The War Chronicles of a Little Demon (Youjo Senki alt)

[Sunshine Temple]

And here's the second part of today's feast. Enjoy these pieces of fun art. I have a few more in the wings and being made but those can be posted later

First we have this wonderful piece from LexiKimble showing Tauria's two sides as she wonders who she upon her third life.

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From DP we have the opposite end of introspection with this piece of Baroness VioletBlood being her best self. That is haughty and arrogant.

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Next from ScittyKitty we have a bit of a cross cultural summit with Coordinator Elena talking with her sister's favorite granddaughter, the reborn DarkStar. The two seem to be up to something.

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And finally from PlayerError404 we have this great piece of Tauria and her two Vs. Despite Tauria being in the most fluffy version of her nun's clothes she seems to be making the most of this, or at least plotting.

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[Sunshine Temple]

Merry Xmass, Happy Holidays, and a somber SBRs Watch.

Yesterday may have had a chapter 29 posted but the gifts aren't over!

Please enjoy this bit of art, but not before a bit of lore dump.


White Feast of DarkStar is on the 16th of September, is one of the Church's most important events, and one of the few ones that most of the sects largely agree on the same day of observance, the faith does have other holidays thought the year.

Known for her charity, piety, and skill with the blade that gave her the nickname: the Saber, Saint BloodRuby was known for her standing vigil of her village, especially in winter where she said she was "Awaiting Her return."

What had started as a minor Saint's Day at the end of a long fasting period, had in the modern DarkStar Church grew into a ritualistic fasting period followed by a celebratory feast with the exchange of gifts. This includes a lot of cross pollination with the plethora of other solstice time celebrations on the variety of other Diyu faiths (both native and imported).

Like many Saints Days, there is little consensus on when to celebrate SBRs Watch among the branches of the DarkStar Church. Though all the largest branches do recognize BloodRuby as a saintess. For example: the Order of Our Martyred holds observes on December 15th while the Order of Lady Our Hallowed Lady observers nearly two weeks later on the 27th. There is some merit to the idea the BloodRuby's profile was raised to give the DarkStar Church their own major solstice-time holiday.


But now onto the art.

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First from Lexi Kimble we have this slick piece of Reinhild helping Countess Tauria get dressed for a social event with Baroness VioletBlood. This piece has some fantastic coloring and shading.

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Next from Player Error 404 we've got the woman of the hour, DarkStar herself returned to Diyu and in formal attire. Though she's adding a bit of her own touches for her big gown.

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From DP we have Chief Librarian, and adviser to BlakSky, Mira Heartwood in drawn in spiffy business wear with a lot of fun detil.

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Next, Player Error 404 shows the two aspects of Imperial Heroines.
Fabia Firmitas HarrowFang in her Sarpedona RP suit shows the warrior side while Countess Tauria Magnus DiamondDust in yet another gown shows the pomp and pageantry side. The contrast is really fun, and I do like how the renditions of Ritual Plate have gotten more to how I envision the flight suits (more armored segments and less skinsuit)

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And from Scitty Kitty we've got a great set of wonderfully expressive emotes of VoiletBlood, Tauria, and Visha. They've all been getting great use in the Little Demon discord.

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And finally from Player Error 404 we have this wonderful piece of DarkStar bringing holiday presets for SBRs Watch while Tauria and her mother Sister Clementia watch with joy

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Again wishing you all a Merry Xmas and holiday season and thanking you all for enjoying this story.

 

[Sunshine Temple]

With ch29 being posted, the current arc may be wrapping up but a map of the various worlds on the Dimensional Spine will still be pretty handy. As it will give some context to events. Thanks to Readhead for coming up with the name, and for the LD Discord for helping revise the map.

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Map of Diyu itself can be found here. And the Map of House BlackSky's provinces on Diyu can be found here.

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Diyu Demons have three main forms of teleportation. There is the persona teleportation magic many Elder Demonesses have, some of them have the ability to teleport between worlds. Due to the relative rarity of Elders with this ability and the limitations they have on where they can go and who they can bring, this method has been supplanted in many cases.


Teleport Runes are a common way to allow a vessel (typically an airship but other conveyances can be setup) to jump from one world to the next along the Dimensional Spine (and to different Aether Layers). However, this method is limited to surveyed routes. This results in many worlds being travel hubs, bottlenecks or dead ends. Finding new routes (and new worlds) is the primary goal of the Transcendental Survey Branch of the BlackSkyvian Cartographer's Guild. The other Great Houses have similar services as such explorations have strategic consequences. There are two primary frontiers on the Dimensional Spine one in the Up-spine direction, the other in the Down-spine direction. That the Dimensional Spine has directionality, implies it has a structure and many theorize that it means that this region of space has importance as some type of cosmic mega-structure. Diyu seems to be some type of central lynchpin as it has an unusually high number of connections to other worlds.


The final method are Teleportation Gateways. These are large, expensive structures that are built in pairs to maximize their thaumaturgical similitude. Then the two Gateways (each with a large chamber inside) are transferred to other worlds using a Teleport Rune equipped ship. Once emplaced, calibrated, and given considerable power, instantaneous travel between the Gateway pair is possible. Note that a given Gateway only allows travel to its twin. Father travel requires using another paired Gateway. However, unlike Teleport Runes, distance is functionally immaterial. Thus a critical colony can have a direct connection to Diyu (or another critical colony) no mater how far out it is on the Dimensional Spine. In addition to the great expense of production and operation (which means only the most vital colonies have Gateways), the dimensions of the chamber inside the Gateway does limit transportation to objects to the weight of tanks and lighter, and to medium VTOLs and smaller. Still this allows for teleport Gateways to supplement other forms of travel.

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House BlackSky's primary holdings are in the Up-spine/Sinister region. This is a large contiguous territory that is well developed and has access to the Up-spine frontier. Closer to Diyu is the one colonial holding of House Andromache and the Up-spine enclave of House Trosier, which acts partially as a buffer between BlackSky and Luxon. Father Up-spine, the minor independent world of New Van Zandt has a similar buffer effect with Elena's holdings.

The Dexter half of the Up-spine region is primarily split between House Alecto and House Elena. With the latter braiding their territory across the Alecton Worlds. Elena has considerable holdings but also has them spread out over many areas, while Alecto is even more of a narrow strip of worlds. Both Great Houses also have access to the Up-spine frontier. Ziox's holdings are also here, as well as the fractured Harp's World. The Independent world of Redemption is on the far Dexter corner. Continuing their tradition on Diyu, House Alecto supports and acts as a patron for all the independent worlds. Though Elena, BlackSky, and Luxon have their own alliances with various breakaway colonies.

Down-spine on the Sinister side is House Luxon. They have a rather large contiguous territory with plenty of worlds and access to the Down-spine frontier. However, economic troubles have prevented full development of its holdings, but this is changing with Luxon's revitalization as of late. Also in This region is Mard, the largest independent world. Mard has good relations with the other independents, Alecto, and Luxon as patrons. Mard is a world where many independent traders hang their banner. The Dimensional Spine has considerable merchant traffic as there are dozens of colonies that need supplies and have resources to trade for what they require, not to mention various garrisons in need of support. Also in this region is Trosier's Down-Spine enclave as well as Elena's toehold onto the Down-spine frontier.

These small holdings also border on the Down-spine Dexter region which is a collection of smaller territories: RedStorm, BlackSky's Down-spine enclave, and Irkella, However, it is the Empty Quarter that dominates this part of the Dimensional Spine. The site of much of the fighting, and the concluding campaign, of the War of Reprisal, this area was always desolate, but after the conclusion of that war, and subsequent explorations, a parade of dead, frozen, charred, and just inhospitable worlds were found.

Haven, the only marginally habitable world, was picked as a forward base for the Empty Quarter Patrol. The last legacy of the grand alliance of the War of Reprisal, the EQP is a multinational force where each Great House contributes a formation of ships, troops supplies, or other war material on a rotating basis. Each of the larger Great Houses contributes to ensure that they still have a say in how the EQP operates, while the smaller Great Houses do not want to be cut out of the loop, and all are interested in seeing what lays on the other side. The EQP works to survey and observe the Empty Quarter and to carefully explore Down-spine to ascertain its limits. While Haven does have a pair of Gateways, they do not go to Diyu, but instead go to secured, isolated bases on Nida and Huido controlled by BlackSky and Elena respectively.

 

[ellf]

And Omake time! Chapter Two of Knight Sirens!

Knight Sirens

Chapter Two

The Mountain felt empty with everyone gone. Nightwing and Artemis were back in Gotham, Kid Flash was in KeyStone City, Zatanna was visiting friends of her father, and Red Arrow was dealing with some of the fallout that came from the reveal of his status. It made it hard for M'gann M'orzz to sleep without those comforting presences. Sure, Kaldur and Connor were still in the Mountain and that helped, but the absence of the rest of the team ached.

Kaldur was asleep in his room; she could feel it. He'd spent a good portion of the day training, and M'gann couldn't fault the Atlantean for taking his rest when he could get it. There wasn't any major mission that the Team was needed for at the moment, but she knew that could change at a moment's notice. M'gann almost hoped it would. After all, the Mountain would be full again, and the familiar minds would help her rest.

She wandered into the kitchen, careful not to make much noise, and she considered what was available. Perhaps some cookies? She might wake someone up if she overdid it, but at least they'd have some sweets to offset any upset they might get. Wait, was that correct phrasing? Well, perhaps not, but it wasn't like she was trying to be perfect. After all, cookies just needed the right amount of love, combined with the recipe, in order to sweeten the pot.

M'gann mixed her ingredients, accidentally dropping one of the metal bowls before she could catch it. Perhaps she was trying to alert someone to her presence, just so she wouldn't be alone. There were those with enhanced hearing in the Mountain at that time, after all.

M'gann felt Superboy stirring from his room, and a private smile came to her face. He'd enjoy the cookies, but even more, he'd enjoy helping. Or at least licking the bowl.

He made his way into the kitchen, dressed in shorts and a muscle shirt. "Guessing you couldn't sleep?"

M'gann couldn't help her eyes tracing his form, but she simply smiled at him, turning her private one toward him directly. "Not really. With everyone gone, it's quiet here."

"Yeah, it is," Connor said. "With Wally Artemis and Robin--excuse me, Nightwing, back at their homes… I can only hear you and Kaldur. I guess you've gotten used to all of us."

M'gann nodded. It wasn't that she hadn't been alone before, but the comfort of others, others who were friends and willing to not only put up with her, but welcomed her in their presence… she felt spoiled by it. Still, Superboy's presence was comforting. As it always was, these days. She smiled at him. "I'm sure I'll sleep eventually. I just need to tire myself out."

"How can I help?" Connor asked.

M'gann directed him, and soon the two fell into an easy silence, anticipating the needs as they went along. The recipe was easy enough, as M'gann had made it before, and soon enough, they had the cookies in the oven.

As they cleaned up their preparatory dishes, the Zeta-Tube console and reception area activated, lighting up in preparation for transit.

"Odd time of night," Connor said, frowning as he stepped toward the Zeta-Tube, placing himself between it and M'gann. He wasn't wrong. Usually, the League would call before directly coming over. However, it wasn't like exceptions hadn't happened.

"I don't think we're expecting anyone," M'gann said. She frowned, glancing toward Aqualad's room. "Do you think we should wake Kaldur?"

"Not yet," Connor said. "No messages came in. We'd have heard it, with us out here. We can buzz his communicator, but he doesn't need to "

M'gann nodded. The rings on the Zeta-Tube started spinning. Before she could respond to her friend, the console announced the arrivals. "Recognized, Nightwing, B-01. Guest User BlackFire, A-08. Guest User FrostShadow, A-09."

Connor and M'gann shared a look of confusion before looking toward the Zeta-Tube exit. Guests were not unheard of in the Mountain, but they usually were somewhat known. With the names given, clearly they were of the more masked variety and not civilians.

Nightwing was a familiar mind to M'gann. She gave him a brief telepathic greeting, a brush across his mind, before directing her attention to the people he brought with him. An initial brush indicated a lack of humanity. Not that they had ill intentions or anything, but they certainly didn't feel the way humans tended to. Nor, M'gann noted, did they feel Martian.

Whatever they were, she could feel a psychic resonance within them. A sort of telepathic and empathic link connected the two visitors, and as she reached out to them, they started to reach out back. The way they felt was almost familiar, familial, yet it was different enough that she pulled away after the first touch, out of an abundance of caution. Whatever they'd done, it had been instinctive.

Nightwing brought the pair out of the Zeta-Tube, a pair of winged humanoids, one with leathery wings, the other, smaller one with more feathered ones, and the two of them seemed somewhat disoriented at first.

Then the disorientation shifted to something worse. It was as if a dam had burst, and a psychic scream echoed throughout the Mountain so loud that M'gann almost didn't hear the vocal one that accompanied it. It pushed her down onto a knee, slamming into her own psychic defenses, weighing her down. The pain, the immense, overwhelming pain. It was theirs, she felt it pressing down upon her, everything they felt. The two had fallen, nearly catatonic themselves.

"M'gann!" Superboy was at her side in an instant. He wrapped an arm around her, and she felt more than saw him look up at Nightwing. "What's going on, Nightwing? What did you bring here?"

"I didn't know this would happen!" Nightwing said. "They were fine back in Gotham! Miss M! M'gann, are you okay? What's wrong?"

"Hurts…" M'gann said, focusing on the familiar minds nearby, trying to push away the ocean she felt flowing through the guests. Her skin rippled near her forehead as she almost lost her form, but she adjusted it back. It wasn't her pain. She could block it out, now that she knew where it was coming from. She let out a sharp breath. "I'll be fine. Thank you, Connor. It's your guests that I'm worried about."

"I don't know what's going on," Nightwing said. "They didn't seem too worried about the Zeta-Tubes when they came, but… this…"

"What are they?" Superboy asked. "The feathered wings on that one… well, she's still got too many other features to be a Thanagarian…"

"They said they were from a place called Diyu," Nightwing said. "Demons or aliens, given that it's an alternate plane of existence or something. Batman believed them, and he asked if they could stay here."

M'gann turned her attention closer to the supposed demons. She carefully, without lowering much of her shields, touched the barest edges of the minds. Empathy. Both were highly empathic, but the smaller one was even more so than the larger, given her longer, curled horns. Add whatever happened with the Zeta-Tubes… "It's too much. Too much input. They can feel all of Happy Harbor… from here. Oh… wait. Huh. Hello, Megan! The solution's simple!"

"What?" Connor asked.

"The bioship! It can help block out the excess emotions and help them!" M'gann looked at her friends. "Connor, do you think you could carry them both there? Nightwing, check on Kaldur? I think he should be awake for some of this."

Nightwing nodded. "I really should be getting back to help out--" At M'gann's sharp look, he held up both hands in surrender. "Fine. I'll go see what he's up to."

"You know where the room is," Connor said, and he scooped up both girls with ease. A brief shudder went through him as he touched their skin with his own, maybe something to do with the G-Gnomes? He shouldered them and glanced at M'Gann. "They're not that heavy. Do you really think the bioship can help?"

M'gann nodded, floating alongside her friend as he carried the guests. "If it's not enough, some distance should help some more." She was worried a little about them. Their eyes were open, darting around, yet not focusing on either Connor or herself, and their tails thrashed back and forth while they were carried. It was lucky that Connor was harder to hurt than a normal human, but it helped that neither one was using their clawed hands to scratch at him, instead mostly being limp in his grasp. M'gann hadn't heard of any species like them, nor had she heard of Diyu at all. Demons, aliens… something that could be considered both?

Of course, given Mars's isolationist state before her uncle arrived on Earth, it was possible that someone had encountered Diyu before. She just hadn't heard about it. M'gann adjusted her mental shielding as they came upon the bioship's hangar. She couldn't help them if she fell back into the same state as the guests.

She gestured for the ship's boarding platform to lower, and she led Connor inside with the girls. "Place them down on the ground, anywhere that looks comfortable."

"Sure," Connor said, following her command. "So, you were saying something about excess emotion before?"

M'gann nodded, using the biomorphic properties of her ship to generate a safe area for the two alien girls to rest. Once no longer in Connor's arms, they thrashed about, their bodies trying to latch onto something. As their mouths opened, M'gann noted the sharp fangs in each of their mouths, matching with their horns and tails, somehow. She carefully moved, placing a hand on each of their heads, shivering at the touch. The raw emotion filtered through them was almost too much to handle, even with her shields. "Something happened during the Zeta-Tube transit. I suspect that normally, they have some sort of mental shields to block out emotion, sort of like my own, but both are very empathic and slightly telepathic. Something disrupted those shields when they went through, and it overwhelmed them."

Connor frowned. "And the ship can create its own shields to help them?"

"That's the theory," M'gann said. "It does have a sort of shielding, but whether it's enough… "

Connor nodded. "Do you need me here with you to help them?"

"Not exactly," she said. "They should hopefully come back to themselves soon enough, and Nightwing trusted them enough to take them with him here. But if you wanted to…"

Connor smiled, placing one of his hands on her own. "I could. NIghtwing and Kaldur can wait, and if they're hostile…"

M'gann met his smile with one of her own, and she patted his hand with her free one. She then turned her attention to the Diyu aliens. Diyuvians? Close enough. With the shielding up, they started to still. M'gann ran a hand through the powder-blue hair of the smaller one, careful not to dislodge the hairpins she had placed there.

Now that they were in the shielding of the bioship, it didn't seem as if either was telepathic the way Martians were, but there was a form of something akin to it there, in addition to the empathy. The girl's eyes remained unfocused, roving around the bioship. M'gann felt a little guilty over what she felt she needed to do, but if she was to help them, she needed to see what she was working with.

So she delved into the girl's mind.

The imagery of a great forest flickered before her, the vast reaches of space, and then M'gann's eyes locked tightly on the girl's. The blue pools, almost like ice crystals, held shadows within them, flitting about, never quite the same as they were there. The blue eyes overtook her entire vision as she delved further into the girl's mind.

The girl, FrostShadow, had a mind full of secrets, ones that M'gann instinctively avoided, but she still saw. She held herself to a high standard, with a desire to help people that permeated throughout. She saw a city of trees, a key. A gate. Shadows and ice, and storms surrounding her and her older sister. Death. Destruction. She saw a massive battle, a series of massive battles. Deaths, and then a need to pull back. She was more affected by it, and… then M'gann was forced away, but she found herself hugging the girl tightly, and the emotions grew more intense. The selfless actions, even in the face of adversity, meant that the girl was good.

Then, like a moth to the flame, she probed the second girl, meeting her pair of burning red eyes in the process. BlackFire's mind was much like her younger sister's, full of secrets, full of battles. She'd been affected by what they'd needed to do as well, but she worried more about her younger sister, about FrostShadow's health. It was BlackFire that suggested they take a break and the way it happened. She loved her younger sister very much, and the two were bonded. M'gann could tell how close they were, but where FrostShadow had ice and shadow, BlackFire had her namesake. Flames surrounded M'gann, but somehow her normal fear never came. The flames wouldn't harm her. Not here. They faded away, revealing the alien girls themselves.

She hugged them both, as Connor watched.

"Whoa, what's going on, M'gann? You okay?"

"I'm fine," she said, hugging the two tighter. "They've just… they've been through so much."

He frowned, nodding. He fell into a defensive stance as a rumbling sound started to come from the girls. They started to snuggle into M'gann's embrace, and it occurred to her what it sounded like. Purring. They sounded just like cats, and they even somewhat looked like them too with their graceful movements and the way they moved their eyes.

The smaller one slowly blinked, pulling slightly away from M'gann as she did so. Her eyes seemed to regain focus, and she looked around the cockpit of the bioship, curiosity wafting off of her. The smaller girl's eyes paused on Connor for a second before coming back to M'gann and meeting her own.

"Huh," said the girl as she tilted her head to the side. Her horns glinted some in the ship's lighting, and her eyes seemed to glow blue as they caught the light. "You are… new. Both of you. Perhaps, you are friends of the Nightwing?"

The girl's sister seemed to come back to herself, and she nodded.

"I'm not sure you could call us friends," said Connor, and M'gann shot him a glare.

"Of course, we're his friends," she said. "I'm called Miss Martian, and that is my friend Superboy. Who is indeed friends with Nightwing."

"Some of the time," Connor added.

The older of the pair let out a snort. "Clearly. My name is BlackFire, and she's my younger sister, FrostShadow."

M'gann heard the way she stressed the names and adjusted accordingly. BlackFire, not Blackfire, FrostShadow, not Frostshadow. It was important enough. "Nice to meet you both."

"Indeed," FrostShadow said, a smile playing cutely on her lips. "Though I did not expect to meet other nonhumans today, let alone end up on… a Martian ship?"

"Yes, this is my ship," said M'gann. "You were affected by the Zeta-Tube transition and needed some psychic shielding."

Both girls nodded. They spoke in unison for a second. "That makes sense."

"It was a form of teleportation we are not used to," FrostShadow said. "The method probably interfered with us metaphysically."

"We'll be prepared next time," BlackFire added. "And… Miss Martian and Superboy, huh? You do have… other names, correct?"

FrostShadow reached over M'gann and poked her sister in the shoulder. "BlackFire! That was rude. You should not just ask about something like that. Secret identities are secret for a reason."
BlackFire made a comment in a foreign tongue that sounded almost like Latin. That explained the accent that both had. It reminded her of the humans from Italy. Her tail swished from side to side.

FrostShadow replied in the same tongue and then nodded to both M'gann and Connor.

BlackFire sighed, and she nodded. "Apologies, Miss Martian, Superboy. My sister isn't wrong about the politeness. I managed to refrain from asking the same question of Nightwing and Batman, but in my defense, both were human. Despite my surprise about Batman."

"I did tell you," FrostShadow said.

BlackFire shrugged.

"It's okay," M'gann said.

"Sort of," Connor added. "It's not like we haven't been asked before. You were tamer than some."

"Curious," FrostShadow said, her lips quirking into a smile again as her tail swished. Amusement wafted off her. "Of course, those names are hardly the most creative that could be used. Miss Martian and Superboy? A girl from Mars and a boy with superpowers, I suppose. Any relation to Superman?"

Connor looked down, clenching his fist.

FrostShadow held up a hand. "Apologies. I did not mean to bring up something distressing."

"Kryptonian, but only partially," BlackFire observed. "That explains it. You are part human."

"I am," Connor said. "I'm a clone, a mix of his DNA and a human's."

"We see," said the girls. "Apologies again. We did not wish to cause you pain."

He waved the unclenched hand. "It's fine. Fine." He looked at them, cuddled up to M'gann and nodded. "I'm assuming FrostShadow and BlackFire aren't codenames?"

"No," said BlackFire. "They're actually our names."

"Then you can call me Connor," he said. "Just Connor."

"And my birth name is M'gann M'orzz," said M'gann. The purring sound from them, which hadn't stopped, got louder at that.

"M'gann… M'orzz… Connor…" the girls almost tasted the names.

An involuntary shudder went through M'gann, albeit not of disgust. She wasn't entirely sure, but something about the way they said her name caused a telepathic ripple, yet not an unpleasant one. It was actually the opposite of that. She wasn't sure what they did, but they were… there.

FrostShadow blinked, tilting her head to its other side. "Oh. Right. I apologize. You are… It just… Never mind."

M'gann pursed her lips, and then she reached out with her mind. Whatever had happened between the four of them had been interesting, and she needed to find out more. Unfortunately, as she brushed FrostShadow's mind, she immediately was assaulted with a pair of icy eyes that chilled her to the bone. If she pushed, she got the feeling that it would simultaneously be the best and worst decision she made that day. It certainly was tempting.

"Careful," BlackFire said after a second. "Dipping into my sister's head is a recipe for madness, and the protections she has…"

The accent was more pronounced that time. M'gann wondered where they had learned English, as for the most part, their diction was good, but the accent came through at times. More so with the younger of the pair. "I'm sorry. It's been a few months since I've been around other telepaths."

FrostShadow nodded. "I understand, but please ask permission before you try and listen in. We have strong defenses on our minds, most of the time."

"You mentioned that the Zeta Tubes disrupted those defenses," Connor said. "How are you going to be prepared for them next time?"

"We know what they feel like now," said both of them at the same time. It was a little eerie, as their voices synchronized and harmonized. "We can adjust accordingly as we prepare. We may need to study some of the literature on the technology to make sure our calculations are correct, but it should work."

"I see," said M'gann. "Do you think that your defenses are good enough to leave the bioship now? That you won't be overwhelmed?"

"We should not even be 'whelmed' about it," said the girls, smiles playing on their lips as their tails swished in unison. "Especially with the two of you there."

"How am I helping, exactly?" Connor asked.

"You both are familiar to us now, as Nightwing is," FrostShadow said. "We can use your emotions as an anchor, if it comes to that."

"Perhaps it won't," BlackFire added. "But it's good to have backups."

M'gann nodded. She could understand that, and given what she had seen from the two of them before, she was pretty confident that it was worth helping them out. She stood up and offered each of them a hand up, and so did Connor.

The two paused for a moment then with solemnity they took the hands, standing on their taloned feet, and together, the four of them left the bioship. As the four of them made their way into the hangar, both FrostShadow and BlackFire immediately sniffed the air. Curious, they must have had some sort of enhanced sense of smell, compared to that of humans or Martians.

"So, where are we, exactly?" BlackFire asked. "Batman just called this place the Mountain."

"I'm not sure if I should say," M'gann said. "We do keep locations secret, for safety reasons. Maybe if you stay longer, or we hear from some of the League, we can share it."

"It's an older League facility," Connor added. "That they repurposed for our team. I'm not sure how much you know, given what Nightwing mentioned."

FrostShadow waggled a hand. "We have heard of some of the Justice League, but how much of our knowledge is accurate is unknown. Some of the heroes had partners in our intelligence, but I am uncertain as to how much veracity it contains."

"You did research on us?" Connor asked.

BlackFire shook her head. "Not as such. We read some passing reports on various Earths as they come through, and this isn't the only one with a Justice League."

"Various Earths?" M'gann asked. "Your species does dimensional travel?"

"It is how we arrived here," FrostShadow said. "We will need to recalibrate some things to attempt a return home, but much of Diyu does reach out to extradimensional areas. Our nation even trades with multiple Earths."

"That could be interesting, I guess," M'gann said. "So you haven't encountered the League yourselves before, just in intelligence briefings?"

"Something like that," BlackFire said. She tilted her head as they made their way into a hallway. "And… it looks like the only other person here is awake now."

"That would be Aqualad," Connor said. "He spends the night here often enough."

"Any relation to the Aquaman?" FrostShadow asked.

"He's a subject of Atlantis," said M'gann. "But we'll let him introduce himself properly."

The four of them fell into a comfortable silence the rest of the walk as an ease settled over M'gann in their presence that she hadn't really felt since she left Mars, save for around Connor at times. They seemed to anticipate the directions that M'gann and Connor both wanted to go, and both Diyu-vians had no issues navigating with their help.

When they made it into the Mountain's lounge, both Kaldur and Nightwing were sitting on the couch, deep in conversation. Nightwing gave a nod and a smile upon spotting the girls up and about.

"Glad to see the two of you are feeling better," said Nightwing. "Aqualad, those are the two I was talking with you about. Meet FrostShadow, the smaller one, and her older sister, BlackFire."

Kaldur stood and bowed to the guests. "A pleasure to meet you both. It is always good to meet someone under peaceful circumstances."

"Indeed," FrostShadow said, returning the bow, dipping her horns to Kaldur. "M'gann said that you were a citizen of Atlantis. I am curious how you decided to fight for surface dwellers."

"I merely followed the example of my king," Kaldur said. "What affects the surface can affect Atlantis as well."

"That makes sense," BlackFire said, also bowing her horns. She stood up, and smiled. "And as Nightwing introduced us, I want to make it clear that those names are actually our names. We do not have the same sort of codenames as you do."

"They're soldiers," Nightwing said. "In the general sense of the word."

FrostShadow nodded. "More specifically, we are pilots within our country's Fleet."

"So, why exactly did you come here then?" Connor asked. "And by yourselves…"

"Technically, we're on a temporary assignment to a testing facility," BlackFire said. "We were in the process of testing some new hardware, and we went somewhere we… normally would not have. In order to avoid a dangerous situation, we did a blind transition and ended up in Gotham City."

"It may not have been the smartest move, but it was necessary," FrostShadow added. "We will need some time to calculate the best route back home. Batman's offer was generous, but Nightwing made it clear that it was not up to him."

"They helped with Solomon Grundy and the Joker," Nightwing said. "While wearing their power armor."

"Ritual Plate," FrostShadow said. "It requires innate energies of the pilot to help operate, whereas power armor would have a separate power source."

"If it looks like a duck, quacks like a duck," Nightwing said… He shook his head. "But yeah, they don't really have a place to stay. I know we have room here, but it'd be up to you three."

"I have no objections," Kaldur said. "I would be curious to discuss these energies with you both."

M'gann nodded. She was curious to learn more about both of them as well. Plus, being with other telepaths was comforting in some ways. It reminded her of home in the best ways. "They can stay."

As everyone looked at Connor, he raised his hands. "I don't really care either way. How long are you planning on being here?"

"As long as necessary to get our bearings so we may return home," said BlackFire. "We can, perhaps, help some if you require it."

Connor nodded. "Then sure, you can stay, for now."

"Thank you, Connor," FrostShadow said.

"If you are staying, I'll introduce myself properly. I am Kaldur'ahm, of Atlantis. You may call me Kaldur in private, but I am Aqualad in the field," said Kaldur. Everyone turned to look at Nightwing.

He raised his hands and shook his head. "Sorry. We just met. Maybe after we get to know each other more, we can share that, but I'm fine with you just calling me Nightwing."

"NightWing is a nice name," FrostShadow said with a swish of her tail. Perhaps she found something amusing. "It is surprising that we have not met someone with that name before now, but I suppose some mothers would rather choose other names."

"And NightWing chose his," BlackFire said. She glanced over to her sister as FrostShadow started to yawn. "Perhaps we should retire to bed. Frost and I would like to share a room, if possible."

"You can have the room next to mine!" M'gann said with a smile. It was so nice to have additional telepaths here, and girls to boot. "I'll go ahead and show you where it is."

"Until tomorrow morning then," Kaldur said. "Nightwing, are you going to stay as well?"

"Not tonight," he said. "The new Robin's probably getting restless with Batman out alone. I should help him work off some of that stress. I'll bring him with me when the rest of the Team meets up tomorrow."

Kaldur nodded. "We will have to ensure his readiness. Hopefully he… will be better prepared than the last."

Nightwing grimaced. "Yeah. See you."

"Good night, NightWing," said the new girls, and M'gann led them into the room they would be staying in.

The room next to hers had been empty since Artemis had moved out of it entirely in favor of a room closer to Wally, but it still had a couple of twin beds, a dresser, and a mirror. The beds had the most basic of bedding on them, pillows and a light comforter. Immediately, the Diyuvians pushed the two beds together and climbed into the bed. They smiled at M'gann, and a wave of tiredness seemed to overtake them.

And her, for that matter. She was going to say good night, to head back to her own room. But something made her linger, and as she stepped closer to the bed, the girls pulled at her mentally. When she got close enough to them, FrostShadow's hand lightly landed on M'gann's arm. Somehow, she found herself lying on bed between the two of them, and before too long, sleep claimed her.

In a way, it was the best sleep she'd had since setting foot on Earth.

 

[Sunshine Temple]

Greetings, been a bit since there was an art update but we've got a few great pieces.

In other good news a draft of ch32 has been written and is being edited. Chapter 33 is also being outlined and will be making good progress and will be the start of a new arc that will be the second half of Book 2: More than a Shadow.

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First from Scitty Kitty we have this fun piece of Lares trying to hold back a... passionate Tauria. Even lifting her off the ground does little to dampen her "enthusiasm".

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Next from Lexi Kimble with some amazing shading, colors and textures we have Tribune Artemis Quirinus in her Harmonia RP and the late Lady Primus Felicity IvoryQuiver in her Svalinna warding suit.

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In a piece very ably colored by Scitty Kitty we have a nervous DarkStar showing off a new gown to her eldest and youngest daughters.

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And from Daywalkerrl enjoy a nicely-detailed pic of Tauria telling Visha that it's time for them to go out for dinner.

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And once more from Scitty Kitty there's this great piece of Invidia trying to convince a, shall we say skeptical, Tauria.

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Finally from PlayerError404 we have Tauria being mobbed by two of her nieces Talia and Liata while in the back her maid Reinhild is trying to warn the Countess that the broodlings have gotten into the sugar.

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And thank you all for reading and enjoying this crazy story! I'm still amazed to have this continued and growing interest in Tauria's adventures.