Sinkhole Spookyfest Shiny Things

Something about having to find rocks filled to the brim with candy and needing to dig for them really appealed. Maybe, it was simply the act itself or some far off base animal thing to want to find shiny finds, but either way, Tikanni would be damned if he didn’t participate. It’d been a good twenty minutes of trying to figure out the description and then watching others to have a desperate need all, but consume his goal for the night.

So, with his own one of a kind mining bucket and a small yellow shovel probably mass purchased from a Walmart, Tikanni was plopping knees into a sandbox. Shovel beginning to poke around for treasure. Roughly a few minutes of it and he’d soon find a stash of three, pink, purple, and glittering rainbow shining in the festival lights.

Taking one, the shift of his weight moved the sand around him just so, causing the others to lean and roll down further towards the other end of the sandbox. Hurrying to grab at them, he hadn’t realized there was another person right there until looking up, a hand just now reaching at least one. Oops. ”Um, sorry?”

Costume!w/ a plastic bucket!

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Arabella was slowly making her way around through everything, between working the spooky festival and trying to enjoy it, her time was pretty well used up lately! She now was onto digging for candy gemstones and was on the hunt for some gold because who didn't love gold? Well, technically she didn't, she preferred silver because it was prettier but that wasn't apart of this game.

Kneeling in her spot, she was digging with the toy shovel, her teeth biting her lip as she was reaching to grab a 'ruby' but then a hand was trying to.

About to call out the candy thief, she was pleasantly shocked to find herself looking at another vampire! Better yet, one from her clutch!

A smile replaced the stern look she had been giving a moment ago, "It's ok, want one? " she offered to him, picking up a pair of rubies and holding one out to him.

The stern look had him wanting to abort immediately, especially at realizing it was another vampire. Nope. That familiar fear bubbled up onto to be assauded away while forcing his gaze back onto the gems, something feeling familiar. A peek up and her whole expression seemed to have changed. She was… oh. He put two and two together as the realization she was part of his clutch rang home. But, he’d never met her before, right?

A shy smile slapped itself onto his face. ”Uh, yeah. It, um, rolled over there.”

Arabella relaxed some, holding out then the ones that had rolled his way. She didn't mind sharing, especially with someone who was a part of her clutch! It was a little surprising to find another out here playing in this sand to find candy but hey, it was all part of the fun!

"I bumped it, so here, " she told him with a little smile as she would make sure he took the ones he was trying to take to begin with. "Find anything interesting in this pile yet? " she asked him, a brow raised out of curiosity as she stopped digging around for a moment to converse.

She offered it over and Tikanni carefully took it back, fingers grasping the gemstone hesitantly at first. ”Thanks.”

Leaning back, the rock would join the other. ”Nah, I’ve just found a few and haven’t opened them yet.”

Nodding as she showed her paultry sum in her bucket to him; though there was a couple gold nuggets in there.

"I want to find more before even opening any, " she told him with a slight smile as she went to digging carefully again.

"You are in the same clutch as I am...right? " wanting to be sure that he noticed the sensation just as she did too.

He hummed in understanding, starting to continue his excavation.

”Uh, yeah, I think so. Are you new?”

Continued to dig, searching for more as her fingers brushed aside the dirt more before using her little shovel to dig out clumps to sift through.

"Yes...only a couple of months. Do you know Ceri? " she asked him curiously. Arabella sort of hoped that they were friends because she felt her brother deserved to have all the friends to lean on.

Only a couple of months. He tried to think back, but the clutch had had a small influx of new people like a steady stream. She was one of them though… he just didn’t have a name to go off of just yet.

”Umm, I know him, but not like, super much.” Said through apologetic tones. Moving on though. ”Sorry, I don’t think I caught it, but what’s your name?”

Nodding at that as she kept searching for the candy treasures. What were they supposed to do with them once they found them? Did they eat them or trade them in for the real thing?

"O-oh! I'm sorry, my name is Arabella- you? " she asked, a smile on her face as she glanced over at him as she kept searching and found another one! She happily added that one to her bucket.

His shovel paused in its digging as he looked to her. Arabella! That was a really nice name.

”Tikanni,” he offered, happy to have a name to pin to the clutchmate. ”I’ve been here for a few years.” How had it been so long already? Wild.

"Takanni...I like it!" she told him, a little grin on her face. Mostly, she liked how saying it sounded as well.

She dug a little bit more, eyes wide, "Wow...that's a while. Were you in any other place before? " she asked curiously as she continued to hunt for more candy treasures here in this kiddie and box.

A compliment on his name wasn’t expected and he grinned for it, turning attention to shoveling sand away from whatever treasures may be buried.

Rooting around his past had him a bit antsy, played off on getting a rock out of the way. ”Nah, just here and there. I used to be up in Alaska, though.”

Arabella had to think for a brief moment to where Alaska was. She was smart but not geographically smart so it took a second until it clicked that it was similar to Hawaii for not being connected to the land.

"Oh! I've never been but I heard that it has mountains...and is a really beautiful land in general- is it warmer or cooler? "

Another scoop and oh, oh, oh! There was one. He went after it with his hands, forgoing the shovel.

”Than here? Def cooler, but its suuuuuper fly. You gotta go sometime.”

"What would you recommend first for seeing there? " she asked curiously, a little smile on her face as she asked.

He seemed to find something! So, she leaned forward some to see what he managed to dig up!

”Umm…”

Really getting into it, the sand gave way to a shiny egg. The prodding of fingers didn’t get it out just yet so he kept burrowing it out.

”If you can time it right, the Iditarod is a blast. There’s a whole party during then and everything.” And his favorite was catching up with the mushers and getting to talk to them in depth while meeting all the dogs. ”And then of course the northern lights.”

Arabella continued to dig, going a little deeper and so far not finding anything new yet. That stunk.

That made her eyes light up a little bit, "Wait- what is the Iditarod? Is it just parade or something? " sorry she was not well versed on certain gatherings as much as she wished she was.

As she sifted around though, she did find a 'ruby' and made a happy little sound as she pulled it out and brushed it off. For a moment, she wondered what it tasted like, her brows furrowing some as she stared at it in curiosity.

The pause for explanation on the Iditarod had him looking up in surprise, noting the ruby with a grin. ”Kinda? It’s a famous sled dog race that goes from Anchorage to Nome. Lotsa people come to celebrate.”

A dog sled race? That sounded incredible and it also made her wonder about the history behind it as well! Why did they do a race? What was it for? "Oh! I can see how that's a big event then. Have you had the chance to see it? " she asked curiously, leaning back on her calves for a moment as she gave up digging around for a minute.

Egg finally released, he set it by the other, a small pile accumulating along with satisfaction. He had to wonder what would be inside when it came down to it.

”Yeah! I used to see it every year and even trained helped train a team before,” Tikanni confirmed, pride wrapping through the statement.

"Did you have a favorite? " Arabella was invested! His enthusiasm and excitement was infectious so he had her full attention and the gemstones candies were long forgotten right now!

Did he have a favorite? Eyes went up in thought, shifting through memories that had a lot of holes, but still some good strong ones. Within, a team came to mind, furry happy faces all eager to see him. ”Yeppers! There was super rad one that had a Wheel named Bear. They took to training easy and half the time I think they thought I was their owner.”

"Wheel? Is that the position they were in on the sled? What did Bear look like? " Sorry Takanni, she was super curious and couldn't help herself right now and so she had a bunch of questions for him.

He nodded as she asked her question, pushing sand out of the way in the meantime. ”It’s the two closest to the sled, they gotta be really tolerant.”

As for Bear. ”Bear was just like he sounds, a big fluffy brown and black husky.” Hands came up to his cheeks to mimic pull. ”He had these big ‘ol cheeks you could pull and it was always cute to smoosh his face.”

"Oh, so they have to be relaxed and able to get on with things easily and not cause problems, " she said with a small nod as she understood that.

It was hard to not smile as she heard him talking about the dogs, "They sound wonderful. I've always wanted a dog but I fear the shedding mess- did they shed a lot? "

Her explanation found him nodding along with a wide smile, delighted that she’d managed to nail it on the head. ”Exactly.”

And y’know? She thought they sounded wonderful which was a sure fire way to win him over. Dog people just vibed.

”It depends on the breed. Like huskies? You’re gonna swim in a gazillion heaps of the stuff. It’s you’re second coat,” he laughed. ”Poodles though you’re pretty safe with.”

Sitting up to rest her hands on her lap now as she listened before a light little laugh left er hearing how bad some dogs just shed. Oh no, poor Ceri, she was rather sure he was apart of the shedding like crazy dog breeds for animal form.

"Ah so basically be prepared to always have fur on yourself and everything around, " Arabella laughed, a little smile on her face as she spoke, "Do you keep one still? "

He snapped, sand skittering down at the motion, with a smile at her summation. ”Exactly.”

Keeping one would be a real cool thing, but he had enough at work.

Shoveling out more sand, Tikanni shook his head. ”Nah, never did. But, I do take care of a lot of wolfdogs at my job.”

She imagined all the fur that came from those floofy things. They still seemed like rather sweet pups.

"You do? What job do you have that lets you take care of those amazing animals? "

”Animal rehabilitation,” Tikanni began as sand piled up. ”I work at a Sanctuary.”

"I didn't know there was one around here, " she said in awe, "Are they looking for extra set of hands? " she loved animals, so helping; even if it was just cleaning up, would be something she'd do happily.

He nodded, further affirming that yes, there was one and then pausing with a slight tilt to his head at the question.

”I dunno, but can ask,” Tikanni offered.

"Thank you, if you find out I'm not too hard to find, " she told him with a warm smile at that.