Ok! I have a story for you that's gotta help on some level.
Have you heard the Legend of Sorez?
I like to share his story whenever there's an opportunity. At the time it happened quite a few people saw it happen live, and now I like to share him around to new people who are overwhelmed or sometimes for people who have lost faith in FR. I hope you don't fit into the latter category. He's appeared in a few different forums now so
Also: He was born the day before I got married :D
Sorez "came" from an incredibly popular hatchery when Veils were released that has now since closed (the owner found running a hatchery too stressful). There were waitlist and drop times, and all hatchlings would get snapped up in seconds. Every time for months I would show up just as the last hatchlings went out the door thanks to timezones and it became a bit of a running joke. I even attempted to get up stupid early to check my notifications to see if the hatchies had dropped yet and still missed them.
I guess after complaining and laughing with the owner and others who were trying to get hatchies one too many times the owner scheduled a specific drop time with weeks of notice. Finally, with spazzing refresh and already having a typed up message to post, I secured my first babies! The owner celebrated with me.
Willow and
Ophiuchus. But there was another pair that wasn't quite ready for that date that we were all excited for. I got the last hatchling, Soprano. And there was much rejoicing and it seemed my bad luck run was over.
I made the mistake of lending Soprano out. I never got her back. She was resold shortly after to someone else, her current owner, who left the site shortly after acquiring her. I don't believe her current owner knew that she was a stolen dragon.
I never reached out because her bio was filled immediately and I could see that her new owner had plans for her. I didn't think at the time sending a mail to someone about the situation was appropriate, so I could only take solace in knowing she had found a nice home. I wish sometimes now I had tried to get her back, had I known she was going to be lost forever. I had never lost a dragon in a trade before this (which is actually crazy in like 7 or 8 years of faith trading).
A while later the hatchery announced its shutdown and the owner was running a semi live event selling and giving away the hatchery pairs. As usual I arrived just a little too late and missed out on Soprano's parents. Only two pairs had sold so far in the literal minute I was late to arrive. I ended up saying that Soprano had been hoisted while talking about the pair and there were many condolences from other players who were there for the event.
I don't know how the next part went down. Maybe the hatchery owner said something before sending off the parents. Maybe the buyer, despite having signs of having claimed the pair they wanted and then left, was still lingering and read what happened. Maybe one of the buystanders said something. Regardless mails were probably exchanged. But one day I got offered a free baby from the pair- not the person who had originally bought them at the event, but from a new owner I had never spoken to. Somehow they knew about what happened and offered to replace what I had lost. I had a lot of feelings. By this point Soprano was lost to the digital void. I agreed, but was a little uneasy about just replacing her. And it wasn't up to anyone else to fix my mistake. I ended up picking Sorez, who had to be male because picking a female felt wrong, and he came home. It kind of reopened that wound for me yet it felt good to have him.
Only a few weeks later his parents were put up for sale. Again I was contacted for it because of my interest in the pair in the first place (again, what meta knowledge is this???). So of course I bought them instantly.
Meet Kaito and Melody.
Now they all hang out together as a family.
The End!
The thing is though, nobody had to help me. I made the dumb by lending out a dragon with so much meaning; with a history and everything. Nobody had to console me, nobody had to work with me (multiple times) to get these 4 dragons. People just did, without being asked every single time. The hatchery owner, the bystanders, the last breeder of the pair: everyone sacrificed in some way without being asked to make up for one shady person. Even now I haven't had as wholesome interactions with a hatchery owner since that one, just so willing to meet people where they were at. Nobody was rude when I was the idiot or criticized my decisions. Several people tried to look into what breeding a clone of Soprano might be (AH listings, dragon searches etc) before I weighed in about directly replacing her. Start to finish everyone's vibes were just good. Something that shouldn't be so undervalued as it is.
FR can be a very generous place. When people forget that, I bring out Sorez. He wouldn't exist without the selflessness of the people that play here.
I have a fair amount of generous gift dragons and projects that were only made possible by the aid of others. Dragons that were rescued only for the original owners to find them many years later in my lair. And other accidents of course. But no one's story says divine teamwork like Sorez's does.
Maybe I'll come back later and tell the Tale of DesertFruit: A Story of Ruining a Unique Colour Combo for All Time and for Stubbornly Finishing a Project You No Longer Want
.-:*
