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Character Prompt: The Flamingo's ability to adapt to just about any circumstance is remarkable - she'll give anything a try! Except for that. What is that and how did she/you/anyone/everyone find out?

“I won’t.”

The words had shocked the other two Hytes into silence, both clearly bewildered by the words, although they weren’t uncommon ones. It was more the fact that they were uncommon for her. She would do anything. She had always been the bravest of the three kidlets. The first to jump off the monkey bars, the first to dive into the pool, the first to … well, anything. She was always up for anything. So it wasn’t surprising that those words were met with great confusion by her companions. The Jabberwocky and Dormouse glanced at each other curiously, as if seeking an answer from each other, before glancing back at the flamingo, still looking just as confused as before. Had they done something wrong?

The Jabberwocky was the first to speak, (the Dormouse had decided that, since they weren’t going to do anything, he was going to take a nap), taking a small step towards the Flamingo hyte, one eyebrow quirked in a questioning manner.

“…what?”

It wasn’t very eloquent – he wasn’t the talkative type of child, preferring to let the Flamingo herself do the chatting for the three of them – and he was almost afraid that she wouldn’t understand his one-word question. This, however, was not the case – the pink Hyte seemed to know exactly what he meant, and would have nothing of it, turning her back on the Jabberwocky, standing, unmoving, in the middle of the grassy park.

“I won’t. I won’t do it. I don’t want to, so I won’t. It was a silly game anyway. Throwing a disk around… what nonsense.”

Throwing a disgruntled face over her shoulder at the pink Hyte, Delilah proceeded to pout, curling her arms around herself to clutch her shoulders and generally looking sulky and unhappy – a look not common for the pink flamingo. Usually, giddy and quite pleasant to be around, she had clammed up tighter than an oyster. ‘Does that make me,’ the Jabberwock mused wryly to himself, ‘ the Walrus to her oyster?’ The green hyte found he didn’t like that thought at all. He didn’t like to think he was prying, especially if it meant he was going to eat her. Although he did like bird in particular, he could never eat the pink hyte! The Jabberwock shook the thought away, turning his attention back to Deliliah. The wind had caught her hair and was tugging idly on the pink strands as well as her black-tipped feathers, and he couldn’t tell whether she was quivering, or whether it was just the wind. He prayed it was the latter.

“We can’t play without the disk, Lila. At least go get it for George and I – we still want to play.”

“George is ASLEEP in the rosebush,” she snapped, voice a little higher pitched now, her gold eyes flashing. “If you want it so bad, why don’t you fly up and get it?!” Behind the frustration, the Jabberwocky could see a hint of fear shining through the usually-playful expression. Another stab of guilt hit him like ice in his gut. He had never seen her so upset – nothing distressed the Flamingo. He decided to nudge her just a bit more.

“The branches are too thick – you’re more limber than I am.”

That was certainly the understatement of the year – limber didn’t start to describe her. It was almost scary what she could do, and not a lick of it natural. Still, she did it in such a way that it seemed almost as easy to her as breathing, and she never gave up the chance to show it off. He had begun to suspect there was something much more wrong than she said.

Delilah was silent.

“Lila… what’s wrong?”

His voice was gentle, but he could see her flinch even through the rustling the wind was doing to her feathers and hair, a shiver running through her lean body.

“I don’t want to fall.”