Scale It Up- Beets the Beetle- 23/06/2022
Jun 27, 2022 0:50:42 GMT
Velania Kalugina, Derthaad, and 2 more like this
Post by Beets The Beetle (Feenix) on Jun 27, 2022 0:50:42 GMT
Today was great…I mean really buggin’great!
So buggin’great it was actually two days instead of one! Just like the dragons we’ve got coming to help us!!
Look out Githyanki, this war just got buggin’scaled-up!
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It is…Well, was…the Summer Solstice, the longest-and bugging hottest-phew-day of the year…Where all the magics of summer are at their strongest!
It started off pretty magical to me anyway, as when I flew by Paradise Frost to grab from breakfast for everyone, I got given-for flittin’free-a bag of the most buggin’delicious donuts I’d ever tasted. Each one plump and round, topped with an iced sun shimmering under a light glaze of honey and lemon, dusted with haze of icing sugar. The pastry was light and soft, like chewing through a cloud-I wondered where they’d all gone. And finally the filling-oh the flittin’filling! A burst of cream, so rich and creamy and sweet-with just a smidge of lavender I think. Bug wow…it was a buggin’thing of beauty, I almost cried! It’s no wonder Jorious was struggling holding back tears, and even Casialla showed a flit of emotion when I said I’d be back to back to buy double tomorrow!-That place truly is a slice of paradise…
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So with my wings flittin’ overtime on sweet sugary summer goodness, I met up as planned with big lad Kavel, my pal Ambel-who I threw one final apology-along with donut at for the whole roof incident the other day- and a new friend who he introduced, a beautiful blue gal called Cyclone-who I suddenly remembered almost crashing into during my ‘Dragon-Drill’ for the Rooftop Squad just the over day-Bug can that girl move!
My BF Lolli had supposed to be coming too, but had had to bow out at the last minute make sure the Fancy’Fitzs’ got somewhere safe before…‘flit’ really hit the fan!-She’s so buggin’thoughtful!
As I handed around the breakfast doughnuts, I confirmed all of them knew the mission. Go to visit Qirlira The Bright in the Court of Harmony, and ask for her help in tacklin’ the many big-scary-very deadly-yanki’dragons that were flittin’ their way to attack us aboard a giant floating city, loaded with angry evil space pirates. Buggin’simple right?
----------
Jeez it was flittin’heaving in Portal Plaza! I mean talk ‘last minute’ evacuation/vacation plans! Luckily one of Aurelia’s portal pals-a thickly beardy fella-spotted us and got us right up to the front of the line-and was well rewarded with donuts, seriously I needed to stop eating them. After all, ‘a flit’ on the lips is a buggin’life time on the hips’ as Gramps used to say, though he could pack buggin’muffins away by the dozen on a good day!
The Portal guys asked where we wanted to go and I said “The Court of Harmony please!” Annnd…they had no buggin’ idea where what was…Uh oh!
I guess I should have got some more specific details from Qir. I mean, I knew it was somewhere in the Feywild, and I knew Marto had mentioned it being where his big sis Merla had ended up…But bug, this wasn’t good, and the crowd was getting ‘twitchy’! Kavel almost decked one cranky guy with a doughnut, we could’ve been dealing with a death by doughnut disaster at any second! Luckily Amble saved the buggin’day, suggesting it must one of the smaller fey-courts, like maybe connected to the Summer Court for instance which did feel right in my gut. Either that, or I’d had way too many buggin’doughnuts!
----------
Flittin’Fey was it intense in there. I mean I’ve grew up the Feywild and spent many a beautiful hot summer’s day lounging under the sun in the meadows, but as we emerged from the portal it was like someone had told everything to flit’up to max for my homecoming…Everyone seemed kinda overwhelmed by it. The heat, the smells, the pollen in the air-so thick you could almost taste it. It seemed everyone was entranced by the magic of my homeland… But for me…Honestly…I was buggin’terrified! I-I mean, I’d been back to the Feywild a couple times over the last year. But it had always been a bit of a last minute surprise, and the places we’d went to so different from…the small one I’d called home… I’d never really thought about it that much before. But this now, this brought it all flittin’ back. The days spent playing alone in the wood. The visits into the village with Papa to help him with a job. The big smiles and jiggling laughter of the villagers…All slowly turning to scowls or gasps of concern as they noticed..me. Pulling their kids in close, muttering under their breath to one another as we passed by. “There she is again…The ‘bug’ girl…Fey knows why the mayor lets her father bring her into the village-“
It was getting too much, I needed to clear my head. So I flitted up into the spy for a bugs eye view on where Qir could be.
----------
Suddenly A Faceful of dragon! One moment there was just a speck on the horizon. Big beautiful summer fields, rows of blossoming sunflowers, sweeping meadows and mountains, and then suddenly’-FLIT! A Tiny Dragonfly dragon was right up in my face! She was a buggin’adorable little thing too, all shimmery and sparkly in the sun, with wings like a new born butterfly! She asked all the usual questions, “Who are you? Where’re from? What’re you doing here? Why aren’t you wearing any socks?-Well not this time thankfully! But before I’d even got out a flittn’word, she made it clear what she was really after. “GOT ANY SWEETS?” Well, I had been saving one doughnut in my sash for Lolli-but this thing was so sweet, and kinda even reminded me of her, so I figured Lolli wouldn’t mind. FLITTIN’heck did I almost regret it! I nearly lost my fingers to the little nipper as she snipped the pastry right outta of my hand and gulped it down with one huge bite…Buggin’impressive! I tried to ask her if she knew where Qir was, but it was clear one doughnut wasn’t enough to satisfy her ‘hunger’ “GOT ANY MORE?!”…I’ll admit, I really buggin’ liked her!
One large Kavel cocktail concoction, and flingin’of a really stinky sale bagel later-I swore that thing smelt okay yesterday-and Lumina as we learnt the mini-dragon was called-had revealed that she didn’t just know Qirlira, but was her buggin’bestie and knew where to find her-talk about lucky! It was a good job too, as somehow during all the fun we’d ended up not where we’d emerged from from the portal, but right near the entrance to a small wood. If the others weren’t there I’d of sworn I was flittin’trippin on a sugar-high, though that was nothing compared to little’Lumina, who suddenly started sprouting all her previous questions-only now does she buggin’tell us she has a sugar-issue! Sorry for blaming the barman Kavel!
After requizzin' her on finding Qir, she suddenly surged up like a cork blasting outta a foaming bottle of lemonade, before whizzin’off deep into the forest, her excited cry of “Follow me!” Left hanging in a cloud of icing sugar and sparkles.
----------
This wood was not like the one I knew back home! The trees for instance were a lot brighter and more intricate that the tall dark pines and oaks I’d flitted and scrambled around as a littlin..For another, none of the trees in my wood asked you probing personal questions.
“Would I rather in jail for something I'd done, or would I’d rather be in an enchanted sleep for a decade?”
Well Gramps and Papa had always taught me about doing the right thing…Even if it had felt really good giving little Finoa Primblossom a bucket of pond water- including the frog-over the head, in return for she and her friends dumping me in that mud that time, when she said they’d help me to look more pretty like them. “There’s nothing pretty about a squirmy little bug in the mud! You’ll never be like us, freak!”
But to be locked away, for fighting for my right to be who I wanted to be…To be treated fairly like every’buggin one else. To be alone again. No..Better to sleep, dream like I had used to. To imagine having friends that wanted to play with me, liked me for who I was, and would never think of hurting me. Except this time, I could dream of my real friends, of the good times we’d had together..of the thoughts and feelings I’d never even been able to dream of having. If that was to be be my fate…At least I could sleep with a smile.
----------
Our flit through the wood took somehow longer than expected, and yet no time at all, as once I had given my answer to the trees we suddenly emerged out into a clearing, a huge buggin’crack running right through the centre. Lumina didn’t seem to remember it-which rose a groan from my friends, I had decided to accept her help after all. But as the leader of this fey-expedition I couldn’t seem downhearted, and so I did the only thing that seemed right, and stuck my head down the dragon’s crack!
It was, buggin’incredible! A sort of well, hive almost! Deep pits spotted with footways and and foliage, all crossed with ripples of glintin’purple crystal-kinda like spines on a dragons back, but like…pretty and less…lethal!
“The Damphenite Tangle”, Lumina seems to believe it was! And a right flittin’tangle she’d let us into as the chasm crack was too small for even me to fit down eventually, yet too wide for my flightless friends to cross…And then something even more buggin’awesome happened!
----------
A swarm of sprites-all wearing some of the coolest buggin’armour I’d ever flittin’seen- came buzzing up from the chasm below, their wings sparkling in the sunlight as they flew up to encircle us.
Their leader, a tough’buff looking lady with purple hair and dazzling purple tinted dragonfly wings to match, flitted up to me as the ‘apparent’ clear leader of the group, and introduced herself as Nathalie Walnut, leader of the Damphenite Sprites. Even thought she only came up to just below my waist, I’ll admit I was a little flittin’intimidated. I returned her impressive introduction with my best “I’m Beets, Beets-The Beetle!” intro, complete with hands on hips heroic pose, and although she admitted to not hearing of me, she assured me she liked my style-maybe we all wouldn’t die too quickly then!
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Luckily it turned out they were more curious of our presence because of…Salisvvarrnal…Salysu vernarlll..-Wait…………………………………………………Okay back now, I got Amble to write it down for me-Saliysuli Veránal. He said it means, The Eternal Summertime, aka the Summer Solstice celebrations in the Summer Court-aka party flittin’time!
I informed her we were on a mission to find my friend Qirlira the Bright, hoping to impress her, which it did…Till she questioned our choice of guide Lumina. Who decided, at that buggin’moment, to chase her own tail with loud giddy giggles-well flit!
Nat thankfully said she could get some of her own friends to show us the way, but that while we waited, did we want to part-take in some of their partnering rituals-Oh bug! I thought I’d pinned those feelings down flittin’hard for the moment. I didn’t want to think about ‘relationships and courtship'. That is, till she mentioned the word ‘Fighting!’ Matchmaking made by couple flittin’it out with one another, where have these guys been all my flittin’life?!…Maybe I could bring ‘him’ here…Really show him how important he is to me….Ehm, anyway!
The rest of the party seemed down, and Nat impressed with my willingness to fight got some bottles of potion brought up to help us scale down to their size. Just as I was chuggin’ it down-which was pretty’flittin tasty by the way, like a kinda icy berry juice. Cyclone asked if maybe the sprites could help us with defending the Dawnlands-which almost made me gag on my juice. A vision of the whole swarm getting toasted by one fierce wave of dragons breath flashed through my mind. Of a huge scaly clawed foot coming down on a battle-stricken helpless, tiny Natalie. But then her response that they had their own battles to fight, instead of flittin’relievin' me, made me buggin’sick with the naming of one name. Ulorian-That buggin’bitch!
After bonding over our apparent mutual hatred of the Wicked witch of the wet, ending with a respectful fist bump I noticed the shadow of Kavel towering way, way above us! “Kavel? You coming!?” I yelled in my biggest bugging voice, which just managed to catch his big ears attention, and, almost reluctantly, he downed his potion.
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As we floated down into the chasm by wing, and by potion in the other’s cases, Nat explained how the purple Damphenite crystal helped to keep their rage both physically and mentally in check-I almost felt tempted to ask if they’d be willing to part with a chunk. But then the sight of the fighting ring, or ‘Challenge Circle’ as she called it, made me forget all about that!
It seemed clear I was to be the one to go one on one with the the leading lady herself. Kavel certainly thought so as he started giving me a pre-fight prep talk and massage. But I realised, it wasn’t flittin’me the battle ready babe was keepin’her eyes on, and so I knew what I had to do.
“Here's your challenger!” I announced, pushing Kavel forward and giving him clap on the back for good measure-which felt like slappin’a flittin’mountainside!
Kavel confirmed he definitely had the ‘hots’ for her, and it seemed Nat wasn’t opposed to my date after duelling idea, it was match made in…chasm. So let the buggin’fight begin!
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I can barely describe the fight now I try to recall it..It was just…Wow… The pins…The strikes…And the looks-oh bug the looks! This wasn’t a duel, this was a dance! And every buggin’romantic dance has gotta end flittin’romantically. “NOW KISS HER!” I buggin’yelled at the top of my lungs…There was silence…Had I just done something really flittin’stupid? Were we about to be diced to pieces by many painful sprite swords and spears?!…And then… KAVEL BUGGIN’SMOOCHED HER! And-Nat liked it! Just as much Kavel! They had the widest flittin’grins on their faces haha! After leaving the ring they both disappeared off somewhere alone pretty quickly to-apparently-share some ‘competitors only’ fight techniques. Little did I know at the time…The real ‘duel’ had just begun.
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After a little refreshment with Lumina, who I left happily snacking on a buggin’huge strawberry, the sound of music had got my wings abuzzin’, and so I headed over to the dance floor for a little beetle-boogie-and was suddenly stopped mid-flit! Apparently this was a ‘mask-only’ kinda entry deal’o, a bit prissy I thought considering what I’d seen, but then the sprite fella explained it was more than just mere dress up. Each persons mask apparently reflected the experiences and growth they had undergone in the year, showin’ the inside on the outside sort of thing. Luckily they had a few masks spare, but to find one that could say everything that had happened to me the last year, well that was gonna be flittin’impos-And then I saw it. A strange almost bug beetle like face, with a jagged split down the center, one side calm and focused/the other wild and fierce. As I held it in my hands all the memories flitted through my mind. Excitement. Nerves. Laughter. Pain. Love. Fear. All these emotions held within this mask, this echo of myself for all to see…I took a breath, before lifting it to my face, the tying of the ribbon a binding, an acceptin’. This was me, wild and raw, open and loving! I couldn’t change who I was now, and in some ways, why would I buggin’want to? So I got out there on the dance floor, and showed everyone the beats of this beetle!
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I was kinda sad when Nat said our guide had arrived to show us to Qir, I had felt just so..free. The dance-man told me the mask was mine to keep too, it was after all, ‘part of me.’ After a reunion with the others, during which a very ruddied Kavel almost glee’flittin’ly pinched my cheeks and even gave me a buggin’kiss on one!-W-what the bug were these moves Nat had showed him? Some kinda intimidation tactics?! We reverse glugged up with potions and let our two guides, a nervous guy called Cay and a..um…pixie called May-who wasn’t bad as pixies go-lead us to the story lovin’dragon herself.
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It was so buggin’good to see Qirlira. Soon as her gaze rose to me from that book in quiet forest meadow and her voice said my name, it was as if my scars from that yanki’dragon had never even existed.
She was so excited I’d come to see her, though the new story-which she had excitedly requested from me, was not a nice one to tell. I poured all my experiences into each word as I filled her in of the danger that threatened us, most of all, of the terrifying might of those ‘other’ dragons. “They almost killed me.” I admitted, my voice shaking as I looked into her large concerned eyes.
Qir looked at me for a long time, before the confirming with my friends looming threat I described to her. She then looked back at me, almost like Gramps did when trying to teach me something when I was little. She asked me if I was still trying to be the inspiration and strength for others when they have none, which I confirmed, but then also if I was doing the same for myself, which I honestly buggin’said…’I really didn’t know’ at the moment.
I felt her gaze reading me, as if I were a novel she was yet to fully finish, before glancing at the mask now tied at my side. A level of unspoken understanding flittin’ across her calm face, before she looked back to and nodded, “I shall ask my mother, the moonstone dragons of the Summercourt shall come.”
I was so flittin’relieved, and I zipped right up and hugged her tightly, before suddenly feeling the powerful, yet gentle and reassuring touch of her claw against my wings as she held me to her. Almost like a…
I missed whatever she said to my friends before we headed for home...Nothing else mattered at that moment...Nothing but being held safe and secure, within her embrace.
So buggin’great it was actually two days instead of one! Just like the dragons we’ve got coming to help us!!
Look out Githyanki, this war just got buggin’scaled-up!
----------
It is…Well, was…the Summer Solstice, the longest-and bugging hottest-phew-day of the year…Where all the magics of summer are at their strongest!
It started off pretty magical to me anyway, as when I flew by Paradise Frost to grab from breakfast for everyone, I got given-for flittin’free-a bag of the most buggin’delicious donuts I’d ever tasted. Each one plump and round, topped with an iced sun shimmering under a light glaze of honey and lemon, dusted with haze of icing sugar. The pastry was light and soft, like chewing through a cloud-I wondered where they’d all gone. And finally the filling-oh the flittin’filling! A burst of cream, so rich and creamy and sweet-with just a smidge of lavender I think. Bug wow…it was a buggin’thing of beauty, I almost cried! It’s no wonder Jorious was struggling holding back tears, and even Casialla showed a flit of emotion when I said I’d be back to back to buy double tomorrow!-That place truly is a slice of paradise…
----------
So with my wings flittin’ overtime on sweet sugary summer goodness, I met up as planned with big lad Kavel, my pal Ambel-who I threw one final apology-along with donut at for the whole roof incident the other day- and a new friend who he introduced, a beautiful blue gal called Cyclone-who I suddenly remembered almost crashing into during my ‘Dragon-Drill’ for the Rooftop Squad just the over day-Bug can that girl move!
My BF Lolli had supposed to be coming too, but had had to bow out at the last minute make sure the Fancy’Fitzs’ got somewhere safe before…‘flit’ really hit the fan!-She’s so buggin’thoughtful!
As I handed around the breakfast doughnuts, I confirmed all of them knew the mission. Go to visit Qirlira The Bright in the Court of Harmony, and ask for her help in tacklin’ the many big-scary-very deadly-yanki’dragons that were flittin’ their way to attack us aboard a giant floating city, loaded with angry evil space pirates. Buggin’simple right?
----------
Jeez it was flittin’heaving in Portal Plaza! I mean talk ‘last minute’ evacuation/vacation plans! Luckily one of Aurelia’s portal pals-a thickly beardy fella-spotted us and got us right up to the front of the line-and was well rewarded with donuts, seriously I needed to stop eating them. After all, ‘a flit’ on the lips is a buggin’life time on the hips’ as Gramps used to say, though he could pack buggin’muffins away by the dozen on a good day!
The Portal guys asked where we wanted to go and I said “The Court of Harmony please!” Annnd…they had no buggin’ idea where what was…Uh oh!
I guess I should have got some more specific details from Qir. I mean, I knew it was somewhere in the Feywild, and I knew Marto had mentioned it being where his big sis Merla had ended up…But bug, this wasn’t good, and the crowd was getting ‘twitchy’! Kavel almost decked one cranky guy with a doughnut, we could’ve been dealing with a death by doughnut disaster at any second! Luckily Amble saved the buggin’day, suggesting it must one of the smaller fey-courts, like maybe connected to the Summer Court for instance which did feel right in my gut. Either that, or I’d had way too many buggin’doughnuts!
----------
Flittin’Fey was it intense in there. I mean I’ve grew up the Feywild and spent many a beautiful hot summer’s day lounging under the sun in the meadows, but as we emerged from the portal it was like someone had told everything to flit’up to max for my homecoming…Everyone seemed kinda overwhelmed by it. The heat, the smells, the pollen in the air-so thick you could almost taste it. It seemed everyone was entranced by the magic of my homeland… But for me…Honestly…I was buggin’terrified! I-I mean, I’d been back to the Feywild a couple times over the last year. But it had always been a bit of a last minute surprise, and the places we’d went to so different from…the small one I’d called home… I’d never really thought about it that much before. But this now, this brought it all flittin’ back. The days spent playing alone in the wood. The visits into the village with Papa to help him with a job. The big smiles and jiggling laughter of the villagers…All slowly turning to scowls or gasps of concern as they noticed..me. Pulling their kids in close, muttering under their breath to one another as we passed by. “There she is again…The ‘bug’ girl…Fey knows why the mayor lets her father bring her into the village-“
It was getting too much, I needed to clear my head. So I flitted up into the spy for a bugs eye view on where Qir could be.
----------
Suddenly A Faceful of dragon! One moment there was just a speck on the horizon. Big beautiful summer fields, rows of blossoming sunflowers, sweeping meadows and mountains, and then suddenly’-FLIT! A Tiny Dragonfly dragon was right up in my face! She was a buggin’adorable little thing too, all shimmery and sparkly in the sun, with wings like a new born butterfly! She asked all the usual questions, “Who are you? Where’re from? What’re you doing here? Why aren’t you wearing any socks?-Well not this time thankfully! But before I’d even got out a flittn’word, she made it clear what she was really after. “GOT ANY SWEETS?” Well, I had been saving one doughnut in my sash for Lolli-but this thing was so sweet, and kinda even reminded me of her, so I figured Lolli wouldn’t mind. FLITTIN’heck did I almost regret it! I nearly lost my fingers to the little nipper as she snipped the pastry right outta of my hand and gulped it down with one huge bite…Buggin’impressive! I tried to ask her if she knew where Qir was, but it was clear one doughnut wasn’t enough to satisfy her ‘hunger’ “GOT ANY MORE?!”…I’ll admit, I really buggin’ liked her!
One large Kavel cocktail concoction, and flingin’of a really stinky sale bagel later-I swore that thing smelt okay yesterday-and Lumina as we learnt the mini-dragon was called-had revealed that she didn’t just know Qirlira, but was her buggin’bestie and knew where to find her-talk about lucky! It was a good job too, as somehow during all the fun we’d ended up not where we’d emerged from from the portal, but right near the entrance to a small wood. If the others weren’t there I’d of sworn I was flittin’trippin on a sugar-high, though that was nothing compared to little’Lumina, who suddenly started sprouting all her previous questions-only now does she buggin’tell us she has a sugar-issue! Sorry for blaming the barman Kavel!
After requizzin' her on finding Qir, she suddenly surged up like a cork blasting outta a foaming bottle of lemonade, before whizzin’off deep into the forest, her excited cry of “Follow me!” Left hanging in a cloud of icing sugar and sparkles.
----------
This wood was not like the one I knew back home! The trees for instance were a lot brighter and more intricate that the tall dark pines and oaks I’d flitted and scrambled around as a littlin..For another, none of the trees in my wood asked you probing personal questions.
“Would I rather in jail for something I'd done, or would I’d rather be in an enchanted sleep for a decade?”
Well Gramps and Papa had always taught me about doing the right thing…Even if it had felt really good giving little Finoa Primblossom a bucket of pond water- including the frog-over the head, in return for she and her friends dumping me in that mud that time, when she said they’d help me to look more pretty like them. “There’s nothing pretty about a squirmy little bug in the mud! You’ll never be like us, freak!”
But to be locked away, for fighting for my right to be who I wanted to be…To be treated fairly like every’buggin one else. To be alone again. No..Better to sleep, dream like I had used to. To imagine having friends that wanted to play with me, liked me for who I was, and would never think of hurting me. Except this time, I could dream of my real friends, of the good times we’d had together..of the thoughts and feelings I’d never even been able to dream of having. If that was to be be my fate…At least I could sleep with a smile.
----------
Our flit through the wood took somehow longer than expected, and yet no time at all, as once I had given my answer to the trees we suddenly emerged out into a clearing, a huge buggin’crack running right through the centre. Lumina didn’t seem to remember it-which rose a groan from my friends, I had decided to accept her help after all. But as the leader of this fey-expedition I couldn’t seem downhearted, and so I did the only thing that seemed right, and stuck my head down the dragon’s crack!
It was, buggin’incredible! A sort of well, hive almost! Deep pits spotted with footways and and foliage, all crossed with ripples of glintin’purple crystal-kinda like spines on a dragons back, but like…pretty and less…lethal!
“The Damphenite Tangle”, Lumina seems to believe it was! And a right flittin’tangle she’d let us into as the chasm crack was too small for even me to fit down eventually, yet too wide for my flightless friends to cross…And then something even more buggin’awesome happened!
----------
A swarm of sprites-all wearing some of the coolest buggin’armour I’d ever flittin’seen- came buzzing up from the chasm below, their wings sparkling in the sunlight as they flew up to encircle us.
Their leader, a tough’buff looking lady with purple hair and dazzling purple tinted dragonfly wings to match, flitted up to me as the ‘apparent’ clear leader of the group, and introduced herself as Nathalie Walnut, leader of the Damphenite Sprites. Even thought she only came up to just below my waist, I’ll admit I was a little flittin’intimidated. I returned her impressive introduction with my best “I’m Beets, Beets-The Beetle!” intro, complete with hands on hips heroic pose, and although she admitted to not hearing of me, she assured me she liked my style-maybe we all wouldn’t die too quickly then!
----------
Luckily it turned out they were more curious of our presence because of…
I informed her we were on a mission to find my friend Qirlira the Bright, hoping to impress her, which it did…Till she questioned our choice of guide Lumina. Who decided, at that buggin’moment, to chase her own tail with loud giddy giggles-well flit!
Nat thankfully said she could get some of her own friends to show us the way, but that while we waited, did we want to part-take in some of their partnering rituals-Oh bug! I thought I’d pinned those feelings down flittin’hard for the moment. I didn’t want to think about ‘relationships and courtship'. That is, till she mentioned the word ‘Fighting!’ Matchmaking made by couple flittin’it out with one another, where have these guys been all my flittin’life?!…Maybe I could bring ‘him’ here…Really show him how important he is to me….Ehm, anyway!
The rest of the party seemed down, and Nat impressed with my willingness to fight got some bottles of potion brought up to help us scale down to their size. Just as I was chuggin’ it down-which was pretty’flittin tasty by the way, like a kinda icy berry juice. Cyclone asked if maybe the sprites could help us with defending the Dawnlands-which almost made me gag on my juice. A vision of the whole swarm getting toasted by one fierce wave of dragons breath flashed through my mind. Of a huge scaly clawed foot coming down on a battle-stricken helpless, tiny Natalie. But then her response that they had their own battles to fight, instead of flittin’relievin' me, made me buggin’sick with the naming of one name. Ulorian-That buggin’bitch!
After bonding over our apparent mutual hatred of the Wicked witch of the wet, ending with a respectful fist bump I noticed the shadow of Kavel towering way, way above us! “Kavel? You coming!?” I yelled in my biggest bugging voice, which just managed to catch his big ears attention, and, almost reluctantly, he downed his potion.
----------
As we floated down into the chasm by wing, and by potion in the other’s cases, Nat explained how the purple Damphenite crystal helped to keep their rage both physically and mentally in check-I almost felt tempted to ask if they’d be willing to part with a chunk. But then the sight of the fighting ring, or ‘Challenge Circle’ as she called it, made me forget all about that!
It seemed clear I was to be the one to go one on one with the the leading lady herself. Kavel certainly thought so as he started giving me a pre-fight prep talk and massage. But I realised, it wasn’t flittin’me the battle ready babe was keepin’her eyes on, and so I knew what I had to do.
“Here's your challenger!” I announced, pushing Kavel forward and giving him clap on the back for good measure-which felt like slappin’a flittin’mountainside!
Kavel confirmed he definitely had the ‘hots’ for her, and it seemed Nat wasn’t opposed to my date after duelling idea, it was match made in…chasm. So let the buggin’fight begin!
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I can barely describe the fight now I try to recall it..It was just…Wow… The pins…The strikes…And the looks-oh bug the looks! This wasn’t a duel, this was a dance! And every buggin’romantic dance has gotta end flittin’romantically. “NOW KISS HER!” I buggin’yelled at the top of my lungs…There was silence…Had I just done something really flittin’stupid? Were we about to be diced to pieces by many painful sprite swords and spears?!…And then… KAVEL BUGGIN’SMOOCHED HER! And-Nat liked it! Just as much Kavel! They had the widest flittin’grins on their faces haha! After leaving the ring they both disappeared off somewhere alone pretty quickly to-apparently-share some ‘competitors only’ fight techniques. Little did I know at the time…The real ‘duel’ had just begun.
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After a little refreshment with Lumina, who I left happily snacking on a buggin’huge strawberry, the sound of music had got my wings abuzzin’, and so I headed over to the dance floor for a little beetle-boogie-and was suddenly stopped mid-flit! Apparently this was a ‘mask-only’ kinda entry deal’o, a bit prissy I thought considering what I’d seen, but then the sprite fella explained it was more than just mere dress up. Each persons mask apparently reflected the experiences and growth they had undergone in the year, showin’ the inside on the outside sort of thing. Luckily they had a few masks spare, but to find one that could say everything that had happened to me the last year, well that was gonna be flittin’impos-And then I saw it. A strange almost bug beetle like face, with a jagged split down the center, one side calm and focused/the other wild and fierce. As I held it in my hands all the memories flitted through my mind. Excitement. Nerves. Laughter. Pain. Love. Fear. All these emotions held within this mask, this echo of myself for all to see…I took a breath, before lifting it to my face, the tying of the ribbon a binding, an acceptin’. This was me, wild and raw, open and loving! I couldn’t change who I was now, and in some ways, why would I buggin’want to? So I got out there on the dance floor, and showed everyone the beats of this beetle!
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I was kinda sad when Nat said our guide had arrived to show us to Qir, I had felt just so..free. The dance-man told me the mask was mine to keep too, it was after all, ‘part of me.’ After a reunion with the others, during which a very ruddied Kavel almost glee’flittin’ly pinched my cheeks and even gave me a buggin’kiss on one!-W-what the bug were these moves Nat had showed him? Some kinda intimidation tactics?! We reverse glugged up with potions and let our two guides, a nervous guy called Cay and a..um…pixie called May-who wasn’t bad as pixies go-lead us to the story lovin’dragon herself.
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It was so buggin’good to see Qirlira. Soon as her gaze rose to me from that book in quiet forest meadow and her voice said my name, it was as if my scars from that yanki’dragon had never even existed.
She was so excited I’d come to see her, though the new story-which she had excitedly requested from me, was not a nice one to tell. I poured all my experiences into each word as I filled her in of the danger that threatened us, most of all, of the terrifying might of those ‘other’ dragons. “They almost killed me.” I admitted, my voice shaking as I looked into her large concerned eyes.
Qir looked at me for a long time, before the confirming with my friends looming threat I described to her. She then looked back at me, almost like Gramps did when trying to teach me something when I was little. She asked me if I was still trying to be the inspiration and strength for others when they have none, which I confirmed, but then also if I was doing the same for myself, which I honestly buggin’said…’I really didn’t know’ at the moment.
I felt her gaze reading me, as if I were a novel she was yet to fully finish, before glancing at the mask now tied at my side. A level of unspoken understanding flittin’ across her calm face, before she looked back to and nodded, “I shall ask my mother, the moonstone dragons of the Summercourt shall come.”
I was so flittin’relieved, and I zipped right up and hugged her tightly, before suddenly feeling the powerful, yet gentle and reassuring touch of her claw against my wings as she held me to her. Almost like a…
I missed whatever she said to my friends before we headed for home...Nothing else mattered at that moment...Nothing but being held safe and secure, within her embrace.
