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 Posted: Tue Jan 06, 2015 3:12 am
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Posted: Tue Jan 06, 2015 3:17 am
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Prompt 1: The old mountain – Step to the Right (Words: 514)
-----------------------------------
Below him, the sea rolls silently along, gently pushing against the rocks of the bluff. It's silent here, save for the calls of the occasional gull. Step to the Right had never been here before, and he was fascinated by what he saw. Sure, the sea was impressive to be sure, but behind him stood seven tall pillars of stone of different height in a flat field of grass. The stones were impressive and well weathered from the storms that rage along the coast, but they were all thick. Each one was peppered with holes throughout them at different angles and of a wide range of sizes. A few small ones that were close to the ground looked to the acha that maybe his horn might fit through them, and one large hole, about mid way up of the tallest stone, Right was sure he could walk through comfortably, could he reach it.
When he'd stumbled upon the stones, Right had been afraid. The sun flickering through them cast strange glints in his eyes, and as he moved, it made the stones appear to move. The shadows they'd cast were equally frightening, being incomplete and speckled with holes. The largest hole in the center of the tallest pillar had looked like a gaping maw, and the shadows of the grasses gave the illusion of teeth. But after he'd been able to inspect them, the acha thought they were really quite pretty. He'd spent the better part of the afternoon wandering around them and looking them over, becoming familiar with each and every stone.
As the sun began to set, Right laid down in the grass and smiled at the gleam the sun cast through the holes. A gentle breeze from the west made the feather tied to his horn twist and waver, then all at once there was a whistle. It was soft at first, and Right wasn't sure if he'd heard it or not. The gentle breeze that teased his feather became stronger, and the whistle louder, and soon it was joined by a second tone. He got up and looked around. There was no one here with him, of that he was sure. But as the wind grew stronger still, more notes filled the air.
The rocks! The acha suddenly realized that the stones were singing as the wind blew threw them. The stronger the wind the more notes were added. He leapt for joy and began to prance to the light music they were making. The wind shifted, now coming from the south and with it, new notes. Before he knew it, Step to the Right was leaping and dancing about to the music of the stones as a storm grew around him. The stronger the wind, the deeper the tones that played, still with the shrill whistle of the wind pushing through the smallest of holes. Before long, the wind began whipping this way and that, blowing rain in his face, wetting his fur, but he didn't care. He was so caught up with the music of the seven stones.
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Posted: Thu Jan 08, 2015 4:25 pm
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Prompt 2: The Mangrove – Quiet Horizon (Words: 273)
-----------------------------------
The nights are cold and long,
The days are fleeting.
But I will remember you
And tell tale in this song.
Quiet Horizon was standing in the swamp, looking out at a still pool of water, moonlight reflected in its surface, filtered by the branches above. It had been a whirlwind of romance, though both had just been seeking warmth from the harsh winter night... but she at least had quite enjoyed it.
Eyes as clear as moonlight
Voice as smooth as ice
We were swept away
By each other that night
It was still rather cold in the swamp, at least, as far as the swamp was concerned. But it wasn't snowing like the night she'd met him. A smile crossed her face and she turned away from the calm pool of water.
Whispered words that warmed me
We were safe together that night
And neither of us knew
Just how wonderful it would be.
The orange and pink doe wandered back to a small cave of brambles and berry bushes. It was warm inside.
Together with you, the time did fly
Morning came and we parted ways
But I'll always have a piece of you
Did you know our love would become a lullaby?
Inside the branchy cave, a little foal was curled up. She had a peachy little nose and long white limbs, and a wonderfully light green back. Horizon laid beside the young girl, her daughter, Peach. Though she'd likely never see that roguish buck again, she would tell her daughter all she knew of him, which admittedly wasn't much. But her baby would know that she was loved.
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Posted: Thu Jan 08, 2015 4:28 pm
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Prompt 3: The Twins – Not for Eats and his familiars (Words: 689)
-----------------------------------
There was a layer of frost on the ground. Hot Wings clucked softly and pecked at it, but decided quickly that this white stuff was too cold to be food. She put her feet in it and watched as perfect little prints of her feet were left behind her. This was fun! The hen started running away from the nest Not for Eats and his other familiar, a sand dog called Just a Taste, were still curled up and sleeping. Before long, Hot Wings' clucking vanished in the distance.
It was only when it was quiet, far too quiet for a normal morning, did Not for Eats lift his head. He blinked and looked around. Something was missing... A quick survey of the area reveled that his hen was gone! "OH NO!" Eats yelped and jumped to his feet. Taste lifted his head and yawned at the acha. "This is no time to sleep, Tasty! Hot Wings is gone!" The dog wasn't particularly interested, but he slowly stretched and got up. It was likely the acha wouldn't calm down until the bird was back, and then they could curl up and be warm again. Taste put his nose to the ground and snuffled about a little. He knew the chicken's scent- Ah! She had gone this way. He followed her footprints through the swamp with Eats right behind him calling for the chicken.
The swamp was fantastic when it was so cold! Look at this water! It was crunchy, but when she pecked at it, the crunchy parts floated away. How fun! The chicken played in the frost around a deeper pool of water for a moment before suddenly a drop of water hit her from above. Oh! How pretty! The hen was standing under a large bush, nearly a tree, heavy with winter berries. What a feast she found! She flapped and clucked and made a fuss until she was in the lower branches of the tall bush, happily pecking away at the berries. As she had her fill, she thought maybe she should return to Eats and Taste but... What was that over there? She hadn't seen something like that before! It was shiny, whatever it was. The hen flapped out of the tree and ran off towards the shiny thing.
Just a Taste stood at the edge of a frosty pond. The hen had been here, she smelled like it at least. But then where did she go? The dog circled the berry bush, sniffing as Eats stared up into the branches. "Hot Wiiiiings? Come down!" He whined. He couldn't see the hen up there though. Then Taste took off in a new direction, and Eats had to race to catch up.
It seemed like all day, the acha and dog were just a few steps behind the hen as she went exploring. Everything about the frosty swamp was so different! And the best part? It was cool enough that there were no nasty caiman. Eventually though, Hot Wings decided she was cold and tired. It was about time to return to Eats and his warm nest.
Eats was distressed. His hen was gone. What was he going to do? He wouldn't be able to show his face at Rise and Shine again! He was lamenting this as Taste was sniffing his way back to where the three of them were sleeping the night before. And that's when Eats saw it. That red comb, the familiar brown and blue feathers... "Hot Wings!" He cried and leapt towards the hen. The chicken simply raised her head from where it was tucked against her feathers and clucked at her acha. She wondered if he and the dog had gone out to explore the wonderfully cold swamp too. Not for Eats flopped down, exhausted, and curled around the chicken. The sand dog snuggled up against them both. Eats wondered just what she'd been doing out in the cold all day, and Taste didn't care. He was just glad to be warm again. With the three of them together again, curled up tightly and warm, they all drifted to sleep.
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Posted: Fri Jan 09, 2015 11:39 pm
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Prompt 4: The Three Horn – Sank (Words: 515)
-----------------------------------
The world was quite a different place when covered in ice. Sank did her level best not to slip across the frozen water and marshes as she searched for something less frozen to eat. Winter in the swamp was strange and almost magical. Hopping up onto a stump gave a satisfying crunch of frost, rather then the clacking of hoof on ice. She looked around. To her right, the trees looked to thin a little. Perhaps there was a clearing, and the sun had thawed something out there. She turned and carefully stepped off her perch and began walking towards what she thought was a clearing of grasses and reeds.
No such luck. The trees thinned and revealed a great lake of clearest blue, save for the center, which from were Sank stood looked to be black as a moonless night. She was curious though, and slowly tested the ice with first one foot, and then a second. It seemed to hold her weight, and her curiosity had gotten the best of her. Sank carefully walked, and more then once slipped and skated, across the ice towards the dark center. She peered at the darkness. The lake wasn't frozen at its center! Sank slowly lowered herself to her knees and looked into the dark waters. It smelled alright. She took a drink. It was cool and refreshing, but what had caused this?
She decided to get up and look around. That in itself took some doing. She had to be careful not to push herself into the center of the ice and fall into the hole! When she was stable and on her feet, she started walking away from the hole. But as she neared the edge of the lake, there was a sudden rush of little animals around her. Otters, bear cubs, and mongoose ran across the ice, slipping and sliding up to the hole. The mongoose each had rocks in their hands and reached down to chip at the ice. The hole hadn't frozen over, so the otters dove in. One by one the otters surfaced with fish and shellfish which the bears grabbed and dragged away from the hole until there was a fishy feast- enough for all the animals who'd come and helped. When the otters were out of the water, they all, as a pack, moved to the pile of fish.
Ah! The animals were all working together to gather food. No one of them was able fish by themselves, but together they all had more then enough. Sank pondered their teamwork, and why they had chosen the center of the ice, and not something closer to the shore. She would never get her answer before the animals all had their fill and ran off back into the thicker woods. Who knew when they'd be back to carve a hole in the ice again. Sank carefully skated out to the hole again for one last frigged drink before sniffing at the scraps and leftover fish from the familiars. She ate what she could before it all froze to the ice.
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Posted: Sat Jan 10, 2015 5:28 am
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Prompt 5: The Hunter – Flash Flood (Words: 366)
-----------------------------------
Dusty gray fur streaked across the grassy plains as Flash Flood chased a rather fast jackrabbit. It darted this way and that, trying to lose the kiokote, but Flood was slowly gaining on it. Just as he was about to take a leap and catch the rabbit, it dove into a hole. The hunting kio tripped in the rabbit hole and tumbled. He lay there a moment, gasping for breath, waiting for his legs to stop throbbing from the spill before he opened his eyes and slowly started to climb to his feet. As he looked beneath him, he saw something strange. Or rather, it was what he hadn't seen that was strange. Where there should have been his shadow, he saw nothing. Flood raised his head and looked around. There were no shadows anywhere. The world was all the same color.
Frightened, Flash Flood looked to the sky. The sun should have been shining still, right? Even if he had been knocked unconscious from the fall, the moon still glowed bright enough for there to be cast shadows. But when he looked at the sky, all he saw was a dark hole burning in the sky where the sun should have been. The kio was aware that there were frequently moonless nights, but had there ever been a sunless day? The very notion frightened the kio, and he slowly laid back down, praying that the Motherfather would return the sun to it's rightful place.
Flash Flood's legs jerked, and the blue-hooved hunter opened his eyes. He was laying in the grass near a rabbit hole, and one of his legs was throbbing from when he'd caught it in the hole. "THE SUN!" He cried and looked skyward. But there, just as it should be, the sun shown down on the world, as it was supposed to. Flood relaxed a little and closed his eyes, and indulged in a celebratory roll in the grass.
When he'd finished, his leg felt better, and he stood. So he had missed out on a hare for dinner. He looked at the ground around him and smiled at his shadow. Perhaps he had gotten something a little more important today.
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Posted: Tue Jan 13, 2015 12:44 am
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Prompt 6: The Familiar – Tangled Web (Words: 510)
-----------------------------------
While walking one night, Tangled Web came across a foxbun, staring at the sky. Web looked up, watching his breath rise in the cool air. It was a clear night, and the air was crisp. He hadn't seen another kin all day, so perhaps that was why he just started talking to this animal. "Beautiful, isn't it? The sky at night is quite peaceful and you can see the stars so clearly." He smiled. "Ah, have you ever wondered why the night sky is black? They say" though Web didn't saw who 'they' were, since it was probably just him "that the Motherfather used to keep all the blackness in a giant turtle shell. It's sticky like the wells of tar, and I do hope you're careful not to step into any tar." He interrupted his own story. The foxbun just twitched it's nose at Web. "One day when the Sun and Moon were playing, and this was long before you or I were born, the Moon accidentally knocked over the shell of darkness and it stained half the sky black. It also stained half of Moon black. But it threw the swamp and everything into total darkness. That is when the Motherfather blessed the fireflies with their glow. She called half of them to the sky to her to help light the darkness, and placed a firefly in each Kimeti's eyes. This way, she could see us in the dark."
"Now, the blackness, it's far, FAR too to sticky to remove, and the Motherfather missed seeing the beautiful swamp so Sun and Moon and all the fireflies in the sky joined together to move the swamp and all the lands around it out from under the black stain to the sun filled sky. This was fine, but again, the Motherfather had grown to love seeing the fireflies glow, and the light of our eyes. Kimeti are her favorite you know. It's true! Don't look at me like that." He held a one-sided argument with the foxbun for a moment. "Well anyways, she missed seeing our glow and decided to move the swamp and the other lands back under the darkness, but only for half a day. The other half, we are returned to the light. This way, she could see both the wonders of her swamp, and the glow of the fireflies." The foxbun looked like it was about to go on its way, but Web kept talking.
"Of course Moon is also stained with this blackness, so as it and Sun are playing, Moon will sometimes roll over and hide against the sky so Sun can't find it. That's why it seems the moon vanishes sometimes. They are just playing hide and seek." Tangled Web paused and looked at the foxbun, who looked back at Web a moment, then dashed off into the underbrush. "Well, some people just can't appreciate a good story." He huffed, then spotted a sleepy eaglehound. "Ah hello! What a wonderful night this is. Say, have you ever wondered why the sky is black?"
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Posted: Tue Jan 13, 2015 12:46 am
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Prompt 7: The Winged One – Tangled Web (Words: 606)
-----------------------------------
Tangled Web sat in a clearing with many young kin. They'd been telling stories since noon, but now it was dark, and the stars were twinkling to life. The little ones were clamoring for another story, and Web looked to the sky, thinking. But something was strange about the stars tonight. He thought he knew the constellations in the sky- He had been making up stories for them after all! But he saw twelve strange stars that he didn't recognize.
One of the children asked him what was the matter, another looked at the stars and exclaimed that he didn't recognize the constellation, and asked Web if he knew.
"Ah, yes. Of course I know that constellation." He smiled at the children as his mind raced to come up with a story. "And that's where my final story for the evening comes from. You see how six of the stars seem to form a circle? And there are 2 legs coming off it? Well, that's because it's a fat Totoma stuck in the sky." This made the children giggle. "You see, Totoma do not hatch from eggs, and so, they were not born of the 5 eggs the Motherfather gave to the swamp. Oh no. They lived outside the swamp, beyond the sky, beside the Motherfather." The children gasped. Web was proud of the reaction. "They lived beside her peacefully for so long, but then one day, through a hole in the sky, they saw swamp and all the beauty held here, and they were jealous, so they began sneaking down from the sky at night to the swamp, eating the fish and the berries and all that was good in the swamp. They then sneaked back up to the sky before sunrise to be beside the Motherfather again. They did this night after night, and slowly, they were growing fatter and fatter."
"One day, after a particularly grand feast, the Totoma were returning to the Motherfather, and the very first toma trying to get through the hole in the sky got stuck, because he had grown so very fat and large from all the foods he'd been eating. The other toma did their best to push him through. They left the swamp and climbed to the mountains far beyond the swamp, past the plains and desert, up to the highest peak far, far away from here, and they all tried to push him through the hole. But as the sun came up, their path back to the Motherfather vanished, and they were stuck on that snowy mountain peak."
He'd paused for a moment while the children gasped and whispered to each other about it. "That's why the toma live on the mountain, and why they work so hard; so they never become so fat as the one stuck in the sky, who I do believe will be trapped in the stars forever." A few of the children seemed a little distressed for the toma stuck in the sky. "Maybe some day, when the toma have worked a little harder, they will go back to the mountain, and all of them can push together, and free the fat one. Some might decide to return to the Motherfather, but I bet that most are so in love with the mountain, the desert, the plains, and the swamp, that they will remain here with their friends and family."
Web stood and shook himself. "And now I think it's time you little ones were off to bed. You will want to have energy tomorrow to play and work so you won't end up like the toma in the sky."
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Posted: Sat Jan 17, 2015 4:01 am
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Prompt 8: The Web – Fear Will Hold You Back (Words: 511):
-----------------------------------
It was hot, and Fear Will Hold You Back was feeling rather agitated. Under the bone mask he wore, he was scowling as he waded through a shallower part of the swamp. He could hear the flutter of wings as his familiar followed him, occasionally passing through some of the leaves when it couldn't be bothered to avoid them. "Show off." Fear muttered, getting only a screech of pride from Terror.
Fear wondered if he was so irritated because it was supposed to be winter, so why was it so... warm today? It was not only warm, but it was muggy too. The green shaggy buck needed to keep his mind off of being uncomfortable. He wandered out of his familiar territory and just... wandered. Eventually, he came to some craggy rises in the swamp. He did like exploring caves. Once he'd stepped inside, Fear felt much better. It was cooler in here, like it should be for winter! Terror clicked it's beak at Fear before fluttering in and landing on his back. Fear didn't really mind it. In fact, he actually rather liked having the insubstantial familiar; it made exploring a little more fun because someone was with him. The farther into the cave they went, the darker it got (as is the nature of caves) until the only light was the bright glow from the spectral bird's eyes. The ground started sloping up and became less muddy until it was like standing on rock. Everything was still damp, though. And that made this supposed rock surface slippery. Fear walked carefully up the incline. He could smell mushrooms growing in the dank and wet cave. He wondered if they were poisonous...
All of a sudden, the floor seemed to drop away under him, and Fear found himself tumbling down a slope. Terror had the good sense to fly from Fear's back. When the buck landed in a tangle of wet limbs and marshy plants tangling in his hair, he started swearing, trying to shake the muck from his eyes. "Motherfather curse you, Terror!" Because it was the birds fault he couldn't see the path became a slope. After a few moments, Fear thought he was able to see again. Actually, he thought he was seeing double, if not triple. He expected to se Terror's glowing eyes stare at him questioningly, but what he saw were two... three... nine... a lot of glowing pairs of eyes. They were kind of weird shapes though. Wait. Those weren't Terror's eyes at all!
"Mushrooms!" And they were glowing. Fear could actually see quite a bit in the cave, he realized. The slope he'd slid down wasn't too steep or to long. He'd be able to climb back out if it wasn't too slick. "Hey Terror?" He looked around for the bird. He then felt the chill up his spine as the bird landed on his back. "Think they're edible?"
Fear had forgotten about the heat outside, and his cranky irritableness as he and his familiar tested the mushrooms, then had themselves a 'light' snack.
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Posted: Sun Jan 18, 2015 6:20 pm
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Prompt 9:The Father Star - Mix (Words: 513 without recipe, 567 with)
-----------------------------------
The brown and green doe danced around a giant overturned turtle shell. It was filled with water. Mix was going to make a grand fest for... well, anyone who wanted to partake. She had stumbled across a flaming salamander and it was happily sleeping under the turtle shell, burning gently, heating the water. Now what was she going to add to it? Oh yes! She had caught a couple large snakes earlier. After pulling them apart and discarding the head and the poisonous glands she started adding the shredded snake meat. As the water heated up and started to boil, those would be so nice and tender!
With the meat heating, Mix started stomping on some sage she had gathered days before, but had since dried out. Sage would be good in a soup! After stomping the sage she gathered up as much as she could and dropped it into the soon to be soup. What else did she have? AH! There were the spicy peppers she'd gotten from Rise and Shine. Yes. One of those would give the soup a kick, and warm you up in the cool winter. She rooted around in her stash until she found one of the peppers she'd gotten. She almost cried as she broke the dried red pod open and started dropping the pieces in. AH! Her tongue burned so good by the time she had gotten all the pieces and seeds into the pot. It was starting to smell so good! Mix wiggled in excitement. But there needed to be more in the soup or there wouldn't be enough for anyone!
Hmmm... Oh! There were some roots she'd found this morning. Now how many did she have? While Mix was looking for the roots, she didn't notice that there were a couple pairs of eyes watching her cook. She found the orange roots she wanted and breaking them into pieces added them to the soup. Oh, she couldn't wait! There was some kale growing around here. That would be pretty good. She gathered up all she could find and started putting into the soup. Now it was getting somewhere! Mix shook the turtle shell, watching things mix around in the soup. What else was there? She had a few leaves of grains. Barley was it? Yeah! She dumped in 2 of the bags of grain. As the barley absorbed the water, Mix had to run and grab the shell of a baby turtle and start adding more water.
Yeah, she was really cooking now! The shell of items was bubbling away and it smelled SO GOOD! It was nearly finished, she just had to add a little more. Mix had a few small round black pepper corns that she cracked under her hooves and dropped them in. This time, when Mix looked up from her soup, she saw several pairs of eyes, both kin and animal alike. She grinned.
"Come on over! There's plenty for everyone." She certainly felt rejuvenated! There were so many friendly, and hungry faces, sharing it brought warmth to the clearing.
5 large snakes, shredded
2 sprigs of sage, dried 8 days, finely stomped.
1 large dried red pepper- the long ones, for spice.
16 small orange roots
Lots of Kale. As much as can fit.
2 leaf satchels of barley
Round black pepper balls, cracked under hoof, add to taste.
Best served with others.
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Posted: Thu Jan 22, 2015 3:12 am
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Prompt 10: The Trickster – Bamboo (Words: 402)
-----------------------------------
He'd done it again. Dog just didn't seem to understand that his ... culinary prowess was actually quite lacking. Bamboo found himself staring at what his father had gathered for dinner for them. Now, Bamboo loved his father to be sure, and it was sweet that the older kio was still looking out for his babies, but...
Bamboo pawed at the pile of mushrooms, the half wilted dandelion greens, and the large (and mangled) catfish. Dog, of course, was so proud of himself being able to provide for at least his one son.
"Be sure to eat it all." Dog had said as he slunk off to find something else to eat. He rather liked hunting to be sure. With his father away, Bamboo had no problem eating the fish, as he rather liked fish even if his father was terrible at catching them. He was even able to eat most of the dandelion greens, even though some were old and tasted a little weird. He carefully buried what he couldn't stomach. But the mushrooms? Bamboo wasn't even sure that these were good mushrooms. Did his father even know the difference between good and bad mushrooms? He wasn't sure, and Bamboo hated mushrooms anyways. He avoided them when he could. Bamboo decided to bury the mushrooms as well, since he couldn't be sure if they were any good or not. But he had to do so quickly as he heard Dog approaching again. Quickly shuffling the fungus under some mud, Bamboo sat down on them as to hide the evidence that anything was amiss.
"Ah, father." Bamboo said before Dog could show him what he'd found for them to eat next. "Thank you for providing dinner for me, though you know you needn't do so. But now I can't eat another bite." That was true. "You brought so much, I had trouble finishing them off." That was only kind of true. "If you'll excuse me, I think I'm going to find a quiet place to lay down." The younger buck stood, and nuzzled his father once before walking away. As he left, Dog knew the lad hadn't finished his dinner. In fact, stuck quite firmly to his right flank was a pair of large, very squished mushrooms. It was too funny watching the flattened fungus wobble away on his son's butt to even think about being mad for lying about finishing everything.
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Posted: Thu Jan 22, 2015 3:55 pm
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Prompt 11: The Firefly – Step to the Right (Words: 683 with the poem fragments, 593 with only the largely completed poem)
-----------------------------------
This was driving Step to the Right absolutely crazy. He was tapping one hoof against a rock to a strange beat as he tried to figure out the lines that would come next. He was attempting a poem, and it wasn't going well. The Acha was about to bang his head against a rock. Right prided himself on being a storyteller, and rather proud of being in the Royal Rainbow Troupe, so why was this story so hard to rhyme? He was even there, watching history happen!
In frustration, he flopped onto the ground and stared at his foxbun, Helper, who twitched his nose at his Acha. "What? Can't I have artist's block once in a while?" He asked o the accusing gaze the familiar was giving him. Right's legs thrashed a little as he struggled to finish the poem. "I don't even have a good start! I only have the middle of it!" He whined. Helper gave a curious hop forward. "You want to hear what I have so far?" Right questioned suspiciously.
"From the deep underground
While kin partied seeming without end
In caves by Ghost Thistle's mound
Do the Zikwa ascend"
He stared at Helper, as if expecting the foxbun to say or do something. Maybe give him a critique, or offer a suggestion? But the small animal just sat and stared at Right before pawing at his own face to clean it. Hm... Maybe Helper was... well, helping.
"From the deep underground
While kin partied seeming without end
In caves by Ghost Thistle's mound
Do the Zikwa ascend
It was cause for every pair of eyes
To drift to the darkness and observe
Now fixed on the cave, staring wide
At these furless cousins the Motherfather did preserve"
Right threw him self about on the ground. "Preserve? Ugh, that's such a long line. It flows ok though, I think. I might need to fix it when I figure the rest of this out." He tucked his legs under him and sat there, staring at his familiar, then looked up at the sky, then glanced all around. That had been a fun festival. He'd met some nice kin. Wait, this was not the time to think about that. He had a poem to finish! Right was getting quite stressed out by this. Eventually, the Acha pushed himself up and he started pacing.
"I should probably think of how to start the poem before I worry about how to finish it, huh?" He wasn't really asking his familiar, but since there were no others around, not even his other 2 companions, he'd settled for talking to the thing. Talking helped him think sometimes, after all. "Hmmm... What rhymes with fire? Ire? Liar? Desire? Maybe that's not a good word to use." But what then?
"Kin from every corner of the swamp
Gathered while Matope renewed
With cousins and friends we all did romp
Unaware of guests, no one knew who"
"What do you think of that, Helper?" Right asked the foxbun. Helper hopped over to Right and stared up at him. The Acha lowered himself some and the familiar hopped up onto his back. "I suppose it's not too bad, right? Right. In fact so far it's pretty good! I think I'll call this poem 'When the Zikwa came around.' I just need to... think of how it ends." He had everything but the last 2 lines of the sonnet. He wasn't sure he was totally happy with it yet, but he wasn't sure he could finish it right now. So for now, he had the unfinished sonnet of the rise of the Zikwa.
When the Zikwa came around
Kin from every corner of the swamp
Gathered while Matope renewed
With cousins and friends we all did romp
Unaware of guests, no one knew who
From the deep underground
While kin partied seeming without end
In caves by Ghost Thistle's mound
Do the Zikwa ascend
It was cause for every pair of eyes
To drift to the darkness and observe
Now fixed on the cave, staring wide
At these furless cousins the Motherfather did preserve
Something
Something
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Posted: Thu Jan 22, 2015 4:28 pm
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Prompt 12: The Half-Bloom – Not for Eats (Words: 673)
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Not for Eats really did like working for Rise and Shine. He got to try all kinds of different food, and there were so many different kin there... it was just a fantastic place to be in general! Though he was not there today. Eats was out traveling the desert today. He'd been away from the swamp for a few days, and he was feeling... home sick. He knew well of the swamp sickness that made all kin want to return to the swamp- such was the swamp's charm after all. But Eats also loved to roam and wander, and something about the desert just made him happy. Maybe it's because that was where Acha came from. Sure he'd been raised in the swamp by his adoptive Kiokote father, Dog, but he still liked the desert. Sometimes he wondered if it was because he was born in the swamp that he could leave for days before feeling the need to return home.
But he couldn't go home just yet. He was on a mission. Not for Eats and his sand dog, Just a Taste were both loaded down with common goods from the swamp, and a generous helping of eggs from his hen Hot wings (Who was safe in the swamp right now with Dog) and they were going to barter for some desert delicacies. Eats found an oasis where there were many Acha lounging or romping about. They saw him and waved him to join them. After all, he was one of them, so he should join their festivities. At first, Eats tried to decline, stating he was here to maybe barter for some of their favorite foods before they'd eaten everything in the oasis. Some of the others said that sounded too much like work.
At first, Eats tried to stick to his task. Barter, trade, harvest and hunt for new foods for Rise and Shine... but all the gay leaping and lazy resting tugged at his Acha blood and he found himself joining in on the games. At first, Taste objected, and while the Acha played, the dog sat by their packs and shells full of swamp goods, but eventually, he couldn't take it either, and joined his master and the masters of other sand dogs in their games and joy. They frolicked the day away and come nightfall, they were gorging on succulent desert plants and strange fish from the waters of the oasis. Life was good! As the sun set, Eats and Taste curled up with the others and slept like the dead.
When Eats awoke the next morning, he had a sudden realization. He didn't do ANYTHING HE WAS SUPPOSED TO! Eats panicked and woke up Taste. "We have to get to work!" He couldn't believe he'd spent all that time playing and eating and sleeping with the other Acha when he was supposed to be working. He got up quickly and looked around. They were alone. The oasis was empty, and there were hoof prints in the sand leading in a few directions. All the Acha had left him. Oh no! There was nothing left in the oasis for them to use either. All the good things had been eaten last night! Taste snorted at Eats, as if the dog had behaved any better yesterday. What were they going to do now? They couldn't just return to the swamp with nothing new, and-
That's when Eats saw the shells and packs of food they'd brought. They'd been emptied of all the goods they'd brought from the swamp, and in their place were dried lizards and fish, succulent cactus tubers and desert flowers plants, even some spicy smelling bark. While the other Acha had taken all the food he'd brought, they'd replaced it with what he'd come for! "I guess all that hard work paid off. Let's not tell anyone how we came to get so much..." Taste barked in agreement as the pair began weighing themselves down with the new goods to return to the swamp.
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