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Post by Lethalia on Sept 30, 2019 4:11:26 GMT -6
Taking in a deep breath, Lethalia made an attempt to rein in the panic before it took hold. Look again at the create she'd set down - Nea wasn't just in there and hiding beneath her blanket or in the shadowy side or anything like that, was she? As much as she would like to hope that was the case, everything could just be over and wrapped up because she freaked herself out over nothing, another glance in the carrier found no neapolitan orbaru within. Letting loose a few choice words, Lethalia double checked Dusty's cage, sighing with a small amount of relief to find the wide-eyed male still caged, albeit looking a bit alarmed at her sudden commotion. "At least you're still here." Yes, talking was good, even if it wasn't to her own pets, it would still calm her down. "Y' shouldn't lookit me like that, though." Not that he could entirely be blamed for giving this strange giant carrying him the side-eye for making a fuss. At this point in time, the little male didn't seem to notice or really even put up much of a fuss that his companion was no longer with them. At least one of them were going to remain calm. breeding| 15
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Post by Lethalia on Sept 30, 2019 4:11:31 GMT -6
Alright. So, she's not in carrier - duh. The sloth isn't to be found immediately around the satyr's hooves, or the male's cage. Both are right in front of her face, so that one is also... duh. It might feel stupid, but it was keeping her panic at bay while she quickly checked all of the most obvious areas. How many times had a parental unit lost their shit over missing a little one and went searching all over town, only to find in the end that they'd been 'lost' in their very home or park they'd been thought missing from? Instead of springing up right away like her bleating instincts bid her to do, the satyr rose slowly, hoping to not spook Dusty any more than she already had, or drive a potentially hiding Nea any further away. Gingerly, she bent to look down the road that the low stone wall bordered, all the way down the lane each way. Nothing either way down the road, so she leaned back to see if the sloth had managed to grapple herself over the wall, a glance up and down each narrow channel that the crops couldn't grow too close to. No luck there, either. breeding| 16
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Post by Lethalia on Sept 30, 2019 4:11:36 GMT -6
Flashing through her mind all at once, a few awful ideas came to fruition. She could never show her face in the city again, if she lost someone else's pet - that had been her fear the entire time! Stomach sinking, Lethalia couldn't help but be led to the worst ideas, because she absolutely wasn't going to be able to return to the city having lost track of one of the most well known residents' pets... Oh gods. There was no telling what the sloth could have gotten up to around here either, what she could have encountered. This wasn't only farmland, not around here - these people would certainly have creatures of their own. Nobody would think anything if their giant feline or vulti dragged in what appeared to be a stay orbaru. Blinking away the morbid thought, the current attention turned back to Dusty's bewildered green eyes boggling at her. The internal struggle probably did look awfully strange. Besides - she hadn't even gone looking yet! Nea wasn't gone yet, not if an attempt was made to look for her! No reason to start pondering ideas of skipping town if things hadn't come to happen yet, as much as her instincts wanted to set her panic ablaze. breeding| 17
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Post by Lethalia on Sept 30, 2019 4:11:42 GMT -6
A steadying breath, and the thought occurred to her - before darting off like the madwoman she felt like - that carrying around two of the boxy carriers with her wasn't going to do her a lot of good. Either she could come back and gather the abandoned carriers later, or she would end up pissing off one of her neighbors down the lane. Either way, this was going to happen. Hells, maybe Dusty could even be more of a help to her outside of the carriers, even if she was quite concerned about losing another one. Things were this far gone already, she might as well go for it, right? This guy was going to be more familiar to Nea than she was, and that could help draw the wandering female out of wherever she got off to. Not to mention simply being a male, and orbaru seeming to be made for solely procreation, she felt like using Dusty as bait may well be her best option. Worst case scenario... well, that meant she was definitely skipping town. "Alrigh' little guy," Lethalia breathed out, statement wavering in spite of her best efforts, "wanna come out for a minute? Y'gonna help me find y' girl!"breeding| 18
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Post by Lethalia on Sept 30, 2019 4:11:46 GMT -6
Tilting the carrier sideways, Dusty fit well with his diminutive form on the now much smaller bottom of the carrier. He booped curiously at her, and she was pleased at least he didn't seem all bothered by any of this. Having him trapped in the back of the carrier, she was able to open the door and reach down to secure one of the harnesses and leashes she'd brought with her. All the fuss he was interested in putting up was trying to play with her fingers, and swat at teh straps of the harness as she fumbled to try and fit it around him. Really she would find him to be just the cutest thing ever if she wasn't internally losing her mind just this moment, her hands too sweaty and shaky to be able to latch the harness around him easily. "G'boy," she murmured to him, mostly to keep herself calm as her fingers slipped again and again in her haste. It took forcing herself to slow down and take a breath to be able to get the buckle to catch - it was always when you were trying to go the fastest that things slowed down the most! "Awwright, y'wanna find Nea with me?"breeding| 19
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Post by Lethalia on Sept 30, 2019 4:11:52 GMT -6
The statement felt awful to make, and it took her a moment to get over the surge of adrenaline her instincts so helpfully provided for her. With a steadier hand than she was actually feeling, the satyr took up his leash and scooped Dusty out of his cage, setting him down on the inside of the stone fence before stepping over it herself. There, first steps made! Her gut impulse still wanted to panic, prey's 'intuition' driving her to feel more like darting away rather than do anything productive with her fear. Battling it down, she made some small kissing noises to Dusty to get him to look at her, giving him a tiny tug of the leash to lead him into the rows of corn set in front of them. Happy to see him following behind her, it seemed to become something of a game for him to follow in the furrows her hoof steps left for him through the vegetation. As long as he was being good and tagging along, the last thing she needed was him twisting his way out of his harness right now. Everything would be juuust fine... "Nea!" Did the sloth know her name? She had no idea. breeding| 20
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Post by Lethalia on Sept 30, 2019 6:23:01 GMT -6
This was all quite a wonderful game for Dusty, who followed the gentle tugs of the leash as Lethalia pushed her way through each row of thick cornstalks. It might be a bit of a jerk way to go about it, pushing through the field instead of going down each row, but it was the easiest way to see down each lane of corn as she went through. Hopefully Nea hadn't gotten terribly far, but at least the rich dark soil and greenery meant it shouldn't be incredibly easy for the orbaru to hide among the dirt. Her beautiful creams and strawberry-cream colors would stand out like a sore thumb among this harvest, which she could be the slightest bit grateful for. Every row of corn brought about more of a flitting of her heart, the growing worry that she could have missed Nea entirely somehow - walking circles around the stray would be the worst thing that could happen! Was that a booping she could hear in the distance, or was it simply wishful thinking on her part? If the power of thought could pop Nea back into existence, Lia was going to try and will the lost orbaru back into being with all her might. If only.breeding| 21
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Post by Lethalia on Sept 30, 2019 6:23:10 GMT -6
For his part, the male orbaru remained along for the ride. Each thick leaf of corn that was unsettled by the giant he followed was a game to be played with, batting wildly at the flailing greenery before catching sight of the next to dart right along to. For all she thought he might help her out a little, he really didn't seem all that interested in tracking down Nea for her. Shouldn't a male orbaru be more concerned about where his females were? They hadn't really been all that thoroughly introduced yet, but that shouldn't matter if they were ready to breed... Worrying her lip, the satyr coasted to a stop when a small farmhouse came into view over the stalks of corn. If they were anything like her, there would be at the very least a small lump of creatures to protect the land, and if she was really unlucky, they had something territorial like a seeker or a sarane. If that was the case, it would certainly spell disaster for not only the tiny lost rabbit-thing, but for the woman tracking her down as well. Best get away from the house before she found out any more thoroughly than she cared to. breeding| 22
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Post by Lethalia on Sept 30, 2019 6:23:18 GMT -6
"Dusty... c'mon little man, y' don't smell 'er or anythin', d'ya?" she prompted with a quirk of her lips. Back down the corn field, in a slightly different direction than they had been heading. Could an orbaru wedge themselves between the stalks? Hopefully the lighter colored female would stand out well enough, and be large enough, she wouldn't be able to pull such a feat off. Dusty really didn't seem to understand what was going on here, and was busy enjoying his time outside - clearly he wouldn't recognize the squawking of the satyr as the name of his would-be companion. Giving herself credit for how calmly the search had been going so far, the satyr only had to hope she could keep it up once the stone fence came into view once again, bringing them back somewhere near where they'd started. That was no good - had she just not looked at the cornfield thoroughly enough? Wavering, the satyr's scanning of the area led to the next adjacent field - the one packed with different gourds of all kinds. These people grew a beautiful variety of them, pumpkins striped with white, strangely shaped and warty ones, pale mottled squash of all sorts of strange heirloom types. breeding| 23
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Post by Lethalia on Sept 30, 2019 6:23:41 GMT -6
Taking in the pallet of autumnal colors before her, Lethalia's hopes for finding Nea slowly dropped as the realization donned on her... how was an orbaru of her coloring, going to be found in a pumpkin patch that shared nearly all of her colors?! Oh gods, she hadn't even thought about the vine-covered patch until she set eyes on it again. Well then. What was she to do, look for a particularly furry pumpkin, among hundreds of others? That sounded like a near impossible feat, and was turning her sour quite quickly. Tugging the woman out of her reverie, Dusty booped and tugged at the leash, for all he'd been perfectly content just to follow thus far. Unsure if he knew anything tangible or if she was just going to let herself be led to another dead end, Lethalia gave into the orbaru's pressure and let him take her in the direction he so desperately wanted to bring her in. Realistically, she probably didn't stand to gain or lose much of the ground she'd managed thus far, so what was the harm in letting him? "D'ya know somethin' I don't?" she asked of him, even if she's likely not going to get an answer aside from more boops and tugs. breeding| 24
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Post by Lethalia on Sept 30, 2019 6:23:49 GMT -6
Well, fine, if Dusty thought he was onto something, the satyr would keep trying for him too. "Nea!" What she'd thought was an imagined answering boop the first time, came another much closer call, but with all of the pumpkins and such around the direction was hard to decipher. Dusty seemed pretty certain though, and jerked the leash around the large gourds as he weaved his way through the path he thought he found. This was the best lead she'd gotten the entire time they were here, so why not take it best she could? It took time for such a little orbaru to pick his way through the gnarled vines of the patch, and such an amount of trekking passed that the satyr began to wonder just how far this patch extended, and if they would ever find success - Having to stop short and stumble to the side to keep herself from stepping on either of them, Lethalia gawked at Dusty jumping atop one pumpkin in particular - which wasn't a pumpkin at all. "Nea!" The female yawned widely at her, having been drooling on the pumpkin adjacent to her moments before. Fishing for another harness in her bag, the woman lept at the chance to get her borrowed critter under control once again. Thank gods nothing had happened to her! breeding| 25
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Post by Lethalia on Sept 30, 2019 6:24:15 GMT -6
Leading her two orbaru once again to the dirt road, Lethalia lifted each orbaru over the stone wall before clumping over it herself. Now that she found herself actually having to stand on her own accord with her adventure over, Nea slumped to the dirt road, making her disinterest in walking immediately clear even as Dusty tried to tug at her ear in gentle play. "Really?" Lethalia blurted, her distress over the day growing quite a lot more quickly than it normally would have. "After all a' that... and y'not even gonna walk?" Taking a breath to settle herself, the satyr made note of how low the sun was growing in the sky - she didn't have time for this. The walk back down the lane was a long one, considering Dusty had found Nea much further down the pumpkin patch than Lethalia had ever even thought it would extend. In the end she was just pleased to have the sloth orbaru back in her arms, and no harm having come to any of them from a guard animal that she'd been looking over her shoulder for the entire time. Nea was really quite too heavy to carry like this, but what choice did she have? Dusty was having the grandest time alternating between bouncing around her hooves, and asking to be picked up so he could 'love on' the girl he found. breeding| 26
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Post by Lethalia on Sept 30, 2019 6:24:31 GMT -6
Once the building came into view quite some walk later, the darkened windows of the breeding center made her heart skip a beat (she was going to end up with cardiac problems with all the stress of today.) All of that work, and they were closed?! As was her way, Lethalia had been pushing her luck in breeding the orbaru so late in the month, which was definitely being risky if there was a refusal. She wouldn't have had enough time to come back in that case, and she had been kind of hedging her bets on the critters getting their business 'done' in rather short order. An adventure that found her trapezing through someone elses' farm wasn't entirely planned for, either. Hurrying towards the door with poor Dusty trailing behind her, Lethalia hefted (princess) Nea further on her shoulder. Just through the glass doors, she could spot a few employees lingering around, sweeping the lobby and tidying up after the rush of the day. Orbaru were probably still pretty popular with their recent resurgence. The door was locked when she reached for it, but the satyr rapped urgently on the glass instead, hoping to garner someone's attention. The clock over the receptionist's desk - hah! They were closing up early! Which meant they weren't going to be the least bit thrilled with her, but hey, that wasn't really her problem. breeding| 27
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Post by Lethalia on Sept 30, 2019 6:24:47 GMT -6
The tapping on the glass at least garnered someone's attention, one of the employees turning around with a furrowed brow. Pressing the door open from the inside, he cracked it open just enough to point out, "We're closed.""By that clock, not yet," Lethalia pointed out, likely shorter than she ought to be in this situation. Her arm was getting quite tired of hefting this big girl, and she'd like to get this all over with. "Closin' shop early, ay?" That definitely got an even deeper scowl, and the satyr stuck her hoof in the door before it could be closed. "Hey now. 'M on time, and this... shouldn't take long." Didn't know that for sure, but hey, she was on time technically! Being just on time was going to be something the woman did for all her days, and she was fine with that. In spite of their incredible annoyance with her, it looked like she'd won out this time, and the door was opened completely for her. "Thaaaanks," she chimed, likely unwise to press her luck, but she was going to anyway if they were being unkind enough to close up early. So there! breeding| 28
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Post by Lethalia on Sept 30, 2019 6:24:53 GMT -6
The registrar never seemed happy to have to help someone out with their paperwork, and especially not right before closing - and definitely gave her some withering looks for having two orbaru on leashes as opposed to in carriers, where they couldn't accidentally couple in the waiting room. Lethalia couldn't be bothered by their ire in the least, having found herself impervious to the thoughts of other people as she got older. Her own screw-ups, sure, those could get her - but the eyes burning on her back as she made off for her designated room literally didn't matter one bit. Not after what the rest of the afternoon had brought, after tracking down troublemaker Nea, dealing with some pissy humanoids meant nothing! Seeming quite worn out from their ordeal, the orbaru didn't seem to be interested in causing too much more trouble for the day. Lethalia hoped with all her heart that was all of the fuss they were able to put up for now anyway. Nea flopped with exhaustion when she laid the female on the floor, rolling over to allow her harness to be peeled off with a lame boop. Dusty was less exhausted, since he'd done less exploring on his own, and pounced on the bigger female's tail as soon as he was free of his harness. How much energy did the little guy have to expend? breeding| 29
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