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Activity and eccentricity were two words that Kildegard would himself use to describe Meii. For being such a small creature, she was practically a-quiver with energy, and at the moment trying to make sense of her was like trying to catch a hummingbird by a wing. It was somewhat beneficial when she dropped the more 'elaborate' part of her princess act; that is, when she introduced herself in plain language and identified her race in no-nonsense terms. If he had actually known what a flutter was, it would have made the situation beyond simple.

As it was, the fact that she said she was a flutter meant nothing to him. For all that he had been a wanderer for years, he had never encountered or even heard of a race of Soquilis that had wings like butterflies and could change their size. Indeed, he was rather ignorant of MOST Soquili varieties, being aware only of the regulars, winged wings, unicorns, and sinister kalona. From her tone and the fact that she was definitely real, he could only guess that 'flutter' was either a mutation, or something previously unknown to him.

Or it was a creation of her mind, given the fact that she followed up that information with another 'demon' comment. He would have to figure this one out for himself, apparently. But if nothing else, it promised to be an interesting conversation, and THAT meant he likely wouldn't be drifting off any time soon. Not a bad arrangement, actually!

Composing himself a bit, he gave the mare a rueful shake of his head. "Sorry, 'flutter' doesn't ring any bells for me. I don't think I've ever heard that word before, except possibly as a verb describing wings. I'm Kildegard though, Chisatomeii, and I promise you I'm not possessed by anything." After a brief pause, he amended that to, "Anything except a spacey memory, that is."

Kildegard had long since given up being ashamed about his condition; being ashamed served no purpose, and as he'd never been able to 'cure' himself of his affliction, he had instead accepted and embraced it. If nothing else, it was a good talking point, and it certainly made travel a great deal faster. True, there were the obvious negatives: He had no idea how far he had traveled, how many Soquili he'd met that he couldn't place if he were to meet again, how many things he had done that he didn't remember. Heck, for all he knew he could even have a child or two running around that he didn't know of (though he really, REALLY hoped that was not a case; careless fathering of kids went way beyond ignorance!).

Yes, he'd accepted his affliction; but never once had he considered it a case of demonic possession or any other sort of otherworldly curse. He was a pragmatic sort and tried to look for logical reasons for things...even when such reasons failed to exist. It was questionable what his opinion would be if he knew that he was going to be the subject of a purification quest...

Well, at least it would be different.

"Alright, Meii." He accepted the short-hand version of her name with good grace, grace all the more remarkable in the face of her face in his face! It was a bit awkward, to be sure, but he wasn't going to push her back out of the way or step back himself; he had the strong suspicion that she was the short of Soquili who would simply follow him, so he might as well stay put.

Good thing, too, because that way she got a great view of his blank stare in response to her declaration. Not his thousand-yard stare, of course: A basic, run-of-the-mill 'are you for real' stare that didn't need any explanation or clarification. It was tough to say which element was stranger at this point; the idea that she was going to 'exorcise' him, the fact she was so very proud of herself, the fact that she was so confident, or the fact that she seemed to think being a butterfly was a common occurrence. It was enough to send him into a blackout for weeks, were he to go that path, so it was just as well that he was so focused on her at the moment. This was a meeting he definitely wanted to remember through!

"We'll have to get back to the demon thing, because I have to say that I've never heard of flutters OR butterfly Soquili before. Never heard one, never seen one, never knew they existed until now, but here you are. Are there many of you?" He peeked over her shoulder curiously, looking at the incredibly tiny wings that decorated her back. Compared to the wings of the winds he'd seen, they were impossibly small, and he found himself a bit skeptical that she could lift off with them at the moment. True, she'd flown with them when she was small, and they'd really had the same proportion at that point...

Had Kildegard been privy to the analysis Meii made of what was (to him, and almost everyone else in the world) a completely self-explanatory stare, he would have made the determination that his problems were nothing compared to her's. After all, what was blacking out from the waking world beside completely denying the waking word to begin with? While Kildegard had a respect for the spirits and their other-worldly abilities, he was essentially pragmatic and took things as they could be seen, felt, heard, smelled, tasted...fairies and demonic possessions were firmly outside of that realm.

Though if he were being honest, until just now flutters would have been outside of that realm as well! Her assessment of his obvious state if he hadn't seen them was laughable, but at least part of it was probable: he'd never once been looking for a flutter. Then again, why would he be looking for something that he had no idea existed? For all he knew, he might have encountered one of the race before during one of his spaced-out periods, but as no recollections from those times ever stayed with him, this particular meeting would be the first.

"Yes, I will agree that I now have seen one, but you in turn will have to be honest with me, Meii; if you're all so small part, most, or all of the time, and I never knew you all existed, then I'd have no reason to be looking for you." She did raise a valid point on the squishing thing, though, and he fervently hoped that he'd never actually done such a thing. His autopilot was pretty good for the most part; he was able to avoid obstacles with relative ease, but how skilled he'd be at avoiding something that small and unknown... "Hopefully your fellow flutters would have seen me coming and moved out of the way; if I wasn't paying attention, then I wouldn't have been moving too fast. But I am deeply sorry if there were any that I squished." And he was, too; until now, he'd never had to worry about inflicting harm on another while blacked out before!

As to the demon, well...that he was just going to let slide for now. No sense in over-exciting this over-excitable mare any more than necessary!

Touche, fairy princess; it was entirely plausible that if one were the size of a bug and down on the ground amidst the prairie grasses that one wouldn't notice an approaching Soquili until it was too late; of course, that itself begged the question of why, if they were able to change size with as relative ease as Meii had done, would they choose to be small and in danger of being squished anyway? Being small surely had benefits, such as being able to hide easily, escape notice, need less food, annoy those that you especially wanted to annoy, but those advantages were offset by slow speed, general vulnerability, ease of loss...

It was a swift and insidious process, but the thoughts, piling up one after the other, produced the usual result. Once again, his eyes dimmed and he retreated into his thoughts, trying to determine whether the benefits of being small outweighed the dangers and difficulties. Having never been able to be small himself, he just knew what it was like to be large. Maybe he'd have to try and track down a few more flutters and ask them about how their lives differed when they were large versus when they were small!

Meii and Kildegard (more Kildegard than Meii) were fortunate in two things. given the current situation: one, that Meii, even at her 'large' size, was a dainty mare, and two, that Kildegard was a somewhat sturdy stallion. Consequently, he was able to take another set of hooves to the chest and a bash to the nose without so much as having to step backwards to brace himself. It DID knock the wind out of him for a moment, though, and the hit to his tender nose was enough to bring him wincing back to the present. "Ouch..."

It would take a far less experienced fellow than him to see the mare suddenly reared up against his chest, feel the pain in his nose, and NOT connect the dots; therefore his immediate reaction (alongside of the pain, of course) was contrition. Contrition, closely followed by deafness as the mare's bellow of challenge blasted his newly attentive eardrums. Wincing once again, he started to step back at that point...but stopped when he realized that would dump the mare rather unceremoniously into the grass. "I'll work on that, I promise! Just remember that I'm in here myself; it'll make things easier for both of us."

At times like this, it really was a pity he didn't have hands. Goodness knows his ears would have appreciated the cover! But he'd just have to make the best of it; after all, she obviously meant well, and her tactics were certainly effective! If a trifle painful.

"Sorry about that. It has a habit of creeping up on me, and the next thing I know, I'm coming back to things without knowing how I got there or how long I've been gone." A straightforward definition, if he did say so himself! "Resisting is, and always has been, a challenge, because I rarely realize it's happening." It was both a blessing and a curse, but he was much more inclined to go with curse these days...but it was his life, and that was all there was to it.

To be fair, the last time Meii had tried to get his attention by yelling alone she'd been about the size of his ear and with lungs to match, so that didn't seem quite like a fair comparison. Or at least, that was the way Kildegard remembered things, which actually meant that it was likely he HAD completely missed regular sized Meii yelling at him. Though that would be odd to contemplate, as volume coupled with a direct non-yes-or-no question tended to be a good way to snap him back to reality, as answering such a question required thought. Usually.

It was ironic how often thinking about his disorder triggered blank episodes, and he had to sternly bring himself back around even now thinking about it. Had poor Meii been a different sort of Soquili, she might very well have given him up for hopeless by now and left him with a bell tied around his neck to warn other flutters that he was near!

As it was, she was being a very good-humored sort of creature, if a little eccentric, and Kildegard had to admit that, bruised sternum and bashed nose aside, he was enjoying this little interlude. Reality or not, it was nice to have something new and unusual to distract him from himself!

Having so short an acquaintance with Meii, he actually didn't realize the significance of her silence in listening to him, taking it for granted that conversation involved one person speaking and all others listening. It was rather shameful for him to admit that he often stopped listening when he was supposed to, but that was more because he got distracted than any disinterest in the conversation topic. But he was doing decently at the moment, in both the listening AND talking departments!

At her question, he cocked his head to one side, considering for a moment before shrugging. "All my life, I guess. I don't really recall a time when I didn't just...wake up somewhere and not know how I'd got there, sporting bruises I didn't know the origins of. It's pretty much been the story of my life; all I can figure is that I knocked something when I was a kid and it made me highly susceptible to daydreams."

He didn't really have a response for her second question and doubted, from her way of speaking, that she expected one. Nothing he could say would likely trump the idea of demon possession, which was one thing he was reasonably confident in ruling out!

Wearing a bell around his neck was just what Kildegard needed to be a truly ridiculous personage, so he would be sure not to mention such a thing to the excitable flutter. He had accepted her existence as fact, but had yet to determine what he thought of her beyond that; she was as excitable and fanciful as any foal, as well as opinionated! She was good at holding and keeping his attention, but she was also very confusing in her logic and had managed to drive him back into his own mind on more than one occasion.

But if nothing else, it was an interesting conversation, the like of which he hadn't had for some time!

At her question, he mused thoughtfully for a few minutes before shrugging. "If it did, I don't remember; but then, I don't remember a lot. I'm used to it, though, and manage to co-exist with whatever it is pretty well. Considering that no one really knows what this issue of mine even is, I've never really had any idea how to stop it." With a chuckle, he amended that to state, "and I don't know what I'd do if I did, for that matter."