Private Finished Not From 'Round Here

Salal had made it her goal to familiarize herself with the forest as well as she could, and also as much of the city as she could bear. It was bit hard for her, since Salal had very good hearing and sense of smell and all the noise and other sensory distractions made her head hurt.
But now was different! Salal had received her human shape charm just few days ago. Salal thought it was amazing that she could transform into a human, and it didn't even hurt! She looked exactly like a human, her skin was showing and she didn't have sharp teeth or claws and she could talk without stumbling on words! It was all wonderful, so amazing! She even had the senses of a human, though that part made Salal feel uneasy as well. She was so used to being able to sense so much more around her, that now she felt like something had been robbed from her.

But, wanting to exploit new opportunities, Salal had quickly ignored her unease and had instead taken a whole day to explore the city. It was bearable now that she was in human form, but Salal did prefer the forest, after all.
Salal had been to the mall, to the library, to the marketplace, and now she was walking in an area with...unique kind of look and air to it. There were many people, and they smelled...odd. There were also a lot more very pretty people around, and some of them were very close to the people that smelled odd. Night was slowly starting to come, and Salal's unease lifted its head again. She didn't know where this was, and she nervously adjusted the scarf of her head. Salal wasn't exactly scared, she rarely felt scared, but she definitely felt anxious. Like she wasn't supposed to be here.

"Hey, you have really cute farm girl image going on, don't you? Where do you work, cutie?"
One of the strange-smelling people suddenly approached Salal, and he actually towered over Salal. Salal was so used to being 10ft tall, so now that she was 5'11" people could actually be taller than her.
Salal felt a small spike of fear, when the person put a hand on her shoulder, bit too close to her scar.
"I am sorry, I not work here. I just pass through, lost, I not know where I should go..."
Salal tried to explain and lifted up her hands timidly, trying to push the person off, but then he put an arm around her shoulders and Salal froze, almost gagging when the person breathed towards her.
"Lost? Well we can't have that! Come here, I'll show you to a safe place~"
No, Salal didn't want to go with this person. Why was he acting like this? Why wasn't he listening to Salal?
"Please let go, I do not want to."
Salal tried saying, bit louder now, but the person started dragging her along. And though Salal tried to break free the person seemed to be very strong as well, since his arm didn't budge much. Salal looked around in slight panic, trying to make eye contact with anyone. She was scared...

The person couldn't take Salal far, because suddenly Salal could feel them halt and a new voice said
"She said she didn't want to go...now get outta here."
Salal, using the interruption, slipped away from under the person's arm and looked at the scene. The man who had grabbed the person's arm was shorter than her, but seemed to have quite the powerful grip. The person being gripped grimaced in pain, and quickly Salal rushed forward and pushed the gripping man away, as gently as she could.
"Please, no violence."
She pleaded, and once the person who had tried to take her away was released he clicked his tongue and sauntered away, muttering "she wasn't that cute anyway, I don't care..."

Salal looked after the person for a moment, and then turned towards her saviour, gentle smile on her face.
"Thank you, you help me, that person stronger than me. I did not want take charm off, might have hurt him. I was confused, this place strange. Never seen place like this before. I think I am lost, you know how I get to marketplace? I live near edge of forest, it long way, want to get home before becomes dark."
Salal talked a lot, perhaps because she was relieved to be out of that situation, but mostly because she just liked talking and this man seemed nice. He had helped her, after all.

Salal blinked in surprise when the man asked her to slow down, she hadn't even realized how much she had been talking. She let out a small embarrassed laugh.
"I am sorry, I still have excitement in me, that situation was scary."
Salal admitted and gave a slightly wider smile. She probably didn't seem all that scared at all.

This person was nice! He offered to take Salal to the marketplace, and she smiled happily.
"Thank you very much! You are kind. I call myself Salal, it is my favourite berry. Nice to meet you."
Salal introduced herself cheerily, and fell into step beside Stefan.
"I am very lost, this first time I am human, was excited to see town without head hurting. I remember not come here from now on, I feel forest is my place."
Salal chatted, still looking around curiously. She was feeling a lot more comfortable now that she was with a person she felt like she could trust.

"Better with friends? How friends make it better?"
Salal asked curiously, looking at Stefan with an intrigued expression. If Stefan spent a lot of time here then he must've been very knowledgeable, but Salal just couldn't imagine really...enjoying herself here. She was sure that the smell would be even worse in her original form...

"Yes! I get human charm, it make me smaller and is easier for me to go places. I am too big for some places and doing things hard with big claws."
Salal explained and lifted her hands, which now had very normal human nails. Her other wrist also had the human shape charm, in the form of a bracelet.
"My friend help pick my name, I take Saskatoon as my other name, it is my second favourite berry. But I think to have name given is good too, it carry emotions of giver, has memories and meaning beyond word. I think it is nice."
Salal smiled happily at Stefan, and her words rang genuine and true as well.

Salal listened intently to Stefan's input, and tried to imagine herself entering some of these stores with, say, Yvarn, or Konpeito. But somehow she couldn't imagine it. It was difficult to imagine something you had never seen. So, since she didn't want to reject an idea out of ignorance, she smiled at Stefan and nodded.
"Thank you for your thought, I will think on it and perhaps try come here with friends."

Stefan got curious about Salal's true form, which was no wonder. Instead of answering verbally Salal smiled knowingly, and stepped a step away from Stefan. She took her charm off, and in just a moment Salal returned to her true form; a 10ft tall anthropomorphic grizzly bear. But her expression didn't change, and Salal still smiled gently down at now much shorter Stefan.
"You see how big? I not be able to enter candy store I want to go to, I was happy to go in human form. Honey candy was very good."
Salal's voice was different as well, lower and it now had a growl-like undertone to it, and Salal struggled a bit to pronounce some words that didn't flow well from her non-human mouth.
"My friend not pick for me, he suggest I pick something I like, I trust his opinion. He pick my surname, Ursus. It mean bear, I am bear."
Salal gave a throaty chuckle, remembering Tyler's simple mindset about names.

Salal put her charm back on pretty soon, because she wanted to remain closer to Stefan's height. It was easier to talk like that.