Submission (#7941) Approved

Silurian hooked the climbing spike into the root of the mangrove tree, and with a scratch, scramble, and scriffle, hauled himself up over. The weight of the stuff he carried on his back jangled and swayed as he steadied himself on the thick root. Whew. This one was much wider than the one he previously thought was good for landing. He peered over the edge of the bark and squinted at the pathetically snapped root that had just buckled under him. The way it awkwardly dipped into the clear ocean made him chuckle.

"Alright, alright. His address, his address.. the one with the white carnations left outside." The kittom sat back up and adjusted the bag on his back. It was hard to miss the treehouse system snug within the branches- the cast shadow of the buildings formed strange geometric shapes among the twisted roots and the ocean below. He traced the edge of the shape of the building's shadow, then stared upwards at the buildings and bridges above him. It wasn't too high up, maybe just a story or two, but it was just out of reach for him.

"I'm close! I'm close. No, not even close." Shaking his head, he gave his luggage a heave and pattered on forward to the end of the root's slope upwards. "I'm just a taaad bit off. I'm at the bottom. I can't even see the house numbers."

Hand resting on the side of the tree, his attention turned to the next weave of roots. This one jutting out would give him a decent boost, then this one, then that one. It would be a steady, much more safe incline for him to climb. His eyes ran around studying where the roots turned into branches.

A cool breeze rustled his hair and twinged his nose with the scent of salt. He could feel himself lean forward on his paws at its carry.

Winding up his haunches, he pounced onto the next root. Success. Then turned to the next one, then the next. Glee filled his mind as he skipped each short distance among the tightly woven roots. The sound of the wind tearing past his ears was a welcome echo to his pride.

Then suddenly, a bright light flashed in his eyes.

"WoOAH--" The light burst into a flicker and faded, but it was enough for Silurian to tumble. He rolled forward and found himself face up at the sky. His hands immediately pulled up to shield his face from further splashes. What was that? Right in his face!

He shook his head to clear the thought. A flash shone through the gaps in his finger, but when he looked, only some sparkles were left in it's place. A prank? "Fae?" Oh he hated fae- were there fae in Ealei-?!

Shielding his eyes, the kittom frantically flicked his head up and his eyes reflected shimmering thin streaks of light flying down from the sky. The amount suddenly multiplied and many, many sparkles came flying down around him. But where it hit him on his skin, it didn't feel like much. The wince he prepared for was only met with a gentle tickle.

A bit of a long pout pulled across his face. Annoyance he was thrown off balance by something so benign surfaced to the top of his list of emotions. "Okay. Weird fae prank this is." He scoffs. He reached out to find and grab the roots of the mangrove and hooked his paws into the end to push himself up. His bag just had perfectly slotted into roots of the tree, saving him from plopping right back down into the ocean.

The lights plickered and spluttered around him. Where the streaks hit the ground, it scattered into a reflection of light, then quickly faded. He upturned his hand and let one splash onto his palm. He tilted his head and his ears twitched where another droplet fell upon. "Rain? Oh.. this is that thing.. phenomena..." his voice trailed off, "well, if only I can remember it. Uggghhh, did it have to fall in my eyes!"

He pulled himself upright and brushed off the leaves and splinters he kicked up in his tumble. At the end of the tallest mangrove root, he reaches the edge of one of the bridges and jumped on over. He looked around and saw some other elnins and kittoms coming outside or opening their windows to witness the showers. But also while looking, he spotted a staircase over to the side. He wandered over and saw it lead straight down to the roots besides a small dock. Small bursts of light littered each step.

"Darn." The word slipped out of his mouth before he could blink. "Maybe I should look around first next time. I made it though. Now which house has the carnations.."

He turned back around and headed down the bridges. There were plenty of different potted flora up here in front of every house, and what bothered him wasn't that they all looked so similar, but now that there were so many Elnin outside, they were obstructing his view of the flowers.

"Hey. I needa get through. Ya'll blocking the way." He clicked his tongue at a group crowding the bridge.

Squeals of excitement answered him instead as the mix of gijinkas and kittoms were too busy reaching out their hands and paws trying to catching the sparks of light.

"I almost caught it!"

"I did, but it disappeared!"

"Mom said you need to become lightproof to hold onto light rain!"

"That's not how that works."

"No, it does! It's because when you're lightproof, the light can't pass through your hands so it pools up instead. Like how raincoats don't let water through because they're waterproof!"

"That's the stupidest thing I've heard today." Silurian interjected.

"Who the heck are you?"

"Someone you're blocking the road for. Can you guys move already, the rain's not going anywhere."

"You don't have to be so rude about it," they step to the side, pulling their sibling back too.

"Yeah and you're all dangerously close to the edge trying to catch the lights." Silurian ducked through the crowd, not much caring his bag wacked some of them in the faces. "Your mom needs to be reeducated how light works by the way, 'cause there's no such thing as being lightproof."

He scampered ahead, uncaring about whatever else they yelled after him. His goal wasn't to argue with weird children here.

He pattered his way up another staircase, then saw that pot of white carnations he was searching for. There he is. An excited, goofy smile spread across his face and his tail wagged back and forth. He ran up to the door and banged on it.

"Harper!! I'm here!" He called. "It's Silurian and not some random stranger!"

He could hear a sudden scramble inside and a crash, followed by a brief moment of silence, then the clack of the doorknob turning. The door opened and a weary looking kittom stumbled out. A feathery black pomu could be seen clinging to his leg.

"S-Silurian." He cleared his throat and steadied his posture. "You made it- why are you covered in splinters and leaves. Are those manaberry stains? What happened?"

"I fell over on the roots."

"But you shouldn't have had a problem if you went... you didn't go to the docks as I said. Did you."

"Didn't see that till I got up here. I was too busy getting blinded by these lights. Oh! Yeah, come outside, come outside, you didn't notice this yet, have you?"

"Huh?" Harper didn't have much time to react before Silurian pulled him out of the house. His pomu tumbled back, losing its grip on his sudden movement, then scampered to catch up to them. It hid behind his leg before registering what was happening around them, letting out a startled squeak when a droplet of light flew into the kittom's shadow. Harper looked around, admonished. "What's all this..?"

"Light rain! That funny phenomena this time 'o year. Didn't think I'd encounter it on my way here." He guided his friend to look up at the shaded parts under the mangrove leaves. "You can see them more clearly as they pass through the shade. Isn't that cool?"

"Oh.. yeah. That is cool. I didn't look outside until now." Harper narrowed his eye in focus, then blinked a couple times. He reached out curiously and a spark burst on his finger tip. Silurian could feel a subtle jump from him in reaction to the light falling onto him, but the russet-haired kittom shook it off.

Harper looked down at his Pomu and reached down to pet its head. "It's alright. If you're nervous you can hide back in there."

It shook its head and steadily held his ankle.

"It looks so puntable." Silurian said.

"Don't say that." Harper lightly shoved him at his comment. But he heard his pomu cry out fearfully and it dove into his shadow, and let out a sigh. "... Do you want to put your stuff down first?"

"Oh! Yeah, yes." Silurian nods. "I brought everything as I said I would."

"And.. no, you should clean yourself up first. I'm not letting you run around in my place covered in leaves."

"Aaaaghhhh I'll just stay outside then! Cold showers are killer!"