"Uh. Yeah!" Angel wondered if she had the same kinda weak muscles that Ava had or if it was tied to a stat. She was energetic, not athletic. There was a definite difference. She ran up and tried to climb the tree with a step or two like Ilya, before promptly falling onto her rear with an "Omph!" Angel stood up, rubbing her backside with a small wince. "That could have gone better." She tried again a couple of times, before she eventually launched herself at the tree and managed to wiggle her way up rather than with the impressive way Ilya had done it. She did manage to pull herself up to a similar branch though, with a few more slightly grunting noises added on. "Okay, I'm up! But I dooon't think I'm as coordinated as you. Or as strong. Or something." she shrugged as she grabbed onto the trunk so she could look down. "How do we jump between trees or whatever again?"
Grimacing as Angel continued to fall, she definitely took a note that she needed to gather more muscles. "It is a matter mainly due to your mobility skill.. Body combat can help make up for mobility as you can use your legs and arms like no one else." Looking at the close tree in which branches seemed to be connected, Ilya pointed at the point the two trees connected, "Try for those first. Do not just jump without having practice." Climbing to and fro from branch to branch Ilya managed to get to the connection, taking note that it was just like walking, if Angel were to follow the path that Ilya had taken. Reaching her legs and arms, she made her way to the tree that was connected, "Simple first..." Now that Ilya was in the trees, she could not help herself. Her eyes bore a pathway in front of her. Scanning how she could leap. This all took a mere second before Ilya set off. Her legs bounding everywhere, her arms latching onto branches and pulling her to safety. At one point in the fun that she was having on her way back to where Angel was, Ilya pretended to fall, the feeling of air blowing through her, the feeling of terror at what was occurring. A simple hand flashing to the branch brought Ilya flying back into the air, using the skills she had practiced over and over again, before she landed near Angel, "So erhm.. That was just an example of what practice will give you.." Ilya gave Angel a grin, "You basically use balance, muscle and speed to jump from tree to tree.."
"Oh um, yeah I haven't spent any of the experience stuff the game gives off yet..." Angel mused that this was probably why she wasn't very good at it, but she giggled anyway. "I'm sure I'll do so soon! And that's a good reason not to ignore mobility thingies." she nodded to herself. She jumped though, as Ilya started to look like she was falling. She caught herself though, which caused Angel to squeak in surprise and concern. "Don't scare me like that!" she sat down on her branch in relief, though she was ready to move again when Ilya did. Ilya was kind of her guide at the moment, after all. Angel stood back up after a moment, noticing that Ilya was still waiting for her to try some of the simple branches he'd pointed out. "Oh! Right! Me practice!" she energetically started moving gain, this time with her arms flailed out as she tried to walk across nature's balance beams. It turned out when she wasn't being too fancy she was good enough; in the real world Angel was pretty well balanced and used to climb a fair few things before she moved to a big city where climbing things was frowned upon. "How was that?" she asked after following the path for a bit. She turned to look at Ilya. "Oh! I went further than I thought! Heheh."
The grin that was produced from Ilya's expression was rather simple, yet proud. "Good job! You did amazing! Now try this one over here. You will have to jump lightly though..." Tree climbing was definitely something that Ilya enjoyed in the game. Along with roof jumping, and roof chasing.. She enjoyed all things that included her mobility, and her fists. So fighting was of course, on the table. Showing Angel the next part, she did the 'path' first. The small leap looking rather easy, as Ilya did it. Hoping Angel would make it, if Angel did not. Ilya would end up flashing forward and catching the girl mid fall, with the way she was positioned. Her arms holding onto one of the nearby branches as her eyes watched Angel's every movement. Ready in case something might happen. (Giving you permission to make Ilya move if you want Angel to fall.. Though if I were you I would reserve it for later on). The way that Angel relied on Ilya made her feel important. Like that of a mentor, or a guide.. Or even a teacher. It made Ilya feel like she was actually good at something that would help another person. "You could also practice the whole tree climbing thing, cause you are pretty good at tree jumping... And you do make it higher up with each step.. Which I find amusing to watch in the least.."
Angel was a bouncy person. She wasn't the best at outright jumping, but hopping and climbing wasn't so bad. "Okay, here I go!" She crouched and did a big leap before landing on the branch she was told to jump to. She teetered some, almost losing her balance, but with a squeak she found a foothold (and a handhold) to grab onto rather tightly. "Did it!" she noted as she tried not to look down. "I'm good at climbing," she insisted as she caught her breath from the adrenaline rush of a near-fall. "But not parkour stuff. I never did it in real life and I don't really know how to do things better as Angel." She shrugged as she loosened her grip on her branch. "I can tell I'm getting better though! Maybe I just need to get used to it?" Angel had no idea how much was her and how much was mastery points. Maybe Ilya would explain it to her, but she wasn't really even sure how to ask that, honestly. It sounded weird to say she was better at something in the real world, when honestly she wasn't sure if she was just not used to angel in a physical sense or if angel needed experience points to start doing the cool things Ilya did. At least she was having fun, which Ilya would plainly see on her face. She enjoyed finding mentor types. She was independent enough, but not super stubborn when she wanted to learn something and knew someone could teach her.
The observational skills that Ilya had, gave her attention to the fact that Angel seemed uncomfortable with something.. As if she did not have words to ask a specific question. Raising her eyebrows ever so slightly she spoke to Angel in a motherly, gentle voice. "It seems you have a question? You can ask me anything.." Without another thought, Ilya nodded her head as she spoke, validating what she said out loud. Her hands gripped a branch on Angels' level as she pulled herself up, sitting on the edge of the branch. Her legs dangling down below. Her butt was now seated on the edge of the branch as she was now able to swing her legs back and forth. Her gaze glancing around the whole forest, taking note of the most subtle of things.
"Uh, I dunno..." Angel made her way next to Ilya so that she could sit down beside her. "Not really," she shrugged off the offer mostly because she'd forgotten what she was musing about already. It wasn't that hard to distract the girl. She was panting a bit from the effort, but reached up to pet Ilya's ear yet again, a big grin on her face as she did so. She really wished she could have these on Angel somehow, though she didn't really want to have to change her either. It was complicated, but it would be so cool to have fuzzy ears. Of course she'd already thought of all this but whatever, it was easy to remind herself she wanted them when next to Ilya. "So um, where are we going?" she finally piped up. They'd been a bit distracted by the tree climbing, but maybe it was important? Angel had frankly already forgotten, but she was having a great time getting distracted at least.
"To the water hole! We are quite close. At this time of day, there will probably be deer if we keep our voices down." With a small grin as Angel pet her ears, Ilya felt them flick on her head. "Want to tree climb there? Or should we walk?" At this point, Ilya was leaving the decisions up to Angel. Ilya herself was rather decisive yet, due to Angel being somewhat newer, she wanted her to do what was comfortable. Ilya began to fiddle with a branch nearby, one that had quite a couple of leaves on it. Her fingers smoothing the leaves, plucking a few and letting them fall to the ground. The whole forest around them seemed calm, serene. The cold, brisk air that seemed to remain somewhat still. Only the occasional rustle of leaves let Ilya know that there was a small breeze. The smell of the forest wafting through the air. The sight quite brown. With barely any leaves in sight.
"Ooh I love deer~" Not that Angel had the animal handling skill or anything, so they'd probably just run here like in the real world... or worse, attack! Video games could be confusing like that, but in Angel's experience this one was a little more logical. "Hmm, mabe we should just walk. I'd hate to get hurt before the adventure started~" she giggled and hopped down out of the tree. The cool air and the pretty trees made for a beautiful day, even though Ava wasn't the biggest fan of the cold. She might pick up a jacket or cloak or something in the near future, but Angel, at least, seemed to be getting kind of used to it. Maybe it was the fact that her in-game outfit wasn't quite as... modest as the real her was used to. "I've never tried swimming before," she piped up. "Not in this game anyway. Is it any harder? Do I need some sort of mastery majiggy?" She had no idea, but Ilya seemed to think she could handle it, so why not try regardless?
"Yes.. Deer are rather lovely here.. Though beware that we do not kill too many if we choose to do so.. If we do, then they will be unable to repopulate." Watching Angel hop from the tree, Ilya followed in suit. "Yes, would be a shame.. Though our adventure started once we met." Glancing between two trees she lifted a finger and pointed. "That way." "I love the cooler weather.. Do you? Or do you prefer the heat." Glancing sideways at Angel as she began to walk, Ilya clasped her hands behind her back. Curious as to what the girl would say. "Swimming in game is fun! It is rather easier than real life..To be quite honest.. No mastery required.. If you do not know how to swim in real life, then swimming in game can come in handy. Yeah, you could technically drown but the system will help you swim if you do not know how.." Laughing as she thought of whether or not the girl would try swimming when they got there, Ilya added on. "Sickness is a thing in the game.. So I would advise against swimming in winter."
"Why would I kill any of the deer?" Angel couldn't help but ask, her expression one hundred percent innocent. She did agree their meeting was sort of an adventure, though it was distinctly not recovering whatsits from lakes or something. Or was it from deer? "Are the deer protecting the lake?!" she burst out. "If whatever's there is that important to them I'd hate to hurt too many of them..." Much as she wanted to explore and adventure and be a hero, Angel was still pretty much Ava. Ava didn't have a violent bone in her body, at least not when it came to real life... and fiction though the game was, well, it was pretty life-like. There was no getting around that. "Oh, I definitely like warm, but I guess cold isn't tooooo bad..." she conceded. "As long as I can manage with tights and a skirt, at least in the real world." she stared at her own arms which she held up to the sides as if she were examining herself again. "I don't know if Angel has different feelings about that than I do...?" The whole sickness being a thing was a bummer though. What if you were sick in-game and in real life? Sometimes Angel felt like the game went way too far with its realism... ah well. "Don't worry I can swim~" she beamed. "My old school was lucky enough to get a pool. It was pretty small and the other schools around us didn't get one. But um, what I mean is - I can swim pretty well!"
A small laugh erupted from Ilya's lips, "Killing the deer is fine. Much like humans they reproduce the same way, so if we kill too many of them they become extinct.. Much like real life." Thinking for a moment, unsure whether they were in fact protecting the water hole they were going to. "The game is much like real life, take out magic and fantasy creatures. So the deer are only at the water hole for a nice drink and warm spot to gather around in." Glancing around her, Ilya took note of the surroundings. The water hole was mere feet away.. A rather clumped bush blocking their view of it. "The feelings in game and in real life.. Are basically the same. Temperature-wise you can always pay for heat-resistance and cold-resistance.. Pain is definitely smaller if you chose the Simulated option.." Flexing her arms, Ilya spoke up again, the most talking she had done in a while in the game. "Good! Swimming can be fun here. Now.. We are near the water hole.. Let us remain silent.. I believe some deer will be on the other side of the bush down at the water.. Killing animals can be a bit.. hard.. The game makes everything very realistic.. So there will be blood and the such.. If you do not want to try out combat, it will be fine. We can just look.." Now placing a finger over her lips to signify quiet, Ilya crept forward, pushing through the bush ever so quietly until she reached the other side. The watering hole was beautiful.. Frozen over in the bits near the ground, and unfrozen in the center. I was not expecting that... There were deer in the vicinity, some were standing on the ice, taking sips from the ice cold water in the center of the pond of sorts.
To Angel, killing the deer was not fine. She understood reproduction and all that, and that animals of course repopulated after hunting. People around her had hunted a lot before she moved to New York. But she didn't like the idea regardless, which was plain on her face in that moment. "I don't want to hurt the deer," she rephrased as they moved through the bush. "I've fought things before," she admitted. "Like mean wolves and slime monsters..." She spotted the deer and hoped they weren't hostile. If they were, she could take back what she said, but they were so cute! Why did she have combat-related masteries again? She tried to sneak alongside her companion, but obviously had no mastery points in anything sneak related. Angel... or more accurately Ava... was not the sneaking type of person. Her approximation of sneaking was to rush and glomp someone before they turned around, squealing the whole time.
Listening with her ears as Angel admitted to not wanting to kill the deer, made Ilya shrug. "Whatever you want, kid." Knowing full well that Angel was not a kid, yet still feeling as if she was one. Angel's personality rivaling that of a younger human. The very fact of not wanting to hurt wolves, unless they were mean.. And not wanting to hunt deer added to the very factor that she was thinking of. "I have fought quite a hefty amount of things. Crabs, giants, dragons.. Deer, birds, boars.. Wolves and large fish specimen." The frown that dotted Ilya's lips was one of pure thought. "All animals have some sort of combat ability. Deer are a part of all animals. Yet they won't attack you here. Monsters in Brisshal are very quiet when it comes to violence. They only attack if you attack first. They are also less prone to running away or hiding, as long as you don't get too close or start to attack." Watching with her eyes forward, Ilya listened as branches snapped beneath Angel's feet. The movements too loud. Standing up straight, Ilya turned to Angel. "Well then.. Let's just walk straight up to the water hole." Moving a bush to the side, Ilya stepped out of their coverage and into the clearing of the hole. Five deer dotting the area. The sight that one would never see in real life was right before her own eyes.
