Creative Corner

[center][u][b][font=Downtown][size=7][size=5]Chapter 1[/b][/u][/size][/size][/font][/center] [font=Downtown][size=7][b][u]Introducing:[/u][/b][/font] [spoiler].....[img]http://www1.flightrising.com/rendern/portraits/69609/6960870p.png[/img].....[color=white][b]SPANX[/b][/color]..... [spoiler].....[img]http://flightrising.com/rendern/portraits/69609/6960871p.png[/img].....[color=white][b]CHARLEMANGE[/b][/color]..... [spoiler].....[img]http://flightrising.com/rendern/portraits/64770/6476974p.png[/img].....[color=white][b]DONNAVAN[/b][/color]..... ----- [quote=Chapter 1 pt. 1/2][font=oops][size=4] She did not remember leaving her pack. And yet, she searched for them. Though the forest and the fog and the water, she was utterly alone for quite some time. What was her pack? What kind of creatures were they-- how would she know? She would. She'd seen herself through reflections in the dark pools. She was beautiful. Her pack would look like her. But for now, she was [i]utterly[/i] alone. Then, one day, she wasn't alone. A creature approached her from out of the mist, something different from the flora and fauna she'd seen so far, huge and menacing and... pink. "Hello," said the creature. "Hello," she whispered back, looking up toward the creature's face. "What kind of animal are you that can [i]talk?[/i] Why can you talk?!" she added, raising her voice to a startled hiss. The creature took a step backward, mildly offended. "I can talk because I'm a dragon, like you." A dragon? She had never heard such a word. Dragon, she thought. I'm a [i]dragon[/i]. She liked it. "Are you from my pack, then?" she asked. The creature lowered his head to meet hers. "You've never seen another dragon, have you?" he asked. "You don't know about the different types." "Different types of dragons?" she asked. "Yeah-- I've wandered all over Sonrieth-- that's the name of this, uh, planet-- and looked at all the different types of dragons. You're a Mirror dragon, I think. Mirror dragons always travel in packs, so it's weird that you've always been... alone." Now it was her turn to be offended. What he'd implied hung heavy in the air. Could she have really been abandoned? No! She must have run away. The creature broke the silence first. "What's your name? Mine's Charlemagne." "My name?" "...Do you... know what a name is?" "Yes! I just never thought about what mine was before." "Oh. Hey-- there's this poem that makes me think of you. Maybe it'll help?" She looked up at him. Before she could reply, he began to recite: "[i]There's something 'bout Spanks That no one dismisses This dog ain't no bark But quite often hisses Don't fetch no ball But swallows tuna-fishes We'll say it right here Somethings amisses![/i]" "What's a dog?" She asked. "I don't know!" Charlemagne said excitedly. "I read it in an old book while I was traveling." "I don't do any of those things," she admitted. "I'll call myself Spanx then." "Don't you want to put any more thought into it?" Charlemagne asked, surprised at her resolve. "No. Spanx." "Okay, Spanx." She-- Spanx, now-- smiled. "Do you wanna join my pack?" Charlemagne's eyes brightened and he nodded. "I've never traveled with a pack before. We could learn from each other." "We could," Spanx said, grinning. [/quote] [quote=Chapter 1 Part 2/2] For a time, Spanx and Charlemagne were unstoppable together. They spent their days frolicking around the Tangled Woods, as much as one can frolic there in the dark. They knew danger but no caution, pushing one another to new heights. And, yes, they did learn from each other. But of course, things could not stay that way for long. The first dragon they stumbled upon was Donnavan. Donnavan was older than them and visibly exhausted. He told the pair about the dangers of traveling alone-- stories of clans fallen to ruin, rouge dragons, Beastclans. He told them to slow down before they crash. So the three of them, as Donnavan's advice, cleared some ground and settled down. It wasn't a bad lifestyle. The next part of being a clan, Donnavan told them, is gathering dragons. Charlemagne was indifferent-- that was more to watch over, and he quickly found that was something he enjoyed-- but oddly enough, Spanx was appalled by the idea of opening the metaphorical floodgates. [font=oops][size=4][i]No,[/font][/size][/i] she said,[i][font=oops][size=4] I am in charge here, and if one is to join us they must be useful and they must be beautiful. Like me.[/font][/size][/i] The other two were quick to respect her authority and worked to make the small, fledgeling clan self-sufficient. [/quote]

[center][u][b][font=Downtown][size=7][size=5]Chapter 2[/b][/u][/size][/size][/font][/center] ----- [quote=Chapter Summary] Spanx "found" a hatchling near camp-- in those days, it wasn't uncommon to bump into others. The hatchling was the most beautiful hatchling Spanx had ever seen, so in spite of the hatchling's nasty attitude, Spanx took the hatchling in and named her Rayjack. Rayjack became Spanx's student, and it soon became clear that Spanx was grooming her for leadership of the clan in case something should happen. Rayjack was a feisty kid, but since Spanx liked her, so did everyone else, and she was granted plenty of privileges. One of those privileges was wandering outside the camp. On one such occasion, she was playing with a Wildclaw of a similar age. At Rayjack's request (or perhaps demand) the Wildclaw was accepted into the clan and named Barusa. Barusa proved to be a great motivator for Rayjack in her studies, although Barusa took no such studies herself. [/quote]

[center][u][b][font=Downtown][size=7][size=5]Chapter 3[/b][/u][/size][/size][/font][/center] ----- [quote=Chapter Summary] One night, when it was particularly dark, a pair of hatchlings stumbled into camp. Except that the entrance to the camp was really well protected and designed to be hard to see if you didn't know what you were looking at. The hatchlings were clearly closely bonded and had been traveling a while, but any attempt to discover their origin was met with failure and discomfort from the hatchlings. The clan decided to take the hatchlings in, in spite of their misgivings. Besides, it was safer for the clan to not have two suspicious characters who knew the enterence to the clan wandering around. The Coatl settled on the name Anya; the Wildclaw was clearly having some trouble fitting in, so Barusa took him under her wing and he became known as Tiny Barusa. Anya adjusted well to clan life. She lived and played with the others just fine, and eventually became a functioning member of the clan. Tiny Barusa, however, never quite settled in. He was very close to Anya, but everything else seemed to make him uncomfortable. Much later, Tiny Barusa would eventually leave the clan, leaving Anya's heart in pieces. [/quote]

[center][u][b][font=Downtown][size=7][size=5]Chapter 4[/b][/u][/size][/size][/font][/center] ----- [quote=Chapter Summary] Spanx found Mamoru in the woods and insisted the clan keep him. However, she made no provisions for his stay, and Mamoru never stayed with any one dragon long. Though he was mute, nobody knew until he was much older. At the same time, Rayjack had offered a wandering young Ridgeback shelter for a few nights. Spanx was a little suspicious and said that if the Ridgeback, named Satcha could not pull her own weight in the clan, she would have to leave. However, Satcha and Mamoru quickly formed a close bond. Both had secretly been practicing different forms of magic: Mamoru could channel it from the world around him, and Satcha produced it in great quantities. Together, they were both efficient and powerful. Seeing how well Mamoru worked with Satcha, Spanx agreed to let her stay. [/quote]

[center][u][b][font=Downtown][size=7][size=5]Chapter 5[/b][/u][/size][/size][/font][/center] ----- [quote=Chapter Summary] After the arrival of Satcha, the clan felt that the ratio of dragons with magical affinity to those without was a little high, and it made them anxious. It was subtle, but certain: there was a division growing between magic users and non-users. Rayjack felt herself at the center of this whirlwind. As a Pearlcatcher, yes, she did have some magical ability, but that was not her primary job. She was still and always had been a hunter-gatherer like the rest, but also extensively trained to heal others in combat. It was strong magic-- which made her a magic user, of course-- but it was no more than the average dragon could achieve with practice, which, she felt, made her more of an everyman. Regardless, the strong magic within the clan attracted a young Water-aligned Pearlcatcher making her way through the world for the first time. The dragon never gave her name and made it clear that she had no intention of staying permanently. But before she could go, Rayjack and Barusa learned that she held the power of prophecy and asked her to stay to perhaps ease the clan's potentially turbulent future. Rayjack presented the case to Spanx, who also insisted that she stay. The Pearlcatcher begrudgingly complied. However, upset that she was forced to cut her world tour short, she refused to give Spanx any prophecies. The clan (especially Spanx) still sees her as a valuable asset, in spite of the fact that she further upsets the magic-user/non-user balance. [/quote]

[center][u][b][font=Downtown][size=7][size=5]Chapter 6[/b][/u][/size][/size] Meetings and Shiftings[/font][/center] ----- [quote=Chapter Summary] In spite of her lack of magical ability, Spanx was happy to have more magic dragon in the clan. She didn't express it conventionally, though-- she spent her time slinking around, often outside the camp. There were all sorts of rumours about what could be going on. One night, a handful of dragons-- Charlemagne, Mamoru and Satcha-- received a clandestine invitation to meet Spanx on a small island south of camp. Spanx announced that the four of them were going to investigate the extent of Mamoru and Satcha's powers. As it turned out, their powers were quite extensive. The next morning, Spanx was noticeably more at ease. Unbeknownst to the clan-- even Rayjack-- Spanx continued to intermittently hold her meetings. They started changing things: Charlemagne's coloring was one example. Though the clan more-or-less agreed he looked better, Charlemagne grew progressively more distant from Spanx afterwards. Spanx's demeanor was significantly changed after these meetings secretly began. She was a lot colder and more distant to the clan and much more absorbed with herself. She also claimed a lot more space for the clan, including the dense forest surrounding the peninsula, that she would allow no dragon to walk through. Rayjack could find no fault with these new laws, and they were put into place. [/quote]

[center][u][b][font=Downtown][size=7][size=5]Chapter 7[/b][/u][/size][/size] "Dune and Sunny" [/font][/center] ----- [quote=Chapter Summary] Somewhere down the line, Spanx and Rayjack had a campaign to gain the Shadowbinder’s favor by training pilgrim dragons. The most notable of these dragons were Sunny and Dune. Sunny was like any other, eager to meet the Shadowbinder as soon as possible, with little care for the clan that got her there. Zero didn’t mind-- the feeling was mutual. However, Sunny was involved with an incident that piqued Zero’s interest especially in her. Sunny was in a field training party with Vincent and Rayjack. It’d been a rough day coming to a close, and both veteran dragons were tired. On the way back to camp, they encountered an enemy which immobilized Vincent, the prime fighter. With only Rayjack’s healing, Sunny brought the trio home safely. Vincent immediately recognized her value as a warrior, and with Rayjack as a witness to the event, the clan offered Sunny a place in Haven Zero as a reward for her valiance. Sunny accepted, but had some trouble fitting in. She did not continue her training, but she was a valuable consultant when Spanx and Rayjack needed the opinion of an outsider. Dune was the second meaningful pilgrim. He arrived at Zero when he was young, but as he grew, he decided he liked clan life and (recognizing that Zero never had any intention of keeping him) he began planning to move on. He never did-- he grew attached to Zero and vice versa, and eventually, informally, he was inducted into the clan. His background would continue to serve him as his life continued. [/quote]

[center][u][b][font=Downtown][size=7][size=5]Chapter 8[/b][/u][/size][/size] "Meetings and Shiftings Pt. 2" [/font][/center] ----- [quote=Chapter Summary] Spanx's influence and power in the late-night meetings continued to grow. Other dragons became suspicious. Makaio, for one, was able to connect enough dots to know that sometimes, dragons were off doing magic, and eventually Rayjack demanded she had a right to know about it. Stilll, Rayjack was not invited to these meetings. [/quote]

[center][b][font=Downtown][size=7][size=5]Chapter 9[/b][/u][/size][/size] "The Bonnie and Clyde Days" [/font][/center] [font=Downtown][size=7][b][u]Introducing:[/u][/b][/font] [spoiler].....[img]http://flightrising.com/rendern/portraits/129058/12905787p.png[/img].....[color=white][b]CALIBER[/b][/color]..... [spoiler].....[img]http://flightrising.com/rendern/portraits/115522/11552124p.png[/img].....[color=white][b]DONNA[/b][/color]..... [spoiler].....[img]http://www1.flightrising.com/rendern/portraits/93411/9341031p.png[/img].....[color=white][b]SILIAS[/b][/color]..... ----- [font=Downtown][size=7][b][u]Also Featuring:[/u][/b][/font] [spoiler].....[img]http://www1.flightrising.com/rendern/portraits/69609/6960870p.png[/img].....[color=white][b]SPANX[/b][/color]..... [spoiler].....[img]http://flightrising.com/rendern/portraits/69609/6960871p.png[/img].....[color=white][b]CHARLEMANGE[/b][/color]..... ----- [quote=Chapter 1 pt. 1/3][font=oops][size=4] Silias could feel the smoke grating up his nostrils, kissing his sinuses in the night air. The earth here was marshy and wet, but the air was suspiciously dry, and there was a dry, unnatural energy floating static in the air. “I need you to do something for me, Sil-i-as,” Spanx said to him, breaking the illusion of serenity. Silias opened his eyes. “I have a job for you, if you're interested in joining the clan.” Silias didn’t look over. “What kind of job?” The scene around him was one he never thought he’d arrive at, but somehow didn’t surprise him. There was a bonfire, crackling green and casting unnatural light on the five dragons gathered around it: Spanx and himself, Satcha the mage, Mamoru the mute, and Charlemagne who had taken Haven Zero as his charge, watching over the meeting with an unreadable but stern look. Silias knew that look. Charlemagne didn’t like this dark magic, but he was tolerating it, perhaps for Spanx’s sake, perhaps for his own. Silias felt the same way. In reply, Spanx gestured at the bonfire. “We’re taking new steps. We’re expanding in new directions.” “I see.” “We’ll need something to secure our hold on the area. Something with muscle, wit and will.” “I understand.” “Silias. I’ve brought you here because you can take this on. Will you?” Silias inhaled again and closed his eyes, and the illusion began anew: him, somewhere on some far mountain, something distant and sacred burning, the nature of which was waiting when his dream-self opened his eyes. But every time he tried, he was back at the bonfire. After a moment of contemplation, he replied. “I can. But I need resources. I need a pack.” “I can arrange for that.” “And I can’t give up my freedom.” “I can arrange for that.” “I’ll work on my terms, not yours.” “You’ll work on your own terms.” “Then I accept.” Spanx smiled and led him closer to the bonfire, into which Mamoru had been staring intently. As Silias stepped forward, Mamoru’s head shot up, staring off into the flames, perhaps at Silias, mute, and not giving away a thought. “We’ve got a couple things to talk about, then,” Spanx said to him. Meanwhile, above them, Charlemagne towered above, watching, listening, and tolerating. [/quote] [quote=Chapter 9 Part 2/3] Silias was well known for being the first outsider accepted into Spanx's mysterious late-night meetings. Practically overnight, he went from an unknown hermit to Spanx's pet mercenary, performing all sorts of missions for her and her secret projects for meager returns, food and shelter. He worked with the assistance of two Nocturnes, Caliber and the dragon who would become Donna. While he himself remained isolated, Caliber and Donna were both strong, functioning, if slightly marked, members of the clan. What they do is not in the interests of most of the clan, but the idea is straightforward: defense and espionage. Silias' team keeps the Zero clan-- and Spanx's secret meetings-- unknown. In spite of it all, Silias is still an eternally restless soul and takes missions from other entities. Whether Spanx knows, he doesn't care. [/quote] [quote=Chapter 9 Part 3/3] Basically, Silias, Caliber and Donna work together to beat people up for Spanx and nobody knows about it. [/quote]

[center][img]http://i59.tinypic.com/2002ruc.jpg[/img][u][b][font=Downtown][size=7][size=5]Chapter 10[img]http://i57.tinypic.com/rbinth.jpg[/img][/b][/u][/size][/size] "Societal Unrest" [/font][/center] ----- [quote=Chapter Summary] As Spanx is off doing her thing, the clan is wanting for leadership. Tensions between magic users and non-users are ever high, especially since so much of what goes on in the clan is driven by magic thanks to Spanx. The clan, who is not entirely privy to these events, believes that these strange events might be caused by a magic misuse or overdose by a mage. The mages, on the other hand, feel that the clan is not safe for them. In the middle of all this bristling, Rayjack feels like she is caught between them. She is still the clan's leader-- in fact, the more prominent of the two, since Spanx is off on her own world-- and feels it's her job to bring the two together, but she's not sure how. She is still very careful not to take sides. [/quote]