A/N: Hey all! Another Rune Factory one-shot from me, but I decided to twist my usual perspective of third person and did first person. This one-shot is an entry in 'The Village Square' forum's autumn themed contest. Enjoy!
Finders Keepers
I dunno what it was about him that won me over. Maybe his strength, or that impish glint in his eye when he fought? Either way, he sure does have a way with his hands. He reached this spot behind my ear that was just heavenly. Geez, I couldn't get with him any faster, little serenades of "where have you been all my life?" in my mind.
And he keeps making the deal sweeter and sweeter, really. He gave me a name. How cool is that? I'm not just some other Fuwori squirrel! I'm Topple! I dunno what that means, but hey, I have a whole word dedicated to me. It's my word now, just like his is Raguna and that pretty lady in his house is named Lara and the two pretty ladies down south have the words Lynette and Mist.
It's still fresh in my memory, really, coming to Mist farm. (Mist is the farm's word, just like that lady) It was only a few weeks ago. Hoo boy, coming down the mountain that day was really interesting. The trees I could see from the mountain tops were this pretty shade of red, like those apple monster Reenos. I heard my Raguna call it "the season of autumn" or something. It was also a lot cooler down here, which was a bit of a shock at first, but now I prefer it. Real nice, y'know?
And he gives me this whole other house, but I share it with this Reeno whose word is Crunch. Sweet little guy, really, always harvesting for my Raguna, but I couldn't help but feel a little possessive over my Raguna. Possessiveness was just one of my traits, y'know? But seriously, Crunch is a sweetie, not to mention he looks SOOO tasty...
...Not that I would eat him or anything, mind you. Just making an observation.
Besides being admittedly possessive over my Raguna, another trait of mine is patience. Or rather, lack of. After settling into my cozy new abode, I was bored. All I wanted to do was snuggle up with and/or fight alongside my Raguna every second of every day; was that too much to ask? Sigh. I hopped to the window, which was opened a crack, letting in the dusky autumn breeze.
"Wh-what are you doing?" Crunch asked, worriedly poking his little head out of his apple-like shell. He's such a cute lil' young'un sometimes, and I don't think he even realizes it.
"Just bored. Looking out," I said in slight monotone. But my eyes widened when I beheld two small, oddly garbed humans. They were walking up toward my Raguna's house, snickering evilly. The bigger one had blue fur atop his head with sparkling brown eyes, grinning and bearing fangs and wearing a cape, while the smaller one wore ruffles upong ruffles with a tiara planted firmly atop her orange mane, pointed ears poking outward.
"Oh my Terrable!!" I yelped, trying to force the window open. "Monster-humans!! After my Raguna!!"
"What!?" Crunch asked nervously, hopping about and fruitlessly trying to see.
"You stay here. I'll take care of it," I told the younger creature, finally forcing the window open enough to jump out of it. I hopped down in front of them, creating quite a fierce entrance if I do say so myself, snarling and growling.
"AWW!!!" both children cooed, and I bristled a little. I'm not fluent in human, but from their sparkling eyes and smiling faces, I can tell they aren't very threatened. Hmmph. My cuteness does not do justice to my fierce, battling soul! I jump toward them a little, growling louder, and they at least stop smirking.
"Hmm...I think he's angry," the one in a superfluous gown pipes up in her garbled language.
"Heh, Ceci, he thinks he's a fierce monster. Well, so be it!" The boy raised an arm. "I'll be the prince that defeats the horrible monster for you, princess Ceci!"
"My hero," she said with half amusement, half sarcasm. Sick of their talk, I bared my teeth, letting loose another warning growl.
The boy withdrew a bit, seeming to have second thoughts. He laughed uneasily, and said to the girl, "Uh, those princess stories are really boring, y'know."
She rolled her eyes. "Oh, for Pete's sake. How about I be the daring prince and you be the lovely princess?" she suggested with a smile, much to the boy's loud protests.
Okay, it's obvious to me at this point that these two will continue to babble amongst themselves, so I lept at them in rage. They shrieked and scattered, running south toward Mist and Lynette's house. I huffed, grinning triumphantly as they ran. My Raguna is safe for another day!
Oh ho ho.
I am winning this game.
I held my poker face as best as I could as I glanced at the former commander across the table. Thinks she's so good, does she? Peeking up at me with no expression-- trying to psyche me out, she is! But she doesn't realize that I'll be taking this win, no doubt!
"BLACKJACK!" I yelled out in glee, showing Lynette my winning hand of cards, all adding up to the almight twenty-one.
Lynette stares at the cards with a stony, analytical gaze. I cross my arms, smirking as I basked in my victory. "Not so high and mighty now, eh Lynette? Thought you were doing so great earlier, but Mist makes her comeback!" I said.
"Mist..." she said slowly, smirking a bit. "...this is poker. Not Blackjack."
I blinked, my face going blank. "Not...Blackjack?" I asked weakly. She shook her head, breaking out into a wide grin, and stifled her guffaws rather obviously.
I felt a blush creep up to my face. "W-Well, I'm not good at cards," I told her in annoyance, pouting. Lynette only chuckled.
"MIIIST!!"
What a well timed distraction to help me save face! "Coming!" I called as knocks barraged my door. Opening it, I looked down to meet the forms of Nicholas and Ceci garbed in Halloween costumes: Nicholas as a vampire, Ceci as a princess. "You two look great!" I gushed. "Trick-or-treating, right? You want candy? Lynette!" I called. "Go get some candy, would you?"
Lynette's smirk turned to a frown and she cocked an eyebrow. Where was the candy again...?
"Hee, thanks Mist, but that isn't why we came," Ceci said.
"Yeah! We were gonna go knock at Raguna's house, and this squirrel monster just started attacking us!"
"Squirrel...monster?" I asked. Were they just playing? Maybe Raguna got a Chiori or Fuwori or something...
"Hey Mist, is this the candy?" Lynette called from inside the kitchen, holding up a bag.
"Those're radish seeds, Lynette," I called back to her with a smile.
She blushed and put down the bag. "W-Well, why do you have radish seeds in the fall?!"
"Because I like radishes," I responded coolly. I turned back to the two trick-or-treaters who were giggling madly. "How about you take me to Raguna's, and we get this cleared out, while Lynette tries to find the candy?"
"'Kay!" they both responded, tugging at my sleeves. I nudge the door shut with my foot, and they started jogging back toward Raguna's, pulling me along with them. I prayed that Lynette wouldn't flip the house upside-down searching for the candy. Though, I get the feeling she may be in for a surprise if she looks where I want her too. Crossing my fingers on that one; it was kind of a long-shot. But it would definitely be interesting.
I sat down as I finished patrolling the rest of my Raguna's farm. Hmm, no one else seemed to be coming. Good, good. I guess it was time to head back in with Crunch.
"Right there!"
"That's the one!"
...Or not.
Growling in annoyance, I turned to the other faces only to see, in utter shock, the elegant form of Mist running behind them. Oh Mist, how could you?! And here I thought you and my Raguna were friends!
Mist laughed, saying something to the children. "Ah, that's just Topple. He has a bit of a crush on Raguna...don't mind him."
"'He?'" Nicholas repeated. "But...I thought only girls and boys--"
"Your mom'll tell you when you're older," Mist said, patting him on the head, tone of voice mature and knowing.
Oh Mist, you do not even understand how you're betrayal hurts me! Bringing these people to hurt my Raguna! Stop walking towards me with those deceivingly kind azure eyes and...ohhhhh, right under the chin, that's right...
Mist laughed as she scratched under my chin. "I'll bring him back into his barn. You two go knock on Raguna and Lara's door, 'kay?"
"'Kay!" Nicholas and Ceci replied cheerfully, running toward my Raguna's house. Nooo, don't! Argh, Mist, you temptress you...how...dare...you...ohhhhh, right there...
Suddenly, she hoisted me up into her arms, still petting me. So sudden, Mist! I admit I hold you in high favor, but my Raguna will always be number one.
"Topple, just because you love someone," she said as she began walking, "you can't cut them off from the rest of the world, you know that? Although..." She glanced back at the two children. "Considering it is the mischevous day of Halloween...I suppose, just for today, I'll let you have your fun. But don't hurt them, only scare them." She winked.
I had no idea what she said, of course, but she let me down, whistling innocently and walking away, toward the shipping bin. Hmm...maybe, if Mist trusted the kids, I could share my Raguna...a little. Still, just this once, I was getting back at them. How dare they find me cute!
"Awww, apples!" Ceci and Nicholas moaned as Lara dropped the fruit into their bags. The redhead bristled.
"You'll be getting enough sweets as it is; an apple won't kill you," she scolded them. They only sighed as they closed the door. Didn't even leave them enough time to see if Raguna was there and beg him for sweets...
Yes! An opening!
I dashed toward the boy's bag and leaped toward it, chomping onto its handle. Nicholas yelped and fell backwards as I smirked, running forward with the heavy bag of sweets. Urk...hard to look mysterious and cool when the bag was as heavy as it was.
"Hey, you!" he yelled angrily, clenching his fists. "Give that back!"
I ran south as the two children began running toward me, smirking despite myself. Mist, watching from the shipping bin, laughed merrily. I turned back to see the children running toward me, though not nearly as fast as I was. Ha ha!
Suddenly, though, I crashed into something hard, the impact rattling my cheek bone. Annoyed, I snarled and looked up-- only to feel a cold piercing of fear shoot through me.
Gh...gh...gh...
"GHOST!!" Nicholas yelled in fear. Ceci and Nicholas both shrieked in fear, running toward town, and as soon as I regained feeling in my legs, I dashed toward my barn. Oh Terrable! I'll be good! I'll share my Raguna! Just don't send any monsters after me!
Mist cackled in an almost witch-like way, looking at the white Lynette. "Wow, Lynette. That's a great look."
Lynette shook her hands, utter annoyance emanating from her face. Covering the top half of her body was a fine coating of flour. "I just came to ask: why would you keep an open bag of flour on the top of the fridge?"
"Lynette, are you implying that I did that on purpose? You think I want you covered in flour?" Mist asked, not successful in hiding her smirk. Lynette crossed her arms in annoyance, to which Mist only laughed, picking up Nicholas's abandoned bag of sweets. "Happy Halloween!"
Lynette's response was to smear flour all over her blonde roomate's laughing face. Geez, Mist was more of a witch than Melody. But at least they actually had some candy now. Who said they had to return all of it to Nicholas? Finders keepers. Lynette grabbed inside the bag and took a bite out of the first thing she grabbed. She grimaced. What the heck...? Apple...?
Important Notice: This was submitted for a contest at the forum 'The Village Square.' Be sure to read all the stories competing and vote! All entries submitted before October 31st. I dunno when voting begins/ends, but myah. XD I know sugarapplesweet has my vote for sure. XP Anyways, feedback appreciated!