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…
The orphan kids were moving along with their plan swimmingly. While Tam, Charlotte, Jenny and Thaddeus were in the kitchen, Lily, Bobby, Brian and Mimmy had gone upstairs for their clothes. The rest had taken the task of cleaning the house.
“Why do I have to go?” Brian moped, barely halfway on putting his sock. He was in the bedroom closet, “searching” for Mimmy’s sweater.
Lily explained evenly, “That’s because you and Cindy will start fighting again. You really should learn to stop being like that, you know.”
“Can’t I call Yuri with me?” he asked.
“No, cause they need more hands! More hands meaning cleaning goes faster!” Lily said. She then asked Mimmy to stretch her hands out, and then corrected them to point sideways, instead of up.
“Then why can’t Bobby stay back?”
“Lily!” Bobby called, causing her to stop buckling Mimmy’s overalls. He then ran in to the room, and was wearing only one large-sized shoe. “I can’t find my hat! Have you seen it?”
“Did you check the sleeve?”
The mole nodded and then ran right back down, the shoe plopping at each step.
“Also, you got the wrong shoe!” Lily exclaimed. As she finished Mimmy’s clothes, they could hear Bobby yell “I found it!” downstairs.
“Almost ready then,” Lily said, sharing her smile with Mimmy. “Now all that’s left…is you, Brian!”
The young wolf pouted.
“I don’t wanna go to Miss Elefantus! Her house smells weird, and she gets really weird whenever Mimmy is there.”
“Hmm, that’s true…” Lily realized. She thought that maybe they can ask Mimmy to hide while they talk to her.
“I’m gonna stay here,” Brian said, huffing resolutely.
“No you won’t,” Lily replied back at his resolution, and lunged at his feet.
The young wolf did not understood what happened, until his got face first into a nearby bed, and Lily ordered Mimmy to get her his socks. Before he knew, she put both of them on properly.
“No fair!” Brian complained, but then a sweater was thrown into his face.
“This one is for you! And I found Mimmy’s,” Lily stated, before running off. She brought a small stool they use for the lamp, and reached onto the top shelf.
Brian in the meantime was grumbling and saying it was unfair.
“C’mon, Miss Elefantus might leave first! If we don’t hurry up, then it will be all for nothing!” Lily told him.
Brian sighed, and proceeded to put on his “stupid”, as he dubbed it, sweater. Lilly nodded approvingly, while he just went past without a care.
“Are you ready Mimmy, for adventure?” she asked the young mouse, whose head was still stuck on one of the sleeves. Helping her, Lily took her hand, and then said, “Onward to adventure!”
…
“Let’s do this,” said Tom. “Onward to a-“
“There’s something on your face,” mentioned Chester.
“Wha-“
“Time to go!” exclaimed Mr. Mouton, increasing his pace exponentially.
“Right away sir!” Tom said, and ran right after, with Chester following.
The cat’s face was still littered with drawings made by Chester earlier, and the hedgehog, carefully and responsibly thinking on it, finally decided, to just say nothing. Mr. Mouton then told them to go to their workshop, and that he will get his car to their nearest exit.
“Sure thing!” Tom exclaimed and led himself and Chester into a turn.
With the keys still on his person, Tom swiftly unlocked the door, and made his way straight to the table he worked on. There was his battle-bot, its black sheen illuminated by the single lamp, used to dry the paintjob. Its design was very simple for a bit, and Tom liked this about it. Four standard wheels, which were protected, a box shape of the body, and of course, one long arm that held what looked liked a shield. Apparently, this arm was what Tom focused on the most, working day and night to make it as maneuverable as possible. Considering he was betting on using the power of the crystals on the shield, he had to. Both him and Chester saw firsthand what tiny few fragments could do. Hit it with hammer once, not even a scratch. Tap it lightly, and suddenly their Mr. Woodsman needed a new desk for the class.
“Okay, the paint is good, the batteries are here, the crystals aren’t loose,” mumbled Tom, giving the bot a rapid inspection. He seemed anxious, not helping the fact that he slept until they had to go. And then the car honked right outside of the room. “Grab the back, Chester!” Tom exclaimed, putting away the remote into his backpack.
Chester picked the car by the tires, and soon they were carrying it out. It was pretty heavy, despite its small size, and Tom panted quite a bit. To be fair, he was also wearing his backpack and bags with things needed for the fight. And yet, Tom still had time to tell Chester how to maneuver through the desks.
They exited through the door leading outside, and Mouton’s car was right by them. Carefully leaving it inside the trunk, two boys ran around into their seats, and the car then set off.
“Hope you boys had enough time to prepare yourselves! From this point on, everything lies on your young shoulders!” Mr. Mouton said, keeping a steady pace to his driving.
“We are ready, very much, sir,” retorted Tom, from the backseat. “We’ll do our best not to let you down, sir!”
“You know, you can sit next to me, Mister Cheshire, if you want to,” Mr. Mouton said, in a very pleasant tone. “It’s easier to see the road, and we haven’t yet made it towards the main road, so I can make a quick for you to let you switch. What do you say?”
“No thanks, thank you very much sir! I feel like sitting in the back. Thank you very much, sir!” Tom spat out in rapid-fire.
The crow shrugged his shoulders and grunted, coming across as disappointed, which Chester picked up.
“Man, he’s really friendly, isn’t he?” Chester whispered to the side of him. He then turned to Tom, only to see that the cat was busy organizing his bags in his seat. So, Chester blurted out, “You forgot to say ‘Thank you, sir’ to him, by the way.”
“I DID!?”
“Calm down!” Chester put his hands on the cat, who was ready to jump out of his seat. Pushing him down, he said, “Geez, aren’t you jumpy.”
“Sorry.” Tom rubbed his fuzzy face. “I’m still a bit groggy, I think. Oh man, I’m so nervous, you won’t believe it. I gotta take a bathroom break, but I’m too anxious to ask…”
The cat went on to continuously mumble to himself, which Chester went on to ignore. Sitting for few minutes on the road, Chester couldn’t really focus on anything. So with nothing to do, and the uncomfortable lack of nothing going on for him, he opted to ask some questions.
“Just to be clear, we just go in, win the thing, and then compete against other institutes or something?” he asked loudly, waiting for either of the two to answer.
“Huh?” Tom turned to him. Then he began to answer automatically, “Oh no, this is preliminary. Our job is to show that we can compete in the main tournament that will be hosted by ARKYO Institute. As long as we do well,” Tom took a deep inhale, “we can enter the tournament.”
“Really?” Chester said, and raised a brow.
“Yes…That’s right, isn’t it, Mister Mouton?” Tom looked up to their vice-principal.
His eyes were still on the road, but the tone was still pleasant, “Just call me Jacques, Mister Cheshire. I am representative of our school, and your vice-principal as well, but outside, you can call me Jacques! And considering that we are…” The older crow gave a wide smile into his rear-view mirror, “outside, you know?” He chuckled.
Tom chuckled too, stiltedly. “Okay! Thank you very much! But, um, can I still call you Mr. Mouton?”
The crow’s smile faded, and after shrugging said, “Sure thing. But you are right, Mister Cheshire, that this is for letting you to compete. This is, mind you, the very first time that our school ever participated in something this big and quite media grab-worthy. Lots of cameras to surround us with, just to see us make a big show to be televised later on. Can you believe it, you are going to be on TV! Exciting, no?”
He looked again into the rear-view mirror and chuckled, to which the cat responded in his stilted kind, again. Chester was resting his head lazily on hand on the side, though Mouton didn’t give him a chance to look back.
“Admittedly, we were never that far, and could’ve participated there at any point. So, you will get to fight against one of several veteran players, and they will grade your skill and bot. It’s just a formality, so there’s no need to see if you should win. But, if you do get to win,” looked at them again, “you might even get extra money on your trip! Great, isn’t it? Not that you need to, since the school will personally pay off all expenses.” The crow gave another one of his chuckles.
“That so, huh…” Tom said and looked down. His hands were on the bag itself, fiddling a bit, as he went into a deep thought. Chester, meanwhile, decided to personally enter the conversation.
“But why does the school care about competing in this thing, Jack?” said Chester. The older bird grumbled, but let it slide. Chester noticed that however, and once the adult took a bit too long to answer, continued by saying, “Why so suddenly care about this pointless ‘battle-bot tournament’? Why spend time and money on some nerd game with robots? No offense.”
“None taken,” Tom replied.
Mr. Mouton sighed, his gaze still out into the road. “Because we would appreciate some money back, Chester,” he said. “It is unfortunate that we are losing some right now,” he added, heavily.
“Really, sir!?” Tom asked, genuinely. He had apparently not known it much, but it was true, the school had apparently been losing money. Flora told that to Chester, and he figured that’s probably because a lot of kids were leaving.
“Yes, really…way more than we anticipated.” The crow-man was gazing into the distance, to somewhere far away from the town. He then switched to his pleasant tone, and said, “You don’t have to worry about it that much, Mister Cheshire…and Chester. Simply focus on what you are both here for. And that is to win! We are all rooting for you!”
Tom nodded. “Thank you very much, Mr. Mouton, sir!” he said, “I hope I won’t let you down.”
“Me too…” Mr. Mouton replied.
Chester didn’t say anything himself, but he was ignored. In the end, things were turning in a different direction. If only he could see things better.
…
“Well, you are looking way, WAY better than before. And I think everyone agrees!” Flora stated proudly.
The two were in the bathroom, and Varvara was presenting herself in the mirror. She was spinning and twirling, very much enjoying the view of herself like she never did before. Usually, she would have something on her, something really neat or cute looking, like a bug themed accessory or fruit-themed dress. She really enjoyed experimentation, and it ended up giving her some of the most memorable looks she had. But this was no different than seeing a fully-grown butterfly spreading its wings and being ready to fly. She was in awe over how her image looked, something completely beyond her wildest imaginations. Who that people could literally transform, as long as you dress differently? And you don’t need some magical spirit to do this! She was very content with the results…
Then Varvara finally took a look at her face. Like the rest it was unrecognizable. She never knew you could do so much with make-up, but it was as if she was a different person, altogether. It was like a dream.
“You okay?” Flora asked, getting closer to inspect her friend.
“Huh?” Barbie looked at her absent-mindedly, noticing some concern from up-close. Then she said, “Oh yes, yes, very much so. I’m really fine. So what do we do now?”
“Well...” Flora slowly moved away, while still keeping an eye on her, “nothing really.”
“Oh?” Barbie looked at the mirror, but felt a bit disappointed. Then she said, “Maybe you could teach me how to talk like you?”
“Like me?” Flora took a moment to look up, bit her lip, and then said, “Look you…I really appreciate how much time you take to learn to be like me. I’m surprised how quickly we picked up! You really do look good! But, what about your father? You said he finally managed to be free and come over today, don’t you wanna spend more time at home and help your mom prepare a meal or something? Maybe work on that speech about…you know, the thingie?”
“Oh…um…” Barbie looked away, first to the side, and then to the mirror. She kept looking at herself, it seemed, and judging it.
Flora watched her intently, seeing that she was unhappy, but couldn’t tell what. Did she hate the change? Did she expect more? Was something making her feel sick all of a sudden, and she needed more time in the bathroom.
Flora thought on it, and then decided to ask first, “So…wanna practice some tricks on speaking with me?”
“Let’s do that!” Barbie exclaimed energetically, finally returning to reality.
Flora bit her lip. There was something that bothered her through all of this.
“Alright,” she said, “but remember, you might not like the end results.”
“Oh I think I can handle them.”
“Suit yourself!” Flora said, shrugging. “By the way, could you give me a sec?”
“Sure!”
Flora then went on to one of the stalls. As she did, she noticed something in the corner of her eye. While Barbie was in front of the mirror, she kept biting her lip, for one reason or another.
What are you doing? She thought. She decided not to ask, thinking she was trying to look more like one of those models. What a weird thing.
…
-----------------------------------------
…
The orphan kids were moving along with their plan swimmingly. While Tam, Charlotte, Jenny and Thaddeus were in the kitchen, Lily, Bobby, Brian and Mimmy had gone upstairs for their clothes. The rest had taken the task of cleaning the house.
“Why do I have to go?” Brian moped, barely halfway on putting his sock. He was in the bedroom closet, “searching” for Mimmy’s sweater.
Lily explained evenly, “That’s because you and Cindy will start fighting again. You really should learn to stop being like that, you know.”
“Can’t I call Yuri with me?” he asked.
“No, cause they need more hands! More hands meaning cleaning goes faster!” Lily said. She then asked Mimmy to stretch her hands out, and then corrected them to point sideways, instead of up.
“Then why can’t Bobby stay back?”
“Lily!” Bobby called, causing her to stop buckling Mimmy’s overalls. He then ran in to the room, and was wearing only one large-sized shoe. “I can’t find my hat! Have you seen it?”
“Did you check the sleeve?”
The mole nodded and then ran right back down, the shoe plopping at each step.
“Also, you got the wrong shoe!” Lily exclaimed. As she finished Mimmy’s clothes, they could hear Bobby yell “I found it!” downstairs.
“Almost ready then,” Lily said, sharing her smile with Mimmy. “Now all that’s left…is you, Brian!”
The young wolf pouted.
“I don’t wanna go to Miss Elefantus! Her house smells weird, and she gets really weird whenever Mimmy is there.”
“Hmm, that’s true…” Lily realized. She thought that maybe they can ask Mimmy to hide while they talk to her.
“I’m gonna stay here,” Brian said, huffing resolutely.
“No you won’t,” Lily replied back at his resolution, and lunged at his feet.
The young wolf did not understood what happened, until his got face first into a nearby bed, and Lily ordered Mimmy to get her his socks. Before he knew, she put both of them on properly.
“No fair!” Brian complained, but then a sweater was thrown into his face.
“This one is for you! And I found Mimmy’s,” Lily stated, before running off. She brought a small stool they use for the lamp, and reached onto the top shelf.
Brian in the meantime was grumbling and saying it was unfair.
“C’mon, Miss Elefantus might leave first! If we don’t hurry up, then it will be all for nothing!” Lily told him.
Brian sighed, and proceeded to put on his “stupid”, as he dubbed it, sweater. Lilly nodded approvingly, while he just went past without a care.
“Are you ready Mimmy, for adventure?” she asked the young mouse, whose head was still stuck on one of the sleeves. Helping her, Lily took her hand, and then said, “Onward to adventure!”
…
“Let’s do this,” said Tom. “Onward to a-“
“There’s something on your face,” mentioned Chester.
“Wha-“
“Time to go!” exclaimed Mr. Mouton, increasing his pace exponentially.
“Right away sir!” Tom said, and ran right after, with Chester following.
The cat’s face was still littered with drawings made by Chester earlier, and the hedgehog, carefully and responsibly thinking on it, finally decided, to just say nothing. Mr. Mouton then told them to go to their workshop, and that he will get his car to their nearest exit.
“Sure thing!” Tom exclaimed and led himself and Chester into a turn.
With the keys still on his person, Tom swiftly unlocked the door, and made his way straight to the table he worked on. There was his battle-bot, its black sheen illuminated by the single lamp, used to dry the paintjob. Its design was very simple for a bit, and Tom liked this about it. Four standard wheels, which were protected, a box shape of the body, and of course, one long arm that held what looked liked a shield. Apparently, this arm was what Tom focused on the most, working day and night to make it as maneuverable as possible. Considering he was betting on using the power of the crystals on the shield, he had to. Both him and Chester saw firsthand what tiny few fragments could do. Hit it with hammer once, not even a scratch. Tap it lightly, and suddenly their Mr. Woodsman needed a new desk for the class.
“Okay, the paint is good, the batteries are here, the crystals aren’t loose,” mumbled Tom, giving the bot a rapid inspection. He seemed anxious, not helping the fact that he slept until they had to go. And then the car honked right outside of the room. “Grab the back, Chester!” Tom exclaimed, putting away the remote into his backpack.
Chester picked the car by the tires, and soon they were carrying it out. It was pretty heavy, despite its small size, and Tom panted quite a bit. To be fair, he was also wearing his backpack and bags with things needed for the fight. And yet, Tom still had time to tell Chester how to maneuver through the desks.
They exited through the door leading outside, and Mouton’s car was right by them. Carefully leaving it inside the trunk, two boys ran around into their seats, and the car then set off.
“Hope you boys had enough time to prepare yourselves! From this point on, everything lies on your young shoulders!” Mr. Mouton said, keeping a steady pace to his driving.
“We are ready, very much, sir,” retorted Tom, from the backseat. “We’ll do our best not to let you down, sir!”
“You know, you can sit next to me, Mister Cheshire, if you want to,” Mr. Mouton said, in a very pleasant tone. “It’s easier to see the road, and we haven’t yet made it towards the main road, so I can make a quick for you to let you switch. What do you say?”
“No thanks, thank you very much sir! I feel like sitting in the back. Thank you very much, sir!” Tom spat out in rapid-fire.
The crow shrugged his shoulders and grunted, coming across as disappointed, which Chester picked up.
“Man, he’s really friendly, isn’t he?” Chester whispered to the side of him. He then turned to Tom, only to see that the cat was busy organizing his bags in his seat. So, Chester blurted out, “You forgot to say ‘Thank you, sir’ to him, by the way.”
“I DID!?”
“Calm down!” Chester put his hands on the cat, who was ready to jump out of his seat. Pushing him down, he said, “Geez, aren’t you jumpy.”
“Sorry.” Tom rubbed his fuzzy face. “I’m still a bit groggy, I think. Oh man, I’m so nervous, you won’t believe it. I gotta take a bathroom break, but I’m too anxious to ask…”
The cat went on to continuously mumble to himself, which Chester went on to ignore. Sitting for few minutes on the road, Chester couldn’t really focus on anything. So with nothing to do, and the uncomfortable lack of nothing going on for him, he opted to ask some questions.
“Just to be clear, we just go in, win the thing, and then compete against other institutes or something?” he asked loudly, waiting for either of the two to answer.
“Huh?” Tom turned to him. Then he began to answer automatically, “Oh no, this is preliminary. Our job is to show that we can compete in the main tournament that will be hosted by ARKYO Institute. As long as we do well,” Tom took a deep inhale, “we can enter the tournament.”
“Really?” Chester said, and raised a brow.
“Yes…That’s right, isn’t it, Mister Mouton?” Tom looked up to their vice-principal.
His eyes were still on the road, but the tone was still pleasant, “Just call me Jacques, Mister Cheshire. I am representative of our school, and your vice-principal as well, but outside, you can call me Jacques! And considering that we are…” The older crow gave a wide smile into his rear-view mirror, “outside, you know?” He chuckled.
Tom chuckled too, stiltedly. “Okay! Thank you very much! But, um, can I still call you Mr. Mouton?”
The crow’s smile faded, and after shrugging said, “Sure thing. But you are right, Mister Cheshire, that this is for letting you to compete. This is, mind you, the very first time that our school ever participated in something this big and quite media grab-worthy. Lots of cameras to surround us with, just to see us make a big show to be televised later on. Can you believe it, you are going to be on TV! Exciting, no?”
He looked again into the rear-view mirror and chuckled, to which the cat responded in his stilted kind, again. Chester was resting his head lazily on hand on the side, though Mouton didn’t give him a chance to look back.
“Admittedly, we were never that far, and could’ve participated there at any point. So, you will get to fight against one of several veteran players, and they will grade your skill and bot. It’s just a formality, so there’s no need to see if you should win. But, if you do get to win,” looked at them again, “you might even get extra money on your trip! Great, isn’t it? Not that you need to, since the school will personally pay off all expenses.” The crow gave another one of his chuckles.
“That so, huh…” Tom said and looked down. His hands were on the bag itself, fiddling a bit, as he went into a deep thought. Chester, meanwhile, decided to personally enter the conversation.
“But why does the school care about competing in this thing, Jack?” said Chester. The older bird grumbled, but let it slide. Chester noticed that however, and once the adult took a bit too long to answer, continued by saying, “Why so suddenly care about this pointless ‘battle-bot tournament’? Why spend time and money on some nerd game with robots? No offense.”
“None taken,” Tom replied.
Mr. Mouton sighed, his gaze still out into the road. “Because we would appreciate some money back, Chester,” he said. “It is unfortunate that we are losing some right now,” he added, heavily.
“Really, sir!?” Tom asked, genuinely. He had apparently not known it much, but it was true, the school had apparently been losing money. Flora told that to Chester, and he figured that’s probably because a lot of kids were leaving.
“Yes, really…way more than we anticipated.” The crow-man was gazing into the distance, to somewhere far away from the town. He then switched to his pleasant tone, and said, “You don’t have to worry about it that much, Mister Cheshire…and Chester. Simply focus on what you are both here for. And that is to win! We are all rooting for you!”
Tom nodded. “Thank you very much, Mr. Mouton, sir!” he said, “I hope I won’t let you down.”
“Me too…” Mr. Mouton replied.
Chester didn’t say anything himself, but he was ignored. In the end, things were turning in a different direction. If only he could see things better.
…
“Well, you are looking way, WAY better than before. And I think everyone agrees!” Flora stated proudly.
The two were in the bathroom, and Varvara was presenting herself in the mirror. She was spinning and twirling, very much enjoying the view of herself like she never did before. Usually, she would have something on her, something really neat or cute looking, like a bug themed accessory or fruit-themed dress. She really enjoyed experimentation, and it ended up giving her some of the most memorable looks she had. But this was no different than seeing a fully-grown butterfly spreading its wings and being ready to fly. She was in awe over how her image looked, something completely beyond her wildest imaginations. Who that people could literally transform, as long as you dress differently? And you don’t need some magical spirit to do this! She was very content with the results…
Then Varvara finally took a look at her face. Like the rest it was unrecognizable. She never knew you could do so much with make-up, but it was as if she was a different person, altogether. It was like a dream.
“You okay?” Flora asked, getting closer to inspect her friend.
“Huh?” Barbie looked at her absent-mindedly, noticing some concern from up-close. Then she said, “Oh yes, yes, very much so. I’m really fine. So what do we do now?”
“Well...” Flora slowly moved away, while still keeping an eye on her, “nothing really.”
“Oh?” Barbie looked at the mirror, but felt a bit disappointed. Then she said, “Maybe you could teach me how to talk like you?”
“Like me?” Flora took a moment to look up, bit her lip, and then said, “Look you…I really appreciate how much time you take to learn to be like me. I’m surprised how quickly we picked up! You really do look good! But, what about your father? You said he finally managed to be free and come over today, don’t you wanna spend more time at home and help your mom prepare a meal or something? Maybe work on that speech about…you know, the thingie?”
“Oh…um…” Barbie looked away, first to the side, and then to the mirror. She kept looking at herself, it seemed, and judging it.
Flora watched her intently, seeing that she was unhappy, but couldn’t tell what. Did she hate the change? Did she expect more? Was something making her feel sick all of a sudden, and she needed more time in the bathroom.
Flora thought on it, and then decided to ask first, “So…wanna practice some tricks on speaking with me?”
“Let’s do that!” Barbie exclaimed energetically, finally returning to reality.
Flora bit her lip. There was something that bothered her through all of this.
“Alright,” she said, “but remember, you might not like the end results.”
“Oh I think I can handle them.”
“Suit yourself!” Flora said, shrugging. “By the way, could you give me a sec?”
“Sure!”
Flora then went on to one of the stalls. As she did, she noticed something in the corner of her eye. While Barbie was in front of the mirror, she kept biting her lip, for one reason or another.
What are you doing? She thought. She decided not to ask, thinking she was trying to look more like one of those models. What a weird thing.
…
Watching 6 animes simultaneously is nowhere near fun as you might think
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
…
The orphan kids were moving along with their plan swimmingly. While Tam, Charlotte, Jenny and Thaddeus were in the kitchen, Lily, Bobby, Brian and Mimmy had gone upstairs for their clothes. The rest had taken the task of cleaning the house.
“Why do I have to go?” Brian moped, barely halfway on putting his sock. He was in the bedroom closet, “searching” for Mimmy’s sweater.
Lily explained evenly, “That’s because you and Cindy will start fighting again. You really should learn to stop being like that, you know.”
“Can’t I call Yuri with me?” he asked.
“No, cause they need more hands! More hands meaning cleaning goes faster!” Lily said. She then asked Mimmy to stretch her hands out, and then corrected them to point sideways, instead of up.
“Then why can’t Bobby stay back?”
“Lily!” Bobby called, causing her to stop buckling Mimmy’s overalls. He then ran in to the room, and was wearing only one large-sized shoe. “I can’t find my hat! Have you seen it?”
“Did you check the sleeve?”
The mole nodded and then ran right back down, the shoe plopping at each step.
“Also, you got the wrong shoe!” Lily exclaimed. As she finished Mimmy’s clothes, they could hear Bobby yell “I found it!” downstairs.
“Almost ready then,” Lily said, sharing her smile with Mimmy. “Now all that’s left…is you, Brian!”
The young wolf pouted.
“I don’t wanna go to Miss Elefantus! Her house smells weird, and she gets really weird whenever Mimmy is there.”
“Hmm, that’s true…” Lily realized. She thought that maybe they can ask Mimmy to hide while they talk to her.
“I’m gonna stay here,” Brian said, huffing resolutely.
“No you won’t,” Lily replied back at his resolution, and lunged at his feet.
The young wolf did not understood what happened, until his got face first into a nearby bed, and Lily ordered Mimmy to get her his socks. Before he knew, she put both of them on properly.
“No fair!” Brian complained, but then a sweater was thrown into his face.
“This one is for you! And I found Mimmy’s,” Lily stated, before running off. She brought a small stool they use for the lamp, and reached onto the top shelf.
Brian in the meantime was grumbling and saying it was unfair.
“C’mon, Miss Elefantus might leave first! If we don’t hurry up, then it will be all for nothing!” Lily told him.
Brian sighed, and proceeded to put on his “stupid”, as he dubbed it, sweater. Lilly nodded approvingly, while he just went past without a care.
“Are you ready Mimmy, for adventure?” she asked the young mouse, whose head was still stuck on one of the sleeves. Helping her, Lily took her hand, and then said, “Onward to adventure!”
…
“Let’s do this,” said Tom. “Onward to a-“
“There’s something on your face,” mentioned Chester.
“Wha-“
“Time to go!” exclaimed Mr. Mouton, increasing his pace exponentially.
“Right away sir!” Tom said, and ran right after, with Chester following.
The cat’s face was still littered with drawings made by Chester earlier, and the hedgehog, carefully and responsibly thinking on it, finally decided, to just say nothing. Mr. Mouton then told them to go to their workshop, and that he will get his car to their nearest exit.
“Sure thing!” Tom exclaimed and led himself and Chester into a turn.
With the keys still on his person, Tom swiftly unlocked the door, and made his way straight to the table he worked on. There was his battle-bot, its black sheen illuminated by the single lamp, used to dry the paintjob. Its design was very simple for a bit, and Tom liked this about it. Four standard wheels, which were protected, a box shape of the body, and of course, one long arm that held what looked liked a shield. Apparently, this arm was what Tom focused on the most, working day and night to make it as maneuverable as possible. Considering he was betting on using the power of the crystals on the shield, he had to. Both him and Chester saw firsthand what tiny few fragments could do. Hit it with hammer once, not even a scratch. Tap it lightly, and suddenly their Mr. Woodsman needed a new desk for the class.
“Okay, the paint is good, the batteries are here, the crystals aren’t loose,” mumbled Tom, giving the bot a rapid inspection. He seemed anxious, not helping the fact that he slept until they had to go. And then the car honked right outside of the room. “Grab the back, Chester!” Tom exclaimed, putting away the remote into his backpack.
Chester picked the car by the tires, and soon they were carrying it out. It was pretty heavy, despite its small size, and Tom panted quite a bit. To be fair, he was also wearing his backpack and bags with things needed for the fight. And yet, Tom still had time to tell Chester how to maneuver through the desks.
They exited through the door leading outside, and Mouton’s car was right by them. Carefully leaving it inside the trunk, two boys ran around into their seats, and the car then set off.
“Hope you boys had enough time to prepare yourselves! From this point on, everything lies on your young shoulders!” Mr. Mouton said, keeping a steady pace to his driving.
“We are ready, very much, sir,” retorted Tom, from the backseat. “We’ll do our best not to let you down, sir!”
“You know, you can sit next to me, Mister Cheshire, if you want to,” Mr. Mouton said, in a very pleasant tone. “It’s easier to see the road, and we haven’t yet made it towards the main road, so I can make a quick for you to let you switch. What do you say?”
“No thanks, thank you very much sir! I feel like sitting in the back. Thank you very much, sir!” Tom spat out in rapid-fire.
The crow shrugged his shoulders and grunted, coming across as disappointed, which Chester picked up.
“Man, he’s really friendly, isn’t he?” Chester whispered to the side of him. He then turned to Tom, only to see that the cat was busy organizing his bags in his seat. So, Chester blurted out, “You forgot to say ‘Thank you, sir’ to him, by the way.”
“I DID!?”
“Calm down!” Chester put his hands on the cat, who was ready to jump out of his seat. Pushing him down, he said, “Geez, aren’t you jumpy.”
“Sorry.” Tom rubbed his fuzzy face. “I’m still a bit groggy, I think. Oh man, I’m so nervous, you won’t believe it. I gotta take a bathroom break, but I’m too anxious to ask…”
The cat went on to continuously mumble to himself, which Chester went on to ignore. Sitting for few minutes on the road, Chester couldn’t really focus on anything. So with nothing to do, and the uncomfortable lack of nothing going on for him, he opted to ask some questions.
“Just to be clear, we just go in, win the thing, and then compete against other institutes or something?” he asked loudly, waiting for either of the two to answer.
“Huh?” Tom turned to him. Then he began to answer automatically, “Oh no, this is preliminary. Our job is to show that we can compete in the main tournament that will be hosted by ARKYO Institute. As long as we do well,” Tom took a deep inhale, “we can enter the tournament.”
“Really?” Chester said, and raised a brow.
“Yes…That’s right, isn’t it, Mister Mouton?” Tom looked up to their vice-principal.
His eyes were still on the road, but the tone was still pleasant, “Just call me Jacques, Mister Cheshire. I am representative of our school, and your vice-principal as well, but outside, you can call me Jacques! And considering that we are…” The older crow gave a wide smile into his rear-view mirror, “outside, you know?” He chuckled.
Tom chuckled too, stiltedly. “Okay! Thank you very much! But, um, can I still call you Mr. Mouton?”
The crow’s smile faded, and after shrugging said, “Sure thing. But you are right, Mister Cheshire, that this is for letting you to compete. This is, mind you, the very first time that our school ever participated in something this big and quite media grab-worthy. Lots of cameras to surround us with, just to see us make a big show to be televised later on. Can you believe it, you are going to be on TV! Exciting, no?”
He looked again into the rear-view mirror and chuckled, to which the cat responded in his stilted kind, again. Chester was resting his head lazily on hand on the side, though Mouton didn’t give him a chance to look back.
“Admittedly, we were never that far, and could’ve participated there at any point. So, you will get to fight against one of several veteran players, and they will grade your skill and bot. It’s just a formality, so there’s no need to see if you should win. But, if you do get to win,” looked at them again, “you might even get extra money on your trip! Great, isn’t it? Not that you need to, since the school will personally pay off all expenses.” The crow gave another one of his chuckles.
“That so, huh…” Tom said and looked down. His hands were on the bag itself, fiddling a bit, as he went into a deep thought. Chester, meanwhile, decided to personally enter the conversation.
“But why does the school care about competing in this thing, Jack?” said Chester. The older bird grumbled, but let it slide. Chester noticed that however, and once the adult took a bit too long to answer, continued by saying, “Why so suddenly care about this pointless ‘battle-bot tournament’? Why spend time and money on some nerd game with robots? No offense.”
“None taken,” Tom replied.
Mr. Mouton sighed, his gaze still out into the road. “Because we would appreciate some money back, Chester,” he said. “It is unfortunate that we are losing some right now,” he added, heavily.
“Really, sir!?” Tom asked, genuinely. He had apparently not known it much, but it was true, the school had apparently been losing money. Flora told that to Chester, and he figured that’s probably because a lot of kids were leaving.
“Yes, really…way more than we anticipated.” The crow-man was gazing into the distance, to somewhere far away from the town. He then switched to his pleasant tone, and said, “You don’t have to worry about it that much, Mister Cheshire…and Chester. Simply focus on what you are both here for. And that is to win! We are all rooting for you!”
Tom nodded. “Thank you very much, Mr. Mouton, sir!” he said, “I hope I won’t let you down.”
“Me too…” Mr. Mouton replied.
Chester didn’t say anything himself, but he was ignored. In the end, things were turning in a different direction. If only he could see things better.
…
“Well, you are looking way, WAY better than before. And I think everyone agrees!” Flora stated proudly.
The two were in the bathroom, and Varvara was presenting herself in the mirror. She was spinning and twirling, very much enjoying the view of herself like she never did before. Usually, she would have something on her, something really neat or cute looking, like a bug themed accessory or fruit-themed dress. She really enjoyed experimentation, and it ended up giving her some of the most memorable looks she had. But this was no different than seeing a fully-grown butterfly spreading its wings and being ready to fly. She was in awe over how her image looked, something completely beyond her wildest imaginations. Who that people could literally transform, as long as you dress differently? And you don’t need some magical spirit to do this! She was very content with the results…
Then Varvara finally took a look at her face. Like the rest it was unrecognizable. She never knew you could do so much with make-up, but it was as if she was a different person, altogether. It was like a dream.
“You okay?” Flora asked, getting closer to inspect her friend.
“Huh?” Barbie looked at her absent-mindedly, noticing some concern from up-close. Then she said, “Oh yes, yes, very much so. I’m really fine. So what do we do now?”
“Well...” Flora slowly moved away, while still keeping an eye on her, “nothing really.”
“Oh?” Barbie looked at the mirror, but felt a bit disappointed. Then she said, “Maybe you could teach me how to talk like you?”
“Like me?” Flora took a moment to look up, bit her lip, and then said, “Look you…I really appreciate how much time you take to learn to be like me. I’m surprised how quickly we picked up! You really do look good! But, what about your father? You said he finally managed to be free and come over today, don’t you wanna spend more time at home and help your mom prepare a meal or something? Maybe work on that speech about…you know, the thingie?”
“Oh…um…” Barbie looked away, first to the side, and then to the mirror. She kept looking at herself, it seemed, and judging it.
Flora watched her intently, seeing that she was unhappy, but couldn’t tell what. Did she hate the change? Did she expect more? Was something making her feel sick all of a sudden, and she needed more time in the bathroom.
Flora thought on it, and then decided to ask first, “So…wanna practice some tricks on speaking with me?”
“Let’s do that!” Barbie exclaimed energetically, finally returning to reality.
Flora bit her lip. There was something that bothered her through all of this.
“Alright,” she said, “but remember, you might not like the end results.”
“Oh I think I can handle them.”
“Suit yourself!” Flora said, shrugging. “By the way, could you give me a sec?”
“Sure!”
Flora then went on to one of the stalls. As she did, she noticed something in the corner of her eye. While Barbie was in front of the mirror, she kept biting her lip, for one reason or another.
What are you doing? She thought. She decided not to ask, thinking she was trying to look more like one of those models. What a weird thing.
…
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
…
The orphan kids were moving along with their plan swimmingly. While Tam, Charlotte, Jenny and Thaddeus were in the kitchen, Lily, Bobby, Brian and Mimmy had gone upstairs for their clothes. The rest had taken the task of cleaning the house.
“Why do I have to go?” Brian moped, barely halfway on putting his sock. He was in the bedroom closet, “searching” for Mimmy’s sweater.
Lily explained evenly, “That’s because you and Cindy will start fighting again. You really should learn to stop being like that, you know.”
“Can’t I call Yuri with me?” he asked.
“No, cause they need more hands! More hands meaning cleaning goes faster!” Lily said. She then asked Mimmy to stretch her hands out, and then corrected them to point sideways, instead of up.
“Then why can’t Bobby stay back?”
“Lily!” Bobby called, causing her to stop buckling Mimmy’s overalls. He then ran in to the room, and was wearing only one large-sized shoe. “I can’t find my hat! Have you seen it?”
“Did you check the sleeve?”
The mole nodded and then ran right back down, the shoe plopping at each step.
“Also, you got the wrong shoe!” Lily exclaimed. As she finished Mimmy’s clothes, they could hear Bobby yell “I found it!” downstairs.
“Almost ready then,” Lily said, sharing her smile with Mimmy. “Now all that’s left…is you, Brian!”
The young wolf pouted.
“I don’t wanna go to Miss Elefantus! Her house smells weird, and she gets really weird whenever Mimmy is there.”
“Hmm, that’s true…” Lily realized. She thought that maybe they can ask Mimmy to hide while they talk to her.
“I’m gonna stay here,” Brian said, huffing resolutely.
“No you won’t,” Lily replied back at his resolution, and lunged at his feet.
The young wolf did not understood what happened, until his got face first into a nearby bed, and Lily ordered Mimmy to get her his socks. Before he knew, she put both of them on properly.
“No fair!” Brian complained, but then a sweater was thrown into his face.
“This one is for you! And I found Mimmy’s,” Lily stated, before running off. She brought a small stool they use for the lamp, and reached onto the top shelf.
Brian in the meantime was grumbling and saying it was unfair.
“C’mon, Miss Elefantus might leave first! If we don’t hurry up, then it will be all for nothing!” Lily told him.
Brian sighed, and proceeded to put on his “stupid”, as he dubbed it, sweater. Lilly nodded approvingly, while he just went past without a care.
“Are you ready Mimmy, for adventure?” she asked the young mouse, whose head was still stuck on one of the sleeves. Helping her, Lily took her hand, and then said, “Onward to adventure!”
…
“Let’s do this,” said Tom. “Onward to a-“
“There’s something on your face,” mentioned Chester.
“Wha-“
“Time to go!” exclaimed Mr. Mouton, increasing his pace exponentially.
“Right away sir!” Tom said, and ran right after, with Chester following.
The cat’s face was still littered with drawings made by Chester earlier, and the hedgehog, carefully and responsibly thinking on it, finally decided, to just say nothing. Mr. Mouton then told them to go to their workshop, and that he will get his car to their nearest exit.
“Sure thing!” Tom exclaimed and led himself and Chester into a turn.
With the keys still on his person, Tom swiftly unlocked the door, and made his way straight to the table he worked on. There was his battle-bot, its black sheen illuminated by the single lamp, used to dry the paintjob. Its design was very simple for a bit, and Tom liked this about it. Four standard wheels, which were protected, a box shape of the body, and of course, one long arm that held what looked liked a shield. Apparently, this arm was what Tom focused on the most, working day and night to make it as maneuverable as possible. Considering he was betting on using the power of the crystals on the shield, he had to. Both him and Chester saw firsthand what tiny few fragments could do. Hit it with hammer once, not even a scratch. Tap it lightly, and suddenly their Mr. Woodsman needed a new desk for the class.
“Okay, the paint is good, the batteries are here, the crystals aren’t loose,” mumbled Tom, giving the bot a rapid inspection. He seemed anxious, not helping the fact that he slept until they had to go. And then the car honked right outside of the room. “Grab the back, Chester!” Tom exclaimed, putting away the remote into his backpack.
Chester picked the car by the tires, and soon they were carrying it out. It was pretty heavy, despite its small size, and Tom panted quite a bit. To be fair, he was also wearing his backpack and bags with things needed for the fight. And yet, Tom still had time to tell Chester how to maneuver through the desks.
They exited through the door leading outside, and Mouton’s car was right by them. Carefully leaving it inside the trunk, two boys ran around into their seats, and the car then set off.
“Hope you boys had enough time to prepare yourselves! From this point on, everything lies on your young shoulders!” Mr. Mouton said, keeping a steady pace to his driving.
“We are ready, very much, sir,” retorted Tom, from the backseat. “We’ll do our best not to let you down, sir!”
“You know, you can sit next to me, Mister Cheshire, if you want to,” Mr. Mouton said, in a very pleasant tone. “It’s easier to see the road, and we haven’t yet made it towards the main road, so I can make a quick for you to let you switch. What do you say?”
“No thanks, thank you very much sir! I feel like sitting in the back. Thank you very much, sir!” Tom spat out in rapid-fire.
The crow shrugged his shoulders and grunted, coming across as disappointed, which Chester picked up.
“Man, he’s really friendly, isn’t he?” Chester whispered to the side of him. He then turned to Tom, only to see that the cat was busy organizing his bags in his seat. So, Chester blurted out, “You forgot to say ‘Thank you, sir’ to him, by the way.”
“I DID!?”
“Calm down!” Chester put his hands on the cat, who was ready to jump out of his seat. Pushing him down, he said, “Geez, aren’t you jumpy.”
“Sorry.” Tom rubbed his fuzzy face. “I’m still a bit groggy, I think. Oh man, I’m so nervous, you won’t believe it. I gotta take a bathroom break, but I’m too anxious to ask…”
The cat went on to continuously mumble to himself, which Chester went on to ignore. Sitting for few minutes on the road, Chester couldn’t really focus on anything. So with nothing to do, and the uncomfortable lack of nothing going on for him, he opted to ask some questions.
“Just to be clear, we just go in, win the thing, and then compete against other institutes or something?” he asked loudly, waiting for either of the two to answer.
“Huh?” Tom turned to him. Then he began to answer automatically, “Oh no, this is preliminary. Our job is to show that we can compete in the main tournament that will be hosted by ARKYO Institute. As long as we do well,” Tom took a deep inhale, “we can enter the tournament.”
“Really?” Chester said, and raised a brow.
“Yes…That’s right, isn’t it, Mister Mouton?” Tom looked up to their vice-principal.
His eyes were still on the road, but the tone was still pleasant, “Just call me Jacques, Mister Cheshire. I am representative of our school, and your vice-principal as well, but outside, you can call me Jacques! And considering that we are…” The older crow gave a wide smile into his rear-view mirror, “outside, you know?” He chuckled.
Tom chuckled too, stiltedly. “Okay! Thank you very much! But, um, can I still call you Mr. Mouton?”
The crow’s smile faded, and after shrugging said, “Sure thing. But you are right, Mister Cheshire, that this is for letting you to compete. This is, mind you, the very first time that our school ever participated in something this big and quite media grab-worthy. Lots of cameras to surround us with, just to see us make a big show to be televised later on. Can you believe it, you are going to be on TV! Exciting, no?”
He looked again into the rear-view mirror and chuckled, to which the cat responded in his stilted kind, again. Chester was resting his head lazily on hand on the side, though Mouton didn’t give him a chance to look back.
“Admittedly, we were never that far, and could’ve participated there at any point. So, you will get to fight against one of several veteran players, and they will grade your skill and bot. It’s just a formality, so there’s no need to see if you should win. But, if you do get to win,” looked at them again, “you might even get extra money on your trip! Great, isn’t it? Not that you need to, since the school will personally pay off all expenses.” The crow gave another one of his chuckles.
“That so, huh…” Tom said and looked down. His hands were on the bag itself, fiddling a bit, as he went into a deep thought. Chester, meanwhile, decided to personally enter the conversation.
“But why does the school care about competing in this thing, Jack?” said Chester. The older bird grumbled, but let it slide. Chester noticed that however, and once the adult took a bit too long to answer, continued by saying, “Why so suddenly care about this pointless ‘battle-bot tournament’? Why spend time and money on some nerd game with robots? No offense.”
“None taken,” Tom replied.
Mr. Mouton sighed, his gaze still out into the road. “Because we would appreciate some money back, Chester,” he said. “It is unfortunate that we are losing some right now,” he added, heavily.
“Really, sir!?” Tom asked, genuinely. He had apparently not known it much, but it was true, the school had apparently been losing money. Flora told that to Chester, and he figured that’s probably because a lot of kids were leaving.
“Yes, really…way more than we anticipated.” The crow-man was gazing into the distance, to somewhere far away from the town. He then switched to his pleasant tone, and said, “You don’t have to worry about it that much, Mister Cheshire…and Chester. Simply focus on what you are both here for. And that is to win! We are all rooting for you!”
Tom nodded. “Thank you very much, Mr. Mouton, sir!” he said, “I hope I won’t let you down.”
“Me too…” Mr. Mouton replied.
Chester didn’t say anything himself, but he was ignored. In the end, things were turning in a different direction. If only he could see things better.
…
“Well, you are looking way, WAY better than before. And I think everyone agrees!” Flora stated proudly.
The two were in the bathroom, and Varvara was presenting herself in the mirror. She was spinning and twirling, very much enjoying the view of herself like she never did before. Usually, she would have something on her, something really neat or cute looking, like a bug themed accessory or fruit-themed dress. She really enjoyed experimentation, and it ended up giving her some of the most memorable looks she had. But this was no different than seeing a fully-grown butterfly spreading its wings and being ready to fly. She was in awe over how her image looked, something completely beyond her wildest imaginations. Who that people could literally transform, as long as you dress differently? And you don’t need some magical spirit to do this! She was very content with the results…
Then Varvara finally took a look at her face. Like the rest it was unrecognizable. She never knew you could do so much with make-up, but it was as if she was a different person, altogether. It was like a dream.
“You okay?” Flora asked, getting closer to inspect her friend.
“Huh?” Barbie looked at her absent-mindedly, noticing some concern from up-close. Then she said, “Oh yes, yes, very much so. I’m really fine. So what do we do now?”
“Well...” Flora slowly moved away, while still keeping an eye on her, “nothing really.”
“Oh?” Barbie looked at the mirror, but felt a bit disappointed. Then she said, “Maybe you could teach me how to talk like you?”
“Like me?” Flora took a moment to look up, bit her lip, and then said, “Look you…I really appreciate how much time you take to learn to be like me. I’m surprised how quickly we picked up! You really do look good! But, what about your father? You said he finally managed to be free and come over today, don’t you wanna spend more time at home and help your mom prepare a meal or something? Maybe work on that speech about…you know, the thingie?”
“Oh…um…” Barbie looked away, first to the side, and then to the mirror. She kept looking at herself, it seemed, and judging it.
Flora watched her intently, seeing that she was unhappy, but couldn’t tell what. Did she hate the change? Did she expect more? Was something making her feel sick all of a sudden, and she needed more time in the bathroom.
Flora thought on it, and then decided to ask first, “So…wanna practice some tricks on speaking with me?”
“Let’s do that!” Barbie exclaimed energetically, finally returning to reality.
Flora bit her lip. There was something that bothered her through all of this.
“Alright,” she said, “but remember, you might not like the end results.”
“Oh I think I can handle them.”
“Suit yourself!” Flora said, shrugging. “By the way, could you give me a sec?”
“Sure!”
Flora then went on to one of the stalls. As she did, she noticed something in the corner of her eye. While Barbie was in front of the mirror, she kept biting her lip, for one reason or another.
What are you doing? She thought. She decided not to ask, thinking she was trying to look more like one of those models. What a weird thing.
…
Category Story / All
Species Unspecified / Any
Gender Any
Size 120 x 120px
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