The Golden Lure - Appetizer
Treats of The Great Fishes
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Prawn Fish: ‘I laugh at this; hahahaha! See these three struggling at only the third flight? Is this what passes for valor in our bubbled domain? Are these this age’s heroes? No wonder recent eons have seen so few brave the cursed shroud.’
Koi Fish: ‘Come on Prawn Fish. Methinks thee dost project too much. Only their warrior huffs; is that why you whine?’
Prawn Fish: ‘You only like them because they’re outsiders, Koi Fish! Because you carried them down in your belly. Hear how that one in the sunflowers complains at every step they rise. This is the seventh time she’s said they should be going down. I call that sloth. I call that struggle.’
Salmon Fish: ‘I don’t know Prawney, I gotta abide with Koiey here. They ain’t taken many licks before the stair. Sure as sharks they knocked more than one of them Shellshades back to the Bottomworld. And the grey one’s wise to hedges; you saw how he rolled through- JUMPING BELLBUGS KOI FISH! Watch where you trail those whiskers!’
Koi Fish: ‘Didn’t see that grey one before. Heh, I bet Clam Fish is happy.’
Prawn Fish: ‘Now there’s a projection for you! There’s an example of favoritism. A statuary man, carrying a violin, just happens to get this far? Look at him! Look at how bored he is. He just checked his pocket ticker. Again! Clam fish held that one’s hand. I guarantee it.’
Salmon Fish: ‘They got a point Clamey. Odd for one of yours to get this far.’
Clam Fish: ‘It is not our place to say, fellow fish. We have no sway, on the Stairs of Marble Unending. Others have come so far before, and found their worth wanting. Let us take example from the Sea-Father. See the patience of mighty Sun Fish. He watches. He decides. Let us, also, watch.’
Koi Fish: ‘Sourpuss.’
…
Koi Fish: ‘Well, that’s your horse out Prawn Fish. The fat fighter stops at the dozenth story.’
Prawn Fish: ‘Less fool than these other two, Koi Fish! They forget that the skyscraper of the fish might rises endlessly, step after step after step, and never pierces the bubble.’
Koi Fish: ‘Oh, I don’t know. At least they’re determined. The Sun Fish might bless them yet.’
Prawn Fish: ‘You look at their foreign robes only, and wear rosy scales. What’s that style anyway, Starharbor? I cannot believe these the descendants of those who conquered the bubbles. Listen how the sunflower-bedecked one wails. “I’m bored,” she howls. Such an amusingly human noise.’
Salmon Fish: ‘It is a bit of a cowsowhorse-ish whine. Hehehehehe, she’ll be done soon enough.’
Koi Fish: ‘I see the grey one’s going strong. He’s checked his ticker once or twice, but he marches on. You must be pleased, Clam Fish.’
Clam Fish: ‘Patience IS a virtue.’
Koi Fish: ‘Ugh, you can hear the sneer in his shell. He’s happy as himself.’
Prawn Fish: ‘Just you wait Clam Fish. You think yours is favored, but I think the sunflowers on that robe will yet earn the father fish’s favor.’
Clam Fish: ‘We’ll see.’
…
Clam Fish: ‘Alright, I admit it; this is a bit much. Even for me.’
Koi Fish: ‘He’s been at it for ages!’
Salmon Fish: ‘Whew! That trip out to Pluck and back is a dullard! Anything happen while I was gone?’
Prawn Fish: ‘He’s. Still. Going. It’s intolerable. The sunflower one found her sense eons ago. Would that the Sun Fish allowed me those gun-toting Shellshades I suggested as guards. We could have spared ourselves all this watching.’
Koi Fish: ‘I didn’t know human legs could take that many steps. Period.’
Clam Fish and Salmon Fish together: ‘They can’t.’
Koi Fish: ‘Hey, Rain Fish, if it’s not a huge bother, could you-’
Rain Fish: ‘HUUUUUHHHHHH. Why is it that whenever there’s trouble, it’s ME that has to fix it? When the cottonfruits are dry, MY rain gives them existence. When people… need rain for other things, I have to provide it.’
Koi Fish: ‘Okay, Alright. No need to flap up a hail. But since you mention rain, do you think you could flood the Stairs of Marble Unending? Just a little? Just to see if this grey guy stops?’
Rain Fish: ‘You know, I just don’t think I have it in me today. Antiquity’s such a hot bubble to lay on.’
Salmon Fish: ‘What about The Thick and Sweaty Wind? Sure as sugar she’d be sweet enough to handle him.’
Prawn Fish: ‘Is she nearby? My experience with her is: she always blows when you need your shots to fly straight, and sits still when you need a cool gust. Hardly the reliable sort.’
Koi Fish: ‘Wind? You out there?’
The Thick and Sweaty Wind: ‘Hi Fishes. Why are you screaming after me? Not that a girl doesn’t like that, now and then.’
Prawn Fish: ‘Simple job for you wind, if you can handle it. There’s an interloper mounting the Stairs of Marble Unending. He won’t give up. We need you to destroy him.’
Clam Fish: ‘Or just blow him back unharmed.’
Prawn Fish: ‘Well, I guess half a job done will technically work. In this instance. Just get rid of him.’
The Thick and Sweaty Wind: ‘Say… I know that guy.’
All the Fish: ‘You do?’
The Thick and Sweaty Wind: ‘Sure. That’s Mr. Grey.’
Koi Fish: ‘So, what’s he like?’
The Thick and Sweaty Wind: ‘He’s alright.’
Koi Fish: ‘Will he ever give up on these stairs?’
The Thick and Sweaty Wind: ‘Do they ever change?’
Koi Fish: ‘No.’
The Thick and Sweaty Wind: ‘He’s pretty persistent.’
…
Sun Fish: ‘What man is this that seeks conference with Great Fishes?’
All The Fish and The Thick and Sweaty Wind: ‘*Yawn* Mr. Grey.’
Sun Fish: ‘What does this man show?’
Prawn Fish: ‘Lunacy!’
Koi Fish: ‘Gotta agree boss. Lunacy.’
Salmon Fish: ‘Some Pluck, Some Prestige, no Panache, a dash of Antiquity.’
Clam Fish: ‘Determination.’
Rain Fish: ‘UUUUUGH. Trouble!’
Blob Fish: ‘...’
Sun Fish: ‘Let this mortal enter the realm of the Fishes’ Pond. Let those who accompanied in prior trials, accompany here. Let them brave my flaming quills, for the glance of the Fishes. Let them look, but not touch, upon the divine scales of we fish. And Clam Fish: let you hide my lure in your soft mouth, that only the worthy may make claim.’
Clam Fish: ‘Sure.’
This has been In Different Color, a fairy tale.
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