i take life advice from a white rabbit

@"battleaxeShotgun"


[ Hari Takahiro ]

Hari wasn't used to this much physical activity.

He'd been trekking through the forest barefoot all day with the usual gold adorning his fingers, sneakers slung over his shoulder and a canteen strapped to his side. He hadn't even eaten a bite of breakfast, but aside from the odd, foreign texture of the earth cooling beneath the skin of his feet, he felt... fine, really. There were no heart burns, no fatigue, no exhaustion.

His walking wasn't exactly aimless wandering. The plants have told him of a denizen of the forest, a dryad named Scott... Scoth... Skat. Something along those lines. They said he grew flowers in his hair, and he could turn a tree much like him.

Hari wanted to know him. He was a human, but with each day that passes by since his powers developed, he felt more and more connected to the spirit that grew inside of him. He needed a different perspective in fear of viewing this transformation in a purely anthropocentric point of view. It was why he decided to seek out the dryad. If the plants were to be believed, Scoth would be receptible to his visit, but... plants weren't exactly the best judges of human, er, humanoid, character.

"Slide down, what do you —"

Hari was too busy listening to the chattering warnings of a berry bush beside him that he didn't anticipate the narrow slope ahead. He came sliding down the slope abruptly, the friction burning his feet and the sharp edges of the rocks below tearing up his clothes. His sari got caught in a particular sharp edge, which prevented him from crashing to the ground. Instead, he tumbled painfully, but safely, below. He landed on a soft patch of grass, groaning in pain as he clutched his gut, turned over and looked at his surroundings.

He was at a section of the forest he hadn't seen before. Underneath the thick blue-green leaves of the tall, imposing trees were bits of sunshine peeking through. There were flowers of various cool colors and mushrooms growing all around him, giving the whole place a soft, ethereal look. It was... beautiful.

But he was still very much in pain. He groaned, again, and stood up on wobbling legs.

"I need to find Scoth."

"You're Scoth," Hari pointed out with a hint of amazement in his voice. Well, he was certainly as beautiful as the plants described. He took a step with his injured foot and almost stumbled as the skin stung when it made contact with the ground. When he raised it up to take a good look at it, it was horribly grazed. It just figures. The rocky slope was treacherous. He turned the injured skin into wood to numb the pain, but it was only a temporary solution. "Oh dear. That's not a permanent solution. Are there any streams or ponds nearby?"

Hari wasn't talking to them, but a nearby bed of flowers told him the way to a nearby pond frequented by frogs. Hari nodded. He would have to... hobble there, he supposed, but that would have to come later. Scoth looked friendly enough, but he might be like other woodland creatures and scatter when he left his sight. He needed to talk to him first.

"I came all this way to meet you, Mr. Scoth." He gave him a small bow. "It's a pleasure to meet you. My name is Hari."

Hari chuckled. "Difficult? Not at all. It was more painful than anything."

He felt his cheeks heat up when Scoth made him a nice bed of moss to accommodate him, as well as pull out a few leaves to help with his wounds. He expected nice, yes, but not this nice. Now he felt a bit bad for not bringing Scoth anything, and he was sure he wouldn't take too kindly to Hari removing his jewelry and offering them to him.

He sat down on the moss and did as instructed, pressing the leaf against the wound. How long did this usually take, he wondered...

Back to the reason he came here.

Hari cleared his throat. "Mr. Scoth, I recently found out that I... share a body with an ancient magical tree, and its abilities are starting to manifest. I hear you're a dryad. Could you please tell me what that's like?"

"Sorry, sir." He caught himself and blushed. "...Scoth."

Being possessed by a spirit and being a dryad were different. He knew. And yet he couldn't help but think that he was headed straight to that direction, with the way the spirit was slowly mutating his body. Hari wasn't sure what he was anymore. "I can communicate with plants, yes. As far as they're concerned, I'm a tree like them.

Ask without asking? Hari saw how the plants seemed to give way for Scoth himself. He wondered if he could...

He reached out to place his hands above the grass. He made it very clear to the plants that he wanted it to land on something soft, so they formed a soft landing of moss to accommodate it. He sent them a quick apology for the gesture and they were surprised that he even bothered to in the first place.

"Ah..." That was an interesting thing to know. Already, it seemed like going here was a good idea. He smiled up at Scoth.

"Tell me, have you ever tried communicating with it?”

"With... the spirit inside me, you mean?" Hari paused. "It doesn't talk much." Or did it? That was what Hari was curious about, if the tree was sentient or if it was simply acting in the name of survival. "Can you talk to it?"