Glimmer, glitter, shine...

[thecanopycrew]

| characters | Everyone!

| date/time | March 15, all day

| location | First Floor

| rating | Currently G

| summary | A flash of light, and a new adventure.


LIGHT

Warmth, love and kindness.
The Life Stream glimmers and glitters with joy, swirls of shimmering dust dancing around the ray of life.
It was time for new ones to test their wings.


One by one, new adventurers now arrive in the Tree. As one gain wings and rises to the second floor, another light brings in the next person. Soon, a steady stream of people from all kinds of worlds, times and realities come to join the others. Whether confused, angry, excited or scared, your arrival is welcomed with nothing but joy as the fireflies and glow worms descend to greet their new friends.

The Tree offers no explanation and no reason, but the truth is undeniable.

As you will soon realize, it isn't easy to be tiny.

Comments

[monster_san]

She could tell him a few selected adventures, perhaps. Like the fairly recent incident where they went out to fight and went back home because their enemies got too caught up fighting each other to even pay attention to the Magic Knights. "Yes, and I think it's important that we form our own judgments, even if some authority of this tree does come and give us a quest." Though she still smiled, the blithe tone did not accompany it.

It was back soon enough, though, when she considered the matter of the natives. "Sadly, I don't speak firefly. But there are so many people here, perhaps there is someone who could translate? I have to say, they don't seem to be very worried or distressed, at least so far as I can tell."

[scionoflegend]

Owain's brows furrowed, and he frowned. "You think... we may have cause to mistrust the powers that summoned us here?" That was frankly not something that had crossed his mind, and probably wouldn't have at all had Fuu not mentioned the need to form their own judgments. Some of the Outrealm quests he'd been on had seemed silly or inane, sure, but they had all ultimately benefited the greater good. Could a realm draw people in for evil purposes? It was a concerning thought.

He had yet to see any trace of evil here, though. And Fuu was right--the fireflies all appeared quite happy. Owain was thoughtful as he watched one zip overhead. "A translator... yes. Yes, it may be that these creatures have been sent to guide us, to light our path through the darkness both figuratively and literally!" A determined spark lit his eyes as he returned his gaze to Fuu. "We must find a translator at once! Either that, or learn their tongue ourselves!"

[monster_san]

"I don't assume that they're malicious, but--it is possible that they may have a bias, or wouldn't tell us all the facts for some other reason." Clef had certainly not been trying to hurt them, and Fuu didn't hold it against him, but she still did not want to fall into the same fault. Nor did she want anyone else to experience what she, Hikaru, and Umi had, especially not someone as exuberant as Owain.

He seemed to be serious as he considered it, too, which was a relief. But Fuu also wasn't surprised when he jumped right back into his usual. Enthusiasm. "What a good idea," she said. (And she meant it, even if her tone wasn't as buoyant.) She looked around. "We can even make a primer, if necessary, or... some sort of sign language? I believe that bees use dancing to communicate with each other."

[scionoflegend]

"Ah, yes, I could see that." Old Hubba had not always been very forthcoming with details when they'd helped him recover all his Einherjar, after all. They'd often found themselves fighting a lot more opponents than they'd anticipated. Still, he hadn't meant any harm, and it had proven to be worth their while to help him out. Owain remained optimistic. "But we'll forge a path to victory without all the facts, if need be!" Because who needs facts.

He smiled excitedly. "Great, let's get started! First we'll need a firefly..." He scanned their surroundings for a likely guinea pig candidate. "Do you think they dance, too? It's too bad Inigo isn't here... ooh, there's one!"

[monster_san]

Oh god, Owain, this is not what she meant. "I prefer to believe in the saying 'knowledge is power'," she said. "It would be a shame to do something to your utmost only to find out you have to go back and undo it, after all." You know, it would be a bother. Not life-scarring.

"Hm... well, I know their lights are a mating signal. I don't know if they're social otherwise, but these aren't typical fireflies anyway. Excuse me, Mr. Firefly!"

The one she'd hailed came buzzing over obligingly.

[scionoflegend]

"Hey, it listened!" Owain's smile stretched wider as the firefly landed in front of them, folded its wings back, and looked at them almost expectantly. "That's awesome! If they already comprehend human speech, this'll be a walk in the park!" They could devise a code, and use the fireflies to relay top-secret messages, and maybe they knew how to communicate with other insects and Owain could eventually have the entirety of the forest's creatures at his beck and call!

...And also learn why they'd been brought here. He couldn't forget that.

Of course, they had to make sure the firefly actually understood, and hadn't just come over to them because it was friendly. "Okay, firefly," Owain said eagerly, "if you can understand me, do a backflip!"

...Nothing. It merely continued to look at him. It didn't even try. Owain sighed, dejected. How disappointing...