Alabaster

-INFO-

Help her fill her journal!

Leaving Date: 18/1/2017

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Alabaster still couldn't believe what was happening. Wow was the only word she had in mind. After many months of pleading and begging, her Clan Leader has finally (and reluctantly) gave permission to let her explore the other lands of Sornieth. Excited wasn't enough to describe what she felt as of now. She was thrilled to finally be able to sate her hunger of yearning and wanting to explore the lands beyond the Ashfall Waste. And now, she was finally given that opportunity.

Alabaster always wanted to be a Coliseum Fighter. She looked up to the Coliseum fighters of the Clan - namely Runestone and Scimitar. She read countless books about the Coliseum and she loved every single moment of it. She longed to feel the thrill of the Coliseum - to feel the wind blowing in her face, to see the beauty of the environment, to feel.. the thrill of the hunt. But when it came to actually being in the Coliseum, she just.. couldn't. Couldn't bring herself to harm the opponent, no matter how dangerous or evil they were. Couldn't bring herself to deliver the striking blow to finish them off. Couldn't bring herself to fight. Life was ironic, was it not? She'd always longed to become a Coliseum Fighter, but her nature wouldn't let her to. She couldn't, no matter how hard she tried.

Alabaster was casually tending to the dead land of the Ashfall Waste, when Runestone approached her. She was surprised; Usually, it was her whom approached the Coliseum Fighters and tried to learn their ways - not the other way around. Runestone grinned at her, showing his razor-sharp teeth. She tried her best not to shrink away. He started: ''Y'know.. y'a don't need to be a Fighter to be in the Coli.'' When Alabaster stayed silent, he continued. ''There are a few types. 'One type kills all before the opponent can retaliate.'' Alabaster flinched when he said the word 'kill'. Runestone sighed and continued. ''Ah, sorry. Forgot that. Anyway.. there's this 'other type, that I think 'ya would like.'' Alabaster had stayed silent until now. She looked at the older dragon, astonished. ''Huh? What other type? I'm sure that I've read nearly all of the Coliseum books that were published.. I've never heard of another type aside from the one you've said earlier.''

Runestone sighed, this time more evidently than the last. ''Most 'of those books 'r biased. Most only care for the huge-hitters -- the ones that can Eliminate all during a short period of time.''But;'' and his eyes sparkled. ''-there's this other type that we could really use. Have you ever heard of a Mage?'' Alabaster blinked in surprise, and then shook her head. ''No, I've never heard of that. What is it?''

''Well. It's this type of dragon built for healing and generally aiding others in battle, but still be able to hold their own against other opponents.'' His eyes twinkled. ''Seeing that you've always wanted to feel the thrill of the 'Coli - and 'ya aren't a fan of hurting others -'' Almost immediately after the sentence was uttered, Runestone coughed at the end - leaving the last sentence a little muffled. But Alabaster could make his words out. I can relate to that.

Finally. She felt a mixture of emotions - gratitude that the older Dragon has noticed her and recommended a Coli ''occupation'' for her, and that she wasn't alone in the no-no to killing thing that she felt a lump in her throat. She quickly swallowed and coughed awkwardly.

The older dragon seemed like that he didn't know what to do, because he awkwardly coughed a few times and faced Alabaster. ''Uh.. so yeah. If 'ya ever want 'ta try the Coli out.. you're welcome to, anytime.''

Alabaster was conflicted. On one hand, she'd love to fight in the Coliseum - heck, her whole life was building up to this moment! But on the other hand, she had to go. She had to explore the lands. If she turned down the Clan Leader's offer, she doubted that there would be another opportunity for her.

In that split second, she made a decision.

''Runestone - I-I can't tell you how grateful I am - I honestly can't.'' Runestone looked a little uncomfortable after this statement, so Alabaster figured that he wasn't a big fan of the mushy-stuff. She quickly rushed on. ''But I can't. The Clan Leader's offered me an opportunity to explore the lands of Sornieth -- to find out about the life of the other Flights. I-if I turn down an opportunity like that, I'd doubt I'll find another.''

''But.'' She continued. ''But I've wanted- longed to be in the Coliseum for my whole life. Could you please send me some non-biased books about the Mage build, and perhaps send me a few stones?'' She ended sheepishly.

Runestone grinned again, showing his teeth - but this time, it seemed more friendly than the first time he did it - or maybe it was just her.''Sure. Will do.''

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Alabaster had to do it. She couldn’t have gone by without doing it.

As usual, her Coliseum team was grinding in the Scorched Forest, defeating all the enemies and gathering their stuff when they got defeated. (She couldn't use the word 'kill'). She didn't even have to do much - providing an occasional heal when necessary, and basically just watching her team defeat the opponents and helping them in gathering the enemy's stuff. All was going well. Too well.

Suddenly, a large herd of Centaurs approached. It shouldn't have been hard for her teammates to finish them off - but alas, the Centuares skills were too good. Whilst her team had amazing attack speed and power, they were lacking the health to make up for the occasional damage they took. And they couldn't control the other opponent's skills.

One after another, the Centuars swiftly dodged their repetitive attacks, until they sadly realised that they could attack no more. One after another, Alabaster could only watch in horror as they fell to the Centuars, attacked by the countless merciless horsemen with an array of weapons. As one of the Centuars posed a strike for the final blow, Alabaster wanted to scream.. but her instincts reacted first.

With a quick swing of her staff, she watched the Fireball conjure upon her hand. She watched as the Centuars looked at her, terror finally appearing on their face as they realised what was about to happen, too late. She watched herself as she, against her own will, aimed and threw the ball into the crowd, setting alight the deadbushes and hearing the scampers and whinnies of the Centuars as they tried to get away from the flames. Alabaster ran away from the scene of dust and death, trusting and hoping that the Centuars would not bother killing her teammates when their own lives were on the line. When she got back onto the scene and the dust cleared, she saw a figure lying on the ground. Her teammates were standing beside it, pity shrouding their faces. She was dreading what it was, she didn't- couldn't be able to find out what it was. She wouldn't be able to take it. But her body was refusing her commands, taking steps forward against her will.

Please, be it not.. Please..

Fear finally dawned on her face when she realised what it was.

A dead Centuar.

She killed.

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Dreams like memories plagued her, all too vivid in their recollection. Over the next month, the mage became more withdrawn, silent and introvert, often found sitting in the outside of the clan, staring at the clouds.

The others worried for her, but as she was only a visitor to them, they didn't dare approach, and she didn't seek them out. What was there to say? What could they offer her that she didn't already know?

It had been self defense. She'd saved the others' lives, her own life... but she didn't feel like a hero. The celebration they'd tried to throw for her the day after they had recovered, she'd fled from, leaving them to their music and food while she, alone, set to climb a nearby mountain and watch the stillness.

How could she have ever considered the Coliseum to be a place of heroism and thrill? She had killed a sentient being - perhaps not a dragon, but that hardly mattered. And she had to wonder, why was this any different from what society would label as murder? Why was she celebrated like a hero, when others ended up exiled or behind bars for committing the same act? She'd lost control! There was nothing heroic about it!

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When she came to the fierce plague clan she realized that these dragons didnt really know what to do with a mage she hoped she could heal somewhat but it seemed that juniper was the main healer and even then juniper hit hard Alabaster didnt know what to make of this clan they seemed to love defeating every enemy they called beastclans but they called it the one word she despised she had hoped never to come back here but decided to give the clan a try

That was horrible she almost lost but she got a lot of experience she then learned of kuyutha who could help her but she was scared to go back there. She learned that it wasnt normally super bad but they had no experience training a mage before.

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At a wind clan she found another Bognseak lady, similar in age and set of genes, similar in mindset, who also traveled around Sornieth. The two decided to keep each other company on their travels to come.

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Alabaster found herself in yet another Wind-clan known as Tempest Peak. The dragons she met here were all quite friendly. A large guardian named Tigerstripe, wise as his years saw the guilt and turmoil in the young bogsneak and approached her.
They spoke of her small level, and the kill she had made, the psychological torment she'd cast herself into in her goal to become a fighter, and Tigerstripe nodded, understanding she was a gentle soul.
"Unfortunately there are no ways around it sometimes. Dragons kill other dragons and dragons kill beasts to devour or simply to survive or protect. What you need to do is find where you stand." He looked over to the young dragon, "Learning to fight properly is a valuable skill that will keep you alive. I have fought many battles and earned many scars, yet I don't fight or kill for pleasure, but to protect."
"Protect?"
"Yes. I protected the clanfounder of this land from an aggressive usurper who had killed her mate and attempted to kill her for the beautiful land you see here. I protected my children from the beasts and any dragon who had wished to harm them. I hunt beasts so they and the other hatchlings of the den can eat. I kill to protect, not for sport or fun, but out of necessity. I fight for my clan to keep visitors and clan-members alike, safe from monsters in dragon skin that may sneak in and make our home unsafe. What do you fight for?"

Alabaster thought about that statement, what does she fight for? She'd wanted the thrill of the coliseum, but she couldn't bring herself to harm and felt awful about killing...but you could fight, kill, to protect?
"You know," Tigerstripe spoke, his deep voice rousing her from her thoughts, "Whatever you choose, you really shouldn't be wandering Sornieth alone unless you know how to fight properly. Could get yourself in one of those 'kill-or-be-killed' situations you dread so much."
Alabaster nodded, she'd fought but she was only level 2, what could she do against a dragon of a higher level?
"C-could you train me to be a healer?" She asked
Tigerstripe smiled, "A gentle soul indeed, but that's all in due time. I will train you 5 levels, to 7. I will teach you skill you may need. Even as a healer there are times you may need to fight, but first- you must find your strength. Once you're strong enough healing will come naturally."
Sensing the apprehension of the young dragon and the question nagging at her, he smiled, "Don't worry girl, you need not kill anything. Me and my companion will keep the blood from your claws."

She was welcomed to stay longer in Tempest Peak, but Alabaster learned what she needed to from the wind lair. She needed to find her reasoning to fight, to kill, to make peace with her guilt. She waved a fond farewell to Tigerstripe and the rest of the clan and looked to the future with a smile.

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Before she left the Wind territory, she found a scattering of other dragons. They looked worn and rough. They startled at her shadow.

Something about them drew her. The lifetime of scars over one dragon. The overwhelmed look in their eyes that matched how she still felt about killing that centaur.

She coasted down to them, and they told her their story. They'd faced a harpy attack influenced by a shade-touched traveler. Several members of their clan had been killed, their clan lost. They needed a healer. Badly.

She stayed with them, working on her healing spells. She and several mages in the clan worked to shield them from attacks and nurse them back to health. Little by little, she helped them, but she couldn't help them find a home.

How strange, she thought. Once she would have been thrilled to meet other mages, and she would have relished how much she was learning. But here, the lessons were so dire. She had to learn fast and well, and when anything attacked, she almost didn't have time to think about what she was doing. Thankfully, she and the mages were mostly able to shield the clan, and she never had to kill. Even so, dragons without a lair were so vulnerable. This had to be what Tigerstripe meant.

In the back of her mind, she thought of the centaurs and wondered whether they'd lost their home too when she cast that fire spell.

The night before she left, she talked again to Rogue, the scarred dragon. If anyone would understand, he would.

"We all find our worse natures coming out of us sometimes," Rogue told her, "and especially when we're trying to survive. You can't bring back that centaur with your guilt. You make peace with it, and you learn from it." He chuckled. "Admittedly, I could learn from my own words myself."

There was something comforting about knowing she was not the only one who felt this way. Comforting and sad at the same time.

"You said you were attacked by harpies," Alabaster said, "but I was afraid to ask. What happened?"

"It wasn't their fault," Rogue told her, not quite looking at her. "They were shade-touched, and those that weren't shade-touched were panicked. They didn't know. They didn't do it willingly. But we had no choice but to fight back. It was no one's fault but the Shade's that it happened."

Rogue didn't understand why after he said that, she wept.

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2019-08-03

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Alabaster travelled to the Light lands, where she studied from level 7 to level 10 magistry. After her 3 levels were completed and she relaxed by the Koi Pond, memories of her time at this lair flooded back to her, and she thought back on how different it (and her) had been when she first arrived.
During her time here she had seen the convening of the magisters and their return to the Oculus of the Eleven.
Many hatchlings had been born.
She kept vague track of passing time through the seasons, her lair was a young one when she arrived and was not yet receptive to the Sornieth baseline frequency - so for the first few months of her study Alabaster could focus undistracted on her studies.

Slowly the clan became more and more receptive and aware of a world outside their own lair, from the first trip to the Shadow Gathering where a new clan member hatched, up until their own gathering when Aedilhun had been touched by the Lightweaver, one of the few hatchlings to have even had the chance (being born on the Opening Day of the Elemental festival).
He had since become such an integral and respected member of the clan.

Ever since the excitement at discovering all the events occurring during Greenskeeper's Gathering, the clan monitored the frequencies as closely as the regular daily clan commitments made possible, discovering new frequencies and transmissions most days.
Multiple new messages arrived every day, so many that no single consciousness could absorb the entire frequency at once, but the messages did not always pass and fade, often they lingered, and by the time some were discovered they were already ghost messages that could be revived only at the risk of being punished for necromancy - the baseline consciousness had become careful to monitor and deter risky incursions of fresh consciousness bringing up memories of the past lest the influence enabled older inhabitants to return to their original power.

Yet she felt she had now helped here as much as she would, the parasite had arrived during the Lightning Festival distractions and while they dealt with the consequences of that the new baseline consciousness of her hive could be established with as little noticeable disturbance as possible.

Her time had come to compose her goodbyes and decide where to head to after the festival. For now was the celebration of the Lightning season and the Lightning realm.
Why then, it occured to her, perhaps she ought to travel home with one of the Lightning clan and get a real feel for what she had just had a taste of...

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-ended up in plague cause she ran into the cavern dwellers
-they needed a healer for Tucker, who had gotten attacked by a DRONE (but managed to escape)
-with some knowledge of the Hive, Alabaster agreed to stay for a little bit to help figure out a way for the caverners to protect their lair from the Hive and the rest of the Garden

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While Alabaster journeyed to protect the cavern dwellers, she accidentally got swept out to the Sea of a Thousand Currents and was found by Doermira. With tensions running high in the Tidelord's domain, Doermira initially mistook her for a threat before Alabaster could explain the situation.

"Doermira," the Coatl's mentor, Varuni, facepalmed.

She looked down at her paws, feathered crests wilting. "Yeah, I know. Still too jumpy."

"I apologize, Alabaster. I've been trainin' Doe here up for a while, but she's still scared of her own shadow," the cantankerous Nocturne slapped the back of the Coatl's head good-naturedly.

"Hey! In my defense, Alabaster totally smells like a Plague dragon!"

Alabaster sniffed herself and pulled a face. Welp, she did.

"And how often do they come here looking for help? How was I supposed to know she had quest asylum?"

Varuni let out a long-suffering sigh. "Listen. This is what I've been tryna tell you about. Just 'cause you can see the future with yer Arcane magicks doesn't mean y'know everything that's going on. Besides, the rest of Arcanies do pretty well without foresight, and well, the Sea hasn't collapsed yet, so even the sages 'n thems can get along just fine without knowing what they're gonna eat for breakfast this time next year. You have got to stop thinking you know everything."

"The Sea hasn't collapsed yet?" The Bogsneak piped up. "What does that mean?"

Doermira opened her mouth to respond.

Varuni shoved her tail in her mouth before she could.

"Higher ups on the totem poles 'round here are facing some difficulties, but smooth seas never made good sailors," she glared at her apprentice.

"I think I heard something about the Tidelord being missing," Alabaster said conversationally.

Doermira gave her mentor a look that clearly said see? I told you so.

"Yeah, you're right on the money there." Varuni jammed a thumb behind her. "Since you're in on it and everything, wanna talk about it over some drinks? I can make a pretty good Whirlpool."

"I've...never heard of a drink called a Whirlpool," she admitted, intrigued.

Doermira shot up, Arcane eyes shining. "You haven't lived then!"

Alabaster cracked a wide smile. "Let's go, then!"

***

"So that's why you scared so easily," Doermira's headdress, covered in beads, clinked like windchimes in the stiff shore breeze. Her tail laid on the palm wood bar, wrapped around four mostly-empty glasses. "You don't really like fighting."

Alabaster swirled her hand-fired glass, filled with a concoction of seaberry rum and the finest Coral Carpenter mead, alongside whatever "Sucrose #5" was. "Yeah. I mean, I know some stuff, but that's...my travels have been kinda dangerous, so I just...decided I needed to learn how to defend myself."

"Ain't nothin' wrong with that, sweetie," Varuni shrugged from behind the counter, wiping down the countertop. The old Nocturne had changed out of her aviator jacket and into a half-tux. "Got a kiddo myself who got up to a brown belt in self- and other-defense. Never completed the whole thing 'cause she never wanted to, but she spends her days out here both 'cause she likes it and 'cause she's trained on border defense. Me 'n most others--most fighters in general--don't practice much on battles where y'got possible innocents in the arena, but she's the best at gettin' people outta the crossfire and sendin' it back the way it came."

Alabaster nodded slightly, picking at the decorative sand on her half-empty glass. "It's just...I don't feel too comfortable with Scratch, y'know?"

"I'm training with Meditate!" Doermira piped up, slinging an arm around Alabaster's shoulders. "We can be Meditate buddies!"

The Bogsneak managed to crack a small grin at her friend's jubilation. "Could never really get the hang of Meditate, either."

"That darned quick flip-flop between inside yer mind and out ain't for everyone," Varuni gruffed. She'd moved on from the bar to polishing a silver tumbler.

"Then what can we do for her, Vi?" Doermira asked, eyes almost comically wide.

"Well you can ease off on the poison, honey," Varuni took the four glasses from the Coatl's tail-grips. "You're a lightweight bubbly type. You don't need any more, not if we're gonna have you in fighting form tomorrow."

Doermira rolled her eyes, head lolling to the side. "Okay, mom."

"As fer you, I think I got something else. If you ain't the Scratch type or the Meditate type, maybe you're the Anticipate type."

Alabaster's head fully perked up, crest flaring. "Anticipate?"

"Ain't that what Ashclaw does? She's sooooooooo weird, Vi."

"You just couldn't read a Fae's body language if their crests slapped you upside the head, darlin'." Varuni snorted. "Ignore her. Fae 'n Coatl don't tend to get along. Ashclaw is a bit out there, but she trained herself on the use of Anticipate, a third kinda skill y'don't hear much about 'cause it's kinda weird.

"Scratch-skills are, y'know, about gettin' more in-tune with the magical environment by attacking. Meditate-skills are more about gettin' in tune with yer magical environs by...thinkin' real hard, basically. Anticipate-skills are all about getting in tune with the way magic works in a place by reading your opponent's body language. Learning what does what when, gettin' an intuition on what motivates who and "

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Uh-oh, looks like this 'lil Bogsneak wandered a little too far from her home lair (#276945 - Firedawn), and now she's off to see the world! If ever you feel the need to exalt, she'd really appreciate it if you could just return him/her to the home lair, or to the 'Dragons Off To See The World' thread, here. This is not necessary, but she would be very grateful!
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