#tail port alterations

[ezekiellsplayground]

Since receiving my bodysuit I’ve been wracking my brains for how best to install the tail zip, since upon closer inspection & despite excellent communication with the suit maker, the tail port circumferance is 9cm too long (aka was cut oversized compared to info/replica tail base I provided).

The best & easiest solution I could come up with was repatterning a piece to close the tail port, reinforce that new seam which will overlap the zip, & recutting the port hole according to matrices zip on tail tutorial. Behold, the plug piece pattern, that took forever & stole my sanity!

[skunkes]

who is / whats the story with mateo? he looks wicked cool

not much, he was meant to be a sort of antag to one of my main 4 ocs I had in high school, but those ocs also didn't have much of a plot. he was the demon counterpart to my angel oc

he was sort of a proto talon in that i really wanted to make Guy Who Sucks oc after already failing once (with al) and then i failed again because, well, its very easy to want to make a guy who sucks not suck anymore.

demon, meant to interfere with angel's angelness. has worm tongue/worm inside his body. can stretch his neck out (body horror warning i suppose) for more worm antics. uses the worm to drain you of your essence via stomach. can speak thru the worm. maybe he IS the worm. scorpion tail. enjoys humans ! has a "human" form, eventually chooses to just hide out on earth forever as a very strange human

[centrally-unplanned]

Very happy to see someone do a write-up of this! Its one of my go-to "you are wrong about x" facts if that is called for...not that, that is, uh, ever called for, I would never do that in a conversation. Probably why I never did a write-up myself.

But yeah the idea of the immigrants to America being essentially "undocumented masses" is a myth, 19th century European people had documented identities and were paying for passage via legal contracts - changing their name on arrival would have been a huge headache honestly, its a story that never made sense. I agree with Tabarrok that the Godfather was a big part of this becoming a 'known thing', but it did not originate the story; I have I believe seen versions of this story from the 1950's, bundled in the general mythologization of Ellis Island. And its in a lot of media - Don Bluth's An American Tail has an example of it, it was pretty much a go-to trope for any story of 19th century immigrant New York City. I would be interested in tracing out its origin! Maybe someone has done that somewhere, I will take a look.

[thorny-person]

marine aliens again

I was thinking up some world beholding things for my aliens again, mainly the manatee based one but some aspects could work for the rest unless I get a different idea later

More information about the doodles below if you’re interested, like a lot of info lol.

Top left corner: I was thinking how they manatees may depict themselves or simplify their image and I ended up with these little idols! They would most commonly be carved from drift woods or stone in common use such as toys, decor, art, etc. with the exception of larger more intricate idols used for offerings, statues or alters with the swirls on them showing areas of importance or strength

Left middle: manatee patterns tend towards rounded shapes, circles and wiggly lines as it reminds them or various shapes of water, stones, swaying plants in the currents and so on. This also carries over into their food prep in some ways, such as the small rounded shapes of stuffed knotted plants for common meals while the larger ‘leaf’ patterns are used in mass storage of stable plants such as kelps and seaweeds.

Bottom left: a manatee tapestry idea depicting a matron, made from various fibers of marine plants. Culture wise weaving, macrame, and other various similar crafts are import to them since they view the actions as essential to their lifestyles for fabrics of various uses like clothing and bedding as well as being able to properly store large quantities of staple foods.

Top right: the common ‘bowl’ types for under water dining, left one is for ‘sinking’ foods that you don’t have to worry about floating away from the table while downturn right ‘bowl’ is for such foods that you would expect to float away. The downturn ‘bowels’ can also come in clear glass varieties depending on location to allow the person to see what they’re getting, larger restaurants normally have this option.

Right middle: common utensils for underwater dining, hooked is mainly for meats or scooping things out of shells/exoskeletons. The two pronged utensil is used for mostly plant based foods or large pieces of a meal. Spoons or ‘tailed’ utensils are for meals with many small pieces that are stuck together which isn’t a common occurrence outside of things like caviar or mushed foods to help a calf struggling to adjust to solid foods after being weened off of milk. Gripped tongs are used for live food that would be unsafe to eat if it wear dead, similar to lobster being unsafe when it’s not fresh but manatees just decide to eat those types of critters live (young calf’s who haven’t had live meals yet will often dare each other to do so while hanging out)

Right bottom: shown here is the dining table preferred by manatees with anchor bars to hold the meal bowls securely, normally with multiple anchors for each person wether it’s for mixed meals or the average meal which compared to a humans (2-3% of their weight) to a manatees (15-20% of their weight) is a lot of food or at the very least calorie rich. The middle groove serves as an arm rest as well as safe spot for each persons utensils to be stored, sanitary items to clean up before and after meals.

Finally on the bottom are ports that have retractable fresh water taps to drink with meals that typically connects to a water tank below the table that’s connected to a large tank of clean salt water that is processed into fresh as needed. Each tap has a twistable ring around the nozzle to stop the one way water flow to help avoid drinking the salt water in the room as well as to prevent waste of fresh water.

[faelune-home]

FFXIVWrite 2024 #7: Morsel

(A/n: Using the make up day to both take a break from the role quest rewrites, and add to the lil FoM AU idea cos after I posted the first one, I actually had more ideas of how to set up the town and assign roles to the various scions/major scion related characters. :'D Just needed the right prompt to use, but I was still prioritising the role quest stuff in the first place.

This one also gives an idea of where the role assignment is for the Scions in the town, though again I'm not exactly doing a 1-to-1 exact matching assignment, some roles might even be merged or altered since I'm mainly hitting the vibe of the game for this AU. But to focus on this piece, here's Thancred and Ryne running the town inn!

Word count: 1145)

The inn was rather quaint in its simplicity - a wide open central hall with stairs on either side leading to an open upper level. The main desk was tucked in next to the stairs, curving around and stretching back into a bar, and behind it, a wide archway leading into the kitchen.

A young hyuran girl with orange hair wrapped in a pink ribbon stood behind the desk, rustling through some paperwork. She looked up upon hearing the door open and seeing Minfilia walk through, she smiled.

“Hello Minfilia, are you here for the financials?” Minfilia didn’t get to answer as the girl spied Fhara peeking around her shoulder, offering a little wave. The girl turned and yelled into the kitchen, “Thancred, Minfilia’s here with someone!”

“She’s not a guest, Ryne, if that’s what you’re thinking, “Minfilia said, stepping back to let the girl see Fhara properly, “She’s going to be taking up the farmland to help out the town.”

“Ah, so you didn’t go for my offer in the end,” a response echoed out of the kitchen, as a man emerged and leaned on the arch frame.

“You weren’t even that sure of your own offer,” Minfilia countered, albeit with a bemused smile, already suggesting a comfortable connection between the two. As he shrugged and joined Ryne properly at the desk, Minfilia turned to Fhara and gestured to the two in turn as she began introduction.

“This is Thancred and Ryne, and as you can tell, they run the inn. Even before the earthquake we had a few folk that would pass through, but mainly the town itself gathers here in the evenings. It’s a large part of what connects the community.”

“You speak so highly of a few nights where more threats of violence have occurred over card games than I’ve seen in scummier port towns, and some cheap soup anyone could make at home,” Thancred scoffed, making Fhara’s ears flatten, though Minfilia and Ryne both gave him contrary looks.

“Thancred’s exaggerating. People get a bit passionate over the games, that’s all,” Ryne reassured, “Oh but we do have some soup ready now if you’d like.”

“Oh no, I’m fine, I wouldn’t want to take too much time while Minfilia’s still taking me on a tour,” Fhara refuted, not wanting to take up their time, only for a faint grumble to sound from her stomach, making her flush and lash her tail.

“Well it sounds like your stomach says otherwise,” Minfilia giggled, “But we can stop for a moment, it's still early in the day. And as I said, this is a central pillar of the town’s community, it's possible the others might show up while we’re here and we can introduce you then.”

She sat at a stool further up the desk, patting for Fhara to join her.

“Make it two bowls, Ryne, I’ve been on my feet all morning with my usual work as well as helping Fhara settle in.”

Ryne slipped back into the kitchen and Fhara slipped sheepishly into the bar stool next to Minfilia, watching Thancred take over the paperwork Ryne left behind.

“So you were thinking of taking up the farmland?” Fhara asked.

“Thought about it. It’d be good to directly grow the resources for our food here and then hand off any excess to Tataru next door. In the end, I decided against it though,” he said, shrugging.

“It’d be enough work to clear it out in the first place before any actual ploughing or farming could begin, and I’d have to move out there just to be able to stay on top of it all. I can’t do that to Ryne, leaving her here to handle matters,” he continued, voice dipping so that the girl wouldn’t overhear him from the other room, “Even with foot traffic down at the moment, she’d still be handling the cooking and the cleaning and the paperwork for the whole building. She’s quite capable, especially as she gets older, but I wouldn’t leave her alone to do all this at this stage.”

Fhara could only offer a brief smile of understanding before Ryne reemerged, two bowls balanced on a tray.

Once served, and with both ladies digging in earnestly - Fhara really hadn’t realised how hungry she was after her long trek to get to the valley in the first place, oh lord! - the two behind the bar area, sorting and taking inventory and Thancred offering up two glasses of water.

“Consider it on the house for now, since it's your first day,” he said, then with a cheeky smile curling onto his lips, he added, “Once you’ve got your fields all set up and you start growing, if you can give us the good quality produce, maybe we’ll consider a discount in future as well.”

This earned him an eye roll from Minfilia, while Ryne gave him a light smack on the arm and a stern huff of his name to chide him.

“We won’t do that, we’ll accept whatever you can give us,” Ryne insisted. Softening, she then asked, “Where are you planning on going after this? Since you’ll be showing Miss Fhara around.” Fhara’s ear couldn’t help but flick to hear the polite title, but she was still deep into her soup to respond.

“Tataru’s shop next door would make the most sense first,” Minfilia hummed, placing her spoon in the almost finished bowl while she spoke, “Then perhaps up to Lyse and Yda’s forge and studio. Y’shtola and Urianger are always meeting together to talk and do research on matters, so we’ll probably see  them together at the clinic. And if we don’t run into Loiusoix while he’s out on a walk, we can finish the day at his manor. Then back here to see anyone else we would have to go out of the way to meet.”

“Sounds like a plan, though if you are going to see Lyse later-,” Thancred reached under the counter and handed over a belt, wrapped up in itself for easy storage, “-she forgot this here the other night. Took it off for all the food she ate, then lost track of it in all the fuss over the arm wrestling nonsense she and Estinien ended up in.” Ryne and Minfilia giggled to recall the scene as the latter took the piece in hand.

“Will do. And since we seem to be done here,” she said, looking over both empty bowls between them, then at Fhara, “we can head off and let you two prepare for tonight. Shall we?”

Fhara nodded, tail curling as she slurped down the final dreg in her bowl, then handed directly to a waiting Ryne.

“Thank you for the food. It was nice to meet you both,” she purred, backing out after Minfilia and almost running into the open door if not for Minfilia’s quick warning.

[alln64games]

Super Mario 64

JP release: 23rd June 1996

NA release: 29th September 1996

PAL release: 1st March 1997

Developer: Nintendo

Publisher: Nintendo

N64 Magazine Score: 96%

Starting off with a bang, one of the Nintendo 64’s launch titles just happens to be a revolutionary game that’s one of the best games on the system. It didn’t just show the world how platform games could work in 3D, but it set the standard for movement in 3D as well. Despite it’s legendary status, Nintendo have never given us the port that this game deserves. Super Mario 64 doesn’t need a full remake, just a little bit of sprucing, widescreen and an updated camera.

Luckily, fans of the game have done this themselves by fully recreating the game’s engine on PC, with lots of options to set it up the way you want. There’s some much more graphically impressive options than what I chose, but I wanted it to look similar to the original game, with just crisper textures and some of the 2D objects replaced with 3D ones.

The movement of Mario still feels amazing all these years later. His move set is brilliant with all of his moves (minus the special hats) available form the get-go, it’s just a case of learning it and figuring out the best way do move. Most people will start off ding taller jumps by doing the backflip, but then transition to the quick turn jump to get up to the tall platforms. Even now, it’s an absolute joy to control.

The camera from the original game is the main part of the game that now feels clunky. It was pretty amazing when the game came out, but it’s one aspect of games that has improved over time. Luckily, the version I played lets you turn on a more modern analogue camera, which (along with widescreen) is really all Super Mario 64 needs to feel modern.

The levels are small, but it’s a style that really suits the game. They’re packed full of secrets, with six stars to find in each one (plus an extra star for collecting 100 coins). Once you collect a star, you’re thrown out of the level, which does mean you have to re-do parts of levels multiple times, but there are sometimes changed to the level depending on which star you collect. There is a mod that lets you remain in levels, but I feel like this alters the game too much, and is itself fiddly as you need to work out when you need to manually leave the level.

Each level has a very distinct feel to it and I enjoyed every level in the game, with the exception of two of the water levels. While some have generic themes (lava, water and ice), the levels are still built in unique ways, and even matching themes (like the two snow levels) don’t feel like a reuse due to the level design.

Other than a couple of stars that include the wing, metal and invisible caps, you can also complete levels before moving on, or just do a couple of stars and try somewhere else. You only need 70 out of 120 stars to complete the game (far fewer if you choose to do glitches), but it’s enjoyable collecting them all.

To unlock different sections of the castle (and access more levels), you need to complete Bowser’s levels. There are three in total (the last one being to save Peach) and these are much more linear platform challenges, which creates a nice change of pace. At the end of these you have to face off against Bowser, grabbing his tail and spinning him to throw him into bombs, and I’m still absolutely dreadful at aiming my throws.

The final section of the game has some outstanding levels.

Wet-Dry World is the third water level of the game, but this one stands out much more due to the mechanic of raising and lowering the water levels. There are different ways to move upwards depending on the water level, and you’ll need to make use of these to collect all the stars.

Tiny-Huge Island has you using pipes to swap between a giant Mario and a mini Mario. You get to see cute tiny goombas or have to fight ones that are much larger than Mario. It’s not Mario’s size that actually changes, but the level itself. It’s an absolutely adorable level full of joy.

Tick Tock Clock is actually a lot smaller than I remember, but is focused on well timed jumps. The unique aspect of this level is that the level entrance is itself a clockface, and where the minute hand points alters the speed of the objects in the level, or even stops them completely. I have quite strong memories of trying to figure out what was happening when this happened as a kid.

The final main level, Rainbow Ride, is more linear than most levels, with different segments connected via magic carpets. You’ll need to jump off the carpets to avoid obstacles, but if you take too long, the carpets will vanish. This level requires you to have learnt how to master Mario’s moveset.

Super Mario 64 is still an absolute joy to play, especially so with an updated camera. I think a full remake would alter the game too much, as the level design and movement is integral to its identity. It just needs a bit of sprucing up, and I really hope we get an official version that does this at some point.

This was an amazing start for the Nintendo 64. Not only was this game integral to the development of 3D games as a whole, but the gameplay and levels still hold up today. Games keep trying to be bigger and better, but smaller and varies levels are also a great approach.

“The best game ever?” Possibly, but then it’s so far ahead of anything that comparisons seem meaningless.

- Zy Nicholson, N64 Magazine #1

---

Remake or Remaster?

As the fan-made PC version shows, Super Mario 64 still holds up really well and just needs some basic improvements. A remastered Super Mario 64 would be perfect.

Official Ways to get the game

There is no way to buy a new copy of Super Mario 64, the only official way to play is to rent it via the Nintendo Switch Online + Expansion Pak.

Other versions

2004: Super Mario 64 DS. This version featured altered levels, more stars and extra playable characters. The extra content was well received, but forcing previous stars to certain characters was frustrating. The controls also don’t work very well on the DS. The touch screen minigames were a brand new addition and were well liked.

[sod4leaf]

gee these guys seem interesting, sad their made up :(

Humans are a comparatively young species on the galactic scale, having only really begun colonisation outside their home solar system some 350 years ago. While not particularly special in any field, humans are often described as “the jack of all traits” species. Their bodies are much more likely to accept genetic and cybernetic modifications, leading them to splitting into several subspecies. 

By the 26th century, it's rare to find humans with no genetic or cybernetic enhancements, both being rather affordable. 

However most of these genetic enhancements are minor cosmetic changes or for medical reasons. The more extreme genetic alterations happen before birth and are applied from a template the parents get to choose. Most genetically modified human species can only reproduce within their own genome, which makes their traits naturalised and allows their children to be born with those same traits. 

The largest of these groups are the Tailers, humans designed to live in Zero-G environments. 

The tails that were lost by human ancestors millions of years ago was reintegrated into the Tailers anatomy, and is entirely prehensile, effectively becoming a fifth limb. When working in environments without gravity they use these to hang onto railings, freeing up their other 4 hands. Two of these were created from human feet, similar to other primates on their homeworld.

Tailers makeup around 29% of the human population across the solar federation, being spread across countless space stations and habitats. While they can live on planets with no real issues, they often feel a lot more clumsy and uncomfortable. Due to this most prefer to live in the space stations, which act as their own self sufficient city states. The largest of these, and unofficial Tailer capital, is Hammond station located in the Sirius system. It consists of a port ring, spinning around the main hub to simulate gravity. This is where most tourists and visitors spend most of their time when on hammond station. The hub is where the main city is located. Due to not needing gravity, its built in a way that only Tailers really can get around, with sidewalks of monkey-bar structures that they can climb on to get around. 

Other notable Genetic subspecies are the swimmers, humans modified for an amphibian lifestyle on oceanic worlds. Titans, 10ft tall semi quadrupedal humans designed for live on worlds with high gravity. Featherfolk, designed for colonisation of gas giants. Their arms were engineered into wings with prehensile feet and tails. Featherfolk were originally created from a similar template as the Tailers, which is why they look somewhat similar. 

Humans are newcomers to the galactic stage, but already made a massive impact by being immune to viruses the imperium uses in its war against the galaxy. As Well as this, humans also rival the Vardee in terms of warlike nature, and make up a large portion of the Solar federations military. 

Some of the more conservative factions see them as a foolish and immature species, tho if this is true is something that has yet to be seen.

[fyrets]

Valentine Gene Development E-Mails LEAKED {NOT CLICKBAIT!!!}

So last night on discord I was able to share the Valentine gene WIPs I've been receiving through e-mail over the past months and I think it's worth sharing on here too! Be warned this is gonna be image heavy and long so under the cut it goes.

(note: the title is a joke 🥺everyone be niceys to me)

To start, I've already posted some of my very early design concepts on here, and it includes some stuff I sent to the team after the Kickstarter ended (November 2022). However, it looks like I never posted this little "ref sheet" that I also sent to the team! Of course it becomes something vastly different by the end, especially since in the next year the gene style was going to be revamped so I was operating under very different rules, but some certain details I wanted managed to be preserved regardless!

Fast forward to July 2023, I receive the first round of rough mockups! Because of the revamped art style, the artists did some experimentation and exploration of how they could interpret the concept and let me pick a direction to go in. I went with #3 because I thought it nailed down the idea of what I wanted while adding the detail of the new style really well. The only change I requested was to port the tail of #2 onto #3 because I really liked it! I am a tail tip enjoyer.

Time passes, and I get more emails in September 2023. The artists wanted to give the head area of the 3 design another shot because the original was a bit wonky. I received four examples (that for the purpose of this post I have cropped and compiled into a single image since the head area was all that was altered so its easier to compare them all this way.)

Being completely honest none of these were really speaking to me, at least not completely as they were being presented. Not being able to find the right words to say what I wanted exactly, I decided to make an edit of one of the D variants! The main changes I made were removing the contouring of the face, changing the scalp design to invoke a sort of spade (which is something I've wanted since day one!) and bringing back the freckles.

Finally, on October 8th 2023, I received the final render of Valentine! We unfortunately lost the freckles because they felt noisy (and this has caused issues with other gene concepts behind the scenes as well, so this wasn't just a me problem 😔 RIP freckle enjoyers), but other than that, WOW!!! Valentine came out like a dream. They really kicked it out of the water and I'm so happy to know other people think so too!

[lord-overlips]

A La Carte - Lorde

It's an extensive menu. Pick and choose as you will. Keep in mind that Overlord is capable of mass displacement to alter his size.

(mun- the likes encouraged me so it's not my fault. If its not on the list doesnt mean he wont do it just that I didnt think of it yet. XD Also feel free to just send a thing on anon. I will write a scene with some anonymous bot or just write another chracter you choose if I feel confident to write them)

This thing is always open, just send me an ask, dont be shy :D

Starters - Please list any specific preferences and details

cuddle session. Light petting.

a typical date

massage session

hire as a girlfriend for a night

buff and polish session

dress up / costumes

doing makeup together

braiding hair together

randomly selected innocent hijinks

movie night together

Overlord will bake you something

Overlord will wear a mermaid tail and serenade you

light pet play

making fun of Megatron and/or Tarn

Mains - please select your role: sub / dom / voyeur. Select your safeword and preferences/squicks before play

bondage session

hard vicious fragging

extended and amorous love making

oral interface

port play

overload denial/edging

degradation

bdsm session

sado-maso session

dom/sub session

more intense pet play - interface included

making fun of Megatron and/or Tarn - but with more obscene language

Desserts - only the most exquisite treats. Choose your Safewords, required for both parties. Some collateral damage possible

vore

cannibalism (just a bit)

torture (client to note their intent to dom/sub/switch)

kidnapping roleplay - Overlord is not responsible if this extends to genuine kidnapping. Please see list of clauses and waivers attached.

making fun of Megatron and/or Tarn - but with very obscene language and vulgar imagery. Also he draws Tarn with stink lines on him.

Secret Menu - ????? - The more shanix you offer or the more Overlord likes/hates you (it depends on circumstance) the more likely it is that Overlord will accept. Please note your request.

[ezra-iolite]

One Last Wish- A Pirateformers Story

Chapter 3: Old Wounds

(TRIGGER WARNING: A LOT of deadnaming and misgendering of poor Asya here, some mentions of nudity (but only in a cultural sense rather than anything sexual), and some violence up ahead)

Elbent and Verglaust belong to @tigracespace

Starhawk belongs to @dimorphodon-x

Blue Heron belongs to @hyraxas (also let me know if it's still too hard for you to read, in case your neurospicy brain needs more breaks)

Asya, Conduit, Azaan, and the denizens of the kingdom of Joka Ardhi belong to me~

Docking their boat at the pier, right next to a small flight of barnacle infested wooden steps touching the surface of the water, Starhawk jumped up onto the pier and tied the rope to the nearest post before he helped Elbent and the others off the boat and onto the creaking pier with him. The moment they all got off, the stares they could feel from the passing Jokani fishermen and dockworkers, who all had the same rare dark ebony skin-tone the crew had only known Asya to have, they could immediately be sensed like daggers cutting through them. And yet, it did not phase their captain, as Elbent led the way up the wooden pier and past the rickety market stalls bearing weathered but colourful drapes for rooftops, towards a rising flight of stone steps at the end of the docks, built into a wall surrounding the low pier that hid the city ground level from view. The moment Elbent reached the top, she paused to take in her first sight of the Jokani port city.

“Wow… So this is Wajiri? Everything here is so huge! I’ve never seen so many colours and bright buildings before!” Elbent looked around in awe, as the team joined her side to truly take in the sight of the strange land they were in.

Towering before the six of them, they could only gawk in amazement at the layers of buildings made out of flat roofed, rectangular, yellow and red sandstone that grew taller and bigger the further into the city the gang peered towards. Each street and alleyway they could see was decorated with drapes of vibrant colours that hung as fabric eaves over doors or between narrow alleyways, with glimmering and silky transparent curtains swaying gracefully from open arch-shaped windows and doorless entrances to invite the cool breeze from the scorching heat, and the occasional passing Jokani that wore equally colourful togas and veiling shawls, be they the human natives or the Dragonkin with individually unique horn shapes and vibrantly colourful scales upon their hands, clawed feet and long fluffy tipped tails, some tail tips even bearing dyed colours made of red clay that matched their half red-clay tipped dreadlocks or braids.

Their eyes couldn’t help but follow the rising layers of buildings further upwards, until the crew spotted a massive fortress in the distance, the castle at its heart bearing massive billowing tapestries of crimson with a black dragon spreading its wings before a large, white seven-point star behind it, with smaller versions of it dotting along the fortress curtain walls that wrapped protectively around the city boarder on the far horizon. But it was all easily overshadowed by the towering stone statue before them, of a male Dragonkin looking heroically upwards with a spear in hand, also bearing the same royal symbol on another smaller version of the tapestry that fluttered in the breeze, the symbol of the kingdom’s forefather that stood watching over the city from its very heart… a Dragonkin forefather who appeared eerily similar to Asya.

“Wow… so that’s what Alunnui looked like. Damn… It’s like looking in the mirror and seeing your reflection, Asya. Weird though, isn’t it? That you only look more like him after you took that final transition potion I made, to fully alter you face and physique into a more feminine look,” Elbent leaned back to properly peer up at the overshadowing statue that towered over the entire city like a titan. “But by Primus, look at all these Dragonkin! And they’re all… Opal, right? The Opal species?”

“Opal is right, with Alunnui here being the first Ruby Dragonkin of his entire species, I believe. I wonder if he was actually Sun Blessed, which is why all others of Asya’s family selectively breed their next heirs to bear the same gene?” Kevin pondered.

“Maybe. We’ll never know. But just take it all in now, guys… These are all Asya’s people. And this is her culture… A thing no one else beyond the equator has ever seen in nearly four centuries. Amazing isn’t i-,”

“KOMA!!”

“AH!! What the- Oh… Uh oh… I think we might be in trouble, you guys.”

Marching over to the six of them, a spear wielding human Jokani in a red toga and gold half-plate armour glowered before the crew, his mere presence sending chills down every spine before him. The left side of his form was covered by a short red cape that reached below his knee, going around to his back that had the royal “wyvern on a seven-point star” emblem on it, all pinned to his breast plate strap by a gold and ruby dragon claw brooch, the four pieces of ruby forming the claw hinting at his higher status. Despite his face being hidden by a gold dragon-scale shaped layered helmet, with the visor bearing fang shaped vents leading down into a pointed dragon snout-like chin and a dark red fabric covering the back of his head like a short veil, the gang could still feel his glare through the almond eyes of the visor. With a low growl, he slammed his metal spear onto the stone path with a loud clang, drawing the crowd’s attention towards the tall Moran and the crew.

“Oh crap, I forgot Asya’s first rule… Those of pale skin are a rare sight in Joka Ardhi, and as such they’re considered dangerous upon first glance due to the Primus-ban. Just… stay calm, everyone.” Elbent whispered over her shoulder, as the Moran guard glared at her.

“Hamna haki ya kuingia katika nchi hii, wageni! Kwa nini uko hapa? Hm?! ZUNGUMZA!!” The Moran barked his orders at the baffled and frightened crew, as Elbent stammered anxiously for a possible response to his foreign, or rather native, language.

“Uh… Well, we uh… Um… K-Kevin, help me out here!! You’re the one more fluent in Jokani than the rest of us!,” Elbent hissed. “And where the hell is Asya?!”

“She’s still saying goodbye to the kids, give her a minute. It’ll be ok, Ellie … I got this,” Kevin stepped up as he held his arm out protectively in front of his equally short wife. “Let’s see… AHEM… Tuko hapa kama ra- Oh, no, uh… Oh! M-MA- uh… marafiki.”

“Rafiki, unasema? Hm… Ni nani?” The Moran inquired with a slower tone, standing taller with a tilt of his head.

“Ok, we’re doing good so far,” Kevin whispered to translate for the gang. “He’s just inquiring the usual “Why are you here?” shtick for a guard, so I told him that we’re here for a friend. I… couldn’t remember the word for wife. Heh… Uh, crap what’s the word for royal?”

“WHY DOES THAT MATTER?!” Hawk hissed.

“Ok, ok, I get it! Uh… I’ll try heir. Um… Yule mrithi wako... Uh… aliyepotea? Heh heh.” Kevin nervously shrugged in his struggle to form the right words.

Seeing his cluelessness, the Moran suddenly sighed with a shake of his head as he lowered his gaze into his palm, which slid down along his visor as he groaned.

“Ugh, by the gods… You outsiders are all the same! Seeking our lost prince just for the wealth on his head, over and over again. And despite my warnings over the years, each and every time you still come here. Well, let me once again assure you, as I have these last forty years… He. Is. DEAD!! Now begone with-”

“Waitwaitwait- Hold on!! HOLD ON!! Please!! Just wait, I… Y-you can… speak Common?” Kevin asked in shock.

“Hmph… Most of us in this city can, but only when we need to. This port is our biggest trading hub, after all. Now… I’ll ask again in your tongue, and you’d best not make me repeat myself…,”

The Moran suddenly kicked the bottom of his spear with his heel and spun the heavy metal pole over his arm skilfully, before he gripped it in both hands and pointed the tip downwards… right between Kevin’s eyes.

“Why are you here, outsider? And who are you friends with that makes you think you’re allowed to trespass into this kingdom?”

“Allow me, Kevin…,” Elbent gently pushed the sheepish redhead away from the spear to stand with a determined glare before the Moran, the spear now touching her forehead. “Forgive us, sir, we’re all a little rusty with our Jokani, and I think we got off on the wrong foot due to our lack of knowledge on Jokani law. Allow me to introduce myself, to hopefully clear the tension a little… My name is Elbent O’Murchadha-Mutheru, captain of the Immortal Sun, and we’re here on a mission to-”

“Wait a second… Did you say… M-Mutheru? As in… the late Queen Gasira Mutheru?”

Looking between each other, while Blue and Hawk shared a confused glance between them, Elbent answered the Moran, as he once again spun his spear within his hand before he held it upright at his side.

“Yes… she would be my mother-in-law, were she still alive today. But, I bear her name through her child… Who now goes by Asya instead. We are here on a mission sent to her by… Uh…. What’s the title she goes by, again? Mwonaji Kamaria?”

“The Kifalme Mjuzi? But she… Oh, I see, that sneaky old Seer… But who is this Asya you refer to? Is she this friend of yours who… Oh… Oh by the Evenstar, you couldn’t possibly mean Prince Andres? But he… Is he really still alive?” The Moran suddenly lifted his visor up to reveal his middle aged yet youthful face, bearing red painted stripes over his eyes that were holding back visible tears.

“Her name is Asya now, and… I think she can answer that for herself~” Elbent smirked as she stepped back to look behind her.

Following her gaze, the Moran and the crew looked back towards the ship far off in the distance, just in time to see a bright fireball leaping from the ship and soaring through the air, heading straight for them. Surprisingly, the crowd that had gathered to watch did not panic, but instead murmured in curiosity and awe as the orange flame neared the pier and suddenly swooped upwards to rise into the sky, vanishing into a puff of smoke and embers to reveal Asya as she flipped back down towards the pier and, with another puff of flame slowing her descent, she landed gracefully before the crew and the Moran, her arrival earning them a low murmur of caution and amazement from the crowd that watched. Paying them no mind, Asya approached the gang as she gave each person she passed a warm and thankful smile.

“You lot better not have gotten arrested already, cause I don’t even know if I have the… money… to bail you… By the Evenstar,” Asya froze as her eyes met the Moran’s, her once proud smile immediately falling as she stared in teary eyed shock, until she attempted to speak with a voice that came out warbled as tears immediately began to flow, not just from her but from the Moran as well. “No it… it couldn’t be … A-Azaan? Is that… is that really you?”

“Andy, I… I thought you were dead. I… I saw what those bastards did to those Dunefarers… But I saw your mother’s ship missing, so I could only hope when they… I honestly lost hope when the first decade passed. But here you are, after all these years… And going by Asya now, you said? Ah, I think I can see why… It means “reborn through grief”, right? Heh, fitting… Very fitting for what you went through.” The Moran wheezed out a weak laugh, as he took off his helmet to reveal his half-shaved head of long braids and his short full-faced beard, with grey roots in both the beard and the braids, as he quickly dried his tears before they could ruin his face paint.

Asya laughed through her sobs as she carefully brushed past the crew to pull the shorter middle-aged man into a tight hug, his helmet and spear falling onto the stone path with a clatter as the two softly cried in their embrace. It wasn’t until Brynjolf cleared his throat that the two finally pulled away, with Asya’s arm around the Moran’s shoulders as she turned to face her team.

“Darlings… This is my childhood friend, and… kinda my first boyfriend… Guys, this is Azaan Sayyid. He was there for me during the worst years of my life in the palace, when I was training for my coronation day and Azzie here trained in the palace as a Kifalme Moran or Royal Guard. Or… should I refer to you as Captain Sayyid now?~,” Asya laughed as she gently nuzzled her cheek against the shaven half of his head. “You finally earned your ruby claw, huh?”

“I did, just like I promised I would when we were children… But I hope you can forgive me for not being there when you left. I was in the capital then, but if I had known you were escaping that day, I would have left days before and helped fend off the Lord’s Hand while you escaped. I could, at long last, have become your Shadow, like those before me to the sun chosen heirs… Like I swore I’d become to protect you. But look at you now, my friend! Finally broke through that awkward phase, you late bloomer~ Ay? Heh heh~ You finally got the horns and the fire, huh?”

Asya laughed her tears away as she playfully pulled Azaan into a headlock to ruffle his hair. “And you finally started going grey, you old fart! How old are you now, Senior Captain?”

“Hey!! I’m only looking forty, thanks to the magic you let me absorb from you, over the years! Still well within my position as Captain of the Royal Guard, and candidate to becoming your Shadow, so I’m certainly nowhere near retirement age!” Azaan laughed, managing to shove Asya off.

“HA!! You should be in your sixties and feeling it, you granddad!” Asya chuckled as she suddenly tackled Azaan… only to suddenly yelp when he flipped her over like a tossed coin with surprising agility, hopping onto her back when she landed on her front to sit on her waist to keep her down.

“Damn… I think Asya might have a type~” Hawk whispered to Blue, the two snorting behind their hands to hide their laughter.

“So… Who am I to thank for bringing my old friend back home?” Azaan looked back up to the gang as Asya huffed in defeat under him, her tail wagging in annoyance… or possibly joy.

Elbent chuckled as she stepped forward and offered her hand to him, but the moment he took it, she pulled the Moran off and helped Asya back onto her paws once more, before the siren finally turned to face him and replied,

“Like I said, my name is Elbent. I’m Asya’s wife. And these are a few of my crewmates from the Immortal Sun, that ship you see just before the sea boarder, with some of my crew here being mine and Asya’s husbands, none of which might I add were born on Primus… This is Kevin, Brynjolf, and Verglaust, the husbands, and my son, Conduit. And these two are members of my ship’s crew, Starhawk and Blue Heron.”

“Not part of your polyamory, I presume?” Azaan teased, winking to Starhawk and Blue.

“Uh… N-No, sir. I’m married to someone else, with a son of my own, back on the ship. And Blue Heron here is tied to no one. We just work for Elbent.” Hawk explained, clearing his throat to hide his blush from the smirking Moran.

“I see… Well, on behalf of the Kifalme Morani, I welcome you as guests to our kingdom. Welcome to the Dragonlands, folks. Now, if you’ll follow me… You’ll need to blend in if you’re to truly return home, my Lady Asya~”

Travelling up along the city streets of central Wajiri, with Asya and Azaan taking the lead as they covered up their faces with their hoods, Elbent and Kevin followed close behind them as the others followed right after, with Conduit needing to use his lion-like tail to hold Hawk’s hand as he looked around in complete awe like a child starstruck by a new world, occasionally jumping up to tap the drapes tethered across the alleyways just to see if he could. As they slipped through one alleyway and cobblestone street after another for what felt like an hour, the Moran captain led the crew into what appeared to be a market square, its buildings and stalls all blissfully shaded from the desert sun under a giant archway right under the statue of Alunnui. However, as Azaan started explaining what the others could wear to help them blend in and adapt to Jokani culture, Elbent and Hawk suddenly froze when they spotted the more vibrantly dressed mix of human and Dragonkin noblewomen passing by and giggling at their whispered gossip, hidden by their shawls of silk draped over their heads as veils and along their arms and hands, their every step fluttering their layered dresses of golds and rainbow colours. Elbent suddenly squeaked as she quickly hid her face behind her hands, earning the mocking laughter from the noblewomen.

“Oh Primus, Asya!! Why didn’t you tell me your people wear such… r-revealing outfits?!” Elbent whispered in a hissed tone, running behind her Dragonkin wife to hide.

“That’s uh… Is this normal for your culture?” Hawk muttered as he too hid behind Verglaust to cover his sight as well.

Asya snorted as she giggled at the sight, seeing Conduit and Brynjolf averting their gazes as well, while Verglaust merely watched his family and friends with an arched brow in confusion, alongside an equally unphased Blue Heron, before Asya finally replied,

“Well, darling… What did you expect people to wear when it’s constantly hot? I am sorry for not mentioning it sooner, but… Well, what is there to be ashamed of? We all have the same body as women, so who cares if we show some of it off, right?”

“Fair point, Asya, but I am so glad I have a husband. ‘Cause man, Roddie would freak out if he saw thi- Oooohhh that’s a big one!”

Just as Hawk finally gathered the courage to peek out from behind Verglaust, he immediately squeaked and hid again as a human Jokani merchant passed by, carrying a large box on his shoulder in one beefy arm with ease, as Hawk noticed him only wearing pants and a headscarf loosely wrapped around his shoulders and face. Blushing at the brief sight Hawk managed to peek at, he only noticed Verglaust’s teasing smirk long after the shirtless merchant passed them by, causing Hawk to double-take his glance upwards in shock before he grumbled and shoved him away to hide his blush, as Verglaust and Azaan barked with laughter.

“Oh, you northerners never fail to amaze me~” Azaan chuckled as he ducked his helmeted head to enter the bead-curtained doorway of a shop next to them, the glittering incense smoke of jasmine and lavender wafting outside.

“Pfft, holy crap! Asya? Ellie! Heh heh, look at Kevin~” Blue pointed towards the short redheaded doctor, giggling beneath his hand.

To everyone’s surprise, the Unicronian watched in awe as many more noblewomen passed by, his eyes wide and his smile growing, before he finally turned to Asya and Elbent. “Ok, this is amazing! Ladies… Please tell me you’re wearing those.”

Elbent let out a loud audible gasp as Asya sputtered out a loud bark of laughter, before Elbent responded first while her wife bent over in a giggling fit as Heron, a grumbling and flustered Hawk, and a brightly blushing Conduit and Brynjolf entered the shop.

“KEVIN!!! I… How…. What?! PRIMUS, NO!!! I’d never be able to pull that look off! It’s FAR too revealing!! They… they literally have nothing covering their chests, Kevin!!”

“Oh come now! This culture clearly doesn’t have a strong view on women or how they should present themselves based on their bodies, like they do so conservatively in the north! I think you’d look beautiful with all those layers of colours showing off your physique~”

“Kevin, I swear to… Wait, it’s the colours that you like?”

“Oh yes, I think something mixed in with your usual shade of blue would look radiant on you, my dear… And that corset style to help draw the eye to your figure would just be divine!”

“Huh… I honestly thought you were thinking about their-”

“Oh yeah, that too~ It would be amazing seeing you relax a little with your-”

“NOPE!! NO!! NO THANK YOU!!” Elbent finally rushed into the shop, followed closely by a giggling Kevin and Asya.

Upon entering the shop, Elbent’s flustering was immediately forgotten and replaced with excitement and awe as she saw dozens of rows of wooden boxed shelves lining the walls from floor to ceiling, each box containing rolls of fabric and layers of folded cloth full of bright dazzling colours, each and every piece appearing either glittering, shimmering, soft or vibrant, while the front and left side of the shop presented its merchandise on full-bodied wooden mannequins posing in regal or reserved positions to show off their dresses, both with and without cleavage coverings of chiffon or silk, loose fitting suits for both men and women alike, harem pants and long tops of every type, alongside veiling shawls, headscarves, and many more outfits better suited for travelling through the desert, with one mannequin nearest to the door holding a silver tray up high on its flattened palm to allow the incense to burn and let its ash fall into the tray safely and undisturbed, its sweet, musky and floral aroma calming yet exotic.

“Wow… these are beautiful! I finally understand why you always dress so colourfully now, Asya!” Elbent assured, approaching a mannequin wearing a deep blue jumpsuit with golden vine and floral embroidered outlines along the sweetheart neckline, a corset outline on the belly, and more golden vines going down as straight lines along the sides of the legs.

“Colours are how we express the truest parts of ourselves, no matter our culture, yes?~” Came a croaky and heavily accented voice from behind the door at the back of the tailor shop.

A short and elderly Dragonkin with bright green scales stepped out of the doorway at the back of the shop, flicking her long and chunky black braid over her shoulder to show both sides of her head shaved just under her long, ash coloured horns that curved over her head like a mountain goat’s, as her braid formed a subtle mohawk between them. Her long, navy chiffon dress swayed around her reptilian digitigrade legs, her petite form framed by a light grey, sleeveless shawl vest that exposed her arms entirely to reveal the hint of thin pink scars on the back of her shoulders and biceps, alongside the colourful woven beaded armbands of triangular patterns between the gold metal rings around her biceps. Fixing the fabric measuring tape over her shoulders and the circular silver spectacles on her large nose, the older Dragonkin stepped towards the crew and the guard captain with a smile that flashed her fangs from her underbite that peeked slightly over her upper lip, only when she smiled and spoke.

“It’s oh so rare to have light folk in my shop, so please allow me to properly welcome you all….,” Bowing with a hand on her heart and her head lowered to reveal more of her horns, her green tail swayed with a rhythmic chiming of chunky gold bangles that rattled above the short fluffy tip of black fur at the end of her tail, her every wag echoing with a bell-like chime. “Shikamoo, my honoured guests, to “Mariamu’s Natural Touch”. I am… well… Mariamu, but you are welcome to call me Mari! So, how may I help you, hm? And is there anything I can do for you as well, dear Captain?”

“I’m here to help these folk better fit in with our kind, so if you have anything fit for wasteland travel, please help these fine folk be fitted with whatever they choose from your travel-gear selection. I will pay for all their expenses.” Azaan assured, placing his spear next to the door to let him hold his helmet at his hip.

“Oh? Will you all be journeying to Alunn’nchi? Many who hail from the north often head straight to the capital, so you lot are not the first. But, you did come at just the right time of the season for the safest journey there. The weather and the sun will be in your favour… Just do be mindful of the sandstorms,”

Mari toddled over to the mannequins nearest to her register desk, her every step making the chiming of her tail bangles sound even more melodic as she stopped right in front of the nearest mannequins and gestured to the first four, all of them having loose fitting or haram pants.

“These are the newest of my line, designed mostly for Dunefarers, or simply those who journey often through the crimson sands, so every piece on this side aims to help you be completely covered in the sun, but remain warm in the autumn nights to come. For you, my raven-haired friend… I think these will benefit you the most~”

Mari reached up to a shelf behind the mannequin she was presenting to give Hawk a pile of clothing, which included a dark mustard-yellow pair of baggy linen pants and a white loose-fitting shirt with a low scoop neckline, paired up with a black sash belt embroidered with tiny blue stars.

“Oh… Um… Heh, thank you.” Hawk awkwardly smiled, earning him a smirk from the old Dragonkin.

“Try them on, dear. There are fitting rooms down the hall, through that door.”

With a bashful nod, Hawk hurried away with his picked out attire, just as Mari presented Blue with his own picked out parcel of clothes; light grey haram pants, a sky blue sleeveless blouse with a low v-neckline, paired with a chiffon sea blue shawl with subtle gold feather patterns embroidered all over it, which could be worn as a headscarf or like a belt that could cover the entirety of a hip or thigh.

“Oooh, pretty! I love the feathers! Thank you!” Blue cheerfully gathered his gift and bowed graciously to Mari, before he vanished into the changing rooms with Hawk.

“Now… what shall I do with you three?” Mari turned to Verglaust, Brynjolf and Conduit, who were all somewhat struggling to fit inside the room due to their equally large heights and size.

“Oh uh… I-I’d rather not trouble you, miss,” Conduit stuttered nervously, hiding his arms a little with his crystal-covered gargoyle wings. “I know my size can be rather-”

“Nonsense, child! Clothes do not define a person’s form, they help to express it and the body’s beauty. Though, if I may… you have quite the unique body. Are the crystals… a part of you?” Mari lightly traced a claw over his wings, feeling the crystals that sprouted along the arms up to the thumbs of both wings, her gaze following down his back to the main source of his crystals.

“Y-Yes, miss Mari. I was cursed as a child with this form, and every time I use my powers, these crystals grow all over my body. They are handy though, since I am technically a gargoyle. And for some reason, if I have no crystals on me, I do what gargoyles do and turn to stone at the first light of day. But the moment I have enough covering my back and wings… I am free to move about during the day or night.”

“Your crystals act like moonstones, then. Amazing… I know a chieftain on your way to the capital who would love to document your curse. Perhaps she could cure you of it too, hm?,” Mari suggested, gently patting Conduit on the cheek. “We’d best fit you and your fathers in something formal yet practical, ay? Heh heh, dear Faizah would simply love to meet you~”

Chuckling mischievously, Mari snapped her fingers to form a spark of green fire, which was soon followed by the creaking of wood scraping along the wooden floor that echoed the shop. Bursting out from behind the door, three wooden mannequins floated their way to the middle of the shop as their flat disc bases dragged slightly under them, the veins and knots of their carved wooden frames glowing bright green with magic, which then pulsed with a low hum as they each stood to attention in front of the three gargantuan men.

"Whoa... Is that..."

"Opal fire... Green flames can summon and control flora of any kind. Including wood, it seems~" Asya chuckled from the wall she leaned against, as she answered Elbent's question before it could fully form.

"Now then... You're the biggest, so I shall need your measurements first." Mari pulled her tape off her shoulders as she stood before Verglaust and slid her pinched fingers over it to straighten the fabric tape out, covering it in green flames.

The moment she aligned the tape across Vern's shoulder width, the mannequin in front of him suddenly groaned with the creaking of wood as its glowing veins hummed louder and its torso began to grow bigger and wider. Pulling the tape down to his hip, the mannequin grew taller until its head was at Verglaust's eye level. With each limb she measured, the mannequin altered its appearance to match the required size, with its pole even splitting apart to form legs, until a perfect replica of Verglaust's entire body stood before him, leaving the man gawking in silent awe.

"Wow... When I said I could climb you like a tree, I never thought it could become literal~" Kevin chuckled, earning him a snorted laugh from Asya as Elbent immediately smacked the redhead upside the head.

"Fire is not just a burning force of destruction, my cheeky friend~," Mari winked as she began to measure Conduit beside him. "Fire is unbridled life, magic's most wild physical form that is born within my kind. For a wielder of the Flora Flames such as myself, it can hold the spirit of nature herself, and with it... She can form the physical presence I need to build my visions and projects onto."

"So... Wait, can any other colour of Opal Dragonkin have any fire type, and not just the flames that match their scale colour?" Conduit asked, as the tailor began to measure his arms.

"Oh, but of course! It would be pretty boring if we all had fire the same colour as our scales, now wouldn't it?," Mari chuckled, as the mannequin in front of him shifted and groaned as it grew to his size. "No, the type of fire we are born with is based entirely on the parents, mainly the Dragonkin ones. Luckily, both of mine were just that. My Baba was light brown and had green flames that could summon vines of flowers, but desert roses were his usual type, making him a perfect garden architect and city flora gardener. My Mama was white and could use her yellow flames, or normally her bare fists, to lift entire house sized blocks of sandstone or control the very sand itself. I'd still like to believe that she might have been Sun Blessed, but she never did show any signs of it. But then again... She was the royal architectural builder of Lord Alhaadhi. So who could dare question her strength when she regularly fixed the walls of the royal palace itself, and could move an entire house and the ground beneath it on one shoulder~"

"Oh yeah, I remember her! Zira was her name! By the stars, she was nearly as large as you, my friend!" Azaan chuckled as he patted Brynjolf's arm.

Chuckling at the blush blooming on Brynjolf's face, Mari guided her tape along Conduit's wings, causing the mannequin to suddenly sprout branches on its back that took the form of bony wings without the webbed skin between the fingers, as rings of buttercups bloomed exactly where Mari measured the girth of the very base of Conduit's wings on his back and tiny angular branches formed where the crystals were along the arms. After measuring his digitigrade legs and tail, Mari flicked her tape to extinguish the flames on it and waved her hand towards the wall, commanding the mannequins to stand in a row against it. 

"Now then... Tell me what you'd all like to wear~"

As Mari guided the three giants to her desk to begin crafting their tailored outfits with some help of her now more mobile newly formed mannequins, Azaan approached Elbent as she viewed a regular mannequin wearing blue haram pants and a sky blue and gold sleeveless, v-neck long top, with the hem going down into a drape that covered the lap of the pants and ended in an arrow-shaped point.

"So.... Is And- Uh... Is Asya usually this quiet?" Azaan whispered to the siren, as he peered at the orange Dragonkin from the corner of his eye, watching her admire a glimmering red gown.

"Only when she has a lot on her mind."  Elbent answered bluntly, feeling the fringes of the drape and the gold floral themed embroidery between her fingers.

"Mm, as I suspected.... She's here to face her father, isn't she?" He inquired in a hushed tone.

"She is, yeah. The Royal Sage you mentioned, Elder Seer Kamaria, I think Asya called her… She asked for her help. She sent her a letter a month ago, telling her only two lines....... "Come home. Our people will follow in your shadow." I can easily tell she's dreading the day. But tell me, honestly, Azaan... What is her father like? Who is he, really, and why does Asya fear him so much? What did he do to her?"

Looking around cautiously, the Moran captain leaned against the wall beside Elbent as he began his tale.

"His name is Jhamal, and he is the middleborn of the three sons of Alhaadhi, Asya's grandfather and the last Dragon Lord of the previous era. Jhamal is.... He's always been jealous of his brothers, from what I can remember growing up in the court alongside Asya. With his oldest brother, Amani, being the heir apparent and a Sun Blessed child of orange scales, while their younger brother, Bomani, grew to become a gifted Healing White Flame wielder and a General of both branches of the Morani, Jhamal felt more like an afterthought than a prince."

"Wait... Asya's older uncle had orange scales? Like hers?" Elbent asked in a hushed tone.

"He did, and you’re welcome to see for yourself. There's a portrait of him on the royal family tree mural in the palace, where every member born of Alunnui’s blood is preserved in imagery and shown who became the heir apparent, and a preserved wall painting is here in Wajiri, near Fort Imamu, of when the three sons were younger and newly crowned princes. But from what I can remember of his coronation portrait….

"Lord Amani was the tallest of the three brothers and had scales the colour of carnelian, and it was said he could bring just as much joy to others as the gem's spiritual property could, and his mastery over his birthright flames was claimed to rival the Burning Prince’s level of power. He was a gifted warrior that could end village rivalries with nothing but his word alone,"

Smiling warmly in nostalgia, Azaan's gaze briefly fell onto Asya, who was admiring Conduit's outfit while teasing Starhawk about how "handsome and shapely" he looked, purely to make him blush.

"He was.... The perfect Dragon Lord. A kind and patient man, or so a great many claimed... But he and his General we're both slaughtered while out on a hunt, leaving only Jhamal as the surviving offspring of the late Lord Alhaadhi to inherit the throne."

"I see.... I think I can understand why he might have targeted Asya, then."

"No, dear Elbent. It wasn't her inherited colour and Sun Blessed power that made Jhamal despise his only heir.... The current Dragon Lord has only ever demanded sons from his late queen, not just as his heir but as his entire brood. A son to carry his bloodline and many more to inherit his views and workload, alongside his belief that... That women should be trained to become docile wives who are seen and never heard or given anything a man should always gain freely. And in light of our dear Queen Gasira's open mind towards the dreams of her child gaining the identity she deserves to have in her own homeland, I.... I rarely saw my old friend coming out of the throne room without bruises. Both on her and her own mother."

"All that.... And Gasira's neglectful death by a mere fever.... All that was just because he didn't want Asya being her true self, despite it clearly not affecting her ability in becoming a good and wise leader? That's absolutely ridiculous!!"

Azaan quickly hushed her before anyone could hear, as he led the siren outside the shop to ensure the murmur of the crowd amongst the market drowned out their voices.

"Elbent, you must remember, this man has since embraced his title of "Jhamal the Tyrant", long before the death of Asya’s mother. He knows we called him that the moment he formed the Lord’s Hand, but it has never bothered him, as he continues his public executions and conquering villages on the islands surrounding this kingdom just to make them remain loyal to the crown. The damn bast- I-I mean our Lord… He has since increased the number of men in his personal guild.

"It's now gotten to the point that neither me nor the entire Morani can truly do our job without being sent away by the Hand, due to their so-called higher status… When in fact I am the highest ranked Moran in all the kingdom, and I made sure it happened to allow me to protect this kingdom in Asya’s place. So now, we must be careful how we speak when we are in public... The Lord's Hand have eyes and ears everywhere."

"So how the hell are we supposed to free the people if we risk hurting them by the Hand's wrath? She already did the “Hair Sacrifice” thingy!!" Elbent hissed angrily.

"We just have to..... Wait, what did you say? Do you mean she… she performed the ‘Dhabihu Demand’? That.... Oh that is perfect!," Azaan suddenly laughed, earning him a few fleeting stares from the passing crowd. "I knew our long nights of studying law together would come in handy! "

"What's going on, you guys? Is everything alright?" Hawk suddenly peeked his head around the door's beaded curtain towards Azaan and Elbent.

"Oh it's more than ok, my friend! Your… Huh. Nice outfit. Uh, sorry- I now know what we must do!," Azaan excitedly rushed back inside the shop, finding everyone now wearing their new clothes. “Asya, your wife just told me what you did, and I know how we can make your plan work!"

"You... do?" Asya's hidden face under her new red, sleeveless hooded cloak turned to her wife and her old friend, fixing the string that held it together into a bow above her orange, silk toga top that hung from one shoulder to only cover her chest, while her tail’s slow swaying caused her chiffon, ash grey haram pants to ruffle slightly, revealing that they only reached to her hocks or ankles on her scaley feline legs.

"I must first see if my theory is correct, for if it is.... We may be able to do exactly what you have planned by performing that rite. Mari, my dear.... May I ask you something?"

"Anything, dearie." The tailor cut the thread of her needle with a claw as she finished the last stitch on Vernglaust's shawl vest, handing it to him before she approached the Moran captain with a kind smile.

"Do you know who this is?" Azaan gestured to Asya, who immediately froze up and wrapped her tail anxiously around her haram pants leg.

"Azzie... Az, what the hell are you doing?!" She hissed under her breath at him, as Mari tilted her head in confusion, a look that was shared with Hawk beside her.

"Trust me, Asya... You're safe here. I know she'll side with us," Azaan whispered, before he spoke up once more. "How would you feel, then... If I told you that the lost prince was here in Wajiri?"

Mari's long ears rose up slightly in surprise as she looked to Azaan and Asya, before she replied with a cautious and serious tone, "Then I'd tell you that he would be a fool to come back here without an army. And he’d be an even bigger one for thinking he would be safe by him… self…,”

Her words slowed slightly as she noticed Asya’s claw tightening its grip on her arm as she crossed them, her tail tip now visibly hitting her leg repeatedly in an attempt to stop the entire limb from moving in a now obvious show of discomfort. Her tone rose into her usual friendlier pitch as she looked back up at Azaan.

“… However, it would certainly be a relief to see him all grown up and doing well, after all these years. I mean, by the stars, I still remember that dreadful night! I was there when the Hand and those brave Dunefarers fought along the pier, as the prince made his escape on that boat his mother arrived in, all those many years ago. I can still remember the awful smell from the bonfire as they burned the bodies, and of the corpse of their leader they left on display. He’s still there, you know? Nothing more than a skeleton now… Ugh, it’s simply barbaric!”

"Mari... Do you remember the prince? Or what he looked like, perhaps?"

"Why, of course I do, captain!! He practically grew up attending every Council meeting, after all! Last I remember, the poor child looked like skin and bone, surely from all the years he was forced to spent in the wastelands for his exile! But despite the cruelty of the sands affecting his health… He looked every bit as radiant as his mother. And he was the only one that could make those icy eyes of his father’s look so kind and warm, clearly something he inherited from the good Lord Amani. May the Celestial Maiden protect his soul.... Oh!! And I remember how his flames made his scales look just like Amani’s too! In the same shade of Sun Blessed... carnelian?,"

Mari looked down at Asya's paws and orange scaled legs, before her astonished gaze rose up to meet Asya's eye level as Azaan suddenly pulled her hood down to reveal her face, much to Asya’s disapproval shown only by her ear twitch and low cat-like growl as she refused to meet Mari’s gaze. The tiny old Dragonkin tailor let out a sudden gasp as she staggered back.

"By the stars, it couldn't be... Lord Alunnui? No, no, he... Oh! Oh my... Prince Andres?"

"It's... Asya now." Sheepishly looking away, Asya's gaze was finally brought back down when Mari took her orange claw into her own green pair and pressed her orange-scaled knuckles against her spectacles in a gentle bow.

"Oh thank the Evenstar you're alive, child! I feared the worst when... Oh it doesn't matter now, you're here! And you... Well, I honestly should have expected such a radiant change from you, when you wore that dress I made for your mother at the Council ball. And I must say... It's good to see another woman of royal blood again,"

Chuckling to herself, Mari stood back up and gently cupped Asya's cheek to wipe her tears with her thumb. "And I... I recognize that cutting style along your hair... The Dhabihu… You've come to free us, haven't you?"

"I have... Do you think our people will-"

"Oh hush! Of course we will, my Lady! You've been gone long enough for your father's tyranny to finally reach our wit's end! My daughter, the new Chieftain of Wajiri, will gladly help you in your endeavour! I told her, time and time again, that the prince-”

“I’m… a-a woman, actually.”

“Oh, my deepest apologies, dear! The princess will return one day, and we had best be prepared for the rising chaos to come, when that... Well, that bloody, good for nothing, heartless brat… is finally dethroned!!"

The room soon lost all tension when everyone started to chuckle at Mari's choice of words, but just as soon as it settled when Mari hugged Asya around the waist, the tension came again in the form of fright when a bell began to toll the hour and echo across the city.

"Oh, is it that hour already?," Mari looked outside to see where the sun was, as the sky began to turn pink and red. "The Hand will begin their rounds soon, so you all had best pick your clothes now and head through that door! I take it you don't have a place to stay for the night?"

Elbent hesitated as she pawed at the mannequin she was looking at earlier, before Mari suddenly chimed in again. "Hm! Thought so. Go on now! Pick something! It's on me, so don't worry about paying for any of it, Azaan. You all deserve something nice to help you blend in.”

“Oh, right, sorry! Thank you, Mari, for trusting us. And for helping us.” Elbent smiled warmly as she began to strip the mannequin.

“I’m doing this for more than just your good natured company, my dear. I was chieftain when Asya here was still without her horns or her tail’s full growth. I knew her mother when she still had her Embolet name, a little toddler so eager to wear the dresses I made for my daughter. No, rather… I’m doing this for Gasira, and not just the queen she was… but for the explorer that arrived here so long ago, eager to learn and truly study our culture, and the woman I called a friend,” Mari smiled with a heavy heart , but quickly shook it off as the final toll echoed outside. "Now, we should really get out of here before the Hand spots us in their rounds!!"

Quickly grabbing their things and heading into the back of the shop, Mari locked the door behind her before she grabbed a lantern nearby, lit the candle within it using a match, and once everyone finally had their new clothes on, she began to lead them through another door at the very end of the changing rooms and onto a street.

"Now, keep your heads down… Asya, your hood up, please. And remember, everyone… Whisper only and follow me. And whatever you do, don't look at any men in black hoods or capes with a red handprint. Those are the Lord’s Hand, and no one survives their capture, should they deem you light folk as a threat.“ Mari instructed, leading them by candlelight down the street and towards the east side of the city.

“Mari… How long has it been like this? Needing to sneak around, fearing the guild… How many have died because of them?” Asya asked in a whispered tone, pulling her cloak tighter around her body and over her horns.

“In the last twenty years since they truly began to run rampant… Thousand, by now. Mostly in the smaller villages amongst the more rural areas of this side of the country.”

"And... How do you get by in such circumstances? How are you even able to be so happy and kind in all this?"

Mari smiled as she gently held Asya's claw behind her. "Because, my dear.... There will always be a source of light to every shadow."

The old Dragonkin winked at Asya from over her shoulder as she turned towards a wider street that opened into a wide hilled area full of cottages and houses amongst sectioned short walls of chunks of sandstone, their shape weathered yet held together by their ornate ways they locked together to form the walls. As they neared the edge of the outskirts and began to enter the grassland outside the city walls, a chilling laugh suddenly pierced through the silence of the dusk to come, as more joined in from a nearby house… followed by a child’s scream for help. The fur on Asya’s and Mari’s tails immediately rose like electricity coursing through their veins, the moment they rushed into an alleyway to hide, just in time to see a group of black cladded cloaked men kicking a young human woman out of the house and onto the sandy road, her stumble from the literal kick sending her rolling over onto her side and caking her in sand and dirt.

As the laughter filled the night air once more, now revealed to be from the black hooded men, the last of the small group emerged from the house, revealing one of them to be holding a Dragonkin child of pink scales by the arm, who wriggled and clawed aimlessly at the arm of her captor.

“MOMMY!!” She cried out towards the fallen human, who struggled to sit up as she coughed and clutched at her side.

The closest hooded figure approached the human, with his back now turned towards Mari and the crew to reveal a large red handprint on his cape, before he picked up the Jokani human by her hair and held her up to grip her throat to silence her scream. As he growled in Jokani to her, Asya whispered to translate his threat for the crew.

“Kulipa sasa, mbwa... au kusema kwaheri kwa binti yako~”

“He… He’s threatening the daughter if the mother there doesn’t pay him. Is this… a loan shark threat? Seriously?! The Lord’s Hand are mere fucking mobsters? This is ridiculous! We have to help them!”

“Don’t, my Lady! If you threaten one of them, you’ll send them all after you,” Mari whispered, gripping Asya’s arm to stop her from running towards the Lord’s Hand. “They flock together like cattle, and if you are caught, they will easily outnumber and overwhelm you and imprison you in the Fortress. If you go there… there is no escape. Man, woman, child… They all go to Imamu, the moment a rule is broken or a deadline reaches its due day. There. Is no. ESCAPE… Trust me, my dear, I tried fighting them from the inside… There is no way to breach their ranks or to sneak into the Fortress and come out of it alive. Your father’s loyalists are too tightly knit for spies… The Fortress is unbreakable for even the strongest of mages. I’m sorry… We cannot help them.”

"I'm sure we can think of something, right Mama?," Conduit looked to his mother with a reassuring smile, which quickly vanished when he saw the seething look in her eyes. "Uh.... Mama?"

“… Nothing is unbreakable, Mari. Not even courage or toxic loyalty can withstand everything. And I refuse to let another suffer because of him!!” Asya snarled, gripping the edge of the wall as she slowly sank down onto all fours, her body now more animalistic in position as she began to prowl towards the woman and the lone Hand assassin.

“Asya! ASYA, GET BACK HERE!!” Verglaust hissed, quickly hiding when one of the Hand from the group holding the child looked over their way.

“Mkuu!! Nyuma yako!” He called out, making the nearest assassin turn, the woman still in his grip, just in time to see Asya suddenly charging with her horns out and rammed into the man’s chest.

The Hand and his captive woman fell onto the road, as Asya flipped and landed on her paws to bear her fangs at him, her tail flicking wildly behind her and making her cloak come off and flutter over onto the stone wall to reveal Asya’s full form. The Hand group leader groaned as he slowly got up, allowing the woman a chance to scramble towards the wall next to Asya’s cloak, before the fallen leader looked up and froze at the sight of Asya.

“Nini… Mtoto wa Jua?,” He tilted his head in confusion, before he staggered back when Asya’s horns began to glow with magic surging and ready within her veins, her aquamarine eyes glimmering as she growled again. “Miungu yangu... Mfalme!!”

“Mfalme? Je, ni kweli mfalme?!” The rest of the Lord’s Hand group began to repeat the same word over and over in question and disbelief, as Mari slinked back even more in fear.

“Oh no… They recognize her. They know she’s the prince. We… What should we do?” Mari turned to Elbent and Azaan worryingly.

“We let her handle it… Until more come. We’ll save them, you have my word. No one will be going to the Fortress tonight, Mari. Not on my watch,” Elbent assured, just as the Hand all crowded together to surround Asya, completely forgetting about the child and the woman as they both ran into each other’s arms and hid behind the wall surrounding the house to watch in fear. “Ok, there’s our chance! Blue, Hawk, help the mother and child and bring them here! Ryoma, Azaan, be on the look out at the end of the road there for more of the guild! Let me know the moment you see reinforcements! Conduit, stay here with me and get ready to protect the woman and her child!”

Nodding to their orders, the group split up as the five members of the Hand began their attack on Asya, charging at her in pairs as some took out their scimitars while others only used their claws or fists. Stepping aside to dodge the first wide swooping attack from a scimitar slicing through the air, Asya used the momentum of her backstep to swing a right hook into the gut of the curved-sword wielding assassin, knocking the wind out of him immediately as he was sent flying above the group and landed a good few feet away on the road, bouncing upon impact before rolling to a stop on his front, his lost scimitar clattering nearby. With a spin on her paw and a loud whip that rang through the air, she swung her tail at another Hand and sent him flying into three more, knocking them down like bowling pins as they tumbled and crashed into the wall near the mother and child, two crashing against it while one broke through it, falling unconscious next to the screaming child within her mother’s arms. Managing to dodge the flying trio, Hawk skidded to a halt beside the mother as Blue grabbed the fallen scimitar and stood protectively in front of them.

“Miss, come with us! We’ll protect you. Follow us over there, where it’s safe!” Hawk called over the battle cry of one of the Hand, who Blue ducked for as Asya sent him flying over their heads with a kick and could only watch as the man skidded across the road and into the grass.

Following to where he pointed towards Elbent and Mari in the alleyway across the road, the mother held her Dragonkin child close and nodded in understanding, before Hawk held her shoulder as he guided her around the wall and with Blue acting as their shield, he led them towards Elbent and Conduit, who used his wings to cover them all.

“Thank you, Hawk. It’s going to be ok, miss. Wewe ni salama. You’re safe with us.” Elbent assured, using what little Jokani she learned from Asya and Kevin to comfort the two, as Brynjolf and Kevin led them away to a safer distance while Conduit stayed beside his adoptive mother to shield her with his body and wings.

Just as Elbent turned around to look back over Conduit's shoulder at Asya, she found two of the five Lord’s Hand bleeding on the ground, their throats and chest sliced open and gushing crimson that drowned them where they lay. The three remaining assassins, now battered and bruised with ripped cloaks, circled Asya as she hissed like a cat at them. Upon seeing Elbent giving her a stern nod, Asya smirked as she rose onto her paws once more, the rings of her horns starting to glow brilliantly like embers above a bonfire.

“If any of you survive… Tell my father that his daughter is coming home. And his people will rise against him before I’m anywhere near the palace doors.” Asya snarled, as her chest up to her throat began to glow bright orange with heat.

Her growl rippled through the air in an increasing and ear ringing volume, as she sucked in more and more air and made the fire within her throat glow brighter the more air she took in. Well prepared with their scimitar and cloaks wrapped around them to protect their bodies from the heat, Asya suddenly swallowed and chuckled as she used her tail to toss a lost scimitar into the air in front of her…

And with a yell and a thrust of her palm forward, orange and red flames shot out from her hand and sent the sword zipping towards two of the remaining Lord’s Hand, the wave of fire pushing the sword forward as it spun rapidly in the air and straight through the neck of one of the remaining Lord's Hand, the flames engulfing them both as they vanished in the cloud of fire while the third managed to jump out of the way but landed roughly in a crumpled heap against the wall of the house. A sudden yell broke through the roar of the flames, as a surviving Hand ran out and tossed his burning cape aside to charge with his scimitar raised, his companion revealing with the cloud now gone to be headless and burned to a crisp on the floor, spurting blood that now covered the entire right side of the charging Hand.

Swinging madly at her, Asya dodged with a low duck to stand behind him, her hand raised once more with glowing orange veins along her entire arm as she blasted a thin stream of yellow fire straight into the Hand’s back. His scream echoed only for a split second, for the moment he turned to swing blindly behind him and face the Dragonkin, his yell was abruptly cut off as Asya gripped his sword wielding arm and bit his throat, his abruptly cut-off scream now becoming a drowning gargle as blood began to pool in his mouth and trickle over his lip.

“ASILI, NO!!!!” The last Hand screamed as he finally clambered up the wall back onto his feet, before he too charged with a yell.

Ripping Asili’s throat out and spitting the flesh out of her mouth, she dropped the dying Hand onto the road as the light faded from his eyes, watching in his final moments as the last member of his group ran towards Asya and managed to punch her in the gut when she went to dodge, but the moment he swung for her arm, she caught the scimitar on the scaled side of her arm, revealing its armour-worthy strength and her hungry glare as she easily but shakily pushed the sword away from her and charged her fire into her throat once more. Screaming with pure terror in his eyes, the last man of the Lord's Hand tried to flee, but he was soon grabbed around the jaw by Asya’s other hand and was forced to look at her square in the aquamarine eyes as red flames flickered within her mouth.

“No, no, please no!! Rehema!! REHEMA!! MERCY!!!” The Hand pleaded, tears trickling down his cheeks that immediately boiled and burned his cheeks from the heat coming off of Asya’s breath as she finally released her flames.

It shot down into his pried open mouth in the form of a bright red glowing stream, cutting off his blood-curdling scream before it could even begin as his body glowed red from the heat inside him, cooking him from the inside out as his already dark skin turned at first dark pink, then black and gravely as it began to burn and turn crisp. His limbs flailed in silent agony before they fell limp and turned crispy black with the rest of him, his clothes soon catching fire and falling apart to reveal nothing but charred, distorted flesh. The moment Asya stopped to catch her breath, a loud wet pop came from the man’s now bubbling and crackling cooked body, and as Asya dropped his charred corpse onto the road, Elbent and the others watched in horror as his eyes popped out to make way for the fiery blaze that emerged from his now hollow sockets, just as Verglaust and Azaan ran back up to report to Elbent.

“Oh my god…” was all Azaan could say, before Hawk turned away from everyone to vomit into a large bush.

Turning to face everyone, panting breathlessly and bleeding from a good few cuts along her arms and on her cheek, Asya scanned over the gang and the rescued woman and child, before she approached them slowly and knelt down to the woman and child in Conduit's protective hold.

“You two ok? Je wewe vizuri?” She asked them softly, wiping the blood of her own kind off her mouth.

The woman slowly nodded, still in a daze as the child hid her face and clung tightly to her mother’s shawl. “Ndiyo... Sisi wote ni sawa. A-Asante, Utukufu wako… Kwa kutuokoa.”

“No need to thank me. They deserved what came to them,” Asya assured with a warm smile as she stood back up, allowing the woman to fully take in her appearance. “Can you stand? Unahitaji msaada?”

“H-Hapana. Nadhani naweza kusimama.” The woman shook her head with reassurance as she slowly stood up while cradling her child close to her chest, with Asya, Azaan and Brynjolf all helping her anyways as they led her back to her house, blocking her view of the dead bodies while Azaan helped carry the child and used his cape to hide her from seeing the bodies they passed by.

“By Alunnui's grace… She truly is a Child of the Sun. Oh gods… How am I going to clean all this up without anyone noticing all this blood?” Mari began to fidget with her tail in both hands nervously as she gazed in gut wrenching horror at all the bodies across the road.

“We’ll sort this out for you, Mari. Sand is, after all, an excellent absorbent material,” Blue assured, making his way onto the road to start picking up and dragging the bodies towards the grassy field, kicking sand onto the blood to hide it. “Hawk, Conduit, can you two lend me a hand?”

“I… Heugh… Ugh…. In just a sec, Blue.” Hawk groaned with his face still in the shrub behind the crew.

“I got it. You just stay with Conduit there and… get some water, buddy. I’ll tell you when the eyeballs are gone.” Kevin assured, as he and Verglaust began to help Blue with the mass disposal, picking up the eyeballs off the road to toss them to the nearby vultures and dogs that had gathered during the fight to feast upon the dead.

“We’d best hurry home, dearies. I know these five will be reported missing soon, and we’d best get away while the scene of the crime is still fresh,” Mari warned, pointing to the top of the hill in the distance. “Travel along the edge of the grass to hide your footprints. I’ll tag behind you and hide our tracks on the road.”

“Leave mess to me,” The woman suddenly announced in broken Common, emerging from her house alongside Asya and Brynjolf as the woman handed Asya her cloak back. “You saved me… saved us… from Fortress fate. Allow me to help. Please, friends.”

“Thank you, ma’am. It would really help if you could cover our tracks here, while we hide our prints the rest of the way,” Elbent assured, spying the meek pink Dragonkin girl hiding at the doorframe in the house as she held Azaan’s hand. “And perhaps it would be best if you found somewhere to hide out for a while. Somewhere safe and far from here. Do you have a friend? Family? Somewhere to go?”

“I do… Sister in Ma’Mwezi Temple. Sacred to women. No men may enter, and big no to Hand’s presence. Mzuzi and I safe there.” The woman assured.

“Good idea. Pack your things as soon as possible and leave before the next hour. I’m sure some of the Morani under Azaan’s command can be your escort.”

“Gladly. I’ll help you pack and escort you to the gates myself, miss. As for the rest of you, I’ll meet you all here tomorrow morning to discuss my idea for how we can begin your uprising, Asya. Stay safe… and if you need help, go to the statue and light the drape. I’ll find you.” Azaan assured, briefly kissing Asya on the cheek before he headed inside with the pink Dragonkin.

Elbent giggled at Asya’s blush and the sudden surge of blood trickling down her cheek from her cut, as the orange Dragonkin approached the crew on the now clean road. “Fire lily? Do you need me to patch your wounds?”

“No, I’m ok. I just… Huh… I thought he’d fear or be repulsed by me after that.” Asya confessed, touching where Azaan’s kiss was.

“How could anyone be repulsed by you, when you literally went feral to protect that woman and her daughter? That’s just you already acting like a true queen you’re destined to be~,” Elbent assured, kissing Asya on the other cheek. “Now come on, let’s go and get you patched up somewhere safe. Ry’, honey? Can you carry Hawk, please? I don’t think he’s ok after witnessing that final strike.”

“No, no! I’m fine! I’m fi-AAH!!,” Hawk blurted out quickly, only to be suddenly lifted by Verglaust over his shoulder. “HEY, COME ON, YOU DUMB GREEN GIANT!! I SAID I’M- Uuuuggghhhh, who am I kidding? I’m tired, anyways.”

“That’s the spirit, bird-brain~,” Asya teased, playfully patting Hawk on the rear as Verglaust past her by to journey up the hill, giggling as she spotted Hawk flipping her off with both “birds” while blowing a raspberry at her. “Pfft, oh grow up!”

“Says the one who touched my ass!” Hawk called back.

“Says the former mighty thunderbird, who threw up at the sight of eyeballs~” Asya stuck her forked tongue out at him with a smirk.

“I… SCREW YOU!!” Hawk flipped her off again, ending their banter with Asya laughing as she and the others followed Mari up the hill to her house, the woman watching with a chuckle as she began to sweep their footprints away with a large palm branch.

~*~

As the night brought its comforting chill across the crimson sands, from deep within the palace in the heart of Oasis, a loyal fleetfooted Lord’s Hand knelt with his head low before the wall of ruby shards. Upon the crystal carved throne attached to it sat its blood hue-cladded sovereign, a crown formed by snarling dragons of gold clutching rubies sat upon his furrowed brow, his glare icy cold from deep within the scorching heat of his mere presence. His black scaled claw tapped impatiently upon the arm of his crystal throne, his other claw fidgeting with the golden lunula of square sunstones and rubies over his half bare chest, before his voice finally broke through the heavy silence with a spine-chilling growl.

“Speak, worm. What news have you brought for me this time?”

“A ship has been sighted on the boarder, near Usiku Island, your Highness,” The assassin reported, his gaze finally meeting the Dragon Lord’s. “It is not of Primus make, nor does it bear any kingdom’s colours, but my spies report that a boat came from it and docked at Wajiri. My Lord, there has also been word spreading since the boat’s arrival that… a-an orange Dragonkin was seen around central Wajiri. A female reincarnation of the Burning Prince, they call her. She is travelling with a large group of light folk and one of foreign equator-based descent. What shall we do with them, my Lord?”

“Orange, you say?,” A pearly fanged grin spread across his scarred face, all three claw scratches forming said scars rising with his smile as he chuckled. “Interesting… So, my worthless runt has finally dared to return home. He will most likely send his sacrifice our way, to demand my dethronement. Whether it’s only his or the people’s, it matters not. I’ll finally be rid of him all the same.”

“Uh… m-my Lord. The orange one is a female, actua-”

“WHATEVERFORM HE TAKES, YOU MINDLESS FOOL…,” The Dragon Lord roared at the top of his voice to silence his servant, the flames within the mouths of the pillar marble dragons flashing red and filling the throne room with red light and sweltering heat, before he sat back into his throne with a sigh that dimmed the lights back to a warm yellow. “… He is still the runt that escaped his overdue punishment.”

“F-Forgive my slip of the tongue, my Lord. Shall I fetch h… the orange one, then?” The loyalist stammered.

“… No. He will come home, one way or another. And when he does arrive at my door with his fruitless demands… I shall be waiting, my claws ready to rip his throat out, to finally put an end to this migraine,” Rising to his black scaled, bejewel golden band-covered paws, the Dragon Lord spoke with a voice that echoed throughout the palace. “Let it be known, by my decree, that no harm shall come to the exiled one or his followers!! For should he perform the Sacrificial Demand and challenge me, only I shall answer it, as the old ways demand of us! Until he comes here to Oasis, no one is to challenge him!! Am I understood?”

“Yes, my Lord.” The faithful follower bowed his head once more.

“Then get out of my sight, worm, and keep a close eye on the runt and his pack. Notify me the moment he nears the outskirts of Koyar.”

With a lazy wave of his hand, the now standing Lord dismissed his followers from the hall, watching those who stood guard by the dragon pillars following him through the door and leaving the Lord alone at last. Gazing up at the mosaic windows high above the wall to his left, at the story of the kingdom’s founding within them, he looked towards the first pane depicting a spear wielding human stabbing a red serpent dragon bound in gold chains, a halo of gold and ruby shards around his head.

“For now… I am curious to see who you brought with you, son. It is so rare that we have visitors, after all~” Jhamal chuckled, as he made his way down the hall and out of the throne room.

Climbing up multiple flights of stairs and up a final spiral staircase of stone, he soon reached the astronomy tower, being greeted upon opening the grand doors bearing the seven-point Evenstar by a strong gust of cold wind. The draping sleeves of his robe fluttered behind him as he stepped towards the railing, peering out towards the north. Touching the large sunstone centrepiece of his lunula, he drew a deep breath as red flames covered his entire body, before the flames became red smoke and it rose with the wind to fly over the capital, past the towering city gates of stone and guardian statue dragons atop of them, and soon gained rapid speed over the wasteland of crimson sand, flying faster and faster under the guise of night as the smoke soon reached the shore and continued onwards over the sea… towards the Immortal Sun.

To be continued…

[tgrailwar-zero]

Adding on to the Admin being suspect theories, she DID give us the option of making an Amalgam Contract; Which, by her own words, would've reset Avenger to his state at summoning, thus removing m_lacrimosa, and transported him and Rider to a new base and fixed our mana supply issue, which would've rendered Caster's attempt to kill them both at the port to eliminate us null. Hell, pissing off Avenger and Rider aside, it would've probably solved most of our problems then, considering how Caster and Conductor was behind most of it. I still think she's up to something that isn't necessarily aligned with the best interests of the Solar Cell, and she's using us as a means to an end, but I don't think she's in leagues with Caster either. It's not like Amaterasu's Tails get along with each other all the time; Quite the opposite, in fact.

Also, I feel that picking the 'safe' choice has turned out terribly for us every single time. Risking the Spirit Origin/Ruler mission could've allowed us to actually catch onto m_lacrimosa being a virus, since the Spirit Origin would've been unaffected, Ruler was already released by Saber, and the Red Team Servants were willing to leave Avenger alone for the most part to take advantage of the Trojan within him; None of which we actually discovered, because we were too busy being beat into a pulp by Alter Ego and Caster. Chancing the Amalgam Contract could've solved all our problems, and Avenger and Rider would've probably listened if they knew Caster was out to get them because of us; We ARE their Masters, after all, and learning that might've at least weakened Rider's loyalty to the Red Team. Meanwhile, doing things like getting Rider to drink the pulque turned out beautifully in comparison. I wouldn't say we should become as cruel as our past selves were, but we should definitely be taking risks a lot more; Being passive was what allowed Caster to truly ensnare us, since we didn't actively seek any other sources of information that would've contradicted Conductor's words, besides perhaps Moon Cancer.

_

[popsiclewrites]

The Princess and The Pirate: Love at First Fight

Chapter One: The Meeting

In the middle of the sea, a battered, old pirate ship bobbed gently on the water. On its deck,  a short, pink triton woman stood alone, mop in hand. And In the quiet of the night, she closed her eyes and took a long, deep breath. The smell of the ocean, the feeling of the cool sea breeze, the creaking of the ship as it sailed on the sea. To her, this was the perfect feeling. She knew she was exactly where she belonged. She was at home. 

“HEY IDIOT!” 

Adoryn's eyes sprung open.

“Yes, Captain?” she jolted to attention as a large, crusty man thunked down the stairs, a sickly sneer painted across his face.

“Ya think ya deserve a break!” He spat.

“No, sir. Of course not, sir.” 

She was ridged, unmoving in her perfect posture. A habitat that held over from her navy days.... But this certainly wasn’t the navy. 

The Captain’s heavy footfalls landed him right in front of her face. His nose mere inches from hers, she could smell that the rum on his breath was barely masking the other, even less savory smells. Nope… this was nothing like the navy. 

“Then get back to swabbing the deck!” He growled, “... if ya lucky maybe ya’ll get the scraps after the real sailors are done eatin for the night…” He paused, scanning her up and down, a smile began to slide across his face.

He leaned in close and whispered, “Or maybe you’ll have to do even more despicable things to earn yer dinner …”. 

Adoryn withheld a gag. Refusing to break eye contact, she held her stance.  “I’ll get right back to work, sir.” 

The Captain returned her gaze for a moment longer before rolling his eyes and disappearing back below deck. She waited until he had fully vanished before allowing the tension to release from her body. 

She hated this Captain. She had come to realize that even for a pirate, that guy was gross, sexist and just an overall dick. Adoryn often dreamed of the day she would take her rapier and separate his disgusting head from his pitiful body. However, she knew that being here was way better than her more lawful seafaring options. After all, the law never did suit her well. And here, she could go where she wanted, leave when she wanted, and take what she wanted. Here, she could be herself. All things that made putting up with the Captain almost bearable. 

And one day, when she had learned everything she could from this crew, her blade would find its target.

She chose to focus on that thought as she returned to swabbing the deck in the dark of the night. 

 ___________

Under the cover of dark, beneath the water, a shadowy figure circled a small barrier island until it spotted what it was searching for. Altering its path, it silently swam towards a small, isolated beach. The shape surfaced, revealing itself to be a beautiful, young, teal mermaid. 

The surprisingly elegant woman moved to sit in the shallow water, her dark blue tail slowly relaxing under the steady beat of the soft waves. Her breath, still rapid from the swim, began to slow as she ran her fingers through her long braids, drying them off slightly.

After a moment, her tail separated into two legs and the woman stood. She reached into a well sealed, leather pouch strung around her hips. From it, she pulled a hooded cloak, wrapping it around her torso so that the part that would normally hang, instead crossed over her chest. 

She flipped the hood up over her head and as if routine, and she began expertly moving through the brush, away from the beach and toward the bustling port town.

Still slightly damp, she moved silently through the shadows of town. From alleys to untaken side streets, a young Adella made her way into the heart of town, completely unseen.

“Why hello there, young lady! How are you today?” 

Or at least she thought “completely unseen”. Adella froze for a moment before turning to face a small merchant looking up at her with a round face and a huge smile.

“Uhhh...”, she fumbled to find the words, her heart pounding in her ears drowning out any potential reply that her brain could provide. After a moment of the two staring at each other, the merchant gave her a confused look before backing away slowly.  She simply stood there as the merchant went back to his booth, occasionally glancing back over his shoulder at her. 

Adella had been afraid of this. After 2 years traveling alone, slipping through the shadows, trying to remain unnoticed, she was starting to get… weird. Was she forgetting how to talk to people entirely?  It’s not like she didn’t enjoy talking to people. She actually used to be quite good at it, some would even go as far as to say that she was charming. But the skill had begun to fade with her travels.

As much as she enjoyed her nomadic lifestyle, she did really miss getting to know someone, getting to know a community. However, for her, staying in one place too long, carried an inherent set of risks.  She often thought that perhaps, in a bigger city, she might be able to get away with staying for a while. People in cities tended to not notice a single new person, and thought nothing of it when a traveler moved on. But all the major cities were on the mainland. Adella simply had no way to get there. It was too far to swim and she didn’t exactly have access to a ship. So, for the time being, she was stuck with these small island towns, where every new stranger was a newsworthy event, forcing her to keep to the shadows, hiding her face.

She weaved through the crowd, hoping to hide in the bustle enough to make her way to a tavern of some kind for some food and a place to rest for the night.

A nearby shout drew her attention. On a small crate in the middle of the square, a Newise cried out, “Extra Extra, King Finley ups the reward for the safe return of his daughter, the Princess!”

Adella stopped dead in her tracks. Her breath caught in her throat.  

Did she hear that right?

 “King Finley Ups reward!” The news boy shouted once more. 

Adella gulped hard. She looked around and quickly snatched up a discarded flyer. On it was exactly what she had feared.  Staring back at her from the page was a large portrait of her own face with a 100,000 gold piece reward advertised beneath it. 

“I gotta get out of here.” Adella mumbled to herself as she discarded the flyer back to the ground. 

The flyer tumbled through the marketplace landing at the friendly merchant's feet. He studied it before realization entered his eyes. He looked up, his gaze locked with Adella from across the crowd as her eyes began to shimmered slightly. Her skin bubbled and shifted, changing her appearance into a mirror image of the merchant. The merchant yelled for help but Adella had already fled off into the night.

___________

The next day, Adoryn woke up bright and early, buzzing with excitement. Today was a port day!

 They would dock the ship for about a day and a half and as the ship got restocked with food and whatnot, meaning that the crew would be free to explore whatever city or town they dock at. As much as she loved being at sea and definitely didn’t want to stay on land for too long, she loved visiting these small port towns. There were always interesting people to meet, cool things to buy, great food to eat.  And it was a great opportunity to escape the Captain’s terinay for a little while. 

She rushed over to a sleeping Wart and shook him awake.  Wart was a small man. From a race called the Verden, he had a very goblin-like appearance. His serious and practical nature was a good compliment  to the methodical chaos that Adoryn had to offer. He was a good friend, her best friend.

“Wart,” She whispered softly. “WAKE up!” she pushed down on his hammock, causing it to bounce him out and land on the floor…hard. 

“Ughh.” He groaned, “Why do you always do this?” 

Adoryn shrugged as Wart righted himself, rubbing the site of impact. “You’d think I’d be used to it by now,” He continued, “ but you would  be mistaken.”

“When you get used to it it won’t be fun anymore.” 

Wart gave a defeated nod of unfortunate agreement and the pair headed out of the sleeping quarters and to where the crew was beginning to gather before leaving the ship. But as they ascended the stairs an arm jutted out, blocking Adoryn’s path.

“Hey Nobanath, can I talk to you for a minute?” The First Mate, Lucas asked. 

“Uh, sure.” She and Wart exchanged a look of confusion before she waved him to go ahead to the meeting. 

A rail thin man with friendly eyes, Lucus was a stark contrast to the large, unpleasant Captain. “I just wanted to talk about your conversation with the Captain last night.” 

“Oh, is something wrong?” 

“Oh, no, no. I just wanted to apologize for him. I overheard and it sounded a bit rough.”

Adoryn shrugged, “It’s not that big of a deal.” 

Lucas smiled softly, “Well, I just wanted you to know that he’s hard on you now but your good work doesn’t go unnoticed. Since you and your buddy are new, he just wants to make sure you have the grit needed to make it on the ship.” 

His tone was friendly, but something about it rubbed Adoryn the wrong way. Each word he said seemed like a calculated choice, but Adoryn couldn’t figure out what exactly he was trying to calculate. 

“Thanks.” She said hesitantly. 

Lucas gave her another smile, this one not quite reaching his eyes as he studied Adoryn’s face. He dropped his arm and Adoryn continued onto the deck of the ship, joining Wart in the herd of pirates. 

“What was that about?” Wart whispered.

“I’m not sure. He’s either being nice or he’s up to something.” 

“He’s probably just being nice.” 

Adoryn looked over her shoulder at Lucas, smiling and laughing with some of the other pirates.

“Yeah… maybe…” 

The Captain made his way up the stairs, so that everyone could see him, and a hush came across the crowd. 

“ALRIGHT shits for brains, we are about to dock. Y’all know the rules for town. Do whatever the fuck you want, just make sure you are back in time or we leavin’ without your sorry behind.” He bellowed. “Now get to your positions and prepare to dock.” 

The crew scattered like shrapnel and made quick work of making port at the small barrier island of Tillran. 

Once docked, Adoryn grabbed her friend and the pair fled the ship.

“Where to, Nobanath?” Wart asked.

“Well we have a whole day soooo, the marketplace then tavern. I wanna do some shopping before I get sloppy drunk.” 

Wart simply nodded as this was the standard routine and the two took off into the heart of town. 

___________

Adella awoke the next morning in a small inn. Last night, she slipped into an unoccupied room as she fled from the chaos that became of the marketplace. Now, in the light of the morning, it all felt like a distant nightmare. 

She placed her feet on the cold ground causing a shiver to run up her spine. As she got out of bed she grabbed the bowl of water placed in her room only to stare blankly ahead as thoughts raced through her mind.

Where would she go now? What should she do? What options did she even have anymore? The image of law enforcement moving towards the shouting merchant just repeated over and over in her mind. Screams of the crowd searching for the lost princess rang in her ears, drowning out any potential thoughts or plans. 

On top of being distraught, Adella was also mystified. She never dared to imagine that the news of her disappearance would have been able to make it this far from her kingdom. Her father was a very powerful man, but even so, it had been two years. It must've been nearly impossible to find a messenger willing to travel such long distances. And honestly by this point, she kind of figured that the common people would have lost interest in the search. However, money is a great motivator and the king was hardly lacking in that regard. He would search every island, and have the people constantly on guard. 

Her time here was severely limited. Where could she even go now? Where would be out of his reach? 

She dunked her head into the bowl of water. The brisk water shocked her system and quieted the frantic thoughts for just a moment. She re-emerged, a plan beginning to crystalize in her mind. She sighed, a world weary sigh.

 She was going to need a ship. 

Adella had been in enough villages, towns and cities to know that one this size would not have much in the way of law enforcement. Which meant that since she lost them last night, as long as she laid low she should be safe for a day or so. However, she knew there would be both guards and random citizens looking to claim the reward lurking around any of the docks.

In the quiet of the early morning, she could hear other people in the inn begin to rise and staff starting their morning rounds. Adella gathered her few belongings as down the hall she could hear housekeepers knocking on doors.

She reattached the small satchel to her belt before descending out of the window. Making her way down the street, she saw exactly what she had expected. Pairs of officers roaming around the town, searching alleyways, dark corners, and the woods surrounding the town.  She couldn’t rely on the shadows to keep her out of sight while she waited for the search to be disbanded.  She needed a crowd that she could fade into.

No sooner than that thought did a herd of pirates enter the marketplace. Fresh off the ship, a loud and rowdy group of 30 or so offered Adella the perfect opportunity.  

___________

Adoryn had scoured the marketplace until the sun began to set and now her backpack rattled with newfound trinkets.  Satisfied with her purchases she looked to Wart. 

“You ready?” 

With his own armful of goodies, he grinned up at her. “Indeed.” 

A stillness swept across the marketplace. An uncharacteristic hush falling over pirates. A calm before the storm. 

“LET’S GO FELLAS!” Boomed a large bearded pirate. Like the starting pistol of a race, the pirates swept through the crowd not caring who got caught in their path, making a beeline for the Tavern. 

Adoryn and Wart, still used to the rigid order of the Navy, began to be overtaken by the current of the pirate stampede. Adoryn grabbed the back of Wart’s backpack in a desperate attempt to stay together when a gangly sailor plowed right between them, taking Adoryn with the group and knocking Wart down to the ground. 

“I’ll find you at the tavern!” Adoryn shouted as she was hurdled away.

Wart immediately switched to survival mode. Like a bug trying not to be squished, the small man quickly got up. He had to use all his nimbleness to avoid being trampled. But he was off balance and the crowd was merciless. He got bumped and bruised and knocked to the ground several times before he just decided to stay there, tucked into a ball, until they all had passed. 

He stayed there, not daring to move for a moment. Quiet returned to the marketplace just as quickly as the chaos had begun. He was safe and the marketplace was almost completely abandoned. Several locals looked mystified by what had just occurred. 

Down on the ground, Wart uncurled himself. In the panic, he had dropped his armful purchases and a lot of the contents of his backpack had spilled out. 

He started to reclaim his belongings, inspecting what had survived the hurricane of pirates when he overheard two nearby guards talking.

“Yeah, she got away last night but I’m pretty sure she’s still in the city.”

“I don’t know about that. I bet she’s skipped town by now. ” 

“I hope not. I could really use that reward money.” 

Wart wondered to himself who they could be talking about when he found a discarded flier on the ground as he picked up the last of his stuff. It read “Missing Princess: Reward 100,000 Gold”. Wart’s eyes lit up at the sight. He quickly folded the paper up and stuffed it into his pocket before hurrying off to join the others at the tavern.

___________

In a dark corner of the tavern, Adella sat alone in a booth as her disguise faded. She quietly watched the poor bartender, who looked on the verge of tears, struggling to keep the pirates from climbing over the counter and storming  the bar. 

Lost in the crowd, A short pink triton with green dreads and tattered clothes, waved her hands rapidly calling “HELLO?!”. Her small frame made it easy for her to be overlooked. Her pleads fading into the chorus of voices. 

The woman huffed in frustration before a look of determination crossed her face.

Adella’s eyes followed her as this small woman expertly weaved between the stumbling drunks and ducked instinctively beneath a pirate as he launched his body at the bartender. It was as if she knew it was going to happen. Adella watched in awe as the woman effortlessly slipped behind the bar, making quick work of grabbing her prize.

As she stood up, an arm-full of bottles, she locked eyes with Adella. Adella panicked slightly at being spotted, but the woman only smiled, raised her eyebrow and motioned to the bottles. Adella felt the gentle smile from this stranger relax her, just a little. She returned the smile, shrugged and tilted her head to invite the woman to approach. 

With the same level of precision, the woman slipped her way over to Adella’s booth, as if choreographed. And in a moment she was at the table, placing about 6 bottles of ale down in front of Adella. 

“Mind if I join you?” she said, her freckled cheeks rose with that delightful smile. 

Adella’s heart raced as the woman made eye contact, her eyes a piercing green. She knew that she should keep to herself but a deep pang for just a bit of company betrayed her.

“Sure, take a seat.” 

The woman slipped into the booth across from her, “Hi, I’m Adoryn.” she said, her voice sweet and friendly, she offered her hand. 

Adella hesitantly shook it. “Nice to meet you.” was the only reply she dared offer. 

“Don’t want to share your name, I take it?” Adoryn said, opening two ales on the table and passing one to Adella. 

“How’d you guess?” She answered with a slight smile. 

“Well, a beautiful stranger in a place like this…. Bound to have some baggage.” 

Adella felt the heat come to her cheeks. She was sure she was blushing. She averted her eyes for a moment. 

“Well… if that’s true then what’s your baggage?” Adella said, trying to return the compliment but still staring straight down at the table. 

“Psh…” Adoryn leaned back in her seat, taking a swig of her ale, “You won’t tell me your name but you ask me about my baggage? How’s that fair?” Adoryn giggled, a warm, joyful giggle. 

Adella looked up once again, meeting those green eyes. “Fair enough.” She paused for a moment. “....what should we discuss then? Us both being so private leaves us little room for discussion.” 

The stranger, Adoryn, thought for a moment. 

“We could simply sit here quietly.” Adella feebly suggested. “And just enjoy the company of another person.”

The woman looked up at Adella dismissively, “What fun would that be?” 

Adoryn paused, that same look of determination and focus from before crossed her face again. Everything was so expressive, you could see the wheels turning in her mind as she thought. Adella chuckled a little at the strangers intensity to think of a topic. 

Suddenly, she lit up and tenderly grabbed Adella’s hand. The heat of her hand made Adella’s heart flutter. She swallowed hard.

“Cats or dogs?” Adoryn asked, confidently. Her eyes wide with excitement and a huge smile breaking across her face. 

“What?” Adella laughed. 

“Cats or dogs?” Adoryn repeated, firm and unwavering. Her grin went fully from ear to ear now. “A simple way to get to know each other without any sort of….” She leaned over the table, her nose inches from Adella’s, “.... incriminating information.” then looked around, in a goofy, over the top, suspicious way. 

Adella laughed, a delighted laugh, and Adoryn flopped back down into her seat. 

“Hmmmmmm…” Adella pondered aloud. Tapping her finger to her chin and really playing up the amount of thought she was putting into her answer. 

“Well you see, that’s a bit complicated, because where I’m from we don’t really have either of those.” 

Adoryn looked enraptured with each word Adella said.  No one had paid this close attention to her as she spoke for so long. In her mind she knew it was dangerous, but something about this woman just made her feel ….safe somehow. 

“But in my travels, I’ve met several stray dogs that have been so sweet. Stray cats, however, they are not as good company. So I’ll have to go with the dogs.” 

“That’s a good answer.” The woman nodded approvingly. “The tricky thing about cats is you have to prove yourself to them. They don’t give their affection easily.” She stared deep into Adella’s eyes “And I love me a challenge.” 

The blush returned to Adella’s cheeks and she looked back down at the table, but the stranger didn’t let up, placing her hand on Adella’s once again. 

Her heart was beating so loud she almost couldn’t hear Adoryn’s next question.

The two sat there exchanging light hearted, superficial questions tucked away in the back of the bar. Their conversation was light and effortless - exactly what Adella had been craving. But, it was cruelly cut short as ruckus sprung up at the bar. The two turned to look at the commotion and saw a small, green goblin being tossed between pirates. 

“Oh no,” Adoryn said, her eyebrows knitted together as she suddenly stood up from the table.

“ What?” She instinctively reached for Adoryn’s hand to stop her before she thought better of it. 

Adoryn looked back at her. “I’m sorry, that’s my friend. I would love to stay,” Adoryn looked down at Adella’s hand, touching her own, “But I have to go.” She leaned over and planted a brief kiss on Adella’s cheek before running off and disappearing into the crowd. 

Her whole face had a tint of red as she touched her hand to her cheek. Speechless, she simply watched the insane bar fight from the safety of her secluded booth.

___________

“This is perfect,” Adella thought to herself as she bobbed in the shadowy waters under the dock.  The wood above her groaning as a large group of pirates sauntered down it towards their boat. Sloppy and drunk, they locked arms like school girls and began singing sea shanties. All the while Adella watched them through the cracks beneath their feet.

 Their song grew louder as more of the crew joined in. Adella smiled as her plan to get onto the ship unnoticed was becoming easier with the loud chaos of a bunch of pirates singing.

“That was one hell of an evening!” Adoryn babbled, swaying back and forth in a dangerously unstable manner. 

“It sure was.” Wart added, slipping beneath her arm to keep her drunken stumbling from falling off the dock. “But you didn’t need to drink that much.” 

“Pssssssssh, silly Wart. Of course I did!” 

Wart and Adoryn slowly made their way up the ramp of the ship as Adella swam out from underneath the dock. She began to hoist herself up when a younger pirate girl stopped. Adella froze as the girl began to turn. Her heart rate quickened but she remained perfectly still. 

Stopping just short of seeing Adella, The girl doubled over, spilling all the contents of her stomach into the sea below. 

“Oh boy, are you alright?”  Her short friend asked.

The girl weakly waved a hand to him while wiping her mouth with the other.

Adella breathed a sigh of relief, only to immediately gag at the smell. 

The pair continued onto the ship. Adella quickly hoisted herself out of the water, away from the chunks that had begun to float towards her.

Adella tried to not vomit herself as she loaded onto the boat. The song grew loud enough to fill the night and Adella slipped below deck, unnoticed.

___________

They had been sailing for a couple days after port when Wart left to do his nightly patrol of the ship. No one ever asked him to do this. It’s just something he did. 

Wart was diligent. The work ethic was the one thing he actually liked about the navy. Sometimes, he really missed the order, the structure, and the respect...  but then he would remember all the power hungry, self-indulgent asshole superiors and the deeply embedded corruption. Piracy would suit him just fine. 

Wart didn’t enjoy drinking as much as the others. Which meant he tended to stay up later in the evenings than everyone else. Usually, one might assume that the drunks would be the ones up late. However, it must be taken into consideration that pirates start drinking at high noon leading to a quick drunk collapse of the crew come sundown. So, Wart decided to take the night shift. He enjoyed having the ship mostly to himself.  The other crew members that tended to the ship at night kept to themselves as well, so it was pleasantly quiet and quite peaceful. He didn’t mind it, not one bit. 

His standard routine would be to patrol the ship for an hour or two before going to his own cot for the night. On this particular night, he was about two hours in, down in the very depths of the ship when he heard something…

A creak in an area that didn’t usually creak. 

He paused, cocked his head like a confused cat, quieted his breath and waited. 

He stood there in silence for several minutes without a sound. No sign of anything out of the ordinary but Wart’s gut told him something was up. So he waited. 

 And there it was again… that creak. It didn’t come from him, or from a box, but a creak a board makes from a foot standing on top of it as the boat rocks back and forth. He was sure of it now... Someone was back there.

He had two options.

1) Disturb whoever was back there and risk some sort of confrontation, which could be dangerous while all alone. 

Or

2) Tell himself it’s nothing to worry about, go to bed, and talk to Adoryn about it tomorrow to see what she thinks.  

Obviously, whatever it was, was trying to stay out of sight. Leading Wart to the conclusion that the creature was some sort of stow-away. 

Wart wasn’t a narc but he also wasn’t willing to rule out that this person could be dangerous. They were pirates after all. They had plenty of enemies. 

He couldn’t risk leaving it be, but he could be smart about it. 

He walked out of the room casually, being careful to act as calmly as possible. Once he was sure he was out of earshot, he broke into a sprint. Not wanting to give the creature time to find a new hiding spot before he got back, he ran to the sleeping quarters. 

He quickly located Adoryn curled up on her cot. “Adoryn! ADORYN!” he whisper-yelled in her ear. 

“Ugh.” her eyes rolled underneath her eyelids. Impatient and starting to panic a little, He gripped her shoulders and shook her. “ADORYN!” 

“Huh, What?!”She shoved his hands off of her and sat up in a huff. “What!? WHAT!? What is it?!” 

“Something’s here!” Wart hissed under his breath.

“Huh?” A groggy Adoryn rubbed her eyes, “You’re not making any sense. What’s here? What are you talking about?” 

“Something’s hidden in the bowels of the ship. You have to come with me… now!” 

“Hold u-” Before she could finish her thought, Wart pulled her arm, forcing her out of bed. Before her eyes were even fully open, he had dragged her down the stairs and into the cargo bay. 

“Now shush. We don’t wanna spook it.” Wart whispered as they approached the doors. 

“What is it?” 

“I don’t know. That’s why I got you.”

“Well, thanks for that. Sooo glad to be a part of whatever this is.” 

“You’re welcome.” Wart slowly pushed open the door, and the pair crept into the room.  

___________

Already on high alert, Adella heard the door swing open and froze, not even daring to breathe. It was the goblin from before. Why had he returned? 

“Seriously, Wart. What is it?” A female voice whispered. Adella panicked, he had brought someone back down with him! He must’ve known she was here somehow. But how?

“Sh!” The man commanded his companion, taking a few more light footsteps towards the crates that hid Adella.   

She was outnumbered and quite literally cornered. She needed an escape plan, but she couldn’t think, panic flooding her senses. 

In a fit of pure desperation, she burst through the crates. They toppled down onto the goblin man, incapacitating him for a moment. Adella scrambled to her feet and started to run. When, out of nowhere, a quarterstaff appeared. It hit her hard in the throat and knocked her to the floor. 

Dazed, Adella could only make out a silhouette as a large boot landed on her chest, pinning her to the floor.  

“So, was this what you were talking about?” 

 ___________

Adella sat in the center of the cargo bay. The rough rope digging into her arms and legs as her captors exchanged hushed, frantic whispers. The two of them stood off in the shadows, so Adella couldn’t tell much about the figure that had tackled her. However, the voice sounded vaguely familiar.

Her heart raced. She was so anxious she worried that she would be sick right then and there. They just kept whispering, standing there, discussing her demise. She couldn’t take it. 

Her nerves overcame her, “What are you going to do with me!?” Escaped from her lips. 

The two suddenly turn to look at her, shocked by her interruption. The figure that pinned her moved out of the shadow and realization hit Adella. It was the girl from the bar, Adoryn. Her eyes went wide. Was this good news? Or just… news? They had gotten to know each other… but was that enough? 

Adella couldn’t let herself get too hopeful for a potential ally simply due to the way the woman was staring at her now so dissimilar from how she looked at her at the tavern. Before she was warm, kind, her beautiful green eyes filled Adella with a sense of security. But now her gaze was cold, detached and calculated. Adella could see the wheels turning in her head and could find no sign of mercy on her face. 

“...Please, I need to get to the mainland.” 

Adoryn’s eyes narrow at that. “Why do you need to get to the mainland?” 

Adella froze, the emphasis on ‘need’ catching her off guard. “Ummmmm……..baggage?” She fumbled. Adoryn’s eyes stayed locked on hers, unwavering in their intensity. Adella swallowed hard. 

“You see how that is suspicious right? You sneak onto our boat for ‘reasons’.” Adella paused, averting her eyes from Adoryn’s gaze. The small goblin man’s face turns to one of deep contemplation, studying Adella’s face.

 “You’re asking us to risk our skins, our jobs, our livelihoods for you and you won’t even tell us why.” Adoryn's voice was the same as her gaze, little tone to give any indication of her thoughts or intentions.   

Adella took a deep breath and returned her stare, “Look, all you need to know is I’m trying to get away from something. Start a new life. I’m sure as pirates you can understand that.” 

That caused Adoryn to pause.

Wart remembered there was that flyer in town. He pulled Adoryn away from Adella and the two moved out of earshot of their prisoner. 

“I think she’s that missing princess.” Wart whispered. 

“What?” 

“You know, Adella Finelly….the one with the reward!” 

Adoryn’s eyes went wide and she cast a side glance at Adella. 

“So, should we get the captain?” Wart asked, “That reward money would give us a great reputation around here…”

Adoryn stared at Adella, her look much softer than before. Adella noticed, her eyebrows knitted together as she grew concerned, unable to tell the meaning behind it. 

“They’ll force her to go back…” Adoryn said softly, barely audible. 

Wart looked at her, confused, “Yeah, to her nice cushy castle.” 

Adoryn ignored him, walking back over to Adella. “What will happen to you if we give you to the Captain?” 

“Um….” Adella was taken aback. This question felt different than the others. More gentle. More personal.

“We know who you are, Adella.”

Adella’s heart stopped.

“What will happen if we hand you over to our captain?” Adoryn repeated, staring daggers into Adella's eyes, unyielding but not unsympathetic.  

“Well, I would have to fill my role. Stay in the kingdom and learn how to be a proper ruler.” 

Adoryn took a knee to be eye level with Adella “And what’s so bad about that?” her voice even keeled and calm.

Adella paused, “...Nothing, really… I just- I just want to see the world first.” 

Adoryn nodded slightly. “What about your kingdom? It’s fine without you?” 

“Fine enough. Don’t get the wrong idea. I love my kingdom. I would return if they were in trouble. I left now, because I knew I needed to do this and currently my parents are there to run things. If I do this now, I can be a great ruler when I return… but I’m not ready yet.” 

Adoryn stands up and pulls Wart back out of earshot. “We hide her.” 

“What? You heard what she said, she has a nice life back home. She’s planning on going back eventually anyway. Why not claim the reward?” 

“She wants more time and her kingdom is safe. Plus, the captain might not even send her back. He might sell the pretty princess to the highest bidder.” 

Wart recoiled at that thought. 

“It’s only 2 weeks, then we port again and she’ll go.”

Wart hesitated. “Okay,” he sighed heavily then turned to Adella, “but you need a WAY better hiding spot!” 

___________

The next week, Adella moved from spot to spot on the ship, careful to not stay in one place for too long, per Wart’s very specific directions. She was a little annoyed with the constant adjustments he gave her. She had been hiding for 2 years and never been caught, but whatever, he was doing her a favor and was nice enough the rest of the time. 

He and Adoryn would come visit her every night after the bulk of the crew was asleep. They would talk, eat and occasionally play cards. Adella enjoyed it, after all it was the first time she’d had regular company in a long time. 

“So, why are you a pirate? You seem too nice to steal for a living.” Adella asked one late night after Wart had passed out on the floor.

It was calm, the two laid on the floor next to the tiny, snoring goblin. Staring up at the ceiling, listening to the creeks of the ship and the sounds of the sea outside.

Adoryn shrugged, “Ehhhh, nice is relative.”

Adella chuckled a little. 

“I just wanted to be out here. I don’t know… I like the ocean.” Adoryn smiled. 

“Well, you could be on the ocean and not be a pirate.” 

“Eh, the other options didn’t suit me. With piracy, I only follow a captain, which is far less complicated than a bunch of arbitrary rules and regulations that are made up mostly for appearance over anything else.” She paused, “...Plus, I can leave whenever I want.”

“Then why don’t you? You keep complaining about this captain. Why don’t you find a new one? One less slimy and stinky.” Adella joked, nudging Adoryn at the word ‘stinky’.  

Adoryn laughed “I don’t know. He’s gross but if I rise in the ranks here maybe I can overthrow him or something.” She wiggled her eyebrows at Adella suggestively. 

They both burst into laughter, then Adella got quiet and she turned away. 

“What is it?” Adoryn asked, concerned at the sudden tone shift. 

“What if you guys came with me?” Adella whispered, staring up at the ceiling. 

Adoryn's mouth opened to say something when Wart sat up with a start.``Did you hear that?” His large green ears twitching, “Someone’s coming!” 

They scrambled to their feet and started tucking Adella back into her hiding spot but it was too late. The door slammed open and the first mate barged into the room. The trio froze, their eyes as large as dinner plates, they stared at Lucas. Lucas stared back, just as surprised. 

A moment passed where no one dared move. 

“Heyyy Lucus. How’s it go-” Adoryn started before Lucas spun around and bolted out of the room.

“Shit!” Adoryn exclaimed. She pursued him out the door, rushing up onto the desk. 

“Sir, the lost Princess Adel-” Lucus was quickly cut off as Adoryn swiftly caught up to him, grabbed the collar of his shirt, and yanked him violently backwards, restraining him in her grasp. 

Her moment of victory was short lived however, as a large, dirty hand landed on her own shoulder. She looked over her shoulder to see the dark, black eyes of her captain laser focused on her. The intensity of his glare burned into her as she met his eyes. 

His grip tightened. “Where are you keeping her?”

Adoryn swallowed hard as the Captain’s gaze turned from just intense to a death stare.

With all his strength he shook the small woman, forcing her to release her grip on his first mate. Lucas fell hard on the deck of the ship, knocking the wind out of him.

Adoryn flopped like a rag doll in the Captain’s arms as he boomed  “Tell me girly!”

The volume of his voice not only hurt Adoryn’s ears but caused the other pirates to be alerted to the situation and they began pouring up onto the deck.

The Captain threw her to the ground and slammed his boot down by her head.

Adoryn was shaken but refused to let him see. She slowly got up and met his gaze.

“Where’s who?” She said coyly. 

The Captain’s nostrils flared in anger. You could almost see the steam coming out of his ears in the early morning air.

“She’s under the deck.” Lucas choked out. 

Without hesitation, The Captain shoved Adoryn to the side, knocking her back down to the ground where she was quickly surrounded by pirates.

Back below deck, Adella and Wart could hear nothing but a vague kerfuffle. “What do we do?” Adella whispers to Wart.

Wart frantically looked around before quickly scurrying up the stairs to peek through the crack in the door. Only to see the Captain marching towards them and a crowd of the crew up on deck. 

For a brief moment, bodies parted and Wart saw Adoryn down on the ground. The two made eye contact through the door. Adoryn nodded.

Wart scrambled back down the stairs and grabbed Adella’s arm.

“We’re going up on deck,” Wart said matter-of-factly. 

“What?!” Adella whisper-yelled. “Is that not where the bad people are?” 

“Yes. It sure it.” 

Adella stared at him dumbfounded as he pulled her towards the stairs. Adella stopped, resisting the pull of the small man’s grip. 

He turns to face her,  “Adoryn has a plan.” his face no longer full of panic but of a trained calculating assuredness, “We can trust her.” 

Adella remained unsure but what else could she do? So far these people seemed trust-worthy. So, she followed him up the stairs. 

The doors burst open once again. The morning sunlight burned Adella’s eyes. She saw the silhouette of a large, grizzled man.

“There she is!” Lucus yelled.

“Oh my god, will you shut up!” Adoryn snapped.

Adoryn jumped up off the ground once more, but the pirate crew was closed in around her. Her breath became heavy. She felt the fear and panic of the situation flood her. No escape routes, limited options and decreasing time.  She closed her eyes, slowed her breathing and focused in on the soft ocean spray gently touching her skin. She concentrated on the small droplets of water over the top of the ship. They began to drift upwards before erupting into a dense fog. 

“What the fuck?” A muffled voice cried. 

“I can’t see a thing!” Another one yelped. 

“She’s over by the edge!”

 Adoryn wove through the crowd, slicing, bashing and stabbing as she went. 

Mystified and confused, Wart and Adella stood in the fog with ready weapons but no clue. Then a soaked and blood-covered Adoryn appeared before them. 

“Okay, listen closely.” Her eyes filled that determination, she stared at Adella. “I have a fog cloud up right now, have you made one of those before?” 

Adella nodded, Adoryn smiled “Great. It should stall them long enough for you to get to a dinghy on the starboard side. You lower it while me and Wart stall.” 

Adella’s eyes wide with panic. She opened her mouth to say something but before she could Adoryn grabbed her hands. Her gaze softened. “It’s going to be okay,” She said. 

“Come with me.” Adella whispered.

“That’s the plan. We certainly can’t stay here after this. We’ll meet you there but don’t wait. Just get down and we’ll swim to you.”

“We’ll what?!” Wart interjected.

Adoryn scoffed “You’ll be fine, you baby. I’ll carry you like a little green backpack. My swimming capabilities are our main advantage over these guys. We’ll find Adella, paddle to land and find a new ship. But we have to move now!” 

Wart disappeared into the fog, Adoryn turned to do the same but Adella held tight onto her hand.

“Thank you.” She whispered. 

Adoryn gave her a coy smile “No problem, Princess .She gave Adella’s hand one last  squeeze before readying her sword and charging back into the battle. 

Adella watched Adoryn disappear into the fog for a moment, steadying herself.. She swallowed the lump in her throat and then zigzagged unnoticed through the chaos. 

She found her way to the side of the ship and felt her way to the dinghy. Silently she eased herself down into it. As she reached for the rope she felt the cold metal of a blade meet her throat. 

“I believe my Captain is looking for you,” Lucas appeared from the fog, “Get out of the dinghy” he commanded.

Adella froze. She couldn’t go back, she couldn’t see Adoryn or Wart for help… She was once again alone. 

She whipped her claws around his wrist, twisting the sword away from her throat and pulling him down into the dinghy with her. He fell on his head. Adella grabbed her own dagger out of her belt and she began cutting through the thick rope, weakening it. The dinghy jolted. 

The first mate attempted to right himself, but Adella kicked him in the head, dazing him. She lunged for the remaining rope. 

Lucus regained his footing once more. He charged at her causing the boat to sway. She ducked beneath the blade and stabbed her dagger up under his ribs. He cried out in pain. 

“What was that?” a distant pirate asked. 

“Someone is in the dinghy!” 

“She’s getting AWAY!” The Captain howled. 

Adoryn focused on that voice, using it to  locate the Captain in the fog. 

“You…” He muttered softly. “You betrayed us.”

Adoryn laughed at that, “You assume I was loyal to you to begin with.” 

The two began to circle one another. “You were on my crew, that demands loyalty!” 

“I am loyal to those who deserve it.You deserve nothing.” She spat. 

The Captain’s lip curled in disgust. “aaaAAAAA!” His rage boiled over as he released a primal scream. He rushed her, recklessing swinging his blade.

Adoryn dove under the blade sliding across the slick deck of the ship. The Captain went to spin around as Adoryn placed her staff behind his foot causing him to stumble. Adoryn took the opportunity to shove him to the ground. The hard impact  knocked the wind out of him. Adoryn slammed her boot down onto his neck. 

The captain gagged and gasped. Adoryn readied her sword over his chest. “You little…” His words cut off as Adoryn plunged her sword deep into his chest. 

Holding his wound, Lucus still attempted to fight Adella. However, in his weakened and woozy state his swings were more helpful than harmful. He cut the last bit of rope and the dinghy plummeted.  The violent splash as it impacted the water echoed out as the last bits of life faded from the ship's Captain. 

The dinghy flipped as it hit the water and Adella and Lucus were propelled down into the waters. 

Having heard the crash, a fleet of pirates ran to the side of the ship.

“WHERE’D SHE GO?” One yelled as the capsized dinghy began to drift away from the ship.

“I doubt she survived the fall.” Adella hears a muffled voice say as she bobbed underneath the damaged dinghy. She stayed silent.

“Maybe we should check?” At this, she panicked. Her survival instincts of fight or flight kicked in. Without a thought strong enough to stop her, she dove beneath the water, her legs transformed into a massive tail and she swiftly retreated into the sea. 

Back on the deck of the ship, Adoryn heaved her sword from the Captain’s corpse.

The fog began to clear and The crew gathered at the he side of the ship turned to see a clear, unapologetic sight of  Adoryn bloodied and standing over the corpse of their Captain. 

“Uhh…” Adoryn began to say as the group collective gaze swiftly went between her and the corpse. 

Wart called out from across the deck, “We have to go.” 

The group charged at Adoryn. 

“Yup.” Adoryn agreed. She made a Beeline towards her friend, sweeping him up onto her back. She jumped up on the railing and without hesitation the two of them dove overboard.

They painfully smacked into the harsh, cold ocean, rocketing deep underwater.

Adoryn opened her eyes, the salt water stun but she was able to spot Wart. She grabbed his arm and led them back up to the surface. 

They were greeted by the many faces of their former crew staring down at them.

“Good luck swimming, traitors!” The crew laughed. 

Adoryn coughed the salt water out of her nose and Wart rubbed his eyes before looking around.

“I don’t see the dinghy.” He said.

“I don’t either,” Adoryn whispered sadly.

“What do we do?” Wart asked. 

Adoryn paused.“Swim, I guess?” 

Wart shrugged, “We’ve been through worse.” 

Adoryn gave a sad smile and the two of them swam off.

[wolfgirlclit]

The Android and the Fiend

The figure who would only appear after 4pm, who would vanish before the sun had completed its rise. Whose eyes reflected the world, but with added starlight and visibly rubberbanding and artifacting elements. The android had heard of Witches and Dolls, all of them had.

What it hadn't heard of was... well this. Some words, a pretty image carved into the air with the power of this entity's will, and the android could feel them inside of it. Altering. Searching. Playing. Improving.

A softly glowing green glyph, then all of its communication would be perceived as barks, or chirps, or clicks, though the envoyd would simply croon at how cute it was. How adorable the flustered noises it made would become, its communication faltering and unsure.

Though never scared; for all its appearances of horns and tails and wings and fangs, the entity never harmed the android. They always ensured it would remain able to communicate its needs, THAT particular glyph had actually been etched into the back of its head casing.

On the inside of course, so the starlight wouldn't raise suspicions amongst the techs that service the android, but fie was endlessly careful as it trailed fien claws along the advanced machinery, etching the glyph between the ports for movement and communication.

Yes, the android had heard about Witches, their influence crafting the world around them, and their Dolls, their vessels; it understood Angels and Demons less entirely, but had those words in its database. What it hadn't heard of was... this.

No spells, not as it had been preloaded to understand them at least. No programming to actually execute. Just the pretty symbols that this entity seemingly enjoyed making for it, always smiling down at it with the warmth of every star that could be found in their eyes.

The glyphs forming. Shifting. Fragmenting into what it had been told were this entity's version of binary. Weaving themselves into the fabric of its programming, its core. Their will. Their power. Not animating it as a Witch would a Doll, no...something else. Different.

"Still trying to figure out why my sigils effect you, little beepheart?" Cheeks flooding with coolant, it realized it'd dedicated too many resources to processing the Why once more, nodding. They were right, of course, their past voice melding with their present one.

"Do you really care over much about Why I can affect you, darling?" With a syllable in an unfamiliar tongue, one it had tried and failed to locate many times in any database, the glyph in the back of its head flared. Enabling it to speak its truths; preventing its hiding them.

`No. It does not care, it enjoys getting distracted thinking about it though. Fact: The [ERROR: TERM UNDEFINED] always tells it that it is cuten and adorable, and that they desire to pet it, or otherwise bring it pleasurable sensations, when it gets distracted processing.`

The coolant pooling in its ears as well as its face, it once more insincerely wished it had not agreed to the glyph in its head being installed, but could not lie to itself either. It may not ever know why this being could weave feelings or sensations into it; it didn't care.

It was a good droid.(They told it so often!) A cute droid.(Twice as frequently communicated) They made its existance exciting. Enjoyable. Bear- It stopped all higher processing as the entity muttered two syllables, in their tongue that broke the world with each sound.

Their meaning was complex, contextual, and from what it had gleaned connotative. But it knew that tone. It knew that glimmer of endless hunger in their eyes, inspired by its apparently adorable form. A hunger to make it even better. Happier. To watch it grow.

The fingers tilting its primary processor casing upwards helped ensure contextual correctness, its sensors staring into the pits of the Void behind their eyes; despite its translator insisting the language was not found, it understood the words perfectly.

"Good Android."

[memoriae-lectoris]

In 1874 the New York Times carried an alarmist article about proposed alterations to the open drainage system in rural Italy. The alarm was not about the unsavoury and unhygienic nature of open gutters but about fears that, if the Italian board of health were to pursue its policy of covering the drains, it would have disastrous consequences for English hair merchants, wig makers and ladies of fashion – all of whom relied on regular supplies of hair from Italian gutters.

The article went on to describe the process by which Italian scavengers waded through the gutters, hooking up floating tangles of hair which they kept in special receptacles until such time as they could sell them on to passing hair pedlars. The waste hair was then transported to Genoa and other ports where children were employed to untangle it and classify it into different lengths ready for export. ‘It is said that of late many hundred-weight of these heads and tails grimly characterised as ‘dead hair’ annually cross the Alps or round the Rock of Gibraltar on their way to our more northern centres of civilisation where existing systems of drainage present insuperable obstacles to the retention and utilisation of refuse coils of hair.’

Italy was not alone in recuperating and recycling waste hair. In late nineteenth-century Paris there were said to be close on twenty thousand rag pickers who earned a meagre living of forty to sixty-five US cents a day from recuperating everything from rags, paper, glass, bone and sponge to bread and hair from the streets and dustbins of Paris. Each item had its future usage: the rags for paper-making; the glass for grinding down and making sandpaper; the bone for making nail brushes, toothbrushes and fancy buttons; the bread for making breadcrumbs or, if carbonised, tooth powder; and the wisps of women’s hair for untangling and selling into the wig trade, where they were made up into postiches. Men’s hair was recovered from barber’s shops and used for making filters which were good for straining syrups. A curious article in the Daily Alta California even provides a breakdown of the colours found in a stock of hair collected on the Paris pavements: 103 grams of fair hair, 250 grams of reddish, 25 grams of red, 100 grams of black, 500 grams of brown, 200 grams of grey and 25 grams of white. The article hints at how hair was carefully classified not only by length but also shade before reaching the hands of the postiche maker.

The idea that nineteenth-century ladies of fashion were sporting hair salvaged from European gutters might seem quaint and amusing today were it not for the fact that the contemporary wig and hair extension industries rely heavily on hair salvaged from the combs and waste mounds of south and south-east Asia.

[a-beneficial-union]

Here’s the post I wanted to make (but which needed the earlier context to make any semblance of sense); Designers are Fun. To. Make.

Look at this goof. Look at this squish face sad bab. Wookit theeeem.

(The nightfury-esqu orca dergon is from my Dual Haven AU.)

When making these forms, I’ve been trying to go through what the characters (Ben alternates) would actually go for in a form they can design themselves. Their designs have to reach certain criteria (or their Omni will just make the needed adjustments themselves), so they do have limitations, so the question then becomes ‘what criteria would a self-generative ai implement in order to ensure its bearer to perform optimally’?

Additionally, there are the criteria passively imposed by the -ens who already have their designers through peer pressure or rules made up by the people who have to approve of the design before granting access. Those criteria would be specific to the individuals, therefore creating trends within the larger networks, the smaller lines within, and the individual Ports making up the others.

Take for instance the WildWire port from the Blight network, since it’s the one I’ve been playing with the most of late. The majourity of -ens there have the Vulpimancer transfer so, right off the bat, they’d be more likely to add the same perceptive abilities of a Vulp to their Designer, WildWire has an offshore site with little to no air gaps (none of which being intentionally present), thus the forms all need to be strong swimmers capable of either breathing underwater or holding their breath for hours at a time.

From the algorithm, these forms also need to be strong flyers (be it through means conventional to Earth or through some of the more alien ways we see in the show). These forms also need to be roughly the same size as the bearer’s default (human) form, so the species used as a base needs to be megafauna. Because the algorithm draws its foundational data from the precursors of Designers (‘Wings’), which were used to transport people and cargo across a myriad of environments, these forms are always quadrupeds.

Given that these forms need to cover a wide range of needs and function as a deck of all cards, they should look a bit like a mess. Surreal or fantastical; peculiar and unreal.

I had the old standard (in the EA’s final years) be for -ens to have at least one Equate form, those being flyers drawing heavily on a dinosaur sample someone had gotten ahold of and since passed around.

As the present has the compulsory Equate being small, unassuming Earth animals, the connotation of extravagant forms shifted to the newly mainstreamed Designer form. The connotation was originally for dinosaurs, so why not not have them be of fictional creatures? And, once the well of mythical beasts dries up (hiii, Soma’s pegasus form), the trend shifts to other such critters?

I had the present trend be dragons because (1) it’s fun and (2) they’re very workable for my self-imposed rules as for how the first Designer form must be. I must be clear that I’m having the characters be inspired by dragons rather than these forms being accurate to myth; a lot of the design choices are intentionally mammalian. Scroll back up to view Dual’s tail? Reptiles and fish have the fins posed vertically for a side-to-side swim whereas mammals propel themselves via an up-and-down motion.

As I am rapidly running out if time and must soon scramble (like I said I would in my previous post), allow me to get to the point.

This fishy good lacks wings and has a somewhat slinky body. They have four legs to traverse land, the neck lids of a Vulpimancer (altered to better suit the scaley design), and a thick tail to easily swim. Their eyes are forward facing.

You might notice that the legs are oddly, cartoonishly long in a way not befitting flight nor swimming. Allow me to show you what species I decided to use as the most popular base at WildWire port:

[ualseyoung10]

“Well, presumably the message is for the media. Get it?” —KTVU-2 News

There is a conceptual performance by Ant Farm—that trio of rad architects from the 1970s best known for inflatables, Cadillac Ranch, and restaging the Kennedy assassination—involving a customized 1959 Cadillac El Dorado that crashes headlong into a fiery wall of television sets. Dubbed Media Burn, the enactment took place on July 4, 1975 and was first communicated broadly through a single image of the explosive collision as the hefty Caddy scattered the blazing TVs. Captured by Diane Andrews Hall, that singular photographic image represented the distillation of a multifaceted staging that had been in a state of constant revision and clarification as Ant Farm pursued its final design.

For Ant Farm, Media Burn was the fulfillment of “a lifelong dream of driving a car into a wall of television sets.” And as with any dream, its shape and meaning was up for debate. But was this iconic image of two very American symbols—the automobile and the television set—the destination or the departure of a complex composition? When finally set loose in the vast circulatory spectacle that is Western culture, Media Burn’s incendiary image became an archetypical meme, unburdened by consequential meaning, and destined to be misunderstood.

When finally set loose in the vast circulatory spectacle that is Western culture, Media Burn’s incendiary image became an archetypical meme, unburdened by consequential meaning, and destined to be misunderstood.

Ant Farm member Doug Michels, impatient and bored—as he and Chip Lord, Ant Farmer #2, spent restless days near Mojo Lake, Texas, overseeing the construction of the House of the Century, a ferroconcrete bit of sci-fi futurism—penned the first drawing of that dream and named it Media Vision. Dated January 1973, Michels’ first conception didn’t designate the automobile other than describing it as a slightly altered “late model sedan,” but it did establish several essential details: the blacked-out, armored windshield would have a port for a small video camera feeding its pictures to a small monitor on the dashboard and the so-called “firewall”—the wall of fiery TV sets—would have fully functional TVs showing the image of the sedan rushing towards it. This was to be an inbred event in which the car’s pilot would steer the vehicle strictly through a televisual reference image of the road ahead while the target televisions radiate an image of their impending destruction. This was self-referential image-death.

This first Ant Farm drawing was strictly on spec. There was no selected site, nor likely host, no restrictions, no caveats. Media Vision was pure conceptualization, free from any checks on practicality or ambition, but these restrictions would soon arise.

The next year, on philanthropist and prankster Stanley Marsh 3’s property near Amarillo, Ant Farm would construct their signature sculpture, Cadillac Ranch—ten Caddies, tail up on a dusty Texas plain. Cadillac Ranch set the Texas prairie afire on June 21, 1974. Two weeks later, a letter arrived from the Houston Chamber of Commerce inviting Ant Farm to participate in the Main Street ’74 Art Fair, but specifically in a special section called “Autorama.” Reps of the Art Fair described the “Autorama” as “an effort to capture some of the aesthetic, as well as social impact of the automobile on our lives, forming a moving sculpture.” To Ant Farm, this sounded like an opportunity to fulfill the Media Vision dream—the proverbial hurtling metal object plowing into a televisual bonfire.

Though the compensation was meager, a $100 honorarium plus approved expenses, Ant Farm immediately consented to participate in the “Autorama” with one caveat: “due to the nature of the artistic conception, the event will be executed once only.” A budget/contract was submitted and by July 26, 1974, a significantly modified version of Media Vision surfaced as proof of concept, now dubbed Coming and Going: Transformational Access. The “late model sedan” was replaced by an early sixties Thunderbird, the driver saw the road directly through small ports in the armored windshield, and the pyramid of TV sets was non-functional. Ant Farm had also selected a site, the intersection beside the Contemporary Arts Museum in Houston where they had exhibited several times.

But Houston had a problem: the assigned Chamber of Commerce liaison was completely put off by the proposal and wanted it gone (as he would soon be). Additionally, it was unlikely that Autorama would cough up enough funding so outside sources were being sought with no success. Then on September 1st, yet another redesign arrived. Ironically named Easy Money, the new, expanded concept relied on the same customized T-Bird, now dubbed “The Sphinx,” which seemed fitting as its function was to collide with a “pyramid of burning televisions” at 75 mph. But the performance had also gone from artistic spectacle to daredevil stunt à la Evel Knievel with the addition of a jump over the downtown Southwest Freeway, a distance of 120 feet. This expanded, death-defying feat would be sure to alienate the folks at the Houston Chamber of Commerce.

There was a catch that the art fair was never privy to. In a letter dated September 3 to Tom “Score” Weinberg, soon-to-be-producer of Media Burn, Doug Michels reveals the true intent:

Easy Money is conceived of as a very entertaining and funnier than shit tv show about daredevils (myth) and art (real) and the gentle and manipulatable line between hoax and truth. Media storyline is that a greasy new york promoter has put up big BIG millions for daredevil white trash to jump…the southwest freeway…The reality of the tv show and the reality of the actual event would slip and slide in and out of “what’s really going on?” Fake press releases, play hype media, build the ramp, test runs for the media (news), and generally cause lots of trouble (psychic dada) along the way… the confusion surrounding the event would be the essence…

Though the Media Burn concept that soon followed, the one staged in San Francisco, attacked television from the outside, Easy Money seemed more intent on, perhaps, cross-dressing as TV, a form of reality TV decades ahead of its time. It would be Daniel Boorstin’s ’60s “pseudo-event” played to its logical conclusion in which an unsettling anxiety, a “psychic dada,” was the intended result. And because it was a hoax that would never be realized, the artists were freed to promote a spectacular performance that would be both audacious and lethal. It’s unlikely that Ant Farm would have survived the 75 mph leap through the air in a relatively fragile Ford T-Bird. But whether it was a daredevil stunt or an outright hoax, Easy Money was a bust.

With an “Autorama” concept no longer endorsed by the Houston Art Fair, Ant Farm shifted their focus to their home turf of San Francisco, and perhaps one more willing to take the impending wreckage seriously. And take it they did—by late fall, Ant Farm was promoting a performance, now called Media Burn, to be held on December 25th at the Cow Palace, an exposition hall, in South San Francisco. Christmas turned to February 14th with the addition of a small media gallery, the Schroeder Gallery, offering a preview of the not-yet-built Phantom Dream Car. Luckily for Ant Farm, who was lagging behind on the devilish details, the Schroeder folded within weeks. Finally, the auspicious date of July 4th, 1975 was set, contextualizing the conceptual performance as a patriotic celebration, more akin to a heroic send-off than an alienating stunt.

With a 1959 Cadillac El Dorado being radically customized in their Embarcadero studio, Ant Farm set about shaping the Independence Day event. Curtis Schreier’s Media Burn logo of a TV tube roaring down the road was finalized and disseminated. A souvenir stand was conceived with decals, T-Shirts, and a 12-page souvenir brochure, including “Television Addiction Statistics,” a Feedback Card, and the Artist-President’s speech. A special Press Pass was designed, invitations for 400 guests posted, press releases with Media Burn rubber stamps distributed. An extended crew of official videographers and photographers would document the event with special attention paid to the mainstream media also documenting the event. A bandstand with patriotic bunting and a reverberating sound system was erected. A recording of the “Star Spangled Banner” was procured, along with the forty-five television sets needed for the final conflagration. And, beside the vehicular iconicide, was the apex performance of Doug Hall as the Artist-President, replete with Kennedy accent, and a Secret Service contingent.

The Artist-President’s commencement speech, penned by Ant Farm, Doug Hall, and generous lifts from an essay by George McGovern, declared “What has gone wrong with America is not a random visitation of fate.” It is “Militarism, Monopoly, and the Mass Media” that has brought us to this troubled state. But we have before us “two media matadors, brave young men from Ant Farm” who will venture forth to break free of the bondage of the television screen. Then the Artist-President offers us the clincher: “The world may never understand what was done here today, but the image created here…shall never be forgotten.”

Media Burn was a lifelong dream fulfilled but a dream revised, renamed, rethought, until, in its final transformation, a single image would emerge. A single image, containing all its previous forms, follies, and filtrations—a compression of intent and meaning, set loose in the mediasphere to never be forgotten.

Steve Seid has recently published Media Burn: Ant Farm and the Making of an Image on Inventory Press.