Author's note
I have too many unwritten shippy ideas. Halp meh my one roleplay/ ship (mostly Grumbo tbh lol) outlet may be getting annoyed with me and I'm too scared to ask-

Well. Let's get one thing developing first, because this is a very useful skill to have.

And may or may not theoretically help in the future-

What's the use of wings when you can't fly?... Um. Aesthetic reasons, duh... But that's probably not what you should say to the best flier on the server, hm? Grian didn't plan for my level of incompetency though...

Also very quickly before we start... Another senpai banned me from a chapter! Nuuu... Savi senpai told me not to look at her 'Cupcakes AU' and to go read some Grumbo instead... And Aqua senpai and Ninja senpai agree...

But I wanna know what it is! Can someone please tell me? It can't get any worse than... T-The R-Rainbow... AU (factory nightmares and tears, please go away)... R-Right?

... A-AU short will be between the first two parts of the Arc. Before I start planning it, is there a particular AU you guys'd like to hear about?

Headcannons in this chapter
- Grian is pretty much the best flier on the server. I, on the other hand, am the worst by far. Mainly because I can't actually fly yet
- Here's one from me. It applies IRL too, and I'll tell y'all the story of it in the bottom author's notes. I have a terrible fear of heights... But it's weird. Like, I can't go on a bridge without feeling sick and terrified... But planes? They're fine...
- So, do people know I can't respawn?
- ... That's about it. Don't worry though... The next arc is sure to bring more excitement... Especially the second part~
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Flight.

One of the most joyous things ever discovered.

Wind blowing through your hair, drifting right through the clouds, soaring free without any hesitation... Aside from maybe lag, but that was beside the point!

Just like any other place, the sky was a whole new world...

...And flight was the only way up.

True, he was called the 'best flier on the server', but who couldn't love flying? How could you travel through the server otherwise?

These thoughts tumbled through Grian's head as he, quite predictably, flew through the server, for no reason in particular. Possibly to have a small chat with the first person he saw.

And that would be... Convex, and the actual child of the server-

-NO-Not him, AC!-

- Who were currently looking at his elytra course... Except AC, who seemed to be slowly removing a nerd pole... Certainly a strange sight for such an updated server. So what was she doing?

Might as well find out... And... Sneak in a little scare as well...

"Hellllooo!"

Cub and Scar both jumped out of the way, dodging a dive-bombing Grian. As he pulled up, a distinctive cackle could be heard as the flying menace turned back around, landing perfectly. He laughed again at their reactions
-one of amusement, one still scared half to death... Until he was promptly punched off.

"HEY-" Grian gasped, quickly flying back up to the others. AC simply pointed a finger gun at him as she clambered fully on the platform.

"Why hello there, did you have a nice trip?"

Of course... Grian rolled his eyes playfully, lightly pushing the girl towards the edge. However, this brought along a scarily more panicked noise than he'd expected, with AC immediately grabbing Scar's hand tightly.

"... Please don't... I've a horrible fear of heights, if you haven't... Noticed..." She whispered, allowing Scar to pull her towards the him.

Shocked, Grian spluttered. "T-Then how have you been getting around the server?"

"Um... With my C.P.S.T, I can make portals to places, but I mainly use super-speed. I need the exercise anyway." The girl shrugged, tugging at her sleeves. Letting out a giggle, AC flicked one of Grian's elytra wings. "Not everyone can fly like you. Like grandad, because he doesn't have elytra, and therefore can't fly around. Or... In my case... Can fly at all... It's not that much of a deal tho-"

Three pairs of bewildered eyes stared at her at once.

"You can't FLY?!"

"... Uh... No? I guess I never learned-"

"... Ok. Vexies, if you don't mind me borrowing your inevitable child, I know what I'm going to do today!"

The statement was met with nods, as AC stood silently to one side. No one looked at her as she stared wistfully at the sky... And then took a quick glimpse downwards. It was no use trying to convince them now... Yet there was also no way to not feel like falling to her death when looking down.

Welp. This was going to be great.

"... Wait... What did you just say to us-"
——————————————————
How did she find herself on the roof of Xisuma's kelp shop again? Because AC didn't recall signing up for this.

Oh right. She didn't.

Yet there she was, a few feet above ground, with a dove's white wings on her back. About to jump off and... Fly...

Jump off a building taller than... One... One? One foot...

Was she even ok with merely one foot? Well, she was certainly not ok with this.

"... You want me to jump off a building." AC asked, eyes fixated on a random roof tile, a slab, the colour, anything, anything but down.

"And gilde. To glide, you just... Run forwards a bit in mid-air. It's pretty simple." The blonde builder stated, jogging backwards.

Before she could ask what he was doing, Grian had already run forward; leaping off of the roof, his wings opened and he glided down to the ground easily, casting quick glance backwards.

"See? Easy?"

AC's expression didn't change. She carried on staring at the roof glumly. Then, after a few moments, her brow furrowed, and she too leapt off the edge.

Yet her wings were frozen in place. They didn't open. Luckily, she was able to quickly teleport back upon the roof at once, hand over her heart. Grian's eyes widened, doing nothing except watch as the girl struggled to stop shaking.

As she stood, AC tried opening her wings from on the roof, but they still wouldn't budge. The girl sighed, sitting down on the rooftop and staring down at Grian apathetically.

"... Got any other ideas? That preferably include... Water at the bottom?"

"... Ok, new plan..."
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"Woah, I haven't been here much before!" AC yipped, skipping around the rooftop of the G-Team base. A few ginger cats sidled up to her, allowing the small girl to affectionally scratch behind their ears. "Hey look! I'm one of them!"

For a moment, Grian didn't speak, internally gushing over how cute this was; until he snapped out of it.

"... H-Hey! Are you trying to distract me?"

"... Is it working?"

Grian shook his head as AC pouted.

"... It did work for a couple of secon-"

"Back to flying! We need some way of getting you to glide, so we're going to jump off of here and land in that pool of water down below." He said, pointing at where the said pool of water was situated. "If you don't fly, then the water will catch you and make sure you're safe."

Once again, the blond hermit threw himself nimbly off the the tower roof. His wings opened, and another perfect landing was executed. AC saw him staring up at her expectantly.

Well... With a sigh, she stumbled her way to the edge again and... Finally leap off, as deftly as she could.

Due to the increased height, the girl now had more time to 'unthaw' herself... And actually become more terrified than numb. No sound aside from a sudden gasp emitted out of her, though she was still falling through the air, the water drawing ever nearing and-

A sudden yank on her back brought her back to her senses. A fleeting glimpse upwards revealed that through the speed of the wind, not through her own accord, her wings had... Unexpectedly opened.

And... She... She would be gliding... She could already feel the falling winds slow around her, ruffling her feathers as her wings brought her to-

The wind stopped working as much. And so did her wings.

SPLASH!

As soon as AC realised that she was underwater, a quick transformation turned her back into a mermaid. She swum to shore, allowing Grian to drag her onto land.

"... Well, that was grueli-"

"Great! You can glide... Albeit... For not a long time... I have an idea to fix that!"

"Oh. Goody..."
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... Why.

Why.

Why why why why why why-

The malicious thought wouldn't stop repeating. A silent torture, laced with fear and choking the girl to death with it. No, no, no, NO-

She was NOT jumping off of Scar's cloud, regardless of the ocean, regardless of delay, regardless of anything else!

... From here, she could actually see her own notice board- clouds too, which was pretty sweet. Already, the powerful 'Shop at Sahara' poster was pinned on very blatantly... And had already had a big 'no' sign very blatantly stuck on top of it. Hm. Wonder who did that.

Let's just hope Grian doesn't see...

Speaking of Grian...

"... I'm not leaping off of your base." AC muttered, sitting down and curling up in a dejected ball. Grian shook his head, and waiting for her to get back up. "I'm not making a fool of myself again..."

"... Are you scared of being embarrassed? Really? It's not that bad, I fell down loads of time when I-"

"Poultry Man~"

"... What are-"

"Poultry Man, does whatever a chicken can~"

"... What-"

"Eggs he has~"

"I-"

"And eggs he'll send~"

"I think-"

"Has a crush on his best friend~ YA-YEET-"

"WHY IS THAT THE ONLY REASON YOU'LL JUMP-"

... Wait, jump-

Oh... Oh... OH...

And there she was again, plummeting to her doom... This time though, perhaps... With the speed of the wind, she could-

AC's wings finally, under her control, opened up, slowing the girl considerably. She was ready for it though, and, from watching everyone else flap about, she copied them... And fluttered.

Like her wings had taken a life of their own, they flew her around, only in shaking lines but still! This was... Her first time achieving flight... And it was... Terrifying.

Amazing, but still terrifying: the ground was still farther away than she liked, and regardless of Grian ruling this domain, she still wouldn't comply with his stunting.

Speaking of which... The sound of more rustling feathers alerted AC of Grian's presence.

"Told you it wasn't that bad!" He chuckled, spinning around fearlessly. With a tut, AC bundled up her ponytail, turned her back to him and promptly whipped him in the face. "No."

As Grian protested on, AC zoned out, staring out at the large expanses of land in front of her. Completely covered in creation, the server had never looked better, even at this horribly high angle. It was... Sort of cool, being so high though... Terrifyng, but feeling numbing... Calm, in a midst of chaos...

Feelings... All sorts of feelings... Swimming in the air, floating freely... The need to breathe deeply, to stare pensively, to scream horrifyingly-

Wait a second, that wasn't her who on-

A flash of red caught her eye, before AC zipped off, flapping madly towards the falling shape. It seemed like they had just scraped the edge of a tall structure, and gravitational potential energy decided to be really annoying.

Luckily, she was able to reach them in time, grabbing their arm and yanking them upwards harshly. However, just as they heard her gasp in recognition, they flew away, more sure in flight than she ever would be...

... What... What was-

"Hey, who was that?" Grian asked, coming up behind her. AC glanced at him, fake-smiling to cover up her suspicion.

"O-Oh, just Tango, trying to get back to Impulse. Before he did something stupid..."

This lie seemed convincing enough to the builder, as he simply sniggered.

"I'm so going to tease them about this later-"

Wait no thiS WASN'T GOING TO WORK-

Grian barely had any time to react when the girl immediately zoomed off; just as she flew far enough away to look strange... His pocket now felt quite a bit lighter...

... Did... Did she just steal-

As soon as he thought this, AC had zoomed back to him, placing his C.P.S.T. back into his pocket and... And flying off frantically again...

Then the chat started spamming.

And once Grian checked it... Well.

Let's just say he kinda regretted teaching AC to fly now.
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Grian: Hey, Mumbo?

Mumbo: What's up?

Grian: Are you a parking ticket? Because you have fine all over you~

Mumbo: O-Oh... I-Um... T-Thanks?

Ren: OOO GRIAN HAS HIS GAME ON!

Stress: I ship it!

Iskall: I AM NEVER LETTING YOU FORGET THIS MOMENT-

Wels: I'm... Impressed.

Jevin: Hm. I was going to ask about the mess in my potions room but... Flirting competition, anyone? You may be a knight, but you've stolen my heart...

Python: No.

Cleo: I feel like that was aimed~

Jevin: ... N-No it wasn't...

Ren: People are stealing my jooob!

Doc: Of course they are. Of course.

Cleo: Are you sure, Jev~?

Jevin: What about... Uhhh... You-You overload me with your good looks then?

Doc: ... I really hope that wasn't aimed towards the person I think you're aiming at... If it's the other person, then I'm fine, but nOT THE FIRST ONE-

Iskall: Oh Grian, what have you started?!

Grian: U-I-I DUVNT MRAN TI-?!

Scar: ... Tell AC I'm proud of her.

Grian: NO!
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Author's note
Heh heh heh... Shipz...

Wait WHEN DID WE GET 5.7K READS ARGH!

WHA?!

THANK CHUS, SENPAIS (and one chan)! SO VERY MUCH! We gon get to 6K really soon at this rate, oh gosh! Oh gosh I had nothing planned whatsoever... I'm a terrible mess of a human being, I'm sorry!

OK! Now time for the promised short story thingy! As y'all have probably realised by now, you're all way more interesting than me...
——————————————————
So. I'm in a group of activity-people. It's all girls, and... Uh... I don't really feel extremely welcome there? I mean, I like the activities (which is why I always go), but the girls kinda... Get in trouble more. And that means our personalities clash...

Our adult leaders don't like shyness and quietness and being scared either. And guess who reverts to both when she's feeling out of place.

Anyway, one day, we all went on this trip to a place that focused on being outdoorsy. It was pretty ok, they got into trouble and talked badly about each other, I was forced to listen and act like I agreed... The usual, y'know. A few other things happened then, but I'll probably write about them later on.

Then came the last day.

On the last day at that place, the scheduled thing we had to do was a 'giant swing'. Basically, you get harnessed onto a this long ropey thing, pulled high up and then pull a little tie that would release you and... Then you'd swing.

Here's a badly drawn version of it. As labelled, you would pretty much 'sit on air', as the harness was the only thing keeping you on the rope. And once you pulled the little toe thing... Oh boy, you would swing. The fence was a great height too. Just like the entire structure.

Now, at this point, I was still afraid of heights, but the BIIIG heights, not ones like... Bridges that brought you over traffic. I was fine with those. Was.

Well, all of the other girls were really excited for it, and they had a great time on it. I knew for a fact that I'd not enjoy it one bit though, so I told my leaders that I didn't want to go on because I was scared. Several times.

They forced me on. It looks a lot higher when you're up there too. Oh, and the girl I was with forced me to pull the release both times too. I must admit, that did make it very slightly better, because then you'd know exactly when you'd fall but still...

I was so scared I froze on the thing. I felt like I would fall off at any second. The harness just felt suddenly so much more fragile, along with the rope. The fence suddenly got thicker, i could imagine myself dying horrifically with every drop. I felt sick, but not sick. I could feel stuff in my stomach. I felt my organs almost rising in me as I dropped. The wind clouded my ears. Closing my eyes did nothing, keeping them open did nothing. I was terrified. Just like I knew I'd be.

Beforehand, one of the girls had dared me to not scream, so... I didn't. The girl with me screamed out about once, but shut up once she realised I wasn't screaming. Our go was the only one in pure silence.

We finished after I came back from death. No, really, they thought I'd fainted because I was that still and silent.

As the guy was just about finished stopping me, I screamed as loudly as I could. Apparently, I made him and several others jump back. I didn't really care.

And guess what they did next? Force me on for the second time, so it'd be 'fair': all of the other girls had two goes, so so should we.

For the second time, I didn't care much about volume anymore. I screamed and started screaming so much it started to ring in my ears, covering up the horrible wind sound... And guess what, they shouted at me from the ground to stop screaming and being silly, even though they let every single other girl get away with it.

I cannot go on even a bridge going over tarification without almost freezing up if I accidentally glimpse down.

I can still feel my organs dropping if I try and concentrate.