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A giggle escaped her when he shot her the smile. It had been difficult for Zoraida to tell if he was actually joking or being serious. So she was glad that he was joking and glad that it meant she could throw some jokes around too! After Bosede licked her hand, she started petting him. It was fairly comforting and it made Zora want a raptrix of her own! Would it be difficult to find one? And even if she did...she would have to train it. Maybe it was something else she could ask Nyiim! Where he got his raptrix. But if he trained it on his own, she wouldn't ask him to do the same for her, no, that was too much to ask someone on top of teaching them how to climb trees and walk in them and what not.

Now the big question was...how did she get up there the first time? "Well....I just sorta...clung to the tree and wiggled around and I got up?" Which wasn't too far from the truth, in all actuality, it's what it would have looked like to anyone who watched her climb the tree earlier. "Do you want me to try it again?" Hopefully she wouldn't make herself look like a complete fool.

Regrettably, it meant she had to stop betting Bosede, but it would mean she would get to learn how to do all the things! She walked over to the tree slowly and eyed the thick trunk once more. Zoraida rubbed her hands together to prepare herself. And, in a not so fluid motion she jumped at the tree with her limbs splayed like a maglardilla jumping from tree to tree. While it didn't make her get very far off the ground, her arms and legs clung to the tree trunk and surprisingly, she stayed.

With the first part finished, Zoraida took a deep breath and began to wiggle which really looked quite awkward as one side of her body would move and then the other side. Right arm and leg moved together before clamping back down on the tree to allow the left side to do the same. This wiggling continued for a few times and she was a few feet above the ground now, she noticed with delight. Unfortunately, looking down had broken her focus and her strength wore thin and she felt herself falling..backwards...towards the ground. Zora squeaked in surprise and clamped her eyes shut once more preparing for the worst.

Zoraida was surprised that when she finally made contact, it was hard, but not the hardness of earth that she knew so well and she wasn't horizontal on the ground. It was the hardness of flesh and bone, of muscle, warmer than the ground and had hands that had caught her. Her eyes were still clenched shut but it wasn't exactly unpleasant in his arms and she felt herself relaxing, her muscles doing so as she unconsciously gave them consent to do so. When she realized exactly what was happening, though, and the noise that had accompanied the catch made her open her eyes suddenly and thrust herself forward towards the tree and turned around quickly. A blush was brought to her face as she leaned back against the tree.

"So. Um. Thanks again? Thats how I got up there the first time. Except I didn't fall, at least at first." A few nervous laughs later and Zora had coaxed the blush from her cheeks. So that had happened. Oh what a fool of herself she was making, now he probably wouldn't even want to help her! Oh what an idiot. At least he was nice enough to try...right?

Zoraida stood out of the way when her mentor of sorts decided to show her how it was done. It was actually really impressive and she could only hope that some day she could climb like that! All of her attention was on him, her eyes flicked around wildly trying to catch every detail just as she would if she were trying to learn a dance by watching someone.

She watched the placement of his feet and the alternation of his legs and his arms. While he made it appear simple, she was instantly worried about it. What if when she went to move her arms up she fell backwards? Or what if when she went to push herself up with her feet, her feet slipped and she fell down the tree? There were so many things that could go wrong for this uncoordinated hybrid that it worried her, but she wasn't going to let it get her down.

Nodding longer than seemed necessary, Zora waited until he was down the tree again, and once more behind her which just the thought made another blush start rising to her face which she did everything she could to push back down. "Okay. Top-to-bottom. Not side-to-side. So...like this?" Once more, she jumped at the tree and hung there for a moment while she assessed where her limbs were. It took a little fussing to try to get her feet to go like Nyiim had had his, but after a little fiddling she finally got everything in place. Quickly, and rather inefficiently, she let go with her hands and reached up, though she didn't actually reach much farther up the tree. She was stretched out and stayed that way for a few moments for her to take a deep breath and force herself to let go with her legs to bring them up closer. Zora squeaked a little as she did so as she expected herself to fall. Surprisingly, though, she didn't and her limbs were clamped around the tree once more.

Her eyes opened quickly as she realized she wasn't falling, and with the enthusiasm that was given to her by not falling, continued on up at a slow break-neck speed but it was progress! It seemed like she was climbing for forever when she finally reached the branch, she went above it, and then wigged her way to position herself above the branch before ungracefully dropping onto it. Her face beamed with pride and accomplishment. Her limbs still clung to the tree so she wouldn't fall over like before but she looked down at Nyiim and Bosede. "Look Nyiim! I did it!! And I haven't fallen yet!" The excitement was clear in her voice as she sat on the limb happily.

His praise was like a soothing cool breeze on a hot summer's day, it was refreshing and fueled her to go onward. Yes, his way was definitely easier, a lot more steady than she had originally thought it would be. That didn't mean it hadn't been scary trying to get up there, but she could see how, in time, one could get used to it.

"Stay steady. Right." Zora said, her voice light hearted to match his grin. His happiness seemed infectious, yet, each smile and grin and praise felt like it was earned, which meant it meant much much more. "So if getting down is harder...and I'm not feeling up to falling again. I think I might just sit here for a moment." There was a hint of laughter in her voice. She didn't want to inconvenience him again by falling on him...again. Not like anybody would like people falling on them but he had seemed especially eager to right her again.

So, in order to decrease the awkwardness that had followed last time, Zora was content to just sit up in the tree for a little bit and enjoy her accomplishment. It was surprising to her, just how quickly she felt at ease sitting up there. Her heritage of course was probably the reason for this. "My parents were always so surprised with how uncoordinated I was. My dad, being a hybrid and my mom from Zena, they thought I would at least feel comfortable in the trees because of my father's heritage. To be honest...I've never felt as comfortable as I do right now." Sure it was a little forward, which caused a small blush to appear on her face but it was worth it.

"Oh, not at all! After all, you'll have to show me how to get down eventually!" Zora said with a small laugh. It seemed he didn't need any more than that as he easily scaled the tree again, and like she had, went above the branch. But Nyiim went to the branch above her and then lowered himself down. Zoraida couldn't help but notice the muscles that showed the control with which he lowered himself. He was further down the branch, but she figured it wasn't because she smelled or anything (at least she hoped not) but because he was being polite, which he had definitely shown that he was.

She sighed as he asked about her heritage. "My mom is from Zena of the Ice tribe. And my father is a hybrid like me! He's part alkidike and part shifter, though. His people don't really like him, and they probably wouldn't like me either. But we're okay with that. Not everyone is going to like you..." Her voice was somewhat sad and there was a hint of pain in it that could make one conclude that she had definitely been on the receiving end of people not liking one because of their race.

"What about you? You're..leaf, right?" She didn't mean to be invasive, and lucky enough for Nyiim, Zora had the sense to hold back the 'so that must be why you're so good at climbing trees!' remark. It was something she figured someone might think was a jab at their race, which was not something Zoraida was wanting to do at all.

So he had never met anyone from any of the races that were parts of her heritage! How interesting! But, he did say he lived in a small village so that wasn't uncommon. Considering her little village was pretty small too but they were all kind of a different bunch to begin with. "Well, now you've met someone of all three! Though, I fear I'm not a great representation of them. Alkidikes and shifters are so much more comfortable in the trees. I would be a disgrace to them if they saw how many times I've failed at something their younglings can do. But my Momma is even worse." Zora said this with a giggle. "My Momma can't really clilmb trees at all. Imagine someone that's worse than I am! Kind of scary huh?" Sure it was a jab at herself but it was true!

A soft sigh of content escaped as she leaned her head against the tree. "Your raptrix is well behaved, did you train him yourself?" Zoraida inquired, picking up on a thought she had had earlier. He hadn't tried to bite her or anything and as she looked down, carefully, she noticed he was just laying down on the ground waiting for them to come down.