goovolution 2023 | story (day 10)

[solos]

DAY 1
username: solos
choice: 4
coins earned: 2 coins
prompt: [my devin + keeshond's aramis]
although these two love others, they really love eachother the most of all!

[Sadcat]

DAY 1
username: sadcat
choice: 4
coins earned: 2? (144 words)
prompt:
As they walked, the family laughed and talked about the past goovolution.
"That was an absolute mess" said Veen with a slight smile cracking her face in half.
"Definitely was!" Phone said, as his three sons giggled in the background.
"At least we can laugh about it now" Comon mentioned with a smirk.
Hooves let out a low laugh, "Mhm. At the time things seemed so stressful. Its nice to look back on things on a more positive light."
"Well said man!" Sugar replied, slightly poking fun at him.
Tangerine did, in fact, make fun of him.
"Who are you, a poet?? Where is my brother oh me oh my, who is this ye olden writer, observer of ze world??"

They bickered around more, and even started play fighting at one point.
Yeah, this was gonna be good.

Hopefully. Hopefully it will go better.

[castiiian]

🌙 day 1 closed 🌙
votes...
9 users chose to question gob
0 users chose to praise gob
2 users chose to praise gobbess
7 users chose to spend time with each other

coin tallies...
riley ♥ - 5 coins
griff - 5 coins
tejki - 10 coins
bakuraas. - 10 coins
nio - 8 coins
caeleesi - 3 coins
rem sleep - 5 coins
hjarta - 4 coins
princessalexis - 5 coins
eevee55 - 5 coins
lucas tazmily - 6 coins
bsktcase - 4 coins
imabandito - 18 coins
strawberrymwilk - 4 coins
annaebell - 10 coins
keeshond - 4 coins
solos - 4 coins
sadcat - 1 coin

[castiiian]

☀ day 2 ☀

[Griff]

DAY 2
username: Griff
choice: 1
coins earned: 5 (504 words)
prompt:

Ugin paused a moment, realizing how fast she was signing. She found herself looking a touch embarrassed and apologetic as a notepad is pulled out instead. 'I did not mean to overwhelm you,' she reassures. 'I... let my scientific side overwrite my reason. Apologies.' She bowed her head, both ears twitching back. 'Thank... thank you for trying.' Her signing becomes larger words written in her notepad with care. She has to think a bit more when writing, so it works in that respect. As others come up to ask questions as well she blinks. Oh. She supposed she was not the only curious goobie!

She found herself unsure how anyone could keep up with it, much less a gob who seemed to just be doing his best. Yet she could not help but listen even as the others asked their multitude of questions as well. Some... with a touch of bluntness. Some she had been wondering about herself but afraid to ask. But the gob was not alone, he had allies. Boyfriends. Ugin gave them both a respectful nod, unsure what to do now. Would it be rude to ask more questions, or...

But anything she had been thinking, anything she had been considering, got caught in her throat as the sky shifted colors. Her eyes widened, as she found herself shaking without realizing it. Shrinking back towards the nearby gob in fear of the gobbess before them. She remembered the last time they had all seen her. Remembered all too well. And here she was again. It took her mind a few moments to process it, almost dropping her notepad as she did. But instead she clutched it close to her chest, eyes wide. She was a diab, and the agel had already proven she disliked diabs. But more than that, so many she knew and cared about were also diabs. She was no fighter... but she would if she had to. She would protect... oh please don't come to that. Please don;t come to that, nobody wnated to fight. Nobody wanted to fight especially during a celebration and...

Wait. Was... was she injured. She finally could blink again, taking a closer look. The gobbess had turned herself smaller, in the strange mortal form she had seemed so reluctant to carry last time. She looked somehow in pain? What could hurt a gobbess? What was powerful enough to hurt someone who helped create their world?

It was a sobering question she was not sure she wanted the answer to.

"I'm scared..." she wrote, her writing shaking and uneven. But her written words were spoken in her stance, in her eyes, in her ears folded back. She stood with the others, trying to be beside Jystyr but also oh so terribly afraid. She looked up at him. "I want to help... but I'm not sure I'm brave or strong enough if a fight happens," she admits. "I'm scared.. what can we do? How can we help?" And her eyes meet his again, fearful.

[annaebell]

DAY 2
username: annaebell
choice: 3
coins earned: 5
prompt:

Amara had no more than a few short seconds to bask in the warmth of the smile given to them by Jystyr. For those few, small seconds, Amara feels at home. They feel warm and fuzzy inside. They feel like a soft blanket, fresh from the dryer, has been laid over them.

In mere seconds that is all torn away from them. Coldness replaces the warmth as stars turn dark. The warmth of the smile Jystyr once had fading away into nothing.

Amara does not like the way each one of the Gob's twinkling starts loses their shine. As if a lightswitch had been flipped to turn them all off simultaneously.

They regret ever speaking up. They should not have left their tasks behind. If they had been a good goob they wouldn't have approached Jystyr.

Said Goob doesn't say anything. Making Amara fear the worst. They avert their eyes away from the Gob and instead look down at the goo that made their front paws as they poked at the ground under them.

Any hope they may have had of trying to help mend the strained relationship between the gob and gobbes were long gone.

They were going to speak, ready to take back what they said. To assure jystyr that they didn't mean to ask such silly things. When the gobess herself came in.

Her ever large form had Amara in awe. All the colors were so pretty, reminding them of their own colors. To be honest, he was still in awe of them both. The gob and the gobess each had things that made them unique.

But, as she shrunk down to size, taking on her goobie form, amara became nervous. He remembers the rukas from the last goobolution. How, many goobies had taken a while to calm down after the gobess had left. They now had friends to worry about too. How would this affect them?

As much as amara wanted to be the first to run to the gobess, to beg her to stay and come half way with jystyr, they could see immediately that something was wrong.

They look up ay jystyr and then back to the gobbess. They can't even begin to imagine what these two must be feeling. But they can feel it. They can feel a shift in the air around them as all attention turns to the gobbess.

Amara gives jystyr a small, reassuring pat on the paw (since they can't reach his shoulder) before getting up and taking a few cautious steps towards the gobbess.

This time, feeling bold, they are one of the first to approach.

"Are you... Okay?" They try asking as they draw nearer. Swallowing down their unease. "Would you... Want help?" Amara chooses their words carefully as they ask. Not wanting to pick the wrong ones and set off a cataclysmic event.

They stop a few feet short of where the gobbess stands. At least, they think, if she wants to ungoo anyone in her pain it'll be them and not any of the others.

As they stand there, awaiting a response, They can feel all sorts of emotions swirling in the air. There are some good and some bad.

They feel... Scared. Scared for their friends. Scared for their parents. Scared for the very ground they walk so often on.

But Amara must persist. They must.

[rem sleep]

DAY 2
username: rem sleep
choice: I'm scared!
coins earned: 8 coins
prompt:

Urchin felt for Jystyr as the mob surrounded them quickly. He noticed the gob shrinking in on himself, shying away, and as scrutiny and well-intentioned questioning mixed into a feverish, crescendo pitch, Urchin wished he too could disappear. He really did empathize with the gob then-- Jystyr had been through a lot, and while everygoob was curious (and had a right to be too) when Jystyr shrank almost into himself and his stars went out-- Urchin's defensive hackles raised too in tandem with Jystyr's partners. Everygoob needed to calm down-- surely there would be time, time for questions and answers, time to take things slow without interrogating the poor gob half to death. As Urchin hoped for this later relief, that was when the sky started to stir. First subtly, in uneven specks of light, so subtle it could've just been an optical illusion or a distorted mirror casting an odd refraction-- but then more noticeable distortions formed, and the gobbess in all her glory split out of the sky, and for a moment Urchin was blinded by her sunset radiance.

She was vast and glorious, and just seeing her made Urchin feel as though he'd been staring too long into the magnificent sun. Her wingspan encapsulated the sky, the planets in her goo looking like paltry toys compared to her massive scope and power. Her eyes were intense, burning like stars and suns infinite were captured behind her cold, jealous orbs. All eyes were on her-- and if they lingered too long, they would notice after that split second of absolute wonder, awe, and fear came crashing away, that she was injured. That sharp stars wedged their points into her goo, her pelt, that they poked out at odd, uncomfortable angles like so many little shards of glass. Then, as soon as she had appeared in her majesty, the gobbess crashed down, mortal, wounded, and crumpled onto the marble earth. She looked... hurt. Very hurt. And the crowd was awash in a mixture of reactions-- fear, horror, relief mixed with worry-- all of these and so many more emotions sparked and crackled across the crowd like contagious lightning, a signal that only grew in power the more shared in its current-- like an echo bouncing off of cave walls, growing in volume. This had the aptitude to become a hysterical mob, Urchin quickly realized with fear prickling in the back of his mind.

But then, the gobbess was still prone on the ground, and no one dared go near her. Urchin realized through his hazy disorientation that Jystyr was calling out to her, his voice conveying all the emotion it needed to in order to tell Urchin what he was saying with no translation.

Urchin swallowed hard. He had not been to the first goovolution. He had not met the gobbess before. But he had heard tales of her jealousy, of her malice-- of her intensity and the fear she induced. Of her plan to reclaim goobkind. The very notion of the ghost stories told of her made Urchin's blood run cold, but...

There was a soft, dismal noise from the gobbess' place on the ground. On the earth. A place she at once did not belong and at which she had always belonged. Urchin pried himself from his stillness and, despite himself, he went to her, all the while painfully aware of how small, how insignificant his little form was compared to her and all her fallen greatness.

"Are you alright--?" Urchin asked, uncertain. That was a stupid question, and he immediately lambasted himself for it in his brain. Obviously she was not alright, or she would not be lying there with star points sticking out of her at odd angles. He shook it off. "Who did this? How can I help?" The concern that bled through his voice was genuine and warm in spite of everything.

Urchin, who had always been a solitary and lonely goob, was quickly finding he had more empathy for others than he'd wanted to admit before. Maybe that was a good thing, and maybe it wasn't. Urchin honestly didn't know. But as he realized he was standing so close to the gobbess, he felt that perhaps this foolish, impulsive heart of his would get him into trouble he couldn't escape from sooner rather than later. Fear mixed with anxiety, but he could not deny his worry for the gobbess' safety. He was scared-- of her, in part-- but mostly of whatever unseen had done this to her. The inkling had pricked the back of his mind already too, that there might be something out there-- something beyond the two deities before him already-- something that might want to hurt them... And it was that thought that scared Urchin most of all.

He offered the gobbess an unsteady paw, trying his best to steel himself. He knew that before her he was no one and nothing. But he had to try.

[ 828 words ]

[nio]

DAY 2
username: nio
choice: 3. i'm nervous!
coins earned: 4
prompt: xenon is nervous. is she here to cause trouble again?

[bakuraas.]

DAY 2
username: bakuraas.
choice: 3. I'm Nervous!
coins earned: 10 coins (1,010 words)

prompt:

They didn't ask questions, they feared the answers. What could really be said that they didn't know? It was nobody's fault that the separation had caused so much pain, and they didn't blame Jystyr for it. One of them blamed the gobbess, but it's easy to blame someone for everything when they try to destroy everything you know and care about.

They had wanted to ignore it all, focus on cheering on the goobies in the Art Fight like they did the year before last, but when the sky filled up only for Fallen to appear seemingly injured, something sparked in them, both of them. It had been a long while since they called the Gobbess mother or anything adjacent to it on purpose. They both thought that pinning such a sweet and loving word to her was wrong nowadays, shameful and evidence of a weak heart. Waktos felt even weaker when he turned and got a good look at her, stabbed tens of times over by stars, body moving abnormally, as if she was injured- but could she really be? Could the one who declared her desire to destroy all of creation truly have the ability to feel pain in a physical manner? He could think about that for hours, about the logistics of it. It would probably devolve into a question about morality and if those who desire to commit such heinous crimes truly have a soul, which would then lead into a conversation about if the gob and gobbess really needed souls, or if they just created them.

Acryl was much more nervous, not only because of the gobbess being here again, but because of the state of her. This... had to be some sort of trick, right? To target those who still had hearts that broke for her, like Waktos, like plenty of other agels that Acryl knew about. He knew a lot of the mortal agels still thought that she might be able to fix what she had broken, turn over a metaphorical new leaf, as if she would even care about such a thing. What she sees as turning over a new leaf is destroying reality and rebuilding it again while forcing Jystyr to help her. Was that wrong of him to believe? Acryl didn't really think so. He swallowed despite not needing to, nervous eyes looking over to Waktos, the major gob seeming to just stare forwards. It looked as if he was dissociating, but Acryl knew better, he knew that the other was just staring at the gobbess, analyzing her movements and trying to find a little portion of her body that showed that this was all an act, a ruse to get them into a state where she could ungoo us all without any pushback or theatrics, that's what really did her in last time.

"Dad? Uncle Acryl?" Darkwater whispered, looking between the two gobs and snapping both of them out of their thoughts. Acryl quickly noticed that Waktos was crying, already knowing what sort of realizations he was making in his head. He knew he had been foolish to bring Darkwater here, the young goo had kept asking about goovolution, wanted to play in the art fight with the rest of the young goobies, and Waktos didn't want to refuse his adoptive son that luxury, but the idea that this event might be his last, and that the way he'd go would be so terrifying like the year before... Waktos started hyperventilating, though he knew he didn't need to breathe. He'd been around mortals too much, took on their habits. He felt his beard starting to shorten, whimpering slightly as he realized he was, quite literally, becoming a scared child at the thought of what might happen. Acryl looked desperately over to the four-headed goobie behind them, all of their heads nodding at once as they leaned down to talk to Darkwater.

"Hey bud, your dad's a little bit stressed right now, but he's gonna be okay." Bjólfr started, watching the young mergoo closely in order to make sure they were going to be alright. "Does... does dad shrink often?" Darkwater started to ask, and the liars quickly moved their tail in order to spin the goobie around to not look at anything that was happening. "Well, sometimes! He'll be back to normal before you know it, though!" Vireo chimed in, though their face was full of nerves. "Say, kid. How about we go do something else, heard Art fight's open for day two if you wanna go see who you can brawl!" Zacharias offered, and that seemed to be enough to distract Darkwater, who nodded and started running towards the booth, the liars following him and nodding towards Acryl, who was still trying to calm down their sibling.

"I...I need to make sure she's okay." Waktos finally said, though his voice was now that of a teenager. "No you don't, Waktos. What if she's lying, what if she ungoos you for getting close to her!" The major gob wasn't entirely listening. "No, no. I need to make sure she's okay, what if she's really hurt? I know it sounds silly for one of the two gobs of everything to be hurt... but I haven't seen her move normally, she would have already ended us if she wasn't hurt..." Acryl didn't even get the chance to argue again before Waktos was standing up and starting to walk closer to the gobbess. "Waktos, no!" Acryl yelped, instinctively grabbing onto the other's tail, only to be dragged along with him towards the seemingly injured being.

Before they got there, Acryl's grip slipped, and they found themself tumbling backwards and just being able to watch as Waktos got closer. Thankfully not too close, he wasn't right next to her or anything, but it was definitely enough to where it was concerning. It was out of Acryl's control now, they were just glad that whatever happened, Darkwater didn't have to see it. They really should thank the liars after all this if they survived.

[Eevee55]

DAY 2
username: Eevee55
choice: 3
coins earned: 5 (537 words)
prompt: Lily was concerned as more and more goobies approached and the group asked lots of questions, and Jystyr seemed to shrink away. Maybe she should have just stayed where she was and kept making decorations. Seeing Jystyr seeming so overwhelmed made her sad, and she sent him an apologetic look before moving away from the group a bit to hopefully at least give him a little more space. Yeah, she should definitely just go back to making decorations. At least Shell and Hope did not seem to notice- or at least, did not comment on it- if she seemed a bit down as she rejoined them and started carefully tying together another bow.
The next thing she noticed was the sky suddenly filling with the colors of dawn. Lily, Shell, and Hope all looked up at the sky curiously, wondering what was going on. And then, the sky seemed to shift to become... A goobie? Was this Fallen? The trio had never actually seen her before, but the way she was standing made it seem like she was injured. Rather badly, actually. How could she have been injured? None of the trio had any idea how that was possible, and they exchanged uncertain glances. Was something bad going to happen? Was whatever hurt her going to show up and attack everyone? It certainly seemed like a lot of goobies were nervous, many gathering behind Jystyr.
The trio looked back at Fallen, wondering if she was going to explain what had happened. Though, maybe she needed her injuries tended to first... Unfortunately, none of the three had any healing abilities. They could help with some basic first aid, but... They had a feeling that for Fallen to be injured like this, it was probably something more than what basic first aid could deal with anyway. Hopefully someone else would be able to treat her injuries; it seemed like a couple of goobies were already approaching her to offer assistance. The trio figured they would probably just get in the way if they tried to help as well, so they just stayed where they were, looking around uncertainly. Waiting for something to happen, and hoping that if something did happen, no one would get hurt during it. After all, there had apparently been a battle during the last goovolution. Was there going to be another one this year? None of the trio were fighters. They did not want to fight, they wanted to find a peaceful resolution where everyone would be happy.
Lily glanced back over at Jystyr, concerned. Seeing Fallen injured like this was probably upsetting for him... After all, the two had been very close once, right? She had no ideas for how to reassure him though, being quite nervous about everything herself. But surely... Surely everything would be alright... Surely someone would be able to help Fallen, and then they could find out what was going on, and then they could figure something out to make sure no one else got hurt...
Shell and Hope appeared quite worried as well, but all three exchanged another glance and they knew that no matter what was going to happen, they were determined to help everyone get through it.