had happened; its no wonder that she dumped him.”

Seeing her demonic partners make this last statement with a smug grin prompts the orange skater to slowly start stroll closer towards her; remaining silent as her fist clenching tighter the closer she nears. Once standing right beside the black horned demon, Mally roughly grasps Alex by the throat and pulls her closer; the skater swinging her fist hard enough into her jawline to splash her down into the shallow lake water. Pulling herself right out from the shallow end, Alex starts to cough up bits of water as she rubs the part of her chin that was struck; glaring up to the skater with: “What the hell is your-” Before Alex could so much as utter another word, Mally grasps the demon’s shirt collar and pulls her face to face; drips of sweat running down the demon’s head as she stares upon the skater blood red glare. “Did you not think that black horned head of yours that he said all that to you to try and help you, to try and break down the raw reality of how you treat people like they’re nothing just to try and change your sad, sorry situation. Cause if there’s one thing that my bro’s on the mark with, its that you no one likes you; and you saying shit like that is exactly why. You just treat everyone around you like your better than them, like barely anybody you know is worth your precious time. You think that’s the reason why everyone stays away from you?”

The demon’s face sours upon the girl’s enraged ranting; Alex growling back: “Like hell you know what people are really like around me, the way they all stare as if they’re very eyes say that I don’t belong with them. You wouldn’t dare say all this to me if you could see the scorns they’d give as far back as preschool.” Suddenly does Mally lay down a nasty headbutt right upon the demon’s face, one that makes Alex splash back down into the shallow shores; her node blood floating through the lake water as the skaters shadow looms over her. “You think that excuse is gonna come even close to working here? I knows somebody who has the same sort of copy paste sob story of being rejected cause of the way they look; somebody who could’ve just as well wound up being just as much of a bitter prick as you’re being. But she didn’t. She kept going and kept her chin up despite all the names, all the scorn, all the mockery. And thanks to that, she wound up having people that cared about her by her side, ready to throw down life and limb at the drop of a hat for her if ever need; and they’d sure as hell know she would do the same for all of them.”

Clutching the wet demon’s shirt collar once more, Mally drags Alex right out from the lakeside and has her stand right on the solid shores behind them; keeping her enraged glare upon the demon as she claims how: “Now you’re gonna go out and make up for the inexcusable shit that you said to Roy; or so help me god, I’m going to take you by the horns and drag your sorry ass out to him so I can shove my fist down your bunghole far enough to make you puppet out an apology. Do you understand me?” Among Alex mix of borderline fright and questionable arousal, Alex calms herself and states that: “Fine. But I’m going out of my own volition.” Saying this does the demon start to hover out to where her purple mentor had flown out to, all while the skater follows behind with her hockey stick brandished.

Perched along the branches of the prehistoric tree’s, several exotic birds that once called these woods their natural homes flutter away in terror as a streak of purple and black zoom right past; the tree’s that they once inhabited soon absorbed within a slithering mass of roots and bark that pursues after. While swerving around the dozens of towering jungle tree’s, the purple angel peers back to the mess of gathered wood that chases after his hide and finds his wooden foe riding atop the mass; her upper half sinking into the mass as she feverishly pursues after. Yeah, that’s it girl. Keep that raging hate boner up chasing after this sweet ass. Your gonna find out in a sec that this tail’s way too tasty for your own good.

Soon enough does Roy manages to glide right out from the depths of the forest and starts to descend down into a small valley clearing; the merc peering back to witness Carila leap right out from the woods, rocking a gigantic body cobbled together with dozens of jungle wood. While the two race through the valley field, Roy takes the time to peer back to the wooden woman feverishly chasing after and further demeans: “Ya know, I’m beginning to wonder when exactly all this pent up hatred and rage made ya loose yer head. Course, its another question to ask weather you had a mind in the first place underneath that mess of aging roots that you unfortunately gotta call a noggin.” Rather then attempting to respond back with words of her own, Carila instead lets out a monstrous screech as she leaps up through the air; her heavyweight body plummeting down towards the merc like a tumbling tree. The purple angel weaves right out from the wooden warriors plunge, her massive body crashing back upon the earth with a trembling quake; strands of white and yellow goo splattering along her feet the moment she stomps down.

Her blue sclera locked right upon the purple merc, she witnesses him retreat out to the side of a towering rock cluster; Carila wasting not another moment to lumber out towards her target. Roy rises right out from the wood giants tackle upon the last moment and makes her crash right into the rocks; countless boulders break off as the cluster crumbles to pieces, a couple of other strange boulders falling over and breaking apart into yellow goop. Carila keeps her killer glare onto the angel as Roy hovers high above and lands right atop a towering jungle tree sitting right in the middle of the valley; the merc sticking his tongue out while nonchalantly flipping her the bird. The wood woman stretches out her massive log of an arm right out to the very tree that her foe is perched on, plunging her roots straight into the tree’s very wood. The towering tree within her grasp, Carila uproots it straight out of the soil and flings the merc right off; several oval rocks falling off the branches as she continues to flail the massive jungle tree about. “Why won’t you die already!?” the shrieks whilst continuing to violently swing out to the fleeting angel. Straight into a cliff face, sweeping out through the meadow, and down upon uphill ascent of an incline; Carila slams the tree into wherever in her efforts to strike the purple merc out from the sky; Roy continuing to simply evade her flailing without so much as counterattacking himself.

Eventually does one of the wood nymphs aimless swings actually manage to swat the angel out of the air, sending the merc straight down in the middle of an enclosed cliiffside. An unhinged laugh escapes from the nymph as Roy pries himself off the soil; Carila’s blue sclera locked as she finally corners the merc. “Not once in the thousands of years I had been cursed to remain down in this slice of frozen time did I ever this this chance would grace me. But it shall be all worth it for avenging my ancestors that had suffered at the hands of you Kybr; forcing us all to hide down in this hellhole until our inevitable extinction.” “Funny as hell for you of all people to brag about taking vengeance. Just hope your ready to have those same words spewed right back in yer face.” Roy warns her.

These words of warning spoken do both of them hear an enraged roar ring out from above, the wooden warrior glaring up to the top of the cliff to witness a vicious T-rex start dropping down; the dinosaur descending down onto the wooden giant and digging its sharp teeth straight into her shoulder. Carila tumbles back as she attempts to pry the dino right off her as a triceratops charges in, ramming right into the guardians shin and knocking her down upon her back. The very moment she tumbles down into the ground does a pterodactyl swoop down and try to dig its claws straight into the wood woman’s tiny head; a whole pack of velociraptors joining in and clinging to part of her wooden body as she struggles against all the furious dinosaurs piling onto her. “Why!? Why are you all- Why is this happening!?” the guardian yelps out among the chaos.

The giant wood woman hears a devious laugh sound out alongside the growling dinosaurs, her head peering up to see the laughter coming from the purple angel as he hovers above; further berating her as she’s being torn apart at the seems. “Can’t believe you seriously call yourself a guardian of these parts. You’ve been on the job for serious how long now, and you were so occupied with wanking off your hate boner that ya didn’t realize where I lead ya to.” Curious of what the merc was prattling on about, Carila peers out around the very valley she had just thrashed about in. Absolute horror crawling through her as she finally discovers all the broken eggs that litter the ground, their shells and yolk splattered and scattered along the grassy plains. “You’ve been calling me a monster this whole time, all for a bunch of shit people related to me did a long while ago. And yet look at what you just did now. You were so busy trying to stamp me out that you wound up screwing over all these poor dino motherfuckers. Guess’s it might not be worthwhile if that kinda reach around prankster bull ain’t poetically catharsis.” The angel taunting words finally break the last bit of sanity holding the wood woman together, a maddening cry echoing out from her maw as all the roots that make up her body pierce through the dozens of dinosaurs that once tore her flesh apart.

Along the valley’s edge do both Alex and Mally emerge out from the forest in time to behold the wooden behemoth draw in the numerous scaly beasts within her own body; the dinosaurs crying out in agony as the wood nymphs roots tear their flesh and consume their very forms. Peering away from the agonizing site to find her purple brother hovering overhead, left utterly mesmerized by the grotesque scene playing out under him. “Shit man...” “Roy!” he hears his sister call out to him with.

The purple angel parts his eyes away from wretched site and gazes down to discover both her and his pupils approaching; Roy himself fluttering down to greet them back with: “Welcome back to reality, Mal. The hell sort of trippy sites did ya see while that root was digging in your brains?” “I...I’m not even sure I can put what all I saw into comprehensible words. But I can definitely say that whatever the Kybr were, friendly sure as hell is the furthest words away from them. I practically saw them all tear apart worlds and people effortlessly before my eyes.” the orange skater describes. “Wait a moment. Are you saying that irritating splinter woman’s venomous words towards your perverted brother hold some modicum of truth?” the demon questions. “Yep. Terrible stuff.”

“And speaking of mistakes, I think that Alex’s has something she wants’ta say to ya, Roy.” Mally segues to. “That true?” Roy asks, his purple eyes locked to the demonic girl. After transforming herself into a boy, Alex coughs a little bit before taking in a deep breath and going: “I-Indeed I do. For you see, underneath my awe aspiring complex personality; I am in fact capable of humbleness. And I dare slaughter anyone that says otherwise… My point is that humility allows me to perceive some ill made mistakes I have made; specifically making mention of your most recent relationship affairs as a crutch to counterargument. Such behavior was out of line for me. I’m starting to understand why those around me might react when taking aim for a more personal target. And for such an undeserved low blow; I must sincerely ap-..apo-…apollll...apolooo...ap...apooolllo...” Amidst the demons’s attempt to apologize, his mentor takes a gentle grasp upon his shoulder and gives a grin while responding: “Eh, I can probably take that crappy attempt of a sorry. Sound like I finally broke through to ya on that shit.” “Yes, well...best savor that. Don’t expect me to lower myself to such levels again.” Seeing the two make up brings out a warm smile across Mally’s cheeks a moment that’s promptly interrupted when a trembling squeal screeches before them all.

The trio glancing back towards the ongoing scene and come to watch as their wooden foe rises upon her feet, the countless dinosaurs that had once attempted to rend her to pieces now sown into her very roots; the head of the tyrannosaurus stuck to end of her right arm while the head of the triceratops is stuck to her left. The dozens of velociraptors decorated across her torso. “My duty doesn’t matter anymore; it never did in the end. Attempting to safeguard that which the Kybr had destroyed, it was nothing but a fruitless endeavor to falsify a purpose; one that I attempted to engrave in my fateless life for the sake of those long past. But now, a new road stretches out before me, one to prevent those like me to spawn in this world with such predetermined scars; ones that ache with a cold and empty loneliness and yearning for others that will never come to pass. And the first step upon that path is with the Kybr’s true extinction!” Upon those very words do all the dinosaurs trapped within her body all roar out at once; their outcries ringing across the entire prehistoric jungle.

“Oh yeah. Kind forgot about that. Probably should just blasted her to bits while she was turning, huh. Still, hearing Alex let out hilarious attempt of an apology might’ve been worth it.” the purple angel claims. “A rather careless mistake if you ask me; should’ve just ended her quite long ago. But this laughable error matters little in the end. No matter what grotesque form this worthless wood woman takes, its doubtful it would be nowhere near enough to stand up against the might of me and my constituents.” the black horned demon adds. “Couldn’t have said it better myself.” “Glad to see things are finally back on track.” the orange skater among them states; the trio taking their stance against the behemoth of wood and dinosaur flesh.

The horrible amalgamation of jungle wood and dinosaur flesh suddenly lunges forth, thrusting its T-rex limb and opening its jaw wide as its maw races to the three. The trio split apart before the head of the beast could sink its teeth into them all, with Roy leaping right back into the fray after which and kicking the head of the dino right in the cheek; the purple angel’s kick strong enough to make the entire giant tumble aside. As the wooden behemoth continues stumbling back, a lone yo yo twirls around the very same arm and wraps the T-rex head within its reinforced steel string; the string pulling back and keeping Carila front regaining her balance. Peering back does the wooden warrior discover that very string belonging to the orange skater, Mally single handedly keeping the amalgamation of wood and beast from standing on her own two feet. Its in that moment that the wooden woman hears the air above her let out a distinctive poof, the head of the giant gazing up to discover the black horned demon plunging down upon her with his hand taking the form of an axe. Alex slams his transformed axe hand down onto the wood girl’s neck, the impact however not being enough to make a clean cut; the demon’s weapon only getting through about a tenth of their foe’s thick neck. Before the demon could take another swing at her neck, Carila swats the imp away with her other free arm; this very action causing the giant body to finally fall onto the earth with a trembling quake. With the chimera of wood and flesh having crashed on her backside, the purple angel ascends the air above the fallen giant and holds his only arm up in the air; a sphere of purple and black cultivating in the palm of his hand. As the angel above her prepares his assault, Carila glances over to her arm to find the skaters string still wrapped around the head of the T-rex; a sinister smile cracking between her cheeks before she starts to pick herself off the ground. Rising right off the ground, the jungle wood giant thrust her arm straight upwards and flings the orange girl that had held her back up towards the purple angel; Roy discarding his ball of purple and black to catch his sister with but his only limb. “Dammit!”

With but a single hand, the merc manages to grasp his orange sibling before she could be flung right out into the jungle; Roy keeping Mally in his hand as the giant above continues to pull its heavyweight body off the ground. “Kay, we might need a plan here. How bout pulling out one of those strats of yours out, eh Mal?” “I ain’t too sure. Alot of them won’t be as effective with our blue brother AFK.” “Let’s just cobble one together instead. This 20 ton of morning wood is practically on high alert for anything I do.” “She didn’t exactly see Alex coming though. He got a good chop onto her neck before he was swatted away.” Mally gazes out behind the rising giant and discovers their demonic third gliding out from the depths of the woods, sweeping away whatever leaves and branches wound up on him. “I think that might just be our winning ticket. Fling me out.” the skater requests. “Uh, kay.” When her brother tosses her up into the air, Mally stiffens her entire figure before landing right back in Roy’s palm; the merc holding his sister like an Olympic javelin thrower as he asks: “Where at?” “Aim for the head.”

Just as his orange sister instructs him to, the purple angel lobs Mally straight towards the very head of the giant of wood and flesh like a throwing spear; the skater flipping herself feet first as she streaks through the air like a missile. Though Carila attempts to lift her triceratops head to block the oncoming lass, its weight simply proves far too much of a hindrance to lift up in time; the wood woman able to little but brace for impact as the orange skater harshly stamps her feet straight into the behemoth’s tiny face The wooden giant reels back as Mally leaps right behind the amalgamation and out to the approaching demon; Alex’s pupils shrinking when peering up and discovering the skater descending down towards him. “Grab me! Grab me! Grab me! Grab me! Grab me! Grab me!” the skater screams while plummeting down. Any attempts to catch the girl dropping down towards her are forsaken right then and there when the black horned demon disappears in a puff of smoke; Mally dive bombing straight through the cloud and violently crashing down into the dirt below. Alex reappears a few feet beside as the orange skater plucks her upper half right out from the soil, shaking the dirt out of her hair before sarcastically thanking the demon with: “Gee Alex, sure appreciating ya catching me in the air like that. Sure saved my hide from crashing down into the dirt face first!” “I’m honestly at a lost on what exactly you were expecting me to do with you bombing down to me at breakneck speeds.” Alex earnestly questions. “Well, can I at least expect ya to listen to a little plan I got going on in the deep fryer?”

Freshly recovering from the orange girls harsh stomp, the behemoth again charges out to the purple merc that hovers before her, thrusting the open jaws of her T-rex head towards the angel to try and take a bite out of his purple hide. Roy strafes right aside the dinosaur heads clamping teeth and darts straight to the giants chest to attempt to counterattack, ready to deliver a punch right through the sternum. Just before the merc could even touch a single root of the wooden giant, Carila’s chest suddenly burst open before him and unleashes an entire gaggle of velociraptors; all of the mule sized motherfuckers lunging out from the depths of the wood woman and biting down on the angel. “Gah!” Right as one of them was on the verge of piercing through the skin, Roy acts fast and casts a beam of dark and purple down upon where they spawned; effectively forcing all of them to retreat as the giant herself stumbles back. Once free from the numerous dinosaur jaws, Roy fires out another ray up towards the gigantic amalgamation’s head; the wood woman raising the shield like head of the triceratops; the beast moaning out in pain as its forced to take the blast literally head on. Having blocked the angel’s beam, Carila suddenly charges towards the purple merc while keeping the triceratops head up; Roy gliding back as the giant of wood and flesh readies to slam the head right into him.

Distracted from her feverish pursuit after the Kybr, the wood woman then and there feels something land atop her head and hook into the wood woman’s bright blue sclera; Carila letting out a horrible shriek as the hook digs further into her eye socket. Gazing up amidst her painful agony, the giant discovers the black horned demon perched atop her relatively sized noggin and shoving his transformed hook hand deep down into her eye; Alex wearing a deliciously sinister smile as he keeps holds onto his wooden foe’s head. “You-!” Just when she attempts to reach over and pry the demon off her, Mally leaps right onto the top of her arm and casts her grapple yo to the T-rex head stuck to the end; leaping off as its string wraps around scaly beasts upper jaw. Landing back onto the ground, the orange skater wrangles the massive tyrannosaurus head; the beast struggling to free itself as Mally keeps the beast bound. “Go for it, Roy!” she shouts to her purple brother. Both of his teammates keeping the giant mess of roots and dino flesh, Roy swoops back in the fray and takes hold of one of the triceratops’ horns before lifting the entire behemoth up towards the crystal coated ceiling.

The orange haired skater and demon release the giant from their grasps as the angel continues to drag the wooden giant straight towards the glowing roof of the prehistoric cavern. Once close enough to the shinning crystals above, Roy heaves the behemoth of roots and flesh skywards; Carila’s massive body crashing right into sharp glowing rocks hard enough to cause the entire roof to tremble. Alongside chunks of the glowing crystal and stone, the behemoth starts to plummet back down towards the prehistoric earth; Roy ordering his pupils to: “Finish it!” The demon is more than happy to obey his mentors command and lunges out towards the falling giant at breakneck speeds, clasping both of his hands together and forming them into the head of a giant axe. Closing in towards the very head of their wooden foe, Alex swings the edge of his weapons to the wooden warrior as she opens her maw wide; the demon only able to cut about 6/10th’s through the giants thick neck before suddenly feeling an overwhelming pain surge within his stomach. Roy and Mally gaze upon the site in a horrifying blend of alarming terror and utter dread; beholding a single straight root that had erupted from their foe’s mouth and pierced straight through Alex’s body.

The very silhouette of the root piercing straight through his pupil’s stomach causes his vision to fade in purple; the shadows of the site transforming into a pair of shadowy winged figures, one of which driving a sword through the other’s chest in a haunting similar manner. Bouts of purple liquid spurt out from the stabbed figures mouth as it slowly tilts its head towards Roy, its eyes reflecting despair and dread as it leaks out tears of violet. The very image pulled from the boy’s demented mind is swiftly overcome by a creeping darkness that stems from these figures and consumes Roy’s whole vision; the angel plummeting down to the earth as the socket his left arm once was start violently pulse.

The giant of wood and flesh finally crash back down in the once pristine valley, the dust swiftly settling to reveal Alex remaining utterly limp while dangling unto the very pike that pierces his body. “You nasty little devil...” Carila sighs. The wooden warrior’s arm staggers as she lifts the head of the Tyrannosaurs rex up to the impaled demon; the dinosaurs teeth glistening as its starts to open its drooling maw. “You’ve caused me enough trouble.” The T-rex’s mouth just inches away from the black horned boy, a streak of orange zooms through and breaks the demon off the wood woman’s pike just seconds as she bites down; Carila peeking over towards the same direction to discover the orange girl swinging away with the boy on her shoulder. While Mally flees out towards the jungle’s edge, she peers back to find the giant refusing to pursue as the wooden behemoth rises off the floor to instead face the purple angel; her brother continuing to struggle and tremble as he remains kneeling on the ground. Come on, Roy. Don’t quit now.

The merc breath shakes as he trembles onto the floor; the giant that he had once tossed aside now towers over him, with her very shadow looming over the young angel. “Do you feel it yet, Kybr? That is the very same horror and despair that your ancestors had inflicted upon not just me, but all the wood nymphs that had suffered under your power. Unlike those wretched monsters however, I take no joy in watching you suffer from your loss. Be grateful, young Kybr, for you shall join your demonic ally in his passing very soon.” the giant states, staggering her tyrannosaurus hand down to the trembling angel. “This day shall be remembered. The day the last of the Kybr are snuffed out from this worlds existence.” The tyrannosaurus’ close in on the kneeling merc, ready to tear apart the angel with its sharp killer teeth at any moment; its hungering breath waft upon the boy’s entire body.

The very moment the teeth of the beast were on the verge of clasp down upon him, the purple angel finally rises off the valley grass as the stitches along his arm tear off; the Tyrannosaurs rex’s assault suddenly thwarted when strands of pure black puncture through the dinosaurs head. Carila watches as these newfound strings push their way from the head of the T-rex and weave themselves across the cracks and crevices of her gigantic arm; the wooden warrior gazing down along her limb and discovering the very source of these strands. From the angel’s missing arm socket do dozens of these black tendrils wriggle out from the depths of his body; drips of the merc’s blood trickling down his torso and staining the grass beneath his feet. Though the amalgamation of jungle wood and dinosaur flesh attempts to jerk her arm away from the angel standing before her, the numerous strands of black enveloping her arm refuse to free her from their grasp; Roy lifting his head up and staring to her with his eyes glowing a sinister shade of violet. A single jerk back is all it takes for Roy to rip the gigantic log that was his foes arm straight off the rest of the giant’s body; Carila tumbling back to the edge of the small valley and falling upon the face of a rocky cliffside. Out from the fall does the wooden woman gaze back towards the violet angel, watching as the Tyrannosaurs rex and all the other tree that made up her severed limb are covered in more and more of these black lines until the fully envelope the limb; all of it swiftly devoured until being reduced to nothing underneath the shadowy mass.

As the giant wooden woman slowly pulls herself up along the cliffside, she keeps her eyes locked to the angel as he starts to hover out to her with his tendrils of pure black squirming like a mass of raging worms. “You think you’re the only one who can regrow their limbs?” she remarks. Though the giant reaches her only arm up to the forest above the cliff, not a single roots starts to stretch itself up towards the top no matter how hard she reaches. “Why...won’t...my arm...My neck!” Glancing down along the edge of her neckline, she finds the veins that run along the side of it now left severed and disconnected; a seething growl escaping from her mouth as she curses out: “That little bastard!” Its in that moment that the angel’s strands of black all wrap around the wooden behemoths massive log of a leg and tear off the entire limb in but an instant; some of the velociraptors that were once trapped within Carila’s body scrambling away through the valley.

Left desperate to end the angel that hovers before her, the wood guardian leaps into the air with but her remaining leg and hammers the head of the triceratops down upon him; the entire jungle trembling from the incredible impact. A moment of silence passes among the small valley, the giant letting a breath escape as she assumes the fight to be over. Alas does she swiftly retract that same breath as she begin to feel her entire arm quake; the head of the triceratops slowly forced back up by the dozens of the violet angel’s stands of pure black. “No...No!” Carila screeches; shoving her arm down towards the earth. Before the giant could crush the angel under her weight, a great surge of purple and dark blasts out from underneath the head of the triceratops; the pulse launching the giant of wood and flesh right off Roy. The ground beneath the behemoth cracks as she crash back down; Carila peers up from beyond her body to witness all the merc’s tendrils lunge out towards her; their ends transforming sets of deadly sharp teeth that open their maws as they close in.

All the maw made from the dark mass sink their chompers down into the giants very roots and begin to rip and tear apart the wooden guardians gigantic body; stains of chlorophyll and bits of red splattering across the valley grass as Carila struggles and flails under them all. When attempting to smack all the mouths of dark away with her other arm, she finds the beast itself missing from the end of her limb; the triceratops once trapped among her roots fleeing out in the jungle. All of her options to retaliate dwindling at the very seems, Carila decides to just simply cut her losses and makes a small branch protrude out from the side of her head; the wood woman pushing up from her shoulder and pulling her head off her giant bodies neck. Once freeing herself from the roots of her own body, the wooden warriors head leaps away before a set of black teeth could clamp down upon her head; Carila feverishly racing away from the scene and out towards the forest edge. The violet angel lets all the black strands that had emerged from his arm socket quickly finish devouring what remained of his foe’s abandoned corpse; and though silent, Roy keeping his enraged glare locked to the head as she pathetically flees.

Once getting far enough away from the action, Mally hops down from the tree branches and lands along the jungle floor with the wounded demon in her arms; the orange skater gently setting Alex along his side. The black horned demon lets out a retching groan as he squirms on the soft grass, the girl stating for him to: “Take it easy, Alex. Y-You’re gonna be fine.” “That fucking wooden plank of a nymph! I refuse to be left down by such a dastardly surprise assault!” the demon growls aloud, grasping the pike left stuck within his stomach. Before the demon could even start to pull the piece of root out from himself, Mally grabs hold of his arm and warns: “Whoa! Whoa! Whoa! Whoa! We can’t just pull that outta ya yet, we don’t got anything to patch it up with.” “Then what do you suggest we do?” “I-I don’t-” A brief breath escapes from the orange skater as she peers up to the roof of the prehistoric cavern; reviewing how: “Even if we could get back up to the surface, the nearest hospital’s probably miles away. Maybe we can...No...Ah...”

In the midst of breathing through the uninterrupted pain surging through his stomach, a strange scent greets the demon’s nose between his breaths; Alex taking a deeper smell of the air before concluding: “Is...is that me?” “Dammit Alex, can you stop thinkin about your self image for one bleeding second and worry about the literal hole in your stomach!?” “No, you rambunctious git! I can smell more of myself, more of me than their should be.” “Is all the bleeding making you hallucinate already, or are you just screwing with me? Cause at this point, it seems like either or.” The skater watches as Alex struggles to pick himself off the jungle grass and starts dragging himself across the floor; the demon heaving himself out towards the direction they’d just came from. “This...this could be just what I need.” he claims aloud. “What the hell are you on about?” the girl standing beside her questions. “This newfound darkness that permeates the air. If I can find and consume it, then it may be enough to patch up this pathetic wound I’m being forced to endure.” “And you’re sure about that?” “I’ve never been so sure in my entire life.” Upon those very words does the demon then feel something sweep him right off the rough jungle floor; Alex gazing up to find himself carried within the orange skaters arms. “Right, just lead the way.” Mally request as she starts to jog back. Gently caressed by the skaters firm, but soft arms, Alex reactively transforms into a girl as a bit of blush glows along her cheeks; the demon shaking this off to peer out to the woods ahead.

Feverishly dragging what remains of herself along the grassy valley, the wood woman’s fearful gaze begins turning into a hopeful smile the closer she nears the forest edge; Carila just a couple more feet away from her only salvation out from the brink of her demise. But just when she was ready to reach her arms out to one of the towering jungle tree, her hopeful grin shatters on the spot when feeling something grasp the back of her head and haul her away from salvation. “No! No! No! No!” she screams out as the dozens of black strands all jerk her back through the valley plains; the tendrils swiftly tossing her remains through the prehistoric air. Her careen through the valley air comes to a sudden end when caught by the purple angel’s actual arm, with the merc grip tightening as he clutches the head by the eyes. The wood woman hopelessly struggles as visible cracks start to form around her very head; the base of her neck falling apart as the fractures worsen.

Moments from snuffing out what remained of the once proud guardian, Roy stops tightening his grasps when hearing the head let out a wheezing chuckle; Carila proclaiming with a weak smile: “So you finally embrace it, do you?...You’ve decided to finish what your ancestors had started so long ago...It’s not surprising, not even a smidgen. Snuffing out the future of a species that your people had dwindled to near nonexistence; you’ll be no better than them in the end.” “Ya know...” Upon these very words does the purple angel resume squeezing the head of his foe in his iron grasp, Carila’s face contorting into sheer agony until finally breaking into chunks of withered roots; the wood woman’s remains scattering along the valley grass. “I can live with that.” Feeling something left within his grasp, the purple merc opens his palms and discovers something peculiar leftover from her demise; a set of strange seeds now resting in the palm of his hand, decorated with a bright blue circle along the middle. Hmm…

Among pondering what to do with the leftovers of his foe does he then sense both his sister and his pupil on the approach; Roy dunking the seeds down into his pants pocket as Mally lands behind him. Once gently setting the wounded demon down upon the gentle valley grass, a stark shock is reflected through the orange skater’s eyes as she peers up to discover all the waving black strands along her brother’s side; stuttering out: “R-roy?...Wh-what the hell are all those things?” “Why’d you come back?” he asks her. “Uh, well. Alex wanted to-”

Midst attempting to explain themselves, the black horned demon herself slowly arises from the valley earth while grasping the pike left lodged in his stomach. In just a single swift pull does Alex uproot the sharp spike straight out from her body in a splatter of black and red; an action of which catches both Mally and her brother completely off guard. “Give it to me...Give them to me!” she shrieks before lunging over to the dozens of strands stemming from the merc’s side. Both the merc and skater remain utterly astonished as the demon sinks her teeth into these black tendrils and tear them right off their stems; Alex slurping them all down like an Italian dish. While watching the demon continue to consume the numerous strands from her brother’s side, Mally’s attention is drawn over to the open wound left along Alex’s stomach; a thick black goop dripping out from within the demon’s body and filling the hole, all until the terrible wound that she had suffered from moments ago disappears.

A heafty sigh escapes from Alex as she leans away from the tendrils she had spared; claiming with euphoric calm how: “Ahh. Finally, that horrible pain has ceased.” “Alex...the fuck happened?” her mentor obviously questions. After pulling herself off the valley grass, the demon clears her throat before explaining: “Is it not obvious to you yet? All those black strand that had erupted from you’re arm socket, their very same substance is what makes up my biological makeup; tis why consuming them dressed my wound so efficiently.” “So this stuff coming out of his arm is some sort of demon goo?” the orange skater behind her asks. “To be less moronically blunt then that, this substance is one the feeds of negative emotion. I can only imagine something that this purple pervert thought off had awoken it from its slumber.” “So this stuff is a part of you. So can I...” Upon pondering of something, the merc begins to concentrate while keeping his eyes locked to the dozens of strands. All these dozens of black lines start to form together under the merc’s very command, forming straight from his arm socket and growing to match the exact length of his other arm; leaving five strands out along the end to form the fingers and thumb. Beholding the results of his concentration, Roy thrust his fresh new arm of pure black into the air as he cheers out: “Hell yeah. Got me a fresh new arm, bitches! I’m ready to belt people across the ass and make em scream out for more...Wonder what jacking it with this must feel like?” “Hmph. I’d normally be quite upset from this newfound development. The fact that you happen to sprouts a fresh new limb that happens to be made from the same biological material I am. But seeing how it had bloomed at such a convenient time, I suppose it’s something I can overlook. Consider it a gift then, for your gracious and surprisingly effective training.” A warm smile stretches across the angel’s cheeks when hearing his pupil state such, responding to the gesture with: “He he he. That ain’t the only gift that’s being given out today. I got something for ya that you’ll love.” “Oh, a present for me? You shouldn’t have; but please go on, don’t let me stop you.” the demon tells him with a grin.

Roy approaches the young demon before kneeling down to her very level; putting his hands upon her shoulders and simply stating to her that: “You pass.” From these very words does Alex’s grin suddenly break apart at the seems; the demon uttering: “P-Pardon?” “Congrats, kid. You graduated from your training, all with flying colors too. You’ve gotten over your smug demeanor and finally shown some actual growth and maturity while under my wing. I’m absolutely certain now that whatever this harsh existence that we have deemed to be life has to blindside ya around the corner with, you got enough in ya to take from their hands and shove it straight back down their damn throat.” “So...I won’t have to drag myself to your training sessions?” the demon softly asks. “Yep, you your own demon now.” “Uh...Well, that’s...quite the relief. All those regimen were beginning to grind through my life.” she responds with half hearted faux smug.

“Hey, uh, hate to bring down this his precious moment of euphoric conclusion of character growth, but I got a hell of a bombshell to drop here.” Mally cuts in with. “If it ain’t aimed at the Ukraine, the fire away.” her brother requests. “That memory root made me see a lot of things that Kybr had done in their time; none of it being remotely good. I’ve seen them change and transform so many lands and homes by just the wave of their hand; uncaring of how many people they kill, lives they ruin, or how many they driven to utter extinction.” “Eesh. Really that bad.” “So much worse than you think. And the cherry on top of this impending nightmarish sundae is that I had a horrible realization. Tore’s been out there helping somebody that wants to release them all back into the world.” “But we still don’t have a single clue where he might be.” “I think I might know where. But if we don’t hurry back up to the surface and out to them, then we’re gonna have a hell of a lot more problems that nobody can ever prepare themselves for.”

---------------------------------------------------------------

As so, the truth behind the Kybr and their past has finally been revealed to Mally and her friends, but can she relay this newfound knowledge to her brother in time before those how had once terrorized the universe could be freed? Find out on the season finale of Young hope.

[lanamemories2]

clip clops in on horseback wearing a pointy little dunces hat n sipping frm a rly long crazy straw tht says ‘goblin’ w all of the swirls. Hlo. i’m nai n it’s rly nice to meet u all!!! 23 n she/ha pronouns. i’m one of the three admins here (cleo lazuli on the main) n i’m literally So Excited to get started i cld honestly beat my chest like caesar the ape over it. more abt lana under the cut!!! also like this or hmu if u wna plot n her pinterest is here 👺🌚 

『KRISTINE FROSETH ❙ CIS-FEMALE』 ⟿ looks like LANA JAMESON is here for HER JUNIOR year as a DANCE student. SHE is 21 years old & known to be VIVACIOUS, ALLURING, CHILDISH & IMPULSIVE. They’re living in NOLAND, so if you’re there, watch out for them. ⬳ NAI. 23. GMT. SHE/HER.

AESTHETICS: 

scalding your fingers in shower water until they glow like rudolph’s nose, cherry red gym socks tugged high and nothing else, stepping out into a cold breeze in just spaghetti strapped silk, a red lightening stripe painted over your eye like a new take on the scarlet letter, crowning each finger with a miniature raspberry, hugging a knee close to lick a stripe of fruit juice off the bruised cap, doodling penises in condensation instead of sitting still, a water pistol topped with rum and covered in glittery pin-up stickers, believable smiles that feel more like baring teeth, playing where’s waldo with your lipstick in the crowd of a party and finding red on at least six people’s mouths, a bumper sticker on the back of a convertible cadillac that says ‘SCRAPPY DOO IS A FILTHY SLUT’, prancing around in your underwear to a vinyl record with the curtains open. 

HISTORY:

lana grew up in a big house in albany, NY. i picture it w dark oak floors n lots of light furniture. albums framed on walls. mayb some rolling stone covers too frm way bk when of the bands her dad’s label signed. kind of like… a rock star palace w no evidence of children at all. i think i described it best in one of lana’s self paras once when i said the garden ws “as big as it was unloved”

lana’s mum victoria (vic) ws a music journalist w a pretty fruitful career ahead of her when she met lana’s dad richard (rich). his record label ws jst starting out, founded on the coattails of his rich best friend’s (jensen peters) investment w his other best friend (who he jst calls knoxville). it rocketed to success when they signed poppy injects, a rock band w an electric stage presence, n victoria ws drawn to the glitz n glamour of a man tht ws at the helm of his aspiring industry. their love ws very impulsive, all or nothing right frm the start, n it ws almost like she ws mre in love w his accomplishments n what he represented than him. jst a leetle bit Fractured in its intentions.

anyway so jameson records repped a few big rock bands bk in the eighties, altho poppy injects r who they’re mostly known fr, namely bc of hw brightly they crashed n burned. they were a big chart success bt the lead singer hd quite an intense struggle w heroin (wsnt rly subtle abt it either while he ws in the public eye as u cn probably imagine frm such an on-the-nose band name) n he ws always in n out of the papers. it eventually brought down his career n it ws a big publicity nightmare

lana pretty much… grew up around figures like this throughout childhood. rly troubled characters who wld kind of… b extremely volatile n destructive abt their troubles. the jameson house was kind of an open one as welcoming clients went n a lot of parties took place there. a lot of the time musicians wld b snorting lines in the kitchen when she wnted to grab a bowl of cereal fr breakfast n it was just. a very strange environment fr a child to grow up in

her parents always kind of jst… didn’t like her much. her older brother caleb ws unplanned bt they sort of welcomed the surprise more bt… quickly realised they weren’t cut out fr parenthood n then when lana came as another surprise 3 yrs later they didn’t even try to hide their resentment abt the situation. her mum ws actually booked in to have an abortion bt cldnt go through with it at the last minute. once when lana asked her why shes so cold towards her she jst turned her head frm her dresser, looked at her, told her abt this n said “idk why i didn’t go”. lana didn’t kno wht to say to tht so she jst left her room n closed the door

(dissociation tw) bc of this growing up lana adopted this weird like…. she didn’t rly kno what it ws bt it ws a delusion of sorts where she thought she ws a ghost. she’d jst sort of… drift around the halls w noone acknowledging her n sometimes she ws jst convinced she wsnt actually there or they cldnt see her n she ws jst haunting the house frm a previous family

the one saving grace tho tht sort of?? gt her thru this n made her feel Seen ws caleb. lana quite genuinely hs always thought the sun shines out of her older brothers ass like she jst thinks. hes the best person in the entire world. wld b rly bewildered if anyone questioned tht. he wld always look out for her in the zoo they called a home n cut the crusts off her sandwiches (he’d cook fr them most of the time bc their parents were too busy/didn’t care to) n sometimes wld even sleep at the bottom of her bed curled up like a guard dog. it ws always lana n caleb n his best friend tommy against the world in tht house (tommy lived next door n was always over bc he had very strict parents including a military father tht he found suffocating)

SO when caleb n tommy announced tht they’d signed up to the army lana ws understandably…….. completely blindsided. she ws rly upset tht they were leaving bt she tried not to b mad at them n made them promise theyd b safe n back as soon as possible. she even asked if they cld somehow take her w them n they were jst like :/ it doesn’t work that way luv x

(death tw, ptsd tw, grief tw, trauma tw, hospitalisation tw, drugs tw) anyway caleb ended up getting discharged under grounds of severe ptsd when he witnessed tommy die in an explosion tht took place in a shock raid. caleb returned home sans tommy bt he was never the same after tht. he’s been in and out of hospital twice nw n he’s currently dipped off the radar after starting to use. lana kind of felt like two of her brothers died out there in a way n jst like tht it wasn’t them vs the world any mre, it was jst her. she doesn’t talk abt this tho. when she feels the urge to cry she usually jst smiles

ANYWAY whew tht rly…. took a dark turn there….. chuckles nervously at hw sad lana’s life is bt it’s fine it’s all fINE!!!!!!! ok. so on a mre lighthearted note the jameson family r pretty well off n bc of her relation to such a big music industry figure she’s hung out w a fair few relatively high rep ppl thru her teens. mostly kids of celebrities n stuff like tht. she amassed kind of an instagram following mainly fr her style (v penny lane-esque in some aspects aka lots of fur cuff trimmed jackets bt then also jst…. a wild combination of everything honestly. pastel faux fur coats, seventies style platforms, flame red cowboy boots, pink fishnet tights n glitter used like highlight Everywhere) n bc she’s undeniably Very Pretty

(trauma tw) after caleb got back he was rly withdrawn n depressed. he shut lana out n was kind of harsh to her a lot of the time, always telling her to leave him alone or pushing her away. it didnt help either tht lana had a rly traumatic experience w some of her dad’s colleagues at the label when she ws 16 n he was away n she cldnt even tell him abt it once he was bk bc of his own traumas. she kind of jst shut it all in n kept it to herself

(hypersexuality tw) this obviously?? made her spiral a lot. she was already a girl tht loved sex (she’d only rly done foreplay before tho) but since her trauma it got…. completely out of hand. it got to a point where she couldnt rly go 2 days without it, probably not even 1. her lowest point has probably been scrolling thru craiglist for anonymous encounters n meeting up w strangers on there fr a quick fuck jst for the thrill even tho it’s insanely dangerous n she cld wind up getting herself killed. it’s v clear at this point tht she has a sex addiction whether she’s ever admitted it or not. it kind of… almost mingled w tht same feeling she used to get when she ws younger of being a ghost?? like she jst. only rly feels Real when she’s being touched

(violence tw) a mre recent point of history is her involvement w danny nielsen (an evil npc of mine who is possibly the antichrist??? pending investigation). he attended radcliffe n lived in a house w a group of guys near campus. it wsn’t a registered frat bt he essentially…ran it like one it ws kind of a weird set-up where he ws the King Of The Roost. essentially he found out tht lana n a guy called zeke slept together n he ended up beating him to near death in front of her bc his pride ws rly bruised since they were meant to be dating (if u can call it tht bc danny’s idea of dating is very Warped). ANYWAY he ws found guilty n sent to jail so it ws like Intense n a gd example of the kinds of disastrous relationships she gets herself into. perks of being a wallflower voice: We Accept The Love We Think We Deserve.

PERSONALITY:

always smells vaguely of wild cherries or strawberry starburst or jst the candy aisle in general. if she ws a vinyl record she’d b this one n she’d only play good vibrations by the beach boys, dancing on my own by robyn, play that funky music by wild cherry, femme fatale by the velvet underground n (i can’t get no) satisfaction by the rolling stones 

growing up lana was always a huge social butterfly. knew everyone n everyone knew her. she ws one of those girls tht ws kind of impossible to ignore or forget. very animated, always made u feel like u were the centre of the universe whenever she spoke to u, always made it feel like u were best friends even if ud only spoken to her once. 

deliberately puts on tht kind of Magnetic Alluring Act tht femme fatales wear in movies w most ppl. kind of…. is always playing A Role of the person tht she wants to b seen as. chameleons to situations. feels like she’s performed as the vivacious n fun loving Lana Jameson fr so long tht she doesn’t rly kno who she is beneath tht bt she isn’t too keen to find out

she’s always been rly spontaneous n adventurous. always doing something weird n wild every weekend. she has ten thousand ridiculously absurd n chaotic stories

uncontrollably flirty. boundlessly confident. cld make a joke out a paper bag n her comedy is sometimes surreal / absurd. she tends to laugh when she feels like crying n has a smile brighter than a ray of texas sunshine. 

always dapples her fingers thru the breeze when she’s driving in a car w the window down. she almost always has some sort of sweet on her, whether it’s sour haribo cherries or strawberry lollipops. 

she adores david bowie n prince n madonna n anyone tht’s a vintage style icon w little care fr what ppl think. 

daisies n poppies r her fav flowers bc daisies r wild n overlooked n poppies r the first thing u look at in a green field. she’s had like 8472493874 ‘relationships’ n none of them hav lasted beyond a month / hav been terrible / hav seen her being treated badly / she’s cheated on them. i dnt think she’s actually ever been w anyone she hasn’t cheated on in some form or another

PLOTS:

exes tht lana’s fucked over hideously. she’d probably cheat a lot and it’d be a whole…mess. 

mayb someone tht flipped the switch and cheated on her? 

a cousin plot cld b fun too. a friend tht lana fel out w bc she slept w their significant other.

a fake dating plot cld b fun honestly 

someone tht’s getting lana into drugs?? she’s kind of impressionable/down for anything so tht’s a likely scenario she’d get into tbh

an unrequited crush!! (either way is cool)

someone tht is just hanging out w her/using her bc she has a lot of instagram followers or they want to b signed to her dad’s label

someone in a band!! she’d probably make like penny lane n b their groupie/sleep w them all fgjkshgkh

umm a good influence too mayb? 

oh and a past summer romance/fling tht cld either have meant a lot or not have meant anything at all. bonus points if both of them hav a diff viewpoint on it. 

honestly?? anything is fine i cld ramble for days. mayb even one of the high profile kids she grew up hangin w idk. world’s our oyster fellas!

[honeypiehotchner]

Safe -- part one

Oh goodness. Hello! Here I go again with another story. This is my first ever Mycroft x reader, so I hope you all enjoy! This one is rather close to my heart and will get dark/emotional at times. Themes like PTSD, anxiety, depression, and such will come up, so please be safe in reading this. Take care of yourselves. That all being said, welcome to Safe.

Oh, and this dialogue is borrowed from “The Empty Hearse” because the line “I’m not lonely, Sherlock,” literally birthed this story (that’s strange but true). Anywho. Continue.

“Oh, bugger!”

           “Oopsie. Can’t handle a broken heart, how very telling?”

           “Don’t be smart.”

           Sherlock leans back in his chair. “That takes me back.” He prepares himself and begins mocking his older brother, “Don’t be smart, Sherlock. I’m the smart one.”

           “I am the smart one.”

           “I used to think I was idiot.”

           Mycroft smiles in amusement. “Both of us thought you were an idiot, Sherlock. We had nothing else to go on until we met other children.”

           “Oh, yes, that was a mistake.”

           “Ghastly. What were they thinking of?”

           “Probably something about trying to make friends,” Sherlock replies rather pointedly.

           “Oh, yes. Friends. Of course, you go in for that sort of thing now.”

           “And you don’t? Ever?” Another pointed question.

           Mycroft sighs as his brother, once again, goes off-topic. “If you seem slow to me, Sherlock, can you imagine what real people are like? I’m living in a world of goldfish.”

           Sherlock furrows his eyebrows. “Yes, but I’ve been away for two years.”

           “So?”

“Oh, I don’t know, I thought perhaps you might have found yourself a…goldfish.” Another pointed statement. Sherlock is trying to steer the conversation somewhere he knows Mycroft doesn’t want it to go. But Mycroft fancies someone. Sherlock is sure of it.

“Change the subject. Now.” Mycroft quickly stands, having had enough of his brother’s antics, but he can’t exactly leave because this conversation isn’t over.

This is when you walk in, nearly groaning aloud because all you want is some damn milk to put in your tea, and when the Holmes brothers are in the same room together, one simple task is never that simple. One of them is bound to notice something about you that you don’t even notice after picking yourself apart in the mirror, thus lowering your self-esteem and your patience – which is already so thin today that you feel like you might snap.

“Rest assured, Mycroft, whatever this underground network of yours is up to the secret will reside in something seemingly insignificant or bizarre.”

“Ooh-hoo,” Mrs. Hudson makes her presence known as she walks in behind you, holding a tray of tea.

“Speaking of which,” Mycroft comments.

You stop in the doorway to the kitchen, clearing your throat rather loudly, which in turn causes Mycroft to meet your heated glare. Mrs. Hudson is like a mother to you. And you never stand for any indirect or direct slander toward her.

“Apologies,” he says quickly, and even though you know he doesn’t mean it, you nod firmly and continue into the kitchen. It’s better than nothing.

Sherlock watches the encounter with narrowed eyes as Mrs. Hudson continues speaking. “I can’t believe it. I just can’t believe it. Him, sitting in his chair again. Oh, isn’t it wonderful, Mr. Holmes?”

“I can barely contain myself,” Mycroft replies dryly, and you really do try to muffle the giggle that comes out of your mouth, but you fail.

Oh, fine. You’ve had a ridiculous crush on Mycroft Holmes from the day you met him and every time you think about it you want to throw yourself out a window. How ironic for you. Your past relationships have failed because you were too clingy but somehow not clingy enough, so what kind of sense does it make for you to fancy a man who doesn’t know the first thing – nor does he seem to care about having a romantic relationship?

No damn sense at all, that’s what. But you suppose it must be for a reason.

You return unsatisfied from the kitchen – Sherlock doesn’t have any milk – to find Mrs. Hudson has gone and the brothers are still going at it.

“Let’s do deductions,” you hear Sherlock say.

“Absolutely not,” is your reply because you believe they’re going to deduce you, but after seeing Sherlock pick up a hat one of his clients left, you let out a little sigh of relief.

“I’m busy,” Mycroft replies after catching the hat.

“Oh, go on, it’s been an age.”

He pauses to sniff the article. “I always win.”

“Which is why you can’t resist.”

“Here we go,” you roll your eyes, but you don’t leave the flat like you had intended. You’ve always loved to listen to Mycroft make deductions, as idiotic as it sounds. As long as they aren’t deducing you when you’re not in the mood, then you’re okay with it. His intelligence is attractive, you won’t deny that.

“I find nothing irresistible in the hat of a well-traveled, anxious, sentimental, unfit creature of habit with appalling halitosis,” he breathes. “Damn.”

You snicker as he tosses the hat back to his brother, Sherlock settling in with his own deductions. You decide to make yourself a cup of tea from the tray Mrs. Hudson left because you know neither of them are going to have one anyway.

“Isolated, too, don’t you think?”

“Why would he be isolated?”

           “He?”

           “Obviously.”

           “Why? Size of the hat?”

           “Don’t be silly. Some women have large heads, too.”

           They’re not even talking about you, and yet your insecurities slip in. Is your head too big? That’s stupid to think, stop it.

           “No, he’s recently had his hair cut. You can see the little hairs adhering to the perspiration stains on the inside.”

           “Some women have short hair, too,” Sherlock mumbles.

           “Balance of probability.”

           That phrase. You keep meaning to put it on a t-shirt for Mycroft. You almost let out another giggle as you settle onto the couch, your tea in hand, just imagining Mycroft opening that on Christmas. That would be a sight to see – and record for future laughter.

           “Not that you’ve ever spoken to a woman with short hair, or, you know, a woman.”

           Your eyes widen at Sherlock’s accusation. Is he trying to annoy his brother extra hard today or something? He does that enough just by existing – they both do – but he’s almost trying a little too hard today.

           “Stains show he’s out of condition. And he’s sentimental because the hat has been repaired three…f—”

           “Five times,” Sherlock tosses it back. “Very neatly. The cost of the repairs exceeds the cost of the hat, so he’s mawkishly attached to it. But it’s more than that. One, perhaps two patches would indicate sentimentality, but five? Five’s obsessive behavior. Obsessive-compulsive.”

           “Hardly. Your client left it behind. What sort of an obsessive-compulsive would do that? The earlier patches are extensively sun-bleached, so he’s worn it abroad. In Peru.”

           Seriously, how do they see this stuff?

           “Peru?”

           “This is a Chullo. The classic headgear of the Andes, it’s made of Alpaca.”

           “Nope.”

           “No?”

           “Icelandic sheep wool. Similar, but very distinctive, if you know what you’re looking for. I’ve written a blog on the varying tensile strengths of nature fibers. You said he was anxious?”

           “The bobble on the left side has been badly chewed, which shows he’s a man of a nervous disposition, but…”

           “But also a creature of habit because he hasn’t chewed the bobble on the right.”

           You smirk around the edge of your cup when Mycroft gives you a rather tired look when Sherlock begins talking over him. You try your hardest to ignore the sudden jolt your heart gives at Mycroft’s eyes when they settle on you, quickly averting your own gaze to the newspaper on the cushion beside you.

           “Precisely,” Mycroft deadpans.

           Sherlock sniffs the hat. “A brief sniff of the offending bobble tells us everything we need to know about the state of his breath. Brilliant.”

           “Elementary.”

           “But you’ve missed his isolation.”

           “I don’t see it.”

           Your eyes lift to see what Sherlock is going on about.

           “Plain as day.”

           “Where?”

           “There for all to see.”

           You smirk, returning to the newspaper. Sherlock is teasing him. That’s always a sight.

           “Tell me.”

           “Plain as the nose…”

           “Tell me!”

           “Well, anybody who wears a hat as stupid as this isn’t in the habit of hanging around other people, is he?”

           You blink. That was aggressive.

           “Not at all. Maybe he just doesn’t mind being different. He doesn’t necessarily have to be isolated.”

           “Exactly,” Sherlock replies, rather knowingly. This comment makes you lift your eyes for a final time to see what’s happening.

           Mycroft blinks at his brother in confusion. “I’m sorry?”

           Now you’re confused, too.

           “He’s different, so what? Why would he mind? You’re quite right.” Sherlock pauses, and you watch as he places the hat atop his head. You furrow your eyebrows. “Why would anyone mind?”

           Your eyes shift to Mycroft for a response. He stares at his younger brother, his mouth opening to form a reply, but it takes him a few seconds.

           “I’m not lonely, Sherlock.”

           You don’t even need to see Sherlock’s face to know he’s giving his brother a rather harsh look. “How would you know?”

           Your eyes widen, suddenly feeling like you just decided to sit in on a rather personal conversation when you thought this was going to be some friendly deducting. Apparently not.

           Mycroft sends you another tired look, but it doesn’t take an idiot to see the confused revelation behind his eyes. Mycroft Holmes, lonely? Even that puzzles you.

           “Yes. Back to work, if you don’t mind. Good morning,” he nods at you, turning to walk out of the flat.

           Mrs. Hudson chuckles from the kitchen, but you’re too shocked to say anything, your mouth hanging open only slightly.

           “Right. Back to work.”

           You lean to the side, out of Sherlock’s way as he steps up onto the couch beside you to study his growing array of pictures on the wall. All for this terrorist bomb case of sorts. Nothing fazes you anymore.

           But Sherlock pauses, remembering your reaction and your actions and making a quick deduction. It takes you all of two seconds to notice he’s staring at you, and to realize what’s coming.

           “Here we go,” you breathe, settling in for his daily deduction. You set down the newspaper, heaving a sigh as you lean your head back to look at him. “What is it now?”

           “Do you fancy my brother?”

           You blink, and you don’t have to worry about your facial expressions giving you away this time because your face is frozen in shock. “I’m sorry?”

           “You fancy my brother.”

           “Sherlock—”

           “Your cheeks colored when he looked at you and you addressed him as soon as you walked in. If it was anyone else here, you would have went back to your flat. But you stayed to listen and repeatedly made eye contact.” He pauses. “You—”

           “Okay, that’s enough of that.” You set your tea down on the table, flashing Sherlock a unamused smile. “Good morning.”

           And you leave the flat as quickly as your legs can carry you.

 ~~~

John tries not to worry when he finds you on his couch an hour later because he did tell you that you are welcome here whenever – and he meant it – but it is slightly worrying when you have your hands covering your eyes, and when you’re lying down.

           “Bad day?”

           “The worst,” you reply, accepting your dramatics with full-force. “Mycroft was in Sherlock’s flat when I walked up.”

           John stills in the doorway. You had told him months ago that you fancied Mycroft only because he kept pestering you about the subject, and when you finally told him, his heart honestly broke for you a little.

           “Is it Sherlock? It’s Sherlock, isn’t it?” Not that John would particularly like the idea, but it is plausible.

           “No, John, it’s not Sherlock, good God.” The last person you could see yourself falling for is Sherlock Holmes.

           “That’s a relief,” he chuckles, meaning it more than you think. “Well, then who?”

           You grimace. “Don’t hate me when I say it.”

           “I’m not going to hate you, Y/N.”

           “Mycroft.”

           John blinks. “Sorry what?”

           “There, I said it! I fancy Mycroft fucking Holmes, the single most irritating human on this planet behind his brother, and I fancy him. Like an idiot. I fancy him.” You pause, holding your head in your hand. “It’s bad. Really bad.”

           It was bad months ago, and it’s still bad now. You always thought the feeling would go away, you know? Mycroft can be irritating, and he isn’t around much, so maybe the distance would provide you with some time to get over your feelings. You thought it was a simple crush, one that would go away after a week or two.

           But distance makes the heart grow fonder couldn’t be anymore true in this instance, and it makes you want to punch a wall.

           And John knows this. You even told him that you knew Mycroft obviously was not the type of man to even have a romantic relationship, so you knew you are doomed, and you had accepted your fate. But John hates seeing you like this. He wants you to be happy, and maybe have a happy relationship one day. It’s unfortunate your heart is set at the moment on someone who doesn’t exactly see relationships – or friendships for that matter – in the same way you do.

           “How’s the…feelings?” John isn’t sure how to word it properly, and he doesn’t exactly want to ask you outright.

           You know what he’s referring to, though, and you groan and sit up. “Still alive, and still ridiculously raging. And now Sherlock knows.”

           “Bloody hell,” John mutters, coming to sit next to you on the couch. “How did he find out?”

           “He’s Sherlock Holmes, how do you think he found out? Same way he found out I had seen my abuser at the café the other– Dammit.”

           You hadn’t told John about the diner the other day. And you weren’t planning to, really, because he worries. But it’s too late for that now.

           “You saw him again? When?”

           “The other day,” you wave his concern away. “We’re not going to talk about my stupid crush?”

           “That can wait. Did he hurt you?”

           “No, John, I’m fine,” you sigh. “He just sat down, and I had to serve him.”

           “How did that go?”

           “It didn’t,” you chuckle darkly. “Anne took him for me. I went on break. For an hour.”

           John’s expression turns sad. “I’m so sorry.”

           “It’s fine, really,” you shake your head. “He hasn’t shown up again, so all is fine.”

           “If you say so. But tell me if you see him again,” John breathes, leaning back into the couch. He wishes you’d tell him about these things, but he knows you don’t like to talk about it, so he changes the subject. “Do you think Sherlock told him?”

           “What?”

           “Do you think Sherlock told Mycroft?”

           Your eyes widen. “I hadn’t even thought of that, fuck! I’m going to have to move out of the country. This is the end.”

           John lets out a loud laugh, patting your leg. “Don’t be so dramatic.”

           “I have to. It’s how I cope.”

           John smirks, reaching over to rub circles on your back. “You’ll be fine.”

           “I’m not so sure about that.”

           He gives you a look.

           “Dramatics, Johnny. I’ll be fine. I need to just get over myself.”

           John sighs, motioning for you to sit up. You do, accepting his hug as he tugs you into his chest. “You’ve always had a big heart, Goldie. You’ll be okay.”

           “Goldie?” You chuckle, giving John a funny look. “You haven’t called me that in a while.”

           “Do you not like it?”

           “No, I’ve missed it,” you reply sheepishly. “Thank you for letting me be dramatic.”

           “Anytime,” he pats your shoulder. “I’ve gotta go to work now, but you’re welcome to stay and raid the fridge. I just did the shopping yesterday.”

           “Ooh, did you get my favorite biscuits?”

           He smiles. “Yes. Top shelf.”

           “Yes! Thank you!” You grin, jumping up from the couch to run into the kitchen. You turn around from the counter, going back to the where John is. “Have fun at work.”

           John shakes his head at your animated nature, but nonetheless grateful that you’ve gotten it back. It seems to be the first time in years since you’ve been this way, and he knows why, but he’s glad to see this side of you back.

[ozzys-write]

New Perspective (post war draco malfoy)

Summary: Draco attends a small private study for his 8th year and meets someone to ease his mind.

Draco was a creature of habit. Change made him feel so uneasy and out of control. The hardest part of being nice, for Draco, was breaking the habit of being mean. After the war he felt empty, terrified and most of all, filled with regret. He lay awake most nights thinking of ways he could have saved himself and his family, to do good. But every night his mind came up blank, but guilt still plagued his brain.

Hogwarts was in ruins, not all the magic in the world could make it go back to normal in a few short months. Small private studies opened their doors to Hogwarts students not yet ready to return. Magical primary schools adapted to provide for older children. Although the Golden trio returned to Hogwarts, Draco couldn’t bring himself to do so. So he selected a small magical school to finish his last year of schooling in. He figured it’s what his mother would have to preferred him to do. Both his parents were sent to askaban as war criminals. He felt as if he were an orphan now, although he never felt he had a father growing up anyways. Draco was put on a probation of sorts, escaping jail time under circumstances. His wand had to be checked biweekly and he was lightly monitored. He was of age but he had the trace of an underage wizard, making him unable to apparate.

It was the morning of ‘orientation’ for former hogwarts student at Draco’s new school. He was fully aware that he would be walking into this institute alone. No friends acting as shields, no father to threaten his peers with. He looked into the bathroom mirror and squirmed underneath his own gaze. He hated wearing suits, but his father made him wear one all the damn time. He shrugged off the suit jacket and rolled up the sleeves of his button down shirt. A compromise between his heart and mind. He walked out the front door and climbed into the backseat of the rented car.

After the orientation draco sat still in his seat as everyone else began to collect their things and leave. The orientation focused heavily about former Hogwarts students making a plan, deciding who they wanted to be. Draco didn’t know what he wanted to be, but he wanted to be good. He didn’t want to work in law enforcement, his family name had rotted and he couldn’t be around that sort anymore. He didn’t know what he wanted to do but he wanted to good, as some sort of constellation to the bad he had done over the years. He eventually rose and walked out the front doors before stopping. How was he going to get home? He was unable to apparate and he hadn’t thought to rent another car. He tried to think as he just looked out at the grounds. “Hey, Draco, you look...lost.” Draco winced slightly and looked to his left to see a girl. He recognized her as Donna Dowling,a slytherin at hogwarts in the year below him. A girl her friends had grown close to but he never was too personal with. “I, uh, I’m just trying to figure out how i’m going to get home thank you.” He deadpanned.

The girls features seemed to crease in worry. “I can give you a ride, I drive a muggle car. It won’t be much of a hassle.” Before Draco could object she had already started walking to a navy SUV. “It’s quite alright, I-“ He was cut off by the girl putting up her hand in protest and just opened the passenger side door in response. He slid into the seat, softly thanking her. He noticed an emerald key chain dangling from her key ring spelling out Donna. He remembered their mutual friends, their occasional small talk and her somewhat close friendship to Zambini.

Once she had began to back out of the parking space Draco started to snap at her but caught himself. “I really don’t need your help Dowling” The boy heard the harshness of his tone and heard the boy he was trying to leave in the past. He made a mental note to stop calling her by her last name. “I mean it is a relatively long drive you can just, uh, take me to a bus stop, or something.” The girl shook her head. “A bus isn’t going to get you to your house, and I really don’t mind.” She flipped on the radio and a R&B song softly started playing. “So, what are you thinking about doing after you graduate?” Donna quipped. There was several moments silence before Draco replied “I don’t have a clue, what profession are you interested in?” The girl smiled widely, “A healer. I’m fascinated by medicine and I want to help people. Do some good in this not so good world” Draco was taken aback, ‘doing some good huh’ he thought. He just nodded his head in response. After 5 or so more minutes Donna quietly started “Blaise told me about your parents, I’m really sorry. My parents knew them well.” He was again taken aback. She was being much more forward than he was used to. “It’s alright, really.” No longer feeling the need to put up a wall, or even take into account the fact he barely knew her he said “Father was an ass anyways” His shoulders loosened and his posture softened. “I was a bigot for years just to impress my father, a war criminal just for ‘daddies approval’ bullshit” He turned away from the girl and re-tensed his shoulders in shame. Draco was not one for outbursts of sharing feelings, especially to people they dont know well. Donna didn’t gasp in shock or scoff at him. She laughed. He turned to look at her once more, really looking at her this time. Her left leg was propped onto her seat and she couldn’t look less bothered in her sunglasses. There was something about her that just seemed at ease. As if the only thing to care about was how much longer the sun was in the sky. Her hair was slightly wavy, blonde, but not like his. It was a dark shade of honey. There was a light in her eyes. A light that was plentiful in nearly everyone 2 or so years ago, but had recently become scarce. “Draco it’s alright i really don’t mind, I don’t mind. Parents can be assholes, especially if they were literal criminals.” She lightly laughs at the end of her sentence. Her demeanor hardened and her tone became more serious. “It’s not you fault, you know. I know you had no other choice, you were just trying to protect your family.”

Draco’s throat tightened. No one had said that to him. He had never had the reassuring words that he so desperately needed. “Thank you.” He said just above a whisper, his voice threatening to break at the end. “You can be a good person, you can do good, Draco.” She added softly. More minutes of silence passed before Draco worked up the courage to ask. “Donna?” She mumbled an ‘mhm?’ “What happened to your parents? I know they fled after the first war. I don’t mean to intrude, and you don’t have to say anything I was just curious-“ Donna didn’t recognize this shy, sickly looking, emotionally unstable boy, stumbling over his words. The cocky, over the top boy was no where to be seen. The greusome sights of war had scared him away, leaving only this fragile blonde behind.

“They went into hiding underground when I was a year or so old. Don’t remenber them at all though. They left me with my aunt and uncle.” Draco instantly felt guilty that he asked. “I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have asked.” Donna wasn’t phased by the question though. “No ! It’s quiet alright, my aunt and uncle cared for me as their own child. It had always been home, never knew anything different.” Draco felt at ease knowing that he hadn’t upset her. He finally felt a small bit of peace in her presence that he hadn’t found anywhere else.

The rest of the car ride was mainly comfortable silence, with occasional small talk. He thanked the girl as she dropped him off at the Malfoy Manor. He let out a breath he didn’t know he was holding when he closed his bedroom door. Someone finally believed he could be good.

[rainydawgradioblog]

RDR Essentials - Hard Rock (2/26)

RDR Essentials is a weekly newsletter of alternating genres that outlines key releases of the past month, upcoming events around Seattle and happenings in the specified music genre.

Made in collaboration between Rainy Dawg DJs and the Music Director.

Releases:

I Don’t Know How to Be Happy - Deli Girls

https://sweatequitynyc.bandcamp.com/album/i-dont-know-how-to-be-happy

Deli Girls crawled out of the grimy New York underground hardcore scene thanks to the group’s wild performances and fiercely gay noise, which was channeled into their first album Evidence. In a similar vein, their newest album I Don’t Know How to Be Happy pushes their trademark sound even further. The album starts off to “Officer”’s serrated beat, which hisses beneath an automated phone message regarding a court date, functioning as a brief adjustment period before exploding into passionate screaming, rapping, yelping, and laughing of lead vocalist Danny Orlowski. Orlowski continues this manic verbal assault through the rest of this album, which pounds along with a righteous and dark violence against the patriarchy. “Peg” stands out especially, pushed along because of Tommi Kelly’s fresh layer of poppy synth arpeggios. “Here We Go Again” follows, one of the more eerie cuts on the album. “You will never win because you will never be as angry as the rest of us / Another day I didn’t end my miserable fucking life” screams Orlowski, with interludes of laughter on the brink of breakdown. Get ready to run head first through whatever glass ceilings or brick walls you might experience in 2019 with this incredible album.

- Max Bryla

Vain Attempt  - SLANT

https://ironlungpv.bandcamp.com/track/the-trap

There’s really not a whole lot out there about SLANT, a newer classic punk band that hails from Seoul, South Korea. Their recent EP, Vain Attempt 7” is just 4 tracks with the longest clocking in at 2:02, and is issued by Seattle punk label IRON LUNG Records, available on Bandcamp. Labelmates like Diät and Iron Lung have had some more mainstream success, but SLANT is much newer to the scene. They have pulled members from other bands like SCUMRAID and BLOODKROW BUTCHER, another Seoul and Boston punk band, respectively. Vain Attempt 7” definitely has a higher production value than those counterparts however, and it benefits because of it. Tracks like “Dry Heave” get right to the point, and don’t stick around too long. Terrific, fast paced drumming combine with some great vocal heft to make a really solid punk album, and this is a band that has a solid future with them, and hopefully some US tour dates.

- Max Bryla

Protogoni Mavri Magiki Dynasteia - Mystifier

https://mystifier.bandcamp.com/

Brazilian blackened death metal band Mystifier have announced their first album in 18 years with the pre release of their track Weighing Heart Ceremony. This track plays similar to their older material with its guttural vocals, creepy and eclectic atmosphere, and overall eeriness. Their 1993 album Goetia is regarded as a landmark in South American extreme metal, showing clear distinctions from European and American artists of the same time. This new track still has the same occultish aura of the band’s earlier material, but also features a much more blackened tonality, meaning more melody and less dissonance. Rather than sounding like the soundtrack to an occult ceremony (basically the narrative of Goetia), this track is a lot more brooding and pensive. If you are into slightly untraditional black/death metal, you should check out this album when it drops on March 8.

- Zac Weiner

Forgotten Paths - Saor

https://saor.bandcamp.com/

Saor is a scottish based atmospheric black metal band that has been pushing black metal to its most serene and experimental boundaries. Forgotten Paths sums up exactly what atmoblack is all about: beautiful tremolo picked melodies, the occasional folk instrument interlude, and a placid nature shot on the cover. This project is the perfect soundtrack for a solo walk through the woods. While some of the interludes can be a little dramatic for an experienced listener, the album makes up for it with bone chilling screams which sound even more emotional over the Gaelic sounding guitar melodies. This album is very digestible and could serve as an excellent introduction to black metal: the production is clean, the riffs sound like they were written by the bard at the Renaissance fair, and every blast beat is met with an equally long folk interlude.

- Zac Weiner

Xiu Xiu - Girl With a Basket of Fruit

https://xiuxiu.bandcamp.com/album/girl-with-basket-of-fruit

Xiu Xiu is an noise pop / experimental rock outfit fronted by multi-instrumentalist Jamie Stewart which can never quite settle on a single sound. They’ve been consistently churning out full-length albums every year or two, varying from anti-folk to electronic indie rock to harsh noise and everywhere in between. Doing away with the cleaner indie rock sound they explored on their previous album Forget, their newest release, Girl With a Basket of Fruit, is a return to the noisier and more experimental tendencies of their early output. Produced by Deerhoof’s Greg Saunier and featuring vocal contributions from Oxbow’s Eugene S. Robinson, the album repeatedly shifts from frantic tribal rhythms (Scisssssssors, Pumpkin Attack on Mommy and Daddy) to abstract heavy electronics (title track, Ice Cream Truck) to droning ambient passages (The Wrong Thing, Amargi ve Moo) and back again, tied together by the harsh synth sounds and uncomfortable samples Xiu Xiu fans are so familiar with and Jamie Stewart’s characteristically unsettling vocals, which are pushed farther than ever on this release, whimpering one minute and screaming the next. After over half an hour of head-spinning erratic noise, the album leaves the listener on a softer note with Normal Love, a slow, stripped-back and sweet (for Xiu Xiu standards) piano pop song. RIYL - Suicide, Coil, Oxbow

- Elliot Hansen

Angel Bat Dawid - The Oracle

https://intlanthem.bandcamp.com/album/the-oracle

The Oracle is spiritual jazz clarinetist Angel Bat Dawid’s very first release. She recorded and mixed the album entirely by herself and performed every instrument except the drums on one of the eight tracks. The recording process, done entirely on a cell phone, was split between London, England, Cape Town, South Africa, and Dawid’s hometown of Chicago, Illinois. Though the album features not much more than clarinet, drums, Angel’s vocals, and the occasional electric piano or miscellaneous wind instrument, the numerous overdubs and effects used turn these elements into cosmic, psychedelic soundscapes, greater than the sum of their parts. Dawid’s lyrics, when present, largely reflect on African American identity and experience, as evidenced by the third track, a re-interpretation of Margaret Burrough’s poem “What Shall I Tell My Children Who Are Black?” Reverberating, overlapping vocal harmonies ebb and flow and give way repeatedly to much more abstract melodies and stranger sounds, ranging from squealing horns to wide, cosmic phaser textures and long-winded erratic improvisations. RIYL - Sun Ra, Ornette Coleman

- Elliot Hansen

Upcoming shows around Seattle:

02/26/19 - Cannibal Corpse / Morbid Angel / Necrot / Blood Incarnation @ Showbox

Openers include Necrot and Blood Incantation, bands that represent the death metal renaissance occurring in recent years and provide some of some of the freshest and heaviest sounds of the 2010s. Morbid Angel (of the cult favorite Altars of Madness) follows as the midbill. Headlining the night is Cannibal Corpse, a group that’s  infamous for their graphic album covers and truly grotesque lyrics. 8PM / $29 / AA

02/27/19 - The Big Band at the End of the World @ Vermillion Art Gallery

18 piece improvisational ensemble featuring strings, horns, electric guitar, harmonium, 3 drummers, and live visuals led by local avant-garde/free jazz saxophonist Gregg Miller. 8PM / $5-10 / AA

03/02/19 - Sandy Ewen / AF Jones / Greg Kelley / Ambrosia Bardos @ Vermillion Art Gallery

Ewen, a touring experimental guitarist, Jones, a local avant-garde composer, and Kelley, a free-jazz/noise trumpet player will perform as a trio. Ambrosia Bardos, a local noise artist who also performs under the name Morher, will perform a solo set. 4PM / $5-10 / AA

More to look out for:

FILM: Lords of Chaos / @ Grand Cinema March 16th

Depicts the sensationalized history of black metal, is now out in theaters. This film has been met with mixed reviews for its lack of honesty in portraying the events (and some really terrible cinematography) but still has merit as an introduction to the genre.

Upcoming Releases and Tours:

3/8 The Coathangers - The Devil You Know via Suicide Squeeze

3/15 The Minneapolis Uranium Club - The Cosmo Cleaners via Fashionable Idiots/Static Shock

4/2  Empath - Active Listening: Night On Earth via Get Better (”Soft Shape” video out NOW)

6/5 - Royal Trux @ Neumos (rescheduled)

[chasholidays]

The 100, Bellamy/Clarke/Raven (Bravenlarke? whatever). Bellamy and Raven got together on the Ark, so when they return to Earth and find that Clarke is still alive, the answer is obviously OT3.

“You were in love with her, weren’t you?”

It’s not a question Bellamy was expecting now, although it was one he was expecting. He was all ready for it earlier, in the first few months. Sometime between his looking like an open wound and his learning to hide it. And he was expecting it from Echo or Murphy, someone blunt, who wanted him to just get over it. But it’s been over five years, they’re still stuck up here, and he wasn’t expecting anyone to ever bring her up again, not until they were on the ground and it was his job to tell her mother what happened.

He especially didn’t expect it from Raven, and especially not when they’re curled together, naked and sweaty and sated. It’s been a long time coming, the two of them, and he was ready to bask in the afterglow, a much better one than they got the last time they did this.

He’d like to protest, to say the question is unfair and unnecessary, but he doesn’t have to ask who she means, and that’s probably reason enough for her to ask.

Still, it’s easy to answer, easier than it would have been when Clarke was still a part of his life. It’s easy to love ghosts; no one will ever expect you to do anything about it. “Yeah.” He kisses Raven’s hair. “That doesn’t have anything to do with this. Us.”

“I know. Just curious. We all figured you did.”

“You loved her too, right?”

“Yeah, but I didn’t want to date her.”

“Really? I feel like you guys would have been good together.”

She laughs, and it’s the strangest thing to be laughing about, but this is the good part. The two of them talking about their friend, whom they both loved, in their own ways. “Wouldn’t have wanted to get between you two.”

“That would have been fun too,” he teases, and she leans up to kiss him, and he’s not an open wound anymore, not really.

A part of him is always going to be bleeding, but that’s fine. As long as he’s alive to bleed.

*

It takes them six years and two months to make it back to the ground, and Octavia is the first person he sees, bright and defiant, so perfect he feels like his chest might break itself open.

“O,” he says, voice breaking on it, and he staggers to her, crushing her to his chest.

“I didn’t live underground for six years just for you to hug me to death, Bell!” she protests, but she’s laughing, clinging back to him. “We thought you guys didn’t make it.”

“I thought we might not,” he admits. He lets her go and looks her over again, grin almost splitting his face. “What were you doing underground for six years? The radiation cleared out after a year. Don’t tell me it was so great down there you didn’t want to leave.”

“You’re one to talk. And we were buried! We couldn’t get out until Clarke got the miners to clear the door.”

Some distant part of his brain registers the change in her expression, the moment when she realizes he didn’t know, but most of his body is frozen, shock and dread and uncertainty churning through him.

“Clarke,” he manages. His throat feels like it’s going to crack open.

“Yeah. She’s alive, Bell. I don’t know what Nightblood is, but it’s really something.”

He looks over his shoulder, finding Raven, and she’s looking back at him, expression unreadable. “Yeah,” he says, not looking away from her. “It must be.”

*

He’s the one to fall into step with Raven as they head to the new settlement, the one to take her hand. She looks back at him, eyes closed off, and he understands why. It’s not what happened with Finn, but it must feel related to her. If Clarke was alive, this might never have happened, the two of them.

But it did. It still is.

“You okay?” he asks.

“I’m fine,” she says, like there isn’t tension all through her shoulders. “You don’t have to worry about me.”

“That doesn’t sound like me,” he says, and she at least cracks a smile.

But it doesn’t last. She lets out a breath, uneven and harsh, like she’s trying to keep control. “We don’t have to do this. If you’re done, you can just tell me. I get that–”

“Raven,” he says.

“Don’t tell me you don’t care,” she snaps, and he tugs her aside, away from the group.

“Of course I care. You do too. But it’s not–I love you. You’ve never been a replacement. And I can’t pretend I’m not–” He smiles. “I have no idea how I feel right now, but I’m not planning on losing you. It’s not like that.”

She rubs her face, looking wrecked. “Fuck. It’s not like I’m not happy. Of course I’m fucking happy. But I’m done with–if you want to be with her, you need to tell me.”

“I don’t.”

“If you ever do.” She wets her lips, manages a smile. “There were only eight of us in the entire fucking world. We’ve got more options now.”

“So, what, you want to dump me? You can just tell me if you do.” She glares, and he leans down to kiss her. “I love you,” he says again. “And I’ll tell you how I’m doing with everything else.”

“So how are you doing?” she asks, and he shakes his head.

“I don’t even know. I’m not going to believe it until I see her. I can’t believe she–”

“Yeah,” Raven agrees. “I thought we lost her too.”

“But we didn’t.”

“No. We didn’t.”

*

Of course, Clarke isn’t at the settlement when they get there, still out hunting with some of the crew from the other ship that came down.

Octavia frowns when she hears. “I thought she’d come back when she saw the ship, but maybe she didn’t want to get her hopes up again. They’ll be back before dark.”

It doesn’t really help. They keep busy, of course–there are logistics and reunions and introductions to deal with–but the knowledge of Clarke is in the back of his mind, a loose thread he can’t forget about. She’s here, she’s alive, she’s not even that far, he could find her if–

“Are you Bellamy?”

He jumps, looks down at the girl. She’s probably about ten or eleven, small and pale, frowning at him like she doesn’t quite trust him. Which makes sense; he doesn’t trust her either.

“Yeah. Why?”

“I’m Madi. Clarke told me about you.” She looks behind him. “And that’s Raven.”

“Yeah. How do you know Clarke?”

“She found me. After the fire. She told me nightbloods have to stick together.”

He finds himself smiling a little. “And you guys did, huh?”

“Yeah.”

“That’s good. I’m glad you guys had each other.” He pauses, but Echo went off with some of the Azgeda, Miller took Monty and Harper to check out the dining hall, and Murphy and Emori are self-sufficient. Plus, this is someone who matters to Clarke, which means she’s going to matter to them too. “You think you could show us around?”

Her eyes flick to their linked hands with something like distrust, but it’s just for a second. “Sure!” she says. “Clarke’s going to be so happy to see you.”

Raven smiles. “We’re going to be happy to see her too.”

*

Through Madi, they get a lot of Clarke’s story before she ever makes it back, and the more they hear, the worse Bellamy feels. It was bad enough, thinking he’d let Clarke die, but it had never occurred to him that she’d be down here almost entirely alone, waiting for for five years, anticipating the day when they finally came down.

They’re over a year late; she must have given up hope. It’s not his fault, but that doesn’t mean he doesn’t feel bad about it.

They’re sitting in the mess hall, letting Madi tell them about the settlement, when a horn blows, and she perks up. “That’s them! They’re coming back. Come on, I want to see her face when she sees you.”

He and Raven exchange a look, and she leans in to ask, “You okay?”

“Still can’t believe it.”

“I know.”

The rover rolls in and an unfamiliar man gets out of the passenger seat first, and then a woman, and then there she is. Clarke, her hair shorter, a patch of red in it, but unmistakable. Alive and even smiling, trading barbs with one of the strangers.

And he’s frozen again. He doesn’t know what to do.

“Clarke!” says Madi, waving, and he knows the exact second she sees them. Reactions crash over her face–shock, disbelief, confusion, hope–almost too fast to see, and then she’s smiling like the sun and in his arms, and he’s holding her as tightly as he held Octavia, breathing her in, feeling the beating of her heart against his chest.

“It’s you,” she says, and he finds himself laughing.

“It’s me.”

*

“So, you and Raven.”

They lit a bonfire to celebrate, and Raven’s helping Monty set up some complicated drinking game, leaving Bellamy alone with Clarke. He doesn’t feel guilty about it exactly, just–torn. He wants to reassure Raven and stay with Clarke at the same time, and it seems impossible.

“Me and Raven,” he agrees.

“I’m happy for you,” she offers. “I’m glad you guys have each other.”

“You have us too,” he says, before he’s actually thought about it. But it’s still true. “We missed you.”

“I missed you too.” She bites her lip. “I thought I’d never see you again.”

“I thought you were dead.”

“It’s not a competition, Bellamy,” she says, and he surprises himself with a laugh.

“So you’re saying I’d win.”

She puts her head on his shoulder. “I think it’s a tie.”

He’s torn between feeling he should shake her off and wanting to pull her closer. Every time she’s out of his reach, he feels sure she’ll disappear, that she’ll turn out to be a dream. Having her touching him is the best, unmistakable and warm and real.

Raven comes and, to his surprise, takes the spot next to Clarke, and not him, and Clarke reaches over and takes her hand.

Maybe they don’t seem real to each other either.

“Not drinking?” Clarke asks.

“Nah. I’d rather be with you guys.”

Bellamy reaches behind Clarke so he can put his hand on her back, and for the moment, his life is perfect.

It even feels like it could last.

*

“Gina and I talked about this,” Raven tells him, a week later.

He blinks. It’s evening, and they’re in their room, curled together on the bed. He’d been reading, but Raven sounds like they’re in the middle of a long conversation.

“Talked about what?”

“I really like him, but what happens when Clarke comes home,” she says, pitching her voice high, but she doesn’t sound upset. Amused, maybe. “In case you were wondering, you’ve always been obvious.”

He swallows. “It wasn’t like that,” he says, but he remembers her, when ALIE was inside her, telling him he was never so devoted to Gina. It might be true, but it might not be, too. He never needed to be devoted to Gina. “It’s not like that with you.”

“I know. I’m still worried about her.”

“This conversation would be a lot easier for me if you just told me what you want. I can’t tell you I don’t love her,” he says. “She’s–you know I do. That doesn’t mean I don’t love you. Or that I’m going to–”

She kisses him. “That’s not what I’m saying. I didn’t even know how much I missed her, you know that? I was so busy worrying about you, I never even though about how I was feeling. But it’s so fucking good to see her. And I know how much she missed us. So–maybe it doesn’t have to be like this.”

“Raven, seriously, I need you to–”

“What if it’s not about you having me or her? What if it’s just all of us, having each other?”

His breath catches, the thought sweet and sharp all at once, impossible in its perfection. He’s never had the kind of life that works out so neatly. He couldn’t.

“Like this, but Clarke’s in the bed?” he asks.

“Me getting between the two of you, right?” She looks away. “You don’t have to say yes. But–I started thinking about it, and I can’t stop. It seems so easy.”

“You don’t have to–I don’t need this,” he says. “I don’t need anyone but you.”

“That’s bullshit,” she says, without heat. “But I think we all need each other. I wouldn’t just do this for you, don’t worry. We’re not the only eight people in the world anymore. We could take advantage of it.”

“Do you think she wants to?”

Raven snorts, kisses his collarbone. “I think we just need to ask.”

*

He makes her wait another week, or rather, tells her he needs time, which she seems to accept. It’s his whole life, it feels like, or so much of it. The two women who matter most to him, aside from his sister, and there’s Madi to think of too, this little girl he and Raven already think of as theirs too.

This is his family, and once he realizes that, he doesn’t have another choice.

“You’re sure?” he asks Raven, one last time. “We don’t have to—“

“I was in the shower with her yesterday and I couldn’t stop checking her out. Trust me, this isn’t for you. If I thought I had to do this to keep you, I’d dump you.” He frowns, and she kisses him. “If I’m not enough for you, the answer isn’t adding someone else. But if she finds someone else—“

It hadn’t even occurred to him, somehow, and it feels like a piece of his flesh being ripped out, this sudden, sharp flash of pain and anger.

It makes Raven laugh. “Yeah. She’s ours.”

And that was all he needed.

“You have any idea what to say?”

“Yeah, I’ve got it.” She flashes him a smile. “Don’t worry. We’re going to be fine.”

*

Raven takes advantage of Madi asking Bellamy for axe-throwing lessons to talk to Clarke, which is bad only because the last time Bellamy wants to be distracted is when he’s hurling a sharp object around with a child. But it’s probably good he has to concentrate extra hard. It means he doesn’t have much brain power left.

It hasn’t even been that long when Clarke shows up at Madi’s back, flashing Bellamy a quick smile before she watches Madi’s throw.

“Getting better, huh?”

“I hit the bullseye on the last one.”

“She did,” Bellamy confirms. He sounds very normal. Totally calm.

“Awesome. I need to talk to Bellamy and Raven about something,” Clarke tells Madi. “Can you go help my mom at the clinic?”

“When are you going to be done?”

“We’ll meet you at dinner. You don’t have to hang out at the clinic the whole time. But I’m going to be busy.”

“Okay,” says Madi, easy. “Thanks for the lesson, Bellamy!”

“Sure.”

They stand in awkward silence for a minute, until Madi’s gone, and then he clears his throat, makes himself ask, “So, what did you and Raven talk about?”

Clarke smiles. “How much we like you.”

“And each other, right? Not just—“

She starts to laugh. “This is exactly what we were talking about, yeah. And how much we like each other.” She bites her lip. “Don’t worry, I was jealous of your entire relationship. I want all of it.”

“So talking to Raven was a euphemism,” he says. His mouth is starting to twitch into a smile, and once he starts he’s not sure he’ll ever stop.

“I figure we’ll talk too.” She bites her lip. “I already made out with her, so she said I should make sure I made out with you too.”

“You’re going to have plenty of chances, right?”

“Sorry, do you not want to make out right now?” she teases, and he lets himself cup her jaw, lean in and kiss her, and it’s so close to perfect.

When she pulls back, she says, “Okay, we should go see Raven,” and that’s what’s missing, of course. It’s not just him and Clarke. That’s not enough.

“Yeah,” he says. “Let’s go home.”

Raven’s on their bed when they get there, and Bellamy settles in on one side of her, and Clarke takes the other, and that’s it.

That’s perfect.