Mao Mao Tales

Cold Is The Night

The campfire crackled in the dark, casting shadows of Mao Mao, Badgerclops, and Adorabat as they sat around the flame. The nightly sky was filled with bright stars, that glittered amidst the spaces between the leady treetops. The trio had come out to camp, as another break from their heroic duties had arrived, and since they had done Badgerclops idea with stargazing, it was Adorabat's turn to choose. Surprisingly, she ahd pciked camping, which was odd.

"Mm!" Badgerclops munched on a s'more, gooey chocolate and marshmallow dripping from his lips. "Man, this is perfection!" He looked to Mao Mao, who was the mastermind behind this delectable. "If you cooked these everyday, then I probably would do anything you wanted me to do."

"But that wouldn't be healthy now, would it?" Mao Mao chuckled. "And besides, I think you're big enough." He slyly smiled as Adorabat laughed.

"Hmph." Badgerclops crossed his arms, looking away. "I'm not that big."

"You kinda are." Adorabat teased.

"Nope." Badgerclops reached over and plucked another s'more from the steaming plate of sugary delight. "Besides, being big isn't that, well, big of a problem."

"Yeah, you could say that." Mao Mao popped a toasted marshmallow into his mouth. The blaze continued burning as the trio continued to eat the more s'mores.

"Hey." Badgerclops licked his lips. "You guys wanna hear a story?"

"Ooh! A campfire story?" Adorabat excitedly asked.

"Even better; a story about something incredible that happened to me." Badgerclops said dramatically.

"Before you met Mao Mao?" Adorabat asked.

"Yeah. And I haven't even told him this story!" At that, Mao Mao looked up, his eyes curious.

"A story that you've never told me?" He bit down on a s'more, and mumbled, "I wanna hear it."

"Okay, okay." Badgerclops cleared his throat. "So, when I was a kid, me and my step-brother Gerald, for once in our lives, actually did something together. It was a quiet summer night, and we both made the plan to prank Gerald's mom, my step-mother by the way." He continued. "The thing was, I disliked her just as much as Gerald did, mostly because she was kinda a jerk. Something that my brother inherited from her." He chuckled dryly at that.

"What did you guys do?" Mao Mao asked with eagerness.

"Well, since she always kept a ton of money in a jar, titled 'The Cash Jar'" Badgerclops remarked. "We decided to prank her by making it, well, disappear. And if you remember, Gerald was quite the magician."

"So dear old step-mom was heading out with my dad, and that left me and Gerald alone in the house. We crept into her bedroom," Badgerclops theatrically mimicked the action. "And we that there was a lock on it, and with his magic, Gerald made his own key."

"We grabbed the jar and ran out of the room as fast as we could." Badgerclops smiled. "We hid the jar in the backyard, and we returned to our rooms. But before we went back, we made a promise to not tell what happened. And for the first time, I trusted Gerald. When our parents came back," Badgerclops laughed. "You should've seen my step-mom. She was going insane!"

"Did you guys get away with it?" Adorabat asked.

"Nah. One of us ratted the other one." Badgerclops sadly said.

"Gerald?" Mao Mao guessed as he made a few more s'mores.

"No. It was me." Badgerclops answered, a little bit of shame in his voice.

"What?!" Adorabat gasped.

"Really?" Mao Mao looked at Badgerclops, his curiosity even more piqued. "No, but, really?"