Flood, Sweat & Tears
"Long time ago, in a distant land ruled by science and technology, I, Amelia, sword maiden of the Geisha, the lone samurai of Los Angeles, lived in peace and harmony as told by the Sakoku… However, one day, a brute Norse berseker, who I shared a pact of blood with, welded a horrible horned-hat and stepped forth to oppose me, and the natural beings of things.
Before the final blow was struck, he tore open a portal in time and space, and flung us into another world, where large amphibians roams and rules! Now, my only hope is to seek to return to my dimension, and escape this strange world that locals calls…Amphibia!
Watch out!
Gotta get back, back to Earth, Samurai-"
"A-melia!" a loud, amused voice called back the young would-be samurai from her daydreaming, making her turn around.
"Anne!" the young girl gasped, "How long were you behind me?"
"Long enough to hear you do the narration yourself," smiled the Thai-American girl, "Seriously, sword maiden?"
"Why not, sorry? What's wrong with me?"
"First, Geisha was the name by which female artists and entertainers were identified in medieval Japan, and they were not warriors; second, Sakoku was the law that prohibited foreigners from violating Japanese isolation except in certain ports; and third...seriously, Jacob is not responsible for trapping you here! He and you were just too close when...it happened."
"I know, but I needed a villain for the narrative. And his hat is terrible!"
"Yeah, yeah," Anne replied in a neutral tone to avoid trouble, "If you're not doing anything important, you'd better come back to camp with me. Hop Pop gave us jobs to do for the morning, remember?"
"But Anne, I can't take it anymore! I'm not made for farm work!"
"Look, I don't like them either. None of us likes them. But as long as we're guests, it's our duty to make ourselves useful, for what we can do."
"You, what do you have to do?"
"Sprig and I have to take care of chasing away some invasive burrow bugs that are ruining the harvest; as soon as we get back, I'll start."
"What about the others?"
"James has offered to repair some holes in the roof; Jacob and Sasha are spading the empty field to make it suitable for planting; and Marcy is watering the lettuces. You are the only one, so far, who is doing nothing, honorable warrior."
Amelia gritted her teeth, but it was a losing battle at the start: more importantly, if even Sasha was working on the fields, she had nothing she could use to justify herself.
"Fine" she surrendered quietly, following Anne back to the fieldwork "Let's just get over with it"
When both girls arrived, Sasha and Jacob were both dirty, holding on their shovels as they were long canes, taking deep breaths.
"You know, when I agreed with help doing some farm work, I didn't mean like this!" Sasha protested.
"The worst thing is that the soil here is all dry, and therefore very hard to dig!" Jacob agreed with her "Tell me, why we have to dig so deep in the first place?"
"To run away the burrow bugs, you need also to demolish their dirt-dug tunnels" Marcy quickly replied, not noticing the other humans' mood as she kept on watering the lettuces "otherwise, other burrow bugs might find it, and re-start the infestation again. That would mean you would have to do it again…in a few days."
"Then, Mar-Mar, would you like to give yourself a hand too?" Sasha glared at her "You do not have a spell that that little wizard taught you that would help us?"
"Unfortunately, not" Marcy replied, unaware of Sasha's irritation ""So far, none of the spells he has taught me have any application for field work. However, I still have the book he lent me: perhaps, I could search if there is any useful idea..."
"Don't even think about it, Marcy!" James intervened, leaning out from the roof with the hammer in his hand "I remind you...oh!" But his sentence was broken when he realized he had leaned out too far, and he fell off the roof right into the barrel full of water (meant to water the plants) soaking Marcy and Polly (who was standing next to the barrel)
"Hey! Be careful when you fall!" Polly reprimanded, waving her right arm.
"James!" snapped Marcy "Are you okay?"
"I'm fine, I just got all wet" James replied, muttering and spitting water from his nose "With my luck, this is the time I'll catch a super cold."
"You'd better sit in the sun for a couple of seconds" the girl replied, helping him (with some awkwardness) out of the barrel "Do you have a spare pair of clothes, or..."
"Sorry," James made "But when I went stargazing, I didn't expect to be trapped in another world, so I don't have any clothes to wear. So unless you want to see me in my underwear..."
"Please!" Sasha snapped at him, "We're not interested in the show."
"Anyway," James continued, wanting to turn his back on her accident, "In my opinion, it's best to leave your spells alone. Didn't your friend, "Maddie," say to be careful?"
"I am!"
"Hey, Anne," said Sprig, approaching her friend "You ready?"
"Sure I am!" the girl smiled "You set 'em up, and I'll knock 'em down."
"Is the hole deep enough?" Jacob asked. He had to dig it before, and while he was exhausted in doing so, he at least wanted the satisfaction of know he did a good job.
"I guess," Sprig replied "I'll just have to break the last thin layer, and then I'll be in the burrow bug's tunnel."
"Let's proceed!"
Sprig jumped, quickly disappearing from view, while Anne hold her Tennis racket with force in her hands.
"Come on. Come on!"
"You think she'll hit it at first attempt?" Sasha asked.
"I guess…if it does not catch her by surprise…and if she act without hesitation…"
Then, a digging sound rang from on of the hole as a large burrow bug emerged from it
"Coming at ya!" Sprig said from underground, as the large bug came toward Anne. Immediately, Anne swung her racket, and hit the bug with violence.
"Backhand!"
The bug, wisely decide to not stood and simply flew away, looking for new unkempt farms to settle.
"And don't you dare to come back!" Sasha yelled, raising her fist to the sky.
"Nice swing!" Sprig grinned, emerging from the burrows.
"I was on varsity." Anne responded.
"I have no idea what that means."
"It means that she was a top player at Tennis" Marcy announced, "I still remember that time you invited me to see you play, Anne-Banana…"
"Marcy, that wasn't an official game: It was just a training: I didn't even got a chance to play in the real contest, later."
"Wow, that's cool!" Sprig said.
The two made their own handshake, while James, Jacob and Amelia smiled…just as One-eyed Wally, one of the top three less popular frogs among the humans, walked by, playing concertina.
"A frog child and some monsters from the woods getting along? So unnatural…"
"Excuse me?" Sasha replied, giving him a death glare.
"First, we are not monsters" Jacob intervened "this is something we have been repeating to you since you stopped trying to burn us at stake! Second: who gave you authority to come and spit sentences?"
"Yeah!" Amelia (strangely) came to his side "Just because we are foreigners, it does not mean you have to look at us like we are freaks!"
"Well, let's say our first impression was quite… unforgettable…"
"Again, we just wanted to ask you where we were!" Marcy "We did not mean any harm back then…"
"So you say now, but who can know if you're telling the truth? Who says you're not just waiting for these little frog and tadpole to be fat enough for…"
"Listen to me you ugly one-sighted moron!" Sasha yelled, her eyes burning with rage "If you say that one more time, I'll…"
"Sash, please!" Anne moved to her side, to let her calm down "Now, I am sure that Wally did not wanted to be offensive. He just… has a long tongue, huh?"
"We all do have long tongues, Anne," Sprig said "It's something all frogs…"
"It means he can't stay quiet."
"Oh. I guess that has meaning, too"
"Besides" Anne continued, "Of course we would get along. We're Sprig and Anne." said Anne.
"Anne and Sprig." Sprig corrected her, before they jumped up at spoke at the same time "Spranne against the world!"
"Hey, I should do something like that with Maddie too" Marcy squeed" "Hey Sasha, what do you think would work better? Maddry, or Marcydde?"
"You ask me?" the blonde girl snorted "Who cares?"
"Hey" James looked at her "Don't you and Amelia too have a friend now? The little frog with passion for stealth ambushes and sword-fighting, Ivy?"
"Well…she is thought" Sasha simply said crossing her arms, refusing to appear sympathetic.
"And she's much more pleasant to chat-spar than Miss Grumpy over here" Amelia pointed at Sasha, who silently glared at her.
Wally, for his part, did not looked convinced at all.
"Disgusting" he simply said, walking away.
"Grr, I wish I could give him a piece of my mind, without worrying about the other frogs in Wartwood would think…"
"Jacob!" Marcy said, grabbing his arm "It's no problem: we just have to prove we are good and kind, and they'll eventually learn to accept us and consider us part of them."
"Part of them?" Sasha looked at her friend "Mar-Mar! These frogs hates us: you remember what happens every time we even go take a walk? Whenever they look at us?"
"Ok guys" Sasha said, the camera zooming on her face "I know: I'm a strange creature, and you have never seen someone like me until a few times ago; and I know that some body…parts of me might look strange to you…and that you're not too keen on opening up to someone you might have know just now…but can you please stop hiding behind those tables and chairs, and looking at me as if I were a ferocious beast? !"
The camera showed back, showing that Sasha was standing on the entrance of a shop, while many frogs were hiding and using their tables to build a barricade between them…and her.
"I do not think I can understand what she said…but I believe she is hungry."
"Mom, please protect me!"
"Ugh, come on!"
"Uhm…" Marcy said, looking at the silent frogs in front of her. She knew she had to do a nice first impression with them, but with her social awkwardness and clumsiness, she had difficulty deciding what was the best way to do it.
What is the best way to prove my good intentions? Maybe I should smile? Yes, a smile, a big smile with many teeth!
"Hi…" she said, pushing her smile to the top. Unfortunately, as she smiled, the frogs screamed, some started to run, and in a matter of few seconds, she was alone. Again.
She sighed "Too many teeth…"
"Shh, here it is, here it is" the little frog shushed his friends, pointing to the slender figure who was sitting on the Plantar farm's roof, looking up "That…is the Stargazer."
"Wow, he's even uglier than I imagined."
"I wonder what he is thinking…"
"Can't you guess? Probably, he is wondering how many worlds are there to plunder and ravage…or maybe, he is trying to get in contact with their similar, so they can send an invasion forces and…"
"hey, you kids?" James called out on them, from the roof "You're downwind: I can hear you!"
"Gaaah" the young frogs scattered running away, just as the window below opened and Spirg emerged
"What happened?"
"Just some nosybugs on the bushes. Go back to sleep, Sprig" James smiled at him."
"Uh, never heard of them before…"
"You beasts should learn to stay away from Wartwood!" Toadstoll complained.
"Seriously, we're not doing anything wrong," Jacob replied, as Amelia watched silently behind him, "We're here because we went for a walk in the woods, and this is the most direct route."
"Don't lie: I know that you actually want to feed on the poor, innocent frogs of this town!"
"For goodness sake!" Amelia put her hand on her hat "We don't eat frogs!"
"Above all, they are all skin and bones. You, on the other hand, Mr. Mayor, are much fatter and fleshier..."
"Ahhh!" Toadstoal shouted, running away indecorously as Toadie chased after him saying, "Mr. Mayor: it is not beneficial to your image to run away in such an unseemly manner..."
Amelia turned Jacob a look full of condemnation.
"What is it? I didn't mean...really, I was just teasing him..."
"When we get back…I'm sooo telling your mom…"
"Face it, Mar-Mar: no matter what we do, they still treat us as…monsters."
But suddenly, Hop Pop's voice was heard screaming, from inside of the house.
"What was that?"
"Was that Hop Pop?"
"Maybe he's in danger!"
"Sounds like he's in VERY big trouble. We're coming, Hop Pop!"
Sprig and Anne rushed inside, quickly followed by Jacob, Sasha, James and Marcy.
"Whoa! What happened in here?" Anne said, as she saw that the basement (alias, their current room and sleeping place) was flooded with unclean water.
"Bloody frogs!"
"What the-"
"Look out!" Marcy said as the moved on the stairs last, with so much impetus that she felt on James, who pushed Sasha and generated a domino effect…making everyone fall on the dirty water.
"Marcy!" Jacob protested, as they all re-emerged.
"Sorry: I tripped again" she said with an embarrassed smile.
"Ugh, now I'm also soaked with dirty unclean water" Sasha grumbled, wishing so far for an Earth-made shower.
"At least I'm no more angry at myself for falling in that water barrel before" James commented
However, all of them experienced a small jump-scare as Hop Pop emerged too, screaming.
"Stay back! Move out of the water: is dangerous"
"Sure, sure" Sasha said, slowly getting out and starting to check how much wet she had got.
"Hop Pop, what happened?" Amelia asked.
"It was those darned burrow bugs: must have chewed the water pipes!"
"Our room, our stuff!" Sasha, Anne and Marcy said at the same time in horror.
"Don't worry, girls." Hop Pop said, placing their backpacks on the still-dry stair step "I saved all of your stuff. Except your beds. And the blankets. And the pillows, pencils, T-shirts, hairbrushes…" he corrected himself, noticing every of the aforementioned items floating.
"It's times like this that I'm glad I have a waterproof backpack!" Jacob said, seeing his backpack floating by, grabbing it and checking its contents "Compliments of the Walhalla rock tour! Hey, Amelia, some of your stuff got saved!"
"It's enough for me that my phone, my katana and my hat were saved: otherwise, I didn't have much of anything important."
"Me too: benefits of ending up here by accident." James said in turn.
"Just how long till it's fixed?" Anne asked
"Well, first I gotta find the leak, then patch it up good. Then, we can drain the water out."
"Oh, let me help!" Sprig said.
"Yeah, can I help too?" Marcy suggested.
"Oh, no, ya don't! This here is river water. No tellin' what creepy critters are swimmin' around."
Sasha and Amelia both looked at the water: sure, it looked inert, but still, Hop Pop's words were enough to make the shiver: Sasha still remembered (and told Amelia about) the large lake snake they met on their early days.
"Uh, so where am we gonna sleep?" Anne spoke again, addressing at the elephant in the room.
"Well, the living room ain't no palace, but the couch is comfy." he said, before noticing the obvious issue "Still, it's not very big, and since you are six…"
"Uh, hello?" Sprig said, swinging his tongue to Anne "Anne can bunk with me in my room. How fun will that be?"
"What?" Sasha asked, while Amelia gave an aside glance.
"Roommates? Heck yeah!" she bumped with him.
"Huh, Sprig?" James looked at him "I do not want to be pessimist, but I doubt we can all share your room."
"I agree with him" Hop Pop spoke up again "Bein' friends is one thing, but roommates? Ya think ya know someone until they're in your space and you're in theirs, and ya can't stand how they whistle all the time, and they complain whenever ya clean your web crusties out. "Yes, I have to do it in our room! It has the best lighting!" My point is—they're already gone, huh?"
"Yep, since you said bein' friends" Sasha coldly said, "Boonchuy…has always been quite enthusiastic when it comes to friendships."
"Ok, about you…"
"No need to worry, Hop Pop" Jacob said "I already have a plan for tonight: if everything works, I'm settled for as long as you need to fix the leak!"
"Yeah, me too!" James nodded "I might still require assistance, but I'll let you know if we do. So far, I have a plan too."
"Cool: we're survivors bros!" Jacob high-fived James, and the two quickly moved outside.
"Well, I guess we are just you, Amelia and me, right Mar-mar" Sasha said, looking to her friends "Mar-mar?"
Marcy, meanwhile, was writing something on a small paper, her smile grin growing every seconds, her eyes glowing with excitation as she kept adding calculations and drawing on the paper.
"Marcy, you ok?"
"Yes, Amelì, yes I'm fine" Marcy suddenly said, turning around "It's just that…I might just had an idea on how to help clean up the flood and restore our bedroom: I'm going to make… an automatic pump!"
"A what?" Hop Pop asked, puzzled.
"It's something from our world: basically, is something that could clean up the whole basement out of the water, in much less time and with much less manual work than if we simply had to empty it by buckets" Sasha said, before turning to face her friend "Mar-mar, I wouldn't say it is a good idea, but there is still time before Hop Pop here manages to fill that leak…"
"That means I have time to develop and upgrade it!" Marcy said, rushing outside.
"Should we bother to take care of her bed place?" Amelia looked at Sasha.
"No need for that yet" the blonde girl replied "Marcy is like that: she'll sleep whenever she feel like. At worst, Anne will share her place with her."
"Then you two are the last one left" Hop Pop said, "If you do not need the couch…"
"DIBS!" Amelia yelled, and rushed back on the living room.
"Dibs? What dibs?" Sasha looked back at her with shock "Oh no you don't. You cannot call dibs when I'm here!" she yelled, rushing behind Amelia to the couch.
"And they're settled too" Hop Pop Sighed "Still, Sprig and Anne, you should mark my words though: no good will come of sharing a room. No good at all…"
"Here we have it." Sprig said, opening the door and showing to Anne the interior of his own room.
"Whoa." she said with marvel, looking around. On the right, there was Sprig's bed (little more than a hammock fitted with a blanket and pillow), and above it, a shelf with some strange dolls; under the bed, some books and wooden objects including a crude sword. A shelved cabinet housed, in addition to a copy of Sprig's googles, other books and a few bowls of unknown contents; under the window, a large semi-circular wooden table with a carved stool, and a magnifying glass resting on it; various plants and more diverse objects (including a carnivorous plant).
On the left, Sprig was finalizing the temporary bed for her: a mattress and pillow, resting on the ground. Little stuff, but enough for the duration of cohabitation.
"Awesome digs, Sprig."
"Thanks. I'll give you the grand tour. Let's start with the crown jewels." she pointed at the dolls just above his bed.
"Oh, cool. A doll collection."
Sprig chuckled, before getting all serious "No. These are my action figures of the Great Battle of-"
"Incoming!" Anne's voice yelled, and Sprig was hit face-first by a pillow "Oh, sorry, dude."
"What was that?" he protested.
"What? Haven't you ever had a pillow fight before-"
"Heads up!" Sprig sneak-attacked Anne back.
Anne grinned, "Oh, it's on!"
"It's fun 'cause it doesn't hurt!" Sprig said, before an hit from Anne's pillow instantly proved him wrong "Ow! he swung his pillow again, but he almost dropped an hit on one of his action figures "Oops! Just gonna move General Bogbreath safely over here."
"Yeah, gotta keep that doll out of harms way-" Srpig's pillow hit her on the stomach "Ooh!"
"Time in!"
Meanwhile, just outside of the farm building, both Jacob and James were busy settling on their own original ideas for a sleeping place for the night.
"What's it going to take?" said Jacob rhetorically, tightening the knot tightly "A nice hammock, two stitches so I can hang it, a pillow to rest my head on...and there's my new sleeping arrangement ready, at least until the room is cleared of water."
The place Jacob had chosen for his own bed was a couple of trees a couple of yards from the farmhouse, close enough to the building to allow him to go back in whenever he needed something. At the base of one of the two trees, Jacob had laid his backpack, with everything that was his and had been saved (minus Amelia's things, which he returned to her) at the base of the tree, including the long, sturdy quarterstaff that Loggle had made, and which he had adopted as his personal weapon.
"There you have it: the weather is humid but not too much, so I won't freeze to death; the night is quiet, no rain, no wind...and I have a beautiful starry sky to look at as I fall asleep."
James, like Jacob, also wanted to stargaze while trying to get to sleep, but not wanting to stray even a short distance from the house, for fear of the giant insects that lived nearby, and not wanting to risk the mud, he had decided to resort to an even...more original solution.
"Why sleep on the ground floor when there's a nice sturdy log that looks like it was put here on purpose?" said James as he set up his temporary bed on the giant log that made up part of the Plantar farm "Up here I'll be sheltered from every possible insect, and I'll be closer to the stars" he looked up at the firmament that was beginning to fill with bright lights "Cassiopeia, Major Hour and the Pleiades... none of you are visible from this place, and perhaps they don't even exist, but it will be my specific task to compose the stars and constellations of this strange and peculiar world."
With Marcy's help, James had begun writing a kind of map of the stars he observed each night, and each day he would compare them in search of new lights he had never seen before; once he was sure he had a rough idea of the stars visible from Amphibia, he would begin cataloging and grouping them.
"Um, tough this log," said James feeling the effect the log generated on his back, "Never mind: I'm sure the stars will lead me to a peaceful regenerative sleep..."
"So, by recalibrating the power, making a couple of changes to the crank operating system and replacing the main power source with a pedal motor, I could increase the effective efficiency by 17 percent, while reducing the effort required on our part...not enough!"
Marcy, for her part, was sitting on the table in Hop Pop's study, and with pen and paper, she was designing a pump, activated by hand via a system of levers and a pedal motor like a bicycle, that would allow them to completely empty the basement of water once the leak was repaired. Of course, Marcy being Marcy, the project had grown from simple to incredibly complex as she was intent on thinking of increasingly specialized ways to make the project more powerful, competitive, and easy to use.
"Uh, Marcy?"
The human girl turned, and saw Polly just beyond the studio entrance.
"Polly, are you all right?"
"Quite, but I'm curious: why did you lock yourself in Hop Pop's studio? And what are you doing?"
Marcy stood up, reached Polly and picked her up, carrying her to the table "You see, there was a leak..."
"I already know," replied the tadpole, "Sprig told me when he took Anne to her room."
"Anne and Sprig are going to be roommates?" said Marcy smiling "That's great!"
"Huh, kind of," replied Polly, whose thoughts, however, were going in a different direction "What are you doing?"
"Oh, I'm devising a solution: this project is for a special pump, a crank-activated machine connected to a long pipe, which will allow us to completely empty the basement in a short time and with much less effort; through the tradition generated..."
"And you designed all this in one day?"
"I've always been partial to clever solutions. However, Sasha and Anne have never allowed me to put my knowledge into practice: they say it is...risky...
"Mr. Rector, I don't understand either," said the chemistry professor, looking transfixed, "it is scientifically impossible to set water on fire-I can't even imagine how such a thing could happen!"
"And yet…" the dean pointed to the water-filled cup, where flames where vigorously burning "I suggest we keep this incident hidden."
"Yeah, I guess that too."
Polly gave a glance to the blueprints: somehow, it looked…understandable, to her.
"So, you're going to build it?"
"Of course!" Marcy said in her usual enthusiasm "Once I'll be satisfied with my project, I'll start working on it, so when the leak will be fixed, we will be able to empty the basement from the water a.s.a.p."
"And you're sure this thing will work?"
"As I am sure that in five months, you'll get your legs!"
Polly smiled, as she remembered Marcy's prevision: sure, she had no way to know if she was right, but knowing when she would be able to walk on her own, with no more need for assistance or her bucket of water made her fell…warm, inside.
"Then…what if I help you with this?"
Marcy's eyes gleamed "Polly, you…you want to help me?"
"Well, it beats what I usually do. Plus, this thing you're writing down looks interesting, and I might have some ideas…"
"Oh, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you!" Marcy said, grabbing Polly and hugging her…maybe a little too much for her liking.
"You're crushing me!" Polly protested.
"Ops, sorry! Anyway…I'll be happy to accept your help!"
"Good. By the way, did you have a place to sleep for tonight? All the others settled, each on their own…"
"I'll settle when I'm done; after all, I still have time to think of it!"
Polly looked outside, and at the sky that was turning darker already: was she serious? Didn't she fear that if she waited too much, she would not have a place to sleep for the night?
Well, it wasn't her call.
As she left, jumping as much as she could, Marcy resumed on her writing work, focusing on it and quickly forgetting, as her usual, about everything else around her…
"Ok Amelia" Sasha said, glaring at the wannabe Ronin in front of her, glaring back at her "I'll be generous, and give you one last chance to back down: the couch is mine."
"No, Sasha" Amelia quickly replied, her glare cold as ice "You have one last chance to back down."
The two girls said nothing more, silently facing each other's. Sure, the couch wasn't the best place to sleep in each's opinion, but considering it was the best option so far (and no one of them wanted to risk being forced to sleep on the floor or in Bessie's stable), both Sasha and Amelia wanted it for themselves.
Problem is: nor Sasha nor Amelia still liked each other too much, and were quite unwilling to share it.
"Shouldn't samurai be used to stay awake all nights? I need to keep my beauty sleep."
"A real warrior's rest cannot even be negated; especially by someone spoiled as you."
"Wait, wait" Sasha suddenly said "This is useless: we will not be able to find an agreement if we simply keep on arguing."
"I have to admit you are right on it: we have to find a better solution to settle on the couch."
"Then, there can only be one way" Sasha grinned, grabbing her pillow as Amelia "Pillow fight?"
"Prepare to be annihilated" Amelia grinned in turn.
The two girls raised their pillow, and soon after, a battel began, for the right to claim the couch: Sasha's blows were harder, but Amelia was faster. Only after ten minutes of fruitless effort, both girls sat on the still-unclaimed couch, both tired from the fight, their arms aching, still glaring at each other.
"I guess we can't overcame each other with simple pillows" Sasha groaned, "It would require too much time for me to crush you."
"Before you suggest it, I would remind to you that Hop Pop would not like if we start an impromptu sword fight inside. Tough, I would definitively cream you on it."
"Yeah, tough luck. You have a better idea?"
Amelia looked around "Well, the couch looks large enough; we could move some chairs in there and make it a bed large for both…"
Sasha gleamed "Fine. However, this does not mean things are settled between us: we are not friends."
"Thank you, I would never want to be one. I still cannot see what Anne and Marcy sees in you!"
"They appreciate you, just like you do not do with Jacob!"
The two girls roared at each other, and for a few seconds, another fight seemed to start. before Amelia pouted and moved on to prepare the covers and pillows on the couch-bed.
"Good night, you queen bee!"
"Good night, you ignorant fake Asian!"
Back on Sprig's room, he and Anne had since finished their own friendlier pillow fight and were now resting on their respective beds, waiting for sleep.
"So, Sprig, would you rather sweat melted cheese or always smell like skunk?"
"Uh, sweat melted cheese. Frogs don't sweat, so I'd be cheese-free."
"Frogs don't sweat? Uh, jealous!" she grimaced "Okay, next question. Sprig?" she then noticed he had felt down sleeping all of sudden "Psst! Sprig? Sprig? Sprig? Sprig, Sprig, Sprig. Hey, Sprig!" she trew her pillow at him, waking him abruptly "You awake?"
"Oh, yeah" he replied "totally."
"Okay, good. So, next question."
Outside, Jacob was snoring quite loudly, the gentle wind of the night lulling him in his hammock: from an external point of view, he looked relaxed and soundly asleep, with nothing being able to wake him again.
Until his ears heard a buzzing sound, and he raised his head.
"What's that?" he said, looking around a little but "Oh, it was probably nothing…" he reassured himself, before sitting down again to sleep.
But he heard the buzz again, and he sat down for the second time.
"Wait a minute…now that I think about it, that buzzing was quite familiar. Wasn't it the sound that I heard back home when there were…" he suddenly gulped, his eyes enlarged, and a "this is gonna suck" expression appeared on his face "…mosquitos?"
He looked a little above of himself, and he realizes that, yes, Amphibia had mosquitos too, and one of them was flying a few meters above him. Of course, the fact that it was an Amphibian mosquito also meant that it was quite bigger and larger, with a winged span of nearly three meters, a stinger that looked like a giant needle, and red eyes of an evil nature.
"Okay, I guess I didn't calculate this passage," Jacob said, reaching out to his quarterstaff. The big mosquito noticed (or maybe, it was just irritated by the human's movement) and threw itself at him, while Jacob desperately tried to defend himself...
"Cassiopeia…Alpha Centauri…aaagh! It's useless!" James yelled with anger, moving with displeasure "This hard log is too uncomfortable! A stone bench in the park, that would be an improvement over this!"
From the moment he had lain down, James had quickly realized that the log he had chosen as a temporary bed, was far less comfortable and convenient for his back than he had imagined, and instead of getting used to it, now his spine was vibrating with pain, clamoring for a soft mattress. Even his most effective method of making himself sleepy, namely reviewing stars and constellations, had failed.
"Please let me sleep, if not to rest, at least because I'm about to collapse from exhaustion!"
He tried to sleep on his stomach, but the position was not stable and he still could not fall asleep. Sleeping on his side was even worse: nothing would assure him that he would not fall during sleep.
"Maybe I should have given that couch more consideration..."
"Get offa me!"
"Stop hitting me"
"Don't touch me, you bed parasite!"
As Jacob was busy fighting against the large mosquito and James desperately tried to find a better position to sleep, Sasha and Amelia were trying to share the couch. Still, even with some chairs added to make more space, it was quite small, and thus they both ended quarreling for the living space's right.
"GAAH!" Sasha suddenly yelled, feeling something icy cold touch her.
"Quit trashing around: you're messing the bed!"
"Well, then, you keep your icy feet off my back!"
"Your back was in my area!"
"YOUR area? Your cold feet were invading my personal space!"
"Listen: this is your side, this is the demilitarized zone, and this is my side!"
"All of that? Are you kidding me? Your side is way larger than mine!"
"They're the same!"
"No they aren't! Now back off!"
"Hey, don't you dare…"
"Or else?"
"That's it!" and both girls started a catfight to get a better bed space.
In Sprig's room, both Anne and Sprig were sleeping. However, Anne's rest was made harder by the fact that the temperature inside the room was too high for her, and even after she threw off the blanket, drops of profuse sweat continued to run down her face and the rest of her body.
"Mm! Uh! Melting." she said, opening the windows and letting the wind blows in "Ah, better."
It didn't last long, however, as a few minutes later Sprig moved back to the window, trembling and chattering his teeth from the cold.
"Uh, freezing." he said, closing the window and going back to sleep, not notcing Anne having spotted him and glaring…
"Hah!" shouted Jacob furiously, detaching the giant mosquito's head from the rest of the body with his quarterstaff "So, who is the champion, huh, huh? Who is it?"
The big mosquito beat its wings for a couple more seconds before it stopped, dead in its tracks.
"It was a hard and monstrous fight, but if sleep is of the just, I will make up for it abundantly."
Nevertheless, he could not withhold what he said, because as soon as he laid back on his hammock, he heard the buzzing again. Shocked, he looked up… and he saw at least twenty more giant mosquitos, looking at him.
"Aaaaaagh!" he yelled in a sleep-deprived, fury-powered rage, launching himself on the attack…
The next morning, Hop Pop and Polly were sitting around the table, Hop Pop preparing his classic breakfast
"Come on, kids, time to get up! Rise and shine!"
The door of the house burst open, and the two boys who had decided to sleep outside entered with shuffling steps. Both had conspicuous dark circles under their eyes and bags under their eyes, James held his hands on his back, while Jacob had a sketchy look on his face and giggled nervously.
"Wow, what happened?" asked Polly upon seeing them.
"I found out to my cost that if you don't usually sleep on the roof, there's a freakin' reason," said James as he sat down.
"And I faced a battalion of colossal mosquitoes. As big as eagles..." Jacob replied, lowering his head slightly to let himself sleep again ... only to hear the whispering of the pot, very similar, to his ear, to the noise produced by the mosquitoes.
"Agh! Where are they, where are they?" he said, looking around in a defensive pose, his eyes bloodshot, before calming down again "Oh, right…"
"At least, Sasha and Amelia will have had a quiet night on the couch..."
"Don't count on it," replied Sasha, arriving with Amelia at that moment. They too, like the two boys, had conspicuous dark circles under their eyes, but more importantly, they had several bruises on their faces and bodies, and messy hair.
"And what happened to you?"
"We had some...minor disagreement about the division of sleeping space..." said Amelia, turning her gaze toward Sasha "I'd like to hit you, but I'm too tired."
"Me too: on the bright side, I won't have any trouble swallowing this slop..."
"Hello guys!" Marcy gleamed, arriving at that moment. Unlike the others, she had neither dark circles under her eyes nor bags, nor did she appear tired and debilitated: in fact, in fact, she looked healthier than everyone else "What a beautiful day, don't you think?"
The four humans said nothing, but if looks had been words, Marcy would have found thousands of daggers stabbed into her back.
"Wow, that's some gloomy faces: what happened to you?"
"They all had trouble while sleeping: James had trouble sleeping on the roof..."
"A wood as hard as steel, my poor back!"
"Jacob...had to deal with mosquitoes..."
"Giant, monstrous killer mosquitoes!"
"And Sasha and Amelia...had trouble sharing the couch."
"The Third, Fourth and Fifth World Wars...of the Couch."
"Gee, I'm seriously sorry."
"Excuse me, Mar-mar," said Sasha noting her friend's excellent condition, "But where did you sleep? I haven't seen you all night, yet you appear fresh and rested."
"Oh, actually I didn't sleep," she admitted with an embarrassed smile "I was so excited about my pump project that I worked on it all night without realizing it: when I finished, I noticed that the sun had risen, and then Hop Pop announced breakfast, and so..."
Sasha looked at her: Marcy, the most studious and intelligent of the trio, had already pulled all-nighters without giving any visible evidence of it: thanks, among other things, to the enthusiasm that flowed steadily through her blood, and the many sugars in her diet.
"Wait a second, where is Anne?"
"Now that I notice it" Hop Pop said "Sprig is late too: I guess they are still sleeping. I'll go wake them up" he grabbed Polly and moved to the stairs.
"I'm coming with you!" Marcy said, moving as to follow Hop Pop. Meanwhile, the remaining four humans looked at the awful slop that was Hop Pop's made breakfast.
"Our self-made supplies of edible food was ruined during the flood" Jacob murmured "We should-we should go take more."
"Maybe…tomorrow" Amelia replied, as her face sank to the bowl, bubbling.
"Rise and shine, sleepyheads!" Hop Pop announced "Ya are missing breakfast!"
"Come on Anne-Banana!" Marcy appeared behind him "Time to wake up!"
Anne groaned, facing upside down "Ugh, Go away."
Polly pumped on Sprig, waking him up "First time I've ever seen you sleep in so late. What gives?"
"I froze solid in the night and finally just thawed."
"What?" Anne replied "It was like a swamp sauna in here. Maybe Sprig just needs another blanket."
"Or maybe Anne needs fewer blankets."
"Or maybe..."
"Huh-oh" Marcy intervened "Now that you tell this, I do notice there might a very little-tiny bit issue on here: humans and frog do not have the same circulation system."
"What does that mean?" Hop Pop asked.
"It's simple: you see, frogs, like all amphibians, are cold-blooded creature. Humans however are mammals, and mammals are hot-blooded."
"I do not know what that means, but that sounds disgusting."
"It means that frogs cannot control their own internal temperature" Marcy nodded "To keep themselves warm, they need keep themselves in warm environments, to avoid being frozen; but mammals, like humans, have no such issue. Since we can regulate our own body temperature, we feel the temperature less than you do: what to you is cold, for us is warm."
"Y'know" Hop Pop said, "We can still find another solution, in case there's trouble in paradise."
"No way. Pssh. It is no trouble. I am sure we can solve the issue in no time!
"Yeah. We're the best roommates in the history of roommates."
"Spranne against the world!"
"After you, best roomie."
"Why, thank you, also best roomie."
Hop Pop looked at them with a thoughtful look, while Marcy silently bit her lips in worry.
"They're gonna eat each other alive" Polly said.
"Oh, absolutely."
"Then there is no time to lose!" Marcy gasped, moving out of the room.
"Wait, and where are you going?" Hop Pop looked at her.
"I'm going to build the pump! Yesterday night I planned it all: I just need to build it, and then we can start with fixing the basement as soon as you can! Polly, you're in!"
"Lead the way!" the pollywog said, jumping on her arms.
"Ok, the pump is ready!" Marcy wiped out the sweat from her forefront, looking at her creation in front of her "Now, we just need to test it."
"Are you sure this things will work?" Polly asked.
"Sure thing. True, there might be some little setback, but this is why we are testing it: if my pedaling can generate enough pumping force to get the water from that barrel to the ground, then it we can use it immediate!"
"And after that? Hop Pop said we still need to find the leak first."
"Don't worry: I'm sure it's just a matter of a short time: Hop Pop might find it tomorrow already. And now…let's test!"
Marcy began to pedal, and for a few seconds, all seemed well: then, her foot caught on the pedal, her body fell forward, and the pump lost its grip on the water and wrapped itself all around her, trapping her in the remains of the now-destroyed pump.
"Um, I'm not going to be an expert," Polly said, hopping in front of her, "But this doesn't look like a promising start."
"No no, it's all right!" replied Marcy quickly, "I just have to make a few changes to the design, and take into account some practical difficulties that didn't appear in theory. Polly, will you help me out?
(Night 2)
Anne turn out the light and started to read a book of her and eating a snack, quite loudly. Sprig, who on the other side of the room was trying to sleep, faced the wall to avoid the light, and when Anne started munching, used his own pillow to cover his ears.
"If the mosquitos do not want to leave me alone, then I'll make myself repugnant to them!" Jacob grinned, greasing himself on some strange mush that Hop Pop had said to make a smell hated by them "Now, try to come and get me!"
He jumped on his hammock and tried to sleep…only for his nose to notice the problematic issue.
"Oh my frog!" he jumped up, grossed out "This smell is unbearable also to me: I need a shower!"
"I haven't found a replacement mattress," James said, "but this jar full of water will do just fine. Water mattress!"
He stretched out on the improvised mattress, but the seam must not have been very strong, or perhaps his weight was already too much, so the jar punctured and James fell to the left, off the roof and ending with a resounding "splash" in a familiar spot.
"Back in the barrel..."
"Sasha, stop!" Amelia hit her bedmate with the pillow.
"What do you want now?"
"You snore!" retorted the girl, "They can hear you all the way to the moon!"
"Not true!"
"Applying a different crank system instead of a pedal system..."
(Night 3)
Sprig slept while croaking, and the sound woke up Anne. Then, his tongue, swung all over to her bed place.
"This wooden cover will prevent me from being bitten by those damn mosquitoes!"
The mosquitoes came, and seeing the cover preventing them from stinging Jacob, they began to shake him with their stingers.
"Hey, stop! I'm not a piñata!"
"Come on stars…give me the strength to sleep…what are you laughing at?" James yelled, pointing at the smiling stars above him, making fun of his situation!
"Amelia!" Sasha woke her up.
"What?"
"You talk in your sleep: you were giving a lecture!"
"Lies: this was revenge for yesterday, wasn't it?"
"Reminder: add a mechanism system where I can't get stuck with my hand."
(Night 4)
Anne and Sprig took turns to open and close the window.
Jacob looked tiredly around, waving his quarterstaff.
James tried (unsuccessfully) to sleep on his stomach, to not look at the stars above him.
Sasha and Amelia were trying to sleep of the two opposite sides of the bed, trying to not look at each other.
"Addendum: The mechanism must no longer contain parts in which I can entangle or trap myself."
(Night 5)
Anne turned on the light and Sprig growled.
"Yeeeeh" Jacob growled, facing the mosquitos with a psychopathic look in his eyes and laughing mad
"I can't stand them anymore…why you betrayed me, stars? Why I have to suffer? WHY?!"
"You fake samurai!"
"You true swindler!"
"…not again. Why is this not working?"
(Night 6)
Sprig threws his wet towel on Anne. As she saw him cleaning his web crusties, she shuddered with visible disgust.
"I can't sleep, mosquitos will get me; I can't sleep, mosquitos will get me; I can't sleep, mosquitos will get me¸ I can't sleep…"
"Please, go away! I can't stand the sight of you anymore, you globus of white light!"
"You're a leech!"
"You're a parasite!"
"The mechanism still refuses to work properly. My friends are all losing their mind health, and I'm thinking I'm soon going mad too…"
(Night 10)
Anne picked up her clothes, but she inadvertently step on a roller-skate and felt, while the roller-skate hit the wall and almost made Sprig's action figure drop, until he caught it before it broke. They looked each other and laugh awkwardly.
"Is that my shirt?" Anne said, noticing the "Diva" T-shirt Sprig was wearing.
Meanwhile, on the flooded basement, Hop Poop was still looking for the leak, with no success so far.
"Hey, Hop Pop." Sprig said, opening the back door "How much longer, ya think? Tonight?"
"Not a chance." Hop Pop replied "This leak is hidden quite well."
"Oh, let me help, let me help! You know my underwater sight is better than yours. Eh? Eh?"
"That's a bunch of malarkey! My eyesight's fine!" he stopped for a moment "Who's that, Sprig? Anyway, don't you have chores to do?"
Sprig groaned, before going away, a few seconds before, on the opposite end of the room, the main door opened and Anne looked inside.
"Hey, Hop Pop, what's the ETA on things down here? Not that I'm in a hurry to move back in or whatever." she then noticed Hop Pop glaring at her "What? I'm just curious. A girl can't ask about her flooded makeshift bedroom without getting grilled? Sheesh."
"Hey, Hop Pop?" Jacob glanced from the same back door where Sprig had left "Any idea of when…"
Hop Pop simply looked at him.
"I guess that's a question for another time. See ya!"
Sprig yawned "Wow, what a long day. Goin' straight to bed, if I, uh, can get there without tripping over all these dirty clothes."
"I think it's your wet towels on the ground that'll get in your way." Anne replied
"I can leave my towels on the floor of my room." he muttered under breath.
"What was that?"
"Oh, nothing, best roomie. Anyways, good night."
"Hmph." she replied, checking the past photos on herself and Sprig on her phone. They looked so far away…
"Oh. Hey, Sprig, would you rather have a splinter you could never get out or get bit by a giant mosquito once a day forever?"
Sprig did not reply, simply grunting and shrugging. Anne then grabbed a pillow and moved toward him.
"Hey, Sprig."
"What, Anne?"
"Pillow fight!"
"No, wait, stop! Aaah!" he dodged, but he accidentally jumped and hit the highest of his shelves, making his action figure fall and break down.
"Oh, no! Y-Your doll- Uh, I mean, action figure." she stopped, embarrassed "Spranne against the world. Right?"
"I have to go to the bathroom" he replied blankly, still staring at her.
Anne sighed, before realizing a now-familiar issue "How is it still so hot in here?"
Meanwhile, back on the flooded basement, Sprig opened the main door and quickly went underwater, re-emerging a few seconds later.
"Where's that darn leak? Come on! Come on!"
He submerged again, and a few seconds later, Anne entered too. She looked around for a second, and then jumped underwater in turn.
Half a minutes later, both re-emerged at the same time, their backs turned, to take their breath.
"Oh, that leak has got to be around here somewhere."
"I know, right?"
Both gasped, as they realizes each other's presence and turned to see face to face.
"What are you doing here?"
"I was, uh, uh, feeling like a nighttime swim. What are you doing here?"
"Nighttime swim. As well."
"You came down here to fix the leak!" they gasped, realizing it "Yeah, well, so did you!"
"I knew it!" Sprig accused "You just couldn't wait to move out!"
"And you just couldn't wait to get rid of me! If you wanted me gone, you should have just said so-"
"Huh, guys?" another voice came from above.
Sprig and Anne turned, and saw now that Jacob, Amelia, Sasha, Marcy and James were looking at them from the staircase.
"Hey, what are you doing here?" Anne pointed her fingers at them.
"Why we simply do not admit it?" Marcy replied, "It is clear that our current situation do not satisfy anyone, and we all came here to look for that leak and fix it."
"I can't sleep outside anymore!" Jacob said, "I cannot even sleep for a second, for that giant mosquitos came at me every night! I think I'll go mad if this keeps going!"
"And I can no more sleep on that hard and uncomfortable roof: I'm starting to hate the stars due to this! Can you imagine it? Me…hating…STARS!"
"And I can no more share the couch with her! No offense Sasha, but if we have to share the bed ever again…I think I'll end up eating you intestines. Raw."
"None taken. And I do think that if I have to sleep again with you, I'll have to break you in pieces so small they'll end up mistaken for atoms. No offense from my part too, of course."
"Anyway" Marcy said "Since is clear that all of us simply want to remove that leak, how about we simply decides to foregone our small conflicts and work together to fix our issue?"
"Fix our issue? We have no issue!"
"Yeah, I mean…"
"Anne, Sprig, I know that you are friends" Jacob spoke "But if this story keeps going, your friendship will be destroyed. Having an excellent relations with each other do not matter when you're forced to share your private space. Sure, you, Sasha and Marcy are used to do it, but it works for you because you're used by now to your respective issues: everyone has their little flaws, and they need a little private space for certain moments."
"Wow, that is the most smart thing you ever said" Sasha looked at him.
"I guess that my brain cannot take it anymore: it needs his blood supply. Now, let's work together and-"
But before he could complete his words, Anne felt something grabbing her leg and an instant later, she was dragged underwater by…something.
"Aah!"
"Anne!" all the humans, plus Sprig, said with horror.
"Something's got my leg!" Anne yelled, struggling to stay on the surface.
"Hang on. I'm coming" but something grabbed him and dragged him too.
"Sprig!"
"Resist little guy!" Amelia yelled, jumping on the water, followed by everyone else. As soon as she was underwater, she saw that the aggressors were large snake-like fishes, that being river lampreys. She pointed them, as Jacob and herself attacked the one grabbing Sprig's, while Marcy, Sasha and James went on to help Sprig, swimming above once they were free.
Once they were all back in surface, however, they quickly realized two facts: first, the river lampreys were much more than just two. And they were surrendering them.
"River lampreys! What are we gonna do?"
"They're fast and agile, we can't fight them underwater!"
"And they're blocking our only retreat: if we try to run for the staircase, they will block us!"
Anne looked around, and then she noticed their old blankets, mattresses and pillows, still floating since the basement was flooded.
"Huh, guys, are you thinking what I am thinking?"
Sasha noticed the gleam in Anne's eyes, and smirked in turn "I believe we are, Boonchuy. Yes, we are!"
"Pillow fight!" the six humans (plus Sprig) yelled at the same time, attacking the river lampreys.
Sprig and Anne attacked the first one: while Sprig dived underwater and hit it to above water, allowing Anne to hit it back.
Jacob grabbed the wet mattress, and looked at the second one "You sure looks like a tough guy, but after facing a whole army of mosquitos every night…you are zero!" he yelled, attacking it.
Two other lampreys moved toward Amelia and Sasha, howling mendaciously.
"Looks like these guys just made a tactical error" Amelia smirked.
"Why?" Sasha asked her "You think they cannot take you?"
"Maybe, maybe not. But I do know one thing."
"What?"
Amelia's grin full bloomed in an evil smile "I've been suppressing the urge to beat the crap out of some leechy and parasite thing who looks EXACTLY like this, for a long, long time."
Sasha evil-smiled in turn "What a coincidence: me too."
The two lampreys stopped moving, and seeing the expression of the two girl, maybe DID realize they were making a tactical advantage: too late however, as Sasha and Amelia charged at them, pillows and sheets turned in impromptu weapons.
"YAAH!"
"HADOKEN!"
Of the remaining lampreys, one was already under James 'brutal attack, both physically and mentally.
"Do you think this is back hurt?" James vented as he kept hitting it with the pillow "This is nothing to real back hurt! You know nothing about back hurt!"
Then, in a last ditch-attempt, the last remaining lamprey rushed to help the ones under attack of both Sprig and Anne, and together, they started a spinning attack.
"No way" Marcy gleamed "Lampreys can spin-attack?"
"Come on. Come on." Anne muttered, noticing it. Then, as the lampreys jumped above the water to attack, she hit them using the pillow as a racket, sending them flying to the wall.
"Backhand!"
"Take that, thief of living space! And this! And this!" shouted Amelia, violently striking the lamprey, causing it to retreat at great speed.
"You were getting too much pleasure, baby." Sasha smiled at her.
"So I let it out. But no reference for those present."
Sasha turned and hit another lamprey with a violent punch to the snout, sending it flying away and impacting it in turn against the wall "The same goes for me."
"Had enough, river losers?" Anne taunted.
"There's more where that came from," said Sprig.
At this point, the lamprey herd decided that it was no longer worthwhile to continue resisting. Two of them launched a new bolted attack toward the floor, digging a hole and creating a passage for the other lampreys to follow and escape. Along with the lampreys, the water in the basement drained away, remaining only a short level and again allowing them to "touch" the bottom.
"And you should never come back!" James yelled, agitating his fist.
It was then that the door to the basement opened, and Hop Pop, carrying Polly, appeared.
"What the heck's going on down here?"
"Some of us are trying to sleep!" Polly screamed, visibly enraged to have been woke up.
"Oh, uh, hi, Hop Pop." Anne shrugged, as all of them shared an embarrassing smile.
"Let me guess: the roommate thing didn't work out, huh?"
Both Anne and Sprig sighed "Not really."
"I just couldn't live with him! The wet towels, the heat, the humidity. The web crusties." she said with visible disgust.
"The loud snacking. The freezing cold. Lights on at all hours. Guess Spranne really is a bust." he sighed again.
"Yeah."
"Why? Because you're finally talking? Sharing a room doesn't make you friends. Being honest with each other does. In fact, if you ask me, you're better friends now than you were before."
"That's what we were telling them too." Sasha jerked up.
"And what about you? I guess you too had … issues?"
"Yes; I guess Amelia and me are…too much competitive and aggressive to share the same bed."
"And I do no more want to sleep outside with those mosquitos" Jacob nodded.
"And the roof is too hard, my back cannot take it more!"
"And in retrospect" Marcy smiled nervously "I do believe so fare some old-fashioned buckets are still the best way to clean up this mess."
"That's good to hear: at least you learned from your mistakes. Now, I guess you are all back in business, huh?"
Both Anne and Sprig smiled
"Of course we are!"
"Yes! Spranne is back and better than before!
They both made makes their own handshake, laughing again. Sasha, Jacob and Marcy smiled seeing their friend happy once again.
"Aw, how sweet." Polly said, before returning to her usual tone "So where's everyone gonna sleep now? Not with me; my bucket's for one!"
"Actually" Hop Pop said, "I might have a couple of ideas on how to fix each one's issues…"
Later on, Anne was in the couch-turned bed in the living room, the windows open and the temperature cool enough to make her comfortable. With another chair added, now it was large enough to accommodate Anne … plus her two bedmates.
"Just like old times" Marcy said as she got comfortable between her two friends "A girls-only sleepover on our own!"
"Don't mind me" Jacob said, a couple of meters to their left "Just relaxing and savoring the fact that no mosquito is going to bother me tonight."
"How did you managed to convince Amelia to take the hammock?" asked Sasha
"Turns out the reason why mosquitos kept pestering me is that I have "sweet blood": they liked the taste of it. However, my cousin do not share it: thus, she is quite safe from them!"
Jacob glanced outside for a second, and saw Amelia sleeping on the hammock: the mosquitos were there, but aside for a few glances, they were not bothering her, and she was sleeping soundly, with no bother.
"And why you insisted to readapt this old lifeboat to act as your bed?"
"With this, I can lully myself to sleep; plus, should there be another leak, I am covered. Still hope I am not bothering you…"
"Believe me, as long as you stay on your own bed, I do not care" Sasha replied.
"By the way, how's James adapting to sleep on the upper side of Bessie's stable? Is the hay as soft as Hop Pop described it?"
"This is marvelous!" James said on his own, back to the stable, sleeping on the large haystacks "Is like sleeping on a cloud!"
"I guess he'll adapt." Jacob smiled.
"Here you go, girls." Sprig said, bringing some snacks for all of them "Some super-loud snacks you can munch on."
"Aw, thanks, Sprig."
"Thank you, Spriggie!"
"Well, thanks…"
"No problem. Anything else I can get ya?"
"We are all good. See you in the a.m."
"Okay. Good night, everyone!"
The girls then focused each one on an occupation: Sasha checking an app on her phone, Anne eating the snacks and eating a book, while Marcy brought the spell books Maddie gave to her.
"You sure are very interested in that book" Anne noticed "How long before you can become a real witch?"
"Yep: it is much stuff, but I guess I'm already getting on it. Besides…"
But then, a can with a spring connected to it felt down from the window, in Anne's lap.
"Hello?" Anne asked
"So, Anne," Sprig's voice came out of the can "would you rather smell like rotten eggs or have hiccups every day for the rest of your life?"
"Oh, good one. I think I'd..." but her words stopped as all the three girls saw water rising from the floor as the living room flooded too.
"Didn't anyone fix the leak?"
"I thought we had forgotten something!"
"Ugh! Not again!"
"Lifeboat bed…" Jacob singed, as he simply floated around.