Shellbasket(Dw)

The Flower and the Fossil It was a quiet afternoon in Garden View, but Shelly felt more invisible than ever. She had just tried to explain the difference between an Ammonite and a Nautiloid to Dandy, but he had walked away mid-sentence to check on a shipment of ichor. Shelly sighed, clutching the straps of her brown skirt, and retreated to a shaded corner of the garden. There, tucked away on a bench, she found Bassie. The little flower basket Toon looked like she was trying to disappear into her own tulip-petal skirt. She was nervously fidgeting with a leaf, her flowers wilting slightly. "Hey, Bassie? You okay?" Shelly asked softly, not wanting to startle her. Bassie jumped, her petals rustling. She looked around, eyes wide with genuine shock that someone had addressed her directly. "O-oh, Shelly... you saw me? I thought everyone was over at the stage watching Cocoa’s rehearsal." Shelly sat down beside her, letting her heavy shell rest against the back of the bench. "I see you all the time, Bassie. I just... I’m always worried that if I start talking about my fossils, I’ll bore you to death and you'd leave. Like Vee does..." Bassie froze. She looked up at Shelly, her eyes reflecting a sadness that Shelly knew all too well. "You’re afraid of that? I’m afraid that if I’m not 'blooming' enough, Dandy will put me back in the storage closet and replace me with a newer vase!!!" Shelly smiled warmly and reached into her pocket, pulling out a small piece of polished amber she’d found that morning. "Look at this. It’s millions of years old. It stayed hidden and forgotten for a long time, but that didn't make it lose its value. It’s rare. Just like you." Bassie took the amber with trembling hands. For the first time that day, her fidgeting stopped. She reached into her basket, pulled out a small, periwinkle flower, and handed it to Shelly. "Thank you, Shelly," Bassie whispered. "I actually... I like it when you talk about dinosaurs, They're cool!"