Klaus shifts their posture slightly and glances around, still wondering if they should relax fully or not. They're used to just getting out and enjoying time on their own. Back at home there are a lot of mint sugarwings with varying personalities that admittedly sometimes clash. Getting away from all of that chaos is the only way they can wind down. So needless to say having someone wanting to talk to them wasn't really their plan for today.

"I... I live near that old stone bakery with the ancient oak tree outside it." They tell Althea. "You know the one?"

Seeing Klaus glancing around Althaea would look around them. Not trying to mimic or make fun, more of trying to make sure there was not anything to be wary of.

"Hmm...I think I know the one you're talking about, but I'm pretty sure I've only seen it once. Since being brought home I try not to stray too far away." Pointing back towards the direction she had come from Althaea continued, "through a garden in that direction is where my human's den belongs. Actually I believe this is the farthest I've been out from it"

Klaus's tail twitches and they look over in the direction Althea pointed to. A garden? What kind? There are a few that they can recall seeing around here but... have they ever been that far away from their den? They can't recall. Maybe. Though this is usually as far as they go when they wander outside.

"So what made you decide to travel this far today?" They ask, looking back over at the shortcake sugarwing.

Althaea stands for just a moment to readjust and fidget with her wings. How much should she tell them? Her thoughts flashed to the grains at home and she couldn't help but feel like she had said too much already.

"Its just really boring at my den, so when I saw there was some movement out this way I thought why not check it out?"

It is what happened but would they want to see her home? Should she have shut up about where she lives? Althaea's stomach rumbled. Inside Althaea's head to her stomach,, "Oh, of course you thought there was something good about them you probably smelled bakery on them!"

Klaus clams up for a few seconds, twitching their tail, ears, and nose in a nervous display. They too are starting to feel like maybe they've said a bit much. On the other paw though Althea does seem like a genuinely good sugarwing. Not like some of the ones who have been known to break into bakeries and houses. Though can that behavior really be helped? Isn't that how things went all the time at the start of their interaction with the humans? The bright blue sugarwing sighs and fluffs their feathers and mane up.

"Yeah? What if I'd been a nighttart instead?"

Are they angry? Did I say something wrong or misjudged them? Maybe their humor is just dark. Although it would be better to be cautious...

A small nervous laugh escapes Althaea before commenting, "well I suppose I wouldn't have yelled out my name for one." Her body language betraying her own anxious feelings. Ears drooping and tail joining her paws in patting the ground beneath her.

"Sorry. I didn't mean to make it sound like that." Klaus says with a sigh, steam billowing out of their mouth and making them look like the giant scale covered dragons of old myths. "I just... I guess I'm used to dealing with more snappy sugarwings."

They think back on times that they've had to deal with the mint twins and their "don't touch me" moments. Those two are not very friendly or understanding. Klaus shivers, shaking off the negative feelings associated with those memories.

Althaea didn't realize how tense her body had become. Her tail kept moving unbidden, but she could feel her ears and paws returned to what felt comfortable.

"I don't want to pry, but snappy sugarwings?" Her question followed by a low to the ground crawl towards them. Looking like a grain sitting close to an elder readying to listen to a great old tale.

Klaus tilts their head to the left, their right ear flopping against their neck as they do so. They hadn't expected this sort of response.

"Yes. A few mint ones. Twin sisters to be exact." They say, looking up at the sky and twitching the very tip of their tail. "One is a little bit nicer than the other in all honesty. It's just the older of the two... well she didn't have a great start to life and that's left her with a mean streak. I get on her nerves surprisingly easily. Even when I'm not doing anything!"

Althaea nods as Klaus tells of his plight. She can't help but think of some of her friends at the mention of "bad starts." Although, most of them are shy rather than bitter and only seem to become hostile if cornered.

"When does she usually get angry with you?" She asked becoming more concerned with trying to help Klaus rather than thinking about how they may not wish to answer the start of, what will surely be, a plethora of questions.

Ideas of motives and solutions already starting to dance in Althaea's mind. Her den isn't always lollipops and rainbows, but she could never think of a time where one of the other sugarwings made her feel how Klaus described. Similar to the call to obey her curiosity when venturing out here she now felt the need to at the very least lend an ear.