Thursday in the park with a Bandicoot

[wildgalegirl]

Charlie and Bandicoot!Graham had enjoyed an adventurous week. They'd gone exploring in the woods, soaked at the Onsen (well, Charlie had soaked, Bandicoot!Graham had happily watched and chittered with her), sung concerts on the roof, did secret silly missions through the town pretending to be spies, and, of course, made sure that Triumph was well taken care of.

But today was going to be a quieter day, so they were ensconced on a bench after picking up a picnic-y lunch, including bandicoot suitable food, obviously. Charlie was practicing her mandolin and singing silly songs to make Bandicoot!Graham laugh because that was the most adorable thing to watch. In between songs they people-watched and waited to see if anyone would stop by to see what was going on. They were absolutely open to any company!

And, as always, the park was open for anyone's park needs!

Comments

[pun_king]

Graham had definitely been enjoying life as a bandicoot, and Charlie had definitely been a great bandicoot caretaker,and today had been no exception! Bandibelly full of delicious bandifood, he tried his hand at a little banditune, and it was a shame Charlie wasn't more fluent in the language, but he would assure everyone, the lyrics were very funny and very clever, and then, when finished, he took a dramatic bandibow and then looked up at Charlie eagerly to see what she had to say about the performance.

[wildgalegirl]

Charlie laughed delightedly and bowed back to her bandicute companion! "I'm not sure what you just said, but I could tell it was very funny! Nice job!" She strummed a rousing finish to their song then scooped Graham up and held him so they could bow to the trees and passersby, and of course the squirrels.

"And now, for Leroy, a special song about lost love," Charlie declared and swept into a renditon of If I Was a Blackbird. It might have been a poingnant song about lost love, but Charlie loved the beauty of it, and that showed as she sang.

"You won't sail away and leave me forever, will you, my bandicoot friend?" Charlie smiled at Graham. "But if you did, I'd just sail off after you!"

[pun_king]

Graham had sort of drifted off dreamily, as Charlie sang, transported by the music and the song and the wistfulness of it all, giving a few longing sighs at the appropriate spots. He gave her a faint bandismile at the end, before chuckling a little at her question, which he answered emphatically, with a fierce shake of his head and a swiping of his paws in the air to underscore it.

In fact, he hopped up to his feet and took a few moments to pantomime out a scene, where he did, in fact, foolishly set out to sea all by his lonesome and was struck by a terrible storm that tossed him around and about, and right off the ship (slash bench!), into the torrential sea (slash grass!), where he managed to keep himself afloat via doggy paddle for a little while before, without her help to guide him, he, splayed out on the ground with his tongue hanging out of his mouth, had succumbed to the sea once and for all...

But even as a drowned bandicoot sailor, he did crack open an eye to get as good a look at her reaction as he could from down there.

[wildgalegirl]

Charlie laughed delightedly and applauded. "Bravo!"

She then proceeded to act out her own epic adventure where she pined for poor lost Bandigraham, such a knightly name! Then she set her shoulders and set off bravely ona ship of her own, miming herself standing at the bow and (not re-enacting the Jack and Rose scene) peering about with her imaginary spyglass, being tossed hither and thither by the rough seas, before finally spying her lost sailor! At which point she jumped off, landing next to him in the grass, and pretended to swim them both back to the safety of the bench.

Two of the squirrels held up scorecards for their performance: 9.0 and 9.4. The Russian squirrel scowled and held up a 5.6.

[pun_king]

Once returned to the safety of the bench, Graham took a moment to properly swoon over such a valiant and heroic rescue.

And then put a paw to his nose and waved it at the Russian squirrel while blowing a raspberry. Maybe a little for the other ones, too. 9.0? 9.4?? That was a 10/10 adventure! It had everything! Drama! Suspense! Sweeping set pieces! Romance! He reassuringly held out both paws for Charlie, all splayed put. Perfect 10. No notes!

[wildgalegirl]

Charlie laughed delightedly. "You are absolutely right, my Graham-dicutey! We are definitely a ten."

The Russian squirrel chittered angrily and tore up his scorecard before scampering up a tree. The other two squirrels booed and gave him a 2 and 2.3 respectively.

[stykera]

Stark was out enjoying the day, since it was warm, and he'd stopped off for one of his usual very sugary and very caffeinated drinks from the Perk before heading to the park. Once there of course he had to stop off and listen to the music for a moment and try to figure out what sort of adorable creature was being serenaded.

He waved a hello to Charlie and her fuzzy companion before finding a seat on an unoccupied bench.

[pun_king]

And Charlie's fuzzy companion happily gave an eager wave and a squeaking greeting back!

There was a bit more, too, even sounding like it might have ended in a question, but unless Stark was fluent in bandicoot, it was probably mostly just squeaks and a few squeals and chirrups.

[stykera]

Stark was fairly good at Squirrel but unfortunately had no experience with Bandicoot.

"Are you enjoying your day then?" he asked. "You seem happy."

[pun_king]

Graham gave a little cheering sound in the affirmative, with a big pump of his little paw in the air for emphasis. What followed was, of course, a very detailed description of all the adventures he and Charlie had been having on this day alone, but worry not! There were plenty of expressive gestures and dramatic changes in tone and pitch, so even if Stark might not be setting the precise details, he definitely would get the general gist.

[stykera]

Oh no. The Grahamdicoot was too cute. Bandicute?

"A very good day then," Stark said, grinning. "I'm glad. Mine hasn't been nearly so exciting. But it's warm and that's very good, too."

[pun_king]

Graham gave Stark an encouraging sound, because the day was still pretty young! There could be all sorts of excitement still in store for him! You could never really tell, with that sort of thing! But he felt as if he and Charlie being in the park might have helped with that, and, after tilting his head thoughtfully at Stark, mimed out playing a mandolin, like what Charlie had, and then struck a dramatic, operatic poem and squeaked out a little scale before then giving a questioning trill to accompany his gesture toward Stark.

Did he have any musical talents to contribute to the performance today, maybe?

[stykera]

The day was young. You never knew what might happen especially here in Fandom.

"Oh, no." Stark shook his head. "I don't think so. She's doing very well on her own, isn't she? I...don't really sing in front of people. Not often."

[wildgalegirl]

"Hello, good sir!" Charlie called, still playacting a little, but mostly because it was fun.

[stykera]

"Hello," Stark said, smiling at her. "Do you mind if I listen, for a bit?"

[wildgalegirl]

"Not at all," Charlie said. "I'm just getting in some practice here with Graham. Oh, this is Graham. Do you know him? He's not usually a bandicoot."

[stykera]

"Oh! The squirrels said he was a bandicoot but I wasn't sure what a bandicoot was. Or that he still wasn't himself."

"Sorry, Graham," Stark said to the bandicoot. "I hope you're back to yourself soon."

[wildgalegirl]

"I'm taking good care of him," Charlie said. "And according to radio a lot of people who were animals have been turning back. And wow is that a thing I never imagined saying before I came here."

[stykera]

"Prompto is himself again," Stark said with a nod. "And so is Summer. I wonder if Gladio stopped being a plant yet? But...yes. Nobody turned into animals where I was before. It seems to only happen here. That I know of."

Sure, he'd had plenty of other extremely strange things at home but never that.

[wildgalegirl]

"I'm not convinced my Aunties haven't turned people into animals on occasion, but that wasn't random," Charlie said. "I'm sure if they did the people definitely had it coming."

She paused to consider for a moment. "Or at least should have known better than to mess with the Aunties."

[stykera]

"On purpose?" Stark asked warily. "Here it just seems to happen without anyone doing anything."

Though he wasn't convinced that Summer's meat seltzer shots hadn't been involved the first time he'd turned.

"I've been a koala. Twice now."

[wildgalegirl]

"If the Aunties did it, then it was on purpose," Charlie assured him.

She nodded, looking at him. "I'm sure you made a very cute koala, but I'm sure that's not much consolation."

[stykera]

"I've been told I was cute," Stark said. "I prefer being shaped like myself. Perhaps I ought to avoid your aunties. Just to be safe."

[wildgalegirl]

"I rather like being shaped like myself too," Charlie said cheerfully. "And yes, smart people often steer clear of the Aunties. Saves sooooo much trouble."

[stykera]

"Do they do things like that often?" Stark asked. "Turning people into things?"

Did he need to be worried about mysterious aunts mysteriously appearing in Fandom to do mysterious and nefarious things?

[wildgalegirl]

"They're the Aunties," Charlie said as if that was answer enough. "You just don't want to make them too mad. But no, I don't think they do it very often and I'm not entirely sure they've ever done it, though I tell you, whenever the mayor has to talk to them he gets all nervous and does this weird thing with his hands, almost like a squirrel , and then pretty much gives them what they want."