[P] Border Patrol [Over!]

👁️‍🗨️ Prompt 2: The Whispering Kitten 👁️‍🗨️

While keke from Fliptide and its accompanying isle can go to space like everybody else, the hole in the Effect is more to the west towards Bumpytown and Uptree. As such, it's a bit more out of the way for beach-going residents. Sometimes, the huge cat can be seen in the sky, defending her territory, so that's a little spooky. But there's something possibly spookier affecting the locals: random people at random times are hearing a voice in their heads. The communication feels a lot like using one's cheek pouches, but keke can't seem to communicate back to this little whisperer... If they try, they usually just end up talking to the nearest animal, much to its confusion

"She's looking for me." The unknown creature frequents saying "I don't know where I am..." The statements are sometimes accompanied by the faintest flashes of images. Some keke report seeing the indistinct shape of a kitten with one eye on the right of its face, one in the center of its forehead. Others claim seeing a scene of ancient-looking bricks - some sort of dark, round-walled chamber with clumps of moss and climbing vines. Obviously, following this trail of mysterious clues comes with a degree of danger. What's going on here...? To others, the answer is clear. There's an animal that needs help...!

TL;DR: Some keke in Fliptide/Villa Isle are seeing and hearing things in their heads about a lost kitten seeking help

🥀 Draw/write 350 words about your keke/PC interacting with the prompt above. Are they a skeptic, or are they already hunting for this strange location? Are they haunted by visions or feeling a little left out...?
🥀 Drawn entries must be a minimum of a fully colored halfbody with a background or shading
🥀 NPCs or Punkin can be used in place of your own keke
🥀 You may enter as many times with as many keke as you like!
🥀 Entries go in the Event Entries folder or the drop-off thread!

👁️‍🗨️ Prompt 3: A Trail of Visions 🌊

With not much else to go on, keke searching for the missing kitten mostly must resort to just sort of... looking around. Areas with known brickwork are checked, including the underwater temple. These don't seem to be the correct answers, but thankfully, some keke are seeing and hearing more. A few people have wandered out at seemingly random and picked up more from the awol kitten. The mental link seems to grow stronger, if only be degrees. These areas of influence seem to be closer to the far west edges of the beach, where the sea turns into river. Near the mouth of the channel, the ground... moves... It's hard to describe. Something about the grass and dirt shivers and trembles. Sometimes it's divots and sometimes it's spikes. "It's an illusion." The voice tells you quietly "You must move past."

The look of the effect gives you reason to hesitate, but those that have the courage to move forward pass through it as if it were water. One second, you're aboveground watching the image and the next, you're in some sort of cave with it rippling over your head. The look is eerie, but the kitten coaxes you onward with flashes of word, image, and emotion. You're closer, keep going

TL;DR: Keke venturing along the westward beach find the mental link growing stronger. They're lead to an illusion in the ground with a cave behind it

🥀 Draw/write 350 words about your keke/PC interacting with the prompt above. What do they think of the illusion?
🥀 Drawn entries must be a minimum of a fully colored halfbody with a background or shading
🥀 NPCs or Punkin can be used in place of your own keke
🥀 You may enter as many times with as many keke as you like!
🥀 Entries go in the Event Entries folder or the drop-off thread!

👁️‍🗨️ Prompt 4: One Final Trick 🔆

Some of these weird caves that keke have been lead to in the recent past have had lights left behind. Not so in this case... With the entrance obscured by the illusion, the passage is almost pitch black. This makes navigation difficult, especially since the tunnel rapidly descends. It winds downwards sharply, sometimes even dropping off into small chasms. This is no place to be without caution. What's worse is that there feels like there's... something else in you head now. Aside from the kitten coaxing you on, that is. You feel you see things in the dark. You feel you're being watched... Sometimes, you swear you can see the glint of eyes or a movement in the shadows. Concerningly, the feline has nothing to add about these things like it did for the entrance illusion. It doesn't seem to address them at all...!

The deeper you go, the worse it gets. At one point, you think you hear a growl echoing off the endless walls - something unfamiliar, but distinctly predator-like. Those who forge on find their fear response contentiously poked and prodded at until their composure breaks. You have to get out of here. Now. Suddenly, you feel a presence filling the cave behind you. What you see varies, but you feel that it's so massive, there's no way you could get past it. A terrifying roar and the spark of eyes forces you to rush deeper into the tunnels. But you find you have little time to do so... you've reached the end! Ahead of you is a solid wall with no other way for you to turn

Just as the imperceptible beast is almost upon you, you come in contact with the stone trapping you. It shatters like glass. Time seems to slow as glowing shards of illusion break free and fly about the passage, tossed by an invisible wind. They cut through the spectre chasing you as if it was nothing, dissipating it. At once, the feeling of clawing darkness and watching shadows disappears. You struggle to regain yourself, scarcely realizing that the walls around you are made of a familiar brickwork. The feeling of fur on your scales makes you whirl around only to see the kitten, nearly two feet tall at the shoulder, rubbing against your coils. You feel a little better, as if you have no option but to do so. "Let's go see the sun." It purrs inside your head

TL;DR: The cave makes you feel very afraid... It feels like something's down there with you! The "something" chases you until you hit a dead end, which turns out to be an illusion. You break it by running into it. Past it is the missing kitten who seems to dispel the fearful imagery

🥀 Draw/write 350 words about your keke/PC interacting with the prompt above. How do they fare with the spooky cave?
🥀 Drawn entries must be a minimum of a fully colored halfbody with a background or shading
🥀 NPCs or Punkin can be used in place of your own keke
🥀 You may enter as many times with as many keke as you like!
🥀 Entries go in the Event Entries folder or the drop-off thread!

🔭 Prompt 5: It's in the Eyes 🔭

The search party that went out to find the kitten return to town with it in tow. It says nothing more, only purring and putting off a... strange energy. It's not unpleasant, but you feel your emotions are not your own around it. While some greet it and try to get more information out of it, others gain some distance from it to clear their heads. Villa Isle is a popular choice of escape. Many who find the aura off-putting head there for peace. A gathering forms at the far end of the isle where some unnerved residents discuss goings on

Instead of being left alone, these escapees find themselves annoyed by something peculiar. There's a pair of eye-shaped glow-spots in their vision, looking almost as if they accidentally stared at the sun. The marks don't fully obstruction vision, but they do take up a decent potion of it... What's more, they seem to fade or grow stronger depending on the direction one is looking. If one faces the west at just the right angle, they disappear completely...! Inversely, the light seems to be at its strongest towards the east. Even at its brightest, the glow is still quite faint. It even seems to flicker in and out from time to time. It's clearly some kind of signal. But the question remains: face west and try to ignore it or follow the gaze of the shimmering eyes?

TL;DR: Kitten one's back in town. But now, some keke are seeing eyes in their vision... The image is stronger to the east and fades to the west

🌾 Draw/write 200 words about your keke/PC interacting with the prompt above. What's their reaction to the eye spots? Do they see them at all?
🌾 Drawn entries must be a minimum of a fully colored halfbody
🌾 NPCs or Punkin can be used in place of your own keke
🌾 You may enter as many times with as many keke as you like!
🌾 Entries go in the Event Entries folder or the drop-off thread!

🔭 Prompt 6: One Among Many 🌵

Predictably, the signal leads to the eastward beach, approaching the streams that drain from the mountains to feed the sea. The surrounding area is more scrubland than lush. And maybe the heat is getting to your head... because you're seeing something other than the spots in your eyes. They look like some sort of animal, but it's difficult to really perceive them. They're made of that same black-but-white glow, as if you've looked at a bright light for too long. Most of them are quite distant and shimmer in the heat. You could be mistaken, but it seems like they're all facing you

After a bit more of this with no clear sign of letting up, you decide to (carefully?) approach the nearest wobbling image. The eyes in your vision temporarily fade as you as you grow closer. The air feels dry, cold, and static charged around you as you extend a paw towards the thing. It doesn't react, which encourages you to actually... touch it. The intensity of it sharpens for a moment, revealing it to be what you think is cat-shaped, before it dissipates into soft tendrils that swirl around you prettily. They pop into nothing moments after, leaving you standing there with your paw hovering over nothing but sand. Looking up, the eye spots are back in your vision and - in addition - the images around you have changed. Some are fainter, more see-through, while others are just the slightest fraction brighter... It seems you'll have to hunt for the "real" cat among the illusions

TL;DR: You head towards the eastward scrublands. You start seeing vague animal shapes. You approach one and touch it, only for it to dissipate. The ones that remain are now either brighter or dimmer. You're on the hunt for whichever one is the "real" one

🌾 Draw/write 350 words about your keke/PC interacting with the prompt above. How do they feel about the vague shapes? Unnerving or a fun game?
🌾 Drawn entries must be a minimum of a fully colored halfbody with a background or shading
🌾 NPCs or Punkin can be used in place of your own keke
🌾 You may enter as many times with as many keke as you like!
🌾 Entries go in the Event Entries folder or the drop-off thread!

🔭 Prompt 7: Find Me 👁️

You progress through the crowd of shimmers until the light begins threatening to leave the sky (which actually makes your job easier). Sorting through them gradually becomes simpler, as they fade a few shades more with every "correct" cat you tap. Strangely, the "wrong" ones seem to understand that they're not needed. They gather together, watching you from a distance with what feels like ethereal curiosity. Something else of note is that the eye spots in your vision have sort of... inverted. The edges of your sight glow softly and you see through cat-eye-shaped cutouts of clarity in the center

As you near one of the last few feline glimmers, it surprises you by turning away. It takes a few light steps across the scrub before swiveling its head to look back at you. The message is clear: follow. You do, trailing the one bright glow and backed up by many more that are little more than whispers. It leads you down a meandering path, ultimately taking you further from Fliptide and deeper into the arid landscape. After a while, it stops again. You expect that it's waiting for you to catch up. Instead, once you're beside it again, it touches you with its head, turning itself into decorative wisps. In unison, all of the others dissolve as well. You're left standing alone in the mid-dark as the last traces of them twinkle away into the sky

For a few moments, it's unclear what you're supposed to do now... You stand there as the sun slowly sets, confused. As dark approaches, you realize that there's a faint source of light that you missed. Very near you, there's a large rock mostly buried by the drifting sand. It seems to be glowing from within, so gently that you wouldn't have noticed it if you weren't looking for it. As your gaze meets the stone, your vision fades white for one blink. When you reopen your eyes, you find them clear of any supernatural glow, which is somewhat of a relief after having it there for several hours. Crouching down, you lay a paw on the rock. Its surface almost feels like it's humming. Your mind is filled with the knowledge there's a kitten very like the first curled inside. Parts of the stone slough off beneath your touch. Freeing the trapped creature will take you only moments

TL;DR: You touch the brighter cats until one very shiny one is left. It turns and leads you to a large rock before it disappears. You somehow know there's a kitten within the stone, which withers beneath your touch

🌾 Draw/write 400 words about your keke/PC interacting with the prompt above.
🌾 Drawn entries must be a minimum of a fully colored fullbody with a background or shading
🌾 NPCs or Punkin can be used in place of your own keke
🌾 You may enter as many times with as many keke as you like!
🌾 Entries go in the Event Entries folder or the drop-off thread!

📜 Prompt 8: Not Here 📜

The second kitten, whose eyes are in the correct place, is reunited with the first. Similar to its sibling, it provides no additional helpful information regardless of prompting. It simply purrs. It also pours an aura into the air that makes one feel like they shouldn't speak - like they're disturbing someone. Instead, it encourages nonverbal communication. This makes things... honestly harder than they already were. Progress is almost impossible to achieve in the presence of the two animals. Most keke are pushed away from the central gathering place in Fliptide. Sometimes, when one looks at the giant cat in the sky, she seems to be staring down in this direction...

At this point, a theory has come up regarding the fact that some keke have seen these kittens before. If this is true, it means that there should be a third and final one out there. A search begins to form, consisting of keke wandering around... somewhere... and keeping an eye, ear, or mind (?) open for anything that may lead to the missing sibling. It's kind of hard to look for something when you don't exactly know what that something is... Regardless, by the time morning has arrived, the waterbound locals have come up with a clue. There are yellowed papers floating atop the sea. Their edges are tattered, but they seem unaffected by the water itself. In fact, they can even be taken below the surface without sustaining damage

In total, the notes say many different things. "You won't find me." however, repeats many times. It's unclear of the tone being taken here... Keke kind of have to... just carry on collecting

TL;DR: Two kittens are in town, but some think there's a third. A hunt goes out to find them. By morning, papers are found floating in the ocean with strange messages on them, including "You won't find me."

💧 Draw/write 200 words about your keke/PC interacting with the prompt above. Does your character get the papers themselves or need them delivered via Elver (or other water-based type)? Do they read anything interesting?
💧 Drawn entries must be a minimum of a fully colored halfbody
💧 NPCs or Punkin can be used in place of your own keke
💧 You may enter as many times with as many keke as you like!
💧 Entries go in the Event Entries folder or the drop-off thread!

📜 Prompt 9: Infodump 🏖️

Regardless of how many papers are pulled out of the water, there always seem to be more. It's actually getting kind of alarming... They clump together to form large mats drifting around, casting ominous shadows underwater. There's concern for the wildlife if this issue isn't resolved quickly...! Locals are encouraged to retrieve as many papers as they can and place them somewhere safe, such as the community center, to be dealt with later. As time passes and more keke get involved, the mess threatens to coat the entire surface of the sea, rippling strangely as waves pass below. "You're missing me." The notes start saying, the script decidedly taking on a note of despair "Get me out of here!" "I'm trapped!" "I don't know where I am!" Sometimes, they simply read "Help"

The two kittens have moved from town and now sit on the edge of the beach. They're silent, staring at the horizon of water and text. They sit as still as statues except for the occasional twitch of the tail. Although their auras seem to have reduced, they're still polluting the air and making things more difficult... Despite the attempts of others, they refused to be led off. If carried away, they'll return shortly after

TL;DR: No matter how many papers are picked up, there are always more. After a while, they almost fully coat the surface of the sea. The words on them seem upset. The two kittens have come from town and stare into the mess

💧 Draw/write 350 words about your keke/PC interacting with the prompt above. Are they surfing the papery waves? Trying to make sense of the pages? Attempting to move the kittens?
💧 Drawn entries must be a minimum of a fully colored halfbody with a background or shading
💧 NPCs or Punkin can be used in place of your own keke
💧 You may enter as many times with as many keke as you like!
💧 Entries go in the Event Entries folder or the drop-off thread!

📜 Prompt 10: Centermost 🏄‍♂️

The beach was in chaos. Keke who live underwater couldn't see, plants weren't getting sunlight, and there was worry about animals trying to eat the paper... It's was hard to keep an eye on everything, especially with mounds of soggy parchment taking up space on the shoreline. Because of all this, it was easily missed when the kittens on the sidelines stood, one at a time, and then stepped onto the sea of writing. They ventured far into the shifting landscape before they were noticed. Some keke went after them, but it was almost as if the waves revolted, warding them off. Only when the pair reached what appeared to be the center of the mass, swollen above the rest of the thing, that there was a change

In an instant, the water was perfectly flat. One final ripple went through the whole of it before it went as still as stone. This obviously shocked observers, but they couldn't put too much thought into it because, more distracting still, were the four feline eyes atop the center mat. They seemed to be staring at everyone at once, even though such a thing was impossible. The gaze seemed pure, empty of emotions. It both repelled, as it was frightening, and inexplicably pulled. Some found themselves drawn towards the kittens, slithering over the plane of the sea. At first, it was one or two locals, then it was many more. The center, they all realized at once, it was the center

As the crowd collected around the edge of the paper lump, the kittens cast their gaze upwards in a sudden snap. Beams of light emitted from their eyes, highlighting the huge cat hundreds of feet overhead as she stared down upon the gathering. She was waiting, though for what wasn't entirely clear until the first keke plunged their paws into the soggy pile. A ribbon of ink peeled off one of the sheets and spun around them in a tattered ripple. When another keke touched the lump, the same thing happened again. As others copied them, the airborne glob of ink started to orbit the whole procession. When there was finally enough of it, it converged violently in the beam of the kittens' eyes, splattering into the shape of the third and final cat

TL;DR: The kittens get up and go to stand on a lump of paper in the center of the sea. The waves suddenly stop and the ocean is flat. The cats stare at the keke, drawing them in. When keke touch the paper pile, ink comes off and floats in the air. When enough ink is floating around, it comes together to form the final kitten

💧 Draw/write 350 words about your keke/PC interacting with the prompt above. What do they make of the whole scene?
💧 Drawn entries must be a minimum of a fully colored halfbody with a background or shading
💧 NPCs or Punkin can be used in place of your own keke
💧 You may enter as many times with as many keke as you like!
💧 Entries go in the Event Entries folder or the drop-off thread!

🐆 Conclusion 🐆

The third kitten, with one central eye and one left, seemed to restart the ocean. A burst of waves erupted from the paper mound, though the keke nearby weren't harmed. Instead, they rode back to the shore on little rafts of parchment which slowly dissolved into nothing. By the time everyone had been returned to the beach, the papers had fallen apart to such a degree that there was almost nothing left. In a few moments more, it was as if the whole fiasco had never happened in the first place

The cats, meanwhile, ran through the air as if they'd been capable of doing so the whole time. The three kittens ascended to greet their mother while she glided down to intercept them. A strange sort of shock wave went through the air as they met, though it didn't disturb a single leaf - it was entirely emotional. A burst of wholeness and contentedness briefly blew around the attending keke before carrying on into the distance, leaving them to decipher what their own feelings were. After clunking together adorably in the air for some minutes, the mother cat began to stride downwards to address the crowd. Her babies followed close behind, frolicking and bounding with a childish innocence that hadn't been present with them earlier. She stopped in the air before the shoreline, shoulders set back with authority and looking different than before

"Well, you've done it." She said in a voice that was incredibly clear - vaguely congratulatory, but also hinting at grave "I hope you're ready."

Of course, questions were asked. With a statement like that, there was a great worry that she wouldn't elaborate. Thankfully, she had more to say. She was a Legend, like Kai'in (though her kittens were too young to officially have such a title). In fact, she claimed that per would be attracted by her arrival and that they two of them would speak together later. It was the task of the Legends to watch over and protect the Snakekeys. Further information on such a topic, she said, was being withheld from her

In regards to the "you've done it" part, she seemed amused. "You haven't connected the dots? For every Legend returned to their whole form, you blow a hole in that thing you've named the Valley Effect. The last one was in the sky - a bit inaccessible - but mine is on the ground. You'll find it down this west river. And you'd best be careful or I'll haul you back here by the scruff of your necks" She grinned in a distinctly uncanny way and let out a rattling purr that must have been laughter. It didn't invalidate the seriousness of the statement somehow. Upon finishing, she strode past the waiting onlookers and towards the direction of Artisan City, supposedly to meet up with Kai'in. Fliptide and its isle friend were left to ponder the news in silence for a few moments more before the beach exploded into noise and excited activity

TL;DR: The momma cat explains that she's a Legend like Kai'in. It's apparently the job of Legends to protect keke, but she doesn't recall more. She also says that every Legend restored makes a hole in the Valley Effect. Hers is down the west river, opening up access to places outside the valley

🎁 Rewards 🎁

🍃 Each keke/PC you enter in a prompt earns you one reward point (RP)
🍃 You can earn RP with characters you own or NPC characters
🍃 RPs are locked for this event! You can only use them here. They're just so I can format this in a certain way : )
🍃 Earned upgrades should not be applied on hatchling approvals
🔴 Completing a run (aka doing a set of any 10 prompts) will earn you +5 RP! You can claim this bonus each time you complete a run

✨ Upgrades ✨
All upgrades cost 1 RP per use! (Note that "per use" means applying to a keke/PC. Edits to the upgrade do not count
as "uses"! Once a character has earned an upgraded, it can be removed or edited at any time as long as it still matches
that upgrade's description : ) They don't "lose" removed upgrades)

⭕ Open spoiler to see available selection! ⭕

🐍 Morphs 🐍
Cost 3 RP per use! Do not require the morph changer upgrade to apply an a keke who is already an adult
Must be applied on intended species/type unless an appropriate morph book is used. Click images to go to
their posts with additional details

⭕ Open spoiler to see available selection! ⭕

🐕 Companions 🐕
Cost 2 RP each! Click an image for additional info on the species

⭕ Open spoiler to see available selection! ⭕