Post by kyragoldtalon on Jul 25, 2019 0:55:31 GMT -5
Edit: I think I'm going to be keeping all of my writing prompts condensed to one thread, to make things a bit more organized! Will probably separate each one out by post, all depends on how short/long they get.
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July Prompt 2
"Warming Up"
Ky'Laurel had spent a good chunk of her existence thus far in the Mossy Mountains. It wasn't really by choice, she had just sort of... ended up here, but she didn't mind it all that much. The landscape was beautiful enough, there were plenty of caves to hide away in, and her pets were pretty much native to this place. There was one thing that over time she had began to notice, however. One thing she really didn't care for.
The cold.
She hadn't really noticed it at first, being as she was too busy getting used to being alive to care, but as the 'days' went by and she had more time to notice things she began to feel the bite of the air. She wanted so much to just dive into one of the hot pools of water to get away from the chill, but she knew that that was a terrible idea. She had gotten her face somewhat close to one once in an attempt to drink (because who drinks cold water in the cold?), and it felt like she had nearly melted by just being in proximity. Maybe she had, she felt a bit... saggier? She didn't really want to set up next to a lava pool either, as she feared her two pets accidentally falling in.
She did have the option of moving to a different climate entirely, but she didn't truly know what was out there. And besides, she had a soft spot for the caves and the moss, and the cool water was still refreshing if not comfortable to drink. There had to be something she could do to warm up...
It was as she was looking for a spot to bed down for the 'night' when she found the cavern. At first it seemed like a standard cave with some glowing moss and pool of the evercool that her meowlers could drink from if the needed. Not particularly warm, but not out in the air either. As she explored into it, though, Ky'Laurel noticed that some of the glow in the cavern wasn't blue at all. There was orange light in there, too. A quick glance told her there wasn't an immediately visible pool of lava, but a further inspection revealed that there was more cavern above. A high ledge led to further cavern beyond this room, and the only way up appeared to be a very, very steep slope at one wall of the cavern.
It took Ky some intense mixture of bouncing and floating to get up there. Really, it was probably the floating that made her able too at all. The meowlers gave the climb one glance and then seemed thoroughly disinterested in even trying. At the top, the blob found the very thing she expected - a pool of lava! - as well as a rather large number of loose stones. Had this area been separated once, and some sort of collapse opened it up? The stones closest to the lava seemed to glow with a slight orange tint, same as the molten earth.
An idea sparked in Ky's mind. It would probably hurt, at least a bit, but the blob was willing to suffer a little pain in the name of prolonged comfort...
Gathering as many stones as she could, the golden blob began to place them all beside the lava, waiting for them to all gather up the heat. Occasionally, she glanced down over the side to make sure her companions were still there - yup - and then turn back to see that the stones had gotten just a little bit brighter. It wasn't a terribly exciting process to watch, but Ky was banking on an exciting outcome. As soon as some of the stones began to get truly hot, she grabbed one more as a tool of protection, and then used it to flick the hot stones off the ledge and into the pool below.
Splash! Hissss...
One by one, hot stones fell into cool water. As she had feared, sometimes she missed and a hot rock seared her. After time, the stone she held got warm too, and she had to drop it to let it cool off. But, letting hot rocks warm up the pool below, the cave began to fill with a thin steam. There! It should be ready...
She hopped back down to the cavern below, approaching the once evercool water. The stones inside weren't glowing nearly as bright as they were up top, but she could still see they heated the pool. Carefully she reached towards it to test the water. Warm. Not hot, not like lava or the even worse boiling pools. But it was a fair bit warm, just what she was looking for.
She climbed into the water, and with a contented sigh let herself relax there for a while. Over time, the water would grow cooler, going from considerably warm to pleasantly so, to room temperature and then even cool again when she stopped relaxing hours later. For the amount of time it lasted, though, Ky was happy to enjoy her self-made hot tub.