Hello again everyone, I'm back with a story to make up for my silly disappearance. (Oh, I was previously SovietNaziCat!) The story will start slowly, with not a lot of action but more of a work-up towards it, so I hope I don't bore you :') So here it is loveliess! I hope you enjoy!
Chapter 1: Time
Dozens of scrunched and torn pieces of paper were scattered around the floor of Sniffles' laboratory. Some managed to land in the small metal bin as intended, but after endless mistakes on each new sheet, the bin became to full, and began to litter the floor. The pastel blue anteater could feel it; he was so close yet so very far from perfecting his blue prints. This wasn't something that could be done in any amount of time, no, his time was thinly limited, and the pressure was weighing down on his shoulders as he hunched over his desk in concentration. Fingers tingling from the strain of writing, Sniffles stopped for a brief moment and closely scanned the detail of his roughly sketched structures.
"God damn it!" He spurted in frustration, slamming his pen down harshly on the metal desk. Sniffles was beginning to feel desperate for success with his plans and diagrams. He sat back against the soft cushion of his chair and the sudden realisation of the aching pain in his neck and back jolted down his spine.
The anteater's gaze wandered to his wrist watch as he pushed back the sleeve of his pale grey shirt. He sighed a tiresome sigh – 'It's already 6?' he thought to himself in slight astonishment. He questioned where all the time had gone. Waking up bright an early was his plan last night, and accomplishing the sketches for final adjustments to his machine-in-the-making was his goal. But time seemed as though it was going against him on the day he needed it the most. The small circular window at the back of the room allowed the beautiful glow of the setting sun to illuminate the dull colours of the laboratory.
Sniffles was aware that he was overworking himself. His stomach had been groaning for food since the moment he woke, but preoccupation of working had shut out any want for food. Shifting his arms from their position on the table, he noticed that food wasn't the only thing he'd been neglecting; the dampened patches on the underarms of his shirt rubbing against his skin and fur made him cringe with shame and disgust. A shower seemed like a good idea right about now. Then perhaps a bite to eat too. But before he could push on to make a move for his bathroom, he paused as a particular envelope, already opened and acknowledged, caught his eye. After realisation hit him, the blue-furred male cursed to himself...how could he have forgotten her birthday was it today? Sniffles deeply exhaled, rubbed away the throbbing stress in his temples, and adjusted his circular rimmed glasses.
As he stood from his chair his limbs automatically stretched away the stiff numbness from being idle for a prolonged amount of time. Sniffles' head fuzzed from a sudden rush of movement, and his eyesight blurred for a second or too of re-adjusting. Finally feeling as though his senses were back in gear once again, Sniffles exited the darkness of the lab.
...~x~X~x~...
Elsewhere in town, just before the forests that edged the border of Happy Tree Town, one particular house was lively with light and laughter. Little Lammy's birthday party came around quicker than she expected, but she was certainly ecstatic to finally be at a double-digit age – she felt older already. No one felt it was necessary to explain to her that she was still, in fact, very young at the age of 10, because disheartening her on such a special occasion would ruin her own little reality. The living room lights were off with a flick of the switch, grabbing the attention of everyone who had now hushed down their chatting and giggling. It was time for the birthday cake.
Everyone in the room picked up on the situation, and then slowly began to sing 'Happy Birthday' to the gushing, blushing lamb. All the while, Flaky slowly strolled into the dining room from the kitchen with the cake resting in her palms on top of a large white plate, singing along with the others. The ten lucid, orange flames danced atop of the candles, and contrasted with a dim glow amidst the dark room. Lammy's face was brightly illuminated by candlelight as the sweet-scented cake was placed on the dining table in front of her. Her twinkling baby blue eyes widened, along with her smile, as she examined the many decorations and icing patterns on top of the cake; it was simple, yet heart-warming, each candle was neatly lodged into a rose made from baby pink icing, and they were dotted around the edge of the circular cake along with the purple icing that swirled in and out of the roses like a ribbon. Grinning with appreciation, Lammy looked up at her carer, Flaky, who smiled back and rested her hand upon her small shoulder. The moment the singing had stopped was the moment Lammy inwardly conjured her wish to herself before inhaling air to the content of her tiny lungs, then blowing it all out over the candles until the flickering flames had vanished.
The lights were on once again, and a roar of applause from every one of her friends aroused her embarrassment once more, and she blushed and looked down at her delicious cake to avoid eye-contact. Luckily for the guests, the cake was large enough to equally feed everyone who was sat around the outstretched table. Wasting no more time, Flaky handled the knife and began to cut each slice, placing them on plates and having each of their friends pass the plates down until everyone had a slice.
Busy on her feet to keep her foster daughter's party a perfect one, she quickly rushed around the table to collect each and every knife, or any other sharp object that lingered around the many platters of party food. There was an empty seat at the table. He had to wait outside as the candles were lit and the cake was cut. Though most felt guilty for making him wait outside the dining room door that was only opened ajar for him to hear, they acknowledged the risk of the otherwise. So as everyone went back to chatting and stuffing their faces to satisfactory, the red porcupine placed the remaining slice of cake on to a plate and carried it in her hands along with a fork as she walked towards the door at the far end of the room.
Flippy had patiently seated himself in the living room on Flaky's couch. He respected their cautions of himself around certain possible triggers and left the room with no fuss. Honestly, being forced to leave the room so Lammy could make her wish and blow out her ten candles was saddening, and Flippy was rather upset to miss the moment. However, his action may have just saved their lives for the night, and thus, Lammy's birthday party will not end with a war-driven veteran parading in a blood-painted room filled with the remains of the slaughtered Tree Friends. The bear suddenly noticed the door had opened as the mix of cheerful voices from the dining room was louder. Flippy looked towards the sound, smiling when he noticed Flaky coming out from the room; his stomach rumbling as he spotted the plate of cake in her hands.
Gratefully taking the plate from her giving hands, he rested it on his lap and used the fork to scoop at the corner of the cake before eating it. Flippy personally preferred to eat his cake in silence from the others, and was happy for Flaky to join him.
"So how was she?" Flippy asked. Flaky found herself smiling at his question as she thought back to Lammy.
"She looked happy," Flaky replied, "seeing her so content makes me feel so much better. I just...well..." Flaky stopped to drift off into much deeper thought. Too deep, if Flippy didn't know her any better, so he urged her on a little,
"Go on."
"I just want to be able to feel like...like I'm treating her better than her real parents. All I've ever wanted was a child of my own, but having Lammy as my foster daughter has brought me so much happiness o-over the past t-two years..." Flaky's voice trembled as a lump of emotions formed in her throat. Flippy's smile faded with worry as he watched fresh tears roll down her flushed cheeks. Then he clicked on eventually; her glossy eyes, slow speech, spur of emotional thoughts, and hinting breath,
"Flaky, have you been drinking?" Her sobbing stopped at his question and she sniffled, wiping away the wet trails on her face with the long sleeve of her brown jumper.
"I don't re...recall drinking anything but fruit punch. Why?" Her voice was soft and tiresome. Flippy looked at Flaky in her intoxicated state and saw an imbalance of some sort, 'Flaky would never drink around Lammy, let alone a house full of guests.' He mentally stated. Then another idea popped into thought.
"Do you remember who poured your last drink?" The light green bear's voice was heavy with concern. Flaky lazily fiddled the hems of her sleeves between her slim fingers as she attempted to recollect her thoughts from before the candles and the cake. It was then when she remembered standing in the kitchen with her best friend Petunia, blissfully talking about the outcome of the party, and how well they had planned it. She then remembered that dirty, smooth-talking bear handing them both a drink of punch. Disco Bear licked his lips and winked at the two ladies before him, and with an inappropriate gesture to his voice he attempted any means of a conversation, but was eventually etched away by their unwelcoming glares.
"D-Disco Bear..." The red furred female finally admitted with a look that twisted into disgust, and she tried ignoring the nauseating feeling at the pit of her stomach. Hearing his name was enough to spark a flare of hatred inside of Flippy.
The unimpressed bear left to find the rather impolite bear after telling Flaky to wait where she was. He had placed his plate of half-eaten cake on the coffee table and stormed out of the room in desperate want to tear off Disco's most beloved asset and shove it down his throat for even trying to take advantage of Flaky. The door of the dining room slammed against the wall under Flippy's enraged push, startling the other animal's in the room. At first glance, they were almost convinced that Flippy had flipped-out for whatever reason (though he certainly felt as though he would if his blood were to boil any hotter with anger) but as their was no hungry golden glint in his eyes, nor was there a bowie-knife clenched in his fist, the Tree Friends eased.
Well, apart from Disco Bear, who had noticed that the green bear's harsh, cold, spiteful eyes were fixated on him, and only him, "Hey! Uh, what's goin' on Flippy, my man...?"
...~x~X~x...
Pardon my dumb cliff-hanger, but more will be shown in the next chapter! I'm also sorry if this is quite short, it was pretty late last night when I wrote this.
Please let me know what you think guys, read and review! Critiques are welcome with open arms because I want to make this story a great one!
~Loli x