Commission for  blackadder261

The small story writter by  blackadder261

Zoey  zoeyblub
Zena  blackadder261

Zoey sat for a moment, behind the wheel of the truck she’d borrowed for this little expedition, taking in the sight ahead of her. It had taken her about ten minutes to get here, having been taking a long way around to deliver some supplies to a small garage in this miserable, swampy region.

Hearing the slightly bashful ferret, accompanying her on this trip and acting as a forward scout, calling for assistance for the second time in an hour had somewhat irked her initially: earlier, the mustelid had attempted to take her smaller jeep, with a much lower ground clearance, across a patch of lowland that the thresher had deliberately steered clear of, knowing full well what was hidden beneath the short grass and scrubland. It had taken all of two minutes for Zena to sink her vehicle to the frame in the soft silt that filled the basin, far out of reach of any trees that could be used by her as a winching point and utterly helpless amid a sea of glutinous earth. Zoey had, understandably, made Zena trudge through the almost knee-deep mire that should’ve been blatantly obvious and take the winch from the waiting truck, so that she could be rescued from the predicament of her own making.

Now, however, that annoyance had been replaced by dumbfoundment. Dumbfoundment, and amusement. There Zena sat, on the side of her jeep, having somehow rolled it onto its side. Looking at the terrain around the trail that she was on, she couldn’t fathom for the life of her how her diminutive friend had accomplished such a feat, as unless she’d let the wheels ride up the small embankment on the inside of the bend there was no way to upend her means of transport. And yet, here she was: no marks on the bank, no sign of the outside wheels sinking, just one rather embarrassed and annoyed looking noodle, sitting atop an overturned offroader. Zoey suppressed her desire to laugh as she shut down the engine and got out of the cab, landing with a squelch into the ankle-deep slop that covered most of the tracks that passed for roads in this remote swampland, trudging across to the embankment and scaling it without getting her boots any more coated in earth than they were.

Glad I picked a pair that I don’t mind getting muddy, she thought to herself, struggling to hide her smile as she came eye to eye with Zena, whose expression was by now rather telling.
“Zena… how the hell did you do that?” the shark staring over at the ferret questioned, before bursting into raucous laughter. Her face flushed, and she let out a soft grumble under her breath. She couldn’t really do much else, however, Zoey did have her rather banged to rights.

“Shush…” she muttered, more than a little hot under her collar. “I was just driving up here and felt a bump on the right side; next thing I know, I’m on my side with all this sloppy crap leaking in through my window,” she explained, which only furthered Zoey’s entertainment. After several minutes more, the Australian standing over her finally managed to compose herself for long enough to talk again.

“Well, hun, I think it’s safer in the future if I drive us both instead. I don’t think you’ve ever gotten behind the wheel, in the time we’ve known each other, and not needed either a tow truck or a winch within the same day,” she mused, snarkily. Zena’s head sunk lower as her cheeks continued to redden. Zoey was absolutely right about that, irritatingly: even on one of the first times they’d met, she’d managed to take a wrong turn after her GPS had malfunctioned, leading to Zena’s car- and the pair with it, after an attempt to extricate it went awry- being hopelessly stranded in a grassy clearing which concealed a glue-like mud beneath the greenery.

“Just… please, just get me back on my wheels,” Zena mumbled, already aware that she was unlikely to hear the end of this for a considerably long time. “You can tease me when we get back to some form of civilization.”

“Yeah, damn right I will… or when you try to drive across another mud-bog as a shortcut,” the thresher teased some more, giggling softly as Zena let out another grumbling whine. “Now, think you’ll be able to lead the way back to the accommodation area, or am I better off doing that so you don’t lead us squarely into a river?”

Zena’s ears flattened to her head as she looked up, seeing the unbelievably smug smirk aimed back at her. “Correction, I’m never hearing the end of this, am I?”

“Not for a while, nah,” Zoey chirped, dagger-like teeth grinning despite the slight gloom of the day. “Now, mind going and getting the winch cable? Oh, pulley and a ground-anchor too from the back of the truck, that way I can actually put you back on all four wheels.”

Zena nodded, grimacing as she looked at the ground. “Okay, fine, so long as that buys me at least some grace period of not being reminded of my track record with cars.”

With that, she pushed off and hopped down toward the track, aiming to avoid a large puddle and thus not plaster her- or her aquatic friend and would-be rescuer- in a slurry of muddy water. She let out a surprised gasp when, instead of merely sinking calf-deep into the mud, her boots all but disappeared, barely half an inch being visible above the soft, slimy brown surface. She briefly pumped her feet, wobbling and waving her arms around, before crossing her arms, face burning with embarrassment.

This day just keeps getting better and better… I’m glad Zoey hasn’t got her phone on her, else she’d be getting the perfect material to tease me with when we next see the rest of our friends.

The sound of a phone camera shutter made her wince, and she looked up pleadingly, seeing that her assertion was dead wrong. A soft chuckle left the shark’s lips as she gently made her way down toward the stranded ferret, a more careful placement of feet coupled with her greater strength preventing her from ending up in the same mess that Zena was.

"Dear me, it really isn't your day today, is it Zena?" she cooed, still smirking as she ruffled the ferret’s hair, eliciting more grumbles and whines at the teasing. “That one’s not getting seen by anyone else, for now, don't you worry your little head about that."

She took a look down, figuring that her strength alone would be enough to haul the featherweight ferret out of the pitfall she'd landed in, before posing her one last teasing question.

"Shall we get you out of there, and get back on our way? Or would you rather I drive us back?”