Prompt Eight: What does your kalon trade the mermaids to get the spare parts?Oh, these mer-dudes wanted to trade for something shiny huh? Allison scratched her head, thinking hard. Did she have something shiny to trade away?
Certainly, she owned many shiny things. She owned many metal-studded armbands and earrings, and other such items, but she doubted the mermaids would like that very much... They were shiny, but not very SPARKLY or PRETTY. Besides, she didn't bring most of her collection with her anyway, so she couldn't trade those even if she wanted to... did she have anything else?
Scratching her chin this time, she thought about her brother Jackston. He might have something shiny or sparkly to trade off, but trying to get her brother to give anything of his up would be quite the challenge... He DID have his guitar which was quite colourful and flashy, but the chance of him giving THAT up was close to none, unless there was absolutely no other way to get those spare parts. Hmm...
Maybe she could... make or find something? Now that she thought about it, she HAD seen something shiny and sparkly recently... She could go back into the forest and try to find that
tiny, shiny deer that had played a mean prank on her. She really did want to get her mitts on the mischievous scamp after all.
Her mind was set, and she ventured back into the collection of trees once more. This time, she wouldn't be tripped up by some magic critter and its illusions... or so she thought to herself. It didn't take long for her to notice a collection of glowing flames, just floating in mid-air. Confidently, she walked towards the flames, only to once again trip on a root and fall face first into more spiders. This time, they were real it seemed. Allison yelled.
An hour and a whole bunch of pranks later, Allison was practically steaming with anger and frustration. The tiny deer had showed its shiny face a few times just to tempt her, but always staying out of reach. The joke was on it however, as Allison had noticed a pattern in its pranking and movement. It couldn't stray far from the illusions it created, it seemed, though it could disguise itself as a bush or a plant while it performed its tricks. It took a few tries, but eventually, Allison managed to find the disguised prankster.
Struggling and shrieking like a glass singing and being shattered at the same time, the little creature was very upset at getting caught. Allison held firm however, resisting the temptation to squeeze just a tad too hard. She wasn't cruel after all, she didn't want to permanently injure the creature... After a minute or two of struggling, the critter seemed to realise the game was over, and hung its head in defeat. Like a clear bell singing in her head, Allison heard a voice speak.
"You have caught me, and I must admit defeat... For winning in this game of pranks, I will bestow upon you a prize, for you to let me go free in exchange," the voice rang. Allison had hoped for this; fey creatures often bestowed rewards to those who manage to outsmart them.
Allison made her request: something shiny and sparkly... like the antlers on the creature's head. The creature did not seem happy at this, protectively clutching its beautiful antlers, before realising that it would not get out of the situation intact. Bitterly, it handed over the antlers, and Allison let the tiny creature go.
Now she had something that the mermaids would hopefully enjoy, and trade her the spare parts for.