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Post by Silver on Feb 26, 2021 6:27:12 GMT -6
"Hey!" Lucent shouted to get Silver's attention. They stopped swinging for a moment and swiveled around on their heels. A little spray of sparkles hit the ground and gently warmed the soil back to life where they fell. "Why? Why... this?" he waved his claws at the dirt and the hoe.
"I have to, ah, smash up the dirt, to put the seeds in," they explained. "You know how the seeds grow? They have to go in the dirt first, or it won't work. The dirt is like... food, for the seeds. Also the sun. The dirt and the sun are food for the seeds, see..."
"No no," Lucent shook his head. He didn't want another lesson in plant biology. "Why... why... hard work? Too many hard work."
Silver was taken aback by the question. Why did they want to do all this hard work? Well they wanted their garden to flourish. As for why that was, well that wasn't a simple question with an easy answer. "To make the plants grow," they said. Then they followed it with, "I like them." It was the best explanation they could come up with, honestly. Gardening was one of the more physically demanding things they did, but they did it because they loved doing it, which they just realized sounded weird from an outside perspective. It was just one of those things that defied explanation.
20 [116.1; 5, 10] [Lucent: Foreign Language (Common) - 16]
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Post by Jack on Feb 26, 2021 8:00:08 GMT -6
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Post by Silver on May 19, 2021 23:05:25 GMT -6
Lucent rolled his eyes, clearly unimpressed by Silver's explanation. He still didn't think that all the hard work of breaking up the soil was worth it. For what, all these plants? He definitely didn't like plants that much, and he was pretty sure that they did, in fact, grow on their own accord. Lucent snorted dismissively and said, "Boring!" Which might have been the first word he ever learned. Silver shrugged it off and continued breaking up the dirt to get it ready for the seeds. Whether or not Lucent understood it, it did need to be done. Watching Silver do gardening work was almost more boring than doing the actual work. Lucent wanted to bang his head against a rock. He was starting to feel a little more safe in the garden, knowing Silver and an array of tame creatures was there to protect it. Regardless of his personal feelings toward them, he knew that they wouldn't let anything harm him. Lucent began to wander about the garden to see if anything interesting would happen. He almost immediately bumped into a tree he didn't think was there a second ago. He hissed out a grunt and kicked the tree only for it to start moving. Wait, that wasn't a tree at all... 21[124.05; 5.2, 10.2] [Lucent: Foreign Language (Common) - 17]
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Post by Silver on May 19, 2021 23:14:53 GMT -6
What Lucent had bumped into was not a tree at all, but the massive brown foot of a greater Dragon Oak. No wonder they named them that! Kenru was not an easily upset creature, so he simply leaned all the way down to get a better look the assailant. He snorted at the tiny, angry thing with a thin trail of smoke leaving his nostrils.
"Wah! Go, go beast, get!" Lucent shouted as loudly as he could. His ears were pulled all the way back and his tail had fluffed itself up. He was clearly terrified of the huge dragon, but he was also trying as hard as he could to hide it. What was it he had just convinced himself of, again? That this place was safe? What rubbish!
Silver looked away for what seemed like only a second, and suddenly they heard Lucent shouting. Well so much for a peaceful afternoon. They looked over to see Lucent trying his best to intimidate Kenru, who was absolutely clueless about the whole thing. Silver wanted to laugh. The whole scene was utterly precious!
"Ah, Kenru, be gentle," Silver said. Kenru meant well, but he could be very clumsy and his size made that dangerous for the small creatures around him sometimes.
22 [124.1; 5.4, 10.4] [Lucent: Foreign Language (Common) - 18]
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Post by Silver on May 19, 2021 23:25:37 GMT -6
The gears quickly began to turn in Silver's head. They could turn this into a learning opportunity! Forget seeds, this was perfect. "Lucent," Silver said. "If you want Kenru to listen to you, you will have to ask him nicely, can we do that?"
Lucent really didn't like the sound of that, but he was definitely freaked out by how huge this creature was. Lucent slowly and reluctantly nodded. "Aye," he said.
"Okay, Lucent, repeat after me," they said slowly. "Kenru..."
"Ken... zu."
"Kenru..."
"Kenzu..." Silver figured that was close enough.
"Stay back," Silver said firmly.
"Stay back," Lucent said in exactly the same inflection.
"Very good," Silver nodded. "You too buddy," they gently set their hand against Kenru's side to let him know he had done the right thing as well.
Lucent looked pleased with himself. Not only had he learned something and earned himself some praise, but now he knew for sure how to tell big monsters to leave him alone. Win-win!
Kenru finally stood all the way back up and blew a long slow stream of smoke out of his nose. It was as if he were decompressing from all the tension. Lucent was curious about the smoke and whether there was also fire to go along with it, but he didn't dare get close enough to figure that out.
23 [124.15; 5.6, 10.6] [Lucent: Foreign Language (Common) - 20*] *Correcting miscount.
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Post by Silver on May 30, 2021 18:29:15 GMT -6
Lucent liked the idea that a creature as big as the Greater Dragon Oak would listen to his command so easily. Is this why Silver kept an entourage of powerful creatures? It felt good. He grinned.
Silver was pleased to see that Lucent finally seemed engaged with something, though they were slightly worried as to why. What did Lucent see in Kenru that made him grin like that? Well as long as they were there, they were sure than nothing bad could happen to either of them. Kenru was a gentle giant... more or less.
Thinking they could be fast friends, Silver came up with a plan. They scooped Lucent up, much to his disdain, and held him up at Kenru's level. He squawked in surprise and growled under his breath. He did not like this one bit! That is... until he found himself up on the back of the dragon creature. Silver gently plunked him down high on Kenru's neck above his leaves so that he could see over the top of his head.
"What do you think, Lucent?" Silver asked. Lucent was surprised for a moment, then he grinned again.
"Go go!" he said. Lucent tapped on Kenru's head like a drum, trying to encourage him to do something interesting.
24 [124.2; 5.8, 10.8] [Lucent: Foreign Language (Common) - 21]
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Post by Silver on May 31, 2021 0:35:14 GMT -6
Kenru snorted loudly, a small flame flickering out of his nostrils as he did so. He did not like being thumped like that! He reached up with his short fore claws to try and remove the small creature, but he figured out quickly that that wouldn't work. Instead he huffed again and fluttered his wings, hoping the irritant would get the hint and knock it off.
Lucent hissed and snarled, digging his claws into Kenru's bark. He was not about to be knocked down that easily! "No no!" he shrieked. He knew what that word meant, at least. "Back back, no no," he shouted, thinking of the only words he knew which Kenru might obey.
"Lucent, calm down, both of you!" Silver said. They were worried that Lucent would be thrown on the ground and trampled at this rate. "You have to be..." Silver grunted with effort as they grabbed Lucent and stabilised him while also using their free hand to settle Kenru down a bit. "Gentle! You can't just start shouting and expect him to listen!"
It was then that Silver realised that they were the one shouting. "Ah... I'm so sorry... I think... let's get you down," Silver said. They put their arms up and let Lucent climb onto them to get off of Kenru. His claws dug into their skin as he was still very startled by the whole thing.
25 [124.25; 6, 11] [Lucent: Foreign Language (Common) - 22]
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Post by Nadia on May 31, 2021 6:07:56 GMT -6
There's a rustling in the grass... what's that? Oh. A procession of bugs marching past.
[Nothing happens.]
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Post by Silver on Jun 1, 2021 0:51:39 GMT -6
The little claws stung into their flesh but they grimaced and didn't say anything. They knew Lucent was too scared to really know what he was doing. Maybe he did like causing pain, but they weren't worried about that. Lucent took a few gasping breaths to calm himself down and figure out what he wanted to do next.
Kenru was annoyed, but not angry or afraid. Now that the little pest was gone, he could go right back to not giving a crap what was going on around him. He snorted once more for good measure, then started to sniff around at some bugs on the ground. He licked one up and immediately spat it out. Not a delicious bug at all.
"Lucent, you must be nice to Kenru," Silver explained. Lucent wasn't having any of that, though. As soon as he was able to catch his breath, he wriggled out of Silver's grasp and jumped to the ground.
Lucent wouldn't admit it, but he was a bit hurt by Kenru's rejection of him. It felt like he was about to make a friend, then it all went south. He really wasn't very good at making friends, so the rejection stung. He wasn't about to apologise, though.
26 [124.3; 6.2, 11.2] [Lucent: Foreign Language (Common) - 23]
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Post by Silver on Jun 10, 2021 23:38:35 GMT -6
Silver sighed and silently wondered what to do about the situation. Clearly, it was just a little early to teach him how to ride a huge fire breathing dragon. Actually, now that they thought about it, they realized how terrible of an idea it was in the first place. Who let them come up with that? Well, the damage was done now, and they had to work out where to go from there.
"Lucent," Silver said. They crouched down and held out a paw for him to hold, if he wanted to. Which he didn't. "It is important that you treat creatures with kindness, and respect. Then they will do what you ask of them."
That was a little straightforward, but they thought that the idea would resonate with Lucent. Getting things to do what he wanted was a powerful offering. Maybe he would actually do it. Maybe.
Lucent didn't say anything. He merely frowned in the direction of the large creature. He was done playing nice. Dragons were dumb anyway. Who wanted to hang out with a stupid dragon? Not him, that's for sure. He huffed again and pulled at the grass with his claws. Now it felt weird not to say anything, but saying something felt even weirder somehow.
27 [124.35; 6.4, 11.4] [Lucent: Foreign Language (Common) - 24]
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Post by Silver on Jun 11, 2021 0:47:27 GMT -6
"Alright then," Silver said with a shrug. Apparently Lucent didn't want to continue their conversation. They could deal with that. Rather than try to convince him otherwise, Silver went over to see how Kenru was doing.
Kenru definitely wasn't actually injured by such a small creature thumping on his head, of course. He had been annoyed for a moment, but as soon as it stopped, he forgot all about it. He wasn't the sort to hold a grudge, really. He was perfectly happy wandering around the garden and sniffing at things as usual.
Whenever Silver came to visit, they always changed things. Kenru lived here so he was fairly used to most things, but he always liked to come by and investigate whatever Silver was doing. There might be new plants or something. Definitely worth a sniff!
Lucent silently watched Silver and Kenru. They seemed to get along so well. It was like the dragon could just figure out what they meant, even if neither of them were saying anything. It made him wonder what it would be like to have a creature of his own. Could he silently command it like that? He wasn't too sure that was possible. Silver really seemed to have a natural knack for this kind of thing that he lacked.
28 [124.4; 6.6, 11.6] [Lucent: Foreign Language (Common) - 25]
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Post by Silver on Jun 11, 2021 0:55:56 GMT -6
It was about time to go home, Silver thought. They hadn't gotten through everything they wanted to get done, but they could tell that Lucent was tired. They began to pack up their things, putting their tools into a bag and making a neat pile of their trimmings. They could always return tomorrow and do more work. Actually, they were looking forward to it.
Kenru wandered about the garden, looking at everything Silver was picking up. He wanted to sniff all of the things Silver had. "Do you really think this one will smell any different?" Silver asked with a laugh. They just let Kenru do what he wanted, since there was no harm in letting him do so. He wasn't breaking anything, so he could sniff all the stuff in the entire garden if he was so inclined.
After picking up a handful of things, Silver noticed that Lucent came over to help. He picked up a small tool and dropped it roughly into the bag. Silver smiled, but tried to hide it. It was nice that Lucent wanted to help, but they wouldn't say anything lest he get embarrassed and change his mind. He really could be quite fickle, and Silver didn't want to upset him.
29 [124.45; 6.8, 11.8] [Lucent: Foreign Language (Common) - 26]
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Post by Silver on Jun 11, 2021 1:00:30 GMT -6
"Thank you, Lucent," Silver said after the last thing had gone into the bag. Now if Lucent suddenly decided to stop helping, it wouldn't matter. They were already done!
"Yes," Lucent said with a nod. It wasn't exactly a 'you're welcome', but Silver appreciated it anyway. Getting Lucent to talk at all was difficult, so they were happy for anything they could get.
"Do you want to go home now?" Silver asked.
"Yes." Lucent's voice was a little more confident that time. He really did want to go home.
"Alright then, thank you for coming out to the garden with me." Silver smiled at Lucent, but apparently that was enough to embarrass him as feared, so he didn't say anything back. Silver shrugged.
Silver put all of the tools where they belonged and gave Kenru a good pat on the shoulder. "Good to see you buddy," Silver said. They scratched the itchy spots between his wings before leaving. They were always especially hard for Kenru to scratch himself, so he appreciated it.
"Alright then," they said. They looked at Lucent. "What do you think, can you lead the way?" They weren't expecting him to, really, but they thought it might be fun to see him try.
30 [124.5; 7, 12] [Lucent: Foreign Language (Common) - 27]
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Post by Nadia on Jun 11, 2021 6:24:39 GMT -6
Hey, that thing is glowing!
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Post by Silver on Jun 20, 2021 5:06:12 GMT -6
It was the time of year where Whiptail Vinesnatchers began to bud. Silver made a note to head over and spend some time with Kwist. It was also a great opportunity to grab a little friend and show them around the garden, as well. Together they could help Kwist through her budding and work with all of the lush summer plants. They grabbed a young kitten known as Prism and headed out. "Welcome to the garden," Silver said as they approached the little plot of land they called their own. Well they liked to think of it as 'little', even if it wasn't by most standards. They were pretty good at caring for plants, so they were able to set up a decent chunk of fertile land. Prism didn't have anything to say. She simply looked over the garden with her bright pink eyes. Normally, that wouldn't be strange, but this particular kitten had a secret. If she wanted to, she could speak directly into someone's mind. For now, however, she chose to stay silent. "Kwist will be around here somewhere. Do you want to help me find her?" Prism didn't know what a 'Kwist' was so she simply made a soft, tiny mew to indicate that she had heard the words, but didn't have another resposne 1[124.9; 0.2, 0.2]
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