A Foreign Realm (Mianite One-Shots)

Love Blossoms (Synglington) (NSFW)

((A well-placed prank by everyone's favorite thaumaturge ends up having some very enjoyable after-effects. Contains some nice smut. If that isn't something you want to read, sorry. The entire chapter's full of it pretty much.)) 

"Hey, uh, James?" Tom asked, his voice speaking clearly in James's ear and startling the wizard out of his semi-conscious state.

"Mmm?" James mumbled in reply, sitting up straighter in his chair. He'd been steadily drifting off into sleep until Tom's voice startled him alert.

"There's a thing that just appeared in my town. It's a plant, dunno what type. Looks magical. I was wondering if you'd be able to check it out? I know you've done stuff with botania and stuff in the past."

"Oh, yeah. I'll..." James yawned. "Sorry. I'll be right over."

"Take your time man, no worries."

Still, James found himself rushing as he jumped out of his chair, pulling his outer robes on and quickly fixing himself up until he deemed himself presentable. He'd come to terms with his crush on Tom a long while back and while he knew nothing would ever come of it, it was nice to hope.

After a short flight, he dropped down in front of Tom's tree. "You here?" He asked, clutching his spell book in one hand and his sword in the other.

"I'm over by the centre fountain." Tom shouted from somewhere in the village. "It's doing weird things!"

"Hold on." He ran as fast as he could, nearly colliding with Tom before he skidded to a stop on the cobblestones. "Oh, sorry."

"No worries. Ok, here's the situation. I walked by here an hour ago and there wasn't anything out of the ordinary here. Then when I came back from doing some stuff in my tree and found this... thing in the middle of the pathway." He pointed to something around the corner and James brought his hood a little bit father down over his face before getting a look at it.

It seemed to be a large bulb-like plant, roughly the size and shape of a watermelon. It had wormed its way deep into the cobblestone path, and he knew that simply pulling it out would not be a feasible task. He took a step closer, coming within five feet of the plant. It had bright red and purple streaks mixing with the green of the leaves and a tuft of cotton-like material at the top.

"This isn't botania, or anything with witchery or ars magica." He concluded.

"Is it- is it pulsating?" Tom asked, stepping out beside him. James took a closer look and saw that the bulbous mass was, in fact, gently pulsing. Tom pulled out his sword, and poked it once.

"Don't-!" James yelled, but it was too late. With a loud bang! the bulb burst, sending a cloud of fine yellow pollen in all directions. Immediately, both Tom and James were covered with a layer of yellow dust.

"Ah- ah- achoo!" They both sneezed in unison, inhaling even more of the plant's pollen as they did so.

"Damnit, Tom." James muttered, dusting off his robes. A good deal of the pollen still hung in the air, and he knew it would be a good while before the area was cleansed again. "You just had to poke it."

"That- that was interesting." Tom sounded slightly dazed. "Did not expect that outcome."

"Dear Dianite, what even is this stuff." James muttered, pouring some of the powder out of his boots.

"Plant pollen of some sort." Tom asked, still sounding out of it.

"Damn, the stuff itches like hell." James said, scratching his cheek and dusting off yet more of the yellow powder. He was gradually feeling more uncomfortable, and with every passing moment the weight of his robes felt less like protection and more like a constricting torture device.