Anders scoffed. Having been excited to hear of a magical book mobile coming into town, Anders assumed he would be getting a bunch of tomes with journals and writings of magic scholars at colleges. Rather, he just found a bunch of kid's books with "moving pictures".

Anders grimaced as he held open one of the pop-up books. A small knight appeared on the page in front of him. He saw a little paper tab on the side of it and pushed it in. The knight's arms began to move up and down the pushing of the tab. "Book seller, I do not mean to offend... but this book is not magical. It's just a pop up book for children!"

The book seller looked up. His face was mostly concealed from the dark of his hood, but a cream-colored snout could be seen due to the afternoon sun shining down on it. The snout's mouth contorted into a frown. Anders realized he may have upset the bookseller.

"Flyer specifically states most o' these books are for kids." The seller gestured to the books on the table. "Enchanted, yes, but only slightly... brings the magical wonder of the pages to life for those who wish to read them!"

"Uh...huh...." Anders rolled his eyes. "I was expecting... I dunno... scholarly journals on REAL magic and not some dumb... showy magic?"

The book keeper's posture lowered slightly. Anders bit his lip, realizing that his remark was needlessly rude. "I'm... sorry. I guess I'm just... uh...."

Anders looked at the table in front of him. A line of face-up picture books, each stacked three high, sat in front of him. They all were made with various illustrations and titles such as, "The elf's selfish shelf" and "Dyna the Dainty". But among these books there was a single, teal book. It sat behind the other books on the table, and it didn't have a picture on the cover, just a single word. "Big Belly Anders".

Anders's eyes widened as he picked up the book. "Anders? that's my name!" Anders immediately pointed at the book with his free hand while staring at the shopkeeper. He felt a bemused grin creep onto his face. "I'll... I'll take it, as consolation for my needless remark earlier."

The book keeper smiled and his hands clapped together. "That one is a TRULY enchanted book! How coincidental you have the same name as the protagonist!"

Anders smiled shyly as he paid for the book and went on his way. That situation was very awkward, but now he could finally get away with it... after wasting his money buying a dumb kid's book.

"Anders, you gotta learn to be a bit kinder...." He stared down at the teal coloration of the book. Curiously, he opened it... and began to read it. The story was about a dragon named Anders, someone who always felt too small. This led Anders to attempt to grow big in many ways -- through potions, magic spells, even inflating himself like a balloon. But nothing worked.

"And this book has no moving pictures? It's just words!" Anders scoffed. "Ha! I knew this shop didn't really have magical books!" Anders feels his stomach grumble. Instinctively, he put his hand under his belly, hefting it up to calm down the growls. "Shhhhh. We'll get food soon." Anders stopped reading the book, confused. "Wait, what?"

Anders looked down at his belly, then back up at the book. He was just reading a sentence in the book and it sounded like he said it aloud. He reads through the page again, "Anders feels his stomach grumple..."

Anders stomach begins to grumble at him. Frustrated, he hefts his belly up again and remarks, "Shhhhh. We'll get food soon! Now stop!"

"Yeesh!" Anders begins to trot along as he continues reading the book. He could've sworn something was off about what just happened... but he couldn't put his finger on it.

~~~~~

Part 1 of a trade I'm doing with Lukoi! Seems Anders has a thing planned for him.

~~~~~

Anders ©  lukoi

Art/Story ©  pikminpedia Me

~~~~~

Part 1: [You Are Here!]
Part 2: https://www.furaffinity.net/view/37949304/
Part 3: https://www.furaffinity.net/view/39244687/