Raffles & Giveaways

@Decaffeinated [url=http://flightrising.com/main.php?dragon=48558188] [img]http://flightrising.com/rendern/350/485582/48558188_350.png[/img] [/url] Oh, how people tired her. Tarnish had long ago accepted the ambassador job, despite knowing it involved socializing. Her plan was a good one, she thought – accept the position for the most far-flung allies to her lair. That way she could spend days and days on the road alone, and never have to worry about the others in her clan. She hated worrying. She had spent her life cultivating her mind so that her own problems never shook her, but had somehow never managed to apply that same skill to the problems of her friends. Their pains and jealousies, their bickering and gossiping, even their confusing joys, all of them pushed her own emotions round and round until she hardly felt like a person at all, more like a still pool disturbed by even the slightest drop or breath of wind. It was utterly exhausting. So, she chose travel. And it worked. She cherished her solitude, savoring the wind in her feathers, the hot and cold that made her sweat and shiver – so real, in comparison to the tides of feeling that had haunted her until now. She performed her duties with as much speed as possible, delivering messages and attending meetings as commanded but never lingering in the clans, never accepting invitations to eat with others or explore the creations of the dragons she tended. But of course, something had to spoil it. Night had fallen, but she didn’t feel like stopping. She was not on a proper road today – only pushing through miles of grassland, to bring the rain predictions for the upcoming days to the farming community on the east edge of the boarder. She wouldn’t get there until the end of the next day, but the night was warm and the stars were bright, and if she walked slowly enough she wouldn’t make more progress than she wanted to. Maybe if she’d been flying instead of walking, the stranger wouldn’t have found her. But he did find her, and she heard his steps fall in behind, perfectly in synch with her own. She turned her head sharply, intending to tell him off, but when she looked, there was nobody there. Nothing but footprints, following her own. She waited a moment, frowning, then turned to carry on. And heard it again – steps, heavier than hers, almost right on her tail. She turned again, and again, saw nothing. Her heart fluttering in her chest, she leapt into the air, wings pumping hard to drive her into the sky and away from the field. Wind rushing over her ears was not enough, however, to drown out the flapping of wings following her, or block the sharp, cruel laugh that echoed all around her in the open sky. “You have answered my call for months, and now you wish to run? My dear…it is far, far too late for that…” And she felt the claws sinking into her heart, choking off her breath, and she felt her hatred of others twist in her breast, and she plummeted through the sky, gasping and flailing, and the laughter echoed and echoed and echoed around her… And when she hit the ground, and opened her eyes, and wiped away the tears and dust, she was not in the field at all, but somewhere completely different. Somewhere dark, and cold…,with nothing around for miles but a single, ancient ruin, standing before her and gaping open at the sky like a corpse’s jaw. She caught her breath, looking everywhere but the ruin as she tried to think of some way to escape. Even as she thought, however, her steps drew her towards the ruin.

@mermaidlorelei Oof, so sorry about that! I was in a bit of a rush this morning and didn’t realize you were the right person to ping. I’ll get started on that lore!

@yeehawbuckaroo Friendly reminder about your hold. <3

Yes, I'm aware! I just took a really hecking big nap tho

@decaffeinated
I’m a running late for my hold, but I’ll have something ready by tonight, if that’s okay with you.

@Decaffeinated Still can't believe I won! This got kinda long sorry about that. I think I did the prompt justice! (Hopefully) It's exactly 1585 words long. (And 4 pages in google docs!) [size=1]@Ghastjio Thought I might want to ping you since I made up a bunch of dialogue for her mom and dad. I hope I stayed in their character!)[/size] oh wait. WARNING small attempted suicide. I think. Idk if what happens qualifies but still putting this here just in case. [url=http://flightrising.com/main.php?dragon=48419203] [img]http://flightrising.com/rendern/350/484193/48419203_350.png[/img] [/url] -------------------------- “Cassiopeia, my little queen. You’re going to grow up to do great things. Maybe you’ll even go up there.” [url=http://flightrising.com/main.php?p=view&id=200937&tab=dragon&did=39464066]The little imperial’s mother[/url] pointed to the sky when she said ‘there’. “You could even meet the ones who gave my blessing,” This time, she pointed to her wings when she said ‘blessing’. The hatchling tried traced the shining stars with her claws. “Now, Cassy. It’s time to go to sleep,” Constell picked her up. Cassy tried to protest by kicking her legs but she was wasn’t that strong. She didn’t want to go to sleep. Not again. Not ever. Her mother laid the imperial hatchling down on her bed untangling her from the cloak she was wrapped in. “Good night.” She said to the little one. “Gwood night,” Cassy said back. It had been an hour. The hatchlings eyelids had started to droop. No. She couldn’t sleep, not yet. But her body protested. Her eyes closed and she fell into a deep sleep. But then, her eyes opened again. For some reason, the imperial was all grown up now. She was in her bed. Cassy walked out of her lair, into a clearing of her clan. Suddenly, pain came from her wing tips, chest, tail, cheek, and feet. The pain was becoming increasingly unbearable. Tears ran down her face. She screamed. It felt like she was being encased in stone. Like acid was spreading across her body. The opal like splotches of purple were growing. Where ever they were hurt. A crowd gathered around her. Staring and pointing. No one made an attempt to help her. Finally, her whole body writhed with pain. She couldn’t move. Her eyesight was being blocked by the opal splotches. The imperial had been encased by her opal. Cassiopeia awoke in a cold sweat. Her whole body aching. Immediately she got up and ran to the nearest mirror. Her opal had spread slightly in all the places it was. At least she wasn’t encased in it. She thought. Her mom walked in. “Did you have another dream again?” She asked solemnly. Her hatchling nodded. “Oh Cassy,” A tear started to form in her eye as she touched where the opal was slowing growing. The hatchling flinched at her touch. “What are we going to do,” Constell whispered in a shaky voice. Her mother picked up Cassy later in the day and brought her to [url=http://flightrising.com/main.php?p=lair&id=200937&tab=dragon&did=39464065]Galexus[/url]. “Ok my little queen. Tell me about your dream,” Cassiopeia told her mother about the dream. It had been the same as last time but more intense. More real than before. This was the fourth time she had had the dream. Each time worse than the last. “I,” Constell took a shaky breath. “I have to talk to Uncle Galexus for a second okay?” She said to her daughter as she got up. “Ok,” The imperial hatchling said. Her mother and Uncle walked into another room. She was left with her own thoughts. Curious to what they were saying, Cassy got up and walked to the corner to eavesdrop. “--if we take her there!” Her mother said. “No! It’s the only way!” Her uncle yelled. “It is not! We can find another way! We have to!” “Everyday the pain is worse and it feels more real! What if one day it is real! There [i]is[/i] no other way!” “Dragons almost die going up there! I am [I]NOT[/i] putting my daughter in danger!” “Well if you won’t do it, I might!” … … … Cassy had heard enough. She walked back to her room and cried. Unfortunately she cried herself to sleep. The same dream occured. The only different thing was the level of pain and realism. Day after day. Year after year. Again and again the same nightmare plagued her dreams. The imperial’s opal spreading more and more. It was growing along with her. As she got older, it got bigger. Cassy ended up becoming more extroverted and loud. Thinking that if her dream came true, her clanmates would like her enough to help her. She put on a happy facade. Sarcasm and jokes in the day hid her inner demise at night. Finally, she couldn’t take it anymore. Cassy woke up in the middle of the night sweating. She was frustrated. Frustrated because of the pain. Frustrated because she was she was going to die. Frustrated because her opal was even worse. She couldn’t take it anymore. Soon she would be encased. The imperial ran out of her lair. Coming to the cliff by her clan. She looked out at the world for a few minutes. “Why do I have this- what to call it, curse?” she whispered to the stars. It would be so easy to.. to just leave this world. The opal wouldn’t get her then. She’d stop having those terrible dreams. Cassiopeia stepped closer to the edge of the cliff. “Cassy?” Her mother said looking at her daughter. Surprised, she stepped back. “Oh! H-hi Mom,” The imperial said in a soft voice. “What are you doing out here at this time of night?” “Uhh. Looking at the stars?” She said it more as a question than an answer. And hey! I could ask you the same thing!” “I heard something out here so I came to investigate,” “Oh. That makes sense,” “You okay?” “Y-yeah,” “You don’t seem okay,” “I-I just can’t do this anymore Mom,” Cassy broke down crying. “I’m so tired of this dream! I’m so tired of the pain! I don’t want to die! I don’t want to be taken over by this, this stupid opal!” The imperial said. “I hate it!” She screamed. “I hate it,” she whispered breaking down in sobs. Constell could see her daughters pain and demise. She looked up the stars. Once again feeling the pull she had felt again since her daughter’s birth. Knowing what she had to do, the adult imperial stood up. “I think I know how to fix this. Follow me Cassy,” Her daughter stood up and followed her mother as they flew somewhere. They finally reach their destination. The mother and daughter duo were on the top of the highest place near the clan. They sat down and looked at the stars. Constell closed her eyes. She knew it was too dangerous to take Cassy all the way up. This was the best she could do without putting her daughter in danger. “Please. If you’re listening. Help me. Please, save my daughter. I don’t know what’s wrong. She’s slowly being encased by her opal. I need to help her! I’ll do anything! Just, help her,” She prayed. Once again voices flooded her senses. “Should we help her? The poor girl will be encased by the opal by time she becomes an adult!” “Who did this? It had to be one of us!” “It was me! Constell had no right to share the starry blessing we gave to [i]her[/i]. It was supposed to only be hers! Not her daughter. She deserved it! I knew she was special from the start. I only enhanced the growth of her opal” “No! You did this. Now you must help her. Fix your mistake,” “Fine,” “Wait. What are you doing? You can’t do that!” “She did say that she would do anything. It’s the only way.” “Will she stay like that forever?” “Yes,” Constell’s eyes opened suddenly. She was back in her lair lying down. Galexus rushed over to her. He must have carried her back. “You’re awake! Are you okay?” He worriedly asked. She began to sit up. “Y-yeah I’m fine,” “What happened?” The imperial male questioned. “I found Cassy outside by the cliff. We talked for a bit and we fina--” Constell stopped talking at once. She stared at something on the floor. She couldn’t believe her eyes. This had to be a dream. This couldn’t be real. She pinched herself. It was real. Her daughter. Her little queen. Cassiopeia. She was.. She was a baby again. A small little hatchling running around on all fours playing. Her opal receded back to when she was just a small blue shiny ball. Constell started to tear up. Partly in joy. Partly in sadness. She was so confused. But then she remembered the voices. “The poor girl will be encased by the opal by time she becomes an adult!” “She did say that she would do anything,” “Will she stay like that forever?” “Yes,” Constell pieced the puzzle together. The voices had heard her. “By the time she becomes an adult… I would do anything…” She looked at the baby form of her Cassy. Her opal looked perfectly normal. She looked just like she had before the dreams. The imperial mother remembered the last bits of what she had heard: “Will she stay like that forever?” “Yes,” One of the voices had changed her daughter into a hatchling. Forever. “Hi Momma!” The hatchling yelled as she ran over to her mother snapping her out of her thoughts. “It seems she has no recollection of what happened with her opal. Not even the dreams.” Galexus said. “O-O-opol?” Cassy tried to say opal. “What is my opol?” She asked. “Nothing. All you need to know, is that your safe. I love you my little queen,” “I wuv you too Momma!” --------------------------------- Oh yay, ANOTHER eternal youth scroll to save up for! (jkjk I'm getting her a scroll but still love her)

@mermaidlorelei Sorry it’s so long - still, I’m proud :D [url=http://flightrising.com/main.php?dragon=48406427] [img]http://flightrising.com/rendern/350/484065/48406427_350.png[/img] [/url] [font=courier new][color=darkslateblue] • Pyxis : The Compass • [color=mediumslateblue] Pyxis wasn’t just simply a dragon, she was the daughter of an incarnate star, the daughter of a [i]god. [/i] Okay, maybe the indigo dragoness was also a little full of herself. Pyxis, being the deep purple daughter of Achernar and Nashira, had always attracted the attention of others. Her confident and optimistic attitude was contagious, which led to her being quite popular within groups. She could read dragons like a book, and most came to her with the intent of finding out where they belonged, where they needed to go, or what they most wanted. They came to her to know their heart’s greatest desire. That was Pyxis’ greatest talent - the ability to understand a dragon and tell them what they most wanted or needed in life, whatever or wherever their soul was leading them to. Their [i]home[/i], as to say. Like a compass, she could point them toward their true north. Whether or not this power was accredited to her father’s celestial heritage was dependent on whom you asked. Dragons asking her Nashira would get back the reply that it was simply something that she was good at, yet a question toward Achernar would be answered with the fact that it was due to his origins. Her mother’s deterrence to her ability being celestial often came up, yet she was curious as to why. Still, it was no doubt that Nashira loved her husband and children with all her heart. When she first discovered her talent and began to use it with others, a cream and midnight dragon had given her the nickname “Compass”. She thought it quite odd how easily he had hit the nail on the head, seeing as her parents had named her after the constellation of that very object. He hung around quite often to see what she would tell dragons, shooting glances whenever he could. She waved it off as him simply being interested, but the time he spent around her grew every day. She, too, began to grow curious about him. After an attempt to read his heart, she came up with nothing. The discovery shook her to the bone, yet she played it off and didn’t show anyone her fear. The only other dragon the Wildclaw hadn’t been able to read was herself. Pyxis learned his name to be Nepaku: an observant and odd dragon whom others didn’t find themselves liking very much. In other words, he wasn’t very popular. He lived on his own in the clan, despite being so young. She kept an eye on him for the next few weeks, her curiosity increasingly spitting out questions for him in her mind. Now, Pyxis was definitely an observant dragon - despite that, things often went over her head when dealing with dragons close to her. Her father was one of those dragons. One night, the dragoness was stepping through the grass on a midnight walk, dew gathering on her talons. She paused, fiery eyes reaching toward the stars she felt such a connection to. Squinting, she tried to focus on a star that hadn’t been there before. All of a sudden, a transparent dragon appeared in front of her, full of stars and unearthly in every aspect. “Greetings,” a voice boomed - clearly male and wise, yet somehow… off. The frill of feathers along her neck rose with static and tension. She sensed danger. Again, he spoke, “I am Cassis, brother of Achernar and son of Taurus. I am your uncle.” The spots where the eyes would have been if the dragon were actually there glower with a brighter light, lowering to rest on her. She felt as if they were burning into her soul, and despite all the other questions and shock shooting through her brain like asteroids, Pyxis had to wonder if this was was how it felt to other dragons when she ‘read’ them. “What?” She asked, not one to cower in the face of a Star itself, “You’re my father’s brother?” “Indeed,” he replied, a hiss spiking in the back of his throat, “And don’t think I’m proud to be.” Cassis began to circle, twisting his neck back toward her. Despite not[i] being there[/i], it seemed ever so real - even his bare canines glinted in the moonlight. She stepped back, wings instinctively stretching out ever so slightly to make herself appear bigger. His voice intruded into her ears yet again, “Your father is a murderer, half-born. Killer of my father, exiled and thrown down from the sky. He’s nothing that you think he is.” Now that - that didn’t make sense to Pyxis. She shook her head, her frills rising in shock, fear, betrayal, and denial all wrapped into one. Something compelled her to believe him, and her inner compass pointed to truth. One thought crossed her mind, brought about by the piercing gaze of her uncle. [i] My father is a murderer.[/i] “No!” She shrieked, taking to the sky and beating her iridescent wings. She pressed her temples with her claws, hissing as she flew toward the coast. Toward the ocean - away from her family. Away from Cassis. Hours passed, and she was beginning to grow tired. She’d been mildly aware of wingbeats on her trail for a while, but they were quiet and she figured it was just a bird. Seagulls were common around the Tsunami flats. [i] The Tsunami Flats…[/i] She was definitely far from home now, and had flown the longest in her life. She’d been falling in and out of delusions the whole way there, eyelids dropping and her wings doing the same. Thankfully, she caught herself nearly every time. This time, however, she was not so lucky. Pyxis fell from the sky, as Cassis said her father had so long ago. Like a shooting star she streaked toward the ground, wings too weak to hold her up anymore. She watched the sand grow close and closer, the ocean waves reaching up to cradle her starry hide in their depths. Her eyes closed. She never hit the ground - instead, something caught her and fell with her for a few moments before catching them both and tumbling into the sand. “What the?” Pyxis breathed, standing and shaking sand off her scales. The other dragon got to their talons as well, huffing, “I’ve been following you for the longest time. Why’d you fly this far?” “Nepaku?” She gasped, jumping back, “Why the Flamecaller were you following me?” “You’re welcome for saving your life,” he scoffed, shaking your head, “Also, Sorry about the… news you heard about your dad. “Oh,” she muttered, turning away. The sun was rising over the water, painting the sky and the ocean all sorts of oranges, yellows, and pinks. Pyxis looked as if she belonged in the receding darkness, the sun of which Nepaku shared appearance with chasing it back. “You heard that. Yeah, it’s fine. Go home.” Nepaku stayed quiet for a while, and Pyxis almost thought he really had flown away. Soon enough, however, he was sitting at her side watching the waves lap at the shore. “You know,” he began, voice calm and quiet, “I know that you can’t read me like you can other dragons.” He ventured a glance over at her, and he saw the confusion in her eyes. He sighed, reaching into his satchel and pulling out a circular golden object. “Compass, I’m a hard dragon to figure out, and you’re a mystery to me. But I do know that there’s a reason I followed you out here this far, and there’s also a reason you can’t see what I want most. So yeah, I wanted you to have this.” She looked at him, questions filling her gaze, and took it from his talons. Upon opening it, she was met with her namesake. “A compass,” she breathed, a smile gracing her lips, “Thank you.” The grin that showed up on Nepaku’s face lit up their surroundings - that, or the sun had finally fought its way above the water. It showed her everything she needed to know. “I found your true north, Nepaku,” Pyxis turned, her eyes revealing her flight. Maybe she was more like the sun than she originally thought. “You seek a home. A real one.” Nepaku looked at the sun, his smile turning more genuine and soft by the minute. He chucked, turning his eyes from the colors. “I think I just found one.” [ Nepaku; http://flightrising.com/dgen/preview/dragon?age=1&body=11&bodygene=1&breed=10&element=9&eyetype=0&gender=0&tert=163&tertgene=1&winggene=16&wings=1&auth=d6ba92cbdba99d2bc152e7ed76c918ba141e2a44&dummyext=prev.png ]