SkekTember, prompt 3: "Meal time Madness" Short story below!👇
The Grand Banquet Hall of the Castle of the Crystal shimmered under the flicker of a thousand candle-clusters, their wax pooling like pale, melting fungi over blackened gold candelabras. The feast was already in full swing — clattering dishes, snarls of approval, slurps, belches, and the occasional shriek of a small, sneaky rat-like creature stealing the leftovers that lay on the floor.
And in the center of it all, upon the very table itself — not beside it, not behind it, but on it — reclined the bloated majesty of skekAyuk the Gourmand.
Swaddled in rich silk and velvet robes, latticed with grease and old sauces, skekAyuk perched like some proud, rotund vulture atop his culinary throne. His long fingers — curled and ringed, glistening with dribbles of broth — hovered over an ornate bowl. It steamed with noodles slicked in cream, buttered tuber-chunks, slivered rootling hearts, slow-seared meats from beasts too exotic to name, all melded in a stew so thick it barely rippled.
He cackled, deep and gurgling.
“More spice! More spice!” he bellowed, his voice wobbling like a jelly.
“Almost perfect — almost divine — but not yet quite... transcendent!”
Around him, nestled between silver goblets and ornate iron bowls, were hundreds of tiny pots, shell cups, and bone-carved bowls, each brimming with exotic spices: crimson powders, glistening black seeds, spiced salts that hissed faintly on contact with moisture, and flaky shavings of something iridescent.
With the delicacy of a jeweler and the glee of a Podling child in a Sweet-sap pot, skekAyuk dipped three clawed fingers into a pot of richly orange dust. He gave it a dramatic sniff — inhaling until his eyes watered — and flicked a generous pinch into the bowl with a flick.
“There! A kiss of fireroot. Subtle. Assertive. Audacious!”
He gave the entire mass a hearty stir with a ladle carved from the horn of a Mounder. A splash of cream arced upward and dribbled down his arm unnoticed. The stew gurgled, sighed, and let off a sudden puff of spice-scented steam.
SkekAyuk inhaled it deeply, lips quivering in reverence.
“Ohhhhhh... yes, yes, yes, you heavenly monster of a dish... you wicked, wicked beauty…”
With no pause for elegance — despite all his talk of perfection — the Gourmand sank his snout into the bowl and slurped eagerly, the sound echoing through the vaulted chamber like thunder. Cream dribbled down his chin, a noodle dangled from his beak, and somewhere behind him a frightened Podling servant dropped a tray and fled.
He smacked his lips. Loudly.
His eyes gleamed with joy.
Then—another pinch. This time, crushed violet bark.
“Too mellow! Not enough sparkle! Needs... something unexpected. Something sharp! Something that sings and bites and dances!” he cried.
He grabbed a jagged lump from a smoky dish marked only with the Gelfling rune for "caution", sniffed it, nodded with imperial finality, and shaved it directly into the bowl.
Around the table, the other Skeksis watched with mild disdain or polite horror. But none dared interrupt skekAyuk in his moment of creation.
“Fools! You eat like animals. I? I compose!” he declared, gesturing with a dripping spoon.
“You devour. I elevate. This—” (he slurped again, eyes rolling back) “**—is art.”
He reclined at last, belly rumbling with smug satisfaction, robes soaked with sauce and pride.
“More spice...” he whispered hoarsely, lovingly, as he cradled the now half-empty bowl.
This art challenge is not official or sponsored by the JHC. SkekTember is a small, fun thing created by a fan, for fans.
I do not consent to ANY platform to use my artwork, posts, writing or reels to train generative AI tools.
Artwork may be reblogged not be used or redistributed elsewhere without written consent.
All publically recognizeable canon The Dark Crystal characters, designs, settings and situations TM & © Jim Henson / Brian Froud/Universal studios/ The Jim Henson Company
(No commercial use or copyright infringement are intended)
