Smiling Critters: Ancestra Au

Hoppy... and friends

The rabbit carried the knocked out group tied by chains, being dragged across the dirty floor of the hallway where they hid to commit the horrible act with Dogday. The same was on her shoulders, his legs didn't have that much strength to keep him standing;

— Excuse me..? Who are you? — asked Dogday after having a lot of rethinking about interacting with her.

— Hah! I thought you would never talk! — her voice was high and a little deep for a girl — my name is Hoppy, Hoppy Hopscotch! I'm well known around the orphanage, I'm surprised you don't know me.

— No one interacts with me, and I'm always wearing earplugs because my hearing is sensitive... oh, and my name is Dogday — he said without showing any nervousness.

— Oh!  That explains a lot, and well, I know who you are, the one excluded from things, the “stranger” from the orphanage, hehe, these kids these days are not right in the head — she said while laughing lightly.

— “Kids”? How old are you? even because you seem to be one…

— I say this because I'm also one of those excluded, I'm fourteen years old and I'm addicted to fights… — she sighed heavily when she spoke of her love of fighting.

— Hum… that's why you're excluded, it's not very common to see girls dedicating themselves to combat.

The conversation continued all the way to the board, the subject was diverse but always aimed at a little bit of each person; the group of attackers were left in detention, still unconscious, and the pair went to the director's office.

The orphanage was dark as it was still night, Hoppy was shining a little with her electricity magic giving a good view of the path, the director was still awake even with the late hour and was able to attend to both of them.

What happened was explained, the superior was shocked by Dogday's condition and appalled by what the group of attackers were doing to him; the punishment would be severe, clearly they would regress their choices.

— It wasn't difficult to explain everything, but it will be difficult to sleep again… — the puppy could now stand up, outside the principal's office he stretched out a little.

— Maybe taking a shower and staying outside would be good, I do that when I can't sleep! — smiled broadly as he started to walk.

— Hmm… looks good! But... I still don't know how to shower by myself — followed Hoppy with a neutral look, he looked at himself a little to see if he remembered how to soap himself.

— Serious? At ten years old, you still don't know how to take a bath alone? Haha!! So let me take a shower with you!

Said and done, the two went to the bathroom of the place, turned on the shower and took a shower, Hoppy clearly taught him how to soap himself, and the main parts for him to do so. After removing all the soap and drying themselves, they left the building and walked around the lawn.

It was cold outside, the breeze was making Dogday's hair stand on end, Hoppy still had her cold shirt on, so she gave it to him to warm up, even if just a little. In a place where the moon could hit the lawn, the dog could see something, around the rabbit's neck was a necklace;

— Huh? You have a necklace… — said Dogday pointing to the object.

The moon's shine reflected on Hoppy's necklace, at the end of the chain there was a yellow ray;

— Hum? Hehe, yeah, he's mine, I still don't know what he does, strangely he appeared on my neck when I woke up one day — she said, holding the small ray — until then, it only shines after a good while of fighting.

— Cool! But, what do you think it can do?

— Just like a friend of mine's necklace, maybe something could come out of it! — she said super excited — I really hope a sword comes out, or a pair of gauntlets!!  Maybe a double dagger!!

— Hehe, you really like fighting, and it seems like everything that comes out of your head is about combat — he chuckled lightly.

— Naah!  It's not that much, because I'm still a girl, I think like one too — she smiled at him.

Talk goes on, talk comes, the two spent a long time walking outside that orphanage, talking about literally anything, but soon the sun began to appear on the horizon.

Hoppy had an idea, she would show Dogday to a friend of hers who was confined in the basement of the orphanage;

— Confined? But why? Did she do something very wrong? — asked Dogday as he followed the green rabbit to a little door in the ground, somewhere behind the building…

— It's a long story — she jumped into the open space — come on, I can tell you on the way — she opened her arms to catch the dog since there was no other way to get down without having to jump from a great height.

— Ok! — he jumped off the edge, and Hoppy successfully caught him.

Along the way through the dark, abandoned and dirty corridors, Hoppy explained why her friend was confined; Picky, she's a pig girl, speechless and very hungry.

Picky ate too much, but the orphanage didn't have much food to give her, so there was a day when the girl's hunger reached its limit and she started eating everything, from plastic and iron objects, to even other people. This was already a big problem, if it weren't for her “sacred treasure”.

— Sacred treasure?  What is that? — asked Dogday.

— It's a kind of weapon that only the bearer can pick up and use, Picky's is a large axe... a combat one at that — in the distance you could see an exposed fence — and there she is.

As you got closer you could see a kind of classroom, without chairs or cupboards, the place was dirty with leftover food, the pig was sitting in front of a pile of leaves, where she picked up and ate large quantities. The rabbit calls for her, it takes a while but Picky answers, getting up and going close to the grille on the door.

— Hey girl… — said the rabbit with a lower tone of voice that was clearly sweeter and calmer — how is it going?

The pig girl responded with hand signals, Dogday didn't understand anything but the conversation between them seemed to be quite understandable. From what Hoppy seemed to say, the conversation seemed to be a bit of their day-to-day life, even though they were separated, of course.

— Oh, him? His name is Dogday, my new little friend and also the one I should protect — replied Hoppy after Picky pointed to the boy who was a little scattered.

— Huh?  Oh, hello miss — said awkwardly, and the pig smiles, making Dogday wag his tail slightly.

Picky made some hand signs, and Hoppy laughed lightly.

— Oh yes, he is — Picky made some more signs — Ah, I met him tonight, the director asked me to take a look at him and not let anything bad happen — said Hoppy smiling.

Talk comes, signs go, and Dogday is still very lost and doesn't know what to say, at the end of the conversation the rabbit and the dog say goodbye to the pig who sadly returned to continue eating the leaves.

With each step away from Picky, Hoppy lost her smile until she looked completely sad. Below the exit that was where they entered, the rabbit helped Dogday get up there, then she jumped and closed the doors that led to the basement.

— She seems nice to me, she didn't even appear to be hungry while talking to you — commented the puppy.

— her hunger is great, not infinite, haha — she had started talking loudly again, and after closing the doors she started walking to go back inside the orphanage.

— Hum… stopping to think, how long has she been in there, trapped?

— For eleven years…

Hoppy is fourteen, Dogday is just ten, and Picky is sixteen… after hearing the time Picky was in there, Dogday did a simple math in his head, and with the result, he expressed a slight sadness.