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Post by Jewel on May 19, 2021 4:59:52 GMT -6
Yeesh. The quests were always a doozy, weren't they - Jewel wrinkled his nose as he scanned over the ad, already conjuring images of skittering creatures in his mind. No one ever wanted to do the awkward, menial tasks for themselves - it was always simpler to pay some idiot to do it for them. That day, Jewel was some idiot.
Rosie hooked her beak over his shoulder and trilled.
"Yeah, we're off to do someone else's dirty work again, bird," He said, rubbing over the soft feathers on the chiryma's face. "Not sure how we're gonna do this, though. Mice aren't my strong point."
Once the address was taken note of, they were ready to go, and set out in the direction of Miisaa Ave. Rosie had deigned it acceptable for him to carry Mr. Cheeps, so the plush's head was stuck out of his satchel, its little antennae-feather-whatevers bouncing as they walked. [1]
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Post by Jewel on May 19, 2021 5:21:59 GMT -6
"Woah, these are some nice digs." It appeared that the listed farm was not the only sizable property on Miisaa Ave, and Jewel gawked as they went by. What kind of fancy-pants folk lived in houses like those? People who could afford to pay lackeys to do the crappy work, and perhaps one day that would be him and he'd never skulk around in any barns-- Ugh. On second thought, some of the architecture was... questionable. He'd stake out his own piece of land and get it built from scratch, if he was gonna be rich. "I guess it's this one down here, right?" He gestured to a side road taking them towards a farm. Rosie began to pace ahead of him, whether or not she had been listening. It was more likely that she'd gotten tired of his rambling already. "Hey, hold on a second. Slow your roll, speedy, I'm only one dude with little legs." [2]
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Post by Jewel on May 19, 2021 5:28:51 GMT -6
It was a nice farm, by all accounts. A little muddy, but Jewel had learned from prior incidents to wear his older clothes on quest missions, so he wouldn't be ruining expensive leather. In the distance, he could hear the telltale noises of creatures. "Alright. The barn..." It was hard to miss it. He beamed at the chiryma. "Here we go, Rosie. Let's check out this infestation." The barn door took a little bit of persuading to open. On first tug, it remained stubbornly shut - the fae had to grasp the handle with both hands and throw his weight behind it to get it to budge at all. Rosie, in her infinite wisdom, pecked at the wood. "Damn, are these mice locking us out now, too?" He huffed, giving it a few sharp pulls to try and ease it from its frame. "What the hell kind of things are they?" [3]
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Post by Jewel on May 19, 2021 5:36:14 GMT -6
The door creaked. There was an inch of movement. Then, without warning, the door swung open - Jewel stumbled backwards and landed on his butt. To add insult to injury, a lone mouse scuttled from the barn's interior, leaping over the fae's outstretched leg as it went. "See ya," He grumbled at it, and hissed through his teeth as he rubbed his sore back. "Good start." Rosie chirped, concerned; she leaned her head down to his level on the ground, and he took the opportunity to throw his arms around her neck. The motion of her reeling back from the constriction brought him to his feet again. "Thanks, bird," He smiled at her, and then looked towards their target. "C'mon. These things won't scare themselves off." Chance would be a fine thing. The two walked into the dingy space and glanced around, and as expected, there weren't any pests out in the open... but there were droppings. [4]
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Post by Jewel on May 19, 2021 5:41:40 GMT -6
Shit. Literally. The floor was littered with the little round nuggets, telltale signs of mice, and there was nowhere to step to completely avoid them. Jewel groaned - Rosie was already stomping around in it, so she'd be getting her toes scrubbed when they got back. "I'm so sick of you guys not knowing how to use the bathroom. You can't just go wherever you want, it's not right," He grumbled, tiptoeing further in on the patches that were less afflicted. "Get some manners. Evolve a little. Be mature, c'mon." The chiryma couldn't have cared less, by the look of her. Her long, feathered tail swayed as she paced around, nudging at the hay bales and chirping to herself as much as to Jewel. Could she see something...? It was worth following her to see if she'd picked up a trail, wasn't it? He kept his eye out for any sudden movements. [5]
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Post by Jewel on May 19, 2021 5:49:01 GMT -6
It did strike him that he didn't have any method for scaring the mice off. Jewel paused in his movements, looking around for a tool to assist him - the only thing that passed off even vaguely as intimidating was a pitchfork. That'd have to do. He snatched it up and slung it over his shoulder for the minute. "You see anything here, Rosie?" He craned his neck to peer over some haybales, hoping to see the wiggle of a wormlike tail, but to no avail. "These things sound like a nightmare, it's kinda beyond belief that they're not swarming all over the place--" Then, his foot collided with a wooden barrel. Like some awful furred plague, a swarm of mice emerged from within it, clambering over the sides and scooting down onto the floor. It took every piece of dignified matter in his body - which didn't account to much - to stop himself from shrieking. [6]
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Post by Jewel on May 19, 2021 6:51:47 GMT -6
"Oh, by god--" Jewel took up the pitchfork to flail it around, as if that would do any good. The mice ran in every which direction to hide beneath hay bales and in cracks, but not before Rosie had managed to grab hold of one. "Put that down, bird, you'll get sick!" The mouse was not in luck. With a few grotesque gobbles, it had disappeared down the chiryma's throat. The fae stared at her in horror. "Did you just-- what the fuck, Rosie," He demanded. She gave a happy trill. "No, not breeee! You can't just eat whatever shit you pick up off the ground, especially not gross little rodents!" Rosie blinked at him, and then thrust her beak in his direction. "Ew, no, you're disgusting," He playfully pushed it away, laughter now bubbling up in the aftermath of his shock. "You can't eat them all, but they might get scared of you..." [7]
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Post by Jewel on May 26, 2021 10:43:08 GMT -6
It was just about the scariest thing you could imagine, right? A freaky omnivore bird pacing around, waiting for mice to scuttle past so she could scoop them up and swallow them. No one in their right mind would be intimidated by Rosie in any normal circumstance, but this was something else, and it would at least provoke revulsion. So thought Jewel, anyway. Perhaps he wasn't well versed enough in the habits of weird creatures. The skittering of mouse claws against the barn floor was like nails on a chalkboard to him - he wanted rid of the blighters as soon as possible. "Come on, you, let's get these things outta here," He said to the chiryma, and turned on his heel, narrowing his eyes. "Alright, you little shits. I'll run you through with this fork, so get going already." If only it was going to be as simple as that. [8]
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Post by Jewel on May 26, 2021 10:53:58 GMT -6
Even with Rosie looming as a threat, the mice weren't keen on leaving their home. They'd been gorging themselves on the straw and whatever leftover barn nibbles they could find, and evidently had come to think of the space as their territory. So, Jewel relied on his sense and decorum to come up with more motivation - and went about being as loud as physically possible. "Hey, get moving!" He banged the ground with the tail end of the pitchfork, grinning with glee when he saw a handful of wormy tails heralding some mice fleeing from him. "Yeah, that's it! You're being evicted. Get out, squatters! If you don't, bird will eat ya." Rosie was encouraged by the movement of the mice to begin trotting around in earnest, trilling and poking her beak towards clusters of the little beasts. It wasn't clear whether the racket or the chiryma was frightening them more. Either way, they started departing in droves. [9]
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Post by Jewel on May 26, 2021 10:59:29 GMT -6
Jewel might've been embarrassed if he could've seen himself, chasing after rodents while waving a pitchfork, whooping and yelling. Thankfully, he rarely had the ability to be ashamed. Plus, if the method was working, what was there to be worried about? Rosie snatching up more mice than he could keep up with, for a start. She'd grabbed at least two more in his line of sight, and goodness knew how many behind his back - no amount of disgusted stares and disapproving clicks of tongues was going to deter her. At least they knew those ones would never be coming back. "Uh..." The farmer scratched the back of their neck once the fae and his chiryma emerged. "I was worried you were getting hurt in there, with all the noise." "Nah, we're good, buddy," Jewel winked. "Mice should be scared off now. If not, then... give me a call. The bird's always hungry." [10]
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