Hibernation interrupted? OTA

[rhiaofdruma]

🧙 WHO: Rhia and anyone out and about in the winter woods?
⚔️️ WHAT: Rhia hunting for berries.
🕒 WHEN: End of January into February.
🗺️ WHERE: Anywhere wooded
⚠️ WARNINGS: Possible angst? Some matter of factness about life and death. Possible additional warning for a mood altering fruit if she shares it this log.





For those few who had met Rhia already, they might have noticed that she hadn't been seen much of late. While she knew that there were places for the humans in the buildings - and even with her white wings, pointed ears, and clothes that brightened and dimmed with her own life force, she considered herself human most of the time - she never much cared for spending so much time inside walls. Without having to stay there to watch over her brother or an orphan, or anyone else she cared for, she preferred to sleep away from the nests that humans built. So she'd been finding burrows and hidey holes within the woods. She might have spent a week curled up with a family of bears, or inside of exceptionally large boles with squirrels or even just in the branches of various coniferous trees where her outfit of green leaves and vines and bark brown skin made her all but invisible.

But some days the stars were too pretty to ignore and she'd find a rock in a clearing or the roof of a building to lay out on under a blanket of woven plant leavings, shivering but happily watching the constellations. Or she'd be out by day stepping light as a fawn as she hunted any bushes that still had berries to yield. Or if she saw someone too much like her brother that needed pouncing - which was mostly be Sokka at this point - she might pounce him from the trees. To others she might be noticed only as a sense of being watched while out among the trees. But if you are attempting to harm a living tree, beware, for she will try and stop you....

Comments

[phoenixwiz]

“Oh Rhia, hi! Nice to see you again,” Harry waves back at her from his position with Rose squeaking happily and bouncing up and down from sitting on Harry’s right shoulder.

“Erm, it must be the weather making my cheeks red like a tomato today: I didn’t expect the winds to be this chilly today,” he admits to her while scratching his head with his right hand.

[rhiaofdruma]

"Or you're thinking of someone?" she teased. "Who is she?"

[phoenixwiz]

Rhia surely must be onto something because her question has Harry both laughing and baffled at the same time. Hopefully she doesn’t mind hearing his awkward story with Ginny lately because what he did to their relationship is very stupid on his part and he worries that Ginny might not forgive him for it.

“Oh, maybe I was probably thinking of my ex back home,” he replies nervously, “Her name is Ginny Weasley, and she’s my best friend Ron’s little sister, she is a year younger than me and him. We used to go to the same school together and in the same school house. Now, the two of us once dated each other after dating other people in my Sixth Year, but I had to break up with her before I went on this treasure destroying quest with her brother and our friend for her safety, but she got mad at me because I didn’t told her about it in the first place before I left.”

[rhiaofdruma]

"Treasure destroying? Don't people go seeking to find and collect treasures or to use them, rather than destroying them?"

For a moment her smile faded as her hand went to the vines on her belt that once held the Orb of Fire. That treasure had been destroyed. They were all gone now. All the treasures of the land she was born to. The only world she'd known before Avalon, save for in stories. The Orb had been in her keeping when it shattered. She knew it was not her fault, but she mourned with her world for its loss.

[phoenixwiz]

“Well, this is a really long and weird story about the treasures I was hunting, but someone from my world didn’t like the idea of dying and tried to live forever. So he decided to steal some treasures and insert parts of his soul onto each item called Horcruxes so he could be able to live forever. That’s considered a bad thing to do in my world as splintering the soul into parts leaves it really vulnerable to damage,” he explains himself to a concerned Rhia, “He even turned his snake into a Horcrux as well.”

Now he isn’t sure if mentioning being once a Horcrux will do any good, but he decides maybe it’s not the right time to mention it for now.

[rhiaofdruma]

She frowned a bit. "I don't think anyone would like the idea of dying, but that's just part of nature. We all try to fight it, if it feels too soon, and that's part of nature too... but if you have a soul and you break it up, isn't that already like dying?"

Though she was in an odd position, because part of her soul technically did break off and attach to someone else, but that was because she had died. And most of being alive was better than not being alive at all. Besides, it did Merlin good to never be fully alone.

[phoenixwiz]

He nods in return, agreeing with Rhia that Death is a part of life no matter how hard one tries to avoid it in the long run. It did nothing for Voldemort in the end as each Horcrux was destroyed with each piece of soul, including one that was inside him. Accepting Death like a friend and as a part of life and nature is what gave Harry the title of the Master of Death after holding onto the Deathly Hallows.

“It can definitely count as dying since that procedure used to make those soul pieces is dangerous and it does a number on the soul,” Harry replies as he readjusts his scarf around his neck.

[rhiaofdruma]

"Then that reminds me of a squirrel trying to dig up nuts on the frozen river," she said making a face. "And all this is too serious for a cool winter day like today. A shame you don't have any way to come flying with us." Because more than anything she wanted to fly away from these grim thoughts.

[phoenixwiz]

“Okay, that’s understandable, maybe we can change topics if that’s okay with you,” Harry is hoping not to talk too much about Horcruxes and death for now, his eyes then gaze at some berry bushes and he soon notices that Rose’s tummy growling in hunger.

The little Pygmy Puff starts to feel cranky and squeaks frantically, staring at the berries in longing. He wants to get some for her, but he can’t be sure if some might be dangerous for familiar and human consumption. Since Rhia spends most of her time at the woods, maybe she knows her way around them to help ease Rose’s hunger.

[rhiaofdruma]

"Alright." She leaned down from her branch as she heard the puff's noises. "Is she okay?"

[phoenixwiz]

“Rose is feeling hungry right now, so she is now looking for something to eat before she gets super cranky later in the day,” Harry informs Rhia of Rose’s hunger pains, “I just can’t be sure of which berries are safe for her to eat.”

Yeaaaah. Notifs ate this one too. Please feel free to poke me in the future

[rhiaofdruma]

"I can help!" she offered, cheerfully.

[phoenixwiz]

“Excellent, I appreciate the help a lot, Rhia,” Harry can finally have a sigh of relief the moment she offers to help him out.

Rose is also happy to hear that someone has an idea of what kind of berries can be safe for her to munch on. Her master might not be the best forager of berries just yet but, with Rhia’s help, he could be able to identify and find which berries are safe for Pygmy Puffs and humans to feast on.

[rhiaofdruma]

She dropped to the ground beside them and knelt before the bush. "Can you eat what humans can eat?" she asked Rose. "Or do you have a different diet?"

[phoenixwiz]

Rose squeaks up her answer which would be translated into ‘We tend to be omnivores in diet, but I like veggies and fruits a lot.”

“Well, it looks like most Pygmy Puffs are partial to both meat and plants alike, though Rose over here prefers to eat her veggies and fruits. I’m not sure if she can’t eat specific foods that would harm her,” Harry adds in.

[rhiaofdruma]

She nodded. "Then the best is to trust the berries!" she said cheerfully. "Try one, give it a few minutes when you hit a type you don't know. If you're fine then, try a few more and wait. If you're still fine, you can trust the berries!" she popped a handful into her mouth, because this sort she already knew.