Information

Fleur has a minion!

Lis the Patchling

Fleur
Legacy Name: Fleur

The

Custom Common Experiment #008
Owner:

Buttercream

Age: 15 years, 9 months, 4 weeks

Born: June 21st, 2008

Adopted: 10 years, 7 months, 3 weeks ago

Adopted: August 28th, 2013

Pet Spotlight Winner
January 13th, 2016

Statistics

Level: 14
Strength: 5
Defense: 20
Speed: 10
Health: 3
HP: 12/3
Intelligence: 19
Books Read: 19
Food Eaten: 0
Job: Unemployed

"Oh! Oh no!" the petite snail squeaked as she exited her homely cottage at dawn's first light into overgrown chaos.

Just outside her orderly backyard, Fleur had planted her prized pumpkin seeds in lazy rows within the rich earth. Although these seeds were from her previous country faire winning stock, some seven times in a row to be exact, for some reason this year's yields were puny and limp. Fleur had absolutely no idea what was wrong with them, and she had tried nearly everything in the Green Thumbs' manual. She sang soft lullabies under full moons, tried a variety of folk dances associated with growth and fertility, she even mixed ground animal bones with water and poured the concoction on the lethargic pumpkins, but nothing worked.

At least not until the mysterious ampoule had showed up on her door step.

A week ago, a small package was delivered to Fleur's home with no return label. Opening the container hesitantly, she found a small wooden box with a glass vial nestled in royal purple velvet. A faded white card was stuck to the top of the lid with a short saying scrawled in black ink. She gently pulled the oddly shaped bottled, a glass pumpkin with a green tinted vined handle, from its confines, and a viscous liquid settled to the bottom. Placing the vial down, Fleur plucked the card from the lid and quietly read it to herself.

Flipping the card over, she found a single line of instruction.

"One drop per plant. No more. No less."

For the first few days the mysterious glass vial rested in its beautiful box untouched, but not forgotten, on the fireplace mantle. Fleur would pass it multiple times during her day, and every time she would glance sideways at it in trepidation. Her mind was abuzz with questions and thoughts and doubts. The what if scenarios piled upon one another like apples on display. For each day that cycled by, the more Fleur began to truly consider indulging her curiosity. She began to think of the vial and its contents as a potion or spell, and while she did not believe in such magical nonsense, she felt there was no harm is just trying it out.

The evening she decided to cave, a crescent moon took center stage on a cloudless night. The stars twinkled and crickets chirped as Fleur tugged the cork stopper clear from the opening of the glass vial, and began anointing each stem of her beloved pumpkins with a single thick droplet. The slightly dark liquid glistened in the moonlight and seemed to vanish in a mist of bright, tiny sparkles after a few moments. Fleur found herself frowning in apprehension as she finished with the last plant a few hours later and headed back home. Taking one last look at her haphazard garden, she turned in for the evening, unsure of what to expect when morning came.

Fleur awoke groggy from a night of restless sleep to a new day obscured by gloomy, thunderous clouds. She rushed to the garden and found a welcome surprise! It was like some little elf had come under moonlight and inflated all her pumpkins. They were ripe and plump with beautifully vibrant green leaves. The vines with tiny curly Q tendrils flourished happily as the first fat droplets fell from the sky. Thunder rumbled near by and a crash of lightning rippled across the sky. Fleur, giddy with happiness, hurried back to the safety of her cottage just as the deluge of rain began.

The thunder and lightning shook her little house while the storm raged outside. All Fleur could think about was the miracle outside her walls. Somehow the gourds had been infused with the essence and life, and maybe, just maybe, she had a chance of winning the county fair after all. The only problem was that the pumpkins were still behind schedule. Too small to win the big prize. Maybe she could enter them into the smaller size categories but those candidates didn't receive much recognition or award. No, all the prestige was in the giant grouping. She eyed the potion again, and contemplated the warning. Eventually she settled on anointing the pumpkins one more time, just a little dab this time though!

The storm finally passed, leaving behind a gray and dreary dusk sky with very little light to work by. Fleur trudged through mud to her garden once more and set about quickly giving each stem one very tiny drop. Rather than a burst of golden sparkles, the liquid disappeared in a haze of silver and black. As Fleur was returning home she heard an odd noise from behind, like a rustling of dried leaves in a breeze but no wind stirred around her. Spooked by the sounds and thoughts of hungry wild animals, she fled to safety of the cottage and bed.

Dawn broke the next morning in a beautiful display of golden light and fluffy white clouds. Feeling rejuvenated by a night's worth of quality sleep, Fleur hurried to her garden and stopped dead just before the gate in bewilderment. What she should have found were her pumpkins just slightly larger than yesterday, plump, and bright orange. Instead she found herself craning her head upwards to stare at gourds that towered over her tiny frame. Corkscrewed vines as thick as her neck grew all over the dirt path with dark green leaves the size of her body!

She carefully transversed her way towards one of the nearest large pumpkin, her eyes trying to focus on it as she goes closer. For some reason, it seemed as if the rind was slightly undulating. When she was finally before the pumpkin, Fleur realized that it wasn't just pulsating but it was also expanding in minute increments. It was getting bigger every second! In a panic, she turned around to flee, and suddenly a loud pop echoed from behind her. Pieces of grind and pumpkin innards started raining down around and on Fleur. As a particularly big chunk of bright orange insides riddled with large yellow seeds landed on top of her head, a session of pops sounded around her. The sky was instantly full of falling bits. Fleur stared in horror at her beloved pumpkins, reduced to nothing but portions of shell sitting on the ground surrounded by beautiful green foliage.

Months later, the fair had passed and Fleur's pumpkins were absent from the competition. The glass potion was tucked safely in a chest in a deep, dark corner of the cottage's attic. She made a vow to herself never to use the allure of magic to gain something she could not do with her own two hands.

"There's always next season, " she said, shaking a large bag of pumpkin seeds she had harvested from the remains. "Perhaps these will come in handy one day."