Latest revision as of 15:31, 23 April 2014

Participants

• Amaterasu
• Cedric
• Flora
• Jendayi
• Jera
• Lina
• Sveta

Date

23/4/477

Log

The luminous insects dot the night sky with blues and reds and golds on their wings, making for a rather impressive display. On one side of the encampment, a few tents and folding tables in case of emergencies, on the other, refreshment supplied by the noble houses sponsoring the event. Beings have set out covered lamps and small dishes of sugar water near the treeline, hoping to attract the beautiful insects in bright clusters to form breathtaking sights.

A murmur as Flora rides... A new golem into the area. It's black in color and shaped even sleeker than her usual tiger-golem. The noble feline flicks her ears lightly as she looks about. Like usual, she comes prepared with some concealed weaponry, just in case. Even so, she does venture around the camp, curiously approaching one of the moths on a nearby tree.

Lina walks towards the forest path for her usual training exercises into paths beyond, not quite so worried about her upset appearance this late at night... that is until she sees groups of beings gathered at the edge of her destination! She quickly stops and fixes every small detail before she looks to breathes out and approaches the grouping, having no idea what is going on. It looks like beings are gathering the moths in large numbers, she can't engage them as is, it would be dangerous. Rather pretty though.

Cedric had woken early for this, almost unable to sleep at the thought of the festival. His anticipation for seeing the swarm of moths and catching them was almost childlike, not that he'd want anyone else to know that. Still, just looking at the badger as he meandered through the encampment, it wouldn't be hard to tell. He'd dressed up for the occasion in a nice reddish-orange shirt patterned with blues and golds like the moths themselves, with a moth-catching net slung over one shoulder and a crude wooden cage with openings too small for the moths to escape from. Cedric was only a little disappointed that he wasn't able to wake the captain up to come with him, but he'd make sure to catch plenty of moths to entertain him with, hopefully.

Amaterasu had settled on the grass, her legs crossed and her staff resting against her shoulder. She instead of taking a seat on the benches, relaxed against a tree watching the moths. She figured they were as frail as she was, yet they were still beautiful in their own right. She looked to the bowl in front of her, "You really should stop getting your hopes up." she mumbled to herself, yet that odd desire to observe such a pretty creature up close...

An eight foot tall, machine priest sphinx known as Jendayi makes her way to the encampment, grinning dumbly and just about kicking up dust with every heavy stomp of her feet. With her she has brought her artifacts, though her less-moth-friendly crusher is apparently stored elsewhere, divine shield rolling close nearby and twirligig set to keep on spinnin' spinnin' spinnin'- the very best party trick up her sleeve. A smile and a wave is offered to any who look her way, for the moment merely scoping out folk to speak to, or perhaps moths to catch with those big hands of hers.

The hand-sized moths are everywhere in their swarms, and with so much free food being handed out for being and insect alike, it's hard to keep either from clustering into groups. The particular specimen that Flora's managed to corner is a bright green on the abdomen, with golden curved patterns on its wings - it twitches its feathery antennae as the tigress approaches, although it doesn't move.

Elsewhere, beings certainly are enjoying themselves. Those who haven't had the means to bring their own dishes of honeyed or sugared water have them passed out by the sponsoring nobles, and there's the occasional yelp as someone foolishly handles one of the normally docile bugs too roughly and is rewarded with a mild electric shock.

One can either go to the bugs, like Cedric is, or wait for them to come like Ammy is doing, being rewarded with a couple of blue-pattered insects sipping fron her bowl. To one side, it would appear that one of the organisers - a Blackback - is holding a contest for the most beautiful insect, with great prizes to be won - with the caveat that the winning moth be freed at the end.

Another tailflick, while Flora continues moving towards the big, simply moving to watch the bug and setting herself down besides it. Or rather, she parks her new golem there, simply silently peering at the bug and pulling up a bowl of sugar-water that was still un-claimed by any of the other bugs. She carefully dips her finger into the water, offering the soaked digit to the moth, should it choose to accept. And right now, even though she notes all the other people present, she seems to be absorbed in her current actions.

Lina hears the contest, and tries to pick what she feels is the prettiest moth, before she attempts to pick it up and bring it straight to the blackback.

Cedric hasn't left the encampment of tents just yet. He notices the tent where dishes of sweetened water are being handed out and queues himself up for a bowl. It'd certainly be a big help in attracting the moths close enough for him to gently scoop them up with the net. After recieving a complimentary bowl (and struggling just a bit to hold it with all his other gear, finally settling on keeping it inside the cage) he moves closer to the treeline, noticing one of the figures sitting there as the frail woman from last night, Amaterasu he thinks her name was? The badger heads down the slight decline of a hill to set his gear down nearby, pulling the bowl of water from the cage and setting it down in front of himself, cage to one side and net to the other. He settles down onto the grass, folding his legs and waves to the woman. "G'morning. It okay if I sit down here?" he asks quietly, nevermind the fact that he's already sitting down.

Jendayi strokes her chin at the knowledge of this contest and decides aloud, "I shall acquire the prettiest bug!" She nods confidently and gets a bowl of sugar water, sniffing at it contemplatively. She looks around briefly, then carries it towards Cedric and Amaterasu, settling near the two and nodding in greeting towards them, human visage smiling broadly. "Hello, small friends. Come to play with the bugs, yes?" She sets her twirligig down next to her, letting it wobble about amusingly while the sphinx herself stays as still as possible with the bowl in her hands, held out in front of her like an offering. For now, she waits.

Amaterasu shifts softly her attention broken from the pretty insects in front of her "I do not own this field. You have as much right to sit here as I do." it was a little hard, but that was basically her way to say 'yes, you can sit here.' when a bit preoccupied. Leaning forward slowly, she dipped her finger in the bowl the moths were enjoying, leaning back a bit and waiting. "Looking to keep one for yourself?" she asks with a curious side-glance.

Jera is late to the competition, but he's been quietly stalking and watching, keeping hidden with a thick cloak of his meant for camouflage in the forest, and knows what's going on. He's just decided to stalk out his particular prize though, having kept a lookout for the moth he would like to catch. The one with the eyes that matches his. Enthralled, the wind mage keeps disturbing its rest with a little breeze, knowing that it wouldn't settle on the same leaf twice. Right until it hovers slowly above his head, exhausted, that the kit fox captures the insect inside a leather pouch, keeping it securely inside. And then, brushing himself off, he enters the main clearing with his prize.

The moth Lina has selected, while gimped, is a pretty green and purple ordeal with branching patterns that come out into a few sharp triangles. She doesn't seem to mind it's imperfection, instantly deciding this is the best of them all, going to get some sugar water for her selection.

The particular moth Flora has her attention set on doesn't seem to notice her at first. It takes a little patient waiting on the tigress' part for the timid insect to finally stir and flit over to her finger, motes of wing dust falling as it probes at Flora's sugary finger. Amatesaru, on her part, has had a little more success, the sweet nectar in her bowl attracting a number of purples, reds, and yellow-winged moths to feed.

As time passes, submissions for the moth-capturing contest have begun to open, although there's still plenty of time before judging begins. Already, beings armed with an array of cages, jars and boxes are lining up to have their submissions registered, and those who don't already have one needn't worry - the sheer number of moths in one place are drawing even more out from amidst the woods, every tree now having at least two or three adults in various glowing displays as they seek to attract mates.

Cedric nods to Amaterasu, thinking the wording of her acceptance sounds like something he might say, himself, if he were in a worse mood. For all he knows, she might be in a sour mood but it doesn't seem to put him off too much, and he offers her a friendly smile as he sets up his gear. He nods at the question and reaches up to scratch his ear a little admitting, "Sort of. I wanted to give some to... someone... as a gift maybe." he explains to the arctic fox, looking a bit sheepish. "Or just show him before I let them go. I'm not sure I want to keep them caged up for that long." he says. He glances over at her bowl as all the moths flock to it to feed, and then at his own pretty barren dish. "Looks like they like you better." he grins.

Flora says, "|A smile on Flora's muzzle, and she gently moves her arm around, smearing just a little sugar-water on her shoulder, before moving her finger close-by and trying to get it to jump over. If successful, she wanders off a little, a flick of her tails as she moves to a tree at the back, where a large, rainbow-colored, spiral-patterned moth awaits, and the feline would attempt to try her method again. If not, well... She'll just have to keep this moth on her finger if it stuck around, or try and tempt it back if it didn't."

Lina looks to the blackback as she stands about waiting to be judged, and asks a question. "You said the winner would be set free, or something like that? What about the losers?" The lioness flicks her tail as she waits for an answer, looking over all the competitors.

Jera waits for his turn to submit his moth. When he's finally tended to, the kit fox tenderly holds the pouch steady as the moth walks out gently to feed on a dish of sugar water. It looks entirely plain, ugly even, the moth's acute wings a messy stain of black on dirt brown. It's only when he caps the glass jar does the moth realize it's trapped, its wings fluttering in a frenzy as it tries to escape. Hiding underneath the gruff outer wings lie a second pair of brilliance, the fur on the dull yellow color forming the matt appearance of gold leaf, with a light radiance to match as pollen and its own dust flutters off like glitter. But that was only a pleasant surprise for him. He had not chosen the moth for that. He stared right into those twin violet spots, the deep, glowing hue matching those of his eyes. Visible underneath the upper, outer pair of wings as they flap up is a thick, leafy green with matching veins that give the moth cover amongst the tree leaves.

Amaterasu giggles softly, as she waits, her honey-soaked finger hovering just above her crossed legs "That Sven character from last night?" she asks shifting herself lightly to face the other newcomer "Maybe its because I used a honey water mixture, set your bowl a little closer to mine." she offers, giving a soft nod to the Sphinx. A foul mokd she was not in. Just focused... The moth she was hoping to attact a brilliant ocean blue, with a snowflake - for thats the only way she could describe it - crystalline pattern running along its body "Such beautiful... frail creatures..." one could say she saw a bit of herself in them.

Cedric didn't mean to ignore the big sphinx's approach, he'd just been a little distracted by his conversation and watching his dish. He raises a hand and waves to greet the machine priestess, momentarily taken aback by her creator-like visage before his expression returns to normal. "Oh, yes. Got up a bit early for this. Just couldn't wait." he smiles up at the sphinx towering over him. "How about you?" the badger gives Jendayi a curious headtilt. "I hope you're having better luck than I am?" he asks, looking back to his bowl to see if he has any new visitors.

He just nods in reply to Amaterasu, blushing under his fur quite a lot. He distracts himself by looking down at his dish again and notices a couple of moths gathering to drink from his bowl of sweet water and carefully takes his hand to guide them into the nearby cage, scooping up some of the water and dabbling it at the bottom of the cage so they can continue to drink. He'll be sure to set a bowl in there for them once he's done for the day.

The few moths he's managed to scoop up aren't very special. They are luma moths and quite pretty, however, they don't seem very competition worthy, not standing out much too much from other moths. Not that Cedric was all that interested in competing, as usual. He just wanted to come see the swarm, maybe catch a few moths for fun.

The Blackback smiles at Lina and laughs a hearty laugh. "Why, if you really have your mind set on keeping it, you may. no one's going to stop you. But it's best to release it with the others - is this your first time at this festival?" Without waiting for an answer, he sweeps an arm over the gathered beings. "You'll see why! But now, for the prize..."

Two skunks come out of the tent, bearing a small bag of clinking coins between them. Of course, they make a show out of its weight - a small bit of fun to entertain the crowd, even as Jera's entry is quickly scrutinised and judged based on its size, brightness, and patterns.

   As for Flora's selected moth, it, too, takes perhaps a moment's waiting and encouragement, but it, too, flits about before landing gently on her finger.
 
Jendayi grins at Cedric. "Like giving your friend a little star. How pleasant! And with such thought for the creature as well! I would do well to make acquaintances like yourself, small friend. My name is Jendayi." She shrugs a bit at the badger's questions. "I am here to watch the shows they make, though I am certainly not one to pass down a challenge, so here I am to catch a moth." Her patience soon pays off, and a few stray moths begin to gather 'round the rim of her bowl. She has a selection, and while they all look quite pretty in the eyes of the sphinx, she can't help but admire one with an imperfect fractal pattern on its wings, the outlines a deep, blackish-red with varying brighter shades of red and yellow circles within, bulk of its wings pumpkin orange with a yellow-tan abdomen. She simply adores the blend of warm colors, slowly and gently reaching into the bowl with a cupped hand to fill her palm as much as she can, carefully nudging at it and trying to coax it into her hand.
 
Quickly enough, Flora guides the second moth onto her shoulder as well, making sure she gets in line, tails flicking behind her as she looks between the two moths. The colorful one, on one hand, is very pretty and elaborate. The golden one is plain, almost unassuming... And for that very reason, special in its own right.

"Can... Can Flora enter both of these?" she asks, pointing at her shoulders, her tails flicking behind her.

The blackback overseeing the competition studies Flora for a moment before sadly shaking his head. "We're sorry, but only one entry per being. It not only ensures that everyone can find one of their own, but also that the moth that they pick says something about them and their choices, rather than just making multiple entries until they find one that sticks, a the saying goes."

Jera smiles and then wanders back into the clearing to look. He didn't recognize anybody outright, apart from Flora, but decides that she's not approachable - not with that lovely moth on her finger. He brings his bowl of sweet water that he nicked from the main tent and decides to settle near two new faces near a familiar one. "Hey! Nice to see you around and well." He waves to Amaterasu. "Those are nice moths you have there!" He beams towards the other two, offering a polite greeting with a salute.

Lina shakes her head. "I just wanted to be sure they all got set free. I could take it home? Maybe... I don't know, it seems fine here."

Flora mumbles and nods a tad, her tails lowering lightly, before she looks to the moths again. "This one is really pretty, but... Flora is going with the other one," she mumbles, pointing at the plain-looking golden one. What an... Odd choice. Flora really does seem to prefer the non-flashy, does-its-job kind of approach in, well... Everything.

Cedric nods to Jendayi, while sliding his bowl very carefully and gently closer to Amaterasu's bowl of honeyed water, taking care as not to disturb any of the moths already gathered there. "Something like that, yeah." he gives the sphinx a warm, friendly smile at her introduction, and returns one of his own in kind. He'd also heard Amaterasu's name as she introduced herself in the inn, but it occurs to the badger that he'd neglected to return the favor at the time. Which is not at all unlike him.

"I'm Cedric. Nice to meet you both." he says, looking from Jendayi to the frail arctic fox. "I'm not originally from Sweetwater but I'd consider it home, at this point." he adds, his Cliffside accent making itself a little more apparent with the phrase.

Amaterasu smiles softly, still trying to coax the crystalline patterned moth onto her finger. Stuffy as it was under her hood, she pulled the cloth back with her free hand as the moth she was aiming for flitted to her finger. Leaning forward, she gave what could only be called a coo as she lightly traced her finger along the ocean blue creature. Aknowledging the newcomer Jera she noticed, she turned her gaze back to the moth on her finger, the mask of ice her eyes constantly wore melting slightly. "Jera a pleasure." she purred softly, running her finger along the moth again "Isn't it so pretty?" This one held quite a place apperantly, if singled out amongst the other pretty ones.

Flora's twin moths are vastly different. One holds absolutely every possible color percievable to being-kind, in wonderful spirals. Its wings are lightly tarnished, and the moth seems more than content to sit on her shoulder docilly, even as the colors.. .Seem to shift, as if flowing outwards through the spiral, reds followed by yellows, followed by greens and so forth, until winding up with red again.

Even so, for some reason, Flora has chosen the other moth, significantly smaller, a tad more active, with its wings one flat one color, golden-orange, and its abdomen just slightly darker. It looks... Plain. Perfectly so, with not a single thing standing out at a first, second, or even third glance.

Even so, the bug seems healthier than its colorful sibling, with completely untarnished wings and a higher level of activity. Not that it makes any attempts to fly away anytime soon, considering the tigress is feeding it more sugar-water than it could possibly ask for.

"Mmh, hold on...I'll see if I can't convince a few moths to join us." Jera folds his hands, evidently not having drawn Cedric's attention. Perhaps it's a slight hissy fit he throws but a large breeze settles up and rustles through the tree leaves, a flurry of moths startled from their resting place and flooding the clearing for a bit, and with the rule of numbers, some settle on Cedric's plate. He smiles, and bows politely to Jendayi. "As Ama mentioned...I'm Jera. Very nice to meet you, Jendayi" He opts to shorten the arctic fox's name.

Jendayi gently shoos the rest of the moths on her bowl away, carefully standing up and nodding towards Jera, Cedric and Amaterasu. "I will return once I have submitted this bug for observing, yes? Yes." She carries her moth of choice over to be judged, clearly feeling quite confident in herself.

The Blackback nods at Flora's words, and accepts her entry to be quickly judged. There's a moment of activity as the various judges discuss amongst themselves, and more activity about the refreshment tables as tired and thirsty beings prove to the world that there is, yes, such a thing as a free lunch and they are getting it right now.

At last, the Blackback comes up to the grass, makes sure everyone has their entries in hand, and clears his throat. "And the winner of this year's competition is...Jera...umm, no last name. First runner-up, Sally Littlefoot, and second runner-up Francis, no last name. Please, come up to collect your prizes."

Cedric looks up from his bowl at the gusts of wind, having not noticed Jera's approach prior, and looks between the other three with an overwhelmed eexpression. It's difficult for him to keep up with having so many people conversing. "Oh! Hello, sorry. Yes, I think we met a few times at the inn." the badger says to the kit fox, nodding profusely before returning his attention back to the bowl, now swarmed by more of the luminous moths.

He settles his hand behind a few choice specimens and coaxes them into the cage with the others, a few bright, vivid orange ones with a spotted design, others in icy blues and violets. One of them zaps his hand slightly for being a little too eager, and he lets that one be, closing the door to the cage as it flutters off. The zap doesn't seem to bother him too much, but he still reaches up and puts his finger in his mouth to try to soothe the burn.

Cedric waves to Jendayi as she wanders off, calling after her, "Good luck! Hope you do well!". And then returns his attention to Jera and Amaterasu. He glances at the beautiful moth the arctic fox has in her possession and smiles. "Yeah, it's really pretty. I think it could win if you entered it in the contest." he says to her. And then he hears the announcements from the Blackback and frowns a little bit. "Well... maybe not."

Jera blinks for a moment. His gem was pretty but he was not expecting to win the big prize. The kit fox makes his way to pick up his prize nonetheless, not quite expecting the weight of the bag of coin as he almost drops it collecting it from the Blackback. "Thank you very much. But just like the prized moth I caught...I also would like to set the moth free." The todd gives his best attempt at a speech (a poor one, with his skill), and brings the prize back to the group and then just nudges the arctic fox gently. "Hey Ama, there's quite a bit of crown here. You should use it to get your marketplace business started and we'll see if we can't donate the rest to needy folk."

Lina looks absolutely cross as she moves to collect the poor moth she had collected, asking "Can I keep this cage? Do you put anything special in this water?" as she looks him over. "He... she? Is the best ever."

Flora's shoulders sag just a little, although she's soon to pick up, offering either bug another bit of sugar-water. Seems they're more than happy to stick around with the feline so far, rather than flying off. Again, her tails twitch behind her, and she keeps mostly to herself. She tried, she lost, so be it.

Jendayi snaps her fingers in defeat and shrugs a bit, setting the moth back onto the rim of the bowl and making her way back up to speak with Cedric, Amaterasu and Jera. "Your victory is surely well-earned, tiny friend," she says to Jera, bowing slightly. "You clearly have caught the prettiest bug of them all. Good work, yes."

"Well, if you must. And there's nothing special in the water, it's just sugar and honey. They feed from flowers and rotting fruit in the wild, you know. But watch, and perhaps you'll see where I'm coming from..."

The Blackback gestures, and the obviously more experienced festival-goers release their moths, the sounds of jars and cages opening followed quickly by hundreds of pinpoints of light floating up into the sky, now tinged a deep red by the rising spring sun. That's quickly followed by a second wave of moths released by the more recent festivalgoers, until the air is lit up by the brilliant insects, returning to their homes amidst the trees of Eastbank.

Cedric gives an appreciative whistle, nodding. "Congratulations!" he says happily to Jera. He watches as the hundreds of moths are all released at once, but doesn't make any movement to release the ones he's caught so far. He still needs to present to the lazy-tail puma who couldn't manage to wake himself up on time! The badger smiles at Jendayi. "You'll have better luck next time, yeah?" He smiles to the sphinx, attempting to cheer her up a little bit, even though he's notoriously horrible at that sort of thing. He gathers up his sugary water bowl, a few brightly colored moths still feasting upon the contents, and puts it into the cage so that the others can drink.

Amaterasu's ears flick lightly "Jera, congratulations." she offers with a nod, "I wouldn't be one to show off my pick. It isnt anything special." she gives, excusing her tastes simply. She does look a bit taken aback by Jera's offer before with a soft nod she thanked him "I would appreciate it." she smiled, coughing once, but it was manageable. "I dont need much, though, most of it is already done..." She thinks back a bit "The only thing I lack is the remainder to buy the necessary scrolls" she seems ashamed for a moment "Those I canmot make myself. I am too weak." she sighs.

Flora blinks a few times, her own two moths flying off after most of the others, already flying around one another. Apparently, Flora makes for a mothy matchmaker... Somehow.

Silently, she moves closer to Lina, her tails flicking behind her. "Lina will take care of it if she takes it home, yes. Lina shouldn't take the responsibility lightly, no. Or Lina can release her moth, that's Lina's choice, yes."

Lina shakes her head. "No, I train out here." she says flatly and turns to her house head. "Oh! Flora, yes I'd like to keep him. I'll get some plants and keep her fed, and learn not to be shocked, it will be fun!" she declares with a smile. "Thank you."

"Well, the offer is there." Jera finally replies, completely distracted by the array of beautiful moths. He decides to hold the bag of coin too, and not saddle Amaterasu with it until the inn at least.

Jendayi watches her uncontained moth fly off with the rest, waving slightly. "Goodbye, extra tiny friend!" She sighs gently and watches the show before her attentions return to the group, particularly Cedric. "Perhaps. Or perhaps another failure! However, I am prepared for either outcome. Whatever fate has in store for me, yes?" She settles down near the badger and strokes her chin a bit.