Calypso was just staring at the girl. Taking in every odd movement, every odd breath this girl took. Being mindful to not show her own hand in doing the same thing, tipping her off to anything Calypso couldn’t control or downplay. If it wasn’t for her stony face, Calypso’s worry would’ve been written across her face and then some.

What made this worse was this girl—Gale Pratchett—for all intents and purposes was enjoying and gushing about the tea they were drinking.

“Maaaan, you sure know your tea, Calypso!” Gale beamed, smiling ear to ear practically. “Not too sweet, not too herbal, coats the throat nicely. You gotta tell me, like, the name of it again—I totally need this for my morning yoga, y’know? Eases me into the day with a strong start!”

Calypso just smiled back, fingers over her own cup like a spider, feeling the diminishing steam hit her palm. Making deathly sure that her bases are covered.

They were sat at a hybrid in-door, out-door café that Calypso recently discovered on her walks at night. Of course, they were at the outside area, secluded in the corner at the end of the section. Sandwiched between the ambient music coming from the in-door area humming from the walls, and the outside, mindless chatter that swarmed pass, buzzing in the air.

And yet the girl gave no signs of danger for Calypso. Her honey skin was practically brimming with energy that could power the sun. She was the one that wanted this meeting to happen, and the implications of all of it--and yet this was a simple tea powwow for her.

“But, back to like… The reason why we’re here to begin with…” Gale smiled, even though her brown eyes were unsure, scared. “Kinda realized that I was being all discreet and yet, kinda laid my cards on the table—but considering how, y’know, small the town is—I legitimately thought that I was the only one, and yeah, kinda made my peace with that… I guess to wrap all that vocal-nothing up… Are you like me~?”

The ball was in Calypso’s court now. And she had the backup excuse rearing to go.

“…Am I that obvious?” Calypso giggled nervously, injecting her actual feelings in the act. “I thought I hid it well… But I guess one can always tell, somehow, if they look deep enough. But here you are, upfront and asking. That’s college life, I suppose~”

Gale squealed. Her fists balled up and close to her large, expressive mouth. Her white, plastic seat could barely contain her excitement, let alone herself.

“Finally!” Gale shouted, before hunching over and adjusting her volume, still with a smile on her face. “It’s—so—good to finally find another after all this time! I mean, I’m kinda recent in the grand scheme of whatever this is—I mean I doubt there’s a grand scheme to anything, but hey!”

She leaned over the table, offering a hand with closed eyes and a toothy grin.

“Nice to meet ya’, fellow creature of the night~!”

And there it was. Official confirmation, right there and then. Calypso just stared, feeling like she still has to piece everything together again.

“…Why?”

Gale instantly snapped back, shrinking back into her seat and retracting her hand back with a worried expression on her face. “W-why--?”

“Why… So bluntly reveal yourself in the open like this?” Calypso asked, her face dropping all false pretenses entirely. Judging by the subtle eye shifts the other girl had, it was very noticeable when she did. “What if I were fully against the idea of others like myself being in the same town? That could’ve resulted in a lot of consequences.”

Gale just shifted in her chair for a bit. Before resuming her smile, laughing softly while rubbing the back of her neck with closed eyes.

“I guess that’s the thing. I kinda suck at this so far. My first instinct to anything is go for help.”

“…Hm,” Calypso lifted her hands from her cup, raised it to her mouth, taking a sip. With an answer like that, she would never have the means or ability to be underhanded. She could finally relax.

Setting the cup down, and quickly dapping her mouth of liquid, “Fair enough. But I would still be hesitant about this. You know how destructive and murderous we can be. Coming to one, even as a human, it still holds risks. They could still be a monster inside and out, after all.”

Calypso was looking down as she placed the napkin down onto the table, which is why she was caught off guard by Gale’s laughter, shooting her eyes up at the girl.

“But it is kinda funny…” Gale simmered back down, enough to talk. “By being dumb and doing this… I kinda got what I wanted? Someone to show me the ropes and super duper smart about it as well!”

Calypso squinted a bit, with an added pout. “…So it would seem.”

The silly girl sighed and lifted her cup of tea back to her lips again before talking. “Anyways… 'Show' you 'the ropes'? You mentioned you’re rather recent, correct?”

Gale nodded. “Mhm! Like… 3 weeks ago, more or less!”

Calypso made a sound as she continued to drink, setting the cup back down. “Right. A few months for me, so far.”

“WOW! You do not at all look or feel like it, man! You must be a natural or something!”

“That’s what they keep telling me…” the silly girl looked down into her cup. “And yet I’m barely living on scraps.”

Gale deflated in real time.

“Oh. I was kinda hoping that… You would help me on that front…”

“Well, I’m terrible at the hunt I guess,” Calypso shrugged. “Running low on Witchery Root as well. So my days are numbered at this point…”

“Oh oh oh!” Gale regained her seemingly boundless energy again. “I can farm that stuff, man! Or at the very least ask the ground to make more!”

Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

Calypso blinked at her. “A-ask the ground…?”

“…Oh yeah,” Gale rubbed the back of her neck again. “I guess I should reveal what exactly I am, huh?”

“It would help with the lacking context, yes,” Calypso continued to blink in confusion.

“Weeeeell…” Gale turned her fingers to shift her cup from the right to left, her turn to look down at it.

“I’m… A plant girl. Sort of. Like, I can legit talk to the trees and the Earth as I’m like how I am with you and junk…”

“Aaaah, makes sense, makes sense. So druid, then? I don’t think they’re that monstrous from the folklore I could recall about them, at least at the moment…”

“… Well. I ain’t a druid, no…”

Calypso tilted her head, but softened her expression. She could see the slight embarrassment etched on the weird girl’s face.

“…I’m a swamp person. Y’know, like the monster.”

“…Oh,” Calypso looked about not to look at her. “I’m sure that—it’s not too terrible, is it--?”

“Oh no, I… Might look super cute in a weird way,” Gale then sighed. “Eyes, beholders and junk. Just, y’know… I’m all goopy.”

“But what a versatile ability you have… I can only do the one thing, myself. You have the capacity to… Influence. Direct and maybe even create plant life.”

“Aw man…” Gale smiled returned to her face. “You sure know how to talk to a lady, Calypso.”

“It’s fine, you can just call me Cal,” Calypso nodded. “It can be a mouthful at times.”

“Thanks again, Cal!” Gale chirped. “It’s just that…”

Her expression turned dark, forlorn. “It’s a reminder of that terrible, no good night.”

Calypso went silent before leaning in. “The day you became a monster. Am I right?”

Gale just nodded solemnly.

“You’re in no—” Calypso managed to cut herself off. “There’s no obligation to tell me. It’s fine.”

“No, no, no…” Gale shook her head on the same beat. “Talking about it helps it. Eases the pain. Takes the weight that slams onto your chest and flattens your stomach into rumbling.”

It was such a foreign concept, to Calypso. She squirmed in her seat, was on the verge of explaining how the idea of knowing something so personal about a person was uncomfortable to her. But she was in too deep now. Any information on this girl would aid her in the future.

“So uh…” Gale bit her lips, before swallowing the pain welling within her. “As you can see, what you see is whatcha get for me. I’m a rather ‘go-with-the-flow’ type of gal. Super liberal about things because we only got the one life, y’know? Better spend it knowing you’ve tried every single thing life got to offer you before you go… So that… Stupidly… Translated into dating.”

Calypso nodded, and could only nod in this moment.

Gale huffed through her nose, clutching at her cup to the point of her hands shaking.

“It was fun, and they were fun, the guys I’ve met and… Shared whole hearts with. Whole and heart, and on some level, I do still love each and every one, y’know? But the tail end of that… More and more, each one got more… Detached. Leading up to… I’m gonna call him ‘Ritche’. ‘Ritche’ was very mean to me. Only wanted me for the whole and not the heart. Got in my face and screamed until he was red in his whenever I brought this up to him. And the life of me… I couldn’t bare to… Y’know.”

“And this was weeks ago?” Calypso asked, incredulous, fury on behalf the girl she only just met.

Gale just nodded, shrinking away. Calypso caught herself, and evened her emotions.

“I tried breaking it off… On that day. We were in the woods for…y’know… and he was not happy. He just. Got silent. And that was the sign that I knew I really made him mad. Next thing I knew, I was falling towards the ground. But it wasn’t directly onto the ground. He didn’t realize it until he did it, but he pushed me down a slope and next thing I knew…”

She motioned, leaning her head to the side, and making a quick and sickening popping sound with her mouth.

After that, the impact of that sound, needed the seconds of silence following it.

Calypso reached out, placing her hand onto one of Gale’s, her eyes glossy with a sympathetic stare.

“Gale. I am so, so, so, very sorry for you… You did not deserve any of that. You understand that it wasn’t your fault, right? None of it, right?”

Gale chuckled, somehow mustering a grateful smile. “Yeah, yeah, of course… And besides. I got a second chance, didn’t I? I came back, and like, came back stronger!”

“But it’s still a curse, Gale… We’re still damned, soulless creatures now. Granted… I very much enjoy what I am now but… It took time for me to cope. And you’ve only had a few weeks.”

Gale laughed softly to herself.

“Life’s nothing but suffering and mistakes and bad decisions… Like. We had a raw deal as basic humans, Cal. And we’re the first world country born with first world problems, at least we were born with our organs inside of us, or have parents, or a house and money… Just to say that… Yeah, it’s nightmarish, but life was already like that. This just made it more intense… The best thing we can do is get past all that, towards the good stuff. Yeah?”

“…You’re an interesting lady, my friend…” Calypso sat back in her seat, her arms crossed.

“I’m alright,” Gale made a doofy face to make her point. Stopping, giggling.

Calypso cracked a confused, but genuine smile at that.

And moments after, realizing and aware of this, it was hard to maintain it. Calypso dropped it.

“I guess it’s fair, to relay my own struggles, on my part…”

“Hey, the same can be said for you—y’know, what you said for me—” Gale shook her head before getting her words straight. “You don’t have to share, man…”

“…I’ll spare you the details, then.”

Calypso looked to the side. Watching the streets from afar with a vacant and yet pained expression on her face.

“I only had my best friend in the whole world, and I lost her. Now I’m alone again, far away from my home, because no one can trust that I could be around sharp objects. Not that they’re wrong… I’ve just been so empty since the start of my pathetic life. Told that I’m pretty, told that I’m smart, told that I have this future ahead of me—and none of that is mine. Just given, used to simply get by. Borrowed and it doesn’t amount to anything in the end… Isn’t it a wonder I took to this life so quick? That I can just erase every single trace of the me now, to become this confident, capable, truthful, and free version of myself that should be the default… And no matter what I try, I can’t. I just rather be the monster, than the human, the mask.”

It took Calypso by surprise, but she was instantly pulled in for a hug, Gale wrapping her arms around her.

“Oh geez…” Calypso tried to snark. “You and my cousin, always with the hugging. I guess that’s a small town thing…?”

“Now we definitely need to become partners or something…” Gale sounded morose. “Otherwise, you’ll be alone again…”

The series of words disarmed Calypso. And the pure, genuine intention behind said words, caused her to crumble into an expression of sadness.

“Tell ya’ what! Since we’ve bonded and all now, tonight. Let’s go hunt tonight!”

Calypso snapped out of the funk, only to hush Gale over the last line.

“oh yeah sorry—” Gale lowered her volume, Calypso feeling her body wince. “you game~?”

Calypso gritted her teeth, looking down. “I guess I don’t have much of a choice, do I…?”

Gale quickly broke the hug, motioning to grab both of Calypso’s rather cold hands with a smile.

“Hey. We are who we chose to be, in the end… It’s the only choice we have, y’know?”

That instantly gave Calypso pause. Her eyes were wide, her expression softened.

“…Now I really can’t decline,” Calypso said in a hush. “Otherwise, I’d be a bigger asshole than I am, turning you down…”

Gale giggled in a charmingly doofy fashion, smiling ear to ear. “A date in the forest it is, then~”

With a series of warm pats on Calypso’s hand, Gale rose from her seat, reaching into her pocket to set a couple of bucks on the table. A cheery was followed soon after as the kind girl made her leave.

As Calypso waved, with her eyes closed and a rather conflicted smile… She felt familiar leather suddenly strap herself on that hand.

Lowering it quickly, Calypso found her Illuminator summoned, her hand trembling.

It wasn’t until she glanced down at the gemstone, that Calypso realized why that could be. Focusing on that small, but vibrant red crack that was in the center.

“…Yeah,” Calypso softly rubbed at that spot, with crestfallen energy behind it. “Sure. As if I deserve ‘friends’ again…”

***