Two in one night yay! All rights to their original owners. I hope you like!

Chapter 1

Being immortal has it's downsides as much as ups. Sometimes it feels like a movie watched over and over again. You have your typical birthdays, though don't exactly age in looks. You're always the same appearance. And you're always saying bye to the people you've grown fond of or close to. You never see them again. Time can't go back to that one moment you were happy. You can only move forward in that infinite loop of life and death.

But Skips never truly cared about that. He rather liked seeing history unfurl before his eyes. He liked meeting the new generations of different people, though they get odder as centuries pass. He loves to learn about the new things they discover. If he'd never been immortal, he'd never had known how well man could progress.

CRASH!

"AWWW! Come on Dirk! Get with it! That's the third flowerpot today!" shouted the manager of Docent's Flower shop. Or how more clumsy they've become, thought Skips as he drove past.

He stops at a red light and lets out a sigh. Just a few more blocks and he'll be at the park. Then he will have a conference with either Mr. Maellard or Herman to talk over how long he'll be staying to work this time. He doesn't usually like staying long there. Sure he was friends with the current manager, but the lion seemed to just complain mostly. And as for Maellard's son Pops, he felt that they had more of an acquaintanceship than anything else. Don't get him wrong, he had helped and worked with the family for many years, but he never really felt close.

And it wasn't just the Maellards, it included each and every family he has ever worked for. He was more of a man of few words and little to say. He's always been that way. He liked being that way. It was rare for him to actually enjoy hanging with people that were mortal other than his family of, uh, descendants of his first brothers and sisters?(Hey! Don't ask me about details!(% &#!) -_-'). Even when he was still mortal, he chose seclusion then socialization. It was just in his nature he guessed.

It doesn't mean he's a total loner. It's tough to have mortal friends. Some are interesting, yes, like that Einstein character. What a hoot! He just hated parting sometimes. He had gone through many, sure, but...it's not as easy as someone might believe when they've had so many years under their belts. No...it's never easy. And it never gets any easier neither. And being close to someone he might even love who is mortal, such as...

A honking was behind him as he looked up and saw the light turning from yellow to red. Oops! He let his mind wonder too much. He looked in his rearview mirrors and saw a bunch of angry honking cars. He did a hesitant heh, heh embarrassingly and sat back focusing on the light this time waiting for it to change again.

Once it turned he quickly without passing the speed limit got out of the way while some cars drove past him with mad expressions on the drivers. After his little space-out he made sure to keep his mind on driving. He got to the park with no trouble and parked his Volkswagen in the usual place in front of his shack. Home sweet home, he kidded himself.

He skips his way through the park to check it out. It's been at least 11 years since he'd been gone. A lot more green had grown since then. It turned out to be a lovely day too. Maybe he'll stay a while longer this time.

He comes upon the same old house he's known for awhile, the one that had housed the Maellards for some time before they started making dough from turning the place into a park and allowing rent for many different businesses. It's kind of amazing this place was ever a battlefield.

Skips skipped up the stairs and opened the door, but the door flung open too quickly and smacked the wall. Hard. All he could think of as he cringed at the sound was that Herman would probably have him adjust the hinges as his first assignment. Then he heard a groan from between the door and the wall. He automatically was thinking that he accidentally hit Herman or Pops, but when he stepped inside and moved the door away from the wall, he saw it wasn't one of the two.

The man slipped to the floor as skips pulled it fully away and pushed it shut. Skips shrugs at the guy and starts skipping to and up the stairs to Herman's/ Mr. Maellard's office. He noticed the stranger staring at him as he went, but he believed it was at the fact he was skipping instead of walking and just chose to ignore the gaze.

The house hadn't changed much, maybe a few new pictures that might've replaced old. He finally gets to the office and knocks on the closed door. "You can come in, it's open," said a familiar voice inside. Skips does so and right away is greeted by a big lion. "Well! Welcome back buddy!"

"Hey Herman. You're the new park manager huh?"

Herman blushed. "Yeah you know...Someone had to take the job to help poor Pops out after Leon quit. You weren't here so I stepped up to the plate."

"Looks like it suits you so far."

"Nah, you can have it. After all it was meant for you."

"Heh, I couldn't. It's just not my thing."

"Well, that's something we need to talk about." Herman ushers Skips to have a seat and they both sit down. "Listen Skips, things aren't going too well here nowadays. We don't have as many people coming around like we used to. And we don't have enough workers out there to get all the jobs done on time each day. So, Maellard wants me to ask you to stay a bit longer this time."

He thought about it. "How long we talking?"

"Um, keep in mind this was not my idea, but Mr. Maellard has asked me to tell you that he wants you to stay this time." Skips shakes his head immediately no, but then stares at the guilty look Herman was giving and waits for the lion-man tell him what was the matter. "I know that you don't like to stay in one place for so long being immortal in all, but Maellard says-"

"So what if Maellard says? The other contracts I have won't allow me to stay here and work for his family forever."

Herman rubs the back of his neck. "Yes they will. Maellard has paid off every contract the families have on you and has destroyed each and every one. Your only contract is with this park. I'm sorry."

Skips sighs and stands up. He then skips out into the hall and starts for the stairs. He hears Herman running up behind him shouting his name and stops. "Skips, hah, hah," he says breathlessly, "I know you're angry about this, but trust me! We could really use your help this time-"

"I know that," Skips says surprising Herman. "I was going to my shack to get my tools so I could fix that loose door." He then goes down the stairs and out the door to head to the garage of his shack, which was apparently his new permanent home by the sound of it.

That's all I'm posting for tonight, but I shall post soon. I can't wait to read your reviews.

MG: Read...

Me: ...Oh! And Review?

MG: You suck...

Me: I didn't know we were going to do that. Sorry...