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The sun shines bright down at the Plantar Farm, the vegetables lying and growing in the brown soil, birds chirping, as a curious pink frog gently rocked in his hammock in his room.
It had just been a few days after he met Anne Bonechuy, who was a creature he has never seen or heard of before what was it called again…? He couldn’t remember what she had told him whenever she was mistaken as a beast, but now his mind couldn’t think of anything but her, all he knows about her at the moment is that if you dare try to touch her face, she will just immediately bite you.
Recently he has realized how much... different she was compared to anyone else in this town, or any other critter around. She walked on two leg’s, was too tall and had to bend down just to get through the small wooden doors around the town, she appeared to look like that of a beast that would go on a rampage or is just feral in general. But her, she wasn’t anything resembling close to that. She was just a 13-year-old beast like creature in his eyes. She seemed to be scared... and lost to this new world. However, he still couldn’t figure out why she hasn’t lost her tail yet, by far it should have been absorbed into her body by now, but nope, she still had it. He was even wondering why it was so fuzzy.
He would feel intrigued and deep into his thoughts as he stared through his window, before realizing what exactly his thoughts were about as he shook the thought off, “What am I thinking…?” He had said to himself, but as soon as he started to talk, he would hear a creak from the distance, followed with a shut. “Huh?” He turned around looking at his open door, he would hear a strange noise coming from the kitchen area, growing curious he goes and investigates.
“Hello?” He had said, as he poked his head out from the doorway, no answer. “Mm…” He would say as he continued to walk while closing the bedroom door behind him. He slowly crept along the planked floor like there was someone unfamiliar in the house, walking down the stairs quietly as he reached the bottom.
The girl he had just been thinking about was sitting at the kitchen table, back facing towards the stairs as she visibly watched and focused on her weird rectangular gadget. He took a deep breath, it was just Anne, he had said to himself.
Getting the icky feeling off his chest he would turn to go back up the stairs, but his thoughts came back to him and shot through his brain. He would turn back biting his lip.
It wasn’t like he was scared or afraid of her, but it still felt odd living under the same roof as a weird fluffy bipedal creature and it felt a tad bit uneasy, but he was just growing closer with her only after a few days. His thoughts got the best of him as he would just stand in the middle of the stairway with a slight tapping on the railing with his hand, the canines ears would perk up as she slightly turned her head, but not enough where it would be visible that she’s knows there’s something up. “I can hear you~” she said with a light, playful tone. Sprig would quietly shriek as he was snapped out of his train of thought.
“You.. you did, huh?” He would say as he finally walked over to the table on Anne’s right, “Wait..” He would pause as he folded his arm’s before placing them on the table, “How did you even hear me?”
Anne would take her eyes off her weird rectangular gadget for a minute as she let out a slight giggle, “Not only that you were like.. a few feet away from me, I normally have good ear’s for those.. types of things,” She would start swaying her phone in her hand, “Although,” she would say as she picked up her hand and pointed to her more droopy left ear, “I can’t hear much in this one..” She would say with a slight laugh. Sprig’s eyes would light up, “Woahhhh” The tall girl would look at him for a moment as she motioned her hands lower, “You are really interested in this, huh?”
The frog answered with a nod, “Oh. I didn’t expect that,” She said, smile fading from her face as she looked back at the device in her hand. “Eh, there’s nothing too interesting about me, I’m just a typical anthro from Earth.” She would add, “Huh?” The small frog tilted his head, “Ant… throw? You don’t throw ant’s do you?!” He hadn’t caught up and just hadn’t been thinking, “Pffft, no!” Bonechuy had stated, “It’s what I am, you doofus, I’m not ‘throwing ants.’” she said with air quotes and another giggle.
“Ohhhh!!” He said in realization, “So you’re just a normal anthro, huh? Does everyone look just like you in your world, then?” He said, still curious and asking his questions. “Not exactly, no.” She had answered, “I don’t know how I could explain? Um,” she would stop and ponder on how the heck she was supposed to put this into words. “Not really, no.. Everyone looks completely different than me and my family, yes we are all the same with how we stand and act and such, but everyone’s different.”
“People in my world are kind of like you, rather a species I would say. Everyone is different and are all sorts of different animals and such, like birds for example. Heh, I know what you know what that is.” She added with yet another giggle, “Mhm!”
He would think for a quick moment as he looked up at her, she started back tilting her head. “So, are there any frog’s in your world..?” He asked, “Wha?” Anne said, quite dazed. “I get that this world has many many amphibians around, obviously.. But are there frog like me even in your world?” Anne’s head would poke up at that though, she would place her hand on her chin like she was thinking about it..
“Actually, I’m not too sure.. I don’t think we do? But I think I’ve heard from one of my friends that they aren’t possible, unfortunately… I guess our world’s are different with those types of things.” She would finally answer back, “Huh.. you guys can be birds but not frog’s and such?! How odd.”
“Yeah.. I actually didn’t think about it until you mentioned, guess I don’t really know much of anything with the history..” She would say, shaking her head as she cleared her mind, “hm,” She said, leaning backwards, “Why were you even creeping around anyways?”
“Ah!” He said, partially shocked. “I was just.. coming downstairs and didn’t want to disturb you” answering.
“Mhm, mhm..” she said nodding her head.
“So um.. Anne.”
“Hm?” She said looking back his way, “What’s up with this anyways?” He asked, pointing at her mysterious curly tail, aiming to touch it as it lightly wiggled upwards with the feeling.
Anne would sigh, there goes her busy day she thought, but she was glad she was getting to know this silly and weird new world, she would put the same odd gadget on the side before noticing and answering the pink frog’s question.
“Are.. Are you pointing at my tail?” She said with a slight grin, “Yeah! Shouldn’t it be like.. gone, by now? You are old enough for that, right..?”
“H-Huh?!” She lightly jumped at this question, her grin slowly fading with a bit of shocked as her hackles rose up. “What- What do you mean by that??” She said with a sweat.
“Well.. us frogs are born with tails, but as we grow up they kinda.. absorb into our own bodies, it just disappears after time.”
Anne would let out a sigh of relief as her neck fur slowly fell down. “You scared me for a second!”
“Huh?”
“It doesn’t work like that, Sprig, I am a little different than that.. It never disappears or anything like that! It kind of stays my whole life, we don’t work like you and the others… heh.”
“Ohhh,” he said moving his head backwards. “That makes sense! Lucky..”
“Ha.. Lucky..? It gets in the way sometimes, oof.” She said with a smile, but Sprig would notice something whenever she was talking, it seemed like she had more teeth in the back of her mouth, easily getting distracted as his thoughts ran right past him.
“Woah!”
“Hm?”
“That’s a lot of teeth you have, wow!” He stared amazed as the anthro looked at him dumbfounded, “Yeah uhh,” she started to stare away, “I guess that’s what you get for having a wolf- I mean, being a… dog..? Heh heh..”
“Huh?”
“Nothing, nothing!” She said waving her hands around, after that she would lean her elbow on the table as she leaned against her hand.
“So…” Sprig would start.
“What is it now?” Anne said, slightly annoyed by the sheer amount of questions and attention she was getting.
“How many do you have..?”
“That’s a weird question…” She would add.
“Just answer it!!”
“Fine, fine… um…” She would slightly daze off as she looked around confused, “If I remember what one of my friends told me…”
The small frog would tilt his head.
“Forty.. two?” She said, nervously, hoping she was correct and can pull it off.
“Forty two?? That’s how many you have?? No wonder why it hurts so much! You would really be great at close combat I think!” He said slightly shocked, he didn’t expect her to mention that much.
“You think? Here’s a little secret between you and me, I’ve been through quite a few fights during my life. And I’ve always won.” She wanted to lighten the mood a bit as she said that quietly as possible.
“Oh, man!” He said jumping upwards, “That’s amazing!”
The older canine would lean towards her seat as she kept her arm placed on the table. She would slightly move her hand enough to where her palm was visible to grab the same strange gadget once again, Sprig would notice the strange red-orangish ‘bumps’ on her finger tips and in the center of her hand. “Anne!”
Anne would jerk up at the sudden yell, “What?!” She said slightly angry, “Your hands are covered in bumps are you okay?” He asked, “Huh?” She would look down at her hands as she observed them. “I don’t see any..? Oh!” She said in realization.
“Nothing to worry about, it’s just my paws.” She answered back as she looked back at Sprig, “Huh…?”
“They’re not bumps at all, goofy,” She began to speak up as she gestured him to move his hand, when he did so, she would gently place her own in his, they were much bigger, Sprig wouldn’t even be able to wrap his fingers around two of hers. That’s how big they were in comparison.. and she was being careful not to hurt him.
She would bring him over gently as she placed her paw on the wooden table. Finally bringing his hand over to the same strange bumps that were called “paws” according to her, the texture would feel semi-hard yet soft, they felt very dry yet they had a pinch of fuzz on the surface. She would let go as she just let him feel, it was a strange and weird situation but she just wanted him to leave her alone, that or she just.. wants to get to know the silly frog boy more than a new friend.
He would squeeze and squish at the funny center bump in her palm, it felt less hard whenever it was poked on, he was fascinated by this because he had never seen them, but that would be interrupted as Anne started talking again.
“So.. You haven’t heard of these before?” She would drop the question.
“Uh, I’ve heard around town about the facts of most beasts out there that have them, I know the name but I just haven’t seen anything like them before…”
“Huh.. isn’t that cool.” She said with a smile, “Heh.. that tickles not going to lie..” she chuckled with a smile, “Yeah…” he drifted off as he moved her hand on the side, she would notice. “What are you doing?”
“I’m just checking the rest of your weird paw.. hand.. thing.. that’s all…” He said, his words drifting off as he proceeded to examine her paw.
“Oh, okay? Haha... Oof!” Trying to move, her arm would be pulled back as it was still occupied. She would quietly make an “eep!” sound with the pull, realizing that there was no way out of this as she groaned.
“I have.. just made a mistake…” she had mumbled underneath her breath; moving her free arm flat down on the table. She would rest her head on it as she barely moved her seat forward, but he would pull again before she could get comfortable.
“Uuugh!” She would groan as she put her face deeper into her arm.
Over at Sprig, he would feel the fluff on her arm as he lightly brushed through her furry arm, it was soft yet a little dirty and some portions felt highly knotted.. But it was still fluffy to the touch. “You are very fluffy...” He would say, but he would stop as he heard a weird buzzing noise. He would look up.
“What is that??” he said out of shock. “...” he would grow quiet as he stopped petting, it would stop. He squinted his eyes as he examined the room, nothing but him and Anne. He would continue to examine, but he heard it again as he looked up, he continued to pet as he looked at the canine, “Hey! It’s you!”
“What?” Anne would say as she sat her head up, “You are making a weird noise!”
“A weird noise..?”
“Yes!!” He would answer.
“Calm down, it’s pretty normal for me..” She would explain to him, “ohhh… Odd.”
“Yep.. Now can you let my arm go?” She asked, wanting to be let go of so she can go back to her room. “I haven’t even finished!” He said.
“How are you not finished yet, you literally have my arm held hostage and it’s been 5 minutes!” She said angrily.
“You put this upon yourself talking to me at the start and getting my attention, take it or leave it!” He had exclaimed.
“Dang it.” She said in defeat.
He would continue looking at her paw, he took a glance at the other who seemed to be annoyed but she was still waiting as her eyes looked around.
Sprig would look back down at her arm, he stopped petting as he placed his hands on it as he turned it again, he placed it faced down on her pawpad as the top of her hand was now visible.
Looking deep at it, he would notice a weird flap in between her fingers, it wasn’t anywhere near the top of her fingertips, more like the center of each finger that connects with one another. He would push her paw on the area of her palm, making it more visible.
Anne wouldn’t move so she wouldn’t scare him, she looked blinking awestrucked with her mouth slightly open. She was shocked that he was so intrigued about learning more about her anatomy, but she wasn't too surprised because he hasn't been so close to anyone like her.
Sprig used his fingers to pinch the weird flaps on them, he would notice that it looked very familiar… they were webbed.
“Whaaaat? You have webbed hands?” He said in shock, “Oh, yeah. I sometimes forget I even have them.”
“But how? How did you not swim as well as me back in the lake when we were getting away from that water-snake? If you have these you sure can swim faster!” He babbled out as Anne took a moment to process his words, “I haven’t been a good swimmer when growing up… The ability to swim faster just never came to me, if that makes any sense.. See? Simple answer.”
“Ah, that’s really weird.. but it’s cool that you also have them tho, I would say that they’re pretty helpful but…” He drifted off as he looked at Anne, “But…?” She said, squinting her eyes like she was annoyed. “N-Nevermind!” “Dang right!”
“Anyway, anyways, I’m almost done-“ He exclaimed, letting go of her palm as he would notice faint and weird lines on her fingertips, commonly where claws would be as he grew confused.
He hadn’t noticed this until now, really. He hasn’t ever seen anything like this before, “Shouldn’t you have claws here?” He finally asked.
“Ohh, that’s what you were looking at, I have them, why are you confused?” She answered, smiling like she’s done multiple times before.
“What? No you don’t! They aren’t here!” He would look again as he deeply examined it, his eyes immediately locking on the same weird opening on the tips of her fingers.
“Yeah, I do, genius, you were literally pushing my hand a few moments ago and didn’t notice the claws? Sheesh.” She said, getting irritated.
“Wait? They are in your hands?” He said, genuinely surprised as he stared wide-eyed with his mouth open. “Yep. Just push and get this over with..” going back to her snooty attitude.
And like she said, he would indeed push one of her fingers, and just like that, a sharp point slid out of the slit in her finger. “Wow!” He would play around, taking his fingers off and on, playing with the claw. “Polly would love these!” He exclaimed.
Minutes passed by as Anne was getting angrier. “Are you done yet?? Let goooo...” she groaned as she put her face on her free arm, covering up her face with it.
“Oh! Sorry! Yeah, I'm done now...!” he said finally letting go, “Ahh!! Finally...! I'm free!!” she said as her words delayed, sitting her head up.
She would flick her arm to release little pain as she leaned back on her chair. “Okay okay, last question I promise.” The frog said, looking up.
Anne would sigh, “Fine. What is it?” She went back to smirking slightly. “Can your… claws come out by command?”
“Yep! They sure can!” Replying, she would move her arm up as she pushed her hands forward, stretching her fingers as all four slid right out! She was amazing and cool, Sprig had thought. Now that he was satisfied and know’s more about her, she could go back to the basement as she sat up from the chair, or so she thought.
“Huh? Where are ya going?” He’d ask.
“I thought you said that was your last- anyways, like you need to know I am going back to bed.” She picked up her weird gadget from the table as Sprig looked at it confused. “What’s that called again..?”
Anne’s neck would snap his way as her eye twitched, “Sprig!”
“Oop, gotta go!” He said nervously, hopping away as the canine started to run right after, “Come here!”
“AHHHHH!!!!”