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…
“How many more times should I tell you, that this requires a full-on supervision of no one but me!” Matthew the goose proclaimed, taking away the ribbon and scissors from Eleanora.
“Ugh, you gonna complain abouth losing your feathers again. Now give ith back!”
Tom watched the two bicker again, wearily laying his head on his paw. He pulled the phone again, and then sighed for the fifth time. No change whatsoever. If they are not going to come soon, maybe he should go ahead and opt out altogether. A shiver came down Tom’s spine. No, he did not want that at all, not in the million years. But what could he do? Was there even a solution to this?
“Hello there!”
Tom jumped from his table and spun around. He thought it came right behind his ear, but in fact, the caller was several feet away, peeking through the door. It was a crow-man, none other than Pierre’s father.
“My, quite busy in here,” he said, adjusting his tie. Tom found such gestures to be intimidation tactic, something done to show how professional one is. “Have any of you seen my son by any chance?” he said scanning the room, “I’ve tried to call him. I wanted to talk to him, and yet he wouldn’t answer.”
The crow shifted his gaze onto Tom. Unfortunately, that made the already nervous cat even more nervous. Tom’s popping eyes and frozen face were betraying him like no other. And yet, with very firm, very slow, yet still awkward, he answered the question with, “Sorry sir. We did not see Pierre, your son, here. Please come back in a week.”
The crow moved one eyebrow up.
“Is there something going on here?” he asked.
Tom rigidly turned around. This was not good decision, since now he realized that even his friend were looking at him suspiciously. The cat then dropped down and began scrolling through his phone again.
A heavy wing of an adult tapped on his shoulder.
WHERE ARE YOU GUYS!?
…
The Torque was riding in at the top speed, that even Fotia couldn’t handle it. His small body flailed in the air, as the monster burst through every small sandy hill towards them. Since she knew it wouldn’t take long for it to arrive, Flora raised her bow.
“Don’t forget!” the clown exclaimed, his voice reaching a highest octave from that shout, “You are not allowed to shoot other riders while the race is still on!!!”
Flora grunted and rolled her eyes. “Got it,” she said, “Exactly what I needed.”
<Focus, Flora.>
Right.
She turned her bow away and ran to Barbie. She checked the board which held her friend’s head, and sadly for her, she couldn’t figure out how to open it.
“Oh, come on! Like, how do you even manage to put it in!? There’s not even a lock, or chain or something!”
“Sorry,” Barbie said sadly. Flora shook her head.
“Don’t move.” She stuck one end of the bow between where the board that held her head, and the table that carried her body met.
<What are you trying to do?> Rose asked. <The bow has no durability for this!>
Flora continued on trying to push it in, regardless. Despite the pointy end of the bow, it seemed that Rose was more than right. The bow was less rigid, and more akin to a plastic stick toy. Surprising for a weapon that had definite air of nobility. Upon closer inspection, that probably made more than enough sense, which Flora accepted as truth.
“I am very sorry,” Barbie said suddenly. Before Flora could respond, she added “Your Highness.” Flora took a pause, and paid attention to Rose.
The latter didn’t answer immediately. However, there was no coldness, or sense of suffocation that came from her. There was…nothing.
You gonna say something? Flora thought. Rose responded by asking to let her speak.
“I am…” Flora’s mouth moved on its own. A clump appeared in her throat, even though she herself was fine. “I am still…hurt, Zamarad.”
Barbie’s eyes moved down again. This was a pitiful sight. One that Flora seen and became familiar enough with to figure out that the two will never be the same again. And probably, that neither will try to mend it, at least not yet. They never what to mend it immediately.
But still, she tried to persuade them.
But…?
“But…” Rose repeated after Flora, unaware what she was trying to do at first. And yet, the second part came naturally: “I need you.”
Barbie’s eyes were raised, and soon turned moist. Flora figured if she can’t make the latter talk, might as well make the other do first.
And then shouted Azure,
“THE CLOWN HAS A MALLET!”
Flora spun her head in time for the head of a hammer to fly their way. She managed to dodge it, luckily enough, but it hit the table that Barbie was still on. The whole construction fell to the side, its legs managing to get broken by the sheer force of the gargantuan weapon. It was painfully obvious that the weapon was not just for show.
Another thing that was obvious was how heavy that thing was. Flora saw the clown place the hammer back to the sand ground again, creating ripples and waves as it did. The clown then wiped sweat off of his forehead, taking a moment for a breather. Flora took this moment to quickly dash away and get to her friend. The table was still whole in itself, and so was the board, unfortunately. Which made it look particularly uncomfortable, as Barbie’s head’s current height left her hovering a bit of the ground.
“Barbie, you alright?” Flora asked, biting her lip.
“I am! But ouch,” Barbie answered, while Flora tried to get her to her knees, so that it wouldn’t be nearly as painful.
Flora looked at the board and bit her lip again. If she could take it out, they could at least get her away from the action. Flora started to consider few possibilities.
“Barbie, think you can detransform?”
Barbie took a moment to consider it, then said, “We can! But I don’t think I can pull my head out.”
“Really?”
“Yeah! There’s…uh…springs? I think they are springs, but they are very sharp. They don’t hurt me much, it’s kinda like that mat my mom uses for her back! But Zamarad says it’s likelier to stab me if I turn back to normal and try to pull my head out.”
Flora groaned, “Seriously!?” Who spends their time constructing something so stupid!?
<Ask for Zamarad’s spear!> Rose said.
“Hey Barbie, where’s your spear?”
“It’s in my wrist,” Barbie answered, then limply shook one near Flora. She grabbed it, and saw a small pin attached to Barbie’s wrist. “Just throw magic into it and it will come out.”
“My dear, darling ladies!” the clown’s voice resounded from behind the table. It was loud and aggressive, spooking Flora from her concentration. “I hope you haven’t forgotten that in this very moment a giant monster is making his way to trample you all death. Cause he is about to start trampling!”
Flora immediately darted for Barbie’s wrist, and trying to find the pin. It seemed to be part of a golden bracelet, looking innocuous due to sharing the same look as the rest of her friend’s armor. While Flora continued to try and pull the pin out, Barbie suddenly called to her.
“Flora listen!” she said.
Flora heard the clown say, “What are you doing?” in the most incredulous tone of voice.
Flora peeked her head up. The sight she was met with was very much worthy of the tone.
As to explain what happened, one has to shift attention to Fotia for a little bit. First off, this whole time, he was busy with the Torque. Sometime during their scuffle, the red nose that still had Chester inside accidentally fell into the carriage, right behind the front rail and onto the floor. A very disturbing looking floor too, and describing it would spoil appetite. Meanwhile, Fotia was busy hanging off of the Torque’s hand, with his other holding onto the lunchbox. Now, as the Torque turned to the girls, Fotia found it necessary to try and intervene. And so what he did was climb on the Torque, then shove the clothed lunchbox right into its face. No matter how much the monster flailed, trying to grab both him and the lunchbox, Fotia would skillfully move away to keep it from taking it off itself. As a consequence, the riding itself became more chaotic. Soon enough, they began moving in a completely different direction.
“Are you having a brat problem?” the clown mockingly asked. The Torque passed right by him, moving to somewhere completely different. “Hey!” from the clown was ignored, in order to make time to do donuts.
“Fotia!” Azure tried to call for his friend.
“I have retrieved the juice, Azure!” Fotia exclaimed. “But I seemed to have lost the nose!” He then got swung into other side, after the Torque abruptly stopped. The monster rode away, much to Azure’s chagrin.
And so, Flora has been given ample time to fiddle with the spear and getting her friend out. Sadly, this seemingly was proving to be far more difficult thanks to number of reasons. One of them being that the spear was a bit heavy.
“How the heck do you even carry this thing!?” Flora groaned, trying to get the spearhead to point into the board.
“It’s actually not that heavy.”
“Oh yes, it is!!!” Flora shouted to Barbie, right as she jammed into a hole. “Great, now give me a minute, and I’ll pry it. Hnnng!!!” Flora pulled on it for a bit. After struggling for a while, making all sorts of sounds of effort, she relaxed, and said, with a heavy heart, “Maybe we’ll need few more minutes with this. Geez!”
Azure made his way back to the girls. He passed the clown, whom he heard wonder aloud “Where is the other one?” He got to the girls, and saw them both battling with the wooden board, very studiously.
Watching this, he commented, “Perhaps we should find the second Torque.”
“…What?” Flora asked, getting another pause.
“So as to be ridden of these wooden constructions. Once killed, these things could surely become far easier to deal with.”
Flora paused. “Rose said, not yet,” she answered.
Azure raised an eyebrow. This was extremely curious for him.
“She thinks the board…could be useful?” Flora shrugged her shoulders.
Azure seemed hesitant, but then, went on to drop the idea.
“Insofar, our enemy is that giant riding Torque, who has been fortunately made busy by our ever so plucky friend. This leaves the jester, who I am afraid you won’t be able to easily destroy.”
<He is a general,> Rose noted. Flora nodded in agreement.
“But he has weakness,” Barbie said. Or more likely, Zamarad. “However, monster such as him could be too clever to fall for a simple trick. He is far too smart to let himself be open.”
“In that case, why don’t we just outdumb him instead?” Flora blurted out. This got everyone’s attention.
“That sounded awfully close to what Varvara would say,” commented Zamarad.
Flora bit her lip in embarrassment. If you were to put it that way, she thought. She heard someone giggle, but neither Azure nor Zamarad looked like they did.
“But she is not necessarily wrong,” Azure retorted. “He had been constant in finding ways to keep himself one step ahead. What we need is a way to subvert what he thinks of us. We managed to do some, so far, but we are far from truly victorious.”
Everyone nodded in agreement. Albeit, that sounded far easier said than done. Even if they were trying to be subversive and not entirely smart, they needed a plan of action. Maybe some clue as to what was their next step. Flora sighed, but then looked up with her heart sturdier than before.
“So then, what do we-“
“PEACE!”
Everyone, sans Barbie, exchanged glances.
“…Huh?”
Peace I tell you, peace!” The clown kept announcing.
Flora peeked over and saw a sight that boggled her mind like nothing ever did so before. And it was a sight of a white flag.
“…What?”
“Can’t you see?” the clown said while pointing to the flag, and wearing a smile, “I’m giving up!”
…
-----------------------------------------
…
“How many more times should I tell you, that this requires a full-on supervision of no one but me!” Matthew the goose proclaimed, taking away the ribbon and scissors from Eleanora.
“Ugh, you gonna complain abouth losing your feathers again. Now give ith back!”
Tom watched the two bicker again, wearily laying his head on his paw. He pulled the phone again, and then sighed for the fifth time. No change whatsoever. If they are not going to come soon, maybe he should go ahead and opt out altogether. A shiver came down Tom’s spine. No, he did not want that at all, not in the million years. But what could he do? Was there even a solution to this?
“Hello there!”
Tom jumped from his table and spun around. He thought it came right behind his ear, but in fact, the caller was several feet away, peeking through the door. It was a crow-man, none other than Pierre’s father.
“My, quite busy in here,” he said, adjusting his tie. Tom found such gestures to be intimidation tactic, something done to show how professional one is. “Have any of you seen my son by any chance?” he said scanning the room, “I’ve tried to call him. I wanted to talk to him, and yet he wouldn’t answer.”
The crow shifted his gaze onto Tom. Unfortunately, that made the already nervous cat even more nervous. Tom’s popping eyes and frozen face were betraying him like no other. And yet, with very firm, very slow, yet still awkward, he answered the question with, “Sorry sir. We did not see Pierre, your son, here. Please come back in a week.”
The crow moved one eyebrow up.
“Is there something going on here?” he asked.
Tom rigidly turned around. This was not good decision, since now he realized that even his friend were looking at him suspiciously. The cat then dropped down and began scrolling through his phone again.
A heavy wing of an adult tapped on his shoulder.
WHERE ARE YOU GUYS!?
…
The Torque was riding in at the top speed, that even Fotia couldn’t handle it. His small body flailed in the air, as the monster burst through every small sandy hill towards them. Since she knew it wouldn’t take long for it to arrive, Flora raised her bow.
“Don’t forget!” the clown exclaimed, his voice reaching a highest octave from that shout, “You are not allowed to shoot other riders while the race is still on!!!”
Flora grunted and rolled her eyes. “Got it,” she said, “Exactly what I needed.”
<Focus, Flora.>
Right.
She turned her bow away and ran to Barbie. She checked the board which held her friend’s head, and sadly for her, she couldn’t figure out how to open it.
“Oh, come on! Like, how do you even manage to put it in!? There’s not even a lock, or chain or something!”
“Sorry,” Barbie said sadly. Flora shook her head.
“Don’t move.” She stuck one end of the bow between where the board that held her head, and the table that carried her body met.
<What are you trying to do?> Rose asked. <The bow has no durability for this!>
Flora continued on trying to push it in, regardless. Despite the pointy end of the bow, it seemed that Rose was more than right. The bow was less rigid, and more akin to a plastic stick toy. Surprising for a weapon that had definite air of nobility. Upon closer inspection, that probably made more than enough sense, which Flora accepted as truth.
“I am very sorry,” Barbie said suddenly. Before Flora could respond, she added “Your Highness.” Flora took a pause, and paid attention to Rose.
The latter didn’t answer immediately. However, there was no coldness, or sense of suffocation that came from her. There was…nothing.
You gonna say something? Flora thought. Rose responded by asking to let her speak.
“I am…” Flora’s mouth moved on its own. A clump appeared in her throat, even though she herself was fine. “I am still…hurt, Zamarad.”
Barbie’s eyes moved down again. This was a pitiful sight. One that Flora seen and became familiar enough with to figure out that the two will never be the same again. And probably, that neither will try to mend it, at least not yet. They never what to mend it immediately.
But still, she tried to persuade them.
But…?
“But…” Rose repeated after Flora, unaware what she was trying to do at first. And yet, the second part came naturally: “I need you.”
Barbie’s eyes were raised, and soon turned moist. Flora figured if she can’t make the latter talk, might as well make the other do first.
And then shouted Azure,
“THE CLOWN HAS A MALLET!”
Flora spun her head in time for the head of a hammer to fly their way. She managed to dodge it, luckily enough, but it hit the table that Barbie was still on. The whole construction fell to the side, its legs managing to get broken by the sheer force of the gargantuan weapon. It was painfully obvious that the weapon was not just for show.
Another thing that was obvious was how heavy that thing was. Flora saw the clown place the hammer back to the sand ground again, creating ripples and waves as it did. The clown then wiped sweat off of his forehead, taking a moment for a breather. Flora took this moment to quickly dash away and get to her friend. The table was still whole in itself, and so was the board, unfortunately. Which made it look particularly uncomfortable, as Barbie’s head’s current height left her hovering a bit of the ground.
“Barbie, you alright?” Flora asked, biting her lip.
“I am! But ouch,” Barbie answered, while Flora tried to get her to her knees, so that it wouldn’t be nearly as painful.
Flora looked at the board and bit her lip again. If she could take it out, they could at least get her away from the action. Flora started to consider few possibilities.
“Barbie, think you can detransform?”
Barbie took a moment to consider it, then said, “We can! But I don’t think I can pull my head out.”
“Really?”
“Yeah! There’s…uh…springs? I think they are springs, but they are very sharp. They don’t hurt me much, it’s kinda like that mat my mom uses for her back! But Zamarad says it’s likelier to stab me if I turn back to normal and try to pull my head out.”
Flora groaned, “Seriously!?” Who spends their time constructing something so stupid!?
<Ask for Zamarad’s spear!> Rose said.
“Hey Barbie, where’s your spear?”
“It’s in my wrist,” Barbie answered, then limply shook one near Flora. She grabbed it, and saw a small pin attached to Barbie’s wrist. “Just throw magic into it and it will come out.”
“My dear, darling ladies!” the clown’s voice resounded from behind the table. It was loud and aggressive, spooking Flora from her concentration. “I hope you haven’t forgotten that in this very moment a giant monster is making his way to trample you all death. Cause he is about to start trampling!”
Flora immediately darted for Barbie’s wrist, and trying to find the pin. It seemed to be part of a golden bracelet, looking innocuous due to sharing the same look as the rest of her friend’s armor. While Flora continued to try and pull the pin out, Barbie suddenly called to her.
“Flora listen!” she said.
Flora heard the clown say, “What are you doing?” in the most incredulous tone of voice.
Flora peeked her head up. The sight she was met with was very much worthy of the tone.
As to explain what happened, one has to shift attention to Fotia for a little bit. First off, this whole time, he was busy with the Torque. Sometime during their scuffle, the red nose that still had Chester inside accidentally fell into the carriage, right behind the front rail and onto the floor. A very disturbing looking floor too, and describing it would spoil appetite. Meanwhile, Fotia was busy hanging off of the Torque’s hand, with his other holding onto the lunchbox. Now, as the Torque turned to the girls, Fotia found it necessary to try and intervene. And so what he did was climb on the Torque, then shove the clothed lunchbox right into its face. No matter how much the monster flailed, trying to grab both him and the lunchbox, Fotia would skillfully move away to keep it from taking it off itself. As a consequence, the riding itself became more chaotic. Soon enough, they began moving in a completely different direction.
“Are you having a brat problem?” the clown mockingly asked. The Torque passed right by him, moving to somewhere completely different. “Hey!” from the clown was ignored, in order to make time to do donuts.
“Fotia!” Azure tried to call for his friend.
“I have retrieved the juice, Azure!” Fotia exclaimed. “But I seemed to have lost the nose!” He then got swung into other side, after the Torque abruptly stopped. The monster rode away, much to Azure’s chagrin.
And so, Flora has been given ample time to fiddle with the spear and getting her friend out. Sadly, this seemingly was proving to be far more difficult thanks to number of reasons. One of them being that the spear was a bit heavy.
“How the heck do you even carry this thing!?” Flora groaned, trying to get the spearhead to point into the board.
“It’s actually not that heavy.”
“Oh yes, it is!!!” Flora shouted to Barbie, right as she jammed into a hole. “Great, now give me a minute, and I’ll pry it. Hnnng!!!” Flora pulled on it for a bit. After struggling for a while, making all sorts of sounds of effort, she relaxed, and said, with a heavy heart, “Maybe we’ll need few more minutes with this. Geez!”
Azure made his way back to the girls. He passed the clown, whom he heard wonder aloud “Where is the other one?” He got to the girls, and saw them both battling with the wooden board, very studiously.
Watching this, he commented, “Perhaps we should find the second Torque.”
“…What?” Flora asked, getting another pause.
“So as to be ridden of these wooden constructions. Once killed, these things could surely become far easier to deal with.”
Flora paused. “Rose said, not yet,” she answered.
Azure raised an eyebrow. This was extremely curious for him.
“She thinks the board…could be useful?” Flora shrugged her shoulders.
Azure seemed hesitant, but then, went on to drop the idea.
“Insofar, our enemy is that giant riding Torque, who has been fortunately made busy by our ever so plucky friend. This leaves the jester, who I am afraid you won’t be able to easily destroy.”
<He is a general,> Rose noted. Flora nodded in agreement.
“But he has weakness,” Barbie said. Or more likely, Zamarad. “However, monster such as him could be too clever to fall for a simple trick. He is far too smart to let himself be open.”
“In that case, why don’t we just outdumb him instead?” Flora blurted out. This got everyone’s attention.
“That sounded awfully close to what Varvara would say,” commented Zamarad.
Flora bit her lip in embarrassment. If you were to put it that way, she thought. She heard someone giggle, but neither Azure nor Zamarad looked like they did.
“But she is not necessarily wrong,” Azure retorted. “He had been constant in finding ways to keep himself one step ahead. What we need is a way to subvert what he thinks of us. We managed to do some, so far, but we are far from truly victorious.”
Everyone nodded in agreement. Albeit, that sounded far easier said than done. Even if they were trying to be subversive and not entirely smart, they needed a plan of action. Maybe some clue as to what was their next step. Flora sighed, but then looked up with her heart sturdier than before.
“So then, what do we-“
“PEACE!”
Everyone, sans Barbie, exchanged glances.
“…Huh?”
Peace I tell you, peace!” The clown kept announcing.
Flora peeked over and saw a sight that boggled her mind like nothing ever did so before. And it was a sight of a white flag.
“…What?”
“Can’t you see?” the clown said while pointing to the flag, and wearing a smile, “I’m giving up!”
…
It's easy to say, you're fine by yourself...
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
…
“How many more times should I tell you, that this requires a full-on supervision of no one but me!” Matthew the goose proclaimed, taking away the ribbon and scissors from Eleanora.
“Ugh, you gonna complain abouth losing your feathers again. Now give ith back!”
Tom watched the two bicker again, wearily laying his head on his paw. He pulled the phone again, and then sighed for the fifth time. No change whatsoever. If they are not going to come soon, maybe he should go ahead and opt out altogether. A shiver came down Tom’s spine. No, he did not want that at all, not in the million years. But what could he do? Was there even a solution to this?
“Hello there!”
Tom jumped from his table and spun around. He thought it came right behind his ear, but in fact, the caller was several feet away, peeking through the door. It was a crow-man, none other than Pierre’s father.
“My, quite busy in here,” he said, adjusting his tie. Tom found such gestures to be intimidation tactic, something done to show how professional one is. “Have any of you seen my son by any chance?” he said scanning the room, “I’ve tried to call him. I wanted to talk to him, and yet he wouldn’t answer.”
The crow shifted his gaze onto Tom. Unfortunately, that made the already nervous cat even more nervous. Tom’s popping eyes and frozen face were betraying him like no other. And yet, with very firm, very slow, yet still awkward, he answered the question with, “Sorry sir. We did not see Pierre, your son, here. Please come back in a week.”
The crow moved one eyebrow up.
“Is there something going on here?” he asked.
Tom rigidly turned around. This was not good decision, since now he realized that even his friend were looking at him suspiciously. The cat then dropped down and began scrolling through his phone again.
A heavy wing of an adult tapped on his shoulder.
WHERE ARE YOU GUYS!?
…
The Torque was riding in at the top speed, that even Fotia couldn’t handle it. His small body flailed in the air, as the monster burst through every small sandy hill towards them. Since she knew it wouldn’t take long for it to arrive, Flora raised her bow.
“Don’t forget!” the clown exclaimed, his voice reaching a highest octave from that shout, “You are not allowed to shoot other riders while the race is still on!!!”
Flora grunted and rolled her eyes. “Got it,” she said, “Exactly what I needed.”
<Focus, Flora.>
Right.
She turned her bow away and ran to Barbie. She checked the board which held her friend’s head, and sadly for her, she couldn’t figure out how to open it.
“Oh, come on! Like, how do you even manage to put it in!? There’s not even a lock, or chain or something!”
“Sorry,” Barbie said sadly. Flora shook her head.
“Don’t move.” She stuck one end of the bow between where the board that held her head, and the table that carried her body met.
<What are you trying to do?> Rose asked. <The bow has no durability for this!>
Flora continued on trying to push it in, regardless. Despite the pointy end of the bow, it seemed that Rose was more than right. The bow was less rigid, and more akin to a plastic stick toy. Surprising for a weapon that had definite air of nobility. Upon closer inspection, that probably made more than enough sense, which Flora accepted as truth.
“I am very sorry,” Barbie said suddenly. Before Flora could respond, she added “Your Highness.” Flora took a pause, and paid attention to Rose.
The latter didn’t answer immediately. However, there was no coldness, or sense of suffocation that came from her. There was…nothing.
You gonna say something? Flora thought. Rose responded by asking to let her speak.
“I am…” Flora’s mouth moved on its own. A clump appeared in her throat, even though she herself was fine. “I am still…hurt, Zamarad.”
Barbie’s eyes moved down again. This was a pitiful sight. One that Flora seen and became familiar enough with to figure out that the two will never be the same again. And probably, that neither will try to mend it, at least not yet. They never what to mend it immediately.
But still, she tried to persuade them.
But…?
“But…” Rose repeated after Flora, unaware what she was trying to do at first. And yet, the second part came naturally: “I need you.”
Barbie’s eyes were raised, and soon turned moist. Flora figured if she can’t make the latter talk, might as well make the other do first.
And then shouted Azure,
“THE CLOWN HAS A MALLET!”
Flora spun her head in time for the head of a hammer to fly their way. She managed to dodge it, luckily enough, but it hit the table that Barbie was still on. The whole construction fell to the side, its legs managing to get broken by the sheer force of the gargantuan weapon. It was painfully obvious that the weapon was not just for show.
Another thing that was obvious was how heavy that thing was. Flora saw the clown place the hammer back to the sand ground again, creating ripples and waves as it did. The clown then wiped sweat off of his forehead, taking a moment for a breather. Flora took this moment to quickly dash away and get to her friend. The table was still whole in itself, and so was the board, unfortunately. Which made it look particularly uncomfortable, as Barbie’s head’s current height left her hovering a bit of the ground.
“Barbie, you alright?” Flora asked, biting her lip.
“I am! But ouch,” Barbie answered, while Flora tried to get her to her knees, so that it wouldn’t be nearly as painful.
Flora looked at the board and bit her lip again. If she could take it out, they could at least get her away from the action. Flora started to consider few possibilities.
“Barbie, think you can detransform?”
Barbie took a moment to consider it, then said, “We can! But I don’t think I can pull my head out.”
“Really?”
“Yeah! There’s…uh…springs? I think they are springs, but they are very sharp. They don’t hurt me much, it’s kinda like that mat my mom uses for her back! But Zamarad says it’s likelier to stab me if I turn back to normal and try to pull my head out.”
Flora groaned, “Seriously!?” Who spends their time constructing something so stupid!?
<Ask for Zamarad’s spear!> Rose said.
“Hey Barbie, where’s your spear?”
“It’s in my wrist,” Barbie answered, then limply shook one near Flora. She grabbed it, and saw a small pin attached to Barbie’s wrist. “Just throw magic into it and it will come out.”
“My dear, darling ladies!” the clown’s voice resounded from behind the table. It was loud and aggressive, spooking Flora from her concentration. “I hope you haven’t forgotten that in this very moment a giant monster is making his way to trample you all death. Cause he is about to start trampling!”
Flora immediately darted for Barbie’s wrist, and trying to find the pin. It seemed to be part of a golden bracelet, looking innocuous due to sharing the same look as the rest of her friend’s armor. While Flora continued to try and pull the pin out, Barbie suddenly called to her.
“Flora listen!” she said.
Flora heard the clown say, “What are you doing?” in the most incredulous tone of voice.
Flora peeked her head up. The sight she was met with was very much worthy of the tone.
As to explain what happened, one has to shift attention to Fotia for a little bit. First off, this whole time, he was busy with the Torque. Sometime during their scuffle, the red nose that still had Chester inside accidentally fell into the carriage, right behind the front rail and onto the floor. A very disturbing looking floor too, and describing it would spoil appetite. Meanwhile, Fotia was busy hanging off of the Torque’s hand, with his other holding onto the lunchbox. Now, as the Torque turned to the girls, Fotia found it necessary to try and intervene. And so what he did was climb on the Torque, then shove the clothed lunchbox right into its face. No matter how much the monster flailed, trying to grab both him and the lunchbox, Fotia would skillfully move away to keep it from taking it off itself. As a consequence, the riding itself became more chaotic. Soon enough, they began moving in a completely different direction.
“Are you having a brat problem?” the clown mockingly asked. The Torque passed right by him, moving to somewhere completely different. “Hey!” from the clown was ignored, in order to make time to do donuts.
“Fotia!” Azure tried to call for his friend.
“I have retrieved the juice, Azure!” Fotia exclaimed. “But I seemed to have lost the nose!” He then got swung into other side, after the Torque abruptly stopped. The monster rode away, much to Azure’s chagrin.
And so, Flora has been given ample time to fiddle with the spear and getting her friend out. Sadly, this seemingly was proving to be far more difficult thanks to number of reasons. One of them being that the spear was a bit heavy.
“How the heck do you even carry this thing!?” Flora groaned, trying to get the spearhead to point into the board.
“It’s actually not that heavy.”
“Oh yes, it is!!!” Flora shouted to Barbie, right as she jammed into a hole. “Great, now give me a minute, and I’ll pry it. Hnnng!!!” Flora pulled on it for a bit. After struggling for a while, making all sorts of sounds of effort, she relaxed, and said, with a heavy heart, “Maybe we’ll need few more minutes with this. Geez!”
Azure made his way back to the girls. He passed the clown, whom he heard wonder aloud “Where is the other one?” He got to the girls, and saw them both battling with the wooden board, very studiously.
Watching this, he commented, “Perhaps we should find the second Torque.”
“…What?” Flora asked, getting another pause.
“So as to be ridden of these wooden constructions. Once killed, these things could surely become far easier to deal with.”
Flora paused. “Rose said, not yet,” she answered.
Azure raised an eyebrow. This was extremely curious for him.
“She thinks the board…could be useful?” Flora shrugged her shoulders.
Azure seemed hesitant, but then, went on to drop the idea.
“Insofar, our enemy is that giant riding Torque, who has been fortunately made busy by our ever so plucky friend. This leaves the jester, who I am afraid you won’t be able to easily destroy.”
<He is a general,> Rose noted. Flora nodded in agreement.
“But he has weakness,” Barbie said. Or more likely, Zamarad. “However, monster such as him could be too clever to fall for a simple trick. He is far too smart to let himself be open.”
“In that case, why don’t we just outdumb him instead?” Flora blurted out. This got everyone’s attention.
“That sounded awfully close to what Varvara would say,” commented Zamarad.
Flora bit her lip in embarrassment. If you were to put it that way, she thought. She heard someone giggle, but neither Azure nor Zamarad looked like they did.
“But she is not necessarily wrong,” Azure retorted. “He had been constant in finding ways to keep himself one step ahead. What we need is a way to subvert what he thinks of us. We managed to do some, so far, but we are far from truly victorious.”
Everyone nodded in agreement. Albeit, that sounded far easier said than done. Even if they were trying to be subversive and not entirely smart, they needed a plan of action. Maybe some clue as to what was their next step. Flora sighed, but then looked up with her heart sturdier than before.
“So then, what do we-“
“PEACE!”
Everyone, sans Barbie, exchanged glances.
“…Huh?”
Peace I tell you, peace!” The clown kept announcing.
Flora peeked over and saw a sight that boggled her mind like nothing ever did so before. And it was a sight of a white flag.
“…What?”
“Can’t you see?” the clown said while pointing to the flag, and wearing a smile, “I’m giving up!”
…
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
…
“How many more times should I tell you, that this requires a full-on supervision of no one but me!” Matthew the goose proclaimed, taking away the ribbon and scissors from Eleanora.
“Ugh, you gonna complain abouth losing your feathers again. Now give ith back!”
Tom watched the two bicker again, wearily laying his head on his paw. He pulled the phone again, and then sighed for the fifth time. No change whatsoever. If they are not going to come soon, maybe he should go ahead and opt out altogether. A shiver came down Tom’s spine. No, he did not want that at all, not in the million years. But what could he do? Was there even a solution to this?
“Hello there!”
Tom jumped from his table and spun around. He thought it came right behind his ear, but in fact, the caller was several feet away, peeking through the door. It was a crow-man, none other than Pierre’s father.
“My, quite busy in here,” he said, adjusting his tie. Tom found such gestures to be intimidation tactic, something done to show how professional one is. “Have any of you seen my son by any chance?” he said scanning the room, “I’ve tried to call him. I wanted to talk to him, and yet he wouldn’t answer.”
The crow shifted his gaze onto Tom. Unfortunately, that made the already nervous cat even more nervous. Tom’s popping eyes and frozen face were betraying him like no other. And yet, with very firm, very slow, yet still awkward, he answered the question with, “Sorry sir. We did not see Pierre, your son, here. Please come back in a week.”
The crow moved one eyebrow up.
“Is there something going on here?” he asked.
Tom rigidly turned around. This was not good decision, since now he realized that even his friend were looking at him suspiciously. The cat then dropped down and began scrolling through his phone again.
A heavy wing of an adult tapped on his shoulder.
WHERE ARE YOU GUYS!?
…
The Torque was riding in at the top speed, that even Fotia couldn’t handle it. His small body flailed in the air, as the monster burst through every small sandy hill towards them. Since she knew it wouldn’t take long for it to arrive, Flora raised her bow.
“Don’t forget!” the clown exclaimed, his voice reaching a highest octave from that shout, “You are not allowed to shoot other riders while the race is still on!!!”
Flora grunted and rolled her eyes. “Got it,” she said, “Exactly what I needed.”
<Focus, Flora.>
Right.
She turned her bow away and ran to Barbie. She checked the board which held her friend’s head, and sadly for her, she couldn’t figure out how to open it.
“Oh, come on! Like, how do you even manage to put it in!? There’s not even a lock, or chain or something!”
“Sorry,” Barbie said sadly. Flora shook her head.
“Don’t move.” She stuck one end of the bow between where the board that held her head, and the table that carried her body met.
<What are you trying to do?> Rose asked. <The bow has no durability for this!>
Flora continued on trying to push it in, regardless. Despite the pointy end of the bow, it seemed that Rose was more than right. The bow was less rigid, and more akin to a plastic stick toy. Surprising for a weapon that had definite air of nobility. Upon closer inspection, that probably made more than enough sense, which Flora accepted as truth.
“I am very sorry,” Barbie said suddenly. Before Flora could respond, she added “Your Highness.” Flora took a pause, and paid attention to Rose.
The latter didn’t answer immediately. However, there was no coldness, or sense of suffocation that came from her. There was…nothing.
You gonna say something? Flora thought. Rose responded by asking to let her speak.
“I am…” Flora’s mouth moved on its own. A clump appeared in her throat, even though she herself was fine. “I am still…hurt, Zamarad.”
Barbie’s eyes moved down again. This was a pitiful sight. One that Flora seen and became familiar enough with to figure out that the two will never be the same again. And probably, that neither will try to mend it, at least not yet. They never what to mend it immediately.
But still, she tried to persuade them.
But…?
“But…” Rose repeated after Flora, unaware what she was trying to do at first. And yet, the second part came naturally: “I need you.”
Barbie’s eyes were raised, and soon turned moist. Flora figured if she can’t make the latter talk, might as well make the other do first.
And then shouted Azure,
“THE CLOWN HAS A MALLET!”
Flora spun her head in time for the head of a hammer to fly their way. She managed to dodge it, luckily enough, but it hit the table that Barbie was still on. The whole construction fell to the side, its legs managing to get broken by the sheer force of the gargantuan weapon. It was painfully obvious that the weapon was not just for show.
Another thing that was obvious was how heavy that thing was. Flora saw the clown place the hammer back to the sand ground again, creating ripples and waves as it did. The clown then wiped sweat off of his forehead, taking a moment for a breather. Flora took this moment to quickly dash away and get to her friend. The table was still whole in itself, and so was the board, unfortunately. Which made it look particularly uncomfortable, as Barbie’s head’s current height left her hovering a bit of the ground.
“Barbie, you alright?” Flora asked, biting her lip.
“I am! But ouch,” Barbie answered, while Flora tried to get her to her knees, so that it wouldn’t be nearly as painful.
Flora looked at the board and bit her lip again. If she could take it out, they could at least get her away from the action. Flora started to consider few possibilities.
“Barbie, think you can detransform?”
Barbie took a moment to consider it, then said, “We can! But I don’t think I can pull my head out.”
“Really?”
“Yeah! There’s…uh…springs? I think they are springs, but they are very sharp. They don’t hurt me much, it’s kinda like that mat my mom uses for her back! But Zamarad says it’s likelier to stab me if I turn back to normal and try to pull my head out.”
Flora groaned, “Seriously!?” Who spends their time constructing something so stupid!?
<Ask for Zamarad’s spear!> Rose said.
“Hey Barbie, where’s your spear?”
“It’s in my wrist,” Barbie answered, then limply shook one near Flora. She grabbed it, and saw a small pin attached to Barbie’s wrist. “Just throw magic into it and it will come out.”
“My dear, darling ladies!” the clown’s voice resounded from behind the table. It was loud and aggressive, spooking Flora from her concentration. “I hope you haven’t forgotten that in this very moment a giant monster is making his way to trample you all death. Cause he is about to start trampling!”
Flora immediately darted for Barbie’s wrist, and trying to find the pin. It seemed to be part of a golden bracelet, looking innocuous due to sharing the same look as the rest of her friend’s armor. While Flora continued to try and pull the pin out, Barbie suddenly called to her.
“Flora listen!” she said.
Flora heard the clown say, “What are you doing?” in the most incredulous tone of voice.
Flora peeked her head up. The sight she was met with was very much worthy of the tone.
As to explain what happened, one has to shift attention to Fotia for a little bit. First off, this whole time, he was busy with the Torque. Sometime during their scuffle, the red nose that still had Chester inside accidentally fell into the carriage, right behind the front rail and onto the floor. A very disturbing looking floor too, and describing it would spoil appetite. Meanwhile, Fotia was busy hanging off of the Torque’s hand, with his other holding onto the lunchbox. Now, as the Torque turned to the girls, Fotia found it necessary to try and intervene. And so what he did was climb on the Torque, then shove the clothed lunchbox right into its face. No matter how much the monster flailed, trying to grab both him and the lunchbox, Fotia would skillfully move away to keep it from taking it off itself. As a consequence, the riding itself became more chaotic. Soon enough, they began moving in a completely different direction.
“Are you having a brat problem?” the clown mockingly asked. The Torque passed right by him, moving to somewhere completely different. “Hey!” from the clown was ignored, in order to make time to do donuts.
“Fotia!” Azure tried to call for his friend.
“I have retrieved the juice, Azure!” Fotia exclaimed. “But I seemed to have lost the nose!” He then got swung into other side, after the Torque abruptly stopped. The monster rode away, much to Azure’s chagrin.
And so, Flora has been given ample time to fiddle with the spear and getting her friend out. Sadly, this seemingly was proving to be far more difficult thanks to number of reasons. One of them being that the spear was a bit heavy.
“How the heck do you even carry this thing!?” Flora groaned, trying to get the spearhead to point into the board.
“It’s actually not that heavy.”
“Oh yes, it is!!!” Flora shouted to Barbie, right as she jammed into a hole. “Great, now give me a minute, and I’ll pry it. Hnnng!!!” Flora pulled on it for a bit. After struggling for a while, making all sorts of sounds of effort, she relaxed, and said, with a heavy heart, “Maybe we’ll need few more minutes with this. Geez!”
Azure made his way back to the girls. He passed the clown, whom he heard wonder aloud “Where is the other one?” He got to the girls, and saw them both battling with the wooden board, very studiously.
Watching this, he commented, “Perhaps we should find the second Torque.”
“…What?” Flora asked, getting another pause.
“So as to be ridden of these wooden constructions. Once killed, these things could surely become far easier to deal with.”
Flora paused. “Rose said, not yet,” she answered.
Azure raised an eyebrow. This was extremely curious for him.
“She thinks the board…could be useful?” Flora shrugged her shoulders.
Azure seemed hesitant, but then, went on to drop the idea.
“Insofar, our enemy is that giant riding Torque, who has been fortunately made busy by our ever so plucky friend. This leaves the jester, who I am afraid you won’t be able to easily destroy.”
<He is a general,> Rose noted. Flora nodded in agreement.
“But he has weakness,” Barbie said. Or more likely, Zamarad. “However, monster such as him could be too clever to fall for a simple trick. He is far too smart to let himself be open.”
“In that case, why don’t we just outdumb him instead?” Flora blurted out. This got everyone’s attention.
“That sounded awfully close to what Varvara would say,” commented Zamarad.
Flora bit her lip in embarrassment. If you were to put it that way, she thought. She heard someone giggle, but neither Azure nor Zamarad looked like they did.
“But she is not necessarily wrong,” Azure retorted. “He had been constant in finding ways to keep himself one step ahead. What we need is a way to subvert what he thinks of us. We managed to do some, so far, but we are far from truly victorious.”
Everyone nodded in agreement. Albeit, that sounded far easier said than done. Even if they were trying to be subversive and not entirely smart, they needed a plan of action. Maybe some clue as to what was their next step. Flora sighed, but then looked up with her heart sturdier than before.
“So then, what do we-“
“PEACE!”
Everyone, sans Barbie, exchanged glances.
“…Huh?”
Peace I tell you, peace!” The clown kept announcing.
Flora peeked over and saw a sight that boggled her mind like nothing ever did so before. And it was a sight of a white flag.
“…What?”
“Can’t you see?” the clown said while pointing to the flag, and wearing a smile, “I’m giving up!”
…
Category Story / All
Species Unspecified / Any
Gender Any
Size 120 x 120px
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