Sweetness of Gold

Rating: PG

- Intense Family Conflict

- Tearing Terror

For the knight quest: Make a Guard of You

1047 words (excluding headlines)

Conspiring Sugary Bribes

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Outside a dimly lit cottage hidden by towering buildings, two shadows in a window were arguing. "Give it here!!! Give. Me. The snickerdoodle pudding," one shadow commanded.

Words of the other shadow were not audible to the outside, but whatever it said earned it a whack upside the head.

"We cannot afford to let that beast of a creature ruin our plans, give me the pudding!" the aggressive shadow kept shouting.

"... and it might only make him..." the retreating smaller shadow managed to say loud enough.

"Don't be absurd, I am sure this will tame the creature. Present it this dessert in the most golden bowl you have, and no more will it snarl and act as if it has sharp teeth for baby jaws." Just then from an open door, a bowl undeniably golden peeked out, and the beholder of the bowl followed suit.

Just as golden interior of ears peeked from around the corner trying to figure out what sort of plans could be saved with snickerdoodle pudding. Nathaniel slunk into the dark shadows to avoid being seen by his fellow knight. He was rather shocked this same knight was the one he saw unconscious on the floor just two days ago. How did such a weak fellow like that one recover from a giant book to the head so quickly? During his patrol of Chrysanthos, Nathaniel accidentally saw this pouflon walking down Reading Lane, and now this weakling was very suspicious to Nathaniel!

Tracking this fellow through several twists and turns, at some point Nathaniel must have missed this fellow's outfit change. Within the next moment Nathaniel caught this knight in his view was the fellow in a golden suit, not of the armor type, but a shimmering tuxedo. The fellow always looked so drab, what's with the sudden spark in style?

A Faint Attempt of Truce

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The metallic suited knight walked up to a different small shadow stretching out an alleyway. "Ah, I have expected you to be here. Might I say, I'm sure this is a wonderful vantage point to look at all those fields of flowers," this fellow said to the shadow and gestured the bowl of pudding to it. "My magnificent cousin, accept this as a sign of a truce much needed."

"An unauthorized use of adjectives is before us. This is an offense against ways of speech, and while you are not aware of such rules, you are not spared from punishment for such injustice towards speaking," the small shadow retorted.

"Just accept the pudding! Accept this pudding!!"

"It is prevalent misuse of language is noted here before us. If this continues on, your sentence will be extended without bail."

"All you have to do is eat this pudding. Okay? Just take the darn pudding!"

"Criminal, have you not a clue what is at stake here? Every word presented is another offense, and you have just reached another tier of offensive wording. Please be aware you are in line for another level of punishment, and you will not be spared."

Frustration blared out of that knight's face, and flying did that bowl go towards the small shadow. CLASH! A blast of pudding flew out the alleyway, but the small shadow had disappeared before any of that dessert could hit it. Wherever that mysterious pouflon disappeared off to was clearly not known by the enraged knight as he was shifting his head left and right.

Like someone's life flashing right before Nathaniel, that sparkling suit turned into a marvelous display of glittering confetti flying everywhere after a whistling sound zipped pass it. There was nothing but wondrous rushes of pastel pink and blue surrounded by glistening flakes of gold and hints of dark blue fluttering to the ground. Witnessing this for much too long, it was apparent to Nathaniel that dark blue was feathers and fur that belonged to his fellow knight. Shall the details of what the knight himself looked like be spared?

For Nathaniel, such details were not spared for him visually. Later that night he sat reflecting on the memory of seeing that weakling unconscious again but in an even worse state. That must have been what Nathaniel looked like after that vespire was done scarring him. Deep stomach gripping overtook Nathaniel's person, and his tall figure was reduced to that of a curling shivering vulnerable statue. Those scratches covered by fur used a painful paintbrush to illustrate for Nathaniel that unforgotten attack.

This wasn't right. This shouldn't have ever happened to him. As that terror of pink and blue blur once said, there was indeed some sort of injustice present here, but surely it wasn't against speech.

Something Less Than Sweet Planned

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Down the avenue did a knight with dark circles stumble. He was up three nights in a row contemplating his next actions against his attacker while working overtime on his patrol shift. Just like that monster terrorized him, Nathaniel would return the favor somehow. He needed more... devastating help with this. Nathaniel didn't know what it would take for someone to put a dent in winter itself, but if he had to find some sort of summer monster, he was fully dedicated to doing so. Melt away all that ice and smugness from that villain. Nathaniel had envisioned about thirty different scenarios of how he would hire a summer monster when he saw an answer in frame.

Within a gift shop, a giant painting of a red blistering beach had the label "Visit Doomsday Beach for you next escape from work!". Perhaps this is where I shall find my champion to defeat this beast! Nathaniel didn't just want to bring that villain down to a pathetic state, he wanted to toss this foe into the ocean so he could finally get it through his thick skull that Nathaniel had a different upbringing than most pouflons! Maybe a little swim will change his mind?

Amidst making a master plan, on the beach painting did a pastel child pop up. The glass on the window overlapped the child's reflection perfectly to create this illusion. "Nathaniel. You have two weeks left," spoke this child. Jocelyn wandered off just has Nathaniel was getting a hint as to who he was again!

"WAIT! Jocelyn?!" Nathaniel yelled while turning around, but it was of no use as Jocelyn had vanished.