Reposted DoA literature: dangling delicacies - 818 words - Jul 25th, 2020

 

for Dragons of Aquella summer event 2020, "Lil Games for lil Pups". includes some swearing.

 

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             The young Skimmer pup spun around Ulrin in circles, being a bit too excited for him. The Giant showed his teeth in annoyance.

                "That's enough", his ice cold tone pierced through the warm waters and stopped the youngling right at her tracks. She glanced at the adult and her posture sunk as she slumped to the sand under her. Her face morphed into exaggerated grief as she started to fidget with her front fins. She looked up at the adult dragon under her brow, but the underwater rooster had already turned his head away. What a poopyhead! The pup snorted angrily and was just about to open her mouth as she saw something interesting. She gasped.

                "Sir Bird, sir Bird! Look!" She yelled excitedly and pointed towards a booth a bit further down the game area. Eyes flaming in pure red of hatred, Ulrin turned his eyes to the pup.

                "What did I just tell you ab-", he had no chance at finishing his threat before the Sea Skimmer bit his front flipper and dragged him along with all her might. For the whole journey from one booth to the next he grumbled quite vocally and did not stop even after the child had freed him from her iron grasp. The thing bit him; of course he was very upset! Ulrin's attention focused only on his fin and at the sore bump the pup had left. Behind his back she signed them up to a game of dangling donuts; both of them indeed.

                "So this big guy?" Ulrin heard a deep voice behind him and froze. He did not see the pup nodding enthusiastically just next to a dragon that maintained the game. Suddenly someone grabbed his tail. However, he did not have much time to fight back before he was securely wrapped in sturdy ropes, made out of bright green seaweed. It was quite clear that these guys really had done this before, and not only a few times. The yellow collared dragon sank down to the seafloor with a gentle thud and a cloud of agitated sand. The booth worker snorted and continued his other tasks as the root of all evil started to twirl around the shocked Aqrion. Ulrin squinted his eyes at the pesky pup.

                "Come on, sir Bird! It will be fun!" She tried to hype him up, to no avail. The male glanced at the donuts, tied to a pole with almost unnoticeable string. They swayed in the gentle streams of the waters. He tried to take a closer look at the pastries without moving a limb. They were round with a hole in the middle, as donuts usually were. Their main shape was made out of strips of multiple shades of green seaweed, with severed heads, tails and full corpses of small herrings tied securely within the vegetation strips. Ulrin straight out noped further away from the disgusting delicacies by rolling away from the Sea Skimmer pup, as she watched him do barrel roll after another on the sand with a confused look on her face. She shrugged. The red finned Aqrion was a weird one and not really the best option for one to take to the games after all, but he was the only option at that time. She still was going to get some donuts!

                As Ulrin felt comfortable enough to stop rolling like an idiot, he stopped and collected himself for a moment. He shook his head violently to get rid of any remaining dizziness and turned his eyes to the donut booth. He watched as the youngling awkwardly swam around under the dangling seaweed pastries with her fins tied to her sides. Ulrin rolled his eyes. This would take a while and he definitely was not going to touch those abominations that some may have called food; not with a ten meter long stick, absolutely not with his fins and extremely hard no for his mouth! Yuck! So the pup would not receive any help, not this time. Absolutely not, nope, nada. The Giant male laid his head gently to the light sand under him and closed his eyes. All these ridiculous shenanigans were about to give him a massive headache. He did not have much time to rest before he noticed a shadow in front of him. He lifted his eyes under his brow to see the Skimmer pup holding a seaweed-fish donut proudly in her mouth, wagging her tail from side to side. Ulrin lifted his head from the seafloor to face her properly. His mouth was pinched into a straight line as he tried to keep his nostrils safe from the donut's pungent odor.

                "Well done, shrimp", he congratulated her, making the pup smile even wider. Then he took a deep breath before bursting out yet another threat in his ever growing list:

                "NOW GET ME OUT OF THESE THINGS BEFORE I'LL SUE!"