3

It wasn't quite what you imagined you'd be doing when you sat down to breakfast yesterday, but the more you think about it, the more worthwhile it seems. It's not like you have to dedicate your whole life to making the town a better place to live when there's so much else to do. Trying to help save the forest if you possibly can seems like a good thing to focus on for today.

Tobias Is Waiting for You

"Yes, I'm all set. Oh, one sec—let me get my shoes."

After finding some shoes (and making sure Arctus has plenty of food), you set off towards town with Tobias at your side. As you walk, the thought occurs to you that it would have been a shame to spend the whole day unpacking. The perfect cyan sky seems endless, disturbed only by a few tiny specks of cloud.

You notice as you walk, however, that Tobias hasn't exactly dressed for the weather and already looks to be sweating a little in his hoodie and jeans. Eventually, he rolls up his sleeves.

"Thanks for, you know, helping out," he says, messing with his hair a little as he blows some air over his face. "My folks are still at home figuring out their stuff for the fair—I think Mom's doing a flower thing, and Ma's doing…something with dogs, I guess. But the thing is, they both asked me to make them banners—"

He brandishes the roll of paper in his hand.

"—So…yeah. I guess I'd better make them."

He smiles shakily and unfurls the paper to reveal…nothing. Immediately, he bursts into not-at-all-terrified laughter.

"This is definitely a masterpiece waiting to happen and not a horrible disaster that's going to ruin the whole world, okay?" he says with what sounds like confidence as you reach the outskirts of the town. "I just need to stop by the craft store to get a few things. I mean, downside is that the owner knows my parents, so he could let it slip that I'm a terrible son because I left this so late—but they have good paints there, so y'know, maybe I'll actually do a good job."