(She/Her) Twewy and Xenoblade enthusiast. Hopelessly in love with Sho Minamimoto. (non-sharing) Sometimes posts ocs. Mostly posts memes. I don't have a problem, I swear. For art/writing only go over to @angelartrose
When you're taking silly photos with your boyfriend but he's a little shit and takes advantage of the fact that you freeze up at random unprompted signs of affection.
Summary: A grand event known as the Peacock Festival is happening, something Fleet and Ridge are excited for, while Swift has a bad feeling about it. Meanwhile, Corria sees the event as the perfect way to get her hands on some magic to use for her future projects.
Word Count: 6,345
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The sounds of mechanical whirring and buzzing filled the cold hallways within the hidden laboratory. A scientist was hard at work putting together her newest creation, something that appeared to be a small, orb shaped drone. The scientist hummed happily to herself while she worked. The buzzing and humming eventually caught the attention of her sister as she was walking by. She decided to poke her head into the room to see what was going on.
“Corria, what are you doing?” she asked.
Dr. Corria didn’t respond at first as she was still focused on her new drone. Eventually, she finally looked up from her work and turned around to greet her sister.
“Oh, hey Vena!” she said. “I’m just putting some finishing touches on my newest model of drone! I gotta make sure everything is ready for the festival!”
“Festival?” Vena questioned.
Corria lifted her goggles off of her face. “Don’t you pay attention at all, Vena?” she asked. “They’re having this magical festival in the city today. Magic, Vena! The exact thing I need for my projects!”
“Oh, it’s a magic thing,” Vena replied, her tone showing her disinterest, “that figures.” She crossed her arms and leaned against the doorway. “So let me guess, you plan to crash the party?”
“Yeah, pretty much!” Corria agreed.
“And you’re gonna drag me into this too, aren’t you?”
“Obviously,” Corria replied. “Who better than a Full Magic to help me get my hands on some magic of my own, am I right?”
Vena let out a quiet groan, her snake tail flicking to the side in annoyance. Her sister had always had a strong interest in magic despite being human. Or maybe that was why Corria was so interested in it. Vena didn’t really know. But either way, whenever Corria came up with a scheme to get her hands on some magical artifact, Vena was always dragged into it.
Vena let out a sigh. “Alright, what’s the plan this time?” she asked.
“Patience, Vena,” Corria replied. “Everything will make sense eventually.”
The mad scientist then began laughing manically while Vena gave her a confused look.
“Of course you’re being cryptic…” Vena mumbled while her sister just continued laughing, completely ignoring her little comment. I just hope this doesn’t take too long… Vena thought to herself.
______________________________________________
The weather in the city was beautiful. It was relatively sunny out, but there were still a few fluffy clouds in the sky. The perfect weather meant that things were definitely looking up for the festival that was planned for the day.
A trio of friends were walking through the city, chatting about the upcoming festival. In the lead was Swift, a pale guy with light brown hair. He wore a pink jacket over a black and gold t-shirt. The tallest member of the group was Ridge. He had tan skin and freckles on his face. His hair was a darker brown and he wore a dark blue jacket over his black t-shirt. Lastly was Fleet, another brunette who was much shorter than the other two. He had a few less freckles than Ridge and wore a red scarf and a purple jacket.
“I am so excited for the Peacock Festival!” Fleet cheered.
“I know dude, you keep saying that,” Ridge replied.
“Well yeah, because it’s the Peacock Festival!” Fleet insisted.
Fleet had seemed especially excited and eager about the upcoming event while Ridge’s excitement was a lot more tame. Not to say he wasn’t excited, but it was definitely difficult to compete with Fleet’s energy.
“The whole event is always such a grand spectacle!” Fleet continued rambling. “Plus, I heard the new leader of the Sparkler Peacocks really knows how to put on a show.”
“You would put emphasis on that, wouldn’t you?” Ridge asked with a teasing tone.
“What can I say?” Fleet replied. “I love a good performance.” He put his hands behind his head for a moment before his attention turned elsewhere. “Hey Swift! What are you most excited about?”
Swift had been walking ahead of the group and was staring at his phone, clearly not as invested in the conversation.
“I don’t know, Fleet,” Swift responded, “I think I’m gonna skip out on the festival this year.”
“WHAT?!” Fleet screamed in disbelief. “You’re skipping the Peacock Festival?!”
“Look, I just have a bad feeling about it,” Swift explained.
“Did you have a vision about it or something?” Ridge asked.
“Yeah… No… Maybe?” Swift replied, clearly unsure. “I don’t know, it was vague and I was asleep.”
“Oh, so it was just a dream,” Fleet dismissed.
“It MIGHT have been a dream,” Swift corrected, “but it also could have been a vision.”
“Well what did you see?” Ridge asked.
Swift stared blankly at Ridge for a moment, almost like he was trying to process and remember what his vision had shown. “I mean I don’t remember the specifics, but…” he eventually replied.
“See! Dream, not a vision!” Fleet interrupted.
“Vision or not, I’m not going to the festival,” Swift stood firm.
“C’mon Swift!” Fleet whined. “You’re gonna miss out on all the-”
Fleet was interrupted as Ridge put his hand over his friend's mouth to shut him up.
“It’s fine, Swift,” Ridge assured. “I’m sure we can still have fun without you there.”
Swift let out a sigh. “Thanks, Ridge,” he said. “But if you guys run into trouble-”
“Swift, if we run into trouble, I can just blast it,” Fleet insisted. He held up a hand as pink and blue energy sparked from it. He then pointed at Ridge. “And Ridge will just smack ‘em with his crystals.”
“Yeah, but still-” Swift tried to argue.
“It’ll be fine, Swift,” Fleet cut him off. “You overreact all the time, Ridge and I will be fine.”
“Fleet kinda has a point,” Ridge agreed. “The two of us can handle ourselves, you don’t need to worry.”
“Ok, fine,” Swift gave in, although he still seemed annoyed. “But don’t come whining to me if you get attacked by a snake.”
“Ok, that did seem a little oddly specific,” Ridge said as Swift began walking away.
Both Ridge and Fleet had slightly concerned looks on their faces as they watched Swift leave.
Fleet turned to Ridge. “I think we made him a little upset,” he admitted.
“I’m sure he’ll get over it eventually,” Ridge insisted. “He usually does.”
Fleet pulled out his phone to check the time. “Crap!” he yelled. “Ridge, we gotta get going! We gotta hurry before all the good spots get taken!”
“It’s still early, we have plenty of time,” Ridge replied as Fleet started rushing ahead.
“Not if everyone else tries to get there early, too!” Fleet argued. “Seriously, I am NOT missing my chance to get a spot close to the front!”
“Ok, ok, I’m coming,” Ridge assured as he followed Fleet. The two of them continued down the streets, trying to get to the park as quickly as they could.
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The city park was still in the process of getting everything set up for the festival. They already had the main stage set up and were now working on the decorations and rehearsal. A few peacocks wandered around, singing in preparation.
“Erg… where is she?” a younger blonde with a peacock tail questioned as he wandered around.
He heard the melody of a familiar peacock’s song, along with the sounds of sparks being shot off. He looked up on the main stage where a beautiful peacock stepped out, spreading her wings out wide as tiny fireworks shot off from her. She then began to glow as she turned back into her humanoid form.
“Ta-Da!” the Sparkler Peacock cheered as she posed dramatically.
“There she is,” the younger blonde said.
“Hi Cerulean!” she greeted.
“Bea! I’ve been looking everywhere for you!” Cerulean said
“Oh, sorry about that,” Bea apologized. “I’ve been so busy getting everything set up for the festival.” Someone from the set up committee walked up to Bea, showing her a clipboard. She quickly looked it over. “Yep! Looks great!” she assured. After the worker left, Bea sat down on the stage, turning her attention back to her little brother. “Anyway, what did you wanna talk about?” she asked.
“I wanted to talk about the stone ceremony,” Cerulean replied.
“Oh yeah! The stone ceremony!” Bea cheered excitedly, clapping her hands together. “I’ve got some pretty exciting things planned for it this year!”
“Bea, that’s not what I meant,” Cerulean interrupted.
“Sorry, sorry, I’m just so excited,” Bea apologized. “Go ahead, what did you wanna say?”
Cerulean let out a sigh. “I don’t think we should do the ceremony.”
Bea had a blank expression on her face before she looked away. “Oh…” she replied, her tone quickly shifting to one of disappointment.
“I know you don’t wanna hear it,” Cerulean continued, “but I really think-”
Bea jumped down from the stage. “Ceru, can we take a walk?”
Cerulean nodded quietly and the two of them started to walk around the park.
“I know you’re just looking out for everyone,” Bea said, “but this is really important. The stone ceremony has been part of the Peacock Festival for generations! And this is my first time hosting the festival as leader.” She turned to her brother. “So you can understand why this is so important to me, right?”
“I know, I know,” Cerulean assured. “But can you really tell me you don’t see any problems with the ceremony?”
“What problems?” Bea asked.
“Well let’s see here,” Cerulean started, “our stone, the thing that gives all the Sparkler Peacocks their power, is just put on display with no protection!”
“Cerulean, don’t you think you’re overreacting just a bit?” Bea asked. “The Sparkler Stone isn’t completely unprotected. I’ll be on stage the entire time, presenting it to the crowd.”
“Yeah, but-”
“Cerulean, it’ll be fine,” Bea insisted, her voice slightly more stern this time. “The Peacock Festival has been around for so long and nothing bad has ever happened.”
Cerulean crossed his arms and looked away, annoyed that his sister refused to listen to him. Bea gave him a concerned look and placed a comforting hand on his shoulder.
“Look, I still have a lot of set up to work on,” she said. “Try not to worry too much, ok?”
Cerulean sighed. “I’ll try…”
“Great! Can’t wait to see you at the festival!” Bea said, waving a goodbye as she walked away.
Cerulean watched his sister, his uneasiness refusing to go away at all. He scrunched up his face. I know it’s only a matter of time before a disaster strikes one of these festivals… he thought.
______________________________________________
“Ha ha! We made it!” Fleet cheered as he stood triumphantly at the park, energy sparking off of his body.
Ridge huffed exhaustedly as he followed behind Fleet. “Can you warn me next time you go into a sprint?” Ridge asked, clearly out of breath.
“Ridge, I told you we needed to get here before the spots got taken!” Fleet argued.
“Well good, because nobody is here,” Ridge pointed out.
“No, there’s a few people over there,” Fleet replied, pointing over to the small number of people already at the park.
“I mean yeah, but still,” Ridge responded. “I can’t help but notice you seem more excited than usual for this festival.”
“What? No!” Fleet denied. “I am the normal amount of excited!”
“Uh huh,” Ridge replied, clearly not buying it. “You sure about that?”
“Yes, normal amount of excitement,” Fleet stood firm.
“Hey, do me a favor real quick and take off your jacket,” Ridge said.
“What? Why?” Fleet questioned.
“You sound awfully defensive for someone who doesn’t have anything to hide,” Ridge challenged.
“I’m not hiding anything!” Fleet argued. “I just… It’s cold! There’s a breeze, Ridge!”
Ridge silently raised an eyebrow, not even needing to say another word.
“Fine…” Fleet accepted his defeat. He took off his scarf before removing his jacket and tying it around his waist, revealing his Bea t-shirt underneath.
“Yep, that’s what I thought,” Ridge said smugly. “That pop star you really like is the new leader, isn’t she?”
“Hey, it’s not every day your idol gets to become the leader of her people and host a super cool festival,” Fleet argued, his face beginning to turn red.
“Relax buddy, I get it,” Ridge assured. “You just want an excuse to meet your crush in person.”
“I do not have a crush on her!” Fleet denied, his face blushing even harder. “I just think she’s really cool and it would be awesome if she signed my forehead or something!”
Ridge chuckled as Fleet continued with his denial. Ridge knew just how obsessed Fleet was with Bea, no amount of saying otherwise could argue against his obvious crush. It also didn’t help that Fleet owned CDs for almost all of Bea’s albums. And he owned a poster of her. And the shirt he was currently wearing. So yeah, pretty obvious crush.
“Well, since we’re here so early,” Ridge changed the subject, “why don’t you look for a spot for us while I go get us some food?”
“Sure, sounds good,” Fleet agreed.
______________________________________________
“So, when did you want me to jump in there?” Vena asked.
“You have to wait until they bring the Sparkler Stone out!” Corria reminded, speaking to Vena through an earpiece. “My drones will go in to distract the crowd while you get on stage and snag the stone, got it?”
“Yeah, I got it,” Vena agreed. “I just don’t understand why you had me come here so early.”
“I had to make sure you got a good spot,” Corria insisted.
Vena blinked in confusion at Corria’s response. She was currently hidden in a tree near the park. She was all alone as everyone else was actually within the park itself. “What are you talking about?” Vena questioned. “I highly doubt there’d be another person trying to steal their magic stone.”
“You can never rule it out,” Corria argued. “Plus, you’ll get a nice view of the show. Isn’t that nice?”
“Are you sure you didn’t wanna just see the performance?” Vena asked.
“No, I’ll catch it on TV,” Corria replied nonchalantly. “Now focus, Vena! You’ve got a mission!”
“Yeah, yeah, I’m on it,” Vena insisted before going quiet. Her eyes were locked on the main stage as that’s where the stone would be presented to the crowd. This was her first time at the Peacock Festival as she never cared for the loud spectacle it provided. She was hoping this mission wouldn’t take much longer as she didn’t want to be wasting time all day sitting in a tree.
______________________________________________
Ridge had grabbed quite a bit of food for him and Fleet as he wanted to be prepared. He noticed that a lot more people were starting to show up now. In fact, it seemed like more people than usual for the Peacock Festival.
“Huh, maybe Fleet had a point about coming early,” Ridge admitted. He was looking around for Fleet when he noticed someone else pacing around nervously. It quickly caught Ridge’s attention and he decided to go see what was up.
“Why can’t she see how dangerous this is?” Cerulean muttered to himself. “Am I the only sane person in the tribe?”
“Hey!”
Cerulean jumped as he wasn’t expecting anyone to walk up to him or even speak to him. He quickly turned around to see who wanted his attention.
“Are you ok?” Ridge asked.
“Oh, uh,” Cerulean replied, not really knowing what to say. “I’m fine!” He smiled at Ridge, but it quickly faded away. “Ok no, that’s a lie,” he admitted.
“Why? What’s wrong?”
“It’s my sister,” Cerulean explained. “She’s the new leader of the Sparkler Peacocks, and I was trying to convince her not to do the stone ceremony, but she wouldn’t listen to me!”
“What’s wrong with the stone ceremony?” Ridge asked. “I always thought it was really cool.”
“It’s a huge risk to put the Sparkler Stone on display like that!” Cerulean said. “That stone gives all of the Sparkler Peacocks their magic! If anything happens to it, we lose our powers!”
Ridge blinked in surprise. “Yeah, now that you explain it like that, that really seems like an oversight.”
“Right?” Cerulean agreed. “But she didn’t wanna listen to me. She thinks that since we’ve never had any problems with the festival before that we don’t need to worry about it…”
Ridge thought for a moment. “If Swift really did have a vision earlier…” he muttered to himself. “Crap. I think maybe he was onto something.”
“Who?” Cerulean asked.
“My friend, Swift,” Ridge explained. “He had a vision about something bad happening at the festival today.”
“Your friend is Magic?” Cerulean questioned.
“He’s only Half Magic,” Ridge clarified, “but still, his visions have helped us out in the past.”
“Wh-where is he?” Cerulean asked. “Maybe with his help, we can convince Bea to stop the ceremony!”
“He uh… he left,” Ridge explained. “He didn’t wanna risk coming to the festival because of the potential danger.”
Cerulean looked disappointed as a sad expression appeared on his face.
Ridge put a hand on the Sparkler Peacock’s shoulder, giving him a confident smile. “Don’t worry,” Ridge assured, “I’m Half Magic, too. If anything bad happens, I’ll help ya out.”
“Really?”
“Of course!” Ridge replied. “Although I should probably let Fleet know about this…”
Fleet had found a great spot for him and Ridge and now was just waiting for his friend to get back. He was starting to get impatient though as more and more time passed. “What’s taking Ridge so long?” he questioned. “The show’s gonna start soon!”
He looked around to see if he could spot Ridge anywhere nearby, but his focus was quickly drawn towards the main stage as some pyrotechnics went off. The crowd began to cheer as Bea stepped onto the stage through the curtains, Fleet joining in as well as he saw his idol.
“I hope you’re all ready for a spectacle!” Bea yelled into her microphone. “Because I’m ready to show you all how the Sparkler Peacocks shine!”
Music began to play as Bea walked across the stage, hyping up the crowd.
“WOO!” Fleet cheered.
“Fleet!”
“Oh, hey Ridge!” Fleet greeted while his eyes were still locked on the main stage.
“Fleet, we gotta keep an eye out!” Ridge said, having to raise his voice over the crowd and the blaring music.
“What?” Fleet replied, clearly struggling to hear Ridge.
“I said we gotta keep an eye out!” Ridge repeated. “I think Swift’s vision may have been legit!”
“What makes you say that?” Fleet questioned.
“Bea’s brother thinks that their stone might be in danger!” Ridge explained.
“They’re supposed to show it off after Bea finishes her performance!” Cerulean informed.
“Dude, don’t spoil it!” Fleet scolded.
“This is serious, Fleet!” Ridge shot back. “All of the Sparkler Peacocks could be in danger!”
“Swift’s paranoia is just rubbing off on you,” Fleet dismissed. “You should be enjoying the show!”
“But-”
“WOO! I love you Bea!” Fleet cheered, completely ignoring Ridge at this point.
Ridge groaned. “I don’t think he’s gonna listen,” he said, turning to Cerulean.
“Well as long as I have your help, I’m sure we can figure something out,” Cerulean assured, although he still looked just as nervous.
Ridge and Cerulean decided to just sit back and watch the show for now, both of them prepared for the worst in case things went south. Bea continued singing as she strutted across the stage, shooting out colorful sparks from her fingers to make the show even more eye-catching.
“She’s almost at the end of her song,” Cerulean warned.
Ridge nodded before looking around cautiously. The entire crowd was still completely focused on Bea. Ridge assumed it would be easy to spot anyone out of the ordinary, but everyone just looked normal to him. His head turned back towards the main stage as he heard Bea belt out one final high note.
As Bea finished singing her song, more pyrotechnics fired off and the crowd went wild. Bea smiled and blew some kisses into the crowd as she waited for them to calm down. As soon as things began to get quiet, she readied her microphone.
“The Peacock Festival has been a tradition of our tribe for countless generations,” Bea announced. “As the Sparkler Peacock’s newest leader, I have some pretty big shoes to fill. One of our traditions is to show off the Sparkler Stone as a sign of prosperity. And usually, we wait until the end, but I wanted to mix things up this year!”
The crowd began to cheer again as Bea stepped aside. Two other members of the tribe walked forward, pushing a pedestal that displayed a small yet vibrantly colored stone.
“That’s the Sparkler Stone!” Cerulean informed.
Before either Cerulean or Ridge could do anything, they suddenly heard a bunch of screams coming from the crowd.
“What was that?” Ridge asked.
He looked around to see people running in a panic. It didn’t take him long to figure out what they were running from as he noticed an army of small, spherical drones rolling into the crowd, shooting lasers at the civilians.
“Ridge! Look!” Cerulean warned.
Ridge turned back towards the main stage as a large burst of purple smoke appeared. The smoke began to clear, revealing a half-snake lady standing in the middle.
“I’ll be taking that stone from you now,” Vena ordered.
Bea yelped in fear, taking a step back. The two other Sparkler Peacocks on stage quickly began to glow as they shapeshifted into animal forms. They jumped at Vena, shooting off tiny sparks towards the intruder. Vena waved her hand, creating a purple blast that immediately knocked them away. The peacocks squawked in pain as they landed on the ground. Vena then immediately snapped her fingers and shadowy tendrils rose from the ground, grabbing the peacocks and trapping them in place.
“Now, where was I?” Vena said.
Bea stared at Vena in fear, but she quickly put on a brave face. Tiny fireworks began to shoot from her hands.
“I will NOT let you steal our stone!” Bea warned.
“Suit yourself,” Vena responded. She fired off another shadowy blast. Bea froze up, staring in horror. However, before the blast could strike, a giant purple crystal suddenly formed to block the attack.
“Huh?” Bea questioned.
“You’re not stealing anyone’s stone today!” Ridge yelled, pointing his hand at the stage. He quickly ran ahead, jumping onto the stage and putting himself between Bea and Vena.
“Who do you think you are?” Vena questioned. “Get out of my way!”
“Can’t do that,” Ridge denied. “I’m not the type of guy to sit back when some crazy lady shows up to attack people.”
Vena hissed at Ridge before she began to glow. In an instant, she shapeshifted into a snake and lunged at Ridge.
“WOAH!” Ridge yelped as he dodged out of the way.
“Ridge!” Fleet called out.
“Fleet! Call Swift!” Ridge ordered.
“What? Why can’t you do it?” Fleet questioned.
“I’m sort of fighting off a snake lady right now!” Ridge argued. “Plus, someone needs to fight off those drones in the crowd!”
Fleet looked back at said drones which were still causing mayhem for the people in the crowd. “Fair point,” he agreed. “I’m on it!”
______________________________________________
Swift wasn’t super far away from the park. He could have easily gone home for the day, but the weather was too nice to just waste it. So instead, he had found a nice bench to sit at and just get some fresh air.
He took in a deep breath, letting out a sigh. “It’s not every day I get to just relax like this,” he commented.
Swift’s relaxation was quickly interrupted though as his phone began to ring. He checked it and saw that Fleet was calling, so he answered it.
“Yeah?” Swift said.
“Swift!” Fleet yelled in a panic. “There’s an angry snake lady attacking the festival and there’s a lot of drones and you were right, something bad was supposed to happen, PLEASE COME HELP!”
Swift held his phone away from himself and blinked for a moment as he tried to process what Fleet just screamed at him. “Alright, be there in a bit,” he responded nonchalantly. Swift then hung up the call and put his phone away. He stood up from the bench and stretched for a moment. “I knew they were gonna need my help,” he said.
Swift pulled something out of his pocket. It was relatively small and shaped like a brick. He clicked a button on the side and a blade extended from the brick, turning it into a katana. He pulled out a second brick, unsheathing that blade as well, before he dashed off towards the park.
______________________________________________
The drones continued to fire their lasers at the crowd, causing even more panic. Suddenly, a blast of energy shot one of the drones, causing it to explode. The other drones paused and turned towards their destroyed ally for a moment before looking towards its attacker.
“You guys are gonna pay for ruining this for me!” Fleet yelled as he readied another energy blast. He shot out the second blast, hitting another drone. The drones decided to change their main target to Fleet, all of them aiming their lasers at him now.
“WOAH!” Fleet yelped as he dodged one of the lasers. He continued trying to dip out of the way of all the laser blasts, but it was growing a bit more difficult as more and more drones joined in. “Why do I have to be so good at drawing attention?!” Fleet complained.
One drone fired off one of its lasers before it got hit by a small firework. The tiny blast only barely scratched it, but it did enough to catch its attention.
“Oops, sorry,” Cerulean apologized. “Guess that wasn’t super helpful, huh?”
Fleet shot out an energy blast, finishing the job for Cerulean.
“Hey, you’re Bea’s brother, right?” Fleet asked. “Thanks for the help.”
“Uh, no problem,” Cerulean responded. “But I’m not sure how helpful my powers are in a fight! They’re really just for show.”
“Are you kidding me?” Fleet questioned. “You shoot fireworks out of your hands! You just gotta put more power into it!”
“Huh,” Cerulean replied. “I guess I never tried that…”
The drones began shooting their lasers again, interrupting the conversation.
“Erk!” Fleet grunted as one of the lasers hit his arm. “You better not ruin this shirt you little menaces!” He shot out another energy blast, destroying the single drone.
Cerulean decided to follow Fleet’s lead. He channeled his power for a moment before shooting off a massive blast at the drones. The sparkling explosion was enough to wipe out half of the drones in an instant. Both Cerulean and Fleet seemed shocked from the sheer power behind the blast.
“Uh, yeah, keep doing that,” Fleet advised.
“I’ll try,” Cerulean replied.
The two of them continued fighting off the drones. They seemed easy enough to destroy, but the problem was that there were so many of them and even more were arriving.
Fleet finished fighting off a small group of them, only to notice an entire new army of them approaching him from behind. The one in front began to charge an even larger blast than normal, but right as it fired the shot, someone jumped in and blocked it with a blade.
“Swift!” Fleet cheered. “Boy am I glad to see you!”
“Where’d these bots come from?” Swift questioned.
“No idea,” Fleet admitted. “But the two of us can handle them,” he assured as he pointed at Cerulean. “You should probably go help out Ridge on stage!”
Swift looked up at the main stage where Ridge was still fighting against Vena in her snake form.
“I’m on it,” Swift assured.
He rushed to the stage as fast as he could. Vena twisted in the air, creating a shadowy swirl around her target. Ridge looked around in fear when suddenly, Swift jumped in, swinging his swords to disarm the attack.
“Swift!” Ridge cheered. “Heh, took ya long enough!”
Swift glanced at Vena for a moment before smirking at Ridge. “See? Told ya there would be a snake.”
“Yeah, yeah, you were right and we were wrong,” Ridge replied. “Now stop gloating so we can beat her already.”
Vena hissed at the two of them before she shapeshifted into human form again. “This wasn’t how things were supposed to go!” she yelled.
“Looks like the plans changed,” Swift retorted. “I can only assume you came here for that magic stone, and obviously we can’t let you grab it.”
“Just try and stop me then,” Vena challenged.
“Alright,” Swift replied. He ran at Vena readying his katanas. Vena was quick to respond, using her magic to create a pair of purple katanas of her own. She managed to block Swift’s attack, keeping him in place. However, this gave Ridge the perfect opportunity to strike.
Ridge ran to the side, clenching his fists as they became encased in crystal. He then punched Vena, his crystals giving him immense extra power.
“Ack!” Vena grunted as Ridge knocked her away.
She managed to find her footing again as she readied her next attack. Shadowy tendrils shot up from the ground and lunged towards Ridge and Swift. Swift managed to jump out of the way, but Ridge wasn’t quite fast enough, the tendrils wrapping around him and trapping him in place. Swift frowned, running over to Ridge and slicing him free.
“Thanks for the save, Swift,” Ridge expressed.
“Don’t mention it,” Swift assured.
Swift turned towards Vena again and threw one of his katanas towards her. Vena flinched back, a shadow tendril shooting up in front of her to catch the weapon before throwing it back at Swift.
Swift’s eyes went wide as he quickly ducked out of the way. Ridge then stomped his foot down and a barrage of crystals shot from the ground towards Vena. She did her best to dodge them, but after a few flips, one of them grabbed her, trapping her in place.
“Heh, gotcha!” Ridge mocked.
“Erk!” Vena grunted as she tried to free herself. “I don’t think this is gonna work…”
“Fine, whatever,” Corria responded to her through the earpiece. “Most of my drones are offline anyway. We’ll just have to try another day.”
Swift and Ridge both walked up to the now trapped Vena.
“Now that we’ve got you sitting still,” Swift said, “why don’t you explain what it is you want with the Sparkler Stone?”
“Tch, I’m not the one interested in it,” Vena denied.
“Well then, who is?” Ridge interrogated.
“Like I’d ever tell you,” Vena replied. “I’d rather not give out any-”
Vena was cut off as one of the drones suddenly jumped on stage, right in front of her. It began to buzz for a moment before a hologram appeared.
“So, you Half Magics are the ones getting in the way of my plans?” Corria made herself known from the hologram. “Honestly, it’s impressive to see you fight against a Full Magic like Vena.”
“Corria!” Vena yelled through gritted teeth.
“What do you want with the Sparkler Stone?” Swift asked angrily.
Corria began to laugh. “Now where would the fun be if I told you that?” she replied. “Vena may have failed to grab the stone this time, but there’s other ways of getting what I need. This fight isn’t over!”
Swift opened his mouth to object, but was stopped as someone else jumped on stage.
“So YOU ruined the festival!” Fleet yelled, pointing towards the hologram. “Once I find you, I’m gonna shock you into next week!”
Corria began laughing again. “Don’t think I didn’t notice the damage you did to my drones,” she said. “I’ve got my eye on you for sure.”
Fleet recoiled back, an uneasy look on his face.
“Anyway,” Corria continued, “our work here is done for now, Vena. You can head back.”
“Alright,” Vena replied. She then became surrounded by purple smoke, the same smoke from when she first appeared on the stage.
“Wait, what is she-” Ridge started, but stopped as the smoke cleared with Vena nowhere to be seen. The drone that Corria was using to chat to the others then suddenly began to beep.
Swift’s eyes went wide. “It’s gonna blow up!” He quickly grabbed Fleet to try and get him away from the bomb. Luckily, Ridge was quick to react, raising his arms up and creating a crystal to block the explosion. It worked and everyone was completely unharmed. Any of the remaining drones in the crowd quickly began to flee. Everyone else seemed to calm down as well.
“Is it… is it over?” Cerulean asked as he walked towards the stage.
“Looks like it,” Ridge commented.
Everyone remained silent for a moment until Fleet let out a cheer. “Woo! We did it! We saved the day!” he yelled excitedly.
“Yes! You saved us all!” Bea agreed, causing Fleet to freeze up as his face turned red.
“Uh… y-yeah, it was nothing,” Fleet assured awkwardly.
Bea giggled, causing Fleet to blush harder. “And I see you're a fan, aren’t you?” She pointed at Fleet's t-shirt.
Fleet just stared at Bea like a deer in headlights. “Yeah, you could say that,” he managed to respond.
“Hey, don’t just thank us,” Ridge chimed in, interrupting Fleet's moment. “We wouldn’t have been prepared if Cerulean hadn’t warned us.”
Bea looked over at her younger brother, a guilty look appearing on her face. She walked over to the side of the stage and squatted down.
“I’m sorry, Ceru,” she apologized. “I should’ve paid more attention to your concerns.”
“Yeah, you should have,” Cerulean replied somewhat teasingly. “But… I understand how important this was for you.”
Bea smiled for a moment before frowning again. “Still though,” she said, “I can see now how much of a danger presenting the Sparkler Stone as is can be. We’ll definitely be rethinking things for the next time.”
Cerulean smiled. “Thanks, Bea.”
Swift, Ridge and Fleet watched the siblings reconciling with each other before Ridge turned to Swift. “I guess we should apologize, too,” Ridge suggested. “You tried to warn us that there was gonna be danger at the festival, and low and behold, there was danger.”
Swift shrugged. “Eh, my visions can be tricky to interpret,” he admitted. “I don’t blame you guys for not fully believing me.”
“And hey,” Fleet chimed in, “if we didn’t come, we probably wouldn’t have been here to stop that snake lady.”
“That’s a good point,” Ridge agreed. “Things probably would have gone way worse if we followed your lead, Swift.”
“Ok, you don’t need to put it like that,” Swift argued.
“Yeah! Let’s agree to not listen to Swift more often!” Fleet suggested.
“You’re gonna get yourself killed one of these days,” Swift commented.
Fleet laughed for a moment before going quiet. “Wait, that… that wasn’t something you saw in a vision, was it?” he asked. “You’re just joking around, right?”
“Come on, I’m ready to head back home,” Swift said, completely ignoring Fleet’s question.
“Hey, you don’t need to leave right away,” Bea insisted, overhearing the conversation. “We still plan on continuing the festival!”
“Really? Even with all the scorch marks in the grass and the busted up stage?” Ridge questioned. He then rubbed the back of his head as he noticed the giant purple crystals jutting out of the stage. “Uh, sorry about that, by the way.”
“There's no need for apologies,” Bea assured. “You saved us after all! We can… work around all the destruction. Besides, there’s still the fireworks show.”
Fleet gasped. “We CANNOT miss the fireworks show!” he insisted. “We are staying!”
Bea laughed again. “I like your energy a lot,” she complimented.
“Ehehehe,” Fleet laughed nervously, his face turning red once again.
“Alright, we’ll stay,” Swift assured. “It’ll be nice after that fight we had.”
The rest of the Peacock Festival wasn’t quite as eventful as the surprise ambush, but it wasn’t like anyone was going to complain. As the sky began to grow dark, the fireworks show was getting ready to begin. A line of Sparkler Peacocks stood in their animal forms. They spread out their wings before letting out a song. Afterwards, they all shot off fireworks into the sky, creating quite the beautiful spectacle.
“You know Swift,” Ridge said, “it’s kinda crazy what we did today, right?”
“You mean fighting off that snake lady?” Swift replied. “Yeah, it was pretty crazy.”
“And that scientist lady sounded like she was gonna cause more problems,” Ridge reminded. “Do you think we’re gonna have to deal with her again?”
Swift shrugged. “If she keeps causing problems and we’re around to do something about it, then yeah.”
Ridge chuckled. “Well I know Fleet’s gonna have a blast with that.” He went quiet for a moment. “Do you really think we’d be up for it?”
“Up for what?”
“Saving people,” Ridge clarified. “Like, as a regular thing?”
“I guess we’ll just have to wait and see,” Swift decided.
“Yeah, that’s fair,” Ridge agreed. “And I mean, you’ll be watching our backs at least. I’m sure this won’t be the last time your visions help save our butts.”
“Yeah, if you guys actually listen to them,” Swift retorted.
“Oh stop,” Ridge replied, playfully punching Swift in the arm.
They both stared up at the fireworks as the show continued. If Corria really did plan on causing more problems in the future, then they’d have no issue stopping her. They had no idea what she was planning, but that didn’t really matter too much. They managed to save the Peacock Festival and the Sparkler Peacocks, so whatever Corria threw at them in the future, they’d be ready for it. After all, how bad could things really get?
med people are so annoying "This family's 8 year old child who was about to go through a major surgery and kept crying that she was hungry so they pitied her and gave her food, she then had a heart attack in the surgery. They're so stupid 😒" girl they didn't know that could happen or why it happens. it takes so little time to explain to them that will happen instead of telling them "no food" with no explanation 10 times
"Before surgery, your body’s reflexes that protect your airway are relaxed by anesthesia. If there’s food or liquid in your stomach, it will near certainly come back up and go into your lungs, which can cause choking, a severe lung / heart infection or even a heart attack. That’s called aspiration, and it is life-threatening. It's hard, but it's only a single day to prevent near certain death. Not eating or drinking beforehand massively lowers the risk and helps prevent these life threatening situations under anesthesia." <- TIP: patients have brains which allows them to receive information just like you
I have four kids. I’ve had one or another of them need some kind of surgical procedure that requires anesthesia four or five times over the past 15 years.
This Tumblr post is the first time someone has explained to me *why* I couldn’t feed them before those instances.
I’m not stupid. I understood that just fine. Hell, my kids would have understood that just fine. But no one bothered to tell us.
i did know this before having kids (i have six). we have a kid that's needed multiple procedures requiring anesthesia. and every single time, i am asked multiple times if i'm sure he was not given any food or water after a certain point.
every single time i have had to say, "i understand that if he had food or water, he could aspirate it into his lungs under anesthesia. i am not lying to you." THEN someone would make a little note and i would stop being repeatedly asked.
not a single time was that risk explained to me. the only reason it came up was because i already knew. i still don't understand why it isn't standard pre-op counseling or pre-op check information, when me as a parent acknowledging the actual risk also put THE MEDICAL STAFF at ease because i conveyed that i had informed understanding as reason to not lie about giving my kid food.
"maybe some people will get nervous and refuse surgery" okay so they need more counseling about risks and anxiety, not less information in a way that actually does endanger their child or themselves!
The problem with being a Creative Person is I want to create all the things. I want to draw a little drawing. I want to write a fic. I want to write a book. I want to paint with watercolors. I want to paint with oil paints. I want to animate. I want to make something out of clay. I want to sew a dress. I want to play a song on the ukulele. I want to play a song on the cello. I want to play a song on the harp. I want to write a song. I want to write a musical. I want to make a webcomic. I want to make a video game.
I want to do EVERYTHING but I don’t have the TIME or MONEY or MOTIVATION
TADC SPOILERS!!! YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED!!! Anyway, I needed to doodle something to cope with my emotions after seeing the finale yesterday.
Isn't she lovely?
I wanted so badly for her to come back somehow in a more feminine body and finally be happy. I understand why that didn't happen but I wanted it so badly. ;_;
I find it so funny that people are shocked and freaking out that Mark knows about the bloodymary ship as if he wasn't saying shit like this on this very site back in 2015
if you are a parent, or may become one, or you are otherwise likely to arrive in the situation of caring for a child while they eat, promise me this: if a child doesn't like a certain food or food group, you will ask them WHY. and specifically, you will pay attention to either confirming or ruling out "it makes my mouth itch" or "it makes my stomach hurt," both of which are medically important info that children may not provide unprompted. which i know because this PSA has been brought to you by "i spent my entire childhood and much of my early teens eating peas and lentils while wondering why everyone else liked the Violently Itchy Mouth Sensation so much, like were they a bunch of legume masochists or something, before i finally realized that Violently Itchy Mouth Sensation was in fact a sinister demon appearing only to me, and her true demonic name was: Legume Allergy"
given the current climate this pride especially i feel i must mention that i love my trans friends, i stand with trans people in the fight against transphobic legislation and those who would enforce it, and this blog is not a good place for you to be if you do not vibe with that
andulkaphoto
ellievsbear
dededos
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dailybridgerton
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romaincrisis
