Do You Still Like Us?

and so the king beast trounced and pounced and shounced and shouted and he ate and gobbled everything up, except one little tiny morsel of a cute thing that scuuuurieeeeed and scrammed itself away   “Nothing! THAN I am nothing!!!!”  ‘why?’ ‘because that little thing got away?’ “YES!” ‘it is ok, little things sometimes scurry away, but you are a proud and beastly king.’ ‘these things need not bother such a great king as yourself.’ “AND yet, it makes me FEEL, still, FEEL so small...” ‘yes this can happen.’ ‘even to such a great and beastly thing as yourself.’ “AM I such a SMALL thing that I cannot eat WHAT I WANT whenever I WANT???” ‘you can eat whatever you want.’ ‘perhaps you allow the little things to thrive by themselves?’ ‘you don’t eat everything!’ “OF course not! Then who would see me EAT?!”

and so a heavy paw rises and the 2 tinies are now able to shakily stand to their feet and cower before a mighty and great beastie. “Now run and scamper off you little darling things.” the hard booming of the beasties voice knocks them back down quick fast. but there is nothing malicious in that booming voice, only strength and booming and loud percussive force. ‘perhaps we can tag along for a bit?’ ‘i’ve, i’ve, i’ve never felt so safe before’ their voices break and quiver, but their hope for, something, ally, life shines bright. and all of it is mercilessly and completely lost on such a mighty and brightly beastie. “HAHAHA, yes little ones, you want to see how a real KING beast tramps and stramps through the night? Come and watch me eats and feasts.” ‘aaaahhh but we are so tiny!’ ‘won’t we be trampled so easy?’ “NO NO NO, no such thing, I shall protect you little things, you shall feast upon my feast, watch a real KING beast in action! ...and if I’m unlucky tonight perhaps I shall eats you HAHAHAHA!” The laug

so 2 tinies cower forward into black, damp blindness. horrible and terribly wicked sounds echo and scurry around them as a wet, dense copper waft fills their noses too full. their tiny hearts beat, blat, blast against their chest, pounding deafening booms against their ear drums, until they feel a heavy hand gently encompass them and pin them gently flat against the ground. “Awww, my first meal has arrived so easily.” the voice is deep and resonate and chases all courage and hope from every corner and crevice. ‘meal?’ ‘surely one as mighty as yourself could never be nourished by such tiny morsels.’ “Ha, true, but you are merely the first morsel the night has bestowed.” ‘but why ruin what will obviously be such a mighty and delicious meal?’ ‘we are the tiniest and sourest of tiny things and we can tell from your mighty paw’s grip you are a beastie of great renown, deserving of scrumptious, delicious and satisfying morsels.’ ‘we could never die with peace knowing we so poorly began your night’s meal so sour and

darkness seeps thick and thicker as creaks and whines and gurgles burble towards 2 tinie tiny tinies, now cautiously stepping forward  hand in hand into darkness. the woods engulf them. a sharp crack snaps quick to their right and they cower holding each other tightly. the crack is quickly followed by a wet snap and a frantic fury of sinew, bone and muscle obscured in dark and brush. to their left and just above them another too quick snap, crack, squeal and the 2 tinies can only whisper whimpers to each other.  ‘i am afraid.’ ‘me too.’ ‘do not lose me.’ ‘never.’ 2 tiny hands clasp tighter as 2 tinies hands beat harder.

the day draws towards it’s end and the weight of reality begins to fall heavier and heavier with the dipping light. on the horizon they see the ships sailing back home and they have no idea how to stop the inevitable. but they are clever and brave and wild and they look to one another in silence thinking of a way out. “let’s run away.” “yes! but where?” as the night continues to seep into the shadowed and dark places they hear many wild sounds begin to rise behind them. “into the woods.” “we’ll never survive.” barely a whisper, but a reckless hope has been given life. “maybe, but we’ll be together.” “yes, we’ll be together.” and so 2 tiny hands clasp as 2 tinies rise to their feet and contently, confidently walk into the darkening woods, smiles uncontained and wild.

as they both turn to their tiny tinie little towns they realize it all at once and sudden. they are enemies, a thing real and ancient, they are from different towns, different sides, they’re different. ... “you know we’re not so different” “yeah i think we kinda have a lot in common” “the ships have already sailed, so maybe we can just sit and talk a bit” “yeah, let’s sit and talk, a bit” and so 2 tiny souls falter and stumble head over heels for one another, looking for answers, finding frustration and laughs, but forward they trek, ever committed to the light and bright and impossible.

‘oh, why?’ a small chuckle sweetly wafts from them both. and so unfolds the story of 2 tiny little tinies who hopped into a tiny and little row boat together one odd night on their way to a near by fire on the shore, to drink and eat and eats and drinks and drinks and maybe eats some more, confused to how they met and enjoying sweet circumstance their oars lapped less and less as they talked and joked and stared deep into one another until transfixed. the moon dips deep and the sun begins to rise and they hold each other close and fall asleep to dream of together. the morning comes and the ships all sail away. they wake long after and smile sweetly to one another. today they miss the battle, but they happily stare into each other and row back to shore and step upon those soft, sandy shores and sweetly turn to walk back to their town, only to realize they’ve turned from each other and they are enemies.

‘good morning’ ‘we are not gods...’ ...smiles and coughs and knowing winks and nods push through hazy smokes and hazy, sunny rays   )()()the o0ld on3s...the 0ddd one$l;;; 3never seem sh00000w U>p””” ... “This can be true” a puff of bluish smoke raises and wafts through the aire, stinky but still oddly sweet  “But sometimes not” a simple and true smile shines from an old and weathered mouth of crooked teeth and sharp eyes crowded with earned and worn wrinkles “true...but we are here....and there are no gods and we are here...and where are the go...” “Shhhhhhhhh....” a pause ensues....truth can be hard to see and so they all squint and smile ... 4 gals stand before 2 old tinies...no gods among them....but truth burns to tell true ...... “You might be right” ... “We ran away long ago”

the 4 gals grow sleepy as the sun begins to rise, they struggle to stay awake and watch the cute tinies begin to wake up and row their little boats back home, most going the right way and some going wrong, everyone groggy and a little cross and wanting a hot breakfast before they all set sail back into the thick, quick, hit of battle again. “Sad how everyone can come together so easily at the end of the day.” “And start all the hate back up in the morning.” the tiny voices from behind startle the girls and they quickly turn around to find a tiny old man and tiny old lady sitting next to each other holding hands on a log not far away. they are both dressed in dark green tunics and thick, ripped, tattered brown pants. the lady smiles sweetly as the old man winks, nods his head and lights up the tiniest smoking pipe the gals have ever seen. “Good morning.” “Yes good morning beautiful ones, are you the gods who have returned?”

and soon homes and taverns and streets are filled with light and fire and laughter and food and drinks, some are dressed in blue and red and some are dressed in red and blue, and some mix and some mingle unknowingly happy amongst one another. the towns seem connected in their togetherness and commons. at times the towns feel connected, but the looming ships still sit idle and testament in the bay, their wounds real and deep and recent. at random fights break out of the night, until they die back down again. at random laughter and song shine bright until they quiet down again. the night grows deeper as little tinies laugh and climb into tiny boats and float and bob and rock in the bay, watching the fresh hanging moon peek out from behind the cloudy, deep sky. they talk and share and laugh and cry, the tiny ships do not notice how they mingle and mix amongst one another. 4 gals creep farther back into the darkness and forest behind them to watch. 2 tiny towns mix and mingle and there is no hate as the moon hang

4 gals step out of the boat onto a soft and sandy wide bay beach. to their right in the distance is a beautiful port town full of obvious personality. to their left in the distance is a beautiful port town obviously full of personality. the colors don’t quite match, but they are such the same. the 4 gals walk to one end of the bay and examine the tiny town. it is cute. after a while they turn around and walk to the other end of the bay and examine the other tiny town. it is cute. the differences are hard to spot. they take their time examining and appreciating the cute tiny of it all as the sun dips in the distance and 2 fleets of ships quietly, quickly, swift dip back from the horizon. the fog is now gone, but the dark obscures all their figures as the fleet swiftly, unevenly splits and begins to sail swiftly back home to their tiny homes. 4 gals eventually notice the fleets return and hide in the dark shadows, watching, waiting, wondering, who are these cute tinies? .... and in the dark one question presses

“monsters!!!!” a tiny scream turns to a tiny roar as all the tiny waring ships begin to pull and tug their ships away. tiny bodies fall over the edges of quickly turning ships and splash tinie tiny in the calm lapping waters of the calm and lapping bay. {{{::”d000004t rug””!! ‘yes! don’t run!’ ‘wait, talk with us!’ “why do you fight so fierce??” tiny hearts tremble from fearless chests and booming souls. a tiny pause ensues as the winds fade and everything sails to still. ““WE FIGHT FOR FREEDOM!”” a tiny and mighty roar echoes forth from all sides. ‘then why do you fight each other’ it is the first time the tinies have thought and yelled this thought in sync, the first time they have turned to each other and wondered why, why do they fight. it is a greatly tiny first thought. “We have always fought for us!” they yell as “We have always fought for us.” others yell in shock and sync Both sides begin to see each other and wonder for the first in a long time why DO we fight? ‘we have come a long way’ ‘and have lo

far over the horizon loud cracks and booms boom and crack loudly far and far away. the sounds slowly, lazily grow louder and closer as their boat lazily floats slowly closer towards. “what is that I wonder?” but they all know what it is, it is the tinies. they slowly float closer and scrunch their eyes towards the distance, blinded and tearing scrunch from the smoothly rising sun ahead. }{}}_i c44n||t csee anyfang???|||` but the noises boom and crack closer than far and their hearts begin to race at the chaos of it all, until they come upon the scene. a gut wrenching war of tiny ships pounding each other into next to nothing in a large island bay. it is devastating and evil and real. and it is so tiny. 4 brave gals stand in their magic boat and tower over the surreal scene, giant and real and splendid and appalled. ‘stop!’ ‘now!’ the moment pauses at their booming voices. every clear eye turns and stares their way. the crashing clang and death pauses for the moment.

As 4 gals tread water they smile and laugh about their adventure so far, such a silly and beautiful and scary thing. They wade and laugh and breath and float easily on their backs until just over the horizon a blob of a speck of boat sails slowly towards them. Tiny and dinky it slowly draws near, big enough to hold 4 little gals, an obvious leaking and sinking mess. As they all climb over the soaked and damp and ruggedly rough edges they wetly splash into an ankle deep of salty sea. They tiredly lay upon their backs, breathing, the water not reaching past their proud cheeks as they stare and smile into the deep, pure blue sky above. The boat floats on as sky turns to star.

“We must save them!” “Or now we can keep them.” ... “Yes we could keep them.” “But they are so sweet and precious.” ... ... “Than we shall save them.” The moment is tense, but it has rolled in favor of the 4 intrepid gals once again. Scaly and shimmering hands grip their shoulders gentle yet firm as beautiful kaleidoscope tails whip quick fast, up and up and up. An eternity of speed towards the surface as the 4 gals breath and life flails to barely ember, until finally, their heads break above, the now dead bubbles of spent turtle aire are ripped roughly from their heads, their chests are compressed in and out as mermaids blow fresh breath into their empty lungs. A long moment of desperate effort until all 4 gals begin to cough and hack and vomit and breath once again. Their eyes come back from the brink of glassy as they all realize everyone is still alive. ‘thank you beautys’ ‘that was close’ “Yes, we forget how fragile you little things are.” ... “We have to go now, but there should be a boat coming along

“Ok you are right” “We have grown quite greedy” “We do not get such bright and light so far down and deep” “But we know we cannot keep you” ‘you can keep us’ ‘as friends’ “Friends?” ‘yes’ ‘we shall visit again’ ‘and share more with you then’ “Friends...?” “We would very much like that” “good, then friends we shall all be” ... “Well, I guess back to the top then” |||~yesh::; back to the top again):: 2 gals quietly sigh relief to themselves as 2 little, strong, brave gals smile and wink at their many new and dangerous merfriends, all swimming and endlessly darting around until up and up they float ... up and up ...and still up... ... and as they all begin to grow closer to the surface the 4 gals notice the dank staleness of their aire bubbles, growing thick and cloudy, milky thick around their heads, they try to keep calm, but their strength flags as their aire runs into a thin and cloudy whisper, all too thick and gone, the 4 gals begin to slowly sink back and down, choking on lack ... ‘help’ ‘please and now’

‘and we think we have seen what there is too see for now’ ‘and it has been quite excellent and amazing’ ‘thank you so much’ }}yersh, thak uwu’’ ... “Ahhh, but we have deeper to go” “And much more to show and share” the moment turns cold and the shimming of beautiful scales flash sharp out of the corner of their eyes ‘no, we have gone far enough for now’ ‘now, we hug and say goodbyes’ ... the moment tightens and thickens thicker sharp ... “No, we have more to show you!” “We must show you the wonders even deeper, farther down below!” ... ... ... “no, no little ladies, you must now let us go now” ... “Let you go? We are only your guides, you are free to roam wherever you please” smiles turn sharply turned as the dank and cold darkness begins to seep in “you have been most lovely guides, but as we have said, we will now be leaving” ... smiles dark, boding and cautious light the scene “Don’t leave just yet” “Stay a moment or something” ‘please, dont keep us” ‘it is time to say goodbye’ ... “Goodbye?” ‘yes’ ‘please

deeper down and so things row, beauty and gold and rose and old, and new and strange and pains with clever brains, and souls with personalities, and moles digging too down and deep, and a silly misunderstanding between a jelly’s large belly thinking they had first dibs on the old song and melody, only to sink their teeth on folds of jellied beets, more fins then feets, more fins than feats, din after din until in the cacophony, still 4 heartings beat beatly beat, awwed and wondered at sights they’ve never seen, scenes new and not before, nothing settles, just shifts farther, darker, further down into then and than well past before and than and then until there’s almost more...

and a cute moment soon turns ingenious as quick hands grab quickly passing turtles, fully stomached on the easy poaching below and quick on their ways back to the aire above, adept merhands quickly pumping and stealing milky turtle bubble burps strong, full of breath and turtlely aires of milky, round and strong bubble skins holding strong beneath the surfaces above. the mermaids deftly place the milky, airy bubbles gently over the 4 gals heads. “eewwww” }}{[gR0sssp! ‘sush’ ‘sushs , beauties...the bubbles are gross, yes’ ‘but now we can talk’ ‘and breath’ |||}}}bUt the bubbs Rsogross!?// “silly Gals, these are merely aire turtle bubbles...there are many more wonders to see farther down below.” a wild and briny scent overflows the bubbles/as 2 gals grow nervous/as 2 brave/confident gals smile at the smirking/smirk of it all “we want to take you deeper down.” 2 nervous gals look to 2 experienced smirking and smiling gals ‘sounds interesting’ ‘we’d love too’ ~`=+R33lly}}>? ‘yeah’ ‘really’ ))990h::wel12 ok**^ “go

and cold waters push hard and overwhelming, stealing all breath and tightening pores, huge bubbles of air gushing towards their faces, bursting and confusing and popping all around. hands dart out from the dark towards their faces, pinching their cheeks, brushing back their stray hairs until sweet faces emerge from the murk and freeze of’ the moment quick. the water churns, turns normal, clear as 4 gals find themselves serenely floating deep below above, a skool of mermaids hovering, dodging around them, smiling, blushing and glowing interest. “you’re all just so cute and, so beauty” the words are spoken almost bubble beneath the deep, flowing surface above, but they are easily heard. 4 gals smile at the beauty and boldness of the bold and shimmering mermaids floating around them. they cannot reply under waters set so deep, but their smiles are true as they met the earnest stares floating in and around them. “I apologize for our boldness...but you are very special gals and we are very too wild... we just want