[PRP] Who's got the thickest skull? (Skada, Fulathela)

[Annchen]

Skada was not in her best mood this morning, probably due to lack of sleep. The wind had whistled annoyingly through a crack in the elephant skull that was her den. She really had to find or steal a better one soon, and she wondered if the other hyenas that had joined at the same time as her had got as crummy skulls. It might be easier to stuff some dry grass and mud in the offending crack, but Skada wasn't one to take the easy way out. Instead she decided to sniff around to see if the neighbouring skulls were in better condition. Why fix something broken when she could try to take something that wasn't? Or trade for it... She had gained some experience "trading" after all. She knocked on a skull that looked promising to test the wall thickness.  

[ShinyObsessed]

Fula woke to a tapping on his skull. Not his head. His home. Weird. He hadn't made many friends in the pack since he was often not home at all and instead looking for new members, or scaring off lions and stuff on the borderlands. He dragged himself out of the pile of dried grass that he used for his bed, past a couple hollowed out elephant kneecaps that caught water from the rare rain getting through some cracks in his ceiling and peered out of the elephant skull's nostril.

"Hey. You want something?" Fula asked the black and white female.  

[Annchen]

Oh, it was inhabited... But was it any better than her whistling-in-the-wind skull? She recognised the orange haired fellow that had joined the pride at the same time as she had. She sincerely hoped that he hadn't managed to snag a nicer skull than her! Sure, they had been assigned pretty randomly, but you could never know.

"Just testing," she said and puffed out her chest, trying to look important, "Wouldn't want this one to come crashing down unexpectedly, hmm? Would you, Fula? When did you last stress test your skull?"

She was pretty sure she remembered what he was called, but she didn't care much if she had got it wrong. Sprouting random nonsense was one of her favourite bartering techniques. Some of the dumber rogues got confused and agreed to anything after a barrage of strange questions.  

[ShinyObsessed]

Oh crud. This female knew his name. That was never good, when a female knew your name, but you had no idea who she was. Wait. He recognized her, she'd been in his joining group. Hmmm it began with an "s" he was sure of it.

"I haven't stress tested this skull, I don't think I have to worry about it. If it falls, it falls. But I did look it over and it's in pretty good shape. A few ceiling drips but other then that it's sound." He grinned at her, he didn't know whyyy she'd brought it up but might as well thank her for being concerned. "Thanks for being concerned? Skaada?" He drew out the "A" sound in her name a little uncertainly.  

[Annchen]

Ceiling drips didn't sound very appealing to Skada, since she prefered to have some say over when she got her fur wet. Perhaps it was a bad idea to look for a new place to live among those that joined with her, but now she knew that his skull was no better than her. Not much worse, but no better at least. This fact cheered her up a little, and the fact that Fula got her name right also served to cheer her up.

"My elephant skull whistles," she admitted reluctantly, "There must be a crack or hole in it somewhere..."  

[ShinyObsessed]

"Skull whistling." This was inordinately funny to Fula. "Well have you tried patching it with mud? I like my ceiling drips, I collect the water in hollowed out elephant kneecaps. Keeps me from having to go get water all the time. You can come in and see if you like."

Fula was actually quite proud of his skull. He had a nice bed of dried grasses that he'd hauled in from the rogue lands, the kneecaps were full of water since it had thankfully rained a couple nights ago. He also had various shiny rocks and a couple chew bones neatly stacked along one side of the skull wall. The floor was hard packed dirt and there were only three leaks in a straight line in the center of the floor. All in all it was surprisingly well kept. It had to be really, Thela sometimes fled in the middle of the night and Fula couldn't be tripping over stuff chasing him.  

[Annchen]

"No," she admitted, "Haven't tried that I suppose. Huh... It's kind of nice in here."

It smelled like male hyena but it was a nice enough den. Skada had put off decorating her skull since she figured it wouldn't be permanent. She had various bits and bobs to be used for trading stashed along one wall, but that was it. She wasn't sure she'd tolerate a leaky roof, but if it worked out for Fula he could have his leaky skull. It didn't seem worth fighting for at least, and since he was being nice she didn't feel like starting a fight just to fight either. She mulled over the mud idea as she checked out the bed and water bowls.

"I might be able to get a slave to do it," she mused, "There should be someone hanging around being worthless somewhere so they might as well fix my skull."  

[ShinyObsessed]

"Good idea." Fulathela said. He really should have thought of getting a slave to haul his bed grass in. Fula blamed Thela for it slipping his mind. Thinking of Thela, especially in the presence of a female was never a good idea, and in fact usually sent the ridiculous shadow fleeing into hers. Thela didn't disappoint, he flew over to Skada's shadow and made himself at home.

Now came the dance, everytime Fula tried to subtly catch him, Thela would switch to a different shadow in the skull. No dignity for Fula. At all. Not allowed.  

[Annchen]

Skada was oblivious to Fula's troubles and had actually started to relax in his company. He wasn't as annoying as she had first assumed, and she could certainly stand being "neighbours" with him until she managed to take a better skull. And perhaps she would convince one of the slaves to perform some home improvement at her place too. It couldn't hurt, and if something got messed up it would at least have been good practice for the slave in question. Because any work they did better be perfect when she got a good skull to live in.

She cocked her head as she finally noticed that Fula had started to move in a seemingly erratic manner.

"Um..." she said and watched him dance around, "Do you want me to leave?"  

[ShinyObsessed]

"Huh? Oh. No you're no trouble, it's just my shadow's being a pest." As if everyone's shadow was alive with a mind of its own and mobile to boot. Fula sighed. "It's just whenever an opportunity arises he just flutters away to be obnoxious, especially in an attractive female's presence." He pouted seemingly at his water kneecap. There, in its shadow was Thela, laughing at him no doubt.  

[Annchen]

Oookay... Skada wasn't sure exactly what Fula was talking about, but when in doubt she usually pretended that she knew what was up. He had probably given her a compliment there, sort of, so she latched on to that part. The rest of the mumbo jumbo made her unsure of his motives.

"Did you just call me attractive," she said and narrowed her eyes. She wasn't one to fish for compliments, but she wanted to know if it was a time to be flattered or a time to bite him for mocking her. She could of course cover all bases and bite him for hitting on her, but she didn't feel like fighting at the moment.  

[ShinyObsessed]

Fula pounced at the shadow of the water knee cap and looked satisfied that he caught his shadow. "Yes I did. You're a good looking lady." which was perfectly true. She was. He saw the narrowing of her eyes and mentally backpedaled looking for whatever had irritated her.

"Er... is that a bad thing?" He asked somewhat disbelievingly. Didn't all females like to be found attractive? It wasn't like he was asking her to bear his pups. Just informing her he thought her pretty.

Aw who knows. Fula'd never understand females.
 

[Annchen]

She wasn't sure why Fula kept spazzing around but it made her uncomfortable. The compliment seemed to have been genuine, however so she had no reason to be annoyed about it. She knew she was good looking, but it was always nice when someone noticed.

"No, it's not bad," she said and forced a smile, "Thank you. I should be going..."

The shadow hunting and dancing around was getting a bit too much, and she decided to cut her visit short. Her neighbour was a decent enough guy, but he was definitely strange.