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Post by Lethalia on Apr 29, 2022 14:22:41 GMT -6
 As much as Juniper had proven herself a portent for disaster, Lethalia opted to leave her home this time. Even if she was stir-crazy enough to have gone with her owner willingly; the slowing of her fights and outings meant a coming-dominant, amped up hen. Who was bored. Leth was willing to put money on June being jealous of the newest shining addition Zhaleh, too. It seemed only natural that there might be come competition when she decided she needed to bring home yet another tundra white. As if Rimefang and his get didn't already cause her enough trouble, here she was seeking out another boreal terror. Zhaleh wasn't even a whiff of trouble - yet. She was still so miniscule she dozed in her owner's warm arms, not yet far enough from the shell to decide the woman was unfavorable. That would come later. For now, Leth would take full advantage of the 'sleepy baby' stage while she could.
April|2
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Post by Lethalia on Apr 29, 2022 14:32:25 GMT -6
There was no telling if it would make a difference in this little one, but there was still hope that it would help something. Rimefang didn't get nearly enough one-on-one time when he was little, and look what a terror he grew into. She'd tried spending time with Juniper that tiny, but the mansion had other plans for her. Hopefully the mansion didn't see it fit to grow this one in a hurry. Better a hen than one of the drakes, but still. Dealing with mansion expedited growth wasn't an experience that she wanted to repeat, seeing as Juniper was just barely a 'normal' hen now in spite of being a solid yearling. "Y'be less'a terror fo'me, righ' Zhaleh?" Lethalia asked the hatchling, feeling out the baby's name like she usually did. It felt like such a big, elegant name for such a tiny thing, like being given too big of shoes to fill.
April|3
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Post by Lethalia on Apr 29, 2022 14:35:53 GMT -6
She'd forgotten how pretty her white drake had been when he was a hatchling, fleeting as that time with him had been. Zha was all the same, shimmering and stark in comparison to any other breed. Leth was all too excited at another try with such a little treasure, determined to not waste it this time around. Lethalia needed another project sarane like she needed shoes; she empathetically did not need any. Yet the whelp happened, of course. No going back now. Still, the woman kept her charges completely seasonally inappropriate. A red in the fall, a crossed white in the summer, and now another tundra dweller in the spring... It was kind of her 'thing' at this point. Things worked out in the end, even if this beautiful baby might not see the sparking mansion in January she'd match perfectly. No, the celebration going on now... wasn't Leth's favorite.
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Post by Lethalia on Apr 29, 2022 14:41:20 GMT -6
Lethalia had been determined to march out to the Mansion, come hell or high water, just to prove she wasn't scared of the place. That was, until she actually began to approach the place and the Mansion's peak came just visible over the horizon. There was the reminder why she didn't like this time. The first sight of it sent a shiver down her spine nearly violent enough to wake Zha. Having come from the cultural melting pot that was the Caravan, Leth tended to forget the particularities of which holidays the city celebrated. Inwardly, she began to puzzle out what month it was while the twisted roof of the mansion loomed ahead of them. It was... oh crap, it was April, wasn't it? The satyr swallowed and instinctively placed a protective palm over Zha. Even before she'd even set hoof into the building itself, it had already made a fool of her. Good start, good sign.
Zhaleh lv|1 ly|1
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Post by Lethalia on Apr 29, 2022 17:48:11 GMT -6
It wasn't a holiday she bothered with very much - she could very much manage to make a fool of herself without an entire celebration in order to do so. Still the satyr willed herself to forge on ahead, unwilling to give up the determination she'd left home with. Now there was even more to prove, she couldn't allow herself to back down from the challenge fabricated by her own fear. Nope - her unwitting hooves were going to carry her to the mansion, if it was the last thing they did. Anyway, she had a pet with her. They were always a good protection against the supernatural that Lethalia was so oblivious to. "Y'gonna be helpin' me out, Zha? Tell me where's all'a spooks?" Leth queried, giving a gentle pat to the bundle in her arms. The hen dozed on, oblivious to the grand plans being laid out for her day.
April|6
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Yang
Flea Market Artist
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Post by Yang on May 2, 2022 12:57:29 GMT -6
 Something can be spotted,just out of the way and tucked into a small shadow... |
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Post by Lethalia on May 4, 2022 17:01:10 GMT -6
Lethalia tended to ask that off all her creatures when they traveled here. Perhaps she ought not be so depenant on her pets to keep them both safe from the mansion's boogeymen, but the woman had little hope of becoming keener about it. Relying on a just-hatched sarane, it was, then. "Yeah. Y'be alrigh'," Lethalia informed the little one, soothing herself more than the drowsy baby. Zhaleh's blue eyes flickered from time to time, at a bump in the road or the creak of the mansion's gate being opened, but she fell back to dozing in no time. Leth was almost worried, assuring herself it'd just been so long since she worked with a hatchling so tiny. She would wake up for her real personality to shine soon enough. Until that happened, Lethalia would take the ease of carrying around what amounted to a tiny sack of potatoes unaware of it's adventure.
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Yang
Flea Market Artist
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Post by Yang on May 4, 2022 21:17:04 GMT -6
 Something lays tucked away, not far from where you are... |
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Post by Lethalia on May 4, 2022 23:22:48 GMT -6
Zhaleh didn't stir when the gate groaned closed either. As if having no witnesses gave her permission, Lethalia took pause with her hand on the gate, back to the mansion. Knowing the insidious place was at her blind spot made her spine crawl, but one hand on the gate meant the opportunity to go back. Zha wasn't in any state to be judging her if she chose to walk right back out. Last time she was here for this fools' month - that's what the twisted mansion she'd seen on the hill was for, right? - the place certainly tried to take advantage of memories nobody at the labs had any business knowing. Not like she was going to make that a reason to wimp out, or anything like that. Nope. Chest swelling as she whipped around, Leth quickly lost her bluster when faced with a criminally plain house. That was... well, better than she was expecting, for one.
May|2
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Post by Lethalia on May 4, 2022 23:26:25 GMT -6
The place had just been flickering on the horizon - and now it was looking all normal and innocent! Lethalia looked from side to side, as if expecting another trick to come her way. Zha resisted the tilt she was given, croaking crankily and digging her face into the crook of the woman's elbow. Awake enough to be an alarm system if anything was terribly off. (Was she really depending on this? Leth checked her blind spots again, like that would help.) Few choices presented themselves other than the manicured path straight towards the mansion. Usually there were lush grounds that the satyr preferred to trawl around in, sometimes orchards and hedge mazes to get lost in. This time around the grounds were nothing more than perfectly manicured grass and the mathematically equal hedges siding the walkway. (For once in her life, she worried what would happen if she stepped on the grass.)
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Post by Lethalia on May 4, 2022 23:33:11 GMT -6
Considering the place's tricks last time, the mansion's purveyor could make a hell of a killing if they bottled up the nostalgia they were capable of prying from the furthest reaches of one's memories. It went beyond a mere sip of ambrosia, simple reminiscing. You could actually immerse yourself in it, to the point of getting lost, to drowning. It sure sounded more lucrative than whatever free funhouse bullshit the mansion was in it's current state. If the places' master was so wicked they were paid in the torment of their visitors rather than in coin... Well, there was something she'd never conceptualized before. The consideration put a falter in her gait. Clearly folks who had magic weren't to be trifled with, but she hadn't thought of something that insidious before. Leth instinctively hugged Zha just a bit closer as they closed in on the building, which remained steadfastly... plain.
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Post by Lethalia on May 30, 2022 11:38:38 GMT -6
Lethalia was almost offended the mansion hadn't tried anything else yet. What gives?! Every time she went here, the longer time dragged on without the mansion reacting to her, the more she was set on edge. Given she had reason to dislike some holidays more than most, it was still a bit early to be spooked of every shadow. Sometimes the place had a ramp-up in it's terrorism, and others it whipped out the horror immedately. It could be fine. Usually it wasn't, but it was a distinct possibility that she could have a decent trip to the place. Right? Juniper had found some cool places, when they weren't getting in tight spots. Maybe Zha could drum up trips able to be pleasant without being life-threatening like her predecessors. A much more brilliant idea that wouldn't involve luck would be to simply stop visiting the mansion, but that didn't seem to have occurred to the woman yet.
Zhaleh lv|2 ly|2
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Post by Lethalia on May 31, 2022 21:53:47 GMT -6
If she sat and thought about it deeply - which would never happen, she wasn't a contemplative person and intentionally kept herself so busy her mind couldn't get the time to introspect - Leth might come to admit the mansion had a certain draw to her. She'd already realized it fit that certain adventurous niche she'd been missing since settling down, the one place she could still go for a novel experience. More than just novelty brought her back time and time again, just the right amounts of intrigue and terror to become hooked on the feeling of beating down her adrenaline. (Adrenaline junkie? Nooo. She'd definitely outgrown that.) Even turning the handle on the door felt a bit off - the click of the mechanism sliding out of place echoed in the walls beyond. Lethalia wiggled the handle a little more ( totally not stalling) to listen to the returned echo. If there was another cavern behind this door, it would only be par for the course.
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Post by Lethalia on May 31, 2022 21:54:29 GMT -6
Caverns had been the mansion's 'thing' for her for quite some time. Last time she visited for the fool's chaotic celebration, she'd opened the mansion door into a circus tent. That didn't really seem like it left much room for a dank mineshaft, when the trickery worked so much better with overwhelming all of the senses. Especially something extracted out of her own memory, the smells of a circus had brought her straight back to the past... Though she'd braced herself for some kind of similar tomfoolery, Lethalia pushed the door open to darkness once again. "Gettin' old," she told the mansion, for a trick it'd played on her countless times before. This place, however, wasn't any sort of cave - unless those now came in gleaming navy and indigo tiles. "Zha - this'un don't look too bad," she admitted to the hatchling, in spite of it being a 'boring' turnout. Better than a lot of things they could be faced with instead.
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Post by Lethalia on May 31, 2022 21:54:47 GMT -6
Better yet, she didn't open the door to a nostalgic nosedive. She literally couldn't help but play straight into the mansion's every ploy but this seemed safe enough. (Famous last thoughts every single time she ventured here, too.) The door swung shut with an uncharacteristically quiet click, replaced by Zhaleh awakening and letting loose a wailing croak. Like it'd been awoken from the sudden noise, a great force took in a breath that could snatch the winds from another being's lungs. A bonfire roared to life with a flare that would touch normal ceilings. Instead the inferno cast neumerous columns into relief, reaching as tall skyward as they could. The granite floors sparked in the light, and the inricate masonry of the place danced in the shadows. Then - it shrunk back down to a mere campfire, instant denial of it's previous outburst. Something always had to give when the damn front door closed.
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