Vignettes Contest: July/August!

[Taskmienster]

Although May's contest has not been judged yet, and we missed the month of June, it's time for this thing to come back. The May Vignette's will be judged and rewards will be given as soon as I, or another judge get to it, which should be very soon.

This month we have a new change, I'm allowing a guest to come in to offer a prompt, and changing the idea up a little bit. Instead of every month a prompt being delivered to you by the staff, the members will have a chance to get their own prompts put into the scene. All you have to do is PM myself with your prompt, and if it's accepted than you will be rewarded for your assistance in keeping this feature of Althanas going. Rewards will be 100 gold/level and 50 exp/level. The regular rewards will remain for those that take part in the contest though. So, get at it!

For those new to this, what are vignettes you ask? They're (quite) short stories written in one post that relate to the given prompt. Everyone can post their entry in this thread and at the end of April the top three will be selected for prizes! But even if you don't win a prize, there's still exp in it for you just for posting.

Here's the rules:

1) One submission per character. Multiple accounts by the same author are allowed.
2) Please make your posts during the duration of time allotted (which is during the month of May). Editing your posts is permitted so long as they are edited within the contest's time frame.
3) The moderator judging, or the original creator of the prompt, the monthly vignette contest will post a vignette at the end, but will not be eligible for a prize. In the case that a member's prompt is posted, they will have the final post for the contest, should they want it, but will not be eligible for that months rewards for joining in the contest. If they do not want the final post before judging, the moderator judging will instead post a final entry (not eligible either) and then judge the months contest.
4) Only on-topic vignettes will be considered for the prize. The topics are meant to be broad enough that no character should be particularly limited.
5) PCs must be involved in all vignettes. How "canonical" you choose to have the events of the vignette is up to you.
6) All participants receive 5% of the EXP they need to reach the next level. The top three finishers get 100, 75 and 50 GP respectively.

Without further ado, here's this month's prompt, brought to you by Visla Eraclaire:

[Visla Eraclaire]

The prompt for this month is as follows:

Not every character is talkative or comfortable speaking publicly, but regardless of your predispositions, your character has found himself speaking to a crowd on a matter of great importance to him.

While the prompt is a speech, don't forget to give some set up, scenery, crowd reaction, or other addition beyond a big block quotation.

[Visla Eraclaire]

It's actually quite a shame that the reset happened in the middle of this. I suppose my prompt was also not to everyone's liking. Ah well.

If people have an interest in this but simply missed it, I figure it can extend to August (mods willing) given the downtime. If you have an overwhelming disgust for giving a speech, fair enough. Better luck to us all next month.

If nothing else, sometime next week I will post my vignette. Someone's going to respond to the prompt, even if it's only me.

[Aiko]

I was going to, but the reset happened, and my speech isn't quite ready yet. If it were to extend one more month, I'd give a speech that reads more like a dissertation, or I'd certainly give it my best shot.

[Relt PeltFelter]

I must have missed it in the downtime as well. I'd gladly participate, if it were extended. These vignettes are great opportunities to showcase one's own writing skills, and to practice with a more contained format.

[Requiem of Insanity]

In all honesty I would have loved to do this months topic. But currently as I am at work this isn't going to happen tonight. An extension would be pretty cool however.

[Taskmienster]

This is going to be extended till the end of the new month! If you were interested in writing in this, but didn't get a chance to, or you just didn't see it thanks to the downtime, fear not!

Have at it. I don't want a good topic to go to waste.

[oblueknighto]

Looks cool and I might get at it.

[Aiko]

I will get at it. Infact, I promise by the dawn of next thursday where I live, I will have posted a speech. And if the contents of that speech turn out to be true in RL, I demand all credit for discovering it.

[Bear Man]

I intend on participating in this...count me in!

Now, what the heck would my character give a speech about...v_v; The joys of having an inflexible character.

Question! How long should these be? Like a word count range or something?