Interlude - Once is an accident. Twice is coincidence. Three times - a pattern. (2/2)
“Hrrrrrrrrr…” (Mmmm, cold floor…)
Well, Minic didn’t understand any of that quiet growling noise, but it didn’t sound like a ‘no.’ Therefore, it confidently climbed up its furry arm and sat somewhere on its belly. As expected, the fur was quite soft, enough to rival Minic’s personal bed, though it still fell short of Her Softness’s softies. Therefore, Minic decided to refer to these unfamiliar beings as fluff-furs. It was a very luxurious name, but one that fit that superbly fluffy thing Minic was sitting on. Not only that, but Minic found the gentle up-and-down motion caused by the fluff-fur’s breathing to be quite relaxing.
“Chrraarata!” (There he is!)
A high-pitched chitter suddenly interrupted Minic’s fluffy time. A trio of fluff-furs approached the one on the ground. However, they clearly weren’t peaceful as all of them were baring their pointed teeth, while the one in the lead was holding a knife. And it definitely didn’t have the ‘munchies will be ready soon’ demeanor of Her Softness.
The three intruders surrounded the soft-fur on the ground. They clearly had some business with him, but their eyesight was inevitably drawn to Minic’s fancy frame and shining red jewel. It was nearly the same look that Big Sis had when she and Minic first met.
“Chraar!” (Look at that shiny thing!)
“Chra! Shreehss?” (Wow! Did this deadbeat always have such a thing?)
“Krrrr…” (So shiny…)
“Hrack! Hrarrrak.” (No way! He’s too poor to even afford mushroom wine.)
“Hrakrr?” (So should we take it instead?)
“Grrrrr!” (Paws off, it’s mine!)
“Grrrrrr!” (No, the shiny is mine!)
“Graaaar! Hurrrrrrr!” (Quiet you idiots! I’m the boss here so it’s mine!)
Minic had no idea what was going on, but judging from how their chittering and soft purring grew into dangerous-sounding growls, this clearly wasn’t going to end in a fluffy situation. Therefore, Minic decided now was a good time to leave. So while the three fluff-furs were busy hissing and snarling at one another, Minic carefully climbed off its seat and tried to skitter away.
“Hr? Shrraaaararaara!” (Huh? The shiny is trying to run away!)
However, it would appear Minic’s escape attempt had been seen through almost immediately. The fluff-fur that shrieked just now tried to jump and grab onto Minic, but Minic managed to leap out of the way of those grabby-claws. Minic wanted to run away, and tried its best to do so, but one of the fluff-furs managed to grab onto Minic before it could gain any speed. He then lifted Minic above his head and let out a triumphant cry.
“Krraaa!” (Shinyyy!)
“GRAR!” (I SAID MINE!)
The one with the knife moved forward and cut him on the back. He howled in pain and stumbled forward, dropping Minic in the process. He retaliated by turning around and clawing his attacker across the face, causing some juice to gush out from the knife-holder’s see-hole. The third one took advantage of the confusion and chased after Minic, but Minic had already began skittering away at top speed in a random direction. The much taller fluff-fur would have easily caught up to Minic, but for better or for worse, Minic had ended up running into the crowd of fluff-furs.
Howls, roars, chitters and other sounds started intensifying around it as the big stone box’s interior was thrown into chaos. Two of the fluff-furs grabbed Minic on either with one paw each, and then started punching and clawing each other while pulling on it from both directions. A wooden stick with a pointed tip suddenly appeared and slid into one’s shoulder, causing him to fall to one side and let go of Minic. The other held onto Minic firmly and made a run for it, only to be hit by a thick piece of metal from the side and forcibly relinquishing possession of Minic to the really big and tough-looking fluff-fur.
This one kept moving around while swatting other fluff-furs with one hand as if they were nothing, all while holding onto the struggling Minic securely. Pretty soon, they all gave up on trying to come near the big and tough one, and merely hissed and growled from a distance. Just when it appeared they’d more or less calmed down, a fireball streaked in from the side and hit the big fluff-fur in the side, heavily singing his softness.
“Hrahr! Shraaaararara!” (Iron-Club! Drop the shiny if you know what’s good for you!)
The one that launched that hot thing - the one-eyed fluff-fur holding a long stick pointed it menacingly at the big tough one.
“Grraahr! Rrrrargh!” (Stupid Flame-Eye! If you want it then come at me!)
“Hraerhall!” (Fireball!)
The tough fluff-fur’s protests were cut short by another fireball that just barely grazed his listen-holes.
“Hrahrahraaa!” (Just give it up, you know you can’t beat me!)
“Grrrrr!” (We’ll see about that!)
“Hraerhall!” (Fireball!)
Another one came flying at the fluff-fur that was still clinging onto Minic, but this time he managed to dodge it entirely. He had moved a bit too far to the left, prompting one of the surrounding fluff-furs to leap out of the lines and bite into his exposed arm with all force. The two of them struggled for a few moments, before the one-eyed from earlier was preparing to do his thing again.
But before the upteempth fiery projectile could come flying at him, the tough fluff-fur had been tripped up by yet another fluff-fur that came in from the audience. He ended up falling backwards and unintentionally flinging Minic into the air-
“Hraerhall!” (Fireball!)
-right into the path of the oncoming Fireball.
The surrounding fluff-furs watched with mouths and see-balls wide open. However, just as the projectile that would undoubtedly burn Minic into a crisp was about to make contact, it curved unnaturally to the right and hit one of the bystander fluff-furs.
A special action has been performed. LCK +1.
Oh, hey! Minic’s old friend Blue-box was back! Unfortunately, Minic didn’t have time to chat right now and had to dismiss it. Minic knew it was rude, but it had a duty as Big Bro’s subordinate to return to him at all costs. This was a good chance for it too, since all the fluff-furs seemed to be staring at the one that was hit just now. Therefore, Minic skittered across the dirty floor with all its might. A few of the fluff-furs jumped back when they saw it approach, but one of them pounced on it and held it down with both claws.
“Hraerhall!” (Fireball!)
However, that one-eyed one didn’t quit and launched yet another fireball. The fluff-fur that was holding onto Minic turned around and held Minic in the path of the incoming mass of flames. Like before, the projectile’s flight path curved unnaturally causing it to swerve around Minic and hit the fluff-fur behind it squarely in the face. He fell over without even uttering a yell and Minic fell out of his suddenly limp hands.
A special action has been performed. LCK +1.
Minic was a bit happy to see Blue-box was back so soon, but it once again dismissed it with a silent apology. Minic landed upside-down on its lid, but it managed to flip itself over by opening its mouth really wide. Just as Minic was about to break out into another run, it realized that the fluff-furs have drawn back even farther away from Minic. Even that mischievous one-eye was looking at it funny, and seemed to hesitate a bit before he tried once again.
“... Hraerhall?” (... Fireball?)
The fireball flew out of his hand and towards Minic yet again. It did a splendid half-circle turn around Minic and flew back at him, hitting and shattering the stick he was holding onto and knocking him to the ground.
A special action has been performed. LCK +1.
Did Blue-box love to see the fireballs that much? It always seemed to appear at times like these, but Minic didn’t mind. Okay, Minic minded it a little since Minic rarely got some quiet time with Blue-box, but it already accepted this behavior as just how things were. Either way, it would appear that the fluff-furs had played around enough since they all started running away, probably back to their own duties. Even the big and tough one was limping away so quick that Minic wondered if his weirdly-bent leg might snap.
Well, honestly speaking, Minic had quite enough goofing around for one day as well. Minic headed off into a random dried-up pipe and made its way through the completely unfamiliar maze of tunnels. Somehow or another Minic managed to find its way aboveground and dimly recognized the surroundings. It would also appear that the ceiling-bright was already back to work up on the Grand Ceiling. People were already walking about, so Minic had to be extra careful not to get stepped on as Minic made its way back to where Big Sis was undoubtedly waiting. Somewhere along the way, however, it accidentally bumped into someone’s leg.
“Ow! Oh hey, you’re Rowana’s pet, aren’t you?”
The pointy-listen-holed man knelt down and held out his hand towards Minic. It was the same person that Minic stayed with awhile back, though Minic still wasn’t sure why Minic was sent there in the first place.
“How you been, Minic?”
“Yip!” (That is indeed my name, good sir! A pleasure to see you are of sound mind and body! Forgive the sudden disturbance, but would you be willing to assist me?)
“Hehe, lively as ever, huh? Still, you’re a long way from home. Quite the little explorer, aren’t you?”
“Yap yap!” (Marvelous! Then I would be deeply grateful if sir would be kind enough to see me back to Her Royal Softness and Honorable Elder Sister’s box of residence.)
“Well, this busy street is no place for you. Come on, little guy, let’s get you back to where you belong.”
Minic was gently picked up and carried off towards the direction Minic was trying to go. It would seem Minic had managed to relay its intent despite the language barrier. Minic was quite proud of itself for accomplishing such a feat. And indeed, just as promised, the nice man brought Minic right to Her Softness’s box and knocked on the lid of it. Her Softness noticed the signal and opened the lid within a few moments.
“Morning, miss Slyth.”
“Good morning. Oh, Minic! There you are!”
Minic was passed from one set of hands to the other and felt the distinct sensation of Her Softness’s softies pressing against its underside.
“Thanks so much for bringing him over. I hope it wasn’t a bother.”
“Haha, no worries, miss Slyth. I know full well he’s quite the slippery bugger. Has way too much energy for such a pipsqueak.”
“I’ll say. I still have no idea how he manages to move around so much even though he never sleeps. We take him for walks and everything, but he never seems to tire out.”
“Well, what can you do. That’s part of the little guy’s charm.”
“I suppose you’re right. Would you like to come in for a cup of tea for your troubles?”
“No, that’s quite alright. I actually have to get ready for work. Good thing for our little friend here that I decided to leave early, eh? Besides I wouldn’t want to intrude upon you and your girlfriend’s quality time together.”
“Uhm… Th-thanks.”
“No worries! Hahaha!”
The man departed with a chuckle and a wave of his hand as Her Softness brought Minic inside the comfortable old box. She seemed displeased since Minic had gotten quite grimy during that little adventure, meaning it would probably be bubble-water time soon. Minic saw that Big Sis was sitting in the corner fiddling with those springy, clicky and poppy things she liked to play with.
Oh wait, no, that was actually Mother. She and Big Sis sometimes traded places, probably as part of some fun game. Minic could immediately tell them apart, even though others seemed to confuse them quite often. Minic didn’t hold it against them though, those two really looked quite alike when they wanted to. It was only to be expected they would be like that. After all, Minic could feel an oddly nostalgic bond between Big Sis and Mother. Almost the same as the one that existed between Mother and Father.
Looking upon it again, Minic was reminded of a better time, back when Father and all of Minic's siblings were still around in that noisy and constantly rowdy place. Sweepy, Cookers, Sir Seatmeister the Third, Wardrobzilla, Tablesworth, the Bowl Triplets and all the rest - it missed every last one of them. Minic had to go through some rather unfluffy experiences ever since their separation, but right now things were different. It had people that looked after and cherished it, people that it could share many fluffy times with. For the first time since that fateful day, Minic actually had a home again. Granted, this one was smaller, a bit dirtier and didn’t have any of its siblings, but Minic didn’t mind.
Minic didn’t mind a single bit.