seen from Türkiye
seen from United States
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seen from China
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seen from Ecuador
seen from China
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seen from United States
rq: Tiffany (book design) and Joy walking on a windy day.
Here we go!
Tiffany put her hair up because she knew it was going to be very windy and she likes her hair up so it doesn't blow in her face.
Joy thinks she look great.
They had a great walk.
JOY FREAKING DOOM LEAKED
I REPEAT ONE OF MY FAVORITE CHARACTERS FROM THE BAD GUYS BOOKS, IS LEAKED IN THE SECOND THE BAD GUYS TRAILER! NOW ALL I NEED IS MILTON!!! woah, uhm but you know I'm excited for Agent Doom to be in the movie canon! sorry for being too excited, although I wish they kept her edgyness is my only complaint, I'm just glad my girl is in the movie now!
Teaching and Learning with The Paw | chapter 6: Getting to know you a bit better
First chapter | Last Chapter | Next Chapter
Author’s note: It's been a while but here's the chapter! (It's a bit of a filler but there's information and a lot of stuff!) Also big thanks to @vanessabadguys03 / @vanessafangirl13 for helping me again with this chapter.
Notice/Warnings: hospital, ghosts, panic, talking about the past, fire
▪▪▪
Diane stayed in the hospital for about two days, to keep an eye on her for a bit, just in case.
On the discharge day, Diane changed into her suit and purple vest and her red scarf.
After changing, she had handcuffs put back on her.
Diane sighed softly after changing and sat back on the bed, feeling almost calm but still shaken up from what happened.
She stared at the floor while waiting for a nurse to bring a wheelchair to her room, thinking and reminding herself to be calm.
‘Just be calm,’ she thought, getting lost in thought.
She was pulled out of her thoughts when she noticed a nurse had entered the room, pushing a wheelchair in.
Diane looked at the nurse as the nurse stopped pushing the wheelchair into the room, then took a few steps back and nodded to them.
Diane looked at the wheelchair before slowly walking to it and sitting down, ready to go.
Then her wheelchair was being pushed out by the nurse, with the officer walking with them, along with the other officers.
They went down a secret hallway of the hospital to go to the transportation van, which was at the back of the hospital.
Diane looked down during this, getting lost in thought.
She got pulled out of her thoughts again when she was outside and in front of the van.
“Here we go,” one of the officers said, picking Diane up by the arm to get her out of the wheelchair and take her to the van.
Diane got inside the van and got seated.
Diane looked at the windows while she waited for the van to move, letting her mind wander.
Diane took in a deep breath as she felt the van move, preparing herself for what was happening next.
After a while, the van arrived at the place.
Diane looked at the house where she was going to stay as she got out of the van and walked to the house with the officers.
The house was a red brick house with a tan roof, and a mix of green grass and dried grass covered the yard, while a wire fence surrounded the yard and house.
Diane hummed softly to herself as she and the officers went inside.
As they got inside, everything looked normal and alright.
There was some furniture, making the place feel more lived.
Before Diane could look around the place, she noticed an officer walking over to her.
The officer was a thin woman wearing a gray suit and had her blonde hair in a tight bun.
Diane looked at her as she stayed still when she got to her.
“Hello, Ms. Foxington, I'm Sally Roe. I'll be your parole officer,” the officer said to her.
“Hi, Roe. Nice to meet you.” Diane said, nodding to her.
Roe let out a hum and nodded before getting an ankle monitor out. “Alright, let’s get this on you and explain what will be expected during this time,” she said, looking at the fox.
Diane looked at the ankle monitor before looking at Roe, nodding and lifting her right leg a bit.
Roe knelt and put the ankle monitor on her leg. Diane moved her ankle around a bit to see if the ankle monitor was on just right before setting her leg down, and looked at Roe again as the parole officer stood right up.
“Alright, you are on house arrest.” Roe started, looking at the fox. “This is for your safety. You need to stay in the property radius until it’s safe for you to be back and have the ankle monitor off.”
“Got it. I understand.” Diane said, nodding. “Am I allowed to have visitors over?”
“Yes. You can have some visitors over.” Roe conformed, nodding. “I believe that it’ll just be Doctor Milton T. Park, but you can have some visitors over.”
Diane nodded again. “Ok.”
After being informed of what’s happening and after Roe and the officers left, Diane looked around the place again, exploring a bit, starting to get used to the place.
☆◇◇☆
For the first few days, Diane tried to adjust with the situation and tried to be more comfortable with the house.
She has received visits from Doctor Milton Park for the good classes, sometimes her parole officer, and also visits from the governor and his team. (Her ghost friends have given her a visit too).
She was still on edge about what had happened and wanted to be in the prison to finish her sentence, but still tried to be calm. She also picked up a hobby that she used to do, making bracelets/tails.
Diane was talking with Emilylou and Rhonda as she worked on some bracelets.
“So, any new news? Anything about the mole, or anything else?” Diane asked, looking at both of them.
“Nothing yet on the mole. But everyone is trying to find out what happened.” EmilyLou answered, shaking her head.
(And Joy is exploring. Maybe visit her boyfriend!) Rhonda signed before doing the sign of kisses and making a kissy face.
“Corection, sort of ex boyfriend.” EmilyLou corrected, pointing at Rhonda. “Since Pam told her to cut off the relationship before it became too real.”
“Well, he wouldn’t be a boyfriend. Just the person she was sort of dating/hanging out as Susan Caduceus.” Diane corrected the two. The two friends hummed and nodded before sitting down next to Diane on the couch.
“So, anything between you and the governor?" EmilyLou asked with a big smile.
Diane quickly looked at EmilyLou with wide and surprised eyes. “What? No! It’s just… professional." she responded, shaking her head and then continued to work on the bracelet.
“Professional?” EmilyLou repeats in confusion, tilting her head to the side. Then she let out a confused chuckle, “What is it to keep your relationship professional?”
Diane stopped working on the bracelet and sighed before looking at EmilyLou again, deadpan. “EmmyLou… Moe Wolf is the Governor. Do you hear what I am saying? The Governor… And I am just… a criminal- going to be an ex-criminal, who has a past friendship with the most unpredictable and dangerous group ever." the fox explained, getting a bit upset. “So, no. If people find out that the governor is dating a criminal, or ex-criminal, it would be received badly."
EmilyLou stared at Diane for a long moment before letting out a small laugh. “Oh, Diamond… Did you forget? You’re taking goodness classes from Doctor Park, to show if you can change. Once you’re done, you're going to get a pardon. Either by the governor or a judge."
“I’m also serving my time.”
“You’re also taking responsibility.”
Diane was quiet before shrugging. “But still… it would not be ok… I don’t want to cause trouble for both him and me…”
EmilyLou gave a soft smile to her, saying, “Just talk with him first and see what plan you two can come up with. Alright?”
Diane nodded. “Alright.” she hummed and started to work on the bracelet again. Then she felt another presence in the room for a moment before it disappeared. Diane looked at where the presence was and sighs angrily, “Really, Pam? You’re just being petty right now! You got to stop!”
EmilyLou and Rhonda looked at Diane and then the spot for a moment. “Want us to talk to her?” EmilyLou asked, looking at Diane.
The fox was still for a moment before nodding, saying, “Sure.”
(We can do that.) Rhonda signed before getting up.
Diane watched them get up. “Do let Joy join in if she’s there.” she said before they left, smiling.
“Got it!” EmilyLou said while Rhonda gave a thumbs up before they left.
Diane chuckled softly and continued to work on the bracelet.
◇☆a few days later☆◇
Diane had the Governor and his team over, giving her some company and talking about what’s been happening.
It was in the evening when they arrived to visit.
“So, how’s everything been?” the fox asked as she sat on one of the chairs while the governor and his team sat down on the couch.
“Everything is going alright.” Stefanie replied. “The look out for the mole is still going on.”
Diane hummed softly and nodded. “I see… eh… oh so, how’s Olive? My cat.” she asked, changing the subject.
That got the mood up a bit.
“Oh, he’s doing great.” Moe said, smiling softly. “He's healthy and playful. He also misses you.”
Everyone nodded with soft smiles.
“Oh! He also responds to the name ‘Dolphin’.” Pepe added with a big smile.
Diane looked at Pepe before smiling back and chuckled softly, “Aw! Like the Golden Dolphin.”
The gang nodded and chuckled.
They start to talk about how everything was going.
At one point, Pepe looked at Diane and asked “Have you done a Halloween heist? And if you have, have you stolen from any big and well known crooks of the past?”
“Pepe!” Lou and Stefaine exclaimed at him.
“What?! I was just asking!” Pepe exclaimed back at them.
Diane stares at the gang for a moment. The fox smiled and chuckled softly as she answered, “It’s ok. To answer that; yes, I have with the Lost Girls.” Then she got curious as she tilted her head to the side a bit and asked “Have you guys?”
“Yeah. With all five of us.” Herbert said, nodding.
“We tried to rob Reginald E. Scary.” Moe explained, chuckling awkwardly.
Diane gasped when hearing that. “You five robbed Reginald E. Scary?” Diane asked, looking at the five with wide eyes.
“Well… It didn't go well as planned. Well it did but it got ruined by scaring pranks on each other… Which also ended with the real ghost of Reginald E. Scary…” Moe answered a bit embarrassedly.
Diane stares at the five of them, trying to hold back a laugh as she asks “How did that happen?”
The gang looked at each other before looking back at the fox. “Eh… we'd rather not say.” Moe said which got the gang to nod in agreement.
Diane nodded with a hum.
“Anyway… what about you and your friends?” Stefaine asked, looking at the fox. “Who did you try to steal from? If you did heists with them.”
Diane let out an awkward chuckle and gently rubbed the back of her neck before sighing. “We did heists together… Now the well known criminal that we stole from was… Alcina C. Blacknote.” Diane answered with an awkward smile.
The gang gasped and looked at her in shock when hearing that. “WHAT?!” they exclaimed in shock.
"You mean ‘The Creepy Mistress of Beverly Hills’, ‘The red black bear’, ‘The Alcina C. Blacknote’...” Lou exclaimed with wide eyes. “THAT Alcina?!”
Then Diane tried to hold in a laugh, nodding before letting the laugh out. “Yes, I know! It was not very smart of me and the girls. But to be fair we were like around our late teens to early 20s, just finished college and starting to get our name out.” Diane said, laughing at herself.
The five stared at the fox with shock and surprised wide eyes. “Why? Why would you plan that?!” Stefanie asked loudly as Diane stopped laughing.
The fox looked at the gang before shrugging a bit, replying, “Why not? To do a powermove. To prove that the impossible can be done.”
Moe hummed softly and nodded. “That’s very understandable.”
Diane looked at the governor before smiling softly and chuckling softly.
“Anyway, what happened to it? The thing you stole from her.” Herbert asked “We packed all of the things you stole and we didn’t see the gem or whatever you stole from her.”
Diane looked surprised and her ears went back a bit before she chuckled awkwardly. “Oh!… Well… um…” the fox started, sounding hesitant. “It was two things- but um… They… got destroyed.” Then Diane smiled awkwardly at the gang as everyone stared at her in shock.
“Anyway,” Diane started, quickly changing the subject. “Have any of you done fun things before running the government, besides thieving?”
“Well, we’ve done some fun activities, gone to fun places, played games, gone out-” Herbert started to list.
But then, without missing a beat, Stefanie and Pepe jumped up and pointed at Herbert. “Herbert dated a bird once.” the both of them said quickly to Diane, smiling big.
Herbert’s eyes widened and shook his head. “Ah-! No! It was not a date! It was a pretend date to help her out of a situation!” the snake protested, pointing at both of them.
“It was still a date.” Lou chimed in. “Also we did see her again with two of her friends at that festival. You two danced and had fun.”
Herbert groans and hides his face with his black fedora hat.
Diane smiled and chuckled softly at them. “What was her name?”
“Her name was… Susie?” Pepe asked, looking at everyone.
“Susan.” Herbert corrected as he removed his fedora off his face, which showed him smiling softly. “Her name was Susan."
Diane hummed softly. “Nice. Do you have a photo of her?” she asked, very curious.
“Yep.” Herbert said, nodding before getting his phone out, looking for the photo. “Stefanie was the one to take the photo and then sent it to me. Here we go.” He shows the fox the photo.
Diane looked at the photo on the phone and her eyes widened a bit in surprise.
The photo was of Herbert and a raven with purple dye feathers who looked very familiar. It looked like they were laughing.
“Joy!” Diane exclaimed when seeing the raven in the photo.
That got the gang a bit off guard. The five looked at the photo before looking at Diane, who looked at a corner for a moment like expecting an answer.
“What?” Herbert asked, looking confused at her.
Diane quickly looks at them, mostly at Herbert, sighing, “You- uh… you actually met Doom… Joy Doom."
“Wait, this is Joy Doom? As in one of The Lost Girls?” Herbert asked, pointing at the photo on the phone and then looking at Diane again.
The fox was quiet as she looked at Herbert and nodded. “Yes, that's her. Susan is one of her many aliases…” Diane explained before pausing. Then she sighed and apologized, “I’m sorry that you had to find out like this…”
Herbert’s eyes widened in shock as he took in the information. “W… was… was I a target?” he asked, worriedly.
Diane was taken back by that and then shook her head. “No, you weren’t.” she answered, looking at the snake. “By the looks of the photo, that was the night you helped her get away from a bad situation.”
“Really?”
“Yeah.”
Herbert stared at the photo before smiling softly. “I see…” he said quietly.
Then Pepe raised his fin before pointing at the phone. “Wait… didn’t Joy have black and purple feathers?” Pepe asked, scratching his head confused.
Diane looked at Pepe and smiled, explaining, “Well, at times, she would dye her feathers a different color or colors. Most times it was a purple or light purple. She liked it and, in her words, it was better than wigs.”
“What’s wrong with wigs?” Lou asked, curious .
Diane just shrugs and hums ‘I don’t know’ before adding, “She just didn’t like them.”
Lou tried to think of any explanation for a moment before letting the thought leave his mind.
Diane just let out a chuckle and glanced around the room before quickly looking at them again as Pepe asked, “So, is one of your friends here? Your ghost friends?"
Diane froze for a moment before answering, “Hmm- no…”
The gang stared at her and then at each other before shrugging it.
“Alright… You don’t need to answer but… Do they have ghost powers or no?” Stefanie asked, curious.
Diane looked surprised but glanced down and nodded, thinking what to say. “Um… yeah, but not too supernatural.” she starts to explain, looking at them again. “Mostly being able to go through things, travel to different current places, ghost whispers, and ghost hugs. Oh! And able to touch-well more of push or punch things, though it can be limited so they don't do it as much.”
The team nodded a bit, taking in the information.
“Ghost whispers?” Moe asked, very curious about that.
“Yep. Ghost whispers are like whispers that you like to ‘hear’ from a spirit, which, sometimes, confuses your body at times. Sometimes thinking it’s your conscience telling you to do something or a spirit guiding or just comforting. It can be either of those." Diane explained, waving her fingers near her ear to pretend it was like whispers before stopping. “I hope that makes sense.”
The team nodded again, understanding a bit.
They did talk about a few other things before the Governor and team had to get going.
After the Governor and team left, Diane locked the door and then looked at Joy, who was there for almost all of the conversion.
“So Herbert was the one who you met as Susan Caduceus.” Diane chuckled, walking back to the couch.
Joy nodded. “Yep. That’s Ce-ce… Like he said, not a dating partner. Just someone who helped me from a scary situation by pretending.” she explained, before smiling at her.
Diane nodded and hummed before going back and sitting down. “I’m surprised that you didn’t do a ghost hug or ghost whisper to him.” she said, looking at Joy fly over and sit down next to her.
Joy shrugged as she sat down. “Eh… It would have been very weird and I didn’t want to freak him out…” she said, looking down for a moment before looking at Diane again.
Diane hummed and nodded. “Ah, I see… That’s understandable.”
“Anyway,” Joy started, changing the subject, “EmilyLou, Rhonda, and I talked with Pam.”
Diane looks at Joy, asking, “And?”
“She feels really guilty for what happened… with what Leon did to you… Also when she was feeling a bit petty about you having other friends.”
Diane hummed flat and nodded. “I see… maybe we could talk. Pam and I.”
Joy nodded as she shrugged. “We’ll see.”
☆◇
During Diane’s Good Class with Milton Park, Diane did her best to pay attention to Milton and the lesson.
“It’s good to communicate and talk with others. Like friends and family.” Milton said to Diane.
The fox nodded with a smile. “I've been able to have visitors and talk with them.”
“That’s good.” Milton said, humming softly.
They continued their lesson until it was time.
“You did very well with today’s lesson.” Milton said, start to get his stuff packed up.
Diane smiled softly and nodded, feeling a bit proud of herself. Then a thought came to her head.
“Hm… Doctor Park- I mean Milton…” Diane started, looking at Milton, who looked at her when he finished packing his bag. “Do you remember when we met? The very first time I mean…”
“Well… yes, I do remember bits of it. You and your friends helped me and got me help and to safety from those bad people.” Milton said, smiling softly at her. “You took me to that hospital.”
Diane smiled a bit too as she remembered that night. “Yeah… I was just asking if you remember." she said quietly.
Milton hummed and nodded, still smiling softly. “I do.” he said with a soft chuckle. Then he picked up his bag.
“Try to practice what we talked and learned today.”
“I will try.” Diane said, nodding.
After Milton left, Diane was cleaning up and putting a few things away from the goodness class, then she felt a familiar presence and she quickly turned around to see the presence.
“Pam.” Diane breathed when seeing her.
“Hey, Dia…” Pam said, smiling a bit sadly. “How are you doing?”
“I’m… doing better.” Diane said, nodding and then continuing to clean up. “How about you?”
Pam shrugged. “Eh…”
“Ah, I see…” the fox hummed, still cleaning up.
“I wanted to see how you were doing and wanted to talk…” Pam added as she walked over to her.
Diane stopped cleaning up and looked at her. “Oh?”
Pam nodded. “I’m sorry… I am so sorry for everything…” she started, hugging herself.
“Pam, it’s not your fault. Leon just wanted to know what happened to you and I wasn’t going to let him. He’s an EX and also thinks that ‘no’ means ‘nothing’.” Diane explained with reassurance and seriousness in her voice.
“Yeah… I know… I’m also apologizing for the last time we talked…” Pam added. “I shouldn’t have done that and I know that… you are just trying to show that you’re good, which you are, I should have been better…”
Diane hummed and nodded, “Ah… I’m sorry about that too… telling you that you’re just in my head… Still feeling guilty about that…”
“You were threatened to be transferred to the psych ward if you didn’t stop…” Pam started but then stopped herself as she looked at Diane again.
Diane just sighed and started to put things away again.
Silence starts to fill the room.
Then Diane chuckled softly, which got Pam’s attention. “Do you remember the name we were going to name the team before it was just ‘The Paw’ and ‘The Lost Girls’?” Diane asked quietly with a chuckle a bit, changing the subject.
“I do remember.” Pam said, chuckling softly. “We were called The Bad Girls or The Bad Gals.”
“We were workshoping the name at the time.” Diane chuckled softly.
The two of them chuckled and laughed quietly before sighing softly.
“We had a lot of fun.” Diane sighed, remembering the past.
“Yeah, we did.” Pam laughed, a smile on her face for a moment before it faded. The fox looked at Pam as the lioness said sadly, “I still remember when you said that you were leaving and shouldn’t be part of the group… be a lone fox that was lucky… and unlucky…”
Diane frowned sadly and nodded. “I just wanted you and the girls to be safe… to not jinx and hurt anyone.” she said quietly, sadly.
“Diane,” the lioness started, looking at the fox with a small smile, “you’re not a jinx. I promise you that.”
Diane just stared at Pam with a small smile before she finished cleaning up. “I know…”
They start to talk about other things to lighten up the mood and it feels like everything will be ok.
◇☆
Diane had Governor Moe over to visit.
It was just the both of them.
The governor just wanted to see how the Paw was doing.
“Want some water?” Diane offered as she got herself a cup.
“No, but thank you.” Moe shook his head.
Diane hummed and got herself some water before going to Moe, who just sat down on the couch.
“Oh, I brought some photos from your home. Since you mentioned that you would like to have some photos to feel more like home.” Moe said, showing an old shoe box with the words “memories” spelt out in black marker.
Diane’s eyes lit up when seeing the box. “Oh, thank you!” she said with a smile, placing the cup on the coffee table.
“No problem.” Moe chuckled softly as he handed the box to her when she got seated. “I’m pretty sure your Granny did visit your home again at some point.”
The fox still had a smile as she looked at the wolf as she answered, “That sounds like her. She was probably getting a few other things for safe keeping.”
“Oh, like what?”
Diane thought for a moment before shrugging. “Hm… Mostly important stuff. Likely documents, a handful of items, and other photos. You know, things like that.” she said before brushing it off. She was about to look at the box but stopped and looked at the governor again. “I can look at memories later.” she added, putting the box on the coffee table.
Moe hum and nodded. “Anyway, how are the goodness classes? I’ve talked with Doctor Park and he says it’s going well.” he said, hoping that everything is good with both sides.
Diane nodded. “The classes have been good, along with trying to calm down from what happened… But anyway, this week's lesson was trusting and having friends, family, or people who care…” she explained, remembering what she had learned.
“That’s good.” Moe hummed, smiling softly.
They start to talk about how everything else was going.
“Has the mole been found yet? If you know?” Diane asked at one point.
Moe sighed and shook his head. “No… not yet…” he explained, rubbing the back of his neck. “Some say that they’re close to finding the person, others are saying the mole fled and think that you should get back into the prison soon…” Then he mumbled, “I think it’s a bad idea…”
Diane stared at him before looking down, feeling her muscles getting very tight and feeling her mind separate from reality for a moment.
Then she got back to reality when she felt a gentle tap on her shoulder. She looked at the wolf, who smiled softly.
“We can change the subject to something else.” he suggested, tilting his head a little bit.
Diane thought for a moment before nodding. “Alright, what do you want to talk about?”
Moe thought for a moment and then his eyes lit up when getting a thought. “We can change subjects but I remember that you mentioned you graduated college.” he said.
The fox started to chuckle as she remembered some memories. “Well, yes, I did. I went to community college and graduated about three to four years later.” Diane said, nodding.
“Nice.” Moe hummed, nodding. “What did you major in?”
“Art criminology.” Diane answered with a soft chuckle.
“Whoa, really?”
“Yep.” Diane nodded. “It was mostly to see what mistakes criminals normally make and how to avoid it. So, loop holes, misdistinctions of why the crimes were made.” Then she got curious and asked, “Did you go to college or university?”
“Oh, yes. I went to law school.” Moe answered with a chuckle, nodding.
“Law school?” Diane asked, a bit surprised.
“Yes.” the wolf said, nodding with a chuckle. “I know, it sounds crazy. But it was sort of a plan that the gang and I thought up when we started. Just in case we would need to use it and know a loop hole.”
“Alright, I can understand that. But why just you? Why didn’t they join you?”
“Well, I had a better chance and sometimes people mix up wolves and dogs. You know, wolves and huskies almost look alike at times. Also we did our own different activities and classes, just to be not suspicious and people wouldn’t think that five different animals were working together. We would tell each other and teach what we’ve learned from our classes or activities and see what we can improve.”
“Hm, I see. That’s understandable.” Diane hummed, nodding. Then Diane had a thought come to her. “I’m just curious and you don’t need to answer but… when you were small, what did you think you were going to be when you grew up or wanted to be?” she asked, adjusting in her seat.
Moe looked a bit taken back by that for a moment and then looked at his hands while thinking before he answered it. “Mechanic.” he answered with a soft chuckle. “When I was young, thinking that I won’t go bad, I sometimes dreamt that I was going to be a race car driver or even a talk show host but I always thought I was going to be a mechanic. Since I grew up around cars and worked on them a lot.”
“Really?” Diane asked with a soft chuckle. Then she looked at Moe and imagined him being a mechanic before humming softly. “I can see you being a mechanic. As well as the others. They would fit you too.”
Moe nodded in response, chuckling softly. “What did you think you were going to be when you grew up or wanted to be?” the wolf asked, looking at the fox. Diane stared at the wolf before she thought for a moment, remembering what she thought she was going to be as grown up when she was a little. “Hm… when I was small…” Diane started to answer, smiling softly, “I thought that I would be either some type of politician, like governor or president… The others were being a karate instructor, farmer, or a seamstress.”
Moe hummed softly, nodding. “I see.”
Then Diane’s smile faded and she held herself. “But I know that neither of those will come true… because of what I’ve done… and my relationship with The Lost Girls…”
“I’m sure there’s a job that would accept you.” Moe reassured her, smiling softly.
Diane looked at him and just smiled a small bit before frowning again. “Anyway… what other things do you want to talk about or know?” she asked, changing the subject.
Moe thought for a moment before asking, “Do you have a favorite memory or any memory?”
Diane started to smile again and started to remember, looking down. “Oh, I have a few. When I met Pam for the first time, some fun times with the Girls, meeting the girls again… But the one that I remember the most was a walk with my parents around the park.” she started, remembering some of the memories, smiling softly and almost tearing up. “I remember that it was after work hours and they thought it would be nice to just walk around the city. And it was… I don’t fully remember if it was the year of the camps or the year before. But that memory sometimes reminds me that the world can be beautiful and calm… Sometimes I forget that when the world is just full of hate and shows ugliness…”
Then she felt tears rolling down her face. She quickly wiped the tears away and took in a shaky breath to calm down before looking at Moe. “I’m sorry… ” she said, apologetic.
“It’s ok.” Moe reassured her, gently rubbing her back.
Diane started to smile softly, calming down.
They started to talk about a few other things before Moe had to go.
☆◇a couple of days later◇☆
Diane was sound asleep, dreaming a dreamless dream.
Everything was calm.
Then Diane was woken up by someone shouting, “Diane, wake up!”
Diane immediately woke up with a shout and looked around to see Joy and Rhonda.
“Oh, hey!…” she breathed, gently rubbing her forehead before sliding her hand down her face to look at them, who looked worried. “Ok, what happened?” she asked, concerned as she got out of bed.
“You need to turn the tv on-” Joy started but Rhonda quickly signed, (There’s a fire!)
Diane’s eyes widened. “What?!”
She quickly ran out of the room, bolting to the living room and grabbing the remote, quickly turning the tv…
The fox couldn’t believe her eyes as she stared at the tv that showed the news.
It showed the abandoned part of the city…
The whole abandoned neighborhood…
Her home…
It was on fire…
It was all on fire…
Diane couldn’t hear what the broadcaster was saying on the screen. All that ran though Diane’s head was that she lost her home…
Her breathing became heavy and her eyes widened in fear as she felt that she was back in the past, back when she was taken and lost everything.
Diane could only sit down on the couch while watching the news, holding herself as she tried to control her breathing and crying.
When she had started to calm down and got her breathing under control, she noticed both Joy and Rhonda. “Did… did any of you see the person who did this or just found out?” she asked, her voice quivering.
“We did see the person… all four of us…” Joy answered, nodding. (We also stopped the person from getting away.) Rhonda added.
Diane narrowed her eyes a bit at them, asking, “What did you do? And where’s Pam and EmilyLou?”
Joy and Rhonda looked at each other before looking at Diane, unsure to tell her the first thing or not. “Well, they’re at the scene, to show evidence that the guy was the one who started the fire, probably popping the trunk… And you know how Pam is about fire. She loves it.” Joy explained, answering the second question.
Diane didn’t let her eyes off of her spirit friends, waiting for the first question to be answered.
Rhonda let out a sigh and, a bit guilty, signed, (Push brake bricks out from a broken truck to stop the person from driving away.)
“Rhonda!” Joy exclaimed angrily at her.
(What?! She wanted to know!) Rhonda signed angrily.
Diane looked back at the tv as she heard Joy sigh.
‘What do I do now?’ the fox thought, staring at the screen.
She tried to think of what to do but all she got right now was… nothing…
◇☆
Roe and some officers came by to the house around the afternoon.
Diane sat on the couch, looking at Roe, who had a file.
“Alright, Foxington…” Roe started, getting a photo out of the file and putting it on the coffee table. “Do you know this man? Or recognize him?”
The photo was of a middle aged man who had some fresh cuts on his face.
Diane looked at the photo and shook her head. “No, I don’t…” she said, looking back at Roe.
“Alright…” Roe hummed, picking up the photo and putting it back in the file.
“Is he going to be in the same prison?” Diane asked, still looking at Roe.
“Oh, no. He’s going to a different prison.” Roe answered, shaking her head and handing the file to an officer. “We don't put the both of you in the same prison, since he thought that you were in the abandoned neighborhood when setting the fire and whoever ordered him to do that could ask him to do it again. Now let’s get your ankle monitor off and then we will take you back."
Diane nodded and got up, letting Roe get the ankle monitor off of her.
☆◇
After Diane was transported back to the prison, checked, and given a clean orange jumpsuit, she headed back to her cell.
It was the same cell she had last time.
Some of the stuff was still there.
The fox hummed a bit and started to set things back in place.
Before Diane set up her cell back up again, she could hear someone running to her cell door.
Diane looked up to see Ruth quickly stopping at the door.
The young woman’s surprised look became a smile when seeing the fox. “Diane!” she said, running and then hugging her.
“Ruth!” Diane exclaimed, startled by the hug but then hugs her back. “How are you?”
Ruth shrugged. “Eh… I’ve been surviving.” she answered, looking at her after they finished the hug. “What about you? You ok?”
Diane got quiet as her ears went back to her head, remembering what she saw on the news.
“I… don’t want to talk about it…” she managed to say, hugging herself.
Ruth hummed and nodded. “Ok… want help getting things back up?” she asked. “I can tell you what happened while you were gone.”
Diane smiled and nodded. “Sure. That would be nice. Thanks.”
They started to get things set back up while Ruth explained what had happened while Diane was gone.
It almost started to help Diane a bit to take her mind off of what happened.
Almost…
Just Dancin' With a Friend
This is a request from @awesomex7.
EmilyLou/Emmylou helps Diane practice dancing for the gala for a bit (in chapter 7 of The Paw).
Bonus!!!
Joy watching them dancing (She likes all types of music and dances).
(Before anyone says anything, yes, I know that I didn't put a description of what/where the music came from when I posted. So, I chose a radio for this. It would have been around the compound that EmilyLou found before going to the room.)
Hanging out with friends
The Bad Girls/The Paw and The Lost Girls
The Paw and The Bad Guys
Trying to be funny but the driver is still still angry for what happened.
The Lost Girls did something and Diane just had to save them from the thing. As you can see, she's very angry.
This is based on this:
Fate Be Changed
Chapter 8: Cleaning up/Dig a little Deeper
First chapter | Last chapter | Next chapter
Author’s note: reminder: The song’s lyrics are going to be bold and italic.
Notice/warnings: naked, showers/cleaning, food, scary moment, pain, transformation
▪▪▪
As they followed Granny Gumbo to her place, there were some stilt houses and there were some other people living.
It felt like a whole community.
Diane noticed the sound about people talking to each other, music playing, the chirping of birds and crickets, and the water streaming. To her, the sounds made this community all more alive.
Then they soon got to some type of tree house. Of course it was big and beautiful. Almost like a mansion but it was almost like a cottage somewhere around the late 18th to early 19th century.
The lights inside were on as they approached the tree house.
When they went inside, Diane saw Ruby (who was still human) and an alligator wearing a suit.
The both of them just finished talking about something.
Diane gasped excitedly when seeing Ruby. “Ruby!” said Diane, running to her.
Ruby turned around and her eyes lit up with excitement. “Diane!” Ruby exclaimed, hugging her when she got to her.
“Thank goodness you're ok!” Ruby said, looking at Diane again after they hugged.
“Same with you.” Diane said, smiling.
Ruby’s eyes sparkled with excitement when looking at Diane, gently petting her fur. “You are so fluffy!!!” Ruby exclaimed with a big smile. Then she pulled her hand away and quickly said, “Sorry, I should have asked.”
Diane blushed a bit red after her fur was touched. “I am fluffy but thank you for stopping.” she said
Ruby nodded and looked at Lou, Pepe, Moe, Herbert, and Webs. “Are those one of your new friends?” she asked, looking back at Diane.
The ‘fox’ looked at them before looking back at Ruby, nodding. “Yes, this is Lou, Pepe, Moe, Herbert, and Webs.”
Ruby hummed and nodded with a soft smile, waving at them.
While that was happening, Rhonda was still carrying Webs as she walked over to the alligator wearing a suit. Then she offers Webs to him, as if to say ‘Here’.
The ‘alligator’s’ eyes lit up in excitement and in relief when seeing the spider, smiling big. “Webs! You okay?” said the ‘alligator’, picking up the ‘spider’ from the ‘Tasmanian Devil’.
Webs stared at the ‘alligator’ in confusion before her eyes widened in realization. “Wait… Milton?!” Webs said in shock, realizing that it was her other friend.
“Yes! It's me!” Milton said, putting Webs on a nearby table. “You, Moe and Herbert weren't at the place of the meeting and showed you guys a place to stay. So I knew something was up finding you until I found you guys with-”
“Yes, Marmalade, and we made a dumb deal with him.” Webs said flatly as she got on a table.
“Yeah, I was completely affected by it by the time I alerted Granny Gumbo about it.” Milton explained.
Webs nodded before pausing and stared at him in silence for a bit. “Wait… How did you get infected.” she asked, pointing at him.
“It's a long story.” Milton said “But that’s why I’m also here. To see what’s going on and see if it can be reversed.”
“Ah. Got it.” Webs humming, nodding.
Then everyone looked at Granny Gumbo as Granny looked at the two ‘water animals’ and asked, “Do you two fishes need a bath too?”
“We’re good but thanks.” Pepe said, shaking his head.
Granny Gumbo looked at Diane, Moe, Herbert, and Webs. “I’ll show you four where the showers and baths are.” the old woman said to them. “Did you bring extra clothes?”
The four looked at each other before looking back at Granny Gumbo. “Well… uh… Lou made us some clothes.” Moe said, pointing at Lou.
Lou took a bow and smiled. “I can go get them.”
“Alright.” Granny Gumbo hummed with a soft smile. Then she looked back at the four. “Now, let's get you four washed up.”
Moe, Diane, Herbert, and Webs nodded to her.
Diane picked up Webs before Granny Gumbo began to guide the four to the bathroom.
◇
The four followed Granny Gumbo to the bathroom.
“So, how long have you four been animals?” Granny Gumbo asked.
“Two days.” the four said in unison.
Granny Gumbo hummed and nodded before opening and going through the door to the bathroom.
Moe, Diane, Herbert, and Webs followed after her and the four ‘animals’ looked surprised when seeing the bathroom as they got in.
There were multiple showers and a few bathtubs. There were even some sinks. There were also a few wooden benches. It was like it came out of another country.
The bathroom looked more like a bathhouse, just with privacy options and curtains.
“Well, this is very interesting.” Moe said, continuing to look around.
The other nodded in agreement.
Then they looked at Granny Gumbo as the old woman got a basket. “This is for dirty clothes.” she explained before she plugged one of the sinks and began to fill it up with water. “And this is for Ms. Spider.”
“Thank you.” Webs said.
Granny Gumbo nodded and then pointed at one of the cabinets. “There’s soap, shampoo, and conditioner in there, along with fresh towels.” she said before turning around. “Now I’ll leave to give you four privacy.”
Then she left the room to give them privacy, closing the door on her way out.
Moe, Diane, Herbert, and Webs looked at each other.
“So, how should we do this?” Diane asked as she put Webs on the counter.
“Well, let's get the toiletries and towels out first.” Herbert said, slithering over to the cabinet.
Moe walks over to help as the ‘snake’ opens it and pulls out a few towels. The ‘wolf’ got the bottles and both of them put them on the counter.
Moe looked at the cabinet one more time and pulled out a med kit before closing it. “Just in case.” he said, pointing it at Diane.
The ‘fox’ hummed and nodded in agreement.
Then the four start to sort the bottles, for who gets what bottles and who gets which shower.
There’s liquid hand soap and travel bottles of shampoo and conditioner set up for Webs. The others are the normal-size bottles for the animal's fur, like for Moe and Diane. And lastly the other bottles are good for scales, like for Herbert.
After sorting the bottles and picking which shower, they all start to realize something.
It seems Granny Gumbo has been prepared for this.
“It looks like Granny has been doing this for a long time.” Diane said as she realized.
Moe, Herbert, and Webs nodded, looking very worried.
“Let’s get clean.” Moe said, taking his bottles and towel to the shower that he’s going to use.
The others nodded.
Diane and Herbert got their bottles and towels, taking them to their showers that they’re going to use.
Then they each got undressed, putting the very dirty clothes in the basket (except for Webs’ hoodie and Herbert’s hat, those were put on the counter) before going to wash up.
Webs got in the sink while Moe, Herbert, and Diane got in their showers after getting them going.
Diane, Moe, and Herbert begin taking a shower while Webs was taking a bath in a sink, washing off any dirt from their bodies to clean and getting their furs and scales soft.
They start to feel clean as they clean themselves.
After cleaning and washing up, Diane shook her body a bit to get some water off of her before she got her towel and wrapped it around her as she got out of her shower.
She dries herself a bit as looked around to see Webs just got out of the sink and got the hand towel over herself.
Then Webs looked at her and the both of them made eye contact, both starting to blush a bit.
“I- sorry!” Diane started, sounding panic as she covered her eyes with one hand while the other kept her towel up.
“It’s ok!” Webs reassured, wrapping herself in the towel to cover herself. “I promise it’s fine!”
Diane, slowly, uncovered her eyes and lowered her hand to look at Webs, who was still covered by her towel and got something from her hoodie pocket and started to unwrap it.
Both the ‘fox’ and ‘spider’ looked at each other for a moment.
“I've been bathing and showering whenever I can while on the run and doing my business. I normally use gym showers, sometimes rivers, motel bathrooms, or bath houses, depending on the area that I’m in.” Webs explained a bit embarrassedly. “I hope that wasn’t too much.”
Diane hummed and nodded. “It’s ok.” she reassured her, getting her undergarments.
Webs looked at her for a moment before smiling softly and then pulled out a new light green tank top, which got Diane looking confused at her.
“I told Lou earlier to just make a new hoodie. I have a spare top.” Webs said as she got her backup sports bra on before getting her new tank top.
“Ah, got it.” Diane said with a hum, getting her undergarments on before grabbing the aid kit to get a new bandage on her foot.
“How’s your foot?” Webs asked, tossing the dirty hoodie into the basket.
Diane looked at her and shrugged. “Meh…” she said as she got to one of the benches and sat down. She opened the kit and set it down next to her before lifting and checking her injured foot.
Diane looked at her foot after unwrapping the bandaging.
The cut was still there but the bleeding had stopped.
“Hm…” Diane sighed softly and started to clean her foot with disinfecting cream, which got her to hiss a bit in pain.
The sounds of running water stopped and then Moe asked, “Need help?”
Diane looked over to see Moe and Herbert just got out of their shower, with their towels over themselves.
Diane nodded. “Yes, please.” she said, putting her towel over herself to cover herself.
“Alright. Give me a moment, then I’ll help.” Moe said, walked over to get his undergarments. After he got his undergarments on, he went to Diane and knelt down in front of her. He checked her foot before getting new bandages from the kit.
It looked like he knew what he was doing as he wrapped her foot.
“I did this all the time back when I was young and while I was on the run with Herbert and Webs.” Moe said, continuing to wrap carefully the foot.
Diane hummed with a soft chuckle. “That’s interesting.” she said, nodding.
Then the ‘fox’ looked at the ‘snake’, who was looking at the door, as if to either distract himself or know something was coming.
Then there was a knock on the door, which got all four of their attention.
“I’ll get it.” Herbert said as he slithered over to the door, holding his towel around himself tight so it wouldn't slip.
He carefully opened the door to see Lou, who was holding the new outfits.
“Hi. I’m back with the new finished outfits.” Lou said, showing the outfits in a folded pile.
Herbert nodded with a hum and carefully took the pile from him, bringing them inside.
Lou turns the other way as he gives the outfits to him.
“Thank you, Lou.” the four ‘animals’ said as Herbert put the clothes on the counter.
“No problem.” Lou said, his head still looking the other way. “Could one of you put the basket of dirty clothes out? There’s a washing machine that Granny has, it’s fast and quick with cleaning.”
“Alright. Here you go.” Herbert said, taking the basket and putting it out into the hallway before closing the door.
The four ‘animals’ looked at the door as they listened Lou pick up the basket and then walked away.
Then Moe went back to bandaging Diane’s foot. “Alright, here go.” Moe said when he was done.
“Thank you.” Diane said, wiggle her toes for a moment before standing up. Then Diane started to sort out the clothes in order while making sure her towel doesn't fall off her back.
“Ok, I just sorted out the outfits so we don’t get a bit of a mix up.” Diane said when she was done sorting.
The other ‘animals’ nodded and all four got their clothes.
Diane, Moe, Herbert and Webs smell great, they hadn't washed up since yesterday, aside from the river. They got dressed after they finished washing and drying off.
Diane got on her clothes, which is a violet purple pinafore dress over a royal blue t-shirt, and black flats that fit perfectly.
Wolf got an ocean color blue suit coat along with a gorgeous grass green swirl design on it, green pants, white socks and even brown shoes.
Snake got a white shirt with a unique ruby red snake scale-like design on it. He put on his bucket hat back on.
Webs got on cyan blue hoodie with red lining.
All four of them looked at their reflections and they were amazed by their reflections.
The four animals left the bathroom when they were ready.
◇
When Moe, Herbert, Webs, and Diane got to the others, they could hear some of the conversations.
The four of them looked around as they entered the room.
Granny Gumbo was the first one to notice them as they entered the room. “Ah! I see that you four are done.” she said to them before pointing at a nearby table. “I made warm drinks for the four of you.”
“Thank you.” the four ‘animals’ said together.
They noticed warm hot drinks for them on a table as the four went to the table while Granny left the room with Lou and Pepe.
Diane put Webs on the table when they got to the table.
It's been a while since they had warm drinks. There were three normal cups with one small cup.
They each picked up one of the cups.
Moe sniffed his cup before drinking it.
Herbert and Webs looked at their cups before drinking theirs.
Diane blew her cup before she drank hers.
The drinks tasted good.
They were able to drink some of it.
When Diane finished drinking her drink, she got up and went after Granny Gumbo.
“Hey, wait for us!” Moe called after her as they put their ups down and started to follow her to get the same answer.
They found where Granny went around the house.
It looked like she was looking for something.
“We are so glad we found you, Granny Gumbo. Pepe and Lou have been telling us all about you. We’ve been traveling quite a long way. And you can’t imagine what we’ve been through.” Diane said, walking over to Granny Gumbo, who looked like she was looking for something. “And we heard that yo-”
Then Granny Gumbo began to interrupt her by calling out, “Zee!”
Then a lizard jumps onto a desk and squeaks, getting Granny Gumbo’s attention.
“Come on, over here, you bad boy. Give me some love now.” Granny Gumbo said with a smile, offering her hand to Zee.
Zee got on her hand, nuzzling, as Granny Gumbo gently pets him and said, “You just missed your mama, don’t you?”
Diane, Moe, Herbert, and Webs all look at each other with weird looks.
Granny Gumbo chuckled as she put Zee on her head. Then she looked at Pepe and Lou, smiling at them. “Again, it’s good to see you both again, Pepe and Lou.” she said as she went to a recliner. “How's everything been since we last talked?”
“Yeah, it has been a while.” Pepe said, smiling.
“We have been surviving but we’re good.” Lou said with a soft chuckle.
Granny Gumbo sat down in the recliner and laughed warmly, “That’s nice.”
Diane, Moe, Herbert, and Webs went to Granny Gumbo, who got comfortable in her seat.
“Granny Gumbo… We don’t want to take too much of your time.” Diane said
“You want some candies?” Granny asked, opening her hand to reveal some candies that looked a bit old and could break your teeth if you tried to bite them.
The four look at each other
“No, not really.” Moe and Daine said while Herbert and Webs said, “No, no thank you.”
Granny looked at them and hummed, nodding slowly.
“Well now, that’s too bad.” she started as she took one of the candies, putting the rest away and wiping one of them off the dust before eating it. “This is a special candy. Woulda turn y’all human.”
After hearing that, Moe, Diane, Herbert and Webs’ eyes widened in a panic. “No, no, no, please!” the four said in a panic. “We’ll take it!”
Granny Gumbo just started laughing, like she just pulled a good prank. “I’m just messing with y’all!”
Moe, Diane, Herbert, and Webs sighed in relief after realizing that it was a bit of a joke, laughing a bit and calming down.
Diane smiled at the others as she started “How on earth did you know that we want to turn back-?”
She was cut off when seeing Granny Gumbo napping in the chair.
“Um… Granny Gumbo?” Herbert asked, tapping her arm a bit with his tail.
Then Granny Gumbo jumped out of her seat, startling the four (again), and ran into a different room, shouting, “Zee! Why didn’t you tell me my gumbo was burnin’?!”
“Gumbo?” Diane asked before smelling air to smell the scent. It was one of her favorite father's cooking when she was a kid (No offense to her mother's or her friends or even her own).
She followed the old lady to the kitchen, seeing her stir a big pot.
“I can’t believe this…” Granny Gumbo grumbled to herself. “Got to do everythin’ around here…”
Diane glanced over to see what was in the gumbo pot before looking at the old woman. “What type of gumbo is it?” Diane asked, checking and inspecting. She's seen many different types of gumbo, so much so though she couldn't identify which one exactly it is.
“It’s a recipe that I made.” Granny Gumbo said, glancing at her as she stirred the gumbo. “You can taste it if you like.”
The old woman pulled one of the nearby drawers to show where the silverware was.
Diane got a spoon out, so she could taste it. She got a spoonful of the gumbo and tasted it. She noticed that it was a bit sour and a bit sweeter than any gumbo she had tasted.
“Well? What do you think?” Granny Gumbo asked, looking at her.
“Hm… Your gumbo is pretty amazing actually unlike anything I have seen since I was child but… add a little cumin, hit the parsley, lemon zest, additional cinnamon, with a mix of Tabasco and red peppers and it'll have a good taste.”
Granny Gumbo hummed and went to a cabinet, looking for the things that Diane suggested.
Zee got the cheese grinder out, for the lemon zest, with his mouth holding onto the handle of it, while Granny Gumbo got the things on the counter.
The others peaked in as Granny Gumbo got the things into the pot and then stirred the food together.
Then she began taking a taste after letting the ingredients mix together.
It tasted better than expected.
Granny Gumbo started to laugh and exclaim excitedly, “That got some zydin’ to it! I guess that’s what we needed.”
“No problem.” Diane said with a confused chuckle.
Granny Gumbo chuckled and looked at her. “Now, you figured out what you need?”
Diane was confused by the question as Webs crawled onto her shoulder while Moe and Herbert walked over to them.
“Uh… Well… It’s just like you said, Granny Gumbo. We need to be human.” Diane said, pointing at herself and then at the others.
Granny Gumbo’s smile faded into a frown and then she gave a loud forced laugh in her face, making the ‘fox’ jump back a bit and bump into the ‘wolf’.
Webs quickly got onto Moe's shoulder after the bump, clinging onto him.
“You are blind to what’s in front of ya!” Granny Gumbo said with sass, pointing at Diane in the chest.
Diane was confused about what saying and looked at Webs, Moe, and Herbert to see if they understood what she’s saying.
The three of them looked equally confused.
“What’s going on in here?” Pam asked, walking in with Emmlylou, Joy, Rhonda, Ruby, and Mitlon.
“Well the thing is-” Herbert started but was interpreted by Granny Gumbo clearing her throat, which got everyone’s attention.
“You want to be human…” Granny Gumbo started, sounding calm. “But you blind to what you need.”
“What we want, what we need… It’s all the same thing, yes?” Moe asked with a shrug.
Then Granny gave the ‘wolf’ an angry glare before slapping on the back of his head.
“Ow!” Moe exclaimed a bit in pain, rubbing where he got slapped.
“It’s the same thing? No!” Granny Gumbo shouted at him before walking away.
“Come on, there has to be something!” Ruby said angrily. “I don’t want my friends to be hurt or dead because of an animal mix up from hunters!”
Granny Gumbo began to think for a moment as she walked to the main room, where there’s a huge open sunroof on the ceiling and some neighbors went over by the rooftops.
“Well I got an answer.” she said, turning a crank of a record player to play music.
Everyone (except for Pepe, Lou, Milton, and the other guests) were confused of what’s going on.
Granny Gumbo around to look at everyone, chuckling, “You all better to listen to Granny now!”
She set the tone as she hopped back a bit, smiling at them. Then she begins to sing, “Don't matter what you look like!”
Granny Gumbo summoned a sort of cane as she continued, “Don't matter what you wear! How many rings you got on your finger, we don't care!” She summoned magical rings on her fingers, showing it to the four animals before making the rings disappear.
“No we don't care!” The neighbors (suddenly appeared on the rooftop) singing like the chorus, which startled most of the ‘animals’ again.
Granny Gumbo chuckled softly as she picked up Zee and put him on the floor.
“Don't matter where you come from. It doesn't even matter what you are.” Granny Gumbo sang before snapping her fingers. “A dog, a pig, a cow, a goat! Had 'em all in here!
She turned Zee into different animals as she listed the animals before turning him back to a lizard.
“We had 'em all in here!” The neighbors repeated.
Granny Gumbo chuckled and spun around a bit as she continued, “And they all knew what they wanted, what they wanted me to do. I told 'em what they needed. Just like I be telling you! You got to dig a little deeper! Find out who you are! You got to dig a little deeper! It really ain't that far! When you find out who you are, You'll find out what you need! Blue skies and sunshine guaranteed!”
Granny Gumbo got her magic cane out and did a digging motion.
“You got to dig!” “(dig!)”
“You got to dig!” “(dig!)”
Then Granny Gumbo looked at Moe, Herbert, and Webs. They looked like they were about to step out of the room, like this doesn’t infect them.
The old woman got a crate that was near them, looking down at them while they tried to step out.
“Hey, Mr. Wolfy, Mr. Snakey, and Websy.” Granny Gumbo sang as Moe stepped away with Herbert and Webs. They stopped and looked up at her when she tapped her magic cane.
“Hey!” the three exclaimed as she pulled them back into the spotlight to them.
“You wanna keep on running with your lover? That ain't gonna make you happy now, Did it make you happy then?”
Moe and Webs were about to say something but were cut off by Granny Gumbo shouting “No!”
With the tap of her cane, Granny gumbo begins to use some wind with her magic spinning all around the three of them.
“Running means no stopping! Running means to let go!”
Moe and Herbert held onto each other while Webs clung onto Moe’s suit jacket like her life depended on it.
“All you need is to stop and look around.” Granny Gumbo explained, tapping her cane and the magic wind stopped blowing. “Make yourself a brand new start! You got to dig a little deeper.”
Moe and Herbert let go and looked at each other before starting to laugh while Webs started to slide off the suit jacket and onto the crate, looking at Granny Gumbo in confusion.
The old woman smiles down at her while she hops down from the crate and then points a hand to someone as she explains to her, “Don't have far to go.”
Webs looked to see that Granny Gumbo was pointing at Diane, who was dancing Rhonda.
The ‘fox’ looks happy and beautiful while dancing.
“You got to dig a little deeper!”
Webs start to recognize that she did feel different when she was with Diane. She stared at Diane in awe, a small smile and blush a little appeared on her face as she started to realize what Granny was singing.
“Tell the people Granny told you so!” Granny Gumbo chuckled, putting a gentle hand on Webs’ back. “Can't tell you what you'll find, maybe love will grant you peace of mind. Dig a little deeper and you'll know!”
Webs looked up at Granny and nodded to her, showing that she started to understand.
Granny Gumbo chuckled softly as she gently patted Webs’ back before she started to walk over to Diane.
Then Moe gently tapped the crate top, getting Webs’ attention. She looked up at Moe and smiled softly at him. “... Moe, can I ask you something?” Webs asked, walking over to him.
“Sure.” Moe said, offering his paw to her. “You want to talk about something?”
Webs smiles soft and nodded, climbing up his hand and up his arm. “Yeah… The question is this… How do you tell someone that you… like or love them?” the ‘spider’ asked a bit embarrassedly, looking at the ‘wolf’.
“Here are a couple of suggestions. Pick a good time to tell the person how you feel and don’t rush into it. Also be your real self and be the better person that you want to be.” Wolf explained as he looked at Webs, a soft smile on his face.
Webs nodded before looking at Diane again. ‘Maybe I’ll ask her.’ she thought, smiling softly.
Diane stopped dancing when she noticed Granny Gumbo walk over to her.
“Miss Foxy, might I have a word?” Granny Gumbo asked.
“Yes, ma’am.” Diane said, nodding.
“You're a hard one, that's what I heard.” Granny Gumbo chuckled as she took Diane to the kitchen and to the gumbo, while her friends followed them and stood by the doorway.
It shows Diane a memory of her childhood with her parents (the one with them at the potluck).
Diane’s eyes lit up when seeing the memory, smiling softly at it.
“Your father is a loving man. Family through and through. You are your father's daughter. What he had in him you got in you!”
Granny Gumbo patted Diane's back and guided her out of the kitchen by a different door, taking her up the stairs to the rooftop.
“You got to dig a little deeper! For you it's gonna be tough. You gotta dig a little deeper! You ain't dug near far enough! Dig down deep inside yourself, you'll find out what you need!”
Everyone starts to follow them, very into the song.
… except for Ruby.
Ruby looked dizzy as she tried to follow everyone but kept on stumbling until she just stopped and leaned on the wall, panting softly while watching everyone go to the next level as the song continued.
“Blue skies and sunshine guaranteed!”
“Open up the windows! Let in the light, children!” Granny Gumbo exclaimed, using her magic to light up the darkness.
“Blue skies and sunshine! Blue skies and sunshine!” Everyone sang happily.
“Blue skies and sunshine!” Diane sang, a big smile on her face.
“Guaranteed!” Granny Gumbo sang.
Everyone sang and held a long note until the music finished as a grand finale, the magic lights shined bright.
Everyone started to talk with each other when the music stopped.
Diane had never felt this joyful since New Year's Eve of Y2K.
The neighbors talked with each other as they went back to their homes
Lou and Pepe thought the music was still on but Milton snapped them out of it by tapping their shoulders. “Hey, it’s done.” Milton said to them.
The two looked at him and gave (more of tried) a thumbs up.
Granny Gumbo chuckled softly and looked at Diane as she asked, “So, Ms Foxxy? Do you know what you need?”
Diane nodded excitedly. She didn't know what to say but before she could say anything, a loud crash came from down stairs and a loud scream, “SOMEBODY HELP ME!”
Everyone jumped and looked at the direction where it came from.
It was Ruby… and she sounded like she was in a lot of pain…
Diane was the first to snap out of the shock. “Oh my- Ruby!” Diane exclaimed worried, rushing over to where Ruby was.
“Ruby!?” Diane, Pam, Emmily Lou, Joy and Rhonda called out, quickly rushed downstairs to help and see what’s going on.
The other ‘animals’ and Granny Gumbo quickly followed after them.
“Ruby-!” Diane started as she got to the room but she stopped when seeing what was happening to Ruby.
There were different colors spinning around the friend.
Ruby was on the floor, she stopped screaming as different colors spin quickly around her, starting to transform her into an animal.
When the transformation was done, the different color lights were gone and Ruby was a German Shepherd. Ruby panted as she passed out from pain.
The five friends stared at their passed out friend, processing what happened, as the rest of the others and Granny Gumbo just got into the room.
Before anyone walked over, Ruby let out a groan, “UGH…”
Ruby slowly opened her eyes as she slowly sat up and looked at everyone, confused about what happened.
“What… happened?” she asked, looking at everyone before looking at herself. Her breathing became heavy and quick, tears peeking at her eyes. “What… What happened to me?” Ruby whimpered, fear in her voice as her ears went back to her head and she looked at her hands that just became paws.
Pam and Granny Gumbo quickly went to her and checked on her.
Ruby looked at both of them, hoping there was an answer to what was happening.
Everyone was worried and wanted an answer for what’s going on too.
“Is she ok?” Emmy Lou asked, worried.
“Does it look like she is ok?!” Diane snapped angrily at her.
Emmy Lou looked at Diane, a look of confusion on her face. “I’m just asking if she’s ok! I’m worried for her. We’re all worried!”
Diane froze for a moment and then took in a breath, trying to calm down. “I… sorry about that…” she apologized.
Then Diane walked out of the room to get herself to calm down.
Moe looked at where Diane went before going after her. “Diane?” he called out to her.
Diane was in the hallway, leaning against the wall. She took a deep breath before looking at him.
“Hey… You ok?” Moe asked, walking over to her.
Diane stared at him for a moment before looking at the ceiling and sighing, “I don’t know what I’m feeling… Mad? Upset? All I know is that the emotion I’m feeling it’s at myself…”
Moe nodded in understanding. “Can't blame ya.” Moe said, shrugging a bit and looking up at the ceiling. “When Herbert, Webs, and I woke up after our transformations, I was mad and upset at myself…”
Diane looked at Moe. “You were?” she asked.
Moe nodded sadly, looking down. “Yeah…”
They pause for a moment, silence filled the air in the hall.
Then Diane started to ask, “How are you so calm?”
“What do you mean?” Moe asked, looking at her again.
“I mean you sometimes calmer in situations.” Diane said
“Well, remember I told you about how I grew up with my mother?” Moe asked with a chuckle.
Diane nodded.
“I was taught to be calm during situations.” Moe explained, a small smile on his face. “Ever since Young age with my mother's guidance but not only that but along with some of my father figures.”
“Father figures?” she asked “I didn't know you had father figures other than your mother?”
“Yeah. It does also make sense on how I act and treat others.”
Diane hummed and nodded.
Then they looked down the hallway at the room where they came from, seeing Herbert slithering over to them.
“Everything ok?” he asked, looking at both of them.
The two ‘canines’ nodded.
“Yea… I feel a bit better now.” Diane said.
“That’s good.” Herbert said before pointing into the other room. “Granny and Pam just finished checking on Ruby. We’re most likely going to have an answer about what’s going on.”
Diane and Moe nodded before they both followed Herbert back into the room where everyone else was in.
The others were still in the room when they got back in.
Granny Gumbo and Pam finished checking Ruby to see what was going on with her.
“Oh… this is bad… this is not good…” Granny Gumbo said under her breath, shaking her head.
“What’s wrong?” Pam asked, worried.
“This curse is different from the others… The curse is spreading.” Granny Gumbo answered loudly, turning around to look at everyone.
“What?!” Milton shouted angrily, walking in. “Granny! You said that it wouldn't spread unless it was fresh made contact!”
“She didn't touch any of the water.” Pam said while Ruby said “I didn’t touch the water.”
Granny Gumbo sighed and looked at the ‘animals’. “This curse is acting more like a sickness that can spread like wildfire instead of just infecting a few people at a time…” the old woman explained, worried in her voice.
Pam’s eyes widened when hearing this, like it reminds her of her studies. “Like a plague…” Pam said, very worried.
Everyone’s eyes widened in shock and worry, unsure of what to say.
The quiet silence filled the room.
“Is there a way to break this curse? Or is there nothing?” Herbert asked, breaking the silence.
Granny Gumbo looked at him before nodding and pointed at Herbert, Moe, Webs, and Diane. “You four, follow me.” she said as she started to leave the room.
As the four began to follow her, Diane looked back at her friends then at Granny Gumbo.
Diane had a lot of things going through her head and it made her worried. ‘Hope everything will be okay and this will all be fixed.’ she thought.
“There’s one way to break this curse.” Granny Gumbo said to them as they walked out of the room and into the kitchen.
They made it to the kitchen, seeing that Zee was helping with the gumbo by watching it and making sure it didn’t burn again.
“And that’s what?” the four ‘animals’ asked together as they watched Granny Gumbo as the old woman got a spoon out, tapped it and made it glow gold.
“Look in the gumbo pot.” Granny Gumbo said as she got to the gumbo pot, putting the spoon into the pot and begins stirring the gumbo
The four ‘animals’ went to the gumbo pot and looked at the gumbo inside as Granny Gumbo started to chant something.
“Gumbo, gumbo in the pot…” Granny chanted as she stirred. “We need answers, show what you got!”
The gumbo shined for a moment before showing Marmalade with Cuddles in a hotel room.
“Huh?” Diane, Moe, Herbert, and Webs asked, confused and looked at Granny Gumbo.
“Just watch the gumbo.” granny said, repeating what she said earlier as she pointed at the pot.
The four ‘animals’ looked back at the pot to watch the scene.
“Everything will be ok.” Marmalade reassured Cuddles.
(But what we don’t-!) Cuddles started to sign but stopped when Marmalade shouted, “We will!”
Cuddles stared at him, worried on his face.
Marmalade took in a breath, calming down, and then smiled softly.
“Thankfully, I have a plan,” Marmalade said, taking something out of his jacket pocket. It was a voodoo doll.
The voodoo doll looked like Vinny Wolf.
“Once the shadows come back and we get the Wolf’s blood, things will get back on track. You play as Mason Wolf for the wedding.” Marmalade explained, showing him the voodoo doll. Then a dark smile around his face as he said, “After the ‘I do’s, Vinny Wolf will be taken care of.”
Cuddles look at him, unsure about all this. (Ok, but what about Mary? She will find out that I am not Mason.) Cuddles signed.
Marmalade stared at him before smiling softly at him. “Don’t worry, everything will be ok, Cornelius.” Marmalade reassured him, putting the voodoo doll back in his jacket pocket.
Then Marmalade went to the door, “I’ll be back.” he said to Cuddles, looking at him as he opened the door.
Cuddles nodded.
Marmalade left the room and closed the door before walking down the hallways.
He sighed as he went down the hallway and went into the stairwell.
Marmalade got something else out of his jacket as he went to one of the walls of the stairwell, drawing a door.
When he was done drawing, he snapped his fingers together and the drawn door started to glow before it became a real door.
The door was a dark purple.
He opened the magic door and entered this new magic room.
It was a dark room, full of other voodoo dolls that look like they’re from different centuries. In the middle of the room, there was a table. On it were some tarot cards, a candle, a science kit, and a spell book.
Marmalade walked over to the table, flicking his wrist and the candle lit up.
He got the Talisman out, looking at it with his shadow. Marmalade sighed as he looked at the Talisman.
“Come on, now… I’m running out of time, I need more for the harvest- wait…” he said to himself then an idea popped into his head. Then he looked at his shadow with a dark smile before grabbing and opening the magic book.
Marmalade looked at a page with his shadow.
On the page, it showed how to combine a good soul along with a sinister soul.
“Combining two souls, one good and one sinister, it’ll make a bigger soul. That’ll be more than enough for the harvest.” Marmalade said out loud, pointing at the page.
A sinister smile began to form on his face while his shadow nodded.
Then Marmalade looked at his shadow and asked, “Could you get some more of the shadows?”
The four ‘animals’ were shocked and looked at each other then at the gumbo again.
Marmalade’s shadow showed a bit worried by -body- shadow language.
“Don’t worry.” Marmalade reassured the shadow. “It’ll give us a bigger chance.”
Marmalade’s shadow showed calmer and nodded as Marmalade smiled at his shadow.
Then the vision in gumbo faded away and went back to being gumbo.
“This can't be happening…” Moe breathed, worried as he looked at Herbert, Diane, and Webs. “We need to stop this from happening. If he does this, who knows what horrors will happen…”
Herbert, Webs, and Diane nodded.
Then they looked at each other before looking at Granny Gumbo.
“What should we do?” Diane asked, worry in her voice.
“There is one way to break the curse.” Granny Gumbo said, putting up a finger. “Break the talisman.”
The four ‘animals’ nodded.
“Ok… Break the talisman…” Webs repeated, recapping what was told before asking, “Then what?”
“I’m getting to that.” Granny Gumbo said, looking at her before stirring the gumbo again.
The gumbo glowed again and showed the silhouette form of the talisman.
“You four, or at least one of you, need to break the talisman.” Granny explained, pointing at the silhouette of the talisman “When you do, BOOM!” She tapped on the form and a burst of light shined and then showed everyone’s silhouettes as human in the pot. “The curse will stop and you’ll all turn back to human!”
The four started to smile with excitement but then stopped when Granny held up a hand and added with some worry, “But… if the four of you aren't back being human again after the talisman is broken… then I’ll try and find something else to help.”
The four ‘animals’ looked at each other, worried expressions on their faces.
“Like a kiss or something?” Webs asked, looking back at Granny.
Granny Gumbo stared for a moment before shrugging. “Maybe.”
That didn’t ease their worries.
“We need to go and stop this from happening.” Moe said, looking at the others before starting to leave the room with Webs. “Come on!”
Herbert nodded and followed after them while Moe talked to the others in the other room.
Diane was about to follow them but stopped by Granny Gumbo grabbing her arm.
“Hm? Granny?” Diane asked, confused.
The ‘fox’ tried to shake her arm to get Granny to let go of her, but the old woman had a tight grip on her arm.
Granny looked at Diane, worried in her eyes. “Diane, I need you to be strong when you face Him.” the old woman warned, not letting go of her arm.
“Um… What do you mean?” Diane asked, getting more confused and worried.
“I see two paths when you face him.” Granny Gumbo explained with warning in her voice, still holding her arm. “He gives you a deal, a deal that you can’t refuse. You MUST say no to him.”
“And if he eventually wins then that means…?” Diane asked, starting to get scared.
“Everyone will be nothing but food and play things to his ‘friends’ while he joins them as being a powerful being… along with you…” Granny Gumbo explained before begging, “So, Please… when the time comes, say no to him!”
The ‘fox’ snapped out of the fear and nodded. “I understand. I won’t let you down.” she reassured her.
Granny Gumbo sighs with a small smile as she lets go of Diane’s arm.
Diane looked at her before leaving the kitchen, looking at the other ‘animals’.
They all begin checking everything and getting their things before they leave.
Diane walked over to them, going to Ruby first.
Ruby looked at herself in the mirror, looking at her new form in the reflection. She looked like she was close to crying, whimpering a bit as her ears went back to her head.
Diane went over to her and asked, “Hey, you ok?”
Ruby looked at Diane and shrugged. “I don’t know…” she replied, holding her hands close to herself.
“Everything will be ok.” Diane reassures her.
“But what if I never-” Ruby started, sounding panicked, but was cut off as Diane held her hands to get her attention and interrupted, “You will go back to being human again, along with everyone else. I promise.”
“That’s right.” Pam said.
Ruby and Diane looked over to see Pam, Emmy Lou, Joy, and Rhonda nodding in agreement.
Ruby started to calm down before hugging Diane, who hugged her back.
Meanwhile, Webs was on a table as she looked at Daine with her friends. She sighed softly and hugged herself.
“Webs?” Milton asked with a blank around his face
Webs look up to see Milton walk over to her. He had a satchel bag full of something.
“You ok?” Milton asked when he got to her.
“Hm? Oh, I’m ok.” Webs said, trying to sound reassuring.
Milton raised an eyebrow and gave her a look. “Come on, I know you. Something is on your mind.” he said.
“It's just…” Webs started, trying to get out what she wants to say. “I’m just thinking… of asking someone out… It’s stupid…”
Milton hummed softly, nodding. Then he noticed the others starting to leave.
“How about you tell me while we leave?” Milton asked, looking back at Webs.
Webs nodded.
Then she looked at that satchel bag. “What’s in the bag?” she asked, pointing at the bag
“Some light. Just in case those Shadows come out and attack.” Milton said, adjusting the satchel bag on his shoulder.
Webs hummed and nodded.
Milton smiled softly and offered his hand to her, so she could crawl up.
She got on his hand and crawled up his arm.
Milton started to walk as Webs explain, “It's just… being on the run for so long and just going from place to place, barely stopping. I just… I’m also scared she would say ‘no’… after everything.”
Milton hummed softly and nodded as he continued to walk. “Well… you can still ask her to see if she wants to. It’s good to ask.” he reassured, smiling softly at her as they got outside.
Thank you.” Webs said, smiling back before then realized something. Then she looked at him and asked, “Wait… how did you and Diane’s friends get here?”
Milton got quiet for a moment before laughing softly. “Well… It's a long story. A complicated one, but…to cut it short, we got here by a yacht that Emmly Lou owns.” Milton said
Webs hummed and nodded. “Interesting.”
Milton nodded with a chuckle. “Yeah, but anyways, you got this. Ask her.” he said as he continued to walk.
Webs nodded a bit before looking at where Diane was, who was talking to Pam and Ruby for a bit.
Webs couldn’t help but smile at her. ‘Got to dig deeper and tell her.’ she thought, chuckling softly.
▪▪▪
Author’s Notes: Just to explain, Granny is older and she doesn’t always remember the right things. Like the witch from Brave; she forgot the bit of the spell when Merida left but then remembers sometime later.
From Creating Hippie Hating Birds to creating a Hippie Bird, a Dreamworks Hippie redemption arc
This post is a whole shitpost, also not slamming the penguins (those four are my literal childhood) just goofing off and Joking about how they had hippie-hating birds and they made Joy Doom a Hippie bird, which sounds like a redemption arc lol, they made Joy a hippie to make up for the penguins maybe XD, jokes aside Joy Doom rocks that hippe outfit!
