OTHER WORLDS THAN THESE!
Kin Name: The Heart Shines With Light
Preference List: water cat, sky cat, cheetah, lion, lynx, forest cat, bone cat
RP Link or Story: (Prompt 1 - Knowledge)

Heartshine looked around the thronging crowds. People of every shape and size, from every tribe and nation were gathered here. The stern mountain-folk, shouldering through the crowd. The excited sing-song of the desert people, light on their feet and flowing trails of fabric following behind. Even the deep ones were in attendance, conspiculously crowding the shadows and shade, wrapped in the protective robes that protected their skin and eyes from the harsh sun.

Someone tall, with long blond hair, nudged him. "Keep staring like that," they warned, "and someone just might take your eye for being rude."

He ducked his head. "S-sorry. First time at Sanctuary."

The cosmopolitan stranger had a dry expression on their face. "Yours and everyone else, bumpkin."

"...point taken.

Weeks later....

Heartshine drummed his nails on the table and looked at his circle of friends, no his family. "I think....we are all having these dreams for a reason. I think...that all of us here, together--from the mountains, from the plains, from the swamp and the caves--that none of it is an accident. There is someone calling to us, chained, imprisoned inside the Rock of Sanctuary. I'm going to set her free. Who's with me?"

Someone with dark, short, hair grimaced and rubbed at her temple.

"Berhardt, you're. I can't even. You're the most gullible, spirit-addled, idiot I can imagine. That's probably a demon you're about to let loose. Or a wicked god. What even makes you think you can touch those wards?"

"It's in the riddle carved on the stone, listen..."

OTHER WORLDS THAN THESE!
Kin Name: (Can't) Stop Me Now
Preference List:water cat, sky cat, cheetah, lion, lynx, forest cat, bone cat
RP Link or Story: (Prompt 5 - Darkness)

"Stop that, you'll wear a run in the ground."

"I can't help it. What if They come tonight? What if they take me? What if they take....you? I'm not letting that happen to my brother."

The burlier brother snorted. "Let them come. We'll face the shadows together."

Stop Me Now knew that wasn't going to be an option. But they couldn't bear to tell their brother the truth.

It hadn't been the same since the sun returned from its stony prison. Sure, it rose into the sky and illuminated the swamp below--with a pallid grey-and-yellow light that never grew brighter than overcast skies, even months later into what should have been summer or spring. The plant life came back, thank the Motherfather for that at least.

But the nights....

Stop Me Now was more afraid of nights than ever. Without the light of the sun to see clearly, the shapes of kin and other things became....unstable. At sunset, the shadow-touched kin faded from view and their shadows reached and stretched as tall and spindly as the shadows of trees. Once, Stop Me woke up during the night and felt....cold. So cold. He reached out for the comfort of a friend and his body fell right through them. He had dreams of galloping over the sky, wispy and insubstantial, hunting the moon with a pack of shadows. They'd hunt down a star, pounce on it, tear it open, and swallow its fire whole, to feed the endless hunger that drove the shadow-touched by night.

He'd wanted to write these off as dreams.

But one by one, each night, the stars were going out.

OTHER WORLDS THAN THESE!
Kin Name: In The Grass
Preference List:water cat, sky cat, cheetah, lion, lynx, forest cat, bone cat
RP Link or Story: (Prompt 3 - Force)

Quick as a flash, Snake-In-The-Grass had the dagger at the lone guard's throat.

"Now, let's be gentlemen about this, shall we?" Nevermind that a goblin rogue such as herself was anything but gentlemanly.

"Obviously, I want your money, not your life, but I won't think twice about," she adjusted the position of her blade, "renegotiating our contract. So hand me that pouch."

The guard swallowed.

Slipping away into the darkness, Snake reflected that the guard's money-pouch was oddly heavy for a mere night watchman, even if it clinked appropriately for a small sac of sunny brass coins.

Back at her hideout, Snake untied the pouch, reached in, and retrieved-

a stone. a heavy, warm, heart-shaped stone.

"What in the Motherfath-" In The Grass did not get the chance to finish her incongruous oath. The stone cracked open and blinding light poured out

OTHER WORLDS THAN THESE!
Kin Name: Sootstripe (a.k.a.: Cole)
Preference List: water cat, sky cat, cheetah, lion, lynx, forest cat, bone cat
RP Link or Story: (Prompt 2 - Patience)

Cole closed his eyes and rubbed at his temples. "Mags. Maguey My friend.. Help. I want to set it all on fire."

The other man leaned over his friend's back and began to squeeze with gentle pressure at his Just A Very Good Friend's shoulders. "While that would certainly be a daring artistic statement, Cole....The Desert Rose is not rated for indoor pyrotechnics."

"Pyro-what?" Cole squinted at the unfamiliar word.

"Fireworks."

"Oh. Right." Of course he knew what pyrotechnics were. He'd almost become a pyrotechnician himself before his family talked him out of it. The visual arts of brush and paper were much safer to experiment with indoors.

The walls of their little studio apartment were, in fact, covered in Cole's artwork and experimental pieces. He felt compelled to try and recapture the feeling of brief and ephemeral moments in the medium of charcoal, ink, and canvas. His nails were nearly permanently stained, but Maguey had never cared. Maguey, with his warm hands and his mischevious smile...

"Mmm....that feels nice. Don't stop."

"Okay, but you have to talk to me. What's your artist's block about?"

"Well.....where I grew up, 'The Quest for the Light' is a pretty standard motif. There's all kinds of stories about the hunt, the helpers, and the prison-of-the-light's-heart. I'm worried that....that out here in Arizona, nobody's going to connect with my art."

"Cole, it's not like you grew up in a cave totally isolated from the rest of the world. Or like we did here in Sedona. I think you underestimate just how universal this story really is."

OTHER WORLDS THAN THESE!
Kin Name: Leave Me Breathless
Preference List: just glow ticket please~
RP Link or Story:

OTHER WORLDS THAN THESE!
Kin Name: Fierce Warrior
Preference List: just glow ticket please~
RP Link or Story:

OTHER WORLDS THAN THESE!
Kin Name: Death Hunter
Preference List: just glow ticket please~
RP Link or Story:

OTHER WORLDS THAN THESE!
Kin Name: Dappled Sun
Preference List: Lynx
RP Link or Story:

The darkness had been cloaking the planet for as long as Sanji's family could remember. Before they'd lost their sun, they'd been in the bunkers. Before the bunkers... the records had been all-but destroyed.

It had been centuries since the ecosystems had collapsed, and the vestiges of cities that had survived were ones near sources of geological activity. Without the gravity from their sun, the moons had drifted further away, then disappeared entirely, sometime while everyone had been below. Without the moons, the tides had faded. And without the tides, the oceans succumbed to the freeze that had taken over everything-- even the last clouds in the sky.

The bunkers that had been powered by geothermal energy were the only ones that had been able to survive the deep freeze. In time, they'd been able to expand them into a network of tunnels, making more room for people to live, to have children, and to grow food. Society now relied on a strict code of conduct, and even the smallest infractions carried with them a heavy cost.

Sanji had only stolen an apple. It had been stupid-- something she'd chosen to do simply because she'd been goaded into it by one of the other teenagers. It had not gone unnoticed, and the punishment was the same as any petty crime for an underaged offender-- a week in the lightless, frigid outskirts. She sighed, shivering as she pulled her sleeping bag tighter. Better a week than a month, at least. Twice a day, someone came in with a light and the rations cart, called out names, handed the penitents their meals, and watched them drink their water ration before sending them back into the crowd.

And then there was nothing to do but wait, and sleep, and try to keep warm. It wasn't freezing on this side of the walls, but it was cold enough that the damp could make you ill, so kitting up and sleeping off most of her sentence was how she'd come out of this as easily as she could.

So she waited. And she'd wait.

Until the lights returned with someone calling out her name.

OTHER WORLDS THAN THESE!
Kin Name: Chrysanthemum Ashes
Preference List: water cat, sky cat, forest cat, bone cat, lynx, lion, cheetah
RP Link or Story: Chrysanthemum Ashes had little interest in digging, but as she watched the others in the harsh light of the glowing rock, their shapes started to blur and blend together and stretch across her vision until she saw only darkness.

"Needs more fire," she thought, and suddenly she became a brilliant blaze, chasing all the shadows away.

"That's better."

Chrysanthemum Ashes sat up and blinked, herself again, the rock central in her vision. "I see," she thought, and went to get a shovel from Steals Fire.

OTHER WORLDS THAN THESE!
Kin Name: From left to right: Stone Skip, Sunny, Frigid Depths, Veil of Death,
Late Visitor, Tide of the Daymoon, Little Things, In The Spaces Between, Take Root, & Thin as a Ghost
Preference List: Lynx
RP Link or Story:

OTHER WORLDS THAN THESE!
Kin Name: Veil of Death
Preference List: Lynx
RP Link or Story:

OTHER WORLDS THAN THESE!
Kin Name: Fading Amber
Preference List: forest cat, sky cat, water cat, bone cat
RP Link or Story: Prompt 5 - Darkness
Figures, nothing more than outlines of shadows, wavered around him, brushing against him, pushing him.
"Hey! Stop it!" Fading Amber complained. But that fell on deaf ears... could they even understand what he was saying? He brushed the dust out of his fur, but what was that?! He too was nothing more than an outline, just like the others. He could see the silhouette and roughly see where the upper body ended and the head began, but there was nothing more. Is this the land of shadows?
He continued on his way through a place unknown to him. Stumbling and cursing, he squeezed his way through narrow streets, past more and more swaying figures.
As he rounded the corner of a wall, he saw a figure sitting on the ground, looking up at him.
"Sorry, can you help me? Can you understand me?" Fading Amber spoke to them.
"What can I do for you, my boy?" it hissed.
"I don't think I belong here, I don't know how I ended up here. I want to go back!"
"So, you don't belong here?! That's good!"
"Good? What do you mean?"
"I mean..." the figure rose and stood in front of him, no longer the small, crouched creature, but rather towering over him. "...that means there's no one to protect you. You'll make an excellent meal!" With these words it stepped forward and reached for him. Fading Amber stumbled back, but hit something hard. “Where are you going, we just want to talk,” came a second voice.
He spun around and fled into the alley, but he didn't get far.
"Who do we have here? You know, meals don't run away, that's rude!" chirped a swaying figure right in front of him.
The other two had now caught up with him and cornered him.
"What a nice piece of fresh meat!"
"Yeah, look at his bacon!"
"I want the thigh!"
He turned desperately in circles, hoping to find a way out. He also made attempts to break through the shapes, but was repelled and pushed back as easily as a feather.
"You can't escape, don't even try, fresh meat!"
The figure to his left pushed him to the ground. "It's enough, let's eat!"
He looked up in fear. The shapes grew upwards, horns and mouths with large, sharp teeth grew on them.
His heart was racing. The shapes revolved around him, like a silent, synchronized dance. Then suddenly everything happened quickly, the first head shot down to him, followed by the other two, he closed his eyes and -
Nothing.
No pain.
Nothing at all.
He slowly opened his eyes, murmurs engulfing him. He found himself back at the stone, shaped like a heart.
The other kins sat and lay on the floor and rubbed their heads.
Was it all just a dream?

OTHER WORLDS THAN THESE!
Kin Name: Stone Skip
Preference List: Lynx
RP Link or Story:

OTHER WORLDS THAN THESE!
Kin Name: Tincture
Preference List: Lynx
RP Link or Story:

The trouble with healing the ill, Timor ruefully mused, was that they, of course, carried illnesses. Illnesses that even the best masking and sanitation procedures failed to prevent. It was one of those weeks- one filled with grueling, back-to-back twelve hour shifts - that had the RN stopped at the door on the last day of their work week. "You're hot,", their coworker had quipped at them.

"And I'm also not interested." their tone was as flat as their hair-- the time for styling had evaporated approximately when the pandemic had been declared, and they had already turned down Stacy's offers to go to her place, 'or yours,', more than once. Usually, a simple rebuff was enough to have her let up. This time, however, she shook her head, turning to show them their temperature on the infrared thermometer.

"Shit." Of all the days to get sick... "It had to be on my weekend."

OTHER WORLDS THAN THESE!
Kin Name: Your Story Ends
Preference List: glow tickets
RP Link or Story:
Knowledge

"Who would like to volunteer?" The professor asked.

Storyend's arm shot up. He was a rumpled, intense creature with plain, ink-stained robes. He was also beautiful, in an eerie way. The professor had his undivided attention.

"Yes, Storyend. Please come to the front." The professor gestured to a pot of soil. Next to it were various tinctures, gems, and vials of energy samples. "We were discussing life force. Now, what makes plants the ideal subject for experimentation?"

"They are the same as animals," Storyend said, "but a little slower."

The professor laughed in surprise, "I would not say the same," he said, but he looked at Storyend and the pot, suddenly uncertain. He pushed on with the intended lecture, "They contain some living energies. But, unlike animals, they can't feel pain."

Storyend's brow furrowed at this declaration. He looked like he was about to contradict the professor, then pressed his lips tight, thinking better of it. His attention was mostly on the pot.

"Today's subject is growth acceleration. Now, there are many paths to Alcetheme, as they say! In the plot is a seed. Potential! Improper application of forces will kill that potential, but correctly nurtured, you can bring that potential to bear fruit sooner. If you had already read today's chapter, you will have read some ways to achieve the desired result." The professor glanced at a vial containing a squirmy, black substance. "Some ways are quicker than others, but may also produce unwanted changes. Well, Storyend, would you like to try?"

Storyend nodded, approaching the table. Instead of choosing an item, he lowered his head, closed his eyes, and leaned down close to the pot. The classroom wasn't noisy, but he focused on drowning out the other muffled sounds and whispered breathing. His slightly pointed ear listened to the items. He could hear it, faintly. A soft, uncertain song. Each item had a song. The pot, the soil, the table, and each of the objects on the table. But it was the seed's tune he focused on. Slow, as he'd said. Not as slow as stone, but a gentle, thready pulse. Patient, hungry.

Storyend hummed under his breath, in harmony with the seeds song. His own song. Then he bent to listen to the other objects, to see which would be best suited to join the chorus. As the professor had said, many of the objects would be successful, but all of them created a different kind of song. Some songs were completely new, or drowned out the seed's song. Some threatened to strangle it completely, too fierce and bright. He wanted something that would allow the seed to shine. It was the seed who was growing, it should be centre stage.

He paused at last in front of one of the gems, which provided a gentle percussion, and this he held over the soil. His humming turned into a gentle song, and the gem began to glow with soft light.

The professor watched, stroking his beard. Songcraft was not unheard of, but it was considered one of the Heart magics, difficult to reproduce. It was mostly used by the faefolk, a feral and dangerous set of creatures that held their own council. As Storyend continued singing, green shoots curled out of the pot.

"Excellent," the professor said, "A perfect result! Usually one must use the darker magics to-"

The shoots did not tremble, or stop. Even a small amount of green succeeding in breaking the soil was splendid.

Storyend's plant climbed higher, and higher, until its head almost bent at the ceiling, its roots and leaves spilling out of the clay. It was not any strange color. It was itself, green and green and green, flowers big and lush, the scent off them heady and ripe.

The professor looked at the monstrous plant, stunned.

But Storyend looked at it with love, his heart full.