Blue Streets, Green Winds

“OH BY THE GODDESS, AREN’T YOU CUTE!!!”

I stand, not quite certain of what’s going on, as Gua jumps in circles around me. She pulls me up to my feet, trying to walk around me to my back while I keep turning around my axis, trying to prevent her from doing that. In turn, she switches to reaching over my shoulders, grabbing at my hair.

“Come on, let me see!” She pulls something strange into my view from behind me, and I’m left stunned processing as I realize what it is and what it should be, because it’s definitely not a braid. Quickly, I turn towards the mirror, my panic module finally reactivating for the first time since the triptophage incident. At least something good. I missed it these past few days. Something wells up inside me as Gua keeps her grin on. Perretta and her brother, Perren, also arrive, having been alerted by Gua’s shouting.

“Gua, what’s up? Oh, that’s up.” Perretta jumps over to me and starts playing with my hair as well while her brother keeps rubbing his eyes in the doorway. He had recovered surprisingly quickly from the triptophage encounter. I wonder if platypuses were hardy in a different way to dragons. No, I don’t wonder that. I have to stay focused on my hair.

“Can’t you both be a bit quieter…It’s way too early for this…”

“Nope.”

“No quiet times, foolish brother.”

Meanwhile, I gaze in horror. My beautiful hair has been ruined. In place of what should be a skillfully made braid lays what I can only describe as an explosion. Not only is my hair standing in all directions in ways that shouldn’t be possible, parts of it have been burned and torn off, and hairpins and clips have been melded in with them.

Beauty.

I need my beauty for my goals.

I shouldn’t have ugly melted hair.

Moreover, my hair should’ve been indestructible. It survived 2600 years of neglect, after all, but it couldn’t survive a night with some random dragon? I rush to the only bedroom in the house and smash the door open with my fist. Bits of the wood fall to the floor as I hear a weak yelp coming from under the sheets on the bed. Streaks of light that managed to avoid the mess of my hair illuminate the dimly lit room and the long blue tail nervously slithering across the floor. Its tip quickly retreats under the bed. Like it will be spared.

“D-don’t come any closer! I’ll smite you!” Akkuiggana shouts from underneath the quilt but I simply step forward and pull it off him. His eyes meet mine and I can see he understands what he’s done. But his next words are what set my modules off. “Errrrm, it was Gua, I swear-”

The wooden floor cracks beneath me.

“You’re fixing this. Right. Now.”

—

“To be honest, it kinds fits you.” Gua snickers as I desperately pull a hood over my hair, pushing it down with all my might under it looks somewhat presentable. I manage to make it look as if I’m simply wearing an oversized sun hat underneath my hood, which arguably isn’t the greatest look, but it’s better than the other option. “It’s like, broken and stuff.”

“I’ll end you.” This is my only reply as I walk towards the exit, where a hooded figure awaits me, hunched over so he could somewhat pass through the door. I see his clawed hand quiver holding the doorknob. “You said you knew a place where we could fix this. Take me. Now,” I command Akkuiggana and he flinches, gulping nervously.

“B-but…”

“No buts. No ifs. I need to be beautiful. You clearly wouldn’t understand, but I have perfectly sound, logical reasons for it.”

“Hey, I’m handsome! But the outside world…scary…let Gua take you.”

“NOPE, no can do, I’ve gotta prepare for the royal summons, duh. And help the Perries. Someone has to…err…what was it that I had to do again?” Gua turns to the two platypeople standing cross-armed leaning by the bakery counter. Pastries are cooking in the ovens and it will soon be time to open the shop.

“You’ll be cleaning in the back kitchen,” Perren says. He’s slightly taller than his sister and has the same shade of blue puffy hair as her. I note his beard being scruffy, unlike Akkuiggana’s braided one, but I scratch the thought. If Akkuiggana had any braiding skills, I wouldn’t currently be an ugly mess. Ergo, his beard must have been braided long ago, meaning he hasn’t properly washed it in years. Absolutely disgusting. I’ll need to do that when we’re back.

“Wait, really? Washing up?” Gua shrugs as Perren nods. “But I’m like, super cute…such a waste. Anyways, see, I can’t take him. Besides, this is your fault,” Gua smugly proclaims and Akkuiggana quivers dejectedly.

“Come on Mr Akki. Take the robot out. The fresh air will do you good,” Perretta says.

“I still dunno what’s going on but you definitely need to get out a bit, neighbour. You’ve been smelling up my bedroom, I need to air it out.” Perren adds. “And the further you are from the shop when it opens the better.”

“Bro, not cool.”

“It’s true though. He kind of smells. And there’s the other stuff people have been saying.”

I look sternly at Akkuiggana. “You’re a massive nuisance, aren’t you? Just do as you’re told.”

“No, you can’t make me.”

Big mistake. I engage my ribbons and they tie his hands together. He squirms to no avail. If this could hold a triptophage, it can hold him too. “This is like, abuse, or something! Elderly abuse!” He keeps shouting as I pull him outside behind me like a dog. When the light hits his face, he hisses and groans. “Nouuu, I’ve not been outside in ages, I’ll burn!”

“First off, no you won’t. Second, I’m probably older than you. Third, if you don’t stop, I’ll make you burn.” My words come out as sharp as I will them. “Now lead the way or I’ll take off your hood and you’ll burst out in flames if what you’re saying is true.”

“Have mercy-”

I stop.

“Hey, isn’t that the dragon whose house blew up?”

“Who’s that person with him? Why are they wearing a hat underneath a hood?”

“Eugh what’s that smell-”

Akkuiggana lowers his head and I release the ribbons. I hear shuffling behind us as Perren steps in front. “Ah, missus Nada, ain’t it a lovely day out,” he says with a smile.

“Lovely if you weren’t harboring those things,” an old lady with an actual giant summer hat steps out to greet him. “It was a bad omen letting them stay in the city. It attracts bad things. Bad people.”

“Now now, they are our neighbors,” Perren says in response. “We should be kind.”

“You only say that for your sister is friends with that dragonling.”

“Well, that dragonling did kill the Triptophage,” Perretta interjects, puffing her chest up. Perren holds a hand to stop her moving forwards.

At this stage, I feel a hand on my back and turn to see Gua. She nudges her head to the left and I raise my eyebrow. She nudges it a few more times before throwing her arms up and pulling me to the left. “We gotta work on nonverbal stuff, huh,” she says after we’ve put some distance between the crowd and us. “So much for me not going with you two. Hmph, and here I wanted to have you two have some alone time.” She pouts. “Uhm, dad?”

Akkuiggana had not raised his head since the start. He keeps staring at his feet. Everyone is silent until Gua shuffles several steps away. “Maybe I will let you two get further on.” She says awkwardly, running a hand through her hair. “If my guess is right, you’ll have to get out of the city a bit to get where you need to be. Dad’s good at lightning magic, but he probably won’t be much help, so I’ll leave him to you, ok?” The way she looks at me with her big grey eyes makes something shift inside me.

//Chief, you ok?//

No, I’m not ok, but I’m uncertain as to why. At that point, I become distinctly aware of holding on to Akkuiggana’s hand, so I let go of it. His whole body, including his limbs, are as heavy as the thickest of leads, but his hand flops down as if made of rubber. In that moment, I feel sorry for him, but I feel something else as well.

//Chief, you don’t know what that is.//

That is, as far as I’m concerned, correct. I have no clue what that is.

Gua leads us a little ways further, up to and outside the city’s barriers. This is where she bids us farewell. “I grabbed this bread for you two, so have that if you get hungry, ok?” She smiles, handing me a loaf wrapped in a green handkerchief. Dragons, blades of grass and petals have been intricately woven into its fabric. “I mean, have my dad eat it if he needs to. You’re a robot, yeah.” She looks down for a moment before turning around and walking back into the city. I turn to Akkuiggana, still holding the bread. His face is still as stone. His eyes unmoving. He doesn’t even blink, hunched over like he is. I reach towards his hood but he stops me.

“I have no idea where we’re going, so do snap out of it, please.”

He sighs, running a hand over his face. “I’m out, I’m out. Let’s get a move on.”