(no subject)

[stolenmilkcrate.livejournal.com]

Polymer clay, baked and painted, with story under the cut.





"What is that?" Gruff, the local young dragon known for bullying all things lesser than himself, asked Murfy, a smaller-than-usual dragonling who had just moved into the next cave over.

"'S my pet. His name is Rock," murmured Murfy, clutching the small green, smooth-looking object tighter to his chest.

"You have a pet rock?" the larger dragon snorted derisively. The surrounding group of young dragons (who generally only hung around Gruff because he'd tie their tails in knots if they didn't) chuckled uncomfortably. "Pet rocks are dumb. And they're for babies. Are you a baby, new kid? Well? Are you? Or are your parents just too poor to buy you a real pet?"

Murfy lowered his head and backed away, clutching his Rock to his chest even harder. "I'm not a baby, and Rock is a good pet."

"Where you going, neeew kid? You afraid?" Gruff growled, seeing a new rung in the social ladder he could step on to gain another few inches. "I guess you're scared. Too bad your parents didn't get you something cool like a wolverine or an alligator, like a normal dragon." Gruff advanced on the diminutive Murfy, his claws outstretched. "Be a good baby and hand over your pet rock, and then maybe I'll leave you alone."

"Well, okay. But you have to promise to be gentle with him," Murfy said. And with that, he gave his Rock a toss into the air, straight at Gruff.

Unfortunately for Gruff, as Rock went spinning, four little nubs popped out so that Rock no longer resembled a rock; he now looked much more like a ninja throwing star.

Much more unfortunately for Gruff, as Rock bumped Gruff in the head and poked him in the eyes with two of the first nubs, a fifth and much larger, rounder nub popped out. The big nub had two big wide shiny eyes. The big nub also had a big wide sharp mouth, which opened lightning-fast and closed just as quickly, right on the big bully's big, bulbous nose.

Try as he might, Gruff could not shake Rock from his snout. Through confusion and pain, Gruff even tried banging his head against the cavern wall, but Rock's hard shell kept him safe and Gruff only succeeded in giving himself a good concussion.

As the large bully blacked out and slid to the ground, Murfy whistled and said, "Here, Rock, that's enough." Rock blinked his large eyes once and opened his beaky mouth; he slid to the floor, and as he waddled slowly over to his keeper, a sixth, tiny nub popped out from the back of his rock-like body and wagged happily.

Gruff awakened a short time later, alone in the cave, for all of Gruff's old "friends" had become fast buddies with the new kid and his fantastic pet Rock. Since then, Gruff could be heard muttering to himself about crazy killer rocks; he would jump at the sound of dragons walking on gravel, and he eventually removed himself from the caves to go live in the desert, where he went completely insane once he was told by a well-informed cactus bird that sand is just tiny, tiny rocks.

There are several morals to this story; one could take away from it that it is always decent to be kind to the new guy. One could also glean that it doesn't pay to be a bully. A very dull person might also assume that this story teaches that you shouldn't ram your head into a cave wall no matter how great an idea it seems at the time.

If I may, I will steer you onto this one: Never make fun of somebody's pet, no matter how dull it seems to be. Just because it appears dull doesn't mean the sharper points aren't hiding somewhere.