Hello again ;). In the end I decided to continue this story. I feel like it's going to be nice to go more into details when it goes to my hobbit OC characters. As always you know the drill – this story may or may not end up as canon, so who knows how where this will go. As I said I work slowly on other ideas, but as I said all those Re:Gamer stories are mostly experimenting and trying new ideas before jumping on my original ideas, so I appreciate all kinds of criticism (as long as it's not straight up trolling or raging, I survived years of playing in Call of Duty, League of Legends and Tibia communities, so nothing can move me :D). Also this one will be probably the most positive and lighthearted story, as in overall people of DewFoot Valley are optimistic bunch of fellas. Now let's jump on to the story :D.
Disclaimer: Like always we know how it works – I own nothing except OC characters. Credit to the world creation goes towards Akallas von Aerok, the creator of "Re:Gamer" story.
Bold Italics - Thoughts, Inner Dialogue, Angered Voice
Normal letters - Dialogue, Story writing (outside of past events)
Italics - Reminisce of past events, emphasis on certain words
Title: DewFoot Valley Ambassadors Travel Time.
The new day approached and I, Gaxif Stonewaller couldn't help but be worried in the end. It wasn't about travel (I doubted we would approach anything more then random bandits, but who knows) but that we wouldn't get a chance to gain neccesary allies in our potential problems. I didn't expect any serious trouble before next 3-5 years as I was confident when it goes to durability of our barriers and natural borders, but in my 130 years of living I learned that you should never assume that everything is goes to work in the end like you want it to work. It's better to assume that something may go off. That rational line of thinking wasn't exactly traditional in our country, so another thing to be uneasy about.
"Bah, everything is going to be alright ! We will show them our awesomeness with mine shining the most of course ! If needed I will swoon their ladies, challenge them in duels full of awesomeness and awestruck them with my awe-inspiring speeches !" Of course Osbin ignored random calls that it would probably turn him into an eunuch after imminent castration or that they would turn him into bloody red pasta, but such "details" never really shook Xander out of his delusions. Recently when he tried to date the daughter of Alirys Gigget he had his ass illusioned to the point where he was afraid the male company for the duration of the month. Out of pity no one mentioned the subject near him and probably many of us wouldn't like the answer anyway. Muffin only whimpered embarrased. Yeah, really smart dog. In a way smarter then his master in most situations.
"Heeeh... Do I And My Dolls Need To Remind You Of The Last... Incident." Lemia Odiphinia sharply mentioned something that no one else wanted to do. Osbin suddenly shuddered and dropped on his knees, covered his... emmm... more intimate body parts and started to shake his head in denial. Low blow Odiphinia, low blow, although he kind of deserved it. Not that a gentleman like me would say it loud, I'm too well mannered and polite to mention it. Oh well, it could be always worse. For example he could self-proclaim himself to be a super pervert, read porn in public, carry panties on his head (why on earth she carries underwear on her face ?!) or call all the women around to spread his sperm and proclaim that Japan will be flooded with his little copies in next 20 years (Where exactly is Japan?!). And mostly – where did those random ideas come from ?! Ugh... my head, it must be a stress.. I really hope so.
"Ignoring that idiot aside..." 'Momma Penny' added while flailing her mana chains of doom smacking certain idiot around with people rationally backing off. "I really hope you will bring out good news ! And I want to see grandchildren so I may cuddle them, spoil them and in overall love them with all my might ! And while we are at it... " I knew that smile too well. We called it 'Sweet Smile of Doom'. It pretty much always meant something dangerous, cruel or full of underline threat. Anyway it screamed to my inner instricts to be on my toes."Don't you dare cheat on my baby or the consequences will be dire !" I shook my head several times in confirmation and didn't dare to object. My wife Pinney Sacey whined, clearly embarred by the whole exchange.
"Mom ! Could you not mention such embarrasing subject in front of everyone ! It's not like my hubby would dare to do it. He loves me too much ! Ne, hubby mine ?" She smiled with that full of happiness smile, but I could easily read the threat in case I would try to do something funny with other women. It's not like I would dare, Pinney is the love of my life as cheesy as it sounds. Even if for some people she may sound childish, she's reliable, brave, kind and in overall I wouldn't dare to say anything bad about her. "Of course my dear flower, you are my whole world." Added with confidence and it clearly satisfied them. Whoever fool called me whipped ended up mauled few seconds earlier.
"Ehem... anyway now when we said our goodbyes I think we may just check our equipment and placement of that basket full of our highest quality puppies. Our mount dogs also seem well fed and prepared for the journey. Let the journey begin." Ahhh Merbin Davfire, our pillar or sanity and calmness added cooly and after last goodbyes and promises of sending regular letters we started to move on and began our journey. I just hoped that nothing would happen in the end as I don't think we need more excitement at the moment...
6 days later
So far journey was uneventful and we were grateful for it (except Jeremiah, he already started to get explosions withdrawal syndrome, I would need to think of something soon to keep him calm). We decided to camp and prepare campfire. Pinney decided to cuddle her adorable little pups (we bringed out 10 of them) while talking with Odiphinia, which also appreciated the company of animals but in much more collected and reserved way. I could say it from one of those rare true smiles on her face. When it goes to puppies - while from logistic point of view taking care of them was tiring, but all of them we considered as truly valuable welcoming gift towards Ironwood Clan so it would be worth it in the end. Once we managed to start a fire, we decided to start to talk and laugh with each other. Today my turn was with Jeremiah. Plus I could tell he started to be restless.
"Gaaah ! One more day and I'm going to get nuts ! I need to blow some shit up ! Art is a bang ! Come on... tiny whiney bomb... I even managed to prepared special frag grenade with special mana fuse in." He started to mumble to himself. I felt a bit sorry for a guy as he behaved brilliantly so far. We managed to avoid any aglomerations to not tempt him with blowing something big up and moved only through forests, which while safe, was also boring for us which weren't as calm and collected. I sighed quietly and put my hand on his arm."I swear that tomorrow if nothing happens again, I will personally help you out and let you boom something up. I'm a man of my word after all"I smiled towards "The Maniac" and he grinned with that cheshire like smile.
Oh yeah, I could tell that he was more then eager. While he looked at me, he caught me with his arm and bringed me towards him. I raised my eyebrows in question and what surprised me was his serious look in his eyes "You know buddy, as wrong as it may sound I'm glad we decided to do something and seek help. We really started to stagnate as a nation. I feel like we started to loose necessary instincts and that edge vital to our survival. We lived in peace for so long that in case of truly big surprise attack we would loose. While we are truly well trained, it can't make up for true battle experience, we felt too safe." He inhaled and for a short while silence is what surrounded us. I could tell he did it mostly to collect his thoughts and in those moments I could tell how sharp and smart he is as long as you ignored his characteristic eccentric quirks which are common in yordle race. He continued suddenly.
"While I admit I'm kind of bloodthirsty and you always disagreed with my aggresive approach to many problems and I know that you still do. You always prefered pacifist approach and you wanted us to negotiate with Ironwood for them to help us out with our minimal fighting participation, but I feel like they wouldn't respect us for this taking into account their reputation of skilled warriors. It would look like we try to push our problems towards them and threat them like some sort of mercenaries. It wouldn't work, my gut feeling tells me that." We silently looked at each other. I knew deep down that he was right, I really wanted to path the negotiation this way, but I remembered the words of my grand-master and leader of Arcane Order Ufibus Vomorn which we all called "Grandpa Ufi" as compared to pretty much all of us he was ancient in age (680 years of living give you the right to provide life lessons) and those words where "If you want peace, prepare for war". In the end no matter how much you wanted to just sit around and ignore others, it was impossible in the long run.
"I won't argue as you are right. I remembered words of Grandpa Ufi, that's all. He said that if you want peace, you should prepare for war" He nodded clearly satisfied that I didn't want to argue the point. He laughed after and I smiled in return."Oh come on, enough with those sappy stories. Do you remember when we were kids and we decided to prank people around ? You actually weren't so damn uptight back then..." He grinned while I stomped on his foot in faked annoyance. Indeed, I was certainly quite a troublemaker, it's hard to believe when you look at me today... Although Jeremiah suddenly turned grim again. I realized which incident he remembered and which one showed him why restraint when it goes to his explosive urges was important. I know that he blames himself till this day...
115 Years Ago, Jeremiah POV
"Pops, pops ! I'm 15 right now, I'm already big enough to build my first explosive !"
Haha, I sure was one hell of adorable brat back then. So young, full of youthful spirit and full of fresh ideas. I miss those days, when I believed everything would be ideal, nothing bad would ever happen and I could spend all those days in fooling around. Unfortunately back then I learned that sometimes you need to be serious and not lie or you would regret it...
"Bah... I don't know brat, as smart you are my boy, I don't think ya responsible enough." I whined offended, but I could tell that my pops was relentless. He suddenly turned serious and looked into my eyes, which kind of unnerved me."Maybe... but I want to know the reason why you suddenly asked me today." I stopped smiling and with full seriousness answered."Pops, I know that sometimes I'm restless and careless, but I want to show something cool to my friend ! I don't want to use it towards anything mean. It's not towards prank this time, I pinky swear !" I lied that day and it was horrible. I started back then my friendship with Gaxif or at least I believed so as he was the only one who wanted to talk with me. Others were afraid of me as I admit my pranks were truly mean and people avoided me. Stonewaller was the only one who was confident and cocky enough to challange me in everything I did. It was amusing how much we argued and I wanted to do everything to win him in the end. Also, I think it would be far more cool if we actually planned some prank together instead of trying to trick each other.
So I decided that creating flour bomb would be kind of incredible and prove that I'm awesome to the point that Gaxif wouldn't resist the urge to befriend me ! Ha, flawless plan ! And in the end it worked. For the first time he looked at me with respect instead of annoyance or challange in his eyes. I knew that he already started studying magic, but he could hardly summon anything truly awespiring. I had an edge this time ! Wow, that look of wonder in his eyes. Haha, hook, line and sinker ! "Hooo, so pops at last allowed you to get a bomb ! Maybe you aren't so damn hopeless... Let's prank someone ! I already have an idea..." He smiled in that mean way of smiling. It worried me as I made a promise to my pops to not prank with it !"Emmm... Gaxif, I promised my pops to not use the bomb to prank someone." He looked annoyed at me, I didn't want him to look at me like this ! "Don't be a scaredy cat ! Now when you bring something really cool, you suddenly get cold feet... Come on, stop whining !" I gulped and in the end relented. I wish I actually stopped and not follow his plan. Grandma Kiyo, while really batty and annoying, didn't deserve what happened to her.
Plan was simple. We slowly sneaked inside Grannys house, looked at her sleeping form (her grandchildren were working, while children died in underdark skirmishes), giggled and caused explosion to scare her off. Problem is that when you are old, your heart isn't exactly that durable. She bolted out of her fotel with surprising strenght, which shocked us when you took into account her age, she screamed and screech Grandma Kiyo released freezed our blood and suddenly... she collapsed like a puppet with cut strings. In our disbelief and terror we started to call for help and tried to do something, but it was too late. Heavy heart attack killed granny in the end. Gaxif received HEAVY scolding and beating, which to be honest was justified. In reparation our families paid compensations. Well, unfortunately me and my pops were too poor. So he needed to take additional underdark patrols. I was terrified what he would do to me and what happened shocked me.
He looked sad. Pops showed so much dissapointment in his eyes that it clenched my heart. He wasn't furious, pops didn't even screamed or raged at me. Pops looked at me with that depressed look. "Son... you dissapointed me. You lied to me that you wouldn't use bomb in the prank. You promised..." I wanted to say something, apologize, I shouldn't listen ! But I couldn't. Heavy tears rolled over my face and what followed after shooked me. He hugged me."Jeremiah... you are still young. What you did was incredibly stupid and I'm truly dissapointed, but I feel like it's also my fault. I don't think I raised you well enough, I scolded you for your pranks and yet never punished you for it. I never showed you how mean you are and always blamed it on you being too young to understand. I should provide some examples why this could turn badly. My bad... now I must go, I'm not in top shape, but our country needs me. I must pay off the reparation, it's my responsibility as you aren't an adult yet. Don't cry, it's not your fault."
I wanted to tell him not to go. I wanted to beg him to stop. I screamed after him that he should punish me, scold me, hit me ! But he didn't, he loved me too much, to the point that turning his hand towards him would make him feel like a scumbag. Bug I deserved it ! 3 days later I learned that small bolt from a drow crossbow pierced his heart and finished him on spot. It was the worst day of my life...
Present Day
"Jeremiah... it wasn't your fault, it was me who forced you to do it!" It was supposed to be peaceful memory from the past and turned into this depressing moment. "And I shouldn't listen ! I promised ! I can't believe after all those years it still hurts like a bitch ! Heck, all of this mess was a reason why you even started to act serious and polite all of time ! We... fucked up. Hard..." I didn't know how to answer that. I promised to pay off part of Jeremiahs debt and it also motivated me to study magic harder and few years later apply towards Arcane Order membership. While he started to actually stop being mean and work hard to respect fathers legacy (mom died at his birth). We both succeeded in the end, but that guilt once in a while hit us hard.
Random three arrows suddenly flew through air and I reacted in time to quickly incantate and sumon [Interposing Hand] spell which summoned huge hand out of mana and blocked it. Oooh... whoever attacked us would regret it. We both were in bad mood. Plus I know that Jeremiah prepared hidden traps in front of us. It wasn't his specialty by any means, but in thick forest like this it wasn't hard to hide. Suddenly three humans, which looked like warriors sneered at us with those arrogant smirks.
"Lookie lookie here, hobbits for us to capture ! In Nanamos they pay heavy sum for those little buggers ! They threat them as one of most valuable 'exotic goods'." We sneered at them in disgust. I focused my senses and knew that Xander Osbin and Merbin Davfire were awake trying to sneak up on them. I suspected that they had 3 archers supporting them, but I knew that Muffin had extremely keen sense of smell so he would detect them while Xander and Merbin took care of the problem. Plus I could tell that they weren't that skilled, arrogant fools. I smirked at them and mockingly called them with "come at me" gesture. "Of course I can't wait to see my new home. Why won't you try to capture me, ugly bastards."
Yeah, I wasn't in the mood to be polite. They suddenly rushed towards me (they assumed that as a wizard I'm bad in close range, which is true in a way, but they were stupid enough to do it without any sort of plan). Jeremiah grinned and made a quick hand gesture, while calling [Grenadier's Arsenal: Stick Grenades]. Suddenly under their feet, strange looking yellow glue shot up and covered lower parts of their bodies, harshly stopping their movement. After this "The Maniac" bringed out another one and called [Grenadier's Arsenal: Fragmentation Grenade]. Effect was... ugly. Grenade full of firepowder and ceramic tiles exploded into small fragments which literally penetrated into their bodies ripping them to shreds while causing massive explosive sound. Ladies suddenly jumped in while Pinney looked really pissed and punched him hard in the face. Lemia was extremely calm (and slightly dissapointed? I guess she wanted some action).
"Jeremiah, what the hell ! You scared puppies bastard ! Oh..." My wife suddenly looked sheepish once she realized what happened. She didn't enjoy the view as she already killed in the past, but never in such brutal way. "I'm so sorry ! What happened here ?" We quickly explained that those slavers tried to capture us which infuriated all of us. Suddenly we turned the heads towards our monk and halfing outrider which we could tell quickly eliminated the problem. They quickly killed one of archers while capture one of them to interrogate later on. Odiphinia smiled creepily towards one of her victims which scared him shitless, she applied [Voodoo Curse] and followed with [Black Needle] ability which allow to create a needle of pure darkness to kill off a target and suck it's soul into it. Terrifying once you learn it, although you may use it only once per 24 hours. Scary nonethless. "Aaah... Slaver Bastard Will Now Suffer Inside, He Is Too Rotten To Even Be Turned Into A Doll. My Dolls Would Not Approve". Lemia stated calmly with that trademark smile of hers, which made last alive archer piss his pants. Not that I blame him.
"I'm tired right now. Just knock him out, I'll put bind and silence spells on him so we can move on. Be glad we don't torture as we find it disgusting. Ironwood Clan will appreciate your company though." I said calmly and he turned white as sheet. We only needed few more days of travel, so there was no need to rush with our prisoner.
6 Days Later
Outside of this one bandit incident (we collected heads just in case) we pushed forward and managed to avoid trouble from unpredictible wildlife on Ironwood Clan territory. To be honest it was disturbing for example how huge centipedes or spiders could grow up in this territory. Our prisoner looked horrible, not that anyone cared. Once we noticed a gate towards, we all raised eyebrows in shock. It wasn't that city was that huge (in my standards, rest was surprised anyway) but from my information I knew that city was just 2 years old ! How they managed to pull that off was beyond me. We calmly approached and guards moved their hands towards weapons, but made no aggresive move. Good, they were cautious but not unecessarily aggresive. They were 2 trolls, one looked like forest troll and another like jungle one. But I may be off, I was never an expert when it goes to monster species. One of them looked at us surprised, but he managed to control his emotions and stated confidently.
"Hoh, I never expected to see hobbits here. State your business and explain what is that human doing here clearly ummobilized."
I faintly smiled and entered my full-business mode. I know that my comrades would be annoyed by it, but as I said – acting all proper and polite was my way of pranking them. So I stated calmly. "Welcome gentlemen, it's an honor to acquaint with members of such preeminent clan". They looked at me confused (oh come on, you also don't appreciate manneers ?!) while my companions rolled their eyes in annoyance. Xander Osbin moved beside me and grinned, while slapping my beck, which made me shot him annoyed look.
"Yo folks ! Xander Osbin is here and this waaay too polite for his own good brainhead is called Gaxif Stonewaller. Beside us it's time to present the rest of our happy group ! Pinny Sacey, Lemia Odiphinia, Merbin Davfire and The "Maniac" Jeremiah, nice to meet ya ! I heard about you guys, awesome stuff !" They grinned towards Xander. I sighed and decided to take over again.
"Yes, it's really nice to meet you. To keep it short – we are ambassadors from DewFoot Valley and this human was a part of small group of slavers which tried to kidnap us." They growled furious and I couldn't blame them, I was pissed myself. To the point where my old habits from my childhood showed up. "We didn't interrogate him, but I'm pretty sure you guys wouldn't mind doing it instead". The feral grins they sended me confirmed my statement. I showed them our papers and they nodded in approval. "Sure, nice to meet ya and we will already call for someone to prepare a feast for you guys as we are pretty sure you must be tired after travel. And enemies of slavers are always welcome here !" Once we entered, our shocked faced told the story. It wasn't architecture that truly impressed us (it still looked nice and it took just 2 YEARS to build it, incredible) but all those races. Humans, drakken, fazes, trolls, FAIRIES, SLIMES and several others which clearly accepted each other with no issues whatsoever. Heck, they were friendly to the point like they lived with each other for at least decades ! I heard the rumours, but come on, that was ridiculous. One of the trolls chuckled at our shocked faces and he quickly elaborated.
"Ya see, Chief Ruto united us under one banner and showed us hope. Before his rule we were mostly bunch of monsters living like animals in the forest only waiting to get slayed by some random members of true races or turned into slavery". He genuinly smiled and we could tell he adored his leader. "He may be reckless sometimes, but he is kind and great leader, we couldn't ask for anyone better then him. But of course others tribe chiefs work as hard like Chief Shirou or Chief Senna. Anyway it's time to guide you towards feast hall, I think you want to talk while eating our delicious food." He chuckled and we followed him. We all were amused once we heard a pleased squeel coming from my wife seeing and calling all those adorable children. I could tell that the city was in the middle of massive baby boom. Trolls raised their eyebrows in question, so I smiled and answered. "My wife adore children of all types to the point that she turns feral if someone tries to hurt them. Trust me, it's scary." I shivered, I remember that poor bear which she fisted to death in fury when it tried to kidnap one of them in front of her. We could tell that we already loved this place, it had that similar peaceful atmosphere which we were used to in DewFoot Valley. Once we entered in and noticed all that food, we were again in shock, while Pinney started to drool.
Not that I blamer her, it looked divine and I was pretty sure it tasted as well. What surprised me is once my sweeetheart jumped on food and started to inhale it, most of chiefs gathered in room looked at the scene in amusement instead of shock or disgust. I still felt uncomfortable, so I started to explain the situation a bit startled. "Welcome ladies and gentleman. It's an honor to be in front of honorable members of such famous clan like yours and be able to conversate and watch your city. My wife is a bit... enthusiastic towards food." They chuckled in amusement which I was happy with. "She terrifies me in such moments, but I love her like no one else anyway. If I need to cover expen..." One rough gesture coming from the troll sitting in the throne shut me up. I could tell it was that famous SS-Rank Troll King Ruto. He looked at us calmly at first and exchanged few words with oni sitting on his right. It looked like they exchanged some sort of crucial information. Like they assesed us. Probably I was off, but I felt mana moving in air rapidly for a second or two and it suddenly dissapeared.
After this they all smiled. Genuinly smiled. I felt like we were in the middle of the test and we passed it. It was uncomfortable at first, but I was glad that first obstacle we managed to pass. Troll King stood from his throne and sended one of those characteristic grins. "Nice to meet you. It's an honor to see you as well, members of DewFoot Valley country." I raised my eyebrows, to which he grinned and continued. "Oh we heard about your country from my ally and friend Christopher Zepolya. But I never expected to see you guys here. I heard that you prefer spend your time in your company though." Was it just me or I heard a tiny accusatory tone in that sentence ? I shrugged shoulders, I probably misheard it. I could tell they were honest people, especially in such cruel world like Andalusia. "Anyway let's cut the talk and feast for now ! It's all on us, you guys are our guests ! Plus you must be tired after that travel and you even bringed in one of those slaver bastards ! We may get into serious talk tomorrow !". So we all gladly joined in, mentioned shortly our ambassadors roles and introduced each other. Everyone laughed while they heard Xander Osbin calling Chief Ruto cool and how awesome were things he pulled off. I could tell that they both hit off really well.
Once we finished, Ruto, Shirou, Candy and Senna decided to show us city and guided us a bit around. It was kind of flattering how they personally did it. They also asked about the puppies, we explained it's out present for them. Clearly confused we confused that our culture use dogs for several types of jobs. From riding on them, training them as fighters, trackers or even babysitters. They accepted gift graciously, while we offered the stay and training them.
All of us suddenly turned around when my wife run towards group of little children and called them up with Lemia in tow, while pulling her shoulder. Once she caught their attention, she squeeled in delight and bringed out sweets and hugged most courageus ones. Everyone turned and stared at her, but no one mentioned anything. Well I added in good humour.
"Sweetheart, I'm afraid that you shouldn't bribe Ironwood Clan children with sweets, it may be frowned upon. Not that anyone can resist their taste." I joked lightly and when I noticed how she caught and hugged small troll child, I continued. "And kidnapping is something not allowed as well." She looked at me with those puppy eyes and I barely resisted. And trust me, it was so hard to do. "Oh no no lady, you can't pull off that trick on me. You should be on my side instead, be reasonable sweety..." I pleaded, so in the end she relented, but I could tell she wasn't happy and she cheekily added."When it goes to children and you, I pick up children." Everyone laughed on this and I pouted. Oh well, I was glad that she didn't touch in public the matter of our potential child. It wasn't a problem, it's just... heh, I had all those responsibilities, including Arcane Order, but in the end I knew that I would need to move on and just accept it as I feel like I'm selfish one here. It's already 3 years after all. Ironwood Clan for the next few years look like a nice place to raise a child. If everything goes well that is.
"Aww, you are alll sooo cuute ! My mean husband won't let me adopt you, but no worries ! Come on, let me hug you and spoil you and love you and let you taste my handmade sweets and... Oh and this is my best friend Lemia Odiphinia ! Say hello to her !" Our witch doctor was clearly embarrased and didn't know how to react. One of the children, small red skinned oni girl, smiled and looked at her in wonder. Poor Lemia was so bewildered that she didn't know how to react. Certainly not a reaction she expected anytime soon.
"Woooow, those dolls look awesome sis ! Can you let me hug them ?! Please, please, please, please !" Odiphinia overwhelmed clearly wanted to say no at first, but puppy eyes coming from Pinney and children instantly destroyed her resolve. She smiled that rare genuine smile as she enjoyed that attention no matter how much she may pretend otherwise. "Haaa... Sure. Actually... I May Show Something Better. Stand Back." Children moved back while she called [Doll Shape: Big Size] and turned few of her dolls around the size of trolls. Everyone looked at it in surprise, even chiefs which stayed with us. I smiled and explained. "Odiphinia is a Witch Doctor and Puppet Master class user. She has the ability to use voodoo magic to curse her targets with self-made dolls with similar look to their target and shape, manipulate and controll her dolls. It's impressive every single time I see it". I stated all of this proudly. I also was glad that people gave her a chance instead of judging her based on her less then friendly appearence. I was more and more glad with each second that we actually moved here. Kids certainly had a lot of fun climbing and riding on those dolls.
"Ok, children gather around so I can tell you an awesome story !" All kids around started to gather around except one human boy which cheekily stated. "Aren't you a kid yourself ! You look like one of us !" He clearly didn't expect a giggle which followed after. So Gastromancer added. "No no no, I'm rock gnome, which is one of hobbit races. We are just that small. You see, we are like dwarfs or kobolds. Even as adults we are small. But no worries, I adore you all the same !" She moved and hugged him, to which he grumbled in embarassment. Children around started to bombard her with questions on what kind of story it is. When she mentioned that woodpecker is main hero, they were surprised. Some were interested, some clearly just wanted to hear a story and some were a bit dissapointed. So she started to tell a story...
Fairy Tail: Brave Woodpecker
Once upon a time in a forest in far far away land lived a group of talking animals. They lived happily together and enjoyed their every day lifes. Parents took care of their children while children had all the fun they wanted with all kinds of toys they could ask for. This is what we would call a perfect place to life. Although unfortunately one day something horrible happened ! One of the adults, the female vixen in panic started to run around and call for help !
No one knew what to do. They tried to calm her down, stop her from running around, but she refused to listen in the end. Once she stopped and finally managed to calm down one of the animals asked her what happened. "Ooh ooh this is horrible ! My baby is in danger" Animals gasped in shock. All of them were worried and moved. They noticed on the other side of the cliff small baby fox which cried for help. Cliff was really wide and deep, so jumping or trying to dive and swim was impossible. There were several huge trees around, so thick that no one dared to do anything about them. Except one woodpecker. The woodpecker just kept tapping onto the tree. Tap tap tap tap tap tap. Annoying sound slided around, while all the animals looked offended on his uncaring attitude. They hated his guts and that he always insisted on his tapping quirk. "Hey you stupid woodpecker, why you keep hitting the tree ! Don't you see that we deal with a serious problem here !"
And woodpecker clearly didn't care. He just kept with his annoying tapping. Tap tap tap tap tap. Animals started to shout at him, curse him and some even tried to hit him with rocks ! But he just kept going and going. When the situation almost escalated into something drastic, one of the trees suddenly started to drop, ideally through the cliff. Thanks to this mother fox could walk through and pick up her baby. Once she looked at woodpecker, she cried in relief and said "Thank you, thank you so much for help. You saved my baby ! I want to apologize for always being so rude to you !".
All other animals also apologized for their earlier mean actions. Woodpecker just nodded, accepted their thanks, but didn't let it get over his head. So from this day onward he just kept tapping into tress and this time around no one shouted or was mean towards him.
Pinney ended fairy tail happy with children liking that story. "Oh this story is something mama liked to tell me when I was a kid. Any one of you know what is the moral of this story ?" Children concentrated and tried to find an answer. Gnome lady looked at them with stars in her eyes – they are all soooo cute even with their serious faces ! Surprisingly the human boy said first."I think that we should never judge someone first before knowing them or what they want to do. Like we should never be mean towards all monsters as we live all here happily together ! Oh and... "He looked embarrased towards Pinney. "And I shouldn't assume that you were a kid just because you are small!" She smiled and hugged him again, to which he grumbled embarrased with red bright cheeks. Everyone kept talking, have fun and guide new guests around the city. I knew that while this day was fun, I knew that hard part was still in front of us to deal with. I just hope it would work in the end...
A/N Notes: Holy crap, I just couldn't stop typing and typing, but I had fun writing this chapter. I presented additional dialogues and presented characters in more detailed with showing Jeremiahs tiny bit of his past. I wonder who will all guess the series which showed up in Gaxif head when he started to thing of worse alternatives for Xander Osbin ;). First two examples are waaay too obvious :D. Anyway enjoy, I will keep writing this story.