|
Post by Fiera Ferella on Mar 15, 2022 14:51:30 GMT -6
One would wonder who Fiera could possibly be doing this all for, considering the work she put in. But in reality, the humanish did it mostly for herself. Gardening kept her calm, and it gave her an incredible feeling of smugness knowing that her own little patch of land looked so much better than everyone else's. Sure it was a bit brown and dead right now, but it would perk up once warmer weather finally came and she was able to do some more work on it. It was a shame that Raiyo couldn't appreciate it the same way. He would be restricted to a single area of the garden- a small pond that Fiera had set up right in the center. It was beautiful to sit by during the summer with the park bench she had set up, and breezes that fluttered across it always came out feeling fresh and cool on the face.
Fiera 7 Raiyo 5.2/5.2 7
|
|
|
Post by Fiera Ferella on Mar 15, 2022 14:54:14 GMT -6
She kept it fresh and clean, to the point where she had, multiple times, found lotine lounging around it, just under the surface. Most of the time however it was fresh and empty, perfect for Raiyo to hang out while she worked. She worried a bit about the temperature on the way here, but now that she was out and walking she realized how nice the weather was- and how nice it had been all this week. It had been a bit since the last cold snap, and water usually held its temperature pretty well over cold nights, so it was likely at a lukewarm temperature that the baby tat-lung would find perfectly comfortable when they got there. It certainly wouldn't be frozen over like it was last time, that was for sure. After a minute or so of walking the trees on either side of her finally parted.
Fiera 8 Raiyo 5.3/5.3 8
|
|
|
Post by Fiera Ferella on Mar 15, 2022 14:56:22 GMT -6
And there, down a short grassy slope, was the pond. It was empty- no ducks to bother for now- and lily pads sat calmly on its glassy, placid surface. It was a pond fed mostly by rain and the occasional garden hose, but Fiera kept a small fountain in the middle to keep the water oxygenated, and she fished the algae out regularly. It was, as far as she could tell, a perfectly pristine body of water, if only about ten feet by ten feet wide. She heard a splash come from the tank as she turned slightly. It looked like Raiyo had noticed it too, and was more than happy to get out of that tank. His behavior reminded Fiera of a child's, of the manic excitement to get out when it became clear that the cramped cart they were in was coming to a stop, even if they had been sitting happily for hours before.
Fiera 9 Raiyo 5.4/5.4 9
|
|
|
Post by Fiera Ferella on Mar 15, 2022 14:58:35 GMT -6
Though she supposed that Raiyo's behavior couldn't quite be described as "sitting happily"- he had been quite fussy the whole time. Either way, that fussy child was about to get what he wanted as Fiera crouched down, setting the tank down on the dry grass. She fiddled with the top, trying to remember how all the latches had gone on and should come off. Raiyo flung himself between the walls of the tank, which didn't exactly help her focus much. Still, after a couple of minutes she was finally able to get the last one undone with a loud clicking noise. "Aha! There we go! Let's get you out." She said, taking off the lid and preparing to tilt the tank over so he could slide effortlessly into the pond. Instead, the small blue tat-lung launched himself from the water, little droplets flying from his sparkling body... as he threw himself directly onto the grass.
Fiera 10 Raiyo 6.0/6.0 10
|
|
|
Post by Fiera Ferella on Mar 15, 2022 16:05:09 GMT -6
"Wh- Raiyo!" Fiera squeaked as he threw himself around uselessly, getting himself covered in bits of dead grass as it clung to the thick slime coat that covered his scales. "Stop, stop that! Why did you even do that!" Fiera said, knowing full well why he did- he was an impatient child who wanted to get out of the car already. Luckily, tat-lung were supposed to be pretty hardy, despite their pretty appearance. Not to mention even in their fishier stages, tat-lung grew up into fully land dwelling creatures, so they were a bit more amphibious than they looked. Staying out of water for a short period of time probably wouldn't hurt him, but it wasn't exactly helping either... considering that Fiera couldn't seem to catch him. "Raiyo, get BACK here! You're not even going the right way!" She hissed at the crystal tat-lung as he flopped his way across the grass.
Fiera 11 Raiyo 6.1/6.1 11
|
|
|
Post by Fiera Ferella on Mar 15, 2022 16:33:13 GMT -6
She was already on her knees to let him out of the tank (which was now forgotten, left abandoned on the slope from where Fiera and Raiyo were slowly getting away from it) but each flop brought him just out of reach of her hands. He wasn't even making his way toward the pond. The slope meant that it was hard for him to make his way back up, but instead he just seemed to flipping his way around the perimeter. His eyes probably weren't great out of the water, and the fact that each movement meant he had to flip his whole body over meant that he probably didn't have a great idea of where he was going either. "Would you just!" Fiera said, cutting herself short. She exhaled sharply through her nose. "This is stupid." She said, before pushing up off the grass and standing again, flicking her tail with irritation.
Fiera 12 Raiyo 6.2/6.2 12
|
|
|
Post by Fiera Ferella on Mar 16, 2022 6:34:43 GMT -6
Raiyo was a lot easier to catch up with when she wasn't flopping across the grass herself, and soon Fiera was mere inches from the tat-lung, who appeared to be taking the opportunity to... well, not catch his breath (as he was indeed still reliant on water), but at least chill out a bit. Fiera reached down to grab the potato sized (And, roughly, shaped) creature, but her fingers skidded off of his slick scales, and all she got was a few bits of grass for her trouble. "Euygh..." She exclaimed to herself before reaching out with her other hand- except instead of trying to pick him up this time, she used her fingers like a scoop and tossed the fish into the water, only needing to move him a couple feet to do so. She watched as the splash faded, waiting to see if he was alright after all that.
Fiera 13 Raiyo 6.3/6.3 13
|
|
|
Post by Fiera Ferella on Mar 16, 2022 11:44:35 GMT -6
After a few breathless moments, she saw the first sign of life- a small splash above the water. Fiera let out her breath. Finally. She looked at her hands- they were absolutely covered in dry grass and fish slime. She crinkled her nose. "You are. A LOT of trouble young man, you know that?" She said, scolding the tat-lung that was now happily winding around in the cool water. Fiera sighed heftily and rubbed the slime off on the ground as best she could, only to get even more grass stuck to her hands. She let out a quick grunt of disgust, not wanting to touch any of her tools with this still on her. She shuffled down the slope, coming close to the water before dipping her hands in, wincing at the sudden cold. This water temperature might be comfortable for fish, but on Fiera it was practically torture.
Fiera 14 Raiyo 6.4/6.4 14
|
|
|
Post by Fiera Ferella on Mar 16, 2022 11:47:16 GMT -6
She sighed and powered through it, scrubbing her hands off as best she could in the freezing pond water. Of course, Raiyo noticed this and swam up... before immediately depositing herself in Fiera's hands again, getting them all nice and slimy again. "Oh come on!" Fiera hissed, and the baby tat-lung whizzed away. She sighed. "No... it's fine, come here. If you want to be pet so badly, I suppose I can oblige. She said, rolling her eyes and making a scritching motion with her hand. Soon enough she felt the water moving around her hands again, and Raiyo wiggled his way back into her palms. "Of course NOW you want to be held. Not when you were flailing around in the grass, though." She said with an amused huff. At least he seemed plenty active and unhurt though- and she didn't have to try and catch him again to check for injuries.
Fiera 15 Raiyo 7.0/7.0 15
|
|
|
Post by Fiera Ferella on Mar 16, 2022 12:30:43 GMT -6
She had been a little bit worried about him of course, but her rage tended to overwrite that. A useful trait, in her opinion. Raiyo seemed plenty fine now though, so Fiera quickly released him back into the water. His scales had shown no sign of scratches or damage, and his eyes were bright and clear. That seemed business as normal to Fiera, so now SHE could get to work. She did intend to do SOME gardening today, after all. Most of her winter chores were already done. Fallen leaves had been picked out of the pond, leaving it fresh and clear for Raiyo to swim in. Excess branches had been clipped from the trees, leaving them nice and short to grow out pleasantly bushy once spring came. She was having some trouble thinking of what to do next, actually. She was so put upon in taking Raiyo that she didn't actually think of what she was going to do once she got him here.
Fiera 16 Raiyo 7.1/7.1 16
|
|
|
Post by Fiera Ferella on Mar 16, 2022 13:12:00 GMT -6
Now that she was looking around though, she noticed that the reeds alongside the pond were getting awfully long and overgrown. It was nice to give the ducks something to hide in if they didn't feel like being sociable, but when the tall grass started overtaking half of the pond Fiera guessed that they might have a problem. Well, it was an easy enough problem to solve. Fiera almost always had a pair of shears on her when gardening, and today was no different. The only issue would be grabbing the reeds further out into the pond. She frowned- she didn't feel like wading all the way out there. Even with tall boots, the water was very cold (by her standards at least- Raiyo was jumping in and out of the water with a sense of childish vigor) and even a small splash of it getting onto her clothes could likely give her hypothermia.
Fiera 17 Raiyo 7.2/7.2 17
|
|
|
Post by Fiera Ferella on Mar 16, 2022 13:49:50 GMT -6
Well, she could always start on the outside and work her way in. She could manage that. While Raiyo got comfortable and explored the pond a bit more (though she couldn't imagine there would be that much of interest in it... but then again, what did she know about the ways of fish), Fiera went through her bag. She pulled out her gardening items- soil, some enriched water drops, fertilizer pouches. She used these pretty often, but they weren't what she was looking for. Finally, she pulled out a long set of shears, like a set of scissors but scaled up. "Ah, there we go." She said, watching the winter light glint off of the blades. "Perfect." She finished, standing up from her bag. She glanced over toward the reeds... and saw her fish carrying tank sitting where she had abandoned it on the shoreline of the pond. "Oh, oops." She noted.
Fiera 18 Raiyo 7.3/7.3 18
|
|
|
Post by Fiera Ferella on Mar 16, 2022 13:52:08 GMT -6
Fiera frowned a bit and tossed the shears back down on the grass. She could come back to those in a minute. First things first, she didn't want that very expensive travel tank getting damaged. It wasn't something that she wanted to replace, especially when it was practically brand new. "Come here..." She muttered, picking it up. It was a lot heavier than it looked, though that was probably because none of the water had been emptied. Still, she didn't want to drag smelly pond water back to her kennel, so the old stuff was staying in. At least it hadn't fallen and splashed out while she had been trying to catch Raiyo. With a bit of grunting and effort, she was finally able to lift it a foot or so off the ground before shuffling over to the nearest park bench that was set up around the pond, before setting it down again.
Fiera 19 Raiyo 7.4/7.4 19
|
|
|
Post by Fiera Ferella on Mar 16, 2022 15:01:14 GMT -6
She leaned it carefully against the wood to make sure it wouldn't tip over and spill before stepping back, satisfied. And just for good measure, she dragged her backpack over as well and set it next to the tank. Perfect. Now everything was in one place, easy to find. With that out of the way, Fiera picked up the garden shears again and walked over to the reeds. She clicked the blades together experimentally and once she was sure everything was in working order, she got to work. She started on the far side of the pond, and snipped a single reed near the base. It fell over backwards, and Fiera was sure to tip the shears such that it fell in her direction so she could pick it up and set it on the shoreline to be bundled up and dragged to the compost pile later. One down, many to go.
Fiera 20 Raiyo 8.0/8.0 20
|
|
|
Post by Fiera Ferella on Mar 17, 2022 14:54:39 GMT -6
The work was pretty easy- the lake reeds weren't exactly difficult to cut through. However, the main problem was that once she managed to get to a certain distance away from the shore, it was difficult to get them to fall back towards her. Instead, she was increasingly at risk of them falling into the pond. She supposed that wasn't the end of the world, but it would be a whole other issue fishing them back out again. She was going to try and avoid it for as long as possible, but after a few minutes of cutting and building up the pile of reeds on the shore, a couple of stalks finally fell into the water. Fiera swore quietly under her breath, watching as they gently floated away from her and toward the center of the pond. She would have to get those out, and she might as well figure out how now.
Fiera 1 Raiyo 8.1/8.1 21
|
|