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necrokittytales · 6 years

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Necrokitty Tales: Trouble in Inkwell Isle (Chapter 12)

Authors’ note: Remember, Necrida’s writing will be in italics and SPKC’s writing with be regular font.If you have no idea what this roleplaying thing is, you can start from the beginning here.

——–

The morning arrived and it was a shiny new day. Mina woke up happily, got dressed and went down stairs. She stopped abruptly to see her mother sleeping on the table next to a bunch of tissues and an almost empty bottle of vodka.

‘She must have cried herself to sleep again’ Mina thought sadly reaching for the bottle quietly and emptying it in the sink, to replace it with salted water. ‘That will teach her’.

She then covered her mother with a blanket, prepared a small breakfast for both of them and packed her lunch. She was starting to get worried about her, she had been drinking more the past few weeks…

She gave her mum a kiss and went on her way to school wondering if Mr Carnation said something to upset her last night.

–

Harvey Hare woke up with a slight groan. He got up, stretched and started to hop toward the kitchen for breakfast. His mother was already setting aside a piece of extra carrot cake from last night for him. Harvey blinked in surprise at the cake for breakfast and his mom chuckled.

“I know we don’t normally have cake for breakfast but I’ve just heard some of the nightingales chirping away about some very interesting gossip that I’ve just GOT to ask about before they fly on over to the second isle.”

Harvey wasn’t complaining. Cake for breakfast was awesome. He sat down and quickly ate up before his mother changed her mind. He paused mid bite. “Isn’t dad coming home tonight?”

“Yes he is. And I’m sure he’ll want to talk to you about yesterday as well, young man!”

Harvey paused. Oh gee, yesterday was a bit rough, wasn’t it? His eyes widened. He wondered what the class would say? Was Mina still alive? Was Spike going to seek revenge? So many questions! He finished his cake and quickly dressed for school before hopping out the door. He wasn’t sure if he was going to catch Mina on the way to school but he’s sure that if she was still alive, they could talk at lunch.

–

When Mina passed near the carnation’s field, she eyed it quickly to see if it was there but she couldn’t spot him. She wanted to thank him again for giving back her journal. Maybe she could get him a gift at the carnival tomorrow.

She wondered on her way to school what do flowers like, do they even eat?

–

Harvey was worried to see he had beaten Mina to school. Oh no! Did that mean her mom killed her after all?!

His classmates were absolutely abuzz with chatter about yesterday’s fight.

“I heard that Cagney tore her into tiny pieces!”

“Nu uh! She bit him and sucked all the nectar out of him cause she’s a bat!”

He spotted Spike and Todd out of the corner of his eye looking a bit subdued. Did their parents find out about this too? He couldn’t help but hope they got in trouble.

Mina got into class the moment the bell rang. She caught her breath and waved at Harvey, taking her seat. She then pulled her journal out of her backpack to show it to him with a smile.

Mrs. White looked upon the class with a very annoyed look. “Children, it has come to my attention that there was a fight yesterday afternoon. Although the fight happened outside of school grounds, I would have imagined your parents have raised you to avoid altercations.”

All students turned their heads to Mina and Harvey.

Mina slid down a bit from her chair as she tried to hide. Todd frowned and gave Harvey a threatening look.

There was some silence in the classroom before a kid blurted out: “Did you suck out Cagney’s nectar with your vampire teeth?”

The whole class erupted in uproar of excited yelling and Mrs. White had to bang on the board several times in an attempt to regain control of the situation.

“Children! Children! Enough!” She shouted irritably, finally resorting to slamming a book on the ground. And even then there were a few murmurs. She clapped her hands together. “I don’t care WHO was involved,” she snapped, “But everyone is going to have to do an extra writing assignment!”

There was a collective groan from all the kids as Mrs. White wrote on the board. “Don’t you “aw” me,” the teacher continued, “Maybe if you violent little thugs behaved once in a while,” she muttered under her breath, “I wouldn’t have parents coming in arguing with me over grades.” She cleared her throat and pointed to the board. “Tomorrow I want a paragraph about what you like about one of your classmates. I don’t want any declarations of love! Just, things that you like that make them a good friend! You got it?”

“Yes, Mrs. White.”

“Good, maybe some positive writing will rub off on you and keep you in line. Now open your books to page 36…”

Todd looked at Mina and Harvey and made a gesture with his thumb sliding across his neck. Mina saw him and showed him her unusual long tongue to mock him.

–

Sullivan finally reached shore after sailing through a horrible storm and fighting a terrifying giant octopus. Amber was still there, shining in her beautiful dress and calling his name with an angelical voice. He started walking towards her, he could smell her, he could almost touch her…!

He woke up by the sound of a clock alarm falling from his chair.

Amber’s ears twitched as she heard Sullivan’s alarm go off. She peeked in from the kitchen at the groggy salamander and brought out a plate of fried fish, letting it clatter loudly in front of his face. “Good morning, Sully!” She beamed, “I made breakfast! I caught it myself!” She declared proudly, flashing some sharp canines at the still half asleep salamander. If he looked close enough at the fish, he could see the two puncture wounds where she had sunk her teeth in and dragged it from the water. “Eat up!”

Sullivan looked at Amber blinking unbelieving. Not only the girl of his dreams was still here, bit she made him breakfast! That she caught herself! This woman was really getting to him… he had to show her how much he wanted to stay with her.

He regained his seat and smile tenderly at Amber “Wow that is a nice catch! Thank you very much, Amber…” He scratched his neck nervously .“Em.. did you sleep well?”.

Amber was pleased that her catch was well received. She was actually beginning to like this dope. She brushed her fur aside. “Oh! Well I took the bed. I felt so bad that you fell asleep here though! I wasn’t quite strong enough to drag you.”

Nor would she have risked waking him up. She eyed the door hopefully. As charming as this was, she really had to get a move on, especially if she was going to double check these shipments and maybe intercept one or two.

“Do you think you could give me a ride back to the mainland? Dog paddling is the worst when you’re a cat.”

‘Im never washing those sheets’ the salamander thought to himself. “Uh, yeah! Of course” he nodded “ And.. um…” he hesitated “Amber… last night… was really fun, and… I was wondering… if… you would like to hang out again sometime? Maybe… go to the carnival or… something”. He stared at his plate.

The carnival, huh? That would certainly be an opportunity. And no one would suspect her if she was walking around with a date. She smiled sweetly. “That sounds like fun. I think it comes in tomorrow if you wanna go?”

“T-that would be great!” Sullivan looked at the woman with a big smile and a red face. He was going on a date with her! He finished his plate and offered to take Amber back with his raft.

–

The lunch bell rang and Mina waited for Harvey so they could go together to the cafeteria, keeping an eye on Todd and Spike.

Harvey hopped over to Mina. “I’m really glad your mom didn’t kill you!” Harvey exclaimed happily. “How did you get your notebook back?” He gasped.

“My mum was very angry when we got back home but she calmed down and ended up talking” Mina smiled and started walking to the cafeteria. “But later, Mr. Carnation came to my home! I thought he wanted to kill me, but he actually wanted to apologize and brought me my journal!” She took her notebook and laid it on the table. “Some pages are ripped but other than that is all here!”

Harvey smiled. “Well, good, your mom didn’t try to kill him, did she? My mom tried to kill him but he apologized to her too. At least I think he did.” He did not, Harvey realized. But he didn’t need to tell his mom that. He’s sure she would already be busy with whatever gossip had seized her last night.

Mina laughed imagining the scene Harvey described. “He did apologized to me, and later my mum wanted to talk to him in private, so maybe then he apologized?” She scratched her chin thinking about what they might have talked about.

He was grateful that his friend did not lose her notebook. It seems pretty important to her. “How long have you had it?” He asked curiously.

“I had this journal for a year now, but I have three. I should think about buying a new one - this one is almost finished.”

“As far as a new notebook goes, maybe we can find one on the second isle when we go to the carnival. Wait, are we still going to the carnival tomorrow?”

“And yeah! Definitely we are going tomorrow!” She said happily. She looked at Harvey, remembering how he tried to help her yesterday. “Harvey.. thank you for yesterday. That was really brave of you.”

Harvey brightened up but then looked sad. “I couldn’t do much,” he admitted with a sigh, “I don’t have claws or teeth or nails. All I got are these big floppy feet.” He scratched his head. “Although my dad said he might teach me a few magic tricks the next time he’s in town. So maybe he can teach me how to make people disappear.”

“Your dad is a magician?” Mina asked intrigued.

Harvey nodded. “Yeah, he works on one of the other isles. He does a couple shows a week. He’s a bit weird but he’s nice. But he’s not here too often so I gotta do something else!” Harvey pointed to his feet.

She looked at his feet. “You know… maybe you just have to learn how to use them, like kangaroos.” She looked through her notebook to show him a drawing of a kangaroo she did long time ago. “They have very big feet and they use them to fight.”

Harvey looked at her book with interest. “A kangaroo? Woah!!! I could do that! Do you know any kangaroos who could teach me?”

Mina thought of it for a few seconds “The only one I known lives on Australia,” she said sadly. “Are there any fighters in here?”

Harvey thought about it. “Well, there’s Ribby and Croaks at the Clip Joint. I know they fight, but we have to find a way to get in to the bar. I think, Goopy Le Grande is also around, but he’s more of a boxer, although now that I think about it, I have seen him try to smash things with a body slam.”

“The only other person I know who does anything with their feet would be Sally stage-play, but she’s an actress and all the way on the third Isle so we probably couldn’t go visit her unless we had a good reason to go that far.”

Harvey tugged one of his ears. “So, what do you wanna do?”

Mina listened attentively. “Wow! That’s a lot of fighters… Hmm.. well I wanted to check out the hole at the observatory. We can go see whoever is the closest. Oh! And after we explored you can borrow my journal and show it to your sister.” She smiled.

Harvey glanced at the time. “We’re almost done with lunch so tell you what, once we get off school, why don’t we try to see the hole first? I don’t know about you, but looking into a hole in the evening sounds pretty scary, so I’d like to do that first. Then we can cross the bridge to meet Goopy and then head down and see if we can get into the Clip Joint. We should probably not try to stay there once the sun goes down. Ribby and Croak are harder to talk to when the sun goes down and they start drinking.”

“After that, we can head to my house and Hannah can look at your journal. Provided she doesn’t make it a quilt first.” He wrinkled his nose at that. “Does that sound good to you?”

Mina nodded “ That sounds good!” She smiled. They spent the rest of the lunch time talking about kangaroos and extraterrestrials and when the bell rang they continued with their classes.

By the time everyone got back from lunch and as class started to end for the day, Mrs. White tapped on the board. “Just a reminder class that you have the extra assignment that’s due tomorrow. Write something nice about one of your classmates.”

Spike snorted. “That’s still the dumbest thing I’ve ever heard.”

“And comments like that will get you detention, young man. See you after class. The rest of you are dismissed.”

Harvey perked up significantly. With Spike in detention, he and Mina didn’t have to worry about getting jumped while walking around the Isle. This was a good day indeed. The two children packed up their stuff and headed for the hole first.

–

Cagney woke up slightly more rested than he had yesterday, albeit a bit sore from having to carry Hilda. He was surprised he was waking up at all to be honest. He for sure thought he would have been burnt to a crisp by a bolt of lightning. Then again, Hilda did like to sleep in so maybe he wouldn’t meet his end until that afternoon.

Oh. Right. Hilda. The woman he swore he’d never see again. Well, shit that wasn’t working out too well, huh? He curled into himself briefly at the memory of her poor body covered in his thorns, lying on the bed. God, he really was a monster, huh? His chest hurt at that yet he couldn’t help but smile humorlessly. Seeing her naked was probably the closest he was ever going to get to her again.

He should have left a note. He could have apologized on the note, but he didn’t. He chickened out. And now, it was too late. Then again…had Hilda really brought a guy to his field just to screw with him? He, uh, wasn’t so sure what to think about that. That couldn’t have been true. There was no way Hilda would have even tolerated his presence much less make an attempt to get him jealous. He wondered briefly where he tossed that caterpillar and whether or not he survived. If he was lucky, he probably broke a couple of his arms. It was the least he deserved for touching Hilda like that. If Cagney hadn’t been there…

His eyes caught glimpse of the sun and he quickly uprooted himself. He was supposed to meet Isabella. Show her around the isle or something. He couldn’t help but admit he felt his petals shiver a bit at her figure. Right, right. Probably should plan on where they should go first and not gawk at the bat.

Cagney approached Isabella’s door and knocked politely. It was awfully quiet, he noticed, perhaps she was still asleep?

Isabella woke up startled by the knock on the door. “M-Mina?” She called softly, a bit disoriented, waving her ears to try to listen.

Cagney remembered that Isabella was blind and wouldn’t answer the door unless she knew who it was. “Hey, it’s me, Cagney Carnation!”

Isabella recognized the flower’s voice and remember he was going to show her around. “Just a minute, darling!” She managed to say sweetly and when she stood up from her chair, she spilled the glass of orange juice Mina had laid for her breakfast all over the table. “La naiba! (Damn it).”

She started to clean up only to put her hand inside a bowl of cereal. She swore again in Romanian and decided she needed some assistance. “Eh… Mr. Carn- I mean Cagney, I need some assistance… Door is open.” She said loud looking for a cloth to clean the mess. This morning started well…

Cagney let himself in and glanced around. Well…the house wasn’t certainly much to look at, that’s for sure. But it did not like Mina’s mother had tried to tidy up the place. Then again, she was a bit visually impaired so there was only so much that could be done. He spotted her cleaning up the table with a cloth and he quickly picked up the bowl of cereal before she could knock that over too.

“Hey, do you need another towel or something?” He asked, setting the cereal aside, away from her hands.

Her home was indeed very sparsely decorated. The wood was turning gray, the furniture was old but still standing, some plants lighted up the place, and on the walls there were Mina’s drawings. Those looked like world maps and observation drawings of bugs and plants with tiny notes like 'careful with the stinger, do not touch bad rash’ or 'likes cookies’.

The only thing it didn’t look old was a big gramophone in copper tones and dark wood. Next to it, a box with some vinyls.

“N-no… its ok,” the bat smiled nervously “I just need to know if I got everything”. She finished cleaning the table and tapped it with her other hand to make sure she didn’t knock down anything else. “Did I spill anything on the floor?”

Cagney checked the floor. “No, looks like you got it all. You’ve got some cereal. Did you want to eat that?”

Judging by the pictures, it looks like this little family traveled a lot. He let out a quiet whistle at the flower pictures. Look at the pistils and stamens on that pretty one! This was almost like plant pornography of which he was fairly certain Mina had no concept of and was just drawing what she saw. And what Cagney didn’t see was a dad in any of these pictures.

Isabella had a light headache settling in. “Oh no, not really hungry… “

He looked at the gramophone. “Hey, you got one of those music doohickey things!” He exclaimed, a slight smile on his face. There hadn’t been any bands recently in the Isles and Cagney was secretly disappointed about it even though he would loudly complain about them. He missed dancing but with everything as crazy as it had been, he hadn’t had the time to steal away and practice.

She laughed “It’s a gramophone. A really good one too,” she said proudly “Do you like music?” she asked while washing her hands.

Cagney was glad she was blind. It made lying a little bit easier. “Every now and then,” he answered, "I kind of just move to the beat.“ He leafed through the vinyl records. "Although I haven’t heard of some of these folks. You do stuff with music or something?”

Isabella turned to him “Everything I got there is 'la crême de la crême’ ” she pronounced in perfect french. “If you want I can let you borrow some” she said walking towards the vinyls careful not to stumble upon the carnation.

She grabbed one and touched the corners were some tiny holes where poked in specific shapes. She went through a couple of them until she took one carefully out of his case and played it with the gramophone. ’Strut Miss Lizzy’ started to play.

“Have you heard this one? It always makes me want to shake it!” She shook her shoulders at the rhythm.“And to answer your question, I’m actually a singer, and a pretty good dancer, or so I'v been told” she chuckled.

Cagney raised an eyebrow at her dancing. This was a tiny bit slow for him but he could get into it very easily. She danced fairly well too. He wondered if part of it was due to her being blind. It was hard to be self conscious of how you danced when you couldn’t see anyone around you.

He had been really shy when he first started dancing as a young flower, even though the teacher had said he had a natural talent for it. He probably wouldn’t have continued if it hadn’t been for Hilda cheering him on at practice.

Hs gritted his teeth at the thought of Hilda. He had really wanted to take her dancing at some point. She didn’t dance too well as far as he knew but he definitely would have enjoyed it, even if they had to go slow.

He realized Isabella had asked him a question. “Oh! Thank you! I uh, don’t have one of those things. I actually don’t really have a house, heh. Just a field and a shed.”

He watched her dance. “A singer too, huh? You sing with a band or something?”

“Living in the open air, getting high… you’re not a junky, you’re a hippie!” Isabella chuckled. The vinyl kept playing more rhythmic jazz but the woman stopped dancing. “I used to be in a band…” she said with a nostalgic air, “But now I’m looking for a new one.” The bat walked towards the stairs.

Cagney bristled at the comment about getting high. “I didn’t intentionally drug myself with dandelions,” he grumbled, but the bat was already walking toward the stairs, leaving him alone in the living room.

He scratched his head. “A new band, huh?” He racked his brain thinking of anyone he knew looking for a singer.

“I’m going to freshen up a bit, make yourself at home! I’ve got some lemonade if you’re thirsty,” the woman said from upstairs. When she reached her room she took a deep breath. The fragrance of the carnation was intoxicating. In a good way. She changed quickly into a very similar outfit only slightly more clearer and got down the stairs with a flap of her wings. “Ok! I’m ready to go!” She posed spreading her wings showing her lovely figure.

Cagney was really glad she was blind. He stared at her in amazement before clearing his throat. How did a woman like this know how to dress like THAT?

“Right, about time, “ he managed.

–

Morning arrived and the sun hit right to her face. She frowned irritated by the extreme source if light and covered herself with a blanket.Her pain seemed to be more bearable, and she felt very comfortable surrounded by familiar pillows and blankets.

A few seconds later, she realized she was in her house, wearing her night gown backwards and her skin was sticky. She tried very hard to remember what happened last night.

“Caaaarl” Hilda started giggling, she remembered that bit. Did Cagney laughed? If she made him laugh it meant there was still hope for their friendship! But she couldn’t remember. Her head hurt, she just laid there on her bed for a while, playing the night in her head.

“Fucking Carl ruined everything. That grabby, piece of shit… good thing Cagney woke up… ” Her plan didn’t really worked as she expected, but then again she didn’t really had a plan. “Oh my god… did I puke in front of Cagney!?” She covered her face with her hands ashamed.

She checked on her stiky skin, what was that? Did Cagney took her home? … and changed her!? Hilda had been soo tired she barely remembered the carnation changing her clothes.

And… took out her thorns? She immediately checked her chest, he took those too… what about her boobs? She had one in a very sensitive area… yeah that one was still there. Its gonna hurt like hell to take that one out. She felt better to see that the giant flower didn’t took advantage of her state.

Then why did she felt disappointed?

Hilda’s head hurted like hell.

'What have you done to us… ’ Sagittarius wispered inside Hilda’s head.

'Shhh, you’re too loud’ Gemini answered even more quietly and nit at all in unison.

“Uuugh shut up all of you!” Hilda moaned. “What am I gonna do now?… that was… pathetic… and he fucking changed me! He saw me pretty much naked!”

'And we weren’t conscious! ’ Gemini regretted.

'Just imagine him, applying the sticky goo very gently’ Gem said with a dreamy tone.

'And spreadding it tenderly through aaall our naked-’

“SHUT UP!” Hilda roughly interrupted Ini, feeling herself warm up to the idea of Cagney caressing her.

'How do you know it was Cagney?’ Taurus said after a while. Hilda’s eyes opened wide.

“Oh.My.God.” all the voices in her head spoke at once. She got out of the bet to take a shower. Suddenly the name Carl wasn’t so funny anymore.

“No! It must have been Cagney…I mean… I think… I remember that fucking idiot flying away at some point… ” It was kinda fuzzy in her mind.

Another constellation started to speak out in her mind. It wasn’t one that spoke often, preferring to hang out in the foreground. But every so often, when Hilda would find herself well, physically attracted to someone, it would start to whisper advice. Seductive advice.

“We should invite him back up here to talk.”

“Oh God… not you… ” she rested her head against the wall remaining under the water.

'We definitely should!“ Gemini regained their coordination with the excitement.

'To talk? Ha!’ Tauros interfered. 'If he wanted to talk he would have stayed.’

Hilda was confused. She really wanted to talk to him, or see him again.

'What are going to do tomorrow?’ Sagittarius asked worried.

Scorpio pushed again. "We should get a real outfit,” it finally pushed, “something that shows that this is serious.”. If Scorpio had their way, Hilda would be wearing all sorts of tight flashy outfits, but that wasn’t the sky witch’s style.

“Oh! We should get that cute tight red dress we saw the other day! That would send a clear message!’ Gemini was definitely on board with this idea.

Hilda rolled her eyes "it’s starting to get crowded in there… ” she checked on the thorn stuck very near her nipple and tried to pull it out.

'Look what he did to us! Remember what he said to us! I can’t believe you’re actually considering becoming friends again’ Taurus wasn’t very thrilled.

“He didn’t really mean it-ouch!” She pulled hard, but the damn thorn wouldn’t come out. “Besides, I overreacted too… I mean… I didn’t even listen to him when he tried to explain… and we were going to pull his eyes out for crying out loud! ”

'After he threatened us! After breaking our dome!’ Taurus was too stubborn and was starting to fill Hilda with anger. A cold jet of water calmed her down instantly and she leapt out of the shower with a very high pitch scream.

Scorpio waited for Hilda to stop screaming before choosing their words carefully. “Show him you’re serious, and you’ll have him on his knees begging for forgiveness.”

Oh! Hilda LOVED that thought. Cagney begging on her feet! That image made gave her goosebumps, or maybe was the cold water. She maliciously smiled and looked herself at the mirror.

Gemini giggled excited.

“Oh! That is a lovely vision alright” Sagittarius sigh. Taurus grumble something shyly, he didn’t wanted to admit that the idea Of having the giant weed on their feet pleased him too.

“How are we gonna do it? How are we gonna make him beg?!” The woman paused “How can I be sure he’s coming tomorrow?”.

“How about a note?” Sagittarius suggested.

“Oh! You can get him a new pot and put the note on it!” Gemini spoke. “That way it’s like a peace offer! You give him his present, you leave an enticing note that will make his roots quiver with excitement” their voice started to reach a high tone “and then we go buy a sexy outfit to knock him down!!!”’

Hilda looked herself at the mirror and lifted an eyebrow. Was she really that interested in Cagney to go through all that? She imagined him on his knees, with watery eyes, pulling at his petals in desperation, begging her to stay with him….

Scorpio was pleased with the exuberance of the constellations and now Hilda and fell quietly, waiting until it could encourage even more passionate plans.

'You better hurry up if you want to buy a new pot’ Saguttarius said worried.

'Can you just glue the old one?’ Taurus groaned.

“Yeah right, so he can keep it as an eternal reminder of the time we almost killed each other over nothing?” Hilda paused “ I don’t think so”. She hurried to her room, got dressed, took some headache pills with her breakfast and make her way to the second Isle levitating on her soft cloud. She headed to Dijimmi’s place, where she bought the first one.

In a few minutes Hilda reached Dijimmi’s pyramid in the second Isle and made her cloud disappear. Dijimmi was organizing his merchandise but stopped when he spotted Hilda.

“Well good morning, Hilda! Did he like the pot?” He showed a big smile.

Hilda cringed “Yeeah… he… he did but uh… I kinda broke it,” she decided to make up a lie than having to explain the mess that night was.

“Seriously?! ” The genie yelled “That was a masterpiece! How-Why-wh… Arg! Did you bring the pieces? I’ll put it back together with a little touch,” he waved his fingers implying the use of his magic to fix it.

Hilda face palmed herself. “I didn’t thought of that… ” she could hear Taurus laugh in the back of his head. She frowned “I threw it away…”.

Dijimmi frown “Well, that was a waste!” He crossed his arms.

“Yeah… ” Hilda felt horrible “I’m here to get a new one”.

“Not sure I want to sell you more.”

The woman rolled her eyes “oh! C'mon! It was an accident, plus, more business for you!”

Dijimmi hesitated but ended up selling her another big pot. This one had some interesting geometrical decorations carved in it. Hilda knew Cagney wasn’t a big fan of fancy stuff but the other pots seemed so normal, she really wanted this one to be special.

Dijimmi packed it up carefully and gave it to Hilda warning her to be careful and not to throw it away if it breaks.

“Don’t worry! I’ll take care of it like I take care of my stars!” Hilda turned into her zeppelin form, grabbed roughly the pot, and blasted away towards her home.

Dijimmi had the feeling he would see her again soon.

The zeppelin reached her home quickly and turned back into her human self. She didn’t had anymore wrapping paper so she just decorated the pot with a bow. She grabbed a piece of paper and a pen and stared at it for a while.

“… What do I write?” She asked herself.

Gemini started talking 'Love of my life, meet me tomrrow-’

'Oh! Come on! We are not dating yet… ’ Sagittarius said. 'We should go for something like… eh… dear friend.. eh..’

'He is NOT our friend…’ Tauros growled.

Hilda sighed and tried to concentrate.

Scorpio decided to speak up again. “Eager to continue what we started two nights ago. See you tomorrow. Don’t keep me waiting.”

Scorpio’s soft voice made Hilda shiver. This celestial entity had a way to say a lot with a few words. She liked that. Tauros thought she meant they were going to keep fighting and got as excited as the rest of them.

She finished writing the note with a malicious grin and stuck it on the pot. Now she had to be careful to bring it back to his field without that giant weed seeing her.

Hilda cast a cloud big enough to hide her and flew towards Cagney’s field with the pot safely between her arms.

She slowly descended to the carnation’s tree and realized he wasn't there. 'Perfect! He must be working in the field with the Root Pack or something,’ she thought to herself and descended to the ground. She careful left the pot near his spot to make sure he will see it as soon as he gets back. 'Ok, now to choose the perfect outfit!’ She got back to her cloud and levitated high in the sky.

——-

“So I kind of live on the outskirts of the aisle, so we’re going to have a little bit of walking. First place would be the Clip Joint. Have you heard of that place yet?” He asked as they walked outside.

Isabella stopped the music and followed Cagney, out closing the door behind her. “I’ve been there before, yes. I thought it was a dancing bar but I’ve been told its more like a fighting club?”. She walked next to the giant flower.

Cagney scratched his chin. “Oh, okay, that makes it easy then. The place is owned by a couple of amphibians, Ribby and Croaks. As far as entertainment goes, yeah there might be some singing and dancing for a little bit, but once the drinks start flying, it pretty much becomes a fight club alright. ”

Cagney glanced in that direction as they crossed a bridge. “If you’ve already been, we don’t have to head down there unless you want to. Plenty of other, usually not intoxicated, residents to meet,” he muttered that last part under his breath.

Isabella chuckled “Very well, I guess I can meet them next time I go there to dance.” She kept following Cagney, twitching her ears at every little sound and trying to memorize the path they were taking. “Have you always lived here? ”

Cagney nodded, then realized why that wasn’t going to work, and cleared his throat. “Yeah, ever since I was a seedling. A lot of the folks you’re going to meet today grew up here, actually.”

“Lucky you, it must have been very nice growing up in here” Isabella said sincerely.

The carnation spotted the fence of the Root Pack. “Speaking of which, we’re about to meet some old geezers in a moment. They’re the Root Pack. They sell a lot of produce on this isle. Uh…. Just out of curiosity, are you a fruit bat or a vam-blood bat?” Cagney didn’t want to say vampire. It seemed to have some dark connotations.

She smiled at the flower’s question. “It depends on my mood…” she giggled, “My diet its mostly fruits and greens”. She paused “Say… what do you eat? Do you do that photosynthesis thing?” She asked very curious.

“Now when you say mostly…?” Mostly didn’t necessarily rule out other fluids so blood could still be on the table, but he decided against finishing the question. “Wait, what do I eat?” He repeated.

“Uh, huh. I guess I can do that photosynthesis stuff,” He realized, “But I got kind of used to eating, especially since Hild-my friends do eat. So I’m sorta a vegetarian. Eh, non sentient produce,” he added quickly.

“It kinda sounds like cannibalism coming from a flower,” The bat chuckled. “But then again, who am I to judge?” She said sweetly and instinctively licked her fangs feeling a bit thirsty for a warm glass of extremely 'red wine’. She should had have the cereal for breakfast.

Cagney gave her a sideways glance and gave a tiny shiver at the exposure of fangs. He wondered if she drank nectar. Hopefully from non sentient flowers. “Well, it ain’t. Although,” he admitted, spotting Moe and Weepy, “Speaking of vegetables, we’re going to meet a trio off them that have the intelligence of a squash.”

As they got closer to the field Cagney could see Weepy attending to some tomatoes worriedly while Moe was digging some trenches to guide some extra water away from the plants. He cleared his throat and called out, “Hey, Moe, Weepy!”

He realized they were walking to a fence and remembered Isabella was blind. “Hey, we’re coming up on a fence. They live in a field like me so get ready to stop in a few feet otherwise you’ll hit it. Which as amusing as that would be to me, will make Weepy start crying and it’s a pain in the ass to get him to stop.”

Isabella raised her eyebrow and wondered why would anyone cry to see her bump onto a fence. Maybe feel a bit sad for her, but cry? Maybe this Weepy fellow had some sort of intense relationship with the fence.

“Thanks for the warning”. The woman rewarded Cagney’s attention with another of her extra charming smiles and spread her wings in front of her until she felt the fence and rested her arms on it. Weepy cleared a few tears that started to fall around his cheek and looked in their direction. “Oh! Hey Cagney!” He noticed he wasn’t alone and took a few steps back shyly.

Moe wiped the sweat of his forehead with his arm and looked at Cagney and his companion. “Hey there, Cagney. Good to see ya survived the storm last night. Say, who’s your friend?” He got closer to the fence. Cagney jutted a thumb at Isabella. “Yeah, wasn’t as bad as I thought.” Hilda hadn’t shot him with lightning so that improved the storm already. “And this is Isabella. She recently moved to the isle and I’m showing her around since she’s not familiar with the place. Plus, I threw her kid out of my garden the other day.” He realized he was lagging a bit and added. “Can I get some of that water actually? Walking ain’t that easy.”

Moe scratched his head in confusion wondering if he heard right. Isabella laughed and waved her hand at the new voice.

“Uh… y-yeah, take all the water you want.” He made a gesture inviting him to come inside the field “It nearly drowned the tomatoes.” The potato pointed toward the plants that Weepy was still standing nearby. The onion felt the eyes on him and waved with a nervous smile. “And, welcome to the neighborhood, lady. Hope ya kid’s ok?” He gave a sideways look to the carnation. “Oh, it’s fine,” Isabella said sweetly “It was just a little misunderstanding. Besides, my little Mina can be very tough,” She said proudly. “I’m sorry, I didn’t catch your name?” And there was the sweet enticing tone in her voice again. Moe slightly blushed and smile back. “I-I’m Moe, Moe Tato.” He stretched a hand to shake Isabella’s, but she didn’t react to the gesture. Instead she kept smiling. “Nice to meet you Moe.” Cagney dunked his head in the water and shook vigorously. He spotted Moe standing there awkwardly with his hand still out. “Oh, shit, right, uh, she’s blind so if you want to shake hands, let her know, otherwise you’re going to keep standing there like a moron with your hand out.” The carnation glanced around. “Huh, I would have expected Psy to be galloping over here.” The carrot thought he was the most intelligent and fascinating creature in all of the Isles. He would never turn down seeing a new face…and maybe pulling a scam or two.

“Blind?” Moe looked at the bat’s milky eyes and waved his hand in front of her. “Uh… s-sorry lady. Didn’t realise…”.

Isabella was already used to this awkwardness and chuckled, it amused her to make people uncomfortable with her handicap. “It’s alright, dear.” She stretched her hand and shook his. “Em… he went to pick up some tools. He should be back soon if you would like to wait”. Weepy answered hesitatingly to the flower. Isabella’s ears turned to the other voice. “And to whom does that melodious voice belong to?” She asked sweetly, putting her charms at work. She rested her head on her hand, making her back to lean a little on the fence. Moe was very happy that the woman was blind so he could check her out without any risks of upsetting her.

Weepy blushed and hid behind Cagney.

Now that he wasn’t the sole focus of Isabella’s charms, Cagney was more than happy to sit back and watch the other vegetables squirm. He thought about giving Moe a dirty look as he saw the potato checking out the bat but realized that would kind of make him a hypocrite and lazily allowed Weepy to hang behind him. “That’s Weepy,” Cagney explained, “he’s a bit shy so he may not be shaking your hand, but he’s waving.”

Isabella waved back “Aw, isn’t that precious. Don’t worry, Weepy, I won’t bite… unless you give me a reason,” she smiled maliciously. “I-I’m gonna go find Psy!” he said, red as a tomato, and hopped away. Moe started to like this woman. Sadly, he thought if she had a child it meant she was already taken. “So… Isabella, you and the mister are settling in alright? Anything you need?”. Isabella quivered slightly. “I’ve been on my own for a while now” she replied with a nostalgic tone “My … ” she hesitated, "husband … died long time ago. So I could use some strong hands to help me from time to time.“ She recovered her sweet tone towards the end of her sentence.

Cagney’s eyes widened. Shit. Well, guess that explained why dad wasn’t in any of Mina’s pictures. Hard to make an appearance when you were 6ft underground pushing up daisies. He watched her recover remarkably well too. He probably wouldn’t be able to keep it together if Hilda died, no matter how many years could have passed. Even thinking about it was hard. He really wanted her back in his life but steadied himself. No need to get all worked up now. He’d think of something he could do when he got back to his field.

"Oh… I’m sorry to hear that” said Moe, admiring the way she recovered. On the other hand, that meant she was available. “Well, if you need anything just ask! Not only we can sell you fresh produce but I’m a handyman myself,” he said flexing the weak muscles of his arms, forgetting she wasn’t capable of admiring them. “That is very nice of you, Moe! Thank you.” Isabella replied with a charming smile. “You have very charming friends, Cagney”.

“Ha! That’s the only charming thing about Cagney, ya know!” Strutting up to the group looking cockier than a rooster was Psycarrot, with Weepy following sheepishly behind. He slid in front of Isabella and smoothed his stem back. “The name’s Psycarrot, little lady. But you can call me Psy. I’m just going to show you a little vegetable welcome here,” he mentioned, taking her hand and planting a cavalier kiss to the fingers before releasing her hand back to her. “Was hoping this airhead wouldn’t show.” “Heh, Cagney, you know I’d never miss a chance to welcome newcomers to the isle! This here’s the best produce farm in all of Inkwell! Now I know that got you all excited but lemme tell it’s not just the veggies I’m good at. I’m fairly good at reading minds and I can just tell that you’re itching to know more about me and, uh well the others too, heheh.”

Isabella pretended to be shy by the confidence of the giant carrot “Oh my! What a gentleman” she said sweetly allowing him to kiss her hand. He wasn’t the first overconfident gentleman that approached her, but she hoped it would be the last. The smell of the vegetables was making her too hungry, so she tried to focus on the fragrance of the carnation. “And you read minds too?” She asked, curious. “What else am I thinking?” She said with a soft sensual tone. Moe was bothered by the presence of the carrot and his gentleman ways. He crossed his arms and waited for Psy’s answer. If he was lucky, his orange friend’s overconfidence might get him to say something offensive to the lady, resulting in a slap in his face.

Psycarrot’s third eyelid opened wide and he grinned. “You’re hoping that I am the last man you ever have to meet - No, no. Don’t deny it, I can see the hunger in your eyes.”

Cagney waved at the carrot. “Ya ever think you’re going to give the pyschic schtick a rest?” “Schtick? Ha! I have the powers of the mind…maybe it’s more of a telekenisis type of ability but I assure you my mental deductions are always spot on.” Psycarrot eyed him now. “I could most certainly reveal your own escapades last night.” Cagney paled slightly before remembering Psy was a charlatan. “You wish. Listen, Moe, how much produce do I gotta buy to make him buzz off?”

The woman lifted her ears surprised of how close he was. “Well now! I’m gonna have to be careful what crosses my mind when you’re around, darling.”

Moe was a bit disappointed for not seing the carrot get slapped. He chuckled at Cagney. “Hell! If only I kew!”. Weepy smiled and felt better since the bat’s attention was directed to someone else. But when he remembered the tomatoes that almost drowned, he started to tear up. “Oh, Cagney! do you think you can drink more water? The poor things are gonna start having rotten roots if we don’t drain soon enough.” He pointed at them begging the giant flower with his wet eyes about to burst.

Cagney might be a grump but he knew the importance of rotten roots and nodded toward Weepy. “I got ya. Listen, Isabella, I’m gonna go take care of that real quick. Let them know if you want anything. I’ll be back in a few minutes.” He walked back over to the water and plunged his hands into the dirt to take care of the moisture.

“Ok, em… is there anyway I can help?” The woman asked, hoping there would be something a blind person could do.

“Oh no! We got this, doll. No need to get your sweet hands dirty,” Moe said as he grabbed his tool and started working the ground. Isabella didn’t appreciate the comment but preferred to keep it to herself. Weepy accompanied Cagney and when they were far enough he gathered the courage to ask. “D-did you really hurt her child?”.

Cagney hummed quietly. “Hurt is a strong word. Probably the right word. I was pretty sleep deprived so I didn’t do that much. Definitely scared the shit out of her and her friend though so I doubt they’ll be sneaking into my field again anytime soon.”

“Oh my!” Weepy covered his mouth in surprise. “Not a good start…You know, if you want, I can give you some Valerian root to help you sleep”. He helped guiding the extra water away from the plants. “Do you know what got Hilda so riled up the other night? Usually she would warn us when a storm like that is coming.” – “So how did you all meet? You grew up here too?” Isabella tried to make some conversation until her guide came back.

Psycarrot beamed at the question. “How did we all meet? Why! That’s one of the most incredible stories you could ever hear! It all started with us growing up on this isle-!” The carrot began to drone on and on and on about magical spells and beautiful damsels and the importance of agriculture…

–

The Carnation eyed the other members of the Root Pack and Isabella. It look like they were all talking about something so it looked like it would be safe to at least mention something to the Onion. Weepy didn’t gossip. Or at least he gossiped less than everyone else. Mostly due to the fact that if it was something sad, he would start blubbering and crying before he could get halfway through it

“I… haven’t really talked to Hilda recently so. She and I had an argument couple nights ago so I’m a bit out of the loop.” The onion looked surprised at the carnation. “Oh no! Really? That’s-T-that’s…” he started to sob “that’s so sad! You’ve been friends since you were a little seedling! What happened? How can I help?”

–

Isabella listened patiently to the carrot’s never ending tale, smiling when ever was appropriate and acting worried or surprised when the tale required her too. She kept twitching her ears from time to time, hoping to hear Cagney approaching and continue with the neighborhood tour.

–

Cagney gritted his teeth. “Just dumb stuff. Nuthin to really do but wait and see if she kills me later today.” He wondered if she’d do it in front of Isabella or would she wait until there were no witnesses. “Shit, Isabella. I gotta keep showing her the isle. Later, Weepy.” Cagney withdrew his hands with a slight “oof”. He probably wasn’t going to need water anytime soon.

Weepy dried his tears, thanked Cagney for helping and got back to the plants.

He left the onion and headed back to the beautiful woman. “Hey! Psy, story time’s over. We gotta get going.”

Psycarrot held out his hands. “But I was just getting to the part where Moe had to disguise himself as a beautiful spud to help me get our lease back.” Cagney made a face. “I…didn’t need to hear that. Ready to go, Isabella?”

Isabella was relieved to hear the flower coming back “Oh! thank goodn–Oooh! We have to leave already?” She pretended to care about the carrot’s tale. “Oh well! I guess we will have to save it for next time.”

She hoped that next time never arrived. “Yeah, or not!” said Moe turning, red from both embarrassment and anger.

And with that, the two left the Root Pack.

—-

Sorry for the delay! Had some techinical dificulties. Also, since I´ve been partying all weekend celebrating my Bachelorette´s party, I didn´t make any drawing for the chapter.

It´s a bit sad to have a chapter with no pictures in it, so if you feel like it, you can send us your drawings and I will added to the chapter : ) Thank you for your patience and for reading!

CHAPTER 01, CHAPTER 02, CHAPTER 03, CHAPTER 04, CHAPTER 05, CHAPTER 06, CHAPTER 07, CHAPTER 08, CHAPTER 09, CHAPTER 10; CHAPTER 11; CHAPTER 12 (You’re here)

#rol play #cagney carnation #hilda berg #isabella betchstein #mina betchstein #harvey hare #the root pack #weepy #psycarrot #moe tato #fan fiction #necrokitty tales #smallpersiankitten #necrida #submission

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