Prompt 6 - Summer's End!
username; DragonCave
{words or art}
➤ Long Time No See
- Sasha walked alongside Dustin, lost in her own thoughts. How many years had it been since they had seen each other? Sasha figured they had been in their early teens when Dustin left their town, saying that he was going to "travel the world" or something of the like. Since then, she had only occasionally thought of him. But now he was back, and it seemed like he had settled somewhere. They made their way from stand to stand at the festival as they talk. Sasha decided to speak up.
"Dustin, where did you go after you left town? After not hearing about you for years a lot of us thought you had died."
Dustin ducked his head a little, only then having realized that he should have written back at some point. "I traveled the world, as I said I would. I met a lot of interesting viscets and got into a lot of trouble. It was.. rough, during some points. I was technically homeless by some standards, for about 6 years. I don't regret any of it though, it was amazing! The sights I saw, the foods I had, the places I slept, I wouldn't change it for the world." Dustin looked out over the fair grounds, appearing to have been remembering something.
Sasha thought for a moment before replying, "What's your situation know? Did you come with anyone?"
"Actually, I did. I came with my pack. I'm an alpha now."
"That's amazing, Dustin! Who are they? Can you tell me about them?"
"Yeah, calm down Sash. Alright, so I'm the leader. My territory is a few miles out past the county line. My betas are some real characters. Marcel and his mate Serafina are polar opposites, but they work quite well together. Serafina's adopted sister is our sentry, her name is Lucine. Lucine and our guard-slash-fighter do patrols with me a lot. Our guard also patrols at night, and helps our medic collect herbs. Serafina and Marcel have a viscling who I believe will move away soon. He doesn't seem to enjoy having to fight for anything, but he's wonderfully talented with medicine." Dustin rambled on for a few more minutes about their adventures, how he once had a crush on Serafina's sister, and other things that happened over the summer before asking how Sasha was doing.
"I'm doing pretty good, actually. I'm renting with a few friends right now and we all get along real well," Sasha paused to laugh for a second, "Of course I'm the biggest and have the most fur so I'm always being used as a pillow."
"Hah, I know the feeling. My pack all sleeps in one den. At least it keeps us warm in the winter." There was a moment of silence before Sasha spoke up again.
"Hey, do you wanna spend the night at my place? My room mate is throwing an after party for the festival and I'm sure they'd all love to meet you."
"I'd love to! I just have to tell someone where I'm going to be. My pack is staying with Serafina and Lucine's family this week." Seeking out someone to notify, they found Kodiak at Bellatrix at their stands. After a brief introduction and run-down of what was going on, the two started to head back to Sasha's shared home. The two partied with the other's invited until the break of dawn, streamers becoming caught in Sasha's antlers on multiple occasions. They shared stories, opinions, and drinks. Many party goes spent the night as well, and there was a mass of sleeping viscets strewn about the blanket-covered floor come daylight. Dustin was nice enough to stay behind and help with the clean up. Over all, both of the brown-furred viscets had a blast, and were more than happy to see each other again. The two said their goodbyes as Dustin made his way out the door, promising to visit her again some time. Sasha decided that she was glad to have reconnected with him. Another friend couldn't hurt, right?
(675 words)
- Looking back, Bellatrix could admit that she may have been able to put a little more thought into planning the trip. Her and Oscar had resolved to spend a day on the lake, to relax and cool off in some non-chlorinated water. What she didn't count on was the wildlife. Their day started out relatively normal, with the duo arriving later than they intended to, just as always. Bellatrix made a magnificent castle out of the sand along the shore while Oscar flipped over rocks and stumps in the water to catch the crayfish underneath. They happily ate the lunch they packed while discussing their day jobs and coworkers. What they were blissfully unaware of, however was that their little spot was smack in the middle of bear country- something that they would have known had they looked into their destination even a little bit. Unbeknownst to them, a rather hungry bear had caught scent of their food, and was making it's way over to them. Oscar was notified to it's presence only when it emerged from the bushed, only about fifteen feet away from Bella. He had to alert her without provoking the bear.
"Bellatrix, listen to me carefully. Get up slowly and without looking behind you." Oscar made a point to use her full name, something he rarely if ever did. Luckily enough, she realized that something was dreadfully off and followed Oscar's instructions to a tee. Bella gasped a little as she turned to face what she assumed Oscar was looking at, only to find herself facing a bear who was clearly unhappy about finding trespassers in it's territory. In spite of the fact that the bear was about three feet tall at the shoulder, making it a little less than half Bella's height and only one third of Oscar's, every viscet knew that a bear could deal serious damage if one got a hold of one of a viscet's long legs. Oscar started to growl as he slowly bent down to grab the blanket they were sitting on and the bag they had brought the food in, which still contained a bag of chips and some brownies. Once he had the items safely collected he turned to Bella.
"We're going to back away, don't turn away from the bear and don't run, alright?"
Bella glanced at the trail leading back out before whispering back, "Alright". At the end of the day, the two had ended up sprinting once out of the bears sight and they resigned to swim in Bella's pool. They would definitely do more research next time they traveled.
(435 words)
{ Bellatrix, Oscar, Dustin, Sasha - all mine, other mentioned viscets can also be found on this thread }