Grass Continent ~ Treasure Town Beach

[Fusion]

Oh thank god, he didn't notice.

"Yeah, I've been good," Vix replied, slowly moving towards her discarded book. "Had a lovely chat with Icetales and Celeste, read some books with Bahamut and Cosmog, and now I'm here doing, um, nothing." she briefly glanced towards the courting book.

Now feels like the perfect time to practice, ya know.

That was a bad idea. "Just, enjoying the sun, the breeze, and now your company."

 

[Adamhuarts]

Cynthian smiled at her response. He stared at her purple flame with curiosity. Was it actual fire or something more ethereal in nature? Could it even be put out? Those questions made him realize how little he even knew about Vix.

"I'm surprised we've not hung out like this before. While we're at it, why don't we get to know each other better? I'd like to know what your life was like before this whole thing started," Cynthian asked, turning to face her properly.

 

[Fusion]

So far so good, just remember what I taught you. Which was nothing since you learned it from a book.

Yes, very helpful. Vix faced Cynthian with a warm smile. "I'd love to get to know you better, too." She noticed Cynthian eye her flame, bringing more purple to her face. "You don't gotta worry about this, I can keep it small so it doesn't burn." Just as she finished, her flame was halved in size.

 

[Adamhuarts]

"N-no, it's fine!" Cynthian shook his flowers and smiled reassuringly. "It's only orange fire that I can't standbbeing around. Yours is purple, so it's fine."

 

[Fusion]

"Okay, if you say so," Vix giggled.

"Alright, so, my life before this..." she hummed. "Where do I start? Well, I live in a forest village called Timberthicket with my friend, Ace, his girlfriend, Ribombee, his dad, and a grumpy Marowak we found." Vix just started talking and she was already feeling homesick. "It gets pretty hectic sometimes, Marowak and Ace are always butting heads in the morning, but I'd be lying if I said I didn't miss it."

 

[Adamhuarts]

"Oh, sounds like quite the fun bunch. Does Marowak not have a name of his own?" Cynthian asked, his curiosity piqued.

"You must have very lively mornings if he's always quarreling with Ace. Personally, I prefer my mornings calm and quiet under the sunrise."

 

[Fusion]

"Marowak's actually mute, and he doesn't seem all that bothered by being called Marowak so that's what we went with," Vix shrugged and laughed. "And trust me, if he had a problem with it, he'd let us know real fast."

"I'm not entirely upset about not having loud mornings, however. It certainly made the quiet mornings all the more blissful, and now I can enjoy nice, quiet moments whenever I want, with whoever I wanted." Vix hopped just a bit closer to Cynthian, almost enough for his shoulder to brush up against her. "Like with you, for example."

 

[Adamhuarts]

Was she trying to... No, Cynthian was probably just over thinking it. Besides, they barely knew each other really. Even knowing that, a faint blush appeared on his cheeks.

"I like spending time with you guys too. Back home, I didn't really have a lot of friends, and I only retained fewer friendships as I grew older," Cynthian said solemnly.

"Though it was always nice talking to customers that show up to our flower shop. Speaking of which, one of our regulars was a Ribombee. He says that our shop's flowers were the best for making pollen puffs or something like that. I used to pay him visits before, but I've been staying cooped up in the shop recently because of... reasons."

 

[Fusion]

Holy shit it's working. Maybe books are lot more effective than I thought.

"That's a shame. Do you wanna talk about it? From my own experience, talking about these kinda problems help," Vix gave Cynthian a gentle pat on the shoulder.

Pfft.

 

[Adamhuarts]

"Not really... it's a long story I'd rather not talk about sorry." Cynthian went quiet as he lightly kicked up sand. If he started talking about the events of the past year, he'd be in an upset mood for the whole day again, and he didn't want to unload such baggage on others he wasn't sure would enjoy hearing it.

"Tell me more about your friends back home. What sorts of jobs did they do? How long have you known them? Stuff like that," Cynthian asked in an attempt to pick the conversation back up.

 

[Fusion]

For a brief second, Vix felt that sad feeling coming from Cynthian, and it'd probably be better to steer clear of bringing up his problems. The candle took a deep breath, then nodded.

"I guess you could call us heroes. When the nearby dungeon started getting worse and worse, it was us that fixed it," she said, shuddering slightly. "It was, definitely an introduction to hero work, let me tell you. After that, we've decided to keep an eye on the dungeon until we think we're ready to go adventuring and all that fun stuff. Everyone else in Timberthicket does lumber work."

"And when we aren't doing any of that, Marowak's baking, Ace and Ribombee wander through the dungeon, and I'm writing something in my surplus of notebooks." Vix let out a laugh. "Not all that interesting, honestly."

 

[Adamhuarts]

"Wow, that's pretty amazing, Vix! I'm sure the townsfolk must've really appreciated your efforts in keeping everyone else safe. I admire that," Cynthian said with his flowers held together.

"And when we aren't doing any of that, Marowak's baking, Ace and Ribombee wander through the dungeon, and I'm writing something in my surplus of notebooks." Vix let out a laugh. "Not all that interesting, honestly."

"I want to know what you write about. Is it creative literature, research stuff or just journals of your daily life events? I'd ask you to show me but—oh, is that one of your books?" Cynthian leaned past her towards the book she was reading before. He glanced at the title and hummed.

"The Art of Courting? Are you studying to become a lawyer or something?" Cynthian asked with a curious look.

 

[Fusion]

Vix turned almost entirely purple, and her flame doubled in size. The jig was up. She'd been caught red handed. This was going to be nothing but a big misundersta-

So he doesn't know what Courting means, huh? Guess you'll have to explain it to him.

"Over my dead body," Vix muttered to herself. She melted, flowing over the rock to cover up the book. Sand was no longer an issue, she'd rather be made of sand than deal with this. No one must know. No-one.

Yeah, thought like a sane person.

"I-I don't write anything about courting, not at all, wouldn't read anything on it either. All I do is boring research and stargazing and pairings and pokemon descriptions and item logs a-and..." Vix choked, not on sand surprisingly. What did she just say? She said something she would regret, didn't she? This was bad, wasn't it? Oh heck, oh frick.

Oh shit...

"Oh fuck..." Vix melted even further.

 

[Adamhuarts]

"Eh?" When Vix turned purple, Cynthian widened his eyes slightly. Was she poisoned? Wait, but how?! He hadn't even used a move and he sure didn't have the poison point ability like some of his kind did... did he?

And then she melted...

"Whoa, Vix! Are... Are you okay?!" she had been reduced to a puddle, and yet she could still speak? What in the world was going on?! Was that normal?!

"Should I call for help???" Cynthian asked, panic growing more pronounced in his tone. Should he carry her to the infirmary? How? Would he scoop up her molten remains into his flowers and hope for the best?

 

[Fusion]

How lucky, he's about as oblivious as all your other friends. You can pull yourself together now.

Yeah, that's right. Cynthian didn't notice, he was too busy being scared for Vix's well being. Thank the heavens. Vix tried to calm herself down, slowly reforming into her candle self on top of the book of courting. She took a deep breath, and let out a long exhale. Relax, breathe in, breathe out. In... Out...

"No, no, I'm fine. I was just overthinking something. It's nothing," Vix said, smiling. "I feel like Diyem made me more melty than I was supposed to be, hehe." She looked up at Cynthian, they were pretty much the same size, weren't they? Why did she feel so much shorter than him?

"Whatever, sorry about worrying you like that," Vix sighed. "I didn't mean to stress you out more, sorry."

 

[Adamhuarts]

"Don't scare me like that," Cynthian said with a relieved sigh. "I know you're a candle and everything, but seeing you just melt like that was rather unexpected."

Cynthian say back down next to her and chuckled. That sure got his blood running for a while.

"What was that all about anyway? You even turned purple out of nowhere," Cynthian asked with a carefree smile. "Were you... embarrassed maybe? You didn't have to be, really. I don't think writing about courts is something to be ashamed off. I used to write all about the plants and flowers I came across during expeditions."

 

[Fusion]

Uh-oh, you gotta explain yourself still, you sinner.

If Vix could punch herself she would have, calling herself out like that. "N-No, it's not about courts. It's, uh..."

Would being honest really be the best play here? Wouldn't Cynthian get the wrong idea about earlier then?

Hey, that's your fault for using him as practice.

Wasn't her thoughts supposed to be on her side? Vix let out a slightly annoyed sigh, deciding to come clean. "I-It's about, um... dating." her voice squeaked. Sure Cynthian probably didn't hear her, but at least she told the truth.

 

[Adamhuarts]

"It's about... David? Sorry, I didn't quite catch that last part." Cynthian tilted his head with a smile that displayed nothing but his confusion.

 

[Fusion]

Vix melted a bit, turning purple once again. "D-Dating..."

Oh come on, own up to it! You're literally making it worse for yourself by not being upfront about it. Just say it's for study reasons.

But was it really? Vix didn't know if it was or not. There were some nice members on the team, but Vix never really thought of them like that, and arguably she still didn't. Honestly she didn't really know how she felt about everyone overall, but it's not "I wanna date them all," that's for sure.

"I was reading about D-... about D-da..." Vix cleared her throat. "I was studying about dating. N-Not because I wanted to get into it or anything, it was j-just for, um, research."

Well when you put it like that...

 

[Adamhuarts]

"Oh. Huh..." Cynthian parted his lips slightly and stared at the ocean for a long drawn out moment. He was quick to recover however.

"For research, huh? Is it for a creative endeavor or did you just happen to be curious? I wish I could lend some advice, but I have little experience in that territory. Maybe you could ask... I'm not sure who on our crew would even be all too knowledgeable about dating. I guess maybe Icetales? He's a noble and he's very enthusiastic about pursuing knowledge. I'm willing to bet he could give you a pointer or two," Cynthian said, patting Vix's shoulder with his black rose.