Fantasy The Magical Jellyfish Girl Breaks Into Reality TV Island To Live A Normal Life!!!

[Tau]

Turie wasn't overly upset at getting called a weirdo. Weirdo was okay, magical weirdo was not. Thankfully, Umi wasn't noticing those part, so all was well. At least until the small girl hopped up to her roof and started shouting about being late or something. Why didn't she just set an alarm, though...?

"Oh, okay, that sounds interesti-- hey, what, why...!?" Turie protested in confusion as she was suddenly lifted into Umi's arms and then... "AAAAAAAAHHHHH!!" Umi was fast. Really fast. Turie found herself clinging on for dear life as the ground raced by faster than it would on a hovercycle. She knew demonkin were strong, but yeesh! This was just plain sickening!!

"Urph..." Turie swayed on her feet, trying not to puke as she regained her bearings. To her displeasure, her hand was taken, and she was once again dragged along at a sickening pace into the nearby cave. Turie and the elderly lady, whose name she would avoid attempting to pronounce at all costs, shared a look that made her uncomfortable at once. "H-hi!" Turie waved back awkwardly, gulping as the death poke that probably would've skewered her alive was applied to the disrespectful little shaman.

"Uhm... yes, I would love that... if you don't mind, I mean! Erm... and... nice to meet you; I'm Turie!" she held out a hand to shake, hoping that perhaps in so doing, "Baba" might pick up on Turie's fragility and not whack her to death as a result. However, by holding out her arm, that faint blue glow from before became more obvious. In some ways, it almost looked like the glowing light from the pool was reflecting off her more readily than anything else, given how the colors were about the same.


Skyswimsky

 

[Skyswimsky]

Baba gave Turie another look. "That's Babiloniatlacbatl for you, Turie." Demonkin name-calling culture was really complex, and for all Turie knew it likely simply meant she wanted the Jellyfish girl to proper, or more, respect.

Nonetheless, the woman grabbed Turie's hand and shook it. For a lady her age it became clear she could probably kill Turie with the flick of her finger. "Whatever. Hmpf. Just be sure to stay silent and not disrupt us." With these words, Baba hurried Umi along one of the rocks. "Urm, have fun..." Umi gave her visitor a thumbs up, trying to look as encouraging as possible.

Yeah watching them would surely be exciting, right?
Probably not.

Sitting cross-legged and taking on a meditation pose, Umi gave a low "Ooommmmmm-" from herself. "Aerghblech!" THat was promptly interrupted by another smack from Baba. "I-I just tried to sell the experience!" She hmpfed, but remained silent now.

The cave remained silent, as Turie could probably hear her own jelly heart beating. If sentient half-jellyfish even had hearts that could beat. Both Umi and Baba sat on some rocks, their torsos towards the small source of water and back to Turie. Things seemed boring and continued to be boring for any onlookers. At least until a faint glow started to surround Umi, seemingly extending from the water. Until it, eventually, filled most of the cave.

If Turie decided to use this chance to take a closer look at the water or do anything else really, she'd notice that there was a critical lack of techno-vent!

 

[Tau]

"O-of course!" Turie nodded, still not using the name, and having no intention to even try. Turie didn’t watch the demonkin isles that much, but she was familiar enough with the horrible insult that was mispronouncing a full name. Just the thought of what this lady would do to her if she inevitability butchered that name… yikes!

Turie took a seat on a nearby rock, glancing down at the water longingly, but instead remaining on the dry rock and staring at the two.

…

Well, this was boring.

Turie stood up again, silently wandering along the cave as she placed the enchanted monocle over her eye. No enchantment nodes, huh? The pool must be bioluminescent, then. Which would make sense: Turie knew a thing or two about bioluminescence.!

Her eyes were suddenly drawn to water, or more specifically the light coming from it, her heart skipping a beat. Crapcrapcrap! Was it them!? Did they find her!? And yet, her monocle insisted there was no modern enchantment technology involved. So then…… pfft, no, that was crazy; demonkin didn’t have magic. Must be some natural phenomenon in the pool.

Glancing off to both sides, as if she was about to do something guilty, Turie knelt down and waved her hand in the glowy pool for a bit.


Skyswimsky

 

[Skyswimsky]

Turie was absolutely silent, like a jellyfish ninja! And while jellyfish were likely also rather silent underwater, Turie was certainly not. The moment she interrupted the natural flow of things with her hand splashing through the moist substance, the glow quickly faded.

"H-Hey..." By now Umi had opened her eyes again as she had apparently felt the disruption. Instead poking Turie's back now, who was directly in front of her. "Urm, I was really in the middle of it! It'd be nice if you could not disturb things-OWH!" Another smack from Baba. "You brought the tourist along, so take proper care of her." And a second smack. "Y-Yes! I will." Rubbing her head. "T-The weather forecast for tomorrow is: Rain, with some thunder!" Hard to believe considering how sunny the weather was today.

"Now, get out of my sight. And make sure to either come alone or teach your nosy friend to behave." She looked full of disapproval at the two. "Oh-Oh no!" Umi replied overdramatic as she seemed to nearly fall over from her stone. "How most unfortunate that I can not continue today!" With these words, the white-haired shaman got up on her feet. "Come, Turie! We'll leave the old lady alone."

Once outside, Umi turned to Turie. Putting her hands on her hips and asking. "Well, thanks I guess." For what? "Is there something you'd really like to do?" If not... "I could show you more cool places otherwise! But it's a little bit further inside!"

 

[Tau]

Turie watched as the glow faded and felt her knot in her stomach as Umi's voice protested. "Oh. Uhm... oops, sorry..." she apologized, standing up straight again. She was kinda expecting the two to be fast asleep, but the lack of glow must've disturbed them. As Umi left, Turie offered one last quick apology as she followed after.

"Uhm... you're welcome?" Turie was confused. "Sure, I'd love to visit more of your landmarks! The biolumi-- uhm... spiritual energy in that place was really pleasant!" After a brief pause, Turie glanced back at Umi's arms. "... Maybe we can just walk this time, though...?"


Skyswimsky

 

[Skyswimsky]

"Walk?" Umi tilted her head in slight confusion before her face betrayed another imaginary adventure going on through her brain. Though certainly not one worth mentioning, as she quickly seemed to calm down again. "Ah, yes, we can walk!" Giving Umi a nod, albeit seemingly somewhat disappointed as she let her shoulders hang.

"So, we go there." Regaining her composure just as quickly, Umi pointed more inwards. "Just follow me!" And with that, Umi was off. Into quite a thick forest that made it hard to see if one lacked any night vision capabilities. ...

She was fast. ... Too fast. ... It wasn't even 5 minutes, and Turie had already lost sight of Umi. Though only for a bit as the girl dropped from the thick forest roof above onto the ground. "Urm..." Seemingly SUPER UNSURE as to what to say. "Was I too fast?" She asked, though honestly, Umi hadn't even started running. She simply walked at quite a speedy tempo. "Why don't you set the tempo then?" She pointed towards their supposed-to-be destination. "There's a cave further up!" A very HOT cave and DEEP cave...

"Just go straight-ish. I'll make sure correct you as we go." And indeed Umi would make sure to turn Turie more left and more right here and there. Either pretending to know where they were going or using some of the all-the-same-looking green as some sort of landmarks to know where to go.

"Do you think we're going to find any wolves, too? They are quite tasty, you know!" Was it even a surprise? Demonkin were sort of the Apex Predators, even without weapons. "I heard they went instinct close to the big cities! Not that they're native to the island either, Baba says some tourists brought along some pups, and then it just happened! Though they're rare nonetheless, Gicats love eating them, too."

 

[Tau]

Turie knew this would happen. She was panting heavily, while Umi was barreling ahead without the slightest weariness. These people really were something else; they had more stamina than ogres! "Too fast? Well, kinda..." Turie scratched her head. "Right, well... I'll go as fast as I can." Comfortably.

"Uhm... and you left Fluffles near my house..." Turie somehow had a bad feeling about that. Ah well, she wasn't all that attached to Wolfy anyway. There were definitely certain activist groups that would go on non-stop about the mortal atrocities of giving an animal sentience, then letting it get brutally torn apart. But hey: what they didn't know wouldn't hurt them... or cause them to write angry hate-mail!

"Well, don't worry about, it should be fine," Turie dismissed to... the trees. Hopefully, Umi could hear from somewhere in there... the little Tarzan. She paused a moment as she continued forward, lowing her voice a bit. "By the way... this might be kinda of awkward to say, but... thanks for being such a welcoming host! I wasn't sure this vacation would work well, but I'm already enjoying myself a lot! It's very different to what I'm used to, and I really needed the getaway..."


Skyswimsky

 

[Skyswimsky]

"Urm..." From Umi's perspective, it felt more like she had been a terrible host so far! One way or another. Was this really how people enjoyed their vacations? Or Turie was simply SUPER WEIRD. "Awwhh, you're welcome! You're a weird cool tourist, too!" She gave Turie a short hug that, thankfully, didn't break any limbs or just outright killed her. "We're here now, too!" She gave Turie a nod before brushing aside a bush. Revealing now a rocky surface, the bottom of a steep cliff. Of note was a singular, bigger, boulder.

"There we go!" Umi pointed at the big boulder getting closer to it and... "urgh... uff..." Slowly rolling it away to reveal the entrance to the cave! Turie could immediately feel the heat coming from within, was this maybe the grotto Umi talked about!? "It goes deeeeeep, but don't worry. It's exciting! Probably." For someone who had never seen it before anyway, right? With these words, Umi would descend into the cave. Dragging Turie along.

As they went down a path that went further and further below the surface, it became apparent that this was not the grotto place. As instead it was so dark that the only source of light was Turie's own illuminance, and the warmth of the rock and earth challenged Turie's jellyfish knowledge that her race could also survive in hot and moist temperatures. All the while Umi happily chatted away. "What's the, urm, hottest thing you have ever seen?" Umi asked her, seemingly unbothered by the change in temperature.

 

[Tau]

"Blehk." Well, it was a firm hug, but at least it didn't kill her, so that was nice. Turie glanced at the rock as they arrived. "It's a rock?" she commented, not especially impressed. It was a nice clearing, she supposed. As the rock was moved, Turie nodded her head in understanding. "Oh, I see. Uhm... exciting.......?"

Exciting usually meant dangerous, and Turie wasn't too big on danger, especially when it came to these people's definition of danger. Still, she was confident she could find some way of explaining away any emergency magic she needed to use, so she swallowed her reservations and sheepishly delved after Umi into the spooky cave. With any luck, she could just punch anything dangerous!

Temperature itself wasn't a huge issue for jellyfish, and even less so for a demi-jellyfish like Turie. However, that didn't mean she enjoyed extreme heat, plus it came with an additional issue: the dehydrating aspect of it. And so, as they started to delve deeper, the rocks radiating more and more heat, Turie rapidly began to feel thirsty. "Well, probably the third time my friend set my house on fire," she guessed. It was either that or the seventh time. As she spoke, her voice grew more gravely by the minute. "She's not a very good cook and-- cough, do you have any water?"


Skyswimsky

 

[Skyswimsky]

"Water?" Umi asked as she turned around to face Turie. Unlike the jellyfish girl, Umi didn't look like a dried-up sponge at all. "Sure, here! I like it extra spicy." She offered Turie a flask - forgetting to mention that, obviously, it was mixed with some fierce alcohol to kill bacteria and increase its shelf time. Just normal stuff, and all. Before Turie could complain or react too much to the dubious water, however, the two cut a corner and could see some sort of glowing light source further ahead.

"We're nearly there!" Umi called out. By now, the heat had reached its peak as Umi dragged Turie alongside... a more open cave with a sizeable magma lake marking the end of their adventure. Unless, of course, Demonkin were also able to withstand swimming in that substance. ... But likely not. "Usually, we commute with spirits of water and earth! But this place is special." Umi explained quite excited. Getting closer to the hot stuff.

"Isn't it wonderful?!" She asked her, pointing to a tunnel that would, in theory, lead them further but was ultimately blocked by the floor being lava magma. "Some say, this tunnel would lead all the way to the main-land! Commuting and taming a Fire Spirit is one of the ways that I maybe can get off of the island." She gave Turie a nod.

Unlike the water cave, Turie could, with the help of her monocle if she so desired, see a tech-vent. Together with a well-hidden camera that she had long since entered the vision range of. Though Turie could also clearly recall having NOT seen this place before on television. So it was likely for maintenance?

 

[Tau]

"Spicy...?" Turie murmured, not really understanding why one would season water. She glanced down into the flask, sniffing it a few times, but with the strong sulfurous smell in the cave, it was difficult to tell what was "Strange Cave" smell and what was "Dubious Water" smell. Continuing along without it, it only took a minute or so before the cave started spinning. At that moment, she knew she had no choice: she needed the water, spice or no spice!

Opening the flask, she turned the entire canister upside down and drained it into her mouth within seconds, immediately realizing what Umi had meant by "spice" and then quickly unrealizing it as it was absorbed into her system at an extraordinary rate.

"Ehehehee, waaater spiirit! I can be a waaater spiiirit~! Blub blub blub~" Waving her arm, Turie summoned a little ball of water, and made it dance through the air like a jellyfish in front of Umi. Some part of her mind said she probably shouldn't have done that, but brain no work right. The heat of the cavern quickly evaporated her little water jelly, and she pouted. "Aww, noooo, booooo! This stupid cave is racist against water spirits!"

Wrapping her arm around Umi's shoulders, Turie started playing with her hair for a few seconds before the camera came into her vision. "No! No interviews! Need to leeeave! Water spirit is floating away now~! Bye byyye~" And with that, she turned tail and headed straight out the way she'd come, pulsating with her arms like a certain sea creature.

---

Meanwhile...

A pixie and a half-elf sat in front of a wall of screens, paying next to zero attention to any of them. One might've said their job was to pay attention to them. That would certainly have been an argument their boss would make. However, they saw the job as more of a "loaf around and occasionally glance at screens" type of deal.

"Ya know, there's a big festival in Makina this week?" the Pixie mentioned with her squeaky voice.

"Pfft, if your goal is to break my focus, sorry to say it, but I already effectively won 5 turns ago." the sharp-eyed demi-elf man responded.

"Uh huh, sure," the pixie rolled her eyes again, as she used her magic to place down a Storming Megalodon! "4 damage to all of your--"

"--Solar Nation Tactics, I ignore its effect, and it's reduced to 1/1, which triggers the Mind Emporium, allowing me to draw 5 cards for every..."

...this went on for a while, but the turn was cut short as the pixie waved her hand to magically fling her cards forward. "Fine, whatever, I give up. Why do I even play this game with you, I can't stand playing against mind mages!! Oh hey, a couple of the demonkin wandered into the magma tubes."

"Yeah, so?"

"I don't know, it just seems kinda interesting! They don't do that very often..." the pixie shrugged. "Actually, the one looks kinda weird. What's with that strange hat?"

"Some new city fashion trend? I don't know, who cares? I'm not interested in a show full of people too stupid to use magic."

"I can be a waaater spiiirit~! Blub blub blub~"

"..." --"..."

"We'd better tell management," the pixie said, hovering over to the crystal ball and raising it, just before the half-elf slammed it back down on its stand.

"Now hold on a minute, you're new to this job, so maybe you're unaware, but do you know what happens when a magic user is found on one of these islands!?"

"Uhm... they... remove her?"

"They remove the entire island. As in, 'Remove it from existence!'"

"What, really!? Isn't that kind of extreme!?"

"I don't know, it's company policy; they're just demonkin. But be that as it may, that island is what affords us this nice, cushy job where I can do nothing and get paid. Look, she's claiming to be a water spirit! Maybe the narrators are adding spirits now! I know they have the whole 'shaman' arc going. Totally believable. Just as long as things don't balloon out of control, the guys upstairs never need to know."

"Ooohhhh? Hehehhee, I like the way you think," the pixie smirked. She'd always denied that mischief was in her blood as a pixie, but there were moments like this that really did make her wonder. "Okay, okay, I'll play along. What is she anyway? A human?"

"A drunk, from the looks of things," the half-elf joked. "Anyway, one simple rule: play dumb no matter what. Whatever she does, when management asks, just say you thought it was part of the narrative! They never tell us anything anyway. The last guy called in because he thought the gicats were a mistake and got chewed out for it, so it's a darn good excuse. Works for almost anything."

"Got it!"


Skyswimsky

 

[Skyswimsky]

While unaware of the shenanigans happening beyond Umi's own little world, avoiding potential destruction at the fault of a holiday-hungry and drunken jellyfish, she had been made a lot more aware of things that... were kinda beyond her understanding?! From one moment to the next, Turie behaved weird. Really, really, weird! As Turie wrapped her weak little arms around the Shaman, she was still completely taken aback by the sudden appearance of the sentient(?) ball of water. That just evaporated as quickly as it came.

"H-Hey...!" And then, Turie just went off. Still slow for Demonkin standards, but nonetheless quicker than before. "Turie, are you alright?" Umi asked, following her with light, insecure, steps as she wasn't sure what to do or think. There was Magma, and then there was water! And then there was also Turie who was just... what even!? Did her presence anger the Fire Spirits? But that still wouldn't explain.... "Turie?" Umi asked, as they quickly retracted their steps back to the entrance.

"Turie!" Or at least, she had assumed so, until Turie simply fell to the ground. "Turie!" The jellyfish could hear Umi's concerned voice. "Turie?!" Growing fainter and fainter. "Stop dying this instant!" And then, everything went black.

---

While ordinary people would consider a normal bed quite comfortable, demi-jellyfish and jellyfish-people would certainly notice a certain lack of moisture. So it came that, rather sooner than later, Turie found herself waking up. Likely more uncomfortable than before, but at least not drunk. Either the spice was just really powerful, or Turie was that much of a lightweight. Nonetheless, it must have been a miracle that most of Turie's fragile bones(?) weren't broken, save for a few unimportant ones, as she found herself waking up in Umi's bed. Umi herself seemingly asleep, sitting on a chair right next to her.

 

[Tau]

Turie's head hurt. Her heard hurt, and she was surrounded in some weird, fluffy fabric thin-- oh, a bed. A dry bed. Hm. She felt thirsty. Thirsty... thirsty... come to think of it, she recalled feeling thirsty before, in some sort of heated cave, but the rest was a lotta fuzziness. Heat exhaustion perhaps? That wasn't a good sign: demonkin were infamously immune to that sorta thing. Maybe she could shrug it off as some sort of illness?

Turie slipped out of bed, quiet as a jellyfish, wandering over to Umi who was dozing on the chair. She smiled. Umi was such a kind person, in her own way, and Turie couldn't help but feel a little bad for constantly inconveniencing her with her own darn weaknesses.

Quietly as possible, Turie slipped out of the house again, and back into her own for a quick dip in her couch. Just a few seconds of full submersion was all she needed to feel nice and refreshed, and beyond that, she wasn't that tired, having already been out for what must've been several hours. Instead, with everyone asleep, she set out to give Umi a little gift. Back in her house, the generous portion of kiwis gave a nice hint as to one thing she liked, and as luck would have it, her "emergency food" enchantment was perfect for this sort of gift.

Sneaking back inside Umi's home, Turie grabbed several Kiwis, then took another small runestone from her jacket, pressing the green rune to the fruit. Now all that was left was to plant it. She was a little more careful this time, not wanting to accidentally smash part of Umi's house again. And so, she buried it some distance off, summoned a small ball of water with her hand, and splashed it on the ground, standing back. At once, not one, but several little kiwi trees burst from the ground... a full patch of them! Oh, right, one fruit had multiple seeds, didn't it? Crap. This'd be a bit harder to explain than just one tree. How quick could she uproot uhm... 90-ish fully grown trees? ... Yeah, okay, that wasn't happening.

Turie returned to her home to spend the rest of the morning in her couch, while she planned out a proper explanation for the miniature forest she'd just created outside Umi's home.


Skyswimsky

 

[Skyswimsky]

...
...
...

Time continued to pass at the speed of one second per second, as meaningless as that may have been. Until, eventually, morning rolled around and-

"WHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAATTT???!!!!!!!!!"
​

A noise that was quite familiar to the one of the day before, though hopefully not something that would become any more common. Unlike before, however, Umi had a hunch.

"TURIE!" Umi spoke as she pretty much barged into Turie's front door, whatever lock there may have been rendered inefficient by pure Demonkin strength (and really, which tent had locked doors anyway?). "Is this your do-" Of course, Turie's tent looked just as alien as her very existence in the Demonkin-world.

"WHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAATTT???!!!!!!!!!"
​

"First the tent, then a forest, and now... what is all this!?" Umi stumbled a few steps back. It was like as if Umi had brought the city right onto her little island! Rather than Umi having to find the city-life herself. Though it all seemed kinda different from what she had expected it to be! "And a random gigantic water tank!" She proclaimed loudly, to nobody in particular, pointing at the water couch in the living room.

"Oh, right... TURIE!?" She yelled Turie's name again. Her voice had, as so many times before, many emotions mixed in. From the worry of the jellyfish's well-being to hoping Turie had an explanation for... all of this! Lucky her she hasn't seen the sentient Wolf yet? Or maybe Fluffles had eaten it already...

 

[Tau]

Aaaaand, there is was. Turie left her bed and peeked her head out of the a door in the back of the house, glancing over at Umi who’d nearly ripped the door off its hinges. "It’s a couch! And forest? You mean my present?" she questioned, ready for her carefully planned explanation.

Closing the door behind her, Turie wandered into the main room, waving over at the visitor. "I probably should’ve mentioned it, but I have a condition where I get thirsty really easily. So I really appreciate you helping me out of there, and I thought, since you seem to like kiwis a lot, I‘d replant a few trees closer to your house."

Shooting a smile her way, Turie prompted, "Do you like them?"


Skyswimsky

 

[Skyswimsky]

"But...but...." There was so much wrong with THAT, and so many questions!

"Kiwis don't grow on trees!" She wasn't too sure about that.
"They come with ships." Yeah!
"And we've tried before but..." Umi wasn't ungrateful...
"The climate isn't right, the ground doesn't work, and the weather is too chaotic!" It's what the sailor told her. Also wasn't it supposed to rain today?

"And- and, trees take time to grow, no?" She asked, tilting her head in confusion. Not to mention the amount! It wasn't just a tree or ten. But an entire small plantage! "So why am I seeing what I am seeing? Not that I am not grateful..." Umi already needed to take care of not drooling Turie's floor full! "A-And, besides! Do you remember what happened, urm, yesterday? Are you feeling better now? I think we angered the Spirits...." Questions over questions. "But there was a Water Sprite, in the cave! That was, uh, really weird?" Many, many questions.

Also maybe the camera to remember?

 

[Tau]

Turie’s face paled as Umi mentioned a water sprite. Just what had she done in her delirious state!? Also, as Umi mentioned they didn’t grow on the island, her heart sank. Since Umi had so many, she’d just assumed they were local! Her whole explanation hinged on that!

"U-uhm…" Turie’s perfect, everything’s normal expression was finally starting to crack… no, it was shattering before Umi’s eyes. "Well, you see… there’s a perfectly rational explanation for all of this…!" she insisted. "They are… special city trees that… grow super fast and easy, see! And…" she wasn’t buying it was she. Time to change the subject!

"You said you found a water sprite!? That’s amazing! I wish I hadn’t fainted, that would’ve been amazing to see!"


Skyswimsky

 

[Skyswimsky]

For a moment, Umi looked at Turie with disbelief.

But, the Demonkin had no reason to lie! And... and, it actually made sense, kinda, no?! Umi had heard about this before. This thingy from the mainland, what they also used here, just less bad. ... Capitalism, it was called! About people being horrible and exploiting others for profits! So, if there was a Kiwi that could grow on their island, it would only make sense they'd never get their hands on it so that Umi&co (but mostly Umi) would instead pay for it, yes? Yes! Of course, so... in a way...

"My hero!" Kinda not listening to Turie, Umi gave the jellyfish girl a hug. This time a tad firmer than before. "There's enough kiwis for both of us!"

Knock knock

At least someone was able to use the door. "Umi?" A voice could be heard from outside. "Yes?!" Inviting a stranger into Turie's tent, Umi had already opened the door once more. Revealing an irrelevant villager! Although likely a tad sharper than Umi herself, and taller and more muscular. His eyes were a deep black and his horns curved alongside his short-haired head. "Just... what happened here?!" He asked. Of course, it was only a question of time until the more distant neighbors would ask questions.

"What happened where?" Umi tilted her head. "Well, t-this!" He gestured at the general vicinity of the house-tent. "And... that!" Still standing outside, right at the entrance, he pointed at the Kiwiforest.

"City stuff!"
"City stuff?"
"Yes, it's city stuff from this wonderful tourist, Turie!" Umi made a step to the side to reveal the jellyfish girl.
"...?" Crossing his arms, his confusion did not seem to be lifted just yet.
Did Turie have an explanation!?

 

[Tau]

Turie relaxed a bit as Umi's love of kiwis seemed to disarm her in an instant. That was relieving. "Oh, it's no trouble! Please enjoy them!" she nodded with a bright smile. At least, until the door knocked. Oh boy. The newcomer was already a bit less friendly, if his suspicious gaze was anything to go by. It immediately raised red flags in her head.

"Yes, city stuff!" Turie nodded along with her new friend. "I'm not disturbing you all, am I? I can move my things, if they're being a bother..." Yes yes, focus on the practicality, not the obvious impossibilities.


Skyswimsky

 

[Skyswimsky]

"Move... your stuff?" He asked.
"Yes, you see. City folks have these really big and fancy tents. Like this one! So she just put it up overnight."
"Put it up over night...?"
"Oh, and the Kiwi Trees! They're city kiwi trees! And I am led to believe the merchants were simply not allowing us to grow our own and FOOLED us. Because capitalism is evil!"
"Capitalism is evil?"
"Yes! But, Turie here, is great!"
"Turie here is great?"
"Do you repeat everything I say?"
"Do you r-"

The man sighed, shaking his head. "Umi, do you know how silly and stupid all of that sounds? Forests don't just grow overnight!" - "Urm..." He... had a point, didn't he? With pleading eyes, Umi looked at Turie. "T-They do, right, Turie...?"

It seemed like the magical jellyfish girl wouldn't get so easy off the hook this time.

 

[Tau]

"W-well..." Turie sputtered, coughing a few times just to delay a few seconds. "They... can... get close! You know, with the right agricultural techniques... and then... maybe the spirits helped Umi's trees grow faster than normal?" Yes, yes, the spirits! Perfect excuse.

"You know, Umi here is a wonderful shaman! I've seen her work, and she does... the shaman... work... and it's very good!" Turie nodded. "So they must've seen what I was doing and given the trees a hand!"


Skyswimsky

 

[Skyswimsky]

"The spirits?" Umi tilted her head. "But... it's not like they're around here, and I didn't really do anything." She murmured, clearly not helping Turie's case.

The Demonkin, still with crossed arms, didn't really seem to buy it (yet?). "So, you know the proper agriculture techniques, AND have seen the spirits at work? Well, bugger me surprised, in all my lifetime I've never seen a single one." There was clear disbelief.

"Well, it's really secluded work and all! But, they told me it'll rain today!" She wanted to say at least something, too.

"Say, what was your occupation again? Farming business? Forestry? You're a tourist, aye? Probably never seen much nature before in your life." He took a step back, raising his index finger to his chin as he kept thinking. "The trees, they're undeniably here. But the explanation just doesn't fit. Spirits or not, does it, Umi?"

"Urm... well..." Now that he mentioned all that, it really seemed... weird! But, couldn't they just simply enjoy Kiwis and focus on that? "In all of my few years of shaman hood, I've never heard of something like that before!"

 

[Tau]

This was getting worse and worse by the second. "Well, I mean… I didn’t see them exactly, I just kind of assumed that you know... maybe they showed up after I left… or something…! I mean… how else do you explain this amazing growth!" Turie smiled, forcing herself to appear more amazed by the situation than she actually was.

"Ah, well… my occupation… see, I work… in the city," she continued. "And I uhm… well I could tell you, but… I’m not sure it would make sense unless you knew what it was like… in the city, I mean. So…" she coughed a couple times just to fill the silence.

"But yes, this is a pretty amazing miracle for all of us!" Turie pivoted, contradicting herself from mere moments before and hoping neither would notice. "Why don’t we go and take a closer look! Maybe the trees will give us a clue as to how this could’ve happened!"


Skyswimsky

 

[Skyswimsky]

"Huh?"
"Eh?"

Both Umi and the Demonkin could say much more, Turie was showing a wonderful display of shoveling her own grave deeper and deeper. Spirits, city stuff, unknown miracles, it seemed like the girl was threading at least three different strands of thinking. All at the same time! Though while Umi was still just happy about having Kiwi's, the not-so-important Demonkin was having none of it.

"So at first, you're so adamant about the spirits, and now none of it anymore?" He asked. "But it could still be spirits..." Umi murmured. "Maybe." - "Oh, and..." A victorious smile came over his face, did he at this point even care about the origin of the Kiwiforest and Housetent? "Do tell me, I happen to have lived in the city for quite some time before I've sought out a more idyllic life. Here."

"...?!" Umi seemed a bit taken aback by this statement. Either she didn't know, or maybe he was lying!? Though Turie was likely too flabbergasted to notice either way.

 

[Tau]

Oh... crap. That city excuse was her ultimate out! And he'd taken it from her!? But of course, not all of them would've been totally separated from the city! She just hadn't expected... oh crap crap crap!

"Well, that's... that's cool, that's coooool... We can be city pals and all!" she gulped, meeting the sharp-eyed man's gaze and then instantly flitting away sheepishly. "But see, when I said I was from the city, what I really meant was... that I... I'm... aaaaauuuuhhhhh...." At this point, it couldn't be more obvious to the entire room how badly she was mucking things up. In fact, she was mucking them up so poorly that a certain someone who'd been cowering in the back room up until now decided to help out.

"Oh, honestly. You see, the young lass is actually a spirit herself!" Wolfy explained, striding out from a door in the back and taking a seat on his hind legs, adjusting the fur on his neck with a front paw. "I'm surprised you hadn't figured it out by now, to be quite frank."

"Wolfy! Shhh!" Turie growled, receiving a shrug in response.

"As you can see, she's quite reserved about it. But how else could she command nature to do her bidding so readily, hm? Could it be anything but a spirit? I think not!"

Darn that woof-for-brains! Well, it wasn't the worst thing in the world. Spirits were part of the official lore after all. She just had to make sure they kept quiet about the specifics. "Okay, fine! I'm a spirit! Just don't tell anyone, okay...? If anyone asks, just say 'the spirits helped me plant some trees' in a vague way or something! Spirits aren't supposed to talk to demonkin, see? I don't want the... others, finding out I'm here!"


Skyswimsky