Private - Park Poetry

It wasn't a part of the city that Harveste had never been to, but it still took her a while to find a good spot in the park to wait for the friend she'd worked meticulously to plan with. Having gotten there early due to sheer luck considering the traffic, she waited until it was around time for @Angel Singer, as she knew her, to get out of classes. She still owed the girl a picture, if nothing else- and a simple greeting was usually not bad to do, even if phones had never been her go to in the past.

Jaluna

Hey there! I know you're probably just getting out of class now, but wanted to let you know I'm at the park like we talked about. Just so you know who you're meeting, here's a picture, as I told you I'd send it. -Jaluna Rolik/Harveste

Hidden: Attachment

It was a slightly old picture- maybe from a few months ago, if she even remembered. However, it was one of the only good pictures she really had of herself- and even if it wasn't exactly what she was wearing, it would likely make it easier to identify her anyway.

Having sent her message, she began to dig into leather messenger bag when she was carrying along with her that day. Her phone was locked quickly and shoved into an outer pocket, closed up and swiftly jostled to find the inner pockets. She began pulling out half her bag, feeling like one of those old ladies in television sitcoms that were meant to be comic relief.

"It really does amaze me all the crap I keep with me at a time... Ah, here it is." Finally, she was past the 'essentials' like travel pack of tissues, the hanky and the sanitary napkin she basically threw right back in the moment she saw. It took time, but she got to her writing stuff- including the story she'd made a copy of just for her new friend, which she pulled out and into her lap, before taking a notepad with it and a pen to take notes of what she saw while she waited. The remainder of her supplies were put right back into the bag in sequence.

Ready to play the waiting game, she began to doodle and jot down in hysterically horrible chicken scratch the things she saw or thought of. She held it carefully, one arm practically hiding the notepad from view of anyone that might look towards her. "I really, really need to work on my penmanship... Will I even be able to read these later?"

 

Ava got the message from Harveste or Jalunia or... She had to double check. "Right, Jaluna. Better not get that wrong~" It was a pretty and probably uncommon name. Not that Ava was that common where she was from, at least. Yet she'd met someone with a name rather close to hers... how weird was that? She shrugged to her self, humming along with the music from her phone that was coming out of the earbuds she had on. Much as it seemed like she might, Ava didn't just make conversation with every passerby on the street. She'd been warned it was a bad idea in a big city like this and had taken it to heart, despite how reckless she was being in meeting new peole.

She was in the usual, tights for the cold, a somewhat short skirt she could still wear to school (partly because of the tights), and her yellow jacket with the cat hood. She'd sent a message back with her own picture and the words "See you soon <3" which, was actually going to be sooner than Jaluna thought, judging by the fact she seemed to be distracted with something as Ava's eyes rested on the older girl. She definitely seemed old enough to be big sister material. Was it weird to consider someone like a big sister after one meeting and a series of PM's? probably... ah well. It wasn't as if they'd had the least weird conversation for a first meeting anyway!

"Harvesteeeee~" were the first words out of her mouth as she clamped around the girl from the side with one of her signature hug-greetings. She didn't linger very long though and quickly hopped back. "It's me! Ava! Er... Angel! Or Ava." she jabbed a thumb in front of herself as if it would help the conversation, the biggest grin on her face. "Whachu working on? I managed to get here a little bit early, sorry to interrupt~"

 

Suddenly, she felt a warmth that hadn't been there at her waist before. It was an unusual, familiar feeling- a feeling of being held, when no one had been near her before. Despite knowing she was waiting for someone specific in any case, a soft anxiety still took control as her mind opted to believe it possible to be someone else.

Scarlet as she turned to look at the girl that had hugged her, she smiled softly, calming down. It really was Ava. Inside, Jaluna couldn't help but wonder whether she was relieved or disappointed her instinctual assumption, which she knew was wrong, really was wrong.

"You're not interrupting or anything. I just tend to doodle and take notes while I'm resting. I always have a notebook with me to jot down things I see for filler in stories, or things I hear. And sometimes I just doodle because it's relaxing."

Despite it being a bit 'personal' to her, she figured it wouldn't hurt to let her new friend see the awkward drawing she'd been working on in boring black ink. She turned the notebook around to show her awkward attempt at anime-style drawing, a picture of a girl with long hair that was bit scruffy (shown by random lines flying off it, though in reality it was likely a shaky hand) and a thick scarf.

The face was adequate at best, a small, somewhat seductive smile in her mind along with gentle eyes as she perceived them. As quickly as she showed it, she found herself flustered and shoved it in her bag, pretending that would save her from the blood boiling in her face.

She should've just shown the poems she wrote beforehand in her worst handwriting instead.

"Er, and I'm Jaluna. Although I guess I already told you that, huh?" A nervous laugh fell flat as she moved to find the papers she'd originally intended to hand over. Holding the packet gently towards the girl beside her, she felt her head lean on her shoulder. "This is what I was trying to send. I'm sorry I made you go out of your way to meet me here for it in the end. How was school? You got here early, as you said. How'd you get out so fast?"

 

"Yup! I practiced saying your name because I kept wanting to say Juliana," Ava admitted with a small chuckle at herself. She clasped her hands behind her back but looked rather perky, as if she could start hopping around at any moment. She peered at the art and gave a big grin. "I can only do stick figures. Or if I want to draw anime I make stick figures with pointy chins and skirts," To someone with talent somewhere in the negative range when it came to art, Jaluna seemed pretty good at what she did.

She took the papers and thumbed through them really fast, but obviously didn't plan to read them here on the streets. She stuffed the gently into her bag just in case Jaluna wanted them back. "Thooough I might still call you Harveste because it's easier for my silly brain not to mix up names that way when its important~" she knocked herself on the head with a fist for emphasis, happy looking as ever. "So! We took the time to meet up, what should we do first?"

 

A soft laugh came from the words, a slightly knowing smile gracing her slightly chubby cheeks. Though her face was long and half of it was covered by glasses, which helped to hide her natural dark circles from having awkwardly big yet inset eyes.

As she moved to pat the girl's shoulder without a thought, her smile remained, her eyes slightly closing because of the light outside slightly shining directly into them. "I get that a lot, to be honest. I just remind people to think of it as 'the moon' in another language. Ja is yes in some parts of Europe, I believe... And luna means moon. The real trick is my last name! I mean... It's not that people say it wrong, but they tend to put so much emphasis on the 'ick' ending..."

She shook it off, embarrassed just for overthinking such silly things. "Harveste is fine, I suppose. Shall I continue to call you Angel? Ava ust as simple, though... And actually, as I think about it... Angel might sound like a pet name. That could be a problem. Or not. I'm not sure."

Pet names and nicknames were an unusual species in the world of onomastics, otherwise known as the study of names. But in personal experience, they were somewhat special in a different way: some could appear far more intimate than they were intended, while others that weren't normally seen as intimate (or even common) would become such even when they sounded like a friendly tone.

Her head began to hurt as she thought too hard on the matter. Rubbing her temples, she made sure to gather her belongings and look around. Ava had a point- they were already there. What was the point of just separating after working so hard to get there?

"Let's see... I know a nice maid cafe around here, though I suck with directions and last time I didn't really watch where I was going..." In her defense, it was hard to watch the direction of the road when you were clinging to dear life behind someone on a motorbike. Clinging for dear life and sanity. "Um... I think there's a zoo not far from here too, I saw on a map. And there's also some other shops we could look at if you wanted...*

A soft pink turned deeper instantly. "I-I don't really know the right places to go during outings. When I was younger and tried to, we usually just went to one of the big malls and wandered around aimlessly, or just played at the park or something. Or in the river in my backyard when I lived with my grandparents." Another laugh, another tiny smile- this time, from a childhood memory of the river and of youthful hi-jinks and taunting and teasing.

"What do you normally do when you get out of school? Since you're still learning the area, I'm guessing you probably have places you go sometimes, right? Or places you've taken notice of?"

 

"Uhm, Angel is okay if you want," Ava shrugged. "Buuuuut it might be weird if people thought you had a pet name for me, cuz like, you're older than me. But not old at all..." she rambled a little self-consciously. She wasn't the type to ramble and have no idea what she was saying. Calling a lady older could be a little insulting right? She'd never been 'older' than most people she talked to and kids didn't count.

She was given several options on what to do, which was nice. But what did Ava want to do? "Hmm... I like maids..." she admitted with the tiniest of blushes. Mostly she thought those japanese maid outfits were cute. She'd never wear one though. Not even on Angel. It would be too weird. "I mean, the ones in anime are really cute," she elaborated. "I've never seen a real life maid before..."

She was working through the ideas out loud; she hadn't picked just yet. "Though there's also a zoo and I love zoos! I haven't been to one since like... seventh grade for my cousin's birthday..." she tapped her chin. "Hmm~" she adjusted her skirt a bit and shivered. "Uhm, I think animals win this time," she decided. It was cold but she'd warm up moving around.

"Speaking of moons," she piped up, "I kinda sorta followed your advice," she puffed out her cheeks. "There's this girl my age that I met on TS that I've been hanging out with. To, you know, be myself or whatever."

 

"The cafe is kind of based on the ones in anime and manga," Jaluna explained, avoiding the continued discussion of how awkward it would sound using a pet
name. She had plenty of reasons to worry about it, and not enough to actually explain them. Instead, explaining their options for the day trip would be much better.

When Ava noted the last time she'd been to a zoo, it made the woman struggle to remember for herself. "I think last time I went I was your age... No, it might've been a bit later. I only really remember which zoo I went to. Because I usually always go to the same one when I do."

A soft, anxious giggle as she looked back on it- there was only one time in her memory she'd been to a New York zoo, and it wasn't the one near the park they were in, by any means. That Ava opted for it made her happy in a way, but she didn't want to admit she'd been nervous over her first possible plan.

"Zoo it is! I wonder if the one here has snacks? The zoo by me is in a really big park, the one I go to. There's all sorts of stuff at that place, so it's easy to find food vendors too." If you could find a carnival ride or two at a park, you could find just about anything. What would this zoo be like, she wondered?

She pulled out some directions from her bag- she had quite a few packs of papers with directions for how to walk to various places, the cafe and the zoo included. She peeked through the options and took the one she wanted, hiding the rest away in her bag once more to be unseen. Her face was red, but she could easily blame the cold even if it wasn't winter's fault. There were plenty of ways to hide her horrible embarrassment.

Starting to walk the way they needed to for the zoo, she listened quietly to Ava's perky result to trying to open up a bit more, both with her and in general. "I just meant to be yourself in general with people, but... If it got you a new friend, I'm surely glad for it." Someone as peppy and sweet deserved a few friends. Everyone did, though. "It's neat that you met in game, too. That means you get extra time together, right? What do you do together besides play the game? Anything new you've discovered through it?"

With a soft pat on the back, she moved forward. The closer she felt based on the directions, she became curious and blurted out the first thing to come to mind. "So, as a fellow lover of zoos... Do you have a particular animal you want to see? Or rather, a favorite? I have doubts my favorite will be there unless they have a farm area... But I know there are quite a few others that would be fun anyway."

 

Ava made an adorably pleased noise when she was told she was doing well with her new friend. "We've had pizza together and hung out some," she sounded rather pleased with herself. Despite her personality she'd had a harder time making friends since she moved, and Luna and Harveste seemed like a great start. Plus they could still be friends even if she had to move again. "I dunno what we'll do next time. The amount of shy Luna is is super cute though," she giggled to herself.

"The zoo I went to was pretty big. It was in St. Louis," she explained. "There were snacks and stuff all over there too. So maybe it's the same?" She was genuinely interested. "My favorite thing is definitely weird. They have peacocks that just wander around outside of cages, and I'd be totally afraid to ever try and touch them but they're really pretty and you can get so close~" she wondered what it was like to pet a bird. she'd pet bunnies and cats before... but never her own.

"Uh... if we're asking about cool animals, I like bears," she raised her arms out to the sides to mime the huge size of bears. "They're really big and gentle-looking but also predators. I don't think I'd know what to do if I met a friendly one but all bears are really cool and look like they'd be great for napping on." she paused. "I do nap, it takes a lot of energy to be Ava."

 

Jaluna paused as she listened to Angel's first offline encounter with someone. Her lips sat lightly agape as she listened to the excitement. She waited for a pause before she put her hand to her cheek, a nervous laugh escaping. "By Luna, do you mean Luna Avalbane? I met her in game around a similar time as I met you. Talk about coincidence."

She wasn't sure what intrigued her more- the amount Ava seemed to enjoy talking about Luna, even if it had only been for a short moment, or just the fact that it turned out to be Luna that the girl had met. It made her want to tell the little she knew about Luna outside the game- which was just random talk they'd had that moment- but she opted not to.

All she knew was basically they had similar taste in music, were socially uneasy and that Luna was learning guitar. That was stuff Ava could learn on her own. "Wait, is Luna's name actually Luna? Maybe I'm just assuming it's someone other than it is."

And so, they were back to the conversation of the zoo. It was interesting to hear that a zoo so far away had peacocks- and also interesting to hear her talk about her love of bears, which had a slight surprise about it in the writer's mind. She rarely met someone who found bears so fascinating, or so she thought. Most younger girls seemed to like smaller and cuter animals, like cats. Then again, she'd been their age once too- and she already had her favorite by then.

"Yeah, bears are neat, but they aren't fun to see up close and personal... I saw one once in the wild when I was on a hike for camp. I was near the front of the line, so I got to see it fairly nearby... And we were basically forced to retreat for safety, and didn't get to go to the top." What she didn't note was the shocking part of that story- the fact that it was for a writing class the camp was holding that they went up that mountain in the first place. Luckily, the base had plenty of things to write about, and they just ended up heading home early. It was quite a memory, despite that.

The peacocks continued to play in her mind, even as she told her unusual memory. She only paused when she caught that Ava's idea was to use one for a pillow, or at least she liked imagining it. "Actually... That does sound comfy. I can't really say that about cattle as much. Cows would be better for riding than napping... Though I have a cow plushie that doubles as a pillow, so that might actually not be accurate."

Giggling over the note Ava felt a need to make that she did actually nap, the girl almost wanted to hug her for the cuteness of it all. "What counts as a nap for you though, Ava? Because I don't think I can nap. I either am awake or dead asleep- I try to nap, and it just ends up a slightly shorter-than-usual sleep time... But some people still call that me napping because I go to sleep intending it as a 'nap'. People are interesting that way, you know?" Slowly, her giggle subsided. "That said... I would be more worried if you didn't nap and sleep. So good to hear you do that. It's not that I think it takes notable energy to be you specifically- but I mean... Being alive itself takes quite a bit, doesn't it?"

 

A mix of surprise and excitement crossed the childish girl's face. "A-Actually, funny story. Luna's name is the same as mine... but with an E. Eva." she probably shouldn't share that, but Angel was kind of caught up in the moment. And it wasn't like you could do a lot with just a first name in the real world. Maybe in a world with a much lower population like TS, sure. Ava was actually pretty chuffed at the idea of Harveste knowing about her friend, it was just also quite the shock. "So you really know Luna, huh?" She was still going to say Luna because it was weird being friends with someone who had your name. Ava wasn't even that common.

But of course the conversation had returned to the animals, where Harveste told her that her favorite animal was a cow. Ava couldn't imagine liking cows best since they were so common and... barn-yardy where she was from, but she knew everyone was different and was of course supportive of that. "I would also nap on a cow plushy..." she concluded. "A nap for me is like... maybe an hour? at most? If I'm super tired?" she shrugged. "I tend to just kind of run out of energy and nap on the spot if I can. Which, since I'm home a lot it's pretty simple. I've fallen asleep on friends before. Well, not literally. Okay actually literally too..."

 

Yes, it wasn't likely smart to share a friend's name in terms of etiquette, but Jaluna was happy if only because it showed just how at ease Ava felt with her. Well, that and the pun- wasn't it almost punny that the two new friends had similar names? Though, she didn't see them as exactly alike- so, it didn't actually shock her that much. Plus, wasn't Eva often short for things? Ava could be too, in fact. She hadn't thought about it until now, but opted to leave it for later.

"We met while I was practicing a more unusual skill of mine in naturamancy. Apparently she has beast taming and, well... I can kind of take over animal bodies to some degree with my skill set. It takes a fair amount of energy, but it's pretty fun. It was easy that day 'cause I was possessing a mouse though. She gave it- er, me- food. She's quite the nervous one, but it's rather cute, isn't it?"

Cute and unusually helpful in its own way for the normally bad-with-socializing young writer. They had things to talk about, so that helped too. She certainly looked forward to when they might play again. "If you two ever go on a quest and need a third wheel, I'll happily try to help out. Though some of them I'm not allowed to take anymore... Like Brisshal Completionist. I already did that one, and it's not allowed to be repeated even if it's to help someone else do it."

It was then that Jaluna realized she was doing something rather dumb- a couple things, really, but one caught her attention more than the rest. This wasn't the time to talk shop about the game, especially when they were talking about a game that was still technically illegal. The return to focusing on animals was the best course of action, if only for safety's sake.

It wouldn't have surprised her if Ava admitted not understanding her love of cows (her father, friends, and even she barely understood it, so why would anyone else?). Somehow, though, she didn't really notice an ounce of surprise from her words showing on Ava's face. Either Ava was good at hiding her feelings, which the writer doubted- or Jaluna was just too dense to notice it.

That was possible.

"There are all sorts of plushies I think would be good for naps. Except, like... Bees. I refuse to use a bee plushie. I know someone who would, but it's not me."

She laughed a bit as she spoke, soon focused on her friend's unique explanation of napping and timing for it. "An hour would be nice if I could keep to that... But you can fall asleep on the spot? That's even more amazing! How do you learn a skill like that?"

Enthusiasm and bubbling curiosity caught her voice, words having come out faster than she could do just about anything else. Imagining a bubbly girl like Ava just randomly falling asleep on someone's shoulder was hard to do, but even more so was doing it herself.

"It takes me an hour half the time to fall asleep at all... Even for a nap, half an hour of my time is just staring into space waiting for sleep to take over no matter how tired I am. I'm kind of jealous... Do you give lessons by any chance? Or can I watch sometime? Maybe there's something you do that you don't even notice that helps you conk out. I wanna find it!"