A/N: Special thanks to randomfics, who supplied the word loquacious and the request (I hope I interpreted right) for more crossovers with other Dr. Seuss stories. As for part one of her(?) request, a new story might soon appear, perhaps with a little more coherency and continuancy than my current stories.


21. Village

The Lorax had never fully looked into the doings of the village at the base of the truffula forest, not since its creation. He had thought he never needed to.

This Once-ler wasn't the first to think a truffula forest was an item for sell, but he was the most resistant to learn. The founders of the village had been just like him, but maybe it had mattered that they had seen him enter with thunderous lightning. Maybe fear of God was all that kept people sane, and maybe it was fear of magic that kept them from the forest.

22. Customary

"I'm not doing anything extraordinary," the Once-ler says quietly one day.

There's no one around for once. No mother, no aunt, no brothers, no Lorax. He's sitting cross-legged on the floor, Pipsqueak on his lap. The bear is munching on marshmallows as he absent-mindedly feeds him.

"I mean, who doesn't chop a few trees? I send the trunks away to lumber companies to make a few extra bucks. Plus, those fruits make a pretty penny at the market. People can get food and homes, as well as clothes, all from one tree. I mean… How bad can I possibly be?"

23. Terror

Horton hangs on to every word as a traveling flock of swomme swans speak. "It's terrible," they honk, their once legendarily sweet voices harsh and rough, their plumage not quite so luscious as Horton can remember the flocks being. "Machines that belch and spew smoke and schlop… Trees falling as they go snickety snick. There aren't many truffula trees left at all…"

"What sort of creature does that?" Horton asks.

"A Once-ler," they honk, heads hanging.

Horton wants to ask more, he really, truly does, but Mrs. Kangaroo shoos the crowd to disperse.

"Now, you're scaring the children with lies!"

24. Doing

The Cat doesn't like to admit it much, but sometimes, sometimes, he sets a bad example. His memory is short at times, but he'd never forget the kid he played with one rainy afternoon, the one who most embraced his wondrous machines and flair.

He wonders, now, if doing really does any good, because only action could have created this wasteland of a forest. Trees drop to the ground without preamble, and are dragged off without fanfare. The machines have a regrettably familiar form, a callback to a childhood only half-remembered.

This time, it actually hurts.

Where's my little buddy?

25. Loquacious

"It's a good thing you're good with words, kid."

The Once-ler glares at the Lorax. What is he complaining about now? There's plenty of forest out there—he can see it from his window for crying out loud!

"I think you should leave—"

"Have you really not noticed the coughing? The diseases? What's your silver tongue gonna say when people ask you why? Why you ruined their children's world, why their children have no fresh air to breathe, why their children are sick, beanpole—"

"Guards!"

The Lorax looks at him.

"What are you gonna say to yourself, kid?"

26. Gentleman

"Oncie, ya gotta look presentable, now, baby. We can't have you dressing in those old rags anymore, dear. You need more… flair."

The Once-ler looks at his own clothes in confusion. As far as garment went in his family, he had always gotten a slightly better deal that Brett and Chet—he was too tall for their old clothes, and for much anything else the family had to offer.

But his mother steps back to reveal a green suit and long gloves, and for once the Once-ler feels a surge of love.

All because she remembered green was his favorite.

27. Gray

That's what he's becoming. Old and gray, withering to match the land.

Only a few shards remain of his mirrors, but the Once-ler doesn't really need them to know. How much longer does he have? Not that his death would be a tragedy… but who will possess the last truffula seed then? He's hardly worthy, but who can he trust it to, who is worthy to plant it?

He thinks of those who have come to him in search of riches. Those who wish to abuse the forest the same way he had.

He lives in a world of Once-lers.

28. Shock

The Lorax stands and stares, wide-eyed and disbelieving. It's been decades, the kid is older and grayer, but maybe he's still a kid underneath it all anyway.

In his hands, there's a photo, yellow and brittle with age but he handles it with care. Anyone else out there would look at call it an abstract, too vague and blurry to make out, but the Lorax can. He can see his own familiar shape, and in the corner he swears that's a barbaloot with a familiar white patch.

Even after all these years… Even during the factory years…

Kid never forgot.

29. Estate

A boy grew under the smoke and smog of a dead, gray world, only a stone's throw away from what was once the greatest financial empire the world has ever known. He woke to coughs each and every morning, and slept under a starless sky.

But that wasn't what he remembered most.

He imagined the power that must have existed to change a world in such a way. He thinks of the money it must have brought. He closes his eyes, dreaming of blind idiots who'll buy anything.

He grows up to be O'Hare, the one who 'saved the world'.

30. Virus

They say its starts with one. A little bug that worms its way inside, burrowing in and then out.

The Lorax can only run as the Once-ler's shadow over the land grows, as biggering and biggering consume the land, the trees, and eats away at the kid. He can see this illness for what it is, and wishes he knew how to stop it, but he can't. And that's the point.

Greed grows when left unchecked, and boy, did that kid ever let it grow. The Lorax knows only one cure for greed such as that, and fears it.

Destruction.


I wouldn't say no to more prompts...