To Be Proud: A Story about Gay Pride

Travel and Reflection

~Petite~

I was glad that Big Bro was back and in okay shape. Yeah, it took a while to get the metal off of his teeth, but I was happy he wasn't hurt.  He told me that he was stuck in a metal room with Uuduk and got out using Uuduk's music. Big Bro's stories always interested me because of how he told them.

Who I was worried about was Thwok, though. Ever since Big Bro and Uuduk went missing, he's been "on edge", Big Bro would say. He'd spark up at random times causing the rocks to move all over the place. I got hit in the head once with a rock, and it ripped off a bit of my fur. Even with Big Bro around, he's still been a bit off.

I was sitting with Kayna while she was talking to the fish monster. The fish kept telling her about the human world, but Kayna would just say that it was a "conspiracy". In the corner of my eye, I caught a glimpse of Thwok and Big Bro at the edge of the island. Rocks were floating around them, but they didn't seem to care.

      "Phangler, leave them alone, okay? We remember what happened last time, right?"

      "I know, I know. But I heard them, Kayna, I did! The human world, I heard them speak of. It's up there, there I tell you!" I looked up at the fish with a curious look.

      "The human world?" The fish looked at me in shock.

      "Yes, yes! The human world! Why, do you know of this world up above?" Kayna rolled her eyes funny.

      "Phangler, you know be-"

      "I know the human world! Big Bro would always tell me stories about the human world!" Kayna stared at me as the fish hopped around.

      "I knew it, I knew it so! The human world's existence has been proven! Withur! Hawlo! It's real, it's real!" The fish ran off all excited. I giggled at how he ran. Kayna looked down at me in shock.

      "What was that about this 'human world'?"

      "Big Bro told me these stories about what the humans did and how they would speak and all that stuff."

      "How interesting," Kayna said as she grabbed a flat rock and wrote on it.

      "He always told me it was up somewhere very high. I doubt it's above us though."

      "I'm sure it's not. I've been above the darkness several times." I looked up at her in surprise.

      "You have?"

      "Mhm. I use a skyship to get to other islands. Oh, that reminds me! I need to make my visits again."

      "Visits where?"

      "All the Natural Islands above and below the sea." I was bouncing up and down at the thought.

      "Can we come with you?"

      "Of course! Meet me at the skyship in an hour, okay?"

      "Alrighty!" I got up and ran as my tiny legs could carry me, excited about the trip ahead.

~Bona~

Can this get any better? First we're kicked off of our own home, and then I'm imprisoned because of some "conspiracy". If it wasn't for Thwok and the others, then I would've torn the fish head into shreds. I had to keep my composure for Thwok, though. He matters more than that bucket of fish paste.

I watched the sharks swim around in the darkness as Thwok clinged to my arm. Rocks around us swirled and rose and fell. The feeling of pegs turning against my arm made my fur stick up. Thwok looked up at me with his bright purple eyes as his pegs glowed a bright electric blue.

      "Ona, uhbouht whaht happened on One Island-"

      "I don't know either. If we try and get back there now we'll be thrown off the edge. The best thing to do is stay here."

      "And noht deal wihth thuh pohbluhm?"

      "You know where taking action got us. If we had just stayed low and pretend that everything was normal, then we would still be home."

      "Eashy for you to cahll it home!" Thwok snapped. I stared at him with a terrified look on my face as his pegs sparked up.

      "Thwok-"

      "Evuh since I've been built on that island, I nevuh, evuh felt lhike I was home. Isn't home suhpose to have a lohving fahmily that suhpports you no mattuh whaht?" I stared at Thwok as I slowly evaluated what I said earlier. The rocks around us started shaking.

      "Thwok-" Thwok again interrupted me.

      "Thuh Wublins ahre our family. Whe can help dem chahnge!" I stared at Thwok as the rocks around him slammed themselves into the island. He got onto his knees and looked down in shame. "I'm sohrry," he muttered.

I felt so ashamed of myself. Maybe Thwok was right about doing something about the problem. After doing a tiny bit of thinking, I went over and hugged Thwok tightly. He was sobbing, I could hear it. Tiny needle-like feet caught my eye, and in a second I saw Petite in my chest comforting Thwok.

      "Hey, it's okay," she whispered. "I can cheer you up!" I watched as Thwok looked up at her.

      "Whaht do you mean?"

      "How about an adventure!"

      "An adventure?" I asked. "Petite, what are you going on about?"

      "We can go with Kayna and visit the Natural Islands! C'mon, let's go!"