FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

Tik Tik's moment of resolve ends with a yelp and a splash. Beside her, Asuka falls into the water, furiously splashing and tugging at the chain.

Tik Tik squeals, falling in herself, submerged entirely into the crystal clear water of the pool, falling and swirling, kicking and groping. She opens her eyes, and down there in the depths, she sees two bright eyes staring back up at her, curious and inviting... oh, so inviting.

When her arm reaches up to the hot air, a rough grasp yanks her free from her drowning torment, leaving her hanging, dripping, drying. Her vision, blurred by the oppressive sunlight, lets her see enough to know the spotted form staring at her with a throaty snarl that sends meaty breath her way.

"You got no time to play with the water spirit," the gnoll growls. "Water time is over. Now, you rest."

He drop Tik Tik upon the grassy earth, making her splat against it with a yipe.

Rubbing her hip, Tik Tik hisses at a sore spot and a soft patch where one of her scales chipped off.

"Aww, gonna take time grow back," Tik Tik laments.

"I apologize for any trouble I've caused you."

The soft-spoken voice speaking in the dragon's tongue makes Tik Tik turn, to see the canine creature bowing before her, her fur heavy with water and dripping.

"Is okay," Tik Tik says, sighing and picking herself up. "You Okie Dokie? Asuka, ye? Seem scared of water."

Asuka bites her lip at this, turning her gaze away.

Tik Tik scoots up, booping snoots with the doggie creature. This sends a bright blush over Asuka's cheeks.

Finally, Asuka speaks. "F... Forgive my discourtesy," she begins, bowing her head. "I have had a most trying time. Did you not see the thing that dwells in the pool?

"A little," Tik Tik shrugs. "But eyes looked happy and curious, not scary."

"Each eye must have been as big as us. How can anything so large exist under the oasis?"

A hearty cough brings their attention to the third of their party. Seppel sits, wringing out his red cap and plopping the still-damp thing back upon his bald crown. "Don't have much in the way of magical spirits back home, do ye? That's okay. I'll forgive ya for not askin' how ol' Seppel is doin' fer seein' a thing like that."

Tik Tik's nose scrunches up. "Tik Tik still know no what thing down there."

"I don't rightfully know m'self," Seppel says, standing up, gripping the edge of his robe. He wrings out what he can up to his knees. "Ye think a big time adventurer would have cataloged the various water spirits by now, but I s'pose not. Even so, ya should always know ta mind the bigger'ns out there. That's somethin' all kobold should know. Bah, I feel embarrassed that we share a heritage, with a couple air-heads like yeselves."

"Kobold? Heritage?"

"Aye, that's what I said, lass. What... you think I'm some sort o' gnome? Really, now, would a gnome be sportin' a distinctive red kobold cap?" He says this, pointing his thumb to his darkened brown lump of cloth.

Asuka nods. "I've heard that gnomes like to wear pointed red hats from time to time. Pictures of them have been seen around my homeland."

"Pah!" Seppel says, "Really, now? That's just gnomish propaganda. They're appropriating kobold culture, they do in order ta take the claim of all our good works, by Gribble! Why if I, ah!"

Asuka shudders, sending drops of water everywhere. "Forgive me, but I couldn't stand being so wet any longer."

"Tik Tik okay get wet," the dragon kobold says, a tiny smirk rising on the back of her mouth. "Do it lots of times meet new friends."

"You understand the mother language, yet do not speak it," Asuka says, tilting her head. "Why is that?"

"Hm? Me?" Tik Tik yawns. "Tik Tik no good common tongue, but kobold tongue very good. Practice make perfect, ye?"

Seppel snorts. "Hardly likely, girlie. You're jes doin' that to appeal to the cuteness that people have been seein' in your kind lately. Don't ask me why, cause dragon kobolds be ugly as sin in my book, he hooo.."

Tik Tik narrows her already squinting eyes to the point that they are fuming lines of annoyance, holding that accusatory gaze for a moment before she finally speaks up. "So, we all kobolds, ye, but so different. Seppel think all gnomes bad. Is kobold thing or Seppel thing?"

"Hey now, I didn't say all gnomes were bad. Naawh, I just say there's a gnomish elite class out there, lookin' to give we kobolds a bad name. We all might be called the same thing, but me and my kin are the original stock from long ago. I have a feelin' that's why I am so prized among this caravan, actually."

Tik Tik taps her chin. "Hm... yes, there must be reason why capture and hold us, yes? But Tik Tik just was found here."

"Your mysterious circumstances make you a possible asset," Asuka says, "But the leader of the caravan may call upon you to find your use. Meanwhile, Seppel and I were purchased outright from before the journey began."

"That right?" Tik Tik muses. "Then, Tik Tik wonder what good Asuka is for. Pretty, but have seen doggy kobold before in Tournament."

Their gnollish handler stomps up to the lot of them, yanking on their chain. "Alright, you lot. That's enough barkin' and yippin' out of you. You need to get yourself up and ready. The boss wants to see ya right away!"

And with another tug, the three kobolds stagger to their feet, led by the gnoll away from the enticingly clear water of the oasis and over towards the caravan proper.

Temporary structures have been erected in the time since their stop, with the largest of them being a massive tent of colorful fabrics, shaded fully from the sun, and as they approach, the flaps open, inviting them in to the welcoming, yet ultimately mysterious, interior.