literature

Round Three

Deviation Actions

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Literature Text

The Ringmaster lifted her eyes, taking in the gentle rays of the morning sun as it filtered through what few holes were left in the tent fabric. By now they had almost completely mended themselves. The contestants trudged into her tent, looking somewhat worse for the wear after their ordeals. To the Ringmaster's displeasure, a lot more fatalities had occurred than she had planned for; there were several gaping holes in the roster where the more stupid contestants had gone down in the process of taking out their opponents.

"Welcome, boys and girls," she said softly. "It's nice to see all of your smiling faces again today. Unfortunately there are fewer smiles here than I would prefer to see; those who entered my tournament were less fit than I presumed. So to fill the gaps, I've invited some of the losers back for another try; don't worry, they went down fast enough before you should have no problem taking them down again."

She gave a brief nod, and several creatures of varying form and size trooped into the tent, taking their place in the lineup with the winners. From the scowls she could tell that they were less than pleased; probably they'd hoped all the deaths meant fewer fights for them to deal with.

"Now, now, don't look so glum. This round is going to be an interesting one." She gestured with a flick of her tail, and Megan trotted into the tent with an armload of corsages. Crooked followed shortly behind, a basket of boutonnieres in his teeth. "Girls, to talk to Megan and she'll give you a wristy flower. Boys, same with Crooked and his shirty flowers. They're all carnations now, but soon enough they'll transform into another type of flower; maybe a rose or a gardenia. Your objective is to find the person whos flower matches your own."

"And that person would be our opponent?" Lorksuot asked. Having no gender it simply took a flower from Megan because she was standing closer.

Elly smirked, not answering immediately. When all of the competitors had gotten their flowers and put them on, she tapped the ground with her staff. "No. That person is your dance partner."

All at once the tent around them was gone. In its place was a vast formal ballroom, a wide wood paneled dance floor in the center. Yerdua scowled from his place at the DJ booth, pulling sunglasses down over his eyes. Another tap from Elly's cane and the flowers began to glow, transforming into their true shapes; however that was not all they transformed. At once the quadruped competitors found their spines straightening and their back legs gaining muscle definition as they were morphed into anthros. Any of the contestants who were younger or older than the teens or twenties found themselves aged up or down accordingly.

"Welcome to the Tapestry of Horror junior-senior prom, boys and girls." Elly was looking quite smart in a black and red pantsuit, and to their shock the contestants found themselves in gowns or tuxes according to their flower type. "Your objective is simple; become the prom king and queen by outlasting all of the other competitors in a dance-off."

For a long moment they just stood there, unsure of what to do. Then suddenly the speakers started blaring "It's close to midnight and something evil's lurking in the dark/Under the moonlight, you see a sight that almost stops your heart/You try to scream but terror takes the sound before you make it-"

That broke the spell, and at once the competitors began seeking their partners excitedly. Chordata was less than enthused to find that her purple orchid was matched by one on Gatling's lapel, but she took her Quincy-less state with good grace and began dancing determinedly with the green creature.

Things progressed relatively smoothly after that. Yomi was out after the first dance much to her partner Newton's dismay. Not only was she fed up with the dress she was being forced to wear, she was liberally coated in his mucus. The second song passed without incident, but after the third Hoatzin and Relic were forced to drop when the dragon set the squirrel's afro on fire by accident. Lorksuot and Keigori dropped out during the slower dance "Let Me Be Your Hero" because the Hyrin couldn't take the memories of her beloved dragon-man the song induced.

For the next six or so songs things were uneventful. Yerdua was getting into his role, no longer scowling and even starting to scratch the disks a bit. However it was this that forced Donny and Mortie to abandon the competition. Thoroughly fed up with what she assumed to be "malfunctioning audio equipment," Mortie plugged herself into the amps and began blaring music from her radio. Donny scowled at his erstwhile partner, tugging at the petals of his pink hibiscus. After a moment he retreated to the Emo Corner to sulk.

Gradually the pairs were whittled down, Smitty marking off each duo that was eliminated on a clipboard in his claws. Finally, the winners stood, gleaming with sweat and beaming with triumph. A hair covered wolfgirl looked up at the tiara on her head as tears of happiness fell down her cheeks. Her grey furred, fish bone tailed partner looked equally ecstatic with his gold crown.

"Congratulations go to Carlotta and Nicolai. You are crowned prom king and queen," the ringmaster pronounced. Smitty, however, put a hand on her shoulder and shook his head.

"There's one pair unaccounted for, ma'am," he said. "They seem to have never started dancing."

For a moment the opossums' brows knit with confusion. Then her expression cleared and she stormed to the restrooms at the back of the ballroom. Slamming the door of the male's facilities open, she glowered at the erstwhile competitors.

Oblivious, Cadmium and Willis continued their enthusiastic make-out session.
I blame :iconamilialongtail:. Also partially inspired by this deviation by :iconalfafilly:


Okay, so this is a faux Round Three prompt. Shoot me, I got bored. :iconimhappyplz:

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Ramvling's avatar
Bahahahahahaha~ Thanks for making my day.