It's always freezing around here. Freezing, cloudy, and generally gross outside. It looked misty from the snow last night, so I was inspired to write this. Asdfjkl, I hate writing poetry. I can't do it ._.'

- - -


Winter
By Taka, the Skyflier Rune

Snow is falling, fine yet think
Leaving roadways frozen, slick
It is great, but also small
Making snowbanks three feet tall
Freezing wind and icy air
But the children, they don't care
Going out despite the gale
Sometimes getting hit by hail
Plant life withers, flowers die
Cold as ice, and desert dry
But spring will return again
Bringing with it our old friends
Birds will sing, and Runes will fly
And once again, we'll touch the sky

For Taka, the Skyflier Rune. He's so sexy .3.

Favorites

Favorite Food: Snow cones in almost any flavor.

Favorite Drink: Flavored milk, especially chocolate and strawberry.
Favorite Color: Navy blue.
Favorite Song: As odd as it it, the Llama Song. It's rather irritating, to be honest...
Favorite Activity: Racing. He loves beating others at contests, and with his speed obsession... Well, racing was the best choice he had.
Favorite Animal: Llamas. He loves the things.
Favorite Number: Twenty-four.
Favorite Gemstone: Lapis lazuli.
Favorite Flower: Blue columbine.
Favorite Book: He doesn't seem to have a particular favorite, but his favorite kind of writing is poetry, for sure.

Least Favorites

Least Favorite Food: Kiwi. He used to love it, but he once ate so much that his tongue swelled up like he was allergic!

Least Favorite Drink: Flavored and sparkling water. He finds the taste funny.
Least Favorite Color: Green.
Least Favorite Song: Smells Like Teen Spirit. He can't tell what it's even about. In fact, he's not sure if there are real lyrics, or just gibberish!
Least Favorite Activity: Having to wait for injuries to heal. He's impatient, like I said.
Least Favorite Animal: Mice.
Least Favorite Number: Thirteen.
Least Favorite Gemstone: Jade.
Least Favorite Flower: Many hellebore, due to their green flowers.
Least Favorite Book: Stuart Little. He just hates it.

So many adoptions, so little time .3.

Favorites

Favorite Food: Pie.
Favorite Drink: Apple juice.
Favorite Color: Red.
Favorite Song: Strawberry Avalanche by Owl City.
Favorite Activity: Eating.
Favorite Animal: Deer.
Favorite Number: Twenty-five.
Favorite Gemstone: Turquoise.
Favorite Flower: Roses.
Favorite Book: She doesn't read, so she probably has none.

Least Favorites

Least Favorite Food: Cheese.
Least Favorite Drink: Hot sauce. She insists it's a drink.
Least Favorite Color: Green.
Least Favorite Song: Call Me Maybe.
Least Favorite Activity: Being hungry.
Least Favorite Animal: Parrots. They swear. A lor.
Least Favorite Number: Seventeen.
Least Favorite Gemstone: Emeralds.
Least Favorite Flower: Rafflesia.
Least Favorite Book: Probably none, again.

Whoo, time for Ammy's favorites and least favorites~

- - -

Favorites

Favorite Food: Oranges. I don't know why, but she absolutely loves them.

Favorite Drink: Sparkling apple cider. She loves it.
Favorite Color: White and red. Oops >_>
Favorite Song: South Ryoshima Coast and Great Divine Intervention. Both versions of them. And both versions of Reset. And Rising Sun. And... Let's just say any song from that series. She's obsessed |D Besides that, though, she seems to like this fandub of Little Prayer from Fruits Basket. Huh.
Favorite Activity: Painting, doodling, making things out of clay, and so on. Also, playing and/or watching Ōkami stuff.
Favorite Animal: Wolves, whales, penguins, and any member of the Chinese Zodiac, including the cat. And I thought I was bad about this sort of thing.
Favorite Number: Five. Not quite sure why, but oh well.
Favorite Gemstone: Emeralds.
Favorite Flower: She doesn't seem to have one. She likes them all, really.
Favorite Book: A sketchbook ._.'

Least Favorites

Least Favorite Food: Chicken wings. Or chicken nuggets. Or chicken in general.

Least Favorite Drink: Root beer, especially root beer floats. She hates them.
Least Favorite Color: Cyan. She thinks it's too bright.
Least Favorite Song: She doesn't care for anything in English, unless it's from an anime. That's probably my fault, too. I'm sorry.
Least Favorite Activity: Bathing, or getting wet in general. She says it washes off her ink.
Least Favorite Animal: She's deathly afraid of birds of prey, for some reason. My guess is that she started poking around in an owl's nest. They don't like that at all.
Least Favorite Number: Two. I'm not sure why on this one, either.
Least Favorite Gemstone: Turquoise.
Least Favorite Flower: She doesn't seem to have one.
Least Favorite Book: Anything that has poor quality. This includes bad FanFiction, too. *CoughMyImmortalCough*

More competition posts. I really like the female Nocturne Rune .3.

- - -

The little black dragon with glowing green markings sighed. Garnet was right. There really were no firelight flies... Er, fireflies, as she called them, around here. Which was a shame, as she was rather hungry. She glanced back as her back door opened.

"Are you still out here, 'Taru?" asked a large pink wolf. She placed her paws on the grill the Rune sat on. "Come on, you should really go in. It's cold out here. I mean, it's December, right? That's pretty much winter around here. Heck, even October is freezing here!"

The dragon sighed. "No, Hana. I'm not leaving until I see a firelight fly."

The goddess rolled her eyes. "Come on, even I know those things aren't around here. And they're called fireflies in this area, okay?"

"I'm not leaving."

"I don't think they even come around here during winter!"

"I don't care. They'll find me."

Hana shook her head. "You're really hopeless, you know that? Even more than-"

She was interrupted by a small shriek from the creature. "I see one! I knew there were some here!" she exclaimed, flying off towards a small, bouncing light.

Wait... Bouncing?

The goddess-wolf ran after her. "Hey, Hotaru? Hotaru? Hotaru, that's not-!"

Too late. The Rune had already snapped up the glowing creature. "Huh, I'd never seen a pink firelight fly before. Never even heard of one, in fact. Is that a subspecies only found around here or something?" she asked, her mouth full.

"No, it's not! It's not a firefly, or a firelight fly, or anything! Now spit it out!" she exclaimed, skidding to a stop and panting. "Just trust me, you'll want to spit it out right now!"

Hotaru tilted her head. The goddess certainly seemed rather panicked...

As much as she resented doing it, she obliged, spitting out the luminescent creature.

"Oh, gross!" yelled a tiny voice. "I knew Ammy did this sort of thing to Issun a long time ago, but a bird... Dragon... Thing?! Come on! That's just ridiculous! And your slobber glows, too! Ick!"

Hana sweatdropped. "That's what I was afraid of."

Hotaru, meanwhile, was glancing between the tiny, insect-like creature, which was now hopping about furiously and leaving small drops of glowing green saliva all over, and Hana. "What is that?" she eventually asked.

Hana sighed. "That, my friend, would be a Poncle."

The dragon stared. "A what?"

"Oh, boy, how do I explain this..?" The wolf mumbled. "Well, Poncles are basically tiny glowing people. It's hard to explain, but they're basically-"

"Trained artists, messengers of the gods, etcetera, etcetera," interrupted the Poncle. "Which makes me wonder, why would you try to eat me if your friend here is a goddess?! We're some of the ones who give them their power, you know!"

Hotaru raised an eyebrow. "Friends? With her?" she asked. "Hahaha no," she said flatly. "And how do you know whether or not she's a goddess? Maybe she's just a really weird dog."

They couldn't see it, but the Poncle rolled her eyes. "Because, stupid, I can tell when someone's a deity or not. Besides, with how many different deities there are, there's got to be someone to be an envoy for them! I just so happen to have been assigned to her."

"Assigned to... Wait, so you're Momiji?" Hana asked, surprised.

"Ugh! Please don't call me that! I am not a Sohma, nor do I plan to be!" She hopped up onto the Rune Dragon's nose. "So, what's this idiot's name?"

"This 'idiot' can say for herself," she growled. "Hotaru."

"I see. Well, I don't exactly have anywhere to stay, so I'm with you guys from now on, okay?"

"No." With that, she flung the Poncle to the ground.

"Actually, yes," Hana interjected. "She kind of has to be, being my envoy and all. She has to stay somewhere, anyway."

"Well, why here?"

"You grabbed her in your mouth and covered her in spit. Ever since Issun and Ammy, Poncles usually stay with people who do that. They're usually friends, too."

"...Oh. Well, that's incredibly stupid."

"May I interject?" asked Momiji.

"No," the two replied.

"...Well, fine, then. But I will say this: If you call me by my full name again, I'll draw on your face while you sleep. Like a Jigglypuff. Got it? Get it? Good."

And, with that, the group had yet another addition to their 'Gemstones', as Garnet liked to call them. And, as much as it irritated Hotaru at the time, she was here to stay. At least they became fairly good friends after a while, right?

...Right?

...No?

- - -

So, yeah. Somewhat obscure references made here. If you don't know where Momiji came from, or what she is, you may want to check out the Ōkami Wiki and the page on it about Poncles. If nothing else, it should help clear things up a little, right~? Also, the Sohma comment is about Fruits Basket. Being one of the more popular shōjo manga/anime series around here, I'm not going to link to it, being a less important reference than the other stuff.

Well, rambling aside, good luck to all who entered for her, and I can't wait to see who wins~

My god, I'm bored. And tired. And kind of hungry. And I should probably be making sure I know all my math and algebra and whatnot for the exam later today, but you know what? I have time. This is workshop. Besides, I still need to do my story for Zilar!

- - -

I looked down at the fluffy dragon with mismatched eyes laying near my feet. I'm not sure what drew me to him - He had rather plain colors in comparison to so many other Beans, and a fairly simple design, whereas I'm normally attracted to brightly-colored things with intricate or crazy patterns. He didn't seem to stand out, except for the fact that, somehow, he was playing... A Nintendo DS? And it appeared to have... Pokémon Black 2 inserted into it? It appeared to be so, based on the fact that there was a laptop next to him on a GameFaqs guide for the game - At least, when it wasn't being switched to a tab with Homestuck on it.

I briefly wondered how an adoption center like this could possibly pay for something like that... Then wondered if I would have to pay to get one. That wouldn't work. I was broke, just like part of the glass on the top screen of the game system the dragon was using.

The dragon looked up at me, then jumped. "O-Oh! A-Are you the one who l-lost this? I-I'm so sorry! I-It was j-just laying there, and I a-asked around, but n-nobody r-recognized it, so I kind of t-took it... I-If I didn't, who w-would, right..? I-I'm really sorry, though! A-Also, the top screen was kind of c-cracked when I f-found it... I-If it makes you f-feel better, though, I didn't d-delete your s-save file or anything... S-Sorry, though, I r-really didn't-"

"Woah, calm down, buddy. It's not mine. I just came to adopt one of you guys," I said, petting his head.

"O-Oh. O-Okay. That's f-fine. I was just a l-little worried, th-that's all," he mumbled, turning back to his game.

I crouched down next to him. "So, Pokémon Black 2, huh?" I asked. "You like gaming?"

"Huh? O-Oh, yes. I've found that a lot of times, it h-helps me calm down. I-I'm not sure if you could t-tell, but I'm usually fairly jumpy, so when I found this..."

"You decided you'd take it?" I finished for him. Then I realized how judgmental that must have sounded. "Well, if they really wanted it, they probably wouldn't have left it there, and if it was an accident, they should have come forward and claimed it," I added quickly.

"O-Oh, well, yes, I g-guess so. I can't help but feel b-bad for whoever lost this, though. It might be c-cracked, but it works pretty well. Plus, w-what if they weren't from around here, so they c-couldn't get it back? Or what if they didn't have m-much money?" he suddenly got a guilty look on his face. "I-I didn't mean to do anything b-bad, but..."

I shrugged, petting his head. "Well, if they really want it back, maybe they'll come here looking for it or something. Besides, they probably have a 3DS or something that would work just fine, which would mean that all they lost was a copy of a game and a DS with a bad screen."

"...Y-Yeah, I guess you're probably right. This isn't even a newer m-model, anyway. I think it's a DS Lite." He turned the system so that I could see it.

I nodded. "It looks almost like mine, aside for the color," I agreed, pulling out my own - I always had it on me. "See?"

The dragon stared at it. "Isn't that one of the l-limited edition ones that came with a Nintendogs game?"

"Yep! Got it for... Either Christmas or my birthday a few years back. I don't really want to trade it in, seeing as it's limited edition and all, but the L-Button went and the D-Pad is sort of going, so..."

"Oh, the L-Button isn't working? H-Have you tried blowing into it like you do for the cartridges?" he asked, tilting his head.

"Yup. No luck with that. I'm guessing it has something to do with the spring-"

"The spring? Oh, I might be able to help you with that, i-if you don't mind me voiding the w-waranty!" he exclaimed.

I shrugged. "The thing's pretty old anyway, and it'll probably be traded in if the stuff won't work, so if you think you can fix it, knock yourself out. Just let me get my games out of there," I replied, pulling out the games and handing the system over.

"I'll do my best!"

It took him maybe five minutes to pull apart the L-Buttons on both game systems, take the springs out, and switch them around. He pressed the button back onto my DS and held it out to me.

"Yeah, the spring was pretty l-loose on yours, from what I could tell. You must use that thing a lot, huh?" he asked.

I nodded, taking the game and sticking my copy of Kirby Mass Attack into it. "Well, we'll see soon if it worked or not, seeing as there's a pinball game on this..." I commented, waiting for the game to load up. "What's your name, anyway?"

He sweatdropped. "My n-name? I-I don't really h-have one, to be honest. Most of the time, our new o-owners give us names. For the time being, they've been calling me Z-Zilar."

"Zilar? That sounds like a cool name, if you ask me," I told the dragon. I pressed a few buttons on my game, and soon enough, I was indeed playing a game of pinball with a working L-Button. "Oh, wow! It worked! How did you know how to do that, anyway?"

Zilar shrugged, grinning. "I've always been interested in things like that. E-Everyone thought it was weird, but I guess w-weird isn't always a bad thing, huh?" he explained cheerfully.

I laughed. "Buddy, you're talking to the queen of weirdness!" I exclaimed, standing up. "Come on, then!"

The Bean tilted his head. "Huh?"

"I like you! You're here because you're up for adoption, right?" I asked, at which he nodded uncertainly. "Well, then, what are we waiting for? Let's go!"

The Bean glanced at the laptop, then shrugged, closing the lid. "One thing f-first, though. What's your name, miss?"

I grinned, sticking both of the game systems into my coat pockets and grabbing the laptop. "I have a lot of them, but for now, you can call me Garnet!"