While on a stroll in the woods, Lacy had found this weird type of creature...a hedgehog with...bat wings? He seemed distressed, and immediate curiosity kicked in.
“What are you?” Lacy noticed how offended this...thing...seemed to be, with a twinge of sadness.
“If I could, I’d fly up and bite your neck, if it wasn’t so scary” was the only thing he said. He seemed like he had never seen a human in his life. Pointing at his wings, Lacy claimed “Well, put those things to use then, and I’ll let you join my circus, how about that?” Bat WIngs thing looked even sadder, if possible.
“I don’t know how to fly, I never could-” Before he could even finish Lacy interrupted him, looking overjoyed.
“I’ll help you fly, and you can be my little pet. Come now, Lil’ Guy, what’s your name?”
The creature looked confused, but claimed he had no name, hesitant to join Lacy.
“BATWINGS it is then! Joey or something seems a little boring, don’t you think?” She scooped him up and allowed him to ride on her hat on the way home.
Batwings couldn’t help but be surprised that this girl actually had a circus as a home. Being in the middle of nowhere, there was no way anyone actually visited her circus. Lacy didn’t seem to care much though, only saying to his concerns “Well, how else will the world see my lovely magic?”. That was a whole new level of concern that Batwings had no words for, but as they approached the tent, Batwings couldn’t help but feel a bit hopeful. Maybe he could fly after all. Lacy seemed excited, but not anxious as if this was a normal thing for her, muttering something about a...trapeze?
Apparently a trapeze swung in the air to do tricks off of. And by tricks Lacy seemed to mean swing back and forth till Batwings fell off. She at least had the decency to look mildly concerned as he did so.
“FLAP THE WINGS!,” she had yelled. Luckily, there was a net below, and it had caught him. Lacy seemed less than impressed however, shouting
“YOU DIDN’T EVEN TRY TO FLAP YOUR WINGS!”.
“Flapping them is scary though.” Lacy cocked her brow, a frown on her face.
“You’re afraid of...flapping your wings? You mean flying, or heights, or what? That makes no sense whatsoever.”
“I don’t know. It just seems weird to me” His mom had been a boring old hedgehog that didn’t have wings, oddly enough. Batwings was a hedgehog, he couldn’t just fly, could he?
“You’ll never fly if you don’t at least try to flap them. It has to be better than smacking face first into walls, right?” Batwings didn’t think so.
Apparently
Lacy wanted to test the limits of Batwings being smacked into things, as she kept launching him into the air using various methods, shouting things like “If SOMEONE can’t fly through hoops to attract a crowd, my circus will fail, and SOMEONE will be without a home!”. He couldn’t avoid her bat, being whacked into a target on the wall by it (she got a bullseye, and then did it again with a catapult). He got punted across the room, her logic? Maybe she really was a real magician, as she insisted. “Fly and avoid my foot,” she had said. He really didn’t like being shot out of a cannon either, that was the fastest he had ever moved. Even Lacy seemed impressed at how fast he was shot across the room. Nothing had worked though. Batwings still would not flap his wings.
Deciding to take a break, Lacy once again allowing Batwings to ride on her hat, Batwings found it wise to point out Lacy’s failure to teach him.
“I don’t know what I would do without riding your hat. My legs are small and stubby, and since I can’t fly, this is perfect!” Well, Lacy seemed less than amused and pulled out her wand, and pointed it at the moon. It grew a face and shrunk and came down to them! It was the oddest thing! Lacy hopped on, and left Batwings on the ground by himself.
“If you want your ride back, you gotta fly to me!” she shrugged as the moon rose back up to the sky.
Batwings, despite how odd their friendship was, already missed Lacy. She had been the only one to reach out to him, and tried to help him. And now she wasn’t there. He cried out to her.
“Show me some mercy!” he shouted, and as a tear gathered in the corner of his eyes, Lacy saw it fit to comment.
“If you miss me so much, come fly to me! Flap those wings! Do something.” But he couldn’t bring himself to do it. Lacy was so far away, and she was just so smug. Pondering was doing nothing. So he feebly hopped, despite knowing it would do nothing. But he kept hopping, kept hoping. And one time he flapped his wings.
And he flapped them again. And again. And suddenly, Lacy seemed a lot closer than she had before. The closer he got, he noticed she had this huge grin on her face with her arms spread out, waiting for him to make it to her. The trees became smaller, he had bypassed a mountain! He was doing it, he was flying! For the first time, Batwings was proud of himself. He had done what he thought was impossible, and he had a friend to spend his time with now.
“Congratulations, Batwings!” Batwings laughed at this, as he finally reached her. He had made it!
“Well, Lacy, I think I owe you something.” Lacy looked mildly intrigued and asked simply.
“Oh? What do you owe me?”
“A bite!”
He said as he lunged forward, only for her to simply move her arm out and block his way to her neck.
“A slow vampire never gets his meal, A tortoise would have had a better shot getting me, try again.” She laughed as she let Batwings nibble on her arm. While still having a lot to learn, Batwings had made a huge step forward, so perhaps she could let him have this one little win over her. For a bit, at least.