Just past the river lies a cozy abode that some creatures call home.
Neighbors are spaced out, allowing for a quiet, peaceful life, while still remaining in-the-loop.
Close enough to important places to be convenient, yet far enough that the hustle and bustle won't get to you.
Here, various fun and fantastical creatures can find places to fulfill their idyllic lives.

And fresh out of bed, our protagonist exits her home to find that this morning is a bit bizarre.

BLOOD MOON: THE WORLD'S DREAM GIRL An average human, she's quite soft, but tries to take things seriously. If there's an incident, she's probably the one solving it. She's a very reliable type of person! She tries to remain a "neutral party", trying to solve things as harmlessly as possible, with reason and compromise. Still, no one listens to her a lot of the time, and she ends up having to take matters into her own hands. Despite her pacifistic intentions, she has a bad habit of accidentally coming across ruder than she means to, and finds herself easily misunderstood. This also gets her into trouble. She wields the power of dreams, turning the battlefield into a haze between reality and imagination. She has the ability to blur your perception, like when you can't remember if something really happened or not. (Also, if you sleep near her, you'll have good dreams!)

From Blood Moon's house, half of the sky is dyed a bright red. Loud, strange noises continually burst distantly through the air, rumbling, groaning, thundering indeterminate sounds. And every few moments, a tremor passes, as though threatening an earthquake. Something... is not right, though she doesn't know what. And, well, it's usually her job, so...

-- STAGE TWO --

Unluckily for Have a Watery Wednesday, Blood Moon and her are still going to the same place, so she isn't actually out of self-perceived danger yet. She does turn around to shoot a few more attacks off at her in a panic as she's going, but it's not long before they both reach their shared destination: the home of Blood Moon's neighbor and self-proclaimed rival, who Have a Watery Wednesday adeptly hides behind.

COLINT: BEST WORST COMMUNITY MEMBER As a Jersey Devil, you might expect her to have some sort of nefarious intentions, but she doesn't seem to... or if she does, she's at least too lazy to act on them. She does her best to try and sell herself with the image of being a very cool, helpful, hardworking person who does her best for her community every day. This is the reputation she wants, but without any of the work: in reality, she's a lazy person who spends all her time goofing off. Most people with any sense are aware that she's fake, and view her with poor regard, but she doesn't care that much. Can't win 'em all, right? The important part is the people she CAN convince... for example, Have a Watery Wednesday. She wields the power of bad luck. By augmenting your bad luck, she can make it more likely for you to slip up in battle, possibly granting her her unlikely upper hand. Life's just not fair, is it?

-- STAGE THREE --

The Human City is a massive capital, huge and imposing, bordered by tall walls yet not closed to the public. Humans, as a rule, tend to stick together in groups of their own, and sometimes a bit afraid of other creatures who can be much more dangerous to their delicate sensibilities. Over thousands of years this culminated in a city with a massive human population, not hostile to outsiders, but definitely a little nervous around them.

At the massive gate that makes the entrance to the city, many people tend to gather, and merchants sell their wares. Looking for some kind of help, Blood Moon draws near, trying to single out someone who looks like they might know anything. One specific person seems to catch her eye...

SNINZEL: FANTASTICAL TIRED RETAIL WORKER A beast who pretends to be human, so that she can sell her wares more easily to the human city. She can't hide her tail, though, so when asked she says it's a fashion statement. It surprisingly works better than you'd think! A merchant of magical objects, Sninzel typically comes across as delightful and talkative. Her stall has a welcoming feeling, making you want to buy something. She takes criticism poorly, but tries to hide it under a veneer of friendliness. Privately, though, she is tired, impatient and easy to irritate. She's not an unpleasant person, though, she's just... overworked. She just needs to sit in a dark quiet room alone for a while. Don't we all? She wields the power of enchantment. She can imbue items with a purpose, and they'll do their best to serve the purpose. Be careful in battle, though, or she might just try to enchant you!

-- STAGE FOUR --

The city palace is a walk away from the city's entrance, following the long multicolored tile-patterned pathway straight forward until it gives way to the wide white steps leading up to it. It's hard for Blood Moon not to feel slightly hampered by the sights, the blocky and geometric colorful architecture of the city building up on all sides, thwarting her extremely rural sensibilities as someone who lives primarily in the middle of a big field.

The palace is awe-inspiring, as well-- a big, beautiful white building wreathed in gold accents. They enter the arched entrance to the first floor, massive panelled windows letting in sunlight as the sole light source (How do they see at night...?). Blood Moon keeps her eyes to the floor, nervously tracing the decorative shapes and patterns adorning the floor. It's a lot...

This palace is where the monarch of the city "resides", the first floor being the only one really open for others, composed mainly of the large and decorated throne room. She's not necessarily in there that often-- there's much to do that can't be done by sitting in a fancy chair-- but she's often in the vicinity, and indeed she is here, eyes fixating to Blood Moon with a piercing gaze.

BOOF: REVERED REGAL CHANGELING QUEEN Her demeanour can be horrifyingly intimidating and cold, but only when she deems it necessary. If she feels there is a threat to safety, she is merciless. Any other time, she's really not so bad. She doesn't tend to give herself a break, always working hard on some important thing. She cares deeply for her people, and is a compassionate ruler, known to personally step in to help people when she can. She seems... serious? Actually, it's hard to tell what her personality is like, as she holds others at a distance, and her focus is mainly on service... she seems to like being around others. You have to wonder if she's lonely? She wields the power of focus. She has the ability to force your focus to a specific point, zeroing in your attention to whatever she wants it to be. You can see how this could be a useful power for someone in her position, but it's also a pretty handy trick when you're in a fight. (She's also really strong.)

-- STAGE FIVE --

Back up the tiled path, out the gates, wrap back up again to her house, to Colint's house, over the river and into the unknown. Just kidding, she's probably been here before. It's not very far away, after all. The closer she seems to get, the redder the sky gets, the louder the noises, the heavier the tremors.

And yet, as though entering the eye of the storm, when she gets to the center, everything seems relatively normal. The sky immediately around is a pale pink, the noise not so loud. The ground is not so shaky, and it's blanketed in an array of red flowers. It's the kind of thing that invokes the feeling of a video game save point right before a boss fight... or at least it would, if there were video games. At the center of this eye, though, she finds someone interesting.

Someone interesting, someone unexpected, and someone who she already knows quite well.

FLORA CAPRA: GRACEFULLY GRACELESS CHIMERA GARDENER She's a chimera who's not very strong. She's also Blood Moon's girlfriend. She is energetic and loves to have fun. She seems to have an endless well of energy to draw from, always wanting to do something-or-other and rarely getting tired. She is silly, goofy, incredibly friendly, and very sincere. She's an honest girl with a good heart. She's capable of getting serious if the need arises, but it does bum her out. She gets along with basically anyone who isn't malicious. She doesn't have any sort of evil intentions. And again, she's not very strong. How exactly did she get here...?! She wields the power of plants. She's can summon them from herself, and can manipulate them to do what she needs. She likes to do things by hand, though, so she doesn't use it as often as she could. It's not a bad one for fights, however.

Through dutiful dodging and careful knowledge of all of Flora's weaknesses, though, Blood Moon is finally able to wrestle the relic out of Flora's hands. The flowers on the ground explode into a cloud of red petals, and Flora, now demoted to her regular old power level, flops backwards into the grass, laughing. It's over.

Blood Moon bops her lightly on the head. She should know better! She was being really bad. Flora keeps laughing, though, saying that she really didn't know how bad it was. Which does track with how much calmer it was at the center. And she didn't know it was stolen either, which... er, well, she didn't seem to care after she learned, but the palace doesn't have to know that. Blood Moon can return it safely, and then everyone can forget this ever happened, like a weird dream. All's well that ends well, and all that!

Blood Moon carts Flora with her back up to the human palace, where she is dutifully scolded by a high-ranking authority figure after Blood Moon calls her out. She absolutely hates this, but it is inevitable. Sorry, Flora. This had to happen.

Boof pays Blood Moon for her troubles in gold, which she accepts gracefully. What's she gonna buy? She'll figure that out some other time. She's had a long day of flying around trying to figure things out, and is ready to go home and rest. That seems to sound good to Flora, too.

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That's right. That should be everything, shouldn't it?

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There's nothing to worry about.

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You two can go home and get a good night's rest. You deserve it.

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With all luck provided, starting tomorrow...

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everything will be normal again.

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-- EXTRA STAGE --

One morning, some time after the incident, Blood Moon notices that an unusual person has been lurking around outside their house. She decides to investigate.

It's strange, though. They're definitely there, but she only sees them from a distance... when she walks closer, they seem to walk further. Are they trying to lead her somewhere? She probably shouldn't go too far...

Just as she considers turning back, she notices that she's starting to actually make headway in getting closer to them. Closer and closer, until she can actually make them out properly. The stranger turns around to face her. Her eyes are narrow. She looks angry.

The encounter feels so unusual. This person has a strange aura. Something feels wrong... the stranger looks older, and somewhat haggard, and Blood Moon gets the feeling she isn't human, and despite her apparent anger she is definitely 100% someone who Blood Moon has never seen before in her life. She looks directly in Blood Moon's eye, and then, in a metered voice, begins to speak.

Blood Moon is tired. She just woke up, hadn't even really had breakfast, and immediately was attacked by an Extra Stage Boss. She's already not having a very good day. But, feeling very out of it, she leads Seo to to the human city and into the palace, flagging down Boof to talk to her about the situation.

Seo, too, isn't having a very good day, and really hasn't been having a very good day for quite a long time now, and is now EXTREMELY out of her element now that she's in an extravagant palace in a strange colorful city that didn't exist thousands of years ago. But with some strained but patient discussion on all parts, she is allowed to explain herself, and lays her story straight.

Seo is extremely, immensely relieved, and extremely grateful. She thanks Boof gratuitously, thanks Blood Moon gratuitously, apologizes to Blood Moon gratuitously, and, now rather humbled and quiet, takes her leave.

But that will not be the end we see of her, here; lonesome traveler though she is, there's something that draws her towards this comfortable corner of the world.

Blood Moon gives her regards to Boof, and heads on her way back, contented that the overarching situation is finally settled. There's no way there could be even more to this, could there?! (Don't worry-- there isn't.) It's important for her to get home, now, to her girlfriend who is probably VERY confused and probably concerned about how she left the house so long ago to check something and just never came back?!?!

But it's okay. She'll be right there.