Daily Affirmation Of The Way <3: Stop me if you have heard this one before -

What is the word for someone who wants to be able to control someone's thoughts, but who does not want mind control?
For someone who wants unstoppable strength, but not guaranteed victory?
Who wants to be loved, but demands that love be earned?
Who wants to be the center of the world, so they might be its sun?
Who wants everything so they can give everything?
Who wants to crush without breaking?
To be everything to everyone.

One word for this is, of course, author. It is a truly transcendent greed to want to remake the world in a way more total than can be done with politics and labour. To place one's sword 'neath the chin of reality and make her bend towards justice. Consideration must also be given to the most deranged apex of the author breed, whose greed is so total that they must accumulate a pack of other authors and compel them into harmony with their own utopian vision. But an author takes the long view; they sit and consider and plan and take long walks and late nights as they turn over their ideas slowly. Authorship is slow, and hard, an artificial path towards totality. Princess Qiu, for all her prowess, is unfortunately a mere author.

Imagine being that [i]in real time[/i]. To create a world and narrative and quest with the strength and speed of your limbs. To be beautiful enough to enchant without searching for words, to stand astride the border of invincibility without conjuring hopelessness, to be able to make people feel loved and safe and in incredible danger in the same way as an affectionate nuzzle from a tiger. To have that control, effortless, as a thing you do with your body and not with your words.

... That's what I think what it must be like to be a dragon. 

*

The attack might have worked against a dragon. A team attack, hearts and souls aligned - there is nothing better for slaying monsters. 

Princess Jessic, though, is a dragon [i]Princess[/i] - and no Princess loses a fight without getting the opportunity to show off her Secret Sword. 

Princess Redana diverts the lance, smashes Jessic's knee, rolls and recovers into a defensive stance that opens Jessic to response from her allies/
Jessic changes her angle in mid flow, shoulder-checking Redana, and catching her with a swat of her tail as she falls, turning a stumble into a ring-out -

Princess Chen grinds along Jessic's back, kicking off her head, sending her blinded and crashing into a wall/
Wings clap together, pinning Chen in place, and Jessic flips upside down and releases her to crash down into the streets below -

Bella's blow strikes true. The lance shatters. The battle resolves/
A serpentine neck twists up. Jaws open. A whirlwind pours from bladed teeth, hurling her back into the sky.

Both memories happen simultaneously. Both realities exist in parallel, jumbling together, the truth of them impossible to judge. Every set, every blow, every exchange with Princess Jessic brings a vision of victory and a vision of defeat. One is true and one is a lie but there is no way to tell which is which - at least, until you sit and count the bruises.

Princess Jessic, you see, had an advantage. Humans practice against other humans every day, but how often did they practice against dragons? When do you get to learn what a dragon's tells or attack patterns are? And even if you have studied dragons in general, what do you do when [i]this [/i]dragon pulls out a sword and parries your dragon-slaying Black Arrow? It's not that she's too good, it's that she's [i]too weird[/i] - all the powers of dragon [i]and [/i]girl - and there's no time to learn her moves before the fight is over. 

So she invented a Secret Sword to show people what victory against her looked like. To give them hope. To give them a map, a demonstration of what they needed to practice to have a chance against her. A video tutorial of what a correct dodge looks like, an encouragement for those who wish to swear vengeance and hone their craft and then come and try again -

- but Princess Jessic ain't running no charity, and her Secret Sword does not turn off just because you've done the homework. Even if you execute your technique correctly and land a solid hit on her you still get the vision of having done better - or at least having done different. It makes it impossible to judge where you are up to in a fight, what hits you've landed, what hits you've taken, if you're winning or losing, what strategy you're using, what style she's using. The longer the battle rages the more jumbled and chaotic memories become, victory and defeat melding into the same eternal moment - until suddenly it's over. This is her technique: [i]Ever-Present Mystery:[/i] the feeling of walking into an unknown raid boss for the first time, every time. It is a blade that gives hope that she can be solved while simultaneously denying the solving.