Aura Bella Fiora Imladris (the name that she and Mare agreed to use as a last name after finding the name in a book that (while unnecessarily long and detailed in Aura's opinion, but a good read) had a few words and sentences that were legitimately in the Elven Tongue) couldn't help but think back to her and her brother's old lives in the realm of Alfheim with a sense of nostalgia as the Beast Tamer rapidly moved through the trees of the Familiar Forest. Not necessarily pleasant nostalgia, but nostalgia nonetheless. More specifically, the time when she and Mare were running away from the royal guard through the forest that was the royal hunting grounds before they were captured and set up to be executed. While the end of the chase wasn't particularly pleasant, it was still quite the thrill for the twins (or at least for the older one). Mare on the other hand hadn't been particularly thrilled about the idea of being chased by anything, which led to him occasionally being quite snarky about his sister's tendencies as an adrenaline junkie. The only things keeping Aura more or less grounded being Mare himself and the Beast Tamer's love for animals.
On the topic of animals, Aura came to a stop on top of a tree branch as she spotted a group of creatures that resembled boars of various sizes. The biggest ones and obvious leaders of the group easily matched really big boulders in terms of size, but while they briefly caught the Beast Tamer's attention, it was the obvious runt of group that managed to maintain her attention, which was quite a feat considering Aura's (at best) fluctuating ability to pay attention to something. It was a little thing with thick fur covering the entire body, the only thing poking out amongst all the fur being it's pink snout. As the Beast Tamer dropped down from the tree, she landed on a broken off tree branch, causing it to snap rather loudly. Which led to her gaining the attention of the group of boar-like creatures, particularly the younger ones of the group. Due to the appearance of a human (or something with a strong resemblance to one) being something that happened once a month, the various creatures living in the Familiar Forest were used to the appearance of human-like people and knew what it meant. With something that sounded like a grumpy series of grunts from the bigger boar-like creatures, the younger ones were called back to the group, who simply left. Which caused Aura to simply lean against the tree and sit down in disappointment.
"Aww man. And here I thought that I'd be able to get one of those things as a Familiar." Exclaimed Aura in a tone of obvious disappointment. She probably would have sat there for a while… if it wasn't for her feeling something somewhat wet gently poking her in the stomach.
"*oink* *oink*"
"Hmm?" The oinking turned out to belong to the only one of the boar-like creatures that stayed behind. The runt of the group. "Hi there little gi-"
"*angry oink*"
"Sorry. I meant little guy."
"*pleased-sounding oink*"
"So, want to come with me, little guy?"
"*oink* *oink*"
"I'll take that as a yes. I think I'm going to call you, Manny."
"*oink* *oink* *oink*"
"Hey! Stop that! It tickles!"
While Aura was busy getting basically tickled by her new Familiar, which she had affectionately named Manny, Mare was on the verge of panicking due to him having lost track of his sister and not being particularly good at navigation in a forest, having been the more domestic one of the twins. A trait that made itself quite evident by the fact that he showed an interest and talent in the culinary arts. Which led to some lighthearted teasing from the other members of the Peerage that he'd definitely make someone a happy wife or husband one day. But none of that was currently occupying the thoughts of the Nature Mage, who was currently nervously looking around at the various creatures in the Familiar Forest that were giving him looks of curiosity. Creatures that varied greatly in both shape and size, some of them were even somewhat similar to the ones in Alfheim. However, the slight familiarity of the creatures did little to calm Mare's nerves, especially since some of them looked at him in a way that made him uncomfortable.
"STOP LOOKING AT ME LIKE THAT! I'M NOT A GIRL!" Shouted the Nature Mage, loudly, after a few minutes of getting stared at. His sudden shout caused most of the creatures to back off, which made him almost regret it as the discomfort of being alone kicked in in mere seconds. "Aww man, why did she have to run off like that? She knows that I'm not good at dealing with the forest on my own."
As Mare sat down with his back against a rather big rock, something spotted him. That something was a creature that resembled a round cactus with arms and a yellow growth on the top of its head/body which resembled a crown. Seeing the young child's clear distress and discomfort, the cactus-like creature waddled up to the heterochromic kid, who was starting to reach the point where he'd break down and start crying, and gave him a gentle nudge with one of its arms, which didn't prick Mare due to the fact that the spines covering the creature's entire body behaved like poofy soft fur as long as the creature wasn't making the spines stand on end, which happened when the creature was either agitated or assuming a defensive posture. As the Nature Mage nervously looked up at the cactus-like creature, said creature made a noise of concern that reminded Mare of the sound of someone chewing apple slices (of all things).
"Hhi. Please don't hurt me." Exclaimed Mare nervously as he turned his attention to the cactus-like creature, who simply tilted its head/body to the side in what seemed to be curiosity.
"*curious and possibly concerned sounding noise akin to someone chewing apple slices*" the cactus-like creature seemed genuinely concerned about Mare. Much to Mare's surprise and slight horror, the cactus-like creature suddenly made a noise and gesture that seemed to indicate that it had made up its mind about something as it waddled off into a nearby bush. But, much to Mare's relief, it just as quickly returned with a pair of blue berries that were about the size as small apples somehow sticking to its arms. The creature handed over one of the berries to Mare before snuggling up to the Nature Mage as it proceeded to eat its own berry.
"Uh… thank you?" As Mare took a small cautious bite out of the berry, he couldn't help but find it rather delicious, even if the taste was weird. "Huh. Weird taste, but not a bad one."
"*curious sounding noise akin to someone chewing apple slices*"
"Tasty berry." Replied Mare to the creature's wordless inquiry, which was met with the creature making a gesture that conveyed pride before it proceeded to give the Nature Mage a hug that seemed to convey the message that the creature had more or less adopted Mare, who didn't seem to mind. "Something tells me that you're not going to leave me alone. Want to become my Familiar?"
"*enthusiastic sounding noise akin to someone chewing apple slices*"
"I think I'll take that as a yes… wait are you male or female? Left arm for male, right for female." The creature quickly raised its, or rather her, right arm. "Female then. I think I'm going to call you… Alice."