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Post by Alma on Dec 31, 2021 23:43:36 GMT -6
Wearing: Name: Mouse Level: 0 Loyalty: 0 Stamina: 2 Strength: 3 Resistance: 2 Dexterity: 3 Mentality: 0 Special Abilities: None Moves: Crunch A ‘beast incident’ required several forms, with information as basic as the beasts that were the root of the issue, each requiring their own damned form, to people involved and damage caused, both by beasts and the ones trying to stop it, and so on until it was wildly popular to just kill the damned things, threaten a few folks, and move on with your day. Alma was tired of dealing with beast forms, the harachiu farm incident having taken several days to finish the first level of paperwork despite the whole thing burning in less than an hour. But there were restitutions to be paid to those with properties damaged by the tiny fairy things, the matter of making the owners pay said restitution one way or another as they waited in concrete cells, and the nightmare that had been trying to take stock of how many creatures there had been by ash and bones, or pulling little bodies away from guard vulticus, which also then had to be treated for powder inhalation, which meant a form for damage done to beasts, and, well, at least she had not been the only one working that day. So, upon looking over the board for literally anything to add a few credits to her wallet, preferably something that would pay more than the pile of credits she earned every month, she found one. Mice? Blessedly small, lacking any sort of hellish magic to unleash on attackers, mice? She was not entirely sure the listing was not some kind of joke. But she grabbed the seeker from her kennel, and left for the farm. There were no forms for mice. 1
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Post by Alma on Dec 31, 2021 23:43:54 GMT -6
She had grabbed the seeker entirely in the literal sense, his mouth held open in a silent scream from the moment she had grabbed him, his little fat legs stiffly sticking straight out from between her fingers. He had erupted from his nest when she entered the cage, his growl rising in pitch as he swung his oversized jaws towards her. He ran while still making that sound, clambering over a hollow log with barely a second of slowing before he was back on the grass and speeding towards her.
Then something happened, and he fell. Alma fancied she heard the amulet against his neck emit a buzzing whine as he tumbled across the grass, eyes fixed forward even as he bumped to a stop against her boots.
“C’mon now, seeker,” she said, reaching out to poke his body with one finger, a part easily enough repaired if the amulet failed. The seeker felt like a taxidermied skin draped on a wooden core, but he did soften after she pushed him away, legs kicking out as his eyes rolled around in his head to lock onto her again. He twisted his spine to force his feet under him, lunged, and the next thing he knew he had a new thing tight around his throat. 2
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Post by Alma on Dec 31, 2021 23:44:07 GMT -6
It tightened further as the pair of boots started walking away from him, and so he lunged and fell and repeated it so many times that Alma groaned and picked up the little seeker. He felt as real as a carved toy under her gloves, and she carried him outside with the same care she might have afforded the toy he resembled. “Ain’t gonna wait around for you to calm down, all the mice will’ve died of old age before we made it to the district,” she chided him, shaking the stiff seeker slightly. “An’ you’re going to be like this until you stop trying to attack me.” The seeker showed no sign of understanding her as they exited the kennel into the bright light of the day, Alma holding a hand over the seeker’s red eyes.
It was only after she set him down and took a step back that the seeker started to move, shaking his head and blinking in the sudden light as though he could banish the sun. “Might be a custom that’ll be able to do that, but it ain’t you.” He lunged at her, freezing before his teeth could graze her boots, and Alma shook her head. “Gonna be this way the whole trip, are you?” 3
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Post by Alma on Dec 31, 2021 23:44:18 GMT -6
By the time they reached the farm, both seeker and woman were coated in dust, the latter cursing the former as his claws left trails in the dirt. The onyx seeker had not stopped trying once to overcome the collar and tear at her ankles, the chains tying him to her clinking as they randomly grew taut and loose. “Mice, you tit! An all you can eat! Even WELP is not making beasts as stubborn as you!” The seeker responded by darting forward again, sliding to a stop against her boot. Rubbing at her temples with her free hand, she considered the merits of getting rid of the common beast and buying a custom built for obedience. “Or at least something smart enough to realize they cannot attack me!” she snapped, yanking the still form of the seeker beside her.
From behind her came a cough, and Alma whirled around to see a freakish golossle staring at her, one oddly dainty fist held by its mandibles. “Would you be the quest-takers?” It tilted its head to one side, sunken eyes fixing on the frozen seeker. “Self, strange looking hound.” 4
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Post by Alma on Dec 31, 2021 23:44:32 GMT -6
The creature turned its head to look back at her, stepping back from the fence as its other foreleg rose into the air towards her, back straightening so it stood at her eye level. “Self is looking for quest-taker, mice-remover.” It paused, hand floating in the air between Alma and it, then made a horrible chittering sound, and, for the first time, the seeker at her side did not lunge for her. Nor did it lunge for the freakish bug, instead digging its claws into the dirt and racing away from the human with all the speed its pudgy legs could muster and that the leash allowed.
“Sorry, sorry.” The bug’s tone seemed to shift as it spoke again, “I had been speaking with a friend of mine a little earlier, forgot to switch over to human-style talk.” Alma, certain the bug was speaking Common the whole time, shrugged and tried to remember if any custom golossle had recently applied for citizenship.
The hand of the bug wavered, then pulled back in an invitation as the bug began to walk away. “Anyways, a swarm of mice have been eating all of my crops.” It began ticking off the ‘crops’on its fingers. “COD eggs, leather, hay, and all sorts have been vanishing, with only droppings and broken shells left behind, though once I saw the tails.” Xenokwal! The name came to her as the bug continued to blather on, oblivious to the seeker and woman behind it. “The fire-breathing breeds have been crowing and pecking at the barn, and I rather not have them burn it down. I need you to remove the mice before that becomes an issue.” 5
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Post by Alma on Dec 31, 2021 23:44:47 GMT -6
The farmer turned to look at her, then pointedly looked down at the seeker gnawing on his tether. “That species will not burn anything, will it? Or poison, I don’t want to have to demolish the barn if it spews plague into the walls.”
“He’s… a seeker?” Alma looked down at the onyx seeker, meeting his eyes a moment before he growled and toppled onto his side. She looked back up at the bug, unable to read any expression in its face. She tried to copy that, keeping her face empty of her mild confusion. “Onyx seeker. Only thing they have going for them is strong jaws and legs.” The bug seemed to sag at that, a high-pitched buzz coming from it as it turned away.
They reached the barn shortly after that, the xenokwal calling out to a few colorful COD stalking around it like they were chiryma except for one pink that favored one leg with a skip-walk, the birds scattering as the bug clapped its hands before dropping to all sixes and shooing them away.
“All the mice are in here,” it said, returning to knock on the small side door of the barn, once again standing as upright as it could manage. 6
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Post by Alma on Dec 31, 2021 23:44:58 GMT -6
“Alrighty then.” Alma walked to the door, pausing and her hand rest on the knob, the other holding the chain of the reluctant seeker tightly. “Just mice, right? And they’re all gonna be in this barn?”
The xenokwal bobbed its head in a creepily human fashion. “Yep. I helped my COD heard them in after emptying the barn.” The xenokwal stood a little straighter as it spoke, middle legs standing nearly on their toes. “It was a challenge, but my chickens and I were up to it. My workers can poison or trap any of the other ones out here once those big ones are dealt with.”
Rats too then. Funny how, of all the species she had grown up with, rats were still thriving. She nodded to herself, then opened the door to the barn.
And saw nothing.
She hesitated, thinking back to all the beasts that might hide out in a barn free of people, but the bug had been pretty confident it was just mice. And what sort of rat would be dumb enough to run and hide somewhere that an actual threat lived? 7
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Post by Alma on Dec 31, 2021 23:45:11 GMT -6
“I’ll be right back, just going to set the seeker loose.” The xenokwal bobbed again as she closed the door behind her. But she did not slip the chain free of the seekers neck immediately, ignoring him as he fell to his side on the dirt, mouth held open to crunch through bones. “Should name you lock-jaw at this point, eh?” she chucked to herself as she squinted in the gloom. The barn was not quite as empty as the bug had promised, with light filtering down from sealed windows to show the bare floors, only a few lonely stands of hay resting on the dirt. A few crates also lay scattered around the floor, though the one nearest to the pair held nothing but a shadow as far as she could see.
And there was a ladder. Alma snarled at that, the seeker at her side hesitating before lunging down onto the dirt. “Seeker’s cannot, they ain’t ladder climbers!” she hissed, mindful that the bug was likely pressed against the door outside.
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Post by Alma on Dec 31, 2021 23:45:47 GMT -6
Alma inhaled deeply, coughing a moment later as the dusty, somewhat musky smell of the barn invaded her lung. “Right,” she said after spitting on the floor near the currently glaring seeker. “I’m gonna unhook you.” She squatted down next to the seeker, catching it with one hand as it stiffened and fell yet again. “You start hunting. I’ll get, I don’t know, a knife or a stick or something, and then I’ll knock them down for you. Alright?” There was not so much as a blink from the seeker as she unhooked the seeker and straightened up. “Now, if you try to follow me.” she told it as it shook off the effects, “I’ll say the word and give those mice a few seconds head start” It growled at her, lunged and fell as the collar did whatever it was that they did.
Contrary to what she said, Alma was less than keen to say the word with the bug right out there. Amulets of submission were too costly to simply get a new one if someone got ahold of the word. She shoved the seeker to face the rest of the barn, then ran and shoved her way through the door, slamming it shut as the seeker stood back up.
The bug looked up from where it was petting its pink COD, holding up a foot hand in greeting.
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Post by Alma on Dec 31, 2021 23:46:02 GMT -6
“You got a stick?” Alma asked, holding up her hands a fair distance apart. “Something thick, ‘bout this long at least.”
The xenokwal stood up, releasing the pink so that the COD was free to hop around the ground, its owner making an odd chatter-bark when the COD twisted its head to better inspect the white thing wrapped around its leg. Alma assumed the COD probably had gotten lucky with whatever hurt it, considering how much damage another one of its species could do.
“Not quite a stick,” said the bug, chitinous hands brushing at its legs as though it was a farmer in overalls, “but we do have some wood left over from our newest building. This way.” Then it was off, and Alma followed it, careful to avoid the pink COD as it pointed its sharp-looking beak at her.
The seeker had spent most of his day confused. He tried to attack, but it never worked, the world slipping from him the instant he was about to sink his fangs into the big one. He wanted to bite the big one so badly, but she was long gone when he stood up, a loud sound behind him sending him whirling in a circle with a growl in his throat.
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Post by Alma on Dec 31, 2021 23:46:12 GMT -6
No one was there. Still growling, he walked cautiously over to where the loud sound was, picking up the scent of the big one, and the faintest edge of the other big one. His growling died in his throat as he backed away from the door, watching it for any sign that the pair of big ones might enter.
When they did not, the smell of blood caught his attention.
The xenokwal held up a broad piece of wood, one end resting against the ground as the other leaned against its chest. “Will this do?” It was mostly unmarked, except for the jagged end resting against the bug’s chest, the bug not seeming to notice that splinters large enough to be knives were so close to its organs.
Must be nice to be born with fancy armor, Alma grumbled internally as she said, “That’ll be perfect, thank you kindly. Unless you have something a bit thinner? I can’t imagine mice needing to be hit by something so big.” Not that she intended to do any hitting of mice, but some folks paid less if it looked like she was not doing enough. 11
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Post by Alma on Dec 31, 2021 23:46:33 GMT -6
He was not of the ancient breed, but the smell intrigued him, called to instincts that nearly all seekers carried inside of them. Perhaps it was the blood of the big one, and now he could finally tear her apart? He was hungry enough to eat the entire body.
He followed the smell, nose held up to the air. Where was the source? He circled the place where it was the strongest, but he could not find even a single drop on the floor. He snorted the dust away from his nose, peering up at the dark ceiling above him. The wood creaked as something moved above the slats, and he hissed a warning, a growled demand both for the thing to stay away and come out so he could kill it.
And then something fell. He snapped at it before he could make out what it was, a squeak silenced by a crunch as he bit into the furry body.
“Ah! No, I am afraid not. The rest of it is still in good shape, I would not like it being broken over the mice’s heads.” Alma reached out for the plank, and the xenokwal relinquished it quickly as she thanked him again. They began the walk back, the xenokwal speaking of his farm and in greater detail about his COD, and how surprised he was with each new ability they had shown. Alma nodded along and asked obvious questions, reluctant to return to the barn to hunt rats herself. 12
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Post by Alma on Dec 31, 2021 23:46:46 GMT -6
Other squeaks began, inching down from the edges of his hearing as more furry bodies poured off of the loft above him. The limp body was tossed aside, the young seeker giving a squeaking scream of his own as he chased them. Some he caught in the air, others were crushed under clawed feet or snapped at as they scurried along the floor, never managing to find a space small enough to squeeze into that the jaws could not follow.
Soon there was nothing moving on the floor besides him and his current toy, half a mouse that he threw into the air and caught before shaking it once more. The other half lay somewhere in the barn, the seeker less interested in the feast of corpses surrounding him as his current plaything.
Covered in blood, relaxed for the first time that he could remember in the stillness of the barn, he did not hear the creaking of the wood above him, pausing his game only when he heard a chittering squeak. He looked up at the loft, red eyes looking for his new toy.
“Yes, I was happy that the COD could breathe fire and spit poison, especially when the mice tried to fly away after them-”
Alma had half-tuned the xenokwal out, content to let him blabber on while she tried to decide how to prevent the seeker from rushing past her when she opened the door. It seemed rude to-
“Wait, fly away?” The bug paused, stopping his walk to look at her as she interrupted him.
“Of course. I thought that was common of the mice here. Like how chickens can spit fire or acid that burns like flame.” The xenokwal chitter-whined as Alma looked at the barn, puzzled. “That is why I asked about the seeker’s abilities. It seemed kind of small to deal with the mice, but if you-”
Alma was already sprinting to the barn, leaving the xenokwal to shake its head. 13
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Post by Alma on Dec 31, 2021 23:47:03 GMT -6
He squeaked a challenge at the toy, daring it to come down and die like the rest, his stubby tail wagging so hard that his hind legs shook. The thing above him did not respond, only the sound of rustling cloth giving away that it was up there. He challenged it again, throwing back his head as he demanded it come, and the wood groaned as something above him snapped and jumped. Jaws open to meet it, a loud banging sound from the side of him set him sprinting away, jaws snapping on thin air with a click.
But the rustling cloth sound followed him, and, a breath later, something much larger than a mouse wrapped itself around him. Claws dug into his hide, suffocating leathery wings enveloped his body and sent him tumbling across the ground with a scream, pressure building at the back of his neck.
“NO!”
A scream-roar answered his own, and suddenly the weight on his back was ripped free with a crunch of bones and a long squeal. The seeker wobbly got to his feet, tried to snap at the shape rushing past so closely that he felt it brush is snout, and yet he somehow missed, found himself on the floor instead. The screech from before repeated itself, “NODAMNYOU!” and he turned to look even as he took a step back. 14
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Post by Alma on Dec 31, 2021 23:47:17 GMT -6
Pteropty were not rare, were not particularly sought after due to their appearance, like oversized mice and difficulty of care. Their tails and fangs dripped with poison, but they were relatively weak, not nearly dangerous enough for pit fighters or contest hall folks. Even a furrier would likely turn up their nose at their fur, lacking the colors or smoothness of many other species.
Later, Alma would think all that. At the moment, she did not bother to rationalize beating it death.
Once she was sure it was dead, head’s flat, nothing is surviving that, she turned to find the seeker. The door had been closed behind her, the bug smart enough to know what constituted a door if not a mouse, but the seeker was not near it. She walked towards the middle of the room, calling for him as she tried to avoid crushing little furred bodies underfoot, amazed at what he had managed on his own.
“Well, not quite your own,” she laughed forcefully with a glance in the direction of the dead pteropty. 15
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