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Post by Silver on Nov 3, 2020 6:14:42 GMT -6
Now Silver wasn't the type to attend many public events, but this one sounded so lovely that they decided to push themselves out of their comfort zone so they could attend. It took place in the gardens, so it couldn't be that bad, could it? Either way, Silver didn't want to go alone, so they invented an excuse to bring Louise along with them. The whole thing could be a great learning experience for her - she could see a ton of unique things about human culture that she couldn't see anywhere else! That was the pitch they gave her, and she eagerly agreed despite not really understanding what it was all about. With their costumes as ready as they'd ever be, Silver and Louise headed off for the gardens. They hadn't written down the exact location of the event, but they figured they'd know it when they saw it. Sure enough, the rows of fairy lights, bows, and bright orange decor stuck out like a sore thumb in the otherwise very familiar gardens. Silver paused to pull their homemade mask down over their face and took a moment to steady themselves before wandering in. "Alright, Louise, you just let me know if..." Silver looked over to where they were expecting Louise to be, but she had already run off into the party. Panic set in during the brief moment before they saw her again. She had shoved most of her head into a large bowl of candy. "Louise!" Silver hissed. She knew that sound, and it meant that she was in trouble. She slinked out of the candy bowl with a gummy stuck to her face and looked at Silver with her biggest, sweetest eyes. "Ah, it's... it's alright," they said. They didn't her to think they were actually mad, nor did they want anyone to see what had just happened. "It's just, ah, very rude, to take so much for yourself. The candy is for everyone, so you should only take one piece at a time, okay?" 1[112.7, 3.6] [Silver is holding Sever Bond.][Silver picks up a piece of candy.]Silver and Louise are wearing a 'couples costume' of a Talkesh!
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Post by Silver on Nov 20, 2020 18:07:59 GMT -6
Silver awkwardly fumbled into the candy bowl with their costumed paws and pulled a piece out. "I'll hold on to this one for later, okay?" They smiled but it was hard to tell from under the fabric mask they had pulled down over their eyes. They mostly wanted Louise to know that it was okay, and they were not angry with her.
Louise seemed to accept that notion and she slid back off the table and onto the ground. She wanted to see the rest of the party right away, but she decided that she would stick close to Silver for now. When she stood on her hind legs next to them like that, it was more obvious that they were dressed as a pair. Her soft white fur had been lightly sprayed with some kind of dye, making her grey and blue. Though plenty of her original color stuck out from under the gaps, especially on her face where they were careful not to get any in her eyes or nose.
2 [112.8, 3.8]
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Post by Silver on Nov 20, 2020 18:40:48 GMT -6
Silver had spent all night sewing the bits to their own costume. It started out as old grey pajamas and they affixed ears, floppy horns, paws, and of course the mask to it. Then it was painted in a similar manner to Louise's fur with a dusting of blue color along the back to mimic Zairi. They excitedly showed Zairi the costume when it was finished, but she didn't seem that impressed. She just didn't understand the weird customs of this land, Silver thought. To be fair, they didn't really understand them, either, but they did love to dress up!
The final detail on the costume that really made it, in their opinion, was the little snake they sewed together out of buttons and scraps. They taped it securely to Louise's tail which she was surprisingly calm about. They used the gentlest tape they could find so that none of her fur was pulled out when they removed it later.
3 [112.9, 4]
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Post by Silver on Nov 20, 2020 18:54:51 GMT -6
Louise didn't know where to start. In every direction, there were people walking around, talking in a loud hum, and an abundance of decorations like she had never seen before. She wanted to know more about all of it, but she couldn't decide which thing was most interesting. Eventually, she wandered over to a pumpkin and tapped it with her paw. The hollow thud of her paw against the orange object surprised her. She tapped it a few more times like a house cat trying to figure out a paper bag.
"That's a pumpkin," Silver explained. Louise looked up at him, then tapped the pumpkin again. "It's a kind of... fruit? I think it's a fruit, anyway, people ah, they carve faces into it with a knife." They nodded like that was some kind of fascinating information and they had just enlightened her to a great truth. "I think the faces are supposed to scare away monsters, what do you think, is it scary?"
4 [113, 4.2]
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Post by Silver on Nov 20, 2020 19:00:10 GMT -6
"Scary..." Louise repeated. Was it scary? She wasn't sure. The fact that it was so round and brightly colored really took away from the fear factor for her. She shook her head. It was not scary, she decided.
Silver laughed, "Well, I suppose it's not that scary, is it? I think it's more about the idea than the ... actual thing?" Well, that was a hard concept to explain to someone with a limited vocabulary. "Remember how we made costumes? They are supposed to be scary, too. Do you think the costumes are scary?"
"Scary..." Louise looked at Silver's colored pajamas and shook her head again. They were not scary at all. In fact, she found it pretty cute with their giant chubby paws and soft cuddly fabric. "No no."
"I think that's the point, you know? It's all for pretend. You don't have to actually be scary if it's for pretend, but everyone else pretends too, so they act like you're scary even if you're not."
5 [113.1, 4.4]
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Post by Silver on Nov 20, 2020 19:12:15 GMT -6
Louise was thinking about what Silver said for a second, but she wasn't sure she understood. People were really weird. She already knew that, but this just confirmed it. She did like the decorations, though. They were very pretty, even if she didn't find them scary, exactly.
"Okay, just pretend to be scared, can you do that?" Louise blinked up at them with her large pink eyes. "When I say 'boo!' you have to pretend like I scared you. Pretend, okay?"
Louise nodded. She was willing to pretend since it was so important to them. When Silver called out 'boo' like they said they would, she arched her back and hissed. Hisss! She laid her ears back and stretched her wings out to make herself look bigger. Sadly she couldn't control the fur on her back or tail consciously, or she would have puffed it out to enhance the effect.
"Perfect!" Silver said with a laugh. It was really funny to watch her try and feign surprise. They weren't sure what they were expecting, really.
6 [113.2, 4.6]
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Post by Silver on Nov 20, 2020 19:30:56 GMT -6
"Now," Silver said as they tried to stifle laughter. "You just do that whenever you see a spooky decoration or someone says 'boo!' okay? Boo means 'pretend to be scared'." Now that they were saying it aloud they realized just how strange of a social contract that was. Everyone knew to do it, even sometimes animals, but nobody had ever explained to them why. Maybe they would ask Koda about it later on. He tended to have fun explanations of weird human things.
Louise nodded. She would have to remember what boo went, as well as not to take all of the candy for herself. This human stuff was really tough to remember. How did everyone else do it so easily? She felt like humans just knew all of these things without explanation. Did all humans just come with all of this in their brains when they were born? Well, it didn't matter, she supposed, as long as Silver was having fun.
7 [113.3, 4.8]
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Post by Silver on Nov 20, 2020 19:37:27 GMT -6
"Oh look, someone made treats, you can have a treat if you want," Silver said. They turned away from Louise for a second and grabbed some treats off the table. They were cookies decorated to look like spiders. Silver didn't think she would find them very scary, since she was willing to eat literal spiders, but maybe she would think it was funny.
"Louise?" they asked. She had run off again. They sighed lightly. It was tough to keep track of her with so much going on. She would just run off after anything that caught her attention. That must be the cat blood, they thought. Cats were often like that. They hated to imagine how tough she would have been as a kitten to keep track of. All of the curiosity of a cat and the quick evasiveness of a snake all wrapped up into a little bundle of fluff. Come to think of it, they really liked their mental image of her tiny and fluffy.
8 [113.3, 5]
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Post by Silver on Nov 20, 2020 19:43:13 GMT -6
Louise had slipped away into the crowd to test out her new skills. She slithered up to a stranger, stood tall on her back legs and said "Whoo!" To her surprise, the person did not just act scared, they were legitimately terrified. They stumbled backwards and dropped their drink, tripping on a piece of their costume and ultimately ending up on the floor.
"Louise, nooo," Silver said in the most defeated tone they could manage. That wasn't what they had meant to teach her at all! They ran over to help the stranger up. "I am so sorry," they said. "She was a little, ah, excited, ah about, you know, the event. I was trying to teach her to act surprised and I guess... you know what nevermind, are you ah, are you okay?"
Silver was blushing furiously under their mask. By instinct, they grabbed the gloved hand of the stranger and let out a little healing magic with a puff of sparkling light. If they were hurt before, they certainly weren't now, but they probably had a lot of questions...
9 [113.4, 5.2]
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