Away from the festivities, she'd found a damp place to settle, taking off her blue feather necklace so it didn't get damaged. She set it down beside her and lay down comfortably, stiff and itchy under her outer shell. She reached up and gripped the mask on her face, clinging onto it tightly.

With a crack, it came off, and her eyes opened, her eyes glazed over and milky, her movements growing stiff. She set the mask down and breathed out, leaning up against the wall, humming softly.

"My heart is pierced by Cupid,
I disdain all glittering gold,
There is nothing can console me,
But my jolly sailor bold."

Arwen curled up as much as she could, singing to herself as she waited for this to be over, wishing that she had someone to protect her when she came out soft and vulnerable. Like her Blue. But alas, she'd left so they didn't have to see such a sight as this.

"Come all you pretty fair maids,
Whoever you may be,
Who love a jolly sailor bold,
That ploughs the raging sea."

Arwen froze and hid her face, hunching in on herself. She didn't know what she looked like under it! Was she ugly? Was she disgusting?

Would Blue hate her?

"B-Blue," she said, "I told you to stay away... I don't know if I'm hideous under my mask!"

She held it close and hunched in on herself, half out of self-consciousness, half out of instinct as she tried to wiggle herself out of the shell she was stuck inside. She felt like a pimple about to pop, as disgusting as that metaphor was.

"... Would you tell me the truth if I asked?", she said softly, wiggling uncomfortably, "... If I'm ugly, or hideous, or disgusting... will you still be my friend?"

'Will you still love me?'

Arwen went quiet and still, and slowly... she lowered the mask.

Her face was pale, and marked all over with tiny little lines where her face would segment. Her mandibles were closed, forming a jaw, and she looked up, her milky eyes colorless as she molted.

But she was beautiful, in a weird, monstrous way, with delicate features and a smooth head.

"... I don't know what I look like," she said softly, "I only ever had the mask, something flawless to hide what was underneath. So... what was underneath had to be worth hiding, right?"

She looked down, her smooth lashes (or at least a mimicry of such a thing) brushing against her chubby cheeks. She lowered the mask and set it next to her necklace, and held out her arms.

"Hold me?", she asked, wiggling as she grew more and more uncomfortable, "I'm going to split any second now... I don't want to fall apart if it's not going to be in your arms."

Arwen flushed, color coming to her cheeks. She looked away and winced as her outer shell cracked, and pressed into Blue's front, her mandibles twitching as she chittered.

"Y-you're so kind," she sniffed, tearing up, "How did I manage to deserve you?"

She closed her eyes, her eyelids sliding shut for the last time, her mandibles stilling. She stopped moving for a minute or so, growing cold.

Her tail split open first, the familiar shape of Arwen's grubby tail appearing, though it was longer and more dense. She backed out, pulling herself from her shell, nearly twice as big as before. No wonder she had to get out, she was practically being crushed!

She flopped out onto the ground, soft and wet, her skin and the thin carapace on her back, and shoulders starting to harden. She shuddered and pushed herself up, her arms longer and thinner, with spindly fingers and defined legs rather than nubs. She turned towards Blue, eyes opening under the eye holes of a new mask, this one completely white with soft pink on the cheeks, the lips seemingly painted a soft pink as well.

"... How do I look?", she asked nervously, her body still growing and moving.

At the moment, though, she was four feet tall, not as tall as Blue, but quickly catching up. Judging by her crumpled appearance, she'd probably grow at least another foot.

Arwen stared at the shell of her previous self, peering at her face and body before pushing it over and quickly taking its place in Blue's arms.

"You were right," she said softly, "I am pretty."

Arwen pouted a bit, "No..."

She snuggled into Blue's front, mourning the loss of the comfort that being carried around brought. She sighed and smiled into the other's feathers, a bit sad her face was hidden again. She liked having Blue being able to see.

"Love you, Blue," she said softly, "So far you've never been wrong about me."

She chittered back and wrapped her arms around Blue, extremely pleased that she was able to do such a thing now. She hugged them closely and pressed her face into their neck, nuzzling them gently.

"I can see better," she said, pointing at the wider eyes of her mask, the other mask's eyes having nearly been closed, "You're so pretty, Blue~."