[i](Woo, and I didn't even get ninja'd! Here's the rest of 'em!)[/i] [hider=We had a name for it, once.] We had a name for it, once. Granted, once was a very, very long time ago. Things have changed since then. The moon, or what’s left of it, is little more than a charred rock floating in unstable orbit around our planet. It may have been round, comely, even elegant, once, but when I look into the night sky and see its fractured contours catch the sun, I am compelled to cast my gaze back to the ground. There’s nothing comely nor elegant about the sight of that hideous wreck glaring down at me. Life, of course, has changed too. Over the last thousand years we have begun to breathe again. And not the synthetic gasps we drank in the past, no, the air today is real. It comes from the trees, like it used to. Like it was always meant to. It comes from the trees, which at last have spread themselves out over the rolling hills, drowning their birthright in a sea of green. Sometimes I find myself stopping in my tracks to just take in the beauty of it all. The trees. The green. The air. But not that damn moon. I’m a farmer. My forefathers weren’t so lucky. I have had the privilege to toil under the burning sun, to make my living off the fruit of the land and the sweat of my brow. Turning seeds to plants, wrenching life out of nothing, this is the existence I have been blessed with. It’s never been easy, but it’s a life worth living, which is more than I can say for those of my ancestors. The men and women whose blood runs through my veins gave their own lives in service of a brighter future, paying the ultimate price for the mistakes of their predecessors. They built the great machines that warmed the soil and brought water from the skies. They were the greatest minds the human race ever knew, but even they feared the specters of the past. I never saw them, never spoke to them, but I know that they laid awake in the night, terrified that they might one day make the same mistakes as those that came before them. They never forgot the calamity that mankind’s best efforts can achieve. A calamity that I myself am reminded of, everytime I look at that godforsaken moon. My life is simple. I raise my crops and my cattle. I tend to my family and maintain my homestead. Every few months, I make a pilgrimage to the village, where I report the health of the wildlife around my home and take home new tools and supplies in return. Outside of my family, that is the extent of my social reach. I find myself happiest when I spurn practical rewards on my return journey and instead come home with a book. My wife is always disappointed at first. She scolds me for my lack of foresight, but inevitably forgives my decision when I sit down and read aloud to her. It is from these books that I draw my knowledge of a people that once were, of a world that once was. I can never escape that word. Once. It doesn’t exist just to tell me something happened, to say that this was the way things used to be. It tells me this is the way things were once. Once. Never again. By keeping my head low and pushing my plow through the virgin mud, I release myself from the responsibility of trying to understand the past. I break my back amid the cows and the crops to save myself from the true labor, the horrifying, mind-melting, exhausting work that the men in the village have to perform. I don’t know what they’re more afraid of: the possibility that we will never bring ourselves as high as our ancestors did, or that we will, only to fall once more. But I know what it is I fear. Yes, that rotten husk in the sky wasn’t always such a horrid sight. We had a name for it once. We called it Earth.[/hider] [hider=Moonbeam] [i]by [@Dark Wind][/i] Diana’s father had taken the Arrow’s Path every year, and she never understood why. There was nothing special about that path. The gravel was rough, and the rocks sharp. And if it rained, the mud was thick enough to keep a person frozen in stillness for endless moments. Every step forward was akin to the step of an insect. Yet, without fail her father would pack a bag and set out upon his rather odd journey. “Is this some form of madness?” Diana asked. Her father laughed. “I suppose some might see it that way.” He reached into a cupboard and pulled out a blanket to throw into his bag. “The Arrow’s Path is dangerous. No one walks it in fear of the wolves, and not to mention there is no actual road. You could get lost!” “I’ve walked the path for many years now, don’t you think I would have been lost long ago?” “And the wolves?” “The wolves are rather friendly, as long as you show you’re a friend.” He grabbed a pouch of wine. “Wine? I fail to see why you’d need wine unless you’ve been getting drunk alone you’re whole life.” He smiled. “I didn’t always get drunk alone. Once I had someone to drink with. You remind me of her.” “You’re talking about mother, aren’t you? Is this why you go there? You’ve never spoken to me about her more than once in my life.” “There’s nothing to tell that you can’t hear in some bard’s song, a book of poetry or even one of your classes that you continue to skip.” “You’re evading my question. And if you want to know why I don’t go to school it’s because they try to keep me in a little box where it’s what they say or nothing at all. That’s not learning, it’s a prison.” “So much like your mother.” Her father threw the sack on over his back and walked over to the door of their cabin in the woods. He pushed open the creaking wood and began to step outside before pausing to look back at his daughter. “I think it’s time for you to learn who you are. Come with me.” Diana stammered. “What?” “Natural, I suppose. You talk of freedom but you’re actually frightened of it.” His daughter’s gaze turned into a furious glare that the songs would sing of vengeful goddesses bringing down swift and ruthless punishment. He saw the silver rage of the moon in her eyes, as many believe the bright white diamond in the sky to be one of peace and serenity. It is, but he knew of the tides and with the tides could come a turbulent storm. “Scared has nothing to do with it.” She spat venomously. Her words soothed old pains, and brought up former memories. He moved through the door and into the forest. Begrudgingly, Diana followed. The father led the way during the midst of a dark night. Up above, the shimmering midnight sea glowed with the lights burning an incomprehensible distance away. He did not struggle upon the Arrow’s Path. With a sure pair of feet and knowledge of the woods, he glided through sharp rocks and ridges with long falls of a looming death. Wolves howled, but he did not tremble. He even pulled out a piece of fish and laid it out upon the ground. A wolf of pure white fur trotted up to them. Diana stiffened, and the wolf bared her teeth. “Easy girl, she’s one of you.” The wolf tilted its head in curiosity before moving up to Diana. She sniffed the woman, and circled her. Silence, the white wolf paused and sat on its rear legs. What happened next stunned the man’s daughter, as the animal lowered its head to the ground as if bowing in respect. “What’s happening, father?” Diana whispered. “She recognizes her ruler. Her queen, the alpha of the pack.” Diana looked at him as though he’d gone mad. Other wolves came out from the darkness of the trees. They each knelt and bowed there heads low in the presence of Diana. “Come along now.” Her father pushed forward. His daughter managed to pull herself out of her shock, uneasy legs pushing on. Her head looked back at the beasts. The pack followed. After a long hour of walking, her father had brought her to the precipice of a cliff side. The trees had barely just ended, and the breath left her in shock. Billions of little fires in the sky glittered off the smooth glassy surface, the water shifting with the gentleness of a soft breeze. It was the moon itself taking her captive, as though it were a spirit calling upon her. Full and bright, shimmering like a jewel. Her mouth opened to speak, but her words had gone with the wind; lost in wonder. Her father laid out a blanket before a single stone standing like a grave within the dirt. He knelt. [center][i]“Oh, Moonbeam my sweetest light; Protector of the Celestial Sky And Huntress of the Night, What I would do to not say goodbye To the soft caress of your hand in mine, Intertwined amidst forested freedom As the falling leaves paint you alive With flickering bursts of changing seasons; My Autumn is lost without your glow, And the melodic song of your silver bow.”[/i][/center] Diana watched him pour red wine, soaking the stone as the earth drank his offering with sorrowful joy, and a sense of yearning. No words of grief had ever been more true to her ears until she heard her father tonight. Her father sat on the blanket and took his first drink. Diana walked to the ledge and looked out to the moon. Its energy burned and swirled around her with such force she could feel the ebb and flow of the tides of the ocean miles away. “Father?” “Ask me.” The knowing response came. “How did she die?” “Not death. She is eternal, but her place amongst the mortal realm has passed. But I shall tell you. I will tell you about the Virgin Goddess, the Huntress of the Moon, the Light-Bringer and the Archer of the Silver Bow. I will tell you of her cunning wit, fierce will, and the ferocious hand that came with it. But, I shall also tell you of her beauty that went with her appearance, but was dwarfed by her kindness…” Her father went on for most of the night. He told the tale of the mighty goddess Artemis and how the even-headed Orion tempered her rage-fueled justice, and how the two fell in love under the falling leaves of freedom. They ran, they hunted, and they competed. The two hunters shared in their love of the hunt until the fires burned all around them, and Artemis broke her sacred vow of chastity to be with him. And, how it all ended with a single lie from her brother. “Lost in madness and grief, her vengeance returned. She pulled an arrow and strung it loose towards me.” Enraptured by her father’s story, Diana managed to speak. “Did it hit you?” “Artemis and her bow have never once missed their target. I was good as dead, and dying. From my lips she found the truth, and in sacrifice she gave me the gift and curse of an unending life. In exchange, she became the moon in the sky; a protector of the night. I will walk this world forever, until the day I can be reunited with her.” Diana wiped tears from her face. “Why didn’t you tell me this sooner? Why wait now?” Her voice broke in anguish. Orion pulled his daughter close to him, embracing her tightly. “I told you tonight because I was finally ready to let go. Because you are ready to follow the path your mother set before you. You are not meant for a mortal’s life. You are a goddess, Diana.” His daughter took a step back. She shook her head. It couldn’t be true. But, the sound of the ocean tides became stronger. The ocean was so far away it would be impossible to hear. Within the forests she could hear the sounds of every living thing, and the trickling of gentle streams. Her pack of wolves looked at her from the darkness of the forest. “It makes sense now… Somehow.” She felt wrong being within a school, and out of place within the cities. “I think it’s time I go.” Her father said. “Wait, you’re leaving? Just now after I’ve finally learned about mother, about you? You can’t just—“ He embraced her once more, and she wept. Orion trembled, but he didn’t break. Tears kept at bay. “Goodbye, Diana. I will always be with you, as you will always be with me.” Diana watched her father disappear into the blackness, wandering the road of an uncertain destination. She turned to the moon and the glowing lake, and accepted the powerful surge of divine energy that exploded within her. Artemis’s time upon the earth had passed, and a new Goddess of the Hunt took her seat upon the woodland throne. Out on the forest’s edge, Orion looked back at the shimmering glow of energy beaming to the sky. He smiled as the wolven songs howled, a bittersweet melody upon the wind. Orion searched the skies and the moon one last time. “One day I’ll be up there with you, engraved on the heavens.” [/hider] [hider=MoonDoings] [i]by [@PlatinumSkink][/i] [hider=Note from author]I intended on doing actual research for this entry, but I didn't get the time to. Most/all of the entry was written on internet-less rides on trains. Sorry for any factual inaccuracies.[/hider] Michael Granberry stood ready, his hand holding the ball in place as he intently looked over his allies and opponents. Julia and Martin Williams, the siblings, stood in front of him side-by-side, ready to smash the ball into the ground would it be returned. On the other side of the net stood Jim Duvent, Michael's self-proclaimed rival and friend, grinning to himself ready to intercept the ball. Lydia Halverssen stood behind him, pulling a sigh as she made ready to recover the ball after the significant chance of Jim missing it. Joseph Woodsman's giant form stood ready to their right, the two-meter tall man so big that Michael wanted to call out on the unfairness of it. All that extra reach. Given Joseph's smile, he was plenty aware of it. 'We're ready anytime.' Martin said, his jolly tone leaking out blended with competitiveness. 'Let's take them out.' Julia agreed, her tone a lot more serious but still with a touch of excited happiness to it. Michael smirked at his companions' encouragement, nodding to them. 'Alright. Here goes.' He said, before throwing the ball into the air... and then waiting, for the ball took a little while to first rise and then fall down at Michael again. He stood ready, watching the slowly falling ball, waiting for the appropriate time... Before striking at it with just a bit of force. If he used too much, it would fly way off stage. Jim immediately jumped to intercept it, a grin of joy on his face... except he jumped too early. He swung his arm to smash it into the ground but couldn't yet reach it. The movement of his jump continued to carry him slowly into the air and he cursed loudly as he had to wait for the low gravity to eventually take him down again. 'Geesh.' Lydia, having predicted this, was already standing where the ball would land, covering. With a focused expression, she aimed a palm at the ball and flawlessly struck it towards the edge of Michael's side's stage. 'I got it!' Julia called out as she threw herself, the whole move looking like some slow-motion action-scene to Michael as the slow-moving ball was intercepted by a strike of Julia's arm while her jump carried her horizontally. The ball flew up, fortunately looking saved... except it was flying straight into Joseph's ideal reach. Martin threw himself forward, reading where the smash would land. Joseph did, indeed, smash. A large palm smacked the ball with considerable strength, and when aiming at the ground there was no need to hold back. The ball was hit and flew with considerable speed downwards. Fortunately, Martin's prediction held weight, and his arm came just right for the ball to bounce on it and fly up into the air... Of course, just up in the air didn't help, it needed to get back to the other side. Michael, seeing his duty, jumped up into the air, staring down at the two remaining opponents. Since it all went so slowly, he could think for a bit before making his decision where to smash, and his opponents knew this, stranding ready with determined expressions. Anything within Joseph's range was a no-go. Lydia wasn't bad either. However, they were standing on an angle of sorts, Joseph back right, Lydia forward left. Nothing else to do than to aim... right beside Lydia's face! He didn't intend on hitting her, but he did intend on abusing a human's natural defensive reaction when something headed roughly towards their face. He slammed his hand against the ball, and it was directed beside Lydia, roughly where he aimed. She panicked for a moment, moving aside her head and threw up an uncoordinated hand trying to hit the ball. She failed to get a good hit, but her grazing blow was enough to send it going just the slightest more to the right, and... It flew diagonally right into Joseph's lower range, where he leaned down and hit it from underneath. The resulting ball was a slow lob, going across the left side of Michael's side's court. … The problem now was, the ball wasn't the only slow-moving thing. Martin wasn't able to stand up and jump quick enough to get it. Julia was still way off in the right after she had thrown herself. Michael tried desperately to turn in mid-air before landing to reach the ball, but failed to reach by centimetres. The ball slowly and inevitably hit the floor and bounced on... 'WAHAHAHA! Face my invincible team!' Jim bragged, landing with a grin despite actually not having contributed to the score in the slightest. Michael landed, breathing out, and then returning a smirk. 'Don't get cocky. It was just the first score.' … And so, the fierce battle of Moon Volleyball continued, in this room of volleyball courts larger than those on Earth, because they were located on the moon... ________________________________ 'You ready for this?' Jim asked Michael over the radio that they'd all been providing, his engine roaring as he showed off the engine of the ride that wasn't necessarily his. Michael breathed in heavily, excitement coursing through his veins as he looked up at the red light, his hands gripping the steering wheel in front of him tightly and his foot resting on the pedal. 'I'm always ready.' He replied, daring to smirk as he saw the yellow light come on. 'Good! Because you're about to eat my moon-dust!' Jim boasted. Michael could swear that Jim had to have pressed down the pedal just a tiny bit too early, but all the impulses that grabbed his body as soon as he pressed down the pedal and the engine roared completely cleared away any such consideration. He lightly pressed, the acceleration was slow. However, there'd be no air to slow them down once they got going. The cars they were currently in sealed them in for their own safety, and there were innumerable safety-things strapped to the both of them. The two cars slowly built speed, Jim's a bit ahead of Michael's, as they took out into the moonscape. From what Michael could see, they were driving out into nothingness, grey rocks spreading out into the distance and their engines only being heard to themselves, by radio or by being transferred through the rock itself. It was an alien feeling, being so secluded to himself in a car like this... Except he was in a race, and the first turn was coming up. He stopped accelerating way ahead of time and prepared to make a careful turn... Jim didn't. He did slow down, but he approached the turn at a speed that might have been OK on Earth. 'Jim! Slow down!' Michael shouted. 'No pain, no gain!' Jim replied, as he turned to slide through the turn... except his car tipped over. The car weighted less while it also had less grip on the dirt-surface due to lower gravity. Michael sighed and slowed down to a stop while he watched Jim's car rolling across the lunar surface, his voice shouting in panic and excitement into Michael's ear though the radio. Due to being positively surrounded by safety mechanisms and the low gravity here made for rather light bumps, Jim was perfectly safe. Eventually, he came to a stop upside down, and the controller was telling instructions via the radio. 'No pain, no gain, huh?' Michael asked. 'Well, at least [i]I[/i] got a valuable lesson for life!' Jim laughed from the car, apparently having enjoyed his little roll. 'One you dearly needed.' Michael sighed, again. They had to get back, too, the others would want to have their turns with the two cars they had... ________________________________ 'Waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa-!' Jim shouted out as he was easily picked up by Joseph's huge hands, the tall man throwing the low-gravity man out of the ring at such an angle it took several seconds of air-time before he actually came down again. 'Well, we can probably say that Joseph's the undisputed winner of Moon Wrestling between us...' Lydia said, leaning on the wall of the tiny room with a large ring in the middle of it. In the ring stood Joseph, his arms raised in success. By the edges sat Martin and Julia, the competitive siblings having had a bet of who could take out Joseph from the ring but both failing dramatically, Jim soon to join them as soon as he landed. Michael breathed out, looking at the large friend of his. Being the only one left up for the challenge, Joseph inevitably grinned silently right at him. Alright. Logic. Because this was on the moon, it would be naturally easier to pick someone up. … But that was just his mind recalling what Martin had said just before he got into the ring, and he'd been picked up and thrown moments after he had said that. No, Joseph's large reach was still a factor, and even on the moon Michael was pretty sure Joseph still weighted substantially. He also couldn't just run into him like Julia had, even with lower gravity he still could hold his ground. There was also a problem with that Joseph barely had to move, so when Lydia had tried to use his own movement against him, she had found herself being pulled instead because Joseph had been ready for it. He needed a different tactic. … The match started while Michael still thought about such things. Michael's mind was still blank. Joseph started slowly advancing, smirking at him, his hands reaching, ready to wrestle. The natural advantage here was too much to surmount normally. Michael jumped aside, dodging the hands. He definitely felt that, to win, he needed to avoid any and all unnecessary physical contact. His speed was still greater, even here, he just needed to keep out of reach. Of course, Joseph turned to face him at every turn, he wasn't some video-game boss that'd let Michael easily get behind him just by being faster... Alright, he HAD to try to get him to lose balance, Michael reasoned. So the next time he was reached for, he jumped forward through Joseph's reach and grabbed his leg, crouching down as he did. Joseph's hands quickly grabbed him, but...! Michael used all the strength he had, and it was enough! He lifted Joseph off the floor! Just like Martin sa- -aid!? Michael blinked as his feet left the floor. Joseph had simply lifted his leg, and in the low gravity Michael merely followed, now on an angle as both of them slowly fell down onto the floor. Michael looked up at Joseph, who still had his hands on him, the larger friend smiling almost gently at him... And then Michael's grip on the leg was eventually undone and Joseph easily threw him out of the ring. ________________________________ 'Alright, let's think math, here.' Martin said, looking down on the map with focus. 'The crater we're aiming for is here. The gravity here is 1/6th that of Earth. Hence, to reach the crater, we need to shoot with a club and force that would normally reach... here!' He concluded, grinning. 'Somehow, I don't think it's that simple...' Michael said, looking at Jim who was already standing with a club looking down at a ball awaiting him to strike it. They were currently doing Moon-Golf. They were all dressed in white space-suits that were perfectly safe so they don't die in the moon's atmosphere, the suits surprisingly light and flexible, Michael feeling like his was already part of his body. It also came with radios that transmitted the words of the others, as well as provided some sound-effects, for some reason. 'Well, don't argue with my logic when I get a crater-in-one and you don't!' Martin smirked confidently at him. 'You need to aim, too. Can you do that?' Julia inquired of her brother. The boy shrugged, smirking right back. 'I'll consider it a win if I hit it the right distance!' While they were still talking, Jim pulled back for his swing. He then swung, striking the ball with a resounding CRACK heard from their radios, the ball flying... not to where he was aiming. 'Because of low gravity, bad aim is going to get further punished...' Michael commented, Jim making negative grimaces as he watched his ball fly waaaaaaaay off to the right... 'Hey. Look at the bright side.' Julia smirked happily. 'No water.' There were numerous chuckles. 'Oh, I promise you there are worse places than in water that you can land in on the moon... This place has some dangerous bunkers.' Lydia corrected, grinning at Julia, and there were some more chuckles going through the crowd. 'Well, since we hit further, getting off-course shouldn't be more of a problem than it is on Earth...' Martin encouraged, though since getting off-course was pretty bad on Earth, too, that wasn't much of a comfort to Jim. So, each of them swung their turn, hitting the ball and reaching more or less the same degree of capability. Michael blinked a little as suddenly Joseph stepped up for his turn. The entire group became silenced with unconvinced stares as the large man placed the ball, aimed at the appropriate target with his largest driver, a huge club sized for him. He then took position, standing there in silence, the rest watching closely. Then he pulled back, and swung. A perfect hit, the sound echoing through the radios in their ears. Joseph swung back, holding his club behind his back, and the ball flew off into the black sky of the moon... … 'Think it went into orbit?' Lydia asked. 'I think it left the gravitational pull of the moon entirely.' Martin commented. 'One day, far off into the future, that ball is going to fly with extreme speed towards a planet not too unlike Earth, and it will strike down with the force of a meteorite into the head of their most beloved leader, and so started the Galactic War...' Jim narrated, holding up his hand to his forehead to gaze after the ball, even though the sun wasn't actually placed so that he needed to do that. There were light chuckles about Jim's line, Joseph looking pleased with himself. 'Alright, now let's go find our balls.' Michael breathed out, stepping into the moon-car so they could get a move on. The car had a GPS with the coordinates of their balls. Turns out, Joseph's ball hadn't actually left orbit. It just had way, waaaay overshot the target crater. ________________________________ 'TH-THESE AREN'T HURDLES, THEY'RE WALLS!' Jim cried out, trying to jump the hurdles larger than himself. Michael smiled a bit privately to himself, since they couldn't really be walls when you could jump (couldn't really walk properly here) straight through them without trying to jump, maybe needing to crouch a little, but yes. They were pretty tall. Yet... 'Wohooo~!' Julia shouted out happily as she jumped way higher than she could have on Earth, her legs happily bounding over the large hurdles, a look of genuine joy on her face as she jumped, way ahead of Jim. Certainly did not look impossible to Michael. They were currently in a stadium, a huge stadium with rows of chair for people to watch from and a huge window on the top so they could look out into the night sky, the equipment for all kinds of such sports around. The windows were currently shaded, because the sun was moving overhead... and right now, they had the whole stadium entirely to themselves. 'And there!' Lydia climbed down from the ladder she had just used to place her bar, which she intended on jumping over. She smiled proudly as she admired her own very high jump obstacle. 'Er.' Michael commented, looking up. 'While your jump might get higher, I'm not sure you can reach quite THAT high...' She'd placed the bar so very high, it felt unfeasible, even on the moon... 'We don't know if we don't try~!' Lydia excitedly said, before she started to dash, or jump quickly forward in a way that made Michael doubt she gained the kind of energy she needed, and she jumped...! … And while she jumped high, she didn't even reach the bar. She landed on the cushion with a grimace. 'There must be a trick to this moon-jumping...' She concluded, getting up with a thought-full expression. 'I think you're just putting the bar too high.' Michael chuckled, before his attention was pulled by a frowning Martin walking by. 'I must get the timing down...' He said, and after a quick glance Michael could determine that he was trying to accomplish the triple step moon long jump while on the moon, the length of that jumping-stretch and then the sand ridiculous. Poor whoever has to fix that on a regular basis. Well, tonight, it would be them... 'Er. Good luck.' Michael nodded to him. Meanwhile, he looked over to where Joseph was doing what he did best. Swinging slings as far as he could. So that's why the stadium was so far to the top window, Michael commented inside his mind as he saw the black ball being slung flying across the stadium, a distance that he couldn't help but feel being unhealthy. Joseph looked pleased with himself. No doubt. The low gravity on the moon must have made him feel like a super-hero or something... 'Hey! Let's all compete at the 100 meter sprint!' Julia came by, excitement alight in her eyes, the girl having truly found her element here. '100 meter sprint? Don't you mean 100 meter silly-moon-jumping-forwards?' Michael chuckled a bit, but it looked like they were on. Jim seemed very happy to get to try a length that wasn't littered with huge hurdles, Lydia seemed to appreciate something that could take her mind off how to jump high, Martin figured he could come back to the triple step moon long jump later and Joseph was just about satisfied with throwing things and was ready to try something new. Michael nodded and smiled as he and the others made their way to the start-line... ________________________________ 'Well. That was fun.' Michael chuckled as they sat back in a chair inside a rather large hotel-room at the moon-base. 'We should do this again, sometime!' Jim called out, sitting on his bed, smiling happily at them. Despite having been a constant example of how not to sport, he still seemed to have had a lot of fun and was shining the brightest of them here. There were times when Michael kind of envied that, but this time he had fun too, so anyway. 'Joseph, your long limbs are OP.' Julia commented. The competitive girl who'd lost most things today currently looked at the scoreboard that they had collected for their efforts during the day. The large friend of theirs shrugged a bit with a satisfied smile. 'I think we were all pretty bad, at most things.' Martin smirked and added to the conversation. 'Regardless, this has been a very interesting experience. Thank you for inviting us.' 'Naturally.' Michael nodded to him. 'When I won that dose of Moon-Sports for six people, obviously I'd pick you guys.' It had been on a lottery out of pure luck on which he'd won the tickets, so, yeah. Just a stroke of blind luck. Michael, Jim, Joseph and Martin had been friends since school, and then they'd become friends with Julia due to being Martin's sister, and then Lydia had come along as Julia's friend, and then their circle of friends had been formed and maintained for a decade... 'Heh.' Lydia smirked, looking out the window on the landscape, their hotel located so you could look out over the grey and rough landscape of their moon, the Earth currently visible in the sky above them. A blue and green little ball of life. 'Probably want to wait to either get richer or wait for the next time you win the same prize again, getting here is really expensive.' She stared out a bit more. '… But what for? Other than Moon-Sports, there's like, nothing to do here.' 'There's a space-centre here because of the lower gravity, and I do think there's a few mines for materials here and there...' Martin informed, but yes, there wasn't a whole lot of unique things to do here, otherwise. Michael smiled at his friends as the conversation continued. Well, even if there wasn't a whole lot to do on the moon other than what they had been doing... Moon Sports sure was an experience beyond the ordinary, and it would remain a fun memory for life. [hider=Note about title]The real title of the entry would be "MoonSports", but I didn't want the reader to actually know this was about sports on the moon when they started reading the first section.[/hider][/hider] [hider=The Princess of The Moon] [i]by [@WiseDragonGirl][/i] There once was a princess, like dewdrops so fair With pretty blue eyes and silvery hair. Her home was a castle high up on the moon, and she strode forward to a big, blue balloon. The princess travelled to the Earth down below, the balloon brought her down, steady and slow. She hovered over mountains and rivers and seas, the wind blew her forward over hills filled with trees. She searched the Earth to find her true love, aiding her quest was a friendly white dove. Together they flew high up in the sky, the people who saw them never knew why. The love that she searched, the love of her life, he was her husband and she was his wife. With a balloon he had gone to visit the Earth, the land he grew up in, the place of his birth. She remembered she met him a long time ago, they had fallen in love on a field filled with snow. The lovers of winter, they married in spring, and they went to the moon, to visit the king. They were happy and merry for years without end, but the prince wished to visit his family and friend. He travelled to the Earth, he wouldn’t stay long, but lost the balloon when the wind blew too strong. So the princess went down to look for her guy, with the dove by her side and a tear in her eye. But one day she saw a man working the land, she recognized her prince and reached out her hand. The dove gently flew down and pulled at his ear, the prince quickly looked up and he let out a cheer. He took his wife’s hand and got in the balloon, and together they flew right back to the moon.[/hider] [hider=Uposatha] NOTE: UPOSATHA HAS BEEN REMOVED AT THE REQUEST OF THE AUTHOR. WHILE I AM ALL FOR MAINTAINING THE LOGS IN THEIR PUREST FORM, THE AUTHOR WANTED IT REMOVED SO THAT IT COULD BE USED IN THEIR SCHOOL WRITING CONTEST. [/hider]