Excuses

"Nothing was his fault, but it sure felt like it."

Excuses is the 2nd chapter of Tainted Soul. It introduces another important protagonist, Macaw and focuses on his backstory of having awful luck due to being cursed by an Animus as an egg. He mainly talks about how Pyrrhia has changed to be a bit more accepting over time, and reminisces about how a few days earlier his bad luck had gotten his sister Civet injured. At the end, Macaw informs his sister that he is leaving the rainforest because of his curse.

Blurb
After accidentally getting his sister Civet injured due to his curse of horrible luck, Macaw flees the rainforest.

Summary
The chapter opens with Macaw walking through a crowd of Rainwings in the Rainforest Kingdom, noting that many of them step away from him or give him odd looks. Macaw chalks it all up to the fact that he was cursed before he was born with extremely bad luck. He notes that while many avoid him, Pyrrhia and the Rainwings had slowly become very accepting and advanced in the past century towards some such as an albino dragon named Iris and the male Rainwing couple Cypress and Larch. He also mentions about how over time Nightwings had slowly left their kingdom to return to their new territory, but left behind many hybrids. Despite all this, everyone still avoids Macaw because of his cursed luck. He grudgingly remembers how earlier that week, he had been flying with his younger sister Civet when suddenly she was struck by a falling branch, breaking her ribs in the process and barely surviving. Macaw feels a lot of guilt over this incident knowing that it was because of his curse that the branch had fallen. He arrives at the treetop healer den to see Civet and notices the healer Willow, a half-Nightwing, talking to her. He greet Civet and they exchange happy words with each other, Civet noting that she is doing much better and telling Macaw he shouldn't feel bad. Willow cuts in saying that Civet isn't completely healed and needs to stay there for a few weeks to which Civet starts bickering with her. Macaw remembers why he came to visit his sister and tells her that he is leaving the rainforest. Civet is surprised why he would leave and Macaw tries to hide his emotions knowing that Willow can read minds. He bluntly tells Civet its because everyone avoids him, and Civet comforts him and tells him not to go. He refuses to listen to her and tells her she'll be safer without him, bidding farewell as he flies away.

Trivia
Cypress was created by @mxshroom-stew on Scratch.

Larch was created by @thylaciine- on Scratch.

Iris was created by @cs3786304 on Scratch.

Willow was created by @_Thyme_ on Scratch.