Blossoming Bonds

It Feels Wrong

"You're back!" A gentle voice shouted as we approached the camp, "And you found friends!"

A short high school-aged boy ran up to us. He had wolf ears and a fluffy tail that wagged wildly at the sight of Vallory.

"Let me introduce you to Ash. Ash, this is Ivy and this is Victor."

"A pleasure to meet you two!" He said politely and cutely, "Wait, you mean she's the Ivy that you always talk about? I've been waiting so long to see you! You sounded so nice, and you're so pretty! Your eyes are beautiful!."

I blushed at the sudden barrage of cute compliments, "Thank you." I shyly said.

"Ash is my battle buddy and we've been through a lot together these past months. He may seem cute and small and fragile but, trust me, he fights just like a wolf!"

Ash's tail started to wag faster and he started to blush, "You're too sweet, Val! I'm not that cool, am I?"

Vallory smiled and petted him on the head, "You are too! Now, I wanna know what's for dinner."

"More dinner?!" I said excitedly while wagging my tail and drooling from the side of my mouth.

"Oh, yeah! Nothing that exciting today, just some mashed potatoes, grilled asparagus, and steak."

"Not exciting?!" I blurted out, "That sounds like heaven!" I drooled and held my face at the thought of the food.

He started twirling his bright blonde hair, "Y-You really think so?" he blushed, "Well that makes me so happy!"

He ran to the campfire and started setting plates full of food around a makeshift table.

Vallory leaned to me and whispered, "He gets excited when you say sweet things to him. Thank you for that."

"No problem. I just said what was true." I giggled, "Why wouldn't steak and mashed potatoes be exciting?"

"He's just really humble and self-conscious, you'll get used to it."

We sat around the table and thanked Ash for the food. The food tasted amazing and tasted one hundred times better than the nuts and berries Val gave me.

"So." Victor spoke up, "I know this might be a dumb question but, what's up with the animal features?"
"Oh? No one's told you yet? Well, basically, whenever people enter this forest, their spirit shows. For example, Victor, you're a bunny so you're probably agile and sweet and kind and cuddly." she smiled.

"What about me?" I asked in between bites.

"You're a cat, so you're loving, kinda lazy, loves swatting at butterflies and things like that."

"That sounds kinda lame. How come I couldn't get eagle wings like you!" I pouted.

"You should be happy! Cat spirits are one of the rarest!"

"I don't feel like I'm that rare, I almost died to the plant thing earlier today and you were the one who saved me."

"You haven't trained like me, Ivy. If you want, I could teach ya! And then you can become strong just like me!"

"Fine... But I still won't be able to fly and I really wanna fly!"

"You'd be surprised~" She smirked.

"So you're saying the cat spirit is one of the rarest, what's the rarest spirit?" Victor added.

"Hm, probably the dragon spirit. They have wings and claws and they can shoot flames from their mouths! It's pretty crazy."