Whenever Keirin looked at his reflection in the stream, he found it difficult to be proud of what he saw. His speckled hide was sleek. His wavy mane was silky with rigorous upkeep. His emerald eyes were vibrant and alluring. He did not have a body weathered and toned by strife, nor a gaze brimming with experienced wisdom. Keirin wasn't as young as some who threw themselves headlong with vigor into their intended purpose, but he was dignified and perky just the same.
Was it selfish of him, to spend his days in Homewood, relishing in the serenity of a fluttering breeze and humming songbirds? To spend time caring for himself and ensuring his own prime condition before extending his worry to their world?
Yes, he supposed. His own mother was a lovely doe, adept in her solar gift when she'd birthed him, and ever eager to praise and preen her son. She'd instilled a regimented routine of care for him, ensuring that he would be in prime condition when he aged enough to carry on the work of their race. But only when he was ready. She never pressured, never pushed. Even when her own gift swelled with Grandfather Tree's blessing, and she achieved the ascended rank, she made no attempt to coerce him for more.
As he sat, Keirin watched the rippling waters of the stream, lids lowered and body stilled. He enjoyed his peaceful, easy lifestyle, even while others struggled to brighten their world, to make it better. If he stayed in Homewood, it was easy to forget that beyond the forest, there were dying lands.
He was ashamed of himself, ashamed at how easy it was to forget and to enjoy what they already had.
Swallowing, Keirin rose fluidly to his hooves, the movement causing his mane to spill over his shoulders in winding rivulets. He was not one to push himself, he was not one to struggle, and he didn't want to rush into something that would affect him poorly. But there was more out there, and he could barely stand to look at himself, knowing that he still had a role to fulfill while being almost reluctant to move forward.
His pace was unhurried as he strode from the stream, ears alert and tail swaying gently behind him. The trees thinned, the grass deteriorated, and by the time Keirin reached the edge of the Barrens, his heart thrummed a tattoo against his ribs.
Slowly, he decided. The moments between here and his destiny should be cherished. It was more than just a recognition of purpose: it was an acceptance of that responsibility, practically a loss of innocence... So many others had trod this path before him, and so many more after. He should be proud, but Keirin only felt wary. It was the duty of every noul, whether they simply wanted serenity or not.
The earth crumbled beneath his hooves. The sun baked his dark pelt, warming him with its rays and causing a thin sheen of sweat to appear on his flank, but Keirin remained unhurried.
When the massive shape of Grandfather Tree loomed in the distance, he steeled himself. Keirin had been granted more time than many. He'd lived a pampered life with parents who provided for his comfort and well being more than they'd shoved the need of their world down his throat. In his own time, they'd said. In his own time, he would do what was best. And after so long of watching others progress while he preened in their lush home, even Keirin knew when it was time.
He approached Grandfather Tree with his head held high. There was no room to be ashamed of himself, anymore.
Posted: Wed Apr 01, 2020 5:39 pm
Though no breeze passes through, Grandfather Tree's leaves rustle as Keirin approaches.
Choose one of the following prompts for Keirin's dream vision.
Quote:
You find yourself deep inside one of the habitation units in the Ruins. There is an awful stench in the air coming from racks of food left here to molder. Rotten or not, these things contain nutrients... but they're also an alien substance from the Others. What do you do?
Quote:
Newly revived seeds have been planted in Homewood and started to sprout. A powerful Vivify noul has resurrected a new species that eats the new plants almost exclusively. How do you deal with this conundrum?
Quote:
You are in the ruins of Erli. Smoke billows out of one of the laboratories. You hear a cry of fear. What do you do?
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Indigo_Plateau
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Posted: Thu Apr 02, 2020 3:55 pm
ll Grandfather Tree ll
You are in the ruins of Erli. Smoke billows out of one of the laboratories. You hear a cry of fear. What do you do?
Keirin knelt to a swatch of flat ground untouched by the reaching tendrils of Granfather Tree's roots. He curled all four limbs beneath himself and closed his eyes.
It was a strangled cry that caused his lashes to jolt open. His ears pinned, and his gaze swiveled in the direction of the sound. It was with a wash of dread that he realized he wasn't in the Barrens, anymore. The area was unfamiliar, but he knew it by description well enough to recognize the Ruins of Erli. This was where the Others had laid their claim. Their homes and their laboratories crowded the streets, reaching up into the sky as tall as any of Homewood's trees.
Keirin swallowed as he rose to his hooves, fearful gaze darting about. His head lowered as it took his first step toward the sound, and waves of his mane spilled over his shoulder to shroud one of his eyes. For a moment, he allowed himself to believe that it was just his imagination in the moment of waking that had conjured the cry.
It came again, shriller ever than the first.
Knowing that regardless of his reservations, he couldn't leave anything out here to suffer, Keirin set off briskly toward the cry. "Hello?" He called. "If someone can hear me, please answer!" His own voice echoed through the surroundings streets, bouncing off the towering buildings and rattling the glass in the windowpanes.
A whine slipped out of him at the unwelcoming sounds of the Ruins, but they were dwarfed by an answer. "Yes, hello! Hello! Please! Does someone hear me? Hello!"
A cloud of dust and debris hung in a plume over one of the buildings, and Keirin had a sickening fear that he was headed straight for it. "I can hear you," he answered, trying to keep his voice level while still being loud enough to reach whatever was calling him. He ducked into one of the gaps in the building's walls and began to sniff about.
"Here! I'm over here!" Came the cry.
Keirin moved at once toward the sound, and it led him up a shallow staircase. Mostly. It was most of a staircase, surrounded by most of a wall, but whatever had been used in this building's construction seemed thin here, and the seasons on Vykeli must have degraded it to the strength of wet leaves. The staircase had sloughed to the side, taking a chunk of wall with it and plummeting the mass into the center of the building's depths. Keirin peered over the edge into a pit of jutting metal beams and frayed wires. His heart thundered. "Are you injured?"
A pair of eyes peered up at him, and Keirin recognized the dark shape of another noul. "Scratched, I think," came the answer. "But f-fine... Fine, otherwise. I can't jump out! It's too tall! These beams are in the way! I'm trapped here! I'll be trapped forever!"
"No, no, no," Keirin replied, a flurried mantra when he didn't know how else to respond, even when his emerald gaze was blown wide in panic. "I-I'll look for someone. For something..."
"Don't leave!"
A terse sound escaped him. What was he do to from here, when there were no others around. He didn't possess the strength to lift another noul, and even if he did, what would he use? If he couldn't leave to find aid... "You have to find a way up, then," he encouraged. "If I can't look for someone to help me, you'll have to maneuver up without any help. I won't leave, but... From up here..." What was he to do?
"It's too far!" The other noul implored again. As if too emphasize, she scrabbled with her hoofs against the wall, bouncing slightly, but not making it very far. "I've tried gathering everything I could to make the jump shorter, but it's not working..."
She'd gathered what she could? Keirin peered down into the darkness. Not much had made it through the barricade the of the walls into this inner pit, but maybe there was no reason more couldn't be added. Keirin spun where he stood, braced his front hooves as best he could on the staggered stairway and kicked his back legs out hard toward the edges of the opening.
A gasp and shrill squeak accompanied the action, as more debris littered down onto the other noul. "What are you doing?" She demanded hotly.
"Making more," Keirin answered. The edges of the fallen stairway continued to splinter as he kicked, great sheets of drywall unhinging from the wall and sliding down into the cavern beyond. If too little had fallen in at first, he would simply have to make more to build up a pile for her to climb atop of. The Others did build in excess, after all... It was tiresome work, draining his body more and more with each blow, even as he began to shake with exertion until the sounds of scrabbling reached him.
"That's enough!" Came the doe's excited call. "I can make it! It's enough!" And she did. Her head peered through the opening after a matter of seconds, and with a mighty leap, she kicked forward and onto the stairwell. His reward was a press of her head to his neck, and Keirin's face heated with embarrassment at the action.
Posted: Thu Apr 02, 2020 11:24 pm
Grandfather tree's roots settle and a soft red light swirls around Keirin, warm to the touch and smells faintly of comfort.
Keirin has been bestowed with the Vivify gift.
His initial ability is Soothe.
The user numbs the pain felt by another creature; +1 vivify healing to an area.
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ll Grandfather Tree ll generated a random number between
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53!
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