It was a quaint, two-story affair with an interior finish that looked right out of Western fantasy films and literature. Entire tree trunks acted as pillars that held the upper floors aloft, which were connected by hand-carved steps and lined with thick railings.
Today was Halloween, and a Saturday, so the bakery was bustling with activity from kids on both sides of Memoria, all dressed up in costume for tonight's festivities.
"God I miss being a kid," she thought to herself as one walked by. A human boy, dressed in a mass-produced Batman costume, a popular superhero comic book that no one on Nostal can seem to agree on a single point of origin for, strangely enough.
The usual Celtic-like tunes that played over the bakery's sound system was replaced by mash-up of eerie, theremin-heavy tunes and more haunting compositions, further setting the mood and making the heavy smattering of Halloween decor all across the bakery pop.
A martenlike girl and a human boy approached Lida. The two were holding hands, and neither one older than six; they stopped and stared at the foxlike for a brief second.
"Where is your costume, lady?" the little martenlike girl asked, her nose and whiskers twitching as she smiled through some missing teeth.
Lida hadn't expected them to talk to her, let alone ask a question. "I, uh," she struggled for an answer. "I left it at home, I live on the seaside half of town, I'll change there later." She lied.
"This my husband." The girl held up her hand, her claws almost digging into the little boy's hand, who was busy licking away at a lollipop, unaware of the world around him.
"His name is Carl." The girl said, her pronunciation purposely making it sound like "Car".
"Well hello, Carl." Lida said, but the boy, dressed in a plastic-looking police uniform, didn't respond.
"And I'm Harriet."
"It's nice to meet you—"
"We're the Winslows from Steven Urkel." The little girl said, interrupting the foxlike.
Steve Urkel? Why did that name sound so familiar?— "Oh! You mean from Family Matters? Wow, I was just a little pup when that show was on TV; It's so cool to see kids these days watching it."
"Do you have any candy" the little boy in the police uniform said, finally speaking.
"Shut up, Car! It's not time for trick-or-treating!" the girl berated him.
"No, I'm sorry kids, but I don't. But I'll tell you what: You come by the Koji Seaside Ramen shack tonight and tell the nice foxes running the place that Lida sent you. They're my parents; they'll set you up nice, okay?" Lida smiled. "I'll even tell them to anticipate the Winslows, 'kay?"
"Yay! Thank you lady! Happy Halloween! C'mon, Car!"
"Sorry I'm late again, Liddy." A voice from the crowd said, somewhere down below. Lida had set herself up at one of the tables on the second floor crosswalk, giving her a good view of the ground floor and the fireplace—complete with its green flame fire that kept the interior warm against the chilly, late autumn air outside.
"Wow, would you look at that; you didn't flake on me this time."
"I know, Lida, I know." the wolflike said, taking up the bench seat across from the fox. "How many more times am I going to have to apologize?"
The woman leaned back into her seat, arms crossed, with an expression on her face that screamed "Sparring match". She wore a black and pink plaid button-up shirt today, a stark but pleasant change from the usual track jacket she always had on.
"Wait," he said, holding up a paw. "Before you answer." Remy grabbed for something.
Lida cocked an eyebrow in silent response.
She watched as her wolflike companion rummaged through the rucksack he'd placed in the seat beside him. "Ain't nothing outside of a—" she started to say, but was stopped short at the wolf's peace offering.
"Holy crap, dude."
Remy smiled as the foxlike snatched the object from him.
"How did you get this?!" Lida's pink eyes lit up at the sight; a twelve-pack of energy drinks. But not just any energy drink; this one was a brand only sold in the West. The packaging sported a cackling witch that vaguely resembled the Baba Yaga of Western Continent folklore.
'E-Rush brand Energy Drink, Witch's Blend edition.'
"What the heck man, I've never had this brand before! I mean I've seen it advertised on the internet, but… How much did this cost you?" Lida looked at the wolf, then back to the garishly designed packaging, with its wild expression of colors and the cartoonish witch as she stirred an enormous cauldron.
"I've got connections. You don't pull a rikshaw for the merchants on Seaside without gaining at leat something."
Lida cocked her left eyebrow, shifting the bar piercing up and down. Of course she'd forgiven him earlier; he'd been in such a confused, panicked state the day they were supposed to have lunch that she honestly worried about him more than anything.
Not that she'd admit that to anyone. Gods, she needed some female friends to confide in.
But it got her a case of imported energy drinks, and he seems to be okay now, so—
"Lida, there are other worlds out there." He said, snapping her out of her reverie.
Oh boy, here we go again. "I know, you told me all about it already."
"Violent humans, some that can turn into werewolves, stale air. You already filled me in on your weird nightmare, wolf."
It was true that the wolf had immediately confided in the fox that same day; storming into the bakery, fur frazzled, Canine at his hip. She'd never seen him like that before, even after his worst defeats at her paws. They both left before ever ordering, where Remy lead her back to his little secreted fishing spot by the waterfall.
She just wasn't sure she believed him was all; sure the Mana Spirits appeared before people from time to time—or at least their avatars—but whisking people away to other planets was unheard of… she assumed, anyway.
He leaned forward to speak as the volume inside the bakery hit its peak levels, the bottom floor swarming with children dressed in costumes of every sort—it looked like a sea of corporate icons, mingling with your average run-of-the-mill ghosts, monsters and—
"Hey Remy, look at that little werewolf." Lida pointed to the little human boy, sporting a brittle plastic mask shaped to look like a snub-nosed wolf monster.
The trick-or-treating hour drove near, mere minutes away, in fact. The bakery's sound system volume slowly receding, lost in the cacophony of excited children as they prepared to be set loose upon the town.
"I used to go trick-or-treating with my older brothers at our first home in the city, before we moved here. I ever tell you about that, Remy?"
Her eyes turned to the wolf, whose own eyes were still fixed on the child in the werewolf mask. "Dude, what are you creeping on that kid for? It's not like werewolves aren't native to Nostal or anything. Chill out."
"The werewolves of Nostal are pure monsters, though, Lida. That woman on Earth, she turned into one and wore it like a suit."
"Still having trouble buying that one, bud. The fact that she was taken after you blew her 'fursuit' apart makes it even more ridiculous."
Remy was about to reply when a sweet old voice boomed over the loudspeaker, silencing the crowd in an instant.
"Ahem! Is this thing on, honey…? Okay, thank you, Teech dear. Hello worms and ghouls ooOOooo! I hope everyone has been enjoying my spooky pre-Halloween event. I had my chefs prepare all of the most savory vegetable-based dishes to fill your little tummies up for the night's festivities."
Nana Bingsly, wife of the local schoolhouse teacher and self-proclaimed knight of old, Teecher Bingsly. An elderly chimplike couple from the West Continent, where Teech had said he was knighted by the queen of Crown Country herself.
"Nightfall is mere minutes away, and everyone in Memoria, both Mountainside and Seaside have prepared for your spooky arrivals tonight. But do be warned: The trick-or-treating this year goes both ways; you may find yourself bartering with someone that may not be willing to give up their candies so easily."
"Oh that's cool," Lida said as she leaned over the railing, watching the little chimplike speak from a tiny microphone. "I heard about this; they wanted to make Halloween more eventful, so they hired some magic jesters to mess with the kids; either they play along, or they get a playful spell cast on them or their candy."
"Huh, wish they had tried stuff like that when I was pup." Remy added, mirroring his friend on the railing.
"For real, dude. The last Halloween I was young to go out, a typhoon was moving through so the entire apartment complex we were living in at the time slapped something together for us kids."
Nana Bingsly wrapped up her announcement, giving the kids one last chance to use the bathrooms before they hit the streets. "And do be weary kiddies, the monster of homework is lurking somewhere in Memoria, oooOooooo…" No one saw it, and if they did, they didn't mention the bright yellow contact lenses in Teecher Bingsly's eyes.
The clock struck 7pm as the doors of Nana's Bakery swung open, setting free most, if not all, of the children of Memoria as they scattered across the village's dirt and rock streets. Some waited to be joined by their parents or guardians, too afraid to venture off alone under the purple night sky.
Lida and Remy emerged at the tail end, along with a few other patrons of the eatery that night, lucky enough to slip in before the horde of children and their parents filled up the ground floor.
"No matter how many times I see it, the night sky on Halloween will never not impress me." Lida's eyes scanned the vast, deep purple darkness above. Starlight dotting it like the salt on a pretzel.
"You ever wonder if the Mana Spirits had something do with it?" The wolflike asked, not daring to speak his true thoughts.
"You mean like how every Halloween has a purple-tinted night sky? I'm sure someone out there has theorized it." She replied, echoing a commonly held belief amongst the older folk held.
A little girl screamed somewhere in the distance, followed by giggling. The crying of a little boy followed suit.
"Yeah, and how it snows on every Hearthside Eve…" Remy's eyes were fixed on the stars. Lida noticed this, attempting to formulate some reasoning. What had they said in science class? "So, um, you think any of those lights are Urth, or whatever you said it was called?"
"Hey Lida, I think I'm gonna head home; all that ruckus gave me a bit of a headache."
Oh, all right. Ignore me then, I guess. "Oh, well okay, I hope you feel better. And thanks again for the energy drinks," the foxlike said as she held up the case. "And don't keep your porch light on unless you want trick-or-treaters…"
"Yep, thanks for reminding me. I'll talk to you later. See ya."
"Have a good night, Remy…"
The air was crisp and cool this late autumn night. A gentle breeze tickled at the remaining leaves that clung to their branches, unwilling to relent to the temporary fall of its kind; brave warriors fighting to the very end.
Lida kept to the side of the main walkway, allowing kids and their parents to safely walk and run through the streets. The number of demonic clown costumes she saw was staggering, no doubt in thanks to the latest movie had hit theaters over the summer; the same one Remy had asked her to go see with him, but declined.
At the top of the hill, she made her way across the bridge that split apart whenever a train pulled into the station, stepping up onto the boarding platform. The spine of Memoria itself, where one could be assaulted by the smell of evergreen pines and salty sea brine at the same time.
Both sides of the village were alight tonight; houses who were participating in the festivities had their porch lights on and their light bulbs swapped out with green, orange or purple ones.
Lida turned to face Mountainside one last time, her eyes honing in on where Remy's house would be, should his porch light be on, but all that was there was darkness.
She sighed.
"Maybe I should take his claims a bit more seriously. The world we live in isn't exactly normal, either."
Groups of people were coming from both sides of the train platform, kids going to Seaside from Mountainside and vice versa.
"Hey look mommy, it's the nice fox from Nana's!" the young martenlike from earlier said, pointing at the fox standing under the dim lights of the train station. Lida waved.
"Hey there, Ms. Winslow. Where's your policeman hubby?"
"Oh that baby got scared and tinkled himself and had to go home to change." She grinned, brandishing her sharp, pearly white teeth… most of them, anyway.
"That just means more candy for me, right mommy?"
The martenlike's mother smiled and nodded. "Uh-huh, and we better hurry to Seaside before the Schoolwork Monster catches up to us!"
Schoolwork Monster? "Oh, you mean Mr. Bingsly? Yeah, you better hurry, I think I heard something in the trees over there!"
"Eeeek!" shrieked the little girl, clutching her mother's claw as the two dashed toward Seaside, where she herself had been headed.
Silence fell upon the station once more; only the sound of a chittering bat hidden in the dark sky and the gentle chirping crickets reaching the foxlike's ears.
A snapping twig caught her attention. At the base of the steps on Mountainside. Lida stepped up to the front, focusing her eyes through the darkness. There were steep hillsides all along the station platform, so no monster could have snuck into town.
Still…
Silence prevailed. She shrugged her shoulders and turned, headed for home. The eyes that watched her, just behind the tree, following her until the foxlike was out of sight.
The paved streets of Seaside, Memoria, clashed with the white rock and stone that made up the houses and sidewalks. Constructed long before the industrialization, the founding of the fish market brought to the town, which was hardly more than a small fishing village at the time.
The rustic, Eastern-styled homes and decor moved across the hill, which became known as Mountainside, Memoria. Forced out by the city-like streets and hustle and bustle the tourists and fishing industry brought.
Lida breathed in the salty air, relishing in the crispness and the slight tinge it brought. It wasn't the city, but it was pretty darn close.
Lida had moved here with her family shortly after the Harvest Festival, only thirteen at the time. Together with her three brothers, the family of five had acquired a building along the boardwalk, where her father had set up a new restaurant all of his own, free of the corporate mandated menus he was forced to abide by back in Kanto city.
Here, his skills as a chef flourished. Cooking freshly caught fish brought in by locals or items from his own daily menu, he quickly gained a name for himself, cementing him and his family's place in the village.
Lida's own assimilation with the locals hadn't been as easygoing as the rest of her family; where her brothers quickly found purchase within the jocks and cool kids at school, Lida quickly garnered the title of an outcast with the other girls at Memoria Highschool. They wore dresses based on sailors' outfits and talked about boys and makeup all the time, whereas Lida simply wanted to rough it on the soccer fields or hike across the mountain above town.
It was during one fateful weekend hike that she came across the Azure Dojo; headed by an old fenneclike called Master Yip. There she learned of the martial art style of Wing Chun, later joining the school as an after-school activity as the only girl in the class.
Lida stopped under a streetlamp. The horizontal iron bars protruding out from under the light were adorned by mass-produced pumpkin and skeleton decorations, totally different from the handmade crafts that the residents of Mountainside used.
A wave of nostalgia hit the fox, thinking back to that fateful day she met Remy. They were only thirteen at the time, and the wolflike's hair was long, reaching down to his shoulders. Couldn't even see his eyes through his hair.
He stumbled across the dojo, only to be scolded by Master Yip. "You can go through the living room to get to the kitchen!" the old fennec had yelled.
And for whatever reason, Lida felt the need to chime in: "Yeah, you shaggy dog! You're messing up my training!"
Oh, the shivers she got when his red eye fixed itself on her through his bangs. She wasn't sure if it was annoyance or what, but the poking and prodding continued.
That, of course, got her a scolding from Master.
"We do not provoke our adversaries, Ms. Koji." he said, his voice relaxed despite the clear aggravation of his son.
"Oh, Remy," she whispered with a smile, just as a wave of cold water struck her.
"Hey bro, the water wasn't cold enough!" A new voice shouted.
"Nuh-uh man, that was practically ice water. You should be able to see right through her shirt." Another man replied.
Sevii stood, drenched from ears to paws. Her black hair lay heavy across her brow, shielding her eyes, her vision obscured. A snarl threatening to streak across her.
"What—" her hands balled into fists, "the heck are you idiots doing?"
A human male who couldn't have been no older than she was stepped into the dimmed streetlamp's glow; the party that was the backside of his mullet drifting in the breeze. "Hey you're right, I can't see crap, man."
Another man appeared from around the corner. A batlike. Another human lept from the wall behind her, empty bucket in hand and a poor excuse for a mustache on his lip. She recognized the trio right away from school.
"I need five good reasons to not break your arms right now."
"Hey, relax, babe. We were just playing a prank, y'know? It's Halloween, lighten up." The batlike said.
"Yeah, we were just trying to see how sweet you were underneath that shirt."
"Uh-huh," the first man with the mullet said, stepping up close. She could smell the alcohol on his breath already. "Just wanting to see those treats." He grabbed the plackets of her shirt, pulling the soaked shirt away from her. He clicked his tongue. "D'aw man, here's why it didn't work fellas. She's gotta sports bra."
The background duo let out a collective exhale of disappointment. "Wasted all that dang ice water, too." Said the batlike.
"Ey, she lookin' kinda familiar to me, dawg…" the other human said, but was ignored.
Mr. Mullet turned back to face Lida. He tilted his head, "You gotta nice six-pack forming there, babe. But it's what's inside that bra I'm interested, so if we could just—"
"Yo man, that's the Koji girl!"
"Ah shoot, get away—"
No sooner had Mr. Mullet turned his head had Lida launched her first attack. An open-palmed strike to the man's chest drained the man's lungs of putrid air right into Lida's face. The human man's body, abiding by the laws of gravity differently from a beastfolk, was sent flying several feet away, coming to a skidding halt on the pavement.
The man that had spilled the water tossed the bucket to the ground as he attempted to flee. It clattered onto the sidewalk before her, a simple bucket used to hold ice for wine and such.
"That was your second mistake tonight," she said, hooking the inside of her bucket with her right paw. With a swift kick, the bucket flew upward, which she kicked it on its way back down—it collided with the back of the man's head, knocking him out cold.
"You. Freeze." She shouted, giving the batlike pause.
"I-I-I'm sorry, it was their idea! They heard you could see through fabric if you splashed cold water on them. I just wanted to see if it was true or not, I swear!" The man squeaked, reminding them both that, as with any beastfolk, there was more than just animal-like appearances in their DNA.
The sound of trick-or-treaters coming from both directions failed to ease the ball of water forming in Lida's claw; her paw pads shifting from blue to white in a never-ending cycle.
Within the sphere, swimming beneath the frosted glaze, was the tiny avatar of Undine, the Water Elemental.
"In that case, let me demonstrate just how cold water has to be for that to happen."
Like a star pitcher, she pivoted on one leg and lifted the other, lining up her shot and letting it rip!
The icy ball of magic water shot through the air faster than the man could turn around, striking him head-on in an explosive splash of magic, ripping the batlike's clothing to mere shreds and knocking him out in the process.
As Lida met with the two groups of children and their families out enjoying the festivities, another pair of eyes had fallen upon the scene, having witnessed it all.
Silver and glowing with interest, they followed the foxlike as she helped prop the three men that had assaulted her against the low-lying wall.
As an officer appeared on the scene to apprehend the would-be predators, Lida bowed and departed after offering her explanation.
"No charges, just let them sleep it off in a cell tonight." Lida bowed to the officer as she parted ways, heading toward the boardwalk.
Heading home.
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