Oh please, dear God, no. I looked up at the sky, watching the thick black clouds intently. The chill wind was blowing against me relentlessly, and I tried to curl up tightly to contain any body heat I had left. My nose was especially sore from this bitter weather, and I was sure it would fall clean off my face at any second. I knew for a fact that storm clouds at temperatures this cold definitely did not mean rain.
To put it bluntly: It was freakin' cold out. I slowly made my way over to Ben's Tree, hoping it would provide at least a little bit of warmth. Fall was almost over now. I could tell from watching the people walking back and forth. Just the other day, that strange purple-haired fellow walked by with bags of gold and silver, and the blonde kid with the headband was hauling a back-breaking amount of furniture down the path. I knew it was for…oh, what do the humans call it? The Flea Mart? All I know is that it contained "flea". I never bothered to check it out because, well, that dim-witted dog down at the lighthouse gave me fleas once, and let me tell you, it was not a fun time. Why on Earth humans like to go out and celebrate the great wonder of fleas is beyond me.
I've also noticed how when it gets cold, less and less people want to go outside, and before you know it, hardly anybody walks by at all. It makes me feel a bit lonely, but I guess hardly anyone ever talks to me anyways. I pawed lightly at the lovely blue flower beside me, wondering how on Earth it managed to survive year-round.
As I was pondering, I heard the soft sound of footsteps crinkling the frozen grass. No humans had passed by me yet that day, so I knew it was quite early in the morning, and most likely no one was up yet. As the footsteps drew nearer, I noticed a black figure appear from the horizon which looked at me with bright yellow eyes. I grinned, recognizing the figure immediately.
"Daisy!" he said, walking up to me. "You don't look so hot."
I rolled my eyes. "Okay, so I've missed a few catnaps. What're you up to Felix?" I asked him. Felix made his home near the river, and he was like a brother to me. A very scrawny, black-haired brother.
"It's getting so cold out, I can't take it anymore." He shuddered, his tail puffing up a little.
"Yeah, you're right. And look at those clouds. It's going to snow, and it's not even Winter yet!"
He laughed. "You know, Daze, there's a ship leaving soon for Toucan Island, that place where it's always warm. I'm gonna go sneak on board and hitch a ride. I mean, anything must be better than this cold." He looked at me intently. "You should come too."
I shrugged. I knew Felix was probably right, and I knew I hated the cold more than anything, but I wasn't sure if I truly wanted to leave the island. The lake, which the humans dubbed "Maple Lake", was where I lived and, as ridiculous as it sounds, it meant too much to me to leave it that easily.
Felix found the doubt in my eyes. "Gee, Daze, how can you not know? I mean, I think the right decision is so obvious. But hey, it's your tail, so I guess you make the choice of freezing it off or not."
"Hey, come on, Felix. There will be like a million more chances for me to go to Toucan Island if I ever wanted to. The boat runs all the time."
Felix pondered on this fact for a little bit. "Ok fine, I guess you're right."
To my unpleasant surprise, I spotted a small white speck land on the top of Felix's head. He seemed to notice too, since we both looked up to the sky at the same time. The clouds had begun to spill out its wintry flakes.
"Yikes!" exclaimed Felix. He looked at me and grinned. "I'm outta here!" He turned around and ran towards the town. After a few seconds, he stopped and shouted "Hope you change your mind soon!" I nodded, and before I knew it, he was gone.
As I sat there stiff, staring blankly at the now empty space in front of me, I began to realize that I was frozen. The snow began accumulating all around me, and if I stayed there long enough, I would have been dubbed the first snowcat of the season. I shook the powder off of my body and lightly treaded over to the lake. I peered into the water, but all I saw was the face of a freezing, distressed catsicle. No fish were stupid enough to come up to the surface in this kind of weather. I sighed and went back over to Ben's Tree in an attempt to hide from the snow. Winter was going to be tough again this year, and the fact the cold front arrived so early didn't help in comforting me. I curled into a tight ball and quickly fell asleep from cold and exhaustion…
Bang! Click. My ears perked up at the sound, which sounded like it came from the house positioned right beside me. My theory was confirmed when a young man with silver hair and a straw hat came walking from the house. He looked up at the sky through his perpetually closed eyes. One hand was brought up to his forehead to help him get a better look, while the other hand was holding a fishing pole. I watched him lazily as he walked over to the small deck stretching out to the center of the lake, and sat upon it. He gripped his fishing pole tight with both hands and casted it into the water.
Desperate for company, and maybe even a little warmth, I slowly treaded over to him. I plopped down behind him at a comfortable distance and watched. It wasn't after what seemed like hours of watching him do nothing but sit there staring at the lake, not even blinking an eye, (though, I'm not sure how that would work, since he's basically always blinking. Does he even blink?) that I began to realize that he was boring. Sure, maybe someone who does nothing but clean herself and sleep all day shouldn't be talking about how boring someone is. Still, I began to wish I never woke up from my nap and wasted my time with this guy.
People were beginning to walk down the path, which signaled to me that the day was starting. At one point, a girl with a blonde-haired ponytail walked by where we were sitting. She flicked her green eyes over to us.
"Toby, Ozzie is pretty distressed. You should probably get over to On the Hook before he comes looking for you again. You remember what happened last time…" her voice trailed off, and she continued her walk towards the mines.
Toby sighed and forced himself to his feet. He pulled his fishing line out of the water, and I was amazed at the sight. There was a fish at the end of the hook. I did not notice when the fish got on there, but from what I read on his face, he had known it was there for quite a while. I couldn't understand what on Earth he was thinking, if anything at all. He slowly turned himself around and immediately noticed me sitting there.
"Hello, kitty," he said, smiling. "Are you hungry?" I watched as he carefully removed the fish from his hook and placed it on the ground in front of me. "I'm not going to use it for anything. You can have it, kitty."
I felt elated at the kind gesture, and immediately gnawed hungrily at the fish. "Aren't fish the best?" I heard Toby ask me. "They're nature's greatest treasures…or something like that. Anyways, gotta get to work before Uncle Oz blows his top." He swung his fishing pole over his shoulder and started for the town.
I'm not sure whether it was the hope of free food or simply sheer boredom, but an unknown force compelled me to follow him, and soon enough, I was right at his heels.
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Notes:
The internet suffers from a severe lack of Toby fics.
Crits/suggestions always welcome. It's my first fic ever, though, so...be gentle 8D
More on the way.