harpup race
Marshmallow was dressed up and ready today. She was wearing a pink suit, white dress shoes, and a very fancy polka dot bowtie. Her albino harpup, Snowball, was dressed up just as fancily. The little critter had a pink bowtie on its neck and pink ribbon around its tail. They wanted to stand out during today’s swimming competition. The ten fastest swimmers will receive 100 carats and a year’s supply of Hutch’s newest flavor of imp treats, pumpkin spice. Snowball-and Marshmallow-wanted to get their hands on these amazing treats. Additionally, the first place winner gets to make their very own custom flavor.
Marshmallow and Snowball were on a bench waiting for their friend, Flora, to show up. Marshmallow met her a few weeks ago at her diner and they got along really well. They would chat for hours at a time and gossip about bad customers. Last week, Flora brought up this imp swimming competition and it sounded really fun! Marshmallow couldn’t wait to see which imp Flora had brought along.
Soon enough, the blonde bun arrived with a nervous smile on her face. She never could get used to the feeling of meeting up with someone somewhere, especially when she runs a little late. She spent a bit too much time dressing up, her outfit was still casual, yet had plenty of layers and little accessories that really weren’t necessary. But in her arms sat a small pink harpup that she had named Selkie, her first ever harpup. It was wrapped up in a blanket that Flora most likely had sewn herself to welcome the newest member of the family, as it had patterns matching the harpup and even a faint sign of Selkie’s name stitched right into it with gold thread.
“S-Sorry I took so long…” Flora let out a sad sound full of guilt toward her friend. “I couldn’t decide what I wanted to wear that wouldn’t get me much attention.” She let out a sigh, about to get lost in thought before noticing Marshmallow’s own harpup. Her face lit up with glee as she set Selkie down to excitedly play with a (hopefully) new friend. “Selkie hasn’t made a friend with a harpup yet, I’m glad she can now!”
Marshmallow’s face lit up as soon as she saw Flora. Marshmallow instantly wrapped her arms around Flora and gave her a giant bear hug. Marshmallow was so glad that her friend made it!
Marshmallow beamed, “You look beautiful today, Flora! The most beautiful bun I’ve ever seen!” Flora looked about ready to die at that point.
Marshmallow then leaned down and gave Selkie a smooch, “You’re such a fluffy and cute bastard!” Marshmallow started squeezing the life out of Selkie much to Snowball’s jealousy. Snowball bit Marshmallow on her ankle, which caused Mashmallow to finally put the other harpup down and pet Snowball instead.
Marshmallow looked back at Flora, “Would you like to start heading to the front of the pool to get our harpups ready for the competition?”
Flora smiled and nodded with faint blush on her cheeks as she gently picked up Selkie once more. Once they both were ready, Flora convinced Marshmallow to take the lead to follow her to the pool that Marshmallow had mentioned. In secret, Flora was terrified of the water, but having a harpup almost forces her to at least be near it, since she wants her little imp to be happy.
Flora stared at the pool for a moment before letting out a nervous laugh while turning toward Marshmallow. She couldn’t look at her friend as she spoke, rubbing her thumb against Selkie nervously. “I suppose it’s time I admit I didn’t read much on this competition, s-so I don’t really know what we’re supposed to do.” She let out a whimper of shame while looking down at her curious yet happy harpup.
“I’ve never been in any competition, actually…” Flora finally looked at her fellow succubun with a pout.
Marshmallow gave her a reassuring smile, “Don’t stress too much! The point of this event is for us and our pets to have fun! I did read up on this online and it sounded pretty straightforward.” Marshmallow pointed at the river up ahead. Normally, the river shoreline is empty, but today there was a flag every half mile or so. The flags were mostly black and white, except for a blue flag at a far distance.
“The race is about 5 miles in total with flags every half mile to track your progress. You finish the race when your harpup passes the blue flags. There are around 100 competitors today, but only 10 winners. However…” Marshmallow let out a knowing smile, “I heard that there will be a secret grand prize to whoever finds a secret, golden phloof statue at the bottom of the river first.”
Marshmallow found this information out after overhearing Hutch and Quince talk about the competition the other day at her diner. They were so engrossed in the information that they did not realize that Marshmallow was listening in.
Both Flora and Marshmallow started making their way to the water’s edge with their harpups close behind. Selkie and Snowball were following along as fast as their fins could go. When Selkie wasn’t looking, Snowball gave her a light nibble. Snowball thought that Selkie was really cute.
Flora quickly stuck on the thought of the grand prize Marshmallow mentioned, almost zoning out completely had it not been for the loud and excited chatter of other contestants keeping her constantly on-edge.
All the while Selkie grew more and more cautious of Snowball, jumping with a surprised yelp everytime she got nibbled, worried she was going to get eaten. So she tried to stick closer to Flora, until she saw the water. This caused her excitement to rise to the top once more as she waddled and wiggled her way over to it. Flora watched with a smile, like a proud parent enjoying their child’s enjoyment.
“So, when does the race start exactly..?” Flora turned her attention back to Marshmallow as she asked, once again proving unreliable in the things she’s offered herself.
Marshmallow wasn’t quite sure either, which was a relief when she heard one of the organizers scream, “Will all the contestants gather at the starting line. The race will begin in 15 minutes.” Marshmallow chucked a bit, “I guess that’s our answer.”
Snowball and Selkie gathered in front of the giant “Start” banner at the water’s edge while Marshmallow and Flora took found seats off to the side.
Marshmallow got comfortable and started pulling out some snacks. She offered Flora a goma dango that she bought from Dan the other day.
After 15 minutes had passed, the announcer finally counted down and the race begun. Both Selkie and Snowball took off as fast as they could go.
Flora cheered- with a mouth full of dango- for Selkie as she did her best to keep up with her fellow harpup, leaping into the water and moving her little flippers as hard as she could to go as fast as possible.
They made it pretty far together, it even seemed like they were going to get first place! However, one of the other imps decided to get too competitive and knock into both harpups, sending them slightly off course. However, they could see a soft twinkle of something shiny nearby. Selkie let out an excited little sound before rushing toward the trophy, thankful to have Snowball’s help in carrying it all the way to the finish line.
Surprisingly, Selkie and Snowball were within the top 10 to finish, which made Flora ecstatic as she rushed over to give her harpup a big hug while cheering and bouncing around with so much excitement.
Though once Flora noticed the trophy, her jaw dropped and she looked at Marshmallow with shock to see her reaction while Seklie bounced in Flora’s arms over the trophy alone.
“Did our harpups find the trophy? I thought it was just a rumor…” Flora gently set Selkie down so the harpups could dance around the trophy and celebrate their ultimate win, whatever that may be.
Marshmallow was squealing at this point, “I can taste the grand prize already!” When the judge, Hutch, saw the trophy, they quickly rushed over, “No way! We weren’t actually expecting someone to win the grand prize! Your harpups are incredible.” Marshmallow agreed, “Yes they are! So about that grand prize…”
Huch cleared their throat, “Of course! You get to make a custom flavor of imp treats! You will also get a lifetime supply! Do you have any preferences on what kind of flavor you’d like?” Both Marshmallow and Flora thought for a bit… Flora asked, “Can it be anything at all?” Huch nodded.
Suddenly, both the harpups were making excited sounds. They saw a bun with vanilla ice cream pass by. They were trying to get to it, but they weren’t as fast on land as they were on water. Marshmallow grinned, “We would love vanilla ice cream flavored imp treats with extra whipped cream.” Hutch laughed, “Your harpups will be extremely happy!"
