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Post by Renathan on Aug 23, 2019 3:20:26 GMT -6
  A small model caravel sat nearby on a flat surface, with a single twisted seashell leaned up against it. |
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Post by Ashe on Aug 25, 2019 17:12:10 GMT -6
Ashe spent one more moment looking at the door, as if trying to memorize exactly where it had been. He didn't want to be trapped and wandering for the rest of his days, but he didn't want to waste too much time looking back when he could have been looking forward and enjoying it. So he gazed once more at the vine covered door then he ventured further into the room, if you could even call it a room at this point. Inyala ended up leaving his shoulder; she found a low hanging vine that she could reach from her perch there and she grabbed it, climbing up and away from Ashe as she went to explore as well. There was so much going on here! She wanted to see it all! And Ashe walked along the soft dirt floor, his sandals barely leaving a scuff mark as they went, and he moved as quietly as possible.
Ashe: 0 16/20
Inyala: 7 1/5
August Post 31
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Post by Ashe on Aug 25, 2019 17:22:33 GMT -6
The warm breeze felt good on Ashe's face, and with the sounds of the water and the animals around him, it was quite relaxing. He could probably pull up a couple of vines, make a hammock, and get situated for a decent nap, if he felt so inclined. But while he was able to rest and relax, he doubted he'd be able to sit and do nothing without his mind getting ahead of him and urging him to get up and be productive and find some buried treasure or something. So on he went, trudging through ferns and plants and making his way to the water ahead.
Up above, Inyala was hoping from vine to vine, sometimes swinging while she tried to gain enough momentum for the next jump. She would make it, and climb upward a bit, before continuing on her horizontal pace. She glanced down sometimes, to make sure Ashe was still below her and hadn't disappeared.
Ashe: 0 17/20
Inyala: 7 2/5
August Post 32
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Post by Ashe on Aug 25, 2019 17:26:36 GMT -6
Ashe finally made it to what looked like a beach. It was a mixture of dirt and sand, like it was trying to stay true to a tropical rain forest but also wanted to be a coastal beach. Ashe slipped off his sandals, knowing he would just get sand between the soles and his feet. He didn't want that, and he was also so tempted to just feel the ground beneath his toes. So that's what he did. On he walked, careful until he was sure there was nothing sticking out of the dirt that would hurt his feet. And there wasn't, it was all smooth walking from here to the water's edge, not even a rock. But he did see something up ahead that might prove useful...
Inyala had run out of vines. They had gotten shorter and shorter the closer she got to the water and now she had no where else to go!
Ashe: 0 18/20
Inyala: 7 3/5
August Post 33
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Post by Ashe on Aug 25, 2019 17:29:17 GMT -6
She clung to the one she had and watched Ashe pass under her. She waited for him to get into the perfect position, watching him like a hawk. She might miss, and if she did she could end up eating dirt or bouncing into the next cluster of ferns, or she could end up landing her strike and resuming her place on Ashe's shoulder. Or his back, if she's all she could grasp as she fell. She could, alternatively, call out and have Ashe turn around and catch her, but she thought that this game might be more fun. The trick was to do it without calling that much attention to herself, and that meant doing it without failing at it!
Meanwhile, Ashe was unaware of the plotting going on above his head. He was just trying to reach the water's edge and get his feet wet! He also saw what looked like a shell peeking out of some sand.
Ashe: 0 19/20
Inyala: 7 4/5
August Post 34
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Post by Ashe on Aug 25, 2019 17:34:11 GMT -6
With complete trust in herself and her master, Inyala made the jump. She flew through the air, outward toward Ashe, and then down, down, down. At first, she thought she had it. Then Ashe took a single step further and suddenly he seemed so far away and she was sure she was going to miss. Part of her, instinctively, wanted to close her eyes and just hope. But no, she was brave, and she would watch what was coming with determination. She reached out with her claws and her hands, and her legs bunched below her. In a couple of seconds she would know one way or the other if she had misjudged the distance or not.
It seemed like the seconds ticked by, but in truth it was just the natural way of things, for perception to become so strong time was no longer measured in minutes or seconds, but something much slower, and then... She landed.
Ashe: 1 0/20
Inyala: 8 0/5
August Post 35
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Post by Ashe on Aug 25, 2019 17:38:25 GMT -6
She landed.. On Ashe's shoulder blade. The man jumped, startled at feeling something drop down on him. He had that instinct where you freeze and try to see if what you felt was moving or not. Well, that worked for tickles on your arm hair; a pause and you could see if it was a spider crawling, or just a shed hair tickling. But this was not quite the same thing, because there was no mistaking a weight coming down on you from above. What else would it be, a giant Roc pooping on you? But Ashe paused nonetheless and tried to figure out if he was under attack or if something had simply fallen and landed on him. It never occurred to him that it would be his faithful Imp!
Sure enough, Inyala crawled up his shoulder, once she'd recovered from the impact, and chirped a greeting to him. Ashe smiled and reached a hand back to pat her on the head.
Ashe: 1 1/20
Inyala: 8 1/5
August Post 36
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Post by Ashe on Aug 25, 2019 17:42:08 GMT -6
"Wasn't sure if I should be taking cover, or if someone was playing a joke on me!" Ashe told his Imp with a chuckle. "It looks like it might be both!" He gave her a final pat, then continued on. He was mere steps from the water now, and he could see a couple of things spread out on the shore. The first thing he had seen was a spiral shell jutting out of the sand, and it was to this item that he hurried first. He had seen it from a ways back and was glad it hadn't disappeared, as things were known to do in this Mansion, before he could get there. He quite liked these shells, and came to think of them as trinkets. They were things you could offer to this magical wishing well, when you wanted to be extra blessed. The mansion was almost entirely a game, wasn't it? And you collected tokens and tickets for prizes.
Ashe: 1 2/20
Inyala: 8 2/5
August Post 37
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Post by Ashe on Aug 25, 2019 17:46:44 GMT -6
Inyala watched Ashe stoop to pick up the shell. He got close enough to the ground that she hopped down and landed without much impact. The sand, mixed with the dirt here, was extra soft and bouncy! She became a little distracted with the texture, holding up handfuls and letting it slide out between her fingers. She did this a few times, then bounced on all fours on the pile, seeing how squishy it truly was. While she was having fun, Ashe happened to spot something else and started to move off... Without her! She scurried after Ashe and reached him in two seconds, this time walking close beside him as he walked. He soon reached the place he saw the other shell in and he stooped to pick that one up as well. Like the first, he pocketed it quickly and started scanning the bank to see if there were more. Where did these things come from, originally?
Ashe: 1 3/20
Inyala: 8 3/5
August Post 38
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Post by Ashe on Aug 25, 2019 17:50:12 GMT -6
Together they reached the riverbed, and together they knelt by its shore to dip their hands into the rolling waves. It was fast moving, but didn't seem to have a dangerous current. It looked like it went on for about fifty yards, and there was a distant shore on the other side. Ashe suddenly wanted to travel to the other side, to swim and see what was over there. The harder to get to a location, the better the rewards, wasn't that how it went? The easier places were the most often traversed, the most picked clean by the most people. But this? Ashe definitely wanted to go. He set his sandals down and set about making sure all of his belongings were zipped or enclosed in pouches, so they wouldn't fall out or float away.
Inyala was playing with her hands in the water, doing some splashing, when something caught her attention out of the corner of her eye and she scurried to investigate.
Ashe: 1 4/20
Inyala: 8 4/5
August Post 39
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Post by Ashe on Aug 25, 2019 18:00:41 GMT -6
Inyala ran up to the thing that was settled on the shore and grabbed it with both hands, turning it over and over. It was a little toy boat! She thought it was quite cute and even went down to the water and tried to make it float. Her first attempts failed; she couldn't manage to get it to float on its own. So them she kept hold of it and made it float, or appear to float, all by herself. She pulled it a little bit down the river toward Ashe, and it looked like it was floating along on its own. Even if it really was just her hand holding it up, the appearance was enough to delight her! She made a chirp to get Ashe's attention and the man smiled at Imp and toy, seeing that she had found something to play with. Good for her! He didn't want her getting too bored or anything while they were exploring.
Ashe: 1 5/20
Inyala: 9 0/5
August Post 40
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Post by Renathan on Aug 25, 2019 21:23:17 GMT -6
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Post by Ashe on Sept 2, 2019 15:29:45 GMT -6
  The harvest was upon them. Ashe could feel it in the air, and see it all around them in the colors of the leaves and the trees starting to strip naked. He wandered through the grounds of the mansion with two trusted companions, a small black dragon amulet spirit and a determined blue imp, close at hand. The dragon floated just above his shoulder, and the Imp sat perched on the other one. The sun was going down, painting the sky a beautiful fiery red-orange that complimented the leaves on the trees and turned the world a soft, warm golden color. He sighed softly, relaxing. He loved the summer more than anything else, but like most people, it was a balls to the wall, get out and enjoy the weather, hurry and train this and do that, time. With the cold starting to creep in, Ashe knew he would recoil back into his home and not go out as much. He felt almost like he was going to go into hibernation - just him, and Vix, and their pets. He would have to convince her to move in permanently with him, even if it meant making room for her pets... Maybe he could just expand his land? Now would be a good time to do it! Ashe felt his foot hit something and looked down; it was an apple! Ashe: 0 6/20 Inyala: 0 1/5 Charon: 0 1/5 - Loyalty September Post 1 |
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Post by Ashe on Sept 6, 2019 22:53:32 GMT -6
Ashe knelt down and picked up the apple. Did he dare try to eat it? People around here didn't tend to use toxic bug spray on their crops, he didn't think, and dirt itself didn't scare him. Worms might be in the apple but, hell, he'd eaten worse before. He considered it another moment then he shrugged his shoulders and took a bite. It was crisp and delicious, juicy to a fault. The juice ran down his chin and he had to wipe it off with his free hand. He closed his eyes and enjoyed this for a moment; cool breeze on his face, delicious apple on his tongue. People around now enjoyed a flavor known as pumpkin spice, which was more cinnamony than pumpkin if you asked Ashe, but cider definitely had Ashe's vote.
Inyala saw what he was doing and hurried back to where Ashe was standing to investigate. She had wandered a bit ahead, with her little buddy, Charon. The dragon floated above the ground, often about two feet unless Ashe was near, then he would hover over Ashe's shoulder. Right now, he was doing flips and spins in the air, enjoying himself. He was locked in the amulet unless Ashe was near, so the times he got to come out thrilled him.
Ashe: 0 7/20
Inyala: 0 2/5
Charon: 0 2/5 - Loyalty
September Post 2
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Post by Ashe on Sept 6, 2019 23:14:33 GMT -6
Charon eventually realized he was being left behind and hurried to fly back to catch up with his friend Inyala. The Imp was now standing at Ashe's feet, looking up at him to see what he was eating. Ashe looked down at her, debating on sharing his current treasure, and since he was a benevolent master, he knelt down to her level and held out the apple to her. "Go ahead and try it," Ashe told her, gesturing with the apple hand. She looked at it, then reached out and took it. It was a little heavy for her, big apple as it was, but she brought it to her face and nibbled at the edge of Ashe's large mouth bite mark. She perked up when she tasted the juice and took another bite, and another. Charon wanted in on this and floated down to her, landing and trying to dig in too. Soon, between the two of them, the apple was nothing but a core sitting in the grass, and even that was being gnawed on. Ashe shooed them away, gently, with his hands.
"Come on, guys! It's not good to eat those seeds, and they're not the yummy part anyway..." Why anyone besides an Equillion would want to eat the core anyway...
Ashe: 0 8/20
Inyala: 0 3/5
Charon: 0 3/5 - Loyalty
September Post 3
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