Submission (#37) Approved

525 words = +5 shards

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Watching the way his friend remain a few steps behind was a bit difficult for Xiao, and on more than one occasion, the fact he could barely hear the other wool made him think the dark colored male had slunk off alone again. However, he did peek over his shoulder once or twice, and did notice the dull, red glow his friend perpetually gave off, slowly following behind.

The moment he'd turned around, back at the Hallowoolyne feast and noticed his friend gone, he'd known what had happened. He'd spent enough time around the other wool to know how he felt about crowds, and how he felt about listening to the whispers and opinions of those that did not really know him. Xiao had always found it strange, how people tended to have opinions on others, just based on looks, before getting to know anyone. As far as he was concerned, it was preposterous. People could be rather dumb, and judgmental, "How you feeling, buddy?" he tossed the words over his shoulder, not quite looking at his friend, and didn't really expect an answer; Sheng wasn't exactly known for being talkative.

"Fine," it was said shortly, but smoothly, "Hungry, perhaps. A bit tired," the black wool's voice always tended to sound much more elegant than Xiao expected it to. The mutation that made the gooey liquid drip down his nose and mouth always made the mazri expect his friend's voice to be garbled, or otherwise sounding like he was drowning. It never did sound like that, and though he knew it for a fact, somewhere, in the back of his mind, he always expected it. Judgmental, he thought to himself as he nodded in accordance to his friend's few words.

"You feeling up for returning?" the look the other wool gave him, half offended, half panicked, made Xiao backtrack, ungracefully, by coughing slightly into his fist, "I mean, do you think the place is secure enough we can go back to the main event? Perhaps get ourselves some food?" it wasn't like Sheng did a particularly good job at hiding his emotions, and he wasn't exactly a good actor either; a complete F in acting, as far as Xiaovi was concerned, but he figured he'd allow his friend to save some bit of face by giving him an out.

Rather than respond though, the other wool looked away from him, as if vaguely embarrassed, and offered him a determined nod.

"Excellent! We'll go back, get some food, fill our bellies! We can't quite be expected to protect anyone or patrol any sort of territory on an empty stomach, now can we?" he did not wait for a response from his friend, and rather, gapped the distance between them to clap a hand on his back, "Of course not! Come now, off we go, let's get some candied apples, perhaps, or maybe something fried and greasy do you think they have fried fish somewhere in the festival? I'm craving some nice meat too, though."

They thus made their way slowly back towards the festival. After all... they hadn't seen anything worth fighting in the immediate vicinity.