Blessings and Curses II - The Challenging

[Ookalf]

Meanwhile, Ookalf finds a very tall hedge on the other side of the door. There's a hedge to the front, and right, but not one to the left; behind her, the door now apparently opens into a small building of some sort whose walls are flush with the hedges. She seems to be in the middle of a hedge maze, and now hears a voice from the other side of the hedge in front of her, a man saying something about a reported intruder and putting everyone on high alert. Some lettering forms in the hedge in front of her by way of some of the green turning a darker shade, and it reads: "GOAL: Get out without getting caught!"

*Ookalf listens to the voices, and reads the message as it appears.* OK, that seems doable... *Assuming "out" means "away from the building", Ookalf heads into the maze.*

[Harri-chan]

Still under the impression the adult fox girl was a creation of the game, Elliot went to venture amongst the other pairs. The games they were discussing didn't exactly fill her with confidence, but neither did they cause any panic. She'd never been particularly quick, and was rather bad at catching and throwing, but she did skate quite a lot and played soccer too, so she was fit at least.

"So... Mom", she starts, playing along only because she didn't realise the other girl was Kether. "We got to win this, okay? I'm not usually super competitive but this is important".

[Kether]

Still under the impression the adult fox girl was a creation of the game, Elliot went to venture amongst the other pairs. The games they were discussing didn't exactly fill her with confidence, but neither did they cause any panic. She'd never been particularly quick, and was rather bad at catching and throwing, but she did skate quite a lot and played soccer too, so she was fit at least.

"So... Mom", she starts, playing along only because she didn't realise the other girl was Kether. "We got to win this, okay? I'm not usually super competitive but this is important".

She smiles back comfortingly, "Of course dear, it would be a bit embarrassing to lose to humans even if you are still so young."

[Whatevr89532]

Before long, Ookalf comes to a fork: Left and right both available. But then, she hears footsteps coming from both directions! It's a combination of loud metal clanking and crunching through the grass; whoever's supposed to be looking for intruders isn't very stealthy themselves.


While most of the people at the picnic seem to be human, there's at least a few who aren't: Some elves, for instance, though it's easy to mistake one for the other, and perhaps more importantly a father-son pair of wolf-likes of which the father looks really strong, and a father-daughter pair of cat folks both doing stretches that make it clear they're more flexible and better balanced than your average human, if nothing else. There's a prominent bowl of punch at one of the tables that nearly everyone seems to be drinking from, and probably still will be between rounds of the competition...

[Harri-chan]

Elliot started to grow a little more nervous as she saw they were far from the only ones that had something extra. She bites her bottom lip, watching the strong wolf pair and the agile cats, as she begins to go through some stretches of her own, twisting from side to side a few times and then bending to touch her toes.

"I wish I'd checked if there was a penalty for not winning... ", she muttered to herself as she approached the table with the punch, and after helping herself to a cup, she tapped the younger of the cat people on the shoulder.

"When does the first round start?", she asks, gulping down some of the punch, one hand resting on her hip.

[Kether]

She hugs Eliot from behind blushing abit at herown bustiness, "There there, you will do your best and if we have to well if a wolf can use its strength, and a cat its dexterity then.. other natural gifts should apply right?"

[Ookalf]

Before long, Ookalf comes to a fork: Left and right both available. But then, she hears footsteps coming from both directions! It's a combination of loud metal clanking and crunching through the grass; whoever's supposed to be looking for intruders isn't very stealthy themselves.

Tch, sounds like I'm surrounded... I wonder, though. *Seeing as the walls are made out of plants, Ookalf tries to use her new powers to create a new path to get away from the gurads.*

[Whatevr89532]

Ookalf's powers seem more than capable of manipulating the hedges, pushing some aside that would allow her plenty of room to move in whichever direction she's trying to go. The guards (or whoever they are) are getting closer.



The cat-man's daughter straightens back to full standing position; she's slightly taller than the fox-child but seems to be around the same age..albeit much more sensibly dressed for the occasion. "Anytime now. Why, 'd you think you missed it?"

[Ookalf]

Ookalf's powers seem more than capable of manipulating the hedges, pushing some aside that would allow her plenty of room to move in whichever direction she's trying to go. The guards (or whoever they are) are getting closer.

Yes! *Ookalf moves some plants to block off the existing paths to her left and right, then presses on straight ahead through the path she's making.*

[Harri-chan]

Elliot blushed when she felt the hug from behind, those large breasts rubbing against the top of her head as she tried to talk with the cat girl. She squirmed a little as she realised the other child was taller than she was, and of course she felt a little embarrassed by only being half-dressed!

"I'm just... eager to do this", she says, her ears flattening against her head, not looking at all confident anymore.

[Kether]

Elliot blushed when she felt the hug from behind, those large breasts rubbing against the top of her head as she tried to talk with the cat girl. She squirmed a little as she realised the other child was taller than she was, and of course she felt a little embarrassed by only being half-dressed!

"I'm just... eager to do this", she says, her ears flattening against her head, not looking at all confident anymore.

She blinks almost as if a light bulb had gone off above her head, "I had almost forgot, and here I was just talking about that. That really isn't appropriate to be outside wear" she snaps her fingers her tails wagging and it at least appears Eliot is wearing a japanese school gym uniform

[Harri-chan]

Elliot feels a little tingle and looks down in surprise. The change was... rather subtle it seemed. She was still in a snug white t-shirt, and the blue bloomers hardly seemed that much different from panties, although she knew the small change made the whole outfit more acceptable to be wearing in public.

"Er... thanks, Mom... ", she says. "Now I'm ready to get started", she adds, setting down the empty cup her punch had been in.

[Whatevr89532]

There are some voices as Ookalf passes between the "new" hedges: "Huh?" from the left and "Oof" from the right as whoever's there runs straight into the plants. Meantime, the hedge in front of her opens up to a long corridor with just a right turn at the end of it. There's a man in armor facing the other way near the end of the corridor and about to turn, either to his right or entirely around.


It's hard to say whether Elliot's new outfit is an illusion or not, but either way someone starts yelling "Your attention please!" Said person is an older lady up on a platform near the banner, and after a few repeats of that she actually seems to have most everyone's attention. "Thank you. It's about time for the first of our contests, the sack race! If you'd like to participate, please head over to the track and get in one." She indicates a marked-out track with a bunch of big potato sacks at the start. Some of the pairs around the park start in that direction, the parent and child climbing into the same sack.

[Ookalf]

There are some voices as Ookalf passes between the "new" hedges: "Huh?" from the left and "Oof" from the right as whoever's there runs straight into the plants. Meantime, the hedge in front of her opens up to a long corridor with just a right turn at the end of it. There's a man in armor facing the other way near the end of the corridor and about to turn, either to his right or entirely around.

Hmm... *Before the man can finish turning and potentially spot her, Ookalf creates a small alcove in the wall beside her and ducks out of sight into it.*

[Harri-chan]

Elliot's ears perked up and twitched as she heard the woman, and she turns to listen to the woman on the platform. Those nerves that had steadily been increasing began to ramp up a little more as they walked towards the sacks and she saw pairs climbing into them. Never mind speed, strength and agility, this was going to take coordination, and while the other parent-child teams looked like they were used to being a team... she'd only even had a Mom for ten minutes.

Her ears flatten as she bends down to pick up a sack, and holding the top with her hands, she steps inside and then turns to look up at the older fox girl nervously, blushing at how those large breasts hung right above her head.