Information
Atoms the Particle Matter
Helium
Legacy Name: Helium
The
Vibrant BlobOwner:
BalloonAge: 5 years, 7 months, 3 weeks
Born: July 24th, 2020
Adopted: 2 years, 1 month, 2 days ago
Adopted: February 14th, 2024
This pet has been nominated for the Pet Spotlight!
Statistics
- Level: 137
- Strength: 89
- Defense: 15
- Speed: 15
- Health: 15
- HP: 15/15
- Intelligence: 127
- Books Read: 119
- Food Eaten: 0
- Job: Glitter Master
"Kuranes, Lord of Ooth-Nargai and the Sky around Serannian, sat pensive in a chair by the window looking on his little sea-coast village and wishing that his old nurse would come in and scold him because he was not ready for that hateful lawn-party at the vicar’s, with the carriage waiting and his mother nearly out of patience. . . . He was a king in Ooth-Nargai, but found no meaning therein, and drooped always for the old familiar things of England that had shaped his youth. All his kingdom would he give for the sound of Cornish church bells over the downs, and all the thousand minarets of Celephaïs for the steep homely roofs of the village near his home."
-H. P. Lovecraft, The Dream-Quest of Unknown Kadath
In all the vast Dreamlands, there is no place more pleasant than Serannian, the idyllic cloud-city built on a floating island above the Cerenerian Sea. Conceived and constructed in the dreams of King Kuranes, who resides there half the year in his beautiful palace, Serannian is home to all manner of creatures and visited by an even wider variety comprised of those who are fortunate enough to find it in their dreams.
About one-third of the permanent residents are balloons - sentient balloons whose souls floated to Serannian after they popped in the waking worlds, and some few who came there still living from other worlds to join the city guard. Just as humans sometimes dream of delicious foods, the balloons of the Dreamlands enjoy eating their favorite treats.
What, you may ask, do balloons eat? Helium, of course!
Fortunately for the great number of balloons in the omniverse, helium is the second-most abundant element, as well as the second-lightest. Hydrogen is #1 in both categories, but unlike helium, it is highly flammable which makes it not the snack of choice for most balloons. However, hydrogen does have its part to play in balloon cuisine: the fusion of hydrogen in stars creates helium, ensuring that the omniverse won't run out for as long as the stars last.
On some worlds, helium is rare in the atmosphere because it escapes into space before it can be harvested (or snacked upon). King Kuranes was born on such a world, where balloons have to be fed on helium mined out of the ground after it is produced by the radioactive decay of certain elements. However, after his permanent immigration to the Dreamlands and upon finding himself the regent of a rather large balloonish population, Kuranes decided that such mining operations were unnecessarily cumbersome and destructive.
Instead, he dreamed into existence the helium tree.
Orchards of helium trees are grown in Kuranes's country of Ooth-Nargai, and their fruit is shipped upon the beautifully painted galleys that sail upward upon air currents from the Cerenerian Sea, to harbor in Serennian's small sky-port. The balloons and airships of the city consume helium fruit in great quantities with no ill effects, but few other species partake of it, at least not more than once.
Not that it isn't edible to any dreamer who finds themselves in Serannian, and not that it doesn't taste delicious. But that taste has a curious quality. Ask any balloon what the fruit tastes like, and they'll reply, "Like helium, obviously!" Yet being an inert element, helium has no taste if you're not a balloon. Helium fruit, on the other hand, does have a taste. The curious part is that no one can agree on what that taste is.
Some say it tastes like candy or bubble-gum. Others claim it tastes like one soft drink or another. Still others declare it tastes like potato chips or a bologna sandwich or warm oatmeal cookies fresh from the oven, just the way their granny used to make them. To a few, helium fruit tastes like glue, crayons, or modeling clay.
But to all, it tastes good, delicious - like whatever they most enjoyed eating as a child.
And they're all right, because in his wisdom, King Kuranes created helium fruit to taste like nostalgia. To every dreamer who isn't a balloon, one bite of the fruit recalls a distant, longed-for past, for that is what Kuranes himself sought out the Dreamlands to find. . . and he doesn't want anyone else to make the same mistake. He literally gave up his life, dying in the waking world, to live eternally in the country of Ooth-Nargai built from his most beautiful dreams only to realize that the place he most wanted to be was the one place even the most skilled dreamer could never recreate: the world he knew as a child.
In seeking out ethereal beauty, Kuranes had neglected the reality which still contained those precious traces of his childhood. Although the latter was for him, like for us all, gone forever, his world still held the familiar sights and sounds and faces he had known as a boy, and too late he learned that these things he could not dream into being once he left them behind forever for the Dreamlands.
So he made his helium fruit taste like whatever the eaters had loved best, to remind them of the world waiting for them to awake and rejoin it. They could not return to their pasts, but they could wake back up and ease the ache of nostalgia by visiting a place they'd loved as a child, calling upon an old friend. . . or eating a real lollipop or bologna sandwich (or crayon) instead of something just pretending to be one.
And if they happen to dream themselves back to Serannian one night, they refuse another taste of the helium fruit. One is plenty.
(Unless, of course, you're a balloon.)
Glitter Master at Thimble & Co.
Credits
profile and story by Balloon, inspired by the work of H. P. Lovecraft
background created with MetaMapper
helium information from Wikipedia
Pet Treasure
Lizza Helium Heels
Carnival Helium Tank
Vibrating Nucleus Gel
Physics Textbook
Understanding Basic Physics
Vibrant Blob Candy
Vibrant Blob Plushie
Vibrant Blob Beanbag
Pile of Chibi Fruit
Sunrise Bell Berries
Luffle Ruffle Goo Fruit
Starbright Citrus
Striped Phulon Fruit
Apeeling Fruit
Turquoise Melon
Ombrerries
Fuzzy Fruit
Sunrise Fruit
Triargyle Fruit
Sugar Sweet Fruit
Box of Childhood Memories
Preloved Ruffie Plushie
Nostalgic Hikei Toy
Nostalgic Scootle Toy
Fashion Star Sticker
Shimmering Dawn Fanny Pack
Deceptive Boombox
Repurposing Old Tech
Pastel Mixtape
Rescued Cassette Tape
Electronica Mix Tape
House Mix Tape
Trance Mix Tape
Techno Mix Tape
Lofi Mix Tape
Predictable Love Stories Book Tape
Happy Stories of Joy Book Tape
Old Wizard School Book Tape
Tales of Blood Book Tape
Tales of Angst Book Tape
Making Math Fun Book Tape
Boring Classics Book Tape
Lacy Read Along Book and Cassette
Broken Record Player
Synthwave Vinyl
Vaporwave Vinyl
Riftcore Vinyl
Hypnagogic Drift Vinyl
Book of World Records
CD Player
CD of Ultimate Terror
Unmarked Red CD
Unmarked Green CD
Unmarked Blue CD
Unmarked Purple CD
Unmarked Pink CD
Regular TV
Spectrum VCR
Bloodred VCR
Darkmatter VCR
Alien Autopsy Videotape
Eighties DVD Player
DVD Toaster
Battered Instant Camera
35mm Camera
Color Film
Neon PC
Neon Green Modem
Small Floppy Disc
Advanced Red Floppy Disk
Advanced Orange Floppy Disk
Advanced Yellow Floppy Disk
Advanced Blue Floppy Disk
Advanced Gray Floppy Disk
Red Floppy Disk
Yellow Floppy Disk
Green Floppy Disk
Blue Floppy Disk
Purple Floppy Disk
Cordless Telephone
Mor Apeel Coil Bracelet
Haunted Neon Fabric Scrap
Cube Blub
Bweeoo
Can of Cypher Jolt Soda
Fruity Bumbuswax Candle
20th Anniversary Vibrant Kumos Cookie
Vibrant Cake Slice
Vibrant Potion
Gaudy Starlight Hairclip
Electro Cube Beanbag
Rave Matter
Caring for Your Rave Matter
All The Best Things Glow Sticker
Distorted Msg Mask
Rainbow Love LED Mask
Mesmerizing Screen Saver
Test Colors TV Face Plate
Delphi Sunset SimuLife Chip
Glitched Retrowave Sunset
Glitched Vaporwave Sunset
Glitch Triangles of the Past
Bright Cyber Sunset Beanbag
Mellow Cyber Sunset Beanbag
Dark Cyber Sunset Beanbag
Prank Caller Helmet
Kitschy Glass Beach Souvenir
Sunset Towel and Folding Beach Chair
Cityscape Skateboard
Sunset Flight Skateboard
Sunset Poster
See You In Paradise! Sticker
Colorful Evening Wave Sticker
Roller Coaster Sticker
Pink Souvenir Palm Tree Earrings
Yellow Souvenir Palm Tree Earrings
Green Souvenir Palm Tree Earrings
Blue Souvenir Palm Tree Earrings
White Souvenir Palm Tree Earrings
Confetti Bird
Bottled Sunset Sand
Dryorubi
Vibrant Painted Seashell
Vibrant Spotted Seashell
Sunset Ray
Blacklight Octopus Ale
Glow Ring Set
Rave Turnip
Cooler Than You Blub
Neon Blub
Blubby Lava Lamp
This Is A Really Loud Sticker
Drop It Sticker
Get In Formation Sticker
Blob Love Sticker
Rad Blue Building Sticker
Neon Bread Loaf
Storm Chain
Sunset Tie-Dye Ukulele
Guardian Eye
Sunset Round Sunglasses
Pink Lemonade Round Sunglasses
Chameleon Round Sunglasses
Ocean Breeze Round Sunglasses
Ombre SGreat Bottle
Neon Floral Snapback
Neon Color Block Shorts
Vivid Scale Patterned Bodice
Neon Hand Woven Afghan
Neeyon
Mor Fuzz Ombre Laces
Pastel Scrap Fabric Scrunchie
Sunrise Stole
Paisley Party Trunks
Patched Up Pillow
Burning Scrounged Up Bands
Fresh Scrounged Up Bands
Scrounged Up Bands
Sweet Scrounged Up Bands
Curious Jack-o-Lantern Seeds
Dreamy Jack-o-Lantern Seeds
Pink and Purple Rave Octo Sticker
Green and Red Rave Octo Sticker
Green and Blue Rave Octo Sticker
Purple and Blue Rave Octo Sticker
Purple and Orange Rave Octo Sticker
Black Mended Sweater
Dark Striped Sweater
Blacklights and Glow Paint and You
Book of Neon
A Glowing Aesthetic
Sunset Slide-On Dance Shoes
Sunset Dance Heels
Comfy Bright Striped Pants
Comfy Sunset Striped Pants
Vibrant Underground Succulent
Brightly Colored Soccer Ball
Dawn Metal Paint
Sunset Octombre Cake
Mystery Bread
Anniversary Spectrum Kumos Mixed Slush
Anniversary Blacklight Kumos Mixed Slush
Pack of Gel Pens
Watercolor Set
Box of Crayons
Vintage Spectrum Pencil Case
Rainbow Stars Notebook
Vintage Aurora Stationery Set
Vintage Jollin Vinyl Binder
Vintage Xotl Lunch Bag
Vintage Tigrean Sheet Set
Rainbow Star Stickers
Rainbow Star Overalls
Rainbow Starlight Bunny Plushie
Rainbow Digital Doughnut Beanbag
Lime Digital Doughnut Beanbag
Digital Doughnut Beanbag
Berry Digital Doughnut Beanbag
Pink Digital Doughnut Beanbag
Sunrise Illusion LED Tile
DangerZone Illusion LED Tile
NightVision Illusion LED Tile
Nebular Illusion LED Tile
DeepSpace Illusion LED Tile
SpaceTime Illusion LED Tile
Sunburst Miniature LED Tiles
Watermelon Miniature LED Tiles
Digiscape Miniature LED Tiles
Bubble Gum Miniature LED Tiles
Riftborn Miniature LED Tiles
Opalescent Miniature LED Tiles