Raffles & Giveaways

@pinglist-41983 Please post any stories before[b] Rollover Tonight[/b]. Compliments may be posted on [b]Sunday[/b]. Yesterday's prize was won by @BucketoRandom ! Give me a few to send it out! [quote=Friday's Prize][center][item=Wooden Marionette Trove][item=Cursed Crate][br]Wooden Marionette Trove, Cursed Crate[/center][/quote]

Story for the first prompt! The healer's guild features prominently in my lore, so this prompt immediately make me think of a more medical route instead of spooky, so Vaidia was perfect for the job.


“Go grab a stretcher and a healer! It’s incredible that he’s still breathing like this, but he can’t last for much longer. Why are you standing around, go!”
He looked so small lying there, chest half exposed and one wing tattered, bent at an unnatural angle. Vaidia’s first thought as he was rushed in was a small child curled in on itself, not far from the truth of how young the teenage Nocturne was.
Immediately beginning the preparations for a casting, he pulled out his wax tablet and stylus and asked, “How exactly did this happen?” Vaidia motioned silently to the apprentice standing in the corner to gather materials for a splint and bandages, though she looked sick at the sight of the torn muscle and sinew.
A middle-aged Coatl, presumably the Nocturne’s mother, clasped shaky hands to her chest and explained worriedly how her son had been out flying with his younger brother before tumbling out of the sky. She was unable to stand still in the small healer’s pavilion, pacing back-and-forth until Vaidia gave up on keeping his view towards her.
“Does his brother know why he fell? Is it an underlying health issue, did he hit something midair, or were they being reckless with their maneuvers?” Vaidia started sketching careful runes, occasionally rubbing out a wobbly line as he half-focused on her.
“His brother says he didn’t run into anything, that he was right in front of him and the next time he glanced back, all he saw was- a body laying on the grass below-” The Coatl’s voice trembled, tears welling in her eyes as she sank to sitting on one of the nearby benches. “He’s able to be healed, right? With no lasting effects?”
Vaidia sighed as he scratched out the last few marks. “Yes, our healing is able to cure nearly everything but true death. You may want to leave for this, but you can be let back as soon as I finish.” The apprentice quickly led her to the door, too eager to leave. She’ll never be any use on the battlefield with those nerves, and perhaps not much more in our guild.
Deep breaths, with mind focused and hands laid upon the Nocturne’s head and chest. Vaidia visualized the spell and gritted his teeth as the first wave of pain washed across him. If it was already this bad–they were lucky he had gotten here so quickly or this kid would likely not be here any longer. The flesh slowly stretched back together, more see-through than before but still providing a barrier against infection and further blood loss.
The jolts came faster, Vaidia’s legs threatening to crumple under him. And as he thought he was about to scream, they ceased. Trembling and catching his breath for the moment, Vaidia appreciated his forethought in sending the mother out beforehand. Healers were trained for their pain resistance and ability to conceal the effects of their powers, but even they were as draconic as the rest.
He called an assistant back in to handle the braces and bandages designed to support the young Nocturne until his bones and muscles were steadier again, then slipped out of the room to find a quiet room and a hot cup of tea. Vaidia knew that as much as he had suffered from the saving of that boy, ten times that would be taken from the mother in money. What other choice did she have?

[center][b]Where the Night Ends[/b] [url=https://www1.flightrising.com/dragon/93290584][img]https://www1.flightrising.com/rendern/350/932906/93290584_350.png[/img][/url] [item=scene: roadside tavern][/center] Prazien clears his throat loudly. When the tavern finally quiets down, rowdy customers settling in with their drinks and meals, he begins to speak. “Welcome one and all! Furs, scales, stars, and feathers! Bark, leaves, rocks, and gems! Piles of fabric and metal and eyes and claws! Rows of teeth and talons and fangs and gaping maws, yes, welcome one and welcome all!” He hops around the wooden stage excitedly, dragging along a large blue tome. The chain attached to the tome rattles, twisting and turning like a snake as it follows him. “This tale is a favorite of mine. It takes place on my birthday, you see. Once every four years I get to party until the sun goes down and the night begins. Then, I party until the night ends!” Some dragons in the front row chuckle while a dryad in the back yells to get on with it. A centaur next to them snorts and asks if they have somewhere better to be, and laughter ripples through the room when the dryad replies ‘somewhere with cheaper drinks.’ The tome flashes bright blue briefly, almost jolting off the stage. “Yes yes yes, of course of course. Starting now, starting now!” Prazien stomps twice and the tome leaps into his waiting claws. “Many many moons ago, and quite a few suns too, there was a cloak that watched over a tree. The tree grew strong and tall in the dark and shrunk away in the light, so the cloak would fly up into the air and cover the sky until it was pitch black. As the years passed, the cloak grew lighter and lighter, bright blue seeping into the black. Worn with age, small holes began to appear, so that even at night, pinpricks of light could be seen from the spinning stars that surrounded them. One day, just as the stars began to drift away, tired from trying to look at the tree through the holes in the cloak, the cloak fell to the ground in a heap, exhausted. The stars came back and the sky glittered with silver and gold, beautiful beautiful oh so beautiful, and the tree shrank and shrank from the light until it disappeared.” Prazien pauses. The clatter of plates and mugs fills the silence, yet no chatter, as every customer hangs on to his words. “The stars spun closer and closer, a whirlwind of light and heat, trying to find the tree that had disappeared. It was only when they began to drift away again, when a small root popped back out of the ground. But, the tree never returned. Instead, the root stretched and stretched and stretched, trying to get to the crumpled up cloak. Curious, the stars came back. So, the root waited, waited for days and months and years. Suddenly, the stars realized they would never get to see the tree if they stayed. So, they leaped away! The root finally finally reached the cloak, pulling it down down down until the cloak and the tree were together again. Once they were sure it was safe, the tree sprung out of the darkness and into the starless night, the cloak wrapped around its trunk and now a bright blue.” The tome vibrates in place, faint smoke curling from its pages. Prazien waves the smoke away before continuing. “The stars, overjoyed to see the tree again, decided that once every four years they would leap back to see the tree, spinning and spinning the night into light until the tree was almost gone. Then, they would leap away again, because no matter how much they loved to see the tree, the tree cannot grow tall and strong if the night ends.” The tome thuds back onto the wooden stage, a faint blue flash of fire bursting from its pages that goes out when Prazien slams it shut. “The end!”

[center][b]Cloudy With a Chance of Nocturnes[/b] [url=https://www1.flightrising.com/dragon/62178705][img]https://www1.flightrising.com/rendern/350/621788/62178705_350.png[/img][/url][/center] Natasha rolls open a scroll, ignoring the merchant trying to sell her a golden trinket. The owl perched on her shoulder stares down the merchant silently, almost seeming to look down its beak in disgust at the cheap metal ring. The scroll is old and worn, cracked in places and smelling of mold and mildew. On it, a list of ingredients and instructions, moon phases and lunar calendars. At the bottom, a short poem. [center][b][i]Night Oscillates Circles in waves Turn the page Under the stars Run with wings Never fall the Endless Sea calls[/i][/b][/center] Natasha nods and rolls the scroll back up. She hands it to the owl, who screeches happily. Natasha turns back to the merchant, cutting him off. “How much for the scroll?”

@cle the details in your healer story were incredible, I could really feel the urgency of the situation! I'm so curious about the effects of using healing powers in the story, it looks like it takes quite the physical and mental toll. I wonder if this is a rule of the universe in the story, or is it specific to Vaidia?

@IndigoStarshine, thank you so much for the compliment! I love how your interpretation of where the night ends was filled with a feel of wonder and curiosity, these prompts can be interpreted so many different ways and it's lovely.

It is a rule of my universe, healers take on a portion of the pain the one being healed is experiencing. Because of not experiencing the full measure and being at less risk than the patient due to not having their bones actually broken or skin being torn, merely just the pain being transferred, healing is a sacrifice, but a worthwhile one. It also solves the issue of not being able to heal someone back from death (would take the death upon themself.) For these reasons, the healers do charge quite highly for their services (excessively so) and go through many years of training to handle these effects.

[center][url=https://www1.flightrising.com/dragon/61079859][img]https://www1.flightrising.com/rendern/350/610799/61079859_350.png[/img][/url][/center] "Where the night ends..." Darryn closes her eyes and takes in a deep breath before she continues to speak, "Well I think I've got a story for that... I just, nevermind." [rule] It was my first time visiting the portal, the forbidden portal, I'd done a pretty good amount of journeying. By then I'd travelled across Sornieth and seen all 11 domains but the portal, it sure is built different. My first encounter with a Terror Toad... well let's just say it wasn't very pretty. Ended up having to go back to my home clan for a extended period of time, usually I only stay at my home clan for a week or less, but to properly heal I had to stay for a lot longer. During this stay I began to notice how much changed, the clan was so much bigger, my mom left the clan to serve the Lightweaver, and if that wasn't enough, one of my friends got married, he has like, six kids today! It felt like way too much was happening way to fast, it really put into perspective how much time had passed. Well my time at my home clan was... very jarring, and before I knew it, I'd just about made a full recovery and I was ready to head out again... But something about this stay was different from all of the other times I've stayed at my home clan after a trip. I knew something had to change. It was the last day I of my stay, I'd just about packed allof my things and was ready to leave the next morning. But no matter how hard I tried to sleep, I just couldn't. I found myself wandering around the outskirts of the clan, and then I saw her, Crius. Well, I guess I'll have to introduce her now, well [url=https://www1.flightrising.com/scrying/predict?breed=13&gender=1&age=1&bodygene=82&body=45&winggene=213&wings=156&tertgene=54&tert=83&element=8&eyetype=1]Crius[/url].. she's a Skydancer, we grew up together, and well I... she meant a lot to me. While I absolutely loved adventure, she adored the simple calmer life, heh our first- one time when we hung out I decided to take her to a small creek by the forest nearby, it went disastrously, but I'll never forget it. Anyways, back to that night. There she was, sitting in the moonlight, gazing out into the endless sea of stars, I called out to her, "Hey, Crius!" she whipped her head and looked over at me, "Darryn! Aren't you leaving tomorrow? You should get some rest!" I walked over to her and sat down next to her, "Well, I couldn't sleep. I thought some fresh air might help, and well, I happened to stumble into you, but what are [i]you[/i] doing this late up?" She chuckled, "I guess I'm doing the same as you, couldn't fall asleep, came out to get some fresh air." I looked at her, and swallowed, why was this so hard to say? "Crius... during my time at the clan, it's just felt like so much has happened while I was gone... it feels harder to call this place my home everyday..." Crius looked at me, opened her mouth, paused, and then began to speak, "Well, you're always out, going on your travels, it's bound for you to miss a lot." I looked at Crius, I really wanted to speak from my heart, "I mean, I get it, but... this, right here doesn't feel like home... it's not where I feel like myself, I guess." Crius moved a claw, she reached out and held one of my claws, "Well, I know you, your heart's always longing for adventure, being out there. If you were couped up in one place for too long you'd probably go insane." I laughed, she was right. My heart however, was racing, "And you love your peaceful life here. Well, what I'm trying to get at here is well, I think... I've been thinking that my home may be somewhere out there." I gestured to the horizon. Crius had a cold empty look, "Oh." That was about all I needed to hear, "I... I-" she cut me off "Darryn I know, and I love you too. But you know me, venturing out there isn't my thing. But don't let me hold you away from your dreams." Crius leaned against me "I want to stay here, with you, but my heart longs to be out there... I just..." "And that's okay, I'm not mad at you. In fact, I have a feeling we feel the same way, I want to be with you, but I don't want to leave this life that I have here behind." I held her tight, "I just, I don't know what to do." She gave me a reassuring squeeze, "Whatever you do, just remember, I'll always love you, okay?" "And I love you too, no matter what." We spent the whole night outside together, watching the stars go by. And before I knew it, the Sun was already chasing the night away, we got up, she helped me gather up my things. And I left. [rule] There's tears running down Darryn's face, "... Well, there's that. We still write to eachother. I just... wish things could be different, I often think about my past. But surrounding yourself in it too much will only hurt you; we just have to live on." (it feels like my fingers are about to fall off, there's probably 20 grammar errors and it's probably poorly written too, but oh well.)

Reminder that you can post compliments until rollover tonight! The prize for yesterday was won by @IndigoStarshine ! Please give me a few moments to send it out, little hectic today. [quote=Daily 7][center][item=Lacquer Marionette Trove][item=Stonewatch Harpy Crate][br]Lacquer Marionette Trove, Stonewatch Harpy Crate[/center][/quote]

@RiftenThief thank you so much!! I had such a fun time writing these prompts :))

@cle thank you so much!! I wanted it to have a fairy tale/Alice in wonderland feel to it,, so wonder and curiosity is the perfect description :))

Oooh, I get it,, that's so cool! It's good world building since it gives realistic limits,, if a healer was an abbreviation could they theoretically be half-dead if they wanted to bring someone back from the dead?