To Be Proud: A Story about Gay Pride

Suspicion on the Season of Yay

When I heard the footsteps coming to the door, I quickly closed the book and laid in bed with Thwok and Petite in my chest as usual. Closing my eyes, I heard the door open and Kayna walking in. I should've placed Thwok and Petite in a bit smoother than I had because I could feel Thwok shifting around and waking up.

      "Kayna?"

      "Oh Thwok, I'm sorry. Did I wake you up?"

      "No, no, I'm fhine. Whaht ahre you dohing up soh lahte?"

      "Oh, I was just checking outside was all. You should get back to sleep. Big day tomorrow."

As Thwok shifted and fell back asleep, I listened as Kayna went to her seat and continued writing in her book. She mumbled to herself as she wrote, something about the skyship and darkness. I had even worse feelings about her, but this behavior did not only stump me but also convinced me that Kayna wasn't someone to hang out with.

~Thwok~

When I woke up the next morning, the first thing I saw was the Grumpyre flying in place above us. I got up and watched as he flew to Kayna who was ready for another adventure on the island. Heading over to her with Petite sleeping in my arms, we went outside and looked around at the island which was decorated for the Season of Yay.

There were lights and trees everywhere, and the other monsters were playing around about the island. Kayna took my hand and showed me to a monster named Yool. He was as large as Bona with a white beard and big wooden mini trees with bells on them. When Yool saw me and Kayna, he chuckled with delight.

      "Hello, Kayna! Happy to see you again!"

      "It's great to see you too, Yool. Oh, this is Thwok!" Kayna looked over at me with a smile. I looked up at Yool and smiled with a wave.

      "Ah, the good long-tongued Thwok. From Wublin Island, no? I knew you would bring such a large surprise, Kayna!" Kayna just giggled and continued to talk with Yool. I was a bit concerned about how he knew me so well despite just meeting, but I just let it slide as Petite dropped down and played around.

I looked around the island, watching all of the monsters playing around. There were some I recognized, but others were completely new to me. As I looked around, my eyes were caught on a monster in particular. He wasn't new to me; met someone like him back on Plant Island. The Bowgart sat along the edge of the island, looking down toward the sea.

When I looked closer, the Bowgart seemed to have two of his arms crossed over his chest. A third hand was clutching his cello and bows and his fourth was holding his head up. I glanced at Kayna and Yool who were too busy talking, "catching up" Bona calls it. Wrapping my tongue around my neck, I decided to head over and try to talk to the Bowgart.

      "Hey," I said calmly, trying to sound nice. "Mind ihf I sit here?" The Bowgart grunted a bit.

      "Whatever. You're bound to, anyway." His voice was a bit rough, making him sound much angrier than he was. I sat by him, making sure my tongue didn't hit him. 

The view of the water from where we were was amazing. We could see the leaving bits of ice float off toward the other islands. I glanced down, thinking about Kayna's dream from the skyship. How the monsters there played around, how the island overall looked, especially how the black stuff swallowed it whole. Snapping out of my trance, I glanced at the Bowgart before looking down at the sea.

      "An intureshting view of thuh sea, eh?" I think the Bowgart was a tiny bit shocked with what I said, but I kept silent.

      "Eh, not the best." I waited for him to continue, but it seemed like that was it. Not the best. "Whatcha doing here, anyway?"

      "I juhst wanted to check on ya, see ihf you were ohkay."

      "I'm fine." He seemed annoyed, so I didn't question him any further.

 As we stared at the ice, I started to think about home, Wublin Island. Watching the ice, I couldn't help but remember a story Bona told me and Petite. It was about monsters who broke the code. They would be thrown off the edge of the island and fall into the abyss, Bona always said. If Bona didn't save us back then, then...

      "So," the Bowgart said, snapping me out of my thought, "you're the new monster? Tagging along with Kayna?"

      "Mhm."

      "Could I guess your name?" I was a bit weirded out since I could just tell him, but I just nodded. "Is it...Peggy?" I shook my head. "Whort?" Smiling because of how funny the name was, I shook my head. "Thrum?" Again, I shook my head. Taking my tongue, I plucked at it a bit and made a thwok sound. The Bowgart seemed to get my hint. "Thwok?"

      "Mhm. You goht it," I said as I wrapped my tongue back around my neck. Looking at the Bowgart, he didn't seemed to be amused. There was a lot of noise behind us as the monsters gathered around Yool. The Bowgart didn't seem too amused like the other monsters, but he looked at me with a small shimmer in his eye.

      "Don't tell any monster, okay?" I nodded, a bit concerned about where this was going. "The name's..." He leaned toward me and made his voice quieter. "The name's Bowey." Nodding, I smiled a bit before wishing him luck and heading back to Kayna to see what was going on.

      "Hey, whaht's going on?"

      "Oh, Season of Yay's just started up!" She said. "That means all the monsters here are brainstorming to try and win."

      "There's anothuh challenge here?"

      "Mhm! You see that Bowgart over there?" Kayna pointed to Bowey. I nodded, concerned about where this was going. "We've been trying to find out a few things about him. His name, what he likes, so on. Mainly, how to make him smile." I instantly felt like my breath was being taken from me.

      "Uh huh?"

      "Well, the first monster to make him smile is deemed Yool's Elf of Yay!" The moment she said all of that, I felt something drop. I couldn't tell if it was my tongue...or if it was my heart...