Disarmed and Curious [Julie/Dale]

Treading carefully, Dale found himself back at the river he'd happened across before, more on alert for strange rocks than the last time he'd been here. Chip had been kept in his suit pocket, little illuminated eyes peering out from within.
Despite everything telling him that he really, really shouldn't be doing this, he'd ended up coming back here in search of the junc-son he'd seen here last time. 'Julie', apparently.

It was still so, so nice here. It was just as wondrous as the last time he'd been here, and he'd be very happy to frolic about the landscape were it not for the revelation that this place had not-rocks that would show up if you weren't looking.
He so desperately wanted to just enjoy himself the way he had last time, but instinct refused to let him.

Dale takes a deep breath, and finds himself pondering a moment if he even needed to breath.
The thought is rapidly pushed from his head as he shakes his head in a panic. He wasn't testing that, he was not testing that!
Instead, he refocuses. He didn't intend to come here...alright, he did, but he still didn-
Stop it, me!

That thing had done something to him, and he was here to figure out what.
And he wasn't here just to see it! That was the stuff it did talking!
...it warred with everything he knew to call attention to himself, but he needed to.
"Julie? Are...are you around?"

He looks around nervously after he speaks, somewhat terrified by what he's doing. Would they be there? Where would they be? Would...wouldsomethingelsehearhimandcomebyto-
Sensing Dale's distress, Chip barks from inside his pocket. It snaps him from his panic just enough to get his thoughts together somewhat.
Crouching down by the river, Dale reaches into his pocket and runs his fingers over Chip, looking for fish at the same time in an attempt to soothe his nerves.

It remained quiet for a while, nothing seemed to be answering to his calls besides the sound of the river flowing and leaves gently rustling in the wind. Then again, that rustling seemed to become louder and louder with every second. It wasn't the wind that was picking up speed, it was as gentle as an angel's kiss. No, something seemed to be travelling through the treetops.

The rustling came closer and closer, and if one were to pay attention they could see leaves in distant trees move in a rather irratic manner, and those movements seemed to be coming closer and closer to Dale as time went on. The rustling stopped for a second, only to continue shortly after. Something sure heard him, but what? It could be just a squirrel or some forest animal, but why would an animal like that respond to someone calling out the name Julie?

The rustling and irratic movements of the leaves didn't travel all too fast. It was almost like something was carefully jumping from tree to tree, branch to branch. The movement was now a few trees away from Dale, almost in the tree right by his side.

One of the lower branches on the trees moved, making a loud rustle before a small green blob fell from the tree with a loud "Meep!". The blob landed on the ground with a loud splat. The green goop splattered around a little, leaving a puddle of it right where the blob landed. It quickly gathered itself together, collecting the tiny splatters around it as it did to form the recognizable form of Julie. "Ahh, missed branch... Fell..." She shuddered lightly before looking up at Dale. "You called?"

WhatwasthatwhatwasthatwhatwasthatWHATWASTHAT
THAT WAS NOT A ROCK! OR A NOT-ROCK! THOSE WERE GROUND THINGS! THIS WAS A-
What were they called again?
TREES! THAT WAS A TREE THING!

Rapidly abandoning the river, Dale sprinted frantically away from the approaching rustling, ready to pull his stolen weapon as he maintained his distance.
His gaze was wild and feral as he watched Julie drop down in the distance, a very clear willingness to commit sudden and decisive acts of violence apparent from his expression. He very nearly opens fire on reaction before he registers what he's seeing, and with a wilful effort, he stops hyperventilating takes his hand away from his hidden firearm.
There's a tense silence as Dale slowly winds down. His posture doesn't say he's ready for murder any more, but it's very, very clear that he's upset and still somewhat terrified.

"H-how..." His breath is shaky. "How d-did you..." He points to Julie, up to the trees, and back at Julie again. "You, you were in the...the 'trees'. How? Why?"

She rolled around a bit, getting back in her proper shape as she hummed softly. "Trees? I live in trees. Live on ground, in trees, live anywhere." She giggled a little as she came to a stop again. "Bounce from tree to tree. Travel through tree. Is fast, pretty safe. Need practice though, or this happens." 'This' obviously reffered to her splattering face first onto the ground.

"Sorry if Julie scared you. Didn't want to scare." She squished in a little, making herself smaller than usual, giving him a slightly apologetic look. "You called, Julie came. Don't want people to wait, Julie come quickly." She didn't seem like she meant any harm with her actions. This was just how she lived and how she travelled. And well, that splatter on the ground, was pretty much an unexpected and unpredictable accident.

"Julie need to practise. Julie must not fall from trees, falling hurts." On first glance it didn't look like she was hurt at all, but maybe she was just talking about most species in general? "Anyway, you called! Need something from Julie?" She looked at him while she rolled over to the side slightly, looking at him with a curious look on her face.

What.
"You LIVE in them?!" He looks up into the leaves above with...well, he was torn between a few things. Amazement. Confusion. Outright terror. Looking at them, he had no idea how you moved in these things, let alone lived in them, but the fact it was even possible was a source of curiosity and concern.
He didn't know what else lived in there. He didn't how they did any of it. But if he could do that...
...he needed everything he could get.

He looks back down from the treetops, and is a little caught off guard by the look he's receiving. He un-tenses a little...before tensing up even more.
"How are you doing this...?"
He thumbed Chip again, the pup appreciative from inside his pocket. It was getting worse, and he still had no idea how to prevent it.

That wasn't what he was focused on right now, though. It was only Julie that did it, and right now there was something he wanted to learn from her more. It...it would be more useful than knowing how she was doing that. Yeah. Definitely.
"How do you do it? The...the tree stuff. Can you show me how?"

She nodded happily at his question. "Sometimes. Sometimes I live on ground, sometimes I live in tree. Never in water though. Water bad for Julie." She rolled around a little as he asked for a demonstration. "Well, is really simple. You just jump, like this." She started to bounce around a little, showing the obvious part of traversing the trees. "Jump from branch to branch, tree to tree. Careful, must jump right, must not fall."

She stopped bouncing to turn back around towards Dale and observed him for a little. As soon as she finished she let out a soft "Hmmm..." before looking at the trees. "Branches are small, can't take weight. You may be heavy for them, too heavy maybe...." She turned back around to look at him again. "For trees need to be small and light. Julie small and light, you bigger, probably heavier too. Not sure if you can do..."

She turned from the tree back to Dale and back to the tree. She continued to turn around for a bit while trying to figure out whether he would be able to make it. "You can try, don't suggest though. I'll show how though." She slowly bounced over to a tree and stood under a low hanging branch. She jumped up high and grabbed onto the branch with the small ball that was attached to her body. She slowly pulled herself up and rested on top of the branch. "Now you jump to branch." She jumped over to another branch, and another one and the next, making sure she was in sight of Dale at all times.

After jumping around for a bit she came back, jumping down from the branches and landing next to him. "That's how you do." She smiled lightly as she looked at him. "Many creatures do this. Squirrel, bird, all small animals. Mostly small though, not big. Big doesn't fit." She shuddered lightly, shaking some leaves off her sticky body which gently fell on the ground."That's it!"

"Squirrel, bird, animal...?" Dale shakes his head. "Not important. Not now. Tree time."

He looked among the trees until he found a branch low enough for him to reach. He jumped up to grab it-
And it snapped the moment gravity took hold.
He looked at the branch that had snapped off in his hand...though it was closer to a twig, really. It should have been fairly obvious that it shouldn't have held his weight, but he didn't have much of a frame of reference for how much weight these things could take. Julie would have been helpful, but he didn't know how much it weighed either.
This was useful though. Next try.

He picked a much thicker branch, something that could actually hold a normal person. And this time, it actually held. But it creaked ominously as he pulled himself up. Bouncing on the branch a little, it gave a little more than he would have liked as it severed itself from the tree.
"Ahhh!"
Surprised, he landed roughly, though he managed not to end up sprawled on the ground. Slowly, he picks himself up, looking at the branch he'd just knocked loose. He'd need bigger than that, then.

At this point, he had a good idea of what would hold him. He kept trying, over and over.
And each time, the branch either gave quickly, or not so quickly. They'd kept the weight down for his frame, but he was still not quite so light as his appearance suggested.
But he kept going. It didn't even bother him that he kept botching this.
Just needed to learn how to do this, and then he'd be able to do the tree thing. And that'd be good.
At least he was learning the landings quickly!

Julie looked at him as he made his way over to the trees. She tilted over lightly as she curiously looked at him try. She let out a soft squeal and gently bounced up as he broke off the very first branch that he grabbed. "C-Careful!" She slowly hopped a little closer towards him as he tried again with another branch, which unsurprisingly gave way again.

With every branch that snapped Julie got a little more nervous, letting out a squeal everytime one broke and made Dale tumble back down to the ground. "W-Wait! Stop!" She quickly bounced over to him, standing in front of him so he couldn't try and grab another branch. She shook her head, or body, vigorously as she looked up at him. "T-Too heavy! H-Hurt tree!" She gently pushed against his legs, trying to move him away from the trees a little.

As she pushed him away she looked back at the tree and back up at Dale. "Remember Julie told? Tree is plant. Plant live. Like you, like me. Plant not move, talk or look like us, but plant still live. C-Can't hurt plant like that!" She looked at the amount of branches that were now laying on the ground, tilting her head lightly. "You too heavy. Can't travel tree. Please don't hurt tree."

Initially, just looks confused as to why Julie was trying to stop him doing what he was doing. He was pretty sure he had it at this point. Just had to stop going up and down on the branches that took him.
He starts to go look for another tree when he spots a something moving towards him rather intently. Power surges to his legs as he leaps away, sending pieces of dirt flying as he lands effortlessly in the upper reaches of a tree, shaking its branches notably as he impacts it and digs his bare hands into the trunk. He stares intently in the direction of the motion...and only sees Julie. The forcefulness recedes from his gaze, leaving him looking pained and distressed as he hangs from the tree.  "Don't...don't touch me. Ever. Just...stay away. It's bad." He continues to look down at Julie, seeming far more wary of her than before.

He looks around at the branches he's managed to bring to the ground, and back to the slime that had just spooked him so badly. "But...why, though?" Don't hurt them? "Hurting people is normal. People hurt people all the time. Have to. Why not now? Why is it different with plants?"

She was rather surprised by his sudden reaction, bouncing back a little as he shot up into the air and clung to the trunk of one of the trees. She tilted her body lightly as she looked at him, quite amazed at his jumping capabilities. Her face turned slightly confused as he said it was bad to come close to him. To Julie, coming close to one another was a sign of showing affection, or in this case an attempt at stopping someone.

She tilted the other way lightly as she heard him speak, talking about how it's normal to hurt people. She shook her body, obviously disagreeing with him. "Hurting bad. Hurting people bad, hurting animals bad, hurting plants bad. Everyone has feelings, hurting feelings bad. People not supposed to hurt, not at all. Is not normal." She let out a soft sigh. "Seen many times, people hurting others. But doesn't mean is good! People don't have to, can live in peace, without hurting."

She kept her distance from the tree he was in, after what he said about coming close. "Julie told before, humans do weird things. Hurting is weird thing. Why hurt when can love? Achieve what with hurting? Nothing." She gently shook again. "It happens lot, start thinking it's normal. But is not! No one should hurt other, no human, no animal, no plant, nothing."

"Then how do you live?" If anything didn't make sense, it was that. "Not enough for everyone. Food, clothes, sleeping places. More here, but still not enough." Dale looks baffled from his spot on the tree, body stock-still as it cools. "Need these things, and people don't give them, so you have to fight, or take. You don't, you can't live. What else can you do?"

A leg strains as motion starts to return to it, trying to remove itself from the tree."That stuff doesn't just appear. It's there, you use it, it's gone. Then there's less, but you still need more. Less and less and less, and you need more and more and more, getting harder to get as you go through it all." One foot jerks out of the tree trunk, leaving an indent behind. "So why say you don't need to? How else do you get what's left? If you don't have it, you die. And you can't make more. No other way."

"Live? Well, by eating and sleeping, duh." She hopped about for a bit, having to adapt her mindset to the way humans lived in the cities and not how she lived in the forest. "People buy. Buy food, buy drink, eat and drink them. People don't give, they sell. For money. Just taking wrong, called stealing. People don't like stealing."

She bounced over to a bush that had small, blue berries on them. "Look here. Bush has berry." She gently plucked a berry off the bush and absorbed it into her body, the berry slowly dissolving and disappearing. The slime shivered lightly as a squeal escaped from her lips. "Soooo sweeeeet....."

Weakness:

She picked another one, and another one, and another one. She kept going and going until the entire bush was devoid of berries. Her whole body was now filled with blue berries which slowly started to disappear, almost as if being absorbed into her body. She finally slumped in a little, letting out a cute, soft sigh of satisfaction.

Almost as if waking from a dream she snapped back into reality. "Eh? Oh, right. Julie was explaining. You see, I just ate berry, berry gone now. If wait, berry will be back. Plants grow, berry grow. That's how work. Food can grow. Not all, most food can. There will be more, needs time. If come back in few weeks, berry will be back, I promise."

At first, Dale got the impression Julie had missed the point. Then...well, they'd still missed the point, but he was at least learning. What they said confused him at first, but with the mention of money, a few dots connected. "So that's what it's called..." Buy. Sell. Words to remember next time he had to use money...though he still didn't get how such a thing came about in the first place. Had they not run low yet? It would happen one day.

He manages to free his other leg as Julie approaches the bush, dangling from one hand. What were they-nonononono! His freed feet hammer right back into the spots they previously occupied as he spots what is blatantly things being dissolved in the slime's body. He'd only seen something like that once, and that stuff burned through a wall.
He can't touch that. He must never. Touch that.
As Dale came to terms with his newfound fear of the slime, he listened on, intent on not missing something important just because he was incredibly scared right now. Again, it was saying things that it took him a while to understand.
Of course, once he did think he understood, his free hand whipped around to point at the bush as he gave Julie a hard look that demanded honest answers. "THAT 'PLANT' MAKES FOOD?!"

He'd heard something like this before. He'd fallen for it once, twice, and three times. By that point, he'd immediately started assaulting people the moment they made the claim, but just this once he was inclined to hear out the person making the claim.
They'd been helpful before now, but this was still hard to believe. He really, really needed to know if this was for real.

Julie nodded lightly as she turned to Dale, looking up at him as he was still clinging to the tree. "Yes. Berry grow on bush, slow though. Have to wait long time for berry be back. Every food grow, in one way or other. People grow food, eat it, or make other food with it."

She gently hopped a little closer to the tree he was clinging on to dear life in. "Some trees grow food too. Apple, pear, cherry, lots of food. If you look, you find the tree. Many tree have them around here, very tasty too. Careful though, some food is bad, make you very sick. Don't eat those."

She looked around a little, almost as if she was looking for something else to talk about. "Oh! Remember fish? Fish can be food for people. Fish reproduce, just like human. Fish always come back, if enough time. Eat fish, wait for more fish, eat fish, repeat. Many ways people get food, won't run out, not soon."

It's open war in Dale's mind. Optimism makes him want to cry out to the heavens in joy. Just about everything else is telling him to decry Julie as a deceiver and disassociate with them completely. If this was the truth...it might not be an option on every day, yes. He would have notable waits between openings. But...food...! Food that keeps coming back...!

... he couldn't crush the hope. He stamped and stabbed and cut and bashed at it, but it wouldn't go away. Not completely. It would haunt him til he found out for himself.

Julie got one. Chance.

Dale fixed an intense gaze on Julie, hope twinkling in a sea of hostile disbelief. "Show me." His pointing finger lowers. "Show...show me the stuff that comes back. How long you have to wait for it."