Whoah, monthly chao post /j
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Starfruit has been…distant lately. Well, distant might have been the wrong word for it - distracted fit better. Ever since what had happened with black raisin cookies and the dragonling running off, he’d been…off. It wasn't noticeable at first - aside from the very obvious fact the boy was hiding something when he was arguing with Red Leicester.
“We have to go to the kingdom- they deserve to know what happened to their lead protector!” the boy had hissed, waving his arms around dramatically - his tail flicking against the dirty road in irritation
“We’d look like the people who murdered ‘er, Starfruit! We’d be executed!” Red Leicester had replied, their wings fluttering in irritation as the two bickered.
It’d been heated, but the fight with the wafflebots had given them enough time to cool down - with the party majority voting in favour of heading to the Vanilla Kingdom; much to Red’s dismay. And yet, Starfruit still had remained distracted - sneaking off, or avoiding certain questions; just, being strange.
It was…minorly worrying to the grown ups in the party - Starfruit was a strange child already, far too reckless and naive in comparison to what an average 15 year old might have behaved; but they didn't know enough about the dragonling’s background to conclude why. Hell, Starfruit hadn't even KNOWN what a dragon was until they’d encountered the raisin crows in milkweed village.
Overall, it was…strange - and despite Paparika’s gentle reassurances that “you can talk to us anytime” or even Blue Cheese’s attempted comfort whilst he was teaching Starfruit about herbs, the weirdness didn't seem to change…and so Red Leicster suggested a different approach.
“You vant to…vhat?” Blue Cheese spoke, sounding far more exasperated than he needed to at this early morning.
“teach ‘em to fly! Maybe he’s just gettin’ grumpy ‘cus he 's groundbound.” Red Leicester responded, their head cocked to the side as if the dove harpy had just asked a stupid question that had an obvious answer.
“I mean…it could be smart? And useful in case there's a scenario where he's getting chased again?” Nebula Paprika chimed in, her voice smooth and patient much like the woman it was coming from. “and…it’d probably make it easier for him to get away if he's in danger!” she continued, glancing at Blue Cheese. Her words were intentional; it’d become quite obvious that Blue Cheese had taken Starfruit under his wing so to speak - so she was appealing to that part of the Russian's instincts.
Blue Cheese sighed, rubbing the bridge of his nose whilst his wings - clipped and slightly matted, he REFUSED to preen with Red Leicester - stretched out, before reconfiguring themselves on his back and settling once more.
“...fine. It goes vrong zough? I blame you.” Blue Cheese caved, though his eyes narrowed as he stared at Red Leicester.
“Dont getcha feathers in a twist, Blue. I’m a GREAT flight instructor.”
“Uh… Red? I- I don't feel great about this!” Starfruit’s voice broke the relatively quiet horizon, the dragonling standing atop of a relatively high cliff. Far below him, Blue Cheese and Nebula Papirika stood - Nebula paprika mostly there to stop an increasingly antsy Blue Cheese from trying to kill Red Leicester.
“Hes going to be okay, Blue Cheese…Red won't let him hurt himself–”
“Zat vulture tried to get him to eat BONES, Paprika- should not have agreed to zis” Blue Cheese grumbled, the dove harpy’s gaze locked onto the dragon child perched on the cliff edge.
“Dont ya worry, kid! You’ll do great! It's a second instinct!” The Vulture Harpy chirped encouragingly - ignoring the familiar red ghostly silhouette behind him who was rapidly shaking his head. “Anyway, off ya go!”
Red Leicester cheered, before…shoving Starfruit off of the cliff - clearly seeing nothing wrong with the act.
“RED?!” Both Paprika and Blue Cheese shouted at once; their eyes shifting from the smug Vulture harpy to the speeding yellow dot that was their youngest team member–
“AAAAAAAAAH!!!!” Starfruit shrieked; having not anticipated the action as he began to nosedive. His wings stretched out instinctively; but the angle was all wrong, providing no drag to elevate him upwards - he flailed in the air; screaming his little lungs out. Briefly - it almost looked like there was a dove diving after him…it was brushed off as paranoia.
Papirika reacted before anyone else did - her butterfly wings spanning out as quickly as possible before she was up in the air; intercepting the dragon-turned-airbullet before the child would collide with the earth. She could already hear the clashing argument of Blue Cheese and Red Leicester; Blue was screaming from the bottom of the cliffside as Red Leicester slowly glided their way down.
She chose to tune it out, focusing on the light weight in her arms - Starfruit clinging onto her body like a startled. She opened her mouth, going to give him some reassurance that everything was okay- only for the boy to burst into a fit of giggles. She blinked, confused - her wings beating in counts of 4 as she hovered in the air. It was nice to hear the kid giggling, she wouldn't lie - though she didn't quite get where the outburst had come from.
“That- that was a disaster! BWAHAHAH!- ohmygod!-” Starfruit wheezed between giggles, his tail wagging excitedly as he looked down for a few moments at the two arguing figures - before looking back at Nebula Paprika. “I- I don't think Red’s method…worked-” He spluttered, but then watched Nebula’s wings flap - trying to mimic the pattern of wingbeats with a furrowed brow. Nebula’s brows raised, but she smiled - adjusting the way she held Starfruit to allow him more room to spread his smaller wings.
“Yeah, that…was certainly an experience. This time, let's perhaps just get you used to flapping your wings before we send you diving..” She said gently, with a reassuring smile.
“Look! See, he' s doin’ it! He’s flyin’ - you're such a worrywart!--” Red Leicester waved their hands dismissively, narrowly avoiding being hit by Blue Cheese’s talons with a sharp “oi!”
“HES FLYING BECAUSE NEBULA PAPRIKA IS TEACHING HIM YOU DOLT!” Blue cheese squeaked in response, his accent thick and heavy with his rage as he tried not to strangle the other harpy.
The two birds continued to argue for the rest of the afternoon, long after the flight lesson had come to a close - with Starfruit happily and proudly showing off how fast he could beat his wings now, even if he couldn't take off yet. It was a good day, and that distance the boy had placed between him and then had disappeared - at least temporarily. From the trees, a single heartless dove sat; its miss-matched eyes having spent the afternoon watching the group. It flew away silently without a sound.
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