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Oh this was going to be so much fun! She was so excited! "Oh yes! Very hungry!" she nodded enthusiastically. "Of course I've had grubloaf! Who hasn't?" That was an awfully silly question to ask. Just because she had never been on land it didn't mean she had never had grubloaf! She scoffed at him with her rhetorical question, not realizing that some lowbloods like himself may very well have never had grubloaf.

She smiled as he took her hand and happily let him lead her through the crowd. Oh how she wish she had twenty more eyes! Look at that over there! Ooh, what was that? That troll had funny looking horns! Where was that smell coming from? What were they talking about? That's a pretty hat, she wanted a pretty hat! All these sights, smells, and questions buzzed through her head. Before she could ask her guide anything, though, he started to introduce himself and asked for her name. "I'm Khanda!" she answered, still looking around at everything and not paying attention at all to where she was going. That's when she stepped into a small hole she hadn't notice. Her foot hit air and she stumbled forward with a yelp of surprise as her head snapped forward. Her hand slipped from Taquin's and she crashed into the sand.

She laid there for a moment without a sound, her hands buried in the sand as they had tried to stop her fall. Then her situation finally hit her and she began to whimper, more out of embarrassment than pain. She must look so stupid, flopping around like a fish out of water. . . which she was. Bringing herself to her knees she sat on her heels and rubbed her watering eyes with the back of her hands. Hiccuping a little she looked up at Taquin, hoping he wasn't laughing at her folly.

It'd been a struggle to force himself to do this. The orangeblood's eyes drifted up nervously at the towering rubble as he made his way from the ship terminal and down to the beach, his lusus fluttering along at his side. Piperi Strato's heart was pounding as he padded along on bare feet, arms swinging at his sides as he gazed worriedly out at the lights. He could hear the hum of the crowd, and the thin, reedy sound of the music. He'd been hesitant, but a deep curiosity had pulled him out of his reclusive life. Oh, how anxious this all made him...but how wonderful, too. So many people, the sights, the change of scenery. Why, he had only ever seen the ocean in books...he'd painted it a few times, too. How wonderful would it be to actually touch the great salty mass of water?

Things would be very different tonight. Tonight, Pip was in disguise. Out of his element. The little orangeblood was garbed in a rather over-sized black sweater, one he'd got for the sole purpose of hiding a most startling trait; his wings. Though soft to the touch, they were resilient appendages, impervious to being folded down or crumpled a bit, and he'd done just that. He'd gently pulled the tops of them over his shoulders before pulling the sweater on, and ta-da~, he was a simple orangeblood, no unusual traits at all!

As he finally reached the pier, an overwhelming sense of relief washed over him as no one seemed to take any notice of his presence. And why should they? He laughed to himself, and reached up to brush his fingers over Swoosedad's nose as the little creature alighted on his shoulder. It had been his idea...and it was working! He couldn't fathom why he hadn't thought of it before. Maybe now, he could have some fun. He was busy whispering his thanks to the diminutive buttermoose when, quite suddenly, he collided with a stranger, giving a little yelp. Of course he'd been bustled a little by the crowd, but after a moment's distraction over his lusus, he'd practically had a head-on collision.

"Oh, geez, oh gosh..." he peered up to see who it was he'd bustled into. The blush that appeared when he saw the purple symbol, and those sly, glittering eyes, was immense. His heart leapt into his throat. A highblood.

"Sorry about that. Are you alright?" he asked in earnest, fiddling with the sweater cuffs that were just a bit too long. He'd bumped into her nearly hard enough to make her stumble...but he certainly didn't seem to realize exactly who she was...just a highblood. And now that he was grounded, he figured, he'd have to be a little more careful about how he acted. Of all the people to crash into, why a purpleblood?

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A lifetime of being the bumper and never the bumpee had Regina gape in surprise for a moment, before raising her hands and shoving back, roughly. She might have been trying to duck under the radar, but that didn't mean she wasn't going to not cause a scene. It wasn't that he had hurt her, it was the point of it. You pay attention when a highblood is walking by. You get out of the way. Stepping forward aggressively, pushing herself into the hapless kids personal space, she folded her arms across her chest and thrust her head forward to glare, barely registering the apology.

"You better watch where you're walking, lowblood."

And suddenly someone was yelling queenie. Regina winced, quickly looking around for the source of the noise. Were they trying to get her nabbed and dragged off back to boredomesville? No, it was just some gigantic redblood girl, lumbering up. In spite of the awkwardness of it all, Regina felt her hackles settle. Nothing worked like a little bit of flattery to calm her down. And a lot worked just as well. The temper cleared from her face as quickly as it came, and she grinned at Maglid, then back to Piperi.

"Aw, forget about it, no harm done. Enjoying yourself today, are you?"

Today was not a day for fun and games for Odette. She was attending Bloodfest strictly to earn some beetles, try to win some prizes, and maybe after all of that was taken care of, she might have some fun. She set up her little radio and a beetle jar in a small alcove between vendors. Odette performed her regular stretches, and when she deemed herself ready to dance, she bent over her radio to turn the music on. Just as she hit the play button, the queen's microphone feedback interrupted and Odette respectfully stopped to listen. Odette was excited to prove her worth in the games, and make her caste proud. Maybe she'd get a chance to practice her newly discovered abilities, too. The new abilities sure helped when it came to dances, that was for sure. Odette could spin faster, jump higher, and make herself practically weightless. Not like she weighed much to begin with, but it did help.

When the queen finished her speech, Odette turned to her tiny dance station. Would she even have the time to get many dances in? She frowned, dismayed at the fact that she wouldn't be able to make as much money out of this crowd as possible. If only I had gotten here earlier, she thought remorsefully. She looked to the stage, and back at her radio. I'll get in as many dances as I can, she resolved. Odette knew she'd probably get lost in the music and her own movements. She would have to make a mental note to keep aware of her surroundings. It would just be terrible if she missed her chance to participate in the games. She took a steady breath in, hit play, and began.

Athene sighed as the sea breeze tugged on her choppy hair that had been wrestled back into a pony tail, running her hand across it and feeling oddly naked without her little glass baubles. Already she felt nervous without her normal layer of clothing and the string bikini she wore wasn't helping. But Fluff-Dad had been very stubborn on the fact she should come to the event and well, she guessed it would be okay to relax for one day without having to worry too much. She had arrived a little too late to hear the queen's speech, taking her time getting to the beach, and so she let herself wander around, a bag hanging off her shoulder holding her things.

The salty air seemed to loosen her up quickly though and she found herself enjoying the sights, slowly drawn toward a spot by music. There, by a small crowd, she found Odette. Quietly she watched as the yellowblood put some beetles and keeping her distance, she studied the girl for a few moments. She seemed a little.. hm bored possibly? The crossed arms didn't help Athene identify her expression and she felt a little nervous being unable to discern if this yellowblood was an enemy or not, already feeling exposed. Either way, she turned her attentions back to Odette and smiled trying to relax again as she offered a few beetles herself, looking around for a spot to settle. It might be nice to spend this day with Odette, even if she'd be dancing for awhile. She was always very pretty and graceful.

Just as Taquin was musing on how fortunate it was he lusus "allowed" her to be on land before she got much older Khanda was beating herself up for not running off sooner. She could have had more experience with gravity then. As it was falling was a completely foreign concept to her, as was being covered in sand. Taking his offered hand she felt even more embarrassed as she saw the tiny granules clinging to her wet skin. Oh she hated this. Once she was back on her feet she began to feverishly scrape the sand off of her person and scowled and the unpleasant sensation of sand scraping against her skin. Some of it was even in her hair, this just wouldn't do. After brushing most of the sand off of her body she reached back and undid her hair bow.

"Hold this. she said as she held the ribbon out to him. Then she bent forward and began to run her fingers through her hair, trying to knock out the pesky sand. Ugh, now her hair was all messed up. Stupid sand. Stupid hole. Stupid gravity. Once she felt like she had rid her locks of the sand she stood straight once more, whipping her hair back. "Get me a comb." she said as she tried her best to smooth out her hair with her hands. She needed to make herself presentable once more and simply needed to fix her hair before she went any further. She was better than these landdwellers so she better look the part. First impressions are everything.

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Frossa had waited a really long time for Hazzan.

There had been plans to meet up near the outskirts of Four Fronds, but the tealblood simply never showed up. It was rather uncharacteristic of her and Frossa was slightly concerned; but apparently not enough to try and locate the heftier girl. Frossa had waited a good part of the night before giving up and leaving without her travel companion- which was a fairly impressive feat for the indigoblood, to say the least. Hazzan probably had a good reason for her tardiness, Frossa figured. The tealblood had been really excited for the event. But Bloodfest would not wait, and neither could she!

The highblood was not one to travel alone- as a matter of fact, she rather disliked it. She only really ever did it when there was something she really wanted or really had to do, which was in all honesty quite rare. Hippodad was fairly low maintenance and Frossa raked in more than enough food to satisfy both their large appetites, and the lavish Four Fronds had everything the highblood could ever desire. Frossa was in a rather sour mood due to the long, boring trek to Old Hemisect- however the promise of completely radical times at Bloodfest kept her going. Her stomach growled as she reminisced on past Bloodfests and the treasure cove of delicious things it entailed. Ohgog it was going to be so much fun!

As Frossa finally neared the remnants of Old Hemisect, she stumbled upon a familiar face from the Four Fronds hunts. Her path crossed Ophion's, a fellow indigoblood who had previously struck a deal up with Frossa concerning the carcasses of their prey. His crisp, immaculate jacket was immediately tugged at as she pleaded and begged him to accompany her to Bloodfest- Frossa really, really didn't want to go alone. What were the chances she would find any of her friends in the massive sea of trolls there anyway? Being by your lonesone was no fun at all! Frossa didn't mind Ophion one bit; in fact, she rather liked him so far. Anyone who gave her delicious things, troll meat included, was a-okay by her books. And so the two highbloods headed off together, Frossa chittering away nonstop as they neared the crowded beach Bloodfest was being held on. She was more than glad to finally have some company; and Frossa continued rambling on in her usual excited way, pointing and gesturing to whatever or whomever captured her attention at the time. And, as usual, it wasn't long before she was completely fixated on something edible. Or, in this case, a huge sea of stalls serving edible things. Frossa was simply in heaven.

"This way~!" She commanded, grabbing Ophion by the cuff of his sleeve as she steered them through the crowd. Making a beeline straight for the middle of the sectioned off area most food vendors were located, Frossa found herself faced with a predicament she didn't often find herself in. What on Alternia did she start with...?! The options were overwhelming, and while she had an impressive appetite the selection at Bloodfest was no match for her miniscule proteinbag. Glancing up at her fellow indigoblood, Frossa gave him a charming smile. "I just want to grab something real quick, alright? I'm ever so famished~" Lifting a loose wrist to her temple dramatically, Frossa returned her attention to the stalls surrounding her. There was a delightful, musky scent of meat wafting over from a stall to her right. The aptly named 'Grub on a Stick' was serving some sort of unidentified meat on, well, a stick. She didn't know what it was, but it looked good enough to Frossa and smelt simply heavenly. Grabbing a handful of the skewers and paying hastily, Frossa turned her attention back to the food stalls. A couple yards over was a dessert table, serving all sorts of confectioneries and miniature cakes. The highblood's face lit up once more, and she eagerly looked from the meat in her hands, to Ophion, and back to the table of sweets. It was fairly apparent what she wanted. No meal was complete without a dozen or so pieces of dessert, right?

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Bloodfest sounded a little terrifying, but Alifax had already gone and, uh, enlisted in the military. And, he reasoned, if he came out and spent time in the water, no one would think that he, of all trolls, had been the one throwing fire around in the battle with that leechbeast. Water extinguished fires, right?

Wait - that probably wasn't a good thing for him. But he was already here, and that was the problem. He frowned, searching the crowd for a familiar faces (to be honest, not many of the faces here would be familiar - Alifax had never been Mr. Congeniality, exactly). He'd just gotten back from placing his name on the sign-up sheet for the water balloon fight. He wasn't too enthusiastic about that, either, but he figured there had to be something for him to do, and he supposed that he wouldn't mind bringing...probably not glory, but at least honor, to the redbloods' team. (He did hope they liked him.)

He wasn't sure where his friends were (although he was confident that Frossa would be here, at least, to scope out the gastronomic variety - he would probably find her later, with a nutrition plateau stacked high with her favorite treats.). He'd thought Hazzan might come, perhaps for recruitment. There had to be a troll here they didn't know who FLARPed, right? And well enough that they could add a member to their own campaign. To be honest, Alifax missed competitive FLARP a little - but Hazzan's stories were fun, too, when he got to fight. And he liked seeing his friends happy. He just...sometimes wished he had a clouder to partner with. That was all.

He'd left Flambe at home, figuring that he would be harder to spot in the ridiculous crowd that way - he never wanted to draw attention to himself. He was beginning to wish he hadn't, if only so he had something to do (guiding his dad through the crowd would definitely have been something). There wasn't a lot for him to do, if he lacked beetles.

He moved quickly through the crowd anyway. He'd come dressed in swimwear - ah, if you could call it that. Really all he'd done was pick out his best pair of pants (it was a little big for him; Flambe had figured he'd grow into it. He hadn't, yet.) and roll them up a little.

Was that a dancer? Alifax couldn't say he was a huge fan of choreography-aided combat, but the ballet was certainly...pretty. He could leave it at that.