By The Stream

Azalea smiled and listened intently to everything Remi said. They nodded their head and kept intermittent eye contact--though anyone paying enough attention might deduce easily enough that they were clearly having to consciously try to keep the right level of eye contact; not too much, not to little, as it didn't come naturally to them.

Azalea looked inquisitively at the bracelet. "Is that something I should know about? Not that I could really wear something like that in pure elemental form..."

The elf paused to once again tuck a flower petal on the edge of the path.

They gave a slightly shy smile at the question of keeping Remi company.

"Sure! Rose was just complaining we don't have any friends here yet, I'm sure she'll be delighted to find me being sociable instead of staying in the apartment all day or meditating in the woods alone."

Azalea's phone buzzed again, and they retrieved it from their pocket, typing back a quick response.

"Rose says she found the first petal I left for her. That was a couple minutes ago, so...she shouldn't be too far behind us."

"Ahhh I see. That's neat actually. I'm glad we don't have to hide who we are here. Back in Ireland, mothers had to use glamours to make their ears look human," Azalea poked the tip of their long pointy ears absently, "and our markings and stuff."

Azalea closed their eyes for a moment, enjoying the quiet, frigid air. Now that they were mostly picking up happiness from Oulremi it was easier to relax, though they did feel the slightest twinge of confusion and embarassment clouding Remi's aura. Were they doing something wrong? Talking too much? Too little? An expression of distant worry crossed Azalea's face as they wondered. Of course, it could just be nervousness form meeting a new person.

"Oh, I'm 103, actually. But um...developmentally that would put me around your age, yeah. The elven tribe I come from matures slowly. Our childhood lasts for 90 years."

At that moment there was an audible crunching of the snow just a few meters behind Azalea and Remi. Azalea turned around and smiled. A girl's voice called out, "There you are Zelly! Who's your friend?"

A girl identical in appearance, height, and stature to Azalea strode into view and caught up with the two of them. She was wearing an outfit that matched perfectly with her sibling's, but her scarf and leggings were a deep crimson, instead of blue-green. Like Azalea, Rose wore a black cotton cord around her neck with a feather, but her feather was pure white instead of gray.

Azalea gave their sister a hug, and said, "Remi, this is my twin sister Rose. Rose, this is Remi. I just met her on my walk. She was going to practice some of her abilities and asked for company."

Rose extended a gloved hand with a playful grin. "A pleasure"

Azalea visibly winced as Remi's emotions shifted suddenly, then cast a disapproving glance at their sister.

Rose looked genuinely upset with herself. The playful grin she started out with vanished. "aw hell, sorry about that. I'm always forgetting I tend to do that. I swear it wasn't on purpose. I uh...my body does weird things with electricity."

Azalea cut in and finished Rose's thought, rubbing their forehead. "It's the worst the first time around. If Rosie ever bumps into you or touches you somehow again, it won't hurt as much. And then even less the third time...and so on. Your body gets used to her body's weirdness if you're around her long enough. Doesn't make for great first impressions if she goes around shaking everyone's hand without thinking."

Azalea was glaring at Rose at this point. Rose's face was plastered with a guilty smile, hands firmly lodged in her skirt pockets. After a few moments of awkward silence Rose suddenly blurted out what was probably supposed to be a tension-cutting remark.

"But hey, if your heart ever stops for some reason, I can re-start it with my hands!"

Was that a weird thing to say to someone she just met? Probably...oh well, too late now.

Rose nodded in understanding. "Ahhhhh, no wonder you two get along. And funny you should mention water and electricity...it works out great for us. Azalea's the only one who my shocks never hurt. But I guess these things are a little different for everyone."

"And besides," Azalea picked up, finishing Rose's thought again, "We were born as elves. Our elemental heritage colors how our bodies work, and allows us to take a purely elemental form if we will it, but I imagine our elemental-ness is a bit more...diluted? Than yours, Remi."

Azalea and Rose listened and nodded as Remi reiterated her desire to practice her abilities.

"By all means," Azalea began

"Lead the way," Rose finished.

"Yes we are, or at least..." Azalea began, to respond to Remi's question about them being fae

"A little bit," Rose said, continuing Azalea's thought, "meaning we're about 90% fae and 10% elemental, speaking in terms of bloodlines or genes or what have you. True fae the way most people think of them are like...our great great great grandparents."

"Plus a lot more 'greats'." Azalea added.

"As for your practice, we're happy to assist in whatever way would help the most." Rose responded, right before she clambered up a tree to sit on a sturdy low branch.

Azalea sat on the ground and leaned against the base of the tree Rose had just climbed up. "Aye, whatever works for you. Mother taught us swordplay and hand-to-hand combat, and mother taught us to control and use our magics, so you won't want for sparring partners with us if that's what you'd like...otherwise, sitting and reading is fine. I came out here to relax anyway."

After a slight, possibly awkward pause, Azalea spoke again.

"And um...I suppose I should tell you, just so you know, I'm an empath. I can sort of...feel people's emotions. It's not something I do on purpose, and I can't turn it off, though I can reign it in to a degree and distract myself...but um...anyway...I can only sense surface emotions, and I can't read thoughts, so you don't have to worry about um...like, me accidentally hearing some deep dark secret or...something. I just...thought you should know, if we're going to hang out. I hope it's okay..."

Azalea was looking askance at this point, and visibly blushing.

((I'll try this color text thing since I have more than one character in the same scene; maybe it'll make it less confusing for you? Purple=rose, aqua=azalea))