Seventh Ocean Media

“You are the wings that make me a pegasus. With this ring, I declare my undying love for you, Jesse.”

Ariella Jones, presenting Jesse with the ring.

While physical totems are uncommon in combinoft pairings, Ariella’s love for Jesse Schucart compelled her to give him an engagement ring, as she was the one who planned to pop the question. Using her own resources accrued from her Pan Knight training, she commissioned her slvskorte Nillavan to craft it. While pixie gold and silver are not imbued with special powers on their own, the emotions of those who craft the metal, and the emotions of the beings whose love it is meant to represent, these unlock magical, mystical properties when said emotions are at their highest apex.

Appearance

On a band setting of Oberelectrum — fae gold and fae silver blended together, a faceted stone of Tiger’s Eye, in the shape of an apple, sits. In the middle of the gem is a small stone of lazuli, in the shape of a faceted heart. The apple’s stem and leaves are made of precious emerald. In a show of cheekiness and beauty, the outline of Ariella’s left eye and tic marks are engraved around a faceted circle gem of precious sapphire.

Significance

The ring is a silent declaration of love that only Jesse would understand, which translates into the intended wearer being the apple of her eyes. Furthermore, the choice of the main gem comes from her pet name for him, going as far back as their first life prior to 1837: “Tiger”. Ariella was forced to live with the fact that Jesse’s memories of their childhood together were sealed during the embargo period, and forsook the more traditional silver rings so that Jesse could never forget their bond again.

History: Curse of the Other Hope Diamond

In the year 20XX, after all embargos were finally lifted by the Neverlords on their granddaughter Ariella and her true love, Jesse, Ariella wasted no time in accelerating their courtship, knowing full well how each one of them felt for the other. The one thing that plagued Ariella was her fear of Jesse’s mother and father not approving of her as his bride; precipitated by her unconventional, tomboyish nature and appearence. For weeks, Ariella had grappled with the possibilities of how to appear more feminine in Shari and Bob’s eyes, finally deciding that she needed to change her style, which led her to a mysterious diamond on a black choker that was found in a storefront window across from Kafe Soucie. Despite Jesse’s suspicions of the gem, and the man who “sold” it to her, in exchange for her autographing his copies of her books; Ariella got the gem, and began to prepare for a special dinner at the Schucart’s house; where she would dazzle the family with her feminine grace and gentle manner, so as to finally pop the question to Jesse.

While Ariella was preparing herself, with Bella’s help via a mani-pedi, Nillavan had completed and delivered the precious cargo of the ring. It had turned out better than Ariella had ever hoped, and was now ready to make Jesse her combinoft. However, at dinner, Ariella began to feel immense physical pain, and excused herself to the bathroom; and in an instant, a dark and negative energy was infused inside her; draining her of her physical youth. Furthermore, the gem around her neck was undetachable now. With her Aunt Esther’s help, Ariella was taken to the former’s apartment, confined in a Panshield barrier, and the gem was extracted. After tracking down the man who set this all in motion, AJ’s sister Nicole along with Esther learned, right before he took his own life, that it was a setup to destroy the Trinity of Pan, and that the man was a renegade pirate from 20th Century Earth who believed that he was another version of Huek.

The spell was kept at bay by keeping Ariella within a self-sustaining Pansheild bubble in Esther and Jillian’s apartment, with her youth and health still contained with her, but the power of the gem was too strong. Once the week was up, Ariella was going to die from the advanced stress of reaching extreme old age that very day, and she was prepared for that. When Jess was brought to her, Ariella told him that she released him from their bond; that he move on. Not willing to part with her, something awakened in Jesse; a primal fight or flight that was triggered by the Panshield that was protecting Ariella, crack apart.

Jesse grabbed the cursed diamond, shouted the words that were forming in his head, absorbing the final lethal reservior of Neskomf energy, rapidly aging him from 21 to 102 in a matter of seconds. Both could feel that their heartbeats were on their last, so they decided that they would go out, together. Jesse reached into his pocket, revealing the ring that Ariella had intended to give him that night at the Schucarts’. Ariella placed it gingerly on his finger and they had one final kiss. Or so they thought…

With their love for each other far past its apex, the innate mystical properties of the constituant components of the ring manifested, not only reversing the spell, but began to create within Jesse his Magical Gear cells. Right when the kiss concluded, both Ariella and Jesse were brought to Faye-Sol Palace in the Neverscape, where Nicole was being treated for a Post-Traumatic Stress attack, brought on by her witnessing the faux Huek slaughter himself whilst laughing at the Trinity of Pan’s demise.