DISCLAIMER

The following is a fan-based

FICTION

Las Lindas and other products set in the same universe are all owned by Chalo/Chalosan and SoulKat.

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Chapter 22: It's all about Curiosity


Mora and I were given the ultimate confirmation of Hope's good-will as soon as Taffy was back from the planned session with the Gazelle Prime.

The pinkette mentioned how it was just a single session with no promises or obligations to a continuation. The reasoning behind this decision was more tied to a 'need' of her to regain confidence in the environment she felt the safest before venturing out this early on. A solid argument which quickly brought forth a couple of interesting situations at the farm. First was a clear indication that Taffy was spending a lot of time chatting with both Randal and Sander. I knew the two weren't going to jump at the opportunity to make any ruckus, nor were they the kind of guys that were keen to risk their current predicament by urging an immediate relationship with the girl. This didn't extend to Idward, and not without good reasons.

It was clear the writer had put a stop on seeking romantic companionship, and yet he seemed to still keep a pseudo-flirty attitude with Mora. It was enough to grate on her nerves, but clearly not enough to warrant some serious investigation from anyone. He was just being jovial, and while that was a good mood to keep despite the circumstances falling upon him, that really left me questioning how he managed to just get up with ease. He did give the impression of someone that was really interested in the Cow Prime, so it just felt really weird that he was recovering so quickly about it without him plotting something or… or something else was afoot and I had yet to catch onto that. Nothing strange at the farm at first glance, but Digit sure had been having some issues in dealing with some 'critters' she had spotted flying around the house. Nobody else had noticed except the Nanozell Spirit, and while everyone was quick to rule this out as a mere mistake on the girl's part, I had given her the chance to prove she was right and didn't imagine it.

"Next time you see those 'fairies', you could simply record them and procure yourself proof about their existence."

She huffed when I said that, crossing her arms by her chest. "I-I tried that, but the digital recording just didn't keep the presence of the two creatures. Just some sound distortion remained."

While that would quickly suggest that there was something wrong with her system, I was more considerate of the fact that she actually 'caught' something. Even something as a minimal noise that didn't match with the normal ones here at the farm was supposedly something that was to be investigated and studied thoroughly. So, instead of just shooting her interest down, I went for plan B or, something that had to bring some confirmation to her thesis.

"How about you record their heat pattern? I believe you have the equipment for that," I argued and she paused and tensed up. It didn't take long for her to actually accept this as it was a legitimately good plan for her to work with. Soon Digit was sporting a big grin at that idea.

"Since I've managed to detect them through their heat, it should be easy to record them through that lens… yes, that could work!" She replied happily, her bubbly mood urging her to do quite the amusing gesture, latching onto my face and nuzzling cheeks with me for a while. "Thanks!"

I chuckled, hugging her back and keeping her around for a while before letting her free to go through her tasks and resumed my shift. She retreated with a fresher and more determined mood, but not before delivering a single sentence that left me surprised, confused and perplexed all at the same time.

"See you later, dad!"

It's been a while since Digit had been sneaking the word 'dad' and 'mom' to respectively address me and Mora. I wasn't sure if this was actually something Nanozell Spirit were known to do, or perhaps it was just something tied more to the bond created between the Spirit and the partner for life they got. Since the owner of the farm had taken a motherly attitude when dealing with Digit, by correlation I became Digit's father. At least, that's how far of a theory I could stretch before going through uncharted territory. I had little about it myself, and I didn't have the capacity to dig more on the matter without Digit herself realizing what I was doing. And that could have easily turned in an awkward situation on my side of things.

With the predicament with Digit mostly solved as she moved to handle this matter on her own, I found myself enjoying a couple of days of mostly calm at the farm. The hard work was still up and draining, but not enough to push me to ask for a legitimate training. I had managed to build up my past's capacity to face the farm life, and my stamina definitely improved through that. It was all in all a simple week, but one that was as turbulent as the last few due to the usual issues. The situation with Sandy was 'stable', or as much as it could get. It was clear to me that the young woman had yet to confirm or not if she was 'happy' with the situation or perhaps in need to twist things to her advantage. Knowing how fierce her personality was, I doubted she was just going to accept the Status Quo without a fight. Same for Rachael, except this time the Cat Prime was precise with her attempts.

It became fairly obvious with the way she became suddenly 'close and personal' when greeting me. Hugs, not shying away from being close to me when possible without leaving me in a situation where I could lament about this matter without sounding too harsh… but I was spared from this attitude the times either Mora or Sarah were around us. Determination was high, but I couldn't say the same about her common sense.

Despite these bumps, everything was… mostly fine. I got a couple of strange messages from Tootsie regarding being sleepless due to recent issues back at the company. The last few attempts committed by Alejandra had proven to be more than enough to enforce a summon from the Board of Directors itself and demand explanations. Something that favored Sirius from a call I had with him a little after that discovery to have more insight on the matter. The Wolf Prime was ambitious, but not with good morals. While he would have normally moved to remove someone like Alejandra from the leadership for the action she did in the last few months, there were important reasons why that would actually be unproductive for Alexandria Dairy. Beyond her harsh approach at the rise of competition, the woman had been behind the critical points that heightened her company to the level it was now. Albeit unusual and draining, the only thing that she got was an admonishment to not try to do it again.

After learning of this entire situation, I offered him to visit Las Lindas whenever he was free so we could speak freely on this matter, but he politely declined and mentioned that him going to a competitor's headquarters would spell his discharge in the eyes of the executives. Something that I understood and that it slightly annoyed me since it prevented me from genuinely getting to speak more with the childhood friend. Returning back to Tootsie… I was worried about the girl. I knew the smart cookie knew how to swerve away from danger in case things got too hot, but I couldn't just stop worrying and so I planned to call her on at least a weekly basis.

With that burden out of the way in most part, a curious circumstance happened while I was taking a break from the first shift. Sarah would usually come back to the house to get some apple juice or a quick soda drink before going back to the orchard, but the blonde had for some reason skipped her usual visit. Something that wasn't missed by Taffy, and the Bunny Prime asked me to go and check what it was all about. I had seen the young woman being thoughtful from time to time just recently, and I knew it had to do with the books about Goblins that she had been reading for some time now.

A little gift left by Idward as he noticed how the Cat Prime loved anything tied to Fantasy, with D&D being a common factor that saw her, the writer and Taffy herself joining in lengthy sessions of adventuring and exaggerated reactions. Fairly loud, but still a normal situation from what Digit could see on the matter. Nothing that could have exactly prepared me to face quite an interesting problem the girl had been having for some time now.

Something that was tied to her interest in 'doing something she liked and found worthwhile'. While retrieving apples wasn't going to be the only job she was going to be busy for the rest of her life, there hadn't been much of a discussion to entertain what she could do once she could shift to another kind of job. A debate that had troubled the blonde's mind for a while now and that had escalated in quite the heated conversation with Rachael. While the older sibling had been a 'pest' of sorts towards me, the reasoning she forwarded was wrong as it came to what Sarah wanted. While it was fine to pursue the kind of work that was best suited to one's likes and strengths, that didn't mean one was allowed to just throw themselves at a work without a solid basis of success. And the one Sarah wanted to have wasn't exactly one that would have secured her a decent future by all means.

I arrived at the orchards to find that three of the four caskets Sarah was supposed to have filled with apples for the remainder of the day had been placed at the entry of the area. I also noticed the ones assigned to Randy and the big guy managed to get five of those already stuffed with the juicy red fruits. Venturing inside the deep-green area, I expected to find Sarah sitting somewhere around and just wasting time with her books about fantastic creatures, and I was confused when I found her lying on a tree branch, skulking and looking modestly annoyed.

"Sarah?" I called at her, the girl's blue eyes slowly shifting away from the ceiling of leaves and settling onto my frame.

"Hi."

I blinked at the dull response. "Is there something wrong, sweetie?"

"I'm… angry. At Rachael," She replied curtly, huffing and looking back at the leaves. "She said that my books are stupid."

"Really?"

"After saying that I was wasting trying to make a job that doesn't exist and that's stupid in nature."

"Can you tell me more about it?"

The blonde didn't reply at first, and I thought she was just irritated to spare me more info. Quite easily a sign of how much irked she was, but pretty far from telling me as to why Rachael could have been so blunt over this topic. It was clear that it mattered a lot to Sarah, but I wasn't sure what it exactly was all about in that precise moment.

"I… I want to be a Goblinologist."

I blinked. "You mean a… researcher about Goblins?"

"Yep," She replied with an emphasis to the 'P'. "And it's not stupid."

"It's… not," I admitted slowly. "But why?"

"Uh? What 'why'?"

Knowing who I was dealing with, I knew I had to play by Sarah's logic to try and defuse the foul mood she was in. It wasn't that difficult to think of a way to dissuade her from that stance. She had just started to dig into Fantasy Lore, and while I wasn't really that versed into the matter, I still had more experience and knowledge compared to her.

"Why do you want to research about Goblins… when pretty much everything has been discovered already?"

Her gaze was back to me, as if testing me on my truthfulness. It was a long staring contest that ensued, one that concluded with her asking more about it.

"Is that a requirement?"

"Well, to be a researcher it would mean that the subject has more to offer, but I'm fairly sure that Goblins are that part of the Fantasy lore that is just well-expanded upon since one of the more common species in it," I argued with a nod. "Same for many other creatures like those."

A pout settled on her face. "Aw."

"And I suppose Rachael told you that this kind of thing wasn't something that would have given you a nice job."

"And that it was stupid."

"Which… is not."

At my agreement, she slowly jumped off from the tree branch, safely landing on the ground without feeling the fall. I had gained her attention, and it was clear that she was curious as to why I was being so appeasing in that regard.

"B-But isn't this kind of stuff childish? Like, only kids do anything about it?"

"That's actually wrong," I remarked without hesitation. "In fact, I can assure you a lot of people from all over the world have a fond affection for Fantasy as a genre."

Her eyes widened. "Really?"

"Yep. In fact, it was a rich genre even before Neo-Earth came to be. One just needs to think of classics like Harry Potter and The Lord of the Rings."

Sarah frowned. "Who and what?"

It was my turn to show surprise at this response. "You never saw these movies, not even heard of the books?"

The girl took a moment to think about it and then shook her head again. "Nope."

"Then I guess we can plan out a big movie night with the others and do marathons with these movies," I pointed out mirthfully. "Those are some good classics. Fairly odd but… still carry their 'magic'."

Despite the clueless hint in her eyes, Sarah still looked excited by this promise. If it was a good movie, then why say no to it? And I knew for a thing that she was going to love them due to the nature and the genres they were based on. Still, I was diverting from the main point and… I returned to it, bringing ahead the tiny chance I saw for Sarah to make a job out of this fascination for Fantasy.

"But we were talking about Fantasy Lore and what one can do about it for a job, right?" I asked with a calm voice, a small smile on my face. "You would want to know of a way to keep going through this matter without having to be told that it's 'stupid' or 'childish'?"

She nodded again, gaining some eagerness as the fact my tone was bringing up a possibility. One that I knew could be explored due to a fair amount of opportunities offered by the people here at the farm. So, I dropped the chance.

"How about you… write something about it?"

The Cat Prime blinked, slightly confused about it. "Write about it? As in writing a story?"

"Yes. How about you try to come up with your own story and see if you can do something about writing it down?"

"But… isn't that difficult?"

"You could ask for Idward's help for that," I argued with a sigh. "Writing can be difficult only if you think too much about the length and size of the work you plan to go through. Trust me, it's a way to release some stress or to bring out ideas that can be brought in the real world since… well, tied to fantasy."

"I could ask him that… and then?"

"And then we see if you can be a writer yourself."

"Oh… isn't that still childish?"

"Not if you put effort behind it," I admitted truthfully, remembering a few people that struggle because of low determination in their work. "If you put yourself into it, it's a job that can be made. And I know you have the creativity and imagination to do it."

Her smile widened as she digested what I told her. "I can try and… and then you help me find more fun jobs if this doesn't work, right?"

I nodded. "I promise. Now, I believe you should be back to get yourself a drink or two? Apple juice?"

"Pear Juice!" She replied chirpily, giggling as she cheekily jumped on my back. "Go forth, my friendly steed!"

I chuckled. "Aye, aye, my fair knight!"

The walk back home was fairly amusing, especially when I had to explain why I was bringing Sarah back that strange way. Idward was definitely intrigued by this proposal, and decided to see if the blonde had the potential to get through the first blocks of such a path. Rachael was surprised, if not baffled by this development, but restrained herself from giving out any blunt judgment on the matter since it wasn't really a terrible idea. Sarah had the chance to experiment about it without wasting too much of her free time about it, and I could tell that there was good potential about it if I had seen right about her fascination for amazing stories.

And the day was far from over as a certain Bun had decided to take this chance to spare a conversation with me.


With the second shift coming and going, I was eventually drawn to a pleasant and calm rest as I waited by the sofa for Mora, the Cow Prime deciding to tackle a couple of calls from some donors on her own as those were important ones. I didn't lament the decision beyond the fact I was quick to grow bored of waiting after browsing through the TV's Channels. Nothing new or interesting in that hour, which left me incredibly tired and unable to focus my attention elsewhere. Slouching some more on the sofa, I barely noticed Taffy deciding to take this chance to sit by the free space in there. I felt the shift of weight and her hum as she was done sitting.

The pinkette was still wearing her apron over a short yellow dress. She was barefooted, a tiny freedom that was spared to her once she was away from the kitchen and the chances of stepping on something that could have her hurt for a reason or another. I spared her just a glance, trying to really not linger too much by her curves. She sure had an alluring form that she knew how to emphasize through simplicity, but my brain adamantly refused to make any serious thought about her beauty as I knew how that line of thought generally escalated.

I glanced at her, frowning as she regaled me with a curious look. "Is there anything on the TV right now?"

My lips twitched and I shook my head, gaining a huff from her as she stared at the small table in front of the sofa.

"So, it's just like the usual," She muttered before sighing and giving me another look. "By the way, Declan. Can we… talk?"

Shrugging, I added a curt 'sure' as I fixed myself better on the seat, knowing that I looked like I was moments away from falling asleep. I allowed the girl to take her time in thinking how to start the conversation, and she went for a simple, but unexpected question.

"Is… Is it true that you used to date a lot back in College?"

I blinked for just a moment, pondering about that sudden query and looking back at that specific time period. Dating? Not that much. Having numerous relationships with hot-blooded (and some cold-blooded) girls? Yes and a lot. The answer wasn't easy to deliver without stretching for long what specifically each circumstances were all about, so I decided to give a short reply.

"Mostly. Since it was college, not all relationships were born from dating."

She perked a little at the sentence, a little red hue forming by her cheeks. "O-Oh, I… I suppose it was fairly easy to find girls eager for… that."

"Not always," I confessed with a frown. "You would think that since they were doing it just for the fun of it, but everyone was very wary of their partners. Especially those that weren't part of school."

"How so?"

"Well, the 'strangers' weren't that easy to discern whenever they said they didn't have STDs, and were mostly shrugged off by everyone," I explained with a serious tone. "There were many girls that also tried to remain pregnant with those that came from rich families. Something that did happen to me twice but… well, I was human-"

"And they were Primes," Taffy replied meekly, almost blurting out something that had been meant to remain a thought from the awkward look she aimed at me. "I… I suppose you didn't make any… mistakes?"

"I'm quite sure of it. One thing that I always keep track of was if any of the girls that tried to get a child out of a 'golden boy' like me succeeded or not. None of that happened tho," I assured and she sighed. "Still, I suppose you're not after that kind of matter and why not just skip to the real questions, Taffs?"

She looked uneasy at that 'straight to the point' request, but she didn't oppose it beyond some reluctant-tied silence. "I… I guess I just wanted to have a… perspective from the other side. You know… since you're already with Mora, you could… help me going on dates?"

That didn't sound like a bad idea, but I wondered how much of it was Taffy's idea and how much it was Hope's. Despite my suspicions, I still decided to help and I nodded.

"Sure, is there anything in particular you want to ask?"

At the chance to finally dive into the matter, the Bunny Prime didn't hesitate with her curiosity and soon I was surrounded by some big questions about the matter. Questions I was quite sure weren't things Taffy generally liked to ask or think so easily.

"So the girls were more 'enticed' by you because you were a human and the compatibility made it so doing it raw wasn't that problematic?"

"That's… correct, yes," I admitted, holding back some nervousness at the topic. "I had to use condoms just a handful of times, and it was mostly tied to girls that didn't feel at ease even though I was human."

A nod, her face was burning but she still went on about this kind of subject. It was clear that it was less about dating than understanding how someone like me worked when it came to dating. Which was fairly odd considering the main focus of the entire situation. Despite the lewd beginning, the questions started to shift more into dating much to my relief, cementing the view that Taffy had just checked how far I would have gone to help her with this situation. The rest of the questions were fairly tame, and yet I still felt something was off about Taffy. She definitely felt more confident in discussing this topic with me, yet said confidence manifested in some interesting unconscious actions. She was leaning closer to me, clearly showing how much she was paying attention to my words, and she also had that very blush remain despite the end of the awkward bit. The way she was positioned she offered a clear sight over her cleavage and… yep, I couldn't help but stare at times. She noticed, but she didn't bring this up, nor she straightened her position as if expecting this reaction and wanting more of that.

It was clear that the conversation was delving into another aspect of Taffy's interest in dating that I hadn't taken under consideration due to some good reasons. I had seen her talk with Randy and Sander, but she didn't approach me until that very moment. Right when Mora wasn't around and she could test waters for an attempt. It was still fairly tame, but I felt really uneasy of what I was supposed to say to Mora. It didn't help that the girl was just testing me as a possible practice dummy for similar date experience, something that was further confirmed when she apologized for sounding so 'forward'.

And as I calmly nodded at her retreat back to the kitchen (and stealing a glance at her round behind as she left), I realized just now that, despite having been at the farm for a long while now, I knew Taffy the least due to the lack of chances to dig into her past.

Maybe there was something in there that could help me decipher what was going on with the kind Bun.


AN

Taffy is the next 'focus', but how will this escalate?

So many routes that can be taken!

I would say that the arrival of a certain individual and troublemaker will happen a little earlier than in Canon.

Prepare, my dear cuties, for Life is a wild being after all, hehe~.

(Warning: Huge reply to review down below, I would suggest reading it for those having some doubts about this story as I address a couple of issues and speak of the differences between this story and the comic it comes from.)

REVIEW Q&A! (With Lady Ambar!)

Asephy Revenance:

Those are fair points until context is brought up and they lose some of the legitimacy (not completely, but still substantially due to some facts tied to the comic). The story itself was first produced as the combined effort of a single Artist, and two writers (SoulKat and Idders) which weren't really that experienced in writing a proper comic's storyline. In fact, the first bits were based on shaky foundations and it's easy to spot signs of headbutting when it came to handle the main plot. It became even more complicated when Curran eventually joined and Idders left. I believe Curran has a greater grasp of pacing the flow of a story (I would point to Knighthood which lewdness in LL is diluted down just enough to introduce lore, some depth for characters and action as an example of that). Still, I will try to argue about a couple of points:
1: It was frequent for roughly the first 300-400 pages, but the moment Curran joins in the flow seems to gain priority as the plotline is refined and polished to fit with the current known lore;
2: Once again, it was true until after the current middle point. While the level of threat has been abysmal and handled incorrectly sometimes, it would be mistaken to assume it's a defining aspect of the comic. There are two huge threats speculated to come in the recent pages, both of which will create radical changes for the farm, and not for the best;
3: The problem with Mora in canon is that her backstory could have been broadened and some of her behaviors highlighted and then 'corrected' through understanding. I will not deny that there were chances to make her more likable, but I would still say the potential is still there even now;
4: It was true in the first 100 pages of the Comic, which could be defined the more chaotic of the bunch. Mora's development was handled poorly, but it was something that received some 'attention' (albeit briefly) during the next 200 pages. Some of the writers admitted to making some amateurish mistakes influenced by life-related stuff, but I will not post anything too detailed about it since the proof of that quite vanished with the Katbox forum;
5: I think it's not just the fan-service that created the fracture, but the fact that it was being perceived as a replacement with good plot and character's development. Chalo's art improved a lot in the last decade and a half, but the writing barely showed signs of keeping that pace;
6: I would dare to say that if one checks on Chalo's past works, one would be less inclined to believe that, but I don't know how to answer that properly without sounding like a moron;

Regardless of the big wall of text up above, I would just summarize it in few words: The comic started in early 2000s from people that didn't have much experience with the production of a comic this size, multiple writers created multiple frictions within the pacing, misunderstandings ensued, and the comic didn't develop as well as it could have. Which is why, this story, I try to fix some of the flaws that I can find. Fan-service? Sure, but not as a possible replacement for plot advancement or character development. My handling of this story is similar to my other works, so I will do my best to give all characters enough justice and show their full potentials. And… I would suggest Knighthood one last time. Despite my insistence, this suggestion is driven by the fact that it was handled by a 'smaller' team, with Chalo still being the artist and Curran the sole writer. It's a general improvement due to how characters are introduced to a pace where early ones can be developed and… lewd isn't necessarily a replacement for a good story. All in all, I understand the point and I'm sorry I had to write something this long, but I know readers have similar concerns by tying the flaws of the comic to this story, which is partly incorrect since… I make mistakes myself, but I've vowed to create an amazing story about this plotline and universe, and I hope to make people happy with what I produce. I hope to hear more about this kind of critics and… yeah, that's all.