|
Post by Alma on Nov 10, 2021 1:41:01 GMT -6
The two creatures continued their assaults, neither paying much attention to the other, neither particularly satisfied with the progress they had made. Alma had churned nearly all the earth she could have easily reached from the dirt patch by the gate, and now the thorns caught on her clothes as she stomped her way a little deeper into the garden. Now she stabbed at the same plants from the other side, hoping they were the same plants at least, digging the tines into balls of roots that felt as hard as stone at times. She stabbed the pitchfork beneath the plants as angles, leveraging her weight on the wooden end to make the plants throb as though they would break free of the dirt and attack the one daring to intrude.
Alma paused for a moment, wiping the sweat from her brow with the back of her glove, smearing dirt and dead plant matter across her forehead. “Wouldn’t be surprised,” she muttered, but the dirt and plants ceased their movement the moment she had stopped trying to yank them free.
TBB-15 15
|
|
|
Post by Alma on Nov 10, 2021 1:41:12 GMT -6
The wiurn had stopped as well, staring at the gate blankly. It had come through this way. It had seen the gate moving, swinging freely before the wiurn had been dragged past it, and the wiurn could not quite understand why it would not move now. Standing on its wingtips as most of its kind knew to do, tiny forelegs held tightly to its chest not from the knowledge that they were far too weak to hold it up but from some instinct programmed into its specific breed, the wirun stared at the gate. It did not will it to open, nor did it try to imagine why it was not opening as it had before. The wiurn backed away from the gate, eyes now darting around its form and the fence that held it, then galloped towards the gate with all the grace of a one-armed karashak on the ground.
Alma looked up at the noise.
TBB-16 16
|
|
|
Post by Alma on Nov 10, 2021 1:41:25 GMT -6
She had not noticed that the wiurn had stopped around the time she had, lost in a debate with herself that it might have been better to waste some of her paycheck on fruits and vegetables and spend her week relaxing in comfort. She had a few good books waiting for her at her kennel, some clean up work at the Guard fort that, she looked down at the churned earth and chewed up plants beneath her feet, would be a great deal more rewarding than any half-eaten berry she might find in this mess.
She had been talking to herself aloud about it, debating the merits of cleaning up just enough of the garden that it might be an easier profit source than wrangling fish or digging beneath the earth for something shinier than roots, but the louder rattle brought her out of it. “What’re yah doing now, Hissy?” she asked the wiurn as it stumbled back from the gate, shaking its head side to side with a few muted grunts.
TBB-17 17
|
|
|
Post by Alma on Nov 10, 2021 1:41:35 GMT -6
The young wiurn continued its stumbling walk over towards her, and Alma snapped more than a few brittle stems underfoot as she intercepted it. It was not shaking its head anymore, which Alma assumed was a good thing, but it had locked its eyes on her. Hoping her boots were thick enough to deal with the young wiurn, Alma stopped between the wiurn and a smashed prickly plant she figured could shred even a dragon’s hide. The wiurn stared, then opened its mouth to snap at the empty air above it.
Alma took a moment to pride herself on not punting the wiurn back into the gate as it continued the display, making no move to actually latch onto her. “Hungry already? Just fed you at the kennels, you fatty.” Alma laughed, and the wiurn paused its snapping, clicking its jaws shut a few times to check that there was nothing in them.
TBB-18 18
|
|
|
Post by Alma on Nov 10, 2021 1:41:45 GMT -6
“Right, must be those ‘growth whore-moans’ yer on.” Alma cocked her head to the side as the wiurn decided that there was no food already in its mouth and resumed its snapping demands. “Wonder how big you’ll get. Heard yer a bit different from most of the vee ones. Broker said ya’d be big enough to pass for a dragon. Gonna be a lot harder if ya ain’t. Those growth potion’s ain’t cheap, and I’d have’ta bring ya in to be checked before I could use it.” There was always the black market, but odds were she’d buy a jug of colored syrup and sand that would poison the wiurn and the seller would be about as findable as an invisible floof.
A snap came a little closed that the others, the wiurn adding in a few pleading hiss-grunts, and Alma chucked. “At least ya’ll be heavy enough to pass for one.”
TBB-19 19
|
|
|
Post by Alma on Nov 10, 2021 1:41:59 GMT -6
Alma stepped around the snapping wiurn, pleased to see that the little beast continued to only snap at the air even when she was close enough to lose a chunk of flesh. “Right, c’mon over here and I’ll get you some kibble n’ bits. I could use a break myself.” Saz needed no encouragement, stumbling after her as fast as its wings could pull it. Alma reached the sack only a second before the wiurn, shoving aside gardening tools to pull out a pair of battered metal bowls. “Might be the first time I’ve used these in the open air.” Alma said, holding them up to the light and noting the new scratches. “Look better in torchlight,” she shrugged, placing the two empty bowls in from of the wiurn. In the first, she dumped a good portion of water from a convenient facet, the water splashing over the edges as she turned it off. The wiurn glanced at it curiously, halting its demands for food.
TBB-20(Pumpkin Drej-Complete) 20
|
|
|
Post by Alma on Nov 10, 2021 1:42:16 GMT -6
The break was a brief one, and Alma could have swore she saw the wiurn’s pupils widen as she pulled out a bag of meaty kibble. She cut open the bag with a small shovel, “a trowel,” she informed the wiurn as she put the tool back into the sack, and she began to pour. The wiurn did not wait, jamming its head between the bowl and sack of food, the river of kibble splitting in half as most of it went past the bowl and onto the dirt floor. The wiurn did not care, its beak-like mouth already scooping up as much kibble as it could from the bowl, drooling kibble as it raised its head to tilt its nose to the sky before swallowing. Alma stopped pouring, rolling up the bag as the wiurn darted for the bowl of food again and again. She figured there was more than enough on the floor to make up for the half-full bowl.
TBB-1(Haunted Estharne Start) 21
|
|
|
Post by Alma on Nov 10, 2021 1:42:32 GMT -6
“That enough now?” Alma asked the wiurn, but it was silent other than a click of teeth when the soft kibble parted with far more ease than a chunk of meat and gulping sounds as it slid down the wiurn’s throat all the same. “Alrighty. Gonna get some food ‘n water of mah own then. Don’t go breaking down the gate.” Alma watched the wiurn gulp down another mouthful. This one had been from the ground, and she could see bits of kibble falling into the furrow its jaws had dug into the earth. “‘N make sure to eat it all. Yer such a picky eater ya’know?”
With a laugh, she picked up water skin and her wrapped sandwich, leaning against the fence as she set the water skin to hang on it. The sandwich was quickly unwrapped, and she was glad to see the bread was only a little dented from where she had left a tool on it.
TBB-2 22
|
|
|
Post by Alma on Nov 10, 2021 1:42:51 GMT -6
Alma ate her meal a little slower than Sza did, taking care to shoo away inquisitive flies who wanted to try something a little more savory than rotted fruit. She still finished it far quicker than she wanted to, the last bite gone as Sza was still sniffing around the dirt, the wiurn randomly chewing a branch into splinters before spitting it out. She did not want the stupid little reptile to try to come after her own food, not when it would grow into something that could take any number of sandwiches away from her with ease. “Should earn me plenty though. Might have enough to spare you a few if yer doin’ well.”
Alma watched the wiurn nose the dirt a little more, wondering if she should dump the rest of the kibble into the bowl as it blew smoke-like trails of dust from its nostrils with a sneeze.
TBB-3 23
|
|
|
Post by Alma on Nov 10, 2021 1:43:07 GMT -6
Most wiurn were distinctive critters. They had weird, pointy helmets that were as strong as any armor growing out of their skull, a pair of legs and wings like an oversized scaly bat and a tail ending in a stinger that delivered enough poison to kill an equillion. The original were also dumb as moths flapping their way into open flames, but that was a little harder to tell when one of the beasts had crushed your head to paste with a single love tap from theirs.
The broker had promised her this one would be different. The stinger it currently had would drop off, the shriveled little arms jutting out from its chest like a kid had glued them there would grow big and strong enough to walk on, and it would not have any kind of hat she did not put there herself. The last part was worrying when she looked back on how much it liked to headbutt things.
TBB-4 24
|
|
|
Post by Alma on Nov 10, 2021 1:43:18 GMT -6
As for the smarts, well, it only needed to pass for a dragon visually. She did not intend to ever let anything that fought it flap back home to whine and demand her head on a plate. She paused at the thought, looking down at the wiurn. “Do ya’think dragons use plates?” The wiurn blinked and yawned widely, showing off a small leaf that was stuck to its teeth. “I mean, folks say a lotta things about how fancy some of them scaly bastards are, but would any of ‘em use plates? Forks n spoons maybe? Probably not knives, their claws are sharp enough, but maybe…” Alma continued to ramble as she began stretching her arms to the sky, feeling her bruised shoulder complain as she held the pose.
She shook her head at the wiurn as she lowered her arms. “Nah. Maybe some owner taught their dragon to use ‘em, but I think they’d just gather all the metal silverware up for a bed.”
TBB-5 25
|
|
|
Post by Alma on Nov 10, 2021 1:43:32 GMT -6
Alma took one last swig of water, then left the waterskin on the fence. “Won’t make a difference, I guess. The ones burning the farms and stealing folks ain’t gonna answer any questions about fancy dining. Fancy dining tah them is jus’ taking the bells off da murps first.” She pushed herself away from the fence, stepping over the wiurn as it stretched out in the dirt. ‘Enjoy yer nap,” she spat, directing her spittle towards the stubborn pile of roots she had been stabbing earlier, “some of us gotta get some work done now.”
The fight against the plants continued, but now Alma leaned onto the pitchfork as much as she dared to strain the old wood, making the plants dance as though they were on a plate of jello. Each plant eventually gave up, tearing free from the earth with a satisfying ripping noise as some roots snapped and others fought desperately to hold onto the dirt.
TBB-6 26
|
|
|
Post by Alma on Nov 10, 2021 1:43:42 GMT -6
Once the plants were ripped free of the earth, Alma would carry the main chunk of plant on the prongs of the pitchfork, dumping it on the other side of her fence for the strange folks who collected such things. More than once she wondered if the plant was actually a good one, some dormant thing that would have made her hundreds of credits if only she recognized it, but her patience had been worn away as the thorns scuffed her leathers and tore at the weaker fabrics of her clothes. “Who’d have thought I should ’ave brought some armor to a garden?” She laughed at the sleeping wiurn. “‘Course, if that plant-witch is responsible for it, I’d never have even made it in without a TROD powersuit.”
On occasion, if a plant had left far too many visible roots behind, she would stab the pitchfork into the mess and spin it like she was trying to eat spaghetti.
TBB-7 27
|
|
|
Post by Alma on Nov 10, 2021 1:43:54 GMT -6
There were usually more than a few stabs needed to loosen up the earth to make it work properly, but the mound outside her gate slowly grew taller and wider as the sun reached its peak. “Impressive work, right Hissy? Maybe we could even call it done now, huh?” The wiurn continued to sleep, ignoring even the jangle of kibble hitting the bowl. “Nah, you know we’ve gotta keep this up a while yet. Haven’t even,” Alma bit off a hysterical laugh, taking a breath before trying again, “Haven’t even cleared enough space for planting a few beans.”
Alma nibbled on her second sandwich, wondering how anyone managed to run their garden without bots or slaves of some kind. Perhaps she had exaggerated just a bit, and she could fit more than a few beans in the space she had cleared, but there was still so much of the garden that was a snarled mess.
TBB-8 28
|
|
|
Post by Alma on Nov 10, 2021 1:44:08 GMT -6
Stretching again, hearing a few of her joints click and feeling her muscles twinge in protest, Alma returned to clearing out the plants. It was slow going, the work slowed even further whenever she stopped blindly ripping out all plants she encountered. A few of them she recognized, or thought she recognized, from books or her own travels, and even fewer of those were ones she might have sworn grew something half valuable. Those plants were always choked by others, requiring her to use the trowel and her hands to free them from their worthless neighbors, and more than once her careful removal of the surrounding weeds somehow took out the good one as well.
“Starting to thing the good un’s are the ones that come out just by looking at them,” she sighed, trying to detangle the roots and delicate stem of what she thought might be a mint plant from the spiny monstrosity that had taken up near it like a salaves with a lerrel. The wiurn had no interest in either plant, enjoying the sun on its scales as it napped.
TBB-9 29
|
|