Two new families!

Hi everyone!

Yesterday was my birthday and I got two new families! :D

My boyfriend Marcos got me the Alpaca family from Japan! I have loved them ever since they were first announced and I'm really happy to have them! They are incredibly cute, Epoch sure went for a kawaii style with then! I adore them! They will probably live in the Bluebell Cottage/Riverside Lodge I recently got in eBay. :)

My cousin got me the Hedgehog family. They're so charismatic, I love them as well! Everyone in the family liked them when I unwrapped them! I love how they always seem to be smiling. And those little combs they come with are adorable!

I'm really happy with my presents and to have a bigger population in Arcfield! I was beginning to feel that I lacked neighbours for my stories, hehe.

They will be added to the "Families" page ASAP, and I'm also hoping to write a story featuring the grand opening of the Chocolate family's Chocolaterie soon!

Thank you for reading!

A special bond

One afternoon, after finishing (early, for once!) his mayoral duties, Nicholas McFarlane was quite happily looking at his planisphere and planning that night’s observation session. The day had been clear, so he hoped to be able to enjoy a night of astronomy, one of his greatest passions. The Sylvanian night sky is quite rich in asterisms and constellations!

As he was doing so, he heard a noise behind him, and when he turned round he saw young Coco Chocolate, son of his friends Frasier and Teri, who where temporarily residing in his home.
“Ah!” exclaimed Coco. “Please forgive me, Mr McFarlane. I had no idea you were… Oh! Are you using your telescope?”
“I was planning to use it tonight” smiled Nicholas. “Would you like to see how it works?”
“I’d love to!” said Coco, smiling enthusiastically. He had been curious about the telescope ever since the first time he saw it in the McFarlane’s balcony.
And so, the two spent an enjoyable afternoon together as Nicholas showed Coco how the device worked and explained what kind of space objects they would be able to see that night. No one in his family shared his interest in astronomy, so he was quite happy to be able to talk about it which such an enthusiastic young man.

When nightfall came at last, the pair enjoyed the observation session until poor Coco could no longer keep his eyes open. Luckily, there was no school the following morning!

Back at her room, Nicholas’ daughter, Annabelle, could hear them chattering away…

Some days after that, Elizabeth McFarlane, Nicholas' wife, was enjoying her garden while watching her youngest, Albie, who was happily playing in his swing. After happily watering and taking care of her plans, Elizabeth sat down on the garden bench, decided to enjoy the sun while she read “Wild Flowers & Trees from Sylvania”, the book her friends the Chocolates had given her as a present.

It was no long after that her husband Nicholas and young Coco Chocolate appeared, tripod and camera on hand. After greeting her they set everything up, ready to take some pictures of the garden under the sunlight, and Elizabeth smiled as her husband explained how each button and option worked to the young boy. The two had been spending quite a lot of time together lately, and she only hoped that Albie would have a similar relationship with his father when he grew up. Coco was full of curiosity, and marvelled at every one of the devices Nicholas had for his hobbies.

Their daughter Annabelle showed up just then, holding her doll. Nicholas smiled brightly at her.
“Honey, you are just in time! Coco and I have been setting up the camera. Would you pose for a picture?”
Instead of happily smiling and agreeing, as she would have usually done, Annabelle gritted her teeth, her features tensing, and quickly turned around and went back into the house without saying a word. Everyone was left speechless, as that was so unlike her.
“What… what happened, Mr McFarlane? Is she mad?” asked Coco, quite worriedly.
Elizabeth and Nicholas looked at each other, the latter with a slightly guilty expression. They both knew their daughter well, and could guess at what was in her mind. She was probably jealous of all the time Nicholas was spending with Coco lately.
“Ill go talk to her” said Nicholas quietly, but Elizabeth shook her head and stood up.
“I’ll go. You stay with Coco and keep at what you were doing. I’m sure she’ll be right as rain tomorrow”.
Nicholas sighed and agreed. It was probably better if Elizabeth went at that moment. Nevertheless, he still wanted to do something…
--

The following morning, when she came down to the living room, early as usual, Annabelle saw that the table was already set for two. She was a bit confused…

When she went into the kitchen, she saw her father, wooden spatula on hand, smiling brightly at her.
“Daddy…?”
“Good morning, sunshine!” said Nicholas. “I was thinking that it has been a while since we last made our special pancakes together. Would you like to help me?”
Annabelle’s eyes lit up, and she nodded enthusiastically, feeling quite happy. Her father’s pancakes were the best, and only she could help him prepare them! Not even her mother was allowed to do so, only Annabelle.

“Of course!” she said, running to the fridge and opening it. “Milk, eggs, butter…”
After getting all necessary ingredients, she took them to her father, who started preparing the pancake mix while happily whistling.

It was not long before the first pancake was almost ready in the pan! Everyone in Arcfield loved Nicholas’ pancakes, and some neighbours sometimes joked saying that instead of electing him mayor, they should have told him to open a pancake restaurant!

 While her father prepared his delicious pancakes, Annabelle began preparing the toppings with fresh whipped cream and delicious fruit and berries.
Everything was soon ready, and the two sat down to have a wonderful breakfast together. Annabelle had been all smiles the whole time, but as Nicholas was getting ready to eat, she suddenly went a little quiet.

“Daddy… I know why you did this. I am sorry that I behaved as I did yesterday. You and Coco didn’t do anything wrong”.
She seemed sad and apologetic, and Nicholas smiled softly and warmly at her.
“I’m sorry if I made you feel bad, honey. It is true that it had been a while since we had done anything together. But you are my only daughter, and most special to me. You know that, right?”
“Of course I do! And I understand… I get that you would be happy to spend time with someone who likes the same things you do. And I do like Coco as well…”
“So, are we good?” smiled Nicholas.
“Sure!” Annabelle beamed back at him.
And just like that, all was well between them once again.

Then, they heard footsteps coming down the stairs. It was Coco and Freya, surely lured out of bed by the wonderful smell coming out from the kitchen.
“Pancakes!” exclaimed Coco, and Mr McFarlane smiled and invited them to sit down.

The four of them were finally able to enjoy a joyful and delicious breakfast! No salt in the coffee this time, luckily! :D
—

Some time later, as Annabelle was out in the garden, she felt a presence behind her…

And when she turned around, she saw Coco, holding a flower and blushing slightly.
“Umm… Annabelle, I am not sure if I did anything wrong, but you seemed upset yesterday, so… This is for you”.

He held the flower for her to take, which Annabelle did, smiling a little, and deciding not to comment on the fact that he seemed to have taken it from her mother’s flowerbed just behind him.
“Oh, please don’t worry Coco, you did nothing wrong” she said, and then smiled shyly at him. “And… thank you!”

It is the thought that counts after all. :)

 

A series of inexplicable events

 

It was Friday night. The annoying, high-pitched sound of the alarm clock made Teri Chocolate wake up with a startle. As she looked through the window, she saw that it was still night-time. It couldn’t have been past four in the morning. Why was the alarm sounding?

Sleepily, she sat on the bed of the guest room she shared with her husband, Frasier. They were still guests in their friends the McFarlanes’ house. Her childhood friend Elizabeth, her husband Nicholas, the mayor of Arcfield, and their children Annabelle and Albie were out for the weekend, on an official friendly visit to a neighbouring village. She quickly turned the alarm off.

“Frasier, did you set up the alarm at this hour?”
“Hmmm… of course not, darling…”
Her husband was still half-asleep. At least he hadn’t woke up with a scare, as she had. Her heart was still pounding, and she was thinking of going down to the kitchen to get a glass of milk when she heard the cries of someone else the alarm had woken up. She quickly went to her baby daughter Crème’s cot.

“Mommy!” cried the little one, visibly scared by the sudden and loud sound. Teri hugged her and whispered soft words in her ear, trying to calm her.
At that time, her oldest daughter Freya appeared in the room, rubbing her eyes.
“Mom…? Is everything alright…? What was that sound?”
“Oh, just the alarm clock, it must be broken, I don’t know why it went off. Please, tell me the twins are still asleep”.
“Oh, yes, don’t worry, they are, and Coco as well. He always sleeps like a log. Do you want me to calm Crème so that you can go back to bed?”.
Teri felt grateful that her youngest children, twins Kabe and Breeze, were sleeping in little Albie’s room, that was farther away from her room, and that they hadn’t woken up. She wasn’t sure she could handle three crying babies at this late hour. She thanked Freya and left her little sister to her, knowing that she would get Crème to relax again shortly. Her daughter was great with her little siblings, and she felt proud at how quickly she was maturing.
With that happy thought, she went back to bed, but it took her a long time to fall asleep again, and she could feel that her husband Frasier was also tossing and turning.

The next morning, which seemed to have arrived a second after she had finally managed to drift off to sleep, Teri was positively exhausted. She had made some well-deserved coffee and tea for her husband and herself, since the children didn’t usually join them for breakfast on Saturday mornings. She watched the toaster absentmindedly as it prepared the bread, afraid of falling asleep on top of it.

In the living room, a similarly tired Frasier was getting everything ready for breakfast. Even though it was the weekend, he had a busy day ahead; ever since moving into the McFarlane’s house, he had been scouring the town of Arcfield in search of a suitable place to re-open their Chocolaterie. They would have to start small, but he couldn’t wait to start making money again and possibly being able to afford a new house, even if it was small, for their family. He didn’t want to overstay their welcome at their friends’ home.

It didn’t take long for Teri to come back with the rest of things they needed for their morning meal, and, unexpectedly, their daughter Freya also made an appearance in the room.
“Good morning!” she said, brightly.
“You sure are up early today, sweetheart” said Frasier, surprised.
“Poor thing” Teri said “The alarm woke her up as well last night. Didn’t you manage to sleep well afterwards?”
“Oh no, I slept quite well! I just woke up early and thought I’d come and have breakfast with you”.
Teri was quite pleased. Her Freya was growing up indeed. She was sure that Elizabeth’s daughter, Annabelle, who was very well-behaved, was being a good influence on her.
“Come sit down with us honey, you can have my toast and some milk. Would you be a darling and bring a cup for you and a knife for the jam from the kitchen?”
“Sure!”

And thus, the three rabbits sat down to have a cosy breakfast together. Frasier even turned on the TV and put on some cartoons for Freya. She was delighted! They hadn’t had a TV on their old house and it was quite the novelty for her.
Unfortunately, the peaceful and cosy moment was disrupted when Frasier, after taking a single sip of his coffee, coughed violently and almost spit it.

“What in the world is this?!” he exclaimed, the face red and an expression of disgust in his face.
“What’s the matter, Frasier?” Teri asked, quite startled. “Are you alright?”
“Teri, you put salt in my coffee! It tastes awful!”
“What?!”

Frasier got up quickly and went to the kitchen, desperate to remove the foul taste from his mouth. He opened the kitchen sink and started drinking water directly from it. Teri went after him, panicking.
“Oh, darling, I’m so sorry, I don’t know how this could have happened! Maybe I got the wrong container, as this isn’t our home and I slept so little…”
“That’s… OK…” said Frasier, between gulps of tap water.

A while later, an exhausted-looking Frasier went out of the door to resume his looking for suitable buildings for their business. Teri went to see him off.
“Are you sure you don’t want anything else to eat, my love? You basically didn’t have breakfast today”.
“No, that’s quite fine my dear, don’t worry. I couldn’t bear to have another bite”.
“Oh, I’m so sorry, I know that awful coffee spoiled your appetite, please forgive me. I don’t know how that happened!”.
“Don’t worry about it, it was just a mistake, I know you are also tired”. Frasier embraced his wife and gave her a goodbye kiss. “I hope to come back with good news today!”.
“Have a great day and good luck, my love”.

After her husband left, Teri busied herself with the cleaning of the house. Given that her family was living there for free, the least she could do was help Elizabeth keep the place clean.

So, she cleared the table and washed the dishes…

Looked for cobwebs…

Made the bed…

And, as she was getting started on the bathroom, she heard giggling and screaming from the next room over. She went quickly there…

And found Crème and Kabe happily playing and jumped on the bed! The bed she had just made! She panicked when she saw that Kabe was about to fall off from it and shrieked as she quickly went to pick him up. 

Afterwards she went to check on little Breeze, who was still happily asleep, same as her son Coco. Her youngest daughter was an angel and slept most of the day, but she was worried about Kabe who was already quite the troublemaker. Crème was also very lively. Teri sighed, she probably should be thankful that her children were all energetic and healthy, but it did get exhausting sometimes to keep up with all five of them. Freya was nowhere to be seen; she was probably playing out in the garden. Elizabeth, being quite the green thumb, had a gorgeous and well kept-garden.

After looking for the vacuum cleaner, Teri went back to the living room to start cleaning the floor and… saw that the table was full of cups, plates and other things they had used during breakfast. She was perplexed. Hadn’t she tidied and cleaned up all that already?
She began to feel nervous. First the coffee, and now this? How could she have forgotten to clear the table? And she was almost positive that she HAD, too! She let go of the vacuum and wringed her hands nervously. Could it be that she was going crazy? Oh, goodness, what would people say? Frasier would leave her, and he would probably take their children with him. She would never see them again…!
She took a deep breath, realising that she was getting anxious over nothing. She was probably just tired and confused. She thought of calling her mother, Patricia. Talking to her always calmed her down and put things on perspective.

Just as she was thinking this, the phone rang. Surprised, Teri ran to get it. She picked up the handle…
And the phone kept ringing! Teri panicked, unable to make the high-pitched sound stop. How was this possible? Was the phone broken? It was then that she saw the smallest piece of tape glued to the button that would have made it possible for her to answer the call when picking up the handle. Just then, she understood everything, or at least she had a strong suspicion of what was happening. The phone had already stopped ringing when she managed to get the tape off, so she hoped whoever it was would call again.
She breathed deeply once again, and with her sweetest voice, called out:
“Freya, darling, where are you?”
 “I’m… I’m in my room, mommy, doing my homework!”
Freya’s voice wasn’t coming from her bedroom though, and Teri quickly followed the sound…

… and caught Freya red-handed, standing on the kitchen cart, apparently trying to set a new trap in the front door!
“FREYA CHOCOLATE!” Screamed a furious Teri “You’re going to kill yourself! Get down here this instant!”
“Oops!” said Freya. As her mother quickly bent forward to catch her, she tried to avoid her and in doing so, lost her grip on the bucket full of water she had been trying to set up on the door…

Which fell directly on her mother, soaking her from top to bottom.
For a split second the two of them just looked at each other in silence, but when Teri started screaming again Freya quickly got off the cart and fled inside the house!
“It was you! The alarm clock, the salt, the dishes!”
Furious, maybe even more furious at the fact her Freya was laughing as she ran, Teri ran after her mischievous daughter, and in her way, without thinking, grabbed the only weapon she could find; the vacuum cleaner!

She did manage to grab the hem of Freya’s dress with it!
“Nooo!” Freya exclaimed. "Don't vacuum me!"

She did finally manage to free herself, and escaped once again, this time out the front door and into town! Teri, frustrated and very angry, thought briefly about going after her, but just then the phone rang again. It was her friend Elizabeth, who found the whole ordeal quite funny when Teri vented to her about it, wishing her children were as well-behaved as her friend’s.
Later that day, when both Frasier and Freya were back, Teri sat her daughter down to have a stern chat with her.

“Young lady, consider yourself grounded! What were you thinking?! Waking us up in the middle of the night, don’t you know your father has been out all day, every day, looking for a place to open our shop again? Why would you spoil his breakfast like that?! And you could have killed yourself climbing on that cart with wheels…!”
“It has brakes, mommy, I was using them…”
“That’s NOT the point! It’s enough that your baby siblings are such troublemakers, you must stop doing these things! I thought I had made it clear back in our old home that they were NOT FUNNY!”.
“Ah, mommy, but you have to admit that they WERE quite funny” Freya said, half-smiling. “Your face when…”.
“That’s enough”. Frasier said sternly, interrupting his daughter after seeing how angry Teri was getting again. “A joke’s a joke, but I think you’re old enough to know when something’s too much. Apologize to you mother”.
Freya stopped talking and lowered her eyes. Her father seldom scolded her, and she was beginning to realise that maybe she had gone a little too far with her pranks. She supposed they were right about some of the things they were saying. She sighed and looked at them again.
“I’m sorry, mommy. And I’m sorry about your coffee and waking you up, daddy”.
“That’s better. We forgive you, but please think things through a bit more next time. Now, go to bed”.
Freya obeyed and went upstairs. Frasier put a hand on his wife’s shoulder and then sat in one of the armchairs. Teri looked exhausted.

“I can’t believe she’s doing this again. I thought we were done with her pranks… And I had thought she was maturing!”
“Ah, but I think, despite everything, that this is a good thing” to Teri’s surprise, her husband was smiling. “Freya had been so down lately, since we left our old village… I believe that the fact that she’s pranking us again means that she’s feeling better, more like herself”.
Teri hadn’t thought of it that way. She looked at her husband tiredly, but with a smile.
“You know… I think you might be right”.

The arrival of the Chocolate Rabbit family

It was a quiet Saturday afternoon in the village of Arcfield, and Mayor Nicholas McFarlane was taking advantage of this well-deserved free time to catch up on Sylvania’s happenings by reading the newspaper. It was also his duty, after all, to be in the know of things happening in the neighbouring towns and villages. 

His wife, Elizabeth, was happily taking care of her plants. She has quite the green thumb!

And their eldest daughter, Annabelle, was playing with her baby brother, Albie, and taking care of him.
Suddenly, there was a knock on the door. Not wasting a moment, Nicholas went to open it.

At the other side of the door were Teri Chocolate and her children Freya and Coco.
“Greetings, esteemed guests!” said Mr McFarlane in an ostentatious way, as he smiled widely. He kept the door open for these members of the Chocolate family to enter the house. They had been expecting them.
“Oh, Nicholas! It is so good to see you! Freya, Coco, say hello to Mr McFarlane”.
The children did so; Coco smiled as Nicholas gave him his hand to shake, but Freya greeted him with a small voice. She didn’t seem so happy to be there, but Nicholas didn’t seem offended.
“Where’s Frasier?” he asked, inquiring about Teri’s husband.
“Oh, I asked him to stop in the town for a while and get some things. He’ll arrive shortly”.

Teri and her children entered the house and were immediately greeted by a happy Elizabeth, who embraced Teri warmly. They had been friends ever since they were young, and the Chocolates had recently lost their home in an awful natural disaster and had to leave their town behind. When Elizabeth had learned of this by her friend’s letters, she had immediately invited her and her family to move to Arcfield and live in their house while they got on their feet again.
“Teri, I’m so glad you are all alright! Ah, your children have grown so big already!”
“Elizabeth, how can I ever thank you enough for having us? Oh, it’s been so difficult…!”
“No need to thank me at all! What are friends for? Please, come in, this is your home”.
The children greeted Mrs McFarlane as well, and then Coco proceeded to admire their TV while Freya stood quietly to the side.

The two women went to the living room, where Nicholas was waiting for them.
“I made coffee for you two ladies, and now I’ll be out of your hair so that you can catch up”, he said with a laugh.
“Thank you so much, darling”, said Elizabeth, smiling warmly at her husband. Even though he was now the mayor, he had always been a modest and good-natured man, calm and cheerful in every situation. The position hadn’t changed him at all. She loved him with all her heart.

It was then that Annabelle entered the room with little Albie in her arms. She handed him to her mother.
“Good afternoon, Mrs Chocolate” she said, smiling politely at Teri.
“You already knew Annabelle from when she was little, Teri, and here’s Albie, my baby son”.
“Oh, Annabelle, you have grown so much! You’re a lovely young lady now. And Albie’s so precious! I do hope that you can become friends with my Freya, she’s not taking everything that’s happened all that well…”.
“Ah yes, the poor thing, I did find her very quiet. I remember her quite a bit chattier. Don’t worry, Terri”, said Mrs McFarlane. “I’m sure it will not take long at all for her to adapt”.
Another knock in the door could be heard just then. Once again, Nicholas went to open it.

Out in the entrance was Frasier Chocolate, visibly out of breath, pushing his twins’ pram and carrying two packages. He had left one of them in the floor to rest a bit as soon as he had knocked on the door. Little Crème immediately ran up to Nicholas and tugged at his trouser leg.
“Hi!” she said, all smiles.
“I come bearing gifts” said Frasier, smiling tiredly at his old friend.
“And in very good company, as I can see!” Nicholas said, laughing as he petted Crème’s head. He helped Frasier with the children and the packages and they all went inside the house.

As soon as they entered the dining room, Crème climbed on top of an expensive-looking chair and “ooh-ed” at the big TV. Her father, half-panicking, tried to have her climb down without success, and Nicholas told him with a laugh not to worry.

Elizabeth and Teri entered the room, and after greeting Frasier, the former stared in surprise at the three babies for a moment.
“Teri…” she finally said, “Had you mentioned in your letters that you had had another three children?”
Teri was left speechless for a moment and then panicked visibly. She approached her friend with an apologetic look.
“Oh, Liz, I’m so sorry, did I really not mention that there were seven of us? Oh, I’m so sorry, please forgive me, I swear that I did not mean to trick you! It’s just, everything has been so hectic, and…”
Elizabeth laughed and made a gesture to calm her friend.
“Please, don’t worry, Teri! I was just a bit surprised for a moment, that’s all. There’s more than enough room for all of you. We’ll welcome the company; the house is sure going to be lively now!”
“We’ll ask the carpenter for new furniture if needed” said Nicholas with a smile.
Teri and Frasier looked at each other, amazed at their friends’ generosity. Their family had been through a lot and being able to come live with the McFarlanes at their village of Arcfield was an amazing blessing. They couldn’t have been more grateful.
“Teri asked me to go to the stores in the village and get a couple of things” said Frasier, pointing to the two packages over the table. One of them is a cake from the Village Cake Shop…”
“Oh, they make wonderful cakes in there!” smiled Nicholas. “We can have it as a dessert for lunch”.

“…And the other one”, Teri continued, smiling “is a gift for you, Liz, my dearest friend!”.
“Oh, there was no need!” exclaimed Mrs McFarlane, happy and surprised. After setting Albie down on a chair, she opened the package and saw that the present was a book. On the cover, it said “Wild Flowers & Trees from Sylvania”. “A book on plants! Thank you so much, Teri and Frasier!”.
“It’s the least I could do” said Teri, smiling calmly. “You have always loved your plants!”.
While all this happened, the Chocolate oldest children were exploring the house that was to be their new home. They couldn’t help but be impressed at how big it was. Their big family had been quite cramped in their old house, the one they had lost. Coco found his way to the garden…

And Annabelle, that felt quite shy around the adults, had seen Freya go up to the second floor and had followed her. She found her on the balcony. It took her a few seconds to gather the courage to speak:
“Uhm… Hi. I’m Annabelle”.
“…”
“… You must be Freya. My mum told me you were going to come. I’m really happy you’re here! I get bored sometimes with just my baby brother, and…”
“…”
“Eh… Your brother seems nice”.

“He can act really dumb sometimes”, said Freya bitterly. Annabelle was kind of startled when she replied, seeing that she hadn’t said anything until that point. She wasn’t sure what to answer to that, so she was glad when the other girl turned around and continued to speak.

“I don’t like being here. My house is gone, and I had to leave my friends behind. I miss them”.
Annabelle stayed silent for a moment, trying to think of a way to cheer Freya up. Freya interpreted her silence as the conversation being over and went to the door to leave, but Annabelle stopped her.
“Wait!”

When Freya turned around, she saw that Annabelle was holding a beautiful pink ribbon, offering it to her.
“I made this, but it doesn’t really look good on me. But I… I think it would suit you perfectly. Do you want it? It’s a gift”.
Freya stared at her blankly, and Annabelle felt silly for a moment. It was all she had been able to think of doing, she had put her hand in her skirt’s pocket and had offered the ribbon to Freya without thinking. She thought for sure that she was going to reject it…
But instead, Freya took and wore it in her ear. Annabelle smiled widely.

“You look so pretty! I knew it would suit you, Freya!”.
For the first time in a very long time, Freya smiled softly. She hadn’t expected this kindness from Annabelle. She had thought that she would be a snotty, spoiled rich girl, but that couldn’t be farther away from the truth. Maybe her mother was right and she could make new friends in this new place after all...
“Do you want to go down? I think my mum is going to make lunch. We could help!”.
Freya smiled once again.
“Sure!”.