Raising a Big Stink {open}

[Kori Ander]

Kori picked up the skunk. This was not as big a deal as you might initially believe. For one thing, Kori had innocent, smiling, happy-go-lucky nature that lent itself quite well to dealing with animals. It would be all too easy to think her from a world where there were fairy princesses and dashing princes instead of one where there were caped crusaders. Animals did have a tendency to behave themselves around girls like Kori, and the skunk in question was among those.

It probably helped that it was a wee baby skunk. Admittedly, Kori didn't know that when she'd picked it up. She'd seen an animal, thought it was cute, and scooped it into her arms, intent on showing it love. She did; the skunk even seemed to appreciate it. There was some cuddling and snuggling, with just the slightest hint at a smell most unpleasant. Kori could ignore such minor details, especially if ignoring them resulted in her getting a cuddle buddy, which were few and far between (there were times when she almost missed Beast Boy. While he could be most annoying, he did seem to appreciate the snuggling. Though Kori generally stuck with Silky for that, come to think, especially after that one awkward time with the hands).

No, the skunk wasn't the problem.
It was the skunk's mother. Said animal stomped into the picnic area from the bushes. her tail alone was nearly the same size as Kori's body. The rest of her was roughly the same size as a compact car. And all of that was aimed directly at Kori, who was standing there with a smile that was very near goofy.

"Why hello, pleasant animal! It is most pleasing to see you!" she chirped, beaming at the mother skunk, the mother skunk who looked about ready to level that large tail directly at the unsuspecting Kori...

[Deleted]

Luffy had been looking for food or something. At least, that would make sense since he had somehow found himself nearing an area that was meant for picnics. Luffy couldn't really remember the previous reasoning behind his travels up to this point being that his current thoughts suddenly shifted the moment he caught sight of a head full of red hair. His heart filled with such unsuspecting joy that he raised a hand in the air and opened his mouth wide to call out her name. Only, Luffy soon realized, he didn't know her name. Or maybe he did know and he just couldn't remember? Should he ask? Even if she wasn't who he thought she was she was probably smart. He was pretty sure smart people had red hair. Or maybe that was just girls with red hair...or maybe it was just one girl with red hair...

Luffy's hand slowly lowered as his thoughts whirled around and made his head ache. Eventually he pushed his fingers up under his hat to scratch at his head. He recalled that he had made a previous resolved to find a redhead to help him solve his gum gum power problems, but lately his powers seemed mostly back to normal. He still constantly felt like he was forgetting something really important, however. Luffy could be pretty chill about a lot of things, but when he got serious, he was serious. He wouldn't feel this way if he wasn't missing something that was close to his heart. He needed to figure this out and okay so he knew he couldn't solve it all on his own. That what friends are for anyway. Luffy could never call himself weak without intense force, but he was wise enough to know he would be nowhere without friends like....like....Whoa what are my friends names?!

Luffy was about to start thinking so hard he might look like he was trying to pass a large kidney stone when movement from the redheads direction caught his attention a second time. He was still a good distance away, but, even from where he stood, there was no mistaking the utterly gigantic animal guy that approached her. The redhead had her back to Luffy, so he hadn't realized she was holding a smaller version of the creature. His mond only had time to process that there was a large and aggressive looking beast, that redhead might be his friend, he hadn't eaten in more than an hour, and... wait where was I...

Seconds passed before Luffy's jumpy mind hopped back onto the beast and the girl. Shock quickly followed by a goofy grin appeared on his face. Then, without any further deliberation on the subject, the rubber man shot his arms out in front of him. They stretched all the way to where the girl and the animal monster weird thing was and a few feet past that curtsey of Luffy's off aiming. Taking in an abnormally large amount of air he called out his attack before shooting his body after his arms with amazing speed.

GUUUM GUUUUUM He cried BAZOOKAAAAAA! He continued to shout as he flew through the air. That is, until his body collided with the car sized mammal and a combination of stench and fur greeted the idiot of a man. The force of his body slammed the creature into the ground so hard, however, that Luffy was sure he heard several bones crack. Considering he was able to find his way out of the mess of fur and wobble to his feet, he figured it wasn't his body he heard breaking apart. With all the casualness in the world, the lanky boy fixed his straw hat on his head and blinked at the now still beast with an unreadable expression. Silently he was fighting back tears from the smell that seemed to be leaking from the thing. It was big, fat, and black and white. Hm. Must be a cow. An aggressive cow? Wait.......processing, processing.

Cow=beef. Beef=...........mmmmmeeeeeeeaaaaaattt.

[Kori Ander]

The sudden shouting surprised everyone in the area. The mother skunk swiveled, obviously intent on attacking the attacker instead of going directly for her baby. Not that she had more than a few seconds, which likely gave her just enough time to think whatever the skunk equivalent of "oh s**t" was. This also meant that the previously undisturbed baby skunk, went into attack mode. Which meant that it was rather fortunate that Kori had reacted by throwing said baby to what she thought was safety. This meant essentially launching a smelly grenade into the air, complete with what was nearly a visible stream of green spray.

Then the alien girl was turned to face the stretchy boy. She took a few seconds to take everything in: the crumpled body of the cute animal, the boy standing there looking almost satisfied. Then, something snapped. That something that generally kept Kori the skippy, happy-go-lucky girl that pretty well everyone at Tenebrae Estates knows and love just sort of exploded. Gone was that carefree demeanor and everything that accompanied it, and sliding into its place was the diehard warrior princess who had successfully fought her way out of slavery, gone toe to toe with demon overlords, and physically beat down what amounted to living apocalypses.

Kori hadn't had much of a reason to test her abilities thus far. She sometimes grew quite light, particularly when she got joyful, but she hadn't really tried to outright fly yet. She also hadn't had much reason to test the other side of her abilities. The closest she'd come to fighting had been during the dessert attack, and swatting had worked well enough. Now, however, the girl was filled with a righteous fury that fueled most warriors. Her eyes flared with a sharp green light, one that seemed to pour off her. Both hands, already clenched into tight fists, suddenly burst into the same green energy. The muscles tightened, and the girl dropped into a fighter's position.

"You killed the adorable creature!" she yelled. She whirled on Luffy then. Her hands arched back as she screamed, and soon two orbs of brilliant green light were zooming toward Luffy. They weren't packed with nearly the power that Kori normally possessed, but they were likely enough to knock someone off their feet. Well, a normal someone, at any rate.

[Deleted]

Well.. this just hadnt gone right at all.

Jiro struggled to remember what it was called. The human expression when nothing went right. Kotoro always kne- oh yes!

Murphys law.

So what did that have to do with Jiro being tied by his ankles to a tree while burning heavily, being beaten by his own umbrella like a crimson pinata by an eight seven year old woman while a tiny child laughed and threw peanuts? Eberything.

He hadnt meant it like this. When he saw the tanned english leather and mop of blond curls he had been certain it was his brother, and dismayed to discover the child was in fact a she. A she with an attitude and a surprisingly strong grandmother. Being a passive to humans, he had been caught off guard when the woman shrieked various embarresing terms for him, stealing his umbrella and proceeding to beat him with it. Now umbrellaless he had began to smoke badly, which made getting hit even by a near ninety year old severly painful.

Painful enough to distract his usuall sharp senses as he stepped back into the rope trap and was suddenly hoisted into thos position. Well now that the reader understood just how it had come about, it now came ti.e to figure out how to escape. He certainly had no interest in harming either woman or child, despite their free spirit to do so to him. So it was quite fortunate that a sudden thing of black and white whipped over, landing on the womans head. She screamed quite shirekingly, knocked the thing off and proceeded to run, leaving the poor beffudled skunk and Jiro in peace.

"Well then..." Jiro sighed softly, reaching up to his ankles to snap the rope and land in a slight heap. He groaned softly as smoke whisped off his body and hastened to return his goggles and hat to his face and open the umbrella. He paused to glance down at the still very confused skunk. Jiro pulled his goggles down and crouched, locking eyes with the skunk.

He was surprised with how much effort it took to simply assure the creature he was no threat. Normally it would not be such a fight, yet now it took most of his already dismal energy. He sank back into his heels before thumping against the tree the little skunk eager to cuddle up to his new friend. "Well.. lets get you back then... I think you came from this direction?" He gathered the akunk in one arm and umbrella in the other hand, wincing as the smoke curled off his body once more from the sun. Gods above he was sore.

He shuffled along with a groan, swaying slightly as he approached the direction, only to pause at the very unuasual sight before him. "Um.. ahem.." he cleared his throat. "Did... does this belong to either of you?" He motioned to the skunk nestled in the crook of his arm quite comfortably.