Lin's posts

Day 5 Lore

An enchanting plush cat hung from the top tier prize rack of a stall. Its predominantly purple fur shimmered with a holographic star pattern. Vivienne took a deep breath and gritted her teeth. She needed that plushie - it was so impossibly large, fluffy, and galactic! A prize so equally cute and unique in nature that Vanora would swoon for it! This was the only stall that offered this variety of plush so all bets were on this intense game of….rubber duck fishing...

Vivi, unintentionally displaying her passion-- slammed down ohms on the stall game’s counter. “One rod, p-please!” she stammered nervously, though her eyes still shone with determination. The stall man raised a brow before casually shrugging and supplying her with two plastic fishing rods--one presumably for each hand. She took a step back and focused intently on the toy ducks floating around in the triple-layer fountain. Each duck had points allocated to them, but she'd only see how much each one was worth once she managed to catch it. This was entirely luck of the duck.

She looked up at the plushie again, seeing it was worth 300 points. The ducks before her held point values between ten and a hundred-- and she only had two minutes to swipe as many as she possibly could.The stall owner began the timer, and she blinked as the birds traversed around the fountain with surprising speed. Throwing the line in, she tried to hook some of the ducks, but she was clumsy and they slipped by. Fifteen seconds gone.

"Oh, hey, what's happening here?" a vaguely familiar voice called out, almost tauntingly. Soon slipping an arm over her shoulder and she distractedly turned to see Lin. The stall owner's eyes widened in horror, and began shooing him away. Lin smirked, "A quick tip, before I get accused of cheating again…” He playfully smirked at the nervous man. “Think of the fishing rod as your scissors - I've seen how well you work with them." He displayed the cutting motion with his fingers and with a wink, he scurried away-- still in sight but too far to be lectured. In his arms he carried a similar plushie to the one she had her eye on.

"Scissors...hair..?" Vivi wondered what he meant, before snapping back to attention. 45 seconds gone, only a minute and 15 seconds left. She tossed both lines again in a fervor, and as one crisscrossed over the other, she realized what he meant.. As she aimed for a little green rubber duck, she imagined herself cutting hair with precision, deftly holding her scissors in one hand and cutting exactly what needed cutting, no more and no less. She yelled loudly in success as she reeled in a duck worth 20 points. 50 seconds left.

After she figured out what to do, the rest was a blur. She reeled in duck after duck, fighting the clock for the plushie. Vivi was woken from her thoughts as the buzzer sounded for the end of the two minutes. She looked down at the ducks she'd collected in surprise. Did she have enough..? 50 short… Her heart fell as she double checked the bottom of each duck for their point allocation.

"Ah hey, you dropped this one!" Lin was back, bending to pick up a duck that had fallen on the ground, rather than in the bucket of ducks she'd collected. "Eh?" she watched as Lin looked at the bottom then plonked it in her bucket. "50 points! Lucky!" he grinned, then jumped up and grabbed the plushie for her. "That's 300 points in total, yeah? Don’t mind me, you were mumbling the numbers aloud!~" Vivi was stunned. She actually did it? She did it! Her eyes lit up with gratitude and intensely hugged the guts out of a puzzled Lin. "Let me get you something to eat! Please? You helped me so much!" Straining a smile under her tight grasp, Lin could only manage a thumbs up before Vivienne darted ahead, prompting Lin to follow behind her. "Later stall man!~" He shouted before disappearing into the crowd.

The stall owner blinked at their sudden departure, then looked down defeatedly at the ducks. While picking them up, he realized there was one too many of the 50 point ducks possible to obtain- and the marker wasn't even the same color he had used to write on them. "LIIIIIIIN!!!" the store owner roared.--scaring children waiting in his line as they frantically escaped.

Smolkie removes his hat and bows.
"Ah, you have bested me. Perhaps I would have come up with a better word if I wasn't so hungry!" He dips out to peruse the foods Vontell collected and begins to gorge as if it was his last supper. Lin sat up and used the handle of his whip to draw his round. Click his name below to solve! Screen shot when successful.
Lin

The souls of Cirque ad Infinitum and one Smolkie McMoy shot back into their bodies after Veles' realm collapsed. The pages of Io's spell to teleport them into the astral plane turned to dust, remnants lost to the wind.
“Io!” Lin was the first one back to his feet despite his weakened condition. He looked down at his hands but Io's soul was gone. His heart skipped a beat.

“The orb my boy, the orb I say!” Smolkie pointed to a floating light some feet away. Lin, Ran, and Smolkie stumbled and charged after it, surprisingly back to where Lin had confronted you. Io’s body lay there peacefully with Velvet, Vyc, and Vontell watching over it. They raised their heads up happily, giving a slight cheer to see everyone back and okay. The orb made its way to flicker over Io before melting itself back into him, and just as it did... Io let out a moan, coming to consciousness.

“Buttershnuckles, you’re back!” Lin leapt to hold the oracle and Ran to his side as well. "Bwuh?" Io was overwhelmed by the sudden stimulation and could only manage to let out a few sounds that fumbled out of him with the joyful manhandling.
“The boy needs some space to breathe I say! Give him room, give him room!” Ran and Lin reeled back just a bit, but Io sat up fully then with a shake of his head. "No, it's okay. I worried you all a great deal, and still you came for me. You saved me. For the first time in six years, I can see clearly..." Io turned to each of them as a rare expression showed on his lips. A genuine smile. Faint, but powerful. "Thank you."

There was a burst of cheer at the words and action which made Io cock his head in confusion. “Did it we all, together!” Berinhard laughed heartily with Arika letting loose a few tears.

“Not gonna join em’ gramps?” Constance nudged Smolkie. “This is their time right now. Wait, young miss! Why aren’t you over there?!” He tried to give her a slight push forward and she smacked his hand away.
“Do I look like the huggy type? He’s safe. That’s enough for me.” Constance stretched before plopping down with a yawn. Smolkie looked on at the happy family reunited and laughing once again.

“I hate to cut to the chase but…is everything…good now?” Vyc asked hesitantly, and it gave Velvet the confidence to chime in.
“Hope so. Personally, I’d be a much happier girl if we didn’t have to dodge any more mirrors or get choked out, you know?"”

Lin scratched his cheek in shame and Constance let out a boisterous laugh causing Arika to try and smack her. “This Doctor here! Very strong man. Pretty sure he was one to be defeating Veles!” Berinhard placed a hearty hand on Smolkie’s shoulder startling him, and Io rose his face up in Smolkie’s direction despite not being able to see him.

“You were the one?” Io’s question lacked any intent and was more so an auto response to the news. Smolkie scratched his face nervously while giving a chuckle. “My, I’m pretty sure it was all our teamwork together that beat Veles! Alone to do it? I couldn’t have.”

Lin nodded with a grin, “It’s true. Don't think we could have done it without him.”

Constance made a gagging sound. “Jeez, I hate humble people. Just say it and quit acting all goody goody about it.”

Arika swung for Constance every time she opened her mouth to say something bad, and a secret contest began between them to see who would outlast the other. “We're fi-finally free! Our family is safe, and Veles is go-gone. Now's the time to be ha-happy!” Ran did a spin on her heel full circle and pumped a fist to the sky triumphantly to which everyone agreed.

Vontell pulled a large bag out from behind the log he was seated and began pulling boxes of food out, arranging them gently. “I thought you all might be hungry when you returned victoriously and so we stocked up on some nourishment for your safe return.”

Velvet clapped her hands together in relief, "Oh, that's right! We can finally eat now that they're back."

Suddenly, a large hungered growl came from Io's stomach causing him to blush at the volume. Lin chuckled and Ran cover her mouth with a giggle as everyone started to eat.

“HEY! LET’S PLAY A GAME!” Constance shouted with a mouthful of pizza.

“Light hearted game good for calming the nerves! Like food helping the stomach!” Berinhard reached for another slice of pizza.

“First good thing you’ve ssaid since coming back, dear.” Arika gave a playful Grin which Constance waved off.

“I have just the idea for a game actually. I say - please, would you let me start?” Smolkie beamed his trademark nerdy smile and everyone joined in with their own, shouting approval.

Meanwhile at the fairgrounds, the Reaping Ritual having never been performed disrupted the balance of things and opened a rift to the Nether realm. The Guardians had been spending days fighting off a relentless onslaught of demons while also avoiding the massive murder of crows still flying about, picking and pecking at all remnants of food. Being a bird himself, Spark had taken an immense liking to them.

The Guardians were successful in staving off their enemies from wreaking havoc on the rest of Voltra, but without any hope to its end. Until the day Veles was defeated. From the abyss of the ether, a starburst of clustered souls went to each crow infesting the fairgrounds, and a blinding light swept the area. “My friends!” Spark cried out devastated but as the light settled, he had a rare moment of clarity: the audience had returned! Albeit in strange locations since every single body of a soul had been transmogrified into a wandering black bird.

“Help!” A man cried out from the high beams, and with him several other people hanging on for dear life. Static and Frizz rushed up to them. “Wait, how'd you guys get up here?!” Spark squawked as he helped them down, his moment of clarity lost.

And in the midst of recovered souls, there were two noticeable figures back and ready to do a ritual. Trick and Treat, knowing time was of the essence, met at the stage and nodded to each other. “Trick, we must complete the ceremony or that rift will never close.” Treat dusted herself off before pulling the gift back out from her cloak.

Trick held up a hand and the gift he was to give her appeared in a burst of greenish flame. "Yes, Trick concurs. He is overjoyed to see you safe, Treat, but now we must finish what we began."

The exchange was carried out with a single focused onlooker. The young man who had shouted that their effects were good. He had been a bird rummaging through a food stall and was still rummaging as a person, cheering as the rift sealed shut above.

ANNOUNCEMENT

Tonight's festivities will be a sight to behold. Prepare yourself, it will be a grueling task.

Oh, but the rewards will be worth the effort... Should you survive.

Activity begins at 8 PM Voltra time. We'll see you there!

"Alright folks," Lin began as Cirque ad Infinitum, along with Smolkie, gathered in a circle around Io's pages. The sigil each of them came together to construct glowed as if awaiting use. "This is probably the biggest show we'll ever put on. I know we're down one, but we'll get the Oracle back! We're going to dive into an evil god's lair, beat him the hell down, and rescue Io. Any questions?"

"Uhm yeah," Constance raised her hand. "Are we getting paid? I'm all for like, helping troupe mates and whatever, but that ain't raising our funds. Know what I'm saying?"

Ran stomped a foot, "Connie! This is Io we're ta-talking about here! I'm not letting the one I lo-lo-love to be used as an evil vessel! Espe-especially not after all the pain Veles already put him through-"

"Wait, wait, what was that? Rewind," Connie made the motion with her finger.

"Uhm... espe-especially not after all the pa-pain Veles already put him through?"

"No, not that you brainless bug," Connie sighed.

The Strongman let out a rumbling laugh, arms crossed. "Berinhard is thinking little Connie means part where you are doing the confessing of love to Oracle."

"Yess dear, it is quite a big step," Arika nodded but shot a glare at Constance and lashed out to thwack her upside the head.

Ran clenched her fists, beet red. "A-a-anyway! We can talk about my ev-evolving love thingy later! Let's go al-already before Io suffers any more!"

"I do fully agree," Smolkie let out a cough. "While I may not be of your wonderful family, I think of that boy as my own son. If only fate had different plans and allowed me adoption rights, I say! But then, he wouldn't have become such close friends with all of you, and Cirque ad Infinitum might not have come to-"

"Yeah, yeah, okay. In you go, Gramps," Connie shoved him into the light emitted by the sigil, and hopped in afterwards. Ran stepped to the edge and took a deep breath before falling in. Berinhard took Arika's hand in his own giant grip, and they exchanged a look of determination before leaping through the boundary together.

Lin was the last to go in and took a moment to look at their bodies under care of the Volties. "Astral projection, huh? Never thought I'd be doing it, but you always did have tricks up your sleeve. We're comin' for you, Io." He flipped upwards and his ethereal body slipped into the portal.