Scrapjack and Rotgut go way back. They went to the same elementary school, one that was unofficially reserved for illegitimate children, hybrids, and kids with disabilities or mental issues, but they didn’t really interact with each other. Not intentionally, of course, they just never happened to cross paths. That is, until Jack—Strudel at the time—got in trouble one too many times for bugging the kid at the desk next to her and the teacher moved her to the back of the classroom. Unbeknownst to Strudel, the teacher had intentionally placed her between a wall and the quietest kid in class, a half-yak half-unicorn named Suki.
 
 
Strudel introduced herself to her new desk neighbor, but didn’t get a response outside of a polite nod. She tried for the next few days to get the yak to say anything, just to acknowledge her presence, but she had no luck. One day, though, when she was just about to give up trying, she noticed a familiar design on one of Suki’s notebooks—it was a Monmon, a creature from a silly video game series that Strudel had loved when she was younger, and still had a strong fondness for. She pointed it out and asked Suki if she liked the games, too. At her nod, Strudel launched into an enthusiastic tirade about the series; which games and characters were her favorites, how long it took her to beat each one, how much merch she had back at home… Unlike during all her other ramblings, Suki seemed genuinely interested this time. Strudel took it as a win.
 
 
At first, Suki did find the halfogriff annoying, but Strudel was just so earnest and genuine that it was hard to keep feeling that way. She said what she thought and did what she said. Sure, there were times when Suki wished Strudel would just hush up and let her read in peace, but at the end of the day it was nice to finally have someone pay attention to her.
 
 
They started sitting together at lunch, Strudel talking about this or that and Suki listening as she ate, occasionally offering a nod or a smile. At some point Strudel accepted that the yak wasn’t much of a talker and stopped expecting any verbal response out of her. She could talk enough for the both of them anyhow. It was almost a month into their friendship when she first heard Suki speak, and she quickly learned why—though she could understand if fine, Suki was not very experienced in speaking Caballish. She was much more comfortable speaking Russkiy like her yak father, and her voice was much better suited for it, too. Strudel could tell it was tough to make some of the sounds that Caballish frequently employed, and she saw Suki get frustrated many times when she said something wrong or couldn’t remember a particular word. One day she interrupted their peaceful cloud-watching session in the park and offered to try and help Suki learn the language a bit better. The yakicorn was already taking classes, but learning from someone who actually knew her would probably speed up the process. Not to mention that she’d already gotten a bit more familiar with Caballish since she’d met Strudel. That filly could talk. They agreed on it—Strudel would teach her friend Caballish, and in return, Suki would teach her a bit of Russkiy.
 
 
It became something of a game for them, trading languages and trying to have a conversation in the ones they weren’t fluent in. More often than not it ended up in one of them unintentionally saying something hilarious and the other collapsing in giggles. Nowadays Rotgut and Scrapjack are both competent speakers of both Russkiy and Caballish, though Jack’s pronunciation is atrocious and Rot still has one hell of an accent.
 

 
Wanted to explore these gals’ history a bit! They’re classic “childhood friends to partners in crime who are also maybe like platonic married?? what ARE you guys???” Oh and also, Strudel and Suki aren’t deadnames, they’re the girls’ given names– Scrapjack and Rotgut are basically their outlaw code names. They made them up when they were fourteen because Strudel thought it would be cool, and then they just never stopped using them.  
And another quick note on their younger designs: Rotgut, like most young yaks, wears her hair in a ponytail tucked beneath her chin, and will do so until her beard starts to grow in. It’s mainly a cultural thing nowadays, but it started because yak parents needed to keep their youngsters warm, and the fur on their bellies and necks wasn’t quite sufficient. Scrapjack had darker freckly patches on her face and flanks as a kid, but they faded as she grew and were replaced with lighter tipped feathers. Her crest feathers also haven’t grown in yet, so she’s just got regular ol pony hair. If she were a full hippogriff she’d be nothing but fluff up there.