Quests & Challenges

[center][item=druid's woodtreads] @TETRAHEDR0N @Amberfox[/center] I really do not have lair space for more dragons right now... so instead I decided to mess around with dressing up some of the dragons. I probably won't mention it in any of the lore, I just didn't want to do nothing today. I didn't do much, just tried a few things I had in my hoard until I got something I kind of liked.

[center][item=apatite] [i]Unbreaking, unbending.[/i] @TETRAHEDR0N @Amberfox [url=https://www1.flightrising.com/dragon/77138780][img]https://www1.flightrising.com/rendern/avatars/771388/77138780.png[/img][/url] [color=red][size=7]Panacea[/size][/color][/center] All the dragons around her are too [i]soft.[/i] Panacea watches them with something between disdain and affection swirling through her chest. It's contradictory and strange. How she holds such a distaste for their weakness, yet such a fondness for their gentleness. She wants to hate them. She wants to leave them, to strike out on her own with her sister, and yet... seeing Clodovea smile at the others like they're precious makes Panacea hesitate. She tries to understand how Clodovea looks at them. Like they're precious and irreplaceable. And she doesn't understand, not at all. They're made of flesh and bone, fragile and breakable, part of the cycle of living and dying. In the end, they do not matter. In the end, even Panacea doesn't matter. They'll live, and die, and the world will keep moving. There is nothing precious about their lives. But Clodovea seems to think otherwise, with the way she laughs and smiles like each little thing the others do is worth all the treasure in the world. So Panacea will live, and she will protect the lives of the convoy, because she wants to keep seeing that smile. That warmth in those eyes. She wants to understand what makes life precious to the imperial.

[center][item=cerdae sparkle] [i]To cry, to weep.[/i] @TETRAHEDR0N @Amberfox [url=https://www1.flightrising.com/dragon/77404695][img]https://www1.flightrising.com/rendern/avatars/774047/77404695.png[/img][/url] [color=blue][size=7]Thaw[/size][/color][/center] Thaw wonders why Aurum cries. The other pearlcatcher's eyes seem to fill with tears at anything, from cloudy skies to the crackling bonfire they light each night. Thaw doesn't understand, no matter how much time he's spent with Aurum. What it is that causes him to weep even as he laughs. "Why do you cry?" he asks, in the transitory moments between night and sunrise, when the sky is dark but the stars have faded and nothing quite feels solid enough to last to the morning. And Aurum responds by laughing, even as tears stream down his cheeks, almost seeming to be tinted black by the sky above. "It's all I know to do," the older pearlcatcher says, and his words seem to dissolve once they hit the not-night-not-morning air. As though they're too heavy to taint it, as though they're too light to matter. Thaw looks to the sky, where there is no sun nor stars, only the lonely moon hanging heavy. He breathes. There's salt on the air, and he wonders if it comes from the sea, or if somehow Aurum's tears have dissolved into the strange, light thickness the air seems to take on. "What are you doing?" a growl comes from behind them, and Thaw turns to see Pricklepear standing large and menacing, silhouetted in flecks of red by the bonfire embers behind her. "He isn't bothering me," Aurum assures, even as he cries. "We were just waiting for the sunrise." Pricklepear watches Thaw with narrowed eyes, but does not argue. She instead settles between the two pearlcatchers, watching the younger closely. The barest strip of white-gold begins to pierce the dark sky, and Aurum's tears flow freely. Thaw watches the sun begin to paint the sky in rose-gold and pink, and the transient, contradictory feelings from a moment before evaporate with the dew. Thaw takes a deep breath, and it tastes like salt and sky.

[center][item=sweet potato vine] [i]Fight for me.[/i] [/center] Thaw and Gravel are now level 3. Panacea is now level 4. A relatively uneventful run.

[center][item=reflective fish scales] [i]Burn.[/i] @TETRAHEDR0N @Amberfox [url=https://www1.flightrising.com/dragon/76925681][img]https://www1.flightrising.com/rendern/avatars/769257/76925681.png[/img][/url] [color=gold][size=7]Aurum[/size][/color][/center] He does not cry for sadness. No, Aurum is happy, immensely so, surrounded by the liveliness of the convoy. Everything about them is beautiful and full of life, and Aurum loves them all dearly. He thinks if his sister were here, she would love them too. He thinks if Cycloknight were here, she would maybe, just maybe, whisper quiet words into the bustling air, so soft they would be lost in it. Aurum cries, but he is not upset. Dragons die. That is the way of things. But first they live, beautiful and burning, carving their names into the very fabric of the universe. And Aurum understands that, and it keeps his heart beating, keeps his blood burning with a desire to [i]thrive.[/i] The convoy will find their home, he can feel it down to his bones. They will find their home, because they have to. Because there's no other choice. Standing tall and proud as they march in search of home, carving winding roads in their wake, Aurum cries.

[center][item=clouddancer] [i]A meeting, as if by fate.[/i] @TETRAHEDR0N @Amberfox [/center] Random number generator told me to buy a ridgeback, so I did: meet Dorcas. [url=https://www1.flightrising.com/dragon/77598846][img]https://www1.flightrising.com/rendern/avatars/775989/77598846.png[/img][/url] He's way too pretty for his own good. I'm struggling a little to write an intro scene for him, so instead I'm just gonna give him some lore in his bio and call it a day for now. I took the apparel off of everyone, because I've decided that I want the appearances of the dragons to be consistent with the lore. For now, the only one with any apparel is Dorcas, and there's a lore reason for that. Sometimes I simply come up with lore but can't properly write a scene for it. That's just how it is. I also started updating everyone else's bios today, so if you'd like to check those out, feel free to do so. They include some lore I've wanted to write into the lore posts here but haven't found a way to do so, as well as a link to each lore post here written from their perspective. Check them out if you're interested, but I'll admit that most of them are unfinished as of writing this. Gonna pick away at them over the next few days if I don't fully finish them tonight!

[center][item=white linen leg wraps] @TETRAHEDR0N @Amberfox [/center] I still do not have lair space. I tried to see if I could make some, but I really don't think I can at the moment. I did finish a handful of bios today though, so it's not a complete nothing day.