Previous Part: https://scratch.mit.edu/projects/300694967/ Next Part: https://scratch.mit.edu/projects/300695295/ - - - Mom nodded again and smiled. “You can do it. I trust you.” She allowed me to stand up and gave me a gentle nudge on the cheek. “I think it’s safe to wake Dad now,” I said with a laugh. “Yeah,” she replied with amusement. I walked out the entrance and breathed a loud sigh. Before long, I had found a small pond, which I looked into. The berry juice had dried overnight so my tears hadn’t washed it off! This was a definite success. I smiled to myself and made my way to Mocha’s den. We hadn’t seen each other in a long time. I made my way through their covered entrance and sighed. “Mocha?” I called. “A-are you home?” I heard some shushing and something like, “hide!” before Mocha appeared at the door. He looked ecstatic. I looked at the ever-changing heart marking on his flank, which changed to indicate his mood. The heart currently had an open center, so it was just a really thick outline This was the symbol that indicated that Mocha was happy or excited. I wondered why, but pushed the thought aside for a bit. “Hey!” Mocha exclaimed. “Wait, who — Oh wait, you’re Remy, right? Or does he have a sis —” I laughed. “Well, I’m Remy, but not really.” Mocha nodded, but tilted his head simultaneously. “What do you mean?” I exhaled loudly and prepared. Now I had to explain. This would be a game of chance — get rejected and basically have no friends left, or be happy to have Mocha sticking by my side. “First and foremost, I… um… my name is Fleur now. Second, the pink is berry juice, but I guess I consider it part of myself now.” Mocha smiled. It wasn’t a mischievous, taunting smile, but a warm, kind one. Just the mere look on his face comforted me from the inside out. “I’m happy you found yourself,” he said, still smiling. Then I heard another voice. It sounded distant, like it was coming from Mocha’s sleeping room, a little further down. “Can I come out now? It’s been a while.” Mocha gritted his teeth and sighed, and then the heart changed. The inside of the heart filled in again, and in place of the baby blue fur inside it were a couple of jagged lines, like heartbeat pulses. Mocha was nervous. He turned around and exclaimed, “Jasper! Why did you do that? I’m trying to talk to someone…!” The heart marking changed again, the pulse lines replaced with an exclamation point, indicating panic. Maybe I wasn’t the only one here hiding something. I heard a “sorry” before Mocha turned around. A few moments later he sighed and looked at me. “Anyway,” he murmured, “what did Cyan’s group say?” He doesn’t like them very much, but I guess he figured to ask anyway. I frowned. “Well, they weren’t as supportive… to say the very, very least.” “Oh, you poor thing!” Mocha exclaimed sadly. I nodded. “Yeah, I almost chickened out telling you because of a nightmare I had about them last night.” He gave me a pat on the shoulder and sighed. “Come in. You need to spend some time with someone to cool out, especially considering three others just basically turned sides on you last night.” I sighed. “True that.” We made our way into the Mocha’s sleeping room to hang out, since Mocha’s parents were over at the main room sharing food and talking. That was when I saw who Mocha had been talking to. “Who’s that?” I asked. The strange young guy (but still about my and Mocha’s age) answered without hesitation. “I’m Mocha’s boyfr —” Mocha cut him off immediately. “Jasper, I don’t wanna do that right now, so could you please…” The two of them exchanged awkward glances before simultaneously saying, “Shoot.” I looked at Mocha, who was blushing intensely. The exclamation point on his flank was still showing clearly. I smiled sheepishly. “There is nothing wrong with that, Mocha. We’re each other’s friends here.” He smiled back and gave me a nod. “I guess you're right,” he admitted. Jasper grinned too as Mocha turned to him and nuzzled him on the cheek. I sat down by Mocha and gave a nod of approval. “You guys love each other and nothing will stop that,” I said matter-of-factly. Mocha glanced over at me and nodded back. “Yeah. Thanks for the support, I think I feel more confident about coming out to some other friends as well now.” Jasper laughed. “You know you need to.” We all laughed at that. Then, Jasper added, “Anyway, who’s the strange girl that you seem to be friends with?” I smiled. “I’m… Fleur.” I loved my new name, and it felt so… so right for someone to ask who ‘that girl’ was, and be referring to me. Jasper gave a nod of approval. “Alrighty then.” - - - Music: Flowers - In Love With A Ghost, Ft. Nori Animation: @Sylvie8921 Writing: @Sylvie8921 - - - Hope you enjoyed!
