FSE

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It was unseasonably warm weather and with it, the charr, Severa decided to take what might be the last beach stroll of the year. Baggy but lightweight clothing was enough to keep her shielded from the occasional cold gust without making it too hot for the heavy set feline. She'd come with sandals but on finding the ground to be acceptably pleasant, she'd kicked them off, walking along the beach bare pawed.

Mudflats stretched out before her, with the ebbing afternoon light bouncing the sun's shine off them. An almost bluish-green tint drifted along, shaking like a small lantern suspended above the beach. No wonder there had been stories of a ghostly pirate haunting the beach allegedly evermore in search of his forgotten treasures.

As if caught by the fancy of piratical nonsense, she took one of the sandals, leaning down to carve a large X in the sand, planning to go for a quick jog and wanting to remember where she should turn. She followed one of the spans in a straight line until it reached an overhanging ledge, tucking her bag there to protect it from jealous eyes. Considering how mild it was, she decided she also wouldn't need the full length of her trousers, grabbing the zipper below the knee that let her expose her shins to the air.

Contented that the X would last even if the wind tried to push sand into it, she took the sandal to the waves and swirled it in the water to wash it off before throwing it all the way up the beach to where her bag was. It landed beside it, not exactly neatly, but still showing her aim was as sharp as ever.

She took a small moment to stretch out, letting the water lap over her heels. It retained some of the sun's heat to be at least pleasant if not what one could really call warm. She took a deep breath and then set off at light jog, speeding up once the blood was pumping.

Within the carved X, the sand shifted, something once dormant was called back. A gust of wind blew over the beach, barely enough to shift a single grain, yet suddenly the X disappeared. Yards away, a new depression formed, an X of similar shape carved anew...

Puffing, Severa had finished her lap of the beach, turning when the ground had gradually changed from soft sand and wet muds into solid stones, far less pleasant to walk on. The tide had risen a little while she'd been gone, her path taking her into some of the glistening mudflats only to rinse her off when the fresh waves lapped up.

"One more burst, let's go!" She said to herself as she pushed in a sprint, burning through her energy and using those warmed up muscles to the fullest, leaving thick prints in the sand that slowly eroded with each wash of the sea.

She held her head back, whooping loudly into the air, by the time she looked back, the X was just about in view. It was a good thing she had the foresight to carve it, she didn't quite recognise the beach from the returning angle.

Panting as she slowed down, she trudged her way closer, moving to the centre of it to turn and correct her path. A step out from the middle, she stumbled, the ground seeming alarmingly softer, with it catching the foot that stepped down with mud and sand sucking as her other foot landed in the middle. That sank even further, down to the ankle! "Whoa. Damn, it gets boggy here fast." She said with a chuckle. "Nnngh, there." One foot pulling free and then the next as she plodded on the spot, facing the axle of the X to find where she'd put her things.

As she peered, she felt something crawling at the line of the sand but ignored it, looking for the bushes. It seemed that the coast line was... rising?

She snapped back into the moment, no, she was sinking! She laughed it off, figuring it was the beach's way of telling her she could lose a few pounds. The ground sucked and gripped the foot as she tugged and pulled, having some difficulty piercing the seemingly packed stuff. As her heel rose, the sand seemed to rise with it, sticking and doughy. As that other foot stepped forward, landing with a 'plop' she made to raise the other one.

It seemed the beach didn't want to let go, but she'd been through worse. The other foot stepped, some sand fell away but a lump stayed behind, wrapped around her ankle. She turned her head, it looked like... a hand?! As she noticed the sandy extremity motion drew her eyes ahead as from the marked X another sandy hand shot out. The arm of it grew, stretching out to shove her in the chest before she could react.

Already precariously balanced it sent her toppling onto her rump, tail swishing loose grains away and feeling a building sticky cloying.

That bog-like feeling grew more present, no longer something she could have ignored even before the sandy apparitions had sprouted.

"Back off! Get away!" She growled, her claws sinking into any arms that came near, raking them, carving rough gouges that simply filled back in as the sand flowed in repair. That proved something all the more unsettling; it wasn't some prankster hidden below the sand, after all there was nothing natural about the length or composition of the arms. One grasped over her shoulder and chest, bending where her body did, a doughy mass that had no need for joints or bones.

She tried to strain, fighting the grip, slowly winning the tug of war with her chest, only for her eyes to see a trio of fresh hands rising up. They fell in a crash to grab over her thighs, she couldn't escape them all!

The force of the recent plunging arms dragged her legs down into a beach that parted like quicksand on the way down yet clung in that thick and sticky way to her afterwards. In no time at all she was buried up to the hip and she now realised that she could no longer see the rest of the beach! The cross she'd walked into had a pit in the middle deep enough that her clawing hands couldn't reach the point it levelled out.

"Mmmhh! Help, someone!" She yelled out loudly. She inhaled sharply as a spread hand pressed slowly out of the sand in front of her, her own arms came up to try and block it, already predicting it would grab her. It smashed forward in a surge, battering them away and grabbing the charr across the snout and lips, a spread of the hand even blocked one of her eyes. "Mmmhh! Mmmhphhhmh!"

It was holding her down all on its own. As her body was tugged deeper, it felt like the grasping hands dissolved and then climbed out to grab a new part of her, with a pair seizing the heavy horns on her head and dragging her ever downward. There was little she could do once they seized her wrists and swiftly tucked her hands into the sticky mire.

She heard something approaching, gasping in ragged breaths itself. It seemed someone had heard her cry. A strange, cold blue light shone growing stronger as the stranger arrived at the edge, an old looking lantern hung from his hip, he wore a tattered leather coat from an old fashioned style. Severa's stomach lurched, the ghost that had been mentioned either had someone out here in costume or it was very real.

The eerie pirate pulled out his shovel, stabbing it into the sand and then flicking it toward the charr.

A fresh surge of adrenaline fuelled panic hit her as she realised he wasn't there to help. Her arms tried to reach, head shaking in denial, but with her wrists caught so strongly all that happened was a twist of her shoulders. "Mmmm! Mmmmmmhh!"

Without a word the haunting figure scooped sand upon sand, packing the soft loose grains over the unnaturally sticky mass, burying the feline's chest, filling in the pit that had formed around her. As sand tickled her neck, running to fill below the jaw, the pirate stabbed the shovel down once more, embedding it in the ground as he reached into his pack.

He drew out a long hollow stalk and fed it down toward the charr. The sand at her lips swirled about it, grabbing the end and shoving the bottom of the tube into her mouth. "Nnnghhoo, heehlgh!" She tried to call into it, as the ghost held the other end high, shovelling more sand down around it and the charr. "Nghhh!"

The sticky mass spread as more sand came in, pulling the charr down a last few inches, supporting her jaw so that it, and the tube, were the highest point before squeezing her, kneading the sticking mass to hold her.

Slowly the pit filled, one more toss of the shovel hiding her free eye, a few more blocking her nostrils and forcing her breaths through the tube, then more and more sand piled on top until she couldn't even feel the additional weight nor hear the constant crash of the sea.

Half sucked into living quicksand, then buried alive the rest of the way. The abandoned bag and strange stalk sticking out of the beach were the only clues that any other beachgoers might find and use to rescue the charr before it was too late...