Riel’s lungs were burning. He was dying — probably — but it was a damn real thing. Endurance, fine, he could endure. He could— he thought he could. Next to him, his two companions were heaving exhaustedly, but neither of them seemed to be faring as badly as he was. “Simran, was it? I love your name!” Therasia was saying next to him, and why was she less winded than he was? Riel was content to keep lying down in the grass, but he lifted his head an...

As was often the case with Therasia, Riel stared at her without a word and wondered where this human got her guts from, because— What? Sure, he could understand his confidence, as well as that of those around him, sometimes. But he’d had the time to meet Therasia after their fateful meeting in the Arma Caeli vault. Back then, he thought she was a human enhanced by— something. Anything. In the time since their meeting, he’d come to discover she ran on spite and strong will. Th...

Anetta’s picnic wasn’t going well. She’d been having a nice time — a great time, even — before she completely, utterly embarrassed herself. But well, she should’ve known that things would go sideways once everyone had cancelled. That hadn’t ever really happened before. They’d always planned their spring picnic around everyone’s obligations. The date had never been set in stone. They always found one that would work for everyone, which they also did t...

Many different people roamed around the lake. Some — bold or desperate, Dorian couldn’t tell — even waded into the shallow ends, picking up the floating blooms. Some spoke to them, though that was rare. Most people looked solemn. “This is nonsense,” Sable sighed next to him. For once, her voice didn’t sound rehearsed. Dorian personally thought it made little difference when she sounded so displeased instead. In their time together, he’d gotten used to her, and he could sa...

Therasia didn’t dislike doing recon work. Still, as a rule, she never talked about it. After all, she thought there was value in people not knowing. If you were, say, a spy, then you’d hardly go around flaunting it. If your fingers were as sticky as Therasia’s, you wouldn’t flaunt it. That was how people learned to keep their possessions safe. And besides, there were just some things that Riel couldn’t do, so she had to. They’d met in circumstances she’d call good....

Lycoris was on a quest! Well — Lycoris was always on a quest. This one, however, was a little different. She shuffled around the brush, then sniffed the air. Her beloved pendant was safe on her neck, but she wasn’t transformed. As much as she loved it, her humanoid form was still a little hard to control, and for this, she needed the practised precision of a hunter. She stopped to listen — no sound. Just as well. The prey she was hunting made no sound at all. Lyco...

“We are not supposed to go anywhere near them, and you know this!” Runa exclaimed, nearly shaking, although she tried her best to remain calm. It wasn’t so easy. She hadn't thought much about it when Irfan came bearing unusual amounts of lace and silk. Irfan could always find new clothes, especially when she had no expectations of him, and especially those that Runa couldn’t even think about. But to get clothes that didn’t belong to them? It was one thing to get huma...

Lennox had some type of silly goggles on his head. Devin would’ve found the image almost hilarious if he wasn’t so worried. He’d easily say — could still say — that those would be poor help. But with what the Loovanian was doing, he was certain that no goggles and no safety equipment would save Lennox if anything went wrong. Devin wasn’t even sure what he was working with. He wasn’t sure if he should be there at all, but Lennox claimed everything was safe and und...

“There are so many fun things in here,” Saim’el was saying, plopped on the floor and most certainly not cleaning. “Are you going to throw all of these away?” Veyron gave him an exasperated look, but Saim’el ignored it. By then, Veyron was used to his dismissive behaviour, mostly because he so often covered it up with ‘I don’t know anything of your customs’, which was a poorly placed lie. He’d been in Candoris long enough to have caught on to social norms, b...

“Listen, I like your home,” Nanshe was saying, but if Petra didn’t understand her, she’d probably thought that she hated all of this. “Well, I don’t.” Okay, well. That made sense. Of course, she didn’t like it. Her face said it all. “Because of the sand?” Petra asked. She thought Nimare were a little strange, now that she’d spent some time with Nanshe. Her skin was rough to the touch, her bones sturdy so she could handle the depths, and yet she struggled ...

The sand didn’t chafe Petra; her skin and scales were weathered from life in the Sandfall, leaving her to enjoy the wind and the rapid descent. She hefted the spear in her hand, the weight of it welcome and familiar. There wasn’t anything to hunt in sight — yet — and she chanced a look to the side. She just wanted to check on the Nimare girl she met recently. They’d been exchanging knowledge, although most of this was about Saurians. Nanshe wanted to know about them and the...

“Come back here!” The voice bellowed from the fringes of the sandpit as Petra slid down the side of the ashen ravine. The sand didn’t bother her as it would bother the interloper hot on her heels, but her heart still pounded in her ears. “Get back here you coward!” “I’m not a coward!” Petra shouted back, and then scrambled off through the sand when her voice alerted her pursuer of her location. It was a Nimare with pink hair, that much she knew, and she’d seen her aro...

“I’m surprised you hadn’t crashed somewhere near Somnium,” Devin said as Lennox played with the hair of his tail. The blond’s smile was slightly devious, but he’d learned that Lennox just smiled like that. “Surprised and glad.” “Why?” Lennox said, “You didn’t think I’d be able to survive there?” Devin snorted. It wasn’t elegant, but for all of Lennox’s refined look, he hadn’t been the pinnacle of manners either. It could be possible tha...

“Come on, Lenore,” Lenore talked to herself while she worked. Like any other normal person, of course! As some students did, she supposed, especially when they were on the verge of collapsing or at the end of their wits because of the exam season. Not that she would know. Lenore wasn’t a student, she had never been one; she was an up-to-no-good kid who grew into a professional clue sniffer. An investigator, if you will. “C’mon, you can do this.” Of course, she could do it....

“Valentine’s Day,” Veyron repeated Saim’el’s words slowly, “And you want to celebrate it.” He’d meant for the end of that sentence to be a question, but his disbelief had given him away and it ended on a flat, disapproving plateau. “You want the date, dinner, and the… the, I don’t know what. Is that it?” He asked again, just to be sure. “You heard me,” Saim’el said with the casual disregard of a person with the world at their feet. ‘We’re going to ...

“Is that a snowman, Talcott?” Kendall had meant to say it in a completely normal, non-judgemental way. It didn’t come out like that at all. It came out as though they were sneering at him, and they tried to backtrack a little, but they couldn’t think of anything to say. At least nothing that would make the situation more bearable and themself seem like less of an asshole. Goddamn it, Kendall. “It looks good,” Kendall said in the end. “The snowman, that is....

Ylli and Hotaru often worked together. Hotaru wasn’t a stranger to Ylli’s work habits and discipline. She didn’t trust Ylli because they worked together — although that was, admittedly, a large part of it — but rather because they were friends. And because they met through work. So work was a big thing for Hotaru. Nothing wrong with that. In fact, she felt it would be wrong if it wasn’t like that. And still, in the spaces between their jobs, she’d gotten to know Ylli di...

Riel seemed to doubt Therasia’s ability to turn the ice block into anything substantial. That was alright — Therasia doubted her own ability to make anything substantial out of ice too. But she’d be damned if she gave up now, especially after she’d dragged Riel all the way there. Or he’d dragged her, maybe, she wasn’t sure. Somebody had to make a suggestion first, but somebody also had to be bold enough to follow through. If she had to bet on it, she’d bet on herself being the b...