a collection of tales [[ chronocompass writing ]]

event prompt 5 for kangaroo | storm magic unlock for the company
670 words | warning for bad dreams/violence in the dream

Kangaroo was having a bad dream. Or at least, she hoped it was a dream, and it felt quite bad. All she knew was that there was trouble - trouble afoot, that the evil people were coming to destroy the town, coming to tear and destroy and send Salvus crashing into oblivion. Ever since Teeba had sent the message out about the town meeting, ever since he had warned them all of potential trouble on the horizon, Kangaroo had been a lot more nervous about things. She had never had a dream this bad, though, and as the armies of soldiers ravaged the city of Salvus, Kangaroo ran.

She ran into a building where Aren, the cat, attacked her, while Otulius and Gemma died at Kangaroo's side. The world was coming to an end, everything was falling apart, and Kangaroo ran out into the open and dodged all the fires and the soldiers chasing her. At last, though, she was cornered, and the people closed in, shadowy faces grinning at her. Everything had fallen and she didn't know what to do -

One of the figures was speaking in a familiar voice. "Wake up, Kangaroo! Wake up!"

"Is she okay?"

"I say we just dump some water on her. That'll wake her up."

It didn't make sense. That sounded like the Company, the five dragons in one that had been so nice to her. But she had seen them get lost in the fire, they were gone, all of them -

Something cold was touching her nose. She gasped awake to see the Company above her, faces full of various levels of concern. The cold thing was snow. Storm had conjured a bunch of snow to dump on her. Kangaroo shivered and shook the snow off, then got up and looked around frantically. Everything was still around. Everyone was okay. She crashed into the Company and gave the dragons a friendly hug, so glad that none of what she had dreamed was real.

"Are you alright, dear?" Ocean asked. She and Metal were Kangaroo's favorites. Combined the two were like a pair of adorably doting grandmothers. Kangaroo blinked up at the five heads that were looking down at her, awaiting an answer. Before Kangaroo could speak, Storm buffeted her with some more small pieces of ice.

"Not the time, Storm," Dark said, though she was holding in a laugh at how silly Kangaroo looked with snow in her fur.

"You were having a dream, right?" Wind questioned next. "Whatever it was, it didn't sound good."

"Give her some space, gang," Metal spoke up. Thankfully, the chatter and questions ceased and Kangaroo was able to think at last.

Kangaroo thought about everything on fire and shivered, both from how scary it had been and from the chill of the ice that was slowly melting off of her. "I dreamed that everything had gone wrong. Everyone was dying, and running, and there was nothing I could do," she admitted.

"Oh no! That sounds awful," said several of the heads to similar effect. Ocean in particular had a bit of an extra worried look on her face.

"If I were you, dear," Ocean said, "I'd talk with the ocean guard, out by the river. I'm not saying your dream is going to happen, but dreams this kind of year often predict fortune or misfortune. If you let them know, they could keep more of a watch out, keep us all safe."

Kangaroo froze at that. "You mean something like that could actually happen here?" She jumped up to her paws and ran towards the door at once. "I have to fix this! I have to let them know!"

"Geez, are you trying to scare the kid?" Dark asked as they watched the pink dragon run. 

"Just don't want to take any chances. If the river troop is on guard, we'll all be a lot safer if something actually happens," Ocean said with a mental shrug. Storm let some more snow and ice swirl lazily around them.

. . . .

koi pond den prompt x 3 for kangaroo, sparkler, sprinkles

920 words | references to previous bad dream

Dragons and riders alike parted to get out of Kangaroo's way as the poor dragon ran through the town and towards the river. The pink dragon was in a near panic, and it was obvious that she was on a mission. Kangaroo went so far as to jump over a few smaller jungle dragons and nearly trip up poor Fox. As she approached the river she called out names. "Sprinkles! Sparkler! Law, Fairweather, anyone! I need help!"

At Kangaroo's call, several dragons emerged from the river. The aquatic dragons Sprinkles and Sparkler raced towards her. The trio of dragons met up at about the edge of the river. Kangaroo opened her mouth to explain and a flurry of hardly understandable words came out. It was like a torrent of confusion and worry. Eventually the more senior leader of the river brigade, Sprinkles, interrupted her. "Slow it down, now. What's going on? Tell us again, but calmly."

Kangaroo took some deep breaths and started again. "I had a bad dream - a really bad one - and in it I saw everyone die, and - and Ocean told me to come and tell you guys because it might actually happen." She was fairly close to tears, and Sprinkles and Sparkler shared a worried glance.

Sparkler gave Kangaroo a few friendly shoulder taps and brought the poor dragon over so they could look into the river. Sprinkles followed suit. "Hey, it's going to be alright," Sparkler said in that calm voice of hers. "I'm glad you told us about it too, really. We'll be sure to keep a closer eye on things, right, Sprinkles?"

The blue and pink dragon nodded and offered a reassuring smile to Kangaroo. "Absolutely. I'll inform the squad in just a bit. No one's coming through our side into the town, I can promise you that." Sprinkles looked down into the water and saw several fish swimming down below. She dipped her tail down into the water and several of the braver fish swam forwards to greet her.

"Alright," said Kangaroo. She watched the fish come up closer to them and, despite it all, managed a smile. "I'm sorry that I came over in such a hurry. I just woke up, you know, and that dream was so awful..."

"All's well, we promise," Sparkler said. "Dreams can be scary, but we're all here now, aren't we? And so are all of these fish." She motioned to the little swimming creatures with a smile. "You know Teeba and everyone here. We look out for each other. No one's going to get hurt like that."

Kangaroo nodded slowly. The fish were indeed beautiful. She could see them swimming around, and it was extra adorable when one fish emerged from the water to look up at her for a moment. As she continued to watch the fish, she heard a rattling sound next to her. Sprinkles had obtained fish food from somewhere and was now rattling the food around inside the container to get her attention.

"Those fish look pretty hungry to me! Want to give them something to eat?" Sprinkles asked, mischief in her gaze. Kangaroo agreed immediately and took the container with a nod of thanks. She opened up the box and grabbed a paw full of the fish food inside. The fish in the water below became excited, and the water swirled with all of the moving creatures. She tossed in the food with a smile, and Sparkler laughed, a light, happy sound. Sprinkles took her tail out of the water. "Wouldn't want the fish to eat it," she said.

Kangaroo threw in some more food. The fish were ecstatic at the experience, and fought each other for every last pebble of the stuff. Eventually, Kangaroo found herself laughing as well, smiling in joy as she enjoyed some of the good things that life had to offer. When, at last, she ran out of food for the fish, she looked up and grinned at Sparkler. Sprinkles had apparently headed out when she hadn't been paying attention.

"She's off to talk to the rest of the team," Sparkler explained at seeing her confused expression. "But I'm here to stay with you, as long as you'd like." The fish were departing now, though a few were sticking around, still hungry for more.

"I think I might head back for now. There's usually something in town for me to help out with. Mainly looking out for the young new dragons," Kangaroo explained, after some thought. "Though... this has been very nice. I'm glad you and Sprinkles heard me out."

"Any time!" Sparkler grinned. "We're all here for each other, aren't we? If you ever need anything, Roo, you can always come by the river."

Kangaroo gave Sparkler a hug. It was slightly damp - Sparkler was almost always wet - but it was nice. She handed back the container. "Same for you. I live near the garden. Come visit me?"

"Perhaps I'll stop by some time!" Sparkler agreed. At that statement, Kangaroo smiled, and turned around to head home. On the way through town this time, she stopped to talk with dragons and humans and various other creatures. She took the time to appreciate everything, appreciate everyone, and enjoy the quaint town that had been built from the ground up by one man and his dragons. Maybe something bad would happen - she couldn't know - but she did know that the people here were her family, and she would always do her best to take care of them.