A new life bared its face to the newly-awakened lights of the caves; or at least, new in the sense that one could have sworn it wasn't there an hour ago. Or had it always been present? It was difficult to tell.
Throughout the various caverns of Origin cave, mysterious flowers had sprung up in secluded alcoves and precarious positions, nigh impossible to find without guidance or a healthy dose of coincidence.

Petals bloomed in elegant heart-shapes from a shining core that might be a gem, appearing almost like a tiny pearl. Ribbon-like leaves curled into smooth spirals, giving each flower an ornate look, as though meticulously designed by some greater being. Even though there is no wind, each flower appears to sway contentedly, though if one looked close enough, they would have to admit that it didn't seem to be moving at all.

But loveliest of all, each flower exudes a tantalizingly sweet aroma which can be caught from miles around. To most creatures, the scent would lead to a dead end or they'd follow it in hopeless circles. But someone out there, somewhere close, will find themselves lead directly to a flower as it sits, softly swaying in wondrous harmony.


This flower is slightly transparent, and it flickers and glows eerily, as though not really there. It can be found growing in @Astaroth ‘s den, and glows steadily brighter as he draws near.


This flower appears to be... burning? And although it reeks of smoke and ash, it's not crumbling. How odd. @oliver will find this flower by the cave wall, nestled in a tiny alcove.


This flower's petals are crystalline, and its stem is hard as stone. It appears more like a bizarre rock formation than a plant. It can be found growing out of a skull at the very top of a tall pile of bones. It should be impossible for @Carni to miss when patrolling by wing…


This flower is slightly transparent, and it flickers and glows eerily, as though not really there. It can be found in the very heart of the Chambers, and glows steadily brighter as @Yuma draws near.


The air around this flower shimmers with cold. Its delicate petals are clear like glass and icicles have formed on its leaves. It looks like a single paw stroke would be enough to shatter it. @Asimona will find this flower growing in a half-crumbled bone fortress.


This flower appears to be... burning? And although it reeks of smoke and ash, it's not crumbling. How odd. @Poppy will find this flower by the cave wall, near the entrance to Tunnel K.

Event participants may now post their responses below!
Note: Characters taking part in this thread do not need to interact with one another, as flowers can be found some distance apart.

Oliver was, in a word, lost.

He normally travelled around and stayed apart, and quiet--unless someone seemed like they needed help. Now that the lights were back on, he'd wound up in Canis, and was rather appalled at the sheer number of bones and whatnot that littered the place.

But-... Something, now, had caught his delicately sensitive nose. He slipped carefully along the darker walkways between the bones. The percussive sounds of a soft dripping as water slid down from a stalagtite; the quiet clicking of bones as he made his way, echoed oddly loudly in the chambers. He lifted off and glided down a slope, but stopped with a flap of his forelimb-wings, claws scratching over the rock as he paused to again catch the scent.

It was sweet, and it drew him. He was worried, briefly--maybe it was a trap?--but pushed the thought idly away. He'd be careful.

At last, close to the wall, he found it: a small, char-scented flower in a small alcove, its bright, burning light glowing within.

"You're a flower," he informed the flower with soft surprise. "Well, at least you aren't a trap."

He drew closer, cautious and gentle, and sniffed it over. Despite its flame, it wasn't burning. Like life, he thought; like love; like light. It glowed, but it didn't destroy itself.

Interesting.

"You're very pretty," he added gently, entirely uncaring as to the fact that a flower could not actually understand him. Content with his new companion, he settled his wing-arms to his side and gently nudged its blackened stem, trying not to burn his snout as he did so.

{Table code credit to Madison, altered a bit!}

Yuma It had been far too long since he'd gone out and done something! Well, he had been quite busy clearing pathways and gathering gems from around the room and organizing the gems by color and size and shape in the group's stockpile, but even these large-scale projects were starting to lose their charm. Perhaps he'd go look for gems in another room, a change of scenery would probably refresh his interest, especially now that he lights were back on. For the moment Yuma was making arounds around the room, picking glowing mushrooms wherever he found them. These things were spreading like wildfire and as far as he was concerned they didn't belong here. They belonged in his personal storage area where he kept gems and bones and stones that were too interesting to just donate. He'd have them available if the group really needed them but why should he just give them away if they'd just get mixed in with all the others, right? In his travels, flayed glowing mushroom tucked under one arm, a strange smell wafted his way. It wasn't the smell of a gembound and it wasn't rotting flesh. It kind of smelled like where he'd emerged early on in life but that couldn't be right. Dropping his bundle on the ground (to pick up again later that day of course) Yuma dashed toward the direction of the scent and found the strangest glowing mushroom he'd ever seen. Except it wasn't a mushroom, or at least not one like he'd ever seen. A flower perhaps? Those didn't grow here very often at all. Whatever it was it looked like it was barely even there, like he could reach through it and not be able to take hold of it. He had to have it. With no tact whatsoever Yuma reached out with his sharp claws to rip the flower from the ground and spirit it away before anyone else saw it.

As Yuma took a hold of the flower in sharp claws, the glowing object seemed to quail under his touch. A bright light, nearly blinding, emanated from the object for a moment. When the light faded after a few short moments, the flower had gone, in its place, the small pearl-like object that had been the flower’s core tinkled as it dropped lightly to the ground.

And in that moment, a new feeling would wash over the aye-aye; feelings that were not his own. Perhaps Yuma would see a sight through the eyes of another; a lightning flower growing in the waterfall room. Perhaps he’d feel a sense of superiority and self-worth, washing in over the mental link.

@Narcissus is now bonded to @Yuma, and the two may now speak to one another, and share thoughts and feelings between these threads, or any!!

The flowers have left their cores behind! If they are not reunited within two cycles, then the cores will crumble, the connection severed and never to be reunited again, in this life or the next...

As Oliver nudged at the flaming flower, the fire finally seemed to spread. First, the petals crumbled, burning up to leave only its gem-like core. The fire soon spread down the stem, leaving only ashes in its wake. In its place, the small pearl-like object that had been the flower’s core tinkled as it dropped lightly to the ground.

And in that moment, a new feeling would wash over the hybrid; feelings that were not his own. Perhaps Oliver would see a sight through the eyes of another; a transparent flower glowing brightly growing in the room of lights. Perhaps he’d feel a sense of instinctive impulse or vague curiosity, washing in over the mental link.

@Oliver is now bonded to @Septiezal , and the two may now speak to one another, and share thoughts and feelings between these threads, or any!!

The flowers have left their cores behind! If they are not reunited within two cycles, then the cores will crumble, the connection severed and never to be reunited again, in this life or the next...

Yuma Yuma's elation disappeared in a second as his prize escaped his grasp, disappearing into thin air and taunting him with images of a new form it had taken in a room of life and water. Words not made of sound but emotions assailed the small aye-aye; emotions he could barely comprehend on a personal level but emotions that he immediately understood the significance of. 'It thinks it's better than me' the thoughts ran through the creature's head, his unblinking eyes fixated on the small orb that had been left behind. What nonsense! It was just a speck of existence, a machination of this world he lived in. What right did it have to claim superiority? Oh but it wouldn't think that way for long, not long at all. No anger nor rebuttal nor even dismay crossed through Yuma's emotional spectrum, but a simple cold rising glee at the thought of pursuing this haughty prey that had escaped his grip. A single chuckle, followed by rising laughter resounded from Yuma as he gripped the orb in one hand and darted his crimson eyes around the room. "Oh poor precious thing." he spoke with glee, exposing his rodent teeth in a wide grin, "You will entertain me quite nicely. Wait there by the falls. I am coming, and I'm going to wash those smug emotions away as I tear you apart piece by piece and use your remains to decorate my walls" Yes, this new form of the flower would be perfect to accentuate the gems and corpses he already had laying on his shelves. He just had to find it, just had to track down where it had disappeared to in the room of his birth. It was only a matter of time. What a fun game this would be!

Tags: @Narcissus

The bones crunched under Asimona's talons, the splinters getting caught between them. She wasn't a fan of walking through bones already. Scowling, she merely stumbled through the room, trying to find bare spots to put her feet.

As she walked, she felt the air around her go cool. It seemed that she would never escape the cold that followed her. Honestly, she didn't mind, but she worried that other gembounds wouldn't like it. But then she sensed something that resonated with her magic, something that caught onto the cooler air. Intrigued, she sniffed the air and her eyes widened as she caught a scent, a beautiful scent.

Bounding forward, she followed the sweet aroma until she came upon a pile of bones, a very large pile of bones and found the source of the scent and magic. It was a flower, a flower of ice and cold that sparkled in her eyes. Excited, she leaned forward, desperate to feel the cool radiating from the petals. Her nose touched an icy petal and she sighed. It was cold as ice and the aroma was intoxicating.


"Speech looks like this."
Thoughts look like this.

tags:
notes:

Oliver blinked. He flicked an ear as the poor flower burned and crumbled to ashen dust, frantically reaching clawed wing-hands forward to try and scoop its ashes back up.

"Wh--no no no no no I'm sorry! No! Oh no go back together--sorry sorry--" but of course, the flower did not. He was left with its little gem in his hands, blinking again at the tinkle it had made as it clinked to the ground.

And... at the strange sense of a--person... at the other side. For a long moment, he peered at the gem. It's what made things alive, wasn't it?

Was the flower--talking to him, in a sense? He saw Polaris--he knew the place well enough--and felt curiosity flicker through him. Curiosity that wasn't his own, but--his own resonated back.

"Um. ...Hello?" he asked the flower.

{Table code credit to Madison, altered a bit!}

As Asimona gently nudged the flower, despite the cold air hanging around the dragon, the plant appeared to melt, as though it were an intricate sculpture carved from ice. cool water dripped from the petals, and after a minute or two, only a small puddle of clear water remained, gradually freezing in the dragon's aura. The small pearl-like object that had been the flower’s core tinkled as it dropped lightly to the ground.

And in that moment, a new feeling would wash over the dragon, feelings that were not her own. Perhaps Asimona would see a sight through the eyes of another; a trembling grey flower growing in the waterfall room. Perhaps she’d feel a sense of calm curiosity, washing in over the mental link.

@Asimona is now bonded to @Rinaotei , and the two may now speak to one another, and share thoughts and feelings between these threads, or any!!

The flowers have left their cores behind! If they are not reunited within two cycles, then the cores will crumble, the connection severed and the flowers never to be reunited again, in this life or the next...

Asimona watched with growing sadness as the beautiful flower melted before her eyes. She didn't look away, though, curious to see what would happen. The ice had seemed so firm and frozen, she was surprised that it was melting. But then it left a pearl-like shape in the puddle that was slowly freezing again. She reached forward to pull it out before it got stuck in the ice, but just as she was about to, her vision blurred and she suddenly felt the world shifting.

There was a roaring that sounded eerily like the waterfall in Pisces and her whole body was suddenly different. She felt thin, vulnerable, with thin skin and no scales, with fur covering her body. At least she still had her wings. In front of her was a crumbling gray flower and a strange feeling of curiosity washed over her.

She blinked with surprise as she found herself back in her own body, staring at the pearl. "What the hell was that? she asked out loud.

"Find the one who'll guide you."
To the limits of your choice.

tags: @Rinaotei
notes: notes here

Oliver blinked. There was another voice in his mind, now.

"Um. ...Hello?"

Shock flitted through him, driving him blank for a beat. He sat heavily on his haunches. Was the flower-gem talking to him?!

"Hello?"

Oliver shook his head rapidly, carefully lifting the little gem in his bird-taloned claws.

"...Hi?" he asked hesitantly, aloud. "Are you--the flower? I'm sorry I hurt you but--you can talk? Can I help you somehow?"

The little black hybrid stared, brow furrowed, deep concern gripping him. He really, really hoped he hadn't killed the poor thing.

{Table code credit to Madison, altered a bit!}

@Septiezal