Aeoryi

She made a mental note about this figure.

Ribbon returned from a deep stasis, cracking out of a crystalline shell around her that had materialized in her absence. She looked at her hands again, then sighed in relief. During her meditations, she had determined that Fog was about as good as gone, just another Withered remnant of the reign of the dark one. And with it, a half of her core. It felt... corrupted, stronger, but mutated. It was a volatile and dangerous change, one that had hit her like a truck while in her meditations. She remembered it vividly. Ribbon's ordinary muted pink robes were only slightly bleached with time, but the biggest changes were to the person underneath. Her once all-blue eyes were invaded on the right side, now flickering with a black, vorpal energy that had hints of red within. Chaotic energy crackled, ready to be released. She raised her right hand to inspect it, slowly rotating the hand as it jittered in place. "So this is the cost of love." She whispered to herself. "This is what it takes to see the narrative." Her onyx eye, which was previously half-closed, opened suddenly, and the red pupil within began to expand, until it seemingly consumed everything and she could see all within her domain. Her chaotic, beautiful narrative that was built by her. Yet there were still limitations. She'd lost some of her old self, the kind that treated each battle as a dance. Ribbon held out her hand once more and tried to conjure that suppressing, calming, soothing water, but it just couldn't come to her. Instead, she found the Mordite dagger given to her by Fog drawn towards her, carved with ornate symbols and care. The pitch-black metal crackled when she contacted with it. She spun it between her fingers, watching the dagger dance around as she mused. There were quite a few threats to her domain, to her Narrative. The most obvious one, of course, was the Witherlord. He was the driving antagonist, and by the far the most powerful person around. But it seemed like he did less than he could these days, so Ribbon presumed he would not be an issue. Besides, what she was doing was likely aligning somewhat with his goals. Then there was Rebus. He was perhaps among the stronger characters of the thread, having persisted through the passage of time, and he was definitely stronger than Ribbon. He was more clever as well, so it wasn't like she could treat him the way she'd deal with the Witherlord. He was the top priority. And then there was a third, chaotic force, one unbound from a Plotblade that claimed the sky. A singularity, it appeared. Dormant for a while, but highly volatile. Unlikely to pose an immediate threat, but she needed to develop contingencies for it just in case. So it was to deal with Rebus first, she supposed. He had a weakness, and that was his children. It could make him act in a certain way, maybe be used as leverage... she paused. Was she really considering kidnapping a child? Was that the point she was at? Shouldn't she be more concerned about protecting Rebus from the undoubtedly most evil force ever known to the thread? She spent an eternal moment in silence, then flipped the dagger in the air and caught it. "Well, it's not like it matters anyways," she muttered to herself as she teleported away to where a Rebus was interacting with no one. @DragonHeir

I'm considering taking a indefinite break from the shard in the future, I think

I'm crying so much rn

No, it's fine.

well, I can do nothing but wish you luck, friend.

It hurts me immeasurably to see or hear that someone is treating themselves like this. If you won't do it for yourself, at least do it for me. Just once. If you think you'd have to leave because of my reaction or disappointment then I have done something wrong, in which case I can live with that and you can stay. But it is not my truth to tell

please even if you don't get sleep just lie down close your eyes and get some rest, turn off the devices I hate seeing you like this. It hurts so much.

get some rest my friend

wow... that's different than I expected can you tell me more about the activities/stuff you did there

what was it... Like? The people there, the vibe of the place, etc

and they still thought it was bad enough?

I don't even hurt myself that badly ... but given my track record ...

they said they would only break confidentiality if I was at risk of hurting myself or others I'm worried about being away for too long, I'm worried it would make things worse