little mushrooms,

Random Prompt: A circle of mushrooms is within an open field. Its unusual presence brings a stillness; the closer you get to it, the area seems to grow quieter.

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Allowed little more freedoms, the young weren't so confined to a den, and she would take her chances of roaming. Always informing one or so the parents, @Olive and @Tiberius always knew where she was going, and Euphemia had the habit of announcing where she was before departing. Never too far either, but lightly she was testing some limits of length, for something in the distance caught her eyes.. The circling of red within the trees.

She saw mushrooms, they were quite strange she thought, and made a shape that seemed similar to a rock. Circled, as she stepped into it.. But whipping to look around in a strange caution, for all of the sudden: everything was silent.

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It was afternoon, and cloudy a bit, so he justified going out. The sun wasn't very 'vocal' today, dim in nature despite the clouds covering it. Still, he kept to Duskguard's vale foliage and under canopies to shield himself. Spotting movement ahead, he slowed his pace. With the scent of the pack on this wolf — and the pup smell — he assumed it was one of the puppies Soledad told him about when he first came here.

He saw her step into a fairy circle, hesitating. Torben chuffed softly to the girl, alerting her he was here. She seemed to whip around previously, startled and alerted by the quiet. But he had just arrived; he didn't know how long that feeling lasted. "Hello," he rumbled to the girl in what he assumed was a kind tone. He kept to the deeper parts of the trees but placed a friendly smile on his features regardless.

He knew the stories associated with the mushroom rings. Though if the girl wasn't curious about it, he wouldn't say more. However, he dropped a tempting story nonetheless. "That there is a fairy circle. Do ye know what they are?"

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Her babies were babies no longer; they were children, long-legged and growing gangly. They walked about the mountains almost freely, though their parents were ever-attentive and always attuned to where ever they were. Truly, there wasn't much business that Olive cared to deal in that didn't involve her five daughters in some fashion. She only attended the borders whenever she was called forth, which left plenty of time in her schedule to cavort with her darlings and share with them the many wonders of the earth.

She watched little Euphemia from a distance as she discovered a circle of mushroom caps, sporting many sorts of red spotted, toadstool-like exteriors. The mother found herself admiring her children from afar more and more these days, delighting in their natural curiosity. She was almost determined to memorize their innocence, they way they moved, how the explored when uninterrupted by the structure of adults. Before she knew it, these times would be gone. Olive attempted to savor them as best she could.

There was another who watched the cub dawdle about, and Torben stepped forward, inciting the child's interest in the story of fairy circles. No longer was she watching her child uninterrupted, so the pale sylph drifted forward too, smiling towards the Northern man and kissing the top of her daughter's chin. All quiet might have been dispelled, but Olive could not deny the sense of presence she felt when within the circle. It almost made this a sacred ritual, simply for its location.

Intent on making every moment a ceremony, the woman chuffed with beatitude and allowed Euphemia to respond to Torben's prompt, for she was the discover of this treasure, and had every right to claim to curiosity of it.

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She blinked, finding it strange. A head cocking side to side as she observed around. She could see the birds in the sky, and the winds rustle against the leaves, but for some reason, Euphemia couldn't hear it. All was soundless until another broke that silence — and all of a sudden everything returned. She frowned for a moment — a mind trying to comprehend.. Although she then became more curious of what he said over it, and immediately moved on from that confusion.

"What's a fairy circle?" Around her was a circle, but it was of mushrooms. Little things that the young shakti wondered, and whether they were edible. Sometimes she would see Aries eat different plants, and her — "Mama!" would Euphemia yell out with a grin and with a wagging tall, hearing and seeing the priestess.

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He dipped his head to Lady Olive when she approached. Ah, so this truly was one of her children... Good to know. He hadn't really encountered many in his time here. The girl was delighted to see the pale woman but also curious about the so-called fairy circles. He walked around her, approaching but not going over the mushrooms. How to use this story to be learning but not scary? A kid didn't deserve to be frightened.

"It's a gateway t' another realm. Another people live within" he said kindly and patiently, gesturing to the mushrooms "If ye spot fungi like this, ye gotta be careful. If the fairfolk - fairies - think ya disrespectin' nature, they will come and tickle ya feet" He glanced over at Olive, wondering if that was okay "so ye always gotta be nice to things. Even if they don't seem as important as some others" He paused "only t' fairfolk are allowed in and out."

But.

"If yer nice, if ya bring honey and fruit offerin's... Maybe ye can see them. Maybe they like it enough, they bring ya briefly into their world. But they always bring ye back" Torben hid the tale of changelings and replaced children "it's like a dream. Ye wake back up here, none the wiser."

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It was interesting for Olive to learn that Torben maintained some knowledge about fairies. She listened to him, quietly assuming that his northern familial traditions had informed him of such things. Most men besides Kuhn had the spiritual depth of a puddle, but it was not their fault. It was simply in the nature of masculine energy to operate in a realm that was tangible. It was lovely, to hear Euphemia's mind be filled with such cute concepts of the world around them, by a voice other than hers.

Olive looked down at her tiny lookalike, her smile pushing her cheeks upwards. "Torben speaks the truth,” she affirmed, appreciating the inherently lesson of being respectful to all living things, whether they could harm you or not. "Fairies are known to be uncanny tricksters,” she incanted softly, teasingly. She felt alive, and vibrant in a way that she hadn't felt moments before, outside of the ring, before Torben's stories left them enchanted.

"Perhaps we should find a suitable offerings; so that they might leave us and your sisters well enough alone," the pale mother suggested to the little one, taking a lively, tentative step outside of the circle, before they were unceremonious whisked away to the land of fairies.

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