An Age of Mysterious Memories

Today was fairly emotionally exhausting, if you count a week ago when today was still today before I went into the ‘Twixt. There’s a head-spinner. Now I’m just hoping that Luni and Kinzul are free to adjourn to bed. Though, it’d be nice to know Ahliyui and Ahliyuri are safe, and Induul too I suppose. I don’t see any signs of them in the halls anywhere though, and didn’t notice them enter. I’ll drop off these additional mirrors for the new sets of goggles, to the security center though at least.

Should I check in with the Dormir? I’m afraid to send mixed signals to Farzhis. Should I check on Atter and Boetah? They’re supposedly going to be conjugating for most of two weeks still. I kind of really don’t want to walk in on any of that process. I’ve already checked with Prinny, and she’s the only Vivant member I’m close with.

Lil seems likely to bed down here privately with Ixey. I’ve got a feeling Zayzi will be sitting or wandering around dissociating, sadly. Or maybe they’ll be amusing themselves until late at night or early in the morning, at which point they’ll either return to their dorm, or seek out Ixey to snuggle her, despite being in Lil’s bed.

Oh, hey, look, it’s Te. Waving her over, I introduce everyone, “Hey babe, these are the Callipygian, prefers Pidge, Kelsinzecktrix, call her Trixxie if you want to be friends, and Zelshiz. Everyone, this is—.”

Grinning like a loon, Teuila interrupts me to list her titles, “I’m Teuila Shellcracker, the Valkyrie, a Guardian of the Onyx Dawn, knight, and Lunar Sky Storm Dragon Honoris Causa, you can call me Tenith”

Raising my brow, I’m trying to determine if Teuila was fibbing about her Honoris Causa. I mean, honestly, I wouldn’t be all that surprised if Kinzul did invest more titling into her Honoris Causa to keep up with Teuila’s enormous power and potential. Still, I think she was just joking around, the goof. When she turns to me to loose a Shellcracker Family Squee, I’m pretty sure I’m dead on the money on that thought. I roll my eyes and place one of my hands in her face, which gets chased away and replaced, and we end up in an SFSF until we’re both giggling like idiots.

Not exactly projecting that image of invincible conquerors to whom you should honor your surrender to, but eh, screw it, at this point, I just want to be surrounded by love. Anyone that interrupts that gets a one way ticket to hell. Woah. That got dark. I know that what I meant was, anyone who breaks their surrender to go hostile in Solace I’ll work to defeat, by whatever means necessary, but still. I rattle my skull at myself, the tiniest bit worried about my body’s new connection to the Fel.

While I’m distracted with my own thoughts, Teuila chats with the assembled group for several minutes. I space out for a while, trying to determine if I was having an intrusive thought, if my baseline thoughts are changing, or if I was just mentally misspeaking or shortcutting a bit jokingly. It’s exceedingly hard to determine, as myself, if my *self* is changing.

I’m startled out of my reverie as Miraina hops up to kiss my cheek before zooming away. Blinking a few times, I check to see where—. Of course she is. Chuckling, I utter, "Hi Prinny."

I’m just smirking down at the little old lady clinging to me like a koala, or sloth, on my right side. Loosing a few chuckles, I glance around. I don’t know if I can be the me that I want to be, and offer Pidge such a large blanket of trust. I didn’t even let Yui or Yuri wander around without supervision, or even Shiz, for at least a night. It seems like Pidge is sticking near Trixxie at least, and Trixxie is stuck with Lucky, one way or another, so at least Lucky is technically keeping an eye on him.

Choosing to trust the residents of Solace and Verdimenn, and our new security center, to be able to adapt to surprises from within, I decide to begin surfing back towards Solace. I bow out of the conversations, but Teuila decides to join me anyway, and slightly mimics Prinrin, though she stands nuzzled up against my left side, instead of perching on me like some sort of feral tree creature. Prinny telepathically cackles at my description of her, and Te and I both giggle at her laughing acknowledgement of my thought train. Regardless, we check to see if Lucky’s staying with Trixxie and Pidge and Shiz and Zelshiz. He is, so I begin floating towards my intended destination.

Spying Pawn speaking to Iylynila at an intersection ahead, I pause when Illy motions for my attention. Or, perhaps not my attention, as Illy requests, “Prinny? Can I snag you and Pawn tonight?”

Though Prinrin’s desires are quite evident, she hops down and saunters to her dear friend, my dear friend, Illy. Pawn seems really in her own head, but also angry at me suddenly, which causes me to balk. Even with Iylynila’s walls up, I get the tiniest sense of her emotions, on top of what’s written across her face as she avoids meeting my gaze. They differ heavily, but both don’t seem to be doing well.

Oh Illy. I didn’t know it’d get this hard for you. I tried to dissuade you in orb time, asking again and again if you were sure. I’m sorry. What’s weird is, her telepathic wavelength of emotions seems far away, like, literally further away than standing right in front of me, as if she’s closer to the edge of my range.

Sighing, I float away, because it seems like Iylynila is too tensed up to even speak to Prinny in order to disclose her reasoning during our small gathering, while I’m around. I can tell Teuila looks and feels perplexed, but I’m sure I’ve hurt Illy even worse by going and dying again. I mean, not my fault, right? But still—. I’m so full of myself. Maybe she just wanted to discuss something privately with Prinny and Pawn.

Rolling my eyes at myself, I nuzzle into Te’s embrace as we float towards Kinzul’s den, and bedroom. Surprisingly, neither Kinzul nor Luni are here yet, which leaves Te and me feeling a bit awkward about whether or not we should start settling in, into her bed. Instead, we snuggle in seated positions on one of the sofas in the adjacent room. It’s basically all one room, since there’s no door on the large archway from the den to the bedroom anyway.

Querying my beloved Wings, I ask, “So babe, whadja get up to today beyond the planned? Did your fortress have a ton of magical defenses, and a Damnation interruption?”

Shaking her head, Teuila responds, “Nah, nothing like that. More numbers than we expected by a little bit, and a bit more magic than we expected. The um, the other stops, the secondary targets, we hit up two of them. One didn’t have any dragons, the other had a couple of ancient jerks that let me chow down on their dragonforces. I mean, they didn’t let me, obvee. Had to lay the smack down first, natch. Anyway. Umm, I guess I’m at four big ones now? Maybe five? I forget. Can’t even tell if some count or not. My glowy brain feeling is pretty sure I’m close to something though.”

Stroking Teuila’s bicep, I nod along with her. I’m glad she’s making progress, and that she’s so confident, and capable. We both divest everything besides some comfortable nightclothes before continuing to curl up on the couch, with Te leaning up against my torso, with my arms wrapped around her. I start to nod off, dozing a bit, despite not everyone being here yet to head to sleep.

As I just barely begin to pass out, suddenly I’m startled awake as Te shouts, “Wait, that sexy goblin gal was Littlebit, wasn’t she?! That was *the* Littlebit!? Tiktik’s Littlebit!? You butt, why didn’t you introduce us!”

Snorting awake, I catch a whiff of the aroma of the cavern, a blend of ancient earth and cool, damp stone, like rain-soaked mountainsides. Overlaying this is the glow-lichen’s fresh scent. Of course, moving while snorting grants me a whiff of Teuila, waking up with her nestled close is a warm comfort, and her scent is a blend of wild and familiar. There's a hint of the riverbank in her, a soft, earthy aroma like wet stones and fresh water, similar to the streams that run through Solace.

Realizing Te asked me a question, I groggily mumble, “Huh? Wha? I thought I introduced her to everybody, sort of. Maybe kinda quietly, because she was shy and scared at the time, not having been out of the Hidden Heart.”

Rolling her eyes, Te slaps me playfully on the shoulder before responding, “But it’s *the* Littlebit, I want to know how things went! Is Little T okay? Are they finally together? How’d Tiktik’s lips taste? Don’t even try to deny it when I’m sure she was smooching up on you. She told me she was going to make up for you not giving in on our last night in the swamp, if she ever saw you again. How did you see Tiktik, or at least the refugees, but also get Littlebit, if Littlebit has never been out of the Heart? What the heck happened today?”

Oh, right, all that. I get another playful slap for my previous thought, but can’t help chuckling as I gather my thoughts. I’m tempted to tease her for just realizing it now as we’re nearly sleeping, but I refrain. Still, it takes me more than a mere instant to gather my thoughts.

Blushing, I attempt to answer, “Oh, uh, things went, well, the battle went sort of poorly, but also great? I mean, you see how many we brought with me? I dumped several hundred more off on a paradise island surrounded by impassable krakens and storms. I’ll get to that in a bit. Tiktik’s fine. She, huff, she was feeling some super strong abandonment issues. Keeley and Marshal are, they’re—.”

Pausing, I sigh again and try to be able to say the words, “Keeley and Marshal died, to dragons that were going to extort like the Colossi used to before we intervened. They’re two of the very few that died, but they’re gone. Tiktik felt abandoned by me, you, Keeley, Marshal, and Littlebit. Even though it was her choice to leave the Heart on that last point. At one point, she started lashing out and pushing me away, when she realized I wasn’t going to stay, but she regretted that pretty quickly, more or less. I don’t want to speak for her on the subject. She wasn’t willing to really speak on it, so I don’t want to put words in her mouth, or label the emotions I think she was having any more than I already have.”

Since Te’s pouting at me, I figure I’d better clarify a few things, “Right, Tiktik’s lips were wonderful, obvee, babe,” I can barely hear myself think over Teuila’s Shellcracker Family Squee, as I try to continue, “As far as getting to the Hidden Heart, we got there through a surprise entrance to the ‘Twixt that Tiktik had found. The ‘Twixt is also where I left all those other Draconiacs. They couldn’t even get out if they tried, without me or Tiktik helping them. They also might be several millenia old by now? The ‘Twixt is really weird. Time may or may not be passing there like an accelerated thinkspace level of speed. I—. Tiktik offered, and it hurt so much to refuse. I—.”

When Te’s face contorts, with one brow raised high, I explain, “Time outside the ‘Twixt was basically frozen for us, but the ‘Twixt still has consequences. It’s real. Our bodies are there, taking damage, wearing down my dragonforce, using up my daily spells and resources, and so on. That also means risking my weird memory brain explodey things. Tiktik, before we found a way to exit to the Heart, begged me to stay, to try out a few months, years, maybe centuries together. My heart shattered trying to rationalize and reason with her. You know how amazing she is, how fun, and warm, and loving, and—.”

Teuila winks as she interrupts, “and an absolutely smokin’ hot bombshell of a shortstack Fae babe.”

Coughing halfway between a sputter and snorting a laugh, I roll my eyes but can’t help agreeing, “Yeah, that too. Anyway, it just, it hurt to say no. Then she felt hurt, and ran away sad, and told me to go away, so I just kind of stood there like an idiot while she was riding her feelings out, until she realized she didn’t want me to actually go away. Not that I could anyway, it was my ‘Twixt town, and it didn’t have an exit yet. When she calmed down, we, had a, erm, very, very, very intimate talk into the long hours of the night, in which I agreed to stay for a week. It was so that Tiktik could show me the ropes, and so that I could get to spend time with her, and her with me. Tiktik had to show me how to quest and get the ‘Twixt to start generating more to my realm, and we went on some silly adventures, like, like beginner Fakeworld newbie quest adventures, but like when clearing out rats, they were like twenty to forty feet tall. Everything was scaled up, except the rewards at first.”

Snorting with laughter, Teuila can’t help imagining me facing down a horde of tremendously monstrous rodents for a few copper. That’s pretty much exactly what happened. It was really fun doing it with Tiktik—. Adventuring with Tiktik. Teuila eyes me suspiciously at my previous phrasing, but I reveal nothing.

Fighting my own smirk, I try to near finishing up, “Right, so, we earned a kraken-proof-sailboat, because the ‘Twixt kind of provided what we were looking for at the end of a quest line, since I was sort of hoping for like, a jail type city or something that would keep the Draconiacs safe and happy, but not able to get out and mess around. So yeah, we sailed a kraken-proof-sailboat through a ring of krakens, to a floating island, and I let them out there.”

Facepalming for a minute, I add, “Oh, two of my big bads, Zelshiz, you met, and Triorgraiz who is injured and being tended by Tiago, surrendered, so, of course I saved them as best I could. Part of why I had to even get to Jeegoobotstan was because Vorzog used petrification magic on Zelshiz, and Tiktik’s the only person I knew that could cure it. Plus I used my Backpotter form to put people into my inventory, which stops my mana regeneration, which screws me from being able to get them *out* of my inventory. Ugh, it was a whole thing.”

My love, Te, giggles when she hears my name for my inventory otter form. I shrug, but smile at her laughter nonetheless. Hopefully finishing, I ramble, “Right, so, my final quest reward was an exit for my town from the ‘Twixt. Only, when we got it made, it showed Tiktik and me falling into the ‘Twixt from Jeegoobotstan in one portal, and out of the ‘Twixt into the Heart in another portal. We semi sort of existed in all three places at once maybe. Or it was just a snapshot of before and a fated future, or something. Tiktik was afraid to go home, so we tried to go back to Jeegoobotstan, but couldn’t. We *fell* back into the ‘Twixt, Tiktik landing on my face *again.* Sure, laugh it up. Heh. Anyway, so that’s why we had to go to the Heart, and how Alanea and Littlebit got here. I mean, we had to come back through the ‘Twixt again, but you get it.”

Nodding along with me, Teuila gets a dreamy look in her eyes as she salaciously jokes, “Mhm, I get it alright, and Alanea got it goin’ on. Her lips are still perf. When they weren’t on mine though, she couldn’t stop nervously talking. About you, obvee. If I wasn’t the one with the whammy powers, I’d think you hit that girl with one. Woman. Short, tight-packed, hot ay eff woman. I’m so happy you brought her along though. I mean, Kagired needs someone to look after him now. He’s in rough shape. Specifically though, Alanea, because I like smooching her. Hm, you think Littlebit is down for a little bit of this, this? A little bit of that, that?”

My brain blue screens of death pretty hard while I’m blinking repeatedly. Half frowning, I tease Te, “I specifically took a hands-off approach to any relationship with Littlebit. I know Tiktik isn’t super big on monogamy, but you know how absolutely in love with Littlebit she is. I don’t want to mess that up, when yes, they just got together like, today. We didn’t even do like a romantic honeymoon weekend for the two in the ‘Twixt or anything like that. Well, actually, they *could* have done that, since I was giving them privacy for a couple hours, catching up with Jarrah, Flint, and Alanea. Oh, Flint’s taking care of Bud! Now instead of Bud, tengo uno pequeño Zorro en mi bolsa. Erm, a little fox in my pouch. Check it. He came from that little iron stamp thing you tossed at me. I named him Renard Motomoto Zorro. We both have elemental canids, hehe.”

Renard hops out at being addressed by his full name, and delivers the absolutely cutest, most precious yawn possible. Teuila’s face is so drawn back and her eyes are so wide as she almost wails, “Awwwwwe, he’s so cute!”

Before I can warn her, Teuila tries to tickle Zorro’s chin, which singes her fingertip slightly, but she doesn’t seem to care. Even without the equipment that helps give her fire resistances and immunities, she’s one tough cookie. Hearing my thought train, Te telepathically jokes, “Darn tootin’, and straight shootin’.”

Snorting a laugh and rolling my eyes, I have no idea where Te picks up some of her slang, or phrases. Things like natch, and obvee, and that last phrase. Regardless, she’s utterly wonderful. I kind of wanted her to catch me up more specifically on the events that transpired during her battles today, but I’m starting to nod off again as Teuila plays with Zorro on my chest.

Just as I'm about to return to sleep, Te somberly asks, "Really though, Keeley and Marshal? They were good people."

Loosing a sad sigh, I nod while drawing a deep breath that hitches once. Swallowing my emotions, I respond, "Yeah, Tiago and a few others told me, including one of the dragons who's now helping take care of and protect the refugees. I can't even remember their name at the moment. Something dragony, obvee."

When Te offers me a half smile and quarter snorted laugh at my groggy brain not recalling the name, I can tell she's processing her emotions. Further, when she kisses me softly, and whispers words too quiet for me to hear, I'm fairly certain she's expressing her worry should I ever join Keeley and Marshal in the being dead category of friends. My brain is too foggy right now from being sleepy and in a half-wakened state to make more sense, I even yawn wide enough to forget a thought mid-sentence. Teuila resumes playing with Zorro on my chest, and I kiss her forehead while stroking the rear of her scalp, sifting my fingers through her silky, ruby-red, wonderfully teased undercut hair. Before I know it, I drift to dreamland.