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Dictys waited. And waited. And...walked around the room. Oh, was that another egg? Well, any opportunity was an appropriate opportunity. Ey walked forward eagerly, although ey had to reach a bit - oh. This one was probably not placed for someone of eir age. That didn't matter, though; ey did have a lusus for a reason. Ey nudged Mommydaddy, and they lifted themself off Dictys' shoulder to poke at the little indigo thing. Oh, it was so precious! Dictys watched, charmed, as it fell to the ground - and then stumbled a little in eir eagerness to snatch it up. And...another. And another. And another.

Wow, this was a lot of eggs. Pleased at the windfall, ey turned to the blueblood again - he did seem awfully engrossed in the navy egg he'd just stepped on! Perhaps it served him right, for his lack of attention. Dictys could move on, ey decided, and ey wrapped Mommydaddy about eir neck again. They looked more like a collar than a scarf, really, but no one was likely to comment on it. That blueblood, for one, had seemed too mute to do so, and no one had ever commented on the solid gold ring of metal set with lovely purple jewels Dictys tended to wear about eir neck - and that was a collar if anyone could say so! Except Dictys. For Dictys it was a glorious, fashionable accessory. Also solid gold. And shiny.

Ey passed through a few rooms (if you could call them those, really) quickly, taking four more eggs as ey did – there were a couple broken ones on the way, too, which was pitiful, but there was no way Dictys would deign to take those. Besides, it was getting rather darker now, which meant more people had already traipsed through these particular caverns. Ey should count emself lucky! Or observant. Dictys preferred the latter.

Eventually ey came across a little greenblooded boy with curved horns, a large scarf, and a satchel of his own. Ey waved a greeting. “Good luck,” ey said, rather generously, ey thought. Ey really was riding on a wave of satisfaction. Ey plucked up two more eggs from behind a stalactite, dusting off eir fingers as ey did so. Ey didn’t really want to stay long – that yellowblooded girl in the deserts had laughed at eir walk. But if this boy proved interesting…



27!

Lunear was terribly bad at egg collecting. At least that is what he thought he was. He gathered a fair number, but of course, they didn't last. In one whole glubbing night he'd devoured his stash. Rainbow candy juices and all. Perhaps rainbow drinkers were onto something. But he didn't entertain that idea long, simply because it was gross, but also because it meant he had to go back out.

Out into the cave and restock. These hunts only happened once a year and he'd be a lusii's turd if he let the opportunity to get free candies pass him by.

((This is going to be fun as a proper RP))

Keionx had never met a thief, and only knew the concept from her books. Even then, she wouldn't have expected it from someone she had met in person.

So she was not suspicious of the other troll. At all.

"A contest?!" she said with delight, "Thy suggestion is most excellent! Let us..." she posed for dramatic effect, "Begin!" Not that they waited for her, of course.

She had no interest in the prize - she had no idea what sort of favor she might ask.

But the orangeblood loved competition. She loved engagement. She loved the thrill of victory. She just loved it all.
... But it seemed that all the eggs in the cavern that were visible had been snatched up already.

What was a noble knight like herself to do in such a quandry?!

Suddenly, she spotted a glitter of foil up in the higher reaches of the cavern.

Yes! Climbing! She could do that! She started to climb the nearest pillar, hauling herself and her basket carefully up after the glittering treats. It was harder than she'd thought to get up there, but she managed not to spill it, and she flushed an exerted and happy orange as she scooped the eggs into her basket.

Now what?

Perhaps it was time to go deeper. She scurried down the stalagmite, landing on the ground a little harder than she'd intended, before continuing on her quest for eggs.

[+] Kursha Vidari

Kursha had retreated into one of the other tunnels. He would regroup with the two orangebloods at the entrance later. As he thought, it was a lot easier to find eggs without the nearby competition. Splashing through an underwater stream, Kursha made his way over to an alcove where two eggs were perched. He slipped them into his rucksack and then continued down the corridor, trudging through the stream. The water splashed softly around his ankles.

As he went on the ceiling began to drop. Soon he was crouching to keep his thinkpan from scraping the ceiling. Then it descended even lower, and he could not get through except by crawling. Getting onto his hands and knees, Kursha peered through the opening. It looked as though a vast space opened up on the other side and in that large space Kursha could see... eggs!

He sloshed through the water, careful not to bruise his knees on the hard cave floor.

((Would you guys like to stick to the the total for the winner of the competition, or decide regardless of that? I'm fine either way.))

((And I'm fine with either way too! Though this might put a damper on the competition, haha))

Etsali nodded encouragingly as she watched Keionx think through what she'd told her, bouncing on her toes impatiently. When the other orangeblood agreed, she immediately brightened, flashing another grin and taking the offered basket very carefully. "Good luck!" She then chimed obligingly, tilting her head back to watch the very impressive climbing. As Keionx moved up, Etsali's fingers closed around one of her eggs, pulling it from its basket to place gently into her own. A few more went that way, but by then Keionx was about halfway up and the little thief was getting much too impatient.

Frowning a little, she tipped the basket over her own, watching them tumble over. There nearly wasn't enough room, in fact there were two that kept trying to fall over the edges, and she took a moment to puzzle over the problem. She didn't want to keep the basket, not unless she had to, so...Plucking one of the offending eggs off the pile before it could escape, she absentmindedly glanced back up to call a quick "Wow, you're doing great!"

Within seconds it was unwrapped, the shiny paper crammed into a pocket while the chocolate egg was returned to Keionx's basket. She did the same with the second, decided she could manage the rest, and then carefully placed the almost but not quite empty basket on the ground. Then she was off into the shadowy tunnels again, trying to find her way back towards the entrance. If she passed Kursha maybe she could convince him she'd already won, but if not, oh well. She couldn't wait to show Keeper her haul!

[+] Kursha Vidari

The rucksack was getting heavy. Kursha wondered if it even might have been getting too heavy. He quickly dismissed that thought though. What an idiotic notion. He had competition to win and a lusus to impress. There was no such thing as 'too heavy'. Still, a part of him wished he were not quite so skilled at finding eggs—an arrogant, ego-stoking part of him.

Slipping two more eggs into his rucksack, Kursha searched around for his next target. Even in less-travelled tunnels, the eggs were not exactly easy to find. Every time he retraced his steps it seemed that he discovered an egg that he had somehow missed before. It was kind of annoying. Kursha's eyes passed over the various rock formations. There was no glimmer of foil. He gave it one more cursory sweep to be sure. Nothing.

Satisfied, Kursha hiked his rucksack higher up on his shoulder and started down the next tunnel. He had hardly gone more than a dozen paces or so though, when suddenly as he turned the corner he ran into something... more specifically someone. It was the orange-blood. Not his neighbour—the sneaky-looking one. Kursha got to his feet, looking annoyed. He had been as much at fault though, so he could hardly complain. Quickly masking his irritation, Kursha opened his mouth to apologise. Then his eyes fell across the orangeblood's basket. He was stunned. How had she managed to get so many eggs in such a short period of time? A suspicion niggled the back of his mind.

“What's the big rush?” Kursha asked, moving to block her path. His face was fixed once more in a smile. He rested a hand on his hip, trying to look casual.

((Including the 2 Kursha found earlier and allowing for a little time passing, I'm going to put Kursha at a tentative total of 24. Aura, I know Etsali was heading for the entrance but I figured it would be all right if she got a bit turned around and ran into Kursha. Let me know if otherwise!))

Etsali was beginning to wonder whether or not she'd taken a wrong turn somewhere along the way back to the cave entrance. Unfortunately, she'd been too preoccupied trying to be sneaky and find eggs after she'd come in to devote much effort to building a mental map of the tunnels. So it was entirely possible that she'd see the light right after this turn up ahead! Just as possible as it was that she'd actually only be walking further away from it. She really hoped it was the first option, though, since it was a little tiresome having to be so careful with her overstuffed basket.

Eager to see what she would find, she sped around the corner and crashed right into the oncoming greenblood. As she fell, her eggs tumbled out as well, scattering across the ground. Yelping, she scrambled after them, paying the other troll no mind as she built up the pile again in the basket. Alright, so that was probably all of them, except...Aha! Crawling over to stop the last egg before it rolled too far away, she placed it on top of the others, watched them a second to be sure they wouldn't fall, then finally looked up.

Kursha was smiling at her again, and sometime during her egg rescue he'd moved into the middle of the path. She tensed, slowly climbing to her feet but staying just a bit crouched as her eyes darted between him and the cavern walls. Would she be able to get past him? Why was he in the way? Did he already know what she'd done somehow? If it was just a coincidence, she could work her way through this easy, right? But if it wasn't a coincidence, could she outrun him? She'd probably lose some eggs if she tried... Mind racing, she straightened and pasted on a smile of her own to match his.

"Kursha! I was just about to come find you." She lifted her basket with one hand and rubbed at her eyes with the other before grasping the handle with it as well. The motion smeared the makeup around her eyes, but she didn't seem to have noticed. "What do you think? Have I got enough to win? I've just passed by our other friend, and I've definitely got her beat now, from what I saw."


((From what I can tell, she should have at around 31 eggs, maybe one or two more. If that is a thing that needs knowing.))