MASTERLIST V2.0

how are we holding up ghesties

Available for pre-order on Apple

downloading a fic when ao3 dies (when you have the link)

looks like ao3 is down again and i was in the middle of a multi chapter fic when it died on me.

and if that happens to you, this is what you can do to download the fic:

copy paste https://download.archiveofourown.org/downloads/00000000/fic.html in your browser url

replace the pink bit with the number right after /works (that's the work id)

for instance, in https://archiveofourown.org/works/44970790/chapters/113154673 the highlighted bit (44970790) would be the number you swap for the 0s

the download link will look like https://download.archiveofourown.org/downloads/44970790/fic.html

if you want the fic to be downloaded as an epub instead, use .epub at the end of that link

it should start downloading on your device

i'm sure a bunch of people know this and use it but in case you don't, hope this helps

Day 16- first kiss- rulti

Thanks to @forlorn-crows for the prompts and @gothdaddyissues for the divider!

“Dew kisses like he’s trying to suck the air out of my mouth” rain laughed, “I give him points for passion, he’s definitely enthusiastic”

Rains feet are kicked over Swiss’s lap on the love seat. He leans against the armrest idly snacking on a cheap bag of chips while Swiss leans his opposite way against the other rest. They’re comfortable, a soft warmth while they sit with each other just for the sake of talking.

“Mountain looks like he would be better at it” Swiss commented as he tried to count the patterns in the worn fabric of the couch.

“Oh he’s much better, I love dew but I swear mountain could probably make me cum from his lips on mine alone”

Swiss visibly winces at the lewd description. He doesn’t mean to, doesn’t mean to stare at rains legs in his lap as if they’re the most interesting thing in the world. As if the worn sweatpants contained the secrets to his personal dilemma.

“You ok swissy?” Rain stopped, putting his snack on the side coffee table. He dusted off his pants before nudging the multi ghouls stomach with his knee.

“Yeah, completely. Why?”

“You just look uncomfortable, if that was too much I’ll tone it down”

Rain drags himself closer to Swiss, playfully attempting to cuddle into his side while Swiss tries not to look like he’s actually pouting.

“It’s not that, you’re fine”

“Well it’s obviously something, you can tell me anything”

Swiss nervously chewed on his lip, internally debating with him. It’s not like it should be embarrassing, he was new, as everyone else was. But a weird part of him burned with shame even in front of rain, who he knew he could trust.

“I’ve just .. never kissed anyone” Swiss mumbled, pushing rains legs off of him while rain moved sit up straighter.

Rain gave a small chuckle, looking at Swiss with confusion, “really? No one?” Rain asked, in borderline disbelief. It’s not like there was anything wrong with it, but with how confident Swiss acts and how he seems to flirt with anything that walks, rain was more than sure that Swiss had bedded at least half of the pack by now.

It was a bit cute that Swiss seemed so nervous. The usually ever bold ghoul reduced to nervous fidgeting just over rain talking about kissing dew and mountain.

“Yeah it’s stupid, I’m sorry-“

Swiss is quickly cut off by rain reaching up to plant a chaste kiss upon Swiss’ lips. It’s small, barely any movement besides the brush of skin on skin, but rain pulls back with a small wet smack while Swiss stares at him wide eyed.

“There! Now you’ve kissed someone” Swiss’ face quickly reddened while rain gives him a cocky grin at his flustered state. It’s not much, he shouldn’t be at a loss for words but rain tasted like salt and the lemonade that sat next to him and Swiss couldn’t help but feel intoxicated from the couple second interaction.

“I-“

“Yeah?”

“I- it wasn’t long enough I didn’t learn anything, you’ll have to do it again” Swiss squeaked

“You’re an idiot” rain laughed, pulling Swiss back down to kiss him until he’s dizzy.

Could I request some cg Terzo and little dew? I just read the meeting fic one (randomly scrolled through the chapters on ao3 and that’s what I picked) and AUGH cg Terzo and little dew are the best

Hope you’re doing well tiny 💙

I hope this is ok!

Cw: mountain gets frustrated, very short mention of an upset Dew

Mountain tips his head back and bites his lip against the frustration. He normally has endless patience, able to deal with anything and everything tossed his way but not today. Today he's got way too much to do and Dew wouldn't let anyone else take him. That was fine, Mountain had worked while he wore Dew in his sling countless times.

But Dew didn't want to be in the sling, fussing and tugging at it with his little hands and tears in his eyes begging to be set down so he could walk and explore. But Mountain wasn't going to be able to watch him and get stuff done at the same time and Dew was just getting more and more upset.

“Dew please! Stop!” He didn't really raise his voice but he spoke firmly and immediately regretted it. It wasn't the baby's fault that today just wasn't great. “I'm sorry, I'm sorry Dew I just-”

But he was already crying, big fat tears on his cheeks, his lower lip wobbling. Mountain felt awful and was ready to just give up on his chores to make it up to Dewdrop when Terzo wandered by, sipping a coffee and looking at the yule decorations that had been put up so far.

“Zo….”

He sounds so sad and Mountain frowns. He knows the baby will forgive him and he'll make it up to him but he still feels awful.

“Terzo.” Mountain greets him, walking slowly up to him with Dew held up against his chest.

“Oh hello!” He smiles, reaching out to take Dew's hand.

“Zo p’ease!” He leans forward, reaching out as much as he can.

“You busy? I have so much to do and I just can't keep an eye on him. He wants to walk around.”

“You want to come with me, amorino?”

“P’ease…”

Mountain unties the sling, gently handing him over to Terzo. He's bundled up nice and warm against the chilly air of early winter. Terzo sets him down, holding his little hand while he steadies himself on his feet.

“You sure you don't mind? I just…”

He touches Mountain's shoulder gently. “It's fine, go do what you need to do, I'll keep him entertained.” He smiles brightly down at the baby. “Can you say bye bye to Mount?”

He waves but doesn't say anything, too interested in the lights he can see from where they stand. He points to the lights as Mountain starts to wander off.

“Zo go p’ease!”

Terzo laughs and holds his hand tight as they start to make their way toward the pretty colored lights lining one of the main walking paths.

He stumbles occasionally, using Terzos hand to steady himself before continuing on, muttering an ‘uh oh’ each time. He babbles as they walk, and Terzo talks back, filling him in on all the latest gossip he's heard from the Sister's. Dew listens, at least Terzo pretends he does.

Dew gets more excited the closer they get, his babbles more erratic and high pitched and Terzo can't help but laugh.

When they pause at the walkway, Dew's eyes are huge, round and reflecting the lights.

“Pitty….” He whispers, taking it all in with his mouth hanging open.

“Molto bello!” (Very pretty)

Dew claps and plops down to sit right in the middle of the walkway, looking all over the place, pointing at the lights with a big smile.

“Boo!”

“There is blue. What other colors do you see?” Terzo sits on the gravel, folding his legs so Dew can sit on his lap to stay warm. He doesn't care about his nice clothes as long as the baby is happy.

“Geen! Red!” He points at one and looks back at Terzo for help.

“White. Bianco.”

He points up above them. “Dat?”

“Those are snowflakes. Aren't they pretty?”

“Mine!”

He laughs again, kissing the top of his head. Dew continues pointing at the lights, naming his colors and making Terzo do the same.

Eventually Mountain makes his way over to them and Dew reaches for him. Terzo watches the giants shoulders relax and he smiles, easing himself to the ground beside them. Dew crawls over to his lap, pointing at the lights.

“Look vati! Pitty!”

“They are very pretty.”

“Nofakes!”

He laughs. “I see the snowflakes, I think those are my favorite.”

Dew turns to look at him. “Vati mad…”

He sighs. “I'm sorry my love,I didn't mean to raise my voice. It was not your fault, vati just…was overwhelmed.”

Dew watches him for a long moment. “No mad.”

“I'm not mad. I promise.”

Terzo smiles at their conversation thinking about how far Dewdrop had come. The fact that he could communicate now was such a gift and Terzo was grateful for it every day.

“What do you say we go have some hot chocolate and a Yule story?”

Mountain smiles and nods and Dew claps, his cheeks getting red from the chilly air.

“Yum!”

Mountain carries him and Terzo holds one of his hands at his insistence. He babbles about the lights while Terzo makes the hot chocolate, adding extra marshmallows for Dew who giggles while he plays with one in his fingers. Mountain gets the fire started in the den and watches over the baby while Terzo goes to find a book.

They snuggle on the couch together under a blanket and Terzo reads until Mountain falls asleep against him.

Dew shushes him once he sees he's sleeping. “Vati ni ni.”

“He did go night night.” He kisses the top of Mountain's head and carefully moves out from behind him,taking Dew along with him. “Let's let him sleep.”

He carries him down to the library and grabs a stack of books to read to Dew. They settle on the couch and they read together as a gentle snow starts to fall outside the window.

Mushy May Day 17: Funny T-shirts

Sunny likes to poke fun at Swiss with custom t-shirts, much to his chagrin.

Thank you to @forlorn-crows for putting Mushy May together, and @ghuleh-recs for making the dividers! <3

The note for this in my outline was "a la mercer and riegel" if that makes sense to anyone lol.

Swiss looks up from his breakfast, a bowl of granola and berries and yogurt, as Sunny bounds into the kitchen, her copper curls bouncing as she enters with a suspicious spring in her step. "Hiya, spark!" She greets him, settling into one of the chairs across from him. Rain and Aurora look up as well, wishing the other multi-ghoulette a good morning.

His eyes settle on the collar of her oversized button up, clearly one of Aether's. "Morning, ember," he says, trying to copy her enthusiasm and not quite making it. "You go clothes raiding again?" He takes another bite of his breakfast, watching her expectantly. Something's not quite right here, button ups not usually Sunny's style.

She shrugs, still grinning, snatching the carafe of orange juice and pouring herself a glass. As Sunny leans to reach, the collar of the button up droops, revealing the hem of a bright orange t-shirt. Nothing more than that, but it's enough for Swiss's spoon to clink against his bowl as he buries his face in his hands.

"Another one, Sunny?" he groans. "How many shirts. Please."

Rain and Aurora turn, eyes brightening in intrigued laughter as Sunny takes a drink, smugly settling back in her chair.

"Now, Swissy, I have no idea what you could be talking about," she says, batting her eyelashes at him.

It's her favorite way to poke fun at him. Awful candid photos of him, blown up and custom printed somewhere online, hidden under zip up hoodies and button ups that she takes off to reveal like the world's most embarrassing strip tease. There have been ones taken while he's sleeping, mouth open, snoring and drooling, and ones that were the unfortunate results of a mistimed blink while taking pictures with the pack. Fortunately, or unfortunately for Sunny, there are no kit pictures, no way to bring them after being summoned Up Top.

He hates the way it makes his face burn, but it makes the pack laugh, and makes Sunny's cheeks dimple with her grin in a way that makes Swiss feels crazy. So he endures it. (He'll never admit that he thinks it's funny too.)

"Noooooo," he groans, peeking through his fingers as Sunny stands, unbuttoning her top button.

"How many of those do you have, sunbeam?" Rain asks, staring smugly at Swiss's over the top distress. "Ten? Twenty?"

"This one makes fourteen," Sunny says, undoing another two buttons.

Swiss rubs his temples, pretending a headache's coming on. "Emberrrrrrrr," he drags out in a groan. "Come on, get it over with."

"As you wish." Sunny copies his signature grin, all of her teeth on display, hands moving down farther and farther, each button slipping through the button hole. Finally, Aether's shirt falls open, revealing a Ritual picture of him.

It's the lowest quality picture of him Swiss has ever seen, only thing distinct about his features are the bug like lenses and the bright white of his teeth against the black helmet. He had been grinning menacingly at that Ritual, but the grainy picture makes him look dorky. There's words across the top and bottom, all caps in Impact font, declares "Swiss Shirt Bottom Text"

"I made a shirt for you, sparky!" Sunny beams, watching Swiss groan. "You like it?"

Swiss growls, silverware clattering as he shoots to his feet, Rain and Aurora's laughter echoing around the kitchen. Sunny squeaks, eyes wide as she darts off, Swiss in close pursuit.

This probably one of the best I've read on here.

Your angsty Dew stuff is killing me I am here to humbly request more <3

Of course, sweetheart! Here's more Dew struggling with quint magic being used.

Also, so sorry for doing Aeth like this but...it just wouldn't leave me alone so here we are. I will make it up to him, I LOVE HIM SO MUCH!

Non-con use of magic! Dew feels dirty about it please read with caution angels!

It's all angst all the time.

Omega is the first to use it against him without his permission. He never uses it maliciously, never takes over and drives Dew to madness even though he could. He could warp Dew into a completely different Ghoul, could throw him head first off a cliff and Dew wouldn't be able to fight.

When he feels Dew retreating in on himself he pulls him out.

Dewdrop can feel it in his brain like little fingers tugging and pulling him where they want him. Sometimes he'll struggle, try to keep his walls firmly in place but he's not strong enough against Omega.

He feels like a rag doll sometimes, like he's a puppet and Omega holds his strings.

The little water ghoul knows he means well, does it to keep him safe and happy but…

When Aether comes and starts training, he's even stronger than Omega is.

He asks Dew if he can use it during sex and at first he likes it, it's like more hands on his body, lips and tongues and Aether can have him seeing whatever he wants. It's fun to play with…

But then sometimes he's just sitting there and he feels it creeping up over his spine and into his hair, nipping at the tips of his ears and he wants to scream. He knows it's part of Aether but it isn't him really.

Sometimes it feels like a violation and it hurts so bad he can't stand it.

He uses it to keep him docile when he starts to panic and lash out, slips into his head and pokes and prods and pulls up things Dew doesn't want anyone else to know about. He's glassy eyed and limp in his arms by the time Aether pulls out of his mind.

Dewdrop understands he means well, trying to keep him from fighting himself but it feels like he wants him to change, to rip out his anger and keep him sweet. Dew likes his anger, it's a shield that keeps his heart protected and when it's stripped away he feels too open, weak to attack.

When he decides to leave and move on to another Abbey he tells Dew he can make it feel like he's never existed, can pull himself out of Dew's memories.

He screams until he can't breathe, until Mountain kicks in the door and punches Aether and scoops Dew up into his arms and cradles him.

He feels shattered, dirty, broken…

Then Phantom comes and Dew can't stand him on principal alone.

Aether had hurt him, deeply wounded him, but still seeing someone replace him felt like a kick to the teeth.

He could tell he was strong. The little ghoul just vibrating with magic.

Dew kept a wide berth and refused to pay too much attention, tries not to do anything that would make him want to use it against him.

He sees him use it on Swiss and Rain when their bodies ache, the way they sag in relief and thank him, how he quickly reigns it back in as soon as he helped them. He's seen the way he gently slips into Mountain's dreams when the big ghoul has a nightmare and twitches and whimpers in his sleep, offers just enough to take the edge of fear away.

Panic hits Dew hard and fast, usually out of no where and violent enough to leave him breathless and on his knees shaking.

He tries to keep it hidden, never wants to bother the pack but Phantom finds him. Dew's distress shining neon and screaming out to his quintessence.

He sits beside him, keeps his hands to himself. "What can I do?"

Dew tells him to leave, pulls his knees up tight under his chin and begs him to just leave.

He doesn't. He lays a steady hand on Dew's shaking shoulder and just sits with him.

Dew can feel his magic around him, feels the way it wants to reach out but Phantom won't let it touch him.

He doesn't understand. Phantom is the strongest quint he's ever felt but he hasn't once tried to pin Dewdrop down and rearrange his mind to make him more palatable. He keeps it locked tight.

He let's Phantom hug him, lets him pull him into his lap and pet his hair. He's warm and soft and Dew wants it so bad he can taste it.

"Don't use it on me…don't ever use it on me." He knows he's begging, knows Phantom will probably ask about it at some point.

"I won't. I promise I won't, Dew."

And he wants to believe that, wants to let those words sit in his brain and close over the wounds left by magic he wanted nothing to do with. But he knew how quickly soft hands could turn to fists and how tempting that power could be.

All he hopes is that when Phantom decides to destroy him, he at least does it quickly.

boyfriends

Light a Candle or Curse the Darkness

In the end, what would be your choice? The summer tour of 2005 does not go as planned.

Hey, it's the end of the as we know it and I feel fine.

Part Two

When does a dream become reality?

Or, when does reality become a dream?

Could you decide what would be that one defining moment in time?

I know I cannot.

There were just too many of them.

I still, to this day, cannot decide when this all became ‘real’. Was it when we first caught sight of the invaders? Those that had claimed to have been abducted had it all wrong for what had stepped out into the clearing on that warm summer night was nothing that one would think a space alien to be. Nowhere to be seen was the classic space creature, with its large eyes, short, gray-skinned bodies, and three-fingered hands. These creatures were something different altogether. Tall, human in appearance with eyes the color of a storm-tossed sea; their orangish-green skin shimmered faintly in the pale moonlight, casting an iridescent glow about them.

Beautiful.

Ethereal.

Dangerous.

Deadly.

Murderous.

Conquerors.

Destroyers.

I could continue like this forever, but they are just details that everyone should be familiar with by now. If not, lucky you.

Still, that was not the ‘real’ moment for me. Nor was the moment when our small group was sent arse over elbow trying to get out of the way of their idea of crowd control. There had been thirteen of us that had set off from that highway looking for help. Five Durans and Shelly, a young nursing student from the Midwest, were all that entered their ship. Watching the person next to you be vaporized, as in nothing left, not even the clothes they were wearing vaporized, is enough to make one think about how much they want to live. I know I still did at that point. Odd how time changes all things, is it not?

I won’t waste time telling of the journey to our new “home”. It was uneventful, and we spent the better part of it huddled in holding cells with several hundred other miserable souls. Voices in the dark whispered…wondering…questioning...praying.

“Airplanes falling out of the damn sky…”

“The Lord is my Shepard…”

“Have you seen Saul, my husband?”

“Where are they taking us?”

“…he leadeth me beside the still waters…”

“Did you hear what happened to the cities?”

“Who are they? Where did they come from?”

“Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death…”

“…the Armies have been destroyed.”

“…no one left…”

“I will fear no evil: for thou art with me…”

“No food or water for two days. For two days!”

“I want my mommy!”

“…space aliens!”

“…I will dwell in the house of the…”

“Wiped clean off the damn map…”

“Fuck, I need a smoke.”

From time to time, I have wondered what had happened to Shelly. She was separated from us not long after our arrival to the place that we would acrimoniously learn to call home and hearth.

Where were we? By the best guess of persons far smarter than I, it was decided that we had been relocated somewhere along the Pacific coast, probably close to the Canadian border. There were thousands of people in this camp. The invaders must have cleared out every small town and city they came across. Lord only knows how many more of these camps there are, or rather were. I fear that what has been happening here is only a reflection of what is happening elsewhere. Even as I sit here, writing, I can hear the screams and heavy rifle fire echo throughout the camp. And the whispered pleas for a savior. Strange, is it not, how people put their beliefs in a higher power? Stranger still, is the fact that these people go to their deaths, believing their prayers do not fall upon deaf ears. God did not help us when they came and I sure in the Hell don’t think he’ll help us now. This is one path I refuse, even now, to go down. I lost whatever faith I had a long time ago.

I figure by either tomorrow or later this evening they will be at my part of the camp, and that will be that. So sorry if this is a little rushed but Death is riding on the wind, and I think he is coming for me. Before I stick my spoon in the wall and roll over, I must tell what happened to my brothers. Brothers of my heart, even if not by blood. They lived, they had a life, and they deserve to have their deaths told, however poorly I might recount it.

~~

Nick. Nick was the first of us to go and we lost him almost right from the beginning. Of all things, he died from an allergic reaction to whatever they used to ink the barcodes. The process itself was not that bad. You held your arm out, they ran a scanner over it, a slight tingling feeling, and before you can say ‘Bob’s your uncle’, you are the proud owner of a new tattoo. In less than 24 hours after receiving his, Nick was dead. It started with an irresistible urge to scratch. We nearly went crazy trying to prevent him from digging his arm off. Soon, two large red streaks had snaked up his arm and across his chest and neck. John spent all night by his side, mopping Nick’s feverish brow. When the seizures started, we knew that the end must be near. In the early pre-dawn hours, Nick drew his last ragged breath and without a word, was gone. He was not the only one. There were hundreds upon hundreds who died in this camp from the allergic reaction. I don’t think our captors really gave a flyin’ fuck about it either.

Out of all of us, Nick’s death hit John the hardest. Beautiful, fragile John. During the early years it was still easy to procure things of, let’s say, of a questionable nature. Almost six months to a day after Nick’s death we found John overdosed on whatever it was he took. I guess Rehab didn’t cover a hostile invasion by space aliens, did it Johnny? The bastard. He took the easy way out. I never have gotten around to forgiving him for that.

It was not too long after that, that Andy found a small girl wandering through our part of the camp; she couldn’t have been more than three, if not younger. All Andy was able to get out of her was her name and that she couldn’t find her parents. Andy searched and searched for the girl’s parents, but they were nowhere to be found and no one would step up to care for her. He took little Laura as his and decided that he would care for her. When pressed for an answer as to why, all he would say was, “I can only hope that someone would look to my children if the need be. You have children of your own. Wouldn’t you want someone to look after them?”

I never would answer that question. I only hope my children did not have to live through this.

Time passed, seasons changed and each year the winters were getting harder and harder to survive. Lack of food, proper clothing, and poor living conditions was getting to everyone. Each winter, little Laura would come down sick, and each year it became harder and harder for her to shake it. And she was not the only one.

Andy and several other parents formed a committee and took it upon themselves to visit the camp Commander to request aid for the children. Surprisingly enough, they were thanked for their trouble and told that the Commander would investigate it and were sent on their way. By noon the next day, there was not any child under the age of fourteen left in the camp. The younger children were killed outright, while the older ones were transported from the camp. I don’t know where they were taken. Some say they were sent to other camps and still, others think they were taken off the planet altogether. Laura was only seven when they killed her. Perhaps it was for the best.

The committee members lived long enough to see the havoc they wreaked. Their heads, along with Andy’s, adorned pikes, lined the road to the Commander’s office for a very long time. I think that day was the day that the fight to continue living fled this place. So many families were destroyed on that dark day. So many hopes for the future were crushed.

That was four years ago, scary how time flies when you are being repressed.

Simon? I don’t know where he has gone off to. Despite the dangers of the camp purge, he went for a walk yesterday and has yet to return. I fear he may have been caught in the cleansing. Or he may be holed up somewhere, safe for the time being. Who knows?

~~

There. That is their story. Not much, is it? But it is all I have for you.

Why do I write this? I don’t really know. I have a sinking feeling there will not be anyone left to read this after I am gone. Maybe I write these words to prove that I was. That I existed. That I was here. My only regret, well two regrets, is the fact that I could not see my children and family one last time. And Emma, my beautiful dark-eyed girl, that I had taken for my wife only a few months before it all went to Hell. I really should stop rambling. Damn. Old age must be sitting in early. I have things to do before my time is up.

One last thing before I go:

I had once read that you can either light a candle or curse the darkness.

My candle burned out a long time ago.

I am not going without a fight.

I have made my decision.

I will curse the darkness with my last breath.

I am meeting with others from this block, and we are going to fight.

I don’t know what good it will do… But I am willing to find out.

Notes:

I wrote this like 500 years ago.

Mushy May 2024

Day 10- Quiet Nights

I played it a little loose with the concept of the prompt, but it still fits and overall is something I enjoyed writing :)

Rating: G

Characters: Sunshine and Zephyr, background Ifrit and Swiss

Words: ~1.1k

Summary: Shortly before her summoning, Sunshine gets worried about how being summoned topside and having the latent fire magic inside of her activated will change the air element she already has. Some late evening meetings with some ghouls recently returned to the pit alleviate her concerns.

Involves my personal headcannon that while hybrid ghouls are born as such, multi ghouls are made so

Thanks to @forlorn-crows for organizing and @ghuleh-recs for the great dividers ♡

Already, Sunny can feel the pull. The humans of the ministry might not know yet, but she has been told by the Dark Lord himself that she will be the next ghoul summoned by the satanic ministry. In three short months by topside calculations, she will be summoned.

This time is different though, a direct blessing from Him to strengthen the fire element within her. She has always felt its potential, but once she goes topside she will be both air and fire. A true multi ghoul. The prospect is exciting, everything she could ever ask for, but nerve-racking all the same. What if she learns to love the fire too much, forsaking the air element she has known her whole life? What if in order to strengthen the one element the other weakens?

These and various other questions have been blazing through her mind ever since she got the news, a wildfire of worry charring any other line of thought caught in its way.

The answer to her worries comes in the form of a resource she didn’t even know existed, the previous band ghouls. Getting an introduction to Zephyr and Ifrit was simple enough, news of returning ghouls travels fast and why not set up a dinner meeting for them and the new kid to chat.

Sunny sees the meeting with the ghouls for the perfect opportunity that it is, exactly the chance she needed to quell all her worries about being topside and her latent fire element.

She has always been extremely direct and voices her concerns to the two ghouls almost immediately, before the hellish vintage Zephyr picked out has even finished being poured.

She carefully notes the roaring laugh this pulls from the fire ghoul and the fond exasperated sigh from the air ghoul.

“Told you she wasn’t worried about the fire part, this is all on you my dear” Ifrit teases, pouring a little extra wine into Zephyrs goblet with a knowing look.

The plan gets worked out quickly leaving lots of time to chat and get to know one another. Each night leading up to her summoning Sunny will meet up with Zephyr and work on meditations to better connect her to her air magic. In addition, every other evening she will meet with Ifrit briefly to go over fire ghoul things. Just because it’s not her present concern doesn’t mean it won’t come in handy and Ifrit is historically eager to help anyways.

The meetings with Ifrit are raucous and energetic, freeing in a way she didn’t know was possible. The meditations with Zephyr are magical in multiple senses of the word.

As in tune with her magic as Sunny previously thought she was, it quickly becomes clear how much more she could improve.

Zephyr's techniques tend to be a mixture of focused meditation and light yoga, after which she swears she can sense the ambient magic swirling on the breeze around her.

There’s a closeness that grows in the silence. The shared concentration and mirrored movements accompanied by the soft sounds of air rustling the plants around them imprints upon Sunshine a feeling of having the air ghoul’s soul laid bare and hers revealed in turn. These moments together quickly become the highlight of her day, and something she knows will be missed terribly once she is summoned.

Halfway through her summoning countdown she meets up with Zephyr but something feels different. The older ghoul is holding back, but this time she doesn’t push, willing to let the conversation topics float along however Zephyr sees fit.

After several minutes she finally hears it, that same resigned sigh from the night they met.

Still, she waits patiently. A light smile and a turn of the head as encouragement to spur Zephyr to speak on whatever is weighing his mind without pressuring him. It works perfectly.

“If it helps at all, you won’t be the only multi ghoul up there. I hope that you find kinship with them,” he starts, nerves seeping into his normal light demeanor. “The method I want to show you tonight is something I made with said multi ghoul. There are parts specific to a multi-element aptitude, which I do not possess, but I hope I can explain clearly enough for you to understand.”

Sunshine works through the movements slowly, a drawing of pure elemental power into the body and a push down towards the ground to expel any other random magic within. It makes her veins feel like they are sparkling in an intoxicating way.

She frowns a little noticing there doesn’t seem to be as strong of an effect on Zephyr, but shakes it off choosing to enjoy the time with her new friend.

Night after night the two have dinner, joyous swapping of stories without a care in the world, followed by quiet purposeful meditations. Before they know it though, it is the eve of Sunny’s planned summoning.

Zephyr, Ifrit, and her have one final dinner together to celebrate the short friendship that they have fostered. The two older ghouls insist that they will see her again and cannot wait to hear about all the fun she will get up to. They both pass her along a few messages for ghouls on the surface, and leave her to prepare for the following day.

As she moves through the magical exercises on her own that night she feels at peace, bolstered to tackle whatever being topside will throw at her.

~~~

The summoning is chaotic as always, but overall goes uncharacteristically smooth. Sunny takes to her new element with gusto, the time spent with Ifrit more than paying off.

Everything is definitely still an adjustment for her with many new places and faces, but there are a few people in particular she is on the lookout for as the day moves along.

Late in the evening after all the chaos calms down, she sets out to wander the grounds and find a nice spot to meditate and reconcile both the elements inside her. From a distance she spots a lovely looking clear patch in a garden and makes her way over to it.

In the center of the clear patch stands a tall ghoul, performing movements that at this point are as much a part of her as anything else. A calm breath in, a forceful one out. A purposeful sway to facilitate the movement of ambient elemental energy. Leaning back on a bench nearby is a skeptical looking Ghoulette, looking on and heckling him as she corrects his form.

A hopeful smile creeps its way onto Sunny’s face and with a confident stride she bounds over to the meditating ghoul, hand outstretched.

“Hi, I’m Sunny and I bet you must be Swiss, Zephyr and Ifrit have told me so much about you. Mind if I join in?”