Morning rose once again. The sunlight brightly shone upon Camo's closed eyes. As the possum proceeded to open them, he was greeted by a bright light emitting from outside of his dusty, stained window. He groaned, getting up from the bed and stretching his arms all the way out before continuing to put on some casual attire. Before he exited his bedroom, he heard that some of the others were awake, but certainly not everyone was up, for the noise levels would be through the roof.
Attempting to button up his shirt, Camo left his bedroom and walked down the hall into the living room. He was greeted by Peb, whose eyes were closed, and some of the few Raggoons surrounding themselves around the small jackal. The opossum was thankful that Peb was currently in his calm state, since he very much appreciated the gentle behavior the relaxed side of Peb really was.
"Oh, uh, morning Camo," Peb calmly greeted.
"Hey Peb," the tired possum responded. "Whatcha doing up, bud?"
"Well, I got poked by some of my needles, which hurt a bit," Peb explained. "Big ouchies. So I just went into the living room and I found some of the Raggoons hanging out and I just stayed here."
"I'm glad to see you're calm as of right now."
"Thank you."
"What were the Raggoons doing here this early exactly?"
"Like I said, they were just hanging out, running around a little, but a bit quietly," Peb answered. "I couldn't hear them from my room, and since nobody else has woken up yet, the Raggoons were basically quiet. And now I'm here petting them."
"That's sweet," Camo said. "Make sure to keep them calm for as long as you can before.." The possum didn't even want to mention the fact that Peb would eventually go crazy again, which of course would influence the Raggoons into a frenzied state. "Never mind, just k-keep them under control."
"Whatever you say, boss," Peb replied soothingly.
Camo decided to leave the jackal alone. In case Peb got crazy out of nowhere, the opossum wanted to stay out of his way. Camo looked out of the living room window, staring out at the bright blue sky and into the whitest clouds Camo has ever witnessed. Despite intending to pollute the sights he was seeing currently, he at least wanted to admire the scenery for a period of time.
"Whatcha looking at, Camo?" Peb questioned him all of a sudden.
"Oh, uh, I'm just looking at the uh, outside, that's it," Camo reluctantly lied. "Nothing much to see really, I just kinda started zoning out, ya know?" Camo needed a lie to cover up the fact that he enjoyed the view of the outside world; usually he always keeps secrets from the others primarily to keep up an intimidating reputation.
"I feel you, man," Peb related. "I zone out a lot from the stuff I'm doing as well, so I completely understand. Like sometimes when I'm sewing up some clothing to put on the other guys, sometimes my mind will wander off somewhere else. Like whenever T.O gasps at something dramatic that happened on the television, or Nono playing video games, or you yelling, or the Raggoons running around, or Sodo's terrible smell, I just stop focusing just like that. It's weird, but it happens."
"Oof, I, uh, wasn't aware that I was considered to be a distraction to you," Camo frowned. "I apologize for that."
"It's okay, Camo, don't fret," Peb reassured the sad looking possum. "Besides, you're not the worst distraction, unlike some others." The small jackal proceeded to pet the Raggoons on their heads, which relaxed the little critters very much.
It surprised Camo that despite his obnoxious yelling towards the other members of the team, Peb somehow found some of the other guys more bothersome than the big possum was. Although this did puzzle Camo in a way, he was at least glad that he wasn't causing Peb's lack of concentration as frequently and effectively as the other individuals residing within the Criterion.
"Hey, Peb."
"Hm?"
"If you don't mind me askin', who annoys you the most in this place? And be honest. I won't tell anybody what you told me, okay?"
"Nono bothers me the most. Always shovin' his video games in my face. No lie, I love to play them with him, but there's times where I just wanna be on my own and sew. Thing is he does it ALL the time whenever that console is on. And even when I tell him I'm occupied, he continues to ask anyway. Unbelievable."
For once Camo felt at ease. Especially now, his mind wasn't so worried after recent events hurt his brain. By simply communicating and venting with his friendly partner of his, the possum not only learned more about his friends he needed to keep up conversations with, but also felt at peace. It was as if he was sleeping months before his failed fight with Breeze.
"Well, why don't you tell him how you feel?" Camo suggested. "Tell him that you get annoyed by what he does, and then you can figure things out from the get go."
"I have had that idea in mind, but.." Peb stopped what he was going to say.
"But what? C'mon, tell me."
"It's better if I don't."
"Like I said, I won't tell anyone about this."
"I want to tell him that he annoys me, but I don't want to hurt his feelings," Peb finally explained. "It's always been hard for me to do stuff like that, because I've come off as annoying to others in the past and I don't want to ask him rudely like the way I've been asked before."
"I'm sorry to hear that Peb.." Camo apologized with a low tone of voice.
"It's alright. I just don't know what to do at all."
"Well, how about this?" Camo said. "If he does ask you like that again, simply explain to him that you get annoyed by his constant questioning, and ask him to please stop with what he's doing."
"That does sound good, but how do I avoid hurting his feelings?" Peb asked with great concern.
"Basically just explain to him that you don't mean any harm to him, and that you just want to be left alone for a while. And then go on about how you'd still like to have fun with him and make sure to reassure that you guys are still good friends, whether it be through some handshake or a gentle hug."
"So, I just do that?" Peb questioned the possum.
"Yes, do exactly as I said and the outcome should be alright," Camo explained.
"How do I know I won't hurt him for sure?" asked the nervous jackal who continued to pet the Raggoon lying on his lap for comfort.
"Well, you can't really know what the outcome is for sure until you end up taking the opportunity to just go for it," Camo supported. "So just tell him and see how it all plays out, okay?"
"Okay," Peb said back in return. "I'll do my best to remember your advice. Thank you." The small jackal gave the big opossum a hug, and Camo hugged Peb back in return. Once the hug was concluded, Peb returned to sewing pink mittens for the Raggoons.
That hug felt really nice. I enjoyed hugging the little dude. I hope all goes well between him and Nono..
Camo's train of thought was interrupted by the sound of a door opening within the hallway. Out of another bedroom came T.O, whose hair appeared very messy and eyes half closed. He was wearing a gray tank top and dark orange cargo shorts.
"Oh, morning Camo," T.O yawned loudly. "What are the two of you doing up with the Raggoons?"
"Nothing," Camo asked. "We're just sitting here is all."
"How'd you two get up this early?" T.O asked with curiosity. "You're usually never up this early Camo, unless you're scamming someone through one of your car deals."
The Raggoons proceeded to get off of Peb and run to T.O, their little feet forming darker shades within the hard carpet floor. They began crawling onto the sleepy panther.
"I actually decided to sleep earlier last night because I was exhausted from all the cleaning we had to do yesterday," Camo groaned. "Besides, I needed to take some time off so I could think about some personal things.."
"What kinds of personal things?"
"I'm not comfortable sharing that."
"I see. Well you don't have to tell me what's going on with you in your little world."
"I was just in the living room like, um, like," Peb interrupted.
"Like what, Peb?" T.O asked.
"Well I don't know really, I just say the word 'like' when I don't need to," Peb responded in an embarrassed tone of voice.
"That's alright I guess. It's weird but whatever. Anyways, I'm gonna start cooking up some breakfast since the other kids are asleep and you already got one kid taken care of here. So it'll be easier for me to focus."
"We're not kids!" Peb shouted.
"Well, you're as small as one, and you act like one too, and the same goes for your other pals," T.O joked.
Camo chuckled to himself as T.O proceeded to walk towards the kitchen with Raggoons crawling all over his slender body. Peb crossed his arms in a ticked off way, and the opossum sitting beside him patted his head to help the jackal cheer up a little. Afterwards, Camo got up to go to the kitchen so that he could chat with T.O a little.
"Hey T."
"Oh, um, hi Camo. What are you doing here? I've just begun taking out the pots, the food's not ready yet, hehe."
"Yeah I know you're about to start that and all, but I kinda wanted to help out with the cooking this time, ya know?"
"Why's that?"
"Just wanting to be a gentleman," Camo assured the panther. "I don't really have any other reason to ask."
"I mean, it sounds like you need something from me, but if you insist on helping me cook, then go ahead I guess," T.O shrugged off.
Camo wanted to respond to T.O, saying that he did need to talk to the panther. He badly wanted to discuss the sudden and peculiar emotions he was currently feeling for Sodo, who was still asleep in his bedroom. Over night, Camo was trying to plan up a way to bring this up to T.O, since he was scared he'd be ridiculed or mocked. Since the opossum was well aware that the panther was a bit of an expert in romance, he figured he might as well compose this conversation with him, for Camo saw no other way to help himself out; he required assistance from someone else.
"What do you plan on cooking up?"
"Chicken enchiladas," T.O answered with a hyped tone of voice. "And on the side, I'll just put some sandwiches for them to eat."
"And to drink?"
"I would give Sodo crude oil myself. Last time I tried to do that, though, Nono took it from me so he could mix it with one of his drinks, and he chugged that thing down very quickly."
"Yeah, Nono is a bit of a drag sometimes."
"Personally I didn't mind, since he passed out for nearly 24 hours, which was good for me. I had less of a mess to clean that day."
"Oh yeah I remember that time, hehe," Camo remarked. "It was less loud, but we still had Peb running around, and Sodo was blasting his music loudly."
"The Raggoons thought Nono died, so they went outside to bury a hole for him and they dragged his body there," T.O laughed. "It was hilarious. I made sure the Raggoons didn't bury him alive though."
"What if he did die?" Camo asked slowly.
"I.. I would have felt really bad, because Nono was just acting crazy and having fun, and if he had died like that, I would've blamed myself for letting him have the oil and mixing it with the other drinks."
"I guess you and I have to be careful with whatever Nono or the others get into their hands," Camo warned. "I don't want 'em getting hurt and all that. N-not because I care about them, but I just, I-I just don't wanna b-be responsible for any deaths in the team is all."
"I don't really like thinking about that kind of topic," T.O said. "No me gusta eso. I don't want to ponder about my amigos dying. I know they might come off as annoying and messy, but I love my friends. I care about them a lot. They're like family to me, and I'd never abandon them for the world."
"Even if the world was cleaner and less annoying?"
"The world is none of those things," T.O said grimly to the possum. "But, if it was, I still wouldn't leave 'em. They're my family and over the past years I've learned to love them a lot, despite the shenanigans we get into."
"That's good to note.." Camo said to himself quietly.
I'm a bit disappointed that I never really made it aware to myself that T.O was an open-minded person himself. All these years knowing him and I'm ashamed that I can't reflect on his attributes. I need to make it a priority to communicate with the others whilst donning an intimidating persona. But, for now, I need to focus on expressing my emotions to another person that I hope I can trust..
As Camo and T.O proceeded to finish cooking up the enchiladas, they both heard Nono run out of his bedroom screaming. The Raggoons had gotten off of T.O in order to run around with Nono, which thus began the craziness to start off the day.
"Well at least we got done cooking the enchiladas, but I still need to do those sandwiches, so I'll be back."
Nono ran to the kitchen to grab two enchiladas off of the tray. Unfortunately, the coyote had burnt his hands since the enchiladas were still very hot, and as a result he ended up screeching loudly.
"Ow, those tacos are hot!" Nono yelped out.
"Those are enchiladas," Camo corrected. "And yes, of course they'd be hot you idiot, we just took them out of the oven to heat them through."
"Tacos, enchiladas, they're both the same thing," Nono chattered. "Now I have to go cool my hand down, ugh."
Well at least he won't bother Peb with the video games he's always clamorin' about.
The possum glanced at the jackal who still appeared to be calm. Because Camo has usually been adapted to Peb's more insane side of him, it was very surprising that Peb remained calm for that long, especially with all the ruckus that was proceeding to go on. Nonetheless, the possum decided to go help out T.O with the sandwiches and proceed with his plan.
"Ah, don't worry about these, Camo, I can handle making these on my own," T.O told the sweating possum.
"I could still help with some of them," Camo insisted.
"What's up with you today?" T.O asked. "I mean I get that you sometimes do ask me that you want to help, but whenever I say I'm alright, you usually tend to go on about your day. But now you keep persuading me, so I'm wondering: do you need something from me? "
"Uhh.."
"Or are you just trying to be more nicer than usual?"
"Both," Camo answered reluctantly.
"Oh, I see. So what is it that you need?"
"I need advice from you," Camo said. "I've uh, noticed that you tend to know a lot about the stuff that I'm currently suffering through and I just wanted to ask you, but I wasn't so sure how to. So I uh, decided to try helping you a bit more this morning so I could ask more properly."
"Aw Camo, you can ask me for anything anytime," T.O replied. "I'd love to give you some words of advice from you know, yours truly."
"T-thank you.."
"No problemo, amigo. Now what is it that seems to be the problem, my friend?"
"It's a bit of a private thing," Camo stated. "Really, really private."
"Ah I see. What private thing we talkin' about here?"
"Something involving... romance," stuttered the nervous opossum.
"Ohhh," T.O gasped. "Ooh, are you in love with someone?"
"Yes, but please shush, I don't want anyone to hear about this.."
"Alright, how about you and I take this conversation to the hallway, okay?"
"Yeah that's fine by me."
Camo and T.O proceeded to make their way to the hallway. The both of them had sat down against the walls. On the left sat T.O, and on the right side of the hallway, Camo was leaned against the white frigid wall. Staring at each other for a small while, Camo decided to start up a lengthy conversation with the supportive panther.
"I think I'm starting to develop some kind of feeling, or feelings, towards someone, and I figured that maybe you could be the right guy to talk to about these kinds of things, given all the novellas you watch with the Raggoons," Camo proceeded to explain cautiously.
"Hmm, maybe if I get to meet this person, and learn some things about them, I could lend you some insight on what you could do in order to impress them," T.O responded. "So, who's the lucky girl? When can I meet her?"
"Uhh…" Camo froze.
"Uhh what, dude?" T.O asked in a weirded out tone.
Camo didn't say a word.
"So who is it exactly? You can trust me."
"Not sure if I'm comfortable with sharing that," Camo answered. "Are there any kinds of advice you could give me?"
"Well, for starters, don't get so mad all the time whenever you don't get the chance to act like some outstanding gent," T.O said sternly. "Second of all, get to know this woman a bit better, whoever she may be."
"Alright then…"
"Who is she?" T.O asked once again.
"I-it's…" Camo tried to speak.
"Well, come on, spit it out," demanded T.O. "Get it out of your system. If you can't open up your thoughts to me, then there is no way you'll ever have a chance with this lady of yours."
"It's n-not a girl…" Camo blurted. His face immediately turned red after saying that aloud to the panther. He was nervous about the reaction he was about to receive from his friend.
T.O just gazed at the possum in shock. "Ohh…"
"Yeah…"
Hmph. So let me get this straight," T.O chuckled. "You mean to tell me that the person you have some crush on is a GUY?!"
"Shhhhh, shut up, T.O!" Camo quietly exclaimed.
"Oops," T.O stopped. "I'm sorry. I'm s-so sorry, man. I didn't mean to yell that loud.."
"Someone could hear us, dude…" Camo pointed out.
"I'm sorry, I won't yell again," T.O politely apologized.
"Okay, good."
"Look, jokes aside, don't think I have anything against these things you're feeling," T.O adjusted his reaction. "I support you in how you feel, and if you need help, well, I am here."
"Thanks, T.O, I appreciate it."
"So, uh, who's the lucky guy?" T.O asked calmly. "When can I meet him?"
Camo wasn't so sure as to how to answer T.O's question. Despite being well aware that the panther would not shame him for what he had to say, the opossum still felt awkward about wanting to discuss it. However, he couldn't hesitate for long; he had to bring up a clear response eventually in order to progress with his intended plan. For the small moment of silence, Camo had composed a way to address his reply.
"I'll give you a hint," Camo started.
"Yeah?"
"Yeah. You've already met him…"
"W-wait wait wait wait a minute, hold on," T.O interrupted. "Are you talking about me, Cam? Well, sorry to say, but I'm not into guys, dude. I'm straight."
"Yeah I thought I was as well two nights ago and now look at me," Camo grumbled. "And also, of course I'm not talking about you, you dingbat! I don't got no dang crush on you. I have standards, T."
"Ouch.."
T.O recovered from the unexpected insult for a while before proceeding the conversation again.
"Hm, do you have a crush on yourself?" T.O asked roughly.
"What?" Camo yelled. "No! Of course not. Why would you say that? That's weird."
"Well I mean, your ego is so big it most likely weighs more than you," commented T.O.
"Making fun of my size, huh?" Camo asked. "You keep this up and I'll crush you."
"Alright alright, I'll stop," T.O stated. "And besides, I think I know who it is." T.O clapped his hands a bit eagerly at his own thought.
"Ya got it figured out?" asked Camo.
"I believe so, yeah," T.O answered. "Is it Sodo by any chance?"
"Well, what makes you say that?" questioned Camo.
"You have been wanting to hang out with him a lot lately," T.O expressed. "Also, you've been acting a bit nervous around him, like you did yesterday, not to mention you accidentally called Peb Sodo around breakfast time."
"Ding ding ding, you're correct," chimed Camo.
"That's good to know since now I could be of help," said T.O. "From what I know about the guy, he gets pretty shy sometimes and is pretty quiet. Considering he isn't such a social person, maybe you might have to do things slow with him so that way he can cope."
"He's not so talkative, huh?" Camo wondered. "Hmm. I mean, he will talk to people he's very familiar with."
"But still, Sodo isn't much for dialogue, my guy."
"This might be a bit tricky then…" Camo said to himself.
"Didn't you hurt him yesterday?"
"It was an accident."
"I believe you when you say that, but uh, I don't want to change t-topics suddenly out of the blue, but how come you started feeling like this for Sodo?" T.O interrogated. "W-what sparked this, these feelings of yours, to happen?"
"It's a, it's a long stor-"
Camo was interrupted by Sodo exiting his bedroom. The hyena didn't appear to have suddenly awoken from his heavy slumbers, and the sight of the dude made Camo jump up.
"Oh hey Sodo!" Camo shouted.
"Hi, Camo," Sodo waved.
"H-how are you doing?" Camo asked with heavy concern. "How's your nose?"
"It, uh, doesn't hurt as much anymore, but I'm coming up with these allergies," Sodo groaned. "My nose has been running all morning, and I wasn't able to sleep properly last night."
"I'm sorry to hear that, bud," Camo told the hyena.
"Do you know where the tissues are by any chance?" questioned Sodo.
"They're on the kitchen counter."
"Okay, thank you."
Sodo walked to the kitchen. While doing so, Camo decided to peep in his bedroom for a bit. One of the first things he noticed was a flier on the carpet floor. On the poster read "CLOUDY CARNIVAL: Come one come all from September 5th to September 8th to a spectacular theme park of wonders that'll fill you with joy. The games are definitely not rigged."
"Whatcha got there, Cam?" T.O asked.
"It's a flier about a carnival coming to town next week," Camo told the panther.
"Ooh, you know, I think I just got a bright idea," T.O blurted.
"What is it?"
"What if you take Sodo to the carnival? It'd be like a date between the two of you, or rather, a friendly bonding for the both of you soon-to-be lovebirds. With the money you made from scamming that fox the trip could be even better."
"You know, that ain't a bad idea, T," Camo complimented.
Sodo returned with some tissues in hand, blowing into them as he walked.
"Hey Sodo."
"Yeah?"
"I noticed this flier on your bedroom floor about the Cloudy Carnival coming next week," Camo pointed out to him. "Why do you have this?"
"I was planning on going next week, so I stuck that flier to my wall so that way I'd remind myself daily that I have a plan to go to the Cloudy Carnival," Sodo explained. "Did you take it off the wall?"
"No, I found it lying on the floor," Camo answered back.
"Oh I see."
"Hey, I was wondering if maybe I could come along with you to the carnival?" Camo asked the hyena. "I still have a lot of money saved up for us, and I don't want you to be alone at the carnival, so I figured we could go together."
"I was planning on going alone, though," Sodo countered.
"I don't think you should go alone, and besides that, I do want to make up for what happened yesterday with your nose," Camo told him. "I'm greatly sorry about that…"
"I g-guess you can come with me to the carnival," Sodo said. "I wouldn't really mind, I guess."
"Ooh, thank you Sodo!" exclaimed the excited possum as he proceeded to hug the round hyena. "We're gonna have so much fun, I promise!"
"Um okay," Sodo groaned. "Er, this is w-weird. I'm gonna go inside my room for a while. My face really feels hot right now, and I just need to cool my allergies down for the uh, t-the remainder of the day."
"Yeah, your face is pretty hot…" Camo muttered under his odorless breath.
"What?" asked Sodo.
"Uh, I didn't say anything," Camo lied. "Just, uh, go to bed and get some rest. You deserve it, bud."
"Okayyyy," Sodo responded. "Thanks."
"No prob-"
Camo paused to finish what he was going to say, since Sodo had closed the door on him and locked it like he usually did.
"I heard what you were whispering to yourself by the way," T.O pitched in. "About how his face was hot."
"Let's not talk about this in front of his room, please," Camo said quietly. "I don't want him to hear us."
Camo and T.O were in the living room sitting down on the couch. Despite the loud noises emitting around them, they both managed to ignore these nuisances. Nono was rolling around on the floor alongside some of the Raggoons, and Peb had just begun to go crazy once more in the kitchen.
"So uh, continuing our conversation, how did you begin falling in love with the dude?" T.O proceeded.
"Well, that's kind of the issue here," confessed Camo. "I don't really know why these feelings are stirring up all of a sudden."
"Do you have maybe some sort of idea?" T.O asked. "Even a small one could help…"
"I had a dream where me and him were kissing," Camo elaborated. "And, and we uh, did hang out that one time."
"A week ago, right?"
"Yeah, we watched movies and he didn't like some of 'em, and we did other things, too."
"Whoa…"
"What?"
"The two of you d-did other things?" T.O asked with eyes wide open.
"Yeah, we were looking at old pictures and stuff like that," Camo continued to explain. "He saw a cat video that he really really liked. And then I saw his eyes, which was something I really really liked…"
"I was just joking with you, amigo," T.O laughed.
"You were kidding with me?" asked Camo. "I thought you said all jokes were aside."
"Yeah, you're right... okay, I'm sorry, I won't make another joke again," T.O apologized. "I promise."
"Don't really matter, I didn't get your "joke" anyways," Camo grumbled. "Anyways, you better not be kidding around, because I don't have time for that kind of stuff right now, T. I never do."
"Maybe that's something you can work on."
"Hm?"
"You should focus on not getting so mad about little things, like jokes and mistakes that other people make," T.O addressed. "If you keep getting mad at stuff like that, other people won't like that, especially someone like Sodo. Remember how he left because of all the chaos from yesterday?"
"Yeah, I remember."
"Then keep that in mind," suggested T.O. "You need to relax your mind a bit more, and calm down, because expressing your anger the way that you do a lot will make people want to stay away from you. Heck, some of the other guys are sometimes scared when they see you."
"They're scared of me?!" Camo asked in a shocked tone of voice.
"Sometimes yes, sometimes no," T.O answered. Some of the Raggoons don't really like you at all, either."
"Wow."
"So, if you don't want stuff like that to continue, then you seriously need to work on your anger issues."
"Maybe you're right…"
"I am right," T.O corrected. "And you know, It's a good thing you decided to ask for help from someone else. You're already on the right track, seeking help for all your personal issues. So, from now on, I guess I'm gonna be your supportive wingman."
"Thanks, T."
"De nada."
As T.O proceeded to pick up some of the Raggoons and turn on the television to his favorite program, Camo pondered all about next week. He wanted to talk a bit more with Sodo before then in order to gain a better chance at the possibility of earning his love. Then again, Camo wasn't so into the idea that he could be in love. The possum thought that he could be confused.
"You know, T, I'm not sure if this will sidetrack our entire conversation, but I'm not like, completely sure as to whether or not my feelings for Sodo are concrete or not," Camo blurted quietly.
"What do you mean?"
"Maybe I'm just confused or something, and maybe my feelings are getting mixed up?" Camo stated. "You get what I mean?"
"Yeah I do understand what you're trying to tell me," T.O reassured the possum sitting beside him. "I guess you'll just have to hang out with him more and see. If you're in love, I will continue to help you out, and if you're not in love, then we can pretend this never happened, okay?"
"Alright, that sounds like a deal, hehe," Camo chuckled. Sitting back on the couch, the only thing that came to Camo's mind was Sodo and how he was feeling towards him. Despite the struggles he was going through to obtain a solution to these emotions, the possum knew he had to proceed with his intentions in order to get to the answer more simpler.
"Guess I'll find out what happens between him and I next week."