Phoe

Princess-Champions of Hyperborea

Jessamine Cascade has never been the type of princess to hesitate when she's figured out where she's needed. Sometimes, there's things that only you can do, and when the time comes for them you can't waste a second on silly things like arguments or volunteering. She hit him as hard as she knew how. It'd be ok to leave the rest to Lina and her friends. A princess is not a glory hound.

She's off and running like a bolt of lightning. She doesn't have her sister's swift and effortless gait, but there's a raw power to her form that's special in it's own right. No one ever beat her in a sprint. Her feet pound across the cracked tile, right up to the edge and the drop down Argossa. The naginata still burns brightly in her hands. She waves it above her as she runs, then tosses it high into the air.

"Taking your horse, ok?!" she calls out over her shoulder.

She doesn't even waste the time to mount up. That's the kind of a thing a real princess would take care of on the way down. She jumps and twists in the air, bringing up two fingers to her mouth to blow a sharp whistle that cuts across the battlefield. After that, there's just enough time to grin.

"I believe in you three! So don't screw this up, got that?"

And then she's gone.

***

This was, quite possibly, the most beautiful night in the history of ever. The stars were brighter than usual, and the air was refreshingly crisp and cool after so many weeks of that stuffy Jedadi heat. Plus, best of all? The way the horse bounced beneath her filled her head with thoughts of Helyaaaaaaaaa~

Oh! She couldn't wait to tell this story! Maybe Hellie would finally, finally, finally be so impressed she'd slip up and admit she couldn't have done this one on her own! Ooh, a breeze! And was that a comet just now? What a lucky night! What a perfect night! She tossed a gleeful smile at every hill and each bend in the road, at the river she could hear but not yet see, at the caravan laden with hard won prizes following along behind her. And, of course, to Eliza and Elisa Riparian, her most loyalest of loyal knights! Her most cleverest of clever bandits! Her trusty bodyguards and singing companions! In faaaaaact:

"And where the winding river runs
through every twist and bend~
I'll let it lead me safely home
back to the rainbows end!"

She turned and looked expectantly to Elisa (or was it Eliza? They might have been loyal, but that never stopped them from being identical), looking for the next verse of the song. But her knight only looked ahead with a curious expression on her face. Like she couldn't see her precious Princess at all!

"Your Highness, do you see that?" Oh, it was Eliza after all, "Have you ever seen a man look so sad before?"

In truth, she hadn't. The way he sat there like he'd been knocked straight into that hillside and become part of it. The way he barely seemed to move. The way his head hung low and his clothes were in such shoddy condition. All of it made her heart hurt. What could have happened to this poor old man? And who would do something so horrible to somebody who already seemed so helpless? She rode up to him in silence, all thought of singing forgotten. Then she hopped down to the ground with a handstand and a flourish, with a smile that told him to be at ease and a pose that told him to laugh. He did neither. She frowned.

"Hi there, friend! Are you alright?"

"..."

Alina tried smiling at him, but he only turned his head and clenched his fist. She was an awkward sort of pretty, the kind with legs that had outpaced the rest of her so that she was more than a little gangly despite her tiny stature, but even so everyone always told her they could see exactly what sort of beauty she was destined to become and she was not at all used to having no effect on people. Especially sad people. Even the King spent a surprising amount of time inventing excuses to check out Elsaria's butt while they ran the rooftops together!

It vexed her, truly. And if she'd known what the uneasy stirring inside her heart really was, maybe she would have hopped back on her horse then and there, and listened to the chiding of her knights the whole way home while being safe and free and happy. But a princess was always beautiful, and generous, and helpful, so instead of that she stretched her arms up to the sky (which stretched her shirt above her bellybutton) and yawned.

"You know what I think, girls?"

"Yes, Your Highness?" they said, already nodding and unpacking supplies.

"I think... yes, I think this fine gentleman has the right of it. This is a perfect place to set up camp for the night! I know you were both looking forward to seeing home before the dawn, but what do you say? Will you indulge me? Just this oooonnnne time?" and you could tell she'd been hanging out around Rita a lot recently, because her smile was so falsely innocent it would have made a kitten blush.

"This one time." said Eliza.
"And every time thereafter, Your Highness." said Elisa.

"Excellent!" Alina clapped her hands and sat down cross-legged right where she'd been standing, "I am sorry for intruding, friend, it's just that the cool air has such an effect on my constitution. If you mind our presence, you need only say so."

He made a sound like a grunt. She lit up like summer fireworks (which incidentally, she'd be missing soon if she didn't get back home!).

"Thank you for your generosity, kind sir. In exchange, please, let us share our bounty with you tonight. I'm afraid it's only travel fare, hardly fitting such a night, but it's warm and filling and sure to remind you of home. Unless you are Jedadi, sir, in which case maybe for your own sake I suggest you go without?"

Alina and her knights burst into fits of giggles as camp unpacked around them. The princess was, of course, quite useless, so she contented herself with telling jokes and singing silly songs about the lakes she swam in back home, and watching her honored guest for any signs that his heart was healing. Of course there were none, but she didn't let it trouble her. This old man was a tougher case than she thought, but she'd never met a person yet who didn't open up after a warm dinner on a beautiful night like this! Just look how bright the moon was!

And sure enough before she knew it, her knights were laying out lovely trays of baked fish still sitting in the fragrant leaves they'd been cooked in by the fire. Alina's mouth was watering, oh rivers, please excuse her! But as tempting as it was to dig in right then and there, a princess did not forget her manners. So she set down her fork and she pulled from her lights the most beautiful crystal decanter she owned, her favorite out of all the twenty-four she had for such occasions, and she swirled it about in the moonlight.

"Oh, of course! Guests first! Blessings be upon you, friend!" she tilted the decanter over his head, making sure to splash a little extra over his hair to account for how foul his mood seemed to be.

"Goodness, is this polite young woman really our princess?"
"Yes, you'd hardly suspect that she was really Elsaria the Dread!"

Once again the sound of girlish giggles filled the camp. This time, however, they were short lived. Alina and both of her knights startled to see the old man rise. Oh rivers, he was much taller than he seemed!

"Do..." he growled.

"Beg pardon, sir?"

"Not," Oberon Greymane swept his cloak aside and reached for his sword. It keened as it tasted the night air, "Mock me!"

She was so startled, she hadn't even considered what shape to twist her lights into. Red was halfway to a spear, and yellow one quarter of a shield when the saber came down and struck her! And... a-and, hahaha, w-wasn't it just the funniest thing? It felt like... it was almost as if, but that couldn't be true. She didn't understand. It was almost as if... it had actually pierced her?

Alina smiled as she looked down at herself, expecting maybe to see some new sort of funny joke. In fact she was halfway to laughing when it turned into a scream. Then her scream exploded, her scream, her scream! It exploded! It exploded and shattered just like the rest of her, because the only thing left in the world was pain!

The stars grew dim. The moon slipped behind blackened clouds. The air, her pleasantly cool kiss, got colder. And colder and colder and colder, passing winter. How it seared her! How it burned her! How it filled her! Her heart beat stupidly inside her chest, and with every beat her body felt deeper and deeper chills, so cold she stopped having words to describe it.

That's when things became truly horrible. No, then she had to watch Eliza and Elisa spring up to defend her, and she tried to scream out 'Don't!' but all the sound she had left in her was a whine and a hideous squeak that was not beautiful at all, but dark and selfish and fearful as anything. She watched them crumple as a pair to the ground on either side of her through tears that froze to burning frost on her cheeks. New agonies ripped through her insides, and how could this be, how could this be, how could this be allowed?

He sneered and snatched her half formed lights from her, and he... and he... a-a-a-a-a-and. He broke her. He broke her and shattered her and twisted her forever, because she was the rainbow and he said to her that she wasn't after all and that the rainbow was his now and he could think of a dozen better uses for these already, as he squeezed them in his palm and wore them to pin his cloak.

"P-please! I yield, pl-p-please!" she croaked, every syllable costing her her entire life, "T-take my treasures, they are yours! I-I'm the... the p-princess of Illumina! My Mo... Mommy will pay anything you want! Anything! Only please, please, don't hurt me anymore!"

Oberon wrenched the blade free of her chest and somehow its absence was worse than its presence. She curled inward on herself and was not pretty or brave or a beauty in the making in the least when she did nothing to stop him from wiping her own blood clean on her silks.

"You will go," he said with a voice a thousand times more terrible than his sword, "To your mother. You will tell her I am coming. Tell her the true King has come and you have dared disgrace him. Tell her you're a naughty little girl who's just cost her mother her pathetic little kingdom! Tell her!"

She had no idea how she did it, but Alina stood up. And she ran faster than she ever had in her life. She ran, and left her horses and her treasures and her precious knightly friends behind, because the only thing worse than the pain she felt inside her body was the wriggling, impossible terror that filled her up whenever she tried to look at his face.

She ran home to Mommy and she said everything she was told, and she did not fight to protect her home when she should have, but she ran again and was alone, was alone, was alone, she was a broken rainbow and alone...

***

She was supposed to be all done with the cold. The Caduceus had thawed her heart, hadn't it? Ourania had thawed her heart, hadn't she? She was healed and good and better now! But it was happening again, whiskers, rivers, no, it was happening again! She felt her heart freezing all over and she was a failure with no rainbow at all, and she was alone, alone, al--

"...na? Lina! LINA!"

Rita's screaming in her ear. Grasping her, licking her cheek, bonking her forehead against every part of her that she can reach, and squeezing her so tight. Alina gasps and blinks, and looks at disaster through her tears.

"I'm here, ok? I'm here. I'm here! Lina, it's me! I'm here!"

"Ri...ta?"

"Yes, yes, yes, Lina, oh Lina, come on, we have to do something or Ourania's gonna die!"

"Can't do... can't... save... c-can't..."

"Yes you can! Alina Cascade, don't you run from this!"

"But I... I let him win! I'm weak and I..."

"That's right, you let him win. Once upon a time, my love, you let this giant dirtbag win. Don't you think you've paid enough for it? You don't have to let him win again! It's different this time, don't you see? You're strong. You're brave and strong, my darling, and you've got me."

Alina turns her head. Her eyes are wide with wonder, and the biggest wonder of all is the way that her body feels warmer and warmer with every fresh detail of her perfect Rita that she takes in. But the time for kissing has come and gone, which is a shame because she could really use it again. She takes Rita's hand, instead. And with every ounce of energy, every tiny speck of courage she'd forgotten about inside of her, she nods.

There's no time to figure out a plan. She's wasted so much already. She's let him win so, so many times. She let him hurt her knights, and then her mother, then her people, and in Feloria she let him hurt Diana. But she didn't let him spread the Slaugh in Askaia. She didn't let him have the other Queens. She didn't let him have the Caduceus. She, she, she. Always, because she chose to be in his way, with her friends... they always made him lose.

There is no time, but she spares it anyway to turn and smile a quivering, unpretty little smile at Kazelia and Adila. She squeezes Rita's hand tighter than ever.

"D-don't worry about Ourania, yeah? I've got this. Just... make sure you handle the rest."

She swallows. This is it. This is it, this is it, this is it, this is... oh, she's already running. This is simpler than she'd thought. Her prancing water-deer stride carries her across the room with less than the pitter patter of raindrops on a windowsill, even quieter than Rita's soft padding beside her. Don't let him win, don't let him win, you don't have to let him win!

Her crown is empty, but it has tricks enough for this. There's a flash of golden light, and she curls her fingers around her elegant purple ribbon and the baton it's attached to. She lets go of Rita with a nod. From both sides, yes. There's another flash, and her frosted glass armor shines atop her bridesmaid's dress. This is the moment it's been saving itself for, all these years, and now...

Rita makes it first, and knees him in the stomach. Before he can retaliate she blurs into a haze and where his fist passes through the image of her face it finds nothing but the air and the laughter-like meows of a cat too far beneath it to care. He stomps, and though the floor shatters beneath him she's a girl again and above him, and Alina's there with her ribbon swirling beautifully and together with her heart she kicks him in the chest.

Even touching him is cold. She feels it running through her body, but she ignores it, lets her heart beat bravely on so that she can throw her entire weight into this one last thing. Her armor groans just to feel his touch, and when he lashes out and knocks her away it's like he's stolen all the air from inside of her. For a single second, she's suspended in time again. Maybe Adila can appreciate this moment for what it truly is.

Her armor cracks. And then it shatters. Alina Cascade goes careening off the edge of Argossa anyway, falling after the body of High Queen Ourania. There is time enough to scream, if somebody would like. Alina has no voice for it.

But Rita is standing defiantly at the edge. And wrapped around her wrist several times and clenched again in her shaking hand is a taut length of purple ribbon. And Rita? She's got lungs and breath and heart enough to scream for everybody there. She cries out, one third with fear, one third with effort, and a final third with love, and she pulls on that ribbon with everything she has. Did you know that cats were so very strong, after all? It takes agonizing seconds, but she pulls and...

There's an arm! A delicate, slender arm clinging desperately to the end of a baton! And after that a head of fluffy lavender hair, and after that the terrified green eyes of Alina Cascade! Up and up, further and further, her other arm straining like mad to stay clenched around Ourania's wrist. Rita pulls even as she scrambles closer, and then pulls some more when she can reach Alina's dress. It's impossible. But then again, perhaps it isn't.

Sobbing and shaking, Alina hugs the infected form of Ourania close against her. As if she were her own mother.

"It's ok, Your Majesty," she manages, even though it sounds like every word might be the last one she'll ever speak, "Don't worry. Don't worry. We're here."

[Rolling Finish with Grace (and Hope, thanks to her bonds and her friends being there for her): 3, 4, 5 = 11. Damage that stat, gosh darn it. She pays her armor as the price for attacking him again]

Princess-Champions of Hyperborea

The world is moving in slow motion. Oberon tosses Jessamine like a ragdoll, and there's nobody there to catch her. Alina scrambles to her feet, feeling like the air is freezing around her as she goes. It's a solid thing with weight that she has to push through to make anything happen. Jessamine is flying so quickly, and she is so helpless. She screams, and she leaps. Her arms wrap around her youngest sister several feet above the ground and suddenly both of them are careening toward the ground together. She squeezes her eyes shut and tenses for impact.

But she's caught, too. Jessamine, Alina, and Rita collapse into a pile that still manages to skid across the ground for what feels like forever. And then... a horrible stillness settles over the trio. Alina's eyes are locked on Jessamine as she holds her, so afraid she can't even tremble. Jess' bright and beautiful eyes have gone all glassy, her normal fiery expression has fallen slack. And there's that stillness. Nothing moving when it's more important than ever that everything be.

Then she coughs, and time starts up again. All at once everybody bursts into tears. Jessamine sobs while she chokes for breath. Rita's soft sniffling mixes in with a deep and grateful purr as she squeezes herself between the pair of them. Alina pulls them both tight against her and watches Kazelia fight. Blazing as bright as Ourania normally does. Kazelia... even after everything, after the... she saved Jessamine's life.

It's a struggle to tear herself away from her family. But Alina's got a job to do; she can't waste the opening Kazelia is trusting her with. Trusting her! Her heart pounds with fresh determination, which is how she makes it all of a single step before an arm clamps itself across her ankle. She startles and turns, and finds Jessamine's miserable face staring straight at her.

"Where... do you think... you're going?"

"Let go, Jess! Let go! I have to get in there, I have to stop him! Kazelia's counting on me and I--!"

"Rrrraaagh!"

Suddenly she's on her back, with Jessamine pounced on top of her, arms tenser than steel holding her up off the floor by the straps of her dress. Jess' hot tears splash down on her face as she pulls one hand back to punch her big sister in the chest hard enough to drag a surprised 'oof' from her. She pounds her hand again and again, but each time it's shaking harder, landing softer.

"You dummy! Lina you stupid, selfish... you... I... I!"

"Look at her fighting, Jess! Look at Kazelia! She needs help, please! I'm the only one who can do it, so please let me go! I can't let her die! I can't let him kill her, so please!"

"STOP IT! Stop it, Lina, just... stop it! Do you think I'm stupid? Think I'm blind? Where'd your lights go, Lina? What did you do?!"

"I..!"

"You're always doing this! Why does it always have to be you, huh? Why don't you trust me? Why, why, why?"

"I do trust you Jesss, but I need--"

"You don't! You don't you don't you DON'T! You always leave me behind! Stop protecting me Lina, don't you get it? I have to fix this! I've gotta... if I don't help then I..."

"...Jess?"

"It's my fault, don't you understand? It's all my fault! I let him turn me into the Black Princess! I'm the reason Jedad almost collapsed! We got caught in Feloria because I was so weak! He hurt you so badly and I just... I just let it happen! I keep trying and trying and I can't do anything! I couldn't save Mom, or Free, or you, or... or... I have, I have to... if I can't! Why did I even come? Why am I so useless, Lina? How come I have to sit here and watch you die?"

It's too much for her to keep going. Jessamine cries like a child into her big sister's shoulders. But Alina doesn't have any of her usual soothing words or strokes of Jessamine's hair. She's too busy looking at her sister, maybe really looking for the first time. They're so similar and yet... how did she miss the shape of this beautiful girl? Look how sharp and hard her muscles are, not like Alina's utter softness at all. Look at how strong her shoulders are, look at those legs. Like iron. Or glass! She's worked so hard. Alina had been an idiot not to rely on her. Big sister, little sister... what did that part matter? Wasn't this what families were made for?

Her legs feel like jelly, but she stands up anyway. She pushes Jessamine away from her with all the strength she can find left in her exhausted body. And in the space that opens between them, she draws a naginata out of brilliant golden light. It pulses in the air between them, half again the size of Jessamine's normal favorite but so feather-light that even a child could swing it easily. Arcs of molten gold stream off of the edges of the blade, as if the magic of Gold was too potent to be contained in such a simple form. Alina grabs it by the pole and thrusts it into Jessamine's hands. She reaches up and brushes the tears off of her sister's cheeks with her thumbs.

"How about together, then?"

It's a moment that's been years in the making. Oberon, whose heart is cold and whose world is ice, has never stopped to notice all the fires he was stoking. Well they're all burning together now, and it's too late for him to do anything about it. Kazelia harries him from every side with her courageous spear dance. Jessamine turns her head one final time to see Alina smiling her while she leans on Rita. Her glass-sharp body tenses like a snake's.

And she leaps. Her form is flawless. After years of playing catch up, in this moment she surpasses her idol. Her beloved big sister could never land a blow like this. Her weapon curves as she swings it down, and a feral little grin spreads across her face when she sees that Oberon is too slow to block her. Her eyes are so much like her sister's, only they're made from fire.

It's the kind of hit that sends a person bouncing across the ground. The kind that leaves cracks in the floor from the sheer weight of impact. The arc of her swing carries her around in a great circle through the air as she spirals as gracefully as a dancer could ever hope to be. A Princess must always be beautiful. She lands as softly as a cat, hardly bobbling at all except to hop an extra three times to stop her momentum.

She turns and nods her head stiffly to Kazelia. 'Thank you', she says without the breath to say it out loud. 'Thank you for all of us.'

[Alina is adding a new Bond with Kazelia: "She was there for me when I needed her most. She's as much a part of my family as any of my sisters." Grace Finish: 2d6+2 = 10. Damage one of his Overlord stats, while Alina damages her Grace as the price for acting against a Threat.]

Chuubo's GMD: Love and Shattered Alchemy

"What? No, I... what? What?? That's so st-- where do you even... what? Rinley, this is serious!"

This is all coming out as high-pitched yelling. Sorry about that. She doesn't mean it! She's not gonna say that, but it's true! This is just... kind of one of the worst days of her life, at least in recent memory. She really wanted to wear this turtleneck and feel cute today! She spit in the face of probability and had the audacity to hope for once!

And look where that got her! She's sweaty and sticky, Rinley! Her eye shadow is running so badly it looks like she's starting to cry tar! Her hair is... ugh. Ugh! It's so bad right now! She's going to need a shower! Do you have any idea how dangerous that sort of thing can be? What if she drowns? Oh jeez, she's probably going to drown and die and that's just going to ruin her entire weekend! And she just had a bunch of people staring at her! Which is awful, ok? A cafe owner just asked her if she was alright! A cafe owner, Rinley!!

"Listen, just... first of all, ok? The glass dragon story is obviously a metaphor for nuclear war. It's a reference to dragons being really hot, like atomic... no, the other way around, whatever. Like bombs, ok? And the classic slang term 'glassing' for dropping them. And nobody here has any nuclear armaments. I know because I've checked several times. So put that out of your... and I mean, even if there was a glass dragon, it would not be controlled by a glass remote. You'd need a scepter or a tiara, or... or... anyway! It's an inherently fragile design to begin with, so that's the kind of problem that solves itself. Cool? Cool, moving on.

Second of all! The sun is not going to 'stop being a sun'. And even if it did, there's... that's already taken care of, alright? There are, you know, contingencies for that sort of thing."

She brushes her fingers across her chest where her heart used to be without really meaning to. Her whole look goes super wistful for a second. Then she sneezes, which sounds like if a kitten got into a helium supply, and the whole thing passes.

"Third of all, you need to stop cutting to the front of the line on your conclusions. Haven't I told you a dozen times? Premature theses are dangerous! Possibly the most dangerous thing in the universe! All we know for sure right now is that today, uh... um... Th-Thursday? Is it Thursday? I'm sorry I was trying to get my calendar to work inside my phone and my calculator together. You know, like an app! But I used too much wolf and now it's kind of gone fer... you know what, you don't need the details. The point is, days of the week are hard right now.

Regardless! We know that on this day, the sun began exhibiting Overly Sun-Like Qualities, such as being too darn hot, and getting hotter after getting cooler for a period of 22.7 repeating minutes. There's simply not enough data to make such a strong concluding statement, all right? And that is why... we're going to take measurements! For GRAPHS!"

And the way her face lights up, she sincerely believes this is the most exciting thing that's going to happen to anybody today.

Masks: Resurrection Roundabout

Euna catches the keys in a motion born entirely of skillwires. She stands there, holding them awkwardly and grinning from ear to ear as she watches Sara fiddle with the train on her dress. Luckily it was designed with fast assembly/disassembly in mind in case of... well not quite this, but yeah. This. Which, by the way, is still the happiest day of her life so far, don't make any mistake.

There's another round of gunfire from the Shogun's signature Three Line Formation, and Euna suddenly snaps to attention as if somebody had popped the bubble on her dream.

"Hey! HEY!" she shouts over the gunfire, hopping up and down and waving one fluttering sleeve like a flag, "The reception is not cancelled! Do you hear me! It's at 18:00 sharp at the Boulevard on the Pier! Do you hear me? I don't care how many fires there are to put out, you promised me a dance!"

She's in danger of ruining her own wedding if she carries on like this. With a deep breath, she turns and looks at Sara again. Her breath catches; her throat is suddenly dry. Oh wow. Oh holy... wow. She takes Sara's hands in each of hers, catching a set of keys to a Modular Assault Vehicle in between them. She tries to laugh, but it comes out a sniffle.

"I... had a set of vows written up for this, but maybe we should do the short version?"

She pauses for laughter. Get it under control, Euna. Three... two... one... there's a single melodious giggle from the audience. Euna turns her head briefly and nods. Ourania!!

"I just wanna, nnnf, fuck. Sorry, sorry for the... guh. Fuck. Fuck! I shouldn't be crying. You're not supposed to cry at your own wedding, right? Fuck! Listen, Sara, I... ggggh, aaaahhh, come on! Ok, I just, just... hoooo. Ok. I'm sorry. I really wanted this to be special. I wanted to be clever and funny and memorable, so when you thought of... ne-never mind. There's so many nights I, snnnnff! I still lie there in bed wondering what the hell I did to deserve you. All the second chances and the take backs and the time to figure things out. For someone like me, it's... I don't really, you know, have a lot to offer in exchange. I can't give you all the things that you deserve. B-but I... gggghhhaaaa, come on!

I, I promise, ok? I'm always gonna be there, watching over you. If you can't walk, I'll be the one who carries you. If you're falling, I'll catch you. If you're... if you're drifting out there, alone, I wanna be the one standing there, reaching out for your hand. A, always. I love you. I love you so much. So if you'll... if I'm still good enough, then be mine. And make me yours. And... wow, god, I want to kiss you so badly right now."

The tears stream down her cheeks, carrying no makeup with them. She thought of this, too. Euna's lips are quivering in a smile, and she watches Sara, her beautiful wife, and waits for her reply. All around here there's lasers and flintlocks and fighting, and Euna Kim, Little Miss Mission First, has no eyes or ears for any of it. Her heart doesn't dare beat right now, in case it makes her miss anything important.

Chuubo's GMD: Love and Shattered Alchemy

Glk! Hurp! Ooooorrrgff! Eh? Eep!

The following has been a small but representative sample of the responses of Dulcinea d'Avingon to being the center of attention. In the event of a real emergency, you would have heard a high pitched shriek, followed by an explanation and detailed directions to the nearest emergency shelter, hospital tent, or Anti-Giant-Snake Zone. Thank you for your continued patience and cooperation!

So yeah, this is bad. Not, like, Jetpack Dinosaur bad, but still pretty aggressively not good. It turns out that metaphorical spotlights don't do self styled heroines who prefer to work from the shadows any more favors than do literal ones. It's why anybody with half a brain works out a system of what the acceptable ordering options are before they even go there if there is even the slightest chance they might wind up there again, because you never want to be the person the staff recognize on sight. You don't want to be the one they tell stories about because you took ages figuring this out in person, and you absolutely do not want to be that girl who only ever orders the one thing because you will walk in one day and a pretty waitress will smile at you and say, "The usual?" as she hands you a platter of chicken strips, and just... eeeuuuueh. Shiver. Gah. No. NO.

"What? Sure. Yes. No? Don't make this weird." says Dulcinea seconds before draining her entire iced melted ice cream in an awkwardly long shot.

And that's when everything goes really south, because there's a Rinley staring right at her. She winces. Audibly.

See, Rinley is... not a friend. We don't get to have friends, right Dulcey? So no, that is not what Rinley is. Rinley is a... Valued Research Assistant. Which is to say she occasionally provides very illuminating data when she walks right into an experiment and breaks all of the fragile and expensive equipment. She is a curse that you can summon by saying, "Gosh, this is delicate work!" or any number or more Normal People phrases that imply it. She is the kind of girl that will invite herself along to your late night bar crawl, tell you she isn't hungry, and then eat all of your fries while you're going over your notes. She cheats at Go. Probably? I mean, she has to be. She definitely cheats at Mario Kart. Who intentionally drops to 7th place just to pick up a gold mushroom? Who even does that???

Also not that anybody asked, but Rinley is unfairly, dangerously, lethally cute. That's how she gets away with all the other stuff, and why she has to be kept on a very tight leash a safe distance away whenever possible. Otherwise, weird little daydreams start creeping into field research where suddenly she's parked her silly foxy head on your lap and looking straight up with begging eyes and a fully blepped tongue and it's just like? Rinley??? Stop that. That's not what people's imaginations are for, Rinley.

"Right. Well. I see my ride, so I'm just gonna... yup! As you were, people. Toodles!"

And then she's off and it doesn't matter if she's going Too Fast or not because frankly regional properties are a dubious science at best and also because it means she's leaving her Most Important Problem right now before it can hurt her. Always dance with the devil you know, right? That's how she's wound up with her arm around Rinley's shoulders all conspiratorial-like (the sleeve is very damp, she's so sorry), spinning her right back around and leading her away from the cafe, deeper into the streets, and down an alley.

"Just the person I was looking for! Tell me, my dear, uh..." she snaps and (badly) pretends to fumble for the name, "...girl! When would you say you noticed that the sun was broken? And what are you prepared to do to fix it?"

Princess-Champions of Hyperborea

Do you see?

Alina is crying again. Darn it all, she's crying again. And she's laughing too, through her gag and everything. What else is she supposed to do, when her heart is overflowing like this? She twists on the spot, all sniffley chokey sobby happy relieved, just enough to be facing Rita as she hurls through the air toward her. The yowls of a cat become her name. Her tiny kitten body shines with light that's never needed to sit on a crown as she grows larger and larger and gets closer and closer. You need arms for proper hugging, after all. All the power of cat and girl collides with Alina Cascade and bowls her clean over, jerking the leash out of Cassian Fleet's surprised hand as the pair of them go tumbling end over end across the floor.

Do you see?

The Gold of Queen Halcyon is riding a storm of magic. Everywhere it flits it whispers, "You are safe. I am here beside you, you are safe." With a crack like fresh thunder it raises up a glittering wall in the shape of a seven petaled flower that saves Dandy from a horrible black spear with wicked barbs that must surely steal the beauty from whatever they pierce forever. It scatters in a golden wave of freesia blossoms and sweeps up the sword that splits the skies to bury it harmlessly point down into the ground. It wraps around Jessamine just in time to melt the blade of the wonder knife that is called Yearning before it can carve her heart empty once again. She immediately follows up with a flip kick to Oberon's jaw that carries her somersaulting away from his retaliatory grasp.

Do you see?

Clever kitty claws have pulled Alina's gag free and cut the ropes and ribbons that bound her arms. The bouquet of ice flowers shatters into a hundred pieces beneath them. Where the light catches them, they glitter with a radiance unseen even in the likes of Hyperborea. There is such beauty in these fragments. Even wrapped in all this cold cruelty, there is so much beauty in everything that made it here across the endless Void and over the back of Ouroboros. Why should it not have a home here, if only it can learn to share of the endless bounty of this wonderful world instead of taking and taking and leaving none for those who came before. Every daughter has a home here. Every son, if they but learn to ask. Every weary traveler from across the starry skies may stay, and rest, and feast, and love here for all their days. Though perhaps...

Do you see?

Gold is making mockery of the treasury of Oberon Greymane, the supposed High King of Hyperborea. Everywhere it blazes it turns aside another stolen treasure from a lost and mournful world. And now when it does so, Gold twists itself into the shape of that whip, that bow, that sword, that staff, a perfect golden copy of the thing it crushes to the earth. Do not think yourself special, O King! You have no treasure so unique I cannot match it! And you, who prize the taking of things above all, will never wield any of your precious baubles with the kind of power that could match ME! How could you hope to? You have not put in the barest amount of practice or shown the meanest amount of love to any of your wonders compared with the effort my precious and beloved Alina has shared with hers. See where your path has led you? Even a silly tickle-fighter like her has the power to stand against you!

Do you see?

Alina has her arms wrapped tight around Rita. She is squeezing too hard for her girlfriend to be able to finish unchaining her ankles. Is now the time for this? With Garthim swarming all around her, she pulls her Rita tight against her until their chests kiss and their hearts beat against each other's. She rakes her hands across Rita's back, scratches up her neck, and runs them through her sweet smelling hair. She pulls her precious treasure's forehead close against her own and squeezes her eyes shut in mimicry of Rita's happy squint to block off her tears and let herself be filled in body and soul with the beautiful sound of purring.

Do you see?

Though doom draws closer all around them, their eyes are shut to all the world outside of this tight embrace. Alina's lips part and brush against Rita's with a kiss softer than the dawning sun. They linger there a moment longer, then press together once again. Alina steals a breath from Rita, and parts with a delirious giggle. Rita sobs and steals it right back. They kiss again. And again. With hands exploring ears or necks or the contours of a perfect, lovely jaw. They kiss in that way that anyone should be embarrassed to do in front of others, made heedless by their love. The space where lips separate is filled with silly, teasing licks, and then they dive deep again and drown inside each other.

Do you see?

They pull apart at last, and it's hard to say who is crying harder than the other. Alina's hands are shaking as she sets her empty crown atop her head. She needs it there. She can't free her treasures without it. Her fingers are trembling so much she can barely tie the promise band around Rita's wrist. She almost drops the ring. Twice. Where did all her grace get to when she needed it the most? She can't even get it on Rita's finger; she has to hand it to her and press her palm closed around it instead.

"MARRY ME!" her two words sing out through the whole of Argossa. No one here can miss them.

"I... Lina?"

"Marry me!" she says again, "I never want to be apart from you! I want to do the Summer and Winter! Or the, the Winter and Summer! Spring and... oh, who cares! I'll live in a closet for the rest of my life if it means I can be with you!"

Do you see? Are you watching, do you see?

Rita gasps. She mews where there ought to be words, and then she laughs where there should be tears, and... oh! Oh! She's nodding! That means yes! She's nodding her head and saying yes! And none of this is how either of them dreamed that it would be. Nor is this the right time for any of it. But none of that matters. Perfect or imperfect, right time or wrong one, this is the only way it could ever have happened. It has to be now, because there might never be a later. There are princesses to thwart him and a shining light sending him into an impossible rage, but Oberon is mighty and his Garthim are unstoppable, and all around. And even should he lose that might still be the end of everything, if the tree is too far gone, if the heart of Hyperborea goes quiet, if, if, if...

That's why, do you see? Now is the time for lovers to love. Now is the time to say the words that need to be said and not hold back at all. Because now is the only time there is.

"I love you!"
"I love you!"

"I'm yours!"
"I'm yours!"

Masks: Resurrection Roundabout

She wants to frown. It's written all over her face; she's trying so hard to hang onto that righteous anger, or at least some kind of standoffish bereavement. This is, after all, supposed to be her moment. She planned this! She planned this and she planned this, and then after she was done planning she set down those plans and used them as a model so that she could plan. Her seating arrangements were specific. There were contingencies on top of contingencies on top of contingencies, damn it!

And now after all the planning! And the fighting! And getting the lights just where she wanted them! Sara! Is giving! Her stage! To (ppfffffft) Pasey! So yeah! She's mad! Or she's! Snnrrrk! Hahaha no stop that! She's really! Ahahahaha! Mad at! Heheheheeeee! Noooooooo!

She was not supposed to break into fits of full-on gigglesnorts before her vows. But no plan survives first contact with Sara Jiminez (Kim!). She doubles over in fits of hysterical laughter that bring her closer, and closer, and closer to Sara's face. Her cheeks are flush with laughter and then a moment later with girlish glee as their noses brush against each other. Euna stares dreamily right into Sara's dark and sexy eyes. Her fingers trace the contours of Sara's neck. Her lips gently part, and...

"Thanks for volunteering to help me back into my dress before the vows, honey. Oh, and for letting me pick dinner tomorrow! You know, they just opened up a soba bar by the Spire and I heard..."

Oh, Euna.

Princess-Champions of Hyperborea

The maid of honor's duty is to the bride. This is why Alina's still standing in the spot where she's been led, straight and dignified and looking directly at Ourania in spite of everything else that's happening. Even now at the very edge of total disaster, she doesn't pull out some fantastic trick or brave sacrifice play.

Of course she doesn't. How could she? Argossa is too sick to reward all of her other sacrifices with new magic. There are no more colors on her crown. Her arms and legs are bound and she's still being held on a leash by Cassian. She can't even say something brave or defiant or bring hope to her friends while she's gagged like this.

Oh, Adila. She's so sorry. Fly. Please, fly! While there's still time, spread your beautiful wings and fly! She thinks it over and over again, screaming it inside her head just in case that makes a difference. But of course, she can't project her thoughts even an inch in front of her face, so who knows if that's doing any good. She switches to wishing with her heart, instead.

This is the end of the journey. Alina feels so very tired. Oberon is so hopelessly strong. But do you see it, Ourania? Her beautiful green eyes are dazzling and bright. Her posture is tall and proud. There's not a hint of a shake or a shiver to her anywhere, even though she's standing so close to him! This is the shape of your latest miracle: a broken princess being strong for you. All for you! So that, just this once, you can let yourself be weak. Cry if you need to, it's ok.

But, you know the funny thing about miracles? It's the tiny ones that always seem to make the biggest difference. A young girl sees a sunrise at just the right moment, and it makes her heart melt. A cat and a mermaid become friends at a party both were invited to by accident. All these tiny, trite moments cascade into each other until they're a force more powerful than the tallest waterfall. Like how a single snowflake can become part of a flurry. And that flurry can grow into a blizzard, and then the blizzard leads to a single perfect Solstice Morning where two little girls can bundle up and go shell hunting on the riverbank together which, although they don't realize it until many years afterwards, leads directly to them falling in love.

Those are the true miracles, the real magic of Hyperborea. And you know what? They're too small and too numerous for someone like Oberon Greymane to stamp them all out. Maybe that's what Alina's thinking when she turns to look at the snow falling down on you from the sky. Will you look too, Your Majesty? Can you hope the way that she hopes, for one more tiny miracle to turn the tide?

Chuubo's GMD: Love and Shattered Alchemy

Point of order: Dulcinea already knew the day's temperature would hit record highs twenty such and such minutes after it had begun declining for the day. Why do you think she took the time to open that couple's umbrella? Somebody's got to have an eye toward the future, even if nobody appreciates that sort of thing.

"Well, anyway, you... right. Yeah. You two have a lovely evening? Ok byeeeeee~"

Heh, suckers. It's 15:14 right now, any quantifiable state of evening is hours away. Niiiiiice. Gosh, she hopes this one ends in kissing. It feels, you know, well, I mean, it doesn't feel much of anything when people get kisses. There's no tactile sensation (obviously!) and no pitter patter doki doki adrenaline surge that tells a person to get excited. But her Conscience Crystal turns bright pink whenever it happens, which objectively means the thing happening is good. Maybe someday she'll have enough data to understand why.

You... I mean, you know. Empirically. She signed that contract fair and square and all.

Regardless! The Sun! Is too hot! It is behaving Abnormally! But one data point doesn't exactly make a graph, now does it? Like, yes, she could slink home right this second, where the AC is acting up again (she keeps demanding 'fair wages'? whatever that means?) but at least there are copious amounts of delightfully sun-free shadows in which to work and construct a Sun-Catching Net or a Self Altering Reverse Magnifying Glass or to construct an obsidian fortress around Fortitude and block out the radioactive hellbeast once and for all! She could do that! Obviously. She's Dulcinea d'Avingon!

It's just, well, this could easily be because too many people got the hiccups all at once and the sun noticed and started doing it too. Or maybe a lighthouse got mad. A wizard's curse. The birth of a thousand and oneth cat (wait, no. what? ridiculous. stop looking at wikipedia during hypothesis). Or because it's still a relatively new sun it might just still be calibrating. It hasn't needed calibrating yet, but it could need it. The point is she might very well wake up tomorrow to discover everything is completely and frustratingly normal. Again. And more's the point, the sun being in the sky is one of those objectively good pink-crystal moment kind of things, which is why she carved out her own heart to put it there.

So like... yeah. Further data required, and all that. So that meant the obvious next step was to take readings and find out exactly what the deal is here. Later. Tonight. With cooler air and better working conditions for canvassing the whole of the Fortitude Sky. Also to be frank, it's rude to stare. You know how light changes its form when it knows you're viewing it? Same principle, but a glowing yellow orb in the sky.

She drains her coffee in a single swig, then fills the cup again with her ice cream. Waste not. She saunters away from her third favorite cafe. And then zips back again at double speed to the tremendous consternation of a pair of beautiful lovebirds. Forgot her notebook, sorry.

Masks: Resurrection Roundabout

Euna Kim is fighting twenty armed terrorists dressed in Sara's backup costumes. She jumps up and split-kicks two of them in the chest, then grabs a third by the back of the head and slams him into the ground on her way down. She bends over backwards out of the way of a punch, dropping lower and lower until her head brushes against the ground before her heel digs in and her legs whip her back to standing in an impossible arc that ends in a vicious headbutt just like the ones from the incredible series finale of Princess Champions of Hyperborea. She grabs an arm, she's not sure whose, and hip checks the woman attached to it into three of her friends. She knee drops the pile for good measure.

There's a couple of people still watching her do it. A camera drone or three angling for closeups. It's mostly just to get a reaction shot of her face. How will the blushing, battling bride-to-be react to this stunning new development? Will scream? Swear? Angrily leap across the stage and demand right then and there to be dealt in? Euna come on you just started drinking, you can't even handle a Smirnoff Ice! Not the point! It's something like that, right? Right? Scale of one to ten, how mad is she?

Wait, what? She's... smiling? She looks... gosh, wow. Smitten. Just completely dreamy-eyed and elated. That's the right word, yeah? Yeah. Elated. No no, wait! That's pride. She looks proud. She swerves out of the line of a hail of gunfire without even glancing at the barrel. See, if it were her over there... well, you can guess. Dominus has a total monopoly on Euna's list of faces she'd really love to punch but for various reasons probably never will. There's nothing that would thrill her more than to see Sara get as angry as she just did and start spitting fire and hardlight.

But, you know? Just look at her over there. The way she's controlling the scene. The way she's keeping her audience guessing, and de-clawing Dominus in a way that... it's so cute, actually. It's so Sara. But it's perfect because she's not cutting off Dominus' lifeline. Conflict resolution with consideration toward rehabilitation. But still kinda alpha-bitch posturing? It's like Euna rubbed off on her, but in the Saraiest way possible. This is such a clever way to play for time!

She... she is playing for time, right?

Euna Kim is fighting ten, no sorry, eight armed terrorists dressed in Sara's backup costumes. Give her another minute and she'll be fighting none. But even with nobody to keep her busy, she'll still be watching the show. Now, as ever, the Number One Fan. Yeah, you heard her Angelica.