Work Text:
In a cave deep beneath the ground, where the rivers run molten silver and the silence weighs down like a blanket, a Carbink rolls over. Then it rolls over again. A squeaking sneeze emerges from its small form and its ears twitch. Its eyes struggle to open after years of sleep, foggy and blue as it rolls over once more, very close to giving up on the whole endeavor. Tucked away in its comfortable corner, Carbink tries to go back to sleep to no avail before finally giving itself up to wakefulness.
Round gemlike blue eyes gleam in the cave’s darkness as it blinks awake. And closes its eyes. And opens them again. The same sight is still there. Greeting Carbink in the darkness of this cave is dust. Dust! It swivels in sudden distress, more awake than it’s been in centuries. Oh this won’t do. This won’t do at all.
The emptiness of the cave is secondary to everything else about it as Carbink floats about in disarray, trying to figure out a place to begin. A faint gleam catches its attention. There! A round little rock covered in gray. Carbink floats down and begins to polish it with its soft fluff, clearing away the dust until the rock shines in the darkness. With one thing cleaned and polished, the rest of the cave doesn’t look so daunting, and Carbink gets to work.
First it cleans the long crystals and with all the dust gone they shine brightly, their glowing light glinting off Carbink’s own jewels. With a little more cheer in its heart, Carbink sets off to clear the ground. It sweeps across it with a rolling white light that leaves each speck with a luminous moonlit glow. Carbink hovers over the cave ground and inspects it, discovering strange new rocks and odd stones that it floats behind its body as it rushes to and fro cleaning everything it sees.
With the cave brought to shimmering order, Carbink turns to its newly found treasures, each only needing a caring eye to look closely and appreciate its wonder. Carbink turns each one around and around, polishing them with care until they gleam under its inspection. Then it turns the focus on its own gems and begins to craft. Under its focus, the treasures bloom as Carbink brings out the best side of each one. After a while it places them near the crystals so that the light spills into them and refracts in dazzling arrays across the cave's walls.
Carbink yawns, having expended too much energy to stay awake and drifts away to the familiar sight of gem’s reflecting one another. It slips into a dream and does not awake until a curious voice echoes through the cave. A curious geodude and her family enter and Carbink blinks awake to the sound of their wonder at the marvelous work it has done.
Glowing with pride, Carbink floats up to show them around only to catch sight of its own reflection in the freshly polished mirrors. Dust! Dust and dirt cover its body and don’t come off even as Carbink tries to shake it away. Its fluff heavy with gray and the shine of its gems dull, it shrinks down on itself.
But it's too late to hide as the geodude notices the soft blue of Carbink’s eyes and comes to help. She reaches out and holds Carbink with care, brushing away dust and polishing gems. Soon Carbink is all cleaned up, the gleam of its joy more radiant than the gems it begins to showcase to its new friends.