"Awright. It's time to sleep kitto," 2D says, giving a glance to the sky to judge the time. It's late enough, few stars are out yet but the moon is up.
"Aww, da... I'm not tired yet." Rhine was trotting along ahead of D, he was full of energy, despite running around all day, getting into everything.
Rhinestone Eyes should be worn out, D thinks, he certainly is. "I am." He states, matter-of-fact, as if he won't hear any argument.
2D could flop down and sleep anywhere comfortably, he made a point of finding good, solid and cozy shelters when bedding down with his kits at night. Tonight it was just him and Rhine. It was often just Rhine, but that was fine.
D would remind himself to make a point of going to see how his other kits were fairing. Zephyr and Rockit, as well as Clint, they were all good kits.
"Then you sleep." Rhine huffed as D walked on past him heading towards a hollow log.
"I'll sleep when you're sleepin', Rhine... How 'bout I sing for you?" D tucked himself into the hollow and tilted his head waiting on the stubborn kitten.
"You always sing." Rhine whined, he did actually like his dad's singing but he was being willful even as he moved to climb over 2D and flop down beside him. "Tell me a story."
Rhine didn't give him enough time between the complaint and the request to consider if there was such a thing as too much singing and now he had to come up with a story... It couldn't be that hard, right?
"Uhh... Okay. So once there was a mountain," D began, gazing off into the distance. He couldn't see any mountains from here, but he knew they were there and that was enough to get ideas rolling.
"Once upon a time." Rhine chimed in helpfully, he'd heard some stories in his day, they were supposed to start like that.
"Right. Once there was a mountain, and there was a bunch of ulaya livin' there at the foot of it. Hidden like, they called them Happyfolk--"
"Who did?"
"They did. Themselves. Awright?"
Rhine nods, but tilts his head before D gets a chance to pick up again. "What were they so happy for?"
"Their lives were really peaceful, being all hidden like from the rest of ulaya-kind, by like. Clouds." He pauses, but Rhine doesn't interrupt again.
"So they're there, living out their lives all peaceful like and bein' in harmony with the spirit of the mountain. They called it Monkey." 2D had always thought monkeys were particularly funny.
"And that was enough for them to be happy. So happy, but they didn't pay any attention to what was going on in the rest of the world."
"Did something bad happen?"
"So like, one day... Strangefolk showed up--"
"I knew it."
"but the Happyfolk don't notice 'em. They only saw shadows."
"How--"
"Camouflage." 2D grinned when Rhine hushed, although he welcomed the questions.
"They kept themselves hidden, 'cause they were there for something special."
"What was it?"
"Hang on I'm gettin' to that. So the Strangefolk make their way up the mountain and there they find these caves."
"Are there dragons living in those caves?"
"Uh.. No one's living in the caves. Instead they're where good souls go when they rest." D paused again, but Rhine just blinked at him and so he continued.
"These caves were filled with beauty and sincerity--"
Rhine yawned, widely.
"And gems!"
That got his attention, he shift and moved to snuggle against D's side, listening intently.
D blinked.
"Were the Strangefolk dragons?"
"Oh, uh... sure. So they coveted the gems in these caves."
"What's 'coveted'?"
"Means they wanted 'em all to themselves."
"Definitely dragons."
"Yeah?" D chuckles. "So they wanted all those gems they found and started diggin' 'em up. That made their lives, chaotic. Like, fightin' among themselves and stuff. Trying to amass bigger hoards than all the rest. Meanwhile, the Happyfolks weren't sleepin' well, cause their dreams were filled with shadowy creatures diggin' at their souls."
Rhine listens with wide eyes in silence, ears perked forward, giving them a little wiggle to urge his dad to continue.
"They'd wake up at look up at the mountain and wonder why it was suddenly bringin' darkness when it was usually what kept 'em safe and happy."
Another little yawn escapes the kit, tiredness seeping in, even though he's totally engrossed in the story unfolding.
"And the Strange folk kept minin' more 'n more and they were puttin' deep holes in the mountain and lettin' in these bitter and icy winds, chillin' up the soul of the mountain."
"Oh no."
"For like the first time ever, them Happyfolk started gettin' real scared, cause they knew that sooner or later Monkey was gonna stir from it's deep slumberin'."
"How soo--"
"Then there came a sound. It was so big the gods even heard it out in space!" 2D exclaimed, his voice amplified by the acoustics of the log.
Rhine squeaked, clinging onto D's arm.
"Because it happen so quick, no one screamed. There was fire everywhere and then. Nothin'"
"Wait, what? Nothin...?" The kit blinked.
"Cause the mountain was a volcano and it erupted an killed everyone."
o.o
"The end," D leans over and licks Rhine's forehead once, before settling down with his head on his paws. "Sweet dreams, kitto."
o.o
~~~
Eventually Rhine drifts, his father is already snoring and somehow the sound isn't comforting tonight. It's warm and close in this hollow log, nights had never worried him before this. Now his heart thumped loud in his chest and in his ears, he could feel it more than hear it. Pulsing. Like lava flowing in the ground, flowing up through cracks into glittering caves where strange dragons dug into stone for glittering gemstones. Amassing enormous hoards and fighting among themselves, warping into huge monstrous things with slavering jaws and flashing claws. Roaring and fighting, but the roar is endless and then lava pours from the seams covering everything, swallowing the scene and leaving nothing.
It's the nothing that wakes Rhine, screaming to fill the silence.
Note: The story 2D tells is his version of the story from the Gorillaz song "Fire Coming Out of a Monkey's Head" and not my original idea.
WC: 1000
