Stone Breakers 2

MUD: Well, since you figured it out I suppose there's no harm in tellin' ya the truth.  You can call me Puck.
SLI: Puck…. *rolls the name around his mouth* Whatcha want, Puck?
PUC: Well, it's about that little kid you picked up…
SLI: Wait, wait, just one moment… Could you possibly be someone else?  The blood tends to… distract me.
PUC: Oh, oh how rude of me.
He pauses, and Mudslaps' macabre form diminishes into the grey body of a small seal balancing haphazardly on her tail, eyes marked by worry lines, wearing a thick, wooly coat.  The North Sage.
PUC: Better?
Sligo barks out a laugh and, seemingly on complete impulse, gives her a push in the chest.  Her flippers windmill and she falls over backwards.  Puck laughs from the ground, pushing himself up.
PUC: I like you.
Puck wobbles, and shifts again; this time into a large, bear like gore peddler.  Topaz.  He stalks amiably around Sligo.
PUC: Or did you have a request?  The otter king perhaps?  Or Sending?  You do like Sending, don't you?
SLI: *claps his hands together like a child in a candy store* Can you be a jewel stoat?
PUC: *pauses, a little surprised* A… jewel stoat?
SLI: Yes, with shiny-sparkle eyes!
PUC: But… those don't talk.
SLI: *eyes shining* I KNOW. *is happy plz*
Puck, an incredibly grumpy-looking black jewel stoat with ruby eyes, looks at him a moment, then the threads around its mouth split.  His voice is like helium and happiness.
PUC: As I was saying.  About that kid you picked up.





Collin sits hugging his knees, a beanbag of stoats all around him.  He looks utterly enthralled.
SEN: And then I said…
Sending strikes a pose, her expression intense, hands clenched; the picture of steadfast determination.
SEN: 'There is no force on this planet that could strip this gift from me!'
COL: THEN WHAT?  THEN WHAT?!
SEN: *looks away wearily* A stoat fell on my head.
COL:  .____.
SEN: *out the corner of her mouth* They laughed.
COL: *covers his mouth, shoulders hunching slightly*
COL: *breaks* Hee…heee… haha!  I'm sorry, I can just see that so clearly!
Sending: *SRS FACE, raises a finger* No, wait for it, wait for it-
She delicately pinches the tail of a stoat between forefinger and thumb, closes her eyes, and deliberately, theatrically places it on her head.  She spreads her arms as a final effect.
Collin cracks up and Sending giggles to herself.
STOAT: (empty speech bubble)
Collin takes the stoat under his arm.
COL: Oh, wow….
COL: You're so much fun, Sending.
He leans against her, looking contented.  Sending smiles happily and playfully pats his head.
SEN: ^u^
SEN: O_O
Sending suddenly flinches and struggles away from him, pulling the Psuedovivicide out of his lap.
SEN:  GG- Uh, I need to- uh- I need to go outside and check- I need to make sure the stars are still there.
COL: *startled* But-
SEN: Just wait!  I will be right back!
Collin looks puzzled and slightly worried.  He is framed by a background of stoats.
(Good God I would have spent the entire time span drawing stoats if I made it to this round D: )
Sending slips out of the cave and leans against a stone, still looking unsettled.  She calms down slightly, and lightly stoked the crest of the Hoopoe on her shoulder.
SEN: Well, that was… different…
HOO: *extremely self-satisfied, as hoopoes have been known to be* Oop.
SLI: *harsh* WHAT.
Sending and the hoopoe flinch heavily.
Sligo appears, snarky and weaselly and without a hint of a smile.
SLI: …Are you doing out here?
SEN: N-nothing!  *has no reason to be scared of him, but his manner is shattering her confidence*
SLI: *cocks his head, eyes bulging* Nothing?  Nothing?  Nothing, tra-la-la?
Sending leans back as he pushes his face close to hers.
SLI: *through his teeth* you wouldn't be getting attached to little Collin now, would you?
SEN: Um-!
He circles around her.  She watches him warily, looking nervous and guilty, though she does not know what she might have doen wrong.
SLI: We kidnapped him to rile up Frost; make a scene when your opponent shows up, right?  So as soon as he does show his pretty face you're job is to splatter his half-brother's guts all over the playing field and make this round especially intense, remember?
SEN: *distraught*  Th-that was not the pla-!
SLI: *shoves her back* No, Sending, that was not your plan!  You cheated me out of Junus but I'm in control here!  I'm the one your master sent because we all know you can't think for yourself!  I know the otter king personally, I'm his mouthpiece, and I know what would impress him!  Don't forget the only reason I'm here is that he was expecting you to screw up!  I'm here to make sure you get everything right…
Close up on his wrathful, hateful and very haggard eyes.
SLI: And that's what I'm going to do.
SEN: …
SLI: *smiles like a barricuda, curls his tail around Sending's ankle* Now slap that sappy, suppressed smile back on our face and go bounce back to keeping Collin calm.
SEN: *she closes her eyes, nodding respectfully* Yes, master.
Collin looks up from where he has been organizing the stoats by eye color.  Sending and Sligo's silhouettes- one black, one white- are framed in the entrance.
COL: Sen, are the stars still there?  Oh, hello, Mister Sligo!
SEN: _Yes.
SLI: Well hello thar, whipper-snapper.
Sligo wraps his body behind Collin, who is not really bothered by the vacuum cold of his body.  Sending has her head down, hair shading her eyes.
SLI: I hope Sending hasn't been boring your eyes out with tales of March Castle.
COL: *brightly* Oh, not at all!  It sounds incredible…
Sligo looks over Collin's head and makes eye contact with Sending.  He points to his smile, leering cruely at her, and she smiles a bright, fake smile in return and sits beside Collin, though her previous familiarity and relaxed state is long gone.

Frost wanders, weary and bereft, through a field on the outskirts of the forest.  He passes a wild piglet in the underbrush and some chattering birds.  Frost collapses for a rest on a rotting log, much to the evident irritation of the smelly wave of flies previously hanging over it.  He uses a match and angrily lights himself a cigarette.  He leans his elbow into his knee, glaring at the tranquil woods around him.
SLI: You know that's terribly bad for you.
Frost looks up, startled, almost snapping a rude comeback just out of habit, and stops.
We see Sligo, the silver shade blood staining his mouth and throat, curled leisurely in the grass.  Around his neck is a ridiculously oversized iron shackle, at least three times as wide as his head, with a long silver chain that snakes through the grass to end by a little sign staked in place.  Frost takes a moment to take it all in.
FRO: …I HATE this place.
He stands up, looking Sligo over; animal ghosts are not the weirdest things he has seen after all.
FRO: So what are you?
SLI: *elegantly bows his head* A gentleman.
Now Sligo looks to be paying attention, he cocks his head, scrutinizing Frost, analyzing him as only an anatomy enthusiast can.
A fat arrow points to his nose saying UPTURNED NOSE
Another to his ears saying RED EARS
BLUE HAIR
A closeup on Frost's torsoe proclaims FREAKIN' SKINNY
And the final of these panels has a massive arrow filling a third of the frame and pressing down on his head, which says SHORT.
SLI: *with that amused, repulsed, wild look that paranormal enthusiasts get after seeing something delightfully barbaric* My GOD!  Somebody got the genetic SHAFT.
Frost's lower eyelid twitches.  He grits his teeth.
A skinny little squiggle arrow informs us 'he's only pissy 'cause he knows it's true 8D'
However his irritation is slightly muted in surprise when-
SLI: You're Frost, right?
FRO: *is totally Frost* Maybe.
SLI: Oh, good.  Been waiting long enough…. Anyhow 'maybe' I'll tell you something neat.  Sit back down.
Frost hesitated.
SLI: Hurry up.  Are you a mage or not?
FRO: *irritated again, holds a hand to his chest* I am the </i>Winter Lord.</i>
SLI: Very nice.  But I don't actually care who you are.  Anyhow, if you could be so kind as to get me out of this collar, I'll teach you to use your fire magic.
FRO: *suspicious* Why would you do that.
SLI: Mage's pride.  You embarrass me.
FRO: *eyes the enormous iron collar; can guess it's magical or Sligo would have wriggled out himself easily*
SLI: Ignore the collar.  You'd just be pulling the peg out.
FRO: Wait… why are you tied up in the first place?
GOOD GOD, FROST IS THINKING AHEAD. WHAT'S GOING ON.
Sligo raises a finger, smiling lazily, and without looking away he points to the peg.
A single dinky nail set into the ground is all that's holding the chain in place, and the sign next to it reads, in childish handwriting, "NO TOUCH!! this animal is nuts.  –Puck"
FRO: I just pull it out?
SLI: You just pull it out.
FRO: Why can't you do it?
SLI: Logic like that would defeat the purpose of magical incarceration, dear boy.
Frost still looks unconvinced; he looks doubtfully at the obviously not-all-right talking animal-shaped ghost.
SLI" Come on, Frost…
Sligo's most self-assured smile spreads itself over his muzzle, and he stands up.  He runs his thumb down the splattered white blood of his own deathwound and snaps his fingers, arm up.  A greenish ghost fire crackles instantly into life just above the tip of his thumb, as if he just lit a cigarette lighter.
SLI: You know you want to.
Frost, apparently unhappy that he's about to do this but totally sold at this point, reached over, pauses with his hand out just for an instant, and plucks the peg out of the ground.
Instantly Sligo's collar shatters violently, making him gnash his teeth, eyes squeezed shut but face exhilarated.  He twists himself around, arching to the side, standing with one mutilated hand up, and twists his head, fangs glinting.
SLI: Oh, Frost, you short-sighted little fool.