Harbinger

Nikki totally understood the sudden topic change. They were all just strangers in the woods after all. Nikki looked curiously at Acai's basket seeing different kinds of plants and leaf-like things in there. She seemed very knowledgeable of the different kinds of plants and various vegetation that grew out here.

She was a little surprised about what she said about dandelions. She never knew such things, mostly because her parents never really let her out of their sight. She felt as if the two of them were looking at her, waiting for an answer to Felix's question.

"Well, you see, being under my parents very, very careful supervision I was never really allowed to go anywhere. It was hard to be able to practice my powers, like being able to stop or steer. I came out here, so I could practice steering around trees, the way a new driver goes between cones. "

She wasn't sure either of the had any driving experience, just because they were young adults didn't mean they drove. Or even knew what she was talking about. Acai seemed like a very interesting person. Nikki loved the way she talked, and she wondered what other kinds of things she liked to do. When she got back to the Academy, she have to go to the library, and find some books on botany.

Acai couldn't imagine not being able to go anywhere. She had always had an insatiable wanderlust, and was allowed to come and go as she pleased. Shuddering, Acai gripped herself tightly in a hug to repress the thought of being contained. Though, she could understand how parents might want to contain a child who couldn't stop.

She had to think for a moment, however, on the question of whether she needed help. She had sometimes considered hiring an apprentice to help her gather things, but after a while of that thought, she had decided that it was probably better that she saw to the duty herself.
Acai shrugged in response. "I am always could be using more hands. " She would be thankful for the company, at least. Hopefully the other girl wanted to come along, too. Acai wasn't so certain about being alone with the tentacle man.

Nikki cleared her mind for a second to think of the day she was taken out of gymnastics. The tears, there was a lot of them. Of course, Nikki hardly cried, but such a devastating point in her life called for it. She shook her head, pulling herself back to the two people, not wanting to remember her past.

Nikki stopped to think if she needed help with anything. not really, she didn't have anything else to accomplish except for her steering practice. She felt relieved when Acai said she could use some help. She didn't want to make those two dodging targets. She nodded, listening. "Sounds cool, what exactly are we looking for?"

Now, Nikki had assumed that this woman didn't go to the school, to learn or teach, but if she didn't, Nikki was awfully curious what other things she did around this place. She also had picked up the Felix w as pretty new to the school, like she was. She looked forward to having a friend back there. She peered inside Acai's basket to look at the things she'd already collected. She'd never really gone searching for plants and roots and vegetation, she was sure it would interesting.

Now that she had a small group of helpers, Acai wasn't sure where to start. Dandelions were always excellent, but perhaps they could even end up helping find her prized flowers. Rifling around in her basket, Acai pulled out a couple roots belonging to the flowers that she had already pulled. She sorted through the couple types, before dropping two back and keeping four in her hand. Offering them out, Acai spread them across her palm. Pointing at the smallest, a tiny blue flower with a thick sap coated on the stem. "This I need most. Sap good for holding thing together." She had tried gluing her things together, but the sap on the flower worked much better, and it was a lot cheaper to go find them rather than buy heaps of glue.

The next flower she prioritised was a thick yellow flower, with prettily ruffled petals arranged around a brownish star pattern in the centre. "These sell well. Girl like them for they parties." The crowns she had woven these into sold faster than the rest, and she supposed that people were cheered by the nice little flower. "The other are needed, but no so bad."

Nikki had to pay close attention to make sure she knew what she was saying. She liked her accent, but it was kinda hard to understand at times. She looked at the blue flower with its stem covered in sticky sap. Then she looked at the yellow flower. She nodded. "Ok!" She immediately took off without thinking about Felix. She'd be able to cover a lot of ground quickly, which would help them find flowers faster.

She zoomed through the forest until she saw a little blur of blue on the ground. She had to do a complete turn-around around a tree before she was able to stop and walk over to it. She examined the small thing, seeing the stem covered in a thick coating of sap. She grimaced a little as she placed her fingers gently around the place with the least sap, and pulled. The little flower came up, and she zoomed back to Acai. "Found one already. It would have been harder, but since I'm able to cover more ground quickly, I was able to discover this sticky little fellow. "

She looked up to see if Felix was still there, or somewhere around the place. It probably wouldn't be hard to spot him with his torn clothes and all. 'Poor guy' she thought ' I wonder how often he loses nice clothes.' Not that she really cared about clothes or anything. But she sorta did. If they were exercise clothes.