Life in the woodlands can be a trudging task. Most wouldn’t expect it, they see nature as the escape. All that bustle, hustle and rustling of life in cities, and sky-line roofs. No, Aika Hamasaki, a girl of eighteen, dressed in dollops of black, red and gold, witches robe could argue.
“Now Mr. Mushroom. Why would life out here be any better then life in the city? Sure, it’s quiet, breezy and all the likes, but nothing happens!” She speaks to a white mushroom, appearing more as a trinket of a pet’s charm then itself.
“You have a knack for adventuring out, yes? No wonder you’re so gullible to believe a city better then a sea of trees. Your ship knocks too close to the rocks.”
“See? How do you understand what a ship even is, we live in the woods!?” Aika was a witch with the power to conjure and bring to life organic based mishaps, so she would call. This little mushroom was a friend she made, one to walk with her in the side of her shoulder as she made her way home from the darkening night, his lunged stumps pressing into her with a harder force.
“You’re so stubborn. I am magic, magical things have a connection to understanding this world better then most.”
“Oh, yes, the whole connected to everything nature gimmick? I would believe it to be a fictional thing, one like in books or movies then a real life one.” She comes up with an idea. “Wait, wait if you’re able to feel and connect to the earth itself, does that mean you can also feel the cities of the world?”
“Oh no, I see where you’re going with this young lady! I will not be the one to let my connection venture to those rat infested grounds!” He protest.
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“And here I thought you’d be kinder to nature, rats are part of too.” She chuckles.
“That may be. But I’m still a living thing with my own opinions of what I like and don’t.”
“That is the flaw of living things, isn’t it?” She bounds over a tree branch, the last branch that leeway’s to her home, an old log cabin abandoned many years before. It has once belonged to a family who no longer went there, a hideout of her since she herself has no family.
Activating a plethora of gilded fire flies locked in jars above the pathway, her abode is the brightest place of the forest, beautiful, yet becoming a mundanity.
“Fireflies are running low on fire-wick fuel. You ought to feed them more Juja juice.” Says the mushroom lunging up to the tightrope holding them in a line.
“Oh, they’re fine, don’t worry about it.”
“Aika.” Says the mushroom firm.
“Oh, fine, fine. You win, I’ll give the darn buggers some Juja Juice.” The girl comes up to a cabinet set on the outside of her cabin. It looks more of a junkyard then a wilderness preserve. Inside is an array of points, ingredients and the bottle marked Juja Juice.
“Juja Juice. The potion of champions.” She smirks displaying the bottle like the people on TV often advertised.
“If you keep watching that TV it’ll rot your brain away. No matter what people say on it, a mind is a terrible thing to waste.”
“Oh come on, it was only a joke. Don’t be so stuffy.” She pours a dab of the liquid lime juice into one of the container of fireflies, they alight brighter like coal to a furnace.
“I’m not stuffy, I’m only teaching your young mind to not be fooled into dumb ideals, like living in a city being better then here.” They retort.
“You are a difficult one.” The is a gush in the air, her brown-hue hair flutters to the beat of what becomes a crackling, one growing near, yet far and a light ahead.
“Wasn’t the sun going down? Why does it appear it’s coming back up?” She asks.
“I don’t know.” Responds the mushroom peering deeper into the overgrowth, a realization. “That isn’t the sun… That’s fire. A forest fire! Aika!”
“What!? Oh no! Give me a moment!” The girl rushes inside her house grabbing a wooden wand stick she kept in her drawer, there has never been a fire in the woods before.
“I hope my magic can handle this, I’m not so sure…” There is doubt in her voice as she ran out grabbing her mushroom companion and heading to the signs of danger.