Well, she'd practiced some magic and she'd managed to swing her sword around a little bit, not that she was any good at either, so now it was time to try to practice some Beast Taming, which was the Mastery she was most nervous to do any practice with. It wouldn't do to try to tame a wolf, only to then realize that she was too bad at the Mastery once it was busy ripping her to shreds. That would not very helpful for trying to establish a healthy working relationship and friendship between her and the wolf in question. To make a long story short, she was scared of trying to tame anything too big just yet. For now she'd gathered some nuts and some berries, now on the hunt for a field mouse or something as equally small and harmless for her to start trying to tame. She wasn't exactly sure what she'd do if she succeeded, but practice was practice and boy, did she need practice. Between practice and water, she was almost ready to say that practice was just more crucial to keeping her alive right about now. Her first fight against monsters had gone rather poorly, all things concerned, even if she had won. She sighed as she returned to what was quickly becoming her favorite clearing, her eyes peeled for any sign of a mouse skirting through the taller grass out of sight. Just one would do, if she could get it to approach her. She had the nuts and berries set on the log she was sat on, just slightly away from where she was sat, waiting as still as she could for something to approach her so she could try out her Mastery. @Harveste
While she could now fairly easily use the spell to become one in mind and body with an animal, Harveste had a habit of keeping to smaller creatures when she did it most of the time, particularly when it was just for fun- or, in cases like this, to run really fast to find something. Her body had gotten fairly hungry, and surprisingly, this mouse had been more likely to find food than the rogue faerin was. She crawled onto a log in the tiny body when she noticed the food: nuts and berries, which she could probably stuff in her mouth to bring to her body if she was lucky. The taste of the fruit was hard to ignore, however- instinctively, the little mouse teeth bit into it, eating it rather than saving it in its cheeks. My hunger must have followed me here. As she nibbled, she looked up to notice someone- a giantess, sitting on the same log. Beady eyes stared awkwardly up, until the little body's neck strained a bit harder than it should have. She fell off the log from a sense of dizziness, the berry juice dampening the grass along with her borrowed body's fur. She wasn't sure why, but she felt a bit strange seeing the woman from this low down. But it was likely the woman had left the food out... Was it for her? Was the woman trying to feed the animals, or was she saving the snacks on the side for herself? Crawling back onto the log, she nuzzled against the hand nearest the food, an attempt to apologize for taking the snack without asking. Then, she merely stared for a moment longer. I can't say anything in this body... But maybe this person would be willing to feed me...? She could hope so, right? At least she'd hopefully be forgiven for taking food that wasn't her own. Tasty morsels kept calling her attention, but she tried to focus on the woman instead. So hungry... I wonder if I can eat some more?
A flash of color caught her eye, a different shade of brown traveling across the log that she was sat on, towards the pile of nuts and berries that she'd left out for the mice that lived nearby. At first, she'd thought it wasn't really anything, just the shadow of something that was traveling across the sky in the same direction. A plane, or a balloon or something similar like that. It happened all the time, back in the real world. And then she remembered that this was not, in fact, the real world and that it couldn't be a plane or a balloon. She blinked, remaining perfectly still as the shape stopped at the pile, slowly becoming clearer to her as she focused on it. It was a field mouse! She'd actually managed to get one to come out of hiding and reveal itself to her, thanks largely in part to her Beast Taming Mastery making her much less threatening to animals and beasts altogether. This was really cool! It seemed to notice her, looking up and up until it seemingly made eye contact with her, before rolling backwards and off of the log. Luna smothered a giggle, remaining as still as she could as the little mouse made its way back onto the log, before nuzzling her hand. She could feel the tiny hairs of the creature, they tickled slightly as they brushed against her skin. This game was so realistic! That was awesome! She smiled gently, shifting her hand ever so slightly, allowing it to brush gently across the creature's side as she rolled a berry into her fingers, before holding it out for the mouse to nibble on. Gosh, she could barely keep quiet! Was she actually about to tame a mouse on her first attempt? Was this how the whole taming process went? This was kind of easy, really, though she assumed with anything predatory it'd be much harder. "Hey there....little one..." She whispered, bringing her other hand up slowly, making no sudden movements, before brushing a single finger down the length of the animal's spine. Gently, of course. She touched it as if it might break under any pressure at all. "Do you like this?"
The woman offered her another snack while gently petting the small body she was snuggled up in- and, somehow, she could sense the mouse would have liked it in reality too, likely because they were sharing the sensation and it made her want to quiver from the delight. When she possessed an animal, after all, she only did it enough to share it's body, not steal it completely. I guess the mouse was hungry too. It really wants another fruit... Together, the girl in it's head and the mouse happily took the offered berry, nibbling like a hamster on a sunflower seed, a mess of juice trying to escape past its little teeth due to the size. An awkward nod managed from its stiff neck as it deemed it a good idea to get a little closer to the source of its food. This woman was a nice one! Inside, Harveste felt the pitterpat of the mouse's heart as if it were her own. This wasn't anxiety, it was cheer. Pure, delightfully warm cheer. Her energy was still feeling pretty high, she decided. She wanted to talk to the woman, but knew she couldn't in this form. Instead of talking with words, she'd use animal instinct and body language. For the moment, she was a mouse. A mouse with a nice human feeding her. She couldn't help wanting to snuggle a bit closer, causing her to run up the lady's arm the best she could, until she was upon her shoulder and near her face. This way, she could nuzzle against the stranger's cheek to thank her more properly, best she could in this situation. Someone nice deserved a cuddly friend, didn't they? I'm lucky there was someone nice here. If I meet her again later, I should try to be her friend. Someone so nice to a mouse can't be scary!
"Haha! Wow, you're a bold little one, aren't you?" Were most mice quite so bold around even beginner Beast Tamers in this game? Or was this what it was like in real life? Admittedly, she'd never had any pets before, since her parents weren't allowed to keep them, so she didn't exactly know what mice were like in the real world. She just assumed this was more on the game's hands than her own though, since surely in the real world, a creature as small as a mouse would be threatened by something as big as even a small human. And it was even eating from her hand, chewing on the berry she'd offered to it, causing juices to spill out all over her hand. It certainly was a hungry mouse, that was for sure. A messy eater too, it seemed. Still, if she had more food left over after the mouse was full, she'd probably leave it for the rest of the nearby creatures to finish up. There wasn't much point in just letting it all go to waste and if she scattered it around the clearing, the animals wouldn't be as likely to fight over it. Then the mouse scampered up her arm, settling on her shoulder and nuzzling her cheek, filling Luna with some sort of warm and fuzzy feeling. This was really nice! The animals in this game were so cute and cuddly, even some of the wolves she'd seen prowling around looked so majestic and their fur so soft and cuddly. "Such a friendly little one too!" She tilted her head to rub her cheek gently against the creature, one of her hands raising up to bring a nut up to the mouse's mouth. The thought did occur to her though, what now? Had she actually managed to tame the mouse so easily? It sure as heck seemed tame enough, especially if it was crawling all over her. "You know, I'm surprised you warmed to me so quickly, little one. Though all of the animals seem to at least tolerate my presence. I'm doing better with you guys than I am with actual people."
Perhaps it was just that she wasn't used to being a mouse, but she was a bit surprised to be told she was anything along the lines of 'bold' or 'friendly'. If she were in her humanoid form, she wouldn't be so at ease snuggling up to a stranger- but on the other hand, she wouldn't feel a need to in order to show her gratefulness. A life without words was surely a difficult one. She was starting to see why body language was so important in the animal kingdom. The woman soon mentioned that she was having trouble getting along with people the way she was with the critters in the forest. Maybe she's really shy, too...? Maybe that's why I feel at ease? Mouse sure does... If she could feel safe with this stranger in this body, she should feel fine in her own, too. Somehow, the woman just seemed sad, in a way. Maybe a fellow player- assuming this person was one- could help cheer her up better than the mouse. With care and a squeal as she slid back down the arm she'd climbed, she found herself soon enough on the ground- and scurried forward just a bit before turning back towards the woman on the log. She squeaked, trying to egg the lady onto her feet, but knew well without words she couldn't really force the concept to work. Should I just keep going and hope she follows? I could come back in my regular form, but I don't want to take chances of getting lost. Mouse, will you lead me back if she doesn't? Perhaps because they shared a body, she could kind of tell that the mouse would agree to help her. As such, while she did wait a while, the mouse suddenly scurried off, headed towards the violet-haired faerin sleeping by a tree with slowly lowering energy levels. Crawling onto her own body was awkward, even as she looked back to see if she was followed. If not, she'd just have to get there after her eyes began to flicker open, the darkness that had enveloped her body slowly fleeing as she tried to wake up from her frolicking.
It really was a massively surprising thing that the mouse seemed so comfortable with her so quickly, so much so that it had Luna doubting exactly how much of this situation was contributed to by the Mastery in Beast Taming. Sure, without much training all it'd do would be to make animals more friendly towards her and less likely to feel threatened by her in any capacity, but was the effect of it really so powerful so soon into her life in the game? It just felt pretty strange that she was already managing to sit around with wild animals approaching her, without having to put a whole lot of effort into it. Suddenly the mouse scampered down her arm and onto the log. At first, she'd been expecting it to be heading towards the food, before it began to scurry down the log and run off towards the shrubbery around the edge of the clearing, turning to look back at her. It squeaked at her and Luna blinked, staring at it intently as her mind raced. Was it thanking her? Did it want her to follow it? Why was it leaving so soon? "A-ah! S-should I follow you?" Then the mouse took off, which she could only really interpret as a yes, climbing to her feet and following the mouse as fast as she could, attempting to follow the mouse as best as she could. Sadly, she lost sight of the furry friend as it made its way through some bushes, blinking and searching through the bushes as she tried to find it again. "Dang it. Where are you? Where are you little one?" She called into the bushes, peeling them away gently with her hands and combing through the taller grass around it in order to look for her new friend. No dice though. Either it didn't want to be found or it'd continued on without her, not realizing she'd lost sight of it. She blinked, looking down at her feet in frustration. This wasn't fair! "Oh, please come out little one!"
When she was able to move her actual body, she found the mouse snuggled up on her chest. She could hear a familair voice, though it sounded slightly different to her pointed faerin ears than it had sounded in the body of the little mouse she'd been friendly with for the time. She watched it react to the voice a bit more quickly than her, rushing away from her slowly moving body and returning to Luna's side. "Um... M-Miss?" She sneaked through the foliage and waved timidly in her form. Considering she wasn't a mouse anymore, it was surprising how small she felt- both in her stature, which was actually big for her species, and her gentle, too-quiet voice. A yawn escaped her, leading her to pat her mouth lightly. It turned the yawn into a yodel almost, until it finally subsided, letting her return her hands to their common spot- laced together with fingers intertwined, resting by her back. "I asked the mouse to help me meet you face to face. My body wasn't doing too well... So I, er, kinda shared it with your friend there. Er, our friend-" The mouse squeaked to tell her she was making a fool of herself, apparently. She watched it run upon the taller woman's shoe, wanting to be close once more. "It really likes you, doesn't it? I could feel how at ease it was with you when I was joining it in snuggling in your lap. Er, that probably sounds strange... A-Also, where did you find those nuts and berries? I've had trouble finding enough open space to grow anything myself to eat..."
She hadn't been expecting the mouse to return to her sight after she'd called out for it, but it was a pleasant surprise nonetheless. Maybe she had actually made a good friend and confidant in the creature after all? She really hoped so, the little thing was just so adorable and friendly. She smiled, about to greet the creature when a voice cut through the ambiance of the forest, catching her ever so slightly off guard, a soft squeak of surprise slipping through her lips before she could manage to stop herself from reacting? From among the foliage emerged a small girl with fae-like features. And when she said small, she meant small. The girl couldn't be too much over 4 feet tall, she was honestly kind of adorable when Luna stopped to take her in. "Ah, u-um, hello there..." Had the mouse been trying to lead her to this girl? It certainly seemed like that was the case right now, they'd emerged from the same direction after all. She didn't understand much of what the girl said at first, though from the sounds of it the girl seemed to have shared bodies with the mouse somehow? Was it a later perk of Beast Taming or something along those lines? Or some magical ability? She wasn't too sure, but it sounded really interesting. "S-so wait...w-w-was that you I was...p-petting, or the mouse?" She had to ask, because lords would it be slightly awkward if she'd been stroking another girl in a mouse's body. She smiled as the mouse ran onto her shoe, crouching down and holding a hand out for it to climb onto her arm. The little one really was friendly, though she wasn't too sure if she'd tamed it properly. How would she know, though? "A-ah, w-where did I find them? I...um...I j-just followed w-where the squirrels w-went for food. T-they seemed to know w-where to get it." She coughed, feeling more than a little awkward, shuffling her feet beneath her. Maybe introductions were in order? "S-so I'm, um, L-Luna. W-what's your name? I-if you don't mind me asking?"
The woman stuttered to the point it was endearing- though, to be fair, she might have felt that way because she could relate to timidity well. "It was kind of... both of us? The mouse basically told me it was a good idea, so I joined it in the snuggling. I only partially possess animals- I can relate to the way they feel when they still have control, you know?" Internally, she yelled at herself- she likely wasn't making sense to someone who didn't have that particular, unique skill that she as a naturamancer had. "I wonder why though? It seems to really like you, or at least I think it does." Then again, she felt fairly at ease with the woman too. What was this sensation? Kindred spirits, or was it leftover from sharing the tiny body that returned to crawling along the stranger's arm? "Ah, I'm Harveste. I couldn't find any food myself so I asked the little guy to help me. Normally I'd grow some on my own, but... I'm having trouble finding a good place to plant, so to speak. I work with plants, but there's a lot of foliage in this particular part of the woods... Though, that log we were at would be a good place to grow some mushrooms, I bet." A slight tint of pink took her cheeks, matching her dress slightly. "S-Sorry, I get excited easily by random things... I-It's nice to meet you, miss Luna. So, do you frequent these woods to play with and feed the animals? I come around here a lot, but I was exploring a section I don't frequent... Never do that on an empty stomach, apparently... But also... Why would I mind you asking my name? You even gave me your's first, you know~?"
"O-oh..." What else was there that she could really say? She'd just learned that she'd technically been petting a small girl who just so happened to be sharing the body of a mouse, at least, as far as she could understand it. It must've been some later power of one of the other Masteries, which was actually pretty cool. It was interesting to see what other Masteries could actually do in the hands of more experienced players. She was already starting to have some minor doubts about the Masteries that she'd chosen, though maybe it was because she still wasn't all that skilled with them still? It was hard to tell, really. And the girl did have a point, the mouse really did seem to like her, though she couldn't in good conscience take it with her if she left. There wasn't much she could actually do to keep it safe. "Y-yes, s-such a gentle little one...a-aren't they?" She smiled down at the mouse that scurried up her arm, settling when it reached her upper-arm and securing itself with its claws. "A-ah...it's um, it's nice to meet you Harveste..." So the girl tried to grow her own food, for some reason? Was she thinking of opening a store? She'd heard that it was something you could do in the game, if you really wanted. Taking a mastery like blacksmithing and opening a store was possible, it might even be an easy and efficient way to make both money and a name for yourself. She didn't know for sure, she'd not picked any constructive Masteries. "A-ah, I-I do come here quite o-often. I'm um, staying in the n-nearest village until I f-feel confident enough to leave." It was kind of embarrassing to admit to being too nervous to leave the starting area. What sort of gamer was scared of leaving what was as close to a tutorial area as the game had? "A-and um, I-I don't know w-why you would mind. I-I just thought i-it was better to not assume..."
If anyone was as shy as a mouse, it was actually the woman that had been feeding mice in the first place- a beautiful pun if she could say so herself! Her throat caught on a small bubble of giggles, she had to awkwardly clear it with a cough so that she wouldn't rudely erupt in laughter. Cute things made her giddy, after all, and so did anxiety- though usually, the anxiety belonged to her, not someone else. "Staying in the villages is a good way to start out, I think. I spend a lot of time in the woods instead of in towns myself... But that's because it's a good place to get some practice in with my magic. That, and I really love plants and animals. They can be so sweet- even the bears." That said, Harveste had mixed memories of the animals in these woods. She'd made too many illogical conclusions in the past and ended up hurt a few times- though, it did lead to some interesting people... Like today! "Assuming is a bad thing, you're right. Do you know the old saying of what happens when you assume? You make an ass of you and me~ So basically, it turns you into a donkey." Unable to hold it in anymore, her bad joke left her in the giggles for real, body curling over in a mixture of agony and entertainment from her own naive, childish punnery. "Sorry, I get enticed by puns too easily. It's an old habit... But back to the topic... You say you'll stay in the village until you feel confident enough to leave... But what kind of confidence is it you want to have? I feel like you'd be able to survive well enough wandering further into the woods, so... What makes you feel out of sorts about leaving so far?"
Well, if she had to use one word to describe Harveste judging from this first meeting of theirs, Luna would definitely describe the smaller girl as being giggly. More than once now had she broken out into a seemingly unprovoked giggle fit without Luna having any knowledge of whatever caused it. It was kind of like watching a group of people enjoy an inside joke that you weren't privy to the details of. It was fairly difficult to stop herself from assuming the other girl was laughing at her, though the girl really didn't seem like the type to just laugh at somebody. Unless it was something to do with the flower, a lot of people seemed to think that trait was strange. It probably was. "Y-yeah...I-I really like the n-nearby village and the villagers. T-they're really nice to adventurers." She coughed, looking around for a minute as she tried to find the direction back to the village, before pointing shyly in the general direction of the path leading towards it. "I-I'd like to think I know this area, at least, um, a little bit better..." At the very least, she could navigate her way to and from this particular clearing with great ease. The saying about assuming was one that she'd heard before, not that she would ever be caught saying it in the real world. Her parents would skin her alive for using anything that even resembled bad language. It was pretty much prohibited in her house to use anything that would be considered offensive or not appropriate, both of her parents were pretty strict in that regard. They'd only let her pick up gaming as a hobby because they'd hoped it might help her make some friends through it. She felt like that was coming true. As for why she hadn't left and what sort of confidence she wanted, she wasn't entirely sure how to answer that particular question either. How did you label a type of confidence to somebody? She just wanted to...be brave. It wasn't like there were different types of confidence, were there? You were either brave, or you weren't. "I um, I just don't feel safe leaving until I get some better equipment than the starting stuff. I-I can a-afford to f-fight now because the village is s-so close and helpful..." She sighed, staring at her pretty awful starting sword. It really wasn't the best. "O-out there...I think I'd be k-k-killed..."
She was rather glad Luna wasn't asking about the small girl's tendency to burst into laughter out of nowhere- it was a habit hard to break, but one she'd had whenever she got nervous since her youth in the other world. Whenever she tried to look someone in the eye, she just had a strange urge to laugh- perhaps to fight the tension that flowed through her body like poison in her blood. In reality, Harveste was just rather bad with people. "There are lots of villages that are becoming nicer for adventurers lately. It's really nice that the people grow as we do, don't you think?" Keeping her eyes closed as she smiled helped keep her from continuing her nervous tic. She was able to avoid biting her lip in this world, but that wasn't the more problematic of her many, many coping skills. Hiding her hands behind her to make it less obvious the way they twitched and toyed with each other, nails picking lightly at her own skin, she began to speak once more. Words were the only thing that ever saved her from this agony that was socializing with the world- considering she was forcing herself to do it in the first place, in a way that many wouldn't even count as nearly 'social'. "To be honest... The monsters around here are about as strong as most other places, or at least as aggressive. I almost died my first day by being surrounded by a mob in the spawn zone." Crap, she probably shouldn't have brought that up. Of course she'd realize too late that the memory would scare most new players- heck, it scared her, and she was much stronger now than she'd been back then. "That said... If you explore enough, you can find what fits your play style. I mean, what matters is you have fun, right? It's good you're not actively seeking death, at least." Seeking death was something she'd done, if only once. She experienced it now, so she could go without it at this stage in her life. She'd die from age or chronic ailments like the rest of the world, if she could help it. Or even not at all, if she got lucky.
"Mhm. Yeah! I-It really is pretty amazing!" How many people had she gushed to about how impressed she was with the game and how immersive it was by now? She'd honestly lost count. Angel and her spoke about it pretty often in their messages to each other, but nearly everybody she'd met had ended up speaking to her about it in one way or another, usually because conversations seemed to naturally drift in that direction as far as she could tell. Not that she was great at conversation, both in and out of the game. At least in it, people thought she was cool enough to talk to. As for the starting zone being fairly dangerous itself, she could definitely agree with that sentiment. The predators here were oddly vicious, as far as she was aware. Did predators often attack people in the real world. "R-right! I-it can be pretty dangerous here, w-which is why I've s-stuck so close to one a-area. I, um, I haven't really left this tiny little area of, uh, Brisshal yet." That was even more embarrassing to reveal. At least Angel was brave enough to explore Brisshal some more. Luna felt pretty pathetic when compared to that. "B-but um, I'm definitely, y'know, hoping to avoid death by any means necessary. I-I, uh, I'm pretty scared of, like, what it'll feel like..." It was a pretty scary thought, being able to experience a sort of simulated death. How did the developers even program in what death felt like? Did they know? Was it a peaceful thing, or was it filled with agony as time crawled slowly forwards? "A-as for play style....I uh, don't really know. I-I kinda, um, picked my Masteries at r-random." Hopefully most people did, or you could change them later. She wasn't too sure she'd stick with what she had. Still, now she had a bit of a chance to practice the whole being social thing. Luna hummed, wracking her brain for something to say. A question to ask. Something to keep the conversation going. How could she engage the conversation more? "A-ah, um....s-so you t-try to grow your own food? D-do you c-c-cook too? O-or do you want to, uh, open a shop?"
