[Battle of the Tribes] Daily Drabbles

[fluorescein]

2/5: Look-See- Kiss

Kisses rained down on her sleeping form and she was in bliss. Furry little heads bumped her chin greatly, demanding attention and affection. Her little ones were awake. The sun was up. They were hungry. Cold noses warmed on her neck and torso, seeking what they wanted. These were the best kind of kisses. There was no finer way to wake up. At first she mourned the fact that she would never know what they looked like, but each of her brood had a unique scent. Scent memory was the next best thing. Cuddling her little ones closer, she welcomed them to breakfast, bestowing each with their own kiss.
 

[Amorpheous]

Through Your Eyes: 5/5

36. Misery Loves Company

Misery was an illusion, or so Through Your Eyes seemed to think. It was because she had never felt it. She found plenty of amusement with all the little, scrambling creatures running around her and found plenty of satisfaction and pride in her hunting and strength. Misery was simply not a feeling she was familiar with. When she was upset, she didn’t tend towards sadness; she tended towards irritation and spouting vitriol rather than pain and shedding tears.

No, there was no misery to be had in her life.

Yet, it is the nature of wolves to find loyalty in packs and to share experiences, emotions, and dreams. Once in a long while, a very long while, she finds herself letting others see through her eyes, letting them close enough to experience her mirth and her ability to find reason to mock in everything. In turn, they shed their pain, their misery, their confusion onto her and she bears it remarkable ease though it is foreign and strange.

When inevitably the pain must be returned, they are once again burdened and she is once again free, except maybe she appreciates it more now than she once did.

197 words  

[Sushi Surfer]

Breaking The Ice 2(1/5) - 9. A Misunderstanding

Breaking the Ice huffed and sucked in as much air as he could. All the while, his pace did not let up. It was almost like his hooves just skimmed the surface of the waters. He had no breath to say anything in his defense. All he could think was that he did not mean to step on that caiman. It was all a misunderstanding! He was sure the caiman thought he attacked it but he had actually been backing away from a group of kin headed in his direction. Naturally, he backed up right onto a caiman. He whipped his head to get a brief look behind him. His legs did not slow, the caiman was still coming after him. He could only hope that a simple misunderstanding would not be the end of him.  

[fluorescein]

3/5: Look-See- Keeping a Secret

"Can you keep a secret" the little foal asked.

"Come into my parlor said the spider to the fly" was her answer.

"Um, okay." the voice drifted off before renewing its zeal and rushing on, "Can you keep a secret?"

"Yes" she said with upmost patience.

"I saw my weewee and it was pink."

Words cannot express the joy or despair a parent has. It cannot be measured. Foals bring great happiness but the reverse is true. Thank the MotherFather those of direct lineage were excluded for even Look-See had no idea how she would save this particular foal from general culling.

"My son..."
 

[Tiarana]

7/10 - Silence - Hollyhock VII - 101 words (Dogrot III, Murkcrow VI, Wasp VIII)

Silence.

In utter silence, Hollyhock did not have eyes to see, and it was silent. She could see nothing, hear nothing, feel nothing, smell nothing. She started to panic.

"Bristletail! Bristletail!" she shouted, but her words did not echo in her ears, and she wasn't sure if she was truly shouting or not. She thrashed around wildly. "Briiiistletail! Help! I can't-"

And then he was there, his comforting warmth next to her, as the sounds of the swamp flooded back into her ears. "Sssh, sssh," he whispered to her. "You were having a bad dream."

She shook violently. "The worst dream."  

[Amorpheous]

Through Your Eyes: 1/5

33. Holiday

There were no holidays for wolves, not that she celebrated anyway. There were also no holidays for dragons because they did not exist the same way that her brother believed they did.

Perhaps in his dreams, he dreamed of holidays filled with fires and glittering scales, but for Through Your Eyes, she dreamed of running and fur, hunting and the great chase. Those were not holidays though, merely her life cast in colors more vibrant than the Swamp and filled with prey not yet seen, perhaps never to be seen.

It didn’t bother her that she had found nothing to celebrate, that no day was significant enough for her to remember. It was her life as a whole that mattered after all.

And if that meant her entire life was a holiday, to be met with dark glee and sharp smile, then she was happy to live it.

148 words  

[Sushi Surfer]

Breaking The Ice 2(2/5) - 13. Tears

Breaking The Ice shook his head in confusion. It was not raining so what was this wetness that seeped into his fur from his eyes. Could it be tears? But why would he be crying. Was it from the deep ache within his heart? The one that kept him awake at night with questions. Like why could he not be braver, more social, less awkward? Maybe then he wouldn't be so alone. He could have friends that he could visit or even a companion. The tears confirmed what he knew but had denied. Still, how could he overcome his natural inclination to avoid contact with other kin? Tears would not solve it but maybe it was a step towards accepting his faults.  

[Tiarana]

7/11 - Innocence - Dogrot IV - 154 words (Hollyhock VII, Murkcrow VI, Wasp VIII)

Dogrot prodded the dead thing with a hoof. It did not get up and bite it, so it flopped onto the corpse and rolled around thoroughly, scattering bones and maggots around it. Then it ate what was left and fell asleep. When it woke up again, it sniffed at the ground around it and stood up to find another corpse.

It stumbled into a populated area. Some kin shouted at it and it did not understand, but it did not like shouting, so it slunk away from them back into the depths of the swamp. Dogrot had rarely met a kin who didn't shout at it, but it still had a vague desire to be amongst them. It knew kin before, maybe, who had not shouted at it. But it didn't matter; Dogrot continued doing whatever it wanted to do, wherever it wanted to do it, save those areas where kin shouted at it.  

[fluorescein]

4/5: Look-See- Starving

She was left with Glossbones and River-Swollen. Look-See tried to not bristle at the obvious insult. The worst hunters of the group were left behind. They weren't even trusted with simple food preparation. She tried to tell herself it was her limited vision that kept her home from the hunt but even she could not make large mountains out of nothing. So she sat down and ate the hanging jasmines. She was starving. What little sustenance they gave her, she knew not. She was after the bitter indolic taste of the petals. Hopefully she could push off starvation by eating putrid stuff.
 

[Tiarana]

7/12 - Lace - Hollyhock VIII - 139 words (Dogrot IV, Murkcrow VI, Wasp VIII)

Bristletail, in his never ending quest for a good night's sleep, was always drinking strange concoctions laced with herbs someone or other had suggested he try. Hollyhock thought it was silly.

"Bristly-bristle, all your drinks need is some giggly juice," she insisted. "Get some fermented fruity drinks. Just a little bit, and you'll fall asleep just fine. Or you won't, but nothing else is going to help."

He silently pulled a face at his latest concoction. "Perhaps you're right." Bristletail had always maintained some vague moral standard that precluded drinking alcohol for alcohol's sake, but medicinal purposes he supposed he could accept.

"And then give some to meeeee," Hollyhock went on cheerfully. "I do like good fermented fruity drinks, yes I do."

He frowned at her, but Bristletail preferred not to impose his vague moral standards on other kin.  

[Amorpheous]

Through Your Eyes: 2/5

46. Silk

Silk held no value to her for its beauty. Certainly she could identify why spider webs were considered beautiful, dewy in the morning light and sparkling like the stars, but beauty held very little value to her. That was simply the way it was.

What she does value about silk is its strength. For how delicate it looks, there is actually a significant amount of strength hidden in each strand. Perhaps she is not particularly beautiful, not the same way silk is, but she has a soft pelt and clear eyes, while her siblings have the scales of dragons. To them, she looks weak for she isn’t a dragon, but she is as strong as they are.

So in some way, she is silk, but she does not strive for that beauty.

132 words  

[Sushi Surfer]

Breaking The Ice 2(3/5) - Got that before so I choose 25. Honorable

Breaking The Ice watched through thick hanging moss as a doe who would soon become a mother tended to the area around her sacs. He knew that he probably shouldn't be there but he couldn't help feeling sorry for her. If he was the father, he'd be right there beside her. He would set up a place for them to sleep near the sacs so that they could be comfortable. After all, wasn't it the honorable thing to do? Then again, some kin severely lacked any sense of honor. It just wasn't their way. Through liked to think that he be honorable in all things as he slowly and quietly backed away. He didn't want to disturb her.  

[Amorpheous]

Through Your Eyes: 3/5

30. Over the Rainbow

She didn’t believe in fantastical wishes and faraway dreams, she believed in the here and now, in the physical, in blood, in broken bones, and in ripped fur.

Rainbows were things of beauty, ephemeral, and insubstantial. They did not save lives or end them; they did not hunt or dream, but they lived in the dreams of kin. Some kin were even named after them. They had their place in other kin’s lives, but not hers. When she dreamed, she dreamed of the hunt, of dark places and bright places, places that she stained with blood. Those were the places she believed in, the dreams she believed in.

She did not believe in the dragons her siblings did, but sometimes she dreamed that they might one day be a family again, a pack, but those were faraway dreams, ones that she could not believe in.

She certainly did not believe in a place over the rainbow, not a dream like that; they had no true end after all, just eternally going around wherever the sun hit the air just right.

180 words