Round 1, Match 4: Daisonia vs Bubbles. Daisonia:

Round 1, Match 4: Daisonia vs Bubbles.

Prompt: Bikinis and Watermelons 

Participant: Daisonia (https://www.honeyfeed.fm/u/5717)

A pair of watermelons, one small and less ripe, and the other large and ripened, rolled across a sandy beach. The sky was a light red, and parasols, towels, and swimwear littered the sands.

“So this is where people lived?” The smaller of the watermelons rolled up to a bikini curiously, and eyed the bright blue swimwear. “Before the ban?”

“Yes. They frolicked to these places, and socialized.”

The smaller melon rolled over the bikini to get a feel for it, and the swimwear became attached to it.

“So why would they wear things like this?”

“They were proud of their bodies,” the ripened one said, carving a line in the sand as it moved toward its fellow traveler. “Well, some of them were. And those that were proud sought to show them off.”

“And it’s hot, so maybe they wanted to not feel too hot?”

“That’s true.” The older melon chuckled. “Not everything has to be a deep dive into people.”

“It’s nice,” the smaller melon said, imagining the scenery of people playing in the water beneath a blue sky, laughing and conversing. “If only we could’ve been here to see it.”

“Well, we were. But...” The older melon’s voice trailed off as it rolled over to a wooden stick. “We didn’t have the most entertaining times here. I guess the ban helped us in that way.”

The smaller one rolled over, and found dried red pulp still sticking to the stick.

“So they smashed us?” he said quietly, a sliver of fear slipping in. “Wh-Why would they...?”

“We weren’t aware at the time,” the ripened melon said. “And they would eat our bodies after. But is that so wrong? Everything eats something to survive.”

Seagulls began to congregate.

“Is that why we came all this way? To die?”

“You can do whatever you please,” the ripened melon said. “But now that I’m ripened,

what else can I do? My devourer will return to the earth and become soil for new life to grow.” “A-Aren’t you scared?”

It took a few moments for the older melon to respond.

“I’m less scared of what’ll happen to me,” the older melon said. “And more about what you’ll do once I’m gone.”

“Do you regret being sentient?” the older melon added.

“Of course not!” the unripened melon said. “But I don’t...was it simpler for them, do you think?”

The ripened melon considered that a moment, rolling around to ward away any especially curious seagulls. Thirty feet away from them, water lapped up against the shore.

“Choice is a weird thing. People like choice, but we also like being lazy. If someone could ensure you had an easy life, but all your decisions were made for you, would you call that life fulfilling?”

“No!”

“Some might. I certainly would have, once upon a time. If nothing else, traveling through those cities, and seeing what became of those people that grew gluttonous on their ability to choose. Until they could no longer choose, and had become slaves to the fate they’d once chosen...enlightening.”

“But isn’t that just cause and effect? You make a choice, so something happens because you made that choice. And then you have to react to it. And that just keeps going until the end, right? Stop trying to cram wisdom down my roots, you pie fruit!” The younger melon swiveled back and forth in the sand, wary of the seagulls but reluctant to abandon the older melon to them.

“That’s true, but there comes a point when someone could just say that they’ve had enough, and go for something else. But even when they’re unhappy with their lot in life, some chose to continue with it. Many did, in fact. And they’d become slaves.”

“What does that have to do with anything!”

“I’m saying that in your future, no matter what choices you’ll make, you can always turn back and do something different. No matter how much time or effort you’ve poured in up to that point, don’t feel like you’re on a path that can’t change.”

A smidgen of fear slipped into the older melon’s voice.
“If I’d known that at the start, maybe I could’ve done things differently, but now...”
A seagull finally gained the courage to peck at the older melon in spite of its rolling. And

soon others began to flock around and take turns pecking at the melon.
The smaller melon struggled to make his protests heard over the sound of the cawwing seagulls.

The first seagull’s beak found purchase, and came away with its tip flecked red.

“It begins,” the older melon said. “Leave, while they’re focused on me.”

“I won’t get eaten!” the younger melon cried. “I’ll live till I rot!”

It rolled backwards, away from the water, sand, and the seagulls towards the withered

remains of a beach house. It bounced up the steps, and rolled into the building. Sandy and withered remains of swimsuits, bikinis and swimming trunks for the most part, covered the equally woebegone chairs. Half-finished drinks sat on the tables.

It hid underneath one of the sturdier looking tables, and tried to not think about its companion’s red pulp being scattered about and eaten by the...

Were it a melon before the ban, then it wouldn’t have had to think about this. It would’ve been simply eaten, and wouldn’t have even been able to think.

It recalled the other melons in the patch in which it’d grown. How they’d tried to dissuade it from going on the journey.

It recalled the mannequins in the mall they’d visited, the ones that had pretended to be humans and smashed food into their faces to try and imitate their creators. Those mannequins in love, and how the melons had helped them escape. Were they happy now? Would they remember?

A seagull’s head peered through the window, its beak flecked red with the older melon’s innards. The melon lurched back as others flocked.

All their beaks were red. 

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Judge's Feedback

znf: Cute anthropomorphic watermelons. I'm a bit confused about what "the ban" really means, I feel like there were ways of doing things that didn't involve things being so ambiguous / needing context that required more words than you were allotted here. Awkward interludes like the part where they ask about being sentient, phrasing is a bit stilted. Dank ending.

OscarHM: This is built different. What a wild way to take the prompt. Really funny. I unironically love this sort of thing where you take a ridiculous situation but play it really straight, it only enhances the comedy for me. Would’ve loved to see more melon based language, like older melon refers to the melons as people but maybe could’ve referred to them as fruit or something. Really good job.

otkrlj: Wow, this was incredible. the way you transformed the prompt into your own story was really well crafted. also, your descriptions and vividness you create had me on the edge of my seat