2024 Events

"What a bother," thought the exhausted bloody crow, Diaval, as he wandered the streets of the village all morning, going in and out of shops on a hunt. He had simply been looking for a proper gift for Quinn, for helping him arrange all his trinkets. The interesting purple and yellow browbird even offered to help add to his collection of shiny goods by gifting Diaval a few nice glimmering pieces of ancient Astrean treasures.

It was not in Diaval's nature to be so friendly or make close ties with anyone who was not a Hiro or above, but this group seemed special. What started as a paid gig he thought would last a year, only for him to skip off, turned into him questioning it altogether. Even staying out over winter and now into spring as more arrived on the ship, the bloody crow was finding it delightfully comfortable. Even his Dalon mount, Cortado, had formed bonds with some of the ship's crew, giving them rides and joining them for little events. His companion, Nightmare, who was an honest terror, even managed to make friends with unlikely sorts.

To show his gratitude, springtime was the perfect occasion for new starts, building strong bonds, and showing others that he cared. Diaval loved being a tricky little devil, but he had standards. Quinn, out of them all on the ship, had become one of his favorite companions, and hearing his desire to have wings intrigued the Hiro. Clearly, Diaval could not just wave a wand and give Quinn Hiro wings, as amazing as that sounded, but perhaps he could work around it.

With spring came many new baby animals, some of which Diaval had never seen before. As many as he saw, they all reminded him of potential gifts for other Browbirds or kitbulls. The cherubin looked perfect for Arabelle, the pumpkin lunon seemed fitting for Oogieboogs, and the sharden appeared to be a proper pet for Winnie. Yet nothing seemed to call out to him for Quinn yet, other than the idea of getting them a small sluggy bug to be upset over. Yet that wouldn't do; it was small, would upset the brow instantly, and of course, it didn't have wings.

His mount, Cortado, slithered out from a side alley, having wandered a different part of the village for Dia. The massive creature smelled of freshly brewed coffee, and clinging to its hair was the ever-attached hemling, Nightmare, a traveling duo that helped Diaval whenever they could. They also assisted him in more unsavory matters of pickpocketing and thieving at night.

"Did you guys find anything?" Diaval questioned, feeling disheartened by the whole idea. There was only one pet store left in the village, and he doubted he would find anything there. With hope dwindling, he looked over to his little gremlins, and they both sadly shook their heads in turn.

"Damn it..." He started moving on, "one more chance it is," he spoke more to himself than to Cortado or Nightmare. Cortado followed after, with Nightmare crawling to jump on Diaval's shoulder. "Here we are..." Waving off for Cortado to go rest, Nightmare and he opened the store door to hear the chime announcing a new customer. With that came the sudden rush of ruckus noises, all sorts of companion pets in different areas. A lot of new babies, such as Kettlekat, Kitlike, and... there.

His odd-colored eyes opened as wide as they could, eyeing the little bear-looking cub in the back. With so many other customers already in the building, Diaval luckily went unnoticed for some minutes as he went to stand and inspect the tiny thing. Light and dark purple like Quinn, it had a good set of wings that shimmered a pink gradient underneath. Along its body were markings of beautiful dark maroon scaling, and the fluff looked ever so soft.

"Hello there! You liking what you're looking at?" Excited words of the shopkeeper crept up from behind him. They suddenly placed themselves next to Diaval with a friendly smile, most likely witnessing how he reacted to the bear.

"What is it?" Was all he could muster out.

"A dracor cub! Just got this little girl in a few days ago in an egg batch. Her siblings already found their homes after hatching; she was the last to pop out last night, actually!" The keeper said proudly. "A rare flying mount that many don't see often."

"It's perfect…" Diaval gushed, watching as the dracor cub took notice of him and tried to stand on its two hind legs to size him up. "How much…"

As the shopkeeper went into the price and more details about the cub, Diaval had a moment's blast playing with the thing. It was a spicy little cub at first, but once settled, it was a sweetheart. This creature would grow perfectly to protect Quinn! Clearly, since Quinn could not protect themselves, and the biggest factor was this thing could fly. It couldn't take Quinn around just yet, but the way the shopkeeper described the Dracor, it would be a powerhouse. Another neat thing was, mount pets were a rarity on the ship. Only Diaval had a full-grown mount yet; the steep price to pay for the beasts was heavy. But when you had a weighted wallet thanks to thieving, it became easy to keep the larger pets around. Plus, Diaval would not have traded Cortado for anything in the world.

As they wrapped up their transaction, Diaval bought a few more needed items to give to the wingless browbird. He stopped with Cortado and Nightmare at the gift shop, carrying the little cub in his arms. There, he bought a large basket to place it in for easier carrying, good enough to hide it and pass as a gift basket. Then he snagged a bow from a bike while passing through the street, promptly placing it on the cub's head to make it appear cuter. This new addition to its features only disturbed the cub, which instantly went to tear the bow apart. Within a few moments, the group was on their way back to the ship cottage.

Riding through the forest, Diaval, Cortado, and Nightmare could hear sudden laughter through the trees. By the voice of it, it seemed to be Quinn, whom they were looking for, and Blossom. Rounding a bend in the long dirt path, the other pair came into view. Blossom had climbed a tree with her Butterfly Wing Cloak tied around her neck. With her was Quinn across the other tree, also wrapped up in a spare Butterfly Wing Cloak from the ship's inventory. It appeared, by the way they were laughing, that Blossom was finally teaching Quinn how to use the cloaks. The snow girl jumped to glide from one branch to another effortlessly, only to have Quinn jump after, following suit.

"Well, this looks like fun…" Diaval snickered, riding Cortado into the scene. Nightmare darted off Cortado to dash into a bush upon hearing the scurrying of some little forest creatures, Nightmare's favorite prey.

"Diaval! I didn’t know how useful this thing actually was with gliding," Quinn proclaimed, jumping from another branch to show him their progress. "I thought these things were just for show, honestly, and only kept you warm in winter."

"See, I told you it wouldn't be that scary," Blossom giggled, then turned to sit on her branch. Her legs hung over the edge as she held onto both sides. The feeling of fresh spring upon her fur was pleasant, making her smile widely. She took a moment to herself before it was stolen by the scratching sounds coming from Diaval. "What's that?" She pointed out, tilting her head to indicate the clasped basket behind him.

"This is for Quinn…" The bloody crow had a soft spot for the purple and yellow bird, so showing that they appreciated their friendship and efforts was slightly hard on him. His words fell silent as he moved to get ahold of the basket and held it up to Quinn.

Quinn said nothing for a moment, just shocked they were receiving a gift! A sound of excitement escaped them as they jumped down from the branch to meet Diaval on the ground. Walking up to Cortado's side, they happily accepted the basket that was now making more scratching noises, only to let out the softest little growl.

"What on earth is in here, Dia?" Quinn was surprised by the weight of the basket, so much so that they had to set it on the ground.

"A gift. Thought you would like a baby animal of your own to take care of…" Dia snickered, knowing well this was not something Quinn would usually pick for themselves.

"A pet!! You know how I feel about pets. Dia, I can't take this, pets are so time-consuming and require so much energy—" Appreciative as they were, pets were a large responsibility, and Quinn already had their plate full with being the ship's housekeeper. But when they opened the basket to have the cutest little head pop up and then have it crawl into their lap, Quinn was instantly enamored. Words were gone, replaced only by squeals of happiness upon seeing the tiny dracor cub and its wings.

"That is adorable!" Blossom shrilled, instantly jumping down to join Quinn in meeting the dracor cub. She had never seen such a beast before in person, only reading about them in the many books she enjoyed. They often were the mounts for grand warriors, so seeing it as Quinn's pet was very humorous to her. "This baby is going to be HUGE!" she proclaimed, exaggerating by extending her arms wide.

Diaval nodded, and Quinn gasped, "How big are we talking?" Quinn felt a sudden tinge of panic, "Will it be able to fit on the ship?"

"Ha! Not that big. It can live in the barn pens. It's not an actual-sized dragon, but a good future mount to fly around…" Diaval corrected, "She's a girl and has just recently hatched. The shop owner said she would start to grow pretty fast and form bonds with those who spend the most time with her in the early age."

"A mount? A flying mount?!?!" Shock was all Quinn could feel while playing with the bear-like cub. "I’m actually going to get my wish to fly… to see the cities from up in the clouds like a Hiro!"

"That was my goal…" Diaval said quickly, "I can't give you wings to fly like a Hiro, but I can help by getting you a friend that can. Consider it a thank you for always keeping my stash shiny and clean, and most of all, not making a fuss about it."

Blossom couldn't help but laugh again, knowing well what a hoarder Diaval was. The extent of his kleptomania had no bounds, keeping anything and all things perfectly shiny and good. A true crow, making their nest glimmer in the sunlight, though no sun touched the darkness that was Diaval's room. Quinn should have freaked out and dared to never go in there, but to Blossom's surprise, the browbird had been ready for such a room, simply helping Diaval keep it sorted and clean to their liking.

Quinn didn't know what to say at first, then picked up the cub to snuggle it in their arms. "Thank you, Diaval, this means the world to me." Getting sappy was perfectly okay with the browbird, and so they began to lightly weep, hugging the cub like it was a teddy bear.

Blossom thought the moment was sweet, while Diaval felt a pang of awkwardness watching them cry over the cub, something they didn't expect.

"Well… you enjoy that dracor cub and give it a proper name…" Diaval mustered up, breaking the noise of Quinn crying in front of them. The sudden need to escape with Cortado was felt, in fear Quinn may try to hug them next and start bawling all over. "I’m leaving to pen Cortado and take a nap…"

Quinn kept on bawling, watching Diaval go to leave back towards the ship. They and Blossom were soon walking behind Cortado with the cub. "I’m going to name her Mama…she kinda looks like my claimed mom by the marking on her head…"

"That's a sweet name… and such a cute cub! I’m sure the others will absolutely love her, especially Medi!" Blossom chimed in.

"I didn't even think about the others… we'll have to introduce them immediately. What do I feed her? She looks too young to be put inside of the barn pens…" Quinn suddenly had all these concerns of a new pet owner. Blossom was quick to remedy their worry, seeing that Diaval had gotten too uncomfortable to finish filling them in on the Dracor cub.

"I’ll read through some books tonight on Dracor cubs, then toss you a book on them too. And like Diaval said, perhaps you should keep her in your room with you for a bit. Build a close bond before placing her in the pen barns. The other companions are nice, but I’m sure all these new beings will be stressful for such a small baby."

Quinn agreed to Blossom's words, and ahead on the path, Diaval gave a quick word of approval for that idea. The group headed back to the ship cottage to introduce the new addition to the traveling clan.