#thank you amalia!<3

[randomnameless]

Drankengard done (land 2!)

A lot of nice things in this part, so far it feels like the most FE-like land, and some characters from this land are really interesting!

l firstly love how the plot starts with "we have to rescue this midget prince from 100k soldiers" in one of the few defend maps of this game with various catapults and other engines to attack/defend against a cluster of loldiers coming at you - that was nice compared to the nigh useless ballistas and other engines in FE.

Granted, Gilbert's defining moment after being revealed is basically protecting his vassal from a gotoh-like character who's twice his size and more or less recruiting her for the defend map -

(localisation thingie : no "kisama" for eng/fr script Gilbert, sure it's kind of complicated to put it in words - like an agressive "you" - and yet it gives some nice characterisation, after Amalia rekts Leah and while Gilbert is standing seconds before being surrounded by 100k peons in front of someone who's basically stronger than anyone else around, he is still angry and pissed for his friend's sake) -

Just before being upset at asking our party - aka a foreign nation who was at war with his for the last few decades and revealing that his dad only granted asylum to the princess of said foreign nation to marry her to his heir to conquer it later on - for help.

Hopefully for him his game is no Triangle Strategy, so no one will actually tell him to eat shit because he wasn't the one who liberated the land even if he participed to instead worship the "foreign" person who led the liberation army.

Hell, idk what kind of PR campaign Gilbert and his few loyal soldiers pulled out, but some NPCs are really acting as if he liberated his kingdom single handedly lol

His relationship with his elder brother was sort of developed in the main plot - but more in the equivalent of the support convos - but as I said in another post, I really loved that part where he feels like he's still a second prince, and if his older brother returns, older brother should get the crown even if older brother feels like dirt for failing his country and his father, and became a wandering... mercenary who's busy saving priestresses from jails (and leaving them in the middle of battlefields).

Ultimately, they reunite and more or less solve their issues, and Ludwig manages to tell him that he wouldn't be half the king Gilbert is, because Gilbert is the one who led a rebellion and ultimately led Drakengard free, is loved by this people etc etc.

TBH, while it was short, this was a nice character arc -

(complete with the support/rapport convo just after the final map I unlocked where Gilbert, wanting to know how the common people live in his kingdom, gets plastered with the a random worthless bandit/merc who's freaking out from the entire situation lol)

The other major character from Drakengard is Virginia, the MC's older cousin!

We first see her being kind of pushy and overbearing, sometimes taking the initiative to do rather extreme stuff (wanting to fetch her axe instead of recruiting the earlier worthless bandit/merc), but she's still deferring to the MC, save for a certain mission - because, and kuddos to the game for going there, while Virginia's story is basically a tragic Marth's, aka, when her kingdom was invaded she had to run away to a foreign state for asylum but without any Jeigan, she believed for 10 years and never stopped believing that she was the only one who survived, and thus it was her role and duty to restore the Cornian line on the throne and take back the country from the evil Empire.

And... MC pops up, as the rightful - aka the son of the late queen as opposed to her mere niece - heir thus Virginia's hopes of becoming the Queen and the one to restore her nation vanish.

So kuddos for the game to basically have Virginia tell her cousin that while she was happy to see him and learn he was alive after all those years... she also felt jealous, because the 10 last years she spent having this dream and hope to be the one to restore the country... vanished in 10 minutes lol.

She's not going to challenge Alain's claim to the throne and instead will support him.

Granted, this moment becomes ten times more interesting if you do her own mission before - aka the one where she zerg rushes against the dude who slaughtered her retinue against the advice of Jeigan Joseph and becomes a dreaded green unit (who loses her promotion somehow???), running in a battlefield full of catapults to have her vengeance.

Remember when I said one of her first defining moments is when she asks to be handed her axe to get rid of a worthless merc instead of recruiting him? Well, her words back then were something like "your men died for you, so you can't beg for your life" or something like that, we learn in her own mission that she was basically talking about herself.

Basically, kid!Virginia was supposed to have her Jeigans and Cain/Abel/Draugs and they were supposed to escape and run away together to Drakengard... but they were slaughtered by some general of the evil empire who thought bringing her head would make a good offering to the evil emperor, so the Jeigans, Cains, Abel, Draugs etc etc laid down their lives to allow her to escape - we have a voiced FB with a few images and a battle cinematic, where the knights basically say they will die to make sure she'll be able to escape, and will slow down the evil general with their corpses if needed.

The entire platoon of knights died, and Virginia has been carrying this trauma for ten years, dreaming of having her revenge but never once confiding in anyone from Drakengard about it - not even in her (Gilbert's) vassal Leah who she seemed to be close too earlier.

Short story, the general holds a fort and is supposed to be called back to the evil empire's capital for some reason, and instead of waiting for his departure to recapture the fort, Virginia storms at the general to have her revenge (accompanied by the knights who were just squires when she had to leave, and thus couldn't be there when their senior knights were slaughtered and want revenge as much as she does!).

You have to send Joseph to talk to her to have her turn blue again (and promoted again thank gods) and the re-recruitment scene is cool for 2 things :

1/it's Joseph, not Alain who talks to her because her beef and the one who talked to her and the one whose plan is ignored is Joseph - I love it when the MC isn't at the center of everyone's universe

2/Virginia during this convo notices her friends/knights are injured (they have the injured sprite) and realises she was going to send to their death the last remaining members of that platoon, chastises herself and her next battle lines are something like "I won't let them die/bleed anymore" or something and it's fucking powerful because hey, besides some "vengeance is empty" that she will get later on herself, part of what makes her see reason is the realisation that her allies are injured and were going to die in her quest, and she can't have that anymore (nice ludonarration moment here, Virginia is a tank, if her allies are injured, it's because she wasn't tanking well enough!).

"Vengeance is empty" moment : the evil general who slaughtered her former knights doesn't even remember the people he slaughtered, or the mission where he hunted her, aka, she's been obsessing for 10 years over something her so called "nemesis" forgot.

End of the map, the realisation that her vengeance was nothing + she put her close allies' lives in danger (+ the little bit of salt when she mentions that Alain is the Cornian Royal people should follow because he is royalty) make her want to leave the army as fitting punishment - which, you know, coming from a series where some lord basically goes 1VS1 against the guy who killed his dad and who was followed by his kid sister who put herself in mortal danger but only receives a scold from his not-mom and slap on the wrist just makes me side-eye FE Tellius' writing even more.

Anyways, while I read on redshit that some people were pissed because "wah wah Virginia is a character who does foolish things and there are consequences about it she should be exiled forever or something", she obviously doesn't leave the army because, all of her close allies ask her to stay. Hell, Alain only gives one or two sentences that are dispassionate compared to the other 4 - again to show that MC privileges aren't everything at least plot wise - but the main voice is Leah's - aka her (well) Drakengard retainer!

When earlier Virginia told her that this story and her choice had nothing to do with Drakengard - because it's about Cornian knights who died during her flight from Cornia - Leah now reminds her that she became someone important for Drakengard too, and you know, the 10 years she spent here ? It's not just only background to give some fluff for a teatime line, no, it has more implication, if not only to have this moment where Leah says that Virginia's pride, bravery and hope to restore her country also influenced and inspired people (Gilbert, the second son who had to assume the role of the King when no one else was left!) around her and made the people of Drakengard also hope to liberate their country - if she leaves now, the named character from Cornia will miss her, but also "Drakengard" in general.

To cement her words, after this map we can talk to some Drakengard NPC who's all "wow Princess Virginia is so cool she defeated the bastard in charge of this fortress!" and while idk if Leah's speech + that NPC were added to make the ending where she becomes the queen of Drakengard (save for Alain marrying his cousin) more plausible, but it was a really nice addition.

Adding to that the fact that Virginia is the one who's basically telling Alain (and informing the player) about various map hazards like geysers around the land, giving some backstory about the desert along with Leah and also the one who tells the party about a sort of shortcut/secret passage and yes, we get it that she lived for 10 years in that land and knows it enough to act as a guide, but also that the people around know her.

I mean compare with a game where some dude apparently went to a school in a foreign capital but when he marches on said foreign capital or talks to people who also attended that school he never mentions it - it's like night and day.

Final "daw" moment that is both tied to her character but also, another example that Alain isn't the center of the universe... Virgnia is the one who tells Alain to talk to Aramis (the eldest prince who became a merc!) and ask him to talk to Gilbert to put his worries aside about the throne and the succession and ust, to reunite with his younger brother.

The characters concerned (Gilbert and Aramis) thank Alain for giving them the occasion and push to talk to each other - not knowing this was something Virginia planned, because while hers and Gilbert's issues are sort of similar (the not "legitimate" heir who took the mantle of restoring their country to glory and believed it so for the last decade, only for the legitimate one to return), she has a good enough read on Gilbert to know that he needs to talk to his brother to put his doubts and questions about his legitimacy aside and accept that he is the King.

Coming from a series with "avatar scissors", the bonds and links between the characters was really something I enjoyed, Alain will not pop up and tell Gilbert that he is a good king and should get over/or deal with his doubts about his brother, Alain isn't the one who gives the most meaningful speech about why Virginia is important to Drakengard and hell, we don't even see the exchange we know he had with Aramis to convince him to talk to Gilbert, because the most important scene here isn't the Alain-Aramis dialogue, but the Aramis-Gilbert one. Gilbert doesn't want to free his Kingdom because he envies Alain or Alain told him to do so, it's something he wants to do being inspired by Virginia.

In a nutshell, Drakengard's major characters were a good surprise and their stories and quests were cool.

More minor character wise...

We get the Drakengard version of the same plague we saw in Cornia, but instead of having "clerics" perform experiments on infected people to find a cure, the accent here is put on a wyvern knight who was to enforce a lockdown, to prevent the plague from spreading and well... no fines in this setting, instead she runs them through with her spear.

IDK how that game would have been received just after Covid lol

All jokes asides, just like the Cornian version of this plot heavily suggested, the plague was devised by the evil empire to cut down the forces of the rebellion and make sure this land would be able to be conquered easily.

Why are the imperials killing people? Well, it might have to do something with the fact that the totes-not-gharnef old sorcerer guy is a necromancer...

Leah's quest explored a little more the background info that "Drakengard and Cornia used to be at war" thingie, with random green units also mounting a liberation army but refusing our help, and we know how this ends with green units, we basically have to save them.

Map ends with some Drakengardians - who swore allegeance to the evil Empire? - still willing to fight us, and Alain asking Leah to please ask them, as a Drakengardian (?) to surrender because if someone from Cornia asks them they will refuse.

Also it's a bit of a character exploration, for once the usually demure + always in the back behind Virginia asks the Liberation Army to do something and insists even if people refuse, straight up saying that in that case (if they refuse) she's going to help the green NPCs herself since she's strong enough to do so and it's cool because I think at one moment Virginia sighs/laughs, but not in a derogatory way, but more in some "damn she's becoming like me" way - which is alluded to in ther rapport conversation, Leah seeks to emulate her bold and fearless (being a green unit) behaviour.

I haven't seen a lot of convos with the desert people we recruit - thank goodness we're far from Hyzante's clichés even if the "people in the desert are bandits and former prisoners" trope is still here, but given how the ones who attack us were brainwashed by the evil Empire, it's not as aggravating as, well, Nopes or Hyzante.

Gameplay wise :

Damn if promoting your units cost medals, but it's so worth it to have more than one action (at least) per turn ! It also means we can use entire new strategies because now the turns are at least longer than one round each!

Drakengard fills the Jugdral quota with the group of units coming all at once at you sometimes lol, but I loved the aesthetic difference that ultimately became gameplay difference between this area and Cornia, basically we have more mountains to less space to manoeuver the non flying units, the enemies use AoE engines to ruin you or at times, AoE map abilities from their own units to deal some annoying amount of damage.

The cities are larger so instead of fighting in a meadow with one or two small buildings here and there, at times the fight takes place in an entire city, so again, it means reduced mobility and of course, desert sucks because, just like FE, you can't move well in the sand.

Lolcalisation wise :

Virginia "I have never been fond of court formalities" says a desert full of bandit isn't a place for "royalty like us"? When the "us" is both her and her cousin reknown for their martial abilities?

What the fuck does it mean ?

At least in FR it's "a lot of people avoid this place" and not just "royalty like us" - which doubles as ridiculous because in the "people avoid this place" it's again the trend of Virginia being a tour guide of Drankengard, telling Alain that people from Drakengard think about the desert, eluding this part is also, in part, eluding part of the knowledge Virginia has about Drakengard.

I think the localisation took the "royal pride" that defines her and exaggerated it to "royal arrogance".

IDK if the meaning is the same in english, cretin is an insult like in french, but damn if you say to someone the are a "crétin" they will feel offended and insulted because that's way more rude than calling someone an idiot!

:/

And I also have a bone against whoever thought it was a good idea to throw "pseudo elvish" words in the localised script (sadly we followed this :'() when the japanese audio doesn't use them at all, was it to pretend the evles from Fevrith have a different language because Tolkien shall be universal, or what?

Elf land doesn't see that interesting plot wise compared to Drakengard, and I'm not saying this because of my Alcina bias lol but I'll just have to wait and see!

(poor hodrick is being slaughtered by those pesky pointy ears and their hybrid attacks, tfw armor not withstanding magic is universal, I'll have to promote Miriam asap to protect him or just bench him :/)

[poignardeparlebeau]

tagged by @iveneverbeenmorestressedinmylife, ty ty 💕

rules: shuffle your repeat playlist and post the first ten tracks, then tag ten people:

Let You Break My Heart Again by Laufey and Philharmonia Orchestra

What if It Doesn't End Well by chloe moriondo

A Burning Hill by Mitski

Gilded Lily by Cults

Ola Afta Pou Den Tha Ginoun Pote by Maria Latsinou and Mokita

Once More To See You by Mitski

The Moon Will Sing by The Crane Wives

This Will Be (An Everlasting Love) by Natalie Cole

Unknown / nth by Hozier

Dial Drunk by Noah Kahan

oof clocked me truly

tagging @portokali @loukoumia @darkside-cookies @amaliatheartist @sugaroto and whoever else wants to do it!

[darkficsyouneveraskedfor]

All In 3

No tag lists. Do not send asks or DMs about updates. Review my pinned post for guidelines, masterlist, etc.

Warnings: this fic will include dark content such as noncon/dubcon, age gap, power imbalance, low self esteem, and possible untagged elements. My warnings are not exhaustive, enter at your own risk.

This is a dark!fic and explicit. 18+ only. Your media consumption is your own responsibility. Warnings have been given. DO NOT PROCEED if these matters upset you.

Summary: you meet a mysterious man on a night out with your sister. (petite!reader)

based on the winning option for this poll

Characters: casino owner!Bucky Barnes

Note: double chapters when I know I shouldn't.

As per usual, I humbly request your thoughts! Reblogs are always appreciated and welcomed, not only do I see them easier but it lets other people see my work. I will do my best to answer all I can. I’m trying to get better at keeping up so thanks everyone for staying with me.

Your feedback will help in this and future works (and WiPs, I haven’t forgotten those!) Please do not just put ‘more’. I will block you.

I love you all immensely. Take care. 💖

“We got a suite available, Amalia?” The man, the owner of this casino, Bucky, asks as he approaches the glass counter of the hotel lobby. You barely keep up as your surroundings smear and your head spins. Everything’s happening so fast. 

“Mr. Barnes,” the woman on the other side greets as she nears the slim monitor, “I think we should.” She glances at him, then your sister as she blathers drunkenly in his arms, “having a good night?” 

“Oh, just some friends in the city for a night,” he lies easily, “she got a bit carried away so we’ll let her sleep it off.” 

You chew your lip as you stand just behind him. Your stomach lurches as your eyes wander around the fine decor. It’s all out of your price range. Again, your brain is a beat behind.  

“Doll, would you get that?” He asks as the desk agent holds out a small folder. 

“Oh, yeah, er,” you rush up to take the room keys, “sorry.” 

“No problem, just got my hands full,” he scoffs, “Amalia, have a good night. Hopefully you don’t get anyone too rowdy.” 

“Thank you, sir, you too,” she preens after him as he heads off across the lobby. 

Once more you’re on his heels as he struts toward the elevators. You catch up to him and force the frog from your throat, “uh, sir, Bucky?” You stammer, “I don’t think... I can afford--” 

“Doll, don’t worry about all that. It's on the house,” he stops before the elevator and stares at the golden doors, “I’m not some sort of grifter. I offered, I’m not gonna squeeze ya. What’s the room number?” 

“Er, oh,” you open the little folder, “720.” 

“Right, hit the button,” he nods before him. 

“Sorry,” you cringe again. You’re so behind. It must be so obvious to him how lost you are. Maybe that’s why he noticed you. He feels bad that someone so pathetic could exist. 

You press the up button and the doors open. He nods you ahead of him and you step into the box. The walls are transparent and you can see outside along the river. He gets in and comes to stand parallel with you as you avoid looking through the glass. 

“Seven,” he says. 

You make another mousy noise and tap the button. You recoil, clutching your hands over your chest, and stare at the doors. As the elevator rises, you feel a wave of head rush, and you sway just a little. You gulp and widen your eyes. 

“Not a fan of heights?” He asks as the box stops sharply and the doors ding and open. 

“Not really,” you mutter. 

He waits for you to exit first and you eagerly do. He follows as you look back and forth between the doors, searching out the number to match the folder. 720, right at the end. You fumble and it takes three tries to swipe the card correctly.  

Finally, the door opens and you push it inward, holding it as you flatten yourself to the wall to let him through. He enters without hesitation. For a moment, you wonder what it must be like to be so sure and so comfortable in a place like this. To have this be your normal.

You let go of the door and trail him further inside. The room is huge. Not just one room, but two. The front room is closed off by a pair of doors, painted white with fine spirals etched into the wood. You flit ahead of Bucky to slide them open and reveal the bedroom. He takes your sister to the bed and lays her down as she lets out a bubbly belch. 

“Sorry,” you apologise on her behalf as you hover in the door. 

“She’s her own person,” he stands back, “you need anything, call down to the desk. They’ll be happy to get you whatever. Oh, and, should probably have some water ready for the morning. She’s gonna be feeling this.” 

“Right,” you push your lip out then quickly fix your face, “thank you. I...” 

“Checkouts at eleven but I’ll tell Amalia to mark you down for a late departure,” he comes towards you slowly. 

“Oh, we won’t stay that long,” you assure him and scrape your palms together. 

“Ah, you got somewhere to be? Work? Gonna be a long day after tonight.” 

“No, I... I don’t...” your eyes drift to the wall. Again, you can’t help but admire the ivory paint and the crystal lamp and tall posts of the bed. “I don’t... have a job.” 

“Mm, tough out there,” he says, “just gotta find the right thing, huh?” 

You want to fold into nothing. This man, a millionaire at least, who owns this whole place, is telling you you’ll find something one day. Just like your mom does when you melt down over another rejection. Ugh. 

“Thanks, yeah,” you take a heavy breath. 

“You’re tired,” he surprises you as he caresses your sleeve, “I’m not gonna keep you up. You get some sleep, alright?” 

You nod and reach to scratch your neck, shifting away from his reach. He’s so much bigger than you that for a moment your stomach is crawling, as the thought occurs of how much control he really has. Not just because of who he is. 

“Good night, doll,” he purrs and brushes by you. 

You stay as you are, staring at your sister, muttering to herself. Why does she have to do this? You could be sleeping in your own bed but instead you’re here, burning in shame and pity. You turn as you hear him near the door. 

“Night,” you offer up. 

He stops and turns back, sending you a wink, “there’s a hot tub in here so... might enjoy the room at least.” 

You force a smile though your stress likely makes it more a grimace. He spins and leaves you, the door shutting with a click and releasing you to your self-reproach. You drop your head in your hands and huff. You are leaving the minute your sister wakes up. You never want to see that man again. You just pray he forgets you just as quickly as you want to forget this whole night. 

🃏

You hardly sleep. Your sister’s drunken snoring keeps you from relaxing for more than twenty minutes at a time, not to mention how unsettled you are. You hate sleeping in new places but moreso you hate that even on a night out, after all the assurance that you could just enjoy yourself, that you are once more a burden for someone else. 

You get up just after six. You rub your forehead as you go out into the front room and look over the amenities. There’s a fancy coffee maker with pods and a mini fridge with a glass door. You take out a bottle of water to leave by the bed for Roxie then return to figure out the coffee. You don’t often have any but your head is pounding. 

You sit down and sneer at the bitterness. Did you make it right? You never liked the taste so you can’t tell. You finish the cup if only for the soothing warmth. 

At seven, you get up to check on Roxie again. She’s still out like a light. Come on! You want to go. 

You rinse the mug in the sink as best you can and return it to the shelf. There’s a knock on the door. You flinch and reluctantly tread down to the hall. You peep through the hole as you fix your clothing. You push down the handle slowly to greet the woman with the cart. 

The golden embroidery on her white blouse marks her as an employee and she beams a smile in your direction. It’s too early for that amount of cheer. She has her hands on the cart, angling it towards the door. 

“Morning, miss, breakfast, complements of Mr. Barnes,” she declares, “where can I put it?” 

“Um,” you back up slowly, “inside... uh, by the table, I guess.” 

She rolls the cart in and asks if you need anything else before she leaves. You shake your head. There’s more than enough there for you and Roxie. If she can even stomach any of it. You’ve seen the way she is after her nights out. 

You sit and stare at the buffet of food before you. Fresh fruit, waffles, pancakes, french toast, bacon, eggs... everything and more. Just another favour to feel bad for. 

As you look over it all, you notice a note, nestled between the glasses beside the pitcher of orange juice. You take it. That must be the bill. You unfold it and read the slanted capitals hand-written across the casino-branded page. 

‘Good Morning, Doll,  

Enjoy breakfast on me. 

B. Barnes’ 

Under his name, is a sharp zigzag of the same black ink, a post script below. 

‘PS. If you’re still looking for a job, call me.’ 

You nearly drop the paper. What? You stare at the digits of his phone number and slowly lower your hand to your lap. This can’t be real. Could you really work at a casino? Would you be a dealer? Or maybe you’d be more suited to a cleaner, somewhere you can be out of the way. 

A long groan interrupts your inner turmoil. You fold the paper and tuck it away. It’s something. You’ll have to just figure out later what. 

“Coffee,” Roxie grumbles as she appears in the doorframe, gripping her skull. 

“Oh, uh, sure,” you get up and go to the machine. You grab a random pod and shove it into the top. 

“Where... how’d we get here?” She sits heavily and reaches for a piece of bacon. 

“Um, you... you were really drunk so...” 

“How the hell did you get us a room? Wait. Did we win? Blackjack?” She bites into the greasy strip and moans. “Or... I didn’t sleep with that guy, did I?” 

“Erm,” you frown, thinking for a moment before you realise she must mean that Sam guy. “No...” 

You don’t explain. You don’t know how. Oh yeah, you were such a disaster that the owner noticed and didn’t kick us out. Actually, he let us stay in an overpriced suite because... you don’t know. 

“He must be loaded if he’s handing out hotel rooms,” she scoffs as she continues on in her assumption. You don’t correct her. It doesn’t matter. “Coffee,” she snaps her fingers as the grind quiets. 

You bring her the mug and she adds too many packets of sugar before she tastes it. You hide the paper in your cardigan pocket and search for your purse. You fish your watch out of it and put it around your wrist checking the time. 

“We should head out before nine,” you say. 

“Why?” She scoffs. “Ugh, what’s the bath like in this place? I could use a soak.” 

“Mom’s going to be worried.” 

“Nah, she knows I’ll get you back,” she waves you off and stands.  

She walks slowly, rubbing her temples as she sips from the cup, and examines the hotel room. She dips into the bathroom and the light flicks on. You hear her turning the faucet and shifting things around.  

You play with the zipper of your purse. You reach inside and pull out your phone. You get up to grab the key folder and enter the wifi code into your outdated model. It takes far too long to connect. You type into the search of your browser, ‘Bucky Barnes’. 

Almost at once, an image of the very man who carried Roxie into this room appears. It’s familiar. You tap it and it opens up a local news story. That makes sense. He’s younger, his hair is shorter. You remember when the casino changed hands and was renovated all those years ago. It was big news. 

Hm. Not just rich, famous, at least to a degree. It means he has a lot more going on than two disorderly girls at his casino. He’ll forget. You just hope you can too. 

Roxie comes back in a robe and put her mug on the table, “make me another. I’m gonna try those jets.” 

She spins away and you stare at her empty cup. How can she not care about anything? Does she not realise that she ruined the night? That she made a fool of both of you? No, she just sees shiny things and forgets all about her own behaviour. 

Well, you’re not like her. You don’t like being a burden or asking for things or living on someone else’s affection. You look down and feel along your pocket, the slip of paper firm through the fabric. You could clean a few hotel toilets for a buck. It’s not like you have much else going on. 

[tortilla-of-courage]

so i have just now learned that the English and Japanese versions of Twilight Princess, in the Hidden Village cat-finding minigame, only give you a generic "you found me!" message and a counter when you talk to the cats

this is NOT the case in the Spanish (and French) versions of the game (AFAIK! maybe others have it. i could imagine Italian doing it too). in those, most cats have unique names, and feature personalized messages about how much fun they're having playing the game with you

I'll only cover the Spanish ones in this post. if you wanna see the French ones, you should check PikZel's thread over on Twitter/X!

you'll see a lot of miaus (Spanish for Meow) and -ifú/-fú (common suffixes for cat names) in the names! they all give their little message followed by "¡# gato(s), miau!" ("# cat(s), meow!"), and if you talk to them again they say "¡Ya has hablado conmigo, mirrimiau!" ("You've already talked to me, mrrmeow!")

I'll try to translate the puns as best as possible 🫡

¡Qué guay! ¡Soy Manolifú!

"This is so cool! I'm Manolifú!" (Manolo (name/nickname for Manuel) + -ifú)

¡Llámame Mario! ¡Qué divermiau! ¿Estará mi hermano por aquí?

"Call me Mario! I'm having so meowch fun! Is my brother around here?" (missed opportunity for Miaurio/Meowrio imo)

¡Cómo mola! ¡Mis amigos me llaman Michel!

"This rules! My friends call me Michel!" (could also be Michelle, so either fem or masc leaning. also Mewchel/Miauchel maybe?)

¡Qué miauy! ¡Me caes requetemiau! Soy Isabel, y me encanta el atún.

"So ameowzing! I like you a meowt! I'm Isabel, and I love tuna!" (meowt → meow + lot. just in case lol)

¡Cómo mola! ¡Eres un tipo muy molón! ¡Yo soy Fridavid!

"This rules! You're a really cool guy! I'm Fridavid!" (this seems to be mixing Frida + David into one name. gender icon)

¡Konnichi miau! ¡Yo ser Miaumoto!

"Konnichimeow! I be Meowmoto!" (Meow + Miyamoto, in broken Spanish)

¡Cómo mola! A mí me llaman Amalia. ¡A que mi pelambre es elegante!

"This rules! They call me Amalia. Isn't my fur divine?" (come onn, Amiaulia??)

¡Yo soy Marco! ¡Qué diver!

"I'm Marco! This is a lot of fun!" ("diver" in this case being a shortening of the Spanish for fun, "divertido")

¡Qué divergoromiau! ¡Llámame Goromiau! ¡Este goropueblo me gusta, goro! Perdona, es que mi amo era un Goron...

"I'm having so meowch gorofun! Call me Goromeow! I like this gorovillage, goro! Sorry, my owner was a Goron..."

¡Qué bien me lo estoy pasando!

"I'm having the time of my life!" (One of the few kitties without a name!)

¡Qué divermiau! ¡Soy Danifú!

"This is so meowch fun! I'm Danifú!" (Daniel + -ifú i think)

¡Yo me llamo Luisifú! ¡Qué guay!

"My name's Luisifú! This is so cool!" (Luis + -ifú)

¡Qué diver! ¡Yo soy Mariau!

"How fun! I'm Mareow!" (Maria + meow)

¡Qué diver! ¡Me caes muy bien! ¡Soy Miaunuel!

"How fun! I like you a lot! I'm Meownuel!" (Meow + Manuel)

¡Qué bien me lo estoy pasando!

"I'm having the time of my life!" (yep, a repeat. shocking. yes it is a different cat)

¡Qué guay! ¡Soy Carlos!

"This is so cool! I'm Carlos!"

¡Cómo mola! ¡Soy Enriquito!

"This rules! I'm Enriquito!" (Enrique + -ito making it Tiny Enrique, with Enrique being the spanish equivalent of Henry. lil Henry)

¡Qué guay! ¡Mi nombre me gusta mucho, soy Margamiau!

"This is so cool! I like my name a lot, I'm Margameow!" (Margarita/Margaret+ meow)

¡Qué chachipiruli! Esa espada... ¡No queda sino batirnos! ¡Es brooooma! ¡Me llamo Diego!

"This is the best thing ever! That sword... Our only option is to fight! I'm jooooking! My name's Diego!"

(Chachi is slang for Cool, pirulí is one of many words for candy. so basically the best of the best, or the bee's knees, etc)

¡Cómo mola! ¡Gracias por tu tiempo! ¡Llámame Miauigi!

"This rules! Thanks for spending time playing with us! Call me Meowigi!" (Meow + Luigi. that one Mario cat's brother probably!)

whew, that's all of them! had to shove two per image because of tumblr mobiles image limit lol. but now you can share the joy of twilight kitties :3 they aren't Game Changing but they made this one of my favorite places to play in when i was a kid

[geekgirles]

Yumalia's Reunion

Back on my Yumalia brainrot, I can't get over all the layers and depths of their brief interaction in episode 11.

The moment Yugo is done defying his mother and forced to watch her leave, for she had long made her choice, Amalia doesn't hesitate to reach out to him and hold his hand, which Yugo immediately squeezes right back. Even with the threat of imminent war for her people's safety, Amalia's first instinct is to go to Yugo and offer whatever comfort she can, and he just lets her because if there's someone who can ground him, it's Amalia.

That's exactly what she did at the end of season 3. Not only did she tell Oropo he would never be Yugo because Yugo would never willingly or knowingly sacrifice anyone for his cause (even during his fight with Ad during the OVAs he always thought his brother would eventually come back), but she unknowingly dissuaded the fears and insecurities that'd been plaguing him throughout the entire season, both regarding his past actions and his own relationship with her. Because even after all they'd been through and his insecurities hurting Amalia deeply, she still chose him, and she still reaffirmed her love for him in such a way it would allow for their interactions in season 4 to be that much more openly affectionate and less restrained.

But not only that, back then she was also there to ground him when Oropo's passing and his absorbing of the Eliotropes overwhelmed him, helping him see all the good despite what they had lost.

And she is doing that yet again when they finally reunite.

But there is so much more going on here. So many emotions running deep between them.

Look at Yugo's expression, that mixture of surprise and awe etched onto his face. I feel like this is the moment where it truly clicks for him just how much he's changed and all the possibilities his new body entails, especially for their relationship. And Amalia is just happy, happy that he is alive and happy that he can finally see and feel like the great king and warrior she always knew was already there.

For the first time since he's met her, Yugo doesn't have to look up to meet his love's eyes, and you can clearly see how the mere thought takes him aback. But I believe there's so much more to it, so many things left unsaid.

He's looking at her like she's finally within reach, and not only because now they're closer in height. Yugo had to spent the last few years of his life watching how the love of his life grew into the most beautiful flower in Sadida's garden, into a queen, while he remained stuck in his child-like body, with only a title for show despite he too being royalty.

It's all in his eyes!

He isn't just looking at Amalia. He is staring at her like a dying man stares at his salvation, like someone who's been wandering in the dessert for ages looks at an oasis. And it's not just because they might finally have a shot, but because she is there and she is real.

Despite Yugo's unrelenting optimism and will, upon being captured by the Nécromes, a part of him had probably been forced to accept he would never see Amalia again, either because he would remain the last of his days as their prisoner, or because she would too fall soon.

Given his predicament, thanks to Oropo and Qilby's intervention, Yugo was most likely running on adrenaline when he noticed the portal in the Sadida forest and what it would mean for Amalia. His mind was set on protecting her, not on the fact that they would be reunited after such a horrible ordeal. And I don't think it really sunk in that he would see her again until she touched him, until she literally became tangible and attainable.

But she is real, and she is with him, they are together again. Only this time, they might actually get to be together.

Look at such level of intimacy! Such tenderness mixed with the underlying unbriddled passion they feel for one another! Yugo might have been shown being okay with revealing his wings to his friends, but he always took the hood off himself; but not with Amalia. With her he trusts her enough to let her do the honours and all he can do is melt under her touch.

Seeing Amalia again after being held prisoner in the Nécroworld and forcibly aged has allowed Yugo to fall in love with her all over again and, more importantly, to finally allow himself to love her with his whole being in return. No more holding back, no more second thoughts, no more take-backs. No more denying themselves what they have been desperately yearning for.

He loves Amalia and she loves him. And he's going to hold onto her for as long as they both live.

And I am so not normal about them.

[kerubimcrepin]

Wakfu OVA - Book 1, The Throne of Ice [PART 2]

Ankama is soooo good at writing manipulative characters 😑 and writing in general.

Except it's not her call what Yugo does with the Dofus of his people for someone who just insulted him, and Harebourg is clearly breaching their deal?

Anyway later in the OVA she says exactly what I just said, for some reason. As if the writers forgot they made her completely disregard Yugo's wishes at this moment. Incredible. 😀

(God I fucking hate this OVA's entire Frigost part.)

THANK YOU SIPHO FOR THIS MEAL.

I really do wonder, what the plot of Welsh & Shedar is, for it to concern the Winds Kingdom and Sipho, as was recently revealed...

HUMMINA HUMMINA AWOOGA WOOF WOOF. GRRRR. Thank you for the meal, Sipho. You're the only one making this OVA bearable.

God I hate the OVA for lobotomizing her. I hate the simple villainy-for-the-sake-of-villainy. Does Tot think Amalia is stupid? Does he think we are stupid? Is this a normal way to write a show? I think I hate the concept of watching shows now.

Season 3 will be like eating nails.

"Yeah man, just let me try and kill two innocent kids for no fucking reason in front of armed people who will kill me immediately afterwards, and yeah it's in no way benefitting my goals or the goal of my master. surely this will end well for me when i'm done and either have to fight these people or face my master and his wife."

Ankama has become more feminist now: they have decided to write male characters with the same amount of not caring.

Anyway, I don't have anything to say about Yugo and Amalia and Harebourg and the "interrupted wedding" scene, because this is actually braindead and I am sad to be rewatching this.

This is so unserious.

Thank you Sipho... For the meal...

[arsenal-womens-1]

Seacret 3rd kid part 4

[Part 3]

It's been two days since you talked with Isabella after having a chat about your old team. You did a few other tests, and at the end of your appointment, she gave you her number. Turns out she's 19. You had yet to text her. You haven't been in for the past two days; you had been sick, so they let you stay home. You haven't been sick in 12 hours, so you are going in today. You all have to be there at 7:30 am. It was announced yesterday that Kyra Cooney-Cross had signed a two-year deal with Arsenal. Picking up your phone, you read the time: 4:30 am. You had woken up around 3:00.

Getting up, you put on a random pair of shoes and walk out of your apartment complex. Walking down the street, you post a picture on your Instagram story.

Walking for about 30 minutes in some random direction, you see a coffee shop open. Walking in, you are greeted by a girl. “Hey, what can I get you?” Looking at the menu, you order three shots of espresso and a hot chocolate. Getting your card out, you pay. Sitting down in a random seat, she brings your stuff over. “Thanks,” you say as she just nods her head and walks away.

Pulling out your phone, you go to the contact you have been wanting to text for two days now.

You: Hey, this is Amalia. Sorry for not texting; I've been sick the past two days, and also sorry for texting you so early.

Not expecting a reply, you put your phone away. For the next hour, you sip on your drink, watching the few people walk past. Walking back to your apartment was boring, though the sunrise was pretty. You pick up your phone and see a text from Isabella.

Isabella: Hey, I was wondering if you were going to text me, and it's all good. I hope you feel good.

You: I was going to text you the other day; I just forgot, I guess. And I feel good today, so I'm going to be in.

Isabella: That's good to hear. I have to go; sorry, I'll text you later.

You: K, bye.

————————————————————————————

Ok so I’ve decided Amalia is going to be 17 nearly 18 she is 4 months of her 18th

[nayelixz]

A Mediocre Date?

After the marriage between Yugo and Amalia, of course they’d want to spend all their time together, though this desire is almost unattainable, due to the amount of work and pick up needed after the Necromes had attacked the World of Twelve. But tonight, Yugo has set up something that he hopes that’ll relieve Amalia from her stress.

————————————————————————

“Oh Sadida, Yugo! You cannot believe how tired I am! I’m almost drained from helping out almost half of the kingdom.”

“Well I hope you’re not too drained, because I have a surprise for you!”

Amalia raises her head off the bed, wondering what surprise her husband has in store.

“But first! You gotta close your eyes.”

“Are you being serious? If I close my eyes I’m falling asleep.”

“Come on Ami, just close your eyes. It’ll be worth it.”

“Alright, but you better lead me there quick or bonne nuit!” (little french joke there… IM ONLY IN UNIT 4 ON DUOLINGO BEFORE YOU SAY ITS NOT FUNNY 😭)

“Oh, It won’t take long, we’ll be there before you can say tofu.”

“To-“

In the blink of an eye, they were there.

“Alright you can open them in.. 3… 2… 1… okay, now!”

As the princess opened her eyes she saw the most beautiful sight she’s ever seen, even more beautiful than the sunsets she watches everyday. They were nearby a waterfall hidden within the Sadida forest and flowers that were shaped into a heart shape, white, yellow, and pink flowers as fireflies filled the air. It was quiet, and quiet was perfect.

“Wow.. Yugo this is.. very childish but surprisingly romantic.”

“Thank- Wait, how is this childish?!”

“Well the flowers in a heart shape? Not saying it isn’t cute because trust me it’s adorable, but it reminds me of something a teen would do!”

“Oh..”

The eliatrope looked slightly upset, he didn’t know that this wouldn’t be enough.

“But, this, it’s beautiful. The waterfall, the fireflies, and the flowers, they’re all beautiful.”

While saying this, Amalia pecks Yugo on the cheek. Making his frown fade away, and turn into a soft smile.

“That’s not all, I got more for tongiht.”

“Really? What is it?”

As soon as Amalia said that, the eliatrope has grabbed her by her waist and pulled her in, to where their bodies are touching, as Yugo leans in and kisses her on the lips. The passionate kiss between the two lasts almost forever, until Amalia pulls away, gasping for air. Seeing the is makes Yugo chuckle, even though he has no place to laugh, his wings are stimming like crazy.

“You need air?”

“Well if I knew that this kiss would last that long I would’ve made sure to take a moment to gather myself! Plus, you can’t be talking, I know you’re way much more happier about this than me.”

“How do you know?”

She points at his hat, his wings still going crazy as ever, making him a little embarrassed himself.

“It’s okay, you don’t have to hide the fact that you loved it.”

“Would I be wrong to say I did?”

“No, I think the only reason you liked it that much is because it’s me!”

He rolled his eyes playfully, of course he’d enjoy it that much, it’s his wife! He hasn’t been apart of any other relationships since. Amalia is his first.

“Yeah, come with me..”

Yugo had grabbed the princess’s hand and had created a portal to the INSIDE OF THE WATERFALL?

“W-Wait YUGO IM NOT-“

Before she could finish her sentence, they were there, BOTH soaked in water, but behind the waterfall looked like a secret hangout, there was two porch swings, one covered in green and white flowers, white cushioning with a beautiful white fluffy pillow, and the other one with black cushioning, with a blue pillow, it seemed less decorated than the other swing, but it still seemed comfortable. There was flowers on the top sides of the roof of the cave-like rock shelter and a little wooden coffee table with the little wooden figures of the gang, Dally, Eva, Yugo Amalia, and of course, Ruel.

“YUGO! Come on! I told you I wasn’t ready to enter the waterfall!”

“Oops.. sorry”

The princess started pouting, after a hardworking day, she didn’t want to get SOAKED by a waterfall. She just wanted to lay down and relax. But then she looked around and saw the hangout area, once again, not over the top but, peaceful.

“Sorry, I- Amalia…”

“Yugo, I know, you tried and thank you for that, but what is this supposed to be?”

“I just wanted to show you this hangout I made for the two of us, just us two, and nobody else.”

“Nobody else?”

“Nobody.”

Hearing this, the princess got a little bit shy.. *He wanted to be alone with me?*

“Now whenever we are doing all that paperwork, we can do it together in the same area, where it’s quiet, and where nobody can find us.”

“Oh Yugo… I really don’t deserve you. You’re an amazing guy and you’re just too good for me!”

“Well I can say the same for you to Amalia.”

“You’re such a dork! A very caring dork..”

The two settled down in the blue and black swing, with Yugo laying in Amalia’s lap as she rubbed his head.

“I love you Amalia.”

“I love you to Yugo.”

((this is my first time writing a kinda fanfic, but yeah i hoped you enjoyed it!))

I JUST NOTICED I PUT PRINCESS THAN QUEEN IM SORRY IGNORE THAT 😭

[doubleca5t]

Your vampire deck won me my first ever commander game so thank you for that!

The tradeoff is now on my second game I haven’t drawn a land in over 5 turns

Omggg I didn't expect someone to actually take the Amalia deck for a spin that's so cool you got a W with it!!! As for the second game idk if that's just luck of the draw or if 35 lands in a commander deck is too low for an average cmc of 3 🤷‍♀️🤷‍♀️🤷‍♀️

[phosphorus-12]

Wakfu Incorrect Quotes Pt. 3

Yugo: running into the room Adamai just said he doesn't love me anymore! Evangelyne: What?! Adamai: following him in I did not say that. I just said that we are not driving all the way across the country just so you can punch Qilby in the face.

Qilby: I’ll be famous one day, but for now I’m stuck in this house with a bunch of morons.

Qilby: slams down an absolute doorstopper of a tome I checked this out weeks ago for a bit of light reading. Literally everyone else: This is light?!

Evangelyne: If you got arrested what would be the charges? Ruel: Theft. Amalia: Disturbing the peace. Dally: Aggravated assault. Adamai: Arson. Yugo: All of the above. In that order, probably.

Qilby: Hey, what are you reading? Chibi: This is my magic book where any ink spilled shows a scripture of the future, however it bears a curse making it broken, and as such in order to make any scripture appears, I have to do it myself. Qilby: Impressive! I must have it for myself! Yugo: So it’s just a Notebook? Chibi: It’s just a Notebook.

Ruel, on a random band name generator: Oooo! They Might Be Depressed Horses! That about sums up my friend group.

Ruel: Ah shit, I forgot. Dally: Forgot what? Ruel: How do you expect me to answer that?

Adamai: Chibi is not allowed to decide which one of us is the chosen one.

Adamai: Yugo is also not allowed to trade his status as the chosen one

Qilby: New year, same me. Because I'm perfect.

Evangelyne: Yes, I'm adopting Yugo and you cowards can't tell me no!

Yugo: Why is it that I always lose things as soon as I need them? Qilby: Actually, it's not that you lose things when you need them. You lose them a while before. It's just that you LOOK for things when you need them. Yugo: Okay yeah thanks Qilby, that's great but WHERE'S THE FIRST AID KIT?

Qilby: Are you tall enough to play basketball though? Yugo: Are you calling me short? Qilby: I'm calling you vertically challenged.

Yugo: I'm bored. Nora: Wanna commit first-degree murder? Yugo: Sure! Chibi, hearing them: No- Stop, don't do that! Put that knife down! Put Qilby down!!

Ruel, looking at the squad: Okay, so I need to become a therapist faster.

[kookieminsuga]

The Wolf and his Coyote - Part 2

Hey guys! Sorry this took so long to update, I recently graduated from school and so I didn't have much time on my hands over the past year! Hopefully now I'll be able to update more. This chapter is also pretty short, they will get longer as we go. Enjoy!

Summary; Jungkook is the leader of the biggest biker gang in Korea. He is never interested in people unless they can benefit him in some way. That is until he runs into a girl who is the only person who appears to not be afraid of him. New to Korea, Amalia is an artist who spends most of her days working on her comics at her friend Minhyuks diner who also happens to be Jungkooks favourite hang out spot. What will happen when Jungkooks, a man who's heart seems to be frozen in ice, interest is peeked for the first time since he can remember?

Part 1 - Part 2 - Part 3 - Part 4

Pairing: Gang leader jk x Tsundere, artist Amalia

Rating: 18+ do not interact if you are a minor!

Word count: 1,030

Genre: Biker gang bts, action, romance, there will be smut down the line, angst, violence, humour.

Warnings: potential triggers, violence, gang talk, stalking.

“Thanks again!” I say to the guy at the counter of the ramen place near my house as I pick up my order and exit the restaurant.

Ah I can’t wait to just relax at home with my ramen and a good horror movie. Walking down the street, I turn into the alley way that leads to my place. I notice a man leaning against the wall smoking a cigarette. Damn that smells. I block my nose as I walk past him, not looking his way, due to my sensitive sense of smell. 

“Hey sexy!” The man says to me with a lewd, whistle. 

I shiver from the disgust I feel inside and do my best to ignore him and continue on my way.

“What are you, deaf or something?” He continued, “Don’t ignore me when I’m talking to you, lady.”

That last word made my blood boil and it took everything I had to not turn around and whack him. Due to his large size, I resigned myself to do so in my head.

To my horror I started hearing footsteps approaching me from behind. I gripped the straps of my heavy bag. As I thought, the man grabbed me by the shoulder but before he could do anything, I pivoted around and introduced his crotch to my bag. 

“I heard you-” I said bending down to look the now bent over man in the eye “You’re just not worth my time.” I said before breaking into a run, turning the corner to make it to my apartment. 

I put in the code and entered the building, gasping for air. I honestly didn’t think that would work, but considering the man was nowhere to be seen I guess it did. 

After collecting myself, I took the elevator up to my floor and entered my house. I threw my bag on the couch after removing my shoes and turning on the lights getting ready for my, hopefully, peaceful night.

Jungkooks pov.

Hearing the wind buzz by me as I speed down the highway usually helps me clear my head, however today I could not get the image of this girl out of my head. I’ve seen many pretty faces in my day and, although this one is not the prettiest, no one has ever left quite the impression on me. No one has ever looked at me with those eyes. Such unapologetic eyes. Such, familiar eyes. It’s clear to me that those eyes have seen things. Things that most people should never have to see. It was like looking in the mirror.

As my mind repeats the events that happened in the diner, I can’t shake the feeling of wanting to see her again. Is it just curiosity? I’m not usually the type to pine after woman, no its usually the other way around. This girl isn’t even my type. I must simply be in shock of her actions, yeah, that explains it.

I start to slow down as I reach the street I usually patrol at this time, parking my bike at a nearby shop. Strolling down the street, my mind goes back to one of the tattoos on the girls wrist. A large, neat, semi colon. I think most people would know the meaning behind a tattoo like that. The more I think about it, the more I wonder what she’s gone through. What confuses me the most however is, why do I even care so much? 

As I keep walking I start passing by a dark alleyway when out of the silence I hear voices. I turn to look and notice a man following a girl. Not on my turf. I start to head into the alleyway but before I have a chance to do anything the girl suddenly turns and hits the man in the crotch with her bag before uttering some words and making a run for it. Well doesn’t this look familiar. I keep my eyes on her as she turns the corner and to my surprise, its the same girl from the diner. A smirk forms on my lips before I could stop it, this is the second time this girl impresses me with her bravery in one day. 

I get pulled out of my train of thought as I notice the guy start to recover and get up to follow her. 

“Yah!” I project my voice to make sure he hears me.

He turns his rage filled eyes on me.

“WHAT?!” He yells. 

I notice the shift in his expression go from anger to fear as I walk towards him and he finally gets a glimpse of my face. 

“Can I know what you think you’re doing on one of my streets?” I asked, now directly in the mans face.

I noticed the tattoo of a hummingbird on his forearm, the symbol of our biggest rival gang, the hummingbirds led by Mr. Kim Seojun. A sick bastard who’m I’ve had to keep my eye on for years due to his crazy nature. Him and his mens, if you can even call them that, were known for tormenting people around the country. What is this trash doing on my turf?

If I’m being honest, although I’m certainly not innocent, I don’t really like to use violence. I only use it when necessary and never on innocents.

“I- I’m sorry Mr. Jeon, it seems I made a wrong turn.” He said, bowing his head.

Pathetic. 

“If I ever see your face around here again, it won’t turn out so good for you. Be happy I’m in a good mood.” I said taking a step to head back the way I came. 

“Oh and also-” I shifted back and punched him as hard as I could in the gut. “That was for harassing an innocent girl. I don’t know what it’s like around your area, but around here, no means no, got it? Give Mr. Kim my regards.”

He fell to the floor, clutching at his stomach. 

Feeling satisfied, I turned back around and headed back towards the street to continue my patrol. If there’s one thing I don’t tolerate, it’s the abuse of women. 

[lucemet]

So! I just read your story and oh for the love of the flowers in my house, I LOVE IT! 💖💖💖

The story itself is so interesting, specially the lore within! It's also interesting to see how Amalia and Yugo act in that fic, wich highly calls my attention in how their interactions will be in their “enemies” phase

And oh fluff-, OH FLUFF AMALIA AND JORIS' FRIENDSHIP IS SO CUTE RAAAAA-

I genuily love how you wrote those two! I swear I squealed when Joris first appeared and every moment he was present, I just wanted to hug him the whole time! 💖

(Your honor, Joris is just a huggable ball of anxiety that will make me suffer from cuteness agression at any given moment + my favorite character I swear-)

Just like I said earlier, the story itself is beautiful, interesting and with great writting too! I wonder how things will go from now on 👀, and I'm so excited to see it aswell, keep up the great work!

AAAHHH THANK YOU SO MUCH 😭❤️❤️

First off, YOU ARE THE SWEETEST THING EVERR 🤭🤭

Second, I’m so glad my story interests you! I can certainly promise that the Yugo/Amalia dynamic will be INCREDIBLY entertaining (I say as I’m still on chapter 6😞)

AAAAH I HAD SO MUCH FUN WRITING JORIS LIKE YOU DON’T UNDERSTAND- Every time he popped up on screen, I just wanted to give this man a big hug. Hopefully that translated into my writing! :) I also wanted to display the dynamic between Joris and Amalia as something more familiar and friendly. I imagine that as the most competent ruler, she and Joris would DEF be besties 🥰

And once again, thank you SO much for all the compliments, it truly means a lot!! 😭❤️❤️

As the semester has just started up, I’m struggling to find time to write but luckily I’m getting a hang of it. I’m already 3/4 into C6, so (hopefully 🤞) it’ll be out sometime this week! :DD

Thank you so much, and I hope you have an amazing morning/afternoon/evening/night! Stay safe, hydrate, take care of your fantastic self, and don’t overwork yourself! Salut! 👋❤️

[onenettvchannel]

#K5NewsFMExclusive: A Dark and Dramatic Conclusion as the 4th Season of Wakfu will be the Last Season of its historic French cartoon series (updated as FINAL!!!)

(Written by Rhayniel Saldasal Calimpong / Freelanced News Reporter and Presenter of OneNETnews)

ROUBAIX, FRANCE -- The upcoming Season Premiere of Wakfu, which will air on the 'Okoo' kids and teens programming block through French public broadcaster 'France Televisions' is set to be a dramatic heartstopping conclusion. This will mark the beginning of the show's 4th and Final Season, scheduled to debut in early mid-February 2024. It is worth mentioning to recall that the entire production at Ankama Studios in France has been successfully concluded, thanks to the global campaign fund of Kickstarter that took place in late-June 2020.

(PRESS RELEASE OBTAINED by K5 News FM Dumaguete)

Per the press release exclusively obtained through DWFH-FM 97.7mhz's K5 News FM, the latest synopsis for the final season of a French cartoon show portrays intense and potentially darker scenes that comes up a bit close to happen: "After their destructive battle with Oropo, but also with their own demons, Yugo the Eliatrope and his friends find themselves at the gates of Ingloriom, the realm of the Gods. The Tofu Brotherhood (TFB) has no time to wonder what fate the 12 Divinities have in store for them for this sacrilege: the floating territory is devastated!".

(SCREENGRAB COURTESY: FranceTVPro website)

(PHOTO COURTESY: Google Images)

Before an actual final season premiere on a national French television, a sneak preview in the panel is yet to be shown in-person at the Angoulême International Comics Festival (AICF) on Thursday late-afternoon (January 25th, 2024 at 5:30pm -- France local time).

(PHOTO COURTESY: AICF via X Network's FranceTVPro)

Inside a panel in Angoulême City, the said country, will discuss about the upcoming 4th and Final Season of the show, in the presence of Wakfu show creator named Anthony "Tot" Roux, one of the authors with French YouTuber personality (Malec) and Wakfu's historical Character Designer (Sonia Demechlis).

(SCREENGRAB COURTESY: Okoo / France Televisions / Ankama Animation via The X Network)

In a televised trailer 'X Network' (formerly Twitter) released Tuesday afternoon (January 16th, 2024), the heroes of the Brotherhood of the Tofu, Yugo the Eliatrope, Prncs. Amalia Sheran Sharm, Ms. Evangelyne the Cra, Mr. Ruel Stroud and among others have fought against formidable enemies and ancient evils. But sadly, things are gone crazier and darker situations as the fate of 'The World of 12' rests on their shoulders.

K5 News FM learns exclusively that the runtime for this 4th Season of Wakfu is 22 minutes long, with a final 13 new episodes.

(FILE SCREENGRAB COURTESY: Generation TV_FR via YT VIDEO)

French cartoon show of Wakfu was started in the late-October 2008 during France 3's kids programming block "Toowam", before transitioning to Ludo (home of between Wakfu on the said date of 2008 and LoliRock in the late mid-October 2014).

(FILE PHOTO COURTESY for REPRESENTATION: Zodiak Kids and Family for Banijay & Ankama Studios / Editing Provided by the Anonymous Artists, and from the top left to the bottom right: Lyna, Carrisa, Talia, Iris, Aurianna, Evangelyne, Yugo the Eliatrope, Prncs. Amalia Sheran Sharm)

At the time of the writing with a confirmation from Ankama Studios and Zodiak Kids & Family (part of Banijay Group), theories in French kids cartoon suggest between LoliRock and Wakfu will not be planning to do a crossover episode for now, in and outside of this same public broadcasting network on Wakfu's final season for France Televisions.

As reported exclusively between AnimeTVFrance news bureau (via The X Network) and Ankama News (also via the press release division of Wakfu), we do know that the new episodes to be aired back-2-back on primetime until early mid-March 2024.

With this, you can catch LIVE new episodes of the final 4th Season of Wakfu, premieres February 9th, 2024 at 1:30pm Eastern / 12:30pm Central (in the United States) / 7:30pm in France -- only on France 4's Okoo programming block and streaming LIVE via the France TV website, Animation Digital Network (ADN) and on the Okoo app for Google Play and Apple App Stores in France.

PHOTO COURTESY: Ankama Animations

SOURCE: *https://www.francetvpro.fr/contenu-de-presse/64569626 [Referenced Event Listings via FranceTVPro] *https://www.youtube.com/@malec3821 [Referenced YT Home Page via Malec] *https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Angoul%C3%AAme_International_Comics_Festival *https://www.francetvpro.fr/contenu-de-presse/64684101 [Referenced PR News Article via FranceTVPro] *https://twitter.com/Totankama/status/1736789152455131477 [Referenced X Network Captioned VIDEO via Totankama] *https://twitter.com/francetvslash/status/1744403591736050165 [Referenced X Network Captioned VIDEO #1 via FranceTVSlash] *https://twitter.com/francetvslash/status/1747280767598641312 [Referenced X Network Captioned VIDEO #2f via FranceTVSlash] *https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toowam *https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/LoliRock *https://www.banijaykidsandfamily.com/shows/lolirock/ [Referenced Show Biography via Banijay Kids and Family website] *https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saison_4_de_Wakfu *https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wakfu_(s%C3%A9rie_t%C3%A9l%C3%A9vis%C3%A9e_d%27animation) *https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HjWsaz7gxI4 [Referenced YT VIDEO via Kass Koui] *https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J_7yLJQZ6JA [Referenced Classic YT Video via Generation TV_FR] *https://twitter.com/francetvpro/status/1750584660021666155 [Referenced X Network Captioned PHOTO via FranceTVPro] *https://www.wakfu.com/en/mmorpg/news/announcements/1680321-wakfu-s4-soon-available-viewing [Referenced News Article via Ankama News for Wakfu PR Division] *https://www.france.tv/france-3/wakfu/saison-4/5698308-wakfu-saison-4-des-le-9-fevrier-sur-okoo-et-france-tv.html [Reference News Article via France 3 Info] and *https://twitter.com/animetv_fr/status/1754591809651507421 [Referenced X Network Post via AnimeTVFrance News Bureau]

-- OneNETnews Team

[larvasmoon]

OC Deep Dive : Selene

Thank you @cinnamontails-ff and @davenswitcher for the tags ❤️

What common/uncommon fear do they have?

Selene is full of fears, she is scared of life in general. She has a deep-rooted fear of abandonment, that probably comes from her childhood and the fact that she spent a few years in an orphanage. She always has this fear that the people closest to her will get bored of her, that they will end up seing just how troubled and flawed she is. Apart from that, she is both fascinated and terrified by the dark or the night. If someone locked her in a room, in complete darkness, she would have the worst panic attack. I guess she is also slightly claustrophobic and hates being in big crowds of people.

Do they have any pet peeves?

She hates self-entitled and arrogant people who are very insecure deep down; the type that belittles and degrades others in order to feel better about themselves.

What are 3 items you can find in their bedroom?

Her bedroom is full of sketchbooks, charcoal sticks, scattered palettes and paintbrushes. You might also find a few books about tarot cards and the art of divination on her nightstand. She also has a small bookcase in her room full of dusty volumes of poetry and romance novels that she used to read at night when she was younger.

What do they notice first in a person?

Selene is an observer so the first thing she might notice about a person will be little details : the color of their eyes in the sun, a small dimple on the side of their mouth, the way they drink their tea or hold their cup.

On a scale from 1-10, how high is their pain tolerance?

Probably 8 or 9. She grew up in an orphanage full of nasty little boys who liked to pick on her, pulling on her hair or heckling her were their favorite things to do when they were bored. She is no stranger to pain, physical and psychological, and will handle it quite well.

Do they go into fight or flight mode when under pressure?

It depends in what stage of the story. In the latest chapters, I'd say 70% fight, 30% flight, but at the beginning of the story she was more of a scaredy cat.

Do they come from a big family/are they a family person?

Selene was left in a basket in front of the city's orphanage when she was a baby. She doesn't know who her parents are and why they couldn't keep her, she was tormented by those questions most of her childhood and teenage years. Once she became an adult, she managed to make her peace with the situation. The closest she has to a father is Finn, Damian Fallheel's butler. Amalia, the orphanage's headmistress, is also a motherly figure for her, she often visits her to chat and confide in her.

What animal represents them best?

A pretty garden bird or a black cat.

What is a smell they dislike?

Overly sweet and strong scents.

Have they broken any bones?

She fell off of a tree's branch when she was little and broke her right leg. It took a long time to recover and walk again because the orphanage did not have enough money to pay for a healer.

How would a stranger likely describe them?

Very reserved and mysterious, she's often described as "elusive" and unreadable when she meets new people.

Are they a night owl, or morning bird?

Definitely a night owl. She spends most of her nights awake, either painting or thinking about painting. The witching hour is her favorite, she gets so many ideas when the world is silent and asleep.

What’s a flavor they hate and a flavor they love?

She hates the sour taste of strong black chocolate. She loves strawberries cakes, anything creamy and soft. She also adores all sorts of vegetables, stews and soups, the comforting taste of something of a warm and rich broth on a cold winter day.

Do they have any hobbies?

Apart from painting, she is very interested in tarot and divination magic. She often reads books about it and buys pretty decks from obscure shops in the Lower City's dangerous neighborhoods.

Boom, surprise birthday party! How do they react to surprise?

Probably blush and get teary-eyed, because she cannot believe someone actually thought about her birthday and planned a party.

Do they like to wear jewellery?

She has a lot of piercings on her ears, she did them during her rebellious teenage phase but loves them very much to this day. She wears a lot of moon earrings because she is obsessed with the night sky and the stars. On her fingers, she only wears the ring that Vespertine gave to her.

Do they have neat or messy handwriting?

Very pretty cursive handwriting that she spent hours perfecting while writing in her sketchbooks and diaries with a quill.

What are the two emotions they feel the most?

Sadness and a sort of pretty melancholy, when she contemplating something that inspires her to create art.

Do they have a favourite fabric?

Anything silky or lacy, she likes when it feels soft on the skin.

What kind of accent do they have?

Amalia used to speak elvish to her when she was little so she would stay connected to her ancestry. Her words have a lull to them now because of it, but she mostly doesn't have an accent at all.

Tagging @anacdoce and @roguishcat if they haven't been tagged before 💕

[madisoncounty]

tagged by @katebeckets and @tessaservopoulos and @alicenthighstower ages ago and i have been delaying forever because i couldn't decide on the characters but here we are <3 <3 thank you <3

rules: choose 4 of your favorite characters from 4 pieces of media as options and let your tumblr pals decide which one most suits your vibe

i'm not tagging anyone because i feel like everyone has been tagged but if you see this and haven't been... consider yourself tagged!

[geekgirles]

The Doll and the Dragon

Chapter 3 That Distant Shore

Word Count: 15,977

Read on AO3

Previous/Next

Summary: "The day has finally come where Amalia will get to leave the palace premises and explore around Oma Island alongside Yugo. However, much to their mutual surprise, it won't take long before it becomes apparent the island's landscapes won't be the only thing they'll explore today. Soon they'll learn more about themselves and each other, at the same time as they wonder if they truly know each other at all."

“So, you’re getting ready for your date?” Nora asked him from where she lay upside down on his bed, her feet dangling in the air as she munched on some snacks she snatched from the kitchen. 

How she didn’t choke on those from her position was beyond him. 

“How many times do I have to tell you? It’s not a date!” Yugo snapped, rolling his eyes in annoyance at his sister’s insistence. He was looking at her from over his chair, his body facing the desk he kept in his room for last minute documents he had to look over. 

That was the downside of always being out and about, the stacks of paperwork that would inevitably pile up. 

Seriously, between the bureaucratic work and his sister’s antics at his expense, he really doubted he would live to a thousand years, at least in this lifetime. 

It was Nora’s turn to roll her eyes, an action which she made sure to emphasise. Leave it to Yugo to be in denial. Propping herself on his bed so she was sitting upright right after gobbling up her last snack, she flashed him a bored look. 

“Right, right. I always forget. It’s not a date.”

“Thank you.” Yugo puffed out his chest, glad his younger sister was finally seeing reason. 

“You’re just going to be adventuring around the island—one of your favourite things in the whole wide Krosmoz—alongside Amalia, whom I seem to recall you actually asked if she was okay with it, and sweating a Rogue’s whole bullet supply while you were at it; just the two of you. Yeah, it sure doesn’t sound like a date to me.”

Yugo pouted. He should’ve known it was a trap. 

“Well, it’s not!” He protested, even as he tried to busy himself with work to drown Nora’s sarcastic comments out. “Come on, Nora, I thought you were better than that.”

She furrowed her brow in confusion. “What do you mean?”

She definitely was not above teasing her older brother about his painfully obvious crush on the pretty flower that got sent to him. His being in denial only made it all the more entertaining. So she had no idea what he meant about ‘being better than that.’

“Don’t play coy.” He told her sternly, swirling his body once again to point at her with an accusing finger and a serious expression on his face. “Aren’t you supposed to be above all these ‘archaic notions meant to hinder positive interactions between members of the opposite sex such as the impossibility of men and women fostering fully platonic relationships’?”

Nora could only blink in disbelief. Once. Twice. Up to three times. Finally, she offered a slow, sarcastic clap, her tone flat. “Wow, I’m impressed. Where did you get all that from, Yugo, by memorising Simone de Bouftou’s works?”

Yugo just rolled his eyes, turning his focus back to signing documents and away from his annoying sister. “Does that mean you’ve changed your mind about all that?”

“No way!” She replied, waving the mere notion off with a psh! sound. “Of course men and women can be just friends. I mean, look at me, I’m only friends with most guys I know!” Then, she muttered to herself, “And I say most because the remaining guys are my brothers and that would be gross.”

Yugo wisely chose not to comment on how she wasn’t exactly interested in pursuing a relationship with any man in the first place. 

Ignoring his train of thought, she went on, undeterred. “Doesn’t change the fact that you and Amalia are going out on a date, though.”

Exhaling deeply from his nose, Yugo all but threw his pen down at the desk, causing a little thud! to echo around the room before it began to roll around the wooden surface it was in. He’d better be realistic and accept he would not get any work done, not with Nora this intent on getting on his nerves today. 

After solving Amalia’s little problem with her room—though, truth be told, she solved it entirely by herself—, the Divine Doll had timidly asked him if they could explore Oma Island some time soon, confiding in him her own desire to learn more about the world around her. A desire Yugo himself was intimately familiar with. 

In a moment of weakness, despite his better judgement, Yugo had given in, relating to her feeling of solitude with nothing to do and nowhere to go. And because he was a man of his word, he had been planning on the perfect escapade, writing down all the incredible places that could be found on the island his people now called home and deciding which ones they should start with. 

It wasn’t like he was excited, or anything of the sort. But, for whatever reason, the gods had entrusted him with a Sadida Doll, and this would apparently be Amalia’s first time seeing the outside world since her creation. The least he could do was make it worthwhile. 

And yes, maybe he had been a little nervous when he asked her if she wanted to go, and maybe the fact that he asked her at all would raise a few eyebrows among the most old-fashioned people, who would immediately label it as a date. But it wasn’t a date! There was no romantic intent behind it, he had only been trying to come up with the perfect plan because this would be Amalia’s first outing and he wanted her to enjoy herself, and he had only asked because…

Well, because asking a person if they wanted to do something rather than just assume and force them to do anything was just common decency!

As Shinonomé said, Amalia was their guest, not their prisoner. Even if they would be keeping an eye on her until the reason for her arrival became clear, they would still treat her with the respect a Sadida Doll deserved. 

And if asking her to join him on a little walk around the island counted as an adventure for her and made her smile like she had won a bet against Ecaflip, then he would gladly plan as many adventures and little escapades as she—

He was getting sidetracked! Shaking his head and with it those thoughts away, he couldn’t help but huff as he bit his lip, irritated both at Nora and at himself. But mostly at Nora. Sometimes he was sure her divine gift wasn’t bringing joy to their people, but to get on his nerves. 

“For the last time, it’s not a date! We’re just friends!” He threw his hands to his sides, desperate for his sister to finally listen to what he had to say. 

“What’s not a date?”

Their heads perking up at the sound of the new voice, both Yugo and Nora turned to face the newcomer with equally curious faces. Standing awkwardly in the doorway under their scrutiny was Adamaï, the round opening closing behind him. His brown irises flickered back and forth between his siblings and he had a stack of papers in his claws. 

Clearing his throat to dispel the sudden tension he found himself in, he thumped the bundle of paper on the table to organise them a little before handing them to Yugo. “Here, these are Qilby and Shinonomé’s reports on the new medicine they’re developing from some of Qilby’s plants. They want you to look through it and see if you can give them the go-ahead.”

The dragon’s discomfort only grew when a smile kept stretching over his twin’s face slowly. It was a little unnerving, to say the least. So, curling his tail around himself in unease, he braced himself for the worst. 

“What?” He asked flatly. 

“Adamaï, just in time!” Yugo jumped to his feet and hugged his brother tightly, patting him on the back. Not knowing how to react, all poor Adamaï could do was to awkwardly return the gesture. 

It wasn’t like he was adverse to receiving physical affection from Yugo, the two were undoubtedly close, after all; it was just that he had no idea what could have possibly prompted such a reaction from him. 

Already knowing he would come to regret ever opening his mouth, the dragon asked, “‘Just in time’ for what?”

Yugo broke the hug and gestured towards Nora, who had one eyebrow quirked and her face rested against her knuckles. “Ad, could you please tell Nora I’m not going on a date with Amalia?”

Oh, that actually explained so much. With a shrug, he turned to the magenta-clad Eliatrope, “He’s not going on a date with Amalia.”

The king threw his hands up in the air and his head back in triumph, blessing his lucky stars for having at least one decent sibling. “Thank you! See? There you have it, I’m not going on a date with Amalia!”

But Nora just hummed in response, her expression impassive. With the same stone-faced look, she turned to Adamaï, “And do you actually believe that?”

His answer was swift and devastating. “Not even for a second.”

“Adamaï!” Yugo screeched, bringing a hand to his chest in abject horror, the feeling of betrayal oozing from his pores. “Whose side are you on!?”

Ad just raised his claws up in surrender, though the smirk on his face made it plenty clear he wasn’t sorry in the slightest. “Hey, you told me to tell her you don’t have a date with Amalia; you never said anything about saying that and meaning it.”

The Eliatrope King opened up his mouth to protest, and promptly shut it. His face contorted itself into a grimace as he tried to refute his twin’s logic, but had to resign himself to accepting he had been had. 

Instead, all he could say was, “I hate you.”

The dragon smirked, “Love you too, bro.”

Their attention was drawn back to the only girl in the room when Nora made a show of clasping her hands loudly. She was still on Yugo’s bed, which creaked under her weight, seated in a lotus position as she crossed her arms and sent her king an infinitely smug look. 

“There you have it, you’re going out on a date with Amalia. End of the story.”

She had to refrain herself from rolling her eyes to the back of her skull when Yugo insisted on contradicting her, wagging a finger in the air for added effect. 

“No, no, no.” He shook his head very slowly and deliberately, slowly closing the distance between them as he spoke. “By your own definition, a date is two people, in this case, a man and a woman, doing something they enjoy together.”

“That is correct, yes.” Nora decided to humour him, nodding along. 

“Given you won’t believe me even when I tell you there’s no romantic intent on my part—”

He could feel himself bristle at the infuriating look his two siblings exchanged right under his nose. But that didn’t matter; he went on. 

“—then I feel obligated to point out we’re not going alone!” 

That got her attention, her brow furrowed in confusion. “You’re not?”

“Nope.” Yugo shot back, popping the ‘p’ and thoroughly enjoying the white-haired Eliatrope’s perplexed look. “Adamaï here will be coming with us.”

Suddenly seeing his twin openly gesturing at him caused the dragon in question to start, before jogging up his memory and realising he had indeed agreed to such a thing. “Ah, that’s right. To help you keep an eye on Amalia and make sure nothing happens to her.” Then, he added, tilting his thought in confusion, “But didn’t you say she redecorated her entire room in less than five minutes thanks to her power over nature? Oma Island is overflowing with vegetation, if anything, she’s the one with the advantage here.”

“Doesn’t hurt to be prepared, just in case.” Yugo replied absently, his eyes strained on Nora’s smirking face. That… was not the kind of reaction he was expecting from her after such revelation. It was making his stomach churn, honestly.

For her part, Nora was supremely amused by this. Yugo might be their people’s greatest warrior and a good king, but he could be so utterly hopeless sometimes, especially when it came to romance. No wonder he had never once taken a queen in all his reincarnations, according to Qilby and Shinonomé. She had to suppress an impish giggle. That was what made teasing him on these matters so much fun. 

“I see.” She finally said, her smirk unwavering. “You’re right. You definitely do not have a date with Amalia.”

Exchanging cautious glances with Ad, Yugo dared to say, “Right? T-thank you for finally noticing—.”

“You have a date with Amalia, and a chaperone.” She finished, finally allowing the full scope of her amusement to show on her features. 

Yugo’s whole posture slumped, a vexed pout on his lips. He could only blame himself, he really should have seen that one coming. 

Letting out a heavy sigh as he straightened himself up slightly,  he pinched the bridge of his nose in vexation. “For the last time, Amalia and I are just friends!” He groaned, throwing his arms to the side. “Why do you all insist I have feelings for her? You and Chibi tease me to no end, Efrim accuses me of letting her cloud my judgement, Qilby… I have no idea what he does or what he thinks, as always…”

Nora pretended to think for a second, she was about to open up her mouth when—.

“Um, maybe because you make it so painfully obvious?”

Everyone turned to the origin of the voice, coming face-to-face with a very smug-looking Qilby leaning against the doorframe. Yugo really couldn’t tell if he didn’t notice because he was so engrossed in the conversation or because their doors were too quiet. Which was ridiculous, to be honest. It wasn’t just a large rock shuttle in the middle of the room, it even lit up with wakfu every so often!

Seriously, their children didn’t even need nightlights to ward off monsters in the dark. The doors were more than enough!

“Okay, never mind.” Yugo said, his tone flat. “I know exactly what Qilby does…”

“You would if you actually used your time as a king should and read through our reports.” Qilby pointed out matter-of-factly as he strutted into the room, unperturbed by the sour look on his brother’s face. 

“For once I agree with you, dear brother.” Nora said sweetly, too sweetly. The way she leaned forward with her head resting over her intertwined fingers was a clear sign of how much she was enjoying watching her king squirm.

“I would've been done with these documents about an hour ago if you didn’t keep on distracting me.” Yugo protested weakly. 

His siblings were not having it, however. 

“No, you would have not.” They all deadpanned in unison.

Joining his little sister on the bed, which creaked under the added weight, Qilby stretched, passing his arms behind his back with a loud pop! Mirroring Nora’s devious smirk, he asked, “Why are we talking about Yugo’s obvious crush on his precious flower now?”

Purposely ignoring his twin’s frantic gesturing not to say a word, Adamaï took the liberty of explaining things. “Because they’re going adventuring today.”

“Seriously, Ad. Whose side are you on?!” Yugo scoffed as he threw his hands to his sides, incredulous. “And you deliberately left out the fact that you’re coming with us.”

To his chagrin, his dragon twin simply shrugged. “It’s not like my presence is going to change much.”

“Ah, I see. So this is a date with a chaperone.” Qilby interjected, stroking his braided beard with interest. 

“That’s what I said!” Nora exclaimed, before breaking down into uncontrollable laughter.

With a pensive hum, the eldest Eliatrope continued. “You know, this reminds me of our 168th reincarnation. You used to ask Adamaï or Chibi to chaperone for you on your dates with Dydda. Although, that had more to do with the fact that her father was very overprotective, rather than you being in denial.”

“What do I have to do to get it through your skulls that there’s nothing going on between Amalia and I? And I’m not in denial.” Yugo sighed, rubbing his face with his hands in frustration. He thought best not to point out how, unlike whoever this Dydda girl’s father was, he most likely had nothing on a literal god.

Or maybe he should point it out. It was incredible how easily they all forgot the real reason behind Amalia’s presence in their lives. 

“Oh, denying your denial. That’s a bad sign.” Qilby whispered conspiratorially to Nora, who nodded wisely. He purposely made his voice louder than it should be as he did so, loving every single second of seeing his younger brother twitch uncomfortably in his place. The smirk returning to his face as he basked in the glory of his youngest brother’s less than amused expression, he smugly added. “If you’re not interested in our dear doll, why is it that you’ve been choosing to blow off training with our siblings to practise all by your lonesome right in front of her room, hm?”

Nora’s bright pink eyes lit up in realisation before setting on him like feral, starving Bow Wow staring at a bone. “That’s right! Ever since Amalia arrived, you barely let yourself be seen around the training grounds! Only when we need to tutor our elite guards in training.”

Eyes widening at the accusation, Yugo was convinced his heart just stopped. Choking on air, he had to discreetly thump his closed hand over his chest to get it to start pumping blood again. 

He cleared his throat in an attempt to appear nonchalant. “...I don’t know what you’re talking about?” He hated how that sounded painfully unconvincing even to his ears. 

Qilby just rolled his eyes. “Please, Yugo. Need I remind you I remember everything that’s ever happened since the moment we were born, millennia ago? Whenever you like someone, you can’t help but show off in front of them. And since right now training is your best option to flex that divine physique of yours… Well, you do the maths.”

The Eliatrope King could feel his face heating up at the accusation. And worst of all, the eldest Eliatrope wasn’t exactly wrong. It had been a while since he went to the training grounds with his siblings. Doing his own routine at the back of the palace, where Amalia’s balcony was located, had sort of become a routine for the both of them by now. 

If he was being honest, that development hadn’t been intentional on his part. In fact, it all started because his siblings blew him off first. They had been planning on practising some group formations in case the Twelvians sent more warriors after them, only to then be forced to spend a good half hour waiting for them. It wasn’t until Shinonomé soared right above him and noticed him all by his lonesome that he was informed their siblings all had urgent matters to attend to and would not be able to train that day. 

From an outsider’s perspective, it would have been ironic that the king, who was supposed to be the busiest person of all, was also the only one who had found time to do some physical exercise. However, Yugo’s position as their people’s greatest warrior also justified he dedicated some time of his day, every day, to honing his skills to remain sharp and battle-ready. 

So with nothing better to do and not feeling like forcing their guards-in-training to clean after one person’s mess, he decided he could use some change in scenery. Only problem was he forgot his usual spot away from everyone else currently housed the Sadida Doll he already went out of his way to keep a strictly platonic relationship with. 

And it worked! It really did. Amalia didn’t try to convince him to take her as his bride or even bring the subject up at all. She was mostly content with letting herself be dragged around the palace and making idle conversation with him. Yugo actually wondered if she would ever drop the anvil on him, seeing how restless she looked from time to time…

Looking back, it was painfully obvious to see the Divine Doll really needed to get out more. 

The point is, he had been successfully keeping her at arm’s length, too wary of the gods’ true intentions behind sending her to them to risk putting his kingdom in jeopardy. But when he caught her staring intently at his display of physical prowess for the first time, her brown, doe-like eyes glimmering in awe and the softest blush dusting her cheeks, he felt something powerful, and a little bit cocky, surge within him. 

What began as mere attack drills became an elaborate choreography that ended up leaving him more winded than when he actually fought the World of Twelve’s champions. But the shortness of his breath, the accelerated heartbeat echoing in his ribcage, or the soreness in his muscles were nothing compared to the rush of adrenaline and pride he felt upon seeing Amalia’s reaction. 

Before he knew it, that one-time thing had become an addictive habit he had trouble even envisioning himself breaking. 

And apparently, his siblings had taken notice of it too. 

There was no way he was going to tell all that to them, of course. Especially not when Qilby and Nora were still laughing uncontrollably at his expense, their laughing fit having started roughly at the same time he froze on the spot at the bespectacled Eliatrope’s accusations. With a tsk! sound and a long-suffering roll of his eyes, he turned his back to them long enough to grab his cloak from his coat stand and put it on, pulling his hood over his head as well. 

With a nod of his head, he motioned for Adamaï to follow him. Purposely ignoring the way his actions finally broke Nora and Qilby out of their little trance, he pointed at the floor, his palm glowing a bright blue, and opened up a portal big enough to fit both him and Adamaï.

“Whe—...Where are…where are you going?” Nora managed to ask in between wheezes, wiping a tear away. 

“To pick Amalia up to show her around. At this rate, rather than take her on an adventure, I’ll take her to bed.” He replied simply, seemingly not realising how that sounded. 

As Qilby’s laughter intensified, a predatory grin made its way to the pink-eyed Eliatrope’s lips. “Hey, if you don't want to, I’ll more than gladly—.”

And just like that Yugo and Adamaï were gone. 

“Rude.” She scoffed. 

.......................................................................................................................

Amalia was practically buzzing with excitement. Today was the day she’d manage to leave the palace premises and explore Oma Island for a bit! Oh, she wasn’t sure this day would ever come. She had replayed the moment Yugo proposed the idea to her in her mind over a million times already.

It had been shortly after she admitted to disliking her room and receiving his and Chibi and Grougal’s help with redecorating the space more to her liking. That morning, not long after the little routine they had going on where Yugo trained in front of her balcony and she got to enjoy the show, he had come knocking on her door. 

Amalia still couldn’t make sense of how uncomfortable he looked when she offered him to come inside, only for him to vehemently, albeit politely, reject her offer and remain rooted to the spot beside the door frame even as the shuttle closed behind him. But she chose to shrug his weird behaviour off—honestly, between Yugo’s mercurial moods, where one second he seemed completely at ease only to tense up at the next; Nora’s strange comments both about them and about her, especially her; Efrim’s glares; and Qilby’s indecipherable expressions, the Divine Doll was really beginning to think what she considered odd behaviour was just culture shock. For all she knew, that was completely normal for Eliatropes!

So dropping the matter for the time being, she focused instead on what he was trying to tell her. Apparently he wanted them to have breakfast together. That in itself was great. Given how their interactions usually went, they would most likely walk around the palace afterwards. Maybe she could try bringing the subject of looking around the island up again?

Amalia dropped her porridge-filled spoon into her bowl the moment Yugo beat her to the punch mid-breakfast and suggested exactly that, her eyes as wide as the saucers carrying sweets, cold meats, fruit, and many other food options on the table. Then she proceeded to almost knock an unprepared Yugo out of his chair when she threw herself at him to hug him as thanks. Only to let him go immediately after because, judging by the way his whole body tensed up at the contact and how the maids and servants were staring at them owlishly, it seemed Eliatrope culture wasn’t big on public displays of affection. 

Which Amalia couldn't help but find ironic since their portal-making abilities usually meant their concept of personal space was a little faulty. 

Nevertheless, once she had released him and he recovered from the shock—Amalia told herself then to be more careful in the future; she was no longer with her family and couldn’t afford to be overly touchy-feely—, Yugo admitted to having been thinking over what she said about leaving the palace and how he reached the conclusion that she was right. Oma Island was her home now, it’d be better if she knew her way around it. 

And so, the rest of their breakfast was spent picking the perfect date and with a pleading Amalia begging a tight-lipped Yugo to tell her more details of their first ever adventure together. But even the doll’s best efforts were futile. He just told her to be ready when the day came and to let him worry about the rest.

And now that the day had finally arrived, she was so beyond herself with joy, no matter what she did, she just couldn’t stay still while she waited for Yugo to arrive to pick her up. 

That wasn’t an exaggeration. She had tried sitting on the floor and caressing the vines and ferns she’d grown the other day. She laid on her bed upside down and with her feet dangling in mid-air as she propped her head with her hands, or with her back to the wall as her eyes followed the lines composing the murals on the walls, trying to make sense of them. She had spent hours in front of her vanity, brushing her hair and trying to look her best. But nothing! 

As she frantically paced around her room like a caged animal, she couldn’t help but think Xelor seemed intent on making time go by more slowly today. 

She shuddered at the memory of her brief interaction with the time god, when her father introduced her to the other gods before sending her to the World of Twelve. Overall, he seemed nice, but she just couldn’t get over having to look him in the chest to look him in the eye…

Watching someone’s pectorals squinting was a scarring experience she wouldn’t wish on her worst enemy. And when his mouth curled over his stomach? Amalia was the one who didn’t have the stomach for it. 

In a twist of fate, it was as if she had accidentally summoned Xelor himself and got him to do his job. For just as she got lost reminiscing, a knock on the windowpane leading to her balcony broke the Divine Doll out of her thoughts. 

With a gasp, she abruptly stopped pacing. Her eyes trained on the windowpane, she commanded two of the vines on her wall to open it with a gesture of her hands. She could only squeal in equal parts delight and excitement at the sight before her, before rushing out to the balcony without a second thought. 

Hovering over the railing were Yugo and his dragon brother Adamaï, the latter having spread his draconic wings to achieve such a feat. While Adamaï’s posture, with his arms folded over his chest and his batting wings, remained more guarded than Yugo’s, whose body was mostly hidden by his usual blue cloak, the two of them still wore pleasant smiles as they waited for her. 

Her eyes flickering down for a fraction of a second, she couldn’t help but smile appreciatively when she noticed they were hovering on purpose just so they could avoid stepping on her vines. That was so thoughtful of them.

“Yugo, you’re really here!” She exclaimed happily, her brown eyes glimmering in delight as she got closer. 

The Eliatrope chuckled at her reaction. “Well, I did say today I’d take you out.” He turned to his twin. “Isn’t that right, Adamaï?���

“I wasn’t there when you agreed on the specifics, but if that's what you said you would do, then the least you can do is hold up your end of the bargain.” He shrugged, not too concerned. 

The exchange causing her to remember her other guest and flush at her lack of manners, the Sadida Doll rushed out to rectify her mistake. “Oh, Adamaï! I’m so sorry, it’s great to see you too. We really haven’t had the chance to interact more.” She sheepishly cupped her cheek with one hand. “Uh, forgive me but, um… why exactly are you here?”

Despite how obvious it was he would only be third-wheeling on these two’s not-a-date (as Yugo insisted on calling it), Adamaï couldn’t help but chuckle at the doll’s innocent, albeit genuine, question. He had just opened his mouth when he sensed his brother’s voice inside his head, begging him not to embarrass him like the rest of their siblings would. 

As tempted as he was to screw with his twin and tell Amalia Yugo was just so worried about today going well and ensuring her safety, he specifically sought him out and chose this very date—the one day all week Adamaï didn’t have business of his own to tend to, mind you—to take her out, he thought better of it. 

On the one hand, it was true their siblings had been giving their king a lot of grief over the Amalia topic, and even though Yugo liked to act like everything was fine, Ad had been by his side since back in their Dofus days. And he knew Yugo really didn’t like to have his intentions with Amalia questioned or distorted for a cheap laugh, just like he knew Efrim’s obvious hostility and distrust towards her had really rattled him. 

Whenever the members of the Council of Six had tenser interactions than bickering, it was very serious. If they weren’t careful, their people were sure to find out, and putting them further on edge given everything that happened with the Twelvians since they arrived to this world was the last thing they needed. 

All that, combined with Amalia’s expectant, innocent brown gaze, made it impossible for him to have some fun of his own. Perhaps the Divine Doll didn’t know what things like suitors or brides or marriages were, but it was clear to see there was something there when it came to her ease around Yugo. And the blue-and-white dragon couldn’t bring himself to risk toying with her feelings. 

With an almost imperceptible shake of his horned head over how soft he was getting, he finally said, “Yugo thought it’d be best if we both showed you around, since we know Oma Island like the back of our hands. After all, we are our people’s greatest adventurers!” He stated proudly. 

“But that’s amazing!” The Divine Doll gasped. “Is that really true, Yugo?”

“Oh, you’d better believe it!” He nodded, clasping a hand on his twin’s shoulder and sharing a mischievous grin. “There’s nothing Ad and I love more than living adventures and discovering new places. Why, just ask Chibi and Grougal; our old room used to be filled to the brim with countless souvenirs from all the places we visited!”

As the two brothers shared a laugh and began reminiscing on some past adventures, Amalia was grinning like a fool. She couldn’t help but frown in confusion and the mention of their ‘old room’, vague memories of her father and the gods mentioning the Eliatropes were not native to the World of Twelve but not much else echoing in her mind. But she pushed that away for the time being in favour of focusing on the revelation of Yugo and Adamaï being great adventurers. 

How great was that?! Oh, here she was, longing to see the outside world, and Yugo and Adamaï had already seen so much of it! She imagined herself journeying the world, meeting fascinating new people and places, and having the time of her life doing so. For some reason she couldn’t explain, knowing Yugo had already done it all before filled her with a strange but warm feeling, one she couldn’t quite bring herself to dislike. 

The King of the Eliatropes really was amazing. 

While they kept exchanging stories, the sight of Amalia watching them interact in interest reminded Ad they weren’t alone. Elbowing his brother discreetly to get his attention, he was about to suggest they leave when one look at the Divine Doll stopped him in his tracks. 

“Um, forgive me, Amalia. But do you really think it’s a good idea to go around dressed like that?” He said instead, pointing at her outfit with one claw. 

Yugo was about to reprimand his brother when he, too, took notice of what the wild beauty was wearing. “Now that you mention it… Ad’s right, Amalia. Don’t get me wrong, you look great,” he admitted sheepishly, scratching his cheek in discomfort and ignoring the pointed look his brother sent him, “but, uh… We’re going to be moving around a lot, so maybe that’s not the most comfortable thing?”

Her eyes narrowing in slight offence, Amalia glanced down at her outfit… And immediately looked right back up, embarrassed. She was wearing the very same dress she had on when first meeting Yugo—the very same thing she had been wearing since, in fact. The boys were right, while undoubtedly beautiful, it would not do for her first adventure. 

Luckily, she knew just what to do. 

“If you want, we could call the Royal tailor to fix you something up real quick—” Yugo’s words were silenced by the Sadida Doll’s raised hand. 

“There’s no need!” She said brightly. “I actually spent hours choosing this outfit. Wait, let me just…” As she trailed off, taking on a palm-up pose, a current of air carrying brownish, autumn leaves picked up, taking the primordial siblings by surprise and forcing them, not for the first time, to avert their eyes. They couldn’t help but wonder if this kind of thing would become a recurring occurrence with Amalia around. 

When the wind finally died down again and they got to take one look at the doll, Yugo could only vaguely make out the sound of an unamused Adamaï spitting out some leaves that got in his mouth as the sound of his own blood rushing to his ears was all he could hear. And the vision before him was all he could pay attention to. 

Just like she did when she first introduced herself, Amalia had altered her physical form, although, it would be more accurate to say this time she had changed her clothing. She no longer wore the regal leafy orange and green dress the king had come to associate her with. Instead, she had donned a pair of beige pants made out of some kind of vegetal fibre he would not be able to name. She wore a simple, strapless dirty white top that left her neckline, shoulders and upper back exposed, with a pair of long, matching wristbands reaching past her biceps covering her arms and the back of her delicate hands. Joining both her upper and lower halves was a dark brown band with a large, orange leaf that covered both her chest and reached down between her legs, the same colour as the new pair of anklets around her bare feet. 

As his eyes travelled all the way up to meet her face, Yugo noticed how this time she had gone the extra mile to change her hairstyle as well. While still held up by a high ponytail, Amalia had foregone the elaborate tiara and antlers, choosing instead for her wild mane to remain as natural as possible. Still, the new look accentuated the doll’s sweeter, more delicate aspects; her silky green hair was now flufflier, with her side-bangs curling around her face and her fringe reaching past her forehead—it it weren’t for the shape of it, her hair would have been long enough to cover her eyes.  

All in all, it was definitely a much more practical outfit, a much better choice to spend a day outdoors in. Except for the fact that the way it hugged Amalia’s very curve made it increasingly difficult for Yugo not to break his concentration and plummet to the ground. And it only got worse when Amalia began turning around herself, showing off her new look. 

Then it got so bad even Adamaï noticed his struggle and had to hurry to loop their arms together so he wouldn’t lose his balance. 

“What do you think?” Amalia, blissfully unaware of the reactions she caused, asked as she finally stopped turning. She preened at them, a hand to her chest while she placed the other on her hip. “I call this one my ‘adventuring outfit’; since, you know, I figured I could use something more practical if we’re going to be walking around.”

“Good call.” Adamaï commented, his lips curling in amusement. Dear Goddess, if Amalia managed to knock Yugo’s breath out without even trying, then he didn’t even want to think what she’d be able to do if she ever put her mind to it. Raising an  eyebrow at his awestruck twin, the dragon shoved him lightly to get him back on the World of Twelve. 

When Yugo looked at him questionably, he discreetly motioned towards Amalia with his head. Eyes lighting up in realisation, the Eliatrope King straightened up, clearing his throat. 

“A very good call indeed.” Yugo agreed, before his expression softened with his next words. “That outfit looks really good on you, Amalia.” He told her sincerely, causing a lovely pink to dust her cheeks as she met his eyes shyly. After a moment when neither of them said a word, Adamaï, who was growing increasingly annoyed at this kind of thing, elbowed his brother yet again to reboot him. With a small start, Yugo cleared his throat right before using his magic to conjure a considerably-sized portal up. 

Gesturing at it, and chuckling at Amalia’s awed reaction, he offered her his hand, “Shall we?”

Amalia squealed, her fists clenched excitedly over her face. Adamaï rolled his eyes at their antics, but couldn’t suppress a soft smile from stretching over his lips. 

With an excited nod, Amalia took Yugo’s hand and let him guide her into the portal. She was about to go on her first adventure and experience travelling through an Eliatrope portal all on the same day!

Could this day get any better?!

..........................................................................................................................

“I am never doing that again.” She stated somberly after getting over her last dizzy spell, the dry heaving having finally stopped. 

Amalia could only lament the state she suddenly found herself in. Her ponytail was frazzled, her gorgeous mahogany skin was about three shades paler, she felt so drained she had no choice but to slump her ballerina-like posture forwards as she used a nearby tree for support, and her stomach still performed some somersaults from time to time. It was taking everything in her power to keep it all down.

Or whatever remained, at least. 

Glaring at the twins over her shoulder, she snapped. “Couldn’t you have warned me beforehand?!”

Startled at the sudden flaring of her temper—except for an instance or two of haughtiness, Amalia had been extremely polite and mild-mannered since she arrived— Yugo and Adamaï shared a meaningful, silent conversation over who should speak and dare elicit her wrath further. The king’s lips formed a tight line when his dragon brother oh so helpfully pointed out it had been his idea in the first place and, moreover, Amalia was his bride; it was up to him to deal with her moods. 

His nostrils flaring in annoyance, Yugo mouthed a ‘She’s not my bride’ back before the Divine Doll’s impatient “Well?” snapped their attention back to her. She was still using the tree for support, but this time she had her back to it, leaning against it with her arms crossed and an expectant eyebrow raised. 

The Eliatrope could only fidget nervously with his fingers as he finally admitted, “Well, to tell you the truth… We had no idea it would happen? You kind of are the first non-Eliatrope or non-dragon person to ever go through one of our portals.” He finished with an awkward laugh as both he and Adamaï rubbed the back of their heads sheepishly. 

Amalia closed her eyes and clenched her fists to her sides, baring her teeth in aggravation, she could feel her veins about to pop. What started out as the perfect beginning for a perfect day soon became a much more revolting affair. Literally. 

At first everything had been wonderful. She was so engrossed in the sight of Yugo smiling down at her with his hand outstretched for her to take, she only barely registered she was moving at all. And she was so captivated once again by the feeling of their bare fingers brushing she almost didn’t realise she had stepped into the portal. 

Being inside an Eliatrope portal was both a fleeting yet lingering experience. For a short few seconds all the Sadida Doll could feel was her wakfu being shaken, as if her very essence was being transported and not just her body. In the blink of an eye, they had gone from standing on her balcony (or hovering above it), several stories high, to landing just outside the palace grounds. 

It was exhilarating.

Until it wasn’t.

Just as Amalia’s feet touched the ground, the shaking feeling she experienced while inside the portal multiplied tenfold, and not in a good way. Just like before it felt like her whole essence had been travelling with her and not just her body, now it felt like only her soul had made it out, leaving behind her body and, more importantly, her stomach. Only for it to come crashing down in a split-second and with it its contents. 

One second, Amalia was standing upright, marvelling at the world around her, and the next she was bent over some bushes, emptying her stomach as she mentally begged the surrounding vegetation to forgive her. Close behind her, she had two very worried siblings fuzzing over her and asking if she was alright. 

Thinking back to that embarrassing image, the wild beauty huffed through her nose and tilted her chin up, but ultimately chose to forgive them. After all, it seemed they had been as taken aback by her reaction as her. 

“You’re lucky I didn’t get anything on my clothes.” 

Releasing relieved sighs, it didn’t take long for Yugo to grow worried again. Approaching the Divine Doll slowly, he placed a hand on her shoulder. “Are you sure you’re okay, though? We could always just go back if you’re not feeling well.”

“Are you kidding me?!” Amalia screeched, scandalised, jerking back from his touch even if only instinctively. “I’ve literally only been out of the palace for, like, five minutes! We cannot just go back now!”

Adamaï came to his brother’s aid, who was looking at the Sadida Doll like a wabbit caught in the headlights. “We just don’t want you over-exerting yourself, Amalia. After all, you are our responsibility…”

The doll narrowed her eyes at the dragon’s words, not appreciating how that made her feel like a child. Rolling her eyes a little petulantly, she pressed on. “Guys, I’m fine. Really. Just determined to never go through another one of your portals unless my life literally depends on it.”

“That might be a problem…” Yugo admitted quietly. Looking at everything but Amalia, he explained. “The place I want to take you to is kinda far away, my portals are the fastest way to go.”

“And why didn’t you teleport us right there in the first place?” Amalia arched an eyebrow, confused. 

“Because our portals don't work like that, not exactly…” He replied, but didn’t explain further beyond a flustered, “Let’s just say it’s really hard to tell how far our portals will take you each time, okay?”

“Okay…” Amalia drawled, trying to make sense of it all, without much success. Giving up, she asked instead, her hands on her hips as she waited for an answer, “So, how do we get there? I mean, without portals.”

It was Adamaï who responded. He pointed a claw to the jungle behind her, his height over her forcing the Sadida Doll to crane her neck to follow his finger. “We could just go straight through the jungle, but that’ll take us longer, about an hour or tw—Urk!”

He was abruptly interrupted when, much to his and Yugo’s bewilderment, Amalia grabbed his face and brought it closer to hers, yanking his full body forwards and forcing him to blink blankly at her beaming smile. “Why didn’t you just say so?! This is perfect!”

“I’ ish?” He frowned, his voice a little muffled due to the doll’s hands tightly squeezing his cheeks. At the same time, Yugo asked, “It is?”

“Of course!” Amalia exclaimed, throwing her arms to her side and finally releasing Adamaï, who couldn’t help but stumble a little even though he managed to regain his footing before crashing face-first against the floor. Sweatdropping, the doll made a mental note to be more mindful of the Eliatrope people’s personal space in the future. “We’re supposed to explore Oma Island, right? What better way to explore it than going through the jungle?” Clenching her fists close to her body excitedly, she squealed. “Oh, I will finally be able to sense what the plants around here feel!”

And with that, she turned back around, making her way into the lush, tropical vegetation with an extra skip in her step. As she went deep into the jungle, leaving a wide-eyed set of twins in her dust, the two brothers could only share bewildered glances at what had just happened. 

Okay, so Yugo’s portals making her throw up was enough for the doll to lose her temper and almost tear them a new one, but being told she’d be walking around a humid jungle for hours on end was apparently cause for celebration? And she intended to gauge how the plants felt?

“Okay, what just happened?” Yugo eventually broke the silence, asking no one in particular. His face contorted into a confused grimace as he tried to make sense of everything. “About the only thing I can sort of understand is the plant thing. She is a Sadida Doll, after all. But everything else?!”

Shaking his horned head in surrender, Adamaï limited himself to clasping his hands over his brother’s shoulders as he leaned into him. “Don’t let it get to you, Yugo. It’s plain to see one of the few constants in the Krozmos is that women are confusing; doesn’t matter if they’re Eliatropes, dragons, Divine Dolls… There’s no hope for us to ever be able to understand these beautiful, enigmatic creatures.”

As Yugo nodded absently to his brother’s conclusion, definitely seeing some truth in his statement, Amalia’s shrill and slightly irritated voice carried over to them even from within the jungle, startling them out of their thoughts. “You guys coming or what?!”

For her part, it was the doll’s turn to be startled when, as she rhythmically tapped her foot against the ground, waiting for them; a flash of blue caught her by surprise and caused her to yelp as the Eliatrope King and his dragon brother stepped out of yet another portal. 

She still had a hand to her chest when she pouted at them. “A heads-up would have been nice…”

“Sorry.” Yugo apologised meekly, rubbing the back of his head. He frowned slightly when Amalia remained rooted to the spot, looking at him expectantly. “Is anything wrong?”

“Hm, let me see…” The doll pretended to think, bringing a finger to her chin. Then, she kept the charade up by pretending to light up in realisation. “How about you lead the way since you’re the only one who knows where we’re supposed to be going?”

“Oh, right. Follow me, as Ad said, it’s pretty much a straight line to the other side.” Yugo said, motioning with his hand for them to follow him as he came to lead their little group, Amalia and Adamaï picking up the rear—if it could even be called that when there were only three people in a group. 

Now that they were back on track, Amalia allowed herself a moment to just take it all in. Closing her eyes and taking a deep breath, she allowed her senses to be overwhelmed by all the living beings around her. She could feel the ground beneath her feet, the soily earth slipping through her toes as she curled them in pleasure. Her heartbeat was one with the oxygen and carbon dioxide being transported by the trees and plants lining their path. The light breeze caressed her skin just like the leaves at the top of the trees, rocking in the wind.  And even if she couldn’t connect to them personally given her nature, she could even sense all the little critters coexisting with the vegetation in the area through their trunks and stumps and branches. 

Nature was at peace here. It was almost as tranquil as back in Father’s realm in Inglorium. 

Oh, it was wonderful. A thousand times better than the small glimpses she would catch from her balcony. And yet, a strange sensation enveloped her, making her realise it wasn’t anywhere near enough. There was something—something powerful—pulling her towards it, telling her there was so much more out there than just what she already knew. And right now, all she knew for certain was that she needed to find whatever that was. 

It was an impulse carved deep into her skin, so deep, she would only carve herself out if she attempted to remove it. For some reason, she just knew—

“I’ve been meaning to say, Amalia, I’m rather impressed by your shapeshifting abilities.” Adamaï’s words broke her out of her trance, forcing her to blink momentarily to regain her bearings. They were certainly deeper into the jungle, judging by the way the amount of sunlight filtered through the tree leaves had decreased considerably. 

“Ad doesn’t say that to just about anyone, you know?” Yugo interjected, smiling at them over his shoulder.

“Huh?” She blinked blankly some more, before realising what they were talking about. “Oh! Um, thanks, Adamaï. Although, in this case I’m not too sure if I would call it ‘shapeshifting’; after all, I just changed my clothes.”

“Have you been capable of doing that since the beginning?” He continued, tilting his head in curiosity. “I mean, every time we’ve seen you, you always wore the same dress…”

“I just saw no reason to wear a different outfit every day.” She shrugged, before gesturing at Yugo. “I also figured not wearing very distinct clothing was an Eliatrope thing; after all, Yugo and the rest always wear the same thing!”

“We do change clothes. It’s just we don’t really go overboard unless it’s an important occasion…” The king mumbled, feeling the need to defend himself. Averting his eyes sheepishly, it was Yugo’s turn to ask, “So you’ve been changing your clothes this whole time?”

“But of course! I actually change into some pyjamas every night. What, did you think I just went to sleep wearing that dress?” She laughed at the mere thought, the sound mirthful and airy. 

As she laughed, the brothers joining in, albeit theirs was more awkward, they shared meaningful looks. As Adamaï mouthed how Yugo should really summon the Royal tailor by now, all the Eliatrope could do was mouth an embarrassed ‘I know’ back. 

After that, the conversation shifted to all kinds of topics. Now that Amalia was done with her dizzy spell for good, she was back to being the sweet and curious girl Yugo had come to know these past few weeks. As the Divine Doll chided them good-naturedly on their high intake of meat, Yugo secretly hoped nothing soured her mood in a while. 

Don’t get him wrong! Amalia was really nice most of the time, and it was understandable she’d be upset after vomiting, but the stark contrast between the cute, kind doll he’d come to know and the surly, angry creature that managed to cow them both into submission by simply raising her voice had been terrifying. 

As he regaled Amalia with some of the things he’d seen on Oma Island—and promised to eventually take her to due to her incessant prodding and puppy-bow-wow eyes—, he stumbled into a large leaf getting in the way and slapping him in the face. The action causing his companions to laugh and giggle at his expense, the Eliatrope limited himself to rolling his eyes good-naturedly before summoning forth a wakfu blade to cut the leaf off with. 

That turned out to be the wrong move. 

With a pained, strangled sound, Amalia fell to her knees, clutching a hand to her chest as she heaved, gasping laboriously for breath. His face paling at the sight of her, Yugo was by her side in an instant, holding her shoulders with one hand while the other took one of hers as he brought her closer to him. 

“Amalia, what’s wrong!? What happened?!” He questioned, alarmed, looking her over for injuries of any kind. 

“The… the… the leaf…” She finally managed to gasp out, a bead of sweat pooling at her forehead as she glanced up at Yugo weakly. 

The Eliatrope furrowed his brow, not following. He sent his brother a questioning look, but a shake of his head was all he needed to convey he too was at a loss. 

“The leaf? You mean the one I just cut?”

She nodded, the mere action requiring some effort. 

“What’s wrong with it?” asked Adamaï. 

It took Amalia a moment before she could speak, needing to regain her breath first. After what felt like an excruciatingly long time, leaning her head against a willing Yugo’s chest to better support herself, she finally explained, “Technically, I’m a Sadida, as in, one of my father’s people… I’m connected to all plant life around me. I… I feel their pain.”

Yugo felt like slapping himself, connecting the dots. “So when I cut that leaf off to clear the way, you felt it yourself.” He finished for her. He shook his head, overcome by guilt. “Amalia, I’m so sorry… I swear, I didn’t know!”

The feeling of her hand resting over his chest, right where his heart was, startled him momentarily. “It’s okay.” She smiled weakly, but not any less sincerely or beautifully, and the Eliatrope felt his heart skip a beat at the action. “Now you do, and I’m sure you’d never do anything to hurt me, at least not intentionally.”

“Should we come back?” Adamaï was addressing Yugo as he asked this, but before his brother and king could reply, Amalia cut in:

“No, no! I’m fine, really! We can continue!” She insisted. 

“You practically collapsed because I cut a leaf.” Yugo felt the need to point out, the same protective instinct from last time with Chibi and Grougal resurfacing. 

“Father said I would be a little sensitive to those things at first, and that, while my connection to nature will never be severed, I will build an immunity to it over time so the pain isn't quite as crippling. But I’m fine, really. In a few minutes, it’ll be like it never happened. Please?”

All of Yugo’s willpower to deny her and return home evaporated in an instant at the sight of her begging, doe-like eyes, tugging at his very soul. 

He let out a long-suffering sigh. “Fine…”

“Yay!” Amalia squealed, jumping to her feet. Well, at the very least, she did look better now. Then, she raised a finger as she winked at them. “Oh, just one thing. Leave the ‘plants in the way’ thing to me, okay?”

Glancing at each other, not  really sure how to proceed at this point, the primordial twins just shrugged, giving the Divine Doll their assent. “Sure, why not?”

For the rest of the journey to the other side, it was up to Amalia to take care of the obstacles in the way, at least, when they were caused by plants growing too close to the path. Her true nature as Sadida’s eleventh doll shone through whenever plants obeyed her every command. A mere flick of her wrist was all it took for leaves and vines to move to the side and let them pass. 

Each time it happened, Yugo and Adamaï could only look on in disbelief. It truly was incredible. They idly wondered if all Sadidas could do the same thing or if it was only Amalia.

.........................................................................................................................

About an hour had passed after their little scare, this time, it was Amalia who was regaling them with whatever few anecdotes she had of her time in Sadida’s Dimension. She was currently telling them about a squabble between two of her sisters and how Sadida had to step in to break it up—not unlike any regular parent would put a stop to their kids’ bickering—, when Yugo finally caught a glimpse of what he had been leading them towards. His face breaking into a huge grin, he swiftly turned around, stopping in his tracks, his sudden action causing his companions to subconsciously follow his lead. 

Blinking blankly, Amalia asked, “Yugo? Is everything alright?”

He nodded, perhaps a little more enthusiastically than he would have liked, but that didn’t matter. He raised his hands as if that would help him convey what he wanted to say better. “Yeah, everything’s great, don’t worry. I just need you to do me a favour, can you do that?”

“Now?” Amalia questioned, tilting her head to the side. Behind her, Adamaï finally caught onto what his brother was up to and couldn’t help the small smirk that curled at his lips.  Of course, Amalia remained none-the-wiser. “Are you sure this is a good time? I mean, shouldn’t we wait until we arrive at whatever it is you want to show me?”

It was Adamaï who cut in, peering down at the doll as he placed a hand on her shoulder. “The place we want to show you will still be there even if we take a little longer. Otherwise, we would’ve been wasting our time from the moment you refused to enter another portal as long as you lived.”

“And that’s a promise I intend to keep…” She muttered to herself, dead serious. With a roll of her eyes and a sigh, she eventually gave in, raising her hands in surrender before placing them on her hips. “Okay, okay. What can I do for you, Yugo?”

“Close your eyes and cover them with your hands.” He replied simply and enigmatically. 

“What? Why do you need me to do that?!”

“I have my reasons.” He shrugged. Then, seeing the suspicion written all over her lovely face, he placed his hands on her shoulders, silently begging her to listen to him. “I promise, Amalia, this isn’t some kind of mean-spirited joke or anything of the sort; I’ll be guiding you all the way. But I need you to trust me. Can you do that? Can you trust me?”

Amalia opened her mouth, a retort on her lips, when the words died in her throat at the sight before her. Technically, it wasn’t much, just Yugo staring back at her. But there was something about the way he stared at her, the intensity behind his gaze, that made her breath hitch. She really couldn’t understand what was so important to pause their trek around the island and towards their mysterious destination, but at that moment, staring deep into Yugo’s dark brown eyes, she wanted to figure it out. 

Yugo had asked her if she trusted him, and at that moment she did. She trusted him more than any other person on Oma Island. A tiny voice deep inside told her it wasn’t just because she spent the most time with him, warning her that these things ran deeper than that, but she brushed it off for the time being. Too dazed to care. 

She almost didn’t even register her own lips moving when she said. “I do. I trust you, Yugo.”

The toothy grin he flashed her was enough for her cheeks to grow hot. 

The Divine Doll finally began to regain her senses when her eyes followed him as he moved to stand behind her. Before she could so much as ask what he was doing, Yugo simply took her by the arms and placed her hands over her eyes. A shiver ran down her spine as he whispered in her ear, “Now, close your eyes and no peeking, okay?”

“O-okay.” She gulped, letting herself be guided by the Eliatrope’s steady hands on her shoulders. 

As this all unfolded, Adamaï couldn’t help but watch the scene in astonishment. He knew he and their siblings liked to give Yugo some grief over his circumstances with Amalia and, by virtue of their close bond, the dragon knew things were much more complicated than everyone made it out to be, Yugo included. And yet, what he had just borne witness to proved there was so much more going on under the surface. 

While Yugo was a kind and caring individual, for it was in his nature, he was rarely as gentle with others as he was with Amalia. At least, not since his body and mind were finally in sync. And even then, as soon as his mind began to mature even as his body couldn’t keep up, Yugo began to reserve that softness of his to small, harmless creatures and children. 

The only exception was when their siblings had a problem and needed comfort. However, the thing with the Primordial Eliatropes and their dragons was they were all too proud to ask for help even when they needed it most. 

And yet, here he was, carefully guiding Amalia around, both his voice and touches the softest of caresses. A part of Adamaï couldn’t help but think his brother’s behaviour had less to do with the Divine Doll being a literal gift from the gods and more to do with something much deeper. 

Not like Yugo would ever admit it. 

“Ad, you coming?” He asked over his shoulder, breaking the dragon out of his thoughts. With a shake of his head to clear his ideas, Adamaï nodded and rejoined them in no time at all. 

Finally, they reached the edge of the jungle, their destination just up ahead of them. A smile stretching over his lips at the sight, Yugo leaned in a little closer to Amalia, whispering in her ear and finding some sick pleasure in the way a shudder still ran down her spine in response.  

“You can look now, Amalia.”

“Ugh, finally!” She exclaimed, wasting no time in removing her hands from her face and opening her eyes. Unfortunately, that proved to be a bad choice, for the moment she opened her eyes, they were assaulted by the sun’s brightness, causing her to hiss in pain and close them yet again. 

Oh, when would she learn? The same thing happened when she was born and she first saw her father and sisters! Unlike her bond with plant-life, the doll had a feeling that would never become any less excruciating. 

Muttering something unintelligible under her breath and rubbing her eyes, blinking to regain her eyesight, the doll’s gaze could finally discern what was before her. She let out a loud gasp. 

The sight before her was a vast expanse of blue, a giant body of water like no other reaching as far as met the eye and captivating her very soul. There was even a point in the horizon where the water and the sky converged, and thanks to the clear skies above them, it was impossible to tell where one began and the other ended. She remembered catching a glimpse of something similar from her balcony, but the view couldn’t compare to this. The water’s movement was rhythmic and hypnotic, forming waves, crested on top by wonderful, foamy white right until they crashed against the shore. 

Excitement coursing through her veins as she took it all in, starry-eyed, the doll couldn’t help but shift involuntarily where she stood, the action bringing her attention to the new sensation under her feet. She moved around experimentally, amazed at the warm, grainy feeling under her soles and between her toes. Preferring to go barefoot, Amalia was used to feeling sturdy ground, plush grass, or, more recently, smooth, cold stone under her feet, but this… This was entirely new. 

What was this?

As if reading her thoughts, Yugo spoke. “This,” he gestured at the landscape before them, “is the beach. Pretty cool, huh?”

All Amalia could offer in response was a hushed nod, too awed for words. 

Using her silence to his advantage, he stepped a little closer to her and pointed at the body of water. “You see that right over there?” This time, she managed to voice an ‘uh-huh’, “That’s the sea. Well, a small part of it, at least; it’s immense, really. And right now, you’re stepping on sand.”

At last, Amalia found her voice, even if her amazement didn’t decrease in the slightest. “Yugo, this… This is incredible! I don’t think I’ve ever seen anything quite like it!”

“I figured you might not have this in Sadida’s Dimension since there aren’t many plants that grow in this kind of ecosystem. So I wanted to show it to you—.”

Before he could even finish talking, Amalia had dashed forward and in the direction of the sea, kicking up a plume of sand that forced Yugo to use his cloak to cover both himself and Adamaï lest it got in their faces, or their eyes, or their mouths… They could only look on, surprised, as the doll came to kneel right at the shore, where the waves crashed. But while Adamaï looked on amusedly as she cupped her hands to drink some water, Yugo could only look on, horrified. 

He was even more horrified at the sight of his twin doing nothing to stop her. 

“Ad, what are you doing?!” He screeched, frustrated beyond belief. “We have to stop her!”

But much to his consternation, Adamaï only rolled his eyes good-naturedly at him. Boy, the dragon understood having to make sure she was okay lest they risked facing the gods’ wrath, but his brother could certainly get overprotective.

“Relax, bro. Let her learn on her own.” Then, to Yugo’s disbelief, he chuckled, “Besides, it’ll be fine to see the look on her face right before she spits the salt water in disgust.”

The king pursed his lips, his patience running thin.

“Adamaï.” 

“Hm?”

He pinched the bridge of his nose. “What does salt do to plants?”

“Huh? Well, it kills them, of course.”

What kind of question was that?

“Right. And what is Amalia?”

“She’s a plant doll—.”

Oh. 

Oh.

“That’s what I thought.” Yugo couldn’t help but comment, a little smugly. After a beat, the two of them scrambled to get to Amalia and prevent her from hurting herself. In their haste, they couldn’t help but lose their footing in the sand and come tumbling down. Raising his head and spitting out quite the mouthful of sand, the Eliatrope suddenly felt like hitting himself. 

“Well, duh!” He exclaimed, and before Adamaï could question him about it, he extended his hand and created a portal right underneath them that dropped them right behind Amalia. 

Unfortunately, they were too late. The moment they landed, Amalia had just taken her first sip of the water. Eyes wide with terror, the siblings could only brace themselves for the worst and hold each other for comfort. 

…and then, their expressions fell in confusion when Amalia simply let out a sound of complaint as she winced and made a disgusted grimace in response. “Yuck! By Sadida’s trees! What on the World of Twelve was that?!”

While a still recovering Adamaï could only let his face drop on the sand with a resounding thud!, all a gobsmacked Yugo managed to say was, “Uh…yeah. Sea water is salty. Drinking it is not good for you.”

“No kidding!” Amalia commented as she stood up, dusting sand off her pants. “That thing almost made me throw up again.” Then, when she turned around to look back at them, her brow furrowed at the sight of an exhausted Adamaï sprawled face-down on the sand and the bewildered look on Yugo’s face. “Uh… you guys okay?”

“Never been better”, came Adamaï's sarcastic, albeit muffled, reply, his face still on the sand. 

While the doll could only blink blankly at their antics, uncomprehending, Yugo tried looking around for something to distract her with and move on from their little, apparently unnecessary freak-out. Eyes scanning the beach, they lit up at what he saw. 

“Amalia, look!”

Amalia followed his finger to the direction it was pointing at, her eyes widening in interest at what she saw. Lounging lazily over a piece of stranded wood on the sand, was one funny-looking little creature. It was blue and red in colour and had a gelatinous quality, so much so, its trunk was practically translucent, revealing what looked like several hearts of different sizes. Its eyes were big and beady, but it was hard to tell where its trunk ended and its head started when its other more distinguishable feature was a series of tentacles. 

It was both kind of disgusting and kind of cute. 

“Um, what is that?” She questioned, pointing at the thing. 

“It’s a Kralamoure.” It was Adamaï who answered. However, when Amalia turned around once more to better face him, she instinctively took a step back in surprise when she noticed a blue and white Kralamoure now occupied the dragon’s place. Adamaï couldn’t help but smirk in satisfaction at her reaction. “You’re not the only one who knows a thing or two about shapeshifting, Amalia.”

“Wait, you can shapeshift too, Adamaï?”

With a nod and a puff of smoke, he turned back into his draconically humanoid form. “It’s actually a dragon thing, or at least, it’s something Eliatrope dragons can do.” He shared a glance with Yugo, asking for confirmation, which he got in the form of a nod. “I’m sure you must have noticed how different our dragon siblings are.”

Now that he mentioned it, Amalia had taken notice of that the few times she’d seen a dragon around. The scarce few times she caught a glimpse of Phaeris, he looked like a winged, scaled Osamodas; Grougal was almost indiscernible from a human; Shinonomé was a horned, red-skinned woman; and both Baltazar and Efrim seemed to prefer their natural forms. 

She shuddered subtly at the memory of the smallest dragon. The least she thought about him and his terrifying eyes, the better.

In fact, now that she allowed her gaze to travel up and down Adamaï’s form, it finally registered just how different he truly was from his siblings. While the other dragons either took on their true forms or adopted more or less humanoid ones, Adamaï was essentially a dragon with humanoid features. He was bipedal at all times, and his movements were very much human, but he had claws instead of hands or feet, he made no effort to hide his tail or his physique as they were perfectly reptilian, and his face was more of a snout than an actual face. 

And to think they’d been taken aback just because she changed her own clothes when their dragons could do that. It was unbelievable.

Unaware of the thoughts running through her mind, Yugo pointed out anecdotally, “You know, when it’s Grougal’s turn to patrol, he usually takes the form of a giant Kralamoure to keep intruders at bay.”

“Wait, really? Do you favour Kralamoures as well, Adamaï?”

“Not really.” The dragon deadpanned, having to suppress a shudder at an unpleasant memory right before flashing his brother a glare for chuckling at his reaction. ���I mostly just spend my time like this. After all,” a pair of wings sprouted from his back, “I can patrol from above just the same.”

“I see… And why do you need to patrol in the first place?”

Tensing up at her question and the particular can of worms that could open, Yugo scrambled to change the subject. It was a delicate topic so it’d be best if he handled it smoothly. 

“H-hey! Wanna go for a swim, Amalia?” He said, clasping his hands. 

If Nora had been there, she would’ve taken the opportunity to point out her brother had many qualities, but being smooth just wasn’t one of them.

While it didn’t go unnoticed by Amalia how he had changed the subject, much more urgent matters occupied her mind at the moment. “Are you serious? Absolutely not!”

That… was not the reaction Yugo was hoping for, even if it did seem to take her mind off asking awkward questions. “What? Why? That’s pretty much what beaches are for; having some fun swimming in the sea and sunbathing.”

The Divine Doll just rolled her eyes at his hopelessness. “Yeah, with the appropriate clothing! I can’t go swimming like this!” She gestured at her ‘adventuring outfit’, as she’d called it, “This was meant to be more practical wear when exploring; it’s not a swimsuit!”

“Well, why don’t you just change clothes again and put on a swimsuit, then?” Yugo suggested uneasily, not sure what the problem was. By his side, Adamaï silently mused to himself that his brother might not survive the sight of the Sadida Doll in a swimsuit. 

“Excuse me?!” Amalia snapped, incredulous. “Didn’t you hear me when I said I spent hours choosing this outfit? I can’t just up and make whatever! You can’t rush genius, you know?” She crossed her arms and stuck up her nose in a huff. 

For his part, Yugo was idly wondering where this world’s champions asking for a rematch were when you needed them. He also made a mental note, not for the first time, to summon the Royal tailor to have some clothes made for Amalia as soon as they arrived. The fact that she could make her own clothes and change in no time at all was a bonus, but he honestly wasn’t looking forward to having this same conversation every time he tried to surprise her and her outfit wasn’t appropriate for the occasion. 

Taking notice of the king’s slightly overwhelmed expression and realising she might have gone a little too far—even though she knew what she said made perfect sense. I mean, who takes someone to a place with the intention of swimming and doesn’t warn them to wear a swimsuit beforehand?—, she bit her lip. Clearing her throat even as she flicked her head in a proud display, she tentatively said, “A-anyway, j-just because we can’t exactly go swimming, it doesn’t mean we can’t still have some fun in the water. Since I’m already barefoot, we could try walking along the shoreeeeEEEEEE!”

Her words were interrupted by a loud squeal when some water splashed all over her, leaving the Sadida Doll positively soaked from head to toe. Her mouth gaping like a fish and her eyes about as wide as the Kralamoure still lounging on its piece of wood, she stood frozen in place as Yugo doubled down laughing, Adamaï's own loud cackles echoing from above them.

Normally, Adamaï would never stoop so low, but Amalia was clearly overreacting and it was too good an opportunity to pass up on. “What’s the matter, Amalia? I thought you said it was okay to have some fun in the water?” He mocked between laughs. 

Her eye twitched as she felt the water chill her to the bone, however, it didn’t take long for the outrage bubbling up within her to warm her whole body up in righteous indignation. Teeth borne as her face contorted into the kind of menacing scowl that would have made Sram proud, Amalia wasted no time taking revenge. 

“Why you little weed!” She screeched to the top of her lungs, throwing her arm out and commanding two rather tall palm trees right within reach of Adamaï to spring into action. 

“Wait, what the—!?” Before the dragon had time to react, the palm trees had him trapped between their leaves, acting almost as two giant hands he was powerless against. As he wriggled and squirmed, Amalia brought her hands down, and with that the two palm trees bent forward until Adamaï’s body was submerged under water. A few seconds passed where Yugo was beginning to seriously worry about his brother’s safety, when Amalia finally released him with a satisfied hum as she dusted her hands off. 

Looking back and forth between his soaked brother and the smirking Divine Doll, Yugo was wise enough to take a few steps back and away from her, making the resolution of never incurring her wrath. Given her usually sweet demeanour and child-like wonder, it was easy to forget she, too, was a demigoddess, and all that entailed. 

Spitting out some salt water and sand that got in his mouth as he tried to sit back up, an unamused Adamaï couldn’t help but spit sarcastically. “Wow, your bride is such a little flower, isn’t she, Yugo?”

The answer was immediate, surely a result of all the teasing he had had to endure a few hours prior. “For the last time, she is not my bride!”

But as Adamaï winced at his brother’s unnecessarily loud volume, his words gave Amalia pause, her gaze turning contemplative as she pondered them. Now that she thought about it, that had indeed been the reason why she’d been sent to Oma, to be Yugo’s bride because he was supposed to be her suitor. And even though Yugo had explained to her on her first day why that couldn’t be, he had yet to answer her questions regarding what it all really meant. He’d said that while brides and marriages tended to go hand-in-hand, they couldn’t get married as there was no guarantee they would ever fall in love. But, what was love?

She knew she loved her father and sisters and they loved her in return. The warm, happy feeling she got with them had to mean something. But what made it different from the kind of love that made people marry each other?

As Yugo was busy bickering with Adamaï over how, technically, he had no one to blame but himself, he heard Amalia’s voice calling out to him softly. “Yugo?”

“What is it, Amalia?” Looking over his shoulder to give her his full attention, he couldn’t keep his eyes from widening at the unexpected vulnerability she was showing. Her posture was hesitant, one arm draped over her form as her brown eyes were fixated on the sand as if it were the most interesting thing in the world. The gentle afternoon breeze weaving through her green locks. 

Her next question made his heart stop, “What is love?”

Tensing up, his own posture straightening up almost involuntarily, he sent his brother a pleading look, only for him to raise his claws up in surrender and walk a little ways off from them to give them some space. Yugo was not above suspecting he was only doing that as retaliation for not helping him when Amalia almost drowned him. 

The traitor. 

He made a show of clearing his throat and straightening his cloak as he stalled for time, his mind racing to find a suitable answer to her question. Or even better! Until she grew self-conscious and backtracked, apologising for ever bringing the topic up right before he assured her it was fine while also making sure to stow that conversation for another day. Hopefully never. 

But Amalia seemed to have no intention of showing him some mercy and giving him an out. Instead, she just remained where she was, waiting for his answer with bated breath, her big, brown eyes pleading with him and… He was a goner. There was no way he could just deprive her of an answer he had promised he would eventually give her when she looked at him like that. 

He was half-beginning to suspect she knew of this fact and used it to her advantage. And not for the first time he found himself cursing Sadida and his impeccable craftsmanship.

Rubbing the back of his head through his hood in surrender, he heaved a deep sigh as he trudged towards her to close the distance between them a little. Though, to make things easier, he made it a point to stare at the ocean and the afternoon sun rather than at her. 

“What is love, indeed?” He mused aloud. He chuckled through his nose. “To be honest, I’m not too sure anyone has the right answer for that. Would it be okay if I try explaining what love is to me?”

Coming to gaze upon the horizon as well, a small, grateful smile on her lips, Amalia shrugged. “It’s still more than what I know.”

Well, he supposed that was fair. “The thing is, Amalia, it’s very hard to find a suitable definition for love because there’s actually so many kinds of love, which means all definitions are simultaneously right and wrong, it just depends on the context. “

“What if the context is when two people wish to marry?” She asked innocently but bluntly. 

Wow, Sadida’s little flower didn’t pull back any punches, now did she? 

“Then that’s what we call romantic love, it’s different from the love you feel for your friends or your family.”

Amalia frowned, not sure how to feel knowing there was a different kind of love beyond what she felt for her family and Yugo—she felt particularly concerned for what that might entail for her friendship with Yugo. 

“But why? What makes ‘romantic love’ different?,” she air-quoted, staring back at him even as he was resolute in keeping his gaze fixed in front of him. 

The task before him was nothing if not daunting, the fact that he hadn’t really moved past flings in this lifetime —or, according to Qilby, any lifetime, really— made explaining such an abstract concept to a Divine Doll like Amalia, a creature that encapsulated all the grace and power belonging to a goddess and possessed a sense of child-like innocence and and wonder at the same time nothing sort of a Kerubean task. 

But he promised her he would explain things to her and it wouldn’t be very kingly of him to back out on their deal now. 

“All I can say for certain is that you’ll know when the time is right.” He finally said, his dark brown eyes glazed over at the phantom heartbeats he was trying to feel anew. “When you’re in love, you just know the love you feel for that person is different, despite how similar it might look to every other kind.

“You’ll find yourself constantly thinking about that person and wanting to look your best for them. And I don’t mean just wanting to look pretty, but you want them to see your best qualities, hoping that will make them fall for you. And you’ll find yourself appreciating all of their best qualities too.” He chuckled, biting his lip in amusement. “Oh, and for a good while you’ll even find their flaws charming! There’s a good reason people tend to say love is blind, after all…”

Finally, he turned contemplative, his voice carrying a particular softness that made Amalia listen to him with rapt attention, sensing what he said next was the most important thing of all:

“But more than anything, you want that person to be happy. You want them to be happy, and safe, and seeing them smile can light up your whole day and it’s incredible. Because you just want the best for them and there’s no better feeling than knowing someone feels the same way about you. I don’t know, being in love can be wonderful, I suppose. So much so, you end up asking that person to marry you because you want to secure you’ll both get to experience that same feeling every day for the rest of your lives.”

As Yugo kept talking, he honestly forgot all about the world around him, too busy lost in his thoughts, to the point he was mostly just thinking aloud. While he was certainly happy with the life he led, as it was an honour to have their people’s unwavering trust and nothing quite filled him like experiencing everything the Krozmos had to offer, a part of him couldn’t quite get over how he never really met the kind of person that made him want to settle down. 

Over the centuries he’d been with some really wonderful people. They had so much fun and they were all great, but none of them ever felt like his anchor. Not in the sense that they would tie him down, but more as in they’d ground him to the point of wanting to share his life with them. The fact that they had very different lifespans didn’t help matters. 

When they first met, they would always be in sync. They would all let themselves be swept off their feet by the appeal of an adventuring king, inebriated by the thrill of it all. But the more time passed, the more they wanted different things. And the more time passed, the more they were forced to admit they would never be able to grow old together; they would never be able to share a life together. 

It was always the same song and dance, and it always broke his heart. And yet, he never felt truly brokenhearted. 

Sometimes he wondered if it was because he knew how things would end before they even started and unconsciously kept them all at arm’s length. Never close enough to get under his skin and steal his heart. Never close enough to become a part of him. 

He was so engrossed in his own thoughts, he couldn’t help but flinch when he felt Amalia taking his hand and resting her head against his arm, causing a tingle to run up and down of it, a content smile on her face. Not for the first time, his breath hitched when she raised her head to meet his gaze. 

“You’re right, Yugo. That all sounds wonderful.” Snuggling closer to him, she sighed wistfully. “I really hope I get to be an actual bride one day.”

Despite the cosy glow of the afternoon sun and the warm temperatures typical of Oma Island, Yugo felt his blood run cold at those words. The tingling sensation in his arm gave way to numbness, while his mind felt overwhelmed by a million wayward thoughts, battling for dominance. 

How did things get like this, with Amalia cuddling his arm like a throw pillow. And all those looks she would send him—innocent and sweet, but hypnotising and alluring like a siren song. How did he know she wasn’t deliberately pretending not to know the effect she had on him? How could he know Efrim wasn’t right and she hadn’t been trained to seduce him?

After all, now that he thought about it, she seemed perfectly at ease with the idea of remaining at the palace even if he wouldn’t take her as his bride. What kind of person did that unless they had some ulterior motives? Thinking back, given her sole purpose was to act as his bride, the moment he turned down the offer she should have been more than happy to go back home… unless she was counting on it to use it as an opportunity to make him fall for her!

Something dark and cynical bubbled up to the surface as he lamented his carelessness, his jaw and fists clenching at the thought, frustrated with himself. One thing was treating Amalia kindly and respectfully, another very different thing was making a fool of himself for her. 

But just then, as he chanced a look at her, all those thoughts of Amalia being some conniving seductress vanished at the sight of her smiling face. So sweet, so genuine, so radiant. There was no way someone like Amalia could ever conspire behind his back like that. But the familiarity she treated him with was cause for concern, only, perhaps it was his fault, rather than a conscious attempt at manipulating him. Maybe he kept sending her mixed signals that made her believe she indeed had a shot of ever becoming his queen.

He had to suppress a groan at the memory of all the times he stood too close to her, all the times he didn’t hesitate to take her hands in his, the intimacy belying the way he led her earlier that day while she had her eyes closed… If Amalia behaved like she was his bride, it was because he himself made her believe that. He had to find a way to put an end to that mistake without making the even graver mistake of offending the World of Twelve’s gods. 

He was not in love with Amalia. For the sake of his people, he could not be in love with her.

Amalia had been basking in the warm afternoon sun when she felt Yugo shift underneath her. She peered up curiously at him when he gingerly grabbed her by the arms and pushed her away from him gently. Her frown only deepened when he didn’t look at her. 

“Let’s go back home, okay?”

As Yugo made his way back into the jungle, Amalia could only share a perplexed look with Adamaï before following suit. 

Was it something she said?

..........................................................................................................................

While the trek back to the palace had certainly been more awkward than before, with Yugo once again leading their little group but not saying a word, Amalia couldn’t help the immense joy she felt. She had been on her first adventure! She had left the palace and ventured into the island’s lush jungle, connecting to nature at last. She had even seen the sea! Yugo had been right, that had to be about the only thing you wouldn’t be able to find in Sadida’s Dimension. 

She was so making a swimsuit for the next time they went! 

Even with the few hiccups they’d had along the way, all in all, it had been a perfect day. She couldn’t wait until their next outing. With a small blush forming on her cheeks, she dared to hope maybe next time it would only be Yugo and her. 

Don’t get her wrong, she rather liked Adamaï, he was always very kind to her. But for some reason she couldn’t quite explain, there was something special about when it was just Yugo and her. 

As they finally arrived at the side of the castle where her room was, her balcony high above them, she turned to them. “Guys, I just want to say I had a wonderful time today. I can hardly wait for our next adventure! Thank you so much!”

“Don’t mention it, Amalia. It was our pleasure.” The Eliatrope King offered her a smile, but it didn’t quite feel like the usual smiles he would send her. It felt kind of… forced.

“I’m sure next time will be even better.” Adamaï told her with a nod of his head. 

“Amalia, I—” Whatever it was Yugo meant to say next died in his throat at the unexpected arrival of Phaeris. Amalia couldn’t help but take notice of the fact that he was in his winged, humanoid form. 

“Yugo, Adamaï!” He exclaimed, before taking notice of Amalia standing right there. “Phaeris hopes this isn’t a bad time.”

Whatever hesitation marred Yugo’s face moments prior was immediately discarded at the sight of his dragon brother, his expression turning serious and focused, like a king should be. 

“It’s alright, Phaeris. Is something the matter?”

“Phaeris wishes to discuss some Cra sentinel sightings. The rest of the Council is already waiting for us at the council room.”

“Cra sentinels, huh?” Yugo muttered to himself, at the same time as a Adamaï, who was holding his chin pensively, mused aloud, “I don’t like the sound of that.”

“We should depart as soon as you bid Lady Amalia goodbye.” Phaeris’ comment reminded both twins of the Sadida Doll’s presence. And of the little problem returning her to her room without their portals and no visible door posed. 

“We’re sorry that we have to leave so abruptly Amalia,” Yugo began, sharing a nod with Adamaï, “but Ad can fly you up to your room in no time at all.”

But, to their surprise, the doll just waved them off. “Oh, don’t worry about me! I’ll be just fine. You guys go take care of your duties.”

“Are you sure?” Yugo felt the need to ask, not feeling so sure himself. 

She scoffed good-naturedly. “Positive.”

Before any of the Primordial Eliatropes could get another word in, a gigantic, thick vine sprouted from underneath Amalia’s feet and carried her all the way over to her balcony. Once she was hovering over it, she gingerly jumped down the vine while it came back the way it came from. 

“Thank you again, guys! See you soon!” She turned around to wave them goodbye, which they all hesitantly mimicked, still taken aback by what they’d just seen. 

Divine Doll: 7; Eliatrope Council: 0.

Back in her room, Amalia decided to take a little more time before she changed out of her adventuring outfit and into her pyjamas. She found she quite liked her little ensemble; maybe she should use it more often. Stretching to relieve tensions from her super charged day, she let out a contented sigh, feeling happier than she had been in a while. 

Before getting into the room, she allowed herself to loiter around her balcony a little while longer. As the setting sun’s rays bathed anything they could reach and she leaned against the railing, her eyes catching sight of Yugo as he stepped inside one of his portals—surely to get to the council room—, his words and everything he’d done for her that day kept replaying in her mind. 

As she thought about everything he said about what love was and how it felt like, especially knowing your special someone felt the same, Amalia couldn’t stop a small smile from curling at her lips at the thought of getting to experience that kind of love one day.