THAT'S THE ORIGIN OF LIGHT!
Kin Name: Three Wolf Moon
Preference List: Bat, Budgies, Frog 2, Frog 1
RP & Story:

Wolf paced in a little circle--it always helped the young Kiokote to stay in motion while they thought--and considered the facts before them. He stared for a long moment at the cage that, somehow, held the capture motes captive.

"Steals Fire, he said the motes would 'lead us' to find the sun's light. Every night, the sun gathers herself together and journeys across the lands of the sky, looking down at us and taking note of everything beneath. At the very edges of the world are the great waters, and after she rests for a time, the sun travels through and under the waters back to the eastern sky, to journey again and see what is made new the next day."

"I think....when the sun was taken, she didn't go without a fight. She didn't go willingly. Deep under the great waters, there was....a battle. A struggle of some kind. The sun, she fought. The sun, she bled."

"These are drops of sunblood, wandering, trying to rejoin her. The visions? Little pieces and parts of what Sun Herself has seen, in all her journeys across the sky. And these motes...you see it, don't you? They are alive, and when we collect enough of them together, they will pool, as drops of water pool together, as blood runs together. They run from us because they are such small and lost little pieces that they cannot understand friend and enemy. Maybe, with enough of them together...they will remember who, and what, they really are."

Three Wolf Moon made one more pace around the fire's light, staring into all of the eyes of the other listening kin.

"If not, we'll have to remember for them."

THAT'S THE ORIGIN OF LIGHT!
Kin Name: Heat Glow
Preference List: Bat, Budgies, Frog 2, Frog 1
RP & Story:

Heat Glow listened intently to the other storytellers, softly tapping one hoof against a stone to listen to the soft tock sound it made.

"In the desolate and lonely places of the desert, and I think it must too be the same in the bleak and empty places of the swamp, the dead gather. Without bodies, they cannot be hurt by the harsh heat or bitter cold, but the wind? Breath is our wind, and the wind is the breath of the world. The shadows and echoes left behind with us after our dead pass are blown away and along by the great winds, to the still and hollow places."

Despite the heat of the fire, the doe shivered.

"Normally, we cannot see the souls and shadows--even the light of the moon and stars is too bright and would overwhelm them. But without those things here? We can all see them now. Lost souls whisper to each-other, but they cannot learn new stories, because they have lost the ability to learn new things. The shades cannot learn, but they cannot forget. They echo and echo, repeat their own tales and retrace their own steps. These motes of light are the lost souls of the swamp."

That is why they linger. And it is why they are drawn to our stories, because these little motes, remaining of our beloved dead, ache for the new stories and new experiences of us, the living. Enough stories and we will help them remember more and more of their former lives. The dead have been with us...a very long time. Some of them will remember how to find the light again."

THAT'S THE ORIGIN OF LIGHT!
Kin Name: Pride Parade
Preference List: Just glow, please!
RP & Story: The sprawling, indeterminate night had been going on for what Pride Parade now believed to be at least a week of time, based on the rot of a carcass she'd stowed in a cave. Kin had congregated, and the conversation was rich about the Helpers, the fight to lure back the sun... and the strange motes that had appeared only after the darkness had spread. She'd been enjoying listening to the stories of the kin around her, and eventually, the time came for her to give her own take on what the motes were.

Pride Parade huffed good-naturedly in the circle as a kin turned to her. "I've heard a story of something like these motes, but the world is vast, and I have no way of knowing if they're the same-- I'm not stalling, I just... fine, fine, I'll do my best. I'm no storyteller, I'll have you know. Now, it's been a very long time since I heard the story... let me try to do it justice."

"In the beginning, everything was white. Blindingly, painfully bright-- so bright that detail was washed out and even the MotherFather had a splitting, terrible headache. There was nothing for her to pound her head upon, no relief... so she set about butting her knee against her brow, until finally, with a crack, her skull split open, and the world began to spill from the MotherFather's head. As land stretched on and trees grew, as the horizon was born and caves crawled through the earth, there became a way to escape the light. The MotherFather gently herded most of the light into their head, to fill the space left empty by the world pouring out, leaving the world in darkness.

"Having been used to inescapable light on the surface, only the creatures of the caves and burrowing in the soil tolerated the night well, so the MotherFather created the sun-- and then, realizing that some creatures suffered at even the Sun's constant touch, made the Moon for them to trade places. The MotherFather also blessed some of their creations with the glow of light on their own-- the kimeti and the zikwa, of course, but also many types of mushrooms, many insects, and some creatures that live in the sea.

Once the world was created in its entirety, the MotherFather returned to the sky, enveloping us in her pelt to keep us warm and safe. The lights... some say they're her tears, escaped from the constant light of creation, coming to visit the world."

She paused awkwardly, shifting from one foot to another as the kin looked at her. "And... that's all I remember. Now, who's next?"

THAT'S THE ORIGIN OF LIGHT!
Kin Name: The Heart Shines With Light
Preference List: Spring Bat, Budgies, Frog 2, Frog 1
RP & Story:

Heartshine stumbled into the ring of storytellers and story-listeners, eyes feverish. He'd recently returned to his senses after a bout of mote-hunting and was filled a deep conviction at what the motes were.

"In my naming dream, each and every thing--each and every kin and creature, each and every stone and blade of grass, shone with the inner light of being itself. That shine was so very much like these motes."

"Light comes from life. Life...creates light. In the dark, the greatest, oldest, darkness, no-one could tell one thing from another, as in the darkness of the sleep before birth we cannot tell ourselves from the world and we are one with our naming dreams."

But what about Totoma and those born dreamless? Heartshine forced himself to ignore his inner critic and kept going.

"But the darkness of the world before the birth of light grew too crowded, too tightly packed and teeming with potential. Motherfather stretched out--and tore the sac of the old darkness open. With space, there was friction, and as any firekeeper will tell you, from friction comes sparks. Those little sparks of light caught, and grew, and became the little flames in the hearts of all things that yearned to be themselves. These motes are the wandering hearts of stars, separated and lost from their homes. They want to go home as much as we do. As the hearts of lost stars live in the sky...they will lead us back to the sun's home."

8 winners!
Also adding all these tickets to helper raffle.

1. Anhelisk
2. Anhelisk
3. Anhelisk
4. Appeal
5. Appeal
6. Appeal
7. AstoriaFallen
8. AstoriaFallen
9. Astraea
10. Astraea
11. Baneful
12. Dawns_Stars145
13. Eevee
14. fluo
15. fluo
16. fluo
17. HuniPi
18. HuniPi
19. kuropeco
20. kuropeco
21. kuropeco
22. lilacfishie
23. lilacfishie
24. lilacfishie
25. Lirilei
26. LOLLI qAq
27. LOLLI qAq
28. Lutz
29. Lutz
30. Lutz
31. Owlsomniac
32. Owlsomniac
33. Ruriska
34. Ruriska
35. Ruriska
36. Scaramouche Fandango
37. Scaramouche Fandango
38. Scaramouche Fandango
39. SerinaNight
40. SerinaNight
41. SerinaNight
42. subducting
43. subducting
44. subducting
45. Toshiful
46. Toshiful
47. Toshiful
48. Zuki
49. Zuki
50. Zuki

Gotta reroll 2.

1. Appeal
2. Appeal
3. Appeal
4. Astraea
5. Astraea
6. Dawns_Stars145
7. Eevee
8. HuniPi
9. HuniPi
10. lilacfishie
11. lilacfishie
12. lilacfishie
13. Lirilei
14. LOLLI qAq
15. LOLLI qAq
16. Lutz
17. Lutz
18. Lutz
19. Owlsomniac
20. Owlsomniac
21. Ruriska
22. Ruriska
23. Ruriska
24. SerinaNight
25. SerinaNight
26. SerinaNight
27. subducting
28. subducting
29. subducting
30. Toshiful
31. Toshiful
32. Toshiful

One more!

1. Astraea
2. Astraea
3. Dawns_Stars145
4. Eevee
5. HuniPi
6. HuniPi
7. lilacfishie
8. lilacfishie
9. lilacfishie
10. Lirilei
11. LOLLI qAq
12. LOLLI qAq
13. Owlsomniac
14. Owlsomniac
15. Ruriska
16. Ruriska
17. Ruriska
18. SerinaNight
19. SerinaNight
20. SerinaNight
21. Toshiful
22. Toshiful
23. Toshiful

took ut all glow only people this time lol

Congrats all!

Baneful wrote:

fluo wrote:

kuropeco wrote:

AstoriaFallen wrote:

Scaramouche Fandango wrote:

Zuki wrote:

Appeal wrote:

lilacfishie wrote: