DEPTHSTRIDERS CLAN: 2

The three empyrians wanted nothing to do with swimming once they reached the heart of the clan. They made it very clear that swimming wasn’t their strong suit. Griffith and Aule struggled completely because of the thick fur covering their bodies and swimming tired Oeric out more than he expected. 

“That’s okay,” Ornaax said to the group as they caught their breath on a surface rock, “You guys can join the painting event!”

Oeric and Griffith weren’t too keen on joining, but when Ornaax made it clear it was one or the other. The choice became obvious. Aule was rather excited to paint, it was a hobby he had as a young tyrian and it had been a while since he had the time to paint. However, when Ornaax described the event it wasn’t what Aule expected. 

“Our environment glows,” Ornaax started, “So here are the glowing paints that let us glow, too!”

Aule looked skeptical, but now Oeric and Griffith were excited. In their mind, this would be more like a paint fight. Oeric and Griffith smiled at their shared thought, Aule became nervous at the glint in his friends’ eyes. Ornaax left them with a massive collection of paints and then vanished to watch the race while other Haedians stayed around to participate. 

“What colour do you want?” Aule tried to distract his companions from their train of thought. 

“Oh, it won’t matter,” Oeric smirked as he stuck one of his claws into a purple paint. 

Griffith let out a deep laugh as he found some green paint and followed suit. 

“Guys,” Aule tried again, “Let’s not be disrespectful.”

“Aule,” Oeric replied, “This clan is long but fun and games.”

Griffith nodded, “They’ll probably join us.”

With that said Griffith flung the paint in his hand toward Aule. The glob of green paint landed on Aule’s shoulder and streaked through the long wisps of hair there. Aule tried for a third time to stop the playful fight from starting in earnest. However, before he could finish his sentence another ball of green paint arched through the air to land on his head. Aule’s ears went flat while he glared at Griffith. 

Oeric and Griffth grabbed their sides as they laughed. Some Haedians around them chuckled at the owl-like empyrian’s expression. Aule picked up the container of pink paint, walked over to where Griffith was rolling on the ground, and dumped the whole thing on him. Griffith sat up quickly sputtering out the paint. 

“Now, Aule,” Oeric said between his laughs, “That’s being disrespectful.”

Aule turned his glare onto the orange empyrian and grabbed a container of blue paint. He took a few handfuls and launched them at Oeric, while Griffith tried to wipe the pink off of his face. Oeric made a great effort trying to dodge the balls of paint flying at him. It wasn’t long before there was a full-blown paint fight going on. A few Haedians participated, but it was mostly the three friends aiming at one another. 

After a while, the empyrians were lying on the ground out of breath. Technically, they managed to participate in the event because the three were covered head to toe in glowing colours. Aule was the first to sit up and look around them. Not only were they covered in paint, but they made a huge mess around them. Oeric and Griffith sat up to assess the damage and laughed when they saw the mess. 

“We’re cleaning this up,” Aule stated. 

“Yeah, yeah,” Griffith sighed. 

The three friends each took turns gathering up the empty paint containers, stacking them up in an organized pile. They weren’t sure if they would get re-used. After all the containers were out of the way, they moved on to washing down the rocks. Oeric and Griffith cleaned in broad swipes. They cleared a lot of the paint off the large flat areas, but the small cracks and corners were missed. Their cleaning style could only be described as lazy, but Aule thought at least they were helping. 

Aule followed behind them with a few clothes and tried to clean deeper in the cracks to get whatever was missed by his companions. 

“It’s going to be cleaner than what it was before the paint war,” Oeric commented. 

Aule shrugged his shoulders and continued with his meticulous cleaning. Griffith helped clean some of the smaller corners, but he was easily distracted. A few times he attempted to throw more paint at Aule or Oeric. However, both of his companions urged him to stop. When the cleaning was as good as it was going to get, the three friends found a clear reflective area along the shore to look at their reflection. In the reflection, they could see the colours swirling together on their bodies. While it clearly looked like a paint bomb had covered them all, it still managed to retain a colourful resemblance to the flora clusters around them. 

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