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Post by Silver on Jul 9, 2021 1:22:38 GMT -6
"Ah, hah," they muttered to themselves before finding the courage to speak aloud. "I'm Silver, and today I'm presenting Ising!" they said this loud and clear so everyone could hear. As they spoke, they reached their hands all the way out with their palms flat. Sitting on top of their hands was the shining Faeron and his new accessory. He had finally finished his his last gummy, so he squeaked out into the crowd with curiosity.
"I really think he's beautiful, don't you?" they said. They tapped their pinkie against his tail subtly so that he would stand up, which he did. He swished his long tail, allowing it to drop down by Silver's wrists, and flickered his reflective blue wings. There sure were a lot of people here! He wondered why. His crest slowly rose up with his curiosity, showing off Silver's brand new dye job as well. Silver beamed, thinking that this was going pretty well.
8 [126.4; 2.8]
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Post by Silver on Jul 9, 2021 5:39:24 GMT -6
"Ah, as you can see, Ising here has rainbow horns, delicate blue wings, and shimmering blue and grey scales," they explained, pointing to each part as they mentioned it.
As soon as they were done with their introduction, they held their hands as high as possible, closer to the studio lights. The bright lights reflected off of Ising's highly polished scales, and he looked down at himself. Oh! He was so shiny. He giggled at the bits of light reflecting off of his body and stretched himself tall so that as many of his scales caught the light as possible.
Silver was so happy that Ising was deciding to show off for the crowd. They knew he could do it! Now all they had to do was get through the finale, and they would be done. They had only been on stage a few minutes, but they were already finding the process exhausting. They were smiling as much as possible, and some sparkles flicked off their swishing tail, but behind that all, they were emotionally exhausted.
9 [126.4; 2.8] [Ising displays Gleam.]
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Post by Silver on Jul 9, 2021 5:44:45 GMT -6
"Okay Ising," Silver said quietly enough so that the crowd couldn't hear, but Ising could. Not that he knew what it meant. "It's time for the finale."
They shifted Ising into their right hand and used the left one to grab the last two things they needed out of their pocket. It was a sparkling flower from their garden, and a bottle of special glitter they had found around the wishing well. They hoped that latent magic from the mansion would give them the edge they needed to win the show.
They handed the sparkling bumbleweed to Ising, who eagerly grabbed it and started shaking it around. Just like they thought! Then they popped the cork on the glitter bottle and dumped down between Ising's wings, careful to avoid his head and eyes.
"Fly, Ising, and show them all your shine!"
They tossed Ising up into the air, causing the shimmering glitter water to fall to the ground and coat his tendrils and wings. He was still clutching the flower as he flapped a few times to stabilize himself. The flapping caused both the glitter water and sparkling bumbleweed to throw sparkles all around himself.
"Ising, everyone!" Silver said as they caught Ising on the way back down and promptly left the stage.
10 [126.45; 3.2] [Silver used Sparkling Bumbleweed and Glitter Water.]
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Post by Nerius on Jul 9, 2021 20:15:11 GMT -6
After seeing some of the other pets that had been signed up for the contest, Nerius had been a bit confused. Had he misheard the theme of the contest? Was his guess at human beauty standards even worse than he thought? Had the other entrants misunderstood the contest? It made no difference now, of course, he'd already submitted the paperwork. He was no master groomer, but he knew enough about plant critters to have an idea of what he was doing. Saffron was freshly bathed, something she hadn't enjoyed in the slightest due to her wings. They weren't nearly as fragile as an actual butterfly's wings, but she still had an instinctive dislike of them getting wet. Nerius had done his best to avoid it, but the pachee hadn't been thrilled about being exposed to so much water. Still, she was a pachee, not a cave vulticus, and he'd been able to wrangle the little creature without too much trouble. The shampoo left a fresh, flowery scent, fitting, but not something the audience would be able to smell. He'd also added some enriched water drops to the bath, not something he'd normally use, but Saffron was a plant creature. [Nerius uses pet shampoo and enriched water drops to groom Saffron]
(Saffron: Lv: 0, 2/5 | Lyl: 5, 2/5) (Nerius: 1/20)
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Post by Nerius on Jul 9, 2021 20:28:14 GMT -6
Once the wiggly pachee had been dried, he'd brushed her, um, fronds? She was a plant creature, but a fuzzy one, and while Nerius wasn't sure of the technical terms, the little pachee was now neatly brushed.
He'd needed to get a little creative when it came to dressing up the pachee, Nerius didn't really own much in the way pet accessories. He also needed to take into account that Saffron was not at all trained. He didn't want her running of in the middle of the contest, so a leash and collar was a must. It was a rather plain, functional rather than decorative, but he'd dressed it up a little, attaching a golden bell from the Mansion to the collar.
He'd also spotted a scarf in his Mansion collection that gave him an idea. It was much too big for Saffron to wear normally, but the perfect size to tie into a large bow on her tail.
[Nerius uses the brush to groom Saffron, and has her wear the leash and collar set, bell, and scarf.]
(Saffron: Lv: 0, 3/5 | Lyl: 5, 3/5) (Nerius: 2/20)
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Post by Nerius on Jul 9, 2021 20:38:37 GMT -6
She'd been a bit wiggly when the scarf had been first attached, but she wasn't trying to remove it, and the little tail wiggles were endearing? Maybe? This whole contest theme would be a lot easier if he actually had a decent grasp on human perspectives on what were beautiful or cute or whatnot.
While Saffron was ready to be shown, her display was not. It would be on a platform that raised from the floor, which meant he had time to set it up while the other contestants were going. He'd assembled a little garden scene, with a fluffy green rug to mimic moss, framed by fake rocks with equally fake vines. That would have been rather dull, so he added some very real flowers, framing the platform in a way that wouldn't obscure the view.
The chime and lantern he'd hung on either side maybe weren't a perfect match, but they looked nice, and the chime at least matched the flowers.
[Nerius sets up a display for Saffron using the flowers, chime, and lantern]
(Saffron: Lv: 0, 4/5 | Lyl: 5, 4/5) (Nerius: 3/20)
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Post by Nerius on Jul 9, 2021 20:49:50 GMT -6
And against one of those fake rocks, he added 'the mirror'. The enchanting mirror was a questionable choice at best, and may have been slightly cheating, but there weren't any rules against using enchanted items that he knew of. Nerius wasn't even sure it was going to work, it was really designed to fully ensnare one person, where he was hoping the distance and crowd would let it mildly captivate multiple people. Of course, he'd also had it out while getting everything else ready, and it was possible it had hypnotized a staff member.
Once that final piece was in place, the stage display was finished. After the previous contestants had left the stage, the stage was darkened, and the platform was raised up. Nerius placed Saffron in the center of the display, securely attaching the leash to one of the vines. She wasn't especially skittish, but she'd never been anywhere like this before, and wasn't trained.
[Nerius adds the serpent's mirror to the display, hoping to charm the audience. Or a staff person.]
(Saffron: Lv: 1, 5/10 | Lyl: 6, 5/10) (Nerius: 4/20)
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Post by Nerius on Jul 9, 2021 21:10:54 GMT -6
Nerius stood beside the display, dressed nicely, but not so extravagant as to draw attention away from Saffron, who was the star of the show. With everything in place, the lights went up, and Nerius gave a mild bow, before gesturing with a flourish at the pachee. "Presenting Saffron, a pachee with the delicacy and elegance of the crocus flower." Normally he'd try to 'extra it up' for these presentations, but she wasn't trained to do anything, and was really just there to look pretty.
That at least, she could do. With the brightness of the stage lights, she didn't really notice the audience. Instead she was more interested in exploring the display, investigating the flowers as she calmly circled the area, wings fluttering when something caught her interest.
Nerius let her make a few passes, he wanted the audience enough time to be hypnotized get a good view of Saffron, without having it go so long as to get boring. Once his best guess of that time had been reached, he gave another bow, before having the lights go down, the display lowering once it was too dark for the audience to see, making room for the next contestants.
[Exit]
(Saffron: Lv: 1, 6/10 | Lyl: 6, 6/10) (Nerius: 5/20 +Added!)
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