Holy cow, Shining Star, those are amazing!  You got the wing shapes and the heads especially just right.  It's so cool that you added color, I'm always afraid I'll color wrong and mess it up.

Ebony~

After resting for a bit I get up and grab my map of the academy, hoping to explore.  Flamingo is still reading and Starless seems to be asleep, though I can't be sure.  Neither one notices as I leave the cave.  I walk down the tunneling hallway, checking the map every so often.  The air is pleasantly cool, reminding me of home, and I can hear the voices and laughter of other dragons coming from different rooms.  I feel a twinge of lonliness.  Why'd Clearmoon want me to go to this stupid school again?  Something about growing up and making friends, I remember.  Of course.  

I glance around and stop short. The area around me is unfamiliar and when I look back at the map I realize I have no idea where I am.  I must've been too caught up in my thoughts to have payed attention to where I was going.  Great, I think to myself, lost on the first day.  And then I see another dragon appoaching me from the other direction.  She looks like a hybrid, maybe Leafwing-Seawing.  Her eyes light up when she sees me. "Are you lost too?" she asks.

"I guess," I mutter.  I'm not in the mood to talk to anyone, but maybe she could help me.

"Maybe we could figure it out together.  I don't think I've met you yet- I'm Seaweed." 

"I'm Ebony," I respond. "I was looking for the library, but now, well, I'm lost."

Seaweed smiles shyly. "Me too!  Let's see.."

Seaweed and I eventually find our way to the library.  It's a huge cave, lit with glowing lamps and full of scroll racks. "Thanks for helping me," Seaweed says as we enter.  I don't respond.  She looks at me curiously. "You're lonely, aren't you."

"Of course not!" I exclaim quickly. "I'm just fine on my own."

"Can I help you?" the Sandwing librarian asks.  Seaweed shakes her head and dissapears into the endless rows of scrolls, but I hang back.

"Do you have any books of prophecy?" I ask, somewhat hesitantly.  I've never gotten the chance to read one before, even though I have the power of prophecy myself.  Reading them would be very interesting and might help me make sense of my own.

The librarian frowns. "Unfortunately those are off-limits to students.  Could I interest you in something else?"

I pick up one of her recommendations and sit down in a sunny corner of the cave, but I'm soon bored with it.  I guess I'll just have to come back here tonight and find those books myself, I think.  There's no reason they should be off-limits to me.

||Swallowtail||
The garden is warm like the greenhouse, but in a different way—warmer, sunnier, less humid. I idly examine the tidy rows of cabbages, wondering how long dragons have been working on this school. A LeafWing floats past, and I look at her curiously. Maybe she’s part of my Winglet! I’m so excited to meet everyone. I still don’t know who else is in my Winglet, other than Anthrophora and the other one, Ender. When will school start?
“Hey!” says a voice behind me. It’s a young SkyWing, his huge wings folded to his back. His golden horns twist back, and a pearly earring is clamped to one of his ears. “D’you know how to get to the Amethyst wing?”
I glance at Anthophora, but he’s talking to a gardener. I turn with a sigh. “I’ll take you.”
“Great!” He bounces a little and flaps after me.
“I’m Swallowtail,” I offer. “Who’re you? We’re in the same Winglet.”
“I’m Jasper,” he says in response. ((Yes, Jasper is a type of gemstone. Look it up. :D))
“Nice to meet you,” I reply. We’re at the mouth of the cave now. “Come on, follow me.”
It’s easy enough to find his sleeping cave. I peek in. A MudWing* is curled up on one of the beds, but she’s reading a scroll and doesn’t look up. “Here you go,” I say to him, tracing a talon over the metal plaque saying JASPER & SWAMP*, AMETHYST WINGLET, DORM 3.
I turn impatiently when he doesn’t respond, only to find that he is not there.
Muttering under my breath, I half-fly, half run down the hallway. Jasper is nowhere to be seen. I spot a NightWing-IceWing hybrid and skid to a halt. “Excuse me, have you seen a reddish SkyWing with golden horns?”
“Yes,” she replies gracefully. “He went into the Topaz dorms.”
“Seriously,” I hiss under my breath, “the dum-dum went into the wrong dorm?!” I thank the hybrid and dodge into the corridor leading to the Topaz dorms. It’s longer, the doorways narrower. I wonder how they carved the tunnels into the mountain: did they do it by hand, chip by chip, or did they have an animus do it? Pondering this idly, I suddenly hear a voice; it’s Maple, the LeafWing teacher me and Anthophora met earlier.
“No, these are the Topaz dorm rooms, I’m sorry, um…”
“Jasper,” he supplies, sounding disappointed. “But I followed my friend here! I just don’t know where she went.”
“You didn’t follow me!” I say, coming up behind him. “You must’ve turned off at the wrong corner!” And since when are we friends? I just met him!
“Oh, Swallowtail!” He smiles in relief. “Sorry!”
“It’s fine,” I grumble. “C’mon, follow me.”
We return to the dorms, and I drop off Jasper. He heads in to annoy the MudWing*. I’m just glad he’s not my dormmate!
I trudge into my sleeping cave. Ender’s gone**—to where, I don’t know. I flop down on my bed, close my eyes, and tuck my nose under my tail. It’s been a long day, and I drift off to sleep.
|||||||||||||||||
* If anyone wants to contribute a character, this doesn’t have to be a MudWing, and if it is it doesn’t have to be named Swamp or be female.
**@enderlotl, Ender can still be here if you like.
Hmm, looks like I accidentally created a new character. Oh well, here’s his charry sheet:

NAME: Jasper

TRIBE: SkyWing

PRONOUNS: He/him

WINGLET: Amethyst

ABILITIES (LEAFSPEAK, MAGIC, ETC): Animus magic (unless SkyWing is already taken, in which case nothing special…)

ABILITIES (POWERFUL FIGHTER, INTUITIVE, ETC): He’s super clever but tries to cover it up by pretending to be dumb.

PERSONALITY: Bubbly, excitable. Clever (as mentioned); smart; very cool. He’s excited to learn at the school.

APPEARANCE: shiny reddish, with lots of orange highlights and orange wings. His horns are golden.

FAMILY: Open

BACKSTORY: Jasper had a fairly average life in a SkyWing village. He kept his animus magic secret, even from his family, but he enjoys using it. The first thing he did was make himself a soul spell so his magic couldn’t affect his soul and a ring to warn him if a spell was at all evil.

FAULTS: He can be a little too bouncy and over-do the dumbness-cover a little too much!

OTHER: n/a
Next!
||Anthophora||
It’s pouring rain. The sun has long since disappeared. I’m tucked up close to the greenhouse with a few other dragons, waiting it out, but it seems to be getting stronger. Finally I get tired of standing here (those pretty white stones that lined the paths really jabb the talons…) and flew out into the squall.
The wind buffets me wildly as a flap to stay aloft. No other dragons are out in the storm. I wonder where the sun of an hour ago has gone. I bank towards the entrance cave, where a lone dragon stands watching the storm. ((This can be someone’s character, and they can add to this part if they want.))
Suddenly a great gust of wind sweeps down over the mountains. I’m distracted, peering down at the dragon below, and caught by surprise.
The wind whips out my wings and, despite my wild attempts to right myself, carries me away…
|||||||
So, the dragon watching the storm can be one of your guys dragons (first come first serve I guess, although who would particularly want to be them?) who sees Anthophora get swept away. Take it from here. My plan is for him to get blown off the island and land somewhere, though, so you *might* not want to have them find him just yet. I’ll be on next week!!
You know something? I’m a little like Blue. I’m always wondering about other peoples’ lives. Like the admin people who run the CB. What are their lives like? Is passing posts their only job? Do they have families? Are there different admin people who switch shifts? It’s fascinating!

P.S., I am now thirteen years (or eons) old. Just turned the other day.
Later!
—Shining Star

Link to intro post:

http://www.cricketmagkids.com/chatterbox/inkwell/node/493827 

Happy birthday Shining Star!!!

||Seaweed||

Librarylibrarylibraryyyyyyyy

"Do you have any books on prophecy?"  I hear Ebony's voice ask quietly.   Huh, interesting.  Could he be a prophecy dragon himself?  That would be so cool!  I rummage through every scroll the library has, picking out a couple on ancient SeaWing folklore; several volumes of Queen of the Animi,  my favorite action series; and one scroll of poetry by a famous IceWing author.  Satisfied with my selection, I curl up in a corner of the room and begin to read.

I read until I feel my eyes drooping.  Too tired to go back to my dorm, I lay down right there.  I'm just drifiting off into peaceful dreams when a dragon appears in front of me.

I jerk backward, startled.  I'm not in the library anymore.  I'm in IceWing territory, by the looks of it.  Snow and ice all around.  Yet strangely, I'm not at all cold.  

I've never seen the dragon in front of me.  They must be a hybrid, as they certainly don't match any tribe I've ever heard of.  She's part IceWing, most likely, all her scales glistening and shining and frost-colored.  All down her back, there's wisps and clouds of pastel colors, but faded, as if under a sheet of ice. I realize some of the colors shift and ripple and fluctuate.  She has a thin, slender face and lacks the pointy, long IceWing spikes.  And most interestingly, she has no wings.

"Morning, sleepyhead," she grins at me.  "I remember you!  Interesting, how very interesting..."

I sure don't remember her.  Before I can speak, she's dancing around me, poking at my wings and looking at my face.  "SeaWing-LeafWing, if I remember right.   What was your name again?  I've forgotten it, after all this time."

What?  "S-Seaweed,"  I tell the strange dragon.  I search my memory, but I still can't recall having seen this dragon.  And she seemed like someone I'd remember.

"Seaweed," she repeats happily. "Suits you, I think.  Have some seal."

I look at the meat, confused.  i can't smell it, I can't touch it.  I can only see it.

"Oh right, silly me!"  says the colorful dragon.  "Oh, you ought to know; you're dreaming right now.  I am too, but for me it's a liiiittle different.  See, I'm gonna wake up riiight now..." 

I sit up straight, dropping my book.  I'm back in the library.  It's empty, and dark outside.   

|||||

SO I actually don't really have any idea where I'm going with this, but I'm going somewhere!  And just to clarify, Darkstalker never existed, but all the good ol' classic animus-touched objects did, I guess?  Think dreamvisitors, the obsidian mirror, stuff like that.  

||Seaweed||

"Oh, um... yes, I'm alright."  I take a few deep breaths to calm myself.  "I- I just had a dream." I pick up the scroll with trembling talons.  Just a dream.

It felt real, though.  I'd never had a dream I could remember with such precise detail.  I know I'm being paranoid.  I wasn't a small dragonet.  I could handle having a freaky dream, three moons.

||Starless||

All is dark. I can hear the snoring of many dragons.  Perhaps I should get some sleep, with school starting in the morning and all that. 

I can survive without sleep, though.

I get up and wander the halls.  So many dragonets, all sleeping.  So many small, inferior dragons.  This- this is not a type of place I am accustomed to.  I have always lived in kill-or-be-killed, eat-or-be-eaten environments.  (Of course, I haven't killed anyone yet.  And I've never met a cannibal, of course.)  Ones where I pushed down other dragons, in turn raising myself.  Like displaced water.

This school is a place where all must act as equals.  All must be treated as equals.

But they simply don't understand.  There are no equals.

At least, I have no equals. 

Something sparkles in the corner of my eye and I pick it up- a gemestone of shining magenta-blue, swirled into translucent white.  I clasp my talons around it and head back to my dorm.  It was a nice color and felt quite smooth.