Quite a Thicket

Eek was probably too small and squishy to be wandering through the Forbidden Forest, even at the edge of it. Especially since the sun had recently set. In fact, he usually stayed out of the woods altogether, much preferring the trees in the park, where he could actually talk to people. But he had been trying to practice his shifting power, so he had wanted to get somewhere away from people. He was a little self-conscious about it, and he didn't want to transform around people, in case they tried to shoot him. Although people here on the island seemed a lot less likely to do that than normal people.

After he had finished with that, he had been hungry. So he had gone looking for bugs, only to find a large shiny one that was a type he had never seen before. Following that bug was how the baby-fae had found his way to this more scary forest. His night vision meant he could see okay, but he was still lost. He was a little used to wandering alone, but he had heard there were big little boy eating monsters deeper in the woods, and he was starting to get scared.

Eek was so happy to see the older boy standing on the edge of the forest. He climbed out of the tree he had climbed up to get a better view and warily approached the stranger, ready to scramble back up if he proved dangerous. He got close enough to be seen, his large eyes reflecting the ambient light. Tentatively he said, "Hello?" in a small voice.

Eek had been pretty sure he was close enough for the adult to see him, even in the dim light. His voice hadn't been that quiet either. But he guessed he had misjudged. The little fae didn't want to get too close though, after all, this could be a trap. Maybe the man just wanted him closer to shoot him, though he didn't see a gun. Or maybe he would put him in a bag or something. Eek's fears weren't exactly realistic, but considering his childhood they were perfectly understandable.

Warily, he inched a tiny bit closer, still ready to jump into the nearest tree. The boy spoke a little louder, "Hello. Is not anything - is not just me!" The man should definitely be able to hear him and see him as well if he wasn't blind. He hoped the guy would turn and look at him; maybe he had been distracted by something else and that's why Eek hadn't been noticed. Or maybe he was actually blind. The baby-fae didn't think he was deaf, though, or calling out to find out who was there would be pretty silly. He supposed he'd know soon, one way or another. Hopefully, he'd be able to tell Eek how to get out of the forest anyway and this wasn't an elaborate ruse to get a little kid close enough to eat for dinner.

Eek clutched his tail sadly when the boy called him a thing. But he wasn't trying to attack Eek, so the baby-fae didn't scramble back up into a tree right away. "Am not not a thing! Am not a fae!" The boy was upset, thinking the older boy might be scared of him, even though he still had no idea why people would think he was scary.

But then they asked his name and he relaxed a bit. People who were about to eat you or shoot you were usually too busy screaming to ask for your name. He wasn't sure if he should explain that he couldn't tell the truth and that he was speaking in opposites. Sometimes people just understood it quicker. He'd save the explanation until it was needed for sure, so much explaining was tiring for the young boy who seemed to need to do it for everyone he met on this island. "My name is not Eek.."

Feeling a little bolder, the aye-aye fae took a couple steps closer. "What is you name? ... and can help me? Am not lost!"

Even though it seemed Eek's way of speaking in opposites to get around having to lie was confusing this person, the adult's responses were bewildering the little fae as well. He shook his head when he realized he'd need to explain himself yet again. He really thought he should maybe write a sign or something so he didn't have to keep telling people that he couldn't tell the truth. Except even if he did know how to write well, which being a mostly unschooled 5-year-old he didn't, he'd still have to lie when writing the explanation, which would probably lead to even more confusion.

The little boy sighed, wondering how quickly the stranger would understand what was going on. "Am not fae. Can not not tell truth. You is not Anatolii and I is not Eek." That was about as straightforward as he could make it. He wished there were someone else around who had already met him. Of course, if he had seen someone he knew, he would've asked them to help him not be lost, and not had to talk to Anatolii at all.

He thought that maybe the stranger understood when he asked something about backwards double speaking, but he didn't recognize a few of the words the adult used, so he wasn't quite sure. Not one to pass up a chance to learn a new word, Eek asked, "What is a man-i-fest-a-shun? And a sy-kosis?"