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HOME can't remember when it first gained sentience.
Well...
That's a lie, he can remember, but she just doesn't like to remember it. Even so, their first memories are starting to go fuzzy.
HOME's been alone from the very start.
From the very bitter start
It's a rotten life, she has no life, he has no reason, and it's the only purpose it can't achieve.
HOME was technically the first resident of the neighborhood, although no one ever considered it as so.
She was first born?? Made? Idk. They gained life in the middle of a forest, a thick forest with multitudes of exotic wildlife.
That was probably the best part of his life.
Calm.
Quite, but not too quiet.
No one to talk to, but the wildlife was cute.
That was his best few years.
Back then HOME had been just a mere cabin, no paint, or plaster, just a simple cabin with nothing inside.
Literally, and figuratively.
Then his life was torn apart, in a litteral sense.
It started one early morning, a heavy hack! hack! hack! Flooded the forest, startling HOME from her slumber. It's eyes veered up watching in horror as tree after tree fell.
They were tearing down the forest, it's forest, his world, her home.
CRACK! CRACK! CREAK!
HOME tried his very best to make a ruckus, slamming it's floorboards, rattling it's roof, creaking the front door, sending plumes of heavy smoke into the sky.
Nothing worked.
They didn't hear her
HOME watched in defeate as these lumberjacks tore the place down.
The day felt like years, the hacking sounds would not stop.
HOME had a headache, and a heartache.
The noise only halted once the sun finally set, silence taking its place.
The tension among the forest creatures was so thick it was almost palpable.
Day after day, week after week, it was just
Hack!
Hack!
Hack!
TIMBER!
Silence
Rinse and Repeat
Until, they tore down the forest to nearly nothing, just a few 100 feet left from 2,000. The critters that once lived there wiped clean.
Her next stage of life, was pretty miserable. There was nothing
Absolute silence
Nothing!!!
Ear splitting silence, quiet that caused there ears to ring.
For years, until maybe he was maybe 12 years of age in 'human years'.
No one ever tried to move in, as no one even knew HOME existed.
'Nowherevill, Nowhere, located in the continent of Nothing' That was HOME's very inside joke
The next stage of HOME'S life was torture, litteral torture!
The state had decided that they needed to have people move in, make a neighborhood! So it started..
There where signs all over:
'Move in! First person to stay gets to name the whole town!' They read
The first group was an old couple, they were quite sweet and quiet. But, they bolted out within there first five minutes of arriving.
HOME has never seen old people run so quick.
The next was a large family, full of loud, rambunctious, obnoxious crotch goblins.
The second they set foot onto his front step, they caused chaos. Scratching the wood, breaking the shingles, nearly stabbing her eye.
It's eye.
That's what caused them to run to the hills
His piercing angry eyes.
The next, we're a group of ex-frat boys, they were awful. They moved some if there furniture in and by sundown there was intense house breaking partying.
HOME scared them off quite quickly.
Again, another resident, a lumberjack.
To make it worse! It was one of the lumberjacks that brought down the forest!
The lumberjack tried to hack them down as soon as he realized HOME was alive!
Resident after resident, family after family, couple after couple, people moved in and then ran the hills.
HOME was so lonely, it felt as if he had no purpose for the world, he felt knew that if he died, if he ceased to exist, no one would care. Some may even be glad!
He felt so useless, He hoped one day he would fall asleep and never wake up.
And then the fateful day arrived
HOME drew back it's curtains, his eyes flutterd waking up for the day.
She listened to the gentile hum of the birds, sighing at the sweet bird song.
He concentrated hard trying to recognize each bird from there chirps.
He identified an abundance of birds from the morning song
A House sparrow, an American robin, Common raven
He heard a loud screech from above
Bald eagle
A gobble
Wild turkey
A quack
Mallard
A hoot
Barn owl
Another chirp
House finch
HOME flutterd it's shingles, happy that more wildlife was moving back.
She heard another chirp,
A bird?
No no, that's a turtle chirp!
HOME shudderd uncomfortably, feeling the awful constructive feeling of mold, vines, and weeds. Feeling as if they were clouding his once sharp mind.
Then.. HOME heard something they haven't heard in years.
A song.
"You look quite divine tonight~" the voiced started, startling HOME, closing his eyes to hope the voice wouldn't leave
"Here among these vibrant lights
Pure delights surround us as we sail
Signed, yours truly, the whale~"
"Bum bum bum bum bum"
"Joy mirage's kingdom come
No one left at stake
Now that existence is on the wake
Let's see what we can make~"
"The part is wholly ending
A line in any final song~-"
The voice stopped.
"Have they found me out?!"
"Oh my, hello stranger" the voice said dreamily. Whoevers body was connected to the voice pressed there hand against HOME.
It flinched, snapping his eyes open, and slamming the door. HOME immediately realized there mistake, leaning backwards.
"Oh, my dearest apologys stranger, I should've asked for permission" The voice apologized, the body of the voice began to be more clear.
The person was very short, maybe 3ft? He had yellow skin and bright blue hair, pulled up into a perfect spiral, wearing a bright rainbow turtleneck sweater and thick baggy brown jeans, covering almost every visible part of his body.
HOME creaked his rotten floorboards, confused as too why he was so coverd in summer
"That's personal, Stranger" the puppet said
There pipes groaned in suprise from the fact they responded.
HOME took the time to analyze his voice, it sounded almost monotone, but really it sounded dreamy, like he was wrapped up in a woozy dream.
"Oh my!" The puppet exclaimed, bringing homes attention back to him "Where are my manners!"
"Wally, darling. You?"
HOME's eyebrows furrowed, a creak coming from the floorboards.
"Oh no, my last name Is darling. My apologies for the confusion, What is your name?" Wally laughed roboticaly.
HOME shudderd embarrassed
"Oh? Well that's not too strange! I myself have strange characteristics."
"Could I just call you home?" Wally asked, eyes half-lidded
HOME creaked her pipes
"Thank you" he replied.
She began to realize this wally had not blinked or broke eye contact.
HOME stared back, finding amusement in the staring game.
Wally poked HOME playfully, causing him to recoil and break eye contact.
"I win" Wally whisperd his plasterd smile growing wider
HOME began to grow angry, not appreciating the joke. The suppressed anger in her stomach bubbling up.
HOME violently slammed the door, and windows, accidently breaking a window in there unreasonable rage.
Wally stood still and calm throughout HOME's angry fit.
He finally spoke up "My apologies"
The puppets voice broke, shocking HOME out of its toddler fit.
"I did not mean to anger you home" he mumbled
HOME's heart broke hearing the puppets voice. They shrunk into himself, deeply ashamed of what they've done.
'Well now you've done it'
"Home?" Wally started, grabbing hones attention "I really must the going now"
"I will be back by sunrise, before I go, may I touch you?"
HOME groaned in agreement
Wally raised his arm, pressing his hand against the wall gingerly.
His grin widened once again, dipping his head slightly.
"Tommorow, sunrise" he repeated, hoping off the front steps.
Wally began to walk away from home
HOME creaked his window sills
"I do not know where I'm going" he admitted "Now I'll be off"
"Goodbye, Neighbor"
HOME opened his curtains around 5:00 in the morning, an hour or so before dawn. They worried she had scared off wally.
He was the only person who had taken the time out of there day to talk to it.
Be nice to her, even when he acted to rudely.
She was worried, but he had hope! They really hoped he would stay, maybe even move in.
But who would enjoy a rude worn down house?
His outside was rough and coverd in foliage, his inside..was much worse.
Who would like them?
HOME looked up to where the sun should rise, expecting to hear a voice, or see the blue hair bobbing into view at any moment.
It was an hour earlier than agreed upon, but still
It wished the puppet would appear sooner, to hear the out of it voice, or to hear-
"Alone at the edge of a universe humming a tune~"
There he was, he peered to the forest edge spotting the man skip into view
"For merely dreaming we were snow"
"A siren sounds like the goddess who
Promises endless apologies of paradise
And only she can make it right
So things are different tonight"
Wally shuffled to HOME's front door, whistling a quiet tune.
"Hello!" Wally whisperd, picking a leaf from his hair
HOME looked wally over, noticing the leaves and dirt clinging to his clothes.
He seemed to have a duffle bag slung over his shoulder, and he was holding a weed Wacker and clippers.
"Home, I was thinking" he murmerd in his normal monotone way. Wally gestured to the weeds growing in the cracks of HOME's foundation
"May I help you" he asked
HOME froze shocked from what he just asked.
He creaked his door, basically begging for any help.
"Ha! ha! ha!, Okay"
Wally knelt to the base pulling the weeds as gently as possible, not knowing if this would hurt HOME.
HOME flinched from the first pull causing Wally to stop.
"My apologies neighbor, I did not mean to hurt you" he apologized patting HOME's base.
"I'm going to pull a weed, I'll count down ok?"
HOME groaned his pipes.
"Alright"
"1"
"2"
"3"
And that's how they spent the day, Wally picking out weeds around HOME, while HOME watched attentively.
Wally originally planned to clean up the bushes and vines constricting HOME
But there's only so much you can to do in the limited sunlight.
The sun set when Wally pulled the last weed from HOME. When both sighed the biggest sigh of relief
"My, my, I am beat, how are you feeling Neighbor?" Wally wiped the beads of sweat from his felt forehead
HOME wiggled her shingles, feeling happier and sharper than ever.
"Ha! Ha! Ha! Why that's great neighbor." Wally looked up to the dark cloudy sky, nervously fiddling with there thumbs.
"Well, neighbor I really should be off" He chirped, whisking around to leave.
Creeeeaak?
HOME was confused as too were the bluenette was going, there were no towns for miles, HOME was the only house there.
"Don't worry about it, Neighbor. It truly is fine" he assured, whirling around once more to go
"I'll be back, Tommorow 6 am sharp"
Home raised his blinds, stretching in the rising sun. They sighed happily, feeling fresher than the morning Dew. She hasn't felt so clear in years! The pulled weeds did so much to make Home happy again.
He peered to the sky trying to identify the time, the sun was barley peaked, making the sky a medium blue.
Maybe 5:30ish?
Home shook themselves violently, to try to wake himself fully.
Maybe I could try to nap a bit? It is early I think?
Home closed there heavy eyes, awaiting for a swift slumber.
"Hello" someone said gingerly
Home opened there large eyes, happiness flashing in his eyes.
'I guess its 6:00am'
"Hello Neighbor, I would like to let you know I have invited my dearest freind to help, I hope you won't mind" he informed them.
Home creaked deeply
"Alright"
"Well, should I start with the Vines, mold, or bushes"
Home slammed the floorboards, the sound echoing and hurting both ears.
"My my," he chuckled "Vines and mold it is then!"
Wally dug into his duffel bag, pulling a large scraping tool- wait is that a palet knife?
Wally seemed to catch on to Home's confusion, pushing out an explanation
"You see, when I first moved here I was not expecting to make a large renovating project, all I brought was my painting supplies" he explained kind of embarrassed.
Home let out a deep roar, finding the man amusing
"Well, I'll begin now, I hope I do not scratch you"
Wally started with the front wall, placing the palet knife against the mold growing to the door. The first 4 hours of the day, he spent scraping and communicating with Home.
"Ok Neighbor, this is the last scrape"
He gave it one swift scrape and the last of the mold was scraped off.
Home banged her windows and doors in pure glee.
"Ha! Ha!, I'm happy you're feeling good Neighbor" he chuckled putting away the palet knife, replacing it with large clippers.
Home creaked her floorboards, raising an eyebrow.
"These are for the vines growing across your walls" Wally informed him making his way to homes front.
Snip! Snip!
Down fell the first layer of vines, it felt like weights being lifted from her shoulders.
"Heh, I bet that feels nice Home"
Home creaked in agreement, using his eyes to point to the rest of the vines in a 'please do the rest' manner.
Wally simply nodded, raising the clippers.
Snip! Snip! Snip!
Down came another section
Snip! Snip! Snip!
Another section down
Snip! Snip! Snip!
All the vines from Home's face fell.
"Hm? My, you have eyebrows!" Wally exclaimed pointing to them
Home's pipes bellowed
"Yes, I know I don't have eyebrows"
Home laughed, the sound translating into a deep roar in her pipes.
Wally shook his head playfully, moving to it's left wall.
Snip! Snip! Snip!
First couple of vines fell
Snip! Snip! Snip!
Second bunch of vines fell
Snip! Snip! Snip!
"It's mid-day and we're no where near finished!" Wally joked playfully
"Barnaby will be a big help once he arriv-"
Wally stopped dead in his tracks, confusing Home
Wally pressed his hand against Home's wall, the fallen vines revealing a large splintery crack on Home's wall, both shudderd when wally touched the old battle scar.
"Why would someone do this" He whimperd running his fingers over the large crack.
Home's had the crack for years, ever since the last resident left. It hurt for months afterwards, eventually either the pain went away or she just got desensitized to it. It's still very sensitive.
"You're still alive..Why would someone hurt you.." Wally mumbled, his voice warbly, if Home couldn't see him he would've guessed he was already crying.
But he wasn't
His voice was warbly, tears clinging to his lashes, and his face was deep red.
As if he wanted to cry but the tears refused to fall.
Home couldn't believe it, he couldn't believe this puppet was tearing up over a crack in her, a house, an object.
A rhythmic sound came from there windows.
Wally sniffled, wiping the tears clinging to the edges of his eyes.
"Yes, I'm fine. Are you ok?" Wally asked rubbing the crack in the wood.
It creaked, assuring him he's okay.
"I'm going to finish the rest of the vines now" He said, his voice starting to settle.
Home rocked back and forth, nodding.
"I promise, I'll try my best to help you feel the best you can, freind"
That was the first time Wally called home freind, and it certainly wouldn't be the last.
Shortly after the last vines were cleared, Barnaby came out from the woods, popping up to help.
"Barnaby" Wally said in his 'in a weird woozy dream' voice dropping the clippers.
"It's been so long freind"
The big dog scooped up wally in a tight hug. Rocking side to side.
"I has been awhile kid!! How'ya been"
"Watcha been up too?"
"Suff-ic-ating" Wally gasped for air between words
"My bad!" Barnaby loosened his grip, then used one paw to pick him up and plop him on his shoulder "still as small as high-school, huh?"
"Ha! Ha! Ha! Yes I am" Wally dropped his smile as low as possible, leaning over to loom over Barnabys face, not breaking eye contact.
"Do not speak of my size, Barns"
Barnaby shrunk into himself, flashing an apologetic smile. His gaze fixed onto a closed eyes, wooden, green-stained Home.
"This were you stayin'?" He asked, pointing.
"As long as Home is ok with it" He hummed, jumping off Barnaby to the ground.
Before Barnaby could even say 'huh?' Home opened her eyes.
"Oh, I get what you ment in your letters now"
Home groaned deeply, the sound echoing among the pipes.
"Home, Barnaby. Barnaby, Home" wally introduced.
Walking back to home
"Would you help work on getting rid of all the excess foliage, Home will tell you what exactly to get rid of, I will work on painting the fence and other surfaces"
That's what they did for the rest of the day, cleaning, picking, and painting. Two people made things much quicker to finish, they worked for hours on ends, worked until the last ray of sunshine left.
"Gee, it sure got late quick!" Barnaby exclaimed
CRACK!
The three looked up into the sky nervously, noticing the new storm clouds rolling in.
"Oh gee, looks like a storm" Barnaby stated
"I hope not" Wally ran his fingers through his hair, worried about his hair
"Maybe the rain won't come?"
And as if the rain was waiting for its cue, the rain fell. Heavily.
"Uh oh" after only a few seconds his hair fell into a limp, wet, knot of Bobby pins and hair gel.
Barnaby scooped up wally, holding him with one paw, being able to wrap a paw across his waist easily, he scurried over to home.
"Home?"
Home creaked
"Would you mind letting us inside? It's ok if not" wally asked holding his hair high on his head to keep it out of his face
Home rattled her pipes, embarrassed about the state of it's interior. Then again, his new friend was being completely drenched.
"Please?"
Home gave in, opening the door reluctantly.
Creeeaak..
"It's okay Home," The two made there way in, Wally giving him a pat on the doorframe "We won't judge"
They closed the door creaking again, completly ashamed of how awful his inside looks.
The main room, the only room they could see because of the awful lighting, was completly run down.
It was pitch black, the floorboards and walls were rotting and flimsy. The old wallpaper peeling, the smell of mildew and wood rot permeated in the room.
Wally stepped forward, the floorboards underneath him collapsing. Barnaby lunged forwards grabbing wally by the collar to stop him from falling.
Wally looked beneath him nervously, a bottomless black pit beneath.
Home slammed a window.
"I can see why you didn't want us inside" Wally murmerd
The two puppets backed up as far as they could bumping into homes walls.
"Oh well, we can work in here while it rains!"
That's what they did. For days Wally would continue renovations for home, helping him be better than he ever was.
Barnaby assisted when he could, although he was still getting his affairs in order. He loved his Ma and if he was moving out he needed to make sure everything was going right. So he didn't help as often as wally did.
Wally on the other hand, worked every day (and night once home let him in!).
He did not have any contact with his family so all he did for months was work and talk with Home, and call Barnaby.
Soon enough, Barnaby was able to move into the neighborhood permanently. Built his own doghouse with wally and Home's help.
Then, Julie and Frank showed up, bickering playfully as always, both helping eachother to craft there perfect house.
Eddie popped up one day, littarly! One day he wasn't there next, the Post office was up! He lived inside of the post office until he began living with frank.
Howdy showed up soon after Eddie, his humble small fruit cart moving to a whole grocery store!
The seventh neighbor, Poppy, showed up in the middle of an awful thunderstorm, it was a frightful introduction, yet Poppy decided to stay in the small neighborhood.
Last was Sally, he crashed right infront of Home, smack dab in the middle of the neighborhood, she loved the place so much she decided to stay.
Although, Wally had the option from the state to name the neighborhood after himself, he decided to name the neighborhood after its real first resident. Home.
'Nowherevill, Nowhere, located in the continent of Nothing' That old joke was no longer applicable, she may not know which continent or state there in, but what he does know, is that there in
Home