Ribbons
Among the millions of colorful tiny roses, glitter, confetti, and other things thrown at celebrities you love scattered all around the room, is a single deep blue ribbon.
If Flutter had to compare its color to something, she would pick the night sky just after dusk, or the ocean. It's not dark enough to be midnight.
The same goes for outside, actually. It's night, just after one of Glisten's famous shows, and Flutter stayed behind as she usually does.
She looks for an attendant or someone who might have a better chance of seeing Glisten later than her, but there is no one else apart from nondescript cleaners. So, before it can be mixed into the mess of colorful junk being cleaned up, Flutter hooks the ribbon with one of her feet and kicks it up onto her antennae, trying to be as careful as possible.
When she exits the building, she has the exhilarating, impulsive thought of keeping the ribbon for herself—a keepsake to remind herself of her favorite idol.
No. That's weird. She'll ask Gigi for help.
~
Gigi examines the ribbon for several long moments before Flutter twitches her antennae to remind her she needs advice.
"Listen, I get that you know a lot about Glisten and stuff, but are you REALLY sure this is his? There had to be other people wearing ribbons or something in the audience, right?"
This is the exact same shade of blue as the ribbons Glisten was wearing during the show, Flutter explains with frantic flapping of her wings and twitching of her antennae.
"Okay...aanndd I'm guessing you want to give it back yourself?" A sly grin appears on Gigi's face.
Flutter doesn't respond for a moment.
"I know you—you want to do the right thing. THIS is the right thing, okay?" She wraps the ribbon carefully over Flutter's purple neck fluff. "I could, um, help you find Glisten."
Flutter twitches one of her antennae in gratitude.
"Let's go, then."
~
Glisten's show the previous night was in time for the rainy season. That's why his color scheme was blue. So, of course, it rains.
Gigi ushers Flutter into a store before the ribbon (and Flutter's wings) can get damaged.
It's a clothing store. Flutter stays by the door for a moment, looking through the glass at the downpour and thinking of Glisten.
"Hey, I mean, he probably has loads of other ribbons right? So it wouldn't be the worst thing to not give it back right away. We'll find him, Flutter." Gigi pats her back.
Flutter slowly turns from the glass, silently sighing.
And is suddenly face to face with Glisten.
The pretty mirror isn't looking at her; his attention seems to be on the rain outside. He whips around. "On second thought, your day is already good because I'm here! Do you happen to have a spare umbrella?" he calls to the clerk. The clerk shakes their head, transfixed.
He didn't see the ribbon!!!!!!!! Then Flutter remembers Gigi is here.
"Hey, hello, excuse me! Mr. Mirror!" Gigi yells. Flutter nudges her.
Glisten turns and raises an eyebrow. "Yes?"
"We found one of your ribbons after your show last night—well, Flutter did." She points to the deep blue ribbon around Flutter's neck.
A funny look comes over Glisten's face. "I see," he says.
There's a gleam in his eyes that is very much not like how it is during his shows. Flutter shoots this question at Gigi.
"Why are you making that face?" Gigi questions the mirror, earning another nudge from Flutter.
"What face? I always make the most perfect faces, so I'm not sure what you're asking," Glisten says smoothly. "May I see that ribbon, please?"
Gigi carefully takes the ribbon from Flutter and gives it to Glisten. "Sorry if it's damp, we barely missed the rain." Flutter remarks on how she's finally being respectful. Gigi flicks her playfully.
Glisten holds up one end of the ribbon. "Watch this," he instructs them. With his other hand, he pinches the end of the ribbon...and peels it in half.
It's such a flawless, seamless move that Flutter is utterly transfixed.
"Inside" the ribbon are two tiny white rectangles. Scraps of paper. Glisten extracts them and shows them to his audience of two with a slightly smug air.
"This is a special little secret I leave behind after all of my shows," he explains as Gigi grabs the pieces of paper and shows them to Flutter. "I'm surprised you didn't know about them; they're mentioned on some of my posters."
One of the pieces is silver on the other side. The second piece is gold on its other side with extremely tiny, intricate pink writing.
Glisten sees their confusion and elaborates. "The silver is a free ticket to my next show," he says brightly. "And the gold paper is a free signature."
Why would you want your fans to rip apart ribbons searching for these? Flutter asks in confusion even as her heart melts with happiness.
Glisten sighs dramatically. "You get it! I always say to my agent we should do something else! But we do always put them in an extra thick ribbon, so these two pieces can be used as ribbons themselves." He holds the two pieces of deep blue ribbon out to Flutter. "Here."
Flutter gestures to him.
Glisten smiles. "I don't need them. Please, think of them as my acknowledgement of your kindness! Your first thought was to return the special ribbon to me, after all."
...Technically it WASN'T her first thought, but...
Gigi takes the two pieces of ribbon and carefully ties them around Flutter's ankles.
"Not bad. You could almost show up me," Glisten says with a wink. "Oh look, the rain stopped!"
Indeed, the sun is shining on the pavement outside. Flutter compares it to her current mood, practically vibrating with joy. She thanks Glisten. She kind of over-thanks him.
On her way home, she can't stop looking at the ribbons.
"Wow, you can't stop dancing," Gigi laughs. Flutter circles her happily again and turns her face up to soak in the sun.