Send Me “What is that?!” and a number for my Muses reaction to:
3. A flash of light in the dark.
▲“Other people I would assume…” he looked rather unaffected by the sudden flash in the distance, or by the fact that someone was speaking to him in the woods at night,. It wasn’t really his concern. When your species was at the top of the food-chain, even in human form, one did not tend to react strongly to threats.
“Or… maybe aliens… spirits, hunters, really it could be any number of things. Thereal question is… should I care? The answer most likely being: No.”
▲“Oh wow… a whole two hundred years, be still my beating heart,” The man sounded rather unimpressed as he went back to what he was doing. “See you knew what it was called ‘fluorescence’ so I’m not sure which part you are expecting me to explain…” he seemed to only be paying partial attention to the conversation.
“Or why a nymph would be addressing me at all. I might be human, I might be something worse. You don’t actually know.”
Pine brushed the hair from her right eye, stifling a sigh. “If your intent is to plant the seed of suspicion towards you in my mind, it may not be working.”
The girl grumbled, still attentive to her surroundings, but less curious about the light and now only about the man she had been talking with.
“However, if your plan is to get me to leave you alone,” Pine was lukewarm as she murmured, “It seems to be working on me.”
“I don’t know which humans you’ve been talkin to but befriending animals is nothing like becoming friends with humans.” She sighed and pulled a lollipop out of her pocket. Gav licked the wrapper before pushing the sucker into her mouth. “Want one?” She asked Pine.
Pine stared, in awe at the bright thing before her. “What is it?” She questioned, trying her hardest to still sound respectful. She had never seen anything like it, yet she could smell that it was sweet from the scent emitting from her Queen’s mouth.
Gav wrinkled her nose as the deer crept towards them. “Is it just a normal deer? How do you get it to not run away?” The only experience she had had with non-paranormal animals were either disappointing or extremely unpleasant.
The girl smiled when the deer stopped extremely close nearby to lap up some water from a puddle.
“It’s just like human relations. All you need is patience and understanding.” Pine replied calmly, amused at the Queen’s astonishment and glad that Maia had come back.
//i feel like complete shit i have the worst migraine, i cant sleep, i hate my pe teacher and my science teach i dont want to go to school tomorrow but im guessing my parents are going to make me
Gavina stretched out her legs in front of her. “So basically when you guys die you become trees again?” She asked bluntly. It was a nice thought and kind of comforting in Gav’s opinion.
A thought occurred to her and she glanced at Pine. “Wait…are you all alone?”
Pine looked at the small girl next to her with thoughtful eyes. “I suppose, to many I am, but…” She shifted her gaze to the trees around them. “If it were that I didn’t have them in spirit, I have the animals-”
A small doe crept forward, ears and nose twitching in caution. Pine made several hand movements as she cooed, “It’s okay, Maia. It’s safe.”
The short ‘tree girl’ proudly stated, “I have the animals by my side if I don’t have my clan, so it’s all well, my lady.”
Gav listened to Pine’s explanation. “That sounds rough…” She rubbed her arm and glanced away before a thought occurred to her. “Wait you said ‘we.’ Where are the rest of you?”
Gavina fell back onto her butt. It seemed like they were going to be talking for a while so she saw no reason to keep standing. She patted the spot next to her. “C’mere, I wanna know about your people they sound awesome; being born from trees and stuff.”
Pine did as the Queen had told her and sat, her legs crossing each other. “The rest of us are… I count them as here, their spirits turned to the leaves and the wind in which we see all around us. They are all here with us whether or not they take human form.”
The girl tried to not be as philosophical so that they would understand it more. “Since we are born from trees, when we are no more we…” Pine struggled to talk, but someone had to be there to tell the tale. “We turn to the tree we had originated from unless it has rotten or been taken down.”
“Hmm, well you may be right so no offense is taken.” Gav tapped the bottom of her mask in thought. “Although, you are still trespassing in my kingdom…I’ll make a deal with you.” She placed her fist into her hand in front of her.
“I’ll pardon your mistake and in return you tell me what a Dryope is and if there are more of you around here. Deal?”
Pine felt a hint of a smile touch her face. Not an excited or happy smile, more of a knowing, empathetic one.
“Deal.” The girl spoke softly, knowing that it would be difficult for her to explain everything, especially about the species. The tribe was the easy part.
“Well, for your first question: the Dryopes are a clan, or tribe, of dryads which are creatures who spawn from trees. As for the other…” Pine paused, pulling the hair away from one of her eyes to have direct eye contact, showing her actual emotions for once. “It’s complicated. W-We were almost wiped out completely by a rival clan around thirty or so years ago, with housing developments and the people with axes not helping much…”
