FotN '21: Mistletoe

The gathering at the Great Tree would surely be a busy time for such an enterprising Jungle dragon. Bumblefree was not one to busily skitter or hop or bounce about, but that didn’t mean he couldn’t get things done. With enough time, even the most scatterbrained creature could pull something together. The idea had shifted somewhat from the outset. Bumblefree had no problems with the general idea of a kissing booth, but Garooni did not really need coins. What to ask for and what to give out had come into question, and that had taken time to sort out.

Fruits from the high branches were easy enough to collect even if he had to bring them down one at a time. As for guests, all he’d require would be some little trinket: a flower, a mushroom, a river-smoothed rock, a shiny earring (if they were feeling particularly generous; he wouldn’t turn them down!), or any small thing they might’ve tucked away in a pocket or bag.

In the end, he didn’t really need the mistletoe, not even for the symbolism, but it was nice to hang overhead, green and white and making the air taste a bit like winter. He set up a small table near the entrance into the Tree using some rocks and a thick piece of bark. The fruit were stacked nicely up behind him, and he settled in for the first arrivals, readying his sales pitch as his long tongue wound and unwound, tail thumping excitedly against the ground.

By the end of the night, he’d accumulated a tidy stack of knickknacks and plants he could snack on when the mood struck. At one point, he’d even had another Jungle dragon scurry up, holding a separate sprig of mistletoe and demanding a kiss in exchange. Bumblefree’s tongue snaked out, brushed the other dragon’s cheek, then snagged the mistletoe out of his mouth to eat right away.