[Mirkitsune]

Frédéric François

The sweet scent of the fresh, clean air after a summer rain overtook the senses. Fresh fruits, heavy, ripe, and dripping with rain that clung to its skin, lay safely on their vines and branches in the trees overhead, and leaves, once dancing in the stormy wind, had come to a rest on the forest floor below, leaving their imprints in the now muddy paths.

The trail was strewn with evidence of other life in the forest; pawprints, footprints, and the occasional mark of a bird having been there, touching to earth before flitting back up into the skies to continue their flight. And now, careful not to get too much mud on his fur, Frédéric François eagerly looked around for some sort of pond where he could clean the mud away from himself.

He stepped daintily, leaving slight imprints in the wet dirt behind him as he went. The storm had been fascinating, and he'd been looking for new inspiration to write another piece for his father. What better inspiration for someone so tantalized by a storm... than a storm?

"Oh, I hate the mud, I hate the mud..." he muttered, wondering what had drawn him outside? Ah, yes, the prelude. The calm after the storm was similar to the calm before, wasn't it? And what better prelude to a storm than the calm?

"Why does my soul draw me out to the mud? I should have just asked Aleit to pick me some plants and things from the garden to use as inspiration." He grumbled, unaware that the forest may have held life yet.

[MythicDusk]

"Oh my! Whats that?" a young, high-pitched voice chirruped as a young girl climbed a tree, her chocolate hair fell to just below her shoulderblades, tied back loosley with a pure white ribbon. Her jeans were slightly muddied as her loose-fitting, mudded, white shirt was tucked into her jeans, her sky blue eyes filled with wonderment as she reached for a glistening, ripe fruit, the red streaks on her face made it seem as if she had been crying blood, her brown hair streaked gently with black, that came from her mothers side, but no feyline markings tracked up her arms from her 'fathers' side.

"Mistress, please, be careful..." The man below the tree whimpered, clutching onto a pair of crutches as half of his leg was missing from just below the knee, his cyan eyes were wide as his black hair, again, streaked with cyan billowed in the winds, his trenchcoat wrapped tightly around himself. "Mistress..." He whimpered as the girl creeped forward further for the fruit.

"Calm yourself, Binkie." Innocence laughed as she reached for the fruit, her fingertips brushed against the damp, smooth skin of the fruit. Her chuckle was cut throt by a snap of the branch. She toppled from her perch and she screamed before being caught in a gentle mouth by a large, tarnished Garagnir. Her breaths came in short pants as she was eventually set on the ground, clutching to the Garagnir's intact front legs, he smiled and turned into a human, picking up his crutches steadily, thanks to the support Innocence offered. "Easy miss, just keep your feet on the ground and we won't have to do it again." Innocence whimpered as she buried her face into Binkie's shoulder.

[Mirkitsune]

Hearing Innocence's shriek, Frédéric François jumped and looked around. Perhaps it would be safer if he were larger? With that in mind, he turned into a human himself, his shoes appropriately coated with mud. "Pleasing," He groaned sarcastically, glad that his fine clothes hadn't gotten muddy at all, and neither had his hat.

Deciding to head toward the scream, he carefully hurried over, stepping on areas that were covered in grass, and hence, less muddy than the others. If there was a scream, there was a person in trouble, right? Though he wasn't armed, and couldn't fight...

When he saw the tall man without a leg, Frédéric François couldn't help but jump back a bit. He seemed to be a strong warrior to have such injuries, but... Binkie? Did that seem to be his name? The girl said as much. It was humorous to think of it. And from the marks on the ground, he seemed to have a much larger form than what he let on. He couldn't stay frightened, though.

"Excuse me, are you all right?" He brought himself to ask, stepping forward through the overgrown bushes with a polite smile. Though he quivered with what looked like fear every so often, he thought that they might pass it off as the cold. "I heard you scream, Miss..."

[MythicDusk]

Binkie looked over his shoulder at the man, three, large scars tracked there way down the side of his face, one going over his eye, one barley missing his ear and the other simply down his face. From temple to chin. He wrapped his arms protectivley around Innocence, the crutches tucked under his armpits as he then turned, keeping Innocence behind him.

Her sky blue eyes peered over Binkie's shoulder as she looked at the man. "Binkie?" She asked gently. "Can I have some fruit?" Binkie then sighed slightly and looked at the young man hopefully. "A strange requiest, I know, but seeing as this young miss has just nearly fallen out of a tree and I don't have both legs functional, could you please get her some fruit?" His cyan eyes filled with hope. He didn't want to steal the image of the ideal world from her eyes. and indeeed, her world was ideal, she knew nothing else. When the storm had gone, she didn't sigh with impatience and move on, but she actually turned around and waved farewell to the clouds and thanked them for the amazing storm. He smiled at the memory. Innocence's hand then squeezed his arm gently and he looked over his shoulder at her and nodded slightly.

[Mirkitsune]

Ah! So his name was Binkie. An odd name, still. Perhaps the girl used it as a pet name, and his real name was something fierce and powerful?

"I'd be happy to." Frédéric François nodded, knowing that saying no could mean sudden death. Which would, unfortunately, mean sudden death for him, with his brother's habit of killing people that made Frédéric cry... or die. With that in mind, he stepped over to the tree, grabbed the lowest branch, and pulled himself up.

Frédéric François wasn't the most athletic man. However, with careful poise and balance, he managed to climb up fairly high and squat down on a branch that lay just underneath a fruit-bearing branch. This limb was thick and heavy, and he easily moved across it and grabbed several of the fruit, tucking it carefully into the bag that he wore at his side.

"One... two... three!" He murmured to himself, grabbing the branch above him and swinging off so that he landed on his feet beside Binkie and Innocence. Unfortunately, this meant more mud, and he tried not to swear when he noticed that there was a spot of mud on his pants leg.

"Here you are..." Frédéric François pulled the fruits from his bag and handed them to Innocence with a gentlemanly smile.

[MythicDusk]

Innocence smiled and took them gently, cradling the spare ones in her arms while she used one hand to feed herself, Binkie smiled as Innocence's eyes widened at the sweet fruits. "My lord, there fabulolous!" Binkie let out a small chuckle and just simply couldn't find the heart to correct her. His chuckle was about to turn into a full blown laugh when he had a fruit shoved into his mouth, he blinked rapidly and moved one arm carefully, leaning on one crutch and biting into the fruit.

His cyan eyes brightened when he tasted the wonderful fruit, the flavour danced on his tounge as he continued to eat the soft-skinned fruit, smiling at Innocence whom then handed the final one to the kind young man whom fetched them for her. Eventually finishing it she looked around for somewhere to throw the core, and she eventually simply placed it on Binkie's head. "A nice new hat." She grinned as Binkie pretended to glare at her. Innocence's hand still outstretched towards the kind man, the fruit within her palm as she smiled.

[Mirkitsune]

"Thank you very much." Frédéric François smiled, taking the fruit and biting into it, daintily wiping the juice away from his mouth with a handkerchief. It was deliciously sweet, and somewhat familiar... he'd probably had it in a pie before, or his mother might have given some. It scarcely mattered.

He put on his pristine white gloves after he finished the fruit and disposed of the core properly. They seemed so clean and beautiful, not an imperfection about them. He pulled out his pocketwatch from inside his formal coat, and ran his gloved fingers over the engraving in the back of the watch. Frédéric had memorized what it said long ago; 'To my younger, from your elder.' It was the only gift Aleit had ever given him, and he treasured it dearly. He had given him an identical pocket watch, with the opposite message. 'To my elder, from your younger.'

It was getting to the point in the day where the sun was sinking below the horizon, beginning to stain the blue sky with bits of purple. The earliest moments of dusk. He doubted his brother would be back yet from the Lambastia Cathedral, as it was very far, and Aleit hated to hurry. Frédéric wouldn't hurry, either.

"It's already six o'clock. Perhaps we all should be heading towards our homes?" He offered Innocence and Binkie a smile, slipping the watch back into place, the golden chain barely visible behind the dark purple of his coat.

[MythicDusk]

Binkie smiled slightly and threw the core, and the core on his head, below a tree, where it would probably decompose and such. "Its time for us to go, Innocence." Binkie said gently, and she clung to his arm hurriedly. "But I don't want to go home just yet..." Innocence whined, her eyes widening and beginning to pout. "Please, Unca Binki-"
"FINE!" He half yelled, half boomed, but it was fairly loud. It startled Innocence and she jumped back, quickly letting go of Binkie and hiding behind the kind young man. Her knees knocking and Binkie instantly regretted yelling. "Cariad, I'm sorry, 'Cmon Innocence, Cariad, Miss. Your mom and pa' are probably worried." Innocence simply whimpered, placing a gentle hand on the man's shoulder and peering over it. "But I don't wanna." Binkie sighed and looked to the male. "'M sorry about this." He sighed lightly again and began cooing at Innocence, like you would when you try to get a scared cat from under a seat or something near that.

[Mirkitsune]

The loud booming yell made Frédéric want to hide behind something, too. He didn't blame Innocence for hiding. "If I may, miss..." He smiled to her. "If you get going now, by the time you leave the forest, you'll be so sick of it that you want to go home right away. Besides, it's dangerous here at night... and I don't know if Mr. ... Binkie... wants to risk your safety."

He hoped that it would work, soothing words and a smiling face. It had worked for him as a pup, when his mother cooed and smiled gently to get him to come out of hiding. Despite the calm air that he emitted, he was still frightened of Binkie. He was taller and more dangerous than Frédéric, and he was painfully aware of that with every passing second.

[MythicDusk]

Binkie smiled when Innocence finally creeped out from behind him and stood beside Binkie, gripping his arm. Then moving forward and smiling at the young man. "My name is Innocence Konnawtyst, if you would like to see me again, I would be happy too." She smiked and placed a gentle hand on his shoulder, brushing her lips against his cheek and then turning on her heel, skipping off, clinbing halfway up a tree, before slipping down it slightly and shimmying back up it.

Binkie smiled slightly and began to turn. "Miss would simply like to see you again, she dosen't know anything about romance, I actually doubt she feels it. She is innocent form every emotion other than fear and joy. I sometimes wish she was innocent from fear, too." He sighed lightly and smiled at him. "And I, myself, would enjoy to see you again, sir." He then began on his own way, looking up at Innocence, he himself wouldn't be ready to leave until she was, and it looked like she was having too much fun to leave.

[Mirkitsune]

Frédéric nodded and smiled, a faint blush creeping up on his cheeks. "It's nice to meet you both, sir. I'm Frédéric François Miahome... and it appears we're going the same way." He nodded to Innocence, frowning when he saw her climb up the tree and slip down. "Ah... Miss Konnawtyst... please be careful!" He shouted after her.

He dared not say anything about the peck on the cheek that she gave him, not to Binkie. He could rip Frédéric to shreds, and he would hate it, no doubt about that. Taking a look at the handkerchief still grasped tightly in his hand, he began to attempt to scrub the mud from his pant leg, nodding approvingly when it was gone. He'd have to worry about the boots later.

Not wanting to be caught in the dark, Frédéric François followed Innocence.

[MythicDusk]

Innocence was quite happily skipping ahead, until Binkie called her back and leant on one crutch, slipping off his trenchcoat, then leaning on the other crutch to get the other sleeve off, then placing it on Innocence, of where it reached her ankles and the sleeves went past her fingertips. Binkie smiled, now only wearing a pair of jeans and a black tee. A walking boot on his only intact foot.

"Thank you, Binkie." Innocence smiled and hugged him gently, Binkie blushed slightly. "You're wel'm, Innocence." He grinned his toothy grin. Innocence smiled back. Binkie then turned to the young man. "Well, Frédéric, I'm Binkie. Just Binkie." He smiled as Innocence began to skip forward again. "Misstress, please be careful." Binkie called after her, she smiled and slowed her pace, falling back into line beside him.

[Mirkitsune]

Frédéric's gaze turned to the darkening sky, and his head turned west. "There are more storm clouds.... rapidly approaching. I wonder if I'll be able to get home before the storm hits..." The idea of his clothing getting sopping wet and heavy with rain was extremely unappealing.

He wondered if Binkie and Innocence lived closer. Maybe they would offer a hot cup of herbal tea, a bit of gingerbread (this particular thought made his mouth water, though as any gentleman would, he caught himself), and warm shelter from the frigid rain. However, Frédéric didn't ever hope for much from strangers that he met in the forest. And he didn't want to track mud into anyone's house.

In the back of his mind, he thought of Aleit. Would he find shelter before the storm hit?

[MythicDusk]

Innocence began to run ahead again, launching herself over a wooden fence, running across a paddock and into a small farmhouse, Binkie smiling and turning towards Frédéric. "Would you like to come inside? This isn't our true home, but we have homes situated just about everywhere, and where we don't, we take tents." He smiled and began around the fence, limping slightly. Innocence popped her head from the fairly close farmhouse, her hair loose and a large grin on her face. A young woman, with black hair, one sky blue eye and the other a deep auburn, her fringe covering her blue eye. "'Cmon y'all!" The young woman yelled with a grin. Binkie then picked up his pace, huffing gently.

[Mirkitsune]

Frédéric scurried up alongside Binkie, frowning, and hoping he didn't take this offensively... "Do you need any help, sir?" He asked, hoping that he sounded polite and helpful. He had tried to help a crippled man in the past, though he was unaware at the time that such a thing could be insulting, and he was beaten around with a crutch for a few minutes.

The farmhouse looked warm, inviting, and homey, and he would have to remind himself to take off his boots before entering.