CS Writing Competition - April Entries Open!

[Willowfern]

April 2025
Link to Pet: Lars and Donny!

Entry:
“Well, s’not exactly something the Easter Bunny would put his stamp of approval on, but…” Donny trailed off, shifting from paw to paw, blue eyes cutting to Lars for approval, “I thought it’d brighten things up a bit.”
“It’s a great idea,” Piped up Perry Koike, one of the other guys in their squad, “Man, it brings me back, ya know? Being a kid in the park… hunting for eggs… arguing with my sisters about me getting more eggs than them…”
Lars, who had been silent up until now, spoke in that low, soft tone that just made you have to listen to him,
“I’ve never done an Easter egg hunt before,” He admitted, feeling embarrassed, especially when he saw Donny, Koike, and the others give him scandalized looks.
“Pardon?” Donny sputtered, “Cotton, you’re kidding me. Right?”
“No, I… I usually spent the day at mass,” He explained.
“Oh. Well… never too late!” Donny enthused, brightening even more at the prospect of introducing his pouty friend to something fun, “So! I had Warrowitz hide all the eggs, now it’s just up to us to find them! Whoever has the most eggs by the time we all get back gets their watch hours covered for a week!”
There was a murmur of excitement among the assembled few.
“And, ah, Lars, don’t be too put out when I end up with the most, with it being your first time and all,” Donny smirked, knowing how to get Lars to pour all his efforts into getting the most eggs and, as a byproduct, to get him to have more fun.
Lars huffed under his breath and rolled his eyes, but there was a newly determined set to his jaw. His tail wagged faintly.
“Ready, set… go!” Boomed Warrowitz, and everyone set off to scour the camp for eggs, the sound of thundering paws drowning out the surrounding nature.
Lars set off apart from the others, his keen sense of smell picking up on Warrowitz’s scent from hours before, when he’d been putting the eggs out. He inspected every nook and cranny that seemed the prime place for egg-concealing, and on his third guess, he found one! Lars gave himself a moment to feel some self-satisfaction before he tossed the egg into his side bag and trotted off to find more.
A short while later, Lars ran into none other than Donny, as they were both following a tempting treasure trail of eggs that led to what Lars hoped was a motherlode.
“Scoping my turf, eh?” Donny joked, bumping his shoulder against the tall blond’s with a smile when he saw him, “Having fun yet?”
Lars nodded measuredly,
“I have five eggs, how about you?”
“No way! Me too!” Donny laughed, “Nuts. Looks like I’ve gotta crank it up a notch if I’m gonna beat you by a landslide!”
“Looks like it,” Lars said, “I’d say good luck, Don, but I need as much as I can get for myself, right now,” He said with a wan smirk of his own, which was a rare sight on his usual frowny visage.
“Oh-ho! Someone’s getting into the spirit of the thing!” Donny cackled before he plunged on, leaving Lars to stand there with a dopey, fluttery feeling in his chest that he couldn’t explain. He shook it off. He had an egg hunt to win!
When the hour was up, everyone gathered back at the start position and had their eggs counted.
“Fifteen eggs?” Cried Donny, aghast when he heard Lars’ number.
“What?” Lars asked with knitted brows.
“That’s how many I have!”
“Oh. Ha,” Lars murmured, before his expression brightened, “Ha! Looks like it’s a tie!”
“Look at you, so smug, Cotton, makes me wanna wipe that look off your face with a..” Donny trailed off when he realized that Warrowitz was still counting.
“…twenty two… twenty three… twenty four!” Warrowitz finished, “We have a winner!”
Lars and Donny snapped their attention to the guy, looking at him slack-jawed.
“Why’re you two so surprised?” Koike laughed as he approached them, a triumphant swagger in his step, eyes dancing with mirth, “Come on, you guys were so busy flirting that it’s crazy you got any!”
Lars’ fur felt warm, but Donny laughed.
“Oh, man, looks like we both lost anyway,” Donny said once the laughter subsided, “I guess we’ll have to have a rematch sometime.”
“I guess so,” Lars agreed solemnly, though he was feeling happier now than he had in a long, long time.

[LeonardoFireGod]

April 2025
Link to Pet:

Pet's name: Lavot


Pet's name: Ko


Pet's name: Iari

Entry:

“As you boys know today is Spring Equinox, most of the mortals call today Easter, similarly they will have gatherings, festive foods, and ‘Easter egg hunting.’” Lavot droned on in the front of the classroom.

“Lavot, do you think there will be sweet tarts at the festival tonight?” Ko questioned, interrupting Lavot mid sentence.

“That will just have to be a query you have until tonight, won’t it?” Lavot went back to writing notes on his blackboard, “Please keep all questions asked related to the current lesson, I know you boys are excited for tonight. Back to what I was saying, ‘Easter egg hunting’ is where mortal youth will find brightly colored eggs hidden by their authority figures,”

This time Iari interrupted, “Do you know if our cousins are visiting tonight,”

With a heavy sigh Lavot placed his chalk down onto his backboard, “Obviously the lesson the way I made is not entertaining enough for you two, why not a competition?” Both of the young students' ears perk up at this, finally looking up towards the front of the classroom.

“I will get the kitchen to quickly decorate some eggs and I will hide them throughout the side courtyard. If you can find all of them you may be relieved of class for the rest of the day.”

“A competition! Why did you not say so in the first place! I know I can find even the most hidden of eggs!” Ko, who was already getting out of his chair, exclaimed.

“I bet I could find even more eggs! Father says I am the best at lookout training.” Both fawns prance out of the room, calling out behind their backs for their teacher to keep up, Lovat having to fly just to be able to keep up with the youngsters.

They were kept busy in the kitchen while their teacher hid the eggs. He took the utmost care to hide each and every egg the best he could, making sure they were not just in plane sight.

He explained to Ko and Iari afterwards that each would carry a basket in their mouths, and that whoever got the most amount of eggs would get a secret prize. As soon as he said go, the fawns darted off, racing through the halls to be the first one out into the courtyard.

Ko started off strong, finding three eggs hidden together, but Iari was able to quickly surpass her brother by finding five eggs before Ko found his forth. Both of them go back and forth between having the most. Lavot watched in amusement as they would stop and waste time to count each other's eggs to keep track of who was winning.

“Okay, you both only have fifteen minutes remaining! I will let you know that I hid 60 eggs in total.”

“I have 25!” Iari stated proudly.

“I also have 25!”

“How can you have the same amount I do!” Iari stomped her foot down onto the ground. She darted towards the other side of the yard, searching through the flower garden. She did find one hidden among the yellow flowers just as Ko found one tucked behind a rock. Racing against the clock, Ko asks one important question.

“Does the winner get the rest of the day off?”

“No, the rules are if all the eggs end up getting found, and you only have seven minutes left” Lovet corrected. The young princes' eyes grow wide, turning back racing towards his sister. Once he got close enough, he relayed his plan.
Both of them start picking through the courtyard. Calling out the total amount of eggs they have found together.

“I found the 59th egg! Tucked inside the hand of one of the statues!” Called out Ko

“I am so very proud, but unfortunately that is time -”

“Wait, Lavot!” Iari muffled shout calls from across the courtyard “I found the 60th egg! It was tucked behind a loose rock in the wall. That was an unfair placement, we still deserve the day off!”

“Well, you did find all the eggs, and even my unfairly placed one. So I will be giving you the rest of the day off,” Both the fawns cheered and flapped their wings, “all that's left is to count your eggs and see who has the most.”

“We kept tally the whole time,”

“Yeah! We ended up with the same amount.”

“Well it is a good thing that had two sweet tarts made just incase this happened”

[duckblind]

April 2025
Link to Pet:
Entry:
Deep breath. Shrug it out. Shake it off. Nothing much at stake, except of course the biggest family honor- becoming the year’s Official Egg Hunter(TM).
That was what Hector Eggerton told himself every year.
The Eggertons were short of stature, but big in honor. They lived and breathed eggs. Even the biggest connoisseur would defer to them on the matter. But no day encapsulated this more than Easter. Every year, they would celebrate the world’s egg celebration by holding their own egg hunt- which, for them, meant crashing someone else’s. It was never a bother, because nobody ever noticed them. And that was what made the hunt all the more challenging- you see, the Eggertons stood just an inch tall. To them, the objects of their existence were pretty huge! And that’s not to mention the potential dangers of being stepped on by a larger creature. Therefore, this was not just a fun little contest. Extensive training was required if you were to be taken seriously, and while all Eggertons were invited, only the best of the best would participate.
It was war.
—
Speed. Endurance. Strength.
That was what Vector Eggerton told himself every year.
He had been pitted against his twin brother as long as he could remember. It was almost a chicken or the egg (heh) situation- had he started training for the Hunt because of Hector, or had Hector started because of him? Either way, they found themselves back at the battlefield every year, each vying for victory. Vector had won out the past couple years, and he was hoping that this time would be no different. But Hector was never far behind.
—
Breath shaking, the two siblings soon arrived on the court. Towering, colorful eggs lay as far as the eye could see. A referee stood off to the side, ready to watch for any foul (fowl? hehe) play.
Hector and Vector stood next to each other in a long starting line of competitors, who were giving courteous nods and handshakes. Of course, everyone knew these were just platitudes. There was no friendly competition here when the title of Official Egg Hunter(TM) was at stake.

The referee raised a flag in warning, signaling the official start of the competition.
3…
2…
1…
Once again, it was time.
A mad scramble (…ha…nevermind) was made as the players pushed and shoved their way towards the first eggs, dashing out of harm’s way when any larger feet descended from the sky. As usual, the twins remained neck and neck towards the front of the pack. They both had their eyes on the prize- a particularly glittery bejeweled egg, not worth any more in terms of points but certainly a point of pride. They reached out to grab it at the same time and almost faltered under its weight- there was always a bit of struggle even with their fit physiques, but this was certainly new for them.
“Heave!”
Before they could do so, things suddenly got lighter… but the pair of competitors took one look at the ground and screamed when they saw the ground below getting smaller and smaller as their feet lifted off.
An attack from above was extremely rare, but falling off would result in disqualification. It had never happened to either man before. This could not be. The family name would be disgraced!
Dangling helplessly, Hector peeked at his brother from his side of the egg and precariously held out a hand.
“Hold on!”
Maybe, just maybe, they could save this.
Vector bit his lip, and with a wince threw himself over to grab hold of his brother. Hector used the weight to swing free of the creature’s grasp and swung as the egg began to fall with both Eggertons in tow. Hector refused to let go of the egg, and its momentum came crashing down as they hit the ground.
BOOM!
The egg had shattered into glittery pieces, having apparently been made of glass. Hector and Vector, from a pile onto which they had fallen on each other, stared open-mouthed. They observed the blurry field beyond with dizzy vision, only to realize that, even from what they could make out, it was bare. All the other eggs had been found. It had felt like no time at all… how long had they been?
I guess, at least, they thought, we got out of this together?
But neither would be winners this year, which was pretty annoying.

[crème de leigh crème]

April 2025

Featuring...

Minnow the mouse and her fox friends had little to spare, but they always tried to make the holidays special. As warming temperatures thinned the ice atop the lake and sun rays willed away the snowdrifts, another gone each day, Frith and Greer could hardly contain their excited yips. Fox Feast was just around the corner – a day of full bellies, sunbathing, henhouse raiding, and games.

However, Minnow had said something to land her in hot water with her friends. She didn't mean it, not really. Indeed, it was a mistake to say to a fox that oneself could beat them at their own game.

Frith sputtered, her offense plain. "Oh really?" she said, breathy with wile, fangs glinting.

Over the next few days, they made a plan to ransack Cocklemore's chicken coop, a rooster so far past his prime, he mistook his hens' feet for earthworms and pecked their claws. When the time came to carry out their mission, Minnow distracted the farm dog and took him on a wild goose chase, running down lanes of newly sowed spring crop. Frith scared the hens out of the coop and kept them out while Greer, the slowest of them, limped inside and threw everything she could into a basket.

A furious hen clucked. "Ba-gawk! The rooster will hear about this! Just you wait!"

"Time spent talking could be spent ruuunninnng!" sang Frith in delight as she sharply turned. The hens tripped over each other and scattered in every direction.

***

In the encirclement of oak trees they called home, Greer awoke early the next morning to hide their fresh bounty of eggs. The hunt was to be between Frith and Minnow. She hobbled over to the egg basket and counted six instead of the ten she had yesterday. Her eyes shot to Frith, strewn across a tree trunk, comatose, dried yolk in her white chest fur. She sighed, and figured she might as well hide what was left.

Greer didn't go far. She stuck one egg each in a shrub, in the crook of a branch, in a tree hollow, and behind a rock. She finished up, and headed back to wake her friends.

She shook Frith's shoulder, who groaned miserably. Oddly, Minnow wasn't in her leaf hammock. Maybe the poor thing was nervous, Greer thought. She was about to call out when Minnow appeared behind her. "Where have you been?" she asked.

She ignored the question. "Can we start now?"

Greer explained the rules. "There are six eggs in total," she began. Then, eyes narrowed, she added, "Would be ten, but apparently one of us has the manners of a raccoon and the gluttony to match."

Frith's ears went flat. She looked down, saying nothing. Greer didn't comment on this display, and commenced the hunt. Weird thing was, Frith never acted sorry or guilty. Unless, that is, she was trying to divert…

In the end, Minnow won. Though, she didn't feel very good about it... She was wringing her little pink hands, unable to look her friends in the eye.

Something else wasn't right. Frith had too many eggs.

"This doesn't make sense." Greer shook her head. To Minnow, she said, "You found five eggs"—she pointed at Frith— "you have four. I only hid six."

"What doesn't make sense is that Minnow knew exactly where to go," Frith said sharply.

"I watched her the entire time. She won fair and square. You, on the other hand—"

"Please stop." Minnow squeaked. "Frith's right."

"Don't feel bad for her. She's angry because she got caught cheating," said Greer.

Minnow whimpered. "Ihidinyourtail."

"What?" they said in unison.

"I'm sorry…"

"For what? We actually can't hear you," said Frith.

"I hid in your tail while you were hiding the eggs."

There was a long pause. Minnow thought she might get punted, or banished, or buried in a food cache, or… or…

Fox laughter was shrieky and broken, always unsettling at first. But laughing they were, bent over and wheezing. “You really are one of us!” said Frith. “Last night, I hid three of the eggs so I could make it look like I found them this morning. I only ate one so I had an alibi."

Greer hid her muzzle in her paws. "I can't believe I fell for it."

Minnow laughed. “Happy Fox Feast.”

Frith smiled. "Happy Fox Feast. Next time, we’ll raid the cheesemaker’s cottage, just for you.”