ORIGIN - The Creature of the Black Lagoon [open]

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Sora had finished her den a couple of days ago. The cool of Pisces kept her waking at early hours and venturing out groggily into the cold to eat and swim, but for a little while something had been catching her eye. There was some kind of structure in the lagoon.

The hog was unsure exactly how far away it was; the size of the thing was indeterminable, with the way ice seemed to web violently off of it. She slipped into the water, swimming in a lazy circle around the lagoon. Pondering this thing, whatever it was. After a moment, Sora took a deep breath and dove. She wanted to try and get an idea of how far down this thing was, and maybe even get close. As expected, the size of it didn't change at all by the time she was forced to surface, breathing heavily in the now-disturbed water as she dragged herself back to the shore, lest she drown.

Sora frowned, her ears twitching back. Actually, didn't that kind of look like a chrysalis...? Her fur spiked up. Did something need help, or was she just reading too much into this--?

The hog wasn't sure. Unfortunately, she had no ideas as to how she might deal with this.

---

sora has discovered tenzin's chrysalis! it's very deep under the water, and guarded by ice... but hey, maybe it could be bothered? (save tenzin 2k20)

Haven frequented this cave mostly out of nostalgia, but ever since she talked to Pride, she had a curiosity about a particular individual that Pride mentioned to her. Tenzin. A blue phoenix, according to him. She didn't know what 'blue' was, only that it was a color, nor what a phoenix was aside from a large bird. She'd have to find him somehow and talk to him.

Gliding over one of the pools of Pisces, her keen ears picked up a struggle. She dove down towards the noise, cocking her head.

"Hello? Is someone down there? Are you okay?", she asked, head turned towards the thrashing waters.

She landed on the shore nearest to it and sniffed gently. Gembound! She could recognize that scent anywhere. The tinge of magic around her kind smelled like ozone as well as their own personal scent. Sora kind of smelled like truffles.

It was just a regular day for exploration! Pisces was not somewhere that she frequented, but she felt a pull urging her to go there. When she arrived, she looked around for what could be so special about the cave today. And she found it. Sora, the hog she knew. And another animal... she wasn't quite sure what it was.

Comet walked over to see that they were exploring the lagoon under the waterfall. "What are you doing?" She knew nothing about Tenzin, or any of that stuff. So what they were doing was a mystery.

Himmel.

He had been deposited in a shallow section of Pisces after all that tumbling. When he woke again he was sore all over. There were bruises blooming all over his little body as well as some cuts and scrapes from the rocky surfaces, and he was still a little bit soggy. The cold was what drew his attention the most; a perpetual numbing which made things hurt less. He felt slow and he did not like that, and when he tried to stand up his withers quaked with the effort, but like any fawn it did not take long to master his feet.

Everything was damp. The terrain was built of composite stonework that layered like stairs in some places or ledges in others, most of which rose around him imperiously - not that he was dissuaded.

It took focus and dedication from the newborn to climb anywhere, and he chose a route that looked simple at first glance. In the end it would not have mattered which direction he'd go, they were all painful and they would all force him to struggle onward. He did not recognize anything - but why would he? Having been birthed beneath the heel of the waterfall and then sent tumbling through the ponds like the offal of a rotten fish, it wasn't like the boy was born a cartographer.

He recognized the boom of the waterfall all the same; it was unmistakable. He was not afraid of it. The cacophonous rumbling drew him closer incrementally until something swooped overhead; he was small and easily missed against the cascades of stone and all the chaos of the livid water, but the shadow that passed overhead was anything but that.

It was shadow-dark with ruby wings, not that he knew the names of these things, and the vibrant red that flashed across his vision was intriguing. The creature must have been at least three times his size - probably more, but who cares about math this early in life - and when it landed nearby, the newborn knew he had to figure out what the heck it was.

He worked his way closer, and as he drew near he saw something shimmering and pale; it cut a round silhouette against the backdrop of the serpentine black thing, drawing his eye. He did not want to get too close - and to be honest, the boy did not know why he was so reticent in the heat of the moment. He did not know to be careful around strangers and he certainly did not hold any fear for these shapes; he didn't really feel anything for them. Instinct told him to hang back.

And then there came a third body: the newest arrival walking over from a shadowed section of rock. The creature was not something he recognized either: it was also pale, but larger than the low-slung round thing. The sight of it sent a thrilling sensation down his spine that caused a few of the dryer hairs on the back of his neck to stand up.

They were congregated at the edge of the lagoon - but why?

For Fahl, time passed by with little to mark its passing in the waterfall cave. In between naps, he merely existed, sustaining himself with a routine of fishing and diving for algae in the shallow ponds scattered across the area. If his boredom or hunger overcame his patience, which was often due to his lack of such, short excursions were taken outside of Pisces. Creatures visited and left often, the cavern a constant waypoint for travelers.

Originally, he would have protested against these brief visitors intruding upon his home. Now, due to a process began by meeting Stormy, their presence grew tolerable. Despite his possessive thoughts towards this large place, it had gradually become clear that he'd never truly have sole ownership of it all. So instead Fahl watched, only making note of those who lingered longer than others.

The congregation forming at the lagoon did not escape his eyes. The first Gembound there, he'd glimpsed recently. Unlike those that touched ground here and left in a moment, this one had remained for longer. Possibly a more permanent resident? The winged creature, he'd caught sight of more than once but never engaged with. And the third to arrive...

Upon seeing her, Fahl's limbs moved against his will, sending him closer to the eternal crash of water from overhead. It'd been some time since their last encounter, but that ear was distinctive.

"You." Monotone turned the simple statement to one almost accusatory. "What're you doing here?"

Remembrance of the others caused him to revise the question. "What're you all doing here?" As he spoke up, his magic flared up in attempt to dispel the chill from a recent swim. The cold won, however, and instead Fahl shivered with fresh droplets of water on his hide.

The dragon-creature caught her eye first, and the question of "are you okay" was strange. But apparently, her noise had drawn a lot of attention. A few folks were gathering, and she felt rather claustrophobic, but they all had the same two questions. "I'm Sora," she grunted, "and I'm fine." Well. No, she wasn't, but neither was she in mortal peril. Then, she glanced towards the canine, who had a very similar white pelt. Sora squinted at her with her good eye.

"There's something at the bottom of the lagoon. I can't hold my breath that long, but it kinda looks like a chrysalis. Figured it was worth investigating." If someone who couldn't swim had gotten trapped at the bottom of the lagoon, well, they'd just be stuck there forever, wouldn't they? She glanced to Fahl next, who she'd spied once or twice within the cave but broadly had gone out of her way to avoid interacting with. She didn't bother making a comment about his accusatory tone -- she didn't really care.

@fahl @comet @himmel @haven
this thread is still open! post post post! we're trying to revive tenzin!

further info: as we figure out that this is a person's chrysalis and that they might need help, we can donate magicka to cj's GM account to try and revive tenzin, one of the benevolent NPCs of origin cave. once a certain value has been met (kept a secret), tenzin will be revived and will offer those who helped him a reward!

Comet looked around at the new creatures that had come here after her. A deer, and-- "Fahl?" she was not surprised that his voice sounded monotone. It was like it was the only tone he could do. So she made no comment on how accusatory that sounded.

"A chrysalis?" Comet's eyes widened. That sounded so cool! But why would it be at the bottom of the lagoon? Looking around, she realized she was probably the only one here who could do water magic. Fahl couldn't, she knew from an earlier meet. The deer seemed too young, she could smell it, and the dragon probably couldn't either. Maybe. Sora might've? But why weren't she using it then?

Comet got the idea to try and drain the water, but she couldn't summon up the energy to do it.

Puppets learn to pull strings

It drifted towards the congregation, drawn by the sound of voices clustered within the room of the waterfall, which Regalia so often avoided, as its movements slowed and became sluggish under the influence of ice and snow and cold. But this time, perhaps, it would take the decrease of movement speed and reaction time in the sake of curiosity. They looked into the water, speaking to each other. It recognized a couple - Comet, Himmel...the others it did not. No matter. It would know them in time.

It minded none of them as it approached the water's edge, peering down into the watery depths of the lagoon. It, too, could see the rippling ice far beneath the surface and it wondered...was that what they were looking at? It looked both like ice and the great spires of a gigantic chrysalis. Surely some creature of great power, Regalia thought. Perhaps one of the masters that it had extracted from Wilder's memory.

Oh...oh no wait. It had seen a flash in her mind of a great bird, many times the size of the little black cat, perched above this very lagoon. The memory of ice flowing across the connection it had forcibly forged between itself and its (ugh) life-giver. Perhaps...that was what lay beneath the surface. Encased in stone and ice, for whatever reason he had been trapped down there.

Speech rippled out before them as they came to this conclusion, just above a whisper, loud enough for each of them to hear. Like two voices chiming at once, neither feminine nor masculine, but simply a Voice. "It may be the Master Tenzin beneath the water. It is he who lives here, but perhaps he was hurt. Or maybe he sleeps." Its focus moved from each in turn. What could they do, to break him free? What could they do to pull him lose? It wanted to destroy and smash this obstacle to pieces, break free the chrysalis and release the bird by force, but something told it that it might do more harm then good. "Will we try to pull him free?"

And cut down the user's lead

"I can hold my breath!", Haven said, and immediately took flight, flying around the water for a moment before diving into it with zero hesitation.

Her head poked up above the water for a moment, "Hey! I know who Tenzin is!!"

She dove down into the water and swam like a fish, her wings at her side with her tail flicking up and down and propelling her through the water with relative ease. Her face bonked into the chrysalis and she squawked, he sound echoing around.

Oh yeah, that was definitely a chrysalis. She swam around it for a moment, placing a paw on the surface. She pressed her head against it and tried to send thoughts of support and hope towards the chrysalis, before bringing her wings down and surging towards the surface in one powerful stroke.

Haven surfaced and breathed in slowly before paddling towards the shore, back legs kicking as her tail thrashed up and down. She walked onto the shore and shook herself out, croaking.

"There is a chrysalis there! I can't see what it looks like, but it's round-ish, and hard," she said with a grin.

Sending 60 magicka in response to the 'love and support' Haven tried to send.

The frigid waters of the lagoon had been disturbed, and at the touch of warmth to the ice encasing the chrysalis, more icy branches lurched from its surface and tangled themselves together to form an even tighter defense.

But their kindness had not gone unnoticed.

A pulse bubbled up from the sinking depths of the lagoon, its travel slow and long to reach the height that was the water's surface, before rippling out as waves from the center, against the wake and spray: and through the roar of the waterfall, a single heartbeat reverberated inside all of them.

He was there. Too weak to reach out to them, still rebuilding the well of his magic: but Tenzin's ever-conscious knowing touched them, as they had touched him--

"Thank you..."

It was hardly a whisper, perhaps a trick of the waterfall's crashing hiss..

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