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"This is so weird," Sibbi said aloud to no one in particular. Perhaps it was a bit daffy to be talking to herself, but Sibbi had never been one to be worried about appearances. How could she, when she had two dads, no mom, came from a star, and had a blue and white fox as her best friend? Throw in a possibly obsessive love of water when she was a wind Soquili, and you had all the makings for a Soquili who was either going to crumble in the face of the world's judgement, or else at it. In Sibbi's case, laughter had always been the obvious choice.

And laugh was exactly what she was currently doing, laughing as she wove her way through the small grove of trees. The weirdness to which she referred was her presence in this grove of trees; for the first time in ages, she was hanging out on dry land without so much as a lake to be seen. Giggling, she said again to no one special, "If I keep this up, maybe I'll become something normal after all!" There was nothing normal in a waterlogged wind! "But the real question," she announced as she spiraled back around another tree trunk, "Is whether I want to be normal or not. Or rather, do I want to be normal? Or do I just want to let this ear infection heal, safely out of reach of water, before I literally dive back into the water?"

If Medina, her fox familiar, had been around, she would have been wincing; although they had been together since they were both children, Medina had never grown to appreciate puns the way Sibbi did. That was Medina's loss; Sibbi loved puns, just like she loved water, games, and aquatic Soquili!

And, of course, talking to herself.

Sibbi was used to running into Soquili in random situations, so hearing the other mare's voice coming out of nowhere was less of a shock for her than it might otherwise have been. Rather than being startled, she was pleased; just because she had to temporarily give up her beloved aquatic haunts didn't mean she wanted to give up the thrill of the chase, the fun of meeting new and different people! And really, she thought as she surveyed the approaching mare, the mare certainly qualified as new and different! Sibbi had seen all sorts of other Soquili in her travels, with all sorts of coats and colorations. But she'd never before seen a coat that looked so...haphhazard. Perhaps there was an interesting story there, she thought hopefully. Maybe they'd get to be good enough friends that she could ask that, later.

Giggling, she gave the mare an affirmative nod. "You know, you're right; normal really has a depressingly dull element to it, doesn't it? It's pretty nice to be weird and proud of it," she added with a laugh. "And since you're inviting me, a total stranger, to play a game, I bet you're a pretty weird one yourself! I think we're going to get along great, Patchems," she beamed.

Games were awesome, if she did say so herself. They kept mind and body active, cured boredom, helped cement friendships...so what if they tended to be geared more towards younger Soquili? There was nothing wrong with that, just like there was nothing wrong with the young at heart embracing gameplay themselves! "I'm Sibbi, and I love games. Maybe we could do something that involves these trees," Sibbi asked, tapping the trunk of one of the trees as she spoke.

For better or for worse, Sibbi had never really mastered the art of filtering her speech. She was tactful enough to use proper language most of the time, but she was still guilty of peaking without thinking of how it might come off, especially with strangers or people she'd only just meant. People like Patchems, who was probably being exposed to a little too much honesty right out of the gate. Though so far, Patchems seemed admirably good at rolling with the punches.

"Crazy and insane are both awfully strong words, don't you think? Personally, I think that people who throw those around casually must be behaving a little self-referentially. Either that, or they're jealous of those of us who actually know how to have fun," she added with a laugh. "Fortunately, I'm not one of those people; I know exactly how to have fun, and how to have it with gusto!"

As she spoke, she twirled around, spreading her wings at the same time in a swirl of hair and feathers. While she did so, she pondered the question about the trees, finally breaking into a smile that coincided with her spin ending. "We could have an obstacle course! Pick a tree as a starting point, map out some things for us to weave around, crawl through, jump over, things like that, and see who gets to the end first! No wings, of course," she added with a grin as she furled her own. Because that was a little bit unfair, if she said so herself. "But we can both run, and climb, and jump; really burn some energy, get ourselves worked up and sweaty, and have a good time in the process!"

And after that, they'd see where things stood!

Sibbi nodded sagely along with the other mare; here was someone who knew what she was talking about! "You're right, Patchems; well, mostly right, I think. I always though that we all know how to have lots of fun when we're foals; I mean, you always see foals running around, whooping and wrestling and generally having a good time. But it's like we all grow up, and then the majority of us seem to think that just because we're adults, it's like we have to be boring all the time!" The huff that accompanied this statement was loud and overly dramatic, but this was a bit of a sore point with Sibbi. How frustrating it was to be told to 'act her age' just because she liked to play with hermit crabs and have a good race once in a while! It wasn't her daddies who said such things, obviously; they knew their youngest daughter far too well for that. But there were other Soquili she'd met who just didn't understand that adults were also allowed to have fun!

But now she was on a soapbox, and to a mare who didn't need it to boot! Grinning at Patchems' enthusiasm, Sibbi took a good look at the surrounding landscape. A finish line was a very important thing to have, and, for an obstacle course, so were obstacles! "Well, how about we start here, by this tree," Sibbi began, tapping a nearby sapling with one hoof. "Then we have to do a flat-out run along this straight away," she continued, walking through a wide open patch with nothing in it but grass, "weave through this line of trees here; we could each take one row, so we don't have to worry about crashing into each other," she said with a laugh as she came up to a neatly laid out stand of trees that was (mostly) in rows, "Then we could swim across this little pond here; swim or jump, if you think you can make it, but again, absolutely no flying," she added with another little flutter of her wings, "run through the straight going cross-wise this time, and end at this tree over here?"

By now, Sibbi was standing next to a large, thick-trunked oak tree whose wide, spreading branches made it very distinctive. It was important that there be no confusion as to which tree was the end point, after all! "What do you think of that for the course? And as for rules..." Scrunching up her face, Sibbi cocked her head to one side as she considered. Rules were all well and good in their place, but she didn't like to have too many rules mucking up her games! "How about, no flying and no playing dirty? Those seem like the most important rules, and they ought to be easy for both of us to follow!"

Not that she expected her new friend to be a cheater, but it was always good to be clear!