Busy Bodies {Howdy Pillar x F!Reader}

°Prologue°

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Wiping the sweat from her brow with her glove covered hand, y/n rests back on her haunches after kneeling over one of many flower beds she made to pull out some resilient weeds. The excited sound of her friend came into focus in her ears as she turned her attention away from the colorful pops of tulips to look at the shaded laptop screen that sat under a homemade hanging vineyard. The little sprouts of fresh grapes only a few weeks away from being able to pop into her mouth, the thought brought a smile to her lips.

Stretching, y/n stood and headed over to give her animated friend more attention, "Jessie, why are you so hung up on this one? It's just a website" Sounding amused, Jessie tended to switch up their hyper fixation at a drop of a hat and this newest one didn't seem to have much to go off of from the little y/n understood of it.

Jessie deadpanned, dropping their hands, "It's not just any website, Y/N, it's a horror ARG." Sitting down in a chair next to the table, y/n could only offer a confused expression, "Uh huh... and what's an ARG again? What does that have to do with this website?" They let out a long sigh, "Were you even listening, Y/N?" Offering a half apologetic smile before reaching across the keyboard to grab a caprisun, Jessie just rolled their eyes before diving back into their explanation.

Taking a sip of her drink, y/n sat back in her chair and looked around her backyard while listening to Jessie's voice. The sight around her to any person passing by would look like an overgrown wilderness. She had vegetables growing out of their original enclosures, stretching out in all directions,  even claiming her side wall fence where the more vine type plants reached for the highest spot of sunlight they could touch. Flowers of all swaths of colors grew in abundance and sprouted endlessly from any spare patch of grass that wasn't already claimed by her vegetables not to mention her berries that layer against the back fence. The blackberry bushes even encroaching over the top and luckily into the alley behind her property and not into any neighbors yards, the happy sounds she heard from children picking berries kept her from venturing to tame the mass of sweet fruit. Finally a lone apple tree grew proudly in the corner of her yard, she longed for the day she would own a place where she could have a variety of fruit trees, maybe even her own green house, anything to expand her ever growing need for more flora.

A notification boop brought y/n attention back to the screen and away from dreams of her future home. "It's a link to the website," Jessie fills her in before multiple boops ring out and y/n goes to turn down her notification sound with furrowed brows. Jessie smiles sheepishly, "Sorry- but look at them!" They flap their hands excitedly.

Clicking open the two URLs her friend sent to load, y/n tabs back to look over the collection of rainbow characters that now fill her messages. A smiling yellow guy with blue hair looks back at her as she slowly scrolls up, taking in the different small and tall hues of grey, red, salmon and other colored puppet looking people before ending on a green guy with four arms and legs with little antennas.

"So, it's a website about Muppets? How is that scary?" Y/N laughs softly, looking over the last character once more before glancing up at Jessie's expression. "No- well... kind of, it's a made up TV show from the 70's that everyone 'forgot' about and this team is trying to uncover and restore some aspects of it" They delved into some of the background of the website while y/n clicks on the first website and is met with a brightly lit rainbow of a home page welcoming her to the neighborhood. Y/N scrolls down and looks at a small circle of houses surrounding a singular one in the center that she notices has pupils in the windows that follow her mouses movements. 'That's cute,' y/n thinks while spinning her mouse around in circles, easily amused by the websites antics.

"So whose your favorite?" Jessie's voice cuts off her mindless fun and she tabs back to look at their expectant expression, "Hmm?" y/n offers, paying more attention. Rolling their eyes, Jessie exagerately points at the bottom of the video box, "The characters Y/N, which one do you like the most?" Pondering over the different brightly customized puppets, y/n offers up, "I think the green one with multiple arms is cool, he could water so many plants at once, I'm kinda jealous" y/n giggles. "You and your sprouts," Jessie shakes their head but a smile stays on their lips.

Getting up, y/n heads over to a bed of vegetables, "My sprouts indeed, speaking of which, I think the peas are ready to harvest!" Y/N smiles over her shoulder at Jessie before stooping down to pluck some and place in a basket she had already prepared, "I can't wait to eat them later, that's one of the best parts about having your own garden, is eating all the free fresh produce once it's ready! You should really start growing one Jessie! I could help you out?"

She could hear their groan coming from the computer as she continued to pluck the small green vegetables, "You say that all the time Y/N, you know I don't have a green thumb like you, if you set up anything at my home it would shrivel up and die before the day had even ended." A laugh falls from their lips as they add, "I'm much happier eating from your garden then having my own," a cheeky smile on their lips.

Shaking her head, y/n heads back over to her computer, small harvest in hand. "I should really start charging you if that's how you feel, all my hard work and nothing to receive in return for my efforts," Y/N wipes a fake tear from her eye and sits back down, remembering they hadn't looked at the second link Jessie had sent and clicked to it.

"Aren't my compliments and excellent company reward enough?" They smirked but y/n just shook her head again with a smile, looking at the black screen in front of her. Shifting her screen slightly forward and back she furrows her brows, "Hey what was the second link you sent me?" Jessie hums and asks, "Well what do you see?" Y/N focuses and tries to notice anything, however the bright rays from the summer sun, even in the shade, made it just appear to be a black screen, "I don't see anything, it's just a black screen."

Hearing slight giggles, y/n tabs away from the darkness and finds Jessie wearing an amused expression, giggling as if they're in on a secret that she wasn't aware of, "Well he sees you~" they say conspiratorially while y/n looks even more confused. "What do you mean?" But the amused expression quickly leaves their face as y/n hears a notification sound coming from Jessie's side of the screen.

Picking up their phone to read they say, "It's nothing, anyways my folks are asking me to head over to help them go grocery shopping so I'm gonna bounce, you gonna be good?" They look back at the screen and y/n nods giving them a smile, "Of course, I'll catch you later Jessie, thanks for hanging out." Jessie smiles back, "Of course Y/N, later." The sound of them disconnecting is followed by the call ending.

Y/N sits back in her chair in the sudden silence that surrounds her, the sway of the plants her only accompaniment in the wake of her friends excited babbling. Y/N felt a wave of drowsiness wash over her as her skin was enveloped with a nice warm breeze. Nestling into the chairs cushion, she let's her eyes slowly shut to enjoy an easy summer afternoon nap. 'Where's the harm?' She thought casually before the lull of sleep claimed her.

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Words: 1392

(Famous last words Y/N smh( ﾟーﾟ))