The New Resident

Chapter 2

After that call from my father, the rest of the walk seemed like an eternity. But I made it.
My mind begins to wonder at that airship??? Was it an airship? Was it something else? Who knows.
As I look at the now closing in town, I can tell that it looks kind of abandoned.
I mean, I can't really say it looks dirty or unkept, but most of the walls and houses I can see from here are either rundown or coloured old.

I finish the last tens of meters I had of walking and I was now standing in front of a big rundown sign saying "Welcome to Lazy Town".

I run a hand through my shoulder length wavy h/c hair and exhale, braving myself for the meeting with the uncle and possible residents.
As I look at my left, I can see 2 big advertising screens, one of them having a cow and a house seeming to be drawn on it, with a few trees in front of them, looking abandoned.
Strange.

No one in sight. This isn't really a warm welcome. But I can't say I mind it. It's strange though, my father told me that Mr. Meanswell will be waiting for me at the entrance of the town.
There's no one around for what seems to be like 1 km, only small barricaded houses and a lot of short alleyways that all lead to the centre of the town, making the town a circle. From the map that father gave me I was expecting the town to be a lot smaller, but seeing it in person, it's actually quite big.

As I make my way through the multiple small alleyways, I stop at a nearby bench on my right to take a break.
As I take in the view, I glance around, to my right and in the distance I can see what it seems like a sports court, with basketball hoops and other sports things. As I look at that place with more intensity, I can see a few small heads running after eachother playing with a football.

Huh, so there IS people. I decide to head in that direction to see if someone can direct me to where Mr. Meanswell may live. With that in mind, I gather my stuff and begin a short walk of around 5 minutes to that sports court.
As I get closer I can hear their happy laughs and the sound of their running around with the ball. It's quite refreshing to be honest.

I finally get in front of the sports court and I wait patiently for one of the kids to spot me. Two minutes go by and a plump 9 year old something kid finally notices me, stopping from playing and attracting the attention of the others.
'Hey guys! There's someone standing there!' he said whilst pointing to me.
Another kid that has some headphones on his shoulders look my way and asks the others 'Who might that be? Never seen them before.'
'Now that you mention it, that person looks somewhat strange. Is it a girl or a boy?' a headstrong looking girl with 3 pony tails says to the others.

All these kids look kind of sweet. My family never knew this about me but I love children. I've always wanted to have a younger sibling, but unfortunately all I have is an older brother who loves to anger the living hell out of me.

While I was thinking all of these, the plumb kid comes closer to me and looks at me somewhat intimidated. Intimidated? Why?...oh. I didn't realize it, but because they've been talking about me in whispers, my face have been in a constant frown. And when I frown, I unintentionally give out a fierce aura. I don't know how to be honest.

I ease my expression back into my normal serene one just as he opens his mouth to speak.
'Excuse me, uh, sir?' he asks probing whether this is the correct way of addressing me.
I can't blame him though. I may be a male, but my inheritance made it hard to distinguish whether I'm male or female. Especially with my shoulder length wavy h/c hair and my e/c eyes, added with my soft but refined jawline and slim but toned body (that can't be seen because of the loose clothes) and my 1.70 height.

'Yes?' I ask trying to make my voice appear more approachable."I feel like a creep trying to lure kids in" I shudder at the thought.
'We saw you standing there and we wonder if you need any help?' he asks with an adorable questioning face.
'Actually, yes I do. Do you know by any chance someone by the name of Meanswell?' I ask looking at the faces of the kids.

Now that I can analize them, I can see that the difference in their personality is really big. One of them seem like a geek, the other a gamer, another one seems kind of like those rich mean kids, and the last one's a foodie. But even so, all of them are playing together happily. I feel like I'll love it here.

'Mr. Meanswell? You mean the mayor?' the gamer kid asked me.
'Yes, I was supposed to meet him at the entrance of the town but he wasn't there' I say, placing the bags that I forgot I was still carrying on the ground. 'Do you perhaps know where I could find him?'
'He tends to forget stuff when he starts working on paperwork, after all, he's the Mayor, and he's pretty busy.' the one with headphones said.

'I guess you're right....wait. The mayor? Mr. Meanswell is the Mayor of this town?' I ask shocked. It seems that I haven't realized that the child called him a mayor twice now.
'Yes! If you're looking for him, he's most probably at the Town Hall. It's that building right there next to the playground!' the girl says, pointing to a big building close to the playground.

'You have my sincere thanks! I have to go and meet with him, but I bet we'll see eachother soon!' I say while picking my bags and starting to walk towards the Town Hall.
'Bye bye, sir!' they say in somewhat of a crowd cry.

I arrive at the building in under 3 minutes and enter cautiously. As I do so, I place my bags at the front door and look around. The walls were a pale yellow and slightly worn out and on the ceiling was a chandelier that was giving out a warm light. Other than the fact that there was no one around, in front of me was a counter with a few documents laying around, alongside a press on bell and a chair behind the counter.

I approach the counter and ring the bell three times. After a few seconds, a woman's voice rang through the building from another room.
'Wait a bit dear, I'll be out shortly!' the voice said. After a minute of waiting, a woman came out of one of the rooms. She was around 40 years old with 1.62 cm in height and a bit plump with blue hair fixed in place in a roll on top of her head, dressed in a red office outfit with floral pattern and a blue pair of heels and belt.
'Hello dear! I don't think I've seen you around here before, can I help you with anything?' she says, giving me a kind smile while cleaning a few of the papers scattered on the counter.

'Good afternoon ma'am, my name is y/n l/n and I'm here to meet with the mayor. He was supposed to meet me at the entrance of the city, but I guess he was too busy.' I say while giving her a small smile.
'Oh dear! You must be the child he was speaking about earlier today! You are indeed right, he's been buried in his work ever since he got out of the phone with you father.' she says with an apologetic expression. 'I apologize for him.'
'It's quite alright, I understand.' I say, taking a seat at the counter at her signal.

'Oh! I didn't introduce myself now did I? I'm Bessie Busybody, the secretary of the mayor, call me Bessie and don't bother with formalities with me. Now wait here, I'll go and tell him you're here dear!' she says while trotting back to the door where she came from.
I keep frumbling with my thumbs while waiting, my social anxiety finally setting in. Will uncle like me? Did father tell him why he sent me here? Will he think of me as a deranged teenager? I hope not. How about my cousin? Will she remember me? Will she be alright with me living with her?
As all these questions came hitting me, my breath started to become heavier and heavier, making me feel a bit lightweight.

But right in the moment where I started to feel nauseous, the door opens and a man around the age of Bessie comes out. He was a round man, with a big bald spot, a bit taller than Bessie and clothed with a dark yellow full costume and brown styled shoes.

As he comes out of the door, he opens his arms wide and almost screams excitedly 'Y/N dear, you finally came!' while coming to me and giving me a bear hug.

'Eh?'

(A/N: leave a little star ✨⭐✨ if you liked this chapter, here on out!)