old friends and new - echoes of wishes

Again a rush of whispered magic flushed through the caves, brushing past two old friends.

Again a flicker, as two who had met before, met again. The promise of possibility, the warmth of making a wish reality. The bittersweet knowledge that... some things... could not be undone.

They had only a flash of time. No chance to discuss. No long minutes of soft debate, or calculation. Only this moment, a whim, the instinct to guide the spark of magic toward a gift. Would they choose something the other truly would like, adore, fall in love with, respect, feel forever grateful for? Or would their gift be a mistake, a misstep, well-intentioned but easily forgotten?

There was no time for second-guessing. Each of them felt it: the offer, for that split second, of making something come true for their companion.

__________

Each Gembound has only an instant to decide upon a Wish for their thread partner. While the players are free to discuss OOCly, the Gembounds themselves are the ones making this Wish: it should not use out-of-character information but should instead reflect the intent and beliefs of the Wish-makers.

Please GM tag a second time to have a Game Master confirm that all Wishes are viable.

Oliver jolted, glancing around wide-eyed. He didn't hesitate, though his gaze drifted in awe back to Rift before he made his Wish.

It was obvious to him. Rift missed Sebastian. Sebastian... was lost. Rift had come back; couldn't Sebastian..? Or the closest thing to it?

His eyes squeezed shut and he focused as hard as he could on that thought. Bring him his friend back. Please. Or... make sure his stone... that it can come back, new. Please. Thank you. Oh-... His eyes sprang wide as he recognized the brush of it. It was the same magic that'd given him the compass--wasn't it? A wish...

A magic that could do anything.

@Rift

Rift noticed it too, the same thing that had crossed by him and Huckleberry. He saw Oliver squeeze his eyes shut and knew it was happening for him too. So he too thought as fast as he could. He saw how much Oliver hurt, how much his own mistakes had cost him and he wished that healed. I wish he didn't have to suffer these nightmares anymore. He doesn't deserve to hurt for someone else's mistakes. It was the first thing that had popped into his head - he still had nightmares, after all this time. That wasn't right.

He opened his eyes as the breath of magic passed him by and hoped that he had done the right thing here.

@Oliver

old friends and new - echoes of wishes

Rift would scarcely have made his own wish before a whisper brushed through his thoughts. It was as though a voice were murmuring, and it sounded oddly like song, like a sweet chorus brightly lit by a sun he'd never known.

A flame in the forest, lost. But those who live, at times, become their purpose. A guardian. A friend. A watcher.

He is purpose, reborn. An echo of his memory. A companion, and a protector.

A Shepherd.

As though on cue, a soft crack came from the direction of the lost ruby. A shape, stepping from the forest, like shadowed charcoal in feline form: but towering six feet tall, branching antlers reaching back from its head. Vines cloaked in autumnal leaves wreathed its body, which seemed almost to be made of stone, veined through with streaks of color that may have been ruby yet glowed like soft flame. A pair of ruby eyes gleamed in the dappled light, studying Rift with an ethereal gentleness to them. Then it slid past, stalking into the trees, as though part of Eridanus itself.

Oliver, at the same time, would feel a brush of sympathy, as though the magic felt for him. Though there were no words, there was a sense of themes and concepts: sadness that he had no one to wake him from his dreams. Warmth, promised to him, for when he was alone. The knowledge then granted to him was a simple one: how to bond himself to a creature, a small friend, one who could stand as a small, beloved sentinel and know when darkness shrouded his mind. One that could keep him company, and awaken him from nightmares.


__________

Rift has seen Sebastian's Ruby revived into the form of a mysterious guardian for Eridanus: The Shepherd. This guardian will be detailed in another thread, but in essence, it will wander Eridanus--returning always to the Arborspire--and alternate between a statue-like, resting state where it appears to be overgrown gem-streaked rock, and a slow patrol of the forest. It will guard innocent Gembounds from attack, and protect the Arborspire and those within, using flame if necessary. It may in time gain a new name and has yet to speak, but for now, it is called The Shepherd.

Oliver has received the spell Familiar Forge, so that he may obtain a Familiar to awaken him when he has nightmares.

Rift and Oliver have discovered The Shepherd.

He stared, wide-eyed still and unable to process. When he spoke it was an abrupt blurting as he scrambled to his feet, seeming to assume Rift would follow this echo of Sebastian.

"I'm sorry, I--I hope--it's okay!? You were talking about Sebastian and-... You said you loved him and then the magic-" He hadn't been able to answer Rift, to think over what it meant that Huckleberry had visited, or Cassiopeia-... But it was as though Rift's mention of the wish magic had summoned more of the same. Oliver's gaze shot to Rift, awed and almost frightened--Did he do that? Could Rift summon such immense power, without realizing it was him..? Was it an echo of his own revival?

There was little time to think about it. Even his own Wish granted, as wondrous as it was, was an unimportant backdrop in his mind compared to this.

Because it wasn't Sebastian. Not really. "...I wished that he'd come back," Oliver half-whispered, staring after him. This wasn't right. Maybe it was... better. He didn't know. But he hoped to hell he hadn't just made things worse.

@Rift

Unlike the last time he'd experienced this, the wish didn't come in terms of knowledge or a shifting in the world. No, a whisper, brushing past him, into the trees. He stood and turned in the direction, looking out from the tree line, flinching at the soft crack. And then...

Sebastian?
He watched the gargantuan feline step by, frozen still. Their eyes met, briefly, and Rift looked into both familiar and unfamiliar ruby. Unfamiliar because Sebastian's eyes were bright, burning amber. Familiar because that was his ruby, the stone that had been handed to him. That was him, in a new way. An echo, but an echo of his essence all the same.

Staring with disbelief as he slid by, he watched until the last sight of black and ruby had disappeared into the forest and then continued staring, brain trying to catch up with what he'd just saw. His head slowly turned towards Oliver, eyes wide with the same disbelief mirrored in the other. "What did-" but Oliver was already answering.

There was a part of him that wanted to object to that wish - would he be able to stand Sebastian coming back as he remembered, but with about as many memories as he had when he first awoke? Would he even want him back, when he had promised himself that this was a new life, a new opportunity? But this...it solved it. It was Sebastian, but new. An echo of the old world, a memory, but a protector, something new.

He didn't even think, he stepped close to Oliver, sat, and reached forward with his front paws to pull him into a hug. His chest rumbled violently with a purr so loud that he couldn't speak, but he hoped the gesture was enough.

@Oliver

Oliver feared, for the splittest of seconds, that Rift was about to attack him or something. The purr hit a moment later, and he forced himself to relax a little, blinking and exhaling. "...It's good, then?" he ventured, quietly hopeful.

He wasn't really built for hugs, but he did his best, half-crumpling his wings as he tried to return the gesture.

"I don't... I don't remember Sebastian looking like that, though," he mused, turning his head to look after the cat. He hadn't gotten Rift's trickle of knowledge; he didn't know what this had been.

"And is it me or, um. Was he. Bigger-?" And why aren't you going to talk to him?

@Rift

There was nothing from Rift for a moment, struggling to push his purr down enough to speak, but he did after a few seconds of silence. "Yes, it's good. It's him. He's different, like me, but it's him." He pulled out of the hug and got back to his feet, tail lashing behind him, excited and suddenly filled with energy.

"I know," he responded, already taking a few steps away towards where the Sebastian-figure had disappeared. "But I know its him. I'm gonna go after him. I don't know if he remembers but...we'll see. You can come with too, if you want." It was both an invitation and also, quietly, subtly, a request. He hadn't wanted to put anything further on Oliver and he could also understand if he wanted to walk away now, but...it would be nice to have someone he knew there with him at this momentous moment.

He didn't expect things to go bad, this felt good and he felt no sense of foreboding, but it would be nice to know someone was there, as backup.

@Oliver

Oliver pushed up, nodding in silence. Something felt different. It was like... catharsis? Like he'd just run through such a powerful, even devastating, gamut of emotions that he felt spent, and... almost relieved. Empty, a little, but in a good way.

He eyed Rift. "I'm glad everything's okay," he said softly. "I'll come with you."

exit Oliver?
@Rift

Rift nodded and bounded forward, leading the way to the tree, where the Shephard had disappeared. For a moment, in the back of his head, it occurred to him that he hadn't asked Oliver what his gift had been. He felt a flash of guilt - this was supposed to be some sort of talk about everything that had happened, be a resolution to both of their sides, but it had turned, once again, into a matter of Rift's relationship with a dead brother he barely remembered.

But...the selfish side of him didn't care. He had to go resolve this first, he had to go see, and then he would talk to Oliver again. Make sure everything was okay. Was it selfish, when this felt like such a major deal? He didn't think so, but it was an itch all the same.

Still, things felt better. He felt better. And perhaps, after meeting with this Shephard and showing Oliver the tree and speaking to him further, then things would finally settle.

*Exit