Bree felt the leaves and little twigs crunch under her feet with each step she took further into the forest. The glowing light from the sky became dimmer the further she went in, like being wrapped up in a cocoon. Soon she couldn't see the opening at all and spotted a little hill within the forest where the trees didn't cover and the sun basked it in warm light.
The opening in the trees was perfectly rounded, as if a gardener with particularly strong OCD had happened upon this place while carrying some OP hedge trimmers.
Bree was fascinated by the sight and so it was no surprise that she was drawn to the clearing. As soon as she entered the clearing, the warm light shining down gained a blue tinge similar to her menu. Then she heard a strict sounding woman's voice, like that of an etiquette teacher.
"Congratulations on finding your first save point. Your progress will automatically be saved once you enter into this circle in the future. Once you find more than one save point, you may travel between the save points by using the function,'Warp'.
"You have gained experience points by discovering a save point. You have gained bonus experience points by discovering your first save point. Congratulations, Otome Gamer."
Bree blinked her eyes to the sudden bright flash of blue light and stepped back in shock. Save point? What's that supposed to mean? Is it like when she was playing a video game in her past life? But if it were the same sort of thing, how could she possibly lose her progress? Where do you unplug the game or have a power failure? It's definitely a strange situation and one she never was expecting to encounter, but nothing that she's experienced in this new life of hers has been anything ordinary. This new discovery of a save point is something that she needs to consider further, but for now she has more pressing matters to deal with. After all, it probably won't be too much longer before someone notices that she's missing. This wasn't exactly how she was planning to escape, but she has no intention of willingly going back into that birdcage.
Just as she was contemplating her options, Daisy popped out from a space pocket while chasing Posh. She had a hold of posh around the neck with her cute little paw and stuck out her long pink tongue to lick the top of his head. He froze still and scrunching his head down low to his shoulders while squinting his eyes in embarrassment.
"Well it looks like you two are starting to get along better," said Bree.
"Not at all!" said Posh while renewing his efforts to break free from Daisy's grasp.
Daisy froze still for a moment while looking off into space in wonder before rapidly blinking her eyes in surprise. "You've managed to get yourself a man much faster than I had anticipated."
"What?!" said Posh in complete and utter surprise.
Bree looked at Posh with a deadpan stare. "Just why is it so surprising that I was able to get a man?"
Posh puckered out his lips and pulled a nail file out of thin air. Effectively showing that he was ignoring her, he started filing his nails.
Bree rolled her eyes and then turned her attention towards Daisy.
"I'm surprised that you managed to find a save point so quickly. Would you like me to explain the purpose and mechanics of how save points work?" said Daisy.
"Let's put a pin in that. I have more pressing issues to discuss at the moment," said Bree.
"A pin?"
Bree flicked her hand in a dismissive gesture. "It's just an expression. It means that we'll wait to discuss that topic at a later time. More importantly, I need you to tell me how I managed to get myself a mate without him consciously choosing to become my mate. He seemed just as shocked as I was that my mate mark solidified on his arm. "
Daisy squinted her eyes for a moment and then put her paw to the bottom of her chin. She slowly flew over to Bree and delicately sniffed the air in front of her. Her cute little pink cat nose wiggled adorably. If Bree weren't so stressed out about the situation, she would have happily been squealing with delight. As it was, she could only look at Daisy with a slight glimmer in her eyes. After all, cute things were still her weakness.
"You're special, that's how!" Daisy said enthusiastically while wiggling her tail and dancing around on her two back feet.
Bree looked at Posh with a straight face and lifted an eyebrow.
Posh cleared his throat and patted his fur down while looking sideways at daisy with indignation and disgust.
"You have an alpha mark," said Posh while smirking. "Which is kind of ironic given that you're a bunny shifter."
Bree's eyelids lowered into an unamused expression while she rested her right hand onto her hip and blinked her eyes expectantly. She didn't need to say a single word, since her eyes told Posh everything for her.
His eyes widened as his fur stood on end and he poofed into thin air.
"He... ah," Daisy said in a gurbled up mess while her nails involuntarily released themselves and she backed up away from Bree.
"No you don't," Bree said while snatching Daisy out of the air and capturing her by the scruff of her neck. Daisy curled up like a little kitten with her tail between her back legs and her ears lowered. She widened her already large eyes and pouted out her bottom lip trying to wiggle it pathetically in an attempt to play cute and gain Bree's sympathy. It took all of Bree's resolve to not cave then and there, but in the end she forced herself to remain steady and keep a straight face while not squealing from cuteness overload.
"Now tell me everything you know about an Alpha mark and don't feed me any nonsense."