honey.roasted.ferrets
WINNERS
This was a SUPER hard decision. I ended up having to get many people outside of gaia to read and help me decide, and in the very end I had to rethink things. A last minute entry caught my eye and I fell in love with it.
dragonfire_kaen had a lovely, creative, and original entry. While some entries were repeticious, her's was imaginitive and had awesome decriptions. Congrats dragonfire! The God of Fear is yours! biggrin heart
There were a couple of other entries that I had a haaard time choosing between, they were both wonderful and deserve prizes for their writing skills and/or their ideas. So Tweekend and Zee Oddwyn will get runner up prizes. Though I haven't decided what yet. I'll contact you guys. Kay? heart
Congrats everyone!
This was a SUPER hard decision. I ended up having to get many people outside of gaia to read and help me decide, and in the very end I had to rethink things. A last minute entry caught my eye and I fell in love with it.
dragonfire_kaen had a lovely, creative, and original entry. While some entries were repeticious, her's was imaginitive and had awesome decriptions. Congrats dragonfire! The God of Fear is yours! biggrin heart
There were a couple of other entries that I had a haaard time choosing between, they were both wonderful and deserve prizes for their writing skills and/or their ideas. So Tweekend and Zee Oddwyn will get runner up prizes. Though I haven't decided what yet. I'll contact you guys. Kay? heart
Congrats everyone!
OMGOMGOMGOMGOMGOMG!!!
Please excuse my momentary spasm. I'm going crazy with happiness right now; I did enter the contest (about ten minutes before the deadline, too), and I did like my idea best, but I never actually expected to win. I spent most of the summer finding good threads in the breedables forum, checking for flatsales and events, and then at the very end I get this amazing good luck and end up with not one, but two (I got Hakumei a few days ago in a dice contest at the Pillow Emporium). And one a godling!
Before I go quietly insane in a corner somewhere, I'm gonna post my entry so I can come back and gawk later.
dragonfire_kaen
Name: Kuragari ("the darkness," Japanese)
Personality: Mysterious and aloof. Despite his fearsome appearance, Kuragari takes little joy in the pain he must cause, and others would find him to be a good companion, if it weren't for his... hunger.
Powers: Kuragari literally eats fear. This of course causes excruciating mental agony for the innocent Ulaya as they are forced to relive their worst memories. But in the end, the Ulaya find that their fear is utterly gone, and after a while all that is left is a faint memory of the pain he inadvertantly caused. That is enough for Ulaya to shun him. Each night the fears he has consumed manifest themselves in his dreams, but he feels no fear himself and plays with them untouched - perhaps a gift from the God of Nightmares. As he matures, he will learn to manipulate shadows also, wrapping them around himself like a cloak or twisting them into fanciful shapes.
Prompt 1:
Your god boy is still a kit, and has wandered away from his family. In his wanderings, he walks up on a couple other kits playing. What does he do?
Like one that on a lonesome road
Doth walk in fear and dread,
And having once turned round walks on,
And turns no more his head;
Because he knows, a frightful fiend
Doth close behind him tread.
-- Samuel Taylor Coleridge, The Rime of the Ancient Mariner
It was the hunger that had drawn Kuragari away. The gnawing, aching sensation in his chest made him restless, and finally he slipped away through the dark trees in search of something that would fill it.
The coolness between the trees and the dappled patterns of sunlight filtering through leaves high overhead were pleasant, and he would have enjoyed himself otherwise. But his paws seemed to move with a purpose that he did not yet understand, and the pain in his chest made him uneasy. There was something he needed to do.
As he continued on, he began to hear faint yips and squeals of pleasure from up ahead. Suddenly the forest broke out into a broad clearing dotted with dandelions and cornflowers. Three kits were leaping and tussling in the tall grass over a strip of cloth, occasionally breaking off to n** at each other's short tails.
Curious about this strange game, Kuragari padded silently out from behind a tree. At first the kits appeared not to notice the young godling crouched in the shadows, still tumbling over one another with joyous abandon. But eventually one looked up from tugging at another's ear and immediately dropped it in surprise. "Hey, look over there!"
They stopped their wriggling and stared at him with interest. He was certainly the most outlandish Ulaya they had ever seen. They were too young to have paid much attention to the stories of a litter of godlings, or they would have been more cautious.
"Do you want to play with us?" the one who had spotted him first asked finally. Kuragari said nothing. He had never seen such odd kits, with their bright coloring and innocent expressions. Actually, he had never seen non-godling kits at all, and wasn't sure what he was supposed to do.
"What's your name?" another asked, after it was apparent he wasn't going to answer.
"Kuragari," he said slowly.
"I'm Amira! You're awful funny-looking," she said with glee. "Were you born like that? Where do you come from? Are there lots'and'lots of other Ulaya like you there? You sure you don't want to play with us?"
Confused by her barrage of questions, Kuragari wondered how to respond. The ache was growing stronger the longer he looked at them and his heart began to pound in anticipation. Not knowing how or why, he reached out his mind to touch Amira's. It seemed strange and alien, full of half-formed thoughts that danced away like brightly colored butterflies when he brushed past them. He dug deeper, pulled by the need. And found...
A door of dark wood, locked and barred, bound with heavy chains that fell away at his touch. The door swung open - and her deepest fears were released. They parted around him like a wave, flickering visions with snarling faces and glowing red eyes, and fell upon the now shaking kit.
He snagged one from the flow and found himself with a younger Amira in a barren field of rocks. On a dare she had come to the forbidden place when she was barely old enough to speak, and now the wind seemed to carry the howls of hungry wolves, every boulder hiding a shadowy form. The vision drained away, and Kuragari felt the ache in his chest fade as he absorbed the fear like a sponge.
He fell on the remaining nightmares with relish.
Amira had not had much to fear in her short lifetime. He was done in less than a minute, and withdrew to find himself back in the clearing. Only then did he notice how she was covered in sweat, the air still ringing from her squeals, the grass ripped apart from her frantic convulsions as the nightmares had converged upon her. The other two kits were staring at him with growing horror, their paws rooted to the ground.
He licked his lips uneasily. He had caused her pain.
"I... uh... I'm sorry," Kuragari said finally. "I didn't mean to..." He stopped, made as if to move forward. The smallest kit whimpered softly.
"Please," said the first kit, the one who had asked him to play. "L-leave us alone." Amira was still trembling violently, her eyes unseeing.
The words hit Kuragari hard. But as quickly as his shame and self-revulsion had come, they faded away, leaving him empty. He could hear paws pounding; the kits' parents coming to make sure they were all right. He bowed his head in acquiescence. "I won't trouble you again."
Then he turned and melted into the underbrush, disappearing as silently as he had come.
That night he dreamed the kit's fears. They howled and snatched at him with claws of shadow, but he danced nimbly away, leaping through dream fading into dream.
Fading into dream.
Personality: Mysterious and aloof. Despite his fearsome appearance, Kuragari takes little joy in the pain he must cause, and others would find him to be a good companion, if it weren't for his... hunger.
Powers: Kuragari literally eats fear. This of course causes excruciating mental agony for the innocent Ulaya as they are forced to relive their worst memories. But in the end, the Ulaya find that their fear is utterly gone, and after a while all that is left is a faint memory of the pain he inadvertantly caused. That is enough for Ulaya to shun him. Each night the fears he has consumed manifest themselves in his dreams, but he feels no fear himself and plays with them untouched - perhaps a gift from the God of Nightmares. As he matures, he will learn to manipulate shadows also, wrapping them around himself like a cloak or twisting them into fanciful shapes.
Prompt 1:
Your god boy is still a kit, and has wandered away from his family. In his wanderings, he walks up on a couple other kits playing. What does he do?
Like one that on a lonesome road
Doth walk in fear and dread,
And having once turned round walks on,
And turns no more his head;
Because he knows, a frightful fiend
Doth close behind him tread.
-- Samuel Taylor Coleridge, The Rime of the Ancient Mariner
It was the hunger that had drawn Kuragari away. The gnawing, aching sensation in his chest made him restless, and finally he slipped away through the dark trees in search of something that would fill it.
The coolness between the trees and the dappled patterns of sunlight filtering through leaves high overhead were pleasant, and he would have enjoyed himself otherwise. But his paws seemed to move with a purpose that he did not yet understand, and the pain in his chest made him uneasy. There was something he needed to do.
As he continued on, he began to hear faint yips and squeals of pleasure from up ahead. Suddenly the forest broke out into a broad clearing dotted with dandelions and cornflowers. Three kits were leaping and tussling in the tall grass over a strip of cloth, occasionally breaking off to n** at each other's short tails.
Curious about this strange game, Kuragari padded silently out from behind a tree. At first the kits appeared not to notice the young godling crouched in the shadows, still tumbling over one another with joyous abandon. But eventually one looked up from tugging at another's ear and immediately dropped it in surprise. "Hey, look over there!"
They stopped their wriggling and stared at him with interest. He was certainly the most outlandish Ulaya they had ever seen. They were too young to have paid much attention to the stories of a litter of godlings, or they would have been more cautious.
"Do you want to play with us?" the one who had spotted him first asked finally. Kuragari said nothing. He had never seen such odd kits, with their bright coloring and innocent expressions. Actually, he had never seen non-godling kits at all, and wasn't sure what he was supposed to do.
"What's your name?" another asked, after it was apparent he wasn't going to answer.
"Kuragari," he said slowly.
"I'm Amira! You're awful funny-looking," she said with glee. "Were you born like that? Where do you come from? Are there lots'and'lots of other Ulaya like you there? You sure you don't want to play with us?"
Confused by her barrage of questions, Kuragari wondered how to respond. The ache was growing stronger the longer he looked at them and his heart began to pound in anticipation. Not knowing how or why, he reached out his mind to touch Amira's. It seemed strange and alien, full of half-formed thoughts that danced away like brightly colored butterflies when he brushed past them. He dug deeper, pulled by the need. And found...
A door of dark wood, locked and barred, bound with heavy chains that fell away at his touch. The door swung open - and her deepest fears were released. They parted around him like a wave, flickering visions with snarling faces and glowing red eyes, and fell upon the now shaking kit.
He snagged one from the flow and found himself with a younger Amira in a barren field of rocks. On a dare she had come to the forbidden place when she was barely old enough to speak, and now the wind seemed to carry the howls of hungry wolves, every boulder hiding a shadowy form. The vision drained away, and Kuragari felt the ache in his chest fade as he absorbed the fear like a sponge.
He fell on the remaining nightmares with relish.
Amira had not had much to fear in her short lifetime. He was done in less than a minute, and withdrew to find himself back in the clearing. Only then did he notice how she was covered in sweat, the air still ringing from her squeals, the grass ripped apart from her frantic convulsions as the nightmares had converged upon her. The other two kits were staring at him with growing horror, their paws rooted to the ground.
He licked his lips uneasily. He had caused her pain.
"I... uh... I'm sorry," Kuragari said finally. "I didn't mean to..." He stopped, made as if to move forward. The smallest kit whimpered softly.
"Please," said the first kit, the one who had asked him to play. "L-leave us alone." Amira was still trembling violently, her eyes unseeing.
The words hit Kuragari hard. But as quickly as his shame and self-revulsion had come, they faded away, leaving him empty. He could hear paws pounding; the kits' parents coming to make sure they were all right. He bowed his head in acquiescence. "I won't trouble you again."
Then he turned and melted into the underbrush, disappearing as silently as he had come.
That night he dreamed the kit's fears. They howled and snatched at him with claws of shadow, but he danced nimbly away, leaping through dream fading into dream.
Fading into dream.
