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Post by Fiera Ferella on May 20, 2020 14:25:58 GMT -6
She wasn’t big by any means. Really, Fiera usually looked like she was doing her best ‘twig’ impression. That being said though, these trees were pretty thin and she was pretty sure that trying to reach the top of the tree would result in the branches bending so badly that she’d end up back where she started, if they didn’t outright snap. That sort of thing wasn’t normally harmful to nyssa, but it did hurt. She’d rather not evoke Isle’s ire, and yet… she couldn’t help herself. Fiera began finding more footholds in the crook of the branches, slowly making her way up. The further she went, the shorter distance there was between branches, and the easier it was to find hand and footholds. She was honestly surprised at how easy it was, though she wasn’t about to jinx herself now. She only had a little way left to go.
Fiera 2 Isle 9.2/4.2 22
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Post by Fiera Ferella on May 20, 2020 14:26:11 GMT -6
A few moments later, Fiera was able to pop her head above the crown of leaves. Her position was surprisingly stable. She wouldn’t be surprised if these leafy branches were secretly reinforced by some sort of bone just under the surface. It was the best explanation she could think of, at least. There was barely any give at all under her hands and feet. Still, the area surrounding her was pretty splendid, as far as views went. Fiera and Isle were in a pretty wide area of the river by this point, and the leafy overhang that was above them at the start of their journey was no longer present. Instead, there was just the wide blue sky above them, with tiny clouds scuttling across its eggshell surface. It was almost as if they were racing each other, or rushing to get home after a long day at… uh… hm.
Fiera 3 Isle 9.3/4.3 23
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Post by Fiera Ferella on May 20, 2020 14:26:25 GMT -6
Fiera didn’t know. Cloud school. Something like that. Her poetry writing was rusty. The point was that the sky was very pretty right now, even though she couldn’t make a game out of picking shapes out of clouds right now. To either sides the banks were far away, though she could still see the treeline and the sandy shore. Distantly, there was another fisherman sitting on the bank- or at least, she was pretty sure that’s what it was. It could be pretty hard to tell without her glasses. Still, she gave the enterprising individual a wave, and received a rather hesitant wave back, as if they weren’t expecting anyone to be on the floating island. Fiera smirked- even the island itself wouldn’t be there in a few minutes. The benefits of having a pet that didn’t even notice you were there- it was effortless for them to carry you.
Fiera 4 Isle 9.4/4.4 24
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Post by Fiera Ferella on May 20, 2020 14:26:39 GMT -6
They were really making a decent pace like this, all things considered. Fiera figured they’d be at the check in point in just a few minutes at this rate. She didn’t intend to ride Isle forever, after all. They weren’t her pet, and regardless, Fiera couldn’t just leave them in the river. Once they reached the check in spot, Isle would be collected and returned to Ridelys’ kennel, and Fiera would be on her merry way, feeling much better for having bonded with the massive creature. At the very least, it let the crossbreed have some exercise before being cooped up again, which would make her more cooperative when training her. Fiera couldn’t see the designated spot quite yet from her vantage point, but she was sure that they’d come into range soon. She looked down from her position, and got ready to retreat down the tree once more.
Fiera 5 Isle 10.0/5.0 25
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Post by Fiera Ferella on May 20, 2020 16:23:54 GMT -6
Fiera took it one step at a time (literally), and eventually managed to shimmy her way back down. She was a bit chafed, but otherwise unharmed- until she managed to stick her foot directly into a puddle. She yowled and pulled it back, her tail puffing out before she remembered that she was wearing galoshes. Oh, right. Her feet couldn’t get wet right now, she was going to be fine. The humanish sniffed and smoothed her fur out again, as if anyone on the far shore could see her. Then she began ambling (or at least attempted to amble) nonchalantly back to her position on Isle’s side, trying to look subtle, as if she hadn’t gone on that whole little adventure. Still, it was hard to do that, considering that every inch of this ‘place’ was covered in thick roots prone to tripping whoever tried to walk across them.
Fiera 6 Isle 10.1/5.1 26
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Post by Fiera Ferella on May 20, 2020 16:24:18 GMT -6
As a result, Fiera found herself more of… slogging. Or perhaps high knee-ing back to the water’s edge. She was sure that if Isle could see her like this, they’d find it quite amusing. If they noticed Fiera at all right now though, they gave no indicator of it. Fiera sighed heavily, and tried to think of different topics to move her mind to more pleasant things and distract from this… difficulty. Such as: how did you keep bugs off of a creature like this? She was sure that a monster this size would also have some monstrous parasites, and yet Fiera had seen nary an insect since she walked aboard. Was it because Isle was a creature both of the land and the water, and so creatures from both would die when she moved to the other location? Or was it because she was a mix of plant and beast, and thus had the biology of both?
Fiera 7 Isle 10.2/5.2 27
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Post by Fiera Ferella on May 20, 2020 16:24:37 GMT -6
Fiera knew that pests and parasites were usually specialized per species… a parasite of one animal wouldn’t thrive on even that species’ most closely related sister species, and vice versa. As a result, she wondered if the creatures of the labs had any parasites at all, being genetically altered crimes against the laws of nature. After all, they had been created so suddenly and were so distinct from anything else, parasites wouldn’t have time to evolve. As a result, the pets of the labs, especially its crossbreeds, were probably the most pest free of any other group of animals in Pethia. Fiera found herself admittedly a bit jealous as she tried to swat away some mosquitos and gnats buzzing around her head. What she wouldn’t do to be free of things trying to steal her blood or get in her body, ugh. At least humans had medicine, though.
Fiera 8 Isle 10.3/5.3 28
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Post by Fiera Ferella on May 20, 2020 16:24:52 GMT -6
Overall, Fiera supposed that was another reason why Isle was so eerily ‘off’ as a body of land. There was just trees here, and no other living things except for the bugs that flew in from the shoreline. There were no tiny animals rustling through the underbrush, no chance of finding a beetle under a rock. There weren’t even any rocks- just a thickly woven mass of roots that grew more and more impenetrable the deeper you tried to dig. Fiera had come out today thinking that Isle could easily be mistaken for an island with only a few odd things to indicate otherwise, but really, now that she had spent more than five minutes here she realized that that really wasn’t the case. She didn’t think there could be anyone who found this place anything but eerie once they spent some time here, herself included in that number.
Fiera 9 Isle 10.4/5.4 29
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Post by Fiera Ferella on May 20, 2020 16:25:05 GMT -6
At least she could see her little ‘resting station’ coming up through the trees, her bag and her net the only objects different from the monotony of the surrounding foliage. She couldn’t help but be relieved at the familiar site, even though she had never gone far from it. This area was just exhausting to traverse with its catching roots and endless branches that were just barely at forehead height. You’d think you fit under them but no, you’d end up yanking your own hair off if you didn’t duck. It was pretty annoying overall. As she finally stepped past the last tree and onto the ‘shoreline’, Fiera sighed with relief and took a moment to appreciate the sight of the water flowing past her. She could see a distant shoal of minnows, unfortunately too far to get caught in her net, which was still tied to the nearby root. A shame.
Fiera 10 Isle 11.0/6.0 30
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Post by Jack on May 20, 2020 16:37:13 GMT -6
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Post by Fiera Ferella on May 20, 2020 16:56:53 GMT -6
She also couldn’t help but look at her bag with surprise. She never got out her folding chair even? She had been here for hours by now! ...Right? It occurred to Fiera that she never actually checked her phone or looked at a watch… she just assumed that a good amount of time had passed because of how fast they were reaching the checkpoint. It was supposed to be a trip of several hours, but she didn’t actually know how long they had been out here for. If Isle was moving faster than the average boat, Fiera supposed that it could have been a lot shorter than that. Fiera patted her pockets a couple times before remembering that her phone was in her bag- definitely not the best place to leave it, but at least nothing had happened and it hadn’t gotten wet. Still, she snatched it off the ground as quickly as possible.
Fiera 11 Isle 11.1/16.1 31
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Post by Fiera Ferella on May 20, 2020 16:57:19 GMT -6
A bit of fiddling later, and Fiera finally had her phone. “There we go! Now, let’s just see… texts from my coworkers, ew, no. It is…” Huh. It had definitely been over an hour, that was for sure, but it wasn’t QUITE as fast as she had been fearing. All in all, it was a decent day out. “Excellent.” Fiera said, shutting the phone down and sticking it back in the plastic bag from whence it came. She rezipped that pocket and looked at all of the things she had left scattered around. “Guess I should clean up if we’re leaving soon, huh?” She said to herself. She did wonder how good Isle’s hearing was, though. Could the mangrove crossbreed even hear her all the way over here on her left side? If they could, they gave no indicator of it. For the most part, Fiera was just talking to herself.
FIera 12 Isle 11.2/16.2 31
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Post by Fiera Ferella on May 20, 2020 16:57:36 GMT -6
She tried to putz around some more, but eventually Fiera decided that she couldn’t put off putting away her net any longer. She really hoped that she found some fish or neat items, but considering how her fishing trip had been going so far, she wasn’t expecting much. Carefully she unraveled the rope, making sure the net didn’t pitch in either direction and instead stayed steady. Then she tossed it aside and scooped the net up from the water, examining its contents. To her delight, her gambit had worked! She had a massive variety of fish in there by now, trapped from the currents of the river. She walked it over to a travel tub and dumped the veritable school of finds in, watching them swirl around angrily before settling out and claiming their own corners of the holding container. She knelt down carefully to investigate them further, peering into the water.
Fiera 13 Isle 11.3/16.3 33
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Post by Fiera Ferella on May 20, 2020 17:29:08 GMT -6
There were at least three flounder, which she found interesting. Didn’t they normally live on the river bed? Then normally it would be weird if she found them here, and yet… perhaps the river had been shallower at some point they passed, resulting in a few flounder getting caught in the net. That was her best guess, at least. There was a single terrified minnow, likely one that wandered off from that school she saw earlier. There were four more ‘regular’ looking fish, ones that she was expecting to catch and, if she had to admit, looked pretty darn tasty. What could she say, she was at least part cat. And then there was… a weird one. It was deep and black, resembling one of those abyssal fish that she saw in books. She couldn’t say it was a normal find, but she supposed it must be a river fish if she caught it… in the river.
Fiera 14 Isle 11.4/16.4 34
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Post by Fiera Ferella on May 20, 2020 17:29:48 GMT -6
Like most people did. Overall, it was a pretty darn successful haul. Fiera straightened herself up, proud of what she had accomplished. And she didn’t even have to do anything! Not really, at least. All she had to do was stick a net in the river for a while and go explore somewhere else while she waited. On the shore that risked her net getting raided by some manner of predator, but out here on Isle’s back? It was a perfect spot for fishing. Fiera went ahead and packed her net back up- they were pretty much done here. They’d be at the check in point any minute now, and Fiera was about ready to get this haul home. It was a happy day when she was able to get this much loot- and bond with a new creature to boot! She smiled and looked out at the far shore- what a good time.
Fiera 15 Isle 12.0/17.0 35
(Fiera collects her findings and goes home.)
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