<div class="floatleft">(https://i.imgur.com/16ZCeQa.jpg?1)</div><span class="bbc_font" style="font-family: georgia;"><span class="bbc_size" style="font-size: 13pt;"><strong>The Spirit of Blossoms</strong> (She/Her)<br/><strong>Time:</strong> Year 1, Night of the Shining Sky<br/><strong>Tags:</strong> <em>All Happy Spirits</em><br/><strong>Actions:</strong> <em>Speaking the Truth</em> </span></span><br/><hr/><br/><span class="bbc_font" style="font-family: georgia;"><span class="bbc_size" style="font-size: 13pt;">Blossoms looks distressed as she is asked to speak. She stares down at the frozen ground, her hands idly stroking over Agi's fiery fur as she listens to the requests of the happy spirits. "Very well." She finally agrees. "For those who do not want to hear, please leave my Colorful Grove..." she has never asked a spirit to leave before. You notice there are some happy spirits here, little things, floating about in the branches, much like you were a year ago. They have never picked a name, or an element, or left their mark on this island. They glance at Blossoms, then each other, then float away, choosing not to hear. If any of you wish to join them, you may. <br/><br/>For those who stay, you notice that Blossoms has shifted, slightly, as each moment passes. Her form stays the same, but her clothing is no longer flowers and bright colors, but armor. She carries no vines or fruits of berries but a powerful sword. It radiates a magic you have never felt before. You know to fear it. You know it could hurt you, unlike anything else you have ever found on this island, or in the world. Why would Blossoms have such a thing? <br/><br/>Well, because she isn't the Spirit of Blossoms after all is she? Not really....</span></span><br/><br/><br class="clear_left"/><br/><br/><div class="floatleft">(https://i.imgur.com/4z0g8rq.jpg?1)</div><span class="bbc_font" style="font-family: georgia;"><span class="bbc_size" style="font-size: 13pt;"><strong>Sunrise Blade</strong> (She/Her)<br/><strong>Time:</strong> Year 1, Night of the Shining Sky<br/><strong>Tags:</strong> <em>All Happy Spirits</em><br/><strong>Actions:</strong> <em>Speaking the Truth</em></span></span><br/><hr/><br/><span class="bbc_font" style="font-family: georgia;"><span class="bbc_size" style="font-size: 13pt;">"A long time ago in a land far from here mortals prayed for Gods. They prayed for answers, knowledge, power . . . happiness." The woman's lips smile ruefully. "And we appeared. I cannot say how or from where, but we came to them and they loved us. Their love made us strong. Their belief made us mighty. We returned it to them with great joy. We helped them build, and learn, and for a time things were peaceful." She sighs forlornly, "but it did not last. The mortals fell upon themselves and we did not stop them, no, we sang for it. We became splintered, against each other, urging the mortals we loved the best to wreak havoc and war against the ones we did not. We took the field with them, my blade sang." The memories bring pain to her voice, she cannot meet your eyes with hers, she hangs her head.<br/><br/>"But as time passed the beautiful land and beautiful people were devastated. Beyond even our power to restore, and our power grew weaker as the mortals started to doubt us. As well they should have, we merely led them to death. We all grew weaker. And we met again, for the first time in ages, and we learned the world was worse for having known us. Some felt we must leave. Some felt we must stay. I swore an oath to end us, and I reforged my blade to be able to do so. And I went to war once last time. To the gods that wished for peace and healing I promised, when I was done, there would be no more gods."<br/><br/>"And so one by one they stripped themselves away, removing their own powers, their domains, their abilities, their forms, until there was all but nothing left of themselves. Some did it on their own, some only through force at the point of my sword after terrible battles. And then my task...." she glances down at her sword, a sword that seems to hunger greatly as the story of what it was meant to do is told. "...but as I gathered the empty husks of what should have been souls I found something that stayed my hand."<br/><br/>"There is no afterlife for spirits." Blade says sadly, staring up at the stars. "We could not enter the Reaper's domain, we would simply cease to be, and I found myself unable to end my friends or even my enemies in such a way. And so I did what I thought best. I traveled across the great seas, far, far away from the mortal realms and I found an island. A happy island filled with precious things, and I let what little was left of the gods I once knew fall like a gentle rain into the soil and the water here, I left them be buried deep in the earth, melt in the molten fire of the mountain, drift away into the sky, and dilute into the water until they were all but not there. And I willed with all the magic I could that if there was anything left of them that could feel or think that they would be happy."<br/><br/>"And I made my Colorful Grove, and I sealed it away where it could never be found by mortal eyes, and I was happy." She pauses in her story. "I do not know for how long, time no longer meant anything to me. I saw flowers bloom and snow come again, and again, and again, and I made my grove so beautiful...." she glances around it with watery eyes, desperate to be proud of one thing she's done right. <br/><br/>"And then I began to receive visitors." She looks down at you with a bittersweet smile. She holds out her hand, passing it gently over the head of Aqua, smiling as her form shifts and responds to her gentle touch. <br/><br/>"Happy Little Spirits." A look of pure contentment crosses her face. "Oh you were so delightful. And you made me so happy. And I watched as you grew and learned and....started to become gods again." That bittersweet tone is there once more. "And then the mortals, amazing things that they are, have found a way across the seas themselves..." she looks towards the edge of her grove. "I do not know how they can still remember me. But they are so full of surprises..."<br/><br/>She hangs her head. You sense all about you the magic of the Colorful Grove has started to fade. Her unhappiness at telling this story has caused her to cease her focus on this place she loves. <br/><br/>"So now you know." She says simply. Her hand rests of the hilt of her sword. Her fingers tap it idly. "I tried to hide you from the past, and it found you. I tried to keep you from yourselves, and you grew. I tried....I tried to make you happy." Tears are starting to fall down her face now, speaking of this has clearly left her quite distraught. <br/><br/>"I failed you. I lied to you. Perhaps my blade should sing once more." Her fingers take more of a grip on it. She stares at the ground, hanging her head, ashamed of what she has told you. <br/><br/>But for all you hear, and all that seems to strange, there is one thing you know with certainty. You are not the Gods she knew before. Born of them or not, you do not know, but you are your own beings and the choice of what to do with your gifts, your knowledge, this world, is yours, and yours alone.  <br/><br/></span></span><hr/><br/>If you speak, she will listen. If you judge, she will accept. If you influence, she may feel it.<strong>What do you say? What do you wish her to feel?</strong><br/>