[Battle of the Tribes] Daily Drabbles

[Amorpheous]

Through Your Eyes: 1/5

18. So Far Away

She likes to think of herself as a wanderer, a vagabond, and in some ways she is. She certainly takes to walking where her hooves lead, but in the end, she has never gone quite as far as others. She does not think about leaving the Swamp and, if she is truthful with herself, does not even stray too far from where she was born. There is something there, perhaps the whispers of a family that once existed, that keeps her coming back to the spot that her siblings left, and she did too in good time.

One day, when everything else is much closer, she might go far away, but for now, she stays close.

116 words  

[Tiarana]

7/16 - Candy - Murkcrow VIII - 118 words (Hollyhock VIII, Wasp IX, Dogrot V)

"Dad, you should really try these," Tree Skeletons said to him around a mouthful of peach that had soaked in fermented fruit juice for a month. "They are delicious." She giggled. "That Wasp's sister sure knows her way around a good fruit juice."

"Alright, alright," Murkcrow said, picking one of the peaches out of the tortoiseshell they had come in. He chewed it thoughtfully.

"Weeeell?" Tree Skeletons looked up at him expectantly.

"It's...it's good," he admitted. Very good, truth be told. He didn't care much for the slimy texture it had developed, but it was rich and sweet and syrupy. "You should bring more of these."

Tree Skeletons giggled. "See? Even you like them. I told you."  

[Sushi Surfer]

Tree Knocking (2/5) - 4. Are You There?

Tree Knocking was playing a game...with herself. She pounced upon nothing at all in the shallow waters of the swamps. Her laughter drifted through the lush summer flora. If anyone were to watch, they would have no clue as to what kind of game she was playing. It was a simple one really. All you needed was a shadow. In a sing-song voice, she asked, "Are you there?" Then she turned around to face her shadow on the ground. A big smile sat there upon her face. "Yes you are!" In unrestrained glee, she began running around again. Her voice could be heard echoing the same words.  

[Sushi Surfer]

Tree Knocking (3/5) - 36. Misery Loves Company

Tree Knocking kicked a rock out of the way and then winced when it actually hurt. She just wasn't feeling so good today. There was no telling what it was. Her moods were so unpredictable at times that even she couldn't pinpoint why exactly she was feeling so miserable. As she walked along she came across a buck who seemed to have a not-so-happy look on his face too. So she sat next to him and soaked in the horrible aura of their bad moods. It was definitely better than being around cheerful kin. Ugh, just the thought of someone prancing around all happy like made her frown more. She supposed they were right, misery did love company.  

[Amorpheous]

Through Your Eyes: 2/5

27. Happiness

For Through Your Eyes, happiness was simple. It was hunting, it was fighting, it was mocking and teasing, and it was having fun doing what she chose to do. Other kin did not factor into her happiness except to serve as victims of her mockery.

There was no cruelty to her happiness though, only good-natured, in her eyes, ribbing because if one could not take her mockery then one was not worth her companionship or her joy. Her happinesses are, at the core, simple because she is, despite the running and the dreams, a simple creature. It is other kin who are complicated and they make her complicated in turn.

110 words  

[Tiarana]

7/17 - Forgiveness - Murkcrow IX - 100 words (Hollyhock VIII, Wasp IX, Dogrot V)

Murkcrow didn't quite understand why he was the one apologizing. Stalker was the one who had stumbled over a hidden tree root, or perhaps a rock, tripped, and fell headlong into the water, dragging him in on top of her in that brief desperate moment before she ended up in the water. Yet now Stalker was the one who was acting so offended. Murkcrow bowed and scraped as much as he was inclined to (which, admittedly, was not that much), but Stalker still wouldn't so much as turn around and look at him.

Which, well, was actually kind of refreshing.  

[Amorpheous]

Through Your Eyes: 3/5

45. 31 Flavors

There is flavor to water, blood, and flesh. Those are the things she tastes more often, and she, more than many, knows the nuances of their flavor.

She might find more variation in fruit and more depth in a single spice, but there is something to the simplicity of meat and simple water that hides how complex a single bite or sip can be. Meat is flavored not just by the creature hunted, but also by the hunt. Water is flavored not just be the rocks and leaves floating in it, but also by state of mind.

Through Your Eyes knows these things and savors them, sees and tastes their flavor in their uniqueness.

114 words  

[fluorescein]

2/5: Look-See- Walls

She walked into the wall with none of the grace or dignity befitting of the White Maiden stories purported her to be. If only Fiend was here to see. He never made her feel insignificant or weird. He was the creepier looking one. Metallic salt dotted her tastebuds. Yep. She definitely knicked her face somewhere. This would anger Doom and Gloom moreso than it would her. Pain she could handle. It was their lectures that was tiresome. You would think that after all the seasons she survived, she would be better at identifying where trees were. Stupid, insidious roots. The entire swamp was a neverending wall.
 

[Tiarana]

7/18 - Abandoned - Hollyhock IX - 129 words (Murkcrow IX, Wasp IX, Dogrot V)

Bristletail had gone and left her again, that sot, so Hollyhock moped around under the trees and pondered when the day would come that some strapping buck with a handsome voice would sweep her away.

But, no, that was no good. She would never achieve independence if she merely waited for bucks to come along and rescue her from her situation. She would only end up trapped again. She flopped onto her side. She'd felt so much more capable when she was with Stumble. But that was only because Stumble needed her legs as much as she needed Stumble's eyes. That kind of relationship was no good either.

Hollyhock had heard about a race of kin lately appearing in the swamp, mostly blind. Perhaps the zikwa knew the answer.  

[Sushi Surfer]

Tree Knocking (4/5) - 24. Blue

Tree sometimes loved to look at colors that she herself did not possess. Blue was one of those colors. One would think she would gaze at the sky to see the color blue but that was never the case for her. Why would she look at the sky when she could run around and check out all the beautiful kin in blue? So that is what she did. Tree spotted so many shades of blue while looking at other kin. There were pale blues, deep dark blues, and brilliantly bright blues. Her thoughts turned to thinking of having little ones with her colors and splashes of blue.  

[Tiarana]

7/19 - Joy - Hollyhock X - 174 words (Murkcrow IX, Wasp IX, Dogrot V)

A zikwa. How would she find one? How would she know one if she found one? All good questions, but Bristletail had fiiiiinally returned, and Hollyhock soon forgot all about zikwas and independence, until she was lying awake thinking about both.

"Something on your mind?" asked Bristletail, who slept so lightly that she was never sure if he was asleep or awake.

"Oh...you know," she said cautiously. "What do you know about zikwa?"

Bristletail blinked at her, surprised. "Well, some of them don't have eyes, but they navigate the swamp easily enough. They came from caves. I've heard they eat corpses, but...that was probably just a rumor. I've seen them before at festivals."

Hollyhock tilted her head, thinking. "And do you think...do you think, if I met one, I could...I could learn from them?"

Bristletail was more surprised by that suggestion. "I suppose you might. We could, err...go looking for one."

"You mean it?" Hollyhock pounced on him. "Really?" That was the best suggestion she could have hoped for.  

[fluorescein]

3/5: Look-See- Comfort

It was the first and the very last time she tried fermented fruit juice. Never again. She took comfort in knowing that certainty. "It'll keep you warm" they said. When she found them, she would rip out their tongues. Bite it out somehow. Or get a totoma or Gloom to push them off the edge of some cliff. Look-see burrowed her face into her front legs and stayed by the fire. It warmed her up while adrenaline did the rest. She took comfort in knowing she would get the last laugh. The hangover was killing her. She would never drink anything but streamwater from now on.
 

[Sushi Surfer]

Tree Knocking (5/5) - 22. Tickle

Tree Knocking fell to the ground in laughter. For some reason, she was quite ticklish today. She had been running around in her free time as usual and brushed against a particularly big leaf. Instead of just being able to breeze past it, it tickled her! It completely threw her off balance and she probably got a decent amount of air time before landing in the mud. When she finally caught her breath and stopped laughing, she noticed lots of little creatures of the swamp watching her with curiosity. So she rolled over to get up and then a bit of swamp weeds got inhaled by her nose. She snorted as she was tickled again. Perhaps surrendering to the swamp at this point would have been a good idea.  

[Sushi Surfer]

Tree Knocking 2(1/5) - 1. Kiss

Tree wiggled her nose. Her thoughts were elsewhere, in the past. It still felt weird to think about that strange event that had happened. To be fair, it had been a complete accident. Surely that caiman was just as horrified as she had been at the time. It had been her fault. If she had only bothered to pay attention to where she was going instead of attempting to run as fast as she could. Though it had been very fun. Well, not after the event. As it went, she had tripped on a particularly high root and went face first into the face of a caiman. In her mind, it didn't necessarily count as a kiss though it was nearly one. All she really remembers is that she scrambled out of there faster than she could think because that caiman was not happy.  

[Tiarana]

7/20 - Tickle - Murkcrow X - 166 words (Hollyhock X, Wasp IX, Dogrot V)

It was an itch he just couldn't scratch. He'd tried, of course he'd tried, but even before all the gangs of offspring - Stalker's, his mother's - he'd helped raise, Murkcrow had never been good at meeting other bucks, or at least meeting other bucks who were interested in him. There'd been that one time...and that had ended exceedingly poorly. One day, he thought, he'd meet someone who'd change his life. But every time anyone changed his life, he thought sourly, it was a questionable improvement, at best.

Murkcrow reflected on this while he reflected on Wasp's constant invitations to party. Maybe Wasp was right. Murkcrow wanted quick flings as much as a long-lived relationship, and he'd surely find someone at one of those wild parties he heard so much about.

Tonight he'd go, he decided. Murkcrow was not a fan of parties, but he was not a fan of solitude either (much as he disliked other kin). Tonight...maybe he'd go along with his daughter...tonight.