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Post by Alma on Apr 17, 2021 23:29:49 GMT -6
Farida had not seen anything strange in the little doorway, and her back was turned as a patch of green and brown trembled and moved very much as she had done upon waking up. Hektor mirrored the previous stretching almost perfectly, her yawn just as fierce as the temblor balgor’s had been. The custom balgor yawned a second time as she pulled her hind legs back under her body, licking her chips as she looked around the cage with slow blinking eyes. Unlike the temblor balgor, it took her nearly a minute to turn to the mirror and notice it, her body dropping into a crouch as she snarled. It was a great deal quieter than her earlier roars, and the white balgor caught in the glass did not react to her even as she bared her teeth.
Rather than roar and announce her presence, Hektor lunged for the white balgor, slamming into the metal bars with her outstretched paws. The sound of the impact rang out, the bars humming with the force of the hit, and now the white balgor turned to face her. With the time for stealth gone, Hektor rose to her full height, standing on the very tips of her toes to appear even larger as she waved her tail in the air above her.
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Post by Alma on Apr 17, 2021 23:29:59 GMT -6
Farida practically leapt into the sky as she saw the snarling balgor that had somehow snuck up behind her, and she instinctively adopted the same stance as her enemy. The green and brown balgor let loose a roar a breath before she did, and the two of them launched themselves at each other with all the force they could muster. When the bars stopped them, they tried a second time, then only the custom was left snarling and swatting at the bars of her own cage while the temblor stared silently with a tilted head, then turned to look at the empty doorway.
The fury of the custom gradually cooled as her opponent did nothing more, the eyes of the temblor not meeting those of the custom. When the custom balgor stopped her assault, the temblor balgor did look at her once more, only to blink slowly and meow at Hektor.
The rumble in the throat of the custom died as it blinked back at the temblor balgor, confusion shoving away all thoughts of intruders and claims of territory. Before she could do anything at all, the temblor blinked again, and darted away, her white fur disappearing from the mirror as Hektor watched blankly.
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Post by Alma on Apr 17, 2021 23:30:09 GMT -6
Hektor was not designed to be a bloodthirsty beast, not a custom piled with strong attacks and a bloodlust that would impress even a seeker. The first time she had smelled another balgor, she had reacted as instinct told her was correct, trying to scare it away so she could have her territory free of any intruder. While she had grown tired of trying to chase off the roaring intruder the day previous, she had been more than willing to face them now that they had wandered so close, but now she was at a loss.
Then something rolled in the mirror-doorway, and she snarled, glaring down at...a ball of plants? Once again confused, she did not immediately resume roaring at the temblor balgor as it reappeared, this time batting at the ball and shoving it with her head. The white balgor looked over at Hektor with a grunt, then chased the ball back out of the frame. Then into view, then out of it, over and over as Hektor watched silently, eventually sliding her rear end down so she could sit and watch. When the ball rolled into view, she tried to wedge her paw between the bars to reach it, failing to even make it past the bars.
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Post by Alma on Apr 17, 2021 23:30:19 GMT -6
After a while of this, Hektor roared, and the white balgor popped back into view to look at her, grunting back at her before diving back out of view. Hektro roared several more times, demanding that the white balgor give the ball to her, but while the balgor sometimes kicked it towards her, it never made it past the temblors own set of bars.
Disappointed and annoyed, the custom balgor flipped her tail in the air as she turned away from the ball and white balgor, showing how little interest she had in the stupid ball of plants. With her head held high, she trotted to the opposite edge of her own cage, refusing to look behind her to see if she could still see the white balgor and the toy. Upon reaching the edge, Hektor licked her front paw, and began to groom herself, dragging her claws awkwardly through her mane and letting the claws slide back into her paws as she pulled it across her face. Hektor was very meticulous in her grooming, spending a large amount of time on her mane alone as she made sure not to look in the direction she had seen the white balgor.
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Post by Alma on Apr 17, 2021 23:30:31 GMT -6
It was to this near silence that Alma wandered into, the earplugs back firmly in place. She had slept later than strictly necessary, and she had spent more than a few minutes reading through a few chapters in her book, but she had finally made it over to check on their progress. When neither of them were trapped in a roaring loop, and a quick look into both rooms revealed the balgor to not even be paying any attention to the mirrors.
Alma leaned against the doorway leading to Farida’s cage, watching the temblor balgor laying on her back as her massive paws batted a tumbleweed in the air. Farida did glance over at her and the mirror once while she waited there, but returned to playing with the ball without any sign of care.
“I’ll need to be getting yah some real toys. If this works, and you win, maybe a thundergug skin one. Bit better than a lump of grass.” The balgor did not respond to her offer, and Alma groaned. She was careful not to stomp out of the room, though she really wanted to do nothing else. The mirror method had turned out to be a waste, as the two of them should have roared even more than the previous day if they had seen each other.
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Post by Alma on Apr 17, 2021 23:30:47 GMT -6
There was a chance she might lure one of the balgor to stand in the right spot, then move the other mirror so that the other balgor could be seen, but she had plans for that day. Plans that did not involve spending hours trying to get the balgor to notice each other so that they could grow used to each other. She would just move onto the next step and maybe finally get to finish her book while the two balgor settled their differences.
A room adjacent to the others contained two much smaller cages, the ground littered with rocks and grass that was as similar to the large cages as the large cages were to the natural habitat the balgor were meant for. A few button presses saw the cages slide several feet away from each other, a few of the smaller rocks falling to the ground. Satisfied with the small distance, Alma made her way back to the meat dispenser, punching in a request for a special spice to coat the giblets and chunks of flesh.
“Hope you two like the chalky texture,” she muttered as she reached the rooms, a single roar from the custom leading her to tighten her grip on the cart handle.
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Post by Alma on Apr 17, 2021 23:31:02 GMT -6
Alma liked the food dispenser for many reasons. It could give her the proper amount and kind of food for a given beast, eliminating the need to butcher anything for them to eat. It also helped her with drugging the sarane, using some magical ability to drug the sarane just enough that she might reach the pit with them and all of her limbs still attached. And, in this case, it knew the right amount to knock out a pair of balgor for an hour.
The screen had promised the pair would be completely unresponsive for at least an hour, not much more, within fifteen minutes of eating the meal. As she approached the first of the cages, watching the temblor balgor accidently shoving the ball of weeds out between the bars, she really hoped the food dispenser had not chosen this day to make a mistake.
The cart slid in easily, the temblor balgor running over to her with a rumble as it pounced on the newest sacrificial cart. Any fears that Farida might not eat the meat, might detect the poison that covered the bits of flesh, faded as the balgor tore into it like she had never been fed before.
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Post by Alma on Apr 17, 2021 23:31:24 GMT -6
The custom balgor was not as eager as the temblor had been, leisurely strolling over to the cart loaded with meat after the gate clanged shut. When Alma attempted some minor encouragement, “C’mon, it’s just a bit of spice to help with the training stuff. Still good meat, probably fresh enough to fall asleep, hah” Alma grimaced, then continued, “Just eat it. Please.” The custom balgor made a goofy face and a sound like a reverse sneeze over the meat, then stared at Alma. “Trust me, the ‘bot don’t mess these things up. Look, I’ll go stand over there, give you some privacy with the food.” Which she hoped would convince the balgor to do more than make silly faces over the food.
Alma went back to the room with Farida, and the temblor was more than willing to put up with her chatter as the balgor ate. “Sorry about this. Tried the mirrors, but think they might be too far, of maybe they moved.” Alma looked at that rooms mirror, watching the custom balgor happily eating the cartful of meat. “Or not. Maybe balgor can’t see mirrors.” Farida had nothing to add but the sounds of slobbery chewing. “This new thing will work. Or at least yall be able to see each other.”
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Post by Alma on Apr 17, 2021 23:31:38 GMT -6
Alma watched the custom eat the meat, one last leg of some unrecognizable critter in the custom balgor’s mouth as their eyes met. The custom balgor’s eyes slid from her to the temblor balgor behind her, and she imagined she could hear Hektor’s snarl as she darted out of sight. “Well, what’s done is done. Maybe she thinks the mirror is a painting or sumthing.” Alma looked back at the temblor balgor and the small mound of meat left on the cart as she clawed at a piece that had somehow wormed its way under the cart. The cart fell, clanging against the previous fallen cart, and Farida quickly gulped down the small bit of powder-covered meat before going after the rest. “Bit slow at eating, huh? Gonna have to be faster if you two are going to share a cage.”
With both balgor having finished the meat, Alma went back to the room with the pair of cages, pulling a large, flatbed cart out into the hall. It rolled over the concrete with a silence that the food carts had never achieved, not a single wheel squeaking as they rolled. Alma hoped it would be just as easy to pull the cart the other way.
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Post by Alma on Apr 17, 2021 23:31:49 GMT -6
The temblor balgor was still staggering around her cage when Alma went to look, mewling sadly as she tried to force her way through the bars to the ball of plant matter that rested just a few feet away. She backed out of the room, hoping that Hektor would be a little less animated. Alma needed to get the pair of them moved so she could get on with the rest of her day after all, and there would be plenty of better ways to spend it rather than being at the healer’s because the food dispenser messed up.
The green and brown balgor was resting on her side, paws protectively draped over the original cart. “Aye, Hektor? Hekky? You still up?” There was no response from the balgor, and Alma pulled the cart closer. “Wake up!” she shouted, wincing and taking a few steps back so that her butt was pressed to the cart. When the balgor did nothing other than gently snore, Alma slowly reached out for the metal gate, undoing the lock that held the larger version shut. It swung open with a squeal, and Alma slammed it back shut. Neither noise provoked any reaction from the drugged balgor, and so Alma opened the gate a second time.
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Post by Alma on Apr 17, 2021 23:32:08 GMT -6
“You’re not allowed to wake up now, got it?” Alma’s hands shook as she neared the balgor, the rope harness in her hands suddenly feeling as strong as straw. What happened to her if the thing broke, and the balgor fell off? What if the balgor woke back up before she could drag the custom into some form of containment? What if the paralytic part did not work, and the balgor gutted her while dreaming of some grand hunt? “Best to not think about that, right?” Alma forced the ropes over the balgor’s legs and shoulders, pulling the whole thing tight. She used the lever on the cart to lower its front end, and found the ropes tighten further as she braced herself behind the cart and pulled.
The balgor was heavy, would have been so even without the fifteen pounds of meat she had seen disappear down its gullet, but Alma wished she had maybe fed the custom a little less before the move. “Hope Farida’s a bit lighter. Yer like a bag of rocks and sand.” Alma pulled the balgor the rest of the way onto the cart, then tied the ropes onto the raised edge. With a few clicks of the lever to level it out, and a glance at Farida to see that the balgor had finally fallen, Alma pushed Hektor to her new, temporary home.
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Post by Alma on Apr 17, 2021 23:32:19 GMT -6
It was not a long trip, the new room only a short walk away from the other two, but Alma could not help but push the cart a little harder than she should have. Hektor was only the first one to get in the cages, and she worried that Farida might have some special trick to rid herself of the drugs more quickly. After all, it would make sense for the spirit of purity to have some way to purify itself. Damn the old labs for their sneaky hints and nudges instead of outright saying what their beasts were capable of. “Yes,” she told the drooling Hektor, “it can be fun to figure out what you things can do. But it’d been a great deal more useful to know what ‘spirit of purity’ meant, right? I mean, your broker at least warned me about the rocks and plant thing.”
It was difficult to keep up her end of the conversation and keep the balgor moving quickly, so she left her complaints with a, “just would have been nice to know, yaknow?” as they reached the room. The gate on the farther cage took a moment to open, and then, after tilting the cart once more, she went into the cage herself.
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Post by Alma on Apr 17, 2021 23:32:29 GMT -6
Pulling Hektor’s bulk off the cart proved to be much easier than loading the custom balgor had been. The unconscious body tumbled bonelessly to the rocky ground, and Alma alternatively pulled on the ropes still attached to the creature and moved behind Hektor to press a shoulder to her back and push the balgor farther into the cage. When the main body of the balgor was more than a foot away from the gate at her nearest point, Alma moved the tail to rest on the balgor’s side. The tail was moved again as Alma struggled to untie the ropes she had used to move the balgor, painfully aware that every second wasted in a cage with the balgor was another second it could wake up. The ropes finally came off, and Alma tossed them in the cart. Then Alma returned to the gate and cart, shutting the former and cranking the latter back into its transportable position. Alma grabbed the gate with one hand, rattling it a few times to ensure the lock was working properly, then she started to push the cart back out of the room. There was one more balgor to move that day, and she would not keep the temblor balgor waiting.
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Post by Alma on Apr 17, 2021 23:32:41 GMT -6
The return trip to the balgor rooms was much quicker than her trip to the new cages, but Alma still cursed the cart as an edge caught on the doorway due to an overly hopeful sharp turn. The cart was pulled back, then shoved into the room, Alma right behind it as she glanced around the cage to spot the temblor balgor. Picking out the unconscious balgor was simple, Farida’s white fur standing out against the dull greys and browns of the cage. The only issue, Alma noted with a groan too large not to be voiced, was that the temblor balgor had fallen asleep near the middle of the cage.
The carts were strong enough to hold the weight of a balgor, possibly even two at the same time if they were a little underfed. The tiny wheels that each leg ended with were not built for any terrain more rugged than tiled ground though, and Alma looked between them and the broken stones and plant matter littering the floor of the balgor’s cage. “Couldn’t ave been like Hektor, huh? Had to pick the worst spot.” Alma slid the ropes onto her arm, opening the gate a moment later. “Hope you realize all the rocks in yer mane gonna be your fault.”
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Post by Alma on Apr 17, 2021 23:32:54 GMT -6
The custom balgor Hektor had been difficult to move. Farida had apparently decided to challenge her for the title of ‘larger pain in the butt’ in Alma’s opinion, the human muttering audibly as she tied and strapped the makeshift harness over white fur. Alma double checked the ropes, then a third time for luck, and then she began to pull. There was no competition of strength, the balgor not so much as reaching out a paw to slow her progress, but the sheer weight of Farida saw Alma huffing and seating by the time they reached the gate. The human took a moment to drink water and rub at her arms, then cranked the cart into lifting position and dragged the temblor balgor across the metal top.
She could hear the rocks in the balgor’s long haired mane grinding against the metal as Farida was pulled up, and she was glad when the balgor’s hind legs were no longer hanging off of the edge. “Right, now we go to see how Hektor is doing, and then you two will get some hang out time.” The cart was cranked back to a mostly flat surface, and Alma took off with the cart, the balgor’s tail draped over the side.
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