The Little Pink Thing In the Park
This...is just a story that I made for a friend that has had a very, very, very, very, very bad day. Week. Longer, really. I wanted to do something good, so I took some stuff that they'd told me in the past and made this.
Gemini is a character that belongs to VeronicaFoxx. There was so little love and happiness in the poor thing's life, so I wrote some happiness for it. And perhaps a friend, a friend to keep for as long as it can.
Enjoy, if you can.
The Little Pink Thing in the Park
For VeronicaFoxx
By Draconicon
The city park had always been a sunlit, happy place. Yes, there were the occasional bullies, the infrequent illegalities on the borders of the green sea of happiness, but they were blips on the radar, little bumps in the road in the lives of those that came to the park to relax, to play, to forget the world. It was never enough to dampen the fun that children, teens, and everyone else had there.
Everyone that called the park their second home knew every tree, every rock, every part of the playground. Despite its vast size, the features were well-known, and only the wildlife remained uncounted.
So it was with great surprise that one day, someone found a little pink lump at the base of one of the trees.
The child in question had been looking for a kite that had gone flying. Having seen it floating away, drifting into the branches of the forest of trees on the south side of the park, the young kitten had gone running for it, assuming that she would have to climb the tree to get it again.
To her surprise, not only was the kite at the foot of the tree next to the pink lump, but there was a little pink paw print on the bottom of it. The kitten marveled at the new mark, looking around for some sign of her helper, but there was nothing to be seen.
She left, shrugging, with the sound of a soft purr, growl, whinny, and many other sounds at her back. She turned, swearing that there must have been a zoo behind her, but there was nothing.
Nothing but the little pink lump.
The story began to spread, and soon every child that wandered the playground and the park had a story of how they'd found the little pink lump everywhere, from under the swings to beneath the jungle gym, from the bathroom to the forest, from the long grass to the wading pool that hadn't been filled in years. Each one had a story, and each one had a little paw-print-marked thing of their own. Some showed off toys, some books, some lost blankets, and still others little marks on their clothes, where they'd been about to fall or stumble and had been pulled back at the last second.
Nobody knew what the lump was, but they knew it was their friend, and they made a decision not to tell the adults about it. The children, after all, knew that such a wonder would only scare the adults, and besides, secrets were fun.
#
One day, early in the morning when the sun had yet to rise and the dew was at its fattest and thickest, the little pink lump uncurled itself from its sleeping branch. It stretched out a long tendril that gradually took the form of a cat's front leg, then shifted to become the longer, thicker foreleg of a dog. That, in turn, shifted into the shape of a gryphon's graceful limb, and then shifted again to the pebbly-armed, leather-draped wing of a wyvern.
The lump let a shiver run down its indecisive body, finally settling on the shape of a wingless drake, pink as ever. It yawned, its gooey jaws clicking in a moment of solidity before it hopped down from the tree.
So pretty in the morning, it thought, shaking its head as it wandered through the little paths of the forest, making its way to the long grass.
Slithering with a smile into the sea of green that soared several feet over its head, Gemini wiggled its way along. Its goo body could easily split and allow the grass through, phasing along its body without breaking the illusion of solidity, but it didn't do that. Instead, the pink drake giggled as the grass tickled its belly, savoring the feeling and the time to just move around as it liked, rather than having to dart about too fast to be seen to help people.
The early morning was best for that. The other children were indoors late at night - most of the time - and during the day they were so busy having fun that Gemini wanted nothing more than to see it continue.
Well, almost nothing more. It would like to be part of the play, but it knew better. After before, it knew better.
For now, though, it could play as it liked. Showering in the little droplets of dew that dropped from the long-bladed grass, the little pink drake wiggled and jumped and darted about in the sea of green, letting itself get lost only to stretch its neck out like a periscope, poking around and looking about for where it should go next.
Round and round and round Gemini went, slithering and swimming and leaping through its hiding place of grass. Rustles of movement chased it, its own tracks its greatest joy before it erased them for safety's sake.
Paw-prints are special, it thought. The paw-prints mark my friends.
Gemini carefully erased the sprints it was leaving behind, swiping its tail through the parts that refused to just wipe away, then leaped from the grass to the nearby jungle gym. Its goo body distended, becoming one long stretchy mass, and slimed its way up one long metal pole to the top. All the water along it became sustenance, the dew coppery and rusty, but nevertheless sustaining.
Becoming a set of pink stalactites hanging from the metal bar at the top, Gemini formed a hundred eyes, a thousand that let it look all over the place. It took in the beautiful greenery, the soft warmth of the first light of day, the little cracks in the pool and the playground toys that were just part of the character...everything.
And it loved it. Nearly as much as it loved the other kids.
Drooling down, Gemini shifted again, taking on the shape of a duck and its ducklings. Always so strange to have one big shape and so many smaller, but fun at the same time. It led itself towards the far side of the park, going to one of the many hiding places where the children sometimes left a treat. The ducks made their way up to a mailbox, paused to come together, then leaped up towards the opening slit at the top. It rippled down, blob-like, until it fell into the bottom. Letters, papers, and -
Yay! Cupcakes!
The little goo creature surrounded the wonderful foods, breaking it down into individual delicious components and pieces before climbing back out of the mailbox. It moved like a puddle, keeping low to the ground and skirting about the first few cars that were starting to arrive.
Eventually, it made its way back to the trees on the south side, becoming a flurry of squirrels to reach the upper branches. Each squirrel had its own piece of cupcake, forming a line down the branch of pink fluffy tails and chittering little mouths. With a nod from the one at the front, they started eating, each one a half-second behind the one just ahead of them, so it was one long wave of yum.
As the line of squirrels were just starting their happy sounds for the delicious food, a different sound filled the air. Gemini came back together quickly, for the sake of speed, and leaped from tree to tree as a great big monkey.
It found the source of the sound near the middle trees, where people had planted them further apart and where they'd tried to put a little fountain in the middle. The fountain was broken, the only place of sadness in the park, and sitting in the middle of it was a girl. No, woman, Gemini corrected itself. The big monkey lowered itself to the branch, watching with enlarged peepers.
The German Shepherd at the fountain cradled a collar to her chest, little bitten off whimpers and louder wails that couldn't be contained filling the little clearing but going scarcely further. Gemini crept down, pink goo reforming itself into a little cluster of butterflies. Everyone liked butterflies, right?
The swarm floated from the tree to the broken fountain, fluttering about, but the dog girl didn't look up. She just held the collar tighter than ever. Gemini hesitated, wanting to make the girl feel better. There was so much wrong here, so much pain. It wanted to make the pain go away, but how did that work? What was it supposed to do?
The butterflies tentatively floated a bit closer, looking at the collar. Soft and worn, the tag part held so tight that the dog girl's hand was bleeding from it. Gemini would have whimpered if it had the mouth for it. Blood was bad. Blood meant hurt. Hurt needed fixing.
Without thinking, the butterflies pulled back, reforming again. This time, it was a dog. A big dog. Biggest dog that there ever was, with shoulders thick enough to stop a truck and paws big enough to stomp out the worst sadness. Gemini picked one up and gently, ever so gently, laid it on the dog girl's shoulder.
"Gah!"
The dog girl jumped up, the German Shepherd turning around and barely keeping her arms at her side. Gemini, on the other hand, stayed as still as possible. The air smelled like grief, sadness, surprise, anger. All the bad things, all the things that it wanted to make better if it could.
"What...what the..."
Gemini looked at the collar, imitating it by forming one on its own neck, and then made a leash from what it could remember of the other dogs and their walkers that it had seen.
It bent down, biting the leash and holding it in its mouth, then walked a bit closer, then a bit closer still, and then a little closer still, until it was in arms-reach of the sad girl. It leaned its head up, offering the leash.
"What...what the heck..."
Holding the leash with its tongue, pinning it against the roof of its mouth, Gemini finally spoke.
"Gemini. Friend."
"You...Oh my god..."
"Friend?"
"Oh god..."
There was no answer, just a slumping forward, the dog girl leaning against Gemini's side and crying again. The big pink dog didn't say anything else. Instead, it hugged. Hugs were good, and kids - and it was a kid, at heart - gave the best ones. The dog girl needed the best hugs right then. Needed them more than anything.
Gemini squeezed with its front paws, pressing down just enough to leave paw-prints on the dog girl's back. Big, pink, glowing paw-prints, where the pads touched between spine and shoulder-blades in a diagonal line, almost like the base of wings.
The hug went on for a long time before the dog girl could stop crying. Gemini nudged her up, giving her the leash again, and this time the dog girl took it.
"Come on. Play."
"I..."
"Play!"
"...Okay."
It was still early enough, Gemini figured. It could play for a little while, and hopefully, hopefully, it would remind the dog girl what it was like to be happy again.
The bad stuff smell was weaker, at least. It had done something good.