#lucy frostblade (kinda)

[honeybard]

Clerics of Spyre ✨️❄️☀️🌙

[starstruckodysseys]

you’re 15 and you’re so, so angry at the world and your friends (…?) are moving on from you and so you kill your friend, the only real one, the only person who understands you, because she’s on your side so she’ll come back, right? of course she will.

except she doesn’t. she sticks to her guns - she always has. you don’t know why this would be different.

you loved her. you thought she loved you, too.

[metaphoricallyrose]

Fhjy doodles

[lesbianjennette]

i bet on losing dogs, i know they’re losing and i’ll pay for my place by the ring

[omgsomeonesomewhereonearth]

No because honestly in the first few episodes of them being introduced a lot more people were sympathetic to the rat grinders and I genuinely couldn't being myself to like them or care on any level.

And in hindsight it was honestly because it felt so much like the rat grinders didn't even like eachother?

Some things that caused my fondness for them to grow:

- Ivy and Oisin's banter at the party (yeah this was early on, they were the only characters I liked bc they were besties)

- Mary Ann seeming completely nonplussed that someone thinks she "can do so much better".

- Ruben talking about Lucy so earnestly

- Oisin coralling all his friends during the stand off against the Bad Kids (big brother energy)

- Ruben specifically voting against the team name to annoy Kipperlilly (little brother energy)

- (controversial) Oisin's hand on Kipperlilly's shoulder ready to remove her from the arena safely

- the recent revelation that they had a clubhouse

- Ivy and Oisin's bitchy little text thread

Truthfully what I'm learning about myself is that in a DnD setting, the morality of the party means nothing to me and the cohesion means everything. I don't care what they're working towards, as long as they work effectively and together, and the more we see the Rat Grinders doing those things the mroe I like them even if what they're doing is pure evil. Fight me.

[maxdurden]

i'm a waste of a woman, but i taste like success

read it on ao3 here!

Story: i'm a waste of a woman, but i taste like success

Chapter: 1/1

Characters: Kipperlilly Copperkettle, Lucy Frostblade, Ruben Hopclap, Mary Ann Skuttle, Ivy Embra, Oisin Hakinvar

Summary:

Kipperlilly Copperkettle has never been great with people. She's worse with friends. Forming an adventuring party is like making friends, but with greater stakes and far less time to consider your options. But, it's also a kind of friend making that has structure. And Kipperlilly can work with structure. -- Inspired by these comments by Brennan Lee Mulligan about Kipperlilly and the formation of the High Five Heroes: "There's an indication there of Kipperlilly's focus because yeah, the High-Five Heroes is sweet, but it's also sort of a indication that Kipperlilly is pushing them towards, for lack of a better word, do we have something that we're about? The Bad Kids get their name because they've all been given detention on the first day and it's connected to their story. Whereas you get the sense from the High-Five Heroes that it's not actually describing anything. It's like the person being like, "Our inside joke is going to be high-fives." And you're like, "Well, everyone high-fives." So there's an indication there, for me at least, that Kipperlily is trying to make a comradery right away that is not actually there. It's not based in something that happened to them."

The lunchroom of the Aguefort Adventuring Academy was bustling with excited freshmen. Students shouted across the large space to friends they recognized, throngs of already-formed cliques chittered with exclusive excitement, and groupings of sorcerers and bards scoped out potential parties that still needed their skill sets. Technically, the formation of adventuring parties wasn’t meant to begin until after lunch, but it was immediately clear that those who waited were most likely to be left out. 

A group of kids who clearly all fit the stoner archetype had already gathered around a table, swapping bags of chips and chatting eagerly about systems of control. A few kids hung nervously around the edges of the cafeteria, some on their crystals and others fidgeting nervously as they watched the ruthless game of high school socialization play out in front of them. 

There were a few tables with lone freshmen, either texting friends or digging into their food with little care for the scarcity of resources that were friends and party members. Kipperlilly was one such student, but she had her eyes on the prize. She unwrapped the lunch she had carefully packed for herself, and laid out her bullet journal to review her color coded notes while she waited for Lucy. 

She hadn’t discussed the plan explicitly with her best friend before their first day—and there was nothing Kipperlilly hated more than not having a plan nailed down—but she had faith in Lucy. She would know that they belonged in a party together, naturally. From there, it would just be a matter of constructing the perfect party around them. That would hardly be a challenge when she’d been planning this out for months. She knew exactly the kinds of party members they would need, and had started her scouting early.

A powerful wizard could make or break a party, and Oisin Hakinvar was a perfect candidate. He had gone with them to Oakshield Middle, though they’d never spoken before. Once, in seventh grade, Kipperlilly had watched him give a presentation on his proud dragon heritage—the exact kind of thing that made a great adventurer.

She had a few ideas for fighters and barbarians, but she’d already watched Nixie Humphries, a human fighter she’d had her eye on, and Fog Marrowthirst, a transfer half-orc barbarian, get snatched up by other adventuring parties. She carefully marked them from her list, bouncing her leg impatiently under the table. She looked up from her notes and craned her neck to look for Lucy when a small, kobold girl with an ax strapped to her back sat down at the table several seats away. 

Kipperlilly’s grip tightened on her red pen, but she breathed out slowly through her nose just like the counselor at Oakshield had always suggested she try. Things were not going according to plan, but that didn’t mean all hope was lost. 

“I’m saving these seats for my friends, actually.” She flashed an approximation of a friendly smile across the table.

The kobold girl didn’t look up from her device—It wasn’t a crystal, but some kind of childish looking handheld game. Without taking her eyes off of it, the girl reached around to grab a soda out of the pocket of her backpack.

Kipperlilly cleared her throat. “Excuse me?” She said, a bit louder. “I’m waiting for my friends to sit here with me.” 

Her future friends, that was. Her adventuring party that she would save the world with time and again. For now, they’d just be getting to know each other, but why waste time with half measures? Their lives would be in each other’s hands. They would share in their glory for the rest of their careers. They would be friends, closer than they could imagine eventually. Calling them anything other than friends felt like a slight against that eventual bond. 

It was like the kobold girl wasn’t hearing her at all. Kipperlilly set down her red pen and stood—

“Kip!” Lucy called as she approached. She was dressed in one of her favorite cable knit sweaters, one that she’d only recently reclaimed from Kipperlilly’s theft, and was carrying her tray of creamed corn and cafeteria food. 

Keeping pace next to her was Ruben Hopclap. He was wearing cargo shorts and flip flops, smiling in a way that Kipperlilly could only interpret as smug. 

“Sorry, Ruben and I got held up in the lunch line,” Lucy slid into the seat across from her. She knew Kipperlilly well enough to know that she was brimming with impatience before more than a word had passed between them. “You want to be in our adventuring party, right? I’m so excited!” 

Our adventuring party. As in, Lucy and Ruben’s adventuring party. Heat rose to Kipperlilly’s face. This wasn’t how this was supposed to go at all. It was meant to be our party as in, her and Lucy’s party. Lucy was meant to come find her first. Lunch line or no, why had she sought out Ruben first? 

Hot, angry tears closed up the back of her throat but before they could start to prick at her eyes, Kipperlilly inhaled sharply through her nose. Steadily and slowly inwards, hold, then breathe out at the same pace. She dug her fingernails into her palm under the table for good measure. 

“Yeah, of course.” Now wasn’t the time to pick a fight, even if she’d picked fights over less before. She had to keep her eye on the goal. “Just, forget my plan, I guess.” She muttered, unable to help herself, and marked a large, red ‘x’ over the names of potential bard candidates for their party. Ruben’s name hadn’t been listed there. 

She should have discussed this all with Lucy beforehand. She knew it.

Lucy’s brows pinched together in concern and Ruben huffed out an incredulous breath. They were both familiar with her moods.

“I’m sorry, I didn’t know you had a plan.” Lucy reached across the table tentatively, resting a cold hand on Kipperlilly’s. “Can I see the rest? I’m sure you’ve got good ideas.” 

Always patient. It wasn’t fair. Sometimes, Kipperlilly could manage to goad Lucy into a fight but it was a vanishingly rare thing the older they got. Something about it made the molten rock in her chest feel heavier. 

“Yeah, I had some ideas for who we could ask.” She said, reminding herself that self-pity needed to take a back seat to accomplishing her goal. She’d worked hard to convince her parents to let her attend Aguefort. She’d created a comprehensive, data-backed presentation about the benefits this school could offer that Mumple couldn’t in the first semester of her eighth grade year. A vital part of proving herself right was forming the ideal party. As much as she might have liked to sulk until Lucy had no choice but to admit that she’d been wrong for not seeking her out first, now wasn’t the time.

“Great!” Lucy smiled, pulling the bullet journal toward herself. 

Her eyes were such a deep blue that it was hard to tell their color in some lighting, but under the fluorescent cafeteria lights they were easy to see as she turned her careful attention to the pages in front of her. Her focus was always steady and intentional. At sleepovers and study groups, Kipperlilly would often get distracted just watching her read. 

“Why are these names crossed out?” She asked, pointing with a long finger to Fog and Nixie’s names. 

“They already have a party.”

The corners of Lucy’s lips crept upwards in a soft, amused smile. She looked up from the list and carefully scanned the cafeteria before her eyes landed on the kobold girl sitting only a few seats away.

“Oh, I’m sorry for ignoring you,” She said, “I’m Lucy Frostblade, what’s your name?” 

The girl still didn’t look up from her game. Watching Lucy get rebuffed was almost enough to make Kipperlilly properly lose her cool, but Ruben suddenly leaned forward to get a better look.

“Is that a Quokki Pet?” He asked. 

Finally, the girl’s head rose. She regarded Ruben with mild interest. “Do you play?”

“I used to have one in middle school, but a teacher took it. My parents wouldn’t buy me a new one.” Now that he mentioned it, Kipperlilly remembered the small handheld game Ruben had clung to for a few months in seventh grade. 

He’d been caught checking it during math class and it was confiscated by Mrs. Nikothoe, who even Kipperlilly had to admit was a nightmare of a woman. While she probably couldn’t be blamed for taking away a distraction from a student, she hadn’t even liked Kipperlilly despite all her efforts. So for once she and Ruben had come down on the same side of an issue. It had been a refreshing change of pace, even if it had only lasted an afternoon. 

“Lame.” The girl responded shortly and her attention started to turn back toward her game. 

Lucy was quick on the draw, though, “You have an ax! Are you a barbarian?” 

“Yes.” Mary Ann seemed slightly bothered by the continued distraction, but humored them for now.

Kipperlilly could see where this was going and very much didn’t like it. She tried to signal Lucy to stop, tapping on the bullet journal that was still in front of her. Sure, her first choices were off the table but there had to be better choices than this girl.

“We’re looking for a barbarian for our party. Do you want to join?” 

The kobold girl looked between the three of them for a moment. Kipperlilly stared back and tried to imagine her going into a rage—tried to imagine what good a two foot tall barbarian could possibly be. She just prayed that they’d be rejected.

“Sure.” No such luck. “I’m Mary Ann.” And with that, her attention was back on that stupid Quokki game. 

“I’m Ruben!” 

“Didn’t ask.”

Kipperlilly was staring at Lucy in disbelief when their eyes met again. What was she thinking? This was a disaster. “We need to find Oisin Hakinvar.” She said, gathering up her things. There was no time to waste. She couldn’t possibly let this go any worse than it already had. 

“Oisin? From Oakshield?” Lucy asked.

“I haven’t finished my creamed corn!” Ruben complained through a mouth full of the stuff. Kipperlilly shot him a dangerous glare. He did not want to get in her way right now.

Lucy rushed to catch up with Kipperlilly as she shoved her things in her bag and made a beeline out of the cafeteria. Oisin may very well have already been out on the quad, where there was an even more concentrated focus on forming parties. It might have been too late. 

“Kip, calm down,” Lucy insisted as they pushed through the front doors of the school together. Ruben and Mary Ann trailed somewhere behind them, the latter with her nose still stuck in her game. “It’ll all work out. There’s no rush.” 

But that just wasn’t true. Kipperlilly didn’t have time to argue the point. Stepping onto the school’s quad, she took careful stock of everyone there. Some girls had gathered around one of the many statues of Arthur Aguefort and were giggling to themselves. A few students had gathered around to watch an elven boy show off his magical prowess. Kipperlilly had to dash through his prestidigitation sparks when she spotted a blue, scaly head behind the base of a nearby statue. 

Lucy followed after her, apologizing to the elf as she passed. Kipperlilly came to stand in front of Oisin Hakinvar. He was sitting at the base of a statue, eating his lunch with a vaguely familiar wood elf girl. If he had a party already, they were nowhere to be seen. He looked up from his food, pushing up his glasses and frowning thoughtfully at the halfling in front of him.

“Can I help you with something?” He asked.

“Yes,” As she spoke, Lucy and the others caught up behind her. “I’m Kipperlilly Copperkettle. We went to middle school together. I’d like you to be the wizard in our adventuring party.” 

“I’m Lucy Frostblade,” Lucy jumped in when Oisin’s hesitation dragged on for a beat too long. “We had history class together last year. I know this is kind of a lot, but you’re really impressive! And we’ve got enough room still for you to join, too, Ivy. Are you a ranger?”

The wood elf girl, Ivy—Kipperlilly noted the shortcomings in her research that she didn’t realize Oisin had someone he wouldn’t join a party without—regarded Lucy with a carefully controlled expression. “Yeah, I am.”

“That’s perfect! I don’t think any of us here are super well versed in the natural world, so you’d be a great help.” Lucy offered a friendly smile, a real one, and Ivy and Oisin exchanged glances. 

“Okay, so you all want us, but why should we want to join you?” He asked after a moment. 

He was considering it. This was good. Kipperlilly could work with this. “We’re impressive in our own right! I’m a rogue, and one day I’ll be the greatest mastermind Spyre has ever seen. I was in student government in middle school; I was the president of four clubs, and the creator of two of those. I’ve never gotten a grade worse than a B in my life. If you stick with me, you don’t have to worry about failing.” And I’d be the perfect leader, was what she didn't say. “And Lucy is a prodigious cleric of Ruvina. She’s worked some serious miracles—”

“I’ll keep you alive.” Lucy interrupted sheepishly. She wasn’t one for bragging, even if Kipperlilly thought she should have been. “That’s what you really want to hear from a cleric, isn’t it? And this is Ruben, he’s a bard and a genuinely talented musician.”

Ruben flashed a proud grin. “I’ve already figured out how to cast healing word, so you doubly won’t die if you stick with us.” He had no problem bragging.

“And this is Mary Ann, we just met but—”

Mary Ann pulled her ax from her back with the hand that wasn’t holding her game. She dropped it into the soft ground with a satisfying thud. “I’m a barbarian.” 

“She’s a barbarian.” Lucy repeated with a grin. 

“Nice elevator pitch. Did you practice it?” Ivy asked, and Kipperlilly honestly couldn’t say if she was intentionally being snarky or not. 

“Doubly not dying is a pretty tempting offer,” Oisin admitted. “One of my friends in middle school was a worshiper of Ruvina,” he addressed Lucy directly, “Pretty cool stuff—No pun intended.” 

Lucy laughed, “Pun appreciated, intentional or not. So, what do you say?”

Again, Oisin and Ivy exchanged some kind of silent communication—Kipperlilly wondered if it was a message spell, or if they really did just have a knack for understanding one another—before either of them spoke. 

“Sounds like a plan. Makes it easier that you guys already have all the other members figured out, too.” 

Ivy joining the team hadn’t been the plan, either. But Lucy was right that a ranger would be helpful and, even if she seemed mean, she had to be better than Ruben or Mary Ann. A small weight lifted off Kipperlilly’s shoulders as she realized she’d succeeded, at least in her first goal of the day. 

She grinned, mostly because she was relieved that this was done, and quickly held up her hand for Lucy to high five. She owed her shared credit, especially for winning Oisin over, even if the improvisation with Mary Ann had been unwelcome.

With a satisfying smack, their hands collided, and Kipperlilly carried on down the line. Ruben seemed confused, but returned her high five nonetheless. Ivy and Oisin seemed equally amused by the offer, but played along. Mary Ann, who was focused entirely on her game, didn’t even look up to see Kipperlilly’s hand hovering in front of her. Kipperlilly paused, and waited, but felt the awkward tension growing the longer she did, and eventually dropped her hand. 

“Look at that! We can call ourselves the High-Five Heroes!” She chimed, trying to power through the way Mary Ann’s snub had robbed her of some of her momentum. She’d prepared for this moment, planned out the name.

It had to land. 

Kipperlilly had never been great with making friends in the past. Lucy was her best friend mostly because Lucy was a wonderful presence and brought joy and light to her life, but there was certainly an element of the fact that Lucy was her only friend, too. Adventuring parties were all best friends. They were bound by blood and trauma and life debts. This was the perfect opportunity for her to finally get things right. And she intended to; She had meticulously planned exactly how she would.

An awkward silence fell over the group. Ivy looked at Oisin with raised eyebrows and Kipperlilly tried desperately to read into the expression. Maybe awkward was the wrong word, maybe it was awed? She fidgeted aimlessly with her hands, feeling the way sweat collected on her palms. 

“Everybody high fives.” Ruben scoffed and Kipperlilly felt her heart drop. This was exactly why he couldn’t be here. He was going to ruin it all, and just to piss her off. 

She silently worked her jaw for a moment, trying to grind out any combination of words that would salvage this.

“I think it’s cool!” Lucy came to her rescue, as always. “We’re going to be heroes!”

It seemed that, at the very least, that was a sentiment they could all get behind. Her suggestion might not have been met with the enthusiasm she’d prefer, but Kipperlilly relished her accomplishment as each member of the group signaled their approval. The High Five Heroes weren’t only going to be heroes, they wouldn’t just be friends—they’d be great. She could feel it.

[cripplepunkbarbarian]

Putting my incredibly loose theory out there before the episode drops tonight:

I genuinely believe at the very least KLCK is knowingly doing “immoral” shit for her own benefit. HOWEVER. I am also fully conspiracy theorizing that the reason KLCK has been so sneaky specifically in regards to “shielding” Oisin from what she’s doing is because she’s afraid of him being susceptible to getting rage-crystaled due to heightened feelings of anger, betrayal, and injustice.

I also fully believe that while the rest of the Rat Grinders may not have been treating Lucy fully in good faith that ultimately she was killed as a result of HER getting rage-crystaled. Lucy being overtaken with feelings of anger, betrayal, and injustice. We already know she wasn’t happy with the “rat grinding” OR the implied pressure to change her deity based on how Yolanda and Ruben spoke of her.

Then the Lucy situation ends up being what sparks the heightened concern in Kipperlilly towards Oisin since he’s pretty conclusively shown to be the second most prone to actually stand up for what’s “morally right” based on what we’ve seen from him thus far.

Which I believe will still ultimately culminate in Oisin finding out and being overtaken regardless. Due to spoilers from that one battle set in the trailer where they’re in a flying boat (*I look at the unaccounted for cloud engine*) battling against a blue dragon (*I look at the rage-crystal wizards just being insanely jacked versions of themselves*).

Either accidentally due to the lack of communication between The Bad Kids who believe The Rat Grinders to all be 100% immoral revealing everything to Oisin under the assumption that he’s been in on it.

OR on purpose at a specific time and place, meaning that rather than KLCK being worried about Oisin being overtaken in general she’s worried about it happening before she wants it to. Which with this theory would also imply to me that maybe someone being rage-crystaled is necessary to bring Ankarna back and that Lucy was intentionally rage-crystaled but in the wrong place (as KLCK was inquiring about how to create/rebirth Gods and discovered it needs to be done in “the correct place” in order to work). So the ritual failed and she’s trying it again but needs it to be done right this time.

Throwing this theory out into the ether because I genuinely believe that from the episode previews Kristen will bring Lucy back but Lucy will still be dealing with the rage-crystal consequences (explaining Brennan acting out someone gasping “awake” and going straight into pained/angered screaming)

[caitmayart]

omg i cant believe i stumbled across your blog!!! ive been going crazy over the art this season and now i can thank you for it!!!!

ive been rotating lucy frostblade in my brain. you did such a good job on her. i love how her vitiligo is reminiscent of frostbite and how her hairstyle is not only similar to historical styles from cold climates but also, because of the way she winds the braids into buns, looks like frost swirling on a windowpane!

the agueforts making out with each other was GREAT and youve really captured his energy in all your art of him

thank you for the teachers. especially zara and antiope. im gay.

on the topic of the teachers, the way you drew the mist around the rogue teacher is really cool! i love how from a distance she seemingly disappears into it! you mustve done a LOT of work on character designs and it SHOWS

sorry if youve gotten this question a lot, but what program do you use? im trying to get back into digital art after a long break and am looking for one that works for me!

Hi hi hello! Thank you! 1. Thank you so much!! I adore my girl Lucy, I'm so glad she's had such a warm reception from fans ♥ 2. Bahaha thank youuuuuuuu I had too much fun with that part. 3. YOU'RE SO WELCOME! 4. Thank you! I was kinda going with the stylistic choices the previous artist made regarding ghosts, and I'm also a fan of swirly ectoplasm bubbles :) 5. All good - I use Clip Studio Paint! I highly recommend it, since you can get the FULL program on ipad as well as pc, rather than the parsed-down version of photoshop adobe threw at us. Thank you for brightening my day! ♥

[freswoe]

i really don’t know how im feeling about the latest fhjy episode. sure, it was fun, the combat planning was great to watch and the battle map was awesome, but… story-wise? It wasn’t good. more than that, the preview for the next episode looks like it’ll mainly be just a battle episode, and that combination does Not make me feel optimistic about the ending of fhjy as a whole.

i think the thing that best sums up my confusion and disappointment with this episode is when Ally/Kristen shouts ‘For Lucy!’ and honestly… why? What about Lucy Frostblade - the kind girl whose major philosophy was that the world is cold so we have to keep each other warm, the foil to Porter’s house of conquest without mercy - suggests that she’d want the brutal murder of her friends without any attempt to talk to or redeem them? the entire season has stressed the doubt/conviction relationship - with the RGs representing wrathful conviction and the BKs representing doubt - and yet there’s zero doubt, zero room for understanding, when Fig’s first action as Wanda Chillda is to stress that she fucking hates ruben and wants to see him die. also, whatever the fuck was going on with ivy and fabian.

its just. this episode is the penultimate episode of the entire season, and if i was watching with no prior knowledge, id probably say it would be episode 13, 14 etc. a cool fight, but absolutely zero emotional resonance - just the Bad Kids going to town on yet another enemy. cool fights, cool planning, cool teamwork, but nothing really special about it.

i’ve seen some people saying not to take this so seriously, that it’s an dnd liveplay so of course the storytelling isn’t always gonna be Handcrafted To Perfection TM, but Fantasy High has a track record of some pretty amazing and thoughtful storytelling, and that’s what makes this episode kinda suck. There’s zero emotional resonance. The BKs clearly view the RGs as minibosses, annoying obstacles to defeat so they can focus on the main event, and that would be fine if that’s what the RGs were. But they’re not. We’ve learnt about them, we’ve seen how they were corrupted and groomed, we’ve seen how they really are just the Bad Kids who really went bad. They have narrative weight! They represent the mindless, wrathful conviction that the BKs are trying to stop, and for the BKs to slaughter them with that wrathful conviction (with no room for doubt or redemption at all) is… it’s not good.

don’t get me wrong, I get why (they’ve been awful to the BKs all season, cathartic last fight etc) but it still sucks narratively. like i can’t stress enough that the BKs are using the exact same tactics that they resented the RGs for to slaughter them. ruben says to fig that the BKs are killing his friends (despite their awful interparty relationships, they’re still his friends) and her response, instead of the understanding and kindness that fig (and, tbh, Emily) are known for is to cast ruben into literal fucking hell.

even oisin’s death was anticlimactic. gorgug’s kill on him was cool, but no nod to adaine? not even a mention of ‘you led my friend on and broke her heart so now i’ll break your heart?’ the broken heart thing was Right There and nothing happened. oisin died, a player was removed from the field, the battle went on. no emotional connection or resonance whatsoever.

i don’t know. from a narrative perspective, this episode was bad. all the nuance of the bad kids/rat grinders dynamic has been lost. the bad kids have become Exactly what the rat grinders said they were with apparently zero self-awareness on the matter. they shoot porter and jace and the RGs down with zingers and cool spells and don’t bother even trying to de-rage the rat grinders, and the result is an episode 19 which feels like a mid-season miniboss fight. they bring the same approach to fighting the RGs that they did to fighting the monsters in the Last Stand, which, y’know. not good.

the only way i can think that they might turn this around is if the BKs are shown to be influenced by rage/the RGs get brought back (still hating the BKs, but at least giving them the chance to try again), but I really don’t know at this point. just overall feeling very disappointed.

[itsgonnagetinspiringsoon]

My thoughts on the members of the Rat Grinders (long post incoming):

Mary Ann Skuttle

Mary-Ann. Pretty neutral, she seems like she doesn't give two fucks about what happens which is kinda cool but kinda boring as well. I do absolutely love the 'tiny person very strong' trope so bonus points for that. 6/10 she's cool but atm seems unremarkable.

Ruben Hopclap

Seems like a dick tbh. Trying way too hard to be edgy but is also a cool foil for Fig in that way. He appears to genuinely like Wanda Childa so I feel a bit bad for the psychological break he will probably suffer when he learns that she's Fig. 4/10 (loses points for dragging the Thistlesprings into his little band ritual thing).

Ivy Embra

She's hot, ngl. Seems very similar to how I'd imagine Sandra Lynn at that age which is kinda interesting. She is a bitch however and did not seem AT ALL remorseful when she saw "Lucy". 3/10 she made fun of Mazey Phaedra.

Oisin Hakinvar

Probably the best member of the group so far. He was nice to Adaine even though she didn't recognise him. He also apologised for the actions of his friends! This implies that he maybe doesn't agree with what they're doing. Does follow Kipperlilly's lead as far as we know, so his biggest flaw seems to be being a follower. 7/10 i would also have a crush on Adaine even if my team leader hated her.

Buddy Dawn

Smarmy and self-assured. Absolutely brilliant characterisation from Brennan, bc Buddy is kind of how I would imagine Kristen would turn out to be without the bad kids. I think he could possibly be a good person if they showed him the truth of Helio and the world but he's also extremely annoying and dangerously dedicated to his grandfather's agenda. 3/10 he would comment "It's not too late to be saved" on queer Instagram posts.

Kipperlilly Copperkettle

I've said this before but I actually like her name, I think it's cool. As for her character: she's a deceitful, manipulative control freak who doesn't hesitate to sabotage her classmates and (potentially) murder her friends if she thinks they're in her way. 1/10 I don't like her.

BONUS

Lucy Frostblade

10/10 no notes

[pokegwyn2]

Having some big thoughts about Lucy Frostblade after episode 17 of FHJY.

You are a cleric of Ruvina, giant goddess of winter and sorrow. Your belief in her, the ancestral goddess of your people, is rock solid. You are not always happy, but you are kind, and spend time reviving the rats you and your friends kill in the forest.

You are the cleric of the high five heroes, and you are especially close to Kipperlily. She is your best friend, and she came up with the party name, and when the rest of the party wants to change it you stand by her in saying no. She is angry, all the time.

It is sophomore year, and you travel to the mountains of chaos, with a teacher as your guide. You spend time learning about a dead god, a god of rage and war and conquest. The teacher and his friend tell you that they want to bring this god back, and spend time helping your party level up.

At first, you agree. This is what your friends want, and what these teachers want. Teachers can be trusted, right? Bringing back a goddess, long forgotten, can’t be bad if they agree. And not just any goddess, but the sister of your own beloved Ruvina. (Did they tell you that it was your ancestors that killed Ankarna in the first place, to stop the conquest of her corrupted form?) Ruvina could have her sister back! (Did they tell you the plan was not to reinstate her, but to steal her divinity for themself, killing her for good?)

I wonder what made her change her mind. Did she find out the full plan, or the full history of the war between the Sunstones and the Frostblades? Had they presented the full story and plan to her? I imagine the possibility that she had decided to switch, to bring this goddess back, and thought that it might be happy for her deity to have her sister alive again. Did she pray to Ruvina, and maybe reveal to her the plan? Did Ruvina respond, and tell her not to do it?

Anyways it’s truly just brain rot hours about a character who has had literally zero dialogue because she was dead before we knew who she was, but she is Haunting this Narrative. (Also I would like it on record that I am of the opinion that all of the Rat Grinders are children who have been manipulated into this, by adults who have an agenda that they can be useful to. If they had been left alone, they would’ve just been kinda angry, resentful minor antagonists. Tbh if my only choice was to be dead or to be serving a god who I’ve been primed to agree with, I don’t know if I would’ve been strong enough to say stay dead.)

[kermit-coded]

thinking about kindness as a threat. and i don't mean that in a "kill 'em with kindness" kinda way. i mean that in a "acts of kindness can make those who work within an unjust system to gain power feel threatened" way. thinking about lucy frostblade, and how she resurrected the rats. thinking about kindness not as a weakness but as a trait that can sound the death knell for a corrupt and uncaring status quo. thinking about how ruben described lucy as "sticking to her guns." thinking about how kindness means taking the time to consider how your actions affect others. thinking about how none of the rat grinders seem to actually care about each other. thinking about how lucy was murdered, very likely by her own party, and she ended up as just a footnote in the yearbook. thinking about kristen taking the time to free her and yolanda's souls. thinking about devotion and kindness and quiet, everyday ways of fighting against apathy.

[halevren]

I'm shooting so far in the dark but what if the rat grinders were trying to bring back the nameless rage god (presumably Ankarna) so they could figure out how to get rid for the anti resurrection runes on Lucy Frostblade's bones.

Something happened in the chaos mountains. They all died, but Lucy was the only one to decline on following the way of the rage. What if they're just trying to save her? That's why they seem to becoming more desperate as time runs out to save Lucy.

I've slept like 2 hours in the last 48 hours so I'm kinda losing my mind

[verosvault]

🚨SPOILERS FOR FANTASY HIGH JUNIOR YEAR EPISODE 6🚨

Dimension20 "Fantasy High Junior Year"

Episode 6 "Party Politics"

Timestamp: 1:00:58

Video Length: 2min. & 25sec.

Singing HBD Pirates + Murph's Reliable Talent + Sophomore Yearbook Info on Lucy Frostblade 😆

Investigation check in Fabian's room!

Riz wants to see if it looks like anyone has been in this room looking for something. 🥲🥲

Fabian creates some cover for themselves by having his barrel pirates sing happy birthday! 😂🤣💀

Fig plays bass under them 😂🤣💀

The pirates start to move their hips a little bit 😂😂

Fabian: "Oh, so now you can play something else?"

Happy Birthday Pirates: "Well, it's a real musician, isn't it? Isn't it?"

Fabian: "All right, all right."

Happy Birthday Pirates: "We don't have to be nice, we just have to play the song."

Fabian: "Okay!"

😭💀

Murph: "I rolled a natural one, but now that I'm level 11, I have Reliable Talent, so if I'm proficient, a roll of 9 or lower is a 10, so 21 no matter what." 😭😭

Brennan: "The best Murph power of all time. You literally can't roll low. So what's the investigation score?"

Murph: "21"

Brennan: "Cannot roll lower than 21 Investigation."

Ally: "So sick"

Brennan: "your investigation is good enough to know that it's possible that an extremely talented rogue could've been here and you wouldn't know."

They find the sophomore yearbook!

Brennan: "There is no indication of Lucy Frostblade. However, on that 21 investigation, you look a little bit deeper and find a slip fallen out in this small bookshelf area. You see that there was a loose paper slip mentioning Lucy Frostblade as added to the in memoriam that was added after the books went to print. So literally, it narrows it down to this very specific window of time because they added her to the in memoriam."

The end of Sophomore year.

Fig mentions that Ivy didn't look at her like "Oh, I saw a ghost"

Ally: "Maybe she died in a way that kinda messed them up."

Emily: "Maybe they faked some kind of-"

Siobhan: "Maybe she knew immediately"

Brennan didn't have Fig roll deception of any kind cause she rolls advantage on deception checks when she's disguised as someone. 🥲

Siobhan: "Maybe she has Truesight or something, though."

Emily: "Yeah, true, could be."

[lucyfrostblade]

(voted for ratgrundlr. will vote again for ratgrundlr #voter fraud)

i believe (in my heart) that kipperlilly got brought back with the rest of them, and is just doing what she did the entire rest of the season and very successfully hiding. would love to see some kinda drabble about that - does she feel bad? is she ashamed? is she mad? is she anxious? is she just biding her time? she is fascinating to me.

want a drabble? vote for ratgrundlr and submit your prompt. commit voter fraud once and get two drabbles!! 11 hours left to vote !! vote for ratgrundlr to #stopthesteal (also i can and will write more on this i just have to get ready for an event)

word count: 515

The first time Kipperlilly got a burn was back in middle school. Some time as she passed from elementary to middle school, her hair gained a slight wave to it. No one had ever said anything about it, no even noticed other than Lucy. But Kipperlilly did, stared in the mirror and felt some sliver of her control slip out of her grasp.

The burn itself was small and on the side of her finger where her hand slipped while straightener her hair one morning. But the pain itself felt overwhelming for a moment, a burst of intense pain that startled her more than she would admit to anyone who asked.

When Kipperlilly Coppkettle came back to life, she felt the lava around her still. It was gone, she knew, and she didn't even have any burns to prove it happened. Her body had been remade from scratch, bones and blood and organs and skin rebuilt from nothing. There was a moment where the world felt too much for her, light too bright and her own emotions too much for a brain that was rewriting neural connections as she stood there.

But she got her wits about her enough to hide before any of the other Rat Grinders saw her, before the Bad Kids saw her, before Lucy Frostblade saw her.

Kipperlilly accepted that she would never see Lucy again the year before. She stood over Lucy's corpse, retrieved her crossbow bolts and Ivy's arrows, and then watched as Porter carved the rune into her chest. Everyone else left while Kipperlilly waited for Lucy to come back. Something in her broke in that moment, some part of her so sure in the one fundamental truth of her world: Lucy Frostblade loved her just the same as Kipperlilly Copperkettle loved her.

Unseasonable snow started to fall around her, melted on her skin the moment it landed on her.

Anger bubbled between her skin. With each beat of her heart the rage only grew and grew. It made it easy enough to ignore the sorrow that nestled behind her ribs.

But in the present, while Lucy Frostblade stood breathing and moving and alive for the first time in over a year, Kipperlilly was too tired for the rage to sink it's teeth back into her throat. She reached for it still, came up empty. After a year of rage burning and burning and burning, she was lost without it.

After everyone left, and Kipperlilly was left alone, she stumbled home. Or to her parent's house. It'd hadn't been home for a while but there wasn't anywhere else for her to go—not Ruben's place, not the school, not to Lucy's side. She broke into the house.

Her bed room was the exact same as it had been before spring break in sophomore year except for the dust that had settled. She curled up in her childhood bed, ignored the way her skin crawled, and slept.

When she woke up she'd have to deal with everything but in that moment all she felt was that horrible, bone-deep exhaustion.

[18catsreading]

Fabian: hi

Rat: hi there

Fabian: how are you?

Rat: I'm okay. You gonna come here and step on me?

Fabian: no, actually, we wanted to know more about the steppers.

Rat: well, all right

Fabian: what can you tell us?

Rat: there's a bunch of people who come here and step in us, and they attack us with swords, and they shoot spells.

Fabian: okay, great. Hey, okay --

Emily/Fig: can I Minor illusion Lucy Frostblade? Ask the last time it saw this girl.

Fabian: okay, do you see this person? When's the last time you saw them?

Emily/Fig: I do like a nice photo shoot, like a prom queen photo shoot.

Brennan: I just hit a nat 20 on this rat's history check.

Lou: okay!

Ally: this rat was best friends with Lucy before she died!

Brennan: you see the rat looks and he says [as Rat]: aw jeepers, she was always really nice.

Fig: did she have tension with the other ones?

Rat: well, you know, we didn't like her at first because she used to come here and kill us all the time. But some time last year or something like that she started to bring us back from the dead after her friends left.

Fabian: oh

Siobhan/Adaine: oh, that's nice

Fabian: that's so sweet

Siobhan/Adaine: that is nice

Emily/Fig: oh my goodness

Fabian: wait, is there a place that they hung out in the woods, or particularly liked? Did you guys ever have a --

Kristen: what's their zone

Fabian: -- a lair, or their nest?

Rat: they sorta hung out all over, but there's a place where I go sometimes because it was the last place I -- uh, I'm not supposed to say nothin'.

Fabian: No, no, no

Kristen: hey that's okay.

Fabian: You can talk to us.

Gorgug: what's it saying, Fabian?

Fabian: it's having kind of an emotional moment.

Fig: I know how to handle this! I'll minor illusion a sexy rat

Fabian: no, come on! Come on, dude! Dude!

Ally/Kristen: I step on the sexy rat

Rat: Aaaahhhhh!

Fabian: sorry, no! We're not those guys

Brennan: aaahhh! Aaahhh!

Kristen: sorry, sorry, that was fake! That was fake! She was so sexy

Brennan: aaahhhh!

Fabian: you know that's triggering for me!

Kristen: can you get a little rat stuffed animal out of your coat?

Fabian: you know that's triggering for me!!

Adaine: oh yes, a little rat

Ally/Kristen: we get a little rat stuffed animal out of the coat. It's extra tiny and it can hold it while it's --

Rat: it's like a Mannequin, like they have in rat stores.

Fabian: I'm sorry? I'm sorry? Wait, hold on, what'd you just say?

Rat: what?

Adaine: you have rat stores?

Rat: what?

Fabian: what'd you say? Rat store?

Rat: there's not a rat world under the school.

Adaine: what

Rat: what

Gorgug: I don't know what he's saying

Fabian: he's talking about rat stores under the school.

Gorgug: got it

Fabian: where you can get rat mannequins

Riz: steer it back! Steer it back, Fabian! All we hear is squeaking, steer him back!

Fabian: I'm sorry it's just interesting you know? Did you guys know about rat world? Now we do!

Gorgug: just keep going!

Riz: where was Lucy Frostblade?

Fabian: all right, nobody else wanted to eat the fucking tongue or the organs

Adaine: you volunteered!

Riz: you volunteered so hard!

Fabian: it made it better!

Ally/Kristen: I'm petting the rat, I'm trying to keep it kinda calm.

Brennan's rat's sort of crying a little bit

Kristen: aw, it looks sad

Fabian: I know it would be hard for you, but it would mean a great deal to us - and that person - if you could show us that place.

Rat: all right. I could take you. It takes about two days to get there.

Adaine: we can carry you!

Fig: oh that's two days for you

Riz: two days Rat Time

Kristen: tell him we could carry him

Fabian: we can carry you

Rat: okay

Fabian: we move faster than the wind

Fig: do you wanna ride -- ask him if he wants to ride the skateboard

Fabian: do you want to ride in a skateboard? Do they have those in your rat world?

Rat: a skateboard?

Kristen: make the battle sheet into a Baby Björn for the rat

Fabian: okay. We're gonna wrap you up and put you on the skateboard

Rat: Lucy used to call me Spot

Fabian: Spot?

Spot: mmhmm

Fig: tell him that we are to help Lucy and so if he can help us we can help Lucy

Fabian: we're trying to help Lucy, so if you can help us --

Brennan: go ahead and give me persuasion with advantage

Ally: yess

Emily/Fig: do you want a bardic?

Lou/Fabian: yea, can I get one? D8?

Emily/Fig: yea

Murph/Riz: be so careful

Lou: okay I got a 19 plus 8 so that's 27 [goes to Rolla. D8]

Murph: maybe you don't need it

Ally: you don't need it, then, you don't need it.

Murph: you could save it, right?

Ally: it could kill the rat, honestly. Imagine the Rat getting bonked in the head by a a fucking skateboard wheel.

Lou/Fabian: it's my bardic, so I think I would be the one.

Zac/Gorgug: it's up to you

Fabian: I mean, what do you guys ...? Eh. *Rolls the dice* 3! 30

Brennan: you see Spot goes [as Spot]: yea, absolutely! You can come with me right now. I'll show you where it is.

Fabian: fantastic