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Post by Ashe on Jan 4, 2022 1:39:01 GMT -6
Two sets of eyes met and held over a field of twenty paces. Ashe's hands flexed at his sides, his fingers curling. Santiago's claws dug into the snow, his own palms flexing as he prepared. But neither of them was going to be the first to go. The first would be vulnerable. The first would be open to attacks. They held each others' gaze until they could not hold any longer. As if someone had counted down three, two, one - they sprung into action. Ashe dropped to the ground so he could grab some snow, and Santiago rolled some snow between his paws. Ashe threw the first volley, hitting Santiago in the shoulder, then he turned and took off running. But Santiago was ready, too, and lobbed his own snowball at the human. It struck him in the back and Ashe went down, leaving a cartoonish imprint in the snow where he landed, his arms outstretched and all. Santiago smirked and approached.
[Santiago: 6 3/5 Ashe: 1 13/20 *Inyala is on Ashe's shoulder but not gaining
January 13 TBB 8/10]
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Post by Ashe on Jan 4, 2022 2:03:28 GMT -6
Now that Santiago had figured out the game, it was a lot more fun. Ashe had more fun, too, with a partner to play with. The two chased each other across the expanse of ground in front of the mansion for at least another hour. They took turns attacking, and when Ashe wanted to spice things up, he showed Santiago how to make a snow fort, something that would withstand most snowballs thrown. Of course, Santiago built the bigger one and Ashe couldn't breech his defenses. Meanwhile, during his attack, Santiago was able to make a dent in Ashe's.
Eventually, the bonded pair grew tired and worn out from the snow war. Ashe was sweating under his layers of clothes and he was a little worried about getting a chill when the sweat started to dry. The pair called a truce in no man's land and both sat their tired butts in the trampled snow to catch their breath. But what fun they'd had!
[Santiago: 6 4/5 Ashe: 1 14/20 *Inyala is on Ashe's shoulder but not gaining
January 14 TBB 9/10]
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Post by Ashe on Jan 4, 2022 2:16:52 GMT -6
During their time playing with the snow, the sky hadn't changed much, besides the constellations moving. It was still dark, with just the smallest hint of a setting sun off in the horizon. During their breather, Ashe craned his head back to watch the sky, marveling at the stars. This time, Santiago looked with him. They were silent for a time, until Santiago voiced a question that must have been bugging him since earlier.
"What do you humans see, when you look at the stars?"
It was a loaded question and Ashe wasn't sure what he wanted in an answer. He was silent for a minute, gathering his thoughts, deciding what path to go down. "Well, humans used to use the stars to navigate during traveling, especially by sea and unmapped areas. It was all they had. They knew, after centuries of watching and note taking, where certain clusters were supposed to be during the year. And they could use those to guide them."
[Santiago: 7 0/5 Ashe: 1 15/20 *Inyala is on Ashe's shoulder but not gaining
January 15 TBB 10/10]
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Post by Ashe on Jan 6, 2022 3:16:23 GMT -6
After a moment's pause, Ashe addded, "To better recognize the clusters, people made pictures out of them. They connected the dots and then... Went crazy with their imagination." He laughed. "For example, that's a bear." He pointed out the dipper first, gesturing to the tail and following the star pattern up into the body. "Someone, somewhere, figured that looked like a bear. And then this one..." Ashe pointed out a couple of other basic, easy constellations. He drew a picture with his fingers, making sure Santiago could see them before he moved on to the next. The dragon took this all in, occasionally asking questions or making comments.
When Ashe had exhausted his knowledge, he returned the question. "What do dragons see?" He suddenly wondered if dragons had better vision than puny humans; he suspected they did! Why wouldn't they? And what could they see, up there in their canyons as they gazed at the galaxies above? He turned to look at Santiago.
[Santiago: 7 1/5 Ashe: 1 16/20 *Inyala is on Ashe's shoulder but not gaining
January 16 TBB 1/10]
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Post by Nadia on Jan 6, 2022 17:35:29 GMT -6
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Post by Ashe on Jan 7, 2022 3:14:09 GMT -6
Ashe and Santiago had tired from goofing off outside and decided to actually enter the Mansion now. They made their way through the snow, Ashe's boots crunching and Santiago's making the softest of muffled sounds. He moved more gracefully than Ashe ever could, almost like a shadow silently prowling. They reached the door and Ashe easily opened it. Together, they slipped through and into the first room there. It took Ashe a few moments to adjust; the room looked much like the outside; dark like night, but bright with the stars above. The floor was white fluffy carpet, too, which mimicked the snow. It was a strange feeling, to have the white ground, a chunk of darkness, and then what might have been ceiling illuminated brightly.
It took them both a minute, possibly two, to notice they weren't alone. A bear was starting to get annoyed at their presence, on the other side of the room. As Ashe stared at it, he realized the glowing points were stars... "Are you... Ursa Major?" He asked, dumbly.
[Santiago: 7 2/5 Ashe: 1 17/20 *Inyala is on Ashe's shoulder but not gaining
January 17 - Taming 1 TBB 2/10]
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Post by Ashe on Jan 7, 2022 4:20:23 GMT -6
Of course the bear didn't respond. It didn't even look like it paid attention to Ashe's voice. The man was at a loss and just stared at it. He didn't have much experience with bears, let alone constellation bears come to life! Was it tangible? Or was it more like a shadow lurker? While he was pondering this, Santiago was able to start moving. He took a few steps toward the bear, amazed at it. He tilted his head, seeing the bright points glowing like literal stars in the sky, connected like Ashe had said.
"Friend! Are you from the stars themselves? Why do you sparkle so, if not?"
It appeared he had successfully obtained the bear's full attention with both the approach and the words. He wasn't exactly friendly yet, and Santiago wasn't done. The Dragon approached some more, unafraid. "Ashe was just telling me about you. Ursa something. Ursa... It means bear. And that's what you are. Right?" The bear seemed a little irritated that Santiago came closer but hadn't attacked yet.
[Santiago: 7 3/5 Ashe: 1 18/20 *Inyala is on Ashe's shoulder but not gaining
January 18 - Taming 2 TBB 3/10]
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Post by Ashe on Jan 7, 2022 4:24:49 GMT -6
Santiago stood right up alongside the bear now, still gazing in awe at it. Perhaps the lack of aggression the dragon showed - the complete lack of anything, really, except awe, and the bear couldn't process that - had prevented the bear from attacking, and it looked slightly confused to Ashe. The man snapped back to attention and he reached around in his pockets. He always had treats of some sort, for spontaneous training, and he quickly located both fish and meat varieties. The bear would surely enjoy some of these! He opened the fish kind first, knowing that they would be the strongest and would get its attention first.
"Santi!" Ashe hissed, to get his attention. "I have treats, if you want to try to make friends with it!"
The dragon turned to face Ashe, saw (and smelled) the treats. "Do bears like treats?" He wondered aloud as he slowly exited the bear's personal bubble. The bear let out a growl of warning, though it wasn't too threatening. Santi grabbed the treats in his mouth and brought them back to the bear. He dumped the contents out in front of him.
[Santiago: 7 4/5 Ashe: 1 19/20 *Inyala is on Ashe's shoulder but not gaining
January 19 - Taming 3 TBB 4/10]
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Post by Ashe on Jan 7, 2022 4:29:44 GMT -6
Santiago emptied the fish treats, and stepped back to give the bear room. He spit the container out of his mouth and left it on the floor (Ashe would later retrieve the trash), then hunkered down to see if the bear took the bait. The bear seemed to eye him, but approached the food and started eating.
"There is more like this where we come from. Ashe enjoys feeding things. Come with us, and he will feed you too." The bear was even less threatening while eating, and Santi had a strange urge to try and touch it, feel if it was fur or the shimmery image of fur, like mental images conjured by the imagination while looking at the stars. But he resisted and didn't touch, at least not yet.
The bear finished the fish, and Santiago was surprised to see Ashe had snuck up quietly to them. He handed Santiago the meaty treats to try as well, since Santiago seemed to be the one wooing the bear. He emptied these, too, near the bear for him to eat. The bonded pair hoped that feeding would help generate interest in joining them; this was truly an amazing creature to behold!
[Santiago: 8 0/5 Ashe: 2 0/20 *Inyala is on Ashe's shoulder but not gaining
January 20 - Taming 4 [done] TBB 5/10]
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Post by Nadia on Jan 8, 2022 12:58:50 GMT -6
Food is the way to everyone's heart. The bear looks far more settled, and happier to accept your presence - it ambles forward, still cautious but seemingly prepared to follow along. [Congratulations, you have successfully tamed the creature!] Don't leave yet, though. There are still things to collect.
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Post by Ashe on Jan 14, 2022 5:30:50 GMT -6
The bear appeared to enjoy the treats. Even more, the bear seemed to acknowledge that they were good; they gave tasty treats. Ashe just hoped the bear was satisfied enough that it didn't get too pushy wanting more treats. Santiago looked at the human, his head tilted slightly.
"We gave it food. What happens now?"
"Well, it seems to like us now. It might follow us on our searching. Who knows, it might help us find stuff, too! It lives here." Ashe looked the bear over from the distance that separated them, thinking things over. He hoped it would continue to stick around, it was a pretty cool creature.
"Then he'll be coming home with me, I suppose. Into the city, not the Canyon."
Santiago nodded, understanding. Neither party present could picture this bear having a good time in the Canyon with all the draconics lounging around, living and running businesses. Ashe, honestly, wasn't sure what he would be doing with it, either, once he got it home.
[Santiago: 8 1/5 Ashe: 2 1/20 *Inyala is on Ashe's shoulder but not gaining
January 21 TBB 6/10]
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Yang
Flea Market Artist
Posts: 1,001
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Post by Yang on Jan 15, 2022 18:17:38 GMT -6
Others still have taken up residence in the plush, nightly winter-scape room; a pair of gallors, taking refuge among the thick white carpet, ears and eyes on the others that had since come inside. Calm, inquisitive, it seems they're unbothered by the bear filled with stars, and the sentient companions..
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Post by Ashe on Jan 21, 2022 4:23:50 GMT -6
Ashe was a little distracted suddenly by pretty purple motes that were floating around. His gaze followed them as they floated through the air, then down to the ground, rolling like the gentlest of dust bunnies. He followed them with the intent to capture. He'd already found one, and now two more - he wondered if these were things to collect, things to toss into the wishing well. He made it a point to only toss things that he had multiples of! Just in case it didn't work. And so far, only the most plentiful treasures seemed to count.
Santiago watched Ashe go after those lights. He stayed where he was, letting Ashe catch them. The human could handle it without his help, and he doubted he would even be much help anyways. He turned instead to watch the bear and see what it was up to; it appeared to be chill, snuffling around for anything interesting that might have been dropped on the floor.
[Santiago: 8 2/5 Ashe: 2 2/20 *Inyala is on Ashe's shoulder but not gaining
January 22 TBB 7/10]
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Post by Ashe on Jan 21, 2022 4:27:26 GMT -6
Ashe reached out to grab one of the motes, and the first attempt found him with a fistful of air. The mote floated away, just out of reach. Ashe tried again, lunging forward, and this time he closed his fist over it. He quickly pocketed it, and reached for the other one, which bounced around a couple more times before submitting to his grasp. He pocketed that, too, and by now he was stooped over and almost kneeling; that was when he saw a little something on the ground in front of him. He dropped to his knees, trying to clear away some of the white fluff. What was that...?
Santiago suddenly sensed some movement beyond the bear. He jerked his head up, then narrowed his eyes as he attempted to make it out. There were small shapes over there. Cubs, maybe? Santiago wondered if that was why the bear was here, confronting them. Protecting babies, perhaps? Or were these something else...? He took a step forward.
[Santiago: 8 3/5 Ashe: 2 3/20 *Inyala is on Ashe's shoulder but not gaining
January 23 TBB 8/10]
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Post by Ashe on Jan 21, 2022 4:45:52 GMT -6
Ashe was able to get the corer free, and then he worked the whole thing. It was a rolled up scroll that had gotten buried in some snow imitation fluff. He opened it, looking it over. In the dim, next to darkness, with the stars as the main light in here, he wasn't able to make out all of whatever was on here, but it looked like a map of stars. The pin pricks of light almost sparkled in the light it caught and reflected. This was a great find, he would have to look at it better in the light! He pocketed it as well and stood back up once he made sure there was nothing else around for him to find. The Mansion was quite generous already!
Santiago was able to see the creatures behind the bear a bit better now and he saw there was a tiny bird thing, and also a larger winged beast. They were both small, still cub sized, but...feathers.
[Santiago: 8 4/5 Ashe: 2 4/20 *Inyala is on Ashe's shoulder but not gaining
January 24 TBB 9/10]
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