바람꽃 WINDFLOWER, (o)

[demitri]

Slender digits wrapped around the edge of the straw yellow hat, wide amber eyes lifting from the soft blades of grass to meet the soft blue of the sky as a brief and gentle gust of wind blew past the wizard. A shiver rolled down his spine in surprise by the sudden cold. His eyes continued to roam across the wide expanse of blue, dotted with the occasional puff of white. A soft smile graced his lips then, a brief laugh escaping his petite form before he let his arms drop back to his sides and he moved to head in the direction of the lake once again. Demitri fidgeted with the edge of his crimson hoodie, his sandals digging into the earth beneath him as he continued. In complete honesty, he wasn't entirely sure why he had opted to go to see the lake today. Perhaps it was in part that he wanted to escape back to where he had come from. A breath of fresh air in contrast to the constant bustling of Primrose Town. There was nothing wrong with it, he thought. Nothing wrong with the people. Nothing wrong with the way that they all were.

But of course not. They were all wonderful people who all shared wonderful experiences with him for the first time. But with that said. He hadn't the faintest of notions on how to communicate with any one of them. They all spoke so hurriedly and often times, he found himself stumbling over his words more and more as they followed together in a jumbled string. And as a result, he often tried to keep from having to do such a thing. It must have been a burden on Callum, he thought. Having to house someone and pay for someone who could hardly accomplish the simplest of tasks. Even now, he was probably looking for his escaped employee. But he must have understood too... that every so often, Demi needed to run away from it all. He just wanted to be alone, he thought. But things had a habit of never going his way. Oh well. He supposed a little company in small doses was fine too.

The brunette moved a bit slowly as he arrived at the lake, pausing only briefly to remove his shoes from his feet before he sat down at the lake shore. He lifted the hat up off of his head, setting it down onto the ground next to him before leaning back on his hands and dipping his feet into the cool water. It felt awfully nice, he thought. This was nice. Getting to be away from everything was nice. He kicked his legs quietly, splashing the water all around before he let himself fall back onto the ground. Arms at his side before he closed his eyes, breathing softly as he felt the small and gentle breeze drift by him again. The wind blew faster then, sweeping up his pretty little sunhat and blowing it away into the surrounding forest. All but entirely forgotten by the presently sleeping wizard.

[/justify]

[SPRITES]

While the other sprites were staying in the hollow, Tony and Tina decided to take a little walk. It was always nice to stay in the safety of the hollow, but these two sprite siblings were adventurous. They wanted to explore...so, explore they did.

Venturing out of the secret area at the back of the woods, they flitted through the trees, nearly dancing on trails of sparkles that seemed to follow them wherever they went. Tina's pink bob shined bright in the sunlight and Tony's blue coif stuck out brightly against the lush, green forest. If the Sepalum peninsula was falling to chaos, the woods were the last to know it.

Soon the woods started to thin and they were on the shores of the lake. It was calm today, only a few birds swimming across the glassy surface causing ripples to lazily expand and drift across the lake. Giggling, Tina zoomed across the water's surface, her small feet causing a riptide of minuscule proportions to form.

Tony laughed as well but something caught his eye. Looking up, he couldn't get out of the way before a yellow straw hat hit him square on, making him topple over. Grabbing the hat he looked up...and directly across the lake he saw a figure.

"Does this hat belong to that person, Tina?" he asked in his high-pitched sprite voice. She looked at the person as well and squeaked in an even higher-pitched voice.

"Maybe! But Tony...that's a magic user! He's so close to the hollow! Do you think he could help?" she asked, her pink eyes glittering with hope.

All he could do was shrug, but picking up the hat, he floated over the water's surface as well. "I don't know, but we should return this hat and go talk to him! Maybe he could help us..."

So, with that, the pair of sprites in their colorful get-ups carried the hat as they floated across the lake. With a slight giggle they set the hat back on the man's head and floated in front of him.

"Hey, you! Wake up!" Tina said in her adorable little voice. "We wanna talk to you!"

[demitri]

Ah, this was the life. No responsibilities. No having to worry about talking to people or not. Not having to worry about people finding out that he wasn't the slightest bit human in any circumstance. It was just very relaxing getting to relax as it were, he thought. He stretched his legs out, toes lifting from the water just briefly as he made himself comfortable on the soft ground. He rolled over onto his side, his bangs falling over his eyes as he made himself comfortable while he slept.

He really wanted some food. Maybe he should have packed a picnic or something before he came ... but it was kind of lame trying to have a party and then proceeding to eating by yourself, right? Right. But it really wasn't like he had friends either so that was always kind of weird too, he thought. He shifted slightly, rolling over again before being startled by a group of particularly interesting beings. Demitri stirred from his slumber, sitting up then as he rubbed at his eyes. Eh? Who was there anyway?

He squinted slightly, glancing at the particularly small people. How strange. Had people always been that small? Or had he just gotten bigger? No, not possible. They seemed so small though. And colorfully dressed. It was so strange, he thought. It really was. He wasn't sure if he was still asleep or if he was just dreaming. No way people could be this small, right? He leaned forward, peering at the creatures a bit closer before realizing that one of them held onto his sun hat.

Had it flown away? Either way, it must have... they must have been really nice. But he didn't really know how to address them. He felt like he was awake but he hadn't the faintest notion if he was or not. He merely blinked in surprise, debating his words. Maybe he could just ... just pretend that it was all a dream? "... a- ah..." He began, biting his bottom lip out of nervousness. He didn't know what to say... what to even do, he thought. He didn't know. He looked down, shifting quietly in his seat before he peeked up at the others.

"D- Do you need something...?" He asked a bit slowly, lifting a hand to rub at the back of his head. A bit surprised that he hadn't started screaming. Oh... wait wait. He had heard about these creatures. Harvest sprites, right? They were like him... sort of? He wasn't sure. Oh gosh. Maybe they were mad because he put his feet into the lake? What if they cut off his feet? They looked real cute but the cute ones were always the most violent.

[/justify]

[SPRITES]

Tina couldn't stop giggling at the man's reaction. Most people reacted strangely when they saw a sprite. The little creatures often hid themselves away in their hollow, but things were different many years ago. Before the big war, sprites were a more common sight around the peninsula and often were a sign of good luck. Now if you saw one...people thought they going crazy.

"Well we noticed you sleeping and then your hat almost knocked over my brother!" Tina explained in her chirpy little voice, still giggling. Tony shook his head and shrugged at Demitri, as if to say 'she's hopeless.'

"Actually we really do need some help," Tony said, taking over for his laughing sister. "See...we're Harvest Sprites! Surprising, right? I know we kind of hide but Tina and I are pretty adventurous," he explained, almost sounding proud like it was an achievement.

"Anyway, we can tell you're a magic user and...magic users have a special bond with the goddess, didn't you know?" he said happily, insinuating like Demitri was going to understand what he was saying...which was why he paused, waiting for the brunette to jump in at any time.

[demitri]

It was so strange looking at one of the feeble looking creatures. They were so much smaller than he was himself, he thought. Was he insane or were they really ... you know. Real? It was so weird. He leaned forward a bit further, staring quietly at the small creatures in confusion. How strange. Was this because it was hot or was it because he really had finally lost his marbles? He didn't think that he had but... but it felt like he had! It was so weird. He hadn't really taken in what the others had said, the redhead merely reaching out. His fingers moving to pinch Tina's cheeks. He jolted back, his hands moving immediately back to his sides in surprise. She was real! Oh god, oh god... what if she tried to kill him or something for touching her? Ah, he was going to die. He was going to die young and there was nothing that he could do about it. Oh god, oh god, he was going to die. It was horrible!

Harvest sprites? They were real? How strange... it was terrifying actually. He had always heard about them, but he had never actually seen them before in his life! Whoa, was this... was this like he was dreaming or ... no, no. He just figured out that he wasn't dreaming. He was totally awake so why did this feel so surprising? Gah, he felt like he was totally going to freak out because this was just so totally weird and he didn't like it! His mother had always told him that magical people had a strong bond with the Harvest Goddess. And it was because of that bond that people wanted to steal him away. It wasn't until later that he realized that wasn't the case at all. That people wanted to steal him away. So then he had begun to doubt the special 'bond' he had with such an ethereal being. "I thought that was just ... just a lie... w- wait. H- How did you know I had... ?!"

Did that mean other people could tell too? Had they just been too polite to tell him that they knew? Oh god, how embarrassing that was. How embarrassing indeed. He closed his eyes, biting his lip in frustration. He couldn't believe this at all. He supposed that now wasn't exactly the time to gripe about it though, he thought. Maybe later he could bitch and whine but for now... for now, he just had to let it go but ... agh! "W- What do you need my help for a- anyway... ? I d- don't understand... can... ca- can you explain it t- to me? How am I supposed to help? I- I'm just one person..."

[/justify]

[SPRITES]

When Demitri's hand reached out and pinched Tina's cheek, she yelped in surprise. She wasn't expecting that at all. Jumping (or flying) backwards, she rubbed at her cheek before giving him a little glare.

"Don't do that!" she squeaked, flittering over to him and thumping his head with her small arm. It didn't do much to actually hurt him, but it helped get her frustration out at the very least.

It seemed like he was having an inner monologue so the two sprites waited patiently for him to say something else, floating quietly or playing in the water a little bit. Sprites were playful creatures by nature, it was hard to suppress that.

"No! It's most certainly true!" Tony explained. "Magical people got their powers from the goddess long ago so there is a bond between them!"

Tina nodded enthusiastically and floated over, sitting on Demi's knee while she fixed her little pink bob, making sure none of her hairs were out of place before she spoke up once more.

"I don't know how close you are to the goddess but...she's sick! Very sick, and she's going to die!" The pain showed on her little face with her big, expressive eyes. Tony looked somber as well, bowing his head a bit. This was obviously painful for them.

"Not many sprites want to leave her side but we need to find people to help! There's gotta be an antidote," she mused, rubbing her knees a bit as she curled up, hovering close to Demitri.

Tony sighed, floating over as well. "The problem is we don't know what exactly to do...so we're just trying to get the help we can. A lot of people don't believe in the goddess these days," he said with a defeated voice, his shoulders slouching. "Will you help us, please?"