Alright, so this took a lot longer to write than I originally intended, but I'm finally getting this thing started! This is Hourou Tongari (Wandering Jingle), a set of stories about my favorite musical, sage ham-ham, Jingle. Hope you all enjoy.
"Today, my young hams, I come with a story of one of the bravest hamsters that fate has graced me with meeting," Jingle of the Wind, a field hamster dedicated to traveling the world, sang while strumming on his travel-worn guitar. This specific field had been one he had visited many times before, since it was so distant from civilization, letting the stars in the night sky glow, and causing the uncut grass to grow soft. At first, it had just been a place to let Herbert, Jingle's faithful pig friend, rest while Jingle's own mind wandered, but it turned out that wherever there was a beautiful, peaceful place, there was also a group of hamsters who inhabited it, either to live or just to play.
The first time he had come upon the meadow, he had been alone for hours until one small, young hamster had heard his rhythmic strumming, and followed it to the traveling poet. The ham-child had remained silent while Jingle continued to take in all his surroundings, and entwine them into his tales and tunes. Every time he came back, another one or two children joined their friends to hear his stories, learn from his songs, and ask him about his adventures outside of the field and over the horizon, and he had grown to love how much joy he brought to them just by showing up and entertaining them for a while.
This time, there were just as many as he remembered, plus one more brand new face. As all of the children gathered around, clustered in tight around him, he took a few seconds to observe the newcomer who immediately seemed shy and removed. She sat all the way in the back of the audience, and unlike the others, she was seated by herself, unnoticed by anyone else (or maybe they were all just apathetic to her). She was small, and fairly young, her coat a steel-gray color that seemed to provoke a sense of mystery. Tufts of longer hair on her forehead and cheeks which resembled a human girl's bangs and hair were a darker, almost black color, as was a patch of fur on her back. In contrast to her monochromatic grey and black fur, her eyes were navy blue. She also wore a satin ribbon around her neck, tied in a bow in the back, which was a lighter blue than her deep, mysterious eyes.
Very little time passed before all the young hamsters were sitting still quietly waiting for Jingle's story in a semi circle in front of him. It never took long for them to settle down once they knew Jingle had come with a brand new tale for them all. He smiled softly and strummed a chord on his guitar before beginning to paint the picture of a heroic ham with his words and melody. "In a regular park in an ordinary town in the dead of winter's cold," he started, "one orange-furred hero and all his hamigos chanted chords for warmer weather. All except a fair female ham, with fur whiter than the new fallen snow." Most of the girls in the audience sighed, already assuming that it was a love story. The shy, grey ham-girl in the back began to look up, and her eyes began to shine in anticipation.
Jingle chuckled at the reactions the first few sentences of the story had elicited from all his listeners. "I'm sorry to say," he stated, interrupting their giggling and side conversations, "but nay." A few faces dropped at his disheartening statement, but most of the males seemed relieved to hear that they would not have to sit through a girly love story. "Not lore of lovers, but a fable of friendship have the winds whispered through the willows." Luckily for Jingle, his reputation as a traveling bard was enough that, while a few were a bit disappointed, everyone still held high anticipation for the rest of the story.
Jingle continued for the remainder of the tale without interruption, effortlessly portraying the emotion of the orange furred hero as he and the other characters were transported to a kingdom of snow, far away from their owners and their homes. A look of awe swept the crowd as he described the tall castle that stood over the small town, and the sense of shock was obvious as he told of an evil pirate that kidnapped the one white furred hamster who was known to the townspeople as the "snow princess." With every line and every detail, the grey-haired hamster, still alone in the back, seemed to become more enraptured and amazed by the story. The hero in the story challenged the evil pirate captain to a number of events and races, facing unbelievable odds to save his friend, the townspeople's chosen snow princess.
When Jingle concluded his story, the audience cheered and applauded, clearly impressed by yet another one of his tales. The sun began to set and slowly, one by one, each of the young hamsters left for home still talking of the story they had heard earlier. In due time, all of the hamsters had left, or so Jingle thought. As he sat back against a large tree, he heard quiet, uncertain footsteps in the grass. Without ceasing to strum on his guitar, he opened his eyes and glanced up to see the same young hamster with the mysterious grey fur and blue eyes cautiously approaching him.
"H...Hi..." she mumbled. "Your story...it was...amazing...!" Her eyes seemed to show that same sparkle and anticipation from earlier, when he had been telling the story. He was able to tell almost instantly that this ham-girl was full of life, and imagination. 'In fact,' he thought, still playing quietly on his guitar, 'she reminds me a lot of myself when I was that age.'
"I..." she began again, "I want to travel with you!" Jingle stopped suddenly at her statement, now curious as to why someone like her would want to abandon her friends and family to follow him around. Jingle was never one to lose his cool, however, and merely returned to what he was doing, eyes closed with a slight smirk on his face.
"Curiosity killed the cat," he stated, and the girl became a bit depressed, assuming he was dismissing her request. "And what better reason is there to wonder?" he joked, smiling as he spoke. "Now what would warrant you wondering of a wandering life? A leaf doesn't leave its tree before fall without some strong, blowing wind." At this, the girl looked down again, as if recalling some sad memory. 'Just as I figured,' he thought. 'Something must have happened recently to make her want to leave.'
"I...I don't...want to talk about it...right now..." she whispered, nervous again after her outburst. "My name...is Yume" Of course Jingle could deny her, and make her stay there. He actually believed that was probably the best idea, though he figured doing so wouldn't help her to learn anything at all. He also valued everyone's own freedom, and their right to make their own decisions as well, and it just wouldn't have been in his nature to refuse her. 'Far be it for me to decide another's fate,' he reasoned, as he considered what course of action he would take.
"Hamsters far and wide call me 'Jingle of the Wind,' for I am free and flowing as the wind," Jingle introduced himself. "My path is written in the leaves and whispered through tall trees. If you do intend to grant me company, then you must know that if wind and rain do so decide, this familiar field might not cross my path again."
She stood still for some time, worried about not coming back, but contemplating his offer anyway. Jingle merely sat silently, the smile on his face never flinching or fading. More time passed, and an owl could be heard, finally waking as the sun fell slowly below the trees and the moon took it's silent, overbearing post in the sky. A breeze rolled by, causing Yume to shudder and look at Jingle again, who didn't seem to react at all to the cold, much to her surprise. Luckily, along with its cold bite, the wind seemed to also carry her answer, and she spoke up again, quietly, but determined.
"I've decided..." The sudden break in silence caused Jingle to half-open his eyes to look at the young girl, though he did almost nothing else. The look in her eyes was enough to tell him what she had decided, so it didn't surprise him when she said "I'm coming with you."
Without another word, Jingle stood, maneuvering his guitar so it instead hung on his back, and began walking slowly towards the forest. Yume didn't move at first, confused by the poet, but regained her thoughts after a few seconds and ran to catch up before walking next to him. They were silent as they walked through the brush, and Yume was startled when they came to a large, pink, sleeping creature. She had never seen anything like it in her life, and she could feel her heart in her throat, almost choking her.
"Your fear of my friend Herbert is misplaced," Jingle said, petting the animal heartily. "Like a tulip in a sunflower field, it just does not belong."
He motioned her to come closer and become acquainted with Herbert. She held her paw out tentatively, and Herbert enthusiastically licked her cautious hand. She giggled as he oinked and snorted, then finally dropped down to let both her and Jingle on his back. Jingle jumped up quickly and beckoned Yume to follow his lead. She climbed up Herbert's leg cautiously before dropping down next to Jingle. Jingle pulled out his guitar and began to play softly, mimicking the swaying of leaves in the wind with relaxed, harmonized tone.
"Herbert, my friend!" he exclaimed with a sparkle in his eye at the soon-to-be reality of following his one sensei, the breeze. "Your heart lead the way and your eye keep you straight. Your ear heed the breeze and your mind follow it. Take us where you will!" And with that, Herbert squealed and started off to wherever his heart (but more importantly his stomach) wished with the two wandering hamsters on his back, servant to the wind.
As Yume learned in her week of traveling with Jingle, most days were fairly uneventful and usually consisted of sky-watching, napping, and eating. The part of the day she anticipated most was at night when Jingle would build a fire and tell some grand story while she snacked on leftover sunflower seeds, her ears perked intently at his every word. Many of his tales seemed to focus on the same set of characters to the point where she felt like she had known them for a long time without ever meeting them.
Jingle never used names, but the orange, heroic ham instantly became one of her favorite characters. He was so compassionate and caring to the other characters, and he was always confident and decisive. The tiger-striped twins struck her equally as well, and every time he spoke of them, her heart beamed with nostalgia. She had a brother back home, and she recalled the little fights they had whenever the girl ham from the story pulled her brother away from whatever unlucky girl he was flirting with. She sighed aloud, missing all the fun they use to have.
They had met another group of hamsters one day that was much like the group she had followed to see Jingle for the first time, though it wasn't quite as large as the crowd she was a part of. Each ham was completely different from the ones she knew, and had different games, but when Jingle began to tell a tale, their reactions were identical to the ones she observed back home. After the stories, many of the young hamsters approached Yume, curious about this new traveling ham. Some asked if she and Jingle were a couple now, to which Yume blushed and told them no. Some asked where she came from, and she told them of her little field back home with acorns and chestnuts within a ham's reach of the ground. A few were jealous that she got to travel with Jingle and listen to all of his stories instead of having to wait until the wind lead him back to that field.
"Yume," she heard from the other side of the fire, causing her to snap back to the real world. "For how many nights have you been away from your home now?" Jingle asked, though not really sounding all that curious.
"Uh...I think it's been just over a week," Yume answered, a bit confused as to why he had asked.
He closed his eyes lightly and breathed deep, apparently considering something in his mind. There wasn't even an answer for quite some time, and only then Yume became aware of how late it must have been. She was startled when Jingle finally spoke up again.
"For so long, the side of the fire opposite my own has been vacant, my words falling on the empty air." Jingle smirked, pointing at his ears. "And even longer has it been since these ears have found themselves graced with another's words, intent on another's voice as I lay on the other side of that fire." Jingle stood up and placed his guitar to his side, making himself comfortable. He sat down again after taking a few more seeds for himself and for Yume. "I am asking that you do for me what I have done for you this past week." Yume felt her heart start to race a bit as she began to understand what he was saying. "Entertain me with a tale I've never told."
Yume searched frantically through her mind to try to come up with some idea of what to say. No stories came to mind as she tried to remember one her father may have told her when she was young. She hadn't expected this, and her thoughts, rushed by the pressure, kept coming up blank. She opened her mouth to protest and explain that she couldn't think of anything, but Jingle interrupted.
"Search your experiences for inspiration! In all of us is there some sight or taste no other has ever even imagined, and our stories and songs are what gives them life." It made sense to Yume then why Jingle had so many amazing stories. 'He must have been just about everywhere and done almost anything!' she thought. 'But all I've done is played regular games with the other kids. There's nothing special about that.' However, one idea did come to mind, and with a bit more thought, she was actually convinced it might be a decent tale.
"Just let the words flow from your mind, like a clear river to the ocean," Jingle said, trying to calm the young ham enough to make it possible for her to sort her thoughts. He leaned back so that he was resting on a log and waited, all of his attention on his young companion. There was a long silence as Yume just thought, trying to come up with some way to start the story as impressively as Jingle always did. She sighed as she shyly opened her mouth to begin her own tale.
"There is...there's a quiet valley...far away in the mountains, where a small village hides away from the rest of the world." She stuttered a bit as she described the scene in her imagination, but tried to forget that as she continued. "There was a boy and a girl named Roun and Rei. They were normal siblings, playing games and getting into trouble. Roun was a little older and had been taking care of Rei since their mother had been sick. Things weren't perfect, but they were happy." Following Jingle's advice, Yume had based the main characters off of her and her older brother, who she had looked up to more than anyone else back in her own home.
"One day while they were playing, they heard something they'd never heard before; the sound of clashing metal. It started very quietly from the other side of the village and slowly grew louder and closer. A loud, pained scream broke Roun from his daze, and he quickly pulled his sister into their house to escape the danger that continued to inch steadily in their direction. For hours, the battling continued, growing louder and then shrinking down again as soldiers passed by their little house. A loud thump against the far wall had terrified them both, but the soldiers never came any closer to hurting them.
When everything had gotten quiet again, Roun walked outside to see what had happened to their village. Many of the other houses were on fire or had burned down while others had been demolished by large boulders. Villagers and soldiers were lying all around in various states of injury. Roun and Rei had known many of the villagers and felt terrible despair as they could visually recognize a few of their acquaintances who had not been as lucky as they had. At the cost of most of the citizens of the village it seemed like they had succeeded.
Then, over the hill, the ham in charge of the town's guard approached. His own armor had been slashed and battered, and his face had been cut in many places, leaving one eye permanently closed, and his ears ripped to shreds. His steps were slow and his face was towards the ground, a look of grief visible in his eye. In on hand, he clutched on to the village's flag staff which had been hacked down by enemy soldiers, his knuckles white from his vice like grip. He told Roun the bad news that the soldiers were from a nearby kingdom whose ruler had wanted the fertile lands of the village. The force that had attacked was merely a preemptive measure before the larger, better armed forces arrived in a few days. The villagers would have attempted to escape, but the roads outside of the villages had been blocked by enemy squads. There was no way for them to escape the wrath of the impending force to come.
At least it seemed like there was no way out. Roun thought that maybe there was one chance for him and his sister. The chances of it working were very small, and he would have to work nonstop to complete it in time, but if he did nothing, they would be killed mercilessly by the soldiers, just as most of their friends had.
Roun started building in secret, taking up most of the room in their small cabin. He gathered supplies from buildings that had been destroyed and whatever else was lying around. For days, Roun worked tirelessly, stopping usually only to eat and get an hour or two of sleep before continuing the construction of what he hoped would be their salvation. It was shoddy, and looked like it would collapse at any second, but by the end of three days, it was assembled just enough to get Roun and Rei out of the village and into the forest to the South.
As last adjustments were being made, the terrible, ominous sounds of battle began to sounds from across the plains once again. Roun and Rei grabbed everything they would need and hurried to pack it all away as fast as they could possibly move. The sounds continued to grow closer as they forced the contraption out in the field and put their necessities onto it. The wood warped under the weight of the supplies, but it managed to remain intact as Roun frantically attempted to get it to start running. Only a few hundred feet away, the soldiers spotted them and shouted to stop the two young hams. With only a few seconds left, the propeller whirred to life.
The makeshift aircraft inched forward slowly, gaining speed at a snail's pace with the soldier's close behind. The machine finally gained enough speed, and Roun pulled hard on the controls, lifting it into the air above the soldier's heads. It barely passed over the roofs of the buildings, and down below, the carnage was clearly visible, but they had made it. Out of reach of the ruthless army, they embraced each other, thankful that out of everything they had lost, they still had each other."
Yume felt a hard lump in her throat at the thought of her own brother as she finished the story. She wished so much that she could go back, but knew that it was better off this way. She held her tears back as best she could and looked up at Jingle who, for once, was not smirking. He looked at her quietly, a stern, sad look set in his facial features. He stood up and walked around the fire until he was sitting at her side, silent the entire time. He finally opened his mouth and cleared his throat, obviously affected by the story, before speaking. "How did your brother die?"
Yume broke down. Somehow, in her own tale, Jingle had finally been able to figure out why she wanted to leave her home. He held her close, attempting to comfort her as she let out all of the grief and sadness she had been keeping to herself for the few months since he had passed. She didn't want to, but her mind began to relive what had happened.
About a year earlier, her brother had become sick. It seemed like a minor illness, something that would pass in a few days, and it had. However, it soon came back. Every couple of weeks, he would get sick again, and each time it would get worse. She was forced to watch as he was slowly dying, and no one could find out what was causing it. Every time she would walk into his room when he was sick to bring him medicine or food, he would assure her that everything was fine and that it was nothing to worry about. Finally, a few months before she had met Jingle, he had been confined to bed, and had passed away only a month later, his heart finally becoming too weak to support his body. She had been right beside him when he closed his eyes for the last time, gripping tightly to his hand.
Now, her mother had become sick, and even though it was likely not the same illness that had taken her brother, it terrified Yume. Every time she saw her mother, she would begin to panic and break down for fear that she would lose her as well. She began to close herself off from others and avoided her house so she wouldn't see her mother or her condition. That had been just about the time she had met Jingle, and wanted to escape the feeling of losing her loved ones.
After almost an hour of sobbing and explaining why she left home slowly between fits of tears, Yume finally calmed down enough to where she only sniffled periodically. Jingle took the opportunity to talk to her, keeping a quiet, calm voice.
"You have a gift, my young companion," he stated. "The ability to paint a picture with a tale is as rare as a precious diamond, and hams need us to share our gift with them." Jingle looked into her deep blue eyes, a passion for his art sparkling in his eye. "It inspires hope in the hopeless. It gives us something to work for." He put a finger under her chin so that she looked up at him. "Right now, I think your mother needs that hope more than anyone else," he suggested. She began to tear up a bit, but held them back and just nodded, showing that she understood Jingle's wisdom.
She spoke up for the first time in about an hour, her voice cracking as spoke. "But what if we never get back to the field?" she asked, uncertainty evident in her mannerisms.
"Home is always closer than you think," Jingle said as he motioned her to follow him to the opposite side of a large tree where they were looking down a small hill, her home clearly visible from their height. She looked at him and embraced him in a strong hug, happy that she finally understood what she had to do. Without another word, she vanished into the trees and brush, sights set on the small clearing she called home to help her family make it through their own challenges.
"My good friend Herbert, I do believe our mark is made. Turn your nose to the wind and take us away." And with that, the duo marched in the opposite direction, through forest and river to find another lost ham in need of guidance.
So there's the first adventure for you. If you've checked out my profile, you know that this stories gonna be ongoing until I feel like not doing it anymore, and if you'd like to have a fan character included, just feel free to pm me! I'll do my best to work it out, but no promises. Just make sure you give me a little bit of a description of the personality and maybe a bit of back story so I can make it work. Until next time!