Leea crouches next to it, produces a pen out of her pocket and pokes it. I let out a short high pitched shriek and slap a hand on my mouth. Leea looks back at me like I'm crazy.
"You can't just poke it!" I hiss at her and she shrugs. "What if it wakes up? What if it's super powerful?"
Leea pokes at it again. I let out another shriek.
"Dude, it's hibernating. It's not gonna wake up," she says and looks at me again. I move slowly to crouch next to her and look at it more closely. It has long, kinda dangly limbs and a long sleek tail I didn't notice before. Its ears are also on top of its head instead of the sides and they're triangular in shape. It is also very white and if we hadn't heard it drop from the tree I doubt we would've noticed it.
"That is the weirdest critter I've seen and I've seen plenty," I mutter. "What is it, some kinda troll?"
"Nah, trolls are bigger," Leea whispers and lifts its tail with her pen. "Hey, maybe it's a snow goblin."
"A snow goblin? What the heck is that?"
"It's like a goblin, except it lives in snow!"
"Now that is ridiculous, it looks nothing like a goblin!"
"Oh, I'm sorry, I didn't know you knew every single goblin type."
"Come on, it looks more like a weird cat then a goblin!"
"Now who's being ridiculous, when have you ever seen a cat that looks like that?"
"Well that's why I said-"
The creature lets out a small coo and stirs. We freeze.
"-weird. Well now it's awake," I whisper and Leea slowly withdraws the pen. The creatures eyes flutter open. They are completely black. It stares hazily at me, then at Leea and then at me again. Its eyes widen almost comically. Against my better judgement I give it a little wave.
It bursts into flames.
"Woah!" Leea shouts and we both scramble back as fast as we can. The creature is standing now, it is still kinda human shaped, and the only thing I see from the flames is its black eyes. It coos again.
"Dude, it's a fire elemental!" I finally realize. "I've never seen one without the flames, I always thought they were black underneath." I edge closer and extend my hand at it. It leans over and sniffs it. Then pokes it. And grabs it. Leea finally finds her voice again.
"Does-" she starts and clears her throat. "Doesn't it burn? I mean, it's on fire?"
"Nah, they only burn when they want to," I say as the little elemental climbs on top of my hand. "It's warmer than humans, sure, but it's not burning."
"What was it doing in the tree?" Leea asks as we stand up, the elemental dangling from my upper sleeve. She lets it sniff her finger once it's settled on my shoulder.
"Hibernating, I guess," I say and glance up to the tree. The branches are high and there's a sort of nest on one. "It's weird though, usually fire elementals live in groups. Maybe this one's lost?"
"We should name it," Leea says, a twinkle in her eye. I huff in amusement. "We'll call it Flame."
"Flame?" I say, raising an eyebrow. "How original."
"Okay, Princess Flame," she says and her face says that's final.
"How do you know it's a girl?" I ask and she rolls her eyes.
"Anyone can be a princess. Even if they're not a girl." The elemental giggles and Leea grins in victory. I lift my hands in defeat, but I can't help the smile that's raising on my lips.
"I guess we should take it to the vet. Just to make sure it's fine."
Leea is carrying the elemental now and they trail behind me as I make my way back towards the city.
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Casual fantasy is the greatest thing! Werewolf veterinarians, vampires running coffee shops that double as night clubs, witches with herb and spell -shops, psychic therapists, shapeshifter actors, small dragons as pets, cupids working for dating sites, ANYTHING. Modern setting doesn't negate fantasy. So there. This story is now casual fantasy. Your topic is Voice.
Pie out.
P.S. You kinda fucked up the tense in the end there, we're writing in present, not past tense.
P.P.S. It's not December yet. In the story I mean. It's Sunday the 30th of November. In case you didn't check the calendar. Because yesterday was Saturday and December was "just around the corner".
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