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Post by Ashe on Oct 1, 2019 16:35:02 GMT -6
"I don't know, man, we're just supposed to camp here, I guess," Ashe was saying, walking alongside his skeletal Equillion, Maverick. The stallion gazed around, robotic eyes glowing in the dim evening light as they zoomed in and zoomed out, checking the perimeter. There was the shed, there was the house... Nothing else was moving out here. Satisfied, Maverick's gaze turned back to Ashe. They were going to set up camp a little ways away and at an angle, so they could see the shed just fine and watch the entrance, but not close enough to scare away whatever it was. The goal here was to capture, or beat up if the case may be. If they just blocked it for a couple of days, it would surely resume right after they left, right? "They did not tell you what manner of creature might approach?" Came the throaty growling voice of the stallion. The collar around his neck gleamed slightly in the moonlight, as did the charm wrapped in an intricate pattern around his tail. He might be even smarter than Ashe, now, and he was able to speak just as well, both telepathically and verbally. If only they made these cool upgrades for people! "Nope. Just asked us to park our butts here and wait. So hopefully no one in the family comes out to the shed for a late night peep, or else they might shit themselves." Ashe chuckled a bit, starting to unroll the sleeping bag he'd brought. He had a full tent, but he didn't want to be too suspicious. A black tattered sleeping bag would be less noticeable in the dark. He straightened it out, patting it down, and Inyala hopped off his shoulder to help. She patted out the wrinkles, having a little too much fun in doing so, then sat on it to turn her attention to her master. Inyala: 0 1/5 Maverick: 0 1/5 Ashe: 0 1/20
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Post by Ashe on Oct 3, 2019 22:50:42 GMT -6
With a sigh, Ashe lowered himself onto his sleeping bag. This was brought mostly for taking a snooze during the day, or maybe taking turns between the three of them to watch the shed. Inyala could easily tap Ashe to wake him up, and Maverick could communicate silently if need be - if Ashe got too tired and needed a nap, that was. He figured he could use Maverick to fly home and check on things, or run a few errands during the day, then return at night for another round. Hopefully it wouldn't take too long to find out what kind of creature was doing this and deal with them properly.
"Maybe... Depending on what exactly it is out here, I might be able to use my skeleton-summoning trick?" Ashe said, perking up a little bit. He'd been practicing his magic whenever he could, until he was too exhausted to continue. He'd have to recharge and get right back to it the next day or so. One time, he'd managed to summon more than he could handle, and he'd passed out, waking up to Inyala splashing his face with water and trying to set his toes on fire; she'd figured one way or another would wake him up!
"I could send them fleeing," Maverick said, slowly and matter of factly. He had come into some incredible powers, thanks to Ashe injecting him with some weird magic stuff, and some of his skills were pretty creepy...
Inyala: 0 2/5 Maverick: 0 2/5 Ashe: 0 2/20
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Post by Ashe on Oct 17, 2019 20:12:50 GMT -6
The sun was sinking lower and lower, barely visible above the horizon now. Everything looked like it was on fire, smoldering. Maverick's shiny items gleamed and twinkled in the growing darkness, where Inyala appeared as a shadow with glowing eyes. Any time now, the thief might appear, and they would have to be ready. Ashe stretched out on the sleeping bag to get comfy, chin resting on his arms. Keep a low profile, the thing or person wouldn't see a human shape standing there like a scarecrow. Not much could be done about Maverick, though. Ashe considered this issue for a few moments before deciding he'd see how the first night went, and go from there. If the person didn't show up the first night, maybe the second night as well so he could try to establish a pattern before changing things up, then he might have to have Maverick hide at night. For now, he didn't want to part with the magnificent stallion.
Darkness officially washed over the land, enveloping everything around. Lights came on, lights went off, and Ashe and friends stayed where they were. Sometimes, Ashe rolled to the side, sometimes he laid on his back and gazed at the stars - his ears peeled for any signs of movement. But so far there didn't seem to be much going on.
Inyala: 0 3/5 Maverick: 0 3/5 Ashe: 0 3/20
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Post by Ashe on Oct 17, 2019 20:19:22 GMT -6
Some time around midnight, Ashe heard a sound. Maverick had hunkered down underneath a tree, tucking his legs in under him, wrapped in his wings. His eyes glinted as he looked up, hearing it as well. Ashe's eyes widened slightly, preparing himself to face this foe and do - he didn't know what yet. He had a lot of spells up his sleeve to use, and it all depended on who or what it was. He tensed, eyes scanning the grounds.
[See anything?] He asked Maverick silently. The stallion replied with a negative. He was sitting still as a rock right now, so still that Ashe might have easily mistaken him for a dark statue, just visible in the moonlight. Inyala was crouched at Ashe's side, also watching, but she hadn't mastered this art of remaining perfectly still. She had a slight twitch to her, not letting her body appear completely motionless to a trained eye, but certainly not enough movement to scare anyone away.
Ashe couldn't see what it was making sound, but he heard it again. His gaze was fixed on the patch of shadow in which the sound was coming; not quite approaching, it was more like it was walking along parallel to them. Just a little further and there would be a patch of moonlight to better see their first visitor of the night.
Inyala: 0 4/5 Maverick: 0 4/5 Ashe: 0 4/20
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Post by Ashe on Oct 17, 2019 21:35:56 GMT -6
The thing came into the shaft of moonlight filtering down through the clouds, and Ashe saw it was... a stray Enileaf. It looked young, so he doubted it would be the type to get in there and make off with tools. He would have to catch it red handed to know for sure if it was the creature in question. Together, the three of them watched and waited as the stray Enileaf sniffed around, chased a firefly, and generally hung out in the area. Ashe was getting tired of watching it, as he was sure Inyala was. The little imp had already offered to go over there and literally light a fire under its butt, via an ember trick, to get that thing out of here. But Ashe almost took pity on the stray; Vixen was a bleeding heart when it came to stuff like this and she would probably have adopted it right then and there. To Ashe, it didn't look like it was starving or otherwise in distress, so he let it go. It was probably looking for food, maybe there was some left over from whatever pocketpet operation was going on here.
Maverick's robotic eyes were locked on the Enileaf until it finally got bored of looking around and wandered off. It was past one in the morning now, the moon starting to sink as well.
Inyala: 1 0/5 Maverick: 1 0/5 Ashe: 0 5/20
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Post by Ashe on Oct 17, 2019 22:43:51 GMT -6
The rest of the night passed relatively uneventfully, the moon falling and full darkness settling in. Ashe lazed around, then practiced some of his magic in mock battles with Inyala with Maverick dozing on and off, or occasionally giving some pointers on something. A little before dawn, Maverick suddenly stood up and left, saying something about having to go hunt up some breakfast. Ashe pulled out a bag of Murp jerky and started to munch on that, sharing pieces with Inyala.
"Well, girl, nothing happened overnight, did it?" He munched, teeth tearing into the dried beef. He offered her a piece and she took it, taking tiny nibbles here and there off the chunk of meat. "Maybe we'll have better luck tonight. Let's get some sleep, see where this takes us in the evening..."
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Later that night, refreshed from a nice sleep, Ashe was walking around the perimeter of the peoples' property, making sure he hadn't missed anything. While he and Inyala were doing this, they also set up a couple small traps, things that would trip wires and make some noise, and one that had an empty box that would drop on top of whatever disturbed the rope beneath it.
With the traps set, Ashe and Inyala made their way back around to the sleeping bag. He hadn't been able to find any trace of any animal or person wandering around, that didn't have an explanation.
Inyala: 1 1/5 Maverick: 1 1/5 Ashe: 0 6/20
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Post by Ashe on Oct 18, 2019 2:35:39 GMT -6
Ashe heard the beat of bat wings on the night air a split second before he saw Maverick return. The Equillion was so quiet when he flew that it wasn't until he was practically on top of the human that he could be heard. Ashe possibly should have been a little more vigilant, since his goal was to keep an eye out for intruders, but in his defense, he was watching on the ground and not the sky. This..intruder, it didn't come from the sky, surely? It was a ground beast just scrounging for...tools or something, right? He'd assumed like a Felusine type creature, but it was always possible it could be more like a magpie Gallor or something.
Maverick landed softly, tucking his wings up against his body. He did a sweep of the area with his robotic gaze, taking it all in, then he walked over to Ashe. He had gone hunting again at sundown, and the stench of a kill was on his breath. The man lifted a hand and touched his nose affectionately, giving it a gentle stroke. "Ready for another night?" He asked, with a casual smile. Another night of camping under the stars! Maverick gave a curt nod of his head, and Inyala chimed in with an affirmative in her native tongue as well.
Inyala: 1 2/5 Maverick: 1 2/5 Ashe: 0 7/20
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Post by Ashe on Oct 18, 2019 3:30:04 GMT -6
The sun was starting to go down again, dipping down past the horizon. Ashe and Inyala returned to the sleeping bag, knowing it wouldn't be long before the full night was upon them and they were once again completely shrouded in darkness. Ashe quite enjoyed the darkness, as did Inyala and Maverick; he was in good company for this task.
"Hopefully that critter comes tonight..." Ashe murmured. He didn't like this waiting, this inaction, even if it was outside under the stars and in the middle of the night, the time when he felt most awake. Honestly, he'd rather be cuddling up to Vix right now than laying on the ground at a stranger's house. But, hey, a quest was a quest.
Maverick wandered over to stand under some trees again as they all waited. Slowly, the sun went lower and lower, and then it was gone. The sky where it had vacated was a brilliant orange, fading into a darker fire red, and then back to burnt orange and then indigo. The sunsets were always so much more interesting, vibrant, and beautiful than the sunrises, Ashe thought. Shame they didn't last a bit longer.
Right after sunset, Ashe started to hear the stirrings of nighttime creatures waking up. He hadn't heard such activity the previous night; maybe the locals were more used to their alien presence?
Inyala: 1 3/5 Maverick: 1 3/5 Ashe: 0 8/20
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Post by Ashe on Oct 18, 2019 3:34:30 GMT -6
Ashe listened carefully, always facing the direction of the shed where the shiny tools were hidden He kept waiting for a sign from the shed, a creaking open door or a flicker of movement somewhere nearby, but so far there was nothing. He saw night birds flit from tree to tree, nighttime rodents scurry around, though they were mostly further away and not interested in shiny things. Maybe, Ashe suddenly thought, he should have left some tricks and treats out for the thief? Some coins, a mirror maybe - shiny things that might attract the culprit. He'd been so focused on catching it red handed stealing the tools; but what if he bribed it with objects of his own? He thought he might be able to get it a lot faster that way. There was the slight chance that something going for a shiny in the open would not be the same critter going into the shed to retrieve a shiny... But it was worth a shot.
Maybe tomorrow night.
He heard a sudden footfall and whipped his head around; but it was only Maverick. The stallion had his head hung low, as if he was grazing, though he did not often eat grass or anything on the ground, save for a corpse. This was a natural position for an Equillion, though, and would seem less suspicious.
Inyala: 1 4/5 Maverick: 1 4/5 Ashe: 0 9/20
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Post by Ashe on Oct 18, 2019 3:44:34 GMT -6
After the initial spurt of energy around them, with creatures darting this way and that as they left their dens for the sweet, sweet darkness, the world seemed to take a breath and steady itself. Everything was still, save for the occasional breeze that blew through, bringing the sweet scent of some sort of flower Ashe couldn't quite place. It smelled wonderful, though, and he'd have to seek it out in the daytime, so he could find some for himself and get them planted at Zanarkand.
["Something's here,"] Inyala said suddenly, in her native tongue that Ashe just about understood fluently by now. Ashe looked at her, then followed her gaze as she pointed a skinny finger. There was definitely something moving out there, a shadow in the moonlight. He couldn't make out the definite shape just yet. They waited together, waiting...
Maverick sensed that something was up. Without lifting his head, his gaze swept over in the direction the pair were looking. The glint of his mechanical eyes was a sharp spark in the darkness, and he couldn't control it. Hopefully it wouldn't spook whatever it was out there; hopefully they were more focused on the goal... Maybe the tool shed with the shiny things inside? The air seemed to tense, to solidify, as the trio waited with baited breath for it to reveal itself.
Inyala: 2 0/5 Maverick: 2 0/5 Ashe: 0 10/20
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Post by Renathan on Oct 18, 2019 7:25:12 GMT -6
You have rolled a success! Your QP is added to the Bank, and your prize/s will be sent shortly! You may continue roleplaying if you wish.
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