Back in the Fae Wood, it had started raining.
One attentive of the aura in the air could easily tell it wasn’t natural rain; the sky was nigh completely clear just moments prior, after all. It was just a light drizzle in the town nearby.
But deep in the forest? A complete downpour.
Exhausted from the trip home, Lief would arrive. He was all too quick to duck within the burrow for shelter, though he still ended up soaking wet. Again.
Lief: “Ugh… nothing like the stench of a Rain Dance to come back to.”
He removed his scarf to hang up on the wall, wringing it out some first, before lowering himself on his fours to shake himself dry. Now less sopping wet, he stepped over his scattered and fallen nick-knacks towards his bed–a nest of straw and hay contained in a wooden frame.
He still hadn’t cleaned up in here from the night he found Pikavee. That fateful night where his offer to help inevitably roped him into the mystery behind her appearance here.
All because he wanted her to stop crying and move along.
He plopped into bed with a groan, curling up tightly. The only noise present was the rain pouring outside, hitting the wooden cover that closed off the burrow’s entrance, and his own gurgling stomach–the latter of which made him wince a little.
It'd only been a few moments since he last ate. Yet, ever since arriving back in this world, it now felt like he hadn't eaten for longer.
Regardless if he actually was hungry or not, he didn't have much of an appetite for the moment. He simply lay there, deep in thought at all that had occurred, staring with a gradually sleepy face at the items strewn before him on the floor.
There he lay, thinking more and more about her.
Lief: “Wherever Missy is right now, I hope she’s faring any better.”
Thinking, and thinking, and thinking.
Until he began to doze off.
azel-the-umbreon asked:
@ask-the-lywelles Vahni:
A floating hoodie and glowing disembodied umbreon rings approach Lief.
Vahni: "S-so I wanted to ask a f-few things. First off, is the r-reason you hate treasure hunting have to do with your past? And you do really care about her don't you? You try t-to act as though you could care less, but it's not as good of an act as you might think."
Her muzzle becomes visible for a moment, she's giving him a genuine smile.
Vahni: "W-we wouldn't want another thing to haunt you. Like with your family..."
And with that, she fully appears, her hoodie down, her eyes seemingly piercing into Lief's soul. Her usual shy self seems to be nowhere to be seen.
Being a light sleeper, Lief overheard every word.
By the time Vahni appeared, it hadn't been that much longer. But to him, it felt like he’d been asleep for hours.
He’d open his weary eyes to the sight of her standing there in full view, smiling at him as if she saw right through him.
Usually he’d snap at her. Tell her to leave, or make her leave. But too much had gone on for him to even have the energy for it.
He was also VERY hung over, beginning to experience the true ramifications of his earlier drink-off. Even with Nike's intervention.
So despite everything the Umbreon just said being subjects that hit a very sore spot for Lief, all save for the family part, he dwelled on what was asked, rather than push such thoughts out of his brain–particularly, the ones about Pikavee.
Lief: “You think I should go back to her, do you? To Missy. Because she’s not from here, and…”
He almost said, ‘Could hurt herself.’
Instead, he glanced away with a weak sigh, looking somewhat uncomfortable.
Lief: “A lot of what you said really isn’t your business. And I doubt you came here looking for a history lesson…”
A pause. He looked at Vahni again with a raised eyebrow, his expression softening somewhat.
Ask Hints have been updated.
