What a strange thing!

What strange things! Like pearls, but of so many sizes, and colors; some warm, and some glowing, some cool, almost snowing!

Ribbons on them all, and the marks of a sled, gone before they touched the wall... No one had been looking, and no one could have seen, but lying here in Pisces, bright and clear and clean...



How silly, really: piles of them had been left, and a little card, with scratches in a foreign tongue. If any could have read it, it said: "To all the Good Creatures Who Have Been Well-Behaved This Year." The scent of caribou was strong here. And each strange pearl held atop it a ribbon, curled and red.

Those arriving would find that they could take one of the objects; to give as a gift, or to keep for themselves. Each thrummed with magickal potential--perhaps yet to be unleashed? There are many of each color, a rainbow of them!

There's a soft shudder throughout the caves, guiding those who notice to Pisces, and snow begins to fall...

_________

Welcome to our little holiday event! Gembound arriving may take one pearl (taking more will render only one usable later on) as a gift. Please clarify in your post which type your character chooses!

- Slightly warm, orange pearl;
- Slightly cool, blue pearl;
- Faintly humming gray-violet pearl;
- Shining green pearl;
- Somehow alive-feeling reddish pearl;
- Dull, easily-overlooked brown-gray pearl;
- White, sparkling pearl;
- Rich brown, quite hard pearl;
- Faintly-glowing golden pearl;
- Softly-buzzing, yellow-streaked pearl;
- Gray-blue pearl;
- Violet-pink pearl that seems to faintly whisper...

Happy Holidays from the Origin staff!

She yawned, stretched. It’d be a while since she’d stood, moved. She slept a lot. Dreaming, dreaming. She loved it. Grayscale worlds, intricate and haunting… She was free, there. Moving often led to pain, when she was awake. A soft shifting and her head was already beginning to ache. She could feel it humming.. no. Something was humming. And there was a voice?

It called to her.

It was not Him. She did not know where He was. But she did know she was drawn to this voice. And oh, curiosity made the girl want.She arched her back, twisted her head. Her body was weak from lack of use, but her mind… it was alive, this curiosity fueling her. She moved slowly, following the sound, dark eyes hungry.

And then… a nest? Nose lowered to the ground but she didn’t see anyone near… She’d found the source of the humming. And the whispers. Eyes found larger and smaller spheres and among them was the one that called to her still, a violet-pink pearl. A careful nose nudged it away from the others and in doing so, the ribbon fell from it and she carefully scooped it up and held in her mouth.

__tag__

Azizos knew this calling before - if vaguely, from his not-so-distant childhood. With a swishing tail, the lion-stag sniffed at the air. There definitely was the scent of the caribou he had 'helped' Pride heard back towards this very cave. His gaze quickly found the strange sled-tracks in the falling snow, but he wasn't sure where they'd come from or gone.

Naskital, hadn't it been?

Pale eyes flickered between the pile of many colored pearls - offered with some sort of writing that was impossible for him to dream of reading - and a pup that had been there with a violet-pink orb. He lowered his head, scuffing a hoof politely as he greeted, "hello." His gaze drifted towards a gray-blue pearl. Azizos extended a cloved hoof, carefully rolling the pearl towards himself and inspecting it for a moment with his magics.

Then, Azizos looked towards the pup: "was it Naskital that came through here? Tall, translucent-blue-colored. Antlers and- fingers. He wears a brown covering." The lion-stag tacked on awkwardly at the end, "ah, I'm being rude - my name is Azizos."

Squelch
For the first time I'm thinkin' about tomorrow

Squelch stopped by Pisces for a snack on his way back to Fornax. Fish, his favorite food, were abundant and easy to catch here. He spent much of his time chasing the schools in the lagoon, corralling them with bubbles and flashes of light, picking them off one by one. It was terror for the fish, but as for Squelch, it was the most fun he had in a long while. It had been sometime before he surfaced, but when he did, the eel-creature leapt up on the rocky banks in one, graceful motion. The hint of a smile was on his fishy face. His slimy, purple skin was practically glowing.

Soon, it would be back to work. Little Mother was waiting for him on the island and he still needed to finish fortifications. He had been away long enough. The smile faded as he padded towards the tunnels. There was so much to do, so little time, and under all of that, he had to stay low. Squelch paused and looked around at Pisces. He wondered if he should set up a decoy here; something to keep Astraea and his ilk busy.

Suddenly, something caught his eye, strange colors among the rocks. He crept closer to investigate. It seemed to be.. a pile of pearls of many colors and sizes, with bows on top. He squinted. This was suspicious. His eyestalk swiveled to the two gembounds talking nearby. They had pearls of their own. Hmm...

Squelched crawled up the pearl pile and inspected it. These were not like any pearls he has seen. Carefully, he picked up a reddish one. It felt.. alive somehow. He tapped on its surface. Perhaps, there was creature inside.

His eyestalk flicked back to the others and blinked. His head followed suit. They were talking about someone name Naskital, perhaps the one responsible for these pearl-things. He croaked, then cleared his throat, hobbling up to the new-cycles, still clutching the red pearl. "Um.. excuse me, who is Naskital?" He's never heard of that gembound in his life, and he certainly didn't see him leave the pearls here.

@Azizos @Vyette

There is magic in the pearl, Azizos will find. Thrumming, potential magic, as if waiting for... something. But it seems patient; lurking. Perhaps it would be best to simply take the thing, and wait.

There's a sense of tightness about it, as if the space it takes up is too small for its size.

How strange.

@Azizos

She shuffled in slowly. Distant voices drew her closer, and a faint whispering caught her sensitive hearing. There weren't words, or none that she could make out, only strange sussurations, and she crept closer and closer to the pile.

Through her haze of green, she could make out other shapes, moving, but the whispering drew her until talons clamped gently around her violet-pink prize.

"What is this? she asked--even demanded--of the other shapes and voices close to her. They had been here first; surely they would know? She sought clear vision of it, head tilting to one side.

The emerald color seemed to briefly clear, and she saw a sled piled high with orbs, an odd and rubbery blue figure placing them there, and humming. It faded as quickly as it'd come--and Hecate had learned, by now, that her magic showed her the past, rather than the present. (It had taken her an embarrassingly long time to work this out.)

"I see the thing you described," she said, haughty, hardly daring to call it a person. She'd heard Azizos' brief description on approach, and this vision certainly seemed to match it.

ATTIKIAS
violence for violence
is the rule of the beasts

Attikias had been coming back this way sometimes after meeting with the wolf and discovering the cave's wonderful waterfalls he could take in. Eridanus? Sure, it had its own, but the blue of the water had drawn him more often than he expected. Maybe it was the color of the area- he genuinely enjoyed it, felt like he properly fit in for once compared to all the browns he saw so often.

Here, though, he'd been pulled more often lately, and attested it to a simple desire to return. That's all it could be, right? He could get some carving done, maybe. This place did feel a tad less cursed than the Eyes, after all. So, with his bag at his hip and a preparedness to create, he stepped foot into the cave to witness a particular gathering of gembounds.

One thing he did notice, was the unnatural snow- it was cold against his bare soles. He should maybe get some covering for that, but right now the discomfort was overlapped by an innate sense of wonder at this collection of people. Plus, there was a particular white he recognized. Which one was it, though?

His curiosity spurred on him on a path closer to them, and a want to see his newfound friend lifted his heart. Not wanting to call out the wrong brother, he spoke out with a simple yet elated "hey!" when he was close enough. Azizos permitting, he'd put his hand on the kirin's back to pat it when he was noticed. "It's good to see you."

This was a particularly interesting collection, though. Now not focused on Azizos, he took in the piles of items, tail flicking behind him with interest. He'd picked up at least the latter half of the conversation- a Naskital and a confirmation that it was them? Then, someone was just leaving objects strewn about? Curious. Running his thumb in thought across Azizos's back (still permitting), he lifted the other to his chin. The note had some sort of scribbling on it that he couldn't recognize. Ah, well, hm. "Are they free to take? Did they just... Leave them here for other people?" It seemed like an odd gesture, and he wasn't going to steal from someone, but they were just kind of strewn about here. They certainly weren't here a few days ago, that was for sure.

breaking post order rq to Explain Don't Mind Me

As it had last time - if this was still Naskital's doing, and not another philatrophist's - other Gembound gathered: a strange, fish-like creature, an owl with antlers, and an acquaintance of his. Azizos took the pat on the back easily, now taking it as a sign of greeting like the knock of antlers or bumping of shoulders. He side-stepped slightly, giving Attikias's knees a knock of the shoulder.

"Naskital, it seems, brings gifts - he has this time, thank you," he nodded towards Hecate, "twelve cycles ago, I believe, when I was a child - a number of Gembound, including my fathers, helped in repairing his sled." Azizos trotted forwards, indicating towards the tracks and hoofprints, "and gathering up his Lessers." He moved back towards his selected pearl, standing so that it was between his hooves. The sensation of innate magicka, awaiting something, was peculiar.

"He seems kind - these must be another set of gifts - take one, Attikias. I'm not sure what may come of these, though. This one seems to... hold a magic. It's waiting."

@Opal Three-Seven-Six @Vyette @Hecate @Attikias

Those in possession of a pearl will, today, feel it shimmer and ready itself. The tiniest touch of magicka will release a flood of it in return: knowledge of a new spell. If the pearl is given away, the recipient may learn the spell instead.

Vyette (or whomever is gifted her pearl, if she chooses to give it away) will learn a random spell of Arcane magic.
Azizos has chosen a pearl holding an unknown Pressure spell.
Squelch's pearl holds an Animal spell.
Hecate has chosen Arcane.

Characters may post in Update Me to receive a random spell of the element of the pearl they have chosen! This event will continue until December 31st.

@Vyette @Azizos @Opal Three-Seven-Six @Hecate @Attikias

skrrts in

It passed through en route to Cetus, wings stuttering for only a moment in rapt curiosity. A group of Gembound was below - they could be a clan, brothers-in-arms, or those simply... discussing mysterious gift-giving by a creature known aa Naskital. Hemlocke wasn't completely familiar with the name, or at all. But, it was curious.

Curious enough to swoop down abruptly, like a dive-bombing little bird, and snatch up one of the smaller pearls in its foreclaws. The strange sensation of aliveness was carried with it through neighboring tunnels. Interesting, for such a normal-seeming red orb.

skrrts out with red-alive-animal pearl