Fairy in a Jar

It was about mid-day in the park. The sky was blue and almost cloudless, only a few little wisps of white showed any sign that they even existed. It was unusually quiet, apart from the few children running up and down the grass. Some of them ducked behind bushes, hiding in wait for one of their friends to walk past, only for them to leap out and shout 'BOO!'
Other children opted for less energetic activities. They carried butterfly nets and glass jars. No doubt they were hoping to catch a bug or two... maybe even a fish from the pond to study.

A tiny creature was sat under the shade of a rather large,(at least to her) bush. She was staring at her reflection in the pond water, her legs tucked up so that her chin was balanced on her knees and her arms were curled around her legs. She would flap her wings every so often, almost looking like a butterfly when she curled up like this.

Unluckily for her, one of the children shared this opinion and began to silently creep up from behind. His arm was poised, with the butterfly net in hand, ready to catch Ruanae if she tried to fly away. She looked up just as the net was thrown over her and she was trapped within it.
In order to protect her delicate wings, she didn't struggle as much as any other creature would have. She just sat there awaiting her fate.
She hoped that the children would be smart enough to release her but instead, she soon found herself landing in the bottom of a glass jar. She looked up to see the child from before cutting off her escape route with the jar's lid.

Ruanae sat in the bottom of the jar and sighed as she stared up at the lid. Her dress was gathered up around her as she returned to sitting in the same curled up position as before. At least he had the sense to put holes in the lid. she thought, knowing that the human children didn't mean any harm.

A white haired young man yawned, stretching out in his reverend uniform as he strolled through the park, simply enjoying the weather and tranquility of such wonderful nature. That is, of course, until the screams and laughter of giddy children caught his attention. Not that he hated children, no, he loved them and their jovial, innocent attitude toward life. It simply detracted from his afternoon walk, that was all. Still, he was going to pay them no mind, up until he spotted one of them holding a jar with something similar to a butterfly, but upon closer inspection, the priest realized exactly what was being held prisoner.

He shook his head slightly, and pushed up his orange and yellow sunglasses before walking over to the boy with the fairy in the glass jar.

"Hello there child, splendid day we're having, isn't it? Oh, what is that you've got there?" The priest asked, approaching the boy and crouching down next to him to see that there was indeed a small fairy sitting inside of the little boy's jar.

The little boy grinned as he held the jar up to the priest. "I think it's a butterfly!"
He felt proud of his catch. It was better than anything any of his friends had caught that day and he was definitely not going to miss the chance to show it off a bit before he let it go free again.

The fairy looked up at the white-haired priest through the walls of her glassy prison, her blue eyes betraying her curiosity. She watched as he walked over and began to engage in conversation with her captor.

The priest shook his head, a disappointed frown on his face, "My child, don't you know what you've got trapped in that jar? That is not a butterfly, but a fairy. Don't you know how big of a crime it is to capture a fairy?"

The white haired young man pointed at the fairy, a somber, serious tone in his voice as he said, "Don't you know that this little fairy can curse you for all eternity? Why, she'll turn you into a tiny little bug, and then you will be taken to the land of fairies, where you will be locked away in a dungeon forever! But, if we let her go, and let her live her life in peace, maybe she, and her people, will be merciful enough to turn the other cheek."

The young boy blinked. "R-Really?"
He held the glass jar closer to his face so he could examine the 'butterfly' closer.

Ruanae turned her gaze from the priest to the boy, almost toppling over at the sharp movement of the jar. She put her tiny hands back to steady herself so that she would not topple over because of the slight change in angles.

The boy noticed the movement and realized that the 'butterfly' was wearing a dress. He seemed to blink in disbelief before reaching for the lid, "So... If I let her go... she won't curse me?"

Thomas nodded, smiling with a knowing grin as he replied to the young boy, "Of course she won't. Fairies are very forgiving creatures, and it is obvious to see that this was all just a simple misunderstanding. Now, let's not get the fairy cranky, and open the jar gently. After all, who knows what would happen if she were to damage her wings."

The priest looked down at the fair, knowing all to well that he was lying to this poor, innocent child and robbing him of his prize, but it was wrong to take pride in capturing a poor, sentient creature like a fairy simply for one's own amusement. Sure, maybe it was wrong to lie to the child about the fairy, but at least this way, the child would know not to trap anymore fairies that he might run across. If he would ever run across another one, of course.

"Okay..."
The young boy finally took the lid off of the jar and placed it on the ground. With the exit now open again, the fairy took no trouble flying back out. She landed on the rim of the jar before leaping down to the ground as the boy reached to take his possession back.

"I'm sorry little fairy."
His apology was sincere. Ruanae looked up at him and smiled. She understood that the child meant no harm and held no grudge against him.
"It's fine," she replied, her tiny melodic voice showed how happy she was to be free again.

Thomas smiled, glad that the fairy wasn't too angry at being captured, and stood as he no longer needed to be at eye level with the child. The priest looked out to the pond, and smiled as he saw a brilliant, blue winged butterfly flittering around above the water.

He tapped the young boy on the shoulder, and pointed at the butterfly, "Look at that! Now that is something you should put in that jar of yours, don't you think?"

The boy turned to see the beautiful butterfly. He then grinned before grabbing his net and jar. He turned to the priest and gave him a quick, "Thankyou!" before he dashed off to try and catch the brilliant blue insect.

The little fairy chuckled as the young child dashed away. She then also turned to the priest, her delicate wings carrying her up to his eye level.
"I guess I should thank you too," she smiled.

The young priest watched as the boy ran off to go and catch the beautiful blue specimen flittering around in the clean, crisp air. He simply nodded in response to the boy's thanks, and turned his head to the fairy flying at eye level.

"You can give your thanks by hiding yourself a bit more carefully. You should be glad that it wasn't an adult that had caught you, for things would have become problematic." Thomas stated, looking around at the pedestrians walking in the park, thankful that none of them were looking their way, as surely someone would be suspicious of a priest talking to something that looked like Tinker Bell.

"I'm Thomas Wells, I'm a missionary of sorts, spreading the word of the lord. Now, who might you be, little one?" Thomas asked, readjusting his orange and yellow sunglasses while he spoke.

The little fairy nodded before sighing, "I know..."
It was annoying, having to hide from all the people in the world and it wasn't hard for her to just forget about everything and let her guard down for a while. Though she most often ended up regretting it when she did.

"I'm Ruanae Celeste," she replied dusting off her dress with her tiny hands.

It was strange for the priest, to see a fairy for the first time in his life. Sure, he had researched their kind, as he did with most entities, but he had yet to actually meet a fairy up until now.

"Hm, what a peculiar name. So tell me miss Celeste, what brings you to this quaint little town? I can tell you now, it certainly isn't a very peaceful place, especially at night." Thomas asked, quickly slipping on a blue tooth earpiece so that people would just think he was talking on the phone.

Ruanae had yet to talk to a human like this, so she too was curious about the ways of their kind.

"Just Ruanae is fine." she smiled before pausing and hovering in thought for a few seconds.
"In all honesty, I just tend to go wherever at the moment. I guess this town is just one place in a line of many... At least until I can find somewhere peaceful and quiet to settle permanently."
She sighed at the thought of how far she might have to travel before she finds a suitable place.

Thomas frowned, knowing full well about how dangerous the town was, as he had investigated a number of different incidents, and even had to fight for his life in every single one of them.

"Then it would be best to leave this town as quickly as you can. This town seems like a magnet for the supernatural and paranormal, and most of the time, these oddities aren't very polite." Thomas warned, the revolver in his pant pocket reminding him of his duty here, and how important his job was.

She shrugged, "I guess it wouldn't hurt to get some excitement in my boring life..."
The fairy fell silent again as she thought about times past by. Shaking her head as the thoughts brought back memories of things she'd rather forget, she added, "Or... maybe not.... But I'll keep your warning in mind."

The priest sighed, then stood straight as his ear piece started to beep quietly. He tapped it, and started to quietly talk to some mysterious individual who's voice could not be heard. Thomas nodded as he tapped the ear piece once again to end the call. He turned to the fairy, and replied, "Obviously a warning isn't going to be enough to show you. If you don't mind, I would like you to accompany me. You see, there is an incident occuring over by the local shrine, and I feel that, once you see what kind of danger waits for you here, that you'll finally understand my warning."

The tiny fairy blinked, unable to hear the other end of the conversation. She was still rather curious about the devices humans carried around with them. Things like Thomas' earpieces weren't the only things that intrigued her. There were many devices that she wished to learn more about, such as the metal boxes that humans called 'cell phones.' She was shaken out of her thoughts by the priest's request and just nodded.
"Alright. I'll come with you."

"Alright then, follow me." Thomas stated, walking through the park trail and paying no mind as he started to walk off course, walking up a particularly large, grassy knoll. Upon reaching the top, he could see that a group of missionaries were stationed around the entrance to a tight cluster of trees. The priest immediately headed over to the missionaries, who eyed Ruanae cautiously for a moment before letting the duo pass through.

"It's the church's duty to keep your existence hidden, so we simply cannot deal with oddities in the open. We must first entrap them in a secure, secluded location, such as this." Thomas stated, pulling out a one inch by one inch square mirror from his pocket as he walked into the "clearing". He smashed the tiny mirror against a tree, and within moments, a metallic phantom rose from the broken shards of reflective glass, floating behind the duo and remaining silent.

The priest stopped, then turned to the fairy and asked her, "Do you know what Cait Siths are, Ruanae?"

Ruanae just nodded and silently flew along behind Thomas. She ignored the looks she got from the missionaries and listened to what the priest had to say.

The fairy watched as the mirror shattered and a phantom appeared from the broken shards. She had a few questions about it, but decided they could wait until later and continued on in silence until Thomas stopped.

She was silent for a second after the question was asked, as if she was searching her memories for any mention of that name. She concluded that there wasn't and shook her head. "Nope. Can't say I've heard of them before."

"I guess it was rude of me to assume that you did. Cait Siths, or "fairy cats", are cats with fairy like qualities to them, but, unlike the Fae, who are small in stature, Cait Siths are..." Thomas started, interrupted when the ground shook under his feet. He sighed, continuing, "Let's just say they are much bigger than one would expect."

With that said, Thomas proceeded forward, his phantom following behind him, just floating in the air behind him as they reached the center of the small patch of trees, revealing a massive clearing that looked bigger than the park the trio had been standing in moments before.

"And here I thought they had just cordoned off the area. I can't believe those priests. They teleported us somewhere else, so we could fight that without alarming any civilians. Ruanae, I do hope you're armed with something," Thomas said, drawing his revolver and pointing to a massive black feline off at the other end of the clearing. The cat looked more like a grizzly bear with how large it was, and it's mouth was massive, the ends of it's lips ending half way along it's cheeks, a sharp row of razor sharp teeth lining it's mouth as it turned it's attention towards them.

The fairy just nodded and the new information about Cait Siths, however she didn't feel the ground shake because she was in the air.
Ruanae followed Thomas into the center of the trees.
"Teleported... us?" she blinked as the black bear-like creature appeared. Ruanae didn't much like the sight of those teeth. Thinking back to Thomas' words, she wondered if maybe she should summon her arrow-like weapon... though she didn't think it would be much help against something as big as this Cait Sith.

"I'll explain later. Here kitty kitty! I've got a hot, tasty treat for you!" Thomas called, aiming his gun at the Cait Sith and firing a shot at one of it's legs, his magnum letting out a massive crack and boom as the bullet flew from the gun. Sadly, the Cait Sith didn't show any signs of flinching, or even being hurt by the weapon, and let out a bellowing roar at the trio.

The young priest sighed, "Why does everything have to be impervious to bullets? Alright Izanagi, let's show this cat what we can do!"

The metal-clad phantom nodded once, raising it's hands to the heavens, then bringing them down, aiming it's now open palms at the cat, who was now barreling towards them with surprising speed.

"Agilao!" Thomas called, the young man wincing slightly as a ball of fire burst from the phantom's hands and flew towards the creature, staggering it's charge for a moment.

"Anything you can do right now would contribute greatly Rua." Thomas stated, looking slightly fatigued after his most recent pyrokinetic assault.

The fairy watched as the Cait Sith took the bullet without so much as a flinch. It made her wonder just how useful she would be, if at all. Before she could carry on that train of thought though, her eyes wandered to the phantom as he sent a ball of searing fire towards the creature.

"Right...." she replied quietly.
Her tiny little arrows probably wouldn't hurt something that was impervious to bullets.... so she held her palm out and with a soft whisper, a tiny silver flute appeared in her hands. She put the instrument to her mouth and altered the pattern her wings flapped in. They began to create a humming noise and along with the tune now emitting from the wind instrument created a mystical sounding melody.

The small plants in the clearing began to grow to unnatural proportions. The long stems of odd flowers that were clustered together, intertwined to form an almost rope like object. It then seemed to weave through the air towards the Cait Sith. They attempted to wrap around it's legs, the thick stems trying to stop the creature in its tracks.

The Cait Sith stumbled over the roots, falling to the ground for a moment before attempting to stand and leap at the duo. Thankfully, the roots that Ruanae had summoned were much stronger than the fairy cat initially expected, taking it a minute or two to finally rise from the ground. It snarled at the fairy, swiping at it with a paw, but it was thankfully interrupted by Izanagi, who blocked the clawed swipe with it's metallic armor, but shook in the air as it struggled to keep the Cait Sith from continuing it's attack.

"Good work, now do you have anything else that might make this cat more...cooperative?" Thomas asked Ruanae, plugging a few revolver rounds at the feline's cranium, but quickly covering his face with his arms as the bullets simply richocheted off the beast's skin. Obviously, the revolver was going to do more harm than good at this point.

As the Cait Sith fell to the ground, Ruanae stopped playing her flute. There really wasn't much she could do apart from stall the creature. When it finally rose back up from the ground the fairy raised the flute again, trying to keep it down for longer as she didn't know how else she could help. Ruanae froze in the air, squeezing her eyes tightly shut as she realized that the Cait Sith's huge paw was heading towards her. She clutched the tiny flute to her chest, but when the incoming swipe didn't connect, she cracked one eye open again.

The fairy blinked, thankful that the Cait Sith's attack had been intercepted, but the phantom seemed to be struggling to keep it at bay.
At Thomas' question she shrugged apologetically, "Not really..."

Other than her tiny, and most likely, ineffective arrows, Ruanae didn't have anything else up her sleeve. Well... she had her necklace, but the fairy didn't yet know how it worked.