{"sf1_id":2102421,"sf2_id":"dePV593n","title":"Faux Fossil","author":"Doc Hauke","words":690,"posted_at":"2024-02-06T15:02:00.000Z","tags":["Badger","Family","Petrification","basilisk"],"url":"https://fse.anthro.fr/stories/2102421-faux-fossil","original_url":"https://sofurry.com/s/dePV593n","image_url":"https://cdn.sofurryfiles.com/submissions/thumbnails/56/66/5666f376-6dc7-4b27-8b66-ed93a8c7bc70","description":"Daydreams of the far-flung future when we've settled down and had extended family over to visit; done as a writing exercise for a weekly prompt at FurAffinity. It turned out cute so I thought I'd share it elsewhere.","content":"There were nice things about having extended family visit:\u0026nbsp; Hauke hadn't heard the sounds of little paws scampering around the badger sett tunnels for quite some time.\u0026nbsp; It warmed his heart, just a little bit.\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\n\n  \n\nThere were some nerve-wracking things about having extended family visit:\u0026nbsp; the sounds of curious badgers making their own tunnels or discovering they'd gone deeper than intended was making him grind his beak.\n\n  \n\n\"I think they've found a bunch of Uncle Bruce's books,\" said their mother.\u0026nbsp; Hauke couldn't keep himself from thinking of her as \"that youngster Katie\".\u0026nbsp; Thinking too much about her actual age would be depressing.\n\n  \n\nHe sipped some coffee.\u0026nbsp; \"Good, maybe they'll rip some of them up.\u0026nbsp; He's collected way too many of those over the years.\u0026nbsp; Or maybe take some with you when you go, I'm sure he won't miss them.\"\n\n  \n\nBruce would be asleep for quite a while longer; my badger had always liked sleeping in, but most of the rest of his family did not.\u0026nbsp; Having folks to talk to in the morning was another of those things that simultaneously did things to his heart and his beak, depending.\n\n  \n\n\"Mom!\u0026nbsp; MOM!\"\u0026nbsp; Three little badgers tumbled into the kitchen carrying some dusty prize, recovered from the ground.\u0026nbsp; \"Let ME show her,\" said the smallest, who socked his older sister in the stomach.\u0026nbsp; Ah, siblings...\n\n  \n\n\"It's a fossil,\" said the tallest.\u0026nbsp; His name escaped the basilisk at the moment.\u0026nbsp; \"A fossilized shark tooth.\u0026nbsp; I almost stepped on it, and we dug it out.\"\n\n  \n\n\"Is that so,\" asked Hauke.\u0026nbsp; He leaned forward to peer at the pointy triangular rock.\u0026nbsp; \"A petrified tooth...it very well may be.\"\n\n  \n\n\"Wouldn't that mean that there used to be an ocean here?\u0026nbsp; That's what I learned in school,\" the tallest one continued while the two other youngsters traded more blows to even the score between them.\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\n\n  \n\n\"There was never an ocean here,\" yawned Bruce as he arrived in the kitchen.\u0026nbsp; \"Not even in prehistoric times.\"\n\n  \n\n\"Then how did it get here?\"\u0026nbsp; The young badger shook his head and scowled.\u0026nbsp; \"It just doesn't make sense.\"\n\n  \n\n\"Tell you what,\" said Bruce.\u0026nbsp; \"Let me hang onto that one and I'll try looking it up in an almanac I know about; you go look for more!\u0026nbsp; One might just be a coincidence.\u0026nbsp; I'd suggest looking off to the west tunnels, since they're the least disturbed.\"\n\n  \n\nThe small band of young badgers rushed off.\u0026nbsp; \"They came from the other way,\" said Katie.\n\n  \n\n\"Yup,\" said Bruce.\u0026nbsp; He held up the tooth to Hauke.\u0026nbsp; \"Is this your handiwork?\u0026nbsp; I caught you saying 'petrified' instead of 'fossilized'.\"\n\n  \n\nKatie was taken aback.\u0026nbsp; \"You keep them in....my kids stumbled across....\"\u0026nbsp; She avoided looking at the basilisk.\u0026nbsp; \"Uncle Bruce, does he really still....\"\n\n  \n\n\"No, not in years,\" Hauke cut in.\u0026nbsp; \"And if I had, so what?\u0026nbsp; A fine thing...whatever happened to that indomitable badger attitude?\u0026nbsp; Don't tell me it dilutes itself generation after generation, my dear Katie.\"\n\n  \n\nShe smiled and edged a groove in the tabletop with a long claw.\u0026nbsp; \"It doesn't.\u0026nbsp; No, it absolutely doesn't.\u0026nbsp; I was just thinking, I didn't want to explain...certain realities to the kids, just yet.\u0026nbsp; Their father has no idea about you, that's a conversation I'd like to save for a future date.\"\u0026nbsp; She gazed at the stone tooth in Bruce's hands.\u0026nbsp; \"So, you got a shark?\u0026nbsp; I don't imagine that's something you'd stare at every day.\"\n\n  \n\n\"No, it was something called a Sergal.\u0026nbsp; Darn thing popped up one day when one of those interplanetary conventions was going on.\"\u0026nbsp; The basilisk shook his head.\u0026nbsp; \"It's a shame he was always top-heavy, he fell down a couple weeks ago.\u0026nbsp; Broke apart; bottom jaw cracked off and went into pieces.\u0026nbsp; That must have come off when we were taking the remains outside.\"\n\n  \n\n\"They talk to him,\" Bruce told his niece.\u0026nbsp; \"The statues.\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;Even the pieces.\u0026nbsp; He couldn't stand having the guy around after he'd fractured.\"\u0026nbsp; He held up the tooth and pointed it at his mate.\u0026nbsp; \"Is it still talking?\"\n\n  \n\n\"Yes, it's providing quite biting commentary on our conversation.\"\u0026nbsp; He looked back and forth between the two badgers.\u0026nbsp; \"No?\u0026nbsp; Nothing?\u0026nbsp; Well, I thought it was funny....\"\n\n  \n\n  \n\n  \n  \n\n"}