A Person Made of Mud

A World of Madness, A Little of Sense

A person made of mud rose up from a puddle on a rainy day.

They climbed out of the hole and walked around as water poured down from the sky.

There was much they did not know, watching the movement around them. What were those big cubes with square holes by the gray path? Those rectangles running down the black way? Those small and shapeless, mud things, sheltering under a metal roof?

They could not find a meaning to any of those objects, and simply kept on following the falling blue as it fell down upon them.

The drops, landing on the person made of mud, kept their mud wet and soft so they could move, and as long as it fell on them, they could continue on.

Thinking to themself, the person made of mud wondered if the rectangles running down the black path were thinking, like they were, and attempted to approach the next one that was trying to pass by.

But the person made of mud, by approaching the rectangle, only managed to get run over. Exploding in a million pieces.

Their left hand landed on a patch of green and mud, from which the person made of mud reformed and stood up once again.

Then the person made of mud went back to walking, following the falling blue, recovered from the crash and unsure why the rectangle did not stop to talk as they came close.

There was much they did not know, but now one thing they learned: A rectangle hit them when they came too close.

They did not know what that meant, but they knew it was true, and as they moved slowly they approached something else. Standing tall was a cylinder that held a round, green ball above itself. But as the person made of mud came closer, they realized that the green ball was stopping the falling blue from hitting them, so they walked away to go back to under the falling blue.

And once again, the person made of mud learned something else: A green ball on top of a brown cylinder blocked the drops of the falling blue.

But this time, the person made of mud wondered if this was true to every one of the green balls on top of mud cylinders visible around, and decided to test it out.

They walked over to a different green ball on top of a brown cylinder and reached an arm under it, and found that: this ball also blocked the drops of the falling blue.

They then attempted the same thing with other green balls on top of brown cylinders, and found that, yes, all of them blocked the drops of the falling blue. They also noticed that some blocked more or less drops than others. But they did not get why.

Having had enough of the green balls on top of brown cylinders, the person made of mud left the green and went to the gray path instead, following the falling blue as it passed by.

They looked around to see if anything interesting could be found and saw something truly curious, while walking down the gray path, the person made of mud found a person that was not made of mud, almost twice the size of themself.

The person that was not made of mud noticed them just a few moments after the person made of mud saw them first. And the other person, holding a stick with a curved circle on top, crouched down in front of the person made of mud, and let out a few noises.

– ¤♢ / Ѷ۵¤ ♢≎⋋ ≎Σ? –But sadly, the person made of mud could not understand what the other was trying to express with those sounds, they didn't know if any of it had any meaning or not, but decided to try and communicate as well with noises.

– Bhbrh... brohbahbo... mbhrehkhe... – They tried their best, but the person not made of mud didn't seem to understand them either.

The person made of mud's attention shifted quickly as they looked at the stick with a curved circle on top, and then noticed how the person not made of mud looked almost completely dry. They reached their hand a little closer, under the stick with a curved circle on top, and realized that it was like the green balls on top of those mud cylinders, but a smaller version of it, as it seemed.

The person not made of mud watched the person made of mud's curiosity for a moment before offering them the stick with a curved circle on top. The person made of mud took the stick for only a brief moment, holding it above their heads and seeing as not a single drop of the falling blue fell upon them for as long as the curved circle was above their head.

After giving back the stick with the curved circle on top to the person not made of mud, the person made of mud decided to give a name to this effect that happened both with the green balls on top of brown cylinders and with the curved circle on top of the stick, "Drop-Stopping" was the name they decided to give it, and they wondered if there were more things that could manage to do this, probably yes. They also wondered if there were more effects like this, and, if they looked deeply enough into other things, would they be able to find a pattern like they did with the "Drop-Stopping" effect?

The person made of mud did not know for sure of any of the things of which they wondered about, but of one thing they knew, for as long as the falling blue continued to move and fall, the person made of mud would be willing to try and figure out many more things.

The End.