lantern crafting!!

Shoreline landed on the roof of a hut familiar to her since her childhood - it was one of the classic lantern-crafting workshops at Paradisya, Lylluna Reef. 

The sun had beamed warmly at them throughout the entire trip there, and now Shoreline and her beloved pet smorkip Duffy were finally there. 

"Duffy, this is where I made lanterns when I was just a tort." Shoreline explained, opening a window and peering inside. Duffy hung upside down on the window ledge, peeping curiously. Already the workshop was filled with various faians guiding tiny children around, each holding or meticulously crafting a uniquely beautiful lantern. 

Soon, an incredibly excited Duffy squeaked and swooped inside, beelining directly towards a stash of bamboo, parchment and an assortment of lantern-crafting tools. "Hey! Duffy!" Shoreline laughed, swooping along and catching him before any harm could be done to the precarious stack. She headed towards the reception first. "The materials for lanterns cost wisps, you know." 

Shoreline stepped forward and approached a jovial lumendra at the reception. To her surprise, that said jovial-looking lumendra was Pixie, a lumendra that she'd known for quite some time. "Hello! We make lanterns here, right? Well then, I'd like to attend the workshop. One lantern for me, and one for Duffy." She grinned, gesturing to the excited smorkip on her shoulder. 

Pixie nodded. "Of course that would be in order! And that'll be…. 100 wisps, please." He smirked pointedly as Shoreline made a visible effort to count the wisps from her satchel and hand them over. Pixie then proceeded to very kindly snatch them out of her hands, and gestured for her and Duffy to come over to the workbench next to the window they had just entered through. 

"It's a one-on-one workshop by the way." Pixie asserted, rumaging through the pile of lantern-making materials with almost as little care as Duffy had just did. 

"You both wanna make lanterns, right? Well, first thing you'll need some flexile bamboo…" He hoisted the sticks and twine onto the workbench. Duffy immediately grabbed the twine and started weaving it together. Pixie watched, mildly amused and impressed. 

"I taught him to do that." Shoreline bragged. 

"Okay, but the proper authentic lumendra way to make lanterns - and trust me, I'm an expert in the field," Pixie said, "Is to first use the sticks to create the outer frame.."

Pixie stared incredibly hard at Shoreline for a moment, to the point where she almost wondered if something was wrong with her makeup or her mist or if she had just lost a wing and didn't know about it. Then, Pixie began to craft: he split the sticks into tiny pieces and meticulously used twine to tie them together such that they'd make the perfect arch shape. 

Another cut twig and shaped twine revealed the outline of a wing - and that was when Shoreline realized. It was her wing! He was making a lantern based off her! 

Well two could play at that game. 

Duffy had seen a funnel-web abandoned by a resourceful weaver who must have snuck in during bloom season, and was trying, with great difficulty, to weave the pattern in a lantern. Shoreline simply laughed, and guided him in the right direction, prying the twine evenly apart such that light could still shine out from within. With that, it was time for her revenge. 

Shoreline specifically remembered Pixie walking her through the tangerine orchards of Oreta. It was strange, she thought, how vividly she remembered biting through the acrid skin of the tangerine, just to taste acidic sweetness of the fruit juices bursting open in her mouth. How she remembered every detail on that summer morning when Pixie climbed one of the trees just to nick one for her, when she was perfectly capable of getting one herself. 

It was at this point that she started bending the sticks and twine in circular formations, cutting out the outlines of leaves and of course, a giant tangerine. Pixie had noticed. "You catch on quick," he muttered, pointedly looking away. He had already begun wrapping his lantern around in the shades of blue and teal that Shoreline's mist was, and testing the safety flame within, the non-burning kind that had originated from a candle noodle. 

Shoreline hummed a relaxing hymn, and winked pointedly at Pixie. She'd already wrapped semi-transluscent orange parchment around the outside of the lantern, and struck the wick aflame. Immediately, the lantern sprung into light, illuminating parts of the room around her even when it was broad daylight. 

With the tangerine lantern finished, Shoreline held it up proudly to Pixie. 

"I remembered these were your favorite fruit." She spun the tangerine on its leaf-base, which would help it float out, out all the way to sea. 

"Yeah.. well," Pixie stammered, pushing his masterfully made shoreline lantern towards her, "I hope this managed to capture your beauty perfectly."

"Aww, it could never." Shoreline smirked, whilst Pixie visibly pouted at her words. Duffy squeaked, gesturing for Shoreline to help him wrap his lantern in parchment. Shoreline quickly got to wrapping Duffy's lantern in silk-white parchment. 

"Well, thanks for making lanterns with us," Shoreline smiled. "And thank you for being so kind as to charge us the full price without any concessions, considering that we are close friends!" 

"Ah, well," Pixie simply shrugged the pointed jab off. "You're too rich for any concessions anyways. Your wisps would honestly be better spent on sponsoring this year's rite of the reef." 

"And if I do, be sure to let everyone know that you persuaded me to donate, with your wit and charm of course!" Shoreline laughed. Pixie simply rolled his eyes in response.

"Happy with your new lantern?" Shoreline beamed, as Duffy squeaked happily, holding up a finished lantern that looked like a spool of silk. He had wrapped the parchment paper, under Shoreline's guidance, all the way around the lantern such that on a regular intensity flame, barely any light shone through. Shoreline lit a stronger flame, and this time, the lantern burned bright as soul-infused silk. 

"Well, see you later then. At the rite of the reef. Tonight. You'll be there, right?" He paused, watching Shoreline anxiously as if awaiting a response. 

"Yes. Of course I'll be there." Shoreline smiled warmly. Pixie grinned in his usual, self-righteous manner,  but Shoreline swore she could see a tinge of red flush across his lime-green cheeks. 

And with that, they swooped off with their lanterns, ready to participate in the next preparation event.