Choose Your Own Adventure: Wayfarer
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Welcome to a new event! This is patterned after a "Choose Your Own Adventure" tale following four Sa'grisayr half-sisters leaving their birth Song and striking out on their own. Here's how to play:- I post a snippet continuing the Sam's story.
- Members will reply with a possible adventure path. This should be no more than about 2-3 sentences in length and contain some sort of 'choice' and story hook. If applicable, it should be based on the story thus far. Vague or specific is fine. For example:
"While flying over the grassy steppe, Wayfarer spied an odd splash of color. She swooped in closer and caught a glimpse of feathers before the shape suddenly moved!"
- I will choose a path to go down, first by whichever seems most likely for the Sam's personality and then by coin flip if there's a tie. Each of the girls in question is her own lady!
- There could be two hours or two days between my replies. It's entirely variable. This event should run for anywhere from one to three weeks depending on how much fun we're having with it or how quickly the adventure seems to wrap up. Replies probably won't be more than a paragraph or two.
- There will be maybe 10-15 replies back-and-forth before the event concludes. At the end, the person with the most chosen adventure paths will take home the prize - our heroine! The fully colored and certed image will be revealed at that time.
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Four journeys for four very different sisters.
The Song of the Lonely Aerie hadn't matched its name for years. Lead stallion Silver found companionship with a full complement of mares in his windy home and then with a sudden, unexpectedly successful breeding season resulting in four broody mares and one very busy sire.
Wayfarer of the Tawny Steppe had been the first to hatch, the first to fly, and the first to crash. When it came time for their naming ceremony, she'd fluttered her feathery wings and gnashed her metal beak until her parents granted her the perfect name. It surprised no one when she announced her intent to leave the nest first. Her parents and sisters and aunts all watched her zoom off into the sunrise with the thought that things would soon change for everyone in their tight-knit little Song.
As for Wayfarer, her body nearly vibrated with excitement! She soared over the rugged peaks of her chill mountain home with a song in her heart, her birth song, and headed for the grasslands far below to seek her fortune.
Uh oh. Maybe she shouldn't have been quiiiiiite so loud? The mare back-winged in surprise, halting her downward hurtle in the face of the something that had just zoomed by. She knew she had to avoid predators, especially near the ground where she rarely traveled with her family, but that hadn't been nearly large enough for the eagles she knew patrolled the sky.CosmicDragon wrote:Descending from her lofty birthplace, the air lighter than she could ever remember it being, Wayfarer spontaneously angled her body into a steep, thrilling dive, crowing out her jubilance to the empty skies... Or perhaps not so empty? A shadow, perhaps startled by her sudden altitude drop, zips agitatedly past her in the air.
A safe distance away from her, the shadow swooped a graceful arc and chittered its disapproval. Just a wild dragonet, then, like her aunt's had used to be. She grinned and quickly shortened the distance between them, must to its dismay. It did not want to play with a nosy young mare!
The dragonet made for a small, nimble target, but Wayfarer hadn't spent the majority of her childhood in the air for nothing! She weaved and dove and dipped and flapped and showed off her acrobatic skill for the sheer joy of it. She wished her sisters could join in on the game, but at the same time, there was no way she couldn't win without competition!AsaraDragon wrote:Wayfarer would not be deterred by a dragonet with an attitude! She was bursting with energy, and a game of tag sounded perfect to her. Her beak gaped wide in a gleeful grin, and she darted off in pursuit of the cranky dragonet.
Yready oyr not, heyre I come!!
Exceeeeept by not catching the dragonet before it went to ground. In an aerial maneuver that put her to shame, the creature dove headlong for the edge of the grassland and seemed to utterly disappear in a craggy patch of scrub.
When had they made it out this far?
When had she flown so close to the ground?
Craggy cliffs and tiny caves had served her well as a filly, hiding from her sisters in elaborate games of tag high in the mountains. This low to the ground, though... she wondered what might be hiding inside. Another dragonet?silvermoondragon wrote:She may have missed catching up with the dragonet, but being this close to the grassy landscape unfolding in front of her brought up a whole bunch of new exciting options of play. Dodging through the few shrubs and trees as close as she could get without hitting them, she neared a rocky patch. A dark gaping hole caught her attention as she flew by and she had to backstroke for a closer look. She never would have spotted it from higher up!
Or a predator of the nearby grasses?
She perched on the topmost rocks of the little outcropping and tilted her head this way and that, examining the area. Nothing smelled dangerous or looked dangerous. She didn't hear much beyond the whisper of grasses disturbed by wind an the rattling of small needles and leaves. The occasional bug sang its little song.
What might be in there?
Unwilling to actually enter, Wayfarer nevertheless braced herself near the top of the opening and dug her talons into the rock. Then she craned her neck forward and around, squinting into the darkness.
One of the rocks that made up her perch slipped to the side, briefly trapping a toe and making her shriek at the sudden pinch! She jerked it loose and lost her grip with the other front talon. It ended up with her lurching forward and around, clinging to the edge of the crevice like a panicked feline as she flapped frantically for purchase.AsaraDragon wrote:Was that something... glowing... in there??? Wayfarer leaned farther and farther over, trying to see more clearly, when suddenly...
Not her most graceful moment. Not even in the top ten.
She clung to the single largest rock with a sulky hunch to her shoulders, hearing the mocking chitter of an invisible dragonet some ways away. But she'd seen something. Something that shouldn't have been visible, considering the angle of the sun. What was it?
Squaring her stance, she flicked her metal-tipped tail in a deliberate gesture before diving quickly inside. The move made her wince as one toe complained upon landing, but she ignored it quickly in the face of a little glowing... thing.
A nudge at the object produced no answers, just a sudden sneeze, which pushed it further into the dark. Not too far, though, since it was a relatively shallow fissure. Nothing but her and the mysterious object. She caught hold of it again and examined what appeared to be a glowing... scale? of some sort.
What had scales and glowed? She couldn't even begin to imagine.
Takeoff was a trickier maneuver with one lame claw, especially since she couldn't jump from a high place as she preferred, but Wayfarer took to the skies once more with her prize ferreted away as carefully as she could manage. She'd have to fly a bit more carefully from that point on or risk dislodging it, but... little glowing scale!CosmicDragon wrote:It was not a huge scale, not really, but the way it glistened and subtly shone... It was definitely completely unlike anything she'd seen back home! With a grin, she tucked the scale secured between some feathers and went to leave the now-empty and therefore boring fissure; she just had to hunt down whatever had left this behind!
From her western mountain home, over the sparsely forested foothills, and onward to the chill grasslands below! The mare found food where she could and water only rarely, but she'd had many conversations with her mother before beginning this journey. Beyond the long and windswept steppe, days to the east, lay a desert, inhospitable and dry. To the north a ways were more mountains, branching off from the range where she'd lived her whole life. To the south, far to the south, the grasses eventually gave way to sand and rocky soil until they reached a vast expanse of undrinkable water.
She had a plan!
Her imagination sometimes got the best of her, but Wayfarer imagined some great beast, the likes of which she'd never seen, prowling a flooded steppe...Seren wrote:The great churning waters to the south- perhaps there had been a great flood, which had deposited such a pretty glowing bauble in the crevice? After all, some great sea-beast might have glowing scales to see in the dark waters, and she had never ridden ocean breezes laden heavy with salt before!
Except that water beasts didn't prowl. And the water was so far to the south, it could have never made it this far. And a single, glowing scale wouldn't have lasted this long untouched, even if none of that were true, because something would have found it before her...
The voice of her snootiest sister narrated the list of holes in her idea so clearly that she almost glanced around to see if she'd been followed. No, she was all alone, and her sister wouldn't want to head for the steppe anyway. It would be just like her to poke fun at a fancy taken to exaggerated lengths.
But she liked her story better! And really, it was a good excuse to angle her journey southward. She'd always wanted to see the sea and ride the ocean breezes.
She'd been flying for a long, long time and her wings ached with weariness, but the sight of something so incredibly new and vast and incredibly different brought a song to her beak.Jaes wrote:First she saw the white stretch of a beach and then with a sparkle the sea came into a view: a line sapphire that grew and grew and grew in a huge expanse of water. Wayfarer dove down close to the white-capped waves, laughing with delight as the salty spray dampened her feathers. She saw a flash of movement under the water's surface and circled around - it was probably just a fish, but what if it had been an aquatic sam?
Water with salt! She could practically taste it in the air - she definitely could, after a particularly fierce wave rolled and broke against the shore nearby. In that wave, a flash of silver and black caught her attention. It hadn't been the reflection off her own metallic tail-tip either, which could trick her during aerial maneuvers.
She flew over the waves, her keen black eyes scanning through the foam for another glimpse of whatever it had been.
There! What was that? She swooped close, almost too close, and for a split second she met the gaze of a Samanayr with fins instead of wings as it rode the surf.
She flipped and dove and showed off shamelessly for the beautiful silver Samanayr. After a particularly daring dip-and-soar, she peeked beneath her wing and was intensely gratified to find that it had stopped to watch her!RikkuGirl wrote:It was an elemental!!! Wayfarers heart pounded as she watched the sam surf, its gorgeous colors sparkling in the suns light. She flew fast, trying to keep up with it as it surfed the waves. She dove into acrobatics to show off, proving she could surf the sky.
A few minutes later and her wings ached from the strain of an impromptu aerial routine after such a long flight, but she held it together and swerved down low enough to hold a good distance above the rolling surface. The smooth-eyed Elemental had swum away from the breaking surf and back towards open water in order to watch her curious display.
"Did you like it?" she called out, trying not to pant so obviously.
It stayed silent for a long moment, long enough that Wayfarer began to worry whether or not it would speak at all. The water rolled over its smooth, shining scales on the way to shore and she heard nothing but the breaking surf and the cry of a few distant birds.
Finally it spoke. "You dyropped something. While you weyre upside down."
The Elemental watched her for another long moment, leaving her more and more worried that it would just leave.silvermoondragon wrote:With a soft squeak of dismay, Wayfarer reached for the place she had safely tucked away her scale. It was gone.
"Oh no! My scale! May I have it back?" she called out slightly panicked before realizing she should maybe be a little more polite to this Samanayr she had only just met, "please?"
And then it did!
Wayfarer let out a cry of dismay as the sleek-skinned creature disappeared beneath the waves. She circled, calling out to it in apology - had she offended it? But she'd been so polite!
It reappeared a little ways from where it had started, something small and glowing balanced in a bubble of water on the tip of its muzzle.
The 'grisayr nearly froze in relief, except doing that would mean plummeting into the salty water, which seemed like a very bad idea in all senses. Magic never ceased to amaze her, however. None of her aunts had been magic, nor her sire, and the one time a Wandering Earth Mystic had stopped by their Song - accompanied by a young Earth Elemental filly! - had been the most incredible thing she'd seen in her life.
Maybe until now.
"May I pleeeeease have it back?" she asked, trying to sound more ingratiating that wheedling and not entirely sure she succeeded.
Trying not to whine in the back of her throat, the 'grisayr mare flew up a few more feet to appraise the situation. If she dove, could she grab the scale? Maybe... but then she'd be wet. And in the water. And this kind of looked like a Water Elemental, so that seemed like a really bad idea all of a sudden.Janalee wrote:The Elemental let the bubble expand slightly upwards for a long moment while contemplating the mare's request. Though the action was hopeful enough, her inscrutable expression was much less so, and Wayfarer had to fight the urge to outright beg. As the moment passed, an equally inscrutable smile graced her face as she let the bubble burst with a soft 'plop,' sending the scale to just below the water's surface. Before Wayfarer had a chance to voice any indignation, the Elemental offered, "I'll return it to you, if you do something for me first."
"Alyriiiight?" she sighed, the word ending in a question. She didn't know much of anything about the scale, but it glowed prettily and perhaps she'd learn its mystery someday. She wanted it back!
The Elemental's eyes half-lidded as it watched her. "I have a daughteyr who lives in the cliffs to the west. They ayren't fayr, maybe an houyr's flight. Tyring to yreach heyr so high up is possible, but it would be easieyr with a messengeyr. I need heyr to go and find heyr siyre foyr me. He has been gone longeyr than usual. Deliveyr the message, yretuyrn, and the trinket is youyrs."
The beaches eventually became more rocky as the land rose up around them. Possibly these were the tail-end of the mountain range to the north that Wayfarer called home? She didn't know - geography had never really been her strong suit. She'd far preferred the air to the land.AsaraDragon wrote:Wayfarer nodded quickly and sped off to the west, the sooner to return and get her prize back! As the cliffs drew near, she realized that she probably should have gotten more information from the elemental before hurrying away... she had no idea what its daughter looked like, and who knew how many samanayrs lived in the cliffs! This could prove more difficult than she originally thought...
Right about now, though, she could have done with a break from 'air'. Her wings ached in a way that told her she'd be stiff for the next few mornings whether she stretched or not.
Her task suddenly felt very real... and very daunting. How was she supposed to locate a single mare here? She flew up to the top of the cliffs and perched on a sturdy outcropping, listening for anything besides the rush of wind and waves and the cry of sea birds above and below. (She'd had to make sure to steer clear of their nests about midway up. Lots of birds. A couple wild dragonets.)
Eventually her ears pricked up at a sound. Musical. Music? A song? She listened more closely - the sound came from below. It didn't sound threatening, more of just an everyday "I'm singing because I feel like it, and also this is my home" sort of song.
Down she went!
A slow descent taxed her tired wings further, but it let her know quickly when she dipped below the source of the music. She quickly corrected and landed on a ledge not much bigger than the one she'd used above, but this one looked to conceal lead into a crevice within the cliffs.
"Hello?" she called out, unable to think of anything better to try. Immediately the music stopped.
After a long moment, a voice answered from within. "...hello?"
She waited. The voice waited. Eventually she grew impatient and wriggled her way into the crevice, where it quickly opened to a larger space. A Lamanayr mare greeted her in surprise with black eyes much like her own.
A Lamanayr with a fin tail and ears? Huh.
"Youyr, uh. Youyr motheyr needs you to find youyr fatheyr? I think? If you'yre the one I'm looking foyr?"
The Lamanayr paced slowly around her little cliffside den, pulling out a pack and slowly gathering items as she spoke. (Wayfarer coveted that pack, she really did. She'd need to find herself one of those so that she could actually keep trinkets she found.)silvermoondragon wrote:"My mother sent you? And she wants me to find my father?" the Lamanayr stared at her incredulously before continuing, "Usually she doesn't speak to anyone, to be honest, I'm surprised she even met my father in the first place."
Wayfarer sat down, glad to have a little time to rest her wings while she listened to the mare tell her story.
"My fatheyr is a Scout, actually, and in high demand ayround an island ayrea a few days' tyravel fyrom heyre. He's gone foyr long styretches of time. Motheyr is his lead mayre and most of my aunts live neayr heyre as well. She can't usually be botheyred to conceyrn heyrself with the tyrivial day-to-day the yrest of us have to deal with, so theyre must be good yreason why she needs him to come home, whateveyr it is. Maybe foyr one of the otheyrs. They're all aquatic too so none of them can yreally... go afteyr him if he's oveyr land."
While she elaborated on her decidedly unusual family situation, the mare had gathered herself provisions for at least a few days' flight and deftly slung the pack around her limbs. Once she'd kitted herself up, she shifted everything into place and squinted out past the Sa'grisayr to evaluate the sky.
"Good weatheyr. Let's hope it holds. Thank you foyr deliveyring the message- oh." She seemed surprised. "I neveyr actually got youyr name. You can call me Settleyr - Scout Settleyr of the yRocky Shoyres. Give my yregayrds to Motheyr and the otheyrs if you see them."
Wayfarer introduced herself, said goodbye... and with that, the mare left.
The Elemental raised herself up on the crest of a wave and held it in place, the water hovering in midair just before the breaking point while the rest of the ocean rolled forward around it.Jaes wrote:As interesting as Settler's home was, Wayfarer didn't want to stay after the other sam had left (though Settler did have some very interesting baubles and shiny stones around!) and so she clamored out and then glided slowly back down to the beach. When she finally reached it, she dropped onto the sand, which was warm around her claws, and stretched her tired wings in the sun - Just for a moment's rest. A splash over the sound of rolling waves caught her attention and she saw the elemental's head peak up over the water. Excitedly she leapt back into the air and circled the elemental, calling out with a grin, "I did it!"
"Yes, I see. Veyry good. Heyre is youyr bauble." A mare of her word, she returned the scale to Wayfarer by way of magic bubble - a bauble in a bubble, and wasn't this a story!
A story that would have to go on pause, judging from the small cramps shooting up around the Sa'grisayr's shoulders. It was time to find a place to rest for a few hours! Then... who knew?
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