Mallia shook her head. "I was raised by them. That's why I took after them, to blend in better, when I came up with my larger form here. I look nothing like a--" She paused midsentence, seemingly only just now registering that here she was trying to explain, when she could instead simply....
...She waved her hand, gesturing to the top of the fruit bowl she'd set out, and tried to keep a half-straight face as she watched their reactions. "That," she said, "is what fairies look like. Not this." A vague gesture toward herself again. See? Big difference here, you two!
And now that she'd drawn their attention to the fruit bowl, they'd be able to make out the shapes that were playing around among the bits of produce: she really hadn't been kidding, in saying that they were butterflies. They varied greatly in color and pattern, and even in wing shape, but they were indeed otherwise much like the common, fluttery insects. Ones that seemed to push themselves more or less upright on their four hind legs, the fur on their thighs and abdomens blending together to make several of them look quite a lot like they were wearing little dresses of sorts, while they used their front arms as... well, as arms, reaching forward to grab a small berry and roll it around, or preen themselves off. They looked vaguely a bit more humanoid than a normal butterfly would tend to; perhaps it was their heads' shape, their fur sticking up in back like a tiny updo, with tiny faces that had large eyes and mouths that they'd open, to suck on their fingers as they preened themselves or chewed on fruit....
Didn't real butterflies have more of a curly straw for a mouth, not a biting-type one? Because these were definitely built for biting, as one of them was already proving with a little red ball from a raspberry. Maybe they weren't truly butterflies, at least of the usual kinds?
no subject
...She waved her hand, gesturing to the top of the fruit bowl she'd set out, and tried to keep a half-straight face as she watched their reactions. "That," she said, "is what fairies look like. Not this." A vague gesture toward herself again. See? Big difference here, you two!
And now that she'd drawn their attention to the fruit bowl, they'd be able to make out the shapes that were playing around among the bits of produce: she really hadn't been kidding, in saying that they were butterflies. They varied greatly in color and pattern, and even in wing shape, but they were indeed otherwise much like the common, fluttery insects. Ones that seemed to push themselves more or less upright on their four hind legs, the fur on their thighs and abdomens blending together to make several of them look quite a lot like they were wearing little dresses of sorts, while they used their front arms as... well, as arms, reaching forward to grab a small berry and roll it around, or preen themselves off. They looked vaguely a bit more humanoid than a normal butterfly would tend to; perhaps it was their heads' shape, their fur sticking up in back like a tiny updo, with tiny faces that had large eyes and mouths that they'd open, to suck on their fingers as they preened themselves or chewed on fruit....
Didn't real butterflies have more of a curly straw for a mouth, not a biting-type one? Because these were definitely built for biting, as one of them was already proving with a little red ball from a raspberry. Maybe they weren't truly butterflies, at least of the usual kinds?