Nestled in an opening of a nook in the narrow spaces of Tunnel N, a strange, robed figure was lightly running its fingers through the strands of plants and over mosses that grew on the rocks where it had decided to camp out. The mosses in Tunnel N had a natural glow to them, but the horned creature was growing different foliage on them which grew even brighter. In the space where it had chosen to stay, it had grown the most plants. There was a barren space on the rocks here, a large flat area; and it was most please with this empty space. It was going to paint its main story here. It had left small stories on its journey to this location, but this would be the tale that it wanted to share.

When it was done growing the plants it wanted to create, the figure turned to the rock-face and ran its hand over it once, enjoying the rough but large surface. Then, with a glowing shimmering around its hand, it made a waving motion across the surface again, this time with a trail of blue-green left behind in the shape of waves and water. Though the creature was masked, a smile grew on its hidden face. It began to paint a river on the wide, open space. The strange, glowing light that it painted with shimmered on the wall surface and moved almost like water would.

Join This Event

Runs: APR 24 - MAY 8

If you would like to participate in this event, post with your character in this thread. Events are optional but do have a time limit! A GM will progress the event during the event period, regardless of the number of posts.

Participants:
Amras, Astaroth, Zevruu, Kin-Kin

Sub-Event Observers

You Can Fly Again: Zeno
Star Children: Selena

Amras After witnessing the great arrival of light to his world Amras was keen to delve further away from his comfortable tunnel below the howling winds and into this unknown expanse of cave. Already the light had transformed a mysterious room of strange structures into a sprawling city lit by countless stars and linked to unknown locations by tunnels which had been left unexplored for fear of getting hopelessly lost. What new wonders did this world have to offer? Without so much as going back to see what had become of his home the gryphon approached the first tunnel he saw, one glowing brighter than the others thanks to the odd moss on its walls. With a deep breath and four limbs placed solidly on the ground the gryphon ventured within, immediately hit by a change in air quality. It wasn't like the dry merciless air of his home or the stale musty air of the room he had come from. This air was almost... flavorful. Minutes passed as the strange creature traversed the narrow tunnels, eventually stopping as he heard a noise ahead. It was not language as he had encountered directly after the arrival of light, but the shuffling didn't quite sound like prey either. Was it another greater one? Amras proceeded with caution, peering around the corner at the strange creature before him. It stood upon two limbs, just as he did while mining, but it had no wings to support its stance. How did it do that? Beyond that it was wielding a magic the gryphon had not even considered before, one that changed the visual appearance of the wall before him. Of course! If light was constant as it was now rather than just being a side-effect of magic then it would make sense to develop methods to change how that light interacted with objects. For now he chose not to interrupt, but simply to observe and try to discern what gestures were involved in weaving such a spell. Take hold of the power within "And shape the fabric of reality around you" Tags:

Astaroth's eyes hurt, he was grateful for the dimness of the tunnel. He hated the light. He had been following a gryphon, he knew not their identity and had no idea what they were in the first place, though he had seen his kind in dreams. He padded down the tunnel until he was only a few steps away from the griffin, barely seeing the outline of a creature weaving light into the walls of the tunnel. He tried tapping into the magic that had grown even more familiar during his meditation, he had spent all his time learning of himself and of all he should know of himself and the caves. Of himself there was plenty to learn but not many things about the shop, it seemed like they were shrouded in mystery as to their origins. He focused on asking the gryphon who stood watching the odd creature what their identity was and what the creature in front of the pair was doing.
"Speaking."
Thoughts.
tags:
notes:

Light. There was light. Light all around him. The darkness was gone. The soft glow of his necklace was now nothing against the bright tunnel. For some time, Zevruu had cast spells to give himself light. As time passed, he did that less and less, and began to even welcome the dark. His eyes were well adjusted to the darkness, and with the small light from his baubled necklace, was able to see plenty.

Now that it was light once more, the stark contrast caused his eyes to hurt. He now stuck to the sides, hiding under what little shadow there was. He looked up ahead and realized someone was there. He paused and watched as a robed figure moved. After a moment, he realized it was...drawing something? He frowned. What was it doing? He crept closer, eyes narrowed.

Before he could get too close, he suddenly noticed a large blue creature, followed by a wolf. He stayed out of sight of the two as best he could. The tunnel was well-lit, which was no help to him, but he tried. He watched the two, occasionally turning to the creature up ahead who was painting. Slowly, he walked closer to the one painting, trying to say hidden as best he could. Between the glowing mosses and light coming in from Polaris, he didn't think he was staying hidden very well. Nonetheless, he walked slowly and carefully, watching all with narrowed eyes.

Once, someone might have thought his behavior was just because he was shy. And, perhaps that was true. But now, his eyes flashed with distrust and suspicion. Cycles spent without seeing another had changed the serval. Seeing the large blue creature didn't help either. Zevruu had been in this place for many cycles, more than he could possibly care to count, and he had never seen someone like them.

Every cycle seemed to blur into the next, to the point where he wasn't sure how long he'd been here. He knew he was an adult, that much was obvious. He'd seen some older than him, but mostly ones younger than him. He wasn't sure how many there were that were still around that were older than him, or even the same age. And he had no way to tell, either.

With a grunt, he crouched down and watched, long ears pricked to listen to any sound. He listened continuously for movement behind him, not wanting to let someone sneak up on him, while he himself had been sneaking up on someone else. But now he stayed and waited, seeing if the strange two-legged creature who was painting would say or do anything else.

"Speech" l 'Thoughts'

Kin-Kin had seen some strange things in her day, and so the seemingly random appearance of new, glowing plants along the tunnel hardly surprised her. What did surprise her slightly, however, was the one that she found when she tried to seek where said plants were coming from. Well... slightly surprised; more curious. The she-wolf had never seen a being that looked like that before. More interesting, however, was what they were doing. Kin-Kin was entranced by the glistening patterns they left on the wall; she wondered if it was just magic, like her illusions woven from light, or if they'd used a mashed-up leaf of those odd glowing plants.

Her golden fur glowing warmly, Kin-Kin approached without fear, shouldering through several familiar Gembounds in the cramped alcove without a second thought.

She sniffed, trying to tell what the markings on the wall were made of, and what made them so... lovely, despite seemingly being physical rather than just an illusion.

"Yo," She spoke, her ears flicking forward and her cloak rustling in the quiet. She tipped her head, this time sniffing at the bizarre creature begore her. Her deep purple eyes flicked again over their painting. "What're you doing?"

The she-wolf moved forward and nosed at the wall, but no similar markings appeared. Kin-Kin contemplated, her eyes narrowing slyly, as she wondered whether to create an illusion to paint a picture of herself as well. But, for now, she decided not to. Perhaps she could be more useful, a different kind of impressive. "Ya need any help with that? I'm sure a glowing gem or two would make it even prettier." She examined a claw without a trace of modesty, curling her toes into her black pawpad.


" speech "

It was working on adding details to the river, as it was a very detail-oriented creature, when other Gembounds began to curiously gather around it. First it had painted fish, which swam in the water seemingly of their own will, and avoided the painter's fingers as it continued to paint details on the river. Then it added leaves, which floated off with the current the moment they left the painter's fingertips. They disappeared at the end of the painting, and reappeared at the opposite end, continuously flowing down the river.

A nose entered the scene, one it hadn't painted, and it lifted its arm away from the wall while it let the curious wolf inspect its story so far. It was smiling behind the mask, eyes closed in arches in a soft and warm way. The wolf was speaking to it, and its long ears hung forward to listen to her. Deep black eyes opened again and it processed the words she spoke, head tilting. The language was similar to what it knew, so it didn't take it long to understand. It nodded, but its eyes were elsewhere. It wasn't truly listening to her past her question of what it was doing. Instead, it had grown absorbed in the cloak on her back.

It towered over her at eight-feet, but it swept into a crouched position and reached out delicately to touch the blue fabric draped across her back. Empty! Its eyes widened behind its mask, its hands recoiling to the plush fur around its neck. How to speak to them? Already they were attempting to use such things, but did not know of itself? It was repeatedly stroking the fur on its neck, a nervous habit; but eventually it pointed to its robe with one hand, and to the wolf's cape with another.

It patted the robe, which glittered faintly under its touch. The wolf's fabric was simply fabric. It was done analyzing her speech, also, and so tried projecting a vocal sound using the language that she had used.

"Imbued," it said as it patted its robe again, though the sound of the voice was not from under its mask, but just in the area of the room. "Your cape, empty. Blank canvas," the creature went on, and patted itself on the chest. "Job," came the voice, excitedly. It reached up and touched lightly at its earrings, which shimmered differently than normal metal. "See," the voiced urged, "Not empty."

Its eyes flicked to the other Gembounds that had gathered, catching sight of the partially hidden feline who wore a necklace. It pointed gently and said, "Empty." It did appreciate the added feature of the glowing, baubled stones. It reached into its robe and pulled out a necklace of its own, letting it lay on top of the robe instead of behind it. It was beaded, and hung around the creature's neck loosely. It was long and reached the middle of its chest when exposed. It pointed to the serval again and then to its beaded necklace. "Each, imbued," it said, making jabbing pointing motions toward the cat while tapping its beads. "Not as strong, small material," it noted, but then added, "still worth it."

A splashing sound came from its painting and it glanced up. A fish had jumped in the river, and they seemed to be growing impatient. Ah, it had gotten distracted. It waved a glowing hand toward the painting, and the fish seemed to calm down. It was excited to think that these lives it had come to study were already interested in items! Its attention turned back to the wolf with the cape, its eyes closing happily again. "No gem," it finally answered. Putting its hands together by her paws, it conjured a mini-version of herself. Its hands began to glow, and as they parted, tiny cape-wolf stood no taller than the middle of the original's leg. It was ethereal and light blue in color, and dashed between her legs boldly, sitting finally at her side.

The painter stood again, gesturing to the painting. "Story is child," it laughed, wiggling its fingers over the surface of the moving light-river while the fish attempted to chase its fingertips. "Grows tired of waiting," the voice continued, and the figure turned back to its work. "This one tell you of its swords, is happy you are here to watch," it said as it added small details to the riverbank, its voice growing more solemn. "One is sword of life. Other is sword of death."

Amras The gryphon's ears flew upward as an alien representation of language without vocalization made itself manifest in his mind. Silver eyes flitted all directions, looking for telltale signs of the glowing that would accompany spells. Did some magic no produce glowing. His first instinct might have been to assume it had been produced by the strange creature before him but it was already occupied with a spell and the soundless voice had inquired about it as though it were a separate entity. Just as Amras turned his head fully around to bear witness to the wolf who had apparently snuck up on him two other strangers appeared, one feline and one canine. "I'm as confused as you are" he tried to reply in a soft voice. Sadly, while he had mostly mastered speaking at a normal volume at this point his attempts to whisper back to the closest entity to him resulted in a series of quiet chirrups barely recognizable as actual words without a keen ear. The question would be answered soon, however, as the lighter of the two canines marched right up to the strange biped and addressed it with astonishing boldness. Thankfully the figure showed no signs of aggression, but instead a kind of curiosity and care unexpected for one who stood about half again as tall as the gryphon would have on two legs. Unfortunately Amras's grasp of language was not quite enough to fully parse the reply the stranger gave, but that could have also been due to his distracted mind going over every detail of the magic it used. The spells seemed almost... alive. He might ask it details in a moment when it wasn’t occupied, but he didn't want to overwhelm the gentle great one by jumping into its conversation with the wolf and cat. Instead he thought deeply on the motions of creating the picture of the river and turned to the blank jagged wall next to him. Could he replicate the technique? Amras held his right talon out flat and began to focus energy into his forearm as he would normally do when attempting to create a shockwave. This time, however he tried to soften the energy buildup, bending two of his fingers to twist the magic channeling into them. The white gemstone rod in his arm began to glow with a soft white light, changing hue to yellow as it changed nature and then blue as he focused and tweaked the spell. It took about all his concentration to mold it, keep it from exploding outward into a raw shockwave as he typically used magic for, but his effort was well rewarded. He could feel the magic infuse the surface before him and the effects of the spell fade as its conditions were met. The glow in his arm faded away but a new soft blue glow, the same as the color he had molded his magic to take, emanated from a single small pebble lodged in a crack in the wall. It was no river, but this was an amazing first step. He now knew that his raw energy was versatile, that it could be used for more than just a wave of force. A powerful grin worked its way onto his face as he looked over to the figure, uncertain if it had noticed or not. It was certainly nothing impressive, the light did not change like the picture or take on a shape like the small creature that had been formed, but without witnessing examples of such impressive magic he might never have known that this was a path that he could begin to journey down. Take hold of the power within "And shape the fabric of reality around you" Tags:

Astaroth chuckled as he saw a serval approach then attempt to hide from them all, he trotted over to the creature and nudged it with his snout "You may want to work on your stealth skills my friend. He growled a little as he felt another creature push past him to be cut short by seeing his old friend Kin-Kin. He rolled his eyes as he saw her walking up to the creature and conversing with it in her usual careless demeanor. He approached behind her, studying the movements of the picture transfixed as he sat on his haunches a few feet from the figure, hoping he wouldn't be noticed, he was fully absorbed in studying the picture, wondering what kind of magic could give it such life. He wanted to learn this practice. To be able to create these pictures himself.
"Speaking."
Thoughts.
tags:
notes:

Kin-Kin hadn't truly noticed how tall the creature was until it stood up tall from its painting and looked towards her. The wolf tilted her head then, craning her neck back half to see their whole form, face and all, and half to make sure that they were friendly. Of course, Kin-Kin had met, and similarly charmed, creatures far larger than this, but she was still cautious for a split second, the crystal blade in her sheathe clinking as she shifted her weight.

It spoke in broken sentences and short words, in a voice that felt unfamiliar and strange. It seemed to take a particular interest in her cloak, something that made Kin-Kin beam, baring pristine white fangs. Still, she didn't quite understand. "Imbued?" she questioned, tilting her head to one side. She continued to watch the creature, her tail waving slowly from side to side as she absorbed their words curiously. Kin-Kin didn't want to admit that she was confused, flashing a glance to the other Gembounds gathered around.

"...Imbue, for us?" Kin-Kin questioned, very curious now. Imbued with what? magic? That was possible?

The odd being continued to speak to the others around, some of whom possessed apparels of their own. Not as impressive as her own, of course, but still. Kin-Kin turned abruptly at the sudden splash that came from behind her, almost bumping her face into the wall. Turned out, the splash had come from the painting itself! The painting was moving! Kin-Kin squinted, trying not to show her surprise. An illusion, or something more? Kin-Kin felt the fur on her neck beginning to rise in excitement. She'd have to learn that. Develop her light magic to create images like that. move away from fleeting visions and into the realm of reality.

The strange creature bent down towards her, and the red wolf watched eagerly as they clasped their strange paws together. Her tail, despite herself, began to wag, tongue slightly emerging from her jaws. They glowed, just like the golden glow that shrouded her as well. And as Kin-Kin watched, she saw something take form, and that somethingwas a tiny figure of herself. Kin-Kin's eyes widened in sheer surprise, her jaws parted into a doggy grin that could well have split her face in two. She was looking right at the tiny face of herself, the purest form of flattery had made its way right into her heart. Kin-Kin followed it with her nose as the little creature bounded around her, with an expression of pride like a mother doting over her newborn child.

After some time, Kin-Kin tore her gaze away from the tiny figure of herself, seemingly acting with a will all of its own. Eager to impress, Kin-Kin pawed at the earth beneath her and tried to reform the earth into something slightly less spectacular, but still beautiful.

Despite her efforts though, all the excitement seemed to have drained the power from Kin-Kin's body or at least caused her mind to be in completely the wrong place. The light in her body flickered for a moment, but no gem formed beneath her paw.instead the wolf turned back to the little silhouette, making sure that it wasn't going to simply disappear by sniffing at it.


" speech "

Zevruu hadn't noticed Kin-kin was there until she shouldered past him. He watched her as she inspected the wall. She had no fear, and it was shown. She spoke without hesitation, forcing her presence to be known. He watched as she asked about using a glowing gem, and then proceed to examine her claws. He grunted. He could still remember when the wolf was young, having just hatched. She had been scared of the world. That was many, many cycles ago, and she had clearly changed since then. Still, he'd always remember.

As the other creature moved, his attention snapped to it. It stroked Kin-kin's cape, clearly fascinated by it. He listened to its short, quick sentences, barely more than a couple of words. It was hard at first to understand what it was saying, as it sounded as though it hadn't spoken the language in a while. After some time, he realized it was looking at him. His eyes narrowed as it pointed at his necklace. Empty? What did he mean by it was empty? The other pulled out a necklace of his own. Zevruu watched it from his spot, walking a little bit closer in order to see better. He looked back up at what he thought was the creature's face as it continued to speak. He wasn't entirely sure what he was saying, but he didn't bother saying anything back, instead watching as it turned to the painting as a splash came from the painting.

He stopped paying as much attention then, until a blue glow caught his attention. His breath caught as he saw a small version of Kin-kin around the wolf. He assumed the creature had somehow made it. How, he didn't know. Kin-kin looked thrilled, looking at the mini-wolf with such pride, you'd think she made it herself.

He turned back to the painting, just as the creature began to speak. Zevruu flicked his tail as he slowly walked closer. He wasn't nearly as well hidden, but at this point, he didn't care. A part of him was still hidden, but he was still able to see the painting. He continued to listen. When its voice grew more solemn, his ears pricked up. Sword of life and sword of death? It intrigued him, he had to admit. He looked at the other, waiting to hear what more they had to say about the painting.

"Speech" l 'Thoughts'