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Post by Noa on Jun 1, 2020 21:03:17 GMT -6
Avander had become one, but Avander had been a Wiurn for even less time than Aster had had Nightshade, and for that matter, Avander was already a creature whose mind and habits were known to Aster. Besides which, Avander had been a Sarane first, and even in his current body, he retained many of his Sarane traits. There was little, indeed, with which Aster had actually had to get reacquainted.
Nightshade, who had been created as such, was an entirely different story.
But rather than giving a sign to indicate why he had wanted Aster's attention in the first place, Nightshade merely shoved his head into Aster's chest, not quite hard enough to knock Aster back--- which seemed calculated, now that Aster thought about it. How did he know how much force to use, or rather, how much to pull back? It wasn't as though they were in the habit of doing this.
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Post by Noa on Jun 1, 2020 21:03:28 GMT -6
Had his former owner done this with him...? That would explain some things. Nightshade obviously hadn't been trained in any capacity, but that didn't preclude his former owner having been affectionate with him. That would explain why Nightshade was so friendly, and so calm around Aster to boot. He had some expectation of good treatment, perhaps, and might even have been confused that Aster held him at arms length.
The tendrils around the Wiurn's head flailed about as Nightshade shoved his head against Aster's chest. It was an odd sensation. Aster patted the Wiurn's neck for a moment, then pushed him away. "Okay, okay," Aster said. "Come on, stop that. I've got fishing to do." Which wasn't really true, since the fishing was as much of an excuse to come out here as anything, but he had brought the pole with him. He might as well take a few casts, at least.
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Post by Fiera Ferella on Jun 3, 2020 20:03:08 GMT -6
  Those casts you're taking turn out well- what a beautiful fish! |
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Post by Noa on Jun 3, 2020 20:26:10 GMT -6
If he did manage to find something, so much the better, though there was always the threat of Nightshade trying to make off with his catch... Though, thinking about it, Aster didn't feel like it would actually happen. The Sarane hatchlings, maybe, since those were a rowdy bunch; or even Avander might do it, as a sort of prank. You go soft on a creature once, and then he thinks he can get away with anything... Though Avander did work hard when it came down to it, so maybe Aster was being a bit ungenerous with that line of thought.
He thought Nightshade might persist in bothering him, so he grabbed the fishing rod and began straight away to cast it at the water, though he hadn't had a good chance to look to see where would be a good spot to aim for just yet. So long as he didn't hit a rock though...
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Post by Noa on Jun 3, 2020 20:35:02 GMT -6
The water was pretty deep in this part of the river, which was a good sign, since the shallow areas could only really support smaller specimen. Nothing remotely big enough to eat, that was for sure. It also meant you were much less likely to hit your hook on a rock, have it snag there, and then ruin the rod when you tried to pull it back. But then again, if the water was shallow, at least you could wade in to disentangle the unlucky hook. Here, he'd have to swim for it, and he wasn't sure he wanted to go that far today, even though he could probably have managed. For all that Aster didn't much like water, he had forced himself to learn to swim, since it was too valuable a skill to do without, and certainly not something you wanted to find yourself needing to know while not knowing it.
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Post by Noa on Jun 3, 2020 20:37:27 GMT -6
Having survived for this long, he had absolutely no interest in dying due to drowning. Moreover, he'd had to work with Azalea once he acquired her, and there was only so much one could do just calling out to a creature from a dock or shoreline. So learn to swim it was, even if he found the experience unpleasant. And it wasn't as unpleasant as he thought it would be, actually, so there was that. Though he did wish bodies of water weren't so inevitably cold.
He hadn't looked very well before making his cast, but luck, or probability, worked out in his favor: he did not, in fact, snag a rock or a log or any other such unlucky catch. It wasn't a great spot, but it wasn't the worst either, and he didn't feel compelled to reel it in immediately so he could take another shot at doing one better.
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Post by Noa on Jun 3, 2020 20:41:37 GMT -6
It would do for now. If nothing came up after he'd waited a while, he might recast it again, but Aster wasn't in any hurry. After he had finished casting, he sat down on the grass--- the vantage point he'd chosen was a little dirt cliff looking over the river, which had carved away enough dirt to make the bank so tall in the first place. That offered him the advantage of height that he didn't have to stay standing for, so he figured he might as well sit, especially if he expected to be there a while. It wouldn't have been a bad place for a nap either, actually, but then he really wouldn't have any chance of catching anything. You had to be awake to sense when something was biting, after all.
As he sat, he noticed out of the corner of his eye the sight of Nightshade staring out at the water.
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Post by Noa on Jun 3, 2020 21:03:25 GMT -6
Judging on where he was looking, Aster figured he must have been following the trajectory of the cast. He had probably never seen anything like the fishing pole. Fortunately he didn't show a propensity to go diving after it, like a cat with a moving toy dangling at the end of a string. That would have been a real disaster that Aster didn't want to deal with. Forget rocks, hooks and big creatures mixed even worse; there were equal possibilities of the hook harming the creature, and the creature breaking his fishing pole beyond any reasonable hope of repair. Probably both, actually, especially since the pain of being jabbed by a hook might very well enrage or panic the poor creature who was stuck with it.
And if one of those hooks tore open Nightshade's wing... That was a very unpleasant thought. It really was a good thing Nightshade stayed where he was.
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Post by Noa on Jun 4, 2020 18:55:27 GMT -6
"This is your first time seeing something like this, isn't it?" Aster said to Nightshade. "Your first time going on a fishing trip Wonder what your old keeper used to do with you." A lot of creatures didn't get trained up the way that Aster did with his lot, though then again, he had creatures that he just kept without much training too. Some of them were ones he meant to get to at some point, while others were... ones that he had acquired for one reason or another and just never figured out what to do with, he supposed. Other people also sometimes kept certain creatures for display, either as shows at awe or beauty, or grotesque things to inspire fear and horror. Aster never saw the practical sense in any or that, and he suspected it was because there wasn't any. It was the kind of thing people did as a luxury, wasn't it?
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Post by Noa on Jun 4, 2020 18:56:02 GMT -6
Some people liked to keep things just to have them. Aster could understand that from an intellectual perspective, but he wasn't really inclined to have creatures for that purpose.
He eyed Nightshade, wondering if the Wiurn had been one such prize creature at some point in his life, but it was honestly hard to say. Nightshade s hide was almost entirely black, which made for a striking profile, but it wasn't exactly what he would have called beautiful. There were red and purple markings here and there, and the red stood out pretty vividly, but he had seen much brighter specimen out there, even among Wiurn.
As for the body modifications... The floating spines were odd, the tentacles were odd, and the long claws were odd too. Someone had strange tastes when they specified all of this to the labs. They did all serve a purpose, but even then, surely they could have taken a different form...
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Post by Noa on Jun 4, 2020 18:57:03 GMT -6
The tendrils especially were hard for Aster to get his mind around, but they didn't seem to impede Nightshade or impact his quality of life in any way. It was just that Aster didn't know what function they served. Were they just strange whiskers or what?
"You're an odd one," he said to Nightshade, who inclined his head at the words. But before Aster could say anything more, or make something of Nightshades reaction, a tug at the Pole in his hand brought his attention back to the actual fishing part of this trip. Against all odds he had managed to get a bite.
"Whoa," Aster said, eyes widening, as he scrambled to reel it in. It had been some time since he had fished seriously, and while he had been alright at it back in the day, he wasn't sure what all he still remembered. Was fishing like riding a bike where once you earned it you never really forgot it?
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Post by Noa on Jun 4, 2020 18:57:45 GMT -6
Or was it more like a language, where as soon as you stopped using it for a while it rapidly deteriorated? Aster only spoke Common, but it was one of those things they always stressed when learning a language.
Well whichever it was, he was about to find out. Gritting his teeth, he began reeling in the fish. Nightshade sensed the change in his demeanor as well and sidled closer, but Asterhad no time for him. He really hoped the Wiurn wouldn't choose now of all times to demand attention or whatever it was he had been doing earlier; Aster still didn't quite get what Nightshade was trying to do, but whatever it was, now was not the time.
The Wiurn did nudge him a little which was thankfully not hard enough to unbalance Aster this time either, but after a complete lack of response to this, Nightshade relented and went over to look at the water instead.
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Post by Noa on Jun 4, 2020 18:58:23 GMT -6
Aster was very thankful for this reprieve, because having to divide his attention between trying to reel in this fish and trying to shoo off Nightshade was not something he felt was going to go well for him, had he been forced to attempt it. Now he could focus all his attention on the fish, which he was finding he really needed to do.
It wasn't that he had no idea what to do to reel in the fish at all; he did remember some of the things he had learned, and some of the motions felt familiar the more he did them. So there was that, in that he wasn't flailing around with absolutely no clue as to what he was doing. But the fish was a fighter, and he didn't feel as intuitive and confident with fishing as he had before, so he was having to play this very carefully.
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Post by Noa on Jun 5, 2020 19:48:34 GMT -6
That, and it had been a long time since he had worked with this particular rod, so he didn't want to push too hard lest he break it by accident. It felt pretty sturdy, but all rods had their limits, and he wasn't eager to find the limit of this one today, especially not when he had an actual bite on the line. He hadn't been optimistic about his chances of catching something, but now that the opportunity was before him, it would be a shame to lose it just because he had been too rash and hasty in his attempt to make something happen.
So under Nightshade's watch, he slowly reeled in the thing that had bitten the hook. It took time and concentration, but eventually the fish tired itself out--- at least, Aster thought it was a fish, anyway. He was about to find out, whatever it was.
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Post by Jack on Jun 5, 2020 21:48:53 GMT -6
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