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Post by Lethalia on Jul 14, 2021 15:19:29 GMT -6
The troubles Juniper faced from the bigger hens became a different sort entirely. Admittedly, these weren't the kind of problems Lethalia was expecting to have with the hen. Lethalia was grateful that Ivaylo had roosted in the house and thus didn't see the need to kick up dirt at the other hens. The idea was that Juniper could keep the generous domain of overlooking the lake, since that ought to be plenty of room and separation from the main 'pride' to keep both parties out of trouble. But that couldn't be enough, could it? So much for hens being the easy ones. No, Juniper not only got enough confidence about her to no longer cower away from the other hens, but to start pestering them! The satyr could hardly believe what a nuisance the formerly-shy white hen made herself out to be; here she'd been waiting for the hen to grow up! Now that the would be tundra dweller seemed to have realized her size, that she was a half a step better than the other hens she couldn't smell the elements on... who would have though that June would be the one to turn a bully herself, when Esti wasn't there to chase her out? Juniper lv|28.1 ly|28.1 Esti lv|34.1 ly|34.1 hardy|1
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Post by Lethalia on Jul 14, 2021 15:19:48 GMT -6
Leth didn't get the idea that June was being an intentional jerk. It was the only socializing the other hens had provided her with in kind, to be fair. She didn't have a lot to go off of. After being put through her paces, Juniper just barely had the edge on other hen. A little bit faster, a little bit hardier. Either Juniper had figured that out, or the fact had made her courageous enough to be troublesome. It only took a few tries at Tariq before the black scared her off with an unquestionable lick of fire. She'd harass an unbroken Ardith through her cage bars, and in spite of her posessing the same flames as her cousin. Flames were reason to give them distance, but Leth definitely witnessed the hen taking a direct hit of Sarma's winter breath before scurrying away, half-frosted over. Juniper was absolutely atrocious to Selah, once she'd realized the speckled hen had no such weapons available to ward anything off with. That was the one Leth would take mercy on - even if Selah hated her right now - and would shoo June away from her multiple attempts to get at the speckled brown. Then there was Esti. hardy|2
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Post by Lethalia on Jul 14, 2021 15:21:04 GMT -6
Juniper had at least half a brain in her, luckily enough. It kept her well away from the big scary broodmother whose flames would certainly not miss. She was feared by the same hatchlings that huddled with her for protection, and the relationship tended to carry on as they got older. As it turned out, a seasoned brood hen was priceless when it came to wrangling the unruly little ones. Still, she had some inkling there was something different about Juniper; both something off, and a seasoning of elements unlike Esti's own fire. Both made her rather unwilling to engage the younger hen. And here Leth was, about to smoosh them both together for the 'fun' of it. It had to happen, sooner or later. Juniper couldn't keep parading around like she was the biggest dick around the farm without Esti taking notice of the transgression. The fact that Esti was ill at ease with Juni was something to be set right, as well. If a conforntation happened, she'd rather it be the calm lazy hen sort. If the brown was so uneasy around June, they likely needed a more 'formal' introduction so those nerves didn't turn their clashes bloody. hardy|3
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Post by Lethalia on Jul 14, 2021 15:21:42 GMT -6
With sarane becoming her niche, Lethalia had gotten several magesteel holding pens installed. They were in the back of the property, next to the foul-smelling shed that only predators would want to be close to. Already Leth had made use of some of them, a handful of sullen looking drakes she still needed to go about breaking. With all of the elements typically bred into the creatures, there was no question that magesteel was required for their holding when quite a lot of them had the potential to freeze or melt metal down. That said, Leth started out with the less firey one in one of the steel cages - and Juniper was none too pleased about being tricked into the holding cell. Still, Esti had been the singular queen, and Leth was happy leave the pecking order to the hens. That meant Esti got to be outside. Even the less than mannered drakes were giving June a side-eye; bitch be crazy. She was even more beside herself with rage when her owner came casually walking up with a hand on Esti's shoulder, as if everything was right in the world with this setup. As they drew closer, the rumble in Esti's chest became deeper, heat beginning to radiate though her barrel - her owner had to remove her hand in a hurry. hardy|4
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Post by Lethalia on Jul 14, 2021 15:22:08 GMT -6
"Shh - we'not here fo'tha, baby," Lethalia attempted to soothe Esti as they approached, though her words were drowned out by the utter fit her white hen was throwing. Esti rooted herself to glower down the occupant of the cage; Leth was shocked that this young thing was enough to give her seasoned brood hen a pause. In fact, she looked a little worried. Had training June been so effective? Given the brown's stiff-legged stance and set shoulders, the satyr chose to trot off a bit to the side and decidedly not between the two. (They couldn't hurt one another anyway. It'd be fine.) Juniper screamed as Esti edged a little bit closer to the bars, puffs of snow coming off of her in droves as if her defensive mechanisms could find her a way out of here. It was almost getting hard to see inside of her little magical cube. Snow flurries mounted up and swirled to the top, unable to escape from between the enchanted bars. A thick mist settled on the floor, at first simply adding a bit of strain to see where Juni was currently stalking. Nothing Leth had taught her yet, that self-made blizzard looked nasty to be in the middle of. Juniper lv|29 ly|29 Esti lv|35 ly|35 hardy|5
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Post by Lethalia on Jul 14, 2021 15:22:30 GMT -6
Despite the tension thick in the air, or perhaps in small part because of it, Lethalia was grinning. Just look at Juniper! She was visibly quaking with every step of the broodmother close to her, but she was pressing on with her bluff that grew in literal bluster by the second. "G'girl, Juni! Get'em!" she couldn't help but sincerely spur the young hen on, energized by her progress. They were doing this - she was getting better! Only in sarane terms could it be considered 'better' to be psyching herself up to go after a more dominant matriarch. "Scary, 'member?" Lethalia reminded Esti, hoping to resort to mean mugging rather than fire and brimstone as a solution. She just hoped the reminder would serve to quell the intentful heat growing in the depths of the hen. The established mother hen and this upcoming frozen lake spirit couldn't come from more different worlds. Their naturally opposing elements strained their relationship before they could even get started off right as adults. It was a shame, but if Juniper was on her way to seeming like she may make an attempt at becoming the 'top hen' herself, Leth knew the two would never get along. hardy|6
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Post by Lethalia on Jul 14, 2021 15:22:53 GMT -6
Juniper screamingly charged at the bars of her cage, pouncing just short of hitting the barrier. (She definitely did not back up a fewsteps because that was scary.) Esti flinched and loosened her own screech, offended enough to progress strides closer to the caged one. Though their bluffing was mounting, neither appeared all too willing to mount a real attack. Under the circumstances Leth couldn't help but think she may have made the wrong choice here. She could have just as easily found someone with a thundergug - or simply stalled the demise of one about to become leather long enough to make further use out of it. As it was, the hens were terrorizing one another, and her handful of unbroken sarane eyeballing the fight as if they weren't too sure if they were going to become the next targets of this tiff. Some of them were close enough to the shell to remember the broodmother's rule, and cowed away from her all the more. Juniper had to be given credit, the fact that she could sustain against a hen who had felled drakes, something Leth noticed as a trait hens recognized amongst one another. They wouldn't mess with a fellow hen who could take on drakes. hardy|7
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Post by Lethalia on Jul 14, 2021 15:23:10 GMT -6
It was to different degrees in which the hens earned this fear among one another. Juniper hadn't gotten the memo yet - or had recently decided she was too good for it. There typically wasn't much reason for hens to question the ones willing to fight; they were the gender that was literally enginerred to care less about the fighting, after all. Esti was still social enough she could still keep a roost of other hens in line - her secret had been that she'd never really been interested in fighting in the first place. It'd been some time ago now, and Leth still felt guilty about making her fight. Perhaps that was why her much older hen wasn't so eager to pursue her title if Juniper wasn't making the first move; she'd never liked fighting all that much in the first place. If she could bluff her way into scaring this bold youth into line, that's what she would do. Finally opening up a return display of her own, Esti's maw parted and thick black smoke billowed from it while flames licked the corners of her lips. Leth might be cowering away as much as everybody else, but she knew well the bluff Esti was using. hardy|8
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Post by Lethalia on Jul 14, 2021 15:25:37 GMT -6
Esti advanced on the cell while she had Juniper in retreat, the scales on her throat smouldering. Those amber eyes couldn't burn any more than that searing glare she held. Smoke and sparks took a lot of 'fuel' away from the damaging part of her flaming breath, burning it to look scary more than anything. They ought to teach her how to harness it for real someday; it showed a lot of control to be able to do. Unlike June, who hada been throwing her cold as full-throttle as she could. Every time it looked like the snow bursts would abade, she whipped them into another frenzy. A glare of light from within the bars didn't quite reach the outside, causing June retreated to the back of her cell at the burning one's progression, a loathsome snarl ugly on her muzzle. Okay - she picked the right one to place in a cage. When it looked like the thin veil of fog was breaking, a cloud of mist splayed it's roiling tendrils across the already frosted floor, cloaking Juniper in it's frigid embrace. A wicked lick of flame escaped Esti's throat as she shrieked, fear removed as she thundered up to the bars with her demand to know where the other had disappeared. hardy|9
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Post by Lethalia on Jul 14, 2021 15:25:54 GMT -6
Everything within the cell block was dampened by it's misty shroud, which grew to encapsulate the cage up to it's roof, roiling impossibly against it's magical containment. Where there was the soft patter of her flurry of snow, the click of her nails on the concrete - nothing escaped from between the bars now. Esti rumbled at the length of time she'd been waiting, ears pinned and tail twitching like a stalking cat. Her amber eyes flickered one way and the other across the cloudy wall, searching for any sign of the youngling. The barest of twitches, where the clouds momentarily twisted and contorted, all the warning that was provided. Juniper burst through the tear in the mist, which fell around her and trailed after her like a streamer. That billowing white arc followed her arc more gracrefully than how it ended - into the bars with a tremendous clatter and creak that bowed them outwards. All hell broke loose; both hens now facing one another found themselves without fear of the ugly glances they'd been givng one another. Those meant nothing, now. All bared teeth clanging against the bars, too busy to let out more than a few muted screams and licks of flame; light flared up within the barrier of the magesteel again. Their fire and ice couldn't breach the barriers, but they could damn well try and reach one another from between them! The houluh were all brave (and stupid) enough to hang out and watch from afar; their frenzied baying would have summoned the two dominant drakes if Lethalia's exclamation in their heads hadn't done it. Juniper lv|30 ly|30 Esti lv|36 ly|36 hardy|10 end
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Post by Lethalia on Jul 15, 2021 0:53:18 GMT -6
Lethalia could call training both hens to not be offended at one another's mere presence any more... instead, they were both going to bypass kicking up dirt and wavering around like most hen-fights went. Now they were both centered on going for the throat as soon as the chance arises. Perfect. She was utterly thrilled with the entire new, arguable more extreme, problems she brought down upon her own head by going about things this way. There'd never been a fight she couldn't deter with her own power. The fact that she had to summon her drakes for backup was deeply upsetting; the fact she let a situation with her creatures get out of control. With one of them caged, even! Neither was any worse for the wear, but it wasn't an experience Leth was going to attempt to repeat. There wasn't much choice to deal with Juniper aside from secluding her in the meantime.
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Post by Lethalia on Jul 15, 2021 0:53:43 GMT -6
Leth was still a little dazed. Hens weren't always supposed to be friends, and she owned several examples of that. But it was the first time she'd seen any of their 'disagreements' escalate into... that. Esti even had the opportunity to walk away from the caged hen, but she had to rise to her bluffing anyway. One had a compulsion to do so to retain her dominant status, but that was more fireworks than expected to do so. There may be a change in how she went about training this to other sarane in the future; it sure was a lot easier just using Esti on them while they were still small enough to be quite impressionable.
They were both fine; angry and a little scuffed up, but fine. It was the best outcome she could have asked for, even if the happening still stung. Stupid. In due part, it definitely could have been that she under estimated Juniper and the progress she'd been striding through this summer.
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Post by Lethalia on Jul 15, 2021 0:54:01 GMT -6
In a way, Juniper's open defiance was good. She was a far cry from the gawky, barely-grown thing she brought back home from the mansion not all that long ago. Less nervous, less seeking out the satyr for comfort - and with what she witnessed the other day with Esti, was some of that trademark Rimefang's rage she had been searching for in his daughter. In this form instead of the already sullen drake, she stood a much better chance at harnessing that rage. It wasn't like she'd been intending to create all of these bloody hens, but it was becoming a thing that just... happened to her. All the better; she didn't think she would survive another dominant drake on the farm. One more hen? They could figure out something for that; she just didn't make it as simple as her dam did, just staying 'guarding' the inside of the house. (Leth made sure the desert dweller got out in the summer heat plenty, but still - gods damn it, Ivaylo.)
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Post by Lethalia on Jul 15, 2021 0:54:21 GMT -6
It shouldn't have taken a surprising turn. She'd been training a young hen just the way she would have any pit hopeful - if only with the hope it would hone her senses. Even if it hadn't been the purpose of exercising the hen, she couldn't be shocked when Juni showed a tendency for using those aggressive tactics. Funny how that worked.
If she was really committing to letting Ivaylo fight, they were in for more work yet.
Once more, Leth knew it wasn't the best of ideas to keep training the hen while she was still hyped up, but she did know she now needed to keep Juniper engaged and away from the other hens after that. Lucky for the hen, that meant more training to keep her busy and get her too tired to harass the others. It sounded pretty good when she imagined it working out that way.
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Post by Lethalia on Jul 15, 2021 0:54:38 GMT -6
They'd carry on with something that couldn't come more naturally to sarane; a nice strong bite. As Lethalia understood it, their crushing teeth were more the weapon than their claws. With good reason! Their talons could do plenty of damage and Lethalia had scars to prove it, but seeing use those teeth might've meant a trip to the morgue rather than the healers. As cranky as Juniper got now that she was maturing, Lethalia could always count on two things. One, June still loved the lake and spent her time separated there more-or-less happily, and she was certain to be found there even if she wasn't visible. Second, June still loved food enough that fresh cuts were enough to summon up an elusive, brooding sort-of teen. She'd grow out of it or not, and they'd all figure out a way to cope with it. That was how it worked when you ran a weird farm of fake dragons like this. Juniper lv|31 ly|31
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