Darky
Flea Market Artist
Veritas et Aequitas
Posts: 1,921 
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Post by Darky on Mar 16, 2022 16:27:58 GMT -6
   Sha'Nepti / 'Neph'Stamina: 3
Strength: 4
Resistance: 5
Dexterity: 3
Mentality: 0
Special Abilities: Psychic Weakness, Empathetic Link, Endurance, Opposable Thumbs, Fly
Moves: Punch, Magnetic Push, Plasma
A flutter of feathers spun in the sphinx's face as something brown-white zoomed past her. Shortly after, her face and most of her front body met the unyielding impact of packed dirt, sending a cloud of dust flying and her quickly rolling over to her side with a series of coughs from dust and impact alike. As the dust settled, she quickly turned her head around to hone in on the lonesome bird just metres away, wings tucked and neck craned high as it kept a bead on her position.
Pushing herself to her feet, she sighed, spat out some dirt and wiped her face, before leaping after it for a fourth time, "C'mon.." as it quickly sprung away, wings fluttering and spare feathers flying every which way.
For this small a yard, the chicken was proving to be an awfully artful dodger, leaving the mammalian mostly worse for wear, and even less graceful to behold as the TROD approached.
(1)
Sha'Nepti: 29 (0/5)
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Darky
Flea Market Artist
Veritas et Aequitas
Posts: 1,921
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Post by Darky on Mar 16, 2022 16:28:17 GMT -6
"Two fowls have been secured," Sha'Nepti intoned with a helpful voice, if not tinny, though her expression, as always, remained a stoic blankness. The droid rose up one hand, showcasing the chickens firmly in her grip by their feet. The birds were still very much alive, though evidently looked to have long since given up on struggling against the iron grip of the droid, mostly just hanging upside down in dejection.
"I'm almost done," Darky assured, skidding along the ground as the chicken took an unexpected turn and fluttered up to some boxes. By the time the mammalian recovered and reached them, it was already jumping down and dashing away a good several meters off, leaving her to hustle quite a bit in order to catch up.
Overall she considered herself quite light on her feet, and yet evidently it wasn't nearly enough to catch one simple chicken (A fact which, if she'd ever known barn animals to begin with, wasn't quite so simple for many people, in truth).
(2)
Sha'Nepti: 29 (1/5)
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Darky
Flea Market Artist
Veritas et Aequitas
Posts: 1,921
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Post by Darky on Mar 16, 2022 16:28:39 GMT -6
The droid observed several more instances of the chicken outwitting or outmanoeuvring the organic by quite some margin, and felt and odd sense of conflict. The fowl she had been tasked with retrieving had hardly seemed a challenge, given all she needed to do was simply land close enough to them from above to secure the grab. The fact her mechanical senses weren't quite one-for-one with the mammalian's wasn't necessarily evident, given her programming made her think and feel largely the same as her (Small side-effects not withstanding).
"I would wish to request a clarification on the term 'almost'," she finally intoned, and for once the voice seemed to match the flatness of her expression.
The sphinx had just made another series of swift turns after the bird, when her foot slipped and she went tumbling into the ground instead, remaining laying there on her side for some time, breathing heavy and tired.
(3)
Sha'Nepti: 29 (2/5)
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Darky
Flea Market Artist
Veritas et Aequitas
Posts: 1,921
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Post by Darky on Mar 16, 2022 16:29:02 GMT -6
The mammalian wasn't a prideful person, but she always felt different when around the droid. Something between them wasn't clicking quite as advertised by so many posters talking about the TRODs as the one true solution to any trainer's quandaries. To be sure, having the ability to be in two places at the same time certainly served a powerful benefit, but what did having something walk around with your brain mean about one's own self?
Particularly when that brain wasn't quite.. the same. (Or perhaps, merely showed the inner self from a whole new, very frightening perspective).
Darky looked up to the droid tiredly, leaned up on her arm and sighed in between the breaths. There were days where those thoughts could keep her up at night wondering, needing the agate or shijin to shush her back to sleep. But not this day, for she'd just spent an hour trying to chase down a bird the size of a melon (and failing).
(4)
Sha'Nepti: 29 (3/5)
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Darky
Flea Market Artist
Veritas et Aequitas
Posts: 1,921
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Post by Darky on Mar 16, 2022 16:29:31 GMT -6
"Alright.. Maybe.. I do need.. a bit of help with this.." she finally breathed out, letting herself flop down onto the ground in full. "This thing's.. too fast to chase.. on foot."
The droid's green eyes almost seemed to gleam. "Permission to apprehend the fowl?"
A weak arm gesture flung through the air from the ground, "Go for it.." A part of her half-expected to at least keep the droid busy for a time, though a deeper part knew better, considering the droid already walked around with two of the fowls in hand.
"Understood." The droid stepped back and flared out the plasma jets of her back. A second later she was already gone, only a few puffs of feather fluttering in the wake of where the two captured fowl had stood. Darky remained laying on the ground, her breath gradually returning to her (and making notes that chasing small fowl could well work out to be an excellent training regime), while the sun above was briefly eclipse by a shadow.
(5)
Sha'Nepti: 29 (4/5)
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Darky
Flea Market Artist
Veritas et Aequitas
Posts: 1,921
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Post by Darky on Mar 16, 2022 16:29:52 GMT -6
A good distance away from her, the chicken had stopped and remained staring back at her, but gradually beginning to lose interest considering the mammalian wasn't moving. By and by, the ground became a more interesting object, as it's thoughts began to wander back towards a source of food..
It didn't notice the shadow largely because the angle of the sun made it fall further off. The sphinx didn't notice anything either, except for only one brief second of eclipse, followed by silence, and finally a thud against the ground heavy enough that she felt herself tossed up by a few centimetres.
Rising to her elbows, she turned a confused look off to her side, only to see the droid crouched down on the ground with her jets sputtering out one by one, the free hand firmly against the chicken's back. For a moment the mammalian almost feared she might have squashed the bird..
(6)
Sha'Nepti: 30 (0/5)
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Darky
Flea Market Artist
Veritas et Aequitas
Posts: 1,921
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Post by Darky on Mar 16, 2022 16:30:19 GMT -6
..but a confused cluck and a panicked turn of the head from the bird in the grip showed the droid had measured out the exact amount of pressure and force down to a science - Enough to keep the bird from running, not so much to cause it damage or pain. Finally, Sha'Nepti rose to her feet, bringing the bird to join the other two in her grip, though unlike them, this one was still flapping and fighting it something fierce.
"Done," the droid intoned, with a cheery voice, and the sphinx's head drooped in quiet resigned acceptance. Can't fault the methods if they work, especially if the result is much the same, if not arguably better, than expected.
With a heavy sigh, she rolled to a sit, and then to her feet, "Alright.. Let's get these back to the pens near the back and start on the next thing. Should help the cooks get started."
(7)
Sha'Nepti: 30 (1/5)
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Darky
Flea Market Artist
Veritas et Aequitas
Posts: 1,921
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Post by Darky on Mar 16, 2022 16:30:44 GMT -6
As much as the sphinx would have liked to do some self-proving in regards to being able to handle the chicken, the unfortunate reality of the matter was that they were very much on a timer. The feast had to continue within a few hours, and most of the produce had either been ruined or fled. They had managed to hunt down the fowl, but there was still the issue of grazer and recovering some vegetables.
In truth, now that she had time to think about it, she hadn't really stopped to check what the fowls were needed for, exactly.. They looked like hens so they could be equally as much for eggs as they were for the meat.. If it's the latter case, then the effort of bringing them back unharmed could have rather easily been for naught.
Though she rather suspected it was more for the eggs, considering preparing a roast would need far more time than just a few hours.
(8)
Sha'Nepti: 30 (2/5)
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Darky
Flea Market Artist
Veritas et Aequitas
Posts: 1,921
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Post by Darky on Mar 16, 2022 16:31:17 GMT -6
Still dusting away the dirt, the two return to the back of the estate, where the chicken pen is and return the three birds back in before closing the hatch behind them.
"One problem down, several more to go," the sphinx sighs, brushed out some stray straw from her hair. "Next up, we need to get the grazers back in their pens as well."
The droid hummed in thought, the head tilting, "During my pursuit of the second bird, I noted a collection of animals near the far side of the well. Probability of description matching the animals in question is high." In fact, there wasn't much of a description to go on, but given the estate was housed within a walled area any one escapee only had so far to go regardless.
Plus, the trampling of the garden left some pretty easy hoof-prints to follow, along with stray remains of whatever plants the grazers had snatched up along the way.
(9)
Sha'Nepti: 30 (3/5)
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Darky
Flea Market Artist
Veritas et Aequitas
Posts: 1,921
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Post by Darky on Mar 16, 2022 16:31:39 GMT -6
"Sounds like a good place to start," the sphinx adjusted her jacket, picking out one final loose pebble from the pocket. "Though first, a small detour is in order.." The tilt of the droid's head remained, as she watched the mammalian start off a completely different way, eventually following.
Adjacent to the garden was the barn, where the animals had been kept. The exact nature of the 'escape' was every bit as mysterious as the specifics of the animals themselves, but when the sphinx and droid reached the location, one of the barn doors was still mournfully ajar from where it had let the animals out.
Rather than closing it, the sphinx moved it further aside and pushed a stone at its base to keep it open. She then moved to the other door and pushed it equally as wide, with another stone to secure it at the base. Standing back, she dusted her hands, "Right, so this is our pen.."
(10)
Sha'Nepti: 30 (4/5)
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Darky
Flea Market Artist
Veritas et Aequitas
Posts: 1,921
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Post by Darky on Mar 16, 2022 16:32:01 GMT -6
"All we need to do is make the beasts run towards it and funnel them back into it. Think you can help me manage that?" she turned her head at the droid. Sha'Nepti regarded the open doors, the path under them and the far side of the yard behind.
"Probability of the plan is not.. fool-proof," the droid concluded, sounding doubtful. It wasn't that long ago that she would have just confirmed the chance for failure outright, but she'd been making more and more notes about etiquette and societal norms, so some things were slowly improving. "The beasts would require great incentive to be moved this way."
The sphinx smiled, nodding, "Which is why we're going to try an old herding trick. Two-sided approach." She intentionally left out the part where it was also considered an old hunting trick, particularly by pack animals.. largely because the droid didn't need to add that to her calculations.
(11)
Sha'Nepti: 31 (0/5)
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Darky
Flea Market Artist
Veritas et Aequitas
Posts: 1,921
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Post by Darky on Mar 16, 2022 16:32:24 GMT -6
They would have enough issues to deal with without her listing them chronologically (or alphabetically). Instead, the sphinx tried her most assuring smile, "Trust me, it'll work." while knowing full fell the droid could easily feel any doubt within her, just as she could within the droid.
But, being made to follow, the droid did. Along the way to the well the sphinx explained the details of the plan and the two spent some time debating the finer nuances, but by the end of it both knew what to do. Whether it would out was anyone's guess, and one of them was certainly far better at improvising than the other.
Reaching the well, the muddy hoof-tracks looked to end at a herd of murp, though their style was a bit different to the traditional kind. The sphinx remarked a change in a lack of horns, and lesser wool, though the bulk of them was no less impressive.
(12)
Sha'Nepti: 31 (1/5)
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Darky
Flea Market Artist
Veritas et Aequitas
Posts: 1,921
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Post by Darky on Mar 16, 2022 16:32:49 GMT -6
At Sha'Nepti's questioning look, the sphinx shrugged, "Must be a custom breed." not much better in the knowledge department than her. "You ready?"
"Yes," the droid gave a mechanized nod, and began to move off to the side. The sphinx split off opposite, and gradually the two circles around the her in a wide arc. For the time being they weren't of much interest to the murp, in large part because the lush green grass surrounding the well was much more a priority to the herd. But they were being watched, with a raised head here and there, as if the herd wanted to make sure that at any given point at least one pair of eyes would be on them.
And they'd be right to. After all, the two were very much in the business of looking to harry them back into the barn, which was a far cry from the nice green grass they were enjoying now.
(13)
Sha'Nepti: 31 (2/5)
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Darky
Flea Market Artist
Veritas et Aequitas
Posts: 1,921
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Post by Darky on Mar 16, 2022 16:33:20 GMT -6
To make something impossibly large do your bidding when it absolutely doesn't want to is a particular skill that's only honed by experience, and fortunately the sphinx had plenty of that from all the times in the park. Chickens were one thing, but these murp? Now here was something she could do.
Once in position, Darky raised a hand to the droid and gave the thumbs up. Immediately, the jets on the droid's back fluttered to life, one after another, and she rose a foot from the ground. Between the light and the noise, the herd certainly turned all their focus upon her, and slowly began to back up, cautious of this development..
But one murp did step forwards instead, waving its head where lacking horns could have one made an impressive display of intimidation. The effect was somewhat lessened due to the bald nature of the head, but it didn't change the fact the murp itself was still easily several weight classes above the droid..
(14)
Sha'Nepti: 31 (3/5)
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Darky
Flea Market Artist
Veritas et Aequitas
Posts: 1,921
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Post by Darky on Mar 16, 2022 16:33:47 GMT -6
This was something the sphinx had really hoped to avoid, that one variable that could turn the plan on its head, and leave them either trampled or having to run for their own lives, rather than making the herd turn and run instead.
The braver murp bellow out a challenge at the droid, whose head gave a small tilt, sending sudden concern down the mammalian's spine. Sha'Nepti was observant, but she really didn't do well in the improvising department, largely being unable to operate outside her designated programming, or what little she had been able to learn from the mammalian.
A hoof dug earth, the tell-tale sign that a charge at the droid was soon to follow, but still she remained hovering where she was, as if unable to read the body language. The murp's tail lashed, the head lowered.. and suddenly it was charging directly towards her.
And still the droid did not move.
(15)
Sha'Nepti: 31 (4/5)
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