Clare-Dragonfly (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
clare_dragonfly) wrote2014-09-09 04:01 pm
clare_dragonfly) wrote2014-09-09 04:01 pm
Fiction: Calling a Critter a Smeerp
Title: Calling a Critter a Smeerp
World: prison planet
Word count: 547
Rating: G
Prompt: Thimbleful Thursday: beat around the bush
Notes: Ha! Just got it in under the prescribed wordcount ;) Now, when the wordcounts get smaller... not sure if I'll manage.
Carla looked dubiously at the bushes that the critter had run into, weighing her makeshift spear in her hands. “Are you sure this is how this is supposed to work?”
“Absolutely,” said Natasha confidently. “Maybe.” She took a step toward the bush. They were supposed to be hunting down dinner—Jack and Derek had both requested something other than the omnipresent gulls and spiny fish, so Carla and Natasha had gone back to the woods. They still hadn’t agreed to move into the caves or even into the trees, so they were still using the makeshift camp by the ocean.
Once they’d gotten close, they’d both seen one of the little mammalian creatures run into the bushes, and neither of them saw it run out again, so hopefully it was in there. The critters looked like rabbits, but with long legs; Neil had been all for just calling them rabbits, on the basis of “not calling a rabbit a smeerp” (a phrase that he repeated many times with giggles, but wouldn’t explain to any of the rest of them), but once Jason had pointed out their extremely long legs and Natasha had found some three-toed prints that couldn’t be attributed to anything but the critters, he’d relented. And somehow they’d never come up with another name for them and just called them critters.
Carla had gotten pretty good at hunting the gulls and fish, and Natasha was the one who could track a little, so they’d been nominated as the group’s hunters. But hunting the gulls and fish was easy; just go to the edge of the water and set up a trap, or even just wait. The gulls and fish were always trying to kill each other and it was easy enough to scoop up their bodies when both succeeded. It turned out hunting critters was pretty different.
“Shouldn’t we get someone else’s help?” Carla asked. “We can’t possibly know which way it’ll run.”
“It’ll run away from me,” said Natasha. “You just keep your eye out and get ready to throw.”
Carla sighed and shifted her grip on the spear in hopes that it would be a better grip. She’d practiced throwing it a few times, since they’d put it together from pieces found in the museum, but she wasn’t at all confident that she could throw it straight under pressure, let alone hit a moving target. “Okay,” she said dubiously. “Go ahead.”
Natasha hefted the branch she’d found and whacked at the bushes. They shook. She whacked again, and they shook again.
Out came the critter—running right toward Carla.
She hadn’t expected it. She probably should have expected it. Maybe then, when she threw the spear, she wouldn’t have missed.
The critter made a wide arc—it was running like a rabbit, even if its legs were way too long—but it didn’t get too far away from her. She ran toward it. She leapt into the air toward it, coming down hard onto the dirt.
The critter sped off into the distance, covering Carla lightly with the dust of its passing.
She got to her feet and watched it run away. Eventually it disappeared over a hill. “Oh, well,” said Natasha cheerfully. “There will be more. Come on, let’s keep hunting.”
Did you enjoy this story? You can read more stories in this world or see all my fiction posted at Dreamwidth!
World: prison planet
Word count: 547
Rating: G
Prompt: Thimbleful Thursday: beat around the bush
Notes: Ha! Just got it in under the prescribed wordcount ;) Now, when the wordcounts get smaller... not sure if I'll manage.
Carla looked dubiously at the bushes that the critter had run into, weighing her makeshift spear in her hands. “Are you sure this is how this is supposed to work?”
“Absolutely,” said Natasha confidently. “Maybe.” She took a step toward the bush. They were supposed to be hunting down dinner—Jack and Derek had both requested something other than the omnipresent gulls and spiny fish, so Carla and Natasha had gone back to the woods. They still hadn’t agreed to move into the caves or even into the trees, so they were still using the makeshift camp by the ocean.
Once they’d gotten close, they’d both seen one of the little mammalian creatures run into the bushes, and neither of them saw it run out again, so hopefully it was in there. The critters looked like rabbits, but with long legs; Neil had been all for just calling them rabbits, on the basis of “not calling a rabbit a smeerp” (a phrase that he repeated many times with giggles, but wouldn’t explain to any of the rest of them), but once Jason had pointed out their extremely long legs and Natasha had found some three-toed prints that couldn’t be attributed to anything but the critters, he’d relented. And somehow they’d never come up with another name for them and just called them critters.
Carla had gotten pretty good at hunting the gulls and fish, and Natasha was the one who could track a little, so they’d been nominated as the group’s hunters. But hunting the gulls and fish was easy; just go to the edge of the water and set up a trap, or even just wait. The gulls and fish were always trying to kill each other and it was easy enough to scoop up their bodies when both succeeded. It turned out hunting critters was pretty different.
“Shouldn’t we get someone else’s help?” Carla asked. “We can’t possibly know which way it’ll run.”
“It’ll run away from me,” said Natasha. “You just keep your eye out and get ready to throw.”
Carla sighed and shifted her grip on the spear in hopes that it would be a better grip. She’d practiced throwing it a few times, since they’d put it together from pieces found in the museum, but she wasn’t at all confident that she could throw it straight under pressure, let alone hit a moving target. “Okay,” she said dubiously. “Go ahead.”
Natasha hefted the branch she’d found and whacked at the bushes. They shook. She whacked again, and they shook again.
Out came the critter—running right toward Carla.
She hadn’t expected it. She probably should have expected it. Maybe then, when she threw the spear, she wouldn’t have missed.
The critter made a wide arc—it was running like a rabbit, even if its legs were way too long—but it didn’t get too far away from her. She ran toward it. She leapt into the air toward it, coming down hard onto the dirt.
The critter sped off into the distance, covering Carla lightly with the dust of its passing.
She got to her feet and watched it run away. Eventually it disappeared over a hill. “Oh, well,” said Natasha cheerfully. “There will be more. Come on, let’s keep hunting.”
Did you enjoy this story? You can read more stories in this world or see all my fiction posted at Dreamwidth!