[NOTICE] Attn: Yukiko (Strawberri Stardust)

[Dragon Berri]

Oh. Magic. Right. Perfect. Awesome. If she could just rest for a moment...

And then she was given another letter. Her heart fell as she read it. When would these quests end? It was almost like Venus didn't want her at the party... But she couldn't believe that. Venus was a mother, she'd want her children to be happy, right? She was sure of that, and sure that Anteros felt about Yukiko the same way she felt about him. Why would Venus want them apart?

She shook her head, determined not to think like that anymore. Maybe this would be the last quest from Venus. It seemed easy enough as she read it over again. An island off the shores of Telrunya, strange rock formation... As far as she knew, the beach she was laying on was the only real 'shore' on Telrunya. At least her destination wasn't far. With a soft sigh, she sat up and shook the sand off of herself and out of her wings.

She was about as much of a fan of warm water as she was warm weather. That was to say, not much at all. But she waded into the water a ways. Thankfully, it was getting cooler as the night progressed. It would likely be safer for her to wait for morning, maybe catch a nap, but she so wanted to be done with all of this. She walked over to the water and dipped a toe in. Chilly, just the way she liked it. She waded in, shivering a bit but more comfortable in the cold water than she was on the hot beach. She didn't go in far, just up to her hips, keeping her wings out of the water. Peering into the distance, the moon lit up enough for her to see the shadows of two islands. Only one had the strange rock formation though. That was her focus now. Quickly getting out of the water, she launched herself into the air again and headed for that island.

On her way there, she wondered who it could be that was waiting on the island to send her somewhere else for Venus. Oh, who cared? She just wanted to get to the party, and Anteros. Putting on a burst of speed, Yukiko made it to the island with the snake-shaped rock formation just as her wings were about to give out. They hung from her back, as tired as she was, but still she looked for the person who lived here. "Hello?" she called out.

FA Venus

 

[FA Venus]

There was a small giggle from underneath the rock formation when she called out.

"Oh, I've been waiting for you!" chirped the man, rushing over to her. He was a rather short and stout figure, much shorter than her, even shorter than the faun. He was also pudgier than the faun was, a bit rotund to match the amount of cheerfulness he seemed to possess. Under his arm was an oddly large jar filled with nothing more than what appeared to be sand.

"Welcome to Lyg Rock! This is my home!"

Without a care in the world, seemingly, he spun around, his grip on his jar precariously loosening. It took longer than it should have for him to stop, concentrating on the large blue angel in front of him. There was a, "Hmm," sound and a, "Tsk," to follow, as he circled around the angel. He pulled a feather, poked a hand, lifted her arm... as if he was inspecting her like some kind of prize.

There was a firm nod as he popped his jar of sand into the sand. "Excellent! I need your help today, Ma'am. See, I have all this sand, yes? I needed to count it! It's the sands of dreams, you see." The laughter he gave hinted that he was probably exaggerating. "Can you help me count it all out?"

Strawberri Stardust

 

[Dragon Berri]

She squeaked a little at the giggle. Maybe coming in the dark wasn't the smartest idea...

But the man that came out was small, shorter even than she was. She smiled softly at his welcome, "Thank you.." Then he started inspecting her? For what? What had Venus sent her to help him with? And then he explained. Her eyes went wide as she looked at the jar of sand he held. "I....c-count it? A-all of it?" she stammered, disbelieving. Had Venus known what she was sending her to do? Had she known it would keep Yukiko from the celebration? But why would she want to keep her from the party? From Anteros?

She felt tears prickling at the back of her eyes as she stared at the jar of sand. If she stayed to count it with him, she'd never make it. She was going to be late as it was. She couldn't possibly stay, could she? But what would happen if she said no? If she disappointed Venus, or worse if she disappointed Anteros? Did he even know what kind of quests Venus had sent her on?

"Um...I'm just curious...w-what would happen if I said no?" This wasn't like her. She hated to turn down anyone who needed help, but if she were honest with herself, this was ridiculous.

FA Venus

 

[FA Venus]

The sound the small man was not necessarily offended ... but he was certainly surprised.

"And incur the wrath of the one who sent you?" The small man shook his head and tsked, walking around her. This time, he poked her in the side, pushing his finger in a bit, inspecting her in a rather inexplicable fashion. What was he trying to do there...? Not allowing her too much time to question his behavior, he curled his finger and pinged her in the side, with a small, "Hmm," of observation.

"Yes, I see," he repeated, pacing back around to the front of her. He looked her up and down once again, for a moment, before settling with a large grin from ear to ear as if he hadn't done anything odd at all.

The small man hummed. "If you wish to incur the wrath of the one Goddess Venus, you can be my guest. She sent you here to help me, I understand!"

Strawberri Stardust

 

[Dragon Berri]

She bit her lip, afraid he might be offended at her question. That seemed to be unfounded as he just walked around her again and poked her side. She twitched away from it when he pinged her, giving him a soft glare. What was he doing?

That...was a good question. Was she really debating incurring Venus' wrath? She didn't think even Anteros would be able to keep her safe from his mother's anger. But...Anteros was expecting her at the dance. He'd been so excited about it...about her being there....about the two of them being honored for being last year's victors of the dance. So why would he have been okay with the quests Venus had sent her on? Unless...he didn't know about them?

"She did," she allowed, speaking slowly as she thought through what she wanted to say. "I...um. I can't help you right now," she said, her heart racing. "But I'll come back, I promise. I'll come back tomorrow to help you. But...there's somewhere else I need to be right now. Somewhere very important, with someone very important to me." She stood up and brushed the sand from herself. "I'm already late, you see, so I really must be going." And she'd be back the next day. Yukiko kept her promises.

FA Venus

 

[FA Venus]

When she said she was going to actually leave, the small man's eyes became wide. She couldn't leave! Not now! He was visibly fretting, features falling from playful to a near panic as she said she needed to leave.

"No, you can't come back tomorrow!" stressed the man, nearly shaking in his fright. Tomorrow? "No, it'll be too late!"

He seemed truly stressed.

"Ma'am, unless we do this, no one can dream!"

... Was that true?

... Should she risk it?

Strawberri Stardust

 

[Dragon Berri]

She wrung her hands and thought hard. What should she do...?

She really wanted to leave, to get to Anteros. She missed him desperately at this point, and was so worried he would be upset with her for being so late to the party. What possible harm could it do for everyone to go without dreams for one night? Really, it was only one night. But the little man seemed so afraid. Were dreams really so important? Would it really hurt everyone to go without dreams for one night?

And then...a night without dreams? For all of Telrunya? How could she be so selfish as to sacrifice dreams for the whole island just so she could go to a party? She couldn't do that, could she? It would be so selfish...so awful of her. She wasn't sure she'd be able to live with knowing she'd done that to everyone. What if something terrible happened because she didn't stay to count the sand and help pae dream?

But what if Anteros didn't know why she was taking so long? She didn't want him to think ill of her, or think she didn't care about the celebrations. She did! Very much so. Besides, what if the man was lying? What if it wasn't that important, or was just another ploy to keep her from the party? She chewed the inside of her lip; when had she become so cynical? She'd always wanted to believe the best of others, but she just couldn't believe that this was really that important to Venus. Surely she could have gotten someone else to do this? She was a goddess, all she had to do was command... And she'd pretty much commanded Yukiko to do it, hadn't she? If she left now she'd be defying a goddess, as well as the mother of her beloved. Could she risk it? Should she?

Taking a deep breath, she tried to steady herself as she came to her decision. "No," she said. "I simply cannot stay tonight." She was proud of herself; her voice was steady. Mostly. "I will return tomorrow to help you count," she promised again. "But I have to go." She started backing away from the man. She just wanted enough room to get herself into the air without kicking up sand in his face. That would be far too much like adding injury to insult.

She wasn't entirely sure she would live to regret this decision...

FA Venus

 

[FA Venus]

No.

Her voice was steady and firm, but the man she was leaving behind was shaky. The small man gripped his jar tightly, body shivering as he seemed to take her words to heart. She wouldn't help. She simply could not help.

"W-why?" Why was she sent if she could not help?

He seemed incapable of understanding it.

As she turned away and left him behind, he fretted, for a moment, before deciding he simply could not let her. Determined to get her to stay with him, he ran after her, jar tucked sideways under one arm and other arm held out, reaching out for her.

In his rush, though, the jar slipped out of his rather loose grip.

The already loose top came off the jar, sand spilling out onto the sand of the beach. Heartbroken, the man dropped to his knees, murmuring a, "No... This can't be happening..."

Strawberri Stardust

 

[Dragon Berri]

She winced at his shaky question, and nearly turned around to change her mind. She did turn when she heard him moving closer and it was then that things seemed to move in slow motion. He was coming for her, and then she had all the time in the world to watch the jar slip from his grip. Her eyes widened as she gasped.

"No..." she breathed and hit her knees in the sand, staring at the fallen jar. She had just single handedly taken dreams away from everyone in Telrunya. Tears fell from her eyes as shock settled over her. She couldn't breathe, couldn't think. She had only wanted to show Anteros she hadn't forgotten about the celebrations...and that had been her mistake. She had chosen herself over the rest of Telrunya. She didn't deserve someone as wonderful as Anteros.

"I'm sorry," she murmured, though it felt pathetic and just...not enough. Nothing she could do would be enough now, but she would do anything to make up for this. "I'll...stay....I'll help....I'll do whatever you need me to do," she said through her tears, knowing she was far too late to do much, but what else was there for her to say or do?

FA Venus

 

[FA Venus]

The man was nearly crying over his jar of sand, looking distraught. His hands briefly reached for the sand, fingering it as he attempted to understand what he was supposed to do to fix this little problem.

Why did he ever trust Venus--!

He looked over his shoulder to see the once so selfish girl falling on her own knees, breathless and distraught. Her tears seemed more flowing than his own, body shaking. But the words he was concerned about, the last ones, they came, too. The smaller man seemed to almost instantly brighten up, hopping to his feet and walking up to Yukiko.

He presented her with the large jar and pointed back towards the various sand piles and mixed sand that had formed after the spill.

"Gather all of the sand from this jar back into this jar. That will help me."

Strawberri Stardust

 

[Dragon Berri]

Well, the man certainly seemed happy she had changed her mind. At least one of them was. She supposed she would just have to talk to Anteros, if he wasn't completely furious with her for missing everything, and hope that he would understand. She nodded as he told her what would help and moved over to the piles of sand. Her tears continued to fall as she picked up the jar of sand, thankful at least some of it still lay in the glass. Sniffling softly, she did her best to pick through the sand, trying to differentiate between the normal sand and the dream sand.

FA Venus

 

[FA Venus]

For now, the small man watched her, not making any moves to assist her in picking up the sand from the ground.

He did, however, occasionally become upset when she picked up the wrong sand.

"No! Not that!" The man shook his head rapidly, swatting some of the sand out of her hands. "Do not stick sand in there that does not belong in the jar! Ordinary sand is not of any use. Only the sands of dreams can be stored within my jar. Other sands take up space."

The man shook his head.

"If you are to gather the sand, gather the correct sand. You'll know the difference."

Strawberri Stardust

 

[Dragon Berri]

Yukiko thought she was doing well in picking out the dream sand fromt he regular sand. At least until the small man smacked her hand when she picked up the wrong sand. "Sorry," she murmured with a small sniffle. This entire quest thing Venus had sent her on had turned out completely awful. She had hoped that by doing what Venus had asked her to do that she would make a good impression on the goddess. Sadly, she had probably messed that up now...

She sighed softly and nodded, swiping at her eyes a bit before looking closer at the sands as she searched for the dream sands.

FA Venus

 

[Dragon Berri]

As she continued to separate the normal sand from the dream sand, she wondered how angry Anteros was with her. Not that she blamed him at all. She completely missed something that was obviously important to him. Not that it wasn't important to her, too, but how could she walk away knowing that she would be the cause for the loss of dreams? She couldn't.

She just hoped that when this was over Anteros would even want to speak to her. She would be devastated if he didn't, but she would also completely understand. She had let him down, and let Venus down. Maybe it would just be better for her to find a cave to hide in....

No. She couldn't, wouldn't, do that. Even if Anteros hated her after this, she wouldn't leave her son. He was all grown up now, but what if he needed her? There was no way she would leave Adelphos. She would take responsibility for what had happened, and stand by her decisions without casting blame. Even if the result was losing Anteros. It was true she would do anything to keep him in her life, but she didn't think blaming his mother for her absence would do that.

So, whatever came of this awful quest Venus had sent her on, she would see it through and live with the consequences. No matter how much they hurt.

FA Venus