It had just been because she had needed a change of pace.
That was what Skara said whenever she was asked, and it had been true. She needed a change of pace from Grudgby. And if she were being completely honest, she would say that she had needed a change of pace from the atmosphere that surrounded it. Grudgby could be fun, but it wasn't the sort of thing Skara wanted to play professionally. Boscha did, and that sometimes made training… more intense than Skara would like.
Maybe she'd grown tired of being complacent too. There was only so long that someone could do the exact same thing, over and over again, without getting bored of it and yearning to do something different. Whenever that urge hit her, she had always tried to scratch it by learning a new instrument. She could play a dozen of them, but learning another just wasn't doing it for her. As it turned out, trying to break away from a routine by creating a 'break away' routine didn't exactly work wonders.
So when she found out about Flyer Derby, something about it just clicked. It felt new, and fresh, and something about it just clicked inside Skara.
The fact that the club was being run by Willow didn't even really register with her initially.
And bizarrely, it didn't seem to register with Willow either. Skara signed up, Willow accepted it without a word, and that was that. And now, here they were.
Teammates.
Particularly, now. In a 'Best of Five' practice tourney, with her and Willow on one side (The Emeralds) versus Gus and Viney (The Entrails). Each round was decided by whoever reached three points first, and whoever won three games out of five. It was meant to test the players ties and ability to coordinate together, which Skara and Willow did… surprisingly well.
Now, they were neck and neck; The two teams had both won alternating rounds, now leaving them in a two-wins-each, winner-takes-all grand finale brawl to take the ultimate reward: bragging rights!
"Skara!" Willow's voice perked at Willow's voice, and as she flew over Viney she spotted the team's captain flying towards her, Gus hot on her trail. Willow carried in her outstretched hands both Gus and Viney's flags, but couldn't turn to the scoring post without Gus getting to grab them, or even Willow's own flag, thankfully still attached to Willow's staff.
Thinking fast, Skara dive bombed towards Willow, reaching out for the flags, and grasping them tight. Willow promptly let go, and Skara swiftly flew beneath Gus, soaring her way to the post. Even with as unconventional as Gus could be, he was no match for Skara's speed. And, with perfect precision, Skara dropped both flags onto the outstretched arms of the scoring pole.
"Woo-Hoo!" Skara cheered as she scored the final goals of the practice match - At five-to-four, the practice match was over, and with three victories to two losses, Skara and Willow were the victors of the practice tourney.
The Bard rubbed the head on the tip of her staff. "Good job as always, Daisy!" As she landed back on the ground, her Palisman transformed, returning to the adorably oversized onyx cricket with big ruby eyes that Skara just adored. It nuzzled her cheek, and Skara chucked at the ticklish sensation.
Skara heard a familiar sing-songy laugh from above, and looking up, she spotted her captain flying down. "We did it!" Willow landed on the sports field, her Palisman Clover de-morphing to transform back into its bee-like appearance. "Up top!"
The girls 'high-fived' - Apparently, some sort of Human custom that Willow had picked up from Luz, that she insisted would be their team's victory celebration - over their win.
"Not too bad, 'star player.'" Willow elbowed Skara lightly in the ribs, close to the Bards green star emblem, chuckling.
Snorting at the nickname, Skara replied, "Well, Petals, you aren't half bad yourself."
To that, Willow smirked herself.
"Good games, everyone!" Viney floated down to the Emerald pair, closely followed by Gus. "Nice scoring, Skara."
Still smirking, and with the pride of victory still swelling in her, Skara turned towards the others. "What can I say? I'm the 'star player'!"
"Uh-Huh. I'm sure you were thinking that when I swiped your flag twice in two games while knocking you out of bounds." Gus said, rolling his eyes, more in bemusement than anything else.
Skara's Bard brain started to imagine the perfect comeback, one so witty and perfect and lighthearted yet true that it would be near impossible to retort to, but before she could fully register it, a sudden shrill screech pierced her eardrums.
"GAH! WHY?!" She threw her hands over her ears in a desperate, failing effort to block out the noise.
Everyone around her did the same, and when he wasn't able to, Viney's Griffon (Puddles? Skara couldn't remember) screamed itself, and reared itself so Viney fell clean off. She had to choose between covering her own ears, and helping Puddles to cover his, and tried to do both at the same time, accomplishing neither.
"WHAT IS THAT?!"
"Sorry, sorry!" Willow quickly scrambled, summoning her Scroll as fast as she could. "That was me! I forgot to change my alarm!" Pressing a few buttons on the device, the screaming stopped.
They all let out a collective sigh of relief. "Oh, sweet Titan's Mercy…" Viney muttered as she attempted to soothe her ears with a Healing spell, and then did the same for Gus.
"Why in the world do you have that as your alarm?" Skara questioned, ears still ringing as she started to cast a sound-soothing spell of her own for them. "How are you not deaf?"
"I'm a… Very heavy sleeper." Willow answered, slightly embarrassed. She glanced back at her Scroll, double checking before she declared, "Time to wrap things up. We've already been at this for two hours." As she did so, she flicked her finger around to make the Scroll do the same, displaying the time - A large '17:00' in the centre of the paper.
"Huh." Viney, still on the ground, summoned her own Scroll to triple check, and was greeted with the same answer. "You're right. I guess time really flies by when you're having fun." The Troublemaker shot her team with a double finger gun and a wink as she spoke.
"Viney," Willow groaned at the terrible pun Viney made every. Single. Practice. "I will pay you to never say that again."
"You'll never stop me."
Skara chuckled. Less at Viney's terrible and stale joke, but more at Willow's reaction of utter visceral disgust toward it. Her face scrunched up as if she were a child smelling vegetables for the first time. It was quite funny. And cute.
Willow attempted to sidestep the awful pun. "SO! Are we heading out, then?"
Normally, since the teens all lived relatively close to Bonesborough, and their Palisman's would all be too tired to fly them home after practice, they liked to walk to town together before having to go their separate ways. Normally it was a fun time for the group; it gave them a chance to unwind from the day, talk to each other about stuff other than Flyer Derby things. Skara in particular found herself enjoying these walks sometimes more than she enjoyed the practices themselves.
But Viney shook her head. "Sorry guys. I'd love to walk home with you, but I gotta stay at the school." She smirked. "The Troublemakers got a couple new members and we're all gonna celebrate their initiation into the ranks of… Well, trouble."
I wonder who those are, Skara thought to herself, already having a feeling she knew exactly who they were.
"Fair enough. Gus? You coming?"
The Illusionist shook his head as well. "I'd love to, but Matt and I wanted to meet up after practice to go over stuff for the next Human Appreciation Society meeting. We've gotta make sure everything goes off without a hitch for our first meeting as Co-Presidents."
"Huh. Well, you got anything going with you, Skara?"
Blinking, Skara wracked her brain, both for anything that she may need to remember, and as she realised what exactly this meant, and trying to figure out if she was capable of handling that. "Er… well…" Then, she shook her head. "No. Not that I can think of, honestly."
"So, just the two of us, then?" Then, as her Palisman nuzzled at Willow, she added "And these little cuties of course."
Skara glanced at Daisy, scratching their head. The Palisman rubbed its legs together, letting out a small noise of approval. "Heh. I er, I think we'd like that."
Willow beamed.
Skara felt a small sputter in her chest.
Oh, I've made a mistake.
There was a perhaps unavoidable feeling of awkwardness that settled between Skara and Willow as the two of them walked down the path back to Bonesborough.
Both their respective Palisman's sat on their respective shoulders, on the ones closest to the other, so they could… chat amiably in their… Palisman… language, or whatever the noises that they were making were. Whatever it was, they didn't seem to have any issue communicating with one another.
Unlike their Witches.
Agreeing to head into Bonesborough together had been more of a 'Heat of the moment' decision for Skara, rather than a well thought out one. They had already walked nearly halfway back to the town, and had barely spoken two words to one another, conversation dying down almost immediately after they split off from the others.
Being teammates was one thing. They could craft Flyer Derby strategies and discuss how to grind their foes into the dust without issue.
And being with the rest of the team was another. In a group setting, Skara didn't need to focus on any one member specifically. She could crack jokes and laugh with the whole of the team.
But alone, with Willow?
Just speaking to one another was something else entirely.
But it wasn't that Skara was uncomfortable, per-se. It was more that she didn't have the first clue what to say to Willow. And with things how they were now, and how they used to be, and what Skara knew was going on in her head and in her heart right now, it all metastasized into this vague discomfort she found herself with now.
Occasionally, she would shoot a glance over towards Willow, to see if the Plant Witch was looking her way, but each time Willow just kept on looking down the path, and Skara could tell that the similar feelings had entered into her own head.
She joined the Flyer Derby Team mostly on a whim, to satiate the need for a change of pace. She hadn't really thought about what it would mean to work with Willow on a real team. And it wasn't that it was bad at all.
Quite the opposite, actually. It was fun. A lot of fun. And put them in the right circumstances, and the two of them were capable of working with one another like they already had been for years. But those circumstances were restrictive. Specific.
Outside of them, talking was… Tricky. No one to blame but herself, though, Skara supposed.
It's not like I've been the best Witch to her over the years, she thought.
"...Sssssooooo…"
Willow's voice brought Skara out of their thoughts. Her head shot up sharply. "Huh-? What-?"
Blinking at the sudden response, Willow held her hands up slightly in front of her. "Um, are you okay?"
"Oh - Yeah." Skara said, quickly, shaking her head to pull herself out of her thoughts. "Yeah, yeah, I'm fine. Sorry, I was just… In my own head for a bit there."
"I didn't mean to interrupt you-"
"No, no, it's fine." Skara insisted, frankly just happy that the awkward silence had finally been broken, even if she had handled said break with the grace of a griffon crashing into a tree. "What is it?"
"Um, nothing really." Willow started, and slightly hesitantly. "Just, well… You've been doing pretty well these last few practices."
The Bard perked up, and blinked a few times. "Really? You think so?"
Willow nodded, a grin starting to form on her face. She seemed more excited now that this was a real conversation. "Yeah! That dive-bomb move to get the flags was awesome!"
Skara rubbed the back of her neck in sheepish embarrassment, a light pink dusting her cheeks. "Thanks. But, I mean, you were the one to swipe the flags. If it weren't for that I don't think I'd have been able to do anything like that."
"Well, that's why we have teams." Willow raised her hands together, her left forming a fist, and her right presented as an open palm. Skara couldn't help but notice Clover was trying to mimic her movements with their tiny hands. "One to start the job." She tilted the open palm. "And one to finish it."
She smacked into it with her fist, and Clover continued to emulate. Skara had to giggle at the image of such a cute little palisman attempting to act intimidating. Willow did as well. Judging by the sounds from Daisy, they thought it was cute too.
"Heh. Thanks." The tips of Skara's lips turned upward. Not keen to let the conversation fall back into the awkward silence, she added, "And it seems you and Clover here got a special little bond going on of your own."
Willow glanced down at her Palisman, a light chuckle escaping her. "Clover? They're the best." She scratched the carved creature's chin, something that even the animate wooden being seemed to enjoy. "Little guy helps me all the time with training. Spots me when I lift weights, keeps me from slipping during sit-ups. I don't know where I'd be without them."
Skara glanced down at Daisy, who looked up at her. "Yeah, I know the feeling." The cricket rubbed its own head against Skara's cheek, making her chuckle. "Daisy helps me keep time when I practice music, and even jams out with me when I'm feeling blue." The Palismen rubbed its legs together, affirmatively. "I don't know how I managed without 'em."
"Think you and Daisy'll be able to bring about world peace with music like you planned?"
Skara chuckled at the reminder of the goal she gave the Bat Queen. "Maybe. Who knows?"
"True."Willow shrugged. "Weirder things have happened."
"Yeah. Like, I dunno, you animating a whole house."
"Wait - You saw that?!"
"It was all over Penstagram, Petals! Of course I did!"
The awkward atmosphere the two had started with slowly subsidised. Willow had broken the ice, and whatever tension Skara had felt subsided. The two began to chat away, their conversation going from topic to topic, interest to interest. Somehow they talked about Willow and her friends fun adventures controlling an entire house ("Sounds like the best Moonlight Conjuring EVER!") to Palisman understandings ("When Clover nuzzles you, they either want to cuddle or fist fight.") After a while, both girls began talking as if they had been friends their whole life.
"Anyway, that's why I'm not allowed at the Bonesborough Library anymore." As Skara wrapped up her latest tale, Willow barely contained a laugh.
"For stealing a cutout? Really?"
"Not even! I swear, I have no idea who took it!"
"Suuuuuuure."
Willow just continued to laugh. A sing songy, cutesy laugh that Skara couldn't help but smile at. There was something Skara had learned about Willow since she'd started this team; her mood was always infectious. Her cheer, her hope, her optimism. It didn't matter how bad Skara felt. Every day at practice, Willow's mood always elevated hers. And it was a good feeling. But also a weird one, considering who they were for.
It had been a slow, small feeling at first - Something that came out of a sense of respect. After Skara properly joined the Flyer Derby team, Skara found herself admiring the Plant Witch. She was putting herself out there, trying her best, even against all the odds that had been stacked against her. Skara couldn't help but appreciate the drive that she saw in Willow. It wasn't anything like the Willow that she had known for so many years now.
And from there it just sort of… Spiralled was the only real word for it. It just turned from one thing into another in a way Skara couldn't really explain, or even really understand herself. She began to look forward to practice more and more, eager to do better, and to walking back with the team about whatever crossed their minds.
But in particular, she looked forward to talking with Willow. They became friendlier, even able to give one another the nicknames they did. She noticed things about Willow more and more. She enjoyed seeing her smile when she took a flag, and watching her cheering when they scored, and high fiving when they won a practice round. Hung on her every inspiring word, and felt sad when it was time for them to split apart.
And she wasn't an idiot. She knew what this was.
She knew that she liked Willow.
What she didn't know was how to feel about that.
After spending so much time alongside Boscha, watching the Grudgby captain taunt and mock Willow and saying nothing as she did so, looking away, and even helping to make her life a living nightmare for so long, a part of her felt like she didn't deserve to feel this way. That after everything, it would be some sort of… betrayal to, almost. That it would be more of an insult to Willow than anything else. But it didn't stop her from feeling that way.
A sigh escaped her, and she glanced further down the path. In the distance, behind the oddly shaped trees and countless logic-defying terrors that made up the Isles, was Bonesborough. They were almost back home.
It's a shame, really. This trip felt so short. Did we take some shortcut and not realize? Or was Viney right about time flying when we're having fun.
She turned to Willow, Skara felt a little guilty about it, but she had to admit she'd tuned out most of what she was saying. Something about how to plant some deadly plant or other without it biting your hand off? She couldn't quite tell. All she could tell was that Willow seemed happy to be saying it. And that made a small part of Skara happy too.
Seeing her like this, all giddy and excited. I can't believe I never saw any of this in Willow before.
Quietly contemplating, she sighed once more. "I wish we'd been friends years ago…"
"We're friends?"
There was a pause, and then Skara blinked, and realised that she had said that out loud. She felt like she'd said something that she shouldn't have, because she could just feel the can of worms that she had just opened. But here she was now, having gone and said it, and could only just now wait on the reaction.
But there wasn't one. Willow seemed as surprised as Skara was. Yet she didn't really seem to do much of anything. She just sorta… stood there, as if the confusion and surprise was stopping her from reacting.
The Bard could feel red touch her cheeks, and quickly, she stammered out, "I - I mean, well, I… kind of, sort of, maybe…assumed, a little? I-I mean, I… I'd… Like to be?"
Smooth as a… there is no object in existence to describe how smooth that was, Skara. That is how smooth you are. Great job.
"Uhm!" Skara stammered again, quickly trying to think of what to say before another awkward silence fell. "I just - I mean you're… smart. Super smart."
Willow seemed… surprised by the compliment. "Oh-"
"Really smart. Brilliant even." Skara's eyes tried to look off to the side, away from Willow, so she didn't think to say something stupid. You coming up with all those Derby strategies is what makes us such a good team!"
"Oh! Well -"
"And you're fun! You make practices waaaaaay more exciting and waaaaaay less dangerous than Grudgby!. I mean, I didn't go blind today, so, y'know, that's good!"
From the corner of her eye, Skara noticed a tiny smile on Willow's face just slightly starting to form, which helped not at all with Skara's current flustered mindstate. Or maybe, in her aforementioned flustered mindset, she was imagining it to make herself seem less crazy to, well, herself. She tried to turn her gaze from Willow, hoping to shut herself up.
"Oh!" Skara's mouth was now running faster than her mind, and without even knowing what she wanted to compliment Willow on now, she continued. "And you're…"
Creative and inventive and funny and brave and-
"...Kind. You're… you're incredibly kind."
Skara's tone changed with those words, slowing down from a panicked rapid-fire, to a calm, slow statement. There was still a bit of that flustered, childish edge, but they were a bit more sombre, a bit more weighty, then before.
"You're… kind and forgiving and nice and…. I feel like, maybe, I would have been someone better if I grew up being your friend."
Finally, after working herself up for a few seconds, Skara dared to look back towards Willow's face, attempting to get a read on what was going through her head. Surprisingly, Willow looked… well, still as surprised as she had been before. But not surprised in an 'Oh Titan' way like Skara had expected. More curious. Like she wasn't expecting… well, any of what she had just heard.
Which, in fairness, how could she have? Skara certainly hadn't expected to say any of it, but here they were.
"But, uh, you know, that's mostly it." Skara lied, awkwardly attempting to be nonchalant (and failing spectacularly), as if she hadn't just spent the last minute or so in a panicked tirade. "Just a couple other things really. That's all."
"...You think all that?" Willow tilted her head. "Really?"
Willow's words were curious, but there was a certain melancholic cautiousness to them. Skara felt a pang of guilt at the words, understanding why the tone was there.
"W-Well…" She thought about saying something akin to 'no.' If she was exceptionally careful with her words, she could probably phrase it in a less than obvious way - then it would let her worm her way out of saying something stupid again. And just maybe, whatever in the heck this was that she had with Willow, whatever it may be, maybe it could be salvaged from what felt like the edge of some sort of collapse, one way or the other. She was tempted.
But it wouldn't be honest. And after having said all that she had done, she didn't want to take it back. Not now. Maybe that didn't make sense to anyone else, but it made sense to her.
"...Yeah. I do."
To that, Willow seemed to lose herself in thought for a moment, and Skara worried she'd said the exact combination of words for Willow to hate her.
"Well… honestly, you could have stood to be a bit nicer when we were Witchlings. I won't lie about that."
Aaaaaand she hates me, Skara winced. She braced herself, half expecting Willow to become angry.
Instead, she smiled.
"But, I'm glad we're friends now too."
That… Wasn't the response that Skara had expected. At all. Willow wasn't upset with her, wasn't angry or annoyed, and didn't seem uncomfortable either, or like she she was just saying it for the sake of convenience, or sparing Skara any awkwardness, or like she was just saying it because they were now on the same Flyer Derby Team, or making some sort of excuse or…
Anything. It sounded genuine.
"Y… You are?" Skara blinked again, and cocked her head.
"Cause now I get to be friends with the best version of you so far."
If it were possible for thoughts to stammer, Skara's did just that. She just sort of… Stood there, her brain not really coming up with any really coherent sentences.
That was… I… I don't know what I expected but… That… I didn't…
How is one person so capable of being this…
Wait. I'm staring. Rats.
"U-Um…" Skara shook her head to try and get her head back on track, as fast as possible. "I… Well, uhm, thank you, I… Thank you. That means a lot. Coming from you, I mean."
For a moment, Skara worried Willow could look into her deepest soul and see her true inner thoughts. The Plant Witch squinted, as if not sure what to make of Skara's statement. "Hmmm… you seem a bit distracted…"
"What? Me, distracted?" Skara tried to laugh it off. "Nah! Not at all!"
"Well, that's good." Willow smirked. "Cause it looks like we're almost to Bonesborough, and I feel like I can beat you in a race there."
"Oh." Skara blinked. "Wait, wha-"
But before she could continue, Willow spun on her heels and ran with a laugh.
It took Skara a moment to fully let what just happened sink in, but as she did, she blushed, and laughed. "Hey! No fair!" She took off, trying hard to catch up.
As she caught up with Willow, the plant girl turned her head, smiling. "Think you can win, Skara?"
Honestly, all Skara could do was smile.
For most of her life, Skara had been going through one pace; Grudgby, school, boring, dull life stuff. But this? Flyer Derby? Her new friends? Willow?
She had to admit… this?
This was a nice change of pace.
QuirkQuartz - Pretty rare for me to come up with, or write one-shots, but this idea just kinda hit me at some point and Desmond had a similar sort of idea, so we ended up merging them and ended up with this short thing here! One-shots aren't normally my thing, I tend to go after more long-form stuff, but, amusingly enough, it was a nice 'Change of Pace'! Eh? - Okay I'll leave. (Desmond also made the joke as I wrote it but I did it first, I am the comedy god)
The main focus both of us have is still on Guitar Strings and Flower Petals - And if you're not familiar with it, it's a long form, slow burn Skarlow fic that you can find on my account!
We're very proud of it. Now to slink off into the darkness of the Fanfic mines and return with another story hopefully soon!
DesmondKane - Me and Q hope you guys all enjoyed this little story we came up with together. Don't worry, we're still doing Guitar Strings and Flower Petals, but we thought it be fun to have a "Change of (as I type this Q is making the same joke I was about to damnit!)"
Anyway, in the meantime, I also have a new oneshot I wrote thanks to a tumblr ask: Willow's Lullaby, a short tale of sleepy Skarlow! Check it out here on Ao3!
Anyway, back to the old Skarlow grind! Working on the next chapter of GS, and can't wait to see you all when it comes out!
