Muddy Puddle Squirrel Battle
Moruwil, Malcolm, Ribbert (Stubb), Zane (Amos), Ziva (Dangeon)
Location: Sandstone Quarry
This log represents a brief departure from the characters we have hitherto been following. It introduces Angus’ child Malcolm.
The quarry is dead quiet... sound pours down from the lush landscape above, but dies before it reaches the depths of the sandstone crevasse, where a squirrel [Moruwil] and a small lizard are walking along. The elder is still young, a black squirrel in lavish red robes, whose tail seems to be giving him a hard time, poking at his walking stick, 'challenging' it. Every now and again the squirrel bats the tail back, sighing in frustration. "C'mon, little one, c'mon... keep up - you know, I don't know if I should treat you as a pet or an orphan or what..."
The young lizard [Malcolm] scurries ahead toward the older squirrel, its body comparatively large for being only two seasons old. At times, its attention wanders, beady brown eyes absorbing the surroundings with curious, childlike awe.
Moruwil clears his throat and turns abruptly to face the lizard, who by now is a good half of the squirrel's height just on all fours. Fixing his tail again, he produces an oboe-like instrument and gestures for the lizard to not make a sound. "Now, I haven't shown you our friend yet... but I need you to /stay/. No matter what you see... /stay/. You understand?" He turns around again, his back to the lizard and plays.
Ribbert's dark, bulbous eyes blink dully in the tapered light of daybreak. His pebbly skin wears the dappled colors of the earthen floor around him. It shimmers faintly. Though his body stirs nary an inch, his attention is complete. Invaders. In his yard. A short distance behind his craggy form sits a stagnant puddle, riddled with algae cloudy with dirty runoff.
The young monitor furrows its scaly brow slightly. Friend? Feelings of suspicion rouse in the child's mind. It stamps its heavy, reptilian feet. Ignoring Moruwil's pleas for silence, it utters, "'M wantin' to go 'ome." A tongue snakes out of its mouth and quickly slurps back inside. "'M hungry--" The lizard cuts off its laments when the eerie music fills its ears, reverberating inside its skull. Eyes widen.
"Shushhh! You still haven't told me where home is... now just wait, it's coming whether we talk about this now or not." Soon, there's a heavy, dreadful dragging sound that pierces the night - scales over dirt. From behind the corner just up ahead, a huge round body emerges and turns its head to stare at them. Moruwil resumes the playing with haste, and it stops dead, staring down at the squirrel unblinking.
Malcolm feels tremors of fright course through its body. It begins to back up, nearly tripping over its own feet as it does so. Its mouth hangs agape, until it finally freezes its form in place, unsure what to do next.
Ribbert permits himself the luxury of a single hop forward, where he finds purchase on the island of a leaf, blown to rest in the quarry by a breeze from a season long past. His opaque gaze divulges only the barest hint of amphibian dread.
Moruwil slowly decrescendos, until the snake rests its head on the dirt floor at his feet and closes its eyes. The squirrel turns around, whispering, "Shhh... it'll wake up if we're too loud." He grins, seeing the lizard's emotions getting the best of him. "You really /weren't/ raised with your kind were you? Heh..."
Zane shushes his sisters whining, curious and drawn by the noise as he enters the quarry.
The lizard grits its razor-edged teeth at Moruwil. It trembles, sharp eyes darting around for a quick means to escape if necessary.
Ziva had been whining about being hungry, not wishing to come further into this place until after some food, but she frowns at her brother as she's 'shushed'. "Hey! Don't shush me! We're in here cuz you wanted to peek, so I can talk all I want."
The snake's girthy length appears to expand and contract with its respiration, until Moruwil walks over and WHACKS! it. Inside is heard a loud 'oof! aw, whoidja do that eh? 'e 'it me!" "Did 'e now? Cuz I waws abou' t'do't moiself wif all yo' enfusiastic sna' breavin'!" A fight erupts inside the 'snake' and Moruwil chuckles. "It's just a rowdy old group of shrews, and /no/, you can't /eat/ them. Ehem!" The fighting stops.
If the toad is perturbed by the encroachment of yet more strange furbeasts on his hopping grounds--and he almost certainly is--he does not evince such ill thoughts in his stony features. He slips forward another foot or so, sliding into a leafy lean-to without losing sight of the strange congregation. His tongue laps hurriedly at the air, then retreats back into his lipless mouth.
Zane encroches further into the quarry, the noise of others having drawn the curious kitten heedlessly. He now shrinks for cover, grabbing his sister as he spots the others, "Its here, " He watches in aw as he refers to the snake he no doubt heard about, blinking, "Huh, its a lizard too!" He responds a bit too noisly before covering his mouth.
"It's here? YAY!" Ziva completely misunderstands what her brother tells her, but finds herself confused by the mention of a lizard. "I thought it was a snake?" She tries to move past him a little to have a look for herself and her eyes widen slightly. "Oh."
Moruwil ducks down behind the snake, to avoid being seen. He looks back at the lizard, "Mally, stay here... we'll be safe if our snake manages to scare them off." He apparently hasn't thought about the prospect that a lizard might be equally effective in that respect... however young it still is. He whispers, "Lads! The kitten at your rear, about face!" The 'snake' comes to life and slithers back towards the brother and sister pair, hissing loudly. Some ingenious mechanism allows the front of the snake to dart out with almost the speed as a snake in life! It bears down on them soon, opening its terrifyingly real snake-mouth.
Discovered, Zane should of guessed. Not much cover anyway and Ziva's voice does carry within the walls of the quarry. Yet despite this the youth does not make move to flee, he steps out of his hiding spot and runs towards the snake! Sword in hand, "I'll vanquish the snake!"
From the shelter of his little tent, Ribbert emits a throbbing sound that carries with piercing strength throughout the quarry. He matches in pitch almost perfectly the call from Moruwil's instrument, though the toad outdoes it in the way the noise seems to be sourceless: coming from all directions at once.
"Hey! Vanquish the snake later, I'm hungry and I don't see any treasure here!" Calls Ziva, taking a half step back; her eyes flatten as the noise seems to instantaneously and from nowhere flood the room. "...ghosts." She squeaks.
The squirrel is about to interrupt the battle when he hears his instrument! The snake instantly, thinking it to be Moruwil, calms and rocks its head back and forth, eyelids drooping, as the head settles on the dirt floor. "What in the..." He motions Mally to 'stay' and creeps around the corner of the nearest rock face, still in its shadow, cast by its towering height. "They'll be killed!"
Zane ignores his sister, ignores the noise and rushes head long towards the snake. Jumping aback, "Ha, Its scared of me!" He rushed foward at the snake brandishing his "weapon" as he moves to attack it.
After the span of a few moments, Ribbert's vocal sac deflates, and his cry falls silent. Curious to see its effect, he nudges forward. Half-lodged under the leaf, he has a decent view of the trespassers' activities.
The shrews, sensing something is amiss, all whisper to the lead shrew, "Use da 'ead, mate, shove him wif it!" Prompty, the lead shrew squeezes down on a pair of tongs, which unfold a wooden skeleton inside the head and it shoots out frighteningly fast towards the cat's midriff!
Ziva exclaims, "It's probably frightened of the ghosts!" Ziva calls back, peering around the quarry for the assumed spirits. "Let them fight eachother and then we can just... go and look for the treasure somewhere el- Look out!" She calls, probably needlessly, as the 'snake' seems to lunge."
Zane goes flying backwards, his sisters warning too late as hits the floor of the quarry. His sword knocked from his paw, and he glares at the 'snake' not a moment before pushing himself up and moving to charge at the snake again, "I'll have you dead you evil vermin!"
"Oh. /Fantastic idea/. Then we'll have a -ghost snake- to worry about!" Ziva calls, desperately, after him.
Lightning strikes, illuminating the entire sky as Moruwil darts out into the open, lunging straight for the cat before he can get to the snake again. A few paces from him he leaps into the air attempting to pummel him out of the snake's way! "You fooooooool, aaaaarughhh!!!"
The call tears through the air once again, as in reproach of the snake's lunges. Ribbert hops forward again, closing in on the patient little lizard, as if he recognizes a family resemblance in the young tyke.
Zane is still focused on the snake, fueled by anger at the scruffs and bruises from the hit before and somewhat puzzled by the squirrel he jumps back and glares, "Ya big meanie, that's my snake! Is gonna vanquish it and get all the treasure!"
Ziva watches from where she stands as the squirrel suddenly jumps out. "... If he's a ghost, you can kill him! Ghosts can't be ghosts when they're dead cuz they're already ghosts!" She reasons poorly.
Moruwil lands with a thud and an 'oof!!' painfully on his chin and elbows. The events seem to have triggered a flight response from the snake and it slithers full speed back into the hole from which it emerged. The squirrel stands up and, rubbing his head, narrows his eyes at the cat, "Trea... treasure, wha... what are you talking about? There is no treasure here! And why would a snake be willing to give it to a brat like yourself, who goes and tries to kill it? Nonsense, a great heap of it." He leans to the side of the brother, and spots Ziva, "And what kind of a companion and friend are you bringing this poor lass down into danger with you?"
Young Mal has long given up on the prospect of cover in this barren quarry. It watches the scene unfold with a mix of puzzlement and disbelief. Soon, its awareness catches sight of Ribbert. He appears both strangely familiar and alien, considering how sheltered this young lizard's life has been up until this point.
Zane sticks out his tongue, glaring, "Ya's got treasure in ya, I's stabs ya with my sword and the treasure will spout out of course!" At the mention of Zira he grins, "Ya just scared of me ya stinky snake!"
Repose: Zane sticks out his tongue at the squirrel, glaring, "Ya got treasure in here, I's heard about it!" He huffs, "Ain't scared of ya ya stinky squirrel!"
"No, you don't seem to be afraid of anything." He sizes up the cat and keeps an eye on the sword, "I'll be honest with you, cat. This is my home... I could have let that snake kill you, but instead I charmed it to sleep, the first time." He sits on a rock and nurses his elbows, "Then you couldn't very well leave it, walk around it, or even stand still. Then I risked /my/ life, hell's teeth!" He stands, paws at his waist, "What in heavens is wrong with you?"
"Knock him down and search 'is pockets!" Ziva calls.
Zane turns back to face his sister and sticks out his tongue at her, "Ya stay out of it if ya ain't gonna help!" He turns back to face the squirrel, grinning, "So no treasure eh? What about that lizard, " He points.
Malcolm releases a deep, gutteral hiss out of instinct.
Moruwil looks back at his new charge and then back towards the cat, "The lizard was placed at my doorstep just the other evening. All I know about the thing is that it seems to be a 'she' thing and that it says its name is 'Mally'. Now that's a great deal more than you have business knowing... now tell me one good reason I should stay down here, a hermit, with all this supposed treasure... and not spend it? Hm? Or, indeed, why I should decide to be a hermit in a place where so many greedy beasts would come knocking at my doorstep?" He folds his paws, and his tail seems to stand up behind him and give a matter-of-fact nod!
Zane narrows his eyes and hisses back at the lizard, looking over the squirrel as he listens and back to 'Mally' as she's mentioned, "Ain't very friendly is she, and I guess ya don't have any treasure, " He frowns, "Least I found my brat sister a playmate, maybe." He looks somewhat doubtful.
"Cuz he's a ghost! Guardin' it!" The female cat pipes up, having ventured a little closer, commenting on the squirrel's speech. She eyes the lizard curiously, sticking closer to her brother. "He's got the lizard for making a treasure dragon!"
The squirrel's tail comes up around the side of his head and starts making circular allusions to the sanity of the sister, until Moruwil notices and bats it away, "Shoo! Shoo!!" He looks at them, blinking. "Did you really let this kind of talk lead you down here? That's absurd! Hahaha... treasure dragon, pffffff! Really, now! Ohhh.... Uh.." He wipes an eye and looks at Zane again, "If you touch that lizard, you have much more to worry about than me or a snake. That lizard may be a mother lizard's lost egg... have you ever seen a fully-grown dragon, cat? You would get stuck between its teeth as an afterthought." He chuckles.
Ribbert has managed to creep in silence from his high perch to one within striking distance of the strange lizard toddler. With habitual languidity, his horned eyes regard the awkwardly proportioned Mally. "Allo--there." The toad's voice croaks uneasily forth from his deep throat. "You are--standing on--crr-crr--my--" He swallows heavily, distending his vocal sac ever so slightly. "Turf."
Malcolm clenches and unclenches its claws against the toad's turf, overcome by a wave of anxiety. It blinks slowly at him, interest piqued by the sight of something that isn't covered in fur. How peculiar! Unfortunately, he does not seem terribly friendly right now. "'M sorry," it grunts, gaze briefly capturing Moruwil in the distance with notable apprehension. "'M gonna go." It turns its back, the budding scales draped in the fabric of a feminine tunic dress.
Zane narrows his eyes and visibly becomes angry at the squirrel, "Ya don't be making fun of my sister or Is gonna hit ya with my sword, " He moves swiftly to collect it. Teasning before retreating again and turning to watch the scene between the toad and lizard, "I ain't, but don't look like she is worth bother anyway, " He turns to his sister and grabs her paw.
Moruwil notices something the matter over by his newly-arrived reptilian infant and investigates, "Hold here a moment please..." is his only comment to the pair of cats, and he darts over, "Excuse me, excuse me... quite sorry - um..." He pats the lizard's back, "No need for a fuss, I know I rarely come out here to /this/ specific patch of the quarry... I may have forgotten to introduce myself, also - I'm not a very outgoing neighbor, after all... Moruwil. This is Mally. Again, we won't be here long... just... had to take care of, uh." He tilts his head in the direction of the cats, gesticulating with a digit what his tail was a moment before, "Intruders... y'know?" He pulls Mally with him back over to the cats.
Ribbert turns with half-lidded suspicion to the strange furbeast. His eyes flicker in the direction indicated and back again. He nods. "Ribbert---takes great pr--pride in his pond." His low voice reflects an ornery warning. "He doesn't look--kindly on foreign--paws scratching about." His sac inflates and deflates in a slow, deliberate gesture of threat. "Nor on the strange--crk--lunging beast."
Ziva pulls her paw from Zane's, finally fed up with waiting around for her brother. Hunger feeding her run back home.
Zane calls after his sister, annoyed but staying to face the approaching squirrel and lizard, "Guess she don't wanna make friends, " He grins, shrugging, "Ain't ya look very friendly anyways, " He says eyeing Malcolm.
Moruwil nods and waves back at Ribbert as he makes his way to Zane. "Yes, well, that is what happens when one intrudes upon another's property. Although, /this/ technically isn't mine either, but mister toad's over there. I'm sure he'll forgive us, though. Snakes are less forgiving, and need considerable more charm. Heh." He looks at Mally, and back to Zane, smiling, "On your way, then?"
Stubb wobbles after Moruwil, crawling on all fours now rather than hopping. The creatures present him with no threat of bodily harm, at least, so the awkward creature seems determined to dog their tracks until they depart. "Ribbert's---none too--fond of young--" he gulps "--uns on his lawn, neither." His broad mouth inflects downward in an ornery grimace as he regards the sword-wielding dibbun.
Zane looks over his shoulder at where his sister went, he nods but looks sternly at both the lizard and squirrel but seems most unsure about the toad. He grips his sword tightly, "Ain't afraid of any of you, is just ya ain't got no treasure and gots to make sure my sister gets home safely, " He shrugs, "See ya, " He turns and walks away calmly at first before running fully after his sister.
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