A Song of Healing

     “ No, I didn’t. I was simply passing by. ”

She’s stammering, and he can’t be sure if it’s habit or nerves, but he wouldn’t be surprised if it’s the latter. She can’t have been expecting to find anyone out here, let alone someone like him.

     “ I saw you on my way into town and thought to check on you,      that’s all. What do you mean by you usually end up here, anyway?      Do you sleepwalk? ”

Well, that’s really none of his business, now, is it?─ but he’s curious, regardless, and if so, it seems a bad idea to let her sleepwalk up around the precipice of a cliff overlooking the sea.

❀ - “Ah...” She shifted uncomfortably. She’d never heard of someone ‘just passing by’ Tenuto. It was a fairly isolated hamlet, after all. Unless you came from the woods there really was no reason to go through the town at all. It was more of a place to escape from the general populace than it was a place to go between destinations.

     A hint of a blush touched her cheeks when he mentioned checking on her. She wasn’t really sure how to respond to that. Perhaps she was in more danger that she’d thought...

❀ - “Hm?”

     Polka glanced up from the bouquet she was arranging. A second later and she was blushing just as brightly as Allegretto - if not brighter.

“I-It is okay, l-little one… Y-you may stay,” he said softly, his tone hopefully reassuring. 

His eyes then drifted to her arm when he noticed her clutching it, and he was soon able to notice the red stain that was appearing on her clothes sleeve. It was blood – from what he could tell, and the merman found himself quite concerned for this tiny human.

“L-little P-Polka… w-why are you b-bleeding?” he asks in concern as he kneels down a little closer, a few of his tentacles writhing as he moved. “A-are you in p-pain?” 

❀ - Her breathing grew more and more ragged as the giant grew closer. Every instinct she had was screaming at her to run, but her legs refused to listen to her. Then again, even if she could get her legs to move, her knees were shaking so much she’d probably end up falling before she got three feet.

     “Th-thank you, s-sir,” His concern honestly confused her, but she didn’t dare be anything less than polite to him. However, when he asked about her injuries her gaze instinctively fell to the ground and she shrank away.

It’s late─ a good time to enter town. It’s often far easier to avoid unwanted gazes on the way to whatever inn he may find when so few people are out on the streets, and though he’s grown used to such stares, Arixis would still rather not be the root of much rumor if he can so help it. Being used to things like that doesn’t change that fact that he doesn’t like it, after all.

He’s not expecting to see anyone so young outside this late, though, and his curiosity gets the better of him when he spots her on the edge of town. He lands a ways away, approaching her wordlessly─ until she turns and speaks to him.

     “ Not exactly, no. ”

He looks her over, eyes glowing in the darkness.

     “ Shouldn’t you be at home right now? ”

❀ - Polka hummed thoughtfully and turned her attention back to the sea. She couldn’t see terribly well in the darkness, but even then his eyes were telling. It was obvious that the man was far from normal. ( then again, so was she - albeit more subtly )

     “I guess so. B-but I usually end up here anyway, so it’s alright.”

     She glanced back at the stranger, head tilted curiously. As intimidating as the man was, she’d already decided to be polite, and that decision was somehow winning out over her nervousness.           For now, at least.

❀ - "...Wicca?”

     The word was barely above a whisper. Polka had

     The night was fairly dark, and it had been months since she’d last seen the wizard boy, but Polka could recognize those eyes anywhere. Her grip on her parasol loosened and a smile tugged at her lips.

@ahealingpolka meets her teammate

Neodias woke up after feeling something prodding him lightly. though his vision had to adjust for a moment. he found a comfey trying to wake him up, he wasn’t really sure why so he tried to lightly shoo it away, he felt tired still. upon noticing that his hand wasn’t even a hand woke him up a bit. 

“That doesn’t… seem right? Where am I?” his brain was a bit too fuzzy to think right now. He was trying to remember something anything but everything came up blank. and yet he didn’t feel scared. he felt fine. looking at his “hand” a bit longer he found that he wasn’t a human anymore. no, he was a cutiefly. and yet this discovery didn’t bother him, he wondered why. he was calm up until he heard yelling in the distance that got him up in a start.

❀ - “Excuse me, excuse me, sir? Are you alright?”

     Polka gently prodded the cutiefly in front of her. Normally, she’d be too wary to actually approach another Pokemon, but considering his size... well, she felt a little safer, at least. Of course, she still jumped when he stirred.

     “Oh! You’re awake, sir!” Her enthusiasm was cut short by his concern and confusion though, “...You’re not terribly far from Pokemon Village, sir. How do you feel? Are you-”

     She was interrupted by loud yelling and she quickly shot into the air. “O-oh dear! W-we should check that out, shouldn’t we, sir?”

“Hey.. You listen to me.” His tone was firm but still held onto some of the softness he reserved only for her. “Nothing you have to say to me is silly. Dreams can be scary sometimes. We know what scares us the most, and our minds likes to screw with us when we aren’t expecting it.”

He was all too familiar with the type of dream she spoke of. Since leaving behind his biological family, he had suffered from one too many vivid dreams involving them finding him and taking away everything he loved. Unfortunately for him, it had nearly become a reality. Sanji would keep that to himself, however, since this wasn’t about him. It was about Polka and her underlying worry that she might be left behind.

Reaching up, he rubbed a thumb across her tear-streaked cheek and gave her a feeble smile. “You’re still worried about that? I can’t say I blame you. You’ve been through a lot. But, you know I’d never do that, right? You’re one of us now, even if it doesn’t seem like it. No one is going to leave you behind, especially me.”

His hand moved from her cheek to the back of her head. With a gentle pull forward, he pressed her forehead to his lips.

“You’re stuck with us, kiddo. You’ve got all nine of us here with you, and we aren’t going to forget you.”

❀ - Sad as it was, Polka had never been good at taking her own feelings seriously. Her feelings had always been so downplayed that just hearing Sanji say that it was okay to be scared, even after all this time spent with him, was enough to surprise her.

     She tried to stay quiet through his speech, but a few hiccups managed to escape. She’d been crying too much to be completely silent - and when he kissed her forehead, the tears started all over again. ( this time for a happier reason, thankfully )

     Her arms moved to hug Sanji instead of just clinging to him while she buried her face into his shoulder again. Part of her was still mortified at how embarrassing this whole situation was, but she was too relieved to care. She hadn’t realized just how much she needed to hear those words until now.

     "...I-I know,” Tears still streamed from her eyes, but she refused to let that stop her, “A-and there’s no one else I’d rather be stuck with, honest! I-I love all of you so much! You’re my family, I j-just...”      I just don’t know why you care so much about me No, she wasn’t going to ruin this moment by being negative. She was not.

❀ - Polka knew it was dangerous to wander the woods at night. She knew that the barriers keeping monsters at bay were always weak in the woods, and that they became even flimsier in the dark, but... She could never resist the Heaven’s Mirrors.

     The flowers only bloomed around two o’clock in the morning, glowing brightly like beacons in the night. There weren’t many people who knew they existed, and even fewer that would bother to make the late night trek out to see them, so the clearing that housed the blooms had become somewhat of a safe space for the young girl.

     She’d become so comfortable there that she hadn’t even considered a stranger would be there - let alone someone not human.

     Polka froze in her tracks at the sight of the stranger, her grip on her parasol tightening slightly (more out of nerves than aggression). She wanted to run, to get back to the safety of her village, but her legs simply wouldn’t obey her.

     She flinched as his eyes fell on her. If she could use her magic to disappear, she would have - but instead, all she can do is shrink into herself.

❀ - Polka was the first person out of the classroom after being dismissed. Usually she stayed behind to let everyone else out first, but with all the toxic gossip that had been going around the past few days she couldn’t stand being there a moment longer.

     She practically raced through the halls, desperately trying to avoid running into anyone. She would have kept going too, if someone hadn’t called her name. She froze, glancing around nervously for whoever wanted her attention. She only relaxed slightly when she recognized Pyrrha.

❀ - Polka sat at the window of her cottage, eyes eagerly scanning the road for any sign of movement. As soon as a certain head of dark hair caught her eye, however, she bolted out the door. Her sock-clad feet slipped against the cobblestone, but she didn’t mind.

Rapture had just been dropped off… here. he wasn’t certain where here was but that didn’t bother him too much. he never knew where anywhere was, but there was a path and he decided to follow it. But not too much later he was approached by a small girl asking if he was lost. Well he wasn’t going to outright say he was.

“Can you be lost if you’re not going anywhere in particular? Or is it if you don’t know where you are? If it’s the latter then yes. But I don’t think you could help me much.” If she asks he’s going to pretend he’s got amnesia, no way is he explaining the truth to a little girl. That he just came here from another universe and has no idea what most towns are or where anything is. you just can’t argue with amnesia.

❀ - Polka’s face creased in worry. She wasn’t exactly sure what the man meant, but he seemed even more confused than she was. That was... odd. Very odd.

     “You don’t know where you are?” She echoed, “Do you mean you don’t know this path, or you don’t know at all?”

❀ - It wasn’t unusual for Polka to find herself seated at the edge of town, feet dangling over the cliff and towards the sea. It was a long way down, no doubt, but she never feared falling. If anything, between the sounds of the waves and the gently twinkling lights of Ritardando in the distance, she felt more safe here than anywhere else.

     Of course, that feeling of safety only applied when she was alone...

     She stiffened at the sound of someone approaching, mind racing to figure out who would be up at this hour. Unfortunately, no one came to mind. She nervously glanced behind her, eyes landing on a stranger. Her instincts screamed at her to run, but there really was nowhere to run to, so...           So instead she might as well be civil, right?