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Post by Fiera Ferella on Jul 17, 2021 22:06:13 GMT -6
It was admittedly pretty hard to keep a neptica on a leash, but considering his level of training she wasn't sure what else to do with him. He'd probably be fine like that, right? Regardless, Harding wasn't what she'd call an ill behaved creature anyway. He was clever, sure, but that went for most neptica. Other than that though, he seemed to have a hard-nosed attitude, following each command to a T, if with... a little bit of unnecessary aggression. She didn't know him that well yet- in fact, she had only taught him his name so far- but if she had to describe him, she'd likely say he had a bit of a drill sergeant-esque personality. He certainly seemed to like to bully the rest of his pod around. Chances are, they were enjoying the time off from him while she took him for a bonding session at the river bend.
Fiera 18 Harding 1.3/5.3 3
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Post by Fiera Ferella on Jul 17, 2021 22:11:23 GMT -6
It wasn't that Perry and Anja didn't LIKE their tankmate, but she was sure his aggressive and domineering nature could be exhausting. If Fiera did her job right though, this trip would lead to her getting a bit closer to Harding emotionally while also wearing him out enough that he could settle in a bit better with his pod. Right now, it wasn't even hard to see where he was in the river with how much he was splashing and thrashing. Fiera wasn't sure if he was trying to catch fish, get his bearings, or just trying to assert dominance over the river. "That's not going to work, Harding." She said absentmindedly in reference to that last point. "...Believe me, I've tried." She grumbled, thinking of all the times the river had casually screwed her over. If it wanted to do something, it would, regardless of whether or not you wanted it to.
Fiera 19 Harding 1.4/5.4 4
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Post by Fiera Ferella on Jul 17, 2021 22:16:46 GMT -6
Despite his general grumpiness however, Harding did seem to be following Fiera along quite easily. Perhaps he saw her on a higher level of authority in comparison to himself. He might be offended by the rest of the world disobeying his orders, but Fiera was something to be bowed down to... a fact that she was very grateful for, considering how hard it would be to manhandle a fully grown neptica. For now though, it was looking like this was simply going to be a pleasant walk along the riverside, barring any particularly rich looking fishing spots or finding anything interesting half buried in the packed mud she was walking over. For now though, there was nothing to be seen, just an empty, sunny path over densely packed mud. She could have worn flip flops here for how little it was budging under her feet. Not that she'd trust it to stay that way for long.
Fiera 20 Harding 2.0/4.0 5
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Post by Fiera Ferella on Jul 18, 2021 19:20:50 GMT -6
After all, flash floods were common this time of year, and the fact that the mud under her feet was completely undisturbed meant that water must have swept through here not long before. She'd keep an eye out for it of course, but for now the sky was clear. A loud splash sounded from her right as Harding leapt from the water, landing down in a massive splash after his breach. She idly wondered if he was doing it just for fun, or if it was because he was hunting. Based on his personality, she would guess the latter, though he doubted that he would catch much more than she could with her bare hands. After all, he hadn't been fed anything but pre-killed fish his whole life. He might have the instincts for hunting, but not the skill that could only be gained from learned experience. Maybe she'd get around to teaching him that.
Fiera 1 Harding 2.1/4.1 6
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Post by Fiera Ferella on Jul 18, 2021 19:38:55 GMT -6
For now though, she was just looking for any interesting objects she could find buried in the mud. One thing that Fiera could say positively about the river was that it always brought in something interesting, especially after storms. Some things just looked like random junk, but the humanish knew that even a random chunk of shell had value to someone by this point. And if it didn't... well, she was pretty damn good at schmoozing. She was pretty sure she had gotten Kor to give her twenty credits for a plain old rock once... or perhaps he was just being nice. Or perhaps it actually WAS valuable and Fiera didn't realize it, and he had actually gotten a good deal over on her... but no, she preferred to believe it was her just being good at haggling. She nodded to herself smugly, savoring the memory as Harding splashed around.
Fiera 2 Harding 2.2/4.2 7
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Post by Fiera Ferella on Jul 18, 2021 20:00:50 GMT -6
Anything interesting would do though. A shell half buried in muck, a bit of riverweed that didn't get washed back into the river, or maybe even a fish trapped in a divot, disconnected from the main river. In a way, she would be doing it a favor by picking it up. Even if she turned around and sold it to someone else right away but hey, they'd probably take good care of it, right? Or maybe she could give it to Harding just for him to be able to feel like he caught something. He had breached at least three more times now, and she was pretty sure he hadn't caught anything yet. Still, there were no fish to be found on this particular mud flat. It was, after all, rather flat, with very few divots to be found. In fact, it was unclear whether or not a flash flood had come through at all.
Fiera 3 Harding 2.3/4.3 8
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Post by Fiera Ferella on Jul 18, 2021 20:07:16 GMT -6
Instead, Fiera figured it could just be the tides pulling out, revealing the well worn and flattened riverbeds that were normally beneath the water. The tides affected rivers, right? She knew they affected the lake down at the docks, pulling the water well away from them before rushing back in later. But the humanish knew so little about boats and whatnot that she couldn't be sure whether the same rules applied to rivers. She ultimately decided that yes, rivers had tides, just because that sounded just about right to her. "What do you think, Harding?" She called out, only to be met by a cacophany of squeaks and squeals. Some people most likely found Neptica interesting and alien to listen to, maybe even pretty... but Fiera just found it a little squeaky and annoying. At least Harding was a bit deeper pitched than the other two neptica she owned, however.
Fiera 4 Harding 2.4/4.4 9
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Post by Fiera Ferella on Jul 18, 2021 20:17:18 GMT -6
They were sweet little animals, but the squealing just hit some sort of button in Fiera's brain that made her go nuts. Harding trended more toward clicking and chirping however, making it a bit easier for her to spend time around him. He wasn't quite as agreeable as she would like- ultimately obeying, but stubborn- but she was well used to that with her pets. She had plenty of aggressive and stubborn beasts. Victor, her arcane rakai-sarane. Algol, her sarane drake. Donner, her seeker. All of them she had trained all sorts of tricks and abilities to, so she doubted Harding would be much different. Aquatic creatures though... those were usually a bigger ask. That was always a lot more foreign to her sensibilities, and as a feline sort of creature Fiera wasn't really a... "getting wet" kind of person. Still, she had taught him one thing already so that counted, right?
Fiera 5 Harding 3.0/5.0 10
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Post by Fiera Ferella on Jul 19, 2021 21:03:34 GMT -6
Fiera had admittedly not been too on the ball with training her pets lately. She had taken a bit of a... luxury break, one could call it. Several busy weeks had left her exhausted, and when Fiera worked hard, she played... not at all. In fact, she had spent most of her time in her apartment sleeping. If anyone asked, she would blame it on her feline nature (after all, cats took plenty of naps in sunlight) and if they blamed it on her feline nature, she'd tell them to shut up and mind their own business. It worked out quite well for her, all things considered. Regardless however, her political career had taken off comparatively well, and she was chipping along quite nicely. As it turned out, it was quite easy to get people to put in a vote for you so long as you strung all the right sentences toegther.
Fiera 6 Harding 3.1/5.1 11
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Post by Fiera Ferella on Jul 19, 2021 21:11:06 GMT -6
Of course, following through on the promises she made them was another matter entirely, but so long as she picked off the tiny things and never outright promised anything big (instead simply implying and then saying "Well I never SAID that." whenever someone called her out on it) people seemed to stay relatively happy. Granted, she was pretty early in her overall "career", but people seemed quite pleased with her regardless. It was almost TOO easy. Didn't anything happen in this city? There always seemed to be an undercurrent of darkness that Fiera could appreciate, and a black market that she had brushed up on more than once, but as far as she could tell everything stayed neatly balanced. Poverty stayed just below a certain waterline, food stayed consistent, so on and so forth so despite the Labs not being the most ethical place on the planet, everyone was willing to... look the other way.
Fiera 7 Harding 3.2/5.2 12
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Post by Fiera Ferella on Jul 19, 2021 21:22:42 GMT -6
Fiera had to wonder what that meant for herself, to a degree. She had never been the type to take... well... ANYTHING lying down. Complacency had overtaken her hometown as well, but she had done just about everything she could to fix that. Until it nearly killed her and got her exiled, of course. She couldn't bring herself to regret the decision though. She'd rather die in a ditch before she gave Morgan the satisfaction for that. So instead she'd just stay... unsatisfied with her current position. Sure, she was a politician, but did she actually have any power? Was she actually CHANGING anything? It... didn't look like it. And... yes, that bothered her. She knew what was wrong to, to a degree. The corruption of the labs (but they were simultaneously the only things keeping this place's economy propped up), the lack of rights for sapient "pets", if you could call them that.
Fiera 8 Harding 3.3/5.3 13
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Post by Fiera Ferella on Jul 19, 2021 21:28:13 GMT -6
She had been working on that last one, at least. She had been trying to get to know her sapient pets more. Making sure they could all speak (if they had access to speech or sign language), giving them the opportunity to learn how to read and write. It had been miserable work, as some were more cooperative than others. If she had to be bitten by one more harachiu, she was probably going to scream. This had at least taken care of the frustrations of being... well, unable to communicate with them, but it didn't give them a whole lot of agency in their own lives. Fiera was still their owner after all, and they were still simply... things that could be bought and sold like any other creature, as messed up as that was. Granted it wasn't TOO different from the indentured servitude Fiera had seen back home.
Fiera 9 Harding 3.4/5.4 14
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Post by Fiera Ferella on Jul 19, 2021 21:34:55 GMT -6
But at least people weren't usually born into that. Some of these creatures had quite literally been custom built just to... what. Sit there and be cute and maybe hold a conversation if asked? Well. She had experience with THAT too, albeit before her revolutionary years, and she was sick of it. She suspected most of the other pets were sick of it too, but... she wasn't quite sure about what to do with it quite yet. But a little part of her brain told her it might have something to do with the parcel of land she had recently bought in one dilapidated corner of the city. It wasn't worth much right now, but plots in that area were getting bought up quite quickly, and she suspected it would be worth a lot soon... provided she wanted to sell it. But for now, she had much bigger plans for it.
Fiera 10 Harding 4.0/6.0 15
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Post by Silver on Jul 20, 2021 21:28:47 GMT -6
There's a teeny fish all caught up in a... plant thing.
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Post by Fiera Ferella on Jul 23, 2021 12:50:19 GMT -6
Finally, a bit of success... or at least something of interest to her. As Fiera walked along the long, damp mud flat, the ground started dipping down just a little bit, so gradual you wouldn't notice it until part of it dipped under the water line. This produced a long, wide stretch of water alongside the main river, separated until the next flood. These little flats were quite common along this part of the river, and considering how fast they heated up in the bright light of day, they were usually filled with fish that were unlucky enough to be stuck in them when the river receded and would be happy to go just about anywhere else- including the interior of a bucket. It made it quite easy for Fiera to fish, to say the least. And her bucket was nice and empty for anything that she should find here.
Fiera 11 Harding 4.1/6.1 16
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