#that is to say: long range projectile weapon

[grif-hawaiian-rolls]

"I don't miss!"

I,, might've gotten a little carried away with gravhammer Donut, ya know, just a smidge

local artist not immune to putting their favorite in vaguely god-like finery

[carionto]

I like to think the humans ambassador hides black powder weapons around their office instead of Lazer guns or plasma, just walks about with 2 hidden flintlock pistols

You sir or madam or otherwise have given me the biggest grin with that idea, thank you.

(me from after having written it out) I did not know where this idea would take me, stream of consciousness writing will do that.

----------------------

Every delegate of every integrated species aboard a Coalition governing station in their respective segment of the Galaxy receives full accommodations in the form of an isolated embassy structure.

One day, as per a Human custom, the main delegate - Ambassador Glenn York, invited several other delegates on a tour of his embassy. With some hesitation from a few due to their prey-like ancestry and associated cultural background, but ultimately won over by the Human's eager friendliness, they embarked on this little cultural exchange.

It was a little difficult to move about, as each embassy is adapted to suit the environmental preferences of the respective species, and Humans live on a high gravity and dense atmosphere world, so much so in fact, some of the less physically suitable delegates had to put on an exoskeleton, while many others required a breathing apparatus to thin out the poisonous air.

Once we were underway, Glenn showed us that the Humans were diligent in their work - acquiring information from and learning about all the various species within the Coalition, establishing communication lines with the respective counterparts in the disparately varied local government structures, and most importantly continually updating the translation modules.

In addition, we admired their art they had installed along the barren walls. Most, Glenn explained, was done by the delegates and their staff themselves during free time, and it ranged from tiny contraptions painstakingly assembled within a minuscule glass container (we did not realize they could hone their dexterity to such a precise degree!) to large murals covering an entire wall with the most vivid color and shape combinations one could imagine; from the very clear and obvious to impossibly abstract! Though the music they had to turn down - the vibrations of the thick atmosphere were beginning to overload the dampening systems and one of the delegates almost passed out.

Near the end of the tour, Glenn invited us into his office to show off what his "hobby" is:

"The boys and gals I work with are all talented people, but none of them appreciate the kind of craftsmanship I prefer. It's kind of a ancient art form, you see, high maintenance too, very delicate."

He pulls out a pair of ancient looking projectile weapons, at least judging by the shape, but none of us can quite grasp, aside from the trigger, how it operates. We are all silent as he pours some sort of fine grain from a small bag into the upturned tube then drops a small metal ball and proceeds to jam it further in with a cloth and stick.

"I handcrafted these myself. Sure, I could get a printer to do it and it'd be perfect, but perfection just ain't right when it comes to work of the soul, amirite? I find it therapeutic, to mold the shape, heat the iron, cast the shape, smooth the edges, straighten the barrel, carve the grip, roll the bullets, grind the powder... just..."

He lets out a long sigh of relief? satisfaction? euphoria? as he gazes with great affection at the pair of devices in his hands. We feel the urge to end the tour. Like. Right now. But Glenn insists on a demonstration. We hesitantly follow him to a largely empty room below where he sets up a couple of small wooden block on a pedestal. As he points one of the devices and is about to pull the trigger, he stops, looks back at us and says:

"Almost forgot, you'll want to take a few more steps back and turn your dampeners to max."

Heeding his advice, we do so, and after he appears satisfied with our... safety?... he returns his gaze to the wooden block and pulls the trigger.

[cacophony]

We awaken after a short while, the sturdier of our fellow delegates say the rest of us were out for just a few moments, but the ringing reverberation of the shockwave through the Human atmosphere still resonates throughout our bodies. Glenn, worry in his eyes, is apologizing profusely:

"Oh I am so sorry, I didn't think you'd still react so poorly. Is anyone hurt? I even put in less gunpowder than normal, but I guess that's still too potent. I--I'll file an official apology and compensate for any damages I may have caused to any of you. I will take full responsibility for this incident. Please do not think poorly of us as a whole due to the willfulness of one individual, it was never my intention to inflict any injury on anyone."

---Later---

After a thorough medical examination, it was determined that only a few delegates suffered a minor case of shock, which was alleviated rapidly at their respective medical stations. Ambassador Glenn York was reprimanded and sent back to Earth, a replacement will arrive shortly. The one permanent remnant of the incident is the wooden block that was struck by Glenn's pistol - now put on a small display in one of the inner rooms of the Human embassy. The bullet still embedded half-way and the splinters it shot out arranged in a chaotic manner, befitting an explosion, down in front.

[mariacallous]

This is dated 12-29-2023, for the record.

It was a nightmare scenario that Ukrainian and Western officials had feared for months. Western officials have watched as Russia stacked up precision-guided munitions to launch targeted attacks on Ukrainian critical infrastructure in the winter while keeping up the pace of strikes on cities using unguided “dumb” bombs. 

And on Friday morning, it became a reality. Russia conducted a hailstorm of strikes across Ukraine, hitting Kyiv, Dnipro, Lviv, Zaporizhzhia, Odesa, and Kharkiv. There were at least 158 drone and missile strikes in all, which damaged hospitals, a shopping mall, and schools, killing at least 31 people and injuring more than 160. 

The numbers are still going up as search and rescue teams pick through the rubble. Russia fired its missiles with so much abandon that the Polish government confirmed one of the Kremlin’s projectiles entered its airspace. In the chaos that engulfed the Kyiv streets, one man tried to stop the fires from spreading by driving his burning car away from his neighbors. 

The renewed barrages have Ukrainian officials and U.S. experts questioning how long they’ll be able to keep the lights on during winter—or hold territory—especially with the long tail of U.S. military aid running out, unless Congress acts soon. 

Ukrainian officials believe that Russia’s capacity to strike is even greater than what it just showed off: The Kremlin can fire off about 300 Iranian-made suicide drones in one attack on Ukraine and about 150 ballistic missiles in one shot on Kyiv, said Sasha Ustinova, a Ukrainian lawmaker.  

And with the Ukrainian counteroffensive stalled and fresh weapons not flowing until January at the earliest, how resilient will the Ukrainians be? 

“The Ukrainians are heading for a tough winter, for obvious reasons,” Swedish Defense Minister Pal Jonson said in an interview earlier this month. “But I think that the Ukrainian morale is much, much higher than the Russian morale. What is crucial right now, of course, is that we all will step up support.”

But that morale is now getting tested, as Ukrainians were shaken out of bed by dozens of air raid alerts that lit up their phones. And the aid isn’t coming—at least until the U.S. Congress gets back from recess in the second week of January, and maybe for even longer. 

“Ukraine needs funding now to continue to fight for freedom from such horror in 2024,” Bridget Brink, the U.S. ambassador to Ukraine, wrote in a tweet screenshotting the numerous air raid alerts sent to Kyiv residents.

U.S. officials have seen movement across the nearly stagnant front lines slow considerably in recent weeks, a trend that is expected to continue. The weather in Ukraine has hit subzero temperatures and piles of snow have mostly halted forward movement along the 600-mile front, underscoring the prospect of several months of attrition warfare. Ukraine is already making moves to lower the draft age to get more men onto the battlefield.  

Ukraine doesn’t need any silver bullets, experts say. It just needs the regular kind. 

“We’re clearly past the ground counteroffensive now,” said Peter Rough, a senior fellow and director of the Center on Europe and Eurasia at Hudson Institute. “Since it won’t get large numbers of longer-range precision fires, Ukraine probably needs to entrench and defend right now—and absent Congress passing the supplemental, even those defensive lines may not remain stable.” 

Still, Jonson said the Ukrainian military has been getting some access to more long-range strike weapons, which has forced Russian ships and aircraft to move farther away from the front lines. But Ukraine has had to build its military while fending off the invasion: Jonson said that Kyiv is operating about 600 types of Western weapons systems, while ferrying fuel and spare parts across the front line. All that on roads that will be coated with sleet, snow, and ice. 

Even with its limited arsenal of Western-provided long-range weapons like British-made Storm Shadows and the cluster variant of the U.S. Army Tactical Missile System, Ukraine has still made a dent, knocking out a Russian tank landing ship in Crimea on Tuesday. And experts believe that Russia’s fragile logistics system—which was never designed for continuous military operations across Europe’s second-largest country—is a good target.  

“If they had longer-range weapons, they could completely wreck the logistics system,” said Ben Hodges, the former head of U.S. Army Europe. “I think they know this is a real vulnerability for the Russians, particularly in winter.” 

But Ukrainians fear they are already running out of munitions—and time. Though Western-provided air defenses blanket much of Kyiv, they are not enough to defend against far-flung Russian attacks that could dot the country during winter. As much as Ukraine needs more air defenses to blunt attacks like Friday’s firestorm, Ukrainian officials have indicated that the falling temperatures have already shifted their priorities: Attrition warfare means a premium on artillery fire, and Europe is far behind on its target to produce a million artillery shells by March 2024.

“The biggest problem we’re going to run into is when they start shelling us heavily,” Ustinova said. “Because we will not have enough munitions.” 

But Ukraine has been forced to cut military operations as aid has dried up. Ukrainian Brig. Gen. Oleksandr Tarnavskyi, who heads up a group of forces in the southern push, told the BBC this week that Ukraine is facing particularly acute shortages of Soviet-era 122 mm and 152 mm shells, which still make up a large portion of Kyiv’s military arsenal. And if the Ukrainians want to apply forward pressure in spite of the snow, they have to clear entire minefields in front of them, only for the Russians to reseed the deadly explosives from the air. 

The Russian war chest is still heavily stocked. Hanno Pevkur, the Estonian defense minister, said in November that Russia still has about 7,000 to 8,000 tanks in reserve. Meanwhile, Russia has turned its sanctions-battered economy into a war economy. The Kremlin plans to spend 6 percent of GDP on defense next year. And Russian President Vladimir Putin’s deals for drones with Iran and ammunition with North Korea have indicated to Western officials that Russia’s game is quantity, not quality. 

“It doesn’t matter. As long as it fires, as long as it unfortunately kills Ukrainians, it is good for Russians,” Pevkur said. “They are increasing their production, especially ammunition. They don’t care about the quality. They care about the quantity.” 

Western officials believe that there are 300,000 to 400,000 Russian troops on Ukrainian soil, across a swath of occupied territory that is about the size of the contiguous Baltic states. Russian casualties have totaled about that many troops in the 22 months since the Kremlin’s full-scale invasion began. But experts caution that the cannon fodder won’t last forever. It might not have to last that much longer, though.

In November, Russian forces claimed to gain ground around the eastern city of Avdiivka, where Western officials believe the Kremlin is trying to make a pincer move to encircle the town, the site of a major coke fuel and chemical plant. They’ve also set their sights on the important railway junction of Kupyansk. 

“They just keep pushing these guys into a meat grinder to convey the sense that they have endless resources,” Hodges said. “They don’t have endless resources.” 

For now, though, absent Western aid, Russia’s focus on eastern Ukraine could lead Kyiv to cede more ground. 

“That’s very painful for us, because we pay thousands of lives to get every single kilometer,” Ustinova said.  

“They are already taking more territory,” she added. “Look at the map.”

[spiritsbgdoodles]

Okay, i've finally made an info page for my sbg oc, i've got two but we'll start with Luna, the main character of my sbg fan fic!

Hmm how to describe her… well to start she's more introverted but she had forced socialization with Layla around. She's also an archer! Well she was, was till she got an injury about six months before sbg starts, so she had to stop. It also left her with a scar under her right eye that stretches down to her neck.

She has insomnia here and there, and has a distaste for hospital smell, but she's doing better now. (not really but she won't address it.) And she's off to her first day of school- oh what the hell is this? Yeah she has to deal with the phantom stuff now so great. She takes on the role of protector when she can and scout sometimes.

Let's talk about weapons! technically she uses a compound bow and throwing knives as her main thing, but she's pretty versatile. As in anything can become a projectile or a bludgeoning tool. Not the best with close combat but she'll still swing if given the chance.

Now let's talk relationships! Well she's got supportive parents that like to give her shit. They're dorks but Luna loves em lots. Layla is her adoptive sister, but they've known each other since they were 5, Layla joined Luna family when she was 10. So they've had years to get to know each other. Two peas in a pod, even if Layla messes with her all the time.

As for dynamics with the sbg group, here's a few things they do together.

🌙 + ashlyn- Luna’s pretty aware of ash's boundaries so they usually just chill in nonverbal time together. Luna notices how much ash tends to take on the brunt of the responsibility. So Luna tries to help out when she can. Later they both know that if one of them are in trouble the other will try their best to help.

🌙 + taylor- Luna is introverted but she like the noise when people talk, so of course Taylor gets to have her time to tell stories when they pair up. Lalala/okokok vibes, but Luna know a thing or two about the happy ones. (*cough* Layla *cough*) She'll be there to lend a shoulder for Taylor to vent when she needs it.

🌙 + tyler- They're both pretty hard headed in their own ways, but they both know how to cook good meals. Once they found out they started sharing recipes and having silent feuds on who could make what better. Everyone else always says they tie when they ask because it's good yeah, but mostly so they keep getting snacks.

🌙 + aiden- Similarly to Taylor she doesn't mind his talking even if it's a lot at first. And sometimes he's still a little too much, so instead she suggests they play games together. Stuff like minecraft and trying to beat each other's balatro scores lol. They're both insomniacs so they bond by memes and binging shows at 3am.

🌙 + ben- y'know that art red made with the gang messing around in the kitchen? Y'know how Ben lit the pan on fire 💀 yeah Luna started giving Ben cooking lessons after that. Ben doesn't need too many lessons though he's smart and soon enough he's added to the recipe share group chat.

🌙 + logan- Her dad is a gardener on the side so she tags along to visit Logan when he goes out to buy stuff. Luna wants to know more about astronomy so Logan starts teaching her ^ v ^ gives Logan pointers on how to stay steady when aiming since they both use long range weapons.

Onto relationship talk. In my fic I'm writing Luna x ashlyn x Taylor, and it's gonna be a love triangle not a love corner lol. Originally it was supposed to be just with ash but I saw that Taylor doesn't get too much x oc stuff. So I'm changing it, I also couldn't take her girlfriend lol. Besides i want my child (luna) to be happy.

That's all i'll say without spoiling stuff, If you guys want later i'll post an info page with spoilers for both girls. However in the meantime…promo time!

Now if you've read this far and want to read the story yourself you're welcome to, I promise it's not just the same plot with my characters tossed in. They actually affect/change the plot obviously not too much, but I like to make it feel like they're Actual characters. (Not dissing anyone!) Anyways its called moonlight and you can read it on these platforms:

Wattpad (the origin of the fic & I interact more there)

Ao3 ver lacks a little flavor aka my art and formatting (since I don't know how to use it too well/ I'm a bit lazy) but it's the same otherwise.

Link to Layla's page!

Their fits for lilly's b-day party!

(Full bodies suck ass to draw)

(Wip but its showable lol)

[illymil]

After playing Octobrush for 3,000-odd games I can say this weapon has a lot of problems that all boil down to this image.

For context, Octobrush takes 30 frames to kill on paper, but at this range it usually takes 40. That is, assuming they don't just hold back and fall out of your hitbox.

The reason why this happens is because, despite having one of the widest areas of effect in the game (comparable to Dynamo), all that area is being covered by only three hitboxes. This means that when one connects it leaves a massive gap between the remaining hitboxes, which makes Octobrush unable to ink opponent's feet, a downside that hurts especially bad on the weapon with low range and a 40 frame kill time.

The big hitboxes ruin a lot of other things for this weapon. Projectiles prefer colliding with terrain over players, which means if you're too close to a wall your swings will get eaten. This forces Octobrush to take corners wide and makes it very hard to pressure enemies in corridors or taking peeks (I've been called nuts for insinuating that peeks are a thing in this game. Your bullets come from your gun, which you hold on your right side. If you stand behind the right edge of a wall you can still fire while obscuring your body, making you harder to hit. It's geometry I'm not insane). It also makes Octobrush inconsistent in 2v1s, something it should ostensibly be good at as a an AoE slayer, since if the opponents are standing too close together you'll only ever be able to hit one of them per swing.

I get that Octobrush is meant to be a beginner weapon and isn't supposed to be viable at high level, but so much of what's holding it back feels less like intentional game design and more like a quirk of the physics engine. The fact that backing yourself into a corner gives you a better shot at survival against this weapon than trying to outmaneuver it feels so bad from the Octobrush's point of view. Give it more hitboxes, give it a melee hitbox while swinging, give it burst or dart, heck, bring back the Splatoon 1 tech where you could land multiple hitboxes at once for increased damage (after adjusting the damage of course), anything to give it the consistency that a introductory weapon should have.

It feels kind of weird to rag on a mid-tier for this long. I don't think Octobrush is bad per se, but I think its reputation as a worse Carbon ironically led to people giving it a bit more credit than it's due. It has a lot more problems than just being slower than Carbon. To be clear I do enjoy this weapon in spite of all these flaws. I think out of all the zip weapons in the game vanilla Octobrush has the highest synergy with the special. It's not enough to surpass Stamper simply because Stamper is an incredibly good main, but the fact that you get to choose between landing on people and sitting above them with falloff and both choices are viable is crazy fun. Nouveau is also the only frontline weapon with rain in the game, meaning it's the only weapon that can really fight in its own rain. I will continue to play this weapon for the foreseeable future, if mostly for the fact that after two years of playing this game I still can't aim.

[geekgirles]

The Doll and the Dragon

Chapter 6: In a Little Eliatrope Town

Word count: 23,368

Read on AO3

Previous/Next

Chapter Summary: "When Yugo invites an ecstatic Amalia to finally visit his people's settlement on Oma Island, she couldn't be happier. But as it turns out, the Eliatrope village won't be the only thing she'll get to explore and learn more about. Especially when her visit to town is closely intertwined with getting to know the eldest members of the Council of Six, who seem strangely eager to meet her as well. Who knows what this visit might entail?"

If there was ever any doubt Eliatropes were made for jumping from portal to portal, then the sheer electricity running through every single cell in his body had to be the answer to that question. And the answer was it felt as natural as breathing. 

Each time his body went through a portal, it was as if he were reduced to the elemental wakfu running through his veins, just another energy current being transported from one place to the next. He was one with the very Krosmoz, his mother’s creation; just as she had intended. And it was precisely that connection to the universe around them that allowed Eliatropes to accomplish incredible feats through their knowledge on the source of all life. 

And because there wasn’t a single point in the Krosmoz he couldn’t access, Yugo was free to open over a dozen portals all at once as he carefully yet masterfully redirected a single energy beam from one passage to the next in a conscious effort to keep his aim sharp. One of his people’s greatest strengths was their ability to redirect attacks, in fact, it was probably the first thing Eliatrope children learned once their powers manifested, right after learning to transport themselves and other things through their portals. But that also meant knowing where to send the attack back to, therefore it was imperative their very own deflection didn’t turn against them. 

Younger Eliatropes would limit themselves to absorbing the attack from one portal and opening another to fire it back at their opponent, but Yugo had centuries of experience both using his powers and fighting. Sometimes you needed to play up the element of surprise to keep your enemy on their toes. And so, if he were to be targeted by a Cra’s arrow, for example, as soon as the projectile entered the first portal, he would already be creating a second one to redirect it to, followed immediately after by a third one located far away. And so, little by little, the arrow would swiftly travel through countless portals appearing in all directions, leaving its archer no chance to trace it back even with a Cra’s prodigious eyesight. 

Before they knew it, he would have sent the arrow back at them and hopefully neutralised their next move. 

Yugo had to admit, it was a nifty little trick, but it wasn’t his favourite. Maybe it was the adrenaline-junkie inside of him, or maybe even his role as their people’s protector, but the Eliatrope King tended to prefer short-ranged combat over long-ranged strategies unless he was left with no choice. Which in his case meant he usually favoured battling with wakfu-crafted weapons—particularly a sword and a shield. 

The freedom of free-falling into a portal and the dynamism of emerging through another as he spun over himself to deliver a swift swing of his sword aimed at his opponent’s throat converged into a special kind of thrill he always found himself missing whenever he had no choice but to remain cooped up inside the palace all day. There, the most action he would get all day was to keep himself from wringing Nora or Qilby’s necks for saying something either annoying, inappropriate, uncalled for, or all of the above. 

And yet, as his eyes met the glimmering orbs staring back at him, a part of himself couldn’t help but notice he experienced a very similar thrill from them.

As soon as his training reached its peak—literally, since his latest portal had transported him high enough where he needed to fly to keep himself aloft—, a smiling Yugo let himself fall into another portal and disappeared from view. 

With a gasp of surprise, Amalia immediately leaned over her balcony to look for him, only to roll her eyes playfully when the ever familiar flash of blue light made itself known from the corner of her eye. 

At least he had the common decency to remain cross-legged in mid-air rather than letting himself drop over her vines. But still…

“You know, if you wanted to sit on the balcony next to me, you could’ve just said so.” She told him with a wry smile. “I would’ve had the vines act as a chair for you.”

He just waved her off with a motion of his hand. “It’s fine. What good is flying if you don’t get to do it more often, anyway?”

“I wouldn’t know. I can’t fly.” She reminded him, but her tone was still light. After giving it some thought, she added, “Although I suppose I would feel the same way regarding my vines, since they can take me practically anywhere.”

“Oh? Then maybe next time you should come meet me, instead of the other way around for a change.” The king teased. 

In response, the doll let out a mock-haughty huff. “I would, if it weren’t because someone is too impatient to wait for me. Before I can even prepare myself, you’re already through one of your portals.”

With a loud, exaggerated gasp, Yugo placed a hand on his chest. “Lady Amalia! Are you implying I’m impatient to spend time with you?”

“No, I’m confidently stating you’re very eager to be next to me.” She shot back, not missing a beat. 

After a few agonisingly long seconds of having to pretend to keep it together, the two finally gave in and burst out laughing at the silliness of their interactions. The truth was, even behind all the harmless teasing, the two of them were very excited over getting to spend time with the other after everything they’d been through recently. 

Amalia in particular couldn’t be happier. 

After the emotional rollercoaster that had been the banquet in Bonta, from having to interact with the World of Twelve’s leaders and leave a good impression on them, to how Count Harebourg’s company had quickly spiralled down into an extremely claustrophobic experience, things seemed to have finally tempered between them. The irony of it happening at all because she finally tore the Eliatrope King a new one over his treatment of her was not lost on Amalia. 

Neither was the fact that the both of them advocated for more pacifist ways of doing things, yet they had bonded immensely over a sport as savage and unrestrained as gobbowl. But the way Kriss Krass dominated the field while never failing to deliver a veritable show for his audience was simply amazing. Amalia never would have guessed such savagery and unhinged enthusiasm would come from the worshippers of one of the pantheon’s more even-tempered and level-headed goddesses. 

It became doubly ironic once you took into account the fact that, unlike her followers’ unrestrained demeanour, Sacrier was always physically restrained by chains. 

But she was getting sidetracked. Even though Amalia had promised herself she would be more intransigent with Yugo after how he’d been treating her, a promise she intended to keep even if he got down on his knees and grovelled, begging her for forgiveness, when push came to shove, she couldn’t bring herself to do it. 

As much as she wanted to stay mad at him, his apology had sounded so sincere, as well as his own promise to do better by her from now on. Despite his ever-changing moods, Amalia knew Yugo wasn’t a bad guy. Even in his coldest moments some warmth directed at her still managed to seep through his words and actions. And he sounded so ashamed of himself, so regretful, so sad! 

And, by Sadida, Amalia would be lying if she said she hadn’t missed him too. So after making some very important and essential demands, the doll eventually chose to forgive him. 

Whatever resentment she’d felt towards him up until that point completely vanished when Yugo finally took her dancing. She still vividly remembered how her bell-like laughter echoed around the room, acting as another instrument for the band; or the way her heartbeat set its own beat as the Eliatrope gently yet skillfully guided her along the steps, oddly enough, that felt like the only music she would ever need. She still got goosebumps whenever she remembered what it felt like to have Yugo twirl her away from him, her skirt flaring all around her with her movements, only to bring her back into his comforting embrace shortly after. If she closed her eyes, she could still hear the rhythmic beat of his heart against her ear whenever he pulled her close, or feel the tremors of his chest caused by his quiet yet fond chuckles. 

And if somehow that hadn’t been enough, then discovering gobbowl together and spending the whole match at the edge of their seats helped evaporate all lingering doubts. Especially when the game reached its most crucial, most nerve-wracking moments and the two of them would find their fingers intertwined in a silent show of support. Or whenever Kriss and his team managed to score what seemed to be an impossible goal and Amalia and Yugo would hug each other tightly in celebration. 

It was at that moment, when she looked up to him to comment on the incredible move they’d just witnessed, that Amalia finally came to realise Yugo had a beautiful smile. Of course, she had always known his smile was great, but that was the first time she noticed just how bright it truly was. And she found she wouldn’t mind seeing him smile like that more often, maybe even forever.

And even the warmth that spread over her chest at that was nothing compared to what was to come. 

From that point onwards it was as if things had finally got back to how they used to be before their adventure, but better. After returning home from Bonta Yugo had gone out of his way to escort the Divine Doll to her room and wish her good night. The very next day, he surprised her by knocking on her door early in the morning and inviting her to have breakfast like they used to. Nowadays, he always made sure to dedicate some time out of his busy schedule to go see her. Sometimes they talked about simple things like how each other’s days had been or if they had any plans for later, and other times, their conversations would stretch for hours on end as they leaned against her balcony and talked about everything and anything under the sun. 

If Amalia came to lie down on her bed as they talked, Yugo remained rooted to the spot, though. She could only shrug at that. His loss, really; her bed was super comfortable. 

Still, Yugo would ask her questions about her day and her classes, or even about her family and her time in Inglorium, while simultaneously answering any question Amalia had regarding his duties—as long as it wasn’t a too delicate topic to disclose outside of the Council, of course. 

He had also been showing her around more and more of the palace’s rooms, even to the lower levels. It wasn’t like access was forbidden or that they kept anything confidential down there, it was just that the palace was built over a series of cavernous systems and they had yet to explore all of them, meaning it could be dangerous to venture on your own. From what she’d seen, however, Amalia had to admit the murals were much more impressive over there. 

Besides showing her around, the Eliatrope King also made a more conscious effort to properly introduce the doll to the other Council members. Technically speaking, Amalia knew all of them from her first few days, where she’d had to present herself and state her purpose for her arrival just like she did to Yugo, Adamaï, Qilby, and Nora. But she was finally starting to understand what they all did. 

She obviously knew Glip and Baltazar were teachers from back to her little excursions around the palace, long before she became another student of theirs, and it didn’t take her long to learn Chibi and Grougaloragran designed and built the entirety of the Eliatrope palace—mainly because they proudly proclaimed it wherever they went. What she didn’t know, however, was that the two of them were actually their people’s greatest inventors, or that Chibi was a prophet. And now the Divine Doll found herself looking forward to the day where they’d finally show her around their atelier!

She hadn’t been in one since the day she was born, and she had a feeling theirs would be much different than her father’s, with all his fabrics, needles and threads, and tools meant specifically for doll-crafting.

She also discovered that, contrary to what she might have believed at first, Phaeris’ duty wasn’t to guard Oma Island—she just happened to meet him when it was his turn. In reality, he and his twin sister Mina’s role was to act as their people’s mediators. It was up to them to ensure petty arguments and pointless friction didn’t tear their civilisation apart. 

She had yet to truly grasp what Nora and Efrim were supposed to do, though. The pink-eyed Eliatrope always popped up out of nowhere, so it was difficult to figure out what exactly she was up to. And Yugo didn’t seem particularly thrilled over the prospect of actually explaining it to her just yet. Any other time, Amalia would have puffed out her cheeks in annoyance, bothered by the king trying to push her away yet again. But seeing as this was Efrim and the doll still hadn’t really developed an immunity to his scorching glare, she was more than happy to trust Yugo’s gut on this one. 

All in all, things finally felt as they should be. The sweet, caring, fun friend she’d come to appreciate was back and she couldn’t be happier. They had even rekindled their routine where Yugo would train right in front of her balcony, and now he actually took the time to spend time with her once he was done! 

The Sadida Doll found herself smiling more often now. Her father would be proud; she was carrying out her duty admirably. 

She was broken out of her thoughts when Yugo asked her, “Have you been feeling restless lately, Amalia?”

“Huh?” She blinked quickly, taken by surprise. “What do you mean?”

He shrugged, his cloak going up and down with his movements. “The whole reason your room is like this,” he gestured at the indoor jungle around him, “is because spending all your time here used to make you feel restless. You said you wanted to see the world your father helped create, rather than stay locked up in the palace all day.” He turned to look at her, his expression unexpectedly serious. “Do you still feel like that?”

For a moment, Amalia didn’t know what to say. Well, no, that wasn’t it either. She knew the answer to that question, she would probably know the answer for as long as she lived; it had just been unexpected, that was all. 

And so, closing her gaping mouth, the doll simply nodded and turned to look back at the horizon. “I guess I’m like you in that regard, Yugo. I’ll always want to explore and learn more about the world around me.” She held her hands up in defence. “Don’t get me wrong! Things have been so much better here since I arrived. There’s so much more to do now, between my classes, your daily visits, and getting to know more about your siblings and what you all do... But I guess, the idea of adventuring will always tug at my heartstrings.”

She didn’t tell him about how that wasn’t the only thing she felt pulling her closer. If anything, because she herself didn’t know what it was. All the doll knew for certain was there was something out there beckoning her closer. Something ancient and powerful that resonated with her very being, almost as if they were one and the same.

As the soft morning breeze weaved through her bangs, she heard Yugo say, “Yeah, I guess we really do have that in common, huh? Staying in one place for long isn’t good for us.”

“You’d expect the daughter of the tree god not to have so many hang-ups about remaining rooted to one spot, wouldn’t you?” Amalia couldn’t help but giggle at her own joke. 

For his part, Yugo chortled even as he flashed her a pointed look. “Oh, sweet Mother of Krosmoz! That was just terrible, Amalia!”

She shrugged innocently. “What can I say? I couldn’t help it.”

“I find you’ll agree with me that plant-based puns are simply beneath a Divine Doll such as yourself.” He leaned closer to her, a wry smirk on his lips and he crossed his arms over his chest. 

“Oh, shut up.” With a good-natured roll of his eyes, the Divine Doll in question just shoved him away lightly… Only for the two of them to yelp in slight panic when the momentum gathered from hovering around her was strong enough to almost send the Eliatrope flying all the way back. After scrambling to grab Yugo’s hands and bring him closer to her once more, the two of them broke down laughing yet again. 

Looking down at Amalia’s beaming face now, how Yugo had been able to go by without these little moments and survive was beyond him. Then, his eyes flickered down to their still joined hands and, his face burning, he gently pulled his away, clearing his throat awkwardly. 

As her giggles finally quieted down and she wiped a tear off her eye, not paying much mind to the action, she asked. “Anyway, why do you ask?”

The Eliatrope faked nonchalance, his shoulders going up and doing in a helpless shrug. “I was just wondering if you’d like to go with me to the village tomorrow.” He couldn’t help but the wry curl of his lip at her reaction.

As soon as the words left his mouth, a huge grin plastered itself over Amalia’s face and she clasped her hands tightly over her chest, her big brown eyes sparkling excitedly. “Are you serious?!”

Yugo chuckled. “Yes, of course. I figured if I could take you all the way over to Bonta with me, then it was high time I took you to visit the village, too. Don’t you think so?”

Amalia was on cloud nine. She couldn’t believe it; she’d finally get to see the village for herself! Back when she first arrived and took notice of the palace staff serving them, she had asked Yugo if they lived inside its walls as well. Even if back then they still had a lot to learn about each other, that didn’t stop the king from explaining to her how only some staff members actually lived in the palace, and most of them were guards. Aside from them and the Council of Six, the entirety of the Eliatropes had settled on a spacious territory a little ways off the building where they built their homes and market stands and anything they would need but didn’t want to rely on their leaders for. 

Of course, she had immediately asked if she could go see, but Yugo had kindly but firmly turned her request down, stating his people would still need some time to adjust to her presence before formally introducing her to them. 

Apparently, the time had come. 

As if reading her thoughts, Yugo went on to add, “I know I told you it’d take my people some getting used to you before I could take you there, but between your lessons and the fact that I pretty much did introduce you already as we were leaving for Bonta, I figured it was a good a time as any to go there.”

Amalia wouldn’t have been able to wipe the smile off her face even if she tried. 

“Oh, this is great!” She squealed. “I can’t wait to see everything the village has to offer! Do you think we could go check out the market and their shops?” The doll questioned, leaning closer to the Eliatrope and making him feel slightly bashful over the close proximity. 

And yet, that wasn’t the only reason he was uncomfortable. 

Yugo coughed awkwardly into his hand. “Yeah, sure. Why not?” 

Just as Amalia was about to squeal and celebrate even louder, she almost fell face-first when he added, “If we have time…”

“‘If we have time’?” She echoed once she regained her composure and she cleaned invisible lint off her clothes, incredulous. “How is it possible that we might not have time to visit the market if we’re going to spend all day looking around the town?”

Yugo couldn’t help but wince. “Well, you see, I actually have to go to Qilby and Shinonomé’s clinic to discuss some matters with them, and I thought I’d kill two tofus with one stone if you came with me and I formally introduced you to them.”

That gave Amalia pause. On the one hand, she definitely knew Qilby. For better or worse, he had been present in several key moments ever since she was sent to Oma Island, from being part of her welcome committee to representing his people at the banquet in Bonta. But at the same time, they didn’t exactly interact one-on-one all that much either, and the bearded Eliatrope was always talking about things she didn’t fully understand, so she couldn’t help but feel a little uneasy around him. 

And on the other hand, she had yet to really get to know Shinonomé as well. The red dragoness spent most of her time away from any kind of business the doll might be related to, her focus set elsewhere, according to Yugo. So it might be nice to get to know her at long last. There was also the fact that she indeed had yet to fully grasp what their role in their society even was. Judging from all the seemingly disconnected knowledge he always shared completely out of the blue, the doll had originally assumed Qilby was their people’s librarian or something of the sort, but if Yugo said the twins actually ran a clinic, then that couldn’t be it. 

In fact, if anything, it appeared as though the eldest twins actually fulfilled the same role within their community that Eniripsa and her worshippers did for the Twelvians: their duties were related to tending to the sick and injured. 

And then there was the greatest factor to take into account…

Yugo, having grown a little concerned by Amalia’s lack of response, rushed out to assure her, “O-of course! If you’d prefer your first time in the village to be all about, well, spending time in the village, we can always take a raincheck and wait—.”

“Yugo?” She called out to him softly. 

“Yes, Amalia?”

She smiled warmly. “There’s no way I’m postponing my first ever visit to the Eliatrope village. I’d love to go.”

For a moment, they stood right where they were, even Yugo, who had finally placed his feet on solid ground again. As they smiled up at each other, both of them feeling extremely giddy all of a sudden over what tomorrow might hold, neither so much as moved an inch. 

After what felt like an eternity, Amalia finally broke out of her trance. Shaking her head, she blurted out nervously, “Well, look at the time! Come on, we have much to do.” Before Yugo could so much as utter a word, Amalia grabbed him by the hand and dragged him outside of her room. Maybe it was to distract herself from the feeling of his hand in hers, but she never stopped talking. “I’m sure your day’s packed with responsibilities and I have to choose the perfect outfit for tomorrow and I’d like to have that out of the way before it’s time to go to class, so we’d better get to it.”

Just as Amalia was about to close the door, the sound of Yugo calling out to her, and sounding a little perplexed, caused her to look at him over her shoulder. “Yes, Yugo?”

He seemed to have something he wanted to say, but ultimately his confused expression softened into a grin. “See you later.”

“See you later, Yugo.” She smiled back. “I’m really looking forward to tomorrow.”

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

“Oh, no. Absolutely not.” 

“Come on, Amalia. Don’t be like that.”

“I’m sorry, Yugo, but I swore to myself I’d never go through the same thing again.” With a haughty huff, she stuck up her nose. “It’s a miracle I didn’t get anything on my clothes last time and Ecaflip is a fickle god; I’m not risking it.”

It was taking everything in Yugo’s power not to heave a frustrated sigh, knowing it might only offend Amalia and that was the last thing he needed right now. What he did need right now, in fact, was for the Divine Doll to stop being so stubborn and just agree to going to the Eliatrope village through one of his portals. 

But she remained undaunted, deaf to his pleading and reasonings. She stood completely still, with her back straight and her crossed arms hinting at her unwillingness to cooperate. Her bare feet were firmly planted on the ground, the soily terrain surely served as further support for Sadida’s youngest child. The message was clear: she wasn’t going anywhere near a portal. 

He briefly entertained the idea of sending everything to Shukrute and just grab her and hurl her through the shortcut he created himself, but ultimately decided against it. Things had been going great for the two of them lately, he couldn’t afford to make Amalia mad now that they were finally beginning to mend their friendship. 

That, and he had to admit her reasons for disliking portals were somewhat justified. However…

“How do you know your vomiting last time wasn’t just a fluke?” He questioned, trying to get her to see reason. The glare she sent him in response was so intense he flinched. 

“Because you and Adamaï admitted that had never happened before? That I was the first ever non-Eliatrope or non-dragon to go through one of your portals?” She shot back rhetorically, a sarcastic edge to her voice. “How do you know that doesn’t mean only your people can stomach them?!”

“I don’t! That’s the point!” The Eliatrope insisted. At this rate, if he wanted to see Qilby and Shinonomé, he would have to wait until they came to the palace themselves. “Just like you can’t know for certain you’ll get nauseous again!”

“And I’d much rather not find out…” Amalia grumbled stubbornly, rolling her eyes. 

Yugo pursed his lip, his patience running thin already when it wasn’t even noon. Rolling his eyes so far back he could see the inside of his hood, he stomped towards the doll and firmly, but gently—sometimes he could swear she still had bruises from Harebourg’s forceful fingertips on her skin—, placed his hands on her shoulders to get her to listen to him at last. 

“Amalia, look, I understand you don’t want to throw up again. I get it, it’s not a nice feeling.”

“It was horrible!” She whined, finally snapping her head to look back at him. “It wasn’t just the feeling of my food trying to leave my body, it was knowing it was going to happen even when I had never thrown up before! It was so distressing!”

“I know.” His expression softened in sympathy for the doll. Thanks to his long lifespan, he’d been formally re-introduced to his lunch countless times. And yet, it never got easier or less disgusting. 

Amalia clasped her hands in front of her, her eyes pleading, “Please, Yugo. Don’t make me go through a portal again. Can’t we just walk to the village instead?” She threw her head back and groaned in frustration when all the king could do was shake his head regretfully. 

“I’m sorry, Amalia, but we can’t.” He went on to explain. “Even though the village is relatively close to the palace in case of emergency, access is also cut off unless you use portals. It’s a safety measure meant to keep our people safe in case of attack.”

“Didn’t you say there are many rooms in the palace designated to harbour and protect civilians in case of attack?” She deadpanned, raising an eyebrow.

“This is in case they can’t make it to the palace.” Yugo clarified, before shaking his head. “But we’re getting sidetracked. I really need to see Qilby and Shinonomé today, and even if we could arrive at the village by foot, it might be too late to speak to them by the time we arrive. I’m sorry, Amalia. But we really need to use my portals.”

The Divine Doll didn’t say anything, she simply hanged her head in defeat. Goodbye, adventuring outfit, it was nice meeting you. She blinked in surprise when she felt Yugo hook his fingers around her chin to get her to look back at him. He had no right to look at her with such a sweet, encouraging smile on his face when he was about to cause her to ruin her clothes. 

“Would it help if I rub your back soothingly if you do throw up?” She raised an unimpressed eyebrow, which was good. That at least meant he had her attention. “And… Uh, if you do get your clothes dirty, I’ll make sure to show you around the marketplace so you can buy yourself something new?”

Deep down, Yugo knew his negotiation skills had simply done their part. But the supremely satisfied smirk on Amalia’s face at his offer made him feel like she had played him like a Sadida Doll instead. 

Wait, was that something offensive to say when she herself was a doll? Sure, she was alive, and looked pretty much like any Sadida woman—a very pretty one at that—, and had divine powers over nature that went beyond mortal comprehension, but she was still a doll. 

With a groan, Yugo decided he should just stop thinking. For his own sake. He always made a fool of himself whenever he let himself overthink things regarding Amalia. 

The doll in question, oblivious to the Eliatrope’s internal turmoil, looked around when he had yet to make a move, not sure what to do. If he kept that up, then they would be late for sure. A little hesitantly, Amalia reached out a hand to Yugo and tentatively tapped him on the shoulder with one finger. 

She couldn’t help but flinch when he abruptly reacted to her touch. Seeing her startled expression and guarded posture, looking very much like a frazzled Meow Meow, and not understanding where it all came from, the king furrowed his brow in confusion. 

“Amalia, are you alright?”

Raising one finger, the green-haired beauty opened up her mouth to speak… And eventually closed it, giving up. “Never mind.” She deadpanned. After recovering a little, she placed a hand on her hip as she gestured at him with the other, “Go on, do your thing. I had a lofty breakfast today, let’s make sure I at least don’t get heartburn.”

“Okay…” Blinking slowly at her sardonic response and almost monotone delivery, all Yugo could do was internally shrug and stow that away for another time. Shaking his head slightly to focus, he cracked his knuckles as he got ready. Extending his hand right in front of him, his palm glowed a faint turquoise just as a considerably-sized spiral materialised, the turquoise wakfu it consisted of solidifying into a portal right in front of the two of them. 

Despite the unpleasant churning in her stomach at the swirling vortex staring back at her, Amalia had to admit the Eliatropes’ portals were a sight to behold. Especially Yugo’s. As a Sadida demigoddess, the doll was used to being able to achieve the most unexpected of things through the least conventional means possible, but it still boggled her mind to know the sheer scope of endless possibilities their portals and dominion over wakfu offered to the Eliatropes. If anyone had told Amalia half of the things they could do, she wouldn’t have believed them; it was only because she herself witnessed Yugo performing them that she even knew it was possible. 

And almost as if she had summoned him, she was broken out of her musings by the feeling of his hand taking hers, his warmth seeping in even through his fingerless gloves. 

Her head snapping up at him, she found him smiling down at her yet again, causing her cheeks to grow hot. 

“Are you ready?”

Blinking rapidly, Amalia eventually rolled her eyes playfully with a soft scoff. She shook her head. “I’m ready to go on a shopping spree, if that’s what you mean.”

Their eyes meeting one last time, the two couldn’t help it anymore and snorted at their own antics. Once their giggles and chuckles had died down, Yugo took one step forward and towards the portal, stopping right before it to look back at Amalia. For her part, the doll took one deep breath and nodded once, followed shortly after by her taking the first few steps towards the portal…

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

“Okay, maybe you have a point and other races simply can’t stomach going through our portals…” Yugo admitted sheepishly. With one hand he scratched the back of his neck embarrassedly while he used the other to rub circles along Amalia’s back just as he promised he would. He couldn’t help but wince when she wretched yet again. 

The poor girl was crouched down on the floor, with her posture hunched as she used a nearby tree to support herself as she dry heaved. And, of course, she had thrown up on top of some bushes yet again. This island’s plant-life didn’t deserve this…

“Oh, you think?!” She shot back venomously, glaring at her companion over her shoulder. Yugo mentally remarked it was nice to know she wasn’t too sick to be petty. Otherwise, he would’ve grown worried. 

“I’m sorry…” He tried, not knowing what else to do to make her feel better. “It really was the only way…”

Exhaling one deep breath—and making sure she didn’t inhale the stench of her stomach’s contents—, Amalia slowly but surely raised from her bent down position, holding onto the tree trunk by her side until she was steadily on her feet. With a sigh, she sent Yugo a tired smile. 

“It’s okay. Your people’s safety is more important. Besides, at least this time I could brace myself for the possibility.”

Coming closer to stand by her side, Yugo snaked his arm around her waist as he placed her arm over his shoulder. “Do you need help?”

“I’ll be fine soon.” But just as the king was about to let go of her, the doll’s hand on his shoulder squeezed him hard to get his attention. When he focused back on her face, she had an expectant eyebrow raised. “I said I’ll be fine soon.” She made sure to stress the word before using both hands to point at the floor. “Right now, I could use some help, at least until I feel good enough to walk on my own.” 

Chuckling to himself, amused by the doll’s antics, Yugo simply said, “As you wish, my Lady.”

They walked in silence, with Amalia supporting her weight on Yugo, for a while. Which was strange, since the nausea-inducing portal was meant to be a shortcut to the village in the first place. But the doll chose to keep her thoughts to herself. Even if she didn’t appreciate their means of transportation, Yugo didn’t really deserve to deal with her at her pettiest. 

He already trusted her enough not only to finally leave the palace again after Bonta, but to show her around his people’s home. That really meant a lot to her, on multiple levels, and the last thing she wanted was to ruin it. 

As they walked, she couldn’t help but wonder how the Eliatrope village would actually look like. Her room faced the back of the palace, where Oma Island’s lush jungles stretched over the horizon. It admittedly was the best kind of view for a Sadida, but it didn’t really say much about her hosts and their architecture. Of course, since the settlement was actually a few ways off the palace, that meant she also couldn’t see a thing even as she walked down its halls, and she had long learned the ‘windows’ on Glip and Baltazar’s classroom were anything but. 

She was going in blindly, a thrill going down her spine and making her buzz with giddiness at the prospect of exploring more of her home. 

She hadn’t expected the feeling to be quite that literal, but suddenly something was covering her eyes and she found herself blinder than an Osamodas’ mount. 

“Uh…Yugo?” She tried.

“Hm?”

“What are you doing?”

“What do you think I’m doing?” He asked back, making her pout at his overly innocent answer. 

“Well, either someone’s infuriated the gods to the point of them bloating out the sun and dooming us all to an eternal Winter in retaliation—”

“Wait, they can do that?”

“Or I’d say you're covering my eyes with your hands.” She finished, not paying his justified worry any mind. “The better question is, why?”

Amalia swore she could almost feel him shrug. “You’ll see soon enough.”

“Oh, very funny.” She scoffed, unamused. “Making jokes about seeing and whatnot while you cover my eyes. You know, I’m told that kind of thing is usually considered to be very—.”

Whatever she was going to say next died in her throat as Yugo finally lifted his hands from her face and gestured at the landscape before her. She couldn’t help but let out a small gasp as she stared at the scene in front of her, her brown eyes wide in amazement as they tried to take everything in. 

The Eliatrope village was truly a sight to behold.

Standing before them was a plateau with a series of stairs connecting to a long path made out of white bricks that extended far beyond the eye could reach, zig-zagging and connecting every single area together, no matter how high or low it was. The very same path laying before her forked in two not too far off, lined by countless market stands around what appeared to be the main square, the vendors’ voices echoing in the air as they announced their deals and goods in order to attract more customers. 

Running around the square were a bunch of giggling little kids. Some of them she recognised from class, others must have been either too old or too young to attend. But what really caught her eye, however, beyond their laughter and beaming faces as they chased each other in some kind of game, was the way they circled around the fountain that stood proudly in the middle of the square. Its design was simple yet intricately detailed. Built on a dark grey stone Amalia didn’t recognise, it had a large, circular basin with what appeared to be dragon speech all over its edge. Located at each cardinal point was a stone dragon head, each of them facing forward to the basin and pouring water into it from their mouths. 

Eyes trailing after the white brick path even as it turned into different sets of stairs, Amalia found herself staring up at large, majestic buildings sculpted into black igneous rocks and decorated with golden drawings and runes, especially around the circular door frames and windows. Those had to be the Eliatropes’ homes. Squinting her eyes at the sight, the doll realised the doors were just like the shutters they had back at the palace. 

The fact that she saw some Eliatropes leaving the buildings and the doors shut behind them also helped to make the connection. 

The general architecture of the village, at least what weren’t houses or important buildings, seemed to be based on piling up cubical rocks on top of each other. Such an example would be the numerous stone benches located all over town, right where there were green spaces with grass and trees the Sadida Doll couldn’t help but appreciate immensely, a grin forming on her face. At first glance, the benches seemed to be of the same material as the houses, but if the blue bridge connecting one side of town with the other was any indication, they could also be painted. 

Speaking of, that bridge seemed to connect to the wilderness, the stone path trailing off into the forest. For what purpose, Amalia didn’t know, but considering her connection to nature, she wasn’t about to judge others for their preferences when she was always barefoot to get a better grasp on the soil underneath her. Rather, she found herself approving of it. 

But what truly caught her eye was the large building standing almost at the edge of the town, Oma’s volcano acting as its background. Even from where she was at, at the very entrance, she still had to crane her neck to get a full view of it. Once again, it was built on the same dark grey rocks the portal-making race seemed to favour in their architecture, only this time those bricks alternated with golden ones, already hinting at the place’s importance. A colossal staircase connected the base of the building all the way up to the very top, where Amalia could discern the only visible entrance. A soft, blue light seeped through the rectangular windows carved into the walls. 

“That’s the temple to our mother, the Great Goddess Eliatrope.” Yugo supplied helpfully, whispering in her ear. Surely he must have noticed her staring wide-eyed and with her jaw a mere inches away from touching the floor. “That’s where you’ll find Mina and Phaeris, though mostly Mina, most of the time. I’ll make sure to take you some other day.”

In response, all Amalia could do was nod her head absentmindedly, her mind too boggled to form coherent thoughts. 

The Divine Doll was rendered speechless. The Eliatrope village was the reflection of a thriving civilisation with centuries upon centuries of rich history and culture. Hadn’t they been on the World of Twelve for a little less than a year? How did they manage to do all this in such little time?

Her eyes still on the sky as she gazed at the temple in awe, upon noticing something shining high above, she squinted her eyes, trying to discern what it was. It was a little hard to tell at first, as they camouflaged with the sky almost seamlessly, but she eventually realised what they were when the light hit one of them just right. 

Portals. 

However, unlike Yugo’s people’s very own gift, these didn’t look like natural portals. The objects hovering in the air looked like oval-shaped mirrors reflecting all sorts of landscapes, from the sea crashing against the shore at the beach, to the palace gates, to the throne room, to even the densest part of the jungle. And if that weren’t enough for Amalia to be able to tell those were portals, then the turquoise trails of light coming out of one and into another was all the confirmation she needed. 

Somehow, the Eliatropes had managed to replicate their natural ability and turn it into a more accessible means of transportation. …If a series of portals hovering mid-air could be called ‘accessible.’

After what felt like an eternity, the doll finally found her voice. Although it was more of an awed whisper. “Yugo, this… this is incredible!”

“I’m glad you like it.” He chuckled, smiling down at her. Staring back at his people’s place of residence, he couldn’t help but smirk a little. “You know, normally I know better than to fuel Chibi and Grougal’s ego, but even I have to admit they really outdid themselves this time.”

“Wait,” she told him, snapping her head to him as she tried to process the information. “You’re telling me Chibi and Grougaloragran did all this?”

“They still had a little help, though. Pretty much any abled Eliatrope got down to work as soon as they had the foundation layered out.”

“Still, haven’t you guys been here for just a few months? This is the kind of thing that would take any other civilisation from decades to centuries to accomplish!”

“Meh, we work fast.” He shrugged like someone who had just stated a simple fact instead of, you know, the biggest understatement since saying the twelve gods simply lent a hand to the creation of the World of Twelve. 

Before Amalia could so much as point this fact out, she was surprised by Yugo making a show of bowing down to her with a flourish as he sent her a lazy grin. As the doll brought a hand to her mouth to stifle her giggles, he told her playfully, “So, shall we? We’re burning daylight and we still have so much to do.”

Amalia rolled her eyes, but the grin on her face betrayed her true feelings. It was her turn to motion for Yugo to move, “Lead the way, Your Majesty.”

If either of them noticed how they’d come to walk with their arms interlocked like back at the banquet in Bonta, neither showed or even made a move to break away. Even as they ascended the stairs leading the main square and everyone’s eyes were on them.

“Look, it’s King Yugo!” Cried out a little boy, pointing at the monarch with one hand as he held his mother’s—who was busy lightly scolding him about pointing at people being rude— with his other hand. 

“King Yugo, it’s so great to see you!” Exclaimed a man. Judging from his white chef-like Eliatrope hat and the homemade loaf of bread he carried with his mittened hands, Amalia guessed he had to be a baker. 

“What brings you here today, Your Majesty?” Asked a young lady sultrily as she approached Yugo, causing the doll to tense up slightly and to narrow her eyes before stepping a little closer to him. 

Little by little, every single Eliatrope that wasn’t busy going on with their daily activities came to surround their king and the Divine Doll at his arm, interacting with him and asking all sorts of questions. Amalia could feel her head begin to spin as she was assaulted with information coming from all directions, but forced herself to focus on the conversations taking place right in front of her. 

“Your Majesty, can you please tell us how the banquet went?” An older-looking Eliatrope asked, trudging over to his leader with help of his cane. The Divine Doll couldn’t help but raise an eyebrow at the thinning hair peeking out of his large hat; despite his age, his light brunet locks still maintained its natural colour, no white hairs in sight. 

How that was possible when about half of the Eliatrope Council had naturally white hair despite looking quite young escaped her. 

Still, his question intrigued her. In truth, she and Yugo hadn’t talked much about the banquet and the emotional rollercoaster it represented for both of them, the two of them silently agreeing on focusing on the gobbowl match they saw and little else. Although Amalia would be lying if she said she didn’t feel curious to know what Yugo felt about the event—if you asked her, it definitely had its ups and downs, with the unhinged Xelor demigod pursuing her being a definite down for her. 

“Although it is a bit too soon to say the Twelvians are finally welcoming of us,” the king started out diplomatically. “The Council and I believe it is a good start. We managed to talk to many distinguished members of the World of Twelve, many of them fellow rulers like us, so hopefully we’ll be invited to more diplomatic meetings to discuss matters such as our possible integration within their civilisation.”

Amalia almost jumped in her place when she noticed the king smiling down at her, a blush threatening to creep up on her cheeks. “However, we can’t take all the credit, as none of this would have been possible without Amalia by our side.” Even though his words were directed at his people, the way he kept looking at her made the doll believe what he was saying was meant for her ears only. “If it weren’t for her, I’m afraid the Twelvians would not have been so eager to meet up with us.”

And just like that, everyone’s focus was turned back to her. She almost flinched at the intense way everyone was gazing at her, almost as if she had lowered the moon for them. Suddenly her cheeks felt hot for an entirely different reason. 

“It-it was nothing, really.” She tried, her voice wobbling slightly out of nervousness. The heat in her cheeks increasing, she cleared her throat. “I was simply doing what I was sent here for; to help bridge the gap between Eliatropes and Twelvians on the gods’ behalf.”

“And we thank you for it, Your Grace.” A young mother holding a baby in her arms told her warmly, a smile stretching over her lips. 

“Yeah! You have no idea how, like, hard it was to get the natives of this world to acknowledge us as anything other than, like, invaders, or whatever!” A teenaged girl added, leaving Amalia wide-eyed and earning herself a light scolding for some of the adults present for her carelessness.

Wait, the Twelvians considered the Eliatropes to be invaders? Sure, she had picked up on how isolated they seemed to be, moreso once it became apparent just how much it meant to them that Yugo and the Council had been invited to Bonta. But for them to be seen as hostile by the other races?

No wonder the gods sent her to help temper rising tensions. In the end, the portal-making species were in dire need of her aid. Still, how could the Eliatropes ever be seen as invaders by the Twelvians? Amalia would be lying if she didn’t expect some prejudices to arise, given how different each race was from each other and the fact that not even all the gods got along well with each other, but for them to think so low of the Eliatropes? Even when so many other ‘non-affiliated’ species managed to coexist just fine with the Twelvians?

Something didn’t quite add up. Privately, the doll wondered if this all could have something to do with the Eliatropes’ original home and whatever happened to it. 

Unable to stop herself, the doll spoke up to ask, “I’m sorry, but how come the Twelvians treat you as invaders?”

The Divine Doll was so busy waiting for her answer, she failed to notice Yugo flinching right by her side, the ears of his hood standing on high alert. Luckily for the Eliatrope King, however, one of his subjects most certainly did, and took it upon himself to assist his leader. 

“Please, my Lady, don’t pay Marie any mind.” The baker from before said, waving the mere notion off with one mitten-covered hand as he held his loaf of bread with the other. “She’s 16, surely you know what that means?”

The baker took Amalia’s silence as a sign for him to continue—although it should be noted the only reason the Sadida Doll didn’t say anything was because she didn’t know what being 16 was like, having been born into adulthood. 

Ignorant of this fact, the baker just shrugged, “You know how it is; you turn 16 and suddenly you think you know everything there is to know about everything, at the same time as you turn into the most dramatic version of yourself imaginable, which greatly diminishes your credibility when you’re trying to make a point.”

Glip and Baltazar had said several times already that if you didn’t know something, it was better to just admit to it, rather than staying quiet and nodding along, since that was when you proved your own ignorance. 

Amalia chose to keep her mouth shut and nod along. 

Luckily for her, it didn’t look like she’d have to take the risk of looking like an idiot, for Yugo chose that very same moment to intervene. “And you know all about teenagers, don’t you, Bartoloblé? Having raised three children!”

“Can’t say I never missed the simpler times when they thought their Daddy was the coolest man on the planet…” The baker—Bartoloblé—laughed at his own joke. Although the way he wilted slightly afterwards hinted at his joke having some semblance of truth, after all. 

“Oh, I remember those times.” Yugo chuckled, his people soon following along. So did Amalia, though much more awkwardly. “I still remember how heartbroken you were when little Niko told you he never wanted to turn into a baker like you.”

Bartoloblé let out a wistful sigh, “Those were some trying times indeed…”

“If you’re done hogging the king’s time,” A middle-aged woman cut in snootily, her nose upturned as she literally looked down on the baker, “some of us have actual consultations to make with King Yugo.”

“Mrs. Minervante, consultations are meant to be discussed during our weekly session of grievances in the throne room.” Yugo reminded her sternly, an eyebrow raised. He loved all of his people dearly, truly, he did! But Mrs. Minervante had the uncanny talent to find fault in absolutely everything. Which made interacting with her an… interesting experience. One that more often than not tested his patience.

Thankfully, today he had an excuse, “Besides, I’m afraid I’m actually running some errands today. So you’ll have to wait.”

“Oh, but Your Majesty, I simply must inform you of this as soon as possible!” She protested, her snooty tone turning downright whiny. “It’s too urgent a matter to delay!”

“Hey, if she gets to make a complaint now, I want in, too!” Another Eliatrope chimed in, flashing the infuriating woman a heated glare. 

“Me too! I’d like to have this problem resolved as soon as possible!” A third person added. 

And so, little by little, the Eliatropes gathered began to demand Yugo’s attention and time be dedicated to solving their problems. As much as he knew this was going to delay him—or, even worse, end up being a complete waste of time as no one would be in dire need of help—, Yugo’s pathological need to help others, no matter how small their problem, reared its ugly head. 

If he were to be late to a meeting with Adamaï, his twin would chew him out on falling for the same old trick again. Thankfully, he wasn’t going to be seeing Adamaï that day. Not-so-thankfully, he was going to see Qilby and Shinonomé, the former laughing at his misfortune as he offered an unsolicited memory from an unspecified lifetime he no longer remembered where he did something very similar, while the latter at first tried to remain strong only to eventually give in and chime in with some embarrassing stories of her own. 

And yet, he couldn’t turn his back on his people and risk ignoring a potential problem that could have been solved if he only reacted sooner. 

Heaving a sigh as the bickering around him over who would get to talk to their king first dissolved into white noise, he turned to Amalia with a tired smile. 

“I’ll try to make this quick, but even then this could take a while.” He pointed at a stone bench not far from them. “Would you mind waiting for me a little, Amalia?”

“Oh.” Was all she could say, taken aback by his request. Turning to eye the bench and then focus back on the cacophony of incoherent voices all around her—and making the split-second decision of not being there while they complained—, the doll eventually gave a simple nod. 

“Sure. I’ll be over there if you need me.”

He exhaled a small sigh of relief. “Thank you.”

She smirked. “Oh, don’t thank me yet. You’re my guide; I can’t really go anywhere without you. Otherwise, I would ditch you without a second thought.”

At her confession, Yugo remained wide-eyed for a little while, blinking slowly. But when she stuck her tongue out at him teasingly, he couldn’t help but shake his head good-naturedly as he chuckled. This girl was going to be the death of him. 

As Amalia made her way over to the bench he had pointed at before, Yugo, the dopey smile still on his face, finally turned his attention back to his people. Only for his smile to fall from his face at the intrigued and almost manic looks on their faces as they stared back at him. 

“What?” He asked, sounding a little more defensive than he had intended. 

“Nothing!” Everyone replied in unison, but somehow that didn’t feel all that reassuring. 

“Okay…” Feeling a little bit apprehensive but deciding he was probably better off if he didn’t know what was going on, the king straightened his posture and discreetly took a deep breath, readying himself for what was to come. He turned his focus back on the haughty, middle-aged female Eliatrope. “Very well, Mrs. Minervante. What is it that you wished to talk to me about?”

“Oh, it is simply dreadful, Your Majesty!” She exclaimed, bringing a hand to her chest as she fanned herself with the other one. “Grant’s little scoundrel keeps on playing Eliaball against my wall! I can barely think with all that racket!”

And just like that Yugo came to regret not snaking an arm around Amalia’s waist to pull her close and throw themselves into a portal in order to avoid this. He’d much rather put up with an irate Sadida Doll than with this woman’s whining. 

While Yugo was busy trying to pacify the demanding woman—and that included trying to separate her and the ‘scoundrel’s’ grandfather right as they were about to throw hands at each other—, Amalia simply sat down on the stone bench the Eliatrope King had pointed at, careful not to dirty her light-coloured pants with dust or anything of the sort. 

With the mildly worrying sound of a middle-aged woman and an old man shouting obscenities at each other—Amalia wasn’t even sure some of the rather graphic things they’d yelled at the other to do with themselves were even possible—, the doll, with nothing better to do, opted to look around some more. And though the town was indeed too beautiful for words, what ultimately caught her eye was the tree right beside her bench. 

Smiling warmly up at it, the doll extended a hand towards it and let herself feel whatever it felt running down its sap. The soft murmur of the rustling leaves and the low pulses the tree emitted as it photosynthesised were all Amalia could hear. And yet, there was so much more hidden behind the tree’s silence, a special kind of whisper-based language only Sadida’s disciples could understand.

Apparently, this little guy had been on Oma Island since it was only a seedling, for that was where his seed was planted by a passing bird. It had seen a lot ever since its germination, sensed all the changes even before it even rooted itself in place, but nothing had been quite as shocking as the day the Eliatropes took residence on their island. 

Amalia found herself nodding along as the tree told her all about its initial reservations—it was no secret that only the Sadidas could brag about having a green thumb, sometimes literally, which meant Oma’s vegetation could suffer under their new neighbours’ care. Both the tree and the doll were pleasantly surprised to discover that wasn’t the case with the portal-making race. 

It was true nothing could compare to a Sadida’s magic touch, but the Eliatropes were respectful of nature and never took more than what they absolutely needed. Amalia giggled when the tree joked about them actually having more use for rocks than wood, something about only Iops being better than them at breaking rocks thanks to their thick heads. But what truly made Amalia smile was hearing how happy and at ease the tree and its fellow vegetation were to coexist with the Eliatropes, how much they all valued the same things as her even before she arrived, which meant it all couldn’t possibly be a ruse to get on her good graces. 

Then, almost as if drawn towards him, the doll lay her eyes on her dear friend, the ruler of these wonderful people. What she saw only made her grin widen in adoration and warmth spread all over her chest. 

Yugo was still talking to his subjects, listening to their grievances and trying to solve them somehow, no doubt. He seemed much more relaxed, especially now that he didn’t have to hold a surprisingly ferocious middle-aged woman back from attacking an equally battle-ready grandfather willing to defend his grandson’s honour. 

The more she stared at him, the more Amalia understood Yugo truly was his people’s king. But it wasn’t a matter of divine parentage—if it were, Sadida would’ve sent his daughters to his followers’ kingdom to rule instead of the Sheran Sharms long ago—, even if she had yet to see anyone other than Yugo fight or even train, she could tell it wasn’t even because he was their best warrior. 

It was in the way he carried himself, relaxed and confident yet never slouching from his firm stance and straight back, showing not only that he knew what he was doing, but also that he took his duties very seriously. It was in the way he worked to help each and every one of his subjects. No matter how mundane their problems might seem to be, he paid rapt attention to everything they said, showing empathy whenever it was a delicate subject, but without hesitating to throw his weight around if their requests proved to be too much. 

It was in the way his subjects looked at him in turn, almost unblinkingly. They hung onto his every word, taking everything he said to heart. They didn’t just look up to him for guidance, the Eliatropes clearly loved and respected their king, they had complete faith in him. Amalia hadn’t been alive for long, and her father couldn’t brief her on absolutely everything in the short amount of time they had together, but she did know that mortals were very complicated creatures, capable of turning their backs on each other at the drop of a hat. 

Her brief interactions with Count Harebourg were proof enough of that. 

However, to her chagrin, as it made him feel more human, Frigost’s ruler had apparently been on the receiving end of such treatment at his people’s hands, according to what Master Joris had told her when she asked him, shortly after Bonta’s ambassador reached her to inquire about her own emotional state. Apparently, Harebourg had once been beloved by his people, but one bad decision on his part led to Frigost being cursed and its inhabitants blaming their leader for centuries on end as a result. 

And yet, Amalia had a very hard time believing that could ever happen between Yugo and his people. Not only did he have the Council’s support and his own experience leading his subjects, but the sheer adoration they all seemed to feel in return for him seemed to be unconditional. Their trust in him was unshakable, and a small part of her the doll couldn’t quite explain found herself feeling incredibly proud of Yugo for his achievements. 

And, completely out of the blue, she felt an inexplicably powerful pulse of energy coming from the tree, for her hand was still resting on its trunk. 

The current was so intense, Amalia had to clutch tightly at her top with her free hand as the other was practically stuck to the tree bark, her body leaning forward as if she’d had the air knocked out of her. In a way, she had. But the strangest thing of all had to be the fact that, strong as it was, the energy current pulsing in her veins wasn’t an unpleasant feeling. Yes, it was like her blood vessels were carrying raw electricity rather than blood, but she wasn’t electrocuted, rather, she felt energised, revitalised, like there was nothing she couldn’t do. 

For a moment, the Divine Doll briefly contemplated the idea of using her powers, knowing for some reason there would be no limit to what nature would be willing to do on her behalf. 

And then, with her heart thudding in her chest, she recognised this sensation. It was an amplified version of how she felt whenever that mysterious pull made itself known, beckoning her to follow it to the ends of the world and discover once and for all what it was that took hold of her heart and flooded her senses like a tidal wave, starting from the palm of her hand. 

Eyes widening in realisation, the doll slowly turned her head to look at the tree beside her as if it held all the answers to understanding the mysterious energy emanating from it. Maybe if she focused hard enough, she could try tracing those pulses back to—.

“Lady Amalia, are you okay?”

At the sound of her name, Amalia blinked. Just like that the connection she felt to that strange pull was lost. With a soft groan, she brought a hand to her forehead as she tried to regain her bearings. Once she finally felt more like herself and less like a vessel to… to… to whatever that was, she allowed herself to focus on the origin of the voice calling out to her. 

And was pleasantly surprised. 

“Oh, Lori!” She exclaimed, a small, slightly tired smile stretching over her lips. “Hi, I didn’t see you there. How are you doing?”

The little girl just giggled cutely. “That’s my line. You were acting weird.”

“I was?” The doll raised an eyebrow. 

Lori hummed, her pigtails bobbing up and down as she nodded with the kind of energy only a little kid could possess. Then, her expression grew concerned, her brow furrowing as she stared at the Divine Doll. “You looked like you were sick, or like something hurt. You aren’t sick, are you, my Lady?”

Eyes widening at the prospect of scaring her, Amalia all but jumped to her feet and tried her best to ignore the dizzy spell that overtook her at the action, shaking her hands effusively in front of her as if to dispel the mere notion. 

“No!” She said, louder than she intended. Realising her small outburst, she tried again in a softer voice. “No, no, none of that, Lori. I’m perfectly fine.”

But, apparently, Lori was like a Bow Wow with a bone, not willing to let the matter go so easily. “But why were you acting so weird?”

Amalia soon realised there was no correct answer to that question, mostly because she didn’t know the answer herself. She was still as close to figuring out what that pull she sometimes felt was and why it affected her more now, of all times, than even the first time it happened. But she also knew Lori would grow worried if she just told her she just so happened to double down in a restless trance for no real reason. 

Yeah, no. Lori might have been a kid, but she was still surprisingly perceptive for her age. She wouldn’t buy such an excuse even if she presented it to her covered in chocolate with a serving of ice cream and with sprinkles on top.

So she went for her default answer whenever she did something in class the Eliatrope children didn’t understand and she wasn’t really sure how to explain either. 

“It’s just Divine Doll stuff, don’t worry about it. I’m fine.” Technically, as far as she knew, it wasn’t a lie.

For a while all Lori did was stare blankly up at her, blinking every so often. As the little girl’s big, inquisitive eyes pierced deep into her soul, Amalia could feel a few beads of sweat begin to form in her forehead. She felt uncomfortable in her own skin under such intense scrutiny. 

“Ooooh, I see.” It took everything in her power not to slump forward and sigh in relief when Lori finally let the matter go with a shrug. “No offence, Lady Amalia, but Divine Dolls go through a lot of weird stuff.”

Amalia knew better than to pettily shoot back there was nothing weirder, or more nausea-inducing, than literally going through portals, especially when she was talking to a child. More so when said child adored her ever since she saved her from falling to the ground back in her first day of class. 

So instead she just shook her head in defeat, a small smile on her face as got up from the bench and bent down to be at the little girl’s eye-level. “I suppose we do, don’t we?”

“What are you doing here?” The kid queried almost before Amalia even had the chance to finish talking. 

Though surprised at first, the Divine Doll’s smile just grew fonder. If there was one thing she’d learned from going to Glip and Baltazar’s classes, that was that children were naturally curious and inquisitive creatures. Combined with the boundless energy so characteristic of youth, their ability to jump from one topic of conversation to the next was even greater than their gift at portal-jumping. 

So Amalia just took it all in stride. “I’m actually here with Yugo.” She gestured towards the king, whom Lori seemed to just notice was there. The doll could feel her heart melt at the awestruck look her friend’s little subjects regarded him with. “He had to run some errands and invited me along.”

If possible, the glimmer in the pigtailed Eliatrope only grew more intense. “Oh, so you guys are on a date?”

A furious flush coming to her cheeks and her mouth refusing to work properly at Lori’s brazen declaration, Amalia didn’t even have the time to explain the situation before a new voice chimed in. 

“Lori! Here you are! We were wondering what was taking you so long!” Cried a slightly older boy. Upon squinting her eyes a little at his rapidly approaching figure to get a better look, the doll soon realised it was none other than Jeré; his bangs covering his eyes and freckled face were unmistakable. 

It didn’t take long for Jeré to recognise her either. Despite being in the middle of running to catch up to his friend, the boy still skidded to a stop at the sight of the Divine Doll, the action so sudden the kids following close behind him didn’t even have time to properly stop before bumping into him and all being sent tumbling down. 

While Lori laughed uproariously at the boys’ own clumsiness, Amalia, though still amused by the scene, tried to have a little more tact and refrained herself to discreetly giggling behind her hand. Motioning her arms forward, she conjured up two thin yet sturdy vines from the ground to act as ropes and gently lift the kids from the heap on the floor. 

Even if she’d come to know most of the Eliatrope children from attending the same lessons as them, the truth was the Sadida Doll still didn’t know all of them. Those who were too young to go school remained in the village until they were old enough, and once they were of a certain age and had learned enough about wakfung, their history, and their culture, the older kids stopped going to class and started focusing on finding their own paths. 

That said, Amalia was still on pretty good terms with children from ages 5 to 12 or so. 

Unbeknownst to the doll and the children, one of the adults surrounding Yugo took notice of the pair of vines sprouting from seemingly out of nowhere and gestured at his nearest neighbour to check things out, which seemed to spark a chain reaction among their little group. 

But all Amalia could focus on was how adorably nervous the Eliatrope kids acted around her. Which came off as a bit of surprise, seeing as they wasted no time treating her like one of their own when they were in class. She vaguely remembered some of the children talking about how weird it was to see Masters Glip and Baltazar outside of class, so maybe this was the same?

“L-lady Amalia!” Jeré finally stuttered out, bringing a hand to play sheepishly with his bangs, a known tell of his from when he felt nervous. Usually he only really did it when his teachers asked him a question he hadn’t been paying attention to. “W-what a surprise! What… what are you doing here?”

But before the doll had a chance to respond, Lori intervened in the most embarrassing way possible, “Lady Amalia’s out on a date with King Yugo!”

If Amalia had been red before, now that she had several Eliatrope children staring back at her with shock and wonder in their eyes as they all asked them to confirm if what Lori had said was true she was blushing scarlet. Not even her darker skin tone could hide away her embarrassment. 

“Is that true?” Asked a little boy in a yellow onesie, the fact that she didn’t even know his name proved he had to be very young. 

“Are you guys really dating?” A girl a little younger than Jeré and with a bob cut pressed on. In her case, Amalia remembered her from class and her name was Maylin. 

“Of course they’re dating! Haven’t you seen the way King Yugo is always waiting for her at the end of class?” Lori stated matter-of-factly, causing the doll to send a silent prayer to her father to send a carnivorous plant to eat her whole and save her from this. 

Beyond praying to be kindly put out of her misery for the situation she found herself in, Amalia wasn’t quite sure what to do. Whenever she tried to raise her voice so it carried over theirs, the children only talked louder, drowning her out. But she didn’t want to shout, either. Otherwise they might think they were being scolded and there was nothing further from the truth. But she needed them to listen to her!

“Guys, guys, guys!” She finally said, a little louder than she had intended, but it did the trick as they were all watching her with rapt attention now. Somehow, several pairs of big brown eyes staring expectantly back at her was worse than having them ignore her in the first place, though. Still, gulping slightly, she pushed through. “Guys, Yugo and I aren’t on a date. He just wanted to show me around, that’s all.”

The doll had to admit it was kind of adorable how they all let out a series of disappointed whines at her explanation. And then Lori caught her eye by tugging at her wristband, looking like a kicked puppy, which in turn tugged at her heartstrings like a musician playing the violin. 

“So you’re not going to be our queen?”

Placing her hand on the girl’s hat and stroking it lovingly, Amalia chose her next words very carefully. “No, I don’t think so, Lori.”

“But why?” Jeré insisted, stepping closer to the doll even if doing so brought a blush to his freckled cheeks. “Don’t you like each other?”

“Oh, we like each other very much.” Amalia was quick to reassure them. She still couldn’t get their hopes up, though. “But as friends. We’re not on a date,” she told that part specifically to Lori, before addressing everyone else again, “we’re just hanging out.”

“But that doesn’t mean you two can’t fall in love one day.” Maylin countered with all the wisdom an 8-year-old could possess, her hands on her hips as she arched an eyebrow at the Divine Doll. “It’s in practically every good love story! First the boy and the girl start off as friends, then they fall in love and begin to date, and then they get married and start a family!”

“I thought most love stories were about love at first sight?” Jeré questioned, sceptical of his friend’s reasoning. 

But Maylin only rolled her eyes in annoyance. Leave it to a boy to try and oversimplify things. They just never got the matters of the heart. “Not all love stories have to be the same, Jeré.”

For some reason, as the kids discussed the inner workings and complexities of her and Yugo’s relationship and how it could take a more romantic turn, Amalia was reminded of the heat she felt on her face when she first met the Eliatrope King. If she closed her eyes and focused hard enough, she could still hear her own heart beating in her eardrums. To say his appearance had been striking, especially to a doll whose only contact with the opposite sex have been through her father and gods who treated her like a child, would be an understatement. 

Yugo was remarkably handsome, his lithe, athletic body only adding to his appeal, with a boyish quality that made him particularly endearing to Amalia. She’d squish his cheeks all day if he let her. And his eyes… Especially when they seemed to focus solely on her… They would gain this incredibly tender look as a small, sweet grin stretched over his features, softening them like butter.

For a moment she wished Yugo would look at her like she looked at him. Like she was something beautiful and worthy of admiration. 

But just as that train of thought appeared, it vanished as the doll got a hold of herself and focused on steering the conversation away from the topic of whether Yugo would make her his queen or not. 

(The answer was no, she’d known since she first arrived on Oma, but it might take the little ones a little longer to accept it). 

“Guys, it’s okay.” She told them, breaking up what would have soon escalated into a heated argument between the two eldest kids in the group. “Being friends with someone is just as important and being in love with them, even if it’s not the same thing. Don’t you think so?”

The little boy in the onesie—she’d have to learn his name soon—pulled a face, disgusted beyond belief. “Girls are gross! I-I-I I wanna play with my friends instead!”

“You’re such a baby.” Maylin said with a huff, crossing her arms over her little chest. 

“I-I I’m not! I’m a grown-up!” He protested with a pout that made it very difficult for Amalia not to just reach over and pinch his little cheeks as she gushed over how cute he was. 

She did, however, lean forward to pick him up and place him onto her lap gently when she noticed how his pout was slowly becoming a trembling lip and tears pooled at his eyes. “Hey, there. What’s your name?”

“B-Bobby.” He said between little hiccups. 

“That’s a very nice name.” Amalia told him gently as she rubbed soothing circles on his back, trying to help him calm down. “Don’t listen to Maylin, Bobby. You’re not a baby.”

“I-I know. I’m a grown-up!”

The doll just chuckled, “Not quite. But you are very big and strong, I’m sure.” Bobby didn’t say anything in turn, he just snuggled closer into Amalia’s chest. The Sadida Doll could already feel her heart puddle. As she rocked the little kid, she focused back on Maylin, whispering almost conspiratorially, “You’re very mature for your age, Maylin. But it takes boys a little bit longer to get there, so try to be patient with them, okay?”

Even though Maylin wasn’t exactly looking at her, for she felt embarrassed for accidentally causing Bobby to cry, she still nodded along to what Amalia said. She finally turned her head in surprise when the doll lovingly cupped her face and ran a thumb over her cheek, smiling softly at her. Slowly but surely, Maylin soon had a matching grin on her face. 

Despite everything, Lori still felt a little disappointed. So much so, she couldn’t prevent it from seeping into her words as she asked, “So, you and King Yugo…?”

“We’re very good friends.” Amalia told her kindly but with finality. 

“Yeah, maybe you should try and tell him that.” Maylin’s words drew everyone’s attention back to her, and she limited herself to smugly pointing to her right. 

Following her finger, the Divine Doll could feel her eyes widen and the bashful blush coming back at full force. At some point in time, they must have drawn the attention of the adults, who had all stopped trying to get a minute of Yugo’s time in exchange for staring fondly at the scene. More than one woman was clutching at her chest, while the mothers and soon-to-be mothers looked down at their own children and bloated bellies lovingly, while the men’s gazes, though still filled with love, held a prouder quality. 

But what made Amalia’s heart pitter-patter was the sight of Yugo, the same tender look on his face from whenever it was just the two of them gracing his features. And Amalia was still as close to figuring out what it all meant as she’d been the first day.

Yugo had heard a lot about how Amalia acted in class and how the kids reacted to her from Baltazar and Glip—to be perfectly honest, it’d come off as quite the shock to hear his ill-tempered brother saying anything positive about her, especially after being so reluctant to accept her in the first place. From what his brothers told him, the moment she walked into the room, the kids had been enthralled by her. Even the more mischievous and troublemaking ones quieted down to observe the Divine Doll or went out of their way to help her with something she didn’t understand or wasn’t familiar with. 

To say nothing of how they started treating her after she saved Lori from falling with her vines—the king couldn’t help but grimace upon realising he had yet to personally thank the doll for that—; in barely a few hours, Amalia had become the coolest thing since gobball stew! The kids genuinely adored her and she seemed to love them just as much in return.

But it was one thing to hear it all from others, and it was a very different thing to see it all for yourself. And if the fluttering inside his chest was any indication, nothing could have prepared him for the sight in the first place. 

At first he’d been taken aback by the way everyone seemed to gradually quiet down with their complaints and demands, all of them seemingly overtaken by something much more important. But the moment he saw what they were all looking at, Yugo had to admit they were probably right. 

The scene taking place right in front of them felt immensely more important than his many chores of the day. 

The Eliatrope King wouldn’t have been able to stop the warmth from spreading all over his chest even if he wanted to. There was just something in the way Amalia interacted with the children—lowering herself to their eye-level so they wouldn’t have to look up all the time, her voice as soft and velvety as a warm hug, her mere presence motherly enough to allow them to just melt into her embrace… 

And the kids all responded in kind, regarding Amalia with the same reverence and adoration a small child would use to gaze upon their mother. Technically speaking, she was an outsider, and yet the kids all loved her dearly already. 

It was simply too heartwarming for words. 

For a moment, a small, selfish part of Yugo wished he could see her like that every day. 

But before he had time to dwell on that, seeing both Amalia and the children turn around to look back at him broke him out of his stupor. 

Smiling softly at his youngest subjects, he couldn’t resist, “How’re you doing, guys? Are you having fun with Amalia?”

They all instantly responded with loud “Yeah!”s, raising their arms up as high as possible to emphasise their point.

“She’s so cool! She’s used her vines to help us get up earlier!” Maylin exclaimed. 

“She’s very nice… and pretty.” Bobby admitted, blushing slightly and hiding his face in the crook of Amalia’s neck, who just giggled at the compliment and his sudden bout of shyness. 

Yugo could only blink in confusion when Lori added, “Even if her Divine Doll stuff can be pretty weird, she’s always super fun!”

And yet that was nothing compared to his confusion when Jeré said, “Hey, Your Majesty. Can I ask you something?”

Yugo exchanged confused glances with Amalia, each of them silently asking the other what that could all be about. In the end, the king just shrugged. “Uh, sure. I don’t see why not.”

The smirk that drew itself on Jeré lips was sharper than a knife, not even his bangs could hide the dangerous glimmer in his eye. “Why haven’t you asked Amalia to be your queen yet?”

As Maylin and Lori squealed beside their friend and Bobby stuck out his tongue in disgust, the pair of friends briefly locked eyes… Before averting their gaze out of sheer embarrassment, their faces on fire at the boy’s bold question.

Willing his Mother to smite him with a wakfu-induced beam and put him out of his misery or something, all Yugo could come up with was to blurt out, “H-hey, Amalia!” He winced, that sounded a little more shrill than he had intended. “Um, it’s getting late. I-if that’s all for today,” he looked around his subjects, yet he didn’t give anyone the chance to speak, “I think we should better go to visit the clinic now. Y-you know, before it closes for the day.”

“Good idea!” She squeaked as she all but jumped to her feet (though not before carefully handing Bobby over to Jeré). “We’re burning daylight and we’ve still got much to do!”

As the doll rejoined her Eliatrope friend, the two of them refusing to look the other in the eye, they threw a hasty wave over their shoulders and in the Eliatropes’ direction and swiftly, if a little stiffly, left in the direction of Qilby and Shinonomé’s clinic. 

As they walked, the Eliatropes gathered, both old and young, exchanged perplexed yet knowing glances. 

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

Qilby and Shinonomé’s clinic was at the opposite end of the market street. Amalia would have gladly taken the chance to browse for something that’d catch her eye, but Yugo regrettably told her he didn’t just make up an excuse back with the kids and they were actually quite pressed for time. So the Divine Doll forced herself to remain focused and stare ahead of her, lest she risked becoming entranced by some trinket sold at the market.

To be perfectly honest, that had to be the greatest show of self-restraint she had or would ever display. Especially when the Eliatropes appeared to be gifted tailors, managing and selling such high quality fabrics. Maybe it had something to do with their hats and cloaks?

And to think Yugo and his siblings spent most of his time wearing the same thing. Such a waste. 

When they finally did arrive at the eldest siblings’ clinic, Amalia had to admit she had expected something a bit more… in tune with the rest of the village, perhaps? While dark, igneous rocks and cubical shapes reigned supreme everywhere else, adding a level of majesty to the rest of the town, the medical facilities consisted of a moderately-sized round hut made out of a white material she didn’t recognise, with a wooden door and window frames, and the roof looked like it was at the very least covered in hay. 

To say it clashed horribly with the more advanced, sleeker buildings she’d seen around town would be an understatement. 

Amalia almost jumped out of her skin when a kind voice spoke up behind her, “Looks can be deceiving, my Lady. While it might not seem like much, this is just what we need to treat our patients and conduct our experiments on medicine.”

Both Yugo and Amalia turned around to face the origin of the voice, but while the latter could only blink in surprise, the former’s face morphed into a pleased grin. “Shinonomé! It’s great to see you. I thought you’d be with Qilby, though?”

Shinonomé simply smiled. “We needed some more ingredients for our next batch of cough syrup, so I offered to go get them while we waited for you.” She then sent him a pointed look, though her smile remained in place. “Normally we would’ve waited until after your visit, but you were taking so long…”

At the light accusation in his sister’s words, Yugo rubbed the back of his head rather sheepishly, avoiding her eyes for a moment. “I know, I’m sorry. Something just came up…”

The dragoness’ look turned knowing, an eyebrow raised. “Let me guess, you got caught up in solving our subjects’ issues even outside of the throne room. Again.” She made sure to stress that last part. 

The king actually blushed at that. “I just can’t help it. You never know when it might be an actual emergency.”

“And yet I get the feeling it was nothing but another one of Mrs. Minervante’s many pointless complaints that she tends to dress up as matters of state.” Shinonomé rolled her golden eyes sarcastically. 

“I swear, that woman has a way to stare deep into your soul and get you to do exactly what she wants.” Yugo tried to defend himself. 

“Indeed.” His eyes widened slightly at his older sister seemingly agreeing with him. It didn’t last long, though. “It’s called guilt-tripping.”

“Hey, you never know when it might actually be important.” 

“Normally, you know it’s important when a guard bursts open the doors to the council room bearing grave news. But what do I know? I only remember things going exactly like that enough times, throughout multiple lifetimes, to make quite accurate statistics on the matter.”

Yugo’s expression immediately soured into a pouty frown when Qilby entered the conversation. For his part, the bespectacled Eliatrope simply ignored his younger brother and went over directly to his dragon twin, taking the basket from her arms. 

“Oh, Qilby!” Shinonomé exclaimed after politely thanking her brother for his help. “I thought we agreed you would stay inside to greet Yugo and Lady Amalia as I bought everything we need.”

“That’s true, but then I heard you and Yugo talk and, clearly, the wait was over.” He explained plainly, pushing his glasses up the bridge of his nose. “So I told myself, why wait when I could just come and greet you?” He raised a smug eyebrow in his king’s direction. “Especially when Lady Amalia has been so kind as to grace us today with her presence.”

At the sound of her name, Amalia blinked herself out of her stupor, only now beginning to register what was going on around her. If she were being honest, she had sort of blanked out at the sight of Shinonomé. She knew who she was, obviously, and she had even seen her in passing inside the palace halls, the two of them exchanging cordial greetings. But they had never really interacted beyond that. 

She had always found the dragoness to be striking, mainly because her physical appearance was certainly stunning while differing greatly from that of her fellow dragon siblings’. While most the the Eliatrope dragons chose to present themselves either in their full draconic form—like Efrim and Baltazar—, or opted for more humanoid ones—Grougaloragran was indiscernible from a human except for some key aspects and Phaeris was essentially a turquoise man with horns and wings—, Shinonomé’s preferred form was distinctively human, while also unmistakably draconic. 

In a way, she was the opposite of Adamaï, who looked like a dragon with human proportions. From her red scales going up and down her body, littered with golden markings and crowned by the small diamond on her forehead, to the four curved horns that sprouted from the sides of her head and curled back into her platinum blonde locks that she kept in a tight braid reaching down her lower back. There was also the simple, yellow tunic she donned mostly for the sake of modesty, rather than an actual need for covering herself up. 

All that combined with her golden, intelligent slitted eyes underlined her true nature: she might have preferred looking more humanoid than most of her siblings, but make no mistake, she was still very much a dragon in human form, and proud to be one too. 

So even though Amalia knew from Yugo that Shinonomé was actually one of his kindest siblings, she couldn’t help but feel intimidated in her presence. Technically, Qilby’s presence should have helped soothe her nerves, having met him before, but the strange feeling she got from him still manifested almost as strongly as the mysterious surge of energy she’d felt earlier. 

The fact that he was looking back at her, an eyebrow raised, didn’t help matters. 

“Oh…uh, um…” She so gracefully said, the overwhelming urge to smack herself taking over. “Um, thank you for having me today.”

Seeing Shinonomé’s smile soften at her made the doll feel a little better. “It’s our pleasure, my Lady. After all, we don’t get to do a grand tour of our clinic and explain what we do every day!”

“Right.” Amalia nodded, slowly becoming more comfortable. “Because your subjects already know all about it.”

“Well, they don’t know everything,” Qilby pointed out matter-of-factly, “seeing as they don’t have our prodigious memory, but yes.”

“Do you have to bring up your memory every single time, Qilby?” Yugo complained, rolling his eyes. 

“Seeing as Shinonomé and I are the only ones who seem to understand the true extent of our divine gift, then, yes, I believe I’m more than justified in bringing it up.” Qilby bit back bitterly, before turning his focus back on Amalia, his expression turning deceptively more polite. “It’s not easy having the best memory out of your entire family, you see.”

Just as Amalia was about to ask what the eldest Eliatrope meant by ‘divine gift’, his twin sister, who was already waiting for them at the door frame to their clinic, spoke up, “Qilby, Yugo, I’m sure Lady Amalia has better things to do than to listen to you bicker all day long.” Then, she sent a pointed look her king’s way, “And you know you have more pressing matters to attend to, like listening to our latest findings, for example.”

And just like that, Qilby’s entire disposition changed entirely, now carrying himself with much more dignity as he adjusted his glasses yet again. “You’re absolutely right, dear Sister. I, for one, can’t wait to explain everything we do to Lady Amalia. Who knows? Given her natural connection to nature, she might even be of help in turn.”

“Oh! Um, y-yeah. Sure! I’d love to help however I can…” the Sadida Doll replied, a little uneasily. 

“Then what are we waiting for?” Shinonomé asked no one in particular. She beckoned them to follow her right before walking inside their hut, with Qilby following suit. 

While Amalia still had her reservations, she instantly felt better when, once again, Yugo interlocked their arms and they took those steps towards the door together. 

Neither of them noticed Qilby watching everything from the window. 

Upon passing through the threshold to their clinic, Amalia had to admit that, despite her original reservations, she felt much better now, the interior of the building helping in putting her at ease. While not necessarily impressive as far as interior design went, the Eliatrope medical centre certainly held a lot of knowledge, a fact that was reflected almost in every corner of the hut. The walls were littered with shelves upon shelves, all of them holding countless little jars containing one medicinal remedy or the next. Some of them had powders, others herbs, and some even had colourful little capsules Amalia had never seen before, but that reminded her of candy. 

Located right beneath a large, circular windowpane on the other side of the room was a desk overflowing with papers and test tubes filled with what looked like the siblings’ latest research subject. Several intimidating-looking tools were scattered around the table, some of them looking not quite as harmless as others. A quick look to the right and through the not-fully-closed door revealed an examination table located right underneath a series of bright lights, surely to take a better look at whatever plagued whoever sat on top of it. 

But what Amalia appreciated the most out of the entire clinic was its greenery. Hanging from the ceiling and reaching all the way to the floor were several pots, all of them growing different medicinal plants. 

Unbidden, the doll didn’t think twice and reached out to gently touch one of the plants’ leaves, marvelling at its soft yet sturdy texture. As if on cue, it wrapped itself around her wrist, as if begging for more of her ministrations, causing the doll to giggle cutely at the display.

“Ah, you have a good eye, my Lady.” Qilby started, coming closer to stand by her side as she caressed the plant. “This little darling here is proving to be quite promising. It alone can help reduce acne, heal wounds, lighten blemishes, fight ageing—not like we need help with that, of course—,” he joked, earning himself a solidary giggle from his sister and a bored roll of his eyes from his brother, “and it’s all around a key ingredient in any good skincare routine and many remedies. We call it—.”

“Aloe vera.” Amalia accidentally interrupted as she nodded along, her eyes still fixed on the plant in front of her. 

The bespectacled Eliatrope visibly deflated at having his thunder stolen. “Well, we actually wanted to go for humectantis planta, but I suppose that works too…”

Ignoring his brother, Yugo’s eyebrows shot up slightly. “You know what it is?”

“Hm?” She looked back at him, her brow furrowed in confusion. Then, his words registered in her mind. “Oh! Yes, I know what it is. Although it’s the first time I actually see one with my own two eyes.”

“Then how could you tell it’s called aloe vera?” Shinonomé questioned kindly, intrigued. 

Amalia just shrugged, not seeing how it was a big deal. “I’m a Divine Doll, I was literally created to share Sadida’s strong connection with nature. I was born with an innate, intimate knowledge of all things plant-like.” For a moment, she remained quiet, seemingly thinking about something. Eventually, she added, almost like an afterthought. “I can probably recognise most plant-based poisons by smell alone.”

At her words, the eldest siblings just exchanged wide, impressed glances before focusing back on the Sadida Doll. 

“That’s… incredible!” Shininomé whispered, in awe. She walked a little bit closer to Amalia, placing a claw on her shoulder to get her attention. “Then perhaps you could help us with some of our projects and experiments.”

Qilby opened his mouth to speak, but before he could even utter a word, Yugo, without missing a beat, shut him down with a firm, “You’re not going to run any experiments on her.”

Closing his mouth shut in annoyance, the eldest Eliatrope huffed. “I’ll never understand this family’s aversion to progress…” He grumbled childishly with a roll of his eyes. 

Noticing the way the doll stared at the men’s conversation uneasily, Shinonomé took it upon herself to ease the tension. “Don’t pay them any mind.” She waved the whole thing off with a motion of her claw, positioning herself in between her brothers and Amalia’s line of vision for good measure. “No matter how old they actually are, those two are always bickering like children.” She leaned in to whisper in Amalia’s ear, “Trust me, I would know.”

“Correction, dear sister,” Qilby piped up, startling Amalia by appearing on her other side seemingly out of nowhere—it wouldn’t be until later that day that she would rationalise he’d most likely opened a portal. “We would know. In fact, the one time Yugo and I didn’t bicker was back in our 119th reincarnation as we were more focused on other matters.”

“Oh, yes. Our 119th reincarnation.” The red dragoness sighed wistfully. “The only time in my life where I’ve known true peace, who could forget?”

“Unfortunately, everyone but us.” Qilby joked on again, jerking a thumb Yugo and Amalia’s way as he did a poor attempt at covering his mouth with his other hand so he wouldn’t be heard. 

“I don’t need to remember everything to know you’ve overused that joke.” Yugo deadpanned. Wasn’t he supposed to be there today for a reason? What was with the pointless small talk? If they had something to show him, they should get on with it!

For her part, all Amalia could do was look from one Eliatrope to the other, desperate for some answers but not sure where to get them. For a moment she even sent a questioning look the aloe vera’s way, but even through her deep connection to plant life she could feel it was about as lost as she felt. She could’ve sworn she even saw it shrug helplessly. 

Luckily for her, it wouldn’t be long until Shinonomé took notice of her confusion and took pity on her. Amalia couldn’t help but let out a small gasp of surprise when she felt the dragoness’ tail snake around her shoulders—that was new, right? In all the time she’d known the eldest dragon not once had Shinonomé presented herself with a tail. Then again, dragons were notorious shapeshifters, so she supposed she could do whatever she pleased with her physical form. 

“I’m sure you must have a lot of questions, Lady Amalia.” She started, leaning her head down slightly so she could be eye-level with the doll. “If you permit me, I would like to be able to answer your questions while Yugo and Qilby discuss what we invited him over for.”

Amalia’s whole face lit up. “I’d love that! But…” Then, her expression dimmed slightly as her eyes travelled from her friend to his brother. 

Sensing what she might have been worrying about, Yugo was the first to speak. He closed the distance that Qilby had inadvertently created by positioning himself between his king and their guest when Amalia first took notice of the aloe vera plant. 

He took one of her hands in his. “Hey, don’t worry. That’s just what siblings do; we bicker all the way to Shukrute and back, but at the end of the day, we always have each other’s backs.” He reassured her, having sensed the Divine Doll felt uncomfortable with the idea of leaving him alone with his brother when at first glance they didn't look all that close. “Besides, I’m actually here to hear him out anyway. So you don’t have anything to worry about; I’ve already come prepared to deal with him.”

Yugo said that last part almost like a conspiratorial secret, lowering his voice exaggeratedly yet not enough to prevent his siblings from actually listening in on their conversation. The sweet gesture was enough to make Amalia giggle cutely at his antics. Close to them, Shinonomé looked on, fondly, while Qilby’s expression remained unreadable. 

Now that he mentioned it, Amalia supposed Yugo had a point. While she hadn’t been in Sadida’s Dimension long enough to incorporate herself into her sisters’ group and study their dynamics, she had to admit even dolls weren’t exempt from childish or even petty behaviour from time to time. She still remembered their conversation from back on her birthday—they got into a little squabble over whether she’d be pretty enough for Yugo or not. 

A painful pang resounded in her chest at the memory, but she shrugged it off. It was probably nothing. 

So with a nod and a smile as she looked up at Yugo, she said, “Okay, then I guess I’ll see you in a bit?”

“Yeah, see you in a bit.” Yugo smiled back. 

Despite what they said, the two of them remained locked in a staring contest and close together, Amalia’s hand still in Yugo’s. Either neither of them had any intention of pulling away, or they had completely forgotten they were supposed to part ways, albeit temporarily. 

While Qilby rolled his eyes dramatically at the scene, Shinonomé did her best to hide her giggles behind her hand. As sweet as this all was, they were burning daylight and there was still a lot to do. It was time she threw her weight around as the eldest daughter.

She snaked her long, ruby-like tail around Yugo’s waist and gently but firmly pulled him back, separating him from Amalia and causing both to let out a loud, surprised yelp and a small gasp, respectively. Then, she all but threw her younger brother into her twin’s awaiting arms. As expected, the moment Yugo made contact with Qilby, he untangled himself from his hold and took a few steps back, his palms raised up as a silent warning for his brother to stay back. 

As the Divine Doll could only look on and try to make sense of what had just happened, stupefied, the red dragoness placed a hand against her back and motioned for her to take a seat in front of their cluttered desk. “If you will, My Lady.”

“Oh!” Sending a wayward glance at the chair behind her, Amalia eventually did as she was told. 

“Well, looks like the girls are all settled down for the time being.” Qilby stated as he placed a hand over Yugo’s shoulder. For his part, there was no way for the Eliatrope King to play off the pout forming on his lips. “How about you and I do the same, hm, Little Brother?”

With the kind of long-suffering sigh only someone with years upon years of experience with dealing with impossible siblings could exhale, Yugo gave in, motioning for Qilby to lead the way. “I’m here for a reason, aren’t I?”

Qilby smirked. “Trust me, you won’t be disappointed.”

And with that they moved towards another room separated from where Amalia and Shinonomé were seated by a thin curtain. The doll tried leaning over to try and see if she could make out anything, but the dragoness’ voice brought her back to the World of Twelve. 

She motioned to her to take the floor. “Ask away, Lady—.”

She was rudely interrupted by Qilby loudly asking, “So, how’s your denial going on for you, Yugo?”

“For the last time, Qilby! I—am—not—in—denial!”

Yugo’s response had enough of an edge to make a Sram feel embarrassed over their own knife collection, their blades dull and harmless in comparison. 

One of her pointy ears perking up at the sound of her brothers’ squabbles, Shinonomé simply shook her head exasperatedly. However, upon noticing Amalia’s incessant blinking their way from the corner of her slitted eye, she realised it was up to her to put out any possible fires. 

Which was ironic, given her species and their natural talents.

Nevertheless, with a kind, patient smile, she placed her hand over Amalia’s fist on her lap, causing her to snap up her gaze towards her, “Don’t worry. They’re always like this. As soon as Qilby gets to tell Yugo about our progress, things will go much more smoothly between the two of them.”

“I-I see…”

“Now, I believe you have some questions of your own?”

Straightening up in her seat at the straightforward question, Amalia nodded. “That’s right. Despite my lessons with Glip and Baltazar, it appears I still have much to learn about you and your people.”

“That is to be expected.” Shinonomé admitted, using her tail to bring a steaming cup of some kind of beverage to her lips. It appeared as if she was constantly shapeshifting in and out of that form whenever it was more convenient. “After all, you have only been living here with us for a few months. You can’t possibly be expected to gather millennia-worth of knowledge in such a short amount of time.”

“I know,” the doll agreed. “But I should still learn as much as I can while I’m here.”

The dragoness, who had had her eyes closed as she enjoyed her drink, lazily opened one golden orb at that declaration. Intrigued and thinking back to her youngest dragon brother, she ventured, “Why do you say that? Do you intend to leave us soon?”

The question startled Amalia, who, jolting in her seat, immediately raised her palms up in defence. “What? No, of course not! Unless the Council tells me to, I have no intention of leaving any time soon. It’s just that since I’m expected to be living here from now on, I suppose I should be knowledgeable on the history of what’s to be my home, right?”

“Indeed. You’re supposed to be staying with us for quite a long time.” Shinonomé limited herself to saying, though her voice had a certain cadence Amalia couldn’t quite decipher. She was brought out of her musings when she went on to say, “Although, I am curious.”

“About what?”

“About Inglorium.” She explained, taking the Divine Doll aback. “What would happen if Sadida were to call you back? Would you return? And can you even return on your own?”

At first all Amalia could do was blink, caught off-guard by the dragoness’ line of questioning. Speaking of, weren’t they supposed to be answering her questions? In the end, however, she chose to shrug it off as Shinonomé simply being curious for her origins, as she said; after all, they hadn’t got the chance to interact much, so she couldn’t possibly know as much as Yugo did from all their conversations at her balcony. 

Allowing a kind smile to curl at her lips now that she felt a little more at ease, the doll went on to explain, “Given I’m a Divine Doll and we’re expected to remain alongside our creator, if Father were to call for me, I would have no choice but to go back to his dimension, for it would certainly be for something important. Much like our being sent away from his side in the first place means we’ve been entrusted with a very important mission, such as the creation of the Dofus.”

Unbeknownst to the doll, from her leaned back position on her chair, the eldest dragon raised an imperceptible eyebrow at her explanation. Some of the things Amalia was saying she already knew from Qilby and his inquisitive mind, but it never hurt to have both sides of the story. 

Ignoring her conversational partner’s inner thoughts, Amalia went on, “As for how I would get back, I actually can go back whenever I want. It’s not like I’m trapped here.” She snickered at the mere thought. 

That got Shinonomé’s attention, her tail flicking in interest as she straightened in her seat. 

“Is that true?” She questioned. “You can return to Inglorium whenever you please?”

“That’s right…” It was Amalia’s turn to raise an eyebrow, though hers was confused. “I assumed you all knew? After all, when Yugo told me he couldn’t take me as his bride, I was ready to return home.”

“I can very much assure you we were not aware of that fact.” Shinonomé shook her head. 

“Oh. Well, in that case… Yes, me and my sisters can return home whenever we desire. Just like the gods have a way to send us to the World of Twelve, they also have a way to retrieve us.”

“Is that a common ability among the twelve gods’ divine children?”

“No, I don’t think so.” Amalia replied with a shake of her head, her voice suddenly small. The thought of her fellow demigods immediately brought to mind memories of the banquet at Bonta, more importantly the Ecaflip siblings’ tales about their father’s tendencies and Harebourg’s hatred for his own. When she opened her mouth to continue her explanation, she had to speak through the lump in her throat. “Despite everything, we have different origins—my sisters and I were born from Sadida himself and inhabit Inglorium as a result, the Twelvian demigods have stronger ties to this world due to their mortal blood; they aren’t granted access until they pass on.”

The two of them remained quiet after that. Amalia seemed to be lost in her thoughts, gazing down at her fiddling hands on her lap with a faraway look, while Shinonomé chose to let her be for the time being. For whatever reason, the topic of the other demigods seemed to have a certain effect on her; the ruby dragoness could only guess it might have something to do with her experience in Bonta. Qilby had giddily told her all about the drama between her, Yugo, and that Xelor count, and she’d had to reprimand him for finding glee in it—regardless of how juicy gossip it proved to be, that was still no excuse to thrive on such unfortunate events, especially when they’d clearly shaken both their brother and his guest to the core. 

After a while, she began to feel guilty for accidentally directing the topic to that, especially when she was supposed to be the one answering Amalia’s questions, not the other way around. So, with an encouraging smile, she leaned forward in her seat and once again placed a hand over the doll’s to get her attention. As soon as her brown eyes met her golden ones, Shinonomé said:

“Speaking of demigods, I suppose you must have a lot of questions of your own about us Primordial Eliatropes and dragons.”

And just like that, it was as if their previous conversation had never happened, for Amalia was all excited smiles and starstruck eyes again. 

“Now that you mention it,” she started, leaning back in her seat and absentmindedly picking one of the jars from a nearby shelf, examining it in her hand. “I guess I am curious about a lot of things about you. Especially since you are demigods as well.”

“Oh! Did Yugo tell you that, or was it Glip and Baltazar?” Shinonomé raised an eyebrow.

“Neither, actually.” She replied instead. “That’s something I’ve always known. Father did tell me Yugo, and by extension all of you, is a demigod and that’s why He sent me to him. For only another immortal being was truly worthy of remaining by a demigod’s side.”

“I see. Your father seems to be very well-informed.” The dragoness pointed out, to which the doll nodded. 

“Well, he is a god.” She calmly reminded her. “He and His equals have been around since the birth of the Krosmoz, so it’s only natural He’d be knowledgeable on a lot of things.”

“That’s true.” The dragoness acquiesced. “What else do you know about us?”

This time, Amalia could only shrug. “Not much, truth be told.” She placed the jar with the medicine back where it was before focusing back on Shinonomé. “I know the basics? Like the nature of your powers—the fact that though your primary ability is creating portals, you can use your wakfu for so much more—, the fact that you’re descended from both the Great Goddess Eliatrope and the Great Dragon, the fact that you reincarnate, and… That’s pretty much it.”

While Amalia listed off the things she knew about their people, Shinonomé simply nodded along, her head resting over her intertwined hands on her lap as she leaned forward in her seat. Straightening her posture back up, she flicked her long, blonde braid and brushed a strand of hair behind one of her horns before saying anything. 

“That is all correct. Although I believe I should point out that, while our people are naturally long-lived, it’s only us, the Council of Six that reincarnate.” She corrected, before adding. “It’s not an ability you see every day.”

“I know.” Amalia agreed, causing the eldest sister to tilt her head to the side in a silent encouragement for her to elaborate on that. “As far as I know, out of all the twelve gods’ children, only Ecaflip demigods reincarnate, and they only get nine lives.” She locked eyes with Shinonomé, her brown gaze intense. “But from what I’ve heard Qilby say now and then, I suppose that’s nothing compared to how many times you reincarnate.”

“As I said, we’re very long-lived.” Shinonomé replied simply, bringing her cup to her lips and taking a sip, only this time she used her hands to do it. “As our birth is directly linked to the Eliatrope Dofus and our race’s stability, ours is an endless cycle.”

“Eliatrope Dofus…?” Amalia trailed off, having latched onto that fact. Unfortunately for her curiosity, Shinonomé seemed to be done with the subject, for she immediately and expertly redirected the conversation. 

“So, do you have any specific questions you’d like to ask?”

For a moment, Amalia considered bringing up what she’d said about the Eliatrope Dofus, but hesitated. The way she changed the subject meant it was something she clearly didn’t intend to discuss further, and the last thing she needed was to offend or, worse, anger her host. So she chose to let the matter go. 

She could always ask Yugo later. After all, he’d been much more open ever since their return from Bonta. 

Her mind made-up, instead she asked, “What do you mean when you talk about your special gifts?”

Shinonomé’s eyes widened for a fraction of a second. Clearly, she hadn’t been expecting that question. 

“Haven’t Glip and Baltazar covered that in their lessons?” She queried, genuinely curious. Her intrigue only grew when all Amalia could do was nod. 

“They have, but they never really went any deeper than that.” The doll explained. “All I know is that the members of the Council of Six were gifted with special abilities meant to lead their people. But that’s about it.”

“So you don’t know what our gifts entail.” Shinonomé concluded, to which Amalia shook her head. With a sigh, she let her mind wander to centuries upon centuries of memories. After a beat of silence where the Divine Doll waited patiently, she finally spoke. “As you said, they’re essentially natural skills and abilities meant to serve our people. For example, Mina and Phaeris were gifted with unparalleled wisdom they use to solve whatever conflict might arise within our subjects, meaning they’re natural-born diplomats and mediators.

“As you’ve already experienced first-hand, Glip and Baltazar are unrivalled teachers, with a natural talent to share our history and customs and mould young minds into the next generation of Eliatropes. On the other hand, a simple look around the palace and the village will be able to tell you Chibi and Grougaloragran’s strength lies in their ingenuity and brains; they’re brilliant scientists responsible for most of our kingdom’s greatest achievements. 

“Nora and Efrim, as the youngest ones, are tasked with the unique duty to be the joy-bringers of our people.” Privately, eyebrows shooting up at the revelation, Amalia couldn’t help but question her words. Try as she might to picture it, she just couldn’t see someone as jaded and menacing as Efrim as the one responsible for bringing joy to his subjects. 

As if reading her thoughts, Shinonomé smirked. “Don’t judge a book by its cover, my Lady. We’ve all been going through… changes.” She eventually decided, her words enigmatic and mysterious. Once again, despite her curiosity, the doll had the feeling she wouldn’t get a definite answer on what she meant even if she asked. 

So she settled for the next best thing nagging at her. “What about Yugo?” After a beat where Shinonomé’s smirk only widened, knowingly, she rushed out to add, “A-and, Adamaï, of course!”

The eldest sister chuckled at her slip-up. “Of course.” Taking a deep breath, she reclined back in her chair, though she raised a claw as she spoke. “As I’m sure you already know, Yugo and Adamaï are defined by their sense of adventure.” The doll nodded, remembering their conversation from their little escape. “That’s because they represent that aspect of our people, alongside our courage, which is also why, no matter the reincarnation, they’re always chosen as our people’s protectors.”

“‘Protectors’?” Amalia repeated, raising an eyebrow at that. “Isn’t Yugo the Eliatrope King?”

“That’s right, and that is partly because of his role in protecting our race.”

“What’s the other factor?” The doll questioned, causing the dragoness to chuckle once again. 

“I see nothing gets past you.” She told her teasingly. Then, she revealed, “The other factor is Yugo’s very own gift; he has dragon blood running through his veins.”

If possible, that only served to confuse Amalia further. 

“I… I don’t think I understand.” She admitted. “Aren’t you all descended from the Great Dragon? Surely that must mean you all have dragon blood!”

“Yes and no.” Shinonomé told her calmly. “As each set of twins is composed of an Eliatrope and a dragon, each of us represents an aspect of our divine parents. The Eliatropes are closely connected to our mother while sharing a certain bond with our father, whereas us Eliatrope dragons follow the opposite principle. Yugo is an exception, since, despite being an Eliatrope, his connection to our father is stronger than the rest of our siblings. Hence, his dragon blood.”

“I see…” Amalia murmured, lowering her head to her lap as she processed the newfound information. 

“Efrim is an exception too, as a matter of fact.” That caused the doll’s head to snap back up in surprise. “Despite being an Eliatrope dragon, his connection to our mother is the strongest. Which, much like Yugo’s case, comes with certain unique traits.”

“And what kind of unique traits Yugo possesses?” Amalia tilted her head, choosing to focus on her friend rather than on the one member of the Council she still didn’t feel welcomed by. “What does having dragon blood mean for him?”

“That, Lady Amalia, is the reason why he is such a powerful warrior.” Shinonomé revealed, causing the doll’s eyes to widen as realisation dawned on her. “I don’t know if you’re aware of this, but dragons can withstand incredible amounts of punishment and damage, which is why Yugo has so much stamina and can endure things that would kill any mortal in seconds. In other words, the reason he is our protector alongside Adamaï is because he will not hesitate to go down fighting for us, and it takes a lot before he is truly defeated.”

While she spoke, the dragoness noted some papers in dire need to be organised from the corner of her slitted eye. Frowning slightly at the sight, she picked them up and leafed through them in case any of the documents were important, before neatly piling them up on the table again upon realising they could wait. As she did that and took notice of the Sadida Doll’s awed expression, she eventually added, almost as an afterthought. 

“Of course, such power does have its downsides, too.”

Amalia perked up at that, curious. “What do you mean?”

But Shinonomé limited herself to raising a hand in her direction. “I’m afraid that’s for Yugo to share and for him to share alone, my Lady.” She offered her a kind smile nonetheless. “But worry not, you seem to be so close, there is no doubt in my mind he will tell you if you ask.”

The doll couldn’t help but deflate slightly at that. At Shinonomé’s words she’d grown really worried over whatever could have been troubling Yugo because of his unique physiology, so she’d desperately wanted to know more. To find out if there was anything she could do to alleviate the burden. But, to her chagrin, the ruby-red dragoness was right—she shouldn’t stick her nose into things that weren’t really her business. If she really wanted to know, she’d have to ask Yugo himself. 

With a sigh, she focused her attention back on his sister. “So, what about you and Qilby? What’s your special gift?”

In an instant, as she reclined back in her chair, har claws on her lap as she stared up at the ceiling, Shinonomé’s expression clouded over with feelings Amalia couldn’t even begin to describe, the late evening dying rays coming from the windows casting shadows over her draconic face that spoke of a weariness like no other. One that simply couldn’t be put into words. All the doll knew was that her golden eyes now shone with a certain sadness, that of someone who’d lived for far too long and yet nowhere near enough. 

“In order to preserve our people’s history and teachings, Qilby and I were granted a prodigious memory. We remember everything.”

Amalia waited for her to elaborate on that, but when she didn’t, she couldn’t keep herself from letting out a disappointed, “Wait, that’s it? You guys just have a good memory?”

“Not quite.” Unperturbed by her reaction, the dragoness raised one claw and wagged one finger in the air in a chiding motion. “As I said, we don’t have a ‘good’ memory; we have a prodigious memory. We remember everything.”

“Yeah, you already said that…”

She finally leaned forward to face her, and though the easy smile remained on her face, the Divine Doll couldn’t help but feel it now possessed a dangerous sharpness. “Lady Amalia, when I say ‘everything’, I truly do mean everything. Unlike our siblings, who essentially start over upon every reincarnation, my twin brother and I remember every single detail of each and every single one of our lifetimes. We can never forget.”

Amalia’s eyes widened and her jaw dropped in silent realisation. Suddenly it made much more sense that Qilby was always bringing up randomly numbered lifetimes, as well as those things he’d said previously that evening. He wasn’t just being his usual eccentric self, but referencing actual events that happened long ago and nobody else but him and his twin sister remembered. 

“That’s… That’s a lot…” The Sadida Doll whispered, her arms resting on either side of her seat and her eyes fixed on the floor as her brain tried to process this new piece of information. Finally, she tentatively raised her head to stare Shinonomé in the eye. “And all so you can record and keep your people’s entire history?”

The eldest sister hummed in response with a nod of her head. 

Amalia allowed a tentative smile to curl at the corner of her lip. “That’s… incredible, actually. I can’t imagine what kind of immense honour and pride that must be for you and Qilby, Shinonomé.”

For reasons Amalia couldn’t comprehend, Shinonomé smiled back at her, although her eyes betrayed a deep sadness. “Trust me, Lady Amalia, it has its own downsides, too.”

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

Shortly after their conversation, Qilby and Yugo had returned to their side, although while the eldest brother looked quite pleased, a satisfied smirk on his lips, his king appeared far more weary, his dark brown eyes conveying a deep conflict. The moment she took notice of how tired he looked, Amalia was up on her feet and beside Yugo, fussing over his well-being. 

Smiling softly if a little bit tiredly at her ministrations, the young monarch placed his hand on top of the mahogany one checking for signs of fatigue on his arm, causing the doll to halt in what she was doing and stare back at him with the softest blush on her cheeks. Now that he had her attention, Yugo made sure to emphasise he was fine, just fatigued from the day’s events. 

It was probably out of concern for him that Amalia simply nodded when he suggested they returned to the palace, rather than complain over not getting to explore much that day.

After accompanying their guests to the door to bid them goodbye, Shinonomé held both of Amalia’s hands in her claws and invited her to visit whenever she felt like it; that way they could talk some more and the dragoness would try to answer all her questions. Meanwhile, a smug-looking Qilby slid up beside Yugo, and pointedly reminded him to keep in mind what they’d been talking about. 

And so, with a terse nod from their brother and a cheery wave from the Divine Doll by his side, the two of them walked out of the door. As the two turned their backs on the clinic, they failed to see how Qilby’s pleasant expression soured into a sombre frown as he leaned against the doorframe, watching them walk away. 

As soon as their retreating figures disappeared into the distance, he spoke up, “I don’t like this.”

Back inside the clinic, Shinonomé was busying herself with cataloguing their jars and their respective contents. As she wrote ‘powdered ginger’ down on their inventory, without even turning back, she said, “I know, Qilby. But we must not do anything rash.”

“More rash than letting that doll into our lives?” He countered, looking at her from over his shoulder. “One thing is letting the gods do all the dirty work for us and get their followers to let us be, and another very different thing is rooting ourselves to this place like a Sadida’s precious trees!”

“Except we have yet to gain the Twelvians’ trust, Brother.” Shinonomé reminded him pointedly. She examined their notes on the new medicine they were developing, leafing through the pages experimentally. “You said it yourself, that banquet at Bonta was only the beginning. There is still much to be done before we can confidently say the world leaders have accepted us.”

“You should have seen them, my dear Shinonomé. Their feigned kindness was so transparent, they might as well have been wearing glass masks!” The bespectacled Eliatrope scoffed in disgust, thinking back to that day’s events—when you had a memory like his, every memory assimilated into a thought and every thought became an everlasting memory. “However, at this rate, that little rag doll is going to ruin everything regardless of the Twelvians’ opinion of us. And that’s without taking into account what the gods might have sent her here for!”

At that, his twin sister finally stopped what she was doing and went to join him at the door frame. She placed her claws on his shoulders to rub his arms in an attempt to comfort him as she leaned closer. 

“If the gods have an ulterior motive for having sent her here, I doubt even she is aware of their plans. She could’ve returned at any time, yet chose to remain here with us.” She breathed, before proceeding to share with her brother what the Sadida Doll had revealed to her that same evening. 

If possible, Qilby’s frown only deepened. That couldn’t be good for them. 

“Either way, that could still pose a problem for us, especially if Yugo were to find out she is innocent in the gods’ scheming.”

“That’s true. Our brother could take that as a sign that she is not like her creator and his allies.” Shinonomé concurred. 

Qilby clicked his tongue in distaste. “Our brother’s little flower is proving to be more troublesome than we thought.” He mused aloud, his voice taking on a darker edge. “If she truly is innocent in all of this, that will only make convincing Yugo to leave this miserable rock all the harder.”

“Not necessarily,” Shinonomé was quick to point out. “For all we know, he might just choose to take her with us.”

But Qilby just shook his head ruefully. “Come on, Shinonomé, we don’t need to remember every single lifetime to know that’s not what Yugo would do. Especially when little Amalia seems so close to her daddy and sisters.”

As much as she hated to admit it, her twin had a point. 

“I know.” She let out a heavy sigh. “Yugo would never willingly separate a family unless that was what the other person truly desired.”

“We must face it, Shinonomé,” Qilby started, bringing his hands to his back and clenching his fists so tight they turned white. “Yugo's growing attachment to his precious flower spells trouble for our plans. It’s all a matter of time before Amalia’s presence becomes a defining factor in his decision to remain on this worthless rock, when we should be soaring the stars as Mother and Father intended!”

Sensing how her twin brother was about to lose his temper, Shinonomé rushed to snake her tail around his shoulders in a comforting gesture. The last thing they needed was for his outbursts to draw undesired attention. 

“Worry not, Brother. We both know Yugo’s greatest enemy is himself. He always gets in the way of his own happiness.” With a smirk, she turned him around to face him, grabbing him by the arms. “Before we know it, his own doubts and insecurities will have driven Lady Amalia away, and nothing will stand in the way of our plans.”

And just like that, the smirk was back on Qilby’s lips. 

“You always know just what to say, dear Sister.”

Her own smirk grew, showing her sharp fangs. “When you remember every single course of action ever taken, it’s practically impossible not to be able to predict the outcome of things.”

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

By the time they left the Eliatrope clinic, the sun was beginning to set, casting long shadows over the path leading to the main square as the sky tinted itself in pastel pinks that eventually gave way to soft purples and dark blues. The setting sun was also the sign every single vendor had been waiting for to pack their things and close shop for the day. 

As she walked down that path alongside Yugo, wherever Amalia looked all she could see were Eliatropes storing away their products and closing up their stands, right before disappearing into their own portals, no doubt going back to their own homes. 

She couldn’t help the small, wistful sigh that escaped her lips at the sight. Even though she understood Yugo had mostly invited her so she’d get to see the village while he took care of his duties for the day, the Divine Doll still found herself wishing they’d had more time to actually explore the town. The more her eye wandered around, the more she was sure there was to see. 

As if reading her thoughts, Yugo’s voice by her side startled her, “I’m sorry we didn’t get to see much today, Amalia. I promise, I’ll bring you again so you can visit the town properly soon enough.”

And just like that, the soft grin was back on her face at his thoughtfulness. 

“Thank you, Yugo. I’d like that very much.” She told him honestly, before trying to lighten up the mood. “But don’t worry! Even if we couldn’t exactly explore as much as I would’ve liked, I still had a lot of fun today. And I got to see the Eliatrope village, didn’t I?” She winked at him at that last part. 

With a chuckle at her antics, the king shook his head fondly. “What am I going to do with you?”

“Hopefully take me out properly next time.” She shot back in mock haughtiness, without missing a beat. 

The two of them kept their composure for all about two seconds before they burst out laughing, unknowingly coming to stand closer to each other as they held onto each other for support. Amidst their half-hearted teasing and jokes, something shining from behind the Eliatrope King caught Amalia’s eye. 

“Oh?” Squinting her eyes at the sight, the doll gently moved past Yugo and towards the direction of the faint glimmer she’d seen. Before she knew it, she was standing in front of a jewellery stand, its owner—a grandfatherly Eliatrope with a bushy, greying beard that hid away most of his face—was in the process of closing for the day. 

Still, he perked up at the sight of his king and the famous Sadida Doll sent to him perusing his products. 

With a smile, he stopped what he was doing to tend to their needs, rubbing his hands together. “You have a good eye, my Lady. I don’t mean to brag, but many people would like to own a piece of jewellery made by Old Biju himself. After all, no two are the same.”

“Really?” Amalia blinked, surprised. “Don’t you have several pieces of the same model?”

“Afraid not, my Lady.” Old Biju just shook his head with a smile. “You see, I pride myself in the originality and uniqueness of my work.” He gestured at the few remaining accessories he still had on display. “While I always have some pieces out so my clients can have an idea of what I’m capable of, my true talent lies in creating their vision.”

“What do you mean by that?” The doll was mesmerised, her brown eyes shining in amazement.

His smile just grew wider. “I specialise in crafting personalised accessories, my Lady. You won’t see two earrings, rings, necklaces or any other sort of jewellery coming from my shop that look even remotely alike.” He picked one of the earrings he had on display and presented it for the doll to see. “All my clients have to do is tell me what they have in mind and I craft it from scratch.”

“Mr. Biju, that’s amazing!” Amalia exclaimed, clasping her hands together. By her side, Yugo grinned at her reaction. Sometimes it was easy to forget that everything he took for granted because he already knew about it was completely new and mind-blowing for her. 

The old Eliatrope chuckled, pleased as punch at bringing a smile to the doll’s face. “I’m afraid I must go now.” He jerked a thumb over his shoulder, in no particular direction. “My wife is waiting for me at home, and my son will be over at any minute to leave the kids with us while he and his own wife enjoy a night out. But how about you think about something you’d like and come over some other time with your proposal? I’d be honoured to accept a commission from you.”

“You really mean that?!” Amalia exclaimed, her grin blinding. But then, as realisation hit her, it dimmed a little, her voice more timid as she said, “Oh, but, I don’t think I could actually pay you for your service…”

“None of that!” Biju gently silenced her by raising a hand. “If it’s for you, it’s on the house.”

“Oh, I… that’s very kind of you, but I don’t think I can accept that.”

“Nonsense!” He shook his head vehemently. “Anything to make our king happy, and you certainly make him happy.” Seeing the way both their faces coloured at his light teasing, he couldn’t help but chuckle knowingly. “I insist, my Lady, it would be my honour. Unfortunately, I really must go now.”

“Right.” Amalia nodded, before waving him goodbye alongside Yugo. “See you soon, Mr. Biju!”

“Likewise, Lady Amalia! I look forward to working with you!” The old Eliatrope waved back before focusing back on his tasks. 

But as Amalia went on ahead, happily reminiscing on the day and already making plans about their next adventure together—hopefully another visit to town where she’d get to commission some accessory from the kindly Eliatrope she’d just met—, the Divine Doll failed to see how her dear friend’s eyes remained between the little stand they’d just been at before lingering on her. 

A determined grin graced Yugo’s features as he made up his mind. 

[untitled-writing-projects]

Today's lore tidbit!

The XCP-4 Dreadnought (Experimental Cannon Platform) has been an idea floated by the navy for a long time, but it's been put in development hell since the change of tactics that de-prioritized railguns. Despite what its detracors say, there's merit to the craft and it has proven itself at least once.

The weapons, mounted on a modified battleship chassis, are somewhat of a blend of missiles and railguns. A multi-stage projectile the size of a bus is fired by a conventional, if quite large railgun. Within the projectile is a simple chemical propellant designed to arc it. It uses a stage to shed the hot external metal from the railgun, and the propellant is cool enough that it can't be easily targeted. It uses external guidance, both as a cost-saving measure and to further lower its radar return.

Mock battles have shown its armament to be too slow and finnicky to engage smaller craft, but it has such a long effective range that it can engage battleships quite effectively.

There are currently two constructed, and are still trying to find their niche. The massive expense it takes to maintain one, along with the absurdly expensive ammo, means it doesn't have much of a place in normal fleet use.

[deusvervemakesgames]

Project RBH Devlog 0072

Sorry that this week’s update was late; I was busy yesterday and then forgot that I hadn’t done it yet.

I suppose I can continue talking theory regarding the use of raw damage as an upgrade option in this game.

Dealing more damage is always good. Shocking I know. But this actually complicates many facets of game design. For example, in a turn-based RPG, there is the classic ability that temporarily buffs yourself or weakens the enemy. Pokemon in particular has dozens if not hundreds of moves for specifically that. But, hear me out, what if instead of spending one turn on setup and another turn attacking, I instead… attacked twice?

There are similar risks in RBH as well. If the player can effortlessly mow their way through the enemies, then there’s no challenge. The entire central gameplay loop falls down. Even more distressingly, there are other ways to increase your damage output than simply hitting harder. For example, hitting more often. Like by having a higher rate of fire. This is why most shooters give shotguns terrible range—to compensate for increased damage by providing an element of risk. You have to get closer to the enemy, in turn leaving yourself more vulnerable. Even though a real shotgun doesn’t struggle at the ranges they do in games.

Upgrading the player is a delicate balancing act. If I make the player better at killing, I need to in some way compensate the enemies. So far I’ve done this in a few ways. I can reduce the player’s range by making their bullets not last as long, or I can slow their projectiles so it’s harder to hit the enemy. I can even make the weapon less accurate.

This is also something that ties into enemy design. If enemies all had to slowly walk towards you to hit you at close range, there would be no risk to a player with a ranged attack like in RBH. That’s why some enemies are stationary and/or provide covering fire, like an expanding ring or explosive missiles.

There are other enemy behaviors as well that can upset the balance by simply not reacting to players—such as by following the walls on a continuous loop—or by behaving unexpectedly. An enemy that can teleport or that can fly over gaps would shift the fight in different ways.

Relatedly, dealing damage over time only really matters if that time is relevant to the fight. Sure I can light an enemy on fire and wait the whole ten seconds for them to incinerate… or I could take two seconds to shoot them to death.

I noticed that particular issue a while back when I added in damage over time status effects. I simply don’t think they’re very effective in this game. Perhaps replacing them with others could be useful; a frozen enemy may not be dead but it’s temporarily out of the fight and that is useful.

All of this to say that I still have a long road ahead of me to getting all of the game’s upgrades done.

Until next Devlog!

-DeusVerve

DevLogs like these are brought to you by Patron(s) like Haelerin!

Support me on Patreon to get Early Access to builds!

[kingdomkeykitsune]

KHOC WEEK DAY 3: CONNECTION

Okay, so, I only had time to fully finish one of today's art pieces for @khoc-week (and of course I chose the moody one) I might update later with the finished version of the other one, we'll have to see lol. Anyway! While she's friendly with most people there are a few connections C.E. has that really stand out, but I'm putting it all under a cut because this one's a bit long.

Luka (left) and Nao (right).

Relationship Theme: Here's to Never Growing Up by Avril Lavigne

Having known each other most of their lives these three are practically inseparable. Together they make up a group called the Twilight Guardians. Most people thing it's just the name of their skate group (Luka and C.E. skateboard, Nao rollerskates) and/or their garage band (C.E. plays bass, Luka plays guitar/keyboard, Nao drums, and Luka and C.E. both do vocals) but in actuality they call themselves that because they make up the newest incarnation of the Twilight Town protectors. Each unknowingly descended from the original protectors and their families, they unlocked their abilities to fight Creatures of Darkness when they were attacked by Heartless while exploring the Mansion in the Woods sometime prior to DiZ setting up camp there. Because this was such a formative experience for them all they decided to make the winged unicorns that show up all around the mansion their group symbol.

A little info on their abilities:

Luka is a magic user and healer, he can summon a staff weapon that doubles as a melee weapon in a tight spot and can use a few types of elemental magic, namely air and fire, in addition to having strong healing magic.

Nao is a little gremlin of a tank who can summon a giant hammer weapon. She can also technically use earth/stone magic, but she often forgoes it in favor of a brute force approach.

C.E. covers ranged combat, she can summon a revolver that fires magic projectiles. These projectiles are basically concentrated light magic, the upside to this is that she doesn't need to take time to physically reload, the downside is that how many rounds she can fire is linked directly to her MP, meaning if she doesn't take care it's easy for her to drain her reserves and end up in a bad spot.

Like I said, these three are thick as thieves and the very best of friends. Of course, not every relationship is so smooth.

Seifer

Relationship Theme: Not Another Song About Love by Hollywood Ending

It's been said that no one knows how to drive you crazy quite like the ones who know you best, and these two are a perfect example of that. Having grown up as next door neighbors in the same apartment block they've known each other since they were in diapers, and generally tend to get along about as well as the proverbial cats and dogs. They bicker about anything and everything, often to the point their respective friends will wander off together to hang out until they burn themselves out.

And yet... They find themselves drawn back together again and again. No one knows them the way they know each other, Seifer knows about the shelves full of photo albums and scrapbooks C.E. keeps in her room, C.E. knows about the movie that Seifer watches over and over even though he knows the script by heart. They know just what to say to set the other off like a fireworks show, and where they hide when they get lost in their head. If one is in real trouble the other is the first one to come running and when everything is just too much they know they can count on each other for a shoulder to lean on, no words needed. And somewhere along the way childish rivalry began to grow into something more, something deeper.

Not that either one is quite ready to admit it.

Bonus points if anyone can figure out what any of the blurred posters in the background are. Hint: They're all Covers/Official Art for Square games (They're also all things that have influenced the developement of C.E.'s character, but I doubt anyone but me can draw those connections lol)

[thetruejerrycan]

Sniper is pretty overpowered for a few reasons, main one being that he can instantly kill any class from an indefinite distance without much counterplay, but I think huntsman Sniper is pretty damn well-balanced.

For starters, it promotes players not to camp. Camping is a perfectly valid way to play an FPS especially if you want to win but it's not fun to play against at all. Unfortunately, a lot of maps in TF2 have some really potent sniper sightlines where if you exist in that space, you are dead faster than you can say "fuck", with very little you can do besides switching to Sniper and hoping you're fast enough to headshot him before he can headshot you. With the Huntsman, this problem is significantly reduced thanks to the arrow's having an arc and limited range, and the fact that it's a fast projectile as opposed to hitscan. This means that the most effective huntsman Snipers are the ones who stick and move and overall play more aggressively, without necessarily negating the class's more defensive and calculated tactics. Sniper is a pick class after all

Coming back to the Huntsman's range, this fixes a problem with the way Sniper is designed. TF2 is a game where every classes' most effective ranges are not very far in front of them. They pretty much have to clearly see their enemies in order to score a kill. And then there's Sniper who can kill you from anywhere on the map, which creates that aforementioned imbalance where most classes' counterplay is to simply not engage with the Sniper. But the Huntsman is a weapon that's most consistent in those same ranges that everyone else has to play in but also doesn't remove Sniper's long range capabilities. The Huntsman still maintains Sniper's unique ability to headshot from any distance. And this is another point in favor of the huntsman, getting those long-ranged kills is still entirely possible but more difficult thanks to the physics of the Huntsman's arrows. This means Sniper has to get a lot more creative than simply picking a different spot to stand in where nobody can reach him, which means that everybody has fun instead of just Sniper

The Huntsman also has a unique learning curve. Now aiming is very difficult and I'm not going to downplay the ability to do so (I fucking suck at aiming). But the sniper rifles are essentially just scoping in and clicking on peoples' heads. TF2 was designed to have every class be as pick-up-and-play as possible and this had the consequence of the Sniper being very powerful for how low the skill floor to play him is. But with the Huntsman, there's a lot of ways to draw and release an arrow to your advantage depending on the situation. You might be thinking "why not just fully charge all the time since that's how you get the farthest, straightest, and most damaging arrow", and that's because full charging is slow, plus if Sniper holds this position for too long, his hands start to shake and God only knows where the arrow's going to fly from there. It can be really beneficial at close ranges to do a partial charge before releasing or even not charge at all since if you aim at their heads, they're going to die. But because I have to say this and because a lot of huntsman Sniper players only do full charges, that's not obvious at first and you have to learn and practice this mechanic to make the most out of it, which is exactly the thing that makes people like this game and other classes like Soldier and Demoman (The Demoman in general is just a pinnacle of good character and game design but that's a topic I want to learn a lot more about before discussing another day)

Lastly (and tbh, leastly), the Huntsman has WAY better synergy with the SMG than any of the rifles do. I think the intent was to give the Sniper a rifle for long-ranges and when somebody eventually did close the distance, he has an automatic weapon to defend himself without having to risk being in the enemy's face with his melee. The problem is that when you're playing Sniper most optimally, this situation just doesn't really happen since he directly counters almost every other class in the game. Once again, the Huntsman encourages the Sniper to be more involved in fights in the mid range, and this is where the SMG's high rate of fire really complements the slower and more calculated drawing and releasing of the Huntsman's arrows. The Cleaner's Carbine in particular feels a lot more consistent when you're running the Huntsman, whereas with the rifles it can feel like a hindrance since you could be doing a lot more for your team by using the jarate instead

With all that said, obviously the Huntsman is far from perfect, like most of this game. With the sniper rifles, you at least have to scope in to score headshots which can be a legitimate downside when up-close, and with the Huntsman you can just left click one time and instantly kill any class with its only real downside being the time invested to practice doing that, which at this point is not relevant. And of course we can't talk about the Huntsman without talking about this thing's uncanny ability to just magnetize to peoples' heads thanks to the characters' ginormous collision boxes. Plus unlike the sniper rifles, you can instantly kill people without ever seeing them if you just volley arrows into crowded places, i.e. a control point or the chokepoint on Dustbowl last

This weapon has rightfully earned the nickname "the lucksman", but I believe my point still holds water. The Sniper is a far more fine-tuned and nuanced class when using the Huntsman. I know it would never happen but if Valve ever ended up making a Team Fortress 3 and they carried over all of the same classes, I think the Huntsman would make for a perfect base to rebalance Sniper so that we don't end up running into the same fundamental pitfalls that we have in TF2

[wholelottatransbians]

For all your AUs,

Is there a particular fighting style Midoriya uses?

I can only guess that QDiW uses canon "shoot style", LoI uses magic with slight of hand (imagine her throwing card projectiles with trick shots), and BfA if basically Mini-Miruko (possible hero name, lol).

So, AUs with One for All (QDiW, BfA, the Monoma AU, BK) say more or less the same, with small adjustments to fit the AU (BfA being far faster and more kick oriented, for example).

LoI is more about misdirection, as she can make her props do practically anything, but if the opponent can see what she's doing it becomes much harder to pull it off.

FLaJ has limited melee combat at the start, but she moves towards a more improvised fighting style with the ability to borrow Quirks.

GZ is surprisingly close to LoI, focused on indirect combat and misdirection, largely pulling opponents closer to land blows/disorient.

TFG is all about weapons, close range with spears and swords, long range with a bow. There is some magic involved, but it only really improves the existing combat, not change it wildly.

SS is close range, pulling in bits of kickboxing and capoeira for direct attacking, usually saving her arms to help with rescue (but that doesn't stop her from throwing a mean punch).

BNH is tricky and improvisational, often shape changing in the middle of combos to keep people on their toes.

RT incorporates something similar to the Gunhead martial arts, going for open palm strikes to best utilize his Quirk.

MM doesn't have direct combat, but he is quite skilled in mental combat, and can physically fight nightmares if he feels the need to.

[voidpremonition]

Hey I'm back

Remember me? Probably not, just know I did a powerscaling post about alastor vs pac-man once. I though it would be fun if I did that again. So hold on to your horses and behold

(that's a mighty no 9 character by the way)

lute vs raychel from mighty no 9

The holy spirit vs the machine

Let's just start

Raychel has many abilities which get her on a decent spot in power levels, being the top three on her own universe as we know it, abailities which include:

-Rapid teleportation which she can use in combat

-Plasma beams able to destroy floor tiles leaving a massive red-hot hole in the ground, which are also spammable seen by her animations

-Claws capable of easily tearing solid robots including security and military bots, being able to incredibly easily tear down a demolition bot three times her size

-Somehow she can spin rev up and stall in the air to tackle enemies

-Blitzing speed which paired with teleportation let her travel throughout all of the united states in 12 hours

-Obvious massive stamina cap by being a robot

-Enough durability to tank multiple big explosions at her peak

-Do note her core is detective and is constantly deteriorating, leaving her which she is slowly disintegrating in the molecular level

-Yet regardless of that she has shown regeneration capabilities and as such she would need grand damage for her to be unable to regenerate

With most of that in mind, we go on to one of her biggest aids in the battle: Variation codes

-Pyrogen: Ray can ignite her own claws which can then violently explode in contact with oponents, able to tear down minibosses in seconds, though its ammo is easily deployable

-Cryosphere: She can shoot multiple balls of liquid nitrogen which can either completely freeze or at least slow down opponents, freezing being something no hazbin character has shown resistance to, it has limited range though

-Dynatron: Shoots out an electrifying bit which deals continues damage from long range

-Seismic: Rapidly shoots out a middle ranged drill attached to en extension chord. Able to pierce both combat shields and armor (not like lute has any) and easily taking down a multitude of enemies. Also can be shot upward and aiming opponents

-Battallion: A machine gun shooting a rapid barrage of energy projectiles which can easily destroy solid rock with ease

-Aviator: Ray activates a decently sized radar all around her at which she can use to fiercely tackle enemies, being incredibly useful for airborne enemies

-Countershade: She can turn invisible and intangible

All variation codes can replenish ammo by themselves even when they're out of use.

The battle itself: I would argue if both opponents were on their peak strength on the fight, I would say Ray would win with certain difficulty my points for it being that lute has been shown to be pinned down and damaged by crumbling rubble despite being supposedly only weak to angellic weapons, which ended up in her losing an arm

While lute has obvious superhuman strength her flight and speed are neither particularly impressive and her physical form seems to be organic (cause viv loves gore to be "mature") and despite resisting other attacks angels can still be damaged by bladed weapons and killed by a simple "angellic dagger". Let me remind you Ray can spam plasma beams capable of tearing through buildings and can tank massive explosions at her peak.

This was mostly made for fun and if you wish to argue over some other points I would be glad to do so

[iamthekaijuking]

Gigabash character overview: Pipijuras

Appearing in just as much promotional material as Gorogong and being one of the first four kaiju developed for the game, Pipijuras is another one of Gigabash’s main faces and would be my personal favorite if it wasn’t for one other monster.

Pipi is the ranged fighter of the roster, and has multiple attacks that deal considerable damage at mid range and extremely long range, but is very lacking in close range. Meaning you have to use his unique hovering ability and moveset to keep your enemies at a distance if you want to win.

Design

Pipijuras is another shining case of Passion Republic Games’ love for Ultraman, with Pipi being a very obvious Alien Baltan homage. This would even be lampshaded when Baltan fought by his side in the Ultraman character pack trailer (although in hindsight this allegiance would probably never work out as the goals of the two are in direct opposition). A less obvious source of inspiration would probably be Alien Metron as well as they both lack a distinct head and just kinda have… domes.

Just like Gorogong, Pipijuras went through quite a few design revisions.

Pipi also got the classic robot doppelgänger treatment like with Godzilla and Mechagodzilla (who are also both guest fighters in the game), in MechaJuras. MechaJuras was actually originally meant to be a playable character, but this was later scrapped in development so that effort could be allocated elsewhere, and so now it’s just a mini boss. I will say though, if PRG ever wants to add more original monsters to the roster, then MechaJuras is a prime choice.

Pipi, as an alien kaiju, is meant to be somewhat off putting and ominous. But between his design, mannerisms, and the fact that most of his alternate skins are named after fruit, I personally find him absolutely adorable. I would absolutely surrender all earthly possessions to Pipijuras… if he wasn’t an evil bastard.

Lore

Pipijuras was sent to earth on a mission, but for what purpose is slowly revealed over the course of his story mode as he regains his memories.

In 1983 he came to earth in a flying saucer packing some teleportation technology, but he ended up crash landing in Nevada and going into a coma. He and his ride were later recovered by the Global Titan Defense Initiative and taken to their main base of operations; Area 51. His body was subsequently experimented on and the GTDI eventually got the idea to try and mind control him for use as a weapon against other kaiju, and so many resources and geniuses were put to work on him. During Pipijuras’s crash he was badly injured, and so received cybernetic implants by the GTDI. Some of these cybernetics are what gave him some of his abilities, such as his projectile attack, which works by focusing Giga Energy into an exploding projectile. The projectile attack specifically was invented by Dr. Reiner, a somewhat important character who will be further elaborated on when I get to Thundatross. Somewhere along the line, development of MechaJuras began.

However, as decades went on it became increasingly difficult to make a mind control device, and so the project was passed down to multiple different geniuses. Dr. Reiner eventually left to help form OtamaTEC, and even took half of Pipijuras’s teleportation device with him. Budget cuts were repeatedly made to the department, and by the time a fully functioning mind control device was made the department had so few funds that it was partially made of scrap metal and had numerous issues. It was ultimately little more than a hat with some electrodes.

Eventually, Pipijuras was deployed though. When Gorogong was awoken from his slumber by the GTDI, Pipi was deployed to fight him in order to prove that the project was worth keeping around. This turned out to be a mistake as Gorogong pretty easily knocked off the mind control device. In Pipijuras’s story mode he beats Gorogong and immediately high tails it back to Area 51 to retrieve half of his teleporter while taking out MechaJuras in the process. He then goes to the OtamaTEC tower to retrieve the other half and begin completing his mission, starting with teleporting to an entrance into the hollow earth.

It’s here where I should disclose some information. As you can probably guess, Giga Energy is a mysterious energy source in the world of Gigabash, and an extremely powerful one at that. It’s essentially turbo radiation, but with almost none of the harmful effects of gamma radiation, the only real obvious drawback being that it creates kaiju. Obviously humanity is trying to harness this power, but that puts them in direct competition with the kaiju of earth as Giga Energy is their primary food source and the only thing truly capable of sustaining such massive creatures. Giga Energy has a source though: the Giga Core, which resides in the center of the planet within a labyrinthine cave system called the hollow earth (an obvious shout out to the monsterverse). What exactly the Giga Core is, what Giga Energy does, and how feasible a cave system in the molten core of the planet is, are things I’ll further discuss when I get to Zyva.

Pipijuras was sent to earth to find the Giga Core by essentially the emperor of his people, and when he does find it he hooks his teleportation device up to it and teleports the entire planet, cracking it open and destroying it in the process. This is what greets earth after being teleported.

Basically, Pipijuras is merely a scout for an entire alien race that routinely harvests the Giga Cores of planets to power their home. All without any consideration for the native inhabitants. In fact, they seem to take joy in this. Pipijuras is explicitly stated to openly mock any resistance met, and when his emperor detected a Giga Core on earth they laughed maniacally. All of this makes Pipijuras arguably the single biggest threat to earth in the world of Gigabash.

This also leaves me with tons of questions as well. How many Giga Cores are out there? How many planets have Pipi’s people destroyed, and did they do this to their own planet? Are his people naturally evolved kaiju or did they augment themselves to gain this status? His people have no mouths or visible method of respiration so do they rely entirely on Giga Energy?

One thing is certain though.

In spite of his adorable appearance, Pipijuras is a genocidal menace who deserves to go to the eternal time out in the sky via electric chair.

[aothecat]

Can the dronemans race beat the clockman race

(clockmans are from Dom Studio)

Interesting question, I would say there's a possibility they can beat the Clockman Race. Just like Clockmen and Tvmen, they tend to avoid doing hand to hand combat. My Dronemen would use their long range projectile weapon to harm their enemies. Whether they know the cool ability of these clockmen or not, they are always flying so even if they get affected by clockmen's ability temporarily, the clockmen need a weapon to beat my drones in a long distance.

Not to mention my Titan Droneman is always at a high altitude, hiding in the clouds. With his powerful sniper weapon he would just one shot kill all his enemies on the ground.

[dailycharacteroption]

Retrograde Revision 3: Ancestor Mystery (Oracle Mystery)

(art by ArtLeonCD on DeviantArt)

And so we come to the end for this week, and I must say, looking back on what I wrote on today’s subject in the early days of the blog really does feel like I did this entry injustice, but that’s what these revisitations are for, right?

Whether it is great records set in stone or oral traditions, we as humans, as well as many fantasy peoples, are defined by the legacy of our forebears, of the act of keeping the name and memories of those who came before alive, to better understand how they strived and sweat and bled to make the world that we live in today, all in direct defiance of the uncaring and forgetful march of time.

Civilization, all civilizations, are based on this at their core, on the legacy of our ancestors, so it only makes sense to honor or even worship them for their role in making our lives possible, and the prayer that whatever remains of them after death will watch over us into the future. Apply that to a fantasy setting, and the echoes of long-dead ancestors, be they spirits formed from their memories or their souls watching from the afterlife, may indeed come to offer guidance and protection, often using oracles of this mystery as a mouthpiece and/or instrument of their will.

Naturally, these oracles show up most often in cultures and religions that have a strong sense of history. The dwarves with their great halls built by forefathers and their fathers in kind, the elves with their long view, the iruxi lizardfolk with their tendency to keep the bones of their ancestors close in a very literal way, all are potential candidates. However, any civilization might give rise to such oracles, with perhaps the exception of young species or created beings that lack a history.

Regardless of their origins, however, the weight of history and the strength of an army of forebears stands behind these mystics.

The spells of these oracles range from various manifestations of their ancestors aiding them in ghostly form, to those that bless them and others with courage and determination, to stepping beyond the veil into ethereal and astral realms.

With a gesture, many of these oracles can summon to their hands an echo of one of the weapons wielded by their family in the past. At first, these weapons are well-made but mundane, but grow more magical and even able to touch spirits as they grow in power.

Others can invoke the courage and skill of their ancestors for a few brief moments, gaining greater prowess in battle.

Some develop the ability to unnerve others with a touch, such foes feeling the otherworldy presence of the spirits watching over them.

Others call upon a relevant ancestor when attempting a task, seeking their guidance on the matter.

More powerful oracles can allow the spirit of a great warrior to possess them, becoming a deadly force on the battlefield for minutes at a time.

Many can also call upon their ancestors to shield them from harm, blocking incoming attacks and even casting aside projectiles with mastery.

With an inversion of their power, some can become as spirits themselves, intangible and invisible to mortals for a while.

Powerful mystics might learn to invoke the wrath of their ancestors in a flurry of half-visible shapes and forms tearing into foes, an assault which is even more destructive to the undead.

Many also possess a knack for speaking to the dead, asking questions of even begrudging and hostile interviewees with some modicum of success.

Others learn to commune with their ancestors fully by entering a meditative trance, able to learn of the near and farther future, as well as eventually asking great questions of them.

Finally, at the end of their path, the strongest of these mystics become avatars of their ancestral lineage, becoming harder to usurp mentally, gaining heightened senses, superior divinatory power, and even able to project their spirit astrally without any setup.

The revelations and magic of this mystery lends itself well to a mixed combat and support oracle, able to go toe to toe with mighty foes while also supporting their allies and being supported in kind with spiritual allies and the like. Add in proficiency with all knowledges and ways to buff or complement that with divination, and they prove true to their class name as information utility characters as well. If your character’s backstory points to a specific type of weapon or combat style, you might consider choosing feats and spells that complement it as well.

Two different routes you might take with these characters are perhaps the most obvious. On the one hand, your oracle might be a proud (or ashamed) keeper of their ancestry’s legacy, ready to perpetuate it and fight for (or against) what they believed in. On the other hand, they may be only learning of their grand history when they begin hearing the voices of the dead in their ears. Either way, the concept of family and legacy likely mean a lot to them, whether they already know it or are discovering it on their own.

Gorvid Duskhammer has awoken as an oracle, the first ever in his clan. However, the ancestral voices in his ear are those not of mountain dwarves, but of duergar, pointing to a hidden, dark history behind his otherwise well-respected clan. So desperate is he to hide this foul truth that when foreign heroes appear to solve the dwarven city’s undead problem, he tags along into the family crypt, to silence them if they realize the corpses below are of grey dwarves.

The bitter life of a street urchin has made Callad hard and cruel. When he awoke as an ancestor oracle he realized he had been denied greatness his whole life. Now, he rules over the shattered keep his ancestors once lorded over, leaving a trail of bodies in his wake, plotting to restore his families name to greatness, by any means necessary.

It is said that the blade of Karaactus was lost for all time, but they say one of his blood still lives, an ancestor oracle who may be able to divine what happened to the magic sword. However, they might object to someone else wielding their ancestral weapon, which presents another problem.

[ambystoman]

Spyroll (Redo) (Cometling)

Sorry for the lack of activity, been really caught up with stuff lately. It is the holidays after all. I plan to do the last main character before the year ends.

"Oh jeez, i-is this really necessary? Can I skip this introduction thing? I'm not sure people would care to kno-"

Here is this shooting star guy, Spyroll! He is-

"Aaa! you don't have to say it so loud!"

Ahem, he is shy, reserved but very inquisitive. He gets scared very easily, embarrasses himself often, probably wets the bed but if he gets pushed too far, he can-

"What?! No I don't do that. I am not a coward!"

Spyroll is a Cometling, strange beings made of energy. Despite this, he is cold to the touch. They can use their energy to help with their daily tasks or in Spyroll's case, as a weapon! He shoots blast projectiles of his own energy to attack enemies. This makes him great for ranged combat. Some of his special attacks include him blasting off his entire arm to use as a missile. Don't worry it grows back instantly.

Unfortunately, I never got around to programming any of the other 2 protagonists so I don't have anything to show regarding their combat abilities. He would've focused on projectile attacks and somewhat ranged combat. More so than the others.

Cometlings are notable for having a "core" in the center of their bodies. This artifact serves as their soul and is the source of their powers. In fact, it has the energy that keeps them alive for their entire lifespan, technically making them immortal beings that don't require sustenance. However, once this core runs out of energy, the individual fizzles out in a bang and dies for good. They are not invincible but can live for a long, long time.

Spyroll's core/soul

Cometlings are proficient with electrical mechanisms and anything related to them. This is due to the fabric of energy that encompasses their bodies. A quality that enabled them to communicate through energy charges. An instant language only they can understand. Without needing to convey expressions, their faces were rendered obsolete and time got rid of them eventually.

Cometlings. I should mention that I occasionally draw Spyroll with a face just for fun. Perhaps this is what his face would look like if Cometlings still had one.

Spyroll gets nervous quite easily. Despite this, he is rather optimistic and sees life in the best way possible trying to find hope in the direst of situations. Cometlings have a dust tail that is often treated as a sort of hair. Spyroll keeps his wavy and long.

Random works of him

Backstory

Spyroll lives in a futuristic society. Cometling innovations have progressed so much over time due to their semi-immortality that their cities have become monolithic mazes of houses, factories, and shipyards. This much progress has caused a mass disconnect among people though.

Spyroll is a solitary guy with little to no acquaintances. He enjoys repairing and creating contraptions in his spare time. Sharing his latest works through the Cometling equivalent of the internet. He is quite well known but nobody truly knows him or cares for his true self. This has made him a very isolated and introverted dude.

He only finds comfort in his hobby. One he is incredibly talented at.

With so much time to live but nobody to share it with, what even is his purpose?

If only someone took the time to check on him. Maybe things will change on one eventful day...

Inspiration

As his species' name suggests, Cometlings are anthropomorphic comets. His body is the Gas tail while his "hair" is the Dust tail. His head is the Nucleus.

Just like Cometlings, comets eventually fizzle out after thousands of years. It is a natural part of their existence.

As for his design, he was inspired by George Méliès' The Eclipse, in which his wife is seen playing a "Wandering Star". You can see the references pretty clearly lol. I designed Spyroll years ago and this design really stuck with me. He originally even had a dress too but changed it to shorts cause it would be easier to animate.

Very self-explanatory lol

I'll be honest, I treat him quite poorly for being a main character. I barely have art of him or his backstory that figured out. I do plan to make more for him eventually.

His very first design. Excuse the bad camera.

Huh...

Addendum

Once again, I completely forgot about his current design outfit lol. It was inspired by Mamoru from Mamorukun Curse. I thought he looked cool and I love the music from the game. Haven't played it though but I wanna.

Spyroll if he was anime