yiiking out<p>Hibiscus was floating around cyberspace when suddenly a thought and a fear struck her.</p><p>Wait, no, that wasn't exactly right. It wasn't <em>sudden- </em>he just made the mistake of reading one of the files he was eating.</p><p><em>Straybow. </em>Hibiscus began to nibble on the .txt as he thought. <em>...The internet may be dying.</em></p><p><em>"...Hibiscus, what-"</em></p><p><em>Y2K???? Dead internet theory?? This .png is a picture of a news article saying that companies have began to use bot users using ChatGPT!</em></p><p><em>"Hibiscus. What in the world? Y2K was already dealt with- a problem saved and solved-"</em></p><p><em>Y2K! Y2K! YIIK YIIK YIIK YIIK</em></p><p><em>"Hibiscus, please do not 'yiik out', as the internet calls it."</em></p><p><em><img height="533.117" width="1120.5" class="fr-fic fr-dib" src="https://i.postimg.cc/PfBFVFRF/IMG-20250113-191115-4-4.jpg"></em><br></p><p>But it was too late. Hibiscus was already running around screaming their head off like a chicken with its head cut off that ended up with a ghostly head somehow and already this metaphor was losing sense. Or maybe the internet was losing sense. Or maybe the internet was losing sense because most if not all of the users were being replaced with ChatGPT that was inbreeding and inbreeding upon itself to create the world's most surrealest networks known to mankind. Maybe they might even be ai-generating file extensions and soon she will be eating a diet of .isat files or .dd files or .wf files or .lal files.</p><p><em>"What would these file names even be, Hibiscus?"</em></p><p>What a stupid question for Straybow to ask, clearly, as .isat files would be 'Immediante Stars AND timezone' files, .dd would be 'Deez dNuts' files, .wf would be 'Warrior Folder' files, and .lal would be...</p><p>Hm. What would .lal files be?</p><p>Probably 'Live aLaugh Love' files, with all sorts of dumb cheesy sayings she's seen on all those crusty .jpegs</p><p><em>"...Crusty .jpegs."</em></p><p><em>They taste worse than chatgpt.</em></p><p>Now being distracted from her breakdown by Straybow being reasonable yet again, Hibiscus stuffed the rest of the .txt file she was eating into her mouth and then flew off into cyberspace.</p><p>But this wasn't the last of this.</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>"I'M YIIKING OUT!" Hibiscus signed wildly, running about the place and screaming with their throat. "I'M YIIKING OUT!!!"</p><p><img height="622.4" width="1120.5" class="fr-fic fr-dib" src="https://i.postimg.cc/jdnYBQk2/IMG-20250114-192556-9-1.jpg"></p><p><em>"Hibiscus- Hibiscus, you are being undignified." </em>Straybow had nothing else to point to except that.</p><p><em>How does one yiik out in a dignified manner?</em></p><p><em>"Here is a step by step guide for how to properly 'yiik out' in a dignified manner:</em></p><p><em>Step one: Take deep breath.</em></p><p><em>Step two: Approach nearest person or group of persons.</em></p><p><em>Step three (This is the hardest part. I never reached this step or anything similar in my old life as a human.): Communicate your problems to the individual or group you have selected.</em></p><p><em>Step four: Listen to their advice.</em></p><p><em>Step five: You are now done 'yiiking out'."</em></p><p><em>Straybow, I seem to sense a problem here. </em>Hibiscus narrowed her eyes at her reflection in a nearby pop-up window, no longer 'yiiking out' and/or frantically signing and/or screaming</p><p><em>"And that is?"<br></em></p><p><em>You put quote marks around yiiking out. Is that not a real phrase?</em></p><p><em>"...It is a meme reference. To this game known as 'YIIK.' Did you think it was a term for worrying about the future of the internet?"</em></p><p><em>Yes.<br></em></p>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>Elementalism 101<p>Groff stretched and blinked himself awake under the afternoon sky. Strawberry had gotten off of him- most likely having rolled over in his sleep- and was currently snoozing right by without a care in the world.</p><p>Groff chuckled, peaceful, before remembering <em>what</em> exactly happened to cause Strawberry to come running to his aid.</p><p>Floating… <em>Chip</em> was the one with air magic, not him! Unless their powers swapped for some reason…</p><p>… Waringly, he let magic flow from his paws. A flame lit, and quickly <em>un</em>lit as soon as Groff willed it.</p><p>So it’s not that, unless it was resolved sometime before he woke up…</p><p>Could he still float?</p><p>Groff took a deep breath, closed his eyes, and focused on flying. He felt his paws leaving the ground, but nobody holding him up…</p><p>Carefully, he opened his eyes.</p><p>The ground sat a few inches below his paws, and yet his body felt as tense as if he were soaring the skies. His newfound air magic was definitely… <em>weaker </em>than Chip’s, yet still…</p><p>He needed to talk to Martus.</p><p><img align="center" height="48" width="1080" alt="divider" src="https://64.media.tumblr.com/c49e6b3a26a5f5e56ec369152def537b/81e02d8e76540f0c-a7/s1280x1920/f28a1e15cb922dfbdd5166dd6e143e7af5250f37.pnj"></p><p>“Martus!” Groff yelled.</p><p>“Ah, Groff!” Martus waved. “Need something?”</p><p>“I have air magic now and I don’t know why!” Groff floated a bit to demonstrate. “But I still have my fire magic so it isn’t some sort of power swap with Chip or anything!”</p><p>“Ah.” Martus sweatdropped. “You see, recently, people have been awakening to these things known as Classes… Right now, there’s only two classes we know of- Bards and Elementalists. You’re an Elementalist- you have, or <em>will</em> have, all four of the elemental magics.”</p><p>Groff’s ears perked. “All… four!?” He remembered how he felt the water helping him get himself and Reese back to shore- was that due to magic, too?</p><p>“Correct. Now, we’re not used to multi-element wielders yet, so I don’t know what training to give Elementalists outside of regular magic training, but there may be people willing to help in other worlds… but first, the 101s...”</p><p><img align="center" height="48" width="1080" alt="divider" src="https://64.media.tumblr.com/c49e6b3a26a5f5e56ec369152def537b/81e02d8e76540f0c-a7/s1280x1920/f28a1e15cb922dfbdd5166dd6e143e7af5250f37.pnj"></p><p><em>Knock, knock!</em></p><p>The owner of the house opened the door and immediately sweatdropped at the sight of Groff. “Oh <em>jeez</em>, are you a normal cat I’ll have to take to the shelter or are you Barkley 2?” She said.</p><p>“I guess Barkley 2?” Groff cocked his head. “But anyways, I came here because of this map.” He held up a map Snowsparkle had drawn him when he asked her for advice. “According to Snowsparkle, you should be a good teacher.”</p><p>“... You <em>talk…” </em>Although Groff could not see her eyes under her long hair, he could tell this brown-haired poncho-wearing stranger was clearly shaken. “... The Mer-line doesn’t… there’s no way… How?”</p><p>“The Mer-line?” Groff cocked his head again. “I came here by myself- I can travel universes! Besides, I didn’t see any mermaid themed train station lines on my way here.”</p><p>The stranger sat in silence. “...I need a moment. Come on in, but I need a moment. If you see a clown, that’s Gwen- don’t let her eat my stuff. You like dogs, right? I live with one, so…”</p><p><img align="center" height="48" width="1080" alt="divider" src="https://64.media.tumblr.com/c49e6b3a26a5f5e56ec369152def537b/81e02d8e76540f0c-a7/s1280x1920/f28a1e15cb922dfbdd5166dd6e143e7af5250f37.pnj"></p><p>The stranger (whose name was Cass) sat down on the floor to meet Groff’s height. “So did Snowsparkle tell you anything about who I am?”</p><p>“She didn’t know either.” Groff said. “Just felt like this map would led me to someone who’s good at helping people who recently ended up with new magic- all types of magic.”</p><p>“I’m surprised it didn’t lead you to Lenna.” Cass said. “But I’ve helped my fair share of newbies myself, so…” Cass took a breath. Her body became pure static for a moment, before reshaping into the form of a giant electric moth.</p><p>“Shouldn’t we go outside?” Groff asked.</p><p>“Hm…” Cass frowned. “Usually, we’d use New Wirral for that, but it doesn’t look like you can go there…” She detransformed. “But where could we go instead…”</p><p>“How about another universe?”</p><p><img align="center" height="48" width="1080" alt="divider" src="https://64.media.tumblr.com/c49e6b3a26a5f5e56ec369152def537b/81e02d8e76540f0c-a7/s1280x1920/f28a1e15cb922dfbdd5166dd6e143e7af5250f37.pnj"></p><p>“Jeez, this place is cold…” Cass shivered. They took the form of a fiery dog in goggles, most likely to keep warm, but it seemed like it wasn’t enough. “Maybe we should pick someplace else. Fire’s the element you started off with, right? It’s better if we pick a place more suited for practicing the other elements…”</p><p>“But where else are you going to find those snow fox things with ice powers?” Groff asked. “They’re fun to chase after!” <br>“Hello?” A traveller, a woman in a rabbit-eared hood, wearing a charm in the shape of a durian, paused at the sight of the duo. “... Are you two lost? I came here to fight the Wildfrost, but I’d be willing to bring you two back to Snowdwell-”</p><p>“Actually, we’re here to train my magic!” Groff said. “You see, I recently somehow got air, earth, and water magic out of the blue…”</p><p>“I’m not from this universe.” Cass said. “And I’m usually a human named Cass. Groff-” She gestured a paw at him. “Took me here so that I could train him. Do you know anything to help?”</p><p>“I have an idea.” The traveller said. “But first, since you gave us your names, I’ll give you ours. I’m Snowshine.” She pointed to herself. “And this is Pinkberry.” She pointed to a little pink and white fox creature with a plant growing from their forehead. “And for my idea…” She toyed with her charm necklace. “... I’m from a tribe of ice magic. We usually use it to slow our enemies down in battle. I could teach you.” She pulled out two snow sticks. “I have magic of my own, but it makes me a bit unsteady, so we’ll just use these… Follow my example, ok?”</p><p><img align="center" height="48" width="1080" alt="divider" src="https://64.media.tumblr.com/c49e6b3a26a5f5e56ec369152def537b/81e02d8e76540f0c-a7/s1280x1920/f28a1e15cb922dfbdd5166dd6e143e7af5250f37.pnj"></p><p>“Aster! Check this out!” Groff then tackled Aster and inflicted him with 2 turns of the Snow Status. “Cass also taught me this!” He then used Water Wall.</p>soppy taxes<p>Sitting nearby a sheet full of numbers, Duskie trembled in fear.</p><p>“I… I…” Duskie was paralyzed. <em>Knight, Odio, what do I do!?</em></p><p><em>“hahahahahaha my era may have had this too but at least the king handled it.”</em></p><p><strong><em>“Such numbers… they are our undoing, our beginning and our end-”</em></strong></p><p>Straybow (aka Hibiscus) meowed to snap Duskie out of his fear-induced trance. “Let me fill it out” She signed.</p><p>Duskie passed the taxes sheet over to her. “Save me, Hibby.” His eyes were filled with broken tears. “Save me.”</p><p>Hibiscus looked over the taxes. "... There are computer programs that can handle these just by inputting the numbers." He signed. "Here, I'll input the numbers in."</p><p>Duskie watched as his boyfriend walked over to the computer and opened up DuckTax... only for DuckTax to crash and for a popup to appear, one saying "DuckTax is borked until further notice! Tax evasion is still illegal, don't do it."</p><p>Duskie's blood ran cold. Hibiscus merely just sighed. "Guess I will do these taxes myself." They signed, before picking up a pen and doing just that.</p><p>Duskie sat and stared, not moving or even blinking, as Hibby just perfectly did taxes like nothing.</p><p>(It's said he stared so long that the room looked like a bubble bath from all the foam that just. Was generated by him sitting there.)</p>the hearts of cats are neverending<p>“Hey, Groff…” Cream muttered. “Can you… hug me? It’s a weird question to ask, but…” </p><p>Groff hugged them before they even could find more words to say, knocking them down to the ground.</p><p>“T-Thanks!” They purred softly. “Saw something scary, that’s all…”</p><p>“I’m just glad to spend time with you.” Groff purred.</p><p>The stars shined above them as a moment passed.</p><p>“... I love you. You’re the best.” Cream curled up even closer, and Groff could feel the vibrations of their purring alongside the vibrations of his own.</p><p>“I love you too.” Groff pressed his paws into Cream’s back, gently kneading them like bread.</p><p>Cream relaxed into the hug, their breathing slowing as their eyes closed and they nodded off to sleep. Groff closed his eyes and joined them.</p><p><img height="48" width="1080" class="fr-fic fr-dib" src="https://64.media.tumblr.com/6ac868bda506258afdd7e2ae7dfbbdc0/81e02d8e76540f0c-d3/s1280x1920/c354efe549f8e974a5863942f72d67ee73525677.pnj"></p><p>“The sunsets here are beautiful, aren’t they?” Groff asked, his tail curled around Reese as the duo gazed upon the vibrant oranges and reds of the sky.</p><p>“Thanks for taking me.” Reese purred and turned to nuzzle Groff.</p><p>Groff nuzzled back. “No problem.”</p><p>Reese nuzzled again.</p><p>Groff nuzzled yet again.</p><p>Soon, it devolved into the duo smashing their heads together, trying to outnuzzle the other.</p><p>“Are you two… fighting?” Someone asked, causing the duo to pause.</p><p>“No?” Groff cocked his head.</p><p>“<em>Fighting</em> looks like this.” Reese smirked, and tackled Groff, knocking him to the ground.</p><p>Groff grabbed her by the shoulders and moved to flip the two of them over without hesitation, quickly pinning Reese to the ground instead, and gave her two quick smacks to the face with his paw. Reese retaliated with a kick to the stomach, causing Groff to flinch and lose his grip, allowing her to wiggle free.</p><p>“Nice one!” Groff beamed. “But I’ll do you one better!”</p><p>He jumped to tackle Reese as she was rolling back to her feet- and accidentally knocked the two of them off of a cliff.</p><p>He yelped. She hugged him tight.</p><p>They landed in a pond.</p><p>(The way the water felt in his lungs felt… <em>familiar? </em>A dull memory…)</p><p>Groff moved to place Reese on his back, and pushed himself with all his might to swim.</p><p>(... For some reason, he felt the water… <em>helping </em>him?)</p><p>“Thought we were far enough from the cliff.” Reese said. “I’ve been playing with Strawberry too much.” He chuckled. “I’ll have to remember Cream’s not the only one who sometimes knocks their friends off of things.”</p><p>“I’m glad you’re ok.” Groff said.</p><p>Luckily, land wasn’t too far ahead, and Reese stepped down from Groff’s back as Groff let out a sigh of relief.</p><p>“Let’s take a nap here…” Groff laid down. “That battle was a bit too exciting for something involving my clowdermates…”</p><p>Reese laid down beside him, purring. “That’s true.” She closed her eyes to enter the world of sleep, and Groff followed her close behind.</p><p><img height="48" width="1080" class="fr-fic fr-dib" src="https://64.media.tumblr.com/6ac868bda506258afdd7e2ae7dfbbdc0/81e02d8e76540f0c-d3/s1280x1920/c354efe549f8e974a5863942f72d67ee73525677.pnj"></p><p>Groff was currently in his home universe, doing parkour in broad daylight and thinking to himself.</p><p><em>‘Obviously trained for this for a while’? What’s that supposed to mean? </em>He thought as he hopped from Nora’s windowsill to a trashcan. <em>Why did they think I was some sort of… expert adventurer or something? </em>He hopped from the trashcan to a pile of boxes. <em>I guess I do do things that others would consider ‘practice’, but it’s just for fun! It’s not like I’m aiming to be better at fighting monsters when I play with my friends… That’s not who I am…</em></p><p>He moved to jump, but suddenly slipped, the shock snapping him out of his thoughts. He instinctively moved to right himself and land on his feet, but-</p><p>“NYAAAAAAAAAA!”</p><p>Strawberry’s ears perked, and he ran from Nora’s bed and jumped out of her window at the sound. “Groff?”</p><p>Groff was… floating? A few inches off the ground, yes, but… he was <em>floating!</em></p><p>“Nothing’s wrong, Strawberry!” He stammered. “Just… got surprised… Chip’s the one with air powers, not me, so why am I-”</p><p>“Nothing’s wrong?” Strawberry asked. “Ah, so I can go back to sleep then.” He then proceeded to fall asleep on the spot- and on Groff, causing him to fall to the ground.</p><p>Groff sighed. Maybe he needed a nap, too.</p><p>(And so, Groff followed his clowdermate into the land of sleep…)</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.