Welcome to Gaia! ::

Florence hummed happily to himself as he ran his fingers over the various flowers found in the gardens around the Academy building. There were a couple winter hardy breeds, but some spring ones had begun to crop up as well. They all looked very pretty and well cared for, though his touch seemed to help perk them up as well. He had to be careful how many he actually touched, otherwise the drain on his energy would get tiring.

He was a little bored at the moment. Classes were over and he felt like playing, but his sister had decided to head home so she could get started on her homework. That's probably what Florence should have done as well, but the day felt too nice to go inside just yet! He just had to make up a game, that was all! Or maybe he could wander over to the playground section and see if there were any other students out and about. That seemed like a good idea, so he began walking in that direction.

Florence had been focusing mostly on the flowers as he walked, but there was no way to ignore that bright blue. He caught a glimpse of it out of the corner of his eye and looked up, wondering what was making such a pretty blue. It was a Fey, about his own age, and they were heading straight for him! Florence's leaf antennae perked up and wiggled forward in curiosity. Here he was, hoping to maybe find some other kids to play with, and one just happens to appear and looked very interesting and was heading right for him! Maybe the flowers heard his inner want for some company and had sent him a friend? Just in case, he made sure to send a silent thanks to any flower spirits who might be listening.

The blue Fey came up to Florence and chirped out a greeting. Florence couldn't help but grin back, though he was a naturally cheerful persona anyway and would have done so on his own. It was just with all the cheer and energy practically radiating off this other Fey, he couldn't help but smile. "Hi," he returned in bright tones, antennae wiggling happily. "I'm Florence! I'm bored, and there's no one else to play with. Would you like to play some games with me?"

Never let it be said that Florence was shy or subtle.

Rather than being intimidated or frightened off, Florence seemed to perk up to an energy level close to Essei's. It might have been his Dryad heritage. Despite being part Fey, he could still get a bit of a boost from other Fey; it happened when he was around his father frequently.

"I'm in Arkham," he said, proud of his ability to get the name out without stumbling over it, though he always forget the H when it was time to spell it out. "Tag sounds really fun! We could also find swings and see how high we can go, or play clapping games, or find a tree to climb, or find good hiding spots for future hide and seek games if we can get more people who want to play," Florence said, rattling off all the options that immediately came to mind at a rapid pace.

Florence nodded, quite satisfied that they'd lined up several activities. His parents wouldn't mind him coming home a bit late if he was playing with a friend. If anything he did better when it was dark outside, given his lunar heritage. He cast his gaze about for a good tree that wouldn't mind rambunctious children climbing it. He didn't have to look very far; a lot of the trees on the Academy grounds were pretty old, with nice, big branches.

He jogged over to the nearest candidate, placing his hand on the bark and looking expectantly at Essei. "How 'bout this one," he asked. While one tree might be as good as another, Fey were pretty sensitive to plants. Essei might not like the feel of the tree for some reason, and it would have been rude to make her climb something that made her uncomfortable!

Florence had quickly followed right behind Essei as soon as she declared her opinion of the tree. The rough bark felt quite comforting under his hands, like a benevolent matriarch who didn't mind the small children playing. He had arms and legs strong from all sorts of running around, and barely needed to spread his wings for better balance. All too soon they reached a nice, big branch.

"Why'd you stop," Florence asked, feeling slightly out of breath from climbing and giggling. He wiggled a little further down the branch so he wasn't crowding Essei and sat, feet swinging beneath him as he leaned forward slightly to see Essei's face. It was a pretty nice branch, maybe she just wanted to catch her breath as well. The view was also pretty incredible!

Florence inhaled sharply in surprise and sat back on his branch, hand going to his head. "Owie," he said aloud, though it was more a statement than an actual cry. They hadn't hit each other too hard; it was the surprise more than anything that got to him. He sat there for a moment, taking stock of his ouches, when Essei wiggled over to give him a hug and apologize.

Florence giggled and gave her a return hug. "I'm sorry too. We'll both just be more careful from now." He peered up at the branches above them. Truthfully his parents didn't like him climbing too high either, at least not without one of them around to watch. That way if he got stuck his mom could climb to get him or his dad could fly up. But the branches still looked quite numerous and plenty thick enough to be safe to climb.

"Maybe we can try going a bit higher? Not all the way to the top, but just a couple branches. The better we get at climbing, the more branches we can try to climb later," Florence declared, already planning to make this a regular thing if he could help it.

Florence was right behind Essei. He was a bit more confident with his climbing, but then he was in trees pretty often. His heritage did help, giving him a somewhat instinctual level of understanding for plants, but it was also genuine interest and quite a bit of practice. Florence was willing to bet that even if he wasn't a Dryad or a Fey he'd still love plants. They were so pretty and fun to work with!

He was a lot quicker at climbing, and debated going ahead of Essei. If she wasn't super comfortable with going high then it would probably be better if he stayed below her. That way if she got stuck he could help her down. He took a moment to give the tree a loving pat of his own, feeling quite safe perched on its sturdy branches.

"Just let me know whenever you think we've gone high enough and you're ready to go down," Florence offered, not wanting to pressure Essei into going any further than she was comfortable with. Challenges were good, but not by taking them to the point of scaring yourself when you just wanted to have fun!

Florence scrambled up as Essei vacated her branch, then carefully wiggled up to join her on her current branch, trying to keep it from bouncing too badly and taking the position on the outside. "Don't worry, I climb all the time," he said, giving his chest a slight puff and assuming an all-knowing and wise look. Or his version of what that would look like. "I'll go down first, and help you if you're not sure. Just don't jump, cause we're too high up for our wings to help and you don't want to have any branches hit them by accident!" A lesson he had learned, though thankfully without lastingly painful consequences thanks to his parents.

Florence took a moment to admire the view. It really was pretty! It made him look forward to learning how to fly properly, so that he could go even higher if he wanted! "It's higher than the highest I can go on the swing sets," he commented, though swinging was still quite fun even if the view wasn't as good.