As the Christmas season has definitely come and gone, Felicia, ETN-05 and NRN-01 worked together to take down the Christmas lights and decorations. As soon as work was finished, NRN-01 was quick to return to playing with the gadget she's come to love. Although the cold machinery looks quite out of place in the woodlands, it seems that blinking light never gets old!
In the meantime, Ember continues to enjoy her stay with the Ettins in the mysterious spaceship. For a while, she has fun chasing ETN-06 back and forth near the door, playing cheerfully - however, it isn't long before trouble comes.
Mysteriously, and without any clear reason, ETN-06 passes away. She wasn't ill, and didn't seem to be suffering; perhaps something just went wrong in her body somewhere along the line. Ember, a bit sad about the loss of her new playmate, moves on to explore her environment a bit more.
Nith'eroi continues to lie still in the corridors. Maybe she's become too grief-stricken to move on, or maybe she simply feels this is the end of the road for her... but unable to move, or unable to see what could possibly be ahead, she only awaits her fate....
...however, at the last second, some guiding force seems to take Nith'eroi by hand and lead her from the brink of death to the destination she was seeking. Perhaps a bit confused and bewildered, she stumbles into the open area her friend had found herself in. After taking a second to breathe in some fresh air, she's quick to start eating some of the food that had been lying around! It would seem that quietly wasting away in a cold corridor can make you a bit hungry.
Though far from home, Ember and Nith'eroi seem happy to be reunited, enjoying their time together in peace once again to the sounds of the buzzing (and gurgling?) machinery that now surrounds them.
Back home, things are also rather quiet. Life goes on as always. Felicia has once again taken up the art of painting on the balcony, and this time, she's painted a Norn... with a fur color like that, perhaps it's even a painting of Ember. Poor Felicia seems to feel lost, and her feelings are understandable; after all, two of the Norns she had been looking over as her children have suddenly disappeared. Though they are happy and safe in a land far away, Felicia may never find out where they've gone...
In the meantime, ETN-05 grows to be an adult. Although she didn't seem to carry any relation to Nith'eroi, having been born from an Ettin and not a Grendel, she seems to be a spitting image of the
Grendelborn, making Nith'eroi's absence all the more bittersweet.
ETN-05 seems a touch out of place, though she's comfortable and happy in her new home. She's a very quiet, shy Norn, though, hardly ever speaking up. She seems content to relax on the deck and watch the brightly colored butterflies pass by, warm in the light of the stars overhead.
Time marches on, and soon enough, Nith'eroi is chosen as the next to birth a child. Seemingly aware of the responsibility, she makes her way to the pad of warmth in the ship to lay the egg. However, once she's laid it, she finds herself fascinated; she gently gathers the egg in her hands, gazing at its black-and-white checkered shell and carrying it around. Is this truly it... the beginning of a new life, in her hands?
It isn't until Nith'eroi falls asleep that she finally sets the egg down, and as she rests, it quickly grows in the warmth of the heated pad.
The child that hatches looks not unlike Ember, though a brighter pink in color rather than Ember's more heated red. After thinking on it for a little bit, Nith'eroi decides to name her child Fayrah, a spark of life born far from home. Fayrah seems to take a great deal of pleasure in playing with the popping flowers, which even all the way out here, cover the floor of the spaceship and playfully explode with a "POP!" when touched.
Perhaps, though there is quite a distance between them and their woodland home, Nither'oi, Ember, and Fayrah will be able to start a new colony of Creatures living in harmony on the strange spaceship.
[I'm finally back! Please forgive my inactivity as of late; schoolwork has gotten a bit hectic as we approach midterms, and I've been focused on it. I hope to continue regular updates soon!
In addition, although I was excited about Creatures 2 functioning on my computer, the game stopped working for no discernible reason less than a day later, so the planned Creatures 2 run has been postponed. Creatures 1 is working, however some of the kits are not, so I will have to see if I can't fix them! In the meantime, posting will continue to feature C3/DS as usual.]
It is within these tunnels that life shall begin anew, as a single spark gives way to what will become the next generation of Norns to inherit this now new rebirth of a once-familiar world.
Thankfully, there were almost no growing pains, and everything's gone smooth as butter. Aside from a few minor bumps in the road I was expecting to encounter, I have successfully been able to relocate my worlds to a brand-new digital copy of Creatures Exodus, and both Applewood Fields and the Waterworks are functioning properly with every Creature intact. (I've included a picture of Ember taken after the move for good measure!)