Patchwork People

Pinpin woke to find sunlight bursting through the cracks of the hut, blinding her. Just like at home, she thought wearily, lamenting the lack of pillows as she yawned and rolled over to give herself a few extra minutes of snug. She kept her eyes open just a little, looking over to the other side of the room where she expected Tatterbat to be dozing. To her surprise, however, the space was empty. What’s more, the blanket he’d slept in was already packed neatly away in the corner, as if he’d never been there. It was so confusing that Pinpin abandoned the idea of sleep and sat up, pondering where he could be.

A clattering sound came from outdoors. Well, that answers that. Interested to see what was going on, Pinpin got out of her rug and peered toward the door. It lay ajar, with the outside world peeking in as she saw Tatterbat’s silhouette moving about within. Up already? She should’ve expected it, really. There wasn’t a day in the past year where she had been up before he had.

After a brief struggle, Pinpin managed to hoist herself out onto her feet. The consequence of all those snack days as finally showing itself, as her pudgy belly weighed her down. As she took a step, her leg overcome with an intense numbness, causing her to stumble. Blasted pins and needles, she thought to herself, wincing at the sensation as she carefully hopped over to the door on her good leg. She held herself up with her net, which thankfully Tatterbat had left beside her, and ventured toward the outdoors.

“Mornin, Tatter.” she yawned, watching her friend organise all their belongings. Tatterbat was moving about on a small rug, placing some food items in the middle of it while tidying the rest of their things away into their sacks.

“Oh!” Tatterbat replied, quickly turning his head in her direction and freezing in place. “G’morning, Pinpin! Didn’t expect you up so soon.”

Pinpin rubbed her eyes and squinted at the sky. “What time is it?”

“Somewhere between 8 and 10, I guess. There’s no clocks round here to tell.”

Tatterbat’s estimate did not bode will with Pinpin. She had planned for them to be up at 7 at the latest. With every second counting down toward their time limit, it was not optimal to be starting late in the morning.

“We need to get moving quick! Morning might be almost over already, and we have to reach the woods before evening time, or else we’ll be starved for time.” Pinpin said.

She looked at the food on the rug. Her belly made a grumble of anticipation.

“What’s all this? Why didn’t you wake me?”

“I was gonna,” Tatterbat looked away and rubbed his head, “But you looked so peaceful asleep. Besides, we have to keep our strength up today, right? We need a proper meal.”

Pinpin looked at him in surprise. It wasn’t often Tatterbat was as altruistic as this. Helpful, sure, but not overly eager to do things like tidy up. Perhaps the journey had awakened something in her friend. Still, it was by no means a bad thing. The corner of Pinpin’s mouth curled upwards as she glanced down toward the food. It was mostly sweet sugarballs and spelch goop.

“Did we not pack anything savory?” Pinpin asked

“I didn’t. Did you?” Tatterbat said.

“No… I’ll be honest, that completely slipped my mind.”

“Well, I hope this is alright then.”

“I’m not complaining!” It wasn’t her usual breakfast by a long shot, and not nearly as healthy, but one she would enjoy ravenously. Even the smell of it was making her drool.

“Eat up, friend. We got a long way to go today.” Tatterbat said

“Thank you, buddy.” Pinpin grinned, flashing a smile as she walked over to help him out. The two finished preparations quickly, Pinpin placing down the last few snacks and making sure her bedding was tidied away. After all was done, the two sat down on the rug Tatterbat had laid out, and began to tuck in to their morning meal.

“What’s the plan today then, captain?” Tatterbat asked between bites, spitting crumbs everywhere.

“Well, given that we’ve lost a lot of morning, we need to move fast. If we don’t take any breaks, we can reach the woods in a few hours.” Pinpin explained. “That gives us the rest of the day to find Ragworm and start heading home, and tomorrow we finish the rest of the journey in one go.”

“Sounds good! Think we can manage it all today?”

Pinpin pumped her fist. “Of course! We’ve made great progress. That Ragworm will be ours in no time.”

Tatterbat mimicked her actions. “Yeah!”

Pinpin grabbed the map from her backpack and placed it in front of them. With her free hand, she opened it out, while eating a sugarball in the other. She pointed at the area just before the woods, marked with scribbles and lines.

“I was looking at this last night. What do you think that says?” she asked Tatterbat.

Tatterbat squinted at the messy handwriting. “Not sure… ‘The Overgrowth’?”

“Yeah, that’s what I got too.”

“So, any information on that, bookworm?”

Pinpin shook his head and shrugged. “Sadly, I don’t have anything. None of my books seemed to mention it.”

“Well. I have no idea what it could be. By the looks of it, it might be difficult to get through.” Tatterbat said, running his hand over the thick lines on the paper.

“With a name like ‘Overgrowth’ I’m sure it’ll be a squeeze.”

“Man, this journey sure has been tough on us.” Tatterbat sighed.

Pinpin pulled a face. “Yeah, you can say that again. I don’t like the look of this drawing. Scribbles are never a nice sign, and there’s a lot of notes I can’t decipher.”

“Well, I guess we won’t know the danger until we get there.”

Sliding the map back on top of her rucsac, Pinpin finished her breakfast and got to her feet. She stretched her arms and legs, warming herself up to prepare for the journey ahead. A path lay some distance down the grassland, winding toward a woodland in between two fields.

“That right there.” she said, pointing at the pathway. “That’s the route we need to take. Should lead us very close to our destination before we need to turn off.”

Pinpin looked down at Tatterbat, holding out her hands to help him to his feet. Brushing off his spare crumbs, Tatterbat reached over and grabbed his pack, hoisting it over his shoulder and tying it around his waist. Pinpin lifted up her rucsac too, placing it on her back after making sure everything was in it. After grabbing their nets and giving the hut one last tidy, the two set off toward the pathway, and began to hike down the road toward the Ragworm Woods.

The two of them walked through field after field, climbing up hillsides and weaving between short patches of woodland within the Patchwork Plains. A warm breeze led them gently along the path, weaving through Pinpin’s hair and threads. The day was pleasant, and seemed to radiate a good aura that boosted Pinpin’s confidence of the adventure.

No matter the size, we will snag Ragworm, she thought to herself, imagining just what the bug would look like. Did it have fangs? Horns? Was it the size of her foot, or her entire person? She’d brought along some of the fishing net they used back by Shimmerstring Lake just in case, but hopefully she wouldn’t need to use it. Anything that large would be a pain to take back home.

The crunch of the pebbly pathway soon turned to dirt, revealing a set of footprints from a previous wanderer long since gone. Pinpin started placing her footsteps in that of the existing trail, making jumps and steps to perfectly mimic the journey this adventurer had taken. Around them, pink string turned to orange, orange to blue, and blue to gold as they went through various patches, climbing over the fences that bordered the sections. Still the footpath continued, and Pinpin kept up her little game of following the prints to a tee.

Eventually, at the edge of a golden field inhabited by a singular, branching tree, the footprints veered sharply off the path, as if the person they belonged to had spotted something of dire attention. Pinpin looked at where they went, but the prints were swiftly lost within the string, hidden away by the dancing threads. . A small undergrowth lay ahead. Taking out the map, Pinpin realised that this too was where they were supposed to deviate from the path.

“That’s weird.” she muttered to herself.

“What?” replied Tatterbat.

“These footprints. They’re going in the same direction we are.”

“Must be from some other hiker.” Tatterbat shrugged.

“Yeah…” Pinpin pondered. “But don’t you think it’s a little coincidental?.”

“We aren’t the first to try and catch the Ragworm. I wouldn’t worry about it.”

“Ok, but-”

“Stop worrying and let’s head off.” Tatterbat grinned, bopping her on the arm as he took the lead into the undergrowth.

Pinpin tutted at him and followed suit. Despite Tatterbat saying otherwise, she couldn’t help but ponder over the prints. Something about this journey seemed suspicious. From the very beginning, things seemed to go wrong at critical moments, as if some bad omen was cursing them. The rock thrown at Rugtorn Cliffs; the missing boat at Shimmerstring Lake. Now these footprints, that were heading to the Ragworm Woods. Were they being followed? Or were they following someone else?

Pinpin shook her head. It did her no good to be dwelling on such thoughts. Besides, they were so close now, she couldn’t imagine what other tricks their potential stalker could even have in store. That is, if there even was a stalker. A string of bad luck seemed most capable. That’s what Tatterbat would say, anyway.

The undergrowth wasn’t too thick or thorny, and apart from a bit of mud, held no threat or trouble. Pinpin was careful not to get herself caught on anything sharp, touching her forehead as a stark reminder of what could happen. Tatterbat was leading the way, swiping a path with his net to make it easier to get through. As he pushed away the final bush that lead toward the fields, the two saw the Ragworm Woods on the other side.

Or, at least, they would’ve seen it, had it not been obscured by a gigantic rope wall.

“Oh…” Pinpin’s words were lost in awe.

“I take it that’s The Overgrowth.” Tatterbat said.

The Overgrowth loomed over them. It was as if the strands of string near the woodland had been magnified, each one much taller and thicker than anything Pinpin had seen in her life. The rope strands grew high - much higher than any string grass anywhere else in the Patchwork Plains, to the point where she had to crane her neck up to see the tops. They swayed in the wind, held up by their sheer textile strength, and made creaking noises as it did. The strands themselves were also extremely thick, with a width that was almost as wide as Pinpin herself. The multi coloured wall surrounded the Ragworm Woods on all sides, with only the treetops giving any indication that there was something behind it.

Pinpin turned to face Tatterbat, who at the same time turned to look at her. They both were holding scared expressions, which Pinpin tried to twist into a false smile.

“Just because its big doesn’t mean it’s dangerous, right?” she said, stammering.

“Of course not!” Tatterbat rubbed the back of his head. “As long as, you know, we don’t get lost.”

Pinpin gulped. If they got lost or separated within those thick rope vines, it would be impossible to get back out.

Regardless, it was something they’d have to knuckle through. They had come too far now to give up. Compared to rock-throwing socks and bug-surfing, this would be a piece of cake. Hopefully, anyway. Pinpin couldn’t ask for much more.

They made their way over to the edge of The Overgrowth. Small, intertwining gaps were visible between each length of rope, each one curving around the strand behind it. Pinpin could barely see a few feet in before the view was blocked by the thick fibres of the rope behind. Once they made it in, they would have to essentially guess where they were going.

“Don’t split up, ok.” Tatterbat whispered to Pinpin.

“Of course.” she replied. Pinpin held out her hand, and Tatterbat grasped it carefully, after which the two began to make their way into the looming foliage of The Overgrowth.

The Overgrowth was even more complex than it had appeared from the outside. It was packed with numerous twists and turns, and passages so narrow that Pinpin found herself having to hold her breath while she squeezed between the gigantic strands of rope of rope. Several cords had fallen over, making for small walls that they had to climb and traverse over, and sometimes a crowded cluster would deny access entirely, forcing them to double back and pick another route. The hue of the Overgrowth slowly began to change as they proceeded, from a dark red to a more natural looking green. Despite this change, however, Pinpin had absolutely no idea which way to go.

While the journey was tough, and the obstacles exhausting, the worst part of it was the scenery. It was majestic at first, with Pinpin often looking up at the swaying cords and feeling dwarfed by the sheer size and number, but now it was just repetitive. There was no landmark to spot, no destination to walk toward. Everything around her was string. It was terrible for conversation, and the two of them found themselves walking in silence.

Not one to be alone with her thoughts, Pinpin decided to break the quietness.

“Hey Tatterbat,” she asked. “What are you gonna do with your prize money?”

“What do you mean?” Tatterbat replied from behind.

“Like, are you gonna spend it, or give it away, or what?”

Tatterbat scratched his head. “You know, I never really thought about that.”

“Huh?”

“Yeah. It completely slipped my mind, if I’m honest. I forgot it was even waiting for us.”

Pinpin stopped and turned around. “Then why’d you take part in the competition?”

“It seemed like fun.” Tatterbat shrugged. “We could have a great time together, do what friends do, and actually put our skills to the test. Isn’t that why you wanted to do it?”

“Yeah, but-”

“Although,” Tatterbat interrupted, and pointed at his net hanging from his back. “I guess I could repair this old net of mine. Thing’s seen better days.”

“You wouldn’t buy a new one?” Pinpin tilted her head

Tatterbat gave a sly grin. “Hey, if this rickety net can catch Ragworm, I don’t need a better one.”

Pinpin giggled. She didn’t know why she expected anything more grand from him.

“What about you?” Tatterbat asked. “What would you spend the money on?”

Pinpin thought carefully about her answer. When she first heard of the prize, tonnes of silly ideas had flocked into her head. Now, though, she was struggling to think of something. Her house didn’t really need any glamour, and if she had unlimited food then she’d just get fat. If she was going to spend the money, it would have to be something both of them could enjoy.

“I guess…” Pinpin pondered, slowly forming an idea. “We could always do up that hut of ours. The one with all the bugs. At this rate, we’re going to need an expansion to keep all the critters we’re finding.”

She shied away, expecting Tatterbat to laugh at her answer. It was somewhat selfish of her to suggest it. Tatterbat was one to appreciate the worn-down side of things, but she was always preferring to keep her items neat and tidy. Her suggestion to repair and rebuild their cherished hut seemed controversial at best.

“Wow…” Tatterbat began to say. Pinpin turned a bright red, her cheek patches getting warm. He was about to yell at her, she knew it.

“That’s a great answer. I love it.” Tatterbat gleamed.

“Huh?” Pinpin replied

“You’re right. Our old shack isn’t going to last much longer. I hadn’t even considered it myself. We can get bigger boxes for our bugs too!”

“I uh- yeah! Maybe get some more food for them, or something.”

“Definitely. And some beds to stay the night in.”

“Oh, and a new scoreboard!”

The two rattled on, coming up with various upgrades they had in mind. Ideas of water feeders and pillow forts, spare nets and raincoats. They said all that they could think of to make their hut as great as possible.

“You know,” Pinpin said, changing the subject, “I hope Needly doesn’t mind what we’re doing.”

“What do you mean? He’ll get his money, won’t he?” Tatterbat replied.

“Yeah but, you know what he’s like. Always trying to bring attention to himself. If we come back successful, I don’t think he’d be that happy. Might end up throwing a bigger tantrum.”

“I guess, but that’s out of our control. We’re just doing what we told Yarnfell, and that’s all we should be worrying about now. It could be a lot worse!”

“I don’t know. I feel like it could sour things...” Pinpin sighed. She did wonder what Needly would have to say about their expedition. Even if he wasn’t her friend, she did sometimes feel sorry for the guy. He had seemed genuinely upset when his bug went missing. Sometimes Pinpin wished that Needly would just get along with Tatterbat, so that even if they weren’t friends, they didn’t have to have so much bad blood.

They continued walking on, treading down the narrow pathways and twisting turns. Before long, she found herself treading on familiar ground, finding her own footsteps in the dirt. They were going in circles.

“Oh, knitsticks.” Pinpin muttered, looking at the prints in the ground.

“What?” Tatterbat said from behind.

“We’ve been here before, look.” she pointed at the floor.

Tatterbat looked at the shape of the feet in the dirt. “You mean we’re lost?”

“No!” Pinpin denied.. “We just went the wrong way. That’s all.”

“So which way is the right one?”

Pinpin tried to think of a way out. “Well…” she started to say. “I guess we follow our tracks, but when we reach the next crossroad, we take the other route.”

Tatterbat shrugged and gave a casual nod. Breathing a sigh of relief, Pinpin kept up the lead, holding Tatterbat’s hand as she made her way through the rope labyrinth once more. Sure enough, they soon came across a split in the path.

“Well then, guess we aren’t taking that path.” Pinpin said, pointing at the open route on the right.

Unfortunately, that meant squeezing through another narrow gap, which was an experience Pinpin had been trying to avoid. Whether or not it lead to the right way was something Pinpin couldn’t tell. For all she knew, it could send her back to the start. However, she had to try. Sucking in her stomach and patting down all her fluff, Pinpin started to squeeze through the gap.

She’d made it halfway through when she realized something - she couldn’t move.

“Uh oh.” she whispered.

“What’s the hold up?” Tatterbat said.

“Uh.” Pinpin struggled to give an answer. This was going to be embarrassing.

“You alright there?”

“Yeah! I’m just… well, I’m a little stuck.”

Pinpin closed her eyes. She felt her cheek patches go red hot, and her squeaker was thumping against her chest as she awaited Tatterbat’s response.

“Ah.” Tatterbat exclaimed. Pinpin didn’t have to look at him to know he was being extremely careful with his words.

“When we get back, I’m going on a diet.” Pinpin stated in an attempt to lighten the mood. She patted her pudgy belly with a sad expression, lamenting the future loss of snacks, before giving a slight smirk.

Tatterbat didn’t respond. She could hear him make noises, but it was just a bunch of hmms and erms. Those phrases could only mean one thing. It was just like back at the Lake.

“You have an idea, don’t you?” Pinpin asked.

“Ah!” Tatterbat exclaimed, having been caught out. “Yeah, I-I guess I do.”

“What’s the plan?”

“I’m not sure. I don’t think you’ll like it.”

Pinpin sighed. It was time to swallow her pride. “I’m open to anything right now. It’s not like I can move.”

Tatterbat exhaled. “Well, I was thinking. Can’t I just give you a small push?”

Pinpin gave a nervous laugh. She really was going to need a diet when she got back.

“Pinpin?”

“Go for it, buddy. Shove me as hard as you can.”

There was really no other option other than struggle to get out, and Pinpin didn’t want to be even more embarrassing than what she currently was.

“If you insist!” Tatterbat said.

Pinpin heard him step backwards a few steps. Then, nothing. It was deathly quiet for too long. She could tell he was having second thoughts. The anticipation was killing her. Pinpin was about to speak up to tell him to go when she heard him yell. The sound of footsteps running - no, sprinting - toward her filled her with panic. Pinpin could only close her eyes tight.

Tatterbat collided into her with a mighty elbow tackle. Pinpin went flying, popping out like a cork from a bottle, and sprawled onto the floor below. She coughed up dirt, and turned around to look at Tatterbat, who was rubbing his arm from the collision. Part of her wanted to be mad at him for such a brute-force methods, but she had to admit that it had worked.

She looked around, and found that the pathway suddenly opened up. Not just by a small amount, either. The two found themselves facing a huge gap in The Overgrowth, with several meters between the next strands of rope. It was as if a giant ball had rolled through the area, flattening all the rope in a line as it went. The space stretched into the distance on both sides, before curving out of sight. The other side of The Overgrowth was only a few meters in front of them, with only flattened cords of rope laying on the ground between them. It reminded Pinpin of the Rugtorn Cliffs somewhat, with them being in the middle of two extremely high walls, only this time the walls went straight up, and the exit couldn’t be seen.

“What happened here?” Tatterbat said, rushing past Pinpin as he stepped into the open area and spun around. “This breach goes on for miles!”

Pinpin got herself up from the floor and looked about cautiously. It was clear that this separation was not formed naturally. The rope strands had been flattened by something making its way through. Something huge. It made her shudder just thinking about it.

“Well, whatever happened, I just hope we don’t meet what caused it.” she said, looking at the sheer extent of it all. The strands were half buried in the ground, but none were snapped at the root. Over time, she imagined, they’d right themselves again. Which meant that whatever happened here was recent.

“Hey, look!” Tatterbat pointed at a smaller indent on the other side of The Overgrowth. “There’s a small pathway over here.”

Pinpin peered over. The other side had strands much thinner than the area they were in, with less space for natural gaps to form. Despite this, Tatterbat was right. There was a small section where the rope had been bent away, perfect for someone of their size to to walk through without much hazard.

“Think we should take it?” Tatterbat asked.

Pinpin looked around before replying. Above the thinner strands of rope, Pinpin could just about make out the leaves of Ragworm Woods. Whatever that small gap was, it was heading in the right direction.

“Might as well.” Pinpin replied. It didn’t seem dangerous, and having one path meant they were less likely to get lost. What’s more, they were close to the woods now, so they stood less chance of being lead astray.

Tatterbat took charge, making his way through the gap as Pinpin followed behind. The route twisted and turned, going in all sorts of directions. Several times it appeared to go back on itself, before heading a different way entirely. At the very least, there were no junctions. It was one path from start to finish. Pinpin wondered what had made it. Maybe it was a woodland creature, fleeing from the behemoth that caused the break in the Overgrowth? It’s movements seemed sporadic enough, as their path zig zagged to and fro.

At long last, the rope started to shrink and thin out. Leaves and bushes began to mingle with the strands, and the dirt path slowly turned to natural soil as the ground became covered in countless leaves. The Ragworm Woods merged almost flawlessly with The Overgrowth, to the point where it was difficult to see just where the boundary began - a stark contrast to the fierce wall that guarded it from the outside. Tatterbat and Pinpin stopped just as the last bits of rope emerged from the ground, which only just reached their knees.

“We’re here.” Tatterbat exclaimed.

The two looked at the woodland, taking in the sound of birdsong and the rustling of leaves. Had it not been surrounded by humongous ropes, Pinpin would have mistaken it for any woodland back at home.

“At last.” Pinpin replied, deep in the moment.

“So, now what do we do?” Tatterbat asked, awaiting his next orders.

“Now?” Pinpin smirked. “Now we go hunting.”