Meant To Be [August Prompt]

“Come on come on come on!” Maho squeaked pulling their brother along the beach. Clawed feet left indents in the soft sand as the pair ran towards a crowd up ahead. The sun was setting fast and Maho refused to watch the fireworks from a bad angle. Afterall they had spent the last five hours setting all of them up!! They deserve a front row seat! 

“If we left earlier we wouldn’t have to be rushing right now-” Calliope started only to be hushed by their sibling. 

“Says the guy that takes five years to brush his wings! It’s an outdoor event anyways! You’re bound to get some sand in between your scales.” Maho pointed out hushing as they got closer to the crowd. Calliope only huffed in return. He needed his wings to be nice and fluffy for any event! You never know when you have to impress someone! Calliope scanned the crowd looking for their third friend. Polaris had to be hiding somewhere. Hopefully. Typically Calliope would have to drag his roommate out of the house but Polaris actually went on his own for once. Saying something about getting their early to ensure they have a nice place to sit. Calliope carefully navigated through the crowd, ears flicking back and forth as he listened to coversations around him. Maho however was left behind. Being shorter than their twin sometimes had perks. This was not one of them. They looked side to side looking for somewhere up high to watch from. This crowd was simply too thick to even bother looking for Polaris in it. Maho doubted that the other even showed up. 

With a quiet popping sound Maho shifted into their feral form and jumped into the air, soaring a bit over the crowd as they looked for a place to settle. Thankfully they didn’t have to go too far before finding a tree they could sit on. They landed and carefully shifted back peering at the people underneath them. A pair of RevelriE that were being far too PDA for Maho. Maho looked back up to the ocean in front of them patiently awaiting the first fireworks. 

With a fizzle then a loud boom the first ones went off. The crowd hushed to watch the colourful sparkles rain down upon the ocean. Maho leaned against the tree watching as everything set off perfectly.  Learning to make fireworks had taken far too long but this made it all worth it. As the third round of fireworks went off the music kicked in. Maho’s ears perked listening to the song that they had written for this. Maybe they should’ve turned it up slightly. It was good enough. No time to change it now. Bright eyes scanned the crowd happy to see everyone was entranced in the show. 

The show came to an end with a shower of pink and blue fireworks that formed somewhat of an affinity shape as they fell. The crowd applauded before groups started to go their own way. Maho waited for the crowd to clear before jumping from the tree and walking around the beach to clean up after anyone that left trash behind. Maho hummed the firework song softly to themselves a they filled their bag with little tid bits here and there. They stood straight looking out at the dark starry sky. As night fell the heat dissipated, soft ocean breeze filling their wings as they walked along the beach. Maho thought back on the crowd for a moment. They didn’t see Arathorn out there. Maho made a face kicking at the sand befor sitting down and propping their head up on their hands. No way. Did he forget? Seemed likely that bird was scattered brained. Probably was busy researching or something. He’s been talking about Dust or something…lately. Affinity magic? Maho rubbed their head laying back in the sand. Arathorn used too big of words for them. 

“Hey. What are you still doing out here?” 

Maho’s ears perked slightly as a shadow fell over them. Their red eyes slowly met with Arathorn’s gold ones. “HI! I thought you forgot!”

“For-” Arathorn paused, “Oh the fireworks. I watched them on my way back from the library. I stopped by your place but you had already left.” He explained sitting down and looking up at the stars.

“Ah.” Maho scratched the back of their head sitting up. That meant he didn’t get the full experience! The music is what made it really cool afterwall. “Did you see the whole show at least? Or most of it? I don’t know how much is visible from the village. OH! You know what! I had a back up set just in case! Stay there!” Maho perked popping back into their feral form and flying off over the ocean to their firework platform. The platform was thankfully not overthrown by the waves yet. “Peaceful seas please” Maho whispered, waving their hands over the quiet waters. They looked over the fireworks they had left before loading up a few for a short version of the show. Snapping their fingers a few times they managed to get a small flame from their affinity magic. They lit the fuse then pressed a button to restart the track. Dangerous. Is probably what any normal person would say. But Maho’s sense of self preservation was low as is. Maho landed back on the beach and brushed themselves off. 

Arathorn was going to say something about how lighting a fuse on one’s own was dangerous especially without a proper way to leave the platform but before they could the music kicked in and fireworks soon after it. Maho sat back down as the rest of their fireworks went off. It was a slightly different show than before missing a firework here and there but it had the same love and care that Maho put in the first time. The show came to an end without the affinity shaped fireworks only a few large white and red ones took its place. The sparkles showered back down dissipating before they hit the clear ocean waters. 

“Wasn’t that so much cooler up close!” Maho applauded themselves with a smile. 

“It was ok.” Arathorn said lacking much excitement to match his friends. Maho however didn’t take that as any sort of insult. They only smiled and rocked back and forth knowing that that was as close as they would get of Arathorn’s approval. “So what did you learn at the library!” Maho asked putting their hands on their legs happy to listen to Arathorn talk about what he had learned during his outing.