Private Finished It's a Hard-Knock Life

((A few days before Valentine's Day - late afternoon))


Eek was not having a very good day, even though he had technically been asleep for most of the day. The weather had been particularly cold and miserable and he had woken up a couple hours earlier than he usually would have, wet and shivering in a threadbare t-shirt because it had rained a bit. He would certainly be glad when spring arrived and the leaves on the trees could provide more shelter. He considered staying in the tree and trying to go back to sleep because maybe curling up in a ball would keep him warm in spite of the dampness of his clothes. But now that he was awake, he just felt uncomfortable, and the sun hadn't set enough that it didn't bother his eyes.

It was too early to go searching for bugs just yet, and the baby-fae wasn't particularly hungry anyways. So he decided to get out of the tree and see if he could maybe wring out his shirt. There weren't many people around in this section of the park yet or no one who paid much attention to the boy anyways. But he still stayed close to the trees in case someone scary showed up. He considered just taking his shirt off to wring it out, but that would just make him colder. Like most fae where he lived, he hadn't learned modesty and wore clothes just for the warmth, but when he first arrived on the island the police had made sure he knew to keep covered in public, at least while in humanoid form. And the nice person at the strange cottage place had given him a shirt, so he was gonna keep wearing it as long as possible.

Starting to feel lonely, Eek went looking for a spot in the park that had benches but was still close to good climbing trees. He knew people often came to this place just to talk and "hang out", although he'd never actually seen anyone hanging, so he didn't know why they called it that. And so far the people here had been very nice and not shot at him at all. And there were nice police people and people with nice mommies and people gave him food and weren't trying to get him to go swimming in sacks. He soon found a quiet little place with a couple little benches next to a path. Someone, probably a child from the size, had forgotten a glove on one of the benches and it was all damp and icky looking. The glove reminded Eek that his clothes were still wet, so he sat on a bench and tried to wring out his shirt as best as he could without taking it off.

@Kathinja

Eek was still shivering and looking pathetic in his shirt, which he really hadn't managed to wring out much. But he smiled widely when he saw Noli. She might not have remembered him completely, but he remembered the nice girl who gave him peaches at the strange cottage place. No one had ever just given him food before. Other than the guy who gave him the new shirt, the one he was currently wearing, Eek didn't think anyone had given him anything before, except maybe someone trying to trick him into a trap.

"Not peaches girl!" The little boy exclaimed excitedly, blinking at the still too bright light. He didn't really want to complain to her because she was so sweet and he wanted to be a big boy, but it was still too early for him. "I is o... I is not not..." The fae paused because he didn't want to lie to peaches girl, or at least not more than he could help, but he didn't really want her to know he was not okay, even though it was probably obvious that he was tired, cold, and wet. But in the end, he was going to answer her question.

"Is not too early for me. And not rained. My shirt not got all yucky and wet!" The boy said, pointing to the shirt in question, which he was still trying to wring out. His little arms were not that strong, though, and it was still far too cold a day to be wearing even a shirt that was only damp.

"Oh..." Eek shook his head. As far as he was concerned, home was back in the fae world, even if it had never been a great home. He hadn't really adapted to the island yet, mostly still wandering and sleeping in trees. He could probably theoretically get back home if he wanted - the portals weren't one way - but he had no idea where the portal was to get back. Besides, there was this nice park here, with plenty of bugs, even if it did get cold.

And the people were a lot nicer than people in the human worlds he'd traveled to. No one had shot him yet or done any other mean thing, and there were even people like peaches girl and the one who had given him a shirt. He had another shirt hidden in a hole he had dug in the bushes, but it was for obvious reasons dirtier than this one and much more worn out. "Not no. Home not lost and not not have new shirt."

The little fae was grateful for the scarf, and since it was peaches girl who put it on him he didn't scream, although he did instinctively flinch at having a cloth wrapped around his neck. Eek relaxed a little when she said it was to keep him warm. It was certainly cozy. He looked at her curiously, not really sure where shirts even came from. "not Thank you!! Where we find shirts anyway?"