I'll cast a spell on you~♪

“Not quite. I’m certain I won’t stay lost should I get lost. My apologies for the confusion.” Reina clarified. While she didn’t have any specific markers to point out trails and direction, but rather she knew how the floral ecology in a forest worked. So she’d be able to tell f she was going deeper into the forest or closer to the edge.

“Yes would be very much appreciated. I’ll go with your personal favorite.” Reina confirmed. I’m all honesty she enjoyed tea immensely, it was one of her favored things to receive as a gift and to make at home.

“I’m here to collect samples of mushrooms to bring to my green house. I’m a botanist, and while mushrooms are fungi they do interact with plants a lot.” Reina explained. Reina hadn’t noticed that the woman was excluding herself from the “humans” she spoke of. Instead she asked a question in return.

“Though why are you here? I’ve heard from the television that people become hermits for spiritual reasons or to, as they say, “stick it to the man”…” Reina emphasized, poorly saying the phrase. “Though you seem quite sociable.”

Witch listened and nodded when she thought it was appropriate. But some of the things this human said were strange - she were here to collect mushrooms? But common mushrooms littered the ground outside the forest, so why did she wander inside? Could this human be looking for Fugue Mushrooms? Witch was doubtful a mere human knew of that magical mushroom - this human (probably) couldn’t do anything with it if she did find it. All the Fugue Mushrooms were Witch's anyway, and she wasn’t prone to sharing her things.

“Though you seem quite sociable.”

And there was that. Witch wasn’t sure if she should be offended or not. If this human meant it as a compliment, then it was offbeat one. For now, at least, Witch would take it as a compliment. It seemed as if only strange humans liked to wander into the forest, she thought absently.

“The Fugue Forest has plenty of mushrooms. I’m sure you’ll find more than enough to fill your greenhouse. And I don’t understand what you mean - ‘stick it to the man’ I’ve never heard of it. Is there a specific man? And why would you ‘stick it’ to him?” Witch did poke a man with a stick in recent memory, but she didn’t think that was what this human meant. Humans liked to sprout off weird phrases, didn’t they. “I live here because I like it here. And I’m not a hermit. I leave my house to travel from time to time. As much as I enjoy the forest, it becomes insufferably stuffy sometimes.”

Then it occurred to her: she invited this human into her home without so much as an introduction. Though this human hasn’t offered up her name either.

high priestess: do you pay more attention to your heart or your mind?

What a strange question. Heart or mind? Both things were inside her. It was best to listen to herself as a whole in her opinion. This must be something humans agonized over. She scoffed.

wheel of fortune: How’s your luck?

Her luck seemed to be particularly fickle. And she tried a great many things to change her luck for the better. She carried around a rabbit’s foot, hung horseshoes up, and performed a ritual every month. No matter what she did, nothing changed. Her luck didn’t seem bad, but it wasn’t good either. After seeing no change she gave up following superstitions and performing her monthly ritual.

knight of cups: The most supportive person in your life just now?

A human with pale hair immediately sprung to mind. He was certainly supportive in the physical sense; he assisted her back home, allowing her to lean on him. Despite barely knowing him, he seemed very cooperative. If she remembered correctly, his name was Mikhail and he was married to his violin.

Reina wasn’t prepared for a kind introduction. She had heard rumors of hermits loving out to remote locations and lashing out at people who visited. Especially people they think were “civilized” or too “on the grid” to understand nature. Perhaps Reina shouldn’t believe everything she read on the internet… especially about people.

“I’m certain I can find my way out, though I came for another matter.” Reina replied after the woman explained her situation. She seemed to have a light dusting of flour on her clothing and a particukar set of clothing to start with. In reality, she wasn’t able to put 2 and 2 together to recognize a witch when she saw one.

“A pie would be delightful, though I wouldn’t want to inconvenience you. Are you certain it would be okay for me to join?” Licorice asked, wanting to get confirmation before barging in to someone’s home.

“Oh, you’re certain you won’t get lost?” she muttered under her breath, raising an eyebrow. So, this was a confident human. The confident ones were usually the most entertaining. “Do come in! It’s not an inconvenience at all. I can make you some tea.” She opened the door wide and beckoned her in. Then Witch immediately went to find her tea. It was just a bag of unsorted loose leaves she stored in a cabinet. It smelled great in there.

“I have...” She shifted through her tea bag. “I have an assortment. Just tell me what flavors you like.” Witch found her kettle and put it on the fire without waiting for a confirmation that, yes, this human wanted tea. She just was getting overly excited because it wasn’t every day someone wanted to share a pie with her. Witch placed teacups on the table, one for her and one for her guest. She gestured to take a seat as she sat down herself.

hierophant: do you value tradition?

sun: do you believe optimism is always good? what do you have optimism in?

“Optimism is important for humans. Hopeless humans are rather depressing and…” Humans were best when they were full of hope and dreams. To be devoid of that was concerning, to say the least. “Humans deserve to be happy and optimistic all the time. Their lives are too short to be cynical and pessimistic. No, they should be carefree and fully enjoy the time they have left.”

“As for myself, well… Being optimistic is fine from time to time, but I find too much of it leads to unrealistic expectations.“ Optimism leads to hoping her friends won’t pass away from old age this time - that they’ll live as long as she has.

Forest Complications || Reina and Vivi

Reina heard about this forest not too long ago. It was said to be magical and host a wide variety of interesting plant species. Specifically a very potent, yet toxic, mushroom species.

While fungus technically were not plants, Reina considered them to be quite similar. Not only did plants and fungi tend to live in similar areas, then tended to benefit off one another in multiple ways. Several species of fungi lived directly in the roots of the plants and transported water and nutrients to the plant roots after extending their own. The plants provided them with sugars from photosynthesizing the nutrients afterwards. It was quite a symbiotic relationship.

These relationships drove Reina to understand fungus life just as much as plant life, as they seemed to be codependent at times. She entered the forest, paying little attention to where she was going, and only to finding the Fugue Mushrooms. She couldn’t find a single mushroom, but soon found herself in a swamp of sorts with a hut near by. She shrugged to herself and walked up to it, knocking on the door. Perhaps whoever lived here could tell her more?

She had just put a blackberry pie in the oven when she heard a knock on her door.

A knock on her door was a rarity. Witch didn’t have many visitors and she wasn’t expecting any company. It was good timing nonetheless; she would have someone to share this pie with now. Witch was planning on eating the whole by herself - sometimes she just craved blackberry pie - but sharing with someone was much more fun.

She hoped the visitor wasn’t just lost and needed help to leave the forest. They should stay for a slice of pie at least. If they didn’t, oh well, more pie for her. She brushed off some flour from her shorts and answered the door. Witch eyed the visitor up and down before giving them with a friendly smile.

“Are you lost? I’ve got a blackberry pie in the oven, so you’re going to have to wait until it’s done before I can help you leave the forest. But you’re welcome to have a piece when it’s finished.” She said.

fool: what’s the biggest risk you’ve ever taken?

“When you’ve lived as long as I have, risks become more like… cheap thrills. There’s not much that can hurt me, so I don’t really consider anything I do a risk… Huh.”

@downsouthpeaches

Bluebell was quaint.

The town was nice enough, she supposed. Castanet was nicer, but she lived there so the place was becoming stale. Witch wanted a change of scenery after feeling cramped in Fugue Forest. So she rode her broomstick to Bluebell. Breathing in new air was refreshing. She watched the townsfolk and enjoyed the breeze, feeling carefree. The town wasn’t incredibly interesting though. Isn’t there another town around here she can visit? Was it Konoha--

She caught sight of a sign. She read it over and over, unwilling to believe what she was reading. It seemed Bluebell was inhabited by cruel humans.

Cats, they were selling cats. What kind of hellish place was this? Cats were independent creatures; they choose their own humans. Offering them for sale was disgusting, as if cats would ever agree to such a thing. Dogs being sold was acceptable since they loved to serve humans. But cats were fickle, picky animals; they took their precious time choosing their person. Being sold to the highest bidder robbed them of that choice. Her mind was made up -- she was going to free these cats.

She stormed into the shop and marched up to the counter. She slammed her hands down onto the surface, eyes ablaze with rage.

It wasn’t often wanderlust got the best of her.

But when it did, she simply hopped on her broomstick and flew in one direction until the scenery became interesting. It had been a while since her last trip around the world. (Exact time since her last outing was unknown.) With her (outdated) map and her wits, she’d never get lost. She flew until she was tired of flying, then she landed.

She stood on a dirt road in unfamiliar territory. She honestly couldn’t remember if she had been here before. The land was ever changing, and stagnation leads to rot after all. Unsure of how far she was from Castanet, Witch took a look at her map. She squinted, and squinted, and squinted but she couldn’t make sense of her map. The scenery didn’t match the map at all! Did she fly beyond her map? What a conundrum. But she wasn’t lost -- at least not yet.

Fortunately for her, she could see someone approaching down the road. She perked up and waved to them wildly, broom in hand.