#gamer pixie

124. This Is a Box (Just after the "Evolution Hopeful" Prompt) Monday November 29th - Tuesday November 30th, 2004 Year of Water, Autumn of the Aligned Raindrops

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The Carmichaels did not associate with the Turners around Thanksgiving. Buddy, the Carmichaels barely associated with the Turners, period. And November or not, here in the suburbs, autumn-colored fleece sweaters didn't make the greatest form of camouflage. Not even in the dark. Chloe had figured that out in the worst way possible. Crossing the street? Tried it. No-go. Connie and Clark weren't risking any chance that their daughter might sneak over for a bite of turkey, even when Chloe insisted she faced no such temptation. And they were still acting like this when Thanksgiving had been four days ago, too. Because leftovers. Gotta love 'em. Figured that the one time her parents insisted on sticking around to keep tabs on her would coincide with the most calorie-heavy meal of the year…

In all honesty, it was Timmy, Cosmo, and Wanda who held her interest more than the food. And Poof, who had texted them all last week that he planned to pay a visit. Chloe didn't know all the details, but he'd said it involved "a surprise", and Wanda and Cosmo had expressed all sorts of feelings ranging between streamers and party blowers, and endless sobbing. Needless to say, they had enjoyed a party over there just after dinner today. And she, Chloe Carmichael, practically an honorary member of the Turner family, had not.

Chloe leaned her back against one closed window in her bedroom, taking her hot chocolate in small sips and mouthfuls of marshmallows. Outside was dark and leaf-littered. A crisp chill wafted in through the second window, but it was still warmer than the winters she'd been used to back home. Living in California was a new experience. It hadn't snowed yet this year. Timmy said it rarely did here, especially not recently with Global Warming and all. Usually godkids had to wish for it. She wasn't sure how many children that entailed, but apparently snowy November wishes were largely a thing of the past. They might've gotten bored of it. Maybe she'd get lucky later in the season, but for now, Dimmsdale would just have to make do with pretty leaves and baggy sweaters a little while longer.

Chloe paused mid-chuckle, the lip of the hot chocolate mug resting at her mouth when she noticed movement across the street. Completing her sip, she leaned forward. "What is…"

A bright shape rocketed through the air and smacked against her window. Chloe almost dropped her hot chocolate. As it was, she spat half her swallow back into the cup. Her instant urge was to karate chop the intruder, but the glass between them stopped her hand. She took the chance to breathe instead. The figure was large, at least a foot and a half tall, spread-eagle like an attacking bear. He wore a lightweight, long-sleeved hooded shirt decked out in horizontal stripes. A gap-toothed smile grinned down at her. Pale brown freckles dotted his cheeks and nose. Messy purple curls framed his ears. His right hand clutched a rattle like a wand. A golden crown floated a handspan above his head.

"Wait." Chloe narrowed her eyes. "Poof?"

Poof buzzed his wings and peeled himself away from the window. He tipped his crown, then made a beckoning motion with his hand. Chloe blinked. Setting her mug over on her desk, she took the lower portion of the window and lifted it.

"Wow, Poof. You got a whole lot bigger since I saw you over spring break. You look like you're an actual kid now! No offense."

Poof cleared his throat, dropping his voice into a regal, almost seductive boyish baritone, as though he were welcoming her to a lavish palace banquet. "Ha ha ha! Perish the thought, my dear Lady Chloe of Carmichael. Although I must admit, I could say the same to you, now that I see you doing something besides obsess over rules and funtivities."

"Uh-huh. What are you doing at my house? It's dark, but not that dark. Someone might see you."

Poof shook his head, still hovering outside the window. He magically slicked back his hair to reflect the look of a seemingly British secret agent. Then he saluted, rattle held vertically near his cheek. "I'm afraid I am a man on a mission, Lady C.C. Come over. And do take care not to let my parents know, hm? There's a good lass now."

Chloe glanced over her shoulder at the empty birdcage on the far side of her bed. Cosmo and Wanda hated to be split up. Technically, not even Jorgen could force them to be. They held joint godparenting licenses that allowed them to work together, after all. After several months, she and Timmy had finally worked out a system of sharing fairies that they both agreed on. Cosmo and Wanda usually stayed with her on even days, and they stayed with Timmy on odds. Since they pretty much all hung out together every day that Timmy hadn't promised to spend exploring the town outskirts with Sparky or that Chloe's parents hadn't over-scheduled her for, things were working out okay.

At first, Chloe had expected Timmy to either throw a fit about being separated from Cosmo and Wanda for any length of time, or get himself mauled by some woodland animal. But to her surprise, he'd gravitated naturally into hanging out more with his friends Chester and A.J. Rekindling his back-up friendships with Sanjay and Elmer hadn't been far behind. Lately they'd been hanging out together most nights to play board games, watch movies, or tinker around with A.J.'s dad's old robots.

Timmy's friends and back-up friends were nice and all, but Chloe didn't want to intrude on their guys' nights. So, she kept a respectful difference even when Sanjay once mentioned to her in passing that no one would object if she did. It was probably good for Timmy to do things on his own without Cosmo and Wanda hovering over his shoulder for awhile. Plus, this way she had the fairies all to herself. She liked that. Not because she felt possessive of them or anything, but just because this way, Timmy wasn't around to mock her for her wishes, or shoot down her ideas, or wave them off as something he'd already done before.

Pink and green feathers still littered the bottom of the empty birdcage. In a few more hours, it would be the 30th. Even. Cosmo and Wanda should be here to check in for a sleepover in her room. This, however, was a special occasion. Poof had come home today, after all, so both she and Timmy had allowed Cosmo and Wanda to spend the day out and about with their son wherever they wanted. Last Chloe had overheard from the news on TV, a toddler with wavy purple curls had been spotted charging down a pier in pursuit of a seagull who had stolen a beakful of his fries, with his mother and father not far behind. Witnesses swore that his leaps between the posts had been so fast and fluid, he almost looked as though he were flying.

If Cosmo and Wanda weren't here and Poof was alone, they must have returned to Timmy's goldfish bowl even earlier than usual in anticipation of tomorrow's switch. It would have been nice if they'd wished her goodnight. Oh well. "Okay," she murmured. "But what in the name of hoopla is going on?"

"You'll see," Poof said, switching back to his regular, high-pitched baby voice. He beckoned with his hand again.

Companies and Business

I can't say much, but I can confirm Sanderson opens a music store after becoming a dad and Cavatina often hangs out with him there.

The music store means a lot to Sanderson as it's the only place that's truly his (seeing as he shares an apartment with Hawkins, Longwood, and Wilcox for most of his life).

The funny thing about Cavatina is that he also likes tagging around after H.P., so you can imagine what that looks like. Duckling instinct strikes again...

Company Logos

A group of pixies can be called a company- not every pixie needs to run a business, but they're identified by special marks that organize them in family groups... Well, companies in a culture that doesn't like acknowledging family connections.

In other words, pixies have tattoos on their wrists that identify them despite being otherwise identical. These are Sanderson's:

From this post

These marks are called logos and are tattooed on the undersides of Sanderson’s wrists- He's Pixie 002 in H.P.’s company (left wrist) and Pixie 001 of his own company (right wrist).

Sanderson’s offspring have his logo tattooed on the undersides of their left wrists; they do not have H.P.’s logo at all. When they're old enough for their own company, they'll add their logo to their right wrist and their offspring will have that same logo on left wrist, so on and so forth.

While forcibly tattooing little kids may sound cruel... There is a good reason for it. DNA tests are absolutely useless in Pixie World because pixies are genetically identical. Every pixie is, technically, the child of Ambrosine and Solara- H.P.'s parents (which is why all pixies are tied to the same yoo-doo doll). Their pheromones vary slightly, but brand marks are the only reliable way to identify who a pixie is.

Worldbuilding detail- Fae heal quickly, but washing injuries (like tattoo pinpricks) in rosewater will prevent them from healing. Sanderson vaguely alludes to this in "Grooming."

H.P. had 507 (surviving) offspring, and he began reproducing when he was 491,536 years old. He was the first pixie infected with Wolbachia. H.P. wasn't born with Wolbachia- he was only infected late in life (human equivalent of 43). His offspring are born every time he would be coming into heat if non-infected, so his offspring are 500 years apart (give or take a year, with rare exceptions).

But Gen 2 (H.P.'s offspring) were born with Wolbachia, so they start reproducing shortly after adulthood (human equivalent of 22 or 23, give or take for the individual).

And there are a LOT of pixies coming into age around that time. Which is a huge population concern.

Near the end of my "7 Billion Years in 15,000 Words" post, I mentioned that after Foop makes the connection between royal jelly and gynes, that news gets out. Fairy parents experiment with feeding jelly to their kids, leading to a boom of gynes in the cloudlands (Playing into that culture of gynes being viewed "more attractive" and "smarter" and "more desirable kids" than drones... Obviously all social stereotypes, but that's the unfortunate way of the world). That has a lot of problems in its own- Most notably, the fact that dominance instincts set gynes up to fight to the death and now there are a lot of them in Fairy World. -> Foop actually... did not want that news to go public. For all his faults, he's very thoughtful and meticulous and he wanted to think over his discovery before people knew about it. It's devastating to him and he carries the emotional burden of his research for a long time. Specifically, I said in that post that there aren't enough fairy drones to go around since many drakes developed into gynes, so a lot of them would probably seek the pixies, thus luring them out of Pixie World and integrating them more into Fairy World I still think that's the most likely fate. There are simply too many pixies for Pixie World to thrive with an exponentially increasing population in a very small space.

Where Are We Going?

"Also, what do you think Pixie world would look like after a generation or two of this?"

I really like the Pixie expansion plot I have going on. H.P. is a gyne, and as his few gyne offspring grow older, the smart move is to separate them so they won't kill each other (or him). The vibe here is "princess" bees going off to be queens of their own colony, which is fairly accurate to a real bee or wasp hive, which I like.

Longwood Mayfleet was H.P.'s first gyne offspring and is due to take over Pixies Inc. after H.P. (and even become Head Pixie II someday).

That's all well and good, but that still leaves us with a handful of other gynes who need to go somewhere. Most famously, we have Darius Smith- The next oldest gyne after Longwood.

Who is Smith?

Smith is always butting heads with H.P., to the point that he's not even allowed inside Pixies Inc. most of the time. He oversees the warehouses and cloudships.

I also have a pheromone post scheduled for Sunday on the sideblog that discusses Smith's unique pheromones. Check that out for bonus info.

Smith's a really interesting character to me. He wasn't old enough to fight in the War of the Angels, so he's actually in charge of Pixie World during that whole arc (and comes into his adult wings during that time, his biology kicking in early since he was forced to take the reins young. It's a wonder he didn't start reproducing as soon as he became the dominant one...

Although he gives control back to H.P. (reluctantly) when he returns from war, this brief stint at running Pixie World really gets to Smith and his instincts... which is why he has a whole takeover plot later on where he chases H.P. out and takes control. Here's an upcoming scene I think is funny (and tells you everything you need to know about the H.P.-Smith dynamic):

While I lingered on the fringes of Pixie society, Smith struggled beneath a mountain of papers and politics. The Anti-Coppertalon dynasty fell six days after Commelina’s birth, and First General Anti-Cosmo rose to take the High Count seat. Good on him. Smith had a hundred questions, and Emery relayed messages between us as a neutral party. I responded to each one in the same flat way: “You’re in charge. Figure it out. Maintain the professional brand image I spent your life building up. Don’t be dumb.” But by Lugh’s spear, were they on a massive time crunch to plow through all that paperwork. According to Da Rules, midnight wasn’t to fall on the Lia Fáil while a major position of power lay vacant. Emery said Smith pulled every pixie together in the food court and had a job that normally would have taken a week (minus procrastinating) finished in hardly four hours. “Good boy,” I said when Emery told me, sitting in my rocking chair with Commelina dozing in my arms. “Good boy.”

Origin of the Pixies - "The Fading of Light"

"Queen bee" pixie raising his own successor who wants to kill him and being so proud of him for almost doing so, my beloved...

Shout-out to what this does to Anti-Cosmo's backstory in Frayed Knots, where A.C. is going through one of the most intense things he's ever faced, but can't turn to H.P. for support.

So, that's Smith... Smith's two largest roles in the Prompts are in "Dignity" - where he's married off against his will (Mid Arc 3) - and "The Other One," where he's preparing to leave Pixie World (Arc 3's finale).

Fun Fact! I've had that Prompt's announcement in my queue for 6 years... Not my drafts. My queue:

I might redraw it when we get there, I might not, but... There's Smith!

So... What's going on with Smith? What's up with these hoops he's jumping through?

Smith is being set up to become the first Chief Pixie- a CEO of a subsidiary company outside Pixie World (Not counting Wish Fixers, which has been in H.P.'s family for generations).

Specifically, Smith will be running PixieCo in Hawthorn Haven: the cloudland colony that surrounds Planet Delk.

Sound familiar? If so, good eyes... We'll talk about it more later.

The thing about gynes is that only one can be dominant in the area at a time. They're eusocial insect people and their pheromones suppress other gynes' ability to reproduce.

Leaving Pixie World for Hawthorn Haven means Smith will become dominant and gain the ability to reproduce (thus making it useful to have a partner to help him raise kids, despite Smith's reluctance to marry).

We get some really interesting scenes because of that-

“It’s amazing to think I’m going to be the dominant gyne around, with my own drones to look after. And even more amazing to think that since I’ll be both dominant and of age, I’ll start reproducing within the decade. H.P. will be getting grandnymphs after all. Long-lasting ones, I hope.” Sanderson said nothing. As Smith straightened up with the box in his arms, he glanced over his shoulder. “Am I treading on your turf a bit, Mr. Firstborn?” Sanderson leaned his hands against the counter behind him, his fingers curling over the front edge. “Not necessarily. After all, I did beat you by a long shot.” “Human children don’t count,” Smith argued, bending to grab a folder that had slipped to the floor. He almost felt the asterisk fizzle into existence over his head. Wait… Turning back, he found Sanderson still leaning in the same position, now with his tongue pressing against the inside of his cheek. “Oh. You weren’t talking about humans.” “No.” Sanderson took a coffee cup from the stack and held it beneath the nozzle for grape soda. With his thumb, he pressed the lever. Cool purple liquid splashed against the sides. “It hasn’t been confirmed professionally, but I’ve watched how H.P. handles himself during pregnancy long enough to feel comfortable admitting it.” Smith’s wings quivered for a single jealous beat, then stopped. “I assume you’ve told him.” Sanderson’s eyes rolled above his shades. “You know the boss. If a bus rolls into town, he wants to be the first one to board it. If he attends a funeral, he wants to be the murderer. If one of his friends is expecting, he wants to be the father. He’s been so busy marketing PixieCo lately. With the official public reveal coming up, he’ll be furious if I steal all the attention. I’m waiting for the right time.”

"The Other One"

And that's where we kick off Arc 4!

Cavatina Mentions

Cavatina is one of the most notable things about the time period you're asking about- Pixies growing up to have kids - and he's also the reason I haven't shared much about this era.

I still won't share much because I've waited this long and I'm not spilling the details now, but I can compile some things we know about Cavatina into one place, and you can start putting the pieces together from there.

Keep in mind that 130 Reasons Why I'm Fairy Trash is ongoing. You don't have all the info, but this is what you do have:

- His full name is Cavatina Klangfarbenmelodie Sanderson. He's Sanderson's firstborn son. - He wears a green dragonfly pin, and has done so ever since he was a little kid. - In "You'll Never Know," Foop claims the Pixies don't trust him anymore, but "compared to what the Head Anti-Pixie did, he's a saint." - In "You'll Never Know," Foop claims Cavatina is selectively mute and that it disturbs him Anti-Cavatina doesn't chatter constantly, implying Cavatina didn't get quiet until sometime after his counterpart was born. - In "Shadow," Foop's alternate personality (Hiccup) faced pressure to speak about Cavatina. Among other things, he hints Foop "misused pottery tools" in a past encounter with Cavatina. He also hinted Foop "meets Cavatina's parents" every time there's a Council meeting. - Foop seems to be very paranoid about Cavatina, as he spent his time before the school dance in "Approval" searching everywhere for him. - Cavatina appeared in "All I Ever Wanted." Poof claimed he was "twice as buff [as Poof]," "bad at small talk," and noted that Cavatina's dragonfly pin "made him famous." Most notably, Cavatina claimed he'd have Poof's head on a silver platter 5 years from that point, which Poof laughed off. - According to Anti-Coriander's sideblog bio, she and Foop first meet at the Autumn Masquerade. Foop's commentary in "Approval" confirms Cavatina attacked Poof there. - Apparently, Cavatina has a squirrel familiar (a familiar being a witch who finished mortal life and is now an animal body piloted by witch magic). -> We know Foop has Denzel and Kevin as his familiars... Who do I know is a witch, associated with pixies, and possibly associated with squirrels?

Do with this info what you will.

I picked up my draft for "In Confidence" earlier this week, hoping to post it soon, but it's one of those weird timeline pieces that makes me hesitate. I'm not sure readers have enough context to make it hit yet. I might post it soon, I might not, but Cavatina and Poof both appear as small children (joining Mama Cosma and Sanderson at a dinner event), which is a pretty interesting dynamic.

I showed more sneak-peek scenes of Cavatina in that link, so... browse that "In Confidence" blog tag if you wish, but do so knowing those haven't been posted on FFN / AO3 yet.

What is Devil's Backbone?

Devil's Backbone is my far future ‘fic that picks up immediately following the 130 Prompt “Reality Doesn’t Work that Way” (the 2nd to last Prompt of the series- 130 Sums page).

It heavily focuses on Pixie World as well as things going on with the von Strangle family and the quest to find a successor... plus the closing of drama in the Celebrity Kids (Lavender Train) arc that we haven't gotten to yet.

Unless I decide to write one more closing ‘fic after this one, this is the finale of my Cloudlands AU works, so its target audience is readers who have read all the other Cloudlands AU pieces, as it brings multiple storylines together.

It has a complete outline, but one that can be shifted if I change plot points. My intention is to write a decent-sized multi-chapter - maybe 12 to 16 chapters. We'll see! It's possible I'll condense it (or split some of the scenes off into one-shots) depending on what feels right when we get there.

This story takes place during an era where there are many pixies and a new Head Pixie is in charge of Pixies Inc. It covers the plot points I mentioned earlier about the population boom and some next gen characters, many of whom are pixies.

One of our most important characters is Longwood's son, Blackwood Longwood, whom I do not have art of. I checked my drafts, but I don't have any scenes I can share that aren't full of spoilers, so... Just know that he exists, I guess.

Blackwood is a very hard worker and I think he's cute. He has a strong sense of wanting to do what's right and wanting to protect others. He's pretty emotional for a pixie, but it's underlaid with cold logical expectations... He's very "We have to do this because it's the right thing to do even if it hurts, but I know it hurts, so I'll be right there with you." I hope you guys like him.

Like Cavatina, I designed him in 2016 and even wrote the ending scene of Devil's Backbone back then, as Blackwood is our very pivotal guy and lives up to his main character position there.

You may have guessed it from the hints above, but Cavatina starts out as a sharp, friendly, and humble kid, quickly consumed by a thirst for revenge... Justice is everything to Cavatina. From the released info, it's not yet clear what seemingly justifies this level of vitriol, though I'm always open to hearing guesses. In contrast, Blackwood is stoic... Pursuing dreams of honor, justice, and duty. They're really fun to use together in a world that's seeing pixie families for the first time and doesn't know what to make of them. Blackwood will probably have been an OC of mine for over 10 years by the time you guys see him... idk how to feel about that. If anyone was wondering, yes I do get whiplashed every time I see the name Martin Blackwood cross my dash, but I only heard about that character in the last 1 or 2 years and I'm not changing this kid's name now, haha.

I'm not sure the 2016 ending will still be the ending of the actual 'fic, but there is definitely drama in Blackwood's character arc that I think is unique and fun. It's very tied to my lore and not something I'll ever get to repeat, so despite my hesitations that "oh, it might be weird, maybe people won't like it," I do think it's worth sharing as a story point. It's hyperspecific and I love it for that :)

Devil's Backbone plot points - including the finale moment - are actually foreshadowed several times in Origin of the Pixies and a couple other pieces. You probably won't catch them without the context of the 'fic itself, but kudos if you do!

So, that's an overview of things and that time period, and an explanation of why this lore about Pixie families comes really late in the timeline.

It's a tricky question to answer. "What will happen to the Pixies once H.P.'s strength and influence fade?" is probably the biggest "haunts the narrative" question in Cloudlands AU (and it's the big thing we're working up to), so it's inherently spoilery... but hopefully this is a satisfactory response.

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125. I Just Live Here (Immediate sequel to "Scarred")

Wednesday May 6th, 2005

Year of Sky, Spring of the Silent Owls

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Poof Fairywinkle-Cosma

Chingaling-chime!

"Now approaching Starglint Town. Please prepare to disembark in the next five minutes. If you've enjoyed your local public transportation system, consider supporting returning candidate Mortikor Fern as Pink Robe in the next Fairy Council election. Thank you for flying with Rainbow Transit Services and have a magical day."

I've heard that message (with different drop-off points subbed in) so many times in the past four hours, I kind of wanna barf. And even if I did, I could probably recite it several times myself on the way to the nearest clinic. I'll be glad when this bus ride is over. I feel like it's been four weeks since I left the Spellementary dorms.

There's a good reason as to why it's taken so long. Starglint Town lies at the edge of the Fairy World Outskirts, basically kissing the border with Anti-Fairy World… separated from it only by Emper: a scraggly little town on the floating island that's just come into view up ahead. Emper isn't much to look like. There's a park with cool statues from the old days, plus a cute grocery store where they hand out free sugar cookies to kids. My dad takes me to get one every time we visit Mama Cosma, but there isn't much else that's interesting. Starglint Town is where all the action is, from libraries to community centers to toy stores and pizza shops.

Granddad Dusty's property is smack between the two. Everyone in Emper calls him Big Daddy and they treat him with so much respect, I always wonder if my family are under some kind of secret government protection just because our counterparts rule Anti-Fairy World. I mean, it doesn't sound too far-fetched when you think about it for a while. I know a lot of people dislike the Anti-Fairywinkles, but I hope most of them realize that if we knocked them out of power, it wouldn't be the end of that kind of leadership in Anti-Fairy World. Someone else would just rise up to take over, and they could be even worse than Anti-Cosmo is now.

I don't even think Anti-Cosmo is that bad, but if I say that, people will freak out at me and shower me in questions about whether or not I remember getting kidnapped as a newborn. I don't, but… that doesn't mean I want to hear about it over and over again. I wish more people would respect my boundaries and ask me first before they talk about it… Not just dump the whole kidnapping thing on my head any time I want to have a polite and reasonable conversation about Fairy World history, geography, or politics.

Maybe instead of screaming about how H.P. and Anti-Cosmo are evil fiends who went off the deep end and can never be forgiven because they kidnapped a baby and tried to springboard off my magic to rule the universe, we could, I dunno… ask ourselves why the current state of the universe isn't working for them? There's gotta be some reason they feel like they're doing the right thing for their people by pushing back against the Fairies. They're still people, right?

Or if you want to look at this from another angle, why do Anti-Fairy World and Pixie World even have corrupt leaders in the first place? Do people support them? If they don't, then why don't their people support Fairy World? Are we the crueler of two evils in their eyes? We should change that. We should figure out how to fix it.

And if Pixies and Anti-Fairies do support their leaders, maybe we should ask ourselves why. Are they being brainwashed by hateful propaganda? My school's always teaching us that Anti-Fairies are behind all that's bad in the universe, so we're using propaganda too.

Do Pixies and Anti-Fairies support their leaders because they care about their people, use their taxes wisely, and keep everyone fed, sheltered, and clothed? That sounds okay to me. Next topic: Why aren't Anti-Cosmo and Foop's dad in jail for all those other times they tried to take over Fairy World? If the answer to that is "their worlds will fall apart if they don't stay in power, plunging the universe into chaos," then maybe they're actually great leaders and aren't so bad after all.

Just a thought. Politics are probably more complicated than I think they are, but that's just me.

I've never worried about repeat kidnapping when I'm at home with my parents, apart from maybe one time that Timmy's Dad snuck into his room and stole our fishbowl for Mr. Crocker. At school, I feel safe in the hands of the faculty and their magical wards. Yeah, Mr. Crocker might be my teacher now and he really is as wacky and distractible as Timmy always said he was, but he's not allowed within twenty feet of our dorms.

My classmates don't always respect our cohort's RA, but I'm pretty sure Gary would mess Crocker the freak up if he ever tried peering through our windows. Gary and Crocker are both witches, but Gary's 1.56% genie with minor reality-bending powers to prove it, while Crocker's about thirteen generations down from his magical ancestor with nothing to show for it but the ability to float. I know who I'd bet money on in that fight.

Foop and I tried sneaking out one time when it was late and we wanted fruit snacks from the vending machine, and that's how I found out that Gary can just snap his fingers and summon clones of himself. I don't leave my room after curfew anymore.

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39. Sentry (4 months after Chapter 24, "Step Back")

Tuesday April 12th, 2005

Year of Sky, Spring of the Silent Owls

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You know, there was something just plain weird about standing in the RA's office when - for once in his Spellementary School life - Foop wasn't the one being punished. In fact, the pixie kid in the chair beside him wasn't even the one being punished. Said pixie kid was Finley, who sat there breaking a sandwich into tiny pieces and spreading them all across his lap a line. Foop knew his roommate well enough that it seemed obvious what his endgame was, even in this early stage… Since his DS didn't have a charge, he'd park his behind and play Pac-Man IRL until the Head Pixie showed up to this meeting. Or until it came time for curfew and bed at the dorms… whichever came first.

Technically, Foop had no real reason to be here. He wasn't even getting out of class for it this late in the day, but he'd played the "Poof and I are linked and I have a boo-boo too" card anyhow, and it seemed to be working out for him. He really wanted to hear the end of this conversation. Should be a scream.

He lingered by the window, cupping his chin in his hand. The window overlooked the playground. It was sickeningly lively out there… Children rushed about and tumbled and climbed on the monkey bars like they'd just been unleashed from a zoo. And there were no curtains or blinds to duck behind, which meant it was only a matter of time before someone out there spotted him and ratted him out as some kind of creep for watching his peers.

Shame… There's a cryptic sense of beauty in lurking behind dark curtains on a gloomy day like this one. It would have been fun. But the RA soaked up sunlight like liquid money and had probably never touched a curtain in his life. No matter. Not having blinds gave Foop enough room to flap his wings, gently floating with his legs kicked up behind him.

Not five minutes ago I was out there, climbing the chains that hold the swings… He'd modified the teeter-totter just last week. He'd brought some scraps from home that he was no longer using and set up a little system that altered the weights of the two different sides. It made it more fun for larger kids to play with smaller ones without any awkward stacking going on, and Foop knew perfectly well how to rig it so he could launch someone into space if they particularly got on his nerves.

"There," said a voice behind him. Foop glanced back just in time to see Gary clicking the lid into place on his first aid tin. He smiled and brushed a drooping spike of ginger hair from his eyes. "How's that, Poof? Feeling better now?"

Poof had gone nonverbal, as he often did… spread-eagle on his back and staring at the ceiling with glazed-over eyes. His bleeding knee had been dabbed clean and carefully bandaged. Foop had told Gary not to worry about his own. Usually, he couldn't stand the stupid core-sync between him and the purple puffball… Not that he looked like much of a puffball anymore these days. Since moving into the Spellementary dorms, he and Poof had both shed their old exoskeletons for their juvenile bodies. Poof's once-bald head sprouted hundreds of pastel purple curls. Foop hadn't yet decided if he was jealous of that messy hair, because while it looked like it might attract a delightful rat's nest worth of tangles, he was also stubbornly independent enough to crave a physical appearance entirely of his own. Foop's own hair had simply split in two massive black curls he kept neat and perfect on his head. And he brushed it by hand, thank you… He didn't cheat with wand waves like Poof did when he nearly overslept.

Along with the new hair, all four of Poof's wings had grown longer. They were nearly the length of his arm now. His feet could almost touch the floor, if he'd just sit in his chair like a respectable individual instead of flopping over like that. You know, he still looked good in the clothes Foop had designed for him back when they first shed… A bit like a sloppy commoner, perhaps, but certainly more presentable than he would have been if he really had gone for yellow sleeve cuffs.

Foop grimaced, pressing his fangs against his lower lip, and rubbed his bruised knee again. They felt the core-sync much stronger than most counterparts did.

Normally, you ended up with pairs that favored either the Fairy or the Anti-Fairy with a larger portion of their shared magic pool. But his and Poof's soul had split quite evenly down the middle, granting each of them identical shares of magic. Right down to the teaspoon, even. Their bodies were synced up in much the same way. Even a slap across Poof's face would flare pain in Foop's own cheek, and that's something he preferred to ignore. And apparently, the link would grow even stronger after they came into their adult wings. Wouldn't that be a lark? How stupid that the sync only worked in one direction… Stupid… fairy… host…

Gary tried again, stretching on his toes to put the first-aid kit back on its shelf. "Poof? I know you're not feeling well right now, but can you at least wave your hand a bit to let me know you're all right?"

Poof managed to lift his hand as requested. "I'm good too," Foop said, pointing down at his knee. The cut had sealed over and he didn't even need a stupid pink bandage to help with it. "I have working skin. Which is mine."

"Great job," Gary complimented him, and Foop relished in the praise… however undeserved it may be. Finley, who'd now broken every piece of his sandwich into shreds, looked up and raised his hand.

"Can I have some apple slices to go with this?"

See, Gary had been chopping apples when all three of them were ushered in. He took two slices from the cutting board and gave them to Finley. Finley started wrestling with them, trying to break them into slivers with his fingernails. Foop watched, trying to find the same sense of entertainment in the activity that the pixie did. He did not. He heard Gary start talking to Poof about how he was about to "open the door and step into the hallway; is that okay?" but the question received no response.

"He's all right with it," Foop said. Poof never minded when he answered for them both. After all, he'd been doing that for most of their lives thus far.

-

Sanderson! Heteromantic asexual. Feels romantic attraction towards girls, but often hides that because he feels ashamed as a pixie. He carries the weight of being H.P.'s firstborn and being the "good stereotypical pixie" so that's hard for him, but you go, little dude. You're valid. Sanderson refuses to call Cavatina's milkmother his girlfriend, but they're on good terms and Cavatina loves his mom.

Cavatina! :'D He is firmly aro/ace, but due to a lot of trauma he went through when he was young, he's not sure if he is ""truly ace"" or ""just has trauma."" Poor thing does not understand that it's okay if you think your trauma might have an effect on your identity. If he feels comfy with the aro/ace label, he can still use it. Feeling unsure doesn't mean it can't be a true label if it's the one that fits his experiences and makes him feel right. 10/10 would wear pride buttons.

H.P.! He's akoiromantic asexual. Has occasional celebrity crushes (romantic spectrum). My favorite joke is that line in "Health Bars" where H.P. says he only likes celebrities and Anti-Cosmo just stares into the void mentally questioning if he, a politician, is a celebrity and if H.P. is trying to imply something slkdfj

H.P. doesn't like admitting his feelings, but they do exist. Has had two QPRs over the years, so good for him! Things have been rocky for him as he's tried to figure out his identity, but I'm proud of him for trying to explore it even when he makes mistakes.

Lots of other pixies tbh!! Not all of them are acespec, but a lot of them are. Bayard, Chidlow, Jardine, Madigan, Keefe, Springs, Mullins, Tolbert, Faust, Rosencrantz, and Southmark off the top of my head are canon aces [and I also know Newman, Hamilton, Hawkins, Wilcox, Longwood, McKinley, Thane, and Smith are not].

/ The pixie race reproduces asexually, but asexuality as an identity and parthenogenetic reproduction are not the same <3

Chester! He's aro/ace and adores spending time with his friend group. He doesn't feel attraction to anyone, but he's super supportive of his friends and a great wingman. He loves meeting his friends' partners and tries treating them all with respect, whether he's known them for 5 years or 5 days. He has pride buttons that he likes to wear. I like to think he gave his identity a lot of thought over the years, even wondering for a while if he might be bi, but in the end he found something that worked for him.

I am forever obsessed with my headcanon that Chester gets into acting because then he upgrades from living in a trailer park to living in a movie trailer, wheeze... He's always been ace and happy, and any kisses he shares in the acting world are strictly professional. He loves that his friends never ditched him when they got partners. Get you a friend like Chester! <3

Juandissimo! He's demisexual [Spoke about it in this post HERE]. Felt attraction towards Wanda and fell for her hard, and he's never really found another person who clicked with him. He doesn't know what demisexuality is and just kind of flits about fearing that his life is over and he'll never fall in love again... he has a hard time with those feelings. But he's also channeled a lot of his emotions into showing his beloved godkid Remy the parental affection Remy never had, and things are looking better for them both.

Remy! My grayromantic graysexual. I never pinned down exactly what his experience is. If you told him about asexuality then he would immediately say "That's me" because in his mind that means "I don't want a partner or sex," but I never really decided where he is on the aro and ace spectrums. Hence, gray zone! I think he would feel content that the ace label fits him though, even if he doesn't have the mental stamina to dive deep and learn about the details.

He chooses not to marry because he saw how rough things were for his parents and he doesn't really want a partner, but it's my headcanon that he takes in a miserable orphan girl one day and it's a real rags to riches story for them. His parents neither notice or care, but he's happy.

Anti-Cosmo! He's panromantic demisexual / gray-ace. Although he deals with nymphomania [hypersexuality], that doesn't invalidate the gray-ace part of him. He dislikes it and doesn't really understand it. Anti-Cosmo's specific experience is that his attraction tends to fade out when he realizes he doesn't know someone as well as he thought he did, or when they show a side of themselves that makes him believe they aren't really his friend. He struggles a lot with that and it's confusing for him, especially before he married Anti-Wanda.

Now that he's older he's happy to stay married to her long-term with full trust that his attraction to her will come back, but it was very confusing when he was younger and he felt like his mind and body were playing tricks on him. He has a lot of flaws and chronically cheats on people, which is not a good thing to be doing, but he is definitely one of the guys who has ever been!

10/10 would wear pride buttons as a teen, but the modern flags didn't exist back then. I do have an entire scene written where he explores the pride symbols of his world, but I'm not sure if it'll make it into the final draft of Knots since that was originally going to be the way that he found out Blonda was into Anti-Fairies, but that's not necessary since she came out to him in a different way in the current version. We do see Anti-Marigold wearing Hiccup's pride hoodie in the "Temptation" prompt, though :)

Also, not relevant to the ace topic of this post, but Anti-Cosmo would also have a pronoun button that clearly states He/Him because as we saw in Knots, he gets annoyed when called They/Them even when it's for Anti-Fairy cultural reasons. Give the man a button.

Jorgen! You could drag him over hot coals and he still would not face the fact he's ace because it is Scary to him, but he is. He deals with a lot of anxiety regarding his role in the von Strangle bloodline, seeing as he's supposed to pass on the family name. He delayed marriage until really late in life because of that anxiety, but the Tooth Fairy has always cared about him and supported him and she makes sure he always feels safe and comfy around her.

If you're curious, in Riddleverse Classic canon they do end up having kids, but it's in-vitro with a surrogate because it was important to Jorgen that he continue the family line even though it was a rocky decision for him (Didn't want it interfering with career, also lots of discomfort from political pressure and limelight, plus perfectionism issues).

Once the twins are born he's quite nervous as a father, but once he slides into the role then he finally feels in control of his life again, and realizes that the choice he made was okay. He starts relaxing a ton and finally starts opening his emotions more to the Tooth Fairy. She always supported him even when he kept himself closed off. They're sweet <3 And the twins cameo in the upcoming 130 Prompt "Approval" so you'll meet them eventually.

Anti-Marigold! Biromantic asexual. Being a counterpart who is forced to mirror your counterpart (and mirror the relationships and children they have) can be really difficult, especially when your counterpart loves chasing after boys. She struggles with her ace identity and doesn't really like it, but she is still valid and I love her.

(Also bonus nod to Foop for being aromantic even though he's not ace; he can still say hi in this post because the aro & ace solidarity between Foop and A.M throughout their teens is one of my fave secret subplots... They are 150k years in the future and do not know what aromantic and asexual mean but they are doing their best to support each other <3)

Noon / Anti-Lance! He's aro/ace and always has been. Anti-Cosmo respects the heck out of him and tries to respect his boundaries even though he has a crush on Anti-Lance. Their relationship has its ups and downs throughout the years, but they've always respected their friendship even when confessions and conflict make things awkward. Anti-Lance would definitely have pride buttons on his school bag.

There's a scene in the upcoming Frayed Knots chapter "Crossroads" where Anti-Cosmo mentions Anti-Lance's identity in casual conversation, and I like that moment because there was never a coming out scene for Anti-Lance, it was just something implied to have happened off-screen.

They are just two boys who are friends and it didn't even register in Anti-Cosmo's mind as important enough to share with the reader because... it's just a normal thing for his friend to be and didn't need to be a huge thing :)

Bennett Buxaplenty, AKA Remy's dad! :) He's aro/ace, but doesn't really understand himself. He's convinced that everyone feels the same way he does and he thinks his parents (who had 11 kids) were "just weird." He's a posh 90s and early 2000s businessman who doesn't discuss sex or attraction in polite company, so he doesn't have exposure to information that could help him understand himself. He mostly just reads his adventure books.

He likes dragons, which was genuinely something I didn't notice until after "Whatever" had been up for a while, because I had just given him a book to read and didn't even notice the dragon until a later look, ha ha.

We saw in "Whatever" that he withholds sex [and all affection tbh] from his wife Seneca, much to her distress. Their relationship is strained because she wasn't prepared for this when she married him but she also can't leave because they are Rich and Fancy, So People Would Talk.

Remember to communicate with your partners! Don't be Bennett.

Happy Peppy Gary! He's aro/ace, but doesn't know what that means and would probably squirm a little if you tried to get him to label himself that way. Hates kisses, but grew up pressured by H.P. and Anti-Cosmo to kiss Betty on occasion so he could temporarily pass his genie DNA to her (and genie powers along with it). He had a lot of conflicting feelings about that, but didn't know how to stand up for himself and his comfort levels (Shout out to that time in Pink and Gray he was like "Growing up on a golf course prepared me to feel like rental equipment" wheeze).

Gary's a witch with a 500-year lifespan and he's still holding out, wondering if some kind of attraction will kick in when he's older. He's not sure if he wants it to or not because he mostly just feels lost and alone. He doesn't have anyone to talk about it with (well. he's got Crocker but that's a whole thing).

He doesn't hate himself, he doesn't mind who he is, but struggles socially because he feels like Betty dropped their 10-year friendship to start a romantic relationship with someone else, and when he asked to keep in contact, she started drawing lines. She is setting healthy boundaries for herself and Gary wants to understand that, but it's still very hard for him. He's valid and I love him.

Chloe! She's demisexual. I like to think she didn't really examine her identity growing up because she's always been what her parents expect of her (Good Girl Who Will Marry a Nice Boy and Have Kids), so she was in her late teens when she found out about demisexuality and said "Oh, that sounds like me; this explains a lot about my life and I'm happy to figure this out even though I don't plan to do much with this information."

She confessed it to Timmy because he's her best friend and he just /stares back a little blankly and gives a thumbs up even though he doesn't really get why this matters to her, but he wants to be supportive anyway.

Chloe's not over the top about it, but it's important to her because it helps her understand her own feelings, especially when there's so much about herself she's afraid to question.

Kevin also doesn't totally get it, but he has two thumbs and loves supporting his girlfriend. He loves feeling warm and fluttery when she gets excited even if he doesn't know what it means. After she told him though, he definitely cooked a color-coded meal and got her flowers and balloons, and teen Chloe feels very grateful to have a boyfriend who cares about things that are important to her even if her revelation doesn't seem like an earth-shattering, life-changing thing. They're in love, your honor. They are holding hands.

Honorable mentions:

RR!Sanderson! The Sanderson we see in Reedfilter Rules has a different personality than Riddleverse Classic!Sanderson. RR!Sanderson is sex-repulsed while Classic!Sanderson isn't. He's still ace, that didn't change, ha ha.

Longwood and Poof! They are not aromantic or asexual but in fact a secret third thing: the equivalent of asexual in the preening world. There's not really a word for that, but they don't have urges for preening licks.

Poof realizing this about himself was the focus of the 130 Prompt "All I Ever Wanted" and we'll see Longwood face this soon in Origin. The pixie Smith has a very high preening drive, though, which we will also see soon in Origin, where he acts as a foil for Longwood. Yay for spectrums.

Imaginary Gary! Being imaginary, he does not age and will never experience those urges because he is perma-locked in his 5-year-old mindset. Technically he is aro/ace although he would probably switch to being pan if he got older. Labels can be fluid!

Finley! He never gave himself the chance to explore his sexuality because of his physical health [i.e. born without magic; cannot mate or he would literally die] so he doesn't think about it. He never explored those feelings, so he identifies as a homoromantic asexual even though he isn't sure about the ace part. He identifies with the label that he thinks fits him, though in a world where he didn't have health problems, he'd probably give it some more exploration and maybe adjust his choice. He still believes the term fits him and we respect that :)