Darky
Flea Market Artist
Veritas et Aequitas
Posts: 1,268
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Post by Darky on Jun 30, 2020 14:51:32 GMT -6
Amonuro Stamina: 2 Strength: 0 Resistance: 0 Dexterity: 5 Mentality: 8 Special Abilities: Ethreal, Empethetic Link, Wind Immunity Moves: Telekenetic Powers, Wind's Blessing
It wasn’t the strangest quest they have encountered thus far, but it certainly seemed the more eccentric one. As Darky read the slip on the board, half a dozen questions went through her heard - what were these creatures? What is conservation? Captive breeding? In so far as she understood it, most everything in the Labs was technically ‘captive breeding’, as creatures owned by people were allowed to breed only in the Labs itself, and by permission, in a way. In some cases, such as with pachee, it was even encouraged, to promote new types of coats.
She quinted at the blurry image of the specimen, trying to identify it, but nothing came to mind. There were vespa that could fit the description, but they were much larger. Some formica, who were smaller but tended to be more on the, ah.. aggressive side.
In the end, she supposed perhaps these were indeed rare enough that she hadn’t seen one yet. And that made it interesting. (1) Amonuro: 64 (1/5)
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Darky
Flea Market Artist
Veritas et Aequitas
Posts: 1,268
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Post by Darky on Jun 30, 2020 14:53:23 GMT -6
The two stopped by the kennel before setting out, as just as well - the moths sounded like they were nocturnal creatures, so it didn’t make much sense to start hunting them in daylight. There, she rummaged through the gear, considering this and that, before finally settling with the crystal torch for their source of light. It was going to be an interesting experiment, of sorts, as most moths were drawn to light. A moth that glowed, however, was more interesting in attracting something else than being attracted, but perhaps the underlying habit of light-affection persisted even in this kind.
She also stopped by the cupboard of food, grabbing a glass jar from the shelf. She stored the candies into a bowl for the time being, washed out the jaw and wiped it dry, before adding a few small holes to the top of the lid. After all, once they found the things, they would need to have some way to contain them in relative safety.
(2) Amonuro: 64 (2/5)
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Darky
Flea Market Artist
Veritas et Aequitas
Posts: 1,268
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Post by Darky on Jun 30, 2020 14:53:55 GMT -6
Which also brought up another point she wasn’t all too sure about: the jar itself was quite big, but there weren’t very many descriptions on the size of the moths. Many natural kind were quite tiny, but she had also hear tell of grandly designed months in other parts of the world, some the size of one’s hand (And, well, admittedly the various pocket pets certainly made a play for a larger size as well).
Well.. Better to hope the jar would be enough. Worst case, the two can double back for something else and hope to catch the moths again before the night is out.
With the gear set, all that was left was to wait for nightfall. This made it a good time to go over the park layout and try to figure out where best to begin and continue through. The ad only mentioned the park as a whole, with no particular distinction as to which part of it.
(3) Amonuro: 64 (3/5)
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Darky
Flea Market Artist
Veritas et Aequitas
Posts: 1,268
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Post by Darky on Jun 30, 2020 14:54:12 GMT -6
Considering several dozen trainers regularly used to park, it seemed to grow more and more each year. On a positive note, at least most of it was fairly flat, without all too many trees and bushes to obscure the view. The downside being the moths could still seek cover of plants in order to avoid potential predators, meaning the two would have to look under tree and bush even so.
Slowly the skies faded to a twilight orange, then a red, then a purple and the two started off towards the park. Along the way, the shijin made inquisitive loops around the mammalian, curious about what they were about to do. While Darky tried to explain to him the best she could, there was really only so much information they had to work with at that time.
The best she could summarize it was, “We’re going to try to find some glowing bugs and place them in the jar. So if you see anything glowing, you let me know.”
(4) Amonuro: 64 (4/5)
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Darky
Flea Market Artist
Veritas et Aequitas
Posts: 1,268
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Post by Darky on Jun 30, 2020 14:54:32 GMT -6
Of course, that rather discounted the fact that Amonuro himself was also somewhat glowing, but with luck that could actually work in their favour.
Reaching the park, the two made their way towards their own training yard first, keeping eyes open to either side of the path in case something caught their sight. No such luck on the first pass, but once they reached the yard and made sure there was nothing particularly living and glowing hanging around there, the sphinx jabbed the crystal torch into the ground, lit it and left it as they began to wander the wider expanse. When you have to hunt something, it’s best to leave some bait.
Hopping the fence, the sphinx walked into another yard, passing by some small shrubs and constantly looking left, right, ahead. It wasn’t likely that they would spot anything this close to proverbial home, but stranger things had happened before. Besides, one who did not look, did not see.
(5) Amonuro: 65 (0/5)
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Darky
Flea Market Artist
Veritas et Aequitas
Posts: 1,268
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Post by Darky on Jun 30, 2020 14:54:54 GMT -6
It was a few fences over where the sphinx began to realize their pace could take an entire night to cover the whole of the park, especially as they had to stop at any shrubbery along the way. The hope was that these bugs would glow bright enough to be spotted from a distance, but the blurry image didn’t really make it clear.
The sphinx thought to see a brief blink of light in a side yard for the barest of seconds, quickly jumping the fence, jar ready, as she rushed to the tall grass where it came from. But no sooner had she managed to locate it that it turned out to be a more regular (and definitely not a moth) firefly. Most likely one escaped from the Mansion or let loose by an owner, considering they’re known to inhabit there this month.
Disappointed, but not deterred, the sphinx continued to search the yard, just in case, before the two continued onward.
(6)
Amonuro: 65 (1/5)
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Darky
Flea Market Artist
Veritas et Aequitas
Posts: 1,268
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Post by Darky on Jun 30, 2020 14:55:10 GMT -6
It wasn’t long before it became increasingly more apparent that the scope of the job would need more than one pair of eyes (figuratively speaking). Or, rather, one pair of perspective. If the creatures were truly very tiny, seeing them from afar wasn’t likely to work, but the sphinx decided to take the risk.
She instructed Amonuro to fly higher overhead and do broader circles around them, as to cover the flanks from an above perspective while the sphinx focused on the ground-level view in the middle. The effect could, hopefully, be two-fold, as Amonuro would be able to potentially spot something further to the side, while anything drawn to luminescent things would find his shimmering blue form tempting to follow and draw closer to.
Admittedly there was that risk that some things less nice could also be attracted, but given it was the dead of night, the sphinx rather doubted there would be anyone still training out there. For other things, the City’s own security protocols tended to keep out anything wild and untamed.
(7) Amonuro: 65 (2/5)
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Darky
Flea Market Artist
Veritas et Aequitas
Posts: 1,268
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Post by Darky on Jun 30, 2020 14:55:30 GMT -6
For a time the two wandered the breath of the park one way, before jumping a few fences over and turning to head back, a sort of lazy zig-zag, if it took nearly half an hour to cover one ‘zig’ before starting the ‘zag’. A surprisingly large amount of things had a habit of glowing, gleaming, glinting or shining in the moonlight, the two discovered, but none of them moths.
Well, yes, there were also moths, many attracted to the shijin’s form as he flew through the air, but they were just the dusty old common moths, with not even a little bit of glow on them. Darky felt tempted to try and capture a few into the jar all the same, given the image from the society had been so blurry to begin with (She was no expert on bugs, and a moth could be shaped in a lot of different ways, even like other bugs for all she knew).
It was when they neared their own training plot that a spike of excitement shot through her as the shijin energetically circled down to her.
(8) Amonuro: 65 (3/5)
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Darky
Flea Market Artist
Veritas et Aequitas
Posts: 1,268
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Post by Darky on Jun 30, 2020 14:55:48 GMT -6
Amonuro circled around, face bright and excited as he fluttered towards their plot, and though the sphinx was confused at first, she followed none the less. It was obvious something had caught the shijin’s eye, and although it wasn’t the first time that night, it was certainly the most excited he’d been about it up until then.
The two crept to the side of the fence, one crouched behind it, the other hovering low, as they peeked through the slats. In the middle of the yard was the crystal torch she had left, but around it there was a slow motes of light, softly glowing and slowly dancing ins swaying motions. When one focused on them longer, however, more distinctive features began to show - wings, small bodies, fluffy antennae.
“Good job, Amonuro,” the sphinx whispered low with a smile. Then turned towards him, holding up the jar, “Now to just get a few to a new home.”
(9) Amonuro: 65 (4/5)
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Darky
Flea Market Artist
Veritas et Aequitas
Posts: 1,268
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Post by Darky on Jun 30, 2020 14:56:09 GMT -6
The sphinx unscrewed the lid from the jar, while the shijin hovered higher up and began to focus. One of the motes began to drift away from the group, pulled on by invisible threads.
“Careful, careful..” the sphinx minded him in a whisper, “Remember, they’re delicate things, you can’t put too much force into it.” The shijin responded with an sense of recognition, carefully adjusting the telekinetic force applied as the mode slowly drew closer. Supposedly the moth itself was probably quite confused as to what was happening, but too dazed by the crystal light to really put up a fight. Once in the jar, she carefully placed the lid back and nodded to him, “Now a few more, just in case.”
The process wasn’t very time-consuming, but certainly ended up playing on the nerves as the two were careful to pull the moths towards them with as little harm as possible, before gently depositing them into the jar. After a while, about five of the larger-than-average moths were fluttering and resting on the inside of the glass jar, softly glowing.
“Alright, that should hopefully do it,” the sphinx smiled and ran a hand through Amonuro’s essence like a scritch. The two grabbed the crystal torch on their way out and began to make their way home.
(10) - (added) Amonuro: 66 (0/5)
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Post by Jack on Jul 2, 2020 18:39:37 GMT -6
You've managed to collect some glowmoths! Let's hope they'll accept the slightly crispy ones...
[You have rolled a success! Your QP will be added to the bank and your reward sent shortly.]
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