in a forest of legs

[she_sells_seashells]

The second time ever Bell finds to Milliways, she is better prepared. She has a bigger bag of shells with her, and she knows that she'll need to pace herself with the food to stay as long as she can.

She is still six. As far as she can tell, she is the only child in the place - everyone else is an adult or at least in their mid to late teens.

Except - oh, there is a girl her age, over there. (Only maybe not. Last time she was warned that appearances can be deceiving.) But she's certainly worth investigating.

Bell drags her shells over in that direction.

Comments

[missnicegirl]

"I don't really know if it helps or not," she says. "I do it anyway. C'mon, lake, c'mon..."

It is a fairly big lake, and about half of it is gathering into a sphere above the original waterline.

[she_sells_seashells]

Bell stares.

[missnicegirl]

Matilda keeps going.

It takes a few minutes, but eventually she gets two-thirds of the lake floating in the air full of bewildered fish.

[she_sells_seashells]

"SQUID," screams Bell, forgetting wonder in place of fear and hiding behind the rock.

[missnicegirl]

There is indeed a squid in the middle of the floating ball.

Except that the second Matilda is distracted, it stops being a floating ball and starts being a falling ball. And then a falling blob.

And then a whole lake's worth of splash.

Matilda yelps in surprise, stumbles, clings to the top of her rock, and gives the wave racing toward them as big a shove in the opposite direction as she possibly can. It reverses course, crashing back into the surface of the lake.

The shore is soaked in every direction. There are stranded fish scattered all along it, and the squid is scooping them up by the grumbly armful.

"...oops," says Matilda.

[she_sells_seashells]

The squid's attention to anything on the shore is sufficient to send Bell tearing into the safety of the bar.