how do i interact with the main cast of my twisted wonderland dr?
ace and deuce are hardly separate people. even their names blend together in your mind (aceandeuce-- one word, completely inseperable) and their personalities are similar. if one believed in soulmates, you would find them in these two souls, but nobody is sure whether they'd make an incredible partnership or if they'll end up putting each other in jail.
ace... is a lot. whip-smart, sharp-tongued, and the biggest instigator this side of the land of dawning. sixteen-going-on-seventeen at the time we meet, he likes to think he's the leader, but the only place that he leads us is into riddle's collars. (i don't think he even knows that i'm older than him? jury's still out on that one)
deuce is more mellow, but definitely has a raging temper that he's learning how to take control of (riddle's even letting him borrow his therapy workbooks every now and again, imagine that). a competent student, contrary to popular belief, but he needs to do something to know something. figuring out what gaps he has in his knowledge due to missing any prerequisite classes is an uphill battle, but we've made a system.
we're almost always together. if we aren't, we're either at club activities or somebody's dying. at least twice a day i'm talking ace out of cursing somebody and reminding deuce about his homework. as a collective, we've dealt with more overblots than some STYX employees, but you wouldn't know it with the way that deuce chases ace around trying to trap him under a cauldron like a pesky spider.
leona,,,, leona kingscholar,,,,,,,, dawg give me a second to compose myself.
he's even more beautiful in person. everybody on the spelldrive team laughs at my crush on our "beloved captain," but then he does some once-in-a-lifetime play and everybody's hands are in the air and they understand me a bit better. he knows about my crush, i know he does, but he just gives me that damn smirk every time he does something hot and i melt into a puddle of goo.
shockingly, we didn't work together all too well. he's either guns-blazing or incredibly hands-off as a leader, and i like to be right in the thick of things (well, as much as i can as a manager). we eventually grew to work around each other. the team's totally crushed every spelldrive team sent against us, partially due to leona's keen strategic skill and partially due to me keeping a frankly awesome snack stash.
but when it gets dark and he's walking me back to gravemorne-- like the gentleman he claims he isn't-- he's one of the softest and most insightful individuals i've ever met. polite, respectful, but still teasing in a way that's just so him. he's started teaching me to read one or two ancient languages. we have a secret handwritten code for when we need to communicate secretly about our teammates. sometimes he says stuff that makes me wonder how he made it this long without getting hit (likely because he hit first and hit harder).
also, his hair? incredibly fun to braid.
ruggie, and i say this with the most affection i hold in my heart, is an absolute pest. you thought ace was bad? oh? you haven't had the lunch you were looking forward to and three marks stolen right from under your nose. he'll probably give it back. probably. maybe. actually, it may be safest to watch your stuff around him.
if you wondered who pestered me about leona? if that was truly a question you had in your soul? look no damn further. that sheeheehee! laugh haunts my dreams right before i hear something that's turning me magenta and preparing my clipboard to dish out a beating.
but truly, as much as i tease him, and as easily as he gives it back, ruggie's one of the best people to have in your corner. always willing to go to bat for you, even though he claims to only accept payment in donuts. he's a great person to go to if you have questions about beastman culture. he may tease for your lack of knowledge, but he'll break it down in a way that makes so much sense you wonder how it didn't occur to you (a lifesaver when trying to figure out whether people are ACTUALLY annoyed by you).
interesting quirk about us both: we bite. bad. ruggie's never broken skin, but my arms and shoulders are almost always covered in ruggie-shaped bruises. doesn't mean i don't give as good as i get, of course. remarkably chewable, 10/10. i need him around all the time. i bit ace once on habit. i'll never live it down.
kalim's a total sweet soul, dog boy that somehow skipped the ears and tail gene. he seems to forget that. things he forgets may include: homework, class times, housewarden meetings, and his own strength (he has to pack those damn drums everywhere, he's got some muscle). things he will never forget include: birthdays, people's favorite color and song, counts for his drums and choreography.
the amount of drumsticks he has broken from just getting too excited has inspired cater to bring him a tote. he's taken it as a challenge to fill the entire thing before he graduates; i'm making him a necklace for his birthday with some of the more fun colors and wood types. it's been tough to sneak them out of the music classroom.
rich. mind-numbingly rich. he sometimes forgets that i'm working with a remarkably limited budget, but he's so financially savvy that i would make him my finance guy... if he wasn't so bad at keeping a budget. frankly, i don't know where he wants me to get three elephants, much less where i'm supposed to keep them at my chilly chilly dorm.
but when push comes to shove, he's always there outside your window on the magic carpet when the day's been long and the night's been longer. he has a sixth sense for ennui, and it's his personal mission to eradicate it for good. you don't know freedom until you're a hundred feet above the ground and the wind's stinging your eyes as the kindest boy you've ever met still looks at you like you're whole and special after every awful thing that has happened to you.
you thought whatever crush i had on leona was intense? just wait until you see me around jamil. easily top ten most beautiful men in existence, maybe even eking into top three. he dances. he sings. he's chronically tired and disappointed in everyone. i'm absolutely enamored.
ace and floyd drag me to basketball to embarrass me in front of him. it always works. spectacularly, may i add. i've stumbled over seven sentences. ace and floyd have never laughed harder. jamil's so over this damn club and every part of this damn school.
we don't actually start getting close until i start dancing again. i missed it, being able to move to a beat. kalim finds me. kalim joins me. kalim drags me to a party. jamil and i share (share! we shared something!!) a dance that changes our relationship from something somewhat stilted to two kind-of friends.
he gets off on watching me squirm after we do get close though, i swear. he whispers something vaguely flirty, i turn a color that would make carnelian jealous, and he gives me that stupid smirk. ugh. you know the one. but our duets are incredible. one day i swear i'll convince him to try out for a play with me... maybe we'll be cast as love interests FWEHEHEHEHEHEHHE---
i knew about malleus's identity long before he thought i did. i think i learned about it after halloween? but still, "morpheus" kept me good company through many sleepless nights at gravemorne. his ramblings on gargoyles are incredibly fascinating, don't let fanfiction fool you. he's eloquent in a way that only a prince can be (as long as that prince isn't leona).
he's the one that i gave my manager tickets to for the VDC. he's the one that i gave my family and friends tickets to for my opening hadestown performance. the sky was abnormally clear both of those days. i don't think i've ever sang clearer than when he's been watching.
his tail is out more than you'd think it is. he has two sets of dorm uniforms, one with a tail hole and one without. sebek always takes it as a good omen when he shows his tail. however, once somebody tried to grab it and they were an inch away from getting struck by lightning.
any question you have about fae culture is something to bring to him. he explains it bluntly with no embellishment. ask about the difference between nocturnal and diurnal fae and he can give you a twenty minute lecture that makes more sense than anything trein can come up with. just... don't ask when sebek's around. his prejudice towards humans is intense, but his impressions on diurnal fae are hardly above that.
ah, beautiful vil. she's so intimidating that it makes me want to roll over and beg her for mercy. i'm fortunate enough that she sees me as a pet project because i've seen the way she looks at people who aren't worth her time and?? it's like they're the scum of the earth???? she's the only reason that i'm as well-known in pomefiore as i am (and that epel and i butt heads off the field, but that's another story).
every monday i go to pomefiore after club activities and the dorm comes alive to dress me up and get me looking proper before a photoshoot. she always takes it on herself to do my makeup. you'll never catch me using anything that vil didn't formulate herself; i break out at even the idea of cheating on her cosmetics. it takes hours and i always feel scrubbed raw by the time i get into whatever outfit they've set for me, but hearing her whisper "that's perfect" when we get something right makes me feel like i'm flying.
now, growing up in the spotlight isn't all that it's chalked up to be. when she's directing my photoshoots, you can sometimes see her eyes dull when members of her dorm discuss some of the movies she's been in. she plays masculine and feminine roles in equal measure, but in every one she's the villain, even down to her days where she played an elementary schooler.
the film research club and i are making her birthday present together; a script for a couple episodes of an "i became the villainess!" style isekai, using what vil has always seen as a disadvantage as a plot point. it's still in development. very hush-hush.
...
this is a good intro to people i know (that you might know too)! my circle is lots larger than this, but some are "non-canon" and some are more passing relationships. there's a lot more i have to say about them than what's written here, so ask away! curious about somebody else? shoot me an ask or a comment! i'm always willing to brag about my friends :)
(savanaclaw on planning dates; a short story from my twisted wonderland DR!)
it’s tough going for men looking for love at night raven college, especially where there are very few women on campus. so, when a second year friend from savanaclaw started going on dates with a girl from MDI, everybody was rightfully excited for him.
i think it happened right after leona’s overblot, during that apology barbecue? he asked me, quietly and a little bit embarrassed, how to plan this first date right. he wanted to ask because, well, i’d been a woman before right? so i know how this goes? but things like this aren’t very private, especially in a dorm full of people with sonar ears.
the other men kind of went into the whole spiel, get her flowers and pay for dinner, open doors and be a gentleman (as vague as that statement is). despite how wild they act, most of these men know how to treat a woman well, at least in theory. but my friend’s eyes kept jumping back to me.
kind of tough to explain how women like dates to be planned though? i ended up settling on “well, what does she like? any hobbies she has, anything that you two bonded over?” you’d think i grew a SECOND FUCKING HEAD the way those men stared at me. one of them even had the GALL to ask “well what does that have to do with anything?”
i popped a piece of pineapple into my mouth and chewed, trying to think of how to explain further. the best part of a date for a woman is feeling like it’s a date for her, i try to explain. like, i don’t like going on dinner dates because i have a hard time finishing food and it feels rude to make somebody else pay for a meal i can’t eat. that’s something that you wouldn’t know without knowing me well.
the suitor nodded his head, comprehending my words better than i expected honestly. “she’s real sweet, we met at a basketball game but she doesn’t seem the type to play. she likes animals a lot, has a dog at home with her family…” he continues for a while, lining out the kind of girl she seems to be, at least from first impression. an incredible sense of style, kind to everyone, the type that usually wouldn’t find any interest in an NRC student but hey, if anybody could pull a sweetie like her it would be this friend.
the peanut gallery had gone shockingly quiet, hanging off my words a little bit (but still nonchalant, because. men.). me and my friend spent a long while lining out the details of this date, what he wanted to do and what she might like. "text and tell her you have a rough idea of what to do," i suggest, "then she can choose whether she wants to know or be surprised."
"but the man is supposed to plan the date?" says somebody off to the side, mouth full of some meat that smells delicious but is probably too heavily peppered for my fickle stomach.
i tried to explain that yeah, that can be nice for some people, but some people need the sense of control that helping out with dates can have. some folks just don't like to leave things up to chance.
"when did you become such a romance guru?" leona asked from his place reclining by the pool, one eye open and a smug expression on his face. i'm gonna be real, after the overblot he was just like. the normal spelldrive captain that i worked with.
"most of my exes couldn't really do it, so i had to figure it out myself."
it was like i'd just announced that i was a PIXIE, the way these men howled in disbelief. "you had EXES?" "you DATE?"
"uh, yeah? it's a normal part of school years back home."
ruggie's over there busting it UP laughing and he tries to explain that nobody really thinks of me dating other people from back home, especially with how physically affectionate i am with people i consider just friends.
"are you calling me easy, bucchi?" i taunt, and he tries to backpedal as the rest of the dorm laughs. really, it's kind of a shocker that they think i've never been on a date?
the night is full of chatter, guffaws and chuckles, but then it slowly starts to die down as the students start talking about their own love lives (or, in some cases, the lack thereof).
my friend comes back over to me, showing me his phone with a big ol' grin on his face, and i'm HYPED because i'm kind of just spitballing with this date stuff. she liked the plan, had some things to include and adjust but i was at least a little bit of help. he thanks me profusely (or, at least, as profusely as a member of savanaclaw can. no matter how nice he is, he's still here instead of at The Other School for a reason).
i wave it away, on my second helping of pineapple. the pineapple at this party was GAS. i could make an entire post about this pineapple. or pineapple in general.
i think jack's being totally innocent when he asks me what sort of date i would want to go on, but the rest of the dorm heckles him anyway. nothing you can do about that, i guess, so i take a minute to think.
i hem and haw for a GOOD long while, trying to decide what i'd like and of COURSE i can't help but think of what i'd want to do with leona and i think everybody knows that. i decide on going down to the port town, wandering around and seeing what catches my eye. you'd swear these boys had notebooks at the ready the way they were asking questions though?
"would you want him to walk you home?" to the gate of the college, maybe, but not back to my dorm unless he's actually FROM night raven (and some of those boys DEFINITELY prickled thinking about me going on a date with somebody from The Other School).
"would you kiss him on the first date?" depends how i feel. i don't see kissing as a colossal deal like some people do.
"what are some instant no's for you?" being patronized. there's a difference between chivalry and babyproofing and if you do the latter you'll just piss me off.
we talk about this for a long while, the boys cutting in with some of their insights about dates they'd been on, things that had been a success and things that had been awkward with their partners. one of them, a third-year with a fourth-year boyfriend from scarabia, puts in his two cents of planning for somebody who feels the need to reciprocate.
honestly savanaclaw's just like. a super muscular slumber party? they like fistfight and throw each other into the pool but they do really like to talk about like romance and movies they've watched. they're a lot more respectful than people here are so i never have to worry about them being creepers.
but yeah the night winds down and i'm getting tired (because DAMN that week was EXHAUSTING) and when i stand and start gathering my stuff all of the boys are like "noooo but then when you leave we all have to go to beddddd :(" like hey diva! you don't have a bedtime! you are all grown ass adults!
and one of them suggests walking me back to my dorm because they DO live at night raven and then they all start arguing about who's going to be taking me back. because obviously they all can't go. obviously. so they start figuring out some sort of contest where one person will get to walk me home when LEONA stands up and is like "all of you clean this shit up and go to bed. i'll take them so you idiots don't get yourselves hurt trying to decide." they tried to rope him into it but he did that like mom eyebrow raise and they all shut up like misbehaving kids...
so leona walked me homeeeeughhhhh he's so perfect and lovely we talked the entire way back about everything and nothing and,,, i could talk about him for HOURS do NAWT let me bring up leona kingscholar.
this may not be the most cohesive thing posted on this blog but i miss writing about this dr... everybody is so AUGHHHH and i'm so EUUUUGH and trust. i am a mary sue. everybody wants me and everybody thinks i'm cool and *yap yap yap*.
but yeah! considering making more posts like this just detailing some of the stories i've picked up from twisted wonderland, tell me what you think?
credits for the divider go to @strangergraphics! credits for all photos to where they are due :)
Do you have any stories/first impressions about anyone from Octavinelle from your twst DR? In my DR I’m very connected to the ocean so I expect to be very connected to them against my will lol
I love the way you write btw it makes it very easy to picture your DR 💞
i do! i spend a lot of time in octavinelle actually (there’s this one window that looks across the ocean and it’s one of the best places to journal or study on campus… as long as you buy a drink) so here’s some info on the boys:
pt. one...
azul ashengrotto; housewarden of octavinelle, owner and manager of the mostro lounge, and a pain in my side all around. oh, he's very nice when you first meet him! and then he figures out literally anything about you and tries to rope you into a deal.
however, his unique magic isn't all that bad. where my magic is so wacky and unpredictable, it's very useful to have him trade, play with it for a few hours and tell me what's so different so i can make improvements. that's the only deal that we have that's ongoing; every other sunday is his play day.
his mer-form is beautiful and he'll punch you - literally - if you imply that. he's still not used to being conventionally attractive (and honestly, he was still a cute kid so his major weight loss sometimes just seems unhealthy??), so he insists you must be lying. however, trust me when i say he cleans up GOOD. tapis rouge had me questioning every attraction i've ever had.
and he's not just pretty, he's a genius too. want to walk into your exams knowing everything you'll ever need? head into octavinelle early saturday mornings; a group of early risers like this dorm have structured study sessions to ensure they stay on top of the rankings. azul's spearheading it, and i think it was that that led to my practical magic 104% score. just... make sure you wait until AFTER fall term/winter break. he may not be so generous otherwise.
jade is... intimidating to me. i'm frankly pretty scared of him, but nobody else seems to be? everybody's soooo afraid of floyd but floyd would at least leave a body to find if he ended up killing you. canon did a GREAT job at portraying just how much of a weirdo he is.
one thing we can agree on: botany. mushrooms. i found a glowing specimen at gravemorne and once we determined it was safe to eat, took a nibble. we were both seeing colors for three hours after that. floyd wouldn't talk to me for three days. sometimes, i mention the word fungus to see jade light up and floyd cringe.
he's probably the most willing to take me swimming and least likely to let me get bit by a triggerfish. finding different types of underwater flora and taking them home to look at under a microscope is the HIGHLIGHT of any interactions i have with him. he's not as enthused until i let him borrow some of adelaide's magical plants to play around with.
overall, very cool unless you stop being interesting. i pray that you never stop being interesting.
eel. that's all you need to know.
...
NO BUT HE'S ACTUALLY SO FUNNY WHEN HE'S NOT TRYING TO CRUSH YOUR RIBCAGE. he's an imp to be sure, but he's one of the only people that my ghoul kids from my dorm enjoy. i'm still a lil' shrimpy to him (guess some things never change, even across realities), but his aquatic creature nicknames light up my life a little bit :)
very athletic until you get him on a broom. he loves basketball and can easily jump over my head if he wants to... it's just a matter of getting him to want to. also, once you get to be friends, "scary eel privilege" extends to you as well! when i travel to basketball games and somebody starts getting a bit too comfortable, suddenly there's a sharp-toothed giant scaring off the small fry before excitedly dragging you away to shoot three-pointers for you.
the BIGGEST instigator in the cast. never let him know you have a crush on anyone. not the most competent wingman, but if you feel like you've tried everything and nothing's working, call him. best way to get him to work with you? make it a game.
very insightful, and has a wicked tenor to boot. it's no wonder that he's as good at music as he is. a competent dancer too, as long as you lead for a little bit so that he can figure out what he's supposed to do. sometimes when you're dancing he'll say something life-changing and borderline prophetic before dashing off to go find somebody to squeeze.
that's what i know of the octavinelle boys! i'm HIGHLY encouraged to stay away from them so it's kind of a shock that i even know this much about them. i really do love them dearly though and i'm going to be so sad when we all graduate and i won't see as much of them anymore :(
what happened to those who overblotted afterwards? what changed mentally, physically, magically?
overblot isn't generally something people survive. there's been only a handful of people who have lived full lives afterward; even if you destroy the phantom, blot can remain in the body. styx's research is incredibly important and their knowledge was imperative in recovery of the housewardens of night raven college.
however, if one DOES end up surviving, it is not just your mentality that changes. it is your body, your genetics, your magic. if you insist on staying the same, you will never recover. jokingly, the housewarden of gravemorne calls the state "regaining your muchness." the victim becomes 'more complete' than they were, and some have even mentioned seeing flashes of powerful historical figures guiding their paths.
riddle did not lose much in his overblot. he was only in the state for 30 minutes or so, but did more damage to his peers and his dorm in that time than most overblotters did.
physically, riddle changed the most. the ends of his hair darkened to a black-red, he gained total heterochromia in his right eye turning it bright red, and if he begins to overuse his magic blot will start to build up in recognizable paths. this is most noticeable over his right eye and at his throat, but the scars are light if no blot is present.
magically, off with your head evolved into something different. i didn't know him well before the overblot, so i'll describe how off with your head works NOW. the collar still exists, but it does not tamp down all magic indiscriminately. riddle can set autonomous rules for the collar's removal and what magic the victim is allowed. if it is a light sentence (like forgetting to wear pink to feed the flamingos) the collar is as heavy as a high-quality necklace. the more dire the sentence, the heavier the collar will be and the more effort it will take to remove it.
nobody made it out of the fight unscathed. most of us were covered in thorn scratches. those of us who had to get close got blot in our bloodstream from the thorns on his dress. deuce got a concussion from getting thrown by the phantom, and ace metabolized the blot but his magic and riddle's feel uncannily similar now.
leona's overblot was closer to a dissociative episode than a rampage. it lasted about twenty minutes with the assistance of savanaclaw and the card soldiers. the dorm was unharmed sans the plant life, but many students were injured.
physically, nor much about leona changed. he has central heterochromia now that is only noticeable in early daylight, his scar is a bit darker and blackens at the presence of blot, but other than that he's the same captain i knew before.
magically, king's roar has become INSANE. leona has gained complete control over sand. he can dissolve things, sure, but if he has sand he can use it to reconfigure ANYTHING. need water? boom, the stray napkins you had in your backpack has become a handful of it. need a broom? it's reconstructed AND re-enchanted. as long as leona understands how it works (and there is very little that he does not understand how it works) he can recreate it.
the only thing he hasn't been able to recreate is the skin of ruggie's arm. it was bleeding so much when it first happened (the magic dug into the muscle and started unwinding it before we could break them apart-- cool as a case study, not so cool when its your friend) but the mediwitches managed to get it to the degree of a really bad road rash. while i know leona could remove the scarring by remaking ruggie's arm, i don't know if ruggie will ever let him get that close with king's roar active again.
azul's overblot was a cool forty-five minutes on the dot; you can't say he isn't punctual. i'm not telling you this, obviously, but he was a mess the entire time, and it was probably the worst fight for me since he fled into octavinelle's surrounding ocean. i, if you couldn't tell, cannot swim and cannot breathe underwater. this poses a problem.
physically, azul doesn't look changed until he sheds some layers. his shoulders and chest have scarring from where the coral stabbed out of his body. with his glasses off, you can see slight blot scarring and heterochromia, along with the horizontal pupils he's used to having in his mer-form (with the prettiest light blue ring around it!). the landwalker potion has a slightly decreased effect on him, making his skin a little darker and a little more grey-toned.
magically, it's a deal has gotten much more rigid, but also much cooler. he still needs full consent from his target. he needs to trade something in return unless he wants serious blot intake. but instead of using a safe, his contracts can be shorthanded right onto his skin, painting him with luminescent golden ink in wave-like patterns. he tends to hide them in his landwalking form, but he lets them cover his tentacles in merform, proof of his competency as a mage. nothing in the ocean glows that bright unless it wants to catch something... or it's sure it won't get caught itself.
and the tweels in this scenario? oh, they had a blast... after the fact. in the moment they were too busy fighting for their lives (i got a matching scar with both of them from the trident! it hurt like hell!) but afterward? i think they still guilt trip him about the 'awful' scarring they got, so won't you just give us a little time off, azul?
jamil's overblot felt the longest, lasting two hours start-to-finish, but i don't remember much of it due to being hypnotized and staying in the dorm. most of what i remember is the combat portion since azul managed to snap me out of it (as believe it or not, even magical hypnosis is not unbreakable, no matter how much the victim's suggestibility is raised).
physically, jamil has it the... worst? most intense, i suppose. his scar over his eyes is present even with the absence of blot, as well as the markings on his forehead. his eyes also sometimes narrow to slits similarly to a snake. his hair is more blot-black than natural black (and i didn't learn this until later in our third year, but the blot snakes may appear if he gets especially stressed). however, he did get a bit taller, a bit more muscle mass and HIS TONGUE SPLIT. yeah. it's so cool.
magically, snake whisper has become a lot more subtle, which... maybe not the way to evolve if you wanted him to recover, but magic only cares about continued survival. his voice, which was already noticeably magic-enhanced before, has become almost impossible to ignore. snake whisper can activate without his conscious say-so, implanting triggers into victims to be activated at a later date. however, his eyes do change whether he activates it consciously or unconsciously, so remind him that he's doing it and he tends to shut it off and get embarrassed about it.
kalim fought like some sort of beast. the octotrio and i were hardly hurt beyond normal magical wear, but kalim took every blow. i think it was a sort of self-flagellation. he believed he deserved it. he ended up with a cracked ulna, multiple scars and blot poisoning. though it was less intense than jamil's, kalim metabolized it instead of having surgery and he has had trouble casting any light or positive magic since.
vil was under her phantom's control for less than ten minutes, but the poison that 'fairest one of all' turned her blot into kept her from reverting to her old form for thirty minutes. during the time that she was calm, we got insight into her mental state, samples of her blot and rapid recovery of any injury she had. she performed perfectly for the vdc. everybody else who took a beating... not so much.
physically, vil was enhanced by her overblot. she describes more gender euphoria when she looks at herself, with an even blend of desired feminine and masculine traits. no noticeable change in eye color, minimal blot scarring. her and i are drafting a blot awareness campaign.
magically, fairest of them all has become less about "cursing an object" and more about "cursing something." a quick reminder (that she never lets us forget), a curse is just an extended use of magic in an area. she can now curse anything as long as she activates her magic and has a specific target in mind. got a girl group that she really enjoys? one use of "fairest of them all" and they're suddenly booming in popularity, healthy and happy. she hardly used her unique magic before, but now i've only seen her use it twice.
the reason that rook didn't vote for nrc isn't because they didn't do their best, it's because he couldn't do his best. his hands, his clothes, his lungs were all lined with blot and melted away from it. kalim could hardly breathe during the entire performance. they did wonderful for the circumstance... but not wonderful enough.
idia's overblot was an estimated 6 hours, though with me down at the gate to tartarus (instead of fighting my ass off to get down there) it felt so much shorter than that. during this time, he was relatively level-headed until "ortho" started talking to him, when he would then become frantic for a while until he could calm himself down. conversing with him gave me a good insight into overblots, which we studied once he had snapped out of it.
physically, idia's gotten lucky. he has less magic drain from his curse, leading to an abundance of energy. the curse has dissolved to a degree, though he still retains his flaming hair and pale skin. no eye color change. blot doesn't build enough to have noticeable blot scarring.
magically, idia's in a bit of a bind. once he closed the gate to the underworld after his overblot, he "felt off" about his unique magic. trying to prepare his magic to test it resulted in... nothing. no build-up, no magic overflow, absolute radio silence. his father, when asked about it on a later date, affirmed that he still could open the gate. as of now, idia has no unique magic. however, i have a feeling that that might change.
i don't recall much of the combat. i was dragged down to tartarus with idia, so most of what i remember is trying to communicate with him (and "ortho") until the whole thunder spear thing. everybody was exhausted. some of them got beat up good on their way down. riddle's still got a white shock of hair.
malleus's overblot lasted... it felt like weeks, but it couldn't have been more than a day. jumping to everybody's dream was tiring. this is about where my memory gets fuzzy, though. i know that his overblot had to have ended somehow, but i'm unsure how or when.
no remembered/recorded physical injury to any victim, but many people avoid malleus more than they did before (previously thought to be impossible). he himself has insomnia.
...
yeah i know nobody asked for this, but this has been brewing for a while. i don't have many memories of the end of the school year, especially between malleus's overblot and the fourth-years' graduation, but rest assured they all made a full recovery! it's a bit tough trying to remember this stuff when it sucked SOOOO BAD but i'm such a yapper that i have to tell somebody.
Is there anyone in your twst DR you expected to not like but get actually get along with? Or vice versa? If there is would you mind talking about the interactions that changed your mind or was like the pivotal turning point in your relationship? :3
sure! i thought i would get along better with trey, actually, but we generally avoid each other. after he was so smooth lying about the oyster sauce in the tarts, part of me has always been on edge around him (fortunately i've baked before, but if he can lie about something trivial so smoothly what else can he lie about?). if we're in the same area we'll say hi and chat, but anytime we're alone together it gets a little awkward because i never know what to say around him. he's still the big brother of heartslabyul though, don't get me wrong! a very good vice and upperclassman, but somebody i don't hang around if i have other options.
i thought i would get along WORSE with rook. before i started shifting, rook was my least favorite character. i thought he was creepy and kind of annoying, especially before book 5. however, once i got there he was SO fascinating?? i went to pomefiore with vil for the first time and he had already analyzed height, weight and body dimensions to get me a pretty outfit. i want to study him like a bug. how does he avoid the translator spell so consistently? how does he always know what poses to put me in during photoshoots? when are him and vil going to actually go official with whatever homoerotic relationship they have? why do his shoots always look so GOOD?? he actually does study me like a bug, so i feel like all of my obnoxious pestering is warranted.
i absolutely love reading about ur interactions with the twst boys!! do you have any experiences with the diasomnia crew? (especially malleus perhaps :3)
i do! i talked about malleus a little bit in part 1, but didn't go into much detail on the other members! here's what we've got for them...
pt. one (ace + deuce, leona, ruggie, kalim, jamil, malleus, vil), pt. two (octavinelle), pt. three (rook and ortho)
lilia's cool! he's got a wicked guitar! i don't think i'll ever let him enter the kitchen again after what he subjected me to!
n e ways, crimes against the culinary gods aside, he oscillates between the cool uncle and the grandpa that used to do shrooms in the 70s. still cool no matter how you look at him, but not a subtle cool. he's got a lot of cool stories. after seeing that he's going to be invited to the cloudcalling (that hasn't happened yet there, but i keep a vague eye on game events) i'm SO hyped to go because i know he's gonna give me some deep obscure lore that even leona doesn't know.
always down for a little prank but probably has the best touch for emotions out of like anybody (bar kalim. or maybe cay-cay. the light music club is just really good with people, okay). during halloween somebody threw a brick through gravemorne's window, and after we successfully got them out he made me hot chocolate while i was crying on the couch. he held me the entire time. literally the dad ever.
if i am going to be so real, i don't?? see much of silver?? very kind man, similar to jack in the sense that he only really speaks when spoken to, but i just don't cross paths with him often. he's fallen asleep outside of gravemorne and i try to keep the kiddos away from him while he rests, but uh... they're little shits. he's woken up with mud in his hair and a sharpie mustache too many times.
again, another one of the pretty boys. symmetrical face, long eyelashes, MUSCLES FOR DAYS DEAR LORD. he's very strong. he's like barely less built than jack and sebek, which must be some great genetics because other than his usual training with sebek and pe i've?? never seen him work out?
i think one of the only times that we conversated was about light magic. i mentioned something about his skill with it and we chatted pretty much until he fell asleep. there's shockingly few light magic users in nrc. 3/22 of the main cast is being very generous with the population.
sebek. god. i couldn't stand this guy for the longest time. he's like those kids in your class that "were just playing devil's advocate" but are just being like. racist. he was an ass for a long time about me 'not having magic' (he's very good at sensing magic, as long as he's familiar with how it should feel-- i think he just couldn't feel mine) until i kind of?? yelled at him???
... yeah there was no kind of. ace and deuce had to pull me off of him so i would get out of his face. i believe that the phrase "do you hate what humans are or do you just hate whatever you've been told to" was thrown around. i don't think i've ever heard leona laugh that loud.
now though, we're pretty cool. he did some pondering after we argued and apologized, and while he still does call us humans he's getting better at using our names. deuce gets along with him best, with both of them being more brawn than brain, but he's assimilated into the first year group well. easy to temper that kind of stuff when you have jack (who is. very obviously not human) to give him The Look.
(somebody sent me flowers after i yelled at him. i have no clue who. i think it was somebody from diasomnia.)
How are your encounters with Rook and Ortho? They seem to be the type to have interesting accounts.
this is a great question! had to delete the extra pictures on this one because my last ask broke a little bit >^<
pt 1... pt 2...
rook has been mentioned a little bit here, but we get along better than i expected us to! he's just a fascinating character, especially when you can use his name to make most members of most dorms freak out. if i ever sneak in to take pictures of the science club he's the first to call me over to look at whatever plants they're growing.
note for folks with sensory challenges: rook's awesome to have on your side. he's so good at knowing exactly when "a lot" tips into "too much" and has the best noise cancelling headphones :3 unfortunately, if you're particularly private, you're SOL, because he's never heard of subtlety and he's never heard of privacy (or if he has, he's decided he's got bigger game to chase).
before i got my title of housewarden, he called me trickster, but now he calls me "souverain des morts" or ruler of the dead :) i don't think it's a permanent title but it's interesting to hear during photo shoots. he also calls vil "reine du poison" or "roi du poison" interchangeably. whatever those two have going on needs to be studied. in a lab. clinical trials and everything. i've had prophetic dreams about their wedding. rook wears the dress in some of them. all things considered, it is a lovely dress.
ortho's like the little brother i never had the opportunity to have. when we first met in the film research club, he seemed like such a sweet little boy, maybe 9 or 10 behaviorally? but then he pulled out his technomantic cannon and i had to run for the hills. other than his threats of blowing up the entirety of sage's island, i love this lil stinker!
of course, ortho was how i met idia at first. he's very intent on trying to set me up with his brother. that's... still to be determined, honestly. after he got student privileges, he doubled down on this even harder and also got callum in on it. on the bright side, hanging out in ignihyde has gotten me a lot of coding knowledge that i don't know how to use.
ortho works with me to design his gear and idia tweaks it and makes it better/functional. i'm just here for the outfit design (which idia does NOT slack with as he has PLENTY of inspiration). i want him to look cute! so that people!! forget!!! about his cannon!!!!!! when i talk about that thing i am not kidding. it is so scary. i've seen it blow things up. he cut down a tree with it. and not a little one either, like a WHOLE ASS OAK tree. it was an experiment for him. it was more so a reminder for me. n e ways, you guys would love his hysminae gear. it's a street fighting gear that we made to play irl street fighter... or at least pretend to. not very moral to let your boys get punched by a metal human that feels no pain..
now that he's a student, he hangs out with me and my idiot boys (affectionately, ace and deuce, affectionately) a lot! he gets on shockingly well with jack, mostly because jack has little siblings too so he knows how to treat him without infantilizing him.
and here's rook and ortho! again, both a delight to be around. any other questions? any juicy gossip that you're looking for?? please ask away :)
