Submission (#4249) Approved

Hazel had decided to take a lovely stroll outside, as the weather was clear, sun beaming off her roomates' shared cube.
She carefully hopped off as the cube lowered to the ground, watching as it ascended back to the sky for the moment, and walked off with a chrysalis crystal in her bag.

She quietly hummed a faint tune as birds chirped in the breath-taking landscape. Thick and rather dense collections of trees leading to open clearings, Rolling hills covered in tufted grass, clusters of blooming flowers everywhere, it was all so beautiful, and as serene as could possibly be.

She shuffled her way through the soft grasses, stopping for a second as a few minmites scuttling by took her by a bit of surprise, before she kept walking by and let a whir land on one of her nubs.

As she spotted a horde of whirs fluttering away in the breeze, she lifted the whir she was carrying up into the wind, letting it gently float toward the much larger crowd of whirs as they drifted away from view.

She passed bushes of flowers of different assortments and colors as she headed for the clearing, branches draped overhead becoming more and more sparse as she went further and further.

Finally, she could see the wide, open field lay before her, grass shimmering slightly in the sunlight. What she noticed most, however, were the sprigs of forget-me-nots, small flowers with blue petals and a yellow center, across the field, which she, ironically, forgot the actual name of.

A tree was planted firmly at the center of the clearing where you could see the surrounding forest in the far-off distance.

She slowly walked in the direction of the tree. As she arrived at the trunk, she sat down, tucking her nubs under herself and watched as grass and bushes waved around, wondering why nobody really went down to the surface anymore.

Clusters of forget-me-nots were most prevalent around here, blooming right around the bottom of the tree.


Suddenly, bushes in the nearby area started shaking and rustling, and Hazel became incredibly concerned and hid behind the tree she was staying at.

Out of the blue came a massive, red figure with bony markings and a long, thin, bone tail that stared straight at the tree Hazel hid behind.

Hazel was starting to get scared when the monster spoke up.

"Don't worry, Ah'm not about ta hurt'cha. If Ah was, ah woulda done it by now. He said as he attempted to let out a small, somber chuckle, although it came out as more of a huff.

Hazel slowly revealed herself to the monster who promptly introduced himself.

"Th' name's Necrotic. Ah've been scouring these forests for a while now, tryna remember stuff, as you do when you're a monster." He sighed a bit, in almost a frustrated tone.

Hazel could tell that while he didn't wanna hurt her, he was still rather tense. So she made a suggestion.

"Uhmm.. Well, if you wanna have a chat and maybe take a break or relax and try to get your mind off everything, feel free to..! not pressuring you though... of course..."

"Well.. that'd be rather nice right now, act'ally. It's a real nice day out here."

And with that, Necrotic plopped himself on the ground next to Hazel, as he stretched his long legs and yawned.

They both had decided to have a few nice conversations as they laid in the grass, mostly about casual things and how they lived.

Necrotic randomly asked about something after they had both finished another topic.

"Do ya.. have family..? Uh, like.. maybe a brother, or a ma and pa 'n such..?" he asked, rather innocently.

Hazel frowned, and looked a bit melancholy. Necrotic saw this and was very apologetic.

"Ah-uh.. oh, Ahm sorry.. I nev'r meant that as a hurtful question."

"No, it's quite alright. I just.. well..."

Hazel paused for a moment to breathe.

"I never really knew him, y'know...? My father.."

Necrotic felt incredibly guilty and sorry on behalf of Hazel, who took another pause.

"...I bet he's probably somewhere else doing something better right now. I can't imagine how awful of a kid I must've been for him to abandon me like that."

"Aw.. hey.. it's a'ight. Ahm sure it's not like that. Ya seem like a nice and peaceful paca."

Necrotic's tone became a bit sadder, however, as he spoke once again.

"..When it comes to myself, well... Ah don't quite remember much. All Ah really remember is tha color blue... and a voice. Ah don't know who it is or what they wanted from me. Ah hope I can figure it out someday, but Ah've been having no such luck."

The red monster's blue eye seemed to open a bit more instead of forming itself into a tight squint. Almost as if the eye itself was reacting to the recalling of fading and blurry memories.

Hazel thought for a second, and had an idea for how she could help.

"Hey, uh.. my roomates Shrimp and Cappy knew the forest better than many other pacas I know. Maybe they can help!" She beamed, eager to help her new friend.

"Hmmm... Ah could give it a shot, but Ah'd have to hide off to the side so those Wingeds don't find me."

"Sounds pretty fair... do you wanna walk back?"

"Sure! That sounds nice. I could use a 'lil bit of exercise."

And so, the two walked back to Shrimp and Cappy's place, where she would introduce them to each other.

So far, things seemed to potentially be going well as they headed through the underbrush.
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+50 LF Minmite, Whir