The last few cycles had not been kind on Rift. His fur was unkempt, his eyes looked sunken, the variety of plants and mosses that he hosted on his skin were in bad shape - many of them were crumbling and falling off while others were overgrown, giving him a bit of a lopsided appearance. It was very obvious that he wasn't taking very good care of himself.

The reason wasn't hard to grasp. He was at last given the chance to mourn Sebastian and he was in that pit of depression that he had fallen into early in his journey of grief.

There was obvious signs of his unhappiness. Fresh scratch marks on the trees, an unkempt, ruined moss bed that had been only half-halfheartedly pieces back together, and areas just outside his garden where he'd let out his anger on the fungus that still threatened to impede on his garden.

Now the work was more methodical and automatic. He sat near a tree, staring almost blankly at it, as he pressed a paw against it, drawing the spore up and out, forcing them to fruit so he could carve them away. But as he reached for it now, the magic didn't seem to come. The spores quivered against his magic and seemed to grow stronger beneath the bark. He barely moved his paw, just staring at where it touched the tree bark. He had to stop himself from thinking, for the hundredth time today, if Sebastian were here, this would be so much easier.

GRAY SOUL AND STATIC IN MY EYES

It hadn't seemed like a big decision at the time. To rest, to let some time pass by, perhaps that would let him finally have the rest he needed, to heal, to be at peace, to finally cast off the last of those shackles he'd had on him for so long. He hadn't intended years to go by.

But pass by they did. And when carmine eyes at last slid open, it was to a different world. The apatite chrysalis had been forgotten, hidden and overgrown until it at last cracked and shattered and Huckleberry was picking himself out of the pieces.

The first thing he realized was that he could feel Shiny, but it was distant. As if she was far off, somewhere else. But the connection was still there and that was all that mattered. He called to her and he felt pinpricks of joy through their strained connections and a promise - she would be there soon.

The second thing he noticed was the white. Strings of it hanging from the trees, growing from every bush and littered across the ground. He stared in awe and horror, taking in his surroundings. Eridanus...it was almost completely changed. Barely recognizable!!

With a sudden panic, he wondered if something had happened to the Kingdom in his absence. They wouldn't have just let something like this happen. Had this been some hostile force against them? Why weren't they trying to clean it up at least? He reached into the plant matter, trying to feel past the fungus for signs of life near him. Rift, Sebastian, Enka, Mercy, any of them. What came back was a very large amount of feedback in the form of the fungus that clung to almost every surface, but he focused - warmth, living creatures, fur or claws or hooves.

And he felt the familiar weight of a paw against bark and he snapped back to himself and set off immediately, trying to keep from the white stuff, just in case. A little while later, her burst from the treeline, out of breath, stumbling into a familiar garden by a familiar tree. And in the distance, he saw a familiar green sight.

"Rift!" he called out, galloping forward to greet him. "S-sorry I was gone for so long! What...what happened?"

TRY TO SEE THE FUTURE,
BUT I'M NOT SURE IF IT APPLIES

He didn't recognize the voice at first. But it was spoken with such familiarity, he forced himself to turn and face yet another piece of a forgotten past. The creature that he set eyes on, however, sparked recognition. Of storms, thorny cages, crying, and redemption. He stared blankly a few moments, trying desperately to remember a name, but this one, apparently, hadn't been as impactful to him as Sebastian or Oliver or Mercy.

"I'm sorry," he mumbled, flatly, as the creature approached. "I have lost my memory. I remember you distantly, but you will have to remind me of your name." He couldn't bring himself to care deeply about this interaction, not when Sebastian was gone and the forest was infected and it was so far beyond him that he couldn't even hope to keep it from his garden much longer.

He looked over the other, noticing the faint slickness on their hair and feathers, wondering if they had just awoken from hibernation. He sighed. "A lot, apparently. I was not here for most. But an infection has taken the forest. Don't eat any of it."

GRAY SOUL AND STATIC IN MY EYES

Huckleberry froze in his tracks. Rift...didn't remember him? He looked around, at the empty garden. It was all still here, the tree stood tall, but there was nobody else in sight. None of the Kingdom that he had grown used to. All...gone. Had it truly been that long? Distress was building in his mind and eyes, ears flicked back as static began to flicker off his coat. "N-no, really? You don't...remember me? Huckleberry?" He thought he had proven himself!! That he'd earned their trust and companionship! But now the garden was so lonely and even Rift had allowed Huckleberry to drift from his memory.

He swallowed heavily and took a step back, swinging his head left and right to look over all the strings of white. This wasn't the world he thought he was coming back to. He thought it would all be okay when he returned, that things would still be good and peaceful (relatively) but Rift was sad. The forest was tainted. And the Kingdom...

"Wh-where is everyone else? Oliver and Enka and Mercy and Yew? Are they...still here?" He paused and glanced at Rift. "Do you remember them?"

TRY TO SEE THE FUTURE,
BUT I'M NOT SURE IF IT APPLIES

He felt somehow even more saddened at Huckleberry's distress. He sighed softly and properly turned, taking his paw off the tree. "I'm sorry. It's quite a long story about why but...I'm not the Rift you knew. At least...I mean, I'm still him, but we're....I'm different." He thought about dropping the bomb on Huckleberry now and explaining exactly what he meant, but the hybrid was already distressed and looking overwhelmed, so he kept it to himself for now.

The names he dropped to him revealed immediately that he had once been a part of the lost Kingdom. Rift's ear perked and a new light of interest appeared in his eye, although no less melancholy. "They're alive, if that's what you mean. I've seen Oliver and I know Mercy is okay. Enka and Yew...I haven't seen." He sighed again. "My memories are hazy. I remember them, some more then others." He watched Huckleberry process it all, feeling sad, again, that he couldn't do anything. There were tears running down his cheeks now and Rift wished there was a way to assure him it would all be okay. Even if the Kingdom was gone...well...no he had so little to reassure him with.

He bowed his head, feeling helpless. "Sorry. I wish I had better news."

GRAY SOUL AND STATIC IN MY EYES

He had descended full on into tears now, sitting back on his haunches and trying to stem the flow with his clawed hands, but they just kept falling and he kept sobbing. "Wh-what am I supposed to do now?! My f-f-family is gone, my friends are too...I don't know...w-what to do!" He could help clean the forest up but what then? That didn't change the fact the kingdom was gone. He could go look for old family but did he want to see them ever again, if they were still alive? He had renounced them, left them. Dedicated himself to peace and protection rather then violence and bloodlust.

He could find Clou-no, Azure?

No. She didn't want to see him. He wasn't sure if he wanted to see her.

It was an ugly cry, as Huckleberry had tended to do in earlier days. But he felt so lost. And Rift was so sad - Rift was never like this! And was this even Rift, if he didn't remember anything?!

He didn't know what to do.

TRY TO SEE THE FUTURE,
BUT I'M NOT SURE IF IT APPLIES

old friends and new - echoes of wishes

As was happening elsewhere in the caves, a flicker of magic rose up and flitted past.

An echo or a new power, a whisper or a promise--it was fleeting, and it would not last. But it was possibility, it was potential; it had only to be shaped by a Wish.

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? Would it matter that emotions ran high, that focus would be difficult in that moment..?

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.

@Rift

Rift hunched, watching Huckleberry break down in front of him, feeling utterly helpless to do anything. He hadn't any experience in this life comforting someone so lost and he sure as hell didn't have any experience from the last one that he could remember. He wished there was something he could do to cheer him up, to help him, because the Kingdom of Eridanus was not here to that for him.

He was smart enough to put the dots together - Blackberry, Huckleberry...Oliver had mentioned a family of them, all sharing a name. And that memory that had flashed by, of redemption. Had Huckleberry come to the Kingdom to find some kind of solace, a new life away from his absolutely horrendous family? If so...the loss of the kingdom hurt ever more. There was nothing he could do.

But then that magic flitted by, and in his mind he felt a surge of will, of the strength to do something - all he had to do was think it. He didn't think twice about it. I wish you could find a purpose again. Not his old family, not the Kingdom, at least the way he remembered, something that could help him feel...whole again. Because Rift found himself sympathizing strangely. Waking up half a gembound, half a mind, struggling to put itself together. They had both woken up to a world half gone. He hoped he could at least give Huckleberry a new piece to grow.

GRAY SOUL AND STATIC IN MY EYES

He sobbed and tried desperately to stop, but everything felt like it had fallen apart. The forest was destroyed. The Kingdom was gone. Rift was a shell of who he had been. And Huckleberry had nobody else in the world to turn to. For a moment, when the magic touched him, he wanted to make a wish that would benefit himself. He selfishly wanted to take this chance away out of a sense of self-pity and desperation to have something - anything!

But he understood, through that magic, that it wasn't how it worked. So Huckleberry raced through his thoughts before it was gone. He wanted Rift to not be sad. But that wouldn't help. Huckleberry had learned time and time again that just being not-sad was not any better then just being sad.

And the only thing he could think that was the cause of Rift's sadness was the loss of the Kingdom, which Huckleberry was unsure anything could have the power to just pull Gembound together again, and the destruction of the forest. There.

I wish he could have his forest back. Or a little bit. Or more of a fight against the white-stuff. Anything. I want us...I mean him, to feel safe here again. Perhaps it was selfish thinking again - perhaps if Rift was happier, he would have someone to follow, a place to stay, a friend to lean on. But too far in the grip of despair, he could think of little else.

TRY TO SEE THE FUTURE,
BUT I'M NOT SURE IF IT APPLIES

old friends and new - echoes of wishes

Two Wishes: both within the magic's power to grant.

Neither were corporeal. Neither was a neat box, wrapped in ribbon, set at their feet. Instead both came in the form of knowledge. Rift's: that his tree, damaged as it had been, was now sanctified. A Sanctuary, a patch of cleansed forest in a sphere one hundred yards in any direction, wholly cleansed of the effects of Order. Here, no Order-infused Lessers could gather: it would be nonexistent to them, a blind spot even to their eyes. Drones and Greater servants would find it disconcerting, and some unknown power would purge any attempts to lace the mold there. Likewise Chaos could not take, its Oil and corruption silently falling away. Uninfected Lessers would know it as a haven. They would begin to gather there, its trees filled with birdsong, deer grazing in its underbrush. A sense of peace would pervade the area.

Huckleberry's was more dramatic: a memory, or a vision.

A creature, not unlike a vast bear, but with long and stringy fur and immense tusks. It reared up on its hind legs with a ground-shaking roar, hooked talons swiping before it at another creature. This one was Valkhound: like a great, black komodo dragon but with far too many glowing eyes and a head like a shield. It was far smaller, darting in and out, but more concerning was the hissing shriek with which it sounded an alarm. The bear-beast stood again, bellowing--and Huckleberry's vision now slid to behind it, where three very young creatures cowered. The vision faded, although not before fixing on a vast, fallen tower that had struck a building, landing to make a V-shape. A landmark. 'They did not make it,' a voice seemed to whisper. 'But you can give them a second chance.' And a final word as the power faded: 'Cassiopeia.'

__________

Rift has been granted a sanctified area in Eridanus that is highly resistant to the effects of Chaos and of Order, and will serve as a natural haven for Lessers in the area.

Huckleberry has been granted a vision of an ancient battle in Cassiopeia. Should he choose to find the battle site and revive the gemstones of the fallen, he will be given three Give Life spells, the revivals a guaranteed success.

@Rift