[Battle of the Tribes] Daily Drabbles

[Matope]

Each day during the course of the Battle of the Tribes event, you are encouraged to come into this thread, generate a random number between 1 and 50, and then write a drabble [a very short story] for one of your kin based on the corresponding theme below.

All drabbles should be between 100 to 200 words in length. No longer, and no shorter. This is not a long involved story: it's simply a snippet from your kin's life.

For every 5 drabbles completed on a particular character, you will get 1 legendary req filled. This caps at 3 reqs per kin; after you have completed 15 drabbles for a specific kin, you can no longer receive reqs from further drabbles and must stop or switch to another character. Please only post one drabble per post, as you must roll to determine your theme from the list below, and please only post once per day.

The Themes:

show spoilerhide spoiler

1. Kiss
2. Forgiveness
3. Soft
4. Are you there?
5. Loneliness
6. Working
7. Dancing
8. Abandoned
9. A Misunderstanding
10. Vacation
11. Flowers
12. Smile
13. Tears
14. Rain
15. Sunshine
16. Winter
17. Innocence
18. So Far Away
19. Silence
20. Stars
21. In the Moonlight
22. Tickle
23. Sweet Dreams
24. Blue
25. Honorable
26. Walls
27. Happiness
28. Sensual
29. Food
30. Over the Rainbow
31. Take Your Time
32. Sugar & Spice
33. Holiday
34. Beginner's Luck
35. Forgotten
36. Misery Loves Company
37. Comfort
38. Candy
39. Present
40. Hold My Hand
41. Spiritual
42. Starving
43. Joy
44. Heaven
45. 31 Flavors
46. Silk
47. Keeping a Secret
48. The Path Less Travelled
49. Lace
50. Forever and a Day

Please also include, somewhere in your post, your kin's name. You don't have to use the same kin every day, but you still can only do this once a day.

If you roll the same theme twice, you're welcome to pick a different one from the list, your choice.  

[theCorniest]

Double Vision 01 - So Far Away

He'd always loved hearing his mother's stories of the caverns she used to live in, before she and a scant few others had made their trek to the surface. It seemed rude to ask directly for them, though, so he had to wait for her to come around to it on her own. It wasn't as rude to egg her on carefully, prompting her with small questions so that she'd dive into another wonderful story about life in the caves among her people.

It was always a bad idea to ask about specific names, though. Those stories always ended in quiet sadness, her voice growing distant, as though it were leaving to rejoin the family she'd left behind.  

[Tiarana]

6/16 - Happiness - Wasp I - 161 words

Food and friends and fermented fruity drinks. The bonfire blazed and tireless revelers danced the night away around it. Wasp could be found in a cluster of excitable youths, each regaling the others with tales of ever more fantastic spooks and visions. Wasp was recounting a story he had heard from his uncle - with a little embellishment.

"One night, as I was collecting wood for the very bonfire you see before you, I met a kin who was neither living nor dead," he whispered theatrically to his rapt audience. "It was covered in maggots and followed by flies. It smelled like a rotting corpse. And wherever the kin walked, rot and pestilence spread from its hooves, and everything it touched decayed before my eyes. Even you, and you, and you!" Wasp jabbed his hooves at his companions, who scattered with a shriek and drew back together with a laugh.

These parties happened every night, but Wasp enjoyed them all the same.  

[Amorpheous]

Rush of Wind: 1/5

33. Holiday

Holidays passed in a blur of grey, laughing blobs, remembered only as sound and smell. The scene his eyes present him was not so different from any other that he has any reason to remember it and he was never close enough to let the festivities touch him. He had simply been the quiet, blind buck settled in a corner of the oasis, not quite a buck yet but no longer quite a foal.

This was how Rush of Wind remembered holidays, of which Acha had many so they would have ample reasons to celebrate. This was not to say that they even needed a reason to lead their hedonistic lifestyle other than for the pleasure of it, but there was an extra pleasure in the ritual of holidays that they would not be denied. He remembered them for their loudness, for the boisterousness that infected the crowds, and he remembered them because he could not conjure up that same joyousness.

No holiday or party had ever been able to rival the thrilling joy of the hunt that had given him his name, no satisfaction like blue being cut by red.

That was the simple truth of it.

198 words  

[Samuel Carlin]

Marshrush 6/16 (1/5) - 155 words.

As a general rule, Marshrush was never in a hurry anyway. Today, though, today with the sun filtering through the leaves overhead and a breeze winding its way through the swamp? Even more reason to relax and take his time about, well. Everything.

His stomach was full. He was warm and contented. He exhaled, leaning more comfortably against the root currently propping him up. Yawned hugely and swiveled his ears front and back, just in case anyone--or any bird--might be around to comment. There was a flying beetle making laps around him and it looked to be on a landing course, angling for a hip. He waited. Watched. And just at the last second, flicked his tail up, catching the bug as it descended and sending it tumbling off somewhere else. Away from him.

He chuckled as he let his eyes drift shut, blissfully unharrassed and alone. Maybe he'll look for company. Later.  

[Amizade]

Present
Expecting to Fly | 1 of 5 | 159 words

Fly burped and rolled onto her back, her belly full after a breakfast of fish and blackberries. Her muzzle was scratched and bleeding from the blackberry thorns but she didn’t seem to notice – indeed, she could not feel it.

A crow cawed and landed in the remaining pile of food, picking at the juicy fruit. She rolled onto her side and smiled at the black bird. It tilted its head and cawed again, and she decided it was a question, "Why yes, my dear Crow, it is yours to indulge in – a gift from me to you!"
The crow didn’t respond, choosing instead to continue eating.
"A thank-you would have been nice," she murmured good-humouredly before jumping up with a jubilant whoop and dashing further off into the swamp.

Startled, the bird hopped off the pile of berries before coming back to pick at them. If she was still watching, Fly would have sworn the bird shook its head.  

[Shaddaling]

Rolls  

[Blinded By My Silence]

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dances with shadows | 1 / 5 | 170 words


s p i r i t u a l


Laying there beneath the golden boughs of the honey locust trees, beneath the molten sunset that burned the blue from the sky, beneath the half-open eyes of the MotherFather, was a bed of tiny blue flowers nestled in the tall grass. With every tiny push of the spring breeze, their petals would fly and wander, just as easily as his thoughts on that strange and awful night. It was there that the twilight buck lay still, golden eyes closed lost in thought.

Spring winds brought change, that was true. But Waltz had never expected anything like this. Doubt and fear, wonder and worry, so many clashing emotions turning the beautiful sky into a rumbling storm. He needed help, he realized as he sat there, failing in his attempt to sort through his feelings. And so, with tears in his eyes, the Moor-runner looked up to the sky above for the Mother beyond, throwing out a single line, waiting, praying for an answer to take hold.

"Please, I need your help..."  

[Chrystali]

Abandoned
Sacred Grove | 1 of 5 | 125 words



He'd prepared a surprise for her again. Ascent would never get used to the pampering her mate lavished upon her, even if they lived until the sands all blew away and the plains ran barren. She looked at him with her brows lofted and he smiled at her, his bone tail wagging. More desert rose petals lined the golden sand, no doubt the destination another beautiful oasis for her to bathe, to relax...and for them to try to start their family again. It was slow going, and for the moment, she quelled her fear that she was barren. Surely the MotherFather would not make it so...

Ascent stood from her bed of furs and finery, her snack abandoned, following her dark mate once more.

 

[Nuclearity]

Darling; 1/5: "A Misunderstanding" [166]

Rain. 'Ugh.' More rain meant more mud, and more mud made for a dirty coat. A young Darling stretched around to face her rump and nudged her abundance of tail hair with her nose. Very promptly, the lavender locks began constricting and bunching up into a messy bun, and shimmers of silver could be sighted if the sun hit it at the right angle. Too bad there was no sun. "Thanks, Puddles." The doe smiled at her trusty watersnake, turning her head back around when... CRACK!!!

A white bolt separated the sky, flashing for but a second before disappearing. "Sweet Motherfather, who was that?!" And she was running. Away, as fast as her legs would take her. This was her very first thunderstorm and the only thing she could assume was that the Swamp was angry with her, 'why?' All she knew right now was fear: it pulsed in her veins and her heart beat solid, clogging up her ears and driving her into a frenzy.
 

[SilverShieldwolf]

Wings Sleep (1/5) Happiness
Each day was something new. Finding young all around, frolicking like there was nothing wrong. It was truly the best time to see. These things didn't seem to happen enough for her, but Wings always looked for the best around. Anything to put a smile on the face, a laugh in the air, gave her a better sense of purpose. Today was no different, as another mongoose ran up with a flower in his mouth. The look in the critters eyes told her all she needed to know.

"Little one, how am I to put this on when there is nothing else with it?" This time it seemed the flower was for her, as the mongoose climbed up to her back and placed it behind her ear.  

[thyPOPE]

soothe!  

[Minsuil]

16. Winter | 1/5

She dreamed of cold so deep that it reached into her bones. Like frost coating branches, she could almost imagine the cold forming on her bones. Burning Bush had told her about her dream. Lightbringer found herself trying to conjure up the image a snowy world. The seer had said the hills were white. She tried to imagine the hills of the swamp covered in snow. It seemed so...unlikely. If anyone but Burning Bush had told her of these things, then Lightbringer would have brushed them off as nonsense. In fact, she almost had. But then she'd awoken from her dream with such a deep chill in her blood that she felt that the seer had sent it.

It seemed there was still much she did not know.  

[Ruriska]

Peep: 1 of 5.

Silence was a rare and welcome change.

Peep stood exhausted but contented over the huddle of foals; some downy-furred lambs, other with spindly Acha legs and even more with the strong shoulders of young Kiokote. They were a mixed group, but they were family, each one knowing the other as a sibling in heart, if not blood.

Today they had played until sunset, laughing as they chased each other across the meadow and back again. Even Peep had been hard-pressed to keep up with their boisterous gambolling.

Now they were fast asleep; oh so quiet, oh so sweet.

Peep made her way around the group, giving each one a gentle touch. She loved them infinitely, just as she loved every foal that entered her life. Watching their day of joyous play had filled her heart with so much light.

But this peaceful silence… it was just as nice.

Words: 148