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It was a cold clear night. The crisp air was refreshing and Tempest took deep breaths of it as if it could revive them. Maybe it would be enough to get rid of the sickly sweet aftertaste.
Tempest sighed with relief as all the thumping died down, they made a mental note to go out and gather some more brown mushrooms tomorrow. They lay back, stretching their wings out on the large nest, feathers ruffling against the twigs and poppies interwoven between the strands.
The sky was beautiful. The expansive darkness was completely pocketed with stars, the band of intermingling nebulas and other celestial bodies streaked across the sky. It was such a shame that they just blurred together.
Instead of gazing into murky abyss, Tempest pulled one of the vibrant flowers out from the walls of the nest, and stared intensely as they rolled it between their fingers. Tomorrow they wouldn’t get into any trouble, they wouldn’t go into the heart of the village, they could stay on the edges and not have to be around so many people, so many heartbeats, so many forsaken souls and it. would. be. fine. Tempest sighed, shoved those thoughts away, and tried to focus on something else.
They rolled the poppy between their fingers again, careful not to nick it with their claws, and watched as the large delicate petals danced through the motion. The humming started involuntarily, the notes blooming in their throat before they gave in and let them tumble from their mouth. The singing soothed them, though Tempest didn’t remember where they learned the song, they knew it off by heart.
Suddenly they got the faint sense of movement nagging at their mind. They didn’t break the song, it was probably just an animal or their neighbour getting a drink, but it got stronger. The faint slow but steady heartbeat of the treehouse’s resident began making his way down the dirt path. It sounded muffled through the dull rushing in their ears, but it was still clear enough. Tempest let the notes dry off as he reached the bottom of the tree, and they hauled themselves up to the edge to peer over.
There he was, dark hair falling in thick swaths over his face, his wings shivering slightly in the cold.
“Hey Samuel, is that you?”
Tempest could tell that if they could see properly, Samuel would probably be frowning up at them
“Yea.. what are you doing being awake so late? I could hear you singing from all the way from my tree house.”
“I could ask you the same.”
Samuel opened his mouth for a second before snapping it closed, then sighed.
“You aren’t gonna tell me are you.”
“Probably not right now.”
He paused as he looked back at the path, before turning back up to where Tempest was still leaning over. “Can I come up at least?”
In reply, they just reached down their arm. With not too much effort, Samuel hoisted himself up the first few branches, paused, and gave in, grabbing Tempest’s outreached arm and letting them pull him up the last distance. Tempest made a note in their mind on how the skulk had crawled up is arm further, and his face had more dark crawling dapples. It had been like this for a while, each time they saw Samuel the skulk seemed to have progressed further. They would see if he would talk about it.
They both collapsed into the cozy nest, Tempest quickly shoving a few things away then leaned back. “You want any food? I keep some snacks up here.”
Samuel leaned back too, so they were both resting on the far wall. “Nah I’m good. I don’t get too hungry at night.”
They sat in silence for a bit, Tempest could see Sam looking thoughtfully at the poppies that poked out all over the place.
With a furrowed brow, he brushed the petals of a nearby flower before starting. “What’s-“
“Beautiful aren’t they?”
“What?” He looked up startled
“The stars.”
“Oh. Yea I suppose so. They are.”
And they both paused and stared up into the sky. The swirling clouds attempted to hide the crescent moon and the twinkling stars.
“What do they look like?” Tempest asked suddenly
“The stars?” Samuel said with a huffed out laugh.
“What do you mean?”
“Tell me about them.”
Samuel sat up to look at Tempest properly.
“You.. can’t see them?”
“Not well. These shitty eyes can’t seem to focus on things that are far away. Another side effect of being an abomination I suppose.”
“Hah well, what does that make me? I suppose we are both abominations then.”
They both fell into comfortable silence again. However, Tempest could feel Samuel itching to ask questions. He tugged restlessly at the edge of the nest, woven straw and sticks coming loose in his hands, before he came to a poppy again.
“Go on then.” Tempest said while smirking knowingly.
“Huh? Go on with what?” His hands pulled back from the delicate flower.
“With your questions. I can feel you overthinking from over here.”
“Hey! Harsh much, I’m not overthinking. I was just wondering.. why poppies? In the walls? Wouldn’t they get squashed?” He said through a shiver as a sudden cold gust of wind swept through.
“Hah, not what I was expecting. They help me sleep deeper when I do sleep, helps keep the dreams away.” They replied while picking up the flower they had plucked before. “Here, smell.”
Samuel obliged, bending far forward to smell, before recoiling slightly at the dizzying scent as Tempest laughed.
“Don’t stick your whole nose in it!” They hesitated for a moment before saying “Here.” They twisted the stem forward so it was sticking behind his ear. “It’ll help you sleep tonight.” Samuel secured the blood red flower properly before looking back up at the sky, the moon well and truly at its peak.
“That red looks good on you! Just.. don’t make it a habit.” Tempest said while smiling sadly.
Samuel frowned suddenly, and asked “Tempest, why aren’t you asleep?” Tempest chucked, should have seen it coming.
“Now or in general?”
“I- *sigh* both I suppose.”
They paused for a moment, considering how to word things. “…Well usually it’s because I have these.. really weird dreams. They’re... not nice. The more tired I am, the less dreams I have. Tonight however… i’s ‘cuse I took a potion. Not good to sleep under the effects. Why are you awake?”
Samuels frown deepened “Tempest, why did you take a potion? What was it?”
“Tried to go into town today. Needed more sugar. Too many people, too many hearts, life forc’s beating. It can mak you crazy. I’s ok now though.” They slurred slightly while leaning back. Now was not the best time for the affects to truly kick in.
“Why are’t you asle’p?” Closer now, they could see just how far his eyebags dug into his face, and how the skulk crawled ever further.
“Temp, are you ok? What’s wrong? What did you take?”
Tempest sighed deeply “Weakness.”
“WEAKNESS?? Why would you take a weakness potion?” Samuel exploded suddenly in angry surprise, sitting straight upright.
“Like I said. Too loud. Weakness maks it all quiet. Everyone else just dies away. Head gets fuzzy. I feel a bit nauseous but i’s worth it” Tempest continued to slur
“Aurgh! First Sunny now you, who else do I have to worry about next?” He said while smushing his dappled purple palms into his eyes.
“So don’t.” Tempest said simply. “Why would you ever hav’t worry ‘bout me?” They looked away so that Samuel couldn’t see their face. They were being too far perceived.
“Because you’re my friend? Why wouldn’t i worry about you?”
“I’m not worth it, you have Sunny and clearly they are.. a handful. I can survive on my own.” It was Tempest turn to fidget.
“‘Survival’ is not what I’m worried about. You gotta have some wellbeing too.”
“…”
With no reply from tempest, he sighed and gazed over to his house, then back at the moon, then back to Tempest.
“… how long does the potion last?”
“Not long. I couldn’t find any redstone.”
“Ok. You said you had food up here, do you have water too?”
“In the barrel hidd’ under that moss.” Tempest replied, pointing a flecked wing at the lumpy patch and Samuel shuffled on his knees over.
“Well aren’t you sneaky… ugh.” Samuel made a noise of disgust as he pulled away the moss to uncover a barrel that didn’t just have water and jerky, but also more weakness potions.
“Right I am confiscating these, here.” He shoved the last of the potions into his deep pockets and passed over one of the water bottles. He winced as his shuffling squashed another poppy, but there was no helping it.
“Nooooo… Saaammmm I need themmmm…” tempest said jokingly as they flopped forward towards them.
“No, you don’t. You will have to find something else because weakness potions will only make you feel like shit after.” He pulled himself away from Tempests grabby hands, making sure the confiscated contents of his pockets didn’t spill out.
There was a small scuffle, where both sides were whacked repeatedly with various wings but it eventually died down. In their weakened state they were no match for the determined Samuel. Tempest flopped down in a defeated heap, but then quickly contentedly snuggled down into the soft walls of the.
“You know, you never did end’p telling me about the stars.” Tempest said as they tilted their head back to the wide sky.
“Didn’t I? Oh well what do you want to know?”
“Anything.” They said while smiling up at the blurry sky.
“Well, stars are actually burning balls of gas inconceivably far away from the Overworld, like the sun. But there are also shooting stars that are actually not stars, they are meteors, and there are planets far away that look like stars.” He began to ramble.
“Are there any constellations around here?” Tempest wouldn’t be able to say what compelled them to ask that, but something tugged at their mind that this was their favorite question.
“Yea heaps I suppose! I don’t know many though, perks of not growing up in the Overworld. But that one there,“ He pointed up to a slightly circular cluster of stars, “is the Blooming Poppy constellation.”
“Well isn’t that fitting.”
They both looked up at the constellation before Tempest asked another question.
“Do you have stars at the beginning?”
“Of course we do.” He huffed surprised. “You know, I heard that the Overworld and the Beginning weren’t so unalike before the Overworld was created. But now it looks.. well.. they way the Beginning looks now. The stars in the Beginning look a bit different though, because the atmosphere is a bit different than the Overworld. We also don’t have a sun over there, but it’s still bright because of all the stars. We have a lot more than the Overworld because..”
Tempest let the rambling wash over them. They were very content to just listen to their friend ramble, and feel their slow warm heart beat thump in their mind as they waited for the weakness to wear itself out.
Samuel continued to rant about the stars with a shine in their dark eyes. But they were starting to wear down as the lack of sleep caught up to them and they caught more than a few stifled yawns.
“… Temp? I asked how you feeling now?”
“Oh, sorry, I feel better. Hey Sam?”
“Yea?”
“…thank you. For staying I mean, not for rudely stealing my weakness potions.”
“‘Course.” He replied simply around a big yawn.
Tempest paused for a long moment before finally asking “…Hey Sam.. what’s up with with your.. skulk? It’s grown again.. you said it was fine but I was just wondering..”
Samuel froze, and blinked a few times before muttering "I'm uh- its..well… nothing. I’m fine really.” Tempest gazed knowingly at him before sighing. “
“Do you need anything? Can I do anything for it?”
Samuel sank further into the soft lining before quietly replying, “…no.”
Tempest knew better to push. “If that changes, and it’s not fine anymore, tell me please? You care so much about people, let me care about you.”
“….ok.” Samuel said, even more quietly.
Tempest fell into a thoughtful silence, while Samuel just fell into an exhausted silence.
“Sam, would you still be my friend if other people liked you and saw you the way I did?”
All Tempest got in reply was quiet snoring. They sighed before saying “Come on you, time for bed.”
They lifted the worryingly light sleeping form up from where they lay in the nest and carried him to the edge of the nest. There, they slightly ungracefully glided down to the path where they got a confused “mmmumph?” Out of Samuel, so they carefully lowered him to his feet, and slung one arm over his shoulder in support, careful not to nick him with their claws.
“Can you walk?” Tempest said slightly concerned as they steadied their swaying friend.
“Mhmm..” Samuel replied in affirmative.
They slowly made their way down the knoblled path, being careful not to stumble too badly over the rooty bits, and avoiding the crawling thorny bushes. They finally made it to the gates, and tried to carefully manoeuvre through the qqwwn, Tempest trying not to wake the dogs, Samuel practically hanging off their shoulder.
The tree house looked.. more than daunting.
Tempest forgot exactly how they managed to get up, but it was some combination of flying and pulling up. They finally made it to Samuels bed. It looked strangely dusty which was concerning, but Tempest ignored it as they plonked the dead weight down and tried in vain to tug the covers over him. Samuel was fast asleep as soon as he hit the bed, and Tempest took one last look at him before turning back.
“Goodnight Orchid.”