Something Shiny

So there was this thing about Lycoris and that was mostly about how competitive she could be. Not just about things that warranted competition but about small, petty things as well. This led to her being completely unable to turn down a challenge and, well… Sometimes she’d issue challenges too, yes. But mostly, she was the one getting in trouble because she couldn’t keep her mouth shut, or her playful nature in check.

That was how she’d ended up in her unenviable predicament as well.

She tried moving her wings back and forth to test her position, but the chafing made her give up. Then, she gritted her teeth and kicked her hind legs, but the best she could do was some negligible wiggling. She couldn’t move, of course, but moving meant making noise, and she couldn’t make noise. Not if she wanted to win — and Lycoris wanted to win.

It wasn’t even the other Beastling’s idea. Of course not.

Oh, that looks so cute! Lycoris thought, eyeing some sort of a pendant that the other was carrying around. Her eyes twinkled nearly as brightly as the jewel that hung around the thin silvery necklace. She wanted that, and the other Beastling — a cute squirrel, one that Lycoris had never seen before, with shiny fur lined with tinkling trinkets. Lycoris had taken one look at her, and then she’d just thought — I have to have this. Lycoris would’ve been impressed. If she wasn’t looking at Vulpel, of course. As it was, she had scrunched her nose in distaste, but she’d still approached her.

“What’s that ugly thing?” She had asked with disdain, her first words said towards the pretty Vulpel. Lycoris had been preparing for that entrance for so long that the other Beastling had nearly left. In fact, Lycoris was sure that anyone else would’ve noticed her — but of course, the other wasn’t a Vesperus, the rightful lord of the night, the owner of the sharpest senses and cutest nose in the Arboreum! She wasn’t Lycoris, of course. She was just some cute little squirrel.

Not cute! Lycoris had had to remind herself. She wasn’t cute! As a matter of fact, she was a little ugly too, so grass-coloured that Lycoris barely noticed her on the forest floor, and she had something— something on her head! A crown of flowers, really? They were smelly, too! Of course, Lycoris couldn’t feel the scent from so far away, but her nose scrunched nonetheless.

But something was shining, and so she stuck up a conversation.

The Vulpel looked around. Left right, left right. And then — straight at Lycoris.

“You must not be talking to me,” she said, “There aren’t ugly things here.”

And see, that was the main difference between them. If it had been Lycoris who’d been approached by a stranger, and if that stranger had told her: “Hey, this thing you own is ugly,” the Lycoris would’ve been so mad. So mad that she would’ve called them ugly, as they surely would’ve been with that attitude of theirs! She would’ve said: “You are ugly!”

And then she thought — Oh. So maybe this Vulpel isn’t so bad after all.

Or maybe she could tell how cute Lycoris is. No one would dare think otherwise, after all.

“What? This thing?” The Vulpel had asked then. “Do you want it?”

“Want it?” Lycoris had screeched then. “I don’t want that shabby thing!” She outright screeched. “Maybe I’d take it a trophy?”

She wasn’t sure what the emotion was on the little squirrel’s face. Maybe she was frowning. Maybe she was laughing at Lycoris.

“Well, I wouldn’t give it to you anyway,” the little squirrel had said, “Unless you won it in a competition.”

“Fine!” Lycoris could never back down from a challenge. “Fine!”

And that was how she ended up there — hidden in a trunk. Not stuck, just hiding. The usual. Hide and seek was the game they agreed on, and Lycoris had proclaimed herself the queen of finding secret spaces. She’d win this.

And truly, yes, it seemed like she would. She had found the perfect tree — hollow — wiggled inside and waited. She’s heard the little squirrel searching for her. She wasn’t relentless in her pursuit, but she’d still taken ample time. She’d called for Lycoris, proclaimed that she’d won, even, but Lycoris wasn’t going to take that bait. No, she was going to wait the little squirrel out. Maybe the little green thing would panic! Would she be worried?!

But not once had she seemed distraught. She’d simply called for Lycoris. She called her Vesperus because Lycoris never introduced herself properly. She’d called her your nightly ladyship but Lycoris had a feeling that one was a little teasing (not sarcastic! only teasing!).

And then she hadn’t heard anything in forever. The little squirrel must’ve left her as suddenly as she’d appeared around Lycoris. And Lycoris was going to be so angry about being swindled out of her pendant!

With renewed will — and anger — she scratched her way up the hollow tree, towards the hole she initially used to creep inside. When she surfaced, it was almost light out. Had she been there for hours? Could that be a thing? She looked around, shaking her head, and then she stretched her wings. The little squirrel was nowhere to be found.

Of course.

Lycoris wasn’t angry. No, she was pouting. She was dunked in cold water, she was wallowing in her own miser— Something was hanging from one of the branches of a tree right across her hiding spot. Something shiny. Something! Something silvery! Lycoris forgot her woes and then dove right onto it, not a care in the world.

She recognized it immediately — it was a silvery pendant, with a shiny gem right in the middle.