![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
naughty-bangles.livejournal.com posting in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png){kind=small}
tamingthemuseTitle: A meeting in the corn
Author: naughty_bangles
Rating: PG
Prompt #464: Coltish
Word Count: 780
Stefanie pulled over at the entrance of a dirt path splitting miles of countryside. The place was deserted, lacking even the usual cattle in meadows. Everything around was cultivated soil, with a solid forest of corn plants on each side of the path. From where she was standing, next to the driver’s door of her car, Stefanie could already see the hole in the cover of corn, where the twister had hit the ground.
“That’s so creepy out there”, Athcas commented, sitting on the car roof. The grey light of a cloudy day was indeed giving the landscape a gloomy feel, like something bad was about to happen. And maybe it was.
“Yes, it is”, Stefanie answered. “Let’s get moving. The faster we go, the faster we’re gone. I don’t want to stay here a second more than we need to.”
“Right, Captain”, Athcas answered mockingly, and it started batting its wing, leaving the car roof for the open air. They both followed the dirt path, Stefanie silently cursing herself for not having got back home to get rain boots. The soil wasn’t soaked wet, but all the water from the last rain hadn’t evaporated yet, leaving bands of mud not alway easy to avoid. Athcas, oblivious to the human’s predicament, was flying just above the tallest corn plants, its eyes drawn on their final destination.
The twister hadn’t conveniently landed next to the path, and Stefanie had to go through a meter or so of corn plants before she reached the impact zone. Once she emerged from the agricultural forest, she witnessed the total desolation the phenomenon had left behind : corn was laying flat on the ground, most of the plants ripped of the soil and broken in several pieces. It was a real mess.
“I’m beginning to wonder if we’re gonna find anything in all this”, she said to Athcas, which was weirdly angled between a corn ear and its stem.
“Yeah, I get what you mean…” The fairy looked annoyed at the mess, like it was personally responsible for the situation in which Athcas was. “And knowing Eg, he wouldn’t have left anything behind if he could. That idiot is too efficient for his own good.”
“Maybe if you get down to the ground, our chances would be better”, Stefanie pointed. “What are we looking for, anyway? Is Egabot like you, or -” She made vague gestures with both her hands.
“Eg is a Doker. There’re a couple of inches taller than me, no wings, but horns on the head and a tail. Usually red, though Psozotec swears he met a blue one once, in the hot district of East Mer. I’m pretty sure he was drunk, though…”
Athcas landed on the ground without a sound, and looked around. Stefanie followed the movement of its head with her eyes. She couldn’t see anything but broken straws and leaves. All the fallen corn has long been carried away by wildlife.
“Have you heard that?”, Athcas said suddenly, its head turning abruptly toward a spot on their right. Stefanie couldn’t hear anything, but she stopped moving and breathing to concentrate on the sounds around her. To her ears there was nothing more than a faint wind in the leaves.
Athcas took a couple of steps toward the place where the corns were still standing. At Stefanie’s surprise, a tiny creature soon walked out of it. It was about the size of Athcas, but covered in brown-green scales, and looking way more wild than the fairy she knew. It was holding something that looked suspiciously like a miniature version of a spear.
“Egabot wishes to speak with you”, the creature said before turning back to the corn. Athcas began walking toward the corn before Stefanie stopped it.
“I’m not going through those, Ath. I’m too tall”, she pointed out dryly. The fairy turned to her.
“Oh, yes, I’d forgotten how cumbersome humans are”, it replied with a grin. Then, looking back at the corn : “Hey, Baniz, do you have an access for the human?”
The other fairy didn’t respond, but another one emerged from the corn, carrying a piece of gem the size of its head. Without a word, it brought it to Stefanie, and put it on her right shoe. She looked at Athcas, who only shrugged. The fairy then yelled a couple of sentences in a language Stefanie didn’t recongnized, and suddenly, she felt her whole body prickled. The corn around began to rise higher and higher. It took her a couple of seconds to realize she was the one getting smaller. In a minute, she was about the size of Athcas, who looked at her with amazement.
Author: naughty_bangles
Rating: PG
Prompt #464: Coltish
Word Count: 780
Stefanie pulled over at the entrance of a dirt path splitting miles of countryside. The place was deserted, lacking even the usual cattle in meadows. Everything around was cultivated soil, with a solid forest of corn plants on each side of the path. From where she was standing, next to the driver’s door of her car, Stefanie could already see the hole in the cover of corn, where the twister had hit the ground.
“That’s so creepy out there”, Athcas commented, sitting on the car roof. The grey light of a cloudy day was indeed giving the landscape a gloomy feel, like something bad was about to happen. And maybe it was.
“Yes, it is”, Stefanie answered. “Let’s get moving. The faster we go, the faster we’re gone. I don’t want to stay here a second more than we need to.”
“Right, Captain”, Athcas answered mockingly, and it started batting its wing, leaving the car roof for the open air. They both followed the dirt path, Stefanie silently cursing herself for not having got back home to get rain boots. The soil wasn’t soaked wet, but all the water from the last rain hadn’t evaporated yet, leaving bands of mud not alway easy to avoid. Athcas, oblivious to the human’s predicament, was flying just above the tallest corn plants, its eyes drawn on their final destination.
The twister hadn’t conveniently landed next to the path, and Stefanie had to go through a meter or so of corn plants before she reached the impact zone. Once she emerged from the agricultural forest, she witnessed the total desolation the phenomenon had left behind : corn was laying flat on the ground, most of the plants ripped of the soil and broken in several pieces. It was a real mess.
“I’m beginning to wonder if we’re gonna find anything in all this”, she said to Athcas, which was weirdly angled between a corn ear and its stem.
“Yeah, I get what you mean…” The fairy looked annoyed at the mess, like it was personally responsible for the situation in which Athcas was. “And knowing Eg, he wouldn’t have left anything behind if he could. That idiot is too efficient for his own good.”
“Maybe if you get down to the ground, our chances would be better”, Stefanie pointed. “What are we looking for, anyway? Is Egabot like you, or -” She made vague gestures with both her hands.
“Eg is a Doker. There’re a couple of inches taller than me, no wings, but horns on the head and a tail. Usually red, though Psozotec swears he met a blue one once, in the hot district of East Mer. I’m pretty sure he was drunk, though…”
Athcas landed on the ground without a sound, and looked around. Stefanie followed the movement of its head with her eyes. She couldn’t see anything but broken straws and leaves. All the fallen corn has long been carried away by wildlife.
“Have you heard that?”, Athcas said suddenly, its head turning abruptly toward a spot on their right. Stefanie couldn’t hear anything, but she stopped moving and breathing to concentrate on the sounds around her. To her ears there was nothing more than a faint wind in the leaves.
Athcas took a couple of steps toward the place where the corns were still standing. At Stefanie’s surprise, a tiny creature soon walked out of it. It was about the size of Athcas, but covered in brown-green scales, and looking way more wild than the fairy she knew. It was holding something that looked suspiciously like a miniature version of a spear.
“Egabot wishes to speak with you”, the creature said before turning back to the corn. Athcas began walking toward the corn before Stefanie stopped it.
“I’m not going through those, Ath. I’m too tall”, she pointed out dryly. The fairy turned to her.
“Oh, yes, I’d forgotten how cumbersome humans are”, it replied with a grin. Then, looking back at the corn : “Hey, Baniz, do you have an access for the human?”
The other fairy didn’t respond, but another one emerged from the corn, carrying a piece of gem the size of its head. Without a word, it brought it to Stefanie, and put it on her right shoe. She looked at Athcas, who only shrugged. The fairy then yelled a couple of sentences in a language Stefanie didn’t recongnized, and suddenly, she felt her whole body prickled. The corn around began to rise higher and higher. It took her a couple of seconds to realize she was the one getting smaller. In a minute, she was about the size of Athcas, who looked at her with amazement.
