Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Berri’s life was semi-normal. Boring, even. Nothing really new happens at all. It personally irked her on how bland things were around here. Nothing new besides whatever was going on outside with those bees. She could swear she hears bees collect pollen from outside of her home buzzing about tickling?

She could care less, personally, she was fine with her routine. Wake up, eat breakfast, work out, take a shower, relax for the rest of the day, maybe watch tv or relax outside. The only changing part of this would be going on a date with Conker. Conker used to be decent enough to at least stay sober to take her out before taking her home and immediately bee-lining it over to the Cock and Plucker bar. Now, he’s usually there when he shouldn’t be. It started with only once. That was it, only once. Then, it got more frequent, to the point it was a rare chance for him to really come over when he says he’d be anymore. Berri was frankly tired of him lying over it.

The minute she heard her voicemail message and the phone beep, she heard the usual excuse after excuse. Always somewhat the same. “Hey Berri, gonna be a little late but I’ll be there!” “Hey Berri, just with the guys for a quick drink!” “Hey Berri, hanging out with the guys right now!” “Hey Berri, busy with something right now, so I’ll be over there later!”

He’s lucky he’s cute or she would have dropped him in a heartbeat. Adding “I love you” at the end of them is helping less and less. She always knew what he was up to, it really wasn’t a surprise. Always drinking… it did him no good, especially in showing up on time, or showing up at all. At least he was modestly honest about it so she would know she’d have to wait a while. A shame he couldn’t have modest amounts of bottles.

Berri’s thoughts were swarming today. Her mind wasn’t usually this jumbled up. Things just seemed like they were going to shit today more than usual. So, why not go out and try to go for a jog? It wouldn’t hurt.

She hasn’t gone jogging for a while. It’s usually doing yoga or working out inside. Not for hating the outside, she just hates the way people treat her while she runs. Catcalling won’t make you have a chance, and frankly, it never will. Critters around here can’t seem to take that hint at all, though. Only this time did she feel like she needed fresh air and wind on her face.

Berri pushes open the door, the sunlight immediately hitting her face. She squints, putting her arm above her forehead to shield some of it. She already had her earplugs in her ears, MP3 player already playing some eccentric song that’ll get her in the mood for running. She already stretched inside, so she just steadies her breathing, getting ready before doing a light run on the road ahead. The ground crushed and crunched every now and then as she mindlessly drifted elsewhere, letting her body jog along the steady path.

The brightness of the sun got less intense on her eyes as she absentmindedly ran, the light breeze whisking by to make things a warm and cool day outside. She was just letting her body move by itself. She was just letting herself flow along whatever way she wanted herself to go. She might’ve made a turn to the left? She wasn’t paying attention, she couldn’t tell. Nor bothered to. There wasn’t much around, surprisingly, with such a nice day. It was even better that way, she assumed. She continued, her pace getting faster as she moved. She stumbled across a small river, deciding to walk along beside it. It seemed to sooth the travel some more. The rocks seemed slippery, but it probably was nothing to concern about.

Berri kept going for a bit, letting the scenery ease her a bit. It wasn’t until she briefly heard commotion? Some ramblings about nanas? She still couldn’t tell, still didn’t care. The music playing in her ears was all she could focus on minus the feelings of the wind. She could hear it getting decently close. She tried to pick it up some more. Maybe she can just get away from it.

Then she started to hear buzzing. It was loud, but it definitely wasn’t coming from her earbuds. It wasn’t a bees, either. She looked around, still jogging along the path as she went. She looked both sides before hearing a voice from above, still distant, yet closer.

“Ahh, it’s all empty. I don’t need this shit anymore.”

She could only react so fast when something yellow blurs from the corner of your eye, and not looking forward from the blur in the skies droning by, it was only inevitable something caught her foot and made her slip.

She stumbled back, nearly stumbling into the water as she used her legs to balance herself back up and on some of the rocks. She stared at the banana peel, flopping down to the ground again. She sighed in relief. That could’ve been a horrible situation! She started walking over and beginning to jog again—

Which turned out to be a mistake from the slippery nature of the rocks.

As her foot stepped back down, the surface tripped her. Her body jerked to the side from the slip, making her fall forward onto the rocks before causing her to crash into the water, a loud splashing sound made water crash everywhere. She felt a heavy feeling on her leg, a swift pain stung at her knee. Body nearly engulfed in the river, she knew she had to act fast. Her body ached from her movements, but panic set in more than the pain. She pulled herself out with her upper body, leaning herself onto the ground. She spat out some extra water in her system. Her eyes narrowed above at the beetles above, only droning away and not even batting an eye at her fall.

“Stupid bugs! Ugh!” She hissed under her breath. Her eyes soon moved to the earbuds now strung up on the rocks. She tugged her body forward to avoid any scratches on them, carefully moving them, only ending up breaking one of the wires to her earbuds anyway. She stared before groaning.

“Just great.” She sighed. She unplugged the headphones from her MP3 and stuffed them in her back pocket. She tried getting up, only to be met with a stinging feeling worse than what she felt in the pool, extra pain from her sides. The feeling of something cutting open the skin in her knee made her wince, yelling in pain as she immediately crumbles back down with a thud. Her right knee hurt like hell, the other only left with a scrape as her legs were covered in a few scratches from the rocks. She sat up, twisting her body to stare at a bruised up knee that could barely move a
muscle. It seemed bad. She held her hand to it. She shuffled her body to a nearby tree that was luckily there, sighing as she sat there.

First, she gets stood up. Then, she gets almost tripped by a banana and THEN thrown into full on river of water by small ROCKS. Now, she’s stuck with scratches and a sprained knee with earbuds and an MP3 that might not even work anymore.

But what to do…?

Chapter Text

So, you’re stuck with an sprained knee, far from your house with no one else around. What can you do?

Berri sighs, crossing her arms as she tries to think. There’s no one around, the only two that could be helpful caused this mess to happen and ended up leaving without even looking. With how empty today is, things get better. A worse day for things to be quiet. Berri leans herself off from the tree, tilting her head to see if anyone else was around. There had to be someone… it couldn’t be entirely dead.

It was only a few more moments before a small little figure started trudging along. She squinted, hand covering her eyes as she tried to see it. The figure was a squirrel passing by, waddling along in the distance. It was truly now or never.

“Hey!” She put her arms up, waving them around. “Hey! Over here!” The squirrel paused, staring at her as she waved. She raised an eyebrow, waving them more aggressively. “HelLO?! Over here??”

The figure soon turned to scrambling over, sheepishly rushing closer.

“Sorry, miss!” The small gray squirrel spoke. He noticed the banana peel, abruptly stopping near it and picking it up. “Somebody might slip on this..” He mutters, tossing it into a nearby trashcan.

“When did that even, like, get there?” Berri turned to the can.

“I don’t really know.” He shrugged. He adjusted his goggles. “What happened?”

“I got slipped up by a beetle and fell in the river.” She huffs.

“Slipped? By the banana peel?”

“No. The rocks?” She rolled her eyes, motioning to the rocks near the river.

“Oh… oh!” His head perked up, looking at the rocks. “Those do look a little slippery.. that’s not good at all!” He shook his head. The squirrel turned his head back around and came closer, kneeling down. His concerned face turning into a frown. “Can you not walk at all?”

“Nope. Could you help me to a hospital or something?”

He look soon turned into a frown. “Iii don’t think we have any hospitals here..” He mutters, glancing around.

”Wait, what do you mean?” She squints.

”Well, I don’t think this land never really got funded for one!” He explained while gesturing, soon blinking blankly. “But I could help splint it!”

“Oh thank god.” She sighed. “Oh, wait, how are you gonna do that?” Berri raised an eyebrow.

“Well, I need some twigs and bandages.” He nods. He looked at the tree Berri was laying on, clicking his tongue. “Weird. This one doesn’t have any twigs on it. We might have to look around.”

“Ugh.. great. There has to be one that does somewhere.” Berri mutters, attempting to stand.

“Wait! Wait!” The squirrel sputters, attempting to nudge her back down onto leaning back on the tree. “That’s not a good idea! Walking on it might make it worse!”

“Well, I can’t just SIT here.” Berri crosses her arms. “What else can I do?”

The squirrel puts a hand over his chin in thought. He soon put up one finger. “Onneee moment, miss! I have an idea!”

Berri watched as he was swift to move out of view. It only took a few moments as she just leaned back on the bark, waiting for the squirrel. She would be more impatient on this. She would get things done quicker, but he was her best bet right now, especially since her knee hurts like hell whenever she gives it just one small movement. Whoever he was. She soon noticed his figure in the distance, beginning to wheel something in. The sound of squeaking could be heard as he dragged an oddly shaped and rusty wagon behind him, dragging it along by the handle.

“You can sit in this wagon!” He smiled, motioning to it as he showed the old wagon. It looked like it could fall apart at any second. Berri just stared at him with a confused expression.

“…You’re joking, right?”

“Well, it’s this or…! I’m not sure, actually, this is all I have as an idea.” He scratches the back of his head. “Sorry.. but I promise you, it’s safe!”

Berri could only sigh.

“Well, this is good enough, I guess.” She looked at the wagon with a disgusted look growing on it. She had to stay composed, though. This guy was helping her. She might as well take what she can get.

-
Berri was laid carefully in a wagon, albeit her body didn’t entirely fit, so her legs were awkwardly placed and she was forced to sit up or else her knee would start to hurt. The squirrel continued to roll her along, trying his best to avoid any rocks or bumps so it wouldn’t be too hard for her to relax in the wagon..

It does lead to him running into bumps on the road.

Eventually, they did reach a spot where the smaller traded a few bucks to do all the talking for a medkit, along with finding a few twigs to use.

“Finally…” She sighed. She was able to feel some sort of relief now. Then again, this was a stranger who was about to help, so she couldn’t be so sure. The stranger came back with a few things, setting them down.

“Okay.” He rubs his hands together, taking a look at the knee. “Let’s handle this quick.”

“Do whatever you have to.” She shrugs. The faster, the better.

She honestly thought she was stuck with someone who actually had no idea what they were doing. At first, the guy didn’t even know what was what. Eventually, though, he did handle it. He set two wide twigs on the sides of her knee before wrapping bandages around it.

“Done!” The squirrel grinned. Her leg was bandaged up a little too heavily and sloppily. “Easy fix!”

She stared at the splint almost surprised. That went quicker than expected.

“So how’re you feeling?” The squirrel walked over to her side.

“Could be better.” Berri huffs. “Especially with all of this. How’d you learn all that doctor stuff or whatever?”

“I get along with the medic staff at base.” He explained. “They taught me a few things. Mostly by accident.”

“Base?”

“Yeah.. like a military base.” He replied.

“Oh.” Berri’s head tilted towards him. “So yeah, thanks a BUNCH for this uhhmm…” She squints, before continuing, “Who are you??”

“Rodent!” He smiled. Berri hesitated at an answer. Usually, it was, ‘Ok, nice to meet you! Thanks, bye!’ but she was stuck in place. She was also already making conversation with the little nerd-looking squirrel, so she at the very least will give him her name.

“I’m Berri.” She motioned to herself with a confident smile. The minute he heard the name, his eyes widened, soon snapping towards her.

“Wait.. Berri??” Rodent looked a little shocked at this.

“Uhm, yea? Berri?” She cocked up an eyebrow head tilting as she crossed her arms.

“Hey! That’s a little funny!”

“Funny?”

“No, no, I mean I heard about you today!” He chirped. “You’re Conker’s girlfriend, aren’t you?”

Berri’s face went blank. The name came out of nowhere, and the reply was sort of specific.

“Yeah.” She slowly nods. “Do you know him?”

“Of course!” His smile widened. “He’s cool!”

She already knew her next words, er, question.

“Do you go to the bar often?”

“No, not often. Only for special occasions.” He replied, soon beginning to stuff the medkit in whatever pockets he even has in his casual wear. She figured. He looked back up at her once he was done pocketing it. “Maybe I should go ask him to get you?”

“With what phone line?” She asks, brows furrowing.

“Awh, I didn’t think about that… we’re a little far from the bar, too.” He scratched his chin. “Is your house nearby? Maybe I could use that!”

“Well, yeah, my house is nearby.” Berri nods. She doesn’t comment on the last part. For some reason, something in her didn’t want to. She didn’t know why. Probably was no important reason anyway.

“Okay! Then you lead the way!” He smiled, pointing forwards.

…

. . .

. . .

. . . .

. . . . . . .

“Oh! Right! I’ll push you and then you lead the way!”

-

After some more bumps in the road, she finally got back home. She personally wasn’t glad a stranger, acquaintance, not knowing much besides he knows her from Conker, at this point, was gonna get in her house, but she still needed help with a few things, like walking. He seemed too nice to try anything. He was also twice as small as her. Easy pickings just incase.

Rodent carefully helped her over to her couch. She took her time, the splint did help out a lot. She managed to reach her couch and slowly set herself down. She felt exhausted, looked it too from her body slumping down. She’s usually more energetic and fit to get moving, but when you just got thrown into water and got a splint from some person you just met an hour ago, it changes a lot.

“There!” Rodent smiles.

“Thank you.” She says again. She didn’t know what else to say, or really do, for that matter. She had a rare moment of feeling bad over him not getting anything back. Sure, she shouldn’t care, but at the same time, all that effort to not be paid back, even with someone this goody two-shoes. She scrummages in her pocket. She manages to find twenty bucks that isn’t too damp, but was shivering from the water. It wasn’t much, but it was still something.

“Ey, lady! I’m still wet! Ain’t you gonna dry me off or somethin’?!” It hisses. She didn’t even react, only rolling her eyes before giving Rodent the money. “Here. Take it. I don’t care what you do with it.”

“Oh!” Rodent stares at it, eyes widened. “Well, thank you. You didn’t have to, though.”

“Yeah, sure, whatever, just like, take it.” She shoves it in his hands, the money still complaining. Rodent looks worried on its complaining before briefly shoving it into his pocket.

“Where’s your telephone?” He glanced around.

“Uh.. over there?” She points. “Why?”

“To call Conker.” He simply replies. “Oh! Unless you wanted to do it!” He smiled with looking back at her. She shrinks. Oh yeah. She forgot. Something simmers, almost an unsure feeling?

“You know his number??”

“I know the bar’s number.” Rodent replied, beginning to make his way over to the phone.

“He’ll be home eventually. Don’t worry about it.” She brushes it off, adjusting herself to sit more straight.

“I thought he lived by himself, though.” Rodent curiously tilted his head.

“He visits.” She looked to the tv remote, slowly stretching for it. “I’ll be okay.”

“Are you sure?” Rodent still looked worried.

“Obviously?? Why wouldn’t I be?? I’m his girlfriend?” She scoffs. “He cares about me.” She felt like her voice lowered at the last part.

“Well.. I feel like you should have someone looking out for you at home if I’m leaving—”

“Ok, look geek-“

“It’s Rodent—“

“Whatever. If you’re that concerned, just go get him yourself and tell him to come. Don’t call him here. In fact, just don’t stay here.” She waved at him.

“Well, still! That might take a while.” He replied. “But, I understand if you don’t want me here. That’s completely fair! I’ll get out of your hair now.“

“Uh-huh, and if you really want to keep in touch, or if you even get in touch with him, then just call this number.” Berri reaches over the couch, stretching her arm out from the side. She practically shoves a phone number into his hands once he gets close enough. It was the classic card she usually used for ‘business’. Nowadays, she uses her main line as the business line and for regular calls, along with the normal one.

“Oh… okay!” Rodent stared at the card briefly, somewhat uncomfortably, before pocketing it like the medkit. “I’ll guess keep this for later! I hope you get better soon, Berri!”

Just like that, he waves, and is gone.

She sighed. Finally, he was out of her house. She didn’t know when he’d leave. Now, she was alone. She was with her thoughts again, scolding her for not asking for something like crutches. Like he said, though, there are no hospitals around this area for some unknown reason, so how would that even work? She brushes it off, trust trying to take her mind off of things. She may not be able to work out for a while, but she’s fine.

She flicked on the TV, just beginning to watch whatever’s on it. She hopes at the very least Conker might come visit. It’s not common when he’s out getting drunk, but it’s a hope she really felt like she needed right now.

Deep down, though, she knew it was a useless hope.