Hey guys, new chapter. Hope you like. Oh, and I don't own Ice Age.
Shira watched (slightly bored) as her family went weapon on… well, creature. After all, she'd seen it all before, but she'd admit, it was still breath-taking.
They were on another raid, see, and what's the fun of it if they didn't get to attack someone? Of course, she wasn't attacking, just watching, lounging in a nearby tree. She wanted to help, but they denied her requests every time. They kept saying 'when you're older', but heavens knew how much older. They never did say.
She sighed and quietly slunk down and went off to explore. She promised she'd stay close by, and that didn't mean necessarily in the tree, right? Right.
She went to explore, she found a bunch of new flowers, but she took no interest in them. None were blue, and therefore clashed with her earrings. It just didn't look right. As she explored, looking at all the different plants, she came across a particularly interesting one.
It had strange, almost tear drop shapes with tiny pricks along the edges, and were pinkish red in color, with blue tainted green stems. It was rather small, and the leaves grew in triplets, one in the middle and two veering off to the side, as if presenting it, like a fancy frame.
They shone rather prettily in the sunlight. They grew along the base of a large tree, and she was delighted to find a whole grove of them. They were soft and fuzzy to the touch, and they seemed to have some special kind of water or dew on them; they made her fur shine when she rubbed against them. She used some to polish her earrings and claws, along with simply sketching horizontal rings on her legs. If she caught them in the light just right, they made a wonderfully interesting artistic shimmer appear.
She didn't even realize how long she been there before her mother appeared, arms crossed, tapping her foot, smirking smugly. "Y'll stay right close, eh?" she asked.
She gave her a sheepish grin. "Sorry mom."
She waved her paw dismissively. "Don' matter, s'long as we get back in time." She padded up to her, and she picked her daughter up and set her in her thankfully weapon free pouch. "Or they migh'jus leave us behind." They both laughed, knowing they'd never allow that to happen.
As she hopped speedily towards the ship, the almost child began to feel sleepy. It was almost time for her nap anyway; as much as she hated it, she still needed one. Otherwise she got cranky and snappy and in a rather violent mood. She'd almost mauled Squint once when she hadn't gotten a good rest due to an especially unhappy sea. She allowed her eyes to slip closed. 'Just for a little while.' She thought as her mind numbed and she fell asleep.
A couple hours later, Shira sat on the edge of the ship, overlooking the ocean, absent mindedly scratching her forearm. It was really bothering her, it had been since she woke up twenty minutes before. She yelped in surprise as a sharp pain came to her ear and she scratched at it. What was up with her? Why did she feel suddenly… itchy?
"Hey Squirt." Squint came up to her. He raised a teasing eyebrow upon noticing her insistent scratching. "Whasa' matter? Itch you can't scratch?"
"No, it just-" she scratched harshly at her left front leg. "I don't know what's wrong with me!" she sounded panicked.
"Alright, alright, chill. Lemme look." He took her now much larger paw and began to examine her leg, parting her thick white fur to get a good look underneath. It was turning red and seemed to have goose bumps all over it, an obvious rash. "God Shira, this looks infected. What'd ya do?"
She shrugged and scratched at her side. "I don't know! I was just playing in these shiny plants and-"
"Woah, woah, woah. Hold on a sec. What shiny plants?"
"They were really weird, all pink and blue and green."
He stiffened as a thought came to mind. "Did it… look like this?" he etched a quick drawing of the plant she'd seen, the triplet leaves easily recognized by the young saber.
"Yeah! Just like that!"
"Oh man! Shira!" he smacked his forehead. "That was Poison Ivy!"
"It was what?"
"Poison Ivy! Ya touch it'n gives y' a nasty rash."
"An itchy one?"
"Very." His eyes widened. "Please tell me you haven't touched anyone!"
She tilted her head curiously, still scratching. "Why?"
"You can catch from someone just by touching- gah!" His intense brown eyes got wider, if possible, when he realized he was still holding her paw from the examination. He stumbled away, staring at his paws in horror. "Aw man…" he'd had Poison Ivy before, and it wasn't a pleasant experience. "Please tell me you haven't touched anyone else."
"I was in mom's pouch early."
He face palmed. Oh great…
Raz stumbled up to them, scratching viciously at her arms. "Squint!" she winced in pain, her sharp claws probably hurt her skin. "Yer aunt's a doctor an taughtcha all 'bout it! What's happenin' t'me?!"
"Poison Ivy." He answered simply.
"Wha' in the name a' sweet violence does that mean?!" she demanded, scraping her claws around inside her pouch, the source of the infection. She sucked in through clenched teeth, making a pained hiss. "Gah… make it stop!"
"Sorry Raz, can't. It'll eventually go away by- ow!" he scratched at his arm. "And so it begins…" He turned to his niece. "Shira, please. Tell me you haven't touched anyone or anything else." They all knew of his secret medical training (which he did not learn on his own free will, mind you. He was tied to a rock and forced to learn. He only paid attention because he was tested, and didn't want to listen through it all again. The information all kinda just stuck, he supposed), and would surely come to him for an answer.
"Well…" she gave them a guilty, apologetic smile, laughing nervously.
There was a yelp of pain and Gupta fell off the mast, scratching madly at his limbs. "Squint!"
Others soon followed. "Why me?" he whispered to himself, still scratching.
So, what'd you think? I thought it'd be kinda funny to have them experience that. And if you don't like the drop off kinda thing, I can re-edit and repost if ya like.
Poem:
Roses are red
Violets are blue
But poison ivy is not cool
Sorry, couldn't resist! Review!
