A Little Mock Adventure (Lilly)

I took a deep breath and closed my eyes. It was rare for me to have time to come out to places like this. The sound of nature filled my ears as I sat on the top of a grassy hill, overlooking an open plain rimmed by forest on all sides. Sometimes I liked to come out here and just explore, go off in any direction on my own little adventure. However, every time I came out here there seemed to be a looming sense of emptiness.

It was as if my body knew this place, but it knew it so well that it could tell that it was fake. Something about the breeze didn't smell quite right, the dirt beneath my feet didn't feel like its supposed to, and the texture of the grass I was sitting on was a bit too comfortable. However, I don't remember going to a forest other than this one. This place made me feel at ease but also brought its own unease with it.

I decided to pull out my notebook and read through the entries I had made so far. It was fun to revisit past situations and meetings, the writing kept the memories fresh and brought back details that I couldn't have remembered on my own. However, more and more I felt that the book wasn't enough. There was a hunger within me, to see more and to learn more. I knew what it was I wanted but also knew that it was unrealistic. Laying down on the hill I looked towards the ceiling of the biodome, "I want to go on one... A real adventure."

The forest was always such a beautiful place to be, even more so in contrast to the claustrophobic narrow halls of most of the rest of Junction. It just always felt so much more open and free. The air was fresher, the sounds of wildlife was peaceful, everything about it just helped Lilly relax. She loved the feeling of the grass between her toes, it reminded her of back home. The whole bio-dome in general reminded her kinda of home. Sure it wasn't exactly the same, not even close really, but it was still the closest thing Junction had so she still admired the place for that reason.

There were trees off in the distance, a vast open field of grass in front of her and a few small hilled areas around her. There was no where to go, yet everywhere to explore. "I always wondered how they managed to make this place grow life in the way it has..." The young girl would think out loud to herself, walking along the grass, following no set path and with no specific destination in mind. "They managed to make the breeze feel so real... I love it here."

As I continued to lounge around I spotted a figure in the distance. Grabbing my goggles, I put them on max magnification and helped identify that it seemed to be someone of shorter stature... and are those ears? I was immediately excited at the prospect of talking to another strange denizen of Junction and extended my arms upwards in a friendly wave. "Looks like I'm not the only explorer out in these parts!"

In hindsight, I wasn't really in the proper attire to greet people. The trek here has made my already dirty work clothes even dirtier. My boots were pretty muddy as unlike other people, I strayed off the path and made a straight beeline for this area. It was always nice to have company though, something to distract me from wayward thoughts.

"H-huh?" Jumping slightly at the unexpected greeting, Lilly would look around for the owner of the voice, her face blushing lightly at how easily startled she got. She wasn't expecting the sudden voice, she knew other people came here but she didn't see anyone in the open field. It was just a bit of a shock was all. Instinctively she'd wave back as to not to be rude. She wasn't entirely sure if the guy meant that as an invitation to go speak to him or was just making idle comments from seeing another person wandering around. Though, she was heading in his rough direction prior anyway, so hesitantly she decided to walk towards the guy.

"Hello." She'd greet the man sheepishly. "Enjoying the peace of this place like I am?" She'd inquire, unsure of what else to really say in the situation. Honestly she was just worried that she was ruining his peace. Didn't want to be a bother after all, though he did speak up first so she assumed he didn't mind all that much...

"Yeah, this place is... nice?" I say, a bit hesitant as I grab a handful of grass and let it blow away in the wind. There was no use worrying about stuff like that right now. "But it's a bit lonely if you stay too long," I say with an encouraging smile. I didn't expect her to be startled so easily by my greeting, from the looks of her I've never seen someone of her kind around before.

I extend my hand in greeting, "I just got off from work and had a bit of free time on my hands but wanted to explore a little bit. I don't think we've met before, my name's Nagami."

Lilly would smile gently. "Yeah, it's... Never nice to be lonely. It'd good to have someone to talk to and someone to share things with." She'd agree with a light nod of her head, clasping her paws together and swaying slightly unsure of what to do with her hands whilst speaking. Though, he then offered her a use of her hand. "Nice to meet you Nagami. My names Lilly." She'd reply in a more calmed and polite tone, accepting the handshake. "I'm down here whilst I'm off of my duties as well, don't get a lot of days where I'm completely off work so I'm making the most of it whilst I can."

Hm... Was this guy one of those humans, or one of those people who looked very human like but were different in some way. She hated to ask. No matter how she thought about wording it, it always came across as just a plain rude question to ask. Regardless, she did find it odd how many people around this city did have those similarities. She wasn't entirely sure if she liked being more unique or not than most people. Not like she was the only unique person though, so it wasn't... Too bad?

"Say if you don't mind me asking, where are you from? I don't think I've seen anyone around here like you." I ask, getting a pen out from my notebook. She seemed nice, her personality matching her appearance and stature. You could never really judge on looks here though. Either way, it was always exciting to talk to someone new. I wonder what kind of tale will I get to write about today?

Although it seems that my walk here still left me with a reasonable amount of energy. That and my itch for adventure had gotten me in a bit of an active mood. I took one of the wild dandelions and blew on it, watching as the seeds cascaded down the hill. Maybe my conversation with Lilly would be enough to keep me still.

"Hm...?" The girls head would tilt slightly at the sight of the notebook and pen the man was holding as he asked her where she was from, though she wasn't surprised he hadn't seen anyone like her before... She hadn't seen anyone from her home world here in the entire year she'd been stuck here now. "I, uhm, I'm from a world known as Kurame. It was a world filled with, well, giants." She'd say, not being able to help nervously laughing at how silly that sounded with how short she herself was. "M-most of the creatures there were giants anyway... Only my race were exceptionally small in comparison." She'd admit to clear up any confusion her first statement may of made.

She'd think on something for a moment, realizing that this was a perfect opportunity to ask about who he was too without sounding rude or intrusive. "W-what about you? Where did you come from?"

I couldn't help but chuckle, "Lilly, the small bunny from Kurame, land of the giants." I narrate as I wrote. "I hope you don't mind, I'm interested in the people in Junction and I write about them in my notebook to document my encounters." I didn't want to keep what I was doing secret, whatever entry I wrote I wanted the person to be comfortable with it.

As she asked me her question I froze a little bit. This was the double edged sword about my curiosity, they would inevitably ask me the same thing in return. However, I didn't feel comfortable about the idea of me lying about my situation. I did it with Ace and I still felt guilty. "Hmmm, where did I come from..." I say, stroking my chin with my hand, holding my pen in between two of my fingers while doing so. Getting up I began to stretch,"How about this Lilly, if you can find me in a game of hide and seek I'll tell you. It can be a fun little game we can both play." It was a bit of a gamble but at least it would stall for a while.

"You write about the random people you meet?" Lilly would question curiously. "How many different entries do you have written down?" She wasn't sure if that was asking a little too much, yet she couldn't stop her curiosity from just asking anyway. The girl would giggle embarrassedly though as she thought about what he'd called her. She'd seen something called a bunny somewhere around Junction before, she didn't think it was quite one hundred percent accurate but it was still kinda a cute way to resemble herself as something he probably knew more about. "H-heh... My species are known as Jurnils. We didn't have anything called bunnies back where I'm from."

Lilly was a little confused at first how the man seemed to try and avoid her question, though she was still very young and could be quite childish at heart, so the offer of playing a game caught her interest slightly. Even if it was quite a random spontaneous thing to ask. "W-we can if you want to. Though, I dunno if it'll be fair, I, uh, tend to be better at listening out for where people go even if I'm not looking than most people." She'd say with a light smile, she didn't want to lie to him and say it'd be completely fair after all. There was no fun in cheating.

"That's a good question actually, I don't think I've ever tried to count before. However, I can tell you that I started the notebook about 2 years ago." I tell her, the thought of the sheer number of entries did interest me. The truth was that the time I began writing was around the time the Old Man passed on. "But the name of your kind is Jurnils huh? Time to make that revision" I say, frantically scribbling out the word rabbit and replacing it with the proper term.

"No, it's fine, besides I'm secretly a master at hide and seek" I say playfully. I couldn't back down now or it would seem weird. But the fact that she had good hearing would be a bit troublesome. Even with that being the case this did get me on my feet and I could probably work off some of that energy I had built up. "I get 20 seconds to hide somewhere in this open plain, afterward you can come look for me. If you can't find me after 5 minutes I win! Sound good?"

"Two whole years...?" That prospect of time to be writing down notes about different people seemed huge to the young girl, her kind maturing at a much faster rate than most and he only being alive for five years now... It just seemed like an extremely long time to her. Though she knew it wasn't for some people... "Why did you start? U-uh... Start writing down stuff about people, I mean?" She'd question, stumbling over her own words to try and make herself clear in what she was trying to say whilst staying polite. Which was really difficult sometimes.

"Hehe, if you say so. Though only twenty seconds to hide in the open? Surely..." Lilly thought that it'd be impossible to hide somewhere where she couldn't find them in five minutes when there was nothing but open fields around them. Unless, he could turn invisible or something... Lots of people had weird powers, maybe the trick was that was his? I mean, she had her own unique gift of her own so it wasn't like it was rare to see others with different things. "Hm... Well, okay. I'll start counting." She'd say with a light nod, turning around to no look where he was going and starting to count up from one to twenty.

"Oh you know memory fades with time and it's a way for me to remember clearly the encounters I've had years into the future," I could go on a whole tangent about why I wrote but there was a game to win. Her hearing really was going to be a big problem for me, so I decided to try and be clever. I threw a rock into the tree on the hill, and just as I had hoped, disturbed some birds that were nesting there. As they frantically flew away I began to sprint down the hill, when I reached the bottom I took off my boots and threw them to the left as I went right. Slowly but surely as the time ticked down I did a full circle around to the back of the hill. I would usually try and cover myself but that would make too much noise so I slowly laid down as my time hit zero.

As she counted the numbers up in her head. Lilly would listen to what was going on around her, a single thud followed by the sound of birds... Another pair of thuds and the partings of grass circling round. She'd stop counting once she got to twenty and turn around, she was already at the top of the hill so it was a pretty good vantage point to use in the early stage. She'd look over to where she had heard the birds fly off, though there wasn't any sound heading that way except the one thud... So that one confused her, plus the grass hadn't been disturbed in that direction. Looking down the hill towards the second pair of thuds, she could see that there was definitely patches of the grass that had been recently flattened that way. Yet, she'd walked up from down there to begin with so it could of been her own steps. Plus the sudden thuds... They sounded like something dropping, like as if he jumped off a ledge and landed somewhat further down, but there was nowhere that matched that description... Was he just trying to throw her off?

Now, most people in hide and seek would then start to go looking. Yet with no clear places that could be considered hiding spots, it'd be difficult to search the entire field for someone lying down. Instead she'd close her eyes to sharpen her senses further, he said five minutes, right? He'd have to move or make some kind of sound eventually. Regardless it was still worth trying for the moment.

I was lying face down, with my head resting on my forearms which were planted on the earth. This way no stray insect or fodder could land on my face. The true test was the slow passage of time as well as my own endurance. It was pretty hot out today, and I already felt my skin begin to prickle as I hunkered down in my spot. The game had just started, I couldn't go down without a fight.

As I laid there in the grass it was a war of attrition in my head. The wrong move to make here was to actually hold my breath. When I do eventually run out of the air, the sudden intake would alert Lilly and reveal my location. So instead I had to breath shallow, slow and short breaths in an out. Keeping completely still was another virtue, bugs could crawl on my body, and there was already an itch in my calf. However, I was determined to not have to reveal my past. If there were any disturbances I could still hope that the sound moving around the hill would be muffled enough not to reveal too much. At least I think that's how sound works, either way, my choice had already been locked in.