[WP09] Murkcrow, Wildflower Breeze, Birchbone

[Tiarana]

Fire

Murkcrow's dreams tonight were fitful and hurried, filled with lurking menaces and soft hisses in the darkness. The snake finally caught up to him. It coiled around his neck, squeezing, putting uncomfortable pressure on his windpipe, but he was too enthralled to pay attention. A too-massive bonfire blazed in front of him, and around it, kin gamboled and danced the night away.

"Who," he found himself shouting, "will step up to the bonfire and share a tale?"  

[theCorniest]

"I may have a tale or two left in me to tell," came a bold and cheerful reply. The voice was slightly strange, carrying with it part of the honeyed whistling of a songbird, but was still distinctly kin. It belonged to a spry stag, whose colors echoed the fire before them, and whose eyes were set to look outwards rather than forwards.

He stepped around the fire to get closer to the other speaker, tilting his head sharply this way and that to get a better look at him, and found him familiar. The snake was somehow familiar, too, though perhaps only because of its resemblance to the buck it was halfheartedly attempting to strangle.

With his gaze held steady, taking in both buck and serpent and the hazy revelers on the other side of him, the old storyteller asked, "What manner of story do you seek?"  

[Tiarana]

"Haven't we met before?" Murkcrow squinted at the strange buck. Well, of course they had. This was his dream, after all. If he looked closely at the faceless kin in the background, he would find they were all kin he had seen somewhere before.

"A tale of the early days of the swamp," he decided. "A creation story."  

[theCorniest]

The stag - with eyes that pointed forward again - nodded his approval at the younger fellow's request, mumbling "Good choice," before launching into the story proper;

IN THE BEGINNING, there was darkness; in the beginning, there was the egg. After long and silent incubation, the egg began to emit a faint tapping sound, began to crack, and at long last, hatched a resplendent white crane, which stood upon the remains of its shell and crushed them into earth; Matope was born.

The crane eventually grew heavy with eggs, and could not find anything with which to make a nest, so Motherfather made soft grasses grow from the soil. There was nothing for their children to eat, so Motherfather made trees which bore sweet fruit. There was nothing to spread the pollen from flower to flower, so Motherfather made the bees and wasps. The trees were not enough for the bees and wasps, so Motherfather made flowers which grew upon the ground.

"I imagine they must have spent quite some time on the flowers," the stag added as an aside, "as there are so many different kinds. They must have been fun to make."

And on it went, Motherfather creating plant after plant and creature after creature as they saw the need for it. Eventually, the swamp was beautiful and full of life - though some important creatures were still missing. Motherfather made their nest at long last, and laid their five wonderful eggs, and rested.

From these eggs hatched kin of all kinds: two hairless Zikwa, with hearts larger than their frames; two broad-shouldered Totoma, brash but cheerful, and fiercely loyal; two limber Acha, all laughter and song and playfulness; two fleet Kiokote, skillful and proud and generous; and two Kimeti, with fewer distinguishing traits than the other four - humble creatures, but wise. From these ten were born everyone you have ever known...

"After a fashion," the stag added with a sniff as he shook his feathers, and began preening them into place. "All that begetting does take some time."  

[Tiarana]

"That was an excellent telling," said Murkcrow, and even the snake's lips curled back in what could have been a sneer of approval. Of course, he had heard similar stories before, but every teller had their own way of telling them. A feather drifted across his nose and he sneezed. "You do seem to be...an unusual fellow." He thought he should be able to remember why, but he couldn't seem to recall.  

[theCorniest]

The stag smiled indulgently and fanned his tail. "Everyone has their own small strangeness," he said. With an inquisitive tilt of his head, he asked, "Do you also have a tale to tell?"  

[Tiarana]

Blossoms

"Well, I suppose I can think of something," Murkcrow admitted. "But I don't often tell stories outside of the family. I'm not very practiced..." He stared into the bonfire, hypnotized by its warm glow, and found himself growing sleepier and sleepier...

...he blinked, and just like that, instead of a fire he was gazing into a field of flowers. Blood-red poppies spread endlessly before and behind him, and in every direction from one horizon to the other. "Oh!" said Murkcrow. "That's who that was!" A little late to talk, though. The stag had disappeared.

Vast openness made the swamp native uncomfortable. His strangest dreams happened in the open lands. Just then, though, the snake enthusiastically squeezed a little harder and Murkcrow gasped and fell to his knees. "Would you...stop that..." he muttered uselessly through gritted teeth. If the snake wanted to kill him, it would, just as it had the very first time they had met, and nearly every dream it had appeared in since.  

[Minsuil]

His half-sister, Oathkeeper had a son, Longclaw, who had a daughter that was being spoken of in kimeti circles. Not that Lightbringer herself was the only topic. It seemed the entire lineage, minus himself, seemed to inspire stories. He'd entertain inquiries about his relatives all day long, from all sorts of kin. Was it true Longclaw was raised by a she-wolf (don't know), did Oathkeeper really travel to the desert and back (don't know)? Where was Westfen (don't know), and how could one join (still don't know)? Was Lightbringer single (don't know), would he care to pass on a message to her (no).

His head was full of these thoughts every day. Birchbone rarely had answers to the questions, and he still couldn't figure out a way to get people to stop asking him. Even more, he couldn't figure out why his entire family seemed so damned accomplished.

A buck with a winged serpent wrapped tight around his neck. Well.

"Er," he said, "do you need some help?"  

[Tiarana]

Murkcrow was quite certain that buck hadn't been there thirty seconds ago. In the first place, he had never once dreamed of a kin who might come to his aid when the serpent started getting frisky. In the second place, he had cast his gaze over the fields in all directions and knew he was alone. But such was the nature of dreams.

"I could use some help, yes," Murkcrow managed to croak. "Just get this snake off my neck." The serpent tensed and hissed a wary warning.  

[Minsuil]

The buck's croak was just enough to emphasize his distress. Birchbone figured he should really get a move on. The last thing he wanted was to be known as "that buck that let another guy die because he was afraid of a serpent".

"Right let me, uh..." He grabbed the serpent by its tail and tugged.

Tiarana

 

[Tiarana]

Grabbing the serpent's tail accomplished little; if anything, it only tightened the snake's death grip. The snake flicked its tongue at Birchbone, unimpressed.

"The neck," Murkcrow hissed while attempting to wedge one hind hoof between the coils and his own neck. "You have to grab it behind its head. Firmly."

Minsuil

 

[Minsuil]

The serpent's forked tongue flickered out at him and Birchbone almost, almost, jumps back in fear. But he doesn't. A buck's life hung in the balance after all.

"Right, the neck, just the neck." He said, voice muffled by the serpent's mouth.

Birchbone moved forward but the serpent lashed out and eagerly displayed its fangs. Birchbone steps back and this time he lets the serpent's tail fall from his mouth. He took a deep breath and lunged forward and gripped the serpent behind its neck.

Immediately the snake loosened its death grip and focused its ire on Birchbone.

Tiarana

 

[Tiarana]

The snake beat the air with its wings, but faced with either defending itself or pursuing its prey, it was forced to choose the former. It loosened its grip and Murkcrow wriggled away from it. He sat for a long moment, taking deep breaths and watching the serpent flail around helplessly, before finally standing up. "You should be able to just drop it in the flowers. And then walk quickly away from it. As long as you've got its head there's not much it can do to you under the circumstances."

Minsuil

 

[Minsuil]

Eager to be rid of the serpent, Birchbone followed the buck's instructions and dropped it quickly in the flowers. It reared its head and nipped the buck on the nose before slithering away.

"That's what I get, I suppose."

Tiarana

Sorry for the delay, I think we can wrap up the dream here and have them meet again for real elsewhere? : )

 

[Tiarana]

Symbol

"Heh. It likes you. Thanks for saving me." Murkcrow looked the buck up and down, confused. "Err...have we met?"

Before Murkcrow could hear the other's reply, the buck disappeared before his eyes.

Minsuil

Works for me! Thanks for joining in c: