Sweetish

Chapter 20

Night. As the sky dyed itself darkser and darker shades of indigo there was a sound of rhythmic chopping that came from the forest, only periodically interrupted by the twitter of a teensy tiny bird with a big head, and a gruff, tired man responding to it.

"--_--_-?" Questions the the tiny pink dot, sitting on the branch of the very tree being cut down.

"I know I should call and talk to her, but I don't want to make her angry, you know?" Dulce sighs a long exasperated sigh. It's hard to work and talk at the same time. No doubt he would have had it done faster if his mind wasn't elsewhere.  But it's alright. He's made time in his usual schedule for just this type of problem.  Now, if this goes past midnight,  THEN it would be a problem. Hed has to move his whole day around tomorrow, even close up shop if it gets bad.

"-_--_---!" Says the bird, frustrated and tired of this conversation.

"Yes, she WAS mad, you should have seen her face, it was like she saw a ghost! Im a little off sometimes when it comes to faces, but im not that dum-"

Bubo, the rude little thing, interrups with a "__---__--!" as if it were the funniest thing in the world before squealing and rocking its head back and forth at its own joke.

Dulce, at this, in a voicemore deadpan than usual, retorted. "Oh, ha ha ha ha ha ha ha WOW so original. A proper comedian. Ha. It's funny because I almost died. It's so hilarious that I could jump off a bridge."
One could almost hear the sound of him rolling his eyes over the chopping of the cinnamon bark.
"You'd better be glad you're too small to eat."

A loud crack, followed by another, interrupt the both of them this time. Dulce, as if on que, positioned himself at just the right angle under the tree, with one arm out. He'd been through this so many times that there was very little guesswork involved in where to stand. Of course, for most others, this would be extremely dangerous. Even with how small the tree was, one would be crushed before having even a moment to push against it. But Dulce's people were especially strong. They had to be. They lived in the middle of a forest that had been forbidden from outsiders for a reason. One could breathe in the wrong direction and summon a whole gaggle of very carnivorous creatures.  He  guessed that was part of why his family worshipped what are essentially magical glowing vegan fish.

If his family ever knew he had THAT thought, they would rip his jaw off and kick him in a way that would undo his surgery,  if you know what I mean. But thats what most of them are! And it's a little less magical when you know how the "important" ones are made. Like going to a theme park and learning the haunted house has a real skeleton.  Or finding out what hot dogs are made of. Or the day his village found out his cousin Rosa was getting married to a nobleman outside of the village.

A long creaaaaaaaak grew into a loud, wind spitting roar as the tree toppled over, heading straight for a sweaty yet stone-faced Dulce. Once again, time slowed down. Suddenly, he was smaller and softer, it was storming. And the tree was no longer little. It was huge, the size of a house, ripped out of the ground by the base. Lifting the base was his grandfather, looking like a pile of hair like kelp, and in front of the tree, ready to catch it, was his dad. In one swift move, he caught the gigantic thing just before it fell onto Dulce. When he went to lift it up so they could all walk home, the bark groaned as the thing nearly shattered under his dads muscles. Obviously, his father didn't notice it, which his grandfather loudly reprimanded him for. His father was still somewhat young and still wasn't fully used to being unable to feel his hands. They were both late bloomers, in a way, as his ritual burns came a lot later in life, according to his grandfather.  Dulce wanted nothing more in his life than to be like them, but he was born weak, and the only ever trusted him to wash clothes and carry a basket for roots and berries. One da,  he'd show them all how strong he could really be.

As time came back to him, the tree picked up speed again, and his memories flowed down from his head into his spine and finally settled within the veins in his wrists. His body steeled itself for impact, and as if possessed, in one quick,  silent move-

His body fought against the millisecond of disorientation as he realized a small branch had broken off mid fall and smacked him on the head. Well, you can't predict everything. But the tree was secured in his arm, and he was ready to go break this thing down for fresh bark and spice.

Dulce whistled to call his little buddy as a signal that it was time to tuck away in a safe spot and head home. A long "________..." called in response, as Bubo dramatically flew down from the tree, landing in the absolute most dead dying death pose Dulce has ever seen a bird do. His mouth was agape, his tongue sticking out he even had a little flower he held to his chest.

"Oh, NOOO little BABY! Guess im gonna have to go home and eat aaaalll the freezy flower pops all by myself. This is terrible!"

"----!!!!!" At hearing the words "freezy flower pop, "Bubo instantly popped up and chirped in desperation.

"Aye." Dulce said with a smug grin. "Nuh-uh. You can't do that. Dead things are supposed to stay dead, and they can't eat anything."

Bubo screeched in defiance, settling on a branch before throwing a full-blown tantrum at him, almost as if to say, "The HECK you mean NUH-UH???". Of course, to Dulce,  this just sounded like a bunch of tweets from an especially feisty,food motivated bird.

"Okay, yeah, I did it, but that doesn't mean YOU can. You are dead. All the way dead. Dead bird. No come back."

As Dulce lifted the tree over his shoulder and walked in the direction of home, he tuned out the noise on the tree on his shoulder to watch as the stars shot across the sky. One in particular looked very...odd. Bright, so bright it almost lit up the night sky. Its light was golden and familiar, but he couldn't quite put his finger on why. It made him feel...scared. He stared at it for a while before confirming it was just a star and headed back into the cozy safety of the darkness.

"Okay. I'll call her."