i'm going to be a pirate, m[o]m! [intro]

[wuyi]

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Curled up in a tight little ball inside the largest jack-o-lantern in the entire village, Wuyi hid from the adults and other children. No doubt, Bai Shi noticed the missing candy and cider by now, and Wuyi hadn’t even finished half the stash!

Xe held an orange-flavored candy between xyr paws. It smelled and tasted delicious, but chomping on the treat hurt xyr teeth. Hence, xe puzzled out a solution—holding the candy between xyr paws and licking it. The kitten’s fur and the pumpkin’s insides were covered in sugary saliva, but the child didn’t care. The hideout smelled better this way.

Unfortunately for Wuyi, the child forgot to discard the bottle of yucky apple juice and nasty orange juice. Both of those bottles leaned against the pumpkin, half their contents sloshed out onto the soil. Wuyi doubted anyone would notice, though, the juices tasted and smelled like they’d expired a long time ago. Kade and Bai Shi should be happy xe cleaned out their useless juice!

Wuyi’s nose twitched. The child stopped licking, tilting xyr head. Xe heard pawsteps.

Thinking fast, Wuyi shoved the remaining candies into xyr mouth, crunching on the sweet delights. Wuyi’d like to see someone take them from xem now!

[teef]

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THE KINGPIN

golden lung dragon & black jaguar w/ vitiligo & platinum silver fox. unknown age - ancient. bai shi lynn lingré. proper chinese name is lin bai. prefers lynn if close. they/them. blind. wind element & electric element. firstborn son of jerisidie lingré & current head of family/general. courting delilah evergarden & halo mercer. kingpin of alithís evgenis. demiromantic gray-asexual. parent of veris, arvin, leoku, erian, flos, kekhai, evarhi, and laeglin. elder brother of ramona and hope, uncle of quennel and cosette.

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heavy were the pawsteps, once intentionally light but now loud, not to terrify the child with silence but the sound, letting the youth know of their approach. the kingpin had been in search of their cider not long ago, much in need of such a thing in the hours of the night when rest would not find them. jaws stretched in a yawn, the jaguar bodied shifter trolled along, the child's slightly milky scent giving them a trail to follow. rumbling softly, they came across the jack-o-lanterns sitting upon the doorsteps of each village house. the trail led forward to the largest one of them all, the kingpin's maw twisting into a chuckle, eyes taking in the half emptied bottles of orange liquor and apple cider.

they hoped that the cub residing inside hadn't drunk them, if any of it. shaking their head with an amused huff, their nose picked up on the scent of oranges, their blue eyes sparkling with amusement - so this was where their orange candies had gone. someone surey had a sweet-tooth, and who were they to judge? raising a paw to their mouth, they smothered their chuckle, "oh my, i wonder who took my candy? oh where, oh where, could the culprit be hiding?", they grinned, purposefully turning their back to wuyi's jack-o-lantern hide out.

[wuyi]

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Wuyi held xyr breathe as the heavy pawsteps approached the jack-o-lantern. The last of the candies dissolved on xyr tongue, and the child squinted open one eye to watch through the pumpkin’s eye-hole. Xe sniffed, smelling and hearing Bai Shi’s voice. Xyr eyes widened when xe realized the jaguar hadn’t stepped in front of the jack-o-lantern, and xyr hideout hadn’t been discovered yet.

Bitting xyr orange-flavored tongue, the cub concentrated. All the air wooshed out of xyr lungs in a silent spasm.

Xe flopped out of the jack-o-lantern, softly (but not silently) landing in front of the carved pumpkin’s face. Scrambling to xyr paws, Wuyi glanced over xyr shoulder to Bai Shi. Xe hoped the leader hadn't noticed the ultra-super-secret-power, but xe guessed Bai Shi'd heard the flop.

But xyr paws already took off, sprinting as fast as the youngster could. Xe giggled, unintentionally, and scampered to hide around the side of one of the houses.

[Hope Arcanium]

Moments like these were what kept the dragon-winged god going during these trying times. A smile formed on her face as she approached Bai Shi and Wuyi, however this smile was much warmer and carried maternal love to it.

“Oh, Wuyi.” The hybrid chuckled, coming closer to try and join in on their antics. “I’m gonna find you!” Playerone teased, taking to the skies for a time to follow after their cub, not wanting xyr to leave her sight for more than a moment.

It was hard to believe that she and Kade had built a family together, with all that had been going on and had been happening, and as much as her heart was filled with grief, she had to stay strong for their children.

“Wyuuuuiii! Where are youuuu?” She playfully called out, a classic smirk on her face, pretending to not notice where the smilodon cub was. She would allow Wyui to have xyr fun, and her godly aura would be noticeably more controlled to anyone who had paid close attention. It acted like a beacon of light to those lost, as that is what she truly wanted to be.

Perhaps... this journey was paying off?

[SLOAN.]

Further prosecution may not be forthcoming from the child, aimless in hir solemn walk, but such may not rule out the probability of other issues. Compared to Wuyi there seemed a severe lack of affection for more sweet confectionery items, even foods with an above average sweetness off put, but did not dull hir senses to such things. Heavy the tang of citrus, sweetness clinging until nose wrinkled in apparent disgust, origin as of yet not apparent. As with many known the growing supply, of no secret later planned events that would necessitate such high quantities, ignored for the most part. This ze knew in a more personal manner, private the store Bai Shi kept.

Ze slowed in pace as laughter arose in a quiet murmur of amusement, overindulged the smilodon that rushed past without much a care for where xe was going. Escape seemed the main concern and Sloan was forced to stumbled out of xyr way, left watching in stunned silence as the younger child skidded into a hiding place rather quickly given away by xyr continued laughter. Briefly Sloan pondered over the possibility of following Wuyi, more evidence indeed good for ratting out the other, better thought of the notion when attention turned and focused upon Bai Shi.

"Father! Uh…" Hir voice trailed into uneasy silence as ze looked to where Wuyi continued to poorly hide, once more left to ponder if simply giving in and telling hir father where xe was may be better or assisting the other may prove more worth hir while. The decision was not hirs to make, however, another approaching and seemingly set upon further extending the game. Perplexed the fox slunk towards Bai Shi and allowed Playerone her fun, watching with barely hidden curiosity.

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Roundest moon flutters on the river, night bird song coasting through heat hangs for a moment there cascades slowly down the thick air, landing somewhere by my feet waking up bugs try to repeat, a fine night to feel light

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code by Wisker

[Aker]

[align=center][div style="width: 51%; text-align: justify; font-size: 11pt; letter-spacing: -1px; font-family: georgia;"]Aker watched placidly as Wuyi scrambled out of the jack-o-lantern, sprinting off. He had been curious the entire time, watching xyr inside the jack-o-lantern. Wouldn't it be sticky in there? Pumpkins normally had goopy, sticky stuff inside of them. Instead, the jack-o-lantern had been emptied of its insides, and replaced by Wuyi inside. What did it feel like in there? Was it still a little sticky from the goopy stuff? Or was it hard, like the outside? While Wuyi was playing keep away, he wanted to find out more about the jack-o-lantern.

The smilodon cub approached the jack-o-lantern, gently sniffing the outside. It smelled like Wuyi, a bit of pumpkin, and... candy? Had Wuyi been eating candy without him? He climbed inside the jack-o-lantern, landing rather ungracefully with a small thump as he face-planted. He rolled over, scrambling to sit up inside of the jack-o-lantern. It smelled so sweet inside the jack-o-lantern, but there were no candies inside. Aker let out a small huff, disappointed in his findings. The walls of the jack-o-lantern smelled so sweet, he could almost... begin licking them. He rasped his tongue over the carved-out inside, trying to lick up whatever sweet taste he could.

[teef]

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THE KINGPIN

golden lung dragon & black jaguar w/ vitiligo & platinum silver fox. god of war - ancient. bai shi lynn lingré. proper chinese name is lin bai. prefers lynn if close. they/them. formerly blind. wind element & electric element. firstborn son of jerisidie lingré & current head of family. courting halo mercer. kingpin of alithís evgenis. demiromantic gray-asexual. parent of veris, arvin, leoku, erian, flos, kekhai, evarhi, laeglin, sloan and colwyn. elder brother of ramona and hope, uncle of quennel and cosette. (strike is deceased/unknown status)

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amusement rumbled through the mighty chest, head turning to each sound and noise that wuyi made, xyr body contacting the ground alerting them to the child's location though they pretended not to notice. tail curling slightly with a flick, they chuckled as xyr laughter floated through the air, slowly turning to track the child by scent, slowly beginning to follow after with a purr in their throat. pausing, they let wuyi pull far ahead, alerted by the sound of playerone's wings to her arrival to this game. looking up at the goddess they rumbled in humor, grateful that she had stuck around to raise her litter. not that they would have minded, already looking out for all of the children in the group.

ears turning as they heard the small steps of their own pup, they turned their head to watch sloan approach with a warm and welcoming smile, "hello sloan. do you want to play?", they greeted hir with a warm rumble, bending to groom hir head fur, rumbling a gentle purr. tail curling over their back, they heard the soft sounds of aker slipping into the jack-o-lantern, amusement in their chest as they observed the other cub sliding into the carved pumpkin. "aker, what are you doing?", they couldn't stifle the soft mrow of amusement welling upon their lips. what a curious sight, seeing what they could of the cub's fur as he licked the insides. they wouldn't want to be in the pumpkin themself, having had memories of the past and carving pumpkins and the strange feeling of guts between their toes and against their claws. shuddering slightly, they gave a light chuff of amusement, looking back to sloan with a soft hum, turning to aker, "did you want to play a game of hide and seek tag?", they offered.