The sand-sail part 3

– “Just one more touch heeree aaaaand done!” – with the gentle, finishing pats on the fur to signal a job well done, Athena was proud of her brush work – “She even looks prettier than before, don’tcha think, Arty?”

Arthemis was not paying much attention, honestly the only word that came out from that dreamy-like empty-head of his was a whispering “yeah”. Eeva was, indeed, beautiful as usual with her fur properly groomed again. She took a moment to inspect herself in one of the mirrors available on the clothing stalls. The duo actually did a surprising job of removing all the sand, dust and whatever else may have gotten on her fur from the voracious digging. Her ears looked fine, the neck fluffier as usual, nothing on her body of course, and then came the tail. With a little shake grains of sand started falling along the tiny dust cloud that poofed along with the motion.

– “Hmph! There is still sand” – Those grabby paws went reaching for the brush to do some quick fixing on the tail. Perching herself on the bench with it between her csirkatrice legs, she promptly combed at it, tossing the last bits of it onto the ground. With a final check on the mirror, the upset expression circled back to the neutral she’s always known for – “We can go now.”

BONK “Hey stop looking at her, we still have stalls to go!” His brain was still on the clouds but the discomfort made by his sister’s hits was, as always, unmistakable. She did have a point, there were a couple of booths to go, and now that they made the digging pit unavailable, produced some crying finleys along with a tired Tobias having to sweep all that dust, the options were now reduced.

They were hiding behind one of the stalls, sneakily glancing at the kids’s kerfuffle – “We… Better not go that way…” The assembly of ears and whiskers went back to discussing what to do next, with Athena having the brightest idea as ever “Oh! OH! What if we go fishing!?!”

Eeva thought about it for a moment but shook her head, she already got sand flicked at her, she did NOT feel like getting wet now.

Arty had his paw between his ears, still fondling the brush-struck spot hoping that none of his insides were spilling out… – “Eeva is right, I think we can leave that stall for last… What about the pog stall? We coul-” – “Buuuut I wanna fish!” “Well we can leave fishing for later or tomor-” “But we can get s-”

Arty was set on collecting more things for his room, but Atty wanted something to relax after the breading they gave to her friend. The disagreement was steadily rising into an argument but Eeva stepped in with the voice of reason… Well, touch of reason. With a poke on both heated nyulop who came to their senses to check on her friend, she pointed towards one of the stalls and began heading there.

They stopped on a purple stand adorned with gleaming crystals and lots of plushies, those resembling the star-shaped creatures that migrated at times and could be seen flying on clear nights. Other finley could be seen waiting around, cheering the blind contestants or leaving with their plushies in hand, which were considerably larger than the animal they were mocking.

– “SSAEL! We can get plushies! WE CAN GET PLUSHIES!” The sight of the stuffed creatures were enough to convince the jittering Atty that maybe, just maybe, fishing could be done at another time…

– “I think the plushies won’t be wet or dirty. Would you like to play wit-” Arty’s words were met with an immediate nod, with Eeva eyeing up the adult running the stall, a dark green nyulop sporting, who was just done awarding a plushie for one of the children!

– “Here you go! Enjoy the festival!” – the nyulop was holding the plush in the middle of its paws, making sure the claws were out of the way – “Hey children, wanna pin the tail on the Ssael!?” you really couldn’t know if it was a question or a threat by the grin, but the grown-up sure was excited to watch the participants have a go!

– “How do we play? How can we get the plushies? how how how how-” Atty was now jumping excitedly at the counter and shaking some of the sewn up critters, bringing some unwanted eyes to the trio.

– “Heeey, calm down kiddo! I’m Vac and I’m running the stall tonight! I’m gonna cover your eyes! Spin you around! Then you pin the tail on the ssael! If you get it right, you win a prize!” – all of this was spoken using one of the blindfolded plushies as an example, complete with walking and pinning the tail on a small canvas on the counter – “And don’t worry, I’m gonna make sure you don’t poke your friends by accident”

Athena bounced to the starting spot, trotting in place with her eyes closed and raised paws, eagerly waiting to be blinded and win her deserving prize! – “I’m reeaadyy!”

– “Quick one huh? Fine you’re going first, but there are other people in line” as the blindfold was neatly placed over her eyes, Atty got spun around 5 times and had the ssael tail handed to her – “Go!”

The pink menace stumbled left and right trying to force herself to go on. A couple of kids were now watching the spectacle, clapping their paws and making enough noise the closer she got to the board, and to the surprise of no one, this was used by her to cheat discreetly.

She reached with her paw and felt the prick on the canvas, making the onlookers go silent! She has done it again! Atty takes another win home! Gimme that plush! Throwing her arms in the air for a victory pose, she stood there for a moment, when suddenly the crowd started laughing… Huh?

– “Why are you guys laugh-” – the knot came loose around her head, revealing the perfect… miss!? It was SO out of the mark! A little more and she’d miss the canvas completely! Oops! – “Hey! That’s not fair.”

– “Better luck next time, child!” – a green paw stopped by to ruffle the little one’s head, all while the other motioned Arthemis to get on the spot – “I’ll set him up, why don’t you go cheer now?”

Atty backed out, not bothering taking a second glance at the canvas again with her head dropped and grumbling something – ‘grrhmph stupid game’ – she seemed veeery happy in participating!

With the same ritual performed on Arthemis, who managed to fall on his own butt proclaiming – “I’m okay!” – after the spin. It was his turn to give a shot after getting up and being handled the imitation tail. He hesitated for a moment, attempting to pick the directions based on what he was hearing, but he pushed on step by step, trying to follow all the pawprints left previously on the uneven ground under him. His stride was shortly ended by the target welcoming his body in a nice and abrupt hug! Nothing broke because it was properly secured on the ground, and since the tail was placed amidst the collision, the only remaining thing left was to check his score.

– “Eheh- That looks silly” – the poor ssael had the ribbon stuck in its head and while it wasn’t deserving of a prize, it was indeed funny. – “Eeva, your turn now!”

Eeva ears perked up once those words were registered, she’d been watching the whole situation quietly, too quietly rather. The game itself was fun, sure, and she really wanted one of those stuffed toys, but… Why… Why was she anxious about it now?

Those thin feets of her were barely moving as Arthemis passed by encouraging with a happy face. It was like there were hundreds, no, thousands of eyeballs peering into her fur and whispering about her. The faint white circle now had a shivering white ‘lop, shrinking inside her own neck fluff.

– “You okay there, kid?” – Vac took a kneel and whispered to Eeva, her appearance sported the usual energetic look, but the voice… It showed genuine worry for the girl next to her – “Can I put those over your eyes and spin you?” – It was a nod, but an unsure one. Vac pulled the dark cloth and placed in front of Eeva, the fabric gently cuddled against her monochrome face as it was tightened by the adult’s paws. The small one didn’t knew how to react, she clenched her trembling paws and dug her talons into the dirt inside the circle. Vac’s big paws gently brushed the furball that now resided in place of Eeva’s own, raising it between the floating ears and spinning once, twice, five times.

It was confusing, being unable to see and hearing all the voices spinning around your head, the eyes in the darkness still staring you down as a dust cloud loomed around her twitching feet. It felt vile, as if she was the one to be toyed with now. Something unfamiliar wriggled across her forearm, cold and lifeless it began making its way to her paw, compelling her to concede and seize it.

A command was spoken but it couldn’t be deciphered, even her friends sounded like a mess of noises and screams. The white nyulop began hyperventilating as she paced forward, she had no bearings, no comfort. Her body froze in place, the world was now a lifeless, scalding and overwhelming pit of emotions and there was nothing that could help as the ringing got louder…

Come on, darling, go amuse yourself. The words called back to her, the image of her father crouching and extending out his claws, granting peace to take on the world at her own pace. It felt real, it felt… Safe again, as if a whole pieshu got lifted from her shoulders. She walked towards the draken and extended her paw to touch him, with the snowy wind blowing as she did…

– “Not bad, kiddo! You did great! You can untie the cloth now” – the green nyulop words brought her back, Eeva could feel her paw pressing against something flat. She timidly peeked under the blindfold, revealing that she got the tail on the smallest ssael, winning her a big prize, much to Arthemis’ happiness or Athenas’ disbelief.

– “I won?” those glistening lavender eyes widened at the glimpse of the nicked board. She made sure to remove the fabric and check with both eyes, it was dead on, and with the right color too!

A giant ssael emerged above her, floating curiously in reach to be held – “Here’s your prize! Enjoy the festival!” – the toy squeaked softly as it was embraced by a still-shaking Eeva.

– “How did you do that!?” The siblings appeared running, questioning in different tones as they exited the playing ground

Her answer was slightly muffled due to the new squishy friend but sure “I dunno, it felt scary for a moment”

The trio once again could be found marching around the aisles of the festival, hauling not only the ssael but some snacks as well, trying to search on where to go next.