#facelessbandit

So a few days ago it was Dorothy’s birthday, but something you may or may not know is that she doesn’t enjoy celebrating her birthday for many reasons, but the main reason is because she thinks she doesn’t deserve anything since she didn’t think her birthday was special. But of course, it had somehow slipped out within showdown valley and so Dorothy tried to hide herself away to avoid receiving any gifts. What she didn’t know was that half the valley had decided to throw her a birthday at the saloon to repay all the times she had done something for most of the folks when it was their birthdays. And while Dorothy was hidden away she had discovered a pocket in her pink jacket she didn’t know she had. She felt something was in the pocket and decided to pull it out, it was then that she discovered that she still had an old photo of her family on her that she thought she lost years ago. Tears began to form in her eyes as she finally saw herself as a human after the many years she had been stuck as a dog-wolf and she began to sob and weep as she continued to stare at the photo. Dorothy continued to cry for hours on end as she was being flooded with different emotions. Then, after the saloon was set up Showdown, Penny and a few other folks decided to go off and find Dorothy to bring her to the saloon. But, after many hours of searching none of them were able to find her, Showdown seemed to be concerned about not being able to find her since he didn’t want her to miss out on her party. They ended up heading back to the saloon, everyone seemed to be sad and disappointed after they weren’t able to find her. It was then a certain faceless puppet had given the town a visit to see what exactly was going on. He decided to go inside of the saloon to find the placed decorated and a bunch of angry folks staring right at him, Lorelei threateningly asked the Faceless man why he was in town and Faceless told her he got curious and wondered why the saloon was decorated. The undertaker had then forcefully demanded he left immediately but she was ignored by the large bandit who had a look around at the decorations. Although he was mostly blind he knew that there were bright, colorful things around he that the faceless man had rarely seen before. He then saw a large colorful banner pinned up on the wall that read Dorothy’s name, it was then he realized that they were trying to throw a birthday party for her and he turned back to Lorelei. “wait...it’s Dorothy’s birthday today?” the faceless’ man’s expression seemed to changed into shock as Lorelei nodded. “yeah...but unfortunately nobody has been able to find her, she has been missing all day and nobody knows why” Penny said while rubbing her arm. The Faceless man furrowed his eyes at the eyeless female in concerned, “but...why would she suddenly disappear on her birthday? that seems a bit strange” Lorelei rolled her eyes “says the one who literally appears out of nowhere every two weeks to cause trouble...” the Faceless then quickly darts his head to bare his teeth at the undertaker. “well I wouldn’t have to if I didn’t have a role to play like everyone else here!”, “yeah, but the show ended  many years ago which means we only play our roles on the stage! maybe you hit your head too hard to remember that.” “you mean the one time YOU hit me in the head with that fucking shovel of yours the time I walked through town!!”, “YOU SWEAR AT ME AGAIN AND I’LL MADE SURE YOU CAN’T REMEMBER ANYTHING!!!” suddenly both the faceless man and the undertaker stared each other down and were about to start to fight. Both Showdown and Penny didn’t know what to do seeing both threatening puppets about to smash each other’s heads in.  “that’s enough, both of you!” suddenly all the folks within the saloon gasped and stood aside hearing the familiar voice, both Lorelei and Faceless’ expressed dropped and they turned their heads to the familiar voice. Lorelei quickly dusted herself off and Faceless straightened himself out before turning to the familiar puppet. “M-Mayor Cecil, I apologize for causing a scene” the grey-haired puppet glared at both Lorelei and the Faceless bandit, “well you should be! you both shouldn’t be acting the way you were, and you also shouldn’t be starting a fighting with any bandits, Lorelei! especially today, it’s Dorothy’s birthday, do you think she’d want you two at each other’s throats?!” both Lorelei and Faceless looked at each other before both shaking their heads. “good! now don’t let me catch you two doing that again or there will be consequences, got it?!”, “understood,Mayor Cecil!” both Lorelei and Faceless answered. Cecil then went over to Showdown and Penny, “did you and the others manage to find her yet?” Showdown looked at the ground, “sorry, Mayor Cecil, we didn’t manage to find her” the older male sighed in disappointment. “well we can’t start the party without her...” Cecil gripped his walking stick firmly as he tried to think of someone who knew how to easily track folks down. He needed someone who knew most of the valley’s hidden areas, someone who could easily sense another puppet around them. Then...he finally realized who could easily do just that. The older male turned back around and approached the Faceless man “Faceless, you must know most of the area in the valley that most of the folks don’t know about, right?” the faceless man furrowed his brows. “yeah, I know most of the valley and most of it’s remote areas” the faceless man brought his hand behind his head and rubbed the back of his neck. “well...would you possibly know where to find Dorothy?”, Faceless paused for a seconds before he answered. “I...I’m not entirely sure that I know where she would be, but I guess I could try finding her” the older puppet’s expression soften in a calm and content manner “splendid, now go find her for me and we can finally start this party!” Faceless nodded before suddenly disappear in a grey puff of smoke. Seeing the Faceless Bandit disappear, the older puppet decided to check around to make sure everything was set up perfectly for the dog-wolf. Faceless had then reappeared in one of the many areas of the valley he knew from the back of his mind, he tried to sense if anyone was around only to not feel any presence and so he moved into another area. One by one the faceless man scanned through the areas he knew that none of the folks within the valley could possible know about, but each area seemed to have no sign of the dog-wolf anywhere. Or...at least that was what he thought until he managed to stumble across an area he had only recognized once or twice. Faceless didn’t entirely know his way around the area and wasn’t sure where to start when suddenly he heard soft noises from nearby, it sounded like... crying. Quickly, the faceless man followed the noise which gradually got louder and louder until he was close enough to hear the noise, he could hear the sobbing through a wall that he had quietly approached. It was then that he could see a large hole in the wall which he would easily be able to squeeze through. But, the faceless bandit decided to peak inside before he went inside. And once he did, he realized that the hole revealed a small room which he quickly spotted Dorothy in. His face lit up as faceless finally found the dog-wolf only for his expression to drop when he saw her in a tearful state where she was in pure emotional pain. It was then he saw that she was holding something in her hands, it looked like a photo. She was also huddled in a corner of the small room as she was unaware of the faceless man’s presence as her mind was occupied on her emotions and thoughts. He had never seen Dorothy such a state before, her eyes being completely glazed over from how long she had been crying. Then quietly, the faceless man walked over to the dog-wolf and got down to level. “Dorothy...” suddenly the dog-wolf jumped hearing faceless suddenly speak, not knowing how he found her. The Faceless man backed off, realizing that he had scared her, “woah! I didn’t mean to frighten you, are you...alright?” Dorothy sighed, wiping her eyes to clear away the tears that dripped down her face. “it’s...it’s fine, I’m...fine” faceless could see she wasn’t as her gem was a dark blue color, a frown appeared on his face. Her eyes drifted to the side before tucking the photo she had back into the pocket of her pink jacket. “...how did you know where I was?” Dorothy’s didn’t look at faceless as she spoke, “well...I was able to hear you after I somehow found this area, and I somehow sensed it was you” Dorothy let out a noise between a laugh and a huff, “of course you did... someone was bound to find me.” There was a few moments of silence before faceless finally asked Dorothy “why did you hide yourself away? apparently folks have been looking all over for you..., did you...hide for a reason?” he suddenly saw the female shake as she clenched her fists firmly. It was after a few moments that Dorothy stopped shaking and finally answered.  “I-I hid away because...I didn’t want folks noticing me after the news had been spreading around about my birthday. I didn’t want folks doing stuff for me just because of one day in particular, I’ve never celebrated my birthday in the past so why should I now? I don’t see a point in receiving gifts or getting parties thrown for me. In the end I feel bad for everything that they did for me which makes me feel one hundred times worse than I already do. I know I should feel lucky to even have these things done... but all it does is make me feel pathetic no matter what because of not being able to appreciate these things without realizing it at all. And then...I end up feeling rude or selfish if I end up turning away gifts or parties that folks make for me...” tears began to form in Dorothy’s eyes again, bringing her paw-like hands to her face. Faceless’ mouth was left agape at what Dorothy had told him. He felt bad for her as he was there to persuade her to come to the party for her in town. But, he knew how she felt, he wasn’t one for birthdays either, although he had never been invited to any since the show stopped and what he did. Faceless sighed, shuffling closer to Dorothy before putting a hand on her shoulder. “It’s fine to not enjoy celebrating your birthday, and it’s fine if you don’t like when people give you gifts and throw parties for you. To be honest, I don’t celebrate my birthday and nobody cares about my birthday, ever since the show stopped. I also haven’t been invited to any parties at all since then either because of all the other shit I’ve done.” Dorothy uncovered her face from her hands a bit, tears still dripping from her eyes. “But...that doesn’t mean that you don’t deserve anything, you’ve done a lot for these folks, hell! you saved the Mayor’s life three time already as well as many of the other well-known folks in the valley. I’ve seen you, and you’ve really proven yourself worthy of respect and acceptance even if you can’t see it, yet...not once have you ever been properly repaid. I know that I’m suppose to be a bandit and you wouldn’t believe the words of an outlaw but...even a bad guy like me can see that your a puppet-... dog-wolf puppet, that is allowed the respect and aid back you give to these folks.” Dorothy looked faceless with a sad and confused expression on face as a couple of tears ran down her face, but before she could say anything the faceless man suddenly pulled her into a hug. The dog-wolf’s eyes widened in shock before more tears filled her eyes and she pressed her fluffy chin onto the faceless man’s shoulder. Dorothy’s eyes softened and she began to cry into Faceless’ coat and the faceless man let her, he pat her head gently as faceless held her. He knew that she was still in an emotional state and so Faceless let her cry until she felt more calm. Then she pulled away from the faceless man and gave him a soft smile, her gem changed to a faded yellow color. “thank you...” her voice came out gently and happy, “it’s fine..., I don’t usually do hugs, but I guess it helped” Faceless then stood up and helped Dorothy up off the ground, both faceless and Dorothy smiled at each other. “so...why exactly did you want to find me for anyway?” Faceless’ chuckled nervously, “uuh...well after everyone found out it was your birthday...they kinda...set up a party for you at the saloon, it was the Mayor’s idea, most of the valley is invited to it actually, but...they can’t start it without you.” Dorothy’s expression dropped a bit and she sighed, “oh no...are you sure?”, “yeah...”, “well...I guess I could go, if they really can’t start without me then I’m gonna have to.” Dorothy was about to start walking down when Faceless suddenly grabbed her and held her against him, “don’t worry, I know a shortcut” then without a warning Faceless suddenly teleported the both of them right into town. Dorothy’s knees shook but Faceless grabbed her before she almost dropped to the ground, “HOLY HELL! could you warn me next time you do that?! you almost gave me a damn heart attack!” Faceless laughed, “sorry, but was worth your reaction” Dorothy growled, “oh fuck off” this caused Faceless to laugh even harder as Dorothy managed to balance herself. It didn’t take long for a couple of the townsfolk to notice Dorothy and quickly ran up to her, wishing her a happy birthday. One of the townsfolk even put a party hat on her head. Dorothy shyly thank them, feeling a little bit uncomfortable with being approached. Faceless noticed this and pulled her away from the townsfolk, “we shouldn’t head to the saloon now, wouldn’t want to keep everyone waiting” Dorothy nodded as both her and Faceless made their way over to the saloon. Once they got there, Dorothy was quickly greeted by the Mayor, “thank goodness! I knew Faceless was able to find you!” suddenly Cecil put a hand around her back, dragging Dorothy into the saloon before shouting “everyone! Dorothy is here! we can get the party started!” Dorothy smiled a bit as she suddenly heard an uproar of cheering within the saloon, even the bartenders were cheering as well. Soon, there were lots of folks gathering within the saloon, but...Dorothy felt bad as she saw Faceless standing outside, he had been left all alone after she had been dragged inside of the bar. It seemed that Faceless wasn’t invited to the party, she remembered that he wasn’t welcomed inside as for how much trouble he had caused. Dorothy had sit herself at a table where she sulked, she had folded her arms on the table and had her chin sitting on top. Suddenly Mayor Cecil had set a rather large glass of wine in front of her, “here, have a drink, it is your birthday after all!” but then he realized that Dorothy looked sad. “what’s the matter? are you not having any fun?” Dorothy then turned her head to Cecil, “well...there was someone who I hoped who be invited but...I guess not” Mayor Cecil then pulled over a seat and sat next to her. “oh? and who may that be, Dorothy?” Dorothy furrowed her brow in a sad manner before answering, “Faceless...he was the reason I brought myself to come to the party in the first place, I...I didn’t want to come here at first but...he made me realize that I should.” Cecil paused for a few seconds, realizing what Dorothy had just said. “wait, were you trying to avoid everyone because you didn’t want this party? did I pressure you into this?” Dorothy jolted, “n-no! of course you didn’t pressure me..., I just...find it hard to enjoy my birthday and the fact that I didn’t deserve much attention for it. To be honestly, this is one of the only parties that have been thrown for me...” Cecil’s mouth dropped at Dorothy’s words. “...goodness, I hadn’t known” Dorothy smiled softly, “it’s alright, Mayor Cecil, I appreciate this kind gesture of yours as well as the rest of the valley” but her smile dropped back into a frown again. The older male thought for a few seconds before finally speaking up again, “alright, I’ll let you invite him in” Dorothy’s face completely lit up at the Mayor’s words, “really?!” the female’s tail began to wag as her ears perked up. “of course, but only on two conditions...” Dorothy tilted her head, “yes?” she waited for his response, “that you have lots of fun and that you enjoy yourself” Dorothy nodded before quickly rushing to get out of her seat and run outside.