HOME | DD

Description
“Bawk, Bock, Buck-buck, buck.” Already Zerifth was growing tired of the sound of the two chickens. Perhaps it had been a mistake for both herself and the toki, Almost to bring their chicken companions along for this exploration. At least the chickens clucking back and forth filled the silence between the two female tokotas.
When they did try to make awkward conversation the topic at hand usually looped back around to the fact they both had the fowls. Rif carried hers upon her back, her brown hen was rather lazy, and used to the comfortable warmth of fur surrounding her. Almost’s black chicken though, not having much fur to cling to on the sphinx’s coat was in much better shape, though she stayed close to the protection of the two larger creatures.
Rif wasn’t even sure how she had gotten dragged into this, her shy nature was already hard enough to deal with, and to make things awkward it was Almost’s birthday today and she felt obliged to try and entertain the older, wiser, shorter tokota somehow. Plus there was a whole line of tokotas she was sure had better ideas as to what Almost liked, Rif, well she had never met Almost before.
Almost didn’t seem notice Rif’s silence, she was used to taking charge and had a certain swagger in her steps, a confidence Rif wished she could have.
Fortunately though, Rif didn’t have to suffer through this alone much longer, the pair of female tokotas were on their way to meet up with some of Rif’s pack mates. Aspen, who had paired up with Almost on a few caving trips back in the day. Cerise, a shy male half mane toki had been dragged along by the black furred bundle of energy that was Minx who had insisted they join in the fun as well, expecting many treats to stuff their little bellies full.
With Almost in charge they quickly met up with Aspen, Cerise, and Minx. Aspen looked a bit tired, though Rif couldn’t blame her, looking after Minx could be hard work, and the black toki was young enough she still got into a lot of trouble if you weren’t keeping a watchful eye on her. Today though they had the promise of a party, and the threat of taking that away from the eager pup if she didn’t behave.
Cerise promptly joined Rif, his quiet presence had a calming effect on her, and she could feel herself loosening up a bit, after all this was a big birthday for Almost, and birthday’s only came once a year. Almost deserved Rif doing her best to make this birthday great, she just hoped the toki liked the present they had all worked on coming up with.
The party was just as crowded as Rif had been preparing for, there was a large pile of presents, she was loathe to just toss theirs into the pile and she spent several seconds longer than likely needed fussing with getting it just so.
Almost was lost to the crowd of tokotas of all shapes and sizes practically instantly, wishes of “Happy Birthday” rang through the air, and laughter rippled over the group. Minx spotted some of her siblings and was off like a bullet to join in their playful roughhousing. Cerise stuck close to Rif, underfoot really, his eyes wide as he took in all these tokotas.
Every kind of activity Zif could think of was sprawled across the area, from slip and slides, to obstacle courses, to a pool supplied with every color of life vest and preserver under the rainbow. Treats of all sorts were piled high on the groaning tables, with crunchy bones to the rarest cuts of meat, to the tempting cake – as of yet not served.
Almost’s head was high, and the crowd parted around her as she walked, her descendants all taking respectful moments, fond nuzzles, appreciating their shared lineage. Tails wagged, and playful bows were exchanged among friends. Rif watched from her wall-flower position, it must be amazing to have this many tokotas know you, or at least know of you.
She had known Almost was a sort of legend before, but she had never quite realized what that meant. It was no wonder though, the toki was the first of her kind to really be discovered, and she had paved the way for not just her own toki pups, but many flocks of toki pups to come. Rif smiled, thinking of Hattie, the black sphinx toki of Sosin, it was her who had convinced Rif to do this. She had looked up from her newest litter of pups and said “Look, I can’t go, and even though I know Aspen can handle Minx, would you please go, I’m sure there will be other pups there you can help keep an eye on.”
So that’s just what she was doing, albeit from a distance. The pups were just too full of energy for Rif to keep up.
A loud splashing sound drew Rif out of her thoughts, her eyes drawn to the pool, ready to panic and dive in if need be, but she relax as she saw Almost, life vest and all proudly swimming. A laugh swelled up again, and many other tokotas joined the toki in the pool. After about 20 minutes of soaking in the water Almost emerged, shaking her short coat dry quickly and moved on to another actvity, the pups following her, while the adults had started to mingle among themselves a bit more.
Almost was determined that since this was her party she was going to participate in every single event. She moved from one area to the next, all within about twenty minutes of the other, making sure to socialize with any of the tokotas in those areas before moving on. Rif got tired just watching her. The crowd sort of drifted along side her, making conversation, by the time she finished even the pups looked a bit worn out. But the fun was no where near done yet.
She dug into the many tasty treats, and others followed her lead again, until finally the cake was ready to be sliced. Almost stood there, beaming as over a hundred tokotas lifted up their voices and celebrated the year gone by and wished her many more. The cake quickly disappeared, leaving the party quieter, full bellies and worn out puppies ready to relax. Rif even felt part of of it all, and made her best effort to make short, but friendly chats with the other tokotas.
There were still presents to go though, and if anything Almost seemed to have more energy. Almost took the time to thank each person for their gift, no matter how big or small, though for a while it seemed like the pile would never shrink, but as ribbons and shreds of wrapping paper were strewn about the party grew smaller, the gift givers often leaving with a sense of satisfaction, and tokotas with young pups whisking them away before they crashed from all the sugar.
As soon as Almost had opened the present from Aspen, Rif and the pups and thanked them for the pair of stockings that were decorated with ducks, as well as the little sailor’s hat that was shaped like a duck Rif headed off Minx’s impending sugar crash. Cerise had fallen asleep at her paws, his little belly protruding. Rif picked him up gently, carrying him, and herded Minx back home.
Aspen stayed behind, helping to clean up the mess, while Almost, finally getting tuckered out, supervised, some of her many relatives and closer also staying behind to make sure this last part of the party was wound up.
With the last bit of confetti cleaned up, the pool drained and folded away, food neatly packaged up to take home Almost rose to her feet, smiling “Thank you all for the wonderful birthday.”

Description
“Bawk, Bock, Buck-buck, buck.” Already Zerifth was growing tired of the sound of the two chickens. Perhaps it had been a mistake for both herself and the toki, Almost to bring their chicken companions along for this exploration. At least the chickens clucking back and forth filled the silence between the two female tokotas.
When they did try to make awkward conversation the topic at hand usually looped back around to the fact they both had the fowls. Rif carried hers upon her back, her brown hen was rather lazy, and used to the comfortable warmth of fur surrounding her. Almost’s black chicken though, not having much fur to cling to on the sphinx’s coat was in much better shape, though she stayed close to the protection of the two larger creatures.
Rif wasn’t even sure how she had gotten dragged into this, her shy nature was already hard enough to deal with, and to make things awkward it was Almost’s birthday today and she felt obliged to try and entertain the older, wiser, shorter tokota somehow. Plus there was a whole line of tokotas she was sure had better ideas as to what Almost liked, Rif, well she had never met Almost before.
Almost didn’t seem notice Rif’s silence, she was used to taking charge and had a certain swagger in her steps, a confidence Rif wished she could have.
Fortunately though, Rif didn’t have to suffer through this alone much longer, the pair of female tokotas were on their way to meet up with some of Rif’s pack mates. Aspen, who had paired up with Almost on a few caving trips back in the day. Cerise, a shy male half mane toki had been dragged along by the black furred bundle of energy that was Minx who had insisted they join in the fun as well, expecting many treats to stuff their little bellies full.
With Almost in charge they quickly met up with Aspen, Cerise, and Minx. Aspen looked a bit tired, though Rif couldn’t blame her, looking after Minx could be hard work, and the black toki was young enough she still got into a lot of trouble if you weren’t keeping a watchful eye on her. Today though they had the promise of a party, and the threat of taking that away from the eager pup if she didn’t behave.
Cerise promptly joined Rif, his quiet presence had a calming effect on her, and she could feel herself loosening up a bit, after all this was a big birthday for Almost, and birthday’s only came once a year. Almost deserved Rif doing her best to make this birthday great, she just hoped the toki liked the present they had all worked on coming up with.
The party was just as crowded as Rif had been preparing for, there was a large pile of presents, she was loathe to just toss theirs into the pile and she spent several seconds longer than likely needed fussing with getting it just so.
Almost was lost to the crowd of tokotas of all shapes and sizes practically instantly, wishes of “Happy Birthday” rang through the air, and laughter rippled over the group. Minx spotted some of her siblings and was off like a bullet to join in their playful roughhousing. Cerise stuck close to Rif, underfoot really, his eyes wide as he took in all these tokotas.
Every kind of activity Zif could think of was sprawled across the area, from slip and slides, to obstacle courses, to a pool supplied with every color of life vest and preserver under the rainbow. Treats of all sorts were piled high on the groaning tables, with crunchy bones to the rarest cuts of meat, to the tempting cake – as of yet not served.
Almost’s head was high, and the crowd parted around her as she walked, her descendants all taking respectful moments, fond nuzzles, appreciating their shared lineage. Tails wagged, and playful bows were exchanged among friends. Rif watched from her wall-flower position, it must be amazing to have this many tokotas know you, or at least know of you.
She had known Almost was a sort of legend before, but she had never quite realized what that meant. It was no wonder though, the toki was the first of her kind to really be discovered, and she had paved the way for not just her own toki pups, but many flocks of toki pups to come. Rif smiled, thinking of Hattie, the black sphinx toki of Sosin, it was her who had convinced Rif to do this. She had looked up from her newest litter of pups and said “Look, I can’t go, and even though I know Aspen can handle Minx, would you please go, I’m sure there will be other pups there you can help keep an eye on.”
So that’s just what she was doing, albeit from a distance. The pups were just too full of energy for Rif to keep up.
A loud splashing sound drew Rif out of her thoughts, her eyes drawn to the pool, ready to panic and dive in if need be, but she relax as she saw Almost, life vest and all proudly swimming. A laugh swelled up again, and many other tokotas joined the toki in the pool. After about 20 minutes of soaking in the water Almost emerged, shaking her short coat dry quickly and moved on to another actvity, the pups following her, while the adults had started to mingle among themselves a bit more.
Almost was determined that since this was her party she was going to participate in every single event. She moved from one area to the next, all within about twenty minutes of the other, making sure to socialize with any of the tokotas in those areas before moving on. Rif got tired just watching her. The crowd sort of drifted along side her, making conversation, by the time she finished even the pups looked a bit worn out. But the fun was no where near done yet.
She dug into the many tasty treats, and others followed her lead again, until finally the cake was ready to be sliced. Almost stood there, beaming as over a hundred tokotas lifted up their voices and celebrated the year gone by and wished her many more. The cake quickly disappeared, leaving the party quieter, full bellies and worn out puppies ready to relax. Rif even felt part of of it all, and made her best effort to make short, but friendly chats with the other tokotas.
There were still presents to go though, and if anything Almost seemed to have more energy. Almost took the time to thank each person for their gift, no matter how big or small, though for a while it seemed like the pile would never shrink, but as ribbons and shreds of wrapping paper were strewn about the party grew smaller, the gift givers often leaving with a sense of satisfaction, and tokotas with young pups whisking them away before they crashed from all the sugar.
As soon as Almost had opened the present from Aspen, Rif and the pups and thanked them for the pair of stockings that were decorated with ducks, as well as the little sailor’s hat that was shaped like a duck Rif headed off Minx’s impending sugar crash. Cerise had fallen asleep at her paws, his little belly protruding. Rif picked him up gently, carrying him, and herded Minx back home.
Aspen stayed behind, helping to clean up the mess, while Almost, finally getting tuckered out, supervised, some of her many relatives and closer also staying behind to make sure this last part of the party was wound up.
With the last bit of confetti cleaned up, the pool drained and folded away, food neatly packaged up to take home Almost rose to her feet, smiling “Thank you all for the wonderful birthday.”