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Post by Renathan on Nov 25, 2021 0:55:42 GMT -6
Renathan's trek back to his own neck of the woods (or so he had heard it called before) was relatively easy enough since the streets were still relatively barren. He'd made his way out to the questing board relatively early, and now that the morning daylight was was bright upon him and Flaik, there were a few people on the streets. All of them were bundled up upon the chilling frost since winter was coming quickly and surely on autumn's toes. All of the people they passed seemed to have places to go, and didn't bother Flaik at all. Perhaps with the grains of morning sleep in their eyes they thought she was a simple galabex of some sort. Renathan was thankful for it, since Flaik could often be really shy when it came to people in public.
Soon enough, the russet mammalian stands in front of his garden gate, little fluffy Flaik in tow close by.
[16]
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Post by Renathan on Nov 25, 2021 14:38:05 GMT -6
"Well, here's the garden." Renathan murmured. He really hadn't done a whole lot with his garden this year. Just the bare minimum to keep it up and going, to make sure that the creatures that he had there were well taken care of. As for the garden itself? It fairly well stayed permanently overgrown regardless of what he did with it. At least the critters he kept there seemed to like it that way. It did make tasks like the one they were about to undertake a little more difficult overall, though. Renathan turns back towards Flaik and pets her on the head gently. "We're going to have to get you back on a lead for this one." Since the brush was going to be so thick, he wanted to make sure that she would stay close. He re-attaches the lead he had earlier on her to the collar yet again for the process.
[17]
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Post by Renathan on Nov 25, 2021 15:03:40 GMT -6
Flaik was very accepting of the halter this time. Perhaps she was getting used to it, or perhaps she just felt like being around Renathan (everything could be very scary to a herbivore, Renathan had been told that). After he had gotten the lead tied to the makeshift collar as best he could, he gently loops the rope around his palm a couple of times to shorten the distance between he and the caribaru and then he set off towards the gate. After pushing the wooden gate open, he steps inside. "We'll only be here until we grab... Well, I guess some squash would work- and then we'll set off to this address." Now that he looked at the address, he felt a little uneasy again about the whole thing. However, he'd gotten this far, and he had said that he would help. What were people without their word? At least Renathan could trust his own word if no one else's.
[18]
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Post by Renathan on Nov 25, 2021 15:12:28 GMT -6
So he forces himself to continue despite not feeling entirely confident in what he was going to do if they decided all of a sudden to try to take Flaik as food, or something of that nature. He closes the gate to his own garden behind him and plots a course steadily to the place where he knew he should have squash growing, though he knew that perhaps the squash would be overgrown if not entirely wild, but he hoped that there would be at least a few useable squash there so that he wouldn't come completely empty-handed to cook nothing (in the bad case that no one else was helping this group of people- after all, the person at the desk had tried to dissuade him from taking this particular quest for whatever reason- maybe they had managed to convince everyone else not to go to help for this particular offering?).
[19]
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Post by Renathan on Nov 25, 2021 15:17:04 GMT -6
Flaik followed closely after Renathan; she didn't seem to like how closely grown together the path was. She tried to make herself even smaller than she was, passing directly in Renathan's shadow. Apparently she wasn't used to being in such enclosed spaces while outside. Something loudly sounded off in the brush, and set her off- but Renathan kept her close by and calmed her with a touch. Slowly, her ears swivel, searching for the sound again, but it is once again silent. Eventually, the pair do manage to get to Renathan's squash patch; or at least where it should have been. The entire area was a tangle of growth. Renathan curses beneath his breath, turning his head slightly. "I guess we aren't getting any squash..." He says, frowning. He couldn't tell where the tangle was squash vines or some other sort of invasive vine that was now growing in the area. He bent down to test one of the vines with a hand.
[20]
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Post by Renathan on Nov 25, 2021 15:23:05 GMT -6
The vine comes away a little too easy from the ground, and Renathan frowns beneath his mask in response. There was no way that there were any squash on this vine at all, or else it would not have come away that quickly. What should he do now? It would be bad form without showing up with something to add to the festivities, so he had to think of something- and quickly! He picks up another vine and gently gives it a tug, and another, and soon enough he is stepping between the vines, his paws slipping a little in the mud, catching only by his claws. He comes out completely empty-pawed, and he'd dropped Flaik's lead at some point, too.
He glances around for Flaik, and notices her traipsing along a small ditch line nearby, a natural occurrence where the rainwater would shed. She was sniffing at something near her hooves.
[21]
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Post by Renathan on Nov 25, 2021 15:25:12 GMT -6
Renathan moves closer to the fluffy caribaru, in an attempt to catch hold of her lead again (though he really could have just called her name and she probably would have come running to him at this point; she didn't seem as feral-acting as she once was) when he saw something golden and shiny by her foot. Oh, had she found the squash? It was very lucky for her to have done so, had she, and upon the mammalian moving closer it did appear so! "Flaik, you found them! Good girl." He knew that it was probably a fluke, but it was still quite nice that she had found a row of them, and somewhere where it would be easy to find and scoop them up, too. She was chewing on one; a smaller one- by the time he had gotten to her. He picks up her lead again in his hand.
[22]
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Post by Renathan on Nov 25, 2021 15:29:19 GMT -6
He was quite glad to have access to the squash now. For a moment, he'd been quite panicked that he might not be able to help the requestor at all; weird and possibly quite dangerous or no! He set his hands to the task and immediately picked up as many squash as he could carry. Renathan did know how to make a mean squash casserole with barely any other ingredients, and he was sure that if they had anything else, his squash would be a good accompaniment. He picked up so many that he had difficulty carrying all of them, so he tied a few of them to his waist. "If only I'd taught you to carry weight, huh Flaik? Not that you could carry much, but I'm sure you'd be fine for a couple dozen small squash." He made small talk out of habit to her. Flaik just finishes up the little bit of a meal she'd found for herself.
[23]
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Post by Renathan on Nov 25, 2021 15:42:11 GMT -6
After Flaik was done, Renathan slowly lead them back to the gate, making sure not to trip and drop any of the bounty he'd managed to fetch. "A shame we won't be bringing anything else..." He mumbles, though he really didn't see any point in trying much harder. Finding anything else in the garden would be a worse nightmare than located the squash could have been, and needless to say Renathan didn't really know where any of the rest were. "I guess I could stop by a butcher's shop on the way in and pick up some flank steak; but I think I'd like to see if any of their grazing animals can be easily caught once we get there?" He didn't feel like picking up much that could spoil otherwise; wasn't their refrigerator down? How did their grazers get away too, were they keeping them in an electric fence or something?
[24]
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Post by Renathan on Nov 25, 2021 15:45:57 GMT -6
Renathan pondered that as he got them to the gate, and he and Flaik left his garden after they got his gate open. The mammalian shut it back and secured it with his foot. "Well, that is that." He says to no one in particular, or perhaps mostly to Flaik. It was still quite chilly out, and now Renathan's feet were a little wet from the morning dew and cold due to the frost. At least he would be inside soonish, he hoped. He finagles his way into getting his WATT out, and then puts the address into the thing to let him know where to go. Upon the screen lighting back up, Renathan's mouth forms into a shocked like 'oh' beneath his mask. "That's... Pretty far away..." He wasn't sure if he could make it there easily with all of this. "Looks like I'm stopping by the farm on the way to pick up a wagon."
[25]
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Post by Renathan on Nov 25, 2021 15:51:25 GMT -6
Renathan wasn't sure if he was lucky or unlucky that it would be easy to get from his garden to his farm in the direction of their ultimate destination. On one hand, it was convenient for this moment, but he still had no idea what to expect from the people that had requested the quest in the first place! He was a little bit on the worried side that they might be 'bad' people and find out where he lived. However, he was happy to get to his own farm rather quickly. When he got to the front door, he allowed Flaik inside, and then quickly went to go find a wagon. He considered leaving her at the farm; afraid that the people would try to eat her, but then he decided that he'd hurt anyone that tried to hurt her without a second thought- so she was going with him regardless.
[26]
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Post by Renathan on Nov 25, 2021 15:56:27 GMT -6
He gathers the wagon and quickly puts all of the squash in before glancing at some of his extra potatoes and peppers, and he decided to load those up as well. He was too afraid to bring meat; worried that it would spoil. The feasting time was today, however, so he had to make some quick work if he was going to get there in time to help with the cooking. Upon last minute, he grabbed some marshmallows too, and some sweet potatoes, along with the correct spices for a sweet potato casserole (though he always wondered why it was called that, it was much more of a dessert than anything else). He loads everything up into the red wagon and then he leads Flaik out with him. "Here we go, Flaik! What do you think?" Flaik of course, is silent, but at least the walk out towards the direction of the address is companionable.
[27]
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Post by Renathan on Nov 25, 2021 15:58:58 GMT -6
The russet mammalian was very glad that there weren't a whole lot of people out, even getting into the middle of the morning. All the sidewalks are fairly clear, and he really only sees a couple of people out with their pets, jogging the both of them; one with a houluh and the other with a ghaenelt. Renathan was more than a little surprised to see the ghaenelt, so he thought about that most of the way up there. The walk finally goes up onto an incline, and Renathan and Flaik find theirselves on top of a hill surrounded by farmland (that looked a little sparse) by the time Renathan's WATT sounded that they were 'there' quite unceremoniously.
Whenever Renathan stepped up to the front door nervously, it opens before he is even able to knock (his hand is still up on the air) and an elderly man stands in the doorway.
[28]
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Post by Renathan on Nov 25, 2021 16:01:53 GMT -6
The elderly man looks Renathan up and down a little judgmentally, but Renathan politely kept his head down. "Hello sir, I'm here to help with the feast? I have brought some veggies and some things to make a sweet potato casserole, and I'd be more than willing to help cook. I developed the menu at the Cloud Nine-" The old man closes the broad door, and then the sound of an un-hooking 'chain' lock ring out. "MATILDA!" The man hollers. "You have company!"
The russet mammalian begins to wonder if he knows what he has gotten himself into at all whenever the door finally opens, and he is led inside along with Flaik. The old man is standing in the living room with what looks like a hunting party; all of them giving him odd looks. Perhaps they were going to go gather up the 'grazers' that had escaped?
A portly elderly woman stands in the doorway to the quaint kitchen. "Well, watcha waitin' for?"
[29]
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Post by Renathan on Nov 25, 2021 16:04:37 GMT -6
Renathan goes to the kitchen, passing the strange motley hunting crew on his way to go help the elderly woman. She certainly looked like she was exhausted, apron all covered in cooking powder and what smelled to be a delicious savory dish or something already cooking over the stove. "Hello ma'am, this is Flaik, she won't be any trouble- and I've come to help with anything you'd like help with. I also have fixins for Sweet Potato Casserole and a Vegetarian dish, if you'd like?"
She just seemed very relieved to have any kind of help. It takes them several hours, but between the two of them (with Renathan picking up most of the slack because he felt bad for how long she'd had to be up at that time period) they got the entire meal fixed. Flaik stayed curled up in a corner, atop a pile of dirty laundry of some kind. Renathan really didn't mind helping until the feast was ready, and then he dipped his head and left with Flaik instead of staying to eat.
[30] - [Done!]
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