Welcome to Gaia! ::

ties for individual participation:

1. aquitania
2. green chapel
3. abzu

((Posting w permission from Rej, just to see what happened, not for any ooc prizes!))

Character name: Blarney (solo joust)
Competing for: Aruna
Points earned: 4!!! but -1 for being bad at ponies

Blarney was up on effort, the greens of the creature accenting the greens and golds of his own outfit quite well, if you asked him. However, it had always been his sister who was into horses; he was too gangly to do it well, whatever that meant. He was just as glad that he didn't need to ride a horse to be a Knight nowadays, because if the price of getting a sword and a feather in his armored cap was the soreness between his legs, it was a price too high for Blarney to pay.

But he could make do with it for one day. He would be feeling it tomorrow, especially after camping out at the Garde with all the rest of the over-nighters, but. It would be worth it, if he could make it work.

"Alright, Effort," Blarney said, low and soothing, as he leaned down to murmur in the creature's ear. "You and I wore each other out pretty good, right?" Effort snorted, as if to say you might be worn out, but I am fine, puny mortal, which Blarney did not fully believe, but he admired the horse's determination and resolve.

"But we're in this together now. We gotta make that dummy," Blarney pointed with one finger, realized the creature couldn't see him, and lowered his hand to be in the creature's eyeline, "wish it had never been born. We gotta ram it so hard it sees little dummy stars around its stupid dummy head, okay? You're a tough guy, Effort, and I need you to be as tough as you can against that crummy little dummy. And I need you to not throw me off while we do it. Think we can handle that?" Effort snorted impatiently and stamped, as if to say then get on with it already, puny mortal, and Blarney grinned.

"Alright. Well," Blarney said as he sat up, rolled his shoulders, and refocused on the dummy in question. He imagined the two of them, charging down the field together, all gold and green and magnificent. He imagined Effort's long horn colliding with the dummy's head, skewering it through like a dummy kabob. He imagined the flag he'd picked, waving beautifully from the top of the horn. He imagined - though he knew this was impossible - Effort prancing around Castle Blarney, restored in all her finery, like how the Garde was now. He imagined a whole host of Accolades, and he imagined himself and Effort as their leaders, partners.

And it all would start with one little dummy, getting its head kabobbed.

When Blarney smiled, it was wicked, bright and sharp. The soreness in his legs was forgotten, and all he felt was the exhilaration, the adrenaline, the absolute thrill of even a fake hunt, a fake fight. It still got his heart pumping, still got his blood singing.

This was what he was supposed to be doing. This was what he was supposed to be. In that moment, all was right in the world.

"Let's go!"

There was pounding of hooves. There was dust and dirt kicked up. There was a tremendous shattering noise. There was a cheer. There was a decisive thud. Blarney didn't have his eyes closed, but it felt like it, for how quickly it was over. He turned, slightly delirious with excitement, and saw the dummy so thoroughly wrecked, that Blarney couldn't help but let out a triumphant whoop and pump one fist in the air.

It was, perhaps, not the coolest moment, handled without gravitas or aplomb, but it was a true moment, and Effort whinnied in echo of the sentiment.

"You're incredible!" Blarney hooted to Effort, who was shaking the last bit of his halfway-broken jousting horn away. That had been the shattering noise. "Thank you!" Blarney said, leaning down to wrap his arms around the creature's neck in a tight, delighted hug.

"All glory and honor to Sailor Aruna!" Blarney added, looking for his Fair One in the crowd. "And to the Lady Joyeuse Garde!"

Character name: Edam (solo joust)
Competing for: Herself
Points earned:3, +1 for being good at ponies!

If anyone asked, Edam would say that she didn't give anyone her favor because she didn't need a Fair One. She could be her own Fair One - she didn't need no man. Or woman. Or non-binary alien, or whoever else was coming to this odd, beautiful, entirely magical party. She didn't need anyone, and never had.

Except her brother.

And her brother had given his favor to Aruna.

Her brother was dumb. Her brother was so, so dumb.

But Raindrop? Raindrop was so, so good. So good. She was so smart. Edam had spent the time between picking her Accolade and actually saddling up talking to Raindrop, feeding her apples, carrots, and any other bit of anything she could nick from the tables of food that seemed appropriate for a magical almost-a-horse/not-quite-a-unicorn.

It seemed Raindrop enjoyed her bounty, because she let Edam braid flowers around her horn and nuzzled against Edam's cheek whenever she moved in range of doing so. She had spent the time telling Raindrop how beautiful she was, and explaining what they had to do to win. She couldn't be sure, but she was fairly confident that Raindrop's ears had pricked forward when Edam said 'win'.

Edam grinned. It was good that Raindrop had a competitive streak - Edam had one too, a mile wide, and this was horseback riding. This was her thing.

However, jousting? Was not her thing. In usual horseback riding the point was to move around obstacles, not crash into them, but--well, in usual horseback riding there wasn't a two-foot horn attached to the horse's forehead.

Soon, too soon, Edam and Raindrop found themselves in the staging area, watching the other competitors tear down a dummy or each other. She let out a low, slow breath, and when she dropped her hand to Raindrop's shoulder, she could feel her heart beating, in time with Edam's own. They stepped out together and the rush met Edam's ears, and she couldn't help but smile in spite of herself under the attention of the crowd.

"It's all you," Edam whispered to Raindrop. "I trust you. We can do this. We're going to..." she waited, counting down from 3, 2, 1...

"Win."

Unlike her brother, the time did not seem to speed up for Edam. It seemed like it slowed, like it was bullet time - she could see everything, feel everything.

And it was perfect.

Edam let out a joyful whoop, a moment of freedom from her tightly-wound persona. Raindrop seemed as happy as Edam was, doing a victory lap around the ring, letting Edam wave like she was a princess at her own coming-out party.

Maybe, just maybe, she had never been happier, not once in her entire life. She had tears in her eyes, and it was all she could do to keep from weeping, right there in front of God and everybody.

Edam - and Madeline - had never been happier, from the top of her antlers to the bottom of her boots. Right then, in that moment, she understood. She understood why Mason was so gung-ho about it. It was like a dream, the best dream she'd ever had, and in that moment, she never wanted to wake up.

Character name: Kua'kua (solo joust)
Competing for: Grieve
Points earned: 0 point even with +1 from being good at pony

Kua'kua and 'Ino'ino were, perhaps, slightly mismatched. Kua'kua had been correct in the understanding that 'Ino'ino was powerful, with strong muscles visible beneath the gray-blue fur that covered her body - but she hadn't quite thought about her own body, slight and untrained, riding 'Ino'ino. She had no doubt in her mind that 'Ino'ino could easily destroy the dummy when operating under her own power, but under Kua'kua's? She was less sure.

She tried to get her nerves under control - really, she did. She tried to remember the confidence with which 'Ino'ino had stared her down, tried to channel it into her posture, into her heart. They could do this. They could win. They could win! It was a possible outcome. Maybe not plausible, but possible, right? Just as possible as every other outcome. Just because she was small and had never been on anything resembling an Accolade before didn't mean that--

'Ino'ino, true to her name, took off unexpectedly, and Kua'kua couldn't help the startled eep! that escaped her as she clung on for dear life. She knew, distantly, that she wouldn't actually die, but it is one thing to know that and another thing to see a dummy's jousting stick barrelling down at you, to watch it find purchase even as your own mount found the dummy and glanced off.

It was at once happening in slow-motion and hyper-speed. Jousting stick - against Kua'kua's body, the force lifting her up and over the back end of 'Ino'ino. If Ino'ino noticed or cared, she certainly gave no indication as she finished the lap and preened, as if she had done her job perfectly, unbothered by the fact that her rider was several paces behind her, with a bruise blooming just beneath her ribs.

Okay, well. Winning was one possibility. Losing was another. At least she'd hit it? Sort of? At least the dummy's blow hadn't knocked her head off, or knocked her mount over, or any of the other embarrassing things she'd been imagining. She scanned for Grieve in the crowd, an apologetic smile on her face as she shrugged lightly - better luck next time.

To her surprise, she found herself hoping that there would be a next time - at which point she would be much better prepared, she vowed quietly to herself as she made her way out of the ring. Surely someone on Earth could teach her how to joust.

(She probably would not ask Maus to assist with that particular task, unless he was looking for training as well. She had seen his performance - he had given her his favor, of course she watched his run - and had blushed light green under his attention, then blushed deeper green as she watched his actual attempt. She didn't want to say it had been disastrous, but...well, perhaps the two of them could find a trainer together, since clearly they would both need the education before the next Garde celebration took place...)

"I don't think I'll be able to get you your hundred points," Kua'kua said sheepishly, taking the hand and rising with it. "But--yes, I do hope that if there is another tournament, I will put on a better show at that time," she admitted. "Perhaps I can get you your points over...all the tournaments, combined," she added with a chuckle. "I saw the bout between you and Maus. You did get him good, didn't you?" Was it weird that she was both proud of Grieve and sympathetic for Maus? They had both been kind enough to give her their favors; she felt - something - for each of them, and then she felt bad for encouraging them to fight each other.

"Did they have this? Jousting? On your planet? We had nothing even remotely similar on Kua'kua."