Welcome to Gaia! ::

He danced through the boardwalk, he danced through the street. Nothing could stop his dancing feet! Cerpin had woken up in a wonderful mood and started towards 'Time to Dance' with a lot of pep in his step. Somewhere along the way though, he'd gotten lost heading to the booth. Cerpin spent a long time running around in confusion trying to figure out where his debut was. Seriously, what the hell was going on? But eventually he found the right place, locating it by the loud music playing follow by the violent sounds of dummies getting whacked around. There was a flurry of activity once he arrived and he was pushed into a changing booth as a pair of arms shoved various straps of clothing inside before realizing he was a little young for some of them. Tamer options were dropped in but they still had the same amount of sass, pizzazz and heat.

Cerpin was pumped. He had been born to do this. Adjusting the skimpy outfit he'd been shuffled into, the purpleblood wondered if he could take pieces of it home. He was kinda into the chaps. Cerpin smeared some more body glittered on the left side of his face. His bangs covered too much of his right. The other competitors went out first and he took a breath to collect himself. They were NOTHING. Music was like his second most favorite passion after space! The troll before him finished and he stepped out from behind the curtain to face his destiny.

"Are we ready to ROCK AND ROLL?" Leaping into the spot light, Cerpin struck a power pose with his feet planted apart and booth of his hands raised and pointed straight at the audience. He lived for the roar of the crowd and the energy they were feeding him! He was going to blow their freaking minds. He couldn't wait to do this with a guitar strapped to his body in some impossibly tight pants on the smoldering stage of his own nightclub. Or maybe even up in outer space, broadcasting across the universe!

"Get up on your feet! I want to see everyone up with me!" A slight nod to the left queued the music and Cerpin let loose and went absolutely wild. He popped and locked, he dropped into some windmills, Cerpin even started twerking at one point.

There was nothing he wouldn't freaking do to win!

"Ha! Take that- Boom!" He whirled a leg around before using the momentum to slam it into the side of a dummy. His form wasn't perfect but his passion was full marks. Stepping back, he swayed for a moment while regaining balance before setting up for another hit. Cerpin was grateful for some of the training he'd gotten back in the swamp. It was clear to him that his stamina was improving in all physical tasks, even if it was a slow increase.

It was time for the grand finale. Cerpin motioned to the crowd to cheer and he took a few steps back until he was at one end of the stage, opposite from the dummies. Taking a breath in, he glanced out to the crowd, about to let out some kind of cocky wisecrack or other flirtation.

Wait, that was his color. Uncomfortable, tense but focused eyes peered up at him from the mass of trolls. Watching quietly in her own way, she was there. She'd come to see what he could do. His eyes widened in a moment of sincere surprise and vulnerability before an excited and confident gleam sharpened them.

"This one's-" He stretched his limbs out before leaping and propelling himself forward, "For you, Vee!" Putting his hands on the ground, Cerpin began a series of somewhat clumsy but barely decent flips forward, aimed straight at the dummy. For his final leap, he flung himself as high as he could in the air.

"FFFF-" Once he was in the air descending back down towards the dummy, it was clear he was not going to stick this landing. Cerpin was not a trained gymnast, he was just a punk taking lessons from the swamp's resident knight. Crashing down onto the dummy, the purpleblood let out a groan as he essentially destroyed it, taking it down with him. Fantastic dancing and extreme violence, what more could you ask for out of a dance battle? Besides enough restraint to ensure the dancer survived as well, that is.

Well, at least they'd remember him, he supposed.

Keionx was not missing this ******** competition. No way. She had to show up Chiara, for her brother's sake...

The first order of business, of course, was getting herself dressed up. Backstage, there was a surprising array of... stuff. Costumes. It reminded her a lot of last year's Bloodfest... though, hopefully with less... throwing up on stage. She couldn't throw up on stage – her brother was counting on her. And, even if he wasn't – he was so independent these days – she had honor to defend! Rutace honor!

Heatedly, she picked out a costume – all flowing capes and shimmering armor. Glittering metallic scalemail arranged like a bathing suit. Not quite a chainmail bikini, but for a heroic, sexy entrance it would have to do. A half skirt, in a striking storm-grey, accented it, revealing enough to be sexy without destroying the integrity of the armor. Snappy black boots went with long orange stockings, calf high, showing off her legs.

Oh wow. She had legs. Keionx usually didn't show them off so much, and she felt a little... well, embarrassed. But at least she wasn't a wolf thing this time.

A rhinestone littered belt held her scabbard, and her sword – that trusty companion – was with her at her side. It bore her symbol to an extent, yes, but that could be easily ignored as a motif.

Ah! Right! Her symbol – she wrapped the Xionek scarf around her face, hiding her identity, and looked down at her chest. Ah. Yes. Xionek, as a persona, identified as neuter gender, and Keionx's figure could conflict with things... Should she do something about this?

She thought for a moment, and then decided it was fine. She put on her cape and looked at herself in the mirror, masked and garbed as she was.

Yes. It was fine.

She was called up to the stage to suitably heroic music, feeling her bloodpusher soar with anticipation. This was her chance, her turn to be heroic, to defend her honor, to be the sort of respected hero she had wished she could be, if only for one night...

And then she saw the crowd.

Oh gog, the crowd.

That Bloodfest, all that time ago (and yet not so long ago at all) came back to her in a horrible, chill rush. The crowds then. The booing. The sickness in her stomach. The surge of them, all after her.

Beastdad.

She sought him out in the audience and was relieved to see that he wasn't there. He was back in the swamp, still moving all of Keionx's things into safe storage and tending to them until she could carve out someplace more suitable for herself than soggy swampwood huts. Possibly also cooking for their return.

She wasn't sure if that made things better or worse, but she began to dance anyway. She started with an opening pose, sweeping the stage with her cloak and twirling, letting the whole audience witness her sparkling raiment. She was powerful, she thought, strong, and graceful... she knew these things.

So why did her feet feel like lead? Why did every face in the audience make her want to bolt from the stage in fear? She wanted an audience, longed for it, so why wasn't she happy now?

Her uncertainty made her falter, but she made an attempt to redeem it – At a resounding cresciendo in the music, she flourished her sword... and cut the practice dummy in half. For a moment, as she withdrew into a guard pose, she was pleased with herself... and then she heard the laughter.

She stared, owl-eyed, into the crowd. Apparently, she wasn't supposed to do that to the dummy. It was the only one there, after all. It needed to be intact. And it didn't have enough flourish. Not enough pizzazz.

Keionx didn't understand the criticism, but knew what she had to do;

She made her final bow and left the stage, sheathing her sword. In the future, she thought, she might just stick to hero-ing, and not try to dossy it up with dance... Honor or no.

(600 words = +3)

Keionx 10
(1)Cerpin: 18
Elidae: 24
(2)Etsali: 7
(3)Arniva: 10
Sascha: 9

(4)Lutrin: 3


OMG All of your guys' entries were SOO good!! IT WAS SO HARD TO CHOOSE T.T