She could be any number of places, honestly, when the memory-share started anew. The butterflies could've very well been normal butterflies... except that they were in all sorts of colors, from bright pinks to pure white, some solid, some striped or spotted, or textured, or in gradients, or what even looked quite a bit like a fine pattern intended to be camouflage to blend in with wood or green leaves, the wings' shapes in about as many varieties as there were colors and patterns. They weren't randomly off-color petals, as they quickly proved by flapping and jumping from one flower to the next...
No, not one flower to the next. One fruit to the next. One leaf to the next. These odd butterflies weren't on the magically exotic flowers that covered the area, but on other plants, trees of some kind -- figs? ...not figs precisely, but something that looked vaguely related, though with large spherical black berries hanging everywhere on their twigs and branches, instead of bigger, more pear-shaped fruits -- and little oval things hanging among it all, in just as many colors as the butterflies on them.
Whether the passerby leaned in to see the scene better out of curiosity, or the magic pulled them into witnessing it, it would become clear enough in short order that these were not typical butterflies after all. Their heads were bigger than usual. They weren't clinging to the surfaces with their bodies parallel to them, but holding to them with only their hind four legs, standing closer to perpendicular, using their front two limbs as arms and hands. Their fur was arranged in lengths, in tufts and curls that suggested proper hair on their head and skirts, or perhaps dresses, with some of their coloration. Perhaps most interestingly to anyone who'd studied entomology, not a single one of the odd butterflies present had a proboscis, but instead had biting mouth parts.
One small part of the scene in particular would steal their focus for a moment: a few of these oddly humanoid-seeming butterflies tending to one of those little oval things, a black one, as it wiggled where it hung. One leaned down and carefully bit into a small ridge in the shape, and dug its tiny hands into it, pulling the surface back to let another, softer shape climb out more easily, dark black and shiny. What looked like crumpled-up petals soon proved to belong to the new thing climbing out, a dark butterfly like the others, though not quite in the same shape. It was new still, only just then climbing out of its chrysalis, and its wings had yet to spread and stiffen. The others were helping pull it up onto a nearby leaf, where they left it to jump away and do... whatever it was they were going to do next. Probably help another of the new butterflies climb out. Maybe go eat something.
The new black butterfly wasn't wasting any time in preening itself out, already trying to spread those new, still-soft wings of theirs... and there, as they opened, the hind edges were revealed to be a deep, dark purple color which disappeared up into the black in short order.
It wasn't just any butterfly. Its wings' coloration and pattern looked suspiciously similar to Mallia's dress. The same velvety-dark black, the same brilliant, clear hue at the lower hems, not so much striped as in panes as it disappeared up into the rest of the fabric at her skirt and sleeves and cape.
The scene lingered a bit, and then no sooner did it fade, than another started up, with another focus: that same black butterfly, being preened on by another butterfly. It didn't seem like it was one of the ones from the previous vision, but some random older member of the odd insect species. Another scene, a black caterpillar with a few bits of purple here and there, being preened on by yet other butterflies. Or being helped to a berry.
Another scene, a lady with the same subtly-pointed ears as Mallia smiled. She held something small out on her hand, waiting patiently as the black one and a few others settled onto her fingers and palm, reaching forward to take some, unafraid. She said something softly, in a foreign language. Hello, lovelies. Go ahead, eat up. There's plenty more to go around....
Another scene, a different elven lady, leaning her back against one of those trees, holding a bowl with moss in it, and dark wine. Those strange butterflies were on her hair, on her shoulders and arms, and on the moss, in the bowl, drinking their fill. She grinned, careful as she moved, watching the tiny creatures drink themselves to silliness and then climb up out of the bowl to rest on her instead. One of them, the black and purple one, tried to fly away, only to weave around unsteadily and manage to fly right into the lady's skirt, and then bounce off of her and land in the grass. The elf lady laughed as she apologized, and carefully crouched to reach down, letting the butterfly climb up onto her sleeve.
More scenes could play out: other butterflies -- fairies -- doing their little fairyfly things, preening one another, sharing food -- sharing fruit and smaller insects, apparently serving the ecological functions of both pollinator and pest control. A few other elves, apparently regarding the tiny fluttery figures as something like pets, or tiny people, playing with them, talking to them, feeding them. The only true constant seemed to be the black butterfly with purple edges on its wings, or the black-and-purple caterpillar.
In fact, enough scenes were playing out, if one stayed there long enough without interrupting, that it was becoming clear that something was going on here to keep causing them. Between visions, there was a flutter of the same black and purple butterfly among the odd flowers, climbing into them, and then after a bit, climbing back out, only to hop to another and enter that one.
But go figure: it was a butterfly, and flowers held nectar. Sweet, delicious nectar!
And if one were observant, they might even have spotted a phone lying somewhere, dropped by some inattentive Auradon resident.... Because Mallia forgot she was carrying it, and thus it fell, when she shifted to her tiny fairy form. Oops?
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timeasmymeasure
ITP: butterflies!! ♥ Open to all!
Date: 2023-05-14 06:42 am (UTC)No, not one flower to the next. One fruit to the next. One leaf to the next. These odd butterflies weren't on the magically exotic flowers that covered the area, but on other plants, trees of some kind -- figs? ...not figs precisely, but something that looked vaguely related, though with large spherical black berries hanging everywhere on their twigs and branches, instead of bigger, more pear-shaped fruits -- and little oval things hanging among it all, in just as many colors as the butterflies on them.
Whether the passerby leaned in to see the scene better out of curiosity, or the magic pulled them into witnessing it, it would become clear enough in short order that these were not typical butterflies after all. Their heads were bigger than usual. They weren't clinging to the surfaces with their bodies parallel to them, but holding to them with only their hind four legs, standing closer to perpendicular, using their front two limbs as arms and hands. Their fur was arranged in lengths, in tufts and curls that suggested proper hair on their head and skirts, or perhaps dresses, with some of their coloration. Perhaps most interestingly to anyone who'd studied entomology, not a single one of the odd butterflies present had a proboscis, but instead had biting mouth parts.
One small part of the scene in particular would steal their focus for a moment: a few of these oddly humanoid-seeming butterflies tending to one of those little oval things, a black one, as it wiggled where it hung. One leaned down and carefully bit into a small ridge in the shape, and dug its tiny hands into it, pulling the surface back to let another, softer shape climb out more easily, dark black and shiny. What looked like crumpled-up petals soon proved to belong to the new thing climbing out, a dark butterfly like the others, though not quite in the same shape. It was new still, only just then climbing out of its chrysalis, and its wings had yet to spread and stiffen. The others were helping pull it up onto a nearby leaf, where they left it to jump away and do... whatever it was they were going to do next. Probably help another of the new butterflies climb out. Maybe go eat something.
The new black butterfly wasn't wasting any time in preening itself out, already trying to spread those new, still-soft wings of theirs... and there, as they opened, the hind edges were revealed to be a deep, dark purple color which disappeared up into the black in short order.
It wasn't just any butterfly. Its wings' coloration and pattern looked suspiciously similar to Mallia's dress. The same velvety-dark black, the same brilliant, clear hue at the lower hems, not so much striped as in panes as it disappeared up into the rest of the fabric at her skirt and sleeves and cape.
The scene lingered a bit, and then no sooner did it fade, than another started up, with another focus: that same black butterfly, being preened on by another butterfly. It didn't seem like it was one of the ones from the previous vision, but some random older member of the odd insect species. Another scene, a black caterpillar with a few bits of purple here and there, being preened on by yet other butterflies. Or being helped to a berry.
Another scene, a lady with the same subtly-pointed ears as Mallia smiled. She held something small out on her hand, waiting patiently as the black one and a few others settled onto her fingers and palm, reaching forward to take some, unafraid. She said something softly, in a foreign language. Hello, lovelies. Go ahead, eat up. There's plenty more to go around....
Another scene, a different elven lady, leaning her back against one of those trees, holding a bowl with moss in it, and dark wine. Those strange butterflies were on her hair, on her shoulders and arms, and on the moss, in the bowl, drinking their fill. She grinned, careful as she moved, watching the tiny creatures drink themselves to silliness and then climb up out of the bowl to rest on her instead. One of them, the black and purple one, tried to fly away, only to weave around unsteadily and manage to fly right into the lady's skirt, and then bounce off of her and land in the grass. The elf lady laughed as she apologized, and carefully crouched to reach down, letting the butterfly climb up onto her sleeve.
More scenes could play out: other butterflies -- fairies -- doing their little fairyfly things, preening one another, sharing food -- sharing fruit and smaller insects, apparently serving the ecological functions of both pollinator and pest control. A few other elves, apparently regarding the tiny fluttery figures as something like pets, or tiny people, playing with them, talking to them, feeding them. The only true constant seemed to be the black butterfly with purple edges on its wings, or the black-and-purple caterpillar.
In fact, enough scenes were playing out, if one stayed there long enough without interrupting, that it was becoming clear that something was going on here to keep causing them. Between visions, there was a flutter of the same black and purple butterfly among the odd flowers, climbing into them, and then after a bit, climbing back out, only to hop to another and enter that one.
But go figure: it was a butterfly, and flowers held nectar. Sweet, delicious nectar!
And if one were observant, they might even have spotted a phone lying somewhere, dropped by some inattentive Auradon resident.... Because Mallia forgot she was carrying it, and thus it fell, when she shifted to her tiny fairy form. Oops?