stitches and stuffing
and the acquisition of wings by one (1) grian [1045 words]
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"Scar?" Scar blinked at the sudden voice, then wheeled over to the edge of his train and looked down. Grian stood there, staring up at him with a face as blank as ever.
"Well hello there, Grian!" Scar chirped.
"I need your help," Grian said.
Scar hummed. "Of course! What do you need?"
Grian pulled out a pile of fabric. "Can't reach my back."
"Ohhhhh, sure thing!" Scar immediately knew what Grian needed from him. "Come on up!"
Grian didn't hesitate to climb up the ladder, throwing the fabric into Scar's lap. The zookeeper picked up the material - soft and fluffy, in orange and blue and gray hues. The fabric was sewn into wing shapes, already stuffed with cotton.
Scar dutifully dug out a needle and some thread from a small compartment by his bed. "Surprised it took you this long to come up," Scar mused. "You usually get me to sew your wings on as soon as you get an elytra, and I noticed you don't really have one yet!"
"Taking things slow this season," Grian hummed, tapping the floor with his foot. He was dressed in big brown overalls and boots, and there was an odd patch on his arm. He was really into the fishing thing this season. He even had a ratty old beanie on his head.
Not to mention… "What's with the… uh," Scar motioned at Grian's face.
Grian looked away and poked at his new facial hair. "Thought it'd fit the vibe. I was fishing for so long, I just took some hair from my head and glued it on my face.
"Wait, wait, wait," Scar laughed. "From your head?"
Grian groaned and pulled his beanie off. A bald spot appeared from under the hat.
Scar cackled. "Oh, Grian there had to have been a better way!"
"I was BORED!" Grian blushed, face digging deeper into his collar. "I can glue it back!"
"All the stitching I did for that waffle, gone?" Scar gasped in mock hurt, putting a hand to his chest. "How could you?"
Grian rolled his eyes. "Yea, yea, can you help me or not?"
Scar chuckled. "Yea, G, come here."
Grian chuckled too, and turned to go sit on Scar's bed. "This might work better."
"It might work better if I could actually work on you," Scar rolled his eyes and wheeled over to his bed.
Grian blinked, then realized. "Oh. Right. One sec."
Before Scar's eyes, Grian completely changed. It wasn't a gradual thing, it just happened all at once. What was previously a 5 foot something fisherman in a red sweater was now a 3 foot tall plush doll. Grian shrugged off the suspenders of his overalls, which were now big and slumpy. He flopped down on the bed, his back pointing up. "That good?" he said, his voice not even remotely muffled by the bed. It never is.
"Perfect," Scar said, and lined up the wings where they usually went. He also placed the tail in its appropriate spot, though he did have to pull the overalls down slightly. Grian's usual black pants were underneath. Not like he expected anything different.
"I'm surprised you still need to ask me to drop the illusion," Grian commented, not even flinching when the first needle broke his sweater-skin. "You've been doing this nearly every season for me."
"I work with glamours, not illusions!" Scar huffed, tightening a stitch. "They're completely different!"
"Aren't they the same, like, conceptually?" Grian asked.
"Not at all!" Scar smiled, always ready to go on a rant. "Illusions trick the brain into thinking something's there when it isn't. Glamours cover something, like a pretty face or sparkly sparkly wings!"
"Ohhh, so illusions add while glamours subtract?" Grian realized.
"Something like that, yea!" Scar said, finishing up his stitch. Grian's right wing was now sewn on, and the doll gave it a little test flutter. At his thumbs up, Scar moved onto the second wing. "What bird are you this time?"
"Kingfisher," Grian replied.
"Makes sense," Scar nodded. "Why not something like a seabird?"
"I like the colors of kingfishers," Grian chuckled.
"Fair enough!" Scar said.
They worked like that for a while, Scar filling the air with rambles about Star Wars or the train he was working on, while Grian relaxed and let the air be saturated with his friend's voice. Eventually, they finished, and Grian hopped off the bed.
"You look amayzing!" Scar clapped.
"Thanks to your sewing skills," Grian complimented, turning around in a circle. His soft footfalls barely made a sound. "I look great!"
"They aren't even elytra'd yet," Scar frowned slightly. "Are you not gonna fly?"
"Like I said, I'm taking things slow," Grian turned his beady little eyes to Scar and tilted his head. Scar knew how a smile looked like on his friend. He didn't have a mouth, after all. "Slow like a snail."
"Ohhhh are you the one who sent that snail to Gem's base?" Scar chuckled, looking over at the beautiful lighthouse nearby. A tiny teal speck was barely visible from here.
"I did no such thing," Grian said innocently, in that exact tone he had when he was definitely not innocent.
"Mmmmhm, sure, G," Scar laughed. Then, he snapped his fingers. "Oh, what if I give you little snail antenna?"
Grian gasped and his wings flapped in excitement. "YES!!! That would be so cute!"
Scar smiled at Grian's enthusiasm. "How about you go fishing, see if you can get that mending book-" he stifled a laugh at Grian's groan "-and I'll whip up little feelers for you?"
"Oh, that'd be great, Scar, thank you!" Grian said. Then, the air around him warped again, and he was back to looking at least somewhat real. Scar could still see the ethereal thread that held his limbs together. He stretched his wings, real and feathery, and flapped them once. They propelled him slighly forward, and he laughed. Scar's own wings, hidden under several layers of glamour, fluttered.
"I'll be back!" Grian said, jumping off the train and gliding back to his dock. Watching him run, it was hard to tell he wasn't really alive in the first place. Scar rolled his eyes and tooted his train's horn. Well, time to work on those antenna!
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