#im gonna go finish my weiss drawing

[sufferthesea]

Transitional Period

Okay so I feel really lame writing this but I think it's also important. I keep apologizing for not being super active on this blog anymore, and there's a number of reasons I haven't. Most of it has been health related but anyway. I started this blog because I hated my other blog and wanted to do something new with a fandom I'd been in for a long time (10+ years), so after talking with Katie ( @shiranuigenma ), I decided to create this Naruto blog. But it wasn't intended to be just a Naruto blog, but that's how it kind of ended up since that's what I was into when I made it.

The fact that I've kept this a 98% Naruto blog is awesome because my attention span and energy allotted for a fandom is around 3-4 months. After that I usually get bored or burnt out and have to find something else. Making friends and participating in things like Kakashi Week, and just doing art and writing fanfics, has helped me to maintain interest in this blog for a lot longer than I thought I would. So thank you!! You guys are awesome!!!

(Okay real quick I'm not quitting lol. I know it sounds like it. But I'm not.) Basically, I was getting so burnt out on Naruto that I was dreading getting on this blog and I didn't want to watch it anymore. That's why I've been MIA. I literally only follow Naruto blogs at the moment. I don't want this to become a trash blog like my last one that I abandoned, so I'm still going to be kind of selective with what I reblog. Anyway. To combat the staleness and burnt out feeling I had, I got into a few other shows with my friends and that's really all I've been watching (RWBY, RvB, and YouTube if you're curious). It sounds dumb but it's really helped me a lot because I'm not so exhausted and wearing myself out trying to be ~the cool singular fandom blog~ that I'm really not meant to be. (Yo, major kudos to those who can do that.)

So anyway, 2018 has been not super unkind, but very tough for me. You grow from challenges, right? But it's also important to not be challenging yourself 24/7 for 6 months straight with little sleep and locking yourself away in your bedroom. I am not Maito Gai. I cannot do that. So here's a few things about my blog that'll carry us into summer 2018 and hopefully allow me to be more active and not so stressed and sad!!!! Esp since I still don't have a job even tho I'm looking!! And I'm getting tired of ppl telling me “Well just get a job??? Just go get hired???” like !!! what do you think I am doing???

Requests are now closed indefinitely. I'm going to finish up the few I have, but after that I'm closing them. They were super fun but I have so many things backlogged that it hasn't been as fun anymore. I send love and thanks to all those who sent in requests while they were open! It was a fun experiment and I got to really test myself by writing for characters I don't normally write for!

Writing commissions are closed indefinitely.  I’ll complete the one I have, but then that’ll be it for now. These too were also fun and challenged me more than anything else I've done. I got to write some very unique and difficult topics and I'm so thankful for those who trusted me enough with their stories to do this. However, the amount of time and mental energy it took was too much and severely underselling myself made it difficult to justify the time I was spending. (I've read writers should charge around 1 – 3 cents a word. I was charging $0.001 cents a word lmao. Whoops. I actually don't mind but it is hard to make a living like that.)

Art commissions are still OPEN! And btw, I do have a ko-fi. I'm thinking about doing something like, one coffee = one bust of your character of choosing? (which is same price as commissions whoops lol.) Idk yet. I won't be doing any writing for ko-fi, though.

I was going to create a side blog for the other fandoms I'm in but side blogs are tedious and annoying to manage so I'm probably just going to start posting stuff here. If you don't want to see it, you can start blacklisting tags now. I'll be tagging things as #rwby, #rvb, #not naruto (that's my catch-all tag for anything, uhh, not Naruto). Expect a lot of Ozpin, Qrow, Church, and Washington because even tho I was inactive here, it does not mean I stopped hoeing around in other fandoms. Oh, also expect an occasional #game grumps because #dan avidan is way cute.

I'm also going to be posting fanart for other fandoms here too. It's been nice to draw stuff other than Nardo. I'll still be doing Naruto stuff (I have a ton of Naruto projects I'm working on) but silly little doodles will probably be from RWBY.

I'm also in this weird kinda scary period in my life with school and career options. I have a degree in English and it's always been assumed I'd be a teacher but I don't want to be?? I realized recently that I love to draw and I'm getting quite good at it (with the help of my sister who is my own real-life youtube tutorial for SAI), so both my sister and I are going back to college for a Studio Art degree. I'm thinking about getting into animation and I'm scared because it's not a secure or “traditional” job??? I'm scared because I'm not settling on a job I don't want or a field I just assumed I'd go into. I'm not good with big changes or going into things when it's uncertain, so I'm like ….. /anxiety increases/ But I'm hoping it'll be good.

Just as an extra bullet point and a reminder, I still really love Kakashi, Iruka and Obito, and all my other guys!! Don't think I forgot about them!!

Sorry this is 10 million years long but it was important to me to write all that. I'm sorry I haven't been able to reblog your art or fics and comment on them. I'm sorry I haven't gotten back to you guys and responded to messages. I'm sorry I'm not as active. I've just been figuring stuff out and hanging out with friends, and watching other things so I don't grow to despise Naruto lol. So. That's about it. I probably forgot something.

Oh, I have 21 plants growing in my windowsill. 2 are decorative and the other 19 are going to go in my garden in the backyard bc they’re herbs and vegetables. And I'm going to cosplay for the first time next month and I might meet the voice actor for kid Obito. So. There's that.

[danurso]

Into jauneverse

*during a bright day, RWBY and JNPR were walking back to beacon after watching a movie in the theaters*

Ruby: that movie was so awesome!

Weiss: it was...enjoyable.

Yang: having spruce willis in the cast is already guaranteed fun for me.

Blake: since you love explosions right?

Nora: what's wrong with explosions? I love explosions! They make me happy!

Ren: i don’t think she was talking to you nora.

Jaune: soo...did you liked the movie?

Pyrrha: yeah, it was really fun. I didn’t knew action movies could be so funny like that.

Jaune: that's because we’re huntsmans, we’re used to real danger so whatever we see in these action movies looks more like comedy, if you we’re in spruce willis’ role the movie would’ve ended by the first act.

Pyrrha: yeah...i mean, you saw how many guys he fought in only one scene by the middle of the movie, why was it so hard to deal with three of them at the beginning?

Jaune: i have no idea.

Pyrrha: neither i do.

Jaune: ...so, there’s a marathon of spruce willis marked for tonight, we could use one of the common rooms to make some popcorn and watch all night long, i don’t think it's going to be a problem since tomorrow is sunday.

Pyrrha: that sounds lovely, although i think the couches from the common rooms are to small for all of us.

Jaune: *blushing a bit* actually...i was thinking if we could watch alone...i mean...you and i.

Pyrrha: *blushing* o-oh...right…

Jaune: i-its too weird right? Forget it, forget that i said anythi-

Pyrrha: no! T-there’s no need for that, i really like the idea.

Jaune: really?

Pyrrha: *nods*

Jaune: *with a dumb smile* o-okay then, once we get back i’ll prepare the popcorn, the blankets and the-

???: NOT SO FAST FAKER!!

RWBY/JNPR: *stops*

Jaune: ...wait, who said that?

Pyrrha: *looking around* i don’t knoOOHH!! *gets picked up*

Jaune: PYRRHA!!!

???: *tries to leap away*

Pyrrha: *breaks free falling back on her feet* who are you and what do you wa- *freezes staring at jaune, clad in a white armor with blue details and a blue cape* w-wha...jaune?

Knight jaune: *holds her hand with a charming smile* yes my lady? Tell me what do you want i’ll go through hell to make your wish come true.

Pyrrha: *blushing* w-what? Jaune, w-what happened to y-

Jaune: pyrrha!

Pyrrha: *looks back at jaune, standing besides her friends with his normal clothes* eh!? Wait. *looks back ahead to see jaune in armor* what? *looks back again to see normal jaune* w-what is going on? Why there is two jaunes?

Knight jaune: the explanation is simple my lady, that man is a faker using my appearance to try and steal you away from me. *now holding both of her hands with a determined expression* but i promise you my lady, i won’t let anyone get in the way of our love.

Pyrrha: *blushing again* l-love!?

Jaune: hey! I'm not a faker, let pyrrha go!

Knight jaune: i can’t do that faker! This lady has a place inside my heart, and i won’t let anyone steal her from me!

???: are you sure about that?

Pyrrha: AHH! *feels a rope wrap around her waist before getting yanked back* oof! *lands into something soft and looks up to see jaune, now wearing a large hat with a feather, an eyepatch and buccaneer clothes* w-what? Jaune?

Pirate jaune: hehehe, correct milady. I hope you don’t mind me stealing you for a bit, your heart is a treasure way too precious for me to let it in the hands of these bilge rats.

Pyrrha: *blushing again* m-my heart is what?

Pirate jaune: *with a charming smile* an treasure that not even all the gold in the sea could buy milady.

Pyrrha: *blushes deeply*

Knight jaune: TAKE YOUR DIRTY HANDS OFF MY LADY YOU PIRATE SCUM!!

Pirate jaune: never! An true pirate will never let anyone take his treasure away so easily.

???: then you better think fast.

Pirate jaune: wha- *looks around trying to find pyrrha* where did she go!?

???: right here.

Pirate/Knight jaune: *looks back to another jaune, this one was composed by robotic parts until his jaw*

Cyborg jaune: hey there pyr, sorry i was late for the party.

Pyrrha: *really confused* j-jaune?

Cyborg jaune: of course it's me, i may have a metal heart, but it beats only for you, so of course i would be here.

Pyrrha: *blushing yet again*

Pirate jaune: *drawing his sword* you better give her back to me before i feed you to the sharks!

Knight jaune: *pulls out a golden sword* release my lady before i cut your head off metalic monster!

Cyborg jaune: not gonna happen. *pulls out a high frequency katana* you want her, you take her away from my dead body.

???: ENOUGH!!

Pyrrha: *flies up colliding with something* what is going o- *freezes staring at another jaune, this one with light amber triskele eyes, long white hair and four featherly wings on his back*

Angel jaune: don’t worry my dear, i won’t let this fight continue.

Pyrrha: w-who are you?

Angel jaune: *with a small smile* im your angel my dear, and you’re my goddess.

Pyrrha: *blushing once more* i-AAHHH *gets yanked again*

???: if she is anyone’s goddess, then she’s my goddess.

Pyrrha: *stares at another jaune, this one now wearing clothes made out of darkness, with dark purple eyes and a big black tattoo on his forehead*

Demon jaune: *holding her chin with a sultry grin* don’t worry my little maiden, i’ll be sure to finish this quickly so we can enjoy our time together.

Pyrrha: *blushing even more*

Angel jaune: *creating a small sun over his hand* i will not allow that to happen, you will stay away from my dear pyrrha.

Cyborg jaune: *with an red aura, scarlet eyes and a dark smirk* close your eyes pyr, i’ll have to teach them what happens when they stand between you and me.

Pirate jaune: out of my way you fools! This treasure belongs to me and me only! *raises his sword summoning a horde of ghost ships from the skies*

Knight jaune: *sword starts glowing* if you don’t get away from my lady, i will be forced to show you the power of my excalibur!

Demon jaune: *releases pyrrha, cracking his knuckles and with dark aura flaring like flames* bring it on, but be quick, i don’t want to waste my time here when i could be besides my little maiden.

Jaunes: *charging at each other and starting a devastating battle*

Pyrrha: oh my god, w-what is going oOON*gets yanked into an alley* not aga-

Jaune: *motions for her to stay quiet and whispers* look, i have no idea what's going on, i just know that we need to get out of here okay?

Pyrrha: nods.

Jaune: here, inside this building, they won’t find you here.

Pyrrha: *gets inside the building along with normal jaune and sighs* just what is going on now...where are these jaunes coming from?

Jaune: ...

Pyrrha: i mean, they can’t just be coming out of nowhere ri- *gets pressed against the wall* j-jaune?

Jaune: im sorry pyrrha...i can't hold back anymore.

Pyrrha: *red* w-what do you mean?

Jaune: ...i love you pyrrha...i love you more than anything in this world.

Pyrrha: *dark red* y-you do?

Jaune: yes...and i know im probably not as strong as the other jaunes out there, but i’ll do everything i can to make you happy pyrrha, so please, would you accept to be mine?

Pyrrha: i-i-i…

Jaune: *resting his head on her shoulder* please give me an answer...i’ll go crazy if you don’t give me one. *presses his face on her neck* i can feel your scent taking my reasoning away from me, i don’t think i can hold back for much longer. *wraps hands on her waist* so please tell me pyrrha. *raises his head, facing her and keeping his lips just a few centimeters from hers* do you love me as well?

Pyrrha: i...*slowly getting closer* love... *already feeling his warm breath* yo-

Nora: *barges in the dorm* HEY THERE PYRRHA!!

Pyrrha: KYAAA!!! *shuffling on her bed and quickly hiding a textbook below her pillow.* g-good afternoon nora. *sweating bullets* how are you today?

Nora: ...... *grins* you were writing fanfiction again weren't you?

Pyrrha: *dark red* w-wha-! I-i-i wasn’t wr-

Nora: aww it's okay pyrrha, i love your fanfictions, specially that one you wrote about jaune being a badass soul reaper.

Pyrrha: *atomic red* y-you read!?

Nora: yup, you probably shouldn’t store your fics bellow your bed, someone might find and read by accident.

Pyrrha: *mortified and speechless*

Nora: *we’re waiting for you in the dinner hall ‘kay? Bye pyrrha, good luck with the fics!

Pyrrha: *passes out by sheer embarrassment*

[ruffsficstuffplace]

The Keeper of the Grove (Part 51)

“Fuckin' hell, can you dig any slower?!” the Boss of the Valentinian goons complained.

“This'd go a lot faster if someone didn’t pull off that shit with the dirt-blasters!” replied one of the goons digging with shovels.

“In my defense, it did significantly cut our travel time past that mountain!” Abner said as he stood with his hands and ankles shackled together. “Why take the long way 'round when you can just send your carriage straight through it, right?”

All five of the goons glared at Abner, trigger fingers itching, knuckles turning white from how tightly they were gripping their shovels.

“… I'll just be quiet now...” Abner muttered.

“You do that...” spat the other goon on shallow grave duty.

All was quiet for a while save for the sounds of digging and cursing.

“Awright, that's deep enough!” said the Boss. “Get outta there, grab your guns, and let's all shoot this motherfucker dead—and I want ALL those clips on empty, and a grenade on his face when we're done, in case he's wearin’ bulletproof clothes again!”

“Do we have to shoot him, Boss?” asked one of the goons climbing out the hole.

“What, you want to give ‘im a chance to pull off more of that Houdini shit on us?!” the Boss barked.

“Nah, I was wondering if we couldn't just beat the ever loving shit out of him till he stops moving,” the goon replied. “Got a LOT of stress built up from the trip here, and I want to let it all out before we all head home.”

One of the other goons snorted. “He not help you enough when you thought we were all asleep?”

“Fuck off!”

“All of youse, shut up!” the Boss cried. “We shoot him, toss some dirt over ‘im, then we get the fuck outta here, all accordin' plan!”

“What, you afraid the Keeper's gonna get us?” one of them teased.

“Never thought you'd be scared of fairy tales, Boss,” another hummed.

“Keeper, wild animals, whatever the fuck is killing and eating everyone that comes here, I don't want to meet 'em, capisce? Now get your guns before my trigger finger 'slips!'”

“Alright, alright!” “We're going, we're going!”

Soon, all five of them were standing in front of Abner, his feet right on the edge of his grave, the barrels of their guns point-blank on his chest.

“Anyone have any last words before we ice this fucker?”

“I'd just like to--” Abner started.

“Anyone other than this fucker have any last words before we ice ‘im?”

“Yes,” said a new voice. “Get out of the Valley before I have to dig graves for ALL of you.”

The goons spun around, and came face to face with the Keeper.

“I had the good fortune of being knocked into my grave; ironically, it ended up saving my life as it was just deep enough for me to avoid all the bullets that went flying around, or being caught in Ilaya's scythe swings, and also gave me time to finally pull out the lock pick I'd fashioned from the dirt-blasters.

“It was a miniature seismic-wave generator that could easily liquify the anchors for my bindings, you see.”

“You made that on a bare-bones trip to the Valley, with five armed Valentinian Debt Collectors who wanted you dead riding with you and watching over you at all times?” Weiss asked.

Abner nodded. “The key is to feign stupidity; people will be wary of a smart man, but quickly grow tired of an idiot. And sometimes, actual stupidity works in your favour, when it provides you with a new angle you hadn't seen before, or a window of opportunity.

“Anyway, I managed to break my cuffs, and waited for the sounds of fighting to stop. After that, I attempted to climb out, after which a hand reached in to help pull me out. I had assumed that the Keeper had left, and that one of the goons had survived and had made the rational choice of keeping me alive to better our chances of survival…

“… Only it wasn't one of them, it was Ilaya.”

Abner stared up at the face of fear itself, her crimson eyes glowing in the darkness, his hand wrapped tightly around hers, frozen like the rest of his body.

“You okay?” Ilaya asked.

Abner screamed, his free hand pulling out the lock pick, and blasting Ilaya's wrist with it. She yelped, unharmed but surprised, he took the opportunity to use the last of the pick’s battery to dig handholds for himself.

“STOP!” Ilaya cried as he scrambled out and ran into the woods.

Abner replied by screaming even louder.

“SERIOUSLY, STOP! YOU'RE GOING TO RUN OFF A--”

Abner wailed and flailed his limbs in the air as the ground beneath his feet suddenly disappeared.

“… Cliff…!” Ilaya finished too late.

His screaming continued for a few more seconds.

Thud.

Ilaya ran up to the edge of the cliff with the help of her mask's night vision. “Are you still alive down there...?” she yelled. “Groan once for 'Yes,' and—uh, I guess I'll just climb down and look for you! Wait right there!”

At that, Abner's head shot up from the ground. The canopy was thinner here, the moonlight illuminating the little grove of plants he had found himself in. He grabbed one of the wild tubers by the stalk, and pulled it up as food for later.

He stopped as he realized that it had a face.

:o

Abner blinked.

D:

The elemental started letting out a high-pitched, ear-drum bursting wail. Abner dropped it and clapped his hands over his ears, running through the grove as the rest of them woke up and joined in the bone-chilling pandemonium.

“I ran until the screams of the elementals stopped ringing in my ears, at least, and found myself in an ironbark forest. The Fae do in fact harvest them from the wild, considering that it's difficult to replicate the conditions that allow the quality they desire for their weapons and other projects. Aside from that, they only ever grow so strong thanks to the constant love and attention of their symbiotic caretakers:

“Steel Spiders.”

Abner stopped for breath, put his hand against a tree for support. He didn't notice that he had cut himself on the bark until he felt something other than sweat dripping down his palms. He quickly pulled it away, wrapped his wounds with some bandages he always had stashed somewhere on his body, before he took in his new surroundings.

The moonlight shined down on the ironbark trees, massive, angular titans with branches that shot out like metal spikes, twisting and turning like a set for a horror movie. All that was really missing were the bodies and viscera hanging from them.

Abner nervously made his way through a spacious gap in the trees.

He hadn't noticed the steel-silk web until his palm had already been caught in it.

Twang.

Abner paused as he heard the strand vibrate, letting out a musical sound like an instrument's string being plucked. He turned his head to the noise, watching it vibrate an attached strand, and another, and another, making an admittedly lovely chime.

Then he saw some of the ironbark “branches” start moving, eight eyes opening and glowing in the dark.

Abner tried to pull his hand from the web, but it was stuck, and the strand held strong.

The music became louder. More and more of the webs began to resonate, alerting the other steel spiders that there was prey.

Abner bit back a yelp and began to walk backwards, trying to see how far the strand could stretch until it broke. He stopped as soon as he felt several sticky somethings attach to his back. His teeth began to draw blood as he tried to jump forward, and accidentally got his foot caught in a low-hanging web.

The chiming had become a full on melody now, echoing all throughout the grove. Even more of the spiders woke up, excited, for it seemed like there was even MORE prey that had gotten caught in their webs.

Abner desperately, violently jerked his limbs and staggered around, trying to free himself from the webs, only succeeding in getting himself even more tangled until he could not move an inch. The music he was making would have actually been quite pleasant to the ear, had it not also been the dinner bell for the steel spiders, and the soundtrack to his doom.

Abner saw one of them begin to crawl down the ironbark tree closest to him.

His two eyes met the spider's eight, saw his reflection in those glimmering orbs, its giant fangs curl and twist upwards.

:3

Abner screamed.

“… Would steel spiders happen to be why Fae invented the word for 'BIG FUCKING SPIDER, RUN!'?” Weiss asked.

“Oh, goodness no! Those are MUCH larger than the steel spiders could ever be and bounds more dangerous.”

“… How large are we talking about?”

“Oh, somewhere between half the size of a building such as the Plushie Palace, to little larger than it.”

“… Do these happen to live in the Valley?”

“Oh no, they live in the—ow, OW, OW—sorry about that, seems my thought process got too fast for my governor and it had to pull the emergency brake. Shall I resume the story?”

“Can we skip to after Ilaya rescues you?”

“Can we not? It's quite a daring, musical escape; the melody she made as she cut the webs and sometimes even plucked them intentionally to fool the spiders is permanently stuck in my head, both for being so catchy, and because this was how I got my crippling fear of steel spiders and ironbark groves!”

“I think I'll pass, thank you...”

“Oh, alright... anyway, after Ilaya performed her daring rescue, she took me far away from the grove and to a stream so she could refill her canteen—chasing after someone like me is thirsty work. Because the grand crescendo of the rescue, where she stunned the entire grove of spiders with a sound not unlike an especially powerful electric guitar riff, I had become temporarily deaf, and couldn't understand a word of what she was saying.

“She tried her best, but unfortunately, Keepers are better at killing the horrors of the Valley than they are at breaking language barriers...”

Abner stared at the Keeper, frozen in fear, dumbly nodding his head as she made cryptic signs with her hands, no doubt what horrible, terrible things she was going to do to him if he misbehaved.

She had taken off her mask, revealing a surprisingly human and friendly face, nothing even remotely close to what they rumoured to lay underneath that skeletal visage, but he knew all too well the disconnect between friendly appearances and what sort of person lay underneath.

Satisfied that Abner understood she wasn't going to kill him, that there were going to be more horrible things that would actually try to kill him if he got out of her sight, and that she was just going to get a drink of water, Ilaya turned around and pulled out her canteen from inside her cloak.

She was taking a long drink of water when she heard a splash.

She spat it all out as she noticed that Abner wasn't where she left him any more.

“I'm quite an excellent swimmer, as it was a regular part of my cardio exercises, and a lot of my more daring and close escapes have been made through watery routes—you'd be surprised at how many people close off the streets first, and sometimes never bother to check the sewers or the canals, Valentino being the only exception.

“I could have easily escaped Ilaya, if not for the carnivorous fish that lived in that river who did NOT appreciate my presence.”

Ilaya ran along the bank, her mask back on her face, trying to find Abner's aura—a difficult task as the magic in the water was gumming up the sensors.

Bubbles rose up to the surface—as they popped, Ilaya could hear the staggered bits and pieces of a now familiar scream.

She dove into the water.

Splash!

Moments later, pieces of dead fish floated up to the surface. Ilaya broke through soon after, gasping for breath and hauling Abner over her shoulder. She dug her scythe into the roots of a tree growing over the water, and pulled them back up to dry land.

She laid Abner on his rear, held him up by his shoulders. “You okay?” she asked.

Abner threw up all over her.

“… Probably should have seen that coming!”

“You were extremely lucky that Penny's creators had the foresight to build a water filtration unit for her; the microbes and elements in the Valley's water are vicious little buggers if you aren't adapted, and the ones in magic-enriched water like that river more so.

“I was stuck in the hospital for weeks! I should have died from a mixture of dehydration and water-borne illnesses, but Ilaya, kindhearted soul that she was, managed to convince the Council it'd be better to try and keep me alive than euthanize me.

“And this was no mean feat: up to that point, no one knew anything about me other than the fact that a Valentinian organization thought it was necessary to bring me all the way here to execute, and it wouldn't have been too far of a stretch to assume that I was a gigantic problem they wanted gone for good reason.

“It didn't help that caring for me was difficult, with at least two menders on me at all times and hourly visits from a water weaver trying to detoxify my body and acclimate it to the Valley.

“And oh sweet Shepherd, the buckets. There were so many buckets…!

“About the only thing that kept me going was that Ilaya always came by to try and cheer me up, and as I'd later find out, act as a subtle means to guard against someone euthanizing me under the Council’s noses.

“This was before they installed my governor, and I was quite loopy from the water, the sickness, and the trauma, you see.

“Eventually I recovered, and together with Ilaya, made my case for the Council. I was a controversial issue ever since she returned from patrol early with me unconscious over her shoulder, and the division only grew with how expensive my treatment was, and the opportunities lost to both the Valley and the Fae that took care of me.

“I managed to convey to them that I was a highly skilled inventor, and with Ilaya's help to keep me on track, I helped create the Tubes. Funny how it was inspired by my noticing how fast the current was taking me and the distance it was helping me put between me and the aquatic predators trying to kill and/or eat me, and my complaining about how long it used to take to get to and from Keeper's Hollow to the rest of the Bastion—even if all that rowing did wonders for my arms!

“That was where I helped build the very first Tube station, by the way, with the maiden voyage being to the Tree of Life, the second station.

“As I had proven myself more than worth everything they had already invested in me, I voluntarily had a governor-chronicle installed to help tame my worst impulses, took a vow to maintain the Fae's secrecy, and I've been living the good life here in the Valley since.

“And that, Weiss, is the True Tale of the Keeper of the Grove!

“… Well, my section, at least.”