AN: Like all my works, this is cross-posted from AO3.
Plant People
Juniper scrambled through the bushes, brushing aside thorns as they did, carrying a worn pouch.
Scavenging had gone very well! Nerys Park was full of bushes and trees, many of which bore berries and fresh fruits. Sweet peaches, shadeberries, moonbeam bananas, choice cherries… And of course, there grew nuts, mushrooms, and plenty of wild roots vegetables—like glitterspuds—to fill the belly with their wholesome bulk. Today, the haul was mostly seeds, and a couple of carrots.
In just a second, Juniper had made their way to the other side of the thorns. The bush was dome-shaped, with a hollow inside to give some space for them and their collected items; the longer-keeping foods, yes, but also the funnest looking twigs and rocks, that looked like people, or animals…
A little orange light from the setting sun seeped through the sides because of the holes—Juni had a few bush-dens, but this one's gaps were a bit wider than the rest, so it wasn't as dry when it rained. But this evening was cloudless, and they could sense in the air that it would be dry tonight.
Juni sat down on the pile of leaves that was their bed, and set their bag in front of them. They opened it up to toss some scavenged seeds into their mouth while examining the latest treasures: a little damaged flowerpot, chipped and scraped, but surely still usable; a jar they'd cleaned in the river earlier, and which could be used for storage; a box someone had left behind, with a small hole in the side, a lock Juni hadn't found the key for yet, and that made odd squeaky noises…
But the coolest of all, was a stone shaped like a circle! Juni smiled, fluffy ears perking up excitedly as they picked up the rock and put it over their left eye, like a tell-scope, or those glasses that some park visitors had over only one eye. Juni knew it was special, from the moment it was discovered; its black surface was perfectly smooth to the eye and skin, and the hole in the middle… Something like this was magic, Juni was certain; it could reveal a whole world of secret, unseen life! They couldn't wait to show it to Vahn, when he was able to visit again.
Scanning around, Juni quickly decided that while this stone could very definitely show hidden special creatures, there weren't any in this bush right now.
Juni lay down on the soft leafpile, and put a river-rinsed carrot in their mouth, chomping down into the crunchy, meaty orange flesh. They watched the sky go dark, and listened to the singing of crickets outside while waiting for sleep to come.
Juniper woke up to a pressure on their lap, and something hanging on the fur of their ear.
It was probably just a leaf, which Juni was used to, so they grumbled and flicked the ear, only to hear a strange squeak.
Their eyes shot open and they turned their head to the side…
A gasp of surprise came out of Juniper's lips, and they rubbed their eyes with disbelief to see strange, colourful things running about on their body.
What are those?! They were tiny!… No, if they were insects, they would be on the middling-side, but these looked like people! Little red, yellow and pink persons, with plants on their heads! Some leaves, some flowers, and all adorable! Some chased each other around—the pink ones flying as they did—others looked up at the thorn canopy with worry, and others carried the magic seeing-rock around in a circle on Juni's lap, like the creatures didn't know where to go.
Juniper covered their mouth with both hands, trembling and overwhelmed by the cuteness; their eyes gaped wide with wonder. They looked around to see if there were more of the little things; what in Alrest were they?
What are you? was the only thought Juni could muster. Did anyone else know these things existed? What could they be called? Leaflings?
One red one looked right in Juni's eyes, and tilted its head. "Pik-miin!" Juni heard it hum—almost sing, really—as it swung its leaf side to side.
"Piiik-miiin" several others repeated—except for one, who mooed instead, which…wasn't a sound Juni expected.
Okay, maybe they hadn't read Juni's mind, and weren't actually answering the question, but that seemed like a good name for them anyway; 'pikmin'.
Out out of the corner of their eye, Juniper saw the locked box they'd found yesterday was open and empty, and the lock was broken by the side; these 'pikmins' must have been inside there! They were the ones making the sounds!
Juni slowwwly raised their hand, and did a tiny little wave at the pikmin, heart thumping. Aaahhh! They were as cute as pippitos! The urge to make a silly, wide little smile while looking at them was overpowering.
But Juni's smile quickly fell when they noticed the pikmin's worried expressions; how awful! What could Juniper do to help?
They were all looking upwards, so Juni did too…only to see a bulb, almost like an onion, but bright red, yellow, and pink. And it was moving by itself, like a skeeter trapped in an arachno's web, only here it was stuck in Juniper's thorny bush ceiling. The bulb was surrounded by a few of the pink ones, some trying and failing to pull it free.
Is that yours? Juniper thought to the pikmin, staring at them intently; hopefully they could understand like Vahn always could…
And to Juni's ear-fluttering delight, the pikmin did! They were so clever! They nodded, bouncing on the spot in the air, and looked with sad, pleading eyes…
Well, Juniper wasn't going to leave them helpless like this, especially for such friendly creatures. Juni easily pried the thorns away from the onion, freeing it to come down, where it extended three squirmy legs to stand beside the leaf-bed.
The dozens of pikmin all gave a loud, piping cheer at the same time, melting Juni's heart. Pikmin with their hands free ran or flew to the onion, those carrying the stone dropped it, and the rest carried Juni's seeds along. They had never been given permission, so they were technically stealing… but creatures so cute were allowed to break the rules a little bit. In fact, Juniper took the chance to give them a cherry, which they eagerly collected.
Juni watched in wide-eyed joy as the little creatures carried seeds to the onion, and jumped in place—afraid for a moment of having squished some of them—when it sucked the seeds up, and spat out little colourful sprouts, which plopped into the soil.
They probably shouldn't be plucked—that was never good for a plant—but the waving leaves, surrounded by that dim, yellow glow were so tempting, calling out to Juniper… And the creatures had to get out of the ground somehow…
Juniper would use a slow, gentle touch…
Vahn hadn't been able to visit today; he was a prince, so Juniper guessed it wasn't strange… But the times when he was away could get lonely, and they weren't keen on meeting other people—too scary, especially in crowds—so meeting these new planty friends was nice!
In fact, for once, Juniper almost didn't even notice he wasn't there; they were so busy playing with the pikmin, who climbed their body and used their fingers as slides; Juniper buried little treasures to 'find', or feeding them spare seeds to grow their numbers…
Some of them Juniper would pluck—others would be seeded into little plots of soil, so Juniper could admire the adorable little glowy flowers their leaves grew into. The red and yellow ones were white, but the winged ones had extra pretty lavender flowers, and Juniper wondered what other flowers there might be, or how many colours the pikmin bodies came in?
The pikmin were were easy to adore and get lost in their fun; the pink ones would fly around Juni's head in dizzying circles, dancing in the air; the others eagerly carried and collected whatever Juniper laid out for them…
They had lots in common with Juniper too; both didn't talk, but could still be understood by their closest friends; both were shy to be seen by people, especially bigger ones; both lived in nature, scavenged for food except when their friends brought some for them, and rested in a planty shelter.
Juniper's bushy hideouts had air openings though, not solid walls like the onion. And they didn't create more little Junis when food was brought inside… No small gormotti bladelings buried in the soil, surrounded on all sides with no air, no light, no freedom to move, the walls not closing in because they were already closed in but actually maybe they could still squash more…
A tingly shudder of horror ran through their body. Maybe the pikmin weren't that much the same.
Juni shook their head, and pushed away the dizzying, upsetting thoughts of the underground, and returned to bouncing pikmin in their hand.
Sleep is vital for health and feeling energetic, so after night fell and the new friends flew into the sky—except for the ones still safely planted in their flowerpots—Juniper really should be sleeping.
Instead, tonight they were out exploring with the magic seeing-stone. It's not even that they were too awake, no; Juniper's eyes and ears were droopy…but it was just too tempting! After the very first night of using the stone, they found the pikmin, who were some of the most magical, unusual creatures ever—a beautiful mix of plants, which were Juni's favourite part of nature, and less intimidating people. There was no way to explain it, except if the stone really did reveal hidden things.
Juniper roamed over the rolling hills of Nerys Park, holding the stone over their eye. They lifted rocks to check underneath, but only saw bugs and worms. Edible, Juniper knew, but a little gross and squirmy. No magic.
They peered into bushes and climbed trees, and found nothing but sleeping scornet nests, and leaves, and fruit. No fairies, or ghosts; that was okay, because ghosts were spooky, and completely unfun.
There weren't any wonderful secrets like fish-gormotti people below the surface of any of the ponds or the river either. Not even if Juni dug fingers through the stony riverbed, or made the sacrifice of wetting the ends of their hair, sticking their face under to look closely. Why weren't there any? Juni would promise not to eat them, no matter how scrumptiously fishy they are!
But eventually, the hard work paid off; while scanning over the countryside, Juniper's eyes, ears and whole body perked up at a glimmer of light on the ground. Nobody would just leave a core crystal out here, and nearly every blade's core crystal except Vahn, his sister and his parents' were blue, not greenish!
Juni put the magic stone to their lips and kissed it as thanks. While clutching it tightly in one hand, they scurried over to the light, keeping a hunched position and soft steps to avoid scaring whatever was there—not easy, with trembling excitement bubbling inside them!
On getting closer, their keen gormotti eyes revealed an odd mound, with lots of little holey windows letting out light—
They yelped and stopped in place as bright green lights appeared out of nowhere in front of their face.
They went into defence mode, leaping back and summoning their Luminescent Bow, and pointing it at the glowing attacker…
But Juniper's breath slowed and calmed down, as the light didn't attack, but just gathered at the tip of the bow's arrow, revealing themselves to be… Pikmin ghosts?
The seven of them glowed a bright, shining green, with deep blue eyes; they floated about, vanishing and popping back into the windows of the little glowmound, peeping out and making the same cute chirpy noises as other pikmin…but ghostier.
Juniper dismissed the ether-constructed bow; they'd always thought ghosts would be scary, but these were the least scary thing ever! So tiny, and chirpy, and they were even waving hi!
They frowned though; even knowing that all things died eventually as part of the course of nature…the thought of creatures as adorable as pikmin dying was terribly sad.
The glowmound looked like a cosy home though—with all those openings, Juniper could almost imagine living in one comfortably, being able to look up at the night sky!… If they were small enough to fit, that is.
How strange that it only appeared tonight… Clearly the eye-stone was responsible, because they knew the park, and there was never a glowy mound in this spot before! Juniper would have noticed for sure!
Juni lay down on their stomach in front of the mound, and watched in admiration and mournful respect as the ghost pikmin played in their ghosty glowy house.
They would have to go to one of their bushes to sleep soon—being found by park visitors having fallen asleep on the ground wouldn't be any fun—but for now, they would just enjoy watching.
Only one body of water in the park was clean enough to wash in without getting slimy and muddy, and that was the river. When the need came for Juniper to clean themself—or their food, or clothes—of the days gathered grease, mud and sweat, the river was the place to do it, if it wasn't raining.
And they were very much sweaty today. The sun beat down on them, and the humid air made it worse… There was no better cure or refreshment than a good, cooling bath!
They'd checked nobody was around this early morning, stripped down and slipped into the water. The pikmin hadn't wanted to join in—they seemed afraid of the water, which Juni understood; plants could be overwatered, and with tiny bodies like theirs, it wouldn't surprise Juni if they could drown easily. Besides, maybe they couldn't swim; a lot of them were born yesterday after all.
So Juni was all by themself, scrubbing their arms while singing one of the cheerful little tunes they learned from the pikmin.
"Mmm-hmm mm-nmm hmm-hmm…" Juni hummed, waving their head side to side.
Fingers and bracing water rinsed away grimy sweat, while they kept two swivelling ears out for any park visitors. Chirping birds and buzzing insects, but no footsteps. Splashing water over stones, and whistling wind, and muffled, squeaking pik—
Juni froze, and instinctively flicked their head towards the sound; they saw a common wolpole shaking off little blue people with head leaves. A new type of pikmin?
They bashed their little heads onto the wolpole, and its body fell to the river floor, where the pikmin picked it up. They carried it with the same determined 'huh huh huh!' working sounds the other pikmin made when they carried food. Did these blue ones live in an onion too, or a glowy mound like the ghost pikmin?
This was way more interesting than finishing washing!
After nearly forgetting to grab their clothes, Juniper followed the pikmin on their journey, eager to see what sort of home they took their prey to. Maybe it would be a river-weed hut, like Juni lived in, but underwater!
Before long, they reached a secluded corner of the river, where the stream was lighter, and weedier. But in that patch of weeds was not an underwater den, but a blue onion poking out of the water, with only its legs submerged. Very sneaky and camouflaged, but it couldn't escape Juni's careful gaze, even without the magic stone's help! Juni's fluffy ears bristled with pride.
They let the pikmin feed their catch to the onion, and grinned. Time to see if they enjoyed playing as much as the other types…
After their wash, Juniper went to practise what Vahn liked to call 'science'; they didn't have any way to record the experiments, but Juni had a pretty good memory, and would happily relay it all to Vahn when he showed up!
Like normal plants, each type was different; the pink ones could fly, and looked a bit more like bees, with a stripe on their bodies. Maybe they pollinated flowers as well?
Yellow pikmin zapped Juni's skin a little if touched directly, like pieces of metal sometimes did in summer; obviously, they were like electric type blades! Filled with the powers of lightning.
Blue pikmin had their obvious gill-like mouths that let them breathe in water, and they were slippery! Very hard to hold onto, and tricky to pluck, but something about them was so charming, and just being able to swim made them fun playmates! Actually, they might have been the funnest ones so far.
Ghost pikmin had only discovered last night, but Juniper had paid close attention; they flew around, and could move from place to place instantly, vanishing and appearing like a blade weapon—or like the ether arrows on Juniper's own bow. They also lived in a dirt house full of glowing light, which seemed to be completely gone by the next morning, which explained why Juni had never seen it in the park before.
And finally, the red pikmin… Energetic, fiesty, and they reminded Juni of Vahn, just a bit; sure, his nose wasn't as pokey and sharp, but the pikmin were so warm… It felt a little like holding Vahn's hand…
Juniper's cheeks started burning up for no reason at all, and they hurried to put the pikmin back down. Maybe that last experiment—and their sudden upgrade to 'favourite pikmin'—would stay a secret.
But the rest? They couldn't wait to introduce him to their new plant friends! He would love them just as much, Juni was certain.