Eternal Forest - 1 - The Bomber Jacket
EF-07 Blustery Days
The wind was really blowing hard as it carried debris from the local town through the forest itself. One such particle of debris, a crinkled white hat suddenly flew in and struck the disgusting wolf in the face.
Yce who happened to be nearby licking on a salt block saw the apparent appearance of the wolf and smirked. "Don't you look stylish?"
The disgusting wolf growled as he yanked the hat off his head and glared at the icy white stag. "Perhaps you want one for yourself, yes?"
"If I wanted one, I could simply summon one, wolf boy," the white stag replied calmly. "Besides, I would rather have a brown bomber jacket. They are far more stylish."
The wolf hummed. "You do have a point. And I happen to know where a good one is." And I am sure Dipper wouldn't mind a large wolf trying it on at least once. Maybe I could offer him pack membership at the same time. Yeah...
Yce glanced sharply at the wolf, seemingly able to discern his thoughts. "Don't make me call Artemis, wolf. You leave that bear alone."
The disgusting wolf grinned. "I'm a big boy, Yce. What could happen?" And he loped off into the bushy foliage of the forest.
"He is going to get in such trouble. But at least he never lies." Yce resumed licking the salt block.
EF-08 Quiet in class
Library otherwise known as Study Hall was perhaps the only part of school that Raoul liked. It allowed him to relax without the fear of being touched by accident and was actually fun because he loved reading. However, today he was quietly reading when he noticed that two others had sat at his table. One was a porcupine who was almost as quiet as himself. The other was none other than the youngest member of the Beach Bears... name withheld for now.
And so, while studying he couldn't help but to keep an eye on the two at his table since he wasn't expecting anyone to sit at his table.
It was the porcupine who quietly broke the silence when he said, "Er, Raoul? Could you... hand me the... G World Book... from the shelf behind you... please?"
Raoul nodded his muzzle slowly as he turned to get it, slowly and quietly. Once gotten, he slowly slid the book across the table to the porcupine without a word.
"Thanks," he quietly said. Then he turned to the yellow bear and said, "How much of our class project have you done, Dipper?"
The yellow bear with the green cap and the brown bomber jacket replied, "Uncle Star helped me through some of the project and Birch assisted just before a recording session. But I still have a bit to finish. What about you, Bobby? How is your project doing?"
The porcupine nodded his muzzle slightly and remarked, "My mom helped me with my project just before she prepared dinner." He then set his eyes across the table toward the white furred fox-wolf hybrid. "And... what about you, Raoul? Are you having any trouble with your project?"
The folf looked as if he was about to shrink in his chair when he was looked at by his peers. "...Uncle King... he... I got... and then..." He closed his eyes and said through almost inaudible sobs, "...I'm sorry..."
Suddenly worried that they had inadvertently done or said the wrong thing to the timid folf, Dipper quietly said, "It's okay, Raoul. You don't have to cry. No one will bother you if you don't want us to. We're just trying to be friends with you. You want to have friends, don't you?" He permitted a gentle soft smile for the folf. "I can share my cookies with you during lunch. You like cookies, don't you?"
He slowly nodded his muzzle, shyly but he wasn't sobbing as much. He was just scared.
But then, much to Dipper's chagrin, one of the bullies who happened to be at a nearby table suddenly said aloud, "Ha ha! Tenderheart Dipper is consoling his charge!"
Nearly everyone in the library cringed when the bully said that, as Dipper tensed up with an almost snarl look on his muzzle. "Excuse me for a moment, Raoul." And he slowly arose from his table and approached the bully's table and said, "So, you know that the patients of a Care Bear are called Charges. You must spend every afternoon watching then, eh?"
Before the bully could make a retort to Dipper's retort, the yellow bear hammered another nail into the coffin by saying, "So, tell me, which one is your favorite, the one with flowers on his tummy? No, wait, I know...It's Grumpy Bear, isn't it?"
EF-09 Interest From the Hall
Through the window of the door to the school library, a very large forest wolf watched the scene within unfold. How Dipper kept the situation... in hand, so to speak.
"So that's the bomber jacket. It looks so fine on that bear. I bet it would look better on me and then Yce would be swallowing his words earlier."
But just then, one of the local teachers happened upon the very large non-morphic wolf standing at the library door. "What are you doing?"
The disgusting wolf played it cool, naturally, by replying, "I heard that one of your students had a classic bomber jacket and I wanted to come have a look at it. And I arrived in time to see a skirmish occurring within."
The teacher was about to reply to that statement when the last part dawned on him. "A skirmish?" And the teacher quickly entered the library.
Although the moment the teacher was distracted, the large wolf made good his escape. He who distracts and runs away... *wolf-laughs*
While within the library, the teacher was separating the bully and Dipper before anything more could occur.
EF-10 Boring! Part 1
Within the law offices of a certain coyote, he slowly glanced up from a photograph of the study hall. "...and thus began what seemed to be an ordinary day from our young heroes. Unbeknown that the wolf was plotting to get his paws on that jacket."
He then slowly stood up and walked over to the table with all of the chocolate chip cookies all over a large platter. "And while it appears that Bobby and Dipper have made a new friend from Raoul the shy folf boy, the bullies in class have already begun their shenanigans to provoke Dipper to misbehave in school."
"If Stargazer Borealis finds out that the wolf was that close to his nephew, we may get to see a side of that nice astronomer that no once ever gets to see. But for now... let us return to the Study Hall where we can observe the thoughts of those within."
And at that moment, the phone rang and Rock Coyote picked up the receiver to take the call.
EF-11 What Boys Think
While Dipper confronted the bully, back at his table unspoken thoughts were being produced by the shy folf boy.
Dipper is defending me from those bullies. He is so brave. I wish I could be brave like that and thank him without freezing up. And his porcupine friend, Bobby, is so soft spoken and nice too. He is almost like me, except... I am sure... he hasn't...
Raoul was trembling at that point as he inadvertently triggered an old memory that frightened him.
Bobby seemed to notice and slowly reached across the table and gently petted on the folf's hand whispering, "Calm down, Raoul. It... will be okay. Dipper knows how to handle them. He knows martial arts."
Raoul stopped trembling a little and whispered back, "...really? can he walk on water and scale buildings like ninjas do?"
Bobby quietly giggled. "With our imaginations... we can do anything, Raoul. Yes, even make... brownies... like a pro. I remember your uncle said that you liked brownies."
Raoul smiled back. "...yeah... brownies are chewy, sweet, and... good. Like Dipper."
Bobby giggled again, just as Dipper was sitting down once again after the teacher had separated the bully from the bear.
"Guys... I am not chewy," Dipper quietly remarked, although smiling. "But I am good. I won't let the bullies bother you, Raoul. I promise."
EF-12 A Compress is Good for the Eye
As Aurora Draper approached the shop and apothecary building near the back of the woods at the end of the only road leading there, the sounds of an Australian didgeridoo was heard from behind the building itself. She smiled as she realized who that had to be. She then looked over one shoulder at her son Dipper, who had a black eye (yes, again) from his fight with the bully after school.
The cute little sign over the door read, "Huxley's Natural Cures." Upon entering, a bell over the door rang clearly and a smooth male Australian accented voice called out from somewhere in the back. "Be right with ya, mate."
As Aurora waited at the counter, Dipper slowly glanced around the shop itself looking at the odd assortment of natural remedies and more unusually named products. "Bat Blink Drops", "Mule Molasses", "Cheetah Extract", and "Badger Berry Jam". The selections were strange sounding, yet it was amazing that anyone would make something like this.
Then, Dipper turned back toward his mother in time to see the store's owner emerging from the back of the shop via a curtain. The Australian male kangaroo appeared to be in his mid thirties, standing about six foot five inches tall, and looked to weigh about 215 pounds. He had darker red fur and brown eyes. He was wearing a designer khaki colored leather apron atop a short-sleeved solid green shirt, and he had a pencil over one ear. His body was easily like that of an athlete who worked out from day to day. And when he spoke, he conveyed respect to others. But it seemed that when he spoke to Dipper's mother... it sounded like the kangaroo was in awe of someone who wasn't even there.
"'ello Aurora. 'ow kin Ah 'elp yas today?"
"I was hoping I could get you to make one of your all-natural compress packs for my son's black eye," said Aurora. "He got into a fight with a bully, again, and we need his eye to be healed up by Friday night. Can you help us, Huxley?"
The kangaroo adult smiled as he knelt down to look at Dipper's eye. "That's quite the shiner yas 'ave, cub. Yas must be quite the scrapper. But don't worry none; Ah kin fix yas right up. And if yer good, Ah kin give yas a treat afterward."
Aurora smiled as she said, "He likes cookies, Huxley. But I am afraid the store bought ones are going to inflate him like a blimp. And Birch keeps buying them for him."
Huxley glanced back at Aurora with a funny smile. "Balloon Boy Birch? That Birch?" He chuckled as he turned back to the examination of Dipper's eye.
Dipper had to ask, "Balloon Boy Birch? What does that mean?"
Huxley then told a story of how pre-teen Dan and Birch ate too many pre-baked cookies and the dough inflated in their tummies, and how they needed to see a doctor thereafter. "Dan wasn't nearly as stuffed as Birch was, and Dan was calling 'is brother... Balloon Boy Birch for a week afterward. Fortunately, those cookies weren't stuffed with the poisons that modern companies mix into their goods under the guise of preservatives. But if yas eat too many modern cookies, yas won't be able to wear anything. Yas will be too stuffed to move."
He then stood up again and led Aurora and Dipper back into the apothecary. It was literally a natural lab, of sorts, where the kangaroo created his own medicines. Huxley then started mixing the ingredients for the herbal compress pack.
"Ah 'ear yer a singer, Dipper," commented Huxley. "Are yas as good as yer mom?"
Dipper blinked his eyes upon hearing that question since he never even thought of his mom as being the singing type. "Mom can sing?"
Huxley smiled as he stopped what he was doing, walked over to an old record player, unpacked a self-recorded record, and he placed it on the spindle, carefully set the needle upon the right groove and started the old player up.
And the song that emerged was clearly that of a young feminine bear's voice, the song seemingly an old one, but the voice literally lifted you up out of the current reality and temporarily suspended you in a dream. But the voice was unmistakeably Aurora's.
While Dipper was out of it, however, Huxley did ask Aurora if it would be okay to have Dipper work part time at the shop during the summer... how the fresh air and time away from his exhaustive activities may actually refresh the cub's personal creativity.
By the time Dipper realized that the song was no longer playing, he had no idea how much time had passed, but he was sitting in his mom's car with the herbal pack over his eye and his mom was driving them home.
EF-13 Casual Chat (aka What Girls Think)
At a small cafe in Huntington, Sara Goodall sat down at a table across from the local forest ranger, Artemis June, who happened to be having a modest dinner.
"Hello Artemis," she said as she picked up her menu. "I haven't seen you in a long time."
Artemis smiled as she glanced across the table at her puma friend. "Well well. Sara Goodall. Last time I saw you was in Rio De Janeiro Brazil at that one presentation you conducted back in my home country. How are you? Wait wait wait! Is that an engagement ring on your finger?"
Sara chuckled. "Yes, it is. I met the most wonderful bear locally. He is an astronomer and he can sing. He supports my professional occupation and he is very loving. We even spent a week together in Hawaii."
"Well congratulations. I know you deserve it since your last cad of a husband. So why isn't he with you tonight?"
"Apparently he and his brother in law and their nephew are all off in Nashville for a recording session. Some silly contest or something like that."
Artemis then said, "It must be Rock Band Wars. I record the shows on my DVR and watch them when I am done working. And yes, I am a forest ranger in that tract of land called the Eternal Forest. The residents are strange, but overly nice. Except for that one wolf. But overall, it is a nice job. So are you engaged to Birch or Stargazer? They are the only ones old enough to be interested in you. And don't you dare say Dipper. I've seen what Aurora can do when set off. Move over, Hulk." She winked with a chuckle.
Sara simply giggled, but then she got serious once again. "Stargazer Borealis, Aurora's brother. He is really nice and a gentleman too. He really cares about Dipper a lot. I am sure he will get a unique girlfriend of his own when he is older. But right now... all Dipper really cares about is video games, cookies, and having fun."
Artemis smiled again. "So he's at THAT age!" Yes, all females seemed to know what THAT age meant. As funny sounding as it was.
"Have you met any of them?"
"I've been too busy, Sara. But I have met Birch. He seems nice. I doubt he remembers our encounter though. He was in a hurry and I was busy."
Sara hummed a little. "That's just like him though. He is really focused on winning that contest. He really can't see anything else but the prize. But once it's over with... maybe he will remember. And then you might get a visitor."
Artemis chuckled again. "As long as he doesn't mess up my forest, he can visit all he likes."
EF-14 Show & Squeal
Monday morning at school brought forth the presentation of the class projects. The parents had to be present for the event and it was fortunate that the club where Kingston worked was undergoing a renovation following a weekend brawl. That permitted him to attend for his nephew's project.
Aurora and Stargazer were both attending while Birch stayed home to work on the band's next song.
Dipper's project was a miniature planetarium. It was put together well and he gave a good telling of the major constellations to the class.
Bobby's project was a story he had written which included an outline detailing the characters therein and a quick reference sheet for every personality.
And then it was Raoul's turn...
Kingston nodded his muzzle at his nephew and he was holding a brownie for Raoul to see.
"I... um... er.... made a water clock... and... it works when you... and the water... like this..." And he poured the water into the homemade device and started the gear wheel. The clock then began to run normally. "Science... is fun in both... the workshop... and the kitchen."
There was a soft applause and Kingston brought the brownie over to Raoul, handing it to him, and then he gently hugged his nephew, whispering, "You did just fine. You're very good boy."
One of the bullies then presented their project. It appeared to be a crude mechanical set of clouds on a base with a hand painted candy cane with a shiny heart positioned on top of it. The boar bully then said, "To show there is no hard feelings between me and Dipper, I made this music box all by myself. I even hand painted the dolls as you will see here in a moment." He then slowly began cranking the jack in the box like handle and music began to play, obviously from a miniature record from somewhere within the clouds.
Two small doors opened in each side of the clouds and slowly emerging on the tracks were a yellow Care Bear repainted to look like Dipper and a white fox like creature repainted to look like Raoul. The song playing was, "No one cares like a bear." The two dolls slowly emerged and met in the middle and... made like they were kissing before turning around and slowly returning into their cloud homes.
Dipper was of course starting to growl.
Bobby was thinking, Uh, oh...
Raoul was blushing darkly as he buried his face into uncle King's jacket, sobbing a little.
Perhaps we will never know who said the words (Aw, How cute!) to set off the Dipper bomb, but it was a morning that no one would forget.
EF-15 You Said What?
Yce and Artemis were examining yet another vandalized area in the forest, when suddenly the disgusting wolf suddenly joined them except... he was giggling quite giddily.
Artemis remarked dryly, "I am almost afraid to ask, Yce. I wonder what he did this time?"
Yce poked the wolf with his antlers and inquired, "Okay wolf boy. What did you do this time?"
The wolf grinned up at the stag and ocelot, then immediately started giggling again. But soon, he was able to stop himself long enough to reply. "I was spying on Dipper's class while they were showing off their projects. And one of the bullies created a very adorable music box with two dolls... one repainted to look like Dipper and the other repainted to look like that shy folf boy. And the two dolls came out and kissed to the tune of 'No one cares like a bear.' And then instant the dolls returned to their dens... I... I..." he laughed some more. "...sorry, I just had to say it out loud. Then I escaped without being seen."
Artemis face-pawed herself. "What did you say when you saw that, wolf?"
The wolf giggled, then replied, "I said it out loud. I said, Aw, how cute!" He was then rolling on the ground laughing again.
Yce sighed. "Oh no! You know Dipper HATES that word! I just hope no one got hurt!"
EF-16 Scarfs Are In
"YCE! YOU LIED TO ME!"
Yce glanced up from where he had been licking a salt block. "I have no idea what you are talking about, wolf. What did I lie to you about?"
The disgusting wolf suddenly arrived in the clearing and he had a wool scarf wrapped around his neck. "You told me that Bomber Jackets were in fashion! I was spying on a clothing outlet and I overheard the owner say that Scarfs were the new in fashion! So I got me one! Now I am far more fashionable than you!"
"Wolf... if you will think back, I said _if_ I had a bomber jacket that I would be fashionable. I never said that you would look fashionable in one. If you mistook my words for something else, that is your fault. Now, is there anything else you want?"
The disgusting wolf just stared into Yce's eyes, then he turned and quietly bounded off into the forest.
A few moments after he departed, Stargazer poked his head out of the forest near Yce and asked, "Did he buy it?"
Yce grinned. "Hook, line, and sinker. Maybe now he will stop trying to go after Dipper's jacket. And thank you for getting your outlet friend to say that out loud, Star."
Stargazer replied, "I should be thanking you for your telling me what had been going on. I need to get back to the house so I can be there when Dipper returns from school."
Yce smiled at the blue bear. "Come on by anytime. And bring your nephew next time. Nature would calm his poor tired nerves."
Stargazer smiled and departed, leaving the white stag there to lick upon his salt block.
End of Episode One: The Bomber Jacket
