And the Aether Goes To...
An antsy-looking dragon was not checking the Winner's Board at the Story Contest every hour on the hour. Not at all. After all, it was centrally located and one could easily pass by on the way to...well, certainly none of the
other Story Entrants were faring any better. Everyone was on pins and needles. The last update was made by Judge Elliott, who assured the participants that "these things just take time." Easy for him to say, no one wants to argue with an Imperial!
As a matter of fact, this particular participant had just returned from fetching lunch and was passing by the Winner's Board (no results yet) with an order of pescado frito, when they heard shouting from the Judges' Tent.
"Ah, no, no! I tole zem not to...
geef me zat!
No and
no!
You come wiz me!"
The restless dragon ducked out of the way just as the tent flap flew open and the Spiral judge, Dewette, came charging out with a strange, green furry creature in her claws. It was holding a large, crumpled festival map in its paws, which it had evidently been shredding with its little round beak. (Torn bits of evidence were everywhere.) Dewette stopped and scanned the crowd of late festival-goers, obviously looking for the errant creature-sitter. She spotted the staring contestant and her eyes flew to their pescado frito. She frowned.
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"Ah, no! 'E does not eat feesh." She paused then, considering. A light bulb seemed to go off in her head and she straightened up and approached, holding her charge at arms length as though it were a crying hatchling. (It was not crying at all. In fact, it was eyeing the fried fish. The dragon held their pescado frito closer.)
"You! 'Allo, you look friendly. You like animals, yes?" The participant's initial embarrassment at being caught checking the Winner's Board was replaced by curiosity. What exactly was going on here? Had any of the other judges been there, they could have advised them to run for the hills. Unfortunately, they were all absent and the unsuspecting dragon was left to muddle on in ignorance.
Dewette turned on the charm. "Zees 'ere, we call 'im Papyrus. 'e ees very friendly, like you, but - alas!" Dewette sniffed, "- 'e ees an orphan! 'E 'as no proper 'ome. 'E ees very pretty, you sink?" As the feathered fluffball was presented to them, the curious entrant could see that instead of a beak, as they first thought, Papyrus had sharp pincers on the sides of his head and the typical enormous eyes of the very young. Enormous, adorable eyes that matched his fur quite nicely. His translucent wings buzzed intermittently as Papyrus seemed to consider the dragon before him.
Suddenly, Papyrus let out a small but explosive sneeze that shook his whole body. "Ah! See? 'E likes you!" Dewette continued, undeterred. "I sink you weel get along famously!" She tucked the creature under one arm so she could get a claw free. "'Ere, give me zat..." taking the pescado frito, "'an I geef 'im to you, so..." She stepped back, brushing off her skirts and popping a piece of fish into her mouth. "See? Ah, yes! You are so cute togezer! I knew eet!" A brilliant smile lit up her face.
"Now, I am, you know, very beezy. We muss get ze stories all finished. But voila! You, you already have a prize, yes? I am so glad you like 'eem!" With that, she turned and flounced back into the tent, quickly popping her head out to call, "Don' forget! 'E only eats paper, la!"
The newly appointed caretaker stood dumbstruck for a moment, puzzling how they had managed to trade their lunch for a... new familiar?? What was this creature, anyway? Some very deep misgivings were starting to push their way in. There was no time to ponder that now though; Papyrus was starting to root around in their pockets...!
Congratulations, @TETRAHEDR0N on your new Aether!
(You will still be eligible for the regular Story Contest Prizes.)
As Dewette said, the judges are very busy judging all the story entries and will have the results up as soon as they can!
(Posting this slightly later than I intended, oops. Progress is being made in the judging process though, so don't worry! Also, credit to @
Storygeek for the writing.)
Volunteer Judges: @Storygeek @sockmonkeygerald @Nixus @Zuori
Participants: @NewmoonWasTaken @Hollowcene @ghostStrawberry @BlackRayser @Starefaba @TETRAHEDR0N @imginate @teddy2008 @NotAtAllNight @windymountaintop @AloVra @MeowyJr @Soulthreads @Medievalredragon @winterleaves11
General Pinglist: @BunnySox @LouckyKoneko @hannahbbug3 @FinalFlight
