[AIM] Attack of the killer mud-blobs [FIN]

[Nuxaz]

Aka'mleli lands was under attack. By a blob of mud.

Okay, it wasn't actually under attack. And the blob of mud was too pathetically small to be an actual threat anyway. It also had a completely logical explanation. (really, like mud would just come to life and devour all in its wake!) See, it had rained today. Well, earlier today, now its more like.. afternoon. Still part of the day, but not the sunny part. Anyway, a cub called Ethiopia had gotten stuck out in the rain. It'd been pretty strong at first, so she'd taken to hiding away near a random, conveniently placed pile of rocks. Now it was fairly weak, so she'd risk making a dash to a nicer hideout, since her previous was pretty bad and she still got considerably wet over there.

Sadly, rain and dirt don't mix. Actually, they did. Which was worse. She'd slipped and flopped face first into the mud. And then trying to get up she'd sunk even deeper and rolled around a bit. So, Ethiopia was a mud monster now. Fortunately, it was still raining nicely, so the muddy creature dragged herself on to of a rock and flopped there, waiting for the rain to help out a bit.
Rain.

--

He liked the rain, he didn't mind that it got him wet. It made him feel as though it would wash away everything. It would take everything bad that had happened and give him a clean slate. It made him feel at peace(had he ever been at peace before?). He also didn't mind the mud that was created by the mixing of elements. He kinda liked how it squished in between his toes and tried to keep him stuck. It made him think of how his life really was. It was like the gods were trying to show him something good with the rain in the mud. Did he ever know what it was? No. Never.

A sigh slipped from the boy's lips as he paused in his walk and tilted his head back. Closing his eyes he let the rain splatter across his already wet form. Soaking him. Washing, cleansing. It was serene. A small smile formed upon his maw as he lowered his head his blue eyes flickering open. "Rain..." He mumbled to himself as he started to walk again.

Of course then something off in the distance caught his eye. It was something strange, a sight to be seen of course, that didn't make any sense to his little mind so he made up something. (Well after a little while of trying to figure it out first.) It was a blob perched upon a rock. Upon closer inspection he found it was a blob of mud. Tilting his head sideways he blinked confused. How did a giant blob of mud get over there?
The blob of mud remained perfectly still for a few moments, before Ethiopia deemed it a good idea to spring into life and shake her fur out to help with the cleaning process. The rain wouldn't help too much, sadly, and to get really, comfortably clean, she'd need a real good body of water. But she was aware of how dumb it was to get clean right now, afte rall, there was mud.. everywhere. Chances are she'd get clean and fall right in -again-! She just.. didn't want it to dry, but that couldn't happen til after the rain anyway.

--

The shaking and the rain did help, though. Her pale gray fur now showed.. a little bit, though it was more like dark tan, or brown, coated with the mud. She huffed, now standing on the rock, before looking up at the sky, wincing to keep rain from falling into her eyes. Her face now a bit cleaner, she looked down again, glancing around. Ethiopia didn't really mind the rain, in fact, it had a somewhat nice memory attached to it. She'd arrived here on a day with rain. But the mud.. That was the enemy. At least, if you sunk into it.

Deciding it best to sit around in the rain a bit longer, Ethiopia sat down, raising a front paw and waggling it into the air, as if to shake off some more mud, quite unaware of any onlookers.

--

At first the boy was okay to just let the blob sit and melt with the rain. When it moved however he jumped about a yard back. Inwardly he started to panic (it was a mud monster of course, who knows what kind of havoc it'll create?) wondering what he should do. Should he scream? Oh yes that sounded like quite the desirable idea but then again it was so unmanly. Should he move forward and confront it? Attack? Or run screaming for the hills, er adults? That was then that he saw the patches of gray fur.

Who had gray fur again? Oh yeah! Ethiopia....Ethi! She had been consumed by the blob! Oh no! He had to do something!

"Hey ugly spit Ethiopia out right now! You can't eat people!"

Peke found himself shouting as the ran forward stopping a comfortably safe distance away (which was still pretty far away. He may be stubborn and foolish but he -was- scared).

--
Ethiopia was just as surprised as Peke when he started shouting, leaping off the rock and falling rather ungracefully (and rather comically) behind it. Warily, she scrambled to her paws and peered over the edge of the rock at Peke, ears perked. Then she recognized Peke and relaxed somewhat, but was pretty confused by what the heck was going on. "I -am- Ethiopia! " She uttered in confusion, scrambling up the rock again,though her muddy paws were slipping.

"I.. uh... fell in a.. lot of mud. " Repeatedly.

--

"Don't lie to me you mud...monster blob!" Peke stated glaring at what he thought to be something that ate the person he had enjoyed talking to a few days ago. And of course that was when he realized the little buzz that went off in his head at a lie didn't respond so this monster blob that he had called ugly was really...oh crap. Now he was embarrassed. "Ah...Oh..." He trailed off his gaze falling to the ground as he tried to hide the blush that flicked across his nose and cheeks.

"S-sorry. I jumped to conclusions. Er...yeah."

He mumbled sheepishly rubbing his budding mane, effectively smearing it with mud. Nice Peke, you're a genius. This was the second time he had shouted something unintelligent. To the SAME person. What a silly little boy.

--

Ethiopia would be lying if she said she wasn't amused, so she kept her mouth shut and made an effort not to grin like an idiot, managing successfully to keep her expression normal. (she just had to remind herself that she was still covered in mud. ) "Its okay. " She nodded, sitting down on the rock again and shaking her head to get her muddy bangs out of her face. Damn you, bangs!

" Why're you out in the rain? " Yay, smalltalk.

--

When she told him it was okay he dropped his paw and looked up the blush having successfully be defeated by time! Hurray! "I like the rain." He stated simply to answer her question. "Why are you?" Ah the attack of the questions have returned! Take two! He then decided it would be a brillant idea to sit, she was so why shouldn't he? He forgot just how wet and weak the earth had become with the rain and...Well I'm sure you could imagine.

He sunk into the mud. Butt first. For a minute it was fine then he really started to sink. Once he realized this he tried to pull himself out but it wasn't going so well. He got his forepaws stuck too. Oh no! "Hey! Let me go you stupid mud!"

--

"I was out when it started. And got stuck. " Stuck as in, covered in mud and not wanting to infect dry places with it. What if she went to a.. cave or something, and people where there, who wanted to sit with a mud-covered cub?! Besides, aside from the mud, she quite liked rain too. Hard to enjoy it under a thick layer of mud, though. She glanced at Peke as he sat down, and opened her mouth to suggest not to, but it was too late. And she couldn't keep a somewhat bemused smile off her face this time, but shook her head to hide it and hopped off the rock, trotting over towards Peke.

"Umm, maybe you should roll over! " Instead of sinking his paws deeper into the mud. That might work! .

--

He was too busy panicking over his silly little situation to actually pay any attention to what had been said. No he kept trying to pull his paws out only to have them almost come clean and then...SNAP! They had been sucked in twice as deep. Damn you mud, outsmarting a little boy! Then Ethi offered some advice. He didn't think it'd actually work but he tried it anyway. He pushed himself onto his side and with much difficulty he rolled over successfully escaping the grasp of mother earth. Hurrah!

Not.

Now he too was coveredd in mud, practically from head to toe. Only parts of his face had escaped the mud monster. "Huh. That wasn't what I wanted." Ah yes but at least he was free. "Um...What do I do now?" He didn't want to be a mud monster, but then it'd give him a reason to make a big mess of everything and that was fun!

--

She watched him, frowning at his foiled attempts of getting free, then he rolled over, and it was success! Okay, rolling over works. She should remember that, yes. Next time she gets stuck in the mud. " I guess, but it beats being stuck there. " She shrugged, and stood there for a bit longer. Woop-dee-do. They were now two kids covered in mud standing in the rain, how cool is -that-.

Deciding it best to actually do something, Ethiopia looked to the floor, pondered a bit. "Well, I guess since we're both already all dirty... " No harm in a mud fight! "Ha! " Scooping up some mud with her paw, she flung it towards Peke, before diving for cover behind the rock she'd been occupying moments ago. Y'know, just in case he tried to retaliate.

--

"Yeah I gu---" His words were cut off by a thing of mud being flung at him. It hit him squarely in the face effectively getting rid of any clean spot he had ever had. "Hey!" He growled, a playfully as he gets, before scooping up some of his own and hurling it hoping to throw it over the rock and still hit her. Then he moved over the mud crouching rather low before scooping up more mud and throwing it towards the rock in case she peeked out.

He was enjoying this, it was the first 'game' he had ever really played and found easy to jump into. It was nice. Very very nice.  

[Nuxaz]

Though the first wave of mud did miss Ethi, Peke was right to deduce she peeked out, and she did, getting hit in the face like he had. " Ah! " She yelped, ducking back for cover before scooping some mud up with her paw. Inching towards the edge of her shelter, she peered out to locate her target before leaping out of cover to fling some more mud at him. This rock was too small for proper shelter, she needed better cover!

While he was hopefully distracted with her new attack, Ethi glanced around, trying to find a new location for a base.

--

A grin spread across his lips as his second attack successfully hit her, in the face too! Ha! Payback baby! When she leaped out and threw more mud at him he lunged to the side in a futile attempt to dodge the attack. Luckily this one didn't hit his face too. Only his leg. Scooping up mud he threw it in her general area while sneaking forward crouched low ready to pounce.

Maybe if he pounced her he'd win the game! He rarely won. Just a little closer. Then he decided it was time to fire another attack so he did. Aiming straight for her this time.

--

Ethiopia's attention mildly went to Peke at his half-hearted attack, jumping to the side to avoid it (though it would have missed anyway). She flung some mud herself, but with about as much precision as... Well, something with bad precision. She had to keep her search for the new base! Oblivious to Peke's plan, she wandered to the side, as if this little movement gave her the view of any ideal spot.

Sadly, nothing presented itself, and she decided it was best to head for the rock again. Just as she was going to turn, a nice ball of mud struck her shoulder, and she realized Peke was between her and the rock now. Damn! Instead, the gray cub headed for a tree a distance away. Trees were hardly ideal shelter, but it was better than nothing!

--

Taking her hesitation as his chance he raced after her determined to catch her before she could reach the tree. All the running he did when running was was beneficial in helping him run much faster than he did before. He was gaining and before he could lose the chance he braced himself and lunged throwing himself at her, literally mind you, hoping to catch her. Of course he didn't exactly judge distance or anything of the sort.

He could only hope that if he missed he didn't get stuck in the mud. "I've got you now!"

--

Ethi had been blissfully unaware until Peke lunged, so she hadn't even made any attempts of going too fast (she'd bothered crouching in hoped of avoiding mud like that). So to say she was surprised when a sudden weight came crahsing down on her was an understatement. "Ah! " She squeaked, flailing her paws out, and she was quite sure they rolled over at least once before she found herself pinned to the (very muddy) floor.

"Heeeeyyy... " She frowned slightly. Damn, how did she manage to lose so easy?! "Fine. But I want a rematch! "

--

He grinned as he stood over her proud that he had defeated her. "I win." He stated as he looked down at her before laughing. "Next time it rains, you're on." He told her still staying above her as he studied her expression. He realized just how nice it was to be a kid and to have fun. He didn't really fit in with the others but he figured neither did she. It was comforting. "Now we should probably find somewhere to wait out the rain in hopes we can wash off later eh?" He suggested finally moving off of her. He glanced up at the sky and thought about it for a minute. "I give it until sundown."

--

"Pff, fine. " In the meantime, she could develop strategies to defeat him, yes. He did certainly have speed over her, so maybe she should practice.. running. To get faster. Though the idea of practicing running was a bit amusing. Nodding a bit to his suggestions, she rolled to her paws when finally freed, shaking her fur slightly to get the worst, heaviest clumps of mud off. "Yeah, I think so too. " She nodded, glancing at the sky too tohugh looking down again. Raindrops in your eyes were hardly pleasant!

"I'm gonna win next time. "

--

"Hah, you can try." He told her as if her winning was just a silly dream. He'd have to work on his strategies as well, the same one may or may not work more than once. He'd make plan, yes. That was what he'd do when he avoided sleep. That sounded good. He scanned the area around them to maybe spot a cave or something they could wait the rain out. Finally he spotted one pretty far away. "I'll race you to that cave." He told her pointing.

--

She snorted. She'd show him, yes she would. Her plan would be brilliant, and she'd prepare an awesome base. Maybe she could convince Tanz to help her, but then it would be two-against-one, and that didn't really sound fair. Brought out of her thoughts, she looked up to see the cave Peke was talking about. "Okay! But I get to say go. " Maybe she should ask for a head start too. He'd already proven he was faster than her.

Or better yet... "Okay, ready? " She positioned herself a few feet away from Peke, facing the cave in the distance.

--

He was watching her carefully as she positioned herself. "...You can say go." He told her also readying himself. He had a feeling she was going to do something sneaky. No that wouldn't be good. He'd have to be ready. If she started running, even if she hadn't said go, he was gonna run too because it wasn't like she asked or anything. "Ready."  

[Nuxaz]

"Okay, " Ethiopia nodded, glancing at Peke before looking at the cave again. "Ready... " She paused a bit, contemplating her plan. Maybe she should dump it. "Setgo! " She did run a bit before actually saying the go, but it was hardly a significant amount. The original plan was to get a decent head start, but then Ethi decided against it, for whatever reason. Why? ... Probably because she wasn't much of a cheater, even when she was in a happy careless mood.

--

As soon as the word go left her mouth he was running fast. He wanted to beat her to win, but he also wanted her to win once so he slowed a bit but tried to make it not seem so obvious. If she knew then she probably wouldn't be too happy. "Is that all you got?"

--

Ethiopia did go as fast as she could, but Peke was a bit older (and larger), so expecting to beat him was a little silly. "No! " she responded automatically, and tried to speed up a bit more as they got closer to the cave, unknowing that he was actually going easy on her.

--

Ethiopia actually took a second for it to register that Peke had hit the floor, so she skidded to a halt a bit late, slipping across the floor past the other cub, though her head turned so she could keep her attention on Peke. Finally, she managed to change direction and scurried back towards him.

"Ouch! Are you okay? " Granted, the floor was pretty muddy and soft because of rain, but there was only so much it could do!

--

A simple groan slipped from his maw as he, successfully, pushed himself up. Shaking his head he had to stand still to stop the earth from spinning around him. "Huh?" He mumbled groggily still trying to gather his bearings. What had happened? Oh yeah he fell. Oops. "I'm fine." He snapped without a second thought.

When his head hurt he was grumpy. He started to walk forward. "We should get out of the rain."

--

She frowned at his tone, but shrugged it off. He was probably just grumpy that he tripped. Tanz did that too. Well, used to. "Okay. " She said, keeping her voice low and nonchalant, turning back towards the cave and walking towards it.

Once inside, her first instinct was to shake herself dry, but she stopped herself short. Mud and water would fly everywhere and right on Peke, so she simply sniffed the air to investigate. After all, once dad said never to poke into dens or caves without seeing if the were occupied. Deciding the cave was a-okay, Ethiopia plopped onto the floor next to the entrance, watching the rain outside.

--

Once he was out of the rain he started to scrape at the mud caked onto his forepaws. It successfully removed the top layer and that was it. Heaving a sigh he flopped down onto his belly and settled his head on his paws. The mud was itchy but he'd have to deal with it. "You can sleep if you want. I'll make sure nothing happens."

--

She blinked, glancing quickly at Peke before looking back to the rain. Sleep? Well, that would pass the time faster. But then she'd be sleeping and Peke would just be.. sitting there being bored. ... Then again, she doubted he was in the mood to talk, and could use a nap. "Okay. " Curling up into a very muddy ball, it didn't really take long for Ethi to doze off.

--

"Sweet dreams." He mumbled glancing towards her as she started to doze off. He didn't mean to be so...mean to her with his last few sentences but he couldn't help it. He simply didn't let himself have fun. He wasn't sure why though, probably would never be sure. It was still nice.