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Here's some translated character profiles for the Four Heroes from Rays!

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What the hell is this new dashboard layout?

(never mind how many places I had to look to even find my sideblogs)

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This is part one of my Tales Secret Santa gift for @prettysailormimi - I hope you like it! <3

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Day 20 - Favorite Pairing: Yuan & Martel

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my illustration for the yuan zine from way back

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Fanfic Writer Ask Game

These are always fun so I wanted to make one! Reblog this and let others send you an ask based on any of these emojis/questions:

❤️ What is your favorite line that you’ve written in a fic?

💥 What is one canon thing that you wish you could change?

✨️ Out of the comments you’ve received on your fics, what are two or three of your favorites?

👻 What is your wildest headcanon?

✍️ What’s your ideal writing setup?

🚀 Do you like to outline your fic first or create as you go?

🎁 Have a piece of a WIP you want to share?

🏷 Is there a tag you like to search for when looking for fanfics to read?

⏰️ Do you like to post fics on a schedule or at random?

👓 What helps you focus when you write?

💕 What is your favorite fic that you’ve written?

🐇 Do you write for yourself, for others, or both?

🥳 Why did you start writing fanfic?

🦋 Which character is your favorite to write?

🦈 Which character is the toughest to write?

🍬 Do you write for multiple fandoms? If yes, what is your favorite fic of yours for each fandom?

🌻 How often do you read your own fics?

📗 Do you want to write something outside of fanfiction? If so, what about?

🎬 If a movie or show were based on your fic, which fic would you choose and who would you fancast?

💭 What inspires you and your writing?

🧪 Do you research for your fics?

😎 What fics do you prefer on a scale of canon compliant to wildly original?

💎 Do you often write about a relationship or focus on an individual?

🔥 Have you included any sexy scenes in your fics? If yes, do you find them easy or difficult to write?

💘 Is it easier to write angst or fluff?

🚦What sort of endings do you prefer to write: ambiguous, bad, happily ever after, etc.?

💡How many WIPs do you currently have?

🔎 Does anyone beta read or edit your fics?

📚 Is there a fanfic or fanfic writer you recommend?

🤩 What led to your interest in the fandom?

🤖 Are non-fandom friends aware that you write fanfic?

💛 What is the most impactful lesson you’ve learned about writing?

👑 Do you like writing short fics or long fics?

🎯 Do you have a writing milestone you’re working towards?

🔮 Any advice for writers working through burnout or writer’s block?

🤔 Would you ever want to write something canon if you got the opportunity?

💌 Is there a favorite trope you like to write?

🎨 If someone were to make fanart of your work, what fic or scene would you hope to see?

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Doodle

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Get to Know the Mun!

what’s your phone wallpaper: This piece I commissioned of Anne and Rodrigue.

last song you listened to: ...Colm McGuinness’ cover of the Chemical Worker’s Song? I think?

currently reading: An original copy of the 1942 Nancy Drew book Quest of the Missing Map.

last movie: .................Three Musketeers? It was a while ago.

last show: The Modern Rogue. We’re going to have to count youtube on this one, I haven’t watched TV in literal years.

what are you wearing right now: Blue plaid skirt and a purple t-shirt that says “silently correcting your grammar.”

piercings/tattoos?: Nope.

glasses? contacts?: Glasses 110% of the time.

last thing you ate?: A “sticky toffee pudding” scone from the little cafe in my town, mostly because @ninthcompanion and I were both curious about it XD

favorite color(s): Purple and teal

current obsession: ...honestly??? Being home at last from that long, long work trip. Oh my God, I’m so glad to be home and have a day off. It’s been three weeks. My brain is full of static and I have accepted that today, I will do Absolutely Nothing Useful.

favorite fictional character: Aside the obvious, yes? Lucius from FE7, Rodrigue from FE:3H.

Tagged by: @broadswordandpistol

Tagging: Anyone who wants it, and anyone who is also in enough of a brain fog that it will take them five tries to focus on XD

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Where should you be kissed?

palm.

you give and give. you are a gentle heart, broken but still standing... always lending a hand for those who need it, expecting nothing in return. you deserve someone taking your hand and kissing your open palm, the hands which have selflessly helped so many others.

“...”

Martel always loved his hands. Callused, and sometimes rough, but always gentle with her. This is...more accurate than he would like to to be. Though it was usually his fingertips or his knuckles that she would kiss.

Tagged By: stole it from @generalzelgius​ because I was going to do it for Lehran, and then...got sidetracked XD

Tagging: Anyone who wants it!

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mithosofcruxis​:

Even if he could hide the shock on his face, he didn’t think he’d be able to. It wasn’t often that Yuan yelled at him like this. Sure, there were some times when he had instigated it. Some of those times he may have even deserved it. And he hadn’t thought that this time would have been one of those times.

Yggdrasill tried often to make sure he was planning clearly and thoroughly. As always, Yuan had the tact to wait until everyone left the room before going off on his tirade. He heard the words once. Replayed them in his mind a second time. After a moment he leaned forward, resting his elbows on his thighs and rubbing a temple with one of his free hands. He deserved this berating. Yuan was right. He had gotten hasty. Cocky, even, thinking that he’d been one easy step closer to winning over the Renegade through saving his mother. He’d forgotten that the Renegade liked being as such. He wasn’t likely to see his actions as anything other than malicious.

He lost what little remaining bit of composure he had when Yuan brought up the dream.

So. He did know. Yggdrasill had been going off of the fact that those things could be right, not that they actually were. His mother had been a fluke. One he didn’t think would pay off. Did he dare explore what the rest of that meant? He wanted to operate off of the assumption that all humans were bad. They couldn’t possibly be so much like him. So likeable. So close to, maybe, friendship.

“The means to the dream do not matter,” he said quietly. He’d lost his breath. His eyes were darting back and forth as he tried to sort out what to do next. Should he course correct? He already had the woman here, and Alvin already knew things about him that he hadn’t shared for…he couldn’t remember how long.

“All that matters is that I play my next moves very, very carefully.” He looked up at Yuan after a spell, something akin to desperation on his face. “I apologize for doubting you, Yuan. Given your speech I should have known you would want to move things carefully as well. But he knows too much.” And gave Yggdrasill too many feelings about…everything.

“What would you suggest as a next step?”

Impossible. Impossible. He’d lost his temper in no uncertain terms, raised his voice, sworn on Martel’s grave, and called Yggdrasill by his proper name--and...not gotten so much as a papercut for it?

Talk about being handed a bar of gold and having the presence of mind to reply “thank you, I’ve been expecting this.”

So, the dreams didn’t matter after all. The nonsense with the cards, trying to determine if the tome really did carry any mind-altering capabilities, had been completely pointless. Leave it to Yggdrasill to make him do mental gymnastics to even figure out what he was conducting an interrogation about, and then decide it was a moot point.

Put that irritation down for another time. There were more pressing matters.

What would he suggest? Presumably besides the obvious answers of ‘not committing genocide’ and ‘think for two seconds and tell me with a straight face that you think Martel would take this sitting down.’ He was not going to squander this opportunity to mitigate the damage.

“First, I would treat that woman like a damn goddess,” Yuan said. “Afford her every respect and courtesy you would your sister. You need her to be happy and safe before that Renegade--Alvin, and I am apparently not to forget it--will even think about lending you any aid whatsoever.

“Secondly, I would think very carefully on how to inform him that his mother is here in Welgaia. Framing it as a rescue would be an ideal place to start. If you want me to do it, I will--after I fit those other two Renegades with their...jewelry.”

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broadswordandpistol​:

mithosofcruxis​:

The angel remained unperturbed at the reprimand, simply bowing at the order and leaving the room in a whisper of feathers. His wings flapped mechanically once he was free of the hall. Passing his kin, the other Superior Beings, he made his way to the throne room.

It was in that room that Yggdrasill regarded the human before him. Pronyma had done well finding the base so quickly. It made him wonder why they hadn’t been able to find them sooner. What tactic hadn’t they been implementing that had gotten these results? Or was it the look in his eyes that all but he could see that had given his Cardinals such urgency in the matter?

She looked like the Renegade. It was odd to him that someone so strong could be related to someone so frail, so in need of protection that they would turn to a Renegade. It was due to that frailty that he’d ordered the woman be handled delicately. It had earned a indignant comment guised as concern from Pronyma, to which he had told her this human could help them topple the whole of the Renegade operation.

She’d been blessedly silent after that.

“Lord Yuan advises he shall arrive forthwith, Lord Yggdrasill,” The messenger angel reported.

“Dismissed,” was Yggdrasill’s reply.

He stood and regarded the aging human woman before him. It almost looked like she could blow away at any minute from just a beat of his wings. He couldn’t help but recall the dream, and what Alvin had said about the broken-minded woman.

“She’s been frail for as long as I can remember, and some of the things the doctors tried out to help her didn’t work so well.”

He would imagine it wouldn’t, now that he was looking at her. He had never been as good a healer as Sis was, but he could tell that her Exsphere was causing her trouble. The host did not seem to be strong enough to handle the physical toll of the power that ate at her.

The exsphere looked strangely familiar as well.

He thought, while watching her look around the room in concern, that sick animals should be euthanized. What was keeping him from doing so? It was an easy mercy to give to filth. And yet he remembered the details of the dream. A great cook. The kindest person he knew. A mother that loved her son.

“It is best this prisoner not know what happens here,” he said after a moment of regarding her. “Give her an attending angel, see to meals and cleanliness thrice daily for her. Give her an angel that still has emotions, she may need emotional support as well. She shall stay in the unused medical bay in Welgaia.

"After that we shall connect her to the machines that facilitate physical activity. Yuan shall have several projects to keep him occupied…a fact I am positive he shall enjoy hearing once he finally arrives.”

@mithosofcruxis​ @lightning-of-kharlan​

As Yggdrasill finished speaking, the woman turned her head toward him. Her eyes were gentle when they met his, a blushed maroon two shades warmer than Alvin’s.  

“Thomas?” she asked, her voice soft and surprisingly pure. “Did your mother want to see me? I thought you were coming for dinner at our house tonight. I can’t stay long or the stew will burn, and I know how much you and Alfred were looking forward to it.”

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“Thanks for your generosity, Lord Yuan.” It was all Alvin could do to lace the words with a bit of spite, to keep the pretense and take the edge off the shock. Triet. His mother. Alive.

How many of his friends had died, that Yggdrasill could secure his mom? How many more would, as that monster tried to tear the Renegades apart with Alvin as his weapon?

He slid down in the chair as Yuan left the room. The food on the table had rapidly cooled, and nothing seemed edible now, anyway. He got himself another mug of water, and wished the Great Spirits would turn the damn pitcher into bourbon.

No such relief came, of course. Under his shock bloomed a shimmering finger of rage and despair.

He had the cards. He flipped through them, his mind refusing to settle. Distraction wasn’t enough. He needed more.

The books. Yuan had said there was something about Yggdrasill in the books. Any ammunition was better than none. He dragged them over, and began to read. Sharp. Fast. And on a mission.

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May I be the first to recommend this exquisite mug? Get them while they last!

Redbubble

For those who are unaware, Redbubble is introducing a tier system for sellers starting May 1st. Monthly earnings for a seller will have a “fee” taken from them, hitting smaller artists the hardest. From what I read of Redbubble’s explanation, this is to reward people who produce a lot of designs and sell well, which I take issue with because not everyone can churn out designs or get lucky with algorithms. 

I always tried to keep my margin of earnings lower on Redbubble and only earned 20% from sales. I don’t make a lot from sales and most months I don’t get a payout, but I always appreciated those that supported me.

Now those earnings would be even less and slower to get payouts. The new tier system on top of Redbubble’s earlier price hike, has left me sour. So I will be removing my listings from Redbubble on April 30th.

If you would like to grab anything before that happens and support my designs before the tier system goes into effective, please feel free to click here.

I’m also open to suggestions for a new platform to use in place of Redbubble. I wish I could print and ship my own stuff, but I simply cannot.

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mithosofcruxis​:

broadswordandpistol​:

@mithosofcruxis @lightning-of-kharlan

The woman gazed back and forth between the two seraphs, a faintly puzzled look on her face. It slowly dawned into more of a hopeful one, fastened on Yuan.

“Jude, I didn’t know you were playing with Thomas today,” she said, her smile shaded with pleased surprise. “We would have invited you for dinner too. Please come. I know Alfred will be thrilled to have his friends over. … Oh, but we’ll need more potatoes; I don’t have nearly enough if everyone comes,” she realized aloud.

She turned to the young medic expectantly. “Wilred, would you mind running out for extra potatoes for me, please? I’m not sure I can make it to the market myself, today.”

“Yes, ma’am, of course,” the Renegade said, soothingly. “I’ll be back before you know it.”

“I don’t know what I’d do without you, dear,” she said, sagging downward in the chair. She tilted her head up at the captain. “Jack, I’m … very tired. Would you mind set … setting the extra places and stirring the stew for me? I … think I may need to lie down for a while.”

“Of course, ma’am. You just rest easy.” The captain flicked a glance at the seraphs that dared either of them to try anything with his charge. The woman’s eyes slipped slowly closed, and her breathing slowed.

--- --- ---

The tone had been Yuan. The arrogance had been Yuan. To an extent, defending the woman was even Yuan, though it was a stretch since he didn’t seem to realize he was defending a human.

The blatant disagreement was not Yuan.

Yet Yggdrasill continued to let him speak. Despite this oversight, Yuan did not talk to no end. He was attempting to make some sort of point, as he always did. On most days he was tactful and calculating. This was a trait that Yggdrasill appreciated in the older half-elf for many years, and it was he often relied on to make sure his plans were sound enough to work.

Something was off about Yuan in this moment, though. What was it? Disagreement aside, he was almost too to the point. Is that why he was siding with Renegades of all people? Two of the three captured spoke up and seemed to take readily to handling of the human woman.

She also seemed to light up at Yuan. That was a faulty data point, however, as she had also lit up at seeing Yggdrasill. He mentally pushed that non-issue aside.

Pronyma, ever in-tune with Yggdrasill’s whimsical moods, dared to interrupt his reverie. “I know she’s instrumental to what you need, My Lord. I would be happy to lend some of my underlings to assist with her–”

“I do not recall giving you permission to speak,” Yggdrasill retorted, giving her a look that made her wither in place. No Desians save her stepped foot in Welgaia or his throne room. The fact that a human was here already made his skin prickle with discomfort. He watched the Renegades interact with the woman again, eyes sliding over the situation as he pondered how to proceed.

Ah. He had it.

“I suppose I can accommodate your bleeding heart, Yuan,” he finally replied. If the alternative was having Desians in his city of angels, he would prefer the rats stay here and be useful to his plans. He could always kill them once the angels learned how to administer the care.

Despite the concession, Holy Lances surrounded the throne he sat in, glittering menacingly before striking down the third Renegade in the room. If he hadn’t been acknowledged, he was unneeded. His body fell to the floor with a deafening thud.

“My orders still stand,” he said, directing his gaze back to Yuan. “Keep them under control while they operate here. They are to be confined specifically to the medical ward with the lady. Angels shall assist. That is not comprisable.”

Yes, he was allowing this mostly out of spite to Pronyma’s fanaticism. But that didn’t change his view on the matter. “You are all dismissed. All save you, Yuan. I want a report on the business you had before this.”

This situation was going from bad to worse, and Yuan knew he was going to have to do a very complicated verbal dance to get out of it. If he came to the defense of the Renegades again, it would have to be performed in double-time.

Pronyma, over-eager to please as always, was an unexpected assistant in that moment. It would not save her from him shifting the suspicion onto her as soon as possible, of course--and in fact, she had perhaps played right into his hands on that front--but it was a rare stroke of luck. Occasionally, someone would unexpectedly walk up and hand him proverbial a bar of gold--he had learned to reply thank you, I’ve been expecting this rather than indicating that he was surprised.

Also a stroke of luck was that Leticia’s eyes were closed, and she did not see the halo of holy lances. The man’s name was Brecht, and he was a relative newcomer. Perhaps his loss wouldn’t be felt too keenly. The general never could save everyone. Nonetheless, when he was out of this situation, there would be condolence letters to write.

He just had to get out of this situation first.

“I shall,” was all he said until the throne room was empty. The several minutes it took for the pair wounded Renegades to settle their charge for transport gave him precious time to think.

“What the hell were you thinking?” Yuan demanded several seconds after the doors closed with a final-sounding thud, turning to face Yggdrasill. “You went to the trouble to have her captured alive to put pressure on your would-be double agent--” because there was no other conclusion to draw, from  the reading material Alvin had been assigned “--therefore, absolutely no harm can come to her, and that includes her mental state. Killing one of her caretakers in front of her--Goddess’s Grave, Mithos, that could have broken her completely, and then you’d have lost your leverage and with it, your opportunity for a Renegade on the inside.”

He took a deep breath. He’d bleed for that, on a normal day. Was he feeling lucky?

"That man is no ordinary Renegade, of that I am certain,” he said. That was why he had been kept here, after all, instead of escorting the Renegades to their new accommodations and fitting their collars himself--Yggdrasill wanted to know the results of the interrogation. “He’s snarky, but he’s a cool customer--until it came to pressing the matter of his mother. And you, with the ‘vision’ you shared with him, should have known that, and damn well should have known better than to risk her, if you want him to dance to your tune.

“I’ve handled rocks with more mana than him, I don’t think he’s directly responsible for the dreams. However, his performance on a rough approximation of a Zenner test in the presence of the Niflheim tome was very good--not unbelievably good, but good enough to merit further study with more reliable methods. I’ll need more time to form a stronger hypothesis.”

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mithosofcruxis​:

Yggdrasill paid no heed to the tone in Yuan’s voice. That tone altogether annoyed as well as business-like. Yggdrasill hadn’t known if the interrogation had still been going on when he’d summoned his friend, nor did he particularly care.

He was Martel’s puppy and he would come when commanded.

“A successful hunt,” he replied with a head tilt to Pronyma. “She succeeded in finding a Renegade base in mere weeks. I do not doubt your methods, Yuan, but I must admit that in this moment the Cardinals have prevailed where you have fallen many times.”

“Anything to glorify the cause, My Lord,” came her expected response.

Yggdrasill dignified it with a glance and nothing more, his eyes snapping back to the woman before him. She seemed to be having trouble sitting up, though she’d only been there for a short time. She’d spoken to him. Called him Thomas…? He’d never heard this name before nor did he care to know the person attached to the moniker.

He somehow found it impossible to ignore those eyes. Different color, different mind, yet…

“I apologize for…rushing the matter,” he responded in a voice he’d not used in thousands of years. Soft and patient. He saw Pronyma start with surprise at the change and flicked a warning look at her before continuing, “I have heard your stew is one in a million and I was loathe to miss it. I am going to have you rest with my friends in a more comfortable locale while we…await the stew.”

He turned back to Yuan as the angels began to approach the woman with Alvin’s features. “Get the mana reader and confirm it is in working order. This woman’s exsphere has a secret behind it I am eager to unlock.”

It would be easy to shift suspicion onto Pronyma, here. Kvar had already suggested that she was the one puling the strings behind the Renegades, and Yuan would have been happy to bolster that theory, but now was not the time. Pronyma’s continued presence aside, if he let the angels take Leticia-

“Respectfully, Lord Yggdrasill--no.”

That was a dangerous sentence, and the word “no” hung heavily in the silence. Yuan knew it was a dangerous sentence. He continued.

“I don’t doubt that her exsphere needs to be looked at, and I’m happy to do it--but not now. It’s clear to me even at a glance that she’ll need specialized care. She doesn’t know where she is--unless you’ve taken a new nickname of which I am not aware--and further upset could make her condition worse. You three--” he snapped, looking at the huddle of wounded Renegades. “Are you her bodyguards, or were you just lucky?”

The word dripped with sarcasm. He didn’t like how bitter it tasted.

“Carers,” growled the one he knew to be a captain. He silently commended the man for mustering the guts to back-talk the commander.

“F-for three years,” piped up one of the foot soldiers, perhaps hoping that information would lighten his sentence. There was a badge on the arm of his uniform that labeled him a medic. Yggdrasill ought to have recognized it--it was the same as the Desians wore, after all.

“There you have it,” Yuan said. “Keep these...carers with her, and I expect her mental state will be better for it. There’s no sense in starting from scratch with angels. I’m sure that they’ll be on their best behavior. I can be...quite motivating, when it comes to it.”

Shock collars. He was referring to shock collars. He hated using them, but it was better than dead.

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broadswordandpistol​:

“Ah, no, no.” The rail-thin vendor’s Chinese was inflected with a Cantonese accent. He bowed politely, although he took in Yuan’s face as if it were a subject of study. “These are mine, over here.” He gestured at some of the wall scrolls, which were far more traditional in the stuffy-dining-room sort of way; deliberate partial-knockoffs of pieces that Yuan recognized as historically significant.

He drew closer to Yuan, confiding, “These ones sell,” with a note of disdain. “Inexpensive, easy to copy, and the gwailou snap them up to hang everywhere. You have better taste.”

Retrieving the fan from in front of the woodblock, he folded it with a gentle snap. “A miniature masterpiece, yes? I am lucky when I get one, but this one is already spoken for. I can put your name on my list for the next available.”

The way the man studied his face put him immediately on edge. There was no need to close the fan, and the deliberate snap was surely a signal. It was too loud on Canal Street to hear someone cock a gun behind him until it was too late on any day of the week, but during New Years? Truly a lost cause. He shifted minutely to put his back slightly more squarely to Alvin’s, in hopes that his partner and his peripheral vision would be enough to keep him safe.

“That’s a shame,” Yuan said, and meant it. Although he’d expected nothing less. “Does the artist take commissions?”

With the fan out of the way, he leaned in for a closer look. It was too much to hope that it was clearly signed, but if there was writing on it anywhere, that was a place that a name could be hidden. A label on a crate, the sign above a shop, even the way the branches in the trees overlapped--

“The texture of the water is exquisite,” he said, mostly to excuse his intense study.

The foremost boat on the river had a name on the side. Hui. He straightened up.

“Do you paint fans as well as scrolls?” he asked, nodding to the one in the vendor’s hand. “I’ve got a niece with a bad cold who couldn’t come out for New Year’s, I’d like to bring her something.”

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Yuan realized belatedly that he’d left the Niflheim tome on the table in the interrogation room, and he gave half a second’s thought to going back for it. He decided against it--time was of the essence, Alvin’s comfort was not. Glancing surreptitiously around to be sure no one was in earshot, he brought his fingers to his cheek and hissed,

“Evacuate. Alert. Secure. Hostage taken.”

Botta would have to extrapolate from that.

The scene in Yggdrasill’s throne room was not good. A handful of angels. A pair of Renegade foot soldiers and their bleeding captain. Pronyma, Spirits, of course it was her--highest-ranking Grand Cardinal, fancied herself a Seraph when she thought they weren’t paying attention. She was always eager to hunt Renegades for Yggdrasill. Yuan hoped, when the truth inevitably came to light someday, that he would have the pleasure of separating her head from her shoulders. She had killed a lot of good men.

But his main concern wasn’t Pronyma--it was the light-haired, dark-eyed woman seated delicately--precariously--in a chair, with Yggdrasill studying her like she was an interesting flower he’d never seen before.

Attending angels? Three times a day? Emotional support? Bullshit. Mithos wasn’t equipped to handle a situation like this without Martel’s assistance, and Yggdrasill knew nothing of care. Those three bleeding Renegades did. If he could spin it right, he could perhaps spare them Yggdrasill’s wrath, and keep Leticia’s delicate mental health in good stead a bit longer.

“You sent for me?” he half-asked. “What in the hell is going on?”