MAKING A CLUBHOUSE
Zai, Franky, and Maika looked inland at the steep green mountainside spotted with small cliffs and a rather vertical little town.
“This isn’t a clubhouse.” Franky puffed his cheeks.
Maika, still fuzzy-side up, wriggled back and forth a few times until she flipped onto her little legs. She scuttled around in a circle, little stones clattering down the slope as she went. “This ground could be more floofy and dirt like.”
Franky picked up a stone and tossed it in his mouth. “I’ve tasted worse.” He shrugged.
Maika looked at him, a bit distressed that he didn’t understand her refined palette, “How do you still have teeth?”
“I dunno, sometimes the new ones come in so fast they punch holes in my food. I hate it when that stops it from wriggling.” Franky said as he hungrily eyed Maika’s wriggling carapace.
“Meeeeeep!” Maika scuttled towards Zai and cowered behind him.
“I think we’ve been had,” Zai grumbled, as he gently stroked Maika behind her antennas, “Perhaps we need a better negotiation strategy than ‘do what I want and then get eaten.’ But we’ll show that demon. We’ll make a clubhouse out of sheer spite, if we have to.”
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“Or hunger…” Maika tilted her head towards Franky.
He was sitting there, as though his mouth were full of rock candy. Which was true enough, from a certain perspective.
“I’f gowin’ o’ me,” he said through a stuffed mouth.
“Alright,” said Zai, “but you have to remember to not eat the roof. We need a clubhouse, not a clubditch.”
GETTING READY TO GO
“I need to find somewhere with more offal to play,” whined Maika.
“Maika, we just built the clubhouse, we have other errands that take priority.” Zai said firmly.
“But-but I’m bored… and the dirt here has nothing dead in it,” she kicked a dry pile of dirt with one of her legs.
“And besides, I’m not like Franky, I can’t just eat anything. I need some nice nutritious rot in my diet to stay healthy.”
“I think I saw them dropping snacks from the windows earlier, would that work?” asked Franky.
“But-but… park.” Maika pouted at Zai with her collection of massive, completely black eyes.
Zai tried to look away before giving in. “How can I resist that precious little face?” He scooped her up and she gleefully wriggled her legs and antennas, rhythmically twitching. He placed her into a baby carriage. “Get ready Franky, we’re going”
“But I can’t find my other shoe.” Franky complained.
“Don’t give me that,” said Zai, “I know you ate it. Now let’s go. One shoe or no shoes.”
“No shoes,” Franky grinned, savoring his first bite of the other one.