[Trade] I Forgor

Toffee laid her head on her desk. She had a couple days off work, and she had no idea what to do. She almost never got days off! Work was quite literally her life, since managing the time stream was quite important. So when she had time for activities, she was often left lost. Ughhhhhhhhh.

Looking out the window, Toffee could see a newspaper shop. That might be fun. She could learn some information on the town. Ok, let’s do that.

But upon stepping outside, Toffee was frozen. What if the timestream had a problem while she was out? What if she tripped and fell in a puddle? What if the store was closed? What if-

Bonk!

Her spiral was interrupted by a Cirrocanius bumping into her. Regaining her balance, Toffee looked up at the offender.

“...Moon?”

Moon smiled down at her friend. “Heyyyy! What’s up? You’re actually going outside for once? Wowwww!”

“Ha ha,” Toffee replied sarcastically. “I have a few days off so I figured I’d try. But I can’t stop worrying! What if something happens while I’m away from my desk? I can’t risk that!”

“Why do you think they let you have a break? They can manage anything that happens on their own! C’mon, if you don’t get out of this room I’m dragging you out by the scruff. Move it!” 

And with that, the duo headed out into the streets of the town. 

It was bustling today. The weather was nice so it made sense. The new Cirrocanius Cloud Team were able to partially manipulate weather so they tried their best to make it nice for everyone. It was quite useful. The Cirros were so cool.

Moon is my favorite Cirro, though, she’s so confident! I wish I could be like her…

Toffee shook away the thought and walked over to the newspaper shop. But before she could open the door, a swarm of Bear Peppers ran into the street and tackled Toffee to the ground. She yelled as the vegetable critters climbed all over her, pulling on her fur and ears.

Aughhh, I knew going outside was a bad idea! Of course I get swarmed by pathetic critters…

“HEY! GET OFF HER NOW! SHOO! SHOO! BEAT IT!”
Moon’s thunderous bark scared the Bear Peppers away, squealing and running into the alleyway. She then helped Toffee get back up. 

“Are you ok?! Gosh those came out of nowhere! Wonder where they came from…”

Toffee sighed. “I’m fine. I think I’m just unlucky with animals.”

“Alright then, let’s get into the store before they come back!”

The duo did just that. The inside of the store was quiet. There were a few people inside, reading papers or just looking around. It made Toffee feel cozy.

Moon walked over to the dailies and read one of the articles. Then she gasped.

“Hey, Toffee, check this out!”

Moon handed the paper over. Toffee scanned the main article.

“Local Bear Pepper sanctuary broken into, critters possibly on the run”.

Well. That explained some things. 

She continued reading some of the other articles. Sightings of a possible dragon in the nearby forest (Probably just a winged Cirro). A new toy store opening and receiving massive praise (Hopefully they sell more than toy trains). And…what was this?

“Young Spacecat with ‘magical’ hourglass spotted downtown. Witnesses say the object was able to manipulate time, but could be lying. The child was unwilling to answer questions and promptly vanished. Could she be from another era?”

That was concerning. Toffee made a note to investigate that further when she got back to work. Looking up, she spotted Moon staring at her. Her cheeks flushed. How long had she been staring?

“...Hi.”

“Earth to Toffee! You’ve been reading for a while. Anything else good?”

“Uh, yeah. I’m gonna buy this and read more later.”

After making her purchase, Toffee and Moon walked back out onto the busy street. Moon looked at Toffee.

“So what do you wanna do now?”

Toffee thought for a minute. “I’m kind of hungry after all that reading. Wanna hit up the coffee shop?”
“Heck yea! You’re getting great at making decisions.” Moon smiled at her. Toffee looked away as she blushed again. 

“Y-yeah, I guess I am. C’mon, let’s get moving before busy hour.”

The Cirro and the Sodacat walked off, Toffee subtly wrapping her tail around Moon’s. Hopefully she wouldn’t notice.

Yet.