ORIGIN

And now for the hardest part. Kin-Kin closed her eyes, and held her breath, focusing on the formation of pebbles at her paws, and the ethereal light falling all around them. Kin-Kin felt the telltale flow of power through her fur, and her glow went dark, the only light now cast from the ring of mushrooms surrounding them, and the pebbles... as a delicate glow formed above them. Kin-Kin's light reformed itself above them, into pale patterns which quickly reformed themselves into butterfly's wings, fluttering and closing, as though they were truly alive.

Though each of the pebbles had their own set of tiny, ethereal wings, the crystal kin-Kin had made held the brightest wings of all; pale aquamarine in colour, they were less ethereal and held more detail, the air shimmering and sparkling around them with a softly glowing mist.

---

When I speak.

When I think.

As Kin-Kin moved on to the third, and final, spell of the routine, the less-impressive wings that brought the river pebbles to life faded away into darkness, their light draining as their creator's focus shifted away. The crystal's wings remained, though, gently fluttering and shimmering. she kept it going with careful attentiveness. Everything relied on this illusion staying strong, even if its offshoots disappeared into the dark. Kin-Kin dropped her gaze, looking at the crystal, her gaze never leaving it. This was the final step.

The pale white wings were gone into the dark- the river pebbles were now just pebbles once more.

Her tension was mounting, the fur along her spine standing on end. She had to do this. it was her moment.

She stared, and waited. waited, and stared...

...

...But nothing happened. Kin-Kin let out a breath, her jaws opening slightly, a look of stunned horror flashing on her face. The magic was gone, slipping from her grasp like mist, like magic was so prone to doing. She watched the butterfly wings- the perfect illusion- as it rippled and shimmered in the air. But she didn't think it was enough. That was it. After some time, Kin-Kin let the illusion fade, thankful that her cape hid the fur stiffening along her back. Forcing a cool grin, Kin-Kin bowed deeply to those assembled- the contestants, the judges, and those here just to see her.

And then, stiffly, she rose to her paws, and padded away- and this time, no magic followed her.

---

When I speak.

When I think.

Rinaotei was sitting as she watched all contestants come before everyone and perform their feats for all to witness, piecemeal they all worked their Magick and off they went to sanction for the next contestant to do their thing additionally. Soon she'll be next to exhibit her magickal capabilities; her wings infrequently twitch which gets more frequent as time goes on. Here is an important event, but Rina only wishes it wasn't so crowded here, especially since she has wait for her turn to be liberated from this massive crowd and alas waiting is not a forte she has. She has been endeavouring to take her mind off how crowded it is to observe other entrees performances to have an idea how high her stakes shall be for her performance. So far there are a few Gembound who managed to stand out with such performances, but Rina wasn't too worried, after all how well she does will, in the end, turn out far better than her disastrous performance in the obstacle course from last Olympics even if her recital is a lamentable one.

When Kin-Kin finished it was now her turn, and she wasted no time in flapping her wings and sailing them over to the ring, she is ready and has been for a while. Albeit all eyes are most probably on her now, still it was better than getting trapped in a crowd, so Rina wasn't swayed an inordinate amount by this; her stance collected and casual.

Rina proceeds to focus her Magick as her eyes were on the crystal stream flowing through Polaris; yes, it'll be adequate.

But infelicitous as it is her Magick is acting finicky on her and refuses to avail her in bringing forth her Spell, she endeavours her best to avert any signs how things are not turning out well, no she must do this right she requires water for this to work.

"Speech"

Rina lets out a minuscule sigh, things are not working with her but jeopardous as it is to utilise this Spell she requires water for this to work out for her, so she endeavours it again, but hapless as still, nothing comes forth. Rina remains quiet, at this rate the mutant wolf may have to act like she illuded everyone into believing she never intended to do any Spell. Well she contemplates it anyway, such a thing might be regaling to witness all their reactions to such if she were to do it, she was tempted to do it now to behold said potential reactions.

"Speech"

Rina still managed to show no designation on her struggle on endeavouring to make her Spell work for her, to her audience it'll only appear she's staring stoically at the river and has been doing so for a while now, still as a statue veraciously.

She endeavoured all she could, but her Magick must've concluded all her successes from earlier practice has to be balanced out with nothing but failures here before everyone to witness. Quite an ingloriousness, she had quite an idea in mind, but perhaps it's on her for endeavouring to make her first Spell be a potent one, mayhaps Fountain could've been a better choice for her first Spell.

It's aberrant; Rina would've thought she'd be flustered if she ultimately failed at this yet this is not so, well emotions such as getting flustered is not conventionally something she has, still. All she can muster in her head is 'Ah, oh well.' And this shows from outside too as she is nevertheless casually visually examining the Crystal River still. If anything, she is amused at herself from such a piteous endeavour.

Rina conclusively turned her head away from the said river and her eyes on all spectators, smiling with amusement, she sits for a brief moment and only gives them all a soft shrug and pads away from the ring in a casual manner. It doesn't bother her, indeed if anything it'll be a little amusing how perplexed they all must be as to what even transpired, regaling to how terrible her attempts ended up it was comical in a way.


"Speech"

@Tukluk

Tuck had been so nervous and hyper-focused on his own routine up until this point that he had not paid any attention to what anyone else was doing. When it was his turn to go, he jumped a bit, and then tried to focus again on what he planned on doing. He found the nearest clear spot to perform, and then stretched out his tiny arms and said, “Gather ‘round and watch my show! First, we divulge… in a bit of darkness…” He grinned, in a way he hoped made him look a little evil or scary and then cast his spell…

It worked perfectly, and soon his tiny body was completely enshrouded in darkness, his eyes aglow in an eery blue color. He let out his best “evil laugh,” throwing his head back for dramatic effect, letting the billowing shadows wrap around him for as long as he could keep the spell cast. “Anyone scared?” he asked in a hopefully creepy tone. “Well… don’t worry. I will now… banish the darkness forever!”

With his head and arms thrown back, Tuck fully expected a great glowing ball of light to appear, with him in the middle of it. His first cast had been so successful, he hadn’t even anticipated a failure. Unfortunately, the creepy shadows had gone away when he’d tried to cast his next spell, so now he was left in an awkward position without anything to show for it. Trying to pass it off as if it were a joke, he opened his eyes, which were orange again, and looked around as if overly-puzzled. Yes, this was definitely part of the act (not). “Ahem!” he said loudly, winking at the audience. “I saaaiiiid… I will now banish the darkness… forever!” And he threw his head back again dramatically.

Now the spell decided to work! When he next opened his eyes, a great ball of bright yellow light was enveloping him, sparkling wonderfully. “Aha!” he shouted triumphantly. “See, it just needed a bit of coaxing is all!” he said, looking around at his audience and grinning from ear to ear. “There! Now I have, indeed, banished the darkness! But who knows…” He bent his body forward and added in a whisper. “Maybe it’ll be back again in a few cycles…” With a little evil chuckle, he cut the light spell short and hopped away. At least he didn’t run away crying like he had the last time they’d had one of these competitions…