Pillow Fort
Jashem was beginning to nod off to sleep in front of the hearth in the dining room of the Golden Sheep, his family’s inn. He had laid out a myriad of blankets and pillows and was dozing a bit before lunch. His mother had merely told him to clean up before customers came in.
As he tried to keep his eyes open, he was a stubborn one after all, he was surprised to see a pouflon standing in front of him. They were made up of brown tones that took on a golden hue in the light of the fire. Jashem was caught off guard and stumbled to his feet. He wasn’t sure what the bloom was doing. When Jashem emerged from the assorted bedding, the brown pouflon looked startled.
“Oh, sorry, I thought the fireplace looked warm.” He seemed a bit upset about Jashem’s sudden casting off of his blanket cocoon. It seemed to Jashem that the bloom felt bad for making Jashem get up.
“It’s fine, it’s fine,” Jashem responded. “I’m Jashem! Are you staying here at the inn?” Only pouflons staying at the inn were allowed into the dining hall this early, so it was an obvious question. But Jashem wanted to help the bloom if they were in the wrong place.
The brown pouflon looked around, “Yeah I guess so, I’m Tom.” Jashem was happy to meet another new face. As he wagged his tail, he asked, “Are you enjoying your stay?” His mother’s friendly customer service was rubbing off on him. Confusion crossed Tom’s face before it looked like he reached enlightenment, “The blankets are soft and the food is yummy.”
Jashem heard another pouflon enter the room. His short stature kept him from seeing over the tables, so he hopped up on one of the seats. But instead of seeing a pouflon, he was very surprised to see a geode coming in from the cold. His mother followed saying, “Now go play with the other children for a bit while I get cooking.”
Jashem had heard of vespires before, of course, but he had only seen them in town once or twice. And even then he wasn’t sure if it was a dragon pouflon or not. His jaw practically dropped and his tail wagged at twice the speed.
“Tom, we gotta go say hello!” He launched off of the chair at full speed and bounded around the tables. Tom followed timidly. Jashem turned around a bend and nearly ran face-first into the geode. “Hey there!” He exclaimed, his enthusiasm clear in his body language.
The geode looked stunned for a beat before their expression changed to a haughty smile. Jesham noticed he was nearly eye to eye with them, surprising considering his small size for his species. Tom ambled up, a gentle, absent-minded look on his face. The geode was the first to speak, “I’m Bastien, a name you should remember,” He tried to stand tall, but the attempt was pathetic in Jashem’s mind. But Jashem merely smiled, trying not to snicker at the arrogance of the new fellow. Jashem also tried to puff out his chest and stand as tall as he could, wings flared out. Tom broke the stand-off by saying, “Do you guys want to play?”, as if oblivious to the situation.
Bastien and Jashem turned to the brown pouflon, Bastien with a look of contemplation and Jashem with a look of excitement. “Sure!” “Sure.” They both said at the same time before looking at each other and frowning. Jashem already felt like Bastien would make a good rival.
Jashem already had an idea of what game to play, but before he could say anything Bastien spoke up, “I want to play knights and bandits.” But Jashem thought that was a stupid idea and rolled his eyes, “We don’t have nearly enough people dummy.” Tom seemed like he wanted to say something, but kept quiet. “How about we build a pillow fort?” Suggested Jesham, already knowing that that was the only thing he wanted to do. Bastien and Tom considered it before Tom nodded and Bastien huffed, “I guess.”
Going back over to the hearth, Jashem immediately took stock of the pillows and blankets they had. He ordered Tom to stack them into piles before starting to dream up construction plans. Bastien, on the other hand, began building immediately, stealing from Tom’s well-formed stacks. Tom frowned at this but continued what he was doing. All-out war stuck when Jashem and Bastien wanted the same plush blue blanket for the roofs of their forts. With a loud tear and two crashes, Jashem and Bastien ended up on their bums with half a blanket in their mouths.
Jashem looked between two collapsing pillow forts and the torn blanket before sighing in defeat. He needed to get over himself. Jashem marched up to Bastien and stuck out a hoof, “Truce?” Bastien, initially recoiling at Jashem’s quick movements in his direction perked up, his floppy ear nearly at attention. “I would hardly call that fighting,” He said before assessing the carnage himself and adding, “Yeah, I guess a truce would be good.” Tom silently hurrahed.
Together, the three made quick work of the pillow fort. Tom with his expert stacking and management of assets. Jashem with excellent planning. And Bastien with a talent for placing the sheets both dextrously and delicately. They even flew the broken blanket as their flag.
Huddled in the warmth inside the fort, the three giggled at their accomplishment. Suddenly they heard a loud voice from outside the tent. “What in the wor- my favorite blanket!” The entrance was torn open and the angry face of Jashem’s mother appeared. “Oh no. RUN!” Jashem yelled. Bastien didn’t need to be told twice, already trying to make his escape out the back of the tent. Tom was a bit slower on the uptake and tripped a few times before making his getaway. But Jesham, poor Jesham, was caught by the ear and told to clean up the whole mess by himself and then do dishes the rest of the night.