Firey's Reign

the calm before the storm...

Tree POV:

"So what do we need again?"

"For the hundredth time, we need sand paper and wood-glue."

"Oh, right."

Pen and I were walking over to Yellowface's store looking for some materials for our upcoming project. We wanted to teach Woody some survival skills, so that he wouldn't die solely from fear. And what better way to start his learning than fixing up that ridiculous chip he had on his face?

We walked down the path carefully, being cautious after hearing that someone on this Island had gone missing. It was truly a shame what had happened to Pencil, and it was even worse hearing about Match. We didn't want to dwell on it too much, as Bottle was already on the verge of crying when she found out we didn't prevent that death.

The search parties had apparently given up on searching for Pencil, so we all assumed that she tried to venture out of the Island and fell down some canyon or something. Pen was still insistent on the idea that Pencil's limbs were in some garden, and for that dumb theory, I had to slap a good amount of sense into him.

We finally reached the doors of the store, but I noticed someone was already there. I tried to reach for the door handle, but I was distracted by their blinding pink hue.

That's when I realized:

Shit, it's Eraser.

It had been a while since I last saw any of Pen's old friends, and I had dreaded meeting them again for ages. They were just so...annoying. I shook back into reality and looked to my side. Pen disappeared. I looked back ahead of me and saw Pen running up to Eraser.

"Oh great," I muttered and opened the door.

"Eraser, Eraser, Eraser!" He yelled. Eraser turned around and gave a huge smile. Hm, was he always this friendly around Pen? I slowly walked up to Pen's side as he and Eraser did some sort of handshake.

"Yooo, Pen! It's been so long," Eraser said in his manly voice.

"I know right! Last time we hung out was like back when we were picked for that contest thing." They exchanged awkward glances at each other, seeming like there was some inside joke which occurred on that trip.

I let out a small little cough to remind Pen that I was still there.

He picked up on my cue stepped to the side so Eraser was looking straight at me: "Oh, right! Silly me, how could I forget? Eraser, you know Tree, right? He works with me for the whole death prevention stuff."

I held out my hand to shake Eraser's at the same time he held out his hand to give me a fistbump. This was already going off to a terrible start. He hesitantly retracted his hand, as I gave him a judgemental glare.

"Heh...uh anyways, what are you two doing at the store so late in the afternoon?" Eraser questioned, brushing off the side of his hand on himself.

"Oh, we just needed to pick up a couple supplies. What about you?"

"I needed to get a new lemon juicer for our Margaritas." Eraser gave a somewhat innocent smile, which was odd, especially considering he was a literal bartender.