Fleem wasn't a people person.

He watched the other yetis from his village mingle with the smallfeet, chatting happily and showing each other parts of the other's world. Ever since the two villages had accepted each other as friends, life in both had completely changed.

Recognizable among the crowd was Migo, and the red coated smallfoot who had brought everyone together. Those two were inseparable.

Fleem watched them try and struggle to communicate in gestures, shaking his head. It seemed like a lot of trouble. He always came down with the village and the S.E.S, but he just didn't have the patience to try to make friends with smallfeet.

So he wandered by himself, exploring the maze of buildings that made up the smallfoot village. The other yetis took no notice, giving all their attention to their smallfoot friends, and seemed content to let him do what he wanted. He was perfectly fine with that.

Fleem stopped to watch a small crowd of smallfeet disperse in front of him. Out of sight of the other yetis, he was the tallest creature around for once.

Many of them greeted him with nods as they passed, and a few stopped to look at him. Fleem grinned back mischievously and growled. It never worked. Some of the smallfeet glanced at each other as if confused. A few others gave high pitched giggles and playfully growled back. Ever since yetis and smallfeet had made peace, the smallfeet had lost all fear of yetis.

A little indignant, Fleem huffed and turned his back on them, starting to make his way back towards the edge of the village. He was far taller, yes, but the satisfaction in this was ruined when the tiny creatures didn't take him seriously at all.

He stopped and almost groaned out loud when he heard another group of laughter behind him.

Smallfoot children. He looked over his shoulder at four of them, all looking directly at him.

"I wasn't playing!" He asserted. "But none of you seem to be able to tell!"

The children started walking towards him, as if they were trying to be creepy. Fleem turned and ran.

It didn't matter if they chased him. He knew they had no hopes of keeping up, even as he slowed down to keep from stepping on smallfeet or anything else. Bursting out of the village, he looked back and nodded in satisfaction. He'd lost them.

The other yetis barely gave him a glance. Migo had his smallfoot on his shoulder now, talking to Meechee. Gwangi and Kolka were both a little ways off, each trying to talk to a smallfoot.

Fleem sighed and chose another direction to wander. Usually he saw plenty of interesting things on his walks, but today, he just wanted to go home. All the colorful lights the smallfeet were fond of felt too bright, the combined voices of yetis and smallfeet felt too loud, and for reasons he couldn't place, he just felt too frustrated to deal with it.

His brooding was interrupted as a smallfoot suddenly appeared in front of him, with a huge grin. Fleem yelped and leaped backwards, startled. He slipped and landed hard on his back, knocking the air out of himself.

Without missing a beat, the smallfoot began to chatter excitedly in it's high pitched gibberish, obviously talking to him.

Fleem sat up, annoyance growing. But all he could do was stare at this red haired smallfoot as he talked and talked and talked. "Uh…"

He fought the urge to pull back as he walked closer. Other smallfeet stopped and looked on curiously as the red haired one held up a weird black….thing.

"What?" Fleem blinked. "What are you doing?"

The smallfoot held the black thing out towards him, nodding as if in encouragement.

Fleem blinked again. "You're….giving me this?"

The smallfoot held it closer.

Fleem sighed and took the device. "All right. Thanks, I guess." The smallfoot just grinned as Fleem stood up. "But what do you expect me to do with it?"

The smallfoot held up one finger, then turned and ran away. "What? I don't know what that means!" Fleem called after him. But he was gone just as fast as he had appeared.

Fleem looked down at the black thing in his hand. What it was supposed to be shaped like, he couldn't tell. Two straps protruded from the side, and like many things created by smallfeet, a few raised dots decorated one side.

What was that all about?

Fleem shook his head and headed back towards the yetis again. Some smallfeet acted weirder than others. But he held on to the device. Sometime he would figure out what it was.

When the yetis finally climbed back up the mountain that night, Fleem felt like he was about to fall asleep on his feet. The other members of the S.E.S chatted excitedly about the fun they'd had.

"My smallfoot showed Meechee and me something really cool!" Migo said. "I think he said it's called a 'magic trick.'"

Meechee nodded. "For fun, smallfeet like to create illusions of things appearing or disappearing, and changing, like magic."

Kolka cocked her head. "So they….'trick' each other into thinking they're magic?"

Meechee smiled. "Not quite. All of them know it isn't real. But the fun is in wondering how they make it look real. I'll show you sometime. Smallfoot showed us a few of his tricks."

Fleem zoned out, shaking his head to keep his drowsy attention ahead. How did they have so much energy?

As they approached the village, Fleem blinked awake at the sound of his name behind him, and turned around. The S.E.S were off the path to the village. "Fleem, didn't you hear me?" Kolka looked a little annoyed. "We're having a meeting at the headquarters."

Fleem rubbed his tired eyes and yawned. "This late? I'm not. I'm going home."

Kolka shrugged. "Fine. Your call." The five other S.E.S members followed Meechee down the secret path to their secret cave, where they had held secret meetings for years.

Fleem didn't move for a bit. He was surprised Kolka had let him off so easily. He had expected protests, some disbelief, maybe to get dragged to the headquarters by his horns.

But she was right. His call. He didn't need to go to every meeting.

He hiked alone through the snow, through the village, until he reached his home.

His mom must have been as tired as he was, because the only sound he heard was faint breathing from her room.

Stumbling into his own, he collapsed onto his bed, gratefully welcoming the comfort of mammoth fur.

He still held the device that smallfoot had given him. Holding it close to a nearby snail, he studied it yet again. Nothing about it made any sense at all. Why did the smallfoot give it to him? What was he supposed to do with it?

Fleem huffed in frustration. Maybe it didn't do anything. He lifted his rock pillow, shoved it underneath, and went to sleep.

Dallin:

Dallin Ridge plopped his mop back in the bucket, breathing a sigh of relief. That mess had taken a long time to clean up.

All right, next mess.

He looked around, spotting another spill on another table. Were all people this messy, or just people who visited the Yak Shack?

He was glad to be busy while no one else was around, but he still felt used. Technically, he was supposed to run the counter, but being barely more than a kid, Dallin always at one point or another ended up with the jobs no one else wanted.

He blamed the lack of structure.

He wiped away the wine splotch, wincing as some dripped onto the floor and his shoe. Almost done. As soon as this table, and now the floor, was clean, his early morning shift would be over.

Dallin made as quick work as he could, listening to the crowd forming outside. That probably meant the yetis from the mountain were there.

Dallin smiled at the thought. Their friendship with the yetis had done a lot to bring the people in the city together. People seemed happier, more excited and even innocent, like children.

He didn't have a super close yeti friend, but he always enjoyed taking a moment to talk with any that wanted to.

Dropping his rag in the cleaning bin, he glanced around with satisfaction. The Yak Shack was as good as new. Time to go anywhere else until tomorrow.

Outside, Dallin looked around at the many yetis happily talking with their human friends. In the very front, he saw Percy Patterson, using sign language with his yeti friend. As close as everyone was with the yetis, those two had something special. It was obvious to anyone watching.

Percy, the first human to befriend a yeti, and the only to visit their village, had become something of a celebrity in the city.

Everyone wanted to hear his story, and ask him questions about yetis.

Dallin waved as a yeti caught sight of him and headed his way. "Hello."

The yeti growled her own greeting. She pointed curiously at the Yak Shack behind him. "What was I doing in there?" Dallin did his best to sign, somewhat awkwardly. The yeti nodded.

"I work in there. You know, a job? Most of the time, I clean stuff, manage the faulty karaoke machine, and every now and then, my many self appointed bosses let me run the counter like I'm supposed to. Got it?"

The yeti cocked her head, looking thoughtful. She started signing, gesturing to her smile, pointing at Dallin, gesturing at the Yak Shack….

"Huh?" Dallin watched her, trying to make out her meaning. "Oh! Do I enjoy it?" He copied her signs, and she nodded.

Dallin shook his head. "Not really. For now, I'm kind of stuck with it."

He paused, trying to choosing his next signs. "I just moved out on my own a year ago, and came here. This place was the only place that would hire me. Guess my resume just isn't that impressive. But I hope to get a different job one day. I'm still figuring out what it'll be, but I'll get there."

The yeti watched and listened, doing her best to understand. Then another yeti called to her. Dallin waved as she left. "Nice talking to you!" Then he began to make his way home.

He passed yetis and humans alike, all happy, all excited. He waved to them as he passed.

Suddenly, he turned and was greeted with a grinning face, right in his face. Even as he flinched, he recognized him as Dr. Seth Laker, the other celebrity of the city. He was a young protege, not much older than Dallin, known for accidentally inventing things that seemed impossible. He was also known for being very easily distracted.

"Hey there!" Dr. Laker said, displaying his usual cheery enthusiasm.

"Oh, uh, hi Dr. Laker." Dallin greeted, taken aback. He had never met Laker personally.

"Quick! You up for helping me test something?" Dr. Laker asked, wide-eyed.

"Uh, what?"

"Here. This is a prototype of my current project." Dr. Laker held up a black oddly shaped device. Dallin took it, curious. "What does it do?"

Dr. Laker put his hands on Dallin's shoulders as if they were old friends. "Hopefully, it will better our communication with our new yeti friends. A sort of empathy device."

Dallin almost couldn't make out his fast words. "Empathy?"

"Yep. Since the yetis growl to respond to us, I figured they don't use words like we use. Yet when they growl at each other, they seem to understand what each other means. I'm attempting to replicate it, but I need someone to help me test it. I just gave the other device to a yeti I came across, and told him to wait while I found someone to help me."

This is all very sudden.

"Well, I don't know how helpful I'll be, but I guess can try."

"Good good! Follow me!" Dr. Laker took off at a run. Dallin shook his head and ran after him along the street.

A couple of times, he almost lost him in his mad dash.

Around a turn. Then another. Then Dr. Laker skidded to a stop. Dallin almost ran into him. "Whoa!"

"Augh, he's gone." Dr. Laker turned to him, disappointment clear. "He must not have understood."

Dallin put his hands on his knees, breathing. "Well, he's probably still around."

"Yes, with my prototype. Wait here. I'll go look around."

Dallin sighed and sat down on the sidewalk, inspecting the device. "You're a very peculiar guy, Dr. Laker." He mumbled out loud.

Peculiar indeed. Time passed with no sign of Dr. Laker. Guess I should just return his empathy device and go home.

Dallin stood and headed in the direction he had gone, until he was close to the main group on the edge of the city.

The big purple and curly furred yeti was looking at a neon sign outside a building. Dallin waved, getting his attention.

"Hi! Do you know where Dr. Laker is? Uh, you know, he has red hair…"

He touched the red part of his shoe then his own hair. "Have you seen him?"

The yeti raised an eyebrow and pointed towards Percy Patterson, on his yeti's shoulder.

"Yeah, he does have red hair. But I'm looking for someone else with redder hair. More red." He signed as well as he could, but he was sure he was only confusing the poor yeti further.

"Never mind. I'll find him."

But he didn't. Dr. Laker had disappeared. And forgotten his empathy device.

Dallin asked a few more yetis, but none of them had seen him. He looked at the device in his hand. He would have to give it back to Dr. Laker tomorrow. He would surely be out with the yetis again.

Shaking his head with a sigh, Dallin once again headed for home.

AN: Hello, and thanks for giving this story a shot! I for one, am looking forward to torturing these characters with more chapters, hehe. Have any of you guessed what's gonna happen to them? If so, I hope you're waiting in anticipation to see it all go down! If you haven't...well, I still hope you're waiting in anticipation, cause you're gonna find out! Enjoy!