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Smiling valley had been a very peaceful location for many years.
The fun loving and happy smiling critters were the only critters in the valley, and everything was fine and dandy, sweet as cake and sugar candy.
That is, until the new neighbors moved in.
The nightmare critters.
Nobody knew anything about them, because they were all too afraid to approach them.
They all lived in the gemberry woods, the spooky woods at the edge of the valley on the other side of stardew park.
They were a black sheep, a yellow-banded poison dart frog, an albino fruit bat, an alligator, a red dragon, a raven, a rat, and a great white shark. All creatures that in the ‘real world’ were considered predators/dangerous and/or bad omens.
But there was a rumor going around that one of them was actually related to one of the smiling critters.
So on this day, Dogday was walking over to his friend Molly’s house, to see if she had anything to say about them.
He knocks on the door, her answering shortly after.
“Oh hi Dogday!” she says with a smile. “What’s up?”
Dogday waves. “Hey Malls.” he says. “Can I talk to you about some stuff?”
Molly nods. “Of course!” she says, stepping aside. “Come on in.”
They both sat on her couch.
“So, what’s up?” Molly asks.
Dogday looks at her. “I… I have a question.” he says. “About our new neighbors.”
Molly looks a bit nervous. “W-what about them?”
Dogday shuffles a bit. “Do you know any of them?” He asks. “Like, have you ever met or talked to any of them?”
Molly thinks for a while before answering him.
“I kinda know them…” she says. “Well, I only REALLY know one of them.”
Dogday’s eyes widen. “Really?” he says. “Which one?”
Molly smiles slightly.
“My little brother.” she says. “Toullie.”
Dogday’s eyes widened. “Y-you have a brother?”
Molly nods. “Yeah, and he’s trash.” she says with a smirk.
Dogday giggles a bit. “Wow, harsh.”
Molly laughs. “Well, not really, I mean he’s nice enough, just, he likes to eat and roll around in trash.” she says. “Like the rat he is.”
Dogday sticks his tongue out. “Oh, gross.”
Molly nods. “Yeah, he’s always been like that.” she says. “Ever since we were kids in the city.”
She giggles. “He always liked to play and roll around in dumpsters like he was homeless even though we lived fairly well.”
Dogday giggles. “Wow.”
Molly giggles too.
She then gets up. “I was actually hoping to go see him soon, since I haven’t in a while.”
Dogday smiles. “Oh, cool!”
Molly nods. “Ever since I moved, we’ve kept contact through letters, but it’ll be nice to see him in person again.”
Dogday scoots closer. “Well I hope that goes well for you.”
Molly smiles. “Thanks.”
~Trashy transition~
As she made her way through the Gemberry woods, Molly was nervous.
Why would Toullie and his new(?) friends want to live in this creepy place?
Well, she supposed it made sense for a group called the ‘nightmare’ critters to reside in a ‘scary’ place.
Still, she was a bit unnerved as she walked along.
Eventually, she came upon the address Toullie had sent her in one of his letters.
His house was shaped like a giant dumpster.
Molly giggles. “How fitting.”
She knocks on the door, a shrill voice responding with an “it’s open!”
Molly smiles and takes a deep breath, opening up the door.
She waves happily. “Hi little bro!”
The rat sees her, smiling and getting up. “Sis! You’re finally here!”
He walks over and tries to hug her, but Molly stops him.
“No, no hugs until you have a BATH.” She says, covering her nose. “You smell like a dumpster fire.”
Toullie sighs. “Fine…” he says, going to clean himself up.
Molly goes to sit on the old beat up couch, sitting on the least dirty cushion.
Once Toullie comes back, he sits on the couch beside her, hugging her tightly. “I missed you sis!”
Molly hugs back. “I missed you too!”
Toullie pulls back and smiles. “Wanna hear about all this neat junk I found in the woods?”
Molly shakes her head. “Maybe later.” she says. “I don’t have 5 hours to spare.”
Toullie looks a bit mad, crossing his arms. “Darn…”
Molly smiles. “Anyway…” she changes the subject. “How long have you and your, um, new friends been living here?”
Toullie smiles. “Not that long actually,” he says. “We moved here one by one over the past couple of weeks after we all decided the city was too crowded for us.”
Molly nods. “Makes sense.” she says. “What are the others like?”
Toullie shrugs. “Oh, the usual.” He says. “Babs is edgy, Iggy is a showoff, Rae can’t keep her trap shut, Aly is probably asleep, Simon is a huge jerk, Poe is dark and brooding, and Maggie is a glutton.” He says.
Molly frowns. “Oh my…” she says. “Why… Do you hang out with them?”
Toullie shrugs. “They accept me.”
He says. “They don’t think me playing with ‘trash’ is weird, like most people do.”
Molly looks a bit sad. “I see…”
She scoots closer. “Have you ever thought of talking to the smiling critters?”
Toullie sighs sadly. “No, but, I don’t think they’ll appreciate me.” He says.
“They’re all so polished. So squeaky clean. Innocent.”
He looks down. “If they saw me, they’d probably just throw their shoes at me…”
Molly puts an arm around Toullie’s shoulders. “Bud, they don’t even WEAR shoes.”
Toullie looks up at her. “Oh yeah?”
Molly nods and smiles.
Toullie smiles a bit too. “Well, what do you think I should do?”
After mulling over it, Molly comes up with an idea.
“Why don’t you talk to Catnap?” she says. “I think you could bond over both having… interesting tastes in food.”
Toullie looks at her, confused.
“Catnap?” he says. “You mean your cat boyfriend that… you were terrified of when you first met him…?”
Molly giggles nervously. “Well, yes… but…” she says nervously.
“He’s not like other cats.” she says. “On the first day we met, after I apologized, he promised me that he’d never try to hurt me or make me uncomfortable.”
She smiles. “And I’m sure he’d do the same for you.”
Toullie looks nervous. “I-I'm not sure…” he says. “Why would he treat me differently?”
Molly smiles gently. “Well, because he’s nice.” she says.
“I’m sure he'll at least give you a chance.”
Toullie thinks about it for a bit. “Okay… maybe I'll talk to him soon.”
He says softly.
A silent moment later, Toullie sighs.
“What’s wrong?” Molly asks.
Toullie smiles. “Nothing’s wrong…” he says. “I’m still just, so glad to get out of that crazy busy city.”
He looks away. “When I was living there, I felt like I was trapped, but now… I feel freer.”
Molly smiles happily. “Well that’s true.” She says, scooting closer.
“You're gonna be a lot more free here in Smiling valley..” Molly says softly.
Toullie smiles happily. “Really?”
Molly nods. “Don’t worry baby bro.” She says, patting his shoulder.
“Our future is bright.”