- We should really check out the rest of these boxes, shouldn't we? 

I take a quick little set over to the box, and ruffle back through it - there's the pills, one order each, okay, and - that one more big page, folded up aside it - let's take a look at that... 

Oh that is a pretty piece of paper. 

I unfurl it fully to its fullest wingspan, and take in the full sight of the beautiful thing. It's a map, done in a fine pencil, delicately etched with all sorts of details, little shading touches that give it a certain depth, carefully done lines that trace out the extent of a forest, a system of rivers off a lake and sketches of some outposts, roads, and some settlements spilling out along the land between spaces largely filled in with little outposts rather then something heavier. There's apparently the 'White Dove City' up in the north, just before the Swelling Peaks - heh - take over enough of the landscape to probably make something denser - awkward. There's a bigger road out into the rest of the world, but this looks like it's not exactly the most prominent place. 

There's a - reasonably convenient 'x' to mark the spot for "Fishing Cache", which while a completely reasonable include does seem perhaps a bit cheapening. Tracing out nearby...

There's a marked little hostel affair probably what... 3 leagues out, by the scale 'long the path, more or less due west? It's not exactly a detailed guide but that seems - reasonable enough, especially considering that coin purse I've got here. Worst case scenario we'll make alternative arrangements in a place where there's actually people, rather then just the wild or whatever. I think we should be sympathetic and/or convincing, or at least get away with some - fencing arrangement for what I do have the ability to go and arrange. 

There's a few other directions I could go but honestly I reflexively just stopped caring once an obvious candidate popped up, especially considering how much further out they are... 

There's a town down the same way, and another one that I could probably go and do a few times the distance, but well. 

Any of these are as good as any other, for the moment. 

Okay so - rounding up the last little things we need before we depart - there's some more of these chests - there's a dumb little illusion circuit thing on each of them to make the few little spots visible on at a time to non-cultivator, but the effects mental enough to shrug off with our protections, and repeating the lock trick is simple enough. Looks like it's the same thing, more or less? Some of them were halfway emptied - most of them are missing the augmentation courses and have only a small handful of the other pills left, but there's no real reason not to pocket those. There's not a ton of change, either, but oh well.

One of them has a scrollcase all sealed up with a tinge of some - nasty energy. The seal looks... largely fine, it's just that feels like... something unfortunate. It's hard to suss out in much more detail then that but well. 

That is going first thing into a little wooden box, my friend, and to be dealt with later. 

We can inventory these in more detail later, thankfully enough - got our hands and claim on all of these for wardrobe interviewing. 

- I scribble "CURSED - contained" on the box, just in case someone ends up thinking that I'm trying to sneak it in or whatever. I've never been enough of a marker person but there's a pen or two in there, thankfully enough. 

Okay, I sit down and grab one of the full physical courses - imagine there's some level of - 'freshness seal', even if one vague and metaphysical, and there's no reason to make this harder then I need to. 

My finger runs across the container itself, feeling the texture of the bottle. It's red-grey sculpted clay, the cylinder sized nicely to rest against the length of my palm and get pressed up against my thumb. There's a stamp of a tree pressed up near the top, and cap pressed up atop a small lip in the same material. It's probably got some proper seal but that's not terribly material. 

I place my hand around the cap and twist, hearing it satisfying 'exhale'. I pop it out, and peer down, a faint silver glow eminating from my eyes to get a better look. 

They're small red spheres, a shiny specular layer of some sort of gummy film atop them. They're small - they look honestly a good bit like cinammon-flavoured gumballs, to be honest, from the size and shape, though they're probably a good bit smaller, on reflection. I swill them around in the container for a bit before pouring them out into my hand, and do a rough count - there's maybe... 50 of them? Not the longest course but still a good while. Sure. 

And back in they go, save one. 

I nab the set aside water bottle - I don't think I exacftly want to get into the habit of littering with countless casually conjured items, even if the protections probably prevent that from being too much of a problem -  place it properly beside me, and swig down the pill, swiftly followed by a shot of cool water. 

It doesn't feel like terribly much - which isn't surprising, in the normal case, but it's a little - disappointing, still. 

Oh well... 

The spirit one? 

It's the same design, and the same sort of pill capsule - though these ones are sort of a baby green. 

I flick one up my finger and toss it in my mouth, and take it down with another gulp of water. 

...Oh that is an interesting feeling... 

It feels like this - energized fuzz in my head, a - forth of excess raw focus bleeding into my headd, some sort of - reverse headache boiling and bubbling away in my head before it starts to - settle, my sense of mind sort of... spreading out, like a pool of water expanding as the tension sort of - resets. There's also something more - literally physical, a touch of energy just sort of trailing down my neck to my shoulders and.. fizzling, I suppose? It doesn't seem like the main body of it is reaching downwards properly, but there's no reason to terribly expect it to be done that part on the first dosage. 

I rub my forehead and just... ride out the odd blinky feeling for a short while. 

It's not precise enough to be terribly - tangible, but I can feel where it settles and... maybe move it a touch? It's hard to tell what the - haze of energy is really doing, precisely, but it's - hopefully a start. 

- oh yeah!! 

Notebook! 

Should talk w/ her. 

Mind if I...? 

I give her a little headpat - her hair just flowing and fluttering with a bit of pressure, firming up and pressing down against her scalp as if I was there beside her patting her head physically. There's not a ton of room for pressuring, but the amount of rustling wind this can support is pretty high, even ungrown. 

Ahhh...~ 

It's nice - I add a lil bit of a silky firm stroking to the way my hair just ripples in the non-existent wind, fluttering a little as I add an extra touch of curl to it to just... make it cloak my shoulders a little more. The femme touches make me feel - like I'm living in a kinder world, suppose. 

I nab the book from nowhere in particular, and flip it open to a new page, and just - take a look at her for a good while. 

It's - so - 

Gosh. 

Weird to think about talking again!! 

Last time we were talking I was teary and down and now just - 

It's so different.

'm a lil nervous about - feeling out the social things, even if the bennies are going to be as natural as the body stuff, I'm sure. Probably all of it's already integrated but... 

Using it outside of head 's going to be a trip, I can already tell. 

I spin a pen between my fingers for a little while. 

I open her up, fingers tenderly caressing the base of the spine, and start to write. 

Hi ;)

I take a little breath out, and snort under my breath. The - winky face was easier then I expected, honestly? And - there's more thoughts, already half-cashed, and it's so simple to just - write, and... yeah. 

Oh hi! 

I grin a bit. She's so - open! It's adorable. 

Hi hi. 

It worked :)

The changes are super duper nice and the powers are sweet! Body feels so right and - 

Just feel all jubilant and joyful and euphoric to have it all, even before thinking about all the superpower possibilities!

I hug them up into my chest and eeeeee a little. 

That's come up already, actually.

Got my first lil adventure done! Got plopped down in an abandoned lil base in this forest clear and got to have some fun figuring out how the loot the treasure ^^

The starting loot is great! Shifting has been super fun even if just - getting to be me feels so so soooo much more important then that right now, and the weakness vision... 

It's a trip but - feels so synced with the process of just - thinking things through that it feels native and natural and barely cheating at all! Even though yeah it's super duper cheaty strong, don't get me wrong. 

Is it usually this fun ^^?

It did! 

I'm glad that you're enjoying it! It's so good to see girls like you shine✨

And adventures already! I'm impressed and curious! 

It's often really fun from the start, even if a lot of people appreciate an extra push to get to embrace this as a different and better life, even if that means that it isn't fun at first. 

Yeah, I can see why it'd be like that but...

I'm here to have fun and be awesome and I don't need anything more then myself and a thing to do for that, y'know? 

It's a personal thing, 'nd probably pretty particularizedly me, but ah well. 

Though I think part of it is honestly something more fussy, tbf. The perks can be a - push of their own, 'd think? Even if we're totally discounting direct mental effects from the perks, feeling - hot and hearty and healthy like this is a trip of it's own. 

And there's the blush. Having... a bright body like this has grown it's own anticipation of ~fun~ to come, to be honest. It can make so many lil joys easier including well. 

Those. 

I wiggle my eyebrows before shaking it off with a snort.

And yeah, totally can share a quick lil log. Lemme see...

Tap tap tap tap... 

Really gotta queue up sapphire soon, she's the best at thisss.

There's not a ton yet but! 

This place is warded up - mostly with non-intrusive illusions and mental effects that our defenses just completely ignore, but there's some more stuff on some of the actual goodies here. 

There's some - funky finnicky detecty ward on the lip of the lootboxes - but they're a bit - fuzzy matchy, not - super strict, at least in their current state and well... 

I can't be divined in disadvantageous ways! That wasn't enough to get me in but it's enough to get my close, yeah? So I pushed for the extra mile by exerting my presence as best I could - there's - got to be something in this spiritual system that relates to auras, and there's a - certain kind of person that builds this kinda retreat and a certain - strength they aim for, so I went for that, and cycled through all the us-es to get more variety, 'fore we went into the racial shifting stuff and that cracked it~ 

Figuring out the weaknesses and - pressing into those was tough and a trip but gosh I kinda wanna make a habit of it. The rush is fun fun fun, and the technical tricks are... interesting! 

Oh! 

That's really interesting! I'm impressed you've found a way to make use of the spirit's powers so readily already! 

Awww ty. 

I hum softly. 

Yeah no not gonna shhy out of this, should - stay serious about this.... 

- can you talk to me about how diff it feels to - talk to me now? 

I'm not too sure how your social senses work for this but - idk. It'd be interesting to hear your thoughts on how the presence perks and all - change the feeling, espec. with your more constricted senses. 

Oh! 

I'm not too sure what to say... 

It might help if you talked a bit about what you expect an answer to look like? 

'm not even that sure myself ^^

There's a - lot of things that - make sense in my head when - talking about what makes the aura - fun and encouraging to have, but not a lot that - makes it too too clear how it feels in something - simple and textual like this, espec. if it's - 

With this kind of dynamic? 

It's a pleat and kink thing and it's a purpose thing and those - don't disentangle to nicely, always, alas. 

I know I have a whole speech that could be ready in my head but don't want to bias your answer or brush aside the first blush, yeah? 

The reflex is still to fret but - I just take a mo to quiet my thoughts, focus on - stillness, and peace, and just the simple reality of my body, and wait a lil while. 

They're snappy enough that it's nice, still, even though writing out the thoughts as they come is still enough of a chore to mind, and she's nice herself, too. 

It's hard to say! I think that the way that that sort of thing works tends to focus a bit on first impressions? And the spirit paired me with you with our compatibility in mind, too. 

It's a little easier to stay thinking on what you've said. It's easier to perk up to feeling you write on me too! It feels like a bit more a pleasant surprise to get to talk to you, and being open feels simpler. 

I hope that clears it up a little? 

Sorta. 

It feels a bit - smol but like - 

Not trying to bowl her over, so...

I guess it's just that it's hard to talk 'bout 'cause it's so entwined with how - I want to be directly seen, I guess, and don't think thats' been too much of a problem for interacting with you. Guess it's just - I feel a lil more there and engaging and that - goes where it goes? 

I stretch out my hands and pocket her again, fingers enmeshing and flicking out slowly, before I pull her out again. 

But yeah. Feel free to tell me a bit more about that if more thoughts occur? 

Also! Have an idea for your name - 

"Noe-chan", m'ybe? Had the idea 'cause you just feel kinda moe and is a play on 'note[book]'.

Oh! 

That's very pretty. Let's do it!