User blog:SaenihpNnylf/Can Someone Lend Me a Hand Chapter 1

'''Hello Happy Tree Friends fans, this being my first HTF fanfiction let me tell you that you guys are sick, awesome people. though it's probably to be expected, I'll go ahead and say it now. This fic will contain a lot of bloody, gruesome deaths as you'd expect from an episode, but my co-author Neverwhere Guard on www.fanfiction.net and I were not overly descriptive on them.'''

'''Another quick note that backwards from what most people think, Neverwhere Guard and I agree that Sniffles is by far the stupidest character in the series and Lumpy is one of the smartest. On request, we can go deeper into why we think so but just know that they will be portrayed as such.'''

'''Also, we do not own Happy Tree Friends or any of the characters in this story as there are no OCs all rights go to Mondo Media. '''

Besides having not died yet, the day had started off pretty normal for the handless beaver; he had been called to work to fix the town coward's ceiling and, despite his disability, had just finished the repairs. "There we go, Flaky. It should be good now," he calls down to the porcupine.

Flaky gives him a weak smile, praying that it's at least as safe as it could be in this cursed town now. "T-t-thanks Handy, I know y-y-you get busy with all the work around here." Handy shrugs, progressively packing up his tools. "I'm just glad I've usually been able to find a way to still do it."

"Y...y...yeah, I was actually wondering, why are your…" she trails off, glancing at his bandaged up nubs for both arms. "I mean..."

Handy bites his lip, tasting a bit of blood as he comes down the ladder, evasively saying, "I don't like to talk about that." Trying not to look her in the eye, he spots a baseball bat hanging on the wall and just stares at it, getting lost in the past.

"S-s-sorry." Flaky stutters, looking away at first but after a while of silence, looks back and notices Handy staring off. "A-a-a-are you alright?" she asks, her kindness getting in the way of her judgment. She actually often felt sorry for his struggles and he was never one to ask for help.

He snaps out of it but doesn't take his eyes off the bat. "Yeah... it's just... I used to love to play baseball... now I can't." He finally tears his eyes off and finishes his climb down the ladder with his toolbox handle clutched between his teeth.

"I-I'm s-s-s-sorry Handy. I d-don't know what to say."

Handy just sighs, setting the toolbox down on the floor. "It just seems that no matter how many things I find another way to do there will always be many times more that I can never do again."

"A-a-again, I don't know what to say. I-I-I'm sorry, Handy. I w-w-wish I could help."

Handy, thinking aloud, mutters "I figured that if I get close enough to other Tree Friends, I could steal their hands. Unfortunately, I always die before I can figure out a way to detach them and attach them to my nubs in a way that would be useful..." Handy trails of the sentence, eyeing Flaky's hands. She notices and quickly puts her hands behind her back, mixing them in with her defensive quills but still edging away. "Come on, at least one. You have two, I don't have any. I managed it once, but my girlfriend's pesky bird got in the way."

"T-t-they're mine though," she defends, looking back at her hands and without much thought on what she was saying, blurts, "Go s-s-s-steal someone else's."

Though certainly surprised that she of all tree friends would be okay putting it on to someone else, he thinks for a second, then asks, "Okay, any suggestions?"

By now, Flaky's hyperventilating as she backs away further, finding herself against a literal wall. With her hands in her quills, she knows that the handless beaver can't get at them without receiving a face full of quills. But would he do it for hands? Absolutely. So, out of fear alone, she whispers the first name to come to mind, "Shifty." Before she even has time to rethink her decision, he runs off.

Handy heads over to the ally that Lifty and Shifty usually set up their stolen wares but takes the back entrance so he doesn't get spotted. Sure enough, Lifty and Shifty are standing behind their van. "Where's Nutty?" Shifty wonders impatiently. "He was supposed to be here ten minutes ago. I hope he didn't get himself killed already. We didn't rob the candy store for nothing." Handy wait out of sight, hoping the same thing as he needs the two raccoons distracted to do what he needs to do.

A moment later, Nutty comes sprinting around the corner giggling and waving his money. He literally throws the bills at Lifty and Shifty, jittering in place while waiting for his candy. Handy rolls his eyes and sets to work on the van.

Shifty throws the back door open, hitting Lifty in the face, and laughs at his brother's bloody nose while digging sweets out of the van. "Should have watched out."

While Shifty was distracted digging out the sweets, Lifty was preoccupied with his nose, and Nutty caring about satisfying his sugar addiction, Handy sets to work himself and, having worked as an auto mechanic before, quickly finds and cuts the break lines and disappears from sight just as Shifty finishes gathering Nutty's sweets.

Lifty shuts the back and jumps in the driver seat while Shifty gets in the passenger side and starts counting, the money being the only thing he cares about. Lifty starts the car and drives off, gingerly touching his still bleeding nose, both oblivious to the cut break lines. Shifty snickers as he counts the money. "Good thing for the squirrel's addiction. As long as we can get into the candy store, I'll always have someone to sell to."

Lifty sighs and winces as he keeps prodding his face. "I think you broke it."

Shifty ignores his brother's complaints but looking up and seeing cub run across the street after his ball. "Lifty, stop!" Lifty hits the brakes but obviously nothing happens as they plow over the toddler. Shifty, fuming more at not being listened to than Cub's death, turns on Lifty. "I said to stop! Why can't you do anything right?!"

Lifty looks down at the brake pedal, pressing it over and over. "I tried Shifty. Look, it's not doing anything."

Shifty follows his brother's gaze and his eyes widen, realizing the clear danger, he immediately grabs the money and jumps out of the passenger door, once again leaving his twin to die. Lifty looks over and, through the passenger mirror, sees Shifty smash into a stop sign and get sliced in half. Then he looks forward and sees Giggles dive out of the way before he slams into the side of a building; getting launched from the van, through the windshield, and splattered against the wall.

The chipmunk, Giggles, stands up, pats herself down to make sure she's all there, and sighs. As she takes a step forward, a length of lead pipe falls from the top of the building and impales her straight through, embedding itself in the sidewalk and holding her up like a crude scarecrow.

Handy grins, seeing the carnage leaving no witnesses, and makes his way over to Shifty's body to find the hands entirely intact.

Back at her house, Flaky had simply slid down her spot against the wall, sitting there in shock over what she'd said until Handy eventually comes back with two dark green severed hands in his mouth and spits them out, clearly trying to figure out how to attach them. He sees the horror in Flaky's eyes, and quickly tries to put her at ease. The half-truth comes immediately. "He was dead when I found him. Looked like a car accident." Which, in this town, wasn't suspicious at all.

At that point, the timid porcupine realizes that there's no turning back for her. So, though reluctant, she takes out a needle and thread and sews the hands onto his stumps. If Handy was in pain from the needle going in and out of his nubs, one couldn’t really tell through his elation. "YES! I HAVE HANDS!"

Flaky swallows a lump in her throat and somehow manages to find her voice. "I d-d-doubt they'll stick with you through d-d-d-d-death."

Handy thinks back to the day at the hospital. He'd had Lumpy's hands, but after he had come back he was back to his stumps. He shakes his head but still smiles from ear to ear and flexes his new fingers. "They won't, but I HAVE HANDS FOR NOW!"

Shifty will have his hands back tomorrow, she thinks, trying to excuse her helping him as she stares down at the stolen hands. "We'll all b-b-be dead by nightfall, enjoy them while you can."

"At least my chances a higher than usual now."

"M-maybe anywhere else, but in this town. It doesn't m-m-m-matter if you have hands or not, s-s-survivability stays at a constant slim to none."

"You can still get closer to the slim than the none." He thinks about it, tapping a stolen finger against his chin. "Though not everyone's odds are that way. You're either here to die like us and most tree friends or you're here to kill, like Splendid or Fliqpy. The only characters to have a small number of both counts are Lammy; because she's so new and Good Flippy; who's an exception for obvious reasons. Why am I blathering? I should be using these things while I have them!"

"Just go pull a F-f-Fliqpy and stay away from my home." As soon as the words leave her mouth, both her hands clasp over it. ''What's happening to me? No, no I did not just tell him to kill all my friends.''

"I have the tools to do that now and I already have the heartlessness. I won't kill you though, you helped." Flaky takes her hands off her mouth to object, too late, as he runs off with his tool kit out and a crazed look on his face.

Flaky just sighs, rubbing the quills on head and reminding herself that they'll be okay the next day and at least she doesn't have to see it. "I just hope Splendid or Fliqpy doesn't get involved, I don't feel like getting caustic burns or cooked over a campfire again."

Meanwhile, Handy makes his way out of Flaky's house with his toolbox in hand and looks around for a victim. Smirking as he sees Disco Bear, he knows he could get back at him for always hitting on his girlfriend, Petunia.

Disco Bear doesn't notice Handy, absorbed by reflection in a window. "Oh yeah. Lookin' fine, Disco Bear."

Handy growls slightly and takes a nail gun out of his toolbox. Coming up beside Disco Bear and nailing both of his feet to the ground causing Disco Bear to scream like a little girl. Handy smirks as he takes a length of rope and knots it before tossing it over Disco Bear's head and around his neck.

Handy smiles dangerously as he ties the other end of the rope to the hook on his tow truck and gets in, easing on the gas while watching through the rearview mirror.

Disco Bear realizes, too late, what's happening and tries to remove the noose as it bites into his neck. The nails hold fast as Handy slowly pulls forward until, with a loud wet rip, Disco Bear is torn in half and his upper body is dragged along the asphalt.

Handy's smirk fades as he drives toward a mangled, bloody mess on the sidewalk, a relatively common sight he wouldn't have given thought to, except for the small pine tree air freshener.

Handy gets out and looks at the body with a sigh, it is indeed Petunia. He doesn't know what had caused the destruction, but something tells him it was Fliqpy. Mad as he was, knew that going after the psychotic bear would be suicide.

Handy just takes a moment of silence, part of him hoping that Fliqpy's busy chasing Lumpy. Just then, a demonic growl is heard in the distance. Handy gets back in the truck and drives off fast as he can away from his girlfriend's body.

He returns to Flaky's a while later, having detached Disco Bear from his truck. Handy's covered in blood, guts, and brain matter but doesn't look ready to kill Flaky. "You know, that was actually even more fun than I thought it would be." He laughs as he sets his bloodied tools on the table as well as, much to Flaky's horror, an entirely intact brain. "Not as fast as Fliqpy, but between that and those that were already dead, all that left are you and me, of course, Lumpy; he might make some choices, but he's a lot smarter than he looks, and about as resilient as a tank, Flippy and Splendid; because the whole point of this is to NOT die, and Mole because I actually like him."

He then motions to the brain on the table, "I decided to take this and see if I can figure out why it doesn't work."

"I j-j-just hope you cleaned up, having Flippy walk somewhere and flip out cause there's g-g-gore everywhere wouldn't be good. Lumpy'll probably s-stay at his farm for the day; he m-m-m-mentioned something about a giant cabbage. And Splendid's I don't know where, I saw M-m-m-Mole run over Splendid the Reporter earlier though…" She trails off looking at the brain on the table and trying not to throw up. "That's Sniffles', isn't it? You put Sniffles' b-b-b-brain on my table. I'm going to have to have P-p-p-petunia decontaminate my table when she comes back."

Handy just brushes off her fears of Fliqpy making an appearance. "Real blood doesn't flip him out. If it did, he would never be in his nice state in this town. Besides, given our survival rates and how many are dead even if he does flip out, he won't exactly be looking for us assuming we're already dead. He'd probably be preoccupied trying to kill Lumpy again."

Flaky looks over at the window, her lip trembling, absolutely terrified of the murderous side of her friend… both of them now. "So, we hunker down and hide until e-e-e-everyone comes back and hope we don't have a freak accident...? Easier said th-than done here."

Handy still doesn't seem even the slightest bit worried about it though. "I probably pleased the curse for today. You… you're probably going to die." As if on cue, part of the roof caves in and crushes Flaky. Handy, out of the way of where it caved and being Handy, starts celebrating. "Yay! I survived! The curse is pleased with the blood I spilled!"

As soon as the last word is spoken, Mole crashes his car through the wall and parks on him. Handy scowls his usually way, trying to get out from under the car and, with his last breath for the day, shouts as loudly as his crushed lungs allow. "I should have killed you, too!"

Unaware of Handy's death, Mole gets out of the car, walks over to Flaky's chair and turns the TV on.

After "watching" TV for a while, Mole gets up and cane-taps his way to the table, finding Sniffles brain. He uncovers his face to take a bite, turning to walk back. He trips over the rubble, skewering himself and Sniffles' brain on some of Flaky's spines that were poking through.

The next day, as the other side of the town's curse, everyone came back to life and health but as predicted, Handy was back to having just his nubs and Flaky's house was back to normal. Since he died there, Handy was in Flaky's house, just relatively out of harm's way. Handy scowls and went over to get bandages, taking the end in his mouth and wrapping them back up as he has to do every day, but today day it's more annoying having just had hands the day before.

Meanwhile, Flaky watches Petunia leave after scrubbing her table with everything short of acid before turning to Handy with a shake of her head. "I still can't b-b-believe you put sniffle's brain on my table."

Though his voice was a bit muffled from bandage in his mouth, he responds, "I obviously wasn't thinking clearly," as he finishes the task.

Seeing no point in arguing, Flaky sighs and, with a shudder at the thought of the brain on the table, just takes out and sets it by the curb before heading back inside. "I need a new t-t-table. You could've just p-p-p-put his brain in a jar." She sighs, 'too late now' "I could've h-h-h-helped with those bandages if you'd asked."

"Right, sorry about that. And I was fine on my own. I do it every day and have yet to cause an incident on that particular task."

"Okay, I was just saying," she says, honestly having been hoping it could settle at least a bit of her screaming conscience.

"I could build you a new table if you want. I can't promise it will stay together and won't burst into flames but in this town, who can?"

"Alright, whose hands are you g-g-gonna steal this time?" She sighs; figuring yesterday was far from the last time for that but at least hoped he wouldn't be going on another massacre.

"Well, I can build without hands but I could see what I can find," he said, setting Disco Bear up in mind. That bear is so annoying and especially the way he keeps hitting on his girlfriend. Just because she could ignore him didn't mean Handy could.

Just then though, they hear the sound of breaking wood outside, along with a heavy thud and something sliding along the road, a scream follows a moment later, then silence. Handy peeks out the window and sees Cuddles lying on the far side of the street, organs going from a large rip in his stomach to a leg of the now-broken table Flaky had carried out, and a skateboard lazily rolling away.

"Cuddles is dead. Looks like he tried to use your table for a ramp, his hands look fine though." Handy looks back at her thinking of all the time they spend together and how many times he drags her into dangerous situations, unintentionally leading to her death.

She gasps and starts shaking. ''I killed Cuddles. I didn't mean to.'' The porcupine starts sobbing. "I guess it's all the same with how many times he's gotten you killed." Handy shrugs and heads out to check if his hands are intact finding that and comes back with them in his mouth.

Flaky shakily opens the cupboard and got out a needle and thread. "You n–n-know, I keep this stuff in all sorts of easy to reach areas in case it's needed, I just f-f-f-figured I'd end up needing to sew myself up, not someone else." She removes the bandages from his nubs and preceded sewing on the hands. "Figures, not even t-t-ten minutes ago you were putting bandages on and now I'm taking them off." She laughs, hollow and fake, as she wraps the bandages back around the sutures. "So... how bad is Cuddles?"

"Dead, not really too much damage. Dr. Lumpy could probably revive him if he gets to the hospital soon enough. Then again, look at what he did for Petunia and I. I'd say you could go check it out if it weren't for your necrophobia" Handy looks at her and notices the slight green tinge. "By the way, I've meant to ask, how do you live in this town and still have necrophobia?"

Flaky gulps, she knows the answer but had never admitted it out loud. "It's the constant r-r-reminder that I'm going to end up like that and not know how or when it's going to happen... I even had to throw my bed out after what happened to Petunia, I sleep th-th-th-there now, whenever I'm still alive to." She points over to a punctured cushion lying on the ground.

"I guess that makes sense, but you realize that was because of the Cursed Idol, right?" he asks, remembering the story of what happened that night. "I seem to be the only one in this town who knows not to mess with that thing. Now, do you want the table the same or any specific way?"

"Uh uh, you c-c-can say it all you want; I'm staying on my cushion. And if G-g-g-giggles hadn't dragged me along with her and Sniffles on that treasure hunt I would've been fine." Flaky says defensively. "S-s-since you have hands; I'd like it to stay in one piece." She peeks out the window at Cuddles and her breath catches in her throat as she sees Fliqpy chasing lumpy with his bowie knife. "I'm glad I'm in here. F-f-f-Flippy’s eyes look creepy like that."

Handy starts gathering supplies for her table glancing out the window with a shrug. "They're not too bad if he doesn't notice you. Actually, they're kind of cool. Like gold."

"F-f-f-fool's gold maybe." Flaky scoffed. "Every time I see those eyes, I just remember g-g-g-getting chased around the theater, his hands on my throat, then getting swung and feeling blood all over my back. I swear I scrubbed my qu-quills for an hour when I came back."

"Eh, the worst he's done to me is cut off my feet. I almost wish he had killed me like he did you though. I was stuck on those bleachers all night until they came back."

"Huh, I'd figured you would've b-b-bled out," Flaky pondered, keeping her lunch down as she inevitably thought of how much blood must have been coming out.

"I would have thought I would, too. I obviously didn't when I lost my hands but that's because I got to a doctor pretty quickly. I kind of hate to see injuries heal themselves. Just seems to be taunting me that if I lost my hands literally two days later than I did they would have been back the next day. TWO DAYS! I'm not even exaggerating!" he shouts, still clearly exasperated at that fact.

"At least here you get to steal people's hands without f-f-fear of repercussion, it's just short lived." The words give her a sick feeling like she's encouraging it.

Handy shrugged as he started building her table. "I guess that's true. It's still infuriating though."

"Yeah, I never understood why everyone ends up p-p-p-perfectly fine except you," She wonders, thinking about not only the death but all the terrible injuries that are always perfectly fine the next day.

"The curse didn't exist yet and I'm not the only one. Look at Russell: both feet, a hand, and an eye."

Flaky thinks back, trying to remember anything of the otter pirate. "I d-d-don't really see Russell much. I think only twice; once when we got hit by L-l-lumpy and once when I ran past him after that fish ate my hands... I swear it was related to Lumpy's ducks." Then she laughed nervously. "Can we stop talking about c-c-curses and those idols now..."

"Didn't you go on an involuntary Arctic expedition with him? When you got REALLY attached to a lawn gnome?" Handy asks, thinking back to what Lumpy told him. "I used to be in a band with him. Then he died, then we got a new bass player, then I died because someone let Sniffles manage us. That is not what you do when someone's having a seizure."

"I... don't know? I remember being dragged onto a boat by C-c-Cuddles and Giggles, and it gets kind of hazy after that. I don't like water, or boats, or being stuck in a confined place." Flaky says, trying to think past the haze… only to find fire.

"Oh… you don't want to remember. Especially what you and your lawn gnome were involuntarily volunteered for." Handy said remembering being told how the rest of the group got her to retrieve the can from Giggle's dead hands. "What does the confined space have to do with anything though?"

"I am a p-p-porcupine that suffers from motion sickness... that got st-st-stuck on a boat... with a b-b-bunch of people that've killed me at least once. I had to either stay in the bathroom or where I could throw up over the edge. I got stuck in a n-n-no win situation."

"Don't worry though; you weren't on the boat for very long."

"It doesn't matter how l-l-l-long I was on that boat, it was too long. And then the flames... at least I didn't have to try sailing it like the time I got pushed onto the p-p-plane... I was going to go home until that rack hit me driving me through the airport."

"I don't blame you. That's why I just fly myself since I know how and even without hands it's much safer than letting Sniffles fly."

"I blame M-m-Mole for the plane fiasco; Lumpy never should've been able to take all that on board."

"Yeah, he's blind, but how did he not notice the metal detector going off?"

"He d-d-did. He just cuffed himself to a pop machine. I f-f-feel bad for Mole sometimes."

"Yeah, he, you, and Petunia are the only ones in this town I actually like. I probably would have spared Petunia yesterday, but she was already dead." Handy sighs thinking about finding her body.

"What happened to P-p-Petunia?" Flaky asked, though not as much as Cuddles, Flaky does consider Petunia her friend to an extent.

"Hard to tell. I don't really want to think about what did that kind of damage besides simply Fliqpy. She's died almost as many times as Cuddles." Flaky shivers at the memory of Fliqpy using her as a mace to kill Cuddles.

"Yeah... d-d-death's the only constant in this town. That, and Splendid the Superhero killing a bunch of people when h-h-he tries to help."

"Well, might as well try to enjoy being alive while you can." Handy shrugs as he kept working. "I do try to, but it g-gets overwhelming... always."

"I know. Trust me, I know. Though it's less obvious than with you. It overwhelms all of us… except Cuddles. I'm not really sure what goes through that rabbit's mind."

"Your g-g-guess is as good as mine. Anytime I d-d-d-do something with him I end up dead." Handy had just finished the table and was checking the finished table for mistakes as they kept talking. "Why do you hang out with him in the first place?"

"I don't usually. He gets an idea and I end up getting dr-dr-dragged along cause I'm his friend. That and I don't like when he calls me chicken," she mutters the last part. Though she knew it was true, even little chicks make her scream, she hated to admit it.

"Which leads me to my next question: why are you his friend? I'm not his friend and the only time he got me into something dangerous was when our girlfriends INSISTED on doing a double date. I lasted longer than him though, lost his hands and fell out of the cart. I laughed but then noticed I was headed right for a giant block of glass. You're just lucky he forced you onto it the first time."

"It's a sm-sm-small town; you make friends with who you can. And aside from his r-r-r-recklessness, he's not too bad," Flaky argues, defending the daredevil. "I'm still not sure how I s-s-survived that, though, especially when lumpy popped the wheel off. All I could see was me splatting a-a-against the ground, but Cuddles was right for once, it didn't kill me."

"On VERY rare occasions we get random strokes of luck. I survived having Mole hit a chisel I held with my teeth. I knew it was a dangerous idea, but I was desperate. Lumpy is a very cruel officer."

"Lumpy's just c-c-cruel. After I had come back from that water park incident, lumpy walked past me and waved... while wearing my skin for a h-h-hoodie."

"At least he didn't make you into a bridge."

"Yeah, I still can't believe he just f-f-flat out shot you in the back of the head like that, and then buried you in cement mix."

"Tell me about it. I was still alive when he buried me."

"You'll get him back someday. at least when I end up dead there's a fair chance the person that caused it dies with me, the sp-sp-spines are excellent for that." 'Do I really feel this way?' Flaky wonders, feeling a little sick thinking about her words.

"He can really hold a grudge though. Once I was called in the repair his car and he squished me in-between our trucks until my organs came out my mouth and I wound up wrapped around his tire just because I ignored the fact that he was bleeding to death. What did he take me for? I was an auto-mechanic, not a doctor."

"Yeah, but he b-b-blamed you for his mistake, he shouldn't have been sh-sh-shaving and driving."

"Yes, all in all, a very cruel moose."

"Yeah, I th-think he enjoys other people suffering."

"Definitely," he nods, spotting a missing screw on the underside of the table, and goes down to fix it. But the table collapses and slices the hapless beaver in two. Flaky looks at the mess, feeling her eye start twitching as she tastes bile, then turns to the sink and throws up.

Just then though, there's a knock at your door. She rinses the sink out and makes her way to the door, avoiding the table mess, and opening it, breathing heavily, to find Lammy with an inanimate Mr. Pickles in her arms. "Hey Flaky, Mr. Pickles and I were looking for someone to play with and Petunia was found in the diner's dishwasher and Giggles is in the hospital because she was ironing and accidentally answered the iron instead when I called. So… I was wondering if you wanted to play with us." Lammy explains not actually able to see inside.

"S-s-sure, but I need help with something first. H-h-h-Handy was building me a new table and it collapsed on him, can you help me get him and the table out?"

Lammy looks over as Flaky shifts and sees the disaster. "Oh, sure, of course, we'll help." "T-thanks, Lammy." As they worked, Flaky took extra precaution to make sure Lammy didn't see the top half of Handy.

30 minutes, 2 trash bags, a shovel, and several runs to throw up later the room's floor is clean. "S-s-so what did you want to do Lammy?" Just then, the bag rips as it's getting carried outside, spilling Handy’s upper half on the ground.

Before Flaky could do anything, Lammy goes to hoist his top half back up, only to freeze at the sight. "Well, now I want to know what Cuddles' hands are doing sewn to Handy."

Flaky laughs nervously, trying to think of an excuse but, not finding any, goes for the truth… or at least part of it. "Well, C-c-Cuddles kind of sort of died in front of my house and since he didn't need them for the day, Handy kind of... borrowed them."

"Well… okay… that doesn't sound very ethical though. I mean, Cuddles will be back the next day with another pair but…" Lammy trails off, thinking about waking up to see that someone was using her hands as their own.

"Y-y-yeah, but Handy's always trying to help us out and without hands it tends to get him and others killed."

"Well, okay, I guess it's not too bad as long as the tree friend's already dead."

Flaky laughs nervously, not sure where Handy would draw the line, and quickly changes the subject. "S-so what were you wanting to do?"

Lammy, having apparently gotten distracted, thinks for a second before answering, "We could play poker again. It's not as fun with two, but Mr. Pickles could…" She looks at her hands to find them empty, her eyes widen. "Oh no, not again!" She starts frantically searching the room. "Come on, Mr. Pickles. Please don't kill Flaky."

Realizing what was going on, Flaky starts hyperventilating and sobbing uncontrollably as the memory of the pickle in the toilet flashes through her mind. "I-I-I-I d-d-don't w-want a-a-another p-p-p-p-plunger t-t-through m-my h-h-h-h-head!"