Little Girl, Lost{Mayday}{Open by Invite}

Silence. All she wanted was silence. The sounds of the forest made uneasy rest. Most would find this area peaceful and serene. Mayday just found it annoying. She was up a tree with her back against the trunk, her tail wrapped around the branch to keep herself upright. The tree provided cover, the height made it hard to get to her. Always hiding, she thought. I doubt I'll ever find a place to call home without them trying to find me.
She focused on a leaf near the edge of the branch and felt her power unleash itself. She effortlessly plucked it from the branch and held it there for a few seconds before letting the wind carry it away. Almost there, she thought. But not quite. What she really needed was a proper night's rest and food to get her powers recharged. She had conceded however, that she was hopelessly lost. She had survived so far on river water and wild berries, but her stomach was starting to protest the lack of actual sustenance. What little sleep she did get was usually interrupted by nightmares or noise. She decided to stay in the tree for a while longer before attempting to find a new place to bed for the upcoming night, and possibly food if she was lucky.

Zeke had been wandering through the forest for a few days now. "Why can't I just learn to read a map like everyone else? It would make these little adventures so much easier if I knew where I was going. Those villagers gave me terrible directions, there is no path like they said to follow...", Zeke thought to himself. "At least this weather is holding up, I don't do so well in the rain, and I always get so muddy... The sun looks pretty today too, the way it shines through the leaves. I guess the forest isn't so bad?", he re-assured himself. A butterfly landed on his face, and he focused on it for a moment, walking backwards, losing balance and falling on his rear. It flew up into a tree, where he thought for a moment that he could see a figure. He tilted his head to the side, trying to focus a bit more, and knew for sure there was something in the tree. He called out to it, "Hello?"

Mayday jumped at the greeting, and stared down at the individual. She tried to read his mind, but strangely enough, she couldn't find his mind. This intrigued her enough to make her want to learn more. She unwound her tail from the branch and jumped from the tree, using her telekinesis to slow her fall. The small use of her powers started to make her head throb, and she reminded herself to take it easy until she could sleep. She landed in front of the man, and wordlessly stared at him, trying to read him.

The girl appeared to almost float down in front of Zeke. He started to laugh, "That was neat!" He could see that the girl looked exhausted though. "What's your name? I'm Zeke! Are you all alone out here?" he asked her. "Slow down, she looks tired and you're asking her questions too quickly...", he thought to himself. Zeke stood up and dusted himself off, straightening his head a bit, and checking himself to make sure he hadn't dropped anything.

Mayday stared at him for several more seconds. "Odd," she said, in a soft monotone. "You seen different from others I have met. To answer your questions, my name is Mayday, and yes, I am alone out here. Who are you?" The fact that she couldn't read his mind confused her, but the person standing before her felt like he meant to ill will towards her at all.

"Mayday is a great name! Nice to meet you, I'm Zeke! I'm a Yuke, and I'm a Time Mage, and I'm also lost... Is this your forest, or do you just live here? My Grandpa and I used to live in a forest, but that was really far away from here.", he answered. He was excited to meet a new person, and she seemed really nice. He had met some people the day before that weren't very nice, but lucky for him, they were also pretty slow. Their leader also didn't like Comets, but then again most people didn't seem to. "This forest is really pretty, but it's so big, and there aren't any paths at all like the people told me..."

Maybe I do not need to read his mind after all, she thought. He seems to say whatever's on his mind. "This is not my forest, nor do I live here. If you're looking for the forests paths, I can lead you there. Where are you going, if you do not mind me asking?"

"I'm just traveling through here at the moment, I'm actually not entirely sure where I'm headed now... I'd heard there were ruins in the forest, but the ruins I found weren't really them. Or at least I don't think they were, it was more like a collapsed building, but there wasn't anything worth collecting.", he replied. "I don't really have a real home, so I've just been traveling and collecting things for now, but I haven't found any real treasure yet. Someday I'd like to find my old home, where the Yukes live, but they hide really well. Where is your home if you don't live here?"

Mayday visibly hesitates. "I... do not have one," she said. "There are a lot of old buildings around here, as this forest used to be a city. You will have to go deeper into the forest if you wish to find the bulk of the ruins, though." She motions past the tree she was in. "Once you find the path the ruins should be easy to find." At that, Mayday's stomach gave an audible growl, and she realized that it had been about a day or so since she had eaten last.

"What are you doing all the way out here then, if it's alright to ask?, he replied. He could hear her stomach growling. "Oh right, humans have to eat. She kind of looks like a human, but she also kind of looks like a cat. I've never seen someone like this! I wonder if she's hungry?", he thought to himself. "You look like a cat! I've never seen a human like that, I think you look cool! Are you hungry? My grandpa said that sometimes people make noises when they haven't eaten for a while. What do you like to eat?", he asked. He wasn't a very good hunter, but sometimes he could find edible things, or at least slow down fast things enough to catch.

Mayday was starting to feel a bit overwhelmed by the questions. She really didn't know which one to answer first. "Yes, I am quite hungry. At this point, I would take anything that is edible," she replied. "And I am not a human. I am what is called a Miqo'te." She paused for a moment, thinking of a way to answer his first question. "I am wandering right now. I do not have anywhere else to go. So I just pick a direction and walk."

"I'm sorry, I ask a lot of questions when I get excited... I can help you find something to eat if you'd like? Grandpa showed me how to find edible things, and I'm sure there's something in this forest.", he replied. He bowed to her, and set off into some nearby trees. There were some berry bushes fairly far off, and he collected some in his bag. The children in the village he traveled to, after Jonathas had died, showed him which berries were good, and these ones were the ones they told him were their favorites. They were small and red, with a lot of small seeds. He collected a lot of them, and walked along the river on the way back, there were fish, but he couldn't get to them without going into the water.  They were in a slower part of the river that had formed into more of a pool, but he didn't know how deep it was. He went back to where Mayday was, and showed her the berries he'd found. "There were fish too, but they were in the river and I'm no good at swimming... I can slow them down, but I can't catch them.", he said sadly.

Mayday gave a small, genuine smile and popped a few of the berries into her mouth. "Thank you," she said. While the berries were nice, what she needed was protein. "If you can at least slow down the fish, I can catch them." In truth, she had already tried fishing to no avail. They were too fast for her to grab with TK, and she nearly lost some of her knives when she attempted to spear them. While she couldn't read Zeke's mind, she could sense a genuine kindness about him that she didn't see elsewhere. She decided, at least for now, to trust him.

"You're welcome! I can show you where I found the fish, they aren't too far from here really. I don't know how deep the water is, but I can slow them with time magic at least.", he replied. He found the pool pretty easily, and pulled out his pocket watch, standing at the edge. He raised the watch in one hand, staff in the other, and formed a magic circle around the biggest fish he could see, casting Stop. It stopped in place, and Zeke kept his focus on it, holding it frozen in time.

Mayday watched in utter fascination. "I have never seen time magic before," she said quietly. She almost forgot that they were there for a reason. She pulled a small throwing knife out of her coat pocket and placed it in her palm. Well, he showed me his, it would be rude if I did not show him mine, she thought. She focused on the knife, and sent it flying through the fish between the eyes. She willed it back into her hand and cleaned it off before jumping into the pool to retrieve the fish. "It is only knee deep," she assured him.

Zeke laughed, "That's so cool! Is that magic too? I've never seen any like it!" His time magic had proven useful to him, but he couldn't do anything like that. He'd heard that accomplished time mages could alter gravity a bit, but he didn't know any of those spells yet. He watched her descend into the water, a bit nervous for her, but her head was still well above the water. "Will that be enough for you?", he asked her happily. He'd learned how to start a fire, and wondered if she would also want it cooked. He wasn't very great at it, but his grandpa had taught him fairly well, just in case he ever needed.

"It is not magic," replied Mayday. "It is something that I have been able to do since I was born. Or at least that is what my mother told me is when it started." Mayday pulled the fish out of the water by its tail and looked it over once before climbing out of the pool. "This should be enough for now. Thank you very much Zeke," said Mayday. Before he could ask anything about a fire, Mayday took a big bite out of the fish, scales and all.

"That's great!", he replied in regards to her abilities. As she ate the fish, he wondered, "Maybe that's just how some people eat fish? The townspeople usually cooked theirs' but all people are different!" He welcomed her for the fish and asked her, "So Mayday, what will you do now? I usually tend to just wander, and I'm not sure the ruins are really going to have anything I'm looking for."

"I do not know. I was wandering myself when I became lost. I know where the paths are, but there are no markings to indicate where they go. And I would much rather stay away from the ruins. Possible monsters and all," she explained. That wasn't technically a lie; Mayday had gone up against monsters before and won, or at least gotten away mostly unscathed. No, she hated ruins because they seemed to trigger a Divination ability that allows her to see into the past or future. While not entirely detrimental, she had been caught in situations where she was stuck for several hours reliving the distructions of entire cities. "I believe it wold be in our best interests to find the nearest town, would it not?"

"If you'd like to go to town I'd be happy to tag along, if it's alright? Really all I do anymore is travel from place to place, I'm honestly not really sure where I'm going, but I'm sure I'll figure it out sometime! What I'd really like is to find a Yuke city some day, but they're really reclusive it seems, and no one I've ever talked to seems to know much at all... But it's something to keep me searching for at least." He was happy to be traveling truthfully, and hadn't ever really considered an end goal.

"Do you know where the nearest one is?" she asked. "I would rather not get more lost in this forest than we already are." She looked up at the sky, and realized that the sun was starting to set. "Do you think we will make it out of here before nightfall?"

"If you'd rather, we could stay here, or find somewhere closer to stay? I'm sure there's something around, like a cave or something? Even the trees are fairly safe, and I haven't run into many monsters, even at night here.", Zeke replied. "I'm not really sure where the nearest city is honestly. I can't even really remember which way I came from..."

"I would rather a cave than a tree," she responded. "I have slept in trees before, and it is not good if you are wanting a decent night of sleep. They are decent hiding spots though." Mayday scanned around the area, and saw what looked to be a small cavern a few hundred yards away. She pointed it out to Zeke, and started walking in that direction.

Zeke followed Mayday to the cave, picking up small dry twigs on the way. They may not really need a fire, but sometimes the villagers made fires on cold nights to stay warm. The skies seemed to at least still be mostly clear. "We can look for a town in the morning, I'm sure you could use some sleep?", he asked Mayday. His Grandpa showed him how to use the stars to navigate a little, so with the clear skies he hoped he'd be able to remember how to get back to a town. If nothing else, they could just pick a path and try a general direction. "I have some basic camping items, but I don't really use them often so I don't carry around many. I think I have a small blanket though?"

"The blanked should be enough. Thank you, Zeke." Mayday waits for him to hand her the blanket, then pulls her hood up over her head, her ears going sliding through the slits on the top. She curls up on the ground, wrapping her tail around herself and covering herself with the blanket.