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Post by Lethalia on Jan 23, 2021 14:47:59 GMT -6
What an embarrassing baby - and what more of an embarrassment that she didn't know how best to keep the little shit wrangled! While she hadn't thought they'd made it to the gate yet, mercifully the mansion seemed to have chosen to conjure it right before them. Leth might've given the suddenly-existent gate a side eye - because since when did the malevolent magics offer any sort of olive branch? - but she wasn't one to turn down the nicety simply because of 'who' it came from. Juat barely had she the mind to holler out half an apology to the vulticus owner across the street, now dealing with a canine spinning in circles at the end of their leash to try and pursue Ardith. Of course, the hen was snarling right back, slavering with an off-green spittle that sizzled upon contact with the snowy sidewalk underfoot. Of all the places she could've settled down, things like this could only happen in this city... January|6
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Post by Lethalia on Jan 23, 2021 14:48:25 GMT -6
After all this time, she'd gotten really adept at the move. Open the gate just enough without the critter noticing, hook a shin and hoof behind them and toss said problem inside. Lethalia popped through the gate shortly after Ardith traveled through, pulling it shut behind herself before the hen rabidly slammed back against it. "Shithead," Lethalia pointed out to no effect as Ardith continued to slobber over the bars. Both owner and canine were well out of sight by now, hard to see the outside world in the magical vaccum the mansion sealed around itself. One couldn't even very well see outside of the bars on the gate she was freaking out over. As through everything in the place had been imbibed with some kind of power, the acid flowed down the iron rails without melting it away only to hiss and bubble once it hit the grounded snow. January|7
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Post by Lethalia on Jan 23, 2021 14:49:35 GMT -6
Looking on, the satyr couldn't quite decide how to approach the frenzied hen. Like a houluh after seeing a rodent scurrying around outside; they had to go berserk about it whether they could catch said quarry or not. Hatchlings were more worrying than dogs when it came to chasing after potential small game. What a strange look to see on a hen of all creatures, though. And not even over another sarane; did Ardith really think herself big enough to eat a vulti? "Ardith," Lethalia tried, even as the henling tried wedging her muzzle between the gate bars. Every time she tried a more likely looking gap, that one too would close just too much for her to squirm between. "Ardith," again - if she were any other creature, Lethalia would've just rattled the chain. Though she might have been failing at melting the iron gate, the hen could burn literally everything else. The glory of it was, the hen hadn't realized her superpower yet and Leth didn't care to encourage it. January|8
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Post by Lethalia on Jan 23, 2021 14:50:18 GMT -6
The last thing she wanted was to make Ardith bite her chain and come to the realization. How did one get a beast like this one home without a lead? She didn't want to consider it. Acid-proof salves were becoming a thing now, and Lethalia realized she should've invested in some. Or at least drool-proof gloves. But she didn't have either, so onto the next. "Hey, Ardith. Asshole. Ardith," she called fruitlessly, until she tossed a hunk of meat rather directly at the hen's head. It hadn't been that she meant to aim for the head - okay, well, maybe a little. The wedge of red meat made a wet noise upon impact with Ardith's jowl, flung down into the snow as she snapped at the sudden unidenified object. A look of bewilderment crossed her face as a tongue came out to wipe the myglobin off her face. Did the food just hit her?! That wasn't how that worked! January|9
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Post by Lethalia on Jan 23, 2021 14:50:32 GMT -6
Moments later the hen's head was stuck down the borehole left in the snow by the falling hunk of meat. There; Lethalia felt like they actually had a chance of moving on elsewhere once the fixation on the vulti was broken. With luck Ardith wasn't a lot smarter than her sire, and would forget in pretty short order. She hadn't expected to hope his offspring would be dumb like him, but it was likely a more realistic take on things. Hen busy, Leth finally got a chance to look around and answer the question of what this holiday was. It was a peculiar riddle the satyr had never pondered before - what was borne of the fusion of light and time? Even from afar the mansion itself shimmered and crackled with unseen power, magic popping and flitting to raise bumps along her arms. The magic was almost enough to turn her away this time, but the curiosity drew her in closer. Ardith lv|6 ly|6 January|10
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Post by Lethalia on Jan 23, 2021 14:53:21 GMT -6
So busy with Ardith she hadn't even gotten the chance to really check out their surroundings ever since bursting through the gate. Prying her studies from the building further inland, Leth first turned to the very snow beneath her feet. Only a few inches remained for later winter, unremarkable now that everybody had gotten their fill of it for the holidays. But... the satyr squinted at the blank canvas, trying to discern what seemed off about it. Looking closer at the edges of her hoof prints and Ardith's mad scuffle marks along the gate, Leth shook her head and blinked a few more times. She could have sworn their footprints were practically... glowing. Briefly she wondered if Ardith's caustic spittle could glow, but hoped she would've noticed it by now if the hen had a glowing set of teeth. And that she hadn't managed to step in it to illuminate her hoofprints. Hopefully she would've felt something by now if that were the case. January|11
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Post by Lethalia on Jan 23, 2021 14:53:35 GMT -6
Ardith cleaned her paw off with long licks, looking satisfied enough with the morsel she'd downed for now. The lady was fussing about something now, prompting Ardith to her feet. Looking down at the ground between her feet as though she'd caught something and was playing with it, the satyr only reacted once Ardith put herself right there, too. Sticking her nose in the snow, sneezing, and flopping her head back up at Leth, the hen snorted the rest of the snow out of her nose. See? Nothing there! "Thanks babe," the satyr laughed, patting Ardith's barrel and startling herself for how solid the petiete hen already seemed. Growing up slower, but she was still growing up. Her muscle was beginning to be lot to handle, but the longer she went without knowing she could push her owner around, the better. "Wha d'ya think?" Raising a hoof Lethalia swept away the snow right in front of them, Ardith opening her jaws and trying to catch the swinging appendage as she did so. January|12
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Post by Lethalia on Jan 23, 2021 14:55:19 GMT -6
"Let's not, wee beast," she told Ardith, leg jerking to keep her out of Ardith's striking range. She'd love to roughhouse with Ardith, it just wasn't possible. At the time of picking out her dam, Leth had really only thought that Tiamat was one of the most gorgeous hens she'd ever seen. Blinded by the fact, she allowed herself to gloss over the fact that she was mildly... corrosive. The satyr had no idea if it was venom or straight-up acidic - perhaps the hen's drool itself? Either way, not something she should have glossed over so lightly. Ardith's teeth safely closed, Lethalia took a closer look at the area she'd cleared of snow and turning the hen's attention back to the ground as well. There was little telling for the hen what exactly made the snow and the ground so interesting to her owner, but humanoids were pretty strange creatures. January|13
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Post by Lethalia on Jan 23, 2021 14:55:37 GMT -6
Snow removed, it was rather clear that the ice crystals themselves hadn't been responsible for their subtle unearthly glow. Something below the blanket glowed, and a cautious hand brushed away the last vestiges of snow only to jerk away as if shocked. Lethalia looked at her fingers, the topside of her hand - all fine, she hadn't touched any of Ardith's acid. Something on the ground, however, was the source of light! Between the cobbles of the path were tiny points of light, as if it had been spackled with an errant puff of glow in the dark paint. Kneeling down and squinting, she ran a thumb over the dappled glow, earning a tiny wave of disruption in the tiny stars Ardith was curious now that the satyr was studying something so intently, and stuck her nose down where the woman's hand had been. What was there? A few loud snuffs of the ground found her nothing. January|14
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Post by Lethalia on Jan 23, 2021 14:55:47 GMT -6
Lethalia cringed with the hen's nose stuck to the ground, unsure if it could possibly be harmful. She had only just realized the glowing matter were tiny mushrooms, miniature heads no bigger than a pin bending back against her curious fingers. Upon concluding her inspection with her nose pressed to the ground, Ardith came up with a few neon streaks of blue upon her muzzle, but didn't appear any worse for wear. "G'job Ardith," the woman praised with no real purpose. Reaching up with her thumb to the hen's muzzle at first, the tactic was thought better of and Leth bunched up the end of her sleeve to wipe the smudge of light from the tip of Ardith's nose. Glowing mushrooms just didn't seem like the type of thing she wanted to take risks with. If the hen found anymore, she could only hope that her own acidic properties would protect the hen from anything a shroom could do. Ardith lv|7 ly|7 January|15
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Post by Lethalia on Jan 23, 2021 14:56:01 GMT -6
Nothing scientific was about her meandering thoughts, wondering at how the little spores could manage to grow in such a way. Especially when the presence and means of explanation by 'magic' often rendered a more analytical take less credible. It was a strange place to be sure, the joining of the labs' experimentation among the outcrops of magic here and there; she could never tell if the two forces were directly opposed or not. Ardith reared back, flinging her head up a bit too late to prevent her nose from being touched. "...Boop," Lethalia laughed belatedly, after the hen had already backed up a few steps to safely scratch at her nose with her own claws. "Sorry princess," the satyr teased; at least she'd wholly expected Vidarr's daughters to burst from the shell demanding the entire world was theirs. Two for two so far, and littlest sister who had yet to be proven - but she was likely the same. January|16
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Post by Lethalia on Jan 23, 2021 14:56:23 GMT -6
Making sure she hadn't possibly hurt Ardith with that sort of reaction, or the mushroom smear itself hadn't done anything. Hopefully they weren't too magical. Lethalia settled on the hen was simply being dramatic - again, what a shocker considering her parentage. She had to wonder how much her dam, also being a flighted hen from another lineage known for it's domination in the pit, had influence over the henling's royal demeanor. It was also amazing the wee shrooms were so illuminated, considering the sun had been at it's low winter apex when they'd arrived. Without cloud cover, even the lazy winter sun could be blinding alongside the snow. But - where was the glow of the sun? Lethalia raised her eyes to the sky with a jolt of realization. The sky was deep purple in twilight at one end, pastels in pink cloudy streaks on the other side of the horizon. January|17
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Post by Lethalia on Jan 23, 2021 14:57:27 GMT -6
Leth started, knowing Ardith and she had absolutely not been there all day - there was no way dusk had fallen upon them while they were meandering through the gate! It'd been an ordeal, but not a half a day's worth! Her attention fell back on the ominous black form of the mansion, skin prickling once more as she acknowledged the place. Regardless of how the masterfully woven sky worked, what kind of clever magic worked the veneer into place, the satyr knew it was no paltry amount of power to work such a feat. It showed, the sky practically abuzz with the heavy feeling of magic, casting the grounds in long shadows. They set the stage for illuminated plant life to steal the show, so much more of it seeming to appear in front of the woman's eyes now that she stopped long enough to observe everything. Meade would've loved this stuff. January|18
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Post by Lethalia on Jan 23, 2021 14:57:42 GMT -6
Ardith was of course unaffected, thanks to her dam's side lending her their clever night vision. Leth was a little more unsettled by the suddenly realized dark, wondering first how she could've missed it and second if it was worth fighting through the dark at all. As if waiting until she took notice of them, the shadows seemed to envelop all that wasn't a softly glowing plant. The individual cobbles on the walkway melded together, deepening to black as though ink had been poured over the stones and seeped over each one of them. "Ardith," Lethalia asked, following the chain to reach out and place her palm atop the hen's head. Ardith too had stopped; the darkness was an old friend to her cave-dwelling ancestors, not something the hen would know but felt in every inch of her bones to welcome the smudging out of light. January|19
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Post by Lethalia on Jan 23, 2021 14:58:08 GMT -6
Advice that one's pets knew better when something was amiss flickered through the satyr's mind, only to be dismissed instantly. Of course the animals could sense things she couldn't, but in some cases, she didn't have a lot of faith they were keeping an eye out for the same kinds of spooks she was. Ardith? She wasn't going to be a lick of help, here. It was more like the darkened grounds speckled with pale neon lights was one of the most apt playgrounds one could conjure up for an adolescent cave crawler. That said - it meant Ardith wasn't about to warn her about shit. Really, why did she insist on coming here with the younglings? Leth often found the task of keeping only herself out of trouble an insurmountable one. At least if she brought adults, they might have enough sense about them to help keep them both safe. Ardith lv|8 ly|8 January|20
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