{"sf1_id":1887381,"sf2_id":"dmBPRVQ1","title":"COMMISSION - Story for Seraphon","author":"TheFurryWriter","words":1431,"posted_at":"2022-08-16T19:31:00.000Z","tags":["Anthropomorphic","Dystopia","Post-Apocalyptic","Story"],"url":"https://fse.anthro.fr/stories/1887381-commission-story-for-seraphon","original_url":"https://sofurry.com/s/dmBPRVQ1","image_url":"https://cdn.sofurryfiles.com/submissions/thumbnails/fc/3e/fc3e4d7e-560c-46d9-8645-c53489a8b78d","description":"#1 of STORIES\n\nA really fun commission for Seraphon! Quite a detailed prompt for this one, which I love to receive. It was really fun to write. All intellectual property / characters / setting etc are their own creation.","content":"Against an ink-black sky, small flickers of ember briefly danced, before vanishing. They came from the only\u0026nbsp;\n\npoint of warmth and light in the barren landscape - a small fire that hummed gently, providing a fragile\u0026nbsp;\n\ncounterpoint to the seemingly limitless darkness of a night-time world without artificial light.\u0026nbsp;\n\nThe fire was at the centre of a small group of RVs, all of which were well worn and clearly had been used\n\nfor a long time with only a dedicated but unprofessional maintenance. They had a lived-in quality, and had clearly\n\nbeen loved for the shelter they provided; for every dent and scratch there were signs of diligent handiwork\n\nto keep the vehicles operational. Despite the comforting, albeit tentative, light of the fire, in itself it\u0026nbsp;\n\ncontained one of the darker contradictions of this world; its warm and comforting light could only be produced\u0026nbsp;\n\nby burning volatile monster ichor - a substance only exceeded in volatility by the means and dangers of its\u0026nbsp;\n\nprocurement. However, such danger was far from the minds of at least two of the individuals sharing in the\u0026nbsp;\n\nfires warmth.\u0026nbsp;\n\n\"Dad, can we have a bedtime story? Please?\" Said one of them, politely.\n\n\"Yes!\" Another butted in excitedly, \"A story about the old times, before everything went dark!\"\n\nThe two speakers, Roxanne and Luna, were both sat on a overturned log near the fire, but in this, their\u0026nbsp;\n\nsimilarities ended. Roxanne, her brown, tufted, ears standing to attention to both the conversation, and the\u0026nbsp;\n\nnight air around her, sat in a reserved poise of caution, despite the clear excitement sparkling in her azure\u0026nbsp;\n\neyes. Clearly her caution was not an overreaction to the world she lived in, as one could see in the fire's\n\nflickering light her left forearm was bandaged and severed at the elbow, from a vicious monster attack years\n\nprior. Luna, despite being her firm friend, was her opposite; she was a constant source of excited energy,\n\nalmost as playful and unpredictable as the fire itself, and where Roxanne sat still and poised, Luna was\u0026nbsp;\n\nalmost every moment playing with her thick white fur, twisting her long ears in her paw, or looking at Roxanne\n\nwith her deep red eyes to see if she shared her excitement.\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\n\nTheir focus was on Roxanne's father, Mason, who was older in both stature and in the complexity of his\u0026nbsp;\n\nreaction to the world around him. His soft, twinkling eyes crinkled and shone only with warmth when looking\n\nat the two young ones in his care, but his large ears - a more worn version of his daughter's - were\n\nconstantly swivelling to alert at any sound in the night around him, and his tail swished with apprehension.\u0026nbsp;\n\nHe both understood the darkness encroaching upon them, and like the fire they surrounded, provided warmth and\u0026nbsp;\n\nsecurity in the face of it.\u0026nbsp;\n\nHe smiled, his sharp teeth showing. \"Well, are you sure such a story wouldn't scare you off your sleep little\u0026nbsp;\n\nones? I could always tell you a more soothing story abo-\"\n\n\"No!\" Protested Luna, almost jumping out of her seat, \"I want to hear about before the dark times!\" Roxanne looked\n\nless sure but nodded in assent to her friends request.\u0026nbsp;\n\nMason smiled again, despite Luna not being his child, she was as dear to him, and to the other members of their\n\ncompany, as their blood offspring. As Luna's mother had.. not survived to raise Luna herself. Roxanne noticed\n\nthe wistful look in her father's eyes and said \"Dad! Don't just remember! Tell us!\" And then, seeming shocked at\n\nher own outburst, added a polite \"Please!\"\n\nMason smiled and ruffled her thick fur, so like his own. \"Ok little ones,\" he said, \"well, long ago now, the Dark\n\nTime began -\"\n\n\"But what was before the Dark!\" Luna butted in, her ears pricking up.\n\nMason smiled and said \"whoa! So that's the story you're after huh? What the world used to be like?\"\n\n\"Yes! With telebones and the tinternet and all those other things!\" Luna excitedly encouraged, and Roxanne's eyes\n\nsparkled.\n\n\"And I want to hear about my grandparents,\" Roxanne shyly added, playing with the clasp on her faded denim\u0026nbsp;\n\ndungarees.\u0026nbsp;\n\nMason smiled again, warmly, but you could see a flicker of pain in his tender eyes at the memories Roxanne's\u0026nbsp;\n\nrequest brought up.\u0026nbsp;\n\n\"Well, before the Dark, the world was...\" Mason leaned in, eliciting both Roxanne and Luna to do the same,\n\n\"NOISY!\" he intoned, causing them to jump in their seats. \"It was full of light; sound, hustle and bustle.\u0026nbsp;\n\nIt was the kind of world, Luna, I think you would have really enjoyed.\"\n\nBefore Luna could jump on this comment, Roxanne asked shyly \"would I have liked it Dad?\"\n\n\"Why, yes, I think you would Roxy. I particularly think you would have been fond of libraries, which were like\n\nbig buildings fill-\"\n\n\"What's a building?\" Luna interrupted,\n\n\"Like those old wrecks we scavenge in!\" Roxanne told her, proud of her answer.\n\n\"Yes, indeed,\" Mason smiled at them both - but back before the dark they weren't wrecks at all, they were clean\u0026nbsp;\n\nand served many different purposes - and libraries were filled with books, shelves upon shelves of books, that\u0026nbsp;\n\nyou could sit in and read, as long as you were quiet.\"\n\n\"Sounds BORING!\" Laughed Luna, but Roxanne's eyes sparkled with wonder. Her father always returned with damaged\n\nbooks for her when he found them on scavenging raids, and they were amongst her most treasured possessions.\u0026nbsp;\n\n\"But what about telebones! And cars! And aeroplanes!\" Luna excitedly asked.\n\n\"Well, they were called tele-PHones Luna,\" Mason corrected kindly, \"and they were ways of communicating with\n\neach other - if you had one, and someone else had one, you could talk as if you were just like this - as close\n\nas you and I, as if by magic!\"\n\nLuna burst out in her usual torrent of questions - \"How did they work? Did you have one? Was it really magic?\n\nWhy don't we have them now?\" And Mason laughed with love, but it was Roxanne's question that cut through the\n\nnoise and drew a response from him.\u0026nbsp;\n\n\"Did you talk to your parents on the telephone Dad?\"\n\nIt was an innocent question; Roxanne was not old enough to understand the pain it might cause Mason, and he\u0026nbsp;\n\nhid it well, smiling his big smile, whilst his eyes reflected the firelight.\u0026nbsp;\n\n\"I did... I did indeed Roxanne! I used to talk to them every weekend, and if I didn't, my Mother would get\u0026nbsp;\n\nreally angry, just like yours does when Luna comes over and jumps on our bed!\"\n\nLuna grumpily folded her arms and Roxanne stared at her father in wonder.\n\n\"Does that mean if we found a telebo-, um, telephone, we would be able to contact them again?\" She asked.\n\nThis time Mason was not able to hide his response quickly, and his eyes appeared wistful and his mouth turned\n\nto a slight frown, before he snapped back to the present and smiled at the children.\n\n\"Well, we'll have to see won't we? Perhaps if we find one on our scavenging runs, we can see if we can get it\n\nworking! But, I think that is enough stories for tonight; I think its time for you two to get some shut-eye.\"\n\nLuna pouted and kicked her feet, and Roxanne looked slightly put out. The fire crackled, and Mason looked\n\nup to the dark, unlit night sky, wondering himself if he would ever talk to his parents again - what he did\u0026nbsp;\n\nnot tell the children, was that after the cataclysms, he did not even know if they were alive or dead.\n\nJust as his feelings were beginning to rise inside of him, both Roxanne and Luna rushed over and gave him a\u0026nbsp;\n\nhug so enthusiastic it almost knocked him off his seat. They had both noticed the look in his eye, and although\n\nthey didn't know what caused it, they knew that it normally meant he was sad, and they wanted to cheer him up.\u0026nbsp;\n\nHe pulled them into a strong embrace, and they both excitedly said, \"Can we have another story tomorrow night?\"\n\nHe laughed and told them they could, and every night after that, and every night after that also. And then he\n\nheld them a little tighter, and pressed his face into their fur, as the truth was, he didn't know how many nights\n\nthere would be, and he was afraid at times. But for now, he had the fire, and his loved ones, and he held them\n\nclose to his chest.\n\n  \n  \n\n"}