paixaorpg | Something To Be Gained [Completed]

Entry tags:

Something To Be Gained [Completed]

Characters: Timon, Pumbaa, Toph Bei Fong and Kir
Time: Late Afternoon
Setting: Ersesat Manor [L4]
Summary: The two hungry animals meet with Toph and Kir for an exchange of information.
Warnings: None

Timon had never been the early 'kat to catch the worm. Fortunately for him, such cuisine was easy to find back in the jungle. Here, however, proved otherwise. The lack of insects was beginning to get to him, among other things. As beautiful and luxurious Paixao was to most, it would never be anything compared to the oasis he had once inhabited.

A large yawn escaped the meerkat as he lay across the snout of his friend, Pumbaa. His gaze remain fixed on the passing painted clouds above. There was a lot on his mind, but none as bothersome as the question why they had gotten up so early. He had always preferred to sleep in till the late hours of the afternoon opposed to waking up at the strike of dawn, even as a pup. But upon complaining about it, he quickly learned that he had in fact slept passed noon. Not only that, he'd been sleeping past noon for the past three days.

Groaning, Timon threw the conversation elsewhere in an attempt to cover his lack of awareness. "Ugh, Pumbaa..." he began, looking into at least one eye of his warthog companion. "It itches. How can you wear this thing?"

The red head tugged at the bright red collar he had exchanged for his old journal at the hospital. It was easier to carry then his last, true. But it irritated him far more, even if it was rather loose around his thin neck.

"Good thing it ain't as tight as yours, other wise it might slow down lunch." Timon continued, a smirk inching its way across his lips. "With that thing on, you'll still be on your second helping when I finish my sixth. Ah, ha-! ...hu?"

Looking up at the large building before them, he sat up in confusion. This couldn't be the right place, could it? Ersesat Manor did not look A THING like the other restaurants. Unless, they'd gone to the wrong building. -not with his superior mapping skills though. No, this must had been from... From a lack of taking proper instruction.

"Pumbaa, this doesn't even look close to the cafe! Weren't you listening to my directions?"

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Toph had to have Kir lead the way, but eventually the two had finally come to Ersesat Manor. Toph could only see so much, but she could hear the patterings of two other creatures. Toph wasn't sure if she should call Timon a person or an animal, but she was sure that this wasn't so important. In any case, she was actually curious to meet the meerkat she had talked to so much on chat.

She turned in Kir's direction. She wasn't sure how the boy was doing, but she was determined that she would recover his memory, even if that meant storming the place where those jerks were. She had already gotten in contact with that girl Garnet, and she was ready to assist with whatever anybody needed. Kir deserved better than walking around with a handful of memories.

She heard voices, and decided to add her own. "Oi Meerkat, is that you? I thought I heard your voice. You sound even funnier up close!"

Kir wasn't sure about this meeting, but Toph seemed to think it would be a good idea, and so he was willing to go along with it (especially given his own lack of helpful ideas lately).

A pause, then...

"That's Timon?!"

"Oh, it doesn't bother me that much," the warthog replied, as Timon started to laugh, "In fact... I kind of keep forgetting it's ther-uuuuh?"

Pumbaa stopped his steady pace and glanced around, wondering what was wrong. Before a slightly annoyed look passed over his face at Timon's words. "Buuuut, Timon! I followed your directions exactly!" he grumbled.

He had been following Timon's directions to a T. If they'd ended up at the wrong place, Pumbaa was pretty sure it was the meerkat's fault. Well, at least he was pretty sure. Right?

He then blinked as two other voices pipped up, and he turned to look to the people approaching. It seemed they knew Timon.

"Uh... Hi there!" Pumbaa greeted.

Timon's brows knitted themselves tightly together at the warthogs response. By the sound of it, he was blaming him for whatever wrong turn they had taken. He who knew the entire city as well as the back of his paw -which suddenly held something new to his eye. Eh, none the less. This caused the meerkat to shake his head in disbelief.

"Pumbaa," he began, only to leave the name hanging. Before he could continue, a new voice, as well as a familiar one entered his ears. They both appeared to be speaking about him, and as soon as his brown eyes traveled up to look at the two humans, he knew why.

"Whaddyeah mean 'that's Timon'? You ain't no Brad Pitt yourself, pal." the redhead scoffed, folding his arms across his chest as he turned glance over to Toph. "And yeah, it's me."

It looked like they were in the right place after all.

"Yup, that sounds like him all right." Toph grinned, happy that they had at least reached this place in one piece. "Why, has he been runnin' his mouth again? Well, it wouldn't be him if he wasn't anyway."

She turned in Timon's direction. "Hey Timon, hey Timon's friend that I haven't met yet. I'm Toph, and this here's Kir. I guess you guys know each other...or knew each other? Whatever. We got here as soon as we could, but it feels like an eternity on that train thing. I'll take a flying bison any day. So now that we're all here, what say we head into that Manor joint and get some grub? Better to start planning stuff on a full stomach, I always say."

She didn't know why, but she felt more at ease now. Sure, she was minus an earthbender and her friend Kir still didn't remember everything, but at least they could start making a plan, right?

"I'm not a what?" Kir asked, wondering if this was some reference he was missing because of his absent memories, if it was really just that obscure and no one else got the joke either.

He regarded the other two animals with no small mixture of surprise showing on his face. Did this have anything to do with that ludicrous idea that he was some sort of bird? What, were they putting together a menagerie?

Then he sighed internally. Dammit... I have to be nice, too. Apparently the short and mouthy one saved my life... Although he wasn't sure how he was supposed to pay someone back for something he didn't remember.

"Yeah. Good to meetcha. Again," he said flatly.

"Oh, I'm Pumbaa!" the warthog spoke up, giving a grin to Toph and Kir, despite Kir not looking so happy to be there himself. Pumbaa, however, didn't notice that fact.

Toph's long string of words almost went over Pumbaa's head, except for one keyword which was almost impossible for a hungry warthog to miss. "Grub?" he echoed excitedly, "Good idea! I'm STARVED!"

Pumbaa hopped from hoof to hoof excitedly. The warthog was hungry, and something to eat could sure hit the spot.

"Starved? Starved doesn't come even close to how hungry I am." The little meerkat responded to his closest friend, placing his paws over his growling tummy as he continued. "Why, I'm so hungry... I could eat a... A whole antelope! You know how hungry that is, to turn actually to eating meat. Ugh..."

Taking hold of the warthogs ears, Timon gave them a light tug. He remained unsure if the Manor they were heading toward actually served food as the other famous Ersesat restaurants, but everyone else appeared to believe so leaving him to join the majority.

His glance turned to the two humans, a smirk inching across his features as he focused on the former albatross who appeared anything but satisfied. Toph, was quite the opposite. She looked more than happy to be in the presence of the ~~three~~ two animals leaving the red head to jive Kir.

"Hey, Toph, I think Feather Head over there ate a bad bug or somethin'. He looks than Pumbaa when ate that weird pink bug that tasted boiled hairball lumps."

Toph had no problem letting Timon lead the way. She WAS pretty tired, and still assessing the situation. Kir didn't seem to be enjoying himself too much though, and like it or not Toph was sensitive to that. She let Timon lead the way, then hung back a moment and put her hand over Kir's.

"Yeah, Timon's a doof, but we need him right now, you know?" Toph said, trying to be reassuring. "Still, we'll do the best we can to try and get your memory back. There's a lot of stuff I'll be asking that meerkat during our meal."

Though why Timon was just a meerkat still made her wonder.

Kir scowled at Timon's continued chatter about feathers and bugs, trying to tell himself it was merely the meerkat's personality and that Timon wasn't purposely trying to annoy the shit out of him. After all, maybe he'd... once enjoyed such banter? ~~he doubted it~~

"I didn't eat any bad bug," Kir grumbled.

But he was surprised when he felt Toph's hand in his own. Even though she couldn't see it, he felt his face heat a little. She was so nice to him. "Yeah," he muttered, "I'll try not to mistake him for the main course."

"Ugh, that IS pretty hungry, Timon!" the warthog replied as he started to trot towards the manor. He couldn't wait for a break. The warthog really didn't like the weird rock covered ground this place had. It was hard on the hoofs. Taking a load off would be nice.

"So what do you think they'll have to eat?" the warthog asked to no one in particular.

"I hope they'll have bugs... some nice slimy ones!" he said, the mere thought of a nice, slimy grub made his stomach growl. "Oooo I can just taste them!"

The animal appeared doubtful of Kir's response, even though he knew himself that bugs were really not available to anyone in Paixao. However, he said nothing and sighed, allowing his eyes to speak for him as they rolled up at the sky. He gave up with the bird already. With such a sour attitude, Timon decided he'd be best off focusing his attention else where to avoid catching the figurative bad bug. Besides, by the sound of it, Toph was already looking after the problem.

Looking at the mansion before them, his ears twitched and brows furrowed upon hearing the two speaking about him. It took much restraint to keep from yelling at the pair making such remarks about him, but with Pumbaa by his side -well, actually below him- it made things at least a bit easier.

"Oooh, Pumbaa. Don't talk 'bout stuff like that." the red head pleaded, his stomach giving an angry growl. "Geez, just when I almost forgot about 'em you gotta bring 'em up again. You know, the B.U.G.S's."

A pause was given as Timon came to realize his friend probably had yet to realize the lack of cuisine. It explained a lot though, especially why he had been confused about the change of diet. The warthog knew he preferred bugs to fruit any day.

"I think I might have, eh, left out one teeny tiny detail, pal. Yeah see, they're fresh outta the slimy ones here. Outta the crunchy too. And the pointy. And the sticky. And the squishy, mushy, squirmy, itchy... Forget the ant's, they chased out the uncles too. -HA! Ha ha... Ha... Ahhhhh. ...eh, really though, there's nothing."

Scratching the back of his head, the meerkat looked down at Pumbaa apologetically. Bugs were always available to them, except now. And when the fact finally sunk into the hogs head, Timon was unsure how he would act.

"There's not a single bug on this island."

[ooc: Bugs that make you ill don't appear to apply to Timon as bugs you'd normally eat for some reason. -It's complicated, don't ask. ^^;;;]

Toph heard a lot about this bug conversation and wondered if she could steer them away. She hoped that Kir and Timon would start getting along, but it looked as if she might have to wait until Kir got his memory back before that happened.

"Trust me, my heart goes out to you about the bug thing, really. Unfortunately, there are no plants here either, and though I don't eat them, that still makes me a little sad. As an Earthbender, you feel at one with the plants in your surroundings, but to me personally, listening to plants grow and develop is the closest thing I can compare to actual puberty. When you don't feel that in the ground...its like the earth is dead."

Toph sighed. All their insults and remarks were getting them nowhere. She hadn't come here to trade insults with the meerkat and his friends. Even she was getting a little distracted by all this.

"Listen, I know you guys started on the wrong foot. Trust me, we need to get centered and try to talk about this problem. Let's go into the Manor, and then we'll start talking about why we're here in the first place."

Toph walked in first, allowing herself to feel the people all around her. It wasn't that crowded, but she could tell there was a pretty good reason for it. The place had an air of aristocracy that Toph found unmistakable, and so she knew it was time to not act like "Toph" but as the daughter of the Bei Fong family. Toph straightened herself up as best she could, making sure to run a hand over her limp hair and walk as stiffly as she could to the doorman.

"Four for the Manor, please," Toph said, imitating the lack of enthusiasm and friendliness she'd heard her family repeat so many times.

Kir felt a little rebuked at Toph's words. It was just that he was so on edge lately. In fact, if she hadn't been there, he would have been a lot more snappish than he already was. For some reason, Toph leant him a calming air.

"Sorry," he muttered. After all, they were trying to help him as well. "I'll try and get along with 'em."

So while Toph was talking to the doorman and trying to gain them entry, Kir made a concerted effort to at put himself in neutral territory with the other two. "I ain't sure how help I'll be considerin' I don't remember anything, but I can tell you what I've learned from talkin' to other people who seem to have the same problem..."

"N-N-No BUGS?!" Pumbaa looked horrified at the very notion. How could there be no bugs?!

"That's... HORRIBLE!!! What are we going to eat?!" the warthog cried to Timon, not paying much attention at that moment to the other two. A lack of bugs was like... a day without sunshine. It was unbelievable. It was...

Pumbaa glanced back to Toph who'd been talking to the doorman, but blinked as... she was gone. That was... odd. Glancing back to Kir, Pumbaa yelped as Kir was gone too!

Pumbaa glanced to the doorman.. glanced to Timon... then... screamed. Loudly.

"AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!! IT HAPPENED AGAIN, TIMON!!! THEIR GONE!!!" he yelled at the top of his lungs. "THEY WERE RIGHT THERE AND NOW THEIR GONE!!!"

He was afraid the warthog might react like this. Then again, it was the type of thing to get upset over, especially because it was food. Timon could only try to comfort his friend whiles the others worked on getting into the restaurant. A panic stricken pig would get them easily kicked out, probably causing the already hungry Pumbaa to be in even worse off. Plus, he was already hungry himself having not eaten yet.

"Pumbaa, calm down before you hurt yourself. It's not that bad... Alright, maybe it is. Maybe it's one of the worst things that's ever happened to us. And, if we don't learn to adapt ourselves, we 're likely to starve. But! ...eh, wait. That was it. Gee, this is worse than I thought."

So much for comforting words, he wasn't doing so well himself over the concept now that it was truly starting to sink in. Saying it seemed to make it a lot clearer, unfortunately.

Scratching the back of his neck, Timon looked down at his companion to find a sudden change of behavior. He could only tighten his grasp of the warthogs mane to prevent falling off as his friend's head as it was thrown back to allow a cry of horror to escape.

"Whoa! Hey, what's wrong?" he asked, easily confused by Pumbaa's words. "What's happened again? Who's gone?"

Throwing his attention to the two humans in need of help, the redhead noticed not only was Kir missing, but Toph as well. He looked around, catching sight of the doorman who looked equally as surprised as himself over the matter, striking out the probability of the two entering the restaurant without them.

So... They must have just vanished, similar to what had happened with Kovu at the hospital. That made sense, right? Right. Well! Now that everything seemed to be sorted out, the meerkat was able to respond similar to his friend in realization: screaming out at the top of his lungs.

"AAAAAAAAAAGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHH!!!! AAAAAAAAAAAGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHH! AH! AH! AAAAAAAAGGGGGGGHHH!"

[ooc: Can't use my actual panic icon right now, so this will have to do :(]

"AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH..." he continued to scream in tandem with Timon, till finally screaming didn't seem to be getting them much anywhere.

"W-What do we do NOW, Timon?" his porcine companion asked, looking fretful as ever. Why did everyone they hang around with, suddenly vanish? Or was it him? Misa, Kovu, Kir and Toph had all now vanished while in the warthogs presence. Had Rukia disapeared too? He'd have to try seeing if she was still on the journals sometime, but he had a baaaaad feeling that maybe the result would be the same.

Er, but then what did that mean for Timon? He didn't want his friend to vanish too! Although, so far, that hadn't seemed to happen. He couldn't let that happen! But... the question was how do you exactly stop someone from disapearing? Pumbaa certainly didn't have an answer for that.

His own screams silenced shortly after his friends, a look of exhaustion over his features. All that screaming really could tire a guy out, especially for someone of Timon's size. Unfortunately for a majority Paixao's population though, it had yet to affect his vocals. Catching his breath again, he looked down at his friend in thought.

"Well," the meerkat began, realizing rather quickly he was short on the knowledge himself what would be the most appropriate plan of action in a situation such as this. "Should... Should we look for them?"

There had been a lot of disappearances in the city, some due to the recent kidnappings. But at least when they were taken by the organization he knew they were still there and hadn't simply vanished, despite what they were to endure. He hadn't thought much of it, but with so many people he knew disappearing, it was starting to bite at him like so many other things on the island.

Still, even when everything appeared bleak, they still had each other.

"Hey, cheer up, buddy." the redhead said after catching sight of the worry in his friends eyes, a comforting pat on the head given to him as he continued. "We still got each other, right? N' there ain't nothin' that'll change that. I ain't goin' nowhere. Friends stick together till the end."

Feeling a bit tired too from their long string of cries, he settled down, looking worriedly to Timon. "Where would we look?" he asked, wondering where one would even begin to search for people who vanish into thin air? He had no idea at all the answer to that. Maybe Timon would though.

Timon's words did settle the warthog down and reassured him. "Y-yeah, that's right! I.. I promise I'll try VERY hard not to disapear!" Pumbaa promised. It was a promise that would be hard to keep truthfully, but he made it none-the-less.

"Me too." he agreed with the warthog. "If we think hard enough not to disappear, we won't. It's as easy as that." Tapping his head with a thin appendage, the rodent hopped down onto his friends snout. "I got it all figured it out. Just who do you thinks the brains of this outfit, anyway?"

Laying himself vertically down Pumbaa's nose, the meerkat began rubbing his chin in thought. "Now lemme see. If I were to disappear all into thin air, maybe I'd appear again in thick air? ...then again, by the smells of it, we're already sittin' in somethin' thick and I don't see them anywhere."

"OH! That IS a good idea, Timon! I'll think SUPER hard then!" Pumbaa said, excited to have a possible way to keep himself from disapearing.

So, as Timon started pondering out loud where the people could have gone, Pumbaa started concentrating on thinking of not leaving. It was hard work though as it was making it much more difficult than normal to even understand what his meerkat pal was saying.

"Uh... I... guess? I mean.. yes. I mean..." Pumbaa said, trying to reply to what Timon had just said, but wasn't half quite sure what he had heard in the first place.

The warthog let out a frustrated sigh, "I'm sorry Timon, can you say that again? I'm trying to think about not disapearing and it's REALLY hard to do that and listen to you at the same time."

"Hm? Oh, yeah. I said..." It was then Pumbaa's words finally registered into the meerkats head. It was indeed late seeing as he was already responding. But better late than never... Except maybe in this case. Timon brought his paw over his face in disbelief, muttering what could easily of passed as an 'oy'. He then began rubbing his temples.

"Pumbaa," the redhead began once again. "please tell me you're not trying to avoid disappearing by thinking only on that. When I said think really hard, I didn't mean now. It was just one of those... When the time comes things or something. It was just supposed to make you feel better. -I mean, not that it won't work. Just make you feel better like getting something to eat. ...which was what I was talking about to make you feel better. I know you've gotta be starved. There's that festival coming up, they'll have all the eats you could ever dream of. Whaddyeah say, pal?"

Sharing an assuring smile with his companion, Timon hoped his slip of words was easily covered by his interest in getting something to eat from the upcoming festival. Food was able to distracted him, hopefully it would work the same for Pumbaa. Keeping the warthog satisfied was one of his top priority's, right after himself, of course. They weren't supposed to worry, right?

Pumbaa blinked and as Timon had that look on his face. Had he done something wrong? He'd just been doing what Timon had told him to do!

He listened to Timon's explanation and it did seem to click in his mind. "Ooooooooohhhhhhhhhhhhh, I get it," he replied. So, he figured that meant he'd have to think it whenever it felt like he was going to disapear. That sounded simple enough.

Like Timon predicted, the mention of food instantly made the warthog perk up. He was even more hungry now, and a festival full of food sounded great! Forgetting all this disapearing stuff, Pumbaa looked excited as he bounced around on his hoofs, "Oh boy, that sounds great! Let's go!"

He stopped his bouncing to tuck a hoof in as he leaned down for Timon to take his usual place back on his back, so they could be off.

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Something To Be Gained [Completed]

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