[Event] The Wishing Stone - Printable Version

A jackal padded into Polaris, panting heavily. Fleas, now ages older, her coat rife with with bald patches. She shut her mouth for a moment, head flicking back and forth, ears tuned to the smallest sounds. There--she spotted it. Finally, she could see the stone. And so could many other gembound. The jackal, seeing the object she'd been questing for all this time, and all those people in one place, took a single step forward, before she collapsed on her side, chest heaving.

"This place..." She panted with a raspy voice, half to herself, half to the crystal that still sat a good long distance away. "This's...it's far. Some stone brought me all the way out here for some wish." It sounded ridiculous when she said it to herself. Fleas began a snort, that turned into a sneeze, then a cough. She lay there panting for a good few minutes.

When Fleas recovered from her lengthy walk, she pulled herself up, groaning as she stretched and her various joints popped into place. After all that walking it had her feeling like a bag of rocks on crumbly bones. Fleas shook her neck out. She padded up to the crystal, twitchy ears pinned and tail swaying nervously, expecting some retaliation. A boulder dropping from the sky. A nest of pitch rats swarming from underneath it. A poisonous gas to leak out. None of that happened. And though she passed close to other gembound, she felt not a claw nor tooth touch her.

Fleas tilted her head, eyeing the stone suspiciously, before accepting her fate. If it was gonna send her back to stone, she'd better get it done quick. The jackal laid a light paw on the stone. "Y'do wishes or whatever, yeah? You got something t'make dyin feel less crap? Cause it sucks."

"When I speak"
When I think

Umbriel's entire job was to essentially be nosy, and snitch on whatever needed to be snitched on. Of COURSE she'd be checking this thing out. She found more or less what she expected- a quaint little stone and a crowd gathered around it. She squinted even more than usual at the crowd- she HATED crowds. It was so hard to parse the useful information around all the empty chit-chat.

She landed nearby and strode into the crowd- towering over many of those gathered, and letting that size and presence alone cut a path towards the stone. A single claw set on it's surface, Umbriel made a wish- To check if it even can grant the wishes, and also because free stuff is always cool. I have chaotic... urges that can get in the way of my job and goals. Something to make it easier to ignore them until a more convenient time would be greatly appreciated.

And then she'd try to carefully probe into the stone, to see if there was a brain in there, and if so, what was it's actual goals? If it really was just some rock, and the wishes were still being granted, then that set up a whole new set of questions. But she needed data in order to even formulate questions in the first place, and data was exactly what she intended to collect.

Azrael reached down and picked the armor off the ground, at first glaring at it, as if he didn't approve, turning it over in his many claws, before he snorted loudly and giving a firm nod. "It is GOOD. Thank you." He then began to carefully lay it over himself, fumbling a bit with the straps, as he'd never had need to put on any sort of apparel in the past, until each piece had been settled and locked in place. It was perfectly fitted to him, yet heavy. Clunky. When he moved he rattled, which made his spells of darkness not as effective. Well, he would just have to learn to move quieter or more still, or only wear the armor when he knew he'd go into battle. That, perhaps, was the best idea. Wearing this at all times would be a hassle and a pain.

He looked down towards the stone and said, again, "Thank you. I will be back." And with that, he marched out of Polaris, clinging and clattering all the way.

When Azrael returned the next day, he was not wearing his armor, having stashed it away somewhere safe until its use was called for. He stood in front of the stone again, and boomed loudly, "The armor is STRONG! Thank you. If I can make another request of you, then I ask you give me more POWER. I am strong already, very strong, but there are still those better then me! Give me more strength or the power to never fail!"

Once claws lifted from the Wishing Stone's surface, Miriam had withdrawn from the scene, smugness tugging at her lips and threatening to draw her smile wider. Head tossed high and a haughty arch to her sinuous back, the Tatzelwurm left as a triumphant conqueror, domination rewarded by the piece of the singing crystal cradled within her mind and soul.

But the spoils of a day had not been enough to satiate her. Novelty only lasted so long, its shine dulling the longer it was dwelled upon. Already this new talent of hers was becoming just another part of a slowly growing collection, another tool upon the shelf that'd be used but never cherished to the same extent it once had been. Meanwhile that all-too-generous benefactor likely continued to sit in Polaris, a ready and eager resource to be exploited.

"Oh, excuse me. Pardon me," was her whisper as she slithered a path through a throng far larger than the beginnings of one that she'd been witness to. "Sorry. Oh! So sorry!"

Though her impressive length and girth of her coils would've enabled her to attempt shoving aside the crowd as well as winding around every individual of it, steps were kept soft and her presence as unmeddling as possible. Eyelids batted whenever she caught someone else's glance, and her chin tilted downward to affect contriteness foreign to actual thoughts.

Reaching the center of the gathering, Miriam looked upon the array of flowers ringing the stone, an unreadable emotion glimmering in the depths of her gaze.

"My, you've been busy, haven't you?" As before, her tone was airy. It teased too, but something else lingered at the edges, evident in the velvety purr that bubbled to its surface. "All this... for you."

The touch of claws to crystal remained delicate; her intentions might not have been.

Such a little thing, you're lucky that others have found and love you for what you are. Others are not as bright or beautiful as you. Some are too insignificant for giants like me to notice. Isn't that unfortunate? A deliberate series of upset blinks. She took a few inches away from her height, slumping, and lowered her head. It'd do a kindness if I could find those with useful talent or skill that are ignored. So that I may give them attention such as you have received.

Polaris was only a hop and a skip away, but Catalyst was still... nervous. Ever since the assault on Mother's base, she been wary of prying eyes watching for signs of Her. Watching for clumps of white on hides. So it was natural that she was another gembound, one shy of contact, to visit when the stone was not so crowded.

It was easy enough for her to mix in to the crowd, the calming influence of Mother keeping her from worry. Her hide hidden beneath a coat of dried white furs, to disguise any peeks at clumps of white fungi. But others had come here-- she had felt the presence of Yellow earlier. It must've been safe enough for that at least. She slunk in with the throng of gembound surrounding the stone, their bodies illuminated by the stone. And it didn't take long to see the source of the light.

The stone stood in front of her, shifting a variety of colors. She lowered her head to sniff at the rock curiously, detecting no off scent. Satisfied by its safety, Catalyst laid a clawed green hand on the stone, its surface chiming pleasantly. Stone, she began. Can you grant me something to please Mother? Maybe something to make my form more useful for her purposes. Or... a thing that would useful to her, and to our family. Whatever you can think of.

She smiled at the thought, then tilted her head, suddenly puzzled. Could a rock think? If a rock could grant wishes, then she supposed it could think. In any case, she shook her neck out, and hunkered down after touching it, tucking her arms within her chest.

Deli

They picked up the hat, smile growing wider by the second and set it neatly on their head. "Oh shit this is pretty cool! Thanks lil' rock!" They let out a cackling chuckle, tail wagging furiously against their robe. Oh, yeah, this would make things great! It was like going invisible! It might even help with going invisible!! And, they would bet that it was hella fashionable.

They gave a cheerful wave to the stone. "Well, thanks again! If I need anything else I letcha know!" And with that they swept around and strode out of the cave.

...Only to come back the day after with the same wide smile and another request on the tip of their tongue. "Hiya again, lil stone! Hey, I just thought of something else! So I like making dyes. You know, my own stuff! It's fun to make weird shit like that! But I'm finding myself with a bit of an issue - you see I only got so many spells that can make new dyes! And it's such a pain to prod people all the time just for an itty bitty spell. Got anything that can work around that? Or at least help out, you know?"