A cool breeze caressed the few surrounding trees, the petals of cherry blossoms scattered at the touch. Many found their way ontop of the crystaline lake and floated gracefully on the water's surface. The delicate touch of the petals disturbed not even the fish hovering just under the soft echo of ripples. Birds chimed in the distance, calling out to stray lovers. All was quite and serene... sort of.

A splash tore into the lake as a young-looking boy hopped into it, chasing after a perturbed frog. As soon as he hit the water, he stood with a clearly irate attitude, pulling at this worn jeans as if it was the frogs fault for getting him wet. The boy trudged back up out of the water and calmly walked along the edge of the lake. Eying a fish, he sat down and stared at it. Soon enough, his mouth was mimicking the fish, a soft popping sounded from his lips every time his mouth opened.

After the fish sped off for no apparent reason, the boy grew bored and decided to take an afternoon nap under one of the cherry blossom trees. Squishing his way over with his half-soaked outfit of worn-down materials, he plopped himself down with his head against the trunk of the tree. His eyes remained open, as he liked to relax before actually trying to sleep. He listened to the rustling wind and enjoyed the beautiful blossoms as he sat and waited for sleep.

Mia walked in her Rivka form, having left the city of Cascadia empty handed. She trudged along the lake side kicking up dirt in her path, one eye open for anyone who seemed to be coming or going. She saw no one on her walk and it caused her to relax slightly. Still she was wary as she walked, if people saw her this way then they might try to help her or wonder why a priestess was in such a mood. Mia Rivka sighed, bored with the afternoon.

In the distance she saw someone, it was the first person she had seen in awhile. He looked vaguely familiar to her but she couldn’t quite put her finger on it... Until she saw the mask. The annoying memory of a boy came back to her and Mia Rivka smiled wickedly. She glanced around to make sure that no one was around to see as she dropped the illusion of Rivka and gained her normal form as Mia. Her height dropped 2 inches down to 5’5 and she was no longer human. In the priestess’ place stood a moon elf. Her skin was tinted blue and her black hair had a blue sheen as well. She smiled as she made her way over to the boy.

Upon reaching him Mia sent a kick to his ribs. ”Hey kid, remember me?”

Just as the kid was slipping into his sleep, something jammed into his ribs and he sent himself sprawling in the other direction. Springing to his feet, he took an aggressive stance and started fuming wildly, though completely silent. He pointed a long finger at the woman and his mask reflected both his feelings of anger and inverted color to show he did recognize her.

And then it happened: the boy spoke. It was a long, drawn out, high pitched whine of a voice, something that could jar the nerves of just about anyone. "No~t ni~c~e... fe~mal~e-hhh~...!

However, after getting a good look at the woman's true form this time around, he paused and visibly relaxed. Not only was she very attractive, but her skin was a similar color to his own. Everyone else the boy had met had darker, tanned skin far from the porcelain he bore. Thus, he was caught in a dilema.

He stood there quietly, examining her, running through his thoughts with a hand on his hip and a leg bent and leaning against the other leg's knee. His head was cocked a little too far to the side and it would have looked downright silly. Letting himself tilt backwards, he fell into a backwards roll and landed smoothly on the ground, taking up another odd position. On his back, one leg bent upwards above the ground while the other's ankle rested on the bent knee. His hands went behind his head.

He seemed to have decided to give her one more chance at walking away before causing the same annoyance the last time they met.

”Oh you do remember me huh? Well try and remember that I’m not nice anyway!” She let him watch her, turning her hips from side to side as he did so. ”I guess you like this form better then hmm?”

Then he fell backwards and she could only roll her eyes at him. She walked slowly closer to him, measuring each of her steps. Once up close to him she circled around him, letting her now blue eyes watch his face. She studied him as he had done to her a moment ago. He looked thin and drawn, but his face was what she was really interested in and yet he had it covered with a mask.

Once she had rounded back up to his face again she stopped and stared down at him. ”Remember how I said I’m not nice?” With that she shoved him again with her foot, this time making sure her sandaled foot made contact with his ear. ”Well you’ll get to see a lot more of it now,”

The boy watched her carefully when she circled him. He wasn't going to trust her from the beginning, let alone after her admiting her lack of niceties. He watched her eye his mask and he was tempted to take it off for her, if just because she took hers off for him. He thought about it, but wasn't going to plan on it.

Just as she warned him again, he was prepared for it this time. When she shoved him with her foot, he pinned her foot to his head with his hand, grabbing her ankle with boney fingers and lifting it. On his back he couldn't lift it high enough to knock her down, but it wasn't going to stop him from looking up her dress and embarassing her. He dropped his mask so that she could witness the enormise blue/silver eyes and their direction, along with the very wide grin that spread across his face.

When her foot got caught Mia gazed down to look at the boy leering up her skirt. A wicked smile crossed her face. ”Enjoy it while you can freak. It might be the only thing you’ll see of a woman.” After a moment she yanked her leg away and smiled down at the boy, letting her eyes scan his body.

”Wouldn’t want you to get too worked up now would we? Here let me help you with that.” Mia flicked her hand and cast a simple Create Water spell. The water appeared above the boy’s face before gravity took effect and it plummeted towards his exposed face.

With a snap of his fingers, the mask rematerialized on his face, however the usual stripes were lacking. The apparent "stone" was stark white. The water splashed off the mask, but some of it still managed to splash the rest of him. Lifting his torso, he rolled forward to his feet and turned around. Writing seemed to apear on his mask. He wasn't sure if it would be too little for her to read at this distance, but he didn't have a tree branch to save energy and write in the dirt. It would help, too, if there wasn't so much grass in the area.

The words etched onto his mask as if they were actually being writen by hand, "Much anger, yes?" He tried to keep the words as short as possible, but keep his intended meanings. After those words faded, more apeared, "Troubles?" It faded and was replaced by, "Problems?"

Mia watched his mask change with mild curiosity. Her head tilted to one side as she studied the words on his mask. She had to squint slightly to be able to read them. ”Much anger? Yes… I do have much anger I suppose.” Mia moved forward and circled the boy.

”You see I get annoyed when people like you come around… and I’m not really one to … let sleeping dogs lie.” Mia regarded him casually, arms crossed over her chest. ”My turn now… Why do you annoy people to the point that they would come and do this to you?”

-delete-

The boy shook his head sadly when she admitted to the anger issues. Reaching into a hidden pocket, he pulled out a small journal, more like a notebook, and started writing in it with a pencil that was wedged in the pages. "Lightheartedness is necessary for a fulfilling lifestyle. You need to chill, woman. Noble or wicked person, a calm, relaxed mind is a dangerous tool."

He was still writing that down when she continued with her statement on sleeping dogs, and into her question. He chose to answer that while he had his equipment out. It hurt to talk, and he could tell it hurt others almost as much as himself. "A playful spirit tends to be contagious among the "better" people. Those like yourself only mean trouble. It might not be a bad thing; blowing stuff up will always be fun, but you have to learn to enjoy more than being a cool person." He knew he was going to get kicked again for that last word, but the truth was sharper than any shoe. Nevertheless, after handing the notebook to her, he took a couple steps back.

Mia reached out and took the notebook from the boy. Her blue eyes scanned the pages, but her face gave no hint as to what she was thinking as she read them. It took her awhile to lower the book. She had reread the statements a few times and now regarded the boy. She lowered her eyes to the pages one last time and then stared at the boy again.

“A calm, relaxed mind is a dangerous tool in a game of wits. Strength and cunning is what will win you the world.” Mia smiled at the boy, “Besides... I’m assuming your saying you have a calm, relaxed, lighthearted, playful mind... Well I don’t see anything great about you. In fact you’ll probably die and no one will remember you.”

She snapped the book closed in her hands and dropped it on the ground. “If you’re one of these ‘better’ people then I’ll pass.” She looked him up and down. She wanted to kick him again but she decided to take it out in another way. “Really people like you are completely worthless.” She flicked her wrist and cast inflict minor wounds.