Creatures? In My Neighbourhood? More likely than you think (Frog / Tomomi)

He’d been to Sunlake palms more and more recently. It was… Quiet, especially when compared to the hustle and bustle of Little Tokyo. Still, he wasn’t here on a job, nor had he intended to meet with anyone today like Cecil, or that nun lady. Nope, today he was here to indulge in a hobby he hadn’t had the chance to do for a while.

Look for animals.

Clad in his usual attire, jacket strewn over his shoulder, the boy was off the path, crouched down on a patch of grass. Upon his face was a look of curiosity and intrigue as he studied… A patch of dirt that had been made into a miniature hill. “Ooo…” he muttered beneath his breath, writing a note of his ‘amazing’ find within a notebook he had with him.

Found mole hill in Sunlake Palms – don’t know the type of mole sadly

Truly, the boy was an odd sight to behold for any passing by. Thankfully for him, he was unaware of such a fact at this time.

Posts : 2877 Join date : 2014-12-26 Age : 27

The boy looking at the mole hill would surely be prepared for another animal to shortly join the scene-a large great dane dog whose snout was suddenly pressed against his head. Frog had been walking his dog down Sunlake Palms, but said dog was more interested in sniffing out a trail of mole hills which had lead the two of them up to where Tomomi was gazing at one of them. Titus, the dog, pressed his snout against Tomomi's head. As a large breed, he weighed nearly 80 kg, so it was easy for him to reach the height of a crouched boy's head. He sniffed for a moment before sneezing as he went over to check on the mole hill as well.

"Oi, Titus-" Frog was dragged by the leash. "I apologize for my dog. Hope he hadn't drooled on ya..." He said to Tomomi as he tried to yank Titus away from the mole hill. "NO, don'tcha topple it or something, Titus." He commanded in vain.

When looking at mole hills, there are many things one can expect to happen. Nothing happening? A likely possibility. A mole popping out? Next to impossible, but, possible. A spider crawling up your arm from the grass? Likely.

A dog knocking you over and sneezing on your head? Apparently possible.

As he readjusted himself into a more sitting position while getting himself upright, Tomomi looked up to the sound of a voice. As he wiped the unpleasant Dog sneeze from his head and flicked it to the ground, Tomomi got up, shaking his head with a slight smile that was a bit between a laugh and an anxious response. "Ah, um, it's no... Uh, problem... Although, I... Think drool would have been preferable... Goodness I'll need to wash thoroughly to get this out..."

As he regained his posture properly and looked at the person who was cleaaaarly out of his element with the dog, he found himself having a slight giggle beneath his breath. When he went animal spotting, he did not expect this. "Oh, um... Don't worry too much... Moles tend to avoid going near the top of their mole hills, especially during the day, and especially when there's any noise or vibrations above them. Avoids predators. All your dog would be doing is, well... Spreading dirt around I guess?" Upon finishing this, he wiped his dog sneeze covered hand on the grass in a failed attempt to somewhat clean it.

Posts : 2877 Join date : 2014-12-26 Age : 27

"Oh, he sneezed on ya. Well..." Frog scratched the back of his head, stretching his back out. Getting either drool or sneeze off was nigh equally as difficult when it came to his dog, largely depending on what other compounds were mixed into the bodily fluid. Whichever mix, however, the fluid was likely to affect the coloring of this guy's clothing if left untouched, eating away at it like some kinda acid. Washing it wasn't gonna be a guarantee to get the snot off either. "You should get it cleaned off as soon as you can within the next couple days, otherwise you won't be getting it off ever..." Frog added, while Titus continued sniffing the mole hill.

"Huh, so Titus is just scaring the moles away, cool." He shrugged. "I don't like him messing with things like this." But if this person said it was okay, then Frog wasn't going to complain. He was gonna do as he was said and let Titus enjoy himself sniffing the hill. He was just about to leave and continue on his walk, when a creeping curiosity weighed down on his feet, not allowing him to move. "A-anyways, what's up with this hill, why were you looking at it?" He asked, slightly unwillingly.

"Yeah, I'm... Definitely washing this instantly when I get home..." the boy muttered to himself, once more wiping it onto the grass in a vain attempt before looking up at the stranger with the dog who, before leaving, asked Tomomi a question.

"Ah... Yeah, I um... Guess it is strange, huh... Um... I guess, just because I like animals? I'm not really good at it, but, I want to try and get to the point where I can recognise what type of animal leaves, you know, what type of... Um... What's the word... Tracts? Tracks? One of those. So, I figured I'd start with a common one, but, well, still hard. Like, I know these are... Well, mole hills, but, I'm curious as to what type of moles? Since, there's a bunch of different ones... Oh, but, um, you probably don't care, so, sorry!" he replied, growing more emphatic and erratic at the end as he waved his hands in front of him as if dismissing himself from embarrassment. "Even with his sneeze, though... Um... Nice dog." He added quickly, pointing at Titus.

Posts : 2877 Join date : 2014-12-26 Age : 27

So animal observing? "Like bird watching, yeah?" Frog replied instantly, without much thought. He could kinda get what the guy was trying to do, but he still thought it was fairly stupid he was trying to do it with a mole of all things. And expecting a mole to just come out whilst some strange two-legged creature was looming over its home. "You might wanna....move a bit away from the mole hill if you're expecting a mole to come out. Like, ain't it gonna be afraid of you and just run back inside when it sees you're preying on it over its hill?"

"Oh btw thanks." He added when the guy said Titus was a nice dog. Lotsa people said the same while lotsa people also were fairly afraid of him because of his size. "It's always nice to find someone not afraid of his size."

At the strangers comments about his closeness to the hole, Tomomi rubbed at the back of his neck slightly. "Ah, you um... Misunderstand a bit. I'm not expecting to actually find a mole itself. I want to try identify what type of mole it is by looking at things like, um... Tracks. Although, um... Saying it out loud sounds pretty lame..."

Coughing slightly, he continued to listen. Btw? Was that slang or something? Bee tee double you? He didn't get it. He'd have to look it up later. "And yeah, big dogs can't help being, well, big. Besides, he's clearly a happy dog, so, that's nice to see." He replied with a smile, before standing up with a slight stretch. "The name's Tomomi by the way! To, um... You know, save you remembering me as that kid that got sneezed on..."

Posts : 2877 Join date : 2014-12-26 Age : 27

"Oh well that's..." Frog didn't know how to finish the sentence. The guy was looking at tracks, studying what kinda mole it was...by staring into its hole and not expecting to see the mole itself...it was weird to say the least and he couldn't figure out the most important question: why?????????????
"N-not lame at all err...errr, say, have you studied mole tracks in a book or something before coming here? I don't see any nature journals on you here, so how are you expecting to recognize the tracks of a mole kind anyways?" He wasn't, obviously, gonna ask why. He couldn't just question someone he'd only met like that. However, the guy seemed nice enough and non-intrusive. He liked that.

"Touche, big dogs are just big, they're still dogs! People shouldn't fear them just cause they're big, especially since they're all so nice." Frog smiled, patting Titus's head. "My name's Frogerio and this is Titus. Feel free to pat him, he won't mind." He chuckled at Tomomi's remark about the 'kid that got sneezed on'. He was totally gonna remember him by that though. Totes.

The hesitating of the stranger was more than enough to emphasise Tomomi's anxiety about how odd he was being. Still, it wasn't like the person intended it. "Ah, um... I... Didn't think about that..." Was all the boy said. Yeah, that was poor planning... Next time! Probably.

"And uh, nice to meet you Frogerio and Titus. I'd be happy to, but, well, I should probably get going... Work and such is pretty... Unfun, and if I'm not there on time, my boss would probably yell at me... Still, if I see you around, I hope you um, don't mind if I say hi?" He said, before getting up from his position. He had to go have a shower after his encounter with Titus, and while he was trying to get away due to social anxiety, he did truly have business to take care of where he'd get in trouble if he missed it. So, this seemed like a proper opportunity... It wasn't rude, right?

Posts : 2877 Join date : 2014-12-26 Age : 27

So Frog was now even more stumped, as the guy apparently completely accepted his criticism with a blatantly simple sentence that just reeked of some manner of evasiveness to the topic. It was kinda like, well...kinda like he threw a wet towel onto the floor and it slushed like a wet towel would. Like a pile of shit.

Not that Frog had anything against Tomomi, but it was just that it made him feel pretty guilty, for both saying what he'd said and now thinking what he'd thought when he compared Tomomi to a pile of shit. Thankfully, the other had to leave and Frog had never been more grateful to someone's social anxieties acting up like that. "Oh, I see, well it was nice to meet you. Next time I see you, I hope you'll have some journal with you or somethin. I think it really would be interesting to look for animal tracks~" It really would be, and not just because he felt guilty and wanted to fix the situation. He waved to Tomomi and waited for the guy to leave. "Feel free to say hi if you see me. And don't mind if I do the same, right?"

"Of course! Take care, Mr Frogerio! You too Titus! I'll definitely try to remember to take a journal with me the next time I go out for things like this!"

At that, Tomomi gave Titus a gentle pat on the head, before turning and walking off, waving behind him. Now... Time to get to work, and hope and pray his boss didn't want his head for being a couple minutes late. Thus, Tomomi scattered.

In a panicked haste.

[Exit]

A passing exchange makes the difference between two Souls that grow closer to each other and those that drift apart. What drives us to linger, to engage, this curiosity will tie us together on the Path of Life given nurture and the sifting sands of Time...

Tomomi Jomyaku of the Lovers and Frogerio Zander of the Jester have established a bond...

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