“You’re supposed to collect those,” were the first words Cassiopeia said when she entered Veyron’s apartment. Selena didn’t immediately realize what she was talking about, but the amount of vitriol dripping off her words concerning his crime was heavily disproportionate. “Harvest them somewhere, do some actual work. You’re not supposed to buy them.” “What are you even talking about?” Veyron, to his credit, didn’t sound off-put by Cassiopeia at al...

“I’ve never done something like this before,” Yared had said, and Tove had to bite his tongue not to say - Yeah, I figured. He wasn’t afraid of being rude — Yared wasn’t someone who would be upset about him being rude, anyway — he just thought that maybe it was a little insensitive, or a little too mean-spirited for his taste. After all, Tove and Yared weren’t close. Tove didn’t feel relaxed enough to tease him easily. “It’s easy to learn,” he said inst...

So there was this thing about Lycoris and that was mostly about how competitive she could be. Not just about things that warranted competition but about small, petty things as well. This led to her being completely unable to turn down a challenge and, well… Sometimes she’d issue challenges too, yes. But mostly, she was the one getting in trouble because she couldn’t keep her mouth shut, or her playful nature in check. That was how she’d ended up in her unenviable predi...

As soon as Therasia stepped into the Redwood, she made a familiar turn to the right, disappeared into the thicket for a while and then, nearly running, inhaled and climbed up a tree marked with a crooked “T”. The climb was torturous for her exhausted legs, but she forced herself to move. This was one of the situations in which she was more relieved just because she knew some sort of relief was coming. Just a few branches away from the top of the tree, her fingers clutched soft fabric. Theras...

“We shouldn’t be here,” Mercury hissed, but Zara ignored him and powered forward. “Zara, I’m serious.” He would’ve spoken louder if he could, but the woods seemed sinister enough on their own. Mercury wasn’t ordinarily scared of forests at night, but this one seemed like something he needed to take heed of. The hairs at the back of his neck were up in hackles. He did not feel comfortable here. But if Zara felt any discomfort at all, he didn’t show it and just powere...