Creative Corner

@ArgenteaMoon I'm still alive, I promise. I was quite sick for over a week, but I'm getting back on track. Maybe I'll have a new post this weekend; I've started on it at least.

@AmongTheStars well it's good that you're feeling better! I didn't want to sound impatient or anything but I've watched way too many good Nuzlockes fall over and I was quite enjoying this one :3

Eyes make mistake, get caught. Little clan keep in dark cave all day long. Beg three days to get enough sunlight to send message - leave orb outside to get reply.

Little clan angry that eyes sneak around lair to watch egg. Say eyes made dark fuzz-dragon sad over lies. Not true! Eyes never tell lies, never tell anything.

Egg hatch safe, male mirror. Mama fuzz dragon bad at names, poor hatchling almost get name "WateringCan" or "EggSayer." Eyes remember bad old story about hatchling that nature-eyes steal, and sister-dragon chase through Labyrinth to steal back. Nature-eyes-boss in story have same name as this eyes, so tell story, get hatchling name same as story hatchling. Embarrass this eyes, but better than little mirror with name "WateringCan."

Eyes worried about teaching; little clan's teachers study much, but not have normal educations. Know much about one thing, nothing about other thing. Get caught means can talk to clan now, so please give advice for little clan. Hatchling good at words, learn to talk very fast - need better teaching soon.

Last thing: HELP. Eyes prisoner, also Lightning eyes not get to little clan. Also bad magic here, little clan maybe safe but maybe not, and not-clan is for sure not safe. Big shadow-shell guardian watch cave all night, scary mirror hunter watch half of day, magic study dragons pick scales off back and wave rocks at eyes other half. Can not escape alone. This place not safe for eyes. Help help help.

Reply soon. Expect delay if need more information.



OOC: Poor Gareth, he's always been a bad spy but this is a new low even for him :P

Ah-ha! The forum subscription thing is working - you can't sneak these "eyes" posts by me anymore! ;)

Eyes not think suggestion funny. Mean boss! Ask for help to escape, boss not suppoed to say "Stay there for own choice, then it not prison." Need rescue, not philosophy lesson.

Good news for allied eyes: scary hunter dragon find lightning eyes sent to be clan-eyes, rescue from rock fall. Lightning clan-eyes healthy, not "grounded" by bad magic yet. Shadow-shell study dragon say magic knows clan-eyes is member of clan, so maybe safe now. Rude eyes, teases this eyes much about capture.

Message from lightning clan-eyes for transmit to lightning boss:
ARRIVED ASSIGNED CLAN, ACCEPTED CLAN-MEMBER AND LIGHTNING LIASON. RECOVERING CHARGE AFTER SERIOUS ACCIDENT, WILL SEND NORMAL MESSAGE 5 DAYS. ADVISE FIRE NET TO USE COASTAL ROUTE TO AVOID ROCK FALLS IN CRYSTALWIND PASS.
-PRODUCTIVITY TO THE BOSS! SPIRE EYES NETWORK AGENT 5236842

Message from this eyes to own boss: GET ME OUT OF HERE. Eyes not want to turn to statue.


OOC: I promise I'm working on a real post. This time, I'll even save my draft instead of letting Win10 auto-update throw it out for a reboot >.<

@Violetah: *points at nesting grounds

@AmongTheStars *Looks at nesting ground, then at bio* Daww! I can't wait until you catch up on the main story. I love the eye bits though, they're so funny/cute.

[quote name="NetShy" date=2016-07-28 22:44:36] Ah-ha! The forum subscription thing is working - you can't sneak these "eyes" posts by me anymore! ;) [/quote] Good idea... *subscribes* @AmongTheStars I changed my name from Neige to Fuurin! And I want to stay on your ping list please :3

@Fuurin
Duly noted; i'll update it for the upcoming post.

[b]Hit the Wall[/b] [item=hourglass] @NetShy, @Fuurin, @DruidicMelody, @AdventureChaser, @Wildehearted, @ArgenteaMoon, @Fairyn, @ScienceGal8, @IronPen, @Neloth, @BarbaraFett, @Firewood, @Aluna, @Violetah, @Artimisnight12, @Espeon5712, @Dreamcoyote The weeks when DarkRain and Enigma were on the nest were hard ones for the clan. If felt as if a cloud of fear and grief had settled over the clearing, shadowing even the bright clear summer days, and suffocating the nights. The clan struggled to deal with that fear and grief, each in their own ways. DarkRain, naturally enough, was almost frighteningly protective of her remaining egg. She might extend a wing over Enigma's nest to give her sister a short break, but she herself could barely stand to let anyone else guard her own egg for even a minute. She would thank Enigma or Viviane calmly enough if they offered her a break, but somehow she never "Felt the need just yet." Anakin could pry her up for 5 minutes by demanding a turn, as opposed to suggesting she might need a chance to stretch or eat, but no mere apeal to common sense or caring for herself could move her. Enigma laid her own eggs three days after DarkRain, and was equally horrified (if slightly less shocked) when one of her three also turned out to be dead in stone. She managed to be slightly more reasonable about letting Wyeth and Viviane (and DarkRain's other wing) cover her nest for short breaks, but even she was hardly motivated to spend any more time than necessary away from her live eggs. Viviane ended up playing nest-nurse to the paranoid and grieving mothers, bringing them water and snacks and constant reasurances that their live eggs were still doing just fine. Anael and Sithi might have been better choices for such reasurance, but they were still making the clan nervous with their constant and now urgent studies. They examined everyone in the clan with eye and antennae and crystals and magic, and a week later they did it again. They also kept tabs on the living eggs as best they could with DarkRain making herself the living embodiment of the term "overprotective." They admitted to a suspicion that the petrification of the eggs was related to the same magical phenomenon they had been studying all along, but adamantly refused to say more until they had completed their examinations. As Anael put it, "Until we finish the examinations we won't know the answers you want anyway." As Sithi put it, "I can lie to you now, or tell you the truth in a week or three. Your choice." Even the shining goblin, Gareth, was clearly having troubles that went beyond merely being confined by an annoyed dragon clan. The morning after DarkRain laid her eggs, the clan gathered to hear him account for himself. In broken and halting draconic, he explained that he was one of the Eyes of the Lightweaver, and had been charged with placing some hibernating light eggs where they might be found. He had slipped his last egg into Enigma's bag, but then had second thoughts about giving the eggling so irrevocably to travelers when he knew so little about their clan. Lacking other orders, he had followed them home, and lurked around the lair to confirm that the egg hatched out safe. Technically, he hadn't actually lied to Enigma; he had not expected even a "fuzz-dragon" simply to assume that she had forgotten the egg's origin. "Fuzz-dragon have riddle name. Eyes was being mysterious," he protested. Enigma was still angry, though, and with the clan on edge anyway, they ended up deciding to "lock him up for a few weeks to teach him not to mess with people's feelings that way!" It took several days for him to convince his unappy jailors to let him out in the sunlight to use his communication crystal, and when they finally did, his troubles only multiplied - he was in trouble for getting caught, and his superiors were evidently more inclined to respond to his pleas for help with snarky comments than actual assistance. For all the grief and tension that clouded the lair, however, it could not be said that there was no relief from misery. Life did go and and good things did still happen. First and foremost, the light hatchling was a bright spot amidst it all. DarkRain and Enigma often kept him between them under stoneguard, where he burbled and sang and played Climb the Guardian, and reminded them to look forward to their live eggs hatching even as they grieved the dead ones. It took them quite a while to decide on his name; Viviane's proposals as usual tended to the embarassing side of obvious, but in this case she was inspired by the circumstances of his hatching. "WateringCan" was proposed but never seriously considered, in spite of his coloration, but the nickname "Egg-Sayer" seemed perilously close to sticking that first week. In the end, the shining goblin suggested a literary name, and the clan's males stood together to insist on [i]any[/i] name without "Egg" in it as ultimately less embarrassing. The hatchling was officially entered on the clan rolls as Tobiah. Surprisingly for a mirror, he proved gifted with language, learning both Draconic and Gareth's native language together and still progressing faster than any of his older clanmates had. Tobiah's interest in the goblin language (which had an inpronouncable name that evidently translated to something like "Eye-mouth") was helped along by the arrival of another goblin, this one a servant of the Stormcatcher, rescued by Anakin after some days of being caught in a cave-in or rock fall of some kind. The "lightning-eyes" did nothing to improve Gareth's situation, instead mocking him shamelessly for getting caught. His own discoverey was [i]different[/i] because he had been coming to offer his services to the clan as lightning liason, or what Gareth referred to as a "clan-eyes." As he put it, "I was supposed to find your clan and volunteer to join it from the beginning. Your lost mote of light there just went and magnetized his assignment - and besides, he's a light eyes that couldn't even study Draconic well enough to talk without embarassing himself and his service. SO pathetic - and they're supposed to be the scholarly ones! The Boss would fire him for sure." Anakin was spending every moment either hovering around the nest (admittedly not as literally as Jamin sometimes did) or out hunting, which had the somewhat peculiar effect of bringing a number of other friendly creatures to the lair. Most of them were wild forest birds. (Jamin's take on them was "Seriously? Another critter that turns things to stone? Like we NEED more petrifying magic?!?") There were also several beastclans folk, however - a clanless serthis, a dunhoof woman intrigued by the lone mirror solo-hunting with only a bear for a packmate, even a battered and remarkably lost yeti ("Lose big fight, go for swim...") and a mute but determinedly helpful mith. Wyeth and Jamin, similarly, distracted themselves from stress and grief by focussing on their jobs. Wyeth had been plotting a major forestry project; now he consulted with Sithi and began in earnest, the researchers monitoring the effects of his efforts with copious data collection. A side cave set aside for work areas was gradually becoming "snowed in" with papers and notes, scrolls and parchments, tablets and specimens. Jamin contributed interesting crystals, and then at their request boring representatives of what he found most often, and the occasional inert rock just for a paper-weight. He moved his own sorting and cutting tools to the Secret Lair to keep them out from under the drifting notes. Only Enigma's alchemy bench resisted the piles, mainly because Wyeth ruthlessly cleared any stray tatters out of her area daily, leaving Anael to find and re-collect them in the night. Finally, finally, after weeks of tension, Anael called the clan together in front of Stoneguard one evening to tell everyone what she and Sithi had learned. "The first thing you have to know," Anael began, "is that both Sithi and I were drawn here by observing - each in our own way - that there is a powerful magical vortex centered right here. As best we can tell, this incredible concentration of magical energy is controlled, and perhaps even caused, by Stoneguard." Anael paused as the official members of the clan gasped, muttered, and shot startled glances at the Statue. Viviane frowned heavily at the researchers. "There's no use glaring about it," Sithi interjected defensively. "We didn't say anything before because we knew you wouldn't like it, but we're [i]sure[/i] now. The magic is focused on Stoneguard, like it or not." "Indeed it is, and Stoneguard is obviously doing his best to keep it from harming you all." Anael continued, "We believe that this vortex is the expression of the curse that stunts the wildlife in your territory, turns feather mites and puffer parasites to stones and dust, and yes, is probably responsible for Stoneguard's own petrification and for what happened to the two eggs. However, the fact that it does [i]not[/i] happen to all of [i]you[/i] is evidently due to Stoneguard's intervention to keep the effect off of his clan. It's hard to follow clearly, but Stoneguard maintains a strong connection to Viviane, and through her to the rest of you - even your familiars." "The problem with the eggs is, little things fall to the magic faster than big things, and egglings are very small at first," Sithi took up the thread again. "Plus communications with Stoneguard are a smidge shaky, and he can't protect the egglings until he knows they're there. When you adopt dormant eggs, almost ready to hatch, the egglings are a lot bigger when they come into the territory - and then they hatch out and you write them into the clan roster, and they're protected as official members of the clan." "Most of the things that we've found turned to stone were insect sized or smaller, or had died of other causes first. It would take a very long period of exposure to fully petrify even a small dragon. If an egg resists long enough to be laid, then it's actually fairly safe until hatching. It's that earliest stage when they are most vulnerable. For those of us who are adults, it is more or less safe to travel through the territory, but guests who stay for more than a month or two might start feeling run down, and the longer they stay the more symptoms would begin to appear. This brings us to our final bit of news for the research so far." Anael paused dramatically. "After considerable thought and discussion, Sithi and I have decided that to be safe, we both need to either join the clan or depart soon and remain away for at least a year." "Neither of us wants to leave the clan in this time of trouble. We care for you all, and we want to stand by you, continue our research, and find a way to break this curse on your land." Sithi explained, "What Anael is saying is, we want to join your clan." OOC: Ugh, it's been a loooong month. Hopefully I'm back in shape for more frequent updates, though. I have SO much in my "To Write" outline right now - those unhatched eggs DarkRain and Enigma are over-protecting in this post have hatched out, grown up, learned to fight, and reached level 9 already.

Aaaah I missed this nuzlocke! Happy to see/ read an update! x3