"Hm? What the..." A chill formed on Eternia's scalp and then gently creeped down her back. Instinctively she looked down.
At her feet stood a tiny firefox wearing a pink romper. The creature smiled excitedly and held on to a basket to avoid falling.
"Neighbour!" the toddler exclaimed and pointed its finger towards Eternia.
"What the heck...!" Eternia circled the tiny creature carefully and said softly between her teeth: "Sinistra! Pst, Sinistra! Come look at this!"
The panda took another lumbering step towards her and let go of the basket. A basket, which at closer inspection contained some very yummy treats.
"Ha ha! Mommy! Mommy! I found neighbour!"
"He, wait a second! With 'mommy' he doesn't mean me, does he?" Another chill went through the woman.
"No, he means me", said another bodyless voice, this one female and soft.
"Kentaro, behave yourself!"
"Err... hello?" Perplexed, Eternia went down on her knees. There was another firefox nearing along their garden path. 'What's happening here?!' she thought startled when she noticed the outfit of their visitor.
The panda woman wore a colourful kimono and balanced a cake in her arms which was larger than her son. Her fluffy tail gently moved at every step.
"Good day, miss!" the panda woman greeted her with a courteous little bow when she reached Eternia. "May I introduce myself? I'm Mrs Ressapanda and that over there is my son Kentaro. We are neighbours."
"So who's at the door, Eternia?" Sinistra was standing in the corridor and had no clue what kind of creature a ding-dong ditcher might be, but Eternia wasn't coming back. Her heart was pounding so loudly she had overheard the request to come out.
Curiously she peeked around the corner. The fringe of her dress brushed against Kentaro and sweeped the little one right off his feet. He squealed.
"Oh my!" Sinistra quickly jumped back. "My goodness! Pardon me, little ding-dong ditcher! Are you hurt?"
Kentaro kept squealing, but it sounded amused. "Whee! Second neighbour, mommy!"
Mrs Ressapanda eyed the elementalist and ignored her son, which probably meant that she was very sure he was unhurt.
"Good day to you! As I already told your gold-haired friend we are your neighbours. I'm Mrs Ressapanda."
"Good day..."
Eternia was flattered. Gold-haired! "My pleasure to meet you. My housemate's name is Sinistra and I'm Eternia. You are our neighbours? What do you mean by that?"
The neighbouring houses didn't look like they had the right format for this family.
"My husband, the children and I live in the big oak tree in the park. That's almost exactly behind your house."
"Oh..."
"When I heard the noise and saw that new neighbours were moving in I quickly baked you a cake. Here, this is for you!"
"Thank you..." Eternia unobtrusively eyed the cake that the panda woman handed her. What would talking pandas eat? Hopefully not insects? A pleasant smell tickled her nose and she was relieved to find it was an apple cake with no visible abnormalities. It was still warm, even.
"You're welcome! Judging by the noise it has been a very exhausting day for you. Surely both of you are tired and hungry after moving in. As good neighbours it's my duty to help out and I love to bake. Kentaro?"
"Yeees, mommy!" The little panda hopped back on its feet and shoved the basket closer to Sinistra's feet. "Here more yummy!" He smiled from ear to ear.
"Thank you very much for the wonderful presents! Thank you!" Sinistra showed her appreciation with a well-behaved curtsy.
Dolltopia 0015 <- # -> Dolltopia0017