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Post by Fiera Ferella on Jan 29, 2024 11:32:03 GMT -6
Fiera huffed, tugging again. "Come on Henri, come!" She said, giving the command and he finally relented, bunching himself up before launching off the top of the structure. Fiera yelped in surprise for a moment before hastily catching the jolly bird, who happily curled up in her arms. "Geez, that's one way to do it." She muttered under her breath. As she turned around though, she saw someone in the distance emerging from the mansion's front door. That was unusual. Normally the mansion was so big that you didn't meet up with anyone else- or perhaps it even had separate instances of itself to prevent such a thing from occurring. But here was someone that Fiera had to note was quite well dressed. A fluttery scarf, a cashmere sweater, bell bottom pants and white boots. They were in quite a state though- covered in slashes and some unidentifiable black liquid.
Fiera 6 Henri 9.1/11.1 6
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Post by Fiera Ferella on Jan 29, 2024 11:40:45 GMT -6
If it weren't for their dissheveled state, Fiera would almost want to give that person a compliment. Heck, they were even a felid humanish like herself, with black ears and a long, presumably fluffy black tail though it was soaked with that same liquid as well, giving it a matted appearance. Why, the woman even had... a jolly bird... tucked under her arm...
Oh, no.
"Are you me?" Fiera shrieked, not even thinking about how weird that would sound if it DID turn out to be another person. But it was very clearly her, especially as she approached, and Fiera even recognized her characteristic angry stomping. "Well I WAS you about half an hour ago." The other Fiera hissed, checking her watch. "Or maybe a couple hours. Or a week. It's fucking January, so who even knows." She said, pressing her ears back with anger. The other Henri seemed perfectly pleased with himself, though he was covered head to toe in that strange goop.
Fiera 7 Henri 9.2/11.2 7
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Post by Fiera Ferella on Jan 29, 2024 13:53:53 GMT -6
Fiera resisted the urge to laugh at the other Henri, and only narrowly missed a swipe from her apparent clone. "Don't even think about it. That'll be you too if you go in there." She hissed, her tail struggling to puff up past the goop. "I wasn't planning on it." Fiera said, flipping her pristine hair. "Yeah, so was I, until I saw a nice trinket through the window. Not worth it, I can tell you that much." She huffed, readjusting her pet. Fiera eyed her again. "I'll keep that in mind- oh gods, my SCARF!" She said, just now realizing the extent of the damage. It was a light, fluttery thing and at first Fiera thought it had been left unscathed from the goop. Now though, she was realizing that it was in fact not just fluttery, but cut to ribbons. "I just got that!" She hissed, pointing at it.
Fiera 8 Henri 9.3/11.3 8
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Post by Fiera Ferella on Jan 29, 2024 13:56:35 GMT -6
"You think I don't know that?" Her future self yowled back, gesturing at it. "Five hundred credits down the drain in a few seconds because this guy didn't want to get wet!" She said, gesturing again at future Henri, who was careful sizing up Fiera's Henri. Present Henri was still perched at the top of the glass sculpture and was apparently curious about the new jolly bird friend down below, but seemed hesitant to go say hello- perhaps realizing that something about this situation wasn't quite right. Fiera rubbed her temples. "Alright, just- just go home and see if it can be salvaged. I'll try and make sure that that... doesn't happen this time around. And hopefully we won't all explode from a time paradox." The other Fiera seemed pleased by this- or at least, resigned to her fate, given her current state. "Don't have to tell me twice." She huffed, waving her off.
Fiera 9 Henri 9.4/11.4 9
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Post by Fiera Ferella on Jan 29, 2024 14:43:27 GMT -6
Fiera watched as her other self stalked back towards the front gate of the mansion and opened the creaking structure, dragging it shut behind her with a clang. She felt like she really should have been more upset by that whole situation- meeting another version of herself, apparently from the future. But frankly, it may as well have not been real- the mansion had created plenty of illusions before, why would that one be any different? And besides, it was one of her, so what threat would that be? She'd never hurt anyone- well. Let's not go that far. She'd never hurt herself, that was for sure. And if it was somehow real and she had just seen the end point of a potential time loop, then that meant she now had plenty of warning on what was going to happen, and it meant that she knew for sure that she wasn't going to die in the next hour or so.
Fiera 10 Henri 10.0/12.0 10
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Post by Fiera Ferella on Jan 29, 2024 15:10:26 GMT -6
Get extremely dirty and a bit torn up, sure, but other than that, Fiera practically had immortality for the next half hour. Well... so long as she decided to take a trek through the garden, see a window with a shiny trinket in it, hop in, presumably get in a mishap with Henri and a pool of liquid, get her scarf shredded, and leave out the front door. Perhaps she wouldn't do that after all. "Well, no time like the present to get going." She adjusted Henri in her arms and set off towards the gardens, which were past an ornate fence. It was in some unpainted metal, the bars twisted and woven to look like astral symbols. They were pretty, but hardly something she could pick up and take with her, so she opted to silently enjoy them instead. She pulled open the smaller gate silently and stepped through.
Fiera 11 Henri 10.1/12.1 11
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Post by Fiera Ferella on Jan 29, 2024 15:14:17 GMT -6
The gardens were surprisingly dense. Certainly denser than what they looked like from outside of the area, but that was par the course for the mansion. What looked like regular bushes were now tall hedges that towered over Fiera's head, reducing the sparkling constellations above to a small strip of light that shone down on her and Henri in the narrow hall like a spotlight. There was only a maybe two foot gap between the hedges, leaving Fiera with just enough room to walk without brushing her shoulders on the hedges if Henri walked in front of her, but if she leaned to either side she'd easily catch her clothes on it. It was like it was guiding her, not carefully but with a hand gripped strongly on her shoulder, pushing her ahead. She clucked her tongue. "How needy." She noted and set Henri down so they could start walking.
Fiera 12 Henri 10.2/12.2 12
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Post by Fiera Ferella on Jan 29, 2024 15:18:43 GMT -6
He was more than happy to get started and rushed foward, quickly reaching the end of his lead and slowing to a more reasonable pace once he choked himself. Despite the low level of light, the grass under their feet was tall and lush, so green it was almost dark blue- though that admittedly might have been a trick of the light. It was so tall that it came up to Henri's elbows, making him look a bit ridiculous as he waded through it, though it didn't seem to reduce his speed at all. In fact, he was chirping loudly as if to try and urge Fiera to hurry up. She was happy to take a more leisurely pace however, peering through the hedges to see if there was anything out there. She could see faint lights through the dark branches, soft and inviting. She knew better than to try and reach in and grab at them however- that was a good way to lose a finger.
Fiera 13 Henri 10.3/12.3 13
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Post by Fiera Ferella on Jan 29, 2024 15:23:27 GMT -6
Of course, they could be something perfectly harmless, but even now Fiera could hear rustling within the hedgerows. Whether it was the wind or some manner of creature Fiera didn't know, but she didn't want to find out either. And yet, something told her that if she stayed away from the edges of the hedge rows, she would be fine. Henri stopped briefly as well, tilting his head curiously at the gloom, but Fiera snapped her fingers. "Henri, no." She ordered, and to her relief he obeyed, just as happy to trot along. Soon the pair came to a split in the road, with the path turning to the left and right ahead of her. In the center of the fork was a large white rose, albeit glowing a soft blue color. Fiera hummed in appreciation of it- a glowing flower. How pretty. She supposed that that might explain what the glowing inside the hedges was.
Fiera 14 Henri 10.4/12.4 14
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Post by Fiera Ferella on Jan 29, 2024 15:28:32 GMT -6
Nothing about it explained what direction they should go in though, so Fiera opted to go towards the right. If her memory served correctly, that would take them back towards the mansion and hopefully they could use that to circle back around towards the front door, allowing them to finish their little walk and go home. That would be the ideal, at least- if she was wrong, they'd be wandering around for quite some time. It wasn't like the paths here ever stayed truly straight. But it was a good enough guess. "Come on Henri, let's go this way." She said gently, tugging on the lead. Her little pet was quick to follow after her and then forge ahead with confidence as if going this way were his idea to start with, his little legs just barely clearing the grass as he high-stepped. Fiera was happy to trail along after him, keeping a watchful eye on their surroundings.
Fiera 15 Henri 11.0/13.0 15
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Post by Fiera Ferella on Jan 29, 2024 21:09:39 GMT -6
The hedge maze went on long enough for Fiera to lower her hackles a bit, but soon she could see something at the end of the "hall" ahead of them, stark white in comparison to the deep bluish-green of the bushes. As they approached she realized that it was indeed the mansion like she was expecting. When she approached she could see that most of what she just walked up to was endless decoration and crenulations bordered by the fence and hedges, all of that detail wasted on a part of the mansion that nobody would ever see. At this point the pair was forced to turn to the right, essentially walking along the outer edge of the hedges pressed up against the fence that went around the mansion- the same fence that Fiera opened the gate to get into the garden to start with, meaning she was on her way back.
Fiera 16 Henri 11.1/13.1 16
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Post by Fiera Ferella on Jan 29, 2024 21:19:59 GMT -6
As she walked by the wall however, the various pillars and posts and elegant gargoyles and carved fleur de lises petered out into a smooth expanse of marble (or some other fanciful stone, she wasn't a geologist. When she went down to the mines she was looking for pretty crystals only, all the other rock types could suck it.) that, slowly but surely, began to be peppered with windows. She glanced in them with mute curiosity as Henri trotted by. Most of them she could actually see pretty well into from this distance. The fact that it was so dark out outside meant that seeing into the similarly lit interior was pretty easy. Many of them were still pretty boring however- a snippet of a bookshelf, a lone piano, a set of curtains covered in astrological symbols. All very pretty things, but nothing really worth maintaining her gaze on them for more than few seconds.
Fiera 17 Henri 11.2/13.2 17
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Post by Fiera Ferella on Jan 29, 2024 21:31:23 GMT -6
But then, there was one window. It was immediately obvious what the difference was when she walked by- a bright light shone from the window, fully illuminating Fiera. A state she hadn't been in since she first entered the mansion grounds. "...Hum." She said to herself, and Henri turned his head to look at her, now also distracted from his walk. She leaned in towards the fence, gently gripping one of the poles with one hand, her fingers struggling to find a position between the loops and whorls welded to it. As she squinted to try and see through the window, the light refracted by the glass hurt her eyes. But it looked a lot like there was a bright object throwing off the light. Maybe the size of a baseball? And sitting on a...shelf? She couldn't see much more of that however, but it admittedly piqued her interest.
Fiera 18 Henri 11.3/13.3 18
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Post by Fiera Ferella on Jan 29, 2024 21:35:40 GMT -6
She glanced up and around at the window. While it was one of those incredibly tall, stately affairs with stained glass laid out in leaded diamond shapes, she couldn't help but notice that there were partitions and sectioning in it- including, if she squinted, possible hinges. There was a chance that she could hop over and just... open the window to take a look. "Sounds good to me." She muttered to herself and put her other hand on the fence. It was pretty easy to climb all things considered- the ornate design gave her a lot of good handholds, and Henri would be light enough to just pick up and pass over to the other side. But as she neared the top of the fence, she felt a sudden tug on the lead and alarmed peeps from Henri. Her head snapped around to look, but to her relief nothing seemed to be attacking him.
Fiera 19 Henri 11.4/13.4 19
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Post by Fiera Ferella on Jan 29, 2024 21:37:54 GMT -6
Or anywhere near him, for that matter. "What's your problem, Henri?" She said, holding out a hand. "You're fine!" But the jolly bird wouldn't relent, and ran back and forth while chattering madly. "Come on, it's just a window! Nobody even owns the mansion anymore, it's not like we're going to... get in... trouble..." She said, a memory suddenly stirring in her mind. Her past self! The goop! The torn scarf! The warning! Holy cow, how had she forgotten all of that so quickly? It was like the experience had been a dream that she had forgotten just as soon as her future self exited her field of view- and here she was now, mere minutes from becoming that future self, covered in slime and scratches. She didn't know what was in store for her in that window, but it definitely wasn't worth all that trouble. "Thanks for the reminder, Henri." She said, and hopped down.
Fiera 20 Henri 12.0/14.0 20
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