23 August 2015
I don't know if I overuse the use of italics.
But even if I do I wouldn't stop myself. So.
27. Village Trips
of the probably mentally unstable although no one knows what he's actually thinking.
"Shut up. Hold up! Kirby, if you drag me to the village with you, I will never visit you again."
"You don't have the heart to, Band-Aid. So don't."
"No! I mean… it's not that I don't want to, but if the report gets to the king, he'll forbid me from leaving the castle. And he'll reinforce it. And we'll never meet on a friendly basis again."
Kirby tilted his head backwards and laughed. Bandana Dee apparently didn't find it funny and proceeded to, once again, thrash in Kirby's (practically iron) grip. Kirby thought everything was a joke! (Okay, maybe not.) Their friendship was at a risk and he was just making a joke out of it! Rude. And he had better things to do in the castle. (Not really.) Maybe he should abandon the thought of visiting Kirby altogether.
"I doubt Dedede would care. Or believe it." Kirby tilted his head sideways thoughtfully, pausing for a moment before continuing down the dirt path. "I doubt the villagers would even tell him!"
"You can never be too safe!"
"Nice! I got another one for you. You only live once. ...In this universe, anyway."
"There's nothing to do in the village!"
"Carnivorous plants!"
"You are not—"
"Yes, we are. Your life is too boring—" wow, thanks "—and you need some sort of danger! So you will get it. Your some sort of danger."
Bandana Dee would've added that he didn't really want "some sort of danger", and that working in the castle with his mundane routines were perfectly A-OK with him, but he already knew that there was no point arguing with a Set and Straight Minded Kirby, and quietly allowed himself to be dragged towards the village.
Then it occurred to Bandana Dee once again.
"...Are there really carnivorous plants in the village?" He'd gone a few rounds in the village by himself. He hadn't explored every nook and cranny of it, but he'd seen enough.
And there were no carnivorous plants.
"Am I a liar?"
"...Um." Kirby glanced backwards to glare at the waddle dee for a little bit, before facing forward again. "How big are they?"
"Oh, twice the size of Bob."
Bob was… nearly as tall as Bandana Dee. But not quite there. No, wait..? Bandana Dee frowned, reaching up to adjust the bandana Kirby was tugging on. The waddle dee liked to think he was sane—he'd never gone around investigating the different heights of different things.
(He did know Kirby was a little taller than him, but that was only because Kirby had coerced him into comparing their heights. He did his victory dance four times in a row when he learnt Bandana Dee was a little shorter than him.)
"How many?"
"Well, there's a planter box full of them! They're really friendly."
Bandana Dee didn't know if Kirby was delusional or actually telling truth.
The quaint village was the same as always. Villagers were walking around and doing business like they always were, and the fountain in the centre was spouting water neatly like always. It was a pretty sight, really. (Until winter, then the village looked like a ghost town.)
It would've been a much prettier sight if Bandana Dee hadn't been visiting a planter box full of carnivorous plants.
"...Where is the planter box?" Bandana Dee asked, unsure if he really wanted to know the answer. What if it was in some dark alley, and there's wasn't just one planter box, but many? Oh, no no no no no no no—
"Oh, in the village garden."
"There's a village garden?"
Bandana Dee thought Kirby would've scrunched his nose if he had one. "Unofficially. But it's enough to be a garden."
Kirby entered a row of street vendors, with Bandana Dee in tow, and the waddle dee heard the pink puffball cheerfully greeting—probably the villagers. Kirby was a friendly puffball—could he ask them to, uh, not talk about Bandana Dee being dragged around by his friend Kirby? Bandana Dee hoped Kirby was sensitive enough, at least.
Where most people would turn left at the end of a street—since there was barely any option for a right turn—Kirby spun around and let go of Bandana Dee's bandana, looking up at the wall. Bandana Dee mimicked the action, but didn't see anything notable. The wall wasn't tall, but wasn't too short to make a quick and pleasant climb, although there were some study-looking vines draped over it. They were hung until mid-height of the wall and Bandana Dee would have to jump to have to reach them—he wondered if they'd support his weight.
As for the wall itself—it was old-looking, cracks in a corner, and slicked with grime. Bandana Dee would've scrunched his nose. If he had one.
"I can fly over it," Kirby told Bandana Dee, sounding more practical than ever. "But you can't fly, right?"
"...Not really. Sort of—"
"If it's a 'not really', then you'll have to take the vines! They work, don't worry; I've tried before!"
Bandana Dee hurled another look up at the way-too-high-up-vines and fixed a glare on Kirby. "That's too high! I can't jump that high!"
"I can carry you until the vines," Kirby offered.
"Carry me all the way, then."
"Can't. You're too heavy."
"I can't climb for nuts."
"They're good vines. Anyway, if you start to die a little, just yell. I'll probably be able to help you a bit, but a bit's enough, right?"
Bandana Dee didn't know, and he didn't really want to find out.
He didn't really have a choice, though, and he knew he didn't. Kirby was floating above him before he knew it, hovering expectantly, and Bandana Dee lamely looked up, prompting Kirby to give him instructions. Giving him a flat look, Kirby wiggled his feet, and Bandana Dee blinked before latching onto them.
Kirby wasn't terribly fast to begin with, and with a baggage dragging him down, he was even slower. Despite all that, it felt like the duration of a blink before Bandana Dee was face-to-face with those sturdy vines.
He reached a hand out, latching onto a vine, and then the other one, and then Kirby suddenly hovering closely above his head anymore.
The trip up the vines was unexpectedly smooth, and Kirby laughed at Bandana Dee for it. The pink puffball pointed out Bandana Dee was working in the castle, and he needed some survival skill or other—Bandana Dee pretended he knew that.
"Just over there's Eggplant. And Bandana. And Malus."
"...'Malus'?"
"Crabapple!"
Bandana Dee was honestly expecting some very terrifying, very large pitcher plants currently consuming an elephant, or venus flytraps with blood-stained jaws, or fangs, or what-have-you.
Instead, there were three planter boxes—no lies—that held the very normal, very common types of plants.
"What... it's—I..."
"Have been scared of those dainty, harmless seedlings over there all this time? Yes."
"No, they're not even seedlings—"
"Excuses!"
The time they spent ended normally: Kirby laughing hysterically and Bandana Dee exuding a very I'm-so-done-with-you aura.