The moon

[Random Event]

A bright orange moon hangs over Stratos, illuminating the wisps of clouds in fiery shades. The starlight feels muted tonight, giving this moon a chance to burn brightly with no distractions. Shadows seem longer too, especially up here in Stratos where they rarely appear at all. The edges of cloud that are not alight are deeply shaded and strangely shaped. Even for the Stratosians who would have called this place home, there is something different about how the moonlight is behaving here tonight.

As though there are secrets to be discovered in the shadows.



Happy Spooky Season!
- this drop is open to the first two characters to reply (only one per player)
- gifts will be randomized but autumn-themed
- if you miss out, don't worry! There will be one more drop on Halloween
- if there is still an open spot, players that had entered into the previous drops may do so again on Thurs Oct 30

[Sabrael]

He has many of his own secrets he would have carved from his bones if he could.

The Beast grumbles within him, as if reading his thoughts and where they stray. As if it could be possible to cleave him from the soul they both share. 

He knows it is a fool’s errand, following his thoughts like a winding trail through time itself, but it is a quest he finds himself on far too often.

Like tonight, as the moon hangs swollen and orange on the horizon, catching his attention despite his overworked mind. She’s a pretty thing, at least, he appreciates. Sabrael has never been here before. Stratos. One of the newfangled places that came after he left. One of the places that is so different that he cannot compare it to the places of his heart. He cannot see any semblance of familiarity to stop him cold. 

Or to keep that head spinning, as it often does.

No, the shadows here are better suited to him, even in their alienness. Here there is mystery and intrigue to pull his attention from where else it might wander. 

Maybe he will stay here for the night and follow the darkness to its edge. Maybe he will instead light his fire and reveal what it has hidden. The Beast stirs again, flutters within his breast at the proposition. It’s been so long since he has been freed, after all. And he is so very hungry for his freedom. So hungry to stretch out those wings and rain destruction and chaos upon whatever might be below him. Whomever, might be below him.

Yes, he might enjoy it, even.

[Chel]

c h e l Chel hadn’t been built for stillness. Her earliest memories were vanishing into the canopy of the trees only to reappear with leaves tangled in her hair and covered in scratches from whatever adventure she’d cooked up. From the early days Chel spent little time in her natural form - preferring jungle cats or tropical birds that gave the illusion of freedom.  But today she wears her natural skin even though the edges always seems to blur when she forgets herself. If you were to look closely you may find a patch of leopard spots near a hock or downy parrot feathers at the base of her neck. She’d been surprised, upon returning to Beqanna, to find that things had changed. Or at least changed in ways she hadn’t imagined were possible. The appearance of strange new lands may have just been enough to keep her within the borders if this place had she known. At the thought, something like regret rolls through her, but she quickly buries the thought.  She’d been every bit a child when the wilds had called and she felt compelled to answer.  She couldn’t bring herself to regret the years spent in places far beyond. But there had been something deep down that had called her back here. Something that had made her give up her pursuit of the horizon and come back. Come home. Maybe she’d make sense of it one day.  But not today. Today she just wanted to refamiliarize herself with what she’d left behind.  That’s what drew her to this strange, cloudy kingdom. She’d left Atzi behind in the forest.  The little ocelot always lurking in her shadow had no qualms about heights when it came to trees, but she drew the line at flight even though she knew Chel would never let her fall. She squinted up at the moon as its light poured across the strange clouds. Clouds that looked like they had grown into glowing, molten shapes. Things here were strange. The shadows didn’t behave as they should. They twisted and stretched, folding into shapes that left her unsettled.  It seems she’s not the only one investigating this strange world. ”Is this normal for this place?” she asks, to the stranger - to the strange world itself.  And she wonders, for a moment, just what it is she’s stumbled upon.

[Random Event]

The strange shadows created by the lush, vivid moon begin to react noticeably to the two strangers that arrive. Both fire-bright light and hungry shadow twist around the mare and the stallion. Blurring the lines of where they should both exist, where reality dictates the illumination of the moon should fall and where it should not. It all becomes muddled, turning Stratos briefly into its own mirror world.

Tighter and tighter the contrasting light squeezes until it presses in around them. Both the shadows and the moonlight are somehow solid, enough to be felt against their skin, and they squeeze in just tight enough to be felt before immediately dissipating.

Light falls where light should and the shadows are no longer menacing and alive. But these the mare and stallion both have still changed.


Congratulations!
@Sabrael has received Shadow Creature
@Chel has received Trickery

These traits are genetic unless requested otherwise (due to spacing or whatnot)
You may transfer these traits to another character with an IC post. Please post in updates with a link to this drop or the transfer post with what character you’d like them to apply to.

Thank you for replying and happy spooky season!