Part 62: The Juniper Bush

Update 62: The Juniper Bush

Music: Trampoli Family Life




Her name shall be Juniper!

(decided by the voices in Bush's head, of course)

...Or at least, Junipe for now. I'll fix that in moment.




ANETTE: Juniper... What a nice name. Welcome to this world, Juniper.


JUNIPER: *hick* Bababa.


JUNIPER: (Fah! That is not my true moniker. My rightful title is...)


JUNIPER: Gagagoo.


JUNIPER: (Um... I forgot.)


ANETTE: Looks like Juniper likes the name, too.




ANETTE: It's so strange to think we used to be complete strangers, but now we're married, with a child...


ANETTE: We're building a family, one by one...


BUSH: Yeah. Well, I'm glad that now I have two people to love with all my heart.


ANETTE: Me, too... We'll be a happy family.






Oh, hello, credits.

These just play again for some reason.



And we are unceremoniously dropped back where we were before they played.




"Juniper - The result of Bush and Anette's love. Eat plenty, sleep plenty, and grow!!"


Juniper now has her own entry in our log, where we can watch her rotate in space endlessly.



Today also happens to be Coming of Age festival, but her birthday now overrides this on our calendar.

(Do note that Juniper was technically born on the 24th as their birth is roughly 60 days after obtaining the child bed, so I save edited this too.)




JUNIPER: Waaaaaaah!


JUNIPER: (Your face is funny, strange creature, it perturbs me.)



We can also talk to Juniper, but she just makes various baby noises at us. They are voice acted though, so that's something.

She won't gain any FP or be capable of recieving any gifts for a while, so we have to figure out something else to do for her birthday.



And so, we shall look at a last bit of new content available with Coming of Age day. Last year, everyone tried to cheat or got lost.

Now that we have our own supply of Golden Turnips, however...



Of course we found this turnip in under 5 minutes, why do you ask?



Proceedings progress as normal...




STELLA: And in 1st place... Bush! A new champion!


BUSH: All right! I won!


(a reminder that we ruined the festival last year to get the turnip seeds in the first place)

Looks like we're getting out of this one freely. Take that, other cheaters.




STELLA: Bush... I have something to ask you. Do you have time?





*Bush reacts in shock!*




STELLA: This Golden Turnip isn't the one I hid, is it? It's missing my mark, so I know.


STELLA: You cheated, so I'll give you a special prize, Bush.


Hey, I resent that! How is Bush a cheater if everyone else cheats?

(ignore my statement saying "other cheaters" 5 seconds ago)



[You got a [Toy Sword] as your prize!


STELLA: How is it? It's perfect for the immature Bush, right?


Laugh all at us all you want, Bush did this for his daughter.

Also, this is an nice way to get a Toy Sword if you can't make one yourself.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------


MYSTERY: Holy St. Poli, that's where the other sword is from? You only told me you won it.


BUSH: Um... yeah. I think that might've been the final straw too, because it got changed after that.


MYSTERY: Freakin' awesome.


JUNIPER: Can't believe a corrupt establishment was taken down on my birthday. You're cool, Dad.


MYSTERY: Whoops! I should get back in character!

------------------------------------------------------------------


-----------------------------------------------------
~"Surf Day" - Stella~

Tomorrow is Sea Surf Day, the day
Spirits prepare for hibernation and
Whale Island eclipses the sun.
We must thank the sun and the
Spirits for their providence.
Let's a wish for another year of
prosperity!

-----------------------------------------------------

We jump forward a week to our final unique festival.


-----------------------------------------------------
~"Recommendations for Tomorrow" - Rosetta~

Hot Milk is perfect for Sea Surf Day.
Drink up and warm yourself
as winter rolls in!

-----------------------------------------------------

As this letter suggests, pretty much all you do is go around and gift Hot Milk.

But before we do that...


-----------------------------------------------------
~"Congratulations yet again!" - Minerva~

Hey, it's Minerva!
I heard you had a kid!
I can't really picture you as a dad...
Anyways, I be sure to come by
to see your kid when I can. ♪

-----------------------------------------------------

Minerva underestimates Bush's ability to be a stay-at-home dad. Either that or she was voting for the Kross or Lute options.

And finally...


-----------------------------------------------------
~"Congrats on your baby!" - Tart~

Hello, it's Torte. Long time...
I heard that you had child...
I am a bit busy... right now...
but I hope to one day be able to
meet your child in person.

-----------------------------------------------------

And so we get a final letter from Tart. I hope you get that chance to visit someday, too.

This is the final unique letter we'll recieve in the LP. There's one or two request letters left in the game (Bianca and Ganesha) we don't end up seeing, but from here on we only get the usual advertisements and notices for our playthrough.

End of an era.

-------------------------------------


BUSH: I got message from the Norad capital a few weeks back that says I can finally disclose that Tart was a cover being used by an agent from the capital.


MYSTERY: Wait, really?! I knew it was something like that! Only a special agent would have a trenchcoat that cool!


BUSH: She was there reporting information on the dragon crisis, and kept in contact with me to retrieve information on other "matters of interest".


MYSTERY: So she was a spy even when you were in Kardia?


BUSH: Yep. She was posing as the innkeeper's daughter from a separate marriage. Apparently she's older than me, somehow.


MYSTERY: ...Okay, this is getting too farfetched now. Are you sure any of this is true?


BUSH: I have no idea, this is just what I was told I could say.


MYSTERY: Oh, well, in it goes anyways!

------------------------------------------------------------------------------



Wild speculation on the lives of characters not appearing in this game, aside, Bush sets to making some Hot Milk for the day. We don't have a lot to spare, but we'll make do.




ANETTE: Thanks! It's been getting cold recently, so Hot Milk tastes great during this time.




KROSS: I will be having a toast with "Hot Milk" for the sake of the Spirits, too, today.


KROSS: Heh...


KROSS: Is that for me? Thank you.




LUTE: Thanks. Is this a festival where you pass out Hot Milk?


LUTE: I already got it from Tabatha earlier. This is a day to remember.




SELPHY: Wow, thanks! Drinking Hot Milk while reading is actually pretty nice.


Not a lot particularly interesting gets said today, unfortunately, but it is nice to go around and hand out gifts.



The next day after the first snowfall, we hit up Lute for another new painting, "Winter City".



LUTE: Thanks again.


LUTE: I drew this hoping that you'd feel even a little bit more at peace, Bush.


LUTE: Please take care of it.


If it was possible for Bush to be any more at peace than he already is, he's there now.



Today is the best festival, (the bestival, if you will): Quiz Day.




KANNO: The former champion aims for glory once more!


KANNO: The newlywed!


KANNO: The light and hope of Trampoli, Bush!


BUSH: I'm ready.


KANNO: I have high hopes for you.


kanno it's been almost a year, we're hardly newlyweds




ANETTE: Good luck, honey!




JUNIPER: Dada! Abububa!


JUNIPER: (Go! Prove to me that you are my intellectual peer!)


CANDY: What a cute cheer.


As we're now married, the family shows up to cheer us on.



The plan was to completely ruin the festival by making everyone get zero points, but it impressively difficult to achieve as you barely have the time to kick the correct answers out of the square. Add Mist randomly pushing around the contestants as she changes answers, and it makes it extremely hard to do.

The reason I wanted to is this dialogue:




There's only two highlights of this year's festival. The first is that Turner is so drunk he gets the question asking who's the town's innkeeper (him) incorrect.

The second is that Super Gramps time is extremely rigged this year.




KANNO: ...everyone except Bush will gain 10 points! It's anyone's game now!




BUSH: Wait, what?! Are you telling me the game until now is meaningless?


CANDY: Um... If you don't listen to Grandpa, you'll get DQ'ed.


JUNIPER: Ababa! Agooga!


JUNIPER: (Injustice! Down with the system!)




CANDY: Um... Hello. General Store "Materia" welcomes you... Huh? This isn't a plug?


The mystery voice this year is Rosetta, who mistook this for an advertisement opportunity.




KANNO: It seems the champion has kept the dignity of the title. With 8, Bush is the winner!


With Mist foiling our attempts to joke around, we have to settle for just winning the contest.

Oh well



We return home and take a look at "Winter City". It's a shot of the Clocktower and the Archives covered in snow, also from an improbable angle.

I think Lute might've climbed up a tree to paint this.



We put a strawberry in the Hotpot this year, but it turns out badly.



At least we didn't explode this time.

---------------------------------------------------------


MYSTERY: You never spontaneously combusted at the Hotpot Festival. We've been over this.


BUSH: That's what you and everyone else thinks, at least. I know what happened. *shudder*


MYSTERY: Well, what interesting thing happened next?


BUSH: You learned how to crawl around on your own overnight.


MYSTERY: Daaad! Stay in character!

----------------------------------------------------------




ANETTE: Look! Juniper can crawl around now!




JUNIPER: Papa!


ANETTE: Juniper is adorable. Maybe because it's our kid? Haha... She's growing up so fast. It's really amazing.


ANETTE: Raising a kid is tough, but every day is filled with surprises


JUNIPER: Ababa! Gagagooga!


JUNIPER: (Your paltry cage can contain me no longer! I am free!)



And so, a month after she was born, she's out crawling around. She's not up here, so she found her way downstairs somehow.

If you're worried about her lack of hat, don't worry, she'll get a new one soon. Although, it doesn't rock as much as her initial hat.



She'll spend a lot of time sitting right here on the first floor, in fact.




JUNIPER: Papa!


JUNIPER: My suplicashion is for brekkist!


BUSH: ...What?


JUNIPER: Provide vicshuls!


BUSH: ...Um.


JUNIPER: Food!


BUSH: Oh, right. Got it.

---------------------------------------------------


MYSTERY: I stopped using proper language just because it got annoying that nobody could understand me.


MYSTERY: Formality's boring and overrated anyways.


BUSH: ...Sometimes I worry I read too many books.


MYSTERY: Nonsense! Knowledge is the future! Literature is the greatest food!


BUSH: I also sometimes worry I let Selphy around you too often.


MYSTERY: Aunt Selphy is great, what are you on about?


MYSTERY: Anyways, I was soooo pretentious when I was little.


BUSH: You're still little. You're 5 years old.

-----------------------------------------------------



Outiside of the present creative liberties, Juniper is capable of only saying "Papa" or her usual babbling.



It's still somehow too early to give her the stuffed toys.




"Juniper- She's starting to crawl! It's so cute how she works so hard to crawl this way."

She gets an updated entry, and can now even build FP.



The 24th roll back around, and it's been a whole year since Bush got married.

With this, something special does happen!



Music: Romance



ANETTE: Honey... Let's go on a date.


BUSH: Sure!


ANETTE: Really? Then let's meet up by the bridge over the lake at 5pm.


You do have the option to say you can't do it today, but I don't imagine that ends well.



While we wait for the date, I show off one last thing I missed in last year's winter. The lake is frozen over and you can walk on it, but there remains a hole cut in the ice you can fish in.

All the fish from it come out as level 10 regardless of how good you are. The only fish available are Pond Smelt, Taimen, and rarely Carp (or at least that I ended up catching). I guess I didn't need to wait until Spring for that request after all.



Anette arrives about 50 minutes early.



Music: To You


*Talking to her immediately starts the cutscene.*



*Bush and Anette approach the Lake Poli bridge...*




ANETTE: Going on a date like this reminds me of before we got married...


BUSH: Yeah...



*They walk on...*







*We get various views of them walking across. They stop to take in the view from the center of the bridge.*




ANETTE: Look... What a beautiful view...


BUSH: Wow, you're right.






*Following that, we get a view of the snowcapped mountains, dimly lit by the sunset under cover of dark clouds..*




BUSH: I'm so happy I was able to meet you here in Trampoli.


BUSH: I've looked forward to every day since I married you.


ANETTE: Me, too...




BUSH: Shall we head home?


ANETTE: You go on ahead. I want to stay here a bit longer.



Now, Bush has proved dense and oblivious over the course of our time here, but even he can read the room.



I've had a second wristwatch prepared for a while, and here's the best time for it.




ANETTE: What's...this...?


BUSH: It's your anniversary present. Thank you for putting up with me until now.


ANETTE: ...!! Oh, honey... Thank you...


ANETTE: I'm so happy...



*From this angle, we can see she's already wearing it under her sleeve.*




ANETTE: I...I have a favor to ask you.


ANETTE: Could you...um... come a little closer?







*And so they share a romantic kiss to close out the scene.*




ANETTE: ...


She's left speechless.

Only thing left to do is to actually go home.



Well, let's see how Juniper is doing-



MIST




MIST: Hello, Bush.


BUSH: ...!


MIST: I was just watching after your little chick since you were out having a secret meeting.


MIST: She's adorable. She looks just like you...


BUSH: Um... thank you.


JUNIPER: Papa! Hungry!


JUNIPER: I request turnip!


MIST: I might've taught her to say that. I hope you don't mind.


BUSH: Really...



Even though we're married, Mist will just show up in our house on rainy days as usual, conveniently right next to where Juniper sits.



Not long after our anniversary date is the 3rd year, of course.



This also means we can talk to Lute again to get a new painting. I think we already have this one though? Either way, here's "Summer Ocean".




LUTE: By the way, I sold a painting of mine the other day! That's the first time someone other than you bought one!


BUSH: Really? Congratulations!


LUTE: This is all thanks to you, Bush.


LUTE: I'll be coming more often to draw in this village.


Lute's business is finally taking off, it's good to see.

...And yes, we've been his only buyer of his paintings over the years up to this point.

In a few weeks, we catch up with him again, and...!




BUSH: A...present?


LUTE: That's right.


LUTE: The person that bought my painting the other day really liked it.


LUTE: So that person is going to come to buy my paintings from time to time.


BUSH: Oh, really? Congratulations!


LUTE: Thank you kindly. This is all thanks to you, Bush. I was able to build my confidence because you encouraged me.




LUTE: Now about the present... I'd like to use you as my model for a painting.


LUTE: I'll hang this up in the usual place at your house. Please take a look whenever you feel like it.


BUSH: Th-thank you very much. But, hanging up a painting of myself feels kind of weird...


We obtain the final painting!



When we come home late, we can find Anette in the chair upstairs watching over a sleeping Juniper.




JUNIPER: Mrmm...


Well, she doesn't have a lot to say, predictably.



We check our painting list, to see the new "Portrait of Bush" at the bottom.



Amazing.



Just exceptional Chef's kiss.


I do like the autumn forest painting the most so that gets put back up.



In a few days time, we hit Summer 24th, and...!




ANETTE: Juniper seems to have endless energy.




JUNIPER: Daddy! Hug!



*And so she toddles towards Bush...*




ANETTE: Juniper! Stop running around the house!


ANETTE: You'll fall and hurt yourself!


JUNIPER: I've mastered walking! I'm fine.


*Juniper moves back to Anette...*




ANETTE: Juniper is getting really interested in your work lately and wants to start tilling the fields.


ANETTE: Juniper still can't read. I'm a little worried about that...


JUNIPER: Mooom! Where's the history textbook?


ANETTE: Actually I meant to say she reads too well for her age...


ANETTE: Will I get to teach her anything at this rate...? Well, anyways...


ANETTE: I always feel my best when the three of us are together.




JUNIPER: Morning, Daddy!


JUNIPER: Are you off to fix nature again or something?




JUNIPER: Come back soon!


With that, Juniper is as old as she'll get. She has entered her FINAL FORM.




"Juniper - It's too cute the way she walks. What if some prince from afar comes to tak her away??"


This is her final logbook entry. You may also note that she's wearing a Ribbon and holding the Toy Waterpot already.



We can finally give her all the toys we prepared. She can only have two on her as accessories at a time, although most of the ones that aren't the Ribbon replace one another.

Any toys that get replaced just teleport up into the toybox upstairs





She wears the Wooly and the Duck on her head for some reason.




JUNIPER: I wanna go, too!


BUSH: Didn't you just say that you were staying inside?


JUNIPER: Nah, I'm bored now! I'll follow you around.


As we leave the house, Juniper will follow us around town. Unfortunately she counts as a follower in the same way as Pony so we can't have them both out at the same time.

...Or can we?

====================================

CURRENT DAY
====================================

Music: Trampoli




JUNIPER: Aaaand done!


JUNIPER: The Shrub Family history is complete!


JUNIPER: Well, the first draft at least.


ANETTE: That's what this has all been about?


JUNIPER: Yup!


BUSH: I think Selphy put her up to it.


JUNIPER: It was my idea, Auntie's just been helping!


ANETTE: (Selphy's not your aunt...)


JUNIPER: Now I have to discover my next great project...


ANETTE: You do realize the history of our family doesn't stop here, right? What about tomorrow, or next month?


JUNIPER: ...


JUNIPER: Whoops. I'll let the next Shrub handle that.


JUNIPER: Isn't that right, Pony? We have to go on our own adventures first!


*Pony barks, wagging her tail.*





BUSH: Hey, before you two go, be sure to eat your pie.


JUNIPER: Food! Yaaay!

====================================




JUNIPER: Ooh, there's one last letter in here! How did I miss this?


JUNIPER: ...It's still sealed? Why's there no address?


ANETTE: H-Hold on! Don't open it!


ANETTE: That letter needs to stay there. It's a... very important memory.


JUNIPER: You and Dad always have trouble remembering things. Is this a magic charm to help with that? Or is it just a another post office thing?


ANETTE: Haha... It's something like that, yeah.


ANETTE: There's a time in the future I'll let you open it. I'll deliver it to you then.


JUNIPER: Aww. how much in the future? Everything's "when I'm older!"


JUNIPER: I can already recite the contents of every Noradian dictionary, you know!


ANETTE: I know, Junie, I know...


JUNIPER: ...Oh, I guess I forgot to close this episode out.


JUNIPER: This has been Trampoli TV! We thank you for watching and reading along to the end!


JUNIPER: Until next time...


JUNIPER: Goodnight!


Music: Goodnight