PLEASE DON'T FLATTER YOURSELF
Thump. Thump. Thump. Thump. Thump. Thump.

The sounds of his heart beat woke him once more from a long slumber in his quiet home. The ancient sea dragon shifted his massive frame upon the ocean floor. Eyes opening, he lets a low growl leave his frame. Bubble rising to the surface of the water miles above him. Emerald optics took time to focus. They had gone so long without use. As soon as his optics found their focus once more, he took note of the world around him. Things had changed once more. When he last slept, this place had less debree for starters.

A reef grew upon and around him. He felt the movements of tiny fish as they swam along his sails as though he was a highway to their destinations. As though he was never alive. Oh, but alive he very much was. How long had he been asleep? Was there even reason to bother leaving this place now? Questions he wasted no time in answering. He found little point in wasting time on these things. Answers would come as they always did. In their own way and time. No, he had other matters to attend to. Such as the screaming hunger that sent pains through his snake-like body. The beast began to shift himself, sending the fish scattering. Coral cracking as he moved his frame.

To small. No point.

The fish were not worth the energy to try them. He would never fill up on small things like them. The male pushed his frame and the cracking soon turned into coral falling free. Toppling into the sands and kicking up soot. He had to be free of the chains the ocean created for him. His early tomb made of living rocks. His body unfurled slowly. Every movement was forced as he was sore from his cramped slumber. Then he moved upwards. Slowly at first, but soon he found his speed again. His grace and power showing in every motion made. He needed air in order to truly revive. He had to breath to truly live again. He would breach the water and gasp in the air. Taking note of the change in the world above the sea. His moment of inspection was just that. A moment.

Hunt. Survive.

He returned to the depths in seconds. Eyes scanning for the things he once knew. Everything was new to him. There were no giant sharks or reptiles. The things he once enjoyed ripping apart were no longer here. No, instead he found himself surrounded by new creatures unknown to him. He wished he knew where his food was. Where everything was. How long had he rested on the cold sands of the ocean floor? All he recalled was the fight to the death. He clearly won, but at what cost?

Focus. Feed.

His mind screamed at him. Pulling his focus back to the pains in his own stomach. His body moved forward with a lurch. His nostrils breaking the surface to breath as he travelled along. Seeking something, anything. Each exhale sprayed mist into the sky above and each dive made the waters ripple violently. He moved forward with desperate energy. Seeking food his body screamed for. Until he heard a sound that he did not know. Yet, it sounded familiar at the same time. Clicking like those weird Eurhinosaurus from his last memories of his old life.

The sounds of what he would later know as dolphins. He sank to the ocean floor. Laying there with his scales blending into the darkness. Resting in the sands as the sounds grew closer. Until he could see them. He lurched forward, maw agape. Fangs gnashing as blood filled the water. Panicked squeaks and bodies fleeing in all directions. He paid no mind to them, as he caught his prize. The water cleared, revealing a dolphin in his maw. To slow to react, it made a nice catch for the beast.

He swam away with his ride. Taking it to the shallows of a nearby river system. Swimming until he could rest on the riverbed. The beast would let his ten foot tall frame rise above the water. Dropping his victim before setting into his meal. He would look feral to anyone that watched him feast in that moment. Yet, he did not care. He would finish the meal and finally feel full. Content and ready to find new nesting grounds.

Strange smell. This awoke me?

The smell was what brought him to this river system. Yet, he could see nothing. Hear nothing. He was alone as far as he could tell. This annoyed him deeply. Sighing, the male would swim away into the rivers. Gliding along the surface until he felt uneasy. Not fearful, but cautious. He sank into the water. Watching and waiting.

SHAKE IT OFF AND LET'S TAKE A RIDE

As dawn broke, it seemed another night had passed and a new day began.

Needle-sharp claws teased from the leopard's toes as she fanned them out in a stretch. Little Miss wasn't going to be able to curl up in the safety of her basket much longer. Weeks had passed, and it seemed with each day she was growing larger, and quite frankly, she was beginning to feel quite claustrophobic.

Every day the cub had woken up with the desire to go explore, but that desire would be snuffed out by the fear that her mother would not be able to find her if she wandered too far. It was an ongoing thing, though week after week it quickly became a worry of the past. Little Miss had come to terms that maybe something was wrong, and her mother was not going to return for her... maybe she couldn't. Regardless, the little leopard decided today was the day that she was going to venture further.

She was tired of waiting.

Her body felt cramped and jumbled, while simultaneously disconnected from herself. After taking a moment to blink away her tiredness, the cub finally flopped out of her basket, rose to her feet, leaned her weight on her hind legs, and reached out her front in a deep stretch. Her jaws parted and ears pinned back amid her stretch, her third of a tail curling up over itself towards her spine. Maybe she would finally go to the black sand beach and try her luck at catching some crabs.

**

It didn't take her long to reach her destination, and the cub began to chuff in delight at the sight of a few bodies basking in the morning sun. Little Miss debated ditching the idea of catching food altogether for a few moments before she was reminded by a growl in her gut that she still needed to eat.

Now, she just needed to find a spot where the odd aquatic spider creatures were hanging about since the jaguar cub still hadn't learned how to swim.

After scanning her surroundings, she came up null-- maybe it was too early for them to be up on the shore? The cub slowly made her way closer to the water that lapped the sand, her dark eyes scanning the waves as she slowly inched closer. As another wave came in she jumped backwards, retreating from the fluid, her hind legs shaking ever so slightly in fear.

A deep sigh erupted from her thin lips after she sucked in a deep breath, her mind flooding with thoughts. Little Miss needed to get over her fear of the water if this was going to be her new home, so she took a step closer, and the cold water simply greeted her by kissing her ankles. The cub did her best to fight the urge to scramble to higher ground, and instead, she closed her eyes and simply enjoyed this accomplishment.

The only thing that would make this moment better would be some food in her belly.

[Word count = 509]

METEOR

Meteor lounged by an opening in the ceiling. He looked through the opening to where Vale and Dead Eye sized each other up. A fight between two inquisitors? If Requiem and Vayu watched the Descendants, then, surely, this would draw their attention. Meteor snorted.

“The two of you know the new rules.” He side-eyed Vale, but the skullfaced arctic fox stared unblinking at xyr opponent. “Begin!”

RULES
- Each fight has three rounds, where a round is each character posting once. So a fight has three posts per character. Six posts total.
- There is no limit to the amount of attacks, blocks, actions, ect that a character can take. However! There is a max word limit of 300 words.
- When a post is up, you have 72 hours to respond or it is assumed your character forfeit the match, thus we will have a dedicated discord channel on the DoTD server. When you respond, you also tag your opponent’s roleplayer in the dedicated discord channel. If someone forgets to tag, then the 72 hours starts - AFTER the tag is posted to Discord. (ex — someone posts, forgets to tag, and I tag for the poster three hours later… the 72 hour clock starts after I tagged the opponent)
- Attacks CANNOT be attempts to be lethal or maim
- Spectators can watch (and can post) but only the combatants can be physically in the “fight pit cave” until the 3 rounds end.

TERRAIN: carlsbad cave reference link
- ceiling is between 3 meters and 5 meters high
- pools of water on the floor
- stalactites and stalagmites, plus other calcium carbonate formations
- relatively smooth floor with occasional trip hazards

COMBATANTS:
Dead Eye: maned wolf
Vale: skullfaced arctic fox
First move goes to VALE

METEOR

As Meteor’s door opened, the tapestry on the outside fluttered. Vayu and Requiem circled MNT Halelevu. While the colors had begun to fade, the original skill of the weaver was evident in every stitch. Nobody knew how old the tapestry was—not even Meteor or Valerius—but it was beautiful. Meteor was looking forward to the days when the food scarcity problem resolved and he could focus on collecting artsy cannibals.

With a lazy smirk at Kole, Meteor flicked his tail to gesture to come inside. Then the door shut behind the coyote.

Voices from the communal area carried in off the walls. Even with the door closed, Vale’s caws rang loud and clear. “GODDAMMIT, I FORGOT TO GET BOOKS FOR KANE WHEN I WAS TRADING WITH THE HORDE!” Xanti’s response in a quieter tone was not understandable.

Gold regalia of delicate chain jewelry and gemstones already laid on his writing desk. Meteor spared a glance at the stuff, then frowned. A flick of his left ear. Xanti had pierced his face to hell in the week after the first meeting. Meteor had, what, five gold studs on his left ear, another on his left nostril, and both eyebrows… he liked the studs, but the chains were far too heavy, only endurable for meetings.

“Thanks for volunteering to help me with the regalia.” Meteor’s lazy smirk became a playful grin. Kole’s face at seeing him dressed to impress made this whole nonsense tolerable.

Then a quick eye roll. “Technically, according to tradition, since the meeting will be held at Requiem’s Tooth, this is Vale’s job. But Vale has made it quite clear that first meeting was a one time occurrence, and—” Meteor’s grin slid back to a lazy smirk. “—honestly, I don’t want Dead Eye messing with my piercings, so I might as well break tradition in a way he can’t be personally offended.”

His head tilted. The lazy smirk widened. “And, of course, you’re my boyfriend.”

METEOR

In the pharaoh’s quarters, Meteor stood still as he waited for Xanti to finish with the pharaoh regalia. By now, Meteor had the piercings for his ears and face for the golden chains to adorn him. As if the ram horns framing his face weren’t enough. But that was the point, wasn’t it? Communicate without words: I am the pharaoh. Ritualized. Communication.

And leadership was communication. By Requiem and Vayu, he spent most of his days talking through problems.

“Meteor.” Xanti’s voice cut through his thoughts, and Meteor’s eyelids flickered, though he kept them closed least an errant gold chain thwak him in the eye. “Will the summer tournament be to the death?”

“No.”

“If Valerius was alive, he would—” Xant’s telekinesis slipped; a gold chain slipped from his ear. Meteor kept his eyes closed; Xanti’s minor trauma responses were no threat. By Requiem and Vayu, he hoped the cheetah had some catharsis from mutilating xyr parents’ corpses. With Seamus, xyr brother, dead? Meteor didn’t envy Xanti’s current mindset. “—have already planned on fights to the death. In your place, Valerius would’ve already had one in ten cannibals slaughtered and eaten for entertainment.”

“Valerius didn’t understand the value of loyalty. Cannibals who will kill even their own friends at my command… spiraling into infighting is inefficient.”

“Inefficient in the long-term, but we’re months, maybe weeks, away from—”

“Xanti.” The lion’s golden eyes opened. “You’ve always bet on me. What about the current problem makes you doubt my ability to solve the problem?”

The cheetah narrowed xyr golden eyes in thought. Then an exhale as shoulders relaxed. “I wouldn’t bet on anyone else.”

Meteor nodded. The golden chains rattled. Xani clicked xyr tongue and affixed the last chain from left horn to nose ring. “That was the last.”

“Good.” Meteor tilted his head to pop his neck, but refrained from further stretching. Took self-discipline not to rip the finery off himself. All this gold was heavy! Almost as heavy as a crown would’ve been, he supposed. But he was becoming accustomed to performing as a narcissist-ram for the prosocial-sheep.

Xanti opened the door. And the two slipped out into the empty cave system.

The Descendants of the Departed had already gathered at the Bloody Falls for the morning’s evening. Nobody walked the torchlit passageways except the lion and the cheetah. This felt like years ago, when younger Meteor had, as a vizier, held an emergency meeting while Valerius had been incapacitated. Back then, Xanti hadn’t yet chosen the medical path and had been xyr apprentice.

Almost entirely, Meteor thought with a smirk, because Meteor had been the only one who could reason with Xanti. Just. Like. Meteor. Meteor’s mentor had been antisocial, too, though not nearly as intelligent as Meteor or Xanti. Funny how the antisocials stuck together. And the prosocials, for all their claims of empathy and peace, always succumbed to divide and conquer tactics.

“Don’t expect me to assign you a task.” Meteor glanced at Xanti. “I know you’re itching to slice that prisoner.”

Xanti smirked. “You know me well.”

Through the cave system, Meteor and Xanti followed the lava down to where the Descendants had assembled at the Bloody Falls. Meteor’s paws stepped on black sands. As the crowd turned to look at him, he walked alongside the steady river of lava seeping out of the volcano’s heart.

Then, he turned to face the crowd. The sun had crested the horizon an hour ago, and the morning rays hit him from the left. All that gold gleamed and glittered. At his back, the blood-red waterfall. To his right, where the river of lava hissed against the ocean.

He glanced through the faces in the crowd. Xanti sat near the front. Vale—in an odd skullfaced fox-like body—sat near one of xyr many friends. Meteor smirked, then lifted his chin.

“I’m pleased to see all of your faces. Thanks to all of your efforts, the damage from the eruption and earthquake was minimized, and we are overcoming this catastrophe. We will be stronger for overcoming Vayu and Requiem’s trials.”

Meteor tilted his head. The sunlight gleamed off the chains and piercings. “Therefore, I am finalizing the plans for our Summer Tournament. The sign-up for gladiators will open in a fortnight, and I expect anyone of age to participate. There are no consequences for losing—only a prize to the ultimate winner—and this will prepare us for the coming trials.”

Meteor glanced to Xanti. His golden eyes narrowed, and then he looked back to scanning the crowd’s faces. “Xanti’s brother, Seamus, was slaughtered upon the mainland. All of us—including me—will miss his delicious barbeque cookouts.” He inhaled. He didn’t have to fake the rage which crossed his expression. “His killer has already been caught: Project, knight captain of the Horde. Xanti will handle his punishment, and then we will return the fool back to his people, as Project should have returned Seamus, regardless of his actions upon the mainland, to us alive.”

“I ask that all of you refrain from attacking the Horde.” However, a shadow crossed Meteor’s face. “For now, anyway. If the Horde wishes to retaliate? Then we prepare for war.” Then a half-smirk.

“As for the state of the Big Island… the cleanups of the various beaches and reefs are still ongoing, but fish and other marine life have begun returning. Likewise, now that we have earth elementals assisting with the reforesting efforts, the land ecosystems are recovering. However, all of you are encouraged to eat chicken eggs as part of your daily diet. We don’t want to overtax the recovering ecosystems, hm?”

Meteor looked to find Knox in the crowd. “We have Knox to thank for Chicken Coop Cave.” A slight smirk. “For its initiative and management of this vital project, it is promoted to Doctor. Given the current crisis, Knox and her chicken knowledge is absolutely vital.”

Then, Meteor would look to find Dead Eye. “Likewise, with these trials from Requiem and Vayu, I have decided we need two inquisitors for balance. Dead Eye is promoted to Inquisitor of Destruction.”

Meteor’s gaze swept the crowd. “Now, with the announcements out of the way… we still have many trials ahead, but we will survive by working as an efficient collective.  If anyone would like to prove their merit, please step forward and request a task.”

TL;DR:
- SEASONAL TOURNAMENT will kick off this month after Axiom does some testing fights with xyr own characters, so keep an eye out around mid-July for the signups!
- Xanti’s brother, Seamus (npc, a fantastic bbq cookout guy with a charming smile who was missing from the Big Island since volcano insanity), has been tortured and killed by Project, Knight Captain of the Horde. Xanti has captured and tortured him for vengeance. Meteor asks that everyone accept Xanti dishing out this punishment and make no move against the Horde… but if the Horde retaliates for Project’s punishment, Meteor will unleash the cannibals.
- Fish and other marine life have begun returning to the reefs! Please continue to clean up the beaches and reefs.
- The Big Island’s forest ecosystems are recovering; still in progress, but Meteor is planning on importing wild boar from the Emerald Isles to assist with the food supply.
- Knox is promoted to Doctor (chicken specialty), shout out to her awesomeness at recruiting an earth elemental AND figuring out how to keep chickens!
- Dead Eye is promoted to Inquisitor of Vayu.
- Step forward to request a task!