Everything had been going well since the day Mielikki was given her gift by the grandfather tree. She seemed to have gotten the hang of enrich and had been working on amending the soil in Homewood. Mostly potted plants but she had success on a small garden plot and she felt a flurry of excitement. Mielikki felt strong enough to seek out another ability and had made another journey to the grandfather tree, she had walked away that day with not just one ability, but two!
Well once she was back home, she pondered what she could do with them. Sure she could stay in Homewood and practice them. But Vykeli needed them beyond Homewood borders. She could make another trip into the ruins and while it would be an ideal place to practice, and sneak in treasure hunting, her mind unwillingly swung towards the bog. Oh how she disliked the bog. It was gross to all her senses, but that meant it needed healing all the more. She sighed as she relaxed in a patch of sunshine outside her tree home. She recalled her dream quest at the grandfather tree and gritted her teeth. Time to actually face the bog.
The following day, Mielikki was up early, packing a sachel with necessities such as food, water and some some herbs, as well as some keepsakes. Mielikki planned to be away from home for an extended time. She wiggled best she could to get the satchel over her head and picked up her bucket. The trip through Homewood was as usual, noisy in spots, busy with nouls going about their day and familiars skittering about. She skirted around most of the congestion and did her best not to attract attention.
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Specterdust had been hanging out with her mother and a handful of foals that were being watched while their parents were busy. She was bored out of her mind as all the foals were having late morning nap before lunch. Ever since the scavenger hunt in the ruins, Specterdust craved another adventure, but wasn’t sure what. She was lazily watching other nouls passing through when a dark doe caught her eye. Her ears perked up as she watched the doe weave around the others, carrying her bucket and wearing a satchel. She’s going somewhere, an adventure maybe? Specterdust thought.
Glancing over at her mom and the foals, Specterdust quietly got up and slinked out of the designated foal area. She ran to catch up with the dark doe, that if she remembered correctly, was called Mielikki. Finally spotting her again, Specterdust ran up to Mielikki a bit out of breath.
“Hey there Mielikki! We meet again,” Specterdust said breathlessly.
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Suddenly, another noul appeared at her shoulder with knowledge of her name. Glancing over her shoulder, her eyes widened and then flattened. Oh, it was the pipsqueak again. She should have known better going through Homewood that she’d run into the small doe again at some point. Lovely. She shifted her shoulders to adjust her bag and eyed the tiny doe, who was keeping pace with her without issues.
“Can I help you with something?” Mielikki finally asked.
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Specterdust skipped a bit at Mielikki’s side, she was about to start humming a random song when Mielikki asked if she could help her. How wonderful, she didn’t think the doe would ever ask if another needed something. Even after the one time they’ve met, she was quite aloof and standoffish.
“Oh, I was just curious about what you’re up to. I see you have a packed bag and your bucket. Are you going on a journey? If so, I’d love to come with you. I’m bored at home helping my mother foal-sit.”
Specterdust hoped Mielikki would allow her to tag along. She wasn’t heading towards the ruins.
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Mielikki sighed heavily and rolled her eyes. She let a few moments pass by and when she realized that Specterdust was in it for the long haul, she gave in. Fine then, maybe having a tag along wouldn’t be so bad. If she remembered correctly, Specterdust had an interest in healing, that would probably useful if something happens. Mielikki always was walking a fine line when it came to traveling alone and without help. Her mother had taught her enough basics but she never pushed to learn more. Specterdust was young but seemed to have an affinity for healing despite not being a vivify. Odd. That was another thing, this pipsqueak was terrible at being a botanic and it was infuriating. Fine, maybe I can school this kid in what she needs to be doing.
“I’m traveling to the bog. I’ve been blessed with two more abilities and I’d like to work on them there. I plan to be gone a few days, maybe more. I think it would be….ideal, if you came along. I shall wait here just long enough for you to grab a pack with essentials.”
Mielikki suddenly came to a stop and turned towards Specterdust.
“You better hustle.”
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Taken aback but the willingness to share what she was doing and suddenly stopping and turning, Specterdust stood there a moment and stared at Mielikki. Well, until she said to hustle. Specterdust turned on her heels and sped off back towards home as fast as her small legs would take her. She hustled through her family home, no one was there luckily and grabbed everything that she needed. With her bag full of essentials, she pranced in pace looking about for a moment before turning on her heels again and shooting back outside.
Racing through the busy nouls, dodging as she went, she finally reached Mielikki. Her sides ached as she came to a halt, she put her head down and just sucked in air. Oh boy, she never thought she’d do something that fast in her short life. She could feel the eyes of the dark doe on her, waiting silently for Specterdust to catch her breath.
“I’m. Here. Ready. To. Go.”
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Mielikki gave Specterdust an awry smile and lifted a brow. That was rather quick for someone so small, but she was here now and that meant Mielikki wasn’t not going to be doing this alone. So she sucked it up as from now on, she was hoping to teach this pipsqueak a thing or two.
Once they reached the other side of Homewood, everything thinned out and living trees slowly turned to dead trees. The air wasn’t as fresh and you could definitely smell the bog now. Mielikki looked over at her small companion’s face. Yeah, this was for sure Specterdust’s first time in the bog. Her nose was winkled up and she had a grimace on her face. Mielikki couldn’t help but snort.
“Welcome to the bog, pipsqueak,” she said.
It’d been a while since she herself had been here. Her mother brought her once and Mielikki was very much not interested in returning. So, they never came back, at least not together. Her mother said she had more than enough to do in the ruins to keep her busy. So while her sense remember the bog, knowledge of the place was a bit scant and what did manage to live here was unknown to her.
Mielikki wanted to set up a camp spot just on the boarder between the two. She didn’t want to have to sleep in the bog. There where some trees struggling to survive here and other that appeared alive but on closer inspection, where in fact dead. So what on earth was hanging from the branches? Mielikki sniffed at the supposed flora, even took a bite. Very earthy and not all that appetizing but not completely gross either.
Then she felt that swirl inside her, her magic woke up and seemed keen on the hanging “plant”. So Mielikki pulled some more down and laid it out before her. Was it a type of fungus? How interesting, she thought, truly something more is at work here. So she grabbed at her magic, feeling it rise up to meet her, it rushed through her horn, glowing plum purple. Bud, she thought, the ability to grow a species of fungus on her and connect to it. With that, she sent her magic towards the sample of plant. It reached out towards her and stroked her chin before clinging to the fine hairs. Sudden input from the plant flowed through her. Ahhhhh, so you are a fungus but you also have algae as a friend and food.
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Specterdust didn’t know what to think of the bog. It was certainly smelly, oh dang the smell. She gagged lightly and grimaced. Surely she’ll eventually adjust to the odor coming from the bog. The trees here were depressing too. She couldn’t tell if they were dead or alive. Oh great, is anything alive out here.
She followed Mielikki to a spot where she guess they where camping on account of Mielikki setting her things down. But before Specterdust could say anything, Mielikki wondered off towards a dead tree to inspect something weird hanging from it. She watched in shock as Mielikki taste tested it and then proceeded to use her magic to make it grow on her?! Her eyes nearly bugged out. That was disturbing….wait, was Mielikki one of the new fungal users then?! Well no wonder they came to the bog. Sure to be lots of mushrooms here yes? Specterdust wasn’t sure, but what was sure….not much liked to grow or live here.
Mielikki WC: 990
Specterdust WC: 596
WC Total: 1,586
Abilities Used: Bud (Mielikki)
