AU: Darkness (Sabre was originally a malformed Darkness creature with several abnormalities, until he stumbled across the Orange Village one day and they and Red Steve helped give him a proper form and learn how to be a person.)

Context: The main group of Orange Steves is teaching Sabre about things, when Sabre gets curious about the concept of beauty.

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[3rd Person POV]

A group of Orange Steves sat in a circle outside, gathered in a spot of grass just outside the village. An odd, dark entity is with them, although he's treated like a friend and not a threat. He's dressed in a green hoodie, jeans, and some old, worn boots, all spare old clothing the Orange Steves had for him to borrow.

As the group finishes talking about a topic, an Orange Steve not like the rest in their group brings attention to the dark entity.

"Oh, guys! Did you notice?" Orange Steve says, pointing excitedly at Sabre.

The group looks up, and Sabre looks confused for a moment before Orange whispers to him.

"Show them your hands, buddy."

Sabre nods and smiles, then happily holds up his hands. Contrasting the inky black the majority of the rest of him is, his hands have started turning a strange peach color, starting from the tips of his fingers and gradienting out, the color change stopping in the middle of his palms.

"Color!" Sabre blurts out excitedly.

The rest of the Orange Steve gasp and smile, the ones closest to their odd friend enthusiastically getting closer looks at his new color, Sabre letting them touch his hands to see.

"Look at you, Sabre! Already getting new colors to help with the new form!" Happy Orange Steve says, clasping his hands together.

"From what I remember, this color is a variation of orange... similar to the brown he already has in his hair." Nerdy Orange Steve says, one of the ones getting a closer look.

"So he's getting these colors because he's been hanging around us?" Funny asks.

"That's what Red and the Leader have told me!" Orange Steve says happily. "And Red says that if he keeps changing colors at this rate, he's not gonna look like a Darkness as much soon!"

"Th-That's great!" Shy says, matching Orange's enthusiasm while keeping his voice low.

Sabre is enjoying the positive attention, letting the rest of his friends look closer at the color change too.

"This is actually a really nice color, Sabre." Happy says as he gets a look. "It's pretty!"

Sabre stops, slightly pulling his hands back as he tilts his head in confusion. His dark eyes stare into Happy's.

"Pre... tee?" Sabre tries to repeat.

It's then that the Orange Steves realize that since Sabre is very newly created, and was given no knowledge about the world as he was expected to be part of a hive mind, he doesn't know what 'pretty' means. They immediately start thinking of a way to explain it.

"Yeah, pretty. When something is pretty, that means it's nice to look at." Nerdy starts.

"For example, uhhh- the necklace I have." Orange says, quickly showing his crystal necklace to Sabre. "Things like necklaces and other jewelry are considered pretty."

Sabre thinks for a moment, then confusedly points at his hands.

"Pretty doesn't have to just mean valuable things. Like Nerdy said, if it makes you happy to look at it, you can consider that thing pretty." Funny smiles. "Liiiike... the view of the horizon behind you. That's nice to see, right?"

Sabre looks behind him for a moment, seeing a view of the plains with a forest in the distance. Clouds float in the sky, bringing a nice shade to the area as the sun shines brightly. Flowers bloom in the grass.

He then looks back at the group and nods, smiling.

"'Pretty' can also be talking about things like plants..." Shy says softly. "Y-You saw the flowers, right? They're pretty. A-And it can also be talking about things you can't reach, but are just as nice to look at, like the sky."

"Especially the sky at night, when it's covered in stars!" Orange smiles. "And, you can think something's pretty without other people thinking the same."

"Yeah, like how I love looking at bugs, but half the village is scared of them." Nerdy laughs. "I think their colors and different appearances are pretty, and other people not thinking the same doesn't change how I think of them."

"Really, anything being pretty is mostly just preference." Orange says. "But sometimes things are just generally pretty, like some of the stuff we mentioned earlier."

Sabre thinks for a little bit, then timidly points at himself with a questioning expression.

"Yeah, people can be pretty too! And that includes you." Happy replies. "Like I said, I think your new colors are pretty. And they're just gonna keep looking prettier as they appear."

"And just in general, without any changes, people can be pretty." Funny adds. "Different kinds of pretty, but still pretty. You especially; you're very different from everyone else, but that just makes you all the more cool."

Sabre takes all of this in, and smiles brightly. He almost starts hugging himself as he grins and his friends can hear him whisper to himself, joy in his eyes.

"I pretty."

He then waves his arms for a moment, then looks at his friends and starts pointing at each of them.

"You pretty! You pretty!"

"Awwww!" Happy exclaims.

Funny laughs, enjoying the moment. Nerdy hides behind his book. Shy buries his face in his hands, a bit flustered. Orange just smiles, glad with his friend's slow progress.

Sabre continues to make his friends happy with his new words, which he thinks seeing that is the prettiest.