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Post by Silver on Apr 26, 2021 5:02:06 GMT -6
“Good job, Maggie! Grow grow!” They hoped that if they yelled the word enough times, she would eventually understand that it had to do with the vines coming up.
“Again, again!” Silver cheered. The fact that they were repeating themselves in such a funny way was not lost on them. They were just too excited about the prospects to laugh.
They ran off and grabbed another branch. This time, however, they had a different plan. They teased her by poking her with it and wav ing it around, just as they had before. She was learning how this game was played very quickly, and she was on edge as soon as they came close with the stick. She was ready to grab it as soon as they got close enough to…
This time, however, Silver ran away with the branch. They knew they couldn’t throw it too far so they just dragged it along with them.
[121, 6.6] [Verdant Growth - 8]
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Post by Silver on Apr 26, 2021 5:02:54 GMT -6
They ran a few metres away and waved the stick around. “I bet you can’t get it now!” They said.
They laughed and leaned into the stick on the ground in front of them. Could she grab the stick without grabbing them? They weren’t sure, so they let it go and as it started to fall to the ground, they shouted, “Grow, Maggie, grow grow!”
Having done this a few times already, Maggie understood what that meant. Or at least she had begun to see the pattern. She pressed her hooves into the ground, concentrated on the branch falling over, and grabbed it with her clutching vines before it hit the ground. She was particularly proud of that one, and stood proud as she strangled the stick into submission. It snapped under the weight of the strong vines and she swished her tail, more than pleased with her efforts.
[121.1, 6.8] [Verdant Growth - 9]
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Post by Silver on Apr 26, 2021 5:03:31 GMT -6
Silver liked where they were going, so they continued to do more of the same for a while. They would pick a branch, carry it around with them, and get her to attack it with her clutching vines. She seemed to like this game a lot, and before long she was ready to make her move before Silver even picked the next branch for practice.
Once they had that down pat, Silver wondered what they could do to improve her chances of using the vines in different situations. Otherwise she would only know how to grab branches with it, and to be honest, they were already running out of those. They had also made a huge mess again, but that could wait.
“Maggie, hey Maggie!” Silver called out. They had run over in front of a tree and were waving their arms around. They had a wild idea, and if they were right, it would be perfect to teach her how to aim.
[121.2, 7] [Verdant Growth - 10]
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Post by Silver on Apr 26, 2021 5:03:51 GMT -6
“Grow, Maggie, grow!” They waved their arms around some more hoping that she would see the movement and try to attack it the same way that she did with the sticks. However, she didn’t want to attack them. She just looked confused.
“No? Okay, how about this?” Silver asked. They grabbed a stick from nearby and waved it around over their head. They wanted her to grab them with the vines, or at least try to. They of course planned to dodge out of the way once she did actually use the vines.
Maggie understood the correlation with the sticks and the word ‘grow’ but she was still reluctant. However, she did want to grab the stick, so she had to give it a try. She stomped her feet down confidently and aimed for the tree Silver was standing in front of. Could that knock the stick loose so she could get it? She hoped so!
[121.3, 7.2] [Verdant Growth - 11]
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Post by Silver on Apr 26, 2021 5:04:31 GMT -6
Silver rolled out of the way as he saw her stamp her feet. Thank goodness that she had such an obvious tell. Obvious to them at least. Would some unsuspecting prey stand no chance? They shuddered at the thought. With her silent footsteps and ability to grab things from far away… well they didn’t want to think about how that ended.
Since they were successful in teasing the vines out of her yet again, they knew that they could use this as a form of practice. The one thing they didn’t do was let the stick lie on the ground while they were jumping about. They wanted her to be able to grab anything with the vines, even if it was moving.
They used the sticks to point around at the areas where she needed to aim the vines, and eventually she caught on to that as well. She was ready to go before they even got into place.
[121.4, 7.4] [Verdant Growth - 12]
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Post by Silver on Apr 26, 2021 5:05:43 GMT -6
Finally, they ditched the stick all together and started gesturing to the area where they wanted her to point her vines to. That took a little more coaxing, but she managed to figure it out.
Every now and then, Silver would make sure to heap praise on her, even if it was the tenth time she did the same thing. They knew that they had to continue to hype her up so that she would keep working with them. It would be too boring otherwise.
Maggie was forming a new idea in her head. Silver was bouncing around like a rabbit, and they were so hard to catch. They did move somewhat predictably, though. She could figure out where they would be by looking at where they were. The keen senses of such a strong predator were hard to fool. After watching them do it for a while, she patiently waited for them to jump back, and that was her time to strike.
[121.5, 7.6] [Verdant Growth - 13]
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Post by Silver on Apr 26, 2021 5:06:10 GMT -6
She stomped her hooves onto the ground and aimed her vines right at Silver instead of where they were pointing. She would grab them, then she would be the ultimate winner! She was so pleased with her cleverness that she went a little overboard.
Before they could stop her, Maggie wrapped them up entirely in her vines. They grew around their every limb and pulled them to the ground. Silver gasped in surprise, then gasped to draw a breath. Being squeezed really hurt!
They were certain it wouldn’t kill them, but it definitely wasn’t comfortable. “St-stop Maggie, please!” They squeaked. Just then the vines wrapped around their face and they could no longer see out of the cocoon of plant life.
Maggie suddenly understood the implications of what she had done. Were they hurt? She was very worried when they disappeared under the plant life. She ran over and nosed the bushel of vines as if that could help some time.
[121.66, 7.8] [Verdant Growth - 14]
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Post by Silver on Apr 26, 2021 5:06:37 GMT -6
“It’s okay Maggie, I’m… okay,” they made a few more squeaking noises as they adjusted themselves so that they could breathe comfortably. “You just have to… let me out, can you let me out?”
Could they let themselves out? Could they do it without hurting her? They didn’t have their bag full of goodies, so their only choice was to use magic to break out, but would that hurt Maggie standing over them? Could they convince her to move away? Thoughts ran through their head so fast that they hardly noticed that the vines were already retreating.
Maggie was so pleased to see the top of Silver’s head that she licked it, which made them laugh. “I can’t believe you did that!” They said between gasps. They were still a little startled, but ultimately okay. This wasn’t the first time a creature had attacked them at full force. As far as that variety of incident, this one wasn’t so bad.
[121.7, 8] [Verdant Growth - 15]
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Post by Silver on Apr 26, 2021 6:36:19 GMT -6
Silver continued to gasp a few times to catch their breath. Eventually, they were breathing okay and they could focus on everything else that was going on. They were sitting on the ground, looking up at Maggie. She seemed really concerned.
“It’s okay girl, I’ll be alright,” they said. They tried to reach up to comfort her, and they winced in pain. Their shoulder hurt from the vines squeezing them.
Maggie looked more concerned than ever. If a member of her family were hurt, they would be vulnerable to predation. They were big creatures, but they weren’t immune to predators. Especially not here around the labs where the predators could be huge. She wanted them to feel better more than anything.
She leaned down and licked their head again. Then she pressed her nose into their shoulder. They winced and pulled away, but they did not shout. They didn’t want to upset her. “Hey maybe… don’t do that,” they said.
[121.8, 8.2] [Rapid Bloom - 1]
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Post by Silver on Apr 26, 2021 6:36:49 GMT -6
“It’s going to be okay but please don’t poke me, I think it might be pulled out of place,” they explained. Not that she knew what that meant. She didn’t have to, but they were talking it out so that they could figure it out for themselves. With just a quick little healing spell, and they would be totally fine.
Maggie, however, had her own plans. She didn’t know what Silver could do to help themselves, but she did know what she could do to help them. She leaned down with her horns and let them gently touch their shoulder.
“C’mon, I asked nicely,” they said. They were still using their kind voice, so she didn’t know how rude the statement was. They were a little annoyed by the pain, though, so they were finding it difficult to be polite. No matter how annoyed they were, though, they would never shout at her. At least they would try not to, for as long as they still had control of their actions and she wasn’t in danger.
[121.9, 8.4] [Rapid Bloom - 2]
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Post by Silver on Apr 26, 2021 6:37:38 GMT -6
Maggie’s horns were covered in small flowers, from little fuzzy green buds all the way up to large petaled flowers. Silver liked the way they smelled now that they were close to their face. It was pretty nice actually. It made them feel calm.
Actually, it made their shoulder hurt less, too. The soothing smell of the flowers made them feel good. It almost looked like they were growing and blooming, right before their eyes. Wait… were they blooming right before their eyes.
Silver jumped up with surprise and reached out to touch one of the flowers. Unfortunately, this caused them to cut their arm on one of the pointy tips. They pulled away just as quickly as they had reached out, but it wasn’t enough. They had already startled Maggie and she took a step back again. As much as she liked him, she wasn't a big fan of sudden movements, even if they were the one moving.
[122, 8.6] [Rapid Bloom - 3]
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Post by Silver on Apr 26, 2021 6:38:08 GMT -6
Maggie was torn between fear of sudden movements, and concern for her friend. She wanted to help them feel better, but she also didn’t want her horns to be grabbed like that. Could she trust them if she got close again?
“It’s okay, Maggie. I’m not upset. Just surprised. Your flowers, they’re so beautiful, and my shoulder, it feels much better, really…”
Wait, why did it feel better? Silver rubbed their shoulder with their paw. The pain was all but gone. Was that… healing? They looked behind them to find Zii, but she was laying on a branch in a nearby tree, watching quietly. She was interested in what was happening, and as concerned as she could get, she was more curious than worried.
“Maggie, I think you healed me,” they said. “Did you do that…?”
Silver tilted their head and looked at Maggie’s flowers again. The ones they swore were growing and blooming a moment ago had closed back up. They were folded into delicate little cones. How beautiful and strange.
[122.1, 8.8] [Rapid Bloom - 4]
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Post by Silver on Apr 26, 2021 6:38:57 GMT -6
“Do your flowers heal, Maggie? Blooming…” They tried to remember what that meant. Was that something that they knew a precedent for? Did it matter? They knew healing magic when they saw it and they wanted to see what they could do with it.
The only problem was… how would they trick her into doing it again? It was easy to get her to sit, or grab something, or even to attack, but getting her to heal? How could they possibly do that? They leaned back against the tree to ponder it, and remembered the cut on their arms from the horn.
Would she be willing to heal it? Well there was only one way to find out, and that was to give her a chance to do it. They held out their arm so that Maggie could see it. “Do you see, Maggie? I have a cut. Could you… could you bloom for me, to make it better?”
[122.2, 9] [Rapid Bloom - 5]
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Post by Silver on Apr 26, 2021 6:39:21 GMT -6
That was one of the weirdest things they had ever asked, but it honestly wasn’t a surprise at this point. They had met creatures with so many amazing abilities that this was hardly even that strange. Not to mention their own powerful, uncontrolled magic. Did Maggie even have control over the blooming? Sometimes they did magic on accident, maybe she did too.
Maggie sniffed at the air and smelled blood. Normally this was a smell that could cause her joy, as it meant her hunt was successful, but in this case it was nothing but trouble. The blood meant that Silver was still hurt. She hadn’t done enough to help him.
She leaned down again and touched her horn to their arm and closed her eyes. Slowly the folded flowers on her horns began to fall open, letting out the comforting scent. They glowed softly with a magical power and grew bigger and bigger.
[122.3, 9.2] [Rapid Bloom - 6]
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Post by Silver on Apr 26, 2021 6:39:45 GMT -6
In only a moment, they were cured. Silver was so happy that they jumped to their feet and wrapped their arms around her head. “That’s amazing, Maggie! You can heal! I knew we were destined to be friends,” they said.
“Oh I mean, we could be friends even… if you didn’t… but I ah… you know what I mean,” they said. They didn’t want to have a bias for creatures with similar abilities to them, but they did feel a certain affinity for anything that could heal others. There was something about the ability to help instead of harm… they liked it.
Between the flowers and the vines, Maggie would be a helpful creature to have in the gardens. Could she heal plants as well as people? Well there was only one way to find out, and it would be a lot less painful than their previous test.
[122.4, 9.4] [Rapid Bloom - 7]
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