She hadn't stayed to listen to the placements. As soon as her own performance was complete, she'd left. It didn't matter - she hadn't placed, no way. Not after that. And she was too wrapped up in her own fear to care for anything else.

*Exit

Mercurius smiled warmly and let that gentle feeling stretch along their link. His eyes spotted the stag moving towards him, so he rocked up to his feet and started to weave through as well. All the while, he murmured in response, "I thought it might be nice if we did." A gentle laugh. "Perhaps we could be a traveling act."

Working to uphold his end, the pale beast openly imagined what that show might entail. Dazzling displays of light, telekinetic prowess presented to all the Caves. Perhaps they could invite Svartis to lend his ice, Sebastian and Azrael their fire, Fisher his lighting... all the elements clashing in a beautiful display.

Moonlit eyes were creased in a Duchenne smile as he strode up to the pale stag and walked alongside him, chattering idly.

exit mercurius
@Pride for visibility

Fisher was breathless at the end of his show, which he did his best not to show as he hauled his stuff off stage. Sitting among the crowd, he huffed and puffed quietly to himself, tail swishing back and forth. Wait a minute, he thought he was last-- who was this chicken?

Ah. It must have been a King. Judging by that obnoxious squawking, posturing, and everything else. Fisher squinted at King Kalama, ears laying back. Thankfully he didn't stick around long enough for Fisher to get irritated enough to consider sending a little jolt of--

... wait a minute.

Fisher remembered this stupid bird. He had been in the Trial! He had almost died trying to fight the snow worm on his own! Holy shit. Fisher thought he had the biggest balls in the entire caves, but he realized as he sat among the crowd that he wasn't. Not quite.

He was actually nervous, surprise surprise, when the judges began to call out the winners. The first was a dragon-- he vaguely remembered the showering of snow, which had been really pretty. But he was actually fidgeting when Aure came up, ready to announce the next winner.

Thank the caves it was him. Okay, it wasn't first and that sucked, but he raced up to the stage and flashed a bright grin. "Thanks! I'll be here all day!" He cheered. He winked at Aure (man, Aza'zel had so many kids, didn't he--) and hopped down, ready to gather his stuff and head out, now that he had nearly stolen the show.

Fisher, unfortunately, didn't get very far.

The show had been amazing, but what had been more amazing was seeing Fisher.

His other dad.

Attikias had told him about Fisher-- he and Volta were both Fisher's kids. But the adventurous noodle had vanished off the face of the caves, only to show up here and now. Hunter didn't know what to do, really, as he watched with awe as his dad did things he previously thought completely impossible.

Even the judges were stunned!

It took until all of the winners were announced for Hunter to gather up the guts to rush up to Fisher as he tried to stagger away from the crowd. "Excuse me!" Hunter squeaked, swallowing nervously as he attempted to get his voice under control. He cleared his throat, crouching down in front of the mustelid.

"My name's Hunter! I think you're my dad?" ... not the most tactful approach, but still.

Fisher's path was cut off by a short (still towering over him) fuzzy furry critter, with long messy hair and bright eyes, and even as he stopped in his steps, something was weirdly... uh... familiar about the stranger. His caramel eyes searched that face as Hunter struggled to speak without sounding like a dog chomping down on a chew toy.

My dad. Fisher was a rather... adventurous noodle, don't get him wrong-- but for a split second he actually had the thought that he only had one kid, and it was Ashtoreth.

And then reality hit him like a brick wall.

One drunk night-- and hey, he didn't really regret it-- basically four cycles prior, before he had nearly beefed it in a trial to the death, and could anyone really blame him for forgetting? He had spent like, a whole dang cycle in itself recuperating from nearly getting buried in an avalanche, swallowed whole by a massive snow worm, and turning himself into a transformer.

Silence stretched awkwardly for one, two, three seconds. Hunter just smiled at him, offering two hand-paws out to him. Then, his ears twitched up, and he grinned, fanged tusks gnashing together.

"Oh, heyyy! Nice to finally meet'cha, kiddo! You would not believe how busy I've been, but hey, hey. It's a pleasure, real nice." The words came quickly, all too easily brushing back Hunter as his brain went into flight or fight mode. "Come'on, come with me, I got something for you."

;; exit fisher......................... it's gonna be fiiiiiiine

Hunter held out his arms, and he had expected some sort of magical moment where his dad jumped into his arms and they hugged and cried and all this.. but. That wasn't really what happened. To say he was disappointed didn't really cover it; his ears lowered as his noodle dad turned away, brushing him off like a stray fan.

Fisher did call over his shoulder for Hunter to follow him, though, and perhaps a bit foolishly the young adult felt his heart leap at the suggestion that Fisher had something for him.

"Yeah, a'course! Where're we going?" He tagged along, tail swishing behind him. At the very least he wanted to spend some time with Fisher, and maybe... maybe he'd get his noodle dad to show him how to do some of that cool lightning stuff?

;; exit hunter

Deli

Deli giggled to themselves, amused by its own words, but then one of the judges was calling out to them, giving them a sharp warning and Deli turned their head with a smile. At first, they thought that they would just ignore what he was saying and continue their close-to-mockery announcements, but at a second glance, they realized...that this would be supremely stupid. They knew who that was - Pride of the Seven, who would undoubtedly follow up on that threat.

Their smile faltered just a bit, but they still called out, "Of course not! I would never!" ending with a small laugh, but they noticeably changed their commentary to one a little more...normal.

Boring, they would say.

Still, by the end, it had apparently passed Pride's judgement, however bitter they were about curbing their colorful commentary. And hopped down from their place after the winners were announced. No need to comment on any of that. "That's it for me!" they called one last time as they hopped down. "Hope you enjoy the rest of the Olympics!" Pfft, lame. But whatever, they'd rather not be forcefully ejected from Polaris.

*exit

---

Madhukar didn't need to stay for a superfluous amount of time. No amount of praise could've saved her from the confusion. From the subsequent ANGER. No one could've stopped her reaction, her fast boiling emotions, her oncoming storm. The moment that last act had failed her, that was the moment her heart had gone underneath the darkest clouds. It would have to travel miles before it got back out from underneath the beating and the bashing of crashing rain, booming thunder, lightning racing across, tracing shapes in the sky as though a thread deftly pulled along by a needle.

And recognizing members in the crowd didn't help. She was not going to stick around for any twisted fool's hazing. She might just explode, herself and everyone around. And she didn't. Want. That.

Not yet.

Her magic grasped onto her emotions, tried to reach out... but another clamoring crash of different internal storms must've stifled it with a sock. No more magic. Not now.

She'd have to find some place to hide...

- exit -

Temperantia did not say much for the remainder of the competition. They were quiet, floating with wings folded flat. The displays that came after them were dazzling. Sportsmanly. Save for the chicken's. That was...interesting. Temperantia didn't approve of the idea of a warband. Temperantia had seen a war. It was horrible. Temperantia dragged itself from those thoughts. They had been partial to the displays of lights. But Temperantia had nearly dropped from the sky when they saw Azrael. Another of Her children. It seemed...adapted. It didn't have the fears Temperantia did. Its wish for Mothers return. Its nightmares of Mother's return.

No, Azrael was calm, collected, and with an awe inspiring display. When the competition ended, the angel gave its congratulations to the winner, but its eyes were on Azrael. Temperantia opened its wings. They made to move to Azrael. Talk to them, but before Temperantia could give its thoughts, call Azrael its sibling, the creature was gone. With gritted teeth and seething anger. Temperantia's wings curled in an inch. The creature closed its multitude of eyes for a moment. Perhaphs not as adjusted as they had thought. But still--they wanted to talk to them. With those thoughts swirling in its mind, Temperantia left.

"When I speak."

When I think.

;Exit wheel

The chicken was gone. But there there was the sound of distant tapping. Rapidly growing closer and closer, as if a monstrous, stalking creature. And then Kalama burst from one of the tunnels. Charging at the judges at Mach speed, eyes aflame. Puffed further than she'd been before. Tail straight up to the sky. And everyone was leaving. Before she'd had her time in the limelight.

"I deserved that win! Screw your magicka competition, and your dumb, stupid, no good, dumb rules. It deserved to be ME. Whatever, I'll be in the wrestling competition and the obstacle course, and I'll win then!" With a growl, the chicken whipped around, scraping up dirt with each footstep. To the extreme it had to have been intentional.

think "speak"

;exit angy chiken