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Post by Silver on Oct 26, 2021 23:46:11 GMT -6
They dropped their other hand down and yanked the vine as hard as they could, one way with their left hand and the other way with their right. That way, they weren't pulling the vine deeper into the creature's leg by pulling it from only one side. As expected, the vine finally snapped, leaving one piece in each of their hands.
Hearing the snap and watching Silver fall on their butt from the recoil, the Koguma realised something had changed. It yanked its foot out of the bramble and gently put it down on the ground. Oh good! It still worked. It was worried there for a moment.
It paused to look back at Silver, sitting there on the ground and smiling sheepishly. What was that all about, exactly? "You're welcome, buddy," Silver said warmly. They tried not to look threatening, which was easy considering how the were bum down in the dirt, looking up at the creature and grinning like a fool.
39 - 24 [131.85; 2.8] [Encounter - Done!]
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Post by Nadia on Oct 27, 2021 9:49:25 GMT -6
The koguma takes a minute to process what happened. It was stuck, but now it isn't. It was away from its fruit, but now it isn't. The bad things stopped happening once you showed up. It sees! There are a few far happier clicks, and if it is possible for a bug to smile with its eyes, it would appear that is what it is doing. Thank you, thank you!
[Congratulations, you have successfully tamed the creature!]
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Post by Silver on Oct 27, 2021 23:58:23 GMT -6
When the Koguma began clicking happily, Silver breathed an audible sigh of relief. Did it like them? Well that was nice. They were glad that it seemed to feel safe there. "You can stick around for a bit, if you want," they said. The invitation extended beyond 'a bit' as well, but they'd have to see how the creature settled in. They didn't want to pressure it!
As if they suddenly remembered she existed, Silver got up and walked back over to see how Fee was doing. She had finished her tin of food, of course, and looked up at Silver. She pointedly licked her lips as if to say, 'I'm done, got any more?'
"Good to see you liked it," Silver said. They weren't going to give her more food just yet. She could wait a bit before that happened. Even if she did look really skinny. They swore they were feeding her enough. Why did she seem so frail, still?
40 - 25 [132.1; 3]
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Post by Nadia on Oct 28, 2021 8:58:21 GMT -6
Phew. Try relaxing after that drama with a pear!
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Post by Silver on Oct 31, 2021 6:21:25 GMT -6
Fee was an unusual creature, they thought. The thought had come to them more than once since arriving in the garden. They idly picked back up their sketchbook to see their work from earlier. It was then that they noticed the swipe of blood across the page, going right through the face they had drawn to speculate how her eyes might grow with her head.
“Hmm,” they said. Fee wasn’t bleeding, clearly. Her bright white fur would show any speck of blood.It was then that they looked down at their own hands. They were slowly but steadily dripping blood from the spot where she bit them earlier.
“Ah, well, would you look at that? Got some sharp teeth, don’t ya,” they said. They rubbed their hands together, generating a wealth of sparkles and a little bit of healing energy. The wound closed itself and stopped bleeding in an instant. A few clingy sparkles stuck around for just another moment before finally disappearing.
41 - 1 [132.95; 3.2] [Items and creatures collected to here.]
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Post by Silver on Oct 31, 2021 6:22:25 GMT -6
Except for the blood on the page, it was as if nothing had ever happened. Silver was so used to being able to heal little cuts and scrapes that they hardly noticed them any more. It was a dangerous precedent, surely, but they didn’t have a great sense of self preservation to begin with.
Silver glanced back over at the Koguma. They wondered if it noticed that they were bleeding. Probably not, they thought. It was already pretty stressed out, and it also probably considered them a predator. They frowned at the thought. They wished they could just talk to any creature and let it know that it was safe with them. Wouldn’t that make the world an easier place to deal with?
Then again, people tended not to trust strangers, either, even ones they could clearly communicate with. It was obvious that trust was more than words, especially when they thought of it that way.
42 - 2 [133; 3.4]
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Post by Silver on Oct 31, 2021 6:22:46 GMT -6
Perhaps it was a silly dream to think they could easily communicate with and sooth all the frightened creatures of the world. It was hard enough to build relationships as it was. They would just have to do it the patient, old fashioned way. They were reasonably good at it, anyway.
Fee was already bored now that she had licked her tin of food clean. She wanted to do something else. She saw a nearby patch of grass that was a different shade of green from the rest. Interesting! She had a great idea. She was going to eat it!
Fee tried to grab the grass in her mouth, but doing so tickled her nose. She sneezed aggressively, and shook her head to rid it of the strange feeling. Okay, time to try that again. She went in at a different angle and bit down on the middle of the stalk of grass, only for it to tickle her ear. Rude!
43 - 3 [133.05; 3.6]
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Post by Silver on Oct 31, 2021 6:24:33 GMT -6
Silver stifled a laugh. Seeing her try but fail to chew on the tall grass was very funny, but they didn’t want her to think they were mocking her. She needed to feel safe to explore. At least that’s what they told themselves. At the end of the day, it probably didn’t actually matter whether they laughed or not; she would probably not think anything of it.
Fee was determined to find out what the grass tasted like. She used her paw to hold down a bit and then chewed the end of it. Finally! She crunched on the tough stalk of long grass for a moment before immediately spitting it out. Gross! Why hadn’t anyone told her that grass was disgusting? How did other creatures eat this stuff?
Silver finally gave in and started to laugh out loud. “Oh Fee,” they said between giggles. “It’s alright, why don’t we get you something, ah, nice to eat, yea?”
44 - 4 [133.1; 3.8]
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Post by Silver on Oct 31, 2021 6:25:06 GMT -6
They fiddled through their bag again, this time coming across a few little biscuits they had set aside earlier. The biscuits would have to do. They didn’t have that much else to give her, and they wanted to save the other tin they brought for later.
“Here you go,” they said, tossing the biscuits her way. They landed on the ground in front of her, and she made no attempt to catch them. Fair enough, they thought. Many felines did not ‘catch’ like other kinds of creatures often did. They were more cautious as a whole.
Fee was skeptical about the biscuits after her bad experience with the grass. She gingerly sniffed them, then batted them around a bit with her front paw. Hmm, they didn’t seem to be attacking her like the grass did. Good enough, she thought. She immediately chomped into one and made a face of instant regret.
45 - 5 [133.15; 4]
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Post by Silver on Oct 31, 2021 6:25:41 GMT -6
Oh! It was so dry! She licked the inside of her mouth furiously, trying to get the weird dry feeling out. Silver couldn’t hold their giggles a second time. All of the noise got Quin’s attention, and he flew down to investigate. He landed on the ground next to Fee and sniffed at the treats she had. She took a step forward to protect her new hoard and gave him a three eyed glare. He didn’t want to know what was going on badly enough to piss her off, so he returned to his perch with a grumpy squawk.
“That wasn’t very nice,” Silver said, finally regaining their composure. They were mostly joking, of course. They knew Quin could be a pain and that he didn’t even want the treats anyway.
The Tailypo finished off her treats and decided that, for once, she wasn’t that hungry. She wanted to explore. She looked around to see if anything caught her eye.
46 - 6 [133.2; 4.2]
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Post by Silver on Oct 31, 2021 6:26:04 GMT -6
There was the weird fruit monster from before. Pass. She didn’t like the noise it made. There was also a bed full of colorful flowers. That was interesting enough to catch her attention. She hopped over to the flower bed and immediately started trampling some of the smaller flowers. Silver hadn’t noticed at first, so by the time they looked back, all they could see was that she wasn’t there.
“Fee? Fee?” they said, panic rising in their voice. She hadn’t gotten far, of course, so they were able to find her quickly. The panic didn’t have time to fade, however, since as soon as they laid eyes on her, they saw that she was stomping through their flowers. Oh dear!
“Oh Fee,” Silver said. Their tone was a weird mix of relieved and disappointed. They were glad that she hadn’t been swept up by some monster or something, but they were also upset to see her squishing their beloved flowers.
47 - 7 [133.25; 4.4]
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Post by Silver on Oct 31, 2021 6:26:25 GMT -6
They swallowed and took a deep breath. They couldn’t be too angry at her. She didn’t mean it. They had to remember that while also trying to stop her from doing any more damage. “Fee, Fee,” they said again. She looked up at them. She had a passing familiarity with that word, at least.
“Look, you can’t, ah, you can’t stomp on the flowers like that. Please? They’re… they take a long time to grow, and you’re smooshing them!”
They tried to keep their tone light, but they actually had no idea how much she did or didn’t understand. There was a spark in her eye that suggested she wasn’t just a ‘regular’ cat, but they didn’t know her long enough to get a feeling for her understanding of the world. Plus, she was only a baby, and babies weren’t known for their linguistic abilities.
48 - 8 [133.3; 4.6]
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Post by Silver on Oct 31, 2021 6:27:17 GMT -6
Fee looked back at Silver and tilted her head. She understood that they were trying to communicate with her, but not really what they were trying to communicate. She looked down at her feet and noticed that her paws were stained with pollen. Was that what they were yelling about? Maybe. It seemed plausible to her.
She plunked her butt down and started to lick her paws clean. Ewww! This stuff was kind of gross tasting. Still, she didn’t like having dirty paws, so she persevered. It wasn’t the grossest thing she had ever had to lick off of herself. At least she wasn’t crushing any more flowers while she was busy with that.
Could they teach her a bit about plants? That always worked with their other creatures, and they secretly hoped that Fee would be up for it. It was one of their favorite things to do.
49 - 9 [133.35; 4.8]
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Post by Silver on Oct 31, 2021 6:28:40 GMT -6
Silver moved over to the flower bed, and stood up the flowers they could salvage from where she was stomping around. Thankfully she was very small, so it wasn’t too bad. Unlike when Cepe went on a crazy rampage through the vegetable patch that one time…
“Okay Fee, look at this,” they said. They squatted down next to her and pointed at a red flower. “This little flower started its whole life as just a tiny seed.”
They rustled around in their bag to find a packet of seeds. These ones were dried out and intended for eating, not planting, but the idea was the same. The pulled one out that they thought looked enough like a flower seed, even though it wasn't the same kind. They didn't think that Fee would know the difference. “See this? This will become a big flower some day. Even though it is so very small.”
50 - 10 [133.4; 5]
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Post by Silver on Oct 31, 2021 6:30:06 GMT -6
“The roots grow first, then the stalk,” they pointed at each part of the flower as they explained, though Fee didn't seem to notice that they were doing that. “Then the leaves, and finally, when it is ready, the flower grows. Isn’t it beautiful?”
“It’s not just beautiful, though, it also serves a purpose. That stuff, on your paws, that’s called pollen. The pollen from one flower has to touch another for the flower to make new seeds, and the new seeds become new flowers. Over and over again.”
It wasn’t clear if Fee understood any of that, but the cadence of their voice soothed her. She watched them carefully, mostly staring at their mouth and not where they were pointing. She liked being spoken to, she decided. It was nice, and she hoped that they kept doing it. Though she had not, in fact, learned anything about plants.
51 - 11 [133.45; 5.2]
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