It was a large pinkish mantis covered in gear that was lying on the ground, seemingly motionless, as Jaiden took an unsteady step closer, struggling to decide on if they should run or try to greet the creature... Before noticing faint twitching from the insect's antennae as its head swiveled to the human. And as the feminine bug began to stand up, Jaiden began to run, not making any attempt at a scream, if only because it might attract more strange beasts to their location, before suddenly hearing an unexpected- "STOP!" The young adult soon froze as they turned around, facing the insect once more as they stammered. "Y- You spo- Spoke?"
"Yes, I did, sir," She soon responded, the click of her mandibles making it quite clear for Jaiden that it really was from her, and that their understanding of her speech wasn't just a fluke.
"You're a... A bug? That just spoke," They breathlessly said, with only a plain "Yup," from her as the enby took a step closer to the mantis. If this was a trap, well, Jaiden couldn't do much, so all they could do was just walk towards the mantis in slow, careful steps as they tried to keep calm.
"Who are you?" They forced themself to say, trying to find a topic to hopefully lead into a convo.
"My name is Taris, a traveler! And who might you be?" The mantis inquired, before the human sighed.
"Jaiden, Jaiden Tress; so since we're asking each other questions... Where, uhm, am I?"
"You're within the Endless Garden!"
"The... Endless Garden?"
"Another world, where the grass are as tall as trees and the trees are gigantic formations- With other strange knickknacks all around, albeit in a much larger form than you might be used to!" Taris then began to look around, tapping a chitin-coated nub on the ground with increasing speed.
"Ar- Are you okay, miss?"
"Not exactly, me and my party were fighting against a Raven, and last thing I knew, I fell down from it before meeting you. So I'm a little bit worried for Talor and the others..."
"Who?"
"Talor, my boyfriend."
"H- Huh... A boyfriend..." The human simply said to her, looking a bit absentminded before continuing with, "So... If your- Do you think I could... Come?"
"Really? You want to come aboard?"
"Well... There's basically nothing else I... I can do... Beyond just wander aimlessly around..." They explained, looking down to the pure brown ground. And before they added on how even if this was a trap, there was nothing to be done, Jaiden caught their tongue. For as bleak as this is, abandoning too much hope would likely harm them more than it could ever help.
"Well then, let's get going, I have some bottles of water for drinking, herbs of all sorts for healing or... Entertainment, hehe. You can also find navigation gear, potions, snacks and some personal gear," The last line almost making Jaiden have the urge to say in deadpan how this reduced their trust in her. "In any case though... Let me check this..." She mutters as she takes out a coppery telescope and looks in the distance, a distant and weak 'caw' suddenly sounding, "Talor and the others should be that way, now come along, newcomer!" And with an expression that Jaiden could only guess is joy, they begin to follow her. Soon taking the time to look at the pouches and leather(?) armor covering her body, especially down at her abdomen, as they noticed what faintly could be seen as a book or something, within one of them, alongside all sorts of glittering or colorful items within the other pouches. Noted down there.