Spontaneous Actions

''Phew! Glad to be back in the garden! I'm tired as fudge!''

''But how can fudge ever be tired?'' Seedos wondered out loud. He looked askingly at his bigger sister, but she ignored him.

''Going to bed already? It's about half past nine... That's too early for a night like this.''

Leafos was absolutely right. It was a lovely evening. The temperature was pleasant; it was pretty warm but far not as hot as it had been in the afternoon. Also, there was no single cloud in the sky to spoil the amazing view of the vast blanket of stars!

''Hmm, you've got a point there girl!'' Ameena plumped down in the lush grass she'd grown. ''I suppose I'll try to stay awake just a little while longer to enjoy the night sky and the sounds of the nocturnal piñatas... I've always liked those! May I ask if you two join me?''

''Of course!'' Leafos exclaimed. ''I'll bring marshmallows, and hot chocolate and other fun campfire stuff! We're going to make a fire, right? Nights like these are not complete without a campfire!''

''Ehm... Okay...'' Ameena mumbled, kind of surprised by the enthiusiasm of her friend. ''And how about you, Seedos?''

The seedman had remained silent since his alarmingly naive question about fudge, but who could blame him? He was all caught up in his worries about his older brother; another day had officially passed and Dastardos still hadn't returned!

''I really have to go to my Shellybeans...'' he said, looking at the ground. When he looked up and saw the disappointed mask of Ameena and the angry mask of Leafos, he hurried to say: ''But, but, but eh, a little while longer won't hurt them!''

When the masks of the girls morphed back to normal the seed boy sat himself down. He watched Ameena make a fire and was desperately trying to think of something to say.
He didn't want to seem impolite, but the burden on his shoulders was growing heavier and heavier, which made him feel even more vacantly than usual.

Suddenly, something jumped on him. Something made of paper. Something that might've had ADD.

''Bouncy! Don't!'' Ameena shouted.

The girl turned around and bursted out in laughter when she saw the image of her puppy 'attacking' Seedos.

''A-ahmeena... Take... this... pup off me! It's licking my mask!''

''That means he likes you'' she giggled as she lifted up Bouncy and petted his square head.

''Guys! I'm back!''

The Barkbark released himself from his owner's tight embrace and scooted towards Leafos. ''Wraf!''

''Hey Bouncy!'' she greeted the paper dog as she put the huge bag of marshmallows on the ground. Then she saw the blue sprinkles of confetti on Seedos' mask. ''I've told you before to get a Barkbark!''

''Never!'' the boy screamed shivery.

''It's alright, it's just a puppy!'' Ameena smiled.

''Seedos has bad experiences with the Barkbark dad used to have'' Leafos chuckled. ''The old dotterel got along pretty well with everyone in the family - even with Stardos who was kinda... different I guess, he was way more serious than we, the other siblings - but Seedos was the one Bulky couldn't get along with...
Whenever baby bro showed his mask, the good dog started growl and grouch.''

''Just like its owner'' Seedos grumbled.

''Dad's not that bad! He's just a bit concerned about you - and I can't blame him! Oh...''

Leafos felt awkward when she realized she and her brother were discussing their daddy issues in Ameena's presence.

''Sorry Ameena'' she stumbled. ''Anyways... How was Patch?''

When she saw the gardener blush under her lovely pink Tigermisu mask, the uncomfortable epression on Leafos' face made place for an exultant smirk.

''What are you saying?'' Ameena giggled, putting another melted marshmallow in her mouth.

''You heard me'' Leafos sighed. ''I used to be afraid to go into thát outhouse over there!'' She pointed at the lapse barn that was bordering Ameena's garden. It indeed looked scary, the windows were cracked, some bricks were missing and on the roof the most awful decorative sun was placed. ''I always thought the place was haunted.''

''I see what you're coming from...'' Ameena mumbled ''I don't think it is, though.''

''I don't think it is either, but did you know Pester used the place for some of his experiments, in the past?''

''Pester? God, the creepy guy who's invented sour candy and smacks piñatas?''

''That's him! He used to be employed by my dad, you know. He calls himself 'Professor' now, but he once was an ordinary helper and he still hasn't finished school.''

''I never knew that!''

''Then now you do! I'm glad you haven't encoutered one of his Ruffians yet, or have you?''

Ameena shook her head.

''Fortunately! It's pretty strange, though... Your garden has reached a level Ruffians consider high enough, I know plenty of gardens like yours that get terrorized daily by Pester's stupid hooligans... It's horrible. You can try to hit them with your shovel or pay them, but only thing they really fear are Mallowolves and those guys are greedy too...''

''That temple'' Seedos suddenly burbled.

''What temple?'' Leafos asked annoyed. ''I was telling Ameena about how much of a plague Ruffians are!''

''Yes but before you were talking about the shed'' Seedos reasoned. ''You were scared to enter. We all where. But do you remember how we felt about the temple?''

''Oh, of course, yes, how could I forget?'' Leafos frowned. ''That thing's always intrigued me, I really badly wanted to write a Journal entry on it, but climbing the huge stairs got me spooked by itself...
But we - Stardos, Storkos, you and I - would challenge each other to go in, and we actually did one day, right?''

''Right.'' A grin appeared on Seedos' mask. ''Best childhood memories ever. We ran out pretty quickly though.''

''Youw tawkin 'bout thah Incan temlah nea mah gaden?'' Ameena asked with her mouth full of marshmallows. She was a sugar addict and not afraid to admit it.

''Yep'' Seedos answered, grabbing a handful of marshmallows himself ''what are your thoughts on it, Ameena?''

How would she answer that? When she had first arrived on the Island, she had found the thing beautiful. Now that she'd been assaulted by a possessed undead person, woken up by Mallowolves from a pack that was supposed to have extincted completely and had heard that her lovely new home village actually had had a dark, dark history... The building mostly looked threatening to her.

''I don't know... Just wondering, is it Platia's temple?'' she threw in.
She could've called it Bulan's temple too, but she really didn't want to say that name out loud. Especially not at night.

''Nah'' Leafos said laconically. ''That one's further to the North... Little is known about thát temple'' she pointed across the garden ''but the style it's built in is pretty similar to that of the Candas... Perhaps it's one of Suelos' creations, he visited our Village to educate our people, after all...''

''So, no Dark Gods involved?''

''Absolutely not'' Leafos snickered. ''If you want to bump in one of those you should go to the jungle... Rumour has it that that's where they hide nowadays whenever they visit the human world; they can't stand staying somewhere New God-related!''

''Hmm... Okay...'' A crazy, crazy thought crossed Ameena's mind.

''What's that?'' Seedos asked flustered. ''You have a weird look on your mask...''

''Oh, nothing!'' Ameena said in the most cloyingly sweet tone of voice. ''I just want to dare you two to... explore the unknown temple over there with me!''

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When Ameena climbed the huge steps that led to the temple entrance, she seriously wondered what she'd gotten herself into. She was holding a burning torch and wearing a denim jacket. She had thrown it on quickly before they left. The evening had suddenly become a lot chillier after she had suggested to take a look inside the intimidately-looking building...

''It's stunning'' Seedos sighed. Ameena had never expected him to find such terrifying things beautiful.

''I'm not sure, Seedos...'' Leafos suddenly stood still. ''I... I find it strange that I didn't think of this before, but don't you remember why we ran away from it?''

''Nope. I was like five years old. We were kids. Kids get scared easily.''

''I think I recall what scared us again...''

Ameena's anxiety grew with that statement.

''Come on Leafos! You're ruining all the fun! Ameena wants to see more of Piñata Island, why scare her off from this great tourist attraction?''

''Seedos! This is no joke! We heard noises.''

''Hmph! Probably just a few lousy Mothdrops or Sherbats! Maybe Mousemallows even! Come on, you're just making an Ellaphanilla out of a Taffly...''

''Ugh! I'm not - ehm, what did you say?''

''You're making wááy to much of a big deal of this!'' Seedos giggled. ''Even I don't think anything bad will happen down there. Or should I say up there?'' Seedos wondered, looking at the huge stairs they'd just climbed halfway.

''Really, I don't think you should say anything at all... Tell me, where's the sudden Indiana Jones attitude coming from?''

''Indiana who?''

Leafos hit her forehead. That boy apparently knew even less about the mainland entertainment industry than she'd expected him to...
And what was even more disturbing, he was acting exactly like their lost brother! The way he showed off, pretended not to be scared and tried to persuade them to go with him... Yes, that was Stardos all over again!

''Great, fine'' Leafos indulged. If this boosted her younger brother's ego and made him feel more confident about himself, well, she really gave a lot about his wellbeing. That boy needed something to feel like a man, the only thing he took pride in now was just... Seeds. Shellybeans. He needed to feel brave for once, that would do him good.
He was probably right about the sounds too, those most likely were just dusty piñatas...

But Ameena looked pretty freaked out by now - the poor girl was shivering! - and she didn't want to make someone do something they didn't want to...

''Let's let Ameena decide'' Leafos suggested. ''If you don't feel like, we won't go... And if you want we can also go back tomorrow, when it's all light and all...''

''No'' Ameena spoke. ''I dared you guys to go, right?'' The girl heard her own voice and she didn't even believe what she was saying herself. ''I... am not scared! And I really want to see what's inside the temple!''

Seedos grinned. ''Then that's a deal!'' He immediately continued climbing.

Leafos and Ameena glared at each other in disbelief, then they followed the example of the seed boy. When they finally reached the entrance, they saw Seedos was observing inscriptions on the temple wall.

''No way you can read thát!'' Leafos mocked. ''You can hardly even read modern letters!''

''Those are no letters! They're small drawings!'' her little brother exclaimed enthusiastic. ''Look, that's a sun! And that must be a large pumpkin! And ohhhh, I think that's a Shellybean shell!''

''Absolutely not. That clearly is an ordinary spiral. Might be the spiral of life or something - whatever it is, it's no Shellybean shell by any means...''

''C-come on guys!'' Ameena noticed her teeth were chattering like crazy. ''I-it r-really doesn't... Let's j-just get in!''

''Are you sure you are still okay with this, Ameen? You're shaking at all...'' She was concerned about the younger girl.

''T-totally!'' Ameena made herself say, and she even managed to fake a wide smile. ''And t-t-t-that's... Just excitement, really!''

''Alright then... Ah, man, no! Seedos' gone inside already!'' Leafos grumbled as she noticed her younger brother was gone. ''I hate being responsible for that little brat. He's so stubborn, in the name of the Gods! He never - I recall NEVER - listens to my good advice! Oh, I'm so scared things'll go terribly wrong with him when he gets older...''

''Leafos? What's all the scolding for?'' Seedos' mask appeared around the corner of the temple's door frame. ''Don't be mad at me sis - and don't you be scared Ameena, I've found something really cool...''