[Battle of the Tribes] Daily Drabbles

[fluorescein]

4/5: Look-See- Candy

Now this was a festival! She watched different tribes perform for the masses and swooned when Rainbow Troupe came and dazzled with the music. She couldn't see much except for general colors and bodies, but the voices and rhythmic beating and stomping sang to her heart. And what's more, she tried a new delicacy. Candy they said! It was sweet and sticky and sooner than later, she had disheveled her entire headpiece. It now stuck in clumps to her small frame. Tastier than honey, she was in heaven. She wanted more of this candy. Just a bit more. One more bite, take it slow. It wouldn't hurt, right?
 

[Sushi Surfer]

Tree Knocking 2(2/5) - 46. Silk

Silk, that was a texture to Tree. Like the smooth slide of some delicious raw seafood going down one's throat. It was silky. She had yet to know that feeling against her fur though. So there she was, running around and rubbing herself against all manner of things. Some poor, hapless animal probably got startled by her sudden appearance, nuzzle, and then disappearance. Tree was fast about it so as not to completely traumatize anything living by her antics. While she had some idea that she was a bit weird. It was definitely in her normal range to do something like this, the search for the feel of silk.  

[Amorpheous]

Through Your Eyes: 4/5

12. Smile

Through Your Eyes rarely smiles simply out of kindness, if ever. She smiles out of mockery, out of fun, out of teasing, out of satisfaction, and sometimes out of a touch of cruelty that she sees as freely and rightly doled out, but not out of simple kindness.

Her smile is not meant to be reassuring and she would never mean it that way. Always, there is the flash of teeth and the glint of a predator in her eyes. That is simply who she is and that is her joy, her smile, and her warning.

Those who do not learn to heed her smile will learn to head her sharp tongue or her even sharper teeth.

117 words  

[Tiarana]

7/21 - Forever and a Day - Hollyhock XI - 150 words (Murkcrow X, Wasp IX, Dogrot V)

Bristletail said they'd go find a zikwa, but they hadn't, they hadn't! Hollyhock paced around, antsy. It felt like it had been forever since she'd had this idea, but it had really only been a day. Still, she was feeling impatient.

Well, she thought, maybe zikwa weren't that easy to find. Bristletail probably wouldn't take her to find the zikwa, no matter what he said, at least not if he had no idea where to find one. She might need to take matters into her own hooves.

When Bristletail fiiiiinally returned, Hollyhock bombarded him with questions. "Did you find a zikwa? When can I meet one? Where are they?"

"No, I don't know, I asked around and I think the best time to find some would probably be a festival."

A festival...Hollyhock groaned. The next festival would not be for weeks. It really would be forever and a day.  

[fluorescein]

Tuesday  

[Sushi Surfer]

Tree Knocking 2(3/5) - 12. Smile

Smiling was something that Tree Knocking did on a regular basis or at least she was mostly sure that she did it quite often. It had never occurred to her that she'd actually have to think about smiling. Ever had to sit through something where you just didn't want to be rude so you had to keep that smile stuck on your face through sheer force of will? Well, that is exactly what she was going through as she waited for the talkative buck to finish so that they could make their trade. She had never considered that smiling might be hard to do. This had proved to her that even enjoyable things could be turned into work.  

[Tiarana]

7/22 - Smile - Wasp X - 116 words (Murkcrow X, Hollyhock XI, Dogrot V)

Wasp visited his fair cousin aunt one day. As always, Tree Skeletons was all smiles and laughter and a good deal of alcohol - she did love the fermented fruity drinks he brought with him. But today she had a guest. "Swamp Gas, you know I mentioned I met one of Knapweed's grandkids? This is Wasp."

Swamp Gas guffawed at him. "I still can't get over that. Grandchildren? Remind me to bring peaches next time I see her. I hear they're good when your teeth have fallen out. So this scrawny buck thought he could take my sister home, did he?"

Tree Skeletons giggled. "And he almost did."

Wasp flushed. "I didn't know she was my aunt."  

[Amorpheous]

Through Your Eyes: 5/5

21. In the Moonlight

Maybe if she were the moon, she would understand her gift and why she was given it, looking down on the Swamp and the sleeping creatures within it. She is not the moon though and the best she has is walking in the moonlight, imagining what it is like to let another see through her eyes where she is another and herself for just a moment.

She tries to see without seeing, to walk without walking, and to howl with howling. She tries to give those things away as if they weren’t hers, and she thinks, one day, someone will take these away from her and she will let them, and in time they will be returned and she will learn to accept them back with as much ease as they come to her now.

135 words
already rolled 48, so substituting 21  

[Amorpheous]

Farewell Smile: 1/5

9. A Misunderstanding

She had a fundamental misunderstanding of who she was and, in some ways, who she wanted to be. Because of that, happiness did not come easily for her. Her conflict led her to anger, apathy, and sullenness with little trouble, but joy was rare for she never experienced any triumph.

She felt that what she lacked was perhaps, at its very core, a sense of clarity. So she sought that, to clarify all things, and maybe if she said things enough, explained them enough, forced herself to delineate all her thoughts, and give the things she felt borders, she would find clarity, and in that peace.

105 words  

[Sushi Surfer]

Tree Knocking 2(4/5) - 28. Sensual

Tree wasn't quite sure what it meant to be sensual. She had overheard other kin talking about it, female kin. They had said that being sensual was a good way to attract whomever it was they had their eye on. Now she definitely knew how little ones came about. She was an adult and had knowledge of it. Just the way you went about it, the chase, the courting, the eventual process. It hadn't been anything too fantastic to her. Now that she had heard what she had heard, there was no going back to her former thoughts on it. In fact, she would try this being sensual. Maybe then she would have little ones of her own instead of forever alone.  

[Tiarana]

7/23 - Spiritual - Hollyhock XII - 117 words (Murkcrow X, Wasp X, Dogrot V)

Hollyhock had never been one for religion. She had never not been one for religion, either. Her relationship with the Motherfather was one of mutual avoidance; Hollyhock ignored the Motherfather, and the Motherfather ignored her, or so she felt. They had gotten off on the wrong hoof when Hollyhock was born blind and her sister lame. But there wasn't much sense in blaming the Motherfather for that as long as she would never be able to see, and really, the fact that she was blind bothered other kin more than it bothered her most of the time. Except when it did, in the lonely hours while she longed for independence. But that wasn't the swamp's fault. Probably.  

[fluorescein]

Thursday  

[Sushi Surfer]

Tree Knocking 2(5/5) - 8. Abandoned

Tree had not intended to abandon that one salt pond that she had worked so hard on. It had been tedious work. Digging to make it deeper and wider, molding the land to control the amount of water that seeped in and out. The pond had served her well for some time. She had gathered much salt from it to give to her tribe, since she was a gatherer. Something had somehow gotten into the water. The salt had not looked right to her. She had a keen eye for it since she had been doing it for so long. Instead of giving it a proper burial by covering the entire thing, she had simply run away, abandoning it to whomever should stumble upon it.  

[Tiarana]

7/24 - Silence - Hollyhock XIII - 158 words (Murkcrow X, Wasp X, Dogrot V)

She was there, again. The dark and silent, empty place, or not-place, whatever it was. "Bristletail," she said weakly, not hearing herself. "Bristletail. Wake me up. Please." Could Bristletail hear her? Was she speaking in the dream, or with her own lips?

"I can't wake myself. I can't."

"Why can't you?" Something whispered in her ear. "Just wake up."

"I can't. I can't. I caaaaan't."

"It's easy. I'll help you." Suddenly she felt a jolt of pain and she sat up in the swamp, bugs and water and rustling trees all around her. She felt the soft brush of her jellyfish's tentacles as it floated serenely above her.

"Mmmmgh, were you...having another dream?" Bristletail looked up at her. "It was only a dream. Don't fret."

"Yes," Hollyhock said, feeling around where she felt the jellyfish's sting. There was nothing there. She mouthed a "thank you" to the jellyfish nonetheless and curled up to go back to sleep.