(2022-06-13) Parabolus Bonkladle, In a Nutshell

Details

Author:	Mishell
Summary:	A vignette illustrating Bonk's character diamond.
Rating:	T for Teen

"How do you keep them amused?"  Bonk pointed to the baby boars rooting around in their pen.  Pig-ettes, the man had called them, or something of the kind.

"Amused?" echoed the farmer, dislodging something from his hair as he scratched his head under the shade of an Elwynn oak. He remained baffled, Bonk was well aware, that a gnome had so many questions about farm management.

"Well, they're juveniles.  Penned up like that, certainly they get restless, bored?  You must do something to keep them happy."

"They ain't gotta be happy," said the farmer with a shrug.  "There's a fence."  Bonk knew exactly what the farmer meant, and exactly how it felt.  He watched the animals for a moment, thoughts drifting.  As if reading his mind, the farmer asked, "Hey, what was it like over there?  On the other side?"

The two hundredth time, the three hundredth, it didn't matter.  Every time green fire rained from the sky, every time chunks fell off the ramparts to crash and splinter in the courtyard, Bonk was as certain as the last that this time he was going to die, felt the white-hot hand of fear close around his throat, every step as though he were struggling through tar.

"Much as you'd imagine," Bonk said, still observing the pig-ettes.

"I cain't.  I cain't imagine 't'all.  'S'why I ask."

"Much as you can't imagine, then," Bonk said amiably, in that tone that worked so well with humans.  If you sounded sure enough of something, they usually didn't ask further questions.

(Diamond: Domestic, Inquisitive, Sensitive, Evasive)