#like bruh you really think missing an eye is beyond the pale for special snowflake OCs?

[elliewiltarwyn]

As she looks upon them, seeing the way their hands so naturally curl around each other, something bittersweet resonates in Lily's chest. She still isn't sure she wholly understands the sensation, or what just happened to her -- what role she played in dispatching Mitron, in freeing Gaia from his grasp.

She's so beyond relieved to see Gaia safe, to see Ryne's hand in hers. To feel the soft grass spreading beneath their feet and witness the brilliant colors of the rainbow-colored crystal before them -- their mission appears to have been a resounding success on every possible level.

Yet this ache lingers in her heart -- similar, but not quite in the same arena as the lingering trauma from her first love, nor is it the bitterness that has weighed upon her since Yugiri's gentle rejection. It's not even the whirlpool she's been slowly drowning in since she first noticed the way Ellie and Mia have been looking at each other recently.

It's a strangely contented ache, as oxymoronic as that sounds. Like she's reconciled a part of herself. Like she has, for once, even though she's lost something in the process, accepted this turn of events. And she has -- she's really, truly, genuinely happy for Ryne and Gaia.

A voice within her is saying this is good, this is right, and she feels oddly inclined to heed it. Maybe she hasn't lost so much as she thinks.

a vague skeleton of the plot thoughts i have about Lily and Eden: seeing Ryne and Gaia's affection for each other blossoming forces Lily to confront some of her own conceptions of what love is after the trauma she's been through, and maybe learn how to process the broken pieces of herself she's never been able to pick up. And maybe she gets a hand when she realizes her soul resonates too much with the Ascian who wants Gaia all for himself. And maybe her reconciliation involves her literally reconciling with the man who turns out to be another shard of her soul.

so yeah Lily's ancient self was Artemis in case that wasn't obvious, and she probably ends up merging with Mitron the same way Ellie merged with Ardbert. and the point of this is ??? idk but it feels cool gshalkfakjfk

extremely silly bonus:

"What in the godsdamn-- Mia, is it just me, or--" "Ellie, I swear, if this is about the ghosts again, I'm throwing you into that lake."