"Make a wish!"

Susie looked at her friend expectantly, waiting for some kind of concentration or contemplation that would accompany blowing out the birthday candles. Or, in this case, the contemplation that would accompany watching a star streak across the sky. Ralsei only looked at her nonplussed, unable to parse the excitement of the girl's features. Save for the crickets chirping on the hill they shared, the night was completely silent. Kris wasn't using the voice they recently remembered possessing, but the shape of their smirk told Ralsei enough to know that they were also waiting for some kind of wish.

"Uh," Ralsei began, an unceremonious hum falling from his lips. The boy blinked. His eyes bounced back and forth between Susie's excited countenance and the mosaic of stars dotting the sky above them. Being a Darkener, Ralsei was still getting used to the latter. It was pretty, no doubt, but definitely unfamiliar too. Motes and diamonds twinkled in the violet expanse, each an unreachable dot of light that sparkled like Susie's eyes whenever she got offered some Dark Candy. A few clouds drifted like spirits (also an unfamiliar sight to Ralsei's bespectacled visage). Eventually, the faint line of the sky faded into blackness.

"Aw, you missed it!" Susie suddenly said again. There was a childish disappointment in her tone; not the kind that tended to make Ralsei feel too guilty, though the filter of his inexperience with the Light World made it harder to recognize her faux frustration.

"Oh, um," he stuttered again, adjusting himself on the hill's grass. His pink scarf was splayed out next to him; unlike how his robe had transformed into a sweater with some black jeans, the scarf was completely unchanged since his transition into the Light World. "Sorry, Susie, I didn't really understand what you were saying."

The girl rolled her eyes with an overdramatic scoff. She wore her usual jacket and ripped jeans (despite Ralsei's offers to buy her a new pair) alongside the simple white-and-blue shirt that had first surprised Ralsei a few days ago. "Don't know what a wish is, Rals?" she joked, rolling onto her side. There weren't that many inches between them already, so she nearly rolled onto the prince.

Ignoring her proximity, Ralsei shook his head. Kris lay a handful of feet past Susie, propping their hands flat against the hill to get a better view of the stars above. Though, their hair wasn't parted, so Ralsei could only guess as to how well they could see the Light World's sky.

"No," Ralsei answered, then shook his head again. "I mean, yes, I know what a wish is, but why should I make one? Is that a Lightener Tradition? Like sharing clothes?"

Susie smirked at him, revealing some of her pointed yellow teeth glinting in the moonlight. "Yeah," she grunted. "But like, actually."

Ralsei tilted his head, taking care not to poke Susie's eyes with his horns. She was usually taller than him, though their heads were about at the same height with how they laid on the hill. "How do you mean, actually?"

For a moment, Susie's eyes broadened in surprise, as if remembering something. "N-nevermind," she tried waving off. The cocky sarcasm of her expression had evaporated in an instant. Before Ralsei could interpret whatever her panicked features (or Kris's growing grin) implied, the dragon cleared her throat, throwing a claw up towards the stars above them. "I just mean, like, 'wishing on a shooting star?' I guess they wouldn't have that where you come from."

Susie turned her snout skywards again. "Basically, if you see a shooting star, you're supposed to make a wish, and the wish will come true. Or something like that, I think."

Ralsei furrowed his eyebrows, his confusion only growing. "Stars are that powerful? Wow… but, wait, they can shoot, too? I thought they were… what were they, again?"

A few draconic snickers left Susie's lips. "They don't literally shoot, dude. It's like, they 'shoot' across the sky, or something. And the whole wishing thing is just for fun."

Ralsei's eyes stayed on the girl for a couple seconds as he parsed what she was saying. Unsure, he glanced back at the plethora of stars sitting above them. They didn't seem to be going anywhere. "But… they haven't moved at all. Have they? I don't think I noticed…"

"Not all of 'em, Rals," Susie explained. There was an odd patience in her voice that Ralsei was only now making a note of. Thinking back, he guessed it started about when the three of them first came out to the hill they now rested on; Ralsei was so busy counting the unknown motes that he completely skipped over how easygoing Susie had been. Not to say that he was at all unappreciative. "Shooting stars'r pretty rare, actually. It's why you're supposed to wish when you see one."

Ralsei hummed. While the tradition seemed strange, he was sure that his own Darkener traditions were strange to his friends, so Ralsei wasn't about to criticize. Not like he wanted to, anyways. "I think I understand," he replied, looking at the span of starlight more intently. "How many shooting stars have you seen, Susie?"

A short laugh reverberated off the surrounding hills. "Well, not to brag…" she started, putting an arm behind her head. Even through Kris's bangs of hair, Ralesi could see them roll their eyes. "Tons, though. Probably hundreds, even. Too many to count."

"Wow," Ralsei let out, impressed. Susie had a habit of impressing him. "That sounds like a lot of wishes, Susie."

"Ha, yeah," she breathed out, relaxing onto the hill. She lifted one of her knees, propping up her leg in a confident show of cockiness that had only become endearing by now. "Lotta wishes…"

From the corner of his eye, Ralsei could see Susie scan the stars like he was currently doing. Though, her mind seemed to be somewhere else. The smirk on her features gradually lessened over a dozen or so seconds, and she pursed her lips in contemplation. Then, the girl shook her head, turning back to face Ralsei.

"You know what constellations are?" she asked suddenly. There was an abrupt vigor in her voice. Hearing as much, Ralsei turned to face his friend again, making a mental note of where he last left off on his search for shooting stars.

"Um, no," he answered sheepishly. Perhaps he should've studied the Light World more; it would save Susie a lot of time. Though, she didn't seem all that impatient. Part of Ralsei wondered if that was somehow because of him.

"Right, duh," Susie mumbled to herself. "Didn't know what stars were." The girl cleared her throat, half-consciously parting some of her brunette hair to reveal more of her freckles. "It's like, pictures in the sky that the stars make. But like, specific ones?"

The girl scratched her head. "I'm doing a crappy job explaining it. You know what I'm talking about, right, Kris?"

Both monsters moved their gazes to Kris, who had been taking in the sky's brilliance ever since they first walked out to the hill. The human nodded, though didn't say much. Must've been wanting to stay quiet again, Ralsei guessed.

Seeing that she wasn't about to get any help, Susie turned back to face Ralsei. "Right, so, the idea is that if you connect some of the stars up there, then you get a picture. Like, you see that big shiny one over there?"

Susie pointed a confident hand towards the sky, somewhere past Ralsei. He scanned for whatever glint of light Susie was referring to. Too many options presented themselves. "They're, um, all big and shiny…"

It was Susie's turn to blink in befuddlement. "Oh," she let out. "Right. Here."

Without warning, Susie moved herself closer to Ralsei's side, destroying the last handful of inches between them. The shoulder of her jacket pressed into his as her midriff followed a similar path. Ralsei knew Susie well enough to understand how casually physical she was from time to time, though that didn't always translate to him being so casual about her physicality. Their obvious difference in sizes didn't help in that regard, nor did his inexperience with physical contact of any kind. Immediately, Ralsei felt his cheeks grow warm at the unexpected contact, and his eyes shot to Susie's features.

Unlike the prince, though, Susie didn't find the closeness strange by any degree. She pointed again, arm just next to Ralsei's face. "That one right over there, next to those three. You see it?"

It took a few moments for Ralsei to shake off the sudden proximity. It took a few more to look at Susie's arm rather than her face. Slowly, Ralsei's eyes trailed up the sleeve of her jacket, trying to awkwardly position his eye down the length of purple. A distinct glow stood just above the point of Susie's claw.

"I think so," Ralsei squeaked out. He cleared his throat, and would've adjusted his scarf if Susie wasn't almost pressing into it. "I-I mean, yes, I see it, Susie."

"Cool," Susie returned. Her arm stayed as straight as an arrow, slowly gliding to the other three stars she must've been talking about earlier. "So if you connect that one to those ones- imagine, like, a line between 'em- then go up around those…"

Ralsei kept his head against Susie's arm, doing his best to listen and look for his friend's sake. Something about the softness of her jacket mixed with the warmth of her scales underneath to make the task far more difficult than it needed to be. Still, Ralsei prided himself on his friendliness, so he managed to pay attention enough to Susie. "...then it kinda looks like an angel. There's the dress, and the wings… that make sense?"

For a couple of seconds, Ralsei squinted at the stars, trying to mentally place the connecting lines Susie was talking about. "I think so…" he answered, taking another few seconds to solidify the imaginary lines. "Yes… wow, that's really neat, Susie!"

Susie visibly grinned at the affirmation, lowering her arm for a second. "Yeah, it's pretty cool," she shrugged. With Ralsei's cheek still pressed against her shoulder, that resulted in her bumping his glasses up a tad. Ralsei shook off the uncomfortable motion and simply adjusted his glasses back in place. Susie seemed to contemplate something for another second before sitting up a tad. Carefully, Susie gave herself a few inches away from Ralsei's side before twisting herself away, still keeping her arm next to him. Then, with another awkward twist that only reminded Susie of how inflexible she was, she moved her hand into the small space that his upward lean off the hill gave him. In the next few seconds, her hand found his opposite shoulder, gripping it lightly.

Ralsei's eyebrows lifted at the contact. He wasn't about to oppose or object to Susie's grasp, though he definitely wasn't expecting it. Susie didn't say anything of the motion, though there was a subtle expectancy in her eyes. The most of a reaction Ralsei offered was a light blush and a minor tilt of the head. Neither told Susie to retract her motion, so she did her best to treat it as casually as she did anything else.

"There're other ones, too," she told Ralsei. Her voice seemed just a tad higher pitched than usual, though pointing it out would probably be rude. Ralsei let himself settle into Susie's grasp as he listened, once again finding the functionality of his ears too rare to be normal. "The angel one's my favorite, but there's all kinds of animals n' dudes too."

A few seconds passed before Ralsei let himself respond, trying to adopt Susie's easygoing mentality when it came to physicality. Heck, she had no qualms throwing him before; though, that somehow felt different. It wasn't often Ralsei could describe her as "gentle," and this was one of those rare instances. The prince forced a few words out of his throat before the silence could get too awkward. "Is that so…? Can you, um, show me some other ones, Susie?"

Susie shrugged again, and having her shoulder behind Ralsei rather than pressed into him made the action far easier. "Sure," she answered, lifting her opposing arm into the sky. Looking at the motion let Ralsei see Kris again just past Susie. Their smirk was wider than ever, and they didn't seem to be as enthralled by the stars as they were a few seconds ago.

"This one's kinda harder to spot," Susie spoke again, interrupting Ralsei's curiosity. He moved his eyes back to her pointed claw. "But you see that-oh, dude!"

A sudden excitement injected itself into Susie's voice. Following her arm let Ralsei see why. A sudden streak of white moved across the sky; faint, but definitely far faster than the stationary static of the other stars dotting the violet. "Second chance, Rals! Make a wish!"

"Oh!" Ralsei remembered, watching the glow already begin to fade. The obvious urgency in Susie's voice forced Ralsei's mouth to move without much thought about what exactly he was saying. "I wish, uh- I wish that we could watch the stars together forever?"

Susie whipped her face back to Ralsei's, nearly cracking their snouts together. Her eyes broadened in tandem. As the short-lived glow disappeared into the night, Ralsei turned to face Susie himself, registering his admittance only after the fact. She digested his wish about his fast.

"Aw, dude…" she let out. Her freckles reddened with the rest of her face in the moonlight. A soft smile grew out on her lips. Aside from the flattered reaction, she was as silent as Ralsei had gotten. Then, Susie lifted her knuckles to Ralsei's head, giving him a noogie with a matching boisterous laugh.

"You're not supposed to say it out loud, dude!" she told him between her chuckles. "That ruins the wish!"

Between the unexpected noogies and equally unexpected rush of wish he made, Ralsei was slow to understand the past dozen seconds. While the noogie was far from Susie's usual character, the unusual softness she used to rap her knuckles against his fur added another few seconds of confusion. Then his brain finally caught up with him.

"Oh, I'm sorry, Susie," he apologized. "I, um, didn't know that part…"

The girl let up with a sigh, returning to her lax pose with her hand still just as secure around Ralsei's shoulder. Her smile stayed glued to her cheeks. Another few chuckles leapt out of Susie as she shook her head. "Ha, yeah, all good, Rals. I probably should'a said that."

Ralsei sighed, hoping he hadn't butchered his second chance too much. Susie definitely didn't seem bothered by his awkward exclamation, so he probably shouldn't have been either. The prince looked past Susie to Kris again. They had taken to laying back on the hill, arms behind their head with a smirk permanently plastered to their face. If it wasn't for that, Ralsei would've assumed they fell asleep.

Curious, Ralsei opened his mouth, thought for a second, then spoke up quietly. "Can you share stars? What did you wish for, Susie?"

The girl glanced at Ralsei out of the corner of her eye. Her smile was as persistent as ever, which Ralsei found himself thankful for. He liked seeing her smile. "Sure, you can share," the girl shrugged again. She rubbed Ralsei's shoulder, holding him closer as her grin broadened for a moment. "Still can't say, though. Don't wanna bork it."

"Ah, okay," Ralsei said. He was willing to forgo his curiosity for the sake of the wish, even if it was just for fun. Being so preoccupied with Susie's hold didn't let his brain wonder too much, anyways. "I hope it was a good wish."

Susie relaxed her grasp, now laying back against the hill and more-or-less forcing Ralsei to do the same. He wasn't about to complain. The two looked back up the stars above, slowly but surely relaxing into the shared contact between them.

"Yeah," Susie breathed out. Her voice was atypically soft for how husky it usually was. "It was a good wish, Rals."