𓁹 ꧁Aʟʟsᴇᴇʀs꧂ 𓁹

Cʜᴀᴘᴛᴇʀ 5

Written by: glxtterbunnie

Walter stood silently by the door, waiting for Codey and Astor to finish preparing for their weekly grocery run. Today was quite a nice day (although it was somewhat windy), but Walter didn't mind.

He busied himself unlocking the door, while Codey entered in his usual outfit, waving at Walter with a friendly 'expression'. "Hi, Walter."

Walter silently greeted him while he finished up, straightening himself slightly while they waited for Astor, who quickly emerged from the doorway.
"My apologies for being late; I was getting the plastic bags from the kitchen cupboard."

They planned to go to the village- which was a small town of mainly NPCs near the treehouse, luckily for them there were several shops and restaurants in the village, and other places such as the Nurses' office, which provided healing. In fact, Astor had a small part-time job helping out there.

Walter just gave the thumbs up instead of speaking, and opened the door for them; leaving slightly after Astor, who waited for him so he didn't have to walk with Codey.

Although he chose to stay neutral, Walter was very aware that Astor and Codey had a very bad relationship. He had no idea why they didn't like each other, but their bickering irritated him slightly.

He walked with Astor, who was talking animatedly about his main interest, plants, noting the fact Codey walked behind them in silence.

"So, I got this really good book recently from the Library, and it's been so helpful for identifying the plants I've seen recently."

"Oh?" Walter tried to be polite, but he didn't understand much about Astor's interest.

"Yeah, I'm really happy with it, and I'm almost finished. What about you?"

Walter glanced at Codey before answering, "Oh, I haven't been reading much recently, but I have found this fascinating book on the history of musical instruments."

To his surprise, Codey tried entering the conversation, walking beside them on the damp, cherry-red grass. "Whatcha talking about?" He asked playfully.

"Why is it any of your business?" Astor asked, rather rudely.
Walter was shocked. What was that for? He didn't think that Codey had meant to offend anyone- and even then, what was there to be offended over.

An awkward silence ensued, therefore Walter took to admiring the scenery.
The sun was not yet at the top of the sky, as it was still the morning (around 9:00), but it was bright yet damp, with a breeze. The crimson grass, darker than the colour of the similarly-coloured sky, was damp with dew, and made surprisingly pleasing crunching sounds.

After what felt like forever, they finally reached the village, and Walter thought he would never be so happy to see it. "Well, since we're here, I suppose someone can go to the grocery store with me-"

Astor sharply interrupted, "I'm going with you."

"-and the other can go see if there's anything else we need. If that's OK with you, Codey?"

Codey nodded, seemingly still friendly enough despite the earlier rejections. "Maybe we should meet up near the Nurses' office once we're both done." He suggested reasonably.

"That's a really good idea. Thanks, Codey." Walter replied, trying to be kind to him to make up for earlier. "See you in a bit." He looked at Astor to make sure he was ready before starting to walk to the Shop.

The Shop was run by an NPC called the Shopkeeper, and it sold mainly just basic goods but he heard that you could also get some special items if you got along well with the Shopkeeper. He would have to ask Astor or maybe Codey about that. Astor got along well with most of the more sentient NPCs, and Codey knew a lot about the game.