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Soon it was time for August and with it came the Festival. James had largely avoided Freya since the small incident at her home and she avoided him. Not in realising he was off-limits, but in fear of being bruised again. She did attempt to report him to the guards in July and they did inquire him to hear his side of the story with Copper largely handling it. "Now son," said the guard standing firmly before the raptor, "Tell me what happened." "She invited me over to her house saying she needed some furniture rearranged for some feng shui crap and tried to throw herself on me." "Ahh huh." "Well I didn't want it, I mean I have Daisy, I tried to tell her but she didn't listen, so I threw her off." "Did you assault her in any way?" "...I...punched her, okay I'm sorry." "...James, hitting a woman is something I do not take lightly to. But if what you say is true, and I do know Freya's tendency to make herself quite forceful, I'll only ask for a 200 bell fine for assault insteadand we say nothing more." "Fine by me...but how do you know about her already?" "It's my job to know everyone who comes and goes in this community. Me and Booker are the only guards here, he may not always be up for the job but he'll learn. And I've known plenty of your personality...so all I ask is this." "What?" "Try to hold yourself back a li'l." And that was the matter settled, clearing the way for happier times in the Festival, despite the warning that the raptor felt was a little patronising. Around 7pm on the second sunday of August, the Fireworks Festival began, with James and Daisy hand in hand to witness the most colourful array of stalls across the town. They walked close together where everyone was out and about, even the mayor and Blathers and Brewster, who was still serving coffee at a special stand. Everyone was wearing a kimono, swishing from side to side as bare paws and claws clattered across stone and earth in a bustle of excitement, that deceived one of the size of the community. Some unfamiliar characters he assumed came from out of town had also arrived to take part. "I can't believe such a small town could have such a big festival," said James, wide-eyed with wonder. "Hehehe I know," replied Daisy, "it really feels like more people are here." "I think there ARE more people here somehow, but still, it's awesome!" "You never been to a festival before?" "Uhhhh...there was a big parade once when I was in Chicago but that's all I can remember cuz I drank so much." "Hehe, how much didya drink?" "Ohhh plenty, I was so drunk I made out with a trashcan." "Hahaahaaa!" "For twenty minutes. And nobody told me!" The two giggled at this, James moreso at the memory which while embarrassing was hilarious in retrospect. "Ohhhh you're a silly raptor!" "I was nibbling on it and lots of other things as well, they called me Nibbler for like weeks after that!" "Well, ya only nibblin' me now right?" "Mmm whatever do ya mean?" And with that he nibbled on her neck making her squeal. "AH JAMES Sto-hop iiiiit!" "Mmmmnomnomnomnomnom." "Hehehe, so watcha wanna do now?" "Well let's see, the fireworks show starts at nine, and before that is K.K.'s show at eight, so we have an hour to check the stalls and-" "Oh look it's the Able Sisters!" She waved vigorously at the two who had their own store of a wide range of kimonos for the night, as James was dragged towards them. "Hi girls!" "Hey Daisy!" said the younger Mable, "You wanna have a kimono for the night?" "Ooooh I'd love to wear one!" "A kimono?" "Yeah it's a long robe you wear, lots of wonderful designs we made, right sis?" "Mmhmm," agreed Sable, "I'm sure you'd fit one." "Well...let's see..."

The two pored over the various clothes available. Some were very elaborate with pastoral designs, while others were two-toned in basic colours. All of them however had the feeling of water about them, the way the colours swirled and oozed down into streams, with various patterns that intrigued James before he picked out a black kimono. "Heeeeey I like this one! Watcha think Daisy?" "Oooooh...looks very solemn on you, you sure you don't want something lighter? "Oh I dunno, makes me look kinda badass dontcha think?" "Hmmmm...sure, go with it, I think it suits you. OH, James look at this!" She brought out in turn a light blue kimono with white patterns all over it in dots or curled lines. "Ohhhh that looks gorgeous on you. Then again any of these do." "Hehe Bow-WOW, don't say that James!" "Awww but it's true!" "See what I have to put up with?" She said this to the porcupine tailors who merely giggled as the kimonos were bought. James and Daisy immediately put them on, smiling at how good they felt they looked. James was garbed in a pure black kimono, feeling like some sort of ancient warrior, while Daisy wore a humble-coloured lighter blue and white, feeling rather sweeter than usual. "Well I gotta admit, we look GOOD." "We sure do! OH look, it's Katrina!" "Who?" Daisy pointed over to a small purple tent nearby, in front of the town hall. "I heard about her, she's this mysterious psychic who can read you your future!" "You really uh...believe in that?" "Well not really, just a teeny bit suspicious, but it could be fun!" "Weeeellllll...I dunno, I'm not sure-" "Pleaaaase? We got nothing else to do James." "But there's more stalls around-" "Katrina's barely ever in town, I always wanted to see her!" The slight look of disappointment broke his heart and he blinked to not see more of it before submitting. "Okay okay, let's go." With that, he was dragged yet again, off towards the tent. The flaps opened up to reveal a rather dark interior that seemed somehow larger than the exterior. Sitting in the middle was a dark blue panther, or rather one so black that she shined of blue from the light of the crystal ball before her on a red circular table. Her golden eyes gazed at the couple from under an exotic Arabian-style head covering, her body in similarly-styled clothes of purple. "Ahhh...welcome." Her voice was slow yet deep, as if always careful of what word to choose next. "Please, come forward." The two nervously walked forwards to the table edge, gazing at the draped curtains on either side of her in a mystical green colour, archaic aymbols on the sheet behind her while she sat on various plump cushions. "We'd like to have our fortune told, please." Daisy sounded nervous and was quite shy to even ask such a thing, but the mysterious feline merely nodded, expecting such. "Very well. What would you like to hear of your life?" "Oh...um...what do you mean?" "Well...do you wish to hear of the strength of your love? Or perhaps to learn about fortunes awaiting you...or of your future itself?" "I...I um...I dunno really I-" "We'll hear our future, together." James butted in to take over from his stuttering lover as she nodded, but then focused her attention fully upon James, gazing with her large piercing eyes, as if ready to strike. "Wh...what?" "You are...unusual." "Well there's not many like me I know-" "No...I mean...never mind, I will tell you your future and we shall reveal a small glimpse beyond the veil of Time."

She laid out a set of tarot cards before her, and began to focus intently into them. Flexing her fingers upon them, flipping through them in her mind perhaps, seeing the future for the two before her through the mists of the aether. At least that's what James thought she'd be doing if she was a psychic, for all she knew she was probably bluf- "HAH!" The sudden sound made the two leap back and she looked at James intently. "You do not believe I can predict the future?" "Uhhhh no offence miss Katrina, but I'm not superstitious." "There is nothing wrong with a little wariness in the unknown. You cannot possibly understand everything that happens in the universe...and I advise you to give respect to that which you do not understand." "Okay, okay." Did she just blurt that out to trip me up, or did she actually read my mind? Either way, he shut himself up and let himself try to believe this was actually happening for Daisy's sake, who looked up at him with a small worrying expression. The panther felt the cards again, feeling each one with her claws, curiosity rising in both of them as she made strange expressions with her eyes closed. First one of intrigue, then anxiety, and finally a flinch of fright. "Wh-what is it?" "Shh!" Daisy was interrupted by the mystic, but was soon presented three cards she took out of the pack with calculating precise movements. The Lovers. The Chariot. The Tower. "What's wrong?" she asked. "The cards...I am unsure of what they mean, but they are quite unusual in reading out your future." "Really? Well tell us then!" "Hmmm...they say that you will have a love that will last forever...yet your life will be filled with many paths of darkness from your heart...and..." She hesitated to speak of the last one but a few seconds later came her reply. "...the two of you should live your love to the fullest and never look back. That is all I have for you." Smiling at the answer, James hugged the dog close with a kiss as she giggled. "Seee, wasn't that fun?" "Ohhh fine fine, I just wanted to see more of the stalls is all." "Well let's get back to them. Thanks Kat!" "Take care...Daisy and James." The two left the mysterious fortune teller's hut, the raptor a little puzzled by her goodbye and trying to remember if they ever introduced themselves, but he was soon distracted by more stalls. Katrina gazed upon her predictions with worries clouding her thoughts, accompanied by the smallest of murmurs to her mind as her face turned sorrowful. "Such a strange boy...and yet I sense something above them...something dark. If only I truly knew..."

Soon came the time for the concert, and the maestro himself appeared on a larger stage in the middle of the town. Spotlights shined resplendently upon his white fur, guitar reflecting in the light slightly, as he still sat on a stool like always at 8pm, but this time especially on a Sunday. James wondered if the musician had a fascination with the number 8 at all but he listened out to the dog. "Hello, everybody! Hehehe, havin' fun at the greatest festival ever?" Many cheers came from the crowd, including James and Daisy in the middle. "I see we've all come out tonight. Lotta young faces, some I even know. So let's open with one of my faves to liven the place up. Go K.K. Rider!" And so he began his hourly concert with a strumming theme that everyone knew. It was practically his theme even, which everyone loved, singing away with his tremendously captivating voice that had everyone bouncing to the beat. The crowd started to sing with him, and he didn't mind one bit. Humble but permitting, the night felt alive with energy before he finished his first song to rousing cheers. This was only followed up with another of his best songs, K.K. Gumbo, a grittier deeper song of largely deep chords, giving a rhythm that had everyone's head bobbing like pigeons, with K.K. included, who had his eyes closed as if imagining a scene only he would ever see. Following that came two more songs, requests from the crowd being Surfin' K.K., which was very much like a theme for fun times at the beach in a bossa-nova style, complete with bass riff and fast lyrics from the dog. Then came K.K. Technopop which was an unusual mixture of short strums, tongue clicks and whistles for the intro, following up with some oddly clever short words with high-pitched plucks to mimic a robot. "God he's amazing," murmured the raptor. "I know," said Daisy, "...you wonder where he learnt to do it?" "Has to be self-trained, no way you can learn to do that." The song soon ended to the cheers of everyone, for the unique and oddly quieter ditty than most of his other songs. "Thank you, thank you! You're a wonderful crowd who just wanna have a good time, am I right?" The crowd replied positively as he nodded. "Course some of you might be more interested in each other. I know two out there who are quite the lovebirds. I say no names, but I will give this song out to the two of ya." And then came the most wonderful song to James' ears. The song that made him well up in tears as it began to play from the guitar, and K.K.'s mournful voice started to sing about snow. "Oh my god...he..." "Wh-what is it?" "It's the song he made up when I was there...Daisy...it...it's our song now." "R-really?" "Yeah...he means us, I think." The sentiments of the raptor started to transfer to Daisy as she began to well up too, her little face creasing up with moist eyes as she hugged and kissed him happily in the midst of the crowd, mostly staring up at the musician as James whispered: "I love you Daisy." "I love you too James," she replied with the same whispering tone. They pressed their noses together simply, eyes turning slowly with their faces towards the singer, cheeks lining up with each other. They held each other with an arm around their backs, swaying softly together with his voice, amongst a few others in love too. Even the small glimpse of Freya in the crowd did not stop him, but she did not see him thankfully, for all he could see at the moment was K.K. singing what he believed to be his and Daisy's song on stage. The night seemed to last forever, a few more songs came and went, until finally the fireworks came.

The sky was soon lit up in a glorious technicolour display. From over the hills they seemed to come. Red and purple, blue and green, yellow and orange, not one star seemed to be safe from competing against the whizzing bursts, the screaming banshee calls before beautiful explosions, swan songs of swishing and screeching ending with bangs and fizzes. Each light in the sky made eyes widen, hands clasp tighter, bodies hug closer, inspire more love within the minds of those down below. The fireworks went on for perhaps half an hour or so before people started realising the time, and heading back to their homes or the stalls for last purchases. Daisy and James however had other ideas and murmured to each other to head up to James' house to the second floor. The two undid their kimonos, the canine revealing her sweet warm breasts to her lover with the raptor showing his full self, himself not erect. This was a time of intimacy, not lust. They embraced each other before an open window, feeling if anyone took a picture of them it would look iconic, but also to experience the warm summer night. Two lovers hugging each other against the light of the fireworks, the August breeze flowing in the window rustling her fur. Their kisses deep with passion, pushing each other's heads closely as if either one of them would be suddenly pushed away. No words were said. Only sounds were made. Moans and shivering breaths, hands sliding and rustling along fur and kimono, tails wagging slowly, their faces illuminated in green and red, yellow and blue, orange and purple. They only ever stopped to stare at each other's eyes sparkling with the festival lights, before wordlessly heading to James' bed right next to them. The window was left open, as they snuggled under the bed sheets tightly together in a spooning position.

The rest of August went by with a blur, the Fireworks Festival turning more dim in people's minds as they moved on with their lives. One morning before work, James got a knock on the door, expecting Daisy, only to be surprised by the unsightly porky Rasher. "Sup brah!" "Woah, h-hey Rasher...uhhh didya need something?" "Well...I was thinkin', ya dunno how to fish right?" "Ahhhh not really." "Aw man you totally should, and I'm gonna teach ya." "Wait, like right now?" "Nah nah brah, after yer work, later in the night, a li'l night fishing'll do ya good! Come on man, I got a spare rod an' all!" "Fishing is just....nnnngh, yer a cool guy Rasher, but-" "Look, tell ya what, try it fer like twenny minutes, if ya don' like, don' hafta to do it again, deal?" "...well okay." "AWESOME! See ya near the waterfall after yer job?" "Yeah the museum's right next to it, so 6pm?" "Sweeeeet." With that unusual starter for the day, he went to tell Daisy about this small arrangement. "Oooh yer gonna learn how to fish?" "Ahhh well Rasher invited me, I couldn't really say no, I don't wanna test that guy's patience." "Hehehe, I was hoping we could stay in more tonight." "You could come if you want, learn some fishing yourself." "No thanks James, I'm a li'l tired today for that." "...is something wrong?" "No I just...James...can I ask you something?" "Uhm...okay?" "I was...talking with Freya a bit, she likes fossils too so we were chattin' a li'l and she said something about you." "...what did she say?" "She...she said you beat her. And that you got punished by Copper." James was a little stunned at the word "beat" to be used. It wasn't a solid domestic-style beating, but rather a straight repelling punch. But he had to explain. "Freya is a bitch, Daisy. I'm sorry but she is." "B-bow what?!" "She asked me to help rearrange some furniture for her to be all feng-shui and then came on to me and was really wanting me to-" "Ohhh James..." "But I refused! I tried to push her away, please don't think for a second I did ANYTHING with her, she tried but I tried to shove her away and she wouldn't get off so I ended up punching her." Daisy at this point looked quite surprised and saddened. "So...she reported you?" "Well yeah, and Copper told me off but considering the circumstances he gave me a reduced fine. Don't believe anything she says okay? She's just trouble to me." "I'm sorry James but she's a friend and I just-" "Friend? You only known her a few months!" "Well, I hardly think you have the right to say that given you and I barely knew each other that long before we got together!" "I didn't mean that, I mean-" "No, you know what, go fish with Rasher, you have your friends, I have mine. If Freya has something bad to say about you, it's her opinion." "But anything she says is a lie!" "You just told me you hit her!" "Well THAT part is true but if she says ANYTHING else, that's a lie!" "Ju-just go, okay!??!" "Fine!" With his day thoroughly ruined he stormed out of the place and off to Brewster's, hoping the smell of coffee would soothe him. GOD he was sick of coffee. At this point he was ready to just go crazy on a tree with an axe, but he resisted since firstly he didn't have an axe, and secondly he knew that was a bad idea. The rest of the working day went by at an incredibly boring pace, leaving James nowhere to vent his anger and forced to swallow it like the coffee itself, which in retrospect might not have been a good idea but fuck it, Daisy had to know Freya was a bitch, she'd surely not listen to anything else she'd say. His paranoia only grew, and eventually the end of the shift came when he went to meet Rasher.

Rasher threw him a fishing rod and he got down to teaching. "You ready to learn how to fish brah?" "I'm here aren't I?" "Heh, sure. Okay, first ya gotta pick a good place to stand, somewhere you see a bunch of 'em, like here. You get different ones at different parts of the river all the way to the sea there but, we're just learning." "Ah huh." "All ya gotta do first is cast yer line in like this." He demonstrated how to cast and James mimicked him as best as he could, the second time doing better to not overshoot across the river. The boar sensed James' irritation at something, hoping it wasn't him so he turned down his attitude a bit for this lesson. "Now all ya gotta do is wait." "Wait? For how long?" "Until ya feel a tug on yer line. When ya do, pull, but only if ya feel the fish tugging at the line." "That's it?" "Sometimes ya get it, sometimes ya don't. Sometimes ya mistime it, sometimes the fish is too strong, or yer just unlucky." And so the two waited, standing with lines in the water, rods forward like garden gnomes. Rasher was poised while James fidgeted a little bit. Five minutes went by and not a single catch came. After ten minutes he just groaned. "GOD when is this little fucker gonna bite?" "Patience my dude...patience." "I don't HAVE patience, I want to see Daisy." "You spend a lotta time with her dontcha?" "She is my girlfriend, so yes?" "No need to get snarky man, I'm tryin' to teach ya to fish." "I never needed to fish dammit, I lived in cities all my life." "One day you'll be out in the wilderness all alone and need to eat, trust me, you'll be damn glad you learnt this when that happens." "I don't think that's gonna happen." "Happened to me once. Weren't for fishing I'd have been seriously in trouble." "....what happened?" "Plane crash...big school trip...kinda don't remember much actually before that. Think I was in some college, I dunno. Was in the jungle and had to survive, learnt to fish in the river, even when I thought I lost my eye from the crash." The scar was evidence enough, which cleared up one thing he was going to ask. "So...did you ever return back to college?" "How could I? I couldn't remember what it was, or where it was. I wandered into a city, word got around about me and then I heard about this place...sounded perfect to me, man." "Man...." "How about you?" he asked James. "Wanted to go home...realised I don't have one. Big city far away. Ended up here after walking so long." His excuses had turned shorter and more vague. He was tired of saying the same thing again and again to people in the same area. The two said nothing as the fish didn't dare bother to bite, until sometime around 6:45pm, when a tug came on James' rod. "Woah, I got one!" "Oh, awesome! Tug at it dude, tug it out!" "Trying to...UNGH!" A little pulling later pulled out a fish onto dry land, flopping around pathetically on the ground, not a bad-sized one either. James picked up the line its mouth had been trapped in. "Woah AWESOME you got a trout!" "Hahaha, yeah! I have! Wow...so what do I do with it?" "Museum might want it, or ya could eat it, or even sell it to Nook, he don't mind fish." "Sell it? Really?" "Hell yeah that crazy coon'll take anything!" "I bet. Well...I think I had my lesson huh?" "Totally. See ya around sometime?" "Sure. Later Rasher." And with that James ran with a struggling fish in a large water-filled tub that Rasher had put it in, carrying it as carefully as he could in his arms to Daisy's. He was excited to show her as he opened her door. "Daisy! Daisy you there, I got something to show ya!" But instead of someone there to welcome him, he only saw her sitting on the bed. Hunched over. Whimpering. Her face covered by her hands.