I am so grateful to all of you who have joined me inside this Dragon Village. I am grateful for you taking a chance on a unique group idea, and contributing so well to the heartbeat of this village. I love seeing your beautiful designs, reading your fantastic stories, and falling in love with your characters and world that you are helping create and shape. I am grateful that even when I went silent for a while, you stayed. Thank you 🫂 To be honest, I was not doing well. I did a dumb thing and at a peak of positive feeling and success I stopped depression medication I had been taking. Then, as life does, things changed and I was back in the middle of many harsh mental triggers attacking my self worth, and I didn't have the medication to block the negative demons who attacked. Depression medication takes about a month to see any effects, both ways. So when I stopped, it seemed like it was okay because I was still okay. Now that I am restarting, it's taking time to readjust the dose to combat the new triggers. It's been rough. My negative voice is really mean, lol, and it led to some...dangerous...thoughts. And it also makes me want to hide from people - yet being around other people is what helps keep it at bay. Isolation is dangerous - yet I felt so ashamed of disappearing and being overwhelmed with the notifications that have been flooding my skool account - I only now have gained the courage to come back. So, thank you again for being here and for not burning the village down while I was gone ^_^ I know with so many dragons around, that is quite a feat ;)

The air in the Astral Keep hummed with the slow, rhythmic pulse of Astaro’s heartbeat, a sound now permanently synced with Runi’s own. Living within the Deep Astral had become a series of "sensory contradictions"; Runi could smell the "ancient forest floor" of the upper realms while adjusting the physical brass hinges of his salvaged heavy oak desk. Astaro, now a creature of Dual Geometry with wings like shimmering light watched Runi with a curiosity that tasted of ozone and mischief. Realizing the hatchling required more than just the mundane dragon toys for stimulation, Runi set out to utilize the Permanent Bridge to create artifacts of joy. Asset Block 01: The Phase-Shift Yarn Ball The Construction: Runi began with a core of mundane sheep’s wool from his physical attic. As he wound the fibers, Astaro drifted over, his silver scales reflecting the brilliant star-flare highlights of the Keep. Before Runi could tie off the end, Astaro exhaled a soft puff of "Thaumiel-Vapor". The wool didn't burn; instead, it began to oscillate, turning into a "varying shade of charcoal gray" before snapping back to solid white. The ball became a "vortex of Astral Nebula". Astaro loved to bat it toward Runi’s head, only for the ball to "phase" through Runi’s "translucent chest" and reappear on the other side, leaving Runi with a harmless, high-pitched hum in his ears. Asset Block 02: The Chrono-Squeaker Runi salvaged the internal "precision-tooled gears" and the "balance wheel" from the shattered remains of the 19th-century maritime chronometer. He housed them within a protective "thorny wooden frame" similar to the one that had encased Astaro's egg. As Runi "sutured" the wooden casing, Astaro nudged the device with his snout, infusing the gears with a "Conceptual Moment". The toy didn't just squeak; it manipulated "local reality". Astaro discovered that by squeezing the toy near Runi’s inkwells, he could make the ink float in "indigo and spun gold" bubbles for exactly three seconds before they splashed back down—usually right as Runi was trying to write a report.