The book o' random Oneshots

(CFK) Ianthina p.1

Ianthina- Goth
Scylla- Reaper
Acacia- Ink
Lucia- Error

Silly little fae boys, anyone?

~~~~~~

The forest gets so terribly lonely sometimes. On occasion, the den is lonelier. He has his daddy, but he's so tired all the time now. Besides, the house just feels too quiet with the ghost of clinking cups and plates, the spectre of silly arguments and laughter in the kitchen. He doesn't even remember all of it, but it still feels like something been missing for so long.

He talks to the deer, and plays in the flowers, but his daddy always warned him not to stray far. For a child as young as he is, the reasons one might ask such a thing are clouded. He's certainly strayed from their den once or twice, though usually it came to a quick end, with a worried, frustrated lecture as soon as he got home. It's been a while since he's ran too far, twirling the loose threads of an oversized red scarf around his fingers, he glances out past the trees, looking for anything colorful.

In the springtime, if he goes just a little further from the den than he's supposed to, he can find new flowers, ones he hasn't seen yet. While he knows he's not supposed to, his daddy has been so sad lately. He always got sad this time of year. Ianthina knows why, it's too near to when they lost Papa. It makes them both a little sadder, he thinks. But daddy always smiles when he brings home flowers. Especially the red ones. They don't grow near the den though, not nearly enough of them to pick, at least.

Which is why he peeks into the dying room(as his papa once, affectionately, dubbed it) one last time before he goes outside. His daddy is still soundly asleep on the couch. Tugging on little brown rainboots, he sets off. Carefully shutting the door behind him, sure to be quiet as he sneaks to the edges of the wards that hide their den from any onlookers... Any mortals.

His mission is to find the little red flowers. The forest smells like rain, today. The moss is still wet with the sprinkle they had yesterday. The mud squishes under his boots and it makes him laugh a little. He loves the forest after rain, it's always teeming with life. Creeks flow and birds flock, deer and rabbits congregate around puddles. Ianthina takes one last glance at their hidden den, before he steps past the line of trees he knows he's not meant to cross. Just an hour, his daddy would never even know he was gone.

He walks down to the creek where the flowers usually grow, and finds some. Not nearly enough, though. He follows a crow that skips up the rocks and beyond a hill, and finds more red flowers there. There's a mist in the forest that rises with the midday sun. Ianthina thinks he should go home soon, but the collection of flowers in his hand is still meager. He thinks of the way he saw his daddy crying this morning and frowns down at them. He was really sad. So, he must need a lot of flowers to make him happy.

Ianthina walks past the hill and finds a path of flattened grass. He hasn't been out this far before. He knows what these are though, they're deer paths. He glanced down the path to see a tall white deer. It looks strange for a deer. It has no antlers and a long tail. There's another one too, a black speckled one. His curiosity beseeches him to follow, even with the figures on their backs. They talk together, a fae and a mortal. Daddy says mortals don't like fae, but these two seem very nice to each-other. Surely they can't be bad.

It's not terribly long before the grassy path he follows turns into a dirt road. It's at this point he realizes that the sun is dipping in the sky. Verity is startled as he turns around, only to realize that the grass has sprung up behind them. He doesn't know how to get home. The strange deer still walk maybe twenty feet ahead. Well... Maybe they could tell him how to get home. Surely they knew. Besides, he could ask the fae. Another fae would certainly be safe. He looks like the pictures of water fae from the old books in the living room.