Envy barely listened to the rules, too busy keeping their rogue energy levels in check, hopping and bouncing in eager anticipation. They were gonna win this, they were sure of it! The weasel was like a coiled spring, waiting ever more impatiently as the minutes ticked by.

GO!

Envy didn’t need to be told twice as they sprung forth into action, bounding out onto the track, and clambering through and over the first hurdle, then the next, with relative ease. Their blood was like fire in their veins, and they could hardly contain their eagerness; perhaps that’s what carried them through the first obstacle so easily.


"speak."

Li was unsure if she really should have done this. She was in a rather tight area, all bunched up near the others. And there were a lot of gembounds here. She was never good in crowds, so this was really just a disaster. She was crouched as low as possible, wanting the race to just start already so she wouldn't be so near the others. A voice caught her attention, and she looked up to see a snake calling out to everyone. That must be the judge. She vaguely listened, and then...GO!

She shot off, her long legs giving her a bit of an advantage speedwise. She'd never really flat out run before, so this was new. Maybe that was why she entirely misjudged the jump over the hurdles. She jumped, and...tripped over the top, landing awkwardly on the ground on the other side. Pain shot up one of her paws, and she whimpered. Okay, that would make this a little bit harder...Hopefully the pain wouldn't hurt too much. She watched as others jumped over the other fences after her, and felt embarrassment flood through her fur.

She'd just have to do better next time, that's all. Though chances of winning were now sort of low, unless everyone in front of her failed.

Tired Bremen, it had been a long day. Or had it been a long night? He'd been off exploring the deepest darkest parts of the tunnels he could find and had completely lost track of time. The gembounds back in Canis were probably worried about him, it wouldn't do well to sleep out here and make them worry longer. Nope! He was off back to home to get a big looooong nap.

As the small hybrid paced along the southern wall of the unusually decorated Polaris he came across a party of some sort. All kinds of gembound he didn't recognize were lined up and about ready to start running as a little snake shouted out rules at surprising volume. As he got closer though he did see at least one familiar face; his Noodlekin! Bremen screeched out a shrill of excitement as the bounded up next to his sibling, the sleepiness of being up for almost a full day flooding back to the back of his mind.

He didn't have enough time to greet the other hybrid before the signal to start was given, but hopefully they wouldn't mind him joining in on their race. Little Bremen ran as fast as he could, jumping over the first hurdle with ease. He could do better though, so for the second hurdle he jumped up, landed precariously on the top and did a flip on the way down.

This was fun! For the next hurdle he didn't even try jumping over the full thing, simply ran straight into the wall and flipped backwards off the wooden surface, twisting to turn the other direction. With this new course he rushed toward the second hurdle again, which he hopped over to arrive once more at the very first hurdle, running up and over the fence to prance back and playfully tag the start line again.

No one was there though... right! It was a race and he was going backwards. He'd have to run real fast now to make sure to catch up with the others again.

---

’Thinking... thinking... thinking…’
"This is my voice, isn't it neat?"
Tags:

VINNIE THE VOICE
Among the crowd, a single black and white seagull was strutting back and forth. It was hard to see, so when he hopped up onto one of the rocks--which gave him a good, solid view of the running field--he began to loudly shout exactly what he saw, so that everyone could hear.

It took him a couple tries, but he managed to call upon his magicka to do about the only thing it was good for: make him really, really loud. His voice carried over the sounds of hoofbeats and paw-clattering, and he began to shout raucously.

"AAAHHHHH!" he began, a loud scream to test out his voice.

Yup, that worked.

"FOR ALL YOU CHUMPS WHO CAN'T SEE! They're doin' the obstacle course now! Look at 'em go, over the hurdles! We got a white--oh it's the DRAGON! Neat! And right on her heels we got the li'l black cat--oh hell he's cute, look at 'im, he's gonna be big some day! And over he goes! And right beyond that it's a BIG BLACK HORSE and ain't she a beauty and--YUP! OVER SHE GOES!" he cried triumphantly. He lifted off, long, narrow wings supporting him as he beat the air twice and glided overhead, giving a running commentary while airborne. Still very loudly.

Next was a little brown--wait--was that...?

"EYYYYYYY MONGO! GOOD JOB LITTLE BUDDY! You HOP those hurdles, you're doin' great, kid, great to see ya! And right behind him oh that HAD to hurt, lookit that poor li'l bird! C'mon, birdie, you can do it! Just get back up and try! And--"

Hell, that poor dog, too. It looked hard! "This course can't be easy! We got a dog--I think that's a dog--missin' too! Pick yourself back up and run, pup!" he called, encouraging those failing, as his warm nature bid him to. "AND WE GOT A TINY--ERR--BIRD? It's real colorful! AAND SHE'S MADE IT OVER! And a cat! --A real pretty cat! He's got his CLAWS in that wood, c'mon buddy don't hesitate, you got this! Lookit that weasel go! Tiny and SPUNKY, right over that hurdle, fastest of 'em all! I think it's winnin'!"

He watched as a cat--of some species he didn't know--managed to fail entirely at leaping the hurdle, and he cringed. "That ALSO had to hurt! You okay, there, cat?! Pick yourself up and go, if ya need a medic scream we probably got one somewhere..."

"Eyyy, ohhh, we got a--thing--" He wheeled, trying to get a better look at Bremen, but it did not at all help him to identify the whatever-Bremen-was. "Aaaand he's goin' the wrong way! But it's--the fun that counts! Right?!"

________________

Like Envy, Howl was hardly listening to the rules and mentally compiled a TL;DR guidebook. It would be hard to resist the temptation to just elbow the weasel right off of the course; however, it would also be hard to resist the temptation to just run away in case they got the very same idea. Perhaps not completely the same. They'd make it more painful with magicka. At the snake's call, Howl was off like a bullet, running furiously on all fours. He stopped only to briefly gather power in his haunches and make the hurdle jumps. A few times, he felt his hind feet clip the wood, but otherwise, he was well off and doing decently!

晴夫HARUO
WITH MY LIGHTNING BOLTS A-GLOWING, I CAN SEE WHERE I AM GOING

wow there were a lot of animals here!! this was... wild and incredible. haruo had no idea what the announcer was saying (save a few words, but they were too out of context to really understand) but the moment animals started running, he sped down to follow them.

it seemed like they were jumping over something? maybe this was just part of the game. other small animals were squeezing through holes in the material, but haruo was just a bit too large. no matter. deer had long legs built for leaping!

he followed along surprisingly well, considering they were taller than he was, and was along his way to the next segment of the course.

notes: sorry 4 joining so late been busy & it's late now too QQ
tags:

"hover for translations."
others' speech.

Two bulging purple eyes snapped open and found herself staring into a shiny green wall. Upon it was the most beautiful thing she had ever seen - her own reflection, although she did not know it yet. She admired it for a long moment, staring and staring, lost in the prettiness of those deep purple eyes, the white coat, the long, perky ears and finally, the gorgeous green gem that jutted out from her lower jaw. She nudged the creature with her nose, and it nudged back. It seemed to be stuck in the wall. A snide grin spread across her muzzle. The creature was too beautiful, and she felt… jealous. She wanted to destroy its beauty. “Take… this...” Words tumbled out of her mouth awkwardly. Something poked out from her jaws, and it was hard to pronounce words properly around it. It was starting to become claustrophobic… wherever she was. But she needed to destroy this annoyingly beautiful creature first. So she began to headbutt it. It hurt, because the creature in the wall was headbutting her back, but she couldn’t just give up. She rammed into it again and again. In the background, she heard yelling and screaming, and a particularly annoying voice that trilled high above others, and it became louder and louder as cracks began to appear in the wall. She did not know what was happening, but she continued knocking on the wall, using her hooves to help as well. Finally, the chrysalis that she had been stuck in burst open, and she found herself sitting in a wide, open space. The beauty was nowhere to be seen. It appeared she had managed the deed. Instead, there were crowds of other creatures around, all cheering and making loud noises. She blinked in confusion. What… was going on? Nobody seemed to notice the baby llama in the chaos of the games. She finally found the source of the extremely loud voice that had been continuously screaming on top of the others. It was some weird-looking white and black thing perched upon a rock very close by. She didn’t like it at all. “Booooo-whaaaaa!” she cried out noisily, and not moving from her sitting position, began to spit viciously at the seagull. Her first attempts were nowhere near the mark, but she soon became better at it, and was rather enjoying herself. Soon, large globs of spittle were flying all around the seagull, some even managing to hit him and others nearby in the crowd. "Boo Speaks" 'Boo thinks'

@Vincenzo
OOC: God-mode spittle bullets with permission from Dark lol

Paying no attention to the chaos behind him, Sebastian kept running. Realizing he'd passed all of the the hurdles, he gave a proud, rasping roar, digging in his claws to speed up. He could see the Spire ahead of him, and he stretched out, as though he were chasing some particularly fast prey.

Reaching the Spire, he clung tightly to it, running first one circuit, then another, only to stumble over his own paws and have to take a moment to reorient himself.


"Speech looks like this."
Thoughts look like this.

“You can do it! You can do it!” Muttering encouragements to herself under her breath, the little blue avian ran towards the Spire. Of course, there was still no guarantee she would safely make it until the end in time, but having succeeded in the hurdles gave her energy, especially considering some bigger animals had failed. Size really wasn’t everything, it seemed. Trying to stay close to the Spire, her talons scraped across the earth as she ran around it with all of her might. One… Two! She celebrated inwardly as she raced the two laps like a bullet and rushed towards the third obstacle. ‘Nobody can catch me~’ "Gypsy speaks" 'Gypsy thinks'

Apple took a deep breath as she climbed back up to begin her sprint again. The other gembounds were ahead of her and she sighed, knowing that he chances of winning now were slim. But she saw Gypsy ahead and pride for her friend put a burst of energy to her legs.

The next hurdle was getting closer. She eyed the hole that she was going to jump through and, as she got closer, she leaped. However, once again, it wasn't enough. Her back smashed into the wood and she fell back, chirping in pain and frustration. She was never going to win, now!

"Speech looks like this."
Thoughts look like this.

tags: here
notes: notes here