Puhak finishes another one of his stories and all his friends laugh along. His egging finally making them all crack into fits of joy. An oddly timed affair that is borderline in synch. As fake an emotion as a ghillie is compared to real grass. Shame no one else can see that.
One friend catches on to my apathy and knocks another friend with his knuckle. A pointing finger follows and a pair of flashing sneers. One chuckles something under his breath and I hear a mutter of 'stupid investments.' A noise lingers in my mouth and I turn around and take a couple of steps.
Puhak met me at the shallow end of the pool and brought me along to his group. But, like last time, not much has changed as to how I fit into all of this. I do not belong here and it shows. The party is still going, though, and I would like to see it through.
Have that moment and opportunity to at least say I went to one. Doesn't have to be perfect or wonderful, I would certainly like it to be but I have to be realistic. I'll stay, I'll see it through and I'll enjoy it how I can. Then I can tell Pops all about it and-
"Is she smiling to herself?" one of Mui's friends lets out a little too loudly, ruining my fond thoughts. I turn her way and glare, meeting that smirk and a rumble shakes my body. Oh, she certainly meant to speak that loudly.
"You got something to say?" I ask, getting right up in her face with curled up fists. She looks away, laughing her backend off along with everyone else. My eyes shift, picking up the sneers from the other girls.
"Stop being so sensitive, Hiya." Mui goes, causing my brow to wobble as a finger goes near my ear. I move a quill around, suddenly wondering if I heard her right. Heiya. Heiya... Yeah, I know how my name should sound.
"Yeah, Hya, grow up." another friend goes, snapping my gaze around some more. Couldn't have made it more obvious if you tried, bareback.
"I've handled more and bigger problems than you, Target Practice." I warn and the laughter erupts again.
"Target Practice!?" one repeats, cackling without end. I snort, more than happy to show her why I chose those words. Can let the whole party hear it roar with a bang. A bloody splat more than enough to exclaim my meaning.
"I know, right? What kind of insult is that? Hahaha!" another friend goes, drawing my attention to another new place. I look around some more, minding the overwhelming presence of Mui's insufferable group. I nod and keep my focus on Mui as she swells with a delusion of power. Has she so readily forgotten how this went for her last time? Or does she feel confident that I cannot repeat the process and high tail it?
"Go on, test me. I love a challenge." I warn her directly and she and many others scoff, even as my fists curl up.
"Easy, diamondbacks, easy! Easy..." Puhak says, getting involved. Although Mui has a whole world between her and me, he steps in front of her. I look at his presented paw and cock a brow. I scoff back and turn away, something going near my quills.
"I sure better find no anything back there." I warn as my neck twists a bit, a comfortable pop working its way through my muscles and to my ears.
"No one's done anything!" Puhak insists, his facetious attitude rubbing me the wrong way more than that hand I know has just gone near me. I sneer and snort, giving him that same warning I've given the girls. I head away, getting back into my thoughts as I walk the edge of the pool party. Some people pass by, giving me a glimpse of the chain-link fence surrounding the pool grounds.
Certainly a way to take on a new meaning, I suppose. Put me in a foul mood and that fence is all too eager to be anything other than a mere perimeter. Now it's a prison, and the other prisoners are blissfully unaware. Now, ain't this something? The boredom beyond the fence is the better place to be. Certainly would chipper me right up to know I'm nowhere near Mui and her lot.
I look down and shake my head. No, I will stay at the party and I will try to make the most of it. I've had bullets shot at me and monsters chase me. I'm tougher than every single person here, no matter how muscle-swelled some of the boys are. Make the most of the moment, make the most of it, Heiya.
A paw taps my cheek, and I get going again, heading back into the pool. My poorly dried legs have their effort made a mockery of, and the rest of me follows suit. A thought-filled noise escapes through my mouth and I linger for a moment. An opportunity opens up and I float out deeper into the pool as circumstance sees more people exit for drink and food.
I swear, an invisible wire must be connecting all the people here. They see one person doing something and they all copy without another thought on mind. No sense of self, no awareness of it at all. Could put a wall in their face and they'd all walk into it if another did.
A heavy breath goes through my nose, blasting at the water's surface.
Closing my eyes, I let my ears do my seeing for the moment. The party carries on, not a disrupting incident to be found anywhere in it. Something splashes me and I frown at the lack of the usual noise. My eyes open and I float upright. A sense of bafflement continues to assail me, creating a need to do more than just... Stare at the underground sky.
"Mmm, odd. Guess I need to be more aware." I mutter, emptying my lungs so I can sneak under the water. I drag a quick paw over my face, cleaning it of random drops in the most pointless waste of effort ever. Everyone's feet become a rooftop canopy of digited trees and I swim for the island rock. The cracks in the tiles helping me find grip to propel myself faster.
Popping up to the surface, I take in a gulp of air and clear my eyes. Something thick clings to my fur and I rub the spot I feel it, squashing it. An odd colour lingers on the fur of my finger. I huff in amusement at the idea of an insect being trapped under the people-made waves. Getting up on the island, I spot some of Mui's friends randomly running through the crowd. Cackling and cackling to the bank with all the gold in the world. Oddly fast for how they're moving, oddly far from Mui herself.
"What a weird group of people she associates herself with." I mutter, not sure what to feel about the idea of it. Having more than just Pops to regularly talk to would be nice. But I also have no idea as to how I want that scale to be. Nowhere near what Mui has, obviously, but more than just Pops, is an easy bar to pass. When this is all over, anyway.
Just... Just need a moment where me and him can settle down is all. No clue if Hrurim will stick by once we're done with Gamtambo. He's acting on one right god and goddesses blessed favour, if he's still around this long into it. Fair few years since we-
My eyes land on some girls near me, their fingers pointing away at me. I look around and more and more are starting to laugh, and I blink. Am I seeing things...? No, no... My eyes are too good to fail at situations like this. I've spotted monsters in the dark and snipers in rubble. This is a crowd in the open.
Pops has trained me as well as he can, and we both know how much he has done. Those fingers, hands, whatever. They're all gesturing to me. I frown and double check my finger and the fur on it.
"Wait a minute..." I let out, touching my face again and finding more odd colours. A drip of water comes off my chin and I look down at my monokini. This same stuff is now staining it, trailing down as the droplet rolls away. I blink with uncertainty and press a gentle backhand to my lips and find no kiss mark. My eyes find my missing lipstick... Right in the water as a growing web of red.
One voice breaks out among the crowd, "Hey, hey look! Heiya forgot to do her make-up properly!"
I meet Mui's cackling expression as my core turns cold. A tightness chokes my chest and all the laughter around me, no matter why it exists. It suddenly feels wrong. The mood of what I'm all seeing, all that is going on around me... It's...
"You..." I let out too quietly for my own good. Getting up to my feet, I make my way around the island and a careless idiot bashes into me. Water splashes around and I surge back to the surface. More laughter.
I can practically feel the pool water boil and I shove my way back up. My eyes meet Mui's and the dozens of other ones she has at her beck and call. My shoulders roll about, tense with a sudden, very lovely feeling of energy. I wade through the gap in the shallow water and meet her face to face.
"Something you want to explain...?" I ask, my voice bringing that pool water back to the solid ice it was in a time long gone. She leans back and looks away, giggling away as some of her friends come back. I catch the item they have in their hands and look back towards another noise. More girls are complaining about a problem with their makeup...
"I have no idea." Mui says, shrugging and pouting as she inspects her nails. I check mine, sneering at their loss of glossy shine. So this is how her kind get back at people, hm? Make a convoluted plan and make it as public as possible? Well, I'll give her credit. She certainly made me angry.
"Hey, hey, hey!" Puhak goes, right in time to interfere again.
I meet his eyes and sneer, "Do you not see what she's done!?"
"I don't care," is all he has to say, shaking his head as a couple of his bigger friends force their way to me. They grab my arms, restraining me.
"GET OFF!" I roar, fighting back how I can as Mui and her friends scoff.
"Stop embarrassing yourself." she sneers, her friends goading her on still.
"Get of-" I start to repeat, one of her fingers going to my lips. I snarl, so ready and eager to lash out with a bone crunching bite. Something touches my quills and pulls at them.
"Hey, hey! Calm down!" Puhak insists, getting in the way of me trying to stop whoever is giggling back there.
"GET OFF MY QUILLS!" I scream, thrashing about more as more hands go along my quills. A few come right out of my back, stinging me with insignificant pain. The ribbons come loose and the thin chains break. The hands continue to pull and de-weed me of all my decorations.
"No one's back there!" Puhak lies, a smile on his face as he shakes his head. The girls continue to laugh and some of the boys let out scoffs. I stare at the smile of one of them, seeing all the telltale signs of what it is. I return my own, my heart pumping as if I am in the more wanted situation of being shot at.
"GET OUT OF MY FACE YOU LYING BASTARD! GET YOUR HANDS OFF OF MY QUILLS! GET OFF OF ME!" I scream, thrashing about some more. The two boys let go of me and I hit the floor. Forcing my way back up, Puhak shoves me, unbalancing me.
"You need to calm down," he insists again and I stare down at the bruise-less wound. With how much I can still feel it, it certainly feels like it should! One of the girls hands Mui something with a broken chain attached...
"She thought so much of this," she scoffs, juggling it in her hand. It keeps going up and down in the air. From pawed palm to pawed palm. A prison of fingers catching it each time.
"Give that back, now!" I demand, pushing back against Puhak's steady grip.
"Give what back?" Mui asks, her disingenuous cruelty making such false cluelessness on her face. I go quiet, unable to recall what the shape is called. All I know is that it's my mother's necklace's shape. It's her shape... It's hers!
"Give it back!" I demand again, reaching past Puhak. He backs up, cutting his quills along my arm.
"Give what...?" Mui goes again, her pathetic acting even more obnoxious-!
"You need to leave!" he insists, shoving me again. I stagger back, blinking as Mui continues to handle the thing I got in memory of my mother. That vile smile of hers grows, and she points, cackling out of nowhere.
"Oh, my days! Oh, gods and goddesses above. Look! She's crying!" Mui goes, and the laughter grows with hers. It grows and grows, drowning out all other noises. I blink and blink, not actually crying. I rub the pool water away from my eyes and shake my head. I sneer and turn to leave.
A can bangs off of my head and I hear Puhak scoff. Ah, so that is why he brought me along to this party. He wanted to act on Mui's behalf, then spite me. Mmm.
I shake my head and get going, not even bothering with collecting the towel I brought. I make my way out of the party grounds as the laughter carries on. It doesn't matter now, it's all the same to me. I make it around a corner and put a paw up on a brick as I try to figure my way back to the house.
"Oh... Oh." I go, feeling an odd amount of water around my eyes. I've been out of the pool long enough for there to no longer be any water there. I... I want... Pops. I need to find a way to talk to Pops.
A sniffle breaks apart the noises of the town, my shaking nose moving more of my body than my running legs.