flowercrowns and sunshine.

Someday, if I have gone away
Having fallen in a deep deep forest,
You must go there alone.

---

My entry for OC-Take-Over's contest, theme being "falling in love." I've had these two lil nuggets on my mind for a while, so here we are, lol.

In which Nero and Dandi are innocent little acorns wearing flower crowns (that Dandi made).

For the voters, here is their story:
Nero is the man in the water. Dandelion is the girl on land.
They grew up together in a small seaside city, a place that had abandoned magic a long while ago. As children, the two looked quite human.

Nero, a loud and rambunctious child, had formed quite a crush on the quiet and reserved Dandelion. He made a series of awkward blunders in an attempt to get her to notice him -- even though she already had. It was only when she dragged him back home after he'd collapsed of heatstroke that they talked to each other.

They became friends. Dandelion turned out to be far more scheming and mischievous than Nero anticipated, and they got in a lot of trouble together. But what always drew them together was their collective sense of imagination and thirst for knowledge and adventure.

Things changed as they grew up, though. Nero's naiad blood started to surface, and Dandi began to grow features like her forest spirit mother. Dandelion could easily hide her stubby horns with a hat, however -- Nero could not conceal the blotchy scales on his arms, or the webbing growing between his fingers. The two of them spent much time either on the beach or in Dandi's house with her father, the only person understanding what was happening to them.

Nero's home situation grew unbearable, and he needed to know his true origins. He ran away. It wasn't long until Dandelion followed.

A few years down the road, and they meet again on a remote island, Perosa, each with the intent on studying its undiscovered lifeforms. When they meet again, it is as if they're children again. They're in a new place, where they're free to be themselves. It takes a while for Nero to readjust to communicating with another person, as he's spent almost the whole few years in the ocean.

They both come to their own realization that they're in love. Nothing changes, really -- just Nero talking about the water and Dandelion talking about the trees. But there's a little less tension now.

Dandelion can't swim, and Nero can't leave the water for too long, but... They figure it out.

---

[Original Story / RP Group] Nero and Dandelion
[Contest Entry]
[Program(s)] Adobe Photoshop Elements 9.0
[Time] 4 hours
SWEET JEEBUS. I LOVE THEM I LOVE THEM I LOVE THEM. This originally started as a doodle but quickly accelerated lol. It's a smaller file size than I'd like, but I was too far into the picture before I realized I should make it bigger :'X