*laughs* Snared, long time, no see! XP Hehe, and a gleamstone too! Thanks Dapples, and congrats to all the winners!
Aw, and a conversation between Scaling and Snared! :3 Thanks for sharing Yildun! I suppose I could post mine as well, just so everyone can see how self-referential I am... *crooked grin*
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A History Lesson
"The old world was nothing like the one we have now; it was-"
Unfurling of a Bygone Era paused dramatically, her Storyteller training naturally kicking in to cover her confusion. She'd been daydreaming, and started telling a story she knew well- unfortunately, it also had
nothing to do with the question the foal had asked her. It seemed rather silly now, but she never had given any thought to the prehistoric Samanayrs before.
Were there actually any stories about them? She'd have to ask some of the other Storytellers that sometime, but for now...
The Storyteller flashed an encouraging smile at the impromptu gathering of foals before her- it was a good thing most foals loved to feel helpful, really. It'd be a lot harder to pull this off at a formal telling, or even with a group of adults around her.
"Well, you look like such a bright group- why don't you tell me what
you think it was like first?"
The foals all seemed to blink in unison, their faces taking on looks on intense concentration or lively imagination, depending on their nature. Unfurling spread out her wings, letting the florae fall in a line behind her head like the backdrop to a play- a world full of rustling ferns and bone, for those who needed a bit of a hint first.
"Was it covered in ice?"
"Or in splinters of rock?"
"No, it was covered in Sam-eating plants!"
The mare couldn't quite stifle her laugh at the last answer, but she let it flow naturally into her praise of the little filly, who seem destined to either become a Storyteller or a habitual liar.
"How did you
know?! You don't look
quite old enough to have seen it yourself!"
The filly beamed, as the others in the group gasped in admiration at her assumed knowledge. Unfurling's smile was hardly less wide than the foal's, as she looked sweetly over the gathering before her- she was actually kind of glad she hadn't had a story on hand now, or she would have missed getting to interact with them like this. It reminded her of when her own children had been foals, long ago through it was. Maybe it was time to find another stallion again...but there she was, daydreaming again. And right after it had nearly gotten her in a mess in the first place, too! With a nearly imperceptible shake of her body, which made the bones and metal of her costume clank against each other with sudden, sharp sounds, she shook her inattention away from her, and took control of the group and the story again. With an appreciative nod to the first two foals who had answered, she continued on with the telling.
"It's true that some places
were covered in thick layers of ice, which drove the Samanayrs before it as it slowly moved down the land. And near the volcanoes, sharp shards of sand and boulders from the cooling lava
did make for places where only the toughest Sams would dare to go. But for most of the Sams, which lived between these two extremes, the plant-life was the biggest problem of all! Can you imagine! Some of them just had sharp thorns and leaves-"
She moved her florae forward so that the fronds fell among her horns to mimic her words, before playfully nudging them towards the nearest listener.
"-with which to jab any Sam that tried to eat it. But some of them could actually
move on their own! Their branches would tangle around an unsuspecting Sam-"
The ferns shifted from the horns until they hugged tightly around her body, while Unfurling shivered in mock fear over her 'capture,' making some of the foals giggle loudly.
"-and before they could get away, the plant's sap would flow over their victims, trapping them forever! Have you ever gotten sap on you?"
Unfurling moved her forelegs as if stuck in the substance, her tongue stuck out in disgust.
"And that was probably just a little bit of sap! If it was a whole river of the stuff- well, you'd really have to find some way to get away if you could. So, how would
you want to escape?"
"I'd want to run
really fast!"
"No, it'd be better to slash the plants right back!"
"Or maybe have skin that the sap would slide off of!"
The mare nodded seriously at all of their suggestions. Yes, all of those should work nicely to answer that original question- what made the prehistoric Sams so different?
"Yes, many of the old Sams excelled at running- some had multiple legs, and others were bipedal with long,
long legs to let them take even longer strides to get away. And some had incredible tusks or sharp talons-"
Her costume proved especially worthy for that second point, the saber teeth and scythe claws fighting valiantly against the imaginary plants. She'd have to remember to thank her teacher once again for her excellent choice in materials and design- it just seemed to fit
any story, even an impromptu little history lesson about something she knew next to nothing about.
"-which they used to battle the branches and escape. And others had thick, slick armor on their back and heads, so they could pull away from the sap when the chance arose. Most, really, probably showed all three of those traits, which is why the prehistoric Sams looked so different from most of the Sams today! You can still see Sams with some of those traits today though, to honor those old ancestors."
"But why do we look different today? Wouldn't those all be good traits to have?"
A good question- but Unfurling was pretty sure she knew the answer to that one.
"Well, after the Sams got so good at escaping, the plants weren't able to eat anyone any more, and they starved. And once they were gone, most Sams lost their fierce traits, because it's
much more comfortable to cuddle with your dam when everyone is soft and fluffy! Speaking of whom-"
Unfurling pointed at the rise of a nearby hill, where the dams had just come into view from their own gathering.
"-why don't you run over, and show them that that fast trait
definitely stuck around in all of you!"
With a chorus of squeals, and a few bets about who was fastest, the foals took off, happy enough to show off after sitting still for so long. The Storyteller smiled wistfully after them, before returning to the daydreams the group had interrupted. She had to get ready for the tellings tonight, after all- and maybe figure out how to tell a story about a prehistoric Sam, when the very word 'prehistoric' implied that their stories
hadn't passed down. Could an Elemental time travel, maybe?
Tasmin on PI
Dragon Cave 
