Creative Corner

That's kind of really adorable [emoji=guardian happy size=2] I wonder why she's so attached to it...

[center][b][i]Day 554-556 - Who Am Eye?[/i][/b] [size=1]@Kyrinasha @KCSquib @Caelyn @Tadi @Verdant @Silverhame @Ximena @MoonlitMage @Deathwolf555 @AThousandSuns @Muddledsketches @luckgandor @Violetah @Ezmara @xxWolfii @tigressrising @Neroli @Petall @DragonDraws @Tiirran @Emordnilap @Blackstone359 @clarax @Chelo @Amongthestars @Stormhawke @PyroWyvern @Wickett @TinPinLyn @aliciawonderland @Asphoxia @LilacsandFreedom @catmeow1 @Kavryn @MLPMDog[/size] [b]Pull:[/b] [item=ivory tusk][item=black leg bow][item=sunbeam rotala] [b]Sentence:[/b] Writing, Breed/Scroll/Accent a Dragon, 5-10 battles in the Coliseum -----[/center] [u][i]CW: many eyes - image will be at the end of the post, so if you don't like it you can stop before it and still read the whole update.[/i][/u] [center][i]...be her friend. Keep her safe.[/i][/center] The words echoed in Carrie's mind as she looked around. She was in a workstation, looking up at a kindly dragon, who looked back on her with joy. [i]Keep who safe?[/i] Carrie thought. Then, she was in the company of another dragon, who was Jetta, but also Ci, but also a third dragon who in her current life Carrie might not have recognized. The dragon resolved into the third - an achingly, perfectly familiar dragon with very similar features to the first one Carrie had seen. Carrie instantly knew that this was her dragon, her friend. The scene broke apart around her. Now she was in her dimensional pocket - her Safe, as she had once called it. There were so many cracks in her Safe now. It was supposed to show her places that she and her friend could go, to stay out of harm's way, but it was cleaner, smoother then. This version of her Safe was broken not only in space, but in time. Carrie saw her first friend disappear into the distance. She saw herself, rolling frantically on useless wooden wheels, before finally breaking an axle and falling helplessly onto her side. Simultaneously, she found herself locked in a battle of wills with an entity she had never encountered before... and yet one she had been designed to fight. She pushed it away, and yet it returned, a spear of darkness ripping away someone that Carrie had loved. All of this and more flashed through her perception at once. More loved ones died in shadowy futures to come. It was too much. [i]Too much.[/i] Carrie awoke with a start, briefly unsure of where she was, what she was, and how to breathe. After a few rapid heartbeats of fuzzy confusion, Carrie's now-draconic instincts reasserted themselves and she gasped in air. Her thoughts were still a little muddled. To her dismay, the newly-familiar faces she thought she had seen had already once again faded from her memory. Suddenly absolutely certain that Ci was somehow in danger, Carrie crawled out of her nest to go check on her friend. Ci was, in fact, not in any sort of danger at all. But when she saw Carrie, she instantly recoiled in greater horror than Carrie had ever seen from her. Ci immediately apologized, but was still uncomfortable at Carrie's presence. Baffled, Carrie asked what was wrong. "Did something... else happen?" "You can't have not noticed." Ci's fins were stretched wide. She was getting more upset. Carrie, still confused, twisted her neck to look at herself, and finally noticed- "The [i]eyes[/i]," Ci squeaked. Wide, staring eyes had manifested themselves across Carrie's body and wings. "I guess I was preoccupied," Carrie admitted. "I had a dream, and... thought something had happened to you." It sounded a bit silly to her, now. "Preoccupied??" Ci's voice, of course, barely changed inflection, but her fins stretched higher and higher as Ci got more and more agitated. "You couldn't - uh - [i]see[/i] something was different?" "I... can't actually see out of them," Carrie realized. "Are they just... there? Like the stripes I got just after I changed?" "I guess it makes sense that you wouldn't notice," Ci admitted, "that they [i]blink when you do.[/i]" [b][u]Eyes[/u][/b] [img]https://www1.flightrising.com/dgen/dressing-room/dragon?did=38351693&skin=32046&apparel=289&xt=dressing.png[/img] ----- -so yeah I added a new rule to the front page that I can use a skin/accent instead of a gene or nest for an apparel pull. Doesn't prevent me from using skins/accents other times (see: Lylia, Ci, the Spiral twins), but if it's canonically an Actual Change and not just paint I can do that. (also I didn't have any ships or genes planned and I wanted to write in the eyes soooo) -I know I've said this before but I hope y'all appreciate my post titles sometimes

Haha Carrie tries so hard to be friendly but she's still a terrifying eldritch abomination, poor baby <3

@Kavryn
Yup, that's a pretty accurate summary of her character :P <3

Oooooo Carrie looks amazing!!! She just keeps getting stranger and stranger and I love it!

[center][b][i]Day 557-559 - A Rival Arrival[/i][/b] [size=1]@Kyrinasha @KCSquib @Caelyn @Tadi @Verdant @Silverhame @Ximena @MoonlitMage @Deathwolf555 @AThousandSuns @Muddledsketches @luckgandor @Violetah @Ezmara @xxWolfii @tigressrising @Neroli @Petall @DragonDraws @Tiirran @Emordnilap @Blackstone359 @clarax @Chelo @Amongthestars @Stormhawke @PyroWyvern @Wickett @TinPinLyn @aliciawonderland @Asphoxia @LilacsandFreedom @catmeow1 @Kavryn @MLPMDog @TropicalDiamond[/size] [b]Pull:[/b] [item=Chipskink][item=vial of mysterious toxin][item=wallaby] [b]Sentence:[/b] Adopt a Dragon, Writing, 20-25 battles in the Coliseum -----[/center] "Can you control them?" Ci asked. "You look pretty normal when they're closed." Carrie tried to clear her mind. She remembered all the futures and pasts she had seen in her Safe, and imagined herself closing the view to each of them, only seeing or thinking about what was in front of her now. "Oh, the extra eyes are closed!" exclaimed Ci. "You can just-" Carrie's focus was broken by something swooping overhead. The nonfunctional eyes across her wings and body opened again. Both Faes ducked. Carrie turned to look, fins flattening into 'grim, nervous suspicion'. "What's the problem?" Ci questioned, confused. "It's just a Noc- ohh. Still, you don't have to be like that." Carrie's fins slowly rose into 'guilty embarrassment'. "Sorry. It's just-" "I get it," Ci replied. "But remember she's not the only Nocturne you've ever met. That blue one who brought Avo home was a good guy. Most Nocs are." "You've known a few?" Ci shrugged. "There's clanless Nocturnes all over the Tangled Wood. Clanless aren't exactly outgoing, but you do see them every now and again. They're all pretty friendly." Avogadro and Chi came to meet the new arrival. The Nocturne flipped around to land and hang in front of them. As seemed to be common among Nocturnes, her shawl-cloak and sash had been magically enchanted to hang [i]up[/i] when she was upside-down. By contrast, the rest of her clothes were either tightly attached, or hung as expected. [img]https://media.discordapp.net/attachments/437840120738086922/648309297335500832/scry.png[/img] "Welcome," Avogadro greeted her. "We don't get many visitors out here. What's your name?" The Nocturne did a funny, upside-down bow. "I'm Dina," she replied. "I'm in the area on a very important mission, and I need a place to stay while I'm here." Hura, tinkering with a tool nearby, glanced over and gave Dina a hard look. "What kind of mission?" Dina started. Hura had been sitting practically invisible in a tree. She gave him a measured stare, noting his blue eyes. "Top secret, bolter. You got something to say about it?" Hura went back to tinkering, deliberately casual. "Nothing, starshine." "Good." Dina gave him one last suspicious look, then turned back to Avogadro. "Sorry about that. Like I said, my mission here has to be a secret. It involves another group of dragons, and I just can't be sure who is or isn't one of them. You understand." Avogadro nodded slowly, obviously reading her for any suspicious signs. "Stay as long as you need to. But keep this in mind - we've dealt with problem dragons before, and won't hesitate to do so again if we have reason." ----- sometimes it takes a couple hours to come up with an episode name, like last time; sometimes, like this time, it takes me a minute -I decided to find a song for Dina because I was stuck on her personality, and the choice actually echoes the vague plot I had in mind for her?? It,,, doesn't really expand on anything I didn't already have planned, but when comparing the song to my plans, I decided the song is kind of more intense... so now her personality is also meant to be kind of intense. It works!!

All this talk of friendly nocs had me thinking of Octave... In my mind, that's still the saddest death of the Pinkerlocke. 3 years later and I'm still not over it.

Dina seems like she's going to be some fun though, I'm looking forward to seeing how this plays out...

Also, that is a pretty quality title you've got there!

@Petall
Yeah, I haven't had many Nocturnes... there are only three characters currently who knew Octave at all. For anyone born into the clan, unless they've gone out to other places (which a few have), if it weren't for Hudson rescuing Avogadro the only Nocturne they'd have ever known would have been Myste.

Also fun fact apparently Octave was the fourth death, but the first dragon to join the original crew, meaning he outlived three dragons who arrived after him. His was definitely pretty sad. I remember I cried while writing it. It's a little Shakespearean, with the whole death-monologue thing, too :P

[center][b][i]Day 560-561 - Changing Eras[/i][/b] [size=1]@Kyrinasha @KCSquib @Caelyn @Tadi @Verdant @Silverhame @Ximena @MoonlitMage @Deathwolf555 @AThousandSuns @Muddledsketches @luckgandor @Violetah @Ezmara @xxWolfii @tigressrising @Neroli @Petall @DragonDraws @Tiirran @Emordnilap @Blackstone359 @clarax @Chelo @Amongthestars @Stormhawke @PyroWyvern @Wickett @TinPinLyn @aliciawonderland @Asphoxia @LilacsandFreedom @catmeow1 @Kavryn @MLPMDog @TropicalDiamond[/size] [b]Pull:[/b] [item=berserker][item=sunbeam rotala] [b]Sentence:[/b] Death Streak Roll, 10-20 battles in the Coliseum -----[/center] Elmendorf heard the crashing first. Xe felt the energy of animalistic anger and confusion, and flew toward the sound to investigate. Xeir first and final mistake was landing. Out of the brush charged a raging roundhorn zeeba. Before Elmendorf could react, the roundhorn hit xem, breaking ribs and flinging xem headlong into a tree, never to rise again. The roundhorn barreled on, toward the other dragons. The Spiral brothers looped frantically around Marla. "Something's coming!" the Light One insisted. "You're strong," the Dark one asserted. "He has a special power," the Light one said. "Together we can be stronger!" the Dark one clarified. "I don't know-" Marla began. At that moment, the roundhorn crashed into camp, scattering dragons in all directions. It turned from one to the other, looking for something to fight. Marla saw Miles trying his best to Pull from a distance on the collar and broken chain around the roundhorn's neck. "Fine," Marla said, "but just this once." The Dark one dived in. Marla shuddered, but tried to clear her mind and focus on the threat. "So what now?" [b]Attack![/b] the Dark one suggested. [b]See what happens![/b] Marla flinched violently at the Dark one's voice. "NO!" she cried. "No no no! Get out!" The Dark one obeyed, confused and distraught. "I'm sorry!" Marla was shaking too hard to respond, but she waved a paw dismissively. Unfortunately, Marla's outburst caught the attention of the raging roundhorn. Before the Spiral brothers could shout a warning, it had easily broken free from Miles' influence and charged Marla. Marla reacted by rearing up to swipe at it, but its momentum was too much, and she, too, was crushed against a tree. Carrie flew out of her nest in a rush just as the roundhorn turned again, ready to charge. This time, it focused on Corvin, who had frozen, tears streaming down his face, not knowing what else to do. Miles frantically braced himself against whatever was available, Pulling with all his power, and seemed about to rush in to physically attack. [i]Enough![/i] Carrie felt awful for not being able to prevent the first two deaths - especially that of Marla, whom Carrie considered one of the most dear friends she could have. She would never forgive herself if she couldn't save at least one dragon here. Carrie raced toward the roundhorn. She didn't want to use her lightspeed, for fear of hurting Corvin, so instead she just flew. Her pale green aura started to shine as she used her power to direct light and let it push her to higher speeds. She had no plan. Maybe she could distract it. Maybe... Faster, faster. Carrie instinctively sent the light of her aura racing around her, the momentum acting like armor. Almost solid light, invisible to anyone around her. Not that anyone could see her in detail when she was traveling this fast. Moments before the roundhorn would have hit Corvin, Carrie slammed into the side of its head. It staggered, its own momentum interrupted. Miles took the opportunity to flare his power and Pull one more time in the direction the roundhorn was leaning, sending it toppling to the ground. Carrie reeled away, clutching her forehead. With her concentration broken, her light armor dispersed. She barely noticed her clanmates gathering around the roundhorn, Devoni stomping an ice spike through it to make sure it was dead. What she did notice was something solid on- no, coming [i]from[/i]- her head. A remnant of her aura armor, she supposed, that she hadn't dispersed. She felt around to figure it out. Faes are not usually disposed to auditory displays of emotion. But when Carrie realized what had happened, what now protruded from her forehead, she gasped. It was her horn. The single, twisting horn that had only manifested as light ever since she broke it so long ago. And it was... wet? Oh. Right. The roundhorn. Carrie slipped away to wash the blood off of herself and find a place to see her reflection. [img]https://media.discordapp.net/attachments/437840120738086922/650912557028212756/Carrie_unicorn.png[/img] Carrie found that she was relieved to have her horn back. She hadn't realized how lost she had felt without it, despite all the other changes in her life. With it, she felt as though she were finally back in the right body. Except, she thought, this one is better than she had ever had! She didn't have to roll on near-useless wooden wheels. She could walk, and run, and fly! Despite everything, happiness crept its way into her. Carrie didn't know whether to set her fins wide and high with joy, or let them hang low in sorrow - but either way, she felt like crying. [center]----[/center] The whole clan came to the wake that night. Everyone except Hura and Sylvia. Hura had recognized that the roundhorn was native to the Shifting Expanse, by all rights shouldn't be here, and probably belonged to someone visiting. He had offered to find them and bring it back. Sylvia had offered to come along, as Hura couldn't carry or even drag the roundhorn on his own and Sylvia was already growing quite big and strong. Even Dina was at the wake. Marla had been the first dragon in this clan to immediately treat her with kindness, rather than suspicion. Avogadro, at one point, had to step away, overwhelmed by the outpourings of emotion, but once everyone had spoken their piece, he stepped forward again. "Marla... really liked it here," he said haltingly, "in the Wilds. It was dangerous, but it was her home. More than her birthplace ever was. Because of that, I want to give her a truly Nature sendoff. Of course, she doesn't have her own tree, like we do... but I have a feeling you two-" here he indicated the two Spirals - "and Friend might be able to... make some arrangements." The Spirals nodded in unison. "We made it wrong," the Dark one said somberly. "So we will make it right," the Light one replied. They dove into the ground, and the other dragons stepped back to let the three weirdlings work their magic. And work they did. In moments, Marla's body had been covered by, and then transformed into, the most unique tree any of the dragons there had ever seen. Its bark looked like birch or aspen, bright white with dark scars. The branches had dark-tipped thorns, but between the thorns grew hundreds of clusters of pale yellow berries. The others didn't know it yet, as the tree had just been grown, but over the next few days the berries would absorb the sunlight, and at night would glow like stars. ----- -Sometimes RNG gives you a decent, normal team. Sometimes it gives you levels 14, 7, and 5, with the 7 being the only vaguely competent healer, and throws you headlong into Thunderhead Savannah. Not a good situation for anyone. (Although actually technically Marla didn't die until after the other two had {I "rescued" Corvin}, I have the rule about continuing a death streak at a lower venue, leaving Marla to fight alone in Forgotten Caves for a couple fights, but the result is the same.) -Marla has actually been recently claimed by the new reader MLPMDog! And just in time, I'd say, lucky you! [s]And Elmendorf was almost immediately claimed by Madrigalism when I got xem.[/s] So you two will have CRs waiting for you soon :) UPDATE: Mads couldn't take Elm, so xey are up for grabs if anyone else wants them! -Sorry if the thing with the Spiral bros and Marla felt a little forced, I really wanted to write it but obviously ran out of time. It also, uh, gave me an out on how badass Marla would ever be defeated by a single enemy like that.

Marla! Baby! I get you but! (Good I need to catch up...) So saaadd! But pretty baby!