Asimona was turning around the Spire and about to race for the rocks when it happened. She saw it out of the corner of her eye. A dragon, scales of dark silver and eyes furious and mad. She was racing towards her with blood dripping from her maw.

Asimona froze and her claws slipped in the dirt. She was coming closer and closer, her claws outstretched and her teeth flashing. "You!! I'll kill you! I'll tear you apart! I hate you I hate you I hate you!!!" Her screeches were high pitched and raving and there was so much sadness and hurt and pain in her voice. Asimona backed away and looked around. Nobody was reacting! Couldn't they hear her or see her?

The dragon was almost on top of her when her muscles started to work again. Without a sound, she shot away from the Spire and opened her wings, taking off into the skies of Polaris. She looked back and saw the silver dragon on the ground, staring up at her with pure hatred.

Asimona looked away, her heart beating painfully in her chest. She barely even realized she had left the olympics behind. All she could think about was getting away from that crazy dragon and hope she never saw her again.

*exit

"Find the one who'll guide you."
To the limits of your choice.

tags:
notes:

VINNIE THE VOICE

Vinnie took a deep, deep breath. This was it. The final stretch. He just had to be loud a little while longer. His magicka flickered up, barely holding up to the strain of the constantly-increased volume--but he managed, his raucous cawing amplified as he called out.

"MONKEY-GUY'S HAVIN' SOME TROUBLE FINDIN' A ROCK!" he began, hopping along the stone ledges to keep a close eye on things. "And good, Mongo! Keep goin'! You can do it, buddy! YEAH! You get that rock! You show that rock who's boss!" An encouraging flap of his wings, and he found his pale golden gaze drifting back to the poor black horse who'd taken such a stumble. Her luck really wasn't good. He tried to be kind, helpful, as he called out to her.

"C'mon, black horse! You can do it, you're almost done--there ya go! Get up again! And the black cat, up he goes, and around--ZOOM! Whoosh! --Damn he's fast! Our little weasel can't find a rock and who's that in the lead? That tiny blue bird--seems confused--can someone help the bird?!"

That was the bird, right?

Vincenzo squinted down at Gypsy, then hopped back to peer again at the rest. "EYYYY! Monkey guy's got himself a rock! Good goin' bud! And--uhh--pretty... whitish... hybrid fella, he's got one too! And he's ROLLIN' IT! We're in the AGE OF TOOLS, fellas! Look at him go! Usin' a rock AND a stick?! This guy's the FUTURE!"

A quick glance ahead, again. "Our little blue bird's still confused, meanwhile--and HOLY HELL watch out! --Weasel almost ate a landslide! Careful there little fella! The monkey's got his stick upright--STICK, you hear that, right upright!--" He stared at Gypsy, but he wasn't sure if she could hear his blatant, probably cheating hint over the chaos around her.

"And our hybrid's tryin' it with his! ...And failing! It fell down. Damn! Those uh, those sticks are real, uh, real tricky stuff, ey guys!? Black cat's got himself a rock--black horse doesn't! Mongo's got his stick down and --OOOH monkey-guy's faceplanted! That's GOTTA hurt. We got the black cat plantin' that stick now--man look at him go, he's really catchin' up! He's got a CHANCE here, folks!"

Vincenzo spread broad wings, soaring over the race as he continued to call out everything he saw.

Everything.

"And our black horse has found a rock! Good goin', kid! Don't forget your sti--ahh you got it! Good! Run Mongo run--YOU GOT IT! YEAH! BUDDY! GOOD JOB!" Had Mongo just won?! Excited, thrilled--proud, even--Vincenzo circled the finish line with a few seagull squalls of joy, celebrating. After a moment he remembered that the others were still going, though.

"The little blue bird's planted her stick--and oh, look, weasel's got a rock! GOOD JOB! --Finally! We got--HELL mister TOOLS over here's GOT THIS, look at him go! Hammerin' that rock right--I mean hammerin' his STICK with his ROCK! Wish I had hands. And here we go, everyone else over the finish line! Hybrid's just FLYIN' over it! Wow! That's--impressive!"

Vinnie glided down, uncertainly watching the black filly trembling as she finally crossed the finish line. Out of sheer respect he hadn't mentioned her overly long time failing with a stick--her rearing up and hammering it in with her hooves. It seemed like she was having a hard enough time without someone pointing it all out at full volume.

Careful and quiet he glided down and in, landing at her feet and neatly folding his wings behind him, peering up. A final call out to Mongo--"Ey, great job, kid! I knew you had it in ya!" and he turned his attention back to Llamrei, head tilting. His warm nature flickered up.

"Heya, horse," he started, friendly and quiet. Quieter. More quiet.

...Less loud.

"Good job finishin' that. It's harder for horses, you know? I don't know if we've ever had a horse finish! Hell, you might even be the first. It's them hooves, you know? No good for diggin', terrible on rocks. Just terrible. And sticks? Forgetaboudit." He shook his bird head, tsking.

"You did great, yeah? Made horse history. What's your name?"

Truth be told, Vinnie had absolutely no idea if there had ever been a horse here before. He'd heard rumors that this competition had taken place once in the past--but he hadn't attended. He just... sorta felt bad for the horse.

________________

@Llamrei

The black Panther panted, tail wrapping around his paws as he watched the others cross the finish line one by one. They all came in close behind him, except for a small black horse that lagged a fair amount.

It wasn't long before the snake from before showed up again, voice echoing. The Puma perked up, listening as she began to announce who had won. Bremen, the odd little hybrid had won third place. And... he had one second?! The Puma's face lit up, and he stood. He couldn't wait to tell Rift! The Puma turned, and loped off, intent on going straight to Eridanus.

-Exit Seb-


___________________________________________________________

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

tags:
notes:

He was myopic, to say the least. A backwards little hybrid with no understanding of life's unfairness despite firsthand experiences with it. Finding no mention of Howl, the petty thief scowled. He swore that he was a winner. Pride broken and ego sore, he spat out his rock and hurled it at the ground as hard as his sore arm would allow. "Wasnit evin damn wort et," he cursed under his breath, plus or minus a few nasty words. Eyes furrowed disdainfully, the hybrid stormed out of the room, set on a solemn march of anger back to Monoceros.

/exit salty howl :'(
regardless of how howl feels, congrats everyone on your efforts in the obstacle course!!

Apple had tried a few more times to get through the hurdles, but she had injured herself and she wasn't able to get through at all. Each time she missed and hit her head against the wood made the rest harder and harder as her balance was shot. Finally, she flopped back on the ground, her body sore and the world spinning.

She hoped that Gypsy won. She deserved a winning spot with how hard she was trying. But Apple knew that she wasn't going to finish this race.

After a moment of trying to struggle to her feet, she gave up and let the wave of dizziness take her to unconsciousness.

*exit

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

tags: @Faelan
notes:

Gypsy’s little shoulders sagged when she realised she hadn’t made it into the top three to finish the race after all. She let out a tiny sigh. It had become a really tight race, and she felt quite upset that she’d had a complete memory blank on what to do near the end. Of course, the commentator’s loud shouts had actually helped her out in the pickle quite a bit… Not that she would ever mention it to anyone. If she ever met him in person, she would be sure to thank that bird. Birds had to stick together and support each other after all. She was suddenly feeling exhausted. Still, she couldn’t remove the grin on her beak. It had been such a joyous thrill to compete against the other gembounds. She had done pretty well considering how small she was! She could puff out her chest feathers with pride in the achievement of reaching the end. Many hadn’t been able to finish at all. She looked around worriedly. Where was Apple? She hoped the other bird was alright and hadn’t injured herself. It had been very chaotic during the race and the tiny avian had barely managed to avoid large hooves and paws rushing dangerously past. She yawned widely and began to hop through the crowds of other gembounds. Perhaps it was a good time to rest. She had signed up for other events after all and she needed to be well-rested for the next one. "Gypsy speaks" 'Gypsy thinks'

OOC: //exit Gypsy

Rather than stand still now that he had crossed the finish line, Bremen kept on rushing forward, running in circles until finally settling down next to his noodlekin, who apparently had not, in fact, been participating in the race but rather had been stationed there as a member of the audience. He watched in interest as the last few gembound got across the line and cheered loudly as the horse finally finished.

The cheering only increased in volume as the winners were announced and Bremen was among them! The shrill dolphin-like squeal that shot out from Bremen's throat echoed across the cavern, and no doubt if his sibling hadn't been deaf before they would have become so after that display of joy.

The celebration could only last for a few minutes though as adrenaline and magic infusion began to wear off. As the crowd began to fan out the little hybrid remembered once more that it had been a very long time since he had slept. Not one to deny himself the simple pleasures in life Bremen chirped once more and skipped toward the nearest rock he could curl under, folding his wings in tightly like a blanket and resting his head in what to any other creature would probably look like a very uncomfortable angle. There were still gembound around but he wasn't afraid, these were all his friends- even the ones he hadn't met before. He could safely fall asleep right here under the glow of the magic spire.

- Exit Bremen -

---

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

Absently, through the blood rushing in her ears, Llamrei was aware of the bird overhead, narrating their every move. It -no, it was definitely a he, with a very funny accent- seemed to be encouraging, cheering on everyone and, thankfully, seeming to not broadcast her many failures in the race. She was a horse, though! She was bred for running, and jumping! Obstacle courses were kind of her thing! And yet she'd failed so badly.

Her ears twitched as the snake began to speak up, announcing the winners. There was no way she'd won, she'd come in dead last after all. Bremen, the funny looking hybrid, had come in third, and the black big cat second. The funny little thing she'd sent flying won first place, to her surprise. She attempted to offer them a smile, but it fell flat, and she turned to walk off.

Of course, she had to stop, digging in her hooves to keep from stepping on the bird. That'd be rather messy, and she'd already hurt the poor Fossa, Mongo. "Oh, uh... hello." his words made her cheer up some, and she grinned. "You think so? I'm Llamrei! You did really well commentating today."

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

VINNIE THE VOICE

Llamrei's response was much more upbeat, with some life seeming to return to despondant eyes, and this perked Vinnie up, too--warmed his heart to see it. He clacked his beak, eyes crinkling up in the closest thing a seagull could manage to a smile.

"Yeah, 'course I think so. Hell, I know so, yeah? And hey, thanks, to you too. I try, eh? I try. My name's Vinnie. Good to meet ya. You uh-... You live here?" He glanced around, curiously, wondering just where a huge black horse-thing might live. He wasn't sure there was enough plant life in Polaris to sustain one, but... who knows, maybe?

He'd never really seen horses, not a lot of them, anyway.

...They do eat plants, right? He took a brief and worried look at Llamrei's mouth before shaking his head, dismissing the thought.

"You run a lot? Jump a lot? You seemed pretty good at that, you know? Wasn't for all that slick rock you'dda been right up at the front, I think."

________________

@Llamrei

Having reached the end, Mongo sat down, sides heaving, as he waited for the others to finish. Soon, although there was enough time for him to catch his breath, the other Gembounds had all crossed the line, even the poor horse who kept falling.

His keen ears picked up a cleared throat, and he turned to see the white snake from before. She was quick to announce who had placed in the top three: Bremen, the hybrid, had placed third. Sebastian, the dark puma, had place second. And he, himself, had placed first! His face brightened, and he beamed, hopping a little in place.

His head turned as a familiar white bird fluttered down near the horse, addressing him. He beamed, and called back, "Thank you, Vin!" before turning to leave, intending to get some rest.

EXIT MONGO

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