A feast enough for all! (Cassie's Secret Garden)

It’s morning once more. And it’s almost time for the Crypt Crew to join the Comet Catcher’s crew. So, Cassie was out collecting food in the garden out back of the Crypt. She hummed to herself as she collected the fruits within their garden—it was mostly for the pets really. The Candle Noodle looked over the fruits and gently paused her gentle humming, wondering if some of these fruits were ready to be picked. She wanted to take the entire crew and honestly Cassie wasn’t sure if there would be enough food for the entirety of the crew. Because not only is she and all her pets going, but all of the Crew’s pets were going as well. And all of them had particular tastes. 

For example, her pets liked much sweeter fruits, something akin to strawberries or watermelon. Same goes for the pets under Tiana’s care. All of Marjani’s pets liked savory meals, like fish or meats. And Pyre’s pets were the same but wanting more spices. She went through the item list, Fish, Meat, Fruits, Spices. Fish and Meat is already in the cooler in the kitchen, I’m picking the fruits right now and the spices I’ll have to pick up and dry out. Cassie gently sighed, shaking her head in thought. It’s fine, all will go well. Her mind briefly went to Nyx before returning to the now as one of her pets, Gemini the Jellyfishfish, warbled over to help her with the collection of the fruits. She smiled and shouted to Gemini. “Gem! Can you get me the topmost fruits? I can’t reach them and Tiana’s off getting stuff for the trip!” Gemini’s little fish gave a funny looking attempt of what seemed to be a thumbs up and headed up for the trees. 

With a little warble, the fish grabbed a couple it possibly could before coming back down. Gemini warbled, allowing the fish to point towards the other fruit trees. It was quietly asking if she needed help with the other fruits. Cassie smiled and nodded, “If you would be so kind, I do need more of them.” The fish companion gave another thumbs up before making Gemini wobble and float up towards the tops of the trees. Cassie took her sweet time before getting interrupted by Indu, her Depthol, and Draco, her Wispard, scrounging through the Berry bushes. Well it was Draco who was doing that Indu was trying to drag him out of the bush.

“Oh!” Cassie exclaimed as she rushed over, thinking Draco was stuck and helped him out. The dino looking pet pouted as he was caught with his little mitts in the berry bush. Cassie fussed over him gently before realizing well that he wasn’t hurt, the little guy was simply hungry. “Oh Draco…” She sighed, laughing gently at him. She looked around for her basket before grabbing a napkin to wipe the face of the dino, who squeaked in protest. “Well we can’t have you looking like that once we board the comet Catcher now can we?” She smiled. The creature pouted once more causing her to smile. “You’ve always found your way into things haven’t you draco?” She grinned, remembering how she found the critter in the first place! She shook her head, finishing up with him and lightly scolding him, “No don’t go eating any more, you’ll get sick once we take off!” Draco conceded and nodded, sadly walking back towards the crypt as Indu followed. 

She was grateful for Indu, first pet after Nyx and what started this whole Crypt with her! She had found her near the waterfalls, a bit cold and washed ashore. Her mother seemed to find that Cassie had strong connection with pets and seemingly most she found were close to her, even if they didn’t end up in her care. Indu was the first of many that ended up being with her. Cassie never felt sad or longing for any pet that didn’t stick with her, well none of them aside from Nyx, but that’s solely because she didn’t know who or what Nyx was. That alone excited Cassie about the future, the many friends she will meet or reconnect with. Any new potential critters she’ll find, rumors are already floating about during this cometfall. 

Which speaking of, it just hit her! It’s cometfall, they’re going to be chasing and watching comets on the Comet Catcher! Certainly she can ask the drivers or navigators if they can follow tours around bodies of water, certainly there will be some Comyts out there that need help! The thought of helping these critters and their crash landing filled her up with joy really, this of course seemed to be a theme around this month in relation to “Why she’s doing this.” In fact all of the Crew are having thoughtful moments on why they help others, why they rescue critters, and why they return pets to their owners. It’s all love for the cause really. 

Cassie shook her head in thought and smiled, looking over her shoulder as she called out to her pets, “We need to bring all the food we can carry!” They looked at her curiously as they waddled over on their tiny feet and paws. They all have their own little personalities, own eccentricities and tastes. Cassie clasped her paws together, smiling at them and exclaiming. “Alright! We’re about to leave for the comet catcher and we might meet some comyts finally!” This seemingly excited her critters as she obviously spoke to them about her first encounter with a critter like them, of course the story of how she met Nyx. This captured most of their wonder really, having the same childish wonder she had years ago. She loved seeing it in both critters and any young Candle Noodle that she’s asked to teach. She continued on.

“Alright, I need you to find the biggest fruits and berries for the basket! We’ll need them to feed all of you and potentially any new friends we meet along the way!” Cassie smiled, suddenly, the critter cried out in happy cheers! Cassie’s heart warmed up before nodding, “We have a couple hours before the others come from their tasks, we have many to go until sunset!” The pets cheered again before being dismissed, Cassie headed back to the Crypt to grab more baskets for them to fill. The candle noodle seemed to again a pep in her step and as she gathered the weaved baskets. Almost skipping back towards the garden, down the winding stony path before seeing the wondrous sight before her.

Before her, her critters were jauntily singing to themselves or making assembly lines in a cute animated way to speed up their work process. Most of the flying critters were up in the trees, grabbing the biggest and juiciest fruits they can possibly handle. She grinned as she slowly padded forth, watching the critters work so effortlessly to ensure everyone in the crew would be fed that night. Cassie quietly grabbed a full basket and replaced it with another before setting it within the entrance of the garden. She did that for the baskets of fruits and those of the berries. The hardest one, that seemingly Eris, Cassie’s Grumblit, was having a struggle with was the watermelons. Cassie hummed in thought, tapping her crystalized claw against her chin as she wondered how she’ll roll the watermelon out into the basket. She’ll deal with that later. 

She took the full baskets back, some of her critters with the other baskets in toe. She gently thanked them as she grabbed their baskets and placed them upon their counter. She looked around for anything to bring back to help Eris, but nothing really was there. Cassie sighed and walked out, going to their shed before going through their stuff, hoping to find anything and well! She found a rein and a woven sieve! Perfect! She whistled to her pets to help her grab the supplies before booking it back towards the hidden garden! Her heart raced as she bounded with the rest of her pets back towards the garden, the sound of a stampede really followed their entire group! Back at the garden, Eris—stubborn as ever—was trying to cut the stem and drag the watermelon out to no avail. Hoshi, the Sqovet, tried his best to keep Eris from crashing out on a poor watermelon. Eris huffed and chortled at the watermelon, suddenly pacing and pointing her horns towards the gigantic fruit. Hosi squeaks before quickly waving his tiny paws to stop Eris from ramming into the watermelon. Thankfully that was all stopped as Cassie got there with the rest of the pets. 

“Oh dear!” Cassie snatched Eris before her horn could pierce the watermelon out of pure anger. She sighed and gently shook her head. “Now, now, the watermelon did nothing to you young one.” Cassie placed Eris down before gesturing Gemini close with the reins. Placing reins on both Hosi and Eris, she fastened them onto the basket she brought. Slowly turning towards the watermelon, she braced herself with the weight of the fruit. Cassie cut the stem with her claw and rolled it onto the sieve looking thing. “Alright, there, we can go now.” She smiled, nodding as she began leading them back, fully prepared to make a meal.