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Post by Kadin on Oct 2, 2020 19:21:16 GMT -6
They immediately fell back, having originally moved forward to go for some of the treats, but the moment Chiara claimed them as HER’S they automatically deferred to her, cowering away from her dominating presence. Even if they would grow up to be even larger and strong than she was one day, Chiara still had the attitude to overpower other sarane. She just needed to learn to put it to use.
“Good girl, Chiara.” Kadin praised as she gobbled up the treats. This was what he needed her to do, right?
Keto crawled back to Annona’s side and pressed up against her, needing the comfort, not that she’d ever actually admit it. Since she felt an answering pressure against her side, she supposed Annona did, too. Chiara was… down right scary about food. It shouldn’t be surprised, but it was surprising how much she was affected by it. She was a powerful hen! She’d be one of the strongest one day! But right now, in front of an adult? She was just a hatchling.
Annona did press back against Keto, grateful for the comfort from her rival. Chiara didn’t seem to be making a move to attack them as long as they backed off, for which she was grateful. Annona was tempted to go running off again, to be honest, but her gut told her not to look like prey in front of a predator. Not right now. And her gut would probably be right about this one.
Intimidation: 8
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Post by Kadin on Oct 2, 2020 19:25:25 GMT -6
Be intimidating? She was still glaring at the hatchlings in anger if they so much as dared to look her way. Kadin felt a bit strange about praising Chiara for being a bully, basically, but she needed to learn this. And, by the end of it? The hens needed to learn to overcome their fear, too. Although that might take more convincing.
Kadin tossed some more treats in front of Chiara, closer to the hatchlings this time. With another growl and hiss, Chiara stalked forward.
Despite being terrified, Keto did still want some treats. The few that they’d gotten earlier for learning something new hadn’t been enough. With all of the play and wrestling they had been doing, she’d worked up a big appetite! She was a healthy girl! But Chiara had hoarded all of the treats to herself… Feeling daring (and hungry), Keto decided to take a chance and jump forward to get a treat the next time Kadin scattered some. She could do this!
Annona felt Keto shuffle restlessly at her side. She had assumed it was out of fear, at first, but she should have known better than to think that Keto was having a rational response such as fear. To her horror, she felt Keto surge forward when Kadin tossed more treats and watched as she tried to get some, practically out from under Chiara’s nose! Annona changed her stance. At this point? Keto was asking for death. She’d be bummed if she died, but she wouldn’t mourn her stupidity.
Intimidation: 9
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Post by Kadin on Oct 2, 2020 19:28:51 GMT -6
Keto was brave enough (or stupid enough) to jump forward and grab one of the treats, but at that Chiara raised her wings and her stance… Changed. Somehow. Her presence was almost like a weight in the air.
Keto, staring at her with wide eyes, dropped half of the treat that she hadn’t swallowed down yet and backed up, slowly, her eyes on Chiara the whole time. With a low growl, Chiara snatched the piece of meat that Keto had tried to eat, maintaining eye contact the whole time.
Keto learned her mistake almost immediately. She had made it to a treat and even had it in her mouth! But Chiara was already there. Keto could feel something come over her as the hen advanced. Her muscles locked in place, her mouth opened, and the treat she’d only been able to take one bite of fell away. She couldn’t do this after all. She couldn’t challenge an adult like this. She backed away, slowly, tail practically between her legs.
Annona just watched. She had been sure that Chiara would kill Keto for her insult. She was a bit surprised when the older hen let her get away with just backing off. Surprisingly, she felt herself relax at that, but only just. She was still utterly freaked out by being so close to Chiara. Somehow, she was becoming more and more terrifying as time went on. She wanted to go back to when she’d just been fighting with Keto and had no other problems to face.
Intimidation: 10
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Post by Kadin on Oct 2, 2020 19:32:32 GMT -6
Even Kadin knew better to get between Chiara and her meal at this point.
After she had found and eaten all of the scattered treats, for some reason, Chiara did not back down from threatening the hatchlings. Her dislike from when they had all first arrived her had seemed to have grown after having to scare them off her treats. Chiara glared at the hatchlings menacingly, tail lashing behind her, and stared at them as if they would be her next meal.
Yeah. Kadin felt a bit bad about this.
Now that Keto had done something so stupid, it almost seemed like Chiara wasn’t going to leave them alone for it. Keto cowered next to Annona, raising her wings to hide most of her body behind them. She didn’t want Chiara’s eyes on her, she didn’t want to be near Chiara, and she didn’t want to be here at all. She knew better than to run. The best she could do was keep slinking away, but that didn’t change that Chiara was scary.
Annona pressed closer to Keto, feeling her shivering. She felt proud that her instinct had been correct, but also nervous because of it. She also wanted to leave and not be here. But until the human took the larger hen away again, they were stuck. He’d at least better give them individual attention again after this. And remove Chiara immediately. It looked like he was wrapping up whatever he was trying to do, at least.
Intimidation: 11
30 *level up
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Post by Kadin on Oct 2, 2020 19:36:48 GMT -6
She had always been like this around other sarane. Even when she was a hatchling, she always believed herself superior to the drake she’d been raised with. It had gotten worse since fighting in the pit. All of the wins under her made her even more aggressive towards others, especially since she still had a few to go before earning dominance. It was all coming onto display now, an attitude nurtured throughout her lifetime being unleashed on two young hens. Kadin put a hand on her side, patting her. He tossed some more treats down just to confirm her attitude change when the hatchlings didn't even twitch towards them even a little, too nervous to eat.
"Alright, girl. I think that might be enough terrorizing the youngsters." He said with a shake of his head, figuring that now it was time to take Chiara away and give the hatchlings a break from her... presence. They'd certainly been through it enough.
Keto pressed back into Annona, grateful for the supposed. She stared, but didn't even twitch when the human scattered more treats. She'd learned her lesson. Chiara didn't even need to look at her anymore for her to feel like she was being watched.
Annona made a soft keening sound that barely left her chest, only for Keto to hear. Luckily, not long after Kadin had given the older hen some more treats, it seemed as if it was time for him to take Chiara away. Both the hatchlings could finally relax after that.
[Chiara has left the thread]
Intimidation: 12
31 *level up (chiara)
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Post by Nadia on Oct 2, 2020 19:50:29 GMT -6
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Post by Kadin on Oct 4, 2020 20:09:44 GMT -6
It was a bit of a relief, even for Kadin, when Chiara finally left. Tensions had been rising for a while and, although the hatchlings did well enough at pretending that they weren't afraid, it had become pretty obvious that they were by the end there. Kadin was sure to give them some extra good chin scratches once he was done taking Chiara home and they were all back at the mansion again. The hatchlings appreciated the attention, as they seemed to be growing fond of him, but it looked like they couldn't help but look over their shoulders even when there was no sight of Chiara to be had.
Keto didn't really trust that Chiara wasn't still around, at first. Kadin brought them all the way here without her, but she still half believed that she'd appear out of the blue and scare them all. She looked into the shadows, off towards the trees that Chiara had been hanging around, just to make sure that the coast was clear. Only when she confirmed it for herself that she could relax.
Annona, for once, was the more sensible one this time. Chiara wasn't with them. Kadin had walked her back to the kennels and hadn't brought her with them!
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Post by Kadin on Oct 4, 2020 20:10:20 GMT -6
Keto was jumpy and annoying by herself. She wanted to snap at the other hatchling, but this was probably good practice for her to be cautious, so she didn't. Instead, she tolerated it, for now, and hoped she'd get over it sooner rather than later.
Sighing to himself, Kadin resigned himself to having to find other ways to distract them. Luckily, since Chiara left, it seemed as if the mansion grounds was suddenly alive with all sorts of little critters for them to find. Kadin could see them darting here and there, around in the shadows. In fact, he even spotted a glowing orb when they first returned. When he went to go pick it up, there was this weird, sugary looking syrup monster there to bar his way. Confused and wondering if the hatchlings would get a kick out of it, he called them over to see what their reaction would be.
Luckily, the human was able to find something to distract them really quickly! He called them over and, since he had treats and they had nothing better to do, AND they were still worried about stuff showing up, Keto scampered after him. It was safer this way!
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Post by Kadin on Oct 4, 2020 20:10:50 GMT -6
She screeched to a halt and STARED at the sight of the pile of moving goop in front of her. Sniffing it carefully, she crawled over and gave it an experimental lick. Hey! It was good!
Annona snorted at Keto's behavior, still barely tolerating it. But even she couldn't resist the call of the syrup monster. Once she saw Keto lick it, she didn't want to be one upped so she went over to lick it, too. It was good! It was a flavor that almost reminded her of meat but was also completely different. She liked it so she kept licking it, wanting to get more of it than Keto!
He had not been disappointed. Although he did sort of having to drag them away from licking the damn thing. Maybe it was actually made of syrup? Regardless, he didn't want to risk them eating it and therefore killing it. Even if it was only a puddle of muck that managed to get everything else in his backpack all sticky, he wanted to be able to hold on to it long enough to bring it back to the kennels before he decided what to do with it. It couldn't be eaten just yet.
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Post by Kadin on Oct 4, 2020 20:11:42 GMT -6
So he bundled it away and they all continued their trek through the mansion grounds. He was finding a surprising amount of interesting leaves along the way, too, which he wasn't about to complain about? They sort of reminded him of the eyes from before, with how often he kept coming across them.
Keto hissed and growled and generally tried to cause a mess when Kadin took the sugar monster away, but she was small and he was not and she couldn't do anything about that. Yet. She hissed and bided her time, sure she'd be able to get bigger and start bullying him for a change. One day. But while she dreamt about that, in the meantime, she kept close to his heels just in case there was anything more scary than Chiara around here.
Annona was a bit less cautious. She snapped at Kadin, but didn't bite, when he took the monster away. Grumbling and grumpy, she followed after him and Keto, having no where else better to be. They were her pack, for now, while her brothers were elsewhere and she needed the alliance and protection that they could each provide. Both so different! Yet she would tolerate them.
35 *level up
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Post by Kadin on Oct 6, 2020 16:44:00 GMT -6
Hopefully he’d be able to use the leaves for something, too, like how he’d giving up some of the glass eyes to get other items before. Kadin figured that wouldn’t be too much of a problem, not if he kept finding them at the same rate as he was finding things right now. He’d keep looking for them regardless. Speak of, as he was walking along, he couldn’t help but noticed that… something seemed to be following them. The was a small shape that kept darting from tree to tree, seemingly trying to stay out of sight of him and the sarane, but Kadin kept noticing it. He was used to noticing things out of the corner of his eyes.
The sarane were following after Kadin, but Keto, who was also feeling a bit jumpy, did notice something in the shadows, following them. She tried to ignore it, sticking closer to Kadin’s feet as if she were trying to trip him up. She didn’t like that there was something there that she couldn’t see. It made her feel unsafe. She was worried it was something scary again, like Chiara.
Annona stuck close to Kadin, too, but less because she was scared and more because she was more naturally cautious.
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Post by Kadin on Oct 6, 2020 16:44:11 GMT -6
She didn’t share Keto’s same sudden paranoid, but she kept her eyes opened wide and her head looking around. She noticed that Keto had noticed something and tried to follow it, too, but it was hard to tell which direction it was in with Keto jumping at everything.
A flash of red, not the usual black shadows he was used to. Kadin frowned. He was a bit worried it was another one of those small creatures. That worried him because he didn’t know how the sarane would react to this one. He didn’t want them to eat any of them, of course, and they tiny pets themselves were sort of amusing. He had some pets back in the kennels that seemed to get a kick out of them. So, instead of alerting either of the sarane to the creature, he suddenly crouched down right where he’d been walking. He positioned himself so that he was between where he’d last seen the shape darting and the sarane’s line of sight to it.
Keto continued along, nervous. She yelped and leapt back a bit when Kadin suddenly crouched down in front of them, having not expected it. She was less fearful when he started scattering treats around.
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Post by Kadin on Oct 6, 2020 16:44:49 GMT -6
There was no Chiara around to scare her away from them this time so she ate as many as she wanted!
Annona hissed as Kadin spun around and crouched in front of them, eyeing him distrustfully despite him always seeming to make sure they weren’t hurt. Her suspicions where helped, a bit, when he gave them treats. She trilled happily, squabbling with Keto in good humor as they both competed for the same treats. This was easier, less stressful, than what they’d gone through before.
He grabbed some of his treats and scattered them in front of the sarane so that they’d be distracted while he turned around to offer a treat to the… miniature… werewolf? He was pretty sure he was seeing that right. Yup. That looked like a miniature werewolf. He offered it a treat, too. It looked hungry anyway. Once that gesture of friendship was made, it wasn’t too hard to tempt it away to go in his bag with the rest of the stuff he kept finding here. It was more than a little bit of a relief that he was able to pull all of that off without alerting the sarane and having THEM chase down the small wolf man for him.
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Post by Kadin on Oct 6, 2020 16:45:06 GMT -6
Keto looked up, curious, when Kadin came back and looked like he was struggling with something in his bag. She hissed, baring her teeth and swiping her tongue around her mouth, wondering if he’d caught more food for them. But he did not share and that was disappointing, she wasn’t afraid to show her opinion with a small, disgruntled growth. She wanted to eat whatever that thing was!
While Keto was distracted by Kadin, Annona took the opportunity to gobble down the rest of the treats she could find. Food waited for no sarane! Once they were bigger, she was sure her and Keto would get in proper fights over it, but right now they were smell and food was plenty. The wouldn’t kill each other over small treats. Hm. Not today. Soon, probably, since they were born to fight, after all.
He enjoyed sarane, but they were pretty god damn violence prone. Anyway. Kadin stood back up, brushed himself off, and kept walking. He was sure that there was plenty more to find out there. The next thing, actually, he stumbled over rather than finding with his eyes. Pretty literally. There were these weird mushrooms that he went to step over them.
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Post by Kadin on Oct 6, 2020 16:45:16 GMT -6
But then, the next thing he knew, they had MOVED specifically to trip him up. As if they were capable of fast motion! At the end, he ended up stumbling over them, arms flailing, the whole nine yards. He glared at the mushrooms with their evil grins, thinking he’d be fine if the sarane ate THOSE.
Keto did go over to see what was giving Kadin such trouble, but she only ended up sniffing at the mushrooms. They snapped their teeth at her so she backed off with a hiss. It wasn’t worth the effort just to get bitten over it! She grumbled and wandered away, figuring that this was a human thing to deal with and she wasn’t going to get involved. It was gross and it had teeth and it looked like it wanted to eat HER.
Annona didn’t even do the courtesy of checking out the mushrooms. She already seemed to know that they’d hold no interest for her. Instead, she went back to snuffling in the grass to see if there were any treats she had missed before. She was a sarane, after all, and she preferred her meats. Not… whatever the heck those were.
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