Like a Field Full of Stars
@powerfulplantwitch | @mage-cf-illusion
He couldn’t deny it. Everything that had happened, it was a lot to take in. One night at Luz’s house, with her.. mother.. if he was understanding who that adult human woman was correctly, and one night had been all he could take. Too many people, too much going on, and he’d split off from the rest because he needed to process everything. To find someplace quiet to think.. It hadn’t helped of course that the human realm had a vast multitude of things he wasn’t used to.
Strange vehicles that made loud, unsettling noises and emitted smoke that smelled like something had died, and that contained humans who only shouted at him and shook their fists threateningly if he accidentally stepped in front of them. There had been at least a couple instances where Hunter had shouted back, defensive and stressed, only to have human men emerge from their vehicles and come rushing at him, yelling further threats and driving him to run in fear of their retribution. Luz was a human, and he’d grown even just a little accustomed to her, but she wasn’t so aggressive like these strangers.
After the entire day of getting shouted at or nearly run over by large, bad-smelling vehicles, or almost collided with by humans on smaller, two-wheeled vehicles.. even human children had shouted at him and mocked him, but after all that as evening had settled on the human town, Hunter had found himself a strong, tall tree to hide in, and.. perhaps sleep in for the night.. He was tired, stressed, anxious, and bruised. There’d been one incident when he’d shouted back at a man, but hadn’t run away quick enough to escape punishment for his foolishness. The human had some sort of long, slender club in his vehicle, and he hadn’t been shy about hitting Hunter with it.
Honestly, now he just wanted to rest. Maybe he shouldn’t have left Luz and her mother behind. Perhaps the house was safer than risking the rest of the human realm outside it. Still, from his tree now, he could actually make out the house a few streets away. Keep it as a landmark, he told himself. That way he’d know where he’d been, so he could figure out from there where he was going. A yawn escaped him, and he took a moment to try to get just a bit more comfortable in the tree, so- Wait. What was that?!
A light had flashed in the corner of his vision! It wasn’t very bright, but it had movement. He looked back and forth, searching for where it might have gone, but.. there was nothing.
“What was...?” Another one! And it was still so close to him! Was it some kind of human realm magic? No.. wait, humans didn’t have magic. But- There! Another! Only a little further back this time but it seemed to be heading straight toward him! They- Were they attacking?! Or.. maybe if they were, they would have done so already. Unless.. this was some kind of warning display.. Flapjack emerged from Hunter’s satchel, and gently chirped. He had his attention enough to look- and then he saw it. Hundreds of little blinking lights scattered through the field below his tree. They weren’t at all coordinated, but they were everywhere, and.. he had to figure out what exactly they were, even if they turned out to be dangerous.
Slowly, he climbed back down from the tree, and began to cautiously explore the field. There! One blinked, and he reached his hands to catch it- but it was gone! Another one! He moved to catch it too- He missed! Alright, now he was just getting determined to catch one..
