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poliel · 3 years

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Surprise Egg 4/13: Congrats

Filbo had just gotten the fire going in the pit for the evening when he glanced up to see Buddy wondering into town. Always happy to see them, he straightened to smile at them as they approached.

“Hey Buddy, how’s it going?”

“Filbo!” Their eyes sparkled with excitement, a wonderful sight after how exhausted they’d been lately. “You’ll neverguess what just happened.”

“You found out where Liz is?” Filbo almost didn’t dare hope for such a thing but if anyone could find her it was Buddy so… maybe.

“Oh uh… no, not yet. I will soon though, I promise.” Yeah, definitely too much to hope for. “But I did find something very cool. Or more like it found me. I’ll show you.” They walked over and sat down on the log bench by the fire.

Filbo sat next to them, close enough that he could see their camera’s screen as they lifted it from where it hung around their neck. It booted back up in seconds, allowing them to navigate to their recently taken photos.

“What is that?” Just a photo of it made Filbo’s fur prickle with unease. It was some kind of bugsnax? But grumpus shaped. And it might’ve just been the angle the photo was taken from but it looked big too.

Buddy flipped back through more, including ones that showed it did indeed have large googly looking eyes like bugsnax. “I’ve decided to call it Snaxsquatch because it’s like Grumpsquatch but a bugsnax. I also got a recording of what it sounds like. Wanna hear?”

Not really but Buddy was clearly very excited about this for some reason and it was nice seeing them happy so… “I guess.”

With a far too excited grin, they switched their camera back off and pulled out their tape recorder. After rewinding it a bit, the pressed play.

“Hello. Can you understand me?” There was a brief pause filled with the sound of Buddy’s camera snapping a few photos before their recorded voice continued. “I’m a journalist and I’m here to do a story on bugsnax. If you can understand me, I’d like a…”

A wet growl interrupted them, making Filbo flinch. Knowing something that could growl like that was on the island somewhere was the opposite of a cool find. And… and that thing had been right near Buddy, close enough that they’d talked to it. Did their bravery know no bounds?

Apparently so as their recorded voice continued without hesitation and full of even more excitement. “Growling works. How about a long growl for ‘no’ and short a one for ‘yes’?”

A short growl answered Buddy followed by an unidentifiable sound. Which was were Buddy stopped the recording. “That’s where it sank into the ground. And when I looked there wasn’t any trace of it, not even a hole for it to have sunk into. So I have no idea where it went or is now. But cool, right? I’m sure it’s the thing Beffica and Gramble saw that night when the spooky message appeared on the town sign, meaning it wasn’t aliens after all.”

“Uh… I don’t know about cool but it’s certainly scary. How much of a threat to Snaxburg do you think it might be?”

“Not at all. It’s friendly.” For how scary it looked and sounded, their nonchalant confidence was surprising even for them.

“How do you know?”

They slipped their recorder back into their back pack’s side pocket as they answered. “I was that close to it because it was dragging me back to town after I passed out in the Sizzling Sands. It even pulled down Shelda’s lean-to to transport me on.”

“Whoa, what? You passed out! Are you okay?”

“Yeah, I’m fine. I just…” They trailed off as a look of dawning realization came over their face. “Huh? I’m not sure how I forgot about that but uh…” They looked around for a couple seconds before turning back to look at him again. “I gotta talk to you in private.” All excitement was gone from their voice now, replaced by a chilling seriousness.

“About what?” What could be more important than the fact they’d apparently passed out in the middle of a hot desert and had to be dragged back by a monster? And why didn’t they seem to care?

“Just… something, okay? Now let’s…” They cut off as they stood up, teetering for a moment before he shot up to steady them. They leaned on him slightly as they lifted a paw to press to their forehead. It only lasted a few seconds but it was long enough to almost give Filbo a heart attack.

“Oof, that was… ugh,” they said as they pushed off him to stand under their own weight again. Before Filbo could ask him if they were okay though…

“Whoa Bestie, you okay?” Beffica said as she wondered into the campfire circle.

“Yeah. Don’t worry about me.” They lifted a paw in a weak dismissive gesture towards her.

“You should probably go lie down.” Unsure of what else he could do, Filbo stood ready to steady them again if they needed it. Oh, if only Eggabell were here.

It hadn’t been a commotion really but Cromdo had stepped closer too, looking maybe kind of worried. At that moment, Chandlo wondered in with a “What’s going on? Why’s everyone here look so worried?”

Buddy frowned at him before speaking. “I need to talk to Filbo about something.” They took Filbo’s paw and started leading him back towards the hut the two of them now shared.

As soon as they were in the hut with the door closed, Buddy pulled off their back pack and lowered it to the floor with a grateful sounding sigh. They then unzipped it and took out their camera’s case, placing that on the table before carefully pulling their camera off over their head and into it. They put that back safely in their pack before zipping it up once more. It was a familiar routine of theirs, one that Filbo had seen many times since Buddy had moved in but they did it with much more exaggerated care this time as if they were so exhausted, they could barely move.

“You okay?” Filbo asked as they finally turned to look at him. They’d been acting clearly unwell for a while now but this was different and worse. … If only Eggabell were here, she’d know how to fix it.

They looked at him in silent thought, one paw on the table as they leaned slightly onto it. After several seconds of this they pushed off and walked over to him still standing by the door and… hugged him. They pressed into him with a slight, exhausted sounding purr. “I missed you.”

He hugged them back of course, though he couldn’t quite muster up a purr himself right now. “Uh… I missed you too but… you weren’t gone that long.” They even still been here this morning when Filbo woke up, something that was honestly pretty rare with how busy they were.

“I know. But something happened and… it made me miss you.” That was strange but… okay.

Unsure what to say to that, Filbo just held them for however long they wanted to be held for. Which wasn’t long as they soon gave him one more tight squeeze before pulling back.

They stepped all the way back before speaking. “I finally found out why I’ve been so unwell lately. It’s kind of obvious now that I really think about it.”

“What is it?” And how seriouswas it?

“Um…” They looked away, lifting a paw to nervously rub the back of their neck. “You remember a few months ago when I was in heat and you helped me. And then you asked if I had any contraceptives and I didn’t but told you it would probably be fine anyway because having a hard time conceiving runs in my family? Well turns out it wasn’t fine after all. Whoops.”

“Wait! You mean you’re…” He cut off, unable to say it quite yet because how could they actually be carrying his egg? Yeah sure, it made sense given the whole heat thing and but still. That wasn’t at all news he was prepared for or had ever given any thought to possibly one day receiving or having to give to someone else. Kids were fine and all but never once had the thought occurred to him that he might someday have one of his own.

“I was pregnant but then uh… I laid the egg which is how I found out about it. I passed out afterwards. And that’s when the Snaxsquatch brought me back here.” They reached into their pouch where they’d taken to carrying Sprout. What they pulled out though was undoubtedly a grumpus egg. The faded splotches of colour on it were burnt orange and light blue, confirming its parentage. They tried to hand to Filbo.

He flinched, pulling his paws in close to this chest. “Why are you giving it to me?” Given his track record he should be the last one handling something as important and delicate as an egg.

“Just… because. I need sleep. You can tell the others about it while I take a nap. Or I guess you could keep it a secret for now if you want to. But regardless, we’ll talk about what we’re going to do about it after I get some rest, okay? So just take it for now.” They pushed it towards him again.

He wanted to refuse but… they were clearly beyond exhausted and utterly unwell. The fact that they’d just given birth to the egg not long ago certainly explained why. They’d done it all alone out in the middle of the hot desert too, how awful and scary must that have been? And yet they didn’t complain, they never did about anything. So… trying not to grimace too hard, he accepted it from their paws.

“Thanks.” Then, without further word, they turned and walked over to the bed and collapsed face first onto it. Probably not even five seconds later they were snoring softly.

Never the most dexterous of grumpuses, Filbo’s paws were even more clumsy than usual due to being like strawberries. So very carefully, before he could drop the egg or some potential disaster could befall him and it, he put it into his own pouch. Unlike some he preferred not to carry things in there but… it was meant for carrying eggs and the grumplings that hatched out of them so this was how it should be. … Still felt weird though.

Shaking it off, he went over to the bed to check on Buddy. … Yep, they were out like a light and they certainly deserved and needed the rest. So… with a deep breath he turned and left the hut.

As he walked back towards the campfire, he tried not think about tripping and crushing the egg in his pouch. Would that even crush it though? Eggs were supposed to be pretty sturdy, right? But how sturdy? This was his first time seeing one up close in real life so he had no idea. … And it was his! Oh gosh, he wasn’t ready for this. How was he supposed to…

“Filbo!”

He flinched and looked up at Beffica. She was still standing by the campfire with an air of having been waiting for him to return. Chandlo was with her and Cromdo had perked up from his stand again.

“What’s wrong with Buddy?” she continued. … She was concerned, it was written in her face and in her tone.

“Come on dawg, out with it,” Chandlo said before the silence could stretch for long. “What’s wrong with them? They going to be okay?”

“Oh uh… they’re sleeping. I think they’re going to be okay… well as okay as they can be… maybe. I don’t know.” Ugh, he was doing an awful job at putting anyone at ease but he was worried about Buddy and the egg that had quite literally seemed to have come out of nowhere and… it made it hard to think. He took a couple deep breaths and put on not a smile but a hopefully less freaked out expression because panicking about it wasn’t going to make it better. “The reason they’re so exhausted is because they uh… gave birth to an egg earlier today.”

That was met with surprised silence for several seconds before Chandlo broke it. “You mean they’ve been carrying an egg this whole time? Why didn’t you guys tell anyone?”

“We didn’t know.”

Beffica scoffed. “I thought at least one of you would have some kind of birth control and be smart enough to use it.”

“Well… we didn’t have any and it was kind of… urgent and they’d thought it’d be fine. And we’ve been careful sincethen.” Getting pregnant outside of heat was rare but not impossible so they’d done their best to avoid risking it as much as they could whenever they made love but apparently it hadn’t mattered anyway. “So we had no idea.”

She sighed and shook her head. “Well, let’s see the egg then I guess. Since I assume you have it now, right? Because what else would you be carrying in your pouch?”

Filbo wasn’t sure he wanted to take it out for fear of dropping it but… With a sigh, he reached into his pouch and pulled it out. Beffica snapped a photo of it as Chandlo stepped closer to look at it too.

“It’s a bit small and the colours are faded,” Cromdo said, making Filbo jump a little. He’d approached unnoticed and now stood on the other side of the log bench so he could get a good view of the egg. “That means it was born sooner than it should’ve been. Which with the way Buddy’s been running around, doesn’t surprise me. I’d say get it checked out by a doctor but we don’t got one anymore. So instead, just make sure to keep it as warm as possible. Like if you’re gonna have it outside of your pouch for more than five minutes put it in heated cradle, assuming you can find a way to make one that’s safe. Otherwise make sure someone’s carrying it around all the time, okay? And don’t let Buddy take it up the mountain or whatever.”

“What do you know about taking care of an egg?” Beffica asked pretty much exactly what Filbo was thinking but with far more scorn than was necessary.

“I just know, okay? It ain’t none of your business.” He turned back to look at Filbo again. “And don’t shake the egg neither or drop or anything else rough, got it?”

Under his stern gaze, Filbo carefully put the egg back into his pouch. “Got it. Thanks for the advice.” He’d take any from anyone who was willing to give it.

“You could maybe ask Floofty to examine it,” Chandlo said. “They’re real smart and know a lot about biology stuff even though they’re not a doctor. So they might be able to tell you if it’s okay or not.”

“All right.” It certainly couldn’t hurt.

The three of the followed as he started for the research tent. He’d really rather not ask Floofty for any kind of favor but… they were the only one here who might be able to examine the egg with any degree of accuracy. If only Eggabell were here. … Yeah, ifonly, and if only wishing for her return could actually bring her back to town. Wouldn’t that be nice?

Shaking off the bitterness of that thought as he stepped into Floofty’s part of the research tent, Filbo put on his best attempt at a pleasant expression. “Hey Floofty.”

Still leaning over the table and whatever they were working on they didn’t even turn their head to look at him as they answered. “Greetings.” Indifference was better than disdain but… still uncomfortable.

“We need your help with something,” Beffica cut in as she strode over and put a paw on Floofty’s desk, rattling it a little.

They looked up at her with an annoyed sigh. “What is it?”

“An egg,” Chandlo said. “It’s looking a bit unwell so I thought we could bring it to you and you could look it over, make sure it’s okay and stuff.”

“Ooh, an egg you say?” Triffany was suddenly in on the conversation too as she stepped over into this part of the tent. “Whose is it?”

“Buddy’s and Filbo’s,” Cromdo replied. “Apparently Buddy’s been pregnant this whole time and didn’t know. Unsurprisinglywith the way they’ve been running around it was born early so we need someone to check and see if the grumpling’s still alive inside it or not.”

Triffany grimaced. “Oh dear, yeah with the way they’ve been running around and stuff… I do hope they’re okay. Both Buddy and the grumpling.”

“Well, Buddy’s getting some much-needed rest right now,” Filbo said as he pulled the egg out again. ��So Floofty do you think you could…” He held the egg towards them.

“I suppose with the use of Eggabell’s equipment I should at least be able to determine if the grumpling’s alive inside or not. Exactly how healthy it is, I’m not sure I’ll be able to tell, but something’s better than nothing.” They took from him. “Now someone go get me Eggabell’s medical bag.”

“I’ll do it,” Filbo volunteered, immediately turning to run over to Liz and Eggabell’s hut. He needed the distraction and to be moving and since he was keeping the place clean for their eventual return, he knew exactly where the medical bag was.

Standing around while Floofty examined the egg with Eggabell’s limited equipment was nerve-wracking. Was Filbo actually going to have to figure out how to be parent or was this was one big scary false alarm. … Part of him hoped for the latter. … He flinched internally. How could he even think that? Grumplings dying unhatched was always tragic and not something that should be hoped for. So no he didn’t hope that that had happened but… but… he wasn’t ready to be a parent!

Despite his inner turmoil he kept his expression as positive as he could. The one thing he was good at other than messing up was maintaining a positive energy. Like a good leader should. … Except for the fact that no one here respected him as a leader. Which he couldn’t blame them for given everything. But his chances to ever gain that respect from them or anyone else were severally hampered by the fact that he now had an egg and eventually a grumpling to take care unless… He wasn’t hoping for that though.

How did one even care for a grumpling after it hatched? They were mostly just carried around in their parents’ pouches, right? Until they were… whatever age where that wasn’t a thing anymore. What age even was that? And what happened then?

“Congratulations Filbo,” Floofty said as they picked up the egg and turned away from their desk to approach him. “Despite Buddy’s negligence for their own wellbeing, the egg and grumpling inside seem mostly fine as far as I can determine, certainly alive if nothing else. Which admittedly I’m not a doctor nor a proper expert on fetal development but I am fairly confident in my assessment nonetheless.”

As they handed him the egg, he put on a smile. “Thanks.” He slipped it into his pouch.

“You’re welcome. Now take Eggabell’s stuff back to her cabin and shoo, I have work to get back to.” They turned their back and went back to their desk.

Filbo quickly grabbed the medical bag and was out of there.

“Congrats,” Beffica said as she fell in step with him. She even sounded kind of sincere for once.

“Uh… thanks.”

“Yes, congrats,” Triffany added. “I’m sure you and Buddy will be great parents. I almost can’t wait to have a little one running the place. I’m going to go tell Wamby.” And she was off.

“Yeah, congrats dawg,” Chandlo came up on his other side. “What you going to name them?”

Oh no, they were going to have to come up with a name too? How? “Uh… I don’t know. I’m sure Buddy will think of something, I’m really bad with names.”

Before much more than even an hour had passed since he’d even got the news himself, everyone in town had approached Filbo to congratulate him on the egg. Gramble also offered to watch the egg and/or the grumpling if he and Buddy ever needed or wanted a break for a bit. Filbo was tempted to hand him the egg to watch right then and there but… just thanked him with a smile instead. If any of them even suspected how much he was freaking out below the surface, they didn’t say anything.

But when Buddy woke up and they talked about it some more, surely everything would be okay, right? Buddy would know how to handle the situation and thus they’d ease Filbo’s fears and… stuff. So everything was going to be fine.

#my writing #bugsnax #filbuddy #filbo fiddlepie #the journalist #pregnancy #grumpus egg

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