imeeji_frontstage | (no subject)

[ she sobers though ]

Which cranky feelings d'you wanna hear about? The relatable, "people ask way too much of me" nonsense, or the probably-still-relatable-honestly, "wow I'm sure glad this place hands out revives like candy because I've started to realise what I'm capable of when I feel pushed" drama?

Let's start with the former and work our way through both.

Okidokie.

Well.

[ give her a moment while she puts Words together ]

Turns out someone wants me to marry their kid to strengthen their bloodlines? And if I say no, they won't give back my feather, an actual literal part of my soul?

Aaaaaand one of my first thoughts at the time was, "Not a-fucking-gain". For the feather bit specifically, that is; the proposal was a new one.

WOW. That's creepy on like four levels at once.

At this point I honestly won't be shocked if I get back another memory and it's all, "Dragon 'Hero' Unisonya is so sick of everyone's bullshit she's turned 'villain'! Oops! Y'all fucked up!"

Like.

I don't care how much they think they need my feathers. If they try to keep them from me, I'm taking them.

They're part of you, it's like, beyond entitled to try to use them as leverage against you.

I don't get why they don't just ...

Ask for help?

It's that simple. I like helping!

... Still wouldn't marry their prince, though.

I get the feeling they used bits of your soul as leverage because they knew 'please be part of our weird eugenics program' was an unreasonable ask.

Uuuuuuughhhhhhhhhhhhhhh.

Wanna know the best bit?

What's the best bit?

A heavy implication that I might be the last full-blooded dragon to exist in my universe.

The folks doing the blackmailing are called the Vayad'ai. Their nobility and royal family were all into dragon-fucking way back when, and they've been trying to keep as much dragonishness in their bloodlines as they can. Kinda hard when nobody'd seen any dragons for centuries.

Oof. That actually is rough. But maybe the dragons just stopped showing themselves to those people because they were rude and entitled?

That's the hope.

[ Sighs, gently kicking her leggies over the side of the branch ]

I wonder who else has been trying to keep feathers from me...

I hope nobody else! If we gotta, me and Azul can learn to worldhop and come help you get 'em back.

Aww, thanks.

I'm prrrrrretty sure Regulus has one ... do you remember him? The little redhead from the guest event. He seems decent enough, though.

Well, if you know where he is then I guess that's technically a feather accounted for...

Hmm, good point! One down, shrug emoji to go.

Will you know when you've got 'em all?

I... I don't know, actually. Probably? [ Rubs over her heart ]

Yeah, since they're your soul...

Mmmmm ...

There's definitely a difference between the way I felt early on and how I felt later. Like.

[ HAND GESTURES ]

Like when we get more memories back?

Kinda? Not quite. It's.

[ MORE GESTURES ]

Augh, it's hard to describe. It's like ... a hollow, exhausted, disconnected feeling. Like you're still you, but scraped out and cut off.

I don't know if my amnesia back then was 'cause of the feathers or, heh, trauma.

[ ... stretches a wing out like, as an invitation to cuddle into it ]

Sounds rough.

[ oh ....... ]

[ snuggles into the wing ]

Just a li'l.

[ a quiet huffy not-laugh ] And the folks who find my feathers, I guess maybe they're like... oh, Miya, you're a magical sparkly celestial dragon deity apparently! You've got all of that power and soul juice, you don't need all of it. What's one drop in the bucket?

Well. They're my drops and it's my bucket, and I want it all back where it should be. I want to know what it feels like to be whole.