"Well, the game doesn't sound too difficult," Penelope muses, rubbing her chin. "Rather straightforward rules, really."

"Yeah, you're not actually supposed to hurt people, though, so make sure to retain plausible deniability or things could get bad."

"Vita, please," Penelope scoffs with false offense. "I am the veritable goddess of plausible deniability. You know I've studied you intimately enough to be aware of exactly what sort of damage your species can take."

I… do know, yes. Pain isn't really a huge deal to me, but when Penelope gets in a mood she finds ways to make me feel it. Honestly though, while I doubt I'll ever enjoy being tortured, I do enjoy making her happy enough that it's a worthwhile trade to me. It's not like we can't easily heal off whatever damage she does, too.

"Just be careful," I warn her. "We're Queens, and you're an outsider. Cause too much damage and some of us will be out for your blood."

"No one can complain if it's not permanent, right?" Penelope clarifies.

"Oh, they'll complain. But they won't be able to reasonably do anything, no."

"Perfect," she grins. "Ah, this is going to be a lovely first day."

Well, at least she's not depressed anymore. Her tail is even doing that thing where it flicks back and forth with excitement, also known as the 'do not walk behind Penelope' mood.

"I'd ask you not to be creepy in front of my sister, but she's pretty used to me dating weirdos so it'll probably be fine," I sigh. "Just. Y'know. Be nice to her."

"Of course!" Penelope promises. "She's your sister, you care about her, I understand. The fact that she tried to kill us all is water under the bridge."

"I… also tried to do that," I remind her. "It was me, Tala, and Queen Nagatilka."

"Yes, I'm aware. I was being serious."

Then why does your soul feel so predatory? Eh, whatever. I'm sure it'll be fine. We should definitely keep a close eye on her, though. Just in case.

I'm not stupid, Zoi. Of course I'm going to keep an eye on her. At the very least because she's cute and I like looking at her.

Not quite what I meant but yeah, true. That's so weird to me, though. Vita had stopped looking at people basically at all. We even forgot how facial expressions worked for a while! Now we're looking at Penelope and finally understanding why people call it 'feeling warm and fuzzy,' but it's kind of incongruous. We're a lot more physically minded than we used to be.

Let's be honest: we regressed. Swapping bodies and mind melding with two different people helped us un-regress. We're better like this.

Begrudgingly, I have to agree. Which makes me worried about slipping again.

Me too. That's why we're designing our next body to be better still, and we also have Penelope again. She can be our anchor.

Boy, that's not concerning at all.

…Yeah, okay, we should get more of those. Like Tala! And speaking of Tala, we're almost at her house, so we should probably stop chatting with each other and focus on how we're going to rope her into another hoopball game against Queens.

We can promise not to shed the trappings of our current shell and emerge in all our tentacular glory this time. That should make her feel better.

Okay first of all: no it wouldn't. Second of all, can we actually, honestly promise that?

I mean… the hoopball game would have to go SUPER crazy for us to actually hatch out of Malrosa's body.

I wait and give Zoi a moment to really think hard about that one, though the nature of what we are means she's already fully aware of why because I'm fully aware of why. Still, though. 'This will only go wrong if things get super crazy' basically means it's guaranteed to happen.

…I mean, no, we really need this body still and will actually fight to keep it, but I see your point. I'll think of something else to tell her. Oh, and now I'm captaining the ship I guess.

Being more than one person is weird. It's nothing like how Penta and I shared a body all those years ago; Taal and I are different people but we're not separate people, if that makes any sense. A singular train of consciousness exists between us, and not even we're fully in control of who's in charge at any given moment. It also doesn't really matter who's in charge, in a lot of ways. Taal is better at some things and I'm better at other things, but it's really more in regards to how we apply our skills than in any actual difference in knowledge or ability. Our personalities are more similar than they are different, yet there's still enough of a distinct difference between us that we very much feel like separate people. It's weird and ephemeral and supremely difficult to talk about with basically anyone other than Altrix or a Clear One, and even they don't quite get it. Only one of us can really consciously think at a time, but I just sort of… know who that is, because the thoughts either feel like they're from Zoi, or they feel like they're from Taal. We really don't know any better way of describing it.

It's not important right now, though. Penelope and I arrive at Tala's house and being with her is what matters. I'm not sure I'll ever get used to how fancy the houses here in Liriope are, even considering how I have my own. It's just too surreal. We announce ourselves to one of Tala's servants, and it's not even a minute after that when she rushes outside and tackles me with a huge, four armed hug. I squeeze her right back, using my tentacles to hug her soul as well, causing her to squirm and yelp like I just cast an ice spell on the back of her neck.

"Aaaah, no! Mal-Mal, quit it!" she whines.

I drop her, my eyes smug.

"Good to see you, sis," I greet her. "Penelope, this is Princess Talanika, my beloved sister. Tala, this is Penelope."

"It's so lovely to meet you in happier circumstances," Penelope says diplomatically, extending a hand in greeting.

"Y-yeah," Tala agrees, a bit breathless as she cranes her neck to stare up at Penelope's face. "Gosh, you're tall. Were you always this tall? Oh, shoot, I mean, hi! Hello! Miss Penelope, ma'am! Are you giving me that hand? Can I touch it?"

Penelope blinks.

"She likes dragons," I explain quietly.

"...I'm superior to a dragon," Penelope answers automatically, seeming somewhat startled.

"Boy are you!" Tala agrees, deciding that a lack of protest is the same as permission and grabbing Penelope's hand in three of her own, squeezing and prodding. "Gosh, I'm really glad we didn't kill you that one time. Um, sorry about that by the way! I was super surprised when you countered our armor defenses, how did you even do that? I didn't see you cast!"

"I designed my tail to maximize available area for fine motor manipulation," Penelope answers carefully, letting Tala's pokes and prods start making their way up her arm. "And also to crush human skulls."

"That's so cool!" Tala laughs. "Are you immortal yet?"

"She's mine, Tala," I remind my sister. "You can't have her."

"This feels sort of like when I first met Xena and I'm not sure how I feel about that," Penelope mumbles.

"Gosh, these really are dragon scales, aren't they?" Tala coos. "It's like a softer version of our ceremonial armors! The Plentiful Wood has a bunch of dragons living there, doesn't it?"

"We're not quite sure how many, but yes, they are native to the deeper parts of the forest," Penelope confirms. "And my scales are indeed based off of them, due to their heat-resistant properties."

"I can't believe you made this whole body by yourself," Tala gushes. "It's so impressive. Do you think I should study more Life arts, Mal-Mal?"

"I think you're a dork and you can do anything you set your mind to," I tell her. "But I'm not sure you'd actually have the attention span to do what Penelope did to herself."

"Oh Progenitor, yeah, I bet this took years," Tala sighs.

"A month, actually," Penelope answers. "Though it was a month during which I literally did nothing else, bar eating and drinking and so forth. I didn't even move."

"What? Oh gosh," Tala gapes. "What about going to the bathroom?"

"Motion arts," Penelope answers. "And someone to clean my room for me."

"Geez, that sounds disgusting," Tala shudders. "Yeah, I don't think I could even do that for a day. I'd get so bored, not to mention grossed out. How did you manage?"

Well she didn't really 'manage,' per se, she's extremely traumatized about it. Even having the subject brought up brings an ache to her soul, one I can't help but sympathize with.

"It was a troubled period of my life," Penelope answers tactfully. "I doubt I'll ever subject myself to something similar again."

"Oh, okay," Tala says. There's an awkward pause. "...May I touch your tail?"

"Feel free, Tala. May I call you Tala?"

"Of course! Woah, gosh, these things are squirmy."

Penelope smirks as Tala runs her hands though the many tiny tendrils on her tail. My big cuddly dragon glances my way and I shrug, smiling back with my eyes. My sister likes to make fun of me for being weird and obsessing over things, but she's really no better. It's part of why we get along so well.

"Anyway Tala, I was wondering if you wanted to play hoopball with us," I ask, changing the subject. "I was gonna teach Penelope how to play."

"Ooh, that sounds fun!" Tala agrees. "Should we get a fourth player, too?"

"Nah, I already convinced Queen Zalrenza to nab Naga and Queen Venatila to play with us."

My sister pauses at that, giving me a hesitant look.

"Uh. By 'with us,' do you actually by any chance mean 'against us?' Because like, the first time was a lot, and I'm not really sure—"

"Quick, Penelope!" I shout. "Grab her!"

My girlfriend rolls her eyes and dutifully wraps my sister up in her tail, eliciting a betrayed yelp as the massive appendage curls around Tala and holds her tight, the tendrils wrapping around and locking down every finger.

"Muahahaha," I chuckle, floating up into the air to better lord my victory over my sister. "You have fallen into my trap, Tala! My devious, sports-based trap!"

"Nooooo, Mal-Maaaaal!" my defeated kin whines. "They're going to destroy us! You can't catch them off-guard this time! And did you seriously have to invite Zalrenza? She's going to hate Penelope so much!"

"That's why we challenged her to hoopball!" I declare proudly. "So we can beat the shit out of her and get away with it! It's the perfect plan!"

"Progenitor help me…" Tala complains.

"Don't worry about it overmuch, Tala," Penelope reassures my sister, her tendrils tickling the poor girl all over. "Our goal is honestly just to have fun. We won't hurt her that much."

"That's not what I'm worried about!" Tala insists, squirming indignantly. "Sure, Mal-Mal and I caught some Queens off guard last time, but now there's going to be three of them, and they'll know what she can do! And like, no offense Miss Penelope, but you and your vrothizo barely got me last time. They're a million times scarier than I am!"

"Hmm. Well, that's not so worrisome, then," Penelope grins, showing off her rows of sharp teeth. "After all, what's a million times zero?"

"Mal-Mal! Come on, I know your girlfriend is basically the Queen of The Plentiful Wood, but up here? We're gonna get destroyed and you know it!"

I float over next to her and sit down on the part of Penelope's tail that has her wrapped up. I put one arm around her shoulder, and rub the space between her antennae with another.

"Give me a chance to prove you wrong," I say. "Penelope and I haven't been sitting idle, you know. I've been teaching her everything I know. And I got personally trained by the Progenitor, remember?"

She squirms a bit, but it's rather halfhearted compared to before.

"...I didn't," she mumbles. "I'm just a wimpy little Princess. No goddess mana, no dragon scales, no Progenitor training. Even if you two can take on three Queens at once, I'll just be dead weight."

Penelope and I glance at one another. I shrug slightly, ceding her the initiative. Making people feel better is not my forte. Penelope nods, thinking for a moment before she speaks.

"...If this were any context other than your sister and I attempting to coerce you into playing a game for fun, I would tell you to get over yourself," Penelope says flatly. Which, uh, doesn't make Tala feel better at all. "You are not a Queen, I'll grant you, but you are still a Princess of Liriope, and it is somewhat infuriating that you don't have a grasp on how privileged or how powerful that makes you."

"Ugh. Is this another 'be happy you have food at all' lecture?" Tala grumbles. Which… hey! I haven't given that lecture that often.

"Not this time," Penelope smirks. "Unlike Vita, I've never wanted for comfort or power. I just want to remind you that you have power, far more power than you think you do. In fact, you have so much power that you've never had to learn how to fight for it. This moping is beneath you, Princess Talanika. You are a daughter of Liriope, and the bag of tricks you were born with is far wider and far deeper than most any from my island will ever dream of. You can face your so-called superiors. And with our help, you can beat them."

"Yeah, that's my point," Tala insists. "I need your help because I can't do it, only Mal-Mal can!"

"Sure, you need us. What makes you think that we don't need you?" Penelope asks, successfully not remarking on how she could totally kick a Queen's ass without my help because she's a self-made plague dragon whose name makes nations tremble. Though she definitely wants to. Manipulation involves a lot of… not lies, exactly, but carefully unrevealed truths. I can see how some of the things Penelope does match with the lessons I've been taught and the limited set of conversational techniques I've actually internalized on my own, and it's kind of fascinating watching it all play out.

Tala feels… insecure. Afraid of failure. Which is weird, because none of her failures have any actual consequences, but Jelisa says I should judge people for their feelings less so whatever. I love her and I care about her and if that means not getting incredulous over how nonexistent her problems are, so be it. Tala quickly gets calmed down—or at least very, very distracted—thanks to Penelope's constant attention, and soon enough she has agreed to accompany us on our hoopball adventure.

To the courts! The hoopball playing fields aren't too far off, so we walk rather than fly, Penelope finally dropping Tala from her tail… much to the little weirdo's regret. Which I can totally understand! Penelope tail cuddles are wonderful. Getting wrapped up all warm and safe… ah, gosh I just love her so much. I snake a tendril out of my soul and poke her hand until she grabs on and gives me a little squeeze. Arm in tendril, we walk happily together down the half-familiar streets of my half-hometown until we reach our destination.

Queen Zalrenza, Queen Nagatilka, and Queen Venatila are all waiting for us when we get there, which is surprisingly fast. I suppose Naga doesn't really have much to do anymore; her main productive hobby was training Tala and I. Venatila, I think, just really fucking likes hoopball. She lets out a quick series of quick clicks as we approach, which is pretty much the Athanatos equivalent to a low whistle.

"You found yourself a big one, Malrosa," Queen Venatila says.

"If I'm being honest, she found me," I dismiss lightly. "She originally got together with Vita, and I was a pretty passive partner back then."

"Yes, I remember this one," Naga says, her eyes frowning. "It was with the other savages we fought on the surface of The Plentiful Wood."

Penelope's smile gets thinner, not that any of them can read her expression.

"The other savages including me, you mean?" I press her. "Since. Y'know. I was fighting on both sides of that battle."

"What does that even mean, Malrosa?" Queen Zalrenza sneers. I sigh, ignoring her for now as Naga continues.

"...Your situation is different, Malrosa," she insists. "I'm just struck by the odd experience of seeing someone I met on the field of battle in more copacetic circumstances. The things I try to kill don't normally play hoopball with me."

"I feel the same way," Penelope agrees. "Though I have to admit, I'm quite anticipating the opportunity for a rematch, however diminished the stakes."

The room goes silent as the non-Athanatos in the room speaks without being spoken to. Roughhousing with Tala is one thing, she's my sister and we're both quirky little Princesses that have acclimated to the idea that other species are capable of being our equals. Penelope speaking out of turn in front of Queens, though? There's a reason they've been talking about her like she's barely even here. Judging by their emotions, think Venatila and Naga are surprised she even can talk. I say nothing, though. I don't defend Penelope, even though I want to. After all, I can read her emotions too, and I can tell that she's making a calculated play.

"...Is that so," Naga says flatly, her eyes narrowing into a stern expression. "I suppose I do regret not trouncing you the moment the battle started. It would have avoided a lot of our current troubles, I feel."

I can't help it. I flinch, slightly. Really, Naga? Is that what you think I am? Your current troubles?

"Oi, Naga…" Venatila mutters chastisingly, though her partner ignores her.

Penelope just smirks, rolling her shoulders and unfurling her gigantic wings as she lifts her tail off the ground. She has to lean forward a bit, counterbalancing one giant, inhuman feature against the other to prevent herself from falling, and the combination of the pose with her sharp-toothed grin is so delightfully feral that I get an urge from Taal to jump on her and start hugging her with all my strength.

"You missed your chance, I'm afraid," Penelope taunts. "You'll find I'm not so easy to trounce the second time around."

"Impertinent little savage," Zalrenza scoffs, and the restraint I've been showing so far snaps thin. My tendrils start to unfurl, extending invisibly from my body and questing towards the targets of my ire. I've been paying a lot more conscious attention to them lately, not letting them search around on their own and scoop up lesser souls on instinct. I've been increasing in strength, and my tendrils have been looking for proportionally larger meals, moving up from insects to mice and other small animals, and I didn't want to start having birds fall dead out of nearby trees whenever I walk around the forest. Besides, I'm changing myself. Outgrowing the need for differentiating my soul from my body in the first place. I really have no excuse to not be paying attention to what my own tendrils are doing.

So I do not pretend it is anything other than a very conscious decision that I slither myself partially free of my flesh and start coiling imperceptibly around Zalrenza, the length of my soul self easily extending across a distance that doubles the range of my prior human form. I fill the room, several dozen tendrils emerging to create a web of death, one that isn't quite touching anyone but is absolutely poised to strike at any time. Penelope does her best not to smirk. She's the only one currently casting the spell to see me.

"This will be a lesson for you too, Malrosa," Naga says, pretending to ignore Penelope and focus on me. "If you're going to dabble with other species, you need to understand that their actions and words will reflect on you."

"Mmm, no," I tell her. "No lessons. I'm pretty sure you retired from being my teacher, and every word you've just said has made me lose a reason to regret that."

She takes a sharp breath, recoiling like I just slapped her. I get into position on the court, lowering my body as a silent signal that I'm ready for everyone to shut up and start the match.

"Malrosa—" Venatila begins warningly, but I cut her off.

"Come on, mighty Queens of Liriope," I challenge. "Show us savages what you can do."

Penelope stalks forwards, taking the center position, closest to the ball. I flank slightly behind her, and a very nervous Tala mirrors me. The Queens regard one another for a moment before somewhat angrily approaching and positioning themselves in kind: Zalrenza across from me, Nagatilka across from Penelope, and Venatila somewhat awkwardly facing off against Tala, the two of them giving each other sympathetic and mildly embarrassed looks.

"Let's try to have a good, clean match, alright?" Queen Venatila announces.

"Just summon the damn balls," Naga grumbles.

Venatila sighs, giving her partner a concerned look before looking towards the rest of us.

"Counting down from three," she says. "Ready?"

"Ready," Penelope says for our team, just to piss them off a little more.

I squeeze her shoulder lightly and she smiles. The countdown begins, and then the game is afoot. On zero, Penelope and I both burst forward, crossing each other up so that I go after Naga while she rushes down Zalrenza. This is not some kind of master strategy or anything, we've just collectively agreed on whose shit we want to kick in. Unfortunately, running directly at somebody is not exactly good hoopball strategy. This is a game about magic, after all. Or at least, it's supposed to be.

There are two balls in this game, the normal amount for any match with team sizes of three or above. The extra ball to keep track of offsets the insane amount of control a single Queen can exert over a single ball and prevents matches from merely being a tug-of-war over who can cast the strongest Motion arts. Being able to cast strong Motion arts does still matter, though, and despite my prodigious tentacle range, the strength of my spells is still gated by my mana tunnel throughput, not my soul size. The only person in the room I can match for raw power is Tala. All of the Queens, as well as Penelope, outperform me in terms of raw strength. Both balls lift high into the air and launch towards our hoop before our team can do much of anything.

…At which point Penelope leaps up alongside them, spins her body around and thwacks one of the balls with her tail hard enough to completely negate the momentum applied to it by Zalrenza.

"You brute!" the young Queen snaps, but Penelope just chuckles and fends off the next attempt to launch the ball at our goal with a backhanded slap. I, meanwhile, focus on the ball under Naga's control, redirecting it with subtle nudges so it never actually makes it to the goal like she wants it to. I'm playing defense rather than offense today, because what I lack in raw power I make up for in unparalleled casting speed. I can just cross my arms and smirk as I form myself into spell after spell after spell with nothing but a twist of will, pulling my ocean into the world and shaping it into whatever I need. Naga, meanwhile, has to dance the art every time she wants to cast, stealing the essence of The One Below All and twisting it to her purposes. I can hold her off as long as I want, unless she gets a bit more creative with her tactics. Knowing her, she'll be doing that shortly. Hopefully Penelope will have scored by then.

That's the point of this, after all. To give Penelope a place to shine, a place to dominate. For her to take the magical education I've been giving her for months which, while I admit I'm maybe not a great teacher, has still been giving her the baseline for a much more powerful and much more robust casting system that she has voraciously invested herself in learning. Queens are powerful, but we're generally born powerful, inheriting a baseline of knowledge from the information given to us at birth and acquiring the practical skills to use it, along with advancements deemed too dangerous for children, as we grow and learn and live as Princesses. Our strength is hereditary, fought and claimed by the Progenitor and given to us as gifts. Most of us are not researchers, we just take what we're given and use it to completely overwhelm basically everyone else because we can, and why would we need more power and knowledge than that if it doesn't inherently interest us?

It interests Penelope, though. She's a genius, way smarter than your average Queen. We just need to get her in a situation where they can't deny that. Where they have to face the fact that she's a person. I don't know a better way to get people to listen than a show of force, though I wish I did. I bet Jelisaveta could come up with something insightful to say, and Lark could just act cute until everyone starts acknowledging her personhood out of pity. I can't, though. I only know how to fight.

It's so fucking hard to believe in the idea that I can succeed at anything else.

"This is a game of magical superiority!" Zalrenza shrieks in frustration.

"Yes, and I'm demonstrating my superiority at Life arts," Penelope says patiently as she tail-slaps the ball towards the goal, Venatila barely managing to pull their team's hoop away in time. "Since my body is apparently all I need to deal with you. Perhaps you should look into enhancing your own?"

"The Progenitor already designed the perfect form, you disgusting lizard!" she shouts back, and then the air flash-freezes in a massive column around Penelope, from an anchor on the ground all the way up over and around her body and head. Only her wings and tail emerge from the solidified air. It's an impressive spell, powerful and deadly far beyond what I thought Zalrenza was capable of. How did she… ah! That's why Naga hasn't been casting anything more complicated than basic Motion arts! She and Zalrenza have been casting together.

…Did she and Zalrenza just try to murder my girlfriend? A spell like that could murder a Queen if it went wrong. They'd have gotten away with it, too, now that I think about it. Just an accident during a game against someone who isn't really real. It's… shocking, honestly. Zalrenza, I expected this from. But Naga? I thought she loved me. I look into her soul and recoil away a bit, terrified to find that she does. Why would she do this to someone I obviously care about?

I mean, it's not like Penelope is more than slightly inconvenienced, but still. There's no way they knew that. It's kind of weird that we aren't angrier about this, don't you think? Yeah, that's a surprise. Maybe it's because I didn't feel any murderous intent from the two Queens, so it's hard for me to convince myself they actually wanted her dead. They wouldn't have minded if she died, though, which I should definitely be livid about. Oh well. I'm sure Penelope can be pissed off enough for everyone.

My girlfriend teleports directly in front of Zalrenza and backhands her across the face, which she was happy to learn is actually a perfectly legal maneuver in hoopball. She's not happy right now, though. Her scales are a deep crimson, a furious anger permeating her body and soul. Penelope really hates it when people cast thermomancy on her, and she especially hates it when they have the audacity to think it will actually work.

"Perfect form?" she sneers. "Perfect form!? You ignorant, indoctrinated, ignoble… do you have any idea what that even means? Do you understand even the most basic fucking principles of the magic that was used to create you?"

This time, when her tail lashes out it's not to catch the ball—I have to do that—but instead to wrap Zalrenza up in a manner not at all like how Tala was playfully bound up before the game. No, this is a deliberate and ruthless restraining, her arms locked down with crushing weight and her fingers tied up with tendrils without care for how many might consequently break.

"Go ahead, you arrogant buffoon," Penelope growls. "Free yourself with that 'perfect form' of yours. Oh what's that? You can't? I can overpower you with a single limb? Goodness, I wonder why that could possibly be the case!"

There's a cracking sound and Zalrenza cries out in pain, Naga immediately taking her attention off the ball and lashing out at my girlfriend. Not that I'll let her, of course. Mana blooms out from my tentacles, obliterating the spell she tries to cast the moment it leaves her soul.

"Y-you dare declare yourself the Progenitor's superior?" Zalrenza hisses.

"No, you idiot!" Penelope roars, shaking her. "She could make you as strong as me. She could make herself as strong as me! But she doesn't. Why do you think that is? Do you even have a single original thought in that pathetic head of yours!?"

"I-I…"

"Food! It's because of food! Maintaining a body with this much muscle density requires energy and nutrition values far in excess of what Liriope allocates for Queens. So you are weak on purpose because there's no need for this sort of muscle mass on a self-entitled idiot who sits around all day and acts superior for fun. The most basic fucking idea that anyone dabbling in this sort of transformative biomancy knows is that there is no such thing as a perfect form, there are only optimizations and tradeoffs, and the fact that a being with such highly advanced ancestral knowledge could possibly be ignorant of this baffles me beyond description! I can't possibly believe that—"

"That's a point," Venatila announces, calmly but loudly.

"...What?" I ask, peeling my eyes off Naga for a moment.

"I just scored a point," Queen Venatila says. "While you two were distracted, I got through Talanika's defense. Y'know. In this friendly game of hoopball we're playing? So drop Queen Zalrenza and reset position."

Penelope makes a disappointed tsk and lightly tosses Zalrenza away, the Queen trying and failing to catch her momentum with a broken wing. She stumbles when she hits the ground, wincing in pain.

"Fucking savage," she growls under her breath, Naga rushing up to catch her before she can fall.

"...Let's take five for a healing break too," Venatila suggests. "Alright?"

She's staring directly at Penelope when she says that, so Penelope nods back.

"Of course," she agrees, her scales turning white.

Venatila signals agreement and heads over to check on her teammates. Hesitantly, Penelope, Tala and I group up to do the same.

"Um, sorry guys," Tala mumbles. "I couldn't hold her off."

"It's fine," I assure her. "That one was our bad. We didn't coordinate with you."

"...I think we just backslid a little, Vita," Penelope says hesitantly.

I blink, caught off-guard a little.

"Because of the lack of coordination?" I ask.

"No, because we invited people to a game with the explicit intention of torturing them as much as possible," she says.

Oh. Right. Backsliding into being horrible people.

"But… I mean, you can't say Zalrenza doesn't deserve it," I hedge. "I'm pretty sure she just tried to kill you!"

"Well, yes, but… you know. Alcohol at parties…?"

"...Should still be avoided by a recovering alcoholic," I sigh, finishing a quote from Jelisaveta. "Okay, okay, fine. Sorry. I should have pulled you back, not encouraged you."

"Now we're in a problematic situation, diplomacy-wise," Penelope says. "I'm fine with writing off Zalrenza as a lost cause, but Queen Venatila seems nice enough and we just… well, even if I get the impression she doesn't approve of Queen Nagatilka's position, you did say they were lovers, didn't you?"

"They are," I confirm. "So yeah, we have to assume she'll side with Naga, especially if we act like total assholes. Ugh. Why can't we just establish dominance and be done with it?"

"Well I think we could, especially if you stopped holding back. But getting furious at them is just going to reinforce their negative stereotypes of us, and yes I know I was the one who just did that, but… well, that's part of why it needs to be said. I'm really not ready for this sort of thing yet, Vita. I'm sorry."

"...Is everything okay?" Tala asks hesitantly. "I'm a little lost. And things got kinda scary back there."

"Apologies, Princess Talanika," Penelope says. "We should have nipped this plan in the bud long before dragging you into it."

"I mean, yeah, it was a pretty stupid idea," she agrees.

"Zoi, maybe you should see if Taal wants to come out?" Penelope suggests. "She might handle this situation more elegantly."

"Uh, I can try," I shrug. Taal, you in here?

"Who?" Tala asks, and wow I normally think of them in different languages so I just realized Taal is an anagram of Tala, I can't tell if that's confusing or cute as fuck.

Cute as fuck, Taal decides. Hello!

Oh, hey other me. You wanna handle some social stuff?

Not all that much more than you do, but let's see if we can induce a switch anyway. It'll be as finicky as usual, I'm sure.

"Well, let's see if we can continue the game in a little more of a level-headed fashion, then," Penelope declares. "If the end of the game is fun, they're more likely to forgive the beginning."

I nod, retracting my tentacles into my body again. No overwhelming them by just breaking all their spells, in that case. They'd hate that.

Have Tala focus on Queen Zalrenza as well, Taal suggests. Less bad blood there, and it'll let Zalrenza win more.

"Penelope, you handle Venatila," I say. "She'll probably enjoy getting a little physical with you. I'll keep handling Naga, so you head to Zalrenza's side, Tala."

"Okay," she agrees. "That makes sense."

"Good."

We break up and return to the center of the field, silently indicating we're ready to continue. The Queens do the same, Zalrenza flexing her previously-broken wing and glowering furiously at us.

"I've got a proposition," Queen Venatila announces. "I feel like last round got a little too heated and skirted a little too close to illegal maneuvers, so I want to have us collectively agree to tone down the power level here. Smaller spell workings, no team casting, and no injury-level force. Deal?"

"Deal," I agree immediately.

"Good," Venatila says, taking the middle. Penelope lines up across from her and we get in our altered starting positions. Since Vena got the last point, it's my turn to count down to game start. I do so, and the game begins again.

Things go better this time. Penelope uses her impressive multitasking ability to manage the goal with her spells while providing a substantial physical obstacle to the opposing players. Tala harasses Zalrenza, repairing some of the woman's bruised ego by simply not being as good of a hoopball player as Zalrenza is. It isn't enough to offset my oppressive offense, though. I stay quiet and keep the pressure on the balls, the reduced spell power rules working to my advantage as my unmatched casting speed allows me to constantly redirect enemy assaults and keep pressure on their goalie, Naga. We score the next point. Zalrenza scores next, then Venatila, but then I get three goals in a row. The game continues with that back-and-forth, with me spending most of my time standing still and looking my former combat instructor in the eyes.

I'm disappointed in her for how she treats Penelope, though I guess I shouldn't be surprised. I also just want to beat her on general principles, to prove to her that my unofficial title of War Princess is earned, and it's because of Vita, not in spite of her. We've become something more together.

We do, ultimately, win the game, albeit by only a single point. Things went down to the wire there, and the final goal was accompanied by quite a few cheers and groans. I, unfortunately, can't bring myself to be too excited about it all. Penelope's right. We kind of fucked this all up from the start. I think Venatila earned some healthy respect for her, but the other two? No way. We could have maybe gotten Naga on our side, but now? I don't even know what to say to her. She's approaching, though, so I guess I have to think of something fast.

"Good game," Queen Nagatilka says.

"Yeah," I agree. "Good game."

There's a pause. Silence stretches awkwardly, but I'm too lost to know how to break it. Naga manages to find some words, though.

"Seeing you grow up so fast terrifies me," she says softly. "Because the person you're becoming doesn't seem to have much to do with who you were."

Ah. My chest clenches and the silence returns as I try to think about how to answer that.

"...A human I care about once told me that if you obsess over certain aspects of someone, you'll end up missing everything else about them," I say slowly. "If you don't like someone, you'll find plenty of reasons to continue not liking them. If you love someone, you'll ignore most of their negative attributes. I think if you're scared of me not being Malrosa, it just means you're only seeing the half of me you're scared of. I'm still me, Naga. I'm more than that, too, but I'm still me."

She thinks about that for a moment, then signals agreement.

"I suppose," she admits slowly, "that humans might have some wisdom between them after all."

She walks off after that, standing next to Queen Venatila and waiting silently as her partner talks animatedly with Penelope, probably about either biomancy or sports. I just sigh, tired and drained from the social interaction and regret. I'm so out of it that it startles the crap out of me when I feel a prod in my ocean, a single point of burnt mana that indicates Nawra wants to speak. I close the hexes of my eyes, take a deep breath, and focus on the other world, shaping myself into a greeting.

Ah, Vita! Wonderful to see you, Nawra says pleasantly, though she feels kind of… stressed. Frustrated? Harried?

It's good to hear from you as well, I answer. Is something the matter?

Oh! Straight to the point, haha. Are you busy, dear sister?

Not super busy, I admit. You just seem uncharacteristically worried. Can I help?

Oh! Really, you… ah. Hmm. Well, I appreciate that, but no, you can't help. I'm getting your attention to warn you, actually.

Oh shit. I do not like the sound of that. I don't want to deal with anything that's got Nawra spooked.

What's happening? I ask. What should I do?

Ah, well, if you're not home in your little city right now you'll definitely want to head back in the next… oh, sixteen, sixteen and a half hours or so? she hedges. Just to keep the place safe.

Okay, I'll do that, I confirm, panic rising inside me. What's happening, though?

Big brother is hungry, dearest, Nawra warns. There's going to be a Skybreak.