MYO-0330: Lilabelle

Lilabelle was born in the deep basin under the care of her father, who is a resident care-taker, and the Elders. Lillabelle grew up working and learning alongside her dad, taking care of Tatsukits and the egg nurseries. Lilabelle is the very definition of crippling anxiety and always jumped at the slightest of noises, which is why she usually kept to caring for the eggs in the quiet nurseries.
<span;>Noticing Lilabelle's continuous voluntary isolation, her father grew ever more concerned at her lack of drive to follow their ancestors and ascend the falls as more and more years past. After some convincing, with the help of some elders and other younglings,
Lilabelle finally agreed to, at the very least, to make it past the spines and see what life was like in the third haven. Surprisingly, Lilabelle had no issue making her way through the layer of spines. Her slick skin helped her get past a large number of obstacles, only being halted by her shell a few times. Though it slowed her down on occasion, her ability to shrink herself entirely into the shell on her back allowed her to take shelter and camp safely on multiple occasions. One morning, she was surprised to find herself tucked away on the back of a traveling cart! She was too frightened to come out of her shell and hop off or say anything to the driver, so she stayed put and assumed she'd be okay so long as they didn't know she was in there. After a day or two, multiple unfamiliar voices startled her as she overheard them talk about a market. They had mistaken her bright shell as a foragable good upon passing Lilabelle's camping spot, and intended to sell her along with their other trade goods.
Once the driver stopped and dumped the haul in the destination stall, she popped out of her shell and made a break for it as the driver received his payment from the stall curator. She was surprised to run out into a street and see she was surrounded by buildings and people unlike anything she had seen in the basin. Under the spell of an intense panic attack, Lilabelle ran into the nearest ally... and cried....
After she calmed down, she shyly and very carefully, walked around to get her bearings, soon finding a large map displayed on a pin board. Once she wa able to understand the map, she ran straight for the city border checkpoint, jumped into the downward cascade torrent, and swam as fast as she could back to the lower basin. This experience with traveling up the cascades had only solidified the fact that she just wanted to stay put, in her quiet life, warming eggs, and teaching tatuskits necessary life basics.
The day she reunited herself with her old room, she didn't leave for 2 weeks before working up the courage to resume her work alongside her father. He never pushed Lilabelle to ever journey upwards again, but still wishes to this day thay she would try again and maybe make some friends...