Mr.Beetle continued to crawl on the dusty flooring of the Sveijarn's home, unsuspecting of the ambitious eyes that rested on him. The thirdborn tried to walk silently, her paws falling lightly upon the ground; but Valtyr's ruffs and woofs made it impossible for them to use the element of surprise.

As they got closer, Maera felt a bit jittery, what if the thing was bad? Her instinct told her to be cautious, thankfully his older bro was by her side. Her little meatball of a nose hovered over the beetle, who continued to creep away. Seeing no bad reaction from the beetle the red girl decided to take a closer look.

"Va", she called to her brother, wanting to have reassure he'd have her back if things turned sour. After sharing a last and dramatic glance with her brother she turned her head back to the tiny gemstone that lulled her like a bee to honey, and ever so heroically stretched her neck to poke the iridescent shell with the tip of her nose.

What she intended to be only a nudge ended up turning over the poor critter. The beetle probably as scared as the little girl who had pushed him over, flailed hit spindly legs until one brushed against the fuzzy fur on Maera's snout, who was still sniffing at him. He clinged to her for dear life, but when she realized the thing was now on her she freaked. She shook her oversized head from side to side with fear climbing up her legs as she realized the bug wouldn't fall off!

"VAAAAAA-AAAAH", she cried while trying to push it off with a jab of her paw.

Though the beetle was roughly the size of her eye, to Maera it felt like it was eating her face. The faint feeling of it's legs on her snout was enough to make her lose it. She trashed her head from side to side, making herself dizzy in the process. While she had been eager to touch it she was not comfortable being so up and personal with Mr.beetle. Another agonizing cry left from her mouth. She could hear Valtýr screaming too, but why wasn't he helping!

Desperate beyond limits the fiery girl dragged her face on the ground. Her snout was left completely covered with dust, some of which entered through her nosetrils as she inhaled. Perfect. Now, as if being scared to death wasn't enough her nose was itching terribly. Lifting her snout from the ground Maera sneezed as loud as a pup her size possibly could, sending a mix of dust and snot flying through the air. Little did she now the beetle had been catapulted from her nose too.

Her soft pink tongue lashed over her nose, which she now realized was clear of beetles! Hurra! , she thought while turning just in time to see Valtýr lunging at her. She couldn't stop her brother in time, the first blow landed squarely on her nose, his paw squashing her nose like a doorbell.

Ring, riiiiing, riiing. No answer.
RIIIING! Finally the girl managed to jerk her face away from his flying punches. "Vaa noo" she barked while taking another step back for good measure. His intention had been good, as well as his aim. Ouch.

She sniffled and twitched her nose just to make sure it still worked. Breathe in. Breathe out. Yes it was fine, it'd stay sore for a while but it'd survive, just like her. The whole thing had been frightening but once it was over she felt her heart's pace slow back down. She shot a crooked smile to her dear sibling he had been her hero, even if he had beat her up in the process of the rescue. But he didn't want to celebrate she had survive the horrible ordeal. No, he had already turned around, searching frantically for the girl's attacker.

Honestly Maera didn't want anything to do with the creeping jewel anymore. As long as it didn't touch her again she was content with leaving it alone. Val didn't agreed with that though, he had already begun an exhaustive hunt for the attacker. Maera knew she could not leave him to battle the monster alone, as icky as she thought the bug was she owed it to Val to guard his back.

Quickly she bounded to his side, arriving as he dived for revenge. With her heart's rythym beginning to pick up again, she flattened her ears and pulled away her nose just in case the beetle tried to go for a second round. Then it all happened. It was too fast for her taste. One second Valtyr was lunging for the shiny creature --that despite being a vicious attacker still was beautiful-- and the next second the pretty jewel was replaced by a piece of goo. Maera frowned as she inspected the mush stuck to her brother's foot.

Sadly there would be no survival-party celebrations. "BLEEH", she cried with disgust as she eyes Val for his reaction.

Tears were not what she had expected. Though what would she know she wasn't the one with gooey entrails smeared across her paw. Yes, she had been victim of a brutal attack but she had gotten out of it with a little shake of her head. But Valtyr, he could not rid himself of the sticky substance by just shaking his paw.

Unsure of what to make of her brother's cry and pleads she twitched her nose with dislike. His slurred words earned no effect from the fire-born girl, she barely understood adults so her weepings brother's sentence was lost-- just like the beetle's beauty.

He came to her, exposing to her the --almost-- lifeless body that was stuck to his foot. She looked at his toes as if they were a murder scene --because they were-- and felt a little piece of her breakfast slide up her throat again. Still the sight of her borther spilling tears over the gooey corpse was enough too move her towards her bro.

Between the repulsion she felt crawling in her belly, she forced herself to nibble soflty at Valtyr's cheeks. Baths had never been an option in Maera's mind, though in this case the rules could bend a little...ew

The damage had been done now, no matter how much he cried or how strongly they wished to undo the tragic event the beetle would never shine with the same light. Though it still glimmered in Valtyr's paw it was mostly due to the scattered guts and juices that had been squashed out of the shell.

Maera didn't say anything else, simply because she feared that when she opened her mouth nothing but slimy goo that resembled the one smeared on her brother's paw would slide from her lips. She did, however, prod her brother's shoulder with her little nose.

Justice was cruel. The bug had attacked her, and while Valtyr had simply tried to stand up for her he had ended up taking the bug's life. He was probably not the best hero, but he was the greatest gladiator. Did you see how he just lunged at the shiny jewel --like no fear? wow.