Information

HollyBlue
Legacy Name: HollyBlue

The Glade Charlie
Owner: GAMECUBE

Age: 15 years, 2 months, 1 week

Born: February 17th, 2009

Adopted: 15 years, 2 months, 1 week ago (Legacy)

Adopted: February 17th, 2009 (Legacy)

Statistics

• Level: 13
   
• Strength: 15
   
• Defense: 10
   
• Speed: 10
   
• Health: 10
   
• HP: 10/10
   
• Intelligence: 18
   
• Books Read: 18
• Food Eaten: 0
• Job: Free Gift Distributor

It's a beautiful day in Centropolis; the sun is shining, there's not a cloud in the sky, and even Sagittarius is in a good mood. As you wander around the city, you decide to visit the Centropolis Green Project, a trash heap that was transformed into a beautiful garden during one week in Spring 2012.

You enter, and with surprise, you note how empty it is today. A lone Glade Charlie sits at the bench looking desperately depressed. She notices you enter and sighs, flicking a pebble into the flowerbed with a grassy green toe.

"Here to laugh at me some more, are you?" She turns to you, and pulls a face.
"I- No, not at all. I was just coming to see the garden... What's wrong?" You ask. She glares at you and shakes her head, crushing a can of Sour Apple Zoom Soda in her paw.

"Like you lot care. I was happy here, you know, before all this came along."
"But it's beautiful!" You exclaim. The following venomous glare from the young Charlie unsettles you. "I just thought, you know, you being a Glade pet, wouldn't-"
"Oh, for Shinwas sake, you Subeteans, you're all the same!" She kicks the squashed soda can into a delicate bed of tulips. The flowers quiver as if in fear. She puts on a whiny, sarcastic voice. "Nightmare pets are creepy and nasty. Well hey, you ever met Eric?? Cause he's a softie. Eww, zombies, who could love a Graveyard pet? Well what about Skitters? Sure, he's not a pet, but he's a zombie, and one of the nicest guys I know. He's got Fantine, right? I like that girl. Sees the niceness in people who nobody else would give a second glance to.

I mean, I'm sick of this! What about how the poor experimental pets feel, misunderstood and unwanted, abandoned and lonely because to you, they're just science gone wrong! And the Steamwork pets - they're not the mindless, soulless robots you make them out to be, you're the real robots here, stereotyping, controlling robots!

Just because I'm a Glade pet, it doesn't mean I chose to be! You make your pets drink potions and elixirs, you zap them with experimental rays causing them to mutate, and worst of all, you expect them to behave in the way new 'colour' suggests!" She has a desperate, crazed look on her face; you realise she's probably been alone and unhappy for a long time, and your shock from her sudden outburst is slowly replaced by a feeling of sympathy for the lonely young Charlie.

"I'm really sorry, I didn't meant to upset you... I had no idea. What's your name?" She looks up, a little unsure. You tell her yours, and slowly, she responds. "I'm Holly Blue... But I prefer just Blue."
"Nice to meet you." You smile, and the angry smirk on her face begins to fade.
"So I suppose you want to hear my story?" You nod. She moves along the bench a little, and you sit in the space next to her.

"I was someones pet, once. It was okay, I guess, but it was boring for a Charlie like me. I wanted to have fun, cause a bit of trouble now and then; living with ten other pets who were so eager to please their owner was just dreadful. My sister, Emmy, never stopped teasing me for my reluctance to join in. She's such a tell-tale. We've never got along, and we never will.

Anyway, one day, my owner convinced me to try my luck in the Zapper. It wouldn't hurt, she told me, just a bit of fun! So yeah, I tried it. I stepped in, nodded at Euclid, and watched as he pulled the lever. At once, I felt a difference. My feet were heavier, I couldn't stand on my back legs, and my nose was swollen. My minion had been turned into slime, and I was coated in it. I shook myself to try and get it off, and a shower of pink dust came off me! Straight away, I realised something was wrong. I ran outside to check myself in the mirror." Blue's eyes were wide and blank as she relived the memory. "I was a Sweetheart Bovyne." She whispered.

"Of course, as soon as Emmy and the others saw me, they laughed and laughed. I knew it'd never be forgotten. They kept calling me Princess Moo," You hold back a giggle, she was upset enough already. "So I ran away. As much as I hated my new colour, I knew the only person who'd be kind enough to help me would be Esther. I visited her, told her what had happened, and she promised me a Charlie Elixir if I helped her in the Glade for a day. I agreed, but I broke my promise; stealing the potion, and running off to live in the streets of Centropolis." She sighed.

"I still regret that now, but I've never been brave enough to make up for it. I lived here, in this trash heap, for a rather long time. I got myself a nice little spot by the tires in the far corner where I slept." She points to the back corner, where a red rose bush now stands proud. It could almost be mocking her. "There were plenty of newspapers to curl up into, and it was peaceful. Until Spring 2012, that is.

The Centropolis Green Project ruined my home. In one week, the only place I'd ever been proud enough to call my place was destroyed - and it gets worse! I returned on the final day of the project to see if they'd thought to leave me a corner or something to remind me of home, and as I was peering through the bushes, Esther came in and caught me. She scolded me for stealing the potion in front of everyone there. It was so embarrassing, so many people were there that day. And even that's not the end of it. Just as Esther turned to leave, her bag caught on a branch, and one of her precious Glade Potions slipped out. I dived to catch it, to try and make up for the trouble I'd caused her, but I misjudged the distance and the shining glass bottle smashed on my back. I felt the familiar sensation of a colour change...

I reluctantly turned my head to see that I'd turned Glade Charlie." She lifts a paw and examines a fat yellow caterpillar crawling up her wrist, before she grabs it with her other paw and pops it into her mouth. You stiffen slightly as you hear the crunch. Blue sighs as she chews, spraying the air in front of her with chewed caterpillar juice. Your eyes widen a little, and you wonder how you manage to get yourself into these strange situations.

"Ester... She was okay about it. She told me that even though I probably deserved it, she understood how much I hated not being able to express myself as the Charlie I am. She said she'd offer me a replacement potion if I could cover the cost of the one I'd previously used and the new one. So I stayed here, got a job with the council as an eco-friendly insect controller. Basically, I'm paid minimum wage to sit here and eat the bugs that have invaded my home. Not that I mind the eating part, they're actually not that bad. Wanna try?"

Blue plucked a millipede out of the soil and dangled it in front of you, an amused expression on her face as she observes the uncomfortable one on yours.

"Erm.. Thanks, Blue, but.. I just ate lunch, I'm, er, not really that hungry.." You stutter.

"Suit yourself," Blue shrugs, pops the insect in her mouth and continues talking. "So I stayed here for a year or so, earned myself the sP to pay Ester back, and then knocked back the Common potion in one, excited to be myself again. However, coating yourself in a potion isn't the usual way to perform a colour change, and so counteracting it by drinking a different potion... Clearly, it didn't work."

"Oh, Blue, I'm so sorry..." A wave of emotion hits you, and you really start to feel for her. "I wish I could help, but I can barely afford to keep my own pets fed, not alone a potion."

"Don't worry, Ester felt just as bad as you do. She offered me another potion, free of charge, and we thought, seeing as the last potion went on my skin, maybe to counteract it, I just needed to bathe in a different potion. But that too was unsuccessful. So since then, I've not really known what to do with myself.

I just live. Every day, I wake up, eat some bugs, get laughed at by schoolkids, eat some more bugs and then go back to bed. Wake up again, and repeat." She sighs again. "Just last night I was awoken by pranksters throwing sticks at me, calling me a tramp, a misfit, saying I don't belong here so why don't I just go away. And trust me, if I could, I would. But where would I go? I hate it back where I used to live. I mean, it wouldn't be so bad here if it was possible for a pet to rent an apartment, but apparently they have to have a Subetean owner or they're just considered a stray. The last thing I want is for them to take me to that awful Adoption Centre, so I lied to the council, told them I had an owner and everything went back to how it was."

"So they have no idea that you actually live here? That every night, you're forced to sleep out in the cold?!" You think back to the first time you saw her, sat alone, spitting sarcastic remarks and angry glares at anyone that dared make eye contact with her. But the more you get to know her, the more you realise how much she was suffering. How much you need to help her.

"Blue... I.. I have an idea. If you're interested. "

A few months later...

It's another beautiful afternoon in Centropolis. Not the typical, warm sunshine that always seems to accompany these feel-good days, but the cool, refreshing feel of autumn drawing in. The leaves crunch as you wade through their sea of orange and gold. You make your way towards the Centropolis Green, as is your usual route home these days. You stop at your favourite bench, and sit whilst you wait for Blue to finish up her duties for the day. She's smiling, genuinely smiling, you observe. And she's talking to a rather pretty Silver Keeto. You turn your attention to your phone while she says good bye to the mysterious girl.

"Oh hello there, missy, who might that have been?!" You enquire.

"Oh, you know, no one really, just possibly maybe someone who might be taking me out on Friday?" She gives you a quick, hopeful glance.

"Blue!! You have a date?!" You shriek excitedly.

"Shushhh, what if she hears you?! And anyway, it's not a date date, we're only going for a wander down Riverside, you know, get to know each other a bit..."

"Well, don't be too late home, you're not the only one seeing someone tonight, and I want you to finally meet him. Take your keys in case you're home first, you know what the service at the Irion Inn is like. And be safe, I hear there's a group of young Charlies causing mischief around the city these days. "

"Oh, you know me, I'm not scared of any silly schoolkids anymore. And they've undoubtedly heard of who my big brother is now, I hardly think they're going to pick on me.

"Okay, point taken. But seeing as I'm not legally responsible for your safety, I still have to be a typical worried owner! "

The pair of you giggle as you climb the steps to the cosy flat you both call home.

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