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Post by Xentus on Jul 29, 2020 1:32:13 GMT -6
The tea was a berry mix, sweetened with honey. Normally, he'd add a bit of milk to the affair, but he didn't want to risk spoilage. Since so much time had passed since the liquid was brewed, it was tepid. Which he was fine with, as the day was beginning to warm up. Adding hot tea would just be uncomfortable. The leopard took a deep breath of the sweet smelling berry-tinged liquid and sighed contentedly.
This was nice, getting back to wandering and making little discoveries. He could only guess that the village would have some information on this pile of rubble, but what he really enjoyed was making a story for it himself. Tea in one hand and lap-golem carried under arm, he decided to investigate around the premises.. Honestly, there wasn't much to make of the rubble. It was stone, moss, and weeds. The ground was once cobblestone, but was now rather overgrown. Plants did seem to have a hard time completely covering it though, and he could vaguely make out the footpaths and trails around the perimeter.
Oh!
One of these trails had to lead to the lake. Where else would a castle get their water? He could see the shimmering water not too far away, but the path he had been taking included wading through tall grass that he was not a fan of. He did see the remnants of a trail going in that direction.. It only made sense. He went back to his resting spot and repacked the golem trio, much to their dismay (as he perceived it).
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Post by Xentus on Jul 29, 2020 1:44:04 GMT -6
Wind and earth were probably quite happy being able to cultivate their respective elements. Occasional gentle breezes washed over the grasses, creating rolling waves. And earth finally got some contact with stone taken by nature. Fire got to stay close to him for a while, which he could only assume it loved. And now all three had to go back in the pack. Shame, but they'd be let out soon at the lake. At times like these, he wondered why he didn't bring along one of his water golems as well.
His logic could be funny at times. Not the most sound, craving wandering and satisfying curiosity.. It was the way of his life. Even if it got confusing for himself at times. Xentus followed the path leading away from the fort ruins and toward the lake. The grasses seemed to have a hard time growing on the heavily compacted earth, but it still did grow. It reached to about his knee, which he still had some trouble wading through, but it definitely beat the waist-high stuff.
His presumptions about the trail seemed to be right, however. It curved around a small hill and bee-lined toward the glistening water. Arrival time would be but a few more minutes of suffering through this saw-edged grass. Still, the leopard didn't let excitement get the better of himself, and he paced his walk accordingly. He still had the journey back to take after all.. By this point, he'd traveled a couple miles away from the town. The return trip wasn't something he was looking forward to.
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Post by Xentus on Jul 29, 2020 1:58:47 GMT -6
Before long, the shimmery waters of the lake were within reach. While the walk here included a lot of grunting, sighing, and groaning. And occasional words passed to his seedlings.
"Finally, Xentus has reached the lake shores", he sighed, relieved. The grasses gave way to a rocky and sandy shoreline surrounding the waters, which gently lapped with the winds. The leopard dropped his pack and released the golems from their confinement. Once again, the creatures stretched out their tendrils and examined their new environment. Wind and earth seemed to appreciate this place, opening their shells and taking in wisps of their respective elements. Fire remained tight shelled, as if it were disapproving of this place. It offered nothing for it, except perhaps it marginally enjoyed that the sun reflecting off the waters warmed the land. Considering this though, Xentus built a small fire out of dried grass and the kindling he brought with him.
With the three creatures seemingly satisfied, it was his turn. He disrobed, which only including taking off his pants, rope-belt, and hair brace. He dressed lightly, which did cause some suffering in this venture.. His legs and feet in particular was covered in small scratches, most of which had already scabbed over. It was a small annoyance, but he wasn't concerned. There were no ticks or other nasty hitchhikers, so no problem. Flesh healed. With no fear of ruining his garb, he gently fingered the amulet around his neck that he always wore, and headed toward the lapping waters.
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Post by Xentus on Jul 29, 2020 2:22:49 GMT -6
The lake offered a tepid sanctuary in the midst of the grassland. The water was mostly warmed by the sun already, but it was indeed cooler than the surrounding air. Or so it felt. Water always seemed cooler than air, even at the same temperature. It sucked heat away from the body much more quickly than some might realize. Not that he was afraid of hypothermia in the middle of summer, swimming in a lake. He stepped in, letting the embrace of the liquid take him and he waded forward. Then, he dove in.
The amulet he wore shimmered, activating upon coming into contact with the water. And normally when one would need to hold his breath, he did not. Strange how this small magic necklace worked. The first time he tried it out, he almost panicked. It is difficult to overcome the fear of drowning.. He'd already grown accustomed to it though. The water was a little murky, but he could see fairly well. Fish darted around and away from him, scared of the intruder in their watery domain.. Ah, if only he could have Mizura here to swim with. Next time.
--
The dive was so very refreshing. He wasn't sure how long he stayed in the depths of the lake, but it was long enough that his quickly made fire went out. "Did the little clams miss Xentus?", he jokingly asked the seedling trio as he made his way to relight the campfire. A quiet clatter constituted their reply, something he'd come to notice when he left them alone. Perhaps they did miss him?
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Post by Xentus on Jul 29, 2020 2:45:36 GMT -6
Well, miss him they would no longer. One of his goals of the trip was completed, as funny of a goal as it was. And he supposed he did complete the goal of spending time with this set of seedlings. With every passing day, he grew more more and more fond of the odd creatures. The leopard spent some time drying off by the fire, wringing out his deadlocks and shaking excess water from his fluffy tail. That swim really worked up an appetite as well, his stomach gurgling and causing the seedlings to clatter in concern. It didn't help that the scent of various shellfish cooking over the fire smelled extremely appetizing.. Getting dried off was only a distraction for the moment. Food wouldn't be ready for another couple minutes unfortunately.
"Calm down dear seeds, Xentus will not starve himself", he pleaded in his attempt to appease the upset seedlings. It was interesting to see them react to his bodily needs as well as his mental state. The curious bond was made ever more so. To pass the time before dinner was ready, he sat beside his golem trio and talked about his ventures into the water. Some self-made conversation might distract the entire group from his hunger.. But also constantly reminded him of the shellfish at the same time. There was no winning.
As night fell, the leopard spent some time wandering in his thoughts. What adventure would await after this? He pondered under the stars, as if to search them for the answer. There was still much work in rearing the seedlings to be done..
> Exeunt Xentus and seedlings Wi2, F3, E2 (30)
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Post by Xentus on Jul 30, 2020 1:57:09 GMT -6
> Xentus, accompanied by...
These were the last of his seedlings.. The rest grew quickly into walkers over the past couple of weeks. It was a slow process, but at the same time, one that turned out to be much shorter than he expected. Watching them grow day by day was nothing to write home about. The little added length or girth to their tentacles was nearly undetectable as time passed, but it compounded. They grew much faster when he spent personal time with them too. Point in case, these last few golems. These three were essentially the runts of the litter. He hadn't spent much quality time with them, aside from making sure they were fed. With nine others to juggle between, he found himself quite busy..
Raising elemental golems was a tedious task.. One that wasn't even close to being finished for him. They still had plenty more growing and feeding to do. Bah, it wasn't something he liked to think about though. Ferrying around the nearly inanimate seedlings left him with too much time spent thinking and overthinking. But the most likely case for today was that he'd be lost in his thoughts yet again.
He sighed. It was alright, this was his life for now. A life that he was just fine with. Now, what was on the to-do list? He had some small errands to run, and having the seedlings out with him wouldn't be an awful idea. They were quite good at staying out of the way.
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Post by Xentus on Jul 30, 2020 2:15:02 GMT -6
Of course, they had no choice in the matter. They stayed where he placed them, unable to protest getting ferried wherever he decided. Not that they would complain about it. The seedlings seemed content to abide by his wishes, unless there was some form of unrest afflicting him. An empty stomach was one much affliction.. One that he suffered from currently. The churning and gurgling of his guts always provoked a symphony of clattering. He understood the different types of clatters the golems made by this point. This seemed to be a worried or urging kind.
"Calm down little seeds, Xentus will go for breakfast soon", he murmured, trying to reassure the seedlings. The concern was nice, but it did make it hard for him to concentrate on writing up his to-do list. The man was settled before his desk, three seedlings and a journal set atop the wooden surface. The vibrations and noise were distracting, but he knew it was the most the seedlings could do to express themselves. The clattering did seem to slow after he voiced his request, but the trio of seedlings were adamant about letting the leopard know he was hungry.
On the list were a few things, some groceries to get, some household supplies, a reminder to water the plants, check on the notice board, visit the library, perhaps invest in some new clothing.. Mundane errands that he needed to get to sooner or later. He was always putting something off in favor of going out and wandering around. Life couldn't always be exciting though.
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Post by Xentus on Jul 30, 2020 2:26:54 GMT -6
First thing though, was eating breakfast. He had to decide whether he wanted to cook or go out and grab something.. Ah he could use up the last of a few things and get more when he went to get groceries. That sounded good. The journal was closed and placed in a satchel for when he went out later. If he didn't bring it, he would most certainly forget what he went out for and wander off to investigate the first thing that piqued his curiosity. But that was a headache for him to endure later! It was time to make breakfast. The leopard gathered up his seedlings and ferried them over to the kitchen, placing atop the island in the center.
"Now, what to cook?", he asked aloud to the seedling trio. Even if they couldn't respond, they were still nice to chatter to. No word spoken back, no judgement to pass. The perfect little listeners. Their gentle clatter remained though, and would most likely persist until he sated his demanding stomach. Xentus padded over to the fridge, taking a look at the mostly empty interior. There were some eggs, a couple of bacon slices, cheese.. Bacon and eggs was always delicious. There was also some leftover baby squid in ink from the previous night. That with rice would be nice as well. Or he could whip up some oats and call it a day. He wasn't picky about breakfast, but he wasn't feeling any of his options either..
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Post by Xentus on Jul 30, 2020 2:36:03 GMT -6
The man frowned as he perused his options, bounding his head from side to side as he considered each of them again. Behind him, his long fluffy tail twitched in annoyance of his indecision. A minute passed before he settled with bacon and eggs. He wanted to restock on his foods anyway, the whole idea he had was to use up the last remaining bits of things. Part of him was saddened that he had a distinct lack of chicken livers. Those with some mashed potatoes was what he really wanted to have.. But bacon and eggs it was.
He fetched the handful of ingredients and placed them on the counter with the seedlings, letting them assess the quality of the ingredients he had. The bacon was looking a bit on the stale side.. Though still plenty edible. The eggs were fresh enough; they were a major part of his diet. There were nearly an endless list of foods that required egg, not to mention the versatility of the mere egg itself. The cheese was also new-ish, he likely wouldn't need to get more.
Out of pure curiosity and desire to have silly fun, he fetched an egg from the carton and placed it in front of the earth seedling. Blue eyes flicked between the two, comparing the shape and texture of the surface. The young golem wrapped its pseodopods around the egg, seeming to also make the same comparisons. It made the leopard snort with a slight smirk appearing on his muzzle.
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Post by Xentus on Jul 30, 2020 2:45:24 GMT -6
Then came one of the more stupid ideas to mind. To taste the golem. It looked like an egg with a few more moving parts. Could the seed within the shell be eaten? What would the flavor be? The mammalian man stared hard at the seedling with widened pupils, like a feline who spotted its next target to pounce upon. There was nobody to judge him here. He scooted the golem close to him and licked the hard carapace.
It.. Wasn't much different from licking a rock, really. Earthy, gritty, distinctly not food. The man shook his head and exhaled sharply. He didn't even know what he was doing. Overtaken by hunger madness, that was the only explanation. He ought to actually begin cooking, before he was driven to actually take a bite out of the inner seed of one of the golems.
He let the possibly confused earth golem hold the egg for now. Bacon took his attention first. He fetched a sheet tray and lined up the last three strips on it. Then, it went into the oven. He was particular about his bacon, as it needed to be very crisp with nearly all of the fat rendered out. Oven baked was the easiest way to achieve this. It took about twenty minutes though, which was the only setback. But while that was going, he could spend more time with his seedlings. And definitely not attempt to eat them. He sat before the trio and gave each an egg, to prevent any jealousy between them.
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Post by Xentus on Jul 30, 2020 15:06:39 GMT -6
He didn't think the golems could get jealous anyway, but he wanted to treat them all equally if he could. As far as he could tell, the golems didn't care at all for one another. If one somehow got knocked over, the others wouldn't make any attempt to aid it in correcting itself. Even so, there was some kind of draw they had to those of their same element. Perhaps to try to feed off the strongest in the group. As long as they didn't fight, he was fine with however they might interact among themselves. At times, he did want to test for jealousy among these creatures, but it seemed they cared not if one was getting pampered in particular. If it made him happy to coddle one, the rest would be content due to his own happiness.
Strange things and their stranger bond. He still couldn't get over it. It sparked much too many curiosities in his mind that he desired to satisfy.. His brow furrowed as he thought again about the connection that linked him to the seeds within the carapaces. Why couldn't they just tell him what they were thinking? Coherently. He did have the passing thought to use one of his space telepathic ribbons on one of the golems, but given how these creatures were nearly mechanical in behavior, the thoughts transmitted in such a way might leave him either confused or regretful. Asking 'hey fire seedling, how do you feel?' might only result in 'ok'.
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Post by Xentus on Jul 30, 2020 15:17:16 GMT -6
To expect high level conversation with such creatures was setting a bar much too high for these beings. Even if he willed it.. But what if he forced it..? He mused on the idea of getting one of those chaos charms. They were expensive, but would allow a creature to experience sentient thought. Would a free thinking golem still align its will with his own? That was a question he really wanted to have answered. Future goals. Far future goals. There was still a lot more work to be done before he could seriously consider testing this idea. Which also meant plenty of time to reconsider. He already didn't enjoy the idea of 'owning' sentient creatures. It was such a slippery slope; were they slaves or was he their guardian? Or something else?
Those kinds of questions always swarmed him whenever he worked with a free thinking being under his care. The harachiu and talkish in particular were beings he housed yet didn't understand the relationship between himself and them. He had to escape these thoughts. And the smell of bacon wafting from the oven was a perfect exit. The leopard perked up and checked his timer. There were about 15 minutes left on the clock. Best to get the eggs started now.
"Pardon dear seedlings, but Xentus will need those eggs back", he announced as he collected the eggs from the golems. They didn't complain about it. Their inner seeds simply watched the leopard and his movements as he fetched himself a bowl and got to cracking.
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Post by Xentus on Jul 30, 2020 16:49:58 GMT -6
He was a four egg omelette kind of person. One egg cracked into the bowl was the start, but it hatched an idea. He hadn't done much in the way of training these creatures, perhaps he could get them to perform a simple task such as cracking an egg? He shrugged to himself, deciding to give it a try. But first, the pan needed to get warming. A small bit of clatter and clashing of metal pots later, and a shallow saucepan was set on the stove top, set to low. Now then. He took an egg and the bowl back over to the counter and gave both to the earth seedling, chuckling to himself. It was silly, but he had to invent his entertainment with these creatures or else he'd go mad with his unending thoughts.
The seedling writhed its tentacles around the egg and bowl, examining the objects. That seemed like a good start. Not promising by ant means, but it was interested in some way. Xentus then led by example, taking another egg, cracking it very slowly and deliberately, then emptied its contents into the bowl. An easy task for dexterous hands.
"Now, repeat", he asked of the creature with expectant eyes. Of course, he didn't truly expect any kind of result. These creatures didn't seem to be capable of learning by imitation. Could it recognize the goal he established for it? The other two seedlings watch on, seeds hovering close to the open pores in their shells.
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Post by Xentus on Jul 31, 2020 2:23:44 GMT -6
The earth seedling seemed to have a firm grasp on the egg. Good, but it took more than holding an egg to crack it. The leopard decided to intervene, helping guide the seedling's tentacle over the bowl. He could feel the odd 'flesh' of the golem contract, squeezing. Oh no. It felt his desire, acting upon it and it in the only way it knew how to. It had to crack the egg. The goal was in sight. This is what its one wished for.
No, no, no!
As the leopard opened his mouth to cry out, a splatter of raw albumen, yolk, and shell assaulted his face. He grimaced, ears flattening back. Right. He let out an exasperated sigh, but then ended up chucking. He both won and lost, and the victory was bittersweet. And yolky. The worst part of the loss was losing most of that egg to his kitchen counter, and having bits of shell in the bowl. Nothing a wet napkin and some patience can't fix though.
"Ah the seedling.. Does well, Xentus supposes. Needs some practice", he commented, chuckling as he cleaned up. A silly idea meets an appropriate result. It did satisfy some curiosity of his though, in teaching these creatures as well as the way they might learn. It might never properly crack an egg, but it sure can try! And really, what more could he ask from the precious little golems? He did feel a little bad for the two seedlings caught in the egg-splosion, however..
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Post by Xentus on Jul 31, 2020 2:33:07 GMT -6
The wind and water golems were speckled with egg remnants, though they didn't seem to mind much. They might even find enjoyment in him giving them quality attention while he cleaned them up. It took only a few minutes to wipe away the gunk, but removing the shattered shell from the bowl would be a different issue. The leopard's mouth twisted as he tried to think about how best to solve this. He could start over, and have a scanty two-egg omelette.. But that paired with three bacon slices would not make for a filling breakfast. Or he could bite the bullet and settle for small bits of shell making his breakfast grainy. Neither were particularly enjoyable options.. He figured he'd rather have a filling, yet gritty meal over not enough food to eat.
And so he pulled out a stool and began fishing out the chunks of shell from his eventual meal. Most of it came attached to the thin membrane that made up the inner lining of the shell, which was nice. But of course, there were little rogue bits that wouldn't be easy to rid. Xentus's blue eyes hovered over the golem trio, musing on the idea that they might be able to do the task for him.. Then again, considering his musing is what got him into this mess in the first place, he didn't want to act upon the thought. After plucking out what seemed to be a majority of the eggshell, he called the be-speckled, viscous liquid good enough.
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