More competition posts. I really like the female Nocturne Rune .3.

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The little black dragon with glowing green markings sighed. Garnet was right. There really were no firelight flies... Er, fireflies, as she called them, around here. Which was a shame, as she was rather hungry. She glanced back as her back door opened.

"Are you still out here, 'Taru?" asked a large pink wolf. She placed her paws on the grill the Rune sat on. "Come on, you should really go in. It's cold out here. I mean, it's December, right? That's pretty much winter around here. Heck, even October is freezing here!"

The dragon sighed. "No, Hana. I'm not leaving until I see a firelight fly."

The goddess rolled her eyes. "Come on, even I know those things aren't around here. And they're called fireflies in this area, okay?"

"I'm not leaving."

"I don't think they even come around here during winter!"

"I don't care. They'll find me."

Hana shook her head. "You're really hopeless, you know that? Even more than-"

She was interrupted by a small shriek from the creature. "I see one! I knew there were some here!" she exclaimed, flying off towards a small, bouncing light.

Wait... Bouncing?

The goddess-wolf ran after her. "Hey, Hotaru? Hotaru? Hotaru, that's not-!"

Too late. The Rune had already snapped up the glowing creature. "Huh, I'd never seen a pink firelight fly before. Never even heard of one, in fact. Is that a subspecies only found around here or something?" she asked, her mouth full.

"No, it's not! It's not a firefly, or a firelight fly, or anything! Now spit it out!" she exclaimed, skidding to a stop and panting. "Just trust me, you'll want to spit it out right now!"

Hotaru tilted her head. The goddess certainly seemed rather panicked...

As much as she resented doing it, she obliged, spitting out the luminescent creature.

"Oh, gross!" yelled a tiny voice. "I knew Ammy did this sort of thing to Issun a long time ago, but a bird... Dragon... Thing?! Come on! That's just ridiculous! And your slobber glows, too! Ick!"

Hana sweatdropped. "That's what I was afraid of."

Hotaru, meanwhile, was glancing between the tiny, insect-like creature, which was now hopping about furiously and leaving small drops of glowing green saliva all over, and Hana. "What is that?" she eventually asked.

Hana sighed. "That, my friend, would be a Poncle."

The dragon stared. "A what?"

"Oh, boy, how do I explain this..?" The wolf mumbled. "Well, Poncles are basically tiny glowing people. It's hard to explain, but they're basically-"

"Trained artists, messengers of the gods, etcetera, etcetera," interrupted the Poncle. "Which makes me wonder, why would you try to eat me if your friend here is a goddess?! We're some of the ones who give them their power, you know!"

Hotaru raised an eyebrow. "Friends? With her?" she asked. "Hahaha no," she said flatly. "And how do you know whether or not she's a goddess? Maybe she's just a really weird dog."

They couldn't see it, but the Poncle rolled her eyes. "Because, stupid, I can tell when someone's a deity or not. Besides, with how many different deities there are, there's got to be someone to be an envoy for them! I just so happen to have been assigned to her."

"Assigned to... Wait, so you're Momiji?" Hana asked, surprised.

"Ugh! Please don't call me that! I am not a Sohma, nor do I plan to be!" She hopped up onto the Rune Dragon's nose. "So, what's this idiot's name?"

"This 'idiot' can say for herself," she growled. "Hotaru."

"I see. Well, I don't exactly have anywhere to stay, so I'm with you guys from now on, okay?"

"No." With that, she flung the Poncle to the ground.

"Actually, yes," Hana interjected. "She kind of has to be, being my envoy and all. She has to stay somewhere, anyway."

"Well, why here?"

"You grabbed her in your mouth and covered her in spit. Ever since Issun and Ammy, Poncles usually stay with people who do that. They're usually friends, too."

"...Oh. Well, that's incredibly stupid."

"May I interject?" asked Momiji.

"No," the two replied.

"...Well, fine, then. But I will say this: If you call me by my full name again, I'll draw on your face while you sleep. Like a Jigglypuff. Got it? Get it? Good."

And, with that, the group had yet another addition to their 'Gemstones', as Garnet liked to call them. And, as much as it irritated Hotaru at the time, she was here to stay. At least they became fairly good friends after a while, right?

...Right?

...No?

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So, yeah. Somewhat obscure references made here. If you don't know where Momiji came from, or what she is, you may want to check out the Ōkami Wiki and the page on it about Poncles. If nothing else, it should help clear things up a little, right~? Also, the Sohma comment is about Fruits Basket. Being one of the more popular shōjo manga/anime series around here, I'm not going to link to it, being a less important reference than the other stuff.

Well, rambling aside, good luck to all who entered for her, and I can't wait to see who wins~