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Post by Fiera Ferella on Sept 14, 2023 21:01:30 GMT -6
Still, there was nothing to do now but forge ahead. She turned on her heel, continuing forwards towards the front door of the mansion. The front steps creaked under her feet, but for once in a way that didn’t seem menacing or ominous- just creaky, like a regular house would be. Peninnah shifted in Fiera’s grasp, and the humanish gave the vespa a comforting pat on the head. “Don’t worry- once we’re inside I can set you down again, alright?” She said, hoping that she would get the picture. Fiera was met only with another desperate writhe and sighed, picking up the pace a little. She got to the front door and reached out for the handle, before noticing something on the outside of the door- a large bronze knocker. She hesitated, her fingers twitching towards the door handle again. There was no reason to knock. Nobody lived here anymore.
Fiera 9 Peninnah 3.4/5.4 19
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Post by Fiera Ferella on Sept 14, 2023 21:01:46 GMT -6
Fiera sighed. But, it was probably best not to tempt fate. She reached up and grabbed the knocker, rapping it a few times against the door for good measure. To her surprise, she heard something behind the door- a sort of rushing, rustling noise. Was it rearranging things inside now that she had shown some politesse? Fiera cringed, not wanting to know what she was going to find originally. After a few seconds though, the noise stopped and the humanish waited to see if anything else would happen, with Peninnah still chittering unhappily in the crook of her elbow. But no- the mansion seemed to be done, and the door even creaked open an inch or so on its own as if to say “Ok, you can come in now. I’m all good to go.” Fiera grumbled nervously and pulled the door open all the way, stepping in across the threshold.
Fiera 10 Peninnah 4.0/6.0 20
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Post by Fiera Ferella on Sept 14, 2023 21:02:00 GMT -6
What was on the other side was… not what she was expecting, admittedly. Normally the mansion started her out easy, with a room that was odd but still looked like… well, a ROOM, with the door standing in a normal doorframe, maybe some windows with a view of the outside that only looked slightly different from before she walked in, so on and so forth. But this wasn’t even a room. It was just a field of corn. Fiera didn’t even notice the door sliding closed silently with a click behind her. The air was still cool with that pleasant fall crispness (but not so cold that it was uncomfortable- like that time of year when the temperature was just about perfect), and a slight breeze ruffled her hair lightly. It was like she wasn’t even indoors- no, she WASN’T indoors. The humanish looked up and found an endless field of blue staring back at her.
Fiera 11 Peninnah 4.1/6.1 21
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Post by Fiera Ferella on Sept 14, 2023 21:02:15 GMT -6
There weren’t even clouds- just sky, a sky so bright it hurt to look at even if she couldn’t find the sun in it right now. Even Peninnah trilled quietly and shoved her face into the crack between Fiera’s arm and her ribs, surprised at the sudden brightening. Around them, they were in a small clearing within the corn stalks, with branching paths forging out into the stalks around them. They towered over Fiera’s head (even though she was quite a tall woman), their heads heavy with the golden vegetable, ready to be harvested, but there was no trace of farming equipment around, nor any signs that they had ever been here. The ground was made of perfectly dark and loamy soil, perfect for growing crops, but also perfectly flat- there were no rows for the corn to grow out of, no sign of a human touch having planted any of this.
Fiera 12 Peninnah 4.2/6.2 22
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Post by Fiera Ferella on Sept 14, 2023 21:02:29 GMT -6
Which was admittedly a little unnerving. Fiera didn’t know much about farming- her garden was about as close as she got, and it was mostly for flowers and appearances more than anything. But she knew at least that corn was sensitive. It was a truly domesticated crop, and you had to baby it every step of the way or else it would shrivel up and die under just about any circumstances. So to see it growing so untended was… odd. Plus, this was very obviously a corn maze. She hated those, and she had the feeling that she couldn’t just pick a direction and walk that way until she brute forced her way through it. At best, she’d probably end up right back at the start no matter what direction she picked because of the mansion’s magic, and at worse she’d never be seen again because she refused to play its stupid little game.
Fiera 13 Peninnah 4.3/6.3 23
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Post by Fiera Ferella on Sept 14, 2023 21:02:59 GMT -6
“Well. Truth be told, I can STILL refuse to play your stupid little-” Fiera said, turning around… only to realize that the door had vanished, and she was now standing in the middle of a supernatural corn maze in the middle of nowhere with no way out. She waved her hand in space for a moment, desperately hoping that the door was simply invisible instead of being gone entirely. She had no such luck. She swore under her breath, and then after realizing that she was alone out here except for Peninnah, swore as loud as she could, kicking up clods of soil from the ground. The indignity was intense. She had been trapped in the mansion before, but at least the way out was always obvious, if not exactly convenient. Sure sometimes she had to drop herself through three floors or run towards a lit doorway in pitch black with something chasing her…
Fiera 14 Peninnah 4.4/6.4 24
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Post by Fiera Ferella on Sept 14, 2023 21:03:16 GMT -6
But she always got OUT in the end. This time though, she really was obligated to stay right here until she figured out this dumb maze. Maybe she could at least… “Hm.” She said to herself before setting down her vespa. “Stay there, Peninnah.” She said, knowing full well that the baby wouldn’t listen. At least she was tied to Fiera and couldn’t go far. Then, she set her backpack down, which thankfully had all of the basics- including a small length of rope. If she remembered her knots correctly, she could hopefully tie some of these corn stalks together to make a pole that would be visible for quite some distance. Before she tried though, she walked over to the nearest corn stalk. With quite a bit of tugging and some odd looks from Peninnah, she was finally able to wrestle it out of the ground, setting it on the ground next to her backpack.
Fiera 15 Peninnah 5.0/7.0 25
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Post by Fiera Ferella on Sept 14, 2023 21:03:34 GMT -6
“There… now I just need a few more.” She said, clapping her hands off before getting to work. She turned around briefly to find Peninnah tugging on the tassel coming from the top of the stalk, trilling slightly as she played tug of war with it. Fiera had to admit, it was pretty cute. She would prefer the tassel to stay on, but if she ended up eating it, it would be no big deal… except for, perhaps, the stomachache it might give her from eating so much plant matter. For now though it looked like the vespa was simply playing around with it, which left Fiera to get her work done. Within a few minutes, the humanish had yanked out a few more of the stalks, leaving rich holes riddled with roots in her wake. “Sorry baby, I need this.” She said gently, picking up the stalk that Peninnah had been playing with, much to the vespa’s displeasure.
Fiera 16 Penninah 5.1/7.1 26
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Post by Fiera Ferella on Sept 14, 2023 21:03:53 GMT -6
She trilled loudly as Fiera picked it and gripped the stalk with her legs, holding on tight. Fiera opened her mouth, ready to protest, but ultimately decided against it. She could stay there while Fiera was getting set up- who knew, maybe she’d notice something interesting from up there. Slowly but surely, she tied the other stalks together in a tripod shape, with the fourth sticking out from the middle to stand high over all the other stalks in the field. It was admittedly a little sloppy looking, but the breeze wasn’t strong enough to blow it over yet. Ideally, it would give Fiera a landmark of sorts that she could see from a distance. That way, if she ever got lost, she could simply look for the tassel standing out above the rest and make her way over to that to simply start the maze over again. “Hopefully it won’t take me THAT long, though…”
Fiera 17 Peninnah 5.2/7.2 27
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Post by Fiera Ferella on Sept 14, 2023 21:04:06 GMT -6
Her stomach rumbled. Of COURSE she was starting to get hungry. She had a sandwich in her bag, but nothing substantial. “When we get out of here we’re going home, alright Peninnah?” She said, but the vespa didn’t respond. Of course she didn’t- she was all full of apple from earlier, wasn’t she. And yet… she seemed particularly focused, looking out over the field towards the horizon. “See anything interesting, Pen?” Fiera said, holding her hand over her eyes to help shield them from the blinding sky. The baby vespa squeaked once and shimmied her way back down the corn stalk. If there was something interesting, she clearly wasn’t saying… but at least her interest gave Fiera a place to start. There was a path leading off in the direction that Peninnah had been looking, so that cut down on Fiera’s options. Even if it didn’t lead out, maybe it would at least lead to something interesting.
FIera 18 Peninnah 5.3/7.3 28
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Post by Fiera Ferella on Sept 14, 2023 21:04:20 GMT -6
With that in mind, Fiera collected her pet and picked up her bag. She gave the cornstalk tripod a few tiny kicks to make sure it wasn’t about to fall over as soon as she stopped looking. It seemed stable enough, so Fiera finally turned to leave. She took a deep breath and stepped over the threshold between the clearing and the path. As she walked down the path, she glanced behind her. The tall and tousled tassel of the elevated cornstalk was visible over the other stalks, and looked like it would still be visible for some distance. “A small blessing.” Fiera muttered, and was sure to keep an eye on it even as the path twisted and turned. When she and Peninnah came to a branch in the path, she looked left and right between the two options. “Thoughts, Peninnah? You were the one that got a good look at it.” She said.
Fiera 19 Peninnah 5.4/7.4 29
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Post by Fiera Ferella on Sept 14, 2023 21:04:33 GMT -6
But alas, the vespa simply hid its head in her hair. “Fine, I’ll pick one why don’t I.” Fiera said with a sigh. She remembered reading somewhere that you could always get out of a maze if you just kept your hand on the right wall the whole time, even if it meant double backing on yourself. Eventually, you would just explore every option the maze had to offer. Fiera wasn’t sure if she wanted to try that trick on this particular maze- she wasn’t sure it couldn’t shift while she wasn’t looking. Still, heading to the right was as good an option as any. She glanced over her shoulder again- the tassel was still in sight. “Fine then…” She muttered to herself, and headed down the right path. Nothing bad instantly happened, so she decided it was at least an acceptable decision. As she walked though, she realized she was hearing some sort of noise. A… rustling?
Fiera 20 Peninnah 6.0/8.0 30
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Post by Fiera Ferella on Sept 14, 2023 21:05:08 GMT -6
Fiera whirled around, looking for the source of the noise, her ears pricked. The tassel was still behind her. The wind rustled through the leaves of the corn stalks, but that wasn’t what she was hearing. Was something… stalking her? She whirled around again, but couldn’t locate the sound- no matter how hard she tried, it always seemed like it was coming from behind her. It wasn’t rustling now, it was more of… crunching? Oh god, had it already caught someone else? She raised a protective hand to Peninnah- only to find the little creature happily nestled in her hair instead of on her shoulder. She ran her fingers up and- “PENINNAH! Are you CHEWING on my HAIR?” Fiera shrieked, suddenly realizing the true source of the noise. Peninnah didn’t respond, but simply pulled even more strands of Fiera’s hair into her strange little mouth, chewing loudly right into Fiera’s ear.
Fiera 1 Peninnah 6.1/8.1 31
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Post by Fiera Ferella on Sept 14, 2023 21:05:23 GMT -6
“Get out of there! You can’t even digest that, Pen!” The human hissed, picking up the vespa and pulling her away from her shoulder. Peninnah chirruped low, refusing to let go of her ‘prize’ until Fiera manually pried open her jaws. “Oh, that’s disgusting.” Fiera grumbled, pulling the strands out of Peninnah’s mouth. “Alright, no more shoulder time for you.” Fiera said, and set Peninnah down on the ground. The moonstone vespa immediately moved to climb up her leg again, but Fiera began to walk again, forcing Peninnah to hustle to keep up. The humanish ran her fingers through her hair, trying to restore her head to some manner of order again. “Ugh, it’s going to take forever to get this out. Remind me to put my hair in a ponytail after this so no one on the way home sees what a mess I am.” She grumbled to herself.
Fiera 2 Peninnah 6.2/8.2 32
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Post by Fiera Ferella on Sept 14, 2023 21:05:37 GMT -6
In her frustration, Fiera had been picking branches and paths in the maze at random, any concerns about danger long forgotten. Her ego was much more important, after all. To her credit Peninnah hardly seemed to notice, and was happy to trundle along after her. After several minutes, Fiera realized how long she had gone on for without paying attention and looked around, searching for the tassel above the sea of stalks. It was out of sight. “...Crap.” She muttered to herself. Had it fallen over? Had the mansion simply vanished it? Or had she managed to walk so far that it simply wasn’t visible anymore? It could be any of those options, but regardless of which one she picked, it meant that she wouldn’t be able to find her starting again. Which meant that her only possible course of action now was to keep going and pray she found the exit.
FIera 3 Peninnah 6.3/8.3 33
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