[B] Bone Daddy (Skeleton x Tidal Terror) [fin]

[Nashawryn]

[imgleft]https://matope-swamp.com/images/araucan ... uncert.png[/imgleft] Skeleton had been minding his own business, collecting bones for his friend to make art with when he was informed by Fly By Night that he was going to be a father. He panicked. It was not a good moment for him. He'd managed to get himself stuck in a thorny bush for a bit. After extracting himself from that, he'd ended up banging his head on a low-hanging tree branch. Once he'd stopped panicking quite so much he headed out looking for one of those that give blessings. He'd been told that he needed to get one right now. Unfortunately for him, the swamp was very big and he'd already been wandering around for a good long time, enough time for a fire made of some small branches to go out, he figured. Skeleton sighed and kept weaving through the swamp in search of a blessing. His head hurt a bit where he'd hit it on the branch.

[Gl!tch~]

[imgright]https://matope.pixel-blueberry.com/imag ... uncert.png[/imgright]
Tidal Terror followed that tug, like she always did, of the call to a parent-to-be in need. Rarely did this call to wander interrupt anything important, and even so, she was happy enough to do it.

She came upon a kiokote who looked worse for wear, and it admittedly made her feel a little sheepish. If she had gotten to him sooner, maybe he would be in better shape.

"Hail and well-met!" she called, feeling that the sooner she announced her presence, the better.

"I hope you haven't been looking for me for too long, fellow traveler!"

@Nashawryn

[Nashawryn]

Skeleton stared at the Totoma in front of him with glazed eyes. His whole head was throbbing and it took a minute for him to realize that they were talking to him. "Oh, hello! My name is Skeleton. I've only been searching a little while but umm.." He looks down sheepishly for a moment and shuffles a hoof against the ground. "I kind of panicked at first and now there's this bump on my head that really hurts." He looks back up and smiles, saying "But! More importantly, I've found someone that can help me gain a blessing for my children." He looks desperately at the Totoma. "You can help me, right?" He didn't want to sound rude but he really needed to get this blessing before Fly By Night did something to him. Something horrible.

@Gl!tch~

[Gl!tch~]

Tidal Terror laughed, loud and hearty and kind. "Of course I can help you! That is why I am here! Now. Your head hurts. Let us see to that first!"

She looked around at the foliage. "If we mash some of these leaves over here into some mush and put it on your bump, it will make it hurt less. That's a good start, no?"

@Nashawryn

[Nashawryn]

Skeleton nodded at the Totoma, "That sounds really great. Maybe I should try to bring some of these plants back with me. You know. Just in case." Skeleton thinks nervously about Fly By Night back at the spot she'd chosen to stay put at till the clutch was ready. He had this feeling that if he didn't get back quickly enough, he'd come back and she'd sneak off and leave him with the babies. This at alternate turns thrilled and terrified him. "I've never done this before. Not the mush. The um, the blessing."

@Gl!tch~

[Gl!tch~]

"Most kin I meet are first-timers," Tidal Terror nodded. "I've only ever been blessed once myself. It can be scary and confusing! But you have done the hard part. You have taken the first step. You should be proud of yourself!"

She pulled some leaves and started to pound them into mush. "Now the next hardest part is...you have to figure out what it is you want for your children, more than anything else."

@Nashawryn

[Nashawryn]

Skeleton looked up and away in thought as the Totoma mashed the plants up. He tapped one hoof on the messy ground over and over as he thought. What he wanted for them… That was a hard one to figure out. Well, he could ask for… no. Not that. They were already going to be alive. That surely wouldn’t work. He started tapping his hoof a bit harder. Maybe he could ask for… hmm, no. That wouldn’t work either. What could he possibly ask for?  He absentmindedly stomped his hoof down very hard, almost slamming it down. This caused a small broken branch that was underfoot to shoot up and hit him on the leg. Oh! “Could I ask, umm, that they not be as clumsy as me?” He stared down at his now scratched up leg. That would work, right? Maybe not. He waited to see what the Totoma said.

@Gl!tch~

[Gl!tch~]

Tidal Terror didn't have much experience with clumsy kiokote, but there was a first time for everything.

"A straightforward request! Yes, I can work with that."

And she would probably need to, with the track record she had seen so far.

"May your children be sure-hoofed on their journeys! May they by nimble, steady, and deftly avoid danger whenever they can! And may they handle any obstacles with grace."

@Nashawryn

[Nashawryn]

Skeleton sighed happily. It was done. He'd gotten the blessing he'd been looking for. He'd also gotten hit on the head and scratched up. As his wise friend Bleak was always saying, sometimes you have to lose to win. He bowed low to the Totoma then glanced at the mush that had been made. "Would you be kind and help me apply that to my head?" He might have been able to get it on himself but not very well. He hoped the Totoma would agree to his request.

@Gl!tch~

[Gl!tch~]

She laughed. "Of course, of course! Just sit still."

And so she got to it.

@Nashawryn