Paradise With Playful Pals - The Depthstriders: Part 2

Paradise With Playful Pals
The Depthstriders: Part 2

   Vericia was happy again as her hanger got eliminated by the fine Depthstriders’ cuisine. She was on her back, barely keeping her eyes open to look at the fine details up on the cave ceiling, while Eli was wiping his snout neatly clean and Wardac was finishing the leftovers. The Haedians who had joined them for the meal appeared to be delighted how enthusiastically the guests wolfed down the provided food, Ornaax among the glad crowd. The topsiders had to assure the clan multiple times how they couldn’t eat more as they all felt like stuffed toys before the Depthstriders accepted the answer. They let the guests rest while they cleaned everything up, after which Vericia was woken up from her sweet cat nap by Eli’s poking and Wardac’s glistening eyes while Ornaax was leaning over her, awaiting her to rise up.

“Yes, gentlemen, how may I help you?”

   Vericia mumbled, mildly annoyed by everyone staring at her while Eli’s nails and her ribs didn’t get along too well either. Ornaax chuckled at Vericia’s grumpiness while Wardac decided to do the explaining.

“Well, since we convinced Ornaax to race him later with less full stomachs, he offered us an alternative activity to pass the time. How do you feel about painting?”

“Hmm, I feel better about sleeping, but carry on.”

   Vericia wasn’t fully awake as she needed time to achieve such a state of existence, but she knew she couldn’t fall back to the cozy slumber right away anyway. Eli was familiar with the consequences of waking her, while Wardac and Ornaax were startled by the unintentional hostility in her voice, which meant Eli had to continue.

“Ornaax boasted how the Depthstriders are capable of producing the most vibrant pigments, which they use to paint themselves or the caves. Your boring brown coat could definitely use a little touch-up.”

   Eli’s slightly smug smile didn’t fade the slightest when Vericia blessed him with her usual death stare, before she yawned, rolled over and reminded her legs what’s their true purpose.

“While there’s nothing that could touch-up that face of yours. Alright, where to?”

   As Vericia’s grumpy sleepiness was being replaced with her regular lighthearted sass, Wardac and Ornaax managed to forget the scary sight of the embodiment of crankiness. Ornaax picked up his regular chipper excitement as he asked the guests to follow him, leading them somewhere via the ledges, arc bridges and stone steps.

   They ended up at a common area of sorts, which had shelves carved in the walls and the shelves were full of all kinds of stuff. This region was shaded by multiple tarps and cloths, allowing the paintings on the walls, swirly markings on the Haedians and glowing paint jars to show their true beauty. Vericia had a pretentious thoughtful face when she looked at the dyes while talking to her dear sibling.

“Eli?”

“Yes?”

“Glowing paints.”

“Hmm, I wonder where?”

“Why didn’t you tell me they had glowing paints?”

“I probably did not consider it as vital information.”

“... you cheeky toad-spotted wheyface.”

   The smug smirk on Eli’s snout betrayed how he knew perfectly well how much Vericia loved glowing dyes. Ornaax was already in the middle of the other artists in the room, looking for brushes and other tools the topsiders might need while Wardac was forced to continue listening to the stupid bickering between the siblings. Not that he would’ve minded, he found that kind of humor simply hilarious as he struggled not to burst to laugh.

  A few other Depthstriders approached the Vayrons and pulled them further into the room, providing them spots for sitting, jars and palettes with the paints while Ornaax made his way back to them, dropping a full load of brushes, pieces of cloth, seashells, dried aquatic plants and heck knows what all else he considered as an artistic tool. Wardac was a little lost among this mess, but that didn’t hinder his good spirits as he looked at the brushes and tried to think of something he could paint. Vericia was already enchanted by the variety of pigments and different colors they had, but her ninja senses still kicked in when Eli attempted to make an orange splotch right on her back with the brush he just grabbed, earning Vericia’s “oh-don’t-you-even-dare” glare as a reward for his failed plan.

“Oh no, haha, nonono, you’re staying away from me, Eli. Go paint some kid pink instead.”

   Vericia was onto something, as the young Haedians had curiously gathered around the visitors from the topside, a couple of them looking at Eli with glimmering eyes as they were eager to see art from another world. The idea didn’t sound bad at all to Eli, and he had to ask only once when the kids started to jump around and excitedly shout to be picked by him. As Eli had multiple canvases to choose from, Vericia looked at Ornaax, then at Wardac.

“Hey, may I paint something on you, Wardac? I think the contrast between your fur and the pretty paints is neat.”

“As long as I have at least a bit of my coat visible, I see why not.”

   Wardac smiled in response and started to imagine what Vericia could create while Vericia turned to Ornaax.

“And I’d like you to paint something on me, a traditional Depthstriders’ thing or something.”

   Ornaax’s eyes lit up as he eagerly agreed to fulfill Vericia’s request. While Ornaax, Vericia and Wardac were trying to figure out the logistics of who needs to sit or stand where, Eli was already busy making fun bright pink patterns on the pups who had gathered around him and seemed to be absolutely thrilled to receive new temporary markings from Eli. Quite several of them requested the eyespots on their sides or gliders, just like Eli had, and the Puller did his best to grant the kids their wishes. Ornaax’s artistic sense kicked in as he chose vibrant green paints to add more matching shapes on Vericia, while Vericia was already going wild with Wardac as her canvas. Her style was elegant and she had obviously thought through what she wanted to depict, so she added many flowing lines, dots and smaller shapes to Wardac, combining them together into an elaborate lineart. She was so focused on her work that Ornaax had to be careful if she happened to suddenly move, which usually meant rubbing off the messed-up spot before he could try again. Eli had no time to pay attention to his companions as the kids insisted on returning the favor by begging Eli to let them paint him. He was reluctant, of course, as his coat already was pretty and perfect, but not wanting to disappoint the eager children he gave them the permission as he could wash the paint off later on anyway.

   None of them could keep track of how much time had potentially passed as the creative atmosphere had fully engulfed them all. As Vericia’s work neared the completion, the Depthstriders were more impressed by her work on Wardac, while the Runner curiously tried to have a look at his new fetching markings. Ornaax and Wardac were nearly forced to pull Vericia away as she started an unnecessary nitpicking on some of the spots or details while the rest of the Depthstriders already wanted to have a full look at the piece of art which Wardac now was. She finally agreed to declare her work done and stepped back, letting her ears be caressed by the oohs and aahs coming from the crowd around them as she had indeed done a wonderful job on Wardac. The Runner himself was utterly thrilled to have such beautiful and fancy patterns adorning his coat, which meant he had no trouble showing them off to the others.

“Not bad, sister.”

   Eli’s head had popped between Ornaax and Vericia as he wanted to see what the commotion was all about, but his plans were interrupted by Vericia’s uncontrollable laughter when she noticed the ultimately creative shapes and doodles the kids had drawn on Eli, turning everyone else’s attention to him as well.