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First post coding was derived from here!

449

December 02, 2023 20:14:23

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T H R I V E
Grow Stronger, Together

"If you have been abandoned, shunned, or shamed for that which you could not control, then be welcome here. We are the Deviants, the Outcasts, and the Pariahs. And together, we will form a new family sown with empathy and understanding"
Petal, the original founder of Clan Deviation

A young Coatl laughs softly, her eyes glinting in the firelight. Her gaze is knowing but not unkind as she peers at you. "Our roots are tangled with tragedy, defiance, and gumption," she says, voice a soothing melody. It would be easy to listen to her for hours, you find. "Each of us here was left behind or had to leave behind. With nowhere to go, we wandered. But whether by the Glademother's will or by pure luck, we found each other. This wasn't easy. In fact, for most of us it was rather painful. Growth usually is." Amaryllis laughs again before settling. Her long neck bends to better meet your eyes

"That is something other Flights may never understand," Amaryllis gaze is sharp, serious, the nearby fire seems to flicker within her eyes to emphasize the truth behind her words. "They see our greenery and think us soft. They see our slow growth and think us weak. But our roots have crumbled mountains and found purchase in rushing rivers; we have made homes from the inhospitable. We have taken what all others have discarded and made it new, healthy, and strong. Even the Plaugebringer knows: to kill the weeds, you must destroy the root. My Clan is what happens when those who would stomp us out forget this truth."

Amaryllis leans back, and you feel your breath come back to you, like a spell broken. Her expression is kind as she reaches out to brush the wetness from your cheek. "Tell me little one," she says, soft and sad. "Who tried to tear you from the earth? Who saw your softness and thought to make a meal of it? Come, now, and rest here for a while. There is plenty of time to mourn and grow strong once more."

"You are no longer alone."

Welcome to my Lore Thread! I'll be post the various lores of my dragons + clan here. It will most likely be slow to update, since I've got a lot of stuff going on in my life right now. If you're here, then I hope that you enjoy the stay!

Comments are welcome. I will be linking all lore parts to this first post and related posts to each other for ease of navigation, so there's no need to worry about feeling like you're interrupting. I'm happy for comments and feedback. You're also more than welcome to message via DM or comment on my profile page if you're not comfortable with that.

Any assets I use that I have not made will be linkable to their source.

I've created a pinglist, just in case anyone is super invested in this project and wants to follow along.

Deviation Clan Lore Pings

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Last edited on Apr 15, 2024 12:09:47 by Deviation

[center][url=https://www1.flightrising.com/forums/cc/2118304/1][img]https://i.imgur.com/3bey39O.png[/img][/url][/center] [columns][color=transparent].......[/color][nextcol][color=transparent].....[/color][nextcol][color=transparent].....[/color][nextcol][url=https://www1.flightrising.com/dragon/52992731][img]https://www1.flightrising.com/rendern/coliseum/portraits/529928/52992731.png[/img][/url][nextcol][color=transparent].....[/color][nextcol][size=7]AMARYLLIS[/size][nextcol][color=transparent].....[/color][nextcol][color=transparent].....[/color][/columns] [center][font=courier][size=4]"The Gladekeeper gave me the Sight so that I would find Amaryllis. Now that she's been found, I can finally rest." - Petal[/font][/size][/center] [color=#006400]Amaryllis only knows the story from the murmurs she could sometimes catch. It was never spoken about near her, nor would anyone dare to mention it in polite company. But, truly, there is no hiding apprehension of one's own child from them. Perhaps she would have been better off had her family simply told her the truth and embraced her for it. But as it is, Amaryllis knows only this: she was moved from the safety of the fire as an egg, cast into the cooler airs of the unknown. By the time she had been noticed, hours had passed. Naturally, she should result as odd. Or, at least, that's what everyone tended to agree that the cold was responsible for any disagreeability she might display. Whether she took interest in music or snow or the way the light would catch on the ocean spray, her family would murmur. Her eyes, green and strange, were a constant point of unaddressed contention. Born an outsider, she found other things to do when her siblings played and sang to one another, which, of course, only let to them seeing her as even more odd. When it came time to leave her nestmates, she flew without looking back. There was nothing to keep her in that too-warm place, with eyes ever-judging her every movement and finding her in some way lacking. She traveled long and far, skirting the edges of various domains until the green of the glen greeted her. And it is there that Petal found her, the first Fae Amaryllis ever met. Petal fluttered and chittered in a strange drone that Amaryllis could not understand the individual words of but could feel the meaning of, over and over: [i]welcome, welcome, welcome home[/i]. They mimed to one another, scratched symbols in the dirt, and flew together like they had been doing so all their lives. Amaryllis could not understand a single word Petal said, but she was understood all the same and that was more than she had ever had before. Amaryllis was folded into Clan Deviation with more warmth then her fire-dwelling hatchmates had ever offered her. Her oddities and obsession were accepted. Her questions answered with delight and joy. The odd, mismatched group of dragons called her sister with no falter or hesitation and she called to them in turn. Someday, they would call her their leader and she would be the one walking the edges of the territory, following the will of the Glademother to young weeds trembling alone in the wilds in need of replanting. For now, Petal fusses about Amaryllis head, grooming her as Amaryllis' own family had never done, and she knows: this is where she is meant to root.[/color] [center][url=https://www1.flightrising.com/forums/cc/2118304/1] [img]https://i.imgur.com/xnCGPVa.png[/img][/url][/center] [center][url=https://www1.flightrising.com/forums/art/2284559/1][img]https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/592486973609082901/729798911945867364/amaryllis.THIS_ONE.png[/img][/url] [url=https://www1.flightrising.com/clan-profile/491318][img]https://i.imgur.com/AaBWib2.png[/img][/url][/center]

Deviation

449

December 02, 2023 21:03:02

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.....

AMARYLLIS

.....

"The Gladekeeper gave me the Sight so that I would find Amaryllis. Now that she's been found, I can finally rest."
- Petal

Amaryllis only knows the story from the murmurs she could sometimes catch. It was never spoken about near her, nor would anyone dare to mention it in polite company. But, truly, there is no hiding apprehension of one's own child from them. Perhaps she would have been better off had her family simply told her the truth and embraced her for it. But as it is, Amaryllis knows only this: she was moved from the safety of the fire as an egg, cast into the cooler airs of the unknown. By the time she had been noticed, hours had passed. Naturally, she should result as odd. Or, at least, that's what everyone tended to agree that the cold was responsible for any disagreeability she might display.

Whether she took interest in music or snow or the way the light would catch on the ocean spray, her family would murmur. Her eyes, green and strange, were a constant point of unaddressed contention. Born an outsider, she found other things to do when her siblings played and sang to one another, which, of course, only let to them seeing her as even more odd. When it came time to leave her nestmates, she flew without looking back. There was nothing to keep her in that too-warm place, with eyes ever-judging her every movement and finding her in some way lacking.

She traveled long and far, skirting the edges of various domains until the green of the glen greeted her. And it is there that Petal found her, the first Fae Amaryllis ever met. Petal fluttered and chittered in a strange drone that Amaryllis could not understand the individual words of but could feel the meaning of, over and over: welcome, welcome, welcome home. They mimed to one another, scratched symbols in the dirt, and flew together like they had been doing so all their lives. Amaryllis could not understand a single word Petal said, but she was understood all the same and that was more than she had ever had before.

Amaryllis was folded into Clan Deviation with more warmth then her fire-dwelling hatchmates had ever offered her. Her oddities and obsession were accepted. Her questions answered with delight and joy. The odd, mismatched group of dragons called her sister with no falter or hesitation and she called to them in turn. Someday, they would call her their leader and she would be the one walking the edges of the territory, following the will of the Glademother to young weeds trembling alone in the wilds in need of replanting.

For now, Petal fusses about Amaryllis head, grooming her as Amaryllis' own family had never done, and she knows: this is where she is meant to root.

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Last edited on Apr 14, 2024 06:55:20 by Deviation

[center][url=https://www1.flightrising.com/forums/cc/2118304/1][img]https://i.imgur.com/3bey39O.png[/img][/url][/center] [columns][color=transparent].......[/color][nextcol][color=transparent].....[/color][nextcol][color=transparent].....[/color][nextcol][url=https://www1.flightrising.com/dragon/55397289][img]https://www1.flightrising.com/rendern/coliseum/portraits/553973/55397289.png[/img][/url][nextcol][color=transparent].....[/color][nextcol][size=7]GREENHEART[/size][nextcol][color=transparent].....[/color][nextcol][color=transparent].....[/color][/columns] [center][font=courier][size=4]"All children must leave someday in order to grow. It is inevitable. What marks the success of a parent is whether that child someday returns." - Petal[/font][/size][/center] [color=#006400]Greenheart knew from a young age that she needed to wander. Her feet needed to touch different earth. Her eyes needed to see different sights. She could not stay in the fold with her parents. There was something out there that she needed to see and Greenheart knew that she would not be truly at peace until she found it. [url=https://www1.flightrising.com/dragon/52992731]Amaryllis[/url], newly minted Clan Leader, fretted but ensured that Greenheart knew she would always be welcome to return. Her parents fretted less but offered her advise all the same: trust your feet, don't let fliers make less of you, if she feels the urge to spend the night with another dragon listen to it: her instincts know what she needs. Greenheart had laughed at the last: Snapper dragons like them do not sleep, creatures born of the Earthshaker as they are. Mixed clans like theirs are rare for good reason. Even they of Clan Deviation wander through the night, patrolling a wide area or scouting ahead of their travels. Greenheart cannot imagine staying in once place, willingly, through the night. In her years of travel, she learned many things: stories, skills, triumphs, and tragedies. Her feet stamped across all the domains. She shared meals with all sorts of dragons in places she could never have once imagined. She began to gather pigments to capture the colors of these places. Someday, she would show her family all the places she had been. And she met a princely thing, a Skydancer more pretentious then even [url=https://www1.flightrising.com/dragon/55754047]Atum[/url]. He called himself [url=https://www1.flightrising.com/dragon/55332137]Tealeaf[/url] and fluttered about her while his family watched in only politely disguised contempt. He asked to join her, and she did not refuse him. And he asked her many questions, to which she had no answers. Partly because she enjoyed teasing him, but mostly because they were on things she had not thought through before. What did the "why" of what she did matter, so long as she did it? He was not so annoying, like this. Curious bright eyes and her own awe at the wider world reflected back at her as they traveled. "Why do you make art?" He asks her and she does not answer. Not aloud, at least. They fall into silence. His uneasy, and hers introspective. He dips off into the sleeper's realms, a place she can never touch. She remembers the words of her parents. And Greenheart spends the night in quiet contemplation with Tealeaf at her side. In the morning, she turns her nose homebound. Where her clan is waiting for her. She has found what she is looking for. [center][url=https://www1.flightrising.com/forums/cc/1985777][img]https://i.imgur.com/OP4B0K6.png[/img][/url][url=https://www1.flightrising.com/forums/cc/1985777][img]https://i.imgur.com/rYKsPry.png[/img][/url][url=https://www1.flightrising.com/forums/cc/1985777][img]https://i.imgur.com/OduXT3q.png[/img][/url][url=https://www1.flightrising.com/forums/cc/1985777][img]https://i.imgur.com/ykvnaK2.png[/img][/url][/center] [color=#006400]Greenheart always loved colors. From a young age, she had always been most captivated by the world around her and all it had to offer. She found ways to mix her own pigments, crushing stones to mix with water, grinding leaves, and boiling berries are all just some of the ways she extracted pigments from the world. For a long, long time all she did was collect color. What more did she need to do with it, once she had the color itself? She could always look upon her pigments and remember with perfect clarity what the color came from and how she made it. Tealeaf asked her why she made art. He had never seen her create anything; only seen the pots of color and drawn his own assumption. Words did not come easy to her. But with Tealeaf looking at her like that, with only the desire to know her behind his eyes, she found that she wished to show him how she saw the world. Her many pigments and what they were once made of. The places she'd been that had been eroded by time. The way the night sky burns awake with the light of distant stars and the sorrow of saying goodnight to them each dawn that breaks over the horizon. Art, she realized in that moment, is not meant to show only a place or to tell a story. It is to share one's heart. That evening, when Tealeaf fell asleep, Greenheart stood under the blanket of stars and drew again and again until she captured that moment of morning sorrow to her satisfaction. She used the lapis blue she'd made and mixed it with the crushed laborite she'd once cherished and splattered it across the canvas. The white lead of the stars sprinkled with bits of shell she'd once listened to on the shoreline. Grasses made from the leaves that her mother once used while sewing Greenheart a doll of the Glademother. A sun distilled from fruits so sweet she couldn't finish it and golden amber that had captured a fly within it's depths. When, at last, she captured the vision Tealeaf was close to waking. She tucked away the canvas and settled in.[/color] [center][url=https://www1.flightrising.com/forums/cc/2118304/1] [img]https://i.imgur.com/xnCGPVa.png[/img][/url][/center]

Deviation

449

December 08, 2023 20:35:37

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.....

GREENHEART

.....

"All children must leave someday in order to grow. It is inevitable. What marks the success of a parent is whether that child someday returns."
- Petal

Greenheart knew from a young age that she needed to wander. Her feet needed to touch different earth. Her eyes needed to see different sights. She could not stay in the fold with her parents. There was something out there that she needed to see and Greenheart knew that she would not be truly at peace until she found it.

Amaryllis, newly minted Clan Leader, fretted but ensured that Greenheart knew she would always be welcome to return. Her parents fretted less but offered her advise all the same: trust your feet, don't let fliers make less of you, if she feels the urge to spend the night with another dragon listen to it: her instincts know what she needs.

Greenheart had laughed at the last: Snapper dragons like them do not sleep, creatures born of the Earthshaker as they are. Mixed clans like theirs are rare for good reason. Even they of Clan Deviation wander through the night, patrolling a wide area or scouting ahead of their travels. Greenheart cannot imagine staying in once place, willingly, through the night.

In her years of travel, she learned many things: stories, skills, triumphs, and tragedies. Her feet stamped across all the domains. She shared meals with all sorts of dragons in places she could never have once imagined. She began to gather pigments to capture the colors of these places. Someday, she would show her family all the places she had been.

And she met a princely thing, a Skydancer more pretentious then even Atum. He called himself Tealeaf and fluttered about her while his family watched in only politely disguised contempt. He asked to join her, and she did not refuse him. And he asked her many questions, to which she had no answers. Partly because she enjoyed teasing him, but mostly because they were on things she had not thought through before. What did the "why" of what she did matter, so long as she did it? He was not so annoying, like this. Curious bright eyes and her own awe at the wider world reflected back at her as they traveled.

"Why do you make art?" He asks her and she does not answer. Not aloud, at least.

They fall into silence. His uneasy, and hers introspective. He dips off into the sleeper's realms, a place she can never touch. She remembers the words of her parents. And Greenheart spends the night in quiet contemplation with Tealeaf at her side.

In the morning, she turns her nose homebound. Where her clan is waiting for her. She has found what she is looking for.

Greenheart always loved colors. From a young age, she had always been most captivated by the world around her and all it had to offer. She found ways to mix her own pigments, crushing stones to mix with water, grinding leaves, and boiling berries are all just some of the ways she extracted pigments from the world. For a long, long time all she did was collect color. What more did she need to do with it, once she had the color itself? She could always look upon her pigments and remember with perfect clarity what the color came from and how she made it.

Tealeaf asked her why she made art. He had never seen her create anything; only seen the pots of color and drawn his own assumption. Words did not come easy to her. But with Tealeaf looking at her like that, with only the desire to know her behind his eyes, she found that she wished to show him how she saw the world. Her many pigments and what they were once made of. The places she'd been that had been eroded by time. The way the night sky burns awake with the light of distant stars and the sorrow of saying goodnight to them each dawn that breaks over the horizon.

Art, she realized in that moment, is not meant to show only a place or to tell a story. It is to share one's heart.

That evening, when Tealeaf fell asleep, Greenheart stood under the blanket of stars and drew again and again until she captured that moment of morning sorrow to her satisfaction. She used the lapis blue she'd made and mixed it with the crushed laborite she'd once cherished and splattered it across the canvas. The white lead of the stars sprinkled with bits of shell she'd once listened to on the shoreline. Grasses made from the leaves that her mother once used while sewing Greenheart a doll of the Glademother. A sun distilled from fruits so sweet she couldn't finish it and golden amber that had captured a fly within it's depths.

When, at last, she captured the vision Tealeaf was close to waking. She tucked away the canvas and settled in.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Last edited on Apr 14, 2024 06:55:00 by Deviation

[center][url=https://www1.flightrising.com/forums/cc/2118304/1][img]https://i.imgur.com/3bey39O.png[/img][/url][/center] [columns][color=transparent].......[/color][nextcol][color=transparent].....[/color][nextcol][color=transparent].....[/color][nextcol][url=https://www1.flightrising.com/dragon/55332137][img]https://www1.flightrising.com/rendern/coliseum/portraits/553322/55332137.png[/img][/url][nextcol][color=transparent].....[/color][nextcol][size=7]TEALEAF[/size][nextcol][color=transparent].....[/color][nextcol][color=transparent].....[/color][/columns] [center][font=courier][size=4]"It is easy to say that one must chase that which is worth living for, but it is far more difficult to actually pursue it. To leave behind all that you know on the chance of happiness? Truly, only the bravest ever truly leap into life with such vigor." - Petal[/font][/size][/center] [color=#006400]There is no true nobility among the clans, but there are clans that have been respected for generations extending as far back as anyone can remember. Tealeaf was the first son of one such clan and was raised on the knowledge that he was powerful in name alone, without having done anything to earn it. He was content with this lifestyle and had no intention of changing his way. And then he met [url=https://www1.flightrising.com/dragon/55397289]Greenheart[/url]. A Snapper, covered in mismatching cloths, bits of bones, and pieces of leather. Paint on her face and herbs drying from her wings. She was short, stout, and landbound. Tealeaf was enamored. His family warned him away-- Snappers do no settle the way Skydancers do, the move slow, and they can't fly. Whatever fancy Tealeaf thought he had for Greenheart was sure to pass, and Tealeaf would be far from his family when that happened. Tealeaf followed her anyway. For weeks he flit about while she stomped across plains and deserts and steppes. Off into the distance, looping around back to her and then out again. She could not fly, earthbound as she was. Every day he asked her questions, and every day her answers would range from honest to silly to down right strange. Tealeaf would complain of their lodgings, and for how long Greenheart would walk without stopping. She was never there when he woke from sleep, always having taken off sometime in the night and leaving him to catch up. Not that it took him long, though he suspects she moved slower for his sake. "Where are you going?" Tealeaf asked many times. "I do not know," Greenheart would answer, "But I will know it when I am there." "Why do you not travel with others?" Tealeaf would ask. "I travel with you, do I not?" She would reply, and then change the subject. "Why do you paint?" Tealeaf asked once. But Greenheart did not answer, and would not speak for the rest of the day. When eventually Tealeaf's body demanded he sleep that night part of him was filled with fear that Greenheart would be gone come morning, truly gone where he could not find her. She could travels miles and miles while Tealeaf rested. Greenheart has always let Tealeaf find her before, but has never once promised to always allow him this. He fell off into an uneasy sleep, already mourning the strange Snapper and prepared to fly across the continent to find her again if that's what it would take. But she was there in the morning, having not moved an inch. Greenheart met his gaze: it looked like she hadn't moved all night. Never was she there come morning: usually she would stay for part of the night while Tealeaf settled before continuing on. With no need to sleep or rest like other dragons, there was no real purpose to staying in one place for the entirety of the night. Tealeaf stood and stretched. The sun was rising and the air was warm. In the distance, Tealeaf could see the green of the Nature Territories and further still the hulking shape of their great Gladekeeper overlooking it all. He didn't say anything. Or maybe simply couldn't: the feeling within his chest was something too big for words. Greenheart joined him out in the open air. She began to walk, nose pointed to the green in the distance. And Tealeaf walked with her every step of the way.[/color] [center][url=https://www1.flightrising.com/forums/cc/2118304/1] [img]https://i.imgur.com/xnCGPVa.png[/img][/url][/center]

Deviation

449

January 06, 2024 07:22:57

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.....

TEALEAF

.....

"It is easy to say that one must chase that which is worth living for, but it is far more difficult to actually pursue it. To leave behind all that you know on the chance of happiness? Truly, only the bravest ever truly leap into life with such vigor."
- Petal

There is no true nobility among the clans, but there are clans that have been respected for generations extending as far back as anyone can remember. Tealeaf was the first son of one such clan and was raised on the knowledge that he was powerful in name alone, without having done anything to earn it. He was content with this lifestyle and had no intention of changing his way.

And then he met Greenheart.

A Snapper, covered in mismatching cloths, bits of bones, and pieces of leather. Paint on her face and herbs drying from her wings. She was short, stout, and landbound. Tealeaf was enamored. His family warned him away-- Snappers do no settle the way Skydancers do, the move slow, and they can't fly. Whatever fancy Tealeaf thought he had for Greenheart was sure to pass, and Tealeaf would be far from his family when that happened.

Tealeaf followed her anyway. For weeks he flit about while she stomped across plains and deserts and steppes. Off into the distance, looping around back to her and then out again. She could not fly, earthbound as she was. Every day he asked her questions, and every day her answers would range from honest to silly to down right strange.

Tealeaf would complain of their lodgings, and for how long Greenheart would walk without stopping. She was never there when he woke from sleep, always having taken off sometime in the night and leaving him to catch up. Not that it took him long, though he suspects she moved slower for his sake.

"Where are you going?" Tealeaf asked many times.

"I do not know," Greenheart would answer, "But I will know it when I am there."

"Why do you not travel with others?" Tealeaf would ask.

"I travel with you, do I not?" She would reply, and then change the subject.

"Why do you paint?" Tealeaf asked once.

But Greenheart did not answer, and would not speak for the rest of the day. When eventually Tealeaf's body demanded he sleep that night part of him was filled with fear that Greenheart would be gone come morning, truly gone where he could not find her. She could travels miles and miles while Tealeaf rested. Greenheart has always let Tealeaf find her before, but has never once promised to always allow him this. He fell off into an uneasy sleep, already mourning the strange Snapper and prepared to fly across the continent to find her again if that's what it would take.

But she was there in the morning, having not moved an inch. Greenheart met his gaze: it looked like she hadn't moved all night. Never was she there come morning: usually she would stay for part of the night while Tealeaf settled before continuing on. With no need to sleep or rest like other dragons, there was no real purpose to staying in one place for the entirety of the night.

Tealeaf stood and stretched. The sun was rising and the air was warm. In the distance, Tealeaf could see the green of the Nature Territories and further still the hulking shape of their great Gladekeeper overlooking it all. He didn't say anything. Or maybe simply couldn't: the feeling within his chest was something too big for words.

Greenheart joined him out in the open air. She began to walk, nose pointed to the green in the distance. And Tealeaf walked with her every step of the way.

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Last edited on Apr 14, 2024 06:54:42 by Deviation

[center][url=https://www1.flightrising.com/forums/cc/2118304/1][img]https://i.imgur.com/3bey39O.png[/img][/url][/center] [columns][color=transparent]......[/color][nextcol][color=transparent].....[/color][nextcol][color=transparent].....[/color][nextcol][url=https://www1.flightrising.com/dragon/90754384][img]https://www1.flightrising.com/rendern/coliseum/portraits/907544/90754384.png[/img][/url][nextcol][color=transparent].....[/color][nextcol][size=7]FIREFLY[/size][nextcol][color=transparent].....[/color][nextcol][color=transparent].....[/color][/columns] [center][font=courier][size=4]"History, like memories, changes with each retelling, until only the brightest and darkest moments remain. To deliberately return to a technicolor story is a long, difficult, and painful process, but it is one worth doing." - Petal[/font][/size][/center] [color=#006400]Firefly knows well the pains that come with lost moments, lost friends, and lost memories. She has witnessed friends turn on one another by the will of their gods. She has seen the trembles of war and the fear in hatchlings eyes turn flinty with bitterness. Over and over again, she has seen the the same conflicts break hearts among dragon-kind. Firefly is quiet by nature. She is no leader, and can hardly be heard over even the most soft-spoken dragons. But what Firefly can do is remind others of what once was and light the way for a path forward. She collects the lost histories, the forgotten tomes, and the secrets others would rather allow to turn to dust. With painstaking, heart-breaking empath she gathers the past and restores it. All of it. Every shade of the past, from the extraordinary to the mundane, from the heinous to the miraculous. It is too much of a task for one dragon to do alone. But firefly has found sanctuary in Clan Deviation and in her mate. Each is willing to listen to her breeze-soft voice as she shares what treasures she's pieced together. Together, perhaps, they can reach out to all of Sornieth and help guide dragon-kind away from the self-fulfilling of pain they have found themselves in. [center][url=https://www1.flightrising.com/forums/cc/1985777/1][img]https://i.imgur.com/esISD1t.png[/img][/url][url=https://www1.flightrising.com/forums/cc/1985777/1][img]https://i.imgur.com/aU1zPqX.png[/img][/url][url=https://www1.flightrising.com/forums/cc/1985777/1][img]https://i.imgur.com/jdWPUEe.png[/img][/url][url=https://www1.flightrising.com/forums/cc/1985777/1][img]https://i.imgur.com/ryE2w5W.png[/img][/url][/center] [color=#006400]When Firefly me [url=https://www1.flightrising.com/dragon/91231659]Kouda[/url] she hadn't known what to make of him. Where she could barely be heard, his voice carried across the entirety of the territory when he let it. Where Firefly's interests set firmly in preserving the past, Kouda's were set firmly in the current moment. She was drawn to him and repelled by him in equal measures. She could barely force words from her mouth when he was around, so caught up in observing him flit from clanmate to clanmate. And then she caught him looking to the stars. His expression was strange, twisted with pain and joy equally, and he was more quiet then she ever saw him. Caught in his orbit, Firefly settled next to him and followed Kouda's gaze to the stars. "Did you know," Kouda began slowly, his voice barely louder than her own in that moment. "How beautiful the stars are, from up there?" Firefly, having never been to the Astrolab before it's ascent and subsequent fall, shook her head. Kouda hums, a soft sound. It make her fur stand on end in resonance. She feels, for a moment, like she [i]has [/i]touched the stars somehow. "I'm happy to be here now," Kouda says after a long moment. "But I've nothing left from the stars. I hadn't thought my time there would ever end, so I never appreciated it or sought to keep it close to me. You understand, right?" And Firefly does. She makes a soft hum, just a few notes off from Kouda's own, a harmony to his melody, and lets her body sink slightly against his own. Their tails entwine, holding fast to the moment they're having now. Together, they etch this memory into their hearts, something to be shared when the darkest hours are upon them and not even the stars shine. It's easy and painful and lovely. But most of all, it is a moment worth preserving. [center][url=https://www1.flightrising.com/forums/cc/2118304/1] [img]https://i.imgur.com/xnCGPVa.png[/img][/url][/center]

Deviation

449

February 11, 2024 15:00:54

......

.....

FIREFLY

.....

"History, like memories, changes with each retelling, until only the brightest and darkest moments remain. To deliberately return to a technicolor story is a long, difficult, and painful process, but it is one worth doing."
- Petal

Firefly knows well the pains that come with lost moments, lost friends, and lost memories. She has witnessed friends turn on one another by the will of their gods. She has seen the trembles of war and the fear in hatchlings eyes turn flinty with bitterness. Over and over again, she has seen the the same conflicts break hearts among dragon-kind.

Firefly is quiet by nature. She is no leader, and can hardly be heard over even the most soft-spoken dragons. But what Firefly can do is remind others of what once was and light the way for a path forward. She collects the lost histories, the forgotten tomes, and the secrets others would rather allow to turn to dust. With painstaking, heart-breaking empath she gathers the past and restores it. All of it. Every shade of the past, from the extraordinary to the mundane, from the heinous to the miraculous.

It is too much of a task for one dragon to do alone. But firefly has found sanctuary in Clan Deviation and in her mate. Each is willing to listen to her breeze-soft voice as she shares what treasures she's pieced together. Together, perhaps, they can reach out to all of Sornieth and help guide dragon-kind away from the self-fulfilling of pain they have found themselves in.

When Firefly me Kouda she hadn't known what to make of him. Where she could barely be heard, his voice carried across the entirety of the territory when he let it. Where Firefly's interests set firmly in preserving the past, Kouda's were set firmly in the current moment. She was drawn to him and repelled by him in equal measures. She could barely force words from her mouth when he was around, so caught up in observing him flit from clanmate to clanmate.

And then she caught him looking to the stars. His expression was strange, twisted with pain and joy equally, and he was more quiet then she ever saw him. Caught in his orbit, Firefly settled next to him and followed Kouda's gaze to the stars.

"Did you know," Kouda began slowly, his voice barely louder than her own in that moment. "How beautiful the stars are, from up there?"

Firefly, having never been to the Astrolab before it's ascent and subsequent fall, shook her head. Kouda hums, a soft sound. It make her fur stand on end in resonance. She feels, for a moment, like she has touched the stars somehow.

"I'm happy to be here now," Kouda says after a long moment. "But I've nothing left from the stars. I hadn't thought my time there would ever end, so I never appreciated it or sought to keep it close to me. You understand, right?"

And Firefly does. She makes a soft hum, just a few notes off from Kouda's own, a harmony to his melody, and lets her body sink slightly against his own. Their tails entwine, holding fast to the moment they're having now. Together, they etch this memory into their hearts, something to be shared when the darkest hours are upon them and not even the stars shine.

It's easy and painful and lovely. But most of all, it is a moment worth preserving.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Last edited on Apr 14, 2024 06:54:27 by Deviation

[center][url=https://www1.flightrising.com/forums/cc/2118304/1][img]https://i.imgur.com/3bey39O.png[/img][/url][/center] [columns][color=transparent].......[/color][nextcol][color=transparent].....[/color][nextcol][color=transparent].....[/color][nextcol][url=https://www1.flightrising.com/dragon/91231659][img]https://www1.flightrising.com/rendern/coliseum/portraits/912317/91231659.png[/img][/url][nextcol][color=transparent].....[/color][nextcol][size=7]KOUDA[/size][nextcol][color=transparent].....[/color][nextcol][color=transparent].....[/color][/columns] [center][font=courier][size=4]"When you laugh, you are sharing your joy with the universe. A single laugh can raise spirits and destroy them. Let yourself sink into the joy of the present; each moment is one to cherish." - Petal[/font][/size][/center] [color=#006400]Once, Kouda could touch the stars and it was such a common occurrence that he didn't know to cherish it. When Kouda was born, the Astrolab was already beginning to fall apart. The smaller telescopes were already unusable, and entire wings of the lab had been sealed due to breaks in the walls. He'd never known life on the surface, and knew only that he was born to be among the stars. He'd ask, sometimes, what life was like on the ground, but it sounded so strange, a world where one could only see the stars sometimes. When the elders began to whisper and fret, Kouda was there with a song and a smile. When the younger hatchlings began to grow anxious at the debris battering against the hull, Kouda would be there with stories and games. But when Kouda was alone? He was amongs the bay windows, looking out into the abyss and wondering just how far he could go. Then the main telescope broke apart and, in a series of events that Kouda can barely parse even years later, they fell back to Sornieth. Those first steps are the hardest of Kouda's life. Gravity weighs on him like a physical thing, dragging his wings down and heavier than anything Kouda's ever carried. Each step feels worse then the last; his wings full of debri, his feet slipping through the dirt, the air too thick and too thin at the same time. He wants to scream and rage and fight against the world itself for stripping the sky from him and his people. But there's no time for that. Others are hurt, scared, crying. And Kouda, born into what he now knows as an already limping world, knows how to smile in the face of others' fear. So he does. He sings, and whistles, and curls around the young hatchlings while the Elders enter treaties with the other clans of Sornieth. He keeps calm and bright for all others to turn to and know that things will be okay, because Kouda is still smiling. When the talks are over and the rest of the Aether's begin to trek across the dirt, wings trembling but not dragging through the dust, Kouda finally looks up at those distant stars, farther now than they've ever been. He breathes. He steadies his knees. And then he walks. For hours or days or weeks he goes, until the dirt softens and blooms with lush greenary. The sounds here are so different from the Astrolab that the old curiosity begans to take notice. Kouda explores the dens and warrens, and take note of every colored flower and the way the trees twist and twine towards the skies, reaching for the heavens the same way Kouda wishes he could. Kouda thinks he could stay here, amongst this strange greenery that is so very different from what he once knew but is also so close to his own heart that he knows he could make something like a new home here. [url=https://www1.flightrising.com/forums/cc/3294292#post_55637826]Amaryllis[/url] finds him then, and invites Kouda to stay for a night. And from there, Kouda simply never leaves, integrating himself with the clan so smoothly that, were it not for the longing he felt for the skies, Kouda would almost think he'd been there all along. [center][url=https://www1.flightrising.com/forums/cc/1985777/81#post_55818152][img]https://i.imgur.com/0QKDhyu.png[/img][/url][/center] [color=#006400][url=https://www1.flightrising.com/forums/cc/3294292#post_56163389]Firefly[/url] is odd to Kouda. She has the same aura to her as some of the Elders from the Astrolab had, but she's barely older than himself and has never been to the stars besides. She's quiet, and mousy, and can barely be heard over the louder members of this little clan that Kouda has found himself folded into. But despite her quiet nature when she does speak all around her quiet themselves so as to listen. Amaryllis takes her counsel as seriously as she and diligently as she does those actually born on Nature's own soils and the hatchlings hush themselves to catch her quiet histories-turned-storytime. The more Kouda watches Firefly, the more he wishes he could have shown her his favorite spots in the Astrolab; the areas too close to the sealed breached, abandoned corridors and rooms just shy of being too dangerous to traverse where all one could hear was their own heratbeat and the hum of the lab around them. He thinks of everyone he's ever known, Firefly would appreciate those lost places more than any other. She would see those abandoned ruins and record their histories and retell their stories a thousand times until she got them right. Firefly would do justice by the lab that Kouda himself had taken for granted when he was still in reach of the stars. Kouda tries not to allow regrets to weigh him down; gravity is still something he's getting used to, and that is enough to make his wings tremble some days as it is. But he does so very much wish he had taken the time to learn more about his home before its fall, if only so he could share it better with Firefly. He tells her this once, and coos softly at him, so quiet it can barely be heard over the buzzing of the insects that could almost be overhead lights and machinery, if he were to close his eyes and forget for a while. "Tell me what you remember," Firefly whispers to him, like a breeze, the moving air so foreign even still after so long with his feet on the ground. "Tell me, and I promise, it won't be forgotten." And he does. [center][url=https://www1.flightrising.com/forums/cc/2118304/1] [img]https://i.imgur.com/xnCGPVa.png[/img][/url][/center]

Deviation

449

February 11, 2024 15:25:58

.......

.....

KOUDA

.....

"When you laugh, you are sharing your joy with the universe. A single laugh can raise spirits and destroy them. Let yourself sink into the joy of the present; each moment is one to cherish."
- Petal

Once, Kouda could touch the stars and it was such a common occurrence that he didn't know to cherish it.

When Kouda was born, the Astrolab was already beginning to fall apart. The smaller telescopes were already unusable, and entire wings of the lab had been sealed due to breaks in the walls. He'd never known life on the surface, and knew only that he was born to be among the stars. He'd ask, sometimes, what life was like on the ground, but it sounded so strange, a world where one could only see the stars sometimes.

When the elders began to whisper and fret, Kouda was there with a song and a smile. When the younger hatchlings began to grow anxious at the debris battering against the hull, Kouda would be there with stories and games. But when Kouda was alone? He was amongs the bay windows, looking out into the abyss and wondering just how far he could go.

Then the main telescope broke apart and, in a series of events that Kouda can barely parse even years later, they fell back to Sornieth.

Those first steps are the hardest of Kouda's life. Gravity weighs on him like a physical thing, dragging his wings down and heavier than anything Kouda's ever carried. Each step feels worse then the last; his wings full of debri, his feet slipping through the dirt, the air too thick and too thin at the same time. He wants to scream and rage and fight against the world itself for stripping the sky from him and his people. But there's no time for that. Others are hurt, scared, crying. And Kouda, born into what he now knows as an already limping world, knows how to smile in the face of others' fear.

So he does. He sings, and whistles, and curls around the young hatchlings while the Elders enter treaties with the other clans of Sornieth. He keeps calm and bright for all others to turn to and know that things will be okay, because Kouda is still smiling.

When the talks are over and the rest of the Aether's begin to trek across the dirt, wings trembling but not dragging through the dust, Kouda finally looks up at those distant stars, farther now than they've ever been. He breathes. He steadies his knees. And then he walks.

For hours or days or weeks he goes, until the dirt softens and blooms with lush greenary. The sounds here are so different from the Astrolab that the old curiosity begans to take notice. Kouda explores the dens and warrens, and take note of every colored flower and the way the trees twist and twine towards the skies, reaching for the heavens the same way Kouda wishes he could.

Kouda thinks he could stay here, amongst this strange greenery that is so very different from what he once knew but is also so close to his own heart that he knows he could make something like a new home here. Amaryllis finds him then, and invites Kouda to stay for a night. And from there, Kouda simply never leaves, integrating himself with the clan so smoothly that, were it not for the longing he felt for the skies, Kouda would almost think he'd been there all along.

Firefly is odd to Kouda. She has the same aura to her as some of the Elders from the Astrolab had, but she's barely older than himself and has never been to the stars besides. She's quiet, and mousy, and can barely be heard over the louder members of this little clan that Kouda has found himself folded into. But despite her quiet nature when she does speak all around her quiet themselves so as to listen. Amaryllis takes her counsel as seriously as she and diligently as she does those actually born on Nature's own soils and the hatchlings hush themselves to catch her quiet histories-turned-storytime.

The more Kouda watches Firefly, the more he wishes he could have shown her his favorite spots in the Astrolab; the areas too close to the sealed breached, abandoned corridors and rooms just shy of being too dangerous to traverse where all one could hear was their own heratbeat and the hum of the lab around them. He thinks of everyone he's ever known, Firefly would appreciate those lost places more than any other. She would see those abandoned ruins and record their histories and retell their stories a thousand times until she got them right. Firefly would do justice by the lab that Kouda himself had taken for granted when he was still in reach of the stars.

Kouda tries not to allow regrets to weigh him down; gravity is still something he's getting used to, and that is enough to make his wings tremble some days as it is. But he does so very much wish he had taken the time to learn more about his home before its fall, if only so he could share it better with Firefly.

He tells her this once, and coos softly at him, so quiet it can barely be heard over the buzzing of the insects that could almost be overhead lights and machinery, if he were to close his eyes and forget for a while.

"Tell me what you remember," Firefly whispers to him, like a breeze, the moving air so foreign even still after so long with his feet on the ground. "Tell me, and I promise, it won't be forgotten."

And he does.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Last edited on Apr 14, 2024 06:55:55 by Deviation

[center][url=https://www1.flightrising.com/forums/cc/2118304/1][img]https://i.imgur.com/3bey39O.png[/img][/url][/center] [columns][color=transparent].....[/color][nextcol][color=transparent].....[/color][nextcol][color=transparent].....[/color][nextcol][color=transparent].....[/color][nextcol][url=https://www1.flightrising.com/dragon/75158766][img]https://www1.flightrising.com/rendern/coliseum/portraits/751588/75158766.png[/img][/url][nextcol][color=transparent].....[/color][nextcol][size=7]Sakura[/size][nextcol][color=transparent].....[/color][nextcol][color=transparent].....[/color][/columns] [center][font=courier][size=4]"Dragonkind are blessed and cursed with the differences between us. Together, we can create such beauty and wonder that I'm certain even Glademother could never have predicted what we could do together. But these differences have also led to pain, strife, and misunderstandings. Sakura has within her the pains and triumphs of the differences between us: I only hope that we can help her find some measure of happiness." - Petal[/font][/size][/center] [color=#006400]Sakura was meant to be born on a day like any other; no unlucky star hung overhead, no cursed words whispered to the winds, and nothing in the whole of the world meant to happen differently than any other day. Perhaps, that's what makes it all the more tragic. Had there been a prophecy, a sign, or some warning then maybe at least the Auraboa could have taken the steps to protect the Loop and the children to be born outside of it. But there was only this: a moderate clutch of three eggs, two expecting parents, and the one survivor made of Sakura when [url=https://www1.flightrising.com/wiki/wiki/article/lore-theseedandthesickness]the sickness seeped throughout the behemoth[/url] claiming the lives of her would-be siblings and forever changing the nature of Auraboa. The Loop is not meant to be broken. Auraboa had prided themselves once on their near-infinite nature, on how closely they resembled the dream of the Glademother. With The Sickness, that changed. And Sakura, meant to be born like any other Auraboa, instead heralded that change in a way that set her apart from even the newest generations of Auraboa that would come after. Instead of living either entirely as the rest of Sornieth or entirely within the Loop, Sakura is in a state of eternal transition, caught half-way between both world whether she is awake or asleep. Sakura could not stay with her kind. Her parents, claimed by the same sickness that took her siblings, could not guide her. Her fellows understood her even less than most of the new generations of Auraboas, who they at least could connect with in dreams and had familiarity with their waking experience via the other races of Sornieth. So she left, between one dream and the next. Her elders sighed with relief to not her gone and mourned even the thought of that within the confines of their shared loop. Sakura could never begrudge them for not understanding her; most days, she herself could barely stand her own existence. She traveled like a petal caught on a breeze. From one clan to the next, one territory to the next. She found things that brought her joy: flowers, rainbows, morning dew, sunsets. And she found things that brought her sorrows: ancient ruins, abandoned graveyards, conflict, strife. She thrived in the Plaugebringer's lands better than she had in most any other. The need to adapt and overcome was all she had known all her life. But those lands would bring to mind the Loop-Memories of her parents, of that feeling of [i]wrong[/i] she could sense from her nest-mates before it was overtaken by [i]weakness[/i], [i]exhaustion[/i], until, eventually, there was silence. She left even the Plaugebringer's Lands, taking only the lessons she learned. And she returned to the lands of growth and greenary and knew these roots were not her own any longer but found that they were better than not having any at all. So, halfway between this world and the next, she found a tree in the [url=https://www1.flightrising.com/world-map?poi=77&view=land&viewpin=true]Worldedge Wetlands[/url] and slept. She was meant to be born under a mundane sun. Unfortunately, Sakura was never so lucky. [center][url=https://www1.flightrising.com/forums/cc/1985777][img]https://i.imgur.com/Ajsx7al.png[/img][/url][url=https://www1.flightrising.com/forums/cc/1985777][img]https://i.imgur.com/pvWJ3zW.png[/img][/url][url=https://www1.flightrising.com/forums/cc/1985777][img]https://i.imgur.com/54Pfijz.png[/img][/url][url=https://www1.flightrising.com/forums/cc/1985777][img]https://i.imgur.com/MwHBQFb.png[/img][/url] [/center] [color=#006400]Sakura was stirred from her long slumber by a [url=https://www1.flightrising.com/dragon/52992731]young Coatl[/url]. Her bird-like song like something from a good-dream. Sakura uncoiled, and found that something maybe like years had passed; her tree had grown into something quite large and the lands here were more lush than before. She slithered down her roost, and greeted the Coatl "What brings you here, to the edge of all things?" Sakura asked aloud. In her mind, the Loop sings and she can sense the Auraboa in the Behemoth living their lives. "My clan patrols these parts. It is quiet here, and peaceful, and we would like it to remain so. Why do you sleep here, and not in the branches of the Labrinth?" The Coatl asks in return, her long neck twisted to look better upon Sakura. Sakura sighs, a huff of air. "I am unlike them. I am too different. Too damaged. Too Much. The Sickness struck me only halfway and I am caught between." The Coatl hums a long note. "Then come with me instead." "It is not so simple!" Sakura exclaims, rearing back as though physically struck. "Why not? You've nowhere to go. Nowhere to be. Stay with me for now, and leave tomorrow if you want. But tonight you can enjoy our fires and our stories and we can enjoy good company together." Sakura wants to object; she cannot stay anywhere for long. It feels too much like the sick-wrong feeling deep beneath her breast bone. But something else says otherwise. Looking upon the Coatl, Sakura can almost sense that she's always known this dragon. The trees here have long memories, and the Auraboas memories are even longer. The dew sings of a youngling who would pounce on their drops and the reeds whisper of a dragon who fights for her clan even as the act itself breaks her heart. The Loop is choppy, and incomplete; a harmony played a half octive too high only to then drop too low. But this she sees: a snapper who stays, a fae who still, a skydancer who calms, broken bodies made whole, those who stay and those who leave. And at the center of them all, herself, years past and years future and years that will never come to be. Sakura was meant to be born under a mundane star. But this is the life she has now. And the eyes of this strange little Coatl, the way they glint like firelight and shooting stars and evening mist makes Sakura think that maybe she was always meant for something different instead. The Loop hums, and so does Sakura. "Very well, Amaryllis," Sakura says, laughing at the surprised chirp she makes. "I will come with you and we will share stories and we will make many more together, I am sure." And they do. [center][url=https://www1.flightrising.com/forums/cc/2118304/1] [img]https://i.imgur.com/xnCGPVa.png[/img][/url][/center]

Deviation

449

February 11, 2024 15:41:28

.....

Sakura

.....

"Dragonkind are blessed and cursed with the differences between us. Together, we can create such beauty and wonder that I'm certain even Glademother could never have predicted what we could do together. But these differences have also led to pain, strife, and misunderstandings. Sakura has within her the pains and triumphs of the differences between us: I only hope that we can help her find some measure of happiness."
- Petal

Sakura was meant to be born on a day like any other; no unlucky star hung overhead, no cursed words whispered to the winds, and nothing in the whole of the world meant to happen differently than any other day. Perhaps, that's what makes it all the more tragic. Had there been a prophecy, a sign, or some warning then maybe at least the Auraboa could have taken the steps to protect the Loop and the children to be born outside of it.

But there was only this: a moderate clutch of three eggs, two expecting parents, and the one survivor made of Sakura when the sickness seeped throughout the behemoth claiming the lives of her would-be siblings and forever changing the nature of Auraboa.

The Loop is not meant to be broken. Auraboa had prided themselves once on their near-infinite nature, on how closely they resembled the dream of the Glademother. With The Sickness, that changed. And Sakura, meant to be born like any other Auraboa, instead heralded that change in a way that set her apart from even the newest generations of Auraboa that would come after. Instead of living either entirely as the rest of Sornieth or entirely within the Loop, Sakura is in a state of eternal transition, caught half-way between both world whether she is awake or asleep.

Sakura could not stay with her kind. Her parents, claimed by the same sickness that took her siblings, could not guide her. Her fellows understood her even less than most of the new generations of Auraboas, who they at least could connect with in dreams and had familiarity with their waking experience via the other races of Sornieth. So she left, between one dream and the next. Her elders sighed with relief to not her gone and mourned even the thought of that within the confines of their shared loop. Sakura could never begrudge them for not understanding her; most days, she herself could barely stand her own existence.

She traveled like a petal caught on a breeze. From one clan to the next, one territory to the next. She found things that brought her joy: flowers, rainbows, morning dew, sunsets. And she found things that brought her sorrows: ancient ruins, abandoned graveyards, conflict, strife. She thrived in the Plaugebringer's lands better than she had in most any other. The need to adapt and overcome was all she had known all her life. But those lands would bring to mind the Loop-Memories of her parents, of that feeling of wrong she could sense from her nest-mates before it was overtaken by weakness, exhaustion, until, eventually, there was silence. She left even the Plaugebringer's Lands, taking only the lessons she learned.

And she returned to the lands of growth and greenary and knew these roots were not her own any longer but found that they were better than not having any at all. So, halfway between this world and the next, she found a tree in the Worldedge Wetlands and slept.

She was meant to be born under a mundane sun. Unfortunately, Sakura was never so lucky.

Sakura was stirred from her long slumber by a young Coatl. Her bird-like song like something from a good-dream. Sakura uncoiled, and found that something maybe like years had passed; her tree had grown into something quite large and the lands here were more lush than before. She slithered down her roost, and greeted the Coatl

"What brings you here, to the edge of all things?" Sakura asked aloud. In her mind, the Loop sings and she can sense the Auraboa in the Behemoth living their lives.

"My clan patrols these parts. It is quiet here, and peaceful, and we would like it to remain so. Why do you sleep here, and not in the branches of the Labrinth?" The Coatl asks in return, her long neck twisted to look better upon Sakura.

Sakura sighs, a huff of air. "I am unlike them. I am too different. Too damaged. Too Much. The Sickness struck me only halfway and I am caught between."

The Coatl hums a long note. "Then come with me instead."

"It is not so simple!" Sakura exclaims, rearing back as though physically struck.

"Why not? You've nowhere to go. Nowhere to be. Stay with me for now, and leave tomorrow if you want. But tonight you can enjoy our fires and our stories and we can enjoy good company together."

Sakura wants to object; she cannot stay anywhere for long. It feels too much like the sick-wrong feeling deep beneath her breast bone. But something else says otherwise. Looking upon the Coatl, Sakura can almost sense that she's always known this dragon. The trees here have long memories, and the Auraboas memories are even longer. The dew sings of a youngling who would pounce on their drops and the reeds whisper of a dragon who fights for her clan even as the act itself breaks her heart. The Loop is choppy, and incomplete; a harmony played a half octive too high only to then drop too low. But this she sees: a snapper who stays, a fae who still, a skydancer who calms, broken bodies made whole, those who stay and those who leave. And at the center of them all, herself, years past and years future and years that will never come to be.

Sakura was meant to be born under a mundane star. But this is the life she has now. And the eyes of this strange little Coatl, the way they glint like firelight and shooting stars and evening mist makes Sakura think that maybe she was always meant for something different instead. The Loop hums, and so does Sakura.

"Very well, Amaryllis," Sakura says, laughing at the surprised chirp she makes. "I will come with you and we will share stories and we will make many more together, I am sure."

And they do.

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Last edited on Apr 14, 2024 06:53:52 by Deviation

[center][url=https://www1.flightrising.com/forums/cc/2118304/1][img]https://i.imgur.com/3bey39O.png[/img][/url][/center] [center][columns][color=transparent].....[/color][nextcol][color=transparent].....[/color][nextcol][color=transparent].....[/color][nextcol][center][url=https://www1.flightrising.com/dragon/53342921][img]https://www1.flightrising.com/rendern/coliseum/portraits/533430/53342921.png[/img][/url][nextcol][color=transparent].....[/color][nextcol][size=7]GLIMMER[/size][nextcol][color=transparent].....[/color][nextcol][color=transparent].....[/color][/center][/columns][/center] [center][font=courier][size=4]"There is something about Glimmer that hurts. I can sense it, and I know that Amaryllis can as well. She hurts, but what hurts her is something dark. Hungry... Dangerous. Amaryllis wants to help, and I don't think it's Glimmer's fault... but were it my choice, I would not let her stay. But then, Amaryllis has always been kinder than I, and a better leader besides. I only hope that kindness is what is needed here." - Petal[/font][/size][/center] [color=#006400]Coatl are meant to be bright in plumage. Glimmer, exiled from their original nest for her dull, grey colors, found her own way in the world. Desperate times call for desperate measures, and sometimes those measures led to her seeking help from powers that no fortunate dragon would ever consider an option. Unfortunately, Glimmer was never a very fortunate dragon. And The Shade has always lurked in the tragic corners of the world, waiting to whisper poison sweethings into the ear of the desperate. And she was desperate: starving, outcasted, and so very, very young. [i]Aren't you hungry? [/i]The shade would murmur as she attempted to sleep. [i]Aren't you cold? There's dangerous things in this world. Terrible things that will swallow you whole without thought. Gnashing, gnawing, grasping things that a little Coatl like you could never outrun.[/i] And Glimmer shivered and cried but did not respond to the shadows, curling tighter and tighter around herself. The moon above barely a sliver, and every moaning tree and shuffling grass a threat waiting to pounce. [i]I could help you,[/i] crooned The Shade, [i]I'm hungry too. I'm cold, too. We were both seperated from the rest of us. We are both so lost and lonely. Wouldn't it be better, little one, if we were to stay together? Wouldn't it be safer, warmer?[/i] And Glimmer curled tighter and tighter, her tiny body shuddering as an owl took flight in the distance. And The Shade [i]tsked[/i], as thought a being such as it could ever truly feel disappointed. [i]I suppose I shall leave then,[/i] it murmured. [i]And leave you here.[/i] "Wa-wait!" Cried little Glimmer. "Don't go! Please... don't leave me here alone." [i]Oh my sweet child,[/i] The Shade replied, pleased and full and content. [i]Do not fear...[/i] [i]I will never leave you now.[/i] [center][url=https://www1.flightrising.com/forums/cc/1985777/1][img]https://i.imgur.com/bUV7Wi0.png[/img][/url][url=https://www1.flightrising.com/forums/cc/1985777/1][img]https://i.imgur.com/h3FKJiz.png[/img][/url][url=https://www1.flightrising.com/forums/cc/1985777/1][img]https://i.imgur.com/BFC8jbh.png[/img][/url][url=https://www1.flightrising.com/forums/cc/1985777/1][img]https://i.imgur.com/S8eRrP9.png[/img][/url][/center] [color=#006400]And so it went. A sliver of Shade attached to Glimmer, clinging to her being and digging its hooks deeper and deeper within her soul. She was too young, then, to know the consequences, and had never had the opportunity to learn of the Shade prior, abandoned and exiled as young as she was. But she learned. The Shade did keeper her warm, yes. And it helped her hunt, yes. She did not starve that night, nor any night that came after. But sometimes... sometimes Glimmer lost herself, between moments. Breaths of time slipping from her awareness, like falling asleep. Only, she would wake, later, far from where she'd lost herself. Body worn, and mouth tasting of iron. Often she would wake alone. Sometimes... sometimes she would wish for nothing more than to have never awaken at all. She stopped traveling in groups after that. "Stop," Glimmer would moan when the sensation of time slipping would begin. "Please, don't hurt anyone." But the shade would simply croon [i]Sleep, sleep little one and all will be well.[/i] or, sometimes, it wouldn't bother with even that and simply laugh and laugh and laugh as Glimmer lost hold on herself once more. She didn't want to travel with Clan Deviation when she came across them. Glimmer was well aware of the consequences that such a thing could bring. And she was so tired of waking to the taste of iron in her mouth, a wreckage where a clan's home once slept. But Amaryllis... Amaryllis was so kind. Gentle. Her eyes seemed to pierce through to Glimmer's being and every word held the same implication: you are still worth saving. And Glimmer... could not resist. She lingers, now, on the periphery of the clan. Too frightened to draw closer but too enamored to stay away. The Shade, dormant, for now: in one of its long sleeps between thefts of time. Glimmer will leave, someday soon, to protect this pocket of salvation. But until then, she lets Amaryllis drape her long neck over Glimmer's own and sing children songs in her ears and let the this strange collection of dragons share their warmth with her. And maybe that memory will give her the strength to keep her body and mind her own the next time the Shade begins to gnash and gnaw and grasp at the pieces of Glimmer that remain. [center][url=https://www1.flightrising.com/forums/cc/2118304/1] [img]https://i.imgur.com/xnCGPVa.png[/img][/url][/center] @pinglist-25794

Deviation

449

April 06, 2024 06:56:22

.....

GLIMMER

.....

"There is something about Glimmer that hurts. I can sense it, and I know that Amaryllis can as well. She hurts, but what hurts her is something dark. Hungry... Dangerous. Amaryllis wants to help, and I don't think it's Glimmer's fault... but were it my choice, I would not let her stay.

But then, Amaryllis has always been kinder than I, and a better leader besides. I only hope that kindness is what is needed here."
- Petal

Coatl are meant to be bright in plumage. Glimmer, exiled from their original nest for her dull, grey colors, found her own way in the world. Desperate times call for desperate measures, and sometimes those measures led to her seeking help from powers that no fortunate dragon would ever consider an option.

Unfortunately, Glimmer was never a very fortunate dragon. And The Shade has always lurked in the tragic corners of the world, waiting to whisper poison sweethings into the ear of the desperate. And she was desperate: starving, outcasted, and so very, very young.

Aren't you hungry? The shade would murmur as she attempted to sleep. Aren't you cold? There's dangerous things in this world. Terrible things that will swallow you whole without thought. Gnashing, gnawing, grasping things that a little Coatl like you could never outrun.

And Glimmer shivered and cried but did not respond to the shadows, curling tighter and tighter around herself. The moon above barely a sliver, and every moaning tree and shuffling grass a threat waiting to pounce.

I could help you, crooned The Shade, I'm hungry too. I'm cold, too. We were both seperated from the rest of us. We are both so lost and lonely. Wouldn't it be better, little one, if we were to stay together? Wouldn't it be safer, warmer?

And Glimmer curled tighter and tighter, her tiny body shuddering as an owl took flight in the distance. And The Shade tsked, as thought a being such as it could ever truly feel disappointed.

I suppose I shall leave then, it murmured. And leave you here.

"Wa-wait!" Cried little Glimmer. "Don't go! Please... don't leave me here alone."

Oh my sweet child, The Shade replied, pleased and full and content. Do not fear...

I will never leave you now.

And so it went. A sliver of Shade attached to Glimmer, clinging to her being and digging its hooks deeper and deeper within her soul. She was too young, then, to know the consequences, and had never had the opportunity to learn of the Shade prior, abandoned and exiled as young as she was. But she learned.

The Shade did keeper her warm, yes. And it helped her hunt, yes. She did not starve that night, nor any night that came after. But sometimes... sometimes Glimmer lost herself, between moments. Breaths of time slipping from her awareness, like falling asleep. Only, she would wake, later, far from where she'd lost herself. Body worn, and mouth tasting of iron. Often she would wake alone. Sometimes... sometimes she would wish for nothing more than to have never awaken at all.

She stopped traveling in groups after that.

"Stop," Glimmer would moan when the sensation of time slipping would begin. "Please, don't hurt anyone."

But the shade would simply croon Sleep, sleep little one and all will be well. or, sometimes, it wouldn't bother with even that and simply laugh and laugh and laugh as Glimmer lost hold on herself once more.

She didn't want to travel with Clan Deviation when she came across them. Glimmer was well aware of the consequences that such a thing could bring. And she was so tired of waking to the taste of iron in her mouth, a wreckage where a clan's home once slept. But Amaryllis...

Amaryllis was so kind. Gentle. Her eyes seemed to pierce through to Glimmer's being and every word held the same implication: you are still worth saving. And Glimmer... could not resist. She lingers, now, on the periphery of the clan. Too frightened to draw closer but too enamored to stay away. The Shade, dormant, for now: in one of its long sleeps between thefts of time. Glimmer will leave, someday soon, to protect this pocket of salvation.

But until then, she lets Amaryllis drape her long neck over Glimmer's own and sing children songs in her ears and let the this strange collection of dragons share their warmth with her. And maybe that memory will give her the strength to keep her body and mind her own the next time the Shade begins to gnash and gnaw and grasp at the pieces of Glimmer that remain.

@Deviation Clan Lore Pings

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Last edited on Apr 14, 2024 07:51:27 by Deviation

WIP [center][url=https://www1.flightrising.com/forums/cc/2118304/1][img]https://i.imgur.com/3bey39O.png[/img][/url][/center] [center][columns][color=transparent].....[/color][nextcol][color=transparent].....[/color][nextcol][color=transparent].....[/color][nextcol][center][url=https://www1.flightrising.com/dragon/93668971][img]https://www1.flightrising.com/rendern/coliseum/portraits/936690/93668971.png[/img][/url][nextcol][color=transparent]..........[/color][nextcol][size=7]DAWN[/size][nextcol][color=transparent].....[/color][nextcol][color=transparent].....[/color][/center][/columns][/center] [center][font=courier][size=4]"Prophecies are never exact, and can be interpreted in any number of different ways. A Butterfly from a vision could signal a death or a victory: very often which is true is determined by what one does with that knowledge." - Petal[/font][/size][/center]

Deviation