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Post by Lethalia on May 29, 2021 23:05:41 GMT -6
The jerky hit the rocky outcropping and a cacopay of screeching broke out when it did. Once amicable companions, the two little dragons squealed at eachother as they rose into the air, battering one another with wings and harsh words. Lethalia didn't spend near as much of her time around small creatures, and certainly none around birds. She was a bit taken aback by their viciousness - clearly the woman never fed the birds in the city to observe such behaviour. Even Juniper saw it fit to look up at their fussing, though she had given up on them as too effortful of a treat. Their fighting ended almost as soon as it began, the creatures parting ways with a vicious flick of their tails to send them in different directions. Supposedly the victor over their squabble, the earthen one landed on the jerky while the white wheeled around to cling to the side of the cliff elsewhere to chatter it's unhappiness. May| 59
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Post by Lethalia on May 29, 2021 23:07:08 GMT -6
"Y'can have ya'own," she told the angry lilac critter, tossing another morsel nearer to that one. It cheeped frantically, hopping up the rocky face with surprisingly nimble wing-thumbs and hauling itself onto the perch overhead just the same. 'Earthy' looked interested in the new stuff, but hunched over it's own piece and screeched when 'Cloudy' peeked over the edge to check on the other food. More interested in what one another were doing, of course. Juniper was getting interested in all of the cliff-jumpers' activity once again; even Lethalia's additional offering of jerky couldn't keep the hen's eyes away from them for too long. It would be nature and all, if Juni did manage to catch one such meager specimen for herself. But - Leth would feel pretty rotten about it. Abandoning the idea of taking them home, it would be better for their health if the satyr got her hen out of the area. Juniper lv|12 ly|12 May|60
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Post by Lethalia on May 29, 2021 23:09:08 GMT -6
Juni didn't seem all that intent on eating them - they could've even resembled tiny hatchlings enough to be garnering the more maternal attentions she might be experiencing now. Like most predators, the saranes' idea of play melded fairly closely with fighting and hunting. Juniper could decemate one without a second thought under the idea that she was just playing with the small squeaky toys. Now that each mini-dragon had their own piece, they calmed and settled in with what must've been huge meals for them. It was easier to talk Juniper away once the cliff jumpers' argument settled down, their cacophany no longer reeling her back. Of course the moving, squeaking targets were more interesting than what Leth had to offer! Juni still gave long looks to the cliffside, seeming a bit crestfallen her fun was cut off, her keen eyes still scanning for tiny movements among the rocks. May| 61
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Post by Lethalia on May 29, 2021 23:09:32 GMT -6
They didn't have a great array of choices before them. One direction led to the 'sea' and Lethalia tried to not marvel at it for long, reminding herself of it's fabricated nature. There was so little of the actual sea she had gotten the opportunity to witness, with the travels of the Caravan keeping mostly inland. The other direction, to a narrowing cavern of black rock, seawater washing into the ravine and the valley it created. If nothing else it gave them a path to follow, but she wished they were half as adept at scaling rock as the cliffjumpers were. "C'mon now, June," Lethalia beckoned, lightly tapping the side of Juniper's face with another serving of dried meat. A slightly annoyed snap was given, she as busy looking at the small creatures after all, but Juniper grunted and started after the direction her owner carried the jerky to. May| 62
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Post by Lethalia on May 29, 2021 23:13:16 GMT -6
Once they were well on their way and Juniper stopped looking back over her shoulder to their lost friends, did Lethalia decide to hand the meat morsel off to the hen. If there was one boon to all of this, it was Juniper becoming less of an issue as she grew older. She still seemed like she was going to be one of the more cantankerous hens in the shed, but there had to be a few. It would blend in just fine with her two half-sisters. Slopping through a shallow sea stream didn't seem like the ideal time to consider the hen's future, but Leth couldn't think on much else. With Juni's sudden growth spurt, it felt like the time mulling over it was cut short. It could be a good thing in this case - the creatures tended to carry out their own plans no matter what their owner had differently in mind. May| 63
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Post by Lethalia on May 29, 2021 23:14:45 GMT -6
Juniper, she just couldn't quite decide what to do with. Leth did not need another house-hen. Ivaylo likely wouldn't have let it stand with an adult daughter, anyway. While her dam was never intended for the pit, it ended up serving her purposes to get her through the gauntlet regardless of what she'd been intended for. Clearly Juni's existance meant their stint had been rather successful. It had gone so well she'd been toying with the idea of getting the next generation off to the pits, knowledge of the slog ahead be damned. They'd have to make their way out of here before she could decide on anything to pursue. Leth had expected to walk into a narrowing canyon, not water that remained at ankle-depth and wide enough to have fit a few more pairs walking with them. It was a nice place for something, but Leth couldn't place what. Somehow, it didn't feel entirely unoccupied. May| 64
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Post by Lethalia on May 29, 2021 23:15:01 GMT -6
Lethalia felt a weight on her backpack, causing the woman to swivel around to make sure Juniper wasn't trying to help herself to treats while her owners' head was in the clouds. Instead she was greeted by a tiny squeak and a set of green eyes peering up at her. 'Earthy' cliff jumper clung to the flap of her backpack with those clever wing-thumbs, effortlessly more bold and friendly than it had been with Juniper purusing it. "Well hullo there," she greeted, to another squeak. It looked off to the side to something else in the air, and Lethalia could only guess what it would be with a slight smile. The second tiny 'cloudy' cliff jumper soared past the satyr's head to tuck it's wings and land with intentional precision on Juniper's neck. It just grabbed the crest of the hen's neck as it fell, as if it'd done that move before. Juniper lv|[/b13 ly|13 May|65
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Post by Lethalia on May 29, 2021 23:15:20 GMT -6
No matter what way Juniper twisted and snapped, her passenger remained clinging to a spot that she just couldn't quite bend her neck to reach. Almost like the cliff jumper knew exactly where to hang onto if it didn't want to get itself snatched up. Lethalia hummed curiously, looking over her shoulder again to the one clinging to her bag. Of course she thought the foresty one pretty handsome, and it's inquisitive eyes made her begin to rethink the possibility of carting them home. In spite of her earlier trepidations over the fae-like dragons they seemed more than capable enough of handling themselves around these much larger copies. ''Y'lookin a lot like this's normal to ya," Leth remarked at the miniature climbing up her backpack strap to her shoulder. "Brave, stupid, or this ain't the first ya' seen'a things like us." Probably a little bit of all of the above. May| 66
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Post by Lethalia on May 29, 2021 23:17:15 GMT -6
The cliffjumper tilted it's head at her words, looking almost as though it could be trying to make sense of them. Though she itched to grab it a treat, she wasn't after another food squabble when she was putting her head directly in the line of fire between them. Well, if they could handle their own with Juni, she could see how they fared with the rest of the nest back home. If they were going to take themselves home with them regardless. She'd try, but it would be on them to be evasive enough to survive among the big dragons at home. "Juni," she called, the hen's twisting neck never slowing in it's quest to snatch the mini off her neck, "don't think ya'makin' a lotta' progress there, Bug. Chill." Not like her words themselves had much effect, but her owner piping up was enough to give Juni pause for moments, panting with splayed legs as she did. Effective little cling-on, this one. May| 67
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Post by Lethalia on May 29, 2021 23:17:36 GMT -6
A pause in the action only allowed the white cliff jumper the opportunity to readjust it's grip on the crest of Juniper's neck, a thin tail wrapping around the underside for more stability. Juniper let out a long-suffering groan, casting a pleading look at her owner for rescue. Leth snorted, wondering if the white could handle drakes if she couldn't handle one in miniature and second-guessing what plans Juni had ahead of her. The satyr obliged and extended a slow hand towards the white's passenger, palm down so she didn't seem grabbby to a fist-sized critter. It took a moment of deliberation on it's end, but didn't take long for 'Cloudy' to loosen it's grip and flap-hop over to the offered hand. Now that they'd deemed the larger creatures no threat, the pocket pets seemed like this was completely second hat to them. Like, somehow, humanoids and 'dragons' were a normal thing for these little guys. May| 68
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Post by Lethalia on May 29, 2021 23:18:19 GMT -6
Looking a bit wary when the satyr brought her hand to eye-level, the cliff jumper scrunched itself up under her scrutiny before launching at the shoulder it's friend was already on. They didn't hurt much since they didn't seem to have legs or much in the way of claws - their squawking dispute solved within moments, ended with one clinging to each backpack strap and Juniper staring the moving targets down. Those weren't the eyes Leth wanted on her. Lethalia was willing to skip out on most scholarly things - the history and mannerisms of the creatures were only of interest to her as long as they provided insight on why they acted the way they did. Other than that, she wasn't about to sit through another radio broadcast repeat over the origins of the equillion v2. But. If anybody knew at all, she would love to know the origins of the creatures within the mansion. May| 69
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Post by Lethalia on May 29, 2021 23:18:44 GMT -6
From time to time she'd come across little ones like this, with the occasional rarer sightings of larger creatures. Were they fabricated by the mansion itself? These things, basic as they were, acted like they'd had some sort of life before Leth had come along. The nature of the place, it's magic and tricks, were just too far out of her league to ponder. Creating monsters out of magic was a bit too much for consideration right now. "This's fine, I think," Lethalia told them, the miniscule faces perking at her rumbling beneath them. "Jus' don' harass th'shit outta Juni, okay?" Juniper didn't need her name to be beckoned, eyes already only for the tiny moving objects on her owner. "No," Leth growled at the hen with a pointed finger. She might not have gone over the word a lot with her, but it got Juniper to lay her ears flat and back up a step. Juniper lv|14 ly|14 May|70
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Post by Nadia on May 30, 2021 13:14:56 GMT -6
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Post by Lethalia on Jun 24, 2021 23:18:04 GMT -6
Surprisingly, her once whirlwind of a pup became one of her most well-mannered creatures. That wasn't to say that Foggy had grown out of her personality, nor that she was the most thoroughly trained creature she had. But she'd poured enough energy into the houluh between more brutal projects, and realized she'd procured herself a mostly-polite companion somewhere along the line. Lethalia was thrilled - it meant she was well on her way to the working dog she'd wanted! Foggy had retained her 'get up and go' since it hadn't been attempted to be trained away, a fearless curiosity better for this sort of work than some quashed soul. Foggy was a tad less intelligent than Gold, but it meant it kept the white houluh learning more handily than her older companion who would tire of the drudgery of training, no matter how brief. In a way, Lethalia bored Foggy less than she did Gold - and couldn't help but find it funny. Foggy lv|18.1 ly|36.1 June|1
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Post by Lethalia on Jun 24, 2021 23:21:32 GMT -6
An adult, fairly trained companion was quite the opposite of what normally accompanied her along to the mansion! Foggy had been here before, when she suited Lethalia''s tendancy of bringing untrained creatures over to 'hang out' somewhere away from home. There were arguably much safer places to do so - wouldn't simply gardening or fishing be great? - but somehow the mansion kept drawing her right back in. One of her neighbours had tipped her off that this month's mansion tended to be particularly... chaotic. With half a mind to argue over what could be considered 'chaos', she'd encountered enough 'random inexplicable commotions' in the mansion to be dubious over one month being particularly more 'out there' than the others. She'd just hiked through an entire cavern and canyon within the mansions' very four walls, thank you. Just what would the mansion do differently when chaos simply seemed to be in it's nature? Still, such warning was rare, and it seemed unwise to dismiss the claim. June|2
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