Picking the Weeds - The Plague 1/5 (Kath-Lucia)

Lucia, the young spirit of the forests, was often a curious spirit who spent her days playing with the animals of the forests and making mischief for the locals next to the town. In her natural form, she took on the look of a young adult fox. Because she was a spirit of the forest she could sense when aught was amiss within the realm of nature. Lucia walked through the grasslands, looking around for a specific place. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath in. She felt the nature around her glimmering in the sunlight, the morning dew shining off the plants. It was truly a beautiful day.

After about an hour of walking through the hilly grasslands, she reached a large bean stalk. This was surely where she felt something amiss but at first glance she couldn't really see anything wrong. The beanstalk village was one of the oldest villages in Fiore and being built into and on a beanstalk made people truly wonder the power that nature had in this land.

As she entered the village people seemed to give her strange looks. She often winked at them, unaware that people normally didn't see creatures with nine tails walking on two legs with human-like qualities. People seemed to live in tents around this village and in the center of town held a request board that caught the spirits eye when she walked past it. Taking a few steps back she leaned forward, noticing a few fliers posted about a strange plant that is causing the village troubles. "Hmmm..." she hummed to herself as she took one and read it "Look's like I found the right place. The herbalist would probably know more about this strange plant." she said as she stared at the flier intensely.

 

The spirits eyes lifted off of the paper quickly and looked at the girl before her with an almost cat-like curiosity. She tilted her head for a second while gathering in the girls question about teamwork. Before answering she would answer, Lucia would walk around the girl, looking her up and down as if she were examining her for a science project. She picked up the girls hair and sniffed it, letting the scent of her hair pour into her nose. With a sigh she turned away from the girl to think "She's not exactly big enough in those area's for me to feed off of... It's kind of cute how little they are." she snickered to herself out loud "and she doesn't smell like someone who would cause trouble to our arboreal friends." she thought again before turning around on her heels and smiling at the girl in front of her "I accept!" she said in a more cheerful tone.

She looked at the paper again "Alright, it says here that the herbalist will have more details about this plant so I think we should be on our way!" she said as she turned on her heals once more and started to head towards the location stated on the flier.  

She didn't really pay any attention to see if the girl was following her or not as her main focus was figuring out what was wrong in the Beanstalk Village. After a few minuets of walking across the town she came face to face with a tent. Her ruby eyes looked down at the paper once more "This is the correct place." she said simply as she walked into the tent.

Inside, an older man with a cane was messing with some jars full of dirt and plants. "Hello Mr. Herbalist!" she said it loud enough to seemingly make the old man almost have a heart attack. The reaction she got made her giggle a little bit "Oops, sorry." she shrugged "I saw this flier about the strange plant. I would like more details and hopefully get rid of this problem for you." she bowed a little bit, showing a bit more respect and courtesy than she did before.

The herbalist looked at her almost dumbfounded before coughing a correcting himself "U-Uhm Yes I do. This plant has been plaguing our town for a while now and it's becoming quite the nuisance to our peaceful town." The man spoke with seriousness. "What do you mean?" Lucia tilted her head. The man walked over to his table and pulled out a small list of names "The people who touch this plant get stung and seem to end up in the hospital for a few days at a time, for the protection of the people and the advancement of my research I would like you to go cut these plants down and bring them to me." he handed the spirit a map of the town and circled an area "This is where the group of plants are. Please hurry back." he said as he placed the map, two pairs of gloves, and a cloth pouch into the spirits hands. Rose nodded to the man and turned around "Alright! Lets go cut some grass!" she exclaimed and she marched out of the tent and started to head off in the direction of the plants.
 

Lucia's lifted her eye brows a bit when she saw the girls magic being used "A fire mage huh?" Lucia cocked her head and winked at her "That's pretty hot~" she giggled "Pun intended!" she burst out into laughter. After a few seconds she died down and sighed, seeing that Kath had already pulled out her plant and becoming a little bit embarrassed "I guess I should finish up here then." she grinned and clapped her hands together a few times.

Placing her palm out in front of her she closed one eye and aimed for one of the plants "Lets hope that this is enough..." she muttered as she stuck her tongue out, trying to get a more precise aim. Using Exploding Shot she would shoot four balls of fire out of her hands. They zoomed towards the plants, hitting all but the biggest one and exploding, turning them into ash.

She huffed a little bit "Awe man, I was hoping that they would put up a bit more of a fight." she glanced back at the other fire mage, as if wanting a response. She would stare for a good three seconds before turning back towards the largest of the plants and walking over to it. She crouched down and examined it closely "Whats up with you little guy?..." she thought to herself, never seeing a plant quite like this before.

With careful concentration she would do the same as the girl, pull her sleeve down and tug at the stem of the purple plant. It took a small amount of strength, this one seeming tougher than the others. Eventually though she was able to pull in out, falling onto her butt in the process. She then opened up the bag that the herbalist gave them and placed the plant in it carefully.

She stood up, dusting herself off before letting out a sigh and looking up at the girl with a genuine grin. She skipped over to the fire mage and held the bag open, offering her to put her plant in. "You know, from what I have seen you're really good at controlling your magic. I would like to see more of it sometime if you don't mind." She smiled at the girl, an almost glimmer in her red eyes. "Oh yeah, the names Lucia."
 

Lucia gave Kathrine another friendly smile as she responded with her name. She stayed like this for a second before snapping out of it "Well, I suppose all that's left to do now is turn these plants over to the herbalist and get on our way." She nodded as she started to walk towards the herbalist's house, this time going a bit slower than before so that Kathrine might be able to keep up with her.

As they were walking this time however, Lucia would try to keep a little bit of a conversation "So, uhm..." She began, noticeably a bit more hesitant with her words "I don't know how long you plan on staying in this town but... I was thinking-" Her words were riddled with space in between them, struggling to get them out at this point "If you maybe wanted to get something to eat with me tomorrow, there has to be some place or bar around this small town..." she didn't make eye contact with the other girl as she spoke, her face contorted in a very serious, thoughtful expression.

When they got to the herbalists house he met them outside. Lucia handed him the bag and bowed her head "We got the job done, those plant's shouldn't bother you anymore." she smiled at the man "Oh, I'm planning on staying here for a few days, so if you need anything just let me know." she glanced over at Kath for acknowledgment then back at the old man. The herbalist nodded "Thank you." he took the bag and with that went back in to study the plants.

Lucia watched him and laughed a little "Huh... weird man." she said as she turned towards Kathrine and bowed again "Well, I think we should be on our ways." she said with a grin as she held out her hand for a few moments before nodded and walking off. As she walked away she closed her eyes for a second before opening them towards the sky "I finally made a friend mother..." she muttered with a soft smile as she walked back off into the town.