Leetah

the Golden Kumos
Leetah loved to wander around the Delphi boardwalk at night. The moon over the water, the slightly eerie yet comfortable feeling of being in a well-lit yet secluded place in the dark. One night, she decided to join in on the fun and play some carnival games. After balloon popping until she won, she mentioned the game hosts Bibi and Lilah that she was going to play mallarchy pond next. Immediately, they suggested something more fun -- they had a friend whose tent didn't get much traffic. They pointed to a small, dark colored tent that was indeed hard to notice as anything more than a storage area. "Okay, why not?", she thought to as she left the balloon tent to enter this sad looking tent.

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Lifting up the curtain, the first thing Leetah saw was a... a what? A creature from Atebus, maybe? They were the size of a minion, but she hadn't seen a minion with this unique appearance before. "No, my friend.. I'm Janet and I'm from the Underground," the creature said. Was it aloud? In her thoughts? "No need to be taken aback... did no one warn you? Well, I see a masquerade in your future, but not in your current state. Kumos don't make for good dance partners. Have some tea with me," motioning to an ornate teapot behind her. Janet lit some cedar incense and sat down to pour some tea, motioning her to sit down. She watched as Janet scribbled something quickly on a piece of paper, and then she forgot that she wanted to ask Janet about, well, everything...

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Leetah jolted upwards, feeling she had awoken from a nap on the floor. "Janet, what happened...?" she looked around the hallway she was apparently in, hearing voices from afar. It sounded like a huge party. Hm. She got up and immediately realized something was off. 2 paws up in the air, 2 on the floor!? She looked down. "JANET?!" There was no answer. Rushing to a mirror, she realized her tail was on her head, as a mask of some sort. Saw she was in a skirt, she was ready for a masquerade as a Subetan human. Then she remembered the noise she heard after waking up, music and loud voices. "I'm here now, I might as well make the best of it!" she muttered to herself as she walked towards these huge oak doors that she guessed would lead to the ballroom. She stood around a bit taking it all in before she was tugged on by a hand attached to a familiar yet unrecognizable presence. "Janet?!" she proclaimed, taking her hand and simultaneously agreeing to dance. As they twirled around the dance floor, there wasn't much time or air for talking. Both of them were struggling with putting all their strength on two legs instead of four. Every movement felt like it took 10 minutes. Suddenly her dance partner had two heads, four eyes.. "Janet, you have t-t-wo..wowww.." she slurred, and into the darkness she went.
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"Oh, no! That didn't last as long as I had expected!" proclaimed a dismayed Janet. Leetah lifted her head off the table and pushed her teacup onto the far side of the table. "Where did we go?!"she asked. Go? Hah, nowhere dear, I saw in your mind that you wished to dance as you'd seen during Masquerade and thought I'd conjure exactly that up for you! I hope you enjoyed it, Janet said with a sheepish grin. "It was all an illusion, I promise! There shouldn't be any lasting side effects.." and with that, Leetah mustered her best "everything is mildly probably okay" smile, thanked her, and left the tent, throwing a few choice words and a scowl in the direction of Bibi and Lilah.

Credits
Profile, overlay, HAs (Leetah's recolored & edited by me, Janet), and story by dalice in March 2023.
Background made by dalice in GIMP (Cubism).
Font from Google Fonts.
Character design (link) purchased (2015, on dA) from Loftee when I was looking for someone to do art of a kumos with peacock feathers in its' tail! Feels like I should still credit it.