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 Posted: Wed Mar 18, 2020 2:39 pm
Cey had never been like the others.
From a time when he only barely had the scope of mind to realize that noulicorns could be 'similar' or 'dissimilar' to one another, Cey had thought that he didn't quite share the same sentiments as his fellow herdmates. The youngsters his age would preen over their parents' accomplishments, boast of the herbs and creatures that had been brought back to the realm because of their doing, praise those who were able to expand Homewoods boarders, and pretend that one day they, too, would wield these powers. And Cey remembered thinking that his parents were also off doing the same work as these other foals' parents.
...But when would they have time for him? If this was all his parents' lives revolved around- all that any foal's parents' lives revolved around, when would they be around to coo over and give praise to him? Could their only reason for existence really be cleansing the damaged world they'd been born into?
He should be pleased with their efforts, as the other foals were, but instead he only felt the bitter seeds of jealousy take root in his soul. They shouldn't be here for the world. They should be here for him. When there were so many others out doing what they did, why didn't his parents have time for him. Even back then, though, they'd assured him, 'It is for you, Cey. We must work hard so that our children know a healthier planet!'
Nonsense, he'd thought.
And so Cey had said as much.
'The Others are gone. This is already our world now. We won't treat it like they did. It will regrow on its own. We don't have to sacrifice our lives to it.' And they shouldn't sacrifice their lives to it... They deserved happy lives that involved doing more than Grandfather Tree's bidding from the moment they were able. It was just a tree after all, not unlike any of those in Homewood. And anytime he happened to be in the vicinity of someone praising the tree or touting their gift, the jealousy that he'd felt when he was so young bloomed a little more.
They should be worth more than some stupid magic ability. During his young buck years, he'd tried to explain this to anyone who would listen. Unsurprisingly, his parents didn't take him seriously. It was just a rebellious phase. They laughed it off, nudged him on his way, and went back to work.
He'd tried to share his opinions with others of his age, but... by that time he already had a bit of a reputation of being difficult and disagreeable. It wasn't often that other young noulicorn wanted much to do with him. It certainly wasn't any of them that made the conscious decision to approach him, and Cey only made a point of forcibly including himself when he saw someone utilizing their gift. Those around him mostly tried to ignore him or scurry away from him or laugh nervously before changing the subject.
Very few attempted to argue with him.
It happened that Cey was not a small buck, and his aggressive mannerisms of snorting, tossing his head, and stamping made some too wary to argue too adamantly with him for the most part.
But once, a young doe had not backed down. Cey had been munching on some grass in a clearing when she'd come upon him. She shouted that he was eating her garden- couldn't he see she was trying to cultivate the land? Cey was fairly certain that gardens were for eating, he'd taken a particularly petulant chomp out of the nearest plant, and she'd snapped at him. 'Of course he would be this way. Of course he wanted to ruin anything anyone worked hard at- Just because he wasn't good enough to do anything himself, just because no one liked him, he had to ruin everything for everyone else. Just because he was worthless and unwanted and-'
Cey had charged her, slamming his lowered head into the slope of her shoulder, and she had toppled over like a sawed tree. She'd thrashed on the ground, wailing as if he'd speared her through.
He hadn't, mind you. The curve of his horn had prevented it from running through her flesh, and it was only the dull base that cracked into her shoulder. Others had come at her shouts, and a Vivify noul had had to heal a fracture that would have otherwise made her limp- Just limp. She'd been far from dying.
But that was all it took.
The doe, her parents, the Vivify noulicorn all chased him away... And his parents had let them.
Cey had been a wanderer since. Homewood was no longer a safe haven for him. He was shunned and run off anytime someone noticed him. He scavenged the edges for food and only dared to dart in and out when he needed fresh water to drink. For shelter he could make do with the remains left behind in the Ruins or Erli. For companionship...
He didn't need companionship.
For purpose...
Cey didn't think he needed purpose, either. None except for to do what pleased him. He could explore as far as his legs could carry him, discover more than even those in Homewood, if only he could master the terrain. He hadn't yet, despite the many passing moons, but one day. One day, he would.
So it was only by accident of exploration that his hoof steps led him to Grandfather Tree's roots. Cey had avoided it, of course. There was nothing for him here, but he supposed when one was set to wander indefinitely, it was only a matter of time before he ended up here, eventually. Cey's dark gaze lifted toward the branches overhead. His maw turned to a grimace, and he tossed his head. "Stupid tree," he spat at the white oak before him. "Why have you gone and made everyone like this? We could have been just as happy living for ourselves, but they've all fallen for you. They chose to live for you..." He scoffed and stomped petulantly on a gnarled root.
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Posted: Wed Mar 18, 2020 7:01 pm
A coldness snaps at the air despite the beating sun on the hot, desert plateau. The Grandfather Tree shudders like an angry snake as Cey approaches.
Choose one of the following prompts for Cey's dream vision.
Quote: A storm whips through Homewood, tearing new plants up by their roots and forcing the animals to huddle together for shelter. The cold bites and the rain pelts down hard, but there are many things in the forest to protect. What do you do?
Quote: You are in the ruins of Erli. Suddenly a beam of metal comes crashing down not far from you and you hear a shout of pain. The beam has collapsed on top of a predator that was hunting you! The predator is alive, but trapped and injured. What do you do?
Quote: You have been travelling the barrens for days without sign of food or water. You are on your last legs when you finally spot something green in the distance. Is it a mirage? Or is it real? Do you risk going further to chase the green or do you take the safe route and return home?
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Posted: Fri Mar 20, 2020 2:24 pm
ll Flourish ll You are in the ruins of Erli. Suddenly a beam of metal comes crashing down not far from you and you hear a shout of pain. The beam has collapsed on top of a predator that was hunting you! The predator is alive, but trapped and injured. What do you do?
Cey couldn't resist sneering at the clattering branches overhead. Was it supposed to frighten him? This was just an old tree that thought it had the right to test any noulicorn that approached it. It thought it had the right to judge them. Worst of all, everyone else believed it. No one knew anything about this tree or where it came from or how it got to be this way, but almost every noulicorn dutifully adhered to the gifts it granted to try and "better the world." Cey scoffed, rolled his eyes, and turned away.
And it was in the movement that he was whisked elsewhere.
When he turned, it wasn't the expanse of the Barrens before him, but the Ruins of Erli, with its steel towers rising high into the grey sky overhead. Besides being annoyed by the abruptness of the situation, Cey had grown to fear little of the more dangerous areas outside of Homewood. The Ruins provided good shelter, and he'd had the opportunity to spend many nights in these old, abandoned buildings...
His hoof steps carried him unflinchingly forward. Cey believed he should proceed as if this were any normal day. Perhaps he could scavenge for interesting materials left by the Others. Even pretentious Homewood noulicorns wouldn't all be able to turn down something pretty and shiny in exchange for just a small forage through their greenery...
He stepped into the nearest building, a towering structure with a great, open ground floor with refuse and litter scattered all throughout. A bit of it looked like it had once been organic matter, maybe dirt, twigs, or leaves blown in from outside. There were crackly, glittery bits that may have served as wrappers for some of the Others' knickknacks. And then there were nails, screws, and glass, shrapnel left behind from blown-out windows and construction that had never finished. The Others must have been ugly creatures, Cey thought, to have thrived in such an unsightly environment that threatened harm to him at every step, if he wasn't careful. He'd hate to jab a nail through one of his hooves...
As he leaned down to sniff at a bundled parcel of plastic, a great wind whipped through, flinging the hair of his mane up into his eyes and sending the old leaves and dried wrapped scattering across the ground. The sound of them rustling over the ground was drowned by a rumble, a creak, and then a thundering clatter as something much heavier than a wrapped smashed into the ground with a metallic clang.
Startled, Cey bounced into the air, tossing his head to clear his vision, only to be met with the sight of two massive, claws paws scrabbling against the hard ground.
The creature howled in pain at the great beam that hand landed atop it. If Cey craned his head close enough, he thought he could see skinny, cylindrical rods protruding from the beam and into the massive creature's back. It howled, it wailed, it dragged its claws over the ground, and as it writhed, a sheen of muddy red began to appear on the dirty ground beneath it. After a few moments of ogling, Cey hesitantly approached.
He thought nothing besides what a strange marvel this beast was. It was at least twice his size and surely needed quite substantially-sized meals in order to survive. Rodents and lizards would do this beast no good. He wondered if it waited here in the Ruins, for noulicorns to come wandering through as he had... Teeth and claws this size would be impossible for a nouli to do much against. Even one experienced with the abilities of their gift may have trouble outsmarting something that simply needed to pounce to kill...
"You would've had me..." Cey rumbled as he approached as near as he dared, though still out of reach of those claws. "I didn't even think to be concerned of something larger than me lurking in these ruins... But here you are, and I was none the wiser."
He began to circle slowly, giving the thing a wide berth. "And now look at you. This is what you get for spending your life preying on others. You get pinned to the dirty ground, smashed beneath a weight too great even for you." A roar was the creature's response, and its mighty shoulders heaved, desperate to push the beam off, but its paws slid through the expanding pool of blood, and it slumped.
Cey tsked. His tail swished.
There was nothing someone like him could do for a quickly dying beast. Not one trapped beneath a great weight and pierced by rusted metal. He supposed he could promise to look for help and maybe come back with someone who could heal and revive... But why on Vykeli would he? This monster had surely been intent on making dinner of him, and if the tables had been turned, if Cey had been the one trapped, he certainly would have known better than to expect mercy. Their world could be a particularly cruel one. The faster everyone learned that, the better off they'd be. With a dismissive flick of his tail, the buck turned and headed out of the building.
He didn't want to be hanging around to listen to this thing's dying cries.
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Posted: Fri Mar 20, 2020 9:06 pm
The coldness dissipates. Everything dissipates, leaving a void of non-feeling around Cey, a vacuum where Vykeli should be. There is a sudden spark of pain and then everything returns to normal.
Except, were Cey to look, his once pale horn is now black.
Cey has received no gift.
uncert
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ll Flourish ll generated a random number between
1 and 100 ...
9!
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Posted: Sun Mar 22, 2020 11:40 am
REDEEMED
rolling for exploration
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