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 Posted: Wed Jan 29, 2025 5:51 pm
Here will be all of my SRP drabbles needed for stats.Prima Rosa: ☑☑☑☑☑☑☑☑☑☑
Cirro Strata: ☑☑☑☑☑☑☑☑☑☑
Eabha: ☑☑☑☑☑☑☑☑☑☑
Jack: ☑☑☑☑☑☑☑☑☑☑
Marina: ☑☑☑☑☑☑☑☑☑☑
Hipo: ☑☑☑☑☑☑☑☑☑☑
Aith: ☑☑☑☑☑☑☑☑☑☑
Pyxis: ☑☑☑☑☑☑☑☑☑☑
Wink: ☑☑☑☑☑☑☑☑☐☐
Ruby: ☑☑☑☑☑☑☑☑☐☐
Takutai: ☑☑☑☑☑☑☑☑☑☐
LV: ☑☑☑☑☑☑☑☑☐☐
Koa: ☑☑☑☑☑☑☑☑☐☐
Sneffels: ☑☑☑☑☑☑☑☑☐☐
Splendida: ☑☑☑☑☑☑☑☑☑☑
Helio Strata: ☑☑☑☑☑☑☑☑☐☐
Leucosia: ☑☑☑☐☐☐☐☐☐☐
Prince: ☑☑☐☐☐☐☐☐☐☐
Soliloquy: ☑☑☐☐☐☐☐☐☐☐
Lycaena: ☑☑☐☐☐☐☐☐☐☐
Rudolph: ☑☑☑☐☐☐☐☐☐☐
Lenox: ☑☑☐☐☐☐☐☐☐☐
Olive: ☑☐☐☐☐☐☐☐☐☐
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Posted: Wed Jan 29, 2025 6:00 pm
 Prompt: A character finds a clue or object linking them to a stranger.
There was no point, but there wasn't a lot of point in most of the things Fritz did. He liked it that way.
He'd tried to take the note out of the bottle carefully, but - well, when he'd only succeeded in getting the bottle stuck on his horn, desperate actions had to be taken. Namely, breaking the bottle, so that he could get to the note within. Oddly enough, there wasn't much of a note written on the note - it was just directions. Coordinates.
Fritz was hoping for a treasure map. So off he went, hoping that he understood what the note-writer had meant, and that it wasn't referencing places and locations from some faraway spot. Fritz didn't really know what in the way of treasure he was hoping for, but he'd decided to enjoy the journey (just in case he was wrong about what was at the end of the map and wound up going through all this effort for nothing).
After what felt like a year of walking but was in fact closer to a week, Fritz did find the end of the map. It was a small cottage, with smoke coming out of the chimney. It looked quite cozy. He didn't smell any other Soquili near by - just one human. Fritz decided that unless the human was a mean witch, he could probably handle anything the human threw at him.
So he knocked on the door with his horn. The human that answered was a tiny female, with big glasses over wide eyes, poofy white hair, and a shabby dress. She seemed as surprised to see him as he was to see her.
Then she caught sight of the note clasped gingerly between his teeth.
"You got my letter?!" the woman said, staring at him open-mouthed, before bursting into a peal of laughter. "Of course you did!! Come insi--well, no, I'll come outside! You must be starving!!"
So the woman brushed his mane and fed him apples and told him stories, not seeming to mind that she couldn't understand his responses when he tried to give them. She just seemed happy to have some company, and Fritz was too.
There was no treasure at the end of the map - but there was a friend, and Fritz decided that was even better.
((WC: 468 ))
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Posted: Wed Jan 29, 2025 7:27 pm
Prompt: Write a story about someone who is determined to not have their day spoiled — but the universe is trying their patience.
However.
Even with the people one loves most dearly, sometimes one does desire some... alone time.
And there was nothing wrong with that, Eabha reminded herself for the umpteenth time; she would not feel guilty about taking one little day away from Fritzwallace. She would not, she would not, she would not.
She had told him in advance, of course - she wasn't cruel. Eabha had told him that she would be busy today, all day, and was not be disturbed. She was vague in her explanation as to why, because - well, she didn't really know what she'd be busy doing yet, but she was sure she'd be busy with something.
She would not just sleep the day away, as had been her first thought. She could take naps any time she wanted; napping was one of Fritz's favorite activities. Then again, everything was one of Fritz's favorite activities.
So she decided, in the wee hours of the morning, to pack herself a picnic. Eabha got herself a little basket, piled it with treats and berries, and made her way out just as the sun began to rise.
That was about the last nice, peaceful thing that happened.
On the way to her favorite picnic spot, the basket broke. And then it got itself a hole in the bottom, so she had to carry the treats in her mouth, which made them drooly and made herself more hungry, and also annoyed.
And also, there were bugs. It was barely spring, how were there bugs??
But there were, and they were biting away at her like she was a four-course meal. She couldn't even shake them off properly, lest she drop some of her snacks.
The sun seemed to be rising too quickly. It was hot. It was never this hot in spring, what was going on?
By the time she reached her picnic place, she had never felt less like a picnic, but she was determined to enjoy it. So she settled down, forced herself to breathe, and let the cool breeze ripple softly through her mane. There. That wasn't so bad.
She had some of the snacks to settle herself down. She listened to the birds. She unclenched.
She fell asleep for most of the day.
Eabha woke up with a start, disoriented and confused, several hours later. She raced home, sure that Fritz was worried sick about her. She even left the remainder of her little picnic behind her, in her panic to get home... only for her to arrive and be greeted not by a worried friend, but instead by...
Nobody.
She found a note written in sticks and twigs - BACK SOON, LOVE YOU.
Eabha tried to calm her rapidly beating heart, to no avail. Panic had quickly turned to irritation and annoyance.
There was no part of this day that had been restful. Not even her actual nap!
Fortunately - or unfortunately, depending on which way you looked at it - she had more chances, because apparently 'soon', to Fritz, meant 'several days'. She could only hope that wherever he was, he was safe and sound, because she had gotten the message from the universe: staying home was the way to go.
((WC: 566))
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Posted: Wed Jan 29, 2025 9:01 pm
Prompt: Your crush at work has developed a habit of setting a fresh bouquet of flowers on their desk once spring started… and you have allergies. Jack was careening toward some very serious feelings for Candra. He hadn't quite permitted himself to think the L-word to himself; the big-L L-word, not 'like', the other one. The Big One. He hadn't quite gotten there yet, but... the very fact that he had to keep himself from thinking it, that kind of said something, didn't it?
Anyway, he cared for her so much. And he never wanted to hurt her, or hurt her feelings. She was so sweet. So generous. So kind. So giving, and caring, and thoughtful.
She got him flowers. Nobody had ever gotten him flowers before - who would have? No, Candra was the first, and the fact that she did... it meant so much to him. The first time it happened, he'd almost cried, which was saying something - Jack felt every emotion very deeply, but he was not prone to emotional outbursts like that. He'd been touched.
And then his eyes kept watering. After Candra had left for the night, even. When he'd tried to go to sleep, the flowers resting carefully a few feet away, he found he couldn't, due to sneezing every few minutes. It had taken him three surprise bouquets before he realized the culprit, the cause of his sleepless nights and itchy eyes:
The flowers themselves.
They were beautiful, was the thing, and more importantly, they were from Candra. He couldn't tell her what was going on; she'd be so understanding and so apologetic, when it was one of the kindest things anyone had ever done for him. Most concerningly, she would stop bringing him flowers, and that was the last thing he wanted.
The fourth time, though - maybe they were extra pollen-ful, or maybe his immune system was extra weak. He didn't know, but the second Candra got within smelling distance, all bets were off. He was sneezing more than he was breathing; Candra, after the first three sneezes, started to think something was seriously wrong and asked/threatened to go to the healers.
So he had to explain. Candra, being an angel, laughed and tossed the flowers in the lake, snuggled under his chin, and told him in a mischievous, laughing voice that she'd just have to think up some other thing to bring him.
...Yeah, Jack thought as he let himself chuckle a little and snuggle into her hair, he big-L'd her. He big-L'd her big time, and in that moment, it didn't scare him at all.
((WC: 409))
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Posted: Wed Jan 29, 2025 9:20 pm
Prompt: Center your story around a person who believes they’re the last human on Earth. When Marina awoke, it was quiet. That wasn't exactly unusual; she didn't have any children or a mate to rouse her, and Caspian came and went on his own schedule. It wasn't exactly unusual that he wasn't there to wake with her, but it wasn't exactly usual, either.
And it wasn't just that her reef was quieter than usual - it was that it was silent. Normally there was some sound; fish playing together, children darting back and forth - something.
Now it was dead quiet. She was briefly concerned she'd gone deaf, but she scratched a rock against the nearest coral and heard the scritchy-scratchy sound, so that was off the table. It was just... weird.
Cautiously, she swam into the ocean proper and peered around. No giant predator lurking just around the corner, as far as she could tell; that was the only thing she could think of that would inspire this level of.... of nothingness.
She opened her mouth to speak, and then thought better of it. If there was something out there, she didn't want to send up a giant sign saying 'come eat me please'. So she closed her mouth and began to swim, keeping her eyes, ears and nose open for any sign of life.
There was none.
Her heart was starting to beat erratically now, anxiety pumping her brain into overdrive. Had all of her neighbors moved? Died? If they'd died surely their bodies - or some evidence of a fight - would remain, wouldn't it? After doing another lap, she swam for the surface.
No one on the beach.
No one except--
"Caspian!" Marina called, relief coloring her voice. Her beloved familiar looked up and gave her a toothy grin as he waddled his way over to her. "Are you alright? I thought--I thought..." Marina trailed off as she noticed other Soquili coming around the bend, talking and laughing normally. She ducked her head beneath the water and saw a school of fish flutter past, as if the area hadn't been completely deserted just a few minutes before.
"Never mind what I thought." Marina decided, giving him a nervous smile. She wanted to forget about the moment of terror as quickly as possible. "What are we going to do today?"
((WC: 374))
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Posted: Wed Jan 29, 2025 9:42 pm
Prompt: Write a story about a first time parent. I'm pregnant.
The words echoed around and around Hipolito's brain like there had never been any other thought in there, ever. His life would forever be divided into 'before' and 'after' - before he knew, and after he knew.
He was going to be a father.
Hipolito felt too much like a kid himself to really think about being someone else's father. He wasn't old and boring and responsible the way parents were supposed to be.
He hadn't dared to ask the first thing that came to mind - was she sure it was his? He didn't feel like taking hooves to the face today; his face was his money-maker, after all, and he needed to protect it. Besides, the timing lined up, from what little he knew about that sort of thing.
In truth, he'd always been worried that something like this would happen, no matter how careful he tried to be. The thing that haunted him was that it already had, but nobody had told him - who knew how many offspring he had running around in the world, without him? Hating him? The thought made him sick.
He couldn't imagine knowing he had a child and not being involved in its life. The realization came upon him suddenly, but he knew it was true; no child of his would grow up unaware who their father was. That he was sure of.
Hipo was less sure how to raise a foal, especially a girl, but when Shadow showed up to his territory, basket in tow, and left it with him, he didn't really have much of a choice in the matter - except the choice in making the thing in the basket to beginwith. That he had enthusiastically participated in.
It was harder than it should've been, keeping the little thing alive in those early days. He had no idea what he was doing, and it showed. It was a miracle she made it to her first birthday, but make it she did, and Hipo still felt a surge of pride when he looked at his daughter - not only was she incredible, but he'd helped make her that way. In his heart of hearts, he knew that was the greatest thing he would ever do, and he liked it that way.
((WC: 379))
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Posted: Thu Jan 30, 2025 11:23 am
Prompt: Start your story with someone being forbidden from doing something. Grounded. Pacha had never been grounded - not even when she was a filly. She'd been almost absurdly well-behaved for her entire life... until she'd made every mistake possible to make in 48 hours.
And now she was grounded. Grounded. She was fully an adult, and yet she was grounded - forbidden from leaving the herd lands until further notice, by order of her father, the leader of the herd. She'd come back alive! Didn't that count for anything?
Pacha sighed forlornly. She'd never been in trouble before. Should she cut her hair? Do something rebellious? Pacha didn't want to. In truth, being grounded wasn't so much different, in reality, to what she wanted to do anyway - stay home and hide for a little while. It wasn't like she had dozens of friends or co-conspirators beating down her door, needing her to play or make trouble with them. Even Ayaz, once she was safely deposited, had continued his way home to his own herd. There wasn't really anything this grounding was stopping her from doing, exactly.
It was just grating, being told to do what she already wanted to do anyway. She was an adult. It shouldn't be possible for her to be grounded. But... she had messed up. Pretty spectacularly. Nearly died. Twice.
Maybe home was the safest, best place for her. At least for now.
But, she decided firmly to herself - she was staying quiet, staying home, because she wanted to. Not because her father had commanded it.
Yeah. That was it. She was voluntarily grounding herself. Yeah.
Tension out of her shoulders, Pacha settled down to her grounding, and fell asleep.
((WC: 272))
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Posted: Thu Jan 30, 2025 4:37 pm
Prompt: Start your story with the flickering of a light. Ofelia was staring at the fire. She had been staring at the flickering thing for quite some time; how long, exactly, she couldn't say, but certainly since the sun had gone down, which must have been a fair few hours ago, at least. The fire was hypnotizing, and Ofelia was barely aware of the time passing.
But barely aware was not unaware. She was waiting for her father return; he was finding food for the both of them, and things were sparse in this area, so he had told her she was old enough to be left alone for a day or two so that he could go find some real sustenance.
That had been two days ago.
He'd given her a job - one that he told her was very important. Her job was to keep the fire burning, no matte what - that way, if he got lost, he could find his way home by its light. Ofelia was too young to understand that firelight was only so visible after a certain point, but she felt the weight of her father's ask. It felt like it mattered, so it mattered.
Ofelia was also starting to get hungry, though. Keeping the fire fed was no easy task - she was too little to carry big logs, but she tried to keep it going to what sticks she could carry, arranged carefully how her father had taught her. There was a slight breeze, which helped and hurt in equal measure; it either blew it up, or nearly blew it out. It was an important job.
Part of her was afraid that if she failed, if the fire went out, that her father would never return.
So she kept it lit, little by little. It burned, lowly at times and great at others, but no matter what, it burned. She barely let herself sleep, but it burned.
When her father did finally return, the next day, the fire was still burning. All exhaustion promptly left her system - she couldn't let her father know or see the toll the past few days had taken. She wanted to make him proud - and the smile in his eye when he laid the baskets of goodies at her hooves let her know that she had done her job, and done it well.
...Maybe next time, though, he could stay home and keep the fire burning.
((WC: 397))
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Posted: Thu Jan 30, 2025 6:24 pm
Prompt: Write about someone who’s traveling away from their hometown for the first time. Ayaz was so excited. His very first mission! It felt like he'd been waiting all his life for this - mostly because he had. He and his brothers had taught themselves from a young age, and by now, they were pretty good at it, they thought. But he wasn't the one in charge; it was a vote, if a young soldier was ready to take on the responsibility of a real job.
And today was finally his day.
Now all he had to do was not screw it up. He did not yet have his iconic mask and cape; he was relatively unadorned, compared to how he would come to be known. But he would earn each of those trinkets - for now, he'd earned nothing except the hammering in his heart and the excitement in his wings as they twitched toward the sky.
He waited until he was just outside of his herd's temporary home before he launched himself into the air, the fantastic feeling of freedom holding him aloft as his great wings flapped on either side of him. The feathers over his cat-like tail fluttered in the breeze, and Ayaz forced himself to bring his mind away from the delight of flight and onto the task at hand - if there was ever a time to be keenly focused, it was now.
Ayaz caught sight of the key landmarks in the brief and followed them, swirling once overhead when he caught sight of his client before landing gracefully a few feet away.
From the body.
Ayaz's blood ran cold and he froze in his tracks. That was his client - already dead. And not recently, either; they were too late. Perhaps the message had gotten delayed, or...Ayaz's mind went hazy, staticky, and he couldn't quite remember what he was supposed to do. How to do it.
This wasn't covered in their training.
Ayaz didn't know what to do. But he couldn't just leave the body there.
So carefully, he hoisted the body over his shoulders, sideways, and began the long, slow walk back home. He would show his brothers; they would be able to figure out what had happened. What had gone wrong.
And then they would help him get revenge on who or whatever had taken the life of his client, as well as Ayaz's own optimism and idealism. They would find whoever it was, they would get them, and they would make them regret every decision that had led up to this point.
If Ayaz couldn't protect this client, he would see them avenged.
((WC: 425))
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Posted: Thu Jan 30, 2025 7:56 pm
Prompt: Pyxis tries to convince someone that aliens are real. Pyxis could spend hours listening to her daddy talk about the stars. While she herself was more obsessed with the tiny creatures and beings that made up their own earth - flowers, bugs, and all the little invisible bits and bobs that made the world go round - she loved how much her father loved the heavenly bodies.
It was just that he'd mentioned that the sun in their sky was a star. And that meant all the stars in the sky might be suns to other worlds. Which meant there might be other Soquili out there somewhere - Soquili from space.
It was all she could think about. What would a space Soquili look like? Was she a space Soquili since their world was technically also in space? Was there an alien filly out there somewhere, wondering about Pyxis' existence?
Whenever she tried to talk to anyone about this, they looked at her like she was crazy. After experiencing this three or four times, she returned back to her father, dejected, and he reminded her that genius was often unappreciated in its own time.
That meant that maybe, somewhere down the line, she would be proven right, and space Soquili would come, someday, and she could meet that foreign filly, and learn all about the little invisible bits and bobs that kept whole other planets alive.
As she got older, she publicly disdained such ideas - the odds were so small. But in her heart of hearts, still she waited for her space-bound filly friend to find her way to Pyxis.
Someday.
((WC: 259))
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Posted: Sat Feb 08, 2025 6:20 pm
So off she went. Away from the mountains she had grown up in, away from Cirro Strata and anyone else she had ever known - into the wild yonder, into the horizon.
It was challenging. But it was a good sort of challenge for Prima Rosa, who had mostly just floated along the currents of life until this point. She was used to fending for herself, but she wasn't used to having nowhere to retreat to when things got hard - there was nowhere to go but forward, so forward she had to go. Even when it was thunderstorming. Even when she was cold. Even when she just wanted to retreat - there was nowhere to go but forward.
Mostly, she got on by herself. Occasionally, she met another Soquili or a family along the way, and some of them were kind enough to give her shelter, food, and company.
Other than that, she was alone, and she went with single-minded determination toward her destination - unknown as it was to even her own self.
She just felt she would know it when she got there. And if she never got there, then...she'd just see the whole world and decide what part of it she liked best and settle there.
But that was a last resort. She was sure she was hunting for something - someone, somewhere.
Prima Rosa would know it when she found it. She just knew it.
((WC: 277))
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Posted: Sat Feb 08, 2025 7:00 pm
...And maybe she missed the ability to just take off and go with her.
But she was a mother, and that meant everything. Even in moments like this, when Helio Strata was driving her crazy - it meant everything that she was a mother. It was like gravity had shifted, the moment her children were born, fixing upon them rather than the earth beneath her feet. Everything began and ended with them, especially when they were too tiny to take care of themselves.
But those days were behind them now. Selene and Helio were both healthy, vivacious children, and were well-enough able to take care of themselves, at least on the small things, the day-to-day things.
What Helio was apparently incapable of doing? Leaving his mother alone for ten minutes or longer.
"Why did Aunt Rosa come? Why did Aunt Rosa leave? I wanted to say hi and see if she would play with us. Where did she go? When will she be back?" Helio Strata asked, peppering his mother with questions like it was his job. If he noticed Cirro Strata's annoyance or disinterest in answering, he ignored it - but Cirro didn't think he noticed at all. He wasn't very good at noticing things that were not directly to do with him.
"Mama?" Helio continued when she didn't answer right away. "Mama, is Aunt Rosa okay? There's nothing wrong with her, right?" He was worried - he did care about his family, and Aunt Rosa definitely counted. He may have thought she and his mother were actually sisters, in spite of how different they looked; what business was it of his? He only really knew himself and his sister, who looked very similar, but that didn't mean all siblings looked as alike as they did.
"There's nothing wrong with her," Cirro Strata asked, hoping she was telling the truth. "And Aunt Rosa is fine, or will be," Cirro continued, "and you're sweet to ask, little sun. I'm not sure where she's gone - and I'm not sure she knows, either. As for if she'll come back..." Cirro could only shrug. "I hope she will. That's all we can do, sweet boy. Hope she's alright, and hope she comes back soon."
This was not very satisfactory to Helio. He was young enough to believe in black and white, with very little room for gray. He didn't understand how his mother could just shrug it off, like it was no big deal for Aunt Rosa to just... go somewhere, for some amount of time, and return maybe never.
"You shouldn't have let her go," Helio decided. "She shouldn't have gone. Especially not by herself! I would've gone with her," he mumbled, ears lowering. He didn't know if that was true, but he would've offered. Or he would've liked to have been asked, anyway.
"Maybe I'll go with her next time," Helio continued, immediately brightening - it was hard to keep him down for long. "When she comes back, I'll go with her on her next adventure, to keep her safe. Yeah, that's what I'll do." Helio nodded to himself and trotted off, leaving his mother looking after him, fond and bittersweet - her son's heart was so big, and she sincerely hoped that if and when Prima Rosa came back, she would not take her little boy with her when she went.
((WC:
Cirro: 285
Helio: 351))
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Posted: Sat Feb 08, 2025 8:06 pm
Prompt: “I had a nightmare about you and just wanted to make sure you’re okay.”
Fritz said something very intelligent, something like 'bwuh?' and scooted over so that she could lay down with him; yes, most horses slept standing up, but he was not most horses, and he liked to rest his legs when he could. Their cave was very safe.
"I'm okay," Fritzwallace answered when she'd repeated herself, in that same quiet, scared little voice. He cleared his throat, and tried to project confidence. "I'm okay, I promise. Just fine." He fwished his tail behind him and gently nudged her with the blunt length of his horn. "See? Nothin' worth havin' nightmares about. It's okay." Fritz barely hesitated before adding, "You can sleep in here with me, if you want. If it would make you feel better." Usually, Eabha slept in a different little mouth of the cave, not so far that they couldn't hear each other moving or if one of them called out, but it was nice that they both had their own separate spaces, usually.
Usually. In all the other instances, like this one, not covered by the 'usually' umbrella - well, it was just nice that there was someone close enough if one of them needed help. It was nice that there was someone who cared enough about him, Fritz thought, to even have a nightmare about him where he was the one who got hurt or whatever in it - and she cared enough to know it was a nightmare and want to check on him anyway.
It was just really nice, that was all.
"Yes please," Eabha answered immediately, not even a little bit embarrassed by the speed of her answer or how little she needed to think about it. It was, she was sure, the only way she'd be able to get back to sleep. She had vivid dreams quite frequently, and remembered them often, for better and for worse, and this one had scared her, badly.
She let him comfort her and nodded, nuzzling his cheek when he reached his horn down to her, and nodded again as he settled back down. Nothing to have nightmares over. He was fine. They were both safe.
Of course, with Fritz, the darkness that surrounded them now seemed safe, and comfortable, not scary and oppressive like it had in her little cave a mere few feet away. With Fritz's warmth, his reassuring, even breaths as he drifted back to sleep, Eabha tried to will herself to relax.
Fritz was like a member of her family - in spite of not being raised with him, as she had with her twin sister - she knew she wouldn't be able to bear it if anything happened to him. The details of this dream in particular were receding, mercifully, from her mind, the disastrous images fading from behind her eyelids, bolstered by the real Fritzwallace already snoring quietly next to her, reminding her of what was real, and what was nothing more than her subconscious anxiety. They were fine. Fritz was safe. They were fine.
So she just watched him sleep for a little while, until her own heart rate returned to normal, and then she let the gentle sound of his breathing and his heartbeat lull her into - this time, hopefully - a contented, dreamless sleep.
((WC:
Fritz: 296
Eabha: 286))
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Posted: Sat Feb 08, 2025 8:25 pm
Prompt: Write about your grandmother. Jack tried very hard not to think about the past.
There was nothing but sadness there. Grief, loneliness, and an emptiness that yawned out and threatened to swallow him whole if he spent too much time reliving it. He tried - not always successfully - to focus on the present, or better yet (and more rarely still), the future.
His present was, somehow, miraculously, so good. He'd found Candra. He'd found a home with her. He wasn't overly attached to this particular plot of land or even the herd that lived there, but he was attached to Candra. Where she went - or stayed - he would go or stay as well. He knew that to the core of his being.
But as they got more serious, Jack found himself returning to his roots. It was not a particularly pleasant place to be.
But how could he build a family - a future - if he kept running away from where he'd come from?
He thought about his grandmother. He had only the faintest memories of her; mostly feelings, more than anything definite. But he remembered the way she smelled - like warm cinnamon - and he remembered her coat was shiny, like his was when the light hit it. He remembered snippets of her voice singing him a lullaby when he was too young to understand the words.
He missed her. He missed his whole family. He missed the connection that came from having a family.
But he was all that was left... so he had to do honor to his family, lost in the past as they were. He had to live up to them. One way or another, as the only surviving member of his family tree, he would have to figure out a way to make it worth it. To make his survival mean something - to earn the life he'd been lucky enough to escape with.
As he closed his eyes, the scent of warm cinnamon came to his nose, carried on a friendly wind, and just this once, he let himself smile.
((WC: 339))
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Posted: Sat Feb 08, 2025 8:37 pm
Prompt: You awake to a stormy night, and a banging noise. It was a dark and stormy night under the sea. Marina couldn't imagine how dark and stormy it was on land if it was this bad under water, but Marina wasn't about to go and find out, either. She liked being safe and cozy in her little coral-encrusted home, tucked well away from the swirling waves and deadly currents.
The problem was that Marina preferred to be asleep in her cozy little coral-encrusted home, tucked well away from the chaos of the open ocean, and she had been asleep until a few minutes ago when there was a great crash and a series of heavy thuds somewhere out beyond her home.
Sound carried under water, she knew. The source could be right outside, or it could be miles away, for all she knew.
But it was close enough to wake her up, and she was a little bit annoyed about that. If it was just one of her neighbors clanking around, she felt she'd earned the right to give them a little bit of a talking-to about it. So after gathering up her courage, Marina poked the tip of her nose out of her home and studied the sea around her.
There was a small gathering of her neighbors, down deeper, near the ocean floor. She didn't live tremendously deep in the ocean - there was a shelf not too far from here, but this wasn't as far away as that. Curious more than annoyed now, Marina swam over and joined her neighbors, murmuring apologies as she scooched between them to get a better look.
She almost couldn't believe what she saw, when she finally reached the front.
A ship. A big ship.
It had clearly been taken out by the storms above, and had crashed spectacularly before joining them here, below the sea. Her neighbors were murmuring to themselves, some excited, some scared, all riveted, and Marina could understand why.
This was an adventure just waiting to happen.
Someone had to take charge.
"Okay, everybody," Marina said, lifting her voice to be heard over the chatter. "We've all seen a ship before." Just not this freshly sunk... "Everybody head home, there's not much else to see. Go on, go on..."
Aside from a few grumpy mutterings - who put her in charge? - most of her neighbors went home.
Marina remained.
Marina explored.
((WC: 391))
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