#ifrit's update

[iamthecomet]

Tidings From Our Fading Sun (2/7)

II. ...If You're Already There

Rating: E Pairings: Polyghouls, Ifrit/Dewdrop Featuring: Ifrit's going through it. A meeting with Sister. Lore. Endless constant lore. Angst. Fear. Nothing crazy but again, it's all downhill from here. Word Count: 2.6k

Ifrit, for all of the power coiled in his muscle. For the heat of the flame that burns at the center of him, takes one look at her and wants to run.

She nods toward the chair opposite her desk. "Please, sit."

It isn't a request.

Read it on AO3.

[ifr1t]

Intro updated + new blog info

I have blog tags now :) one for normal posts (ifrit speaks), one for my art (ifrit draws), and one for my writing (ifrit writes)

also I’m more likely to update my strawpage than my intro so you’re much better off reading that, it also has a link to all my socials on there :)

[batcadillac]

I don't know if you have had a design for him before. But an updated Ifrit! 🔥

Ngl….I’m obsessed…Hellhound Ifrit now lives rent free in my head.

Thank you Joey for the ask…lemme smooch you!!

[burstfoot]

Hello! Here's an update on all of Arknights' currently accessible auxiliary material as of May 2024! There's plenty to check out, so I hope this is helpful for some!

Animation

Arknights Prelude To Dawn (S1) and Perish in Frost (S2): [Crunchyroll]

An adaptation of the main story, up through Chapter 0 to Chapter 6! It's much more fast-paced than the in-game story, so I wouldn't use it to replace actually reading it, but it's very cool to see some of these scenes in full animation. Season 3, Arknights: Rise from Ember, has been announced! Lee's Detective Agency: [Youtube]

A mini-series animated in a chibi style with a comedic tone. Focused on the adventures of the Kuroblood-illustrated Lee's Detective Agency! Distributed by Crunchyroll globally, but entirely free to watch.

Closure's Secret Files: [Youtube]

A cut-out styled series of shorts hosted by Closure which outlines a lot of the game's basic mechanics!

Holy Knight Light: [Youtube]

A short OVA focusing around Penguin Logistics delivering a package, celebrating Arknights' first anniversary. Officially posted to Youtube!

Kay's Daily Doodles: [Youtube]

Another free, comedic Youtube mini-series, posted to the offical Arknights Youtube account and focused around Ceobe! Here's some additional animations! Each event usually also has a 15 second 2D animated preview of the event, but there's so many of those that I can't list them all. Anniversary Event 3D Animations: Zwillingstürme im Herbst So Long, Adele Lone Trail Where Vernal Winds Will Never Blow Il Siracusano Ideal City Stultifera Navis Invitation To Wine Near Light Dossoles Holiday Under Tides Bonus 3D Animated Shorts: Legend of Chongyue Arknights Special - IL Siracusano Lo Scontro Youtube Shorts: Ch'en and Lin's Watermelon Splitting Game Part 1 Ch'en and Lin's Watermelon Splitting Game Part 2 Amiya's Siracusan Food Guide Part 1 Amiya's Siracusano Food Guide Part 2 Amiya's Special Gift Doctor's Gifts in Return 1 Doctor's Gifts in Return 2

Comics, Manga, Manhua

Officially Translated:

Rhodes Island's Records of Originium: Rhine Lab: [Offical Source]

A canon manhua centered around the circumstances that lead to Silence falling out with Saria and joining Rhodes Island with Ifrit, as well as Ifrit's attempt to save a dying infected stowaway on the landship. Essential reading for understanding the Rhine Lab storyline and characters - read it right after Mansfield for when it was chronologically released! One of the characters, Darya, is mentioned in both Ifrit's module and briefly in Lone Trail.

Rhodes Island's Records of Originium: Blacksteel: [Official Source]

A short story focusing on the lives of the Blacksteel operators aboard the landship. While it often gets overshadowed by the Rhine Lab manga which is bigger in scope, this is a great read especially if you're interested in Franka or Liskarm.

Rhodes Kitchen -TIDBITS-: [Official Source]

An anthology story related to the cuisine that's important to a variety of operators. While it might seem unassuming, the art is gorgeous and it's really well-written! The Blacksteel, Rhine Lab, and Rhodes Kitchen manga have all been sold in physical copies, if you're interested in having them in print!

Prelude Suite: Cadenza Virtuosa: [Official Source]

An epilogue to Hortus De Escapismo focusing on Arturia's background, with the second chapter serving as a prelude for Zwillingstrume im Herbst! An excellent read to get better insight into Arturia's character.

Angelina: Sketches of this Messenger's Journey: [Official Source]

A more comedically focused manwha, centered on the adventures of Angelina travelling across Terra as a Messenger! Currently updating, with recent chapters focusing on Sami and Siesta!

Unofficially Translated

The Dagger's Inheritors: [Youtube]

A 15-minute short 3D animated film about W's past and relationship with Theresa, released for the 5th Arknights anniversary. Arknights Comic Anthology: [Mangadex]

As the title says, a series of non-canon anthology stories regarding the cast of Rhodes' Island! Some of the chapters on Mangadex for the later volumes of the Comic Anthology specifically have been machine translated, but the same is not true for the other manga shared here. Chapters are hit-and-miss, but the whole series is generally a fun read! See the original post for specific chapter suggestions.

123 Rhodes Island: [Mangadex]

A series of non-canon gag comics for the CN server, usually updated when new operators or events release!

Arknights: Operators!: [Mangadex]

A compilation of shortform manga posted on the official ArknightsJP twitter account! Thank you to @sleepywoodscans for their work on personally translating these!

Arknights: A1 Operations Preparation Detachment: [Mangadex]

Part of the Terra Historicus website and not yet officially translated, focusing on Fang, Kroos and Beagle before they join Rhodes Island, and a catastrophe striking the Columbian city of Tkaronto. Thank you to @pooce-art for their translation work!

Other:

Arknights Ambience Synesthesia: [Youtube]

A series of concerts (4 so far), focused around Arknights' music! A live performance has been done every year, with skins released in-game for the concert's theme & 3D animations produced featuring the skin's cast in 2022, 2023, and 2024.

Monster Siren Records: [Spotify] [Official Website]

Arknights' official (and-in-universe) record label publishing game OSTs, themes for almost every 6 star operator that releases, and occasional bonus songs.

Arknights: Endfield: [Twitter]

An upcoming 3D action gacha game from Hypergryph, set in the far future of Arknights' universe on another planet. Currently in closed beta testing for both EN and CN servers!

UNOFFICIAL:

Some fandom-developed tools that might be of use to you are: The Arknights Terra Wiki. While it is a very accurate source for in-game data, take the explanation of in-game story and some specific claims with a grain of salt. The FANDOM version of this wiki is currently no longer mantained and subject to vandalism! Given you can translate or read Chinese, PRTS.wiki is the current best resource for game assets!

As well, the Arknights Story Reader can help you catch up on stuff you don't want to or can't read in game! Jacob Moreau on Youtube provides voiceover readings of many in-game stories as well.

Finally, Aceship's Toolbox provides access to a variety of tools, including a levelling calculator, a calculator to ensure the best recruitments, and all the CGs, backgrounds and character sprites that are available in-game as of So Long, Adele (as far as I'm aware, the sprite/cg gallery is no longer being updated.)

Conclusion:

Thank you for reading! I hope this provided some new information to you or is an easy reference source in the future. Some things, such as merch (i.e. board games) or the official lore book have not been included due to not being accessible or translated for EN players. I'm happy to continue to provide more information like this to make the art surrounding this series more accessible! If you have any questions, feel free to send me an ask.

[cheerycherrycandy-resurrected]

Can You Hear The Thunder?

Chapter 8: Settled

Dewdrop gets to know Zephyr, and finds they have more in common than he thought. After repairing his friendship with Ifrit, Dew starts to finally feel like he's settling in topside.

2 updates in a week what is this?? (a very thoroughly drafted chapter, that's what) Next time they might even get to pick up their instruments! :0

Also we're at 69k words now. nice.

Rating: M Content warnings: religion Words: 8,995

Link to full fic with associated tags: Tumblr | AO3

Tag list: @cosmicseafoam @ashthewaterghoul @jimothybarnes @zombiequeen777 @kentuckyfriedsatan @papaslittlesunshine <33 if I forgot anyone lmk!!

Read below, or on AO3!

The conversation in the common room soon dried up; everyone feeling particularly exhausted for their own reasons. Just as Ifrit was making to leave the room Zephyr hesitated before following him, looking uncertainly back at Dewdrop. He regarded the air ghoul with confusion until they eventually spoke.

“Dewdrop?” Their voice was quiet, unsure, enough so to make Ifrit turn back. “Your hair…”

Dew’s hands shot back to comb through the ends instinctively, still confused by how Zephyr had been seemingly fixated on it all evening.

“Where did you get a brush from? If’s only got this awful comb that makes the knots worse…”

They mirrored Dew’s actions, demonstrating how their hair was more than just tousled from hands and pillows but was rather twisting itself into painful tangles between their claws. Dew winced, before the corners of his lips twitched into a smile despite himself: hair was something he knew how to help with. His own hatred of the mess his had become following his summoning was still fresh in his mind, the fear of the loss of identity it could being if he couldn’t fix it still heavy in his memories of his first days topside. Zephyr’s hair was similar in colour to his, he noticed, only with a silver tint instead of his gold. It was thicker too, wavy.

It wasn’t Zephyr’s fault they had been summoned straight into a soul bond he realised, any more than it was Ifrit’s for being instantly snatched away by it. That was still harder for Dew to reckon with, but he knew he had to, and would, eventually.

“C’mon,” he beckoned with a similarly cautious smile to the air ghoul, “I can help.”

Zephyr followed timidly behind Dew as he led them to his room, Ifrit still hovering in silent confusion in the hallway. It was as they paused before stepping through Dew’s doorway into his room that the fire ghoul realised Zephyr would be the first other ghoul to enter his room since he had been summoned; a place Aether had rightfully identified as a sanctuary for new ghouls. He found it didn’t bother him like he thought it would though, as he waved them forward with another smile that was only slightly forced.

“I’ve got a load of stuff in my bathroom from the storage,” he chattered to break the silence that echoed off the walls of the cold, white bathroom as he entered, “if you talk to Aether tomorrow he can take you there so you can pick out whatever you like.”

He presented Zephyr with a spare hairbrush like a trophy, complete with a small ta-dah! noise that finally pulled their nervous half-smile into genuine territory. Dew was beyond grateful in that moment that he had grabbed several, happy to make the newest summon, who still seemed more apprehensive than any of the others had been, let out a small giggle. Following the hairbrush came a handful of loose hair ties and bobby pins which Dew had already managed to scatter several of all around his sink area. Finally, the fire ghoul regarded his precious tub of hair mask, conflicted. He only had the one, and he had enjoyed it so much, could he really just give it away to the new ghoul?

“Here, take this too,” he pressed it into Zephyr’s increasingly full hands before he could change his mind, “comb it through when you wash it.”

The gratitude shining from their wide grey eyes made it worth it.

“I might have to borrow it back though.” He felt his own smile finally reach his eyes too, and Zephyr nodded enthusiastically as they juggled to hold everything without dropping any of their precious spoils.

“Thank you.” They looked so relieved by the small positive interaction that Dew felt a pang of guilt again. What impression must he have given them yesterday, storming off and ignoring their very existence?

“You’re very welcome,” he said, instead of dwelling on such thoughts as they headed back to his door, “see you tomorrow, yeah?”

“See you tomorrow. Goodnight, Dewdrop.”

Dew felt the smile still pulling at his mouth as he closed the door behind them. See, that wasn’t so hard, he thought to himself. Zephyr, and the others come to that, were pack not strangers in the Pit. He didn’t need to guard things possessively anymore; they could share as a pack. Besides it felt nice helping the new ghoul, like he was finally starting to make the most of his few-day head start here by passing on the unquestioning care and grace Aether had shown him.

The next morning as Dew, Aether and Mountain were all still slowly waking up in the kitchen, Zephyr emerged from their and Ifrit’s room in search of breakfast. They were beaming from ear to ear, their hair braided up into an intricate coil of interwoven strands like silver filigree. Dew stared at them in awe, his mouth falling open as he tried to conceive how Zephyr had even managed that, let alone how one could start recreating it.

“Isn't my songbird clever?”

Ifrit crowed proudly as he followed behind them into the common room. He had a small braid of his own, Dew noticed, a clumsy thing in his fringe that flopped free of the fire ghoul's black hairband which casually held the rest back from his face.

Aether watched the interaction with undisguised curiosity.

“What?” Dew regarded the smiling quintessence ghoul with a small tilt of his head. “I just gave Zephyr some hair bits last night, that’s all.”

Aether turned back to his coffee but the smile at his packmate’s gesture didn't leave his face.

With a bridge forged between himself and Zephyr, Dew had one final ghoul he wanted to make amends with. Ifrit; the unerringly cheerful fire ghoul who showed no signs that Dew's reaction to his mate's arrival had even registered with him let alone offended him, yet which Dew still felt the need to make reparations for. The guilt over torching the early foundations of their relationship would continue to haunt him until he rebuilt them.

Even with Dew's own determination to settle things, Ifrit had still been a strong impetus for their growing friendship. Despite what Dew may have thought, Ifrit had actually changed very little from the overly cheerful and amicable ghoul he had appeared to be from first impressions in the time following Zephyr's arrival. He still seemed determined to make Dew his friend, and over the course of the next few early days with the complete pack he had melted through Dew's lingering defences surrounding other fire ghouls and their intentions.

Dew's own efforts had started the same day. A key part of his first hours knowing Ifrit had been sharing in the homesick beauty of the church windows, so Dew set out to share the other wonders of topside life he had uncovered with the fire ghoul. First of all he decided would be his own first experience: the wonder of his favourite food so far, frozen pizza. He had announced his plan to Aether as soon as Ifrit and Zephyr had drifted to the patio windows and out of earshot. The quintessence ghoul had smiled knowingly at him again, his face wearing the same expression as when Zephyr had appeared.

“We can make it a whole thing,” he agreed, “a pack pizza night with a movie, or something.”

“Sounds good!” Dew agreed enthusiastically before pausing, eyebrows knitting together for a moment. “What's a movie?”

Now that the summonings were all complete, and with no date for their first rehearsal with the previous band ghouls set, the ghouls had little else to do besides settle into the new environment, bond as a pack, and work on their glamours. Dew was already well on his way to mastering the latter, so decided that his time would be best spent getting the hang of all the strange, human technology he was totally unfamiliar with. That, and learning his way around the Abbey at last, getting his bearings inside the maze of a building.

His days mission had started with that; Aether showing him the route to the storage room so he could raid the freezers and cupboards for his planned pizza evening. Dew did his best to memorise the short journey, keeping the thought of midnight snack runs as a motivator. When the pair stumbled back to the Den their arms were laden with a selection of the flat cardboard boxes containing the precious pizza, as well as bags of crisps and snacks and something called popcorn which Aether declared an essential part of the experience.

Dew had wanted to get started on mastering the fire cabinet immediately after returning to the Den, only to realise it was barely even midday. Ifrit and Zephyr appeared to have retreated back into their room and Mountain was distracted by poking doggedly at a half-dead succulent he had discovered high on a shelf, seeing if it was beyond saving or not. Dew paced around the kitchen, unsure what to do with himself until Aether forced a sandwich into his hand.

“You're making me dizzy,” the quintessence ghoul laughed, “walking in circles like that!”

Aether moved him by the shoulders, gently pushing him into a chair at the dining table while he made more sandwiches for the rest of the pack. He continued to chuckle fondly at Dew's put-out expression as the fire ghoul took too large a bite, before walking down the hall to knock on Zephyr and Ifrit's door.

“Lunch is in the fridge!” He hollered, heading back to the common room without waiting for a response. He was quite sure he didn't need to hear whatever was going on behind the door; newly mated ghouls were so predictable.

They had hours to kill before Dew could get started on learning how to cook his feast, and heading outside was not an option as the weather was still grey enough to make his tail curl in discomfort. Dew threw himself onto his back on one of the couches in frustration, his hair fanning out around him as he grumbled his impatience to the flaking paint on the ceiling.

“You can't be bored already; you've barely been here a week!”

Aether laughed, following him to the sofa and effortlessly lifting Dew's head and shoulders up to allow himself to sit in his usual corner spot, before letting the fire ghoul flop back into his lap. Dew made to sit up again to give Aether space, but the quintessence ghoul quickly buried his fingers in his long hair, holding him gently in place. Dew felt his cheeks tinge pink and he tried not to think about how much he liked the cosy position or the gentle tickle of Aether's cool fingers.

“Enjoy the time off while we have it,” Aether continued, “once we start rehearsals, it'll be non-stop until the tour.”

“You and Terzo aren't relaxing though,” Dew pointed out, “what's he doing in his office that's so urgent if we haven't even started learning our instruments yet? You said you'd explain later.”

Aether hummed, choosing his words carefully.

“He's just a bit worried about keeping the momentum of the project right now. He's been at the head of the church longer than either of his brothers, and with Sister being more involved than ever I think he's worried what she could do...”

“But he's in charge though, right? What could she even do?”

“Yes, Terzo's the leader of the church and the head of our band project. Everyone knows Sister pulls all the strings though.” Aether turned more serious suddenly. “We don't talk of these things outside of the Den though, all right?”

Dew nodded.

“Everyone's on eggshells around her all the time then.”

“Pretty much.” Aether sighed. “Terzo knows this next tour has to be the biggest yet. Sister keeps talking about a new direction for the church, and we all know that wouldn't include him. She can't stand any of Nihil's sons, but Terzo is especially disliked. I think it's because he's more successful that Nihil ever was and she can't argue with the numbers he's pulling in.”

A silence fell as they considered what this could mean for their lives topside, although no one vocalised any of the fears this conjured up. Mountain was the first to eventually break it as he wandered over, the others not even knowing he had been paying attention to their conversation.

“Is that why we got summoned? This new direction?”

“Not exactly.” Aether worried his bottom lip between his teeth and Dew found himself wanting to reach up and stop him before he could draw blood, but stopped himself just in time. “The last ghouls were Secondo's originally, and they never showed Terzo the same loyalty they showed his brother. It's not surprising – we naturally feel the greatest loyalty to our summoner. We're here so he has ghouls that are fully loyal to him.

“Terzo's been trying to make the band bigger over the last year. He thinks if he can make it famous and appeal to more people he can increase the church's congregation that way, but the last ghouls didn't like it. Some of them went to Sister and said they thought the fame was going to his head and corrupting His message or something. She agreed with them, but instead of ordering Terzo to change or reinstating Secondo or anything, she said it was proof he wasn't working well with his ghouls and needed to summon new ones. A final chance she called it.”

“So everyone's pissed now.” Dew huffed. “No wonder the old ghouls keep glaring at us in the dining hall.”

“Pretty much.” Aether smiled wryly. “Terzo's been doing better than any Papa before him but Sister's never satisfied, the ghouls are angry and upset at being replaced, and Sister just hates everyone that isn't Nihil it seems.” He paused. “Although I think she hates him too, sometimes.”

“What do we do, then?” Ever the pragmatist, Mountain asked.

“We do our best.” Aether shrugged. “We follow Terzo's lead, play our parts, and hope it's enough.”

The atmosphere of discontent lingered a while longer, until the quiet sound of gentle snoring broke Aether and Mountain from their thoughts. In Aether's lap, soothed by the presence of his packmates and the quintessence ghoul's fingers in his hair, Dew's late nights of practicing his glamour only to still wake with the sun the next morning had finally caught up with him.

Aether smiled at him as he slept, loath to wake the fire ghoul after what had clearly been a few days of intense inner turmoil following Ifrit and then Zephyr's summonings. Seeing his face without the little crease in-between his brows, smoothed of all tension, Aether felt a warmth bubbling deep inside himself that wasn't just from the heat of the toasty fire ghoul in his lap.

When Dew woke a few hours later, it took him a moment to become aware of his surroundings. He baulked when he realised that he was still in Aether's lap, the quintessence ghoul absentmindedly stroking his hair while he read his book.

“Good morning, Sleeping Beauty!” Ifrit cackled from the other couch. Dew hissed weakly as he struggled to sit up, but there was no heat behind it.

“Aether said you'd planned a pack activity tonight?” Zephyr asked from their position under Ifrit's outstretched arm. Despite the pair's afternoon activities, their elaborate hairstyle had miraculously remained perfectly intact.

“Uh, yeah. I thought we could have dinner in the Den? And Aeth said we could watch...” he had forgotten Aether's fumbled description already, “...something.” It sounded rather lame to Dew's ears as he said it out loud, but Zephyr, and Ifrit beside them, seemed excited by the prospect of spending time together more than the specifics of it.

“Want to get started?” Aether asked as Dew staggered to his feet, his tail going poker straight as he stretched like a cat. He nodded enthusiastically and, as he did, felt something caught in the back of his head bob with the movement. Feeling around, he found a small braid Aether had obviously been working on while he slept.

“Oh, sorry about that,” chuckling awkwardly, Aether scratched at the back of his neck, “it was too tempting.”

“Wait a moment!” Dew pinched the end of it to stop it unravelling, before darting to his bedroom. When he reappeared moments later, he was twisting a small elastic around the end of it. “There we go! Now it won't fall out.”

Aether thought that the bright smile Dew shot him could have replaced the sun.

“Come on, show me how the fire cabinet works, I've got pizza to cook!”

The quintessence ghoul took a moment to compose himself, doubled over by gasps of laughter before he explained that the machine Dew was impatiently tapping his toe next to was, in fact, called an oven.

“Alright, alright! It's very simple really. Just turn it on, unwrap the pizzas and put them in.”

Aether reached out to point at the one dial Dew needed to turn, only for the fire ghoul to snap his fingers and produce a small flame. He looked upon at Aether's mildly horrified expression with wide, curious eyes.

“Uh, no need for that, we just turn this knob here, see?”

It was too late though; Ifrit had caught sight of the fire and wandered over to ‘help’. Dew snapped his fingers repeatedly under his nose to make the taller fire ghoul go away – this was his lesson, after all – but instead Ifrit just stuck his tongue out at him. The snakelike, forked tip cast sparks as it lashed from side to side. With a hiss, Dew pounced. He gave chase after a cackling Ifrit who immediately tripped over the ottoman in the centre of the room.

“Bring it on, little flame!” he taunted from the floor.

“Please don't burn the couch cushions!” Aether begged weakly as the pair chased each other round the room like a pair of kits, small flames burning at the tips of their wiggling fingertips and tails.

“Are they trying to hurt each other?” Zephyr asked with a concerned look as Dew's wildly swinging hair got perilously close to one of Ifrit's many sources of fire.

With his maniacal grin and eyes blazing red, Aether was too distracted by Dewdrop to reply. He felt something equal distance between terrified and turned on by the fire ghoul, crouched on the back of the couch like a gargoyle. It was lucky his face was already flushed from his recent fits of laughter.

“I honestly have no idea.” Mountain shook his head, wincing as Dew leapt at Ifrit's shoulders and swiftly brought the pair crashing to the ground with a thud. “But they're awfully close to the plant I just spent an hour coaxing back from the brink of death.”

An insistent beep from the oven was all that broke the fight, if it could be considered one, apart. While the nature of the brawl was undetermined, Dewdrop being the winner was very clear. He hopped up lightly from where he had Ifrit pinned to the floor, brushing imaginary dirt off onto his pants and skipping back over to the kitchen.

“What next?” He asked Aether with an angelic smile, as if the last five minutes had been entirely a figment of the flustered quintessence ghoul's imagination.

“Wash your hands, then take the pizzas out of the boxes and the plastic they come in.” Aether gave an exaggerated eyeroll while he schooled his expression into something less awestruck. His feelings towards Dew specifically aside, he was more able to appreciate the silly moment between the two fire ghouls now that the imminent danger of burning down the Den was over.

Tail between his legs, Ifrit slunk back to his spot on the sofa. Giggling lightly, Zephyr smoothed his hair back into place.

“I let him win.” He huffed.

“I'm sure you did, dear.”

With Ifrit's pride soon recovered, he wandered back over to continue to investigate what Dew was up to only to be met by a warning hiss.

“I'm not interfering!” He said quickly, hands up in surrender. “I'm just curious! What're we having?”

“Pizza!” Dew grinned, turning on a dime to hold up a box and point at the aggressively lit image on the front. “I think you'll like it – it's my favourite food here and this one's spicy, like our food in the Pit!”

Ifrit's eyes lit up at the idea, as touched by Dew's gesture as he had hoped he would be.

“There's some non-spicy ones too for the rest of us, we grabbed several.” Aether was quick to add as he approached the ghouls on the sofa. His arms were full of bowls that he swiftly deposited on the coffee table. “And here's some more snacks for the movie.”

“What's a movie?” Zephyr echoed Dew's earlier question.

“It's a human way of telling stores, kinda like actors performing a play but they record it so we can watch it on that screen over there.” Aether pointed at the dormant television in the corner, but judged that he had done a bad job at explaining from the blank faces staring at him. “Hold on, I'll show you.”

With Dew crouched down by the oven, religiously keeping an eye on his precious project to ensure that nothing burned, Aether felt it was safe to leave him unattended while he ran to fetch his laptop from his room. It was old and slow, yet it was a luxury most weren't afforded, at least not without saving the meagre wages of human money they were paid. He had been lent one as part of his previous role with Terzo though, and nobody had asked for it back yet.

Aether helped Dew with the pizzas, slicing them and putting them onto plates, as he waited for the computer to boot up. While Dew ferried the food over to the coffee table, the ghouls all crammed themselves onto the larger of the couches to stare at Aether's screen. Mountain shifted to make room for Dew to squeeze between himself and Aether.

“A movie's like this, see?” Aether pulled up the first thing he could find on his desktop, and the assembled ghouls all cooed as the thin glass panel became filled with a moving image of a teenager in a car, clutching onto a small cactus. “What sort of stories do you like, I'll see what I can find. Mysteries, horror, something funny? There's loads on the shelves over there to watch on the bigger screen.”

“Is there a movie of the band?” Zephyr asked, curiously. “Everyone keeps talking about it, but I don't really know what a band even is.”

“Not a movie exactly,” Aether shook his head as he thought for a moment, “I've got a bunch of clips the press team took on the last tour though?”

He was met with four enthusiastic nods. While Aether searched for the folder containing the unedited footage from their last rituals, everyone dug into the food with gusto. Dew made a noise that Aether thought should have been illegal as he bit into his slice, the sound making Aether's pants beneath the laptop feel fractionally tighter all of a sudden. Dew didn't seem to notice the effect he had however, as his attention was soon on Ifrit's reaction. The larger fire ghoul's eyes blew wide as he experienced the same reaction Dew had done, his first night in the Den.

“That's somethin’ else!” He garbled through a mouth of food.  “Nice one, Dew!”

It was exactly what he wanted to hear; the one thing that could make the food taste even better. Everyone made similarly happy noises around their mouthfuls as Aether shuffled the bowls on the table to make space for the laptop, before grabbing a slice for himself. The early wonder at the human technology quickly faded, replaced with fascination at the job they would soon be doing as they watched the figures bop around on screen.

Dew recognised the bass guitar he had seen in the rehearsal room, clutched by a short ghoul he realised must be Mist. She looked so confident in the footage, strutting around the stage and interacting with the audience and the camera, very different from the calm demeanour of the ghoulette he had met down by the lake. Dew supposed it was some sort of persona she wore alongside the mask. He thought about how he might act on stage, in front of the roaring crowd the camera panned to. The idea of that many people frightened him slightly, but maybe he could do what Mist seemed to have done, formulate a personality to wear with his uniform? Perhaps if he was lucky, it would even wear off on him until he no longer had to fake the confidence.

Terzo himself seemed different on stage too; not that his personality changed, but more that he seemed to be dialled up to maximum intensity. His charisma, his flirtatious looks and comments, everything was very Terzo, and yet more besides. It seemed to Dew that being in the band was more than just playing or singing their parts, it was clear that the whole performance they put on was part of the act, even down to their interactions with each other on stage.

When Aether's own supply of videos ran out, he moved on to those taken by their fans themselves. It was clearer from these what the crowd tended to focus on when it came to the ghouls: their more exaggerated movements, the way they leered at each other, the camera, and even at their Papa. Watching them, the pack slowly began to understand what a calculated blend of barely-believable humanity and otherworldly ghoulish behaviour the act consisted of. It was just enough to be intriguing to their followers without creating suspicion amongst the wider population.

The pack sat huddled around Aether's laptop long past the time when the pizza ran out, marvelling at their predecessors' antics, the music they were making and the show they put on. They all had big shoes to fill, that was clear, and yet having these examples to copy made them all feel slightly more confident that this was something they would manage with time.

Alongside getting their bearings around the Abbey over the course of the next week, the whole pack was starting to get the hang of their glamours. Dew could reliably hold his seemingly indefinitely and through all but the most extreme distractions. The pack had had a fun afternoon testing this: after realising that no amount of patting his head while rubbing his stomach and hopping on one leg could disrupt him, they had moved on to trying to scare him out of it. After Dew had tried to slink off to his room to avoid the onslaught of ghouls jumping out at him only to find Aether lurking in the dark of the hallway, he had finally let out a yowl of shock and annoyance so loud that even the quintessence ghoul’s glamour had shimmered for a moment. Everyone stopped trying to test him after that.

Mountain too was almost at the point where he could feign humanity for an extended period, although whether this was due to practice or Dew’s self-professed excellent teaching skills was up for debate. The pair had made good progress together while Aether taught the newer ghouls, despite – or perhaps because of – taking it a great deal less seriously. The first time the five of them had gathered in the common room to introduce Zephyr to the process of hiding their ghoulish features, the more advanced pair had watched from the couch, parroting the words Aether had said to each of them in turn.

“Your glamour is a muscle you can flex.”

They whispered along as Aether spoke, earning themselves a giggle from the mated pair and an exasperated eye roll from their teacher.

After the day in the practice room where Dew had seen how Aether glamoured only his hands to play his guitar, the fire ghoul had set about trying to do the same. Without too much trouble, Dew had figured out how to selectively glamour parts of his body. It was a party trick Mountain had also taken to well, finding himself able to hide one antler at a time.

As the days passed and their progress continued, the words of Terzo and Aether that they had gently mocked slowly began to make more sense. Mountain especially had been struggling to recreate his progress from in front of the mirror spontaneously, once the visualisation he had relied on was no longer there. Dew had more luck in that regard, especially when only focussing on one part of his body, but also struggled to make a full, human-proof glamour from scratch. Slowly, the turn of phrase began to make more sense: now that they had the form of their glamour down, they could turn their attention to the sensation that calling it invoked. It was, after all, just like flexing a muscle.

With that thought in mind, soon both Dew and Mountain could reliably conjure their glamours without the need for the mirror. Despite their progress however, convincing either ghoul to exercise their glamour casually was proving a challenge. Mountain was reluctant to take the hit to his height that his came with his, and Dew grew increasingly frustrated by his inability to tuck his hair behind his horns, disliking the feeling of it behind his ears as Mountain had taken to doing. It was for this same reason that Aether’s well-meaning suggestion that Dew was ready to try forgoing his mask for short trips outside the Den had been met with disinterest.

An outcome that nobody had expected though was that as a result of this small frustration, Ifrit had finally broken through the last of Dew’s defences. In doing so, he had cemented himself as a truly different and more thoughtful fire ghoul than any Dew had come across before, mated or otherwise.

“Goddamn fucking SHIT!” Dew had screeched as he moved to swipe his hair back from his face for the thousandth time, only to catch his fingers in a tangle and pull, hard. The shock of the sudden, sharp pain brought tears unbidden to his eyes. “Why do we have to bother with a stupid glamour anyway, especially if we’re just gonna wear fake horns on our masks anyway? Who cares what some stupid humans think, they’ll just believe it’s a costume whatever we look like!”

“Plausible deniability, and we have to act human out of costume,” Aether sighed, not for the first time, “but mostly because it’s the rules.”

Dew growled, yanking his hands free and mourning the loose hairs that came with them.

“Right,” Aether clapped his hands, seeing Dew was about to go nuclear, “let’s call it a day on glamour practice for now. Anyone fancy a trip to the storeroom?”

Thankfully, the other ghouls all took the hint to leave and allow Dew a chance to cool down. He was, yet again, grateful to Aether for always knowing what to do or say in every situation. Dew supposed his quintessence helped, although he suspected that Aether really was just that in tune with his pack’s needs. Whatever the case may be, Dew greatly appreciated the momentary quiet in the Den. He loved his pack and all his new experiences topside, but it was exactly that newness and the noise of it all that he found hard. It was a lot of change, and often a bit too much, for the ghoul who had spent most of his previous life lurking alone in a cave. The shock of pulling his hair ordinarily wouldn’t have bothered him this much, but the unexpected jolt of pain on top of his other existing frustrations had simply been the final straw.

Calmed down, unglamoured once more and tangles brushed free, Dew had eventually returned to the common room to await the return of his pack. They were quieter than usual when they entered, the usual gentle bickering and laughter as they tumbled over one another to get through the door reduced to a subdued chatter. Dew felt a familiar prickle of guilt over the fact, yet one that was swiftly drowned out by gratitude. Still, he felt his hackles raise instinctively when Ifrit bounded up to him, as excited as a puppy and with just as little care for Dew’s resting scowl.

“Hey, I brought you this, thought you might find it helpful!”

Ifrit held out a C-shaped piece of plastic, looking for all the world like a kit showing off a cool rock they’d picked up on the volcano’s slopes. Dew took it, realising suddenly that it was a simple hairband like Ifrit wore, only in a fake-tortoiseshell plastic rather than the plain black he favoured.

“To hold your hair back when you’re glamoured,” he explained, “now we’re twinsies!”

Ifrit seemed so utterly delighted by this fact that Dew couldn’t hold back a smile of his own.

“Thanks, If.” He grinned, carefully placing it directly behind his horns. Tentatively, he pulled his glamour up. To his, and everyone else’s, delight the hairband functioned exactly as his horns had, keeping the curtain of blond hair from falling into his face.

“It works!” Dew cheered. “How do I look?”

While Dew meant the question as a joke, Ifrit’s tone was deadly serious in his reply.

“Handsome. Very.”

“He just means you look more like him now.” Zephyr said, rolling their eyes with a smile of their own. “Humble as ever. The colour suits you though.”

“Hey!” Ifrit protested a second too late as Dew and his mate giggled together at his reaction.

With that one small yet thoughtful action, Dew cast aside any lingering misgivings he may have had about the fire ghoul; he was living, breathing proof that not all of their species were self-centred jerks, and Dew knew would be foolish to throw away a friend like Ifrit.

To everyone’s relief, by the end of his first week topside Ifrit was also finally starting to get the hang of his glamour. He had by no means mastered it, but something about the process seemed to have clicked for him at last, allowing him to actually begin to switch his form rather than just cause the edges to waver. Dew thought he was at least half-correct about his theory of fire ghoul vanity, or at least sureness of self, hindering his progress. The first part of his ghoulish form he had managed to hide had indeed been his spines; whether because he could still remember having a body without them, or if they really had represented something Ifrit wished he could change about himself at some point in time, it wasn’t clear.

What Dew suspected the real key in his breakthrough was though was Zephyr. The air ghoul had showered praise on both Ifrit’s human form, and on every minutia of progress he made. Whatever boost of confidence it had given him, be it in his slowly developing abilities or in his belief that his human glamour was still a form he could feel proud to exist in, it was enough that Ifrit was making progress at last.

Zephyr had had noticeably less trouble than their mate, taking to their glamour even more easily than Mountain had. They would be the first to suggest that their existing familiarity with hiding and revealing their wings had given them some advantage, but Aether was also quick to point out that a glamour was no small feat for any ghoul, given how many differences there were to bring about at once.

Of their pack, Dew was of the impression that Zephyr had the most striking human form. Whereas the rest of them could pass unnoticed amongst the sea of Siblings within the Abbey, Zephyr would have stood out amongst them regardless of their ghoulish status. Their skin, naturally a pale grey-blue, had almost no colour to it; as see-through as alabaster, highlighting the blue veins within. Their hair was marginally closer in colour to Dew’s in this form, again appearing devoid of pigment rather than seeming to be spun from platinum or silver. As Ifrit’s spines had reflected themselves in his glamour as ridged scars, so too did Zephyr’s wing feathers transfer a hint of themselves. The skin of their upper arms hung a little looser on their frame, and along the path their wings followed from their wrists to their waist was a downy fuzz of equally pale hairs.

The pack were always destined to stand out amongst mortals; His love poured into every aspect of their creation had set that as truth from the earliest days of their species. Dew couldn’t help but wonder how effective their glamoured disguises would really be at hiding that fact.

As the ghouls settled in and grew accustomed to topside life and their glamours, so too did the weather finally begun to warm up. Spring had sprung at last, encompassing the Abbey in its warm, sunlit fingers. The advantage of their private patio was also quickly becoming apparent; Aether had frequently found the earth ghoul lying flat out on the ground wearing not a stitch of clothing as he absorbed the light like a plant. To Mountain’s delight, he had discovered that the freckles in his glamour became more pronounced the more he exposed his ghoulish form to the sun. With a chuckle, Aether had reminded him that, should he feel the need to photosynthesise while glamoured, he would have to be more careful. Human skin, especially pale and freckled skin like his, burned easily in the sun, enough so that humans even had a special lotion to try and stop it.

Ifrit and Dewdrop could also frequently be found lying alongside Mountain. In the moments that Ifrit was not with Zephyr and Dew was not somewhere else with Aether or Mountain, it was more than likely that the pair could be found outside on the small patio, lying on their backs as the warm stone and re-emerging spring sunshine gently toasted them. They didn’t always talk during their sun sessions, often just dozing in the blissful space between sleep and wakefulness.

The weather still wasn’t completely perfect however, despite its frequent warm and sunny assertions to the contrary. One of Dew’s lizard-times, as Mountain had taken to affectionately calling it, had been rudely interrupted by fat, wet droplets of rain landing on his face. He had wrinkled his nose at the feeling, scrambling hastily to his feet and bolting for the door.

“Your water half really is buried deep, isn’t it!” Mountain had laughed as Dew plodded back inside, raking fingers through his damp hair lest it become frizzy, but not before tossing a middle finger gesture behind him at the ghoul. Aether wore a knowing smile from his seat near the window which Dew didn’t acknowledge as he joined him.

On another such day, when the three sun-loving ghouls were laid outside and Aether and Zephyr were watching them contently from the shaded common room behind the French windows, Aether discovered a hidden talent of Zephyr’s. The air ghoul had been contentedly curled up in a chair, their tail lazily waving in the warm spring air as they hunched over the small notebook that normally lived atop the bureau.

“Whatcha doing?” Aether asked, curious what was holding their attention so keenly.

“Just doodling,” they shrugged, gesturing to the notepad, “I hope it’s alright I took this?”

“Go for it.” Aether waved the question off. “Can I see?”

Zephyr shrugged but passed the notebook over willingly enough before returning to gazing outside. Aether wasn’t sure what he was looking at to begin with. The lined page was littered with small, seemingly disconnected shapes, all painstakingly captured by the patchy blue ink of a biro that he was certain had been lying around the Den for longer than he had been topside. Somehow though, Zephyr had wielded it in such a way that they had near-perfectly recreated what Aether realised were snippets of the scene they could see outside the window.

Most were of Ifrit as the fire ghoul soaked up the sun; the way a lock of his shiny black hair fell just so in the light, the glint of a bead of sweat on his bare chest, the curl of his lip as he smiled at something another ghoul said. Amongst them Aether spotted one that had to be of Dew, a small collection of simple lines that were undeniably similar to the curve where the proud bridge of his nose met his face. The talent reflected just on the one page was beyond anything Aether had seen or could even dream of replicating himself.

“They're incredible,” he whispered, as though his words could disturb the delicate strokes, “you've got a real gift, Zeph. I could get you some better paper, if you want? Nicer than this awful old telephone pad?”

Zephyr looked up, startled out of their reverie.

“Your sketches,” Aether repeated with a smile, “they're very good. There's proper paper if you wanted it, without the lines, Ifrit could even make you charcoal.”

Zephyr appeared to regard his words thoughtfully as they took the pad back, but only uttered a small thank you before returning to their drawing.

For a few days after that, Aether remained unsure if they had even fully understood what he had been offering, despite noticing how the stack of plain printer paper he had left out ‘accidentally’ had shrunk. He thought he had spotted them sketching again since, however every time he drew close, they had suddenly had pressing business elsewhere or had twisted to hide their work. Aether fretted to himself; had he made them uncomfortable with his interest? It wasn't until Zephyr silently presented him with a small drawing that he understood.

The image was carefully rendered, a mixture of detailed pencil lines and the deep, organic shading that could only come from charcoal. Aether gasped as the sketch on the page came to life before his eyes. Rather than the small snippets Zephyr had captured out the patio windows, this was a whole scene: an interaction between two people perfectly recreated in shades of black and white. Aether saw himself as Zephyr saw him; smiling indulgently while leaned casually against the kitchen counter. In front of him was Dewdrop, his head tilted back and mouth open as he barked out a laugh at something the quintessence ghoul had said, eyes half closed as a rare smile tugged at his eyes. It felt strangely intimate, seeing it through another's eyes, a private moment observed by accident.

“It's beautiful.” He whispered reverently. “Thank you.”

Zephyr shrugged nonchalantly, but it was clear they were pleased by the praise.

Days later, Aether also saw Zephyr handing Dew something. He burned to see what moment the air ghoul had chosen to immortalise, to find out exactly what had made Dew smile like he did, in the wide way that took over his face without him meaning it to.

“Did you know Zephyr could draw?” Dew asked later that night, when the pair of them somehow found themselves the last two left in the common room after the rest of the pack had retreated to bed. Despite having the whole lounge to themselves, they were still sat directly beside one another on the same couch.

“Mmm, I've seen some of their sketches.” Aether hummed, not giving away too much, and especially not the fact that his own personal drawing was currently sat in pride of place on his dresser, propped up to ensure the charcoal didn't smudge until he could find it a frame. “Good, aren't they.”

“Yeah. I never even saw them doing it.”

Dew leaned over to the end table beside the couch and picked up a postcard-sized piece of paper, carefully tucked inside another sheet to protect it.

“I need to get a holder for it, like the tour picture in your room has,” Dew mused out loud as he carefully uncovered it, thinking along the same lines as Aether, “don't wanna ruin it.”

The picture Dew held out was just as full of life as Aether's, although the scene captured within was very different. Instead of a private, quiet moment recreated in soft lines and shading, Dew's picture was as loud and bold as the subject matter. Lying out on the patio, he saw the shapes of two laughing fire ghouls, the larger pointing up at an invisible cloud above. It warmed Aether's heart to see the image of the pair who were becoming fast friends, despite a rocky start, and even more so given Dew's delight at it.

Some small part of him felt a sense of relief that it was him and him alone who had received the sketch of them in the kitchen however, as if Zephyr had sensed his growing affections for the fire ghoul and was not about to reveal them unprompted.

“It's wonderful,” he said instead, “I'll help you get a frame.”

Despite the lack of schedule in their early days topside, there was one thing the newly summoned ghouls were still expected to do: attend weekly mass in the Chapel. Eventually they would be expected to wear their band uniforms, Aether explained, however for now they were permitted to attend in the regular Abbey uniform of black dress shirts and slacks. They could be masked or glamoured, but either way their glamour had to be flawless. From time to time there would be external attendees, people who were open to the ideas of the church yet unprepared to see physical manifestations of Him up close. Aether's oft-repeated phrase rang true again: plausible deniability. After another trip to the storage all four new ghouls had an Abbey uniform and, to Dewdrop and Mountain's disgust, shiny leather shoes to go with them.

Similarly to when the pack went to dinner, Aether led them to a dark pew near the back of the Chapel. They were slightly early and if asked, the quintessence ghoul would have neither confirmed nor denied that he had pretended the service began earlier than it did to avoid them being late. Aside from claiming a whole pew to themselves, he was keen that they not attract the ire of Sister Imperator and the Clergy at their first official attendance of their reign as band ghouls.

Full to the brim with ghouls and siblings, the Chapel was quite a sight. Even at mealtimes Dew didn't think he had seen this many of the Abbey's inhabitants together all at once, and the sheer number was enough to make his hackles raise behind his mask and his nose wrinkle at the myriad of unfamiliar scents in the air. Still though, once everyone settled down he thought that the experience was rather magical. It was sunset, and the golden hour's light pouring through the windows and filling the space was only made deeper and warmer as it filtered through the reds and oranges of the panes of the fire realms.

Dew felt himself holding his breath alongside the dozens of others filling the Chapel as Terzo swept out of the vestry, his robes billowing behind him. As Terzo began to speak, his voice both filled the space and simultaneously felt as though he were speaking directly into Dew's ear. He spoke with a reverence for Him that Dew thought he used to feel, long ago, and in a tone that he thought might one day might sway him back to the faith that had let him and so many of his new pack down. Dew clung onto every word the man spoke as he addressed both ghouls and humans.

At some point there was singing, Terzo chanting prayers and a small group of ghouls and siblings leading the responses. He did his best to follow the sermon, trying to understand and internalise his words even as much of it went over his head. Their Papa spoke about giving in to the temptations of what some would call sins, how letting themselves revel in the life they were given rather than restricting it would set them free from guilt and suffering. Before too long though, Dew's mind began to wander.

He still felt guilty over so many things; from the way he had acted towards certain packmates, to the way he still felt about aspects of his life both before and now he was topside. He thought Terzo was probably correct – he would feel much lighter if he could cast that guilt aside and accept his flaws as just a natural part of the experience of living. He was a Hell-born being after all: if he couldn't sin without guilt then what hope did the wide-eye siblings hanging onto his every word have?

Envy was still at the forefront of his thoughts regarding Ifrit and Zephyr, green-eyed and grumbling deep in his heart. All his misgivings about the pair could somehow be reduced to their bond and the fact that that Dew's closest reflection topside had gotten everything he never had in the blink of an eye. He felt somewhat justified in his thoughts though; Dew figured it would be strange if he wasn't jealous. If someone was thrown into a world that wasn't fair, then being envious of another being dealt better cards was surely less of a sin and more a proportionate response.

Perhaps his envy was something that could guide him through the troubled waters of his relationship with his newly bonded packmates: a single feeling he could pinpoint as real in the turbulent sea of his emotions. It could guide him to shore, to a place where he could come to terms with his lot in life and eventually find his way to accepting it.

Something that hovered somewhere between lust and greed also simmered when he looked at Aether, another source of his guilt. However, Dew considered, Aether had only said he didn’t want a mate, he had said nothing about relationships of the more casual variety. In fact, he seemed to be actively pursuing Dew in that manner if the way he singled him out for extra touches and glances was anything to go by. They would be easy temptations to allow himself to give into as well, he thought, ones where the only thing holding Dew back was a fear of the guilt he would feel if he did. If he could cast that off and trust that Aether knew his own mind well enough to set boundaries, letting Dew follow his lead, then those sins were within easy reach.

Pride: now that was a sin Dewdrop was familiar with. What was his obsession with his hair and other superfluous elements of his appearance if not pride? He hadn’t used to feel that way, being more familiar with shame in the earlier years of his life. While reflecting on his prideful vices though, he realised he felt no guilt about them. They had been the security blanket that kept him warm in cold, dark times both before and after his soul marks appearance when he was coming to terms with his identity, then the life raft to keep himself afloat when his water markings threatened to drown him. His pride hurt no one, so why should it cast even a shadow of guilt? Dew felt the softer kind of pride even of his own feelings surrounding the subject; like they were a blueprint he should seek to replicate in other aspects of his life.

What did that leave him; wrath, gluttony and sloth? Dew didn’t feel particularly aligned with any of them, save perhaps gluttony in the most literal sense, but who could blame a hungry ghoul? Nobody, not even Terzo, had said he had to excel at every aspect of sin though, even as a hellish being. Truly, only He alone could encompass all seven and still find the strength to cast away the guilt. Dew was lost in his thoughts for long enough that Terzo had soon not only finished his sermon but was wrapping up the whole evening mass.

“Alright, fuck off now!” He clapped his hands to dismiss the congregation. “I’m sure you’ve all got much more pleasurable things to be doing on a fine evening like this! Go forth and sin, my children!”

Dew stayed in his pew well after Terzo had swept back into the vestry, letting the hoard of restless ghouls and siblings pour out of the Chapel. He considered how he felt after Terzo’s guided self-reflection. Better, he thought. Not perfect – he still harboured guilt over leaving Mountain all alone the night of Zephyr’s summoning – but better. Dew at last felt that many of the other things that weighed heavily on his mind were, if not justified, at least understandable.

Coming back to himself, Dew felt the gaze of his pack fall on him, waiting for him to get up so they could leave. Both Ifrit and Zephyr's eyes were glazed, as if they had been dozing off already, and neither Mountain nor Aether seemed to be feeling the ground shaking revelations that Dew was. Did they not also feel lighter? Freer to embrace the sinful parts of their lives as simply their natural ghoulish reactions to the overwhelming experience that was life? Clearly not: Mountain's stomach rumbled, interrupting him and making it clear that Chapel time was over; now it was dinner.

Oh well, Dew thought to himself as he got to his feet and shuffled sideways out of the pew, maybe he could make good on some gluttony while he was there.

[wrathofrats]

For the prompts, “Would you mind if I kissed you?” And maybe Zephrit? Or really any Ifrit pairing you pick 💙

Have 800 of sappy stupid wound cleaning

Ifrit shouldn’t feel bad, but he does anyways.

He wasn’t watching, didn’t have his arm on Zephyr like he usually does, let them go in front of him. A bunch of meaningless gestures to a ghoul who demanded to be mostly independent but before ifrit could turn back around zephyr was on the ground in front of him.

Ifrit kneels next to them, a concerned look on his face as he gives zephyr a once over for any more than obvious injuries.

“Are you ok moth?” He asks, inspecting them.

Zephyr rolls their eyes, moving to push themself off of the concrete to grab their cane again.

“I’m fine ifs, give me a second to get up”

Ifrit could see the clear lip in the sidewalk. Easy to trip over if you’re not paying attention. He tried to resist the urge to simply pick zephyr up and either place them back on their feet or carry them back to their room, but ifrit knew they rather just do it themself.

Zephyr winces once back on their feet, visibly favoring one leg over the other.

“Zeph? Are you sure you’re alright?”

“I just need to walk it off” zephyr says, taking a step and sucking in a deep breath.

“Can I at least look at it? There’s a bench over there, if anything you should sit properly for a couple minutes”

Zephyr nods, hobbling over to the worn bench that sits in the middle of a couple trees and bushes. Even if the ministry didn’t have the budget to update the worn down metal, at least the earth ghouls had a passion for design and kept the place looking pretty.

Ifrit put a steady hand on their back to help them lean into the bench, moving to kneel in front of them. They tenderly rolled up their pant leg, trying not to graze the rough fabric over their skin just in case he was cut up from the concrete.

There was already a small dark patch on the fabric of their knee, a small amount of blood already starting to dry around the wound once ifrit got zephyrs leg exposed.

“Wisp, this looks bad, you really shouldn’t be walking around on this”

Zephyrs knee was skinned. Ifrit was being a tad dramatic but there was some truth in what he was saying, for zephyr of all ghouls, trying to get around on an injury would only make their life much worse.

“Then how will I get back”

“I’ll carry you, you know that”

They did. They assumed that would be the answer even if it made them feel bad everytime for being a burden for ifrit to deal with, but he always seemed happy, taking joy in the act of care so they didn’t protest.

Ifrit tucked his arm under their legs. Lifting them up bridal style. Zephyr held onto their cane and put their head on his shoulder as ifrit carried them like they weighed practically nothing. Even if zephyr usually didn’t like it, ifrit still cherished the moment to be so close, for zephyr to let him take care of them.

Once they reached their door Zeph grabbed the knob to open it, instinctively knowing what to do considering this happens more often than they’d care to admit. It took one time of struggling early after they were summoned for zephyr to realize that it was best if they helped instead of ifrit nearly dropping them.

Ifrit delicately sat them on the side of their bathtub, making sure they were steady before rummaging through their cabinet for the first aid supplies. Sadly, with a clumsy fire ghoul and an ill air ghoul these situations happened decently often, and ifrit was trained in what to do.

“You should take your pants off zeph” ifrit threw out casually

“Any reason for that wildfire? Trying to patch me up or make me easy access?” Zeph giggled, already pushing down their pants. Their boxers were cute, decorated with white clouds like a typical air ghoul. Ifrit can’t help but love them even more with nerdy little details like that.

“Hush and brace yourself, I gotta wipe it off”

Ifrit tried to lightly graze over the wound with a washcloth while zephyr hissed and grabbed the side of the tub. It was just water but his skin was still tender and sore.

“It’s ok, you’re doing great wisp” ifrit whispered, grabbing the gauze and a bandage. He put a light layer of an antiseptic on it before covering his knee, punctuating the procedure with a small kiss to the side of his leg.

“All better?”

“Thank you doctor ifrit” zephyr laughed offering their hand for ifrit to help them stand up. They looked up at him, admiration in their eyes wondering how they got lucky evening to have him.

“Would you mind if I kissed you wildfire?”

“I never mind if you kiss me darling” ifrit leaned down, placing his hand on the side of zephyrs face while they smiled into it.

[thehypnone]

Best gear talk posts (meaning the big ones with the most in depth info or the ones that got popular for whatever reason)

The big three:

Ghost guitar guide

Ghost bass guide

Ghost keyboard guide

Other fun stuff:

Mountain's drum kit + Skeletour update

Custom vs. stock Hagstrom Fantomen

Guitar/bass construction ramble + resources

Mountain's thigh hole lmao

Guitars used on Impera

Swiss' guitars

Cos Sylvan's 2017 pedal setup

Rulti guitar sharing

Drag Talk pedals + update

Cos' and Per's playing styles

Number of guitars on tour

Glow-in-the-dark Fantomen dots

Tuning during lives

Dew's EOB Strat

Tucking the picks

Absolution Live 2017 vs. 2023

RHRN soundtrack analysis

Influences in the music of the band Ghost

Aeon's new (Skeletour) guitar

Dewdrop vs. Ifrit's playing

[armoredisopod]

New Event PV

New Operators

Underflow, 5* Welfare Sentinel Protector Defender

I'll intercept the tides, it is Aegir's duty to stay ahead of the land.

Lucilla, 5* Hexer Supporter

Where's the one that dares disturb the ocean's currents?

Ulpianus, 6* Crusher Guard

Not everyone can welcome victory, but everyone must bear the price of failure.

Operator Outfits Update

Total of 4 new outfits, 3 new additions for the Epoque brand and 1 new addition for the 0011/Yun brand

Epoque

For the Banquet - Melanite

Scribing - Penance

I Am The Tides - Gladiia

0011/Yun

Fragrant Pace - Grain Buds

Announced outfit reruns

Series V 0011/Tempest outfits (Fartooth, Shalem, Paprika)

There They Be - Saga

Operator Modules Update

Underflow and Lucilla being part of branches with modules immediately get their modules

SPT-X module base effect reveals invisible enemies within Underflow's attack range

UMD-X module base effect lets Lucilla inflict 10% Enfeeble for 2 seconds to enemies she attacks

Medic Amiya gets her module

INC-X increases Amiya's healing on each attack to 60% of damage dealt

Hunter Sniper branch gets 1 module type

Ifrit, Gladiia and Penance get their second modules

The base effect of their new modules are unknown at the time of writing

Events and Stories

Path of Life, an Aegir side story event

The endless array of lights flashes in sequence like waves of scales, persistently lighting up the darkest abyss.

Gravity fields distorts the texture of the ocean, and the city's ships slowly open their mouths to you as they enter and leave the harbor.

Come forth, this glorious civilization, familiar yet alien, is inviting you to witness its choices for the future.

Hortus de Escapismo Retrospect, scheduled after Path of Life

Operator Archives update for Lucilla, Coldshot, Lutonada and Deepcolor

Record Restore update for Lingering Echoes

[radiantrookie]

Year of Silver Delusions (Updated):

Shadow was a boss in Generations and now gets his own year and added story campaign, Sonic x Shadow Generations is also rumored to have multiple waves of DLC

Knuckles Series has Iblis in it, with Knuckles gaining the power of the Flames of Disaster

Silver was included in the DC x Sonic Collab over Blaze

Mephiles and Kingdom Valley are in Shadow Generations, with Mephiles's goal is to restore himself to the timeline

Gerald's Journal acknowledges the Ifrit from Sonic Rivals 2

Some sources state that Sonic Speed Simulator is canon, if so, it canonizes ESP Silver, (the 06 timeline Silver)

Shun Nakamura wishes to remake Sonic 06

Rumors suggest the Sonic Movie Franchise has big plans for Silver

In Sonic Frontiers, the Ancients's technology resembles the patterns of Silver's gloves and cuffs

According to leaks, the next Sonic game is allegedly a sequel to Frontiers

Shadow Generations has Mephiles's goop in Chaos Island

[ashthewaterghoul]

Ash’s Ghost One Shot Master Post

* indicates anything that has some MDNI type-a-shit

His Dark Work - A Copia One Shot, ao3

The Purple Haze - An Aether Ghoul One Shot, ao3

The Runt - A Dewdrop Ghoul One Shot, ao3

If Home Is Where The Heart Is, Then Why Can’t I Feel Mine Beating? - An Ifrit Ghoul One Shot, ao3

Everything’s Fine - A Copia One Shot, ao3 | Tumblr

Fall For Them - A Rain Ghoul One Shot, ao3 | Tumblr

I’m Still Your Favourite Regret, You’re Still My Weapon Of Choosing - A DewdropxAlpha One Shot, ao3 | Tumblr

Body & Mind - A Phantom Ghoul One Shot, ao3 | Tumblr

Important To You, Important To Me - A Rulti One Shot, ao3 | Tumblr

*Are You Really Okay? - A DewTom One Shot, ao3 | Tumblr

All Of My Fears Combined, Walking The Thinnest Of Lines - A DewTher One Shot, ao3 | Tumblr

*Perfect - A Swiss Ghoul One Shot, ao3 | Tumblr

Phanter Cuddle Buddies - The Full Story, ao3 | Tumblr (technically a ramble more than a one shot but oh well I’m putting it here anyway)

*You Guide Me In To Safety And Silence - A DewTom One Shot, ao3 | Tumblr

Phanter Cuddle Buddies - Copia’s Mental State, Tumblr (yes more so a ramble again shhhh)

I Know For The Last Time You Will Not Be Mine So Give Me The Night - An Alternative Ending, ao3 | Tumblr

You Gave Me Nothing Whatsoever But A Reason To Leave - A Dewdrop Ghoul One Shot, ao3 | Tumblr

'Cause It Still Makes My Blood Run Cold, To Remember What I Did Before - An AlphaxDew One Shot, ao3 | Tumblr

Pro Memoria - #phanter cuddle buddies, ao3 | Tumblr

A Monster Made Human - A Copia One Shot, ao3 | Tumblr

Girl's Night With Copia, ao3 | Tumblr

*Need Your Heat - A Phantom/Ifrit One Shot, ao3 | Tumblr

The Heaviest Burden - A Swiss Ghoul One Shot, ao3 | Tumblr

Birds Of A Flightless Feather - An Air & Zephyr One Shot, ao3 | Tumblr

*Quick Lessons - A SwissTom One Shot, ao3 | Tumblr

Smoke On The Water - A Lake Ghoul One Shot, ao3 | Tumblr

*Bound By Our Sins - A DewTher One Shot, ao3 | Tumblr

Eigengrau - #phanter cuddle buddies, ao3 | Tumblr

Will be updated every time I post! Last updated 11th April 2025.

[cerastes]

hey drimo, with the RA2 monthly update having dropped I figured it was high time to go build up my Forward Camp a bit for the Warfare monthly maps - do you have any advice on how to create a proper torment nexus in the Forward Camp? 

My first inclination had been to just recreate what I made in RA1 (winding labyrinth with lots of net launchers, gas launchers and a narrow kill lane), but IDK if that will work out and the resource outlay for a properly built up torment nexus IS pretty huge even with all the extra ways to get stuff in RA2

(sent by @the-cornuthaum​)

Recreating an RA1 format base is indeed a good long term goal in my opinion, but as you said, it’s a resource intensive matter, particularly because it takes literal thousands of Stone -- Lighting Ore is really not an issue if you do a lot of Strange Territories -- to make all those ideal Urban Barriers III.

Personally, I would start with making a simple kill lane and building outwards from there, probably with a loop being the next thing after the kill lane. Cover your Campervan with Urbans, then choose a direction and make your lane there, and then stretch to either side of preference and make a basic loop surrounding 3-4 Battlements. This is highly informed by my own preferences and player expression, mind you, because I love radial range units -- Lin, Gnosis, Arturia -- and it tends to be how I start, but, of course, I think you need to adjust your layout to your own preferences.

I know most people don’t share my playstyle -- radial units close up, very long range artillery blasting those tiles while the radials damage/crowd control, like Horn, Firewhistle, Fiammetta, Ray, W -- so instead of a loop, you can do a zigzag funnel with Battlement ‘alcoves’, extending all the way to one of the enemy spawns with a single opening so all enemy spawns have to enter through there. I’m at work so bear with my MS Paint skills here but I think a small visual representation can help:

Basic, low resource kill lane. Greys are Urbans, browns are Battlements. The Battlement directly on the enemy route near the Campervan is intentional because a good kill lane will not have to worry about them reaching there in the first place. You can comfortably put several Battlements on the Battlement side, like rows of 2-3 per line, depending on your needs, and long range bombardment like Fortresses behind them. The straight line Battlement is good for Ifrit/Corroseum, Ray, Fartooth, Schwarz, any straight line killer of your choice. Apply Cursed Mire as needed, but keep in mind a Cursed Mire tile is a tile you don’t get to deploy Melee units on, so leave a gap here and there if you want to put an Ambusher like Manticore here and there. Your straight line Battlement can also be under the entrance, but do mind ranged enemies.

From there, you can extend like this for a funnel, like so,

Do zigzag alcoves like this, 

or make a simple loop like this

Added a red line to show you how the enemy pathing would go; you can add more Battlements to the empty space down there in the loop.

Then, with a few more blocks, you can create this Purple Zone above the loop, which is where I would put all sorts of goodies like Net Launchers or long range artillery Battlements, aimed towards the loop.

This is already a potent set up for a base, you don’t need to occupy all of your space, simply make good use of little space to get started. From here, you really can build absolutely anything you want and start dressing it as you see fit, but as a starter, powerful set up, this is what I recommend.

[sentientgolfball]

I know it’s been awhile since I posted ghoul plushie project updates (curse you college work) BUT we officially have a Rain peanut

Whenever I finish him I’ll be halfway through the project :D all that’ll be left is Cumulus, Aurora, Aether, Sunshine, Ifrit, and Zephyr

[demifiendrsa]

FINAL FANTASY XVI DLC Trailer - The Rising Tide

Japanese version (with multi-language captions)

Leviathan abilities gameplay

Leviathan The (Not So) Lost Is Here | FINAL FANTASY XVI PAX East 2024 Panel

“The Rising Tide” DLC for Final Fantasy XVI will launch in Spring 2024. An Expansion Pass including both add-ons can also be purchased for $24.99.

Latest details

■ The Rising Tide

Introduction

An unmarked letter arrives at the hideaway containing a request most curious: the Dominant of Leviathan, long lost Eikon of Water, is in need of rescue.

To heed this call, Clive and his companions must journey to Mysidia—a hidden land under a blue sky—where they will uncover the tragic history of a forgotten people.

Ifrit vs. Leviathan

A New Ally: Shula

An invaluable ally on Clive’s journey to rescue Leviathan’s Dominant.

A New Area: Mysidia

Deep within a sea of darkness, sanctuary exists for those who know where to look—a lost oasis untouched by the ever-encroaching Blight. It is beneath her emerald boughs that both man and beast have found their final haven.

What’s Up with the New Tonberries?

New Abilities: Leviathan

Tame the tides and drown your enemies both near and far with the terrible might of the Eikon of Water.

—Leviathan’s Eikonic Feat: Serpent’s Cry

Summon onto Clive’s off arm a sea-spitting serpent capable of attacking enemies at great distances (using Triangle and Square).

New End Game Content: Kairos Gate

Unlock this challenging new mode after completing both “The Rising Tide” and the main game scenarios.

Fight your way through 20 stages, each one growing more difficult.

Earn points during battle and use them to upgrade Clive. Maximize battle performance to earn more points.

Find new materials and weapons at the end of each stage.

Aim for a spot on the global leaderboard.

But That’s Not All…

After obtaining the power of all the Eikons, something happens to Clive…

■ Free Update Version 1.30

Return to a quest giver immediately with a new “Quick Complete” function.

Icons updated for important character quests.

New Skill Set feature allows you to save up to five unique Feat and Ability sets.

Abilities and Accessories adjusted to make easier to use.

New controller type allows for customizable button layouts.

Tone correction, screen effects, and more added to Photo Mode.

Approximately 40 new orchestrion rolls added.

■ Collaborations

Final Fantasy XIV Online

Final Fantasy: Brave Exvius

Final Fantasy XVI is available now for PlayStation 5. A PC version is currently in development.

[ifr1t]

Who Dares To Enter The Mayhem?

DNI/BYF under the cut, or read my Strawpage!! My strawpage is more likely to be updated than this intro!

The name’s Ifrit, I’m an Australian (AEST) teenage artist, actor, cosplayer, writer, and professional cringefail nerd.

I use they/he/she/em pronouns sneaky disguised as any/all

BLOG TAGS:

#ifrit speaks — My normal text posts + sometimes fandom hcs

#ifrit draws — My art (inc. shitposts)

#ifrit writes — Headcanons, concepts, + my fanfic

#ask ifrit — Ask box!

ೄྀ࿐ ˊˎ-

DNI/F:

Basic DNI

Zionists/Pro-Israel/Neutral

Pro-generative AI

Zoophile

Pro-ship/fic

Ableist

Anti-neopronouns

Jutty Taylor, Wilbur Soot, Dteam, Jimmy Urine supporter

BYF:

I’m autistic w ADHD, I often use tone tags. They’re not required but appreciated :)

I’m mostly active on Twitter

Please no DM unless we’re mutuals or it’s important (eg. i'm following someone problematic, I said/did something that you think I may be unaware of, etc). Ask for DM is OK! and using the AMA box is OK!

Please don’t tag me in chain (“tag your mutuals”) posts, other posts are OK!

’m not afraid to discuss my political beliefs

Music:

Sleep Token

Hozier

Bring Me The Horizon

Tyler, The Creator

Megan Thee Stallion

Yaelokre

Babymetal

Ghost

Ricky Montgomery

Will Wood /& the Tapeworms

Joy Division

Video Games:

Baldur’s Gate 3

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare Trilogy (OG & Reboot)

Marvel Rivals

Overwatch 2

Detroit: Become Human

Movies & TV:

X-Men franchise

Deadpool Trilogy

Venom Trilogy

Spider-Man: ITSV/ATSV

Interview With The Vampire (1994)

probably other stuff im forgetting rn

Anne Rice’s Interview With The Vampire

X-Men ‘97

X-Men: The Animated Series

House MD

Arcane

Bungou Stray Dogs

Dungeon Meshi (Delicious in Dungeon)

YouTubers:

Kwite

Danny Motta

Russian Badger

Jschlatt

Jack Septiceye

Uyen Ninh

Gianmarco Soresi (if he counts)

Technoblade

Slimecicle

Other/Hobbies:

Theatre & Musicals

Podcasts

Art

Acting

Cabaret (musical)

Accidental Death Of An Anarchist (play)

The Song of Achilles (book)

Vampires!!!

Favs!˚ ༘♡ ⋆｡˚:

Ifrit, Zephyr, Papa Emeritus IV (the band Ghost)

Louis de Pointe du Lac, Armand (IWTV)

Hozier (Musician)

Astarion, Karlach (BG3)

Deadpool, Wolverine, Nightcrawler, Morph, Storm (X-Men/Marvel Comics)

Viktor, Mel Medarda, Ekko, Jayce (Arcane)

Emcee — Specifically Alan Cumming’s (Cabaret)

Connor (DBH)

Spider-Man (Marvel Comics)

My twt mooties

My irls

[cheerycherrycandy-resurrected]

Can You Hear The Thunder?

Finally, the Soulmarks/Soulmates AU I've been teasing for like a year!

Master page with more info/updated cw and tags: here.

Chapter 1: Prologue / Water Ghouls

Soulmates from different elemental clans were rare; the geography of the pit providing many physical barriers to them ever finding each other. Thus the Ghost Project, with its mix of elemental ghouls, had united its fair share of crossmated ghouls: Alpha and Omega, Ifrit and Zephyr and, as many had first thought, Aether and Dewdrop.

Rating: M Content: Soulmate-identifying marks, previous background character death, heartbreak, angst, enemies-to-lovers, fluff Words: 1197

Tag list! Hello @cosmicseafoam @ashthewaterghoul @jimothybarnes @zombiequeen777 🖤

Read below, or on AO3!

It had seemed like a good idea, initially. When forging His earliest unholy creations in the deepest pits of His dark domain, it had only seemed right to leave His beloved children clues to finding their true eternal partner. However, He had become complacent in his creation, mistakes were made, and soulmates had ended up irrevocably separated. Two halves of a whole, forever separated by the elemental clans He had put in place. Wracked with guilt, He retreated to bathe in His own sorrow, and the Pits became a Hellish place. 

Millenia later, the legacy of His soul marks was as strong as ever. As the elemental clans had diverged, so had their soul marks, in some cases rendering them indecipherable to those raised without knowledge of their meanings. Soul marks developed on the bodies of adolescent ghouls, forever marking their growth from kits to adulthood with a sign, gifted to them by their future celestial partner. For some ghouls, their marks would reveal that they had already grown up alongside their future mate, for others they told of a ghoul they had yet to meet. In almost all cases, they spoke to a future of happiness and security with someone created alongside them. There were of course, exceptions. 

The population of ghouls in the pit had steadily grown over the eons and so had the size of their domains. Whereas in the earliest days in the Pit ghouls from different clans had still interacted with each other, now their decreased proximity had led to the different elemental ghouls becoming almost totally isolated from each other. The vast distances between them had caused their dialects to diverge, understanding of their traditions to be forgotten and their shared history to be lost. It was as though they had evolved into separate species. In some ghouls this was more obvious than others: air ghouls had adapted to their environment and developed feathers, while some water ghouls had all but lost the ability to use spoken language and transitioned to living almost entirely underwater. 

From this separation arose His greatest tragedy: crossmated ghouls. Creatures who could live their entire life knowing they would likely never meet the one the universe had forever tied them to. Marked from adolescence by a mark that was alien and other, ghouls with a soul mark from another elemental clan were permanently labelled as different and were treated as such. Some were simply pitied whereas others could be entirely ostracised from their family groups. A mark of a different element was sometimes regarded with suspicion, especially from those in tribes that were polar opposites of each other: a young water ghoul growing up with a fire ghoul soul mark was never going to have an easy time. As the meaning behind soul marks was often lost between the elemental clans, the crossmated ghouls were also deprived of the clues they contained to find their mate, even if they were to go searching. 

With the development of the people and lands on the Surface came an opportunity for ghouls to be summoned to the upper realm to spread His word. With few exceptions, the ghouls who put themselves forward for the topside projects were crossmated ghouls. Exhausted from a life surrounded by happily mated ghouls, the population of ghouls topside had almost all chosen to escape their lonely existences for a chance at a fulfilling second life.  

Many ghouls summoned to the surface formed relationships with each other. Unlike their home communities, where most of their peers knew their future partners and so didn’t have any reason to pursue others, topside ghouls were unbound by fate. They had the freedom to live and love in ways that were closed off to them in the Pit, and most saw any chance at love as better than none. Due to the relative rarity of crossmated ghouls and their proclivity for topside projects, it had therefore happened that several of them had met their lost partners while serving Him topside. Rumours of this, of course, spread back to the lonely crossmated ghouls in the pit leading many others to want to join them in a final attempt at following the path fate had laid out for them. 

~~~~~~~ 

Water ghouls’ soul marks were among the most informative when it came to giving hints to the ghoul they spoke of, and also the hardest to decipher for ghouls from other elemental clans. Water ghouls had transitioned to living partially underwater, spending their days in interlinked systems of blue-lit caves as well as on the rocky, seaweed-crusted shores. As well as typical marine features of webbing, gills, and fins; water ghouls were covered in glowing bioluminescent patterns in a thousand shades of blue to help them navigate the deep and to locate one another. For those who lived entirely underwater, they communicated through gestures, with a limited number of clicks and whistles like the marine mammals around them. Regardless of if a water ghoul clan were surface or seabed dwellers, they had retained their knowledge of the ghoulish language for communication with Him, and occasionally other ghouls. 

The markings on a water ghoul’s skin could manifest in many colours and patterns, telling stories of them and their ancestors’ history. They told of overcoming hardship and winning battles, and of a ghoul’s personal values and dreams. All soul marks spoke to values held in high esteem by the ghoul species they came from. Soul marks from water ghouls arose from the deeply ingrained sense of family and multigenerational community present within the water ghoul society, and the emphasis they put on visual communication. 

A soul mark from a water ghoul would manifest on their mate’s skin as a patch of their own bioluminescent markings, in the location of their first touch. The colours and stories from their future mate were a beautiful visual representation of who they would be forever bonded to; a permanent gift from their soulmate. Water ghouls who didn’t already recognize the marks that developed would often speak with the elders in their settlements to decipher the markings and receive guidance about who their mate may be and what they could be like.  

In ghouls crossmated to a water soulmate, they received the full soul mark of a water ghoul but were denied the community knowledge of the shared lore and history it contained. The myriad shades of blue and green in looping patterns that glowed when in contact with water were not clues to a mate’s identity, but rather a beacon that screamed of their mate being lost to a different elemental tribe. In some cases, the location of the mark could clearly tell the story of how they were supposed to have met and what scenario fate had originally planned for them, but normally it just told of missed opportunities for happiness. 

Dewdrop had the swirling bioluminescence of a water ghoul mate twined around both his forearms. The patterns glowed a bright teal colour and spoke of his mate’s kindness and beauty. A source of great power, hidden behind a sensitive exterior. Fierce loyalty, and strong independence. 

There was just one problem: Dewdrop was a fire ghoul. 

[rontra]

Lone Trail closed just earlier, which means I drew this entire scene in the 2 weeks it was open. Whew! I said I wouldn't make updates this big anymore, but here's the biggest update of them all 😭

Sic Itur Ad Astra, part one, scene five: Saria makes an ifrit lane. Kirsten fights the floor and loses. I finally get to draw blood.

[Read it here]

or, start from the beginning.

26 pages + 3 bonus images. End of chapter one! Thank you for reading!