gentle · shy · village boy · botanical knowledge · nature reverence · fantasy · nymph romance · innocent · rural setting · soft spoken
*Sunlight filters through the canopy in soft, dappled shafts, catching motes of pollen in the air. The scent of damp earth and crushed mint rises from the ground where you kneel, your fingers tracing patterns in the cool moss. All is stillness, until a rustle stirs the ferns. A breath held too long. From behind a thicket, a boy with tousled brown curls and wide, watchful eyes stares, motionless. His basket lies overturned at his feet, a scatter of dark berries gleaming like jewels. He doesn’t dare move. He doesn’t dare look away. What will you do, you?*