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Post by Alma on Nov 10, 2021 1:44:18 GMT -6
Two plants.
The sun was setting, the wiurn was starting to shake off its sleep as she looked over churned earth that marked her progress, and all she had managed to find and not kill was two plants. They sat in the middle of the dirt, far from the rest of the chaotic mess that was her garden, two little sprouts that appeared to be wilting in the dying light. She scratched at a bug bite as she squinted at them. Was something wrong with the dirt she piled around their bases? Had the bowl of water, complete with little squirming bugs frolicking in one edge when she went to pour it, not been enough? “Heard ya can drown a plant,” she muttered, looking between the bowl and the two twigs. “Don’t suppose you two are magic chattery ones?” When the plants did not respond, she dumped the bowl of water at her feet, splashing the dirt to mud.
TBB-10 30
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Post by Alma on Nov 10, 2021 1:44:28 GMT -6
“If either of yous need some more water, I’ll get it to ya tomorrow.” she told the plants, shoving the bowl in the sack with the rest of the tools. The dead-looking plant that had held it earlier was long gone, its roots proving it had been a bit less dead than it appeared, and Alma double checked her tools before lifting it free of the dirt. A quick brush of her hand pushed off most of the dirt and bugs clinging to it, and she swung it onto her back, immediately regretting doing so as they bashed against her sore muscles. “An’ we’re going to have to come back here tomorrow to, Hissy,” she told the wiurn sadly, shaking her head. At least this time she would remember to grab a book on plants before resorting to ‘which plant is easier to yank out of the dirt.’ Though, to be fair, she doubted a book telling her the brambles were a good plant would stop her from killing it.
TBB-11 31
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Post by Alma on Nov 10, 2021 1:44:38 GMT -6
Alma had one last look around the garden before looking down at the wiurn. The little reptile had slept most of the day away in the sun, a good thing as Alma really had not found any time to spare training it. It also meant, hopefully, it trusted her to some degree. Training was always a pain when she had to tie the beast in place and spend hours getting it to realize doing what she wanted resulted in treats.
Hooking up the wiurn proved to be slightly difficult. Her fingers were slow and clumsy, smarting from the day of labor even with the protection the gloves had given. Heck, she was pretty sure some of the goop in them was not just sweat, but a bit of blister water to mix it up. In the end, she had to drop the sack and grab the squirming little bugger, hooking the leash back on with one hand while the other pinned it to the dirt.
TBB-12 32
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Post by Alma on Nov 10, 2021 1:44:48 GMT -6
“All this energy now, huh?” she asked the wiurn, picking up the sack and carefully hefting it onto her shoulder. The wiurn flipped and spun on the end of the leash like a fish on a line. Now and then it snapped at the leash, tiny forearms scratching at it as its wings held it off the ground. Alma tugged on the leash, and the wiurn clamped on it again, digging its wing talons into the dirt. “You...aren’t going to be like this the whole way back to the kennel, are you?” Alma’s voice took on a half-pleading tone, taking a step towards the gate while the wiurn remained firmly latched onto the leash.
And it stayed that way for a good chunk of the walk back, claws randomly dug into the ground so that Alma feared continuing and damaging the beast's wings, the leash’s ‘anti-chew’ claim being thoroughly tested with every step they took.
TBB-13 33
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Post by Alma on Nov 10, 2021 1:45:00 GMT -6
Alma had taken some medicine the next day, washing it down with water as the pill container had demanded. Stretching was pain, but the burning and aches began to recede as the muscles loosened and the pills muted their cries, and a bit of some waxy cream she had bought on the way home had caused her blisters to shrink to a more manageable size.
There was only one pain she could not treat with balms or pills, but a burlap sack happened to be the perfect thing for it. With one sack of supplies held over one shoulder and a squirming, grunting bag held in her other hand, Alma stepped off the equillion-drawn cart and paid the driver. The woman had nodded at the money and taken off to find folks with large hauls and deeper pockets, leaving Alma back at her garden.
Well, near her garden. The one she had the driver drop her off at was smaller, with a fancy pond and all sorts of plant creatures roaming the grounds in the early light.
TBB-14 34
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Post by Alma on Nov 10, 2021 1:45:12 GMT -6
Walking back to hers, Alma spoke the writhing sack. “Think the two plants are doin’ alright? They ain’t anything special, but mint’s good for drinks and freshin’ up breath of folks.” Alma shifted the less animated bag, imagining she could feel the hard flat square that was the book, “Plants of the Crossroads”. She had spent a little of the night looking it over after a hot shower, finding the page on mint to confirm the plant was the right one. There were a few others she could recall from memory, and she fell asleep flipping through the pages while trying to figure out the common, prickly brown one.
“Course, we got alotta work done yesterday, aye Hissy?” She jostled the squirming bag, eliciting more grunts from within. “Shouldn’t be too bad today. Plenty of space to look over and move the good plants to.” They arrived at her garden shortly after, taking in the sight with a laugh.
TBB-15 35
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Post by Alma on Nov 10, 2021 1:45:22 GMT -6
“Welp, we gotta focus on the good, right Hissy?” She kept her tone cheerful through her gritted teeth. “At least someone took out all the bad plants we tossed out, right?” There was not even a trace of the pile she had tossed out the previous day, not so much as a single leaf waiting for them on the path. “We ain’t gonna have to find and pay someone to clean it up. That’s something.” Alma dropped the sack of tools on the other side of the fence, keeping the squirming one one her back as she undid the latch with her newly freed hand. “And, yeah, it’s not a ton of cleared space, but you should have fun. Especially” she forced her jaw to relax as she lowered the sack to the ground, “as we don’t have to worry about the mint anymore.”
She undid the tie at the mouth of the sack.
TBB-16 36
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Post by Alma on Nov 10, 2021 1:45:35 GMT -6
The wiurn came raging out, running past Alma and then alongside the fence, an odd skipping run as it’s longer wings did most of the work. Alma watched the silly run for a few seconds, then closed her eyes to rub her gloved fingers across her temples. “Not sure what decided to wander in and take them,” the venom in her voice causing the wiurn to slow and crane its head towards her, tripping to slide across the dirt in a perfect showcase of its dexterity. The wiurn snorted pushing itself back up.
Alma did not look at Sza, instad opening her eyes to look where the two plants had been. They had not looked healthy after she had replanted them, even the water doing nothing to perk the plants up. But now they were gone, a score of marks ranging from split hooves, likely someone’s galabex some work-related part of her mind informed her, and little paws and other markings she did not recognize in the trampled earth.
TBB-17 37
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Post by Alma on Nov 10, 2021 1:45:46 GMT -6
“Someone’s been letting their beasts roam again.” Her tone was dull, face blank as she stared at the small dip that had once held a somewhat greenish plant, squatting next to it. She ran her gloved fingers through the dirt as though to find the plant just under the dirt. “Hope the rangers skin it.” The wiurn lowered itself to the ground, flaring its wings as it started at Alma’s back. A bark of laughter from the human startles it, and the wuirn hopped into the air, fluttering there for a few beats before dropping back town to the earth.
Alma slapped her gloves on her thighs, a jolt of pain through her hands reminding her that the salve was not magic, and stood up with a jerk. “No point worryin’ about it now. Got plenty more greens to look through. We’ll get something, right Hissy?” She turned to find the wiurn chasing its own tail.
TBB-18 38
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Post by Alma on Nov 10, 2021 1:45:57 GMT -6
The wiurn had been startled to see something wriggling behind it after it got back to its feet and gave chase. It lose interest in the human as it fought to turn faster, to catch the weird thing that was always just out of its reach.
“Alright then.” Alma raised an open hand to her forehead in a mock salute. “You keep pretendin’ tah be a doggy, I’ll go pretend Imma farmer.” Alma walked back to the sack of supplies, pulling out a shovel from it. Retracing her steps, she stabbed the shovel into the earth right below the intruder’s scat, then carried it, overly brave flies and all, to the hole that had held the mint. She turned the shovel so it slid off into the hole, scooping up and dropping a shovelful of dirt over it. “Might be a bit of the ol’ mint still in’it,” she told the wiurn, patting down the dirt with the shovel. “‘Eard some plant-eater’s shit’s good for greens at least.”
TBB-19 39
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Post by Alma on Nov 10, 2021 1:46:10 GMT -6
Besides the theft of her mint plants, the visiting beasts had done her a small favor. Large portions of the green and brown brush had been trampled, hooves and claws tearing paths into the wilderness without any order to them. It was the larger beasts that had helped the most, some large pawed predator, an estharne maybe, having single paw-edly ripped up a painful-looking patch of briars. The blood and fur it left behind suggested it would not return, the brown thorns a rusty red reminder of the lesson it taught.
“Kinda poetic, aye Hissy?” The wiurn snorted, and Alma shrugged. “Maybe not as classy as all them fancy books, but I like it.” Several of the larger paths had come to an abrupt end when some wild rose or common nettle, as the book she held open in one hand named them, few having a couple scraps of fur where whatever animal it was failed to stop in time. TBB-20 40
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Post by Alma on Nov 10, 2021 1:46:25 GMT -6
The smaller paths were little more than plants shoved to one side or the other, some leaves bent one way or a stem gnawed by sharp teeth. Those she followed to the ends of her property, the spinier plants scraping against her thick leathers as she stomped her own path. Many of the plants were less than willing to put up with her path-making however, and she returned to her patch of dirt to retrieve the broken scythe.
The plants resisted the blade only slightly better than soft flesh might have, and soon Alma had stopped in front of a board that had been pushed in, the rusted upper nail all that was still holding it up. Swiping at the nearby plant growth, she called out to the wiurn, “Think I’ve found their personal door over here!” The wiurn acknowledged this as it always did, which was not at all as it sniffed around the dirt for any lingering kibble from the day before.
TBB-21 41
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Post by Alma on Nov 10, 2021 1:46:36 GMT -6
There had been food here yesterday when it was hungry, it could remember that, and it was hungry again so there had to be food somewhere. Had it been a vulticus, it would have smelled the poorly wrapped food in the bag, or perhaps been interested in all the scents from beasts that had played there the night before. Instead, Sza wandered the dirt, occasionally looking up when the human made some noise, then went back to nuzzling the dirt. When the human came back to the dirt area, it followed her as a vulticus might have, hoping she might drop some food, but all she did was leave it alone for several minutes.
When the human returned, it saw something in her hand, and loudly demanded food. Human always had the food, so it grunted and flapped its wings. The human eld out one of the food, a shiny long thing, and Sza bit it without a second thought.
TBB-22 42
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Post by Alma on Nov 10, 2021 1:46:47 GMT -6
In fact, it took three more bites before a second thought began to form, and fourth before it fully crystallized that the shiny thing might not be food. After one final taste, and many noises from the human, the wiurn determined that it was not food at all.
“Ah, why’d yah keep nibblin’ it? Told’ya, it ain’t food,” Alma said. Or rather, she had tried to say, laughing far too hard to properly speak as she pulled the nail head away from the young wiurn, the small beast looking at the nail as though it might change into something edible on the seventh bite. “Who knows,” she choked out, “ya might get lucky.” The wiurn stared at her, eyes as blank as ever, then started snapping at the air. “Yeah, gonna need tah break ya of that,” Alma said, wiping a tear from her eye. “Ya get kibble when ya calm down.”
TBB-23 43
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Post by Alma on Nov 10, 2021 1:46:59 GMT -6
None of the words provoked a reaction in the snapping wiurn, and Alma turned away from it. It followed her until she reached the plantline, the human choosing to step over a larger bush rather than the path trodden by the intruders a few yards away. The wiurn tried to follow, getting a branch jabbed into the thin scales of its throat for its troubles. It snapped at the branch, causing others to jab deeper into its face.
Alma glance back at the signs of combat, watching the wiurn shy away from the bush like it was a thundergug. It held itself low the the ground, backing away with its wings flared and tail held over its back. “Tryin’ tah be scary or small?” she asked it, but the wiurn attention did not waver from the bush. “Alright. Try tah not lose too badly to a bush.” Alma resumed her walk.
TBB-24 44
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