My Plushie (SeaChaos)

Part 4 - Our Beloved Mascot

~Nanner's POV~

        "He shouldn't be gone for long. He's never gone for long," Chilled explains very quickly while glancing around seeming panicked. I reach out to him, knocking my knuckles on his head making him blink suddenly and looks to my eyes for once. 

"What's up with you? Can't live without your Ze?" I tease making him glare and shakes his head immediately while he pulls away from me without a second thought. A dark feeling comes over me when I wonder if he really can't live long without Ze in sight. From the looks of him right now he looks like a lost puppy who just lost their mother and I absolutely despise it. 

"There's just something he needs to do every once in a while." I glance over to the small brown plushie still sitting in the same position as it had been yesterday. I poke at its belly before picking up the small plushie, getting Chilled's attention as he stares at it too. 

"Where'd you get this? Funny face," I comment, giggling at the overly happy face with the tongue sticking out, something the sack boy does when you make his expression happy. 

"Mrs. Pennington made it for us, we have two of them actually. One in the back," he gestures towards the back making me a bit curious but he turns down towards the cash register and begins flicking through the money seemingly bored and yet there is a slight twitch in his actions that prove he's still nervous.  "I was the one who made the mascot, just bored and I liked Little Big Planet so it sorta just happened. What're you guys planning on doing here? Getting jobs?" I sigh and leap over the counter, unexpected to him because he nearly jumps backwards and for a second it seems like he's going to run but allows me to drag a stool near me and plop down on the seat. 

"Gassy and the others are, yeah. I'm not sure what I want to do yet," I lie and lean on the counter, eyeing everything even remotely close to me, the only thing of value the cash register along. I am interested in the mascot, something just seems fishy about it. Especially with the way Ze had to take it out of my hands suddenly yesterday, although Chilled didn't seem to mind just now. Maybe I'm over thinking Ze's actions, he could just be a paranoid guy for all I know. Glancing over at Chilled I notice he's becoming pale, very pale compared to his usual olive. A part of me wishes to reach out and ask him what's the matter and yet I feel glued to my spot just watching him, watching him as he becomes more and more distant to me. 

"Chilled, sorry I'm late," Ze suddenly announces as he comes back in, shocking the customers with his arrival. Chilled nods and leaves my side to join Ze in a heartbeat. "You can go off now," Ze mutters making me glance to Chilled curiously as they both disappear in the back room. Ze is the only one who comes back out, glancing to me and nodding. 

"Nanners? Have you been getting along with Chilled?" He asks curiously, pinning on a name tag on his shirt, stabbing himself a couple of times in accident. I observe him for a good few moments, can he really not care if I'm getting along with Chilled?

"You can say that, I was just bored and had no where else to go," I explain and watch the man casually fix up everything on the counter which Chilled had played with and made disorganized just a moment ago. "Did Chilled have somewhere he needed to go?"

 "Yeah, he usually has somewhere to go. Shouldn't you be, I don't know, looking for a job?" I sigh and fall onto his counter.

"But I don't want to look for a job," I complain only making Ze laugh and shake his head.

"That's how I felt until Chilled forced me to help him run this store. Then we got into all sorts of trouble and things happened." Ze sighs and shakes his head, making me stare at him in curiosity. Trouble? What kind of trouble could these two innocent shop owners possibly go into besides maybe gambling? Chilled could be the type to gamble, I'm not sure about Ze though or if Ze would even let Chilled get into gambling in the first place.