Ooh, Fishies~ [Dreamer ^^]

Willow skipped into the Aquarium, still enjoying her first impression of Foresta. Although her element was earth, she did enjoy swimming and fish were one of her favorite animals. She peered into one of the tanks where an octopus rested. It seemed to glare at Willow and she blew a raspberry at it. She continued on, looking into different tanks and occasionally touching a few that had "Touch Tank" clearly labeled on it.

After a few minutes, she came upon a yellow cow fish. Willow giggled at it's funny face and shape-it looked like an origami box. She made funny faces at the fish, trying to mimic it's box-like shape. The fish, of course, just sat there. Willow was so enthralled at the sight of it that she didn't notice another occupant enter the room and start browsing around, just as she had done.

Dreamer walked into the aquarium wearing a yellow sleeve-less dress shirt, tan cargo shorts, and sandals. He looked like he was off to visit a beach, not an aquarium. The odd part of his attire though was what he was holding in his right hand, a fishing pole. It wasn't a technological one, it looked like an old hand-me-down.

He walked in the aquarium and approached a nearby tank, totaly oblivious to the other person in the room. He started to whistle a tune as he checked his rod and prepared to throw the hook into the large tank.

Willow glanced up at the other strange occupant and looked back down at the cow fish, not really acknowledging his presence. However, her vague smile froze as she realized what the brown-haired boy (girl?) was carrying. She slowly lifted her head and saw him about to throw a hook-attached to a fishing rod, of all things-into a tank with some "plainer" fish. Willow's eyes narrowed, and she walked over gracefully with the intention of thwarting his ludicrous plan.

"Excuse me," she said stiffly yet diplomatically, "I don't believe the Aquarium is the proper place to-" Willow paused, about to say "savagely murder fish", but she figured that wasn't the best idea. "Er...fish," she finished lamely. Willow winced-she was an eloquent person, but sometimes her passion for all living creatures and her urge to be diplomatic clashed. The fact that this was about the fourth person she had encountered in her life didn't exactly help the situation. Nevertheless, she stared impassively at the boy-thankfully, he wasn't one of those six-foot-monsters and was about the same height as Willow.

{Heh, I just realized that both of these guys grew up in forests and both are at least somewhat Chinese ^^}

"Excuse me,I don't believe the Aquarium is the proper place to"

Dreamer turned to look at a girl speaking to him. She had gray-green hair hanging down in two ponytails, hiding her face. She wore a green and white dress, which was adorable for her figure. All in all, in his first eight second impression, she was quiet beautiful.


"Er...fish"

She finished her sentence and dreamer just kept on smiling, and without missing a beat he asked curiously "Why?". He didn't understand, there were fish in this room. To Dreamer, Fish equaled food, very delicious and mouth watering food.

Willow clenched her teeth. Were all humans this ignorant and...silly? The fact that he was checking her out didn't improve her opinion of the species homo sapiens. Still, she figured that she might as well explain to him why fishing rods weren't allowed in an Aquarium. "All right," she began. "From where you come from-wherever that may be-you might be able to fish wherever you want. However, most of the world have these places called 'aquariums', housing rare or special fishes," Willow had switched over into her rant mode, something that made the majority of the trees at home cower in terror.

"The facility that controls these aquariums sometimes pay hundreds of dollars to maintain these fishie's homes," she rambled on. "You can't just walk in and take your pick of puffer fish and angel fish-which, by the way, I don't think you want to eat." Willow's eyes flamed and she finally stopped her speech. "Get it know?" she asked the strange boy.

Dreamer was caught off guard as he listened to the girl talk, and talk, and talk, and then she talked some more. Dreamer didnt know if he should back away slowly, as you had to do sometimes with predators, or if he should smile and nod.

Now he understood why his grandfather was so quiet

"You sound.." Dreamer thought for a minute before shrugging and saying, "Like the trees". It was weird how much she related to the trees that his grandfather always spoke to. He almost shook his head, but figured that would be a bad idea. He sighed and let his shoulders droop.

"Darn" he said

Willow blinked, a little bit confused at the boy's response. Like the trees? Well, yes, I suppose so, but... Willow's thoughts trailed off. Nevertheless, she was a rather good-humored person, and cracked a grin at the boy who somehow seemed to be sadder than when he had come in. "Yeah, I guess it comes from living with them," Willow laughed, a light, musical sound.

She didn't elaborate. Willow wasn't planning to, unless the boy outright asked-a very rude move on his part. "Anyways, sorry for the rude introduction-I'm Willow, by the way," she added, sticking her hand out. "You?"

Dreamer lite up and smiled, taking her hand in his and shaking it. "Willow...Like the tree!" he connected the dots rather quicklly on that one, "My name is Dreamer". His real name was Jasen, but he found it was easier to introduce himself as the name he wished to be called.

"You lived in a Forest!" he was excited, he had found someone who might just be like him. He himself had lived in a forest, and he had found a companion that acted much similar to him, but could not relate any further. Will Willow though, he had a chance to connect with someone else.

"Willow...like the tree!" the boy said with mounting excitement. Willow laughed again. Dreamer was an interesting name, though not exactly a common one. However, her grin faltered a bit when Dreamer mentioned the forest. "Um...yes, I did live in a forest," she said warily. "In fact, I can communicate with nature. The trees were the my parents and the bushes my playmates-" Willow stopped abruptly.

In the next few seconds, she found tears streaming down her cheeks. Willow angrily wiped them away-though she was, by nature, a sweet person, she still felt her pride something important to defend. "Eh-hic-sorry, just sorta-hic-spaced out there," Willow offered Dreamer a trembling smile, then wiped her eyes again, swearing at herself for being so easy to cry that day.

"She can communicate with nature to, Awesome!"

Dreamers thoughts got him carried away and he said, "You to!" he smiled. This girl made him feel more at home, or at least, where he spent his childhood. The forest had always been a place of peace for him, and he missed it dearly. His grandfather too, which this girl seemed only slightly like.

Then she started to cry for a minute, and Dreamer was stunned. When she finished she said, "Eh-hic-sorry, just sorta-hic-spaced out there,", but she still seemed a bit upset.

Sp more like on instinct, Dreamer pulled her into an embrace. He did what his grandfather would do when Dreamer was a youngster, he comforted her.

"Don't worry, don't worry, its ok" he said softly, trying to make her feel better.

Willow stood motionless, stunned for a minute. Her next instinct was to push the Dreamer away, yell at him for being some sort of crazy perv and break every bone in his body, but she trusted her gut and her gut told her that he only meant well. "Eh~thanks," she said, embarrassed. Suddenly, Willow's brain processed what Dreamer had just said. "Wait..." she said slowly. "You also lived in a forest?" she asked in surprise.

Although she figured there were going to be many interesting characters she would meet during her time at Foresta, Willow never dreamed that she would be able to meet someone who's living conditions were the same as hers-and on the first day! A grin spread across Willow's face. You too. Those were the words he had said, and unless he was just psycho, Willow had found a (potential) friend who had possibly grown up in the same environment as she had.

Dreamer brightened as he stood back from Willow and let his smile widen. "Yea! With my grandfather" he said, "He was really...the only person i had". For some reason he felt a little embarrassed by that and his cheeks got a little red.

That passed though and he said, cheeks not perfectly tan, "You kind of remind me of him, he could speak to the trees too". He looked at her, her smile, and was happy that he did that. Dreamer liked making people happy, it was a good thing to do.

Willow's eyes softened at the mention of his grandfather-evidently the only person he had. She nodded sympathetically, knowing what it was like. However, she grinned broadly and her eyes widened when he told her of his grandpa's powers. "Really?" she asked, delighted. "I've never heard of someone who has the same power as me-it's cool to think that someone can also be so in touch with nature,"

Willow grinned at Dreamer. "C'mon, let's look at some of the other fishies..." And with that, she grabbed Dreamer's hand and, snatching the fishing rod away from him, led him to the cowfish. "It's so cute!" she crooned, making funny faces at it. It blew bubbles back at her. She grinned, and had a sudden stroke of inspiration. With deft, quick movements, she pulled a piece of paper out from her book bag and folded it into the shape of an origami balloon. Willow held it up to the cowfish, giggling at the similarity.

Dreamer willingly relinquished the fishing rod to willow as she pulled him to look at a strange yellow fish. It was fat and yellow, not a common color he saw out in the forest. Its actions though, like blowing bubbles, seemed to stir Willow into a state of giddiness.

Willow then pulled out a piece of paper and started to fold. He looked at the paper questionably, not seeing the point of the many folds. It was when she was finished that he saw the purpose, it did look like the fish they were looking at.

Dreamer chuckled as he saw the comparison of the two, fish and balloon.

Willow stared at the "fishie" a while longer. Then she looked up. "So..." she started awkwardly, not wanting Dreamer (who was surprisingly good company) to leave, but not knowing what to ask. "Um...what's your power?" she asked, struck by inspiration. "I can talk to trees...and plants...oh yeah, and I can fly-" Willow's wings sprung out and she grinned, a tad bit sheepishly. "That's sort of annoying because I have to cut a hole in all of my clothes, but it's SO worth it." she grinned at Dreamer.

"And what's your past-" Willow blurted the question out before she could stop herself and winced and ducked her head, looking down at her feet. That was awkward in a huge way, and considering the fact that she wouldn't want to be asked that, and that Dreamer had commented sadly before, it was doubly-no, triply-rude. "Um...sorry..." she mumbled quietly. "You don't have to answer that question," she said, looking apologetically up at Dreamer.