Deathcap, through wanderings in the swamp, has managed to collect quite an assortment of strange-looking mushrooms. Some of them look familiar, she thinks, and none of them are poisonous -- but she's quite interested in finding out exactly what kind of results they might have on kin anatomy.
"For that," she says, "I need volunteers."
It seems a bum deal, and not many are inclined to take up her offer, so with a sigh, she rolls her eyes.
"Fine. And I'll give you tokens for your efforts. Just take a mushroom and report back to me on what happened.
Warily, it seems, you agree.
Posted: Fri Dec 11, 2015 8:05 am
OOC: BEGIN! HERE
The OOC mechanics of this game are simple. Start by making a new post in this thread and rolling 3d20. Select a kin you own [or invent one, if you own none] and edit into your post a little RP describing the amazing trip your kin has, matching the three numbers you rolled to to the following list. If you roll the same number twice [or three times!] you can either perform the same task again or you can select any other number from the list for the repeat roll.
1. A conversation with Matope. 2. A giant hissing monster of a snake. 3. Flying through the swamp. 4. A grove filled with an amazing feast. 5. A long-dead ancestor giving important advice. 6. A wil'o'wisp that leads them to a quiet sanctuary. 7. Giant, towering blossoms that smell of sweets. 8. A friendly kin they spend a few hours curled against. 9. A bath in a crystal clear pool. 10. Three songbirds drape a loop of flowers around your neck. 11. The trees grow mouths and begin to tell you a story. 12. A horrible shadow monster chases you through the swamp. 13. Your legs turn into creeping vines. 14. A lake filled with sweet fruit juice. 15. Glimmering creatures that dance around you. 16. The earth splits and lava spills out from the cracks. 17. A shadow version of yourself hurls insults at you. 18. A field of mushrooms bobs up and down singing. 19. An out of body experience. 20. In front of you, a rainbow touches down, all glittering light.
Once you have finished the above, continue to the instructions in the following post!
Once you've posted the above, it's time for you to write again! Take the same numbers from your first post and match them to the below list -- to discover what actually happened to your kin. Write a second post describing what their trip looked like from an outside POV:
1. Screaming incoherently at a white crane. 2. A broken branch. 3. Thrashing around in chest-high water. 4. Grubs. 5. A friendly kin trying to shake you out of it. 6. A floating jellyfish that stings the hell out of them. 7. Stink-blossoms, and the smell clings to them as they sniff. 8. A vaguely kin-shaped tree trunk infested with bees. 9. Rolling around in a pile of decomposing leaves and rotting fruit. 10. You get your head stuck in a bush. 11. Bats fly out of the knot in a tree. 12. You run from something that is stuck to your tail. 13. You stumble around like a drunkard, screaming in horror. 14. Drinking from a filthy mud-puddle. 15. Staring into the sun until you see spots. 16. Ankle-deep in a refuse pool. 17. A random kin talks to you and tries to help. 18. You wander into a songbird nest and the birds peck at you. 19. Your kin lies splay-legged in the dirt making low keening noises. 20. You are barely missed by a falling tree.
Once you've completed both sections, you can collect 2 tokens in the Token Claim & Exchange thread for your efforts, with a limit of one trip per user per day. Your RP can be as long or as short as you like, but if you reach 500 words total between your two posts, you can claim this as one legendary requirement, with a limit of one per kin period.
He knew the mushrooms would be good, for they were mushrooms and mushrooms were always good; they were enhancers of the dream, you see, and oh how lovely his dreams were. He saw the psychopomp almost immediately; a beautiful glowing orb, dancing in front of him in the pitch dark that had settled like a cloak 'round his shoulders, caressing his careening as he danced through the premature night- and his psychopomp was as wonderful guide, a beautiful temptation that hovered just beyond his reach. He sang a cold note of sweet joy as he followed it wherever it led. It was strikingly beautiful, almost electric; it flashed blue and purple and red and white and green and brown and orange and blue and scarlet and black and ochre and peach- but it stopped before ruby and popped out of existence in a thunderclap. He looked at his feet- and they were gone! Where had they been taken? As he looked and searched for them, he became more and more agitated. His feet were GONE. Gone were his hooves- he'd known them his entire life. They'd had good adventures, him and those hooves! He stamped one of his missing feet, indignant. Give them back! he thought as hard as he could. He stamped the missing foot again, but he found no purchase. The ground had opened beneath him, a giant crack in the earth; he screeched a high keening as the lava belched out and swallowed him whole. It spewed angry and red and washed over everything- but by that time he was gone, long gone. He floated above the world, his shadow taller than his soul; he was stars stars stars. He was all of the stars at once, and he could feel them burning within him. The motherfather's fleas were one with him and he could feel all of them squirming and writhing and beating joyfully as one.
Then the vision cleared and he was lying in something disgusting. Sighing, he shook his head and got up. This happened sometimes.
(Closed eyes and poked screen for #14 because of double roll! Also... is that singing mushroom bit a reference to The Tenth Kingdom? XD)
Part I: Breath swaggers up and swallowed a mushroom that's bright and fruity-looking with confidence. He was an aficionado with different kinds of weird fruit... not that he'd tell anyone. "I can handle it," he said, for sure, dead certain that no kin could possibly bring anything horrific into the marketplace.
The first thing he noted was everything got brighter, cartoonier, and happier looking. The bright hues blurred as he moved his head, and he noted nearby the lovely pool of clear water with what looked like flowers on it that beckoned him to jump on in. He complimented Deathcap and popped himself on in there, rolling and enjoying the cool water. On the shore sang a group of mushrooms, swaying in the breeze and bouncing slowly to their rhythm. Breath hummed along with them, and then recoiled a little as the little pool expanded into a massive lake, and the water transforming into sweet juice. He stared a moment, and then dunked his head under, swallowing as much as he could fit into his mouth, "UHMM-ing" and "YUMM-ing" loudly as he did so. "You're selling mushrooms?! Why not this fantastic water?!"
Part II: The others look on, blank-stared and silent as he splashes around mindlessly into the dirtiest, deepest mud puddle in the swamp just a few yards off from the booth. No one bothers to tell him what he's doing, until he manages to start swallowing the gigantic mouthfuls of it as he "UHMM-s" and "YUMM-s" obnoxiously while doing so, looking more like a gargling drowning trout than a kin. Nearby he manages to splash a birds nest as well, which only adds to the mess as feathers fly everywhere, and Breath barely manages to avoid their pecking by... dunking his head under more mud. *Sigh*
The onlookers slowly begin to side-step away and quietly say nothing while flashing each other awkward glances, and then glancing back at Deathcap's lil batch of mushrooms.
Eat a Mushroom, they said. It'd be fun, they said. Bah. Liars the whole lot of them. The very lot of them! Butterfly Kiss took a mushroom and chewed on it thoughtfully, but found himself not effected. After all, who would think such a little fungus could cause something to happen to... Oh, wait a tick.
Now this was a new experience. It appeared that as Butterfly Kiss walked away from the scene, his body was staying put. Firmly put. And he was... Looking at his body. Oh, a weird sensation, cold and hot in unstable fluctuation, tumbled over the buck. No, this was not a all good, not at all good. Butterfly Kiss didn't know much about life or you know mushrooms, but could it be that seeing your own body was a bad thing? It felt like a bad thing. This had to be remedied, and quite fast. Yes, quite fast.
Nervously, he stumbled back to the body of his own and tried to lay down in it again. Perhaps this would work. Oh, it felt weird, lying in his own body but not truly inside of it. Shuddering, Butterfly Kiss pinched his eyes shut and wished away this nightmare. Soon, the sensation passed and... What followed was arguably worse than the initial experience.
A kin, handsome and dashing and looking very much like himself but all inky and shadowy, stood before him. His voice was like honey barbed with sticks. Sharp sticks, even! Oh, the things he said made poor Butterfly Kiss whine. This would not do. He had to escape the monster!
Stumbling to his feet, he swayed and stumbled away from the shadow. After a few dogging miles, the beast finally let him go. Oh, yes... Free at last to -- Oh dear. The very ground was busting before his hooves. The ground opened and from it poured lava! Lava so hot and nasty. It smelled like garbage and made him retch. Turning on hoof, he scrambled from the lava mess. Oh! OH! Why was this happening to him!? This was horrific!!
----
BK finally awoke and decided, firmly, that was his first and last time eating a stinking mushroom. No thank YOU.
It seemed that this time around Time to Go had found someone a bit more agreeable - or, well, a kimeti. Which was really the same, from her point of view. She smiled harshly at Deathcap, seemingly ignorant of the fact that she was dripping water. Well - well, it'd been that acha's fault. "This is a noble endeavor," she said shortly, giving the doe a sharp nod. "Are you sure you only need three?"
She'd be pleased enough to learn this information for Westfen's sake, although she had some inkling that she might not be experiencing this with the most...uh, lucidity. Who cared? Information was information, and Time to Go was more than willing to collect tokens for Westfen's cause, whatever it might be.
And with that she was off with a strangely delicate toss of her head - though she was careful, as she chewed, to stay near the booth. She wouldn't want to lose her way back, after all. She'd put all three mushrooms in her mouth and chewed slowly, settling in a small patch of swamp by the - ah. Ah. Had that pool been there before? She headed over with a bit of excitement. But it was red! That was certainly not the color of swampwater. It wasn't - it couldn't be - ah, no. Not blood; it was a little more viscous, and it smelled far sweeter.
Well, it was a good thing there wasn't some murderous non-kimeti on the loose, right? She certainly hoped so. She took a small, hesitant lick first, and then - oh! How delightfully sweet! It was a pool of fruit juice. Time to Go hadn't even known this was possible. Or, er...perhaps it was artificial. She felt a bit bad drinking it herself, in that case, rather than bringing it back to Westfen, but then again - it wasn't like she had a turtleshell or a hollowed out log to carry it in. And whoever had spilled - no, this was a bit deeper than a spill. There must have been a lot of fruit mashed to produce this effect. Wow.
Wow. That'd been delicious. And delightful. And delicious. Ah, she was a little dizzy now, wasn't she? Certainly the mushrooms. She'd need to turn - around - ah.
Where was she? What'd she been doing? Was that - a rainbow! A rainbow had just - it'd just arced out of the sky, bright and pure, and fallen onto the ground. She looked on, amazed, and, like all rainbows, it only lingered for a few seconds. Was it because she'd moved? She doubled back again. All of a sudden she couldn't see it. Where had the rainbow gone? Hello? She'd only just seen it.
After a bit of searching, Time to Go felt silly again. Rainbows were useless, and they certainly weren't plants. That meant she had no business investigating one. It was back to the mushroom kimeti for her.
Ah, who was that, all decked out in dark green? Oh, she was lovely. A little intimidating - but still, a kimeti. But intimidating. Darkly red-eyed.
...she looked quite a bit like Time to Go, actually. It was her very mirror. But lovelier. And blacker. "You're a fool," she said, shaking her head. "You've gone and consumed mushrooms without confirming their effects, and now you'll die. Might as well have been born acha."
"What? No," said Time to Go. "No, I - I - it was research. For the good of." Of what? She couldn't rem - "West? We...st? Glen? Fen!"
"Honestly, I don't see what good you're doing at all," the other doe sniffed. "You're a bit of an imbecile, really. There's plenty more knowledgeable kin, when it comes to plants - look at Feverfew!"
"No, I - I - I - " Time to Go was stumbling over her words. "I know what I'm doing!"
She couldn't really hear, over the pounding in her ears. Ah - what was - what was - what was she doing? Oh, there was a lot of hair over there. It was the mushroom kimeti. She stumbled over as steadily as she could managed, and said, with slurred speech. "I ate your...your..."
Um, something. Something had happened. Yes.
Posted: Mon Dec 14, 2015 10:42 pm
From an outsider's perspective, the kin had laid down in that refuse pool for far too long.
Really, it had sort of started with the jellyfish. Anybody who knew Ramble also knew that he partook in hallucinogens pretty regularly; he loved the dreamstate they brought about and really found a deep connection with the entire world that way. But this had been something new- and something clearly potent enough for him to tangle with a jellyfish. It had been floating there and stung him once. Once was typically enough for most kin, but clearly not this guy- whatever was going on in his head was attractive enough to put up with the stings. Perhaps they were enhancing it? Either way he was stone silent as the jellyfish stung him over and over and over again. He was following it as it clearly tried to get away- but then he ended up in a pool of garbage and just stood there as if he was trapped in quicksand. He stared at his feet, but other than that stood stock still...
And then he just collapsed. This was somewhat alarming, as nobody really willingly splashes down in the collected waste of a gathering, but that was exactly what Ramble did. He had flopped down and just started to whimper, his legs kicked out at odd angles- and then he stopped, shook his head, and…
Buzzkill decided to venture into the festival. The serious toma wasn't one for 'fun and games' really, but this looked interesting enough. "Mushrooms." She looked at the selection of fungi available. "Ok, I'm game." She selected a mushroom that was brown with a pink tint and ate it. It was a little dry tasting, and the spores left her mouth feeling powdery for a few minutes. She sat down and waited to see what would happen.
She hadn't thought she dozed off, but when she opened her eyes again, she was not sitting on the ground. She wasn't on the ground at all, but found herself drifting through tree branches. Had she... had she become her familiar? Was she now her Jellyfish, Like A Bee? How amazing! She drifted through the branches of the swamp trees, weaving in and out through the leaves. This was completely amazing!
And then? Then she saw the most curious thing. Below her was an open field, but it looked as though the field was moving, like it was alive! She slowly drifted down until she found herself surrounded hundreds of dancing, singing mushrooms. How lovely! She began twirling around with them, weaving in and out among the stocks and ducking under the caps and spinning until she started tripping over herself. She was growing weary now, and decided she needed a place to rest.
Glancing about, she spotted what looked like the most comfortable spot. There was a very handsome looking Totoma buck not far off. He was wide chested and tall. He looked like a good, strong opponent for a sparring match. But he was laying down, and seemed to be inviting her to come join him. Gracefully, she sauntered over and plopped herself down beside the buck and leaned into his side. He didn't seem to mind, and started humming to her. How nice! She closed her eyes and snuggled into the buck, forgetting all about the mushrooms, and flying, and the doe that had asked her to try the first mushroom. This was just so nice...
Posted: Mon Dec 14, 2015 10:59 pm
A single kin happened to be around when, abruptly, and without cause, a blue-dark blue mottled coated buck inexplicably flopped to the earth. His legs looked like jelly, flailed out this way and that. Not unlike their symbol for a kin. Except their symbols weren't alive. And their symbols, most certainly, did NOT make that sound that made this kin's hair stand on end.
And still this valiant kin decided to help out the other, to try and talk to Butterfly Kiss, who was keening to beat the band. As soon as the kin approached BK, BK stopped making sounds and seemed, inexplicably, terrified. Well er, that wasn't good. Oh, and then things got weirder, which considering what was happening, you would think that was impossible. But no, it got weirder. BK started muttering things like "you're too handsome to be so mean!" and "get back!"
The valiant kin followed the other dogedly, hoping to calm down BK, but... When BK decided it was time to run into the refuse pit, that was when the valiant kin drew the line. Sighing, the kin left BK to stand and try to clamber out of the mess.
... Oh who are we kidding, of course the kin didn't! The kin returned and found that... BK was out of the pit and seemingly no longer afraid!
"My... Mark my words. Never... EURP... Never take a mushroom!" Stumbling away, BK looked as if he was... heading to the mushroom stand? What a mess!
Who would have thought that the totoma before them was really such a serious doe? She had eaten a mushroom and sat down to wait to see what would happen. After a while, she had gotten up and wandered away from the stand, seeming perfectly normal at first.
..Until she came to a pool of water where she promptly flopped over and began splashing about in the water, screaming and mumbling about the sky and rainbows. Nothing out of her mouth made a lick of sense though. But as she thrashed and rolled about, she rolled her way out of the puddle and into the bushes near by.
Suddenly a large family of songbirds sprang out of the bush and began screaming and chirping at the doe. But she didn't seem to care as the birds started dive bombing her. She didn't seem to care as some of the beaks landed on her hard bony plates, sending the birds reeling back to squawk at her again. She didn't really care and started chirping at the birds like she was trying to sing. But then she stopped moving for a few moments.
Buzzkill's eyes were wide and dilated as she breathed hard, staring off at nothing. Finally she got up, unsteady, to her feet and started walking towards a large tree stump. The birds quieted down, but watched as the totoma settled against the tree stump. There was a slick crunch sound as she leaned into stump. A cloud of bees swarmed out of the now crushed hive that was inside the stump and began diving this way and that around Buzzkill. The do started humming and snuggled down amidst the bees as they tried stinging her. Her thick coat tangled a few bees, and others landed on her bony plates, trying to sting her to no avail. She was completely oblivious to the bees, even when a couple managed to sting her nose. She just tucked her nose under her legs and curled up to nap.
A bath in a crystal clear pool. // Rolling around in a pile of decomposing leaves and rotting fruit. The earth splits and lava spills out from the cracks. // Ankle-deep in a refuse pool. A wil'o'wisp that leads them to a quiet sanctuary. // A floating jellyfish that stings the hell out of them.
PART 1 Poppymilk has always been a fan of the recreational use of mushrooms and, besides, being a healer she's naturally curious about the potential health benefits some of these shrooms might offer. So, she decides, what the hell? All in the name of discovery, right?
A few moments after chomping down on a particularly interesting-looking mushroom, the effects begin to kick in, and Poppy glances around and spots what looks to be a very pretty, clear, pool of water a little ways off. She can't believe that no one else is taking advantage of it. It even looks deliciously warm for such a nippy winter morning and, with a serene smile, the doe makes her way over and sits down in it, splashing a bit. But then, something begins to happen.
She hears a rumble, and the earth seems to shake as she gives a small cry of alarm and jumps up, glancing around as the ground beneath her splits open and hot lava juts out of the earth. She cries out, then, even more loudly, her heart beating frantically as she moves to get away from it, only to fall over. A bit of it seems to get into her fur, burning her, and she whimpers and yells.
Suddenly, something floats in front of her, bobbing about, and it's so beautiful -- it seems to want to help her? Poppy gets to her feat, and follows after it, collapsing down in the quiet, calming, sanctuary of trees and warm sunshine. She sighs, contentedly, and falls fast asleep. She sleeps for hours and dreams wonderful dreams that seem to float and twist across her subconscious. When she wakes, the wisp is still there, bobbing happily, and Poppy smiles. "Thank you so much. I really thought I was a goner back there."
WC: 299
PART 2 Despite the, seemingly, good end to her trip it had been anything but. The kin watching her had been quite amused to watch the beautiful, elegant, doe completely lose her s**t as the effects of the mushrooms took hold. It had started with the compost pile, where she'd happily frolicked, unperturbed by the smell of rotting, fermenting fruit, and other things. Bits of it had still been stuck to her once gorgeous mane, and horns, before she'd suddenly stood up, wide-eyed, crying out incoherently, and bolted --
-- right into the refuse pool. That had certainly earned a few winces of sympathy. Poor girl. She'd need a bath, or five, before the high wore off. Yet, it seemed, that wasn't the end to her misfortune for, no sooner had she stomped and splashed around, getting herself even more mucked up, than she'd wandered about and gotten herself tangled up with a jellyfish.
Yet, despite how many times the thing stung her, she seemed to, blissfully, keep going back for more. Eventually, she'd chased it into the trees a bit before promptly passing out for a good solid hour or so. That was probably for the best, honestly. No doubt she'd have one hell of a hangover when she woke up, though.
Mushrooms, huh? Raining Underwater eyed the booth from a distance. She'd always been curious about this sort of thing, but never confident enough to try on her own for fear of accidentally poisoning herself. The stories, though, she's heard all the stories about how it expands your mind. It sounds fun? And none of these mushrooms would be extra bad, right? This is a festival booth, and she's fairly certain that outright murdering kin with toxic mushrooms would be in bad taste, at the very least. A little smile tugs at the corner of her mouth. Let's try it out. She picks out a small round mushroom with a cute little cap, chews carefully, and is relieved that the taste isn't as bad as she was worried it would be.
A sweet smell comes to her. Fruit? It smells like ripe fruit? She turns to follow the smell, her movement sluggish, only to realize that she has somehow ended up at the shore of a lake, knees deep in... juice? Fruit juice, that is a totally normal thing to have a lake full of. It's sweet, too! Delicious! Rain wades out farther and drinks freely from the lake.
The shore isn't far now, and she ascends up the bank of the fruit lake only to stumble upon an empty grove. More delicious smells pull her forward, and as she pushes through the last thicket, a glorious feast appears! Mountains of fresh fruit, sweet fleshed fish, shelled nuts, eggs, and other foods too numerous to count are mounded up. What a bounty! She spares no time helping herself, because really, who else is this for? Her, obviously. She eats and eats, until she feels content and drowsy. The post-gorge nap is about to overtake her when an unfamiliar yet intimately known voice rouses her.
"Don't eat too much, girl, you'll get fat."
What? Who's that? Rain squints at the speaker, but the inside of her head positively vibrates when she looks too close. Male? Female? Colors and features smear and swirl together in a way that's almost nauseating. Who is this? "Who's fat?? What?!" Wow what an awful way to ruin a great meal!
"Get up, look at you, all sloppy! What a slovenly descendant I have!" The... kimeti? form clicks its tongue disapprovingly as Rain struggles to her feet. The poor thing looks terrified. The doe feels like she's related to them, somehow, except that she never knew her parents and was the only survivor out of an abandoned clutch. Oh. Is this one of those, like, ancestor trips? Where she talks to a dead person? Self-awareness strains against her senses.
"There's not a lot of time left. Listen. Do things you wanna do, stop worrying so much. You'll go... you know what, never mind, you're already gray. And for the swamp's sake, wipe your face off. You got food all over yourself..."
"Wait, who are you??" The doe takes a few steps forward and passes right through the spirit like smoke, curling wisps dissipating into the air. No, no I had so many questions! She opens her mouth to speak when an ache in the back of her head stops her in her tracks. Mushrooms, that's right. She ate mushrooms, this is part of an experiment. The post-high headache intensifies as she looks for the doe that runs the booth.
II: Everything looks normal after the doe eats the small mushroom, but then she promptly wanders over to a sad, muddly little puddle and starts rolling in it, soiling her white coat and caking her tail and hair beyond hope. Really rolling it it, too, like she's gonna swim in this sad mudhole. Aw man that is gonna take forever to clean out. Is she gonna drink that.... oh no no no she's drinking it. Grooooossss. Nobody really believes the slurred shouts of how delicious it is, especially not after she worms her way over to a rotten log to eat mouthful after mouthful of fat, juicy grubs. Moaning noises of food pleasure shouldn't accompany eating dirt and bugs. It's so horrifying it's almost like performance art.
After an uncomfortably long time, a nice doe acting out of not a small amount of pity and embarrassment goes over to try and help. There's a lot of flailing, with mud going everywhere and incoherent shouting about how she's not fat?? Eventually the used-to-be-white Rain sorta... comes to. And then looks down at herself. Ugh, what's all this grit between her teeth why is there mud everywhere what happened?! Ugghhh. Mushrooms. Mushrooms happened.
In search of more comforting food, Distant Thunder found himself confronting a pile of strange mushrooms at yet another pretty doe's booth. In watching her, he'd barely heard what she'd said - but clearly the idea was to eat a mushroom, and that would be easy.
He peered at them, took the largest he could find - by this point, Thunder had no more dignity left to lose - and quickly munched it away.
As he savoured the earthy, meaty taste of the fungus, a light emerged above, an enticing, soothing little ball, dancing and twinkling before his very eyes. Eagerly, he swallowed the remaining pieces and laughed as he chased the wil'o'wisp. It reminded him of the games he would play, with a beautiful doe, or his little children - the joy made his hooves light, and he fancied himself quite graceful as he weaved between roots of mangroves. And oh, what a sight! A sweet little grove, far away from the noise of the winter market he was at, so quiet and so peaceful. A sanctuary to lay in, and to reminisce philosophically. He missed the plains sometimes, but how he loved the swamp. There was so much to learn, and so much to experience, and the promise of the sea that he had seen in his dream, but not quite encountered. In contemplation, Thunder thought...had he lost his way?
Had he lost his way, and forgotten what he'd come for? What was he doing, lying here in this little sanctuary, when he had somewhere to be?
At once, a looming presence swept up behind him, with an fearsome growl that jolted his legs into motion. What was Thunder afraid of? Was this a manifestation of his deep shame? Everything made sense right now - instead of chasing his dream, he was fleeing his shame. Oh, the shame! What if that beautiful flower doe had seen him fall in front of the caiman? And he ran through the muck, the moss and the waters of the swamp, deeper and deeper. His shame monster drove him deeper into the darkness of the swamp, away from the open shores that led to the sea.
Thunder was a Kiokote, he was good at running. He could outrun the Flood. He could outrun the shame. Yet, he was slowing, and his eyes widened - he flailed wildly as he looked down: what was his hooves had dissolved into creeping vines, its tendrils holding him in place. The ends seemed to crawl further only to root him deeper in the darkness of his shame that overcame him and suffocated him and the beautiful does were laughing but what did that laughter mean? Who is laughing?
Passers-by ducked out of the way of the hefty Kiokote prancing after a jellyfish, who had his long-suffering muzzle stung for his disrespect. Scampering, swollen and wild-eyed, he meandered straight into a bramble bush, the nettles clinging to his tail, reluctant to release. His limbs moved but he did not, running in place over slippery ground with his rear caught in the bush, before his hooves sunk deep into the worn ground.
Then he'd started screaming. And laughing. And screaming.
The earth splits and lava spills out from the cracks // Ankle-deep in a refuse pool Giant, towering blossoms that smell of sweets // Stink-blossoms, and the smell clings to them as they sniff A lake filled with sweet fruit juice // Drinking from a filthy mud-puddle
Part 1
Flower was so excited about this booth. Mushrooms were one of her absolute favorite things, they were both tasty and fun! But none of Deathcap's mushrooms looked familiar to her. Normally Flower was extremely cautious about the type of mushroom she ate, due to some bad times in the past. She was an experienced mushroom hunter and none of these were anything she had ever seen. She was hesitant, but she figured none of them could be toxic or else Deathcap wouldn't let kin eat them, right? So she picked one, a small purplish blue one with yellow spots. She decided to go sit in a nearby patch of grass to relax during the come up, but on her way there the ground opened up and she plummeted into a pit of molten lava! She screamed, as she thought she was dying, and then remembered that she had eaten a mushroom. She hadn't expected it to kick in quite so fast! Trying to pull herself together she crept out of the lava and immediately was greeted by the most pleasant thing she had ever smelled. Huge rainbow flowers, easily two or three times her height surrounded her, vibrating and pulsating. She could hardly see now through all the fractals clouding her vision, but she held onto the scent of those blossoms. She wanted to never leave these beautiful flowers, they made her feel so at home, she felt like they were inviting her into their family, telling her she was one of them. She was, after all, a Flower too. But suddenly the flowers stood up and danced away, she tried to chase them but they were too fast and her legs felt like jelly. Or maybe like she was standing in jelly? She looked down at her hooves and realized that she was indeed standing in jelly! Or at least some kind of sweet purple fruit juice. She leaned down and took a drink, and what she tasted was even more delicious than how those flowers smelled! She drank and drank, and then began to cry tears of joy. This surely was the most delightful market, she couldn't believe no one else was drinking this delicious juice, but then again maybe they were because she really couldn't see very well through swirling haze of fractal vision. Once she had drank her fill she stumbled over to a dry spot and passed out, utterly content.
Part 2
There were a lot of things Flower couldn't see about herself. She thought she was loud and annoying when she was really quiet and gentle. She thought she was big and clumsy when in reality she was tiny and oh so careful. But that mushroom really made her unable to see what was happening at all. This wasn't just her normal lack of self-image, Flower really had no idea what was happening. She had done a lot of psychedelics too, and normally she held it together and maintained at least some grip on reality, but this.....this was a totally new experience. It's no wonder the first thing she felt was intense panic and fear, some part of her surely must have known she was standing in something bad. It wasn't lava though, but that might have been preferable to the reality of the situation. Let's just hope kin don't remember her as that doe standing in the refuse pool while out of her gourd on mushrooms. Afterwards she rolled about in stink blossoms for a while, which actually improved the way she smelled after having stumbled into that muck. She started talking to the blossoms and hugging them, the stink making her eyes water profusely as she rambled on about how good they smelled. Finally some kin decided to help her out and corralled her away from the stink blossoms, much to her dismay. They decided to lead her to a nearby puddle, in an attempt to get her to wash herself off, but when she began drinking the muddy water they decided she was a lost cause and left her to it. She passed out near a food stall afterwards, a complete smelly mess. The buck who was running it tried his best to wake her and get her to go further away from his stall but she was dead asleep and would not budge. Needless to say, he did not sell very much food that afternoon since Flower's stench kept all the customers away.
