#ws2019contest

[konpeitocoordinator]

Well, time to finish things off! Who doesn’t love fairytales, right?

[heartists]

@imbicilite​.

that BITCH! how dare she?! how dare zoey enter a competition that ursula was unable to? now she couldn’t even have the pleasure of defeating her on camera. she’d never had that pleasure, not once in her entire life, really. every time she wanted to cream the bitch, what happened was usually the opposite.

it’s all so terrible, really. how is zoey smarter, more talented, more popular, and better looking than her--without the help of paying parents? shouldn’t that sort of shit be illegal? how could the world be so unfair? well, if the world wouldn’t give ursula her just desserts and knock zoey down a peg, she’d just have to do the peg-knocking herself. and so she strides up to fabien with her vile request.

     ❝you.❞ she balls her fists. ❝you’re judging for the winter solstice festival, right? well, i have a new order for you. when you score zoey, give her the WORST score you can possibly justify. understood?!❞

[themaryiestsuetoeversue]

@sayurismiles​

As soon as Sayuri had finished all the MC work Poppy could see her do - “Sayuri-chan!” Hopefully she wasn’t imposing on a still busy schedule, but like... this was her first time being a judge! And she was using her real face, too. Nerve-wracking. 

“You aren’t judging this year, huh?”

[wintersolsticefestival]

@konpeitocoordinator​ - June Nakano - 484 points [Beauty]

Score breakdown: Dress Up: 231, Appeal: 253

@heartists - Zoey Ying - 478 points [Smart/Clever]

Score breakdown: Dress Up: 255, Appeal: 223

@diamontha​  - Diantha Sophia Durand - 467 points [Beauty]

Score breakdown: Dress Up: 253, Appeal: 214

@musesbygeoff​  - Kenny - 364 points [Beauty]

Score breakdown: Dress Up: 186, Appeal: 178

[diamontha]

Giving a reassuring nod to her Pokémon, Diantha awaited the moment her name would be called. It was her first contest, and she was definetly nervous- but now that the time was here, she could feel the excitement grow.

And there it was. The announcer called her name, and the lights went on.

First up was Sintel, her Blaziken, and the one to persuade her into joining the contest in the first place. Diantha had carefully brushed her hair into a ponytail, looking healthy and shiny. Tied to the galaxy hair elastic was what looked like a dress scarf made out of breezy, slightly transparent cloth. The ends were tied to her wrists with bracelets that matched the hair elastic, and it was long enough to not hinder any ofher movements. But the real star of this outfit was the ball gown-like skirt, big and flowy. While designing the outfit, Diantha wanted to make sure that the fire-fighting Pokémon would have enough room to move and let out heat, so she let the front part open. The many, many glitters on the purple skirt shimmered in the lights of the spotlight, creating the illusion of a nightsky. And to top it all of, there was a headpiece in her ponytail, consisting of several silver stars attached to her hair, shimmering in the light.

Next up was Cerebella, the Gardevoir. Her outfit looked a lot like Sintel's, but with a few differences. First of all, there's no ponytail. Instead Cerebella is wearing a choker, to which the dress scarf was attached. Second, the skirt was slightly longer, with a short train behind her, and the front part closed off with the same breezy material that was used for the dress scarf. Of course, being a Gardevoir, Cerebella already wears a dress, but with some help of a hidden underskirt this skirt was made poofy enough to not constrict the fairy-type. The rest of the outfit matched Sintel's perfectly, including the starry headpiece.

And last but not least, Diantha herself walked onto the stage. Being the only one wearing a full dress she had managed to not stand out too much when compared to her Pokémon, even if the skirt of her dress was made up of layers and layers of the material she used for the dress scarves her Pokémon wore. Her short sleeves were made of the same material, and she wore matching bracelets and a headpiece attached to her long, loosely braided hair.

The three of them came to stand in front of the jury, and twirled in a pirouette, making their skirts fly up slightly as they twirled around their bodies, shimmering in the lights.

[musesbygeoff]

“Been a while since we’ve entered the same contest, Zoey,” Kenny said to the veteran coordinator walking up to her. 

“Quite the score you got on your dressup, but don’t think that’ll be enough to win this event. Ya see, I went to Galar and caught myself a Corviknight and he’s going to give off a beautiful performance along with Empoleon. They make a lethal team together.”

“We’re sure to win.” 

@heartists​

[ringsreachingout]

Steven arrives into Hearthome city dressed appropriately for the cold hair hidden beneath a fluffy beanie. As per usual, he holds a steaming cup in one hand. Why did he choose to participate in the event that takes place in the coldest region during the cold season? Well- he didn’t think about that part. Good thing that the event itself will be indoors.

[coldbornthief]

Winter Solstice 2019 Appeal

Elijah’s new outfit, though it should be blue to match Noel’s pattern.

song: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=amJ_WLmOKS0

Moves: Ice Beam Shadow Ball Protect Rain Dance

It was... an incredibly odd feeling. On one side, he was scared what others would think- but only a select “others”. The judges didn’t matter. The audience didn’t matter. Most everyone watching on TV at home didn’t matter. His older sister would support him, surely, as she always had and always will. But his older brother, mother, and especially father were a different story. Most likely his brother would watch it, but he truly didn’t know if his parents had ever seen him preform in contests. They never spoke of it. Elijah wanted it to stay that way. With any luck, they would not be watching, and he would not be punished. On top of that fear, he also felt rather exposed. This wasn’t the first time he cross-dressed; far from it at this point. But when he did so, it was only in front of his sister or very close friends, if anyone. Usually he did it alone. He felt as though he needed some kind of revenge after that swine of a judge gave him a zero. Now, though, countless people would see him in a dress, and on top of that, his large ugly scar. Again and again he thought of covering it with make-up, but people had already see glimpses of it in the dress up round. He couldn’t pretend now that it didn’t exist. He told himself that whether anyone would realize it or not, wearing this dress and showing that scar were, in his own personal way, a way of showing toughness. A different kind of toughness. So many had defended him by saying the kilt was masculine, and therefore tough. While he greatly appreciated it, Elijah felt as though he should show femininity could be tough as well. All of his worry was swept away as his Glaceon rubbed her head against his leg. Other than her helmet not yet being put on, she was all ready for the show to begin. Elijah knelt down to give her some chin scratches. “Are you ready, my little princess? You don’t seem nervous in the slightest!” Noel let out a yip; she was certainly ready! There was no need to be nervous! Even if they didn’t win it hardly mattered; she couldn’t eat the ribbon, so what was the big deal? Either way, Elijah was sure to get them treats afterwards! And that was certainly worth giving her all today. The duo walked onto the stage, with about a 5 foot pile of bones in the center. They were prop bones-not real- but were incredibly convincing and proportional. Clear rope-like string, about 40 yards of it, was laid from the pile of bones towards where the two would halt their walk. Once the music began, Noel cast Protect over the pile of bones, but leaving a small subtle hole so that they could pull off their stunt. Cast next was Shadow Ball, which gave the Protect dome a purple gas-like coating, but not so much that the audience couldn’t see the inside. Next, she blew an Ice Beam into the hole, and the bones began to shutter and take form with their new clear ice muscles. The bones Rapidash and Dewgong formed together to make three separate kelpie puppets. Yet another Rapidash puppet formed, though this one was twice the size and on it’s back it had the top half of what may have been human, but it’s arms hung all the way down to the horse’s knees, and it had long claws in place of fingers. The nuckelavee (with help from Elijah using the clear rope to puppeteer) slashed at the dome, not only causing it to shatter, but also for the purple gas to fall and be absorbed into the beasts.

One of the kelpies, now with a purple aura, immediately lunged forward towards Noel, who leaped backwards, following with blowing an ice beam directly below her. An ice tower sprung up underneath her, about two stories high. From the top, she blew out more beams, creating a small creek-like canal from one side of the stadium to the other.

Unhappy with its target being out of reach, the kelpie tackled into the tower, forcing it to become unsteady. The Glaceon made yet another tower, only shorter, and hoped to that one. Once again, the kelpie attacked it, having the same result. One more tower, one more attack, and before the kelpie knew it, it was trapped and crushed by the falling ice. Back on the ground, Noel faced her next opponent. The horse attempted to whip its tail at the fox, but with a direct jump up, she blew ice to freeze its tail to the ground. With the kelpie stuck, Noel used Protect to surround herself in with the enemy. Lifting herself up with the help of ice, multiple (around 30) small Shadow Balls formed in a circle in front of her. With a stomp of the foot, the balls shot at the other like a firing range, but causing small dark explosions upon impact. When the force field and smoke vanished, the kelpie was left full of holes that pierced through both ice and bone.

With one of the smaller enemies left, Noel created a Protect field around both herself and Elijah, with tiny holes that allowed them to continue to move the puppet. While the creature continuously tackled the field, causing it to slowly begin cracking, the fox using Rain Dance inside. At the end of her dance, the dome was shattered, but the dance was a success, and heavy rain began to pour down from the sky. The enemy tried to attack now that the field was gone, but was only greeted with Noel’s small sword in its forehead when it charged, followed by a dozen sharp spikes shooting from the ground and impaling it from many directions.

All while Noel was fighting the three enemies, if the audience looked for the trainer, he would be hiding from the monsters (though he was also helping control them). Usually he would be behind boulders of ice, the aftermath of the falling towers.

With only the nuckelavee left, both trainer and pokemon turned tail and ran to the creek she had made at the beginning, both leaping over the now gushing water from the rain. The monster chased after them, but abruptly screeched to a halt upon heading towards the water. Nuckelavees were unable to cross flowing fresh water, after all. Pacing back and forth along the creek, the creature waited for the duo’s next move. Elijah turned to leave, but Noel let out a battle cry, psyching herself up enough to jump back over to the enemy. Her bravery forced Elijah to reluctantly follow suit, going after something terrifying that he didn’t want to face. But with her help, they show together a different kind of toughness; simply facing one’s fear. Drawing his sword, chopped of one of the abnormally long arms. Noel blew ice to form a new tumor-like arm for the nuckelavee, which caused it to topple over from the weight, allowing Elijah to cut of the human head, followed by the horse head. As both heads rolled, the Glaceon shot two ice spears out of the ground to pierce and hang them high. The rain stopped, and the purple hue evaporated along with Noel’s trainer’s fear.

[heartists]

@imbicilite​.

something is……really, really off. 

ten points for her own score--she can’t complain about that. she had been worried about the colors on her outfits too; she has no right to throw a fit if one of the judges disliked that. but the look on fabien’s face when he gave kenny zero points was downright awful. one might say maniacal, even. and that laugh! can’t the other judges see that he’s obviously being biased? and could whatever drove fabien to screw kenny over have to do with her own score being so low as well? 

she decides not to mention it. not unless he screwed her over again. right now the focus should be on kenny, who--even though she hated him--was more obviously facing injustice.

      ❝fabien…❞ she would be raging right now if she hadn’t already spent all her anger over his ignorance at elijah’s dressup. ❝i’ll be straight up with you. it’s about kenny. is there something going on between you two that i haven’t heard about?❞

[themaryiestsuetoeversue]

@heartists​

“You put your dad on the spot...” She whispered. Clearly Zoey got his permission, she supposed. “Your Pokemon clearly wanted to participate in something so deep and personal and meaningful to you. You showcased that beautifully - your Mismagius was reenacting something he was actually there for and your Gallade’s emotions seemed very genuine too. And you made wonderful use of the former past life, as well as Gallade’s natural mastery over martial arts. Flip flopping between forms that often is rather taxing though, so I hope Mismagius gets a well-deserved break after this.” She didn’t know Sinnoh National Team regulations but surely Zoey did not use team members back to back? “45 points!”

She took a deep breath - that appeal was heavy on the electricity... “I think this is a perfect example of the Smart category - a story, and so metaphorical! You have to think to understand it, nothing is spoon fed to you, and it’s so emotional and moving too! Even if it was maybe very sad at some points - life is sad sometimes. I think you struck a great balance between trainer participation and not overshadowing your Pokemon but I am a little disappointed that a lot of Mismagius’s participation was in Luxray form with a lot of flip flopping back and forth. It kind of felt like you were overusing the technique. And, ah...Mega Evolution AND a z move in the same Appeal? It’s kind of overkill, I think? But I think it was very sweet of you to do this topic in honor of your father and his Pokemon. 33 points!”

She did math on paper AND the calculator, to be extra sure. “78 points! I hope you had fun being in the Winter Solstice festival!”

[heartists]

There's a gentle knock to the door of Zoey's dressing room. Diantha had heard some... Voices down the corridor. After the bliss from her own dressup had worn off, it might be time to comfort a fellow coordinator... - @diamontha​ 

zoey rises to get the door with a plastered-on smile. she…couldn’t have heard the conversation with fabien, could she? well, in case she did, time to do what zoey always did best, and hide all the pain she’s feeling right now. for someone so honest as she is, she’s awfully good at lying about how much she hurts.

      ❝hey, diantha. what’s up?❞

[konpeitocoordinator]

June’s WSF Dress Up

She put a lot of thought into these outfits... hopefully it paid off!

(x)

[wintersolsticefestival]

@drkvoids - Tobias Gaudí - 265 points [Smart/Clever]

Score breakdown: Fabien Lafayette gave 80, Poppy Somma gave 90, Cheren Shirogane gave 95

@ringsreachingout - Steven Stone - 218 points [Tough]

Score breakdown: Fabien Lafayette gave 85, Poppy Somma gave 68, Cheren Shirogane gave 65

@coldbornthief - Elijah Pyroarheart -  195 points [Tough]

Score breakdown: Fabien Lafayette gave 10, Poppy Somma gave 90, Cheren Shirogane gave 95

[heartists]

"Oh mademoiselle!!" The voice over the telephone was so maliciously chipper. "Did you see how I graded Kenny's performance? You remember him, don't you? That good for nothing cheater who humiliated you?" - @imbicilite​ 

      ❝yes! YES!❞ she’s cackling just as madly as he is. ❝you gave him what he deserved and i didn’t even ask you to! you’re such a good boy, yes you are, yes you are--❞

if she could give him headrubs right now, she would.

[themaryiestsuetoeversue]

@diamontha​

It was very weird being in this part of Hearthome’s contest hall as herself and not the mysterious alter ego that honestly any of her friends would have been able to match to her anyway. (Good thing she didn’t have many friends.) She’d looked over the participant list many times, trying to pick out names, trying to get things to stick in her swiss cheese brain. An awful lot of famous people here! Better not get starstruck. Eh, Cheren and Sayuri were here to help. She really ought to go meet the new judge - 

[”Try not to overload the incoming empath.”] Noir’s text to speech bit into her thought process and she looked up. Oh, that was...Diantha. Diantha!? She snapped to attention and walked over a little too quickly to offer a hand.

“Ah, you’re Diantha! Hi! I’m Poppy Somma, one of the judges...” She trailed off,  but her thoughts kept repeating GARDEVOIR over and over. How cool would it be to see Diantha’s Mega-Gardevoir!? Noir - allowed out of the Heal Ball because there was no cover to keep - grabbed her hand. “So, uh...is this your first contest?”

[themaryiestsuetoeversue]

Appeal Results - June

@konpeitocoordinator​

Ooh. This was very nice. She grabbed all her paperwork -

“As always, your Pokemon look like they are having a blast. I say that about almost everybody but that’s because it’s true.” Getting to let loose on a stage? Using attacks just for the heck of it? What’s not to love? “My only real safety concern is, mm...I know you’re fine with the vines right now but while they were forming, I was a little bit nervous - what if the thorns punctured you? And what if the flames got out of control? But that’s a minor nitpick, I’m being silly. I think you showcase your Pokemon very well - I loved Folie’s grass type specific actions. I think it puts a little bit more of a spotlight on Folie, though? But the teamwork with Berry was fantastic, perfect for Doubles. 50 points!”

Now for the cons! Could never be pros without cons. “I don’t think it’s Beauty enough, actually. The acting out a story just seems really Smart category to me, but you do show enough spectacular visuals that I’m still very happy. Although, having to recap what the story was - while the use of Extrasensory was a nice way of showing it, have you really captured the story very well if you have to explain what it was? It was a nice twist that you actually sang, though, and it didn’t take the spotlight from your team at all. 30 points!”

CALCULATOR TIME. “80 points! I hope you had fun performing!”