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Post by Alma on May 31, 2021 19:26:54 GMT -6
She was not even that sure they would take her up to the Temple had she been found outside the mansion, but some folks would eat the credit cost and hope that she’d reward them probably. That was what a few of the other Sentinels had mentioned, the unlucky ones who fell to some loon or beast roaming the borders of the city. Of them, only one had his body taken back by a concerned citizen, only to find that, when he tried to pay them for the help, his credit pouch was nowhere on his body. He had taken a loan against his next paycheck to cover it, a loan that had taken three months to cover, and so Alma made sure she left most of her credits safely at home. Any lunatics wanted her cash would have to run a fun gauntlet of beasts, and any that could were more than welcome to her money so that she never had to meet them. [21]
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Post by Alma on May 31, 2021 19:27:19 GMT -6
“Ain’t much here this month, huh Anon?” she asked the wiurn as he investigated a spot they had passed three times before, scratching at the grass with the claw on his wing. She could not blame him too much for having forgotten, only knowing it herself based on the position of the decorative planters nearby. The magic of the mansion certainly was active, even if it was only using it to ensure the lawn looked perfect. “Yah know, the note said the owner liked to do this day the whole month. Didn’t even know there was an owner.” Alma rubbed at her chin as the wiurn scratched at the grass. ‘Think they even want us here? Like, as if the stuff they throw at us ain’t nothing more than a way to get us to leave them alone?”
“Nah,” Alma answered her own question. “With all the magic they’re shittin’ out around here, they gotta be willing to let folks walk in.” [22]
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Post by Alma on May 31, 2021 19:27:42 GMT -6
“Else they’d put up some mumbo jumbo to keep folks out rather than let them in.” Alma had seen what mages were capable of when riled, hear stories ranging from growing back their own limbs to burning sarane into submission in the pit. It was a interesting way to make the beasts obey, Alma had to admit, but it seemed a tad more unfair than, say, stabbing them in the back as they tried to throw her off and kill her. “Not that the blighters care about fairness,” she told Anon as he turned in a circle, Alma staying close to his wing to avoid his tail. “Think that lot only care about food, fights, and breedin’. Only difference between’em is which one they like the most.”
She was not even sure if sarane had thoughts beyond those three when they were unbroken, her two browns constantly throwing themselves against the cages whenever so much as a whiff of another sarane came near them. [23]
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Post by Alma on May 31, 2021 19:28:25 GMT -6
The broken were not much better when it came to that, but at least she could quiet them down with some words and food.
As Anonymous stretched himself out on the grass, Alma walked over to investigate the planters. They were common rarities, and she could even name a few as she looked between the stems and petals for any sign of dragon treasure. She found nothing of the sort, unless fertilizer would be considered a form of treasure, and so she continued around the courtyard. Throughout her search, she tried to keep an eye on the mess of bandages piled in the center, the wiurn apparently trying to sun himself despite his cloth coverings.
Each planter only had the usual assortment of plants and dirt, only the complete lack of any sort of buzzing or squirming life separating the garden from a normal one. Then again, Alma did not have experience with the richer folk’s mansions. [24]
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Post by Alma on May 31, 2021 19:28:43 GMT -6
She supposed the richest members of the city could probably pay a mage to do some spell to keep their plants the same way so that they never had to fear being stung or bitten by something the size of a piece of kibble. She herself would not have minded if things like bees and mosquitoes could be somehow kept away from her at all times.
But the dirt did not even have worms or the little bugs that rolled into balls as far as she could tell, dragging her fingers through the top layer of dirt. It parted easily enough, apparently not packed in at all despite looking perfectly level, and she found nothing for her digging other than a few roots she did not dare pull on. If the mansion had a master, she did not doubt they would take offense to purposely destroying the garden on one of the few occasions it was normal.
Anon had no such issues. [25]
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Post by Alma on May 31, 2021 19:28:54 GMT -6
His tail had pushed up some of the grass as he made himself comfortable, his tailblade carving up more than a few pieces of grass as it buried itself again and again in the ground. The bandages there, though they had been meant to cover blades and keep them safe from anything that might dull the edges, had been cut by the repeated motions. Now the bandages followed the end of his tail like streamers whenever he moved it. And he moved it quite a bit as he sought to find the best angle to enjoy the sunlight despite the bandages that covered him.
Alma barely noticed the lack of bandages around his tailblade as she squatted next to the final planter, this one bearing only one type of flower, some waxy thing with petals forming a cup shape towards the open sky, but in an assortment of colors that Alma did not expect came to it naturally. [26]
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Post by Alma on May 31, 2021 19:29:11 GMT -6
She gently held them aside as she searched the flowerbed, the straight stems parting easily enough as she peered into the dirt. And it was only dirt. A few more looks, a few more flowers gently brushed aside by gloved hands, and there was not even a single rock to be squinted at and pretended to be dragon-shaped in some way. She pulled out a handful of it, holding up to the sunlight as though it would magically transform into gold and gems, neither of which were particularly valuable in the city anymore due to the low prices set by the shops, but at least they were a damned sight prettier than dirt.
When the dirt proved to be nothing more than dirt, Alma let it fall back into the flowerbed, not caring if the magic of the mansion had already replaced the small hole she had dug. Slapping her hands together to free her hands of the clinging dirt, she walked back to Anon. [27]
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Post by Alma on May 31, 2021 19:29:24 GMT -6
“Looks like we missed the holiday somehow, bloody dragons,” Alma sighed, plopping down into a sitting position near the finally settling wiurn. “Bad enough that they had to bother that farmer, worse that they had to come back while I’s there. Made me miss out on the holiday somehow, house is just a house this time.” She wiggled her feet in her boots, then sighed again. “Nothing outside said we couldn’t come on in, and the thing had mentioned the outside might look normal but, well,” Alma shrugged, “I still expected something. A claw, a coin maybe. Something whimsical that I could stick in a case and enjoy looking at it, ya’know? Dragons are a lot cooler when ya’ don’t hafta be dealing with a real one.” And as she was still pointedly ignoring the fact she had dealt with one that day, she removed her gloves and pulled out the sandwich. [28]
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Post by Alma on May 31, 2021 19:29:41 GMT -6
She gave Anonymous the command to stay as she unwrapped her meal, the wiurn showing no issues with it now that he had finally gotten comfortable. There was a moment where the bandages rustled and she spat out a “No” just to be sure he was not about to try to steal her sandwich, and likely take her hands with it, but he settled his head back against the ground without so much as a grunt in complaint.
The sandwich was as delicious as she had hoped, excepting the portion that was just cheese and veggies, and she alternated between taking a bite of it and taking a swig of water to clear her mouth. It was a decently sized one, and she had intended to save half for a later meal that day, but the events of the day had left her stomach feeling as empty as her sack currently was, and she swallowed the last of it with great relish. [29]
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Post by Alma on May 31, 2021 19:29:52 GMT -6
Now that she had eaten the last of her delicious meal, Alma drank a little more of her water. Unlike the sandwich wrapper, which she folded and shoved into her pocket to avoid leaving it on the mansion grounds, the water skin still had plenty of its contents left at the end of her lunch. Had she brought a book, she might have spent a good part of the day at the mansion, stretched out with the wiurn on the grass and enjoying the sunlight in what had to be one of the few times the mansion’s owner had let the house be a normal house, but she did not. In fact, laying on the grass near the snoring Anonymous caused her mind to drift to the events that had happened a little earlier, that had netted her this time to hang out at the mansion and do nothing. Not that she had intended to do nothing. [30]
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Post by Alma on May 31, 2021 19:30:19 GMT -6
Finding out that the dragon had a patron in the city, claiming that they were some rich mage or something, had limited her options at the time. The farmer had wanted blood for the beasts he had lost, and the dragon seemed to not only think it was entitled to the herd but that the farmer practically owed it for being willing to eat such scrawny, useless beasts and leave the rest of the herd alone.
She had been able to tell that the farmer had never been a city dweller for two reasons. One, he clearly was cowering behind Alma for most of it, only his fear of the beast stopping him from taking his pitchfork to it. Two, he had assumed Alma had been there to kill the beast, bragging earlier to her that he would mount the skull afterwards as a warning to any who dared prey on his herd.
Anon shifted in his sleep. [31]
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Post by Alma on May 31, 2021 19:30:32 GMT -6
Arguably, she could have killed the dragon as it flew to steal another of the herd. Well, not her killing it directly, but the dragon-eater wasp she had brought with her certainly could have taught the dragon how dangerous gravity was. But she had been warned that the dragon in question likely had one of the insane members of the city sponsoring it, and the dragon had confirmed it as it licked the blood off of its claws. And, seeing as the individual in question likely had magic and beasts that an army could not have stopped, she had only been authorized to pay the farmer for the lost beasts like some servant, covering the debt of the spoiled rich citizen and their scaly beast.
The moment the dragon was gone, likely laughing to itself over Alma’s warning of a fine should it happen again, the farmer had begun to curse her.
Anon continued to snore, unaware of the world. [32]
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Post by Alma on May 31, 2021 19:30:47 GMT -6
The funds she gave him did calm him enough that he remembered the giant wasp she had brought, and then he had asked her what the point of the Sentinels were if they could not even help the farmers who brought in the real produce to the city. She had been tempted to try to explain, to draw lines in the dirt far from the blood that was all the dragon had left behind of the beast to explain how the city worked, how tenuous the position of the Sentinels was. How she was too weak to help any of the citizens that suffered at the hands of mages and the rich beastmasters.
Instead, in a moment of insanity that brought back the same knot in her stomach now as it did when she left the farm, she told him to come to her directly if the dragon stole from him again.
A snore from Anonymous brought her out of the memory with a jolt. [33]
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Post by Alma on May 31, 2021 19:31:13 GMT -6
She looked at him, one of the larger, non-pliathor beasts the labs could offer the citizens of the city, and knew he could kill her with one blow. A sting from his tail would see the poison end her if the cut did not, a bite or a playful bash of his head could cave in her ribs, and her decision had been to offer aid as though she could. The Sentinels were not supposed to interfere with the more powerful citizens, their decision to usually act just outside the city more to prevent catching the attention of some mage that could make them cry blood and dance like mindless puppets than for protecting it from any true threats.
If the dragon came back, if she used her vespa to put it to sleep midair and send it plummeting to its death below, there was no telling how much trouble she would be in. [34]
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Post by Alma on May 31, 2021 19:31:25 GMT -6
The dragons, strange beast-like folk they were rumored to be, might unite against the city to demand her death, and she had no doubt she would be handed over and tied with a bow with those who allied themselves with the dragons. She could never ask the other Sentinels to help, not when to do so would guarantee a war or, more likely, their deaths at the hands of dragons and their pet-people. There would be nothing she could do for the farmer because either the dragons would come for her, or the patron of the dragon might decide to take her life in exchange.
And yet she had an invisible beast beside her now. Something that no one could see, something strong that could deal with the problem if the dragon came back. Damnit, the man and his family might live beyond the walls, but they were still citizens of the city. She had seen his husband at the stall, the man selling butchered chunks that had been carefully carved to hide the ragged teeth marks. [35]
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