Post by Florian Abeia on Oct 31, 2023 18:14:54 GMT
As Florian finds himself lying comfortably with Toothy on their bed he feels sleep begin to overcome him. A warm wave of comfort and relaxation takes over as he drifts away from reality.
When he opens his eyes again Florian sees, spanning in all directions, a vast and beautiful forest. The sunlight cascades through the leaves perfectly and the smells that hit his nose fill him a sense of serenity. It does take him a moment but as he looks around he realises this is the forests of Arvandor - the forest he was only recently in.
As he comes to this realisation some of the trees begin to part in front of him. A familiar looking clearing appears; in the centre, a 100ft or so away, the great tree with leaves that glitter and shine in the most beautiful shades of green as the sunlight hits their jade surface. Underneath the tree sits a singular figure, though from this distance Florian can’t quite make them out fully.
He sits up and looks around calmly, pleased that his subconscious has taken him back to this place.
“Sick.”
He starts ambling around, bending down to inspect interesting plants and bugs, and then spots a figure under the enormous tree. From the distance he can't make them out fully, so he calls out.
“Oh, hi. Uhm. Sorry, didn’t mean to interrupt or whatever. I think this is a dream though so maybe you’re the one interrupting me? I dunno. Or we’ve interrupted each other.”
He wrinkles his nose a little and cocks his head as he considers the current metaphysical conundrum, and tries to recall which tea he had before bed.
“Did we do mushrooms together? Maybe we’re sharing a dream. That’d be cool.”
The figure lets out a small chuckle as she turns to face Florian.
“Unfortunately we have never consumed mushrooms together, though that does sounds rather pleasant. As for our current situation I do believe that this is your dream but somehow you called me here - though I’m not sure how that has happened. Oh! I suppose I should introduce myself as you haven’t seen me in this form.”
The figure stands so Florian can see her in full, rising to well over 6 foot tall.
“I am Meldrosa, The Jade Dragon. It is a pleasure to meet you once again, young druid.”
Florian gives her a big, surprised grin.
“Woah! Dude, are all your forms baller? You look dope.”
He processes what she’s said further and his face falls into something more apologetic.
“Sorry for like, dragging you here or whatever. No clue how I did that. Uh.. thanks for coming though, I guess. It’s super cool to see you again. I’ve been talking to Orianna and that whole gang about some of the stuff you guys got going on.”
He sits down on the soft grass cross legged and summons Gigi reflexively. Where he goes, she goes. (He then makes a mental note about trying to figure out if this is a real Gigi or a dream one, once he’s awake again.)
“Sounds like a lot. Do you need to go like right away or do you maybe wanna talk about it? Totally cool either way.”
“Oh no, I think here is exactly where I need to be right now. Besides, at this exact moment in time my kin and I are taking a recess from a debate - it’s nice be in the company of someone else." She cocks her head, considering him.
"I would like to get to know you better, Florian. I can sense that we might be kindred souls and it would be so nice to just talk to someone after sleeping for 300 years and not have to contemplate the many terrible futures that might occur if we make a wrong move.”
Meldrosa slumps onto the grass next to Florian, her back resting up against the tree, the grass seemingly becomes more comfortable to sit on somehow. Meldrosa waves her hand over the ground between the two of them, and as Florian watches, several peculiar looking flowers begin to rapidly grow. As the buds on the flowers get larger and larger, they're surrounded by the most amazing scents. The buds then all spring open as one. On the two flowers closest to himself and Meldrosa sits matching cups of tea of Florian’s favourite blend, and from the rest of the flowers spring plates of some of his favourite snacks.
“Please, help yourself,” Meldrosa says as she takes a sip of tea and picks up a biscuit.
“Incredibly dope, thank you.”
He sets Gigi on his shoulder - which she immediately abandons to climb onto his head - and grabs a cup. There’s a squeak from his hairline and he belatedly holds a biscuit up for Gigi to try.
“Family can be super stressful. And you guys are so old, you must have even more history of beating each other at Scrabble than the average person. Is it tense? The negotiations?”
Once again Meldrosa let’s out a chuckle.
“We are dragons, we are all far to competitive to play those sorts of games.”
After taking another sip of tea, Meldrosa let’s out a sigh.
“To say tensions are high is an understatement. I have never know such a discord within my kin. Some wish that we should take little action; that this is the for mortals to undertake with our guidance. Some believe that this is our responsibility - the reason the great World Dragon Asgorath created us. Others, like myself, believe it is somewhere in the middle where we should act. And it's all made harder by the fact that one of us still sleeps, so not all voices have been heard yet.
I fear that in our delays to reach a unified position the situation will have moved on without us. Plus, it seems that the Para Incarnates put this plan into motion some time ago and I don’t think we're seeing the whole picture. There is something else they're up to but I cannot figure it out.”
Florian drinks his tea quietly, listening intently. He nibbles the biscuit in his hand as he considers her words. Finally he passes the last bit of it up to Gigi.
“I think. Well, I’m just one dude and I haven’t been around for very long compared to you guys, but I think I’d have to agree with you. It’s a big thing on the horizon and us little guys will probably need help dealing with it. On the other hand, if you get too involved, there’s a very big risk us little guys are gonna get trampled in the chaos. When big things fight, a lot of little people become collaterals, you know? Like ants being trampled by a large bear or something. Even if the bear was trying to defend the ant hill.”
He takes another sip of his tea, unconsciously tugging on his amulet of Malar.
“I think you mean a lot to some of us little guys though. Orianna and Matches and them, I mean. I think they’d want you with them.”
“Do not discount yourself, Florian. You are very wise for your years. Yes, it is a fine line we must tread. Though it must be said you could not imagine the collateral damage should we fail to stop them. But as you say. I should pay a visit to the Herlads of Stellarum and Vulcanax and the rest of this team that has assembled.”
“I told them all about you. Hope that’s okay.” He grins at her, a little bashfully. “It was just.. really fucking cool last time. Learning that spell from you was like, the biggest honor.”
“Oh, that was my pleasure! And of course it was okay that you told them about me. I..I.. Hmm.”
Meldrosa stops, seemingly trying to decide how to phrase what she has too say.
“I’m going to have to be honest with you now, Florian. I told a slight lie earlier. I very much know the reason why you called me here, how you where able to reach out to me like this. You are of my blood Florian. My power resides within you, thus making you my Herald, as Orianna is to Stellarum and Matches is to Vulcanax. I believe imparting the knowledge of that spell to you awakened that dormant power. Tt took a little while for it to grow enough for me to sense it, and having just awoken myself, I was not able to sense it. I am sorry to just throw this out at you but you are more connected to this struggle than you may have first realised.”
There’s a long moment of silence.
Gigi falls off Florian's head.
“…. You’re gonna have to give me a moment here.”
He stares blankly at the greenery around him while he tries to sort out his thoughts, until Gigi recovers and bites his leg.
“Ok, yes, I'm back. Thanks. Uhm. I…" He takes a deep breath and with a mighty exhale can say nothing besides, "Yeah, that’s really fucking cool.”
Then his brow furrows, and he looks uncharacteristically worried.
“I don’t know what that means though. What do you need me to do? How can I help?”
There is a relieved expression on Meldrosa’s face which quickly turns to excitement.
“Oh, I am so glad that you are happy with this news! I won’t lie, there was a part of me that feared you would hate this and instantly reject it, and once those words are spoken they can not be undone. But in terms of what I would want you to do... I wish I could tell you to go live a fruitful and fulfilling life but I’m afraid I will need you to take part in what is to come. You will be my representative and my voice, should the need arise.”
Florian picks Gigi up again, holding her to his chest with both arms, like a teddy bear.
“I’ll do my best. I’m not great at like, speeches or whatever. I get distracted a lot and sometimes I talk to random animals or forget that not everyone feels about certains gods the way I do. But I’ll do my best.”
He tilts his head sideways as another thought comes to him.
“If we’re like, related, like by blood, does that mean my mom could’ve been a herald? The one that carried me I mean, Yasmina. Not my other mom. Or are we related on my dad’s side? I never met him.”
“Don’t worry, my herald, making speeches is not one of the job requirements. But as for speaking to animals that is definitely something I will encourage so no need to stop doing that. As for where my blood comes from, I do believe it was from Yasmina, though I get the sense that its presence had been long forgotten about in your family. She definitely had the potential to be my Herald if the power had been awakened in her first.”
Florian hugs Gigi even closer.
“Yeah, my mom’s pretty cool,” he says with a smile.
“I like that,” he adds. “I’ve never really wondered about my dad. My moms were more than enough. I like that they can be enough still.”
“Yes, unfortunately, I cannot speak for your father but the fact that you have two mothers that cared for you deeply, and that you still care for, gives me great solace. Perhaps one day I will get to meet your mothers. I think that would be quite nice. On that note, I guess you should also be aware of how your family has grown slightly. The other Heralds can quite fairly be refered to as your cousins.”
Florian’s smile is so wide it hurts his face a little.
“That’s… amazing. Really. The Circle of Embers is huge and I always had loads of people around me growing up. Where I live now is great - and I have Toothy of course - but.. more family sounds really nice.”
Gigi squeaks something and Florian laughs. “Yeah, he's gonna lose his entire fucking mind. This is dope. Hey, Meldrosa, do you wanna meet my boyfriend sometime?”
Meldrosa returns the smile enthusiastically.
“Yes I would love to meet Toothy! He sounds like a delight. But I think maybe I have kept you away from him too long. Sleep peacefully, my Herald, and when you wake, take comfort in this new family you have, and know that you are loved.”
Co-written with Charlie (DM) đź’š
When he opens his eyes again Florian sees, spanning in all directions, a vast and beautiful forest. The sunlight cascades through the leaves perfectly and the smells that hit his nose fill him a sense of serenity. It does take him a moment but as he looks around he realises this is the forests of Arvandor - the forest he was only recently in.
As he comes to this realisation some of the trees begin to part in front of him. A familiar looking clearing appears; in the centre, a 100ft or so away, the great tree with leaves that glitter and shine in the most beautiful shades of green as the sunlight hits their jade surface. Underneath the tree sits a singular figure, though from this distance Florian can’t quite make them out fully.
He sits up and looks around calmly, pleased that his subconscious has taken him back to this place.
“Sick.”
He starts ambling around, bending down to inspect interesting plants and bugs, and then spots a figure under the enormous tree. From the distance he can't make them out fully, so he calls out.
“Oh, hi. Uhm. Sorry, didn’t mean to interrupt or whatever. I think this is a dream though so maybe you’re the one interrupting me? I dunno. Or we’ve interrupted each other.”
He wrinkles his nose a little and cocks his head as he considers the current metaphysical conundrum, and tries to recall which tea he had before bed.
“Did we do mushrooms together? Maybe we’re sharing a dream. That’d be cool.”
The figure lets out a small chuckle as she turns to face Florian.
“Unfortunately we have never consumed mushrooms together, though that does sounds rather pleasant. As for our current situation I do believe that this is your dream but somehow you called me here - though I’m not sure how that has happened. Oh! I suppose I should introduce myself as you haven’t seen me in this form.”
The figure stands so Florian can see her in full, rising to well over 6 foot tall.
“I am Meldrosa, The Jade Dragon. It is a pleasure to meet you once again, young druid.”
Florian gives her a big, surprised grin.
“Woah! Dude, are all your forms baller? You look dope.”
He processes what she’s said further and his face falls into something more apologetic.
“Sorry for like, dragging you here or whatever. No clue how I did that. Uh.. thanks for coming though, I guess. It’s super cool to see you again. I’ve been talking to Orianna and that whole gang about some of the stuff you guys got going on.”
He sits down on the soft grass cross legged and summons Gigi reflexively. Where he goes, she goes. (He then makes a mental note about trying to figure out if this is a real Gigi or a dream one, once he’s awake again.)
“Sounds like a lot. Do you need to go like right away or do you maybe wanna talk about it? Totally cool either way.”
“Oh no, I think here is exactly where I need to be right now. Besides, at this exact moment in time my kin and I are taking a recess from a debate - it’s nice be in the company of someone else." She cocks her head, considering him.
"I would like to get to know you better, Florian. I can sense that we might be kindred souls and it would be so nice to just talk to someone after sleeping for 300 years and not have to contemplate the many terrible futures that might occur if we make a wrong move.”
Meldrosa slumps onto the grass next to Florian, her back resting up against the tree, the grass seemingly becomes more comfortable to sit on somehow. Meldrosa waves her hand over the ground between the two of them, and as Florian watches, several peculiar looking flowers begin to rapidly grow. As the buds on the flowers get larger and larger, they're surrounded by the most amazing scents. The buds then all spring open as one. On the two flowers closest to himself and Meldrosa sits matching cups of tea of Florian’s favourite blend, and from the rest of the flowers spring plates of some of his favourite snacks.
“Please, help yourself,” Meldrosa says as she takes a sip of tea and picks up a biscuit.
“Incredibly dope, thank you.”
He sets Gigi on his shoulder - which she immediately abandons to climb onto his head - and grabs a cup. There’s a squeak from his hairline and he belatedly holds a biscuit up for Gigi to try.
“Family can be super stressful. And you guys are so old, you must have even more history of beating each other at Scrabble than the average person. Is it tense? The negotiations?”
Once again Meldrosa let’s out a chuckle.
“We are dragons, we are all far to competitive to play those sorts of games.”
After taking another sip of tea, Meldrosa let’s out a sigh.
“To say tensions are high is an understatement. I have never know such a discord within my kin. Some wish that we should take little action; that this is the for mortals to undertake with our guidance. Some believe that this is our responsibility - the reason the great World Dragon Asgorath created us. Others, like myself, believe it is somewhere in the middle where we should act. And it's all made harder by the fact that one of us still sleeps, so not all voices have been heard yet.
I fear that in our delays to reach a unified position the situation will have moved on without us. Plus, it seems that the Para Incarnates put this plan into motion some time ago and I don’t think we're seeing the whole picture. There is something else they're up to but I cannot figure it out.”
Florian drinks his tea quietly, listening intently. He nibbles the biscuit in his hand as he considers her words. Finally he passes the last bit of it up to Gigi.
“I think. Well, I’m just one dude and I haven’t been around for very long compared to you guys, but I think I’d have to agree with you. It’s a big thing on the horizon and us little guys will probably need help dealing with it. On the other hand, if you get too involved, there’s a very big risk us little guys are gonna get trampled in the chaos. When big things fight, a lot of little people become collaterals, you know? Like ants being trampled by a large bear or something. Even if the bear was trying to defend the ant hill.”
He takes another sip of his tea, unconsciously tugging on his amulet of Malar.
“I think you mean a lot to some of us little guys though. Orianna and Matches and them, I mean. I think they’d want you with them.”
“Do not discount yourself, Florian. You are very wise for your years. Yes, it is a fine line we must tread. Though it must be said you could not imagine the collateral damage should we fail to stop them. But as you say. I should pay a visit to the Herlads of Stellarum and Vulcanax and the rest of this team that has assembled.”
“I told them all about you. Hope that’s okay.” He grins at her, a little bashfully. “It was just.. really fucking cool last time. Learning that spell from you was like, the biggest honor.”
“Oh, that was my pleasure! And of course it was okay that you told them about me. I..I.. Hmm.”
Meldrosa stops, seemingly trying to decide how to phrase what she has too say.
“I’m going to have to be honest with you now, Florian. I told a slight lie earlier. I very much know the reason why you called me here, how you where able to reach out to me like this. You are of my blood Florian. My power resides within you, thus making you my Herald, as Orianna is to Stellarum and Matches is to Vulcanax. I believe imparting the knowledge of that spell to you awakened that dormant power. Tt took a little while for it to grow enough for me to sense it, and having just awoken myself, I was not able to sense it. I am sorry to just throw this out at you but you are more connected to this struggle than you may have first realised.”
There’s a long moment of silence.
Gigi falls off Florian's head.
“…. You’re gonna have to give me a moment here.”
He stares blankly at the greenery around him while he tries to sort out his thoughts, until Gigi recovers and bites his leg.
“Ok, yes, I'm back. Thanks. Uhm. I…" He takes a deep breath and with a mighty exhale can say nothing besides, "Yeah, that’s really fucking cool.”
Then his brow furrows, and he looks uncharacteristically worried.
“I don’t know what that means though. What do you need me to do? How can I help?”
There is a relieved expression on Meldrosa’s face which quickly turns to excitement.
“Oh, I am so glad that you are happy with this news! I won’t lie, there was a part of me that feared you would hate this and instantly reject it, and once those words are spoken they can not be undone. But in terms of what I would want you to do... I wish I could tell you to go live a fruitful and fulfilling life but I’m afraid I will need you to take part in what is to come. You will be my representative and my voice, should the need arise.”
Florian picks Gigi up again, holding her to his chest with both arms, like a teddy bear.
“I’ll do my best. I’m not great at like, speeches or whatever. I get distracted a lot and sometimes I talk to random animals or forget that not everyone feels about certains gods the way I do. But I’ll do my best.”
He tilts his head sideways as another thought comes to him.
“If we’re like, related, like by blood, does that mean my mom could’ve been a herald? The one that carried me I mean, Yasmina. Not my other mom. Or are we related on my dad’s side? I never met him.”
“Don’t worry, my herald, making speeches is not one of the job requirements. But as for speaking to animals that is definitely something I will encourage so no need to stop doing that. As for where my blood comes from, I do believe it was from Yasmina, though I get the sense that its presence had been long forgotten about in your family. She definitely had the potential to be my Herald if the power had been awakened in her first.”
Florian hugs Gigi even closer.
“Yeah, my mom’s pretty cool,” he says with a smile.
“I like that,” he adds. “I’ve never really wondered about my dad. My moms were more than enough. I like that they can be enough still.”
“Yes, unfortunately, I cannot speak for your father but the fact that you have two mothers that cared for you deeply, and that you still care for, gives me great solace. Perhaps one day I will get to meet your mothers. I think that would be quite nice. On that note, I guess you should also be aware of how your family has grown slightly. The other Heralds can quite fairly be refered to as your cousins.”
Florian’s smile is so wide it hurts his face a little.
“That’s… amazing. Really. The Circle of Embers is huge and I always had loads of people around me growing up. Where I live now is great - and I have Toothy of course - but.. more family sounds really nice.”
Gigi squeaks something and Florian laughs. “Yeah, he's gonna lose his entire fucking mind. This is dope. Hey, Meldrosa, do you wanna meet my boyfriend sometime?”
Meldrosa returns the smile enthusiastically.
“Yes I would love to meet Toothy! He sounds like a delight. But I think maybe I have kept you away from him too long. Sleep peacefully, my Herald, and when you wake, take comfort in this new family you have, and know that you are loved.”
Co-written with Charlie (DM) đź’š