@UlvDakota @sgkat
Catchup Post!
This is the catchup post I promised I would make the other day. Below are mini-pictures of all the hatchlings for whom I neglected to make update posts when they hatched, with their names above them. There's also a lore update at the end of the post.
Europium, Zirconium, Lutetium, Vanadium
And Lanthanum and Osmium and Astatine and Radium
And Gold and Protactinium and Indium and Gallium
And Iodine and Thorium and Thulium and Thallium
There's Yttrium, Ytterbium, Actinium, Rubidium
And Boron, Gadolinium, Niobium, Iridium
And Strontium and Silicon and Silver and Samarium
And Bismuth, Bromine, Lithium, Beryllium, and Barium
There's Holmium and Helium and Hafnium and Erbium
And Phosphorus and Francium and Fluorine and Terbium
Lore Update: Family Albums
It wasn't clear exactly where the Wandering Contagion ended and Arcane territory began. The surface of the ground gradually became less dominated by mold, moss, fungus, and gray dust, and more and more covered by green grass and crystalline pebbles. There was also a gradual shift in the pitch of the magical energy that hummed through the air; Velocity could sense it. He had been hatched in Plague, and his inner magic told him that he was once again leaving his native land.
He was on his way back to the lair of Clan Adeptica with his traveling companion, Fluorine, who had called the Starfall Isles home for most of her life, but who often traveled to other lands in search of knowledge of the elements of matter and magic. It was odd, perhaps, that Fluorine had never been to the Scarred Wasteland before, despite its being Arcane's closest neighbor. She had flown above it and past it on her way to other places, but had never actually stopped to visit it, until now. Velocity had taken her on a tour of his ancestral home and his old hunting grounds, during which they had performed several chemical analyses of pools of water and grown several bacterial specimens in broken bottles that had been melted and reshaped into covered glass dishes. Fluorine still had several of these in one of her traveling satchels, along with several scrolls and notebooks' worth of research notes.
She also carried the patchwork canvas sling she brought with her on every one of her journeys, and used to carry her new hatchlings back to her home. It was empty at the moment; like all Mirror hatchlings, Molybdenum and Magnesium had stamina and wits enough to survive on their own, and were walking alongside their parents, occasionally practicing their gliding.
The little family finally reached the shore, where the land alternately rose up into pink crystalline peaks and dropped off sharply into the ocean. "We're almost home," she said. "Come on, kids, it's time to take a ride." She began shepherding the little hatchlings into the canvas sling.
"Speaking of which," said Velocity, "it's a long flight back to the Observatory. I don't think I'm up for it, especially not after walking all day. Shall we get someone to give us a ride again?"
"Yes," said Fluorine, with a mischievous giggle. "In fact, we don't even have to take a boat to get back to the Observatory. We can hitch a ride on a crystal plinth instead. You up for that?"
"Sure," said Velocity. He and Fluorine both began scanning the skies and the surrounding peaks for one of the floating crystal plinths that were so often sent from these mountains to supply the needs of the Arcanist's organization.
"Why are we stopping here, Mommy?" said Molybdenum from inside the sling, which Fluorine was now wearing.
"We're waiting for a ride to take us back home," Fluorine said. "Just be patient."
The little Mirror snarled, but settled down. In time, the two adults saw a fragment of a nearby peak floating off into the air. Fluorine pointed, and she and Velocity stretched their wings and took off after it, trying to position themselves so that they wouldn't be easily visible from the direction of the peak it had come from. They managed to land on top of the floating crystal boulder; it bobbed slightly, but took their weight.
Velocity sighed in relief. "We did it! Great view from up here."
"Yeah," agreed Fluorine. They could see the ocean and the archipelago spread out below them, its many mountain peaks all curving toward their destination. All they had to do now was take off at the right moment and fly into the entrance of Clan Adeptica's lair, which was on one of the upper levels of the central mountain peak, just below the Observatory.
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Fluorine and Velocity made a reasonably graceful landing in their home lair, considering the traveling bags they were carrying. They were greeted at the entrance to the cave by Talia, Flamestrike, and Cobweb. Uh-oh, Fluorine thought. She knew exactly why those three, in particular, had come to meet them.
"Hi, guys!" Fluorine said, hiding her guilt behind a wide smile. "We're home! Would you like to meet the new hatchlings?"
"Yes," said Flamestrike. "I would very much like to meet them. In fact, I'd like to ask all four of you to come with me to the infirmary, please. I cannot allow you to return to the clan's common areas until I'm sure you're not carrying any infectious diseases."
"And as you've probably guessed, I'm here to enforce that policy," said Talia, who was dressed in the battle armor that signified her position as protectress of the clan's borders.
Fluorine hung her head. "Okay, guys, you caught me fair and square. I did bring some particularly interesting specimens back with me, and I don't mean the kids. They're in one of my bags. I won't open them."
"Good," said Flamestrike, and led the way to the clan's infirmary.
Flamestrike and Cobweb busied themselves with their spells, potions, and herbs, which they made their patients eat, despite the hatchlings' protestations that plants would only make them sicker. Their father told them that that wasn't always true, and that the clan healers only wanted to help them survive. That quieted them down.
Word spread quickly that Fluorine and Velocity were home, but that they weren't allowed visitors until their quarantine period was over. One dragon, however, cared not for such restrictions and came to the door of the infirmary.
"Flamestrike!" Sheena called, knocking on the door.
"Is that you, Sheena?" Flamestrike called from the other side. "I know you'd probably be fine, but you can't come in. Not everyone has your level of immunity."
"Yeah, I know, but you didn't treat me like a social pariah when I first came here! Or my son!"
"We were a smaller clan then, and besides, Heath vouched for you. You also hadn't come straight from the Scarred Wasteland; you'd passed through the Tangled Wood first. And your son was hatched here in the Starfall Isles; he couldn't have been carrying anything."
"Okay, fine, I won't come in. Hi, Fluorine! Hi, Velocity! Welcome home!"
"Hi, Sheena!" Fluorine called excitedly from behind the door. "Thanks for coming!"
"Hello again," Velocity added. "We'll see you in the morning, assuming we're all cleared by then."
"I think you will be," Flamestrike said. "All your tests have checked out so far."
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Fluorine, Velocity, and their two daughters were, indeed, released from the infirmary the next day. The little ones wasted no time in making friends with the other hatchlings in the clan, and started running around the lair and playing games with the rest of them. Velocity and Sheena talked about how things were going in the Scarred Wasteland these days, and Fluorine caught up with all her old friends and made a new one.
Erishya had just moved into Clan Adeptica a few days before Fluorine had come home from her latest trip. She thought Molybdenum and Magnesium were adorable, and struck up a conversation by telling Fluorine so. Erishya was from the Viridian Labyrinth, but was very interested in reading, learning, and experimenting, so she found Fluorine's ongoing quest for knowledge absolutely fascinating. Fluorine was very happy to tell her all about it and share what she had learned. She even invited her new friend to help her organize and catalogue her research notes from her most recent trip, and copy a summarized version of them into the master journal she was keeping.
The process of updating her research got Fluorine thinking. She had learned and experienced so much on all her travels, but there was one aspect of the records of her quest that she had been neglecting. She had the clan pass the word along that she wanted to speak with Peaseblossom and Moonshadow together, and they both came to meet her in one of the clan's common rooms.
"Thanks for coming," Fluorine said. "I wanted to speak with you because I need your help. I've decided I want to put together a scrapbook of all my travels so far, all the places I've visited and all the hatchlings I've had."
"You're a scientist," Moonshadow said. "Don't you already have plenty of records of your own?"
"I do, but all I have is a bunch of lab notebooks and copies of scientific texts. I was thinking of something more like a family album. That's why I need your help. If either of you have anything written down about me and my family, I'd like a copy of it. I want to start keeping better track of where I have and haven't been so far. I was keeping track at first, but I got distracted by the other things I was learning and kind of... stopped. I know there are lands I haven't been to yet, and some I've been to more than once, but I don't have a written list of all my trips, and I would like to have one. I'd like it to have all my offspring and mates on it, too."
"I am afraid I only have records of those among your offspring who went to serve the Arcanist," Peaseblossom said. "I have not been keeping records of those who went to serve any of the other deities. I am sorry."
"That's all right," said Fluorine. "Even that is much more information than I had to start with. I'll piece the rest together from my lab notebooks and my memories."
"I have some daily log notes and clan registry entries that should be helpful, too," said Moonshadow. "Come with me to the library, and I'll show you."
The three of them went to the library and started working on Fluorine's family album. Soon enough, she had the list she had wanted, which allowed her to set priorities for the next few phases of her research.
Catchup Post!
This is the catchup post I promised I would make the other day. Below are mini-pictures of all the hatchlings for whom I neglected to make update posts when they hatched, with their names above them. There's also a lore update at the end of the post.
Europium, Zirconium, Lutetium, Vanadium
And Lanthanum and Osmium and Astatine and Radium
And Gold and Protactinium and Indium and Gallium
And Iodine and Thorium and Thulium and Thallium
There's Yttrium, Ytterbium, Actinium, Rubidium
And Boron, Gadolinium, Niobium, Iridium
And Strontium and Silicon and Silver and Samarium
And Bismuth, Bromine, Lithium, Beryllium, and Barium
There's Holmium and Helium and Hafnium and Erbium
And Phosphorus and Francium and Fluorine and Terbium
Lore Update: Family Albums
It wasn't clear exactly where the Wandering Contagion ended and Arcane territory began. The surface of the ground gradually became less dominated by mold, moss, fungus, and gray dust, and more and more covered by green grass and crystalline pebbles. There was also a gradual shift in the pitch of the magical energy that hummed through the air; Velocity could sense it. He had been hatched in Plague, and his inner magic told him that he was once again leaving his native land.
He was on his way back to the lair of Clan Adeptica with his traveling companion, Fluorine, who had called the Starfall Isles home for most of her life, but who often traveled to other lands in search of knowledge of the elements of matter and magic. It was odd, perhaps, that Fluorine had never been to the Scarred Wasteland before, despite its being Arcane's closest neighbor. She had flown above it and past it on her way to other places, but had never actually stopped to visit it, until now. Velocity had taken her on a tour of his ancestral home and his old hunting grounds, during which they had performed several chemical analyses of pools of water and grown several bacterial specimens in broken bottles that had been melted and reshaped into covered glass dishes. Fluorine still had several of these in one of her traveling satchels, along with several scrolls and notebooks' worth of research notes.
She also carried the patchwork canvas sling she brought with her on every one of her journeys, and used to carry her new hatchlings back to her home. It was empty at the moment; like all Mirror hatchlings, Molybdenum and Magnesium had stamina and wits enough to survive on their own, and were walking alongside their parents, occasionally practicing their gliding.
The little family finally reached the shore, where the land alternately rose up into pink crystalline peaks and dropped off sharply into the ocean. "We're almost home," she said. "Come on, kids, it's time to take a ride." She began shepherding the little hatchlings into the canvas sling.
"Speaking of which," said Velocity, "it's a long flight back to the Observatory. I don't think I'm up for it, especially not after walking all day. Shall we get someone to give us a ride again?"
"Yes," said Fluorine, with a mischievous giggle. "In fact, we don't even have to take a boat to get back to the Observatory. We can hitch a ride on a crystal plinth instead. You up for that?"
"Sure," said Velocity. He and Fluorine both began scanning the skies and the surrounding peaks for one of the floating crystal plinths that were so often sent from these mountains to supply the needs of the Arcanist's organization.
"Why are we stopping here, Mommy?" said Molybdenum from inside the sling, which Fluorine was now wearing.
"We're waiting for a ride to take us back home," Fluorine said. "Just be patient."
The little Mirror snarled, but settled down. In time, the two adults saw a fragment of a nearby peak floating off into the air. Fluorine pointed, and she and Velocity stretched their wings and took off after it, trying to position themselves so that they wouldn't be easily visible from the direction of the peak it had come from. They managed to land on top of the floating crystal boulder; it bobbed slightly, but took their weight.
Velocity sighed in relief. "We did it! Great view from up here."
"Yeah," agreed Fluorine. They could see the ocean and the archipelago spread out below them, its many mountain peaks all curving toward their destination. All they had to do now was take off at the right moment and fly into the entrance of Clan Adeptica's lair, which was on one of the upper levels of the central mountain peak, just below the Observatory.
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Fluorine and Velocity made a reasonably graceful landing in their home lair, considering the traveling bags they were carrying. They were greeted at the entrance to the cave by Talia, Flamestrike, and Cobweb. Uh-oh, Fluorine thought. She knew exactly why those three, in particular, had come to meet them.
"Hi, guys!" Fluorine said, hiding her guilt behind a wide smile. "We're home! Would you like to meet the new hatchlings?"
"Yes," said Flamestrike. "I would very much like to meet them. In fact, I'd like to ask all four of you to come with me to the infirmary, please. I cannot allow you to return to the clan's common areas until I'm sure you're not carrying any infectious diseases."
"And as you've probably guessed, I'm here to enforce that policy," said Talia, who was dressed in the battle armor that signified her position as protectress of the clan's borders.
Fluorine hung her head. "Okay, guys, you caught me fair and square. I did bring some particularly interesting specimens back with me, and I don't mean the kids. They're in one of my bags. I won't open them."
"Good," said Flamestrike, and led the way to the clan's infirmary.
Flamestrike and Cobweb busied themselves with their spells, potions, and herbs, which they made their patients eat, despite the hatchlings' protestations that plants would only make them sicker. Their father told them that that wasn't always true, and that the clan healers only wanted to help them survive. That quieted them down.
Word spread quickly that Fluorine and Velocity were home, but that they weren't allowed visitors until their quarantine period was over. One dragon, however, cared not for such restrictions and came to the door of the infirmary.
"Flamestrike!" Sheena called, knocking on the door.
"Is that you, Sheena?" Flamestrike called from the other side. "I know you'd probably be fine, but you can't come in. Not everyone has your level of immunity."
"Yeah, I know, but you didn't treat me like a social pariah when I first came here! Or my son!"
"We were a smaller clan then, and besides, Heath vouched for you. You also hadn't come straight from the Scarred Wasteland; you'd passed through the Tangled Wood first. And your son was hatched here in the Starfall Isles; he couldn't have been carrying anything."
"Okay, fine, I won't come in. Hi, Fluorine! Hi, Velocity! Welcome home!"
"Hi, Sheena!" Fluorine called excitedly from behind the door. "Thanks for coming!"
"Hello again," Velocity added. "We'll see you in the morning, assuming we're all cleared by then."
"I think you will be," Flamestrike said. "All your tests have checked out so far."
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Fluorine, Velocity, and their two daughters were, indeed, released from the infirmary the next day. The little ones wasted no time in making friends with the other hatchlings in the clan, and started running around the lair and playing games with the rest of them. Velocity and Sheena talked about how things were going in the Scarred Wasteland these days, and Fluorine caught up with all her old friends and made a new one.
Erishya had just moved into Clan Adeptica a few days before Fluorine had come home from her latest trip. She thought Molybdenum and Magnesium were adorable, and struck up a conversation by telling Fluorine so. Erishya was from the Viridian Labyrinth, but was very interested in reading, learning, and experimenting, so she found Fluorine's ongoing quest for knowledge absolutely fascinating. Fluorine was very happy to tell her all about it and share what she had learned. She even invited her new friend to help her organize and catalogue her research notes from her most recent trip, and copy a summarized version of them into the master journal she was keeping.
The process of updating her research got Fluorine thinking. She had learned and experienced so much on all her travels, but there was one aspect of the records of her quest that she had been neglecting. She had the clan pass the word along that she wanted to speak with Peaseblossom and Moonshadow together, and they both came to meet her in one of the clan's common rooms.
"Thanks for coming," Fluorine said. "I wanted to speak with you because I need your help. I've decided I want to put together a scrapbook of all my travels so far, all the places I've visited and all the hatchlings I've had."
"You're a scientist," Moonshadow said. "Don't you already have plenty of records of your own?"
"I do, but all I have is a bunch of lab notebooks and copies of scientific texts. I was thinking of something more like a family album. That's why I need your help. If either of you have anything written down about me and my family, I'd like a copy of it. I want to start keeping better track of where I have and haven't been so far. I was keeping track at first, but I got distracted by the other things I was learning and kind of... stopped. I know there are lands I haven't been to yet, and some I've been to more than once, but I don't have a written list of all my trips, and I would like to have one. I'd like it to have all my offspring and mates on it, too."
"I am afraid I only have records of those among your offspring who went to serve the Arcanist," Peaseblossom said. "I have not been keeping records of those who went to serve any of the other deities. I am sorry."
"That's all right," said Fluorine. "Even that is much more information than I had to start with. I'll piece the rest together from my lab notebooks and my memories."
"I have some daily log notes and clan registry entries that should be helpful, too," said Moonshadow. "Come with me to the library, and I'll show you."
The three of them went to the library and started working on Fluorine's family album. Soon enough, she had the list she had wanted, which allowed her to set priorities for the next few phases of her research.
