Post by Bronzewing on Mar 5, 2021 1:13:10 GMT
the good days~
The forest by the delta was full of noise- wind blowing through the trees, feathers flying in the wind from escaping birds, the bubble of the nearby Diamond Spray River, and a group of playful scavengers barreling through the woods without a care.
A bird heard the storming of feet from afar, flying off with an exasperated caw!... and right in time, as Tree's quick feet would have barreled it over. A moment later Grass lunged at her- knocking the brown female over, sending the two of them sailing across the ground. With a small oof! Tree fell on the ground, pinned beneath Grass's small yet strong form. A moment later, emerging from the trees, Wind rushed through, almost tripping over a stick before looking at the pair of them.
"Get off me!" Tree snarled, whacking at him a few times- with a small smile Grass rolled off, laying on his back right next to her. Wind fell on the floor next to them, breathing heavily- it was hot in the Diamond Spray Delta, and he wasn't too interested in laying in the murky water of the river. He always felt as if it made him dirtier than he already was- even the ocean with its plentiful salt water would be preferable to this!
"Looks like you don't run as fast as your namesake." Grass laughed, giving him a poke in the ribs. Wind gave him a poke back, and the two of them started playfighting- Tree was too busy with hysterical laughter to split the two of them apart. These were the good days- when the both of them did nothing but play in the delta, running around, having the time of their lives. He was only about...eleven, he believed? There was a big chart on the wall of the village when they marked when everybody was born, but he hadn't looked at it in a while. He was a tad too busy dealing with other things- Cheese running around and causing trouble, learning the basics of archery and arrow making with Hawk, and of course his long list of chores. "The village needs everybody to help sustain it. There's not many of us, and we need to make do with what we have." How many times had he heard that? A hundred? TWO hundred?!
"Hey, after my training with Hawk, I'll eventually be faster than the wind!" he said with a wave of his hands. "And you guys will wish for the days when I was behind you."
Tree laughed, sitting up. "Well, you have a long way to go." She tilted her head up to the sky, blinking slowly- the moons were showing a sign of coming over the hills. Once the moons came out, that was when they had to be home- in the dark, you couldn't tell a rock from a hungry dragon. "I doubt you can even outrun a swamp dragon!"
"Hah! A swamp dragon can't even get close to me!" he said, sitting up along with her- Grass followed a moment after. "Although I wouldn't want to fight one- or even get close to one." He shook his head, remembering the story Hawk had told him about finding himself face to face with a swamp dragon. "I almost had a heart attack- just from seeing those eyes staring back at me." he said, adding feathers to an arrow. "So I ran- you don't fight swamps. Mountains, maybe- they're fast but can be taken out by a shot or two." He picked up the arrow, running a hand over the side of it. "Mountains give up if you're trouble. Swamps don't."
"Well of course you don't!" Grass piped up, standing up with quick movements, rubbing dirt off his pale face. "I would fist fight a dragon any day. Just try me." He puffed out his chest, hopping around with a proud look on his face. Tree, standing up after him, brushed dust and grasses off her clothes. Wind stayed where he was for a moment, still trying to catch his breath until Grass reached a hand down and helped him up.
"Come on, wind-boy. We'll get back to camp before they wonder where we are." he said, giving him that smile that always made the scavenger's heart beat faster- and not in a fearful manner. Maybe this was close to how he would feel once he finally found a girlfriend- something his parents were already talking about. He couldn't stop thinking about it- especially after his father took some time pointing out every suitable person in the whole village. Kind of funny, actually.
He shook his head, getting himself out of his stupor. "Yeah." he said, looking up at the rising moons. "Let's go."
Cheese was back at home, sitting down with arms folded- she usually came out with the rest of them, but this time after a bit of trouble she got herself into, she was kept back where the adults could watch her. The village itself was small, the huts covered with swamp grasses to hide it from the air- and any hungry swamp dragons that came by. Most of the time they didn't cause much trouble, just flying over with wide wings before heading somewhere else in the delta. Sometimes he saw them speaking to others- in such a strange, growling voice with an intonation he didn't think he could match. It was always a nice trick, however, to listen to the tone of their snarls and guess what was happening. While they weren't humans, their voices had an intonation that was strangely familiar.
It was getting cold, but not too cold for them to break out blankets- just the cold that came around with the rising of the moons. He gave the upset Cheese a small wave before heading home, to his parents tending a fire with a few scraps of meat on top of it. It was more than he had gotten the last day- in fact, this was much more than he expected for a while.
"Good success hunting?" he said, sitting down. His father Wren nodded, flipping over the stick it was on- a bird, by the looks of it. "Finally something big enough for us that wasn't chased away by the dragons." he said. "I've told the elder that we do need to get some more hunters in here."
His mother Tulip nodded, moving a stick on the fire- rapidly bringing her hand away as it burned her. "Maybe once Hawk finishes with you, we can have somebody else trying to tag game."
He gave them a small smile before moving closer to the flame, sticking his hands out. It was only a moment later when Tree and Cheese- probably messing around somewhere- came in, Cheese specifically taking a piece that was definitely going to him. It wasn't worth fighting about, as another fine piece came into his hands a second later- and while he didn't know just how bad the situation was, he did know that this would be the most he would have for a while.