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It was a brand new day in Smiling valley, and Dogday was very excited.
Today was the day the new smiling critter was finally moving into their new house.
Over the past week or so, Dogday had been watching a new house be built. A large gray and brown colored house that looked like a life-size dollhouse.
Would they be a boy or a girl? Shy or outgoing? What kind of animal would they be? What scent would they have? Oh the possibilities were endless!
Either way, Dogday couldn’t wait to meet them.
~small-size transition~
After all the moving containers were gone, Dogday walked over to the new house with a small bouquet of sunflowers and daffodils tied with a yellow ribbon he had made as a welcome gift.
He happily walks up to the door, giving it a gentle knock.
After a minute or so, the homeowner answered.
She was a mouse with dark gray fur, with lighter fur on her ears and a pink nose and light gray paws.
Her pendant was a piece of cheese, and she smelled like cheesecake.
Dogday’s tail wags. “Well hello there!” He says. “Welcome to the valley!”
The mouse smiles. “Hi there, and thank you!” She says.
Dogday smiles. “My name is Dogday!” He says. “What’s yours?”
The mouse offers her hand. “I’m Molly Whiskers.” She says.
Dogday shakes her hand. “Nice to meet you Molly!” he says politely.
He offers her the bouquet. “Here, these are for you.”
Molly blushes a bit, taking them. “Aww, how thoughtful!” she says, smelling them. “Thank you so much.”
Dogday scratches his neck. “No problem!” he says. “I always give flowers to new residents.”
Molly smiles. “That’s very sweet.”
Dogday giggles. “Well, I like to do what I can to make people feel welcome.” he says happily.
He then looks up at her house. “Nice place you got here!”
Molly looked up. “Oh, thank you.” she says.
Dogday smiles. “Have you got all your stuff settled?”
Molly giggled nervously. “Kind of.” she says. “I’m still unloading a bunch of boxes.”
Dogday thinks. “Maybe the others could help you,” he said.
Then a light goes off in his head. “Wait, have you even met them yet?”
Molly shakes her head. “No, not yet.”
Dogday smiles, his tail wagging. “Then what’s to say I take you on a little tour around the valley, and introduce you to everyone?”
Molly smiles. “That sounds lovely!” She says. “I really could use more help.”
Dogday claps. “Great!”
He offers his arm. “Shall we go then?”
Molly nods and smiles, putting her arm around his as they set off.
Going around the valley and introducing her to the people and places went well. Except for Bubba, who wasn’t home at the moment, so they decided to stop by his place again later.
(There was a note on his door saying he was out buying new books.)
Molly liked talking with Bobby, admiring Crafty’s artwork, watching Kickin do skateboard stunts, trying the cookies Picky had made, and playing catch with Hoppy.
It seems she was gonna make good friends with everyone.
There was just one last stop on their list.
“Okay, there we are Molly!” Dogday says as he and Molly approach the tall, purple, fuzzy house.
“This is the house of my best friend, Catnap!”
Molly gets a pit in her stomach.
“Uh… a… a cat…?”
Dogday nods. “Yeah, he’s a Cat.”
Molly gulps.
Dogday’s smile fades. “I-is something wrong…?”
Molly shakes her head. “O-oh no, it’s just…”
She looks away.
“I’m just… a tiny bit… afraid of cats…”
Dogday tilts his head. “Why?”
Molly looks him in the eye.
“Wait… he… he’s not afraid of you…?” She says.
Dogday shakes his head. “Of course not!” He says. “Catnap’s my best friend!”
Molly was confused. “R-really…?”
Dogday nods. “Yeah!” He says.
He smiles gently. “Listen, Catnap is really nice.” He says softly. “There’s no reason to be afraid.”
Molly gulps. “O-okay… if you say so…”
Dogday walks over and rings the bell, and soon enough, the rope ladder comes down.
Dogday climbs up, Molly cautiously following behind.
He then knocks on the door.
Catnap opens, smiling when he sees Dogday. ‘Hi buddy!’ he signs happily. ‘Good to see you!’
Dogday’s tail wags. “Good to see you too!”
Catnap notices Molly glancing at her. “Oh, who’s that?”
Molly flinches a bit.
Dogday smiles. “Catnap, this is Molly!” He said. “She’s our new neighbor!”
He then looks to molly. “Molly, this is my best friend, Catnap.”
Catnap waves softly. ‘Hello.’ He signed with a soft smile.
Molly looked confused.
Dogday notices. “Oh, he’s using asl.” He says.
Molly tilts her head. “What’s that…?”
Dogday giggles. “Sign language.” He says. “It's where you speak with your hands rather than your voice.”
Catnap taps his throat.
Dogday looks a bit sad. “He can’t speak very well, you see.”
Molly nods. “Aha…” she says.
‘Doesn’t talk… not creepy at all… she thinks.’
Catnap smiles gently. ‘Please come in.’
Dogday happily walks in, Molly following closely behind.
Catnap notices her acting strange, so Dogday whispers in his ear.
“She’s a little afraid of cats.”
Catnap nods, understanding.
‘I’ll try to not be scary then.’ he signs, making them both giggle.
Catnap then leads them to his living room. ‘Please, have a seat.’
Dogday sits down on the couch, Molly hesitantly sitting next to him.
Much to Molly’s chagrin, Catnap sits right between them.
‘So Molly,’ Catnap signs, looking at her. ‘Tell me about yourself.’
Molly scoots a bit away. “W-what do you want to know?”
Catnap shrugs. ‘Just, stuff about you. What your favorite things are, what you like to do, I just want to get to know you.’ he signs with a smile.
Molly scoots further away. “I’d rather you not.” she says, looking away.
Catnap looks a little disappointed. ‘Um… okay… let’s change the subject then.’
Dogday looks at Molly. “Hey Molly, are you feeling okay?”
Molly sneers at him. “I’d feel better if I weren’t sitting next to this creep.”
Dogday and Catnap both look shocked.
“Wha- Catnap isn’t a creep!” he says.
He puts his hand around Catnap's shoulder. “He’s one of the nicest critters I know.”
Catnap smiles. ‘Thanks, buddy.’
Dogday looks at Molly. “Come on, Molly, just give him a chance!” he says.
Catnap smiles gently, placing a hand on Molly’s shoulder.
Suddenly, Molly gasps and jumps up, slapping his hand away. “DON’T TOUCH ME YOU PERV!”
The others get up too, Catnap worriedly trying to sign ‘I'm sor-’
Molly growls “Don’t gimme that fake sorry!” she yells. “You- you’re…”
She closes her eyes and screams at the top of her lungs,
“YOU'RE NOTHING BUT A STUPID STRAY!”
Catnap was shocked, starting to cry.
“MOLLY!”
Dogday yells angrily.
Molly jumps, turning towards him.
“How could you say that to him!?” Dogday says.
Molly was scared. “B-but he w-was gonna-”
“He was NOT going to do ANYTHING!” Dogday says, stomping his food. “Catnap has been nothing but nice and polite to you, like he is to everyone! And you call him a stupid stray?!”
Molly looks at him sadly.
Dogday turns away.
“I’m sorry but, if you’re gonna treat Catnap badly for no reason then, we can’t be friends.”
Molly tries to step forward. “B-but-”
“No buts!” Dogday says, putting his arm around Catnap's shoulder.
“If you decide you want to stop acting like a jerk, you can come back, but…”
He points to the door. “Right now you need to leave.”
Molly’s eyes start to water. “But Dogda-”
“LEAVE.”
Dogday says angrily.
Molly jumps, then sadly nods, slowly walking out the door.
~later~
Molly was walking by herself, crying.
Her first day in the valley had been going so well up until she met that creepy cat…
‘So much for a new life with new friends…’ she thinks to herself, kicking up some sand.
She had wandered down to the most southern part of Smiling valley, to the salty shore beach.
Looking up, she spots a blue house with some palm trees.
‘Oh yeah, this is Bubba’s house.’ she thinks, remembering from earlier.
‘Maybe he’s home by now.’ she thinks, smiling.
She walks up, knocking on the door, but nobody answers.
“Must still be out…” she says, sadly sighing.
But then, she hears footsteps behind her.
She turns around, seeing a blue elephant carrying a stack of books and humming a tune.
“Oh, hi!” Molly says, waving happily.
Bubba spots her, freezing.
Molly smiles. “You must be Bubba!” she says, walking forward. “My name’s-”
Suddenly, Bubba drops all his books and screams.
“EEEK! A MOUSE!” He says, starting to run off.
Molly holds her hands up. “What? N-no no wait!”
Bubba runs away, still hollering.
Molly was left alone again.
She turns away. “How rude…” she says, crossing her arms. “Why would he be scared of me? I wasn’t gonna hurt him…”
She humps. “I know elephants are typically afraid of mice but…”
Suddenly, she had a revelation.
“O-oh no…” she says, staring at her hands.
“I-I have to fix this!” She says, sprinting off towards the park.
~Mouse-sized transition~
Molly arrives at the park, looking around.
Conveniently enough, Dogday was sitting on the fountain in the center of the park, comforting a sad Catnap.
Molly feels guilty.
Taking a deep breath, she walks over.
“U-uh… hi!” She says, waving a bit.
Catnap looks at her, then looks angry.
‘What do you want?’ he signs.
Molly steps back a bit. “I… I want…”
She sighs, looking down.
“I want to apologize.”
Catnap’s expression softens a bit.
Molly steps a bit closer.
“I shouldn’t have treated you harshly just because you’re a cat…” she says sadly. “It was very rude of me…”
She looks him in the eye. “I’m very sorry.”
Catnap smiles gently, standing up.
“I-If you think rude of me, I don’t blame you…” Molly says.
She looks down at her feet.
“I… i’ve just had some bad.. experiences… with cats in the past…” she says.
“And I projected that onto you.”
Catnap’s eyes widened, covering his mouth.
‘R-really…?’ He signed.
Molly nods, then looks back up. “That was a mistake…” she says. “I shouldn’t have assumed you were bad too…”
She looks into his eyes.
“Can we…”
She holds a hand out.
“Start over?”
Catnap thinks for a minute, then smiles, taking her hand and nodding.
Molly smiles gently. “Thank you!”
Catnap then gently takes her face in his free hand.
“Thank you for apologizing.” He says softly.
Molly blushes a bit.
“N-no problem…”
His voice was… really nice actually.
Catnap looks in her eyes. “And, rest assured, I will try my very best not to do anything to hurt you or make you uncomfortable, okay?” He says with a gentle smile.
Molly smiles back, nodding. “Okay, Thank you.”
Dogday then walks over, smiling.
“Glad to see you guys made up.” He says.
Catnap giggles and extends his arm, and all three of them group hug.
~later~
Molly was having a housewarming party with all her new friends, after they helped her unpack all her boxes and get settled into her new home.
Picky had even made cheesecake, her favorite food.
Molly was having a wonderful time, dancing and chatting with Dogday and Catnap.
Bubba then walks up to Molly. “Uh, excuse me, Molly, is it?” he says.
Molly turns to him. “Yes?”
Bubba looked a little nervous.
“I apologize for running off earlier…” he said. “I wasn’t scared of you, per say, you just startled me.”
Molly giggles. “That’s okay.” she said. “Believe it or not, you helped me a lot today!”
Bubba looked confused. “Really?” he said. “How so?”
Molly scratches her neck, glancing at Catnap.
“Long story.”