RhyDin Pride: Rainbow Aurora Around the Citadel!

[Mallory]

The witch had been very busy for the last month! But her mother-in-law, Shiori Maeda, had come back into town this morning to visit her daughters and granddaughters, and was helping to look after Midori; and so Mallory made a rare appearance on Twilight Isle.

It was likely she had traveled by a teleportation circle in the Celestial Citadel, the floating residence of the Archmage above the center of the Isle. She was there for at least an hour, glimpsed coming up to the edges of the floating island of bedrock, tracing symbols in the air with the Celestial Key and judging distances. When spotted by one of the goblins, elementals, other denizens, or visitors to the Isle, she politely waved, then resumed her work. Even at a distance, she looked very tired, vibrant green eyes half-lidded in the middle of long moments of focus.



A few minutes after her last sighting, an aurora in the colors of the LGBTQIA+ Pride flag emanated out from around the Celestial Citadel. Any who stood under it and looked at it long enough would be given a crystal, manifesting from the Quintessence and floating down from the aurora into their hands. Often these were in the same colors as the aurora, but could also reflect combinations of colors that the person was thinking of, especially if they were thinking about a specific community on the spectrum. Each crystal emanated a gentle feeling of warmth and reassurance when held, and the faces were inscribed with messages that manifested based on what the recipients needed to hear the most:

"You are not alone." "You are loved." "You matter." "How you love is beautiful." "Who you are is beautiful."



The aurora, and the manifestation of crystals from it when beheld long enough, lasted until the end of Pride Week Month!

((Tied into this event. Everyone is welcome to reply here, use this in live play, or vapor your characters interacting with it! Take a crystal, reflect on the aurora, have an impromptu dance party beneath it (Starglass would approve!), whatever!))

[Pharlen]

A Visit To The Rainbow Caves...

[Strawberry]

June 17th - Early Morning

Their bags were packed. The houses were locked and warded. Bandit was entrusted to a trained keeper who wouldn't let the little mischief maker get the best of them. The transport would leave for the spaceport in a matter of hours. And though she was fast running out of time until she left this place for the next week and a half, she still felt the need to come here. To this time. This place. By herself. Somewhere up near the Twilight Pavilion, across the wooden bridge to the midway point to the teahouse. It was there that she waited for the clouds to light up. But it was also there that she found something she hadn't expected. Though down below, the rainbow aurora around the citadel had been a spectacular thing, it was nothing compared to the brilliance up here.

"Huh..." She raised her hands into the air, wondering if she could touch it, feel the way the quintessence stretched across the cosmos. It was an energy she knew all to well for it was a part of her at the very core of her being. Made of it as she was, she hoped against hope to hear something, learning something, figure out just... well, she didn't know. Figure something out, who knew what.

Instead there was quiet. Serenity. Peace.

And at her feet, the fire of the clouds and the shimmer of the aurora caught like a glint on tricolor crystal resting near her feet.

"Tricksy..." She hummed, leaning down to retrieve it. Pink, yellow, blue, the quartz was polished to a shine. On the back of it, a simple message;

Fear not your muchness.

She wrapped her hands around it, squinting up at the rainbow sky. A second, a minute, maybe even an hour passed before she finally knew what to say.

"...You're not the boss of me!"

Then she too was gone in a flash.

[Sylista Ravenwood]

When Jun left her home later, Sylista returned to Twilight Isle to admire the rainbow in the sky. She had never seen an aurora so bright before, nor one filled with so many colours. It made her smile as it danced, and the feeling of representation for members of her family was found in those flickering colours.

Just not herself.

Imposter syndrome had hit her hard since the beginning of the new year, and the Runelord had suffered silently for months about whether her identity was valid because of who and how she loved. Whispering, she questioned, “can I really claim a place in a celebration so beautiful? Do I really belong?”

The verbal inquiry regarding her identity finished as a manifested tetrahedron floated down toward her. Skeptical at first, the woman watched warily before realizing that this is Rhy’din and stranger yet wonderful things had happened since the day she arrived; she accepted the rainbow pyramid-shaped object and read the words inscribed along the bottoms of three sides: “NEVER DULL YOUR SHINE,” “YOU ARE ENOUGH,” and “KNOW THYSELF.” Things were going to be okay.

Sylista offered a quiet thank you to the flickering lights and chose to return to her home to the wilds rather than to the inn. She had a family to love.

[Rachael Blackthorne]

The morning after the challenge to defend the custodianship of the Fire Tower for the second time, its Keeper left the Tower, intent on performing her usual daily duties in the Old Temple District.

Instead of traveling directly to the Portal, Rachael Blackthorne's black leather booted footsteps were somehow guided across the sands toward the rainbow aura that emanated from the Celestial Citadel. Once she reached the aura, her sapphire-hued gaze, hidden behind her customary dark lensed sunglasses, shuttered closed. She then permitted the soothing and dearly missed waves of Quintessence to wash over her.

When the Fire Keeper's eyes opened, she sighted a rainbow-hued crystal beside her booted feet on the sands. The crystal was carefully picked up and examined. On one of its facets was etched a simple message: How You Love Is Beautiful.

The Watchwoman's lips twitched into a rare, warm smile as she tucked the crystal into an inside pocket of her black leather trenchcoat (one that was not known to harbor stowaways). She then resumed her journey toward the Portal. And beyond.

When Rachael returned to the Tower later that evening, she left the crystal with her husband Ian to craft a proper pendant housing and chain from platinum.