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Post by Morgan on Oct 17, 2019 16:56:05 GMT -6
Nico saunters past, nearly bouncing towards the end of it, once he was in the mansion grounds. Morgan felt a little apprehensive, not because they were scared, but because they realized that it would be pretty easy for the mansion, if it was indeed rather sentient or something of that nature, to trap them here after the gate was shut. Heck, it could probably shut the gate right now if it wanted to! However, Morgan was suddenly giddy again, excited to go on the adventure even though being here at night was probably a really terrible idea during this time of year. "Better late than never." Morgan mumbled, and then they stepped into the grounds, closing the gate behind them. It shut with a suspicious 'clank', but Morgan was sure that they could manage it regardless. "Alright boyo, where to first do you think?" Would it be spookier at night?
[104]
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Post by Morgan on Oct 17, 2019 16:59:21 GMT -6
Nevermind the gate, Morgan thought, even though their mind just about floated back to the horrible idea that maybe they were really stuck here now until the mansion was 'done' with them. The human instead cast their eyes on the shadowed grass, and watched as the little grassy knolls seemed to breath when the wind passed over it easily. The tiny houluh was regarding the area curiously, ever staying close to Morgan, but sniffing about the grass anyway. He was always super watchful and curious, but never once strayed from Morgan's sighed. He was indeed very loyal and used to Morgan's body language, but the tiny creature was a lot more confident and proud than most canids had any kind of right to be. Morgan chuckled at him, and stepped away from the probably locked gate, following after the ever inquisitive houluh. "Heheh, wait for me boyo. Goodness." Nico was more excited than Morgan for sure!
[105]
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Post by Lethalia on Oct 17, 2019 18:08:36 GMT -6
Crystallized magic lingered somewhere nearby, as if the innate nature of the mansion took on a solid form.
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Post by Morgan on Oct 19, 2019 19:12:24 GMT -6
Morgan was incredibly pleased with how Nico was growing as an individual. Sure, he may never grow up, but Morgan was incredibly happy with him. The issue was, of course he would never know it, but Morgan was having a difficult time securing a mate for him. Of course, at this point it really didn't matter, but Morgan had taken such a long time to get their hands on him, that they knew it would be nigh impossible to find a suitable mate for him. Absolutely torn about it, Morgan was. They thought about how sad it would be if he went his whole life without another houluh around and all. However, Morgan was just gonna have to deal with it. Houluh were worth quite a bit at the moment, and that was if anyone was selling them at all... Morgan shook their head, and took off after the houluh.
[106]
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Post by Morgan on Oct 19, 2019 19:16:47 GMT -6
Morgan always had their hopes up for it though, someday they would find the perfect female for him, and if not, then Morgan would most likely find something else to do. So far, he seemed more preoccupied with Morgan than anything else. He was, still, a juvie. Morgan was pleased with him, of course. He was an excellent hound, a sweet pet, and very loyal. Perhaps with luck, he would continue to be an excellent help in excursions like these. Morgan couldn't help but think of that as their footfalls went over the evening shadowed crunchy grass. It was rapidly getting dark out, now that it was the cooler part of the year, and Morgan hoped to get some really good exploration in before the end of the month. They had already done quite a bit, but they wanted to do even more! The human nearly trips over something, not having been really watching where they were going.
[107]
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Post by Morgan on Oct 19, 2019 19:31:21 GMT -6
The mansion grounds felt different, charged tonight somehow in a way that Morgan couldn't quite put their finger on. Tripping had made something in Morgan realize that; they didn't see anything there to have tripped on? What does that even... Already, Nico ahead of Morgan has realized that something is indeed wrong, that Morgan has managed to stop. So Nico stopped, and turned over his shoulder, looking to see what had caused Morgan to stop following so closely behind him as he sniffed and then ran alternatingly. Morgan watched him go stark still, stiff, and hold his tail up high. Then, his hackles raised. Ah, Morgan thought, something is definitely wrong. Perhaps he knew it even before Morgan's alarm bells started going off. At their foot, around their boot so that they had not been able to feel it at all, a hand of some kind was holding on with a steely grip.
[108]
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Post by Morgan on Oct 19, 2019 19:36:18 GMT -6
For a moment, all was still. Above Morgan's head as they layed atop the crunchy golden grass of the hillock, shaded by the mansion as the sun headed on down, was a beautiful faded blanket of darkness, little stars just poking out here and there. Below, that crunchy golden layer of grass upon crispy earth, smelling like ages old petrichor and perhaps a whiff of bonfire. The mansion loomed across the way, looking more and more sinister of course. A few feet ahead of Morgan, the pale ivory spotted hound stood stark still, the wind whipping his little tail around and the ends of his ears. Morgan was sprawled, boney hand thickly grasping Morgan's ankle, and the human's glasses were lopsided against their face. This was a moment, a breath that was disappearing in the cold air after being exhaled. Then, it was gone, in just as quick, as Morgan made a startled yelp, and jerked their leg.
[109]
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Post by Morgan on Oct 19, 2019 19:41:26 GMT -6
The jerk of the leg did little to remove the hand from Morgan's ankle, much to their chagrin, and that little jerk was all that it took to have Nico snap from his small amount of statue-like stiffness to race to Morgan's aid. He may not have realized it, but Morgan's own slight panic spurred him into action, and he took flight over the grasses towards the strange hand. It appeared to come out of the grass, or perhaps the ground itself. Said hand was nearly skeletal it would seem, but it was also indeed covered in some sort of ultra-strong tendon. Then again, most humans were easily three times as strong as Morgan, so it would have seemed strong even if Morgan had been grabbed by a normal human. Nico grabbed the thing in his mouth and bit, and as he did that and jerked back, Morgan pulled their leg the opposite direction.
[110]
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Post by Jack on Oct 19, 2019 19:48:16 GMT -6
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Post by Morgan on Oct 20, 2019 11:49:08 GMT -6
Somehow, that appeared to break whatever grip the thing had, and Morgan was able to get away without too much difficulty more. It certainly would have left a dreadful bruise about their ankle if not for the boot to have broken that direct contact, and for some reason that was the first thing that Morgan even thought about after moving away from the creature. The second thing, much more painfully blooming in their chest and mind, was the sharp hot poker of a thought that Nico might be in danger. "Nico!" Morgan cried out, pushing their glasses further up their nose from their previous crooked position lower on the noise, and quickly reached out. Nico was winning, it would seem, pressing his thin body down against the arm as Morgan could now tell was up from out of the ground about them. "Nico-" Morgan started again, panicked.
[111]
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Post by Morgan on Oct 20, 2019 13:01:09 GMT -6
Nico did not hear his name the first time. He was focused so carefully on the thing between his teeth that he hadn't even really remembered that the world existed. His teeth held tight with their scissor-bite that Morgan had taught him how to do so carefully. His ears were sort of in the way due to his short muzzle, but he made sure to keep himself stiff and his legs planted out at angle to keep him on his feet even as the thing between his jaws thrashed him about. As soon as he realized that he was indeed being thrashed about, he heard his name for the first time. He didn't really realize what was going on at the moment, since he was so focused on not getting capsized, and that made him unable to recognize that the sound of his name was indeed coming from Morgan, and not just from the air surrounding him.
[112]
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Post by Morgan on Oct 20, 2019 13:06:09 GMT -6
"Nico!" Morgan called out again, this time scrambling up to their feet and beginning to run over to him. Nico heard Morgan, that time, literally. Heard that Morgan was coming, realized that the voice was Morgan, realized that the world was there. He felt Morgan's hands as they grabbed at him, and he let go of the hand. All of this happened at once to him, quicker than anything he'd really thought of before, and suddenly the houluh pup realized that he tasted a nasty taste in his mouth. Yuck. His tongue hung out as he backed up a bit, paws a little anxious as they tapped. Morgan kicked the hand, spattering bits of meat everywhere, and of course the bones also fell into a clatter. However, Morgan had only dislodged the hand itself, and not the arm. The pair stood there, panting, and staring strangely at this odd... Arm. Thing.
[113]
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Post by Morgan on Oct 20, 2019 13:10:58 GMT -6
Though it felt like it took forever to deal with this issue, it was really only a couple of seconds before the arm seemed to realize that it had a rather precarious position now. For one, the hand was now missing, and that was what it needed to be able to feel the world with. For two, it no longer had a grip, or was being gripped by, whatever was even above the ground that it clearly could not see at all. On the other hand was well (heh) it was probably really bad to have another part of your body up and waving about around something that had just harmed you, and removed your hand! The arm went deep beneath the ground, leaving a shell-shocked Morgan and Nico to stand stiffly, staring at the place where just a moment before the hand had been waving about, looking horrible atop the ground.
[114]
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Post by Morgan on Oct 20, 2019 13:13:45 GMT -6
It took the pair to realize that not only had the thing been there (like holy crap Morgan thought) but now it was gone (double holy crap) and they weren't sure what to do about it! The pair immediately dove for the thing even though it was gone by now, instead of doing the perhaps more sensible thing, which would be to get the heck away from the thing. The hole was still there, that was something that Morgan and Nico could both clearly see, but it went down so far that it was perfectly dark. Morgan thought for a moment, and then grabbed a small flashlight from their pocket, shining it down into the hole. The thing was super narrow, and seemed to go down forever in the darkness of the night. The light was eaten up down it super quickly. It couldn't be that deep; how long was that arm, anyway?!
[115]
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Post by Morgan on Oct 22, 2019 15:40:01 GMT -6
Morgan was a little afraid to look away from the (now vacant-seeming) hole since it seemed like if they did, that it might just have a hand come up and choke the pair of them somehow or something ridiculous like that, but they still ripped their eyes away from the hole to look at Nico instinctively with an inquisitive look on their face. As if a person was indeed there and not a creature of rather average creature intelligence indeed. However, Nico was attuned enough to Morgan's chaotic mind to look back with at least trust and understanding, and that was more than enough for Morgan, who wasn't really expecting an answer from an intellectual being, of course. Morgan reached out and patted him on the head, tousling his ears. "You are such a good boyo! I am so glad for you, that was your first real attempt at protection, and you're not even fully grown!"
[116]
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