A Lesson in Conductivity - A Pinkerlocke Challenge

[Ana]

Mannn that suxs.....My suggestion: double blindness and a broken wing because Kelpie caught him trying to discipline Iele again?

[Varethyn]

Day 58


“Anthie?”

A long, white tail lashed irritably at the sound of the hatchling's voice. “Yes my child?” the skydancer ground out, clearly frustrated beneath a very thin veil of friendliness. He didn't need to sense for Kelpie's emotions to know that the two eyes deep as the ocean itself bore into him from behind. After the way she'd reacted mere days past it was imperative that the skydancer watched his actions around Iele. That didn't stop him from flinching every time she used that Stormcatcher-damned nickname.

“Anthie when is Rai coming back?”

Antheraea bristled. “How am I supposed to-” He cut himself off, twisting his long, thin neck to check the guardian. Still staring levelly at him. No sign of pouncing or dousing him with water. Phew. Wait. He couldn't be completely sure but for a moment he could swear there had been a flicker of amusement in those blue eyes of hers, as if she was enjoying watching him trip over himself in attempt to appease her. Antheraea frowned. That was not how the imperial had described her on their flight to the campsite. She was supposed to be bubbly, bouncy, mind partially elsewhere and never truly focused unless Iele was involved. Yet here she was cool, silent and observant. Then again she -did- wake to seeing him trying to make her daughter swallow poison. That could have some merit to it.

“I'm afraid I don't know.” Antheraea managed to amend, making the final adjustments to a bone-and-feather charm for Kelpie to wear in order to ward off further ailments. He had to say, he was impressed. It wasn't easy finding bird skulls this big intact or feathers of such lustrous sheen. The golden quills almost shone in the morning light as he held it up for inspection. A difficult task as it turned out, seeing how it needed to be large enough to hang from a neck thicker than the average tree-trunk. Glass beads clattered against bone at the movement, casting rainbow specks on the grass. Yes, yes this would do.

From her place by the river, laying on her back and pawing at a butterfly that had gotten too bold for its own good, Iele shouted, “But you were talking with him before he left.” Deciding she was bored she rolled over onto her feet, the butterfly free to make its escape from the inquisitive paws. “Didn't he say anything?”

While she was talking Antheraea had taken the slightly more dangerous task of clambering atop Kelpie, balancing between her broad shoulders as he carefully pulled the birdskull necklace around her neck. Tying it tightly and testing its strength he then flitted gracefully to the ground to join the mirror, his pair of light-blue eyes fixing onto the bigger of her two. “He did not, child.” His voice was strained by the effort of sounding cheerful. Thankfully Kelpie was at least oblivious enough to not realise that he was acting. “And I did not ask.”

“Oh.” came the disheartened reply. Everything about the mirror seemed to wilt as she sat herself down on the grass, wrapping her tail around her forelegs. It had been so lonely since Yue and Rai left. At least she'd had their voices to listen to while they were around even if they didn't want to play with her like mother did. But why did they leave? And why did only Raijin come back? And with the creepy skydancer? She didn't like him and he didn't seem to like her either. She was still wondering what she'd done to make him not like her. Even hunting didn't help their relationship. Then again Mr. Cranky didn't eat meat or fish like she did.

To occupy herself Iele had spent most of her time awake hunting for the three of them. Hard work when one of them was five times the size of the others. But it was something to do while they waited for mother to get better. And hey she'd gotten so much stronger too! All that running to find prey, the pounce, the kill and the return. Mother ate most of it, which thrilled the adolescent dragon because that meant she was getting better at last! Anthie stole all of the plants and insects for himself and took them to the opposite side of the camp to the girls. Iele was sure he wasn't eating it all though. Those stalks poking out of the pouch looked fresh. Did something move at the bottom? And she was sure she'd seen bug wings caught in the breeze each time he went to “eat”. Maybe that's what “bush wizards” did?

Iele huffed to herself, wishing Raijin and Yue would hurry up already. It was getting close to time to go hunting again. She hated that she had to be alone even if it gave her something to do.

It was a relatively successful hunt overall despite the loneliness. Up until she made her return journey Iele's luck hadn't held out too well, only managing to score a red squirrel, a couple of opal strikers and a pair of ferrets. Enough for herself, not nearly enough for mother. Until, that is, she heard a commotion at the river. Dropping her spoils in the long grass the slate-coloured mirror flopped to the ground and belly-crawled into the reeds to see what was going on. Between the thin stalks she saw three swans fighting. Rather two of them were fighting off the third, which appeared smaller than the others. Parents trying to discourage last year's signet from staying with them perhaps.

Hunkered down in her spot Iele watched them fight a little longer before starting to turn away and retrieve the meat she'd dropped, discouraged from making any attempt to make use of the fight; the birds would make for good eating but they were far too strong to tangle with. One slap with one of those wings could send her flying. At that point a loud splashing, a resentful honk and the flap of powerful wings made her turn around again. The younger bird had finally taken the hint and backed off. Though not without a memento of the clash. Feathers were bent, its neck bleeding where a parent had bitten it with a strong beak and it seemed dazed. Perhaps beaten over the head with a wing. Upstream the parents were huddled together, slowly swimming away. This was her chance! Slinking slowly through the reeds the mirrorling came level with the young swan. It was too close to the bank, possibly seeking its comfort through the concussion. Bad move. Iele jumped, jaws wide. Wings flapped, water splashed. A strangled honking sound found a way up the constricted throat. Then it fell still. Panting heavily and soaking wet Iele clambered out of the river, shook herself in a cat-like manner then reached down to drag the big bird's limp body onto the bank, across the grass to the rest of the catch. There she revelled in her skill as she caught her breath before loading the smaller bodies on top of her own and the swan's. Then she made her way back to camp.

It was a massive surprise when a large blue shape almost as long as she was descended upon her mere moments after crossing the invisible line that marked their small territory. The mirror squawked in shock, shedding the kills and dashing a distance away from the supposed attacker, turning back to see a dragon not unlike Raijin – an imperial? - except with markings like Yue and Antheraea.



It squeaked happily through a mouthful of meat and feathers, stubby antlers waving as it relished the meal. Iele's heart sank. That was for mother! A roll of thunder shook the ground. No, not thunder. She twisted her neck around warily, only for her pointed face to split into a wide, toothy grin. Raijin! Raijin was back! Yay!

“Rai! Rai! Welcome back!” the young mirror squealed as she ran over to the crystalline imperial, who lowered his great head to nuzzle her.

“Thanks kid.” he replied softly. Softly? Iele pulled away to gaze up at him. His eyes looked tired, like he hadn't slept since he left. He seemed... older too? Iele cocked her head, confused.

“Rai, what happened?” The smaller, grey dragon glanced around, trying to locate the other missing dragon. “Where'd you go? And where's Yue?”

Raijin balked, shooting a glare at Antheraea. The skydancer did not acknowledge him, too caught up in whatever it was he was doing. It was hard to tell as he had his butterfly-like wings spread, obscuring his actions. “He didn't tell you?” the teal dragon asked, bringing his head down so that only Iele could hear him.

The mirror gave him another confused look. “Tell me what?” It was the truth. Anthie hadn't said anything to her or mother after Rai left. Nothing beyond the small talk made in the days passed anyway. “I thought she was with you.”

Raijin grimaced as if he'd been stabbed in the chest. Was that water in his eye? He blinked rapidly, dissipating it. A breath caught in his throat, making his sinuous body shudder. “I'll...” Another breath. “I'll tell you later, yeah?” He forced a smile at the mirror, who tried to smile back through the disappointment.

“'Kay.” she replied, feeling left out. Oh right! “Rai, who is that?” A grey paw lifted to gesture at the small imperial devouring her hard work. “They're eating all the meat!”

That made him chuckle, in turn making her feel even more put-out. What the hecky was going on? “That would be Zhen. She's... my daughter. One of them anyway.” Here he motioned towards another, darker dragon that could have been mistaken for Yue in miniature except her wings were much bluer. The small pearlcatcher was currently sitting on her haunches, stretching her neck out to try and touch noses with Kelpie. The guardian made a game of it, hanging her head barely out of reach of touching distance and pulling slightly away each time the little one got closer. “And that is her sister, Hoshi.” Rai finished, his voiced filled with both pain and pride. Suddenly he got up. “Hey now Zhen, slow down! You'll make yourself sick!” The imperial passed by Iele to pull the squirming miniperial away from the food. She watched him go, then snapped back to look at Hoshi as an indignant squeak reached her ears. The pearlcatcher had leaned out so much and Kelpie moving so far back that she'd fallen over in a mess of tangled wings and too-long limbs.



Thoroughly overwhelmed and completely confused Iele sat heavily on the grass, wide eyes jumping from mother and the dark-skinned pearlcatcher, to Anthie still doing whatever he was doing, to Raijin and Zhen tussling at the meat pile. And where was Yue? Why wasn't anyone telling her anything? It was too much. She let out a wail of despair, collapsing onto the ground and sobbing loudly.

Mother to the rescue. The jade-coloured guardian hefted herself from her place for the first time in almost a month, padding over to tower above the distraught mirror. “Iele? Iele what's wrong?” Iele lifted her head to find herself being booped on the snout by mother's own. Mother smiled at her. Iele smiled back, getting up and latching herself onto the broad, green head in the best attempt she could make to hug her.

Iele's reply fell out in a jumble, mixed with tears and sniffles. “I was so scared for you but now I'm happy because you're okay and Raijin's back but Yue's still missing and who are those other dragons they're eating all the food I caught for you and no one will tell me anything!” She rested her bony head against mother's nose, letting the tears run freely from all four eyes. “I want to know!” she wailed into the green scales.

A long, thin tongue poked out, running up Iele's belly, neck, face. Kelpie pulled back momentarily then moved back to carefully nuzzle her Charge. “In time.” That was all she said. That was all she needed to say. Iele calmed down quickly from the attention, closing all of her eyes to enjoy the company. Oh how she'd missed this. “Come, let's get some food before it's all gone.”

“Yeah!”

Together the pair lumbered and bounded respectively over to the pile of assorted animals the mirror had been able to catch. One of the snakes was gone already and greyish feathers littered the floor where Zhen had tried, and failed, to get at the swan's flesh. Raijin was in the process of showing her how to pluck them off, backing up when Kelpie came over. She needed that far more than he or his children did right now.

“Da-ad that big dragon is eating my bird!” Zhen complained, struggling against her father's grip. He had her pinned between his forearm and chest to stop her from inhaling all of the food.

The bigger imperial let out a throaty chuckle, pulling her tighter against himself. “Yes she is. She's not been well and needs to eat more than we do. Besides, didn't you have a zeeba haunch not long ago?”

Zhen squirmed, trying and failing to pull herself free. “But I'm still hung'y!” she keened miserably.

“Well you're just going to have to wait aren't you?” Rai teased her, swinging his long neck around to find his other daughter. Seeing her close he used his tail to pull Hoshi over, finally relaxing his grip on Zhen to use the paw to bring her sister over. Then quickly using his free paw to press the imperial girl's tail onto the floor as she made her escape, to which she squeaked indignantly. “Come on girls we had a good meal before we set out. It's rude to eat someone else's food without permission.”

“But da-ad!”

“No buts.”

Zhen sulked. Hoshi, being the totally more behaved sister, say patiently at her father's side and watched the others tucking in. The big bird didn't seem to be more than a snack for the big green dragon and the small, grey one slurped up the other snake like a noodle. Okay it wasn't because she was better behaved. It was because she'd fought Zhen for the zeeba haunch, won somehow only to find that she hated the taste. It had taken a good while for dad to explain that they were different species and that one could eat meat but the other couldn't. Hoshi was jealous then when her big sister was able to gobble up everything while she could only have bugs and flowers. They got by though. Somehow.

“You did a good job getting all of this.” Raijin remarked as the older girls ate.

“F'nks!” Iele replied gleefully through a mouthful of squirrel, gulped it down, grinned toothily at the imperial. The gesture would've been less gruesome had her mouth not been covered in blood and her teeth not stuck with meat. Rai laughed all the same, winking at her. They both knew where those skills had come from. He then turned to Kelpie.

“It's good to finally see you on your feet again, Kelp.”

The guardian smiled widely. “Good to be back.” she replied jovially, though clearly not quite back to her usual, bouncy self. “Yue and Antheraea did a good job...” she trailed off, shooting the white skydancer in question a wary look.

Raijin followed her example to see the bird-like dragon still mulling over whatever he had in his paws. Truthfully he'd forgotten about him. “Hey you, won't you join us?” he offered, patting a free patch between the throng of wings and tails.

“No thanks.” came the half-hearted reply. Something squeaked, like cork against glass. He was making potions again, Rai guessed as he turned back to the others.

“I don't like him.” Kelpie hissed as soon as the male's head came level with hers.

Raijin blinked at the abruptness of the comment. Then sobered as he made his own. “I don't either.” he stated, voice low. “I had no choice but to bring him here. You needed help and Iele needed someone to take care of her while I... well.” He let his eyes fall to the two hatchlings at his feet, now engaged in a session of play-fighting. Zhen had stolen Hoshi's pearl again and what started out as keep-away had turned into something more physical.

“He almost made Iele drink something. I didn't like the smell of it.” Kelpie continued, voice alarmingly loud though thankfully not enough to carry to the skydancer's ears. “I don't trust him with her.”

“I'll watch him.” Raijin promised. “Assuming he stays that is. I only wanted him here while I was gone.”

Kelpie nodded in reluctant agreement. That pale chicken was not to be with her daughter unattended at any time. Black horns brushed against low-hanging branches as the rippled head turned this way and that, looking for something. “Rai? Where is-?”

Another stab of pain. The serpentine dragon's ears drooped as he looked away. “I'll... tell you later. All of you.”

“All?” Kelpie echoed. Rai nodded towards the three younglings. “...Ah.”

“For now,” he continued, standing up and stretching his long body and wings, “let's enjoy being back together, hey?”

“Yeah!”

The rest of the evening was spent catching up with most everything, leaving out only the one fact that was promised explanation at a later time. Granted that left little for Raijin to say, since the appearance of Hoshi and Zhen was tied to Yue's disappearance. Instead he told Kelpie and Iele what it was like watching eggs hatch, the feeling of joy and hope to see new life break free of those shells. Kelpie agreed fervently, having had those same elated feelings when Iele hatched, proceeding to embarrass the little mirror with tales of her first days. After that Iele chattered about how lonely it had been with everyone gone and Kelpie deep asleep, then how much stronger she'd gotten thanks to Rai's lessons and the things she'd been able to catch because of it.

They all laughed, continuing to chat until the demands of the youngest members became too much and more food had to be found. The task becoming easier now that Raijin was back, he and Iele dipped into the forest and river to gather as much as they could carry. Iele focused on the meat and fish as she was used to and Rai picked the insects and edible plants. And some inedible ones as payment to Antheraea. They all slept well that night with full bellies, for the first time in a long time in the case of Iele and Kelpie.

All except Antheraea who stayed up, fiddling with something again. Something smooth glinting in the rising moonlight. Round and smooth and clear. Liquid bubbled and the clearness was replaced with a sickening yellow-brown. It was lifted into the pale light, where the skydancer studied it. A grin split his beak-like muzzle. The bottle was stoppered tightly and placed in his pouch, which he drew tightly. Only then did he join the others.

[Varethyn]

Day 59


Tarn was ever so kind in gifting me "a new healer just in case" This is Balto and I'm imagining he'll be the sanest of the group. Or not. We'll find out

[Ana]

Hehe im soo clueless when it comes to pinkerlocke rules..fell free to rename him...i just gave him a random name so he could get a few lvls

[Varethyn]

(Yesterday post.)
Day 60

-Pending-

[Varethyn]

Day 61

Got Anthie and Iele again along with Hoshi. Welp incoming Anthie critical injury number-

...Oh. Oh.

Cheated a little and finished the round cos gosh darnit no one is getting experience if this keeps happening. Anthie is level 9 and Hoshi 7.

[Ana]

Hmm photos not working.. try imgur.. i never have problem with that!

[Varethyn]

Strange. I know Photobucket's been a bit weird the last while but everything's showing up fine for me.



Needless to say this could stir up some serious RP stuff. Poor Kelpie.

Separate note: Are all pictures affected or just the latest post? And is it happening to everyone?

[Ana]

Day 60 & 61 not working for me . Both mobile and normal computer cant see the pictures. I can see the last update though...



Noo Iele.... thats soo sad :'(

[Varethyn]

Day 62

I got Balto and Anthie together this time along with Raijin. Since I had 2 casters I played it safe by going to the Scorched Forest. Maybe too safe - turned out they survived well enough to do an extra 5 rounds than necessary to get Balto to level 7 (he came at level 5). I forgot to screenshot it but I also got a centaur archer familiar drop.

I also figured out why the pictures broke. I moved everything into separate albums and apparently their links then change in doing so. Bah. Why some survived while others didn't is a mystery. I'll go back and fix everything over the weekend. The previous 3 days have already been sorted.

Lastly, even though she's not yet dead in the RP Iele is up for adoption. She's an unbred gen1, level 11 statted for strength and has eliminate, 2 charged might fragments and an ambush.

[Varethyn]

Just letting you guys know that I haven't forgotten or given up with this. The last few weeks have caught up heavily with me so all I can think about is coursework and sleep. The fact that the last three days gave me materials with so much pending RP already really doesn't help. Not sure what I'm going to do with those 3 days, I'm tempted to put the whole Pinkerlocke on hold until I feel up to continuing it. At the same time I got some apparel today meaning either a breeding or a new gene for someone but I don't want to put it into effect until I know what I'm doing with the story.

Also Iele is still up for adoption for anyone interested. Details in a previous post. I forgot to mention she has the gif I made for her in her bio too.

Sorry for making you guys wait again.

[Varethyn]

Small update. As you guys probably guessed I decided to take a brief hiatus after all. The course itself was a lot more laid-back and enjoyable than I'd expected but travelling 2 hours to and from EACH was extremely tiring, plus the amount of information I'd taken in each day made it hard to think. Thankfully it is now over. There will be a couple random days to tidy up loose ends but otherwise I'll finally be able to get this back on track. You'll all be pleased to know that RP is in progress! I'll let you know when the previously pending posts (yay alliteration) have been edited. I've also gone ahead and updated the first post with links to each post for ease of finding them and cleaned up the 2nd post at the same time. I think I need a different gravestone design that I can put the dragons' names in them to save space - if you find a good one please show me Lastly all images should be working again. Let me know if I missed anything!

No new posts until I've caught up with the RP. And as mentioned before there is a -lot- of RP to catch up with Hope you all look forward to it

[Ana]

Yay looking rorward to the story to continue...though need sheets to dry me eyes on when i read the Iele rp death part... so sad that she died :'(

[Varethyn]

I'm afraid I'm going to instate one more new rule regarding gift dragons. It pains me since it was in good faith but I feel that Balto was specifically sought out in case Antheraea dies. I could be wrong and I apologise for this, however it was brought to my attention that he is far too similar to be completely comfortable in that they are both skyancers with the exact same genes. I'm making Balto an exception this time since I do very much appreciate the effort in getting him for me and I have some ideas for him already. Please though don't go out and buy dragons meant to replace current dragons. It takes away from the challenge and creates complications in the RP.

The new rule:
Gift dragons are accepted and at any time but must wait for a familiar to drop before they can join in the challenge. (They'll be treated as permas until then.)
Gift dragons MUST be from the gifter's own lair. DO NOT go out and buy dragons purely for gifting as it takes away from the rules. (This can be an old dragon you've had for a long time but have grown bored with, a dragon you'd used for breeding fodder, mistakes, impulse-buys, newborn hatchlings etc. Extra credit for any RP they come with!)
(Bonus: Use a randomiser to determine which dragon to gift.)
DO NOT send a dragon that looks like or shares a combo (genes, colours or both) with a current or previous dragons as it essentially creates clones.
DO NOT send specific dragons to fill in vital roles (eg healer) as it takes away from the challenge.
Don't feel forced to gift dragons. If you have plans or love them, keep them!

This was not made to target or upset anyone. I truly appreciate that you guys are enjoying the challenge so far and are willing to do these things for me

[Ana]

100 % understandeable and loads og s to you. I have no attatchment to Balto so feel free to send him off to exalt

[Varethyn]

I'll be holding onto Balto anyway as he's already been part of the coli team and as I said I have some ideas for his personality I just wanted to avoid too-similar perfect-timing dragons for comfort and challenge. Once again not to call you out on doing what you did Tarn it's more future-proofing than anything else. Thank you again for getting him for me

[Varethyn]

Day 58 has been updated.

[Ana]

Uhh plotting sky chicken!! That was an awesome read!!