2025-05-12 - Dance Ferret Dance

It was later in the afternoon with Bennie and Oz having finished up a morning shift at the Arena of Champions. After changing out of their costumes the two wear their respective attire with Bennie in a faded graphic tshirt with jeans and Oz wearing his red ferret sized pullover style hoodie. Lunch had been had and now? It was time for battle.

Dance battle specifically. Bennie is on one mat of the dance game and, next to him, Oz is his opponent as the two do their best to time their motions to the arrows moving rapidly on the screen. "Come on, Oz. You aren't gonna' get me with that energy! Gotta' step it up!"

It's a good natured jest as Bennie glances over to the ferret familiar with a laugh. Oz, for his part, is multitasking between looking up at the screen and jumping from arrow to arrow on his own dance pad. He isn't doing too bad at it either. Bennie tosses back another response, "Hey! I was kidding. Step it less up have mercy!"

Natalia would usually be heading over to Starlight Island for her evening shift, but she is off today, so instead she is wandering the park on her own, just enjoying some time off and taking in the sights. The arcade isn't a place that she's spent much time, so for now she wanders from game to game, mostly just watching others play as she sips from a bright red slushie beverage.

She's dressed in a pair of comfortable faded jeans rolled at the cuffs and a plain white t-shirt, a small silver bat-shaped charm hanging around her neck. Her long hair is left loose to fall almost to her waist.

When she comes upon Bennie and Oz, she can't help but watch in fascination as the ferret bounces around on the pad, curious how he manages the ones that require one to land with both feet. Those moves seem to give Bennie a distinct advantage. She doesn't even realize how long she's been standing there watching until Bennie calls for mercy and she laughs just a little bit.

To his credit, Oz does his best to extend his body and jump with front and back feet onto the alternating squares when it's needed. Though the diagonal squares definitely are easier than the ones across from each other which he typically does miss.

The song comes to and end and Bennie puts his hands on his hips, catching his breath as Oz also makes a point to dramatically turn to his back on the dancefloor. Hearing the laugh, Bennie looks up and sees Natalia and gives a quick grin. "Hey." It's a quick greeting as he's still catching his breath but he nods.

"You waiting? Oz won that round so normally I'd say you'd be going against him...but I think he needs a little more rest." Oz is now on all fours again and slowly walking to Bennie who lifts him to set him on his shoulder where the ferret promptly settles. Bennie looks to Natalia again and smiles, "I'm Bennie...I don't think we've met."

"Oh, no, I wasn't waiting," Natalia is quick to say, a soft Russian accent shaping her words when she speaks. "I've never tried this particular kind of dancing. I was enjoying watching you and your friend. It seems it requires quite a bit of energy on their part." A warm little smile is offered to both participants.

"Natalia," she introduces herself. "I work over on Starlight Island at the animal park. It's nice to meet you, Bennie. And your friend is?" she asks, glancing toward the ferret that is perched on his shoulder.

Lowering his arms by his side as he catches his breath, Bennie chuckles, "Yeah. I don't know how much it qualifies as 'dancing'. I'm still terrible on the dance floor, but it's still fun."

The comment about Oz has the ferret looking lazily yet also curiously over to Natalia. Bennie glances to the ferret and then to her again, "Yeah. He commits. You should see him in the Arena, we work over at the Champions show as jesters." When she's explaining what she does he listens and smiles with the introduction, "Natalia. Nice to meet you too. This is Oslo...Oz for short."

Finally having enough energy Oz stands, though it's still on all fours rather than on his hind legs, offering an extended neck and light sniff with his nose in Natalia's direction before tilting his head. Bennie chuckles, "He's just getting to know your scent. It's how he seems to say hello."

"It is not ballet, that is for certain, but that doesn't mean it isn't dancing," Natalia says with a smile as she takes another sip from her slushie. "Hello Oslo," she says to the ferret, wiggling a few fingers at him. "Ah, at the jousting and melee. I've seen the show once or twice. I like that it changes. Having different outcomes makes it interesting to see more than once."

She smiles when Oz sniffs at her, not seeming to mind or to be surprised. She does work with animals all day, after all. "Of course," she says with a smile. "I'm not keeping you from the games, am I?" she asks afterward, glancing around to the nearby games, not wanting to hold Bennie up if he'd planned to go again, or to move on to something else.

The wiggling of fingers is met with Oz's own paw lifting to raise and lower a few times in a returned wave. "Yeah. I don't do the jousting though. Or the melee. I juggle and taunt," Bennie laughs. "So they definitely have the tougher end of the performance. I just have to make sure the crowd laughs."

Looking back to the games as she asks, Bennie quickly shakes his head and assures Natalia. "Not at all don't worry." He looks back to her then, "I need to take a break. Been at it for awhile. So some water and maybe food." He pauses. Before a thought hits him. "I'm not keeping you from anything am I?"

"I think being funny is the harder job to do. I mean, it's probably less taxing on your body, but making people laugh and being funny is hard, especially if you don't know what people find funny." Natalia smiles and says, "I would prefer to ride the horses."

She laughs and shakes her head, "No. It's my day off and I'm just wandering around the park, watching people play games and drinking too much sugar." She gives her slushie a little bit of a shake. "Would you like some company while you get food?" She seems to be asking both he and Oz at the same time, as she glances at the ferret.

"Well thank you. I appreciate that view," Bennie says with a laugh. "I'd still rather stay off a horse. For both mine and the horse's sake. Maybe one day though." Not in a competing capacity though!

When she explains he nods, "Ah. Well if you ask me there's no thing as too much sugar. But that still sounds like a solid plan," he looks to Oz then. The two share a brief silent exchange and then Bennie nods and looks back to Natalia. "Sure we'd love the company." Oz gives a brief and high trill as if to confirm.

Stepping over slightly now, Bennie grabs a backpack and slings it over his shoulder. "Do you have a preference of food location? Or have you been here long? Been able to try out the places?"

Natalia laughs and says, "I am sure that my physician would beg to disagree, but I will still have my slushies from time to time." She is almost done with the one in her hand. At least it's not one of the ultra-sized giant ones. When the two confer, she just smiles and waits, idly watching others playing some of the other games nearby. "Okay," she says brightly when they seem amenable to her joining them.

"Not corn dogs," is her vote. "The batter is too thick and greasy and heavy. It does unpleasant things to my stomach. Other than that, I'm happy to go anywhere else."

"Ah fair enough," Bennie says with a nod at the mention of corn dogs. Thinking a moment he then offers, "How about the Cozy Cottage? They have a lot of good variety there."

Starting to walk, he makes sure not to jostle too much as Oz stays perched on his shoulder. "So you work at the animal park yeah? What do you typically do there or does it depend on the day?"

"Cozy Cottage sounds good," Natalia agrees, seeming happy with that choice. She finishes off the remainder of her slushie and discards it in a nearby bin as they begin to head toward the stairs back down and out of the arcade.

"Yes. I work with the bats. And sometimes the other small mammals as well in the area, but my specialty is bats. I'm fairly new. But I give talks about the different bats that we have and I spend a lot of time studying and taking care of the flying foxes and other fruit bats in particular."

"No way!?!" Bennie says with enthusiasm. "I have absolutely no experience with bats, but they always seem super cool. The videos of them eating fruit on the internet are adorable."

As she mentions other mammals he grins and motions to Oz, "Really? They have any ferrets over there?" Oz shoots Bennie a quick look that might seem like he's offended, but despite that he looks over to Natalia after and gives a little sniff as he waits for her answer.

Bennie lofts a brow, "Ok. I have to ask because this IS Spellbound after all. When you say flying foxes...how literal is that?"

"Bats are very cool and adorable," Natalia says without hesitation. "They are pretty cute eating fruit live, too. You should come and visit them sometime."

She shakes her head though when Bennie asks if they have ferrets. "I don't think so. Raccoons, though, possum, stoat, some moles, voles, foxes, bobcats, which aren't exactly small but they are smaller than the bears next door." Sometimes these things are relative.

Laughing, she says, "Flying foxes are the common name for the genus of megabats Pteroptus, among the largest bats in the world. But they are not literal foxes, no."

"Yeah? I think we will," Bennie says and Oz gives a quick trill as if to agree.

As they make their way to the Cozy Cottage, Bennie lofts a brow. "Oh wow. That's a lot of mammals! I even know what most of those are too." The specification of flying foxes gets a quick grin, "Ah. That makes more sense. You never know with this place." He pauses before asking then, "So. If you had to. Would you be able to pick a favorite bat? Type I mean. Not a specific one here."

"I could never choose a favorite from all of my babies," Natalia agrees quickly when he says not a specific bat from the park. "But the flying foxes are my favorite. They're adorable, and big enough that they don't feel quite so fragile as the little ones. Though I do love the little ones, too." She slips her hands into her pockets as they walk along, making their way across Venture Cove and back toward the River Village. "Sometimes, I like to become one and hang out with them," she adds with a bright smile.

There is a smile as Natalia admits not being able to choose a her favorite from the bats here and Bennie definitely wouldn't ever try to ask her to! "Ah that's cool. I'll probably try those first then. Not because I'm scared of the others, but...fragile things make me nervous...I'd feel terrible if I accidentally hurt one."

At the last statement his eyes widen, "Whoa you can become one? That's so cool. So which is cooler? The flying or the hanging upside down?"

"Well, they are all within their enclosures," Natalia explains, "So there's no danger of you hurting any of them. You can visit and watch them with no danger to them or you."

She smiles brightly then and nods, "I discovered it not too long ago. I can shapeshift into things, and the first thing I turned into was, of course, a bat." Laughing, she adds, "The flying, definitely. Hanging upside down is pretty natural. But that's because the way a bat's tendons work, they lock tight, so they can sleep that way. They have to actually expend effort to un-grasp, so that's why they don't fall, even if unconscious."

"Ah ok. So it isn't like the butterfly garden where they can land on you. That's good to know."

As she explains her ability Bennie grins, "Oh wow. So you can turn into other things too?" Listening to her talk about hanging upside down he blinks, "That is so odd to think about. Definitely cool though. All I can think is how I'd fall if I fell asleep upside down, but it makes sense they're built for it."

"What else can you shift into? Or sorry if that's a rude question. You don't have to answer."

"Oh, no," Natalia says with a shake of her head. "There's no touching the bats and they can't land on you. There's too much risk of them getting tangled in someone's hair or something like that, and they're very vulnerable if they end up on the ground since they can't get lift and need to be lifted up somewhere higher so they can drop. Just way too many potential dangers for that."

"They're also very lightweight and gravity doesn't work on them like it does us. We're so much bigger and our blood would pool lower, but their little hearts don't have as much blood and their bodies are so much smaller. It's not the same for them to stay upside-down."

When he asks what else she can shift into, she smiles and says, "Oh, it's fine. I can shift into pretty much any animal that I've seen if I wanted to. I've been practicing. I have found that some are too small. Things like mice. But a rat seems to work."

"That definitely makes sense," Bennie comments about the protection for the bats.

Then there's a grin, "Yeah I remember one time I hung upside down on the monkey bars for so long my ears started pounding. Do not recommend." He falls quiet though when she starts to explain what all she can shift into.

"That's awesome," he nods to Natalia. "I recently found out I can travel through mirrors. So that's a thing. Still figuring it out, but pretty fun." As they arrive at the Cozy Cottage he steps towards the door and opens it for her. "So what kind of stuff do you like to do when you're not on the clock or in the sky?"

"Oh, that sounds like a lot of fun. Can you just pop in and out of any mirror?" Natalia asks, curious. "How far can you go? Can you hop from mirror to mirror around the park?" She seems very interested in this power, it not being one that she's witnessed before.

Though when he asks what she likes to do when not working, she looks thoughtful and then offers, "I like to read, and I do a little bit of crafting -- some beadwork, painting small figurines. I also like to dance. What about you? What do you do when you are not jestering?"

"I don't THINK so? Though honestly I'm still figuring it all out." Bennie shakes his head, "I think it has to be a mirror I've seen before though. Because even though I know a place has mirrors, when I thought about going there it didn't work. Or maybe it just doesn't work sometimes."

He nods though, "Yeah I can go around the park with it. I have a mirror on the back of my door in my apartment and I use that as my main one. It saves time, but I also can't seem to take my familiar Oz so there are limitations."

Hearing her hobbies, he lofts a brow, "Oh wow. I haven't tried beadwork or figurines, but that sounds fun." The question being returned to him has him thinking a moment, "I play guitar. Not professionally or anything just as a hobby. I like going to the gym or park to run or jump around when I need to blow off steam or let out energy. I've found I really enjoy watching movies too so been having marathons with that."

Natalia listens with interest as Bennie talks about his own ability and its limitations, nodding thoughtfully. "I suppose that makes sense. Needing to know what's on the other side before going through." In her mind, anyway, that does seem to make some sort of logical sense even though -- magic.

As they approach the Cozy Cottage, she turns and heads in that direction, making her way through the people headed toward the arena. "I like to run, too," she offers. "And I like the little theatre in Deer Hollow. That's where I live. I go down and watch movies down there sometimes. It's like having a miniature real theatre."

"You live above a theater?" Bennie says with an obvious interest. "Talk about convenient," he laughs. "Or does it ever get loud or disruptive at all?"

Listening to her, Bennie follows along as they get closer to the Cottage.

"Oh, well, it's a theatre room in the apartment building," Natalia explains. "It has like comfy seats on tiers sort of like a theatre and you can make popcorn and stuff but it's not .. like a cinema. It's like the sort that someone might build in a big fancy house." She hopes that gets the idea across. "And I'm on the 5th floor, so I couldn't tell you if the neighbors could hear it or not."

Once they reach the cottage, she heads inside, holding the door for Bennie and then makes her way up to look at what is available to order. There's soup in a bread bowl and that's what she seems to gravitate toward.

"Ah. Still, sounds fancy. Then again a lot of this place is fancy and extra...in a good way." Bennie offers a smile and a nod of thanks as he walks past her holding the door.

Once they're in, he lets her go first and looks at the menu. "That actually sounds really good," he says of the soup and bread bowl, "I'll take one too please," he adds his order after she's done placing hers. Oz looks to Bennie while the man's focus remains on the menu, but he seems to know as a hand lifts to scritch the ferret's ear. "Can I also add a side protein of chicken, no seasoning, on a separate dish?" Water for the drink because he needs it after the time at the arcade.

Once their orders are placed he looks to Natalia again, "You want to sit closer to the fire? Or away from it? Not sure how warm you want to be."

"It's the first apartment building that I've lived in that has had a movie theatre in it, so I suppose it is fancy," Natalia says with a small smile as she makes her way toward the table. There's a moment's pause as she considers a spot, and then selects one that is near the wall but midway between the fire and the windows. It's a little warm for fire but at the same time, the fire is nice to listen to nearby.

"I think this looks good," she decides as she settles into her seat with her bread bowl of soup and plucks up her spoon. She smiles over to Oz as he gets his own side of chicken to eat.

Nodding as a spot is decided, Bennie follows Natalia and sits across from her. Oz meanwhile takes the seat next to Bennie and stands on his hind legs.

Setting the plate of chicken down first, Bennie watches as Oz tears a piece and lowers into the chair under the table. The sound of ferret chomps is soon heard. Bennie takes up his own spoon and smiles to Natalia, “Cheers” as he lifts the spoon and then sends it into his soup with a grin.

"Cheers," Natalia says with a smile and then falls into quite companionship as she shares a meal with Oz and Bennie, enjoying the company. There's a little conversation here and there as they eat, some light talk about the park and their jobs in it, until eventually it comes time for Natalia to slip off.

"It was really nice to meet you both," she says to Oz and Bennie when the time comes. "I hope to see you both again soon. Maybe I will drop by to see the performance at the arena in the next couple of days."

As the food is finished and the conversation reaches it's close, Bennie offers Natalia a smile, "It was great meeting you too. Let me know when you're thinking of stopping by. Oz can do some crowd interaction if you're interested." Oz stands up on the chair, face still holding bits of chicken as he looks to Natalia as if to confirm the offer.

Then, he's bringing his paws up to wipe from his mouth and then around it. Washing his face. Bennie gives a chuckle, "He'll be napping in a few minutes so we'll head out too. Have a good day, Natalia."