So, going back to Bastille’s injury subplot, I call this subplot Ruska because it was inspired by Apocalyptica’s song “Ruska” (which in Finnish means “leaves turning colorful in autumn”?)

Anyway, here’s a bunch of storyboards I made for it ages ago. I actually still kinda like it because it perfectly conveyed Ichor’s character and Bastille’s growing disappointment with her, in a short and sweet way and with no dialogue.

If you can’t tell what’s going on there, Ichor is trying to craft a boquet out of leaves with her mind powers, but fails miserably because she can’t quite control it properly. Frustrated, she throws the book aside, but once again, doesn’t control her power and accidentally hits Bastille with the book, sending her flying off the cliff and breaking her spine. I did intend it to be ridiculous and awkward, but it’s probably way too ridiculous tbh.

Ichor freaks out, but doesn’t tell anyone, just leaving Bastille there until Mrs McDowell notices she’s missing and finds her body. Bastille is alive but paralyzed, and this accident makes her start completely loathe Ichor, not even just for the injury, but for the fact that Ichor is so weak and cowardly she abandoned her and told no one, fearing the consequences. Ichor even pitifully tries to patch things up by making an actual leaves boquet, but Bastille just throws the vase at her.

The next part is a little outdated here. Like I said, in the newer version Pepper uses her wish to cure Bastille. Here Bastille and Ruggedo just make a weird clock corset device to help the operation. The Deaths patch Bastille’s spine up, even though now it’s more fragile than before. In the morning Mrs McDowell finds the bloody bed and Bastille already walking on crutches (where the hell did she get those), with a new haircut no less. And Ichor is just left to grieve about their broken relationship, and that somehow helps her finally make the boquet with the mind powers. Idek.

I wouldn’t say I like how quickly this entire deal gets resolved, especially if we’re talking about an injury of this scale? On one hand, that’s not the focus of the subplot, the focus is Ichor’s harmful attitude and the fact that she chose to leave Bastille to die, so it doesn’t even really matter if Bastille is hurt in the end. On the other hand, a long-lasting injury would add more weight to the issue and would serve as a constant reminder to Ichor. But ey, who needs that when you have deus ex machina Deaths, right?