Lost Creek Hollow look at me, i am old but i am happy

now that fun-police/ex-milkmaid had retired to serving them part-time, sionnach had a lot more time on her hands to make trouble. she had gotten exceptionately good at being sneaky. her new favorite past-time was watching her parents patiently, waiting until their attention was somewhere else -- and the second it was, sionnach would bolt from the den like a greased pig being shown the fryer.

she had just managed to give her parents the slip (kek, stupid old people), and was sitting a little too far from the den than was probably appropriate. her nose had told her to come here, and she couldn't even see the den anymore. she was more interested, however, in the massive shape in front of her.

it moved with the same ponderous steps as aengus, but was about twice as fat (a titanian feat, really, given aengus was so fat he couldn't even be a saturn because the rings wouldn't fit). it was almost the same color; a cool, ashy grey brown -- and it had eyes that were hard and flat and totally watching her as it nibbled on a patch of clover.

oh, i forgot to mention the most important part. it had spikes.

about fifteen thousand of them.

whssh, whsssh, it went as it moved, dragging the bizarre carapace of what sionnach assumed were just funky twigs behind it. it did not seem afraid of her, and she was not afraid of it: she had a great life so far, and the only bad thing to happen to her was that aengus hogged all the good bedspace.

so, sionnach did what any self-respecting, nosy puppy would do. she demanded it play with her. pouncing up to it like a coltish but clumsy gemsbok, sionnach yapped right in the twigman's face, insistent he stop stuffing his face and PLAY WITH HER, RIGHT MCFREAKIN NOW!

she didn't even have time to close her yap before it came.. you guessed it...

The Big

 

THWACK!!

sionnach was flung aside by something extraordinarily powerful and painful. it came at her like a 2x4 out of hell, rigid as steel and carrying thousands of nails with it.  for a fat fucker, it moved surprisingly quick: sionnach screamed as she felt a thousand pin-pricks across her nose and face, assaulting her senses with overwhelming agony. what was worse was these thousand little quills were steadfastedly embedded in her beautiful face; she rubbed and writhed and tried to escape them, but no matter how much she scratched at her face, they remained like fiery thorns only digging deeper.

and then the little prick (hah, no pun intended) shuffled past the caterwauling child, oblivious to the harm it had caused. there was a band of fresh clover not so far from the cub, so he moved past her at a leisurely pace. once he reached the patch, he settled over the verdant greens and munched contemplatively.

meanwhile, sionnach rolled in the dirt not twenty feet away in ceaseless agony.