Asimona stared at the empty space for a while longer before turning away. She had to stop thinking about this for a minute. She was getting overwhelmed with confusion. Sister had just admitted to being a hallucination. So didn't that make her part of herself? Was she just speaking with herself or with someone else? Did she just tell herself that she loved herself even if she didn't love herself? And should she love herself, despite all of those flaws?

Was that what they were? Just parts of her own personality?

If they were, then she could see what they all represented. Father was, very obviously, her fear. She was always irrationally afraid when he was around. She always felt like a child, scared of the dark and shadows, scared of the red-hot monster creeping along her skin. Mother was, maybe, her anger. Her hatred. Because she absolutely hated her and her very presence gave her a burning rage. Then what was Sister? Kindness? Help?

Was she her love? Was that what she was talking about?

She almost missed the stone wedged within the rock, but it gleamed in her eye just in time. She had left the other stones beside the pool, she realized, so she quickly grabbed it from the rock and started to head back. She could at least hide them for now and take them back to her nest later.

"Can you hear their voice?"
"Find the one who'll guide you."
To the limits of your choice.

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Rolling for magical presence...

Asimona has found a rough chunk of Orange Fluorite, a fluorescent gemstone that occasionally glows when exposed to certain lighting conditions in the cave. The gemstone itself is made up of jagged square-like shapes embedded in a rocky base. Its color is translucent and there appear to be lighter colors swirling deep within its cracked and weathered surface. Within the rock base are flecks and pieces of the gemstone, which shimmer like embers against the dark stone.

When she arrived at the spot where she had placed her gems, she quickly gathered them up and stashed them between a couple of rocks. She lifted another rock and placed it on top to hide them from any potential thieves and turned to continue walking. There was one more she had to face...and this she dreaded the most.

The anger came first and she let it fill her. She paused and turned. There she was, breathing heavily, her armored scales glistening under the lights. There was a low snarl in her throat as she stalked forward and Asimona decided, in that moment, that she wasn't dealing with it.

Just as Mother opened her mouth to speak, Asimona whipped back around. "Shut up," she snapped before stalking away.

"Can you hear their voice?"
"Find the one who'll guide you."
To the limits of your choice.

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Asimona stalked away and she felt satisfaction at the thought of the look on Mother's face. But sometimes she forgot that they were, of course, hallucinations so the armored dragon simply appeared right in front of her, stopping her in her tracks. Fear and doubt suddenly intruded on her thoughts at the sight of the hatred and rage on Mother's face.

HOW DARE YOU SPEAK TO ME IN THIS WAY, she roared, her wings flapping with agitation. I AM YOUR MOTHER YOU IDIOT! She took a swipe and Asimona instinctively jumped back, despite knowing that the claws couldn't touch her. But the sudden, violent reaction deepened the doubt in her mind. And as the doubt worsened so the affects of Mother's presence became more apparent. Horrible, cruel hatred and anger rose in her chest. A feeling that was alien and unfamiliar to her for the most part. It felt terrible, but she couldn't help it. She hated her.

Asimona's lip curled and she snarled back. "You are nothing," she spat, "nothing but a vision. You are not my mother. I have no mother!" A sudden idea popped into her head, the rational part of her brain still barely processing. She could get her into a fight, perhaps. That would truly prove if she was real or not.

Asimona let out a challenging roar and crouched before Mother just as Mother reared and let out her own call. The two dragons faced off and, a moment later, they leaped.

And as their bodies met, there was nothing. Asimona found herself jumping right through open air. And as Mother's body passed through her, she felt the anger disappointing in an instant. And the hallucination was gone.

Asimona breathed heavily, her brain still processing what had just happened. It had all been so fast and so horrible but now...it was over.

As she moved her claw she felt something touch against it. She looked down and was surprised to see a gemstone sitting just between her claws, just where she had landed.

"Can you hear their voice?"
"Find the one who'll guide you."
To the limits of your choice.

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notes:

Rolling for magical presence...

Asimona has found a pointed pillar-shaped Pupil (+2) Rose Quartz which once belonged to a blue-and-gold macaw.

The little bit of rose quartz glistened innocently at her. She carefully picked it up in her claw and stared at it for a moment. She felt tears collecting in the corners of her eyes and watched as a droplet fell onto the clean, smooth surface. She had done it. She had defeated them all. She had defeated herself. She sat back and held the stone close to her heart, breaking into tears of mixed grief and joy. She didn't know what to feel or what she was even feeling, but it felt good to cry. It felt so good to cry.

Her magic ebbed into the gemstone without her realizing until she felt an almost pulsing sensation against her chest. She looked down and widened her eyes with surprise. It was glowing now, glowing with a faint white energy. Her life...her life was now within this stone.

It was alive.

Numbness melted away to love and pure bliss. The tears fell swifter as she sat there, holding close the quartz as she wept.

"Can you hear their voice?"
"Find the one who'll guide you."
To the limits of your choice.

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She had to take it back to her nest now. She gently placed it in her jaws and carried it to where she had left all of her other stones. The ones with life and the ones that were simply gems. They were all beautiful to her, though, they were all meaningful. She needed more now, though, to prove to herself that she could keep going. She needed to grow her hoard.

Perhaps it was simply draconic instinct or some new desire born from her emotional turmoil. She picked up a pretty little quartz on her way, just another piece for her pile.

"Can you hear their voice?"
"Find the one who'll guide you."
To the limits of your choice.

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As Asimona carried the gems back, she felt the temperature begin to drop, approaching the place where she made her nest. She paused, unsure if she was really ready to go back yet. But then she felt the warmth in the rose quartz and convinced herself that she had to, if just for a moment.

The temperature dropped lower and lower, but Asimona thought little of it. It would be okay for the child in the chrysalis, she was sure. After all, it was protected by stone. She reached her little hollow next to the wall and set the crystals down, giving the quartz a special spot on her nest.

She adjusted and patted down the snow to give it a good, protective hollow, before she turned and set off, to go and search for more trinkets for her new hoard.

"Can you hear their voice?"
"Find the one who'll guide you."
To the limits of your choice.

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As Asimona headed out again, she left the chilly aura of the cold again and suddenly, without the feeling of the rose quartz in her mouth or the presence of one of them surrounding her, she felt exposed and lonely. There was nobody else here. Nobody anywhere, it seemed. She was so alone, always alone, and, in that moment, she realized that she couldn't be. She couldn't be alone.

Because loneliness is what brought them out. The worst of them, the worst of her. Being by herself, away from everyone, with only her thoughts to keep her company, she was only half a creature. She needed a companion, or at least a friend. Or many friends if one grew too bored of her.

So when she stumbled upon another stone, it was as if she had found a new friend, even if there was no potential underneath its surface. Even if there was nothing but dead gem.

"Can you hear their voice?"
"Find the one who'll guide you."
To the limits of your choice.

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What would it be like, then, when the rose quartz hatched? Would she ever be able to be separated from her child? Suddenly a strike of fear went through her heart. What if her child was hurt? What if it couldn't survive on its own? What if she was incapable as a mother and her child died because of her ineptitude?!

The fear mounted and she completely forgot to control it in her panic when she saw the flash of red in the corner of her eye. She turned and was met with Father's burning gaze. She roared with frustration and whipped her tail, trying to make him disappear. To her surprise, Father didn't disappear. He simply stood as her tail went right through his body.

She wasn't really sure how to respond to this new development and Father took the opportunity to step forward. You really think that you can do this? Be a mother? Care for young? No...you can't do it. You can't even keep me away. You can't tell truth from fantasy. You can't.

"Can you hear their voice?"
"Find the one who'll guide you."
To the limits of your choice.

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