Lionel is officially miffed.

TEXT:

It took Crack a second to pull meaning from Lionel’s thick-tongued growling, so he was a bit slow to dodge. The lion’s tail whipped out, suddenly three times its length, and wrapped tightly around Crack’s body, snapping his arms into his side. Evil yelped and stumbled back, barely evading a swiping claw, but not managing to evade a sudden wave from behind that swept him off his feet. Crack blanched. He had trouble manipulating the environment in this misty wherever. Apparently Lionel did not.

Lionel slowly sat up. His golden eyes followed Evil’s spin as a vortex of water pulled the bear down like quicksand. The tufted end of his tail continued to spiral up Cracks body and coiled loosely around his neck. Crack suppressed a panicked squeak, hoping not to draw the lion’s attention. Then rolled his eyes at his own stupidity. He was pretty obviously on Lionel’s radar. He had no idea how the lion knew his way around the Mindscape so well, and he had no idea what to do about it. Crack was not much of a planner, especially on the fly, but he figured their survival now probably counted on not antagonizing the apex predator any further.

He and Evil were not on the same page. Sunk up to his shoulders, Evil opened his mouth and spewed antagonism: epithets, bile, a random complaint about the weather, and something improbable involving a bowling pin, giraffes, and Lionel’s mother.

Crack prayed for a quick death.