[Event] The Wishing Stone - Printable Version

Bayo wandered into Polaris, searching for things that could possibly be added to his bag of bones. With his bandana, bag, and general attitude, he was really growing into his self proclaimed cowboy persona. Though, there weren't really any cows or horses or anything. He didn't even have a hat!

But things would change as he approached the Wishing Stone, eyes bright and jaw nearly on the floor. He galloped up to it and stood before it, his tail beginning to wag like crazy.

”Woaaaaah!!” he exclaimed, sniffing around the base. ”A stone! A wishin' stone! Well boy howdy- this is jus' great! Mister Stone- Or uh, Miss Stone? Whichever you are, I wanna make a wish o' my own!”

He sat down and got to thinking. He thought and thought until his head hurt, but just when he was about to give up, he finally got an idea.

”I wanna be a cowboy, baby!” he exclaimed, leaping to his feet. ”Like horses 'n' cows 'n' a hat! Can you do the hat especially? Gosh! I've always wanted a hat! I got this neat ol' bandana from Mister Collector, an' this bag from that weird portal lookin' thingy in the gem cave- are you from there, Mix Stone? You sure lookit! Oh wait, cowboy. Yeah, that'd suuuure be great!!”

Bayo grinned a doggy grin, his ears flopping over his head as his tail wagged a mile a minute.

It takes a while before Catalpa’s able to get up close and personal to the stone herself. There’s… a lot of Gembound around it. Which means what it claims—this instinctive feeling she gets from the stone, kind and giving—it must have some base to it, right?

Or maybe it’s just a weirdly powerful feeling stone. She can’t really see anybody’s wishes being granted…

But, oh, does she want to try. She wants to get her paws on that stone and wish. Wants to have… well, something happen. It feels magical. She wants to use magic like that. Powerful, flashy and pretty…

Though, her mind blanks for a second when she gets to the stone itself. What does she want, anyhow? She’s just jealous of the other Gembound, really; when she manages to get close and puts her paws right up on the stone, feeling it tingle with power (or is that just her imagination?), she can’t really think of anything she wants.

Maybe… maybe…

I wish for a companion, she thinks. She’s had friends before, sure, acquaintances in the caves, but she travels quite a lot and she always seems to lose touch in time. She wants something, someone, to be by her side. To travel with me, so we can explore together.

Now, let’s see if any of this wish granting business is true.

(…she hopes it is.)

It had fallen asleep. It wasn’t sure for how long- long enough for its chrysalis to have a faint layer of dust on it, and moss attempting to grow up its sides. It felt bad for the moss it had disturbed, busting out of that horrible, suffocating shell. It had arranged the shards that moss clung to carefully, so that the mossy sides faced upwards. Then it had left.

It had drifted aimlessly for some time; it had called for Verdant, but hadn’t received any response, and it felt horrible, horrible alone, without their voice humming alongside its own. And its garden must have died when it fell asleep, for its outer shell was desolate and bare. It had saddened it so, to be in this state, and the sorrow must have had an effect on its magic, because attempts to regrow its garden had only wilted pitifully.

When it heard a humming song- almost akin to its own- it mentally perked up with surprise, drifting towards the song and humming along with it- though its own hum was less musical and more akin to a microwave or fluorescent lightbulb. And when it bumped into the source- quite literally, given it’s limited vision- it gave off an ‘oh sorry!’ sort of high pitched whine. It backed up, and one of it’s wispy sensing tendrils reached out to wrap around the stone. And it wished for A garden to carry with it. The moss and wildflowers and lichens it loved so, so much..

They found themself in and out of hibernation after losing Researcher. Time spent in or out of a chrysalis blurred together. No one they knew was still around, and it was hesitant to befriend others out of some irrational thought that they would die or vanish. They slept, or hunted, or explored the quiet, shadowy corners of the cave that they’d begun to feel a kinship with.

They hadn’t touched Polaris in cycles for multiple reasons- the crowds that’d congregate there, how bright and exposed they felt. The only thing that had drawn them there was rumors of a wishing stone. For the obviously enticing reasons a ‘wishing stone’ would invoke, but also out of cold curiosity. A habit that had not quite died, maybe. Researcher would’ve been fascinated by this.

They drifted into Polaris alone, to check the rumor's validity, and then returned later with a single skull with a shimmering crystalline cage set over it's muzzle. The skull was chipped where they had attempted to remove the gemstone and eventually gave up.

They hunched next to the shimmering gold-and-purple stone like a shadow, eyes downcast to stare at the paw that rest upon the stone's smooth surface. They tried to take note of the wishing stone's qualities- the shift in it's hue, the pitch of it's hum- but it was impossible to focus with the chance to make things good again resting on a single wish.

I wish for a fresh start, for the both of us. Please. And then, memories. Of hatching in a cold tunnel , of meeting the skull- but it wasn't a skull, yet, it was a spindly gibbon with a gemstone matching their own. Twins, they were. And then of exploring, of learning, of research. Meeting others. A motley little crew of knowledge seekers. And then... the decline. The tremors and memory loss. The seizures and eventually catatonia. They had thought it would get better, like before. They searched for help too, too late. And then.

They were alone.

And what they wished for bubbled up along whatever connection touching the stone created- they wanted to be born anew, the both of them. And more than anything, they didn't want it to happen again. The disease, or curse, or whatever it was.

Deli

Deli approached only once they knew nobody was around. The didn't know, at this point, who knew who they were and who was angry with them. It had been in their best interests for a while to lay low for a while, but now that things had settled down, at least for them, it was time to make their grand return. And what better way then with a magical wishing stone that would apparently give them whatever they wanted?

They crept forward across the stones of Polaris until they were before the stone, crouching down with a wide cheshire grin across their face, clutching tight the robe that draped around their shoulders. "Hiya there, lil' stone! Very cool to be granting wishes! If I could ask one...well, I like causing trouble, you see? If you got anything that'll make me even better at that I'll gladly take it off your hands. Or, uh, your...rock? Surface? I don't know where you get this stuff." They waved at their air with their hand dismissively.

She'd been floating in Pisces, quietly resting, when the dream came. Whale watched with quiet wonder as the owl soared in a streak of glorious fire, sparking bursts of gold and violet magic, and as the familiar exhale of a whale, and then another and another, broke the surface of the sea.

Maybe if the circumstances were different--if she hadn't been watching through a dream, the haze of sleep disconnecting her somewhat from solid reality; if that owl hadn't looked so wondrous and so impressive and so magical, she'd have felt a little... weird about it. These were whales that basically looked just like her, after all. But all she could feel now was awe, and relief. They will live. The wishing stone and the owl, whoever they were and however they were connected, had ensured that.

When the orb high above began their next light-cycle, Whale thought of the scattered bunches of flowers she'd seen by the foot of the wishing stone. Perhaps she should bring it a sort of decoration like that too, as a thank-you. Something to match the colors of the owl's magic...?

It was pretty hard to find anything gold, as it turned out, but Whale managed to round up several empty skullcrab shells to fulfill the purple part. Pushing them along with her magic so she wouldn't have to risk getting stabbed by the spikes, she once again surfaced by the Wishing Stone and laid down the shells with the flowers and other decor.

Thank you.

OOC NOTE: THIS POST COUNTS AS DAY 6, all posts from me before this one were day 5 which i already got a roll for, so i just need day 6's roll for this one <33

Forgraves had gleefully (and carefully) thanked the rock and picked the tea tray up wrapping a vine throught each handle in an attempts to hold both handles at the same time. he'd have to walk very slowly, but it'd work.

sure enough, 2 days later, he returned! Forgraves figured that, hey, if he was going to ask for those, he'd come back until he was told he couldnt. why not, right?

he sat down by the rock again. "hello again! once again, thank you for the gift last time, ive been getting good reports on my tea's quality since then! solid gift, thank you VERY much!" he said, patting the rock affectionately.

"of course i'm back, so that means i have another request if its not too much trouble?" he asked, before slinking off the star-chart pendant around his neck, holding it forward. "this thing is covered in what looks to be "star charts", or maps of sorts, and i can't find anything in regards to recognizing their origin, or what they might be referring to as, as far as i can tell atleast, we don't have real stars here." he explained.

"could you try and give me some sort of info on it? see if theres anything in the caves that might reference these charts specifically, or give me insight onto how i might find out myself? if not, it's fine, just enchant it or something. thank you!" he asked, before sitting down and waiting patiently for a reply

"Speech." Thoughts.