"Welcome, and feel free to stay as long as you like, DJ and Erica." Mari was currently addressing yet another set of refugees from the eastern forests, a pair of young adults who, from what Mari could understand, were actually due to be married in the next couple of days. However, their plans had been delayed due to the evacuation of their town…
"Thank you so much, Mayor Mari…" Erica said, clearly relieved by the news. "When the monkeys arrived and started wrecking town, we weren't sure what we were going to do…" When they had both headed off, Jowee glanced to Mari, frowning.
"You know…" he stated, "It's kinda weird for the monkeys from Jangala to be coming to Raposa villages… I thought they never left the trees."
"It IS a bit strange," Mari agreed. "I just wish I knew what was going on…"
…
"IT'S GONE!" Mari forced herself to calm down and look around, but panic was threatening to consume her entirely. "The Book of Life… I only set it down for a second! Where could it have gone?!" Finding that the missing object was nowhere in the immediate vicinity, she struggled to keep a bit of composure, taking deep breaths to calm herself. "Rapo… How could I have lost the Book of Life?" She cursed her own foolishness, and headed off out of Village Hall to go find Jowee again. True, he'd probably freak out a bit at first, but at least he'd keep it a secret if she asked him to…
"Jowee," she dashed right up to him. She must have looked like a total train wreck, since he immediately gave her a concerned look.
"Hey… Is something wrong, Mari?"
"Jowee… Don't tell anyone, okay… But… Have you seen the Book of Life, or anything like it-"
"You LOST the Book of Life?!" He yelped, alarmed, and he would've said more if she didn't immediately clap a paw over his mouth.
"We can't let the whole village know about this… It has to stay a secret, okay? I think we both know how everyone would react…" Jowee reluctantly nodded now, so Mari let go of him.
"… Well… I haven't seen it anywhere, no… You don't think someone took it by mistake, do you?"
"I really hope it was a mistake…" Mari answered, frowning. "The last thing we need is another Wilfre…"
"Hey, maybe Circi has an idea of who would have taken it?" Jowee thought for a moment. "It wouldn't be bad for her to know, right? I mean, she's pretty responsible and all… I don't think she'd leak something like this." Mari perked up slightly.
"… You're right… She might know something. She's pretty smart." The two set out immediately, and found her in no time at all, talking with another of the many refugee raposas.
"Hey, Circi, could we talk to you for a second?" asked Mari.
"No problem, hun." The trio stepped off a ways, and as soon as they were out of earshot, Circi asked, "So, what's the trouble? You both look awful flustered."
"The Book of Life is missing," Mari said unhappily, and when Circi raised an eyebrow, she added, "Do you have any ideas on who might have taken it..?"
"Well," Circi said, thinking a moment. "Come to think of it, I did see Crazy Barks wandering around with some great big book on his head earlier… That might've been it, but I can't be sure, since you never showed it to me and all…" Mari realized with a jolt that this was true. They had never brought out the Book of Life when Circi was around… They had never needed it.
"So, uh… Would you mind talking to him..?" asked Jowee a bit timidly.
"Are you crazy?" asked Circi, looking upset. "That rapo's a seriously weird piece of work. He might bite me!"
"I'm not interested in being bit either…" Mari stated, frowning.
"NOT IT!" yelled Jowee. Both the other raposas raised eyebrows at him. "Heh…"
"In all seriousness though," Circi pointed out, "You've known him longer than me. You're slightly less likely to need a rabies shot after chatting with him…"
"You're the Deputy Mayor," Mari pointed out. "So, I should be the one giving the orders."
"I'm older, hun. Seniority trumps status."
Just as things were about to get ugly, a loud voice boomed from the sky.
"THAT'S ENOUGH!" All three raposas stared at the sky, stunned.
"Creator?" asked Mari, amazed.
"Yes," the rather exasperated sounding voice answered. "I will send Drew back to you. He will be able to help." Mari and Circi let out their held breaths, relieved. "Now, go to Creation Hall, and I shall recreate the hero of the raposas."
Jowee and Mari were quite enthused and headed off at once, not even noticing Circi's wicked grin as she followed after them.
"Perfect," she purred, unheard by the overjoyed duo.
…
"Welcome back, Drew!" cried an excited Jowee, looking up at his old "friend" happily. Friend was to be used rather loosely here, as it seemed Drew and Jowee had quite the love-hate relationship. Jowee loved Drew, but Drew hated Jowee. Well, a lot of the time anyway. At the moment, he was just annoyed.
"Thanks," the hero grumbled, then sneezed. "Would it have killed you to dust me off once in a while?" He stretched his creaky mannequin joints unhappily. "So, what is it this time, then?" At this Drew sneezed again, prompting a fit of giggles from Mari.
"Sorry about the dust, Drew," she apologized. "We never expected to need to call on you again…"
"Oh," Drew said snidely, clearly in a pouty mood. "So you intended to just leave me to rot in the attic after telling me I should've never been created, then sending me to do your dirty work. I feel so much better now."
"Sorry…" Mari said again, this time more guiltily.
"Well, it's great to have you back anyway, Drew!" exclaimed Jowee happily, apparently unaffected by Drew's hostility.
"But really, what is the problem?" Drew repeated.
"The Book of Life is missing," answered Mari, frowning. "We think Crazy Barks took it. Could you go ask him, please, Drew?"
Drew blinked. "That's it?"
"Yeah," admitted Jowee. "That's it."
"No long crazy baki-filled adventures? No scuba-diving with carnivorous shadow fish? No battling giant talking trees?"
"Nope." Mari said. "You just have to ask Crazy Barks about the book. That's all."
"You're serious."
"Yeah..?"
Drew grinned and did a little cheer. "YES! Finally something easy!" Jowee smiled sheepishly.
"But maybe we could, later you know, go on an adve-"
"NO."
"Please?"
"The answer's no, Jowee." Drew gave him an annoyed look. "We're not having a repeat of the Twilite Wood incident. Not now, not ever." Jowee drooped slightly. "Now, let's go get this over with."
Drew started to head out the door when he noticed Circi peering in. He gave her a suspicious look. He had a bad feeling about this raposa, though he had no idea why.
"Who're you?" he asked. "I haven't seen you around before…"
"I'm Circi," she said slightly timidly. "I'm the new Deputy Mayor."
"… Huh. Interesting." He resumed his walk out the door. Drew really hoped the raposas weren't going to make things all complicated again…
…
"What do you mean Crazy Barks is gone?!" Drew was not pleased by this news. Not. One. BIT.
"He ran off into that gate…" Heather said unhappily, peering at the gate beside them. It was the Forest gate, which led to the many dense forests and jungles to the east of the village. "I don't know why…" Only Drew noticed Circi's strange glance in the direction of the gate. He made a mental note to keep an eye on her then made an irritated huff.
"I should have known it couldn't be that easy…"
Jowee gave him a hopeful look. "So, this means you're going on an adventure?"
"I guess so," grumbled Drew.
"Can I-"
"NO."
"Aw, come on, Drew! Please?" Jowee gave Drew his best approximation of puppy dog eyes.
"The answer's still no." Drew started heading toward the gate.
"I'll just follow you later!" Jowee warned.
"I swear to the Creator," Drew snapped, giving the raposa an intense glare, "If you follow me through that gate, I WILL TIE YOU TO A RAPOING TREE."
"… Ha ha Drew, very funny…" Jowee said, clearly not taking the threat seriously. "Nice joke…"
'I wasn't joking,' Drew thought, aggravated, but he did not say this aloud. He had a feeling the Creator would not approve. With that, he headed through the gate to resume his heroic activities…
To be continued…