Produce For Your Thoughts ~ PPAU Quest

    Fact one: Plover was panicking.

    Fact two: Plover was in love (? citation and further research needed) with their best friend, Starfinder.

    Fact three: the second was causing the first, creating a feedback loop of pain.

    And fact four: the gods themselves thought this pain was funny and were doing everything they could to exacerbate this cycle. At least someone was enjoying this.

    Because out of the tens of dragons who volunteered to work the fields, the farmer had picked Star as Plov’s partner. The farmer seemed like a sweet Sandwing, but that wouldn’t stop Plover from strangling her over this situation. Oh, and Lady Kairi was there too because they didn’t have enough to worry about already.

    But, because murders were frowned upon in Mezzo, Plover bit their tongue, didn’t kill anyone, and went to the peach orchard as instructed.

    “—Really? Five visions all at once?” cackled Lady Kairi. The sharp noise snapped Plover out of their sulking as they—

    That was a tree. Plover was walking straight into a tree.

    Plover managed to stop just in time not to become fish kabob, the sharp branch they were about to walk into poking against the red scales of their throat.

    Luckily, Lady Kairi had overlooked her subject’s idiocy. She was laughing with Star without glancing in Plover’s direction. “I’ve never heard of that before. Step over Allknowing, we’ve got a new head prophet in town!”

    Star blushed. “Hey, that’s just what happens with prophecy powers and falling into eldritch death holes. Okay?”

    “How many kids is that who fell into pits?” Kairi hummed, counting out names under her breath before her eyes went wide. “Ten— no, eleven!? You’d think the teachers would’ve checked for those!” 

    “Most of Mezzo is full of horrors, so there’s not much you can do.” Star laughed right back, her smile all snark and ‘what did you expect.’

    And huh, apparently, Star did have Lady Kairi hiding in that friendship scarf of hers. Good to know. And it was good to know that Star’s laugh was still as pretty as always. Plov had heard it a few times, but it was always lovely to listen to it again—

    That was another freaking tree. Why were there so many trees?

    Oh, right, orchard.

    When Plover glared up at the offending plant, their eyes landed on the peach-coloured fruits hanging in between the leaves. Presumably, those were the peaches Plover needed to pick. That was convenient. 

    Plover waved a claw in the air, cutting off the other two bickering dragonets, and pointed at the canopy.

    Lady Kairi paused, looking around at the fifty peach trees with a whistle. “Oh, we’re going to be here a while.”

    “Where do we even start?” Plover sparked in Aquatic. They didn’t know how to pick fruit, and as far as they knew, nobody else here did either. So this was a difficult situation, which would require some teamwork and discussion.

    Kairi turned around and slammed her tail against a tree trunk.

    Golden-green leaves rained down from the blow, but only one peach fell loose. Said peach thunked between Starfinder’s ram horns and rolled slowly down her snout. She went cross-eyed trying to track it.

    It was the most adorably hilarious thing they’d ever seen, and Plover’s ears went as pink as the peaches above them. They were going to have a panicked sapphic heart attack before the day was out.

    “...That was your plan?” Star asked as the peach fell off her nose and bounced into the grass.

    Lady Kairi hissed, her pale blue scales doing little to hide her embarrassed blush. “Oh, give me a break. That’s how we do it in the Sea Kingdom! Hit it with a stick, and then you can eat.”

    “And not going to unpack that, okay. I believe Rainwings fly between the trees to pluck fruits, but none of us have the wings for that.” Starfinder explained, sadly pointing at her short owl wings and the two Seawings flipper-like ones. “Maybe we could climb the trees, though? Does that—”

    Without another word, Plover scampered up the tree and out of sight.

    They then promptly buried their peach-coloured snout in their claws, surrounded by fruits as pink as they were. Plover should’ve never shown up to this stupid harvest.

    “You good up there?” Star called up, and gods, why did she have to be so considerate? Why did she have to be so perfect?

    Why did she have to be someone that Plover didn’t deserve?

    Plover flashed their lights, and Lady Kairi helpfully translated for Starfinder. “They say they’re good.”

    “Can you reach the peaches? Should I go grab a basket?”

    Another few flashes.

    “Yes and yes.”

    “Gotcha! I’ll be right back!” Star called once more before Plover could hear her footsteps on the fallen leaves of the orchard floor. Finally, they could be alone with their thoughts.

    All was quiet— for three seconds.

    Just when Plover had settled into their moping, Kairi poked her head up into the tree like a giraffe.

    “Sweet sea stars swimming!” Plover swore in a sparking Aquatic as they clutched at the tree. “Give a drake some warning before you do that! You’re as tall as a blue whale!”

    Lady Kairi snorted with a roll of her eyes. “Yeah, that tends to happen when you come from the Seawing royal line.”

    Silence fell for another minute before the lady’s lights flickered once more. 

    “Are you alright? You seem stressed.”

    Plover couldn’t help but laugh at that. Kairi was actual royalty, and she was concerned because some random peasant was sad? That’s not how royalty acted (though, Plover’s only experience with “royalty” had been a murderous scavenger who had declared herself queen of a deserted island. So maybe Plover wasn’t the best judge. Perhaps). “And why should you care?”

    Kairi tapped her manicured claws on the tree, leaning on one of the lower branches and yeah, Plover had nearly forgotten how tall the Seawing royals all were. There was a reason people called them leviathans.

    “Well, you’re Starfinder’s friend, aren’t you?” she asked, though there wasn’t actual questioning in her voice. She continued after Plover gave her a slight nod. “Star’s got a good eye for good people. So I care ‘cause you’re probably a good person.”

    They lapsed into silence once more, neither wanting to make the next move.

    Until Plover finally broke.

    “Do you think Starfinder is cute?”

    Kairi blinked, absolutely baffled. “I’m sorry, what?”

    “I found the baskets!” called out Starfinder.

    The two Seawing’s snapped to attention at Star’s words, staring blankly down at her.

    Starfinder paused, glancing between Kairi and Plover in confusion. “Is— are you two alright?”

    “Yeah, we’re okay. You just surprised us. ‘Quiet as a damn owl’s wings. Pass us up a few baskets?” Kairi asked, waving her claws dismissively as she grabbed two baskets. She turned to hand one up to Plover, and her expression did a one-eighty as she sparked: “Repeat that. Now.”

    “But is she?” Plover whined, burying their head in the basket as their snout flushed. “Objectively? I don’t know how feelings work; should I think she’s cute?”

    “You have a crush on Star?” Lady Kairi hissed, wide-eyed as she looked them over from tip to tail.

    Plover’s snout went even brighter as they nodded, first unsure but more confident with every shake. “Yes? Yes. Yes, I do— a bad crush.”

    “Why?”

    They didn’t know how to respond to that.

    Lady Kairi’s expression softened as she sighed. “Sorry, that was harsh. You threw me a curveball conversation there. But, why do you like Star?”

    “She’s one of my best friends, of course, I like her. But I like her as well,” Plover hummed, brushing their sail out of their eyes with a smile. “She snores like the tiniest angry mountain goat. ‘Otherwise known as a normal goat, but still. And when she’s reading her favourite scrolls, she glares at them as if she can personally influence the characters on the page. It never works, but she’s always as surprised as the first time she reads, and she giggles to herself like a murderous fairy coming to kill you.”

    A small smile lit up Kairi’s face as Plover’s words washed over her. “You honestly love her, don’t you?”

    Plover nodded again.

    “So why don’t you—”

    “Guys, are we going to start peach picking or are you two going to stare at each other for the next hour?” Star called up with a huff. A few dozen peaches sat in her basket, compared to the Seawings’ combined zero.

    The two Seawings cringed, Kairi grasping for an answer, and Plover desperately waved their claws, trying to silence her. Eventually, Kairi stuttered out: “yeah, yep, we’re doing that! Just— um— talking Seawing things. Swimming and all. I’ve got the middle, Plover’s got the top, and you’ve got the ground-level ones? Good? Good!”

    Though Plover couldn’t catch much of her expression through the leaves, they could hear Star’s tired sigh loud and clear. But instead of snapping, she called up a “Yeah, sure, that sounds like a plan!”

    That tired exacerbation was the closest they’d heard Star come to scolding another dragon, and they lapsed into a tense silence, finally picking the peaches around them. Eventually, only once when their baskets were half-filled did Kairi work up the courage to continue speaking.

    “Why don’t you tell her?”

    Plover paused in the middle of peach picking, their claws still outstretched as they went as still as a statue. After a while, Plover sighed, letting their paw drift back to their branch.

    “I’m not the type of dragon for relationships,” Plover quietly admitted, biting their tongue against the tears building in their throat. “Yes, Star has a good eye for good people, but I’m not one. At least, not to others. I can’t tell other dragons what I need, or what I want, or anything. And I can’t put that on someone else. It’s bad enough that I’ve been putting it on my friends, but it would be horrible to put it on someone in an actual relationship.”

    They knew they weren’t good for others.

    Plover lied, they cheated, they hurt others for their gain. And Plover didn’t even care. Nobody deserved to be in a relationship with someone that cruel.

    So why did it still hurt to admit it?

    Kairi hummed in sympathy as she reached for another fruit. “Have you thought about seeing a therapist? Master Vesper always has a seat open.”

    “No.”

    The Lady nearly dropped her basket at the intensity of Plover’s lights, blinking back her vision to stare up at them in confusion. “There’s no shame in going to therapy. Sea Kingdom therapists are the best paid under the moons after the Civil War. You’re allowed to need help.”

    “Not Master Vesper,” Plover snarled, their claws digging into the soft bark of the tree. They couldn’t see Master Vesper with her teardrop scales and her training. She’d cut through them like butter, and nothing would be left but the rotting secrets that infested their core. “I can’t see her, not her—”

    “What about the University guidance counsellor?”

    Plover blinked themself out of their mental spiralling, staring down at Kairi in confusion. “We have one of those?”

    “Of course we do,” Lady Kairi snorted like it was a stupid question. But, her expression softened as she continued. “Look, I don’t know why you’re uncomfortable seeing Master Vesper, but if you just wanted something less intense, then that’s my suggestion. Most students have visited them a few times, given the hell that is Mezzo and the hell that is education. So you’re not alone.”

    “Even you?” Plover couldn’t stop themself from asking.

    After a considering pause, Kairi nodded. “Once or twice. Transitioning out of a war environment is hard on anyone, so those offices have seen a lot of the Seawing student population.”

    That did make sense. Though the Sea Kingdom was healing, barely five years ago, it had been in complete chaos. That’s what happened in civil wars. But Plover’s trauma went beyond the war, beyond anything they’d ever told anyone.

    “Does—” Plover stopped themself, their brow furrowing as they twirled a peach in thought, looking for a better way to explain themself. “Did it help you? Seeing the counsellor, I mean.”

    “It did,” Kairi nodded. “You need to put the work in, but learning the self-help skills they teach helps. And, even after going to them, you’re allowed to want still to work on yourself before you talk to Star. Or even if you’re doing great, you can still just stay friends. You don’t need to get into a relationship to be happy; even if you have feelings for someone, you can just be satisfied by yourself.”

    “Thanks, I think I needed to hear that,” Plover gratefully smiled, inclining their head in thanks. Silence again fell between them as they went back to peach picking.

    And it once again lasted for all of five seconds, as Plover went peach pink as they blushed brightly. “But could you imagine us at the Wintertide Ball? Like twinning tails and dancing and all that?”

    “Oh moons above, you’d be the cutest couple in the ballroom!” Lady Kairi cooed, abandoning her work to grin up at the smaller Seawing. “You need to hit me up if you ask her out. I’m a master of fashion, and I could do wonders with you. Maybe a tux of some sort? Ooo, what about couple names?”

    “Couple names?”

    “Yeah, combinations of a relationship’s names. Let’s see,” Kairi hummed, trying out names under her breath before her eyes went wide. “How do you feel about Stove?”

    “Guys, are we picking these freaking peaches or not?!”