Overnight, a pit had appeared amidst the stalls—"by magic," Apathy explains, making no effort to shake the drying mud from her coat. Inside the pit was a sizeable number of tokens, and sitting atop them was none other than Apathy herself.
"I’ve lost something," she says. No one had asked. When she sighs, an impressive amount of dust wafts from her face to yours. "It’s smooth and thin and brown, and very precious. I was playing with it yesterday when a bird took it, and I think it still has it. Will you find it for me?"
Attempts to gather specifics are met with blank stares, and additional dust.
Posted: Tue Dec 20, 2016 3:00 am
RULES
To enter, provide a doodle of the bird and specify what your kin found. While Apathy will be satisfied with simply having the lost object returned to her, she would appreciate a tale (she'd ask how they found the bird, how they caught it, etc.) and may have a special gift for the one that makes her laugh the longest.
Deadline is Thursday, December 22nd at 8:59PM PST / 11:59PM EST.
PRIZES _____
Everyone who enters will receive five tokens for participating. One winner will receive a and be blue box for a semi-custom kin, judged on hilarity of entry (not quality, so I absolutely encourage users to keep the doodle simple). One winner will receive a thyPOPE bag for a semi-custom pet, to be rolled amongst entrants after the box winner has been announced.
FORM
Entries must be completed in their entirety (that is, no placeholder posts); however, users may edit their posts until closing time.
Kin Name: Flame Lily Bird Species: Bluebird Bird Doodle:
Object Found: A thin, smooth stick with two gems at either end
Tale: Flame Lily had found a beautiful Bluebird sitting near where she was sleeping. She approached it and noticed that it was sitting besides a thin, smooth, beautiful looking stick. On both ends it had a very sparkly, shiny purple gem. She was intrigued. She knew there was a kin looking for something like that.
She quietly picked up the stick and watched as the bird fluttered it's wings at her.
"Maybe this is the thing that kin lost!" she said.
She was just going to walk away when the bird began singing. It sounded terrible to Flame! What was that awful noise? She never knew a bird to make a sound like that. It was a sound like a cat mixed with a badger. A catbadger? All she knew is she needed to get away from that damn bird as fast as she could.
Posted: Thu Dec 22, 2016 5:02 am
Kin Name: Water-in-the-Fire Bird Species: "I dunno, but it was green and really, really angry!" Bird Doodle:
Object Found: A large, wiggly millipede. Tale: "Okay, so," started Steam, clearly excited by his 'rescue,' "I thought, you know, maybe I could help find whatever it was you were looking for, but... but I didn't really know what it was. But you said it was precious, and you were playing with it, so I thought - well what's precious to me? What would I play with and be really upset if I lost? And I realized what it had to be. It had to be a pet! Pebble's my most precious thing and we play all the time; I'd be devastated to lose him!"
The acha tilted his head, indicating the mongoose snoozing quietly on his shoulders.
"So then I wondered, what kind of pet could it be? I thought, well, maybe it's a snake? But snakes aren't super thin... well, a lot of them are, but a lot of them aren't, either. And they're not smooth! They've got all those nice bumply scales on them, yeah? So okay, it wasn't a snake, but what then - a worm? Worms aren't really smooth, and they're not brown... so maybe some other kind of bug, I thought. Like a centipede! But centipedes are, like, not really smooth either? Because of all the bristly legs? So I thought and thought and I just couldn't think of anything!"
A pause issued as the buck took a deep breath.
"That's when I saw it! I kicked over a rock, because, um, well I was kind of frustrated - and there was a millipede there! Of course! But I mean, that wasn't yours, because a bird took yours, right? So I had to go find a bird with a millipede, and hope that they hadn't eaten it! That would be just awful!"
Steam danced in place for a moment, trotting his hooves on the ground at the precariousness of the situation.
"So I started looking for birds! First I found a red bird of some kind. It was really pretty, but it didn't like it when I looked into its nest. I guess because it had an egg, but it smelled really bad. I think that its egg was bad, but I didn't want to tell it that... I didn't get a chance anyway, because it pecked my nose! See, I bet I still have a spot!"
The male crossed his eyes inward as though to see the (non-existent) spot on the tip of his nose.
"Next I found a big, white crane. I asked it if it had taken a millipede, but it just kind of, um, stared at me! I guess birds, uh, wild birds aren't really good at questions... I followed it around a while, but eventually it just flew off..."
He sighed, ears drooping slightly.
"I found a blue bird too, and a brown one too, but neither of them had anything even sort of like what you wanted. In fact, I looked for hours and hours without any luck! At one point I even thought, you know, maybe I was wrong about what you were missing, but then I saw it!"
Steam's eyes went wide and lit up with excitement; he swished his tail eagerly as he continued his tale.
"A long, thin, wiggly brown thing - in a bird's nest! Unfortunately topped with a big, green, angry bird. Oh, wow, that bird really - it really didn't want me to get in its nest! It didn't even have eggs, so I don't know why it was so protective, but every time I tried to get close it tried to scratch me! Can you believe that? Of course I was way too fast for it, but not fast enough to grab the thing I was after..."
He paused again, frowning dramatically.
"Eventually, I got an idea. I went and found a stick - you know, like, a really long one! And then I poked the bird with it; it's really hard to poke birds with sticks, you know? I think I got some splinters in my mouth... but I finally scared it off. Just because it was so mean I took the whole nest! Um, millipede included! Then I came running back here as fast as I could. Look!"
The acha turned his head, then, nudging the mongoose and causing it to shuffle aside with a chitter; underneath was a rough looking bird's nest, which Steam presented proudly.
"See, and here's - oh no! Where'd it go!?"
Panic washed over the buck for a moment as he realized that his 'prize' was nowhere to be seen, and he flipped the nest over worriedly. He frantically began to search around himself, not noticing as a long, fat millipede began a steady march out from the curled depths of the nest. Only when Pebble chittered at him again did his ears perk and his attention return to the nest, finally spotting the emerging bug.
"Oh! Oh there it is. Yeah. Yeah! Look, it missed you! So that's how I found your bug! Great, right? I hope you're happy to have him back~"
polliwoggi
Star-Crossed Shapeshifter
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Shaddaling
Wrathful Shapeshifter
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Posted: Thu Dec 22, 2016 6:35 am
Kin Name: Corrosive - Corri for short Bird Species: Crane Bird Doodle:
Object Found: A smooth brown eggshape stone
Tale: Corrosive returned with a mouth full of blue feathers bunched around a brown stone and spat them out at Apathy's feet. "Crane thought it was an egg and was trying to nest on it." She shook her head, dislodging more blue feathers from her short mane.
"Really should keep better care of your things." She said, turning and shook her tail, dislodging a long primary.
Posted: Thu Dec 22, 2016 6:42 am
Kin Name: PetalBug Bird Species: Cardinal Bird Doodle:
Object Found: Brown Snake ad some Red Feathers
Tale:
PetalBug was quite dismayed to hear that Apathy had lost something precious, even worse it hadn't really been lost but stolen! At such a festive time of year the mere thought of such an atrocity made PetalBug quite upset and she pelted off determined to set right this most atrocious of wrongs.
An etire day of searching lead PetalBug all over the place, she serched in the lower branches of trees, uder rocks, hidden in leaves and although she found many many brown objects none of them quite fit the description (lackluster thought it had been) of the object Apathy lost. However..a tussle in the woods drew her attention at long last nad PetalBug ran back with her prize with a tale for Apathy.
"So..there I was walkig through the swamp looking for this object you lost, and I tell you it was quite a serch! I found a lot of brown things but they were either bumpy and rough ..or fat...or otherwise clearly not what you lost. But then!!! Out of nowhere I hear this most terrible thrashing and sqwacking coming from under a bush so I crawled under there and lo and behold what do I find but that treacherous bird! It seems that little Thinbrown here - I named it Thinbrown..I hope you don't mind"
PetalBug went on, upending pelt sack and letting a thin brown snake fall to the ground with a couple of red feathers*
Anyways Thinbrown must have been quite angry about being stolen because there he was trying to eat the bird! Well I freed the bird because even though it was a thief it is a festive time of year and all and then I brought you back your snake! Awesome right?!"
Kin Name: White Sands Bird Species: Bluebird Bird Doodle:
Object Found: A small, thinly shaped brown seed
Tale: "I heard that you had lost something precious, so I sought to retrieve it" White Sands said to the kin, happy she was about to return the lost item. When asked to explain how she had found it, the doe looked at the ground, her hooves pawing at the ground.
"W-well, while I was looking, I encountered a small blue bird on the branch of a tree, holding a seed in it's beak. It matched the description of what you had lost, so I knew I had to try get it back. Though the branch was quite high up. I tried to...climb it at first" She looked the other way, feeling rather embarrassed just retelling the story. "I didn't get very far...well, I wasn't able to get off the ground even, my hooves couldn't find any purchase in the bark. I tried to jump but I just fell down again..."
"By now the bird was watching me with interest, and since I couldn't up the tree I knew I had to coax it down. so I....tried to ask."
Already knowing she would be asked how she did this, White Sands sighed, took a deep breath, then began to call out as she did when talking to the bird:
"Chirp! Chirp! meep meep, squawk! Gobble gooble" She tried to rock back onto her hind legs, her forelimbs loose so she could swing them back and forth. "I tried to pretend I was a bird, waving my 'wings' so to speak- ompf!"
At this point White Sands had lost her balance, falling backwards and landing on the ground, her hoofs swinging awkwardly in the air.
"I...did this too." She explained. "And while I was trying to right myself, the bird came down to get a closer look at what I was doing, the seed still in it's beak. I was able to get the seed back before it flew away."
White Sands smiled, feeling rather silly about the whole thing. "I guess I'm a bit of a birdbrain"
Posted: Thu Dec 22, 2016 2:17 pm
Kin Name: Linger Bird Species: Green Heron Bird Doodle:
Object Found: A very long, thin bone, practically fossilised, worn smooth and ashen-brown from age.
Tale:
Linger came running to the pit, an awkwardly thrashing bird carefully held between his jaws. He spat it out at Lost Apathy's hooves.
"I heard you lost something," the words came tumbling out in an anxious torrent, "that was smooth and thin and brown. Is this it? Could you get it out? Do you know what to do? Because I don't! I just found this guy in the marsh behind the market, and I can tell you - it doesn't usually look like that."
He bobbed his neck up and down to try to demonstrate how it usually looked. Up and down. Up and down. His knees were starting to buckle under his alarm.
"That can't be good, can it? Can it?! HELP! CAN YOU HELP?! IS IT GOING TO DIE?!?"
Jun D Crew
Shoujo Shounen
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NymiiNym
Shy Wife
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Posted: Thu Dec 22, 2016 2:51 pm
Kin Name: Birds of a Feather Bird Species: Bluebird Bird Doodle:
Object Found: A large worm!
Tale: Birds of a Feather approached rather sheepishly, a struggling bird held in his jaws. Gently, he set it down, placing a hoof over it as he nodded towards the frankly frazzled animal.
"You mentioned you lost something, so, err, I went to look for it." He stared at the now squawking bird, who seemed to be trying to shout its fury around a worm it held firmly in their beak. "I couldn't image what you lost. There's a lot of things that fit that description, really, but then I saw this little guy carrying around a - thankfully still alive - worm. I just knew they were yours. Smooth, thin, and brown, I don't know about the pre- err - it's very admirable to choose a worm as your pet." The bird flailed some more, causing Birds to nervously clear his throat.
"See, the thing is, and I asked very politely, the bird won't let go of it. I even tried to pry their beak open but boy is it strong. Then it started kicking at me with its feet.... went for my eyes even.... it's a vicious little thing.... and well, here we are.... worm and all." Now that he mentioned it, there was a rather large cut on his cheek! "So, uh, can you take it from here?" There was a faint paused before he added a tiny and almost ashamed: "I'm going to have nightmares for days...."
Posted: Thu Dec 22, 2016 6:09 pm
Kin Name: With or Without Bird Species: A baby Blue Jay. AKA. The common but majestic pain in the rear end. Bird Doodle:
Object Found: A very nice stick with red berries. Tale:
With or Without dropped the stick at Apathy's hooves and craned his neck up to the trees. He seemed to stare, fear permeating his otherwise tired demeanor, and looked back to the doe with a sigh.
"Never, ever, anger something tiny." He said, looking as though he'd fought a war. "Tiny things are filled with wrath and capable of destruction on a scale of which I wasn't ready to witness first hand. I hope I never have to go through that again."
He shook his head as another baby blue feather drifted over his sight and turned to leave. However, as he left the booth, a little blue face poked out from behind his hair and chirped, sending the buck into a fleeing frenzy as he tried to find out where it was.
Kin Name: Something More Bird Species: Red Songbird Bird Doodle:
Object Found: A very wiggly baby snake
Tale:
Something More dropped the baby snake ungracefully at Apathy's feet.
"I hope this is what you were looking for," She said, rubbing at some bite wounds on her cheek. "It sure wasn't easy to get," She laughed, "and the bird was the least of my problems."
Something More stared the snake down as if chiding it, though she knew it was not at all intimidated by her. Or anything, from what she could tell. "I think the bird was glad to get rid of it, actually," She added. The thing had probably long given up on trying to eat the snake, but the reptile continued to harass the creature.
"It kept trying to eat the songbird!" She said, staring at the doe with a wide-eyed expression. "It was too small, though. Still, it kept bugging the poor bird. Can you believe that?" Something More frowned. Perhaps the doe wouldn't. But her story wasn't that far-fetched, was it?
"You will keep an eye on it, right? I'm afraid it might make more messes if it goes unsupervised," Something More asked. The last thing she wanted was this thing going around and hurting everyone.
Posted: Thu Dec 22, 2016 8:30 pm
Kin Name: Blooming Fervor Bird Species:Feathurbutt Crane Bird Doodle:
Object Found: A smooth, polished piece of branch. Oddly fragrant, and pleasant to the taste. Bloom isn't sure what type of wood this is...but if not for the pretty doe, he may have been tempted to keep it.
Tale:
Blooming Fervor looked at the "stick" he set in front of the doe. She seemed to be waiting for something..? Though she didn't say, any more than she said what she had lost.
He stared at her a moment...then...
"So a crane had this. It's smooth and brown...and it tastes and smells, oddly good. You should have seent he look on his face when I took it back from him!" He chuckled. More, snickered. "He was all "squaaaawk", what? and he looked like he was about to die. His head shot up and the feathers near his head puffed out. Same with the ones at the bottom of his neck. I've never seen such a ridiculous bird in my entire life!"
Kin Name: Famished Bird Species: ".. I am not sure what bird it is but its eyes were mad red.. just like mine..." Bird Doodle:
rofl
Object Found: A flattened piece of dung stepped on by a passing kin who wasn't looking where they were threading on which then got hardened and made shiny by the scorching sun's rays o.o
Tale: "You've lost something," she spoke back in return watching her wafting dust everywhere. "Just exactly was this precious brown thing you adore so much?" Waiting for a response hence after was rather useless. Apathy just stared back as if in a daze. With a sigh, Famished wandered off to look what the doe had lost, pitying her. At least describe what it was.
---
When Famished came back with the mysterious bird in her jaws, the bird coo'd a couple of times, held onto the brown object tightly with its claws, all of its toes curled around it, refusing to let go.
"Let me tell you," she spoke to Apathy with the bird still in her mouth, "don't be like this bird, ever." She lowered her head and forced the bird down on the ground and stepped onto it with her hoof, pinning it down, not letting it escape just yet. "I spotted this thing from far away pecking at something, trying to fly off with the object you so well described, but, it was too heavy for the bird, the bird flew and dropped it, flew and dropped it... by the time it was on its 5th attempt, I've lost patience and caught this weirdo." THe pigeon coo'd while it tried to peck at the flat piece of dung even when pinned down. With her other hoof, Famished pushed the brown object towards Apathy. "THIS....I believe is yours?" she questioned the doe, cringing and wrinkling her nose. "Brown, flat, and treasured by every beetle in the swamp.."
Famished couldn't stand the smell of it and took the bird back in her mouth, saving it as a snack for later. She started to walk away, uninterested in the doe's lost object. "You're welcome."
Ryuukishin generated a random number between
1 and 10 ...
4!
Posted: Sun Dec 25, 2016 12:38 am
Rolling for the bag winner, who will also be the kin that found Apathy's lost item! Winners will be announced in my next post!
Poe-tae-toee Variable Nonsense Shaddaling JetAlmeara poke mattix Jun D Yushika Bouquet of Diamonds Kimbley Kitty ArashiX FrostyPeaches
Ryuukishin Crew
Man-Hungry Fatcat
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Ryuukishin Crew
Man-Hungry Fatcat
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Posted: Sun Dec 25, 2016 12:40 am
Lost Apathy may have been strange, but she wasn't cruel; even if what the searchers found wasn't what she'd lost, she dutifully allowed kin to take tokens in exchange for their efforts. As she made no attempt to move from her spot atop the pile, the tokens surrounding her were the first to be collected, and the unfortunate kin coming later were forced to play a game of Jenga with the tokens sitting beneath her.
Thanks to their combined efforts, it was not long until her lost snake, "Thinbrown" (with feathers), was returned to her. She had amassed quite a collection of bits and bobs by then: sticks and stones; seed and bone; and a number of new, wriggly friends. One had even brought her a piece of hardened dung, which had gone straight into her Pit of Treasures, lest jealous fiends take it from her.
JetAlmeara
You were rolled for the bag! You don't need to do anything on your end—except prepare your semi-custom information, if you'd like!—and you'll be contacted again once your prize is dropped. Congrats!
But best of all were the stories. Many had left her breathless, tears in her eyes, and she knew she'd retell them countless times to come, long after the Winter Market closed. One in particular had her rolling in the pit in laughter; she'd nearly crushed her frog, but she had, thankfully, shed her accumulated mud and dust in the process.
poke mattix
You won the box! You don't need to do anything on your end—except prepare your semi-custom information, if you'd like!—and you'll be contacted again once your prize is dropped. I absolutely lost it when I reached the part where she tried to ask; and that pun was spot on. Congrats!
