It's pronounced Peri-doh!

Peridot has been spending all of her Halloween trying to beat up dorks with her new powers, and failing. It’s discouraging, but beating up dorks is a full-time job - she can’t let herself get discouraged! This costume’s got to work eventually!

And, aha, who is that but...

The nerdiest person Peridot has ever seen. He looks even nerdier than Cucumber and that’s impressive. And what on Dreamside is that costume?!

Oh, great, another dork, is what Peridot would normally think about the strange black-haired man in the vest.

Oh, great, another dork! is what Super Peridot thinks about the strange black-haired man in the vest.

She flies down in front of him on her broom, as purple and cosmic as the rest of her outfit, and smiles smugly even by her standards, holding out a hand and causing a star to form in her palm.

No villain can compete with Peridot, no matter how melodramatic they are about it - and no villain can ever compete with Super Peridot. She’s going to show every hero and every villain in this stupid city to never, ever mess with her!

And this so-called “villain” has stolen her look! Purple? Stars?! Wizard?!?! That’s the Nightmare Knight’s whole shtick! She can’t stand for this blatant dark lord/evil sidekick appropriation!

What is that, flying in the sky on a broom with a swirling cosmic star at the end? Who is that green-haired girl, all dressed in purple and black, flying down towards the unsuspecting... small, furry creature in the red vest?

“Bwahahahaha!”

Could it be? A dastardly villain, given the powers of darkness by a costume? Could it be, that she’s interfering with the sacred day of Candy Corn Day Halloween?!

“Prepare yourself, whatever the heck you are...”

Lucretia’s a bit worried at first that she startled her, but can’t help but smile at her declaration.

“Of course, my apologies. I didn’t mean to imply otherwise.” The children here sure are independent, aren’t they? She offers a hand to help her up, smiling softly.

“If you’d like, I can help you find a way out of the woods. I don’t have all of my magic either, but together we should be able to handle it, don’t you think?”

If all else fails, she’s sure Kay wouldn’t mind another visitor… though that treehouse might start to get pretty crowded.

Peridot doesn’t smile back, but she does take the hand of the older woman anyway, blushing from embarrassment.

She’s reminded, strangely, of Cordelia. Cordelia once offered her hand just like this, when she was alone and crying, after...

Well. She doesn’t want to think about that.

        “Peri-doh?” he asked, mimicking the unusual pronunciation and swiveled on his heel to follow her trajectory. “An irritating name for an irritating pest.”

        This was the last thing he needed. DJSS turned away from to pick up a few color films, those used for the few non-LED lights left in the catwalk above. “If you’re going to be an irritant, then at least be a useful one. Insert these films into every light without one. Think you can accomplish that?”

“Sure, why not. Not like I have anything better to do,” she says, extremely sarcastically. But before he can react, she’s already snatched the color films from his hands and is flying up to the catwalk.

Where she promptly drops all the color films onto the ground.

Peridot had a special costume made by the Nightmare Knight for Halloween this year, and by God, is she going to use it. Peridot is taking the form of Super Peridot. 

What is Super Peridot? Why...

- Super Peridot has INFINITE POWER!!!!!!!

- To make small fiery pebbles fall from the sky.

- Five times a day. So it’s not actually infinite.

- She still cannot turn things into peridot or fly for more than twenty minutes.

⚡ “Might be your ears actually.”

“I wouldn’t worry about it though. I mean, a lot of people think bunnies are cute and constantly watch videos of them on their phones. So, if they call you a bunnie or rabbit, it is likely they think you’re cute.” … or a salad-eating little pest.

I don’t WANT to be compared to one of those gross things!

Lucretia’s only been in the Mistwood a few days, but it’s already been far too long for her liking. The argument with Taako has her so on-edge that she can’t sleep, and Kay and Shadow seem to more active (and loud) at night. So she excuses herself from the house, finally taking this opportunity to explore the woods.

“Hello?” She echoes when she hears a voice, searching for the source until she finally spots them– oh, it’s another child. (Just how many children live in these woods, she wonders.)

Still, the girl sounds like she’s in some distress– no wonder, given how scary these woods can be even during the day.

“Are you all right? It’s a little late to be exploring, isn’t it?”

She yelps and falls backwards on hearing the unexpected voice, landing on her rear for maybe the third time this week.

“I’m not scared! I can take care of myself!” she shouts, not at all convincingly.

⚡  “You really don’t know…?”

“Eh, they’re bunnies. They multiply really fast, eat salad and flowers from gardens and can be quite a pest if not kept in check. Their fur is super soft though. Other than that? I’m not a big animal lover myself, so I can’t really tell you why so many people love them.”

🌪️ He really tries to make sure not to knock against anything by accident as he’s landing. But, this place is so busy, it is difficul to predict every person’s movement. Of course he feels his wings bump against a person after he landed successfully. He sighs. This place makes him appear like a clumsy oaf, which he really isn’t. But everything here is so… crowded and busy and it is difficult for him to adjust just like that.

He turns around with the intention to apologize, only to discover bunny ears on an otherwise humanoid-looking individual. He is mildly bewildered.

“What are you? You’re clearly neither rabbit nor human…” His thoughts come unfiltered as so often. Of course his attention is drawn to the shattered pie and the hat on the ground right afterwards, and he remembers what he originally intended to say. He picks up the hat and reaches it out before he clears his throat.

“You asked for replacement. Where did you get your food from?”

“I’m a Dreamsider,” she snaps, snatching her hat out of his hands and shoving it back onto her head. “I’m not a... whatever... those...”

Her anger dissipates just enough that she looks not at the face of the pie-ruiner, but more closely at the wings attached to him.

And her mood does a complete 180.

        It had been difficult, getting together his first concert in Isola. With his bank account at a paltry zero, he had once again was forced to rely on the conviction of his character. And, to no one’s surprise, it had paid off with shocking dividends. 

        Standing there on the stage, he felt quite proud of his boldness even if the contract had seemed unbalanced in his favor. Even an uncaring universe could still feel fit to sling a stitch at him now and then, this particular annoyance appearing in the form of a green haired rabbit.

        “Who let you in here?” he asked before registering the broom a moment later. Some kind of designer hoverboard. DJSS reached out a hand to snatch a clipboard from a passing techie, looking down at the nonexistent list of those who had purchased the Deluxe Pass. It was disastrously difficult to spread word of his brilliance, a bit like when they had first started out.

        Ah, memories.

        But there was no time for memories. He, DJ Subatomic Supernova, had a show to perform.

        Shoving the clipboard away at random, DJSS lowered his headphones to better tell her off. “I’ve never head of a performer by that name. The only one performing tonight is me, DJ Subatomic Supernova.” Robbed of ambient silence the noise of the surrounding world pressed in on all sides; a churning staccato note of equipment scraping across the floor or the high pitch of moving bodies around him.

           “If that is your only question, I have to ask you to leave.” Placing a cursory rub to his orb, DJSS used his other hand to try and wave the child, rabbit?, away. “Feel free to come back during the concert, provided you buy a ticket. I can’t just release my music for free you know.”

Peridot narrows her eyes at the question. Who does this guy think he is?!

“Nobody let me in here,” Peridot replies. “Nobody lets me anywhere. I’m a nefarious villain - I go wherever I want, whenever I want.”

“And if you’re going to be rude,” Peridot says, “then I’m not going anywhere.”

She flies around in front of him, putting her chin in her hands.

There is an endless dilemma Peridot faces.

Namely, she doesn’t like to walk. That’s why she has a broom. Butttttttt she also likes sweets. A lot. And the Nightmare Knight tells her to watch her diet, which means she needs to get more sweets.

There’s a little place she likes in the Star Trail in Archimedes that always makes the best apple pies (milopitas, she thinks they’re called), and today, she has a craving for one of those. So she takes a trolley there, walks all the way to her favorite stall, buys a pie, and...

Is immediately hit in the face by something big and feathery. Causing her to drop the pie on the ground. And lose her hat.

“What?! Are you kidding me?!”

She turns to the owner of the wings, glaring.