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Post by Fiera Ferella on Apr 23, 2021 0:23:14 GMT -6
Yeah, getting hit by a stray bolt of rainbow lightning wasn’t very high on Fiera’s to do list. Unfortunately, neither was what came next. As Fiera looked back down from the sky to her pets, an action she could have sworn only took a few moment, she realized that they were nowhere to be seen. A stab of panic went through her gut. She couldn’t see or hear her houluh anywhere, just the swaying psychedelic grass. “Oasis? Twinkle? ...Dayo?” She called nervously, kicking herself for not having taught them their names yet. She received no response though, the only sounds around her being the soft creaking of the mansion as it distantly struggled to stay upright and the crackle of the hidden lightning above. Then it hit her as if that lightning finally came down. The leashes! She was still holding the leashes! She looked down to find the retractable leashes snaking away into the grass, completely slack. That was... odd to say the least, but it was the only (literal) lead that Fiera had, so she decided she’d take it. Giving the front gate one last longing glance, Fiera hesitantly strode forward into the ever deeper grass. Even though she couldn’t detect any change in the height of the ground beneath her feet, the grass continued to get taller despite appearing to be the same height as far as she could see. Soon it towered over even her own head, getting close to blocking out the sky.
Fiera 20 Dayo 3.0/8.0 Oasis 3.0/8.0 Twinkle 3.0/8.0 15
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Post by Fiera Ferella on Apr 23, 2021 16:30:50 GMT -6
That on its own was a little concerning, but Fiera was more confused by the fact that even though she was reeling in the leash as she walked, it wasn’t getting less slack at all. Ignoring the fact that they couldn’t possibly have run this far that fast on their own, Fiera knew that the leash didn’t have this much length in it to start with. Which meant that the mansion must have been magically lengthening it.... probably for the express purpose of fucking with her. Excellent. Fiera grumbled as the grass continued to grow higher and higher, and deepened in color, eventually evening out to a purple color. Then, just ahead of her, Fiera saw the grass petering out. Had she finally reached her houluh? Or at the very least, something that wasn’t grass? She almost involuntarily picked up the pace as she trotted towards the light, eager to get any sort of answer. As the grass thinned around her (but didn’t get any shorter), the clearing came into view. Despite the colorful tones of the grass, the soil it grew from was surprisingly gray, sandy, and dead looking in a ragged edged clearing in front of Fiera. And in the center of the clearing... was a large hole. Fiera’s ears flattened. It looked a bit like a tortoise burrow, it’s entrance wide, flat, and narrow, but it was nearly six feet tall and ten feet across, with light not traveling more than a few feet into it.
Fiera 1 Dayo 3.1/8.1 Oasis 3.1/8.1 Twinkle 3.1/8.1 16
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Post by Fiera Ferella on Apr 23, 2021 16:47:29 GMT -6
No matter how much she squinted, Fiera couldn’t see anything past the mouth of this tunnel, let alone her houluh. She glanced down- and of course all of her leashes led directly into it. Of course. Why wouldn’t they. The humanish heaved a deep sigh as she realized she was going to have to go down there. She looked around the clearing one last time as if to memorize her surroundings though she knew full well they’d probably change the second she turned away. Then she marched down into the mouth of the tunnel grumpily. “I had better find a shitton of puppies down here.” The humanish grumbled to herself. “Just, houluh out the wazoo. Hell, even more than I came in with. Bullshit fucking mansion, I hate it.” The ground rumbled as she gave that last comment, and she promptly shut up before she gave the grounds even more reason to collapse in on herself. Instead, she swapped back to calling for her houluh. “Dayo! Oasis! Twinkle!” She shouted down the tunnel, hearing her voice echo back at her. Huh. The dirt here must have been more packed than she thought, she noted as her voice came back to her. Normally you only got an echo that clear down in the mines. In addition, it was a lot less dark down here than it had been outside. The inky blackness must have been a trick of the light, as she could see relatively well down here.
Fiera 2 Dayo 3.2/8.2 Oasis 3.2/8.2 Twinkle 3.2/8.2
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Post by Nadia on Apr 24, 2021 2:44:13 GMT -6
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Post by Fiera Ferella on Apr 24, 2021 11:56:48 GMT -6
It was clear that she was in the mansion proper now as she was starting to find its junk, too. A couple of tiny bottles filled with a swirling gas and a note tied up in string. There was a part of Fiera that wanted to pop those bottles right open to see what the note said, but she didn’t dare risk breathing in that gas. She’d likely be seeing pink elephants on parade within the hour. Instead she just shoved them into her bag, wanting to keep working on finding her houluh. To her surprise a small snake wrapped itself around her wrist as she was putting the bottles away. She squealed loudly and moved to shake it away, only to realize that it was... made of rubber? It certainly felt it, and she could see the changes in texture and glossiness between the blue rubber body and the messily applied paint, as if it had been mass produced in a factory. She was sorely tempted to believe someone was pulling a prank on her (not a far off assumption during Tiken Tikal) and had thrown this at her just to spook her. And yet, she could still feel the pulsing of its heart beneath her wrist and watched as it flicked its tongue in and out to scent the air. It was a real snake, just... made of rubber. Another figment created by the mansion. She’d have to wait and see if it continued breathing after she left.
Fiera 3 Dayo 3.3/8.3 Oasis 3.3/8.3 Twinkle 3.3/8.3 18
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Post by Fiera Ferella on Apr 24, 2021 17:31:53 GMT -6
“Don’t suppose you know where they went, eh? Three houluh pups? One brown, one orange, and one black with white dots?” She said conversationally with the snake, mostly for her own amusement. To her surprise though, the little creature actually seemed to respond, turning to peer down the tunnel, flicking its tail toward the gloom. “Oh, uh. Alright then. Thanks, I guess.” Fiera stammered, her usual sass gone due to the surprise. If a random living rubber snake told her where her pets are, who was she to judge? ...She then proceeded to read that sentence back to herself in her head and realize just how weird her life had gotten since she moved here. Still, she wasn’t about to put... good advice... to waste, and slung her backpack back over her shoulders. It was time to get back to work and find her houluh. As she walked down the tunnel, the seemingly infinitely long leash continued to reel in, and Fiera was amazed her end of the leash could hold that much spare rope. As she walked however the tunnel changed in appearance as well. The dull, pale soil darkened in color and became more tightly packed. Fiera footsteps stopped being quite so muffled and began echoing louder and louder as the texture of the floor came to resemble stone. She supposed she must have been getting pretty deep, then. Now that she noticed it, the walls appeared to be changing in texture as well as the floor.
Fiera 4 Dayo 3.4/8.4 Oasis 3.4/8.4 Twinkle 3.4/8.4 19
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Post by Fiera Ferella on Apr 24, 2021 18:11:47 GMT -6
The closer she looked at it, the more she realized that the texture was... swirled in some way. It was like someone had come along and carved painstaking spirals into every inch of the tunnel. Even the floor was carved now that she took a closer look at it. It was a little unnerving, considering that each one was slightly different, truly the work of a person and not an automated machine. The humanish felt her pace pick up a little more as she followed the leash, hoping desperately that she found her houluh soon, if just for her own sake. Then, from the distance- was that a yap? “Oh thank goodness.” Fiera muttered to herself as she heard the sounds of barking houluh in the distance. The more she walked, the closer they got too. She strained her ears to hear them, pricking them as high as they could possibly go on top of her head to try and direct herself forward. To the humanish’s relief, they didn’t sound distressed or scare either. The barks they were using were the exact same as the ones they made at each other when playing, instead of the surprised and pained yelps that they made when Fiera tripped over them on accident (and then spent 5 minutes petting them to make them feel better). She felt the fear flow out of her as she realized they weren’t hurt or scared, and instead had likely just run in whatever direction looked most interesting.
Fiera 5 Dayo 4.0/10.0 Oasis 4.0/10.0 Twinkle 4.0/10.0 20
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Post by Fiera Ferella on Apr 24, 2021 21:56:22 GMT -6
She kept trotting through the tunnel and eventually realized it was getting lighter with a surprisingly grim greenish tone. The path began sloping upwards and she finally came out into an open area. She blinked in the light a little bit, examining the area around her. The swirled stone stretched up to the ceiling, nearly fifty feet up like some sort of stadium. The light itself came from swirling green motes, like over watching observers of the melee below. Just in front of Fiera were a set of carved wooden steps leading downward to the floor, with the entrance to the room about halfway up the wall, now that Fiera judged the distance. The steps themselves were expertly carved and shiny, made out of the same stone as the walls- some sort of marble, perhaps? And the floor... the floor was tiled. A classic checkerboard, black and white, except every square was nearly a yard wide and tall, and the board itself stretched out as far as Fiera could see, like a world spanning chess board. Something told Fiera that if she went out there that far, she wouldn’t be making her way back any time soon. After all, it was perfectly flat in here- there were hardly any landmarks that she could use to orient herself to make it back to the entrance and the staircase. Thankfully she wouldn’t have to go very far, she realized with a sense of relief, the tension unwinding itself from her shoulders.
Fiera 6 Dayo 4.1/10.1 Oasis 4.1/10.1 Twinkle 4.1/10.1 21
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Post by Nadia on Apr 25, 2021 3:25:45 GMT -6
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Post by Fiera Ferella on Apr 25, 2021 15:28:49 GMT -6
There at the bottom of the staircase was her houluh, all three of them. The second she noticed their presence, the leash immediately snapped back to obeying the laws of physics and thermodynamics, reeling in enough leash to make sense instead of winding all the way down the stairs. They stared up at Fiera happily, clearly never having noticed that anything was ever amiss, their eyes filled with youthful innocence. And their bodies surrounded by marble carnage. Apparently, the comparison of this room to a chess board wasn't too far off, as it looked like the room had formerly been filled with statues made of black and white marble, specifically. They were carved and dressed to resemble the different types of chess pieces, tall regal women for the queens, squat men with sharp crown for the kings, so on and so forth. They were posed in dynamic movement that Fiera was sure wouldn't be able to stand up if they were set on their feet... which they weren't. In fact, it looked like they had been brought into existence and then immediately allowed to fall over and topple to the ground, shattering most of them into pieces with the exception of a few smaller pawns. They were all incredibly intricate and beautifully constructed, but this place looked like a marble murder scene. Was she supposed to walk in on this? She had only rarely seen a part of the mansion that felt "unfinished" in any way, and even though Tiken Tikal was unpredictable, this just felt... lazy.
Fiera 7 Dayo 4.2/10.2 Oasis 4.2/10.2 Twinkle 4.2/10.2 22
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Post by Fiera Ferella on Apr 25, 2021 15:32:01 GMT -6
"...Did you guys do this?" Fiera asked, confused. She couldn't imagine such small creatures managing to topple and break statues that must have weighed hundreds of pounds, but Fiera doubted that this was the state this room was SUPPOSED to be in. In fact, now that she looked at them better, she noticed that many of the statues' faces had their eyebrows raised and their mouths open in surprise. That, and the dynamic poses... "Are these things supposed to be moving? Like, like how people do? Why did they..." Fiera glanced back at her pets, only just now realizing that Twinkle was holding something in his mouth. "...Hey. Let me see what you have." She said nervously, approaching her pup. Of course he took this as a sign that she was trying to play and did his level best to play keep-away with the humanish, taking any opportunity to dash away from her hands. She sighed loudly, not really having the patience for this. "Okay, that's it." She grumbled to herself, and set Twinkle's leash to reel in as quickly as possible. He struggled against it, able to resist pulling in, but not being able to pull the leash back out once it was taken in. Eventually he was forced to sit in front of Fiera's feet. He still gave a valiant effort as she attempted to drag the object from his mouth though, growling playfully and getting the woman covered in slobber as she finally yanked it free from his sharp little baby teeth.
Fiera 8 Dayo 4.3/10.3 Oasis 4.3/10.3 Twinkle 4.3/10.3 23
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Post by Fiera Ferella on Apr 25, 2021 15:41:17 GMT -6
The second she felt that throbbing sensation against her fingers, Fiera knew exactly what it was she was holding- a magic crystal. "Oh, that... explains a lot." The humanish said, looking around. She hadn't noticed it the first time, but now she saw the small pedestal in front of the stairs, which she had ignored in her relief at finding her houluh. She stood up and walked over to it, briefly inserting the crystal into a divot on the top. Sure enough, it hummed loudly and the pieces on the floor shook violently, but were unable to stand up again due to being broken now. Fiera popped the crystal out again. It looked like this was supposed to be some sort of... living chess match or something like that, but had been ruined by the fact that Fiera's untrained and unruly pets had gotten there before she did. In their rambunctiousness, they wouldn't have known not to mess with the pedestal, and... crash. "Woops. Guess that one didn't turn out how you wanted it to, eh mansion?" She said with a chuckle, pocketing the crystal. Still, if this didn't go how the mansion wanted it to... maybe she shouldn't press her luck. She gave this area one last come over, finding a couple of extra items that she thought looked neat, putting them into her bag as her houluh sniffed around. They didn't seem to find anything else of interest either, but to be fair they were mostly focused on playing with- or fighting- each other.
Fiera 9 Dayo 4.4/10.4 Oasis 4.4/10.4 Twinkle 4.4/10.4 24
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Post by Fiera Ferella on Apr 25, 2021 15:46:39 GMT -6
With all of the items of interest cleaned out, Fiera packed up her backpack again and slung it onto her back, ready to go. She was about done here, all things considered. She didn't want to push her luck, and her houluh had had a nice day out- what else could a lady like her ask for? She had certainly gotten to know them better, that was for sure. "You ready to go home, guys?" She asked rhetorically, smiling at the pups. Twinkle in particular gave her a couple of sharp yaps in return, and with that she led them back up. The tunnel seemed to be longer and more twisting than it was on the way down, but there weren't any other particular surprises thrown at her. Fiera figured that the mansion wasn't going to give her any- it seemed almost embarrassed by what had happened downstairs. By the time she got up to the grassland again, nothing else seemed to have changed. She was able to make her way back to the front gate with no trouble at all, and quite frankly she was relieved. This had been a fun little adventure, that was for sure, but managing three creatures at a time had proven to be a little more than Fiera could actually handle. If anyone ever asked her about this trip though, she would be sure to make it sound like she had five houluh with her- no, six. And the mansion was on fire the whole time. Yes, that was a much better story.
Fiera 10 Dayo 5.0/12.0 Oasis 5.0/12.0 Twinkle 5.0/12.0 25
(Fiera takes her houluh and findings and goes home.)
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Post by Nadia on Apr 27, 2021 2:14:35 GMT -6
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Post by Fiera Ferella on May 13, 2021 10:37:15 GMT -6
Once more, Fiera was daring to brave the eccentric’s mansion. This time though, she wasn’t dragging a gaggle of houluh along with her and instead had a much more reliable “pet” with her- though she likely quite disliked being referred to as such. Amber was quite curious about the mansion from the day Fiera mentioned it, and had insisted on tagging along with Fiera on her next trip. The humanish had agreed, but with a few conditions. The first was that she had to stay close to Fiera at all times. If she wandered off, there would be no guarantee the woman would ever find her again. The second was that she had to carry her own little bag of emergency supplies, so that if anything DID happen, they would be prepared. And the third was that if Amber saw anything she wanted to check out, she had to get Fiera’s permission first. Fiera 11 Amber 21.1/8.1 1
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