Feel The Forest {King}

@"King"

What a lovely, lovely day, that is if you didn’t count the weather starting to get chilly and the long white clouds up in the sky. But Yuuki was running low on supplies and they couldn’t just let winter come and wither everything out there, so that’s why they were out in the woods today. They had a few hours before their shift at the hospital began, so better hurry up.

They weren’t looking their best today, still better than getting their nice clothes dirty with mud. The occasion called for some boots, an old striped sweatshirt and a pair of comfy trousers. Their hair was tied up in a bun, high on their head with a bunch of colorful hairpins to keep it in place. A bag made out of random scraps of fabric stitched together hanged from their shoulder, in which they had already carefully placed some roots.

Right now, the goal was to reach a patch of comfrey they had located in a rather difficult place. The slope was too vertical, and they were right on top of it. Somehow it had occurred to Yuuki that it was a good idea to kneel and stretch their arm instead of probably tripping on the tree roots peeking out of the ground if they decided to go down the slope. It was a terrible idea indeed, one of those you regret once you’re already doing it.

“Almost there…” Yuuki said to no one in particular, touching the stem of the plant with the tip of their fingers.

Aaaand down they went, with a perfectly done frontflip and a high pitched whine. At least nothing felt broken or actually injured, just a ridiculous fall. What they did feel was their hand tightly wrapped around the comfrey, root and everything in perfect state.

“Ha!” the kirin exclaimed triumphantly, holding it up, oblivious to the leaves tangled in their hair and clothes.

With the shock of the fall, Yuuki hadn’t noticed they had company. That’s exactly why they jumped a little where they were sitting, ears perked up and everything, when they saw from the corner of their eye a hand reaching for what had cost them rolling down the slope like a snowball. Their first impulse was to hold the comfrey close to their chest to get it away from this stranger, and then their eyes searched for said person, finding a small child instead of a scary thief.

“Uh-oh… h-hi” was all they could mumble. Now they felt a bit embarrassed about their reaction. Yuuki eyed the plant for a second, and then focused again on the kid’s face “You need this?” they asked, stretching their arm towards him. Sure, Yuuki also needed it, but they didn't mind of share and besides there were some more where that one came from.

The leaves were now kind of crumpled and one of the flowers seemed to be about to fall from its stem “I think I crushed it a little, sorry” Yuuki added, a shy smile on their lips "Are you alone?" the kirin continued, and now they actually calmed down and left the kid some time to answer.

@"King"

Sure, they hadn’t received any answer about this kid being actually alone in the forest or not, but honestly who cared! Someone with power over plants too? That was something Yuuki didn’t see every day.

“Y-you can do that too?” they gasped, just in time for a leaf to fall from their hair right into their mouth. At least now they noticed the brownish leaves on their hair and took them off carefully.

Few seconds later, a big smile spread across their face, and you could swear the look on their eyes could probably shine with little twinkling stars. They were excited about this! How couldn’t they?

Yuuki’s eyes searched around until they found some sage that didn’t seem to be dealing well with the start of the cold season. They held a finger up to catch the kid’s attention, and then lowered their hand until it was hovering right on top of the sage. Then Yuuki concentrated as they slowly moved said hand up, making the plant grow tall as lots tiny lilac-colored flowers bloomed around its stem.

“See? Me too!” they said happily, awaiting a reaction from the child “Oh—My name is Yuuki!”

It was kind of late to introduce themselves, finding someone else with powers similar to theirs had taken away their manners for a moment, how embarrassing! Even if it was in front for a kid.

@"King"

The look on the kid’s face warmed Yuuki’s heart, it reminded them of the day they met the warlock all those years ago, the one who showed them that they weren’t the only one with this kind of power. They smiled at him, then saw what he was pointing at and looked at the name on his jacket.

“Yikmo?” they read out loud, hoping they were pronouncing it the right way “That’s a beautiful name!” Yuuki added.

None of their other questions had been answered, but since Yikmo didn’t seem lost of scared, Yuuki decided to not pressure him for now. Maybe they could give the kid a little present! He looked pretty fascinated with the sage, even if it might be just because he had found someone else who could make flowers bloom.

“Do you want to keep it?” they asked, pointing at the plant with their hand “I have something here where you can carry it home”

The kirin patted the bag resting at their side, they had brought some tiny plastic pots just in case.

@"King"

The kirin felt the urge to help Yikmo dig up the sage, they even reached out to start digging too, but stopped and pulled back when they saw that the kid seemed to know what they were doing. They were pleasantly surprised with how careful he was. What Yuuki actually did was take out a black plastic pot from their bag, perfect in size for the plant.

“Put it here carefully” they said in a soft voice while holding it out “Sage helps when you have a tummy ache” Yuuki added, patting their own stomach “So take good care of it, promise?” since they couldn’t hold out their pinky right now, they winked after saying those last words.

@"King"