resolution mountain (chapter 2: the end of the fic but not of the year)<p>Rocks crumbled into powder as Hibiscus shot a ray of magic inwards the mountain, opening a tunnel and unearthing some more random magical items, such as a die that always either landed on 3 or 4 for some reason, or a... what was this thing?</p><p>Hibiscus stared at it. It was... L-shaped, of sorts, with a switch at the angle that most likely cast the offensive spell that was also inside of it whenever pressed. Curious. She'd have to study this later. Perhaps this could be a new discovery?</p><p>No. There's no way that resolution would be done so easily and quickly, right?</p><p>Hibiscus floated some other ideas for resolutions in her head.</p><p><em>Invent a new spell - Too easy. Simply make a ridiculous spell such as 'make target eat rocks but only on tuesdays'</em></p><p><em>Invent a new kind of magic - Such as what? There are too many kinds, and any attempt may simply end up just rehashing a preexisting kind of magic, or be an already practiced subcategory, such as divination, but</em><em>involving fish.</em></p><p><em>Take Duskie on more dates - Would need to be expanded upon. What is 'more' here- 5 more a month? A biweekly schedule? <br></em></p><p>Hibiscus pocketed the strange object. Maybe Duskie's head-brothers would know what it was- being from another world means that they've seen things she hasn't, even if they weren't <em>exactly</em> sure what kinds of things those things were.</p><p><img height="48" width="1080" class="fr-fic fr-dib" src="https://64.media.tumblr.com/059d48393df497be0fa5c1381f56a814/07da4fc0b6b2946a-f0/s1280x1920/8442dd9e00fab5722bbe9f2eb9cecb6cfc602778.pnj"></p><p>Hibiscus squeezed the orb again.</p><p>It made a nice stress ball- most likely due to magic. In fact, Hibiscus would be surprised if it wasn't made up mostly of, if not fully of magic. She'd have to study it later.</p><p>Lavender licked her cheek, and she smiled at them.</p><p>Hibiscus was taking this time to review the magic items that the two of them (but mostly him) found. The die that always rolled up a one was most likely thought up by someone who thought the wordplay would be funny- a fae, maybe, or a con artist who worded their words perfectly... and didn't let the buyer in question even <em>roll </em>the die before buying it, it seemed. Maybe a trick to see if any buyers would have the sense to <em>test </em>a magical object, first, to see if it does what the seller says it does?</p><p>The red die that was currently jingling around in his hand as he rolled it around looked more recent that the other two dice- most likely, it was a homemade object that ended up lost, and perhaps even a reference to a story the former owner loved.</p><p>The die that always landed on 3 or 4 was a puzzling one. Maybe once she got to Liffside, she could ask around?</p><p>The strange object was a magical weapon, that was for sure. The user could 'load' it by focusing magic into it, and when the switch was pressed, the preexisting magic inside magnified the magic loaded in and shot out a blast at whatever it was aimed at. Hibiscus had tested it with different magic types on the rocks nearby the mountaintops, and, as she set down Lavender, picked it back up, and was just about to fire another blast...</p><p>She looked up and saw a certain shade of red in the air, alongside certain shades of brown, yellow, and white.</p><p>Duskie was flying above her, yelling something. Hibiscus put down the weapon and signed back. "I cannot hear you, Duskie. Use sign."</p><p>"HIBBY!" Duskie signed wildly, his arms more 'waving around the place' that Hibiscus' calm and elegant signing. "I COULD HEAR THAT. HOW DO YOU NOT FLINCH"</p><p>"It's just firing a blast of magic. You get used to the sound enough- don't you have training as a spellblade?"</p><p>"YEAH BUT SPELLBLADES MOSTLY USE SWORDS" Duskie signs. "EVEN MY BROTHERS FLINCHED WHEN YOU USED THE GUN" Duskie spelled out the word 'Gun' with his hands.</p><p>"'Gun'? Is that what this is called?"</p><p>Duskie nodded wildly, gasped, and then chucked a shiny pink gemstone half at Hibiscus' head, conking her just like the Christmas present incident.</p><p><img height="800" width="580" class="fr-fic fr-dib" src="https://i.postimg.cc/G2fv2VD0/oops.jpg"></p><p><img height="48" width="1080" class="fr-fic fr-dib" src="https://64.media.tumblr.com/059d48393df497be0fa5c1381f56a814/07da4fc0b6b2946a-f0/s1280x1920/8442dd9e00fab5722bbe9f2eb9cecb6cfc602778.pnj"></p><p><em>KNIGHT. ODIO. WHAT DO I DO</em></p><p><em>"SPLIT IT HALF IDIOT"</em></p><p>"AAAAAAAA" Duskie broke the gemstone over his knee, breaking it clean in half with the exception of a small shard of it flying off into the sunset, making it look like some sort of pink glint shooting star whatever to anyone who was just happening to look at the sky at that moment.</p><p>He ate the ugliest half and pocketed the pretty one, before flying off to find that shard, diving into another small patch of grass that looked half-alive if even that.</p><p>Duskie started grabbing and eating random patches of grass, hoping that he would find the shard, and making 'find the shard' one of his new new year's resolutions-</p><p><em>"What? No, it doesn't work like that, Duskie. You can't just... do that."</em></p><p><em>Why not?</em></p><p><em>"...That's not how it works?"</em></p><p><em>Have <strong>you </strong>ever made New Year's Resolutions?</em></p><p><em>"I-"</em></p><p><em>NO! So-</em></p><p>The fistful of grass Duskie shoved in his mouth just so happened to have the shard in it, meaning that that new resolution was as complete as quickly as it was made.</p><p><em>"..."</em></p><p><em>I'm gonna tell Hibby I finished a resolution later.</em></p><p><em>"... Not without context, you aren't."</em></p><p><img height="48" width="1080" class="fr-fic fr-dib" src="https://64.media.tumblr.com/059d48393df497be0fa5c1381f56a814/07da4fc0b6b2946a-f0/s1280x1920/8442dd9e00fab5722bbe9f2eb9cecb6cfc602778.pnj"></p><p>Duskie was flying about, looking for rocks or fossils to eat, when suddenly...</p><p><em>Bang!</em></p><p><em>Bang!</em></p><p><em>Bang!</em></p><p><em>"Is that a gun?"</em></p><p><em>What's a gun?</em></p><p><em>"... Ok, so a gun is this piece of... future(?) technology that the leader of the heroes that stopped Odio from blowing up our old universe had and used and it basically just blasts at you. Think of it like a mage blasting at you, but a weapon."</em></p><p><em>... What. I need to check this out!</em></p><p>Duskie flew towards the sound, until... "HIBBY!"</p><p>Hibby was picking up the gun off of the clifftop that she was standing on, having just set down Lavender, when she looked up, saw Duskie, and put the gun back down again. Calmly and elegantly as he always was, he signed. "I cannot hear you, Duskie. Use sign."</p><p><img height="48" width="1080" class="fr-fic fr-dib" src="https://64.media.tumblr.com/059d48393df497be0fa5c1381f56a814/07da4fc0b6b2946a-f0/s1280x1920/8442dd9e00fab5722bbe9f2eb9cecb6cfc602778.pnj"></p><p>The gemstone half hit Hibby in the head with a loud <em>THONK, </em>bouncing off but luckily not injuring her. She steadied her feet and looked up at Duskie.</p><p>"Sorry." He signed, as small and close to himself as he possibly could.</p><p><em>"This is just like the Christmas present incident."</em></p><p><em>DONT EVEN START!</em></p><p><em>"This is <strong>exactly </strong>like the Christmas present incident. You had a gift, you were in the air, you didn't think, you threw it at Straybow."</em></p><p><em>NO</em></p><p><em>"It conked her in the head and he somehow ended up fine."</em></p><p><em>KNIGHT THIS IS DIFFERENT I SWEAR</em></p><p><em>"It hasn't even been a <strong>month!"</strong></em></p><p>Duskie let out a choked noise of embarassment and dove down towards Hibby and Lavender.</p><p>"Sorry again." Duskie held back tears. "Uh... can I take Lavender with me because they're a dog and probably would love to gnaw on bones with me?"</p><p>"You are forgiven." Hibby smiled, signing one-handedly as she held the gemstone half in her other arm. "And of course."</p><p>"YAYAYAYAYAYAY!" Duskie cheered. "ALSO! I FINISHED ONE OF MY RESOLUTIONS!"</p><p>"What kind?"</p><p><img height="48" width="1080" class="fr-fic fr-dib" src="https://64.media.tumblr.com/059d48393df497be0fa5c1381f56a814/07da4fc0b6b2946a-f0/s1280x1920/8442dd9e00fab5722bbe9f2eb9cecb6cfc602778.pnj"></p><p>Duskie flew off, Lavender in tow, and by 'in tow' we of course meant in the hole in his poncho where his bandana usually laid, now moved off to the side as to not bother Lavender.</p><p><img height="734" width="754" class="fr-fic fr-dib" src="https://i.postimg.cc/z3ZWwhp0/IMG-20250113-191115-4-1.jpg"></p><p>"We're gonna eat <em>so </em>many bones!" Duskie smiled.</p><p><em>"I TOLD YOU SO. I TOLD YOU IT DOESN'T WORK LIKE THAT"</em></p><p><em>HOW <strong>DOES </strong>IT WORK LIKE THEN????</em></p><p><em>"... Ask Straybow to explain to you."</em></p><p>Duskie then spotted a nice big fossil alongside some other bones littered around a cliffside, and dove towards them.</p><p>"Do you wanna play fetch?" Duskie asked Lavender, patting their head.</p><p><img height="800" width="467" class="fr-fic fr-dib" src="https://i.postimg.cc/FKZM0P1W/IMG-20250114-193112.jpg"></p><p><em>"Duskie. This is land. Lavender doesn't have back legs."</em></p><p><em>HAVE YOU <strong>SEEN </strong>THEM???</em></p><p><em>"...Duskie. THIS IS A CLIFF. WE'RE NOT LETTING OUR KID PLAY ON A CLIFF."</em></p><p><em>POINT TAKEN SORRY KNIGHT ODIO AND HIBBY WHO I GUESS IS LAVENDER'S OTHER DAD SLASH MOM<br></em></p><p>Duskie settled for instead picking the bones up and putting them in his pockets, to play with when they went back home. (With the exception of one bone, which Duskie instead handed over to Lavender to chew on while they sat in his poncho.)</p><p><em>ALRIGHT! </em>Duskie thought really loudly and hard. <em>NEW YEARS RESOLUTION NUMBER I FORGOT: EAT THIS BONE<br></em></p><p><em>"NO. YOU'RE NOT ALLOWED TO MAKE UP RESOLUTIONS ON THE SPOT."</em></p><p><em>Ok, then it's just part of my first resolution.</em></p><p>Duskie then opened his jaw wide.</p><p><em>CHOMP!</em></p><p> </p> bonus scene of duskie spoonfeeding lavender like a babyresolution mountain (chapter 1: the beginning)<p>New years.</p><p>A time of new beginnings, new days, new moments. New goals, new growth, new <em>everything!</em></p><p>Except for a new head-brother, probably.</p><p><em>"Are we two not enough for you, Duskie?" </em>Knight chuckled. <em>"Do you <strong>really</strong> need a third one?"</em></p><p><em>Imagine we got a head-sister for Christmas? </em>Duskie stuck his tongue out, walking to one of Aesine's many snow-covered docks.</p><p><em>"I think any idea of a girl-us disappeared way, way, before 'me' became 'us'." </em>Knight smiled. <em>"Specifically, when I transitioned. And my sister didn't like it. And my parents took <strong>my</strong> side and not hers."</em></p><p><em>Fair. Nonbinary head-sibling then. </em>Duskie came to a stop on the dock, staring at the sea and skies in front of him.</p><p>Why was Duskie there, you ask? Well, it's because of one thing, and one thing only.</p><p>New everything... means new <em>rocks</em>!</p><p><em>"I still can't believe your new years resolution was to go to Vaalt and eat the rocks there."</em></p><p><em><strong>"It is what is expected of thou, Duskfall."</strong></em></p><p><em>Of course it is! Rocks are tasty! I even said so in my note to Hibby!<br></em></p><p>And with that, Duskie jumped off and took flight, wings materializing in the air behind him, and soared to the mountains.</p><p></p><p><img height="48" width="1080" class="fr-fic fr-dib" src="https://64.media.tumblr.com/059d48393df497be0fa5c1381f56a814/07da4fc0b6b2946a-f0/s1280x1920/8442dd9e00fab5722bbe9f2eb9cecb6cfc602778.pnj"></p><p></p><p>A big massive <em>bone </em>jutted out of the mountain, and Duskie soared straight to it, clenching it with his teeth and-</p><p><em>"Duskie, please don't try to pull the <strong>whole bone</strong> out of the mountain." </em>Knight said. <em>"You are going to hurt yourself, and/or leave a massive hole in the mountain. Also, if you eat that whole thing, you'll get a stomachache."</em></p><p><em><img height="800" width="846" class="fr-fic fr-dib" src="https://i.postimg.cc/W3zMsTh6/eatbone.jpg"></em><br></p><p><em>!!! Knight, why do <strong>you</strong> have the braincell?!</em></p><p><em>"Odio's too angry for it and you'd probably use it to calculate the ideal way to eat rocks instead of why TEARING AN ENTIRE MAMMOTH BONE OUT OF A MOUNTAIN USING ONLY YOUR TEETH is a bad idea"</em></p><p>Duskie decided to instead <em>chomp down</em> on the bone, leaving a sealo-shaped bite mark that will most likely leave this bone remembered for moments to come.</p><p><em>"...That's better. I can't believe I'm saying this about you taking a bite out of a bone jutting out of a mountain and leaving this place with a new tourist attraction, but that's better"</em></p><p><em>Part one of resolution complete!</em></p><p><em>"...There's parts? To your new years resolution?"</em></p><p><em>Every new rock or rock-type item I eat is a new part. </em>Duskie then proceeded to fly off, leaving that one-liner in the win-</p><p><em>"DUSKIE. I AM IN YOUR HEAD. YOU CANT JUST FLY OFF FROM ME"</em></p><p></p><p><img height="48" width="1080" class="fr-fic fr-dib" src="https://64.media.tumblr.com/059d48393df497be0fa5c1381f56a814/07da4fc0b6b2946a-f0/s1280x1920/8442dd9e00fab5722bbe9f2eb9cecb6cfc602778.pnj"></p><p></p><p>Pros of Vaalt:</p><p>New rocks! And objects closer to rocks like bones!</p><p>Cons of Vaalt:</p><p>Duskie has found 1 (one) patch of grass that had 0 (ZERO) flowers to bring home to Hibiscus.</p><p><em>"Duskie. Didn't we hear someone say once that most gifts from this place are <strong>gemstones?"</strong></em></p><p>... Duskie now had a dilemma. If he found the prettiest gemstone EVER here would he eat it, or bring it back to Hibby?</p><p>Oh well. At least that dilemma could wait until he found a-</p><p>He found a gemstone. A beautiful pink gemstone with sparkles inside of it.</p><p>His mouth watered. His heart sang.</p><p>He didn't know what to do.</p><p></p><p><img height="48" width="1080" class="fr-fic fr-dib" src="https://64.media.tumblr.com/059d48393df497be0fa5c1381f56a814/07da4fc0b6b2946a-f0/s1280x1920/8442dd9e00fab5722bbe9f2eb9cecb6cfc602778.pnj"></p><p></p><p>Hibiscus looked up to take in the beautiful mountain scenery. The foggy air curled around the mountains, mountains that most likely hid any sort of magical artifacts.</p><p><img height="800" width="477" class="fr-fic fr-dib" src="https://i.postimg.cc/0N8YHpv4/chillin.jpg"></p><p>She held Lavender close to her chest in one arm, signing to them with the other. "Majestic view, is it not? If me and Duskie were to go out on a date, this scenery would be the perfect location."</p><p>Unfortunately, he did not quite realize what that red speck somewhere in the mountains was.</p><p>While Duskie made the world's silliest New Year's resolutions, Hibiscus had different priorities. He was a scholar, a researcher of all things related to magic and more. While it was mostly (if not solely) due to their passionate interest in magic, they still wished to find and study the world's artifacts, if only to see if perhaps any could unveil parts of magical history. So she made her resolution to uncover at least one legendary relic out of all of the world's artifacts.</p><p>And Vaalt, with the stories that surround it, such as legends of higher beings and the well-known fable of Valt, seemed like the perfect place to start.</p><p></p><p><img height="48" width="1080" class="fr-fic fr-dib" src="https://64.media.tumblr.com/059d48393df497be0fa5c1381f56a814/07da4fc0b6b2946a-f0/s1280x1920/8442dd9e00fab5722bbe9f2eb9cecb6cfc602778.pnj"></p><p></p><p>So far, Hibiscus' search had netted her one round, firm-ish relic that she had internally named an 'Orb', one bone die that was enchanted to always land on six- as in, the 'six' side of the die would land on the table, leading for the die to roll up a one- and one red die that was wearing a jester hat and made jingling sounds whenever moved.</p><p>Right now, he was sitting, Lavender in his lap, looking up at the clear skies. The sun was still high up in the sky (... was that pink glint in the sky a shooting star? Probably not.), and Hibiscus had a feeling that she may be too worn down to get home by the time it set. That'd be fine- Duskie wouldn't worry, as long as she came back by the next night, and Liffside was always welcoming to travellers- especially researchers, even if her reasons were due to her passion in magic instead of a duty to history.</p><p><em>They say passion leads to discovery, after all. </em>Hibiscus gave the Orb a squeeze. She could sense some sort of magic inside of it- most likely a 'password' or 'cue' of sorts, meant to activate something- to trigger a curse on a person, or to open a door locked tightly.</p><p>Whatever it was, Hibiscus had things to study- and more discoveries to make.</p>sealo duskie's mystery of what blueprints are<p>“What are ‘blueprints’?” Duskie cocked his head, as if staring at the computer screen from a 45 angle was suddenly going to make an explanation of what the hell blueprints are pop up.</p><p>It didn’t.</p><p><em>“just ask the computer”</em></p><p><em>I’m doing that!!!</em></p><p><em>“VIA TEXT! ITS DEAF” </em>Knight’s only experience with computers was when he and Odio (possessed? was? what the hell…) an AI once, but that was still better than what Duskie had. </p><p>“Oh!” Duskie let out audibly, before opening up SealoSearch, also known as PuckPuckGo but Duskie called it SealoSearch just for the laughs.</p><p>Just then, a bolt of lightning (most likely caused by a sealomimi practicing their magic) striked a power line nearby, causing some sort of magical reaction that caused the computer to explode. Duskie took a tenth of his HP in damage but was otherwise fine.</p><p><em>“well, shit.”</em></p><p><strong><em>“The gods of luck hath forestaken us…”</em></strong></p><p><em>“its not that bad, odio. there are other computers.” </em>Knight sighed (internally, of course, because where else can you sigh when you’re in the body’s backseat?) <em>“duskie, go out and ask someone what blueprints are.”</em></p><p><em>Ok!</em></p><p>There was no way this could go wrong.</p><p><img height="48" width="1080" class="fr-fic fr-dib" src="https://64.media.tumblr.com/cb5b6a1fe713d0ae35c55de0055aa821/81e02d8e76540f0c-de/s1280x1920/0a556a97dffe8ae5dc10c9ccd1f382ccd2571113.pnj"></p><p>Somehow, <em>snow </em>was burning.</p><p>Duskie was shaking, holding on tight to a mysterious blue paper he had found on his travels as fire blazed all around him. A medal fell from the sky that said ‘Congratulations! You somehow set a tundra on fire!’ and somehow landed perfectly around his neck.</p><p>Just then, a wave of water struck all the flames- and Duskie, too.</p><p>Duskie spat out the water- and then noticed who threw it his way. “Hibby!” </p><p>“Duskie.” She smiled as she signed his name.</p><p>“Hibby, can you tell me what this is?” Duskie held up the blue paper, that unrolled to show white drawings- lines, squares, circles, and text…</p><p>“I believe that is known as a blueprint.” Hibiscus signed, making sure to spell out the word ‘blueprint’ with his hands so that his boyfriend would understand.</p><p>Duskie gasped. “THAT WAS WHAT I WENT OUT TO LEARN! Also, our computer exploded.” He checked over the blueprint. “Wait, this is a blueprint for a computer! Uh… What do blueprints <em>do</em>?”</p><p>Hibiscus patted Duskie on the head and mentally prepared for a long round of adorable questioning.</p><p>(They got a new computer after.)</p>august sealotrivia!Question [1]: What's your Sealomimi's skill/level of cooking? Are they a pro, need a recipe to follow, or perhaps can't even boil water? Or maybe they're good at baking instead? Duskie and Hibiscus are both great at cooking and baking! Hibiscus specifically is a fan of putting literal magic in her food, at least for fun. (Don’t worry! The most effect it has is on the taste and/or texture, for example adding a little ‘kick’ to it.). Meanwhile, Duskie was taught how to cook by his family back when he was human and also not out as trans yet. (and also technically didn’t exist back then… it’s a long story.).Question [2]: What's your Sealomimi's regular morning (or waking up) routine Duskie wakes up, eats breakfast, takes a bubble bath* that may have some magic in it (Hibiscus’ or otherwise), goes outside, hilarity ensures. Hibiscus wakes up (May be earlier than Duskie and then just doing magical experiments while trying not to wake up his adorable boyfriend, or may be later than Duskie due to staying up doing magical experiments), eats breakfast, showers, and then either experiments at home or goes out hunting for magical objects. *Sometimes they bathe together, or just spend time together in general. (For example, the ‘goes outside’ part of Duskie’s route can be part of Hibby going out hunting)Question [3]: Would your Sealomimi have their own theme song? If so, what would it be like? (You can describe a genre of song/lyrics or link an existing song; if linking still be sure your answer reaches the trivia sentence minimum requirement!) Duskie: jrpg final boss themesong in minor key. Hibiscus probably gets two themes- one for when she’s being serious and one for comedic moments involving either magical mishaps and/or her being silly.