Forest Protector

Tomatsu sat idly on his favorite rock, absentmindedly thumbing over the grooves of the massive iron-studded club that leaned against his legs. Since finding his current life-purpose life around him had been unnaturally quiet. To some degree he was thankful that the remaining natural magic of the land helped hide his new home away from prying eyes. However, there was a deeper inclination inside his core that yearned to find those who would defile the forest he now protected and impart justice upon them. Practiced meditation had helped put these thoughts at bay. Despite the stories he had read about the mythical Oni in the few precious books he was able to find, Tomatsu was not an evil or aggressive soul. Perhaps some of the knowledge he obtained poked and prodded at him to behave that way, but he never acted on it.

The sun was slowly rising higher into the sky, prompting Tamao to finally rise and shine. The Bakeneko lazily rolled over and stretched his paws forward, stifling a yawn before finally standing up and walking over to where his friend sat. Tamao regarded the Paralogos curiously, wondering for a moment if he should stretch and poke his legs with his own claws to get his attention. That might snap the absent-minded logos out of his thinking haze. Not wanting to be accidently swatted at with the massive club, Tamao thought better of that idea and instead opted to jump onto Tamatsu’s leg and settle into his lap, the massive tiger-skin that the logos wore, served as a soft make-shift bed.

“What are we going to do today?” Tamao drawled tiredly.

“I’m not sure yet,” Tomatsu returned flatly.

“We’ve sat in this clearing surrounded by trees for days now, let’s go adventure.” Tamao whined.

“We’ve stayed here because it’s our new home, and ours to protect from evil.” Tomatsu replied.

“Who’s going to find it though? You only got here through sheer determination and brute strength. No human or other creature would be able to do that.”

Tomatsu pondered this for a moment. It was true, they were so far away from Sermos and any other civilization that it was highly unlikely that anyone would find them, let alone one of the remaining natural forests they called home.

“I suppose it would be fine if we ventured outward and set traps to ward away any potential threats to the wood?” Tomatsu relented, though optimistically. He took his job as a protector very seriously.

Tamao’s face lit up, traps spelled mischief, and mischief was his middle name. “Yes yes yes! Maybe we could dig pits and cover them with leaves and then paint warning signs saying how there’s a big and terrible monster living in the area!”

Tomatsu chuckled and pet his friend’s head and back. “As long as they don’t lead wrong-doers here then that would be fine. However, we would have to consider what we’re making these signs with. Remember, we do not want to waste any wood.”

Tamao fell silent and rubbed his chin with his paw. “Well there’s already so much fake wood and metal trees on the outskirts of where your library is. What if we used that?”

Tomatsu grinned, ideas churning in his mind, “and what about writing? Ink is far too precious to use on this project.”

Tamao piped up immediately, “We’ll make dye! Or paint!” The Bakeneko’s tail was whipping around excitedly now, “If we can harvest enough junk, we could even put together our own metal monsters and station them around the fake forest.”

Tomatsu gave his friend a knowing glance, “I suppose that could look threatening, but wouldn’t it draw a lot of attention to us?”

Tamao’s ears lowered, his need for mischief hadn’t been satisfied in so long. “But Tomatssuuuuu I don’t want to lay around all day.”

Tomatsu sighed and picked his friend up off of the tiger pelt and placed him on his shoulder. “How about a compromise, we build some threatening things and then when we catch someone coming too close to the area, we’ll scare the intruders with the contraptions?”

Tamao purred happily, this sounded like a good compromise.

Later that day, the two had set to work collecting artificial materials to build threatening dummies and decoys with. With the help of some wandering paralogos, they were able to construct tall metal creatures that wouldn’t fall apart with simple touches. The duo placed the decoys far from the hidden woods. They found spots where the terrain around the forest’s entrance was too rocky and craggy to allow people inward. As warning signs, they placed some metal sculptures and hastily scrawled signs warning about the danger ahead. Where the terrain was more level and easily accessible, Tomatsu dragged heavy boulders and heaved them on top of each other to create tall and foreboding walls. At times like these he was happy to be blessed with extra magical strength and endurance.

As the sun began to set, Tomatsu and Tamao stood back in the barren land to admire the work they had accomplished. There were no longer and easily accessible entrances to the forest. Any potential entrance was either blocked with boulders, had a trench dug around it, or had a decoy placed nearby.

Tomatsu breathed a sigh of relief, thinking that now, he might be able to relax in the deeper part of the jungle and not worry about people cutting down the precious few trees.

“I’m glad there’s a cliff on one side of this forest. It means there’s another side that doesn’t need to be fortified.”

Tamao rolled his eyes, “So when are we going back to town to terrorize and prank small children?”

Tomatsu let out a loud belly-laugh, “It’s really been a long time since we’ve done that, huh? As a self-respecting Oni Logos, I can’t let the dwindling folktales fade away.” Tomatsu had just turned back towards the forest and started walking back home. “We’ll plan to go haunt some snot-nose brats after we patrol the perimeter tomorrow.”

 Tamao’s tail twitched at this prospect, “It’s a deal.”