I would much prefer a tortoise to a potato.

I can’t wait for the next chapter

I hope you all had restful holidays!

Chapter 12

All at once I was ushered atop the small stage next to Esther who smiles encouragingly in contrast to the skeptical murmurs permeating the crowd. A few words are said, and scattered cheers grow as Claudius speaks to the crowd, but I can't take my eyes off of the confused look on Violet's face. Mr. Agust next to her is barely containing his anger.

Both Esther and I are then brought to the interior of a small restaurant near the fountain. Before Violet and Mr. Agust can push through the crowd to reach me, I'm inside being frisked through a metal detector by the town's sheriff's department, the device produces a whirling sound when brought around my headgear. They exchange confused looks with each other before shrugging & letting me through to the main dining hall. That was embarrassing.

Once again joining Esther, the large room is painted soft yellow with a number of hand drawn murals displaying the towns local cuisine as well as references to historical icons, such as the gigantic Indian statue, and a large shark attacking a backbrace. Around the top half of the high wall adjacent a large oven behind the counter, a dust covered fire alarm sits with gaps in the yellow paint around it, revealing a bright pink brick beneath the murals. The very top of each wall is lined with a holographic design of a cartoon diner and jukeboxes repeating as it lines the room. While the room is relatively devoid of chairs and tables, along the waist height portion of the wall are spots of dents and scuffs marking where metal chairs and tables have scraped against it, some painted over again with slightly different shades of yellow, other scuffs showing the older pink beneath it. I spot a majority of the seating folded and stored in the far corner.

I can hear Mr. Agust has made it into the building, and is scolding Claudius, berating him for involving me in this event. Before Violet can make it to me, swinging doors to the kitchen are held open as two tortoises begin rushing towards Esther and myself. It's occurred to me that the numerous pamphlets and posters advertising the "candidates" did absolutely nothing to indicate just how massive these things are. I'm having a hard time believing what I'm seeing as these mammoths hunch towards the both of us at alarming speeds. Glancing to my left, I can see Esther is just a shocked as I am. At least I'm not alone in this. The tortoise facing me hasn't taken his eyes off of me. He just keeps hustling over in my direction. Should I move? Is he going to crash into me? Glancing over to Esther once more, her head is cocked to the side in confusion. Her tortoise has veered off to its right and is now bashing its shell into the wall. I would come to understand this as normal behavior for a tortoise.

Right as My tortoise reaches in front of me, he stops and slouches his shell to the ground, still staring at me. Without warning, a small woman, with a habit for speaking as if it was to a child, jets from behind the kitchen doors, introducing herself as the one who hatched the both of them. She sees the tortoise stubbornly smashing itself into the wall, and strides over to me.

"You! Headgear girl! Sit! This is Javier! He is a very strong tortoise."

She leans down to kiss and praise the focused beast, its eyes still glued to me.

"Sit! On top of him now sit!"

"W-"

She takes my hips and practically lifts me onto the apex of Javier's massive ornate shell, once again I'm met with the all too familiar sensation of sitting into a diaper. A soft crinkle just barely audible causes my face to turn red. As soon as my butt hits his shell, Javier begins to continue his march in the same direction with myself on his back, right out the front door. I glance back once more to see the woman going to meet Esther's wall-obsessed tortoise exclaiming, "Igulaez! Iglualez this isn't the time for this!"

As Javier proudly carries me outside, onto the same stage via a small ramp laid out for him to the tune of cheers. I hardly know what to do in a situation like this. In all seriousness, what the hell does anyone do in this situation?

Once onto the stage Javier Plants himself onto a small "x" made of tape stuck to the stage. Before long, the cheers ramp back up as Esther is carried out of the restaurant atop Igualez's back, looking just as confused as I felt. Once we're both present atop the backs of our "candidates", The woman in suit once again takes the stage with a single apple. She then cuts two large slices from it and hands one to Esther and myself. We look at each other, and each hold it out as Javier and Igualez turn to face us and hastily munch the apple slices from our hands. Just like that, we've been accepted as their, "caretakers".

As the event draws on, numerous students push to the front of the stage to pet the duo as the woman continues relaying information for the voting event. All the while, Javier and Iglualez enjoy the attention of the crowd as they reach their necks down to receive pats. Listening in to the woman's speech, I overhear the final event being a kind of ball held in the candidates' honor. I have to go to a ball? In headgear?!

I manage to spot Violet and a less angry Mr. Agust, attempting to appear supportive. It occurs to me that the responsibility of being a human decoration for Javier limits my availability to deliver Mr. Agust's stock to the docks. Was that Claudius' plan to derail the growth spurt the flower shop has been having? Even if I was able to back out of the role, I'm not sure if I even want to... Admittedly, this is kind of fun! Javier seems like a well-behaved tortoise. I'll have to ask Dr. Richardson for her advice on the matter.

Speaking of her, as the event comes to a close, after I'm handed an itinerary for the next couple of days, I spot Dr. Richardson next to the fountain speaking with a nervous Claudius.

Chapter 13

The aftermath of the event felt comically slow. Four more hours would pass before I'd finally get some space from Javier, and with it, a chance to talk with Mr. Agust.

He's more than a bit upset that Claudius has involved me in the election, thinking this was done for a multitude of reasons. The surplus attention towards my orthodontically bound state could be a source of added stress for myself, not to mention if the election turns into an upset, my association could make my time here on the island difficult, to say nothing of how it might impact Mr. Agust's business with my absence as his delivery girl. By now, my curiosity is eating me.

"Whay ith thee tryeng to meth with ush?"

Mr. Agust pauses, glancing towards Violet, who shares my curiosity. He speaks to her.

"Your Grandfather left the business, and the generous land it's sat on, to your mother."

He turns back to me.

"I came to this Island many years ago to study its unique soil composition. As an island, its geographical origins are volcanic. What brought me here was a rumor of rare minerals resulting from a peculiar pool of magma beneath the island. Mind you, this pool has long since cooled and separated into numerous mineral components. I found, through my months of research on the island, that a large percentage of the leftover mass of minerals contained in that pool had slowly risen within the soil and rock to the island's surface. Rare elements such as Yttrium, Terbium, Europium, and Dysprosium. All of them, clumped up together in large masses, concentrated in one single area."

Violet perks up.
"The fields."

"Correct. Turns out, rare earth elements make for wonderful year-round fertilizers. I had approached Marigold's father with this information, offering a business deal to harvest the deposits and make us both rich. However, instead of outwrite telling me no, he made me wait. Weeks. Months. Years. All the while, I'd begun helping him in odd jobs around the island."

He turns back to Violet.
"And I met your mother."

He looks back to me.
"I'm sure I know what both of you are thinking, and I can put your worries to rest. Yes, the flowers are draining these deposits of rare earth elements. That point of stress was perhaps my biggest selling point to Marigold's father. Here he was, sitting on a treasure trove of materials used in everything from car components to military tracking hardware, all being sucked up and depleted by the delicately beautiful fields of color. If he'd allowed me to process the fields and dig, I could've made us both rich. But he made me wait, so I waited. Eventually, I stopped waiting and married her."

He pauses for a moment.
"Claudius, much like myself, found out about the islands mineral deposits, and he's aware that with each passing year, the stockpile shrinks. With how much I've estimated to be beneath us, I'm confident I'll be long dead before the minerals are fully depleted and these fields wilt, but that hasn't stopped him from attempting to get it from me. I'm truly sorry you've become involved with this. I've senselessly allowed you to be pulled into a feud between old men."

I sit straight for a moment.
"I want to phe abart ofh shee eleshthion."

Mr. Agust looks relieved.
"I'm glad. Don't worry about the deliveries for right now. Violet and I can make the trip. We won't fall too far behind."

Violet looks to Mr. Agust, then back to me with a worried look.
"The ball?"

a Ball?

Mr. Agust's eyes widen as the thought registers.
"Ah yes! Miss Casey! As you know, as you are now Javier's Caretaker, you have an event to look forward to. We'll need to find you a formal dress for the occasion."

Ah, that kind of ball.

Chapter 14

Humorously, the role of Javier's "caretaker" involved very little of myself actually caring for the tortoise. My time was spent being pulled around various rooms rehearsing various ceremonies, two of them towards the very end being the most important: One for if Javier wins the election, and one for if he loses.

Mr. Agust was more than happy to help pay for a proper dress to be worn at the event, with Violet wisely tagging along for a vital second opinion in choosing the dress to be.

We ventured to the far side of the island in Mr. Agust's charming red truck to a relatively new looking dress shop about 10 minutes from the Island's university. The boutique styled store flaunted a modern white tiled interior, utilizing rows of bright string lights just behind the panels of the ceiling. We searched through rows of pristine dresses, most of them intended for weddings and college formals, til reaching a back section of specialty wear. Even though the store's business model and location are meant to cater to the island's immigrating student population, most of the dresses seemed to be designed to fit people much taller than your average college goer. Maybe the dress maker is an island native.

Past the counter I can spot a deep green bateau fit and flare dress worn by a maniquin, tagged with a "reserved" tag for "E. Anderson". It makes sense Esther was first to set her dress aside, being she lives on campus.

Deliberating which style we should search for, Violet interjects that the proper course of action in these situations, is to pick numerous dresses we like, and have myself try them on one by one, eliminating each "no" until only "yes"es remain!

And so, we did exactly that. Business was slow for the store, so there was no guilt in gathering many of the stores available dresses we theorized would fit my small stature, and the staff were kind enough to aid us.

Many of the styles fit well enough, but, unsurprisingly, seeing myself in the mirror with each dress, the girl wearing them while sporting glasses, braces and headgear I couldn't take off, even for the dresses everyone was in agreement was a "yes", I kept saying no.

I'm not sure what's wrong with me. I thought I was used to the braces? All the headgear, the spikes, the springs, even the diaper! I should be used to all of this! Somehow in a dress I just feel really out of place. I want to go to the ball, and I want wear the dress, but something's off.

With yet another dress with everyone in support of accept for myself, Mr. Agust looks to Violet, who returns the look before getting up from her chair and bringing me into the changing room.

"So, what's the matter with this one?"

"Uhmm... I- uhh"

"Is it the diaper?"

!

How does she know about it?
Was it my shorts?
Was it when she hugged me?!?

"W-wh... umm"
I don't need the mirror to know how red my face is right now. She's looking at me. I don't like looking at people's eyes, but she won't let me look away. I can't look away. My legs are twitching. Tears are building up in the corners of my eyes. She brings her hands together to hold my face, her thumbs resting against my facebows, the thin coatings of drool around them sticking to her thumbs. Her expression is steady. I feel like I'm gonna have a heart attack.

"Hey! Hey it's okay! I don't mind! There's nothing wrong about it."

I can't even stammer out words. I can only manage to loudly suck back saliva to keep from getting more of it on her hands.

"You can tell me, okay? Is it the diaper?"

"I... no... ith the brashesh..."

My hands meet hers around my face as I'm forced to suck back once more, my face still red. She shifts her hold from my face to my hands, bringing them down between us.

"What about your braces?"

"They're too mush... and I can't take shem off..."

She angles her head to look at me as I try to turn away from her. Her hair flows to the side, exposing her ear.

"I thought you said you were used them?

"I... there'th gonna be sho many people... and in this dreth? I'll look..."

"Like a little nerd?"
She smirks. She holds my face once more and pulls me to face her. I'm getting lost in the green of her eyes.

"What's wrong with looking like a nerd?"

By now her face is just as red as mine.

"I really like how your braces make you look."
She uses the thumb of her right hand to gently pull at the side of my lower lip, further revealing my braces.
"I also really like your headgear. All three of them, and how cute it makes you look."

She shifts a bit closer.

"And I love how your glasses frame your eyes. I think we both know you're gonna be stuck like this for a really long time. And if you don't go to that ceremony, you'll regret it down the line, so let's make a deal. You let me pick out a dress for you, and I'll go with you to the ceremony. I'll be with you the whole time."

She shifts a bit closer, but hesitates.

"If... only if you want to... with me."

Up until now she looked so sure of herself. Now her eyes are drilling into mine, ravenously searching for a response. Her expression, devolved into one of vulnerability, stays stuck like that. Frozen, holding, silently begging for me to say something, anything.

I shift a bit closer.

I raise my hands to hold hers, meeting them still cradling my blushing face. Eyes driller into hers, matching her expression, I nod.



After a beat, her face lights. She can hardy hold back a smile spreading effortlessly to her ears. Still blushing, she stammers.

"Um, um, okay! Um, I'll-I'll uh. I'll go pick out your dress!"

She fumbles with the doorknob as she awkwardly walks towards the gallery, her entire body seemingly tilting as if trying to keep moving to maintain her balance.

Almost falling, I catch myself on the back of a nearby chair, realizing I'd held my breath for the last part of that exchange.

I'm winded.

So glad you’re back and continuing this amazing story

It's great to see it back again! I'm rooting for Casey/Violet.