Tatterdemalion

Chuubo's GMD: Love and Shattered Alchemy

Storytime!

Back around breakfast I figured out that today wasn't just an ordinary day! There I was, shoveling rice and egg and natto into this perfect chattering mouth, and it hit me that today was going to be the day I figured out what exactly the GLASS DRAGON was. Those two words just popped into my head! Glass. Dragon. Like, I know I've heard the words around before, or maybe I just thought I did? You have to remember that I was eating at home, and home's really, really weird, because I live in the family shrine, which isn't a collection of buildings like most shrines are but is made out of what used to be an old Jotun building back when they lived here instead of people, which is why the ceilings are so high and there are so many corridors and you can get lost in there if you aren't paying attention, but really all you need to do is follow the cats because even if they don't lead you out at least they won't lead you into any real danger, because cats might be mean sometimes but deep down even the most cranky of tomcats doesn't want to see you get really hurt because, well, then who's going to open the canned tuna and plop it down in the bowl? Well, other than me, I mean, but cats tend to lump "people with thumbs" all together. Like, the way people just think about "cats" and they don't distinguish between different breeds and personalities unless that cat's really important to them? That's how cats feel about people, we're all just a bunch of dumb hairless talls with thumbs, except for me and my family, because we're the people that the cats own, except we also own the cats, but they definitely own us, so maybe it's like a double ownership thing? That's weird. If two people own each other, who gets to give the orders? Because you can just order someone not to give you an order. I guess it'd work like me and the cats, which is to say that we care about each other and just generally try to pay attention to what we're doing.

Anyway, Glass Dragons! You'd think that all that glass would make them really fragile, but, nah, that's not the way I see it. These are thick panes of stained glass, the most durable of all glasses, except for the safety glasses that they wear down at the Hayashi shrine while they're working on hot glass. Each scale's its own perfect pane! And then in its guts it's got this roiling molten glass gunk that it can puke on people instead of breathing fire, which makes it ultra super dangerous, because at least you can put out fire, but if you got the glass on you it'd meld with your skin and maybe then the dragon would be able to control your tormented zombie body to use as a minion with thumbs. Also it'd be able to shoot lasers out of its eyes by aligning the glass inside just perfectly, and letting the light zap out!

But Rinley, you may ask, but Rinley, I can't help but notice that we are not currently suffering under the iron boot of a dragonocracy. And the reason for that is simple! Like all super OP villains, the glass dragon had a weakness of some sort that made it explode, boom, pssssh, just like in that one episode of She-Ra! But because it's been so long since the glass dragon was around, that weakness has been lost, and now if someone who's smart and brave and incredible doesn't figure out what it was, then what will we do if the glass dragon ever comes back and starts shooting people with its eye lasers and then vomiting hot gunk all over them? We'll be toast! And glass zombies! And before you say of course the glass dragon isn't going to come back, isn't that exactly what you'd want people to think if you were a glass dragon? Think about it! Think about it.

So I am out here by the creek trying to figure out how exactly I'm going to figure out what the glass dragon's weakness was. Because, like, maybe it got written down at some point? But it must have been so boring that nobody ever included it when telling stories about it blowing up or melting or however it actually got beaten, I don't remember how that part went. I could break into Professor Hayashi's Archive again. Yeah, you heard me. I'm a seasoned criminal. I've got the place cased. Just walk in through the front door? Ha! That's what she wants you to do. That's why I know every window that doesn't close right, every one of the patrol routes and bathroom breaks, and the blind spots where you can hide from detection while you shovel your way through books that don't even have pictures or narratives, like, okay, I'm not a kid, I know that not all books are going to have both, but if you don't have either then you might as well just be like a school textbook, and I'm not here to learn, I'm here to figure out how to blow up and/or melt glass dragons. But, as I just mentioned, half the books in the Archive are boring hot garbage and the other half are mislabeled or misplaced or make Professor Hayashi go white as a sheet when she notices that I'm reading them, and, like, I'm not a kid, I know what dicks look like, I literally was reading that one because I wanted to get to the part where it explained where the chakra points were and how to punch them to make people explode just in case I ever ended up being given an amulet by a dying man on the beach and then suddenly the FBI's after me and I need to punch them in the chakras.

Or I could do something Rinley would have done. Which is what I'm trying to figure out. Would he have cracked open a nut and had a note fall out, written by the glassmaker who made the scales, saying that there was one scale right on his belly that was flawed and brittle? Or would he have been trying to grab a fish out of the water for dinner, when one stuck its head up and told him to listen up, because this was going to repay him in advance for saving the life of the Fish Princess? Except I don't have any fish in the creek today except for the teeny tiny ones that are fun to catch with a net, and the only thing in these nuts are snacks. And a wasp, weirdly. I have no idea how that got in the nut.

Chuubo's GMD: Love and Shattered Alchemy

Storytime!

Hider

"Rinley the Shrine Maiden!"

Once upon a time, there was an adorable little cutiepie born into the Yatskaya shrine family, whose parents saw that she was the smartest and prettiest and most cleverest Yatskaya there had ever been since back when Rinley was around, so they named her Rinley, too, and a good thing they did, because—

Hold on. Wait. Why didn't you tell me you were an American? Oh storms and arrows, no wonder you looked like you'd just been handed a crochet hook and a fish! Every little kid around here knows all about Rinley! Here, I'll tell you one of the good stories about him.

"Rinley Stops the Pirates!"

One day, a wicked pirate crew showed up in Big Lake. Their leader was none other than the grandson of James Hook himself, who'd gotten lost on his way to Bermuda. So they see the sleepy little village of Fortitude and they say to themselves, ohohoho, let's go plundering! So they dock their raggedy little boats by the pier and start plundering everything they can get their hands on; only, it takes them a while, because everyone knows anything worth doing can't be done quick, right? And they're used to pieces of eight and bitcoins and the like, not our good old-fashioned coin strings, so they're all confused and befuddled already.

Well, while all that is going on, Rinley's sleeping underneath an apple tree, with his bunnet pulled down over his face and his ears twitching in the breeze. Well, everybody knows that foxes' ears are—

Well, yeah, he was a tenko. I'm getting to that bit.

...you don't know what a tenko is? Well, they're the shop foxes, right? And Rinley's one because—

Okay, pause. We're hitting pause on this one. I've got to tell you another story first.

"Finley the Fox!"

Once upon a time, back when there wasn't even a sun in the sky and there weren't no Horizon either, there was—

Nope. I'm hitting pause on this one, too. Because otherwise you're just going to be staring at me the whole time not understanding any of the proper historical context, which is vital! Vital, I say!

"How the Humans were Saved by the Cleverness of Foxes!"

Once upon a time there was no sun in the sky, and the world was a revel around the ankles of the jotun. It was a youkai world where there was no such thing as a human! But all of us, all of them, rather, they knew that there was something missing. Imagine a world where you just, you knew that there was something that you were supposed to use socks for, but nobody had any feet! That's what it's like, being a youkai in a world without humans. But they prayed to the gods of dream and nightmare, and got very naughtily sloshed, and tried to keep their spooking powers honed without knowing exactly who they were supposed to be spooking, and kept out from underfoot the jotun, which wasn't very hard, because you would have to make a house right underneath one of their feet and live there for years on years before they crushed you, and it'd really be your fault, wouldn't it? It would. So there.

Then humans showed up! They were led by Commodore Matvei Grushavych, who had everyone build a town here and called it Town. That was just the sort of person the Commodore was! His boat was named Boaty and his dog was named Doggy. But Town sprang up, and all the youkai rejoiced when they found out what humans were, because here were the feet for the socks they'd had all this time, only when I say socks I mean spooking, with their long necks and their illusions and their sharp teeth and their coming to life all of a sudden. What a great time we had then! But the jotun didn't like them, seeing as they were allergic to crosses and the name of Christ, and didn't much care for iron and fire, and it's not like the youkai really liked iron or fire either, but there was a right proper back-and-forth all the same! Jotun would come and squish the churches, only, they were so slow, they'd come back a little while later and there'd be the church sprung back up, and the grandchildren and great-grandchildren of the folks they'd squished, all praying there to Christ! It was like trying to shovel snow during a blizzard!

Still, they might have done it, except there was this fantastic gal by the name of Elizaveta, and I'm about to tell you the truest true story about Elizaveta, so clean out your ears and listen up! The foxes of Town, they really liked having humans around! Humans were the best, so fun to tease and kiss and spook and watch! But they knew that, if there was a real proper war between the jotun and humans, humans would get flattened. Like an empty soda can someone crushes against their forehead! Boom, crush, crash. So they put their heads together and tried to figure out a special way to save all of Town. And it just so happened that there was a wonderful seamstress in Town by the name of Elizaveta, who could sew up a storm, who could stitch the afternoon and the evening together, who even sewed the sun up in the sky! Well, a seamstress like that, she might be worth saving all of humanity for.

So the foxes sent one of their smartest and most clever princesses over to meet with one of the swan people. Back in those days the swan people were, whoooooo! Prettier than pretty. You saw one of them, you'd forget what you were saying or what you'd been meaning to say or what day it was. Once, a tanuki saw a swan person sitting in her bathtub and she forgot which way was up and which way was down and she flew right off into the sky, pa-ching! So the fox princess, she knew she had to have a plan, otherwise she'd catch sight of the swan prince and that'd be it, whoosh, all her cunning plans dribbling out her ears while she went "wow....... swan pretty........."

So she tied a blindfold round her eyes and brushed her bangs down over the blindfold just in case and then she let her nose lead her until she found the swan prince by the shores of Big Lake, nibbling on watercress sandwiches. He smelled like clean soap and mint and aftershave! And the fox princess said, oh, Mister Swan Prince, I've heard that there's the bestest best seamstress in all the worlds who happens to live down in Town, and if you asked her, she'd like to be able to make you a swan-sized shirt that's just the proper style!

And everything unfolded from there. The swan prince happened to poke his long neck into Elizaveta's drawing-room, and she was so sensible and married besides that she didn't lose her head when he showed up, and he looked at the pair of pants she'd been sewing and said that she, she alone was worthy in all the worlds. Worthy to make him a shirt, that is, ha! And once the jotun heard that one of the swan people had approved of Elizaveta and her pants, well, that was the end of that! They let humans be, and diminished, and became lesser so that humans could be all the more--

All because a clever fox pointed a swan prince at Elizaveta the seamstress!

THE END!

Okay, now that we're done with that, let's talk about...

"Finley the Fox!"

Once upon a time, back when there wasn't even a sun in the sky and there weren't no Horizon either, there was a handsome fox goes by the name of Finley. He was pretty and magic and didn't have the sense of a piece of toast. He was always walking into pits and getting his ears pinched by little kids and going all nuts over fried tofu, but it was okay, because he was super pretty. Like, just so pretty! The prettiest.

One day, it's a super foggy day, and Finley's walking about, and it's so thick that he can't even see where he's putting his feet, but that's okay, he says to himself, because if I step in something I shouldn't, I'll just hop back out and be fine. So he meanders around looking for something nice to eat, only when the sun comes out and the fog melts, he realizes that he's wandered right out of town and he's been standing on the waves of Big Lake this whole time, only without the fog to keep him from realizing that he's standing on it, he falls right in, and he starts to panic, because he can't swim! I mean, what fox would ever need to swim, am I right?

So that would have been the end of Finley, and the water would have swallowed him up and he'd be stuck down on the bottom of the lake with all the witches, only the Hiryuu happened to be sailing by, and the captain of the Hiryuu saw Finley flailing and getting his sleeves all wet and she dived right in smooth as a stone and scooped him up, only by that time he'd been half-drowned, and only that stopped him from flailing about so much that he would have drowned them both! So she hauls herself up back onto the Hiryuu and she realizes Finley's got half the lake in his lungs, so she starts kissing the breath back into him, on account of Finley being breathtakingly pretty. And she manages to replace the lake water in his lungs with air, and wraps her coat around him, and then scolded him for an hour and fifteen minutes for being fool enough to end up in the middle of the lake without knowing how to swim.

And Finley, who'd never had anyone scold him before, seeing as he was too pretty for that sort of thing, asked her out on a tea-date on the spot once she stopped to catch her breath, with his tail wagging and his ears all perky like this! He had it bad, Rinley did. And to be close to Fortitude and its docks, close enough that he'd always know when the Hiryuu was coming in from all the worlds beyond Big Lake, and so have a tofu stir fry ready and hot and waiting for his captain, he moved into this old Jotun building up on Maple Hill.

And ever since, we Yatskaya, the children of Finley the Fox and Captain Tomiko Yatskaya, we've had something of the fox to us! Nowadays, it's not so much-- I'm the first one in a great big while to get the ears and the tail. Whoops, spoilers! But there's still the stone foxes out front of the shrine reminding us about Finley, and the scenes on the sliding doors, and of course, the statue of Rinley down at the foot of the hill.

THE END!

Which brings us back to...

"Rinley Stops the Pirates, Unpause!"

So Rinley's asleep under the apple tree with his ears all perked up and his tail tucked into his belt. He's been up to no good, Rinley has, and he's got the apple juices smeared all over his chin. And what with the red ears, and the smell of apples, and his red shirt, when a couple of short-sighted pirates came up, they mistook him for an apple! So they tossed him in a bucket with a bunch of other apples and took him back to the ships. So when Rinley wakes up, he's alone on a pirate ship— really, more of a pirate canoe, the young captain being in a bit of an economic downturn at the moment at hand— and there's him with nothing to do and an itch to be that most terrible thing of all: helpful!

He sees that the sails of the pirate ships are all raggedy and unraveley, and Rinley says to himself: well, that just won't do! So he takes out his needle and thread and starts sewing them back together. The only thing is, though, Rinley got too excited about being helpful, and he stopped noticing where one sail ended and another began.

So when the pirates come back with their ill-gotten booty, they find Rinley there rocking on his heels with his hands on his hips, grinning at what a fine job he'd done, sewing those sails all back up. The young captain runs up, tearing at his hair, and asks Rinley: what have you done to my rusted sails? Rinley rolls his eyes and says, no need for language like that, it's a patch job at best, don't even need to thank me, I'm embarrassed about it really, just happened to have my needle and thread at hand and a bit of time to burn, you know how it goes. And the captain jumps up and down and swears by the Headmaster and the kaiju of the lake and all sorts of things, because Rinley's sewed all the ships' sails together, such that one crosswind's going to flip them all over like ninepins!

So the pirates start trying to pull all the stitches out while the captain shakes Rinley like a scarecrow, only, the thing is, they're Rinley's stitches, so you couldn't pull them out unless you knew just the right way to pull them! So eventually the captain has to admit defeat, and he has his pirates all give the booty back to the people of Fortitude, because he thinks Rinley's done this on purpose. Then he gets down on his knees and begs Rinley to pull those stitches back out!

And Rinley, he taps his nose and says, I know how it goes! You gotta do it yourself and all, don't want my measly old patch job holding up doing a proper fix-up job of it. Well, don't let it ever be said that Rinley Yatskaya stood between someone and doing something the right way, he says to the captain, and takes an old shoe-horn he had to hand and uses it to yank all the stitches back out at once. Only, the great whoosh of all those stitches coming out at once made the sails all fly away across the lake! Now, they happened to settle down on Little Island, and to this day, if you watch the clouds carefully, you can see the wild sails still blowing by, the great-grandchildren of all those sails Rinley set free that day!

Then the captain, he admitted defeat, and settled down in Fortitude with all his crew, leaving Rinley to scratch his head and wonder at the nonsense of the new neighbors.

THE END!

Okay. One more. Right back to the beginning!

"Rinley the Shrine Maiden!"

Where was I? Perfect little girl, parents named her Rinley, and of course that meant trouble, right? Because she wasn't more than eight years old than one day she wakes up and yawns and shuffles outside to the pump to splash water in her face, only she happens to shamble right past her big standing mirror as she's going by and she sees her ears twitch like this! Twitch, twitch!

Only, you know, she's a Yatskaya, this Rinley is, so of course I say to myself— spoilers, it's me! Surprise! I say to myself, oh, I guess I was dreaming about being a fox, because I'm imagining I've got those oh-so-fluffy fox ears! That's the sort of thing you can do at my house, you know. It's hard to tell, sometimes, when you're asleep and when you're awake and when you're just kinda... zoned out, y'know, and you've forgotten you're daydreaming about something and you just say to yourself, huh, guess I've always been Sailor Moon now. Except you're not, not really, because you were just dreaming about it!

I guess it took me three days to realize that, no, I actually did have the ears? Maybe longer. I think once the cats started licking them, and I curled up in a ball all giggles because it tickled, stop it, that's when I figured that I really did have them, I guess? The tail came later!

Anyway, that's when I knew my Destiny!

That's right! You're lucky enough to know someone with a capital D Destiny! Lucky you!

My Destiny...

Is to be the Rinleyest Rinley ever!

Think about it! It's been too quiet around here these days! If there isn't someone around who can sew pirate ships together without even thinking about it, who can catch the moon when the jotun accidentally knock it down, who can invent new condiments without even trying, we'll all fall asleep out of sheer boredom! It's gotta be, right? Why else would I get the name and the ears and the tail? It's Destiny! It's gotta be!

Only I want to go see the fireworks tonight down by the lake, which is hardly enough time at all to figure out how to set sail in this acorn. I may have to spend all week on this one! But it'll work, trust me, once I figure out where to attach the rudder.

It'll work, or my name isn't Rinley Yatskaya!

Hey, wanna be an official sidekick? I need someone to get kidnapped by pirates for me so I can rustle up a ransom out of autumn leaves, and none of the cats back home will cooperate with me on this one. C'moooooon! It comes with a weekly Adventure Allowance and everything! I promise, it'll be great!

And if you don't want to be my sidekick, weeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeell...

I'll tell your crush you like her!

That's right!

Blackmail, the Rinley Yatskaya way~!

What do you mean, how do I know about that? A girl has her means! So anyway, you in, or what?

Oh, right! I almost forgot!

THE END!

(Or......... THE BEGINNING??)

Rinley Yatskaya, The Troublemaker!
Academics Skill: Good!
Sports Skill: Exceptional!
Favorite Foods: Fish! Sea monsters! Fried tofu! Red bean dumplings!
Blood Type: O-.
Animal: Fox! Like, duuuuuh.

Rinley is a GIRL who is part of the YATSKAYA FAMILY! She's THE SAME AGE as you all, and ALSO A FOX.
Her favorite scenes are...
...getting into mischief!
...spying on people!
...poking around and exploring new places!
...and trying to figure out new impossible things to do, and how to do them!

quests

Storytime!
9-XP Quest. Keywords: RED CHIBI.
Mark XP whenever you dramatically declare that it’s storytime. Upon completion, gain a recharge token.

***

Up-to-Date!
15-XP Quest. Keywords: RED.
Mark XP whenever you prompt someone to tell you more about news or gossip around town.

***

Adventure GET!
21-XP Quest. Keywords: RED ARC.
3 XP Markers:

• trouble starts or gets much worse in a well-staged way
• someone rescues you
• you stand in a shadowed place and tell someone a secret, then run away before they can react

1 XP Markers:

• sneak somewhere you shouldn’t go
• risk trouble by digging into somebody’s secrets
• drag others into their affairs or arrange their lives for them
• propose a theory about the underlying situation you’re in
• tell someone a story related to the underlying situation you’re in
• get into trouble trying to help somebody else
• risk trouble in the name of adventure!

Emotion XP: “RINLEY NO”
For when you...
...declare that you have a GREAT plan, or
...pop up in the middle of somebody’s business to make things about you, or
...make yourself vulnerable to something or someone that is obviously going to hurt you in the end, or
...when you make a terrible pun and then pull a smug or overly innocent face, or
...when you start booking it after having done Something.
It’s like having a younger sibling who likes to get into mischief, or a pet cat. A lot like having a pet cat, actually.

Connections!
The Yatskayas 2
Prince Eduard 2
Dulcinea 1
Jasper 1
Mila 1

Skills!
Storytelling 2
Legends 1
Fox [Perception] Magic 2
Cat-Speaker 2
Superior Dreamer 1

Powers!

• I can travel anywhere if I set my mind to it, and always have some extra Adventurer's Allowance!
• I know when bad things are happening to wishes and dreams; like if the Headmaster of the Bleak Academy decided to make it impossible to wish for anything, I'd know all about it before he even finished the thought!
• I can make ideas really plausible or implausible, just by wanting them to be like that!
• I can tell when other people are chasing their dreams, and when people are going to be important to my story!
• I can talk directly to people's wishing hearts, and have a... heart-to-heart~
• I can make people's dreams easier to reach, and also make the consequences of not chasing after them really scary! >:3c
• I can do impossible stuff on-camera if I really push myself, though usually I just do it off-camera and tell you all about it later.
• I can attract wish spirits if I really push myself!
• I can make wishes fail and crash if I need to, though it gives me the worst headache. >____<
• If I think really really really hard I can usually remember something a little extra about any story at all!
• If I use aaaaaaaaaall the power in my wishing heart, I can do stuff like change people's destinies or swap their bodies around like Freaky Friday!
• Also, I always look like me. Like the me I really want to be! What with my gorgeous flower crown that's always in bloom, and my white blouse with the fancy lace and the long poofy sleeves, and my red swishy pants with the hole for my tail!
• Also also, I have some fox magic! I am super good at seeing and hearing and smelling things, I can always slip right out of being tied up so don't even try, and I usually know where dogs are, especially the small yappy dogs that jump on your legs and bark so much. If I push a little, I can do fun things like making my voice sound like wind or coins or fire, or making people who aren't paying attention see and hear the stuff I want them to! Though usually I just end up entertaining myself and not really doing anything useful, doing stuff like that.
• Also also also, I can talk to cats! They don't really talk back, but they do know what I'm saying and understand me and sometimes I can even talk them into doing things for me or warning me about things, though if they knew I was friends with Prince Eduard, they'd probably be really mad at me, right? And I'm just really cat-like, super great at acrobatics and stunts and looking like I actually meant to fall down the stairs, so there.

Masks: Resurrection Roundabout

“ARE YOU KIDDING ME??”

Sara puts her hands on her hips and offers the death glare to end all death glares. Smoke curls off of her in languorous helixes (the suit jacket that made the final cut made “smoky grey” very, very literal). The pins pushed through her bun are the splash of color, both of them made of stained glass, in a nod to her superhero aesthetic, while everything else is “dapper duchess of Hell,” from the lace gloves to the sleek black Oxfords. She’s the fallen angel made good, even at her own wedding.

“Do you have any idea how little I need this right now? Put those guns down, you little—“

She stops, smooths down her hair, takes a deep breath. Count to five. Think about Euna’s smile.

“Hey, sorry,” she starts again. “I get the gesture, I didn’t mean to lose my cool. Thanks for showing up, Dommy, I was worried when you didn’t RSVP. It’s a little late for this, though; you really should have done the whole fake kidnapping shtick at my bachelorette’s.”

Fellowship: The Heart

Lucien!

The creature comes to a halt bare centimeters from your ankle, still slavering. It then puts its paws firmly on your trousers and starts clawing its way up you, sniffling and snuffling. From this distance, you can see that it’s as hairy as a mop, and has at least six gripping limbs. And, for that matter, a pointed nose like a weasel. And teeth like a saw. If it decides to clamp down on somewhere sensitive, you’re in danger of losing it for good.

The patrons are staring grimly at you with those pale, bulging eyes, and it doesn’t take you long to realize why. Behind the bar is a pinboard covered in pale red rat tails. (Some of them bear delicate scales, like that of a lizard.) This creature is a ratter, whatever it is. And the smell of Ailee is driving it wild. You’ve got very little time in order to convince the proprietor that Ailee is not a rat, that the ratter should please be called off, and that you require help removing it from your person because it’s just been enchanted, before it decides to sink its teeth into the seat of your trousers, or worse.

***

Ailee!

Fascinating, isn’t it? Maybe if you wait, you’ll find out more about what this thing does when it’s curious about something.

***

Coleman!

The Flood pulls machinery off walls and tears down ruins and eats everything in its path. That means the junk’s materials of the Heart, touched by the Flood, useful for all sorts of things. Most practically, since you don’t want someone to fall achingly in love with an unattainable ideal or drown on their own spit, is that by sympathy you might be able to trick the Flood into thinking Sasha’s already part of her, or one of her worshippers. Adorn her in nets and set her out on a barge, and you might get through without any trouble.

As for the Beasts? This is a lull period for them; most are gathered to drink, with some careful sentries perched on their wagons or cleaning junk or drawing up their nets. By and large they’ve been marked by the flood, most looking like overgrown catfish or frogs, no matter what sort of critter they used to be; their horns are small nubs or coral-like prongs. The Powers of the Heart don’t much care for stagnation in the face of their overwhelming nature.

Meekness is the wrong approach; they’ll assume you want to join them as a petitioner. Polite assertion; make clear you mean to pass through, having given and taken in equal measure.

***

Jackdaw!

The word is market.

Each net belongs to a Beast. This means that each Beast interested in barter has a stall connected to their wagon. Ring the bell and summon the proprietor if you want to make a deal.

As for what’s hidden... well, certain wagons have more than one purpose! That big, oval one, for example: that’s a communal tavern. That one with a cog and hammer hung over the door: that’s a tinker-den. That warped and water-soaked one: that’s a shrine to the Flood, and outside it are strips of paper and pages nailed to the slats and skinned spines hung like gruesome trophies, their lettering washed away.

There’s got to be something left, right? Because otherwise this is just a horrid waste of paper and intention and words. You causally sidle away from Sasha and start pawing through ruined pages, and soon enough you’re noticing the pattern. The intentional streaking of ink. The swirling coils. The dreadful dark.

You are loved. You are alone. Come to my arms. Fill your pockets and come as you are.

In me the drowned are loved forever.

It doesn’t make you take leave of your senses, but it hooks in you and won’t leave. In me the drowned are loved forever. The water caresses the shore, lying against the stones like a lover. In me the drowned are loved forever. You ache with the need to be held, to be in Her embrace, to slough away worries and flesh and loneliness—

A bead of water drops on your nose, making you squeak. The pages are dizzying to look at now.

Masks: Resurrection Roundabout

POTENTIAL 2

Sara shrieks with laughter, doubling over and making high nasal squeaks and generally being ridiculous, before straightening up and fixing Locker with a dangerous, unhinged look.

“How dare you imitate me, you pathetic wannabe,” she sneers. “I already know what I’m going to do: I’m going to pretend I’m the fusion of Jack the Ripper and Moriarty, and do my best to try and make you stab yourself with my mind. Because I’m from the edge dimension where our outfits have to be black, spiky, and horrifically overwrought. Now I’m going to kill you.”

And she grabs him and pulls him in for an edgy, merciless noogie.

Princess-Champions of Hyperborea

Adila!

The engine room is filled with more gold. The engine that keeps you afloat is a huge, sprawling, hulking thing, made by goblin artifice, bound with the magic of the winds, and then decorated by Jedadi sensibilities; the levers and runes are so bejeweled, an enterprising thief could get away with stripping it down and then live like a queen for the rest of her life. And it's here that you find Hornet, wearing a simple leather apron and her goggles, disassembling the engine. She's got her tools spread out on the floor, her spiky hair covered by a handkerchief, and her arms are elbow-deep in the mechanisms as she tries to... well, presumably improve it. Or add a turbo mode. Or make it powered by applause. Who ever knows what Hornet's thinking?

When you enter, she stiffens, but doesn't otherwise acknowledge you. She picks up a wrench and starts loosening a bolt holding a panel over the crystal matrix, her cow-tail agitatedly twitching. And that's it. Grim silence. Not even an invitation to BEHOLD, or a victorious cackle, or a request to hold one of her tools for her. Maybe it's because she knows she was caught in the act of messing with the thing keeping you up in the air while you're up in the air.

She defiantly pulls the panel off and shoves it at you.

***

Alina!

"When we get married, do you think we'll do the summer-and-winter?" Rita can't even look at you when she says it. She's got her little hands in her lap and her cheeks are red and she's studying the window so, so intently. And her question... she's suggesting an old tradition for married queens. Summer in one kingdom, winter in the other. But how she says it! Like it's not even a question that you're going to get married. Of course you are. Of course you are. "Because, um, I know you always liked summer back home, and I love seeing Ilumina in the snow, and... and I do need to go home, but... mew!"

She shrinks in on herself and becomes a beautiful, sleek cat again, and wiggles into the blankets on the bed, all of her courage used up in the question. In a moment, only her twitching tail is visible. It's so cute. But you're already trying not to melt on the spot, aren't you?

You're already imagining waking up on a balmy summer morning with incense hanging in the air, in that Askaian glow which suggests your dreams will come true before your very eyes, holding your Rita in your arms as you lie on a bamboo mat together. You're imagining snowball fights with your wife in a proper Iluminan winter, and any memories of the Rider occupation would be soothed by her laughter and the sight of her bundled up in a giant poofy coat. You're imagining proposing, right here, right now. Aren't you?

***

Kazelia!

"It would be a shame to waste your father's wedding preparations, you know." Kyouko's suddenly there, smiling so smugly. She wraps her tail around your forearms and taps her fan underneath your chin. "How would you like to be married by the High Queen herself? I'll show you the glories of a Konkon wedding: how you'll hop so gracefully down the aisle, how the High Queen will look so radiant in her harness, how you'll be prodded by the traditional bamboo spears, how I'll shower you in cherry blossoms after you're asked if you'll submit to me in happiness and misfortune alike and you nod your agreement..." She laughs, holding one hand up to the side of her mouth, and it's hard to tell whether she's just trying to get a rise out of you, flirting in her people's way, or actually proposing.

That's when you notice the figure standing on the tea platform at the very top of Argossa. You jerk the wheel desperately to one side, knowing that it's already too late. This thing maneuvers like a lazy cow, and all of your maneuvers have to be planned well in advance. It's already useless. Which means you need to get Azora to do something. Or announce it over the ship's speakers so that everyone has a chance to brace themselves.

He's supposed to be preparing the wedding!

***

Oberon.

The wind kisses your hair as you stand beneath the storm. Your storm; you conjured it up using the Seven-Tempest Horn. The sun and moon will not be interrupting your wedding to your beautiful beloved, and neither will these frustrating princesses. At every turn they defy you and tie your plans in knots, and you are tired of indulging them. Coddling them. Letting them remain unpunished for their misbehavior.

You draw back the string of Blinding, and the eclipse-bow groans terribly. Even this terrible weapon cannot withstand your titanic strength, stolen from the Grandmothers of Devilhome. You will have to strike true; you will only have the one shot. Already, the pilot is attempting to turn aside, but it's useless. You are Oberon Greymane, the Hunter in the Dark, the King of the Riders, immortal and invulnerable, new king of this pathetic world.

You let fly, and Blinding splinters into a dozen quivering pieces in your hands. The eclipse-shot howls out, and strikes the airship dead on; for a moment, there is a terrible thirsty silence, and then a vast explosion of hungry darkness undoes the ship, causing rips and rents in metal and fabric alike, unweaving every part of artifice, stunning those inside and taking their senses. Debris begins to fall, a confused cloud of raw materials and furnishings and limp bodies.

You turn, and proceed down the stairs. You will tell Cassian to have the constructs gather up any fortunate survivors, if there even are any. Knowing the luck of these wretched princesses, there will be. But even this will be for your glory.

After all, you still have room for bridesmaids in the ceremony.

Fellowship: The Heart

I’ve been incubating this post since Wednesday

Fellowship: The Heart

Coleman, Jackdaw!

The word is flotsam.

The waters are so still that if you squint, you can almost trick yourself into thinking that there’s nothing but a glass plain between you and the Tyrian Spire. Flies the size of pocket-watches hover here and there, and the shores of the Flood here are choked with rusted, mildewed junk, caught in nets of thin wire and thick linen ropes. Not that any of those are yours for the taking: the nets and everything dredged up from the Flood belongs to the salvage-caravan of Beasts here. All around you, their wagons and tents squat, decorated with iron charms and net-charms and icons of the Flood made from glass and her waters; if you want supplies, you’ll either have to deal with them or go well out of your way to dredge something up from the Flood yourself — and she’s less likely to let you get away with all your fingers.

This is a problem, because Sasha needs Floodproofing. It’s either figure out a way to get the egg across without being lost underneath her placid waters, or pull up stakes and take your chances with the Houses of Parliament, which is a much more perilous route.

***

Ailee, Lucien!

As soon as you step into the cramped wagon, the door low enough to make Lucien duck underneath, all eyes turn to you. The locals are somewhat piscine in appearance; their eyes are large and pale, their whiskers droop in a manner reminiscent of catfish, and their fur is slick and dark, sticking close to their bodies. The smell suggests the drinks here are stale and watery, but only a fool turns down a chance to refill their canteens in the Heart.

Then a small, slavering thing the size of a terrier bursts out from behind a stack of crates and propels itself at high speed, all four paws tucked into its body as it leaps, shooting like a cannonball right at Ailee’s torso. This thing is a missile of pure bloody-minded intent, emphasis on bloody.

Princess-Champions of Hyperborea

Princess-Champions of Hyperborea!

FINALE: The Wedding!

Princesses!

The Pear isn't as cutting-edge as Eska's airship, but it's luxurious and equipped with everything you might need to save Hyperborea. Outside of the golden portholes, snow swirls.

It hasn't stopped snowing in the past day. Not since you woke up after the best sleepover in the history of sleepovers, and saw heavy, dark clouds blotting out the sky, and snowdrifts being cleared away by giddy denizens of the Bazaar, who saw it as money falling out of the sky. Maybe they'd change their mind if it never stopped. But it's going to stop. That's what you're here to do.

Even from this distance, you can see the dark veins of exposed crystal heartwood in Argossa. Oberon has done something to the very heart of the world, and Ourania... hasn't stopped him. That means you have to assume the worst. And you have to hit him hard and fast before he can... you have to assume the wards are down. Probably. It's going to be a very short flight if they're still up.

The CREW ROSTER of the Pear includes:

• CAPTAIN Adila II
• FIRST MATE Kazelia Swiftlance
• CHIEF ENGINEER Hornet
• COOK Dandelion
• CHIEF RATTER Rita von Catabas
• QUARTERMASTER Kyouko
• CHIEF OF O-PEAR-ATIONS Alina Cascade, Who Did Not Pick The Name
• SHIP'S SORCERESS Azora Howl
• CHIEF OF SECURITY Jessamine Cascade

What preparations are you all making during the last estimated hour of approach?

Princess-Champions of Hyperborea

Adila!

When you come back to the House of Hospitality, the world is vivid all around you. The soft sigh of the wind, the rustling of the leaves in the courtyard, the washed-out colors under the moonlight... some moments you know you're going to remember for the rest of your life. There are thin places where your timestream touches your heart, where past and future meet and there is only an eternal moment you can come back to, over and over again.

Some of them are terrible, like the moment you choked on Oberon's hands as his cold fingers clenched around your heart. But more are like this moment, in which all things are impressing themselves upon you, important in their existence. So much is just waves on the shore, broken and washed away, but moments like these are stable. Maybe one day you will be in the midst of something completely different, something you could never imagine right now, but in that moment you will blink and then suddenly be here again, hearing the sound of delighted laughter.

You wander closer to it, returning to your gangly teens: an age for laughter and showing off and being included. Alina's high, clear laugh, like the peal of a bell, sneaks out underneath the door. Then you hear Kyouko's snooty laugh, likely with a hand held close to her mouth, and a low, sultry chuckle you don't recognize. The desire to be included burns brightly in your young heart, and you knock on the door.

It's only a moment before it's swung open wide by Kazelia's magic. There, on the floor, on scattered cushions, sit a bunch of princesses in varying levels of distress, with a pack of Askaian Tarot sitting dead in the center. They're playing Peril Poker, the game of dares and bluffs and scarves, which you have never ever ever been good at. But there's something about tonight...

"Hey," Rita chirps. She's lying on the bed, head dangling off the foot, next to Alina, who's wearing the cutest little Askaian outfit (with floral embroidery, and pompoms on her skirt, and cat-ear stockings!). Then she actually gets a look at you. Everyone sits up a little straighter as you enter the room, large but fitting perfectly, and take a seat next to Kazelia.

+Deal me in.+

***

Prince Cassian!

This really should have been Azora's job. The rank unfairness of it all is worrying at you like a small and very disagreeable puppy. The Amulet of Sarcosis lying on your chest is a dull, aching weight, and you just know you're going to have a monstrous headache at the end of all this. But it's necessary for Father to have his army. His last army. It's just you, him, and a bunch of rancid magical sea crabs, here at the end of everything.

This wasn't the plan. This wasn't the plan at all. Azora was supposed to come back with the magical doohickey, deliver it to Father, and then he would march into Argossa through a magical portal and an army of Riders at his back, to deliver his proposal to the High Queen more forcefully. But everything kept getting pared away from that plan, the army and the portal and the flower decorations, and now you're stuck on the Folding Ship of Frossa with a whimpering witch tied to the mast and your Father's entire arsenal hidden below decks, and an entire armada of hideous black crab shells swimming after you.

Father sniffs the air, and then twitches a finger. The ship comes to a dead stop. +Stop, you idiots,+ you growl out to the Garthim, and as one they fall still, bobbing in the waves like awful jetsam. You examine your nails, leaning against the railing, while Father begins dragging magic out of the screaming witch. Ugh. She's loud. Why didn't he use one of those gags that are so dreadfully common here? Probably because it's more fun this way, but he's not the one with a leaden weight on his chest and a direct line to a bunch of braindead constructs, now is he?

Ahead of the ship, wards begin bursting apart like fireworks, and the ship lurches forward. +Follow!+ No sooner do you give the order than an arrow made entirely of light hisses past your face, lodging in a bulkhead as you squeal and drop to the deck. +PROTECT ME!+

Garthim surge forwards onto the jetty-- is it a jetty? A dock? The place where the boat stops. But that just gives you feedback bursting through your skull as they begin to be blasted apart by the half-dozens. Father can you please do something about that? On cue, he raises a knife to the witch's throat. "Ourania, my dearest," he says, over your dignified groans. "Drop your silly weapons. That's no way to greet your future husband." His voice becomes harsher, and you flinch on instinct. "Do it before I lose patience."

You don't even register the clatter of metal on the dock until Father nudges you with his boot. You get one nudge, and so you gather your rattled wits. +Seize her!+ Garthim claws close around her, and it's almost like holding her yourself. You get a sense of... not exhaustion. Someone recovering from a cold, maybe, and still tired and dizzy. But it's enough to hold her.

Father smiles, and that's your cue to poke your head up and provide a backup smile at the haughty, arrogant woman. Her jaw's set so defiantly, even surrounded by those stupid stinking crabs, and if anyone else but your Father was standing against her... well, maybe you'd be a little scared. But who cares? You've won! "Now. Let's discuss the wedding arrangements, love."