text | un: konoha

[lumberlady]

apology for to bother but

how do two leg people walk???

please send simple and clear advice

or VIDEO? 📷?

i watch human walking all i 's life but

is very more difficult than i expect...

requesting two leg person help!

please and thank you and gratitude

- KONOHA 🌳🍃

Comments

[tigerpoet]

Alright, slowly.

[Painstakingly, he starts to lower her down onto the grass, not letting go until it seems like she's stable on her feet.]

[lumberlady]

[Slowly helps her get her feet under her a bit more properly, feeling more steady about it... but she still grips tight to Atsushi’s forearms as she looks down at them, experimentally wriggling her toes as she exclaims,]

I can feel all the different grass blades... !

[Which, it’s not like she hasn’t known that, she’s felt them with her hand and skin before, just definitely not with feet.]

[tigerpoet]

They're a lot more sensitive than hooves, I'd imagine.

[He's never had hooves so he can't be sure, but he guesses that the difference is stark.]

[lumberlady]

[Konoha will assure him... it's very. Very stark. Not that this isn't obvious by all the strange expressions on her face as she tentatively takes some more steps, hanging onto his hands tightly just in case. Heel, ball, toe...]

I can't really feel anything with hooves... I mean, not unless something sharp pokes the middle part... and even then it's not anything like this...

[The entire sole was so soft???? And ticklish? She's holding back a laugh.]

It's more like... you feel the pressure of stepping? But not... the stepping...

[Did that make sense???]

[tigerpoet]

I think I understand. Like when something touches your fingernails, right?

[That's as close to hooves as humans have.]

[lumberlady]

Oh, yes- ! Exactly like that!

[She taps enthusiastically on her fingernails, then takes Atsushi's to tap on his so that it actually is something he'll feel.]

It's a good thing Sensei is here, haha... I definitely need Sensei's brains around...

[And his friendship, and his teaching, and his... help sometimes.]

[tigerpoet]

You're a very intelligent woman. I'm sure it won't be long until you don't need me at all.

[what's a self-esteem]

[lumberlady]

[Come on, Sensei! Humble is one thing, but- !]

Uh-uh, that's not true!

[Konoha seems sincere as usual when she shakes her head, still holding on to Atsushi's arms for support as she stumbles through some baby steps.]

Even if I stayed in Lunatia for years [the only way she imagined she'd have time to sit down and study things like she did here], there's no way I'd get smarter than Sensei... I'll keep coming to class forever!

[tigerpoet]

You're very kind... I'd be happy to have you in my class for that long.

[but she is smarter than she gives herself credit for!]

[lumberlady]

[At least she has a lot of emotional intelligence and simple common sense to make-up for her lack of innate book learning talents!]

I'll be in class as long as I'm here or Sensei is here! That's a promise!

[tigerpoet]

[Those are just as valuable!]

I hope I stay here at least as long as you do, then. Though I do hope you get to go home sooner rather than later.

[She wants to start a family, and she can't here.]

[lumberlady]

Mmm... Me, too...

[She knew well that not everyone wanted to go home. People like Atsushi, people like Matthias, who were dead in their worlds, and this was a second chance... people like Rey, like Doumeki, whose world discriminated against them or was full of bad memories...

But she did. She wanted to go home. She wanted to see her parents again, wanted to give Gonta a family...

So she had to stay positive. She would get home, she would, and when she did-]

Will Sensei miss me?

[tigerpoet]

Of course I will. I'll be happy for you getting to start a family of your own, but I'll still miss you.

[As he'd miss any of his friends who disappeared, even if they were better off at home.]

[lumberlady]

[Even just hearing someone else say "start a family" is enough to make her wriggle a bit, hands cupping her cheeks and momentarily stopping her attempts at walking to wobble in in place instead... before she holds out both her hands.]

Can I borrow Sensei's phone thing?

[tigerpoet]

Hm? Of course.

[He hands her his phone. ...Please don't go looking through the photos on there, there are some lewd selfies of him in a dress that he'd rather not share.]

[lumberlady]

[Thankfully, Konoha doesn't go into the photo gallery, instead just straight to the camera... one of the few features on the devices she has made sure to master.]

Okay... camera button... click the reverse arrow thing...

[Selfie mode activated... she holds out one hand to gesture Atsushi to come closer, holding the phone at arms length in the other.]

Come on, Sensei! It's a "Konoha is really short now and I have to teach her how to use human legs right" picture!

[tigerpoet]

Oh, of course!

[Selfie time! He smiles widely, and wraps an arm loosely around Konoha's side. Just two friends learning how to walk on human legs.]

[lumberlady]

[Selfie time! Konoha smiles wide and hugs Atsushi close, carefully putting her selfie taking practice to work in order to snap a cute picture of two... human people! Well, human lower half or not, it was obviously Konoha...

And then she hands the phone back over with another smile, a bit softer, a bit more emotional.]

Now Sensei will always have that picture, even if I disappeared tomorrow!

[She doesn't want to, she wants to go home properly, but- Just in case. Just in case.]

[tigerpoet]

Konoha... I'd never forget you even if you didn't leave a picture behind.

[Sorry, she's getting a tighter hug for this.]

[lumberlady]

[Hnnngh- She may not have the extra strength the physical makeup of her jinba body lent her, but even bipedal she's still well built, and Konoha squeeze back tighter instinctively.]

I know you wouldn't forget me, but the pictures just make it even easier to remember, no matter what- !

[tigerpoet]

That's true. Maybe I should write a story about you so I remember you extra well.

[That's how writers immortalize people, after all.]

[lumberlady]

Eh- A story about me?

[Look, she knew he was a writer, but... writers wrote about... princes and nobles and heroes, right? (She still wasn't super up to date about... modern literature genres.)]

No one wants to read that, Sensei! I haven't killed any oni or had a love affair at court... not anything like that!

[tigerpoet]

You'd be a wonderful protagonist, Konoha. I'm sure plenty of people would want to read about you and cheer for you.

[Sure he writes about historical figures more than anything, but people love an everyman. Everyhorse.]

[lumberlady]

I don't know...

[She's so used to the idea of story heroines just being so much grander, princesses and supernatural beings and goddesses... It feels strange to think of a story about someone who considered herself just a farmer's daughter and a lumberyard worker. But she also isn't about to say that Atsushi was wrong... He definitely knew more about writing than she did...]

When... When I get better, I'm going to read sensei's books!

[She actually... is walking a little better when distracted by talking, not overthinking the physical movements and sensations.]

Which one should I read first?