Spazzy-Boom wasn't a night-time sort. Some of his anxieties liked the dark.
Like the Squooka in the Back Yard.
Squeak-klik squeak-klik. As a little mousie, he always knew it was the Squooka wandering about in the back by the peculiar squeak-klik of a noisy knee joint. Squeak-klik squeak-klik. Pacing back and forth, back and forth. Squeak-klik squeak-klik.
The Squooka never harmed anyone unless one counting having ten years' worth of bejeebers scared out of them every so often. Even after he grew up, Spazzy-Boom just wished it wasn't his bejeebers being spooked out of him.
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And so I introduce another mousie, this time based on the pooka of Ireland, a supernatural pitch-black pony often wearing chains or water-weed and delighted in sneaking up on and scaring the living daylights out of unwary travelers. Toss in things like the Black Dogs of the British Isles (who sometimes manifested as black horses) and shadow beings reminiscent of Jolly Jack's Denizens, and thus we get Squookas, living, shadowy mousies with an unnerving habit of switching back and forth from 2D to 3D as we might walk in and out of a room. Fortunately, Squookas are more playful and mischievous than malevolent.
That only adds to it. :o Spazzy-Boom's had girlfriends before, but the Squooka in the Back Yard was very much one of his childhood bogies. Just the very idea of the Squooka ever being one of those girlfriends (or worse, having been one at some point) is enough to fill him with dread. Worse, the Squooka actually seemed fond of him, but at least it wasn't the stork-summoning sort of fondness. Hopefully. :0
That only adds to it. :o Spazzy-Boom's had girlfriends before, but the Squooka in the Back Yard was
