Wing Care 101: Why NOT to Attempt Waterproofing ANYONE'S Wings

TheCuriousSeed

Fly with you lot on this jolly grand site! Chapter 1, time to have some fun!

~"Oh, no!" cried Magnolia as she noticed how soggy and filthy her sister Onyx's wings were. "We'll have to take you to Mae's Wing Care!"

~Then out of the blue and in it too were Lenora, Heidi, Acorn and Kyra to Magnolia's abode. Acorn, like Heidi, was a Water Sparrowman, but unlike Heidi, though quite strong for a Water Talent and far taller than Heidi, could not outlift Heidi because she was a Water Scout, but he was not.

~"Onyx, we can't keep attempting the waterproofing on your wings!" exclaimed Heidi, greatly exasperated. "I too tried waterproofing my wings years ago, back before I knew I was a Scout too, but this is the fiftieth-worst attempt I've ever seen, making mine the 99th as of today! C'mon, we'll have to walk there today."

~"Walk?!" balked Lenora. "In this purple ensemble inspired by mermaids that I'll need for tonight's performance at Fairy Tale Theatre?!"

~"Augh, just head home and change into something more everyday, or better yet, something suitable for really rough work!"

~After Lenora returned home for something more everyday, Heather flew into Magnolia's abode and asked, "What happened to Onyx's wings and why's Heidi so miffed?"

~"Oh good, you're wearing durable boots and clothes today," said Heidi. "We're walking to Mae's Wing Care to get Onyx's wings cleaned... again."

~When Lenora returned, she was wearing her only pair of tennies, a red pair with a red dress and red hat to match. Foxglove and Hickory accompanied her, but Foxglove was wearing purple sandals, an ivy midriff and a daisy skirt, also purple. Hickory, on the other hand, wore a completely blue outfit down to her wrinkled blue boots and held a pair of leaf shoes for Foxglove.

~"Ew," said Foxglove, wrinkling her nose at the leaf shoes. "Those better not be Lavender's."

~"Of course not," said Hickory. "Besides, your feet are too small for Lavender's shoes anyway. They're Tansy's."

~"That's almost as gross!"

~"Look, I couldn't find any leaf shoes in my closet that would fit your skinny feet nor could I find yours, so Tansy lent me these to lend to you on account of a walking mission."

~"Did she at least let them air for a few weeks?"

~"Nope, lent me the ones right off her feet."

~"Eeeuuuuwwww!"

~"Uh, girls?" said Magnolia. "Onyx's wings are starting to harden stiff."

~"We'd better get going," said Acorn.

~"Fine, I'll wear them!" exclaimed Foxglove. "But I won't like it."

~Foxglove took some soft leaf scraps, wrapped her feet inside and put her feet in Tansy's shoes. Unfortunately as it turned out, the shoes were a better fit with minimal layering, so she used some spider thread for her feet, then put them in Tansy's shoes. Perfect fit for adventures on foot.

~As the crew climbed, walked, ran and crawled, many other fairies and sparrowmen gave them strange looks, wondering if they ran out of Pixie Dust.

~"We're going to Mae's Wing Care to get Onyx's wings cleaned up," said Hickory.

~Once there, Mae saw Onyx's wings and gasped. "This is even worse than hardened egg batter and snail goop combined!" she exclaimed, quickly and carefully cleansing Onyx's wings. "Were you trying to waterproof your wings again?"

~"Yes, but only because I'd heard of a Water Talent that could swim with wings," answered Onyx.

~"That was many a season ago and temporary, all thanks to this thing called Wand Madness!"

~"What's that?"

~Anyone could get Wand Madness, even a fairy owning a wand. Wand Madness caused you to suddenly want to wand up many things or outcomes, selfish or unselfish, but Belief Talents had a much stronger resistance to Wand Madness. Neverfairies could now have costume wands, but real wands were still forbidden.

~Once Onyx's wings were clean, Mae offered to clean the others' wings. Everyone agreed to do so, especially Foxglove, but just the thought of wearing another's shoes made her want the rest of her body cleansed too. Of course, just as Foxglove was about to get her wings cleaned, guess who walked in wearing the antipode-of-savoury stench of a zorilla? Mae handed everyone special stench-reduction masks to protect their nostrils.

~"I am so glad I lent you my shoes today," said Tansy, pointing to Foxglove's feet. "Did you know that zorillas are musteloids just as skunks are, but smell far worse than skunks? Plus, tomatoes won't cut it after being sprayed by just one; you need something more citric or acidic, like a lime or lemon."

~Fortunately for Tansy, Mae knew just what to do: she changed out her cleansing gear for the special stuff used after a customer came in wearing musteloid perfume. This wasn't the worst case Mae ever encountered, but it was definitely the smelliest this year. Unfortunately, Tansy wasn't alone in this.

~"AAAUUUGH! I can't believe this!" exclaimed Labyrinth as she and Gardenia flew in smelling like the same zorilla. "Of all days to have a run-in with the stinkiest mammal alive, why today?!"

~"We're going to need some help,"  said Heidi. "I can still smell you through this mask... all eight of you."

~"Eight?" asked Gardenia.

~Five Animal Fairies were sprayed by the same zorilla too, and none were that well-versed in musteloid.

~"Thankfully Acorn and I can clean wings too," said Heidi. "We're starting with Gardenia."

~Between cleaning off the waterproofing and the zorilla stench, Mae had a pretty busy day cleaning wings and soon she too needed her wings cleaned, which Gardenia, Acorn and Heidi happily agreed to as thanks. Soon no one stunk of zorilla at all and neither did Mae's Wing Care after thorough cleanup. There was also a show tonight at Fairy Tale Theatre, so everyone flew there that still had working wings, then a tale about Mermaid Friendship was told.

~Now, you may think the tale was about a mermaid that broke her best friend's comb and had two fish friends acting as her consciences, but it's not that tale. No, the tale was really about a merman that befriended a Dancing Sparrowman, but every time the merman sung, any fairy hearing him would become a masonry bat.

~One day the Dancer flew to his merman friend and asked for a song from his friend, but the merman warned the Dancer that Nevermerfolk voices were dangerous to fairies and sparrowmen, but the Dancer insisted. To hopefully protect his dear friend, the merman decided to wait until daybreak to sing and have the Dancer sit very, very far away, just outside the outskirts of Marmaid Lagoon. Daybreak came and the plan was going well until the Dancer felt himself becoming a bat. The merman sang of his friendship in Mermish, but not even half through verse one he noticed and gasped, then wept! He regretted singing for his dancing friend and sought help.

~In the distance a kindred matriarch heard the woe of a friendship in danger from a song and called for a Belief Talent to right this wrong accidentally wrought upon the Dancer. The Belief Talent then gave her all to encourage belief among the human children and soon the Dancer was free from that batty curse. That was the last time the Dancer asked for a mersong because he never wanted to know even the slightest tinge of being a bat again, and his merman friend agreed, so to protect their friendship and still encourage music, the Dancer was given warning to cover his ears while the merman sang into a special shell he found that negated the dangers of merfolk singing. The friendship was once again safe and happy.

~Everyone cheered and the theatre ended in a Flying Ovation, even better than a Standing Ovation among Neverfairies. Soon everyone left the theatre.

~The next day Magnolia spread some of the failed waterproofing onto a pair of mock wings she made from fallen leaves. She added a little Pixie Dust and the wings hardened, then she dipped the wings into some water and when they came out, they were intact, but waterlogged. No way she was letting Onyx attempt waterproofing her wings ever again, even with the added dust! After all, she didn't want Mae to have to do such a difficult job again so soon.

~Because after all, Magnolia thought. Our wings might not be waterproof, but at least they won't keep us from honing our talents.

I hope you enjoyed this first chapter! Stay Pixie Dusty!