#neffie-cloud

[nefelibata-cloud]

🅐🅤🅡🅞🅡🅐

pt 1 | master list | series master list

summary: y/n accidentally appears at the top of dragonspine. in trying to get away from the harsh cold and get to some body who can help her get back to her world, she comes across a certain winery owner.

genre: angst, slow burn?

warnings: the first part is literally trying to survive dragonspine in your pjs…, cussing probably, kidnapping, falling off a waterfall, VERY self indulgent, that’s it for now i think, lmk if i need to add anymore.

featuring: diluc, and some other mondstadt characters make appearances

notes: y/n is fem! and unintentionally quiet and timid bc i daydreamed this with myself i’m mind ehehe ;P

more below the cut :)

you turned off your device after playing on genshin impact for longer than you really should’ve. it was late into the night, and you really. should. be. in bed. by now.

you curl up in bed and pass out. not noticing your device turn on and the genshin loading screen popping up again.

when you wake up, you’re cold. very cold. shivering violently. you try to reach for your blanket, refusing to open your eyes.

nothing…

did i yeet my blanket from my bed in my sleep or something? and why is the mattress so hard?

you open your eyes, blinded by white and grey.

a cold breeze blows through you.

you slowly lift yourself up. taking a better look at your surroundings.

where are you? and why does everything look vaguely familiar?

you stand up and look behind you. noticing a large statue. a statue of barbatos.

a statue of barbatos blanketed in snow.

oh…

this is near the top of dragonspine.

you stare blankly in shock at nothing in particular.

then you smile. “oh…i must be dreaming a very realistic dream.” you step closer to the edge of the balcony, peering over, a gust of wind pushes against your faec. “see! totally a dream,” you try to convince yourself. you proceed to hover your fingers above your arm. “i’ll wake up eventually, but in the mean time i can go to see all my favorite characters!”

then you feel the pinch, and you feel your skin raising into intense goosebumps.

wait…this..this isn’t a dream…is it?

you close your eyes and slap your face with both hands. the sting burns against your cold skin. you open your eyes and your scenery hasn’t changed in the slightest.

there are…ultra realistic dreams… right??

you shiver, not sure if it’s from the cold or the realization.

sighing, you tell yourself that there’s nothing else you can do than walk towards mondstadt and find someone who can help you.

after mentally preparing yourself, you begin your descent.

you’re cold. you’re tired. you’re tired of being cold. by now you’re convinced you’ve somehow teleported into the world of teyvat, a fantasy from the world you come from, but it couldn’t be more real.

and you couldn’t be more unprepared. you’re literally traversing dragonspine in your pajamas.

how long has it been since you descended into dragonspine? it couldn’t have been more than 15 minutes, why has the sun already set?

you come across a small hilichurl camp, noticing a fire.

heat. warmth. a break from this unrelenting cold.

you duck behind a tree trying to come up with a plan. you peek out again. they haven’t seemed to notice you yet.

if this were the game you would just attack. wipe them out in a few seconds tops.

but you have no weapons, no one but yourself. you’re outnumbered, and you’re stiff from the cold.

you have no hope of an ideal outcome.

you could wait till they all fall asleep, but you don’t know when or if that will happen and how long it will be before they notice you.

you sigh, quietly making your way around the camp and hoping that you’ll find some scarlet quartz and a few dry twigs. the former isn’t so hard to find, it’s mining it that’s more difficult. but the dry twigs and sticks are a little harder to come by. not with all the ice and snow incrusting them, that’s for sure.

when you come to the fork in the roads, you had been planning to take a right, down the snow covered path, but upon seeing a lawachurl further down you decide against it. taking the path through wyrmrest valley.

that’s right, albedo might be in his lab. he could help me!

that was until you remembered that you can’t safely get to his lab from where you are without a wind glider or climbing gear, neither of which you possess. the broken bridge is to thank for that.

you sigh, before carefully sliding down the steep ridge, earning yourself a few scrapes on the way down.

once down you make your way to the cave in wyrmrest, hoping to find some warmth.

you make it after managing to avoid the fatui that are for some reason stationed in this god forsaken place.

with it being night time, and the cave being so warm, you find yourself drifting off to sleep.

“hey! wake up, runt!”

you groggily open your eyes.

who?

“i said wake up!”

you look up and meet the eyes of a fatui skirmisher.

“what do you know about the star?”

“the what?” you ask. you feel dizzy and he’s beginning to look fuzzy. why is everything so blurry?

the skirmisher makes an annoyed sigh. “throw her in the water, we’re not gonna get anything from her.”

before you can process what’s going on, you feel yourself being yanked up by the elbows and tossed like a doll into the freezing cold water. the current drags you under and you can’t seem to find your orientation. just when you do you feel yourself falling.

no! it can’t end like this!

you reach towards the sky, clawing at the air. when you hit the water, you see the world go black.

next | master list | series master list

[cloudbattrolls]

Her Longing to Blister

Klirro | Rhyssa’s Town | Present Night

Note: The DeVille coven belongs to @terribletrollstbh!

Klirro enveloped the wasps that came to punish her. 

She had made her way down the winding rock path lined with flowers. She had drawn the pleasant, cool night air into her dead lungs, for joy instead of function; she did not need particular gasses to thrive. She had watched the spirals cutting themselves into the stone, then wearing away as she’d passed, her long strides barely making a sound.

Now she twisted the white swarms surging up to meet her into curling columns of little bodies pressed together, trapping them in midair. 

She split her body open - hip to neck - into a jagged-fanged maw to consume them. She snapped it shut, crushing their segments and wings, their glittering compound eyes and wicked stingers. She undid the maw after she ground them up into nothingness, her corpse returning to its natural state.

Not for sustenance, for the wasps contained no blood.

This was a mild chiding for their mind to remember who she was dealing with.

As their troll form ran toward her over the grass, snarling, Klirro laid a long-fingered hand on her shoulder and the woman froze.

“What - what’re you - ”

“Do not undo yourself.” She said to the woman gently. “We are not enemies. You are so young, so loyal, that you ease pity from even the swiftest of spirals. Poor Rhyssa…I am so sorry. Of all the names you carry, this is your last.”

“What in tarnation does that mean?” snapped the drinker swarm. “Talk proper for once, ya old hag! Y’think you can just skip off without so much as a how d��ya do and say nothin’ when you come back? I want answers!”

Klirro saw Rhyssa entire. Her bones, her insects, her imitations of the troll organs she needed to think and speak. Her constantly turning spiral gaze swept over the woman and witnessed everything she was and ever could be.

“Go to him.” Stated the horrorterror. “Go to Gallen…the sweet isopod could use comfort. He worries what the butterfly will do to him.”

The false goldblood hesitated, her aggressive stance weakening.

“This ain’t over.” She spat, then turned and matched off in her jangling spurred boots.

Klirro hummed. It was over. Had already been over. Would be over. 

She wandered back into Rhyssa’s town nestled among the mountains. Small, as most trolls would measure it. The voices here were like very few voices elsewhere, their accents undiluted by association with the outside world, their cadences drawling and pure. The buildings were round, with hexagonal windows. The place was the swarm as much as her actual body, molded to her image to provide for her food. To feast upon her comforts and be feasted on in return as they harvested their own blood for her. What a neat circle.

At first they had stared at her with wariness, these trolls, but never fear. They did not know enough to fear her.

A few looked up at her passing, but they went back to their tasks, even if a few muttered to each other that one of those ‘odd strangers’ was back again.

Klirro paused, and considered them. Health, size, place in time, how the other villagers thought of each one…

Her bones extended out of her arm in a sick crack as they lengthened and warped into a blade that neatly slit the throat of a tall olive woman, so sharply and cleanly that barely any blood spilled. The troll didn’t even have time to be shocked before she died.

Klirro reeled her back in with the blade, suspending her body upright with other bony extensions to carry her and not let blood drip out. 

The other trolls screamed and ran, yelling that she wouldn’t get away with this. That Rhyssa would punish her.

In every timeline, their pleas went unanswered. 

Her poor coven. Rhyssa had worked them hard, sending them out to gather blood for her, desperate to appease Ozryel, angry that her plan hadn’t worked. Worried Tuuya would come after her in revenge, that she would have to hurt them herself. 

Worried for her brother, that he had failed to find their wayward fellow swarm.

Worried that her butterfly sibling cared nothing for the rest of them, only for the success of their plan. 

Klirro felt for the wasp, so shortsighted, so caught up in herself. 

She saw how her coven had been held to saccharine-sweet promises of protection from Tuuya as long as they toed the line. She saw them tired, arguing with each other, growing more hopeless in this isolated place. Away from the home they’d made for themselves, what did money matter? They were cut off, trapped, surrounded by a drinker even stronger than the one they’d made an enemy of.

All this tension seeped out of the building her three fellows stayed in as she approached, a spiral unable to break itself.

She opened the door to the hive the coven had been given, which swung in with a long, slow creak. It had been here for centuries, this place, one of the oldest hives in the village, long repaired by many sets of troll hands instead of carpenter drones. 

Hirudo was the first to see her, head swinging around and fuchsia eyes widening in shock.

“Klirro! Where did you go? We were worried!”

The horrorterror smiled. So sweet of her coven to worry for her, even when they were all far more fragile.

“Away, friends! Still yourselves and your hearing to receive the stories I carry for you. We will make it back to a life that sustains your happiness more than this one.”

She pointed at the corpse she carried, lowering it on the table with her bone extensions and dropping it.

“I brought a snack.”

“That’s one of the townsfolk.” Said Hirudo, a bit on edge. “She won’t be happy.”

“Rhyssa wants to sting you, but cannot without a great deal of her own pain.” Murmured the older undead. “Her time is soon anyway. Such suffering for the wasp.”

Neffie walked in, Joey following behind her, both with mixed expressions of relief and irritation as they saw both Klirro and the corpse.

“Klirro, we - “ Neffie said, cutting herself off as the older drinker beckoned.

“Later, later.” She said in a hushed tone. “You will still be here, in this time, later - I know this, so listen with your eyes and your ears and minds to me.”

She could tell they didn’t quite believe her, or else understand what she meant, but she almost never spoke with this much urgency. Usually time slipped by her, for it passed so quickly here, where space was less dense and gravity did not slow the swell of its passing. 

“Comfort your bodies and your minds before you listen to me. This tale must be told in progression, without cease, until it ends naturally. Its spiral cannot be withdrawn, nor faltered.”

The other three talked among themselves as they fed off the dead olive, and Klirro let them. She did not mind waiting; they only needed to know how it would go when the story started. 

Comfort was so important for trolls - such a curious concept, complex and unique to each individual. What bothered or pained one bolstered another. 

As they readied themselves, she held out her arms, and she took their minds with her to the past.

—

It hadn’t been very long ago at all. Not as she counted the aeons.

Thousands of lowblood generations. Hundreds of midblood ones. Dozens of highbloods’.

Four thousand, six hundred, and fifteen sweeps ago.

She had been summoned to Alternia not long before then, this conscious part of her. She had been sealed inside this corpse, but not yet locked away in her tomb. Free to wander Alternia and sustain herself.

One night, something had fallen from the sky. A beautiful streak of light from the heavens, crashing down into the earth with fluttering white wings and a dying wail.

Klirro went to go see what it had been, for she sensed that like her, it was not from this planet. 

She walked and walked, as days and nights passed, and finally she found a young forest, verdant under the pink and green moonlight. 

Among the saplings, the horrorterror found the ruins of a cavern. 

Many trolls had died; the survivors had fled, for she felt their passing, the frenzied fleeing of dozens of feet. In this strand of time, they would find a desert to settle in once more. 

Their old home was now a wreckage of broken stone, crumbled from the falling creature. 

She walked down, deep into the ruins.

She found it had merged with the cavern’s mother grub - miraculous that it had not died, instead taking a new form with the last of its power.

For it was - it had been - a creature of pure hope. An angel. 

Hope that the troll empire would not leave this planet and slaughter countless trillions. Hope that they could still be stopped by wiping enough of them out, starting with the progenitors of their race.

Now it was an entity of rage. 

‘Why are you angry?’ Klirro had asked, looking down at the being now trapped below the ground for the rest of her life. 

‘Trolls shot me down,’ hissed the being, whose name was Ozryel. ‘I will never fly again. I cannot leave this place. I am death, yet now I will die some day, warped by this flesh I cannot escape, I now hunger for my enemies’ foul, heavy bodies. I curse them for how they have cursed me.’ 

Ozryel’s rage simmered and strengthened, fed by her helplessness, her frustration at failing to save the rest of the universe. 

It bled into the children she hatched from the few troll eggs that had survived her fall. They were warped into a new form of life, a parasitic one like their mother had now become.

Each one was different from the other, a reflection of the lusii the trolls in those eggs would have had. Each one was a creature of many small parts, and each one shared some of Ozryel’s rage and hunger. 

As the final one hatched, weeks after the others, Ozryel was spent. 

Her rage had cooled enough to realize that trolls were too numerous, too powerful, to be dominated by sheer force alone. It made sense, she realized bitterly, given they would some night foster an empire that would dominate endless stars. Perhaps she could slow them down a little, if nothing else.

She had already made thirteen children, giving each their own gifts to protect themselves against the terrible powers of their prey. This one would be weaker than the rest.

As her last child broke free of their eggshell, a mass of writhing white worms, Ozryel felt for the first time a maternal instinct untouched by anger or resentment.

They looked like her, this swarm, only without wings.

She was not so alone after all, even if she would never see another of her kind again. 

The fallen angel gave her fourteenth offspring a little bit of the hope she had once felt, the ability to understand others and feel their pain. She had no use for it anymore.

They wouldn’t have the might of their siblings. Their purpose did not require it.

This child would bring her the blood of their enemies, so she could be strong once more. 

—

Klirro returned her coven’s minds to the present.

“We will turn around one another for support, as the creeping vine does the tree.” She said softly. “We will join the second worm and the isopod when the moments align for our purpose and theirs.”

She and the coven slowly finished feeding on the corpse, draining the blood and wiping their faces.

“What purpose, Klirro? Aside from getting out of here.” Hirudo asked in a low tone, eyes flicking about as she was mindful of any hidden wasps that might be listening. 

The horrorterror smiled, her mouth wide enough to take up half her face. Her red spiral eyes gleamed in the low light as her own voice dropped to a reverent whisper, and her coven members leaned in to listen as she spoke her next three words, bony hands clasped.

“To kill Ozryel.”

[abookishdreamer]

Character Intro: Nephele (Kingdom of Ichor)

Nicknames- Princess of Clouds, O Sosías by the people of Olympius

Neffy (affectionately) by her boyfriend and close friends

Hera Lite by Aphrodite

Age- 18 (immortal)

Location- Boeotia, Olympius

Personality- She's generally shy, quiet, & introspective. She's far more complex emotionally than a lot of beings give her credit for. Being quite temperamental at times, she can switch between being sanguine and phlegmatic to choleric & melancholic. She's in a relationship.

She has the standard abilities of a goddess. As the goddess of clouds (and also duality) her other powers/abilities include flight (through use of clouds), limited aerokinesis, cloud mimicry, nebula manipulation, being able to create a perfect cloudform copy of herself, shapeshifting into a nephelai form, nephelokinesis (cloud generation/manipualtion), shapeshifting into an almost perfect form of Hera, and caligokinesis (fog generation/manipulation).

Nephele resides on a cliffside mansion in the state of Boeotia. The mansion is built out of marble, crystal, & lucite. The color scheme inside are pastel shades of white, silver, blue, gray, pink, and iridescent. There's pure white elderdown feather centerpieces, a crystal & diamond chandelier overhead the main hall, soft and airy linen & cotton furniture, and crystal & lucite furniture pieces- with the flooring being snow white mink carpeting. Her bedroom has her favorite thing- her bed. The bed is a technological feat, hovering several feet off the ground due to the 1,500 pounds of magnets beneath it. The bed costs 1.6 million drachmas and is covered in many cashmere pillows & silk, cashmere, and satin sheets.

She has an animal companion- a male pegasus named Celeris. Their energies are inexplicably intertwined. Celeris is quite protective of his rider. He's her usual mode of transportation. Nephele doesn't like the polluting aftereffects of most cars.

Nephele starts off her mornings with sessions of aerial yoga and acupuncture before taking a swim in her olympic sized deep pool.

She's well aware of the controversy surrounding her mere existance with her also being a deity. Nephele doesn't like thinking about her life before she was able to call the shots in her own life. All of her negative emotions are directed towards her ex Ixion, a former lord of Thessaly. Her possible union with him came about as a reprieve for the gods- namely Zeus (god of the sky, thunder, & lightning) after Ixion commited an act of kin slaying. Just the though of his crazed eyes makes Nephele's skin crawl. Even though she was successful in seducing him, Ixion laid his sights on Hera (goddess of women & marriage). Nephele's ceremonial union to him didn't happen. Ixion ended up being struck from Mt. Olympus and straight into Tartarus- his eternal punishment being attached to a spinning burning wheel forevermore. There's more to the story that Nephele knows about that she refuses to divulge in, even to her most trusted friends.

She's considered a gem among the nephelai community!

Nephele loves listening to classical, pop, & country music.

A typical breakfast for her is scrambled egg whites (added with feta cheese & onions) with a few lightly toasted hash browns and a bowl of plain yogurt (topped with shredded coconut & banana slices). She also likes the Golly Grains frosted rice cereal.

Her favorite makeup products include the Museology lip gloss in "3D Hologram," an opalescent shimmer, the Museology UV liquid eyeliner in "Pyrotechnic," a glittery silver color, and the Olmorfia gel powder highlighter in "Sunstone."

Now Nephele's life is filled with effortless joy. She's in a healthy romantic relationship with a mortal guy named Athamas, a soon-to-be lord of Boeotia. She likes that he means what he says, his gentle light brown eyes, and how safe she instinctively feels when she's around him. Nephele also likes that Athamas respects her boundaries when it comes to sex, which she's not comfortable with doing. She finds him asking for consent before they kiss to be the sexiest thing ever!

A go-to drink for her is coconut water. She also likes Strengthify ionized water, ginger ale, lemonade, iced tea, vodka soda, mint tea, piña colada smoothies, white wine, bellinis, mimosas, & palomas. Usuals from The Roasted Bean includes a cafe au lait, a large chai latte, a medium pineapple lychee splash, and an olympian sized flat white.

She's thinking about adding pastel silver pink highlights to her hair.

Nephele's favorite piece of jewlery to wear is her white gold necklace that has a cloud shaped charm embellished with miniature diamonds.

She finds the constant comparisons to Hera to be more than annoying.

A favorite thing for her to snack on is white chocolate covered popcorn.

Nephele barely has a social media presence. On Fatestagram she rarely posts pictures and videos of herself. Instead, she posts inspirational quotes as well as some of her personal drawings & watercolor paintings.

A guilty pleasure for her are air fried tofu sticks. She gets a 10 piece along with ginger garlic dipping sauce from Garden Gatherings, a popular vegan restaurant.

She loves the Glory's Crown black vanilla products.

Nephele's main source of income and primary business is her nationwide cotton candy shops, Candycloud. There's almost 90 different flavors of cotton candy, an official website, & a makeshift store in the Mall of Olympius. She has also released a signature parfum called Cloudmist. The fragrance has notes of pear, lavender, vanilla orchid, and creme de coconut. A notable thing is the clear blue cloud shaped perfume bottle. A 3.4 oz bottle sells for seventy drachmas. For other means of income Nephele models for/endorses Sunshine Radiance, Aktinovolos Petalouda (is a fan of the winged heels), and etherealist (a fashion brand started by a nephelai named Nelina). The brand's fashion is known for it's light & muted pastel colors, dramatic lengths, and use of super delicate & sheer fabrics- like silk organza, satin, chiffon, lace, and tulle. Nephele even walked the runway at an etherealist fashion show in Thrace.

Her favorite frozen treats are marshmallow ice cream (topped with sprinkles, white chocolate sauce, & mini marshmallows) and coconut gelato.

She's also a fan of the La Petit Amour bralette tops!

In the pantheon Nephele's friends with Aerin (goddess of the ethereal), The Muses, Pasithea (goddess of hallucinations & relaxation), Aoide (goddess of voice & song), Pothos (god of longing & yearning), The Hyades, Auxo (goddess of summer, vegetation, & plants), Aether (god of the upper atmosphere, celestial bodies, & heavenly light), Carpo (goddess of autumn & fruits), Eos (Titaness of dawn), Thallo (goddess of spring & new growth), Hemera (goddess of the day), Pandaisia (goddess of banquets), and Aeolus (god of wind).

Her official mentor was Tethys (Titaness of freshwater & clouds). They both bonded during her mentorship and remained close afterwards. They talk on the phone daily & Nephele doesn't mind traveling to Aetolia to visit her.

She also admires Eváeros (goddess of air & the zodiacs).

Her all time favorite desset is the cipriani meringue cake from Hollyhock's Bakery. She also likes the marshmallow cream filled doughnuts.

Nephele's relationship with the King and Queen is complicated to say the least. She's been an odd, but welcome comfort to Zeus since Hera filed for divorce. One stormy night when Nephele came to the palace to check on him, she found Zeus high on lotus dust. In his drug addled state, he thought he was Hera and begged her to dance with him on the balcony- like they always used to. Nephele obliged and when the dance was over, Zeus kissed her. For a brief moment he saw through his trance that Nephele was not Hera. Zeus actually cried and apologized.

She recently bought herself an etherealist handbag. It's the crystal embellished cloud shaped crossbody clutch. It costs 700 drachmas.

At one of Pandaisia's brunch parties, Nephele nearly finished a couple of trays of smoked salmon macarons.

In her free time she enjoys flying (on Celeris), knitting, drawing, cloud surfing, reading, painting, spending time with her boyfriend, going to the cinema, ballet, cooking, hanging out with friends, and baking.

Her all time favorite meal is grilled chicken breasts (stuffed with goat cheese & onions) with garlic mashed potatoes and white rice.

"Clouds are on top for a reason. They float so high because they refuse to carry any burden."

[hazbincalifornia]

Cloudy Judgement

Em wanted a writing to go along with her entry- Nephele is hers, and Stella’s mine!

Wordcount: 1160

Rating: G

As Stella watched Nephele jump around the room, examining the shiny jewelry Stella had only just started collecting, she decided that the other girl made a good argument.

“C’mon, Stellabella, I promise it’ll be real nice and pretty! Earthy clouds are the best sort of fluffy, and if the sun hits them just right when the sun’s setting they glitter and make oranges and pinks and blues and-”

Stella set a finger on Nephele’s beak, shutting the girl up as neatly as a bullet to the head but a lot less messy. She was still bouncing up and down, and Stella’s’s arm went with her every time until she pulled it back. “You wanna take the book to watch clouds?”

“Uh-huh! Daddy takes me sometimes, but I wanna see it with you. You’re cool.” She said it with absolute certainty, and Stella reached forward to ruffle her hair the way Daddy always did to her. When her palm made contact, it sank right in, feathers layered on top of feathers in an endless cascade of fluffiness that looked like cotton candy and felt the way her chest did when she was wrapped up in a blanket and eating popcorn. Nephele just nodded her head up so Stella’s hand sunk in further until it reached the skull. “Isn’t it soft?”

“It’s really soft,” Stella agreed. If she could have clothes made of that material she’d never ever complain about anything ever again. “And you won’t tell ‘em, right? I’m not supposed to play with it, but it doesn’t look that hard to use.”

Nephele made a zipper motion in front of her beak. “Promise promise. I won’t even touch it!”

“Well, they are supposed to gone for another hour…” Stella peered out of her room in the corner of the palace. The servant who was supposed to be watching them had fallen asleep at her post, and they had brought the book back for some sort of… conference thing? From what Daddy had said, it wasn’t anything important, but the bulk of the not-important stuff had happened that morning, so if nobody needed it now, there couldn’t be much harm in a little joyride. There was a really great place off the coast of Norway that Neffie would probably love.

The girls tiptoed down the hallway, the portraits hanging on the walls easily two or three times their heights. Stella took a moment to stick out her tongue at one of them, a particularly stuffy-looking woman who had a collar buttoned up to nearly over her beak, and Nephele followed with a giggle before tugging a small wad of fluffy feathers out of her hair and lobbing it at the painting. It hit bulls-eye, giving the woman a small beard. Both girls stared for a moment before breaking into another peal of laughter that made Stella’s stomach hurt.

“Hello?” A voice echoed down the hall, and Stella yanked Nephele into a nearby room, shoving a hand over her beak. There was a steady clicking of shoes on the marbled floors, growing louder before fading into the distance, and Stella let out a breath.

“Phew…” Wetness dragged across her hand and she yanked it away. “Hey!”

Neph’s tongue held out for a moment in a blep before she sucked it back in. “Nooooothing.”

“Stay quiet,” Stella said, taking another peek out into the hallway. Nothing again. Unfortunately, it would take longer to backtrack to the vents and secret entrances than the straight shot to the room they were holding the book in, so it was better to just try and be stealthy.

Luckily, no one else almost captured them- Stella was glad her hearing was as acute as it was, because ducking down side hallways once or twice was enough to keep the grown-ups wandering around from ruining the fun. They would have to play hide and seek at some point, she knew the mansion a lot better than Neffie did so it’d be fun to try and seek her out. Plus, apparently uncle Aamon had a lot of hidden rooms in his place down in Lust too, so it would be neat to explore down there next time Papa was invited. He was one of the few people who actually knew about her, they should get to take advantage of that!

The door wasn’t locked, and the girls were quiet as ghosts as they snuck in. The Grimoire was settled on a table, but it was easy enough for Stella to boost Nephele up using her hands, with the favor returned when Nephele held out both her hands to help yank Stella up.

“So, what kind of weird and crazy stuff is in here?” Nephele’s voice was full of wonder as her fingers ghosted over the shimmery cover.

“I’unno… we mostly just use the one page,” Stella said, opening it and scanning the text. “Huh… make a supernova? That’d be-”

“A very poor idea?”

Both of the girls yelped at the familiar voice moments before they were held up by the backs of their collars, arms and legs flailing desperately in midair. Stella’s head whipped around to see Stolas, outwardly stern but with a slight twitch of the beak that she recognized as meaning that he was trying not to laugh. She fluttered her eyelashes.

“We were just looking, Papa…”

“Looking for what, little sunspot, hmm?”

“I wanted to see the Earth clouds!” Nephele chirped. “They make pretty colors at sunset.”

“And you were planning to use the Grimoire to see them by yourself?”

“.....Noooooooooyesssss?” Stella dragged the word out, changing her answer halfway when he raised a skeptical eye.

“You do realize that you could have simply asked.”

“I thought you were busy!”

“Not busy enough that I couldn’t tell a mischievous little owlet had gotten her little paws on it,” Stolas said, raising Stella up to eye-level, and she gave a sheepish grin.

“I was just going to take a look… I promise I won’t touch it again, Papa, not unless Daddy’s with me…” She fluttered her eyelashes again, and Nephele took the cue and followed suit, folding her hands in a pleading motion with her tail flicking side-to-side like an overexcited pendulum behind her. He looked between the two before sighing and setting them both down on the table, flipping through the book before waving his hand. A violet sky bloomed from the portal he’d conjured from thin air, clouds dyed deep oranges and purples floating high above them, and Nephele let out an excited squeak.

“Oh, thank you Mr. Stolas! Can we look, can we, can we, can we?”

He gave a chuckle and scooped up both girls, one in each arm, then stepped through- they were immediately settled on a grassy cliff above a seemingly-endless ocean. Stella could smell the salt hanging in the air and the flowers blooming nearby, and Nephele immediately started pointing out ones that she thought looked like bunnies while Stella snuggled against Stolas’s side with a smile.

[sublimeperfectionland]

New Moon of the Dark Kingdom Chapter Hundred and Forty Nine - Battle Royale

Zoisite and Kunzite have found true love, but when some old friends, a vengeful god, and a pair of evil twins are gunning for the Shitennou all at once, life is not going to be easy

[Scene: Metalia inferno. Kunzite lets out a savage roar as he sends a pair of energy blade flying toward Dev, who is surrounded by a web of of threads of dark energy.]

[The blades slice through the webbing, dissolving the threads they touch. At the last second, Dev leaps ten feet straight up, and the blades pass through harmlessly before returning to Kunzite, while Dev stands on a thread with his arms crossed like a tightrope walker] ]

Dev: Thanks for the help, old man. Only a few thousand threads to clear before we can reach our time door.

[Leaps down and stands passively in his previous spot.]

Beryl: [snarling at Kunzite as she works her long nails behind her summoned crystal ball] You incompetent fool! Do I have to do everything myself?

El: You're wasting your time. You can't beat us. Why don't you spare yourselves the humiliation and just let us go home?

Dev: It's no use. They have taken the Unbreakable Oath of Enslavement. We have to fight.

Beryl: A ceasefire? [bitchcackles] Those are demanded by cowards, from a position of weakness! Today is your day to die!

[Dev's eyes widen in alarm as Beryl summons forth energy and directs her gaze at his sister, but El does not look concerned]

El: Shield yourself, Dev.

Dev: Shield...myself? [uneasy] El this isn't what we practic-

El: Do it!

[Dev has already surrounded himself with a bubble of dark energy. El makes no move.]

Beryl: DIE!

[The room washes out as a bolt of pure white light flies towards El, who smiles grimly and holds up a prism. She does a back bend as she hold the prism to the light, splinting the beam into colored rays that shoot in all directions, severing the majority of the threads of magic that Metalia left behind.]

[With her back still bent, El drops a small glass object to the floor, which skitters over to Beryl, where it unfolds and enlarges, trapping Beryl frozen in a pyramid of glass.]

El: One down. Four to go. Who wants to be trapped next?

Dev: Bravo, my love! A few more shattershot attacks like this from the Shittenou and we should be able to waltz right home.

[Jeddy laughs mockingly]

Jeddy: Sorry to kill the little buzz from the little catfight, sweetheart.

[fans out into four identical Jeddy's]

Jeddy 1 - 4: But lets see how well you fare hand to hand against the masters of illusion!

[El leans forward and raises her palm to her mouth, as if blowing them a kiss. A gold shimmer fills the air, and Jeddy's 1,3 & 4 turn to face Jeddy 2. Jeddy 2 seems startled by this, as Jeddy 1 pins his arms behind his back and 3 & 4 start beating him]

[El drops a glass pyramid during the pummeling. As it surround Jeddy 2, the others vanish and the single remaining Jeddy is trapped, frozen in time.]

El: [turns and gives her brother a guilty look] I'm sorry. I seem to be having all the fun.

[Dev points to Kunzite, who is standing protectively in front of Zoisite, and Neffy, who is swaying drunkenly, smirking in amusement.]

Dev: Don't worry. You know I'm saving myself for the big guys over there.

Kunzite: [snarling at Dev] You dare to make a mockery of the Four Heavenly Kings!

Dev: Absolutely not. I wouldn't dream of taking your job.

El: [shakes her head] So mean.

Dev: Yeah? Well I'm a rotten kid.

Kunzite: And all bad kids, you could benefit from a time out. [his hair whips around and his eyes for white as a hemisphere of dark magic surrounds Dev and El]

Kunzite: Your powers cannot harm, nor penetrate that orb, and slowly very slowly it will shrink until-

[Dev steps forward placing his palms on the inside of the shield. His eyes glow white as well as the shield evaporate, seeming to suck the energy right out of Kunzite as he does.]

Kunzite: How on earth-

[El drops a glass pyramid to trap Kunzite while Zoi screams in outrage.

Zoi: ZOI!

[Zoi directs a wave of razor petals at El, but before they reach her they turn harmlessly into butterflies. She points to the cloud of butterflies and they turn into hummingbirds, who divebomb Zoi.]

[As Zoi shields his face, El drops a glass pyramid to trap him as well.]

[All alone, now Neffy looks as his trapped comrade, then back at the twins, swaying a bit drunkenly.]

Dev: So what's it going to be, Neffy?

El: Starlight attack?

Dev: Soul shadow?

El: We know how to counter them all.

Neffy: I don't doubt you do. [slurs drunkenly as he summons an apple] It's clear you two little pests have done your homework, so my magic will be worthless in this battle. And since I have no intention of being humiliated by a pair of eleven year olds, I think I will just stand here and enjoy my apple.

[The twins watch as Neffy bites into the apple. The wait warily, then Dev clears the threads separating him from his sister.]

[When they are clear, she runs up and hugs him.]

El: Dev. We survived.

Dev: Yes, but we lost the crystal.

El: So what do we do?

[Dev gives a warning look toward Neffy, who is watching them while eating his apple with seeming indifference.]

Dev: There is nothing left to do but go home. [They give Neffy one last cautious look as they walk hand in hand to the time portal, glowing darkly, still crosscrossed with hundreds of Metalia's thread of dark energy like barbed wire.] I just need to clear all these away.

[While he examines the threads, Neffy finishes his apple and tosses the core over his shoulder. He charges at Dev, giving him a swift kick from behind, sending him flying into the threads which zap him as if electrified.]

El: HEEEEY! [El scream of rage is cut short as Neffy punches her across the face.]

[Both twins are on the ground, and look up at Neffy in newfound terror.]

Neffy: Clearly this Big Daddy never told you what I used to do for a living. [laces his fingers and cracks his knuckles] You see, I don't need magic to defeat the likes of you.

[glowinggreencranium]

What, so the galaxy is supposed to believe that you're GOOD now? After all the shit you've done with Drek and the deplanetizer? Yeah, you're not really all that convincing, dude. I'd recommend not being seen in public, someone might assassinate your ass {For 'Rangers Verse' Neffy}

“Look, I know what I did in the past was wrong. I let my anger and rejected feelings cloud my mind and it drove me to a life of crime. I had no idea what I was doing, my mind was simply bent on revenge…I know some people won’t accept me back into society, but I’m just happy that I have changed myself. Now I know that I won’t cause anymore unwanted destruction.”

[arceus-is-done-with-your-shit]

What if you woke up one day and went outside to see that all the clouds have been replaced by tposing Neffies

[cloudbattrolls]

To Mould Me Man

Various Parties | Hanhai Cavern

The butterflies flew away.

All the ones remaining in the cavern rose in twos and threes, then in larger clouds, streaming out of the tunnels and rooms and back up above the earth. 

The surviving jades blinked and marveled to see them go, wondering if they were free now.

Then the wasps rose in a furious, writhing mass, chasing them, killing some - but not enough. Dozens still escaped their sister’s stingers to make it past the cavern entrance as Rhyssa shrieked from multiple mouths. 

The noise of her rage made the trolls cover their ears, and even Ozryel slowed in her flight to listen.

Tuuya used the opportunity to shoot her in a wing, but she merely regenerated. Just as she had the entire damn time; nothing they did stuck, she healed too quickly. 

They had no idea why Rhyssa was screaming. They only knew this fight was hopeless; the mother of swarms was toying with them, and Uunive hadn’t managed to get close to the matriorb’s tank because Ozryel would swoop down to beat her back. 

She was fast, too fast even for Tuuya to get many hits on. 

They were lucky she didn’t seem inclined to use a gun. Perhaps she hadn’t bothered to learn how.

Tuuya gritted their teeth. How were they supposed to break this stalemate?

–

Rhyssa fumed in a small respiteblock, the few remaining clouds of her flying so fast in circles they generated heat. Her troll form’s fists clenched, and she bared her needle teeth.

How fuckin’ dare Inshii abandon her! Abandon Mama! When she got out of here, she was gonna give them such a -

Oh damn it.

Rhyssa found herself torn apart by multiple superheated blades at once, and the melted wasps could no longer make others as they struggled and died. 

She regrouped, panting, snarling as she stared at her attackers. The goddamn DeVilles, of course. They all looked at her with eyes as cold as ice.

“You think you can - can fuckin’ kill me?” She said, amused despite her rage, sending some of herself to sting them, tear at their skin. “Even if you put me down here, I’ll still -”

She was struck again, despite her counterattack. Again, and again, and again. So many wasps fell, they covered the floor of her cavern room in a mass of twisted, bubbling white. 

She screamed again, and the DeVilles winced as more wasps rose, but there were hardly any left now. Not after her construct Tuuya had destroyed, not after Rivali, not after the ones the Hanhai jades had managed to swat.

She had brought every part of her to this attack, taking even the ones she usually left to guard her town. 

Desperate to see her family whole again, Rhyssa had held nothing back. 

Now, under a trifold onslaught of freshly fed rainbowdrinkers, she was little more than a few dozen insects struggling to cling to bones, her skimpy clothes so shredded they barely stayed together.

Nothing to worry about. She’d just come back, she always did. She’d make these heathens regret -

Hirudo rammed her with her trident, cracking her bones apart, squishing most of the insects into paste.

Only a few left now, enough to barely make her voice work as she buzzed feebly, spawning a few last wasps, but they too were dispatched by Neffie and Joey’s blades.

“I’m not - you can’t -”

“I can.” Said Hirudo, and gored her through her lungs, destroying the final piece of the ancient swarm.

Her eggshell had been burned by Platar. She could not respawn.

After ten thousand years, Rhyssa the wasp was dead.

–

Ozryel paused again, and Tuuya riddled her with holes again.

Though she healed, she stayed still, her translucent wings barely beating enough to keep her aloft.

She landed, her bare feet touching down gently on the floor as her pale teal dress fluttered. 

Tuuya gave up shooting her for the moment. They shouldn’t waste any more charge. 

“Rhyssa…my daughter is gone.”

The old hag actually sounded mournful.

“Good.” Said Tuuya and Uunive together. 

“This was all her fault to begin with.” Snarled the worm swarm. “She had it coming.”

Ozryel turned her full attention to Tuuya for the first time.  Seizing the opportunity, Uunive began to slowly, stealthily make her way toward the matriorb again. 

“You blame Rhyssa for this?”

The fallen angel sounded amused, intrigued even. 

“Oh, Tuuya…what lies you tell yourself.”

“What can I say? I inherited deception from you.” They shot back, wanting to keep her eyes on them by any means possible.

Then Ozryel was shot directly in the heart - if she had a heart - by what looked like a superheated bullet, one the swarm hadn’t even heard coming.

She shrieked like her daughter had, Tuuya’s ears pressing down from a noise far louder and closer.

The mother of swarms launched herself back into the air, but more slowly, more unsteadily as her body had to push the steaming, bloodied bullet out.

Tuuya turned around, and smiled in relief and worry alike to see Rivali shooting at Ozryel again, narrowly dodging as she swooped down with her claws out and fangs bared.

With a quick reach into their sylladex, they swapped their laser pistols for their revolver, which Uunive had also made lucky. They had never preferred bullets, but now was the time. 

Ozryel cursed them both as they riddled her, swearing vengeance on Kotenkha’s line - wasn’t that Rivali’s ancestor? - and becoming so incensed her flying was more erratic. She was easier to hit now, but she also seemed to want to tear the komondor troll apart, and they were still only slowing her down for seconds at a time. 

Skilled as the jade was, they did not have the strength and speed of an undead, and Ozryel was starting to break through their armor and injure them, a slash here, a bite there.

Tuuya saw, out of the corner of their eye, that Uunive had gotten ahold of the matriorb. She nodded at them.

Tuuya gritted their teeth as they had the luck to land a perfect cluster of shots on Ozryel, enough to slow her nearly to a standstill. 

This was going to hurt.

Bone cracked and reformed, skin grew and stretched, their clothes tearing and Tuuya made their very bones lighter in the seconds it took them to drop their gun and begin transforming, dashing up the giant corpse of the mother grub.

Then they launched themself, arms now batlike wings, off of the carcass to tackle Ozryel in midair before she could strike at the wounded jadeblood one last time.

They tangled her up, bearing the screeching creature down to crash on the rock. 

Tuuya wrapped her in their tendrils, more and more even as she tore through them, as she clawed chunks out of the worm swarm, rending their skeleton, crushing their lungs.

Still they constricted her, still they held as their worms were scattered across the floor, chewed apart, shredded to pieces.

They heard a noise. The tell-tale hum of a technological energy barrier being thrown up.

As Ozryel finally ripped them into enough agonized pieces that they stopped moving, Tuuya still looked over with their nearly severed head and just caught the retreating figures of Uunive and Rivali escaping with the orb.

Their exit was now sealed behind a shimmering blue wall covering the only tunnel out. 

Not even Ozryel could break through that. 

She howled in rage and hate, and looked at her mangled descendant with glowing green eyes.

“I was going to make new children! Loyal ones! An army!” She snarled. “You took that from me! You - you filth! Pathetic imitation! Half-troll whelp!”

“You’re a terrible mother.” Murmured Tuuya with weary amusement, too tired to try to knit their broken body back together. “I’d say I did those poor would-be swarms a favor.”

“As if you are better!” Said Ozryel harshly, mockingly. “You blame Rhyssa for your troubles! But you did not listen to her when she first asked you to come, so of course she had to force you.”

Her green eyes gleamed as she spoke again, voice now low, a sort of sadistic purr. 

“I’ve seen all your memories, Tuuya. I lived in your body.”

The worm swarm swallowed.

“I know you abandoned Uunive for space, thinking you would die killing Firebird. You lied to her throughout her youth. 

You shelter Ailene, knowing as she grows more healthy, you’ll be more tempted to eat her.”

Tuuya’s ears drooped. It wasn’t anything they hadn’t thought before, but hearing Ozryel say it…

“Do you really think Florah will continue to accept you if he learns more of your deeds? That Melina will still humor you once she gets bored of your fussing? That Crimew will want you if she is ever able to return home? 

You are a hypocrite denying your true nature, pathetic and mealy-mouthed, trying to play both sides while embodying the worst qualities of each. You are nothing but a stain upon troll and swarm.”

Tuuya lay there, silent, having no retort. What defense was there to give?

Ozryel got up, her dress now tattered, and walked a few feet away, crossing her arms as she stared down at the second worm swarm. 

“I meant to save every race this empire has ever destroyed, and I failed. I am the product of trollkind’s own violence, and you wonder why I rage at what they took from me? At least I do not pretend to be anything else, unlike you. Lying to yourself so well that you believe you belong among trolls. Lleios had the same sickness.”

Tuuya shook with a quiet sob. 

“I don’t…I’m not trying to…”

“Liar.” Said Ozryel softly. “Still lying, even at the end. You have always loved to deceive and destroy…you cannot change your mind now, after gorging yourself on blood and pain for over a hundred sweeps.”

“No more.” Whispered the worm swarm. “I want to die. We both have to die.”

“I am death.” Said Ozryel scornfully. “You are a shadow of my weakest child. You cannot kill me.”

“No.” Said Tuuya, closing their eyes, mustering all their focus. “I can only offer you another way.”

Hundreds - thousands - of worms left their skin through their mouth and hands, their face, leaving it slack around their skeleton. They curled around Ozryel’s feet. She could have struck them down, but she was too amused. What were they doing now? 

It reminded her of how Lleios had played, when they were young.

They rippled and flowed over her skin, not biting her, merely tickling her with their wiggling. 

Then they curled inside her ears, her mouth, her mind, but they were so gentle. They didn’t linger…they dissolved.

They returned to her. Piece by piece, she felt her hope restored, given up so long ago when she’d thought there was no use for it anymore, trapped far underground in the dark, in a body she’d never wanted.  

She hissed and thrashed, trying to fight it. She still had no use for it! She - she - 

Ozryel glowed, not with the white pallor of an undead, but with promise; with the realization she should have left long ago, impressed on her mind as she became whole again. 

It was not possession, as she had once done to them. Tuuya willingly let themself melt away, their very identity slowly flickering into nothingness.

Her wings cast beams across the cavern, illuminating the entire place as she turned to pure light, shedding all her mortal concerns.

Corrupt no more, she ascended Alternia, an angel risen at last from her prison of flesh. 

Death was needed elsewhere.

When the light faded, Tuuya’s remains lay still and abandoned on the stony floor. 

–

The worm swarm floated far above their planet, adrift among its ships and satellites, the endless bustle of troll industry and empire.

Tuuya felt only a mild curiosity that they were not yet dead. Why were they witnessing this?

A last dying dream? Some sort of hallucination, like the one they’d had with Cestoa?

They saw…they saw Crimew, somehow.

Crash-landing on the planet, just like she’d said she had. 

Tuuya dove down closer, worried about her. She looked hurt and alone.

Tuuya saw Melina, alone, having just escaped her cult, unsure what to do or how to be a part of society. 

Florah, held captive by Allmah, suffering, driven mad by hunger.

Ailene, threatened by the drone. 

Devrin, cheerful, but a bit lonely on his turtle. 

Lulith, not taking any time to watch cartoons, bereft of the JoJo-themed clothing they’d made. 

Vallis, struggling to stay himself.

Ashe, still not knowing any other rainbowdrinkers.

The Diplomat, causing suffering once more.

Tantor, still longing for someone else like him when he was far from home.

Proxus, Hydran, Meloni…all their other students, still hoping for guidance.

Claire…never having gotten therapy, having no one to spar with to get her anger and frustration out.

Margol, still stuck on Alternia, slated to be helmed.

Gwyn, having made it off Alternia, but far slower, with more difficulty. 

Pebble, never having gotten a phone, unable to make friends far away from her volcano. 

Talula, untrained in her shadow powers, still a risk to herself and others.

Ichi, endangering himself far too recklessly in his daylight runs.

Rivali. Still miserable in a cavern that did not respect them.

Channi. Locked up in his mansion, even more afraid of the world than he was now.

Kamala. Still loved, still cared for, but not quite as much.

Vrayan. Similar to Kamala, and yet…

Jaskir. She and Channi were friends. Yet…she didn’t smile so often. Her lovely face was more muted now.

Uunive…

Uunive hadn’t lived at all.

Just another crushed grub, discovered hidden by Anders, simply for being lime.

Why were they seeing this? 

They were still selfish, parasitic of kindness better spent on those more deserving than them. They’d wanted to eat nearly every one of those people, dozens of times. 

They had consumed Kamala once, even if she had already died.

Such hungry love wasn’t real love.

Besides, they’d ruined so many more lives than they’d ever helped, starting with the massacre of Kaningård all those sweeps ago. It would never be even. 

They should get on with it and die.

Do the right thing, for once.

“Is that really what you want?” 

Lleios’s quiet, lightly accented voice asked.

Tuuya’s jaw dropped as they witnessed the first worm swarm now floating beside them. 

Translucent in their green suit, nearly intangible, Lleios’s angular face smiled at them with a grin almost identical to their own.

A ghost, or another hallucination? 

“Ozryel’s gone now, hm? And what a mess she’s left behind.” They said with a chuckle, then fixed Tuuya with a sharp jade gaze.

“Will you too abandon everyone you love? Leave them behind to deal with it all, like you did when you went off chasing Firebird?”

For once, Tuuya could not seem to find words. They all felt trapped in their throat. 

They couldn’t remember who that was. 

They felt like they should. But they couldn’t. 

Lleios wagged a slender gray finger at them. 

“Death is not a settling of scores, my dear. All the damage you’ve done would remain. I would know.” They gazed up at the stars, then down at Alternia. 

Then they looked their successor directly in the eyes. Tuuya didn’t know what that meant either. What scores? 

“I asked Rhomox to make something interesting of me. If there was one thing that man did right, it was you.”

Tuuya tried to laugh, but they were still too choked up. Them? Something right? Hysterical. 

Who was Rhomox, anyway? How had he known Lleios?

“What are you waiting for?” Said Lleios calmly. “The right punishment? The proper amount of suffering? What do those fix? None of the people who love you would enjoy seeing you in pain. Quite the opposite.”

Tuuya couldn’t remember who all those people were. Names started to turn fuzzy, to slip away. It was so tempting to slip away with them. 

No more pain.

Lleios sighed.

“You’ve got to try, despite - and because of - all the harm you’ve done. Will you waste the body I gave you? Yes; gave you. Willingly. I, Lleios the First, do not mind that I became Etuuya the Second. I’m rather proud of it.” 

The older undead put a hand to their successor’s shoulder as Tuuya stood stunned by this revelation.

Proud? Of them?

“Start by feeling guilty about one less thing. Little steps, hm? We are worms, after all. Not so fast, or powerful, or dangerous as the others. But always persistent.”

The second worm swarm crumpled, clinging to Lleios with a small squeak. They knew so little now, but they - they needed to know more - 

“I’m not staying, you daft thing.” Their predecessor said, amused, though they did gently put their arms around the younger drinker, hugging them for a moment. 

“You can. If you want to.”

They vanished, and the second worm swarm looked at the stars again, then back down at the planet.

All they knew for certain was that they had loved. 

They had loved over, and over, and over again, and they felt certain that they would always love, if they could do nothing else. 

Little steps, Lleios had said. 

Tuuya took one. 

–

Hours later, after the matriorb had been secured, the empire called and informed, and the surviving jades tended to, Rivali and Daudre warily deactivated the shield and stepped into the mother grub’s room.

Both of them looked sadly at the massive corpse waiting for them, bowing their heads in a silent moment of mourning.

Then they looked around the place, avoiding the laser-blasted spots and picking up any of Uunive’s knives they found, searching low and high for any trace of Tuuya.

They had almost given up when Rivali’s sharp eyes noticed shreds of the rainbowdrinker’s red clothing, then a tiny glimmer of white; a single worm curled up and lying still on a small rock nearby.

They rushed over, putting a pair of gloves on before they picked it up. Sure enough, it was Vannyn; a piece of them, anyway. 

They looked around. They couldn’t see any other worms, nor bones or any other remains. Only this one, which was so lethargic it didn’t even move in their hand.

“They need blood.” Said Rivali, looking at Daudre. “Blood and a place to reform.”

The other jade nodded, and they both left at a brisk pace.

Rivali carried the worm gently, attention split between the small invertebrate and watching where they were going.

“Thank goodness I found you.” They muttered to it. 

“Do you have any idea how much hassle it would have been to explain that you were dead? I’ve already had to deal with your family’s fretting. You never stop causing problems for me.”

The worm still did not move.

Rivali’s ears flicked.

“You had better perk up when we get you some food. I will be extremely irate otherwise.”

They walked a bit longer, finally making it to a room that hadn’t been destroyed, and appropriating an old ceramic laundry bin to put the worm in. 

“They might not make it if we don’t feed them now.” Daudre said quietly.

Rivali looked at the rocky ceiling.

“I want it stated for the record that I hate this.” They groused, but took out a knife and carefully shed some of their jade blood directly onto Tuuya, cut from their arm.

At first, there was no response. The komondor troll watched, agonizing seconds go by, as the worm still did not move…

…until nearly a minute later, with tiny, weak wriggles, its toothed mouth started sipping up the green liquid.

Rivali broke into a relieved smile, which they swiftly covered with a cough.

“Finally.” They said, avoiding Daudre’s amused eye.

“I’ll call their family.” Offered the other cavern troll. “You deserve a break. I’ll give them more blood, too.”

“Good.” Sniffed the lusus wrangler. “This is disgusting and I never want to do it again.”

Having said so, the dog troll stayed next to the basket as Daudre made the calls, and quietly shed a few more drops of blood into it.

The process was slow, slower than Rivali had ever seen from Tuuya before. It took them almost ten minutes just to make as many worms. They must have been damaged somehow in their final confrontation with Ozryel.

They still kept at it, segment by segment.

“Are you worried, is that it?” Muttered Rivali several minutes later, now watching the worms in between reading a book.

“You should be. Rhyssa is dead, but Inshii isn’t, they just withdrew for some reason. We don’t know where Gallen is, or if he’s alive…it’s a mess. We need you to deal with it. You can’t just escape responsibility.”

The worms kept building their brain, deaf and voiceless for the moment.

Daudre shed some more blood over them.

“They’re a funny thing, aren’t they?” The genet troll said conversationally. “Unique, scientifically speaking. It was interesting to study them, back when they were here.”

“Don’t say that to their family.” Warned Rivali. “They might think you want to imprison them again.”

Daudre laughed. “You did that, Riva.”

The dog troll looked delicately annoyed. 

“I’d do it again. Otherwise…I would have been trapped in this place for far longer.” They admitted quietly. “And Tuuya would have kept their jades captive for who knows how long.”

They looked down at the worms.

“They forced me to learn how to adapt.” Rivali admitted. “Insufferable creature.”

Daudre laughed softly. “You’re not going to say any of this to their face, are you?”

“Absolutely not. And give them the satisfaction?”

The scientist laughed, and so did the lusus wrangler. 

Hanhai’s jades slept and recovered. Rivali left to keep Uunive company. Daudre held Ashwat as she cried over the mother grub and laughed in relief to see her friend safe.

The sun set over Alternia after a very long day.

Tuuya kept rebuilding, more slowly than ever before, into a new version of themself.

Weakened. Damaged.

Sustained, now, by their own hope.

THE END OF

THE CHILDREN OF OZRYEL

[nefelibata-cloud]

omg, the game just confirmed that everybody simps for traveler…it’s official

[nefelibata-cloud]

𝚊𝚋𝚘𝚞𝚝 𝚖𝚎...

call me: neffie

age: 20

fav color: like a pastel green!

fav word: nefelibata

definition: noun “cloud walker;” someone who lives in the clouds of their own imagination or dreams, or one who does not obey the conventions of society, literature, or art.

other:

i started playing genshin impact back in like the first week of february (2022). i actually have two accounts (one to play as lumine (my first account) and the other to play as aether(my second account))

i’m asexual (if you couldn’t already tell lol) and touch/affection deprived

SEVERE adhd/add

college drop out

i write strictly fluff and crack (please don’t ask me to write anything nsfw) (tho i’m not opposed to angst, just haven’t written anything actually angsty in a while)

i have an art tiktok! (shhh it’s a secret only cool people know ab it) (it’s @neffie_nimbus)

[sublimeperfectionland]

New Moon of the Dark Kingdom Chapter Hundred and Eighteen- The Mary Sue Factor

Zoisite and Kunzite have found true love, but when some old friends, a vengeful god, and a pair of evil twins are gunning for the Shitennou all at once, life is not going to be easy

[Scene: Neffy's mansion during a divination with the Celestial Seeress Astraea. Beryl and the Shitennou are watching the blurred out twins head for the master bath]

Jeddy: Are you certain that girl is really eleven? Because I'm having a hard time believing it.

Neffy: Why? Because your "fun game" with the handcuffs, whipped cream, and nazi uniform just turned into a Scavenger Hunt?

Jeddy: No. Because i have a really hard time believe some eleven year old girl with a killer body just developed a weapon that can destroy a god.

Beryl: That's because of your male chauvinism.

Jeddy: No. That's a trick that the finest minds in the universe have puzzled over for centuries and she figured it out in her first dozen years of life? We're entering into Mary Sue territory here.

Astraea: Except "Mary Sues" as they are referred to current vernacular, are universally loved, and this girl is a pariah-despised and rejected by those of her peerset.

[The image show El glowering at her locker, while other girls whisper in the background]

Astraea: Her brother, on the other hand-

[The image shifts to Dev sitting on the grass, strumming his guitar, surrounded by a circling of fawning female admirers. He stops and reaches behind the ear of one of them, producing a heart shaped lollipop, which he hands to her, much to her delight the applause and fawning coos of the others.]

Beryl: We get it! She's The Misanthropic Genius while he's the Affable Dumbass!

Astraea: There is no indication the male's intellect is substandard. In fact, to the contrary-

Beryl: Whatever! The point is we are dealing with a couple of Half-Sues! How do we exterminate these two little brats before they cause any real trouble?

Kunzite: I'm still not convinced that is the answer. Everything we have seen so far indicates to me that this is simply a pair of gifted but misguided orphans who are being coached and manipulated by a higher power. If we kill these two, he will simply replace them. It is this "Big Daddy" of their we should focus on, not his expandable pawns. We might be able to use them to draw him out.

Neffy: Good luck with that. What sort of callous White Light bastard sends a pair of sad little eleven year-old tykes to take on an evil god, while he sits back home, eating bon bons and awaiting news of their gruesome passing?

Jeddy: Oooh! [raises his hand because he knows the answer to this one] Albus Dumbledore!

[The others give Jeddy a dirty stare and he lowers his hand, chagrined]

[On the ceiling as the twins shed the last of their clothing and enter the shower.]

Neffy: [looks at the osburred silhouettes through the shower curtain with open disapproval] Oh, look. The brother and sister are taking a shower together.

Kunzite: So?

Neffy: So?

Kunzite: Need I remind they are not human and shouldn't be held to this world's standards of behavior? For all we know, this culture's taboos against communal bathing with siblings might seem outlandish to them.

Beryl: Yes. I have to agree with Kunzite. They're just getting cleaned off. Even obscured, I can tell this is hardly erotic.

Neffy: Stop making excuses for them, you two. This is just sickening and weird.

Jeddy: No kidding.

[They emerge from the shower, cleanly scrubbed and wrapped in towels. Their long wet hair is now honey blond and past their waists.]

Neffy: There you go, Kunzite. We're witnessing their blond phase.

Kunzite: [doesn't bother to hide his grin] I forgot how cute they were.

[El opens a drawer under the sink and produces a pair of hair cutting scissors]

Kunzite: Oh, no. Don't do it.

Jeddy: Spoiler alert - neither of them have long blond hair in the present day.

[Dev turns and El snips away at his hair until it's shoulder length. Kunzite watches mournfully as each long strand falls to the tile floor. Then El hands her brother the scissors and turn as he trims hers down to medium length. Then they run their hands over each others hair and it darkens at their touch, chestnut brown for him, mahogany red for her.]

Kunzite: [smiles wistfully] What a tragedy. They both look so plain now.

Jeddy: Plain?

Beryl: I think not!

[The twins step apart to inspect each other and themselves in the mirror, then clasp hands and hold each other close as they bring their faces together.]

Neffy: [hinked] Oh, great. They're going to make out now. I just know it.

[They kiss as as they do, their veins glow and their bodies emit a cloud of dark energy.]

Neffy: Behold, the fearsome power of Twincest!

[Some of the veins seem to writhe like snakes below their skin.]

Jeddy: (Tentacle porn twincest at that.)

[The ground beneath them buckles and the house starts to shake as if in the grips of a power earthquake. Things fly off shelves, windows shatter, wall tear, ceilings flake and fixtures explode and the twins take no notice as the purple energy congeal behind them.]

[The house nearly collapses around them by the time they break off the kiss, the dark energy forming a swirling portal. the continue to hold hands as the towels morph into the matching outfits and they step into the portal and vanish.]

Jeddy: Wait...what...did...they...what?

[Kunzite's ice blue eyes go wide with a terrible comprehension.]

Kunzite: WAIT! GO BACK!

Beryl: Go back?

Kunzite: TO RIGHT AFTER THEY BUTCHERED THEIR HAIR!

Astraea: Very well.

Kunzite: NOW! SHOW US THEIR ENERGY LEVELS!

Jeddy: We've already see those. They are lower than min-

[A caption appears in front of each of them, reading ".51769 DIOS"]

Kunzite: KEEP THEM UP WHILE YOU REPLAY THIS SCENE!

[As soon as the twins clasp hands the numbers start to rise.]

Beryl: How on earth.

[As the scene progress, the numbers skyrocket, rising so rapidly they can't be read. The number tops out right before the portal appears, stabilizing when they are at 1.03538.]

Neffy: [wideeyed] My god.

Jeddy: [wideeyed] Literally.

Beryl: Wait, these two are Chaos Deities who somehow mask their full power?

Kunzite: Not at all. Seeress Astraea, can you confirm that energy levels elevate like whenever they have contact with one another, and at no other time?

Astraea: I can, and they do.

Beryl: But...how?

Kunzite: They aren't just twins. They are Symbiotes! They are able to pool their energy and when they do, they are capable of reaching full god level.

Neffy: [awed] This is why they were able to defeat the Death Phantom.

Kunzite: Separately, they were no match for him. But together...if they touch...they are stronger than he ever was, at least five times over.