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kimberly-earthfriend-archive · 1 year

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These wizards are. So dear to me,, let me tell you a little about them

1. Micah Skyweaver. As a young boy he lived with his parents and elder brother in Celestia. His brother was sent to Ravenwood and became a student of storm. One summer when he came home, there was an accident in which Micah was struck by lightning. Now terrified of this power that belonged to the sky, he became determined to learn everything about it, collecting books from the spiral over about the magic of the heavens. But instead of leading him down the path of storm like his brother, it led him to Astral magic. The sun, moon and stars were his domain, and when he wasn’t standing at the window of the Celestial Observatory, watching the skies, he was in the Astral Archives, learning to become a scholar of magic. It was here that he learned about Empyrea, the world at the heart of the spiral, and vowed that one day he would see it for himself.

2. Anya Silverblood. Anya is an Ice Wizard from Polaris. She ran away from home at the tender age of 17, as she was lonely and felt neglected by her family, feeling like little more than a ghost that wandered desolate tundaria. Between her family’s inattentive nature and the constant threat of violence and revolution, Anya had no choice but to take her leave of that wretched world. Eventually she found her way to dragonspyre, where she was adopted by a pair of musicologists, who use their songs to influence the narratives of the spiral. One, a resident of Darkmoor who had been forced to flee after a quarrel with her lover, and the other a pirate from Cool Ranch. Over time, she and the musicologists found more people just like them from across the spiral: a metallic construct from Avalon who had been accused of magic before it was made legal there and tossed into the Nothing; a pair of soldiers from Marleybone, who swear they’ve fought legions from the moon (but were probably just celestians that they didn’t yet understand). One, a wooden construct, like the haunted minions, who had been built for war and saw the universe a little differently than it’s companions. The other, a young man with keen eyes and a tendency to fly into an Achillean rage if those he held dear were hurt; a scholar from the Arcanum who lost her memory when the first Ark crashed; the daughter of an Aquilan inventor who flew too close to the sun; a pyromancer from a world long lost who grew tired of the constant fighting and set it all ablaze; and a celestian man from the era of war between man and machine, who is neither a baron nor a doctor. (They’re the mechanisms. I’m making the mechanisms in wizard101. If anyone else out there is also interested in both media please talk to me, I’m very normal about them I promise). But Anya drifted apart from the other musicologists, and cast herself out of their vessel, into the skyways, where she drifted in the dark for a very long time. The metallic blood that flowed through her veins kept her alive against all odds as she lost consciousness in the void. She hoped she would not mind it when she eventually woke up, and indeed found herself back in dragonspyre, where she had initially been adopted by that darkmoorian vampire so long ago, and was found again by a new group of adventurers that needed her help.

3. Tatiana Starwalker. I cannot do Tatiana’s intricate story justice myself, as they’re not my character. Here’s a link to @tatiana-starwalker’s post on the matter

I think we’ve established since this was posted that Tatiana is closer with Kimberly than Rowan, and did not attend ravenwood at the same time as our plucky protagonist, as they’ve got their own band of wizards to look after now, but you’ll have to correct me if I’m wrong <3

4. Rowan Drake Duskhaven. Ah yes, the young wizard themself. Rowan is originally from Dragonspyre but they don’t remember a life there. Instead they grew up on the streets of wizard city, chasing the firecats and feeding the unicorns. They were whisked off to Ravenwood as soon as Merle got wind of a prophecy concerning Rowan and their family, and since then they’ve studied necromancy and journeyed across the spiral, defeating threats as they rise and finding themself in the process. When Malistaire was defeated and Sylvia came around from the astral plane to tell him it’s time to rest, they discovered the true nature of their birth - a child of the Drake Family. When Ambrose’s prophecy told him that a dragonspyrian necromancer will either save or doom the spiral, he rounded up the last of the Drakes, and had Rowan adopted by a member of the Wizard City guard, hoping that this fate could be avoided. But Rowan cannot help their magical proficiency any more than they can disobey the prophecy. And so, the young wizard is what they became. The Great Prophecy regarding Morganthe is widely interpreted to be about a different wizard, however, as Rowan is from the spiral and therefore never “sailed the shadow sea,” meaning they never crossed the Nothing between the spiral and the outer universe. But in this story, the child never came, and so Rowan did their utmost to save the spiral each time it began to fall, despite knowing that they were not the one the Elders intended. It’s difficult to be the chosen one when you were never actually chosen, but they’re too compassionate to allow the worlds to shatter. They cannot let the worlds they love be destroyed no matter what.

5. Kimberly Earthfriend. The first wizard I ever created, she’s been with me since 2011. Kimberly was born and raised in Avalon, a healer to knights from across the realms and a friend to the fair folk and all the plants of the forest, which is where she gets her name. She was frequently found as a child wandering the woodland paths of Dun Dara, and was casting life magic almost before she could talk. At a very young age she showed a proficiency for magic the likes of which hadn’t been seen in a long while, and so was summoned to Ravenwood just in case she was the prophecy child, the child who shall sail the shadow sea. She was not, but she found great joy in Ravenwood, especially in magical duels. Since then she has competed in spiral cups and immortal games alike, travelling the spiral to spar with new and exciting opponents, and to search for interesting plants to journal about. She also loves gardening. She became close friends with Tatiana Starwalker in Wysteria, when Tatiana was competing in the Spiral Cup, as Kimberly spends a lot of time in Pigswick Academy during tournament season, tutoring young duellists for the cup and healing them up after battle. Now, she travels with the Young Wizard, acting as a strategist and healer for their quest.

6. Alexandra Goldeneyes. Alex is not really a bee, but the hive is the only home she’s ever known. She was abandoned in Khrysalis shortly before contact was lost with the rest of the Spiral, and was raised by Ezzric at the moon cliffs. When the Umbra Queen came knocking, she began to learn shadow magic, hoping to become one of the most powerful assets the Umbra Legion would ever know. But all that changed when Zaltanna rebelled. Alex and Zaltanna had been close as youngsters, and it didn’t take much convincing from her childhood friend to get Alex to join the fifth column instead. When the spellbinder tumbled through the ruined spiral door, Alex was sent as a guide, a liaison of sorts, to help the adventuring party get around Khrysalis, and to begin to teach Rowan the ways of shadow magic.

7. Cassandra Djeserit Lotusflower. Cassie was born and raised in Krokotopia, but taught herself moon magic at a young age so that she could disguise herself as human. She hated everything about the tomb of storms, where she attended her deceased family and helped them on their journeys through the duat. She wanted nothing to do with the Djeserits and despised the way that the manders were treated, often helping them to flee the tombs where she could get away with it. The order of the fang caught wind of her teaching herself the magic of the moon and called her to aid them when the kroks rose again. She jumped at the chance to get away, and was later trained in balance magic by Alhazred. She acts as a sort of mission control for Rowan’s group, staying behind in Krokotopia and keeping them informed whenever a new crisis rises so that they can attend to it ASAP.

By the time they reach the Arcanum, near the beginning of arc 3, the party looks more like this. Still led by Rowan, but a lot has changed. For a start, they’ve got a new member! Mellori is now a proud part of the team, though only until she’s sent to Ravenwood right before they go to Mirage. Alex decided to stay behind in Khrysalis, helping the bees and mantises to rebuild their lives. Anya was reunited with her family in Polaris, and decided to give things in her homeworld a second chance. Cassandra still remains in Krokotopia, and will send messages to the squad when they need to be informed of an upcoming disaster. Micah, Tatiana and Kimberly decided to stay with her young wizard, however. Micah has been scouted by the Arcanum to help out in the upcoming mission to Empyrea, as he knows so much about it already and has been preparing for this moment his whole life. He works closely with Ione, who hails from Empyrea and is teaching him to be less frightened of storms, and Qyburn, with whom he shares a great passion for astral magic. Kimberly is looking to eventually visit Wallaru, as Zander, her new lecturer, hails from this world, and he has much to teach her. She has signed up as an Arcanum initiate and will stay here throughout this part of the story, training with Zander. Tatiana is researching the Cabal, the Old One and the Firstworld, and looks forward to travelling to Lemuria to survey the Old One’s work. And Rowan, of course, is still saving the Spiral. Since grandfather spider was released, they have a lot of work to do.

#wizard101 #wiz101 #the mechanisms #sort of #I guess #this is mostly wizard101 but Anya is just Nastya as a wizard so? maybe?#wizard101 oc

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tatiana-starwalker · 3 years

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Character Intro ~ Tatiana Starwalker

Let's introduce the fire student, shall we?

This is a long post of lore I came up with on the spot last night, but we're vibing !

"How did they get here?" you ask? This. This is how. Haven't drawn them yet but I'll get to it eventually :3

wizzy has gender in it. good for them !

Tatiana Starwalker isn't Tatiana Starwalker. Not if you're looking for the original.

Their mother/creator/caretaker was a seamstress - Scarlet Dreamdust, a life wizard that moved to Dragonspyre after graduation - one struck down and contained by bereavement of her child: one that was meant to be a diviner, one that was always said to be destined for something more, one that was meant to be alive and well and happy. Not dead from a childhood illness right before going into magic school.

Being so desperate to have Tatiana back, Scarlet did everything she could to try and return them to the world of the living. This ended in creating a facsimile that was perfect and alive in every way that the "real" one was, using magic to seal the deal and let the construct talk and walk and operate itself.

It was not the same.

The facsimile was overconfident. The facsimile could dance and sing and cast with all due theatrics. The facsimile was a stranger. A stranger wearing the carefully-painted face of her own child. She knew she could never be happy with it as soon as it came to be. But, of course, she couldn't bring herself to destroy it.

So there it sat. A reminder of grief and an ever-shattering heart.

A few years passed, and the time came for this new, Not-Tatiana to study magic. They chose pyromancy, and then they were encouraged to move out. "Live a better life", she said. "Get used to Wizard City, it's nothing like Dragonspyre", she said. "Get used to the cold", she said. "I can't face you anymore", she didn't. In the months that followed, she moved into the outskirts to herself and her loneliness, taking her business with her. She hasn't been seen since.

The Tatiana you're thinking of, however, is having a great time.

They know they're a construct, tend to excuse themselves at mealtimes under any excuse to do their maintenance, and are well-aware that some magic just doesn't impact them properly. Technically speaking, they're not exactly alive, you know?

If anything, they're more glad that they chose the fire school just so they didn't immediately turn into a pile of ash in a scuffle. You could even say it influenced their decision.

As far as personal style goes, Tatiana tends to dress far removed from expectations, though this is just what they know to do. They're comfortable in the identity and name they're forging/stealing/bending for themselves. After all, no one has expectations of Tatiana Starwalker outside of Dragonspyre. And even inside, the expectation is that they're deceased. They know that. And they know that their creator couldn't look at them without desperation and melancholy and glancing at the pictures of the person in the pictures on the wall.

But now, at least, they know how to do their own maintenance and paintwork, it chips rather easily when adventuring around, and it's hardly sightly, having to put your face back on. Some have even called it "unsettling" or "weird".

They know Rowan Duskhaven because they were in the same school year, and were less than social members of their year group. They tended to get up to shenanigans together, even if it was mostly Tatiana causing problems. They fell in love, neither quite sure when to pinpoint the italicised "oh", but neither minding that. They just worked it out.

Now, to say that they didn't get up to any mischief is just frankly wrong. Tatiana's brand of nonsense was imitation of other people, or copying homework from Rowan when other people asked for theirs just because it would be fun; Rowan was just vibing, actually. Ignore the fact they're still learning their Necromancy magic to this day.

Neither were into sports ball or competitive activities or getting in people's way, but Tatiana graduated and the necromancy school... imploded. And after that, they searched for them. Up and down, every area of the Spiral inch by inch, with the sheer focuspower of the automaton that they are, because as grief created them in the first place, they couldn't grasp the idea that Rowan Duskhaven wasn't alive. They had to be. They just knew it. And eventually, they found them!

Something about learning more magic while people are trying to wreck the Spiral? They don't care. They're just happy to see their beloved again! All this "hero" nonsense is giving them a headache, so at least they're with their beloved!

As far as domestic nonsense between them go, though, they did get up to some mischief in their time in Ravenwood. Rowan is the only person other than Ambrose and Dalia that knows that they're a construct for a start. Not because its a secret, but more because Tatiana assumed people clocked them immediately when they just didn't, and the staff had to know because of "health concerns".

Rowan only found out because they were hit with a wayward spell during practice, and were confused about why Tatiana was... laughing and wasn't in pain and didn't need medical help immediately. It was met with Tatiana gently holding Rowan's wrist and knocking their hand against their cheek with a knowing smile. They know they're made of artificial materials now, at least, and they certainly won't forget it.

Pair that incident with the fact that they absolutely insist on climbing through Rowan's window instead of using the door, and you just have such an unknowable vibe and energy that manifests itself as Feral. They're a pyromancer for a reason, see, and this is why. They're generally more brash, and a lot more destructive than their overwhelming amounts of energy will let you know. Most of their problems, after all, are solved by either whacking them or setting them alight. Often both, for good measure.

#wizard101 #wizard101 oc #wizzy fandom #wiz101 #wiz101 oc #🎠 } bel speaks #🌀 } spiralposting #🖼️ } Tatiana Starwalker #🥀 } Rowan Duskhaven #they're just my beloveds <3 <3 <3 #also yes the young wizard can be a construct as a treat <3 #it's about the ✨ parallells ✨ with their creation and malistaire's obsessive grief #also the young wizard can and should be spicy. don't have to be human to vibe yk?#human-passing is fine too.

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kimberly-earthfriend · 3 months

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The boys take on Darkmoor. I know you can only have four wizards to a dungeon but I promise there being five of them makes sense in my wider canon. I promise. Also this took me 13 hours so there’s no going back now. Loosely inspired by the Night Falls dance number from descendants 3

#my art #wizard101 #wizard101 oc #kimberly earthfriend #the wizard #the young wizard #Anya silverblood #rowan duskhaven #Jules Sky Singer #Alexandra the ShadowCaster

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kimberly-earthfriend · 5 months

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MEET THE WIZARDS: Rowan Duskhaven

Rowan is my Young Wizard, the saviour of the spiral. They’re from Earth, and were summoned to Ravenwood at sixteen years old. In their time at Ravenwood, they learned Death magic, but that wasn’t the only thing. They learned about the headmaster’s neglectful practices towards his staff and students, they learned about all the avoidable tragedies brought to children just like them, and most of all, they learned resentment.

They’re close friends with Malorn Ashthorn, as he taught them death magic. They grew sympathetic towards Malistaire from talking with other death wizards like him and learning of what really happened to him and his wife. When the first arc ended, it was with a heavy heart that they defeated him and sent him on to his grave, only finding comfort in the fact that he was together with Sylvia at last.

By the mid point of the second arc, Rowan is ready to give up. They have a small support network of fellow wizards chosen for the prophecy quests, but that does little to console them. The fall of Azteca is the point where they snap. Malistaire returns, and invites them to come away with him to learn more advanced death and shadow magic, since he feels having The Young Wizard on his side would be greatly beneficial to his endeavours. Kimberly, Anya and Jules try to convince them that he’s manipulating them for his own gain, and they argue that that’s what Ambrose has been doing this entire time. The three of them just about to take him down without Rowan’s aid, and together the pair flee to Darkmoor.

Eventually, Kimberly receives a summons to Darkmoor for a rematch with Malistaire. She takes the rest of her questing party (at this point Alex, Anya and Jules) to the castle. But while they’re inside, Kimberly abandons her party to such for the Young Wizard. She finds them now versed in the ways of shadow magic, but casts a healing spell that helps clear their mind and open their eyes to the reality of what has happened. Emotional moment ensue, and Rowan rejoins the party just in time to see Alex and Jules depart.

Eventually, Rowan ends up in the Arcanum, studying under Velma. Well, initially being studied *by* Velma, but they work together eventually. There aren’t many wizards in the spiral as confident in so-called “forbidden arts” like advanced necromancy and shadow magic as Rowan and this is incredibly intriguing to the scholars. They stay here for much of the rest of the plot, with Kimberly occasionally calling on them for help

#wizard101 #Rowan Duskhaven #the young wizard #wizard101 OC

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kimberly-earthfriend · 5 months

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MEET THE WIZARDS: Kimberly Earthfriend

Kimberly was born and raised in Avalon, in the town of Dun Dara. She’s part deer, like many of the knights of Avalon, and has her hats and hoods custom tailored to fit around her antlers. She grew up surrounded by faeries and froudlings, from whom she learned the magic of life. She would sit and listen to the songs of the forest and it’s creatures, fascinated by their ability to create and heal. When she was just twelve years old, she was brought to Ravenwood academy to study under Sylvia Drake.

In her fifth year, Kimberly was selected to compete in the spiral cup. There was uproar at Ravenwood that day. Who in their right mind would pick a life wizard to represent the school at such a prestigious tournament? Kimberly went to Sylvia in tears, certain that she would do terribly and bring embarrassment to the school. But Sylvia told her to be strong, and never give up. She explained that, although the magic of life may not be as strong as the likes of storm and fire, it was patient and enduring. She may not be able to defeat her opponents with straight damage, but she had time on her side. And because most school just sent their most powerful damage dealers to the games at this point in time, she would have the element of surprise as one of the only wizards using proper magical strategy to their advantage.

Kimberly took this in stride and vowed to do her very best. She would win the tournament, for Sylvia. And win it, she did. She brought home the cup to Ravenwood for the first time in many years. Not only that, but she found that she loved magical games and tournaments so much that she went on to compete in the immortal games. Her spear was actually a gift from Athena Battlesight after she won all three events. By this time, she has finished her seventh year at Ravenwood, passed all her exams and graduated. She moved to Wysteria, coaching students from all schools and worlds across the spiral in battle strategy and the art of magical combat. Life was peaceful.

And then the dead started to rise. The paradox of life and death was disrupted. The plants on tanglewood way began to grow out of control, coming to life and attacking the students. She called on Sylvia to find out what had happened, only to find her dead, and Malistaire wreaking havoc over the spiral. So she did the only thing she could think to do - ask Ambrose to send her some backup, and investigate herself.

Eventually, Rowan Duskhaven arrived. The chosen one, the prophecy child, the wizard they had all been waiting for, under guise of competing in the games. While coaching them for battle, Kimberly became close friends with Rowan and they began to investigate tanglewood way together. While it turned out to have little to do with Malistaire in the end, it was a good bonding opportunity, and Kimberly decided to leave her perfect picket-fence life in Wysteria to join Rowan on their quest.

Unfortunately, all did not go according to plan. Malistaire was defeated, yes, and so was Morganthe, but the Young Wizard had abandoned their quest, and the spiral still needed it’s saviour. So what did Kimberly do when a new threat emerged? Vowed to take it on herself, of course. She learned the shadow magic, she went after Spider’s children, she became the Scion and she saved the spiral. Again. She had to call on Rowan’s aid for things like visiting the astral plane, of course, for nobody of the spiral would be up to such a task, but for the most part, she handled everything very well.

After Spider was defeated and cosmic order was restored, there was still the schism to contend with. And as Sybil said, the spiral will always need its scion. No rest for the Wizard, unfortunately.

#Kimberly Earthfriend #wizard101 #wizard101 OC

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tatiana-starwalker · 2 years

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Haustorium

Word Count : 4196

Summary : The Chester Droors fight but make the fact that Starwalker’s made of wood a Big Problem for them. This is what they get for their unchecked hubris and lack of actual planning, though: The consequences of their actions. At least there’s a heartwarming reuinion after the fact! <3 Also not me using this as a way to test a different style of writing fights, and I do like it a lot :3

Expectation - especially given the curve of the path - meant that that side will be ‘restrained’ and simply fall off with a good tug. They’ll cope the rest of the way out and then they could clock the guy. Who needs magic when simple blunt force trauma does the job just fine?

Warnings :

Descriptions of mutilation, self-inflicted and otherwise, due to combat (e.g. Enjoying the Immolate spell too much, descriptions of wood being torn apart by vine growth)

Major Character Injuries (It's,,, ouch moments)

References to / nongraphic depictions of body horror

Uncanny focus character. Tatiana is still a wooden construct.

General taunting mid-fight

Starwalker did not anticipate being in the Spiral Cup. Their whole method of operations and “strategising” began and ended with deranged shenanigans, their fighting language being a performance and battle of spoken barbs and wits rather than to actually fight with pure strength, but here they were. In Wysteria. A totally non-human roster for the year’s Spiral Cup, and to say that Tatiana was not at all surprised to hear that their “eccentricities” and accommodations weren’t forwarded was an understatement. Of course they weren’t. What were they expecting, people’s paperwork to be filed correctly? They helped someone get enrolled who’d been there since first term, the file storage system is seventeen unmarked boxes of wonkily-folded paper! Sure, it’s since been sorted, but it’s still not ideal. You should also definitely tell the faculty at the school you’re staying at that you are, in fact, made of wood, don’t need to eat, can take necromancy spells that are going haywire and have to paint your face on because people get weirded out if you don’t. Those are very real concerns, apparently.

At least some of the other competitors were nice! That… Moonshine? Moonshine. That sounds right. Anyway, Moonshine’s the champion from the year before, and is just as stuck up as you’d expect. So in essence, he’s just nauseating to be around. Wildwind’s been very helpful when it comes to dealing with the goblins, but outside of that, they haven’t really spoken. Tatiana doesn’t really sit on the same wavelength as Dunestrider, unfortunately, but she sure is vibing. But Kisai? Kisai’s been lovely. They’re both on good terms despite the fact that Tatiana thoroughly roasted him in their first-round duel, and have even sat down and exchanged trivia and customs. Tatiana got a quick crash-course in flower arrangement styles from MooShu, and Kisai offered to do a round of maintenance for Tatiana just for the experience, and got a few personal stories from Dragonspyre with it. Of course they accepted the offer, and they do feel a bit bad because of the temporary nature of it, because they feel nice. Normally they’re very “no thank you” about it, but from Kisai it felt friendly and understanding, rather than trying to ogle at a local freakshow. Not a mark on Rowan doing it, of course, but they weren’t here. The Stars know they only came to Wysteria to check under every rock where they were. No reason why they would be, but where would you go as a Ravenwood student to lie low? A rival academy that doesn’t teach anyone anything.

Still, somehow they’d managed to hoodwink Ms Crisp into liking them and not throwing them to the wolves immediately regarding the Spiral Cup being gone.

Still, the Spiral Cup went missing and seems to have gone somewhere in Tanglewood Way. Probably wasn’t that... shiny child the local faculty hold in such high regard, but if the admissions test was anything to go by… Usual strategies would probably work. This was friendly sparring, after all, so they wouldn’t go at full capacity. Tatiana would, but more out of a lack of knowing how to hold back. The others can simply cope.

Still, they’d just been invited inside the Earth school, and that gave them a bad feeling. Especially since they knew that this sort of thing would definitely… get to them more than it would other participants. But letting on that they knew would ruin the plan because Tatiana wanted a confession out of this guy. Faculty and logic be damned, they just wanted to see him writhe and squirm. Besides, they weren’t being entirely reckless. They spent some time doing flower arrangement earlier, and slipped a small note of their findings in Kisai’s vase. As much as they play up the act, Tatiana does like to think they’re not a complete idiot, and Kisai would probably have to change the water, so if Starwalker didn’t come back… Well. He was an honourable sort - he’d go check on them. Very surprising revelation, them not being a totally vacant fool, but you do have to have an act if you’re put under pressure to perform.

Ms Crisp seems to agree, which is also slightly offputting. They’re the funny impulsive destructive fool who prefers to set themselves on fire than let you touch them, and they play up being a coatrack, not a detective said with that knowing smile of trust. So either she knows a lot of things that they would rather she didn’t, or she can just see straight through them. Both are kind of scary prospects.

“Now then, dear, I have just the thing to get things straightened out. It’s just back here, if you would.” He gestured to a crack in the wall with a loose tongue of vines and roots that had matted and twisted itself together in an effort to prevent it from crying, truths or otherwise. And then Droors went in. After a moment of throwing anything even resembling caring to the wind, so did Tatiana. And they felt all the worse for it, crossing the threshold felt so restrictive - so… binding - that it was a struggle to move towards where they were gestured, though this was an obvious set-up, what with the treefolk on either side of him and the…

The… Hm.

Were Starwalker’s movements always this stilted?

They were having to lean on their wand - they were so glad they weren’t using their cute one for this, given that the one picked off of an O’Leary was taller and usable as a walking aid - just to walk into the room. And they definitely couldn’t concentrate.

“I hadn’t anticipated you finding my connections to the Greenfolk so quickly. But,” There was a smile and a mostly too fast and too angled tilt of the head as he turned around with a half not-smile, “You won’t be leaving here to spread the word, will you?” He had his arms crossed over his chest, with a self-satisfied smile, though clearly at someone else’s command. All facades were dropped in the lair, it seemed, and for relatively understandable reasons, actually. Why act up when you know you’ve won? Starwalker does, but they’re strange compared to other folk, this is just some not-quite-guy with some not-quite-controlling in the background, and normally loosely strung puppets act up more to show off what little agency they have. Starwalker would know.

What were they thinking about again?

But if they randomly started the fight, they’d have the drop on the haphazard fool and be allowed to just simply burn. That would help, right? Burn and clear their head. Burn the new forests to the ground and leave. Burn Droors down and leave. Everything hurt so much, as if things were burrowing into them like nails or screws or a small drill making a small hole and then flooding it with glue so they’d be stuck in place forever. They felt close to it, too, hardly able to shuffle forward and with something blocking the painted glass they called their eyes. They started to instinctively say something, with the restrained hiss of violence that could only be heard from this puppet or a canister of pressurised gas.

With that same release, they built up enough anger and force to sweep up their wand and just cast, feeling the familiar buzz and life feelings that plunging themselves into the flames often gave them. And it felt freeing, but also utterly debilitating. Someone mentioned ivy throwing out a building, and this ivy was throwing them out. It felt like something crawling under skin, from what they could piece together, and they hated it. It hurt. It itched. They didn’t even have skin, how was this even doable?

But the flames consumed the main arena of the room that had just changed forms away from a classroom and became a close, claustrophobic mass of writhing sinew and pulsing sap, somehow warmer than blood. The flies in the room that caught the suffocating light seemed less like simple insects and closer to hungering swarms of ticks and wasps as the solitary sunbeam caught the same insect in five spaces due to how much their vision was failing them.

“Well, if that’s how you want to play, then let’s review your homework, shall we? This week’s subject… traps! Or should we just skip straight to your detention?”

“Please, I just wanted you to work it out.” Inane. Useless. Meaningless. Nonspecific.

“Work what out, Starwalker? The fact that you only have one attack of note? The fact that you’re a creature of the woods? I felt it when you were talking and going about your day. It’s why I brought you in here. Honestly, as much as I know you don’t have a mind to note, I didn’t think you’d be entirely devoid of intelligence.” There was a half-laugh, though the lingering flames burning the vines at their feet as fuses was enough to keep it at bay, even though they could feel exactly where the remnants of vines and leaves and twigs were that weren’t a part of them. They were not a part of them. They don’t belong in their joints and in their flesh made of woods that don’t belong in a cohesive whole but have been many-times enchanted and sutured and joined to create that whole, a person made up of others.

“I’ll spell it out for you: You need me to leave this room in one piece, people know I’m here.”

“I don’t think they do.” The vines started to creep closer, and in a broom-like motion, Tatiana whacked them into the lingering, smouldering remains of a forest fire that was doomed to never be able to start. It was violent, a flinch away from a hand on your shoulder, and so fundamentally angry. Tatiana was always angry, weren’t they? Always irked about something. Helped, though. Of course, what wasn’t helpful was seeing the treefolk start moving. Moving towards them, trying to back them out of their safe spot and back into the twisting and hungry and grasping vines that coated the walls and most of the floor. “You’re buying yourself time. You... Ember folk are all the same, aren’t you? So impatient and easy to smother. After all, your party trick… What are you seeking other than quick rewards? You never think things through.”

Silence, for a moment, save for the writhing vines. Silence, save for the opening maw the room had turned into. Silence, save for Starwalker’s fast-shattering confidence, despite their natural state of hubris.

“I know what I’m after.” Came a reply after a little while. Again, so nonspecific it might as well not have been in the first place. Just words to fill the air with something other than vines. The exits had long since been choked off, much like their mother used to fill their mouth with cotton when carving and making sure their teeth and jaws were correctly painted on the inside.

Wait, was that it? Was the way out here the exact same thing as the way out of every other damnable problem in the Spiral? And that was on overthinking things. Maybe try that new spell that requires not killing your opponent posthaste that Falmaea taught them just before coming out to Wysteria. Wildfyre, right? A quick cast of pent-up everything, and there was a boundary of flames around the Doll, Lecturer, and the two fully-available creatures, though no more could segment themselves away from the walls, as most of the floor-vines writhed in pain as the ward of flames passed over it, but what wasn’t anticipating was multiple vice-grips on their lower legs, but they did their best to stay standing and not burn up in the process, themselves, even if they almost toppled due to clumsy joints and being pulled in all directions in the bracket of “backwards”.

Up comes the smiles and the persona. Up came the riling up and the shutting down and the pressing of all buttons without a care for consequence. Starwalker had a way to win, and it might have a few steps such as partial deconstruction involved. Anything to win. Anything.

“Hey, Doctor Cupboard,” Tatiana started with entirely too much hubris for their own good, as was their general way of living, “Or whatever your name is, what are you looking for, huh? Or are you on just as many strings as the rest of us?” There was a sort of manic energy to their tone of voice, as the staff was idly held over a shoulder, the other hand partially unscrewing the key point of their shoulder - glad that the expression of wincing could just be told no, despite the sharp, biting pain not too much unlike that when a drill’s involved - and slipping one of their spare ball joints into their mouth before sliding up the shaft, before doing the same with their leg on the same side. The vines - naturally - took offense to their master’s insult, floundering for a moment as they started to ‘run’ towards the magician, pressing the loose arm against their torso to keep up appearances and half-hopping and pivoting on their off side.

With a glance of surprise, the plan followed through as expected, and Droors pulled the vines towards the loosened limbs. This was going to hurt. This was going to be borderline agonising, actually, but using their spare joint as a chew toy worked for heavier maintenance. And their spare shoulder in their mouth meant they didn’t give Droors the satisfaction of them screaming as they swept their staff around Droors’ knees and whacked the now-collapsed man around the face a few times. More than four, but probably less than twenty. He was definitely unconscious, and so the attack fell off, and after a couple of gags, the joint was spat onto the floor, covered in flakes of paint and water, as Tatiana toppled a moment later onto now-inert vines.

As for the couple of other tree creatures, a simple couple of immolations got them gone, given they couldn’t move without a controller and that Droors was equally hubristic enough to not make use of them.

And by the Great Curvature, Tatiana hurt. They hurt so much after that, with their arm and leg loosely dangling from one of the many lifeless strands that hung from the walls. But they did it. And they had no idea how to stand up afterwards.They could try and shuffle-- Idea.

Tatiana took their bag off their shoulder and started looking through their spare cards. Hopefully, hopefully, they had a minion card on them. That would be the ideal outcome. Not likely, though, they tend to do worse with minion spells and probably only packed their safe options with the mentality of “if they put me on the ropes that badly, I kind of have to suffer and cope”. And now they were on the ropes, and they sure were suffering and trying to cope.

Okay. Damn. Not in there. Guess it was “hobble over to your spare parts and hope for the best” time, otherwise known as plan A. At least the vines were there to help, and they were lighter than usual, despite only having half their limbs actually attached. And taking a quick inventory check… Oh. Oh. That’s bad. That’s very bad. The vines actually ripped out a good chunk of their actual torso. That’s why it hurt more than usual. Makes sense, but they were already shaking without that revelation. They might just have to tie their limbs on for the final against… what was his name again? Moonshine? Who cares. They just had to pick up their pieces, get functional and get to the tournament hall after checking in with Crisp. Hopefully they’d picked up some vines or straps or something, they did remember picking some up in Wysteria…

Finally! A plan that looked like it was going to work! With their one hand, they scooped the broken wood splinters and their spare shoulder - it was not going to sit right in the broken socket - into their bag, before shrugging off their shirt shoulder to tie their upper arm to their chest and their wrist to their staff so it didn’t look awful. Useless and dead weight, but it didn’t look horrible. As for their legs, the infrastructure damage wasn’t awful, so they slipped their spare hip joint into the right spot and slotting their leg onto it, flexing it a couple times for good measure. An action they regretted immediately, though it did have to be done. And so, they could finally stand! Wonderful! Yes, they were still trembling, yes that’s normal. Definitely.

And so, they were leaving. Half-shuffling into the main part of campus and heading to the headmistress’ office, tiredly banging on the door and getting a brief “Come in!” from inside.

Tatiana gently pushed open the door, getting a smile and wave before a horrified double-take.

“Starwalker, dear, are you feeling alright?”

“I’m… Alive. Droors had something to do with the cup going missing, it’s in Tanglewood way. He’s also currently out cold in his classroom after trying to attack me.”

“You… fought him?”

“Yes.”

“I’m… Impressed. I’ll look into it, you look like you need to rest.”

“I’ll do my last fight in the cup, first. I came all the way out here for it, you know?” There was a pause, but a nod from Ms Crisp as the door was gestured to, though there was clearly a question of whether that was a wise idea or not. That did, however, assume that Tatiana made any wise decisions in their life, which is incredibly bold as far as assumptions go.

Heading to the tournament hall, though, the streets were empty, and Starwalker took a very slow hobble up to the hall, stumbling through the entrance door and hearing a self-assured - self-absorbed - chuckle from both the duelmaster and their next opponent.

“With how you’re stumbling in, I don’t think this will last too long. Where have you been, anyway? The Headmistress said not to call the defaulting until she spoke to you.” A haughty snort, “As if that’d make a difference.” Randolf said from the main benches, catching a silent glare as Starwalker went into the main fighting chamber, seeing just how many people were looking at them, and hearing the cheer upon climbing - shuffling - up the stairs to the main platform. It was fun to see the cheers for Spellshine to be quieter than their own, though. The small victories.

Starwalker was leaning on their staff for support, but also had the first turn.

“Well, you’ve had a good run, but this is where you meet your better.” Spellshine said plainly, “I’m frankly surprised you showed up.”

“Look, Moonshine--” Randolph seemed viscerally revolted at the misnaming, as Tatiana called on a trap on the opponent - “Shut up and get burned, okay?” There was a self-assured huff, as Spellshine cast a myth-school blade. Okay, that’s fine. Explained a lot, actually.

But it was their turn again, and they’d had enough of the self-obsessed fool, so-- So the child cast again? Okay. Okay. Rude. Anyway, this opportunity was taken to cast immolate, which was very nice. Followed up by Spellshine casting vampire followed by an evil snowman… Well, the kid in the courtyard wasn’t lying, Pigswick folk do cheat. No matter, Spellshine should be out in a couple of turns. They could last that long.

“All that self-inflation and you’re still losing to a coatrack. How do you feel?” Starwalker sounded so tired. Not even with Spellshine, just in general. They needed to sleep and get repaired so badly.

“Like you’re not going to last long without shields, given you’re getting so confused and attacking yourself, too.” Okay, fine. A shield on themselves that would do nothing. And then it was immediately broken, so what’s the point. Either way, they had to burn a turn and didn’t have anything good on hand, as Spellshine called on a blood bat. Disgusting creature.

The finishing blow, though? The same way they dealt with all their problems. Immolating them. Their sense of theatrics was gone, but no one in the audience knew them, so it was fine. No ned to avoid scrutiny if there’s no consequences. And he fell pretty soon after that, and the crowd went wild. Probably less for Starwalker and more for “not Spellshine”, but whatever. They’d take it, and they staggered off the podium to head back into the main hall. No doubt everyone would want them for a picture, and no one saw them stumble onto the bench, trembling and with their arm half-off from its position after tripping into the wall.

They were so, so horribly tired, but weren’t expecting people to be there that quickly, even if it was just a concerned-looking Kisai who seemed quite glad to see them in several pieces.

“I just picked up your note, are you alright?” He sat at their side, though friendly enough with an arm going for their shoulder and them looking even more concerned.

“I’ve been better. Just waiting for the all clear to go home.” A laugh, though Kisai didn’t share the sentiment.

“Starwalker-San--”

“Didn’t we agree to use informal honorifics, earlier, Shugenja-kun? Go enjoy yourself, I’ll be out eventually.” Said with a pained smile, and getting a half-laugh in reply, as the double doors swung open and slammed against the sides of the wall, as Kisai stood up with a nod. “If anyone asks, just say I’m relaxing before I have to deal with people, alright?” Probably Spellshine coming in to sulk so-

“Oh by the Stars are you okay? You looked like you’re about to collapse-” Wait, was that--? “At least you’re sat down, can I do anything to help?” At that point, there was a gentle contact on the intact half, but Starwalker wasn’t expecting to see their partner here of all places, and reached out with their working side with a smile, clearly craving the contact. “We need to get you to Earthfriend at the five minutes ago, can you walk back to the door or do we need to--”

“I don’t think I can without help, and everyone’s going to be looking for me.”

“Well they can cope, you’re clearly not doing well. Do you need me to do anything for you?” Rowan asked, hands clasping around the one that was actually attached. “Who did you fight that hurt you that badly, because it wasn’t Spellshine. You were staggering into the duelling hall.”

“One of the lecturers, long story. But can you yank my other arm? It’s just tied on, we can put it in my bag. Also, I missed you! Where were you, anyway?”

“Studying. But I wouldn’t miss you in the Spiral Cup for anything, love. You did amazing, by the way. He should not have been able to cast half the nonsense he just did.”

“You’re telling me. I’ve been trying to count in energy, and that threw off my numbers.” They both laughed at that, as Rowan winced on seeing the mess that was their shoulder, gently placing their hand on top of it, and instead of being vocally in pain, they just babbled and tried playing it off. A strategy that worked with anyone but Rowan Duskhaven, of course, but being deadpan instead of yelping in pain was a better look, generally. “Yeah, my arm got ripped off.”

“Tati-- Star, love, please-- How does that even happen-? Actually, don’t answer that. We need to get you home, come on, dear.” Rowan picked up Tatiana’s bag, hoisting their working arm over their shoulder, holding their staff and slotting it into the case alongside their own hasta.

“Alright. I’ve just been looking all over for you for a while, I’m just glad I found you again.”

“Of course you did. We’ll always find each other eventually.” And with a gentle kiss against their mostly-damaged cheek, they started heading to the Spiral Door.

#wiz101 #wiz101oc #wizard101 #wizard101 fandom #wizard101 oc #wizzy101 #wizzy fandom #🖼️ } Tatiana Starwalker #🥀 } Rowan Duskhaven #📜 } Library Additions #🌀 } Spiralposting #meaning to do this for so long #didn't mean for the fic to be so long though!

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