Contest One

[Luna]

Alrighty, time to break in this board a little.

Contest one:

Embarrassing/Funny moments in your character's childhood, under 12 turns please.

Just write a small story of a time in the past when your character just did something hilarious and/or embarrassing, turn into a rock or kill me now kinda moment.

After we get up a few entries we'll vote and the winner will get a snazzy prize.

1st Place In Character Pet
2nd Place Naming of Lake/Holds
3rd Place Congratulations

[Khell]

Eight Turns old and he was already stuck in a life or death situation. He always imagined that when he was going to die, it was going to be doing something heroic. Like rescuing a feline from a tree or wrestling a mad dragon to the ground only to perish in the end. He never expected to be trapped in a storage room with eight narrowed eyes, glaring at him. It was his fault; really, he was the one who was dumb enough to go into the room without checking first. Every time he tried to leave the storage room a flutter of wings could be heard before a critter swooped down, screaming.

The flitts belonged to his family and they had never gotten along with Khell. There was no reason for their hatred and yet, there it was. They had been after him since day one and now they had him trapped. They weren’t doing anything yet, just staring at him from his perches and swooping down when he tried to move. They were cherping and chittering to one and another, no doubt planning his demise. There was only one thing to do to get out of a situation.

So Khell sat on the ground and cried loudly. Someone would find him soon enough.

[Risa]

"Aenoth, get away from there!" Serendra hissed, grabbing her younger brother away from the cook and the food being prepared. She was trying to help, but with her brother... it was next to impossible. Aenoth was getting into EVERYTHING, not giving her a moments peace. Now she understood why her mother asked her to watch the boy.

Aenoth, in responce to being grabbed, dropped to the ground, sticking his tongue out with a smile. "No!" he yelled gleefully. "I'm bored!" this was true. There was little entertaining to a boy of barely six turns to be found in the kitchens. Actually, there was plenty, but nothing he could get into with watchful people around.

As Serendra went back to helping the cook though, Aenoth found more things that had been left within reach. Namely uncooked fish. "SISTER!!" he called, grabbing the fishes tail and chucking it toward her. Serendra froze for a moment, the fish hitting her square in the face. It was a few seconds before she found her voice.

"AENOTH, I AM GOING TO KILL YOU!"

[Ayla]

"Mother? Can I have something to eat?" A voice chirped from the other room. A woman, her hair falling down, sighed and reached for a knife to slice open some fruit.

"May I have something to eat, Vittoria. I have some citrusfruit for you and Rietor. Come and get it," Rialyn called. A bouncy seven-year-old Vittoria skipped into the kitchen and grabbed both plates.

"Rietor! Hey, Rietor! Ma cut us some fruit!" she called. Her older brother was sulking, having been rejected to play earlier in the day. Unsurprisingly, the prospect of food perked him up and he walked into the room, trying valiantly to keep an expression of nonchalance. Even at age nine, he tried to keep up with much older children in maturity. However, the lingering baby fat around his cheeks and stomach ruined the image.

"Shush up, Vit," he muttered. Vittoria offered him a plate, then set in to her own citrus.

"Rietor? What happens if I swallow a seed?" she asked, not thirty seconds after asked to hush.

Her brother, although he knew the real answer, decided that this was the perfect chance to scare his little sister into finally getting in trouble or something that wasn't perfect.

"It starts growing inside you."

Vittoria's eyes widened and her mouth dropped open. It was the planting season, and some of her friends were endlessly talking about what crops needed to grow. Without another word, she abandoned her food and went back to the kitchen.

Now, plants needed three things to live, according to the children down the road: water, dirt, and sunlight. Vittoria reached up and got a cup, ran out to the backyard and filled it at the well, and drained it. Now her own little plant had water.

Vittoria paused to think about the dirt aspect. She didn't really want to eat dirt. Her breakfast that morning had tasted like dirt, so that was probably good enough.

She already had a method of getting sun into her belly. Vittoria lay down on the grass and opened her mouth wide so the sun would go right into her stomach. Sure enough, it was getting warm... but so was the rest of her. In fact, her mouth was very dry, and there was a little ant on her hand. Under normal circumstances, Vittoria would have flicked the ant off, but she didn't want her plant to die.

"Vittoria! Vittoria!" Rialyn called from inside. Vittoria didn't want to make her mother worry, so she called out "Out here, mother!" then returned to sunning her plant.

"Vittoria! What in Faranth's name do you think you're doing?"

Vittoria turned her head so she could see her mother. "Rietor said that if I eat a seed, a plant grows in my belly! I drank some water so it wouldn't be thirsty and now I have to give it sun," she said, then promptly opened her mouth wide again.

Rialyn's face contorted into a mix between absolute hilarity and an attempt to remain somber, which resulted in a sort or grimace. Vittoria couldn't understand why, but closed her mouth and stood up.

"Mom, it's okay, I'll share some of the citrus with you."

[Wangri]

"Pillal, gimme back my shirt! 'S my favorite!"

A younger, yet still unusually short Piene was fruitlessly jumping at a brightly-colored shirt that was being held aloft by the taller of his two older brothers. Though there was the slightest of smirks on the older child's face, he remained unamused for the most part. "We need cloths for Hiene now that he's grown out of his toddler wear, and you're so small that you two are practically the same size. Besides, this thing is so bright you should be ashamed of wearing it at your age. Maturity equals subtlety!"

"But it's mineeeeeee!" Piene squealed in a pitch only a prepubescent boy could accomplish. His stubby fingers grasped at the material, and a tear welled up in the boy's eye, even though he would never admit it. His brother rolled his eyes and sighed. Why didn't his little brother understand the concept of sharing? Everyone else in the family did, except for Piene. Pushing the boy away from his goal with his knee, the boy barked a final and resolute, "No!"

Piene calmed slowly, watching his brother through a film of tears as he turned to put the clothing away in a wardrobe that wasn't his. Then, as quick as a the time inbetween flicking a switch and a lightbulb flickering on, the child had an idea! A devious grin cracked his face in two, and one could practically see the devil horns growing out of his head.

Raising his chubby foot while his brother had his back turned, Piene kicked Pillal in the balls, grabbed his shirt and ran.

[yankeegeek]

Yimian, when she was a little girl, thought that her mother was the most beautiful lady in the Weyr. She loved Emilia's hair, a dark auburn shade that shone in the sunlight.
One day, while taking a bath, she noticed that the bottle of hair cleanser that her mother used was left out. She hesitated, before trying some herself. She was a big girl, after all. She could style her own hair. Maybe it'd look more like a proper red, afterwards?
The washing went well enough, until Yimian realized that she'd used it all up. Ooooh no. This was a blend that her mother made up for herself, a mix of soapy liquid and some herbs that Yimian didn't know. She bit her lip, anxious to avoid a scolding, and then a thought occurred to her.
The biggest difference in this was the color, a light pink hue. Well, there was pink stuff in the
Artists' rooms at the Weyr, she'd seen it. She'd just get a few drops, and put it in with regular hair cleanser to fill the bottle back up. That should be alright.
Wrapping a towel around her hair, she sneaked down to the Artists' classroom and got the "pink". She couldn't read the label yet, but it didn't smell like paint, so she breathed a sigh of relief and got mixing.
She left the refilled bottle in the women's bathing room, in her hurry leaving it out on the shelf by the pools instead of in the little cubby Emilia usually stored her things in.
Yimian might almost have got away with it, except that at five Turns old, she also didn't think to avoid leaving a trail of wet spots in the corridor leading back to the family's weyr.
Perhaps an hour and a half later, Emilia did return, her washing materials in hand...
and the Senior Weyrwoman right behind her. The other woman's hair, and most of her neck, were colored an interesting(polka-dotted) pink and yellow.
Emilia just crossed her arms, looking down at her daughter.
Yimian gulped. "Ummm... Hello...? You look nice?"

[Luna]

Contest will be closed on July 24th. I will then make a poll so we can vote on a winner.

[Obi-Wan Kenobi]

I have a story, but it was tailored to a different Weyr... would it still be all right if I posted it?

[Luna]

Yes, Obi you can enter it. Once Obi's enter is in the Contest is officially over and we'll vote. Don't keep us waiting too long Obi, I'm sure someone wants their prize!

[Obi-Wan Kenobi]

Omai! o: Pressure is on! Fortunately, all I gotta do is copy/paste, gimme a minute. ;D

[Obi-Wan Kenobi]

**Keep in mind, this was written originally for a different Weyr, so it may not match up exactly with Surion, but the character is the same, so it's still relevant to her. ^^**

The Blue Dress
Shmee

Shmee held up a bright blue sundress against her small body, admiring her beautiful reflection in the mirror. She twirled around, watching the soft fabric flutter against her milky white knees. “How much is it, mister?” she asked thoughtfully, now twirling the other way. It would look perfect on her.

The vendor chuckled to himself. A girl of six turns was always sweet, and this one especially captured his attention. She was charismatic and charming with long, raven-black hair swinging in a plait down her back, and her vivid blue eyes watched him boldly. It was a look of determination, one so sweet, yet he had marks to earn, and he wasn’t going to get away with making him barter too low.

“Well,” he replied, meeting her blue eyes solidly, “a dress of that beautiful a color is normally two marks, but since it matches your eyes…” A glimmer of excitement shone through those very same eyes. “…I’d be more than happy to let it go for only one and three-quarters a mark.” Shmee pondered this for a moment. Glancing at her reflection again, she found herself longing for this dress—badly. Even he could see that it matched her eyes! It truly did bring out the vibrant blue…

“Mommy!” she called, looking across the gather at Blossom Hold for her mother’s tall, willowy figure. A woman looked up with a frown from the wine stall. Though her eyes were a darker color, the hair was identical to Shmee’s. In her fine-boned hand was a bottle of Blossom wine, obviously expensive, and obviously hers.

“Did you find something you like, Shmee?” she called back, striding over to the Weaving Stall.

“Look at it!” Shmee exclaimed, dramatically waving the dress she held. Then, she twirled to demonstrate how fine it was and how easily it touched her knees. “It brings out the color of my eyes, too!” she added primly.

Her mother laughed musically. “Indeed it does, my little Shmee!” she agreed wholeheartedly. Her small daughter truly did look like a ravishing beauty with the dress held against her. “How much?” she said to the vendor.

“Two marks.”

“What?!” demanded Shmee haughtily. Slowly, her lower lip protruded from her mouth and she looked up at the man, her eyes hurt at the betrayal. “But…” she began, her voice quivering, “you told me only one and three-quarters marks because it matches my eyes…” She sniffed, and her blue eyes began swimming with the water that welled up behind them.

Unhappy at being the source of this little girl’s sorrow, he hastily amended that statement. “Erm, yes, one and three-quarters.” Shmee’s mother beamed. “One mark!” she countered. Shmee, her job complete, began to watch the bartering avidly for a few minutes, after which she became bored. Such matters were so uninteresting. It wouldn’t be interesting at all, actually, until she got what she wanted. Looking around at the other stalls, she looked upon the people with her innocent gaze. People of all sorts came to the gather—holders, craftsmen, holdfolk… and dragonriders.

A quick glimmer of gold caught her eye. Attracted to the shiny right away, Shmee stared across the gather square at a gorgeous golden flitter. She had never seen one, and she sighed dreamily at it. The small queen sat upon the shoulder of a woman with elaborate knots, a kind Shmee had never seen before. The woman was looking at the wine in the Food Stall, looking at Benden white. She was undoubtedly rich. A girl about Shmee’s age was at her side, dressed richly. Immediately, Shmee was jealous. Why didn’t she get such pretty clothes? She had a few, but never of such a golden color… no matter. This girl had boring brown eyes. She would never get a pretty dress that matched it as well as her own dress would.

She looked back at the golden flitter, wanting it more badly than she had wanted anything else. Oh, how she wanted a queen flitter for her own! They were so shiny and pretty… She knew her ballads well enough to know that she could never ride one of Selenitas’ queen dragons, but a queen flitter would certainly do. That would show the world that she would grow up to be the best girl on Pern! She smirked. Even the old Weyrwoman could never be as good as she was.

“Sold!” The vendor’s words brought Shmee’s attention back to her blue dress. She looked up eagerly, not worrying about the queen flitter for now. All smiles as her mother handed the marks over, Shmee clutched the dress to herself.

“Oh, thank you, Mommy!” she giggled, rushing up to hug her mother dramatically. Her mother chuckled.

“Anything for my little Shmee,” the woman cooed. Shmee smiled angelically. She loved getting what she wanted. Which reminded her…

“Mommy, could I have a queen flitter someday?” she asked eagerly. Her mother blinked in surprise, startled at the sudden question. But she was unfazed. She was used to such bold questions from her daughter.

“We’ll see, we’ll see,” she replied in a sing-song voice. Shmee smiled as she skipped away from her mother to change into her beautiful blue dress. She was determined to have a queen of her own someday.

[Lucius]

@obi- I thought I recognized that name Shmee xD.

[Obi-Wan Kenobi]

@luci -- xD Do I know you, or were you just a lurker?

[Lucius]

I was considering joining, and even put up a (fail) app, but I got busy and never got back to the site.

[Obi-Wan Kenobi]

Really? What was your username? o:

[Lucius]

Lucius, same as just about everywhere.

I should probably fix up my app .-. I was going to play a bluerider with stress-induced amnesia.

[Obi-Wan Kenobi]

Hrm, I can't remember you. Dx Duibuqi~

[Luna]

Alrighty and the Winners are:

Ayla for Sharing Citrus!

And Second place goes to
Yankeegeek for Pink!

And all the others are tied for third!

Congratulations to all those in third place. ^.^

Yankeegeek please PM the names you'd like for the Lake and the nearby Holds. Ayla your thread will come soon for your IC pet.

[yankeegeek]

w00t! Congrats, Ayla!
Thanks to those that voted for "Pink." PM's on its way, Luna. *nodnods*

[Wangri]

Congratulations Ayla and Yankee!