The Arcana One Shots

♢Pixie!MC x Portia - Garden Troubles♢

Hey there! So sorry it's been ages since I've updated, I've been having a bit of a rough go of it lately. Things are a bit crazy right now, but I'm trying my best to get something out for you guys. Thanks for sticking with me, I know my updates can be sporadic.

I hope y'all are staying safe in this crazy situation with COVID-19, please be careful, wash your hands and try to stay sane if you're in quarantine. That being said, I will hopefully be churning out a few stories in the next few weeks while I'm on a province-mandated quarantine myself. Expect to see some quarantine or plague related stories in the future as I try to deal with this craziness in a more creative manner.

Anyway, on with the story, shall we?

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Portia's garden was something of which she had always been proud. She had all sorts of flowers and plants flourishing in front of her cozy little cottage. It was so cute and quaint!

Portia tended to her garden with care every single day, making sure each flower was looked after and blooming well. She had what some would call a green thumb. She would inspect every plant for new blossoms or seedlings. She watered them carefully and gave them only the healthiest soil from which to grow.

It was a source of comfort for the handmaiden. After a particularly stressful day at work, Portia could always find comfort and solace in her beautiful, peaceful garden. That is, until she had an unexpected guest!

She first noticed something was off when she returned home to see some of her flowers had been moved across the garden. Her once orderly layout had become rearranged into a random plotting of blooms. 

"Oh for heaven's sake! Pepi, would you just look at this mess! What could have ever replanted my flowers? The squirrels don't replant them, they just uproot them and leave them around," Portia exclaimed, hands planted firmly on her hips as she looked around.

"Peep?" Pepi offered, her big eyes looking up at Portia as her tail swished behind her.

"I don't know either... Now I have even more work on my hands..." Portia sighed as she knelt down in the dirt and began to reorganize her garden.

The next instance was the mysterious, itty bitty footprints in the soil all around the garden. They were no bigger than the tip of her pinkie finger.

It was when Portia stepped out to gather some of the herbs for a soup she was making when she noticed the muddy imprints.

"What in the blazes..." She muttered, beguiled at the sight.

Forgetting the herbs, Portia spent a good 15 minutes scouring the garden looking for whatever little creature left behind such tiny footprints.

For weeks, Portia's garden was the victim of minor mischief and mayhem. Flowers moved around, rocks scattered about, dirt spilled onto the usually swept path. 

It was only a matter of time before the inconveniencing acts moved onto the cottage itself. It began with leaving itty bitty muddy footprints around the house.

On the floor, along the windowsills, all across the countertops. Even on the fresh linens and covers on the bed!

Then it was the spilled sugar that also had footprints trapesing through. Or the little potted fern that somehow tipped over. And the misplacement of small items, keys, coins, trinkets, and the like. Had it not been for the prints, Portia would have thought she was going mad!

While the ruckus caused was never any serious trouble, Portia always found the incidents to be such inconveniences. Who comes into your home just to spill your sugar?!