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Post by Briar on Dec 1, 2019 3:45:27 GMT -6
In this kind of weather, even he could bear to be outside a while, even if it wasn’t the most pleasant thing he could think of to do.
And, well, since she was here all by herself, he wondered if Thistle got lonely. It didn’t seem like she did, but people hid things too, all the time, especially unpleasant feelings. And unlike with people, he couldn’t exactly ask her how she felt. He had decided to keep visiting her to check up on her health, so he’d just keep outstaying his welcome like this until she made a point of telling him he wasn’t wanted. Whatever other troubles they had with communication, he was certain that she could make it known when she really wanted him to get lost.
For now, however, he only took a deep breath of the chilly air and turned to her, smiling.
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Post by Briar on Dec 1, 2019 3:45:44 GMT -6
“It’s not sunny, but at least it’s not snowing anymore,” he said. “You aren’t cold, are you? I could lend you my scarf.” He didn’t take it off, but he did observe her as she picked her way through the snow. She didn’t seem bothered, and she didn’t look cold either, though what ‘cold’ looked like on a King of Evergreen, he didn’t rightly know. Did they shiver? Trees could shiver too, but that had more to do with wind than anything else.
He supposed he might as well ask the shopkeeper who had sold Thistle to him. She had been taking care of Thistle before all this, and she was an expert gardener, wasn’t she? He was sure she knew a lot more about plants than he did, and since his reading skills weren’t very strong as of yet, he couldn’t turn to books as easily as Aster did.
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Post by Briar on Dec 1, 2019 3:46:17 GMT -6
But it was maybe just as well for Aster that there were so many books for him to rely on, since he certainly didn’t rely on people. Even his chores these days were conducted through a TROD, though Aubrey had been around long enough that he remembered the days before that was the case. Things took longer to get done back then, partly because Aster would put off trips into town for as long as he could… And then partially because he was just bad at dealing with people once he got there. Shopkeepers respected money, even if the customer wasn’t pleasant, and Aster didn’t go in to start fights or anything, but… Well, good manners and a little charisma did make a world of difference.
“Do you think you’d like to visit Miss Alura again?” Aubrey asked Thistle, almost ponderously, as though he almost hadn't meant to.
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Post by Briar on Dec 1, 2019 3:47:45 GMT -6
And maybe he hadn't, since he didn't really expect an answer from her to a verbal question posed in such a manner. It had just slipped out--- again, that bad habit of talking to Yeo-reum all the time, when the Tat absorbed words like a sponge and Thistle didn't.
But there were, as it turned out, some words that even Thistle knew. The King of Evergreen looked up slightly at the name, and Aubrey wondered if she recognized it. He’d learned it himself only later, but he felt like he would revisit the shop sooner or later, and anyway, she had been kind to him when he had come in.
It was just a matter of… having the funds to afford anything she sold that was the problem. A problem that Aubrey was still trying to work on, but he didn't have a lot in the way of skills right now.
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Post by Briar on Dec 1, 2019 3:50:36 GMT -6
Not to mention the fact that he wasn't really sure how one was supposed to go about, well, making money in the first place. There were the well known means, offering labor and all that, but as for a steady job, especially for someone as unversed in trades and the ways of the world as he was... If there were ways, he didn't know about them.
So for now, all he could do was try his best to learn as much as he could. But seeing that reaction from Thistle, he was loath to disappoint her, even if she wouldn't know the difference if he promised one way or another. "I'll take you to see her again then, if you want. I guess you were really close, huh?" Thistle inclined her head at him, and Aubrey smiled. "I'm a little jealous! I really will have to ask her for her secret, won't I?"
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Post by Jack on Dec 1, 2019 10:48:11 GMT -6
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Post by Briar on Jul 6, 2020 20:33:54 GMT -6
It was a beautiful summer day. The perfect kind of day to spend outdoors, and maybe to do a little gardening. Which was exactly what Aubrey decided he would do, since there was no reason not to.
Summer had always been Aster's favorite season while Aubrey had been growing up. That hadn't changed--- not for Aster, anyway--- and the older he got, the more Aubrey found he felt the same way. But it felt especially true after his transformation. Maybe it had something to do with what he had gained, or what he had lost--- the same way that he was able to make flowers bloom now, even though he had never been able to do something like that before. Plants did love the warm months, after all.
With him, he had a little Equillion who had recently joined the family. She was a pretty thing, all dark fur and even darker eyes.
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Post by Briar on Jul 6, 2020 20:37:40 GMT -6
He had adopted her from someone else, but she was still pretty young. It was an impressionable age and, more critically, apparently an age where the stubbornness of her breed hadn't quite set in yet. Aubrey had been told that if he didn't learn how to manage her now, she would be a bigger handful when she was older, and he would probably have to find someone more experienced to do some basic training with her before he could work with her again.
It was a slightly scary prospect. It shouldn't have been, considering Aubrey lived with Yeo-reum, who was bigger and had sharper teeth to boot. But Yeo-reum could be spoken to and reasoned with, and anyway, as an individual, he was pretty much the opposite of intimidating in every way. You just had to get to know him a little, Aubrey was convinced; after that, no one could possibly be frightened.
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Post by Briar on Jul 6, 2020 20:40:49 GMT -6
Tat-lungs were nothing like Equillion anyway, so any experience he had with the former wouldn't help him with the latter. And it wasn't as though he could have asked Aster for help if he had trouble; Aster had never worked very closely with the Wild type before, and didn't work much with Equillion in general.
Aubrey didn't want to fail her though. And right now, at least, while she was still small, there was nothing very frightening about her either. "You'll come to the garden with me, won't you, Briar?" he said. She still didn't know her name yet, and she still wasn't familiar with him, but he could coax her to him with a bit of carrot or apple, just a small treat, not so much that she would upset her stomach with it. He had read up on them a little, and Equillion were known to be relatively delicate.
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Post by Briar on Jul 6, 2020 20:49:05 GMT -6
Sure, they were hardy in a certain sense, especially when they got older, but they couldn't lie down for too long, for example, or else their own weight would start to crush their internal organs... And if their legs got damaged, that was pretty much a death sentence for them, though fortunately the healers here could fix that if you acted quickly enough. Taking care of Briar felt like a big responsibility.
But the best place to start, aside from getting good basic information, would probably be getting to know her better.
The treat got her out to the garden, and from there, the natural pleasures of being out in a green space seemed to take over. Briar blinked at the sun, and then at a passing butterfly, following it with her liquid, dark-eyed gaze. Aubrey stood back to watch, a smile on his face. This was going pretty well so far!
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Post by Briar on Jul 6, 2020 20:52:13 GMT -6
She wasn't really paying any attention to him, but she seemed to be having a good time, and that was good enough for Aubrey. He didn't need more than that for now. He wanted her to associate her new home with good things as much as possible, and he wasn't in a rush to get her to listen to him or anything. She was still a baby, so it was good to let her have a little freedom, maybe even spoil her a little.
Briar took a step toward the butterfly, who had alighted on a flower, then startled when the butterfly flew up into the air again. Her nostrils flared, and she stood there for a moment as though unsure whether to bolt or not. But the butterfly flew away before she could make that decision, and she was left to find other entertainments. Not that there was any shortage of them here.
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Post by Nadia on Jul 6, 2020 21:01:40 GMT -6
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Post by Briar on Jul 6, 2020 21:08:25 GMT -6
There weren't any more interesting insects around to catch her eye, but there were plenty of flowers. She took a few steps toward the trellises where Aubrey was growing sweet peas.
It was all well and good until Aubrey saw her open her mouth, and then he couldn't get over there fast enough to intervene. "Ah ah ah, let's not do that, alright? Pretty please?" he said, stopping where he was when her head snapped up at his sudden approach. He hardly knew what to do with himself. He didn't want to frighten her, but he did need her to stop, and he wasn't sure how else he would get her to do that short of going to her himself.
He was beginning to think maybe this wasn't such a good idea, bringing an herbivore into his carefully maintained garden, which was probably full of things she thought were tasty and would like to sample.
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Post by Briar on Jul 6, 2020 21:11:32 GMT -6
And the pea plants did look very tender. Maybe Aubrey was being a little hypocritical here, because sometimes he did take some of the greens to use in his own cooking, for light salads and the like. They were pleasantly mild, and they really were quite tender. But he didn't want Briar to develop a taste for them, because he didn't think she was going to consider how much of its own foliage a given plant could afford to lose if she decided to browse the garden for a little snack.
"Easy, girl, easy," said Aubrey, trying to keep his voice gentle and even. He remembered learning that it was important to watch his own body language and the emotions he was projecting when working with creatures, since they always picked that up. If you were on edge, they would be too, regardless of whatever else you did on top of it.
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Post by Briar on Jul 6, 2020 21:13:58 GMT -6
Even if they might not otherwise have seen you as a threat or anything, even big predators apparently got uncomfortable if you seemed too freaked out, because cornered things tended to lash out, and so you would start to be perceived as a threat... Which was to say nothing of what a vulnerable herbivore would feel, faced with the same frightened human. So Aubrey did his best to calm himself, and to project that calm as he faced Briar.
She didn't relax, but she didn't get any more alarmed as far as he could tell. That was probably as good as he was going to get.
He wondered if she would let him get a little closer. "Easy, easy," he repeated, taking one slow step forward, and then another. She angled both ears toward him, but he didn't know whether that was a good sign or not. Was she just paying attention?
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