I used to think that the day would never come
I'd see the light in the shade of the morning sun

With more coins on the horizon, Callista headed to Eridanus, taking a bit of time to look around for where these "fairyflies" were and ended up finding some around a patch of flowers that had escaped the encompassing infestation of mold (ugh that stuff was gross).

With a large flat leaf folded in one hand (for carrying the butterflies) she began her rampage through their color. A burst of energy knocked one straight out of the sky and she carefully picked the beautiful thing up to put in her leaf-bag. The rest were scattering, frightened, colorful dust permeating the air. She was careful not to breathe it in.


That my life would depend on the evening moon
That the night would never comе

I used to think that the day would never come
I'd see the light in the shade of the morning sun

She went after another, making to cast the same spell and make it easier to pick up, but just as she went to cast, she inhaled - and in went some of that aforementioned glittering dust. The one she had been quite careful not to inhale moments before.

For a moment, nothing happened, but then colors began to brighten around her. She felt weird, fuzzy, like she had left her body and was drifting along the winds. She blinked, trying to clear it, but that just caused everything to melt into each other. A step forward and she was tripping on her own paws.

"Shit," she mumbled as she stumbled to her knees. She coughed, trying to clear whatever she'd inhaled, but it was a little late for that.

That my life would depend on the evening moon
That the night would never comе

I used to think that the day would never come
I'd see the light in the shade of the morning sun

She at least kept a bit of her mind with her as the hallucinogenic dust took over the remainder of her senses. She blinked, bleary, and managed to catch the sight of something colorful and beautiful crossing over her vision. Instinctively, she pushed out force and it came fluttering out of the air. There we go. Another one.

She crawled over on her hands and knees this time, and it took her three attempts to reach out and grab for it, but she eventually was able to get delicate fingers around the thing and put it in her leaf-bag next to the other one.

That my life would depend on the evening moon
That the night would never comе

I used to think that the day would never come
I'd see the light in the shade of the morning sun

She sat there for a little bit, two fairyflies captured in her leaf bag, and watched as weird things happened to her vision. She thought she saw Things passing by her, beings of light and color and shapelessness that looked at her with hollow eyes and then moved away or through her. She sat there for a while and waited for it to pass, feeling weary and strange once the hallucinations had died down. Ugh. Jeez. She should demand higher pay to collect these things when she got back.

Pulling herself to her feet, she trekked back into Eridanus - the current gathering of butterflies she'd been going after had scattered, but it wasn't hard to find more. Just find some flowers, apparently.

A sweep of her paw and another feel from the air. Into the bag it went.

That my life would depend on the evening moon
That the night would never comе

I used to think that the day would never come
I'd see the light in the shade of the morning sun

Three butterflies now caught in her leaf-bag, Callista moved closer to the flowers, but this sweep of her paw to knock another one from its flight generated no magic. She frowned and looked at her paw. Did she do something wrong?

That my life would depend on the evening moon
That the night would never comе

I used to think that the day would never come
I'd see the light in the shade of the morning sun

She tried again, with a little more physical force, and it worked. Another poor fairyfly would find a wave of force sweeping over its body, enough to throw it right out of its flight, leaving it prone on the ground for the cat to pick up and put in the bag with the others.

That my life would depend on the evening moon
That the night would never comе

I used to think that the day would never come
I'd see the light in the shade of the morning sun

She was beginning to feel weariness pull at her bones. She wasn't sure how much longer she could keep the spellcasting up. It was a little upsetting to realize, as she failed another attempt, that she really didn't have much stamina. She should work on that. Or maybe see if the Collector could give her something to boost that artificially. But...learning was probably better.

That my life would depend on the evening moon
That the night would never comе

I used to think that the day would never come
I'd see the light in the shade of the morning sun

Abandoning magic for the time being, she set the bag on the ground and began leaping after the butterflies, trying to physically grab then with her paws while she held her breath, so the dust didn't go up her nose again. But they were fast. They fluttered out of her reach too quickly. Even with feline reflexes, she couldn't get to them before they'd darted out of reach.

She growled, frustrated, and picked the bag back up. Okay, no more of that. Magic was the way to go.

That my life would depend on the evening moon
That the night would never comе

I used to think that the day would never come
I'd see the light in the shade of the morning sun

It was probably frusteration that got to her, then, because finally, as she swept a paw up again, the spell that cast was much stronger then her last couple of attempts. The fairfly was knocked clean from the sky and went right into her bag with the others.

Okay, she could do this. She still had a little bit of juice left in the engine.

That my life would depend on the evening moon
That the night would never comе

I used to think that the day would never come
I'd see the light in the shade of the morning sun

With the last of her magic reserves for the time being, Callista managed to bring down one more fairyfly. There were now 6 fairyflies pressed together in the makeshift leaf bag and she was out of gas. She still needed two more to get the coins, though, so she picked herself up, took a deep breath, and set the bag down, making sure it was nice and sealed in case they were still alive and tried to escape.

That my life would depend on the evening moon
That the night would never comе