Around the end of the mirage festival Strawbi noticed Tootie was starting to get a bit drowsy. They themselves felt pretty tired, so they figured they'd call it a day and head back home. Besides, it was getting late anyway and letting Tootie stay out anywhere after sunset was a bad idea.
“Tootie, c'mon girl. Time to go home.”
Tootie grumbled, and sat in place stubbornly. She didn't wanna leave, she was having so much fun. Then she felt herself starting to nod off and began to reconsider.
Strawbi chuckled and shook their head,”Tootie, come on.”
With a sigh, Tootie obliged and followed Strawbi through the now empty stands and the crowd that also decided to take their leave.
“There are so many pacas here, a shortcut would be better If we wanna get home on time,” Strawbi grumbled.
Tootie rolled her eyes and gestured at her own wings, and then pointed towards Strawbi's side.
“I know, I know, let's wait till we get further in the woods then we can fly the rest of the way, okay?” Strawbi asked.
Tootie huffed, but once again rolled her eyes and continued to follow Strawbi. Tootie's drowsiness quickly subsided when they got there, and was replaced by unease.
She didn't like the vibe of these woods, there's bound to be something dangerous out there. When she looked down at Strawbi, they seemed fine strolling on through the woods. Strawbi would occasionally take in deep breaths and close their eyes, letting their thoughts float away with every exhale.
If Strawbi wasn't going to keep their eyes peeled then Tootie decided that she was going to have to be the one to keep them safe.
Strawbi's tranquility was disturbed by a crack and the feeling of something under their nub. Lifting it up, they saw tiny broken blue shards shimmering in the light of the sleepy sun.
Strawbi held the rock piece up for Tootie to see. Tootie sniffed at it a little and tilted her head.
“I think I broke it…maybe if I…”
Strawbi picked up all the little broken pieces, and pressed them firmly into their nubs. A small glow radiated from in between their nubs, when they opened them back up, it was whole again.
“Ah?” Strawbi said as they inspected the shiny thing,”why–isn't this beautiful! What's it doing here?”
Right then, the two heard a crack but not from themselves. Both immediately spun around and put themselves on guard, Tootie puffing up and spreading her wings out with a snarl.
“Ack–calm down friends.” A voice said.
Strawbi obliged, hearing the noise was not from a threat, yet still feeling a bit uneasy. Tootie still kept her guard up. A white paca with a sun hat on emerged from the bushes. She towered over Strawbi in the form they were in, but only slightly smaller than Tootie. Strawbi noticed this pretty quickly, and caught a glimpse of extra eyes under her hat. They tilted their head trying to tell if this paca actually had more eyes under her hat, unintentionally allowing for the rock to be seen.
At the sight of the rock and feeling the duo's unease, the monster paca took a step back, and covered up her face with her hat.
“I apologize, I had no intentions of startling you like that,” The paca said with much nervousness in her voice,”I should—go.”
“Hey, wait! It's alright, it was just an accident. No hard feelings, okay?” Strawbi said, as they began to move closer to the paca to speak with her. However, still keeping the rock close.
“No, stay back please! You're just gonna rub that thing in my face!” The paca snapped.
Strawbi paused, startled by her shouting. “This? What even is this?”
They looked down at the shard, with a confused look on their face. By the time Strawbi looked back up they saw the monster paca standing over them, now directly looking at them with hurt in her eyes.
“Eep!” Strawbi yelped, not expecting her to be there pointing at the thing.
The monster was further hurt by Strawbi's little yelp. The core on her chest sparkled, along with the tears running down her face.
“You standards are all the same… the second you see one of you immediately think the worst! And you stand there with that chrysalis shard. In our forest..”
The monster slammed her pincer into the ground out of frustration, most of it towards herself. Strawbi jumped and allowed for their winged form to take the place of the standard. A cloud of smoke poofed up into the air and throughout the woods. The monster confused, by this, began to try and fan the smoke out the way. Stumbling around trying to find her way out the smoke, she accidentally stepped on something and it popped in half.
“What in the…” The monster held up the little broken thing, it was a sprinkle. She looked back up, there were a bunch of em scattered throughout, and there stood a much larger silhouette than the standard she saw. Through the misty smoke cloud she saw their large wings on full display, most likely in defense.
Even when it cleared up, Strawbi did not move. They stood there staring down the monster waiting for her to make another move in order to confirm whether they should really be on defense right now. Neither of them said anything for a period of time, before the monster's lips began to part.
“You don't know how lucky you are, to be blessed with pretty wings instead of terrified pacas and a core that doesn't even want to be a part of you.” The monster said with a tremble in her voice, and much jealousy throughout.
“It's just…it doesn't seem fair…” The monster wept.
Strawbi sheepishly lowered their wings a little and folded them back in slightly, their body finally starting to relax a bit.
“Leave this forest, winged. Before someone who's not as kind as me finds you. Not everyone would take kindly to you having that thing.”
Before Strawbi could even begin to say anything, she turned away and ran off into the woods. They were tempted to try and speak with her further, but with the last little bit of sunlight disappearing, it would be fruitless trying to find her.
“Let's just go home Tootie,” Strawbi sighed. “Maybe we can apologize later…or something…”
Strawbi conjured a gust of wind to boost Tootie up into the air, and went up into the sky along with her. Strawbi flew the rest of the way home with their head hanging down, hoping for at least a glimpse of the monster.