[10YR ANNI] The Bachelor [CONGRATS RAINBOWDASH & FLUTTERSHY]

[Menelie]

After her interview, Kyrie had intended to make small talk with the other contestants while finishing cleaning up, but she caught a glimpse of Rais and sort of spent the rest of the time daydreaming. He was so handsome! She wondered what it would be like if she won. Imagine, her, the wife of the Chieftain! She hadn't contemplated love much before; always figured either it'd come her way or it wouldn't. But maybe love was like this competition--there was some luck involved, she supposed, but you had to really make your own way to stand out.

A splash of water interrupted that thought process as the lone male competitor waded into the fountain and began "accidentally" splashing all of the girls. Kyrie giggled. Maybe if she didn't win Rais' heart, she could try him. He was no less handsome than the Chieftain, and she appreciated his playful spirit. She was pretty much clean now, and the interviews were still happening, so she screwed her smile into a smirk and splashed Kilot back.

"I'm Kyrie," she responded, and began to nod to his suggestion when she heard the squalling of unhappy toddlers.

Doof

((She's def. down for that lol))

Kyrie shifted nervously from one hoof to the other. She'd never tried to calm a child before...what if she was awful at it? She'd make a terrible mother if that were the case....and the Chieftain wouldn't settle for someone who wasn't just amazing with children!

With an apprehensive smile she took her assigned child into her arms. The little one was a girl, judging by the pigtails, whose skin was a pale cream color with blotches of a darker brown. Kyrie's heart did a little flip-flop. This tiny one looked like she could be her own daughter! Suddenly her heart ached for the little girl. What could be upsetting her so? She shifted her to her hip, as she'd seen other parents do, and rocked back and forth. "Whats'a matter, hm?" she asked in a soft voice, rocking and bouncing. No good so far.

Okay, Kyrie, think. What could upset someone so small? She could be hungry? But no, they didn't have any food around--surely they wouldn't be given a task they couldn't solve right here. Oh, maybe she needed her diaper changed! Kyrie glanced down at the little one's bottom to realize she wasn't wearing a diaper. Okay, so that wasn't it. Why did children cry? Kyrie tried to remember being a child, but it felt like so long ago she couldn't remember what might upset her, just happy memories. Like the time she laid out in a field all by herself with dandelion puffs all around her.

Then the little girl, bless her little head!, gave Kyrie a clue. She rubbed her eyes. "You're tired!" she exclaimed. Okay, so she needed to put the baby to sleep. But how? She had no blankets or soft places to put her down. And all this noise...anyone would have a hard time tucking in with all the fussing babies and freaking-out adults around. "C'mon, little hoof," she said, beginning to walk away from the group. She kept her eye on Rais and his Mellon so they knew she wasn't leaving. Just escaping the noise a bit. "Shhhh," she said in the soothingest voice she could muster while rocking and bouncing. She hummed a melody, softly, but loud enough to carry above the girl's crying. This seemed to p***k her attention, and she stopped her crying briefly. Kyrie smiled at her and kept humming. The girl rubbed her eyes again and squirmed in Kyrie's arms. "I'm not putting you down," she said in a singsong voice.

The girl started wailing again.

"Nonono," said Kyrie, "C'mon, little hoof! You were doing so good!" She sat down in a grassy patch and shifted the girl to her lap. She rocked back and forth, hugging the girl to her chest no matter how she wiggled. She started a song, one of the only lullabies she knew, really, and kept rocking and singing until the girl quieted down, and even then she kept going. After what seemed like forever, the girl finally fell asleep. Kyrie smiled to herself. That hadn't been so bad! Maybe she was good with kids after all!

Except now she was trapped here with this girl on her lap until either she woke up or someone came to collect her. Hm.  

[Kira of Flames]

As the rest of the faunness (and one lone male?) finished cleaning mud from them, Amadorine noticed a couple of familiar faces. Notably a bright pink faun who she'd remembered from the last time this whole thing had happened. From the body language, she could tell that the other faunness was not comfortable at all, and she was just about to go over to comfort her when Krikit informed them that they were moving on.

Giving one last look to the bright pink faunness, she decided she would approach her at some point during this. They had something in common, and maybe it would help both of them to relax a little.

Her attention went to the Mellon as they were guided down the hall, and a small frown came over her face as she tried to make a connection to Krikit's words and what the next possible task was. Something about the younger generations? Where they going to tell stories or give wisdom to some young teens or something?

The sounds of a wailing toddler filled echoed down the corridor they were walking, soon chorused with the sounds of many screaming young faun as the nursery attendants came into view. Confusion came over Ama's face as she looked from Krikit to the screaming babes. And then understanding dawned on her as she realized that this was another one of the tests. Well, it wasn't like this was her first time dealing with a fussing toddler.

"Here, let me help." She said with a smile to one of the attendants, finding herself with an arm full of squirming, screaming toddler. With a heft, she hooked her arm under the rear of the faun and chuckled. "What is the little one's name?"

The attendant smiled, seeing by the way that the orange faun held the little one, could see that she'd had some experience before. "His name is Jurek."

"Quite the lungs you have there, don't you Jurek?" She cooed softly, bouncing him a little only to the sound of more wails. A grin came over her face as she remembered her own siblings growing up. "You know, my daddy had a trick when my siblings and I were fussy, Jurek. You know what he would do?"

Of course the toddler didn't answer back, still crying louder than ever.

"He would make you make the funniest sound until you couldn't cry anymore because you were laughing!" She giggled a little, still bouncing the toddler easily in her arms, not letting the screams shake her at all. Instead, she reached over with one hand and covered and uncovered the mouth of the babe with a flat hand, quickly. Because of the blocked and then unblocked sound waves, the cries turned from screams and into an 'ob-ob-ob-ob-ob' type of noise.

Sure enough, it didn't take long for the young faun to turn from screaming tears in to laughter, even going so far to reach up and repeat the same action on her. With a laugh, Ama opened her mouth and made an 'aaaaaah' sound, letting her new friend make the funny noises with her mouth as she made them on his. Deep down, part of Ama felt sad by all this. She had missed out on raising her only flesh and blood because of her own stupidity. She couldn't help but wonder what it would have been like to have raised him, and wondered if she'd ever have the chance again to raise an infant faun. She had a feeling they were much different than raising harpies.  

[Fea Line]

Fluttershy had quickly retreated to find time to calm herself down. She was more than sure she botched that interview. Oh she was so not the one for this. So so so not the one. And worse she swore she could still feel hands on her.... backside from earlier. A shiver ran down her spine and she bit back a squeak.

The mellon was talking again. This time about youth and teaching the young. So their next task was to help with little ones? This was something she had done before! At least this task felt safer and more familiar to her. It wasn't at all unlike animals in a sense. And she was super good with animals.

Smiling, Fluttershy scooted towards a little boy with a snotty nose and runny eyes. "There there, its ok. Fluttershy will make it all better." she said gently, patting his head before lifting him up into her arms. She smiled down at the little tot, speaking to him like she did to any animal, rocking him back and forth. For a few moments she thought it was working when suddenly the kid's face bunched up into one mighty fine scrunch and then expelled his breakfast all over the front of the yellow pegasus.

"Oh..oh my... oh dear...ohno..." she whispered to herself as she shoved her arms outward and held the kid away from her. His tears became stronger, faster and his soft grunts turned into ear piercing screaming and wailing. "Oh its ok there there, hush now. Someone just has an upset tummy...... really no...no crying wont help....oh shhh sshhh please....please..." she mumbled, pacing back and forth with a snotty sick crying kid and nothing she seemed to be doing was helping. Why had this been so easy before! Maybe the stare? Should she use the stare? Oh no that was only for drastic measures and it wasn't his fault he didn't feel good! Maybe just a bug! Maybe he needed to be warm?! Blankets?!!! DID THEY HAVE BLANKETS?!?!?!!!!!  

[Wolfs Heart]

Thoughts of the interview were quickly gone. She answered it honestly, it wasn't worth dwelling over. Her eyebrows cocked at the approaching group of toddlers. She supposed the little mellon had said something about being all motherly and such. Rainbow Dash didn't necessarily picture herself as the motherly type, but she was the cool type, what kid didn't like that. She was going to rock this.

The little boy that Dash paired up with seemed to be one of the least fussy babies out of the bunch. Awesome! All she had to do was keep him entertained and happy. This was going to be fun.

"Hey little dude! Want to go for a spin?" What kid didn't like flying through the air? The tot was quiet. With much enthusiasm, Rainbow Dash picked up the boy, preparing to give him a spin around. His silent spell was quickly broken as the screaming began. "Woah woah woah. Okay. I guess you don't like flying." Dash quickly set him down, expecting the crying to stop as soon as the little faun was back on the ground. No. Is it possible that the screaming got louder even?

Okay... now what?

"Woah, hey buddy. You're ok. No more flying, you can chill on the ground if you want." Talking to him clearly wasn't going to make it stop. "Do you have a favorite toy or something?" Rainbow Dash looked around trying to find any available resources to use. Flying the kid around was the only trick she had up her sleeve.

The female started frantically running around, bringing the kid different toys and thing that she hoped would make him happy. It seemed like the crying got worse with every failure, and it was quickly wearing out. "Make it stop, make it stop" She whined. She looked around to see what the other females were doing, at least the more successful ones. She spotted Fluttershy doing... about as well as she was. "It's like they can sense your fear... and they like... feed off of it." Rainbow sighed in exasperation.

Food!

"You want an apple?" The boy stopped crying long enough to take the apple... and proceed to chuck it at Rainbow Dash's head. "Ow!" she cried out. The boy laughed. Well... her head hurt, but at least he wasn't crying anymore. She rolled the apple back to him and he threw the apple again, laughing when Rainbow Dash flinched. "Yeah, definitely feeds on fear and pain..."

Fea Line

 

[Fea Line]

Fluttershy managed to find a blanket and wrapped up her little tot bundle, gently patting his bottom as she tried to coo to him more to calm him down when her ears pricked to the sound of a familiar voice. Turning to see Rainbow Dash fairing no better, the yellow pegasus sighed greatly. "Dashie!" she blinked, glancing over at the apple throwing tot that her rainbow friend had. Oh...oh.. idea! "What if they had a playdate!" she explained happily and held her kid out for Rainbow Dash to see once the other's kid finally seemed happy enough.

The crying blanket bundle seemed to stop for a few seconds like he was considering his options.... then turned his head and wretched again all over Fluttersehy's hands. "Oh....... or.....not...." Blinking in shock, Fluttershy stared not knowing what to say. She had just gotten clean from the mud.....and now this. Shaking a bit she pulled the little child back closer to her chest, almost squashing it in an over dramatic hug. Slowly Fluttershy turned her little bundle around and glanced at the crying, snotty, barfy mess of a kid. "Don't make me use the stare now......" she she softly, having run out of ideas so quickly. But things just weren't going her way today. Mudslapped. Buttgrabbed. Barfed on. What she thought was going to be an easy task compared to the others was quickly turning foul. So Fluttershy did the only thing she could think to do. Eyes narrowing slowly, she stared down the crying barfbucket, eyes suddenly intensifying in the most stern of stares one could ever stare.



Confused and not sure what to do, the kid shut its trap and blinked at the yellow pegasus, highly unsure, but at least quiet. "There now....whose a good boy." Fluttershy said stiffly but managed a faint smile towards Rainbow Dash. "Aaaalllllll better!"

Wolfs Heart

 

[Wolfs Heart]

Rainbow Dash made a stink face as she witnessed Fluttershy's tot spitting up. Ew, she was glad her little apple chucker wasn't actually chucking up.

However, the apple chucking was getting old really fast. The next time the babe threw the apple at Dash, she held onto it. He looked at her expectantly. Rainbow Dash held her breath, 'Don't let him see your fear.'

"Why don't we play a different game?" She suggested.

"Nooooooooooooooooooooo!"

Rainbow Dash glanced over at Fluttershy, "That's soooo not fair." she cried at the yellow pegasus' ability to stare the child into submission. She would have asked Fluttershy to stare at her kid too, but she was reminded that this was technically still a competition, and it probably wouldn't look good to ask someone else to take care of her kid.

"Hey kid, you better get your act together or else I'm going to have to do what she just did." Rainbow Dash couldn't actually do 'the stare', but hopefully the kid wasn't able to sense lies too.

Rainbow Dash went down the list of things she tried: food, toys, games, she couldn't touch him so it wasn't like she could rock him to sleep or anything. "I bet you just miss your parents, huh? You're with a strange, but awesome, fauny. Bet you haven't seen too many pae with wings..." she spoke to him with a soft voice, not even sure if he understood, but for a brief moment he wasn't yelling or throwing things at her.

Fea Line

 

[Doof]

For Kilot, the day seemed to be passing quickly, and it was full of all sorts of excitement already. His attempts to gross out Mona had been largely unsuccessful, but it was nice to see a familiar face. He went back to bathe again- he'd missed several spots- and a couple of the girls were close by there anyway. A playful splash of water in his direction from the brown fauness with the shapely legs prompted him to send one back in equal greater measure. He smirked and followed up with an introduction (of sorts); "So you're the one with the wrestling chops. I'm Kilot, I kind of like to do that sometimes too. Maybe after we're done here we should-"

He was cut short by the announcement of the next... Challenge? Competition? Oh well. Perhaps next time.

Kilot's ear twitched when he heard the youngsters bawling. Oh good. He'd heard of these things before. You put food in, and receive noise, drool and poop. The perfect addition to any happy home.

An attendant approached him with a young faun in her arms. Its shriek was quite piercing, and as she handed the little one to Kilot, she gave him a sassy look that seemed to imply, "Good luck, meathead." Kilot rolled his eyes, but supposed it was fair enough. He quite neatly fit the stereotype of a hunter male who had zero understanding of the finer points of raising a toddler, and never intended to deny that fact.

He held the little one before him as it cried and cried for no apparent reason. The girl was- wait. He peered under the cloth it was wrapped in. The boy, as far as Kilot could tell, hadn't soiled himself, and seemed to be well-fed enough. Was he sick? Tears streamed down his face and some sort of (likely infectious) fluid dribbled out of his nose. The child had his eyes screwed shut tight and didn't seem to notice Kilot's icy stare.

For almost half a minute the warrior stood there, blinking, silent and still slightly damp, and in his broad hands a yelling, shrieking and slightly damp toddler was making every second stretch out longer and longer, until, inexplicably, it stopped and opened one of its eyelids just a crack to look at Kilot, who immediately recognized its expression as a perplexed one- perplexed as to why all of its noise only received an icy stare in response.

Without any warning, Kilot suddenly roared a war cry- the same one he'd used in the mud wrestling competition only louder and even more terrifying. His eyes bugged a little out of his head, his fur bristled, the veins in his neck stood out and a little spittle flew from his wide open mouth. It went on for several seconds longer than the child had, and by the time the sound had stopped reverberating within the hall, the toddler in his hands- and a couple of others- had stopped silent, looks of horror on their features.

The warrior then held the youngster back towards the attendant, who snatched it away with a similar look of horror- and outrage- on her face. Well, perhaps it wasn't the most tactful way to handle the situation, but the boy, well he wasn't crying anymore. And Kilot was sure he would grow into a nice, strong warrior one day. He folded his arms and felt the attendant's glare upon him.

"What?"  

[Guardian_Iris]

Day 4 Prompt

Between the varying screams from the toddlers and plaintive pleas of the 'competitors', Rais aimed a glare at Krikit, ears flattened against his skull. Really...was she getting some sort of sadistic pleasure out of all this, or...

His thoughts were interrupted by Kilot's roar. By the spirits...he wasn't sure what this competition was going to prove at this rate except possibly that the poor Faun here today could handle any crazy thing thrown at them...maybe. Well...

***

Eventually, the tots in varying states of calm (or not) were returned to the caretakers who shuffled their charges back to the nursery. The relative silence was welcome and the 'contestants' were given time to clean up and regain their composure before Krikit addressed them again.

"Another question round for you all," she announced. "Before, we wanted to give you a situation and see how you best felt it fair to address the issue. Now, we test your wisdom. Wisdom can take many forms, of course, and no one question is going to test the full range of what you can know. It is a question to provoke thought, and there are many answers. We want to know what your answer is. I will ask the group a question; do not answer right away. Give it some thought, and when you have your answer, come speak with myself and the Chieftain."

"The question is this. What do you believe is the one thing that is most important to the life of the Faun...and why?"  

[Antidia]

Thank the Earth the toddlers were taken away. Crying -- no, the bellowing of a hunter now, is the worst sound ever. Kishi jumped, and nearly peed when she heard the roar. Quickly she scuttled as far as she could from the large faun. Was this grounds to leave this test? She was pretty sure fear for her life would be a good enough reason. She glared at him for a moment, before he could look at her, if he did, and decided he was scarier than Rais. She didn't think it possible.

Sitting on the floor with her knees up to her chest, she awaited the next challenge, hoping maybe it wasn't a challenge but Rais announcing the next Mrs. Chief. No luck. Krikit had more for them.

But this one was a no-brainer. Kishi knew immediately, but they were told to wait and give it thought. After some thought, it didn't change. Was it a trick question? Like, would the answer be butt-wipes?

No, she was one-hundred percent certain she knew the answer to this. She looked around, waiting for someone else to be first. She didn't want to be first.

But no one approached. Holding back a sigh, Kishi stood and shuffled towards Krikit and Rais. Her hands holding the jar of jam behind her back.

She leaned forward to whisper to Krikit because she didn't want others to hear, also so she wouldn't have to address Rais directly. "The most important thing is Laisidhiel. Laisidhiel is life. Without Her, we'd have no future. Heck, we'd not exist at all. She gives us life, shelter, sustenance, and protection." Pulling back a moment, Kishi bit her bottom lip and snuck a glance at Rais, accidently making eye contact.

D8

I hope this isn't a trick question!

Swallowing hard, she pulled the jar of jam out from behind her back. "I ... I did some investigating. This is from the kitchen. It's good, but ... but not delicious. I don't think our suspect is making jam for the kitchen. Or jam at all. I'll check the bar later if I survive this."  

[Menelie]

Kyrie was glad when the nursery attendants came to take the tots away, for she had gotten uncomfortably hot with the sleeping toddler in her lap. But, at the same time, she was a little sorry to see the tiny one go. "Um, what's her name?" she asked, purely on a whim.

"Maru," responded the nursery attendant.

Kyrie bit her lip and smiled at the still-sleeping Maru. "She's cute," she said, kind of lamely.

After they left, she rejoined the group and heard their next challenge. She wondered if this is how it was going to go--a task, then a question, then a task, and so on. She knew the answer to the question immediately--the Great Tree, of course--but took a moment to ponder why exactly. It seemed obvious, but when she tried to put words to it, it was a bit more of a challenge.

She watched the pink fauness approach the Mellon right away with an answer. Wow. She must be very wise! Kyrie wondered what she'd said. She also watched Rais, who listened politely with this...air of regalness. She wondered if he was like that all the time, or whether it was just part of his Chieftain Persona. With luck, she'd get to find out...

When no one approached for several minutes after the wise pink fauness left, Kyrie decided it was her turn. She approached Rais and the Mellon, and although she addressed her answer to the fairy, she kept her body language open so that Rais would feel included in the conversation.

"I believe that Laisidhiel is the one thing most important to our lives and society. She gives us shelter, and magic, and is what draws us together as Faun. I mean, look how she drew in all those poor Faunies all those seasons ago! I think that our shared connection to her is what makes us who we are as Faun. Without her, we'd just be scattered hooved Pae. But together, we are strong, and together we are a community. Does that make sense?" She smiled somewhat nervously, then did a respectful reverence to the Mellon and to Rais before turning back toward the gathered group.

Kyrie started walking toward the pink faunness, wondering if it would be acceptable to compare answers now that they'd both given them, but something about the other femme's demeanor suggested she'd rather not be bothered. Kyrie wasn't super with making conversation, either, and she didn't want to interrupt the others who hadn't yet answered. So she sat on the edge of one of the fountains to wait for the next task.

((Someone can feel free to approach her though. ^^ wink )  

[Wolfs Heart]

As the children left, Dash waved goodbye to her little dude. As soon as they were out of eyesight, she allowed herself to dramatically fall onto the ground, taking a moment to rest. She wasn't sure she had ever felt so exhausted in her life: mentally and physically.

She was thankful for the reprieve before the next question. When the mellon told the group what the next question was, Rainbow Dash just about blurted out flying. The thought quickly occurred to her that the question had been about faun in general, not her. Considering that most faun couldn't fly it probably wasn't the best answer.

She took her sweet time dwelling on the question. After that last round, her brain felt broken. At least spending time trying to think about it gave her more time to rest for whatever came next.

Finally, Rainbow Dash went up to the mellon and chief with a mostly rehearsed answer in her head. "I think the most important thing to a faun is loyalty. Loyalty to the tree, loyalty to the community. It's what makes us different from everyone else. I think because of our loyalty to each other we're able to provide for each other and thrive." It was one of the most serious things that Rainbow Dash had ever said, but she was pretty serious when it came to loyalty.  

[Fea Line]

Fluttershy let out a soft chuckle at Rainbow Dash then waved goodbye to her own little tot (though secretly was glad to be free of him) and dashed as quickly as she could back to the fountains to clean herself, yet again, of the child's spitup.

Sighing to herself and wondering if the trials were almost over, Fluttershy meandered slowly back towards the group as Krikit called them over yet again for another question. But this time they weren't asked one by one with the luxury of giving their answers 'in private' so to speak. This time they had to give their answers in front of not just Krikit and rais, but the entire group as well.... so to speak. Nervous, Fluttershy tapped her two pointer fingers together as she watched two other's speak first and then Rainbow Dash next.

Fluttershy anxiously glanced around to see if anyone would approach them next and drew more nervous by the second as no one else seemed too. The question reeled over and over in her mind. Just what was important to the faun? To the life of a faun? All Faun? The Tree? It was their life source yes, she had learned that much about it since arriving but that seemed to easy an answer. What bonded them together as a community? As a whole?

The yellow pegasus seemed to take her own time thinking about the question as well and when she came to a conclusion, looked around sheepishly before timidly approaching the mellon and Cheif Rais. Again her voice was soft with the occasional pause and her gaze primarily on the ground. "I think..... the earth... Nature.... is important to faun life. We live off of natures blessings. Without it we'd not have our trees, our food....cute fuzzy critters and animal friends.... even our home. So we take care of it.... and in return it takes care of us." she finished, glancing up briefly at both Krikit and Rais before bowing her head, excusing herself and shuffling back to meld into the crowd.  

[Twitchapher the 3rd]

Midnight jumped as the only male competitor SCREAMED back at the child he was holding. Holy sumac that was NOT going to help, she was half surprised the calm kids didn't start screaming again. She couldn't help but think of how some faun weren't just...Parent material.

The Mellon spoke again, only this time the question took Midnight back. What do you believe is the one thing that is most important to the life of the faun and why? That...That was hard to say. She fiddled with her mask as she thought about it. What was the most important thing? There was just...So much that she could say about this one question. It was hard. She watched as a few moved to speak to their interviewer. She caught a few of their answers- Laisidhiel, loyalty, the earth...All good answers yes but..Was there more to it? This was just so hard. What could she say that felt...Right to her? She couldn't just pick one....

That's when the answer hit her and she smiled. Waiting for Krikit and the Chieften to be free she approached them both, giving a head bow to them both. I I believe, what the one thing that is most important to the life of the Faun is...Everything." She let out a soft laugh. It sounded so stupid but she continued. "If you asked this question to each and every faun on this island, they will all have a different answer. A fauny might say bonds are the most important to faun, while one raised in Laisidhiel would respond with the great tree is the most important...Those raised out on the island might say that life is the most important...It's just..All so connected...And that's why I believe everything is the most important thing to the faun." It certainly was a different way of thing but that was what she believed.

She gave a second bow to the two before heading back to the group, gravitating over to the four other fauny that had been chosen for this whole..Thing. "How are you guys feeling about this? It's...Sorta jarring how real this is becoming. Becoming the new wife of the Chieftain..." Her words trailed off again as she put her mask on(finally), almost as if to hide behind it. Were the other four feeling like she was?

Fea Line

Wolfs Heart

sailornorthstar

Strawberri Stardust

((FAUNY SOCIALIZATION CLUB GO! No boys allowed ))