With Campfires Crackling And Castles Built Atop The Sand Near The Pier, It Appears That Summer Has Rolled

With campfires crackling and castles built atop the sand near the pier, it appears that summer has rolled around for the second time since the twins first fell a year ago.

It has been getting a little warm lately. A bit windy, too, but as it was still in the middle of the current Season, Watcher didn't think too much of the changes in the air. It was just the mountain beyond acting up as usual.

Oh, how wrong was he.

It was warm when he woke up very early in the night just before dawn broke through the mist of Hidden Forest, the air carrying a noticeable coziness to it that he couldn't help remembering the first time they stepped out of the night of the desert and into the sunlight.

Again, the wasteland's watcher didn't think much of it. It's not his first rodeo to be subject by the occasional longing for a time that he cannot return to, and so he alighted from his hammock and went about his lightless morning like any other day.

Then a knock on the door sounds from the ground floor, causing his gaze to tilt towards below.

"Come in!" He yells out, going back to grabbing his mask from his bedside atop his perch.

H.K. peeks through the crack of the door after nudging it open, the lights of their eyes pouring out of the 'smile' mask and moving upwards to their master.

"Good morning, Watcher!"

"Morning." The older skid clad in yellow drops down in his birdly glory, before staring at the mask his student currently wears.

"Feelin' confident today, huh?"

"You could say that!" H.K. chirped, now fully opening the door.

"The weather is quite nice today, after all!"

"It's still dark out, though." Watcher deadpans with a smile in his voice. "Dawn has yet to arrive."

"True!" Then it was H.K.'s turn to stare, having just realized what kind of fit Watcher is wearing.

"Shouldn't you take a vacation? You've been working your arms off since this season started."

"A vacation does sound nice," he mumbled, "but I can't. Kids have been losing a lot of winglight since the change, and as much as possible, I'd like to be of help as much as I can until everything gets settled down."

"I still think you should take a break."

The bird-masked skid stared back. "H.K."

"What?" H.K. puts their hands on their hips. "I don't think I've ever seen you completely chill back and relax, aside from when you saw that pretty cape and the occasional stop at the graveyard's bonfire. But even then you just shoot up the moment you hear someone getting krilled-"

"H.K."

"And!" The Performance moth crossed their arms with a stubborn huff. "You lost about ten winglights a couple weeks ago! During a shard cleanup! That's the first time I've seen you get hit, and you always been fast on your feet!"

"You need a vacation, Watcher. You can't keep this up." Their hands loosen from their hold around each other and fall limply at their sides. "You do know that, right?"

"You always seem to know a lot."

"..." He stares at the skid younger than him for a moment, lips pressed thinly in contemplation before he dragged out a long sigh. "Alright. I'll take a vacation."

"Yes!" H.K. pumped a fist up in cheer. "For while this Days event is on-going, yeah?"

Before he could even fly up and change into his new cape (now that he's not going to his post in the wasteland), Watcher froze.

"I heard from the others that this was called..." H.K. tapped the tips of their hand against their chin as they recalled. "..Summer? Isn't that around when you were born-?"

"Watcher?" H.K. tilts their head at the still figure of their master. "Are you-?"

"Yeah, I'm listening." He says with a flippant wave of his hand as he continued to his closet.

"Dear Megabird, it's been a year already??"

"Mhm!" H.K. chirps in affirmation, failing to notice the way Watcher covered up his shock under a disbelieving 'mask'. "Which is why I set up a little something for you near Grandma's Treehouse!"

"That explains the mask." Watcher remarks. "It wasn't about the weather; you were excited for what you prepared for my birthday-"

The wasteland's watcher placed the ornate bird mask on top of the closet, before turning to the Performance moth in his glowing, green cape.

"-is that it?"

"Ding ding ding!" H.K. flashed finger guns at Watcher as he dropped down for the second time since his student came by. "I also got cake! And tea! And buns! And-"

They were promptly shut up by Watcher pressing his whole hand on their face.

"Are you planning to stuff me like a crab before Feast or something?" The one year-old skid rose a brow, his facial expressions now bare for the world to see. "You sound like you prepared a lot."

H.K. held Watcher's hand on their face and brought it down. Their brightness glows even through their mask as they jokingly replied:

"Maybe."

Watcher chuckled while he picked up a familiar looking instrument near the door.

"Who taught you to be this cheeky?"

"Who else but you!"

Then the moth begins dragging him by his hand, and as he watched from behind while they took the lead, he is reminded of a time when he would be dragged around by his twin like this.

"Now let's go! It's rude to keep food waiting!"

The ground beneath them fades as they fly off, and for just a second, he looked back to the treehouse. He wistfully watched his- their- home grow distant the further away they went, and he couldn't help but wish that his twin was here to celebrate their first birthday together.