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Post by Kadin on Oct 2, 2020 20:20:44 GMT -6
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Post by Kadin on Oct 4, 2020 15:38:43 GMT -6
Today, Kadin was in the gardens. Partly because he hadn’t been there yet and, after a recent quest, figured he might as well start on, eventually. Partly because he had some training to do and figured it’d be an excellent opportunity to clear out some overgrown plants for the area he’d claimed by making his ‘pet’ attack them. He even brought a plant pet around to scope out the area! He was thinking ahead! The other one… he wasn’t as sure about.
The Skutirut Kadin had brought seemed pleased enough to be there. It quickly scuttled around his legs and then off into the overgrown underbrush, likely looking around for... something. It was really fascinating to watch a creature like that get around, with no eyes or ears or any other sensory organs to speak it. It just somehow found where it needed to be.
There were some creatures in the kennels that Kadin avoided because they were demanding of his time and PUSHY about it. Not to mention that they just looked at him… oddly. Then there were creatures in his kennel that he avoided because they downright scared him. The other creature he brought was one of those.
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Post by Kadin on Oct 4, 2020 15:40:46 GMT -6
The Skutirut was off on its own adventure, it seemed. It felt around in the dirt, digging at the base of weeds and useful plants alike, searching out a good spot for it to take root or find. Something. It had its own agenda, clearly, although it might be foreign to any mammals looking on. Perhaps it was simply there to commune with the rest of the plant life.
Velkar was one of the ones who scared him.
It was something about the way she looked at him, never mind how she looked in general. There was something hungry in her eyes, almost like she’d devour the entire world if given the slightest chance.
When she’d finally cornered him one day he’d through that this was it. She was finally going to kill him, just like he kept worrying that she would. But instead? What actually happened had him reeling even more.
First, she forced him to put on the bright green ribbon that would actually let him hear her thoughts. Then, she told him in no uncertain terms that he was to enter her in some sort of… competition? NOT a fight. No violence. Just. A competition.
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Post by Kadin on Oct 4, 2020 15:42:35 GMT -6
The Skutirut found some loose soil and squirmed around, digging its walking roots into it and reaching down, down, down into the soil faster than most plants could go. There were benefits to developing the way it had, even if it wasn't as complex as some of the other creatures people had in their gardens, it still got around and accomplished whatever evolutionary goals it set out to do.
In the contest hall. Where he’d been regularly bringing his houluh, of all things. It was difficult, to say the least, to map out the mental image of bringing Velkar, of all creatures there. But she just insisted on defending a championship title, or something like that.
She explained the contest to him. Which one she wanted to enter. And, after thinking about it for a while, he decided to bring her out to train a bit before then. After all, they might as well get to know each other before entering a contest, right?
“So, uh. There’s a lot that you already know.”
Velkar snorted, thinking that was an understatement. She was amazing and knew how to do a lot of things. She didn't need this human trying to tell her any different.
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Post by Kadin on Oct 4, 2020 15:45:17 GMT -6
The Skutirut reached down deep into the soil until it tapped into the network. See, most plant species are immobile. Most don't have the benefit of being able to just get up and walk around from point A to point B. To counter that? Plants had created their own interspecies network, using fungus in the soil to keep up to date on the latest news in their community.
Kadin didn’t hold back from rolling his eyes, this time, figuring that she, of all the pets, deserved it.
“So there’s a lot you already know, but I noticed that there are some things you do naturally already that you apparently don’t. So, we’ll do those first, then we’ll enter the competition.”
Velkar snorted again. Kadin narrowed his eyes.
“Listen. You can bite and crunch, but you can’t use shadow bite. I think that’s a bit embarrassing since you’re literally a creature of shadow and fire. So let’s get this over with, ok?" Kadin pointed to some of the woody plants that were PROBABLY weeds growing around this overgrown garden space. "Let's start with just biting at some of this stuff. You can try to use shadow bite with it."
Shadow bite: 1
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Post by Kadin on Oct 4, 2020 15:50:46 GMT -6
In order to figure out if this would be a good place to lay down roots, so to speak, the Skutirut could tap in to the local root network via the fungal connection and see if they should make a home here. If it wasn't a suitable environment, it would move on to another one, never mind what the human seemed to think. Humans were too disconnected to have an opinion about this.
This is stupid.
Velkar commented, walking over to a small tree with a huff and swish of her tail, just barely missing Kadin with the blazing end of it.
I can do this in my sleep. I don't need to be taught.
Kadin, once again, did not hold back from rolling his eyes. He tried not to do it around the houluh, but Velkar was a piece of work. She could handle it. "Yeah, but you don't know how to do it on command. And you've spent your whole life NOT using shadow bit in battles and such. It doesn't hurt to practice outside of those. So, use shadow bite! Make it strong enough to actually hurt something."
Velkar bared her teeth in his direction before chomping down HARD on the branch of the sapling in front of her.
Shadow bite: 2
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Post by Kadin on Oct 4, 2020 15:54:59 GMT -6
The Skutirut sent out messages to the local plants, asking about the nutrient capacity and water levels of the area. It got back deep, calm messages from the trees whose roots went deep. Quick, snappy, greedy messages from weedy vying for more territory. Berry bushes squabbling over space and resources while also asking if it needed anything. This was good, so far.
The bite looked strong enough, but when she pulled back it looked pretty mundane.
"Good job." He gave her a treat, anyway, not wanting her to get upset at him. But I dunno, was that actually a shadow bite?" Kadin asked while studying the branch. He took a big step back almost immediately afterwards, not wanting to tempt Velkar to try and "convince" him her bite was shadow enough by trying it out on him.
She still snorted at him and glared, clearly picking up on what he was thinking. He didn't really get why she... acted this way towards him. She was almost begrudging with how she went around not murdering him.
"Try again? Shadow bite." He said out loud, wanting her to be familiar with it since he'd probably not want to use commands through the ribbon as much as possibly.
Shadow bite: 3
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Post by Kadin on Oct 4, 2020 16:06:44 GMT -6
The land was fertile, if over grown. If it could get the human the destroy the plants that were taking advantage of others and recycle their bodies back into the spoil, there would be even more nutrients for it an its allies. There were plenty of plants back in the kennels that would flourish in this area, despite how over crowded it was.
It almost looked like SHE rolled her eyes at HIM when she tossed her head.
Still, she bit down on the branch. This time he could almost see the shadows around her teeth, slinking into the wood. It was disturbing, in a way, considering his typical relationship with seeing strange shadows. Not wanting to think about it too much, Kadin nodded. "Great job." And tossed another treat her way. She snapped it out of the air, clearly showing off. He didn't roll his eyes this time, letting her have that one. "Again, that could be stronger. Shadow bite."
Velkar bared her teeth in his direction, but did as he directed, biting down on the sapling on the trunk this time and breaking the poor thing clean in half. It was a good, clean cut, too, almost impressive if she wasn't being so petulant about it.
Shadow bite: 4
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Post by Kadin on Oct 4, 2020 16:07:56 GMT -6
The Skutirut send out more messages, threats to some plants, offers of sharing resources with others. As it did so, it ate a little, itself, and spread its leaves as high up as it could into the sunlight to store up sugars for later. Photosynthesis was something it could do all the time, of course, but it was almost most cost efficient when it was able to do so while rooted.
She lifted the bit of the three she'd broken up, shaking her head like a dog for a moment, before trotting over to drop it at his feet.
Good enough for you yet?
Kadin laughed a bit, thinking about how she looked so much like one of his fucking houluh in that moment. "Yeah, that's pretty good. But how are you going to eat a treat like that? Try to shadow bite it in half."
Velkar peeled her lips back around the branch just to flash her teeth again before biting down, hard, on the sapling in her mouth. This time, Kadin could see the shadows build around her teeth as they sunk through the wood, cleanly breaking the branch in half. It reminded him about the shadows he could see out the corners of his eyes again.
Shadow bite: 5
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Post by Kadin on Oct 4, 2020 16:12:56 GMT -6
There were still plenty of hours of sunlight left, too. But after staying in one place for so long, the Skutirut was feeling and almost 'itchy' feeling to explore more. But right now it was low on fuel. It would stay and make more energy for a while, first, even it was eager to find all the best spots to root down around here. It needed to absorb more nutrients in order to build up its stores to make as much energy as possible.
In fact, he could see on right now, leaning towards Velkar and reaching out, as it if wanted to pet her. The thought made him almost shudder. He pushed it away and concentrated on what they were doing here and now instead.
"Hey, great job!" He tossed her twice the amount of treats this time. After all, she'd done twice the amount of work.
"Let's just get in a little practice and we'll call this one done." Kadin reasoned, even though Velkar gave him a nasty glare for it. They practiced for a while longer, Kadin basically using Velkar to bite all of the saplings he needed to get rid of in order to create a proper garden in the area. Her getting plenty of meat in exchange, of course.
Shadow bite: 6
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Post by Kadin on Oct 4, 2020 17:52:47 GMT -6
The Skutirut stayed in the same spot for a while longer, until after the human and equillion had finished knocking down the trees. Now they were moving on to something else and it didn't like the messages it was getting from the other plants in the area about what it looked like they were gearing up to do. Luckily, it had sufficient nutrients stored at this point.
Well, now that all of the small trees were taken care of, Kadin figured that it was time to take care of some of the weeds. That was another reason he'd brought Velkar along, actually. She had a certain ability that he was sure would be the perfect weed killer. Smoldering goop sounded just like it'd kill the weeds upon contact and then burn them away the rest. It was a perfect plan, really, if he wanted to be able to plant new things in the gardens.
All he had to do was get her to cooperate.
"Alright, you see all of... that?" Kadin asked, gesturing at Velkar's wings. She looked at said wings as if she were humoring him and then slowly slid her eyes back to the human, as if she was waiting for him to make actual sense.
Smoldering goop: 1
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Post by Kadin on Oct 4, 2020 17:53:55 GMT -6
It felt good enough to continue photosynthesizing without being held to one spot. It quickly shook out its walking roots, emerging from the ground and scudding quickly towards the human to observe what was happening. It remained well away from the equillion, as a general rule, as she was a being made of fire and that did not agree with it, to say the least.
Yes. They're my wings. They're attached to me.
Kadin shook his head, unfortunately very much aware that he wasn't making sense just yet. "Ah, yeah right. But on your wings, you know? The... melting feathers. The goop that comes off of them?"
This time, something like recognition came to Velkar's eyes. She bobbed her head up and down, an approximation of a human nod, and flexed her wings in order to shake off some of the older feathers that had been turning into goop. The feathers fell to the ground around her, the plant life hissing and burning as they landed and began immediately destroying the vegetation surrounding her. It burned as it shriveled towards the ground.
"Yes! Exactly! That goop. I need you to do that, but aim it. So that you'd be able to use it in battle."
Smoldering goop: 2
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Post by Kadin on Oct 4, 2020 17:55:17 GMT -6
The human was safer to stay near. It stopped at his side, digging a few of its walking roots into the ground to get a feel for the area where it was now while still staying well out of the soil enough that it would be mobile if it had to be. It could feel echos of plants calling out warnings to each other, all over the place plants were sending the message of Danger Danger Fire Danger.
"It'd be easier if you could spit it, I guess, but we could just work on you flinging it in the right direction." Kadin tossed some treats her way for at least trying, which Velkar snapped out of the air, but that didn't stop her from narrowing her eyes at this explanation. She looked around, slowly, at all the overgrown plant life. Eventually, she let out a huff of air, and directed her attention back to the human.
Let me guess, you want me to aim it at different plants?
Well. He couldn't claim she was just a dumb animal now.
"Uh. Yes?"
Well. Here they go.
"Goop over there." Kadin requested, pointing at a particularly thick patch of what looked like it could be poison ivy.
Smoldering goop: 3
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Post by Kadin on Oct 4, 2020 17:56:20 GMT -6
There was nothing near to where it was now, but the messages were coming from where the equillion was burying clawed hooves into the dirt and burning everything around itself. There. Perfect evidence right there of why it would stay away, why she was not safe. The human had the good sense to stay away, too, so it would stay by him since he would keep far enough away.
Velkar raised her wings, preparing, before Kadin suddenly stopped her with a "Wait!" He backed up until he was a good ten feet away. She had never done this before. He didn't want to risk being burned by literal acid that was also somehow on fire. "Ok. Goop away."
Coward.
She teased with a ferocious grin before raising her wings again and flicking them towards the patch of ivy. The goop sliding off her feathers fell in a perfect five foot scattered field, covering a good amount of vegetation but in no way was it concentrated enough to actually burn only the patch they had been aiming for. Velkar shook her head and growled, clearly frustrated that this hadn't been as easy as she assumed it was going to be.
"Hey, chill out."
Smoldering goop: 4
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Post by Kadin on Oct 4, 2020 18:01:52 GMT -6
At least all that she was burning seemed to be the aggressive weeds from before. It felt their cries, a bit amusing after how they had been so starved for space and nutrients before, but now they were asking for help from the very plants they had been competing with. It did not feel anything for them, only acknowledging that they were failing this test of survival that they had been born to dominant, quickly and without mercy for all they out competed.
Kadin called from a safe distance away. He tossed her more treats. She was trying, after all, and he didn't want her to get more discouraged. "Try it again, goop the area. You're not going to get better at it by growling at the fucking plants."
Shut up.
Velkar hissed out, spreading her wings wide and flapping them to create and even wider area of smoldering goop that, someone, neglected to hit any of the ivy in front of her at all. She snorted, amused this time.
"You did that on purpose." Kadin accused. "Try again, use your goop." He was going to feel real self conscience about the word goop after all of this, he could tell already.
Smoldering goop: 5
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