Two Rivers Isle it's golden hour somewhere

Glden sunlight peeks shyly through the trees as the boy noses his way back in the direction of the den. Mom always said to be back by dark and he had (so far) stuck to the rules and kept out of trouble. 

After a long hard day of chasing bees, he was almost falling asleep on his paws. He stifles a yawn until movement catches his eye. 

Curiosity wins and he waddles over to investigate. There, sat on a log was a big fat lumpy thing (presumably catching the last rays of sun). Matteo giggled and, like any pup would, gave it a boop. Before he could even react, the thing let out a disgruntled croak - and it attacked! Matteo felt the blood drain to his toes, was it gonna eat him?!

He arrives back at the den a flurry of paws, shaking his head back and forth until the thing finally latches off his ear - and is sent flying right towards poor @Ines.

Ever since mama and papa left with Everarda and Manias to do important adult things, Ines did her best to behave herself well and attend to the important adult things they had left herself and Matteo to do here while they were away. Namely eating and sleeping, and exploring some. Things had been... quieter than normal, and she chalked this up to Ever being off on her elsewhere adventure well, elsewhere.

And there was peace! And there was silence! And there was this strange sense of missing for the chaos her sister had brought their quaint little family, and okay, eating and sleeping was only so much fun for so much of the time.

Maybe that was why when Matteo's shadow covered the den, she rose to her paws so quickly -- and that was exactly why the great thing he flung at her smacked its gooey self right onto her pretty little face.

AAUUGH!! Ines hollered and swung her head around with a vicious shake, MATT'O EWW GET IT OFF GET IT OFF!!!! and as it was a few shakes was all she needed for the thing to go flying in some other direction.

Towards Matteo's face, she hoped.

xD I love this already hahaha

ines makes me laugh every time xD

Matteo had hardly time to calculate the launch angle the toad was flying (not that he could do math anyway) before his sister's shouts filled the subdued quiet of the den. Immediately he was alert, "INE!!" he screeched - had it eaten her too?! 

"INE! You oka-" the poor boy was midsentence when there was a horrifyingly gruesome squelching noise. Unfortunately, Ines' aim wasn't quite as polished as her brother's and the thing splatted unceremoniously onto the wall just in front of his face. 

He watched, frozen, as the thing twitched once, twice, and suddenly came alive again! An undignified squeal could be heard as Matteo rushes towards his sister. "EWWW NO YOU GET IT!" Any other day he would've rushed to be her knight in shining armour, but with grossness incarnate hopping terrifyingly around the den, he was content to make her do the dirty work.

It had eaten her — it had ABSOLUTELY eaten her!!

Matteo screamed something but she sure didn’t hear it; she was too busy screaming and pawing at her face like the ew icky slimy thing was still oozing through her fur, maybe eating her away!!

AAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!! she screamed, and flung her head about in a wild circle, EW EW EW!!

Just as she breathed in a sharp breath and punctuated the space with silence, Matteo picked up the tempo right where she left off. He screamed and sped towards her, and she knew EXACTLY why.

The big, lumpy bumpy, squishy freaky thing came at them with a big hop, squelch, hop, squelch, hop, SQUELCH.

UGH NO, she clambered about to push Matteo in front of her, anything to stop him from cowering away while the thing HE’D brought into the den made a slimy hunt around them, You do it!! You do — oooh—OOOH. WHERE’D IT GO!!

oh ew ew EW!! In the scramble to push Matteo into being her little knight, the squelchy thing had disappeared somewhere in the deep dark darkness of the den.

Oooh POOP!

LOL I love Matteo too!! XD sorry for taking so long!! I’d still love to continue this if you are down!!

no worries! i'm down!

The two of them scrambled unceremoniously, neither wanting to face the eldritch horror in front of them until - it vanished!

"YOU LOST IT!!" he wailed. He couldn't sleep here now, not with that thing lurking in the darkness waiting to strike. They had to get it out. There was no other way.

Whether it was some moral obligation to rid them off the thing he'd brought in, or perhaps he was just fed up with his sister whining in his ear, he heaved himself up from where he had become entangled in her legs. It had to be him, right? No, Ines hadn't helped at all!! In fact, she had only made matters worse. 

"No!! You gotta do it with me now," he pouted, "or it's gon' eat you in your sleep!" He steeled himself ready to march, one paw on Ines' shoulder to ensure there way no way she was getting out of this!